Escape from Hell

by Bronyxy

3 Magic Regained

The pain in her chest was still agonising, but the regenerative magic within Tartarus was working, and she was already beginning to heal, every second bringing more relief to her shattered body.

“I command you freeze!” she called out, the magic in Celestia’s crown responding to her spell casting and sending a bolt of magic out towards her blood soaked attacker who seized on the spot, Cerberus all three heads baying behind her to get past and help his mistress.

Twilight gasped as her pulse returned and the healing process began to slowly deliver her more strength. The more the feeling returned to her body, the more she became aware of an odd sensation as her ribs were healing and the skin reformed.

She got to her hooves, a more difficult task then she had expected given the weakness remaining in her body from the injuries she had sustained, but she rose up to her full height as the last of the fur formed back into place over what had only recently been a gaping hole, and fitted on the gold livery collar. Now, she had magic, and whatever Celestia magic had was diminished by no longer having her crown to work through.

Twilight took one further look at Celestia, the look on her face being a cross between anger and fear. Fear, an emotion she had never seen from her before. Twilight stopped momentarily transfixed by indecision and then knew what she had to do; turn and run!

She galloped the short distance towards the double doors and focused her energy through the crown and onto the amethyst in the livery collar, causing a purple beam to shoot forth, heralding the creaking and groaning of the massive doors. Cerberus was baying frantically behind her, and she realised that there was a chance he may be able to get past the temporarily frozen Celestia, so ran for her life, not looking back.

Twilight skidded to a halt just as she passed the doors and turned quickly to lock them again, seeing the massive three headed dog bounding up the path and Celestia flying just above him, her eyes radiating the most vindictive anger. She urged the doors to close faster, but they were performing their task with the same solemnity as they always did, and would not be hurried.

She lowered her horn and fired off another freezing spell, desperate to buy just a few more seconds, but had forgotten that because she was now beyond the threshold of Tartarus, her own magic was no longer disabled. Although Celestia’s crown was well used to opening and closing these doors, the addition of her own magic no longer created a linear result and she gasped in surprise as a raincloud suddenly appeared, dropping a blinding hailstorm of marshmallows.

Twilight gawped, transfixed in utter astonishment as the doors banged shut, leaving her stood in an empty cave. She could only imagine the scenes on the other side. Possibly, the completely random spell had caught Celestia by surprise or maybe they were never going to get to the doors in time anyway. She didn’t want to wait around and ask, and galloped towards the cave’s mouth before launching into the clear fresh air, beautifully untainted by the stale stench of Tartarus.

She had no idea how long it would take Celestia to open the doors, but knew it would be a question of when and not if, so flew on as if her life depended on it, not daring to look back. As she flew, she went through the list of ponies she needed to see and decided that it might be safest to head for Ponyville, away from Canterlot.