The door of the Books and Branches library burst open, revealing a light yellow pegasus with disheveled pink hair and a frightened look. She rushed into the room, eyes rapidly searching the area. “Twilight, help!” she screamed, on the verge of tears.
In mere seconds, a door on the upper level flew open, its knob slamming against the wall and sending a loud crack through the library. Behind it was a unicorn with wide violet eyes, which locked onto the source of the yelling. “Fluttershy, what’s wrong?!” she asked, wasting no time in descending the stairs and joining her friend.
“It’s... It’s Angel! S-Something’s w-wrong with Angel!” Fluttershy cried, stumbling over her words. “I-I just... he was so... There was n-nothing that-” She was interrupted by a purple hoof being pressed against her quivering lips.
“Fluttershy, calm down, then tell me what’s wrong. Okay?” She pulled her hoof away and gave a faint smile. “Just breathe.”
Fluttershy closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She exhaled before opening them again, this time with a less frightful look “...Okay.”
“Good. Now, what’s wrong with Angel?”
“Well that’s just it, I’m not sure. This morning he wouldn’t get out of bed, when I tried to feed him he wouldn’t eat, and I think he has a fever.” She began to pace around the middle of the room. “I tried every remedy I could think of, and not even medicine helped him.” Fluttershy let out a sniff, and as she rounded the centerpiece of the room, Twilight noticed the pegasi’s eyes starting to water again. “I don’t know what’s wrong with poor Angel bunny... and... I’m so scared, Twilight.” She sniffed again, and a thin stream of tears slid down her cheek. “Please...” Fluttershy whispered, getting closer to Twilight. “Please help me...”
Twilight leaned forward and put a foreleg around Fluttershy’s neck, feeling her body shaking in fright. “I’ll help you, I promise. Let me just find if any known diseases match the symptoms.” She backed up and floated a quill and piece of parchment in front of her, then jotted several things down. “I’ll start looking in the veterinary section. If you’d like to, you can look through some books as well.”
Without a sound, Fluttershy nodded and allowed Twilight to start looking. The unicorn was already digging through a pile of books by the time Fluttershy reached the nearest shelf. Looking at the labels which were uniformly applied to each shelf, she read the word ‘Supernatural.’ “Hmm...” she hummed to herself, scanning the spines of the many books. One caught her eye, because of its darker cover and faded, obscured text. She looked closer at it and mouthed the title: The Legends of Tartarus: Volume I.
Meanwhile, Twilight was skimming through every book she knew that covered the health and care of rabbits and small mammals. She was focused on one book in particular, which claimed to have every disease known to the Leporidae family. “Symptoms... symptoms... symptoms...” she mumbled to herself, flipping through the pages. Her eyes caught the word ‘fever’ as she flipped through, and with an ‘Aha!’ she went back to the page and started to read.
“VHD/RCD, or, Viral Hemorrhagic Disease of Rabbits/Rabbit Calicivirus Disease. Symptoms include foaming at the nostrils, fever, loss of appetite, and muscle spasms, along with bleeding from one or more parts of the body. The infected animal will usually-” Twilight gasped, breaking her concentration and dropping the book.
Fluttershy looked up from her own pages and turned to Twilight. “What’s the matter, Twilight?”
“Nothing, nothing at all! Just a little clumsiness, ha ha...” She hoped Fluttershy didn’t notice the beads of sweat forming on her brow. Looking back to the paragraph, she continued whispering to herself. “...will usually die within twenty four hours, due to massive hemorrhaging of internal organs. There is no known cure.” Twilight read the sentence again. Then again. She couldn’t believe the text in front of her eyes.
Fluttershy was focused on a paragraph of her own, which was nestled deep within the contents of the dark book she found. “It is rumored that if one has the right payment, they can make a deal with the Keeper of Tartarus himself. Please note, there is no conclusive evidence of this.” She furrowed her brow, considering the idea before her. Despite not having been tested, it was better than nothing. If they couldn’t find a cure, she would have to go. She needed to, for Angel bunny. Glancing over, she saw Twilight huddled over a book, and in an instant, she stashed the book in her saddlebag.
I can’t let Fluttershy know. It’ll break her heart. The unicorn looked over the paragraph one last time before shutting the book and placing it with the others. Sighing, she walked over to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy... I hate to say this, but I couldn’t find anything that you don’t already know.”
The pegasus gulped, then to Twilight’s surprise, gave a soft smile. “I understand... thank you for looking, Twilight. I’ll just make sure he gets plenty of bed rest.”
Twilight gave Fluttershy another hug, while mentally kicking herself for lying. “If anything goes wrong, just come and tell me, okay?”
“Mmhm,” Fluttershy hummed, her pale rose mane swaying as she nodded. “I will. Thanks again, Twilight.” She turned around and walked to the door, which had never been closed, and exiting the building, she shut it behind her. As they lost eyesight with one another, both ponies teared up.
The door to her cottage clicked shut as Fluttershy entered, alerting several animals of her presence. “Hello, friends. Momma’s home.” She pulled her saddlebags off and opened the one that contained the book, then took it out and looked over the cover again. It bore the title of the book, and under it the image of two large gates, which looked to be carved into a mountainside. Fluttershy gulped, hoping that it wasn’t an accurate depiction of Tartarus.
She took the volume with her and sat upon the couch, shifting in place to get herself more comfortable. Settling into the cushion, she flipped open the book to where she had been reading earlier.
Time and time again, there have been tales and legends of ponies who have been bestowed great fame and fortune seemingly out of thin air. However, these stories all have a common element, this being that the pony in question had gone travelling before their good luck. Another common element is that they refused to reveal their secrets, and would not answer to anypony who asked. Often, they would silence immediately and avoid the question as much as possible. Thus, the rumor has spread that those who greatly desire something may travel to none other than Tartarus, and bargain with its ghastly Keeper.
While this may be true, to this day, it remains purely a theory, as nopony suspected of making such a sacrifice has confessed to it. For further reading, see Chapter III: The First Soul.
Fluttershy stared at the page, pondering what to do. After several moments, she turned farther into the book, which revealed a map of Equestria. She found Ponyville, and tracing with her hoof, she found where Tartarus was located. It was not very far from her own home; an hour long flight at the most. She had the means and the motive to save Angel, but was it worth it?
She closed the book and got off the couch, then headed to the stairs. She creeped up the steps, making sure to be as silent as possible, then went to her bedroom door. Opening it just a crack, she peered inside the dark room and looked to Angel’s bed. The snowy rabbit laid there, taking pained, labored breaths and coughing every few seconds. Once or twice, one of his limbs twitched and he stirred in his idle state.
The mere sight of Angel trembling in his blanket was enough to put the pegasus on the edge of tears. She backed up and shut the door, muffling her sudden sob. Putting a hoof to her mouth, she kept her crying silent and made her way downstairs. As she stepped down onto the floor, she hiccuped and collapsed, no longer able to keep her composure. Her sparing, muffled sobs turned to painful cries of sorrow as she hit the ground, which frightened her animals in the process.
“A-Angel bunny...” she cried, burying her face in her forelegs, “I-I’m s-so... sorry...” Fluttershy made an attempt to stand up, but only managed to stumble forward into the middle of her living room and fall on her side. “I... I’ll h-help you, Angel. M-momma p-promises...” She crawled to the couch and lifted half of her body onto it, then fumbled with the book. Wiping her eyes and sniveling, she dragged a hoof across the cover and opened it, desperately looking for the map. When she found it, she pored over it, despite the teardrops that were spattering the pages.
“I’ll d-do anything... a-anything for m-my Angel bunny...” Fluttershy whispered, staring with reddened eyes at the scrawled icon of Tartarus. “I’ll pay any p-price.” She steadied herself as she stood up, closing the book firmly. Then, she began to walk to the door.
The gateway to Tartarus was not the same as pictured on the book cover. No, it was far worse than that. What the image had failed to depict was how the mountain that the great doors were held in was black as coal, and how it it jutted out of the land like a unwanted thorn. The ground around the mountain was dead and burnt, with ever-growing cracks splintering from the base. To top it all off, an unholy vortex of black and grey clouds circled above, hiding the very tip of the rock. Once or twice, a blood red bolt of lightning erupted from its center and assaulted the darkened stone.
Fluttershy could do nothing but stare at the blight in front of her.
The pegasus stood fifty paces from the massive gates, trembling in place as her eyes darted from one terrible visage to the next. The sight of it from afar had caused her wings to lock up and remain tight at her sides, so the latter half of the trip had been spent on hoof. Now, just a short walk from it, she found herself unable to approach. The thought of getting closer to it, never mind going inside of it, was a terrifying enough prospect to make her consider leaving.
No. I have to go. I have to.
She took one step forward. Then another. She grit her teeth and furrowed her eyebrows, forcing herself to keep walking forward. The fear, while overwhelming, could not beat her love for Angel. Sure enough, after many minutes of struggle, she was face to face with the, large, iron wrought gates to Tartarus. Its gilded bars were lined with hellish spikes that jutted upwards in crude angles. Various engravings were carved along the metal, some being an unknown language and others being intricate pictures of nightmarish creatures. She gulped, while making every effort to beat back the voice in her head telling her to run away as fast as she could.
Without warning, a sharp metallic creak came from the gates. In an instant, Fluttershy found herself shrieking and dropping to the ground, covering her face while violently shaking. She waited several moments before swivelling her ears around, searching for any sort of sound. None came, so the pegasus peered above her forelegs to see what had happened. The gates had opened inward, revealing nothing but blackness. She lifted her head, followed by her body, then looked deeper into the opening. Still, she could see nothing.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling rhythmically. You can do this, Fluttershy. You’ve stared down a dragon and a cockatrice, stood up to Iron Will, helped with a hurricane and took down Discord. You just need to walk inside... and ask nicely...
She began to walk forward, keeping her eyes shut. With every step of her front legs, she breathed in, and with every step of her back legs, she breathed out. Fluttershy focused on nothing but taking in and pushing out oxygen. Only when the scent of fresh air was replaced with the smell of ash and tar did she open her eyes.
As soon as she did, the pegasus fell back on her haunches from the mere sight of what hid behind those dark metal walls.
It was as if she had just stepped into one of her own nightmares. Numerous columns towered as far as she could see, disappearing into the darkness of the endless ceiling, and they were all covered in skulls and bones. Even the floor she sat upon was embedded with the remains of the dead, though these were laid out and covered in some sort of coating, creating an unnaturally smooth surface. It made her uneasy to touch, and she tried her best to ignore it.
Flame the color of sapphire glowed from torches that laid near the base of each column, though they did a poor job of illuminating the area. They only created faint spheres of light that never extended more than a few feet, so all that was visible were the columns themselves, which led back as far as Fluttershy could see. Beyond the pillars and braziers, there was only endless blackness.
After taking in the horrifying scenery, Fluttershy stood back up. She leaned forward and glanced around, then whispered “Hello...” When she received no response, she cleared her throat and tried again. “Hello?” The meek voice echoed throughout the massive expanse, yet nothing stirred but the blue flames. With a gulp, she hung her head low, flattened her ears and started to walk towards the columns.
Each hoofstep echoed through the vast room, and were the only things keeping her company as she stepped through the colonnade. As she passed the seventh set of columns, she looked behind her and realized she couldn’t see the entrance. How much she had walked and how much was left was unknown. Just keep going, Fluttershy...
She passed several more columns when a peculiar sound caused her ears to prick up and swivel forward. “Is that...” She quickened her pace, galloping now to the source of the noise. She focused on the sound, and realized it was that of flowing water. “Water? Here?” Fluttershy passed another set of pillars, then another, until she passed the final set and was met with a whole new sight.
Before her was a massive river, which flowed at a calm pace. As she was observing it, the sudden change in noise from below her hooves surprised her. She came to a stop and looked down, noticing she had walked onto a wooden dock. Tracing its path with her eyes, she found it ended several feet in front of her, and a boat rested at the end. On the front of it, hanging from a upward curving piece of wood, was a lantern with an eerie blue glow. The vessel itself was styled in the same fashion as the rest of Tartarus, seemingly crafted from dark steel and bone.
Fluttershy walked to the edge of the dock and peered into the boat. It was empty, bobbing up and down in the waves. Looking around, there was nowhere else to go that wasn’t shrouded in a black void, so her only choice was the boat. She frowned, then reached a hoof forward.
“Not so soon, little one. You still have much time left.”
The pegasus shrieked and recoiled from the boat, a flurry of hooves carrying her backwards. She tried to turn around but only managed to stumble over her legs and crash to the ground. A low cackle bubbled up from behind her, and with wide, frightful eyes she turned to look at what made it.
Hovering before her was a figure covered in a large, flowing cloak with frayed edges. It draped around its large shoulders and flittered in an otherworldly wind. A hood obscured its face, leaving only a dark void surrounded by cloth. “This boat is only for the dead, which you are not.” The voice was deep and gravely, as if it were being grated against stone. The figure floated closer and began to circle around her, his hooded face looking in her direction. Fluttershy never let him leave her vision.
“So tell me, young Fluttershy, do you know who I am?”
She trembled, a permanent frown on her face. Unable to speak, she shook her head lightly. With a sigh, the figure gave a disapproving shake of his own. “Shame.” He moved back in front of her and raised a skeletal arm in front of his chest, then gave a slight bow. “I am the Keeper of Tartarus, but you may just call me The Keeper. Does this sound more familiar?”
Fluttershy nodded, still quaking in fear.
“Good. Now, I shall make this brief, for I have many clients to attend to. I understand that you have come here for a purpose, have you not?”
Another nod.
“And I also understand that it has to do with the health of your prized rabbit, Angel.” With a snap of his bony fingers, an hourglass was in his palm. The sand within the top portion was dangerously low, and trickled down more with every passing second. “As of right now, the poor thing doesn’t have much time left.”
Fluttershy gasped, her eyes starting to water. She tried her best to not cry, but each grain of sand made it more difficult.
“Fortunately for you, little one, I have the means to cure his illness. All I require is one small payment.” He waved his hand and the hourglass disappeared, and with another snap, a scroll took its place. Floating downwards, he allowed the scroll to unfurl in front of Fluttershy. “I only require... your soul.”
Her eyes darted between the signature line on the scroll to The Keeper’s dark hood, and a cold sweat began to cover her body. “M-my s-s-soul...?” she whispered, barely making a sound.
“Yes, your soul. It is all I need to bring your sweet bunny back to you.” He placed the scroll at her forelegs, then backed up. “Simply sign.”
The pegasus moved a quivering hoof to the scroll and picked it up, starting to read it. As she reached the second sentence, she felt a sharp prick in her skin and yelped, dropping it. Several droplets of fresh blood fell to the ground and spattered the signature line, staining the weathered parchment. She brought the hoof to her mouth and sucked on the wound while looking to the blood in horror.
“That will be fine,” The Keeper replied, pointing at the scroll. With a flick of his finger, it rose up and floated to his hand. After looking at it for several seconds, he stashed it away within his cloak, then approached Fluttershy. “Rise, little pony. I have a gift for you.”
She stood, shaking the entire time, but otherwise obeying his command. He reached a hand out to her chest, which she backed up from ever so slightly. Pausing, The Keeper gave a soft chuckle, then pressed his finger forward, touching her chest. As soon as he made contact, a burning orange glow illuminated through her skin.
Fluttershy gasped in pain, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open in shock. Thin trails of black smoke began to seep from her eyes and mouth, and she could do nothing but watch. A feeling of intense flame erupted through her body, keeping her in place. The Keeper only gave a hum of approval.
“You are mine now, Fluttershy. One day, I will require your services.” He trailed his finger around the pegasi’s yellow neck and began to circle her. “Until then, you may live as you please. But just know...” The Keeper was half way around her, with the fiery glow still originating from his hand and coursing throughout her. “...I always collect on my debts.” Moving back in front of her, he leaned in close. “Do not forget.” With one final tap, the brightness within her intensified for a brief second before fading entirely. Blinking several times, she collapsed to the ground.
“Now leave me, young one. My end of the bargain is complete, and I have business to attend to.” With that, The Keeper turned around and faded into the blackness. Fluttershy, lost in a state of shock and disbelief, rose to her hooves. She turned around and began to limp towards the entrance, not saying or thinking anything.
Author's Note
This has been languishing in my Google Docs folder for long enough.
