"You know, this is starting to get very annoying." Midnight groaned as he continued flying on through Tartarus. Having stopped on several occasion to think of a few things that he could do to escape hell, only for them to be tried, and failed once attempted.

The first attempt was to contact his brides through his telepathic link, that ultimately failed considering that he was in an entirely different plane of existence. His second thought however, was to attempt to teleport using Discords chaotic energy, which only caused him to reappear somewhere else within Tartarus.

As time passed on however, he would continued to attempt to use his normal magic, only for it to fail upon each attempt. This, prompted him to try and use the chaotic energy within him, only to cause, undesired results. Once he would cast a spell of some sort, things, and especially, beings, would explode all around him. The first being to explode caused him quite a bit of grief, but, once they reappeared, unharmed, in front of him once again, he would come to only a single conclusion. That if he did kill anything, or it was killed by someone else, it wouldn't die. It would reform again to have it happen to them once again in time. Come on, this is Tartarus after all. If the dark prince could only torture a soul once until it died, then what would be the fun in that?

As the dark Alicorn continued his trot along the burning ground of Tartarus, he would eventually run into various beings, many of which would all scamper away upon seeing him, hiding in any spot they could in order to avoid him. As he would stop to talk to some of them though, he would fail to noticed three select ponies, watching him idly as they hid away within the walls of Tartarus itself.

"Don't you think this is rather stupid?" Steel as as he watched the Alicorn talking to yet another being, only for them to run away upon hearing him speak.

"What ya mean? The fact that Satan wants us teh attack this idiot? Or the fact that we don't even know if'n we can hurt'im? Ah mean, ya'll did hear'bout what happened when the big guy tried attacking him, didn't cha?" Forge groaned.

"You two, shut up and get ready. The big guy said that we may have a chance to hurt him considering that we're all ponies. If we can all hit him at once, and actually kill him, when he reforms, he will have to remain in Tartarus for eternity." She snickered, thinking of all the torture she could put him through.

"That is, if we can hurt him." Steel sighed, laying his ears back in annoyance. "Anyway, let's get this over with. The worst thing to happen is he kills us and we just reform again." He groaned out once more.

"Fine, hit him hard and fast. Don't give him the chance to counter." Screwball snarled as she nodded to the others then bolting from their hiding place, directly toward the dark alicorn.

The being that Midnight was talking to, albeit, unwillingly, just so happened to be looking all around the Alicorn to try and find a means of escape. Though after a minute of conversing with him, had come to realize that he wouldn't hurt him in the least if he didn't cooperate. In fact, he would find it beneficial to speak with the Alicorn, as no other being was around them to torture or kill them repeatedly. Upon seeing the three ponies charging them from behind, the being let out a shriek as he attempted to get away. This, alerting Midnight, and causing him to quickly turn around just as the three rammed into him, causing him to skid backwards and into a wall.

"Time to die Alicorn!" Screwball yelled as she began wailing on him, her fellow ponies following suit.

Midnight had no time to react as he pulled up his forelegs to attempt to block the attacks, only to fail as hoof after hoof kept meeting him in various areas of his body.

"How.... the hell... did you.... find me?!" The Alicorn managed to blurt out between hits, his own hoofs quickly swinging out and knocking one of his attackers backwards and into a pit of lava, leaving only Steel and Screwball to wail on him.

"We have perks as leaders of Satans army you idiot. That includes being able to locate any soul in hell that we want." Screwball cackled as she connected hard into Midnights stomach, causing him to fall forward and onto the ground, attempting to breath but was unable.

The two ponies smiled to one another as they quickly turned the Alicorn on his back, spreading his wings out and quickly stomping on them, shattering them and causing him to scream out in pain as he continued to lay there, shaking in pain as he attempted to pull himself upright and defend himself, only to fall back down, helpless to the two ponies standing above him.

"You prick, that fucking hurt!" Forge yelled as he stomped over to the fallen Alicorn.

Make that three ponies....

"You give what you get asshole." Midnight wheezed in pain, only to yell out as he got a swift kick in the ribs.

"Shut yer trap and we may end this quickly." Forge snarled, giving the dark Alicorn another rough kick.

"Doesn't matter to me." Midnight wheezed again. "From what I've seen, I'll just reform somewhere else. So it doesn't matter if I die again and again. But I can guarantee on thing." He pause, giving a glaring grin at the three. "Once I do reform, you three are going to see unrestrained wrath coming from me."

Glancing to one another, the three began to laugh uncontrollably. After a minute of laughing the paused, looking down to see the Alicorns eyes having turned green with a red iris, his pupils quickly turning to a slit as a purple mist began to quickly rise from them and into the air.

Forge, being the first to smirk at the Alicorn, stood over him as he leaned his face down toward the Alicorns, staring him in the eye as he spoke.

"Nice trick, but that's probably all your magic is capable of down here. Considering you can't use it to protect yourself from us from our previous attack the left your wings in shambles, much less trying to take the defensive or offensive now. It just means you can only use illusICK!" Forge was quickly cut off as he found a hand wrapped around his throat, quickly holding onto him as another hand shot up and grabbed onto his mane.

"I may not be able to use magic down here..." Midnight snarled, seeing the look of horror in the eyes of the pony he now held within his hands. Midnights body quickly transforming into his original human form in a flash of light. "But that doesn't mean I can't use the chaotic energy I absorbed from Discord." He bellowed out as the pony jump up and backwards quickly pulling him up from the ground.

Forge swung his head and neck back and forth, trying his best to dislodge the human that now had a death grip on his neck and mane. This only causing the human to use the momentum to swing around the pony and onto his back, while quickly wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling backwards. His other hand shooting up and wrapping firmly around the glowing horn that resided on his head, quickly squeezing it as hard as he could, and making the unicorn squeak out in pain as it shot through him.

Steel quickly ignited his horn causing the human to have a visible glowing field envelope him and trying to pull him from his friend. Charles now giving a smirk as he pressed he closed his eyes for a moment, before snapping them back open and staring at screwball. The glowing quickly came to a halt on him as it surrounded Screwball, making her shoot into the air with untold speed. She let out a shriek of shock just before being impaled on a stalactite that jutted down form the ceiling.

"You son of a...." Steel managed to get out before Forge was quickly smashed into him, minus his horn which was now resting in Charles' hand like a dagger.

Forge writhed in agony, attempting to scream out in pain, but was unable as his vocal cords had been crushed. Steel quickly shoved him off and stood up only to meet a fist several times in the face, making him stagger backwards and into the wall. Just as he opened his eyes, blinking a few times, he saw a blur moving toward him, then unimaginable pain in his forehead, causing him to fall to the ground, screaming in agony.

"So it is true." Charles snarled. "You can only die if you die like a normal being, and having your horn ripped from your skull doesn't do that. So why don't you two go kill yourself?" Charles spat as he quickly crushed the horns in his hands then tossing them to the ground. He looked up just in time to see the falling body of Screwball land in the lava that ran by them, quickly vaporizing into nothing as she quickly reformed nearby.

"If you commit suicide down here, you're punished.... severely." She spat as she ran over to her friends, quickly snapping their necks and ending their misery. Their bodies vanishing and reforming nearby, they quickly coming back to Screwballs side as she continued.

"So, suicide means a harsher punishment than torture? How is that even possible?" Charles growled out, lowering his stance to strike.

"Wait..." Screwball quickly stated, causing her two friends to glance at her. "This is pointless." She sighed, taking a seat on the ground.

"Screwball!" Steel gritted his teeth as he spoke. "You know what Satan said would happen if we didn't do our job." He growled.

"So!? It doesn't mean that we won't continue being tortured for the rest of eternity! All we are doing is helping him out, and he only says that he can prevent us from an eternity of torture and pain in return. But all we do is cause others pain, and when he gets bored, he tortures us again. I have no idea how many times that has happened. But I'm honestly sick of it!" She snapped, causing everything around her to stop, even Charles pausing as he stood back up.

"I'm just..... tired." She sighed, looking to the ground, starting to cry. "I've done so many bad things, hurt so many ponies... I never thought my life would come to this point... never"

Charles stood there, stunned for a moment as he began. "Um... you're speaking rather.... intelligibly Screwball." He stated a little softly.

"She is speaking sanely you idiot. When you reach the afterlife, be it on the good side or the bad, you obtain a sane mind so that you can comprehend what is going on around you, and to you. I dunno how many times I've seen Screwball go insane only to return to normal to do it over and over again. Being driven mad for all eternity in a never ending cycle, just because she was never forgiven for the bad things she did." Steel snapped causing Charles to back peddle a step.

"All of this is your punishment for you having lived a life of tormenting others. Whatever you experience here is just deserved.... But I agree that a being should only face a certain amount of pain and suffering before they should be allowed to ask for forgiveness." Charles sighed, the mist from his eyes starting to diminish and returning them back to normal.

"Do you know how impossible that is?" Forge growled. "Being forgiven for what we've done to others, much less the one who killed us?! It's ludicrous! Satan would never allow an innocent soul into hell for one, and even if he did, the likelihood of them forgiving the one they killed in order to protect themselves or those around them is so astronomical, that it literally doesn't exist. As far as we're aware, it has never even happened!" He growled out as he pulled Screwball into a comforting hug, she still crying softly as she latched onto Forge.

"But what if that being did forgive them?" Charles asked as he came over to the three, taking a seat in front of them only to be quickly jumped by Steel as he raised a hoof to smash his head into the ground.

"Don't toy with us like that! We've been here long enough to look over what kind of shit you're trying to pull. Even Satan tried that shit with others, and we watched on the sidelines, seeing their hope being crushed before them. Even if we could be.... forgiven." He paused, lowering his hoof and stepping off the human.

"What chance do we have to be forgiven for our crimes." He sighed, coming over to hug Screwball and Forge as well.

Charles slowly pulled himself up from the ground, looking toward the three as they wept softly. Giving a sigh he quickly pulled himself to his feet and walked over to the trio before kneeling and wrapping his arms around the three.

"If you three are truly sorry for what you've done... not only to me, but every being that you have come into contact with.... then I.... forgive you." He smiled softly as he hugged them closer. He was quickly interrupted though as he felt a loving warmth suddenly envelope himself. Opening his eyes he stared silently in awe at the three ponies as they began to glow a soft white, their bodies slowly evaporating into little particles that began to vanish into thin air as they left.

"What's happening to us?" Charles asked as he too began to glow.

"You did the one thing we were sent here to prevent you from doing." Steel stated softly, smiling as tears began to fall from his eyes. "You're at peace with yourself right now, so don't let your anger get to you anymore, and you'll stay where we are about to go."

"Where we're about to go?" Charles asked in surprise, only to watch as the three looked upwards before they all three vanished.

"Oh!" Charles smiled, closing his eyes as the light took him too.