The Equestrian Inferno

The quarray eel peered at us with a look of menace, tinted with curiosity. This was no ordinary quarray eel however. It wore a wooden crown painted gold. Around its top half was a tubular cloth covering of purple velvet studded with cheap plastic jewels. Though his mouth was closed, I knew they hid a set of razor sharp teeth.

"Behold King Geryone, king of fraud and ruler of the subterranean monsters" said Galaxy.

Geryone was a terrifying sight, however I still couldn't keep from laughing at Galaxy's use of the word "behold". "Behold, behold, behold, behold" I sang over and over again in my mind. Galaxy glanced over at me a saw me briefly repressing a smile. For a moment, she looked confused before deciding she had interpreted my facial expression incorrectly.

"I'm going to speak with him for a little while" she said, "but meanwhile, see those ponies sitting over on that ledge there?"

I looked and saw that there was indeed a group of ponies sitting just sitting a few yards down from us at the edge of the gorge.

"Those are the usurers, the ponies who tried to manipulate the magic of friendship using money. Some thought they could buy friendship. Others feigned friendship for money or power. Go talk with them."

I stared at Galaxy as if she was totally off her rocker.

"Oh, right" she said. Her horn glowed brighter and my hoodie, jeans, and shoes began to glow pink. I draped my hood over my head, put my hands in my pockets to protect them, and left the safety of Galaxy's force field.

I walked over to the group of ponies wondering how I would start up a conversation. When I was close enough however, it was obvious that none of them were in the mood to converse. All sat stoically on the ground, calmly bearing the pain of the rain of fire. Their eyes, however, showed their pain. "Hello … anyone home?" I asked one pony. As expected, he didn't respond. Although I didn't recognize any of the ponies, they all seemed to be pompous residents of Canterlot. In addition, each was wearing a very lavish and highly ornate saddle. Their unburned fabric looked so clean and fancy compared to the burnt blackness of the ponies' fur. The saddle of the pony I spoke to was snow white, with leaf shaped designs sewn onto it with various shades of green silk thread. Others had designs of griffins, dragons, or other animals. One I that thought was really neat had a picture of a volcano.

"Well, are ya going to say something?" I asked the pony again. To my surprise, he silently stood up and faced me.

"Look here kiddo" he said, "you don't belong here. We don't talk to people who don't belong here. In fact, we don't talk to anybody. Begone!"

"Sheesh" I muttered before walking away. I decided there was nothing to be gained here.

Before I was out of earshot however, the pony called after me, "Oh, hey. If you ever visit Canterlot, make sure to let my neighbor Fancy Pants know that he'll be joining me here too."

I returned to where Galaxy had been and saw that she was now mounted on top of King Geryone. "Come on up" she said. I hesitated unsure how to do so. Examining the enormous quarray eel, I looked for a good place and position.

"Really now" exclaimed Galaxy, "it's not that difficult. Just climb up using his scales, straddle yourself over his back, and hold onto the spine in front of you." I did as she said and found a nice spot right behind her. Despite that fact that we were out of reach of the rain of fire, Galaxy once more created the pink force field around us.

"This is to protect us from falling rock" she explained, "Ok Geryone, we're ready." With us on his back, Geryone dived down into one of the many holes in the side of the gorge. I felt my stomach drop. The journey was way beyond even the wildest roller coaster on earth. As we zoomed through the subterannean caverns in pitch darkness, my ears rang with the sound of the wind blowing past. It wasn't long before I began to feel sick. Luckily, it was a short trip. Though it was a steep and long drop to the bottom of the gorge, Geryone was fast. After a minute or so, I felt us level off and with a loud pop, we exploded once more into the blinding sunlight. Only of course, it wasn't sunlight. Though compared to the darkness of the tunnels, it sure seemed like it at the time. Galaxy slid off and scared to be left behind, I followed, hitting the ground with a thud. Immediately, Geryone whipped back into the cliff side away from view.