Spike awoke in a mist of pain, his body in flames as hellish laughter filled his ears. His vision was red almost as if blood covered his eyes. He shook his head and to his horror saw a massive gash in his chest. On the ground around him his breastplate was blood soaked his blood he realized. How hard had the monster hit him to dent it in deep enough to penetrate his scales? He turned his head to the other side and saw a row of medical bed stretching down the room each one had an occupant and all were grievously injured, many had severe burns or large bite marks on them. Around them a large group of doctors and medics scrambled doing their best to heal the soldiers wounds while tending to those who teleported in from the battlefield.
A soft breeze, followed by a quiet landing sounded the arrival of one the princesses. He turned his head to see a face he wished to see ever since the battle. Twilight looked at him and he saw a tear fall down her face.
“Spike, how did this happen? When did this madness start?” she was in hysterics and he assumed that she had been part of the fighting. Than he noticed a slightly healed burn mark covering her side.
She saw his gaze and said “A Hell Knight, a black one used a fireball to kill one of the soldiers I was leading, I was caught in the explosion.” He was shocked
“Twilight I thought you were going to use the Elements of Harmony on Gorrog and end this war” he said coughing up blood.
“Spike, how did you end up like this” she asked almost as if she hadn’t noticed the massive wound on his chest. He looked at it and shuddering sending daggers into his flesh.
“Gorrog, punched my breastplate and slammed me into a wall. He was too strong impossible strong, he made the Ursa Minor look weak and yet is so much smaller.” By the end of that sentence he was wheezing, the energy it took to say a simple sentence was beyond him.
“Spike, don’t hurt yourself” she said suddenly beside him. His chest wound would take a long time to heal, despite the best efforts of the medics even magical healing had little effect, whatever Gorrog had hit him with, it was working.
“I’ll be fine just need some rest.” He knew that he would be confined to a bed for a while his wounds healed.
A sudden thought entered his head “Twilight, how many demons attacked the city” he asked?
“Over sixty thousand if the estimates are correct but we have spotted a smaller demon army that was held back from the fighting, we know that Gorrog if he is still alive will be rejoining it soon with the twenty or thirty thousand demons still alive. However we don’t know whether they will attack again or leave.”
Gasping he replied “Twilight, that means they won’t attack again for a while, so I can fight again.”
“Spike, you came very close to dying out there, you fought the most dangerous and brutal enemy I have ever seen and you want to go out to fight him again, if he hadn’t not toyed with you or Luna hadn’t stopped him you would be among the thirty thousand ponies who gave their lives to defend to defend this city. Can you imagine how I or everyone else would feel?”
“Twilight, I know just I need to do something. I know how Rainbow Dash felt when she broke her wing though” he said laughing slightly before it subsided into a coughing fit.
A soldier walked over and whispered something into Twilight’s ear and her eyes went wide.
“What exactly do you mean” she sounded angry?
“Princess, I take it we’ve met before” the pony was laughing and his voice sounded deeper than a pony of that size would normally make.
“As I recall I haven’t had the pleasure of fighting you myself though, Spike here isn’t so fortunate.” The pony said as he removed his helmet revealing a glowing pentagram.
“How are you doing this Gorrog, what have you done to him” she was steady growing more and more angry. Her horn crackling with her anger at the mere mention of Gorrog’s name.
“Princess, killing this pony won’t hurt me in the slightest; I placed my seal on other ponies in this city, all I have to do is reach out and touch them, and I am in control. Right now, this pony thinks he is on fire, try something and I will make that a reality. You know when I say I will burn your soul, I actually mean it. Hell’s powers are vast beyond your feeble comprehension.”
“Release him, Gorrog or I will…”
“You will do what exactly, Princess?” he laughed “I have an entire army of demons behind me, and I am more than capable of destroying you in the most painful way imaginable. A reality filled entirely of suffering and anguish is what awaits you.”
“Gorrog, I will find you and you will face the fury of a dragon. Harm her, and not even Hell will protect you from me!” Spike said; his fury and will to protect his friends sending a strange feeling throughout his body. He felt the dull pain start to fade from his chest and he shot up.
“Impressive, but I’m afraid impotent. I would give you to your princess here in pieces.”
“LEAVE US DEMON” shouted a voice from behind them. It took several seconds for Spike to recognize it. Princess Cadence stood in the entrance her horn glowing.
“What is this, new princess” said Gorrog his smaller form lacking the power to simply kill her. Spike pushed himself off the bed and grabbed the pony by the back of his neck and pushed him towards Cadence before falling back onto the bed in agony. His vision flashed red, black lines filling it and giving the look of a stream of blood covered it. His chest burned and he slowly raised his head, Twilight had the pony in here magical grip and Cadence was walking towards him. He stared and noticed Gorrog saying something but it took him a few seconds to concentrate on it.
“This is new, Princess perhaps you will catch the Hell Fire as it burns this world to ashes.” He turned his head back and started laughing. That’s when Spike recognized him, the dark orange coat, and the dark brown spots and despite his now pure red eyes, Spike could see the raw terror in them.
Captain Stahl was fighting a lost battle against the darkest will to ever cast itself into a pony. He was literally dragged by Twilight’s horn towards Cadence, who lowered her horn to receive him. He reached her and her horn flashed, blindly Spike with its light. With a sound like thunder he saw a burning skull lifted out of Stahl, its flaming eyes looking around, as it shrank.
Several moments later it was gone.
“So, that’s Gorrog’s mind, never has I felt something so dark and filled with rage. It wasn’t one that had turned its back on love, it never even felt it.” Cadence stammered.
“Cadence, how did you feel his mind, he isn’t anywhere near her. I saw him dragged away from the battle ground by several black Hell Knights” asked Twilight?
“I don’t know but that skull was some kind of extension for his mind. It was a terrible thing to behold, so much rage and hate.” She was shocked after the encounter. But I must continue, my army is here numbering over fifty thousand strong. The dead of this battle will be avenged all of them, they will pay for this.”
“I think that is far easier done than said, Gorrog has fought two princesses and only failed to kill Luna because of the combined efforts of an entire army.” Spike shuddered after talking his strength spent and the only thought in his mind was the piles of bodies that were around him. He realized he wasn’t in an infirmary; he was in a massive casualty management area. The thousands of dead and dying around him merely confirmed this. The doctors simply couldn’t treat them all. He was one of the few that would live but who was luckier was debatable as far as he was concerned.