Chapter 65

Flux groaned as the train waited at the station, a pregnant mare was struggling to lift a large suitcase onto the train

"Let me get that for you," Battering Ram sighed as he stepped off the train allowing the mare to step on as he effortlessly lifted the case and carried it over to the mare’s seat

Flux rubbed her eyes as Ram took his seat opposite her. "We are never going to reach Tartarus in time"

"We have to try," Battering Ram looked out the window, the buildings slowly moving away as the train gathered speed. The navy earth pony gritted his teeth as he grumbled quietly

The lavender Pegasus placed her hooves on the table as she closed her eyes. "We failed the guards, we failed Puppetmaster, and now we failed Strong Shield"

"You knew he always was cautious," Battering Ram looked over at the mare. "Once we find him, we can talk this over and you can have a decent discussion, maybe see if you can still patch things up"

"Patch things up?" Flux's eyes tightened as she began to cry. "If something happens to Dave then he will never look at us again!"

Battering Ram shuddered as he watched Flux sob, her tears falling to the table. "Come on Flux, don't be this way... We are almost to Fillydelphia, then it is only half a day away"

"What if they have found the vault already?" Flux looked up at Ram with bloodshot eyes. "What if we failed again?"

Ram shook his head, "You can't think like that, we will make things right"

"We could have gone to Celestia," Flux frowned at herself. "She could have saved Dave and Strong Shield"

Battering Ram sighed as he looked out the window and at the lowering sun. “Well we would have gotten into trouble, and I am pretty sure that Strong Shield would have been punished too”

“I just hope that Strong Shield doesn’t do anything drastic,” Flux wiped her tears away as she looked out the window at the passing scenery

Meanwhile…

Celestia and Nox stepped off the carriage, the colt hopped on the spot as he waited for his mother to catch up. “Come on mum!” Nox wined as Celestia quickly thanked the guards that pulled the royal carriage

“We are at the farm and I am sure Applebloom’s family will be expecting us on time, not early,” Celestia nodded to the guards who detached themselves from the carriage and pushed it into a spot out of the way, resting as they saluted the princess

Nox rubbed his mane with his hoof and sniffed his own breath. “I know but I just missed her… don’t you miss dad when he disappears for days?”

“Well…” Celestia paused as she looked at her son, her mind beginning to wonder as she slowly smiled. “Of course I do, but I know that your father will always come back”

The prince nodded before following his mother up to the farmhouse door and the white alicorn knocked politely. A few hushed voices came through the door before it opened and Applejack quickly bowed to the royal alicorns

“Howdy Princess Celestia,” Applejack’s mane was braided and had a fancy bow at the end of her blond hair. She had obviously put lot of effort into her appearance and undoubtedly so had the rest of her family

“Hello Applejack, I apologize that my son has brought this responsibility to your family,” Celesta tipped her head. “If I had known Applebloom had invited my son and I for dinner then I would have made sure they had gotten your permission first”

The earth pony shook her head as she smiled up at the princess of the son. “It was a surprise to hear you were coming over and I am glad Applebloom has got a nice colt to call her special somepony”

Nox smiled at the compliment as he tried to look past Applejack and see if he could spot Applebloom. The grey colt managed to see the tail of his special somepony and he instantly smiled even more

“Is Dave gonna join us for lunch?” Applejack asked as she looked around for the human

Celesta frowned slightly, her concern being touched again. “I suppose he will be having something to eat elsewhere, he has done another disappearing act”

“Ah, well I hope he is eating something nice,” Applejack joked

Meanwhile…

Dave snapped the leg from the mantis-pony hybrid. Its shape was more pony but its head was joined with pincers and two large arms grew from its shoulders to form the green claws that Dave had seen on praying mantises

“ONE MONTH!” Dave slammed the severed hoof onto the monster’s already cracked head. “One month I have been here and all I get from you fucks is the same bullshit!” Dave’s hair was dirty, him body stained in dried blood and the golden key was hanging from a handmade necklace that Dave managed to make by tearing strips from his damaged jeans

The creature merely groaned as it slowly swiped as Dave’s face, the claw falling short as Dave grabbed it and yanked it away from the body, resulting in a scream as the monster squirmed

“What do these fucking marks mean?” Dave stabbed the creature with its own claw, the arm penetrating just below the mark of ‘75355BP’

“I-I don’t,” 75355BP screeched as Dave plunged his hand into the gap he had made in the green creature’s side

“None of you know the warden and you all like to remind me that my hunger can’t be satisfied!” Dave snarled as he looked at the bleeding wound he had his hand buried into. “But all the inmates say that tasting another being makes you forget a little, I haven’t degraded myself yet and that has cost me twenty times already… twenty times I have been passed through dirty teeth, burning stomach acid and filthy intestines”

Dave began to drool as he felt the creature squirm and his hand feel all the movement of the creature’s organs. “You wouldn’t give me pity… so why should I give you any?” Dave whispered as his eyes became locked on the bleeding wound

The human couldn’t resist as the crushing pain of hunger forced him to start ripping into the other inmate, his mouth moving to the wound so he could get at the stringy meat and sour blood sooner

Meanwhile…

Princess Celestia and Prince Nox both followed Applejack into her home, smiling as they saw the other ponies around the table

Applebloom had a jewelled bow in her mane, her hair looked much softer as did her tail. Big Mac had his mane combed straight and his red fur had definitely seen a brush for the first time in years. The old green earth pony that was Granny Smith was wearing glasses and a pearl necklace that suited a pony of her age

“Hello everypony,” Celestia smiled as all the ponies bowed on their seats. Nox hurried to the in-between Applebloom and Big Mac as he nuzzled the filly. Celestia took her seat between Applejack and Granny Smith as she smiled to the other ponies

Celestia still sat higher than everypony else, even though Big Mac was taking the effort to sit up straight. Nox meanwhile was happy whispering with Applebloom whilst Applejack walked into the kitchen to get the food

“I’ve missed you,” Nox smiled as Applebloom blushed

“I’ve missed ya too,” Applebloom smiled as she rubbed her nose against Nox’s neck. “I got told off when I sent that invite to ya but got stuck with extra chores when we heard that you were coming”

Nox smiled as he placed his hoof on Applebloom’s, the grey colt had his attention tore away as Applejack returned and placed a large steaming pie on the table

“Dig in everypony!” Applejack beamed as she saw the group of ponies gawp at the pie. “Err, that is… if ya want to Princess”

Celestia nodded, “The pie looks delicious and I am sure it tastes as good as it looks”

“If ya think this is gonna be tasty then wait til ya try one of Applejack’s homemade apple cakes,” Granny Smith chuckled as she sniffed in the smell of the pie

Applejack picked up a sharp knife with her mouth and carefully cut out large slices of pie for each of the hungry ponies that sat around the table. “Just make sure that ya don’t drop any on yourselves, we didn’t get all fancy just to get messy in front of royalty”

“Oh don’t worry about us,” Celestia smiled. “We are guests and we don’t need special treatment”

“Yeah we aren’t on a parade or anything,” Nox smiled as Applejack placed a large slice of pie on his plate. “This looks yummy!”

Applejack smiled as she finished dishing out the rest of the pie, “Well I hope it tastes as good as it looks!”

The ponies began to dig into their food, Nox and Applebloom eating hungrily whilst the other ponies took their time. Celestia glanced at Nox and smiled as she saw him joking with Applebloom, the filly and colt enjoying each other’s company

Big Mac glanced at the empty seat between him and Celestia, the chair that was reserved for Dave. “So where is Dave?” the stallion asked

Celestia’s smile faded for a second, “Well I don’t honestly know.” The princess’ ears dropped, “My guess is that he has been whisked away for some unknown reason… but he should show up soon”

Meanwhile…

“I have been doing some thinking,” Dave tapped his chin as he walked down once of the dark corridors. “One hour on the outside equals half a month in here,” the human paused as he tilted his head with hum. “I am only dealing with approximates”

The creature Dave was dragging had most of its limbs removed and was just a black body that was soaked in yellow blood. The torso twitched as Dave talked, a head was bouncing along the ground behind them, a few veins connecting the stumpy sphere head to the body

“What does that have to do with anything?” the creature groaned. Its circular mouth was lined with sharp teeth that had been broken

“Well during my extensive time here I have noticed three distinct groups,” Dave dropped the body and turned to smile at the head. “One group like to talk and try to hold onto the power that they had on the outside, you fall into this group Inmate 121234SA”

121234SA snarled at Dave, “You know nothing about me! I was a stalker, a killer of countless children that didn’t run fast enough, their young lives were nutritious and filling!” The creature was silenced as Dave stomped on the head, resulting in a spray of yellow blood

“The second group have completely twisted and can’t even speak, they survive in Tartarus by resorting to behaviours that they would never consider,” Dave chuckled as he slowly pointed to himself. “Then there is me, I am alone in group three because I have begun to see Tartarus in a new light… this prison has allowed me to expand my knowledge, test theories”

The torso twitched as the squashed head gargled in response

“Basically I have grown to understand, learnt new things and now begun to realize that pain is an experience, something I merely hinted at understanding on the outside,” Dave placed a finger in the smashed head and hooked out an oval eye

The pupil of the eye dilated as Dave brought it close to his face, his smile bared his teeth as he laughed at the eye

“The only thing that I know for real,” Dave tilted his head back as he lifted the eye above him and aimed it over his mouth. “Is that there will be blood,” he whispered as he dropped the eye into his waiting mouth