Tantabus in the Night (Mature Audeince)

Jet Set's funeral was on a beautiful summer day in the best cemetery money could afford to bury him. Upper Crust stood there, crying; the shackles around her hooves chafing her ankles. Not only was she crying for the loss of her darling, she was crying for the loss of her freedom. With lack of evidence, Upper Crust was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to twenty five years to life.

The funeral was as gorgeous as Jet Set would have wanted. Family was there, paying their respects as well as telling Upper Crust they do not blame her for what happened. Some other members of the family were set on believing Upper Crust murdered Jet Set. They believed that she was married to him just for the money. The yellow mare walked with her head down back toward the armored prison van which was going to take her back to the prison. The warden was kind enough to let her attend her husband's funeral that day. Her purple and white bouncy mane and tail were flat and unkempt from all the stress and depression she was going through over at the prison.

The ride back was just as the ride there; cold, bumpy and uncomfortable. Every large bump they could drive over, they did, leaving Upper Crust with large bruises on her head and snout every time she either fell off the bench she was chained to, or hit her head on the low roof of the van. She sobbed in silence as she lay on the bench of the moving van, clinging on for dear life. She did not know what happened. She did not know why she didn't hear her husband screaming. Maybe she was killed too? Maybe she was in purgatory? or worse--Hell?!

The van came to halt outside of the prison, the doors opening to reveal the two guards that had drove her to the funeral. They unlocked the chains from the bench and took her back inside the mare's section of the prison, and back to her cell; back to her. Upper Crust stood there, the shackles were removed from her ankles and the cell door was closed. The mare that was her cell mate looked at her with hunger in her eyes.

"So, the pretty thing came back." She stated as she approached Upper Crust. Upper Crust cowered against the bars as the other mare approached, pinning her against the bars.

"P-please. Don't hurt me again." She whispered, her voice trembling, tears welling up in her eyes. The opposing light purple pony smirked, strands of her short black mane falling over her face.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head. Our fun won't begin until tonight." She whispered before walking away. She jumped back onto the top bunk, laying down and continuing to read her book.

Night soon came, Upper Crust was dreading what her cellmate was going to do to her. She could not fathom to think about the dirty acts that has already happened. She hid underneath her blankets, tears falling down her face as she sobbed to herself.

"Anypony? Please, if you can hear me, save me. I will do anything." She whispered to herself, trembling when she heard her cellmate moving on the bunk above her. A moment passes and she does not hear a thing. She coughed under her breath, but could not hear it. Like she had gone deaf. She peered out from under her covers to look around, her worry was increasing. She did not see anything out of the ordinary in the cell. It was pitch black in there minus the light of the moon which gave the floor a soft glow. She looked up at the bunk above her, wondering if her cellmate had gone back to sleep. She was about to step off of her bunk when she noticed a pool of something on the floor. She reached down to touch it, her right mind not anywhere near her at the moment. It was thick and warm, and in the light of the moon had a crimson tint to it. It was pooled near the ladder, like it had flowed from the top bunk where her cell mate was--.

Upper Crust jumped out of bed and rushed up the ladder to check on her cellmate. She had almost slipped on the mysterious liquid as she reached the top of the metal ladder. She stood there, in horror. On the bed was a dried husk of the light purple mare that had been harassing her since she had gotten there only a week ago. Her eyes popped out of her head, her mouth was gaping open as she stared up at the ceiling. She was laying on her back, her hooves up near her chest like she was trying to protect herself from whatever did this to her. Looking down at the ladder, she noticed the liquid was moving down the metal frame toward the floor. the pool that was there a moment ago was slithering like a snake toward a dark part of the cell. Upper Crust made her way down the ladder, setting hoof on the floor once again. The slithering trail of liquid had disappeared into the dark area, leaving no trace it was even there in the first place.

Her ears popped, then the sound came back as she heard the alarm going off in the prison, and the sound of ponies running. She looked around, frantic as her cell door opened and she was tackled to the floor. She screamed as she was beat and subdued by three guards who forced a muzzle on her, and chained her up like an animal. She kept struggling against them, screaming loudly, her voice blending in with the rest of the ruckus around her.

"I didn't kill her! I didn't kill her!" Upper Crust was in tears while she kept screaming from being beat again and again by batons. She was dragged away by the chains, her own blood smearing on the floor as she was dragged down the hallway toward the lower floors. She hit her head on the way down two flights of stairs, too weak to walk or to get up from all the beatings. Her head trauma was making her see things that were not there; at least, she thought they weren't.

As she was being dragged through the prison, Upper Crust faded in and out of consciousness, her eyes falling on a tall mare with no eyes or mouth, her mane flowing behind her like the princesses of Equestria. The mare seemed to be made of the night sky itself. Upper crust tried to keep her eyes open, her head hurt so bad as she was still dragged across the hard cement floor. However, her eyes had closed after seeing the mysterious, faceless mare a few more times.

Floating. Floating gently through the space she was in. She opened her eyes to see she was in a black area. There was no ground, no sky, no anything. She let herself float, she did not care. She was in pain, pain from--she can't remember. Was she dead? No, she could still feel pain. Warm? what was so warm? She looked around in the darkness but could not find anything. She sighed. Whatever this warmth was, it was nice. She did not feel pain when she felt the warmth.

"Tantabus is here. Tantabus can help." A soft whisper filled her ears. Upper Crust did not look around again, she just let herself float.

"Please, help me. Whoever you are. I want to get out of this prison, I want to live free. I did not kill my husband." Upper Crust sounded desperate as she began to cry.

"Tantabus will help. If you pay Tantabus when Tantabus wants repayment." Without any form of hesitation, Upper Crust screamed into the darkness.

"Yes! I will give you whatever you want, just please, help me!"

Upper Crust awoke in a dark room with one bed, one toilet and one sink. There was a single window above her, the moonlight shone through the bars onto her. The pain she was feeling was gone, she had somehow been healed. She stood up, looking around her.

"Was that all a dream?" She whispered to herself. She heard someone walking toward the door she was behind. The footsteps were soft and gently compared to the guards who normally patrolled the halls. The door slowly opened, Upper Crust could not help but tremble and flinch. When no one attacked her, she looked at the door. The mare that she saw earlier, the mare without a face, stood there.

"Tantabus has helped. Follow Tantabus" Whispers in Upper Crust's mind swirled around. She slowly made her way to follow the mare. As they were walking through the prison, Upper Crust saw all the guards and inmates were lowly husks on the floor, no blood in sight.

"Did you do all of this?" She asked the mare beside her. Tantabus nodded its head.

"Tantabus wanted blood."

Upper Crust stopped for a moment. She thought back to her cell, where the liquid--blood--was being drank up. Her cellmate was bone dry, a husk of nothing but organs, bones and skin. Her thoughts went back to her husband.

"Jet Set!"Her own screams echoes in her mind as she remembered the pieces of her husband laying there, shriveled husks. Like the ponies in the prison.

"You--" Upper Crust glared at the strange mare. "You killed my husband!" She screamed, her voice echoed off of the walls. Tantabus stopped, looking back at Upper Crust.

He was negative. Its reply infuriated the yellow mare more.

"He did not deserve to die! He was an amazing stallion. Full of love and dreams. Not to mention he was my only source of happiness! You took him away from me and now I am taking the blame, For you!" Upper Crust Charged at the Tentabus, her horn glowing bright, shooting magic at the creature.

"Do not attack me pony" Tantabus appeared behind her, after disappearing from its original spot. Upper crust turned, shooting a blast of energy at Tantabus, the blast missing and destroying part of the floor; revealing the furnace on the lower floor. Tantabus disappeared in a puff of shadow, only to reappear behind Upper Crust. It sent Upper Crust flying toward the hole in floor she had made earlier. Upper Crust landed, her hind legs dangling over the edge of the hole, she could feel the heat of the furnace below her. She struggled to climb up onto the main part of the floor, her front hooves slipping. Her prison jumper got caught on a piece of metal which held her from climbing up.

"Help!" she screamed loudly, hoping someone was still alive and they would hear her. "Help me please!" Tantabus approached her.

"I tried to."

Running hoof steps could be heard as two stallions ran into the room. They were guards from the stallion sector. They gasped in horror at all the husks of both guards and inmates. The older guard looked over at Upper Crust, seeing her struggling to climb back onto the floor. Upper Crust looked at them, her eyes wide.

"Please! Help!" She screamed over to them, her face drenched with tears. She was shaking and getting weaker every time she tried to climb up. The guard rushed over to her directions, skidding to a halt when he saw the floor collapsing.

"Hurry! please!" She cried out, scrambling to hold onto the edge. The floor collapsed out from under her, sending her falling toward the open-top furnace. The last thing she saw before the flames engulfed her was the guard looking down at her in horror, and the Tantabus standing beside him.

She landed in the furnace, the fires engulfing her quickly, her skin boiling and melting off as she screamed bloody murder.

"Tantabus! Tantabus! You killed my husband! Tantabus!" She screamed the chant as she rolled around in the furnace, immense pain filling her body while her fur, flesh and muscle melted off her body, leaving a gooey mess in the furnace itself.

The remaining guards from the stallion section rushed over to help the clean up. The furnace has mysteriously gone out after Upper Crust has died and was finished burning. Leaving nothing but a pile of burnt and melted pony laying in the furnace coals and an overwhelming smell of burnt flesh and boiled blood. Tantabus did leave a mess. But what smart pony will believe the insane rantings of a mare who slaughtered an entire prison?