Fires of Reprisalby LocheesChaptersChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveEpilogueChapter OneThey wronged me, they banished me, defeated me and also dragged me back from banishment to send me to Tartarus. Just because I wanted to show them what I could really do. Just because I went against the grain. That white bitch called me cruel, if by cruel she means where I decided magical prowess was better than friendship then yes I am cruel. She called me dishonest, just because I wanted to surprise her with my growth and lied about what I was doing. She kicked me out of her school and later I come to find out that she is not only cruel and dishonest but also a hypocrite. She never cared about me making friends, she just wanted me to get some companions so I could weaponize the Elements against her sister. She thought nothing of banishing an eighteen year old to another dimension just because I didn't fit into her perfect little plan... if that isn't cruel then I don't know what is. I wasn't idle in that other world either, no. I plotted and planned and worked tirelessly to exact my revenge. I would get an army and rebel against this sick joke of a country. This whole world is nothing but a flimsy facade and I will bring it down to its knees if only for the sake of seeing that proud white bitch show everypony the monster she truly is. Not only her but her naive student Twilight, meekly following in her masters shadow and even being able to use that overpowered magic of friendship. It may be extremely powerful, more powerful than me in demon form but I would rather die a thousand deaths than rely so heavily on others like that. Her and those ignoramus... brainless dolts that she calls friends had to ruin it all for me. All my hard work, and risks and sacrifices all for nothing because they followed her and she followed her. They couldn't even let me lose in peace, they had to come and drag me kicking and screaming all the way back to Equestria and then send me to Tartarus. I swear on every lie and cruelty they caused I will get my revenge. I will get stronger, my hate will fuel me and this time I will work alone. When I break out of Tartarus I will be a one pony army. I will burn down their precious way of life and I will sit atop the ashes of their fake land and laugh at the finality of it all before I can finally die. I ground my teeth. Hard. The pain of them gnashing and pushing each other, threatening to crack immediately sharpened my mind. Fueling my drive to destroy Equestria again in my head, I shook it, limp mane swirling around me as I thought about more pressing matters with a grim look on my scarred face. Since being exiled to Tartarus I’ve been constantly on the run for my life. Tirek in his quest to get powerful enough to break out of Tartarus and rule the world, had been chasing sources of magic all throughout this blasted hellscape and draining them to get stronger. The moment I was teleported inside the main gates, their impregnable black iron twisting high and covered with magic to disallow any creature to open them to access the portal back to Equestria… Tirek had attacked me. It was through sheer luck and terror that I got away from him. Chain casting teleport to get away from him, faster and more often than I had ever cast it before. I teleported as far away from that monster as my magic would allow me and with my eyes white from my pathetic weakness, the blood pounding in my ears. I almost collapsed from the adrenaline alone, I then found a cave and collapsed in it. Since then I have learned a lot about Tirek and Tartarus. For one it seems like time goes more slowly here, there’s no day or night, just that glaring and oppressive sun. It both serves to weaken the spirits of every creature and also reminds us who sent us. For me its a reminder that I can't ever give up, or give in. Luckily enough I can't die, at least not from natural causes. There's no food or water but no matter how much my lips get cracked and my throat tears from thirst, no matter how much my stomach feels like it will devour me from the inside I wont die of hunger or thirst. No the only way for me to die is if I am killed, and the strongest being down here has it out for me. Tirek is craving my strong magic more than anything else down here. Him and his minions hunt for me constantly, I can't stay still for more than one day or they will find me. Sunset smirked, feeling the action to cause my lips to crack and my gums to start bleeding, displaying a perverse smile that would have sent any normal pony screaming in fright. Just wait till I turn the tables on them and pulverize every thing down here into a smear on the ground. I grinned even more now, finding a fleeting thought funny. Maybe I’ll make a lake from their blood, the first ever lake in Tartarus and I’ll call it Shimmer lake. That's a fantastic idea if I say so myself. Enough about the future, I need to focus on the present or I won't last much longer. As I stiffly get up, my joints protest almost audibly. Cracking and sending spikes of pain to my mind... I can ignore that. Such a little amount of pain was nothing compared to the hunger and the sun. That damnable sun. Stepping out of the cave, my only solace from the waves of heat beating down on me and almost forcing myself down on the ground from the sheer weight of it all, I habitually scanned the horizon for anything alive. If it was alive, it was my enemy, it was one of them. Magically enhancing my vision, I scoped out the blistering and cracked plains around me. Tartarus had two main environments, a scalding desert devoid of sand. The heat from the sun and the cracked ground were my only companions. Not that I needed any but other than the odd rock formation that would sometimes have a cave that would give me a moment away from her sun, there was nothing but endless and endless stretches of dry and cracked ground. The other thing Tartarus environment wise it had was near the entrance. Nothing but volcanoes with the odd river or pool of lava. I guess the idea when the princesses made this place was that if you made it past the certain death at the entrance, the only thing left was an endless lack of anything meant to break the spirit and decay the mind. Not seeing anything I turned my attention to the ground, checked the mark I made on it before napping in the cave, indicating where to keep going. With the sun permanently at its zenith and no real landmarks or stars it could be tricky to avoid going in circles. It took a constant mental trick to walk in a perfectly straight line. Starting off at a trot I felt my blood starting to pump more, loosening my joints. Quickly though it was time and I started galloping in the opposite direction from the entrance of this hell. I knew nothing was close by me right now from when I last checked but I needed to get more distance between me and the horde on my trail. Running had more of a reason than just getting distance. I needed to get stronger, not just magically but physically as well. Stronger and tougher for the fight to come. Remembering one of the few accidental nuggets of real wisdom I learned back at that monsters school, Sunset took a trip down memory lane for a moment while running. The amount of magic unicorns could use was dependant on a few things. Genetics was one of them, a unicorn from a family of spellcasters would probably innately have more magic than the average one. Another one was luck, sometimes unicorns got lucky and just had a talent for magic. Lastly was physical traits, a unicorn who is stronger would have a bigger magic pool to draw from, that and the more magic they used the more they could use. It was like its own muscle and just like any muscle, the better shape the body was in the stronger it could get. Alicorns with their immortal bodies and magic of the three races had the most of course and could do impressive feats using brute strength alone. With the curse here of not being able to die and also a nearly unlimited amount of time. I have plenty of time to build up my strength and on my own get stronger and more powerful. One day I will would be more powerful than even that bitch and her sister. More powerful than the elements of harmony and the magic of friendship. One day. Getting into the groove of running it was finally time to start working on using my magic too. Using a sloppy and inefficient spell to make a stopwatch hover in front of me I counted the minutes and poured more magic than I should need to keep this wasteful spell running. After all… the more magic I use in general the more I’ll increase my pool. Reality soon made it hard to think straight though as I focus on my pain, becoming better acquainted with it than any other being. The pounding of my hooves beneath me jolts and jars my tired and stiff body, hurting every step of the way. The thick calluses on the bottom of my hooves help but don't entirely block the heat coming from the ground. The pounding waves of the sun above me, feeling like a living thing trying to push me into the ground. My body is beginning to heat up to intolerable levels since I used up all my water to make sweat long ago, so long ago. My throat is so dry I’ve forgotten the taste of water and my stomach so shrivelled I could swear from the pain it would normally be trying to eat me from the inside out. I guess it feels like a strong fever and starving to death, except that the cause is everything around me. I couldn’t imagine a better training regime, I thought as I grinned again. The motion of my lips moving cracked them again and a little blood seeped out. I ignored that, it happens all the time. As my timer wore on and my daily exertion continued, I could think of nothing else but my hatred of the Sisters, of the Princess of Friendship, of Tirek and his horde, and my never ending pain.. The hate keeps me going, the pain keeps me sharp, these keep me pushing myself, keeps me from ever giving up or giving in. My previous record for running while keeping this magic clock up is nineteen hours and fifty minutes. Considering I’m improving about five to ten minutes a session, days no longer applied to me. I should be able to hit twenty hours of constant exertion before needing to teleport a little further and find a spot to relax in. God it's frustrating! I want to push myself to the absolute limit every time so I can improve faster but I must always keep a little held back in case Tirek shows up while I’m recovering. During my time in the human world when I heard about god, I thought it was stupid but harmless, worshipping a being no one had ever seen but now I’m just happy to have something other than her to swear at. A feeling of dizziness hits me at about the twenty hour, ten minute mark. Quickly teleporting as far forward as I dare. I pop out and see nothing around me, no caves and nothing but the cracked, blistering ground as far as the eye could see. My legs are starting to get wobbly, I started to get worried. I need to get to shelter soon. Not seeing any alternative a hole would have to suffice, it wouldn't be the first time. Lighting up my horn I pushed the ground down and sideways in front of me, effortlessly making a pony sized hole in the ground to crawl into. Scratching a mark on the ground to point the way when I wake up, I wormed my way into the hole. Not wanting to make it any larger than it had to be to keep it hidden I wedged myself in it backwards until I was in the shade. The air was hot, stifling and overbearing but at least I can sleep when I know that she isn't right above me. Setting a quick and easy creature detection alarm spell I quickly drifted off to sleep. Chapter TwoWith a jolt I woke up, it wasn’t a bad dream. Not that I had any, real life was worse than any nightmare. No... something woke me up. THE ALARM! Coming fully to my senses in an instant I turned off the silent alarm set to shock me with enough of a jolt to wake up even a hibernating Ursa Minor. Wriggling out of the hole I dug earlier I poked my head out and scanned the horizon… there! Coming into view, obscured slightly by the haze caused by the unbearable sun I saw a lone figure racing in this direction. I cast a quick scope enhancement on my eyes, a headache already starting to form from the heat. A timberwolf was pounding my way. A scout then. Granted that’s all I run into this far out are scouts. Tirek can’t afford to chase me all the way out here with the bulk of his forces. Once he discovers where I am though that is a totally different story. Quickly bringing up in my head what I know about timberwolves in my head I remember a few things. First off they can’t be eaten. Another wave of shock and pain from my stomach reminds me that while I can’t die it can still hurt like a bitch to not have eaten in probably a week. They also still have a fantastic sense of smell, probably explains why they are in the scout wave. It won’t lose me so that leaves one option. I have to kill it. First I’m going to wait till it gets a little closer. From the previous ones I’ve killed they are starting to go back once they make sure it’s me they are smelling but won’t try to bring me back by themselves. By themselves alone at least. Once its in teleport range though that is another story entirely My head pounding, my stomach shrieking, add that to the fact that I haven’t finished resting fully from my last exertion… I’m in no condition to fight this if it’s a trap. Focus on the breathing. Labored as it may be I need to calm it just a little. In and out, in and out. Don’t get too excited by the prospect of a kill. Remember Sunset, you are a professional so act like it. Its stopped, sniffing a little back and with a howl it turns around and starts running back. That's as much of a head start as I’m going to get. Channeling magic into my horn I quickly teleport once and then once again immediately after. Chain teleporting right next to it as it was running away. The sudden pop makes its head turn to face me and for a split second, I could swear I saw fear in its emotionless yellow eyes. Barely giving it time to react I channel magic into my horn again and blast it in the side with a wave of air. Knocking it off to the side and on its back. Jumping on top of it and immediately cutting off all four limbs with the oh so precise cutting magic I’ve gotten so good at... Good it's not going anywhere. Straddling the creature I press an arm into its throat, cutting off any pathetic whimpering that it was no doubt about to do. Pressing my face into its I open my mouth and breathed foul smelling air, full of sickness and disease onto its face, its eyes start shifting faster. Good I want it to be scared for this next part. Speaking for the first time in a good few days I raggedly whisper. “You interrupted my nap, my only time away from this sun. This sun that has caused me so much pain and anguish. her sun. Now I’m going to make you feel just a little bit of it, mostly because its fun... Oh don’t worry, this will hurt quite a lot.” I smiled, the action making me feel that my lips cracked in ten different spots again. Not wanting to waste any more magic than I needed to. I decided on the spot to do this the old fashioned way. Punching it hard in the throat I pirouetted more graceful and deadly than any ballerina could on my front hoof and stomped with my hind leg on its face. Now I’m no earth pony but I would say I’ve been working out so much just to survive that I could beat any of them in a strength contest. Also incidentally these creatures face can’t beat me in a contest of strength either. Keeping one front hoof squarely on its throat and another on its chest to keep it from rolling over or squirming too much. I kept stomping on its face. This ones for that bitch, this ones for her sister. This ones for Twilight and THIS one is for all her stupid friends! The last one I decided to put a little extra effort into and I felt it go all the way through and into the ground, marking the final blow and also giving me a hell of a lot of splinters. Too bad that its made of wood so there’s no satisfying squish but it'll do. I turned around and stood atop its spasming flimsy, brittle corpse. With contempt I tried to spit on it but nothing came out. “Fuck you, one day I’ll start running the other direction and you will all die with terror.” I felt myself whisper, my throat still too dry to have anything louder come out. Going back to my hole I found my marker and started trotting away again, I think I only got a few hours of sleep but no matter. I will go until I can’t go any further and then I will go some more. I cannot afford to die at this stage, I’ve only begun. Nothing important happened over the next week, at least I think it was a week. Just more running, more sleeping and more thinking… always more thinking. With nothing to do or look at for distraction all I could do is think. Think more and more about those who sit atop their thrones of lies. Those who betrayed me. Those who do not have the right to keep living and those that deserve to die by my own hoof. I could only think in small periods of time though, it was tiring after all to think of everypony. Glancing at my timer I had to look again to make sure I was seeing this correctly. It showed thirty hours! Way more than last weeks, I shouldn’t be improving this fast. Checking to make sure the spell wasn’t screwed up in any ways other than what I had intended… nope it was still fine. If I have run more than 6 hours more than last time, does this mean I finally conquered sleep? Or stamina? That and I don’t think I need any more stamina training either at this point, but need and want are two separate things I reminded myself so I kept going. After forty hours of constant running and magic use I finally stopped in my tracks and just stood there for a moment, surrounded by the ever blistering ground and the ever boiling sky. Not a living thing in sight. Now that I can run basically forever and never need any sleep and my magic can replenish crazy fast… I guess the logical thing would be to increase my burst strength. How would I go about this? Nothing to punch on the ground, I guess I could make some punching bags out of the rock with my magic and then start working on those… wait I just remembered something. Most ponies never see it but the Princesses are fast. Like faster than a wonderbolt even on the ground. I once saw it as a filly when I fell off a bridge and she dashed over 100 meters in the blink of an eye to keep me from falling and hitting my head. Good thing she didn’t let me fall either, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to kill her. I’ll have to remind her of that. Either way, I’ll need speed and lots of it. If they can cave in my throat before I can even strike back then that would indeed be a problem. I’ll do sprint bursts instead of running, that will help. I’ll sprint as fast as I can and then trot for a few seconds and do that over and over. How will I be able to know if I’m improving though? I know! I’ll combine a medical sensing spell with a speed detecting spell and use that. Good thing I paid attention in magic theory. Thinking past the constant pain and agony for a second I got the underlying foundation of the spell in my head and with a quick flick of the horn it was there, hovering in front of me. Starting at a trot I then broke out into a dead sprint. Pumping my legs as fast as I could manage and ignoring the shrieks of pain shooting up my thighs, I sprinted as fast as I could. Counting the seconds when I got to 10 I slowed down to a trot again and looked at my display. 40 km/h. I could do better than that. Fuck that I need to do way better than that. If she could do 1000 meters a second to save a filly than I need to go way faster than 11 meters a second. At least I have time. Feeling my lips split again I realized I had smiled without realizing it. Oh, I am so going to enjoy this when I get out. Breaking again into a dead sprint I continued on. Alternating between sprinting and trotting I made my way across the endless desert. No longer sleeping and no longer stopping. My magic and that bitch’s sun my only companions. Except my thoughts, always my thoughts to keep me going, keep me strong, and keeping me focused. The pain kept trying to distract me but without any rest, it was easy to ignore it as it was just always there. It would be like complaining about the weather. It was always there so no use in even thinking about it. It might have been days, weeks or months? I no longer could tell or care. Just the constant sprinting, the constant pain, the constant sun and my scarred mind. Only thinking of one thing now. Hate. I had been thinking about hate for so long I could barely remember who it was about. I probably would have forgotten if that thing above my head didn't remind me every second of every waking moment. Reminding me of that bitch and everyone around her. I did remember to keep improving, eventually just constantly sprinting. Never stopping, never taking a break. Just constant and never ending. Like my torture in this place. This place that she and her... sister? She had a sister right? I think so yeah. Oh well. if I just go kill her and every pony around her in that hideously white castle then that should cover everything. After what felt like eternity I was sprinting so fast that I could keep going at 1500 meters a second. Fast enough to deal with her... What was her name again? I cant remember but I remember her, every sadistic and two faced move she makes. Manipulating everything and every one around her. Sitting white and porcelain on top of her ivory throne of lies. Everything that she has touched deserves to be destroyed and never heard from again once the screams stop. Shes tough though. Tough enough to withstand even the hardest of hits. So I'll hit harder. I'll work on my punching till I can punch a hole clean through solid rock. Using my magic instinctively, what was the name of this spell again? No matter. I used magic to made a condensed pillar of rock, harder than the hardest of rock and I punched it hard. For the first time in an eternity, a moan of pain escaped my scarred and blasted lips. After all that running and sprinting, the shock of hitting a rock as hard as I could sent a tremor throughout my entire body and made my hoof instantly go numb. The agony shooting up my bone felt like I was getting my limb ripped off. I don't have time for this. This must be done. Bear with it. Again. And again. One more time, don't think about the pain. DON'T THINK ABOUT IT. Embrace the pain. Relish it. Again. Like a mantra I repeated in my head over and over as I punch the rock as hard as I could. I was making small dents in it already from my already increased speed and strength. Just gotta keep going Sunset I reminded myself. It was hard to think about much other than the pain so I just kept repeating again and hitting the rock. Alternating between my four hooves when one became too numb to feel anymore. Eventually even my toughened hooves started to split open and start bleeding but I kept going, The blood didn't matter, the pain didn't matter. Not even the sun mattered right now. The only two things that mattered were the words hate and again. Hate filled my soul, caused my already bloodshot eyes to burn and my mind was filled with one word. Again. Eventually I wore the rock down to my knees and without hesitating made another, and another. And another. I must have worn through twenty dozen rocks before I finally was able to punch straight through a solid piece of hardened and condensed rocks. A perfect hoof shaped hole right through it. Why am I sitting? My arms wont move, and I'm falling to the ground. Am I going to die here? I can't die. Not yet, not until I've killed her. Must keep going... again... Chapter ThreeNo I WILL not be stopped here! With a scream, I could feel my throat tearing from what felt like my mouth to my stomach and with blood spitting between my clenched teeth, fighting my way up to my hooves like a drunken pony. My numb limbs were the only part of me that didn't hurt... that's pretty powerful medicine right there. I kept screaming and pushing, forcing myself up on sheer willpower alone. Finally getting to a sitting position I sat there. Only one thought went through my tortured mind now. Cant stop. I don't think I'll die if I sleep but I don't care anymore. Fuck her. If I stop I die. Damn her. Don't die. I can't stop till shes dead. Can't die till shes dead. Cant stop. Getting up on all four hooves, I noticed bloody footprints on the ground that were mine. Cant stop. I turned around and started to head back for the first time since I got banished here by her, it would be a long journey. Cant stop. The running was getting easier. I could feel life coming back to my legs, also more pain now that they weren't numb anymore. More pain than I've ever felt. No. Don't stop. Pain is my friend, its the only thing that's let me know I'm still alive. Pain is my companion and death is my freedom. Cant die yet though, gotta kill her. For a split second I wondered if there was any part of me, both inside and out that didn't hurt. Before I could even answer that thought it was replaced with my mantra as if something had pushed it there. Can't stop. As repeating and dependable as my heartbeat it kept me going, kept me focused. Pain and the one thought clouded my mind as I sprinted back through the desert, covering vast quantities of land nearly instantly. I no longer had any concept of time. The days stretched on as endlessly as they always have. Pain and my mantra were my only constant as I ran for what seemed like an eternity. It probably was an eternity. It could have been days or even years I no longer cared. All I knew was that if i stopped I would die and that I couldn't die before that bitch is dead too. Don't slow down. I sprinted and sprinted, not slowing down for a single second. My existence was the pounding of my bloody hooves, my old friend pain and my one thought. Seeing the landscape start to change around me I saw the volcanoes that marked the entrance, where the gates were. Where the way out of here was. I thought I saw things, little weak things standing around and looking at me blitz past where the sands turned to rock. I couldn't spare them a single thought. I was on my way to kill the white one. I couldn't stop now. Even when I hit the ground made of cooled lava and the blood and callouses on my hooves started to smoke and sizzle I didn't even notice. All I cared about was that the exit was just right over there. I didn't even consciously realize it, I just knew it. "SUNSET SHIMMER" a loud roar to my left made me whip my head around and flatten my ears. The sound was loud enough that it broke my concentration. Fuck you whoever you are, I'll have to teach you a lesson. Seeing drops of blood fall and sizzle on the ground I realized my ears were bleeding. Now you're really going to pay. A gigantic red and black centaur was standing a ways off to my left, surrounded by monsters that seemed to be little tiny ants around his hooves. He had to be a good distance away but because of his size he seemed a lot closer. What was his name again? I didn't care, I could tell he obviously wanted to stop me, to get in my way. That's one thing though... I cannot be stopped any longer, not by you, or that sun, or these gates, by her, or even by me. I am unbreakable. Without a pause I swerved to my left as I made a dash towards that monstrosity, this will be a good time at least to test out my new strength. I felt my lips crack open again, my lips bled and my tongue lolled out as a manic grin came out of nowhere. Everything became redder as i felt a pressure behind my eyes and blood rush to my head, no thoughts now. Just a dull pounding in between my ears as everything fully turned red. Jumping up as high as I could mid sprint, I sailed easily twice as high up as the loud one. Without even thinking, only wanting... I charged up a detonation spell as powerful as I could manage and let it go. I wanted to blast everything away and keep going... Don't slow down. A blinding light and a thunderclap immediately assaulted my senses. Instantly I was blown backwards through the air as it ripped into the ground and shook the earth, blasting everything near it away. Hot, searing bits of rock and ash spewed everywhere and the shock wave flattened every creature in at least a 2 kilometer radius. What am I doing? That one thought managed to sneak in as the shockwave disoriented me. I could see myself falling from quite a height, falling fast. I landed on my legs hard enough to hear a loud crack. New pain jolted up my legs, a sharp and piercing feeling. Ah pain my old friend, I could feel my thoughts center and stabilize on my normal mantra. I didn't care about the jagged needles I could feel in my legs. Why should I care? I won't stop. Looking around I cant see anything, much less the loud one through all the smoke that covered my entire field of view. With a growl and a flick of my horn I sent a shock wave in all directions, blowing away the smoke. He will not stop me. I could see I was standing on the lip of a massive crater where my spell had hit, the big one and the remains of the little ants were in there at the bottom. The live ones at least. The crater was easily as large as a small lake and the shockwave had apparently pushed me far enough back that I was on the edge of it. Without even a thought I felt myself jump down into the hole, my legs screaming in agony. With a surge the rest of his army came and jumped towards me, howling and screaming like a horde of of the dead. Soon enough they would be a horde of the dead anyways. Purely on speed and instinct alone I bowled into them, careening through their weak, pulpy mass like a train. I lost track of myself and my surroundings as I decimated his army. Not even capable of thinking anything more complicated than one phrase I powered through everything on pure instinct and overwhelming power. Kicking a goatman so hard in the head exploded in a red mass. A punch so hard to the chest of a timberwolf that it shattered on the spot. A fireball from my horn causing a few hundred to boil alive where they stood, screaming in terror. If I could think I would have thought that I was beautiful. All of a sudden nothing was in hooves reach so I stood there panting and confused. Where is everyone? Looking around with bloodshot eyes I saw I was surrounded by more of the puny things but they wouldn't come close. None dared approach me. Everything seemed to stand perfectly and serenely still for a moment. With a howl I put a lot of magic into a spell, I wanted them closer! A vortex appeared next to me, sucking everything around me in towards my reach. The growls of the horde turned into shrieks of terror as they were brought to me, within reach of my hooves. Feeling my lips tear again with a smile tore into them with renewed fury and I kept massacring every creature until there was none left, none but him who looked like he was hanging back and waiting. With a loud bellow that hurt my ears he charged me, shaking the ground with his weight. I could see him lowering his head and charging up a powerful spell. Not feeling the least bit impressed I stood my ground until he shot an impressive bolt of energy right at my face. Instinctively I jumped in the blink of an eye right over the beam and in an arc that would take me right to his face. Right before I got to him I scythed through the air with magic, cutting off his horns and his source of magic. This would be close and personal as payment for ruining my focus. Good, I wanted this to be messy anyways. With the shriek of a banshee I landed on his face, gripping his fur and holding on tight despite his bellowing and shaking of his head from pain. I don't think hes noticed me on him yet I thought with a smile. With very quick punches, as fast as I could throw them I started to beat into the center of his face. I could hear his bellow change into a howl of fear and I noticed that his hands were reaching up to swat me away. Faster and harder I swung my hooves, pouring every ounce of strength into my work. His head was surprisingly thick and tough, even so it only took half a second of sustained beating to knock him out. Before he could topple over I managed to cave his face in and punch through to his brain, landing the killing blow. As we hit the ground the force knocked me off and I fell onto my side in the scalding crater. Standing up, my breath coming in ragged and bubbly bursts I flicked my horn and tore off his mess of a head and threw it to the other side of the crater. With one last scream I roared to the sky, primal and fierce. I felt the last of my vocal chords rip, the scream being cut short with a silent moan as red bubbles popped at the corner of my parched and cracked lips. Standing there in the bottom of my crater with a growing pool of blood and bodies I suddenly felt very tired, my magic nearly depleted and my body refusing to move. Before I realized it I had fallen down on my side, why am I on my side? Darkness crept in the edges of my vision and fear caused my mind to finally start thinking again. DONT SLEEP Lurching back to my hooves on sheer willpower alone I opened one bloodshot eye and looked around at the nightmare hellscape that surrounded me, that was caused by me. DONT STOP I was standing in a slowly rising pool of blood. My fur was matted with it on one side and I couldn't see any movement all around me, just a sea of corpses slowly bleeding into the crater that I was in the bottom of. Bodies lay mangled everywhere, creatures of every type and of varying degrees of lethality... all dead. KEEP GOING One eye was covered in matted blood so thick I couldn't open it. No need, I only need one eye to see the white one. The thought of her made me spit out a mouthful of blood in disgust, I fleetingly wondered if it was my own blood or someone else's. Stop thinking about that. Focus. You're not done yet. Wont stop. Shakily taking a step toward an edge of the crater my eye swiveled around and spotted some silhouettes on the lip of the crater. Its not important. Nothing down here can stop me now. Painfully and weakly limping, trying to not pass out with every step I took. All I could think of now was not passing out. If a little something like this was enough to bring me down I would never be able to land the killing blow on her. That would be a critical moment and I can guarantee she wont be as forgiving if I don't land the killing blow first. I'll never stop again, I wont let my body die till they're all dead and nothing remains. I reaffirmed to myself. Before I knew it I was repeating again and again in my head, the mantra that defined my existence now. Cant stop... Wont stop... Nearing the lip of the crater I saw the figures I saw were stragglers of his army, with fear and terror plastered all over their faces they quickly backed off and gave me a very wide berth. A few knelt down in front of me. My body moving like it had a will of its own I started limping in a direct line to the gates of... whatever this place was called. I callously killed one that was kneeling directly in front of me, not able to see that they were in my way. Nothing will get in between me and her now. Another limp and another jolt of pain. No... nothing would now. Chapter FourI kept limping slowly toward the gates, every step threatening to make me black out. The pain from my broken legs was almost enough to drown out the hissing sound my bloody footprints left on the scorched earth. Almost but not quite. Through the haze of my one open eye I saw the massive black iron gates that led out of this place grow larger and larger as I got closer. With every step the cracked bones in my leg groaned and screeched at themselves, the pain was worse now that the adrenaline was fading fast. It was even bad enough to almost break my mantra. Almost, but not enough. I did my best to ignore it, this place had a wonderful way of not letting you die. You can do this, just focus and bear with it. You're stronger than this! I shook my tattered and sticky mane to shake away any unnecessary thoughts and get a fresh dose of pain from the movement. As I got close I looked at them with my eye, seeing them but not really seeing them at the same time. They were massive, heavy and made of wrought iron. Easily taller than a castle. Glowing runes covered the surface and heavy black chains hung around the center of it. They looked heavier than a mountain and even more impenetrable. A heavy air hung around them and I could hear the runes vibrating the very ground around the gates. I couldn't tell what the runes meant, or I had forgotten. I can't break my concentration now. I cant think about them, I need to focus or I'll black out. I have my own ways of breaking this thing down. Don't lose sight of whats behind that gate. Don't lose it... Taking a few steps back I began to slowly and surely charge my horn. I don't care what exactly I am charging it with. I just want to blow this massive gate wide open Slowly building the last dregs of my magic power into a spell and wrapping around my horn I poured more magic into it. More than I thought I had left. No I needed more. Straining just as hard as I did during my fight just now I kept pouring magic into my horn. As I kept pouring more of my magic into my horn it started to get hot, like really hot. Even the lava pool next to me didn't hold a candle to the heat coming off my horn. Sparks were shooting out of it and with a gasp of exertion I felt myself hit a mental wall, I had passed what I thought my limit was a while ago but I suddenly knew it shouldn't be possible to do more. No. I can do more... This isn't enough for HER... I need to be stronger. No time left... DON'T STOP NOW Turning my silent gasp into a silent scream I poured every ounce of pain, hurt and rage of my being into that spell. It surged and the bright light of my own magic almost blinded me. Squinting my puffy and bloodshot eye shut I kept pouring more into the spell. More and more, it felt like I was even putting my soul itself into it. I have to break free. I have to kill the bitch and to do that. I need to get out! Sinking to my knees I felt the last of even my physical strength give out and I had no choice left so I simply... let go. A bright light, brighter than anything she had ever made made me go blind in an instant. An apocalypse of destruction and fire blasted me high into the air. A sound like a thousand lightning bolts all at once broke my ears and I could feel the inferno scorching my skin and burning what little fur I had left off and even through my constant companion pain, I could feel my skin boiling. A burst of air pressed me from all sides, it felt like it was forcing my lungs to collapse. Gasping for air as I flew higher and higher into the ash ridden sky even my thoughts left me in shock. As I fell I couldn't hear anything. Had I gone deaf? My ears were now like the rest of my body, broken, burnt and irrelevant. Only She mattered. Wait am I falling now? I couldn't feel the air on my charred flesh but I could feel my center of gravity change as I finally reaching the apex of my flight and started to come back down to the ground. How far am I going to fall? I've been falling for quite a while now. I don't even know if I'm falling head first because I cant see, hear or feel anything. At least this wont kill me, throwing yourself off of a cliff is a no go here, this place is made to make you suffer so I can't die from falling from even this height. Oh well... That was the last thing I thought before everything finally stopped. With sudden abruptness I hit the ground and even the solitude of my mind went black. Like a slow, long climb I started to wake up. Who am I? You're you obviously. Where am I? The answer to that question was cut off by my body remembering how much pain it incurred. Convulsing and trying to scream, I thrashed and silently held my mouth open on the ashy ground. Ahhh its too much! Make it stop! Stop? I can't stop... I will not stop... In a frenzy everything came back to me at once. My stay here, my pushing myself past my limits, my fight and blowing the gates of Tartarus wide open. My only reason left for living... HER Getting the convulsions under control I slowly creaked my eyes open. The sulfuric and ashy air stung them as I looked once more at this twisted hellscape. The pain made it hard to think about what I was looking at but my mantra helped steady myself. I barely even recognized the area around me. In the distance were the twisted and shattered hulks of the gates. A glowing portal hovering in the air. Most of the volcanoes nearby it were completely leveled, blasted away by my spell. The ground no longer was dotted with lava pools, instead it was like it was swept clean. Black and glossy the ground seemed to be made of glass. Looking straight at the portal that sat where the gates used to be I suddenly remembered when I was brought here by that white monster, her blue sister and that purple freak. They all left me here for eternity and now they're all going to PAY! I tried to get up but my legs refused to listen to me, my whole body was tense from the pain. Curled up in the fetal position and tense like a wound up spring I tried to get up but my body wouldn't listen to me. Screw that, if it won't listen to me I'll just just force myself. Gasping in pain and screaming from the effort, I slowly uncurled myself. It felt like every bone was broken and the very air itself brushed up against my exposed burns like a million razors. I even felt my scalp scrape and burn against the air and I realized with a start that my mane was burned off from blasting open the gates. Yet again I added another layer of mental reinforcement to not black out. You've got this, this pain is nothing. Just ignore it, turn that part of your brain off. You can't stop now that you're so close. I'm not going to stop. Redoubling my efforts and focusing only on my mantra to the exclusion of all else I slowly got to my hooves. I could feel in a detached sort of way my bones flex and scrape against each other. Don't think about it. If you don't acknowledge the pain its not real. None of this is real, not compared to killing her. Ignoring the pain got easier with every shaky step I took. Even though my breath came ragged and wet and I occasionally coughed up blood that didn't matter. All that mattered was getting through that portal and killing her. Another step. Its easier to ignore now. Another step. I felt myself cough up blood and as I spat it on the ground I remembered that doesn't matter so I forgot about it instantly. Another step, don't stop. More steps, almost there. Can't stop. Stumbling on a piece of the shattered gate I realized suddenly that I had been so focused on ignoring everything around me that I had made it to the gate, my agonizing and slow walk here was just a blur in my shattered mind. Seeing the portal so close I tilted my head back to look at it. the back of my neck cracking and bleeding because it was so dry and raw from the effort. Looking up I saw it was at least as tall as the gates themselves had been but luckily it was just a small hop off the ground. I don't think I have enough magic left to levitate if I needed to. Am I forgetting something? No I thought as I shook my bald and raw head. That doesn't matter, only she matters. With a quick hop I jumped through the portal and back into Equestria. In an instant I was on soft dirt at the top of a mountain surrounded by trees, the clear air tasted sweet on my tongue and the bright cheery sky seemed totally foreign to me after being in hell so long. I barely had a moment to look around and enjoy the sweet serenity of this place before spotting the gleaming golden armor of a lot of ponies standing nearby before dark and terrible pain wracked my body. The curse keeping me alive in Tartarus didn't apply here. OH SHIT! That was the only thought that went through my mind before every muscle in my entire body twisted up like a knot, the effects of all that training and pushing myself catching up all at once. The strength of them twisting and convulsing cracked all of my bones even more than they already were and quite a few, especially those in my legs just totally shattered. Falling into a little ball I opened my mouth and screamed harder than I ever had before, a panicked and terrifying noise in my head but all I could hear was a low moan and gurgling from my torn throat. My stomach shriveled up and twisted like a tightly wound coil and I could feel every ounce of energy leaving me at once as the after effects of not eating for years caught up to me. Everything hurt, even my soul hurt as I just curled up and tried to scream, my thoughts a scattered mess as I just sat there and didn't think, I just felt. Every fiber, every nerve felt like it was on fire and being scraped away at the same time. I couldn't even feel the dirt sticking to my burns and the ground grating against my raw skin, my body was literally trying to kill itself and I just lay there like a little foal and endured it. I could feel myself blacking out and dying, no amount of willpower would save me this time. Even though I was screaming and convulsing and tensed up more than I had ever been, I started crying. Nothing came out of course. My parched body had run out of water a long time ago but I was still crying. Why? This isn't fair! I thought as I felt myself slipping away, shaking and convulsing at the same time. I tried so hard, I was so focused, I did everything possible but it wasn't enough. I'm going to die here pitifully and without even getting to have a chance at killing her. Why me? Feeling my body relaxing I finally couldn't think anymore and everything faded away like sand in between my hooves. Chapter FiveVery slowly I felt myself return to consciousness. A soft and warm light pierced itself through my eyelids making me squint and moan. Wait I could actually hear that! My voice is back! Although I didn't need to talk to anyone it was still nice to talk to myself if i needed to. Wait... I was dying wasn't I? In a panic I opened my unbandaged eye and saw that I was in what appeared to be a hospital room, Bandaged from head to hoof it was hard to move around, but I could rip through them quickly enough if I needed to. I don't think this is the afterlife. Hell would be more familiar and this isn't it. Why didn't I die? Whats going on here? I heard the door open and saw a pretty mare came in through the door to my room. Her light brown coat reminded me of the soft dirt that I saw right after getting through the portal. As she came in through the door I didn't see any guards outside but that didn't mean they weren't there. I don't have the luxury of assuming anything. Watching her every move she finally looked up from her clipboard and locked eyes with me. With a small "EEP!" she turned around and bolted through the door. Not good, I need to be ready for anything. Putting my hooves on the bed while still laying down I tensed myself, ready to leap out and kill anypony that could alert HER that I was coming... what was her name again? I tensely waited, and waited a bit more. Seeing the door open I got ready until I saw a white maned old stallion enter so I began to relax until I saw a soldier walk in behind him and stand next to the door. I locked my eye on the soldier while I watched the doctor out of my periphery. The doctor noticed where I was watching and with a warm chuckle he waved his hoof in front of my face, I almost jumped and killed him on the spot out of reflex but I needed him alive for now... I've come too far to relax now. "Don't be alarmed, we're just here to ask a few questions since there is a few things we're not quite sure about." I didn't say anything yet, I just kept a very close eye on the soldier. With a sigh the doctor sat down in a stool next to my bed. His body almost blocked my view of the guard but he didn't seem to notice as he nonchalantly looked down at his clipboard. "I promise everything is going to be fine, we just need to figure out what happened over there exactly and who you are. In fact let's start with that. Because you were so badly burnt and scarred we haven't been able to identify you, granted not many ponies have been sent over there but there's still a handful. Can you tell us your name?" Wait they don't know who I am yet? This could work to my advantage. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know but first, this is really important to me... where am I?" My voice cracked, as dry and lifeless as the desert where SHE threw me into. The soldier watched me watch him as the doctor scratched his muzzle for a bit in thought. After a minute he shrugged and said "Sure, what could be the harm? You're in the Canterlot Royal Hospital, right behind the castle with Celestia and-" That was as far as he got before I remembered her name. My blood instantly warmed up to a comfortable boil and my eye saw a familiar red. I uncoiled my limbs, thrusting myself out of bed with lightning speed as I decapitated the doctor. Still flying through the air I punched the guard in the helmet. Surprisingly their helmet caved in quite easily and I accidentally blew them through the wall. Through the hole I just made I could see the shock on everyponies faces outside my room. They were too stunned to even scream yet but that would definitely start soon, I needed to hurry. Turning around I saw the doctor lying in a rapidly growing pool of blood on the floor, his stool throw against one wall and his hoof still on his clipboard. I had unfinished business with him... Stomping his lifeless corpse over and over to punctuate every word I screeched at him, "DO!" smack "NOT!" squelch "SAY!" slosh "HER!" crunch "NAME!" His body was becoming a red paste on the floor, bones and blood and coat all mixing together into a grisly mess. Satisfied that he got the message I turned around to head out the door. I am so close now, just a little further. Cant stop... I barely even noticed the screams and the ponies bolting away from me in all directions, they weren't important... nopony is important... only one thing is important. In a haze I stumbled through the hospital, where was the way out? I need to get to her. She needs to die. Where is she! Looking over I saw a nurse cowering in the corner, trembling in fear... She'll do. Dashing over in less than the blink of an eye I grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up. Bringing her muzzle right against mine I slowly and politely asked, "Where... is... the... exit?" My throat seemed to tear again, making talking difficult and filling my mouth with blood. I felt a bit dribble out which I promptly ignored and I heard a light splashing sound. Looking down I saw that the terrified mare was pissing herself, it was flowing down her leg and making a small puddle on the floor. Rolling my eye I ripped off the bandage on my other eye and glared at the mare who was gaping for breath. Staring her down with my one good eye and my bloodshot other eye I impatiently yelled "WHERE?" and threw the mare on the ground. Gasping for air and choking on her own sobs the mare pitifully pointed to a door on my right. With a snort of disgust I turned around a bucked her into the wall. A loud wet crack registered in my ears but I ignored it. I now knew the way out and soon I would find her. I'm so close now, too close to stop or hesitate. So close... Seeing a set of double doors I shouldered them opened and squinted at the sudden brightness of the sun. Looking up at the constant reminder I entertained the thought that this would be the last day it shines its smothering light. Her time is close... so close now... Looking up again I saw the castle's back wall and memories started to flood in, back when I was that bitch's student. NO I shook my head violently, I cant slow down now. I won't be stopped! Clearing my head I saw a dozen guards running towards me, surrounding me they lowered their spears and pointed them at me. Such a pitiful reception almost made me want to laugh. I might have if it wasn't so pathetic... they wont even slow me down. Looking back up at the castle I saw a set of large windows a good hundred meters or so up the side of the smooth granite wall, the throne room! SHE must be there! Without even a second though I crouched down and jumped with a good bit of my strength. The explosive leap brought me right to it and with a loud crash I burst through the window and into the throne room. Looking around I saw a regal figure on the throne, white and glaring as the sun. THERE SHE IS! Her shocked face filled my mind, leaving no room for anything else as I landed on all fours to face her, blood dripping down on the red carpet from my numerous cuts from the window. Quick! before she can react! No time for plans I coiled up all my limbs... my eternity of training better pay off. I blitzed at her with everything I had, my legs shrieked in pain and my hooves cracked open. Instantly I got within reach and with a scream so loud my voice broke again I hit her with everything I had. I'm finally doing it! I smiled to myself. AHHHHHHHHHH The pain almost made me black out, she was tougher than even stone! My entire left foreleg crumpled into a broken mess, out of the corner of my eye I saw bones sticking out in all directions like a pincushion. Blood gushed out from all over it. I involuntarily moaned in pain and from the intense feeling of agony I found my old self again. Cant stop... Won't stop... So close... CELESTIA! Looking at the stunned look on her face I saw the bloody hoofprint on her shoulder from my punch earlier. there was no dent, no blood other than mine and that showed how little effect my punch had. Cold shock mixed itself with the pain and agony, can I do this? Is it even possible? NO! I HAVE to! I will NOT fail! With a wet, spluttery growl I swung at her face with my right hoof with everything I had again. I wont give in, I wont stop! Her stunned look was replaced with determination as the Bitch put up a shield, its thick impenetrable golden glow pushing me back a bit. It lasted for just a moment though as my hoof hammered against it. Breaking both my hoof and her shield I gasped in pain again as the shield shattered around me. I barely even registered the pain though, it wouldnt even make me hesitate. An opening! I filled up my horn with magic, desperately filling it as fast with magic and I could and I reinforced my left foreleg as much as I could. Spinning around I turned my back to her and jammed a bone sticking out of my elbow as deep in her eye as I could. A impossibly loud and terrible shriek echoed through the throne room as all the windows shattered. Before I could turn around to face her I felt a dense and powerful magic push shove me away from the throne. Sailing through the air I had a split second to react before I hit the wall. Spinning around to get a look at the damage I had done I saw her face. One of her eyes was a ruined mess, tears and blood spilling down her face while she twisted and screamed in agony. Then I hit the wall... A loud and ominous crack filled the air as my back hit the wall with enough force to crack it. No matter though, I didn't feel any pain, I am above that. Struggling to get up and finish this I realized nothing was happening, I still was laying on the ground in a crumpled heap. Oh no! Did my spine break? GET UP! I heaved with all my strength against the ground but nothing happened again. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit SHIT! I moaned as I tried again and again but nothing happened. Panic gripped my mind, drowning me in hopelessness as I tried again and again to get up. I WONT stop! I REFUSE to give in. This can't be how this ends... IT CANT! Looking up I saw that she had stopped screaming and was walking over to me slowly. For the first time in forever my hate was replaced with something else in my mind, something more primal and totally alien to me.... terror. Every step solidly placed on the ground, every clank from her regalia striking the granite... it was the most terrifying thing I had ever witnessed. Her eye blazed like the sun, just like that sun that had watched me in Tartarus all those years. That sun reminded me of my rage, all my hate that had sustained me. It reminds me of all that work I put in, all that effort. NO! I won't let it end like this! Just as quickly as terror had filled my mind it was replaced with desperation. SHE has to die, I can't die. I won't die. I won't... no please, please. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DIE! With my horn I lifted myself like a bloody and broken puppet and threw myself as fast as I could at her. A look of horror spread itself across her face as I flew through the air. She raised her hooves to defend herself and with a loud splat I smacked myself against the bottom of her hooves. Even though I couldn't feel anything anymore I saw one of my forelegs continue flying across the throne room and land near the throne, leaving a trail of blood across the pristine floor. Looking down I saw that her hooves had gone entirely through one of my shoulders and the other through my chest. Her white coat was turning red from blood... my blood. Am I going to die? I cant die... not yet... I can't feel pain, ah my old friend where have you gone? I cant feel my strength... my last ditch attack is worthless. No... just no... Its not fair... Still stuck on her hoof I weakly tried to push my horn through her bloody eye, just have to pierce the brain and she'll be dead. She turned her head away in disgust, deterring my feeble attempts. Throwing me off of her with a loud squelch I saw contempt mixed with horror now on her face. Standing still she watched me bleed out on the floor. Blackness started to creep into the edges of my vision as my thoughts slowed. Please no.... not till I've finished this... Putting the last dregs of my magic into my horn I slowly dragged my body across the floor towards her. I can't stop... not now... I can't.... My vision was consumed by black and I felt the last of my magic sputter out and die. Please... ... ... ... Celestia Epilogue"Princess Celestia? The scouts are scheduled to return from the gate shortly, if you want to see them right away please make sure to be ready to go by chariot within the hour. As soon as we have word of their safe return we'll head over there right away." The sudden noise of one of her faithful guards jerked me out of my contemplation as I looked up to see blue maned and golden clad stallion. I don't know when they started to all dye their manes like that so they all looked the same but I never had the heart to tell them how silly it was. With a warm smile of amusement I nodded and replied with all the regality of the ruler of Equestria. "Of course my beloved Sunspark, I shall be ready to go at any time. Please have the carriage prepared and inform me the moment you know they are back." Seeing him nod but hesitate I added "Do not forget to close the door on your way, I have much to think about and would appreciate a lack of distraction." He sheepishly nodded and left, being careful to quietly close the door on his way out. I don't blame him for not wanting to leave me alone. These are troubled times and the throne room has not been absent from guards or courtiers for nearly an age. I shifted my body on my throne a bit to ease the pinching of my regalia and slowly slumped back into the train of thought that had been going around in circles in my mind since that time a week ago. The sudden news that the black gates had been blown open shocked me to my very core. It should have been impossible for them to be opened from the other side, yet it happened nonetheless. I immediately sent the entire Equestrian Expeditionary Corps out to guard the entrance but nothing happened for a whole day until a single pony stumbled out and almost died right there, covered in blood. That surprised me the most, out of everything I put in there the last thing I expected to come out was a pony, maybe TIrek or something but not a pony. The reports I got were mildly disturbing as well, they had rushed her to the closest hospital where they magically induced a trauma coma and then shipped her to Canterlot Hospital. The doctors there were bewildered by what they discovered during her time there over the last week. Apparently she had .001% body fat in total... way less than the survivable norm but because of the mass of muscle she had she looked perfectly normal and also her stomach was almost nonexistent, the organ had quite literally devoured itself. Her throat was also torn completely and a numerous host of other internal organ issues that just baffled them. They couldn't figure out what the cause was and while I wanted to, I couldn't tell them about the conditions in Tartarus, it was one of my darker secrets. Nopony should be allowed to find that out. I wish I knew who this mysterious mare is though. All they could determine was that she was, as the head physician said, "The most ripped mare of a unicorn I had ever seen." I felt myself smiling at the memory of almost spitting out my morning coffee over that report. The smile quickly faded though, as the report went on to say that since the mare's body had been so thoroughly burnt there was no cutie mark to identify them. They were hoping to get some answers after she had woken up but the wait was driving me up the wall. Which one is this? I haven't thrown many ponies in there over the years but since I wasn't allowed to see the one I could not be sure who it was, I'm sure though that I would recognize them if i just saw them but the Royal Guard had been quite insistent on this, fearing for my life, and so I was stuck sitting and brooding until the doctors found out for me. A loud crash startled me and I looked over to see a white bald pony sail in through one of the windows... wait not they're not bald or white! My shocked mind struggled to process this all at once, it was a heavily bandaged unicorn... The one from Tartarus! They looked so hurt, so beat up. Why are they here? Bandages trailed around everywhere and blood dripped from a dozen different cuts onto my carpet. I locked eyes with this poor soul and nearly fell out of my throne. Never once in my long long life had I ever seen such raw hate, such fire and rage as I do now. I couldn't think, couldn't move as I bore witness to such baleful hate. It scared me down to my core and I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time... terror. I could not look away from those eyes, I barely even noticed her predatory smile above her blazing aquamarine eyes, one red as the blood on the carpet. Wait... her eyes... Sunset Shimmer? That name was all I had time to think about before she teleported over to me and with a scream fit for a banshee she hit me on my shoulder with enough force to dislocate my foreleg. I grimaced in pain as I heard a sickening crunch and a cascade of cracking sounds. I glanced down and saw that she had literally hit me so hard her entire leg had crumpled into a pulp and there were at least a dozen or more bones sticking out in all sorts of places. The sight almost made me pass out and as I closed my eyes a thought came to me, she didn't teleport to me that was her own raw strength! Oh Sunset... what did you do? A moan snapped me back into the moment and as I opened my eyes and I could see her eyes almost rolling into the back of her head from the pain. A perverse thought came into my head... Was she enjoying this? Before I could even think I saw her glance up at me and then quickly look at my shoulder. A wave of anger crossed her face already twisted with rage and I could clearly see that she was upset that her blow just a moment ago didn't do more. Is she trying to kill me? No I won't let her! My ponies needed me, Equestria needs me and I won't leave them in the hands of this monster! With a look of determination I saw her rear back to try and hit me in the face but this I wasn't going to be hit a second time. I quickly conjured the toughest shield I thought of first and at the same time from behind its protective shell I locked the throne room door. Nopony in the guards could even hope to stand up to her. With that kind of strength a normal pony would have been punched right through if she hit them. They didn't stand a chance. I heard the most demonic blood spewing growl I had ever heard as Sunset hit my shield with a terrifyingly huge blow. Shattering it in one hit and splitting her other hoof right up the middle. As I saw the shards of my shield fall around me I looked up at her insane, triumphant face and I could swear I saw my own terrified look reflected from her eyes. How in Equestria is she this STRONG?!? My shield should have been able to indefinitely hold off a dragon? How is this possible??? Before I could react I saw her fire up her horn and I braced myself for the oncoming magical attack but it never came? I opened my eyes just in time to see her destroyed left leg, encased in magic swing at my face and I felt one of her bones ram itself deep into my eye. AUGHHHHHHHHH! Pain, more than I had ever felt before in my life suddenly filled my mind and made me shriek hard enough to shatter all the windows in the throne room. I writhed in pain as it consumed every fiber of my psyche. I can't see, I can't see! Panic and shock flooded my bones as I shrieked and clutched my eye. In a panic I pushed hard in every direction with my magic. I need to get her off of me! Feeling the bone slide itself out of my eye was both the now second most painful thing I had ever felt and the most disturbing. Who even fights like that! It's insane and so self destructive! It's like she doesn't care if she makes it out of here alive! With the bone out of my eye I doubled over in agony, clutching my face as I turned to face the madmare. Opening my good eye I saw her flying face first to the other end of the throne room, she twisted in mid air to get a look at me and I saw a bloody smirk cover her face right as she hit the wall square on her back... hard. I heard a loud crack even from way over here. I nearly blacked out right then from the intense waves throbbing throughout my entire body as I continued to scream but I barely managed to keep my eye open as I saw her lifelessly slump to the ground and struggle to get up. Did I just break her back and paralyze her? Looking at the panicked look on her face I think that's what just happened. Good If that's the case then she will never be a threat to Equestria again, what can she do if she can't even walk? Slowly collecting myself, I used my magic to dull the pain in my eye as I slowly and shakily stood up. As I looked around I snorted a glob of blood that had run down my eye into my nose and noticed the blood splattered all over the throne and myself, large pools of it covered the floor... her blood. I shook my head, stay in the moment Celestia! As I got off the throne and slowly started to walk over to her, I barely kept my body from slumping over. I had to keep it slow and deliberate, I wouldn't let her see me crawl over to her. As I slowly made my way over to her I couldn't help but think... did I do this? I thought I was just doing what was right for Equestria, I thought she would just die or find somewhere to hide and mope for eternity. What kind of ruler am I if I can inspire this one little pony to go to such lengths just to kill me? She was my precious student once! How could I go so wrong? I felt anger well up in me at myself, why does this always happen to me. Noticing a glow I stopped to look at her and I saw she had lit up her horn and picked up her own body like some sick ponies idea of a puppet. Blood and bones were everywhere, streaming down both of her ruined legs as she hung lifelessly in the air for a moment, her eyes bright and full of fire as she contemptuously stared at me with those terror inducing eyes as I could only look back. What is she trying to do? Without a sound she flung her body at me as fast as a blink, seeing her literally fling herself at me I yelled in horror and raised my hooves to protect my face, it was the only thing I could think of doing with this macabre assault. The sight of this bloody and grinning maniac made me close my eye in fear and brace myself. With a shudder I felt my hooves sink into something soft and I heard the most disturbing squelching sound I had ever heard. Opening my eye I saw that she had flung herself at me with enough force to totally push one of my hooves through her shoulder, ripping that limb entirely off while my other hoof was buried deep in her chest. The stench of blood and antiseptic filled my nose and with a small whimper I looked up and saw her eyes had lost some of their intensity... How is she even still alive right now? Oh gods oh gods shes still trying to kill me even like this! I saw her weakly try to pull herself further down my hoof and I could tell she was trying to stab me in the already ruined eye with her horn. I turned my head away as I almost threw up from the sight of this struggling bloody mess of a mare. In disgust I pushed her away and off of me before . With a loud splat she flew off and onto the floor nearby, a bloody and pulpy mess. She was still staring at me though, with seemingly no regard to herself she just kept staring at me... Why? Why do you hate me so much? You would have done the same thing if our places were swapped! I rationalized to myself. I watched her lying there, bleeding out and sure to be dead any moment now as my thoughts raced out of control. How did it come to this? I just sent you to Tartarus because you were going to destroy Equestria! What was I supposed to do? How did I go so wrong with my own student? Did I create this? I mentally gestured to the ruined lump that used to be Sunset on the ground. I must have. My face sagged in horror as I realized that there is no way she was born like this, ponies aren't born monsters... they're made into monsters and I am responsible for this... I saw her eyes slowly start to droop like she was going to sleep. Is she going to die? I watched with terror as her horn feebly light up as she slowly dragged her body across the floor, leaving a long and wide trail of blood across the floor. She's on death's doorstep and she's still trying to kill me? How consumed can a pony get? I felt myself unconsciously take a step or two back from the sheer willpower of her coming after me. Getting close to my leg her magic finally died out and her body finally went still. Even in death her eyes never left me, her lifeless eyes, framed by a face twisted in desperation and rage. She would never stop looking at me. Slumping down to the ground and clutching my ruined eye I couldn't look away from that face, it would haunt my nightmares for a long time now but this nightmare is over. With a loud crash almost startling myself out of my own body I saw the throne room door bang open and a dozen guards rush inside. Looking around for just a moment at the carnage they all started to rush over to protect me. "I am fine and the threat is no more, leave me!" I declared loudly at the guards. They stopped but didn't leave. Obviously torn between their duty to protect me and their duty to follow my orders. No I don't want them to see me like this, I want to weep but cannot. Please just go away, leave me alone. Just go... Just "GO!" I yelled at them with the Royal Canterlot Voice, I only used this when the need arises and now was definitely the time. I watched them jump up a bit at the sudden increase of volume and scramble out and close the door behind them. With a sigh I looked around somberly at all of Sunset's blood coating the throne room. Looking back at her I could only feel regret, how could I not? Staring into those lifeless hate filled eyes I was full of regret at myself. I pushed her to this, I screwed up... I'm not fit to be a teacher of anypony much less a ruler. What was going through her head all those years in Tartarus? I felt new pain as tears streaked down my face and the salt aggravated my wounded eye. With a sniffle I scooted closer to the lifeless corpse of my once beloved student. Trying not to look at her face I reached over and gently closed her eyes as the tears flowed even harder. Gods why? Why? The tears came harder now, with choking gasps I couldn't hold it back anymore as I wept over my student, so broken and so full of hate. I did this. It was me. I was too hard on her, I lied and didn't trust her. I pushed her away and I made her life a living hell. I thought I learned my lesson with Luna but I apparently didn't learn anything at all. This is the same as back then. It must have all started when she was my student, I drove her to anger and in my embarrassment I banished her through the portal. I even made Twilight clean up my mess because I was too ashamed of myself to see her. Why didn't I just trust the poor filly for once? In hindsight she was just trying to impress me and she was as against friendship as Twilight once was. Why didn't I just admit I was wrong? In my stubborn pride I just sent her somewhere I would never have to hear about her again. They should call me the Princess of Folly, or the Princess of Pride. I should send myself to Tartarus because I would be just at home with the rest of the things I threw in there just to forget about it. That's what Tartarus really is... it's just my dumping ground for me to abandon things that I'm too proud to face. Too proud to admit I'm not the Goddess they say I am, too proud to be wrong for once. Why do I push those around me to the brink of madness? What is wrong with me? I'm not worthy to be called Princess, I'm not worthy to even be anyponies friend. I can't anymore, I just can't. I'm going to close off the school, I won't teach anypony else, I infect and destroy everypony I get close to. I can't even let myself even try anymore. "Oh Sunset, I am so so sorry." I mumbled, as if that would help anything now and all thoughts left me as I wept and shook in pain over the body of my once student and the last reminder of what happens when I get close to anypony. "Sunset." Author's Note If you've made it this far thank you for reading! I always wanted to try for a revenge fic and this was also a little experiment I wanted to do to see how deep I could go into first person perspective, down to the tunnel vision we all get when obsessed with something. It was honestly one of the harder things I've written, getting into the head of Sunset and trying to get that feel of losing your mind as you obsess over a goal to the exclusion of all else but I'm glad I did it. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it!
Chapter OneThey wronged me, they banished me, defeated me and also dragged me back from banishment to send me to Tartarus. Just because I wanted to show them what I could really do. Just because I went against the grain. That white bitch called me cruel, if by cruel she means where I decided magical prowess was better than friendship then yes I am cruel. She called me dishonest, just because I wanted to surprise her with my growth and lied about what I was doing. She kicked me out of her school and later I come to find out that she is not only cruel and dishonest but also a hypocrite. She never cared about me making friends, she just wanted me to get some companions so I could weaponize the Elements against her sister. She thought nothing of banishing an eighteen year old to another dimension just because I didn't fit into her perfect little plan... if that isn't cruel then I don't know what is. I wasn't idle in that other world either, no. I plotted and planned and worked tirelessly to exact my revenge. I would get an army and rebel against this sick joke of a country. This whole world is nothing but a flimsy facade and I will bring it down to its knees if only for the sake of seeing that proud white bitch show everypony the monster she truly is. Not only her but her naive student Twilight, meekly following in her masters shadow and even being able to use that overpowered magic of friendship. It may be extremely powerful, more powerful than me in demon form but I would rather die a thousand deaths than rely so heavily on others like that. Her and those ignoramus... brainless dolts that she calls friends had to ruin it all for me. All my hard work, and risks and sacrifices all for nothing because they followed her and she followed her. They couldn't even let me lose in peace, they had to come and drag me kicking and screaming all the way back to Equestria and then send me to Tartarus. I swear on every lie and cruelty they caused I will get my revenge. I will get stronger, my hate will fuel me and this time I will work alone. When I break out of Tartarus I will be a one pony army. I will burn down their precious way of life and I will sit atop the ashes of their fake land and laugh at the finality of it all before I can finally die. I ground my teeth. Hard. The pain of them gnashing and pushing each other, threatening to crack immediately sharpened my mind. Fueling my drive to destroy Equestria again in my head, I shook it, limp mane swirling around me as I thought about more pressing matters with a grim look on my scarred face. Since being exiled to Tartarus I’ve been constantly on the run for my life. Tirek in his quest to get powerful enough to break out of Tartarus and rule the world, had been chasing sources of magic all throughout this blasted hellscape and draining them to get stronger. The moment I was teleported inside the main gates, their impregnable black iron twisting high and covered with magic to disallow any creature to open them to access the portal back to Equestria… Tirek had attacked me. It was through sheer luck and terror that I got away from him. Chain casting teleport to get away from him, faster and more often than I had ever cast it before. I teleported as far away from that monster as my magic would allow me and with my eyes white from my pathetic weakness, the blood pounding in my ears. I almost collapsed from the adrenaline alone, I then found a cave and collapsed in it. Since then I have learned a lot about Tirek and Tartarus. For one it seems like time goes more slowly here, there’s no day or night, just that glaring and oppressive sun. It both serves to weaken the spirits of every creature and also reminds us who sent us. For me its a reminder that I can't ever give up, or give in. Luckily enough I can't die, at least not from natural causes. There's no food or water but no matter how much my lips get cracked and my throat tears from thirst, no matter how much my stomach feels like it will devour me from the inside I wont die of hunger or thirst. No the only way for me to die is if I am killed, and the strongest being down here has it out for me. Tirek is craving my strong magic more than anything else down here. Him and his minions hunt for me constantly, I can't stay still for more than one day or they will find me. Sunset smirked, feeling the action to cause my lips to crack and my gums to start bleeding, displaying a perverse smile that would have sent any normal pony screaming in fright. Just wait till I turn the tables on them and pulverize every thing down here into a smear on the ground. I grinned even more now, finding a fleeting thought funny. Maybe I’ll make a lake from their blood, the first ever lake in Tartarus and I’ll call it Shimmer lake. That's a fantastic idea if I say so myself. Enough about the future, I need to focus on the present or I won't last much longer. As I stiffly get up, my joints protest almost audibly. Cracking and sending spikes of pain to my mind... I can ignore that. Such a little amount of pain was nothing compared to the hunger and the sun. That damnable sun. Stepping out of the cave, my only solace from the waves of heat beating down on me and almost forcing myself down on the ground from the sheer weight of it all, I habitually scanned the horizon for anything alive. If it was alive, it was my enemy, it was one of them. Magically enhancing my vision, I scoped out the blistering and cracked plains around me. Tartarus had two main environments, a scalding desert devoid of sand. The heat from the sun and the cracked ground were my only companions. Not that I needed any but other than the odd rock formation that would sometimes have a cave that would give me a moment away from her sun, there was nothing but endless and endless stretches of dry and cracked ground. The other thing Tartarus environment wise it had was near the entrance. Nothing but volcanoes with the odd river or pool of lava. I guess the idea when the princesses made this place was that if you made it past the certain death at the entrance, the only thing left was an endless lack of anything meant to break the spirit and decay the mind. Not seeing anything I turned my attention to the ground, checked the mark I made on it before napping in the cave, indicating where to keep going. With the sun permanently at its zenith and no real landmarks or stars it could be tricky to avoid going in circles. It took a constant mental trick to walk in a perfectly straight line. Starting off at a trot I felt my blood starting to pump more, loosening my joints. Quickly though it was time and I started galloping in the opposite direction from the entrance of this hell. I knew nothing was close by me right now from when I last checked but I needed to get more distance between me and the horde on my trail. Running had more of a reason than just getting distance. I needed to get stronger, not just magically but physically as well. Stronger and tougher for the fight to come. Remembering one of the few accidental nuggets of real wisdom I learned back at that monsters school, Sunset took a trip down memory lane for a moment while running. The amount of magic unicorns could use was dependant on a few things. Genetics was one of them, a unicorn from a family of spellcasters would probably innately have more magic than the average one. Another one was luck, sometimes unicorns got lucky and just had a talent for magic. Lastly was physical traits, a unicorn who is stronger would have a bigger magic pool to draw from, that and the more magic they used the more they could use. It was like its own muscle and just like any muscle, the better shape the body was in the stronger it could get. Alicorns with their immortal bodies and magic of the three races had the most of course and could do impressive feats using brute strength alone. With the curse here of not being able to die and also a nearly unlimited amount of time. I have plenty of time to build up my strength and on my own get stronger and more powerful. One day I will would be more powerful than even that bitch and her sister. More powerful than the elements of harmony and the magic of friendship. One day. Getting into the groove of running it was finally time to start working on using my magic too. Using a sloppy and inefficient spell to make a stopwatch hover in front of me I counted the minutes and poured more magic than I should need to keep this wasteful spell running. After all… the more magic I use in general the more I’ll increase my pool. Reality soon made it hard to think straight though as I focus on my pain, becoming better acquainted with it than any other being. The pounding of my hooves beneath me jolts and jars my tired and stiff body, hurting every step of the way. The thick calluses on the bottom of my hooves help but don't entirely block the heat coming from the ground. The pounding waves of the sun above me, feeling like a living thing trying to push me into the ground. My body is beginning to heat up to intolerable levels since I used up all my water to make sweat long ago, so long ago. My throat is so dry I’ve forgotten the taste of water and my stomach so shrivelled I could swear from the pain it would normally be trying to eat me from the inside out. I guess it feels like a strong fever and starving to death, except that the cause is everything around me. I couldn’t imagine a better training regime, I thought as I grinned again. The motion of my lips moving cracked them again and a little blood seeped out. I ignored that, it happens all the time. As my timer wore on and my daily exertion continued, I could think of nothing else but my hatred of the Sisters, of the Princess of Friendship, of Tirek and his horde, and my never ending pain.. The hate keeps me going, the pain keeps me sharp, these keep me pushing myself, keeps me from ever giving up or giving in. My previous record for running while keeping this magic clock up is nineteen hours and fifty minutes. Considering I’m improving about five to ten minutes a session, days no longer applied to me. I should be able to hit twenty hours of constant exertion before needing to teleport a little further and find a spot to relax in. God it's frustrating! I want to push myself to the absolute limit every time so I can improve faster but I must always keep a little held back in case Tirek shows up while I’m recovering. During my time in the human world when I heard about god, I thought it was stupid but harmless, worshipping a being no one had ever seen but now I’m just happy to have something other than her to swear at. A feeling of dizziness hits me at about the twenty hour, ten minute mark. Quickly teleporting as far forward as I dare. I pop out and see nothing around me, no caves and nothing but the cracked, blistering ground as far as the eye could see. My legs are starting to get wobbly, I started to get worried. I need to get to shelter soon. Not seeing any alternative a hole would have to suffice, it wouldn't be the first time. Lighting up my horn I pushed the ground down and sideways in front of me, effortlessly making a pony sized hole in the ground to crawl into. Scratching a mark on the ground to point the way when I wake up, I wormed my way into the hole. Not wanting to make it any larger than it had to be to keep it hidden I wedged myself in it backwards until I was in the shade. The air was hot, stifling and overbearing but at least I can sleep when I know that she isn't right above me. Setting a quick and easy creature detection alarm spell I quickly drifted off to sleep.
Chapter TwoWith a jolt I woke up, it wasn’t a bad dream. Not that I had any, real life was worse than any nightmare. No... something woke me up. THE ALARM! Coming fully to my senses in an instant I turned off the silent alarm set to shock me with enough of a jolt to wake up even a hibernating Ursa Minor. Wriggling out of the hole I dug earlier I poked my head out and scanned the horizon… there! Coming into view, obscured slightly by the haze caused by the unbearable sun I saw a lone figure racing in this direction. I cast a quick scope enhancement on my eyes, a headache already starting to form from the heat. A timberwolf was pounding my way. A scout then. Granted that’s all I run into this far out are scouts. Tirek can’t afford to chase me all the way out here with the bulk of his forces. Once he discovers where I am though that is a totally different story. Quickly bringing up in my head what I know about timberwolves in my head I remember a few things. First off they can’t be eaten. Another wave of shock and pain from my stomach reminds me that while I can’t die it can still hurt like a bitch to not have eaten in probably a week. They also still have a fantastic sense of smell, probably explains why they are in the scout wave. It won’t lose me so that leaves one option. I have to kill it. First I’m going to wait till it gets a little closer. From the previous ones I’ve killed they are starting to go back once they make sure it’s me they are smelling but won’t try to bring me back by themselves. By themselves alone at least. Once its in teleport range though that is another story entirely My head pounding, my stomach shrieking, add that to the fact that I haven’t finished resting fully from my last exertion… I’m in no condition to fight this if it’s a trap. Focus on the breathing. Labored as it may be I need to calm it just a little. In and out, in and out. Don’t get too excited by the prospect of a kill. Remember Sunset, you are a professional so act like it. Its stopped, sniffing a little back and with a howl it turns around and starts running back. That's as much of a head start as I’m going to get. Channeling magic into my horn I quickly teleport once and then once again immediately after. Chain teleporting right next to it as it was running away. The sudden pop makes its head turn to face me and for a split second, I could swear I saw fear in its emotionless yellow eyes. Barely giving it time to react I channel magic into my horn again and blast it in the side with a wave of air. Knocking it off to the side and on its back. Jumping on top of it and immediately cutting off all four limbs with the oh so precise cutting magic I’ve gotten so good at... Good it's not going anywhere. Straddling the creature I press an arm into its throat, cutting off any pathetic whimpering that it was no doubt about to do. Pressing my face into its I open my mouth and breathed foul smelling air, full of sickness and disease onto its face, its eyes start shifting faster. Good I want it to be scared for this next part. Speaking for the first time in a good few days I raggedly whisper. “You interrupted my nap, my only time away from this sun. This sun that has caused me so much pain and anguish. her sun. Now I’m going to make you feel just a little bit of it, mostly because its fun... Oh don’t worry, this will hurt quite a lot.” I smiled, the action making me feel that my lips cracked in ten different spots again. Not wanting to waste any more magic than I needed to. I decided on the spot to do this the old fashioned way. Punching it hard in the throat I pirouetted more graceful and deadly than any ballerina could on my front hoof and stomped with my hind leg on its face. Now I’m no earth pony but I would say I’ve been working out so much just to survive that I could beat any of them in a strength contest. Also incidentally these creatures face can’t beat me in a contest of strength either. Keeping one front hoof squarely on its throat and another on its chest to keep it from rolling over or squirming too much. I kept stomping on its face. This ones for that bitch, this ones for her sister. This ones for Twilight and THIS one is for all her stupid friends! The last one I decided to put a little extra effort into and I felt it go all the way through and into the ground, marking the final blow and also giving me a hell of a lot of splinters. Too bad that its made of wood so there’s no satisfying squish but it'll do. I turned around and stood atop its spasming flimsy, brittle corpse. With contempt I tried to spit on it but nothing came out. “Fuck you, one day I’ll start running the other direction and you will all die with terror.” I felt myself whisper, my throat still too dry to have anything louder come out. Going back to my hole I found my marker and started trotting away again, I think I only got a few hours of sleep but no matter. I will go until I can’t go any further and then I will go some more. I cannot afford to die at this stage, I’ve only begun. Nothing important happened over the next week, at least I think it was a week. Just more running, more sleeping and more thinking… always more thinking. With nothing to do or look at for distraction all I could do is think. Think more and more about those who sit atop their thrones of lies. Those who betrayed me. Those who do not have the right to keep living and those that deserve to die by my own hoof. I could only think in small periods of time though, it was tiring after all to think of everypony. Glancing at my timer I had to look again to make sure I was seeing this correctly. It showed thirty hours! Way more than last weeks, I shouldn’t be improving this fast. Checking to make sure the spell wasn’t screwed up in any ways other than what I had intended… nope it was still fine. If I have run more than 6 hours more than last time, does this mean I finally conquered sleep? Or stamina? That and I don’t think I need any more stamina training either at this point, but need and want are two separate things I reminded myself so I kept going. After forty hours of constant running and magic use I finally stopped in my tracks and just stood there for a moment, surrounded by the ever blistering ground and the ever boiling sky. Not a living thing in sight. Now that I can run basically forever and never need any sleep and my magic can replenish crazy fast… I guess the logical thing would be to increase my burst strength. How would I go about this? Nothing to punch on the ground, I guess I could make some punching bags out of the rock with my magic and then start working on those… wait I just remembered something. Most ponies never see it but the Princesses are fast. Like faster than a wonderbolt even on the ground. I once saw it as a filly when I fell off a bridge and she dashed over 100 meters in the blink of an eye to keep me from falling and hitting my head. Good thing she didn’t let me fall either, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to kill her. I’ll have to remind her of that. Either way, I’ll need speed and lots of it. If they can cave in my throat before I can even strike back then that would indeed be a problem. I’ll do sprint bursts instead of running, that will help. I’ll sprint as fast as I can and then trot for a few seconds and do that over and over. How will I be able to know if I’m improving though? I know! I’ll combine a medical sensing spell with a speed detecting spell and use that. Good thing I paid attention in magic theory. Thinking past the constant pain and agony for a second I got the underlying foundation of the spell in my head and with a quick flick of the horn it was there, hovering in front of me. Starting at a trot I then broke out into a dead sprint. Pumping my legs as fast as I could manage and ignoring the shrieks of pain shooting up my thighs, I sprinted as fast as I could. Counting the seconds when I got to 10 I slowed down to a trot again and looked at my display. 40 km/h. I could do better than that. Fuck that I need to do way better than that. If she could do 1000 meters a second to save a filly than I need to go way faster than 11 meters a second. At least I have time. Feeling my lips split again I realized I had smiled without realizing it. Oh, I am so going to enjoy this when I get out. Breaking again into a dead sprint I continued on. Alternating between sprinting and trotting I made my way across the endless desert. No longer sleeping and no longer stopping. My magic and that bitch’s sun my only companions. Except my thoughts, always my thoughts to keep me going, keep me strong, and keeping me focused. The pain kept trying to distract me but without any rest, it was easy to ignore it as it was just always there. It would be like complaining about the weather. It was always there so no use in even thinking about it. It might have been days, weeks or months? I no longer could tell or care. Just the constant sprinting, the constant pain, the constant sun and my scarred mind. Only thinking of one thing now. Hate. I had been thinking about hate for so long I could barely remember who it was about. I probably would have forgotten if that thing above my head didn't remind me every second of every waking moment. Reminding me of that bitch and everyone around her. I did remember to keep improving, eventually just constantly sprinting. Never stopping, never taking a break. Just constant and never ending. Like my torture in this place. This place that she and her... sister? She had a sister right? I think so yeah. Oh well. if I just go kill her and every pony around her in that hideously white castle then that should cover everything. After what felt like eternity I was sprinting so fast that I could keep going at 1500 meters a second. Fast enough to deal with her... What was her name again? I cant remember but I remember her, every sadistic and two faced move she makes. Manipulating everything and every one around her. Sitting white and porcelain on top of her ivory throne of lies. Everything that she has touched deserves to be destroyed and never heard from again once the screams stop. Shes tough though. Tough enough to withstand even the hardest of hits. So I'll hit harder. I'll work on my punching till I can punch a hole clean through solid rock. Using my magic instinctively, what was the name of this spell again? No matter. I used magic to made a condensed pillar of rock, harder than the hardest of rock and I punched it hard. For the first time in an eternity, a moan of pain escaped my scarred and blasted lips. After all that running and sprinting, the shock of hitting a rock as hard as I could sent a tremor throughout my entire body and made my hoof instantly go numb. The agony shooting up my bone felt like I was getting my limb ripped off. I don't have time for this. This must be done. Bear with it. Again. And again. One more time, don't think about the pain. DON'T THINK ABOUT IT. Embrace the pain. Relish it. Again. Like a mantra I repeated in my head over and over as I punch the rock as hard as I could. I was making small dents in it already from my already increased speed and strength. Just gotta keep going Sunset I reminded myself. It was hard to think about much other than the pain so I just kept repeating again and hitting the rock. Alternating between my four hooves when one became too numb to feel anymore. Eventually even my toughened hooves started to split open and start bleeding but I kept going, The blood didn't matter, the pain didn't matter. Not even the sun mattered right now. The only two things that mattered were the words hate and again. Hate filled my soul, caused my already bloodshot eyes to burn and my mind was filled with one word. Again. Eventually I wore the rock down to my knees and without hesitating made another, and another. And another. I must have worn through twenty dozen rocks before I finally was able to punch straight through a solid piece of hardened and condensed rocks. A perfect hoof shaped hole right through it. Why am I sitting? My arms wont move, and I'm falling to the ground. Am I going to die here? I can't die. Not yet, not until I've killed her. Must keep going... again...
Chapter ThreeNo I WILL not be stopped here! With a scream, I could feel my throat tearing from what felt like my mouth to my stomach and with blood spitting between my clenched teeth, fighting my way up to my hooves like a drunken pony. My numb limbs were the only part of me that didn't hurt... that's pretty powerful medicine right there. I kept screaming and pushing, forcing myself up on sheer willpower alone. Finally getting to a sitting position I sat there. Only one thought went through my tortured mind now. Cant stop. I don't think I'll die if I sleep but I don't care anymore. Fuck her. If I stop I die. Damn her. Don't die. I can't stop till shes dead. Can't die till shes dead. Cant stop. Getting up on all four hooves, I noticed bloody footprints on the ground that were mine. Cant stop. I turned around and started to head back for the first time since I got banished here by her, it would be a long journey. Cant stop. The running was getting easier. I could feel life coming back to my legs, also more pain now that they weren't numb anymore. More pain than I've ever felt. No. Don't stop. Pain is my friend, its the only thing that's let me know I'm still alive. Pain is my companion and death is my freedom. Cant die yet though, gotta kill her. For a split second I wondered if there was any part of me, both inside and out that didn't hurt. Before I could even answer that thought it was replaced with my mantra as if something had pushed it there. Can't stop. As repeating and dependable as my heartbeat it kept me going, kept me focused. Pain and the one thought clouded my mind as I sprinted back through the desert, covering vast quantities of land nearly instantly. I no longer had any concept of time. The days stretched on as endlessly as they always have. Pain and my mantra were my only constant as I ran for what seemed like an eternity. It probably was an eternity. It could have been days or even years I no longer cared. All I knew was that if i stopped I would die and that I couldn't die before that bitch is dead too. Don't slow down. I sprinted and sprinted, not slowing down for a single second. My existence was the pounding of my bloody hooves, my old friend pain and my one thought. Seeing the landscape start to change around me I saw the volcanoes that marked the entrance, where the gates were. Where the way out of here was. I thought I saw things, little weak things standing around and looking at me blitz past where the sands turned to rock. I couldn't spare them a single thought. I was on my way to kill the white one. I couldn't stop now. Even when I hit the ground made of cooled lava and the blood and callouses on my hooves started to smoke and sizzle I didn't even notice. All I cared about was that the exit was just right over there. I didn't even consciously realize it, I just knew it. "SUNSET SHIMMER" a loud roar to my left made me whip my head around and flatten my ears. The sound was loud enough that it broke my concentration. Fuck you whoever you are, I'll have to teach you a lesson. Seeing drops of blood fall and sizzle on the ground I realized my ears were bleeding. Now you're really going to pay. A gigantic red and black centaur was standing a ways off to my left, surrounded by monsters that seemed to be little tiny ants around his hooves. He had to be a good distance away but because of his size he seemed a lot closer. What was his name again? I didn't care, I could tell he obviously wanted to stop me, to get in my way. That's one thing though... I cannot be stopped any longer, not by you, or that sun, or these gates, by her, or even by me. I am unbreakable. Without a pause I swerved to my left as I made a dash towards that monstrosity, this will be a good time at least to test out my new strength. I felt my lips crack open again, my lips bled and my tongue lolled out as a manic grin came out of nowhere. Everything became redder as i felt a pressure behind my eyes and blood rush to my head, no thoughts now. Just a dull pounding in between my ears as everything fully turned red. Jumping up as high as I could mid sprint, I sailed easily twice as high up as the loud one. Without even thinking, only wanting... I charged up a detonation spell as powerful as I could manage and let it go. I wanted to blast everything away and keep going... Don't slow down. A blinding light and a thunderclap immediately assaulted my senses. Instantly I was blown backwards through the air as it ripped into the ground and shook the earth, blasting everything near it away. Hot, searing bits of rock and ash spewed everywhere and the shock wave flattened every creature in at least a 2 kilometer radius. What am I doing? That one thought managed to sneak in as the shockwave disoriented me. I could see myself falling from quite a height, falling fast. I landed on my legs hard enough to hear a loud crack. New pain jolted up my legs, a sharp and piercing feeling. Ah pain my old friend, I could feel my thoughts center and stabilize on my normal mantra. I didn't care about the jagged needles I could feel in my legs. Why should I care? I won't stop. Looking around I cant see anything, much less the loud one through all the smoke that covered my entire field of view. With a growl and a flick of my horn I sent a shock wave in all directions, blowing away the smoke. He will not stop me. I could see I was standing on the lip of a massive crater where my spell had hit, the big one and the remains of the little ants were in there at the bottom. The live ones at least. The crater was easily as large as a small lake and the shockwave had apparently pushed me far enough back that I was on the edge of it. Without even a thought I felt myself jump down into the hole, my legs screaming in agony. With a surge the rest of his army came and jumped towards me, howling and screaming like a horde of of the dead. Soon enough they would be a horde of the dead anyways. Purely on speed and instinct alone I bowled into them, careening through their weak, pulpy mass like a train. I lost track of myself and my surroundings as I decimated his army. Not even capable of thinking anything more complicated than one phrase I powered through everything on pure instinct and overwhelming power. Kicking a goatman so hard in the head exploded in a red mass. A punch so hard to the chest of a timberwolf that it shattered on the spot. A fireball from my horn causing a few hundred to boil alive where they stood, screaming in terror. If I could think I would have thought that I was beautiful. All of a sudden nothing was in hooves reach so I stood there panting and confused. Where is everyone? Looking around with bloodshot eyes I saw I was surrounded by more of the puny things but they wouldn't come close. None dared approach me. Everything seemed to stand perfectly and serenely still for a moment. With a howl I put a lot of magic into a spell, I wanted them closer! A vortex appeared next to me, sucking everything around me in towards my reach. The growls of the horde turned into shrieks of terror as they were brought to me, within reach of my hooves. Feeling my lips tear again with a smile tore into them with renewed fury and I kept massacring every creature until there was none left, none but him who looked like he was hanging back and waiting. With a loud bellow that hurt my ears he charged me, shaking the ground with his weight. I could see him lowering his head and charging up a powerful spell. Not feeling the least bit impressed I stood my ground until he shot an impressive bolt of energy right at my face. Instinctively I jumped in the blink of an eye right over the beam and in an arc that would take me right to his face. Right before I got to him I scythed through the air with magic, cutting off his horns and his source of magic. This would be close and personal as payment for ruining my focus. Good, I wanted this to be messy anyways. With the shriek of a banshee I landed on his face, gripping his fur and holding on tight despite his bellowing and shaking of his head from pain. I don't think hes noticed me on him yet I thought with a smile. With very quick punches, as fast as I could throw them I started to beat into the center of his face. I could hear his bellow change into a howl of fear and I noticed that his hands were reaching up to swat me away. Faster and harder I swung my hooves, pouring every ounce of strength into my work. His head was surprisingly thick and tough, even so it only took half a second of sustained beating to knock him out. Before he could topple over I managed to cave his face in and punch through to his brain, landing the killing blow. As we hit the ground the force knocked me off and I fell onto my side in the scalding crater. Standing up, my breath coming in ragged and bubbly bursts I flicked my horn and tore off his mess of a head and threw it to the other side of the crater. With one last scream I roared to the sky, primal and fierce. I felt the last of my vocal chords rip, the scream being cut short with a silent moan as red bubbles popped at the corner of my parched and cracked lips. Standing there in the bottom of my crater with a growing pool of blood and bodies I suddenly felt very tired, my magic nearly depleted and my body refusing to move. Before I realized it I had fallen down on my side, why am I on my side? Darkness crept in the edges of my vision and fear caused my mind to finally start thinking again. DONT SLEEP Lurching back to my hooves on sheer willpower alone I opened one bloodshot eye and looked around at the nightmare hellscape that surrounded me, that was caused by me. DONT STOP I was standing in a slowly rising pool of blood. My fur was matted with it on one side and I couldn't see any movement all around me, just a sea of corpses slowly bleeding into the crater that I was in the bottom of. Bodies lay mangled everywhere, creatures of every type and of varying degrees of lethality... all dead. KEEP GOING One eye was covered in matted blood so thick I couldn't open it. No need, I only need one eye to see the white one. The thought of her made me spit out a mouthful of blood in disgust, I fleetingly wondered if it was my own blood or someone else's. Stop thinking about that. Focus. You're not done yet. Wont stop. Shakily taking a step toward an edge of the crater my eye swiveled around and spotted some silhouettes on the lip of the crater. Its not important. Nothing down here can stop me now. Painfully and weakly limping, trying to not pass out with every step I took. All I could think of now was not passing out. If a little something like this was enough to bring me down I would never be able to land the killing blow on her. That would be a critical moment and I can guarantee she wont be as forgiving if I don't land the killing blow first. I'll never stop again, I wont let my body die till they're all dead and nothing remains. I reaffirmed to myself. Before I knew it I was repeating again and again in my head, the mantra that defined my existence now. Cant stop... Wont stop... Nearing the lip of the crater I saw the figures I saw were stragglers of his army, with fear and terror plastered all over their faces they quickly backed off and gave me a very wide berth. A few knelt down in front of me. My body moving like it had a will of its own I started limping in a direct line to the gates of... whatever this place was called. I callously killed one that was kneeling directly in front of me, not able to see that they were in my way. Nothing will get in between me and her now. Another limp and another jolt of pain. No... nothing would now.
Chapter FourI kept limping slowly toward the gates, every step threatening to make me black out. The pain from my broken legs was almost enough to drown out the hissing sound my bloody footprints left on the scorched earth. Almost but not quite. Through the haze of my one open eye I saw the massive black iron gates that led out of this place grow larger and larger as I got closer. With every step the cracked bones in my leg groaned and screeched at themselves, the pain was worse now that the adrenaline was fading fast. It was even bad enough to almost break my mantra. Almost, but not enough. I did my best to ignore it, this place had a wonderful way of not letting you die. You can do this, just focus and bear with it. You're stronger than this! I shook my tattered and sticky mane to shake away any unnecessary thoughts and get a fresh dose of pain from the movement. As I got close I looked at them with my eye, seeing them but not really seeing them at the same time. They were massive, heavy and made of wrought iron. Easily taller than a castle. Glowing runes covered the surface and heavy black chains hung around the center of it. They looked heavier than a mountain and even more impenetrable. A heavy air hung around them and I could hear the runes vibrating the very ground around the gates. I couldn't tell what the runes meant, or I had forgotten. I can't break my concentration now. I cant think about them, I need to focus or I'll black out. I have my own ways of breaking this thing down. Don't lose sight of whats behind that gate. Don't lose it... Taking a few steps back I began to slowly and surely charge my horn. I don't care what exactly I am charging it with. I just want to blow this massive gate wide open Slowly building the last dregs of my magic power into a spell and wrapping around my horn I poured more magic into it. More than I thought I had left. No I needed more. Straining just as hard as I did during my fight just now I kept pouring magic into my horn. As I kept pouring more of my magic into my horn it started to get hot, like really hot. Even the lava pool next to me didn't hold a candle to the heat coming off my horn. Sparks were shooting out of it and with a gasp of exertion I felt myself hit a mental wall, I had passed what I thought my limit was a while ago but I suddenly knew it shouldn't be possible to do more. No. I can do more... This isn't enough for HER... I need to be stronger. No time left... DON'T STOP NOW Turning my silent gasp into a silent scream I poured every ounce of pain, hurt and rage of my being into that spell. It surged and the bright light of my own magic almost blinded me. Squinting my puffy and bloodshot eye shut I kept pouring more into the spell. More and more, it felt like I was even putting my soul itself into it. I have to break free. I have to kill the bitch and to do that. I need to get out! Sinking to my knees I felt the last of even my physical strength give out and I had no choice left so I simply... let go. A bright light, brighter than anything she had ever made made me go blind in an instant. An apocalypse of destruction and fire blasted me high into the air. A sound like a thousand lightning bolts all at once broke my ears and I could feel the inferno scorching my skin and burning what little fur I had left off and even through my constant companion pain, I could feel my skin boiling. A burst of air pressed me from all sides, it felt like it was forcing my lungs to collapse. Gasping for air as I flew higher and higher into the ash ridden sky even my thoughts left me in shock. As I fell I couldn't hear anything. Had I gone deaf? My ears were now like the rest of my body, broken, burnt and irrelevant. Only She mattered. Wait am I falling now? I couldn't feel the air on my charred flesh but I could feel my center of gravity change as I finally reaching the apex of my flight and started to come back down to the ground. How far am I going to fall? I've been falling for quite a while now. I don't even know if I'm falling head first because I cant see, hear or feel anything. At least this wont kill me, throwing yourself off of a cliff is a no go here, this place is made to make you suffer so I can't die from falling from even this height. Oh well... That was the last thing I thought before everything finally stopped. With sudden abruptness I hit the ground and even the solitude of my mind went black. Like a slow, long climb I started to wake up. Who am I? You're you obviously. Where am I? The answer to that question was cut off by my body remembering how much pain it incurred. Convulsing and trying to scream, I thrashed and silently held my mouth open on the ashy ground. Ahhh its too much! Make it stop! Stop? I can't stop... I will not stop... In a frenzy everything came back to me at once. My stay here, my pushing myself past my limits, my fight and blowing the gates of Tartarus wide open. My only reason left for living... HER Getting the convulsions under control I slowly creaked my eyes open. The sulfuric and ashy air stung them as I looked once more at this twisted hellscape. The pain made it hard to think about what I was looking at but my mantra helped steady myself. I barely even recognized the area around me. In the distance were the twisted and shattered hulks of the gates. A glowing portal hovering in the air. Most of the volcanoes nearby it were completely leveled, blasted away by my spell. The ground no longer was dotted with lava pools, instead it was like it was swept clean. Black and glossy the ground seemed to be made of glass. Looking straight at the portal that sat where the gates used to be I suddenly remembered when I was brought here by that white monster, her blue sister and that purple freak. They all left me here for eternity and now they're all going to PAY! I tried to get up but my legs refused to listen to me, my whole body was tense from the pain. Curled up in the fetal position and tense like a wound up spring I tried to get up but my body wouldn't listen to me. Screw that, if it won't listen to me I'll just just force myself. Gasping in pain and screaming from the effort, I slowly uncurled myself. It felt like every bone was broken and the very air itself brushed up against my exposed burns like a million razors. I even felt my scalp scrape and burn against the air and I realized with a start that my mane was burned off from blasting open the gates. Yet again I added another layer of mental reinforcement to not black out. You've got this, this pain is nothing. Just ignore it, turn that part of your brain off. You can't stop now that you're so close. I'm not going to stop. Redoubling my efforts and focusing only on my mantra to the exclusion of all else I slowly got to my hooves. I could feel in a detached sort of way my bones flex and scrape against each other. Don't think about it. If you don't acknowledge the pain its not real. None of this is real, not compared to killing her. Ignoring the pain got easier with every shaky step I took. Even though my breath came ragged and wet and I occasionally coughed up blood that didn't matter. All that mattered was getting through that portal and killing her. Another step. Its easier to ignore now. Another step. I felt myself cough up blood and as I spat it on the ground I remembered that doesn't matter so I forgot about it instantly. Another step, don't stop. More steps, almost there. Can't stop. Stumbling on a piece of the shattered gate I realized suddenly that I had been so focused on ignoring everything around me that I had made it to the gate, my agonizing and slow walk here was just a blur in my shattered mind. Seeing the portal so close I tilted my head back to look at it. the back of my neck cracking and bleeding because it was so dry and raw from the effort. Looking up I saw it was at least as tall as the gates themselves had been but luckily it was just a small hop off the ground. I don't think I have enough magic left to levitate if I needed to. Am I forgetting something? No I thought as I shook my bald and raw head. That doesn't matter, only she matters. With a quick hop I jumped through the portal and back into Equestria. In an instant I was on soft dirt at the top of a mountain surrounded by trees, the clear air tasted sweet on my tongue and the bright cheery sky seemed totally foreign to me after being in hell so long. I barely had a moment to look around and enjoy the sweet serenity of this place before spotting the gleaming golden armor of a lot of ponies standing nearby before dark and terrible pain wracked my body. The curse keeping me alive in Tartarus didn't apply here. OH SHIT! That was the only thought that went through my mind before every muscle in my entire body twisted up like a knot, the effects of all that training and pushing myself catching up all at once. The strength of them twisting and convulsing cracked all of my bones even more than they already were and quite a few, especially those in my legs just totally shattered. Falling into a little ball I opened my mouth and screamed harder than I ever had before, a panicked and terrifying noise in my head but all I could hear was a low moan and gurgling from my torn throat. My stomach shriveled up and twisted like a tightly wound coil and I could feel every ounce of energy leaving me at once as the after effects of not eating for years caught up to me. Everything hurt, even my soul hurt as I just curled up and tried to scream, my thoughts a scattered mess as I just sat there and didn't think, I just felt. Every fiber, every nerve felt like it was on fire and being scraped away at the same time. I couldn't even feel the dirt sticking to my burns and the ground grating against my raw skin, my body was literally trying to kill itself and I just lay there like a little foal and endured it. I could feel myself blacking out and dying, no amount of willpower would save me this time. Even though I was screaming and convulsing and tensed up more than I had ever been, I started crying. Nothing came out of course. My parched body had run out of water a long time ago but I was still crying. Why? This isn't fair! I thought as I felt myself slipping away, shaking and convulsing at the same time. I tried so hard, I was so focused, I did everything possible but it wasn't enough. I'm going to die here pitifully and without even getting to have a chance at killing her. Why me? Feeling my body relaxing I finally couldn't think anymore and everything faded away like sand in between my hooves.
Chapter FiveVery slowly I felt myself return to consciousness. A soft and warm light pierced itself through my eyelids making me squint and moan. Wait I could actually hear that! My voice is back! Although I didn't need to talk to anyone it was still nice to talk to myself if i needed to. Wait... I was dying wasn't I? In a panic I opened my unbandaged eye and saw that I was in what appeared to be a hospital room, Bandaged from head to hoof it was hard to move around, but I could rip through them quickly enough if I needed to. I don't think this is the afterlife. Hell would be more familiar and this isn't it. Why didn't I die? Whats going on here? I heard the door open and saw a pretty mare came in through the door to my room. Her light brown coat reminded me of the soft dirt that I saw right after getting through the portal. As she came in through the door I didn't see any guards outside but that didn't mean they weren't there. I don't have the luxury of assuming anything. Watching her every move she finally looked up from her clipboard and locked eyes with me. With a small "EEP!" she turned around and bolted through the door. Not good, I need to be ready for anything. Putting my hooves on the bed while still laying down I tensed myself, ready to leap out and kill anypony that could alert HER that I was coming... what was her name again? I tensely waited, and waited a bit more. Seeing the door open I got ready until I saw a white maned old stallion enter so I began to relax until I saw a soldier walk in behind him and stand next to the door. I locked my eye on the soldier while I watched the doctor out of my periphery. The doctor noticed where I was watching and with a warm chuckle he waved his hoof in front of my face, I almost jumped and killed him on the spot out of reflex but I needed him alive for now... I've come too far to relax now. "Don't be alarmed, we're just here to ask a few questions since there is a few things we're not quite sure about." I didn't say anything yet, I just kept a very close eye on the soldier. With a sigh the doctor sat down in a stool next to my bed. His body almost blocked my view of the guard but he didn't seem to notice as he nonchalantly looked down at his clipboard. "I promise everything is going to be fine, we just need to figure out what happened over there exactly and who you are. In fact let's start with that. Because you were so badly burnt and scarred we haven't been able to identify you, granted not many ponies have been sent over there but there's still a handful. Can you tell us your name?" Wait they don't know who I am yet? This could work to my advantage. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know but first, this is really important to me... where am I?" My voice cracked, as dry and lifeless as the desert where SHE threw me into. The soldier watched me watch him as the doctor scratched his muzzle for a bit in thought. After a minute he shrugged and said "Sure, what could be the harm? You're in the Canterlot Royal Hospital, right behind the castle with Celestia and-" That was as far as he got before I remembered her name. My blood instantly warmed up to a comfortable boil and my eye saw a familiar red. I uncoiled my limbs, thrusting myself out of bed with lightning speed as I decapitated the doctor. Still flying through the air I punched the guard in the helmet. Surprisingly their helmet caved in quite easily and I accidentally blew them through the wall. Through the hole I just made I could see the shock on everyponies faces outside my room. They were too stunned to even scream yet but that would definitely start soon, I needed to hurry. Turning around I saw the doctor lying in a rapidly growing pool of blood on the floor, his stool throw against one wall and his hoof still on his clipboard. I had unfinished business with him... Stomping his lifeless corpse over and over to punctuate every word I screeched at him, "DO!" smack "NOT!" squelch "SAY!" slosh "HER!" crunch "NAME!" His body was becoming a red paste on the floor, bones and blood and coat all mixing together into a grisly mess. Satisfied that he got the message I turned around to head out the door. I am so close now, just a little further. Cant stop... I barely even noticed the screams and the ponies bolting away from me in all directions, they weren't important... nopony is important... only one thing is important. In a haze I stumbled through the hospital, where was the way out? I need to get to her. She needs to die. Where is she! Looking over I saw a nurse cowering in the corner, trembling in fear... She'll do. Dashing over in less than the blink of an eye I grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up. Bringing her muzzle right against mine I slowly and politely asked, "Where... is... the... exit?" My throat seemed to tear again, making talking difficult and filling my mouth with blood. I felt a bit dribble out which I promptly ignored and I heard a light splashing sound. Looking down I saw that the terrified mare was pissing herself, it was flowing down her leg and making a small puddle on the floor. Rolling my eye I ripped off the bandage on my other eye and glared at the mare who was gaping for breath. Staring her down with my one good eye and my bloodshot other eye I impatiently yelled "WHERE?" and threw the mare on the ground. Gasping for air and choking on her own sobs the mare pitifully pointed to a door on my right. With a snort of disgust I turned around a bucked her into the wall. A loud wet crack registered in my ears but I ignored it. I now knew the way out and soon I would find her. I'm so close now, too close to stop or hesitate. So close... Seeing a set of double doors I shouldered them opened and squinted at the sudden brightness of the sun. Looking up at the constant reminder I entertained the thought that this would be the last day it shines its smothering light. Her time is close... so close now... Looking up again I saw the castle's back wall and memories started to flood in, back when I was that bitch's student. NO I shook my head violently, I cant slow down now. I won't be stopped! Clearing my head I saw a dozen guards running towards me, surrounding me they lowered their spears and pointed them at me. Such a pitiful reception almost made me want to laugh. I might have if it wasn't so pathetic... they wont even slow me down. Looking back up at the castle I saw a set of large windows a good hundred meters or so up the side of the smooth granite wall, the throne room! SHE must be there! Without even a second though I crouched down and jumped with a good bit of my strength. The explosive leap brought me right to it and with a loud crash I burst through the window and into the throne room. Looking around I saw a regal figure on the throne, white and glaring as the sun. THERE SHE IS! Her shocked face filled my mind, leaving no room for anything else as I landed on all fours to face her, blood dripping down on the red carpet from my numerous cuts from the window. Quick! before she can react! No time for plans I coiled up all my limbs... my eternity of training better pay off. I blitzed at her with everything I had, my legs shrieked in pain and my hooves cracked open. Instantly I got within reach and with a scream so loud my voice broke again I hit her with everything I had. I'm finally doing it! I smiled to myself. AHHHHHHHHHH The pain almost made me black out, she was tougher than even stone! My entire left foreleg crumpled into a broken mess, out of the corner of my eye I saw bones sticking out in all directions like a pincushion. Blood gushed out from all over it. I involuntarily moaned in pain and from the intense feeling of agony I found my old self again. Cant stop... Won't stop... So close... CELESTIA! Looking at the stunned look on her face I saw the bloody hoofprint on her shoulder from my punch earlier. there was no dent, no blood other than mine and that showed how little effect my punch had. Cold shock mixed itself with the pain and agony, can I do this? Is it even possible? NO! I HAVE to! I will NOT fail! With a wet, spluttery growl I swung at her face with my right hoof with everything I had again. I wont give in, I wont stop! Her stunned look was replaced with determination as the Bitch put up a shield, its thick impenetrable golden glow pushing me back a bit. It lasted for just a moment though as my hoof hammered against it. Breaking both my hoof and her shield I gasped in pain again as the shield shattered around me. I barely even registered the pain though, it wouldnt even make me hesitate. An opening! I filled up my horn with magic, desperately filling it as fast with magic and I could and I reinforced my left foreleg as much as I could. Spinning around I turned my back to her and jammed a bone sticking out of my elbow as deep in her eye as I could. A impossibly loud and terrible shriek echoed through the throne room as all the windows shattered. Before I could turn around to face her I felt a dense and powerful magic push shove me away from the throne. Sailing through the air I had a split second to react before I hit the wall. Spinning around to get a look at the damage I had done I saw her face. One of her eyes was a ruined mess, tears and blood spilling down her face while she twisted and screamed in agony. Then I hit the wall... A loud and ominous crack filled the air as my back hit the wall with enough force to crack it. No matter though, I didn't feel any pain, I am above that. Struggling to get up and finish this I realized nothing was happening, I still was laying on the ground in a crumpled heap. Oh no! Did my spine break? GET UP! I heaved with all my strength against the ground but nothing happened again. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit SHIT! I moaned as I tried again and again but nothing happened. Panic gripped my mind, drowning me in hopelessness as I tried again and again to get up. I WONT stop! I REFUSE to give in. This can't be how this ends... IT CANT! Looking up I saw that she had stopped screaming and was walking over to me slowly. For the first time in forever my hate was replaced with something else in my mind, something more primal and totally alien to me.... terror. Every step solidly placed on the ground, every clank from her regalia striking the granite... it was the most terrifying thing I had ever witnessed. Her eye blazed like the sun, just like that sun that had watched me in Tartarus all those years. That sun reminded me of my rage, all my hate that had sustained me. It reminds me of all that work I put in, all that effort. NO! I won't let it end like this! Just as quickly as terror had filled my mind it was replaced with desperation. SHE has to die, I can't die. I won't die. I won't... no please, please. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DIE! With my horn I lifted myself like a bloody and broken puppet and threw myself as fast as I could at her. A look of horror spread itself across her face as I flew through the air. She raised her hooves to defend herself and with a loud splat I smacked myself against the bottom of her hooves. Even though I couldn't feel anything anymore I saw one of my forelegs continue flying across the throne room and land near the throne, leaving a trail of blood across the pristine floor. Looking down I saw that her hooves had gone entirely through one of my shoulders and the other through my chest. Her white coat was turning red from blood... my blood. Am I going to die? I cant die... not yet... I can't feel pain, ah my old friend where have you gone? I cant feel my strength... my last ditch attack is worthless. No... just no... Its not fair... Still stuck on her hoof I weakly tried to push my horn through her bloody eye, just have to pierce the brain and she'll be dead. She turned her head away in disgust, deterring my feeble attempts. Throwing me off of her with a loud squelch I saw contempt mixed with horror now on her face. Standing still she watched me bleed out on the floor. Blackness started to creep into the edges of my vision as my thoughts slowed. Please no.... not till I've finished this... Putting the last dregs of my magic into my horn I slowly dragged my body across the floor towards her. I can't stop... not now... I can't.... My vision was consumed by black and I felt the last of my magic sputter out and die. Please... ... ... ... Celestia
Epilogue"Princess Celestia? The scouts are scheduled to return from the gate shortly, if you want to see them right away please make sure to be ready to go by chariot within the hour. As soon as we have word of their safe return we'll head over there right away." The sudden noise of one of her faithful guards jerked me out of my contemplation as I looked up to see blue maned and golden clad stallion. I don't know when they started to all dye their manes like that so they all looked the same but I never had the heart to tell them how silly it was. With a warm smile of amusement I nodded and replied with all the regality of the ruler of Equestria. "Of course my beloved Sunspark, I shall be ready to go at any time. Please have the carriage prepared and inform me the moment you know they are back." Seeing him nod but hesitate I added "Do not forget to close the door on your way, I have much to think about and would appreciate a lack of distraction." He sheepishly nodded and left, being careful to quietly close the door on his way out. I don't blame him for not wanting to leave me alone. These are troubled times and the throne room has not been absent from guards or courtiers for nearly an age. I shifted my body on my throne a bit to ease the pinching of my regalia and slowly slumped back into the train of thought that had been going around in circles in my mind since that time a week ago. The sudden news that the black gates had been blown open shocked me to my very core. It should have been impossible for them to be opened from the other side, yet it happened nonetheless. I immediately sent the entire Equestrian Expeditionary Corps out to guard the entrance but nothing happened for a whole day until a single pony stumbled out and almost died right there, covered in blood. That surprised me the most, out of everything I put in there the last thing I expected to come out was a pony, maybe TIrek or something but not a pony. The reports I got were mildly disturbing as well, they had rushed her to the closest hospital where they magically induced a trauma coma and then shipped her to Canterlot Hospital. The doctors there were bewildered by what they discovered during her time there over the last week. Apparently she had .001% body fat in total... way less than the survivable norm but because of the mass of muscle she had she looked perfectly normal and also her stomach was almost nonexistent, the organ had quite literally devoured itself. Her throat was also torn completely and a numerous host of other internal organ issues that just baffled them. They couldn't figure out what the cause was and while I wanted to, I couldn't tell them about the conditions in Tartarus, it was one of my darker secrets. Nopony should be allowed to find that out. I wish I knew who this mysterious mare is though. All they could determine was that she was, as the head physician said, "The most ripped mare of a unicorn I had ever seen." I felt myself smiling at the memory of almost spitting out my morning coffee over that report. The smile quickly faded though, as the report went on to say that since the mare's body had been so thoroughly burnt there was no cutie mark to identify them. They were hoping to get some answers after she had woken up but the wait was driving me up the wall. Which one is this? I haven't thrown many ponies in there over the years but since I wasn't allowed to see the one I could not be sure who it was, I'm sure though that I would recognize them if i just saw them but the Royal Guard had been quite insistent on this, fearing for my life, and so I was stuck sitting and brooding until the doctors found out for me. A loud crash startled me and I looked over to see a white bald pony sail in through one of the windows... wait not they're not bald or white! My shocked mind struggled to process this all at once, it was a heavily bandaged unicorn... The one from Tartarus! They looked so hurt, so beat up. Why are they here? Bandages trailed around everywhere and blood dripped from a dozen different cuts onto my carpet. I locked eyes with this poor soul and nearly fell out of my throne. Never once in my long long life had I ever seen such raw hate, such fire and rage as I do now. I couldn't think, couldn't move as I bore witness to such baleful hate. It scared me down to my core and I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time... terror. I could not look away from those eyes, I barely even noticed her predatory smile above her blazing aquamarine eyes, one red as the blood on the carpet. Wait... her eyes... Sunset Shimmer? That name was all I had time to think about before she teleported over to me and with a scream fit for a banshee she hit me on my shoulder with enough force to dislocate my foreleg. I grimaced in pain as I heard a sickening crunch and a cascade of cracking sounds. I glanced down and saw that she had literally hit me so hard her entire leg had crumpled into a pulp and there were at least a dozen or more bones sticking out in all sorts of places. The sight almost made me pass out and as I closed my eyes a thought came to me, she didn't teleport to me that was her own raw strength! Oh Sunset... what did you do? A moan snapped me back into the moment and as I opened my eyes and I could see her eyes almost rolling into the back of her head from the pain. A perverse thought came into my head... Was she enjoying this? Before I could even think I saw her glance up at me and then quickly look at my shoulder. A wave of anger crossed her face already twisted with rage and I could clearly see that she was upset that her blow just a moment ago didn't do more. Is she trying to kill me? No I won't let her! My ponies needed me, Equestria needs me and I won't leave them in the hands of this monster! With a look of determination I saw her rear back to try and hit me in the face but this I wasn't going to be hit a second time. I quickly conjured the toughest shield I thought of first and at the same time from behind its protective shell I locked the throne room door. Nopony in the guards could even hope to stand up to her. With that kind of strength a normal pony would have been punched right through if she hit them. They didn't stand a chance. I heard the most demonic blood spewing growl I had ever heard as Sunset hit my shield with a terrifyingly huge blow. Shattering it in one hit and splitting her other hoof right up the middle. As I saw the shards of my shield fall around me I looked up at her insane, triumphant face and I could swear I saw my own terrified look reflected from her eyes. How in Equestria is she this STRONG?!? My shield should have been able to indefinitely hold off a dragon? How is this possible??? Before I could react I saw her fire up her horn and I braced myself for the oncoming magical attack but it never came? I opened my eyes just in time to see her destroyed left leg, encased in magic swing at my face and I felt one of her bones ram itself deep into my eye. AUGHHHHHHHHH! Pain, more than I had ever felt before in my life suddenly filled my mind and made me shriek hard enough to shatter all the windows in the throne room. I writhed in pain as it consumed every fiber of my psyche. I can't see, I can't see! Panic and shock flooded my bones as I shrieked and clutched my eye. In a panic I pushed hard in every direction with my magic. I need to get her off of me! Feeling the bone slide itself out of my eye was both the now second most painful thing I had ever felt and the most disturbing. Who even fights like that! It's insane and so self destructive! It's like she doesn't care if she makes it out of here alive! With the bone out of my eye I doubled over in agony, clutching my face as I turned to face the madmare. Opening my good eye I saw her flying face first to the other end of the throne room, she twisted in mid air to get a look at me and I saw a bloody smirk cover her face right as she hit the wall square on her back... hard. I heard a loud crack even from way over here. I nearly blacked out right then from the intense waves throbbing throughout my entire body as I continued to scream but I barely managed to keep my eye open as I saw her lifelessly slump to the ground and struggle to get up. Did I just break her back and paralyze her? Looking at the panicked look on her face I think that's what just happened. Good If that's the case then she will never be a threat to Equestria again, what can she do if she can't even walk? Slowly collecting myself, I used my magic to dull the pain in my eye as I slowly and shakily stood up. As I looked around I snorted a glob of blood that had run down my eye into my nose and noticed the blood splattered all over the throne and myself, large pools of it covered the floor... her blood. I shook my head, stay in the moment Celestia! As I got off the throne and slowly started to walk over to her, I barely kept my body from slumping over. I had to keep it slow and deliberate, I wouldn't let her see me crawl over to her. As I slowly made my way over to her I couldn't help but think... did I do this? I thought I was just doing what was right for Equestria, I thought she would just die or find somewhere to hide and mope for eternity. What kind of ruler am I if I can inspire this one little pony to go to such lengths just to kill me? She was my precious student once! How could I go so wrong? I felt anger well up in me at myself, why does this always happen to me. Noticing a glow I stopped to look at her and I saw she had lit up her horn and picked up her own body like some sick ponies idea of a puppet. Blood and bones were everywhere, streaming down both of her ruined legs as she hung lifelessly in the air for a moment, her eyes bright and full of fire as she contemptuously stared at me with those terror inducing eyes as I could only look back. What is she trying to do? Without a sound she flung her body at me as fast as a blink, seeing her literally fling herself at me I yelled in horror and raised my hooves to protect my face, it was the only thing I could think of doing with this macabre assault. The sight of this bloody and grinning maniac made me close my eye in fear and brace myself. With a shudder I felt my hooves sink into something soft and I heard the most disturbing squelching sound I had ever heard. Opening my eye I saw that she had flung herself at me with enough force to totally push one of my hooves through her shoulder, ripping that limb entirely off while my other hoof was buried deep in her chest. The stench of blood and antiseptic filled my nose and with a small whimper I looked up and saw her eyes had lost some of their intensity... How is she even still alive right now? Oh gods oh gods shes still trying to kill me even like this! I saw her weakly try to pull herself further down my hoof and I could tell she was trying to stab me in the already ruined eye with her horn. I turned my head away as I almost threw up from the sight of this struggling bloody mess of a mare. In disgust I pushed her away and off of me before . With a loud splat she flew off and onto the floor nearby, a bloody and pulpy mess. She was still staring at me though, with seemingly no regard to herself she just kept staring at me... Why? Why do you hate me so much? You would have done the same thing if our places were swapped! I rationalized to myself. I watched her lying there, bleeding out and sure to be dead any moment now as my thoughts raced out of control. How did it come to this? I just sent you to Tartarus because you were going to destroy Equestria! What was I supposed to do? How did I go so wrong with my own student? Did I create this? I mentally gestured to the ruined lump that used to be Sunset on the ground. I must have. My face sagged in horror as I realized that there is no way she was born like this, ponies aren't born monsters... they're made into monsters and I am responsible for this... I saw her eyes slowly start to droop like she was going to sleep. Is she going to die? I watched with terror as her horn feebly light up as she slowly dragged her body across the floor, leaving a long and wide trail of blood across the floor. She's on death's doorstep and she's still trying to kill me? How consumed can a pony get? I felt myself unconsciously take a step or two back from the sheer willpower of her coming after me. Getting close to my leg her magic finally died out and her body finally went still. Even in death her eyes never left me, her lifeless eyes, framed by a face twisted in desperation and rage. She would never stop looking at me. Slumping down to the ground and clutching my ruined eye I couldn't look away from that face, it would haunt my nightmares for a long time now but this nightmare is over. With a loud crash almost startling myself out of my own body I saw the throne room door bang open and a dozen guards rush inside. Looking around for just a moment at the carnage they all started to rush over to protect me. "I am fine and the threat is no more, leave me!" I declared loudly at the guards. They stopped but didn't leave. Obviously torn between their duty to protect me and their duty to follow my orders. No I don't want them to see me like this, I want to weep but cannot. Please just go away, leave me alone. Just go... Just "GO!" I yelled at them with the Royal Canterlot Voice, I only used this when the need arises and now was definitely the time. I watched them jump up a bit at the sudden increase of volume and scramble out and close the door behind them. With a sigh I looked around somberly at all of Sunset's blood coating the throne room. Looking back at her I could only feel regret, how could I not? Staring into those lifeless hate filled eyes I was full of regret at myself. I pushed her to this, I screwed up... I'm not fit to be a teacher of anypony much less a ruler. What was going through her head all those years in Tartarus? I felt new pain as tears streaked down my face and the salt aggravated my wounded eye. With a sniffle I scooted closer to the lifeless corpse of my once beloved student. Trying not to look at her face I reached over and gently closed her eyes as the tears flowed even harder. Gods why? Why? The tears came harder now, with choking gasps I couldn't hold it back anymore as I wept over my student, so broken and so full of hate. I did this. It was me. I was too hard on her, I lied and didn't trust her. I pushed her away and I made her life a living hell. I thought I learned my lesson with Luna but I apparently didn't learn anything at all. This is the same as back then. It must have all started when she was my student, I drove her to anger and in my embarrassment I banished her through the portal. I even made Twilight clean up my mess because I was too ashamed of myself to see her. Why didn't I just trust the poor filly for once? In hindsight she was just trying to impress me and she was as against friendship as Twilight once was. Why didn't I just admit I was wrong? In my stubborn pride I just sent her somewhere I would never have to hear about her again. They should call me the Princess of Folly, or the Princess of Pride. I should send myself to Tartarus because I would be just at home with the rest of the things I threw in there just to forget about it. That's what Tartarus really is... it's just my dumping ground for me to abandon things that I'm too proud to face. Too proud to admit I'm not the Goddess they say I am, too proud to be wrong for once. Why do I push those around me to the brink of madness? What is wrong with me? I'm not worthy to be called Princess, I'm not worthy to even be anyponies friend. I can't anymore, I just can't. I'm going to close off the school, I won't teach anypony else, I infect and destroy everypony I get close to. I can't even let myself even try anymore. "Oh Sunset, I am so so sorry." I mumbled, as if that would help anything now and all thoughts left me as I wept and shook in pain over the body of my once student and the last reminder of what happens when I get close to anypony. "Sunset." Author's Note If you've made it this far thank you for reading! I always wanted to try for a revenge fic and this was also a little experiment I wanted to do to see how deep I could go into first person perspective, down to the tunnel vision we all get when obsessed with something. It was honestly one of the harder things I've written, getting into the head of Sunset and trying to get that feel of losing your mind as you obsess over a goal to the exclusion of all else but I'm glad I did it. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it!
