//------------------------------//
// LVII - Hell 
// Story: Mortal Coil 
// by Reeve 
//------------------------------//

	My time in Cragsburg was… unpleasant to say the least… the most hellish, traumatic experience of my entire life to say the most. The idea that my suffering ended with my horn getting sawn off is laughable in retrospect. When the initial deed was done, and my screams of agony still echoed throughout the audience chamber, Terra shoved my severed horn into my face, forced me to look at it before casting into a fire before my very eyes. Only after I had been made to watch it turn to ash, did Gaia finally have me removed from her presence. I was stripped of my clothes and possessions, I could only watch helplessly as they took my spyglass and compass and threw them into a chest with the rest of my belongings. 

The two guards who had held me in place during the act, dragged me through the keep to an underground dungeon. When it came to the stairs, they simply pushed me down them, and only continued hauling me away when I was a twitching heap at the bottom. I was thrown into a cell on my own, where the only light was that which spilled through the narrow gaps between the bars of the door. My first move was to inch myself to the corner where I curled up and tried to cry myself to sleep, this time I only got as far as the crying before Terra returned.

I tried to be defiant at first; I knew my situation wasn’t going to get any better, so I thought I could at least ruin their satisfaction somewhat. I mocked Terra, told him his Lady Gaia was probably upstairs letting every guard in the keep screw her rigid while he was distracted there with me. That certainly got him angry, but unfortunately I got too into it, enjoying what little payback I could deliver that I accidentally let slip something I shouldn’t have. I laughed at him in a hoarse voice, and told him how we slaughtered their army at Anchorage and how their soldiers at Brine were almost certainly dead as well. 

I knew as soon as the words left my lips, that I had made a terrible mistake. After that, the real torture began. They shaved my mane and tail until they were both cropped short, once upon a time I would have considered that to be the worst torture that could be inflicted upon anypony; they quickly showed me how naïve I had been. They were very creative in their methods, mainly they would use various blades to inflict cuts onto my body, but they also used hot irons to burn and different mechanisms to break. 

On my left flank, they branded over my cutie mark with a large ugly X, but because I bucked about so much against it, the brand didn’t stay in one spot and ended up scorching through most of my hindquarter. On the opposite flank, they simply cut around the cutie mark and peeled the square of flesh away. They twisted screws into my hooves and knees, before feeding my left hind leg, the one that Terra had shot with his crossbow, into a crushing device that thoroughly destroyed it beyond repair. They were kind enough to leave me with the useless appendage, dangling limply behind me if ever I walked. 

They would sometimes hold me down on a bench and stretch a cloth over my face, before pouring water onto the cloth. Sometimes they would just cut to the chase and shove my face into a bucket of water. They kept at me almost constantly, whenever they finally left me alone in my cell, I was shackled to the wall and a plate of bread and bowl of water were placed in the centre of the room, literally two inches out of my reach. After a while I accepted I was never going to reach the dishes no matter how much I squirmed and stretched my limbs, so I started trying to use that time to sleep… or just allow my body to pass out.

Whenever they saw me attempting that, they would kick me awake again. They also experimented with some… internal torture that I don’t like to think about, I’ll just say that they castrated me in more than one way and leave it at that. I was actually worried with the lengths they were going to make me suffer, that some of the stallions who were either guarding me or performing the torture wouldn’t… force themselves on me. It seemed however that that was the one depth they wouldn’t sink, not that they didn’t want to.

I overheard my guards discussing it while I was looking miserably at my out of reach food, but Terra chose that moment to appear and shout his head off at them, telling them how disgusting they were to even consider doing such a thing with an ‘abomination such as myself’. The reason for all this torture was, although I’m sure they would have done it regardless, finding out exactly how I was involved in what happened at Anchorage and by extension, the rest of the country and operating factions. 

I tried to so hard not to talk, it took all my willpower not to answer their questions and to face the next wave of pain… but they broke my willpower just as easily as they broke everything else about me. I told them exactly what happened in Anchorage, what the situation with the Dragoons was and where their troops were, same with the Rebellion, Liberators and Arcane Order, although I didn’t know an awful lot about the latter. I told them every little detail I knew about who was involved in doing what and where they could be found, even my friends, though it broke my heart to do so.

They figured out that I had entered the keep by causing the disturbance in the courtyard and entering by the window, particularly since Fluttershy had escaped that way before flying out of the city, but they wanted to know how I got past the city wall to begin with. By that point I was beyond trying to resist, and told them of the pony who helped me. A while later, Terra returned and accused me of lying, claiming that no such pony lived in Cragsburg. I insisted I was telling the truth, and while he didn’t believe me, he gave up as he assumed my mind had broken during the interrogation. 

When Terra was satisfied that I had revealed as much as I knew about my allies and his enemies, he took great pleasure in telling me how he was going to use the information to destroy them and make sure my friends suffered the same torment I had. After that, he cut out my tongue with what looked like a pair of screw adjusted scissors, before ordering his men to carry on torturing me as they saw fit. On one occasion after that, Terra came down and brought a stop to my anguish, and ordered me be transported upstairs.

They placed me in shackles, not like I could have escaped anyway. Even if I had been given a clear path to the front door, I doubt I would have had the heart left to try and leave. They brought me to the audience chamber where the room was packed full of ponies dressed in in green robes and armour, all kneeling down and facing towards the throne where Gaia stood to address them. I was placed next to the throne in plain view of everypony, I could see them sniggering as they looked up at me. I wanted nothing more than to go back to my cell and curl up where nopony would see me. 

What followed was that Gaia delivered some kind of sermon to her flock, preaching about how the world was a beautiful thing, tainted by the unnatural scum that plagued it and sought to destroy that beauty by propagating the world with their own foul races. I listened to her spout madness, and watched as her masses ate it all up. They looked up at her with dim, shallow expressions, smiling and nodding like good little sheep. It really was an incredible display of brainwashing, harrowing to think that normal ponies in this day and age could be convinced to believe such rubbish and carry out atrocities in its name. 

I think it was half way through my third day, so hard to tell, all time seemed to blur into one big mess in my mind. I was lying in a heap in my cell, staring into space somewhere in the opposite corner while Terra stood over me. He wore a sadistic smile, the same one I had come to associate with imminent pain during my time there. I wondered if he really believed the nonsense Gaia was preaching, or if he was just going along with it in order to live out his own twisted fantasies.

“I hope you enjoyed the Lady’s sermon,” he was saying, I wasn’t sure how long he had been there talking at me. “She was certainly happy to have you there witnessing it.”

Naturally I didn’t reply, I wondered if this was how Stranglethorn had felt when he lost his tongue. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Terra’s hoof connected sharply with my jaw.

“You will look up at me when I speak to you, insolent sow!” he bellowed in a furious tone.

I obeyed and titled my head so I was staring back up at him, while he fixed that same smile back onto his face.

“That’s much better,” he went on, quickly calming down. “The time has come for you to start learning humility, and to obey your betters when they give you a command, so that is a good start.”

I gave a weary nod, not really registering a word he was saying.

“That is why the Lady had you attend earlier,” he explained. “If you are to serve in her new world, in your rightful place, then you must come to recognise her as the ultimate authority on all things…”

His words stopped instantly as something spiked out through his neck, emerging just below his chin. Terra’s eyes went wide, and even I was a little surprised by it. I could hear the gurgling coming from his throat as he attempted to speak, even with the blade piercing it. Just as suddenly as it appeared, it was retracted, and Terra slowly fell to his knees, blood trickling form the wound while he wore an expression of mild confusion, like he couldn’t understand what was happening. As he landed on his knees, he turned his head slowly to look at the figure who emerged from the shadows behind him, a figure dressed in a red and blue striped harlequin outfit, complete with grinning mask and a pair of rondel daggers, one in each hoof.

Pinkie Pie circled around until she was facing Terra, lifting up her grinning mask to reveal that for once, she was not smiling beneath it. Pinkie wore a look of such undiluted hatred, that even I felt a twinge of fear looking up at her. Terra opened his mouth to speak but Pinkie brought both daggers down, plunging the blades into his eyeballs. When she pulled them back out this time, the eyes were gouged out with them, and she swiftly kicked Terra’s body off to one side. Pinkie quickly pulled the eyes off her daggers before sheathing them and turning to me. As soon as she saw me, her anger began to fade away, replaced with a look of such unending misery.

“Oh Rarity…” she breathed in a voice that barely resembled the one I remembered so well.

She knelt down in front of me, reaching around the back of my neck where I heard some clicking before the shackle chaining me to the wall opened and I was free. I didn’t move however, I simply lay there staring up at Pinkie, feeling nothing as I did.

“Rarity… you’re free,” Pinkie told me in a slightly desperate tone. “We can escape now.”

I turned my face away from her, it was the only movement I could muster. I didn’t want to look at her, knowing how I had sold her and the others out. 

“Rarity, please…” Pinkie begged, lightly taking hold of my head and turning it to face her. “Applejack and Rainbow Dash are here, we’re going to get you to safety. Rarity… why won’t you talk to me?”

Pinkie looked miserable as she looked me up and down in the low light, she looked like she was about ready to cry when realised just how much my body had been through.

“What did those monsters do to you?” Pinkie asked, her voice quavering as her anger began bubbling back up. “Can you even talk anymore?”

I gently shook my head, I would have opened my mouth to show her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that much. Pinkie started to look very distressed, clearly unsure how to convince me to leave with her, but completely unwilling to leave me there.

“It’s okay Rarity,” she began to say. “I can carry you, you don’t have to do anything until we… oh, wait!”

She suddenly remembered something, reaching into her pocket with her hoof she began searching about for something.

“Applejack has the rest of your stuff,” she explained. “But I brought this for you…”

As she spoke, she held out something in her hoof, I saw a flash of gold and my jaw dropped slightly. It was my father’s compass, resting on her hoof.

“Remember what you told me when we first met?” Pinkie said hopefully as she held the compass up to my face. “This was your fathers, he gave it to you the last time you saw him. You can see them again Rarity, I promise you will, just let us help you.”

I reached up with a shaking hoof and tried to take the compass, my grip was weak, but Pinkie helped me get a hold of it. As I held it in my trembling hoof ad looked down at it, I began to cry. I thought I had already shed every tear I had left while they tortured me, but just seeing the compass and remembering my family brought a fresh wave. Suddenly I wanted nothing more than to leave, to stop playing hero and find them, to cling to my mother and father like I was still a foal and never leave the comfort of their sides ever again.

Pinkie held me in a surprisingly gentle hug while I wept, I could tell she was eager to get moving, but at the same time didn’t want to rush me. I sniffed back my tears and tried to give the compass back to Pinkie for safe keeping, but she simply put it back in its pouch and draped it around my neck. After that, she helped me stand up and together we began shuffling out into the dungeon corridor, right outside my cell door were a pair of guards with their throats slashed open. Pinkie helped me most of the way, but I tried my best to stumble forward on my own three legs, trying my best to ignore the pain that I had started to become numb to.

We arrived upstairs in time to see Applejack locked in combat with a soldier; they had both dropped their weapons and were brawling it out. Just as we arrived in the room, Applejack managed to grab the mare’s head in her forelegs and began twisting. Pinkie called out to her, and Applejack looked up in surprise. The moment she saw the state I was in, her jaw dropped and I heard a loud snap from the mare’s neck before she went limp. Applejack quickly tossed her aside and hurried over to us, I noticed she had a bag swung over her back, I guessed it contained my recovered items.

“Holy Celestia, Rarity!” she exclaimed as she rushed up, hesitating as she wasn’t sure whether she should hug me or not in my condition. “How could they do this to you?!”

“Applejack, find Rainbow and get her out of here,” Pinkie ordered as she began walking towards another door.

“Where the heck are you goin’?!” Applejack demanded in a panicked voice.

Pinkie looked back over her shoulder, the same look of unrivalled fury on her face as when she killed Terra.

“To find this Gaia,” she began in a dark tone, pulling her mask back over her face which now looked more sinister than ever. “And kill the bitch!”

Before Applejack could object, Pinkie was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving just the pair of us.

“Don’t you worry Sugarcube” Applejack said in a shaky voice. “We’ll get you out of here… and Fluttershy will patch you up.”

I nodded, although I doubted there was very much left for Fluttershy to save. Without another word, Applejack scooped me up and threw me over her back, and began running towards the next door. Even with me and my possessions weighing her down, Applejack still made a formidable fighter, and made quick work of the few soldiers who tried to get in our way. It was only when we reached the audience chamber and found Rainbow Dash fighting against more than half a dozen ponies, that Applejack set me down.

“Get to the exit,” she commanded in an urgent whisper. “Stick to the edge of the room and keep goin’, ah’ll help Rainbow.”

With that, she charged off with her claymore swinging, while I started limping in the direction of the archway at the end of the room that would lead to the entrance hall. While walking, I lost my balance and had to catch onto one of the columns for support. While I was immobilised, I scanned over the room, together Rainbow and Applejack were making easy work of their opponents, just like they had done at Anchorage. However my eyes were drawn to the end of the chamber I had just come from, where a pony had just emerged beside the throne.

Gaia stood there, staring down at the fight and looking livid, in her hooves she cradled a crossbow. It was the same one Terra had used on me; I wondered if maybe she had found out he was dead. She raised it up, her hooves shaking with anger as she tried to take aim, struggling to decide between her two targets. In the end she settled on Rainbow Dash, probably because she was a pegasus, and she steadied her aim for the shot. I wanted to cry out, to shout a warning, but I was completely mute. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both so focused with their current opponents that they hadn’t even noticed Gaia’s appearance.

In an instant I knew exactly what I had to do, and it was as if the rest of the world had melted away around us, until only Gaia, Rainbow Dash and I all stood in an endless abyss. I charged forward, running in the most inelegant fashion I could have managed with my dead leg dragging clumsily behind me, while the other three pulled double duty despite being in incredible amounts of pain too. I drowned out the pain though, pushed it all into the back of my mind so that the only thing to focus on was getting to Rainbow Dash before Gaia’s bolt did.

A feat made considerably harder as I saw her pull the trigger and watched as the bolt was fired, almost in slow motion. I was amazed by how much I was still able to give, no matter what punishment my body endured. When one of my friends was in danger, it rose to the challenge every time, no matter how much it hurt. With one final burst of energy, I leapt forward off my front legs, throwing my whole body against Rainbow Dash and feeling her tumble under my weight. As soon as we connected, reality spiralled back in and we both toppled to the floor.

Rainbow Dash quickly recovered, confused at first by what happened, but I continued to lie there on my back, suddenly aware of a numb sensation washing over me. I glanced down and saw the bolt jutting out of my chest, reminding me of when I was shot in the leg, only… getting shot in the leg didn’t make me feel so tired. My eyes found Rainbow Dash who was staring in undisguised horror at me, her silver spear shaking in her grip. I then saw her gaze snap up to the dais where the throne was, and anger flash across her face as she launched her spear like a javelin before speeding after it.

Applejack dropped to her knees beside me, she was muttering in a panicked voice as she looked over me, her voice stammering as she tried to tell me it would be okay. I knew it wasn’t going to be okay, I could feel the pain now, it was rolling in in waves. My head was feeling heavy, like a thick fog had descended around me, it might have explained while my vision was getting so blurry and all sound was slowly getting replaced by a dull ringing noise. It was an odd sensation overall, after all the torture I had endured up to that point, I’d say that felt rather tame in comparison. 

Maybe it was because I knew it was an end to all my pain, that my mind accepted it more readily. Whatever the case, there wasn’t much time left to think or feel anything before my eyelids drooped shut and my body fell limp. And with that, my brain shut down, my lungs stopped breathing, my heart stopped pumping… and I stopped living.