The Pit of Torment, the only place in the World of Anger that housed the condemned soldiers, civilians, and even the unlucky warriors that turned on the world's mistress. It appeared to be a gaping hole in the ground, but the truth of the matter was that the outside was just the very beginning of what laid in store for those who angered Fluttershy. Those who stood on the edge could see the first level of the Pits, the largest of the ever growing levels that contained the Pits. The first level was where the majority of the workers spent their time, mining rocks for all sorts of minerals and expensive jewels that were all hauled up to the fortress.
The condemned would hammer and pick their way deeper into the pits, opening holes into the deeper levels and the even greater rewards for those who hauled up the goods. The guards who watched over the Pit were similar in appearance to what the Elements looked like, dragon warriors with weapons and whips to punish the workers if they tried to rebel. Trying to rebel was discouraged and if you were caught it led to whippings, lashings, and generally losing part of yourself in the process.
It was the perfect place to secretly raise an army that could topple those who already ruled the world, provided they didn't get caught in the process.
Fluttershy hadn't been truthful to her new ally, the young and promising Trixie, when she had said there was no other exit that would allow her to leave the world. Fluttershy had, in her possession, a chamber that contained a vast amount of gateways, one to each of the worlds of her fellow Elements and, ultimately, Oblivion's world. In case of emergency, that being the Warriors of Purity taking complete control over one of their worlds, the defeated Element and whatever was left of their personal army would arrive and shut the gateway down before it could be used.
The World of Anger was a secret world that the Warriors of Purity could not be allowed to gain access to, not when the greatest weapon lied undiscovered. Lord Oblivion had ordered them to dig and find whatever it was that he wanted them to find, so not even Fluttershy knew what they were really after. All she knew was that the weapon was supposed to be powerful and was to be handed to the supposed carrier of Pride, the final Sin as Lord Oblivion named her.
Lord Oblivion was obsessed with the mare that seemed to have more pride then any other pony in all of existence, which was a lot of ponies. He had chosen Trixie, the main one from Equestria Prime, to become the Sin of Pride, thus filling the seventh seat and creating a powerful weapon for Lord Oblivion to use. Even now the mare was standing in her own personal study, learning some advanced magic before she traveled to Twilight's world to learn the rest of it.
Fluttershy, who happened to be facing the gateway that would lead her to the central hub of Lord Oblivion's army, heard the sound of a gateway opening behind her. She turned around and faced the gateway, surprised to find that the Element that had emerged was a familiar leviathan shaped creature. Of all the Elements to emerge from the gateways she wasn't expecting Rainbow Dash to emerge, only she was completely alone. Then she noticed that she was carrying what appeared to be the corpse of the mighty Spitfire, tears somehow running down her face.
"Rainbow Dash, I AM surprised to see you," Fluttershy said, greeting her 'friend' as her hand moved towards her whip, "I figured you would have come ALONE, ?"
"That's because they are ALL DEAD!!!" Rainbow shouted, wrapping her body around Fluttershy as she tried to restrict her from using her whip, "Even Spitfire's dead."
"What in Oblivion's name are you talking about?" Fluttershy asked, squirming as she tried to get out of her 'friend's' hold as she noticed a cut on the side of her head, "And why the HELL are you wounded?"
"If you will allow me to explain I will tell you," Rainbow growled, revealing her own anger to Fluttershy to quiet her own before she wounded herself. She even laid the corpse of Spitfire down before attempting to tell her friend what had happened.
~The World of Arrogance, one hour earlier~
"Ah, such a great day to finally relax."
That was what Rainbow had said to herself as she held back a yawn, she had been under so much stress lately it was great to finally have a day off. Lord Oblivion had been generous to give her, his primary lightning crafter, a day off to relax, flex her muscles, and restore her energy. Her army, her grand army of over a thousand soldiers, would be protecting her safe haven in the skies above her race track.
She had taken to corrupting the Wonderbolts, now known as the Hatebolts, and using them as her personal guardians. The four highest leaders were the leaders of her personal army, the defenders of her world and the ones who kicked the asses of her enemies. Rainbow was content to allow her soldiers to do the work for her while she sat on the largest cloud in the entire world, possibly the entire universe.
Spitfire was the one she just loved to watch, flying around and burning the targets that she chose to light on fire just by passing by them. Rainbow was the official leader of the unit, but she loved moving the ponies around like they were pawns in a chess game. Spitfire was her favorite pawn, the one who would lead the Hatebolts once Rainbow grew tired of leading them herself.
"Commander, we have a problem."
It was one of the random pegasi that she had under her command, she just knew it and still opened her eyes to see a pony flying right in front of her.
"Ugh, what's this 'problem'," Rainbow asked, shaking her head as she yawned, "and why is it important enough to wake me from my slumber?"
"Its the Warriors of Purity," the pegasus said, hurrying as if something was already happening, "They've come to our world and their tearing apart the army. Their being lead by Nightmare Mo..."
That was all Rainbow got as something tore through the pegasus' chest and heart in one go, silencing the pony as he fell back down to the ground. Rainbow, now alert to the fact that something was definitely happening, looked over the edge of her cloud and her eyes widened in surprise. Standing in front of the gateway to her world stood an army of what appeared to be three thousand, if not more, soldiers baring the banner of the Warriors of Purity. And standing at the front of the army, her magic dancing about like flames from a fire, was none other than Nightmare Moon, except her color scheme was wrong.
Her forces were outnumbered and outmagiced, they didn't have any mages in her army. Rainbow wasn't a fan of using magic, so her soldiers were mainly pegasi and strong earth ponies, but now she was beginning to regret not including the unicorns. Princess Luna, for that was who the armored figure was, was tearing apart those who came near her while the others fought Rainbow's soldiers. A stray bolt hissed by her head, cutting her right cheek open before she could even move.
"Hatebolts, to me." Rainbow called, taking off from her cloud as she headed south.
As the four leaders and their fellow pegasi joined her Rainbow headed in the opposite direction of the gateway, heading towards the one place that could guarantee their safety. She needed to take her key off the world and retreat to Fluttershy's world, hopefully before something bad happened to the rest of them. That was before something exploded behind her and knocked Fleetfoot out of the air, her screams filling the air before she was quickly silenced.
"We must hurry," Spitfire shouted, kicking a pegasus stallion in the head before rejoining the group, "if this continues there wont be enough of us to ensure the safety of the key."
"RAINBOW DASH." That was the Royal Canterlot Voice of Princess Luna, it meant she was pissed and was chasing her now. "GET BACK HERE AND GIVE ME THAT KEY!!!"
"Fat chance loser," Rainbow called, not even meaning to taunt the alicorn and succeeding in the process.
Rainbow sped up and nearly avoided being shocked as Luna sent more magic after her, knocking some nameless pegasi out of the air and into the waiting maw of the army below. Rainbow had the Warriors of Purity wrong, they were relentless to erase Lord Oblivion's influence from all the worlds in the universe. Under the leadership of Princess Luna that would tear Rainbow apart, that was if she stayed around to fight them all.
"Argh."
Rainbow looked back in time to see two bolts pass by, piercing both Rapidfire and Soarin in the process. Before Rainbow could even turn back to get them they were gone, swallowed by the soldiers waiting below them. She growled and nodded to Spitfire, the two of them and the remaining ten Hatebolts heading for the gateway that would allow them to escape.
"There's more soldiers then I originally thought," Spitfire commented over the wind, "We'll be lucky to escape with our lives and the key."
"I'm surprised they managed to assemble such an army without us knowing," Rainbow replied, lightning raining out of the clouds on top of the Princess, "If we escape we will need to rebuild the Hatebolts and the rest of my personal army. You, Spitfire, will take command and order them as if you were me."
Just as Rainbow looked back to see Spitfire's face a large bolt pierced her chest, surprising both the Captain and Rainbow at the same time. The official red colored suit with black lightning bolts had a gaping hole where Spitfire's heart was supposed to be, allowing Rainbow to see right through her.
"No!!!" Rainbow yelled, wrapping her body around Spitfire as she summoned the biggest storm she could muster, "I hope you all FRY."
Lightning flashed and thunder boomed as it began to rain lightning bolts down on the warriors, allowing Rainbow the chance to escape before something else happened. The other Hatebolts, the ones she hadn't bothered learning the names of, called out to her with warnings or tried to snap her out of her sorrow, but they failed. One by one they all fell to the ground, either pierced by Princess Luna's magical bolts or caught by Rainbow's lightning storm. Rainbow didn't care, she wanted to escape with Spitfire and get away.
When she reached the gateway she pulled out special lightning charges, designed by herself to destroy the gateway on her side. Fluttershy would be disappointed to learn that everything was falling apart on her world, but there was nothing she could do without losing the key. Then the back of her tail erupted in pain and she knocked off whoever was hanging onto her tail, turning around to see Vinyl standing there.
"The traitor returns," she remarked, her back facing the gateway as she slowly backed up, "You turned against Lord Oblivion and now you have delivered to us the greatest warrior he could have ever wanted."
"Shut up," Vinyl commanded, holding a ruby key up, "In your haste to rescue the corpse of your friend you failed to realize that you had dropped the Key of Arrogance. Your army is in tatters and you are utterly alone. Go ahead, run back to Oblivion and tell him that we're coming, he's expecting me to return. When we get to his world you will find that we aren't to be messed with."
Rainbow grinned and was about to make a rhetorical remark, but Vinyl's magic ignited and tossed her through the gateway, forcing her to leave her world behind. Even was her vision faded she noticed the hint of a red lightning appear and knew the gateway would close after she emerged in Fluttershy's world.
~The World of Anger, present~
"Let me get THIS straight," Fluttershy said, pinching the bridge between her eyes, "You, the great Rainbow Dash, was caught unaware on your DAY off and you just happened to lose the entire world in less than an hour? You lost the Key of Arrogance and the Captain of the Hatebolts is dead. Lord Oblivion is GOING to have your FLANK."
"I really don't care so much Fluttershy," Rainbow replied, her head hanging over the body of Spitfire, "All I know is that Lord Oblivion is really going to kill me when he finds out that the Rider of Famine is dead. I have to get her to Twilight and have her resurrect Spitfire before I return to report my failure."
"I don't know if Twilight will even do that for you Darling," came a voice as Rarity emerged from another gateway, "She has to replace the heart of dear Lyra so often that I thought she would have run out of hearts for her. Its one thing for the Rider of Pestilence to die so often while searching for the perfect heart, but its another thing for the Rider of Famine to die by a pierced heart."
"We will fix this," Rainbow said, picking up the corpse as she faced the gateway that would lead her to Twilight's world, "The Riders will be whole again and then we will tear the Warriors of Purity to shreds."
Just as Rainbow took a step towards Twilight's gateway an explosion rocked the foundations of the fortress, causing her to misstep and slam her head into the side of the gateway. In seconds she was out cold, both her and the corpse hitting the ground within seconds of each other.
"WHAT THE HELL..?" Fluttershy began as a second explosion rocked the foundation, causing the fortress to rock as the majority of the gateways shut down.
~The Pit of Torment, thirty minutes earlier~
"Is everything ready?"
That was the question that the other Trixie had asked the moment several ponies had taken her into their hidden compartment and had hidden her from the prying eyes of the guards. Trixie smiled, despite being one of the commanders of the honorable Warriors of Purity she still had a talent for tricking her foes with cheap tricks. While her enemies had bound her with chains they had failed to bind her horn with a metal band designed to restrict magic, allowing her to secretly cast enhancements on herself that hid themselves from everypony.
One of the grand things that Trixie prided herself on was tricking the Elements of Hate and there was one trick that she had been working on for the last couple of months. Even now her magic was treating her broken bones as her allies ran back and forth, delivering messages as they informed their friends of what was to come. She hadn't surrendered out of defeat, she had surrendered so she could enter the Pit of Torment to turn things around.
"Grand Commander Trixie," one unicorn said, kneeling before her as she slipped on a familiar set of armor, "We have readied the charges for when everypony is ready to being the operation. The guards believe we are delivering their precious minerals and gems."
"Good, the Grand Trick is just beginning," Trixie commented, holding a sword above her head before returning it to its sheath, "I hope the Elements enjoy witnessing their precious fortress fall before their eyes."
"I come with a report," another unicorn said, following the first's example and kneeling to Trixie, "The remainder of our forces have begun the rebellion and the lower levels are ours. Communications have been cut off and none of the upper levels know what's coming their way."
"Quicker then I expected," Trixie said, facing the opening of the area, "Begin the operation and give those hateful ponies a wake up call."
"Yes Grand Commander Trixie," the soldiers shouted.
The greatest trick that Trixie had up her sleeve was smuggling the Warriors of Purity, their weapons, and several crates of explosives into the Pit of Torment. The basic idea was to play the victim and bide your time before striking out at your enemy from the inside out. Trixie was known for her tricks and this was the one that would cripple Oblivion's forces before the real war began.
So when Trixie and her allies emerged from the area the guards barely had any time to draw their weapons before they were mowed down. Chaos erupted all across the levels of the Pits, dragon guards engaging the Warriors as the first explosive round shook the foundations of the fortress. The explosion shook the fortress and sections began to fall, floors falling as the caverns below exploded. The thing about the Pits was that half of the first level was directly below the fortress, making it easy for anypony with some knowledge to destroy the place with ease.
~The Gateway Chamber~
"Screw this," Fluttershy shouted, grabbing the knocked out Rainbow and tossing her through the gateway, "Come on Rarity, we had better get out before the entire fortress falls on top of our heads."
The dragon smith nodded and leapt through the gateway, leaving Fluttershy alone as she waited for Trixie to arrive so the two of them could leave. Of course that just happened to be when the ceiling fell, leaving Trixie in front of Fluttershy. Neither mare was wounded, so they both left the room as they entered the gateway. It would have been strange to anypony who had seen it, Fluttershy, who had said she wouldn't have been kind to the showmare, had been kind to her anyway.
That was before a third explosion shattered the rest of the foundations and the fortress fell straight into the abyss formally known as the Pit of Torment. The Warriors of Purity were successful in destroying the second facility under Oblivion's hold. All that was left was to destroy his home base and the war would finally be over.