//------------------------------//
// Climax 
// Story: Reaper: Requiem's Reflection 
// by Ise no Kami 
//------------------------------//

	Daniel trudged his way through the astral hall the tear in the dimensional fabric had led him to. The stars...each one felt so far away, yet each had a significance and power that seemed to weigh him down. Their pressure slowed his progress to a crawl as he tried to make his way to the sickly green pillar of light that connected the two closest stars up ahead. It felt so far, yet just within his reach...assuming spacial dimensions meant anything in this void.
As he finally drew near the green light, a surge of power shot through the area, forcing Daniel to his knees and giving him a massive migraine. He fought through the pain and tried to look around...only to be met with a myriad of images from his life. No, not just any images; images of pain and loss. He pulled his head down to the ground in agony as he was forced to relive his constant persecution on his home world, the death of his mother almost immediately upon their first meeting...the death of Luna. The images rushed by, and all the while, Daniel wished for the nightmare to end.
"Sorry, but you're not waking up from this nightmare," Lucifer told him, finally revealing himself. "It's a core part of who you are."
Daniel looked up and glared at his father, his agony immediately replaced with rage. Barely acknowledging his son, Lucifer turned to the green light. "Every star here is another land of pathetic ponies. This power...this is the power holding these two worlds together, the power pulling them toward oblivion. At one time, this would have been based on pure love, and the force would've been far tamer. Now...the force pulling the worlds together is based on your emotional state, your utter loathing for life...namely, your own." He turned to his son. "The Riftspawn exist because your heart commands it. And all of that pain is open to me right now. In this place, I can manipulate this destructive power, and end these pathetic worlds right now!"
Daniel just stood there, stone-faced. Eventually, he just burst into Nightmare form.
Lucifer laughed. "So we're going here right away? Gonna try to kill dear old dad yet again? You may have broken me last time we met..." A multicolored mist ushered forth from his hand, the same colors as Celestia's majestic mane. The cloud grew and grew as he brought his other hand over, both hands vaguely grasping the mist. Finally, the mist disappeared, leaving behind a massive two-handed katana with an orange blade. Lucifer smiled evilly as he took on an offensive stance. "This time, I came prepared."
With lightning speed, Daniel lunged at his father...only for his scythe to be instantly blocked by Lucifer's massive katana. "Really now, did you hear a word I just said?" he asked mockingly. He brushed Daniel's strike aside and stabbed toward his son's chest, only for the Nightmare knight to jump back. He stared down his father, the intense fires of hatred burning in his eyes.
"I'm not letting you go so easily this time!" Daniel growled. "This time, you die!"
"How typical of you," Lucifer scolded. "Even so...this has been coming for quite some time, hasn't it? I suppose my victory can wait...while I erase the mistake that refused to serve me."
With that, Daniel was reminded of what he meant to Lucifer as his "son." The son of a monster with no soul, no understanding of people other than objects, who saw him only as another tool to use. Because of this twisted mentality, Daniel had suffered so much at the hands of his own parent. Memories came flooding back of everything Lucifer had put him through, and his anger exploded. A dark black and green energy burst out into the air from his being, coming down in a rain of deadly lasers. Lucifer simply summoned a cloud of celestial mist above his head, an umbrella against the rain of death. One of the lasers hit the cloud directly and, while the celestial energy drained its power somewhat, it vaporized the cloud and struck Lucifer. He flinched, more out of surprise then pain, before cracking an evil smile.
"Looks like I struck a nerve," Lucifer chuckled.
"Yeah, not your best move," Daniel replied coldly, before lunging at him again. Lucifer blocked his scythe yet again, but this time astral sparks flew as the two blades remained locked together. Rather than find away around his father's massive blade, the enraged Daniel was instead trying to go through it. Lucifer chuckled at this, before sending out a celestial spike to end the pathetic fight right there.
He didn't get that outcome. His celestial mist was countered by Daniel's astral mist, the two cancelling out and disappearing. At the same time, a second astral spike skewed him in the shoulder, right where the white armor of his new left arm met his original dark armor. True pain shot through his body, and his mocking attitude was replaced with rage. He pulled back, freeing his shoulder from the spike, and brought his blade down on his son. Now it was Daniel's turn to block and counter. He pushed the katana aside and swung at his father, only for his blade to meet orange steel as Lucifer immediately attacked back. Once again, they struck at each other, this time sending out a plethora of magic spikes simultaneously. Their blades met yet again, and their magic cancelled each other out. This time, though, Daniel was quicker to react after their blades clashed, rushing forth at lightning speed to slice through Lucifer. He doubled over from the blow, his abdominal wound leaking dark energy, but he was far from done.
"Such a shame," he mentioned, done with his mocking. "You would have made a great servant." He swung behind him at Daniel, letting a wave of celestial mist burst forth from his being as he did so. He pulled himself into the air with an upward strike, the celestial spikes still sprouting from his blade and body, before coming crashing to the invisible ground. Daniel barely dodged this, as the initial burst of celestial energy blinded him. Still blinded after Lucifer had hit the ground, he took a leap of faith and threw his scythe. Lucifer just barely caught this, and turned to face the attack. He was too slow to block the scythe fully, however, and the tip of the blade sunk into his ivory-covered hand. Celestial energy poured from the wound, and rather than just dissipate, it traveled out of the odd space, as if returning to its original owner.
Daniel converted his scythe into astral mist remotely, summoning it back just in time to deflect Lucifer's counterattack. He pushed the katana away and struck back, only to be caught in another blade clash. The two slashed at each other over and over, only for their blades to constantly meet and bounce off each other. With each clash, astral sparks flew off the blades. For quite some time, the two continued in this stalemate. After several strikes, however...Lucifer's katana began to crack. With each blow, the crack grew and split, until the blade finally broke in two, leaving Lucifer with a short and sorry-looking blade.
It was then that Lucifer realized he was losing. Unwilling to accept defeat when his ultimate victory was so close at hand, he reached for the full extent of his power. Jumping back into the air, getting some distance from Daniel, he poured all of his power into his white arm. Daniel did the same, channeling his dark power in a similar manner as he jumped into the air. Lucifer fired a bright yellow beam, while Daniel fired a dark black and green laser. The two bolts met in midair, sparking furiously as they fought against each other. Lucifer held his ground for quite some time, but eventually Daniel's dark energy began to overpower him, the mere magical pressure causing his white arm to throb with pain.
With each throb, the dark beam got closer and closer. When it finally approached its target, Lucifer broke. His white arm cracked and shattered, releasing his celestial power to return to its former owner. The remains of his katana also disintegrated, releasing what magic it contained to add its power to Celestia's. Without that power, his beam sputtered and died, and the dark laser enveloped him. Its power was so great that it left him in a world without sound or feeling, where he was the only thing to see for miles. He looked down at his body, and watched in horror as it started cracking, the cracks releasing blue life energy as they expanded.
He let out one final silent scream as his being broke apart and disintegrated.





With a sigh of relief, Daniel let his Nightmare form slip away. This time, he could feel it for sure. After all the pain and misery he'd been through, he'd finally obliterated the main source. No more darkness, no more pain, no more suffering. His nightmare was finally over, for real this time.
Still, he was curious about that pillar of green light. He bought that it was the power binding the worlds together...but was it really spawned from him? He walked toward the like, hungry for answers. It didn't take him long to reach the pillar. He put his hand in the light...and pulled it back out as the power shocked his system. With that shock, Daniel understood everything: what the light was, what it was doing...and what he could do with it.
He pulled out the pocket mirror Luna had given him, and focused on the Crystal Palace. As he expected, this put him in contact with his acquaintances. Twilight was the first to notice the mirror, and was soon joined by Cadence, Shining Armor, Sombra, and even Celestia, who had somehow found her way back to that world. All of them looked rather concerned, eager for any news.
"Lucifer's dead, for sure this time," Daniel told them. "And...he may have given me a way to stop this mess." All the ponies were left speechless, having given up hope by this point. "This light...this is what's causing your worlds to merge. This is responsible for the Riftspawn. This power...is the end product of all the crap I've been through in my life. Lucifer wanted to screw with this to end your worlds immediately, but I can use it to fix things. I can't separate the worlds; the process has gone too far for that...but I can make them merge peacefully. And once the worlds have safely merged, this power and the Riftspawn will cease to exist."
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked. "I want this world to survive more than anything...but what will this do to you?"
"To be honest, that really doesn't matter," Daniel replied. "I've been through and caused more suffering than any living being should ever be allowed. I owe your world this, and I don't really care about any personal cost. If I live, fine. If I die...I'm ready." Before he could get a response, he flipped the mirror shut, and turned to the light.
Well Luna, this might be it, Daniel thought. I can't thank you enough for your kindness...and for being with me all this way.
His resolve steeled, Daniel disappeared into the pillar of light.