The Equestrian Inferno

A light kick to my shoulder from Galaxy's hoof woke me from my stupor. Coming to consciousness, I noticed we were decelerating. As I glanced up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I saw the river's other bank before us. This beach did not sink slowly into the river like the one we had left. Made purely of jagged rocks, it dropped abruptly into the water. Once again, there was a dock, though of darker wood and aged in complexion. As we approached, Galaxy ordered me to stand which I attempted to do. Once again using her as support, I pulled myself up until my legs had once more adjusted to the rocking motion of the naga's back. The previously loud and frantic crowd around us had grown quiet. In crossing the river, they had finally abandoned all hope. Standing in silence, they accepted the fate before them.

The sea serpent pulled up beside the dock and slowly, the ponies around me began to stir. As we disembarked, the hellish ponies from earlier stood behind but found no need to use their tails against us. My feet upon firm land again, I once again adjusted and began following Galaxy. Into the darkness she trotted as I struggled to catch up. It was night, or so it seemed. Technically, I guess it wouldn't be night if it was always like this. Soon enough however, only the sound of Galaxy's hooves upon the ground guided me. Sometime later, it's metronome like rhythm slowed and moving forward, I walked beside her once more.

"Galaxy. Where are you taking me?" I asked, "and how do you even know where you're going?"

"We're at the threshold of the first circle of hell right now. Keep pressing forward. Soon you will see."

As I walked beside Galaxy, I noticed our surroundings growing faintly brighter. Once again, the source of this light was unknown; at least to me. As we penetrated further into the circle, we began passing buildings and I could see that it was populated. The circle looked like the equivalent of a massive suburb, though from a time other than my own. All homes were one story and constructed in a similar fashion. The atmosphere felt stagnant, and everyone apathetic. To my right I saw two ponies on bench waiting for nothing apparent. Relentlessly, we continued onward.

"You haven't asked me who all these ponies are yet" said Galaxy. "Why have you become silent?"

"The mood of this area keeps me from speaking" I replied, "It seems so lethargic."

"Indeed that is the case. These are the ponies from the first, second, and third generations of My Little Pony. In life, their sole purpose was to make money for Hasbro; nothing more. Thus, even those who could be considered virtuous during their lifetimes cannot ascend to paradise. Only the fourth generation ponies who spent their lives teaching the human race the joys of friendship and inspiring people to make the world a better place may go there. The rest of us live here forever. It's not a bad place; just boring. We know it's not the best situation to be in however there's nothing we can do about it. Thus, we wait here for eternity."

"That's terrible. It's not their fault if they were born before the fourth generation. Has anypony ever escaped from here somehow?"

"Ponies lucky enough to be reincarnated in the fourth generation have a chance of ascending to paradise. Thus Posey, whom you know better as Fluttershy, has escaped this realm. Reincarnation however is not our decision and the vast majority of us have not been as lucky as she has. Nevertheless, come, turn here, only a block or so more to go."

We passed a barber, a grocery store, and a restaurant. In the front of the latter, a small group of unicorns sat munching hay fries. When we finally reached the end of the block, I saw we were before a train station. It was probably the most modern looking building I had seen so far in the region. Unsure of what was going on, I sat on a bench on the platform as Galaxy went inside.

A short while later, she trotted out again considerably happier. "Well, it doesn't look like we'll be waiting her for long. Potentially, it could have been up to a week."

"Really?" I asked. "Why are the trains here so slow? And what would we do if we did have to wait that long."

"Oh I was just planning to check into one of the motels around here. I don't really know anypony who lives in this specific region of the circle. And most trains here are pretty fast. It's just that there's only one train going to the place I'm taking you and thus, it doesn't pass by here too often."

"In that case, how long do we have to wait? If it's longer than half an hour, I'm sleeping" I said glancing down the track.

"Trust me. It'll only be ten minutes. You can sleep on the train though. It's a long ride."

It was actually less than ten minutes later that the train pulled up. Maybe five. Either way, I was happy. It was a small train with only three carriages. We boarded the center one after reminding a shabby looking worker we could handle our non-existent luggage ourselves. It wasn't a lavish carriage by any means, but it was certainly comfortable.

Like Galaxy said, the train ride was pretty lengthy; but I didn't get as long of a nap as I intended. For one thing, it was a pretty loud and bumpy vehicle. In addition, some of the sights from the window were too surreal to miss seeing. About half an hour into our ride, the density of the buildings began lessening until we were soon well away from the large populated region we had come from. Over the course of our ride, we went through forests, seemingly endless prairies, and over steep majestic mountains. The forests were like none I had seen previously. By the size and thickness of their trees, they had to be a good deal older than any forest on earth. There were certainly rather strange looking trees as well however the train was going too fast for me to notice any specifics. Eventually, I managed to doze off for the last few hours.

We reached out destination sometime around what I guessed was night. The distinctions between the two were not as professed as those on Earth or in Equestria. During the day, the light was of the same quality as that of an abnormally cloudy afternoon. At night, the light was much dimmer, though still bright enough to see. Nevertheless, lights were on at the station as we pulled in.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a rather stunning red maned pony with cyan eyes. "Galaxy!" she shouted. "Glad you made it back. And I see you found him as well." Turning to me, she said, "Don't worry. You'll be fine. You can sleep in my area. Galaxy's dwelling place is too small to accommodate even another human."

"Er, thanks" I replied.

"It's Paradise dear. Call me Paradise. I'm the story teller and chief historian of our city." Trust me, once you meet the others, you'll remember more. But to do that, let's get back first."

Galaxy and Paradise began walking into the station building. As always, I followed with no idea what was going to happen next.

"Actually", Galaxy began, "we won't be sleeping here tonight. We've got to move one. Sorry! But we'll certainly stop a while to chat. I'm sure all the other's would love to meet a brony face to face."

"And I'm sure he would be just as interested in meeting all the other first generation ponies before going off to party with all the lucky third generation ones up in the good place. You would, wouldn't you?" Paradise asked as she turned to me.

"Sure", I mumbled, descending down a flight of steps and finding myself in what appeared to be a network of caves.

Paradise seemed to be a pretty outgoing and talkative pony. Humans like that usually made me uncomfortable; not that there was anything wrong with that of course. It was just the way I was. Now, however, I didn't mind it so much. There were still a lot of answers I needed and the more talkative the ponies around me, the more I would learn about hell.

"This section of the city consists of an enormous underground fortress. The whole city isn't underground. This is just part of it that is. Here, come in" said Galaxy.

We entered a large airy cavern which I assumed belonged to Paradise. In the middle of the cavern were several couches on which four other ponies were reclining. They introduced themselves to me as Locket, North Star, Cupcake, and Peach Blossom. I sat down next to the latter of those four while Galaxy and Paradise plopped themselves on the couch across from me.

It wasn't long before the ponies were all deeply engaged with conversation with each other. Most of the time, I had no idea what they were talking about and thus couldn't join. Not that I wanted to speak anyway. Despite my nap, I was still a little bit drowsy. At several points during the conversation, the ponies suddenly seemed to remember me and begin asking me questions, which I answered as concisely as possible. Finally, as I began to drift off to dreamland again, Galaxy stood up.

"Well now, it's certainly been a pleasure seeing you all again, and I hope to return soon, but we must really get going. "

I took that as my cue to get up and get ready to move. Parting took a lot longer than I hoped, with all the ponies wishing me luck and asking me to visit if I somehow got the chance. In a way, I was glad for their support, but for once, I wanted to move onward. When it was all over, Galaxy and I once more began traveling through the underground caves. Along the way, I glimpsed several other ponies whom I vaguely remembered from my earlier years. Rarely could I recall their names. Finally, opening what appeared to be an enormous manhole of some sort, Galaxy motioned for me to jump in.

Now, I found myself a large corridor of some sort. We were still underground, however instead of the natural wall of the caverns and cave pathways; the walls, floor, and ceiling of this place were lined with cold grey bricks.

"This is our city's labyrinth, the lowest level. It does hold several secrets which I am afraid you will most likely never learn. Follow me. It's easy to get lost in here."

In this way, once again, I jogged after her struggling to keep up with the rapid rhythm of her trot.