Dark Iron Kingdom

Deep Cut, Bright Sun, and Brown Paw were all huddled together whispering something among themselves. Occasionally one of them would look in my direction to give me a quick sour look before going back to their whispering. It was somewhat amusing to say the least thinking about what their conversation details were. Probably all sorts of insults flung my way only to be squelched by the promise of personal gain.

In the end Bright Sun seemed to have had been chosen as their representative before the three of them walked up to the rest of us. "How do we know you are telling us the truth? And how do you expect to get Tartarus to ease our sentences? I doubt he even knows you," Bright Sun said with what I assumed was his best bargaining pose.

I just mulled over his statements for a moment before I gave him a sly grin and stated, "You have been away a long time and much has changed," before I turned to idly examine the glowing vines and adding, "In addition to acquiring the dreadful title of prince I have also become Death's advocate and as such I have talked to both Tartarus and even the Spirit of Paradise. Tartarus looks like a bulk of muscles made of ash and molten rock with cruel red eyes that make you fully aware of every one of your life's misdeeds. Do you truly believe I would be in here of all places if I was not tasked with doing so?"

I then glanced at Bright Sun to see him having a skeptical look on his face until Brown Paw stuttered out, "So that's what that was..."

In turn I was slightly taken aback to what Brown Paw had stated before I had turned to face the three of them in response only to find her wide eyed and the other two looking curiously at her. She then blinked a few times before her spirit looked like she was taking a few deep breaths. Then upon questioning from her "friends" did she state, "You two weren't there. When...when he roasted me and a good section of the wolf pack, I got up from my own body and I saw some robed skeleton thing. It was touching his back somehow. Then it reaped all of us with a scythe of some sort before sending us to Tartarus through the same horrible burning portal after Goregash got pulled by chains through it."

Bright Sun's and Deep Cut's expressions soured pretty heavily to her statements before they both recounted getting reaped by the same cloaked spirit with their own burning portals. But after such additions they all remained silent for a few seconds before they all let out a near unison and trailing, "Fuuuuuck..."

And that was that. The three of them finally believed me enough to guide us for the time being. However they did make it abundantly clear that whatever "shit", as they called it, that me and my group had gotten ourselves into, they wanted no part of it. They just wanted their sentences hopefully shortened before potentially running away from us at speed. And admittedly I was fine with such a bargain because to be blunt I also did not want essentially three ex-war criminals following us around everywhere.

So into the breach as one would call it or more accurately into the vines. But luckily the vines while quite threatening looking did not seem to react to us much. In fact they, in a bizarre way, were more interested in firmly keeping their vine tips into the ground. For we had discovered this from time to time when we shifted too quickly through them and accidentally pluck one out. And this would result in the vine flailing in every which way and almost impale whichever spirit that did so to dig itself into Tartarian earth once more. If I did not know any better I would have guessed they were trying to anchor something or at least ground it. However this was all conjecture as I honestly had no clue.

But regardless of all that weirdness, it was truly a slog to get through these blasted things at any reasonable speed. Whether the threat of impalement or just the sheer mass of the vines, it all really hindered our pace until we got to a clearing of sorts. And it was then we had all discovered why the vines were setup and why they were also driven into the ground. For they were indeed anchoring something or should I say, some spirit.

"Tartarus?!" I blurted out staring at the withered being suspended a little bit off the ground. The vines had dug themselves into his form and were seemingly draining him while holding him in place. It was horrifying to witness and even our three little ex-war criminal guides had pretty sour looks on their faces as well. Though probably for different reasons then for me and my group.

"What in the world happened here?" Twilight stated echoing what I had no doubt all of us were thinking, but we did not get a chance to say much else before something attacked us.

Red glowing vines from everywhere shot at us with blinding speed before an enraged voice bellowed out around us, "WHERE'S MY DUSKY?!"

I wish I could say that I had attempted to analyze the statement but unfortunately my mind was quite occupied with something else at that moment...naked fear. Me and the others had soon let out various howls of surprise as we all jumped, dodged, and galloped at speed away from the veritable swarm of vines that tried to impale us. But that was all we could do until I tripped over one of the vines and flopped on my back mere moments before one of the vines fired right at my face. And at that point I had figured I was done for until somepony yelled something out.

"WILL YOU CUT IT OUT YOU CRAZY BROAD!" a second voice yelled out and just as if magic all the vines stopped including the point of one merely a few hoof lengths away from my face.

"WHO DARES...who...d...dusky? Is that you?" the first voice had bellowed out in reply before it became almost too quiet to hear at the end. And to add to my further puzzlement I saw Dusk Stalker walk effortlessly right through all the stopped vines and to another spirit with a strange orangish red aura coming off of them.

I had then looked around and found the others with me all in various states of shock and bewilderment that mirrored my own. And so with slow movements I got to my hooves and quietly collected Twilight. "By the stars and moon what is going on?" I whispered.

"I have no idea...w-wait a minute. Do they know each other?" Twilight whispered back looking more puzzled than ever.

I was honestly dumbfounded for a few moments before I realized Twilight had indeed been correct in her observations. Dusk Stalker was seemingly embracing the unknown orangish glowing figure and also appeared to give them a nice peck on the lips. In turn I pursed my own lips as I slowly but intently began walking up to the couple to sort whatever was happening.

"I assume you are the infamous 'Gloom Orchid", correct?" I said making a wild guess as I stopped right next to them.

And in response to my statements the orangish glowing spirit lowered their hood before said glow began to dissipate. It was then I noticed two very striking things. Firstly the glow was mainly coming from what looked to be a crystal fragment on a necklace of some type to which I also assumed said crystal was taken from the spirit of Tartarus himself given its power. And secondly the mare who wore said necklace looked to be of what my old train yard associates used to call "Three Shades of Crazy". For they should know, given they all are or were crazy themselves being need for speed lunatics though I know pot calling the kettle and all that. But I digress, the mare in front of me had eyes that were all the way wide open, and her face twitched in quite unusual ways. Even her spirit's mane and tail were various lengths at random intervals. In conclusion it was like staring down at a barrel of nitroglycerin that kept slowly rocking back and forth ready to explode at any second.

A hard swallow followed my previous realization as I attempted to make myself seem as non-threatening as possible. It ultimately seemed to do little, but given she had not attempted to destroy me yet was a good sign at least.

Then her voice came out in an almost shrill tone when she said, "Are you the one who found my Dusky?"

"Well in a manner of speaking yes I suppose I-" I begin to say before she interrupted me with a completely unexpected overly tight hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I missed him soooo much!" the mare blurted out in the same shrill voice shortly before I had to nearly peel her off of myself.

"You are very welcome," I said still trying to remove myself from her grasp before I added, "However, do you mind if I ask you a few questions? Just to clear a few things up please."

She just squeezed Dusk Stalker heavily in response before stating, "Anything for finding my Dusky!"

What followed was just a series of questions regarding firstly that confirmed she was indeed Gloom Orchid. And then on how she got here to which also confirmed that she was indeed the mare who hijacked the Gateway to Paradise to get to Tartarus. For you see after Dusk Stalker died, she went on a mad quest to get him back and thought he was in here given he always joked about it, so she delved into some pretty dark sources to try and pull him out. In fact, she even had help from some unknown entities inside of Tartarus itself who somehow managed to get the Tartarus crystal out that she used on said previously mentioned Gateway to Paradise. But this is where the story got sour.

"But Toots, I wasn't even down here. I was in Paradise," Dusk Stalker stated still hugging Gloom Orchid after she finished.

And her reaction was interesting. Her face already wide eyed seemed to somehow slip into an even more wide eyed visage. She then stared off into space for a few moments before she turned her head to look at the hanging body of Tartarus before whimpering out, "Sweet Celestia...what have I done?"

Gloom Orchid then released Dusk Stalker and sat down while still wide eyed right before she held herself and began rocking back and forth.

"Easy girl it'll be alright. We just need to fix this is all. Now get that poor guy down and give him back whatever you took," Dusk Stalker said while rubbing Gloom Orchid's back with a hoof.

"WHAT!? NO! We can't do that! He almost ripped us all to pieces when we attacked him! If we free him, he'll do horrible things to us!" Gloom Orchid blurted out still truly frantic.

I swallowed hard in response trying to think of anything until I came to the conclusion that I would have to put myself in the preverbal firing range on this one. So, with a truly heavy sigh I stated, "Gloom Orchid please put the spirit of Tartarus down and give me that crystal fragment. I will return it myself and you and Dusk Stalker can hide until it is safe."

In turn, after some heavy coaxing from Dusk Stalker, Gloom Orchid slowly lowered the body of Tartarus before gently taking off the necklace that held the Tartarian crystal fragment and then passed it to me. After which Gloom Orchid bolted behind the nearest protruding land structure, a modest size stalagmite, with Dusk Stalker trotting after her.

Then yet more heavy swallows from me followed their rushed escape which was come to think of it was actually bizarre considering my spirit probably did not need to eat so why was I swallowing? But that was a thought for a different day. No, today I had to return some crystal fragment that was somehow part of the spirit of Tartarus. However, I did not know what I was going to do to complete this task. I did not remember Tartarus ever wearing a crystal or anything if memory served from years ago. Maybe I just had to touch him with it? Did he need to eat it or something? But how was it extracted in the first place? My mind had swum with strange ideas until I brushed those thoughts away because it was quite obvious I was unconsciously stalling. In turn, with a truly wilted will, I slowly walked towards the body of Tartarus holding said previously mentioned crystal fragment.

And so, while quite nervous I walked all the way to where Tartarus was laying. He was seemingly sprawled out in a weird position but still appeared to be living if one could call it that. It also was a bit sorrowful seeing him in this state. I imagine the spirit of Tartarus was little more than a cosmic force of some sort just like Life, Death and Paradise. Thus, having him in such a state was altering the balance of the world which was certainly not a grand thing to do. But again, I found myself to be stalling yet again as I continued to stare down at him.

Eventually, I had looked back to the rest of those who were with me for their input only to find them all hiding behind various land structures. Well, all except Twilight who was only half hidden and given the look on her face she was having a mixture of curiosity and probably worry for my safety. I in turn had chuckled at this before I went back to the grim sight in front of me.

So, with a little more hesitation I bent down and just touched the crystal fragment to Tartarus. The effects of such were completely unexpected. The crystal fragment got absorbed into the body of Tartarus right before my vision had quickly blanked out. And then before me I saw the battle that had taken place here.

Spirits of all types were fighting a seemingly losing battle against the quite obviously powerful Tartarus. It was like Tartarus was completely unfazed by such an event if not seemingly almost amused. Perhaps it happened often? Regardless burning chains flew around the area in an attempt at capturing the unruly souls only to have a surprise portal open high in the air.

Through said portal came out a very familiar looking mare, namely Gloom Orchid, that had some kind of spectral vines wrapped all around her. These vines also looked like the quite familiar pulsing black and red vines that bound Tartartus. In turn the last part of this strange vision I saw Gloom Orchid screaming, "GIVE ME BACK MY DUSKY!" before speeding down towards Tartarus and lashing out with the previously mentioned vines.

I did not know what truly happened after that, as my vision had returned to normal, but it did not take a scholar to figure out how it ended. Tartarus had seemingly lost and was bound here. However, I did not have much time to contemplate on such things because a low growl soon emanated directly in front of me. And after fully snapping back to reality I realized the spirit of Tartarus had his eyes narrowed on me with what looked to be absolute rage filling them.

Burning chains quickly appeared from everywhere and wrapped themselves around me before Tartarus himself bellowed out, "YOU ALL HAVE TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM ME! WHAT MORE DOES YOUR GREED AND FOOLISHNESS DESIRE?!

I was then lifted off the ground still thoroughly bound up in those very same burning chains. And almost instantly my mind had gone blank with agonizing pain so I was not able to respond to anything he said. In fact the only thing I remember was Twilight and the rest frantically attempting to persuade Tartarus to put me down.

Then after what felt like an eternity Tartarus did indeed put me down which was quickly followed by a great deal of awkward and truly apprehensive conversations. Apparently it was not all that uncommon for fools to try and take the power of Tartarus for themselves. However never in all of time has anycreature actually succeeded in doing so, well until Gloom Orchid that is. For it is used like some strange sort of filtration method to eliminate the truly dangerous souls that are a threat to the afterlife and/or rebirth process.

Normally these souls fail like they always do and are subsequently...removed...from existence though Tartarus was truly sparse on the details. But all this in turn brought us to a situation I truly wish I had not been in.

"Alright, we had given you back your one crystal shard and Gloom Orchid is really truly sorry for what she had done," I said with several hard swallows or at least as much as my spirit form would allow. "Sooo all that remains to fix this whole mess is to get the other fragments...from three unknown spirits...that escaped to the material plane...with nothing to go on. Greeeeaaat." And then I promptly rubbed my spiritual hooves down my face in frustration.

However before I could say anything further Tartarus decided to add his own input. "THE SPIRITS YOU SEEK ARE FOUL INDEED AND SLIPPED FROM THE BURNING VAULT WITH THE AID OF OTHERS. THOUGH MY MEMORY IS FRAGMENTED AND SHATTERED AS IS MY SPIRIT. I FEAR I DO NOT KNOW WHO HAD TAKEN THE OTHER FRAGMENTS, BUT THEY MUST BE RETURNED ALONG WITH THOSE THREE DAMNED SOULS.

Tartarus probably would have continued speaking more until he was interrupted by Bright Sun and his little group as they walked up next to me. "Great great all is great. Now mister Tartarus sir. We got your little helpers to you," Bright Sun stated and shot me a sour glance before continuing, "Can we at least get something for our efforts please? Maybe a shorter sentence or something?"

But upon hearing this though Tartarus did something I did not expect. His eyes went wide open for a few seconds before his face contorted to one of the most cruel looking smiles I had ever seen any being conjure.

"I REMEMBER...IT IS NOT THREE SPIRITS, BUT FOUR...YESSSS...ONE IS AN ORACLE OF SORTS AND THE OTHER THREE...LOOK LIKE YOU THREE..." Tartarus said as the booming words all but dripped off his tongue before he stared down at the three unfortunate spirits in front of him. Then before anypony could react four burning chains shot out of Tartarus's own body. Three of them each wrapped around the necks of Bright Sun, Brown Paw, and Deep Cut and lifted them off the ground. The fourth sailed through the air to behind the stalagmite that Gloom Orchid was cowering behind and yanked her over so that she was next to the others.

Then the cruel grin on Tartarus's face grew larger still before he said,
"THREE WICKED SOULS ESCAPED MY GRASP AND ONE WHO DESIRES AN END
BRING ME THESE YOU GROUP OF FOUR, FOR CRIMES YOU WISH TO MEND
BUT HEED MY WORDS AND DO NOT STRAY FROM THIS TASK YOU MOURN
OR YOUR PUNISHMENT WILL BE AS IF YOU WERE NEVER BORN!"

He then pointed at me and added, "YOU SHALL BE THEIR JAILER O' ADVOCATE OF DEATH AND ENSURE THEY DO NOT STRAY FROM THEIR TASK!"

And like so many other things in my life I had zero opportunity to protest any of this. For right after his words echoed through the area a burning bracelet made of dark red runes wrapped itself around my left foreleg. Then the ends of the chains that held Bright Sun, Brown Paw, Deep Cut, and Gloom Orchid snapped off from Tartarus's body and affixed themselves to the previously mentioned bracelet before the chains forcefully pulled the four of them inside it. Well actually it would have only been four if Dusk Stalker had not grabbed hold of his crazed marefriend and got pulled in along with her.

Then before any of us had even the foggiest chance to process any of this a giant burning portal opened up under all of us before it mercilessly ejected everypony from that horrible realm.