For a moment, the world stood still.
A ripple emanated from Starlight’s body and traveled all the way down Mount Nevermore, shaking rocks from their foundations, but Twilight barely noticed it. A terrible boom thumped, down to the center of the earth, but for Twilight, it was muffled.
All that mattered was seeing Starlight’s coloration return somewhat, and the black virus spreading in her veins retracted just a bit. Starlight herself was crying. Twilight knew there were several reasons why.
There was a titanic lurch, and Twilight and the others slid several feet. Twilight swiveled her head around, now fully attuned to the present moment. Rocks bumped and toppled from their places onto the temple floor.
Twilight anticipated the destruction of the entire mountain.
So she did the first thing that came to mind. With the help of the Element of Magic, she coated the entire circular area in a violet aura and struggled to keep it in the air. The constant chime was a backdrop of noise against the cacophonous eruptions going on all around them.
A series of detonations and overwhelming booms spat out from beneath them, and Twilight concentrated even harder. This had to stay in the air!
Finally, louder than Twilight could have conceived possible, the entire mountain exploded.
Twilight was again thrown to the shuddering ground, but her magic stayed on, and they remained floating in the air, even as the monolith beneath them detonated from the top down. First one layer exploded, then the next, one after another, almost constant noise, all the way down to the surface of the earth far beneath them.
The statue of Solaris toppled from its perch, teetered forward, and shattered like ice on the circular platform. The surrounding lip of the temple crumbled away, allowing Twilight to look in any direction and watch the devastation.
Rock, splashes of lava, and fireballs alike flew up and away amid the billows of smoke flooding Twilight’s entire field of vision. For all Twilight could tell, it seemed on track to envelop the entire world.
What would happen to Spike and the rest of the dragons out there?
Twilight crawled to the lip of what used to be the lava pit. She peeked over the edge with trepidation. Everything beneath her was billowing blackness. So she couldn’t determine how high they were.
Above them, the terrible smoke thickened the sky even more than before. Twilight felt like she was in a dark room, but the darkness was so thick, she could feel it. Nightmare Moon’s promise of eternal night was nothing compared to this oppressive, suffocating darkness. Even the violet magic keeping them in the air was hard to make out.
“Twilight!” Tempest croaked over the thunderous explosions. “What have you done?!”
Twilight’s chest squeezed like a fist. She had brought him into this world.
The glow on Starlight’s Element was never brighter than at this very instant. The color, however, was now a shiny black, like obsidian. And there was a swirl, insubstantial but very much real, going out of the Element and dispersing into the smoky abyss all around them.
The swirls of mist came together and formed a silhouetted, flickering outline. Twilight, Tempest, Fluttershy, and Rainbow took a few steps back, with Tempest grabbing Starlight by the armpits. The slowly-materializing figure had plenty of berth as it gradually took on color and solidity. It rippled like water, or a translucent placenta. Then it smoothed over and became dull.
A gust of wind, perhaps unnaturally made, blew away the black smoke surrounding him, putting the figure on full display.
It was an alicorn the size of Princess Celestia, so frighteningly familiar somehow, scratching the surface of the memories each of them had of him before they came to Equus. He was as golden and bright as the sun, but there was no warmth in his presence. His wings were outstretched to their fullest extent, their wingspan easily greater than any pegasus could manage. His solid, flaming eyes were small and beady, higher up on opposite sides of his head. His face was stretched thin and long, and there was almost no flesh underneath the skin.
His lips parted slightly, and his wide grin reached his sharp ears, showing curved, sleek fangs embedded all along his bloody gums.
“My daughters,” Solaris rumbled gently, almost lovingly.
Twilight’s heart wanted to leap out of her throat. Her legs trembled, and she had to sit on her flank and take desperate inhales of the poisonous gases around her.
“I am grateful,” Solaris admitted. His voice was not distorted, evil, or devilish. He sounded instead like a middle-aged father. That was the most unnerving part of it all. Solaris took a look around, making a sound of approval. “Just as you will be.”
Fluttershy was covering her head with her arms, hiding further into her mane. Rainbow Dash’s limp grip on Stormkeeper was shaking. Stricken with paralyzing hopelessness, none of the other ponies could do a thing.
So Twilight rose for them. One trembling leg at a time, Twilight stood her ground. “No!”
Solaris tilted his head in amusement. “What can you do?”
“I brought you into this world!” Twilight cried. “And I can bring you out of it!”
Solaris let forth a chuckle, and it rumbled the skies. “You are my flesh and blood, my own seed. I was the one who brought you into this world. But I do not wish to bring you out of it. I desire far more to bring you unto me. Come, or die where you stand.”
Twilight’s horn pulsed in preparation to fire. “Easy choice.”
Twilight fired a laser with enough force to push her backwards, and the concussive violet blast sailed out, impacted Solaris’s face, and harmlessly dissipated.
Perhaps inspired by Twilight’s example, Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, swung Stormkeeper, and fountained out a blinding sizzle of wild white lightning. It struck Solaris and swirled around his body before also dissipating.
“What fools you are,” Solaris mourned sarcastically, grinning broadly. “I am God. How can you kill God?”
“Try again!” Twilight urged, and she and Rainbow, as well as the uneven whipcrack of lightning from Tempest’s stubby horn, fired in tandem. The streaks of white and violet soared into Solaris’s chest. Just like the last times, they merely fizzled out after impact.
“I am enjoying this,” Solaris admitted, shaking his head. “Lay down your weapons. It is not too late for my mercy.”
Twilight screamed in defiance and built up a tremendous ball of energy on the tip of her horn. The Element of Magic was shaking with effort, and beads of sweat appeared all over her skull. Cracks appeared beneath her trembling hooves. Fluttershy, Tempest, Rainbow, and the still-limp Starlight cowered away as the ball of purple energy reached a diameter easily twice Twilight’s size.
All Solaris did was narrow his eyes. The sunken, fiery, small, thin, glowing orange eyes.
Twilight let herself break free. Not giving any thought to the notion of self-preservation, Twilight bellowed in pain as almost every ounce of energy was drained from her body to keep the weapon charging. Her hooves weren’t even touching the ground.
Finally, pain shooting through every part of her body, Twilight fired. She was flung backwards, limp as a doll, skidding across the ground.
The spell hurled directly at Solaris and impacted with a colossal, blinding blast. The sound and light was instant. The ponies covered their eyes and bowed their heads. For a brief moment in this corner of the world, this explosion was the brightest it would ever get.
Then the violet light slowly cleared, and it revealed Solaris’s stony expression, unmarred by flame or cut.
“Intriguing,” Solaris mused.
Twilight struggled to all fours once again, her face betraying the crestfallen dread inside of her. Her horn, however, was still on, still keeping them at the same altitude they had been. Truthfully, it was the Element of Magic doing most of the work.
Solaris turned his head gently to stare down Fluttershy next, who was peeking between the curtains of her mane. She shrieked and hid herself once more.
“Fear,” Solaris noted. “Why, little one? You need not resist and keep living in fear of me. I am kind to my children. I smite down those who would oppose them. But I do not wish for this to happen to you. You are precious to me. Every soul brought unto me is cause to rejoice.”
Fluttershy’s face peeked out from the curtain of her mane, although she was still trembling.
“Leave them,” Solaris gently urged. “They’ve made their choice, and they are doomed because of it. Live on for your friends, and show them the example by which they must follow.”
“Don’t listen to him, Shy!” Rainbow yelled when he was done. But Fluttershy anxiously darted her eyes away from Rainbow.
“Shy!” Tempest cried.
“Fluttershy,” Starlight Glimmer breathed, then coughed.
Fluttershy’s eyes filled with tears. She bowed her head.
“I tire of your indiscion,” Solaris rumbled warningly. “Do not make one you will regret.”
Fluttershy locked eyes with Twilight. It took her a moment before she could look up into the eyes of the devil.
Despite her trembling lips and hesitant voice, Fluttershy made her choice.
“Never!” she refused. “You can’t have me! You can never have me!”
Solaris tilted his head and narrowed his burning eyes. “Can’t I?”
That simple action made Fluttershy back away and look to the ground. But her head came up again soon enough, and she shook it a second time.
“I can have anything I want,” Solaris calmly told her. He stepped forth, and Fluttershy took a few scared, small steps back, but not enough for Solaris to slowly close the distance, speaking softly all the while. “You are mine. This earth is mine. This universe is mine. I made it all. The defiance of my weakest child will not make a difference.”
Solaris’ front leg came up and caressed her cheek, and Fluttershy froze in place, an expression of utter fear plastered on her.
Solaris’ wide smile grew. “You inherit my wife’s beauty.”
His hoof went under her trembling chin. Fluttershy tried to crane her head as far away from his cold touch as possible, but he just pressed against her to its fullest extent.
“And my strong chin.” He took a deliberate sniff and turned her head with barely a gesture. “What a specimen.”
“Help me,” Fluttershy whispered, shutting her eyes tightly. “Twilight! Help!”
“Let her go!” Rainbow yelled, finding the strength to resist in the face of her suffering friend.
Solaris rotated his head to regard Rainbow coldly. “If I will it, so it shall be.” His flaming eyes narrowed to slits. “Back off, child.”
Rainbow’s lips twisted in anguish. “You’re hurting my friend!”
“She would say something if she was,” Solaris calmly rebutted. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”
“I’m scared!” Fluttershy got out between heavy, shivering breaths.
“That’s to be expected from a pony like you,” Solaris dismissed. “Fight back, if you so desire.”
Rainbow shrieked with all the fury she could procure, swung Stormkeeper up, drew upon all the latent power around her, and brought it down on Solaris’ back.
With a tremendous crack, the blade shattered into a dozen pieces. An eruption of sizzling energy blew Rainbow back, flying until she hit the ground and rolled to a stop. The pieces of the once-great sword bounced and clattered on the ground, and Fluttershy was flung onto her side, away from Solaris’ haunting touch.
Solaris snorted. “No weapon that is formed against me shall succeed.” His eyes rested upon Fluttershy’s form once again, and he stepped over to her and outstretched his hoof.
“Don’t you see?” Solaris asked, and he was not even angry. “I am the strongest being in the universe. Those who ally themselves to me shall live long and prosper. Those who defy me will lift up their heads, curse God, and die. I want to save you, Fluttershy. I could have killed you and your friends under my touch. But I truly do not desire your deaths if it can be avoided. Am I not kind to you?”
Fluttershy tremblingly lifted her head. Solaris shone brightly. But it was no angelic light, like she had experienced when Faust had shown herself in the badlands. And neither was it a natural, warm light, like from their campfires, or the guarding swords of Firestorm, or even their sun. It seemed like a blinding, menacing light, like the glint off a sword going for her throat. Goosebumps rose on Fluttershy’s skin, as stiff as the trees in a forest. Her heart lodged in her throat.
“Prove my suspicions and your biases wrong, Fluttershy. I am your father. I love you.”
Fluttershy couldn’t stand it any more. The deception. The flattering words. The terrible presence. Her weakness. It all had to end.
Fluttershy lept from the ground and punched the devil in the face.
For some reason, that shook Solaris more than Stormkeeper and Twilight’s magic had. Perhaps he just wasn’t expecting it, because he staggered back from her, his wings flapping madly, and stared in amazement at Fluttershy’s hyperventilating form.
“You lie!” Fluttershy bursted out. “Of course you don’t want ponies to die, because then they go right to Faust, and they’re out of your reach forever! You don’t actually care about us! What, you actually expect me to think because you don’t want somepony to die, you love them? That’s a low bar to clear!” Her hoof clasped the jewel hanging around her neck. “I am the Element of Kindness! I know true love when I see it! You just want to make everypony as miserable as you are! I’d rather die than be somepony like you! I’d rather go to Faust than call you my father!”
Solaris’ wide eyes narrowed once more. “You dare.”
She even narrowed her own eyes in response. “Yes, I dare. What are you going to do, huh? You think I’m scared of death? What do you wanna bet?”
Twilight, Tempest, and Rainbow were speechless. This wasn’t entirely out of the realm for Fluttershy before, but looking at her now, it was somehow more authentic than the timid pony they had mostly known. This was the real Fluttershy--not weak at all, but strong enough to defy the devil himself.
Solaris, meanwhile, sighed.
“I had hoped that following me would be a choice you could bring about by yourself,” Solaris said. He actually sounded disappointed. “If the weakest among you could come unto me, I would be content. But now I see.”
His wings spread wide open and his horn ignited, a brazen orange color to match the shade of his eyes. “Perhaps I must get my message to the world in a more outspoken way. They cannot ignore the presence of their father.”
His entire body coated itself with fire. And, just like Tirek had done, he began to grow. The ponies scooted back in trepidation.
In the span of only a few seconds, he was as tall as Tirek had been when Twilight had fought him. Cracks appeared beneath the surface of his ponderous hooves And he wasn’t done with it, either. Once it became apparent that the temple’s floor could not contain him, he leaped off and took to the air. With only a puff, he disappeared into the darkness.
The precious moment was seized upon by all present. Twilight and Tempest attended to Starlight, while Rainbow galloped over to Fluttershy and seized her in a hug.
“You rock!” Rainbow praised without restraint. “Sweet Celestia, Fluttershy, you’re going to give us all heart attacks from just how awesome you are!”
“I don’t want you to have heart attacks,” Fluttershy objected, still in Rainbow’s embrace. “I can always just not be awesome.”
“What? No, Shy, just be awesome more! We’ll get used to it in no time, I promise.” She let her go, and they both dropped to all fours. “Well, I suppose the biggest problem now is really just…”
“Stopping him,” Fluttershy glumly finished.
“Nothing we have can stop him!” Tempest cried, overhearing their conversation. “We’ve given him everything we’ve got!”
“Not everything,” Twilight reminded her. “The Elements. Perhaps individually, they won’t do much, but all together-”
“And how do you propose we go about doing that?” Tempest challenged. “Are the others even alive? And even if they were, how would they know that’s the plan? How do we know when the time is right to use them? How do we find and communicate with them?”
Twilight paused. “Well-”
“And what about Starlight?” Tempest asked, indicating her weakened state. “There’s nothing we can do about it, Twilight. She’s dying. And there’s no replacement. Even if she is strong enough to use the Element, it would kill her anyway, and besides, look at that thing! Do you think you can call that rock an Element of Harmony?”
Twilight bent over to examine the stone embedded in Starlight’s chest, and out of her peripheral, she saw Rainbow and Fluttershy coming closer as well. The stone in question was dull and sickly, a vast contrast from the Element of Kindness around Fluttershy’s neck, or even the shiny color it had been before.
Technically speaking, if it was corrupted, then there wasn’t much good left in it to begin with.
Twilight’s heart began to ache. Maybe she was right. Maybe there really was no way.
Twilight hesitantly looked up. Everywhere she cast her eyes, Twilight could see nothing. The sun was reduced to little more than a glint in the overhead sky.
Then a different rumble, very different from the destruction of the mountain, caught Twilight’s attention. There was something moving out there. Something beyond her capacity to fathom.
The darkness inexplicably parted, and Twilight was greeted by a golden pillar in front of her, easily more than double the width of their circular platform. She had to turn her head to see both ends of its curve. Then her head tilted up, almost straight up.
The pillar was a leg. It connected to a body, greater than all the mightiest vessels ever put to sky or sea combined.
And on top of that body was a powerful neck. Leering down at her was the enormous face of the fallen statue.
The enormous golden horn atop his skull, which was by itself as large as Mount Nevermore had been, ignited.
And a shockwave rippled across the sky in every direction like a Sonic Rainboom, blasting Twilight back down again. There was a dull roar in her ears, like she was by the beach with the waves, but this roar chilled her furiously beating heart.
“Hear me, children,” Solaris murmured, and Solaris’s voice overrode every instinct in her body. Even plugging her ears, Solaris was clear. It was inside her mind, in her heart, within Twilight’s very soul. It was loud and overpowering, making her ears ache.
“My name is Solaris. I am the father of your spirits,” Solaris uttered. Twilight inferred that the words this devil was speaking were reaching the minds of every last foal, filly, stallion, and mare, and every other creature on the face of Equus. “My work is to bring every race, nation, people, and creed under one name. Your agency will be taken because you will not need it.
“At first, I was content to allow ponies to worship me of their own free will. But as long as there are those of you who still possess a spark of resistance, the world will never willingly bow to its rightful father. As long as this life is one of choice, you will never worship me.
“Which is why I now know what I must do.” The fire in his eyes intensified. “I will rend every living creature from its mortal coil and cast them into Tartarus. I will tear apart this world, down to its barest particles. And then, using the fruit of the Tree of Life, create one anew, and you shall live again, guided by the plan I set forth in heaven so long ago.”
Solaris inclined his head a fraction to regard the faint glint of the sun. His eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared.
The glint of the faraway sun died down. The sun had either dimmed or disappeared entirely.
Twilight’s jaw dropped.
There wasn’t any noticeable difference, but Twilight knew it would take some time before the remaining sunlight reached their planet. After that, it was likely to drop to deathly temperatures.
“Let it be said that I have triumphed,” Solaris put plainly. He slowly, slowly, rotated away from Twilight and the others, facing west. “But because I have awoken, you would remember your Goddess as well. You would desire to resist the guidance of a loving parent.” Solaris’ fangs, like the slender, pearly towers of Canterlot, showed themselves in anger. Solaris’s voice began to distort and deepen now. “I reject your desires.”
Solaris reared his head as his terrible horn glowed like a replacement sun, making Twilight blink. With a terrible shriek, billowing stalks of black fire blossomed from the ground like wheat. It was fire unlike anything Twilight had ever seen before. She had to tilt her head to see how high they went. Miles high and twisting like strands of rope, it came up to Solaris’s chest, harmlessly licking his flesh. The ebony flames somehow felt cold, like interstellar space. It was a ripple in space and time.
With a brighter pulse of his horn, the fire at Solaris’s hooves intensified and shot in opposite directions, to the north and south, like a sailing arrow. An impassable wall of black flame formed as far as the eye could see.
Twilight looked north, then south. Nothing but black fire. She gulped hard, struggling to swallow. The sight before her was something she never would have expected. It was beyond Twilight’s worst nightmares. Hell was already here.
“I will constrict the earth with flames and envelop you into my loving arms,” Solaris declared, his voice wavering deep with restrained fury from the throat. “All of Her creation is now mine.”
Twilight couldn’t take it any longer. She buried her face into her arm and sobbed.
Solaris twisted his head around ponderously to coldly regard her suffering. And a smirk made its way onto his long, cruel lips. He said nothing, but turned back around and took his first steps.
The entire world trembled. In every city, in every village, ponies looked into the sky. A plague of pervasive darkness quickly overtook the atmosphere. The sun's guiding beacon was blotted out.
Ponies pointed up in amazement. Some began to run in random directions, for all the good it would do them. Children cried, and their mothers could not find a way to comfort them. It was all useless in the end.
As darkness encircled the planet, the moon and stars were left behind to illuminate what remained. But the light of the moon was a vivid red, like fresh blood. By no means was it naturally made. Its spotlight cast the world in an evil glow. And the tapestry of space began to ripple and waver.
Like falling lights, the stars in the sky swirled out of place. Some crashed into each other, creating supernovas that momentarily blinded anyone who saw it. And inexplicably, streaks of faraway stars descended to earth below.
Deathly chaos reigned across the universe.
Celestia couldn’t take it.
Standing weakly on her dark balcony, with not even guards, not even her sister beside her, the red-tinted Celestia bowed her head. Never before had she felt so helpless. So alone. Even Faust seemed to be silent.
Celestia knew that she would be needed to fire upon the dark armies about to besiege Canterlot. But a large part of her was hollow. Why bother? They would all burn anyway. What was left to fight for?
The universe itself seemed to conspire against her. Barely more than a mile away, the endless black armies of the Noxxa were marching up the winding road to Canterlot. Blueblood was a traitor. The Element bearers were gone. Twilight was gone. Even her own sun was destroyed. She could feel its absence in her heart. But Solaris was here, and the world would burn.
Celestia wept bitterly.