Darkness. Everywhere around Twilight Sparkle was pure darkness. The floor was solid, though she couldn’t tell what it was made of. The void she was in stretched on for what seemed like infinity. Hesitant, she took her first steps in this strange world. Each step she took echoed in this vast plain of nothingness.

It was quite unnerving, something that was only made worse when additional footsteps accompanied hers. Startled, Twilight spun around to see a group of people slowly shambling towards her, all of different species she had never seen before. They looked just like the zombies that Balgo had summoned in the Everfree Forest. Brown, dried up skin, a skeletal frame and eyes that were a pale yellow. They were walking with their head looking down, not paying any attention to the unicorn.

“There isn’t much to see here, wouldn’t you agree?”

Balgo’s voice echoed throughout the void, nearly making Twilight jump in surprise. The zombies heard his voice too as it would seem. For a moment, they looked very agitated before calming down and resuming their shambling.

“In this world, I am Schrodinger’s cat. I am everywhere, and nowhere all at the same time.”

The unicorn looked curiously at the harmless zombies, wondering why they were even here. Balgo picked up on her curiosity and immediately answered her question before she could even think to ask.

“My world greets the souls of the damned. The souls of those who have spat on the values that my brother cherished. As punishment for their sins, I get to claim their souls instead of Knoxx, and I bring them here, in my domain. In Hell, there is no death for the damned.”

Twilight Sparkle felt a shiver go up her spine. Those weren’t mindless ghouls like those she had seen during Canterlot’s invasion. She trotted up to the souls. Upon closer inspection, she could indeed notice some emotions on their skeletal face.

“Careful not to get too close to the damned, Twilight. You don’t want them to notice you.” his voice sounded menacing this time. It was a genuine warning that she should take seriously. The unicorn quickly backed away from the damned souls.
She took some time to observe the souls shamble away before remembering the very reason why she was even here in the first place.

“Where did you hide the Element of Magic, Balgo?!” she shouted, getting more and more impatient with the Devil’s evil game.

“Hmm, how about this way?” responded Balgo, clearly not listening to her. Light suddenly beamed through an entryway that wasn’t there before. Twilight noticed this new path behind her and was now facing it.

On the other side was some sort of ballroom, with classical music playing, spinning floors but no one in sight. Though hesitant to go through it, she figured that there was not much she could do. After all, she was in Hell. At this point, it would be stupid to believe she could even have the slightest bit of control over what could happen.

Now inside the ballroom, the music got just a little bit louder so she could clearly hear it. The lights in the room began to dim, and the whole place was now filled with spirits of couples, dancing in the room. Nobody was paying any attention to her as always, which was a good thing considering this place was reserved for the biggest of scumbags.

An elegant stallion suddenly appeared before her eyes. The purplish glint in his eyes and the fact that he did not look similar to the souls confirmed his true identity to Twilight immediately.

“Have I ever told you just how much I like classical music? No? Well, I figure now’s a good time to show you.”

Balgo approached her, but Twilight was greatly on edge, backing away from the false stallion.

“Just what kind of trick are you going to pull on me this time?” asked the unicorn in a very aggressive voice.

“Tell me Twilight Sparkle; do you know how to dance?”

Twilight was taken aback by the Devil’s strange question. She quickly glanced over the spirits dancing by themselves before answering him. “N-No, I never learned. Mostly because I’m not interested in it.”

The deity smiled. “For somepony born in the prestigious city of Canterlot, you sure look somewhat detached from all of this. I get it; it took me a while to force myself to be more elegant and civilised in my duties.” He got up on his hind legs and took Twilight’s hooves into his own, bringing her closer to him. “There’s a first time for everything, right?”

Before she could even say anything, Balgo began to spin around slowly, forcing her to keep up with him. Not knowing how to dance like that, Twilight often tripped on herself, nearly falling down but she was always pulled back up before she could hit the ground by the deity.

“Might I suggest you observe how I move my legs and try to copy their movement?”

The unicorn did just as he proposed, though still had her fair share of questions. “What’s the meaning of this? Are you just playing with my hopes?”

Balgo’s amusement quickly left his face, now replace with a serious look. “The spirits in this room will tear you apart with their bare hands should they notice you’re not actually one of them. The only way through the ballroom is by dancing with someone of the opposite gender. Now, the problem was that I didn’t send an ally with you in Hell, so I had to fill the role.”
His answer only made the whole situation more confusing for Twilight. “Why are you helping me now? All this time, you’ve done nothing but hinder me in every way you saw fit. Now you’re going to help me collect the Element of Magic?”

“Twilight... At this point, it should be painfully obvious to you that I don’t fear the Elements of Harmony. Their power is impressive, yes, but I'm so much stronger than that.”

Twilight responded with a look of disbelief.

“I see in you great potential, Twilight. I’ve felt a strange urge to push you further than you’ve ever been pushed before. I am making you stronger all the while I'm having a ball, we’ll both come out victorious in the end. If you succeed in retrieving the Element of Magic; then I will leave Equestria alongside my kin and we’ll never come back to conquer or destroy your world.”
Twilight wasn’t buying what he was promising, he could very well be lying. “You’re lying.”

Balgo simply chuckled. “Believe what you will, but you should know I'm a deity of my word.” He stopped dancing all of the sudden and let go of her hooves. “We’ve passed through.” he noted.

The lavender unicorn looked back in surprise to see that they had indeed went through the entire ballroom rather quickly. She was so caught up in their discussion that she hadn’t even noticed the progress they were making. “Wel-” Balgo was already gone, leaving her on her own yet again. She sighed and continued on her way, wondering what awaited her beyond the ballroom.

The room she was in still had the same aesthetic as the ballroom. Fancy looking and very bright, but most importantly, it felt cozy. A different song was playing in this empty room, mostly coming from her left.

Twilight looked in the direction in which the music was being played. There was a large staircase leading to a room above her, with a window that allowed her to see what was inside, though not much could be distinguished from down there. She climbed up the stairs, arriving at the peculiar room.

The whole place was littered with all sorts of furniture, some looked fairly ordinary, which stood out in a world like this. Sewing machines, painting equipment and more items that wouldn’t necessitate further investigation. On the other hand, there were machines that looked like they had no other goal but to inflict pain, there was even a grinder in there which only made this theory more plausible. This was most likely Balgo’s lair.

The most interesting part of this room to Twilight were the various paintings hung up on the walls. They varied wildly in what was depicted on them. Some paintings showed gruesome methods of inflicting pain, both physically and spiritually. The rest however, presented something much more innocent, adorable even. One of them was a painting of Balgo and a Scaler who’s entire figure commanded respect and kindness. They were both smiling happily and looking as if they were posing for a picture. Others showed the Devil with other Scalers that Twilight had seen, playing golf, admiring the sunrise and watching a spectacle.

“My whole life isn’t dedicated to just conquering worlds and managing Hell you know. I have friends, a brother and an entire race who adores me.” spoke out Balgo. Twilight looked at the painting in which the voice came from. The Devil on the drawing had sprung up to life and was now talking to her.

“Some Scalers found your profound admiration of friendship rather corny, but I know better than to throw out some hasty judgement. I know the importance that such contacts bring in your life, and know just as well how painful it is to lose them.”

Twilight immediately thought of Celestia and grew angry once more at the Scaler. “Didn’t stop you from killing my mentor and making me drag her body around.”

“Heh, at the very least you aren’t responsible for her death. The same cannot be said for me, though I’m not asking for sympathy nor am I looking for comfort.”

The lavender unicorn started to lose her patience with all of this. She just wanted to get this all over with. “Well? Where am I supposed to go next? It’s your world after all, why don’t you take me to where the Element is located? Otherwise, your so called “game” would be impossible to beat.”

Balgo chuckled. “Ho ho, So you believe I’m going to give you a chance to win? Well, you’d be absolutely correct. I don’t like to rig my games to win. Victory is to be earned fairly, or else it won’t bring me any satisfaction.”

The wall behind Twilight Sparkle began to crack open, revealing a new entryway. What was on the other side of that entrance was hard to tell, for there wasn’t much light in there. Yet, the unicorn trotted onward, her frustration having outweighed her fear.

One step through the entryway and she now found herself falling down. Before she could even think to use a levitation spell to break the fall, she landed in shallow water. Standing up, she noticed something about the waters she was in; the liquid that composed this area was blood. Around her, was an ocean of blood. Piles of corpses littered the ocean, barely illuminated by the moon up above in the dark sky containing red stars that shined ominously.

What was the strangest part of this ocean was the corpses that would sometime rise out of the blood while others sunk down. It was as if the floor of this place wasn’t well defined, it could be deep or shallow even.

Now stained with blood, Twilight Sparkle tried her best to not let this disturbing place get the better of her as she sluggishly moved through the thick substance. It was hard not to let her stomach turn itself upside down. The smell of this ocean was nauseating, the bloodied souls roaming around, each at varying stage of decomposition.

“Welcome to the ocean of blood Twilight Sparkle! I once brought Princess Luna in there when she tried to pop in my dreams unannounced.” exclaimed Balgo, now sitting on a pile of corpse. All the corpses around sunk into the blood immediately the moment the Scaler came into view.

Twilight tried to question him further, but suddenly felt the urge to vomit, courtesy of this terrible smell. She held a hoof to her mouth to stop herself just in time. This embarrassing display only served to amuse the Devil.

“I have some good news however; The Element of Magic is here somewhere. And so is Celestia.”

That last sentence got the unicorn’s heart beating nearly twice as fast. She looked back at Balgo with wide eyes. “Ce-Celestia’s here?!”

“Yes, yes she is.” quickly responded the Scaler. “I didn’t say you had to rescue her to win the game, but you’re free to do so if you want to. I must warn you however, this place is very dangerous for a mortal.”

He looked at the horizon and pointed with his finger at something in the distance. Twilight followed his gaze and saw something massive coming out of the blood ocean, though it was thankfully far away from her.

“Not only that, but you’ll also have to worry about the souls in here. You see, they can’t leave Hell since they don’t have a living body to control but... you do. They’ll absolutely try to tear your soul out so they can take control of it and leave Hell. You don’t want that to happen, do you?”

Twilight’s fear and disgust were slowly replaced with determination and courage at the thought of finally being able to see her mentor again. She would stop at nothing to save her from the clutches of this tyrant.

“For the moment you are safe from the souls since my very presence scares them away. But watch what happens when I leave.” on these words, Balgo faded away, leaving Twilight alone.

Mere seconds after the Devil was gone, the souls in the ocean resurfaced, each having their pale-yellow eyes set on her. She could feel the desperation and anger coming from these ghouls. Their mouths were wide open, their entire body now looking far more energetic than they ever were. Thankfully, they were slow while Twilight was quick and small compared to most of them.

They weren’t the problem, no. THAT would be the giant monstrosity hidden below the water coming towards her. The distant sound of its splashing getting closer... closer.

Seeing the sea horror closing in on her was quite terrifying but nonetheless, Twilight pushed on, outmanoeuvering the undead in her desperate attempt to flee the beast. This thing was much faster than her, but surely, she could find a way to get it off her tracks.

Bingo! Twilight saw what looked like an old, broken-down castle in the distance. She could definitely reach this place before the monster could catch up. She galloped over the pile of corpses, taking advantage of the souls' lack of mobility.

However, as she was nearing the castle, a hand suddenly grabbed her, coming from under the bloody water. She tripped face first in the blood. As she pulled her head out to get some air, the soul that had grabbed surfaced, crawling towards her, his dried-up hand reaching out for her face. Her stress and fear of her current situation filled her body with adrenaline.
Without thinking, she bucked the soul in the face, multiple time. She kept on going until his face had been completely bashed in for it was only at that point that he finally let go of her leg. She finally got back on her hooves, now realising that the sea creature was getting dangerously close.

Thankfully, the castle was only a few meters away and thus, she fled into the safety of the old building.

“That was quite vicious back there, Twilight. You’re getting good at exerting violence.”

The voice bounced around the castle’s walls, making it impossible to discern where it originated from. Twilight Sparkle was growing weary of the Devil, her fears slowly being replaced with irritation.

Without even responding, she moved further into the old keep, her gaze lying on a nearby staircase that led down. She could feel magic below her, a familiar magic. It was definitely Equestrian in nature. Her heart started beating faster as realisation passes through that it must be Celestia.

“Ooooh. You can feel her magic, can’t you? Let me remind you that rescuing her is the easy part. Getting back the Element of Magic... is a whole other story.”

Twilight descended the long flight of stairs, lured in by a green light at the bottom. She took a small peak down and never felt this happy in her life to see Celestia again.

Finally arriving at the bottom, she ran up to her mentor, screaming her name to get her attention. Princess Celestia lifted her head and was extremely surprised to see her most faithful student in front of her.

“Tw-Twilight? Is that really you?” she said softly as she stood up. Twilight rushed in for a hug, which calmed down the agitated alicorn, now smiling back at ther student.

After a long moment, they finally broke the hug. “Princess Celestia, I have come to get you of here! We’ve got to find the Element of Magic first before we leave!”

Celestia looked down at her hooves, lifting one of them up to reveal that she was chained to the floor and these chains were enhanced with magic. “I can’t exactly leave; Balgo has chained me here with these magical chains. Even my magic can’t break through it. Believe me; I've tried for so days.”

Twilight examined the chains intensely. “We’ve got to find a way to remove them, I'm not leaving without you!”

Celestia’s smile slowly faded away, now replaced with a more serious expression. “Twilight, I know you might not like it, but if you’re unable to free me from these chains; you’ll...” She stopped briefly to regain her composure as sadness was starting to leak through her speech. “You’ll have to leave me behind.”

Twilight looked at her mentor in disbelief. “No, I won’t leave you here. I-I-I'll set you free!” she exclaimed, having raised her voice greatly out of stress. “Well, my first idea is to combine both of our power to break these chains. I know I'm nowhere near as strong as you, but surely my magic combined with yours should damage them.”

Celestia nodded and on her signal, they both fired the strongest blast of magic they could muster. Strong gusts of wind erupted from their attack; the light emitted by their horns blinding the both of them.

After the light had faded and the dust had settled, Twilight watched in horror as the chains barely had a scratch on it. “We, we could try using teleportation magic in that case!”

The lavender unicorn was ready to try, but Princess Celestia had a sad look of resignation on her face. “Twilight... These chains can nullify any and all magic with the sole exception being the type of spell that rely solely on brute force. If we can’t break them together with force, then I'm afraid there’s nothing we can do.”

Her student’s eyes began to tear up. Her lips shaking in denial. “P-p-princess... I don’t know how I can go on without you.”
The alicorn wanted to respond with some words of encouragement, but before she could even utter a single word; a devilish voice spoke first.

“What a sad display. This could make for a great sob story. The student must abandon her teacher.”

Balgo had suddenly appeared inside this dark catacomb that was the alicorn’s prison. Twilight slowly turned her head around to face the Devil, her eyes now filled with rage. She had no more place for fear in her heart. Her hatred for Balgo had surpassed the initial terror she felt when she first encountered him.

“You monster! I won’t let you get away with everything that you’ve done to us!” shouted Twilight, her voice now filled with rage.

Balgo entire face contorted into an expression of pure excitement.

“Yes, YES! For so long have I not met someone who didn’t fear me! It would appear that my efforts are finally being rewarded!” He grabbed his top hat and threw it away, in place he put the Element of Magic on his head. “New rules! To win the game you must spill my blood in this very room. If you can succeed...” His grin grew nearly twice as large. “I’ll free your little princess.”

The wind began to howl. The atmosphere of the room suddenly became much more tense than before. A wall slowly rose from the ground just in front of the two combatants. Both slowly walked put to the wall, staring down at it, feeling the other’s power slowly rising.

Channeling both their energy, Balgo planted his fists in the wall, using dark energy to enhance their power while Twilight fired the most powerful beam she could muster. Balgo screeched in a high pitch tone as the wall shattered completely under the weight of their attacks.

Pushing against the beam, Balgo saw an opening and delivered a powerful kick at the unicorn, a kick strong enough to rend her bones but Twilight saw it coming and narrowly avoided it. Using telekinesis, she flung Balgo at the wall behind her, making sure to push him as hard against it. The Devil had a rather surprised expression as he was crushed under the rubbles.

It was raining now. Twilight realised that she was no longer inside the old castle, she was in a deserted plain. The sky was covered in clouds and Celestia was now on a nearby hill, still chained up and forced to watch the ensuing battle.
“You’re a shock!”

The unicorn focused back on the fight. Balgo was in melee range, he let out a deep breath as his muscles tensed up. Twilight felt a strong attack coming up and summoned a magical shield to protect herself.

The Scaler lifted his fists in a boxing stance and began to punch at the shield at a blinding speed. His punches left behind afterimages that multiplied soon in the dozens, covering the unicorn’s whole vision with his fists. Without skipping a beat, Balgo switched it up to kicks.

Pulling back his left fist for a strong hit, the Devil thrusted it forward, obliterating the shield that was keeping her safe and launching Twilight far away. She was shaken up by the impact, stumbling to get back on her hooves.

The monster was now slowly marching towards her, but the unicorn had an idea. One that he won’t see coming seeing as he was blinded by his own excitement. Feigning fear, Twilight quivered before the approaching Scaler who now looked down on her with disappointment.

“Is that it?”

Twilight’s fake expression of fear turned into a grin. “Not quite.”

Balgo suddenly lost his balance and fell. Then, he felt his leg being chopped up cleanly. His sliced off leg falling just in front of Twilight.

Celestia was at a total loss for words and so was Balgo. His face expressing genuine surprise for the first time since the start of this game. The unicorn had created a portal under one of Balgo’s leg and closed it right when he fell in it.

In one well planned move, she had not only spilled the blood of the Devil, but took out a limb entirely.

“You said I needed to spill your blood?” said Twilight with a smug expression.

Balgo stared at her in silence for a while longer, seeing all the potential in this mortal. Finally, he smiled. Not a grin, but a genuine smile of respect. He bowed his head and tipped the Element of Magic as if it was his top hat.

In less than a second, he grew back his missing leg and knelt before the unicorn. The chains around Celestia faded away, setting the alicorn free.

“I am no sore loser. I recognise that my hubris and lack of discipline led to your victory. As promised, you get Celestia back and the last Element of Harmony.” The crown levitated on its own and placed itself upon Twilight’s head.

The alicorn immediately flew towards her student, landing just to her side. “Twilight! I can’t believe what I've seen.” The unicorn quickly closed the distance and hugged her again, this time tighter than before.

Now being finally out of Hell, Celestia got to witness the ongoing battle raging on between the Scalers and her people. Before she could act, Balgo stepped in, pulling out a war horn from his tuxedo and walked to the nearest elevated position. With one great puff of air, he blew into the horn.

Upon hearing it, every Scaler in Canterlot stopped fighting to look in the direction of their master. After the sound of the horn faded, they pulled out a strange contraption and placed it on their chest. Much to the ponies' surprises, the lizards disappeared in a flash. Soon enough, there were no Scalers remaining in the city, all except for Balgo, Mugen and Smithy.
Descending from his elevated position, the emperor looked back at the unicorn and the alicorn.

“I always follow through with my promises. You have proven your worth to me, and I shall hold you in higher regards from now on, Twilight. Lastly, I promise that I won’t come back to Equestria to either destroy or conquer it. You have my word.”

Celestia wasn’t fully certain however. “Are you going to respect this promise? I don’t find you entirely trustworthy. Your actions now are contradicting what you’ve been trying to accomplish when you first stepped foot into Equestria.”
Balgo shrugged it off without much care. “What can I say? There’s been a change of plan. I believe my empire has grown big enough anyway.”

The Scaler stepped back, his body beginning to glow purple. Soon, his entire frame was covered in dark energy. “Don’t be mistaken Twilight; This won’t be the last time you’ll see me.”

And then he was gone in a flash.

The alicorn looked at the current state of her city and castle in exasperation. Now that the storm has passed, they’ll have to clean up this mess. She sighed deeply as she began to trot forward, with Twilight in tow.

Where to start? Where to start?

Author's Note

Only 4 chapters remaining. I'm not going to lie; I'm growing weary of writing this story. I already have other interesting ideas for future stories, not as ambitious as this story, but much simpler to grasp. I've been meaning to write them for at least a whole month, but was too busy trying to finish this. This does not mean that I'm going to just abandon it without attempting to write the four final chapters.

Yeah, this story HAS too much shit put into it. So many characters, so many plot points going at the same time. I was ~~perhaps~~ definetely being too ambitious here. All of my ideas for sequels are much more focused and simpler in terms of plot, though sound just as interesting as the premise for this one if not more. By the way, i'm still horribly confused as to why The Evil Within has over 200 views while all the other chapters barely go above 30 views...