Fuel the Eternal Flame | A DOOM MLP Crossover

by NotAnEditor

Cold Grounds

The night sky used to be so beautifully colorful. A rest-inducing haze of pleasant purple, like calming lavender flowers. However now it was absent, a swarm of clouds forming amarda’s below the hellishly crimson heavens. They would light up on occasion with bright orange cracks of Hell energy, casting brightness on the ground below.

Twilight Sparkle watched as a large portal flushed open in the dark sky, a ginormous hellship in the shape of an upside down cross with some sort of demonic rune in the middle glowing with yellow.

“RAGGH!” a demonic roar screamed from above, the strong flaps of wings dashing over the canopy. A giant dragon, at least compared to Equestrian standards flapped past. Its wings glowed crimson, its underbelly and a portion of its wings a hellish red. The rest of its body was a ghastly dark blue.

The alicorn could spot a rider on its back, a knightly looking demon with a long energy spear mounted on his back. She ducked her head under one of the dark bushes further, just peeking out a little to see it pass by the opening of the old forest’s thick canopy.

Twilight was completely unsure of where she was anymore. Mud clung to her coat like nothing else and the occasional buzz sound whizzed by her ears. Black brown and a twinge of green was all that surrounded her. She had been traveling the whole day towards Canterlot from the Everfree.

The alicorn crouched behind the brambles, her horn lighting up for a moment. In her mind, like a bird knowing where south was, she could feel the direction Canterlot resided. The spell fed the information to her with every use, it was rather handy when lost minimal energy.

The saddlebag on her back rested heavily, the alicorn finally figuring a way to slip her wings through the cracks to properly fly with it on. The Codex resided within the pockets of it.

Her hooves hardly left a crunch as a determined look spread across her face, weaving between trees, bushes, brambles and shrubs around an opening in the thick woodlands. She dropped to her belly at the sound of leaves rattling, monstrous breathing as what she guessed was an Imp.

The demon looked across the small clearing with its hunched over posture, methodically placing each hoof-like foot and stalking over the pasture. It passed unaware of the stealthy alicorn before reaching the other side of the clearing and entering the treeline.

Once she was sure it was gone she continued on with her sneaky journey. On the way to another tree, she felt an extreme pain jam throughout her mind. “Nnng!” Twilight held the pain back, trying not to get too loud for the demon-filled forest to hear her. Her ears rang extremely for a passing moment, dissipating once she leaned on the next tree.

She stopped, breathing heavily as she set a free-hoof on a tree. Twilight wished that she was capable of using her more advanced spells. More importantly, she wished her teleportation ability was much easier to use.

Twilight’s spell required her to see the location she wished to snap off to. There was an exception of placing a magical marker at a certain location to teleport back to. Even if she had casted one in Canterlot, it long would’ve faded away, its half-life lasting around a week at most.

The princess shook her head angrily, prowling off to the next series of bushes, dividing the leaves with her pink telekinetic aura. The bushes crowded around her once more, providing exemplary cover from the hunting monsters. However, feeling the plants scratch and rub against her coat and fur was extremely uncomfortable.

She stared up at the crimson-skied canopy for only a moment. Flying was certainly no option, if she was caught up there death was certain. So she kept to these dismal, thick woods.

The mare plunged a hoof into a puddle, feeling it muck up her pelt near the hoof. She lifted it, looking down at the mud. It too, like the clouds above, crackled with the hellish energy. She could see a blurry refraction in the small puddle of charged liquid. The full moon-night shimmered light upon it, the alicorn looking in to see herself.

Her eyes were sunken in, her mane was unkempt and filled with leaves and twigs. There were several scrapes and scratches on her hide thanks to the many twigs and occasional dots in the coat from bug bites. Her purple eyes were filled with a gritty yet guilty look.

She unfurled her wings, staring at them in the water. She glared at them, then the horn, both with hateful looks. Twilight hated this. All of this. The bushes, the dirty mud, the stink of this forest, the ominous clouds above, the looming hellships, the patrolling demons, the saddlebag slamming up and down on her back with weight. But most out of all of those, she couldn’t help but be repulsed by her own presence.

Some Princess of Friendship she was, hiding in these woods like a wounded rat. Calling herself a princess was a joke. Especially one of friendship. The puddle suddenly splashed with a droplet of water, more red energy joining in. The alicorn lifted her head to see the source of the water. The reddish clouds sprinkled water from the heavens, soaking into Twilight’s pelt.

Of course. Twilight thought sadly, ears lowered as the downpour weighed them down. The stench of apple-lava perfumed the air, disgusting and retched. She pondered why she hadn't been affected by the Hellish liquid.

Thunk Thunk Thunk!

Her ears perked, a duo of hoofsteps catching her attention. She spun around, jumping in surprise as she saw what exactly was rushing her. It was a pony judging by its horrifying face, however its stance told a different story.

It stood on two hooves, legs contorted and broken along with its spine to accommodate such a position. Scraps of white pelt hung from the former earth pony, gnashing teeth slobbering all around. Its hooves had gold gauntlets over them, a similarly colored royal guard helmet atop the head. It dove in to crash a punch in with one of its fore-hooves.

Moving fast, Twilight ducked. She turned tail and ran, gasping in horror. WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME WAS THAT?! She lacked the necessary oxygen to exclaim the statement out loud properly.

She leaped over a tall field of brambles, looking up at an even taller, unpassable one. Twilight could hear the former royal guard-pony chase after her as she took flight, deciding to fly over but remain below the canopy.

The alicorn turned to look down at the disfigured pony. “I-Is that… a pony?”

It gnashed, slobber flying from its rabid muzzle as it leaped for the flying alicorn, failing in its attempts. Twilight stared at in terror and intrigue. What had happened to it?

She knew Hell could corrupt the minds of those intertwined in it, but this was much farther than anything the Codex had informed her on. As she reflected on the monster, she felt her mane frizzle at the touch of something from above.

Hooves clamped around her forelegs strongly. “Cloud Chaser?!” she exclaimed in surprise. Thunder roared as the red sprinkles accelerated into cascading rains.

The faded persian blue pelt of the frizzy-maned pegasus was nearing gray. Her crazy hairstyle was hanging off her head unnaturally low and her eyes were dead and soulless. Her wings flapped through the air. She reared her head back, ready to dive her big horse teeth into the neck of Twilight.

She closed her eyes, wrapping the pegasus’ hooves in telekinesis to release herself. Twilight fell through the air for a moment, landing and scrambling to her hooves before desperately fleeing. As she leaped over a bout of bushes, she was halted mid-air in her chase.

Twilight’s body hung upside down, one of her rear hooves being held up by a telepathic spell. “No!” She exclaimed, looking as a zombified unicorn shuffled out of a bout of bushes, horn glowing a bright pink. Her saddlebag barely clung, Twilight hoping the Codex would remain within.

She suddenly gasped, realizing who it was. The unicorn’s faded yellow pelt as well as the red and purple mane struck her as familiar, but the crooked taped together glasses that barely hung on her rotting muzzle sent the suspicion home.

The zombie-like Moondancer held Twilight suspended in the air. “Moondancer! No, not you!” horror shrilled from her voice.

The Maegus gave little care as it advanced slowly. She could hear the tearings of bushes far behind the unicorn, gnashing of vicious teeth from the royal Hell Paladin she had just been pursued by.

Thinking swiftly, she turned and looked back, closing her eyes and preparing the teleportation spell. The alicorn blinked from the telekinetic hold, reappearing a couple meters away and bolting off on her wings, saddle-bag bouncing up and down.

She heard heavy hooves in hot-pursuit of the mare, the vicious growls of the earth pony echoing through the trees. She needed to find a hiding spot if she had any hopes to survive. Her head spun left and right, gazing and desperately searching for some area to hide.

A couple clearings away she could see a distant, dislodged and fallen tree with a large hole where the stump once proudly stood. That would be perfect. The princess shut her eyes desperately, letting her horn shine with another teleportation spell.

Twilight Sparkle yelped in pain as her casting was interrupted, a hoof gripping tightly on her tail. She winced, squinting her eyes in effort as she tried to fly away from the grasp. It was too strong however, the Hell Paladin gripping tightly.

Twilight, knowing she couldn’t overpower the demon, clenched her eyes shut in an attempt to recast it.

She opened her eyes, the stress and noise of the moment gone. The alicorn hid in the dark shade of the fallen tree’s stump-hole. Twilight looked around cautiously, heavy breaths coming from the mare.

Finally, as the alicorn settled, shoulders lowering and head slumping, she felt the stress choke her up. Tears began forming in the purple eyes of the pony, sniffles erupting over the sound of the downpour of hell-energy filled rain.

She lowered into a lying position, tears rolling and staining her cheek fur. All her friends were gone, dead or worse. She was lost and was possibly many miles from either her new or old home and she was being hunted by a legion of monsters.

For all she knew, her friends and people were being driven to extinction. No spell could possibly fix this, especially now. The odds of her rescuing all her friends from that massive ship was minimal. Especially for the skull-splitting headaches she would experience frequently. If three of the weaker demons has nearly caught her, what could she do against a legion of them?

She decided then that she wouldn’t be able to make it to Canterlot tonight. The trek would be too dangerous, and Celestia knows what would occur to a pony if they reside in that dreadful rain for too long. If she was found and captured, then so be it.

Her sob-full breakdown continued as she felt a particular lopsided feeling in the weight of her saddlebag. She looked to see the Codex fall out of the biggest pocket in the book-bag. She reached a hoof over, flipping the book open to the back of the cover.

Hidden within were two photos. One of her and Spike at a young age. The baby dragon was sitting on her back, hands raised in joy as the filly version of herself smiled back at him. The alicorn lifted the photo with her magic to get a closer look. She sniffled at the sight of the image, tears still slogging as she grinned at the memory.

The other one joined the first in her aura, being placed beside it. It was her and her friends. She was in the middle, Applejack to her left and Rarity to her right. Flying idley above the unicorn was Rainbow Dash with a victorious hoof in the air. In front of Rarity meekly lay the smiling Fluttershy, Spike next to her. Finally, Pinkie Pie was on the far right of the picture, hoof around Applejack’s shoulder.

At some point, the vision of the photos began fading from her vision, tears engulfing her eyes too far as she gently placed them back into the book. She lifted a hoof, wiping the waterworks away.

Once the blurry fog of the tears dissipated, she noticed a particular number scratched into the solid back cover. The lines were cut in by a multitude of sharp blades, making up this message. “Pg. 122.”

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[Cyana Flame]