Chapter 11: Aura's Inferno
I woke up slowly but surely. To my surprise, Ember and Discord were not around me as I had expected. Rather, five pure white unicorns stood around me. No, they weren't unicorns. They flew off. They had butterfly wings. They flew onto clouds.
"Wait!" I called after them. They ignored my plea. I ran under the cloud they all landed on. I looked up and began to charge a teleportation spell. One of the butterfly unicorns kicked a hole in the clouds. I stopped the spell. They all looked down at me. "Hello, there." I said kindly. "Do you, by chance, know where I am?" They all looked at me. I got a better look at them. They had long blond manes and tails. Two were male and three were female. After a second, they flew down and the two males picked me up. The three females flew ahead on me. "Put me down!" I begged. Suddenly, I saw Luna flying to me. "Princess! Please help!"
"I'm sorry, Aura Bliss, but I cannot help you." She said. My mouth was held open. After a second, I closed it.
"Princess Luna. Stop teasing me." I said. I then put two and two together. This wasn't a dream. Luna and I made a pact that she would never walk into my dreams a few weeks ago. "Luna... Am I- am I..." I started.
"Yes. Dead." Those words hit like a brick. I accepted my fate.
"Are these ponies... Angels?" I asked.
"Yes. Now stop talking to me." She ordered. This was odd. Luna had never acted like this to me. The rest of the flight was silent execpt the flap of the angel ponies wings and Luna's. I wondered if pegasi would have to make this flight on their own. I couldn't give this much though, as I saw the three other alicorns. Luna took her seat and the angel ponies dropped me off and flew away. As if by force, I bowed to them. Just as suddenly as I was forced to bow, I was forced to stand by an external force.
"Let's see here, let's see your life." Celestia said. "Didn't devote your life to us as a filly."
"Yes I have!" I defended.
"Adultery!" Cadence yelled. They seamed to grow larger.
"No! I never did that!"
"Gluttonous!" Twilight yelled.
"No!" I cried. Tears streamed down my face.
"Greed! The chaos magic!" Celestia yelled. They grew even larger.
"Stop!" I begged.
"Wrath!" Luna yelled.
"Stop! Please!" I cried.
"Heresy!" Twilight and Cadence yelled together.
"Preached against us!" Luna and Celestia yelled in unison.
"No! I... Please stop!" I begged.
"Violence!" Luna yelled.
"Attacked other ponies!" Twilight added.
"Committed suicide!" Cadence replied.
"Attacked Luna and myself!" Celestia finished. I stopped calling back to them, rather I cried. I had not done most of these things.
"Fraud! Pandered and seducer, flatterer, simony, false prophet, barrator, hypocrite, thief, fraudelant advisor and evil counselor, Sower of Discord, and lastly falsifier!" They chanted.
"One more." Twilight said.
"TREACHURY!" They yelled and began laughing. They flew around me, larger than life. They only stopped laughing to talk to each other while I cried.
"How should we punish her? She belongs in every layer and all the Bolgia of Fraud." One of them said their voices blended.
"Send her through all!"
"Wonderful idea!"
"All in favor say aye!"
"Aye!" They all said. Their horns lit up and formed a deep purple whirlwind. It surrounded me. I managed to stop crying. Their laughter continued. The floor melted below me. I was suddenly falling. When I landed, I was in a completely different place. I was not hurt. I pulled myself up and looked around. I saw a large green field. In the center was a large, ornate castle. It looked like the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters execpt is was much bigger and had seven gates on the front. Ponies walk on the grass, most were silent, a few chatted a bit here and there. I began walking to the castle. A tall pony stopped me.
"You're new here." He pointed out.
"Y-yeah. I am." I said nervously. "Where am I?"
"Limbo. The first circle of hell."
"Wait... So I really am dead?" I asked.
"No." He said. He picked up a rock and threw it at my. It hit my leg.
"What was that for? That hur-" I started but the pony stopped me.
"Shh. Don't say that. Not here." He said. I thought for a second. I recognized this all too well, a poem by the name of Dante's Inferno.
"You're Virgil." I said. He nodded.
"And you are?" Virgil asked.
"Aura Bliss. Most call me Aura." I said. "So are you going to help me get out?" Virgil nodded.
"But be quiet about it." He ordered. "If I disappear, just keep going forward. I won't be gone long." He promised. I nodded.
"So what's in the castle?" I asked.
"The wisest men on Antiquitity live there. My home included." Virgil explained. I nodded.
"Where to?" I asked.
"Minos."
"Right, I but where do I go?" I reiderated.
"This way." Virgil said and began walking away from the castle. The walls began to get darker and smaller. A short walk later, the small hall way opened into a vast room that held a beast and plenty of ponies. I guessed the beast was Minos. He picked up a pony and wraped his tail around it three times. The circle of gluttony. I walked to a platform with Virgil. Minos damned another pony before he looked to me.
"You." Minos said.
"So what level are you going to damn me to?" I asked.
"I was informed about you, but I'm feeling a sense of defiance. So welcome to Limbo." He said.
"Wait... What?" I asked. Virgil sighed.
"She needs to get through." He said.
"Just like evey soul from behind." Minos said with a chuckle.
"Just let us through." Virgil ordered. With a sigh, Minos stood from his spot and picked us up. He set us behind him and moved back to his place, locking us in the damp hallway.
"Hang on, I can light this up." I said and casted a light spell.
"Light spells are not that hard, but they are just rare here." Virgil explained. "Be careful when you use that." I nodded and continued walking. I suddenly felt the floor drop behind me. I screamed until I felt a heard stop. I realized I wasn't dead. I looked up.
"You...you're an alicorn?" I asked with slight panic.
"Yes. I was born an alicorn. Like those fakes, Celestia and Luna." Virgil said.
"They are not fakes! They raise the sun and moon every day and night!" I defended them.
"Listen, I only knew them as fillies. I had no idea what they would become." He defended himself. He slowly hovered down to the ground. He was careful not to hurt me.
"The poem never said anything about you being an alicorn." I said.
"Poem?"
"Yeah a poet named Dante wrote a poem about hell. You helped him."
"Yes, I remember him. That was a long time ago. Even more crazy when you look at the generation of names." Virgil said. I did my best to look at his cutie mark. It was old style, but I could still recognize it as a poetry cutie mark.
"So where are we headed?" I asked.
"The second circle of hell, the circle of lust." Virgil explained. I stayed silent. We hid the ground, and I could already feel my mane and tail blowing violently. Confused, I looked up and saw brownish ponies being blown around.
"What do we do?" I asked.
"We must go through the winds of lust." Virgil explained. I glared at Virgil.
"You expect me to go through this! How? I am an unicorn, I can't fly." I reminded him.
"You have magic." He casted a spell that put butterfly wings on my back. The immediately disappeared.
"I have an idea. I can't have those wings, they will go away right away." I said. I targeted one of the pegasi souls and took their brown wings and put it on my back, this was done with Chaos magic.
"Take a few practice flaps." He said. I nodded and unevenly flew. I quickly landed.
"Let's go." I said. Virgil nodded and flew into the winds. I followed, but immediately lost the alicorn. I tried to call to him, but I knew he couldn't hear me over the moans and groans of the ponies damned to continuously blow around in these winds. My borrowed wings ached, and it was the oddest soreness I have ever felt. When I finally broke through, the wings I borrowed disintegrated. I fell to the ground and laid there in horror. I felt a hoof touch me. I jumped up in fear, but I quickly calmed down when I saw it was Virgil.
"Are you okay, Aura?" He asked.
"Yeah. It just terrified me." I admitted.
"You have to be strong. The later circles are worse." Virgil said. I took a deep breath.
"I can handle it." I said and straightened myself out. "Let's move of to the circle of..." I said and let Virgil finish it.
"Gluttony." I nodded. He led the way. This time, there was no drop. We quickly found ourselves in a large room with a large beast that I recognized.
"Isn't Cerberus supposed to be guarding Tartarus?" I asked.
"He is. He protects Tartarus and the Circle of Gluttany. He is both here and there. Neither there nor here." He said. I ignored his poetic way explaining and concluded that Cerberus was magically at both places, a feat that not even Celestia or Luna could pull off. I looked at Cerberus, discussing slobber and all. He suddenly grabbed a bunch of pony should and consumed them. I stepped back.
"What do we do now?" I asked.
"There is no talking to Cerberus. We have to trick all three of his heads at one time." Virgil explained. I nodded and walked forward, stepping in a brownish muck. Virgil hovered above it. I could not find another pegasi with healthy wings, so I had to stick it out in the mud. I trudged to the center and whistled at Cerberus. They all looked at me.
"Come and get me!" I threatened. They all lunged to me, but I managed to lift my hooves out of the mud fast enough to get out of his way. Vigil sighed. Virgil flew up and gained the heads of Cerberus' attention. Virgil spun around and avoided attacks from the beast for a few seconds until I got back to the side. He dived down when the heads were following him and took to the skies at quickly as he could. The heads dived into the mud and filled their mouths. They were unable to remove to mud, and Virgil and I were able to pass. We avoided eye contact with all the gluttons. I did not want to associate myself with them. I tripped, and Virgil helped me up. We found and other drop, which Virgil gentally got me down. I was a mess. I had mud everywhere, I rubbed the dried mud from my horn and my face, but my coat was still caked in mud. I did my best to bush my mess of a mane aside and kept on walking.
"Welcome to the fourth circle of hell. The Circle of Greed." Virgil said as we walked into a cavernous room. Souls were pushing large bags up slopes. I guess they were bits, seeing as we were in the Circle of Greed. A large alicorn supervised them, he landed infront of Virgil and I.
"A live one. She thirsts for knowledge. For bits. A greedy one." He said licking his lips. I stepped back while Virgil opened his wings and shielded me.
"I will not let you take this one!" Virgil said. The alicorn turned his head and flew up. Two groups of ponies formed two lines. They held a type of spear that was suspended on the chest and hanged from their necks. They looked heavier than the statues in the garden. Virgil also flew up, but took me with him.
"What is going on?" I asked over the sound of thundering hooves as the two groups of ponies ran at each other.
"Joust." He said. Soon, the ponies stopped and returned to their bags. The mystery alicorn continued his rounds.
"Fortune. It rises nations to greatness, but also plunges it into poverty. Those empty goods from nation unto nation, clan to clan." He mumbled under his breath. I turned to one on the ponies who was on the side of the path. I opened my mouth to speak to him. "Don't bother talking to them. They all have lost their indivuality, they are unreconizeable." He said softly. He was a little ahead of me, so I ran to catch up him.
"The next circle, it is..." I said while weapproached another drop. He helped me down the hole.
"The Circle of Wrath." Virgil said. "Where the wrathfully fight each other and the sullen lay at the bottom of the River Styx." He sighed. We were in a swamp. He led me to the river. I tried to not look at the ponies fighting around me, but I looked into the river, and I had indeed saw ponies laying at the bottom. "Aura, let's go." He said.
"How?"
"Phlegyas with take us across in his skiff." His informed and looked over to an Earthpony standing on a small boat. Virgil helped me on and then followed. The river was much larger than I had expected.
"Where are the other circles?" I asked.
"In the City of Dis. We may have a hard time getting in." Virgil expained while he helped me out of the boat. Ahead of us was a large stone wall. It was guarded by dark blue ponies that resembled the ponies I had seen when I first woke up. Virgil led me to the gate.
"What are you doing here?" One of the fallen angels asked.
"We need to get in." Virgil gave a terse explanation.
"Not with that one." It said pointing to me. I stayed silent. Virgil argued with them for a little while before giving up. He returned to me.
"We're not getting in." He sighed.
"So what are we going to do?" I asked.
"Wait here until you die." He said. I felt my body tense up. I stayed like this for a few minutes before I saw an all too familiar dark blue alicorn.
"Luna?" I mumbled. She landed. "Luna!" I yelled happily. I tried to run to her, but Virgil stopped me.
"Hang on, she isn't actually there." He warned me.
"Aura Bliss, this place... It is dark." Luna said, looking around.
"You're the one who helped send me down here!" I growled.
"What? No. You dreamt it. This is a dream. The most vivid dream that I have ever seen. It is so realistic." Luna said.
"Augmented reality..." I sighed.
"So you know how to get out. Virgil will help you." She said. I nodded. She began to fly up.
"Wait! Can you help us get into the City of Dis?" I quickly asked. Luna quickly flew back down and touched her horn to the gate and it opened. Virgil led me in. The walk through heresy was quick. We had mostly no issues, other than a few embers from the burning tombs landed on my body. The burns were aching, but now that I knew this was only a dream, I was fine with the pain, though I hated it anyway. A horrid scent began to fill my nose. Before he helped me down the deep decent, he made me face him.
"I must warn you of something before we decend. The lower hell punishes the violent and malicious. It is dangerous, and you could die. You must always follow my lead, and don't do anything stupid." He warned. I nodded. With a sigh, Virgil flew me down. The first thing I saw was a minotaur. It growled it us and charged. Virgil knocked me out of the way. I charged a ball of energy. Virgil saw this and distracted the minotaur while the energy gathered. Virgil moved out of the way right as I let the energy go. It his the minotaur and is turned to dust.
"Onwards." I said. We walked into the first ring. It contained a river full of blood and fire. There were centaurs guarding it. Half pony, half human. They disgusted me. There were two leading, Chiron and Pholus, as informed by Virgil. A centaur walked to us and introduced himself as Nessus. He helped us find a place to ford across. We found this place at the widest, shallowest part of the river. Nessus crossed first, and Virgil followed, careful not to fly. Flying would have gotten him shot by one of the guarding centaurs. I hesitantly stepped in the scorching blood. My tail dipped into the blood and it was stained red, along with my hooves. I avoided looking at the blood, this was an act to avoid panicking again. We bid our ados to Nesses and continued to the next ring of violence. It was full of ponies who commited suicide or were a profligate. The ones who commited suicide were entangled in thorny bushes, where harpies nibbled at them. The profligates were chased and mauled by ferocious dogs. We walked a little faster to avoid become a target of a dog or a harpie. Next, we found ourself in a large desert. Some ponies were lying down, some were siting, and some were wandering in groups. Before we stepped in, we knew that we sould have to sprint to avoid burning to death. I knew I would come out with many more burns. We ran until we found a hole. We jumped down. Virgil caught me and gently set me down again. We were on a cliff.
"The only way to get down in on the back of a geryon." He explained. Virgil found one for us to ride on and it brought us down to the last two circles of hell. The circle we were now in, was Fraud, it was large, and I don't really remember Fraud. It terrified me, and I want to keep that out if my mind. The last circle, Treachery, forced Virgil and me to fight large, misshappen and demonic ponies. After we defeated them, we continued to the very center of hell. There, was a very large alicorn, chained and trapped in ice.
"What now?" I asked softly.
"Jump down. Your trial is complete and I will return to Limbo." Virgil said. The alicorn in the middle of the room moaned loudly. I stepped to him. I turned one last time and thanked Virgil before I ran straight to the beast and jumped down behind his back. I fell. I couldn't see anything, but I knew I was falling. I couldn't bring myself to cast any spells. I passed out after a few minutes of falling.
