//------------------------------// // Canto III: The Gatkeeper // Story: Twilight's Inferno: A Brony Comedy // by The Young and Free Dragon //------------------------------// TWILIGHT'S INFERNO BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON There is no greater wealth than family THROUGH ME THE ROAD TO THE CITY OF DESOLATION, THROUGH ME THE ROAD TO SORROWS DIUTURNAL, THROUGH ME THE ROAD AMONG THE LOST CREATION. ~Dante: The Divine Comedy 1: Hell, Canto III, Lines 1-3 CANTO III: THE GATEKEEPER Descending, ever falling until she reached the ground The stairs felt like thin air, and she couldn't see a thing There was nothing here, nothing except the tortured sound And the sound, so silent in its hideous cry And yet so loud that her ears bled, turning her fur The color of tears, of all those who die But whether blood actually dripped from her drums Was unclear to her, for what logic is there, down here? None but pain, and the burning heat when Lucifer comes How now, she was barely in Limbo, and already she felt The heavy cries weighing her down, and the fire burning So hot that she could feel her very heart begin to melt “Celestia, where, where there simply must be, “Some peace of mind for these sinners, “Surely they deserve some serenity?” But no voice answered her, so she touched the floor Which began to glow and the path was lit, not stretching far At the very end was the great and massive door But this door, was only a part of something larger A giant serpent like creature that commanded smaller Creatures on the ground to charge her Summoning magic upon the small figures They were revealed as twisted ponies, made up Of everything that bends or disfigures Their eyes were dark, their eyes playing out a haywire bouffe Their intentions reflected in their harrowed faces Beaten, it seemed, by the the thick nail of Celestia's hoof Twilight's eyes had never before beheld such piteous whelps And her mind did not spare a thought, as her blade cut the air And then their hides, releasing their screams for help Torn from his neck, was one lost soul's head A flick of the blade, and to the ground he fell Soon to be followed by the rest of the dead Each slice took limbs, heads, and tails Drawing simple blood to flow like Celestia's Hooves, from those crooked and wicked nails Sparklingly dull coats, now tarnished with blood Splattered with internal livings, scattered by Hides that were stripped and became part of the mud Their screams melted to dust as did their bodies They're crushed hopes and sorrows part of the ground Left to suffer and die with what each embodies As the last headless corpse, met with the ground Twilight Sparkle turned to the gate, which did now move Its hoof to its ear to harken the distant sound “Do you hear that?” It called, its voice a rough rasp, “That's the sound of the sinners, so numerous they are.” He recalled a number, one too large for Twilight to grasp But her mind was trying harder to take in the creature A serpent body, a massive door upon its stomach, a stallion's Upper body, hollow eyes, and the voice of a preacher Its call rang around the emptiness of Limbo And was followed by its movement, as its hooves Drew large knives, and held them akimbo “Beast!” Twilight shouted, and dropped to the ground As a giant knife stabbed the earth where she was The weapon weighted on many thousands of pounds “Hmm...missed,” The monster murmured to itself, “No matter. Where do you hide brave little one? “Come forth, stand where I can hear, and assert yourself.” “How is one to assert one's self, when you strike at the very sound?” Twilight cried, and moved again as the blade sheathed the earth “Will you not give me a chance, to explain from whence I am bound?” Striking with the other blade, the creature shook its head and sighed “Anypony who wishes to enter Hell has no reason to talk, “Stand on your hooves, and allow your sins to be tried.” “Tried by the end of your blade, or by the blunt of your brand? “I've sinned; yes. But my concern lies not with you, “But with Lucifer, and his accursed promise land.” “All those who wish to enter Hell, “Must pass through my sea, “Swam by small Sweetie Belle.” “Sweetie Belle? “Twilight cried. “What nonsense is this? “She waits at home for her dear Rarity, ever searching, “For her Cutie Mark, in harmony, safety, and bliss.” The creature laughed; “And what a fool you are! “To believe that she was not swallowed by your sins, “Taken too early, bidding life a silent au revior.” Twilight could not argue the fact that she had not checked She found herself slowing as she dodged the attacks Feeling her heart swell with the pain of all the lives she had wrecked “You've gone silent!” The gatekeeper said, “Have you lost your nerve, but not your will to live? “Feeling guilty for the all the lives you misled?” Twilight bit her tongue and kept it still She would gain nothing by talking to the gatekeeper Death she plotted silently, silent until He let out a roar that rocked her bones Breaking the very air around here And casting about many thousands of stones She looked up, upon his brow, and found the source of his anguish Celestia's golden hooves touched his forehead and shone on his flesh The gatekeeper roared again, his strength fading from languish “Strike, Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia shouted over the screams Twilight Sparkle slashed the blade across the arm of the gate And the flesh parted like a sea, and created multiple light beams He began cursing them, shouting obscenities that only Hell could produce But Twilight ignored him, mounting his arm and stabbing her blade deep She drug it up his arm to his neck, and light poured as it from a sluice Drawing from his hide and hopping into the air, using the Limbo's gravity She flew through the air, slashing his throat, releasing more illumination And pushed the blade into the key hole of the gate, his very chest cavity His screams became more pained and blood spilled from the wards She then used her entire body to turn the key, stifling her horror, as it Felt like flesh. Hard and faster, turning the makeshift key towards... With a final declaration of hatred, he threw his hooves to the sky Addressing Lucifer last, and then as though controlled by clockwork, Pried open the doors of hell, which spread like the lids of an eye Twilight retrieved her blade and stood in awe Of the eye which burned bright red and white Drenching everything in fear that it saw “Enter!” Celestia shouted. “Before it is too late!” And so tossing away her fear, she tossed herself Into the shining iris, without further debate.