This was the only thing that Applejack thought as the pain coursed through her body. She felt the cold hooves of a stranger pressing on her chest, pumped her heart as it attempted to bring her back from the brink of death.
It wasn’t working.
Applejack’s lungs shuddered with every breath she took, and the pain was slowly creeping through her entire body. Strangely, a warm numbing feeling was spreading through her lower body, having fully consumed her legs already. The bright light in front of her eyes felt warm, like a bright ray of light on a winter morning.
It felt nice.
Suddenly, from the light, descended an all-too familiar pony.
“Princess Celestia?”
The Alicorn stood over the dying earth pony, and smiled. This smile filled Applejack with hope. Nothing could go wrong now.
“You did well, my little pony. Now take a long deserved rest.”
Princess Celestia leaned forward, and her horn touched Applejacks forehead. Applejack felt herself being filled with a sense of euphoria.
And then she died.
***
Big Macintosh kept massaged her chest, but the heartbeat had long since faded from the cold body now in front of him. He had been trained in lifesaving techniques, hoping to never have to use them. But when his sister suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground gasping in pain, he had no choice. He had sent out Applebloom to get help, but it was too late now.
Big Macintosh looked at the lifeless body of his sister, and then broke down. He sobbed loudly, collapsing on his sister’s body, hugging her. She was gone from him forever.
“Ah got the paramedics, they’re on their way righ’ now-” Applebloom began as she showed up again, but Big Macintosh stopped her.
“Don’t bother, she’s gone.”
***
Applejack’s friends took the news hard. Twilight locked herself in her library for a few days, Fluttershy cried for days on end, Pinkie’s hair lost its luster, and she hid herself away. Rarity sobbed and locked herself up in the Carousel Boutique for a number of days, and Rainbow Dash disappeared all together. But at the end of the week, they all showed up again for their friend’s funeral.
Twilight was the first to speak about her dear friend during the eulogies.
“Applejack was a good, hard working pony. She was my first friend here in Ponyville, and-” Twilight stopped and ran down from the coffin, tears spilling from her eyes.
The others couldn't even get up. Finally, Big Macintosh stood up and decided to take it up.
“I know I may not be the most talkative pony out there, but I have a lot to say about my sister. She was a good hard working pony, just like Twilight said. She was honest, and great at many things. And we aren't yet sure what exactly caused her death, but if Celestia felt it was her time to go, then she had every right to take her. We’ll all miss her, and we can only hope she is in a better place.”
Big Macintosh sat down, fighting back tears. Fluttershy and Rarity hugged him, and patted him on the back to comfort him. And somewhere, far beyond the funeral, far beyond Ponyville, far beyond Equestria, far beyond the clouds, far beyond Celestia’s sun, far beyond Luna’s moon, far beyond the stars, far beyond the farthest galaxy, and far beyond the universe's boundaries, there was a green field. The green field was surrounded by green hills. Nearby these green hills and fields there was a green forest. And laying in the green field was a speck of orange.
“Where in Sweet Celestia’s holy land am ah?” Applejack said, standing up and rubbing her head.
Octavia went down to her breakfast table to see Vinyl Scratch eating some eggs.
“AH!”
“What?” Vinyl said through a mouthful of food.
“What are you doing in my house? Didn’t I say you had to leave after last night?”
Vinyl laughed. “Man, I heard you trip over the cello. That was a pretty good use you had for it last night.”
Octavia groaned. Why did she ever do that to her priceless cello? Vinyl always managed to bring out the worst in her.
“Whatever, just leave before anypony sees you here. I do not need to have all of Equestria know we’re-”
“Sexbuddies?” Vinyl said, smiling.
Octavia winced. “Could you not call us that? It lacks... finesse.”
“Ok, Sexbuddie!” Vinyl Scratch finished her breakfast and ran out of Octavia’s door.
“I swear, that pony...” Octavia mumbled as she turned on the stove.
Nothing happened.
“Oh, Celestia, is this honestly going to happen again?” Octavia said as she bent down to adjust the stove. The flame flickered as she played with the knobs. A small spark danced around the gas main, which Octavia saw a second too late. With a defining blast, the stove exploded. Octavia felt the flames consume her body, and the force from the explosion rip apart her body. A bright light flashed in front of her eyes, and briefly, Octavia could swear she saw Princess Celestia staring at her.
And then everything went black, with only one piercing note ringing in her head.
***
Vinyl Scratch had not even trotted ten feet from her secret lover’s house when a defining explosion threw her to the ground.
A large, sharp shard of cobblestone had pierced her left shoulder, but she didn’t care. She ran over to the smoldering ruins that was once Octavia’s house, and began searching through the destruction.
Finally, upon reaching what was once the kitchen, Vinyl Scratch saw a sight which made her throw up.
Octavia’s lower body was all that was left of the pony, and that was even almost burnt beyond recognition.
After throwing up several times, Vinyl Scratch broke down and began to cry. When the paramedics showed up, they had to literally drag Vinyl from the blasted crater of her late lover’s house.
***
Octavia’s eyes slowly opened. The same piercing note which had resonated through her head after the blast was slowly fading away.
Octavia looked around. Her cello was laying in the sand next to her. A large river winded down the desert landscape in front of her. Large dunes rose and fell as far as the eye could see.
Octavia stood up, grabbed her cello, and dragging it behind her, began trekking through the giant dunes.
“What’s going on?” Sweetie Belle asked Scootaloo as she walked up to the large crowd in front of the stage in the center of the Ponyville town square.
“Nirvana’s doing something stupid again,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes.
“Friends!” The black colt with long, straight blonde mane which fell on either sides of his face standing on the platform announced to the crowd.
“We’re not your friends!” somepony yelled, throwing a rotting apple at Nirvana.
“Ah, such love. Anyway, I am going to become legendary today, and you lucky foals will be able to see my amazing-”
Another rotten apple pelted Nirvana. “Get on with it already!” yelled Diamond Tiara, the thrower of the apple in question.
“Ah, yes,” Nirvana said, wiping the rotten apple juice from his face with a hoof, “I am going to prove where somepony goes when they die.”
Everyone stared at Nirvana blankly. What was wrong with him? Surely he didn’t mean...
“Yes! I, the poorly looked upon Nirvana will-”
“Come on! We don’t have all day!” another pony yelled.
“Here we are now, entertain us!” Snips yelled at the poor blond maned colt up on the stage.
“Ok, lights off, everpony!” Nirvana said. Everypony grumbled. It was late at night. Why would he want them to turn off their lights?
“With the lights off, it’s less dangerous,” Nirvana explained.
“Well, fine, what are you planning on doing?” Scootaloo yelled at the pony up onstage.
“Well, kill myself, of course,” Nirvana said with a touch of insane pride in his voice.
Everypony was silent.
Nirvan used his horn to levitate a needle filled with an odd white substance in it. He pushed the needle into his left front leg and emptied the substance into him.
“I used to take this for a stomach pain, but that’s been long gone. I thought I’d try it one last time...” Nirvana trailed off.
“Is he actually going to-” Sweetie Belle whispered in a scared voice, but Scootaloo cut her off.
“Nah, it’s just a cry for attention. He always does stupid things like this. Plus, how would he even kill himself?”
As if answering Scootaloo’s question, Nirvana levitated a shotgun to his head.
“Woah! Nirvana! You don’t need to do this!” Scootaloo yelled. Nirvana cocked the shotgun.
“Nopony would ever miss little ‘ol crazy, attention-happy Nirvana, would they?” Nirvana shouted, slightly hysterical, “Nopony cares about me, huh? Maybe you’ll miss me when I’m gone!”
“No, don’t do it! I’m sure someone will miss you, just not us!” Scootaloo yelled, then realized the way she had worded that sentence.
Nirvana stared at Scootaloo.
“Wrong answer,” he whispered, and pulled the trigger.
The bang resonated throughout Ponyville, and all the small foals stared at the now dead Nirvana.
Lights went on throughout all of Ponyville, and ponies started to emerge from their homes.
“What’s going on here?” Fluttershy said, being the first one to reach the scene. Then she noticed Nirvana’s dead body.
A small shriek escaped Fluttershy’s mouth. Quickly, she flew over to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
“What happened? Why didn’t you stop him?” she yelled at them, clearly very angry and disturbed by what she just saw.
“W-we couldn’t s-stop him... he just...” Sweetie Belle whimpered as she started to cry. She didn’t know why she was crying. She had never really known Nirvana, yet for some reason, she felt very disturbed by the recent events. Not just because Nirvana had killed himself in front of them, but because he killed himself at all.
Fluttershy hugged both of the small fillies.
“Well, your friend is in a better place now... who knows, maybe he’ll even be able to see Applejack...”
***
Everything was dark for Nirvana. Black, dark, cold.
Then, a small light shone from the darkness. Slowly emerging from the darkness in front of Nirvana was Princess Celestia. She did not look happy.
“Nirvana, for killing yourself, I have no choice but to condemn you for your actions.”
The Alicorn Princess’s horn glowed bright red, and it touched Nirvana’s head.
In a flash of green light, Nirvana fell onto something red and very hot. Smoke was filling the air, and sulphur was the dominant smell here.
Nirvana looked around. He was in a huge, vast cave which was filled with lava. The ground was a dull red-black, and radiated a soft light. It burned his hooves as he stood on it.
Golden Heart opened his eyes. “Ponies are dieing by something dark and evil and my dear friend Celestia put them in the afterlife so they can come back,” he said to himself, the events of the dream he had just witnessed pouring from his mouth. As usual, he was standing in a different place then he had been when he lay down to sleep. This time, he was just outside Canterlot. Golden Heart thought for a bit why would someone want to kill ponies. “I must find out. I don’t care what it takes.”
Regidar, one of Golden Heart’s students, trotted up to him.
“Sir, Princess Celestia would like to see you.”
“I know, I am off to see my old friend.”
“Very good, sir, she is expecting you.”
Golden Heart spread his wings, and the alicorn flew off to the castle where Celestia resided. As he flew, he thought to himself.
“I hope Celestia knows why this is happening. I hope those who have died make it.”
Golden Heart flew through a large open window in Canterlot Palace, and trotted his way to Celestia’s throne room.
“Ah, Golden Heart, good to see you have answered promptly to my summons,” Celestia said as Golden Heart entered the throne room.
“Yes, my old friend, I came because ponies are dying and you are sending them to the afterlife. One of them was the holder of the Element of Honesty. So tell me, is there a way to bring them back?”
Celestia looked grimly at Golden Heart. “I'm afraid they must traverse their own way through the afterlife. However, I am going to send you and Luna to find out who has been killing my little ponies.”
Golden Heart nodded. “Ok, once we know who is behind this, he will be sorry for what he has done.”
“Luna is down in the armory. Good luck, Golden Heart.”
“I will be on my way to the armory.” Golden Heart rushed down to the armory. “I hope we can stop the one who is killing the ponies of Ponyville.”
Upon reaching the armory, the first thing Golden Heart saw was Luna dressed in Royal Canterlot armor. "Ah, Golden Heart. Good to see you again. We're going to the Aether to find the source of the corruption."
Golden Heart scanned over Luna’s armor. “Good to see you again, Luna. As you can see, I am already in my armor. We must stop this corruption before it's too late.”
"Excellent, let us make haste. Only the unicorn Twilight Sparkle can send us to the Aether."
“I see. Well, let’s go and stop this corruption.”
The two flew off to the treehouse library where Twilight Sparkle lived. As they descended to the house Luna cautioned Golden Heart.
"She's still in a fragile mental state, you know, with her friends passing and all, so be gentle."
“I know, poor girl.” Golden Heart opened the door. “Twilight, me and Luna wish to talk to you,” Golden Heart put his left wing over Twilight lovingly.
Twilight looked off into the distance, and answered vaguely “What do you want?”
“We need to go to the Aether to find out who killed your friend. You are the only pony who can cast the teleportation spell.” Golden Heart used both of his wings to hug the purple unicorn.
Twilight was still very distant.
“Yes, I can send you to the Aether.”
Luna perked up. “Excellent! Then we’ll be on our way in no time!”
Golden Heart nodded. “Indeed, Luna, we must make haste to stop this evil.”
Twilight sighed and said “Alright, let me get the regents.”
Twilight slowly trotted off to a different part of the library.
“She’s devastated,” Luna said, shaking her head, her long flowing mane drifting side to side . “I feel really sad for her, let's hope we can stop the evil behind all of this,” Golden Heart said sadly.
Twilight returned, levitating two small bags.
"Here, I have everything needed for the spell."
Twilight gave Golden Heart and Luna the two small pouches, filled with yellow glowing dust.
“Take these.”
The two Alicorns accepted the bags.
"It's aether dust. Made from aether stone. It acts as a grounder that will keep you from getting sent to hell when I teleport you,” Twilight explained.
Twilight’s horn began to glow, and the two ponies before her began to disappear.
"Oh, and Golden Heart? When you and Luna find whomever killed Octavia and Applejack, fucking KILL HIM."
“Of course, after all, anypony who makes Celestia’s number one student this devastated will have the worst death that hell will not be able to pick up the pieces when I’m done, you have my word.”
Big Macintosh lay in the middle of the woods, sobbing. The tears flowed down his cheeks in thick streams, falling with soft splashes onto the grass below.
Big Mac heard small cracking noises, and saw Zecora emerge from the undergrowth nearby.
“Oh, Big Macintosh, you seem down. What causes your sadness to abound?”
Big Macintosh sniffed, and said “Applejack passed away the other day.”
Zecora looked taken aback.
“I am sorry, I did not know. I will leave you to your sorrow.”
Zecora started to trot away, but Big Mac stopped her.
“Wait! You could help!”
Zecora looked back, intrigued.
“You have potions, right? Well, Ahv been thinking! You could make one that could send me to the afterlife!”
Zecora looked at him, and said “True, a potion like that I could concoct, but safe for you, it is not.”
Big Mac followed Zecora to her hut in the Everfree forest. Zecora took a down a bottle of water, added some red dust, as well as a very odd looking plant.
“Drink this down, and drink it well, and soon you will be in hell.”
Big Mac took the potion, and downed it.
“Wait, Hell?”
“Goodbye Mac, you were better then most stallion princes. Now be prepared for unforeseen consequences.”
Big Macintosh fell to the ground, the life slowly draining from his body.
***
Imagine, if you will, the worst physical pain possible, mixed with the emotional devastation of losing your sister, combined with the euphoric sensation of death. A similar feel was lurking within Big Macintosh for a few minutes after his “death.”
Then Princess Celestia showed up.
“Big Macintosh, for choosing an act as selfish as suicide, and for getting another pony to assist you in such an act, you are condemned to the depths of Hell.”
Big Mac stared in horror at his Princess as she touched her glowing horn to his forehead. A flash of green light sent Big Mac into a deep, dark, shadowy embrace.
***
The ground was very warm. VERY warm.
Big Mac jumped up from the heat of the ground. He looked around quickly. Fire. Lava. Brimstone.
And also his sister, laying on the ground, dead.
Big Mac nearly threw up as he looked at the decimated corpse. Applejack’s stomach was shredded, and small black maggots crawled through her rotting skin.
Then, it lunged at him.
Taken by surprise, Big Mac reacted a little slow. The corpse grappled him and tried to bury its rotting teeth into his neck. Recovering, Big Macintosh kicked the corpse off of him, sending it flying into a nearby lava pool.
The corpse screamed a hideous scream as it burned and died in the lava. Big Macintosh gasped and shuddered.
“Could that really have been my sister?”
“Of course not, you ignorant fool!” Big Macintosh turned around.
Standing there was what Big Mac could only assume was a human. Lyra Heartstrings had spoken of humans quite often, but Big Mac never imagined they were real.
The human in question was a young looking one, somewhere in between Applebloom’s age and Applejack’s. He had longish blond hair that stopped a few inches above his shoulders, wore a green plaid over shirt, and had a shirt that read the words “Blink-182” and had a very odd smiley face surrounded by a ring with three arrows protruding from it.
“Who are you?”
The human sighed.
“I’m Elijah. I got sent to hell after I got hit by a bus. I guess I never really deserved to go to heaven anyway. What you just fought was a demon.”
“A demon?”
“Yes, a demon. It took the form of the thing that would scare you the most.”
Big Mac looked at the pool of lava where the demon had been punted into.
“Are they common?”
“Unfortunately, yes. However, there are worse demons. Now come with me. If you’re ever to survive here, then you’ll need to learn from someone who has never doubted that he’d end up here.”
Big Mac followed the odd human as they walked off over the burning hills.
Applejack looked around. The grass under her was odd and spiky. The sky was cracked and warped, and upon closer examination, the trees were slowly melting and changing shape.
Slowly getting to her hooves, Applejack tentatively tried to walk. Instantly, she felt a swooning feeling, and she got sick. She decided it would be better if she didn’t walk for now.
Taking another look around, Applejack noticed that there were small black dots in the sky progressing towards her. A very loud buzzing noise accompanied them.
Then, the huge black wasps bombarded her.
Barely making it to her right, she dodged the first one, which crashed against the ground and exploded into a thick, blue slime.
She wasn’t as lucky with the second one, however.
The long stinger of the second giant wasp embedded itself into Applejack’s flank, just below her cutie mark. Falling to the ground, searing pain flooded through her body, just like the one which had foreshadowed her death. She quickly removed the stinger by grasping it in her teeth and pulling it out. With a sickening shredding sound, it tore loose from her skin, and blood and green liquid poured from her open wound.
Gasping, black dots appeared at the edge of her vision. Slowly, the color was being drained from this strange new world.
“NO!” Applejack jumped to her feet, charging through the pain.
“AH DIED ONCE, AND THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN!”
Slowly, she dragged herself into the forest.
Upon reaching the strange melting forest, Applejack’s vision had returned to normal, and her wound had scabbed over awfully fast. However, she could feel the heat emanating from it, and the pussy abrasion was still very painful.
She found herself a nice patch under a melting sycamore, and slowly closed her eyes, ready to drop off into sleep.
“Oh, another one.”
Applejack’s eyes opened very quickly.
And then she screamed.
Sitting in front of her, was a small, humanoid shaped creature. Thanks to Lyra Heartstrings, Applejack was vaguely aware of what a human looked like, but only on the most basic of levels could you compare this thing in front of her to a human.
The small creature was only about three feet high,and covered in black spike each 4 inches long. It had a smile which literally stretched ear to black, spiky ear, filled with yellow, saliva covered teeth. It wore no clothes, and its long arms fell past its knees, and it’s legs were long and gangly.
“Wha- what are yah?” Applejack stared at the creature in astonishment.
“Oh, you must be knew here.” The creature smiled its grotesque smile at the little joke he had made.
“I am a Droode.”
“A wha?”
“A Droode! We inhabit Limbo!”
“Limbo? Is that where ah am?” Applejack looked at the melting trees again, feeling a little sick to her stomach.
“Indeed, you are in the wonderfully chaotic land of Limbo!” The Droode picked up a scoop of the tree and swallowed it whole.
“Wait, chaotic? What does that remind me of?” Applejack tried hard to remember what that word meant to her, but all of her memories of her past life were hazy.
“Well, it is common courtesy of us Droodes to take you to our leader befor we throw you ponies out into the broiling chaos beyond Limbo that we simple refer to as ‘the mad realm.’
Come, I’ll show you around!”
Applejack got to her feet cautiously, and when the world didn’t spin precariously out of control, she followed the odd creature back out onto the plains.
***
After a few hours of walking, Applejack asked the Droode a question.
“Why did it happen? Mah death, I mean. It was so... sudden.”
The Droode didn’t spare her a single glance, but instead kept walking.
“I don’t know, and honestly-” Another little chuckle at the joke “I really don’t care. But, I’m sure my leader will have some answers.”
“And another thing. Where exactly are we-”
“We’re here.”
Applejack looked around her. Nothing but plains of weird spiky grass as far as she could see.
“Where? Ah don’t see-”
As she was speaking, the ground opened up to reveal a gigantic city around 300 feet down.
“Oh mah.”
“Quite magnificent, isn’t it? Down you go then.”
“What?”
The Droode shoved Applejack with strength she was not expecting from the small creature, and she tumbled down the chasm, landing unharmed with a soft thud at the bottom.
The Droode landed gracefully next to her.
“Follow me.”
Applejack followed the creepy creature through a chaotic sprawl of streets and buildings, past other Droodes and different, strange, bizarre creatures. Finally, they reached a strange, warped version of what appeared to be Celestia’s palace.
“This way.”
Traveling through what was very reminiscent of Celestia’s palace, except with odd halls that seemingly lead nowhere, and weird doors that lead them back to where they had came from, Applejack was trying very hard to remember what this reminded her of. The chaos, the disorder the-
“We’re here.”
Opening a small door, Applejack and the Droode entered a large open chamber that looked exactly like Celestia’s throne room. A silhouetted creature that was made of a mismatch of animal parts had its back to them.
Then Applejack remember who could love such a chaotic land.
A nice, cool glass of water, beads of condensation dripping down the sides, ice cubes floating in the calm liquid, slowly melting...
Vinyl Scratch taking a hose, slowly pouring the water over her body...
Vinyl Scratch slowly and provocatively eating an ice cream cone...
Vinyl Scratch spraying water everywhere...
Vinyl Scratch getting real close, and slowly putting the hose up to-
Octavia awoke suddenly, lying on the hot sand. She was parched, and the inside of her mouth felt like warm cotton. Her cello lay immersed in the sand next to her.
She was lying at the bottom of a large dune. Slowly, she got to her feet and trudged up the dune.
Upon reaching the top, Octavia could see only endless desert all around her. Slowly getting her cello, she did what she always did when she felt bad or lonely.
She played.
It was a simple, sweet, yet elegant melody. Small sand scorpions which had been scuttling at her feet stopped, and listened. Captivated by the tune, they listened to the greyish-brown mare play the cello.
After a while, the heat made her dizzy and Octavia sat down again. The sand scorpions quickly scuttled off once again as she finished her melody.
The sun was beginning to slowly set over the horizon, and the temperature was dropping fast. Octavia longed for a warm bed, a warm fire, but mostly for Vinyl's warm touch...
She shook her head violently to rid herself of the thought of Vinyl. She immediately wished she hadn't as her headache got three times as painful.
Too exhausted and thirsty to go on, Octavia collapsed in the sand, prepared to die once again.
***
"Now, Octavia, behave yourself."
The small, dingy classroom was filled with foals, but Octavia ignored them. She sat down in the front row with her cello, as the teacher walked in.
"I am Mr. Offkey. Today we will..."
The other ponies faded until all that was left was Mr. Offkey droning on. Octavia's head slipped, then she looked up at her teacher again.
He was making out with Vinyl.
Octavia sprung to her feet, but the desks had suddenly began growing larger, no, she had suddenly become smaller.
Mr. Offkey turned to stare down at the teeny Octavia, his face bare of flesh, and only a skull now. Octavia screamed, as Vinyl looked down as well, her face also having suffered the same fate.
The floor underneath Octavia suddenly turned into snakes, and sinking into the writhing mass, she drowned.
***
Awaking to the sun on her face, Octavia felt so weak she couldn't move. Her cello lay next to her, slowly baking in the sun. One solitary cactus stood not a foot away from Octavia, providing a little bit of shade.
Octavia's cello bow lay next to her hoof, slowly gathering sand. A scorpion lay on it, basking in the sun.
Then Octavia had an idea.
Forcing her arm to move, she grabbed the bow, shook the scorpion off, and forcefully plunged it into the cactus. She greedily drank the water that poured from the cactus, feeling it's cool wetness fill her up.
After drinking her fill of water, Octavia wandered off through the sea of dunes once more.
A few hours of wandering later, Octavia had only encountered two other cacti, and was feeling the dry sensation of thirst once again. It was mid-afternoon, and the blistering sun beat down upon her head, causing her to sweat profusely.
Then she felt the ground rumble and shake.
Looking behind her, she saw the dunes she had just traversed shift and shake, and slowly collapse as a giant creature emerged from the sandy abyss.
The Dune worm rose about 30 feet in the air, yet, most of its body was imbedded in the sand. It screeched its an ear shattering cry , and lunged hungrily at Octavia.
Octavia barely dodged the first lunge, rolling out of the way just in the nick of time. She grabbed her cello and began sprinting up the next dune, but tripped and fell flat on her face. Turning around, she braced herself with the prospect of sweet death yet again.
But her body would not accept the fate her brain had intended for her. Instead, her arm took the cello, and her other arm took the bow, and she began to play.
The Dune worm stopped. It sniffed the air apprehensively, and gazed down at Octavia. Octavia continued to play.
It wasn't a particularly complex melody, in fact, it was simple, one of the first she had learned. But the Dune worm was completely enticed by the sweet melodies of her cello.
Slowly, the monster swayed, and fell back into the sand with a thundering crash. The force from the impact nearly knocked Octavia off her hooves.
Steadying herself, Octavia stared at the fallen beast, amazed at the reaction her melodies had caused.
Maybe she had even more prowess than she already thought she had.
Slowly walking away from the fallen beast,Octavia trekked onward.
***
Octavia had long left the desert, and had been wandering about a plain willed with long, spiky grass. Wandering about, she noticed something odd.
There was a huge ravine in the ground.
Running over to it, she saw a chaotic sprawl of buildings and streets that fit the loosest definition of a city.
She heard a sickening cracking noise. The ground beneath her crumbled, and she fell head over hooves into the city.
Nirvana carefully walked over the heated red stones of Hell.
His hooves made a soft crunching noise as they clopped over the red stones.
Approaching a pool of blood, he saw a mare crying over the pool.
"Are you alright?"
Turning around, he saw a face he hadn't in a while.
"Nightmare Dream? Is that-"
Nightmare's face contorted into a grotesque grimace.
"It's me, your only friend, and the one you loved. But why didn't you save me?"
Nirvana stumbled back.
"I'm sorry! I warned you not to go into my dreams!"
The face had almost completely melted off by now, and her skin was beginning to bubble.
"You knew I was tempted to see what was in your head! You should have acted more on this! My death was all your fault!"
Nirvana backed over a ledge.
"AAAAHH!"
Down, falling, forever into a pit of darkness.
***
"Nirvana...Nirvana..."
Blinking, Nirvana looked over at the person standing over him.
It was in fact a person, a human if he recalled Lyra Heartstring's lectures correctly.
"Damn it, Nirvana, why didn't you kill her?"
"I'm sorry, when someone dies, I expect them to stay dead! Also, who are you?"
The human standing over him had blonde hair, was wearing a green striped dress shirt and underneath that a shirt which said Nirvana's name on it and bore his cutie mark.
"You have a shirt of me?"
"Um, no. They're a band. And if I had one of you, I would burn it, because you are that much of a dumbass."
"I don't see how that would add up, but ok..."
The human walked over to a cabinet, and Nirvana got a better look around.
He was in a small house, a one room hovel really, consistent of a bench with tools on it, a cauldron, a toilet with a curtain around it, a sink, a brewing stand, some shelves, a furnace, and a jukebox.
The human pulled out a green potion, and uncorked it.
"Here, drink this."
He gave it to Nirvana. Nirvana gulped it down for about five seconds and then nearly threw up.
"What the hell is that?"
"It's rat bile."
Nirvana did throw up this time. Fortunately, he made it to the toilet in time.
When he was finished, he gave the human a stair of loathing.
"Why did you do that?"
The human laughed. "I wanted to see if you were stupid enough to drink it. I'm Elijah by the way."
Nirvana walked around.
"Hey, Big Mac, you get some mushrooms to use in the stew from outside?"
Nirvana stopped dead in his tracks.
"Eeyup!"
Big Mac walked in and stopped in his tracks when he saw Nirvana. Nirvana turned to run, but Big Mac snorted in anger, and charged Nirvana down, tackling him, and thrusting his hooves to Nirvana's throat.
Golden Heart looked to his left and right. "I can feel a familiar scent. It is something I have not sensed in 1000 years..." Golden Heart's eyes widened in fear. "Oh no... It can not be..."
Luna looked around.
"Your senses are stronger than mine, what's going on?"
"There is a battle of light and dark. A demon is in the afterlife, somehow escaped from Hell."
"I can feel it too, now. It must have gotten stronger."
Golden Heart looked at Luna. "Indeed we must make haste to that source. Maybe then we can find where it is coming from."
Luna stared off into the endless skyline of the aether. "Indeed. Maybe there is something on the nearest island that can lead us to it."
Luna opened her wings, and took to flight. Golden Heart followed suit.
"This scent is really strong. I hope that the island may hold what we seek." Golden Heart thought to himself.
The two alicorns landed of the island. There were a few chickens and trees, however it was mostly barren.
"This is not the place we seek. I feel a stronger presence downward." Luna prepared to take off again after making this statement.
Golden Heart nodded in agreement. "Indeed...we must head downward."
Down below them were some small islands, but one very far downs stuck out in particular.
Luna looked down. "I sense it too. We should go and see what's causing the disturbance."
"Yes, let's move." Golden Heart and Luna flew down to where the disturbance seemed to originate from.
Upon landing, the tow noticed the island was made up entirely of black rock. There was a cave in the middle of the island.
"Luna, we should see what is in that cave. It may take us to the dark energy. Be ready, the scent is growing stronger."
Luna looked at Golden Heart grimly.
"Ready?"
Golden Heart and Luna headed into the cave, ready to take on anything.
Inside the cave was entirely dark, but there was a small light at the very end of the tunnel.
"Luna, I see a light! But we must be carefulb the dark energy is at the peak of its might." Golden Heart peered at Luna through the darkness. "Once we get out, we must be ready for whatever is at that light."
Golden Heart and Luna made it to the other side and saw something that surprised them.
A bright light stood in the middle of the cave.
Sitting there is an angel.
He was a simple pegasus stallion, except for the halo over his head.
Golden Heart inspected the angel. "Who are you?"
The angel turned around..
"I am Glabarious. Passing through the light will bring you to the mad realm, a place that even Discord cannot go. There, you will find the being responsible for the deaths of the ponies."
"I hope so. I made a promise to Twilight to find who is killing the ponies."
"Well, step through if you wish."
Luna stepped up. "I will go."
Luna trotted through the light.
Golden Heart clenched his teeth. "Soon you will be sorry for what you did."
The world was hazy for Big Mac. The center of his vision was focused, but the further to the sides he looked, the hazier it got. It hurt his head to look in those directions.
Elijah was standing in front of him.
"Come on. You'll be fine. It's just Demon Chills. You probably contracted it when the demon-Applejack jumped on you."
Big Mac attempted to take another step, but the whole world turned sideways, and the hot rocks of hell rushed up to greet his face in a painful highfive of sorts.
Elijah sighed, and walked over Big Mac and helped him back up.
"Come on. I know it's bad now, but the only way to get over it is to keep fighting. If you rest for too long, it takes over your body, and your soul is eaten away."
This motivated Big Mac to get up and try walking again, but he only got three steps before throwing up.
Elijah rolled his eyes.
"Come on. Get a hold of yourself. We can get you through this..."
Big Mac's hearing became filled with a ringing noise. How easy and reliving it would be just to lay down...
A brunt force hit Big Mac in his stomach, and he was forced to his feet.
"No. I'm not letting you fall. Just concentrate on following me, and everything will be fine."
Big Mac focused on Elijah's face, blonde hair obscuring one of his eyes.
"Ok. Steady... just put on hoof after the other."
Big Mac nearly tripped again, and stumbled, almost falling into a lava pool, but steadied himself.
"Ok, good... now follow me..."
Big Mac followed the human, past lava pools and sulphur pits, acid fall and ruins, until they reached a hill that pulsated and vibrated as though alive.
"Alright, climb that hill. Be careful though..."
Big Mac put his hoof to the hill. It not only moved as though it were alive, it also... felt alive. It was fleshy and had veins running through it.
Slowly, he climbed up it, and upon reaching the top of the hill, saw something that amazed and terrified him equally.
A huge, winged animal of some sort was flying towards him. It opened its mouth, and a fiery ball flew forth it kill Big Mac.
This is, if Elijah hadn't shoved him down the hill and took the whole fireball to his chest.
"FUCK!" elijah screamed, and fell down the hill. His shirt was burned off, and his chest charred and blackened, almost like it was a piece of meat someone had dropping in the fire of an oven.
"THAT WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHIRTS, YOU PRICK!"
Elijah grabbed Big Mac, and dragged him down a crevice, and through a small tunnel, eventually reaching a small but sturdy looking shack.
Elijah looked down at Big Mac. He was pale, and breathing heavily.
"Crap."
Elijah though him down on a table, and injected him with a needle. Immediately, Big Mac could feel himself becoming stronger, and the world shifted back into focus.
"Good, it worked," Elijah said, his eyes rolling into his head as he passed out onto the floor.
Big Mac examined the charred skin. It looked bad. He owed Elijah his... what was it? Life? Afterlife? Anyway, he owed him something, and he was going to help him.
Big Mac grabbed the burn cream and lathered it against Elijah's chest. Elijah murmured something about potatoes in his unconsciousness, then was quiet.
Big Mac then peeled the burned skin off to reveal the shiny underskin. He grabbed some bandages, and managed to apply them after a few minutes. Then, he set Elijah on the table, and waited.
A few minutes later, Elijah's eyes opened.
"Damn, I liked that shirt. Big Mac, go get some mushrooms from out back. I'm going to make stew after I get some Bloodwater from a spring near some cliffs a few minutes away."
Big Mac nodded, and headed out back.
Elijah sighed, removed the bandages, washed himself down, applied new ones, and put on his "Nirvana" shirt.
"Nothing better happen to this one."
Big Mac looked at the strange mushroom garden Elijah cultivated. There were brown ones, red speckled ones, blue ones, and these strange technicolored tie-dye ones that gave Big Mac a headache from just looking at it.
He settled on the brown and red speckled ones, and gathered them up. Elijah never said how many, so he decided to take ten of each.
Easier said than done. It took some effort to dig them out of the rocky ground, and bucking them only yielded a broken mushroom.
After about an hour, Big Mac had all the mushrooms, then trotted back to the house.
Approaching the house, he heard Elijah say "Hey, Big Mac, you have the mushrooms for the stew?"
"Eeyup!" he answered, the entered the house.
There he saw somepony he had hoped to never see again.
His eyes going red with anger, he leapt upon Nirvana, intent on choking all the life out of him.
Applejack had lost count of how long she had been held in here, not that there was rational time in Limbo, anyway.
She had been thrown into the dungeons shortly after her meeting with Discord, and now, she had no idea when she would escape. She assumed that she would be stuck here for the rest of her life, when a life-changing event happened to her.
Octavia was thrown in her cell.
Applejack gasped "You're that music mare! Ah've seen some of yer shows! But how'd you end up here?"
Octavia's mouth opened in awe. "You're one of the elements! I heard you had died, and then... I was killed in an explosion."
Applejack and Octavia were quiet for a long time. They had nothing more to say to each other, just lamenting the fact that they were trapped in this dark dungeon with little else to do. Some time passed, but neither were sure how much. They just knew that it was a very, very long time.
Then, the unexpected happened. A droode opened the cell door.
"Master Discord wishes to see you up in his throne room."
The two earth ponies were escorted to the throne room of the mad king. Discord was juggling a ball of water, a chainsaw, and three shoes.
"Ah, good, the ponies have arrived! Come, I have a little something to show you!"
Applejack refused to move any closer to Discord. "Ah'll have nothin' to do with yah, Discord!"
Discord smirked. "Come on now, don't be difficult..."
Applejack responded to this by spitting on the Lord of Chaos. The droodes became agitated, and moved in on Applejack, but Discord halted them.
"Please, why do you insist on being so difficult? I wish to show you information that could help you greatly..."
Applejack continued to refuse Discord's advancements. Discord sighed. "Oh well, I guess we'll just have to-"
"Hello, Discord. Lovely day, isn't it?"
Discord and the two ponies looked over at the voice. A blonde haired human with a black t-shirt with the word "nirvana" written on it, and several gashes on his forehead and arms staggered up the grand throne room hall.
"Ah, hello, Elijah, my favorite child. How are you today?"
"Don't try that crap on me! Screwball's always been your favorite!"
Discord sighed and rolled his eyes. "I suppose you're right. At least she doesn't bitch at me."
The human glared at his apparent father. "You didn't leave Screwball with a psychotic bitch who tried to kill her!"
"Well, your mother does have a temper, and to be fair, you are my son. She hates me with a passion."
"I never understood why you two even got together." The human pulled out a cigarette and light it.
"Smoking's bad for you," Discord pointed out.
"Fuck off."
Discord sighed yet again, and got off his throne, addressing his captives. "Now see, this here is a prime example of why you shouldn't have children. I've had Elijah for over 1000 years, and he's just been a pain in my ass!"
Elijah grabbed his father and shoved him back into his throne. "You let these ponies go immediately, or else I'll-"
Discord smirked. "Or else what? You know I'm more powerful then you. So what you've been in literal Hell for a couple centuries? I've been here, and I've gotten much more powerful. It's a wonder how those six mares took me down. When I get unleashed once more, I'll be more powerful than you'll ever imagine."
Elijah blew out the smoke from the cigarette, but it was not smoke, but rather water, spiraling, free of gravity, slowly traversing the direction in which the human had expelled the liqued away from him. "It's funny, how you think that."
And everything changed.
Well, not everything. But on major thing.
Eris sighed her ever persistent sigh. "Well. That was uncalled for."
Samantha shrugged. "Well, I learned it while I was down in hell, mom, what did you expect. Dad did banish me there, and I wasn't going to just sit down there and let hellrats eat my face off slowly."
Applejack and Octavia felt... off. They were heavier, especially towards the back, and their faces... felt wider, somehow.
Eris chuckled, and poured herself some chocolate milk, the milk filling up from the top as per norm with her. "Care for a drink, sweetheart?" Samantha flipped her mother the finger that resided in the middle of all the others on her hand. Eris smirked and drank the glass. "Suit yourself." The chocolate milk was thrown by the older female, and it hit the younger one right in the face. The resulting explosion, Applejack and Octavia were sure of it, had killed the girl.
And everything was back to normal. Except, the human wasn't there, instead, a carbon copy of Discord with a smaller beard was laying on the ground, brushing the debris from his face. Discord shook his head sadly.
"Well, I was certain that would have done it. Oh well. I guess your mother was right. You don't go down easy."
Elijah shifted back into his human form. "I am going to take these two, and you can't stop me, neither you nor Eris, dad, so don't even try to-"
Discord coughed up a large bouquet of flowers, which he lit on fire with his spit, and threw it on the ground as it turned into cotton candy. "Sorry. You were saying?"
Elijah looked disgusted at his father's lack of interest in his attempts to intimidate him. "I'm taking the mares and leaving, and you can't stop me."
Discord shrugged. "Whatever. They'll be much safer here. Far away from all that trouble you always manage to cause..."
Elijah grabbed the chains that bound Octavia and Applejack, and they melted, first into vines, then into snakes, and finally, into orange juice, which fell to the floor and froze solid. It was a very unpleasant experience. Applejack and Octavia were at first unsure of what to do, then followed Elijah as he walked out.
"Big Mac! Nirvana! I got them!" Elijah shouted, and Applejack felt her heart skip a beat. Did he just say-
A big red stallion trotted into view, accompanied by the smaller, black one that had also the misfortune to be thrown into this crazy madmare's tale. Applejack's face broke into a huge grin, and she rushed up to huge her brother, and kissed him on his nose. "Ah'd thought Ah'd nev'r see yah again!"
Octavia smiled slightly at this display of sibling love, when she heard a voice behind her. "Oh, and music mare..." She turned around, to see Eris smiling at her. "I have something special planned for you, don't you worry."
The bright light took Golden Heart and Luna to a place of existence that was... flat, to say the least. A long, flat plane consistent of a silvery-grey metal, with a two small camp-like fairly close by.
"I feel as though we are close to the killer... but why do I feel as though I have felt this presence before?" Golden Heart said, more to himself then his companion, and walked around. The sky, if one could call it that, was black. Just one simple, flat color.
Suddenly, the smell of burning ozon assailed the two alicorns nostrils, and a rift, one could call it, opened up. From the rift entered four ponies and a human.
"See! I told you I wouldn't get us killed again!" The human smiled at his apparent creation, and then closed the rift.
Golden Heart eyes the human suspeciously. "I've seen your kind before... in old books."
The human laughs. "Oh, I'm not really a human. Just my real form... I ain't proud of it. And I'm not a changeling, so don't get any ideas."
Luna was staring in awe of the human. The human gave Luna an odd look. "Well, what are you-"
The princess of the night rushed over and hugged the human. "Elijah! You're alive! I thought you died when... nevermind! THOU ART ALIVE!" The last part was bellowed in the royal canterlot voice. Elijah, as the human was called, looked at Luna in surprise.
"Aunt Luna? You look... different."
Luna smiled. "Well, yes, as you may recall, I was banished to the moon."
Elijah smiled, and disengaged himself from the alicorn's grasp. Wandering around, he examined the first camp, which was full of medical supplies. Varying from heart/lung machines to sergical tape, the camp had it all.
"Weird... I guess the inhabitants of this dimension were killed or evacuated before they could take their medical equipment... oh, hey, a scalpel."
Immediately after the scalpel was removed, a large image started to flicker in the sky, akin to a giant TV screen. Up upon the screen was Princess Celestia eating a slice of cake. Looking down, she seemed to be able to see the beings below her. Then, everypony realized it was a live feed.
"Oh. Elijah. You're still alive. Why am I not surprised?"
Octavia looked very confused. "Why would Princess Celestia be here? Also, how did she know Elijah's name?" Big Macintosh shrugged.
Elijah's face contorted in anger. "It'll take a lot more then banishing me to hell to kill me, mom. Stop just throwing away your problems and deal with them! If you want to kill me, kill me right!"
Golden Heart looked up at the Princess in shock and horror.
"YOU ARE THE KILLER! HOW DARE YOU MATE WITH THE MONSTER YOU LOATH SO MUCH! HOW DARE YOU KILL PONIES FOR YOUR OWN AMUSEMENT! HOW DARE YOU MAKE TWILIGHT SPARKLE CRY!"
Princess Celestia laughed. "Oh, Golden Heart, we've been friends so long, surely you'd remember my personality disorder. Fortunately, I managed to defeat and suppress the 'kind' princess, and now I will always be here. ALWAYS."
Golden Heart was seething in anger now. "WHEN I GET OUT, I'LL KILL YOU, AND DISCORD! AND ELIJAH, YOU'RE NEXT!"
Elijah cocked an eyebrow. "Me? What did I do?"
Celestia giggled. "You do realize none of your are TRULY dead. Just like how Twilight Sparkle didn't truly die-"
"Actually, I resurrected her, remember?" Elijah interjected.
"Don't interrupt me, brat. The point being... I put you through all of this for my entertainment, and you delivered! Well, except Nirvana, he was going to kill himself anyway. But I saved him and transported him here. But all of you are very much alive, and still killable."
"Wait... how is that possible, Ah saw mah sister's body at the fune'al," Big Macintosh said, confused.
"Oh, you silly farmer worker, don't you realize that if I can raze the sun and deliver you all here, it would be one of the simpler things to make decoys and immediately replace your bodies with them? Well, except Octavia, she was blown to bits, I didn't have to worry about that."
"Why are yah doin' this, Princess?" Applejack asked, looking at the crazed goddess in pain and betrayle.
"Simple.I got bored. Tired, sick of it all. And I decided to mix things up a bit. Now die."
Upon those words, and explosion rocked the whole island, if that's what it could be called. Golden Heart threw up a protection spell just in time, which also shielded Big Macintosh and Octavia, but didn't reach Luna and the others in time. Elijah, who was at the epicenter of the explosion, somehow walked out of the rubble of what used to be the medical camp totally fine, save for the fact his left arm was twisted all the way around. With a sickening crunch, he twisted it back into position, wincing from the pain.
"Shit! She destroyed all of the medical equipment... except this!" The human held up the scalpel and two painkiller needles, one of which was cracked.
Luna lay on the ground, a chuck on metal imbedded deep in her chest. Nirvana was twitching, his eyes darting madly around, crying from the amount of pain he was in. Bruises appeared along his lower abdomen, indicating internal bleeding and possible fracturing. One of Applejack's ribs poked out from her body, and a piece of unidentifiable shrapnel had left an extremely deep cut along her lower stomach before burying itself into her left kidney region.
"What are we going to do?" Golden Heart said, looking over the injured ponies. "Wait! I know a healing spell!" Princess Celestia's image laughed.
"Nice try. I thought of that. Have fun without your magic!" Golden Heart attempted to heal the ponies, but to no avail.
"Well, guess we're going to have to go old fashion style!" Elijah held up the scalpel and grinned.