//------------------------------// // 18~Fires of Hell // Story: Hellfire Dash // by Centurion Pike-Wall //------------------------------// Fire whipped around the sockets of her eyes, evaporating the tears that had fallen from them just seconds earlier. Her grip tightened on Twilight's body, her knuckles turning white on her former lover's arm. She stood up, breathing heavily, only to be knocked back to her knees and squeeze her eyes shut by a powerful strike from behind. "Stubborn, I'll give you that", Pillar said. He stood slightly in front of her, sword held at his side. "But, alas, you must die. Tell your master that if he continues to send out his minions, I shall come for him." He lifted up his sword, leveling it at her chest. Umbra laughed in response. "Oh, not the case, my friend. Because, you see", She said, opening her eyes and cracking a wide, fang-filled grin. "I'll let you tell him yourself." In a flare of power, Umbra tapped into her anger; one of the 'powerful emotions' Lucifer had mentioned would allow her to access her True Form in the mortal realm. Fire whipped around her, sending Pillar scrambling back in alarm. Beneath the flames, Umbra felt certain parts of her grow in size, while others shifted. New heat, not from the fire, flared up inside her, and remained even as said fire faded away. As it did, she rolled her now rather muscular arms, watching as the liquid fire ran from her heart out to her arteries and veins. The familiar sight of black claws on her hands, larger and more ram-like horns, and even bigger wings made her smile grow even bigger. Pillar's eyes widened in shock, as she fixed his with her own black orbs with red pupils. He sputtered in alarm, exclaiming, "W-what devilry is this?" "Never seen this before?", she asked, cracking her neck. "Well, sinner, I'll tell you this. You killed the most precious thing to me; the one thing that kept me tied to the mortals. Now, without her, I have nothing. And I'm gonna break your sword, then use its shards to choke you." She flexed her hand, and her knife flew into her hands, before being engulfed in fire and growing to the size of Pillars sword. After spreading her wings, which were now also wreathed in flame, she let loose a feral cry and charged. ++++ Down below, Spike lifted himself up, gripping his head as he groaned. He looked around, spotting his friends, who were also recovering from their sudden teleportation. He said, "Everyone here?" "Ah'm here!", AJ called out, adjusting her hat. Fizzlepop said, "Yep, I'm here." "Mmhmm." "I'm here, darling." "Ok", he said. "Wait. Where's Twilight!?" Above them, a loud explosion sounded, dust shaking down from the ceiling. "That can't be good." "Yeah", Fizzlepop said. "We need to get topside." She took off running for the staircase, followed by Applejack and Pinkie. As they ran up the crumbled stone stairs, a wall of pink, bubbly substance appeared over the entrance, sending the three of them slamming into the shield then falling back down the stairs. Fizzlepop stood back up, thrusting her spear into the shield, only for the tip to snap off. Spike looked around the room, only to fall back as Fluttershy jumped him. He cried out in alarm, pushing back with all his might in order to push her off of him. Rarity aided him in the effort, using her magic to push her back and pin her to one of the columns. Despite the aura of magic around her, Fluttershy continued to thrash and hiss, attempting to break free. "Oh, this is horrible, Spike", Rarity said, sweat pouring down her face as she concentrated on keeping Fluttershy contained. "Our friends are up there with that maniac, we're stuck down here, and something is wrong with Fluttershy here." Applejack kicked the shield as hard as she could, then again, and again. After at least several other attempts, she stopped, backing down the stairs over towards the two of them. "Calm down, Rares", she said. "We'll figure something out. We have to." Spike nodded, but stopped focussing on Fluttershy when he heard a noise off to the side, down below them. It sounded like... Crying? Peeking over the edge, he saw a small filly leaning against the side of the wall, tears streaming down her face interspersed with hard, racking coughs. He ran over around the column that Fluttershy was pinned to, almost jumping down the stairs. He ended up next to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. She didn't look good. Sweat poured down her head, leaving streaks of darker colored fur down her face. Her eyes, while they shocked him at first, were flicking open and shut several times. Her clothes were also soaked in sweat, and was racked by occasional twitches. In other words, she looked terrible. He asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" "P-p-parabellum. I, I just want to be left alone", she said. "Ok, but what are you doing here?", he asked. She coughed again, before saying, "Mr., Mr. Pillar. He said that he could help me. But, but he didn't. He just made everything hurt. I just want it to stop. I just want it to stop." She lowered her head into her lap, now full-on sobbing. Spike backed up, a little bit stunned. Pillar; that was the name of the Celestial thing that was fighting Rainbow and Twilight above them. He had brought her to this place, and suddenly he had all these crazy, Discord-like powers. As he was putting two and two together, Fluttershy managed to break free. She lunged at Rarity, but was smacked back by Applejack. She fell in front of him and Parabellum, struggling to get up. As Fluttershy landed in front of her, Parabellum froze. A blue mist flowed out of her mouth, and it formed into a small blue, noodle-like figure. It seemed to walk over to Fluttershy, and it stopped just in front of her. A tendril of the steam flowed off of him, and Fluttershy seemed to stop her thrashing. It then turned to the others, and Spike could almost make out a form the tendril. "Discord?", Rarity asked. "I'm sorry", a voice seemed to echo out of it; an all-too-familiar one. "If you are hearing this, then I'm somehow dead. Unimaginable, I know, but you know it's true. Even gods like me and my siblings can die if we are cut off from our source of Power. In my case, my chaos magic. But, as you've probably figured out, I've found a way my power won't be lost." It gestured to the filly, who was watching just as intently as the rest of them. "This is Parabellum. Nice name, right? She's, for lack of a better term, my heir. She has my power. Please, if you can, get her to Princess Celestia. Much as I hate to admit it, she's her best chance to train her and help her grow into her powers. And, if you can, say goodbye to my best friend, Fluttershy. Thank you; I'll try to send some goodies from the afterlife. This is Discord, God of Chaos, signing off." And with that, the smoke seemed to fade, disappearing like smoke in the wind. Spike put two and two together immediately. "That's why everything hurts!" "Last I checked, we're all fine Spike", Fizzlepop said. "Not us", he said. "Her. Parabellum. She gave her power to Pillar, and she's dying as a result." "I'm... dying?", Parabellum asked. "But, I just want to be normal. I, I don't want all of this crazy stuff happening!" Fluttershy seemed to recover, sitting up and breathing heavily. "W-what happened? Where am I!?" "Long story, Sugarcube", Applejack said, helping her up. Spike continued to talk to Parabellum. "Look. I know it's hard. Trust me, I know. I know that these things can be hard. But, sometimes, you have to just stand up and take responsibility. Just, help us. Pillar, he wants to hurt people. Help us, and not only you will stop hurting, you can keep him from hurting others." "But how do I do it?", she asked. "I don't know how to control what I do, I just *cough*, I just do it." "Just, try. Please", Fizzlepop said. Parabellum looked nervous, but swallowed and nodded. "Ok", she said, shutting her eyes. ++++ Umbra was thrown against a column, collapsing part of the structure on top of her. She threw off the crumbling old stone, bringing up her blade just in time to parry a blow aimed for her neck. She pushed in with their blades locked, before kicking off his knee and flying back, buffing him with her wings. He recovered quickly, delivering a rapid thrust at her chest. Again, she parried, this time ducking under the sword and trying to deliver a cut under his guard. Again she failed when he kneed upward, hitting her just below the chin and sending her falling onto her back. The fight, which had been going back and forth like this for a while, finally turned in Pillars's favor. He snapped his fingers and chains made of cobras formed around her, while their heads bit into her. She felt her strength, along with feeling in her body, fade away as her true form melted away back into her normal form. The snakes removed their fangs, proceeding to tighten around her. Pillar stood over her, breathing heavily. Her onslaught did injury him; he was covered in burns, small cuts, and other injuries. However, he still had the advantage and placed his blade to her throat. "As always", he said. "Good triumphs. Say goodbye, Daemon." As he said that, he suddenly froze, twitching and wheezing. Umbra raised herself up on her elbows, watching with a mix of horror and interest. He fell to his knees, eyes glowing with flickering purple light. She cautiously stood, somewhat unsure as to what was happening to him, or by him. She inched closer, holding her now once again normal knife in front of her, ready to lunge forward to stab him. Finally, he stopped twitching, looking up at her. He tried to rise, but she kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling on his back. He snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. He did it again, and then again, but the result remained the same. She grinned. She didn't know how, but she didn't care. She threw down her knife, grabbing his collar and began punching him. She punched until a sneer formed on her face. She then punched until golden ichor began to pour out of his face. She then punched until the sounds that the punches made stopped making smacking noises and started making wet squelching noises. Finally, after her hand was stained with golden blood and Pillars' face looked like a crushed pie, she was interrupted. A voice, which said, "Woah, Umbra. Calm down, will ya?" Umbra stopped, letting the bloody and wheezing Pillar fall to the stone floor. She asked, "Dust?" Sure enough, the aqua celestial mare was there, looking none the worse for wear. She said, "Yeah. We're perpetuals like you, remember? Now, I'm here for two things, so if you'd step aside, that'd be great." "Two things?", Umbra asked. "I get Pillar, but what's the second." But, she knew. And she dreaded it. "Him", Lightning said, before pointing at Twilight's body. "And her."