Author's Note

Things are getting pretty horrific.....

In the Depths of Tartarus

"At Glimmering Gems, Glimmering Gems

"In here they might end up making a friend."

Every sense seemed to flood back into Sweetie Belle as she came to, causing her to wince involuntarily. Instead of a hotel bedroom carpet, however, she felt cold cobblestone underneath her and heard the sound of water droplets against stone. What happened to her while she was out? What was in that tea? And perhaps the most important question; where in Tartarus was she?

Standing up, she looked to see that she was in some sort of cell, a dungeon cell to be more precise. One wall had two chains holding up a small cot; more accurately, it was just a plank of wood with thin blankets on top of it along with a pillow, the initials G.G. embroidered on them in violet. On the other side was a small bucket and a sink barely holding up on the wall. There was one single window in the entire cell, but it was too high up for Sweetie Bell to see out of.

As she was checking the place, she noticed that she was carrying less weight. Gasping, she whirled to her side to see that her satchel was gone. Panting rapidly, squeaks emerging from within, she searched every inch of the cell, but it was a fruitless venture. Where could it have gone? Did Dr. Borealis take it while she was unconscious? And why?

"Maybe I could ask?" she thought. "Surely there must be somepony here, let alone one who knows what happened to my satchel."

Slowly, the mare approached the bars looking out into a dark hallway, illuminated by torches.

"U-um, excuse me. Is there any pony who knows where--?"

Out of nowhere a figure popped up, snarling at her, causing her to shriek out and jump back in fright. It looked like a pony in its silhouette, but the rest of it was like something out of a horror movie, or perhaps even worse. Its eyes were bloodshot, the veins pulsating as it stared her down without blinking. Above and below its eyes were also red and infected cuts, no indication of lashes. On its head was a red pentagram that looked to have been carved out from a saw of some kind. Crust on the side indicated some sort of infection. As it bore its teeth, Sweetie Belle saw that its gums were a dark scarlet and the teeth were rusted red, all of them appearing razor sharp. She also saw some red foam on the sides of its mouth, reminding her of a rabid bat. And all over its body were strange symbols, all of them in red, all of them crusted on the side, showing clear signs of infection. A few of them were even oozing out red pus.

Its ears were also crusted over, having been bent at an odd angle. Meanwhile its mane and tail were infested with small, writhing parasites, some of which had been biting at the bases of the mane and tail; she even noticed that a few were burrowing into some of the nearby symbols. And on its neck, connected to a chain, were nails protruding out of it, except it was the flat parts that were exposed.

The entire sight was enough to make her stomach churn and even make her ill as the creature continued to snarl at her. It also began to make a cacophonous attempt at speech, but it all sounded demonic and she couldn't understand a word.

"That's enough!"

A stern voice approached the distorted beast who quickly backed down. The voice in question was a violet unicorn with a whip cutie mark and short dark green mane and tail, clearly having been done by themselves.

"Get back," they snapped. "Back!"

The creature whimpered before hanging its head and muttering out an unintelligible apology and backing away. The unicorn turned to her.

"Sorry about that," they apologized casually. "Halcyon can get a bit.....aggressive when ponies approach the bars. We don't want any of you getting too curious."

The tone in the unicorn unnerved Sweetie Belle who continued on as if this was an everyday occurence.

"Anyway, I'm Dr. Equinox, the facility's beast tamer."

"B-beast tamer?!"

Dr. Equinox merely nodded.

"I'm in charge of training our newest beasts, keeping them in line, that sort of thing."

Sweetie Belle was briefly rendered speechless, but she tried to swallow down her fear and assert herself. Tried being the keyword.

"Wha....what am I doing here? Where's my satchel? Where are my friends?"

"Relax, silly filly," Dr. Equinox assured. "Your little bag is safe with us, as are your friends. Most of them are still out cold, though. I guess the tea wore off on you quicker than expected. As for where you are....well....that's currently a secret. But don't worry; it'll be revealed in due time."

"I...I don't think you understand.....I need that satchel," she trembled. "My meds are in there."

"We'll give you your meds with your breakfast. Are you vegetarian?"

"What's a vegetarian?"

Dr. Equinox tilted their head curiously.

"You've never had meat?"

"I....guess not."

Hearing this the doctor smiled.

"Well then, this'll be a first for you. We have a nice stew for you all."

"It's not drugged, is it?" Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes, not willing to take any chances after her previous experience with things they gave her.

The doctor chuckled.

"I promise you, it's perfectly fine. The only drugs you'll be getting, if needed, are your meds. Any other questions?"

"Yeah....when are we gonna get to leave these cells?"

Dr Equinox paused to consider this, making the silence linger over Sweetie Belle for as long as possible.

"....Sometime. Not quite sure when. Could be a minute from now. A week from now. A year from now. Who knows? Anyway, breakfast will be in a while, so get comfortable.....if you can."

With a small smirk, Dr. Equinox trotted away slowly, letting the hoof steps echo off the walls and floors of the Celestia-forsaken tomb. Her heart beating wildly, Sweetie Belle headed over to the poor excuse of a bed and laid down on it. To her surprise, the pillow was incredibly soft, and it reminded her of the towels she'd used to dry herself off the night prior, assuming that this was in fact a new day.

For sometime, Sweetie Belle laid there and thought about how surreal this whole ordeal truly was. A single mistake leading to a boat ride. A nap on a boat ride leading to what seemed to be a hotel. And a hotel room leading to wherever this place was. All in possibly less than twenty-four hours, her entire life had been flipped on its head. And so had her friends' lives. For that matter, she still had no clue exactly where her friends were. The last time she saw them, let alone spoke to them, was at that hotel lobby, the one where she saw the two unicorns dressed all in black. Their eyes seemed familiar to the mare, but she couldn't quite pick out why.

About an hour later, she was startled from her thoughts by a loud creaking noise and something sliding across the floor before she heard a metal door slam shut. She glanced over to the floor and saw a tray with a bowl of what looked to be stew along with a glass of what looked to be cranberry juice. Beside it was her bottle of meds. By this time, she began to notice the calls and chatter of ponies nearby, along with several snarls and screams. Several of them were demanding answers or to be let out. Others were crying out for friends or family.

Despite her overwhelming hunger, Sweetie Belle was skeptical about ingesting whatever this meal was. Dr. Equinox claimed the stew wasn't drugged, but at the same time, they also casually spoke about taming beasts or demons or what-have-you. How anypony could trust a doctor like that was beyond her. Ultimately she decided to leave it be and go back to thinking over her situation.

"At Glimmering Gems, Glimmering Gems

"Yet none of them know that they are all condemned!"

"Hey.....hey! What in Tartarus are you doing?!"

A voice startled Sweetie Belle back out of her thoughts. Looking up she saw another unicorn, this one blue with a blood-red mane, glaring at her.

"You should've had your breakfast by now! I can't let you ponies out until you've all eaten, boss' orders."

Hearing this, and sensing the agonizing pang of hunger wreaking havoc on her stomach, Sweetie Belle relented on her initial decision and trotted over to the tray. The stew--which looked to contain potatoes, onions, carrots and celery--was lukewarm by now, but she couldn't afford to complain. Taking the spoon that accompanied it, she took a taste. The broth was salty, but balanced out by the taste of what she assumed was paprika, somehow making it a bit sweeter. Something foreign touched her mouth as she ate. It was firm, but chewy and had a sweet taste.

"Is this the meat that doctor was talking about?" she wondered as she ate.

Before she knew it, she'd finished off the entire stew. A rock settled in her stomach and she decided to take a drink as well. It was rather sweet, but had a strange taste to it, a taste that was familiar to her but she couldn't quite pinpoint why. Soon she'd finished off the beverage, but kept ahold of the anti-anxiety meds, knowing the side effects.

Once the beasts had awoken and Doctor Equinox had arrived to keep them in line, the unicorn who had rudely awoken Sweetie Belle from her thoughts went around to each cell and opened it, letting out each and everypony. Hers was the last one to be opened and she trotted out to see all of the other Permanent Pass 30s. She looked through the worried whispers and managed to find her friends.

"You're okay!" she whispered as she approached them. "Did the tea make you pass out as well?"

"Uh-huh," Wonderspark nodded. "Well.....I think it was actually the sugar, or whatever it was, that caused us to pass out."

"When it kicked in, I felt like I was on some sort of acid trip from Tartarus," Mysty added. "Maybe it was some kind of strong sleeping drug mixed with LSD?"

"Who knows?" Scarlet shrugged. "I'm just glad we're still alive. It's so dark down here and those beasts....what layer of Tartarus did they even come from?"

"I dunno, but that stew was pretty good," Ophie admitted. "Though I don't think I've ever had meat before....the unicorn who brought it to me told me that it was beef."

"The pillow on the bed was really soft as well," Wonderspark added. "It kinda felt like pegasus feathers."

"It felt exactly like pegasus feathers," Sweetie Belle said. "And it was embroidered with the initials G.G."

"G.G.?" Ophie asked. "That was embroidered on the curtains in my hotel room. And the towels. And blankets."

"I just saw it on the pillow in the dungeon cell."

"I saw it on practically everything," Scarlet said.

Mysty and Wonderspark nodded in agreement, making Sweetie Belle feel like an idiot.

"How did I miss those?" she groaned. "They were right in front of me."

"I mean, we were all under a lot of stress," Ophiuchus tried to assure. "Maybe that made you miss them."

"It's possible," Scarlet agreed.

"Alright, Pass 30s!" the unicorn who had snapped at Sweetie Belle called out as they moved up to the front. It was then Sweetie Belle noticed they had a skull cutie mark, making her stomach churn. "Form two orderly lines. No funny business or I'll have to have Doctor Equinox....unleash the beasts."

After saying this, everypony quickly formed into two orderly lines, with Sweetie Belle finding herself in the middle. The blue unicorn turned to face them.

"My name is Doctor Bloodstone. I'm sure many of you have been wondering where you are and why you are here. Well, both of those questions will be answered today in a few minutes. We are currently in the underground holding cells, so we have quite a lot of flights of stairs to climb. Follow me. No talking or looking behind you. These steps can get rather perilous, and we certainly wouldn't want to risk having any.....accidents."

Doctor Bloodstone led them to a thin and steep spiral staircase, forcing the two lines to merge into one as they climbed their way up, with Doctor Equinox bringing up the rear. They passed by various floors with various sights and sounds. On one floor, Sweetie Belle heard the sound of a roaring buzzsaw, and she swore she could faintly hear what sounded like a scream. On another she saw what looked to be a cyborg pony patrolling the hall in perfect, even steps. On another was a unicorn cleaning up what looked to be paint. Doctor Bloodstone wasn't kidding; they seemed to be climbing an endless staircase, or more accurately a mountain of them. Soon enough her hooves and legs were beginning to throb and ache from all of the walking she was doing, especially with some of the metal having small spikes on them for some odd reason, giving her pricks to the outer layer and also making it itch.

After what felt like hours, they finally turned off of the stairwell and split back into two lines, finding themselves on what looked to be some sort of factory floor, but with more elegance and polish. Doctor Bloodstone led them to a set of double doors, covered in red velveteen and embellished with a purple G on each door.

"I am thrilled to say that the answers you Pass 30s seek lie within this very room. In a few moments, you will be led into our viewing theatre, where Doctor Vessel will introduce you to what will be in store in the foreseeable future for you scholarly unicorns. You will also get to meet the co-founders of this facility and find out what it is we do here."

Raising a hoof slowly, he pushed open one of the doors.

"Have fun...." he snickered as they entered, making Sweetie Belle's blood curdle as they ventured into the unknown.