Chapters Scarcely a day had passed since I last sat on that small dirty bed, and already I found myself wishing for the very chains and bars which had bound me this past year. Those same bars which I had longed to be freed from, I wished before me now; for this freedom, which I had desired so greatly, now seemed to drown me. I was not fit for this world. When I was young, in my ignorance, I thought I might have had a chance. But time, in its wisdom, revealed all. "I'm a failure, no use to society", I thought to myself. Perhaps to organize my thoughts better, as if that was of any help. I knew all too well the truth of that statement. This is the time men are at their best. No, not in the immature so-called "golden years" everyone speaks of. Its now, a few years later, still strong but with considerable more sense, having been exposed to the teeth and claws of the real world. But this did not describe me at all. My body was weak, from a year of mere sitting; crying alone in my cell. I knew not the world, seeing as I was rarely sober enough to experience it. Before my arrest, I had been unemployed more often than otherwise. When I did have a job though, it was the same old boring type of work designed for high school drop outs like me; simple and repetitive manual labor of some form. Crime had been necessary to get by. As a bonus, it provided a thrill of a certain type. Before that period of my life, which had sent me off the right path for good, I had barely been human. I did not deserve life, I felt, nor did I really want it. Is there any point to life when one wakes to beg without success, whether for money, a place to stay, or a job, then sleep again only to wake and repeat the cursed process once more? Walking along the many bridges in my area, without aim, lost in every way possible, I had often considered ending it all by hurling myself over and diving through the rocks or river below, returning at last to that sweet unknown kingdom from whence we all came. Crime had given meaning to my life. It was fun. But in a way, it was starting to become skill, something I grew more adept at through practice. And that was all that was needed for it to become addicting. Of course, sometimes, my alcoholism and criminal activity clashed. It was in such an instance, after stumbling through a house, finding nothing worth taking and doing my best to flee the police while drunk that I was finally caught.
That had all been over a year ago. Now, sitting back in my old home, sipping a cup of tap water (my filter was broken), I pondered my path to this moment. In certain ways, it almost felt a blessing. My original thoughts were that a year of my life had gone to waste. But before long, I realized that EVERY year of my life had gone to waste, and that I had almost certainly been more comfortable in that jail cell, with a roof over my head this past year than I would have been if I had been "free". One of the first footholds in adult life is a job. And a lack of such a thing had been the root of my downfall. Luckily, upon the end of my sentence, I had been set up to work with a program run by the US Department of Labor. In a few minutes, I would leave to be interviewed. Hopefully, whatever open job they choose would in fact be as suitable as they claimed. Nevertheless, it was a great opportunity.
I needed to be at the building precisely at noon. I had an idea of where the place was. I still couldn't drive, but had been assured that the location was close enough to walk to. "Ten minutes before noon?" I asked myself, wondering when I should leave. "Nah, let's be safe and make it fifteen." I didn't want to get off to a bad start by being late to what might end up being the most important meeting in my life. Oh, shoot, it was already a quarter to noon. I set my bowl down, and swiftly walked out the door…
…or rather tried to. "Huh?" I thought to myself. Had all my years of suffering cause the cheese to totally slip off my cracker? Had my brief experiments with LSD use so many years ago damage my mind in ways that were only now becoming apparent? "No," I thought to myself. "My mind is simply having a hard time adjusting to the fact that I'm free. It's not used to me trying to lead an honest life." And with that, I simply attempted to walk by the dark monster before me. The ominous green glow of its horn soon stopped me again, and hesitantly, I retreated. This defied logic, yet I felt too awake and alert to be sleeping. The evil aura of the first creature pervaded the hall, growing stronger with each breath I took. With each moment that passed, the fear within me intensified, until I knew I would not go forward. Ignoring the hideous figure before me, the frightening sight of the two entities behind her added to my horror. One was both an animal and multiple animals simultaneously. No scientist or surgeon, I told myself, no matter how sick, twisted, and skilled, could make something like that. The creature to it's right was one I could identify, a dragon, with eyes fierce enough to fry what remains of my mind were left should I stare too long. I dared not even stand immobile. The evil emanating from the triple spectacle seemed almost physical; like a faint but constant pressure driving me back, hastening my retreat. Never before had I felt fear such as now, rarely again, and much more prepared, would I feel comparable feelings afterwards. But as one foot shifted behind another, I felt a warm, new sensation upon my back, halting me. Startled, I whipped myself around, in part, while keeping the murderous trio before me within eyesight. Beside me, its head barely up to my shoulder, stood a pony. Her mane was a glowing shade of pink, as brilliant as the nighttime sky. Her fur was a paler shade, like a rose, yet still thick and strong. Her warm eyes, red with life, gazed at me reassuringly. As I pondered the magnificent beauty beside me, my mind still dysfunctional from the impossible events of the past minute, my eyes glimpsed a figure upon her flank. Seven stars formed it and upon inspection I saw it was the Big Dipper. Actually, it might have been the Little Dipper for all I knew, or cared. Astronomy was too intellectual of a subject for me to understand. But hey, if you're going to get a tattoo of the one of those two, you might as well make it the Big Dipper right? I don't know. It wasn't a tattoo however. It couldn't be. Wait, I had seen something like this before. I knew I had. As crazy as it sounded to me, somewhere, I recognized that symbol. It was a cutie mark…
A what…?
Yep, all the stress that came with my change of surroundings was causing me to hallucinate about cartoons I had watched as a kid. But the feeling of her soft fur against me once again told me this was real. Hallucinations weren't this vivid. This was not that state of mind. I was too alive, too aware for this to be a mere figment of my imagination. "Galaxy!", I gasped as the name rose forth from the furthest portions of my memory. And then, seeing that I had recognized her at last, she spoke.
"It's been twenty years since I saw you last," she murmured, "what happened?" I couldn't quite comprehend her words at that instant. It was all too much. And what specifically did she mean by her question? The question had been a rhetorical one however, and she proceeded to turn her head forward. In the moment, I had forgotten about the hideous creatures before the door, blocking my exit. Upon remembering then, my heart grew uneasy once more. "These are the sources of your troubles," she explained. "They exist everywhere, in every human, and to an almost infinitely lesser extent, everypony as well. To succeed, you must first master them within yourself. Only then can you proceed to overcome their presence in your surroundings." She gestured toward the first with her head. "You may recognize Chrysalis", she continued, "She rules over the changelings, the demons of deceit and falsity. As a thief, you are greatly under her influence. Hence, she will be the most difficult for you to overthrow." She then gestured to the mishmash behind her. "This is Discord, the lord of chaos. Considering what a mess you have made of your life, he will be quite a battle for you too." Finally, she gestured to the last creature, the dragon. "This is the emperor of greed," she explained, "most thieves are dominated by his influence, however you stole mostly to survive, and thus his control over you is fairly limited. Nevertheless, you must bypass him."
I stood motionless. It was a lot of information to take in. Finally, I asked the obvious question; "And how exactly do I bypass them…?"
"Certainly not directly", she said, turning toward me once again, "We must go a longer route. Hopefully, you'll manage to stay with me. Oh, and along the way, I'll try to knock some sense into you! Should all go well, then by our journey's end you will have learnt enough to get by in this world successfully. Though you may suffer much during our journey, stay strong. Anyhow, grab my mane so we may begin." Taking my eyes off the creatures before me, I obeyed. As I felt my fist close around it, the floor beneath us gave way. A split second later, we were falling into pitch blackness.
Our descent ended in a most unusual fashion. In some ways, we seemed to have simply dropped into our new surroundings. In other ways, it seemed to fade into existence around us. When the transition process was done however, I did not seem to be on Earth anymore. There was light, its source unknown, and I could see my surroundings which consisted of a craggy barren wasteland. Above me was the endless backdrop of the sky, but it was not the free open sky I was used to. Instead, it seemed a blank restricting wall of darkness. I was still holding Galaxy's mane, which I only noticed when she began to proceed forward. I let go and followed along. It did not seem right for me to ask too many questions so early along the way. I figured I would wait to see if time itself would provide answers. And so we went our way. I stumbled along, climbing over piles of rubble and tripping on the uneven ground. The dim light did little to help my case. Meanwhile, my guide seemed to trot over and past all difficulties with ease. Minutes later, the dense air heavy in my throat, I finally ventured to speak.
"Can we take a break?" I asked, "Or at least slow down?"
"Oh please, don't tell me you can't handle a little hike. This is nothing compared to what's ahead." She replied.
"Well, I'm not exactly an outdoorsman having sat on a bed the past year, aside from a few odd jobs around the jailhouse…"
Her words had sparked my curiosity a bit however. I still knew very little about where I was or why I was even there. I only knew I wasn't exactly excited about the journey ahead. "It shouldn't be too long now" said my guide, "about two or three more hills before we reach the entrance. "Entrance to what?" I asked. "I'm still not clear on what's going on. Would you care to explain to me where we are going?"
"It's a simple enough situation. You've led a pretty sloppy and carefree life so far. Although right now, you are starting anew, you will most likely fall into your old ways again. You're subconscious mind rejects change. Your old outlook at life is so deeply ingrained into it. It will fight. Therefore, I'm here to guide you through the place you will spend eternity if you don't change your ways."
"Wait, so hell?"
"Yep, some people call it that. And hopefully, after you've seen it, you'll want to change enough that your conscious efforts to do so for the better will succeed."
I stopped walking. "Wait, you're really taking me to hell, of all places? How is that even possible?" My vision started to get dizzy with the thought of that place. "Ummmmm, I don't think this is a good idea" I said, "is there no other way?"
"You'll have to go eventually" she replied, "if not temporarily now, then later and forever. Should it not be an obvious choice?"
I sighed and began walking forward again as she continued speaking.
"Fear not however. Your friends in Equestria care about you. They would not have sent me here otherwise. Having sat in limbo for the past few decades, I've grown pretty apathetic toward a lot of things. I would not have known you needed help had my superiors not plead with me to guide you."
I was intrigued. "Why was I chosen to be helped, of all the lost souls in the world" I asked, "and who are these superiors you speak of."
Galaxy continued with her tale. "Well, as I sat in limbo one day, a certain visitor came to our region. She was one of the blessed third generation ponies who had succeeded in sticking to the right path through life. Her fur was the same brilliant blue as the sky which I have not seen in ages, and with her mane's dazzling array of colors, she brought a forbidden gleam of divine light into our circle with her presence. Coming to me, she introduced herself as Rainbow Dash, explained that she had a very dear friend who had wandered off the path of righteousness, and beseeched me to help him. Upon hearing this, I agreed to the task, for knowing the horrors of hell, I hated to see men fall to such a fate if I could help it. However, before her departure, I saw fit to ask her why she had come herself, instead of sending a letter through dragon mail, or one of the specialized pegasi who had been trained to carry mail between Equestria and the infernal regions below. To this, she replied that this was not just a matter of great importance to herself, but several others as well. The Equestrian Ponies care about their fans, bronies included. Therefore Princess Celestia, upon seeing your plight, at once took action to save you. With her royal duties however, she passed the job along to Princess Cadence who in turn felt that Rainbow would be the best pony for the job, seeing that you had loved her most. There is a right time for everything however and having waited so long, it has come. Hence I am guiding you now. It's now or never."
Rainbow! I thought to myself. I hadn't thought of her in years. Pleased and thankful she still remembered me enough to save me, I pressed forward.
THROUGH ME IS THE WAY TO THE LAND OF FALSITY
WHERE KINDNESS EXISTS NOT
WHERE LAUGHTER RINGS NOT
AND GENEROSITY IS UNHEARD OF
BEYOND ME TRACHERY DWELLS IN PLACE OF LOYALTY
AND THE MAGIC OF LIGHT CEASES TO BE KNOWN
I AM THE GATE THROUGH WHICH HARMONY CAN NOT PASS
ABONDON ALL HOPE OF FRIENDSHIP, YE WHO ENTER HERE!
These words were written over the arched doorway, carved from the cliff face before me. Upon seeing them, my heart grew weak with fear. Galaxy, sensing my fear, chuckled. "Those words are meant for the dead. Those, who unable to make friends during life, must suffer without them beyond death. You, being a living soul, still have the choice to change and thus, you must learn to do so now. If, however, you should ever see this sign again, know you have failed and I as well. The pathway into the cave is warped and hard to navigate. Therefore, grab my mane again so we may proceed swiftly.
I did as she asked and together we proceeded forward through the arched gateway. Once again, I found myself in pitch darkness. The ground, luckily, seemed to be made of hard clay which descended downward evenly. Occasionally, off in the distance, I thought I heard the sound of running water. Our footsteps made faint echoes. Besides this, and our breathing, all was quiet. The ground seemed to level off and we continued forward. Suddenly, everything changed.
The dark black cave had vanished. We were in the middle of a clearing. Behind us was a forest. Immediately, the air was filled with the sound of anguished screaming. Surprised by the unexpected change of surroundings, I nearly collapsed. Only by using Galaxy as a support was I able to right myself and adjust.
"That's how the gate works" she explained, "it prevents people from escaping."
"Sure" I replied, "but what in the world is all of this screaming? What people deserve to suffer so that they make a noise such as that?"
Galaxy grimaced. "These are the indecisive; those who never did anything useful with their life. During important situations, they could not make their own decisions. They never chose sides."
As my eyes adjusted to the darker lighting, I saw before me a large multitude of creatures arranged as a disorganized herd. As we moved closer, I saw they were chasing after a large floating ball with a dazzling array of pictures and symbols.
"If you look closely, you might notice that none of the inhabitants of this region have cutie marks. In life, they did not work or live up to the destiny described by the marks. Therefore, in death, they have none and must chase the ball for eternity. They are neither in hell nor out of hell. They have been forgotten."
I looked at the crowd of creatures before me seeing if there were any I recognized. I noticed several of them were large muscular ponies wearing thick black armor. "Who are those?" I asked Galaxy, pointing at one. "Those are the bodyguards of Princess Luna back when she was Nightmare Moon. They are the ones who didn't know whether to remain with their master or aid her sister Celestia. Therefore, they remained idle and must suffer for it."
They were a sad sight indeed. Their armor was tarnished, dirty, and dull. Still, it was clear that at one point they had shone like silver fire. Their expressions where those of a creature who had lost all hope for anything; condemned to chase the ball around forever. Suddenly, I saw another figure pass by. Even in the dim light, I seemed to recognize her from somewhere. She had lavender fur and dark purple mane and tail with a pink streak through the middle.
"Twilight…?" I asked in disbelief. Galaxy sighed. "Yes" my guide answered, "you may recall that at one point she was forced to choose among her friends which one to take to the Grand Galloping Gala. The whole situation ended peacefully of course, but only physically speaking. Twilight never had to make the decision, and if she had just forgotten the whole thing, everything would have been fine. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her friends, the question remained within her mind the rest of her life. It haunted her. Many years' worth of potentially productive time she spent pondering who she would have chosen had she been forced to make the choice. Although Celestia's gift of the 5 extra tickets seemed like a blessing at the time, it sentenced Twilight to a life of mental unrest. Henceforth, she too is here."
It was a sad story. The ball had long since disappeared over the horizon. Before us, the large herd of creatures chasing it began to thin. A few minutes later, it had passed allowing my guide and me to continue forward once more. As we walked, I couldn't help notice the unusual sensation of the ground beneath me. Having been subject to hourly stampedes since the beginning of time, it had been packed together to a density of an enormous magnitude. Still, the surface was cracked and decorated with the faint impression of billions of hooves, claws, and paws. Walking forward, we climbed a short ridge and upon doing so I could hear the sound of desperate lamentation again. Descending the other side, I saw before me a large body of water nearly extending beyond the horizon. The water glittered ominously like dark obsidian. It's shores too consisted of dark sand and jagged rocks. A single large dock stood in its midst. An aged and grumpy looking sea serpent was making its way to it, leaving a v shaped trail behind it as it swam. Waiting on dock were more condemned ponies raising a tumultuous cry. As Galaxy and I joined them, their words became clearer. Some cursed their parents, others their teachers, and some the Alicorn Princesses for their plight. None blamed themselves.
The sea serpent stopped by the dock and two ponies jumped down from his back. Although they possessed wings, they were not pegasi. Their eyes glowed a murderous shade of red. Their tails were long and barbed and their wings like those of a bat. They moved behind us and slowly herded us onto the back of the naga, using their tails to whip those reluctant to board. As I raised my foot to take the final step onto the sea serpent's back, it spoke.
"HALT!" Everyone looked up. As I did as well, I felt as if sucked into the empty void of the sea serpent's eyes.
"What in all of Equestria is a living soul doing here?" He seemed shocked, rather than angry. "Begone from here. Are you lost or mad?"
A voice beside me spoke. "Let him on. It is by the order of her majesty Princess Celestia herself that he enter the land of the condemned. You do not dare question her will do you? Make way for us; we have a task to complete!"
And thus, Galaxy and I boarded the sea serpent, who promptly began to swim across the vast expanse of the river. Around me, ponies glared and gnashed their teeth, jealous of my hope of salvation. Still, none came too close.
I mentioned earlier that I am not a very athletic or strong man and thus, before long, I was struck by a feeling of nausea which grew and forced me to sit. Lowering my head in my arms, I remained still until we reached the other bank.
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.
I awoke to the sound of rain, mixed with one of the most putrid smells I had ever experienced within my lifetime. As I came to, I noticed I was wet. Pushing my hands to the ground to prop myself up, I noticed they sank into the mud a little. As I rose, I realized that there was something very wrong with this place. Wiping my dirty hands on my jeans, I turned and found Galaxy behind me. "You seem entertained easily" she said. "I've never seen anyone laugh so hard. You really hurt her feelings you know."
"Huh?" I mumbled, still drowsy. Slowly, it all started coming back to me; Galaxy, the ride on the naga, the labyrinth, Rarity, and finally me passing out." The thought of my most recent memories might have caused me to crack up once again, however as I was regaining my senses, the stench of my surroundings had a greater and greater affect upon me. I lifted my arm to my face to shield my nose from the horrible odor only to put it down when I realized my sleeve smelled even worse. What was going on?
"Galaxy, where in Celestia's name have you taken me now?" I choked out, attempting to breathe through my mouth.
"We're in the third circle right now. This is the home of the gluttons; the ponies who were slaves to their appetites."
Suddenly, I heard a growl behind us. Turning, I saw a large Diamond Dog charging toward us, kicking up mud as we ran. Beside me, Galaxy's horn began to glow a bright shade of hot pink. Before us, a chunk of the ground likewise began to grow and levitate. Furrowing her brow in concentration, she hurled the chunk of mud into the dogs mouth. As the dog chewed, the mud continued to glow, transforming into a stickier glue-like substance. Moments later, the dog's mouth had been glued shut. Whimpering and scared, it turned and ran off into the distance.
Looking around, I saw another multitude of ponies sprawled out and scattered upon the ground. All had their heads in the ground and were greedily swallowing large mouthfuls of dirt. As Galaxy continued to explain, we walked among them.
"The ground here is made from stale and moldy sponge cake. A rain of sour chocolate milk falls eternally. Those who dwell here are compelled to eat away at the mixture of the ground and rain as punishment for their attitude during life."
It was a disgusting sight, and although I had not notice earlier, the rain was indeed brown. So far, none of the ponies had given heed to us as we passed. With their eyes and ears smeared and filled with the awful sludge of the stale sponge cake soaked in sour chocolate milk, they were oblivious to our presence. Finally, after some time, we approached a pony who acknowledged us. Lifting her head from the ground and turning toward us, she spoke.
"Well hello there. It's nice to see a living soul for once. Do you recognize me?"
Slightly taken aback by the question, I examined here carefully to see if I did. Nothing specific about here reminded me of anypony I knew. Finally, I admitted I did not.
"It's me, Applejack" she replied. "A large portion of the Apple family dwells here because of our dietary habits in life."
I was saddened when I heard her words, but admittedly kind of saw it coming. Upon examining her again, I began to see the similarities between the pony before me and the smiling and cheerful pony she had been when alive.
"Look, sir. You have to listen to me. Your people have forgotten the earth pony way. The same link with nature that we earth ponies have also exists within humans. It's just weaker, however it can be developed. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of humans, it has become dormant. Your people are out of harmony with Mother Nature. She has been patient with you, her children long enough now. You have harmed her creatures and destroyed her body with your pointless wars. She has had enough. Do your people, in their arrogance, really think they can control her? Oh how easy it would be for her to pop one of the many supervolcanoes she has laying around just for that purpose. Or, maybe a deadly unstoppable plague this time around. I don't know, however if you guys don't settle yourselves and act mature, it will be the end of you."
Horrified, I realized how true her words were. "Applejack, are there any humans left on earth in which the link with nature is still active? Is there anyone I can learn the earth pony way from?" I asked her.
"Oh, a few shamans maybe. But a lot of them are on reservations and only use their abilities for the betterment of their tribe. I can understand their distrust of outsiders. Maybe a few members of OBOD and AODA as well. Other than that, not really."
"But, there do appear to be some politicians interested in protecting the environment. What about them."
"Yes, what about them indeed. Well…, let's just say a lot of them will end up even lower than I am upon death. They don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them only say things like that to increase their public image. When you return to earth, reveal all that I have told you. Start a movement with a genuine aim at restoring the balance between man and nature. Celestia willing, and why on earth shouldn't she, you will succeed."
With that, Applejack slumped her head forward and once again began gnawing at the dirt. As I prepared to ask more, Galaxy stopped me. "Speak no more to her for she is finished. We must get going now. Surely, you don't want to spend a minute longer in this place do you?"
As she said this, she turned rightward and began trotting. While Applejack was speaking, my mind had been distracted from the horrid conditions around me. Now, the stench once more filled my nostrils as I jogged behind my guide, desperate to leave this place.
"ID?" asked Sombra as we stood before the front desk of the infernal YMCA.
Galaxy glared at him unimpressed.
"Hey" said Sombra, "I'm really not allowed to let you in if you don't show me your membership cards."
"Look here" began Galaxy, "You know why we're here, and you know we have the permission of the alicorn royal family to enter. You don't want me to call Cadance down here do you?"
At the mention of the crystal princess, Sombra's eyes flashed red with fear.
"Go!" he said, "Do what you will"
We walked by his desk and entered a door behind him. On the other side was a staircase. Galaxy took a moment smooth out her mane, which had become matted and sticky from the rain of the previous circle, before proceeding to ascend. As a followed her, I became aware of a faint clamor.
As we grew near the top, the clamor grew greater. Soon enough, I was considering covering my ears with my hands until we left the circle. I probably would have, but Galaxy seemed fine and I didn't want her to think me weak, which she probably did already. At the top of the steps was another door, closed but unguarded. Opening it with her teeth, Galaxy moved aside to let me through before following me in. We were in a large gymnasium of some sort. In some ways, it was similar to a large basketball stadium only it stretched beyond the horizon. In many other ways, it was a battlefield in the midst of war. The air reeked of blood, the dirty floor was stained with puddles of it, and around us we could hear screams of pain and anguish. I couldn't take my eyes off the gruesome spectacle before us, though I desperately wanted to. Everywhere, bloody ponies waded about in what appeared to be a gruesome variation of dodge ball. The balls they used were about the size of bowling balls, only spiked and metallic in luster. All were decorated with beautiful patterns of dazzling jewels. Although I could not see the dividing line due to the blood and gore, the ponies evidently knew where it lay and did not cross it. Some were missing limbs. Others had crushed skulls. Most had large puncture wounds all across their bodies due to the spikes on the balls. All, however, were bleeding profusely.
I focused my attention on one specific pony. So red with blood was its fur that I couldn't tell what color it was. Picking up a golden ball studded evenly with diamonds, she hurled it toward the other side with a great cry of "WHY DO YOU HOARD?!" The ball lodged itself in the spine of a creature on the other side. Looking closer, I recognized it as a dragon, though a pretty measly looking one. Pulling the ball out of its back with its claws, the dragon hurled it back with a great cry of, "WHY DO YOU SQUANDER?!" The first pony, seeing the ball headed her way, barely managed to duck in time as it whizzed by. Moments later, another spiked platinum ball decorated with swirls of rubies and emeralds impaled it in the chest. So bloody and bashed were these entities that I could not identify their gender.
Despite all that had happened to me already, the only thing running through my mind was, "What the heck?" This, I repeated mentally over and over again, faster and faster like a mantra, hoping it would shield or otherwise distract my mind from the horror of the spectacle. I wanted to ask what was going on but couldn't. Turns out, I didn't have to.
"Trust me, this isn't the bloodiest circle we'll come across", Galaxy began rather humorlessly. "These are the souls of those unwise with money. On one side are the squanderers. On the other side, the hoarders. They must fight perpetually for their errors in life."
"So, they're probably like all dragons then?" I asked. From what I remembered, ponies didn't seem to hoard a lot.
"Actually, no. The dragons who were so well behaved in life that hoarding was their only vice are found here. Dragons usually have many more. You'll see."
Galaxy began trotting down the bleachers. Naturally, I followed her. As we neared the bottom, I began cowering behind her, terrified I would be hit. The dodgeball players however, due to what might amount to centuries of practice, seemed to have fairly decent aim, and since I was not their target, I began to feel safer as we walked along the bottom level of the gymnasium. Still, when we reached another door which Galaxy opened, I sprinted around her, flinched when I stepped one foot in the court, and nearly tumbled down the stairs on the other side.
Cobwebs littered the ceiling and the floor looked as if it hadn't been swept in many years. Along the wall, gum and graffiti was everywhere. Half of it wasn't even in English. As we neared the bottom of the steps, the faint sound of screaming started up again. "Oh jeez" I thought to myself. "What now?"
We turned the corner and found ourselves in a long hallway. The left wall consisted of a continuous row of windows. Looking in as we walked, I saw that the other side consisted of an endless series of boxing rings. Once again, they tessellated beyond the horizon. In each ring, two creatures fought each other eternally.
"Well, here be your dragons", muttered Galaxy. I could tell from her tone that she didn't like dragons.
"Along with all the other irritable wrathful ponies and what not. Let's hurry."
We walked to the other end of the hall. As we did, I kept looking at the fighting creatures. Growing up in the ghetto, I had seen numerous fistfights, and even one knifefight which had luckily ended relatively peacefully. Never, however, had I seen anything like this. There didn't seem to be any rules or referees. Everywhere, there was groin kicking, eye gouging, fish hooking, biting… Man, even out on the streets, we had an unspoken code about some moves. Here though, nothing was forbidden.
We finally reached the end of the hall and entered another door. I found myself in what was apparently a locker room of some sort. It was clear, though, by the rust, smell, dirt, and cobwebs that it had not been used in ages. Crossing it, we went through another door to the pool.
Or at least some structure that more a resemblance to an outdoor pool. The sides consisted of a border that looked like it might surround a pool and there were metallic ladders leading into the water. In addition, every few dozen yards were empty lifeguard chairs.
The "pool" however extended forever over horizon and to the left and right. I guess in some ways, it could sort of be called a giant artificial lake or something. I guess things just weren't the same in Equestria's hell as on earth, in the human universe.
I turned around and looked at the YMCA. It too, seemed to stretch forever to the right and left. In the top floors however, were many windows to rooms where the light was on. They resembled cubicle windows in skyscrapers turned on at night.
Looking at the windows, it struck me that they flared on and off in a pattern of some sort. Yes, they definitely had some form of organization. Morse code maybe? Or maybe some sort of Equestrian equivalent.
"Do the lights mean something", I asked Galaxy.
"Yeah" she replied, "Look out over the sea. If the mist isn't too strong, you should see it."
I turned my gaze out over the vast body of water before me. A haunting fog hovered over it. Struggling to see into the distance, my peripheral vision caught hold of a faint glimmer lurking at the right side of my field of vision. As I my eyes adjusted once more to the darkness, I saw the figure of a ship beneath it.
"Oh. That?" I asked
"Yep" the patterns of the lights send messaged to the various ferrymen across the sea. They can also be used to call up certain creatures the dwell beneath its deeper waters..."
I looked back up at the enormous building behind me. The order of the lights had changed. Within the highest windows, I thought I saw movement but it might have just been an illusion. Despite the haunting aura of the building, I still preferred looking at it to gazing over the endless watery abyss behind me. For the first time, Galaxy sat down. I did as well, and vigorously rubbed my face to ease its tension. For a while, we sat there waiting. I knew we were going across the water, but after my first trip via the naga, I was not looking forward to this one.
A few minutes later, I heard a distinct sound behind me. Raising my head, I realized that Galaxy was already standing alert. Getting up myself, I turned and saw that the distant ship I had seen earlier was quickly approaching the shore. That is, if you could call it a shore.
As it neared, I could make its outline out more clearly. It was modeled after a pirate ship, though a small one. What I had originally thought was a single light was actually three lanterns strung together upon its mast. Its sails glowed a ghostly shade of gray by virtue of the reflected light of the building behind me. So far, it seemed to be empty. Besides the wind in its sails, no sound emanated from it.
The boat pulled up in front of us. As it did so, I could see that there was indeed a figure upon the deck, though he had blended in quite nicely with the pole holding the mast behind him.
"Well well well, What have we here", asked the figure gleefully, "Another one to be forever under my influence I suppose."
"Sorry Zeb", Galaxy spoke beside me. "This one's going to Spite, and you're going to take us there."
"Pffft. Yeah right!", Zeb retorted, "that ain't what the lights say…"
"As if I cared…" replied Galaxy back, "We have a rather unusual situation here and it just so happens that you got dragged into it. Now take us across!"
Zeb looked closer at me for moment. He opened his mouth to protest before contorting his face into a confused expression. Deciding not to ask any more questions, he turned and let down a large set of collapsible stairs. Galaxy and I began walking up together. As I did so, I jumped as a wet creature hoisted itself out of the water and crawled before me, blocking my path.
"Living human, who are you, who walks in the land of the condemned?" she asked
"Why do you care?" I replied, "It's none of your business."
Something in her voice had caused me to answer in such a rude and abrupt tone. At the moment, I couldn't quite put my hand on it.
"I am one who cries eternally for in life, I was reckless and violent. Even in life, these traits caused me trouble, though I never changed them. Now, it is too…"
"BEGONE YOU VIOLENT MARE!" shouted Galaxy beside me as she sent the creature flying back into the water with a kick from her hoof.
Turning to me, she said, "It was right of you to shun her, for that is her fate. In life, she ignored others and caused them to suffer to advance to her own lofty heights. Now, she must suffer as well."
"Really?" I asked as I suddenly recognized who the mare had been, "That's it? It would be better if she suffered the violence she caused to others for eternity instead of simple isolation."
"Very well, you will have your wish than" said Galaxy
"AT LIGHTENENING DUST" came a great shout from all around. At once, a large multitude of condemned ponies rose from the water and dragged her under while beating her.
As we boarded the ship and began our journey, I listened as the muffled sounds of the struggle slowly faded away.
I turned to face the other direction. Zeb was now relaxing on a hammock near the stern of the ship. As we moved further out to see, I sensed the winds around us begin to pick up. Moving closer to the center of the ship to avoid being blown overboard, I heard the sound of thunder above us.
"Oh dear" said Galaxy, "If we get caught up in that, we may never see land again"
I shuddered at the thought. Luckily however, our journey was not intended to be a long one at all. In front of us, I saw the faint glimmer of lights on the distant shore. It was only a matter of time before we reached it. With every second, they came closer. The warm glow of the lights seemed a strange relief from the murky and dark water of the ocean and sky around us. Still, each circle so far had been worse than the last and I was not sure what to expect now.
"We're approaching the city of Spite" Galaxy began. "It's the most populated city of hell. We'll be there for pretty much the rest of our journey."
"It must be one heck of a city then" I said. We were almost at the shore. From the light of the torches, I could now see the cold granite walls of the massive metropolis.
"It is the location of the fire of hatred" said Galaxy. "If the fire of friendship is not strong in your heart, it will consume you. Therefore, watch your emotions and stay faithful to the forces of harmony."
The boat bumped up against the side and with a clang, Zeb once more let down the stairwell. As we got off, I looked in awe at the size and magnitude of the outer walls of Spite. To the left of us, embedded in the walls, was a large portcullis that gleamed a violent shade of brownish red. As we headed over, I noticed that it was guarded by a multitude of changelings.
They made a hissing sound that seemed to be directed at us. "Carefull," whispered Galaxy in my ear. "Remember, there are many in this land who take offence at your presence. "
Two changelings flew over to meet us halfway and began speaking in that screechy voice that is so characteristic of them. "Why in Chrysalis's name have you brought a living human to the Equestrian land of the condemned dead?" asked one in disbelief. "Surely you realize that he cannot enter here" continued the other." In the background, the hissing of the other changeling continued.
"Let me address all of you at once then" said Galaxy. Motioning for me to remain in place, she headed off to the gate with the two changeling trailing her.
They didn't speak long. And although I could tell their conversation was heated, I was too far away to understand what was happening. I finally knew, however, when Galaxy trotted back with a defeated expression upon her face.
"So, how'd it go?" I asked sarcastically.
Galaxy sighed. "It's the type of behavior I expected from them." she said, "Changelings just don't seem to change over time. But then again, that's why they're here I guess. Don't worry, we'll get in somehow."
"Riiigggghhhhttt" I said, as I rolled my eyes.
Galaxy tried to keep her cool about the whole situation but I could tell she was irked.
"So" I began, "What happens now? Do we just go back?"
"No" said Galaxy with an exasperated sigh, "Just be patient a little."
This didn't seem like the type of problem that solved itself but I didn't want to argue with her. I realized now that to somepony like Galaxy, standing in that place forever probably wasn't a big deal since that's what she would be doing otherwise. Thus, she wasn't having a mental breakdown like I was. In the background, the large crowd of changelings still guarded the gate, the flutter of their wings clearly audible.
Suddenly, three creatures swooped down from the darkness of the sky and brought themselves to a hover above us. They were griffons.
"Hmmph. A living human eh? I always knew the old princess was a bit off her rocker." began one of them.
"Yeah, he doesn't belong here. We need to do something about that." said the second, her voice sounding like that of a hermaphrodite.
"You know, I think he's a bit too out of place to do attempt that." interjected the third.
"I disagree completely" said the second, "We could certainly start by killing him so he's dead like everypony else around here."
"You know Gilda, I couldn't agree more." said the first.
"Well good" snapped the second. Immediately, she leaned forward and bore down upon me with her claws outstretched. I stood motionless, too shocked to run and unsure of where to go if I tried.
Suddenly a flash of hot pink light blasted the griffon and sent her veering out of control. Unable to regain control, she slammed into the ground behind us.
"Wow!" I shouted at her, "That was pathetic. How in the name of Celestia did you train at the same school as Rainbow Dash?"
In a rage, Gilda picked herself up and prepared to resume her attack. Next to me, Galaxy's magic aura around her horn glowed again as she prepared for a potentially stupid move by Gilda.
"By the decree of her highness Princess Celestia, you are not to touch him?" she shouted.
Gilda laughed. "Oh don't worry. I won't need to touch the pathetic thing." Turning to her friends, she said, "Come on now, bring the cockatrice."
Galaxy gasped. "Stay turned" she whispered, "and close your eyes. If that thing manages to catch your gaze, you'll be turned to stone."
I closed my eyes without protest. Behind me, some large creature moved toward us as I stood in silence. Because I couldn't see anything, I began to panic.
Suddenly, the sound of trumpets blasted through the air and I felt something rushing toward me from the front. As I began to cower into a ball, Galaxy breathed a sigh of relief. "It's ok now. You can look."
When I opened my eyes, I saw a royal chariot passing overhead, drawn by two majestic snow white pegasi. As it neared the wall, the crowd of changelings fled before its presence and scrambled to the other side. The chariot parked itself in front of the gate and out came Shining Armor.
Walking up to the gate and peering into the holes, he shouted, "How many times do you have to learn that Celestia's will is not to be taken lightly? Are you all really that thick headed? Open up!"
At once, the gate lifted with a sound reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard, only louder. When it was done, Shining Armor once more entered the chariot, and flew off once again over the sea.
"Well then" said Galaxy, "that was actually a lot quicker that I thought. Come now, let's go inside."
We walked through. The changelings stood on either side of the entrance. When we had passed, they let down the gate with a tremendous clamor and bothered us no more.
Since Galaxy has said Spite was a city, I expected to see many buildings but that was not the case. Instead, I saw before me a vast cemetery of open flaming tombs; a large plain spotted with infinite points of light.
"Wow, what is this?" I asked
"This is the final resting place for all who were unfriendly." said Galaxy, "Those who throughout their lives were always sour and cranky. Each of them had many opportunities throughout their lives to make friends and have fun but they chose not to. By rejecting the magic of friendship, they condemned themselves to this horrible fate.
Galaxy led me to a particular part of the cemetery where the fire of the tombs glowed with a tint of green. "Here lies the cult of heretics known as the Big Brothers", she said. "They falsely believed that popularity and athletic ability could triumph the magic of friendship. They were led by a leader named Chief. He was generally a pretty nice guy. He just grew up in the wrong environment and as a result, was quite wrongheaded about all sorts of things."
"So", I asked. "Can the shades in the tombs speak?"
"You will find that out for yourself sometime soon", replied Galaxy.
Almost as if on cue, a pony stood up from a tomb on my right and spoke. "Human, state your name and profession?" it snapped.
"I know not what I am now" I replied, "But previously I was a thief and a criminal."
"Ah, then sure you must know me then", she said, "For you are of my kind." Seeing my hesitation to answer, she asked, "Do you not recognize me?"
"I do now Masquerade", I said, "Sorry, but I'm a bit slow with names."
Suddenly, another pony stood up from the tomb next to him. The flame from the tomb glowed with a tinge of grey.
"Hey, you", gasped the pony, "Is that my daughter beside you? Pinkie…PINKIE! Can you hear me?"
"Oh, hey Igneous Rock!" I said, "No, that's not her beside me. Sorry, I don't know where Pinkie is. I think she's fine though."
"Why isn't she with you then?", moaned Igneous.
"I dunno", I said, "Maybe she hugged Rainbow Dash a few too many times."
It was meant to be a joke, but apparently not one that the old pony got. Assuming that something horrible had happened to Pinkie, he collapsed once more into his tomb."
"So, what's being a criminal in the human world like?" asked Masquerade.
"Oh, you know", I said, "It sucks. But then again I really didn't have too much of a choice."
"Really?", asked Masquerade, "You stole because you needed to? That's pathetic! Stealing is fun. Why don't you enjoy it?"
"Because it's just wrong", I said, "And plus, it doesn't make too much money anyways. If I do it too often, I risk getting caught."
Masquerade rolled her eyes. "Whatever", she said, "If you say so. Just keep you skills in shape. You'll need them again later on."
"Wait, huh? How would you know?" I asked.
"Oh, we shades do have that ability", she replied back with a smirk, "It's really annoying because we have no idea what's going on in the present and thus, our glimpses of the future rarely make any sense. Oh, speaking of the present, how's Ponyland?"
"Uhhhhh, it's Equestria now" I said.
"Oh, that happened already? Well never mind then."
"Hey, can you tell Igneous Rock that Pinkie's still alive?", I asked her.
"Yeah, sure." She said, "Aaaaaand, it looks like my time is up with you."
"Well, in that case, goodbye", I said. "Wait, one more thing. Who else is in there with you?" I asked, suddenly curious.
"Uh, let's see", she said peering down, "Princess Serena, Mimic, and a bunch of other ponies that drive me crazy sometimes. Well, that's it for me." As she finished her words, she collapsed down once more into the tomb.
"Well then," said Galaxy, "We'd better get going now. Hey, why do you look all sad?"
"Masquerade said that I'd have to use the skills I learned as a thief again", I replied, "Does that mean I'm coming on this journey for nothing?"
Galaxy laughed. "No, don't worry about it. When we get out of this place, that sky-colored friend of yours will explain everything. But for now, let's keep focused so we can get
Galaxy and I had been walking along for some time before we reached the next circle. She stopped quite a ways before reaching the actual edge. Since I didn't notice, I continued forward until I was peering over. For some reason, only then did I notice the foul odor emanating from its depth. Gagging, I hurried back to Galaxy who was leaning against a tomb at the end of the cemetery of heretics. When I reached her, I sat upon it and clutched my stomach to keep from vomiting. For a while, we waited in silence. Finally, she spoke.
"The atmosphere of the lower circles is rancid indeed. We must proceed slowly to acclimate ourselves. Let's wait here a while to get used to the smell."
"Well", I replied, "Can you tell me a little about the lower circles while we wait so we can be a little more productive?" I asked.
"I like the way you're thinking", she said, "In fact, I was just getting to that."
I straightened myself up as I prepared to listen closely.
"The lower levels of hell are divided into three circles. These each have divisions of their own. In the circle right below us is the violent, however you must know that ponies can be violent in three ways: to each other, to themselves, and to Celestia. The first division of the seventh ring is for those ponies who were violent to each other. It goes without saying that they never learned the magic of friendship. Therefore, many soldiers who fought just to fight are there, along with all robbers, evil unicorn duelists, and everypony else who attacked and fought their way throughout life at the expense of others. The second division contains those who were violent to themselves. They never were comfortable with who they were and through their whole life, caused themselves emotional or even physical harm for it. In addition are those who did violence to their possessions by gambling them all away. Finally, in the third division are those who were violent against Celestia herself. These are the people who made a conscious decision to disrupt friendship and extinguish harmony wherever they pleased.
The last two circles are reserved for the fraudulent. Fraud is a great enemy against friendship, but there are two types. First are the average everyday charlatans. And then of course you have those who blatantly betrayed someone they were familiar with. The first kind gradually spreads mistrust and causes ponies to be wary of each other. This makes it harder for friendships to form. The later kind however actively destroys existing friendships. Therefore, traitors who perpetrate it dwell within the ninth and last circle."
"It seems to me that these ponies must have it pretty bad", I said, "why are they punished harsher and separate from those in the higher circles?" I asked.
"Well, if you recall the teachings of the great philosopher Peach Blossom, you'll know that there are three sources of discord in any form, spiritual, physical, political … it doesn't matter. The first is incontinence. This means giving in to your lower selfish desires. This results in various forms of self-centeredness that prevent one from making friends. Since this is a passive sin against friendship, those who perpetrate such sins are punished to a lesser extent. The second type of sin is hatred, which leads to active acts against friendship. For this reason, haters are punished in the lower circles. Those who perpetrate the third kind of sin, insane brutality, get tossed through a mirror to another universe. Princess Celestia wants nothing to do with them. It's a very rare occurrence, and it's also probably what would happen to Pinkie Pie if death itself weren't so terrified to approach her."
Images of cupcakes suddenly danced before my vision.
"But then again, not every story you hear about her is true you know. In fact, she's probably not even half as evil as some tales might portray her. It's just that she can teleport, do sonic pinkbooms, defy gravity, and has unprecedented levels of psychic ability and no one has any idea how any of that is possible. Either way, we've waited long enough, let's get going. We don't have unlimited time you know."
The pathway down started off as a circular set of stone stairs, but gradually transformed into a rough gravel path as it steepened. This wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the darkness around us, causing me to stumble on more than a few occasions. Quadrupeds didn't seem to have as much of a problem as humans with this sort of thing. As Galaxy and I descended, the air, if it wasn't cold already, grew yet more frigid. Eventually, after a few minor slopes and hills, we found ourselves in a narrow ravine. As I prepared to go through, a monstrous roar shook the air and caused me to leap out of my skin. I had been so focused on my feet and not tripping that I did not notice the murderous red eyes glowing in front of us, nor the giant figure who possessed them. I watched in horror as the monster, which I recognized as a minotaur stomped toward us growling.
"Hey Iron Will. You don't happen to think this is Fluttershy I have with me here do you?" shouted Galaxy, "Remember, the one who stood up to you and overpowered you in verbal combat back in Equestria? Well, it's not so you might as well leave us alone."
Upon hearing Fluttershy's name, the minotaur's anger grew to epic proportions. His slow saunter turned into an attempted sprint toward us, with the desire to kill us both. Unfortunately for him, he was rather clumsy and before getting too far, he tripped and knocked his head against the ground.
"Quick" said Galaxy, "let's go." The words had barely left her mouth when she was past Iron Will and rapidly galloping away. I sprinted after her, careful lest I too should fall and knock myself out. We ran until we were out of the ravine. I did not even realize I lost sight of Galaxy until I was too tired to run any longer. Stopping, to take a breather, I realized that since this was a ravine, she could only be ahead and that finding her shouldn't be too much of a problem.
I started walking again. Even in the cold, sweat ran down my body and soaked my clothes. I wanted to wait to cool down a bit before starting up again. In the frigid environment, it shouldn't take too long.
It was then that I realized the air was no longer frigid. In fact, it was now uncomfortably hot like noon on a summer day. The unexpected change unnerved me and I quickened my pace to find Galaxy. It wasn't long before I found her again waiting for me.
We walked out of the ravine together. Over a hill, I could see a faint glimmer of red light which we walked toward. As I peered down the other side, I saw it led to the banks of what appeared to be a lava flow.
"This is a river of blood, where suffer those who were violent toward their neighbors." said Galaxy as we walked down. As we got closer, I noticed several armored figures on the banks. Their armor glowed a dark midnight blue.
"Hey, who goes there? And to what level of punishment are you heading towards?" shouted one of the figure, "Speak or I will shoot."
"Stay your rage" called Galaxy, "We will speak with you leader, Flash Sentry first."
We continued forward as the figures watched us warily, unsure how to act. As we walked, Galaxy whispered to me, "These are the guards of Luna who sided with her and fought against Celestia during the Great Alicorn Battle. They are consigned to work here eternally, watching over the prisoners in the river, who were violent to their neighbors." I squinted my eyes and was able to see the souls galaxy had spoken of earlier who were stuck in the river. "The depth to which they are submerged is proportional to the magnitude of their sin" Galaxy continued, "And if one rises too high, he is shot at by the guards. The guards themselves have grown restless over the many centuries and have become rowdy. That's why Flash was sent down to remain order. He rotates with several other commanders in the royal guard."
Suddenly, I shrieked as an arrow flew within an inch of my neck. I hastily looked over to its source and saw an Earth pony with golden armor and a blue crest on his helmet pointing a second arrow at me.
"That was an intentional miss" he said, "If I had wanted to hit you, I would have. Now, why are you, a living human, wandering around in the hell of Equestria?"
"Greetings Flash", said Galaxy, "This man is here by the orders of Celestia himself. It is part of his journey toward reform. Therefore, it is by her decree that we pass through safely."
Flash Sentry lowered his bow. "Well, if you want to pass through here safely, you'd best take a guide. The rest of this circle is dangerous for those who are not familiar with it's terrain." Turning his head, he shouted, "Pah, come here. I need you to guide these two to the next section of the circle."
The guard who had first spoken to us trotted up to us and said, "Follow me."
He led us down the bank of the river. As I walked, I maintained a certain distance from it because the heat was scorching. Along the way, I realized the river forked, split, turned, and merged again upon itself many times over the landscape. As Pah walked, he pointed out many ponies of note who were trapped in the region.
"That's Princes Primrose right there" he said, "Always fighting with the other princesses for rule over Ponyland. The G1 Princesses has so many feuds with each other … See, There's Princess Starburst and Princess Tiffany way down yonder for the same reason, chest deep in blood. Sheesh, thank goodness Celestia and Luna eventually came along. Ponyland was probably even worse than Earth is right now, what with all the fighting and warring."
"You know about Earth?" I asked him, suddenly ashamed of all our modern wars.
"I've heard rumors" he said, "we all have."
As we continued walking, the river grew more and more shallow. Soon, it barely reached beyond the hooves of the ponies condemned within it.
"We're almost there" said Pah, "But don't think this is the end of the river. I'll have you know it deepens quite quickly if you keep going. You'll find Queen Bumble, who tried to destroy Flutter Valley there. Oh,
and Princes Porcina as well, who tried to turn everypony into glass. Boy was she insane. I'm glad I don't go down there too often."
Pah turned to the right and we continued forward together until we came to a forest. "Well, here we are" he said, "Good luck." Leaving us there, he turned and went back.
Various tones of shrieking and crying filled the air, but upon looking round, it seemed as if we were alone. "Where is everypony?" I asked.
"Ah, the Neverfree forest" said Galaxy rather matter of factly, "this place is creepy. I'll bet you don't have forests like this one on Earth."
"Ummmm, actually we don't have anything on Earth like anything I've seen here so far. What's so weird about this place?" I asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" replied Galaxy, "break a branch off a tree."
I walked over to the nearest tree, a tall oak with a dull trunk and even duller grey leaves. Grasping a small twig, I snapped it off only to jump back in horror as the tree screamed. Looking in horror, I watched as blood oozed from the spot I tore the twig from.
"Oh, I'm sorry if I scared you" said the tree in a soft voice, "but you really shouldn't go around hurting us like that you know."
"Fluttershy?" I asked incredulously, "what are you doing here?"
"I'm a tree!" she said in an excited whisper, "Yay! I've always wanted to be a tree!"
"Cool" I said. "But why are you in hell. Can't you be a tree in paradise?" I asked.
"No" replied Fluttershy, "in life I was always horrible to myself. I blamed myself for everything, wouldn't stand up for myself, and catered to the needs of others. Since I didn't respect myself enough during life, I got sent here."
"That's horrible" I said, "What's it like being a tree?"
"I like it very much" replied Fluttershy, "but most don't. When you break off a limb, it hurts as if you broke off a hoof or leg from our bodies in life. We basically wait around forever. That is, until the end of time, when our bodies our hung from our limbs. We don't get to return to them like the others since we rejected them."
"Oh, but how does a pony soul fit inside the body of a tree?" I asked, "Isn't that like fitting a round peg into a square hole?"
"Do you remember when Celestia said she had a use for Discord's magic?" asked Fluttershy, "This is it. The Draconequi use their chaos magic to do it somehow. Since Discord is my friend, he let me have this nice large oak, so I'm not cramped forever in a tiny bush or shrub like some others. In addition, since my sin was passive and it's not like I was actively harming myself, I'm not harassed by Queen Bumble's army of bees"
"Oh, they're here too?" I asked, "Pah mentioned Queen Bumble earlier."
"Yeah, she and her minions are terrible" replied Fluttershy, "They build their nests all through the forest and attack us trees for fun."
"Wow" I said. I felt bad for her and wanted to say more but couldn't think of anything. I didn't have to. Suddenly, a series of shouts rang through the air to our right. I turned and saw Jet Set and Upper Crust running toward us. It was unclear to me what exactly they were running from. Jet Set was more fit than his wife and was considerably ahead. His wife shouted at him to wait up but to no avail. Panting, she stopped and threw herself into a nearby bush. I heard the sound of some large group of creatures approaching. Suddenly, several pairs of green eyes appeared in the darkness of the deep forest. Moments later, timber wolves burst out of the thicket, dragged Upper Crust out of the bush, and tore her to pieces.
Galaxy rushed over to where the carnage lay. I followed. Blood was everywhere and the bush Upper Crust had hid in was crying, having also been damaged by the timber wolves. "What happened to you?" I asked.
"Oh, if only I had moved when I still had the chance" said the bush, "I was an earth pony in the outskirts of Fillydelphia once. I had a farm but it was overrun with parasprites. In my rage, I did myself harm."
Galaxy and I had been walking through the forest for what must have been hours. I'm sure she could have easily galloped across the whole thing within minutes but I certainly couldn't keep up with that. As we walked, Galaxy illuminated the way with the pink glow of her horn which also served to keep the bees away. The whole time, the moans and screaming around us continued endlessly and occasionally I once again saw the green glow of timber wolf eyes in the distance. Finally, when I felt my legs couldn't take any more scraping from the brambles and thorns of the forest, the plants started to clear and overhead, I could see faint patches of the dull grey yet cloudless sky. Minutes later, we were out in the open.
The transition to the next part of the circle was pretty abrupt. As soon as we left the forest, we came upon a vast desert. Sparks and bits of flame fell from the sky and rained upon the inhabitants below. Some were huddled up in balls screaming. Others were thrashing wildly about. "Wow, what's going on here?" I asked.
"This is the circle for those who are violent toward Princess Celestia and the powers of harmony and friendship" said Galaxy, "There are dragons kept in the dungeons of the royal family of Saddle Arabia which is right above here. They continuously tear apart massive rolls of paper and light the shards on fire. Specially trained pegasi then take the lit paper, which is enchanted so it doesn't go out, and scatter them. You can't see them right now since they're too high up."
I looked across the sand. Most of the ponies were speckled over with burnt patches of fur. Suddenly, I caught sight of a large creature that wasn't a pony calmly lying on the scorching sand. "Who's that?" I asked Galaxy.
The creature seemed to have heard me. Opening his eyes and turning them in my direction, he began to speak.
"It's me, King Charlatan" he snapped, "Have you already forgotten who I am. I lay here calmly because I quite honestly don't care about all this nonsense around me. I'm the king of the cold. Do you really think I'm afraid of fire?" Upon saying this, he closed his eyes once more and lay there peacefully.
Despite his bold talk, I could tell by the black patches on his stomach that the fire did hurt him. "He was another crazy one" whispered Galaxy, "He tried to freeze us all once. He didn't understand a thing about friendship. Still, Celestia and Luna did manage to learn a thing or two about him before destroying him. It was his ice magic that they used to trap King Sombra in the Frozen North."
Galaxy's horn grew even brighter and a bright pink force field materialized around us. She trotted forward and I followed, not wanting to leave its protection. The flaming paper that struck the field immediately fizzled out and slid down its side. As we walked, I tried to ignore the tortured souls around us but couldn't. Finally, we reached another river.
"Oh wow, that really is a long river" I said.
"No, it's a different one" replied Galaxy, "hell has many rivers and some are quite similar to each other depending on what goes into them."
"Where does all this water and blood come from?" I asked her.
"In Celestia's basement is a room of stone statues. Each of them has the head of a horse, the beard of a goat, the antler and horn of a goat and deer, the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the left leg of a goat, the right leg of a lizard, and right wing of a bat, and the left wing of a Pegasus. They are the former draconequus rulers of Equestria. When they died,
their bodies were so devoid of friendship that no fungus or bacteria would grow on their bodies and allow them to decay. Thus, they became petrified. Each statue is cracked and chipped and from these flow their tears for their ignorance in life. The tears flow down a path in the room, coalesce, and eventually become the rivers of hell. Let's walk along the bank of this one now as we journey on."
After Star Swirl left, Galaxy and I continued walking. Along the way, we saw several other groups of wanderers. Some were distant. Others passed in close proximity. All seemed to take interest in us but so far, nopony else had spoken to us. "Where exactly are we going?" I asked Galaxy. "Oh to the next circle of course" she replied, "we just follow the river until we reach it. It's a long walk for sure but at least there's no chance of us getting lost. Sandstorms are not frequent in the region of the desert."
Another wandering group appeared over the horizon. "So, do these groups of ponies have a destination?" I asked Galaxy. "No" she replied, "they just wander around the desert. Most walk in a large counterclockwise circle but there are exceptions."
The group of ponies got closer. As always, most of them were too charred and blackened to be recognizable, though occasionally I did catch a glimpse of a colored patch of fur. There were about twenty of them, mostly earth ponies. As they passed by, three more ponies once again broke away from the rest of the crow and galloped toward me.
"Hi there" one of them greeted me, "you must be a brony. You guys were so nice to us background ponies when we were alive and gave us more credit than we deserve. We're so excited to meet one of you! By the way, I'm Lyra." The other two ponies introduced themselves to me as Bon Bon and Shoeshine.
"So" said Shoeshine, "has the brony community changed much since we died? I'd imagine that such a friendly and open community would only grow and prosper over time. Come on, give me a hoofbump." She extended her hoof out expectantly.
"Sorry" I said, "I don't want to get burned."
"Oh, right" replied Shoeshine.
"To be totally honest with you" I began, "I don't think the brony community has changed for the better. Online, there are constant flamewars over who is the best pony. There's almost no trace of the magic of friendship in these. In addition, many people who profess to be bronies online are in fact parasprites (trolls) who have never actually watched the show. Finally, I think a lot of people just watch the show because they find the ponies attractive. No one really seems to care about the underlying message of the show any more."
The three ponies stared at me in silence. Finally, Bon Bon spoke.
"Well that's unfortunate" she said, "but then again, I guess no good thing lasts forever. We'll always have the memories of a time when the MLP fandom did watch the show because they truly enjoyed it. Anyhow, it was nice talking with you. We three have to go now, but don't forget us. We may just be background ponies but we still played an important role. We had fans too. Tell them we say hello." And with that, the three of them galloped off to catch up with the rest of their group.
Galaxy and I resumed our journey down the bank of the river. Finally, after an hour so, the end of this leg of our journey was in sight. In the distance, the river seemed to run down a steep declivity into a deep gorge. Spurred on by the thought that there would be something different after all this time in the monotonous desert, we walked faster. When we got close enough to the edge however Galaxy ordered me to stop.
"Do you have your wallet with you?" she asked me.
"Yes" I replied confused, "though there nothing in it."
"Give it to me" she said.
I took the cheap and beat up piece of leather out of the pocket of my faded jeans and held it out to her. She grabbed it with her magic and tossed it over the side. At first nothing happened, but then, a queer sort of sound that I cannot describe began and grew louder. Suddenly, a quarray eel popped its head over the edge.
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.
The layout of this circle reminded me of the capital of Atlantis, only instead of a dazzling palace in the center, there was Mell's hole. This circle consisted of 10 sub circles arranged in concentric rings. Separating each sub circle was what appeared to be murky water. "Hydras live in the separating barriers" explained Galaxy, "You remember what those are right?" I nodded. Passing through the diameter of the circle all the way to the center was a path. When it was on land, it was of simple dried dirt. When crossing the moats between the sections, it consisted of an iron bridge. It was on this path that we now were on as we stood at the edge of the eighth circle. Around us was a multitude of ponies running frantically around the circle. On the head of each pony sat a soot black changeling with a long slender tail which it used to whip the pony it rode on. Galaxy and I trod along the path, which the inhabitants of the circle apparently could not touch. "Call out to one of them" said Galaxy.
"Hey, you, come here" I shouted at the next pony to come whizzing by. He was a teenage pegasus with a brown mane and cream colored fur. Upon hearing my voice, the changeling on his head ceased whipping him and he galloped over to us. "What's your name?" I asked him. "My names Pound Cake" he replied, "I was a janitor at Sugar Cube Corner."
I stared at him intently. "Well then" I laughed, "The last time I saw you, you were just a little filly. Time flies doesn't it?"
"Yep, it sure does" he replied.
"So, what brings somepony like you down here to this circle?" I asked.
"Well, you see, my dad wanted a new oven for our kitchen and to raise the money, we had to sell my sister Pumpkin Cake into servitude" he said.
"Wow that's terrible" I said, "but why are you here if it's your dad who sold her?"
"Because I didn't do anything about it" replied the young colt, "Celestia thinks being a bystander is nearly as bad as committing a foul act yourself. Pinkie was the only one to object and she got fired for it. I've had to take up both their jobs in the meantime."
"Oh, gee" I said, "I'm pretty sure letting Pinkie Pie loose in the world just like that isn't a good idea."
"No, it really wasn't" he said, "but anyhow, it looks like my time with you is up. If I stay still too long, I get a really painful cramp and I want to avoid that. See you."
And with that, the changeling on his head gave him a good whip on the back and he was off.
Galaxy and I continued walking forward along the path as I observed the inhabitants of the circle. Many had bloody lines crisscrossing their bodies. Unlike the inhabitants of the previous circle however, at least they were recognizable despite the blood.
Galaxy stopped and pointed her hoof toward the distance. "See that colt over there?" she asked.
She appeared to be pointing at a certain pony with light blue fur and a dark blue mane. "Yeah" I replied hesitantly.
"That's Soarin" she said matter of factly.
"Huh" I said, "What's he doing here?"
"He sexually harassed the female cadets at the Wonderbolts Academy" said Galaxy, "It took him so long to be found out, fired, and tried because Spitfire was in on it and didn't care. You'll see her later though."
Galaxy and I had now reached the iron bridge leading to the next region of the circle. Two guards stood on either side of it, their spears making an x over the entrance. When they saw us, they retracted their spears and allowed us to continue forward. Despite being made of iron, the bridge was still wobbly and shook with the turmoil of the monsters swimming below the surface of the water. Despite the water's murkiness, I could still see large shadows moving beneath it.
As we approached the other side, another foul odor met our noses. At first, I thought it came from the hydras but soon realized it was coming from the direction of our destination. I made my breathing shallow to avoid throwing up.
When we left the bridge and returned to the dirt path once more, I saw that this section consisted of a number of ponies wallowing around in horse manure. My eyes glazed over and my vision became fuzzy with the nauseating power of the odor so that I could barely see clearly. Still, I forced myself to look around lest I myself commit the same sin and end up here someday. Suddenly, a familiar looking pony caught my eye and for a few moments, I stared at it trying to figure out who she was.
The pony seemed to notice my gaze somehow and turned to me. As she did so, I saw that she was a pegasus. "Why are you staring at me?" she shouted at me, obviously self-conscious about her situation, "am I not just as deranged in my state as anypony else around here."
Then, it struck me. "Is you name Flutterbye?" I asked her. I wasn't sure because she was covered with manure but her voice seemed to give it away.
"Yeah" she replied, "what about it?"
"Nothing much" I called back, "Heinz made a series of MLP products as part of a marketing scheme this past week and mixed you up with Fluttershy."
"Huh?" she said scrunching her snout in confusion, "Who's Heinz?"
"Oh, right. Never mind about that" I said, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh you know how I was. Always flattering ponies and creatures with my charming looks and personality to get presents. Figures I would be punished someday. I just never imagined it would be like this." As she finished speaking, her voice took on a tone of sadness as she slowly turned and walked away.
"Ummmm, let's get out of here" said Galaxy, who seemed to be getting sick herself from the smell. I was happy to oblige as she trotted and I jogged to the next bridge.
The third section of the eighth circle was a mess. It looked like a battlefield. The ground was uneven and barbed wire was strewn everywhere. As I looked around, I saw that it was full of ponies with their front halves buried in the dirt. Their back halves burned with a black fire. It was a very solemn place. The fires neither crackled nor made any other sound. As I gazed around however, I saw that the fire burning the flank of one pony was darker than those of the others. Most of the fires were such that I could vaguely make out the cutie mark of its pony. This fire however was so dark that it was only through inductive reasoning that I knew there must be a pony inside. "Who's that?" I asked Galaxy. "Why don't you go ask her yourself" suggested Galaxy. I shrugged and began walking toward her.
"Wait" said Galaxy suddenly, "This section is dangerous. If you come in contact with the fire of hatred, it will severely damage your emotional health. You will have to mount me."
Galaxy stooped down to allow me to climb on her, which I did. Once I was fairly comfortable, she set off.
"Were you really not able to do this the entire time?" I asked, "my legs are killing me."
"Suffering can be a very potent tool to purify the soul" said Galaxy in a condescending tone, "this is a learning experience; not a vacation."
Galaxy trotted forward, deftly leaping over bundles of barbed wire and swerving around the burning bodies scattered throughout the section. To keep myself from sliding off, I was forced to lie down close to her and hug her neck. She seemed to sympathize with me knowing that I had never ridden anything other than a car or bike before in my life. Finally, we reached the body I had spotted earlier.
Now that we were positioned right next to the sinister black flame, I wasn't sure where to start. "Ummmm, hello…" I began.
"Ahhhh, Princess Moondust, it is you isn't it?" she said, "Why you must have outlived us all. What brings you up here at this time? Why I thought you'd have been far below me by now but it appears my intuition has failed me."
"No, that's not who I am" I said, "I'm not a princess, or a pony, or even a female…"
"Oh, sorry about that then" replied the buried soul, "the long years have wreaked havoc on my memory."
"Who are you then?" I asked, "And why have you been brought to this fate?"
"My name's Princess Dawn" she began. "Sheesh" I thought to myself, "Do all princesses introduce themselves like that?"
She continued, "When I was alive, I bribed people into being my friend by making them delicious breakfasts. I thought I could buy friendship this way but I was wrong. By reducing friendship in my mind to something that could be bought or sold with gifts, I condemned myself to this fate. My flame burns darker than the others because as a princess, I should have been a role model but failed in this regard."
"So that's what this circle's for." I exclaimed out loud.
"Yep" said the princess, "And buried under us are all those we influenced to do the same in life. Thus, the person ultimately responsible is the one who is burned."
"Who's buried beneath you then?" I asked her.
"Barnacle for trying to buy friendship with chocolate coins, Blueberry Baskets for trying to buy friendship with blueberry muffins, and Lofty for trying to buy friendship with hot air balloon rides" she said, "It sucks. It really does. All I wanted was some friends and for that, I burn forever."
"Princess Twilight never needed to exchange anything with the rest of the Mane 6 to get them to become her friend" I pointed out. Upon hearing this, she fell silent and spoke no more, clearly upset.
"Touché" said Galaxy, "An excellent observation. Well, we'd better get going now." Turning around, she trotted back up to the path.
Galaxy and I trudged across the bridge into fourth section of the circle. The landscape itself seemed normal enough. It was a rocky field with the usual dull colored scrub found in hell. In addition, there were ponies just strolling about everywhere. It didn't take me long to realize however that there were a few oddities about them. For one thing, they were all unicorns. In addition, all of them had black horns and black spots. As Galaxy and I ventured further into the circle, I saw clearly what was going on. "They're afflicted with dark magic" I gasped. "That's right" answered Galaxy. All of the unicorns' horns were encrusted with black crystals, which also grew in various patches on their bodies.
The sight sickened me a bit. I knew full well the power of dark magic and the suffering it could cause, and had already caused in Equestria. "Why are you disturbed by this?" asked Galaxy, "These ponies are here because they deserve it. You don't think Celestia would sadistically subject anypony to something like this just for the fun of it would you?"
"No" I answered her, "I wouldn't dare think that. But what exactly did these ponies do to deserve this?"
Galaxy began explaining. "These are the ponies who used magic for twisted, though not necessarily evil, purposes. As a result, they have crystals of darkness injecting currents of dark magic into their bodies. It reacts with the magic of harmony within them in a very painful way before neutralizing it" she said.
"What do you mean by twisted but not necessarily evil?" I asked.
"Well" she began again, "See that pony over there?" she asked as she gestured with her hoof.
"Yeah" I answered back. It was a sky blue unicorn with a light gold mane and a cutie mark shaped like a golden flower.
"Her name's Sunbeam" said Galaxy, "she used her magic to manipulate the weather without the permission of the pegasus ponies. As every pegasus knows, the weather has certain patterns it must follow and messing with it can often set off a chain reaction that affects the weather in distant regions without the knowledge of the perpetrator. Sunbeam did not know that when she pushed the clouds away from her home every day so each day could be sunny, it rained way more often than it should have in other nearby regions."
"Makes sense" I said to myself. I now noticed that her cutie mark, which I mistook for a flower, was actually a sun.
"And see that one all the way over there?" she asked.
"Which one?" I said, "The yellow one or the light orange one?"
"Further" replied Galaxy, "She's a white redhead."
"Oh, I see her." I said, "what about her?"
"That's moondust. She used her magic to put to sleep all ponies she didn't like" said Galaxy, "It was her solution to everything. She never even once tried to use the magic of friendship to solve disputes."
"Oh, wow, that sounds mean" I said. "Yep" she replied, "Oh, hey! Check out the blue one over by the willow tree."
I looked and saw a navy blue pony with a curved horn. "Wow" I said, "his horn is curved just like Sombra's"
"I know, what an interesting coincidence!" Galaxy exclaimed, "In fact, he has two of them."
"Two horns?" I asked incredulously, "Well wouldn't he be a bicorn or something…?"
"Nope" said Galaxy, "He's a goat. His name's Grogar. He possessed several extremely powerful artifacts of dark magic that he used to try and take over Equestria. He began lurking around the Everfree Forest looking for recruits to help him. He found a spot where a very powerful current of natural magic dwelled and decided to begin building a fortress there as a base of operations. He was discovered however by pegasi flying overhead and eliminated by Celestia and Luna who burned him to death by focusing the power of the sun and moon through a giant lens of crystal which amplified its power. They did not want to risk a direct assault or siege because much of the forest would be destroyed and they were unsure of how powerful he was. The spot where his fortress once stood is now the site of Zecora's house."
"Interesting" I said, "It's fitting that a worker of the magic of light has come to replace a worker of dark magic."
"And so it shall be that this is always the case. The magic of light, friendship, and harmony conquers all" she said.
Galaxy turned and began walking toward the next bridge. Seeing taking one last look around to see if there were any other creature besides unicorns and goat, I followed her.
As the iron bridge entered the next section, it stayed an iron bridge. A thin wall of dull grey stone separated the swampy waters of the transition area from the bubbling black liquid of the fifth section.
"What is that stuff?" I asked Galaxy, "Tar?"
"Nope" she replied, "It's called dark lava. It's basically dark magic crystal that has been superheated in the fires of hatred until it melts. DUCK!"
"Duck? Where?" I asked. I realized what she meant as a low flying pegasus swooped right over me, it's hoof nearly taking my head along with it. It was another large one of those pegasus ponies with bat like wings, glowing red eyes, and a spiked tail. On its back it was carrying a normal sized earth pony. The sight of a pony riding another pony seemed strange at first to me but who was I to question the methods used in a hell for ponies? The pegasus hovered over the lava and in one abrupt motion, bucked the earth pony on it's back into the black liquid below before taking off again.
"Oh, you were trying to tell me to duck" I said. Galaxy just rolled her eyes. Suddenly, we saw a large crowd of the infernal ponies coming toward us and thus, barring our path. "Get behind me" whispered Galaxy. The apparent leader of the infernal ponies stopped a short distance from Galaxy and glared at her. "And to what torture are you taking this young man to?" he asked, "and why are you doing so? Must I punish you for acting outside of your range of duty?"
"Haha, no" said Galaxy, "and you had best watch your threats. Under orders from Princess Celestia, I am taking this brony on a tour through hell. You had best not impede us. Who do you think you are?"
"I am Prince Rageblood, commander of the fire equines" he said.
"Fire equines?" I asked confused.
Upon hearing Celestia's name, the formerly belligerent pony seemed more docile. "I suppose I should ask for proof" he said to Galaxy, "But no one would make something like that up. You may pass, I will send my bodyguards to guide you."
"We're good" said Galaxy, "How hard can it be to trot in a straight line?"
"The main bridge to the sixth section has collapsed after being struck by the tail of a hydra" he explained, "My guards will take you to an alternate path."
Turning to me, he said, "Yes, we are the fire equines. In the days of yore, we lived fairly peacefully with the air pegasi, the water unicorns, and the earth ponies. At some point, my idiot father decided we were better than the rest of the pony kinds so we waged a series of wars against them. The other ponies, fed up with his antics left us and eventually ended up in what is now Equestria. It was only when they were gone that we realized how much we needed them. We searched everywhere for them but due to internal fighting amongst ourselves, never succeeded in getting anywhere. At the height of the chaos, we were overrun by windigoes and froze."
Finishing his story, the prince turned and flew off into the darkness leaving us with his ten attendants. "Follow us" muttered one of them as several began trotting forward. Galaxy and I followed as the remaining fire equines travelled behind us.
As we passed the prince, who now stood off to our side, each of his bodyguards saluted him with a wave of their spiked tails. The prince in turn, now with his rear end toward us, saluted them back with a rather loud emission of flaming gas from his buttocks. I thought it a queer custom on their part but once more did not bother questioning it. When all that had passed, we continued forward.
At some point we left the bridge and turned onto a bar of rock. And in this way, various small islands were scattered throughout the lava, all of them connected either by rocky ridges or similar iron bridges. Upon these, we travelled as we journeyed to the next circle. I kept my eyes constantly open for a chance to converse with an inhabitant of this region however due to the nature of its punishment, this was often impossible. All the souls hid beneath the surface of the lava, with only the bravest ones daring to leap out for a brief moment to seek a temporary relief from the pain. The ripples from these actions travelled slowly but surely across the surface of the thick lava.
We had now just entered another small island with a large mountain taking up most of the space in the center. Because we were loath to climb the thing, we decided to walk around it and followed the perimeter of the island. It was in this fashion that we came across a group of souls obstructing us as they lay on the ground as if sunbathing. The fire equines were shocked at the apparent audacity of these souls and in their brief moment of hesitation, all the souls but one dove into the lava and vanished. The remaining one seemed to be asleep. A guard by my side galloped up to it and using his long tail, whipped the soul awake before seizing it and flinging it against the side of the mountain. Slowly, our fire equine escort moved in to surround it.
Galaxy and I followed them to see what would happen. "Psssst, Galaxy" I whispered. "Yeah?" she answered. "See if you can find out anything about that soul." I was too scared to attempt anything myself.
Galaxy boldly walked up to the soul and asked it for its name and occupation in life. The soul answered rather weakly, "My name's Pumpkin Cake. When I was young, my father decided to sell me into servitude at Celestia's castle. During the course of my stay, I became a very high ranking servant. One day, I was contacted by Queen Chrysalis who asked me if I would be willing, in exchange for an enormous amount of bits, to appoint as cooks several changelings of her's disguised as ponies. They planned to weave evil magic into the food and in this way weaken the royal family before attempting a second time to overtake Canterlot and eventually all of Equestria. I accepted the bribe and for this, I must suffer here forever."
"Well" interjected a fire equine behind me, "it appears you haven't actually been suffering at all though." In a rage, he changed forward, impaled the helpless unicorn with the sharp tip of his tail, and flung her again into the air. Her body landed with a loud thud a few feet from where it had been before. Blood rushed out of her puncture wound. Another unicorn pony once again galloped up to her and began whipping her. After a few moments, the unicorn stopped his assault to laugh out loud at her plight. I took advantage of this time to ask Pumpkin Cake who else was with her. "Let me see…" she replied, "There was a pegasus named…what was it…oh yeah, Butttons. He was often an athletic judge however accepted bribes from players and teams to judge in their favor."
The fire equine beside her resumed his attack, this time using his hooves to trample her. Once again, after a minute or two, he galloped off to let somepony else try. "Hey" said Pumpkin Cake, "you know if I could go back to the shore a moment, I could call up some of my friends who were with me earlier and you could talk to them.
"Oh, and let them have even more relief from their pain?" sneered a fire equine. "Well" said Pumpkin Cake, "when they're done talking, you could punish them likewise for leaving the lava." The fire equine became thoughtful as he pondered this.
"Pfffft" said another, "she's lying. She just wants to get close enough to the lava to jump back in and escape from us." This statement started an argument between the fire equines over what they should do. In the commotion, Pumpkin Cake suddenly made a dash for the shore. She was more than halfway to it when the fire equines, all caught up in their arguing, finally noticed. Immediately, they galloped after her but it was too late. Pumpkin Cake dove in and disappeared under the shining surface of the lava. One of the fire equines flew over the lava. Seeing a slight movement, he struck the lava with his tail before realizing his mistake and yelping in pain. His tail however was stuck and his bat-like wings, weaker than those of a pegasus, were not strong enough to free him. A companion of his flew in after him and attempted to untangle him however being in the awkward position of hovering and not having hands to grip with, they ended up both tumbling into the lava. The remaining eight fire equines watched in dismay, unsure what to do.
"Hey" whispered Galaxy, "let's go. I don't trust them. With any luck, when they've gotten this all sorted out, they'll have forgotten about us." As always, I followed Galaxy's advice and the two of us left them.
Galaxy and I made our way across another shorter iron bridge to the next island and continued in this fashion in the general direction of the next section of the circle. This section was deserted. This place seemed to be hostile to plant life, since so far we had seen none. Only the shimmering black sea of lava and scattered dark brown islands made up the drab landscape. Galaxy always trotted before me to ensure that I did not step into some hidden hot spot. So far, neither of us spoke as we tried to figure out what to do.
"You know" I said at last, "the fire equines have probably sorted things out by now. They may be tracking us."
"I don't know" replied Galaxy, "but if they are, there's not much we can do about it now; other than maybe travel along faster. It would be helpful if we were more enlightened as to where we are going."
"Then again" I pondered out loud, "You did tell them we were under the protection of the princess right?"
"Yeah" she said, "but even that might not stop them now that they're sure to be all fired up, no pun intended. Trust me, those ponies are incredibly violent and have nearly no self-control."
As if on cue, I heard a sound behind as like soft thunder, gradually increasing in volume. Turning around, I saw that we were in fact being chased by a pack of six fire equines, galloping over land and flying over the lava toward us, rage burning in their eyes."
Galaxy stood motionless for a moment before acting. "Quick, get on me" she said. I had not even properly mounted her before she took off like a contestant beginning the Running of the Leaves who doesn't know how to pace herself. The wind in my ears was enough to muffle the sound of our pursuers however I did not dare look back. Racing ahead, we came to the border of the circle. Galaxy's horn lit alight with her magic aura as did a line of water before us. When the pink light faded, I saw that it had become a path of ice. At once, Galaxy leapt onto it, galloped across, and leapt to the next section.
"We're safe now" she said as I got off. We both looked back over the dividing water at the fire equines on the other bank. The distance between us was enough to muffle their look of hatred.
"Wow, that was really something wasn't it" she said, "We sure were lucky. Ice does not hold up to the thrashing attacks of hydras very well."
I looked around at our new surroundings, which we had so abruptly entered.
Around us stood a large number of ponies wearing dresses, though clearly not the beautiful fancy and elegant dresses of the Carousel Boutique. These were brown and leathery. As I watched them, I noticed that all the ponies were in fact moving, just extremely slowly.
"They don't look like they want to be bothered" I said to Galaxy.
"Well, you could at least try" she replied back.
"Hey" a voice called, "Are you a brony?"
I turned around and saw the voice belonged to a rustic looking earth pony with pale yellow fur and a red mane. "Ummmm, sure…" I replied.
The earth pony ambled over to us at a snail's pace. "Hey there" she said, "My name's Apple Bloom. Nice to meet you. I'd shake you hoof … er hand I guess if I could but I don't think I can lift my hoof with all this weight on it."
"Really? I asked, "it doesn't look too bad."
"Oh it sure as heck doesn't look too bad" replied Apple Bloom, "but it's enchanted to be as heavy as if it were made of dragon scales."
"Oh, we why is that?" I asked.
"I dunno" she replied, "that's just how we hypocrites are punished I guess"
"Hypocrite?" I exclaimed in confusion, "how are you a hypocrite?"
"Well, you see" she explained, "the Apple Family takes the idea of a family very seriously and when I was ashamed of Granny Smith, I showed that I didn't do this."
"Oh, I…" I stopped talking when I noticed a pink pony in the background stuck to the ground with an iron nail in each hoof. Apple Bloom saw me looking.
"Oh, that's the former Princess Cadance" she said, "she's here because she often used her magic to create lust instead of love. She would do this secretly to ponies she fancied. In addition, she objected to Princess Luna's return from the moon because it would increase competition for her. Because of this, she must lie there and let us trample her as we walk by"
I grimaced at the thought of such a punishment. "Hey" said Apple Bloom, "at least we don't wear high heels like some of you human folk"
Galaxy spoke up. "So, can you by any chance point us in the direction of the bridge out of this place?" she asked.
"Sure thing" replied Apple Bloom, "just go in the direction of that tree over there and you'll see it. You can't miss it with flat terrain like this. Be careful though. It's broken in the center and a series of large boulders stacked on each other have been dumped in the gap as a solution."
"Wow, two broken bridges in a row" said Galaxy.
"Huh" replied Apple Bloom, "what do you mean?"
"Well" explained Galaxy, the bridge leading over to this circle was broken too. Hence our novel entry."
"It sure doesn't look like it" said Apple Bloom gesturing with her head at a spot behind us. I turned around and saw that the bridge leading to the circle was indeed intact.
"Ugghh" said Galaxy, "I knew it. He lied to us. They always do." In a huff, she began galloping off in search of the next bridge. Thanking Apple Bloom for her help, I followed.
Galaxy trotted faster than usual, clearly angry, as I attempted to catch up. I only hoped she would not direct her anger at me. Luckily, as Apple Bloom had said, the terrain really was rather flat so there was little chance of losing her. When I finally caught up with her, she stood at the bridge.
"Well, here's the real broken bridge then" she said in a huff.
I saw that the majority of the original iron bridge was gone, leaving a large mountain of massive grey stones in the center. Where the mound touched the water, I saw some hideous form of moss growing in some places. Though the nearest stones were too high for me to climb, they seemed to get smaller near the top.
"So, do we just trek over that thing?" I asked, feeling I needed to say something.
"Pretty much" said Galaxy with a shrug. She seemed to be returning to her normal self again.
Galaxy position herself by one of the stones near the edge and squatted down. "Get on me again" she ordered. When I was seated atop her, she stood up. "Now stand up" she said, "you should be able to reach the first ledge." I stood up hesitantly. Luckily, Galaxy was strong and still, and I was able to lean against the stone while doing so. I was indeed able to reach its top easily with both hands and hoist myself onto it. When I was seated on top of it, I turned and saw Galaxy walking away from the bridge. For a moment, I wondered where she was going before she turned, galloped full speed at the mountain of stones, and leapt gracefully next to me. "Well, let's go" she said.
We began making our way up to the top of the mountain. Now that we were actually on the mountain, I saw that although the rocks were large, the slope of the mountain was fairly shallow such that I could maneuver about on my own. Still, at some points near the base I was forced to climb over some stones with some difficulty or leap across gaps onto other ones. For once, I was ahead of Galaxy who often had to go by more circular detours due to her inability to climb. When impeding rocks weren't too big, she occasionally resorted to moving them with her horn, though for some reason she always moved it back into its original position when she had passed by.
I was about three fourths of the way up when I lost my breath and sat down to take a break. I did not notice that in the meantime, Galaxy had caught up to me. "Come on, she said, we don't have forever. How are you tired when I'm doing more work than you?"
I hoisted myself up with the help of a nearby boulder before shaking out the feeling of pins and needles in my legs which had built up during the past few minutes. For the rest of the climb, I stayed by Galaxy and walked at her pace.
Since the rocks were smaller now, we reached the top in a shorter time than I had anticipated. From the top, I could vaguely make out the scattered souls of the next section. In addition, I noticed that the descent from the mountain was far steeper than the climb. I climbed down, lowering myself onto each boulder below as Galaxy hoped from one stone to the next in a zig-zag pattern.
Finally, we landed upon the second part of the iron bridge. From here, it was a smooth walk to the end.
I could hear the frantic screaming before we were halfway across the last leg of the bridge. Looking ahead, I saw the inhabitants of the circle running around frantically though the cause for this was still unapparent to me. It was only when we had actually entered the section that I saw the snakes chasing them. Previously, they had been concealed by the clouds of dust kicked up by those they pursued. There were different colors between the snakes but each individual was solidly colored for most of it's body, with the stomach being a lighter shade of its main color.
A pink pony similar in many ways to Galaxy suddenly ran before us. Just as it had passed by, the snake pursuing her caught up to her and sunk it's fangs right over her left back hoof. Immediately, the unfortunate pony burst in an eruption of black fire which left behind a rather large pile of ashes which to my surprise began to move in a way inconsistent with the wind. As I watched, the same pony, or at least on that looked identical to her, crawled out of the ashes.
"Wow" I said, "she's like Philomena."
"Perhaps in some ways" replied Galaxy, who trotted over to her.
I ran after her just as the pony introduced herself to her as Cotton Candy, the nurse of the G1 ponies.
"Psssst Galaxy" I whispered, "Ask her why she's here."
Cotton candy however heard me and in anger, she explained that she had stolen expensive hay from the castles of the princess ponies to eat.
"But to be honest" she continued, "it really isn't any of your business. And by the way, your race is going to enter into a massive nuclear war within the next decade in which half the population will be wiped out so why do I even bother associating myself with you anyway?"
Although I was upset when I heard Cotton Candy's words, I can't say I was surprised. Cotton Candy sensed the despair I felt from my new knowledge and smirked. "Oh if only Equestria was more like that" she mused, "Celestia would go insane, haha, that useless old mare, sitting upon her throne as if she was all that. I'm surprised she isn't as fat as Porcina herself with all that idleness."
I was shocked. In all my time in hell, I had never heard a soul speak out this openly against the alicorn princess. She looked like she was going to say more but at that moment, another serpent appeared out of the ashes next to her and wound itself tightly around her windpipe preventing her from speaking. When she struggled with it, twisting her neck in a vain attempt to breathe, Galaxy and I left her there.
Before turning however, a rush of wind nearly blew me back as a large creature, which I mistook for an ursa minor sprinted by me. I realized it must be something different for it spoke. As it ran around frantically, it bellowed, "WHERE IS THAT MEDDLING DARING DO WHO HAS SO OFTEN WORKED AGAINST ME, FOR IF IT WEREN'T FOR HER, I COULD HAVE AT LEAST ENJOYED THE FRUITS OF MY LABORS IN EQUESTRIA BEFORE ALL THIS."
"That" explained Galaxy, "is Ahuizotl, a feared thief and pillager of temples and ancient monuments." As I looked at the creature, I noticed that he was covered from head to toe with snakes.
We began making our way through the rest of the circle. The snakes left us alone, for they knew instinctively that we were not their targets. At some point, we came upon a steep hill. The path which we were on followed its edge. As we were walking however, several voices from the valley below called out to us. "Hey, you over there, who are you who walk with such confidence through this place of torture?"
Galaxy and I looked down and saw that along valley were scattered several triads of ponies leashed to trees. They were fairly far apart so we were able to identify which triad spoke. Due to the darkness of the valley, we had not noticed them earlier.
Galaxy and I made out way down the valley to ease communication and hopefully start up a conversation from which I could learn. "Hey Sweetie Belle" said one pony to another, "What do you make of the creature beside the unicorn?" Galaxy and I reached the three ponies and introduced ourselves.
"Hi, I'm Sweetie Belle" said one of the ponies, "I'm here because I often stole gems and fabrics from my sister Rarity to make things for the rest of my crusader friends."
"And I'm Silver Spoon" interrupted the pony next to her, "I often stole money from my rich friend Diamond Tiara. And this one here next to me is Big Macintosh. He's here for stealing Smarty Pants. I'm introducing him because he doesn't like to talk."
"Eeeeeeyup…."
I felt bad for Sweetie Belle who was stuck here with Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon seemed to sense my disdain for her. "You know" she said, "I'm not really all that bad. I was only mean because I thought it would make Diamond Tiara happy. She was my only friend."
I shrugged. "Whatever" I said.
Suddenly, the ground between us began to move as a hissing sound filled the air. From the dirt rose a large black hideous snake riddled with holes. Lunging forward, it sunk it's fangs into Sweetie Belle who's eyes glazed over. Slowly, I watched in horror as she began to change, her white skin reddening as her form stretched. A minute later, she had become a red snake, who slithered off.
Before this change had even finished however, the black snake had already bitten Silver Spoon who was undergoing a similar transformation. I watched as she too became a snake, this time yellow. Hissing, she slithered after Sweetie Belle. As I diverted my gaze, I saw Big Macintosh's hooves morph into his body like wax as he too succumbed to the changeling magic.
"Well way to go Ponyville!" I said sarcastically, "from you come all G4 ponies I've met here. Wow." Galaxy and I slowly made our way up the steep valley slope onto the trail. The rest of it was pretty drab. The scene of ponies fleeing snakes and exploding in flames may be chaotic in and of itself, but over time at least it remained constant. We reached the bridge without any particularly interesting encounters.
Once we were nearly across, I noticed that the layout of the eighth section was unlike the others. Instead of a hellish parody of a natural landscape, it consisted of a large checkerboard pattern of white and black tiles, each a meter or so long. Galaxy stopped before stepping off the bridge, and I did likewise.
"Within each of these black tiles, which are made of dark crystal, is the soul of one whom, given a strong intellect, used it for purposes contrary to the element of honesty. Try not to step upon them."
With that, Galaxy proceeded forward onto the first white square.
"What are the white squares made of?" I asked.
"Marble" came Galaxy's reply.
I looked down at the white tile and notice that despite the dim light, it was polished enough to see a very clear reflection of myself. When I checked the black tiles however, try as I might, I saw no sign of myself. All light seemed to be absorbed.
We zigzagged forward towards the next bridge. Despite the large size of this section, the landscape was completely flat and thus, I could see its far side with ease. No objects but ourselves stood upon the alternating tiles.
When we were nearing the end, I suddenly noticed that one tile near us was cracked in half. Through its center ran a jagged milky line. "What happened to that one?" I asked Galaxy.
"Ah, two unfortunate colleagues of mine actually" said Galaxy. "Their names are Sandcastle and Shovels. They're twin ponies."
I began making my way over to the tile to speak with them. "Wait" called Galaxy as she hurried after me. Due to mankind's constant destruction of beaches through things like oil spills and litter, they might give you a hard time. Here, let me speak with them for you."
Galaxy trotted over to the tile and called, "SANDCASTLE, SHOVELS, ARE YOU IN THERE?" I was surprised when I heard her voice echoing around within the tile, which otherwise, seemed perfectly solid. Suddenly, the left half of the tile clouded over and a turquoise pony appeared like a reflection.
"Yes…?" she said warily.
"It's me, Galaxy" said my guide, "I have been tasked by Princess Celestia herself to show my friend here around hell. Would you mind telling him your story?"
The pony looked over at me, noticing me for the first time. Shrugging, she said, "I supposed so. My name's Sandcastle. My sister Shovels and I were partners in crime. We liked to pretend to be princesses so we often stole items from various castles we visited. When ponies questioned where we got our jewels, we told them that certain princesses had willingly given them to us and so we were never caught. One day, we both became servants of an earth pony prince who was in love with an alicorn. We suggested to him as he lay lovesick that he use a love potion to win her heart. Desperate, he agreed. We prepared the potion for him however unbeknownst to him, it was actually a love poison. And so, with the princess and the prince so wrapped up with each other than neither could properly attend to their royal duties, we took over his kingdom. For this, we must suffer here."
When Sandcastle had finished her story, her image gradually faded away until the tile was once again shiny black. Galaxy and I left it and proceeded to the next circle. Unfortunately, I was still thinking about Sandcastle's story and in my carelessness, the heel of my left foot pressed upon a black tile.
I leapt back in shock, for during the contact, it felt as if my leg had been dunked in freezing water up to its knee. Now that I was safely on a white square again, the feeling of cold left however a feeling of numbness remained.
I watched as the black tile which I had stepped upon clouded over like the one we had just visited. From its depths came the image of a rather strange pony. It was only when I saw that she had no cutie mark that I realized she in fact was not a pony at all. Although retaining the basic form of an equine, she was pink with green stripes.
"Who is it who disturbs me?" she asked.
"Oh, sorry" I said as I shook my leg, "It was an accident."
The zebra examined me closer the way many other inhabitants of hell already had. "Say" she said, "Aren't you a brony?"
"Yep, sure am" I replied.
"Interesting" mused the zebra, "How's Ponyland these days?"
"Not sure" I replied, "It's been abandoned, though from what I've heard about all the warring that used to go on, it's probably a wasteland. The ponies all live in a place called Equestria now and no longer fight."
The Zebra arched an eyebrow in surprise. "What a miracle then! Oh how I hated all the silly feuds of Ponyland!" she exclaimed.
"Well, if you didn't like them, why were you in Ponyville in the first place?" I asked.
"If I didn't already know you weren't going to Ponyville errrr Equestria since you're a human, I would not be telling you what I am about to tell you for it shames me deeply" replied the Zebra blushing, "My name's Zig Zag. I left my homeland while young seeking adventure and would up in Ponyland. Unfortunately however, I could not make my way back for I was lost and none of the ponies had ever been to my country. Seeing no other option, I remained there. For political power, I often used my magic to help various princess ponies in return for favors although I tried to stay out of their wars. At some point, I tired of all their fighting and decided to leave and search for my birth village no matter how long it took. As I was leaving Ponyland however, Princess Sunbeam came galloping after me asking for my advice on a certain battle strategy. In return, she promised me a map leading to my home country which she had bought from passing griffons. In my homesickness, I accepted the deal and came up with a strategy that would allow her to trap the forces of Princess Moondust in Flutter Valley and slaughter them all. Although it was horrifying to think about, I decided that to make up for this and escape hell, I would do plenty of good deeds throughout my life. The strategy in fact did not work however I never found that out since I was well on my way to my own country at the time of the battle. I did spend the rest of my life doing good deeds and upon death, I found myself being driven to paradise on a golden chariot pulled by two majestic white peagsi. We were ambushed however by fire equines who explained that my good deeds actually did not count toward anything since they had not been done from the heart, but in fact were selfish in origin. Since I had helped in a war for personal gain, I was under their control. They dragged me out of the chariot and carried me to Disharmony, Discord's father, who sentenced me to this fate.
The horrors of the wars between the feuding princess ponies which I had come to learn so much about must have been nothing compared to the shocking layout of the ninth section. For once, there were clouds in the sky, though they were of a disturbingly pink complexion. From them rained a shower of large meat cleavers of assorted sizes. In addition, inverted buildings also flew around like blimps. On the ground were an assortment of strange sites, including buildings of large playing cards and long chains of mutated dancing bunnies.
The bunnies seemed to be natural inhabitants of the region and were unaffected. In addition were large beavers and distorted bears. Those souls that were there for punishment however consisted of the usual ponies along with a handful of draconequii.
These creatures constantly attempted to dodge the rain of blades, though mostly unsuccessfully. Each strike cleaved them nicely, though rarely all the way through. In any case, the wounds healed with amazing speed, though in the process they felt the condensed pain equaling all that a normal creature would feel over the long course of time such wounds usually took to close.
I watched in horror as a meat cleaver slashed through the ribs of a blue skinned human standing next to me causing his entrails to spill out. Wait, human? At this time, Galaxy and I still stood upon the bridge watching and in my haste, I nearly ran into the wicked rain, which would no doubt have been fatal to me.
"So, same thing as last time?" I asked Galaxy? Without answering, she once more set up a glowing pink force field around us as we safely walked over to the only other human I had seen.
"Oh, if only I had had refused to help Sunset Shimmer" he wailed.
"Snips, SNIPS, are you alright?" asked a second human who came running up, "Try to AAAAAUUUGGGH." He screamed as a meat cleaver fell and nearly amputated his leg.
"Are you Snails?" I asked the lean teenage boy.
"Sure am" he cried as he hugged his wounded leg, "We were sent here for breaking up Twilight's friends on Earth. It was only to avoid the wrath of Sunset Shimmer that we did it but…waaaahhhhhhhhhhh." He broke down into tears. As he lay their crying, another meat cleaver fell and nicked him on the shoulder.
"Hey" said a voice behind me. I turned around and saw that it was Snips. "If you see Ms. Cherilee, please tell her to repent lest she join us for she knew what Sunset Shimmer was doing but refused to act. By knowingly allowing another to sow discord, she'll be punished as if she had done so herself."
"Hey, are you a human?" called another human with wearing a yellow shirt.
"What do you think?" I answered.
"Oh, just asking" he said, "When you get back, can you tell Rainbow Dash I said hi and that I'm sad I can't be with her?"
"Ummmmmm, sorry but no" I answered. We left quickly since I knew where this was going.
Suddenly, a buzzing sound rang in my ears as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. I turned around as I saw that a decapitated pony had accidently brushed against our force field. It's head, which it was desperately searching for rolled around near it.
"Uhhh, it's a little to the side of your front left hoof" I told her.
"Oh, thanks" she said when she had found it, and now carried it with her front hooves. I was shocked when I realized her head had the horn of a unicorn but her body had the wings of a pegasus. "Who are you?" I asked.
"My name's Princess Skyla" she said, "I'm a relative of Princess Cadance, whom I secretly convinced to work against Princess Luna. I cared for Cadance very much and desired her to have as much power as a sweet princes like her deserved. Unfortunately, my schemes for raising her status at the expense of Luna were discovered and as a result I am condemned here."
I continued marveling at my surroundings here in the ninth section. On a superficial level, this was fantastic and improbable yet still, as I looked, I saw within it that which is reflected clearly on Earth yet missing in Equestria. Here, I now realized, lay the reason Earth could not compare to a place such as Equestria. Here was present the condensation of all that separates our world from that of the ponies.
"Yo, wake up" said Galaxy, "Did you fall asleep or something? Why aren't you moving?"
I awoke from my deep contemplation of my surroundings. "Oh, it's nothing. I said. This place is just really interesting." A large shadow covered us as an upside down town hall passed overhead.
Galaxy rolled her eyes. "Why is it with you humans and chaos?" she asked, "It's all you ever make. Let's get out of here before you decide to remain." She began moving forward.
"Wait" I called, having caught sight of another girl far off with brilliant red hair, "I think I know her."
Galaxy turned to look. "Might be" she said, "She was glaring at you earlier and shouting but I don't think you noticed. Ranted about not being avenged when her pony counterpart murdered her and took her place or something like that. Come on now, we don't have time to talk with her."
Galaxy started trotting again and because I was not safe outside her force field, I was forced to follow along until we got to the bridge.
The moat separating the ninth and tenth sections consisted of a large waterfall, such that the tenth section was considerably lower than the ninth. The bridge of it remained flat until the end, where it descended downward in a spiral fashion. From the middle, I could see clearly the layout of the tenth section. A queer humming sound seemed to proceed from it, and the air was filled with confetti. "So, is the punishment for this section to party without end?" I asked Galaxy sarcastically. "Not quite" she replied, "you'll see."
The buzzing got louder as we neared the circle. As we made our way down the circular ramp, I finally saw that they were parasprites. Galaxy again set up the force field around us. "These aren't just regular parasprites" she explained, "They're vampiric in nature. If they didn't fly so fast, you would be able to see their fangs.
We exited the ramp and entered the racket of the tenth section. All around us were various creatures squirming and running around, desperately trying to rip off the parasprites constantly latching onto them. The extraterrestrial appearance of the parasprites and the loud mosquito-like buzz of their wings unnerved me to the point that I wanted to leave immediately.
"Let's do this quickly" I said to Galaxy. "Suit's me" she replied. She didn't seem to like parasprites either. I wondered if Ponyland had ever been swarmed by them.
Galaxy walked over to two ponies lying next to each other painfully. "Hello there" she said, "Would you two mind explaining to us your stories?"
One of the ponies, a dark blue one looked at us in disbelief. "Oh, and who are you to think that you are important enough to hear the story of the great and powerful Trixie" she aside.
I jumped in. "Hey Trixie" I said, "If you do, I promise to write a fanfic about you defeating an ursa major."
Trixie's eyes grew wide with excitement. "Oh, you know" she said, "the money I paid for the alicorn amulet was counterfeit. I made it using magic. For that, I'm here."
"My name's Starflash" interrupted the pony beside her, "I stole moondust from Mr. Moon and used it to create silver which I sold for a profit. Do you think you could write a fanfic about me too?"
"I'll try" I answered, "though I must apologize for being unfamiliar with you. What would you like it to be about."
"Hmmmmm" she said, "Make it about me travelling around Ponyland whilte blasting changeling with shooting stars from my eyes and hiding magic sparkly eggs."
Galaxy and I continued along the circumference of the circle until we found ourselves at a large wall. Above the gateway was a long pillar shaped crystal. Galaxy's eyes glowed red before secreting an indigo smoke. Concentrating, she blasted the crystal with a beam of shining black light. The crystal itself also secreted it's own cloud of sinister indigo smoke before the gate opened. "Whoah, you can do that to?" I asked. "With all the fighting going on back in my day, I was forced to learn some rather dark arts to defend myself. For one thing, it is always a good idea to know your enemy. And then of course you never know when such knowledge can come in handy in a practical way."
Galaxy and I walked through the gate into the next zone of the circle. The gate close behind us. This circle was filled with the usual screams of pain and violence reminiscent of the fifth circle. Now, I saw all around me ponies jousting in an enormous free for all. Ponies were being flung into the air or impaled with lances everywhere.
One of them landed right beside me. "Twilight?" I asked incredulously, "No wait, it can't be." "That's Amethyst Star" said a pony lying beside me with only a helmet on. She fell in love with her father and seduced him. She learned changeling magic to disguise herself. Technically, she's not supposed to be here but everyone's given up on this section."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, she's actually supposed to be in zone 4, but the gates dividing the zones have broken quite a while ago so everypony just sort of wanders around. The magic controlling our punishments has mingled too but alas, any punishment is just as bad as another. Look at me. With every decrease of my desire for a nice hayshake, I get wacked with a mace more often. Oh well, at least it's a change."
"Interesting. And you are … ?"
"Flim" he answered, "Not sure where my bro Flam is at right now but I reckon he's around here somewhere. I'm here for trying to pass off garbage as good apple cider. Celestia actually likes apple cider and did not approve of our schemes. For exploiting the thirst of fellow ponies, I must be tormented by it forever. Or rather I would have been if all this magic wasn't mingling and changing. Of course I'm allowed to conjure up one of my own apple ciders anytime I wish but I wouldn't drink that stuff for the whole of Sweet Apple Acres. Oh, hey, there's Flam right over there talking with Arpeggio."
I looked over and saw a unicorn with a breastplate talking with another holding his head between his hooves.
"Random" I said, "What did he do now?"
"Oh, just lied a lot to Celestia. He often lowered people's scores out of meanness. He's still sore about not getting into her school himself."
Flam began walking over to Flim with Arpeggio following. When he walked, he held his head with one hoof and ambled along with his three others. "Say brother, don't you think …"
He stopped when he looked at me. I was finally beginning to get used to it.
"Hey, aren't you one of them bronies?" he asked me.
"Sure am" I replied with a look of disgust.
"Well, what do you make of that?" he asked Arpeggio.
"Humph. If they can't do magic, why should I bother with them?" replied the judge.
I turned to look at him. "Actually" I said, "The magic of friendship is out there for anyone to use, unicorn or not. In fact"
"DON'T SPEAK TO ME ABOUT THE MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP!" he shouted.
Flam laughed. "Why?" he asked, "Cuz you never learned it?"
"Oh and you did?" sneered Arpeggio.
"Yeah, I have Flim, that's one more friend than you ever made."
"He's your brother. That doesn't count."
"Of course it does!"
I listened to them arguing with bemusement until I felt a harsh kick to my thigh from Galaxy. "Why are you wasting time with this crap?" she asked. "If you want to see pointless arguing, go onto any MLP forum and find a thread debating who the best of the mane 6 is. Or just find any MLP related video on YouTube and watch the flame wars in the comments over whether or not the show is gay. But don't waste your time with that here. Come on, we have to move."
We began making out way to the center of the circle until we reached the inner wall of the section and the tenth circle as a whole. When we had done so, we began walking around it's edge.
"Ugh, this place is a mess" said Galaxy, "I know the gate's here somewhere. If we walk along, we'll get to it eventually.
Unfortunately, it was never the case. We circled the way three times and never did we pass any gate, or at least any visible one. We stopped when we entered the second zone the fourth time. "Ok, this is getting ridiculous" said Galaxy, "Seriously, what is going on here?"
"Beats me" I replied, "maybe we should just fly over."
Galaxy thought for a while. "Well, I suppose we could" she said, "but that spell is very tiring. I'll need my energy once we're out of here."
"Maybe the gate's just really tiny" I joked.
Galaxy really did move closer to the wall as if to get a better look. In the process, her force field brushed against the wall causing the wall to flash black and the force field to flicker.
"Whoa" she said, "what was that. Oh, wait, I see"
Galaxy's horn grew brighter and a beacon of pink light shone forth and illuminated a large circle on the wall. The formerly red bricks of the wall were now shiny black.
"More changeling magic" she muttered, "It's been hidden. We should be able to find it now though."
We continued forward but probably should have gone the other way. The gate turned out to be right next to where we were standing.
"Finally" exclaimed Galaxy. Other that the fact that it was hidden from view, it was the same sort of gate as those which had divided the zones of the tenth section. Galaxy once again opened it with dark magic before we passed through.
The gate closed behind us and in looking back, I saw clearly that this side of the wall was not disguised with magic. Galaxy and I walked forward. We appeared to be upon a cliff of some sort. Beyond the cliff was a vast chasm that stretched just beyond the horizon, though I could see it made a rough circle. The air over the chasm was foggy, though I could still see that it was spotted with tall mountain-like structures.
"Wow, geologicaly speaking, how were all of those mesas formed?" I asked. "Those aren't mesas" replied Galaxy, "They're spiders."
"Spiders?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes, they are the original inhabitants of the land of the changelings, but were enslaved when Chrysalis rose to power and conquered them."
Galaxy and I began walking along the chasm's edge. I peered over yet the bottom was too fogged over and dark for me to see. I wondered how we would get down. In my mind, I hoped that another ramp was not the answer.
Galaxy stopped when we stood before one of the spiders who was closest to the edge. It's black and yellow body stood out like an island in a sea of mist.
"Hey F'Wuffy, pet of Jim" shouted Galaxy, her voice echoing around the pit.
The spider opened one of his six eyes. "What do you want?" he snapped.
"Take us to Lake North"
I expected F'Wuffy to argue but surprisingly, he simply leaned forward until his head, with each eye as big as a tractor tire, brushed against the edge. Galaxy galloped forward onto his body. Though I did too, I was terrified but also feared offending him. F'Wuffy lowered himself down until his body touched the cold dark ground of the pit's bottom where we hopped off. Without another word, he raised himself until his body disappeared amidst the fog overhead.
I have seen the effect of Sombra's door on the minds of ponies. Those who enter find themselves in the situation they fear most, but even these fears are already present within their subconscious. Nopony can fear that which they are ignorant of. If that had been the case, those who entered the door would find themselves where I stood now. This was a place of isolation, a place hidden forever from the joy and laughter of Equestria.
We stood upon a frozen wasteland. It was hatred itself. The ice was frozen as hard as rock, and in no way slippery. Galaxy began walking and I followed. The deep milky blue ice prevented me from seeing far, but F'Wuffy's legs seemed to extend just as far below ground as they were above. His massive limbs rose upward like the pillars of some great temple of hatred.
We stopped when we reached the edge of a frozen lake. Its ice, unlike that of the ground, was clear and I could see down into the darkness. It glowed with a beautiful yet sinister shade of sapphire blue.
"This is Lake North" whispered Galaxy. I didn't know why she spoke so softly.
Galaxy stepped upon the ice and a look of discomfort settled across her face which she quickly wiped off. I followed. The cold ice seemed to suck all joy through the soles of my feet.
When we had walked some distance, I saw stones encased in the ice. As we got closer, I saw that they were statues.
We passed the first of these statues and I saw that it was vibrating. "What's going on?" I asked Galaxy, "an earthquake?"
"No" replied Galaxy confused, "why would you ask that?"
I pointed out the quivering statue to Galaxy. "That's not a statue" explained Galaxy, "that's a soul with all traces of the elements of harmony removed from him. He's shivering because he's cold. They stay immobile, transfixed by visions of what they did."
The shades of grey of the ponies contrasted sharply with the brilliant florescent colors of Rainbow Dash's mane, whose image I held within my mind to prevent it from paralyzing with fear.
I began shivering as well. "What did they do?" I asked, somewhat afraid of the answer. "This zone is named Lunaea after Princess Luna, who betrayed her sister Celestia by becoming Nightmare Moon. She herself is not here because it was not her fault, but anypony else that betrays their family without remorse comes here."
Galaxy and I kept walking. In the darkness, I tripped over somepony's head. As I stood up, I turned to apologize before I realized the pony looked familiar. "What's your name?" I asked it. The pony didn't answer. Getting angry, I asked again, also to no avail. Immediately, I seized the pony by its mane and shouted, "Soarin, I know that's you. I know you're down here and you deserve it. How dare you act all high and mighty, ignoring Rainbow Dash at the Grand Galloping Galla?"
"That's Snowflake" said a soft voice behind me, "He's here because he joined a gang and murdered his parents."
"YEAH!" shouted the pony excitedly.
I turned to look to see who was it that had made me aware of my mistake when a blinding rainbow light filled the air. When it had settled, I looked back but saw only an outline of a small filly in the ice, which was partly melted. "What happened?" I asked.
"That was Scootaloo" answered Galaxy, "When she replied to you to keep you from harassing Snowflake, she created the element of kindness within herself. Therefore, she cannot exist here and has been teleported to purgatory."
Galaxy turned and began walking further down into the lake and as always, I followed while my eyes adjusted once more to the darkness.
"We're in Mildea now" said Galaxy suddenly, "This is the region for those who betrayed their country. It's named after Mulia Mild, the ninja assassin who killed the king of the mules for profit, then fled to Equestria."
I looked around for an indication as to how Galaxy could tell but found none. In the process however, my eyes caught sight of a pony nearby gnawing the skull of a nearby pony with the relish of Pinkie Pie eating MMMM.
The pony sensed us watching her. "What?" she asked as if it was no big deal.
I stood dumbfounded. Even Galaxy seemed disturbed by the sight despite all the previous horrors we had bypassed. "Ummm, why are you doing that?" I asked.
"Oh, simple enough" she said. "My name's Ms. Harshwhinny. I'm in this section because I tried to raise an army against Celestia. I found out about a secret mirror portal hidden in Celestia's castle leading to another universe. When I was there visiting in preparation for the Equestrian Games, I found it and slipped through. My plan was to raise an army there and attack Equestria however my plan was foiled and the mirror was moved to the Crystal Empire for safekeeping. I escaped once from prison and attempted to try again however somepony had stolen my original written plans. Anyhow, because I ate a hamburger while I was in your universe, I'm forced to eat the head of Braeburn as well."
"Braeburn?" I asked.
"Yep, he wanted to take over Appleloosa and sabotaged some of it's defenses during the battle between the ponies and the bison. He knew the sheriff was the main target and purposely stole some of his pies to speed his death."
When she had finished speaking, Ms. Harshwhinny returned to chewing on Braeburn's head. The sight sickened me and when I turned away to keep myself from vomiting, I saw that Galaxy had left me already and was travelling ahead. I ran to catch up to her.
After a while, the density of the ponies diminished until we were alone and things took a turn for a strange. All around us, the ice rose up in large carved mounds sporting hideous faces. Although these really were ice sculptures, some sinister vital energy seemed to dwell within them. As cold as the lake already was, it was colder now. Though I shivered violently, I knew not whether this was due to the cold or the unease from the gleering sculptures of ice surrounding me and ever ready to pounce.
This section of the lake was much larger than I had originally thought.
"Wow, this is a really big dividing region" I said to Galaxy, perhaps to break the silence.
"Actually, it's purpose is not merely to divide two other sections at all" said Galaxy, "This itself is Dianea, the third section of the fifth circle of hell. It's reserved for those who dare break a Pinkie Promise."
"Oh, so this is what happens then" I said, suddenly feeling quite enlightened. "Yep" replied Galaxy, "The statues are designed to slowly drive the inhabitants of this zone insane over a period of time."
"It seems pretty uninhabited" I remarked, looking around. "Do you think anypony would be stupid enough to break a Pinkie Promise?" asked Galaxy.
"Touche"
Author's Notes: As those of you familiar with the Inferno know, this is the last canto. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do Purgatory and Paradise next. It would be harder to take care of certain logistical issues, especially with Paradise but if I ever do try, it won't be for a while. Thanks to all readers and those curious few who messaged me about this.
Once again, we reached another great pit, which upon closer inspection, I saw was really a frozen whirlpool leading into oblivion. As far down as I could see, ponies were fully encased within it, their bodies contorted into impossible positions and their faces frozen in eternal expressions of horror.
"Wheeee" said Galaxy as she jumped into the edge of the whirlpool and slid down into the darkness. Afraid of doing the same, but even more afraid of being left alone, I hesitated before following. As I slid down in spirals, the spinning circle of light above me grew smaller and smaller until it vanished as a speck of grey amidst the darkness. I was now sliding downward at a tremendous speed, and for all I knew, there might as well have been no end to the whirlpool. I was only thankful that its large size prevented me from growing dizzy.
The whirlpool eventually did stop however and as it leveled and ended, I slid forward until I smashed into a soft and warm object. "Ooomph" it said. "Oh, sorry about that" I said. "Yeah let's fix this" replied Galaxy. At once, the air was aglow with a hot pink light and for the first time I could see my surroundings. Galaxy's light was not bright enough to see too far but I could at least make out the shapes of even more unfortunate ponies encased within the ice beneath our feet, several meters down. "There's nopony to talk to here" said Galaxy, "We'd better get going."
In the terrifying excitement of the slide down the whirlpool, I had not paid attention to my senses, but now that I was on my feet again, I felt as if death from hypothermia awaited me if we did not leave quickly. The icy air of the previous sections of Lake North was nothing compared to the soul chilling surroundings of this pit.
Suddenly, I gasped in surprise. Within the dead center of the pit was what appeared to be an enormous pillar of dense grey cloud rising into the darkness. "Hold on a sec" said Galaxy. She furrowed her brows in concentration and the brightness of her horn increased considerably. We now saw the top of the pillar, which formed a gargantuan head like that of a hideous genie, clenching and gnawing between it's teeth the soul of a single pony. Though she was grey and distant, I knew her by her form, which I had learned over the years to recognize and despise. The very sight of Sunset Shimmer sickened me enough that I was forced to lower my gaze.
"So this is where Arabus has been all these years" I said, unsure whether to myself or to Galaxy.
"Indeed" said Galaxy, "punishing those whose lives lacked loyalty the most. Loyalty is the heart of friendship, for can you be friends with one you are not loyal to? Even dishonesty can manifest in a good way, for example to conceal a surprise birthday party. And there are times when you've had a rough day and may be grumpy, refusing to laugh along with them or give even a kind greeting. No matter what however, you know that you are always loyal to them and them to you. Therefore, it is only fitting that the most disloyal suffer at the very heart of hell and there is no one more disloyal than Sunset Shimmer."
As Arabus gnawed her body in rage, he shook and flailed his arms about wildly. As I watched, terrified by the monstrous sight, a ghostly moan from even higher above reverberated around us.
"Windigos" explained Galaxy, "They fly above his head and fill up much of the center of the whirlpool, feeding on his hatred and using it to keep the ninth circle frozen."
As I strained my eyes, I made out the faint outline of several large ghostly forms circling above Arabus.
"Get on my back" said Galaxy as she lowered herself, "We're leaving now."
Unsure what she had planned, I climbed on to Galaxy while shifting my eyes from the blinding light of her horn. As soon as I was safely seated, Galaxy charged forward at Arabus and leapt. A fraction of a second before impact, her horn blinked off leaving us in darkness as we passed through him.
A thousand winds from a thousand directions struck us once we were inside him. They spun us, threw us, and carried us in all manner of directions. Though the darkness was scary enough, even that was better than what came next.
When we had been at the mercy of the winds long enough, a series of images began to flash before us. They were black and white, and formed from ghostly wisps of cloud. Some were horrifying, others tragic. My heart fell as images of warzones, murder scenes, and starving children passed through my mind. I stared ahead and locked my mind to prevent it from shattering.
When we had been within Arabus, carried to and fro by the winds even longer, the images began to take the form of pure thoughts, rather than pictures and imprinted themselves directly upon my mind. Luckily, this did not last long, for I felt my sanity slipping.
The thoughts and picture together now seemed to be those of Arabus himself. I saw images of him using dark magic to control Princess Luna and turn her into Nightmare Moon and felt his rage as a fragment of his soul was pushed out of her by the elements of harmony. I saw also the time he taught a power-hungry teenage King Sombra dark magic, all the while secretly using it to turn Sombra's heart into a replica of his own. These images passed before us, circled, us, and even seemed to attack us on occasion, though when they struck, they did no harm.
After some time, another wind, stronger than any other seized us and carried us upward some distance before beginning to die down. When it had died down completely, I realized that Galaxy and I now stood upon solid land. Galaxy began galloping forward until a faint navy blue light shone in the distance. As she galloped closer, I saw that it was the exit to the tunnel-like structure we had ended up in.
Galaxy exited the tunnel at full sprint and ran a little while longer before stopping. Though my head spun at first, the fresh air of the lush grassland soon revived me. It was night, and upon looking up, I saw the myriads of beautiful stars that made up the night sky.
Princess Luna smiles upon me.
After trying to keep up with Galaxy for an hour, almost losing sight of her, and skinning my knee after tripping, I found myself at the entrance to the second circle of hell; a small arch within one of the walls of the labyrinth. Before the door way stood a Tirek, albeit smaller and older than I last remembered him. A considerable crowd of ponies and other assorted creatures had gathered before him. As each faced him, they knelt and confessed to him all the sins of their lives. Listening intently, the gargoyle signaled his judgement by striking the cold stone floor beside him with his tail. The specific group of tiles were cracked; dented in a way that conformed to his tail. The raping of his itself tail was swift, but slow enough to distinguish each individual strike. Upon seeing me, his eyes widened.
"Young man! Just what do you think we are doing? Is it curiosity that brings you to this door? Leave at once."
His voice was harsh and raspy, like the sound of sandpaper on coarse wood, but considerably louder. I assume he had not spoken in quite some time. As I struggled to respond in some fashion, he turned to my guide and spoke once more.
"And you as well…? What brings you here? Surely you know better than to aimlessly wander from your region."
"Let us pass!" my guide spoke. "Our journey has been ordained and ordered by she whom all ponies must obey. Will you not obey the orders of our highest princess? Make way!"
Seeing that my guide spoke with the authority of Celestial herself, he motioned for us to pass through.
As I did so, a sudden gust of wind nearly blew me back into the labyrinth. Grabbing Galaxy and using her as a wind breaker, I entered the second circle. We found ourselves on a cliff, the ground consisting of dark and slightly moist dirt with sparse sickly looking weeds scattered about. A sudden crack of thunder made me jump and once more grab for Galaxy. Looking up, I saw a massive whirlwind of dark storm clouds. At the edges of the whirlwind were pegasi, three or four times large than average. Once again, their eyes glowed with fire as they sustained the storm with their disproportionately large wings. Within the storm was another multitude of condemned ponies; forever blown about like leaves.
Galaxy began speaking. Actually, it was more like shouting. Even then, it was difficult to hear her over the screaming winds around us.
"Within the winds dwell everypony who gave into their lust during life; the adulterers, the polygamists, the sexually immature. They must remain forever in the storm, eternally attached to those whom they cheated with."
My head grew dizzy from the sheer thought of being tossed, turned, and whipped with fierce winds forever. As I saw watched the crowd battered about thus, still holding onto Galaxy for support, I caught sight of a particularly large crowd of ponies all bound together. Galaxy apparently sensed my curiosity about them.
"Call to them. Invoke them in the name of their love. Speak and ask them what you will. Celestia sent you on this journey to learn, and that is what you will do."
Thus, raising my voice and ignoring the sand being blown into my mouth, I called to them. "Hey! Shades within that large group currently spinning counterclockwise while barreling east…"
Struggling, the ponies turned to look at me.
"Yeah, you. Do you guys think you could come to us for a moment so we can chat?"
Magically, the winds around the group seemed to subside, allowing the much weaker wings of the normal pegasi contained therein to steer the group toward me. As they did so, I saw that they were all handsome looking ponies wearing the tattered remains of what were at one point fine suits. In the midst of the group however, was something different. As the group neared me, I saw that she was female. Although her mane was dusty, dull traces of purple still showed through. Her fur, at one point, was probably white, though it had been stained a variety of shades by her eternal fate. Something about her face struck me. Despite the dust, it still seemed pretty; though there was something more. Her eyes gleamed of a specific type of haughtiness: one I had seen before.
"Rarity?" I asked.
"Oh my" she spoke. "You recognize and remember me. The rest of the world has surely forgotten by now. For that, if Celestia were still my friend, I would praise you to her. Alas, I am stuck here forever with no hope of salvation."
"What happened to you?" I asked. "You seemed pretty well off in life. How have you come to a fate such as this?"
"Well, you see, I ended up marrying one colt at one of the higher levels of Canterlot society. He was a businesscolt and his coworkers often came to our house. Before long, I knew all of them rather well. A little…ummm…too well if you know what I mean. And so, in consequence of my actions, I must remain here forever with quite a large chunk of Canterlot's elite class from my time."
I looked once more at the crowd. All these ponies, who had been so well off and proud in life, were reduced to miserable creature who spent their days whipped around by the winds of the second circle. As Rarity spoke, they hovered around her crying. Some were inaudible. Others bawled their eyes out. One, however, was particularly loud. Turning to examine him, I saw he had a dusty blonde mane and a dirty blue suit on. I wondered what his occupation had been in life. Maybe a successful entrepreneur or manager of some sort? He couldn't be a prince since he wasn't an alicorn. Actually, if I remembered correctly, some of the royal ponies that were more distantly related to Celestia weren't alicorns. Maybe this was one of them? Wait, somehow, I felt he was…
"Ummmm, Rarity. Is that Blueblood?" I asked.
"Actually…well…it's a long story but yes" she replied.
"Dude seriously?" I asked. "The heck…?"
"Like I said, it's sort of a long and convoluted tale, but we did end up together somehow alone at one point. Trust me, I'm not normally…"
I didn't hear the rest of her words as I was rolling on the ground laughing. It was just too funny. As I was doing so, I was beginning to struggle to breathe. Really, how on earth did something like that happen? Blueblood was the last person I would expect Rarity to have an affair with. My vision began to blur and my mind felt dizzy from lack of oxygen. Despite this, I couldn't stop rolling on the ground laughing. Moments later, struggling to breathe, I passed out.
Galaxy and I continued walking along the riverbank. As we did, I shifted over to her left side to shield myself from the heat, which her force field didn't seem to block. Galaxy herself seemed unfazed. A short time later, we came across a rickety old wooden bridge which Galaxy started to cross. "Wait" I said, "You can't be serious. That thing can't even support my weight let alone yours. Plus, how is it not even burning." "Don't worry" said Galaxy laughing, "it's enchanted. It'll only fall if someone who isn't supposed to crosses." Galaxy continued walking forward and I followed. Her body no longer offered any protection from the scorching heat which now rose up from below. I could even feel it through the rubber bottoms of my sneakers.
On the other side of the bridge was still desert. I really didn't see any difference. It was the same sand, same drab sky, same rain of fire… Even on the other side, we continued walking along the river's bank. This time, I stood on Galaxy's right side. When it got to the point where I seriously began to question if she knew where she was going, we saw a large crowd of figures up ahead. As they got closer, I could see that their clothes were torn and ripped from many years of wandering around in the dessert. They passed by my right side, all of them giving us curious looks. Galaxy opened her mouth to speak; probably to explain to me who they were. Before she could do so however, a member of the crowd trotted over to us and greeted me."
"Well, if it isn't you again with us after all these years. How have you been?"
"Not too well Star Swirl" I said, "though I see that you've been worse off than I."
I had never actually seen Star Swirl before, but only recognized him due to his resemblance to Twilight's Nightmare Night costume.
"Haha, I might be better if my magic weren't taken away from me" replied Star Swirl, "seriously. I was the most powerful unicorn in my time, there's a shelf in the Canterlot Library named after me filled with advanced and forbidden books on magic, and here I am wandering around in this place taking this torture passively like an Earth Pony."
"Why is this so?" I asked Star Swirl. I expected that someone like him would be living in the first circle with Galaxy.
"The wars and battles between the feuding princess ponies in my time did much harm to nature. As a powerful unicorn, I could have helped prevent this destruction but was too wrapped up in my own experiments to care. Thus, I'm here now."
We were walking in the opposite direction of the wandering group Star Swirl had originally been a part of. I glanced back at them. "Don't worry" said the old mage, "I'll catch up to them later. I wanted to say a few words with you. Celestia's curse was not able to remove all of my magic; just most of the active part. I may not be able to cast spells, but I still retain my gift of prophecy, though it is greatly diminished. You're going to be quite a famous man. Many will know your name. But though you will improve the world a lot, there are certain groups of people out there who will be out to destroy you."
"Sheesh I said. Everypony seems to be hinting that something bad will happen to me in the future. Is that really all you can say?"
"Unfortunately yes" said Star Swirl, "I do not have my divination instruments with me at the moment which I have relied on in the past."
"It's all the same then" I replied, "I'll just ask Rainbow Dash for more information when I reach her. It really doesn't worry me anymore. Whatever fate has in store for me, I doubt I can change it and so I figure I might as well accept it peacefully."
"You're learning then" said Galaxy. It was the first time she had spoken in a while.
"Hey, I said, why don't the other ponies wait for you?" I asked Star Swirl, "and who in Equestria are they?" They seemed to have just left him behind.
"We aren't allowed to stand still" he replied, "if we do, it feels as if a thousand red hot spikes are goading us forward. As for who they are, I assume most of them you wouldn't recognize. Diamond Tiarra and Silver Spoon are both there for littering. Lavan is there as well for being stupid and disrupting the balance of Ponyland by failing to control the magical force he was wielding. Oh, hey they're going over the horizon. I'd better get back before they go out of sight. I don't want to lose them."
And in this way, he left, galloping over across the sand with all the air of a victorious race horse.