Exit Light, Enter Night- The Depths of Tartarus

[I won’t do any other Author’s Notes until the very end of the story for immersion’s sake. This will be the only one, no exceptions. I will post in a Blog if I absolutely must say something.]

A/N

Note: this has a ‘good ending’. I hate Sweet Apple Massacre, and want the author to gouge out their own eyes as well as brain for thinking up something so foul. But, that story exists. So... I decided to write a sequel to it, in the form of the story Soul Harvest. But, it was rendered obsolete by the alternate ending to Rocket to Insanity, sequel to Cupcakes. I was still left with the conundrum- what way could I fanfic the bad away from Sweet Apple Massacre? Then, I realized... Tartarus is Canon.

You’ll notice a dash of inspiration from My Little Mages. Without any further ado, the story.

End A/N

/x/x/x/

Murder in Ponyville. The very idea was unthinkable. A small town, where everypony knew each other’s names. Sweet Apple Acres, Sugarcube Corner, Carousel Botique, and the famous DJ P0n-3 resided in this small village just south of Canterlot. There are other landmarks, sure, but none as big as this one.

You see, a murder had not been committed in quite some time in Ponyville- forever. Ever since Granny Smith’s family settled in, there hadn’t been one single murder case. Sure, there were accidents in the Everfree Forest. Manticores and Hydras and Cockatrices were abound in those woods. And, ponies die of old age, like all living creatures. But, never at another’s hand.

In fact, in all of Equestria, there had hardly ever been murders. Of course, many were Changelings or various other creatures, so those were discounted as murders. Murder is legally defined as a pony killing another pony. The only murders in all Celestia’s rule were between zero and... well, one.

In the time of hardship, when the pony tribes fought during the Windigo blizzards, of course there had been fights over food that ended with blood spilling. It’s a hard fact to face, but when faced with extremes, ponies have the capability to kill.

But still, it was shocking nonetheless, to hear that one such murder has occurred. And, of three young fillies, nonetheless. But, what made it worse, was the fact that the culprit was the older brother of one of the victims. Worst of all was the way the murder was carried out...

/x/x/x/

“We’re dealin’ with one sadistic motherbucker here, Princess.”

The regal white alicorn surveyed the scene. Three mangled piles of flesh lied at the edge of the wall. They smelt of blood and feces. Putrid liquid soaked into the hay scattered on the floor, intensifying the scent. It was an acrid smell, sour, one that makes your eyes water. Celestia’s eyes were watering anyways, out of sadness, for she knew these ponies. Two were related to current Elements of Harmony; of Honesty and Generosity.

She turned to her forensic assistant, Goldenrod Blaze. Gold had been a doctor for palace guards for the past twenty seven years. He’d been so devoted to his job that he didn’t have a special somepony to go home to, no young fillies or colts waiting for him to open the front door so they could tackle him, shouting ‘Daddy’s home! Daddy’s home!’. That wasn’t life that he’d chosen. As the aging stallion put it, he’d already married his job.

Celestia noticed the streaks of gray in his otherwise jet black mane. She recalled all the years he’d worked under her. Running the numbers, he was there for about one fortieth of Celestia’s lone rule, without her sister Luna. It was merely a blink to the Princess, but it was most of his life. Funny how perspectives changed that way.

“Buckin’ nasty’s what this is.” he still had a thick Manehattan accent from the Bronx-co region, despite living in Canterlot for the past quarter century. For the latter half of those years, Gold had seen his fair share of pony’s insides. Guards had a long history of sacrificing themselves for the good of Canterlot, if it meant keeping horrible monsters outside the city walls.

‘Goldenrod, please.’ he looked to his Princess. ‘These are the remains of,’ her voice broke. ‘Of three innocent fillies.’ She coughed, both to clear her throat, and to keep the horrid stench of the air from her lungs. ‘Whom I will have to shepherd to the afterlife later this evening. I’ll be breaking the news to them, and many tears will be shed from this tragedy. Myself included.’

“I’m sorry, Princess. I meant no disrespect.” his eyes clouded over, as he turned back to the corpses. “I’m just... Buckin’ ticked, is all.” he stomped the floor with his hoof. “I ain’t got kids of my own, but I sure as buck don’t wanna see none of ‘em killed. ‘specially like this...” His fetlocks wrapped around a pair of tweezers. “That bastard’s gonna pay for what he did.”

He was referring to Big Macintosh, who lay collapsed near the back wall of the barn’s underground area. His sister Applejack had discovered the scene first, and after a brief confrontation, she bucked him in the face- hard- and he had been knocked out cold. She had immediately run to Ponyville’s library, where she’d sent the urgent letter to Celestia. That was not even an hour ago.

When Celestia and Goldenrod had arrived with two guards, they found her student Twilight Sparkle had been continuing the state of unconsciousness with her magic. The Princess freed her beloved pupil from the need to stay in the room for any longer- Twilight had grown to love these three as her own sisters over the past few years of her stay in Ponyville. For her to have stood down here for twenty minutes, alone with the bodies... the smell in the air, flies beginning to gather, and... the bizarre mixture of blood and feces oozing out of the red stallion’s mouth was sure to give Twilight nightmares for a long while now.

Celestia had come down to continue the spell, so Big Macintosh didn’t wake up before the crime scene analysis was finished. Not that there needed to be any analysis done- Mac was the only pony down there, as he’d locked the door from the inside. The evidence would be hard to dispute. Even if they did resort to a jury, personal bias would no doubt reach a definite verdict of guilty.

So, for the past five minutes, Goldenrod was merely finding out the how’s and when’s of the ordeal. He’d seen bodies more mangled than this- hard as it is to imagine- working at the palace. However, Celestia was not used to seeing gore. She’d never seen insides before! Her only experience was medical dictionaries from Ponyardo Da Vinci, and those had been neat, clean, organized. This was a... pardon the pun, but, a bloody mess.

She resisted the urge to throw up for the fourth time.

/x/x/x/

I can’t believe this. Oh Celestia, why? Why did something so horrible have to happen, and to the girls, no less? And... I thought I knew Big Mac. Dear Celestia, why...?

‘Twilight Sparkle.’

I gasped. She’s here!

“Princess-” I began to say, before she leaned her head over mine.

‘My precious student, please exit this area.’ she was whispering. ‘I shall assume your magical duties. I know you just need somepony’s shoulder to break down and cry on; that’s why I brought...’

A second voice crept behind me.

“Twily...” My brother. “Come on, little sis. Let’s... let’s get outta here. It’s no good here.”

“Okay...” I whispered, so as not to break the silence, this foreboding blanket that seemed to dampen all ambience. That blanket, however, blew away once we climbed the ladder to the surface. I rested my head on Shining Armor’s shoulder, letting the tears roll out. The deathly silence continued to settle, until the inevitable happened.

Rarity just arrived.

/x/ 5 Minutes Earlier /x/

“YOU’RE A BUCKING LIAR!” she was hysterical. “YOU’RE LYING! She’s just, just playing. SHE’S ONLY PLAYING! IT’S A JOKE!”

‘Rarity...’

“THIS IS A SICK JOKE! Rainbow Dash, you’ve gone too far.” she hiccuped. “This is beyond simple pranking! It’s horrible, you’re horrible! TELL ME YOU’RE LYING!” she yelled, now gasping for air. This had been going on for the past few minutes now; her mascara was running halfway down her face, eyeshadow smudging. She was a wreck.

‘Rarity.’

“I’LL CHECK MYSELF!”

“Sugarcube.” Applejack interrupted her. “Ah saw it with mah own eyes. It was Sweetie Belle alright. Applebloom, too, and Scootaloo. It was them. Ah’m... sorry.”

“Sorry? SORRY!? YOU’LL BE SORRY! How can such a horrible thing possibly be true?” she gasped. “I’m going over there myself.” She stormed off in the direction of the barn. Rainbow Dash tried to step in her path, but Applejack stopped her.

“She won’t listen, R.D. Ah wouldn’t believe it either, if ah were her. It’s... just too terrible to be true, like she said.” Her hat, previously tipped forward to obscure her face, had now fallen behind, to reveal the puffy red eyes of one who’d spent the last twenty minutes crying them out. “Ah know the same pain she’s feelin’ right now. Losin’ a sister’s one a’ the worst things that can happen to somepony. And ah... Ah lost a brother, too.”

/x/x/x/

“Twilight? Shining Armor?”

Twilight looked up at the mention of her name.

“Rarity.”

“Oh, so she put you two up to this? Playing me for a foal, is that it? WELL IT WON’T WORK, TWILIGHT! IT WON’T WORK!” her screaming caused the siblings to flinch. “I EXPECTED YOU TO BE ABOVE THIS BEHAVIOR-”

“Rarity.”

Celestia ascended the ladder, and joined the others on the floor.

“I’m so sorry, my little pony. But, ‘tis no joke.” she looked Rarity in the eyes. “Your sister, I fear... is dead.”

The white unicorn’s eye twitched, causing a tear caught on an eyelash to dislodge and fall to the ground. It seemed to fall in slow motion before splattering on the ground. Her lip quivered as she realized that it wasn’t a joke. It was real. And that meant...

/x/x/x/

Applejack and Rainbow Dash waited for the inevitable outside of Carousel Botique. Finally, it came; Rarity’s scream. It was muted, from the distance, but still chilling to the bone, and curdling to the blood. It wasn’t high-pitched; it sounded like the throat-ripping groaning of despair that it surely was. It lasted only seconds, but felt like minutes. When your spirit is crushed, sense of time ceases to exist.

“So...” Rainbow started. “I guess she knows.”

They continued to stand in silence. Though Dash didn’t know Scootaloo as well as Applejack and Rarity knew their sisters, she still knew that the orange filly was a huge fan of her. This fact started to fill Rainbow with guilt. Scoot had asked the cyan pegasus on several occasions to show her some of her moves she’d use to try out for the Wonderbolts, but more often than not, she always came up with some excuse as to why she couldn’t. Now, she regretted each and every time that had happened, even the times she had a legitimate reason. Even though Scootaloo wasn’t her sister, it still left a hole in her heart- and that wound was thrice the normal size, as Rainbow considered the Crusaders to be a package deal for quite a while.

Now that they were gone...

‘Hey.’

Rainbow looked towards the voice. It was- no, it couldn’t be!

“Spitfire?”

Wait... what the buck is she doing here?

/x/x/x/

A zebra was sprinting through the Everfree Forest.

“Please do not let it be so! Why did that filly’s little light go!?”

“Perhaps I am just overreacting. I mean, putting all my faith into that thing?”

“But still, it really troubles me. What other explanations could there be?”

‘Swee-hee-heetie Be-he-helle! No!’

Zecora’s sprint full-out stopped. She recognized that voice; Rarity. She was right at the border of Everfree Forest, somewhere between Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy’s cottage. The zebra had heard Rarity scream before, on several occasions. Most of them were for ridiculous reasons- like, for example, not being able to find a diamond-encrusted ribbon. But this... this sounded serious.

Zecora half-heartedly attempted to sprint, but she knew that regardless the speed she was going, it was too late anyways.

“Either that yell was serious, or I am merely going delirious...”

“My heart, it pounds. This revelation, it will astound. Though not in a positive manner...” Zecora searched for something to finish, but could think of nothing. “Oh no... it’s more serious than I thought.”

Zecora had a small array of potion essences of ponies. They glowed with light as long as the pony was healthy, and it would dim if they were sick. But, the ones for Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo... turned black.

Death.

/x/x/x/

‘Sister...’ Luna said, looking up from the note Celestia had left her. ‘Thou art dead wrong.’

/x/x/x/

“Spitfire?” Rainbow asked, confusedly. “Why are you-”

‘Look, there’s a couple things you don’t know about the Wonderbolts, Dash. But right now, we’ve gotta go to the barn, and I mean now. Grab your friends here, and let’s go.’

Applejack felt two pegasi on either side, airlifting her to the barn. Normally, she’d object to this treatment, demand she could walk and complain the whole way, but... she felt no passion to do so. Almost as if the spirit was drained out of her...

/x/x/x/

“The barn is now within my sights. I must investigate this dying of the lights!”

Zecora rounded the corner, to the open barn doors. Twilight and Rarity were holding each other- eyeliner and shadow was smudged on Twilight’s shoulder- and a stallion Zecora had never seen before was standing slightly back from them.

“Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity too, what sadness has afflicted you?”

Rarity lifted her face from Twilight’s shoulder, as she turned to face Zecora.

‘She’s gone...’ The mare managed to slip out, before she started sobbing.

“Zecora, the girls-”

The zebra turned around to see a peculiar sight- two pegasi carrying an earth pony between them. She recognized Rainbow Dash, one pegasus, and Applejack, the earth pony, but this second pegasus was a stranger to her.

Twilight continued. “The Crusaders... are dead.”

Zecora fell to her knees. “It is truly as I feared... Their lives’ end has too quickly neared.”

The yellow pegasus stepped forward.

“Everypony, there’s something I have to tell you. The girls aren’t permanently-”

She couldn’t finish that sentence.

/x/x/x/

“Well, Princess,” Goldenrod said as he got back up. “I’m going to give the ‘suspect’ a once-over. Would you mind lowering the barrier, please?”

Celestia complied. The spell was powerful enough to not wear off for well over twenty minutes. Gold approached the body.

“Say, Princess?” he asked. “What’s the personality profile on the guy? I wanna get a clue on his motivation.”

‘I’d rather not talk, Goldenrod. I’m having enough trouble not breaking down and crying, or vomiting, or both. But, I do know that he never seemed capable of this.’

“Really? Well... you’re usually a great judge of character. So, if you don’t think he coulda done this, then what in Tartarus coulda possessed the guy to snap like that?”

Celestia pondered this herself. In a thousand years, she had picked up quite a few skills at reading ponies. How could she have been so off? It’s as if he was- wait...

“Goldenrod?” she asked, still looking off to the side. “What was that you just said?”

‘Uh... what in Tartarus coulda made him snap like that?’

What in Tartarus... well... it could be- no, but that’s impossible. The only way it could- well, if Cerberus were to- wait, what’s that noise?

‘PRINCESS, LOOK OUT!’

“Wha-”

/x/x/x/

Luna was speeding towards Ponyville as fast as she could. She hadn’t bothered with preparing, as she knew she had a limited amount of time. It was straight out the castle doors, not bothering with royal regalia.

“Sister, please be okay. I would be absolutely crushed if-”

A strange buzzing sound rang in the navy blue alicorn’s ears. The sound of netherworldly magic that only members of the alicorn race could hear- back at Canterlot, Princess Cadence was experiencing some less-than-pleasant sensations in her mind’s ear. It could only mean one thing.

“No, I can’t be too l-”

A large BOOOM! resounded through the air.

“-ate, CELESTIA, NO!!!”

A barn had just exploded into cinders.

/x/x/x/