Staring out from a darkened cell is a white alicorn, her coat stained with blood, dirt and soot to the point that it’s hard to tell that she was even white. Her tricolor mane isn’t much better off, what’s left of it anyway. Her pink eyes stare towards the low light of the hallway, a dull fire of resistance burning in them. Her breath quickens as the expected hoofsteps approach her cell, even with the wing restraints and horn ring on her magic fuels her determination. The deep reserves of earth pony magic left unrestrained to fuel her resolve.
A black bat pony with a grey mane steps into her line of sight, and as he turns towards her, their eyes lock. His baleful green eyes war against her pink eyes, words could never describe the battle of wills that take place in that moment, but it is only just a moment. His hoof puts a key into the lock on her cell door, turning it with a click before swinging the door open. The key is quickly stowed away and his cat-o-nine tails whip takes its place.
“I see you’ve still got your spirit, Angel.” His voice is cold and cruel, as his eyes bore into hers again. He flicks his whip as he steps forward.
“And you are just as much a monster as ever, Qilinbian.” Angel spits, her eyes meet his and the war of wills resume.
“Such insolence, such resistance. You are very impressive, Angel. You truly live up to your father’s legacy.” Qilinbian smiles at her before striking her across the torso with his whip. The diamond shaped tips dig into her flesh, but she gives little more than a whimper.
“If you know my father’s story you should know that I will never give in.” Angel hisses through grit teeth. “Bloodstone Crown and his army fell to my dad and the Seaddle Coalition, and one day you will fall too.”
Her captor’s smile drops into a sneer as he strikes her again, this time hitting the other side of her torso. Fresh blood leaks down both of her sides as she stares back at him. Qilinbian lets out a growl and strikes her across the face with his whip, blood pours out of the wounds and slowly drips to the floor.
Angel runs her tongue over her lips, collecting some of the blood and then spitting it into Qilinbian’s face. “You. Will. Never. Break. ME!”
The raw anger and power in her voice as she screams makes Qilinbian’s ears fold back on instinct to protect them from harm. When her scream ends he walks forward until he’s nose to nose with her and lets out a screech that could wake the dead.
It’s Angel’s turn to fold her ears back to protect them, his wrathful screech bores into her skull like knives of white hot steel. Despite the pain she glares back at him, pulls her head back and slams her horn into his eye. The sharp tip pierces the lens of the eye and drives deep into the vitreous fluid of the eyeball.
Qilinbian’s scream of rage quickly becomes a scream of pain as he recoils, clutching his bleeding eye socket. He lashes out with his whip, aiming at her throat, but with only one working eye he misses. He flees back from her, stumbling out of her cell and tripping over his own hooves.
Angel’s eyes burn with wrathful fire as she strains against the chains holding her legs. The metal creaks, groans and snaps under the raw power of her earth pony magic. She shakes off the shackles as she steps forward, staring down the bat with a gaze that holds him in place. She slowly walks forwards, her eyes never leaving his good eye. “Qilinbian, for your crimes against Equestria and beyond I sentence you to death.”
Angel brings the tip of her horn down hard against his throat, the sharp tip pierces his flesh like a hot knife through butter. A wellspring of blood fountains around her horn as she shoves it farther and farther into his neck until it cuts through his spine. Angel pulls back, her horn coated in gore as she watches the light fade from Qilinbian’s eyes, the hate and bravado gone, replaced with fear of death.
“Goodbye, Qilinbian, may your soul rot in Tartarus for the rest of eternity.” Angel says as she reaches into his bag and pulls out the master key for the collar and restraints.
When the light finally leaves his eyes she unlocks her collar, wing restraints and horn ring. With her magic free she grabs the dropped whip and Qilinbian’s lifeless corpse while pulling out the key ring for the cells. One by one she unlocks the cells, freeing the ponies inside as she goes. When a pair of guards rounds the corner she lashes out with the whip in her magic, taking them down efficiently and coldly.
More and more guards come, each falling like the first two. Their healing supplies, food and other items taken from them and given to the ponies who need them the most. Slowly but surely Angel cuts a swath through the Tartarus that is Qilinbian’s base of operations, shredding the guards with help of the other captives. The procession of ponies slowly marches through the main hall, the guards that refuse to flee drop like flies.
Angel’s march leads them up to the biggest door in the entire place, once the grand entrance to a bat pony colony before the war, the door is stained with blood and viscera of those lost under Qilinbian’s reign of terror. With a roar of anger, Angel digs deep into her magical reserves as her telekinesis grasps the door, ripping it apart and letting the light of the morning dawn pour into the darkened halls.
Angel steps the rest of the way out into the morning light before turning around to face the ponies and other creatures that were once Qilinbian’s slaves. She floats before them their tormenter’s body, the black bat that had taken so much from all of them. As the sun rises behind her, her magic flares and Qilinbian’s body catches fire. She holds his burning body there for all to see until all that remains is a charred husk. A cheer rises from the crowd as she drops his husk on the top of the steps and shatters it into pieces.
“You are free.”
