From The Gates

by Dirty Bit

Chapter 1

"Goodbye...Friends of the soul..."

Those were the last words he heard himself say before vanishing into nothingness. And he actually meant it with how a simple alchemist and his friends have made a large impact onto his life. He only wished he were stronger so he could battle the one considered to be his father for much longer. Now there was nothing to do but think about his life and its ups and downs. He wondered how his fellow family members have passed on. At one point, he couldn't care less given their attitude, but they were family nonetheless.

"Hey..."

Funny. He thought he heard a voice 'Wait a minute...isn't that...?' It sounded strikingly familiar, but it was on the tip of his tongue.

"Get up..."

There it was again. The memories began to pour in, and he was about to come to the conclusion, that it sounded like the same person that killed him the first time. He began to feel warmness and wondered if he were sent to hell for his crimes 'Heh...Wouldn't be the first time I had to bask in something warm...' He almost felt himself smile, but it was replaced with a forceful nudge as the voice called out again.

"On your feet! We have problems! Hrm...the boy's probably dead..."

He wouldn't be dead if he felt that jab into his nonexistent sides. With the hit and the words, his vision managed to slowly return as he gave strained grunts. He saw what appeared to be a floor of brimstone. Wait, brimstone? If that wasn't enough, it felt as if both of his hands were cut off from the wrist region once he regained feelings in his arms. With a groan, he managed to speak "Where am I? Is this...hell??"

"Ah, you're awake...You could say that with where we are standing."

He gave a cough "The place could use some cleaning...I can taste the air around me." He smacked his lips and felt a cocky smile on his face "Is that charcoal? How fitting..."

"Not as fitting as your current form..."

Current form? He brought an arm to his face to see that it was a hoof instead. This was enough to startle him "Wh-What the!?" He looked at his other arm "What the fuck is going on!?" With the strength returned to him, he looked around and saw what appeared to be a blue pony standing with a small black mane and moustache, its left eye clenched shut. There was a familiar red Ouroboros tattoo on his flank

His open green eye was narrowed with resolve, and there were what appeared to be wings on both of his sides. He scoffed and smiled under his moustache "Surprised to see me, Greed? You should see the look on your own face..."

The one called Greed forgot himself for a moment as he gave a loud snicker and roared into hysterical laughter. He fell on his back as he spoke between laughs "Y-You're kidding me, right!? Wrath, is that you!?" He couldn't believe his eyes while he laughed even more.

Wrath's open eye glared as he frowned once again "Have you looked at yourself other than your arms, boy? You shouldn't even be laughing like this..."

Greed stopped his laughter and focused his attention back to both of his arms. They were hooves like he saw before. Knowing he was on his back, he figured it would be best to look at his feet. He gasped when he noticed that they, too, where replaced with hooves "No..." Greed plopped himself onto all fours and looked at himself. He was a small black pony with a spikey brown mane and tail, sporting a horn on his forehead and the same magenta eyes he was born with. His eyes widened while his teeth were bared in panic and bemusement "No...freaking...way...I'm a pony!?"

Wrath shook his head "I'd gladly utter a quip or a witty remark, but now's not the time." He turned his head to his left and pointed with a foreleg "Look over here."

Greed did as the pegasus had said and trotted over to his side. He noticed that the two were behind bars, in a prison of sorts. Outside of it, however, was a different story.

It looked just like the many priests had described it in their lore. He laid his eyes on what would seem like a proper characterization of Hell. Pillars of fire could be seen bursting out of certain cracks from below, but other than that, there were more prison cells as far as the eye can see. Some are empty, but others aren't. And what made matters worse were that some demons resembling gargoyles can be seen flying around and monitoring each cell. Painful and sad moaning noises waxed and waned in his ears, and Greed noticed a battered pony pleading while being carried by two demons escorting him and tossing him into a vacant cell.

Despite his previous actions, Greed was baffled to think he would end up here of all places "Talk about depressing...I wouldn't be surprised if our old man ended up here as well!"

Wrath closed his eye "I wouldn't exactly dream of it. And to be fair, he's not my biological father..." He opened his eye and stared out at the horrid background behind bars "We have to get out of here unless we become the demons' playthings for all eternity."

Greed turned to Wrath with a raised eyebrow "Seriously? In case you've forgotten, we're trapped in hell! While looking like something a girl wants for her freaking birthday! If anything, we're shit out of luck!"

Wrath did not focus his attention to Greed "Not quite..." This caused the cocky unicorn to keep his inquisitive gaze "If we were actually without any hope, then I wouldn't have bothered to either wake you up or take in my surroundings without a plan..." The mustachioed pony looked out and noticed a demon opening a distant cell occupied by a stallion and began to beat him around despite his already battered state "These demons usually take their time and torture their prisoners for sport..."

Greed glared "So what does that do with us? Are you saying we should just sit here and take it?" He examined himself "More importantly, how come we aren't messed up like the others yet?" The avaricious pony would draw himself to the conclusion that he managed to arrive here in mint condition after the fight in Central City. He noticed what looked like his signature Ouroboros tattoo on his flank as well 'What the hell?'

Wrath looked up "We've only woken up here out of unknown circumstance. It's best that we do not question good fortune and wait for the opportune moment to strike."

Greed gave a cocky grin towards the furious pony "Heh! I'd never expect to work with the last person, or in this case pony, I'd want to. So what do you have in mind, Fuhrer?"

Wrath gave a chuckle at the question "To think you'd have the formality to address me by my former rank..." He perked up when he noticed two distant demons soaring towards their cell and hissed "Quickly! Drop onto the floor!" The two imprisoned ponies sprawled themselves onto the dirty floor and feigned injury and tiredness.

Greed smiled inwardly when he pieced together the furious pony's plan 'Aaaaah, I get it...Surprise attack followed by an escape. Well played, Wrath...'

The two demons landed in front of the cell and one of them managed to open the door concealing the ponies and made their way inside with wicked smiles on their faces "So these are the newest additions? They seem pretty unique with what was usually brought in here." One spoke in a deep and gruff voice.

The other demon spoke in a throaty voice "I never expected them to just 'pop' into this cell like that a while back...where in Equestria do you suppose these two come from?"

The former demon shook his head "Doesn't matter at this point. Let's just wake them up so we can give 'em a proper Tartarus welcome!"

Greed thought about this 'Tartarus? What kind o' name of hell is that?? Meh, doesn't matter...' He contained his grin and his shaking anticipation for what was about to happen next.

The former demon waddled towards Wrath's body and hovered over it with curious eyes "Wonder how this one will sound if I give it a good ki-OOF!" The demon flew back and slammed against the prison bars while the other stared in surprise. Wrath plopped his hindlegs onto the floor after giving the demon a good buck to the stomach.

"Wh-What the-GAH!" The other demon slammed face first against the bars after he received a similar buck to the back courtesy of Greed.

With both the demons stunned for a moment, Wrath jerked his head and barked to Greed "Let's move!" The two broke into a gallop out of their cell, and the demons removed themselves from the bars and growled in anger as they gave chase.

Wrath and Greed galloped across the trails, breezing past each cell that came into view. The avaricious pony never thought that if felt so good to be free despite his current location, but then noticed the demons gradually closing the distance behind them. He gave another cocky grin as they galloped further "A game of chase in a place like this? You're a crazy pony, Wrath!"

The furious pony focused on the path unwinding with determination in his open eye "Even if I've led a fulfilling life before now, I do not plan on rotting away here! We'll find a way out of this even if it means fighting off these demons!"

Greed kept his eyes on Wrath as they ran away, and then an idea clicked in his head "Hey, Wrath! I realized something!" Wrath shifted his eye towards Greed awaiting his discovery "You have wings! Shouldn't you like, I dunno, FLY!?"

Wrath glared "You forget that they can fly, too! Besides, I haven't felt the need to tap into the use of my wings with how tight security can be!"

Greed looked back and noticed the demons getting closer "Good point...You know they're gonna catch us eventually, right? What do we do now!?"

The furious pony knew that Greed was right, and gave a deep breath "What do you suppose we do in situations like these?" He skidded to a halt and turned to face the demons closing in. Greed did the same, though he was a little nervous about himself.

The two stared down at the approaching demons, and Greed bared his teeth in anxiety 'What I'd do right now to get into my armored form...' He clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth 'C'mon...' Unbeknownst to him, his horn began to glow, earning the attention of Wrath 'C'moooon~...' In a small flash, his body gradually turned into a shimmering silver, his mane and tail disappearing during his transformation. His head resembled a skeleton's, only he had sharp teeth and red lines along his eyelids. The horn on his head also became sharp and pointed after the transformation.

One of the demons lunged forth and clawed at Greed's head, but it had little effect as the avaricious pony stood still. He opened his eyes to reveal piercing red eyes, and he noticed the baffled look on his attacker's face and examined himself. He struck a victorious hoof and yelled in an altered metallic voice "Alright! The Ultimate Shield is back in the game!!"

Wrath was equally baffled 'Incredible...Managing to retain his power ever since he passed on. I've never thought it to be possible with our current form...' He looked at his wings and wondered if they had equal potential to Greed's horn. After a curt grunt, he flared them open, and they seemed to make the sound of a sword being drawn from its scabbard. Each feather seemed more rigid and battle-ready in appearance. Not wanting to stop there, he decided to open his left eye to reveal it had no pupil, but a red Ouroboros tattoo in its place 'So we've managed to procure our capabilities in our old lives...This shall benefit us greatly...' With renewed vigor and hardened conviction, he glared at his opponents alongside Greed with resolve.

Greed gave Wrath a short glance and scoffed "Never thought we'd fight together like this..."

Wrath's eyes narrowed as he stared down the demons "The feeling's mutual..." With that, the two prepared for battle as they ran in along with their opponents.

The two former homunculi engaged into combat with the winged monsters and clashed with their own might. Greed managed to impale his opponent in the chest with his horn and bashed him away once he made his injury. While the injury seemed harsh, the demon recovered midair and snarled as it charged at him again and ignored his wound. Greed jumped away from the attack and turned himself around, where he positioned himself to buck the demon square in the face. The force was enough to send the demon reeling and falling down further in the depths.

Wrath was blocking the blows and trading his own with his strong wings, while his opponent did the same with his claws. This took the furious pony back to when he had to prove himself to lead Amestris with the harsh regime he had taken place in when he was an orphaned child. He was not going to lose to this one. Using his Ultimate Eye, he was able to predict the demon's next move and stepped aside from the attack. This left him open for attack as Wrath lunged in and breezed past his opponent with his wing. It sliced the side of the demon's chest as he gave a roar, but was silenced when Wrath gracefully twirled into the air and sliced along his neck, silencing the demon as blood trickled from his wound. After his landing, he kicked the demon off of the edge of the trail.

The demon Greed fought flew back up and was found bleeding in the chest as he growled indignantly. A nearby demon noticed the skirmish and shirked its duties to join the fight. While the demons drew close, the avaricious pony grunted "Bring it on! I'm not afraid of you pissants!"

Wrath turned to Greed "We can't draw too much attention! Let's just finish these ones off so we can continue!" The two ponies assumed defensive positions and awaited their confrontation.

When they closed the distance, Greed finished what he started when he jumped up and latched himself onto the demon's right eye with his horn. The demon roared and flailed about in pain, but Greed managed to kick himself off and recover back onto the path.

While the first demon fell down once more, the other one hovered cautiously over the depths and carefully analyzed his targets. Wrath saw this and turned to Greed "He's growing anxious. Wait here." He flared his wings and took flight towards the hovering demon. When he reached him, the demon inched itself away from Wrath's attempts of approach and prepared for a counterattack.

Wrath anticipated this and avoided the attack by flying away from the demon's claws. He flashed a taunting smile towards his foe and baited him into an aerial chase. This was what the furious pony wanted. He lured the frenzied demon towards Greed's location and zoomed past the avaricious pony "Now, Greed!"

Greed narrowed his eyes "On it!" he leaped forward and clamped his forelegs across the demon's chest. When he was tightly locked, he focused his horn and jammed it in the demon's neck, striking his jugular without hesitation. The demon gave a pained hack, then coughed up blood before his life was gone and began to fall. Greed quickly pulled his horn out and made a leap for the path only to have his upper body collide with the edge "Gah...Crap!" He struggled as his forehooves grasped onto the edge while his hindlegs dangled in the air. The avaricious pony began to slip "No...No...NonononoNO!" When he lost his grip, he found his hooves being gripped by another set. He looked up to see Wrath staring down at him while he was pulled up from certain doom.

Greed caught his breath as he laid on the pathway "Never thought I'd say this but...thanks..."

Wrath gave a curt nod, then turned towards the unfolding path "No time for resting, Greed. We need to find a way out of here!"

Greed got on all fours and shook off his fatigue "Where do you suppose we go from here? It's like a maze!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of a large collision, followed by a small tremor. The two ponies looked around in bemusement, then Greed broke the silence "What was that just now?"

Wrath looked around, but then focused back on the current matter "We shouldn't be thinking about this right now. Come on, Greed! We need to get moving!" He began to gallop along the given path.

Greed shrugged "Right behind ya..." He followed after Wrath and eventually caught up with him. As they kept their pace, Greed couldn't help but think 'While I'm glad we have our abilities...Why the fuck are we PONIES!?'