Shadows of Tartarus (WIP)

You stand over the grave of your ex-fiancée, Rainbow Dash. Fate took her away from you, during a practice run she had done so many times before. A runaway cloud seemed to drift from the west side of ponyville and sent her off course, crashing thousands of feet into the ever-loving embrace of solid ground. There was nothing medicine or magic could do when everyone arrived at the spot, even you couldn’t make out her mangled corpse anymore. So they put her in a coffin and had the funeral, the sky she loved so much even shed a tear in her honor. Everyone seemed to be getting along without her fine, on the outside that was, but you couldn’t help but cry every time you think of her. When you walk into the empty house, the seat she always sat in, the side of the bed she shared with you. All of it was empty, like the hole her death left in your heart. So how does a grieving man cope with his problems? Well, you’ve come to her grave every day since they put her under. In a way it was a form of coping, you could talk to her in a sense and be near her at any time on any day.

 “Oh, are you here again?” A voice called from the inside of your head. You spun around, looked in all directions but no other living being made the noise. “Over here idiot.” You spin again to see a draconiqus standing next to Rainbow’s tombstone. Words don’t come from your open mouth, not a single sound even. “So sad, that goddess really has no sympathy does she?” Goddess. Did he…or she or, whatever your calling it an it, did it know something about Celestia you didn’t?

“What do you mean?” Your able to croak out the words, but still your throat feels dry and your hands won’t stop shaking. This feeling of fear was slowly gnawing its way through you as the draconiqus talked on.

“What do I mean he says,” An arm wrapped around your shoulder and like thin air the draconiqus stopped being by the tombstone and was right behind you. “Ok look pal, I’ve tangled with ol’ Celestia many times before, I am Discord after all-”

You shove his arm off your shoulder and spin around to face Discord. “You should be imprisoned in stone! Twilight and the others-….” That’s right, without Rainbow being around the spell became weak enough for him to break out.

Discord wags a talon at you and poofs in a cloud of dark purple magic to being next to you again. “No, see, I’m still very much made of stone right now. BUT, I can escape every so often to watch the world go by. Now, about your little Rainbow Dash there, you want to see her again right?” You could see energy begin to swirl around his open claw until a bright blue ball was there, the same color as Rainbow. That couldn’t be her soul; he didn’t have that kind of power like Celestia would have. Right? “Yep we take this here soul, put it in that there body, fix it up a bit and BAM, good old flying Rainbow Dash.”

Back then, this simple trick would have been easy to blow off. But, you’re tired of living like this; tired of the pain and sadness it brought, tired of the tears you shed. You reach out for a second to grab the orb, take it and bring Rainbow back without him. But Discord pulls the orb back and holds it high over his head. “See that just won’t work Anon. This is a, ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back’ sort of deal. I give you Rainbow back, you do me a favor.”

You grit your teeth and pull your hand away from the orb. It was never going to be that easy, nothing was ever that easy. You don’t even want to ask what the favor is, but you can’t help but look over to Rainbow’s grave. To see her back alive and living with you once more, wouldn’t you have given the world to see that? Yes, you said that to her grave a few weeks back, you would give the world and stars above away just to be with her again. Stop hesitating and take back her soul. “Name your price Discord.”

 Discord smiled and let the orb hang in midair as he clapped his claw and paw together. “Splendid! alright here’s how it’ll go down Anon,” He waves a claw across your face and slowly your vision fades out of focus. The grave, the tombstone, and even Discord fade out of focus and what comes back are six figures. “So, to get Rainbow’s soul back you have to kill these six champions of Tartarus. Each one you kill brings you closer to getting ol’ Rainbow back to life, and hey, I’ll even fix her body back to normal while you’re away.” The six figures faded out of focus and what came back was Discord holding a paw out to you. “A fair trade right? Go kill those six champions and I’ll bring your Rainbow back good as new.”

You know this is a trap; everything about it is a trap. Who’s to say Discord isn’t making you do his hitman work on these six people? Or that he won’t end up backstabbing you in the end and that ‘soul’ he’s holding is just a ball of magic? Do you dare to accept the offer of one of Equestria’s most dangerous beings? Yes, you would take his offer. This was a wall you had to overcome, and on the other side of it would be your Rainbow. You take his paw in your hand and give it a shake. “Alright, I’ll do it.” The deal was done.

Discords smile gets even wider as you shake his hand. “Perfect!” Behind you a swirling portal rips itself open in the air, inside looked like a thick forest similar to the Everfree forest on the outskirt of town. “Now, that portal there will take you to Tartarus. You can come back anytime to rest and check up on your Rainbow there. You’ll find weapons to fight with in there, so off you go.” Discord waves his hand in a ‘shooing’ motion and turns towards Rainbow’s grave. You give one last sigh and step through his portal. The world seems to fall apart before your eyes as you walk down the long dark hallway towards the other side. What did you get yourself into.

 

You step through the portal and watch the world rush into focus. Around you was a never ending forest of life, with this one spot being the exception. The first champion of Tartarus was supposed to be living in this forest somewhere. So you took one last glance through the portal where Discord was getting to work with digging Rainbow’s body from her grave. Just six people to kill and then you would see her once again. You sigh at having to do this kind of work and begin walking in a random direction. How were you supposed to find this guy anyways, it’s not like you had a map to his house. The sun was beginning to descend below the tree line and slowly cast the forest into eternal night. Off in the distance the sound of axe work could be heard. It was barely audible and hard to follow, but it stood out from the other noises in the silent forest. So you give chase—through twists and turns, up and down hills, cliffs, and even the occasional tree. The sun had really set below the tree line now, because the whole forest was in a pure black state. Not even the hand in front of your face could be seen. But what could be seen was the thin glow of a fire between the trees. A campfire, that’s where the champion is at. Blindly you begin to traverse through the dark watching the light of the fire grow bigger and brighter. To the right you could make out the shape of a ratty cottage, and to the left was the shadow of a person. You could possibly get the jump on him if you were to circle around and get next to his cottage. But without a weapon you were mostly screwed here, especially if he had one. So you begin to edge yourself away from the champion when a voice comes over the crackling fire. “Who’s there?!”

You’re not sure how he had heard you when you didn’t make any sort of noise on the way out, nor did you have a shadow cast where he would see it. But you make your way back through the plant life and stand next to the fire. The man stepped around and began to examine you. He was dressed much like a shaman, animal hide and fur with a skull for a helmet. Then he pulled a knife and pointed it at your throat. “Get out, I don’t need you.”

You throw your hands up in defense and try not to focus on his knife. “Hey wait a second here,” Getting around that knife would be hard; you needed a bit more time. But time was something this guy didn’t have. He took a step closer and kept the knife level with your throat.

“Oh, no, I know you.” You look at him questioningly. How did the guy know you when you got here only a few hours ago? “Yeah, you can go tell those other fucks I don’t need them either. I don’t need anybody but myself!” Again you have no idea what he was talking about but he steps forward again and shouts, “NOW GET!”

You don’t move from your spot, you need more time to think up a plan. But he lunges forward when you don’t leave and plants the blade into your left shoulder. You shout in pain and grip his arm as he began to pull back. With as much energy not directed at feeling pain you send a right hook up into his jaw. His head rolled away from your punch and he winds up his own. You pin his right foot with your left and jam your now exposed elbow into his face. An audible crack came from his nose as he hollered in pain; both hands went to grab the spot you hit. With a swift move you unpin his foot and deliver a swift kick to his solar plexus. With no balance he falls backwards and you pull his knife from your shoulder. There is no pain that follows it, there are no thoughts being sent through; just movement. Fight or Flight, that’s what you were running on. You get on top and pin his arms down with your knees. He struggles around and tries to throw you off, until you put the knife in front of his eyes. “Discord says hi.”

“WAIT!” You barely stop the knife from pricking into the man’s forehead. “Wait wait wait, Discord? Dude, you’re making a mistake.”

His hands are open as if he was trying to stop the fight. A fight he started no less. “Hear me out, please.” You catch a glimpse of his left hand moving towards your knee. Without hesitation you drove the knife clean into his skull, warm blood trickled from the fresh wound. The body went limp as the eyes lost focus and all life in them. You look to the dead body then to the knife between its eyes. As you pull the weapon from its wound you can’t help but feel bad for what you did. It was for Rainbow Dash but was it worth it? What would she say if she saw you doing this? Besides chew you out for being such a weak idiot. You sigh and wipe the crimson blood on the man’s fur shirt, staining the hair in glistening red. On the door of the cottage a portal was waiting, inside looked like a large mining area. Rocks and pickaxes littered the floor and walls. You sigh and stick the knife under your belt before walking into the portal once more; the world seemed to turn pure black except for the one light at the end of a long tunnel. You can’t turn back and redo your mistakes, you can’t go back and tell Discord to fuck off, nor can you tell Dash what you were doing here for her. You move forward.

The rocks crunch under your feet as you step through the portal and into the new realm. The cave was dimly lit with small gas lanterns, the faint glow of metallic ore covered parts of the walls. You’re no expert on any of this kind of thing, but some of these look like expensive jewels. Not to mention the rail track with carts full of little diamonds, and this really BIG diamond. Damn, that thing was about as big as you. You decide to name it Tom and begin to trek through the hollowed corridors. Endlessly wandering through the same passage, more or less it was the same layout and the same texture. Each time you pass a cart of diamonds you have to convince yourself not to take anything. You were here for Rainbows soul and nothing else. Then in the distance was a faint clink sound, like metal against rock. The noise kept drawing close until you were faced with a four-way split. Listening for the sounds origin didn’t help either, so you were back to wandering the tunnels once again. “Hello, I’ve not seen you around these tunnels. What is your name?” A voice called from behind.

You turned to still see a dimly lit corridor, until a spider slid down its webbed string and stared you face to face. In a frightened reaction you slam both hands together on the spider, but when you pull away its still there, unharmed. “How did you…?”

The spider shifts around on its string and then acts like it was adjusting a top hat. “Terribly sorry for frightening you like that my boy, this new body is still hard to get used to. So cumbersome at times what with eight legs and all.” It shoots a web string to your shoulder and swings down to your hand. You raise it up to be eye-level with the little arachnid. “Now, is there any way I can help you my boy? I know many of these tunnels quite well, lived here much of my life after the accident.” Ok, this guy had to be really old if he still talked like an old 30’s business man. Or was that an old 50’s business man? Time really flew in Equestria, but it was definitely not from your era.

You take another look down the four corridors. The constant click of metal to rock seemed to echo through all the tunnels.

“Can you lead me to that sound?” You make a gesture with your free hand at all the tunnels. “I can’t tell which one because it echoes through all of them.” You think it tilted its head but it was hard to tell because the thing was so small. It felt like an eternity was passing as this little spider just sat on the back of your hand and waited. The waiting was starting to get on your nerves, nothing was keeping you occupied while the thing sat there thinking. Finally you gave up and set the spider on the wall. “Sorry, but I don’t have time to wait so long. I really need to get going.” Not like it was much help anyways, you could have done a better job of wandering than it did just thinking. So abandoning the spider you set out through one of the tunnels to the still constant clanging noise. Much to your regret this tunnel led you the wrong way; the noise kept growing faint as you walked forward. So you turned back from that tunnel and walked down the next. This one too was much the same as the first; the noise just grew faint as you grew irritated. So the last tunnel was the right tunnel, towards the end large amounts of diamond had been accumulated along with many broken pickaxes. A human shadow was cast onto the wall before you. It kept swinging up and down into the rock. Each clang of metal didn’t bother the person at all, but at this close range it was bugging the hell out of you. You took a step forward to inch around the corner but catch a pickaxe handle with your foot. It clangs into the side of the wall with a loud clang. The shadow stopped moving and seems to look your way. You didn’t dare make a move or breathe, but even with your caution and non-breathing the person came around the corner. About your height with dirt and ash all over his body, a scruffy looking pair of overalls and some boots was all he wore. In his left hand was the pickaxe and in his right was a dagger. His eyes dart all over your person, looking through all flaws and strengths you possibly had. Then he sported the knife hanging from your belt.

“MINE! GIVE IT TO ME!” You barely have enough time to bring a hand up and jam it in his face to stop him from tackling you to the ground. Though his hands were still flailing and grabbing madly for the knife on your belt. “MINE! YOU HAVE IT SO IT HAS TO BE WORTH SOMETHING!” He keeps grabbing for the knife on your belt and ends up with other things in his hands; yet does not notice nor care. He wants your only weapon. You’re not sure if it’s to keep you weaponless and easier to kill or if he just wanted the knife because you had it.

You try everything to keep the madman from taking your knife, but each push you use to get rid of him makes him want it more. His shouts still go on about the knife being worth something, that you didn’t deserve something that was worth anything. Frantically you scan the tunnel the two of you were in for something to use, something to give you an edge in this struggle. Lying next to your feet was the pickaxe from earlier, and above was the only support beam in the whole tunnel. You contemplate bringing this whole tunnel down on the guy’s head but then you might not be able to outrun the collapse yourself. That leaves the pickaxe and the knife he was grabbing madly for. Thoughts begin to formulate a plan around using the pickaxe when your belt became slack and the knife clattered to the floor. The guy had split your belt in half to get the knife off. His knife clattered to the floor as he dove for yours, grasping it so hard his knuckles turned white. “I GOT IT! I GOT IT!” You took a step back from the madman, intent on leaving him as is and come back when he was sleeping. But then you notice the pickaxe still on the ground.

10x

The wood is cheap and splintering when you grasp it in your hands. It was like holding a stick with a lead weight on the end making it awkward for a weapon. But it would do, you raise it overhead and look down to the next champion. He was still cradling your knife and growled when you got too close. With gravity on your side you bring the pickaxe down fast on his head. His whole head seemed to just take in the metal object the same way a rotten watermelon would collapse in on itself. Blood and brain matter oozed from his wound and flowed freely down his lifeless face. The knife he wanted so badly was still in his hands. You pry your knife from his cold grip and retrieve his own knife where he dropped it. A little rust, nothing a whet stone couldn’t fix. Then you peered around the corner the champion was digging into; a large diamond—roughly eight feet tall—was studded into the stone wall. As you ran a hand over the smooth stone you couldn’t help but admire the work put into digging it out, but it was work by a madman hell bent on taking everything for himself. Sounded familiar.

On the smooth surface a ripple seemed to appear, like a drop of water splashed into a pure blue lake. Another portal had opened, through the large diamond this time. But instead of looking into another world all you could see was pure darkness. You look around the tunnel for any other exit that might have appeared or be hidden behind a fake wall. Alas there is no other exit, just the portal of swirling darkness. With a deep breath you set one foot into the portal—raindrops hit the toe of that foot—then push the rest of your body through. On the other side the clouds were dark grey, casting a monotone color over the land and ultimately giving everything a gloomy feeling to it. The room you occupied now was made from grey stone bricks, a large circular dais stood in the middle of the room elevated by a few stairs. Discord was standing by the stone dais with his back to you.

Against your better judgment you climb up the short flight of stairs and stand behind Discord as he waved his hands around. Lying on the dais was Rainbow; her body had been changed from the bloody gore pile to her original figure. You run a hand through her mane as to make sure this did not come from your imagination. It did not; Discord had really given Rainbow her original body back. The draconiquis turned from his work and clasped your closest shoulder. “Anon! So good to see you come back to your own world. Tell me, how goes the task? Champions giving you a hard time, hm?”

You shove Discords paw off and look down to your Rainbow again. Just four more people to kill and you could live happily with her again. You grunt when he asks about the ‘champions’. “That is a joke right? Those two were weird and off in the head also, why were they human?”

Discord shook his head and turned away to collect his thoughts. You let the silence take over and cast another look to Rainbow; memorizing every detail you had forgotten about her. Though her eyes were closed you knew they were the same rose color they had always been, and while her body was soft and warm to the touch it harbored no form of life inside. “Humans really are stupid. Ever heard of something called the multi-verse?” Discord called from the base of stone stairs. You hesitate to leave Rainbow alone there but ultimately must continue on. “Tartarus links all dimensions together so it must also link together all universes. Get the idea yet?”

You get the idea, or at least most of the idea, but Discord doesn’t stick around to explain any more on the subject. He leaves in a puff of purple smoke and leaves behind another portal to Tartarus. Through this one you can make out the distinctions of a city, or the remnants of one. Buildings large and small scattered through the land, made of both metal and wood. You turn away from the beckoning world and walk back to the stone dais. Rainbow still lay unmoving, though that was to be expected. Every detail of her body—each scar, cut, or imperfection—you memorized it all. Then how it felt under your touch. It had been a long time since you were able to hold Dashies body; so long you had forgotten what that feeling was. Her mane fell together in its rainbow pattern and kept its usual velvet feel, much the same as her light blue coat. As expected her tail felt much the same as her mane only its rainbow flowed backwards, not from red to purple but from purple to red. But work was to be done before you could bask in the reward; slowly you retreat from Rainbow’s body and away from the dais, stepping into the Tartarus portal for the third time.