Deep within the barren wastelands, the taint of Discord was ever so overpowering on the ground, and in the air. The sky was so clear, you could see deep space. You could even see the approaching warp storm. Pegalos examined the decayed field before him, along with Inquisitor Luna.
"This disturbance is acting like a beacon for the warp storm," said Pegalos, "accelerating its arrival."
"We have little time left." said Luna. "We must assume Cyndree has released the daemon."
"Then our course is clear. We must destroy it. However meager our armaments are today, the daemon will not find our hearts lacking."
"I know. I believe you, Captain." Luna presented her warhammer to Pegalos. "Here..."
"What is this?" Pegalos asked as he took the hammer while Luna took his blade.
"A DaemonHammer: God-Splitter." Luna explained, "We have always intended to destroy the daemon within the stone. Would we not appear the fools without the means to dispense our wills?"
"You," Pegalos asked with a raised eyebrow, "you entrust this artifact to me?"
Luna smiled. "I can think of no better champion to wield God-Splitter against the daemon. And, you can call it a premonition, but I believe you will end this fight, not I."
Pegalos was greatly honored to be gifted such a weapon, but turned and looked away with thoughts running through his head.
"You are thinking of the traitor, Unidor." Luna correctly assumed, "I render judgment on more ponies than you can imagine, Captain. Trust me, you are not responsible for the failings, or strengths, of others. It is not our lot to test their purity. We merely dispense the Empress's justice when they fail."
Elsewhere on the field, the Eldeer have set up an Assembly and were somewhat ready for the worst.
"The Eldeer." said Pegalos, "If they are this desperate to waste their already meager forces-"
"Then matters are truly dire." Luna finished. "Prepare yourself. You are about to enter a battlefield unlike any other."
At the center of the dead plains, Cyndree held the Maledictum in his hooves and was shaking with anxiety.
"Almost! Almost!!" He hissed at the stone, "A moment more, damn you!!!" The stone started to glow brighter.
"YES!" Cyndree cracked, "It is upon US!"
The stone's aura surrounded Cyndree, and lifted him into the air. "Bear witness to my ascension!" He shouted in triumph.
The power of the Warp overcame him, disfiguring his body. His dark grey fur and corrupted armor sloughed off in patches, revealing smooth skin beneath that was quickly covered by brown fuzz up to his neck, above which an ash grey grew to replace his coat. His white mane turned a deep black as it burst through his helmet, while his tail fell away and was replaced by a red reptilian sprout. His hindlegs churned like modeling clay, one disfiguring into the leg of a goat while the other became a green scaled dragon leg. Cyndree's laughter rose to a feverish pitch as he was reformed from one of the Empress' little ponies into the very image of Discord. His front legs fell away, consumed instantly by the evil magical power he had claimed, and new limbs grew in their place. He snatched the Maledictum from the air with a Gryphon's claw, and seized his weapon again with a Manticore's paw.
His staff had changed as well, it was now a massive claymore with runes of Discord written into the pulsing metal. With a sickening crack his spine curved until he could not walk on all fours without discomfort. Even his horn shrunk back into his skull, and two mismatched ones rose in its place. Two wings, each from a different creature, sprouted from his back. Above all else, the most terrible of all transformations was what happened to his purple eyes. First they were bleached away by an ill yellow, the color of an egg's yolk, and then two wretched little slits of red welled up where his pupils had been. With a savage roar, he stomped the ground hard enough that every Pony Marine and Eldeer felt the earth tremble. Something told all of them that everything was not going to be fine.
That feeling was underscored a moment later. Not with a big musical number, but a soul-scorching cry of...
"GAAAAAAUUUUUUGH!!!!!"