Vapour

She had it all under her control, Queen Chrysalis had it all. Nopony could stop her, the Elements were useless, Celestia was trapped, Cadence was powerless, and Shining Armor was under her influence. Or so she thought, she turned back around only to see that Cadence and Shining were fusing their magic together. Suddenly, their bodies formed a heart and magic shot out from their bodies in all directions.

"NOOOOOO!" The queen yelled, as she was pushed out of the chapel. She saw all her changeling receive the same magic force, some not even surviving from contact. The magic faded and she and her changelings were flung out of canterlot, being scattered throughout Equestria. 'If only I was not so cocky, maybe my children would have survived.' She thought to herself as she headed towards the Everfree Forest. She rammed into a tree, with enough force to uproot it. Multiple sickening cracks could be heard as many of her bones broke, she didn't live long enough to feel the pain.

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Chrysalis slowly opened her eyes, she thought she was dead, but she felt very much alive. She looked around, but the fog was greatly reducing her sight, all she could see was some dead trees and rocks sticking out of the ground.

"Am I... am I in Purgatory?" She asked herself, she had heard about it, but she had never believed in it. But here she was in, what she could only assume was Purgatory. She got up and turned around, she saw a light in the distance, she ran for it, hoping that it was something of use. She soon came up to it, seeing that it was a campfire, but evil was practically written all over it. There were skulls of ponies aligning the border of the fire wood. She went past it and saw something written in blood on the ground, she went to it and read.

"Combust. Combust what?" She asked, she looked up and saw a green glow. She then made her way to it, soon coming to a green ball of fire on top of a stone. She tried to fly to it, but found that she had no more wings. She instead started to climb to it, but something grabbed her hind leg. She yelled as she turned around to see it, her eyes widened, it was the claw of a deceased creature coming out of the ground. She shook it off and continued to climb, she soon got to it. She went over to it and touched it, the fire then went straight to her horn and she felt power return to it.

She saw in the distance an orange light and started to make her way to it. She yelped as more of the claw rose from the ground, slowing her down and scratching her. She pointed her horn at one and fired a green fire ball at it, it hit it but the claw was hardly phased by it as it returned to it soil grave. After more of the claws trying to get her, she eventually reached her destination, a lit totem, wrapped in more skulls. She approached it, but saw something at the edge of the fog, until it disappeared in the fog. Chrysalis couldn't make it out, but whatever it was, it did not look like a pony. She looked back at the totem, and saw a claw sticking out of the ground. This one was not like the others, it was pure black and radiating with dark energy. She approached it, she saw more writing on the side of the mountain.

"Collect." She read, she looked back at the claw, guessing that this was what it meant. She tried to pick it up with her magic, but found that it would only produce the fireballs. She resorted to grabbing it with her mouth, she yanked it out of the ground, a chill went down her spine as she held it. She could sense something evil coming for her, she looked around, and saw another orange glow. She sprinted towards it, as she was running, something stabbed her in the side. She grunted, looking behind herself, and saw a floating spine a skull chasing her. She started to shoot fireballs at it, while it tried to stab her with the end of its spine. She eventually killed it, making it exploded into pieces.

Chrysalis then heard the sound of something screaming, she turned around... and saw it. A hell-lord, these demons are pure evil, they plague the deepest, darkest pits of Tartarus. It was pure black, with only its upper torso, arms, claws and head, its arms were outstretched towards Chrysalis. A vision of the hell-lord shrieking at her flashed in her eyes, she took a turn to get passed it and kept running. More of these visions kept appearing, the closer it got, the worst they became, it eventually came to a long vision that blinded her. Once the vision cleared, she moved out of the way of a tree just in time. More spines tried to stop her, but she kept hitting them with her fireballs until they died.

She finally came to the, area... and was immediately disgusted. There was the corpse of a pony burning over a fire, next to it was a golden cross. She immediately went to pick it, and saw more writing on the mountainside.

"Combine." Chrysalis read, she looked at the claw and cross. She put the cross on the claws grip, and headed back to the fire pit, not seeing any more lights. 'Maybe that these two are together, I burn them, but what will that do?' She mentally asked, not sure whether this will help her or not. The sound of the hell-lord screaming was enough to make her pick up in speed. She was slowed down by the spines and claws, but she kept pushing forward, not wanting to die again like this. She eventually reached the fire pit, she looked back, seeing the hell-lord had almost caught up. She chucked the claw and cross in the fire, where they both burst into flames. Chrysalis had one last vision of the hell-lord giving off one final scream, dying, before it faded away. The adrenalin finale left Chrysalis and she fell to the ground, she was loosing too much blood, from the scratches done from the claws and the stabs from the spines.

At the corner of her vision, she saw red, swirling aura. She slowly crawled to it, hoping that whatever it was could help. She reached out for it and touched it, all her wounds and cuts vanished almost instantly, and she felt much better. She got back up and saw another light, she headed for it. On the way, the spines and claws were becoming more frequent, trying to stop her before she reached the light. But Chrysalis was able to push through, coming across more red aura and using it to heal her wounds. She eventually came to the area of the light, it was a claw holding a lantern, said lantern had a neckless around it. She took the neckles, and felt the same chill she felt when taking the claw. Like the last time, another light appeared in the fog, and she was about to sprint towards it.

But a blue aura caught her eye, it was much like the red aura, except in color. She touched it... and nothing happened. She was about to question it, but then she heard shrieking. Chrysalis turned around and saw another hell-lord, it looked like the first one, except it wore a hood. Much like the members of a cult would wear, it was also moving its arms in a motion as if it was trying to say "Come here." She turned back around and headed towards the light... with a speed that was not her own. Chrysalis took off at an amazing rate, she zoomed past rocks and trees, nearly running in to many of them.

She soon found herself at the next area, a circle of mare heads on sticks. In the middle was a rib age, she took it and put the neckless around it. She then sprinted towards the fire, also finding that her super speed has worn out. Chrysalis ran for her destinations, fighting more spines and claws on the way and being assaulted by visions of the hell-lord shrieking. She reached the fire pit, with the hell-lord right on her tail, she quickly threw the rib cage in the fire. She received one last vision of the hell-lords dyeing shriek.

Chrysalis looked up... only to see another light.

"Please, let this be the last one." Chrysalis said to herself. She then ran to the light, she fought more spines on the way, there were at least two dozen, making her path more difficult. She then came close to the light... only to find that it was on a cliff. She looked around, hoping to find a way to climb up. She got to the other side and found rocks sticking out the side, forming a path to the top. She starting to climb them, picking up red aura to heal herself. She eventually got to the top, only to see a horrific sight. There were a pile of dead foals burning, giving off a horrid scent. She went to the body part, finding a pony's skull, she picked it up. Instead of a chill, a decayed head came up out of the ground, roaring at Chrysalis.

She covered her ears, closed her eye and dropped the skull. She didn't want to be here anymore, she just wanted to get out of this damned place. She opened her eyes, revealing tears, grabbed the skull and started to head down the mountain. She ran into a blue fire, but she didn't notice. She got off the last rock, headed for the next light, shot at another spine, finding that her fireballs were blue now. It hit the spine, destroying it instantly, she was able to smile at this.

'At least it will be easier to defend myself, if I never escape this place.' She thought, out of the corner of her vision, she saw the next hell-lord pursuing her. Unlike the other two, it had its entire torso in one piece and its arms were twitching, it was also murmuring in an ancient language, one that Chrysalis could not understand. She begun to run again, not turning around, shooting any and all spines that appeared in front of her. She kept running, until the hell-lord came out of the fog in front of her. She yelped in terror as she dodged it and kept running, she had to do this multiple times as the hell-lord kept appearing in front of her.

She reached the place, with a pony nailed on a wooden plank there was a crown at the rock behind the corpse. She took it, put it on the skull and sprinted for the fire pit again, while dodging the hell-lord. She reached it, completely out of breath, she looked up, seeing the hell-lord coming for her. She threw the skull and crown in the fire, the hell-lord burst into little pieces with out a sound. Chrysalis looked around, seeing no more lights in the fog, she sighed in relief. Suddenly, her vision started to fade to white, obscuring her vision.

The white started to fade away and Chrysalis found herself on a bridge high above the clouds. She looked forward and saw a staircase leading to an opening in the clouds which was producing light. She saw a blue fire ball in the bridge, she slowly trotted to it, seeing no more reason to run. This was it, she was out of the Purgatory and headed to the after life. She picked the fire ball up and looked back at the opening... only to see her worst nightmare. Dozens, hundreds of hell-lords were rising out of the clouds, setting their sights on Chrysalis. She stood their for about half a minute, until a stab at her side reminded her that she needed to run. She took off, seeing spines coming out of the clouds as well, she started to shoot them down. She was dodging and weaving her way around the hell-lords that got to close, the stairs starting to come into a clear view. She turned around, seeing at least fifty spines chasing her, she started shooting them, her shots going through at least three before disappearing.

Almost all of the hell-lords were now on the bridge and now chasing her, she eventually finished off the spines and continued running, knowing that she could not defeat the hell-lords. She kept running, hearing the screams and shrieks of the hell-lords, suddenly, they were replaced with the sound of explosions. Chrysalis turned around and saw the hell-lords exploding into little pieces, each and everyone of them. She was stunned for a while, before she became happy, she let a laugh escape her lips. She had won, the hell-lords were no more, she turned around and trotted the rest of the way with a smile on her face.

But that smile faded as the bridge collapsed from underneath her. She reached out in vain at the staircase, she looked down, seeing nothing but clouds. She looked back up, closed her eyes and excepted that she was plummeting to her doom.

'Maybe this is what I deserve.' Chrysalis thought to herself as her end neared.

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Chrysalis awoke with a gasp, she looked around, finding herself in the Everfree forest. She was back in Equestria, alive, she was back with the living. She got up, noticing the uprooted tree, looking up, she saw that the moon was rising.

"I'm alive." Was all that Chrysalis could utter.

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