Bat out of Hell

by Coufnsiou

Bat Escapes Hell (Revised)

Cerberus was bored out of his mind. It had been ages since anyone even came near the eons old gates of Tartarus, much less had the cajones to step up to the three headed monstrosity. But he stayed watch, ever vigilant, knowing what would happen if he would leave, after all; a quiet Tartarus is a happy Tartarus!

The actual doors to the prison realm were massive. Towering above any castle or tower in Equestria, and far thicker than any normal gate, their width unbelievable to those who would gaze upon them. Indeed, these doors were designed for one sole purpose, to keep things in. Unfortunately, it seemed only the gates had such a measure, and indeed the actual prison had more than one way of escape. There were three different ways to escape the hellish landscape, each more difficult than the last. One: to defeat the current ruler of Tartarus, taking his or her place and allowing the newly crowned ruler partial freedom, two: Forcing your way out, as if that would ever happen! Or three: to challenge the trials of Tartarus.

Of course, the third option was implemented for only the most heinous of criminals, as it is the only option available to them, and the most difficult. If a prisoners deeds reached a certain level, they were placed at one of the many levels of the Bottomless Pit, where the trial begins. The first step of the trail was to exit your cell, which is in and of itself is a challenge. Magic is nullified by the bars and the cavernous walls followed the same plan as the gates, being nigh unbreakable. The second step was to descend to the bottom, the actual name more for effect than literal meaning. The Pit did have a bottom, and there the one running the gauntlet would face their second challenge. There the current ruler would be alerted to your presence, where he or she would offer you a challenge.

The challenge would usually be one of wits or intellect, say a game of chess that was more rigged than a casino or an extremely difficult riddle. Sometimes if the current ruler was an utter bone head then they'd challenge the escapee to one-on-one combat. A fight to the finish where the only way to win was to get the ruler to yield or be killed in the process. Should they manage to complete the second task, the defeated ruler would hand them the key to the gates, a deceptively small medallion. And finally, the third and final task, was to get past Cerberus. This was arguably the most difficult challenge of all, as his function was not only to keep people out, but to force others back inside. While two heads may be sleeping, the third was constantly on alert, looking for any sign of intruders or demons who may have passed the second challenge.

And thus he waited, one head forever on alert, and today he would not be disappointed. The distinct sound of locks clicking could be heard behind the gates. Of course, the gates had a number of locks, some archaic and small while others were massive and more durable than the mountain the prison was carved in. The locks and runes clicked and slammed, a cacophony of metal, stone, and magic unwinding and screeching open. Finally the last lock gave way, a small clink, and the sounds had stopped, giving way to an eerie silence. The calm before the storm.

The doors began to part, the sound of the stone moving against the rock reverberated throughout the cave that the gates resided within, as Cerberus tensed his muscles waiting for the doors to fully part so he could once again savor the sweet and tangy taste of battle. Finally the doors had opened completely, but he didn't need to wait for the dust to settle, he could smell the approaching demon. Unlike prior demons which smelt of burning and brimstone, this thing smelt like… death.

Not the sort of rotting stench of corpses no, but the sort of smell one might find at a funeral. A scent of sorrow that had yet to pass, misery and despair the likes of which would crush any sliver of hope you may have had for the future. Of course the smell wasn't the only thing one would notice, no, the smell was the first thing Cerberus felt, but what came next not even he could have expected.

The air grew heavier, as if it had been laced with iron, making it harder and harder to breath, and it only got worse. Cerberus’s eyes began to widen at what was happening. It felt as if a waterfall of lead ingots were descending upon him, forcing him to buckle his knees. But the invisible force wouldn't let up, only getting heavier and heavier, more weight fell upon the poor canine accompanied by each step the encroaching demon took. Each foot step seemed to add weight to the invisible barrage, closer and closer the footsteps came as Cerberus was forced to lie down to deal with the constantly increasing pressure. Not only was this taxing on the physical body, but on his spirit. Dread and tinges of fear were all the poor mutt could feel while prostrate on his stomach, unyielding in their intensity.

Finally the footsteps and painful cascade ceased. He opened one of each of his eyes to see the assailant. He looked, and beheld a pale horse, and his name that sat upon him was Death, and Hell followed close behind him.

I looked at the pitiful creature. This was the mighty guard dog Cerberus? This?! My cold, soulless eyes met the dogs, this thing couldn’t even handle a portion of my reiatsu, how did it manage to keep everything else in before I had come along? Normally I wouldn't or couldn’t feel anything, but this creature was an exception. Somehow it had managed to fill me with a sense of… disgust and loathing...

I had heard that outside of these gates was supposed to be a ferocious three headed monster, a guardian of the gates of Hell for who knows how many years, able to push back any assailant, the doom of many thousands before me! Now I see only the three heads bit was true. In front of me now was nothing more than a whimpering, neutered lap dog. If I had my blade on my person, I would have done the honors myself.  Pathetic.

“Get up and fight me…” I commanded in my toneless voice. The beast obeyed, more likely out of fear than anything else. One of the heads even managed a growl, a pathetic attempted but valiant none the less. ‘Had this thing truly been the executioner of so many prior prisoners?’ I thought to myself, ‘If so, they need to up their standards.’ “I said, fight me.” I practically growled at them, to which they responded in kind.

It lunged at me, leaping into the air with all three of its jaws coming down. In any other case I would have been scared to death of this towering mongrel, standing at least twenty to twenty five feet tall. But this was the here and now. I stood my ground unmoving, not with resolve but with boredom. I knew what was going to happen next. His three heads descended, each going for a different limb. One head came down upon my own, attempting to bite it off, the two others going for my arms. This was the strategy he must have used with prior escapees, immobilizing the arms then going in for the head, a noble effort.

The first head did exactly as I foresaw, coming down on my own head and bringing me into his slobbering maw. The other two went for my arms, biting into them. I mentally sighed. I may as well use this thing to send her royal majesty a message.

Pain. He yipped and immediately released the escapee, his own force the main contributor to the injury. He could feel that he had lost at least five or six teeth in each month from biting down on this two legged thing. He looked, and found that the creature hadn’t moved, two reptilian eyes not even bothering to glare but simply glance, as if he had simply annoyed it. Upon further inspection, the three heads noticed that where they had bitten down, with all their strength, they hadn't even managed to puncture its robes.

That horrible feeling again, immeasurable weight coming down, but this time focused in one area. One of the things claws were being wrapped with some sort of red glow, a ball forming around his claw. A ball?! 

After injuring him, did the thing want to apologize and be friends? What kind of question was that?! He had a ball!! Of course he wanted to be friends! Forgetting the transgressions, the heads smiled several broken grins and ran at the creature, knowing it would throw the ball!  

Not only was this thing weak, it was stupid. Unbelievably cartoonishly so. Then again, I was in some universe of My Little Pony, so this didn't surprise me. “Fetch.” I said, appearing in front of it facing its center head. I launched my fist forward, giving the thing a haymaker it had never seen. My balla granted was weaker without my sword, but the energy I put into it was easily matching the force of any cero I could manage in this state. The balla exploded, shattering the heads teeth and probably wreaking the skull and jaw. Time slowed down as I watched the mutt whip back from the force, shards of teeth and droplets of blood flying past. I sent the thing rocketing high into the sky, unconscious or for all I know dead. Not that I cared about it. The thing was weak and had served its purpose, it no longer had any reason to live.

The only thing I regretted was that a good chunk of my hand had been blown off. My fingers had been replaced with stubs, only a quarter of my pinkie had been spared by the blast. I focussed, reiatsu being channeled into my the painless injury. Flesh began to reform onto the charred and blown off stubs, giving me back my appendages.  

This was common practice to me now, more a reflex than anything else, much like my hollow hole. On the bright side, I sent that bitch a message. Bitches love messages.

Things could not be better. The day court was almost empty, which meant there were little problems to deal with. Paper work was dismal, and at the end of the day the royal chef had prepared for me some rich, delicious, chocolate cake. My mind filled with fantasies of the rich chocolate and creamy icing, how lush it would be once in my mouth, licking my lips at the mere thought. All was well.

“Unforgivable! Simply inexcusable!” a familiar whiny, accented voice filled the hall. All was well. Trotting into the court was a fuming Blueblood, no doubt enraged by a speck of dust that had found its way into his room of a measly amount of dirt in his mane. I’d rather have been impaled by rusty nails or sit in an enraged Ursa's den than deal with this. “Aunty! Aunty!” He whined.

I mentally sighed, but maintained my composure, “Yes, Blueblood?”  

“I demand you fire that incompetent Captain of the Guard! The nerve of him! I ought to have him punished! Thrown in the dungeon!” He was fuming, I had to remember to thank Shining Armor later.

“Why would I fire our Captain of the Guard, nephew? Is it because he got dust on your hoof during patrol?” I mockingly asked, feigning concern.  

“That, and he allowed some giant, three headed mongrel to fall into the castle gardens!” Wait, what?

“Say again?”

“You heard me! He let some three headed mongrel fall from the sky, into the gardens! While I was modelling for my eighth statue! It ruined my perfect mirror image! Oh woe is me!”  

I ignored the rest of Bluebloods whining and hurriedly stood from my throne, trotting to the Balcony and flying off to the gardens. I landed outside, guards already on the scene, clearing a path so I could see the poor beast. Sure enough, there was Cerberus, lying back first in a small crater from his fall, whimpering in pain as one of his heads was bleeding from the mouth, possibly unconscious, missing several teeth in each jaw. Tartarus had been breached, something had escaped! But what? What could possibly be strong enough to send this massive guard dog from one end of Equestria to the oth- Oh no.

A torrent of memories rushed from the back of my mind. Death and destruction on a mass scale, screams of the dead and deceased, Griffons, Minotaurs, Ponies, suffering of those who had lost their loved ones, a dead stare of emerald reptilian eyes, a hole where a heart ought to be, a green javelin, those terrible black wings. "Captain Shining Armor!" I called, he turned from addressing his men and faced me, saluting. "Yes your Majesty?"

"I want you to take a troop of guards to the vaults beneath Canterlot, find vault A-34 and guard it with your lives! Assign guards at all entrances of the city and castle, no one leaves nor enters!"

“Yes Princess!” he turned and began shouting orders, taking several dozen guards with him inside the castle, the rest began flying or trotting to their assigned posts. All had been well.