//------------------------------//
// Rune of Pain 
// Story: War of Ali: New and Improved Version 
// by Soviet_Minister 
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She was in a black void, her thoughts of home vanishing, replaced with thoughts of fear and death. She was spinning and spinning, not being able to stop herself. Her innards felt like they where in her throat, as if they were going to jump out at any given moment. She shouted, she screamed, she begged for help. But there was nopony to listen, and she doubted that they could here her anyway if there was. She could see nothing, hear nothing. Feel nothing. She was drifting, alone, in a great big space of nothingness. Was she dead? Is this what Limbo was? She wasn't sure, but she was scared to the core. Nopony to talk to, to listen to. She couldn't even see herself. Was it that dark? Or was she becoming blind? Again, she wasn't sure, but now she could see somepony. 

It was a stallion, she was certain. The face structure showed it. He, too, was drifting out, alone. But wait! He had a tether attached to him! Which meant that this wasn't a great big space of nothingness! She reached out, but realized that she couldn't move her body. And she couldn't speak, or shout, because the fine pony would not hear her. Yet she opened her mouth wide, and tried again to scream, to shout, to do anything that would make noise. But, alas, she could not do anything to grab his attention. The stallion was turning around, now starting to head back to whence he came. She tried again to reach out, but had no luck. One more time, she screamed, and this time she heard herself.

-----REALITY-----

Luna woke with a start as she tried to move her front hooves, but they were tied down. She couldn't see a thing, thinking that she was still in her nightmare, but she had second thoughts when she could hear herself panting, gasping for air. Sweat covered her from head to hoof, soaking her coat and giving off an awful smell. Once her eyes adjusted, she could make out a large black wall in front of her. It was probably a different colour, but the darkness didn't reveal what it was. She looked down, and saw that she was in a strange chair, which had wires running from the bottom of it, and out into the darkness behind her.

"Okay, where in Equestria am I?"

She tried again to lift her front hooves, but was reminded that she was tied down. She looked down towards her front hooves, seeing that a very thin but strong twine kept her hooves down to the arm rests. She let her eyes adjust some more, and saw that they were tied down with piano wire. And as if that wasn't bad enough, when she tried to pull them up again, they cut into her flesh, causing a burning pain to shoot through her front legs and into the rest of her body. She moved her head, and noticed that somethng heavy was on there. It fitted like a helmet, yet it was heavier than normal.

She listened now, trying to make out where she was. She could hear lots and lots of chatter, yet she couldn't understnd any of it. It all just blurred together, and the fact that she had half a leg, a smashed up wing and probably a major concussion, it wasn't really helping her work out what all of the chatter was about. She took a peek at her half-leg, and saw that somepony had professionaly disinfected, dressed then surgically attached a Cybonic leg to the stump. So she took a glance at her wing, and saw that it was replaced with a Cybonic wing.

*Why would they improve me...?* Luna thought.

Then she heard hoofsteps. They coming behind the stage, and Luna was growing anxious. When she saw that the pony was heading the other way, however, she let herself relax a little, ad concentrated on trying to get this kink out of her neck. But, before she had a chance, she heard chains clinking together, then she was blinded by a terrible, bright light. All of the chatter she could hear before turned into cheers and taunts, filling the room with enough noise to give Luna a migraine. When she finally gained back her sight, she couldn't believe where she was.

She was staring out to almost seven thousand ponies, and she instantly knew who they were: Dell's army. An army of criminals. Murderers, rapists, the lot. The worst ponies in Equestria were now right in front of her, just waiting for the order to rip Luna apart.

"Ladies and Gentlecolts! I have gathered you all here for a very special occassion! Tonight, we shall drink! We shall feast! And we shall have a little fun! For tonight I, Dell Fillivion, bring you the Princess of the Moon, Luna!"

Everypony gave a loud applause, their hooves banging against the earth, shaking the earth. Luna spun her head towards Dell, and their eyes locked. While hers was a smile of mercy, Dell's was a smile of malice, of torture. He walked up to the Blue Alicorn, a remote in his hoof. Before she could ask what it did, Dell pressed the green button, and the chair she was tied to now straightened out into a platform, where she lay momentarily dazed from the sudden change. A mirror appeared in front of her, showing her what state she was in.

To her head, she had strapped a large helmet-like device, with cables running from the back of it to a gap inside the benches leg. Down further, she had another strange device strapped to her chess, though this one in particular was not run by electricity. It was run by magic, and magic alone. She could feel it. Down some more, and she would find strapped to her legs a trap in which, if Luna were to break the bonds, three blades would be impaled into each of her hind legs, which would keep her from running.

She felt the bench move, and then the enitre army was facing her again. She was now hanging from the platform. Though she was secure enough to not be able to escape, she was still hanging from the front legs, the piano wire cutting more into her flesh, the blood trickling down and dripping on her and the floor. How she could manage the pain, she did not know, but she did. Dell, whose sanity had been lost long ago, walked up to the Princess, who was completely at his mercy. He had a new piece of piano wire, and he wasn't planning on fixing his piano, that's for sure.

"I've been waitin a long time for this, you whore! Too long! Now, you will suffer, you will die! And when I chuck you in a hole with everypony else, I'll piss on your grave! HAHAHA!"

Dell, in his psychotic rage, pushed the piano wire into Luna's mouth, and with all of his force, Dell pushed the wire through her cheeks, creating a bloody smile across her face. Blood was flowing steadily from the two cuts, creatig a tiny pool under her. Dell, who had been through Luna's library, had learnt the spell to heal bones. But he had also worked out how to heal flesh. He put his horn to the two large cuts in Luna's cheeks, and concentrated on just healing them. Nothing more, nothing less. Just heal them. When he had finished, there wasn't even a scratch left on her face.

"Ha! Now that I have this spell, I can hurt you, heal you and hurt you again all I want!" Dell's insanity was growing worse with each passing second.

Luna tried to knock him off his feet with her magic, but she was too weak from exhaustion. Not just from the torture, but from fightng Dell yesterday aswell. Wait, was it yesterday? How long had she been here? Then she looked back at her Cybonic parts. They would have taken atleast a fortnight to attatch, then another week to confirm that they work. A few more days recovery, and that makes three weeks, four days. What had happened to her sister in that time? Was she ok? Was Celestia even looking for her younger sister? All of this she didn't know, and it angered her. But she could not do anything about it, because that anger was soon gone, as the helmet on her head started to contract.

"GAAAAAHHHH!!" Screamed Luna in pain, the helmet device crushing her head like a vice.

Before the helmet killed her, however, Dell came and put his horn against Luna's head again. So, while he was using his powers to heal, the helmet was crushing the bone over and over again, the next break seemingly more painful than the last. It lasted for about five minutes until Dell stopped the machine. He may have been powerful, but he had not been able to adapt well to his new transformation; He was still trying to figure the wings, let alone the advanced magical abilities that came with being an Alicorn.

"Okay Luna, time to introduce you to some of the prisoners. A lot of them you tossed into jail, and now here they are, roaming freely around my new home. They want your head on a platter and your guts in a pot. Best hope they aren't carrying any weapons, hmm?" Dell winked at Luna, then set off backstage.

Surprisingly, all of the prisoners lined up single file, going one at a time up onto the stage. The first prisoner, one that Luna recognised as a thief, walked up, spat in Luna's face, and walked off. He didn't utter a single word. The next prisoner, one that Luna didn't recognise at all, walked onto the stage and stood in front of the Princess.

"You know, you're awful pretty, Luna. You still... you know... Pure?" The prisoner cracked up laughing, then looked back at Luna.

"Well, you gonna answer me, Sugarflank?"

All Luna did was keep quiet, and stare at the floor. But the floor wasn't in her vision for long, as the prisoner bucked her in the face as hard as he could. At first, she was blinded, then all she could see was red. The prisoner had just left the stage, when Dell came back and ordered everypony to their seats.

"We're running low on time! So, we're gonna have to skip the...fun part, and go straight on to the Rune of Pain!"

Dell set his eyes on the large device strapped to Luna's chest, his horn glowing a magical orange aura, and the device glowing the same shade. As he focused, she coud feel more than hear the gears and cogs working, the device shaking slightly. She could also feel it startin to heat up inside. She thought that everything inside the machine was working so fast that it was heating up. Boy, was she wrong.

"Have you ever heard of the 'Rune of Pain', Luna?"

Luna stayed silent, refusing to reply to Dell in this state. And though she was hardly listening, she still thought that the Rune of Pain sounded familiar.

"Fine," Said Dell "Just trying to feed your curiosity."

As the machine worked, so did Luna's brain, which was trying to come up with a way out of here, and trying to remember what the Rune of Pain is. She had heard of it before, but she only vaguely remembered it, like it was in a foal's book, and quickly forgotten. She spent about ten minutes thinking, before the incredible burning pain hit her in the chest. The pain was horrible, unimaginable. She screamed and screamed, begging for mercy but not getting it. She could smell her own coat and flesh burning, the smoke from her chest rising into the air, and stopping at the roof. She screamed, shouted and yelled for help, but it wasn't coming. The only pony who could help her was very far away, and probably thought that Luna was dead anyway.

"Ha! Feel the pain, you dumb bitch!"

"Fucking die, you whore!"

"I hope you burn to death, you two-bit mole!"

Everypony in the audience was throwing insult after insult towards Luna, taunting her. Some started to throw rocks and cups and beer cans at Luna, some of the objects drawing blood, while others just bounced off. he objects started getting bigger, and more dangerous. Unicorns were hurling chairs and tables at the Princess, missing their mark, but only barely. Dell had heard the commotion, and came back from backstage to check what was going on. He saw Luna, who was almost passing out from the pain. Then he saw his army, all nearly out of control.

"Everypony calm down! I know that this horrid slut has ruined all of our lives, and I know that you all want revenge for that. How do you think I feel, standing here right now with the power to snap her neck, or to pull each of her teeth out, one at a time? I'm struggling aswell, but if I can hold it, so can you. Just calm down. Keep throwing rocks at her, though. She could use a good stoning! HAHAHA!" As Dell walked off, laughing at his own joke, Unicorns, Pegasai and Earth Ponies alike started picking up large stones and throwing them at Luna, who was still in unbelievable pain. It wasn't until about a dozen rocks hit her, that the device stopped. The horrible machine sprayed water onto where it burned, making it sting even more.

Once the machine pulled away from her chest, she looked down, her eyes only just staying open. Dead center on her chest, was a huge, burning mark. But not just any mark, oh no. This mark was enchanted. The Rune of Pain was now coming back to Luna's mind. Another rock hit her square on the forehead, and a large gash appeared across the area. The Rune of Pain was a magical rune where any unicorn who turned it on could inflict large amounts of pain towards whoever had the mark.The victim could be on the other sife of the world, and still feel the immense pain that followed the Rune of Pain.  But any species could carry the mark. Earth, Pegasai and Unicorns alike, the damage was brutal, but not lethal. That was the worst part. You couldn't die from the pain, nor pass out. The victim could suffer weeks, maybe even months of that same brutal pain. It would rive them mad.

Another horrible war machine built by the Unicorns during the War between the Earth Ponies, Pegasai and the Unicorns.

"What...? What!? You can't mark me with this! The Rune of Pain!? PAIN IS WHAT I CAU-AARRGHHHHHHHH!!