Fires of Reprisal

I 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.