//------------------------------//
// Descent into Sorrow 
// Story: Storm of My Fury 
// by Flurryshine 
//------------------------------//

The night settled over the mountain as soundly as anywhere else in Equestria. Along the cliff face sat a series of buildings, the largest being the one on the very edge of the cliff. Within was a myriad group of pegasi. They were all talking in low voices that were almost completely muffled by their cloaks. Under their cloaks could be seen every glance or so some of the finest clothes in the country. The council was deep in discussion when another cloaked figure entered. The head of the council looked to the new figure and scowled.
“Thorn is you experiment complete?” he addressed the late arrival.
“A huge success, Chamberlin Frost,” Thorn said in a cool and suave voice.
“Good, word is she is returning. Is the experiment ready to be launched?” Chamberlin Frost hissed.
“I can have it launched at once. She won’t stand a chance!” Thorn exclaimed full of arrogance he was well known for.
“Then go launch it!” Chamberlin Frost shouted. Thorn gave a curt nod, a bow, and cantered off.
Thorn went to an outcropping on the cliff face just below the large building. He gazed down at the runway below him. The iron wrought gates to a hidden cave opened with a loud screeching noise. The sound of bated breath resonated from inside the cave. Thorn knew his experiment was waiting to be let loose, to fulfill its destiny.
“Be liberated from your shackles, my fiend.  Take to the skies and silence the upstarts of rebellion. Crush their fearless leader to her bones. Arise and destroy, Diablo!” Thorn pronounced loudly.
The glow of slanted, pupil less, yellow eyes resonated with the vicious neighs from within the cave. The sound of shackles rattling and falling to the stone floor was followed by the bellowing canter of a massive pegasus. The blazing red coat was accompanied with blackness from the knees down. The jet black mane and tail splayed out like a black cloud of smoke forming around him. As the monstrous stallion took to the air, he unfolded his massive black wings. He brayed loudly as he went barreling through the skies. A second cave opened to let loose hundreds of bat-like creatures to follow the beastly pegasus.
Thorn watched from his perch in Braying Cliffs. His blue muzzle revealed in the moonlight to be twisted into a sadistic smile. He began to laugh as he slunk off back into the recesses of the cliff face, his maniacal laughter emphasizing his success. Thorn’s laughter was a horrific sound  as it resounded off the natural walls of the cliff face in a cruel twisted symphony of psychopathic intentions.
In the not too distant village of Nickernabby, our heroes slept blissfully. It was a calm and deep sleep that would rejuvenate the weariest of souls. They enjoyed it plentifully. It was almost dawn when they were awoken suddenly. One moment they were blissfully asleep in their rooms, and the next they woke to the worst possible sounds ever. The crash of rooftops caving in, the sizzle of fire blazing at out control, the cries of panic-stricken ponies, and even a few anguishing death rattles filled the air within moments. Our heroes scrambled out of the inn in time to see the roof spontaneous go up in a blaze of blue-black flames. The whole village was lit up with a strange blue light from the unusual blue-black flames. Nickernabby was alive with fear and panic. Our heroes instinctively grouped closer together as fear over took them.
It was Twilight that spoke first as she said,” We have to help! Hurry girls! We have to get these fires out and help the villagers get to safety!”
The ponies moved the moment she finished. Rainbow Dash, Periwinkleflight, and Fluttershy took high into the air to join the makeshift pegasus fire squad. They began trying to put out the strange fires by batting their wings hard to stir up wind or dumping buckets of water the other village ponies were drawing from a well. Twilight Sparkle led the unicorns and earth ponies among our heroes to assist helping trapped ponies escape the burning houses. Sparkleshine cowered underneath Flurryshine. Flurryshine was frozen in shock. She knew these flames. She knew them very well, but she refused to believe they were there. The cries of her friends broke her trance-like state. She saw them but did not believe what she saw. Devil bats…lots of devil bats swooped out of nowhere. The huge bats began to knock pegasi out of the sky, scooping up ponies on the ground and carrying them off to Celestia knows where, and crashed the brittle rooftops down fully on anypony they could.
Flurryshine could not watch this. She charged forwards with her wings unfurled. A devil bat spotted her and dived at her. Blinded by her fury, she leaped up and gored the creature deep in its gut. A final cry and shutter went through the creature’s body before it slumped lifelessly and was tossed from her horn. Sparkleshine galloped as fast as she could to keep up with her older cousin, her eyes as large as dinner plates in fear. Spliish! Flurryshine gored another devil bat. The creature screamed in pain before it slides limply from her horn. Sparkleshine whimpered as she managed to catch up with Flurryshine when she came to a halt. The frightened filly instinctively cowered underneath the larger mare. Flurryshine was unaware of her presence. She was snorting viciously as she searched the skies.
“Flurryshine! Sparkleshine!” Snowbreeze’s frantic voice fell upon their ears.
Flurryshine turned to face her. Snowbreeze gasped as she looked upon her old friend. Her eyes were burning with fury and the gruesome red splatter of blood down her muzzle and horn made her was most frightening. Sparkleshine whinnied as she galloped over to Snowbreeze and nuzzled her foreleg.
“Look out for her, Snowbreeze,” Flurryshine said in a haggard voice before she leaped into the blazing skies. Snowbreeze nodded as she watched the alicorn fly off to do battle before she nuzzled the frightened filly at her forelegs.
The village was in the full force of the blaze. The ponies were too occupied with stopping the devil bats to keep up a good pace against the blaze. Fluttershy had a great deal of them spellbound by her gaze alone. The other pegasi were taking this advantage to buck the devil bat to the ground were Applejack had a contingent of ponies were tying the beast up tightly. Many of the village ponies were arming themselves with pitchforks to fend them off as other ponies still tried to save the trapped ponies caught in the blazing houses. Twilight Sparkle watched this mayhem unfold and knew something had to be done about the blaze fast! There weren’t enough ponies to go around to stop all these horrible things at once. It came to her. Twilight Sparkle crouched low as she tried to concentrate on her magic. Her horn began to shine as she pumped for more and more magic in it to produce this spell successfully. She felt it brimming as she quickly threw her head up towards the sky.
A purple light cut through the smoke of the blaze and deep into the clouds above. It dispersed to reveal nothing. Twilight Sparkle stood in shock for a few moments. Then...it happened. The rumble of storm clouds rolled in. The sky cracked with lightning and thunder as the magical storm let loose its fury! The rain fell hard and heavy on the horror scene that was once a thriving village. The blue-black blaze began to die down as the onslaught of Twilight’s storm began to smother it. The devil bats squealed as the dissipating smoke left them with no hiding places from the furious ponies that singularly focused on driving them out of the village. The rescue teams worked even more quickly to search for survivors in the wreckage of the houses.
A furious bray shattered through all the noise. All the ponies looked up to see a massive mass of wings and equine plummeting to the middle of the village. Crash! Flurryshine landed spine first as her assailant drove her into the ground. A blood choked whinny of pain escaped her as she made impact with the ground! She glowered up at the stallion pinning her and kicked out with her hind leg. The pegasus, that looked like death on wings, holding her deftly dodged by swooping up into the air. Flurryshine scrambled to her hooves and staggered up after him, to charge him full on as they ascended higher into the air. As they reached the light of the moon behind them, they clashed! Their necks and forelegs were intertwined as they bashed into each other with their chests. The stallion let loose a furious bray and a blaze of fire erupted around the battling flyers.
“That can’t be! That’s Diablo, Flurryshine’s father!” Snowbreeze screamed in panic.
Our heroes looked harder at the battle with shock. The two were locked in a dome of blue-black fire. All of a sudden, Flurryshine burst out coughing madly and her coat of fire! As Diablo emerged the flames contorted and spun around him. Flurryshine descended in a spinning dive until the fire was extinguished. She then stopped her descent to stare up at the blazing stallion that was her own father. Her face started as a grimace, but it rapidly turned in a furious snarl as she charged up at him! Diablo enveloped himself in his blue-black flames and dived down at her. The two looked as if they would clash midair again, but at the point of impact Diablo swerved to the side. He then spun about to deliver a strong kick with his hind leg into Flurryshine’s side.
Flurryshine screamed in pain as she forced back and down into the forest beyond the village borders. Diablo was quick to charge her. He entangled her in his forelegs again and kept charging deep into the forest. He fell like a blazing rocket when they dived into the forest. The ponies could only stand in shock.
“We gotta help her!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“It’s no good! No one can beat Diablo! This is Flurryshine’s battle,” Periwinkleflight replied.
Deep in the forest Flurryshine found herself sprawled in a stream. Every fiber of her being was aching, her vision was hazy, and her mind was slowed from the impact. She staggered to her hooves. Her wings ached as she retracted them to a folded position. A loud snort before her made her ears perk up. Flurryshine cursed her luck as she gazed upon the hazy image of her father with his blue-black flames swirling around him. He reared up and charged with a loud whinny. Flurryshine panicked. Her instincts took hold and she flew up long even to land a good measure farther away. Her wings splayed out aggressively and she lowered her head to brandish her horn. She stood there in fear as Diablo kept charging at her. When he reached her, Flurryshine swung her horn wildly to fend him off. It did little good as he dodged to her side and bash her into a tree trunk.
Flurryshine crumpled pitifully and lifted her head to see him take to the sky and dive down at her forelegs first. She scrambled out of the way fast enough for him to miss her, the root where her head just was shattering on impact by the force of Diablo’s hooves! Flurryshine stumbled to her hooves as she scrambled backwards in fear. This was it. She would die right here, by the hooves of her own father! Diablo’s blue-black flames lashed out and left deep burn marks along her chest and flanks. Flurryshine whinnied in pain. She didn’t want to fight anymore. She didn’t want her father to kill her. Then she thought of the sinners in Braying Cliffs. She was filled with anger. They had to have done something to her father to make him do this. She glared with new resolve at Diablo. She saw the glint she needed. The centric design of blue magic was inscribed upon his forehead. They had enchanted him! She brayed in absolute rage and she charged head down.
Diablo neighed in rage as Flurryshine’s horn gored his shoulder. His warm blood washed him and his slightly smaller daughter, their manes beginning to mat into the wet masses. Flurryshine pulled back to receive a hoof to the face. She staggered back and looked back to him to see Diablo take flight again. She snorted as she shot up after him. The two clashed and charged each other repeatedly.
“Please, remember who I am father,” Flurryshine thought as she kept charging Diablo.
Flurryshine raised high above her father and dived. Diablo turned and released the fury of the blaze he had with him still. He cracked a cruel smile as Flurryshine was enveloped in flames. His smile soon broke as she blasted out of it on fire! She was gritting back the pain and she continued her dive. They impacted with a loud crunch! They dived farther and farther down as Diablo struggled to get loose of Flurryshine’s decent. He could not. They fell farther down until they were swallowed by the darkness of the chasm that was below them. Diablo swerved and ended up crushing his wings on the chasm walls. The two were splattered with blood from the busted wings as they continued to fall. In Diablo’s anguish a shiver ran through his body. The enchantment faded and he opened his eyes to have pupils in them again. His true consciousness returned to him, he took moments to realize what had happened.
He turned his head to face Flurryshine with tears in his eyes. She was shocked by his expression, and even more when he said, “This is not the fate meant for you.”
With that said, Diablo skillfully managed to kick Flurryshine off him towards the sky. Flurryshine righted herself to look down at her father falling to his death. His wings were shattered; they would not be able to work anymore. Diablo fell too fast for Flurryshine to move. All she could do was ascend with tears in her eyes. Her eyes dropped more tears than she had ever shed in her entire life. She had cried so many in her life. She slumped on the edge of the chasm. Her body just lay there in pain as her heart broke a little more. She cried into her wings as she realized her father was gone now. As if to rub it in, a blaze of blue-black flame erupted behind her. She turned to see the evidence that her father was gone, his mind dying causing the sporadic flames.
She slumped back onto the slab of stone and cried loudly. How much did they have to hurt her before they stopped? Why had they done that to her father? These questions flooded her mind as renewed hatred licked the wounds of her sorrow. She shivered as the flood of emotion took over her. She stood with a vicious glare in her eyes. She spread her disheveled wings as she jumped into the skies.
When Flurryshine landed in Nickernabby the village ponies ran in fear. She looked absolutely monstrous. Her head was hung low, her mane was matted with blood, her entire body was covered in blood and burns, and her eyes were the most frightening of all. They were locked in a perpetual glare of the purest hatred as her tears fell unending from them. She didn’t even fold her wings. She left them splayed out defensively as she slowly walked down the main street. No pony approached. Even our heroes that had become her friends over time were frozen in their places. No pony approached her as she walked among them, all of them but one.
“Flurryshine?! Oh, what in Equestria happened to you?!” Bright Leaf neighed as he raced towards her, heedless of all the warning signs not to.
Flurryshine gave a vicious snort as he approached. Before he could retreat she was on him. She reared up, slammed him to the ground, and began to scream at him. Bright Leaf crumpled at her onslaught. He took her fury when he done nothing to deserve it.
“You did this!” she screamed,” You told them I was here! It’s your fault he is dead! Your filthy piece of scum! My father is dead! He’s dead!”
Flurryshine kept crying as she crumpled down beside Bright Leaf. He shook his head at her. She knew he hadn’t told anyone. He knew she knew that. He got up from under her hoof as she cried into the road. Bright Leaf began to nose over her body, trying to find what was wound and what was just excess blood. He then cantered back to where his medical bag had fallen when she knocked him down and rummaged through the contents. He returned with a bucket of well water and assorted poultices. He wetted a rag he kept in his bag and began to gently remove the blood from her coat. Flurryshine didn’t even register his presence as she continued to mourn her father.
It took a half an hour for Bright Leaf to bound and medicate her wounds. No pony would dare come close to assist him. Flurryshine had stopped her crying by now and only lay in a daze on the road. Bright Leaf looked down at her with pity. The fates seemed against this mare at all times. He then began to nudge her to get to her hooves. She had to get out of the street and recuperate somewhere more sheltered. Flurryshine resisted at first, but gave in to his persistence. She slowly got to her hooves and leaned heavily on Bright Leaf. The two of them slowly walked back to our band of heroes. Snowbreeze and Springflower took the burden of holding her up from Bright Leaf.  The looks of fear and shock were replaced with sympathy on everypony’s face. It slowly sunk in what Flurryshine had done for the whole village and her loss became their loss. That dawn, the skies were filled with the brays of the living to honor the dead.