Human

by DannyJ

Chapter 28: The Promised Land

"Remember, soldiers! You are facing GODS! The two humans! But we are the Equestrian Royal Guard! We stand tall before even the strongest of foes, without fear in our hearts! These monsters, they would see us cower in terror! They would see us trodden on, and toyed with for their amusement! But though we are mere mortals, that does NOT mean that we are weak! Even against all odds, Equestria WILL stand tall!"

The words of Captain Blade Edge replayed in Steel Hammer's mind. The pony who spoke those inspiring words just before the battle began galloped alongside him across the large grassy plains, towards the crowd of ponies engaging the humans.

"Come at me!" Lord Second shouted as he knocked aside four other squads at once. "You started this war! FINISH IT!"

"Stop encouraging them!" First yelled back to him.

"Make me!"

The two ponies reached the humans and drew their weapons. Blade Edge had his sword and charged Second, slashing at him repeatedly while his opponent ducked and weaved out of the way.

"Hahaha!" he laughed. "What's this?! A pony that finally got in range to at least try to hit me?! You're something special, sonny!"

He stopped dodging and grabbed the sword by the blade with his miraculously uninjured hand. He swiftly yanked it away and then whacked the captain hard on the nose with the handle. He drew blood, and Blade Edge fell to the floor. Second followed up by stomping on his throat.

Steel Hammer meanwhile had got in range of First, and was swiping at him with the war hammers. First was dodging them as well, but unlike his partner he had a much more serious expression, and wasn't taunting the guards. Steel could see in his eyes. He wasn't enjoying this quite as much as the other one. He actually treated it like a battle, rather than a game.

"Quit dodging me, human!" Steel growled. "Fight me like a stallion!"

First hesitated, but complied. He lunged forward and grabbed one of the war hammers in mid-strike. He smashed it into the side of his armour, and prepared for a second strike, when he saw another pony coming in to his right and threw the hammer at them instead.

Steel groaned as he tried to recover from the blow, but then looked up into the sky.

"ARTILLERY STRIKE!" he screamed to the captain.

Blade Edge looked up in horror as the rockets flew through the air towards them, ready to rain down death upon them.

First looked to Second.

"Give me!"

Second reached into his coat and pulled out the Reaper's horn. For a moment, the ponies were terrified, but then Second tossed it over to First, who pointed the weapon into the air and fired several shots. The rockets exploded in the air before they could reach them.

"Dang it, who ordered that artillery strike?!" the captain demanded.

While the two humans stared up at the sky, Steel Hammer seized the brief moment of inaction. He ran at First again, and grabbed the barrel of the weapon in his teeth, trying to wrench it out of First's hands. The human struggled against him, his own strength easily enough to overpower the soldier. Until he made a mistake.

The distinctive sound of the gun going off echoed across the battlefield, even amongst the chaos. Second noticed, and so did First, both looking down to see Steel Hammer bleeding from the chest where he had been shot.

First let go of the weapon, and backed away, staring at the wound that he had inadvertently caused. Steel was already beginning to feel his vision fade.

No... Not like this...

Struggling to stay conscious, he shook his head so that the weapon swung around one hundred and eighty degrees between his teeth, and he locked them down on the handle of the gun this time. First was still too shocked by what he had done to react. The soldier's tongue found the trigger, and pulled it back.

It fired again. First was hit right in the stomach, and immediately fell over. Second screamed. The recoil knocked Steel Hammer back and the shotgun went flying out of his mouth as he fell over as well, and went rolling down a small incline towards several other stunned royal guards.

"Steel!" Captain Blade Edge came into view, looming over the dying guard. "Damn it! I told you, we were to capture or subdue! What have you done?!"

Steel Hammer gasped for breath.

"...My duty to Equestria..."

He closed his eyes.

***

War hammers flew back and forth, and Rarity and Rainbow Dash were dodging as best they could. The latter was doing much better at avoiding the blows, speed and agility being her speciality, but Rarity kept getting hit. There wasn't enough force behind the attacks for them to be crippling, but it was still much more pain than she was used to.

"What, is, even, your, deal?!" asked Rainbow Dash, each word punctuated by another maneuver to avoid further strikes.

"Let all the Earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him!" Steel Hammer shouted back. "For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm!"

A hammer struck Rainbow in the face, and the pegasus went down.

"No!" Mystic cried out.

"STAY BACK!" Rarity shouted. "I can still do this!"

"But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine!"

Rarity was hit with both hammers, smashing her in the ribs from either side at once.

"Aghhh!" she screamed.

"Rarity!"

Rainbow Dash was back on her hooves, and flew up to grab one of the hammers right out of the air. She held it in her own teeth and charged Steel with it, who blocked it with his own and pushed back against her as Rarity staggered, trying to catch her breath. He smiled at the pegasus, even as she gave him an intense glare of hatred.

"A wise person fears the Lord and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless."

He shoved Rainbow back and dropped his hammer, instead choosing to hit her in the face with a heavily armoured hoof and sending her sprawling. Only then did he lift the hammer and smash it down on her. His victim cried out in pain again and he put the hammer back in place, after briefly turning his attention back to Rarity and striking her in horn. She hit the floor hard.

He looked over to Mystic, who was shaking. The two older ponies both groaned as they lied before him.

"You are sinners, and unworthy," Steel Hammer declared. "Rarity. Rainbow Dash. I consign your souls to the fifth circle, for the angry. And Mystic Chant. You will remain in the first circle of Limbo for all your days."

***

In the darkness, Celestia opened her eyes.

"...Where am I?"

The air was chill around her. She could feel herself shivering. Surprisingly, she found that she unable to move. Her lower half was absolutely freezing. It felt like...

Ice.

The darkness began to fade, and the lights that dimly illuminated her location revealed that she did indeed have her lower half trapped in ice. All around her, everything was frozen solid. She appeared to be in some kind of cavern. In the middle of the cavern was a pillar of ice that rose right up to the dome shaped roof, the sole feature of the otherwise empty place.

"Welcome to the ninth circle, princess."

Celestia twisted her neck around to see the human now standing behind her. He leaned on a cane and looked down at her with mild amusement.

"First! Please, I implore you. Stop this madness now! I thought you'd learned to do better! Don't give in to insanity like your father did!"

"Oh, would that I could..." First said wistfully. "Unfortunately, even in a playground where I can do anything I please, with every sapient creature in all of creation, past, present and future all worshipping the very ground that I walk on... I can still get a little stir crazy."

"First. I beg you. You're better than this. If there is any goodness in you, then you'll—"

"I'll what? I'll surrender my control of the eternal kingdom, so I can let those self-righteous mares dictate the proper moral code for the entire universe? What makes them the ones worthy to deal out the punishments for every guilty soul to ever exist? Why are they right to condemn me? What are their qualifications?"

"They're the Elements of Harmony," said Celestia. "They represent the most fundamental virtues of the world we live in!"

First leaned down, so that he was face to face with her.

"And that's why they're too soft."

He stood up and turned away, pacing a few steps before coming to a stop. He kept his back to her as he spoke.

"You know... This afterlife was here before I arrived. Back then, it was ran by Mortality, the alicorn of death, who would choose the exact moment that every living thing died and then keep their souls here, so that they could continue life in this realm while she observed and learned from them.

"She was one of my favourite characters in this great story. Morally ambiguous, a menacing presence, and one who brought up a lot of interesting philosophical questions. A method for me to contemplate higher concepts at a time in my life where I was feeling rather spiritual."

First looked back at Celestia and smiled.

"Unfortunately, while an interesting character, not the sort of person you want running the afterlife in any sort of realistic situation. When I found that this world was real, and I found that she really was the one who ruled the land of the dead, I knew something needed to be done."

His grin broadened.

"So I killed her."

He began giggling.

"I killed death!"

Then cackling.

"I. KILLED. DEATH."

He rushed over to Celestia, grabbed her by the horn, and forced her to look at him. She could see a glint of demonic red in his eyes as he gloated.

"AND DO YOU KNOW HOW I DID IT? BECAUSE I MADE HER! DEATH WAS MY CREATION, AND I WIPED HER FROM EXISTENCE WITH A WAVE OF MY HAND. AND NOW. NOW, PRINCESS. I. AM. DEATH."

***

Ancient Tome and Iron Hoof materialised into being before a wooden desk. It was the sole feature of an otherwise empty void of fog and stone floor. Stacked on the desk itself were several papers and other strange devices that appeared to be electronic, as they were wired into some green cube thing in front of the desk.

"What is this?" Tome asked curiously. "First's office?"

Iron cantered behind the desk and propped himself up on it with his forehooves.

"...Death certificates," he said grimly. "Naming everypony who died today by the look of it."

Tome levitated one over to examine it.

Gradual Progress.

Age 24.

Earth pony.

Junior scientist - Chemistry.

Brown coat, yellow mane, blue eyes, cutie mark of a test tube over a bunsen burner.

Died May 12th 1005 SSR. Killed by Lieutenant Meticulous Planning of the 501st legion, (File 7-BQ8R), as a mercy after zombie infection, in the Hoofmarch Military Research Facility.

Sins minimal.

Sentence: Paradise.

"...Hmm. Interesting."

Iron emerged from under the desk at that point. Tome hadn't even noticed his disappearance, but he was back now, and carrying a huge folder in his teeth.

"I found this in the bottom draw," he explained. "It's labelled 'register,' and I think it contains archives of past deaths."

Tome grabbed it and opened it up. He marvelled at what he saw.

"This folder is bigger on the inside..."

"Well, that's elder god magic for ya," Iron replied.

"Yeah... There must be millions of files in here, Iron. How does he find individual entries? There must be some kind of vocal command to summon them..."

He paused.

"Velocity."

A small paper sheet flew out of the folder, and levitated before the old unicorn. He snatched it out of the air and dropped the folder back on the desk.

Velocity Tome.

Age 36.

Pegasus.

Government weather inspector - Canterlot region.

Blue coat, white mane, green eyes, cutie mark of a tornado carrying snow.

Died September 15th 1001 SSR. Killed by disease in her bed in Sparkle Manor, surrounded by family in her last moments.

Committed heresy by joining the Brotherhood of Man, and deceived several of her friends, family and co-workers by denying said involvement. Also guilty of treachery/treason - Conspiring to overthrow the Equestrian government via the resurrection of Second.

Unrepentant.

Sentence: Sixth circle.

Tome's eyes watered as he read the file.

"No..."

He set it down again, and rushed for the folder.

"Frosty Morning!" he barked.

Another file floated out.

Frosty Morning.

Age 44.

Pegasus.

Weather pony - Canterlot region.

Light blue coat, white mane, brown eyes, cutie mark of a frosty patch of grass.

Died May 10th 1005 SSR. Killed by Commander Bullseye of the Knights of Man, (File 7-XG0P) for rebellion, in the Secopolis International Airport on the way to board the airship Prometheus.

Committed heresy by joining the Brotherhood of Man. Deceived several of her friends, family and co-workers by denying said involvement. Committed treachery/treason, first by conspiring to overthrow the Equestrian government via the resurrection of Second, and then further betrayed Second once aligned with him. Guilty of theft, of the Reaper's horn from the Canterlot archives, and murder, killing several royal guards in that same heist.

Repentant for heresy and deception, but not other sins, violence being most prominent.

Sentence: Seventh circle.

"...Arcane Arts!"

Lady Arcane Arts.

Age 73.

Unicorn.

Arch-mage of Canterlot (retired).

Lavender coat, white mane, yellow eyes, cutie mark of a series of magical runes, both ones outdated by her time and modern.

Died May 6th 1005 SSR. Killed by Lord Second (File 0-0000) while fighting an entity that was inhabiting her body at the time, in the throne room of the Palace of Kings in the city of Secopolis.

Committed heresy by joining the Brotherhood of Man. Deceived several of her friends, family and co-workers by denying said involvement. Committed treachery/treason by conspiring to overthrow the Equestrian government via the resurrection of Second. Also guilty of theft, of Second's statue from the royal gardens, and murder, later killing several royal guards during an assault on the palace.

Unrepentant.

Sentence: Seventh circle.

"Night Shroud!"

Private Night Shroud.

Age 37.

Lunar Pegasus.

Night guard and field medic.

Dark coat, dark mane, yellow eyes, cutie mark of a billowing cloak.

Died May 11th 1005 SSR. Killed by High Priest Sun Rise of the Secopolis Church of Humanity, (File 7-HQ6R) during a battle between the forces of the Equestrian Royal Guard and Lord Tirac's 54th Demon Legion, halfway up the Thousand Steps pathway to New Arachnia on the summit of Mt. Celestia.

Committed heresy by joining the Brotherhood of Man. Deceived several of his friends, family and co-workers by denying said involvement. Also committed treachery/treason, first by conspiring to overthrow the Equestrian government via the resurrection of Second, and then further betrayed Second once aligned with him.

Repentant for heresy and the first instance of treachery, but not other sins, deception being most prominent.

Sentence: Eighth circle.

"CHAMELEON!"

Chameleon Camouflage.

Age 46.

Unicorn, with large changeling heritage.

Regional head of Rare Gems Fashion legal department.

Yellow coat, orange mane, green eyes, cutie mark of a green flash.

Died May 5th 1005 SSR. Killed accidentally by Mystic Chant (File 7-PQ6R) in an attempt to defend another pony from her, in one of the guest rooms of the Canterlot Royal Palace.

Committed heresy by joining the Brotherhood of Man. Deceived multiple ponies throughout her life, primarily for the purposes of financial fraud. Also deceived several of her friends, family and co-workers by denying involvement with the Brotherhood, and impersonated another mare to seduce the mare’s coltfriend during her teenage years. Committed treachery/treason by conspiring to overthrow the Equestrian government via the resurrection of Second. Guilty of murder and attempted murder on several counts throughout her life, most prominently during a Brotherhood assault on the palace where she died. Also guilty of rape, via the above mentioned deception of a stallion while impersonating his marefriend.

Unrepentant.

Sentence: Eighth circle.

Tome threw the files down on the desk and collapsed against it.

"...Tome?"

"Leave me alone."

"Come on, Tomey..."

"They're damned, Iron! I mean... Chameleon I understand, but Frosty, my wife, my auntie... They're all in Hell. He sentenced them all to an eternity of..."

Iron walked over to Tome's side and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"Then let's go rescue them."

***

Still sat at the bar with Broad Sword and Inspector Seeing Eye, Explodey magically raised his pen to begin the quiz.

"So... first question," Explodey read aloud. "'Is your true name an unspeakable word or phrase that would cause damage, physical or mental, to mortal beings when spoken?' Hmm... I don't think it is. I'm gonna go with 'no' for that one."

He ticked a little box on the form.

"Number two. 'Same question, but regarding your true form.' True form? I don't understand."

"It means what you naturally look like," Seeing Eye explained. "Without disguising yourself or anything. It doesn't matter though. You do normally look like a pony, even if you aren't one, so you can skip this question."

Explodey moved onto the next one without comment.

"'Do you have any knowledge of other dimensions, universes, or planes of existence other than this one?' Well, I know a fair bit about the human world. I guess that qualifies. Check!"

Explodey was smiling obliviously to himself, but Broad Sword shot a concerned glance over to the inspector, who remained as unreadable as ever.

"Question four! 'Do you have any of the following innate abilities achieved through non-magical or technological means; telepathy, telekinesis, wingless flight, shape changing, mind control, matter manipulation, time travel, phasing through solid objects, immunity to any form of normally fatal bodily damage e.g. disease or fire, regeneration of lost tissue, or any other form of extreme healing factor, including an ability to resurrect after death?'"

He paused a moment.

"That's a long question..."

"You get a point for every one of those you check," said Seeing Eye.

"Well let's see... Immunity to normally fatal damage... check... Self resurrection, check. Shape changing, I guess, if you count the sludge monster form... Regeneration... I don't think I can regenerate flesh, actually. After all, before I could regrow everything I had to consume all that—"

"It counts."

"Oh. Okay."

He checked that box too.

"Five. 'Are you incapable of aging?' I think so. Check. Six. That's the picture question. Seven. 'Are you capable of consuming the souls of the living or dead?'"

Broad Sword snorted.

"Well we know that's—"

"Check!"

The guard just stared at him.

"...I'm not even surprised."

***

Though they had decided where they were going and what they were doing, Tome and Iron quickly realised that they had no clue about how exactly to reach Hell's lower circles. They had wandered away from First's office, but it didn't take them long to realise that the lone desk was really the only thing in this place other than the ground a whole lot of mist.

"Where do we even go?" asked Iron. "There must be some route to the circles from here... Where is it?"

"I don't know," the Tome admitted. "I'm beginning to worry that there is no direct way out, and First just teleports to and from this place..."

"Can you teleport us then?"

"Not without knowing our destination..."

They both stopped walking and looked around the empty void.

"Damn it!" Tome shouted, stomping on the floor. "Is it too much to ask that the afterlife just have a convenient elevator or something for this?!"

Almost on cue, a patch of the ground in the distance ahead of them began glowing an ominous red. The unicorn and the earth pony looked at each other nervously, and walked over to it to see what it was. The light was coming from a glowing pentagram carved into the rock. Then the light became more intense, and a cuboid shape about the size of a really big wardrobe rose from the circle.

The shape was dark at first. Completely black, as if it was sucking in all light around it, except for the edges which were glowing the same red colour as the rest of the light coming from the pentagram. Then there was a flash, and the mysterious shape gained a metallic grey colour.

The pentagram itself remained glowing with obviously evil magic, but the previously menacing cuboid was revealed to be exactly what Tome had asked for. It was an elevator. And looking up, they even saw that it was suspended by cables, just like a real one. Though the cables didn't seem to actually connect to anything. They disappeared or went invisible a few feet up.

"That was convenient," said Iron.

"Contrived. The word is contrived. And suspicious. And obviously evil. Look at this thing! It'll probably eat our souls the moment we step inside it!"

"What would be the point of having a soul consuming elevator in the afterlife? Souls don't die. They just go to this place. The worst that can happen is we'll go to Hell. And considering that's what we're trying to do in the first place, that's not even actually a bad thing."

Tome grumbled.

"I still don't like this."

The elevator opened its door, revealing a cosy looking interior with mirrors on the walls and a jazzy background tune. Iron shrugged and headed inside.

"Come on. What could possibly go wrong, Tomey?"

The old unicorn sighed.

"Famous last words..."

Once Tome stepped inside, the doors closed automatically, and the two stood facing the door. Next to the door was a small panel with fifteen buttons, separated into two sections.

The first section of buttons were to select destination. Nine of them were numerically labelled, presumably indicating the circles, and with a glowing ring around the one. There were two others labelled Purgatory and Paradise. The second section was for technical stuff. There was the button to stop the elevator, the button to hold the doors open, the button to call for a technician, and curiously, a button simply labelled "incinerate," which Tome regarded warily.

"Sixth circle," Tome instructed.

Iron leaned in to press the button, but the elevator started moving before he could.

"Sixth circle," a monotone voice repeated. "Heretics, heathens, vampires, and Brotherhood of Man."

"I've got a baaaaaaaaaaaaad feeling about this..." Tome muttered.

"Yeah. You keep saying. I get it."

The trip lasted for two minutes. Just long enough for Iron Hoof to start really getting into the jazzy little tune that played throughout. He was bobbing his head to the music by the time the elevator opened up again with a ding! and granted them entrance to the sixth circle.

The two ponies marvelled at the sight as they stepped outside. They were circles in a very literal sense. The sixth circle was contained by a stone wall that rose up high above it. It was built with ancient bricks, sturdy and resilient, and the walls were topped by battlements, upon which they could see patrolling demons.

In the middle of the circle meanwhile, they could see a crater of an almost impossible depth and size. Tome and Iron stood right near the edge of it, and below them they could see that the crater shrunk in size the deeper it got, much like a funnel. This wasn't due to any kind of slope, but instead a series of rings around the outside of the crater that broke up the sheer drops, forming ledges. Presumably, the lower circles.

Those circles were busy with activity, as the two stallions could see a number of creatures milling about below, though they were too far to determine who was down there or what was happening. Though, one of the circles was quite clearly full of sand, and one of the higher ones seemed to have a river running through it, which emerged from and disappeared into the cliff face, and flowed red with blood.

The apparent seventh circle was also emitting an almost unbearable stench that caused Tome and Iron to blanch when they caught a whiff of it, and back away from the edge. They turned to face the direction of the city wall, and then observed the circle they were currently in.

All around them, there were tombs everywhere. Some were grey and stoney, others were white marble, and some were even gold or silver, a few even bold enough to have jewels encrusted into them. Most were surrounded by fire. Hot coals were scattered around the base of the tombs, or over them, and were constantly burning with an orange glow to warn others away.

The tombs were so numerous and so large, it was practically a maze.

"Yeesh," said Tome. "Look at this place... And they're all down here..."

"I know," Iron replied as he trotted forward into the maze. "So let's find them. They've got to be in one of these tombs."

Tome followed his friend into the chaos, looking back at the elevator as they left it behind. It was still parked in place with its doors open. The floor below it had a glowing pentagram, just like the one the elevator emerged from in the first circle, and just as before, the cables holding up the elevator seemed to disappear into oblivion a few feet up.

"Hey, check it out."

The old unicorn snapped his attention back to Iron, who was standing by a stone tomb and gesturing to a silver rectangle by his hoof. It took him a moment to realise that it was a plaque, bolted into a large rock at the edge of the coals.

Rope Burn.

Vampirism

"Rope Burn. vampirism," Iron read out. "Sounds like the first is a name and the second is the crime that got them here. Hopefully any Brotherhood ponies trapped here will be labelled as well?"

Tome frowned.

"Why are the tombs made of different materials? Most of them are stone, but..."

He looked over to one of the gold tombs in the distance.

"Maybe the tombs are just what they were buried in, and those are rich guys?" Iron suggested.

"If that's it, then why do the vampires have tombs? Nopony would bother burying a vampire. And what about the ones without tombs?"

"...The ones in the metal tombs are the ones considered to be the worst."

Tome looked back at his friend.

"Hm?"

Iron raised his mechanical hoof to show Tome.

"Metal conducts heat. The ponies in the gold and silver tombs must be in the worst pain."

The unicorn didn't say anything, but instead turned around and ran through the tombs towards the nearest gold tomb.

"Tome! Wait up!"

It wasn't too far away, and the two reached their destination in about half a minute. Tome immediately galloped in a circle around the tomb, trying to find the plaque, but didn't locate it until his second run around.

Prism Flash.

Brotherhood.

"BROTHERHOOD! I FOUND ONE!"

"Who is it?" asked Iron.

"Somepony called Prism Flash. Not our group. Older generation. Still though..."

Tome's horn lit up, and the lid of the tomb was surrounded by a glow and then torn right off. The old stallion tossed it aside and magically summoned a spray of water to start dousing the fire and clear a path to the tomb. Iron noticed as he did that the inside of the golden tomb lid's was just steel, which glowed hotly.

"Hold on! I'm here!"

Iron looked back to Tome as he levitated a mauve coloured pegasus mare with a rainbow mane out of the tomb. She was curled up in a ball and faced away from him, and kept twitching her wings or spasming.

"It's okay now..."

He placed her on the ground and let go, but the mare did not sit up or speak. She continued to just lie on the ground and wriggle slightly.

"Miss?"

Iron trotted over to her side and turned her over. Their eyes met. Hers were old and tired, but they glimmered with a slight hope.

"Is it... over?" she asked in a voice with a dry, throaty rasping.

"Yes. It's over. You're free."

She smiled weakly at him.

"...Can I... die now?"

"...You're already dead," Iron answered.

She turned onto her side again, and began crying.

"No, please don't cry! I told you, you're free! You can leave now! First can't hurt you anymore!"

The pegasus continued to weep.

"...Iron..."

"I know, Tomey."

"...She won't be the only one of her kind. There must be hundreds of other Brotherhood ponies trapped in here. We need to rescue as many as possible."

"We can't leave her like this!"

Tome sighed.

"Okay. Iron, you stay here and try to help this mare. I'm going to see if I can find a tomb with another unicorn, preferably one not as traumatised as Miss Flash here, so that I can get some more help with this. Ripping these tombs open is going to drain my magic fast, and I need it to maintain our intangibility spell so we don't get lost in time."

Iron nodded.

"I'll be right here."

***

First's grip around Celestia's horn tightened, and he yanked her upwards with considerable force. The princess screamed in pain as she was torn from the ice by force, which broke into shards and scattered when she was ripped out of it. The human tossed her onto the floor, and she shakily climbed onto her hooves again.

"F-First..." she muttered.

"Come with me."

He began to walk away across the ice, heading towards the pillar in the centre of the cavern. Celestia began to hobble after him, but her hind legs were numb from the cold, and she instead decided to use her wings and hover above the ice.

As she caught up, First began to monologue.

"THIS is deepest circle that the damned may enter, though, not the deepest part of the circle as a whole. You find yourselves now in the fourth round of the ninth circle. It is known as Judecca, named for the biblical traitor, Judas Iscariot. In a human religion, Judas betrayed his friend and the saviour of mankind, the son of God and preacher of peace, for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus, the man he betrayed, was nailed to a cross and crucified."

"This explains a lot, actually," said Celestia. "If that's what you do to those that try to teach peace, it's no wonder your race seems to be nothing but violent psychopaths."

First immediately turned around and grabbed her by the wing. Before she could even put her hooves on the ground again, he suddenly twisted it and broke the wing with a loud crack. Celestia screamed in pain again and fell down face first onto the ice.

"Don't you DARE presume to know anything of my people!" First snarled. "I don't care what you may think you can deduce from me and the other two! Three individuals are NOT enough for you to get an accurate representation of an entire race! And I don't care how much of a monster you may think I am, but I will NOT allow you to judge humanity like that, or write us off so easily!"

He hauled her up by the horn again, and forced her to look him in the eyes.

"And lest we forget, it's not OUR fault that we even became what we did! What were we before?! A screenwriter, a worker in a marketing department, and an unemployed teenager only just out of high school! We weren't creatures of legend, princess, we were mundane! It's YOUR land that turned us into living nightmares!"

He thrust a forearm in front of her face and let the sleeve fall down, revealing a pulsing artery with a sickly green colouring.

"The corruption that flows through my veins is YOUR fault, and don't you EVER forget it."

He threw her aside again, and continued walking. Her wing crippled, this time Celestia was forced to limp after him, even though it caused her pain.

"Judecca is the round for traitors to their lords and benefactors. The other three rounds are Ptolomaea, for those who betray their guests, Antenora, for traitors to countries and communities, and Caïna, which is for traitors to family. Despite what you may think though, it is betraying family that is considered the least serious betrayal, because the bonds of family are forced, and the traitor has no say in who they are related to. Whereas with house guests and benefactors, those are entirely voluntary relationships."

First gestured at the floor.

"Look down, and you'll see the traitors held here."

The alicorn almost jumped back in shock. Beneath her hooves, she had only just noticed the thousands of ponies frozen in the ice, looking up at them, their mouths open as if screaming, but all perfectly still. All unmoving. She would have said they looked dead, were it not for where they were.

First chuckled.

"Traitors in the other rounds are less completely frozen, and given slightly more movement. Here though? All the way beneath they go. Total entrapment in the ice. Just like in Inferno, the story on which I based my vision of Hell."

Celestia gaped at him.

"Please tell me they can't feel this?! Please at least tell me they're all asleep, or unconscious, or... something!"

First grinned.

"Oh, no. Like my father in stone before them, they can see and hear everything. They're conscious every second of every day, and I don't even allow them food, water, sleep, or air. They can exist without it."

"At least I didn't know what kind of awful punishment I was inflicting on your father!" Celestia shouted. "Discord never made it sound that bad when he complained about it! I made an assumption, and I was wrong, and if you want me to say it, yes! YES! I regret what we did to Second! Not a day has gone by since this started that I haven’t! But First, this is NOT okay to do to other ponies, no matter what they did!"

"Excuses, excuses."

The human continued to walk on, and Celestia limped after him as fast as she could. She didn't even notice that they had almost reached the great icy pillar in the centre of the cavern.

"First, this is barbaric! You need to let them out! Bad ponies need to be punished, I get that, but an eternity of this?! You can't possibly think that that's okay!"

"Celestia, I'm ignoring you right now. And we've reached the entrance to the centre. I hope you're ready for a few old friends, because we're about to meet some familiar faces from your past, including one guy who's been skipping out on your family reunions for a few millennia now!"

First touched a finger against the ice, and it began to melt. A tunnel was carved into the pillar, leading through into some other room inside. The ice that used to occupy the space where the newly formed tunnel now stood became water, and washed away harmlessly. Celestia felt her hooves become even colder as the water splashed around them.

Her guide strode inside, and then turned to look back at her. He continued walking backwards down the tunnel and grinning at her, holding his arms out and scraping his fingernails along the ice wall.

"Come on, Tia. He's dying to meet you..."

***

Revolution was happening in the sixth circle.

Though he had at first been worried that everypony down here would be like Prism Flash, he did find a sizeable number of ponies who were actually okay, all things considered at least.

The second and third Brotherhood tombs he had opened after Prism's were filled with equally broken ponies, whom he pointed in Iron's direction, but the fourth one had a mare who still seemed mentally sound and emotionally unscarred. Yes, she was filled with an all-consuming rage and wanted to tear Lord First himself limb from limb, but she was able to get up, walk, and assist Tome in freeing other ponies from other tombs.

From there, it had spread. The two of them found more metal tombs, scattered across the area, and began busting them all open to rescue their comrades. All the ones still traumatised congregated with Iron, Prism and the others, while everypony still in a decent state of mind joined in the rescue attempts.

While the circle itself was absolutely huge, the Brotherhood only had a few hundred members over the course of its history, and they were all clustered together on this side of the circle. It wasn't taking that long to free most of them, and they were making good progress.

"Aha!" said Tome as he spotted another tomb and galloped over. "Don't worry in there! I'm coming!"

He stopped in front of the tomb just as another pony rushed in at the same time, a white unicorn with a light blue mane and moustache. He didn't recognise him, so he was likely rescued by one of his helpers.

"I've got this one, old chap!" he announced.

Tome was about to nod and run for the next nearest tomb, when he noticed the name on the plaque.

"No wait! That's my wife!"

He grabbed the lid of the tomb and tore it off like he did the others, pulling her out as fast as he could. The other stallion backed away as Tome lifted out a blue coated pegasus with a white mane, and placed her on the ground next to him.

"Velocity! Velocity, it's me! Are you alright?! Say something to me!"

She coughed a few times, smoke escaping from her lungs, and looked up at him.

"Tomey?" she whispered. "Tomey, is that you?"

She reached up and touched his face as she realised that it was.

"Oh, Tomey... Look at you..."

"I know, I've aged horribly. Are you alright though? Are you hurt?"

Velocity groaned as she sat up properly.

"I'm... I’m fine, dear..." She coughed again. "Could be better, I admit..."

Tome pulled her into a hug.

"Thank heavens... I was worried that you'd be... Just... I’m so glad you’re still sane..."

The other mare wrapped her wings around him to return the hug, and smiled for the first time in ages.

“It takes more than a few years of torture by a maniacal elder god to break me. Honestly, Tomey. I thought you knew me by now.”

Feeling like he was intruding on a private moment, the other stallion there gave Tome a simple nod and then galloped away again.

“It-It’s been so long though... I’ve missed you these long years. After you died I was... I didn't leave the house for months. And Mystic’s grown so much! You should see him. He’s been wonderful. Nine years old now.”

“Oh, that’s great, Tomey... Has he started school yet? He must have. Does he like it? What about his cutie mark? Does he have that yet?”

Tome paused and released her from the hug. Velocity stopped smiling as she saw his expression, and her concern began to grow.

“Well... Look, stuff happened since you died... ” he said delicately. “I'm not here because I’m dead too. I’m here because... Well...”

“Long story?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Okay, well, just shorten it then. You can tell me more once we leave this literal hell hole.”

“Now that I think about it, there really isn’t any way to shorten it in a way that won’t just make you immediately demand I explain more. It’s all very convoluted and confusing, and I don’t understand most of it myself. All you need to know right now is that we’re here to free all the Brotherhood members in the other tombs. And there are still members in the seventh and eighth circles that could be suffering even worse that need our aid, including your sister.”

Velocity gasped.

“My sister is down here too?! Where?! How long has she been here?! Tomey, we’ve got to help her!”

“I know! We’re going to! Don’t worry about it though. She only died a few days ago. She hasn’t had it nearly as bad as you so far. And if we rescue her today, she never will.”

“What can I do to help?”

Tome grinned.

“Fly over the area. Look for gold and silver tombs and try to break them open. Put out the fires and push the lids off, or point it out to a unicorn so they can do it. There’ll be plenty of those around.”

The blue pegasus flapped her wings and lifted off the ground.

“I’ll get right on it! And once we’re done here, then we go and save Frosty, right?”

“Definitely.”

“And stop First?”

“...Maybe. I’m not sure what we can even do to First here. I know that it’s tempting to try and get a little payback, but the best we can do right now is to avoid him. I don’t like our chances against an omnipotent being in his own realm, and I don’t want you getting hurt any more than you already have been. I especially don’t want to lose you again.”

Velocity sighed.

“Fine. I’ll go do what I can. After this though, I’m coming with you to find my sister.”

“No argument from me.”

***

"...And lastly, 'Do you have an evil cult dedicated to worshipping you, or any prophecies predicting that your return to the mortal realm would bring about the end of days?' Nope."

Explodey returned the questionnaire to the inspector and smiled at her. Behind him, Broad Sword fidgeted on his barstool, nervously peering over Explodey's shoulder at the mare as she judged his results.

"So how did I do?"

Seeing Eye remained expressionless as she scanned the paper.

"...Thirteen points," she answered. "It's close, but unfortunately, you qualify as an elder god."

"Hooray!"

"Explodey! That's a bad thing!" said Broad Sword.

Explodey twisted his neck around in a way that looked incredibly painful to show him his confused expression.

"Huh? Why? I wasn't paying attention."

"It means you're going on trial!"

Explodey's eyes widened.

"B-But I hate lawyers!" he protested.

Seeing Eye sighed.

"Wonderful," she muttered. "This is just what I needed today..."

***

The amount of ponies that were loose and running around the sixth circle had risen exponentially.

Each pony freed, if they were in any way capable of helping, became part of the collective and did their best to help. The pegasi zipped around above, looking for other Brotherhood tombs and using their wings to put out the fires or cool the metal lids for the non magical ponies to pull them off. The unicorns were of course far faster at the job.

Most ponies weren't really able to help at all, and instead joined the ever growing group started by Iron and Prism. The emotional wrecks all gathered together and were comforted either by each other or by some of the less affected Brotherhood members that they personally knew, such as family members or friends of theirs that they'd been in the cult together with.

This is what began to attract the attention of the guards. Though the demons had been content to ignore the few ponies wandering down below until now, thinking them to be other minions of First, they had since realised what they were dealing with and sprung into action. About two dozen of them descended from their wall to try and subdue the crowd. But they didn’t think first.

Arrogance was always the weakness of demonkind. Never once did they stop to consider their numbers against the Brotherhood's, and come to the conclusion that they might be outmatched. And they remembered being killing machines in their own lives, but forgot to factor in that everyone in the afterlife was immortal.

They may as well have run headlong into an oncoming tidal wave for all the good they did. Many of the Brotherhood relished the opportunity to physically harm a part of the hell that they had been in, and the crowd of ponies vastly outnumbered the demons, even just counting the ones actually fighting. It didn't help the demons at all that many of the Brotherhood's older generations included veteran warriors.

Things didn't really get bad for them though until the Brotherhood realised that the demons were just as immortal as they were. They saw that they were wasting their time physically fighting them, which had still eluded the demons' notice, and so began getting their unicorns to pick the demons up with magic and start sealing them inside the flaming tombs. Not having magic of their own, this was not something the demons could do in turn.

In a matter of minutes, the pathetically incompetent guards were beaten and given the most ironic punishment possible, and the Brotherhood had finished up the liberation shortly afterwards. Soon, that particular side of the sixth circle was well populated with a mixture of joyous, frightened, miserable, confused, and angry ponies, who were already gathering into various cliques depending on which generation they belonged to.

There was one feeling that seemed to dominate all others though, and that was rebellion. Tome could feel this in most of the ponies that he saw. They were betrayed by something that they did nothing but glorify and worship; a thing that eternally damned them for being a part of the organisation that they thought it would have wanted. Those that still had the faculties to rage against the heavens were crying for blood.

Tome decided to take the initiative to lead the mob of scarred ponies, or at least inform them. But not only were there a lot of them over a large ground to communicate with, the area that they were in sounded as loud as a elementary school lunch room filled with kids screaming. This is why it was very fortunate that Tome's entire family were known for being magically gifted and diverse spellcasters.

"SILENCE!" he ordered.

The royal Canterlot voice was a natural talent of the princesses and a select few others, not a spell. Tome was not among those trained in its use. Voice amplification spells on the hoof were dime a dozen, and for a unicorn as powerful as Ancient Tome, it was a simple trick. Climbing on top of one of the metal tombs that some resourceful pony had cooled with an ice spell, he used this spell to help him address the crowd, and hoped as best he could that they could all hear him.

Sure enough, all chatter ceased, and virtually every head turned to look at him up on his perch.

“Comrades! My name is Ancient Tome, current leader of the Brotherhood of Man as of the year one thousand and five SSR! In case you couldn't tell already, or if any of you somehow missed it, you are all dead! Welcome to the afterlife, domain of Lord First himself! And yes, for those still struggling to comprehend it, our supposed lord and saviour is the one responsible for the torment you have all gone through!

"Myself and my dear friend, Iron Hoof, came here on a mission of mercy! Liberation of all our friends and forefathers from this unjust system, and potentially the defeat of even the human lord himself! I cannot fathom the horrors that you all must have been put through here, but I can tell you that those days are over now! You are free! And Paradise is yours for the taking!"

The crowd erupted with cheers of jubilation and agreement, but they ceased as he started to speak again.

“Yes, you are free, but you need to listen to my warning! Though it may be tempting to break out of this nightmarish prison and go after First for revenge, I ask that you all let it go! In this realm, his power is infinite, and beings far stronger than ourselves are already trying to stop him! The alicorn princesses, the mares that history remembers as the Elements of Harmony, and even today's successor Elements are up there now, fighting an eldritch creature from beyond our universe in hopes of saving us all!

"I ask that you all stay out of the fight! Though many of us fought valiantly against the demons just now, we are not ready to do battle with First! Be rational, and let the professionals handle this! Until then, do not attract attention to yourselves! Stay here, try not to get caught, don't draw attention to yourselves, and... good luck."

With that, Tome hopped off the tomb and began making his way through the crowd, heading back in the direction of the elevator. The gathered ponies began mumbling amongst themselves once he stepped down, except those he passed by who often had things to say to him personally.

Several congratulated him on his leadership, or gave their thanks for orchestrating their rescue, or wanted to wish him luck on overthrowing First, but he had little time for them. He merely gave them a smile and a thanks of his own for their kind words, and continued to push through towards the other end of the crowd.

When he finally broke away from the throng of ponies, he found several others waiting by the elevator. Velocity beamed at him, and Iron Hoof looked just as proud, even if his smile wasn't quite as wide. They weren't the only ones there though, as he also recognised the white unicorn from before, and none other than Rail Way, one of his other deceased colleagues.

For now though, he just went straight to his wife and hugged her again.

“Tome, honey, you did great. I almost didn't think it possible, what you and Iron have done here today... He's been telling me all about how you got here."

"...ALL about how we got here?" he replied skeptically as he broke away.

"Well, uh... bare bones of it," Iron admitted. "I explained about how the Elements of Harmony and Lord Second came back... what the Brotherhood did... Secopolis... and how we took the Prometheus and ended up working with the princesses and going to the afterlife."

"I always knew that Goldie was smarter than we gave him credit for," Velocity mused. "Figures that he'd be the first one to see something was wrong with the humans..."

Tome rolled his eyes.

"Gold Coin left us because he felt his duty was done. He ran off with our son and the butler because he had nowhere else to go, and didn't side with the princesses properly until far later on. Though, I do still hope to prise him out of their grasp again... Mystic too, if I can get him to forgive me..."

"And Mystic!" Velocity continued. "Is it true? Our little Mystic? The new element of magic?"

The old stallion sighed and smiled.

"Yes. It's true."

"Oh, I'm so proud of him... Does that mean he's here in the afterlife too? Working to save us?"

"I should think so, though I don't know where. He'll probably be with Goldie and Spoken. We can find them later and have a big reunion."

"I hope so... Does he even remember me anymore?"

"Of course he does! How could he ever forget you?"

"I just worry, Tomey... I haven't been a part of his life for so long, and he's been growing up all this time without his mother—"

"Velocity." Tome put his hooves on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Trust me. He remembers. And I've taken good care of him while you were away. I'm not the best father. Not by a long shot. But I think I did okay."

The mare seemed to take comfort in his words.

"Thanks, dear. And don't sell yourself short. I'm sure you were a great father to him."

"Well... That's debatable. I've definitely made some mistakes since this whole human thing started... I'd tell you more, but this is going to be a long discussion, and..."

He looked over to their other present company.

"Ahem."

He turned away from Velocity and Iron again, to face Rail Way and the white stallion, addressing the latter first.

"So. How can I help you, sir?" he asked.

His fellow unicorn simply took his hoof and shook it.

"Just wanted to give my personal thanks, old chap," he responded. "I'm well aware I'm not the only one, but I felt I should do it, on behalf of myself and many others."

"Oh. Well, you're welcome, mister...?"

"Fancy Pants."

Tome stopped shaking his hoof.

"Fancy Pants? The Fancy Pants? Fancy Pants from the Brotherhood's five founders?"

The other stallion nodded and took a bow.

"The very same."

"Wow. You must have been here longer than anypony else! Nearly a thousand years of this stuff! I thought that all of the founders would have gone insane like most others seem to have by now."

"Oh, pish posh," said Fancy. "First is nothing but another brute, and I like to think I have stronger character than that. I won't pretend what I went through these last centuries hasn't been unpleasant... I daresay it'll never leave me. But my resolve is too strong to be so easily broken. There's more to me than that. "

"That's... honestly incredible. It's admirable how well you've taken this."

"I'm not without my scars for this, dear fellow, but I'm nothing if not an optimist. We're free now. All thanks to you."

"Well... Thank you, sir. You do me great kindness with your words."

"You're worthy of the praise, m'boy. The Brotherhood has had many leaders in its long years, and you've done more for us than any of them. Lyra even said so herself."

Tome's eyes widened.

"Is Lyra here?"

"Oh, she's here. Around. I spoke to her earlier. Not in the best of conditions, admittedly, but she's a trooper. She shan't be coming over to thank you though. That's why I'm here. She needs to comfort her brother. Abstract Theory is..."

He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes as he exhaled.

"Well. It all began with him. So he's had it worst. I think he needs the support right now."

"I understand," Tome replied. "Well... wish him the best from me. And the other founders too. I'm sorry that this is what became of your legacy. You were all great ponies, and you made something great."

Fancy Pants gave him a pained smile as he turned away.

"But not, I fear, great enough."

As he trotted away into the crowd again, Tome realised that there were still other ponies present and returned his attention to them.

"Right!" he said loudly. "So! We've got a mission to complete! Frosty, auntie, and several others are all still waiting for us in the lower levels. This rescue mission is not over yet!"

"Gotcha!" Iron replied.

He hit a button to open the elevator doors again, and the very out-of-place music came pouring out. Iron gestured for them to enter. Though cautious, Tome did so. He still didn't like this thing. Velocity stood in the doorway for a little while,

"Is this safe?" she asked, gazing down at the pentagram just below the elevator. "It looks... evil."

"You know, I said exactly the same thing," Tome agreed.

She didn't wait for any further answer before stepping inside too, and Iron followed. Rail Way also tried to enter, but Tome held up a hoof to stop him.

"Woah, there. What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm... coming with you, boss," the middle-aged stallion answered.

"No you're not."

"Okay... Why not?"

"Because this is a personal matter," Tome said bluntly. "Between family, not necessarily Brotherhood business. And besides, you weren't the only one of our generation to die in the church. The rest are probably out there in that crowd somewhere. You're going to be needed up here. Track them down."

"...Okay then, sir. I'll do that then."

"Good work, Rail Way. I'll see you in Paradise."

That was the last thing Tome said to the other pony before the doors closed on him. Iron gave a wry smile.

"I love how we've apparently set up a 'cool kids club' within the Brotherhood and just started randomly excluding the ones we don't like or don't know all that well. Class act, Tomey. Really."

"Shut up, Iron."

"Is this really an elevator?" asked Velocity, still looking worried. "I know it seems like it inside, but out there..."

“Yes, it actually is an elevator, and no, it won’t eat your soul,” Tome answered. “One thing you’re going to have to learn when you travel with us is to not question shit like this.”

“I don’t know why you two are so paranoid about that elevator," Iron interjected. "Besides, that jazzy waiting music is so catchy.”

“Yes, because being paranoid about a cryptic machine that came from an ominous, glowing pentagram in the ground while we’re in an alien dimension where its all powerful god is out to get us, is SO wrong.”

“You just don't like the music, do you? You shouldn’t be so mean to it. It might leave.”

Tome produced a defeated, irritated sigh.

“You know what; I’m through with this idiocy. Just think whatever you want to. We have more important things to do. We’ve spent long enough here. It’s time we pay the seventh circle of Hell a visit.”

Tome looked up at the ceiling.

"Well? You heard me! Seventh circle! Now!" he commanded.

“Did you mean 'incinerate'? Respond yes or no,” the familiar monotone voice responded.

Tome sighed.

“No.”

“Error. Command not recognised. Did you mean 'incinerate'? Respond yes or no.”

“No! I said seventh circle, you stupid piece of crap!”

“Error. Command not recognised. Did you mean—”

Tome, tired of dealing with the horrors of voice commands, simply slammed the elevator button labeled with a seven.

“Seventh circle. Murderers, blasphemers, suicides, and profligates.”

Tome raised an eyebrow.

Suicide is a punishable sin now?

“You really shouldn’t be so mean to it, you know,” Iron said skittishly.

“Oh, not this shit again! It’s a fucking inanimate object! It’s not going to feel or do anything!”

Angriest Iron had seen his friend since Frosty died.

“Well, somepony woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning...”

Velocity joined in.

“He does have a point, you know. You’re getting really mad over such trivial things.”

“Not you too! Now you’re on his side? I’m not mad, okay! I just don't trust the thing! Can we drop this?!”

At that moment, the friendly jazzy background music, which Iron was still thoroughly enjoying, stopped as the doors opened with their distinct ding! and revealed the seventh circle. Gingerly, the trio exited their place of safety, and stepped out into a whole new nightmare.

***

There stood a huge beast, with a body like a demon's, except with three different heads all on the end of long, snake-like necks that towered to the ceiling like a hydra's. And even that was only half of the beast's height, as it was frozen up to its waist in the ice. The backs of the necks scraped against the roof of the cavern, and then they moved down again, so that the heads themselves all rested on the floor.

Each head had different features, one looking very reptilian and draconic, one looking substantially more equine, and the centre head resembling that of most other demons. All three of the heads were weeping and all had their mouths full, each constantly chewing on a different screaming unicorn.

Celestia first looked to the demonic centre head, incidentally also the most humanoid, where she recognised Shining Armor being ground by teeth stuck between his ribs. His eyes were clenched shut, and his body mangled, but still he lived on. Still he suffered.

In the reptilian head’s jaws, another old stallion was gasping for breath between screams. Star-patterned robes much like Ancient Tome's and the ones worn by the rest of the Canterlot war mages filled the back of that head's throat, and a similarly coloured hat was impaled on one of the fangs, its bells ringing every time the head moved.

And the final head was chewing on a blue mare who was not screaming like the other two, but instead crying to herself, much like the very beast that was devouring her. Robes and a pointy hat of her own also laid tattered in the mouth with her, just like with the stallion trapped in the centre head.

Yet, even despite all this suffering, it was the beast itself that made her feel most nostalgic, and old memories came rushing back as she looked into its tormented eyes.

"...Uncle?"

"Isn't it beautiful?" First commented. "It's just like Inferno; Satan in the centre of Hell, frozen up to his waist, forever suffering and forever torturing the three greatest traitors in history. Shining Armor, Starswirl the Bearded, and the Great and Powerful Trixie, AKA the three biggest collaborators of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, who with them, led the rebellion that I had to put down."

"You're sick."

"Perhaps."

First faced the demon again.

"Take five, ugly. You've all earned your break early this year."

Satan's heads rose off the ground slightly, opened their mouths wide and shook as hard as they could to drop the three unicorns onto the ice again. First began to walk over to them.

"Come on, princess!" he said cheerfully. "Say hello to your old friends."

He stood over Shining Armor, who was sobbing as Celestia watched his wounds close up instantly. The human placed a boot on his ribs and rolled him over, so that he was forced to look up at him.

"Hello, Shining. I gave you your break early this year. I've been very generous. What do you say?"

The unicorn crawled over to First and hugged his legs, still crying.

"Th-Thank you, m-my master..." he stuttered.

"Of course, this means we'll have to skip next year's break to make up for it. Otherwise the lack of productivity down here could just bring the whole system screeching to a halt."

"Y-Yes, master. Sorry, master... I'll be good..."

First reached down and playfully ruffled his mane.

"So cute."

He pulled his leg out of Shining's grasp and slid across the ice, back to Celestia's side.

"Well? What do you think?" he asked.

"I think you're possibly even more psychotic than your father was," she replied flatly.

First's smug grin immediately dropped.

"Wrong answer."

He formed a fist and pulled his arm back. Celestia saw it coming, but was in no condition to move out of the way before he socked her in the face. She grunted in pain when he struck, but this time did not give him any more than that, even as she once more fell onto her side and went skidding across the ice.

"I don't think you understood the question. What do you think of your plans to overthrow me now? Now that you've seen all this?"

Celestia winced as she stood up again.

"Twilight told me that you abused your power. That you tortured ponies, that your mind control was worse than you let on, and that you did all these horrible things... Until now, I didn't want to believe it. I really did come here only so that we could get Explodey McGee back. But seeing this has convinced me. My student was right; you do need to be stopped."

"Alright then, confession time."

First casually walked towards her, cracking his knuckles.

"I do use mind control a lot more than I implied. It's not just to fight boredom. It's to ensure complacency. I need to keep the people obedient, otherwise we get incidents like the rebellion that terribly troublesome Twilight was responsible for."

He reached her, and prepared to punch her again. Celestia cringed this time as he smashed his fist into her forehead, beating her to the ground once more.

"And these jokers that fill the ninth circle, or at least Judecca, are mostly the ones that went along with her plans of revolution, but I let the Elements go anyway, because I have a nostalgic fondness for them."

He leant down and grabbed her mane. Yanking her to her hooves, he then wrapped it around her neck and began to strangle her with the ethereal mass of hair. She gasped for breath.

"You too, and that's why you're only getting off this lightly, but I never liked Shining Armor. The way he and his wife came out of nowhere in season two just rubbed me the wrong way."

He grabbed Celestia's neck and forced her into a headlock, releasing her mane but now choking her with his forearm instead.

"And that's why we have this monument to suffering down here. Blatant favouritism. The ones I like, I forgive, and the ones I don't like, I have all manner of creative punishments for. Capiche?"

He dropped her again. The alicorn princess coughed as she lay on the frozen floor. She could see a pony in the ice below her, but their figure was too dark to make out who it was. It hardly mattered anyway.

"So?!" she spluttered, trying pathetically to stand again. "You're a monster! I get it! But why show me this?! What's the point?!"

First growled.

"I'm trying to show you why a worthless, piece of garbage mortal like yourself trying to fight ME is a hopeless waste of both our time! Do you SEE what I've done to the progenitor of the demons?!"

He gestured to Satan.

"If I can do THAT to HIM, then what do you think YOU can do to ME?!"

Celestia smiled grimly.

"So that's it, is it? You showed me all this to intimidate me? Thinking you can break my will, make me cry, beg forgiveness and go home?"

"Something like that, yes."

"You obviously don't know me that well."

Through the aching pain, the alicorn climbed to her hooves again. It was uniquely humbling to be in this much agony. Wounds never normally lasted on her, but this was First's realm, so all the rules were out the window. Despite the significant disadvantage though, she would not back down here.

"I am Princess Celestia," she said, limping towards First. "I am the ruler of Equestria, the goddess who raises the sun every morning, and a guardian to my little ponies. And I'm not afraid of you. Or your power. Or your weapons. Or any other human. Not anymore. In fact, I think you're afraid of me."

First returned her smile.

"Is that so?"

He grabbed her by the horn, (she was noticing that humans seemed to do that a lot), and then went back to his previous state of red-faced rage.

"I'm afraid of you?! How?! You're no sun goddess! Alicorns are a cut above the rest, but you're still a sketch on a drawing pad to me! I'M a deity! Not YOU! What makes you think YOU'RE scary?!"

Celestia struggled against him this time, even attempting to actually use magic to blast him back, but it wasn’t working. Probably because he knew she could hit him now and had taken the precaution of disabling her magic. Nevertheless, she gave him her answer.

"Because even with all your power, you still need to bully me into submission like a coward instead! Next it'll be mind control. It'll have to be. Because all this isn't making me give up. It's given me a reason to fight you. And you will fall. Do you know why? Because my little ponies are all out there still, and they can fight you even if I can't. I have faith in them, just as they have faith in me, and that makes me feel like a stronger goddess than any of you monsters."

First glared at her, and threw her to the ground again.

"Just wait. You'll see. I've broken far more powerful beings than yourself. All life everywhere in the universe comes here eventually, so you're far from the biggest fish I've fried. You won't even take long."

"No doubt," Celestia agreed. "Though I have to wonder, since we're in a story and I'm on the side of the heroes... doesn't that make you a villain?"

First's eyes widened.

"And don't villains lose?"

He staggered backwards in surprise. First looked down at his shirt, still stained red from his ever present stomach wound. Then he looked at his wrist again, within which he could still see the green blood. It looked like he had only just noticed the contradiction.

"...I have to go," he said.

***

The seventh circle had the same rocky ground, but it was definitely different. The elevator had once again delivered them very close to the edge of the cliff leading to the lower levels, from which they had a good view.

The seventh circle appeared to be divided into three separate rings, distinguished from the other circles by the lesser distance in height between them; the seventh circle and the sixth circle were separated by a massively tall cliff, and the only thing connecting them was a huge stairway carved into the cliff face. The rings of the seventh circle though were close enough together that one could conceivably jump a level down and survive it, though that still probably would not be pleasant.

The lowest ring appeared to be the one containing that isolated desert they had seen above, as it was filled with sand and burning fires, though what exactly was burning they couldn't tell. Surely the sand itself couldn't burn?

The ring immediately below them meanwhile was some kind of forest. In a way. There were no trees there, but plenty of thorny bushes and other overgrown plants. Plant Hell, perhaps? They also noticed a few rare ponies that ran in amongst the bushes, being chased down by demonic looking red dogs, with large fangs and pointed ears, and spiked collars around their necks.

And then there was their ring, which was even more horrible than what they saw in the last circle.

A vast, glowing river of boiling blood, which resembled a more aqueous magma, ran around the ring. In the river were hundreds of ponies, all submerged at various different levels, many screaming out against their damnation, and all suffering. Near the banks of the fiery river, dozens of patrolling creatures, armed with bows and arrows, keenly watching the damned in case they were to try and escape their torture.

The creatures themselves were also extremely odd, being a kind of hybrid of human and pony. They had the bodies of ponies, even sporting a variety of different colours and cutie marks, but where ponies had their necks and heads, these things instead had the upper bodies of humans, with a human chest, a pair of arms, and a human head as well.

And they were huge. Their upper halves were perfectly proportioned for humans, but their pony halves as a result were massive, making them practically giants.

And to top it all off, the entire circle smelled awful. A special kind of awful that would have probably made even the ponies here damned for suicide want to kill themselves all over again. Tome and the others all held their noses as they walked through the place, but found that it was not enough. Even a single particle entering their noses made them wretch and want to cut out their entire olfactory systems.

“Urgh... Do you have a spell for this or something, Tomey?” Iron asked as he hobbled along behind his friend.

“I do, but it’d be a waste of my magic," Tome answered, his voice sounding funny from holding his nose. "We just need to deal with it. If we don't, then I risk not having enough power to maintain the intangibility spell, and we fall through into the void.”

As they approached the edge of the river, the three looked at a nearby pony floating past them. He was just on the surface, thrashing to try and escape, and he looked at them with a pleading desperation. He passed them by before they could do anything, and disappeared downstream.

They were interrupted at that moment, as one of the patrolling creatures trotted up to them. He was a serious looking individual, with an auburn coat and hair, and a cutie mark of green bow and arrow that looked exactly like the one he was actually carrying.

"Can I help you?" he asked, his voice deep and powerful.

Thinking fast, Tome responded with the first lie he thought of.

"We're here on behalf of Lord First," he said. "Two prisoners here need relocating. Part of a new strategy."

The creature raised an eyebrow.

"Aye. Who do you need?"

"A pegasus named Frosty Morning, and an old unicorn named Lady Arcane Arts. Both will have died only recently."

"Certainly. Follow me."

They began walking upriver at a casual pace. Their escort seemed completely uninterested in the sights all around him, and kept the same stern expression the whole way. Occasionally, they would pass another of his kind, who would greet him or be greeted by him, but they never exchanged any words beyond either a hello or saying each other's names. It was thanks to this that Tome learned their guide's name was Angelo.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, Mr. Angelo..." Tome began.

"Just Angelo is fine."

"Angelo. What exactly are you?"

"Ha!" he barked, showing the first real break from his stoicism since they'd met him. "You mean to tell me you work for Lord First and you've not been educated on the nature of centaurs?"

"We're new," Velocity answered. "So why don't you tell us? What's a centaur? You look a lot like humans."

"Hardly."

Angelo raised his bow and shot an arrow into the river. None of them saw what it hit. It just disappeared beneath the blood.

"A centaur is a creature of myth in the human world. In their mythology, a crossbreed of human and horse. There are no centaurs native to Equestria, however. We were created by Lord First to patrol the Phlegethon, made from a perverse experiment that merged willing ponies and the rapidly degenerating forms of First's experiments.

"His attempts to recreate other humans for companionship ended with empty shells or maddened animals in humanoid bodies. He could make life all he wanted, but the only thing he could never bring into being were his own people. So he took the remnants of them and put them into us. Turning our former selves, his most loyal servants, into the only essence of humanity left to be found in this place."

Angelo loaded another arrow and shot it into the river again.

"You would think it makes us stronger. Some think of us as demigods. They see our humanity as power, and think it gives us the ruthlessness to do this job that First asks of us. To do this to the creatures in the river."

He sighed.

"In truth though, it makes my heart ache for them."

He stopped suddenly, holding an arm out to stop the Brotherhood.

"We're here."

This time, as he drew another pair of arrows, he also pulled out a long piece of string. Tying either ends of the string around the arrow shafts, he then loaded them both into the bow and shot them out into the river regardless. The string was long enough that he was able to keep hold of the middle of it without losing it all, and the rest of the string sailed out across the river and followed the arrows below the surface.

Tome and the others watched as the string floated on the surface and followed the rest of the current downstream for a while before going taut. The centaur took this as an indication that he had hit his targets and began reeling them in. It was like fishing.

The river parted as the figures were dragged up from beneath it and pulled towards them. An elderly lavender unicorn and a light blue pegasus breached the surface together, and shortly afterwards both laid gasping on the river's banks. They were still wet, and their skin, wherever it could be seen, was scalded red.

Quickly, it began to return to its normal state. Prisoners of Hell seemed to recover fast from injuries inflicted on them down here, presumably so it could be done to them again. It was sick, but it had its uses; in a matter of moments, Tome's aunt and sister-in-law were devoid of any injuries. At least, they were once Angelo bent down and ripped the arrows out.

“Frosty! Frosty, it’s you! Thank the stars!” Velocity shouted joyfully as she hauled the icy blue pegasus up and gave her a hug.

"Vel... Velocity?" Frosty mumbled. "Izzat you, sis...?"

She was exhausted, but as she saw her long lost sister, her energy seemed to return to her. Her eyes gradually opened wider, and her mouth curled up into a smile.

"Heh... What took you so long?" she quipped.

"Yeah, sorry. Spent the last several years in the sixth circle. Hell of a trip to get down here."

She then looked over to Iron and Ancient Tome, who were both helping the elderly Arcane Arts up as well, who was still groaning despite her injuries having already left her.

"Good to see you two again as well... What even happened? The last thing I remember was being in the airport with Commander Bullseyes and Dr. Apocalypse... I think... Did they murder me?"

Iron gave her a solemn look.

"Yes. They did. Don't worry though. They never got away with it. We personally made sure to kill both of the bastards ourselves, and now we're here to save you all."

"Tomey rescued me from the sixth circle," Velocity explained. "They rescued all of the Brotherhood! Broke them out of the tombs, and organised a great big riot to fight off the demons guarding us up there! It was awesome!"

Frosty frowned.

"I always miss the good stuff."

For the first time, Arcane Arts spoke up.

"Is that true, deary?" she asked. "Did you save the rest of the Brotherhood from First's prison?"

"I did, auntie," Tome answered.

She beamed with pride.

"Just like your parents, you are. Such a fighter."

Then her eyes went wide.

"Oh! Your parents! Would they be down here?"

"I shouldn't think so..." said Tome. "I mean, they were never officially in the Brotherhood themselves, so I don't see why they'd have been—"

"AHEM."

The five ponies looked back to see that Angelo was right there, and that they had been talking about their involvement with the Brotherhood right in front of him.

"Umm... I can explain."

Angelo rolled his eyes.

"Look, just get out of here, right now. I'm raising the alarm in about three minutes, and if you're still here by then, I'm throwing all five of you back into the Phlegethon."

The Brotherhood all looked to each other once, and then immediately galloped away, Tome calling out his thanks to the gruff centaur as they left.

***

"Hear ye, hear ye!" cried a griffin in a wig. "The court will now come to session, for the trial of the elder god known as Explodey McGee!"

The court room snickered.

"The honourable judge Steel Hammer presiding!"

Explodey and Broad Sword sat side by side at the defendant's table, where they had nothing. Though the former royal guard had been given a suit, briefcase and a pair of glasses to at least pretend to have some kind of legal knowledge, he really had nothing prepared. This was a problem, because the court had not seen fit to provide their side with a qualified lawyer.

On the prosecution's side, Seeing Eye laid her head down on the desk, looking half asleep. She was obviously not happy to be there, and the fact that she was made to be the prosecution when she was supposed to be an inspector was a clear indicator that someone didn't put a lot of thought into this courtroom scenario. It was almost as if this entire trial thing had been a spur of the moment decision with no time or planning put into it.

From the side of the court room, a door opened up, and a stallion in a suit of very gaudy golden armour trotted in.

"Sorry I'm late, everypony!" he announced. "I was busy beating up some mares!"

The courtroom gasped.

"No guilt! Lord First told me to do it!"

The courtroom applauded with a round of hoof stomping. Even Broad Sword, causing Explodey to look at him oddly.

"Why are you applauding?" he asked.

Broad Sword stopped.

"...I don't know."

So did everyone else, and then the court abruptly went silent.

"...Yeah, why do we do that?" asked a mare behind them.

"In fact, why are we even here at this trial?" asked another.

"And why have we never questioned anything about this until now?"

Steel Hammer frowned.

"PRAISE LORD FIRST!" he shouted.

"PRAISE LORD FIRST!" everyone in the courtroom including Broad Sword replied in unison.

"And forget that you're being mind controlled!"

The crowd all blinked as one. Explodey leaned over to his friend and waved a hoof in front of his face, snapping him out of it.

"Sorry! I was in a bit of a trance there!" said Swordy. "So! Let's get this trial started!"

Steel Hammer meanwhile had climbed up onto his judge's chair.

"Yes! That's a good idea!" he agreed. "Trial time!"

"Swordy? Are you aware you're being mind controlled?" asked Explodey.

"What?"

"Yes. The judge just ordered everypony to forget about it after he shouted 'praise Lord First' at the room."

"PRAISE LORD FIRST!" Broad Sword shouted.

"PRAISE LORD FIRST!" the crowd echoed.

Steel Hammer slapped his forehead.

"Okay. Screw it. This is too sensitive a matter for public trial. Bailiffs, escort these two out. This issue will be decided in a private hearing with Lord First himself instead."

"PRAISE LORD FIRST!"

***

After a long run across the seventh circle to get back to the elevator, the five ponies dashed into the now extremely cramped metal box and closed the doors behind them. They all breathed a collective sigh that they were able to get out of the place before the alarm was raised. Angelo was doing them a great favour by delaying it as much as he was.

Perhaps there was a potential ally to be found in him? It seemed that there was dissent even among First's own creations.

The relaxing jazz music returned as Tome scanned through the buttons, not wanting to try out the voice commands again. He slapped the button labeled with the eight, and the whole elevator jolted as it began its descent. The usual humdrum voice informed them of their chosen destination.

“Eighth circle. Seducers, thieves, counterfeiters, false prophets, and imposters.”

Frosty was the first to speak up. “Okay, Tomey, since we're out of danger now... What is going on? If you're here against First's will, then how come he hasn't stopped you? How did you even get here? Are you dead too? I don't understand any of this.”

"Yes, deary, I'm also a bit confused," Auntie Arts added. "I'm still a little shaken up from being in the river... Just where are we going?"

"It's a long story that would take forever to explain," said Iron. "To give you both the abridged version, we realised how much of a tremendous cock Second really is, and we ended up travelling with the princesses, Gold Coin and the rest of the Elements of Harmony to stop him. We went to some mountain place, met the ghosts of the original Elements of Harmony, and they all came here to the afterlife through a portal looking to stop First. We followed through, found out you were stuck in Hell, and here we are."

“Right now, we’re going to the eighth circle to rescue Night Shroud and Chameleon," Tome added. "After that, we’re getting the hell out of here. No pun intended.”

"Ew, Chameleon," said Velocity. "Bleugh. Do we have to?"

"Yes dear, I know she's a bitch, but we have an obligation. My father knew her father, and she's done some stuff for me, and she's also probably one of the most loyal members of the group, so..."

"She's still a bitch..." Velocity mumbled.

“So, do we have a way of getting out then?” asked Frosty. "How do we get back to regular world? You can’t open up that portal you took to get here again, can you, Tomey?”

There was a long pause.

“No... No I can’t, but that doesn't mean that we should all lose hope. All we have to do is find Celestia or someone like that, and we should be fine.”

“But we don’t even have a general idea of where she is!” Iron Hoof argued. “Oh great, we’re going to trapped here forever! This is all my fault! I was the one who suggested we come down here...”

“Stop being so dramatic. Besides, right now, all we need to focus on is saving Night and Chameleon.”

The now familiar ding! was heard again as their ride came to an end, and the doors split open to display the eighth circle of Hell. The group of ponies happily walked out the cramped box, and observed their new terrain.

The first thing that they all noticed is how much deeper this circle was. It was so much farther down, they had to squint to see the top of the cliff. The next thing they noticed was that this circle, unlike the seventh, was comprised not of a series of rings that sank ever deeper the closer they got to the centre, but several different ditches, with elevated slivers of land about twenty feet in length in-between that, like the rings, formed concentric circles, each one just barely lower and smaller than the last.

Being this far down on the funnel, the ditches had a much smaller circumference than the previous rings, with the smallest one’s diameter being about the length of a hoofball field. There were ten ditches in total. Every ditch except for sixth one had an arched stone bridge that crossed over it and connected the slivers of land between the ditches.

Their elevator landed them just before the outermost ditch, with the bridge going crossing it immediately in front of them. Eager to see what the first ditch contained, they all advanced onto the bridge and looked down off of its railing.

Down below them, they could see condemned ponies march in separate lines in opposite directions, similar to how a conventional road worked. There were also several of those demon guards whipping the marching ponies. And actually, they soon realised that they weren't just ponies either. Plenty of other races were present, griffins being most prominent.

“So, what do we do? Should I fly over it and just do a scan?” Frosty asked.

“Sure, that would be our best option,” Tome agreed. “You and Velocity will go both directions, scan the full circle, and meet back here with us. You aren’t too tired, are you, Frosty?”

“Nah, that fiery blood stuff seemed to drain a lot of me, but I’m still ready to stretch my wings a little.”

Well, wasn't that convenient?

“That’s good to hear. Now you two better get going. Also, remember that speed is crucial here. When First gets done being a dick wherever he is, he’ll come down here, and then we’ll all be screwed. So we've got to be fast."

The two pegasi nodded and took off into the air. They dipped down into the ditch to the point where they could identify individual ponies, and began their search. They diligently performed the scan of the entire circle, with Frosty going clockwise and Velocity going counter clockwise. Some of the guards saw them, but didn’t seem to care too much and just continued to get back to whipping.

The ground bound ponies all waited patiently at the very edge of the eighth circle, bored at first. They perked up however when on the far side of the circle, they saw Frosty rise up out of the trench again carrying a struggling yellow unicorn. Though Chameleon was too heavy to fly all across the eighth circle to get back to them, Frosty deposited her on the edge of the cliff and flew back into the ditch and out of sight again.

From across the hellscape, they could see her waving a hoof at them. Though not in the friendly, "Hi guys! Good to see you!" kind of way. More like the irritated, "I'm over HERE, assholes!" way.

Frosty then came back, this time accompanied by Velocity. The two of them flew over to Chameleon's side and picked her up, and slowly, the two carried her across back towards Tome and the others. The three soon landed together right at the edge of the cliff, and Chameleon threw off her two rescuers as soon as she could do so without falling.

"Took you long enough, Tome, you bastard!" she shouted. "I've been here for days! DAYS! Your worthless idiot kid killed me! He dropped a statue on my head! And I was this close to smashing that traitor Gold Coin as well!"

"Give it a rest," said Iron. "We got you out. Have some gratitude. I would have just left you here."

"Dear, is it true what she's saying?" asked Velocity, approaching Tome. "Did our son really... kill her?"

Tome sighed.

"Well... First's records support her story. I don't know how it happened, but... it seems so."

"Didn't he mention it at all to you?"

"We... haven't been speaking much since this whole incident started. But when I did talk to him, he never said anything about it."

"Oh, wonderful!" Chameleon whined. "So I die, nopony even cares, and my murderer doesn't even think it's worth mentioning?!"

"To be fair, you are kind of a bitch," said Frosty.

"It must have been an accident," Tome reasoned. "No way he could have done that on purpose..."

Chameleon sneered.

"Yeah. I guess. Because that totally makes up for it. I'm just saying, Tomey, don't let me near that brat of yours again, because the next time I see him, I'm going to strangle him."

"HA!" Iron laughed. "With his entourage?! I know you've been out of the loop since dying, Chameleon, so let me bring you up to speed; Mystic Chant is un-fucking-touchable. Element of magic, don'tcha know? And travelling with a posse of alicorns, aliens, cyborgs and other superpowered freaks right now. You lay a hoof on him, you'd get killed all over again."

The yellow unicorn started at him for a moment, before her eyes darted down to his foreleg.

"...Is that a robotic hoof?"

"Like I said, out of the loop."

"Hey, back on topic," said Tome. "You two. Any sign of Night Shroud down there?"

"Not a one," Frosty answered. "A few other batponies, but not him."

"Okay then. Seems we need to start searching the other ditches."

"Bolgias," Chameleon cut in. "They're called bolgias."

"Whatever."

***

Left alone in the ninth circle, Celestia turned her attention to the other four present. Shining Armor still lay on the ice at her hooves, curled up into a ball and shivering. She crouched down next to him.

"Shining? Shining Armor?"

He looked up at her. His eyes were still reddened from tears, but he blinked with a strange kind of curiosity. He was looking at her like he was trying to remember. There was familiarity there, but he was distant. The princess didn't miss this.

"You... You do remember me. Don't you?" she asked.

Uneasily, Shining raised a forehoof to salute, but he didn't seem to understand why. It was just an instinct that told him he should.

"Oh, Shining... What has he done to you?"

"M-My master is kind," the stallion replied. "And he is wise. I-I live only to serve. My pain is my own f-fault."

"Do you remember it all?" Celestia asked. "Do you remember Equestria? Your sister? Your wife? The Crystal Empire? Your daughter, Neptune?"

Shining winced, and turned away from her.

"I don't need to r-remember. I have e-everything I need here."

"Please, captain... I can save you from First, but I need you to remember. I need you to be you again."

He looked back at her, and she was taken aback by the look he gave her. Those eyes were haunted. This pony had seen true darkness.

"Don't need to remember," he repeated, shaking his head. "Don't want to be free."

He laid his head down on the ice again.

"Master cares for me. Master loves me. I don't need to be free."

Celestia sighed and stood up again. She looked at the other two ponies laying a short distance away, and stepped over to them. She had a feeling that these two would be in just as bad a state as Shining, but she had to try.

"Starswirl?"

She walked over to the bearded old stallion's side and shook him gently to grab his attention.

"It's me, old friend. Are you still in there?"

The unicorn did not respond. He just gave her a sad look and returned to lying on his side.

"Starswirl, please. It's Celestia. Remember me? Little Celestia? You and my father—"

"Don't remember!" Starswirl snapped. "Can't remember. Not allowed. The master says remembering isn't good for me."

"Starswirl, First is lying to you. He's the one that did this to you in the first place! I can help you. I can make it all better."

"Doesn't need to be better. Master provides for us. Safe here. Can't die again. Not with his protection. Everything is better since he took me here."

Celestia reached out to him again, but he rolled over onto his other side to avoid her.

"GO AWAY!" he thundered. "I don't need anypony else."

As she backed away, she considered going over to the other mare, Trixie. Then, she instead heard a muttering.

"There's no hope, you know."

The draconic head that had been chewing on Starswirl before also rested on the surface of the ice a short distance away. It turned to look at the injured alicorn, and she quickly limped over to it. The old demon gave her a tired smile, though still he managed to bare his razor sharp teeth.

"Uncle..." Celestia said nervously as she approached.

"Little Tia..." he responded. "Look at how you've grown. I remember when you were but a speck of cosmic dust on the solar winds..."

"What happened here? What has First done to you all?"

Satan chuckled wearily.

"I was already a prisoner when he arrived. All the coming of Lord First did was bring a change of quarters. And duties. Now I'm forced to torture my fellow prisoners here. For what reason? What incentive? None. There is only existence here, and it will never end. I do as I must, because to not do so is to displease a being too powerful for me to contend with, and that brings only pain."

He sat up slightly.

"Mortality was a cruel mistress, but a fair one. Though she caused me great suffering, her judgement was to be expected. After all, I am the disgraced one, the traitor who killed a billion ponies and created their greatest menace. Windigos... first of the demons. So proud I was at the time, to have a standing army to challenge your father, self righteous cretin that he was. Now I live only in regret, and dream of what I could have been. And even my errant creations turned against me in the end... and against each other. Poor, stupid Beelzebub..."

Then the demon smiled properly, with true happiness.

"Oh, but at least I did pass on my ideals. At least they found their way down my bloodline. I can't say I'm not still proud of them in a twisted kind of way. And even my foolish brother's children still had that essence in them, despite his attempts to keep you both pure. Look at you and your sister. How receptive she was to one of my kind's infection, and how quick you were to fight her, and bind her in the moon that she moved. It warms my black heart to see that even you are not missing that little spark of cruelty."

Celestia looked away from him.

"I had no choice. She was beyond my ability to save."

"Ahhh... but what of the others?"

"Don't."

"Discord, the old fool. Did you ever know that he never had a friend in his life? He was driven to amuse himself as he did because he was lonely. I bet you never even tried to give him a chance. Did you ever consider that had you, the embodiments of friendship itself, tried to be his friend rather than attacking straight away, he might have stopped?"

"...I... I never..."

"And yet consider the punishment you gave to him instead. Thousands of years trapped in a stone prison, and aware of every minute of it. Be glad at least that he was already mad. Unlike Second, who you drove to insanity with the same punishment. Unlike First, who overthrew an eternal kingdom and then wallowed in despair for a millennium.

"You were influenced by me. An alicorn would know better, but a demon thinks of punishment. And just look at the beasts you created. I made demonkind and thought myself impressive, but you have outdone even me. You made Lord First, the greatest monster of them all."

Celestia sighed.

"I said no to your offer before, and that hasn't changed. I'm not like you, nor will I ever be. And you can stay away from Luna as well. I'm sorry for what First has done for you, and if I could help you then I would, but you're still the monster that betrayed my father and brought the world to the brink of ruin, and it doesn't sound like you're sorry for it either."

Satan tilted his head slightly, and gave her a curious look.

"So be it. But remember, you have no friends down here except for me. Even your old comrades that I eternally feast upon are nothing but slaves to First. And under the ice out there is a billion lifeforms who joined Twilight Sparkle in her rebellion, and met a grisly fate. Even in this very room are two of the ponies you came here with, only the most recent additions to the neverending torment."

The princess looked back over to the place where she had seen the dark figures beneath the ice. She felt another pang of sorrow, but by this point she was well aware of how little she could do. It still didn't matter who was beneath the ice. Without her magic, there was no saving them.

"First needs to be stopped," she said simply.

Satan laughed. Smoke spewed out of his mouth as he did.

"Indeed he does, but how would you ever do that? He is an elder god. Not even I could challenge him in single combat in his own realm."

"I don't know," Celestia admitted. "I'll think of something though. Losing hope never helped anypony..."

***

The group fell into a routine of progressing down the bridges and scanning each bolgia for any sign of their imprisoned companions. The fact that they were getting closer to the centre with each subsequent bolgia meant that the searches got slightly shorter every time, which was a godsend considering that they didn't know how much time they had.

And every time they passed over a bolgia, they'd get to see another unique horror being inflicted upon its inhabitants. Tome's favourite was the fourth bolgia for users of dark magic, where all the prisoners walked around with their heads twisted backwards, because it was empty enough that he could recognise individuals in the crowd and pick out the occasional celebrity damned soul.

Among others, he spotted the notorious Raven of Sorrow, a warlord of the old kingdom who staged a coup against Princess Platinum, the earth pony Steadfast, who sold his soul for a horn and magic for him to slay his enemies with, and Sombra, the tyrant king of the Crystal Empire.

The fourth bolgia wasn't the only interesting one though. The second one was filled up to neck level with feces, and its inhabitants were left to wallow or trudge through it. That bolgia had caught Tome's attention not just for the smell, but because there was a big red contraption submerged in the muck immediately below the bridge.

A lone island in the sea of shit, a number of ponies had taken refuge on it and called up to them as they passed, begging to be rescued. Two yellow unicorn stallions with red manes, identical except for one's lack of a moustache, perched on the very highest part of the machine. They shouted for help and waved their hooves the moment they had spotted them. And soon, many of the others stewing in the filth around them joined in the pleading.

"...I'm sorry," Tome had muttered as he backed away from the edge.

It was at the tenth bolgia that they finally found their prize, however. Frosty and Velocity landed after their flyover, but this time they didn't have that look of disappointment that had so far indicated a lack of success. They instead looked alert, like they'd rushed back to give the rest of the group the news.

"We found Night Shroud," Frosty reported.

"You don't sound happy about it," Iron observed.

"They're all ill with something," Velocity explained. "It looks like this bolgia's punishment is that its residents are all constantly sick. We don't know if what Night Shroud has is infectious. We talked to him, and said we were going to help, but... I don't know if it's safe to touch him. Looks pretty bad."

"Okay," said Tome. "Doesn't sound like anything I can't handle. My medical magic could be better, but I like to think I know more than most."

"Should I carry you down then, dear?"

"Please do."

They descended into the abyss together, with Frosty coming along too just for good measure, and flew over to where Night Shroud was waiting. Ancient Tome, sitting on his wife's back as she fluttered over towards him, had to lean slightly to get a good look at him. The bolgia wasn't exactly dark, but it was dim.

"Night Shroud?"

"Tome?" The batpony coughed loudly. "Eugh. Sorry. Frosty and your wife explained everything to me. Here to rescue little old me, huh?"

He chuckled. Tome's horn lit up, and he used the glow of his magic to get a better look at Night Shroud and examine him. He didn't have his night guard armour anymore. He was naked and shivering, but somehow Tome doubted that he was shivering from the cold.

"We need to be quick," Tome explained. "Tell me all your symptoms right now. Depending on what you have, I might be able to cure it, but I need to know what it is you have."

"I know what I have," Night Shroud replied with a sneeze. "It's just a really strong variant of the common cold. Nothing serious. You don't even need to cure it, just carry me out of here and I'll be fine."

"No. He won't be."

The four ponies looked over nearby to see a horribly deformed white stallion with a blond mane. His face and limbs looked grotesquely misshapen, and Tome almost recoiled on seeing him. Frosty actually did. He held out a forehoof to them and spoke again, in what Tome had only just realised was a Canterlot accent.

"Prince Blueblood. Charmed to meet you."

Nopony said anything or moved, causing him to eventually sigh and drop his hoof.

"Sorry about the face. Leprosy. Some disease from the human's world that he decided to inflict on me as my punishment. Try to look past it."

He was trying. Every second Tome was trying not to stare or be sick, or do anything else rude. Yet, he couldn't help it. Right now, the only thing on his mind was what kind of horrifying place the human world must have been to produce a disease like that.

"Like I was saying," Blueblood continued, "he won't be alright. The diseases aren't an effect of the bolgia. First places the afflictions on each one of us individually, and we're meant to suffer them forever. It's not like when we were all alive and we'd just get better over time. If you don't cure his cold, it's never going to go away."

Tome blinked.

"What... What did..." he stammered. "What did you DO to make First do... THAT to you?!"

Blueblood's mouth curled up at the edge into a tiny smile.

"The tenth bolgia is for falsifiers of any kind that do not fit elsewhere in the circle. This normally means liars. And while I would normally have been placed in the fifth or eighth ones for corrupt politicians or advisors, or even in the second circle for cheating on my wife all those times, First decided that lying was my most prominent sin."

"...So... you lied a lot in life... and for that First decided that you should have... THIS happen to you?!"

"Yes."

Tome blinked.

"Velocity, let me off."

"Are you sure, dear?"

"Just do it!"

As he asked, Velocity set her husband down and let him climb off her back and approach Blueblood.

"I'm not standing for any more of this!" Tome announced. "This whole punishment system is fucked! Corrupt politician, and cheating on your wife to boot? Yes, that's a dick move. But no way in hell does that warrant this! I'm going to tear this whole damn establishment down, one pony at a time!"

"Didn't you hear me? You can't cure us. We don't have diseases in the same way mortals do! They're a part of us now, not something you can shake out with healing magic!"

"Don't you talk to me about magic!" Tome shouted, his horn glowing again. "I know magic! And I know enough to tell that you, and all the others souls down here, are made of the stuff! And if I can't manipulate magic, then what kind of unicorn am I?!"

Blueblood cried out in surprise and spasmed involuntarily. Tome's magical glow bathed him, and he could feel the massive physiological changes taking root. His body transformed with a suddenness and ease that surprised even the other Brotherhood ponies. It wasn't like watching a pony be transformed by magic; it was like watching Tome shape a piece of clay.

In mere seconds, the deformed creature that was Prince Blueblood before gave way to a relatively normal looking, perhaps even handsome pony, who laid face down on the floor. He pushed himself up and blinked in surprise, staring at his hooves. He sat up, and looked more closely at them. He grabbed a bit of his blond mane and examined it, and looked down at his chest and behind him at his back and tail.

Then he began laughing.

"I'm free!" he cried out. "FREE!"

Without warning, he grabbed Tome and hugged him. Not very like him, but this was an emotional moment for the prince.

"Thank you, sir!" He pulled back, and settled for shaking Tome's hoof vigorously instead. "You are a gentlecolt and a scholar! This won't be forgotten!"

"We're not done here yet."

Tome turned back to Night Shroud and blasted him with some magic too. In even less time than it had taken to cure Blueblood, Night Shroud felt his cold disappear too.

"Come on, Night Shroud! We're getting you out of here, and then we're getting help for everypony else here!"

"But I can't fly anymore!" Night Shroud complained. "Don't you think somepony would have escaped this already if they didn't take away our wings and magic?"

"Just another of First's punishments. It's gone with your cold. Now fly."

Experimentally, Night stretched his wings and began flapping them. To his surprise, he was able to get airborne again. Simultaneously, Blueblood tried to use his horn and found that his magic was back. He let out a girlish squeal of delight when he lifted a nearby rock with it.

"Tomey, what are we even doing?" asked Frosty, "You want to free everypony in the circle?"

"We freed the sixth circle. Or some of it, at least. We can free these ponies too."

"But that'll take forever!"

Tome looked back to Velocity.

"We'll get help from the Brotherhood. Return to the sixth circle, start bringing them down here, and they'll help us get this revolution started. Auntie can stay down here and work on beginning to free everypony while we're getting them."

She shrugged.

"If you think we can, dear."

"I do." Tome turned to Blueblood. "And you can help."

"Very well."

"You're a prince, so be a leader. Help rally the ponies down here. I'm going to leave for now, but I'm sending down a mare who's going to help you. We're ending First's reign of terror, here and now."

Blueblood saluted.

"Anything you say."

***

Explodey and Broad Sword walked through the misty emptiness of Limbo together as they were led on by Steel Hammer. The bailiffs from the court had long ago left them, and now the two were alone with the gold armoured stallion. He seemed unamused by their antics in court, and had ordered them to be quiet as they approached Lord First's office.

Neither of them were ones to blindly follow rules though, so when Steel Hammer wandered far enough ahead that they thought he couldn't hear, they began whispering.

"I didn't even know I was being mind controlled!" Broad Sword explained. "I mean, talk about nerve! Mind controlling a pony and not even telling them about it!"

"I know, right?" Explodey replied. "And to think he does that to everypony! What a jerk. When I meet First again, I'll have some choice words for him. I don't even care if he is the god of death."

"Yeah. Me too. Totally."

Steel Hammer turned his head back to look at them, and gave them another glare.

"I can hear the both of you," he said bluntly. "Stop it."

Reluctantly, both other ponies settled back into silence as they walked through the rest of the circle. Eventually, they began to see a desk in the distance, which Explodey recognised from when he came in. Except this time, First wasn't present.

"What the...?" Steel muttered as he approached the desk.

He began looking over the broken telephones and circled the smashed desk.

"The death register was stolen!" he shouted. "How can this have happened?! Nopony can even get into... Damn it!"

He threw his hooves up into the air and stomped away into the mist again, leaving the two alone with the desk. Broad Sword looked at it inquisitively, and picked up a broken telephone in his hooves. He turned it over and looked at the underside, and then followed the wire that led to the green cube on the floor in front of the desk.

"What is this?" he muttered to himself.

"It's a car battery," said Explodey. "Some human vehicles use them. Odd choice of power for a telephone though."

Swordy didn't question any further, instead prodding the car battery again with childlike curiosity. Explodey meanwhile took interest in the papers on the desk. He jumped into First's chair without a care in the world, and magically lifted the closest paper to him.

"Ooh. Swordy, check this out."

The other pony's head popped up from beneath the desk as Explodey began to read out the letter he had found.

Anthony,

This is your 'assistant manager'. I've been handling this situation for a few days now, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Whatever it is that's wiping out all these star systems, it's fucking relentless. If you think you're overworked dealing with that apocalypse in Equestria, just be glad that you only have to deal with the one. This is some serious end of the universe kind of shit you've put me on, and I'm easily dealing with several trillion times your workload. That's not an exaggeration, those are accurate figures. I counted.

This would go a lot smoother if you'd stop with the Saint Peter shit and put someone else on greeter duty. I don't do that, and none of these aliens care. Ponies shouldn't care either. In fact, being greeted into the afterlife by a human is just unnecessarily scary for them. So cut it out. Also I'd appreciate a larger budget and more staff over here. Aliens are difficult to deal with, especially when it's weirdo slug aliens who spent most of their lives in cyborg suits that they now lack. Oh, and just so you know? I read your emo poetry, and it's still shit.

Go fuck a cactus,

'Mister Mxyzptlk'

Swordy tilted his head.

"Huh. Sounds like there's trouble in paradise," he commented.

The unicorn began levitating the other papers around him and looking between them all. He began to come to a realisation.

"Oh my god..." he said. "I thought it was all jokes to begin with, but... it's true."

"What is?"

"First really does run the afterlife with a bureaucracy! That letter wasn't kidding! There are budget allocations here! Budget allocations! In the afterlife! Do they even have an economy here?!"

"Kind of," Broad Sword replied with a shrug. "I mean, loads of ponies have cutie marks related to finance and the economy in some way. An afterlife without commerce would be pretty depressing for them."

Explodey blinked at Swordy and then went back to staring at his papers.

"...This is monstrous."

"What is?"

"I see it now. It's true. They told me that First was bad but I never..."

A tear ran down his cheek.

"I never believed..."

Broad Sword walked around the desk and climbed up into the chair with him.

"...What is it? Tell me."

"Swordy... First employs tax collectors. They have taxes here."

Explodey threw down the papers onto the desk.

"That's it. Game over. The world ends here. You. Me. Overthrowing First. Right now."

He hopped off the chair, and gestured for Broad Sword to follow him.

"Come, my comrade! We must liberate this world from the tyranny of First and his tax collectors and lawyers and health and safety inspectors, and all manner of other scum! This world SHALL BE FREE!"

Then Steel stepped out of the mist again and pressed a hammer against Explodey's nose.

"You know, there are two things in this reality that I despise more than the devil himself. One of them is the Spider Legion, and I take every opportunity I get to abuse them when they show up here. The other is anarchists, because anarchists just want to fuck everything up for everybody else, and don't even put in enough thought to realise that we have governments for a reason. Because they fucking WORK. What I'm saying is, I don't appreciate your anarchist talk."

Explodey put a hoof on the hammer and gently pushed it down out of his face.

"Bro. Relax. We were doing a bit. It's called joking. Do you remember what that is through all the brainwashing?"

Steel Hammer looked offended.

"I am NOT brainwashed!" he snarled, pointing a hammer at Explodey again. "Lord First and I are great friends! This is a voluntary relationship!"

"So... you just help with brainwashing everypony else?" asked Broad Sword.

Steel’s face was going red with rage.

"I- He- It's necessary!" he spluttered. "First needs to keep control! I obey my master!"

"Your master?" Explodey repeated. "I thought you were friends, not master and servant?"

"We're both!"

Broad Sword hopped off the chair at First's desk, and advanced on Steel Hammer. Despite the old soldier's greater armour and magic granted to him by it, he still backed away, as if intimidated.

"Why were you so quick to side with him?" Broad Sword asked. "History says you're the one that killed First. Are you seriously telling me he wasn't the slightest bit angry at that?"

"Well, at first he was—" Steel began.

"I'm not finished!" Broad Sword interrupted. "Why were you also so quick to swear loyalty to him? He was your enemy on the battlefield, and in the royal guard, we're taught to remember our duty to Equestria first and foremost."

He stopped, and his expression darkened.

"In fact, that was what I was doing. When I died several days ago, First was right there to greet me. I tried to argue with him. I wanted to get him to send me back to Equestria, even when he insisted it was impossible. I was crying, I was angry, and then... I stopped caring. Why did I stop caring?"

Explodey frowned.

"Because that's when the mind control set in," he answered. "It made you stop caring because it was convenient for First."

He turned back to Steel.

"Did you stop caring?"

Steel stood staring at them for a few seconds. The two sides were at a stalemate, until the silence was broken by the sound of a ringing phone. Steel looked over to it, and the two other ponies wordlessly stepped aside to let him walk over to the desk and answer it.

"Hello?"

"This is Lieutenant Lake of the 15th centaur division. The sixth and seventh circles are chaos right now! Brotherhood of Man prisoners are breaking out all over on sixth, and we've got jailbreaks down here too! We can't contain them by ourselves. We need immediate reinforcements! Demons, reapers, I don't care! Just send help!"

"What?!" Steel demanded. "How did that happen?! The Brotherhood were all sealed inside superheated metal tombs! They should be writhing in constant agony and mostly in states of gibbering insanity! What gives?!"

Explodey and Broad Sword exchanged a worried look.

"Looks like outsiders broke them out, sir."

"...Outsiders?"

"Not sure who, but they're not reapers. Either we've got another rebellion, or they came with that group of mortals. I don't see any of the individuals we were warned about in the crowd though."

"Damn it... Okay, I'll send who I can spare. Sit tight down there, 15th."

Steel Hammer hung up and began to pick up another phone and dial a number.

"They mentioned outsiders coming here," said Explodey. "Which outsiders?"

"Your irritating friends," Steel answered as he finished dialling. "They came here on a rescue mission for you a short time ago. We intercepted them before they reached you, however. First took Celestia down to the ninth circle himself to beat the insubordination out of her, and I personally saw to Rainbow Dash and Rarity's capture. Seems a few got away and started stirring up trouble in the circles though, and now we're going to have to exterminate them."

The guy on the other end of the phone finally picked up.

"Reapers Department. How may I help you?"

"Hi. This is St—"

Before Steel could say anything however, the phone was pulled out of his grasp by Explodey's magic, and smashed against the floor.

"Not today, sorry. You're not hurting our friends."

The soldier lifted his pair of warhammers again and began twirling them in the air.

"You've made a grave mistake, boy. I was blessed by Lord First himself! I am invinci—"

With an almost insulting level of ease, Explodey telekinetically lifted First's desk off the ground and smashed it over Steel Hammer's head. He wasn't knocked out, but he did seem dazed, and stumbled forward for a few steps before he got his bearings again.

"Invin... vinci... vincible..."

Then he fell over onto his face.

"Great. Now First's going to be mad at us," said Swordy. "We'd better save our friends quick. I don't want to get caught by an angry elder god in the place he's most powerful."

"Relax," Explodey reassured. "We've got this."

***

"Well... if you think I can handle it, deary," Arcane agreed.

"Excellent. Me and the others will be back with more Brotherhood ponies to help you out in just a minute."

Tome and company stood by the side of the tenth bolgia together. Frosty and Night Shroud had agreed to stay behind to help lift ponies out of the huge ditches, at least until they freed more pegasi to help with the problem. Arcane Arts would be taking Tome's place for the actual curing procedure.

And she wouldn't be alone, either. Blueblood was still in the trench below them, ready and waiting to start liberating his fellow prisoners. Not to mention Chameleon, who was also being made to help, albeit reluctantly.

"Don't take too long," said Frosty. "I'm not sure how much we'll be able to do by ourselves."

"We'll be back before you know it," Velocity assured. "You didn't see the sixth circle. There are hundreds of ponies there. All the help we could ever need. Together, we'll overcome this place."

"I hope you're right, sis."

Chameleon groaned.

"Can we get on with the fucking job already?!"

With that outburst, they got right to work. Frosty and Night Shroud carried Arcane and Chameleon down into the tenth bolgia to start the doctor work. Tome, Iron and Velocity meanwhile headed back towards the elevator on the far side of the circle. It greeted them as they approached with an ominous red glow.

"Seriously, why is this thing so evil looking?" asked Tome.

“Okay, Tomey, that elevator has done nothing but good things to us," Iron objected. "I don’t know why you're so paranoid about it!”

“Oh, come on! Everypony but you has seen that it’s obviously evil or a trap or something! Is it so wrong for me to feel suspicious of a thing this menacing?”

The elevator doors opened to admit them, and the sound of the cheery jazz music returned.

“You need to stop judging it by its appearance. It’s not the elevator's fault.”

“You know that? Why don’t you and the elevator just go fuck each other?”

“If you’re going to be immature, then I don’t want to talk to you about it, Tomey.”

The bearded unicorn looked to his wife.

"You've got my back on this, haven't you?"

The elevator doors closed. Velocity tried to avoid looking directly at him.

"Well... I agree that it does look a little sinister, but I still think you're being a bit paranoid..."

“Great. When this elevator fucks us all over, I will be overjoyed, just so I can prove to you all that you’re wrong. This thing is evil, and I know it.”

Tome pushed his way over to the button panel and pressed the one labelled six.

"I'm right. I know I am."

Then there was the sound of groaning metal. The elevator had began to move but stopped abruptly, jolting with an unexpectedness that threw all the ponies inside off their hooves. They slumped against the sides of the elevator together, and were all suddenly terrified.

"Oh, please don't let me be right!"

There was the sound of snapping rope, followed by the immediate plunge. They felt the elevator lurch, and then go shooting down into the deepest depths of Hell that it could take them to. Panicked screams ensued.

***

Celestia sat up suddenly. She could hear screaming. Not pained screaming, but screams of fear instead. And the screams were getting louder and louder. Satan seemed to notice the noise too, and he raised his head off the ground to look around for it. It was the first time she had seen him not slouching on the ice.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I don't kn—"

CRASH!

Out of nowhere, a metal box fell from the ceiling and slammed into the ice just a few feet away from the two of them. A little to the right and it would have crushed Starswirl the Bearded's leg. As is, he didn't seem to even react to it, but Celestia and the demon certainly did.

"What the...?"

The metal cube had doors on the outside, and they opened up to reveal a cosy interior and a number of disoriented ponies laying about inside. They all groaned together. The elevator itself had a speaker that was spitting out some garbled tune. It sounded at times like some kind of cheery jazz piece, but it quickly puttered out and died.

Then the elevator fell onto its side, and the ponies tumbled over with it. Ancient Tome, Velocity and Iron Hoof had to crawl out of the wreckage of the elevator, barely even paying attention to where they were and just wanting to get out of that thing.

As he crawled along the ice on his belly, Tome looked up to see Celestia standing over him, and one of the many heads of a hydra-like demon that he just realised filled most of the entire cavern they were in. His eyes widened in fear, and he jumped back, raising a magical shield around him and the other two.

None of them said anything, just keeping back and keeping behind the shield. Tome at least was taking the deepest breaths he could draw, in a futile attempt to calm himself in his state of panic. And looking over the three ponies, Satan broke into a huge toothy grin.

"Celestia, my dear. It seems these ponies still have their magic," he observed. "I think we just found our way out of here."

***

In the empty void of Limbo, a lone colt shivered. He was all alone in his prison. Unable to leave, unable to save himself from the inevitable. He wasn't even sure if anypony was coming to help him.

A nearby flash of light caught his attention, as a human appeared.

"Mystic! There you are!"

First rushed over to the little unicorn and grabbed him. He squeaked in surprise as he was lifted into the air and up to face level with him.

"Good! Good!" First said enthusiastically, smiling widely as he did. "You're here! You can save me!"

Mystic gave him a confused look.

"Huh?"

First set him back on the ground again, and crouched down to Mystic's level.

"You're one of the protagonists!" he explained. "That means you can save me! All you have to do is forgive me for all the bad things I did!"

Mystic only just noticed how forced that smile was. He hadn't seen it before, but it could be seen in the human's eyes; he was afraid, and desperate.

"...I don't understand. What?"

"Look, it's very simple. All you need to do is forgive me for everything I did wrong, and all the people I hurt, and then I won't be a villain anymore and I'll get to live! You can forgive me, right? Because I'm really, really sorry."

"Uhh..." said Mystic. "Get to... I still don't get it. What are you afraid of?"

First stopped smiling, and he grabbed Mystic again pulling him over to look him in the eyes.

"I'm a villain! It's happened again! I'm STILL a bad guy! It's going to happen AGAIN, Mystic! Celestia and your friends are coming to stop me! They're going to KILL me!"

"Aren't you already dead?"

Tears welled from First's eyes.

"That's not going to stop them," he whispered. "I don't know how, but I can still die. And it'll happen very soon."

He smiled again.

"But that's okay, because you're a hero! You're one of the Elements of Harmony! And that means that you can forgive me, and I'll be redeemed and not a villain anymore, and that means I'll get to live!"

"Forgive you for... what?"

"For torturing those ponies in Hell. But, you can hardly blame me, right? They're all pretty bad individuals. Nothing I can't be forgiven for. Right?"

"I... I don't think that's up to me to forgive you for, Mr. First..."

Anthony's smile faltered.

"Mystic, I'll level with you here. The only reason you've not fallen into the void of time so far is because you've got an intangibility spell protecting you, and it's running out fast without its original caster nearby. If you forgive me, I'll save you. You do me a favour, and I do you a favour. See?"

Mystic backed away from First slightly.

"...Okay. I forgive you then."

First's lip trembled for a moment, and then his expression darkened.

"You don't really mean it," he growled. "You're just saying that!"

"Well, you threatened to let me fall into that void thingy!" Mystic said defensively, still backing away.

First lunged at Mystic again and grabbed his head in both his hands. He pulled him into the air as he stood up to his full height.

"FORGIVE ME!" he screamed.

"I forgive you! I forgive you!" Mystic cried. "Please stop hurting me!"

First's eyes widened, and he dropped the colt on the floor again. Mystic bounced when he hit the ground, and scrambled to get back onto his hooves. He looked up at First in fear, and the human looked at him the exact same way.

"...I'm not a villain," First insisted.

He began walking away backwards.

"I'm not."

He turned around and sprinted away from Mystic, disappearing into the fog.

END.

Author's Note:

This was a fucking nightmare to write. Even worse than the last chapter.

Partial credit for finally getting this out has to go to Mr. Spiffy, who wrote large segments of the Brotherhood scenes for me. He’s also the reason why this ended up being so long, even though I’ve cut a lot of his additions. There were originally at least half the number of Brotherhood scenes this chapter, but that proved inadequate for me to get the story done with.

And this chapter was originally going to be even longer. This chapter, plus the next two, were all originally envisioned as just one. Fuck if that’s going to happen though. I’m not writing a sixty thousand word chapter. Even this is pushing it.

I’d also like to apologise for the relative lack of comedy this chapter. There’s a lot less to do with this material than I thought there was, but I’m going to try and make up for that next chapter, however I can. For now, I’m just sorry that this chapter is so dark. Unless you’re one of the readers who likes the dark stuff, in which case, you’re welcome.

Next Chapter: Brotherhood of Man, Princess Celestia and Satan SUPER TEAM UP.

Comments

[4ed2f9a6be]

Damn, that's the longest chapter yet!

[Florida]

*Sees new chapter*
*Flips all internet tables to get to it*

[DannyJ]

2671543

Three and a half months of waiting, I figured it had better well be.

[Spifffy]

Great chapter. I still think that you should have kept my ponified Elder Scrolls Imperial Guard part though. That was gold right there, but noooooo.

[viconis]

heh taxies

[Cavalorn]

Wow

[StyrofoamPie]

Great. Just great. Not even death can get us away from taxes?

But seriously, worth the wait. It's nice to know that 'Splode is an Elder God, and not just some abhorrent blob of awesome.

[WIL_I_ZIN]

Damn, The more I keep read the more I feel none of this is going to end well.

I'm expecting the ending to this is going to be depressing as fuck.

[StachePony]

Finally!

[BoogaBingBangBow]

Seems First is having a bit of a personal crisis.

[EverfreeSparkle]

First is the villain, hahah! Just by attacking mystic and demanding to be forgiven he has proved he does not deserve forgiveness. (Just so you know if the multiverse theory is correct you have created this universe...And another you in another universe will pay the price if Second finds 'you')

[MonolithiuM]

Fuck finals, time for Hell.

[Armalite]

Danny, this took way too long to release. I mean, it's asinine how long we had to wait to - PRAISE LORD DANNY!

[Unwitting Brony]

The part about Shining Armor for some reason reminded me of World of Warcraft... anyway, this chapter was just the single most welcome thing, just what I needed to start off a week of solid work on finals review and projects. And though I sort of despise some of the Brotherhood of Man for being anti-Princess, I was glad to see them released from their torment. The idea of eternal damnation has never sat well with me, and the fact that such fellows as Fancy Pants were included only spurred it on. I don't really even hate First too much at this point. Well, I didn't, up until I saw what he did to Shining Armor. Especially after the last couple chapters of Human: Shades of Gray Grey (curse my innate compulsion to spell things the American way all the time). To make an esteemed soldier of his caliber into such a groveling mess, it's despicable.

That being said, it would be cool if First didn't end up dying. If he does, I'll be okay with it, but if he stays alive, it'll earn bonus awesome points.

[Djiiner]

FINALLY!!! A NEW CHAPTER!!!

[Griffomo13]

This story is beyond confounded..... I like it....

[Detective Chmilewsky]

Caught an error. "“I don’t why you two are so paranoid about that elevator," Iron interjected. "Besides, that jazzy waiting music is so catchy.”" There should be a 'know' in "I don't why..."

[DannyJ]

2672554

Big help. Thanks.

[WrathOfGod519]

I did the math, I'e been reading human for roughly 30 hours solid since it's inception, I have enjoyed every minute of it. God knows how long this must have taken to write.

---

Also this is in my opinion better than shades of grey, because this one gradually fades into the crazy shit so it's all somehow still believable and you get what's going on without the suspension of disbelief. Shades on the other hand just makes a jump from slowly building up to right up there before it even reaches the steepest incline.

No offense.

[DannyJ]

2672677

None taken. Most readers do have a favourite.

[Impoxdragon]

I. AM. DEATH."

static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/30747/611718-nuke.jpg Destroyer of worlds...

And now for mistakes I found:

almost unbearable stench, that caused

That comma doesn't need to be there.

to just lay on the ground

It's actually "lie"

noticed the thousands of ponies

You have an extra space in between "the" and "thousands"

you died... ” he said delicately.

I'm pretty sure "He" has to be capitalised.

They may as well have ran headlong into

The correct form is "run"

that came from a ominous, glowing pentagram

"an"

Tome produced an defeated, irritated sigh.

"a"

“You know what, I’m through

The comma should be a semicolon.

Gingerly, the trio exited their place of safety

Added an extra space.

and her friends, who with them led the rebellion

Consider adding a comma in between the bold words.

It's to ensue complacency.

"ensue" really isn't the right word. "Ensue" means "happen or occur afterwards or as a result"

Yes, dearie, I'm also a bit confused

You used the form "deary" previously. Why the change?

stuff seemed to drain a lot of of me,

Extra "of"

Shining Armor still laid on the ice at her

I believe the correct form is "lay"

and returned to laying on his side.

The correct form is "lying"

have to do, is forgive me for all

You don't need the comma.

I'M SORRY

[~ solarsarcasm~]

You have made my day so much better than it already is.

[DannyJ]

2672830

Fucking hell. I could have SWORN I corrected all these already in my editing before I put the chapter up. Thanks for pointing these out.

[The Tyrannical]

So.

When's the next chapter coming out?

Kidding. This was enough to satisfy me for a long while. Great job powering through the entire thing.

[Always Breakfast]

I think the real question is how First remembered the entirety of Dante's Inferno.

[Silver Wind]

I feel sorry for First. Can't say he had it coming for what he did to Shining.

[Dig]

This and Game Of Thrones in a single day?

Well I'll be... Thanks, Mister!

[Shanenator]

Holy fucking SHIT!! This is the epicest story on the site. Seriously. Where else can one get MLP, uproarious comedy, shotguns, massive explosions, evil cults, all-out warfare, zombie invasions, cutting-edge technology, all the shipping, aliens, betrayals as far as the eye can see, mass revivals, and a FUCKING BREAKOUT OF DANTE-ESQUE HELL ITSELF???

Thrilling. Gripping. Amazing. Was on the edge of my seat the whole time. This story has me by the fucking balls and I've only got one way out: the ending! And yes, the fabulous length makes the very long wait worthwhile, especially since I read the whole story only like a month ago! Teehee! I do wonder, though: whatever happened to Luna and the rest of the current/original Elements of Harmony?

Also, I find this chapter's lack of Sliske disturbing.

Quick error I think:

"You were influenced by me. An alicorn would know better, but a demon thinks of punishment. And just look at the beasts you created. I made demonkind and thought myself impressive, but you have outdone even me. You made Lord First, the greatest monster of them all."

Isn't this supposed to be red? I'm pretty sure Satan said that. If not, it was unclear.

2672419 I know, right? What a di - PRAISE LORD DANNY!!

[DannyJ]

2673491

Fixed, thanks.

[cs95]

been a while lol

awesome chapter

[warpd]

Poor humans keeping being used as the token villain. That's speciest.

[Brony Pony]

Dang, up until this point I really liked First! I still do, but now I also pity him! Even if he did torture ponies for two thousands years... I can't wait for more Sliske in the next chapter! She's my favorite character! Huh, I remember I time when I thought he was a horrible choice for a main character, but now she's my favorite! Lol, gender confusion.

[7h0m4s]

Best HIE fanfic i have ever had the pleasure of reading. As well as the craziest. I look forward to its conclusion!

[Garion]

2672419
PRAISE HIM!

[The Third]

Is that his greatest fear, being labeled a villain in this story?

[Armalite]

2675362 Yeah, because if he is then he will be defeated at the end.

[Daxisle]

Just... Just so much win...

Wait, Lord First just figured that out? He just figured out that he was the villain?

So... Sentencing ponies to exaggerated lengths of damnation for crimes like lying (Seriously? Who doesn't lie?) is punishable by eternal sickness? Really dude?

[Trihors]

First of all, fucking nice.

Secondly, I'm wondering... what is Second doing now? Probably creating new ways to get things... uh... "better"...

And also...
How many chapters there are still going to be? Because this whole story has been a cluster fuck of mish mashing thing-a-majingas, and it's a bit hard to recognize if we're even close to the end (I sure as hell hope not).

[Shanenator]

2676766 You best get readin' son. Epicness awaits you.

[The Third]

2676237 Though its a wonder that he now starts to see that he is a villain.

[Armalite]

2677723 Well, we are dealing with a mad, egotistical teenager here. And take it from me, us teenagers, we know everything.

[Armalite]

Oh yeah, and congrats on reaching 1111 likes. The only real milestone any fic can hope to achieve.

[scienceandponies]

One would think you could piece together that you're the villain when THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY LEAD A REBELLION AGAINST YOU!
You know, just a little hint that maybe the narrative doesn't consider you much of a good guy.

[Dead_Page]

2671670
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/33847511.jpg

[DannyJ]

2679958

Something I unfortunately did not learn until much later.

[The Third]

2677733 yeah, I guess so. Though I wonder how he will be defeated.

[Spifffy]

2679793
Yea, it started out with the classic arrest and quickly evolved into something that went a little like this:

Oblivion's guards were hilarious.

[crazynrandom]

Aweeeesome, the descend into insanity is getting quicker and quicker
Also, I just googled "Mxyzptlk", because why not. Well, I found this:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/Mxyzptlk.PNG
O.o What the hell?

Anyway, thanks for this awesome (if a bit long for me, personally) chapter.

[Dead_Page]

2680337
Oh, Oblivion. The first game with a readily abusable console just waiting to end in a giant daedroth being mauled to death by sixty chickens on steroids. Spell-casting chickens on steroids.