The same sun later broke in through the upper windows and struck the peacefully sleeping figure of Twilight.
The room in which she slept was large and bedraggled, and did not much benefit from the sudden intrusion of light. The sun crept slowly across the bedclothes, as if nervous of what it might find amongst them, slunk down the side of the bed, moved in a rather startled way across some objects it encountered on the floor, toyed nervously with a couple of motes of dust, lit briefly on a stuffed fruitbat hanging in the corner, and fled.
The sleeping figure scarcely stirred. It was already at eleven o’clock. It doesn’t matter. For one, she didn’t get out of the bed until eight-thirty. Not as if she had any better thing to do.
The room settled into a long and significant silence, disturbed only by the braying sirens and screaming in a nearby street. But only around nine o’clock. The delivery of a large eighteenth-century dual manual harpsichord at around ten, and the collection of same by bailiffs at a little later.
These were not uncommon sorts of occurrences: the ponies concerned were accustomed to finding the key under the doormat, and the pony in the bed was accustomed to sleeping through it. You would probably not say that she was sleeping the sleep of the just, unless you meant the just asleep, but it was certainly the sleep of somepony who was not fooling about when she climbed into bed of a night and turned off the light.
The room was not a room to elevate the soul. Rarity, if accidently was over, would not have liked it, would have found it not sunny enough, and insufficiently full of mirrors.
He would have desired someone to pick up the socks, put the records away, trash the empty liquor bottles, levitate the sleeping Twilight out of her bed and maybe burn the place down.
She would have been distressed by its proportions, which were neither lofty nor shaped by any noticeable inner harmony or symmetry, other than that all parts of the room were pretty much equally full of old coffee mugs, sleepers and brimming ashtrays, most of which were now sharing their tasks with each other.
The walls were painted in almost precisely that shade of green which Discord would have bitten off his own hands at the wrist rather than use, an ancient titan, on seeing the room, would probably have returned half an hour later armed with a navigable river. It was, in short, a dump, and was likely to remain so for as long as it remained in the custody of Twilight Sparkle, for those few hours before the ponycalypse.
At last Twilight stirred.
The sheets and blankets were pulled up tightly around her head, but from somewhere half way down the length of the bed a hoof slowly emerged from under the bedclothes and it felt its way in little tapping movements along the floor.
Working from experience, they neatly circumvented a bowl of something very nasty that had been sitting there since last Nightmare Night, and eventually happened upon a half-empty pack of untipped cigarette and a box of matches.
Of course, she had to use matches, once she was no longer able to use magic. She had never smoked, but it didn’t care her any more. With her hoof she difficulty shook a crumpled white tube free of the pack, she somehow grabbed the match, seized it and then started to poke a way through the sheets tangled together at the top of the bed, like a magician prodding at a handkerchief from which he intends to release a flock a doves.
The cigarette was at last inserted into the hole. The cigarette was lit. For a while the bed itself appeared to be smoking the cigarette in great heaving drags. It coughed long, loud and shudderingly and then began at last to breathe in a more measured rhythm. In this way, Twilight Sparkle achieved consciousness.
She lay there for a while feeling a terrible sense of worry and guilt about something weighing on his shoulders. She wished he could forget about it, and promptly did. She levered herself out of bed and a few minutes later padded downstairs.
The mail on the doormat consisted of the usual things: a rude letter threatening to take away his credit card, an invitation to apply for an credit card, and a few bills of the more hysterical and unrealistic type. She couldn't understand why they kept sending them. The cost of the postage seemed merely to be good money thrown after bad. She shook her head in wonderment at the malevolent incompetence of the world, threw the mail away, entered the kitchen and approached the fridge with caution.
It stood in the corner.
The kitchen was large and shrouded in a deep gloom that perfectly reflected its owner mood. Presumably, it only turned yellow, by the action of switching on the light. She found what she was looking for. In fact she found more than she was looking for.
She went and opened the old shutters on the kitchen windows to let some extra light in upon the scene.
The daylight shouldered its way in like a squad of policemen, and did a lot of what's-all-thising around the room which, like the bedroom, would have presented anyone of an aesthetic disposition with difficulties. Like most of the rooms in Twilight’s library it was large, looming and utterly dishevelled. It simply sneered at anyone's attempts to tidy it, sneered at them and brushed them aside like one of the small pile of dead and disheartened flies that lay beneath the window, on top of a pile of old pizza boxes.
She accidentally met with her own mirror reflection on the windows of oven that was clear because she has never used it in her life. Her mane was looking as if it had been used for extracting metal oxides from industrial waste.
It was now, Dirk reckoned, fully three months since this fridge door had been opened, and each of them was grimly determined not to be the one to open it first.
Twilight loved less thing more than being not tardy, but without Spike, or each other, both of them was slight shadow of themselves. She missed him so much. She meant Spike, not the tidiness, she is totally fine without that.
The fridge no longer merely stood there in the comer of the kitchen, it actually lurked. Twilight could quite clearly remember the day on which the thing had started lurking. It was about a week ago, when Twilight had tried a simple subterfuge to trick Spike into opening the fridge door. The subterfuge had been deftly deflected and had nearly rebounded horribly on Twilight.
She had resorted to the strategy of going to the local mini-market to buy a few simple groceries. Nothing contentious - a little milk, some eggs, some bacon, a carton or two of chocolate custard and a simple half-pound of butter. She had left them, innocently, on top of the fridge.
When he had returned that evening his heart bounded to see that they were no longer on top of the fridge. They were gone! Together the microwave, water-heater and TV! But the fridge stayed.
She made herself a stiff black coffee, took a bottle of Applejack Dennielse and sat at the breakfast table. She had not even looked directly at the sink, but she knew that she must unconsciously have noticed the two milk bottles there, but she was too busy to stand up for them therefore she poured some whisky into her coffee instead of milk. She wanted to drink both so, she realized in this way she spare some time if not using milk.
For the rest of the day, she planned to distract her mind from the destruction of world by watching TV, but then she realized she has no one, so she determined herself by sleeping. For now, until she got fancy something. So she started slipping the coffee with whisky. After that she finished her bottle.
By the effect of this deed she, so close to the end of the world, started to consider to open the door of the fridge, and eat something for breakfast. De she miscalculated herself, so instead she pulled a chair, a pillow or she didn’t know what in front of the sink. She put her head into it and her determined intention was to remain there, until she doesn’t feel any more her brain and stomach want to change place with each other.
Twilight heard a huge slam of a door, but she didn’t care about it. The only thing that they can take away from her is her fridge but she wouldn’t mind that.
***
Luna, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy finally could see the library. When they looked back they did not see the demon, but they didn’t date to slow down.
They got the library.
“I cast a force field around the library, and try to keep it out until I can. I cannot tell how long will that lasts. You go and find Twilight. She has to say out the magic worlds.
Fluttershy and Dash got frightened when they saw Twilight was not there where they left her.
They panic go to find her.
***
“What is this ruckus?” Twilight thought.
“I don’t care, but if I can ask for one thing, take away my fridge or open its door.” she was babbling drunk into the sink, then vomited. Even if she didn’t have breakfast.
With great difficulty, she managed to open the tap. The water flowed directly on top of her head. It did not bother her at all, she even enjoyed it.
Suddenly, she felt a strong junk on her shoulder. Then found herself lying on the floor.
“Twilight, wake up! Pull yourself together!” Fluttershy reamed her out, and gave her a slap on her face. It made Twilight came around a bit. “Hey, what was that?”
“We got the book.” Fluttershy said.
“And I do a severe headache.” Twilight was grumbling.
“Come on, Twilight, please, don’t fool around.” Fluttershy tried to drag her like a sack of spuds.
Rainbow Dash showed up and gave a helping hoof to Fluttershy: “We’re gonna fix everything now.” Dash reassured herself and everypony.
They put Twilight sit in front of the kitchen table, and put the book in front of her.
Twilight started chewing it.
Fluttershy pulled that away from her.
“Quick! Loop up after the magic worlds that we can send Diov back to hell.” Dash urged her.
“Fine, fine.” Twilight soothed them. “They don’t even let the pony have her breakfast. I suppose it’s somewhere here.”
The tree was shaken.
“Hurry!” Dash said.
“Luna won’t keep it out too much.” Fluttershy reported about the occurs.
“There you are.” Twilight said.
“Sweet! Then read it up!” Dash told her.
“Eeeeeee” Twilight said.
“I don’t see too much changing.” Dash said.
“Cause, it wasn’t the magic word.” Twilight replied.
“Don’t clear your throat now!” Dash blew up on her.
“Alright, don’t bully me. Every letter is hard if there is more alcohol in your blood then plasma. Especially, if they are an Ancient-horse.”
“Dash, come quickly! We have a problem!” Fluttershy shouted.
“I gotta go now. Say the speel as soon as you can.” Dash leaved and left there Twilight under the pressure of Ethanol and responsibilities, she tried to concentrate her every clear thoughts on text-comprehension.
***
Luna built up the force-field around the library and tensely waited for the attack, but nothing happened. Then as a meteor clashed into the woodhouse with such an elemental force it slided three meters behind. This occurs repeated itself a few times. The library was shaking, books fell from the shelves. Luna, as much as she could, concentrated on keeping up the field putting aside her fear of death.
The frontal assaults has stopped. Mute silent conquered the house. Dash’s and Fluttershy’s trembling, and Twilight’s drunkish babbling have stopped. It made her more nervous then the silent.
Everything went calm. She didn’t know whether the others feel it in the same way, but alicorn perceive differently the world around them as normal ponies. For her, the air became so heavy as it was concrete. She felt an energy flowing around herself, it was like she was sprayed with cool vapor.
The demon drained its own power. Why? Luna was thinking. Deliberately, wasting its own.” She did not like this twist at all. She felt anytime anything could happen right now.
A big thump and noise of struggling came from the other room.
“Good! Finally!” she thought. “They found Twilight, she is going to read up the spell and put an end on this nightmare. She heard rushing hooves. She turn there. There was no such a mixture of arts and literature that could have given back the horror she saw.
Diov smiled at her with its predator teeth, in its little filly form. But not the size makes the demon.
“How the hell did it get inside?” she asked herself, but she did not come up with an answer, because she only had enough time to jump away from teeth around her neck. So, the demon simply jumped to the other end of the room. It looked at her directly, with triumph. The demon didn’t rush its next move, it was just easily walk, as if it enjoys the situation. But confidence, ignorance, braveness, self-deception meant nothing to Diov. Luna thought it was happy, because it has to.
A creature of this world hardly can accept something lacking even the sparkle of basic emotions. Therefore, it is pointless trying to put down what could be going inside Diov’s mind. But if it could, then it would enjoy a battle with a legendary alicorn.
“Why did it come for me?” Luna was thinking. “Why did it not bite over Twilight’s throat immediately? Then no pony could be in here within realistic time to stop her.”
We will not know it no day, either. So, Luna settled down with the reason, if they was able to read the book they would do it already, which means there is a problem with Twilight. What could take so long? She set this place to hold out, until a the spell or somekind of reinforcement (that will not come, of course). But two or three alicorns, it does not mean too much to Diov.
Luna felt a sudden pressure on her sides. A huge tentacle gripped her that directly under her drew out of the floor. So, it prepared for the case she dodge its bite. It set a trap and she just jumped in it.
The squeeze was tremendous, she even heard a creak, she had to scream, but voice could not leave her mouth. The tentacle threw her so powerful she break through the next wall. She found herself in the neighbour room. she barely could breath, her sides were burning, felt taste of iron inside her mouth.
AS she lifted her head to look up her eyes got stuck on symbol with candle ends in the middle of the room. It was a pentagram with difficult symbols.
Luna’s expression disfigured as she understood its meaning.
“Those fucking morons did not even clean after themselves!” She has never been so angry in her life. Diov sacrificed its power to be able to go across the force-field. Luna hated the whole world at that moment. Why now? Why her should be the one the universe wants to messing up. But she can’t turn on it. She must act!
Diov’s body started deform in front of her eyes as she tried to stand up. Its face was still radiating happiness. Its smile was unnaturally wide, it raised a feeling in anypony unintentionally as if she was about to bite off their heads. Its head started to look like a grotesque carnivorous flower. Its body was getting thinner and thinner then turned into uncountable wringing tentacles that was constantly moving and twist around each other, making you feel there is infinite of them, or at least anything between ten and ten-million. Thanks to this it became taller.
“Odd.” Luna thought.” Never no pony have been eye to eye with Diov. Either you must look down to it or look up to it. Does it want to express superiority or something? As well as Celestia, she added in her head.
Luna managed to fight herself back to her hooves, and solidly stand up in front of the beast from the time before Antediluvian.
“That’s all you’ve got, you lame, mule? I have faced a bigger be asses than you. You ought to see my big sister. I’ve already seen the evil and I was not afraid, especially not from a butterfly fart than you.”
The demon started giggling feel the place with an eerie echo, then suddenly howled up, the library was shaking, the windows broke, Luna got unbalanced, she was unable to measure the distance between two of them. Only thing she can do is winning time and hope her friends will not let her down. She was thinking on her next move: she cannot harm a demon with bare violence. Even the great alicorns of the old times could only lock them up, banish them into internal sleep till… her friends set them on the world.
What could she do? Luna was thinking. With magic I might not harm it, but it is my best chance to protect myself from it and save some time.
Luna put on defending position, and she launched everything she could toward Diov, who knows, with a little luck she can make it angry and lead away from the library.
She casted a protection bubble around herself not to be attached then last time. She had to prepare can be attacked from any direction. She can use the objects here as a weapon, she levitated everything she found and launched them to Diov.
The plan did not fulfill the hopes placed in it. The objects only flew through Diov’s tentacles. They did not disturb the creature at all. It allowed itself a little laugh. Luna has never heard anything like that. It was something should never be heard on this world.
Luna planned to leave the house, the creature might come after her, but it was faster then her. It grabbed her with its tentacle and pulled her to itself. Luckily, Luna was still inside her protect bubble, she was staring at the hellbound through her bubble. The bubble just made its expression more distorted. Its breath condensated on the sphere. The creature held it as if it delighted in it, like in a snowball.
Luna was totally at her wit’s end. It would be her biggest and last stupid idea to turn off the shield. She tried to escape she became the convict of her own magic as Diov was squeezing that bubble constantly. Luna wondered if Diov could crush her with her own shield.
Apparently, the beast had different plans. It opened its huge mouth and tried to swallow Luna alive inside her bubble like a candy; from there, there is no more hope.
A blue light launched next to Luna and clashed directly into the monster’s right eye.
“It can’t be…” went through Luna’s mind. Yes, it can, it was Rainbow Dash, and as usual, she went directly into the wall.
Diov was not too amused being bothered in the middle of eating. For Luna’s misfortune, because it decided to crush her instead. The bubble started breaking, more and more crack appeared on it. In the meantime, Diov constantly tried to drive away Dash who was flying around it like a fast fly.
Dash easily dodged the tentacles reaching out for her. She was so confident, she laughed at the face of the monster from the air. It look at her very threatening. But it doesn’t prevent Dash to mocking it more, till she felt the taste of iron in her mouth. She spat into her hooves, it was something red goo, she realized it was her own blood. She started sweating, sticky liquid covered her coat, she saw as a red puddle was getting bigger and bigger under her. She felt vertigo, plus she started to get panic. As a last course of action she slowly flew to Luna who was still inside the half broken protect bubble. They looked at each other, then if somepony put a red lens glasses on her eyes, the world turned red for Rainbow Dash. Diov did nothing, just stand and watch. Dash finally bumped into Luna’s magic-fortress. The two, for one last time, saw at each other. Luna horrified, she watch over the whole scene. Dash looked like she was sweating her own blood. Then after a few minutes Dash fell down like a rock, and thumbed loudly on the floor. She stirred weakly.
Luna felt her throat tighten and her heart sank, then it turned into pure anger. She determined not to hide behind her shield, while one of her friends is dying in front of her eyes. She must distract Diov’s staring or else Dash has no chance to survive.
She collected all of her power and if she is going to sleep with the stars tonight, at least be it stylish, she wants to shine up there as a hero, you can look up proudly, not somepony who was too scared and only hiding behind her barricade.
She turned off her barricade and remained only two-tenth second before the tentacles tighten around her. Luna was faster than the deadly tentacles. She simply flew directly ahead into the monster’s left eye, stabbed it out with her horn.
It worked, its concentration had broken, but she could only hope Dash is going to make it.
The creature unbearably bellowed and screamed in its agony. Luna, who got stuck into its eyes, was unable to flew away in time in order to dodge the tentacle reached for her. She got caught. Again. It was not pleasing from the beast, either: it had to tear her out of its own eye socket. When it did, in its anger, it broke down Luna’s horn with a simple move with one of its other tentacles. Luna screamed in her pain, without her horn, she was totally helpless against her foe.
The monster stared at her angrily. It ate her horn. After some moment its wounded eye had healed. It did not make it happier, though. Luna swallowed in her fear. Only her worst nightmares can have any clues about what is going to happen now.
But the monster hesitated. It looked around the room as if looking for something, or there were more reckless idiots who could give it more pain.
It went to Dash at an easy pace, who, for its greatest joy, was still alive. She was not conscious, but alive.
It picked her up. She hang in front of Luna, it held her by her front-legs. It leaned closer to her. Luna had no idea, what it was planning to do, but sudden sharp cry distracted all of them.
“STOP!” Fluttershy shouted. She flew up just to be eye-to-eye the best, between it and Dash, and started at it with strictly.
“Don’t you shame yourself?” she scolded the more-million year-old demon. “ Listen up, mister. Only because you are older and stronger than others, does not mean you are supposed to hurt them. I trust you, you were locked up for million of years, and you most likely spent the best years of your life under a lock, and now you have had enough of everypony. You got out, and released a little steam, but look around yourself, what you have done. I think it was plenty enough ravage for today. I am certain of causing pain and sorrow is not so good for you. I am sure you are so upset because you are afraid you are going to be sent back to that plutonian vale of tears where you were. BUT! I REPEAT! BUT! NEVER EVER DARE TO HURT MY FRIENDS!” Fluttershy shouted at it.
Diov’s smile was unchanged. Its salvia was dropping. Fluttershy continued:” How about I say we will not send you back the hell, so this whole tantrum is pointless? We let you go, mind your own business, etc. Won’t it be more comfortable to deal a peace? So, what about it?” Fluttershy smiled kindly, and holding it toward her right hoof, like an offered olive branch.
Diov bit it off. The yellow pegasus just looked confused for some minutes, then she looked down where her right front leg used to be, then cried. Turned back to the creature, and saw its blood covered snow white teeth. By the recognition, an ancient fear flooded through her being.
Fluttershy headache turned unbearable.
“Fool.” Fluttershy scared to death from the voice. She could not say anything, just stared at the horror in front of her.
“You just understood.” the voice in her head said.
“I-it i-is a a REAL monster.” Fluttershy lips worked hard to create understandable world. “ I cannot tame something like that”
“One of among the realest ones. You had better urge Twilight then this.” She scolded herself.
Then she just crapped herself then fainted.
Diov did not pay more attention to Fluttershy, it turned back to Dash who still was passed out. It bit off one of her wings and ate them. Diov was about to bit off the other one when a broken glass aroused her interest.
Twilight appeared in the room; she was stumbling and looked very untidy, and pissed off as hell. She shouted the magic worlds: “Diov, nopony likes you, go away, never come back another day.“ On finishing it she threw the book at Diov, and hit it just between its two eyes.
Diov started screaming as its power left, so Twilight’s friend got free. It was shrinking, a bluish hole appeared on the ground that like an eddy sucked it down, like the sinker does the lint in the water. Then Diov and the eddy disappeared like they had never been.
Twilight looked over his destroyed house and her three unconscious friends lying on the ground. Twilight turned tails and left them there…she was happy her telephone had not been stolen, and the line was alive, so she called the ambulance.
With this, she fell asleep.