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// XIII: Torment 
// Story: Where in Equestria are we? 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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	Trixie stumbled out of the gateway and nearly collapsed against the ground of whatever world she had found herself in this time. Her staff fell out of her hooves, falling to the ground and shattering as the remains of Vinyl's magic tore it to wooden splinters. As her eyes focused on the ground she heard the noises of soldiers approaching, hearing the boots hit the ground as she was quickly surrounded. She silently cursed herself, if it was Vinyl and the others then she was finished for good, so she closed her eyes and waited for the end.

But the end did not come to the corrupted mare, instead she continued to hear the assembling noise of what appeared to be a large company of warriors. For three minutes she heard the noise of soldiers stopping all around her and she wondered what was happening around the gate. When the noise stopped she opened her eyes and saw what looked like two hundred plus ponies standing around her, all with armor, banners, and weapons equipped. Ponies whose eyes were red like those who served Lord Oblivion and banners that showed a black butterfly emblem, but it was the pony approaching Trixie that commanded her attention.

"Move out of my way worms," Fluttershy shouted, her whip moving about as she looked for a victim that dared to challenge her, "Move before I chain you and force you to work in the pits with the other slaves and those who dared to challenge me."

Ponies who stood in front of her quickly moved, the threat of being pressed into manual labor and possibly whipped scaring them into submission. The pits were the worst place in the entire world, if not the entire universe, where one would be forced to work until they died.

"Ah, so KIND of you to arrive on time Trixie," Fluttershy growled, the whip wrapping around her arm as she helped the mare up, "This is the ONLY time I will ever help you up, so don't assume I'll do something like it ever again. Trust me, if you have a SHRED of intelligence in that brain of yours you will learn that any move towards me will make you end up in my ETERNAL PITS."

Trixie gulped, this dragon mare was crazy with power and she wasn't above tossing whoever opposed her into her slave pits. So she accepted the mare's dragon hand and got up, looking back at the gate and wondering if the others were even coming after her. If the four came out they were going to be captured, likely have their weapons taken away, and be thrown into the slave pits. She could only shudder to think what demons walked the pits and kept the slaves in line enough to sate Fluttershy's anger.

Fluttershy looked back and smiled, unwrapping her whip and wrapping it around the entire gateway forcefully, the blades cutting into the stone structure.

"We of the Elements of Hate had the power to create and open gateways," Fluttershy explained, tightening her grip and shattering the magical gateway with ease, "and we have the power to destroy and close gates. This power allows us to travel between the various worlds and wreck havoc however Lord Oblivion wishes us to do so. I imagine whoever was in that gateway must have felt quite the pinch when the gate slammed shut on them."

~The Terminal~

Vinyl, having sent a squad of three through the gateway a few minutes after Trixie left, felt the vibration as the gate slammed shut, cutting off the connection to the world Trixie had went to. It also trapped the three unlucky soldiers between worlds, sending them to who knew where in the process.

"How did the gateway just close on us?" Octavia asked, though she was still unfamiliar with how the doorways or gateways work, "Isn't the only one who could use the gateways the Gatekeeper?"

"Oblivion's power has grown," came a remark as another alicorn appeared behind the group, this one familiar to everypony, "He has trained his most personal officers in the art of using the gates. He is content to sealing poor Trixie in the world of torment, leaving our enemy with one key that we can't afford to have misplaced."

"Princess Luna, I am surprised to see you again," The Gatekeeper said, "I was sure that the gate was sealed enough to prevent it from being used, but it seems that with as many keys have been recovered and brought here the seals are weakening."

The Lunar Princess turned her head to the red ailcorn stallion, looking him over for a few seconds before deciding on what she wanted to say.

"You've become more noble in the years since I've left you," Luna remarked, selecting a pair of armor from the rack that resembled her Nightmare Moon armor, "and it seems that I will have to take the familiar form of the dreaded Nightmare Moon to install any fear into our enemies troops. This time Oblivion will fall and the worlds will be safe once again."

~World of Torment~

Trixie found herself sitting at what looked like a normal table in a military fortress with several guard towers, a bunker for the guards, and a fully stocked armory. The fortress came equipped with a fully stocked kitchen, a training area the size of Canterlot, and an open pit that smelled of sulfur. All Trixie had to do was look over the edge of where she was sitting and she would be able to see the dreaded pit that everypony on this world, excluding Fluttershy, feared.

So she sat across the table from where the dragon pony sat, unsure of what the vile being was even eating as it looked stringy and blood red. Her own plate had several of the same strange item and she was hesitant to even touch...whatever it was. Trixie picked up a piece with her magic and tore a small piece off, getting a smell for it as she prepared to taste it and placed the piece back on the plate.

"It seems you have not yet developed a taste for meat," Fluttershy said, tearing off a chunk of the cooked item and swallowing it whole, "Don't worry, the taste comes with the darkness that has already seeped into your body and soon you might begin to develop a form like the rest of us. Maybe if I fuel your darker side you will truly begin to see things the way the rest of the Elements see things. Bring me the rebel from the other world."

Two guards brought forth a pony bound and gagged with a hood covering his or her identity. When they showed Trixie the mare's cutie mark she immediately recognized who they had brought before her. The mare they had brought before Trixie was none other than herself, another version of her that was repelling against the Elements of Hate and their master Oblivion.

"Yes," Fluttershy said, tearing into the final piece of meat as the plate was replaced with a fresh one, "We caught her in a different world, freeing slaves and raising an rebellion that could challenge the very fabric of our Master's glorious army against us. A secondary leader to the Warriors of Purity, a warrior who could replace Vinyl Scratch the moment she fell to the darkness again.

Maybe you would like to hit her? Strike her down a bit and fuel the inner beast? Maybe even rip off a limb and toss her into the pit where she belongs? The possibilities are endless. I could even drag all the different Trixie's here and have you torture them all, one by one, until your the last Trixie in all of existence. Go ahead, make your choice."

Trixie was starting to regret her hasty decision to abandon her friends and join the enemy. It wasn't worth it if she had to beat up another version of herself that opposed the vile Oblivion, but what could she really do in this position? Even if she renounced her new master and managed to deliver three of the keys to the Gatekeeper there was one problem. She honestly didn't know how she was going to escape this world when there was no gate and there was a huge army being trained here. Oh, make that two problems then.

Deciding against her better judgement she got up and approached the other world of herself, the guards backing away to let her do her thing, except they removed the bindings to allow the prisoner a glimpse of what was to come. Trixie faltered for a second as she stared into her own eyes, wondering how her enemy could have turned such a fighting spirit into such a scared mare.

"Please, don't do this to me." the other Trixie begged, tears already rolling down her face, "You don't have to do any of this. Oblivion doesn't command you like he does the other ponies who have fallen under his spell."

When did I become such a coward? That was the question that boggled Trixie's mind as she stared down at herself, her nerves itching for her to strike out at her other self. Trixie, deciding to abandon her rational mind, smacked to other her across the face, causing the mare to spit out blood as she faced Trixie.

"Please, I'm begging you," the tortured mare said, "don't do this to yourself. Don't give into the emotions that will turn you into one of them. Please, let me go and save yourself."

"SHUT UP." Trixie shouted, punching herself in the gut, breaking a rib or two in the process, "Such a great warrior of purity, now reduced to a mare begging for her life. You are PATHETIC."

Trixie shattered the chains holding the mare in place as she considered the worst possible punishment for the warrior turned coward. Then she figured out the best place for the mare to go; the slave pit that Fluttershy commanded. She picked up the mare and brought her closer to the edge, allowing her to see her fate laid out and causing her to widen her eyes.

"Not the pit," the other Trixie screeched, trying to escape her approaching fate, "Anything but the dreaded slave pit."

"You deserve the pit," Trixie spat, holding the mare out with her magic, "Never will Trixie be known as the coward that you make her seem like. Begone with you."

Trixie cast her other self into the depths of the pit, hearing the mare hit a bunch of rocks on her way down until there was a dull thud. Trixie thought she might have actually killed the other her self, but she heard a faint crying sound and it confirmed that she was still alive. Sooner or later that mare was going to lose her will to live and she was going to commit suicide, but Trixie doubted she'd get far. The guards were going to keep her alive as long as possible. As Trixie turned around she noticed that her right limb was identical to Fluttershy's own dragon limb, but she really paid it no mind.

She sat down at the table and picked up a piece of meat that had remained untouched from the last time she had touched the plate. She noticed that Fluttershy was grinning, like she enjoyed the act of violence that Trixie had committed against her other self. Trixie paid her new mentor no mind, she shoved the piece into her mouth and barely cared that there was a hint of an animal inn her mouth now.

She had to admit, the taste of meat was extraordinary.