Luciferian, still literally kicking and screaming, emerged back into his reality, striking the ground with enough force to bounce at least once.
“Oh sweet Satin I CAN TASTE IT!”
“Well, that’s bound to happen,” said the red-eyed demon, now lying beside Luciferian. “Once I take you to my realm, I can throw you in an entire PIT of churpos. Trust me, their noses sure do tickle on your tickly bits. And, for the record, I have a LOT of tickly bits. But you'll be finding that out in person soon enough, won't you?
Luciferian gasped as the pain began to overtake him. Just as Starlight had predicted, the demon was once again manifesting, slowly consuming his mind. He focused his magic on the spell, desperately trying to force more power into it- -and it worked, although only marginally.
“You’re just buying time,” whispered the demon. “Come on!” She rolled over, spreading her legs. “Just let me finish!”
“No,” said Luciferian, standing and nearly falling over. His horn was sparking badly; its internal structures had almost completely disconnected from his brain. He was now almost entirely unable to use magic without risking losing it entirely- -and this time, he would not be able to replace it. “No, I’m not ready. I have a kingdom to conquer...if I can just...”
“You mean THAT kingdom?”
The demon pointed upward, and Luciferian looked up. To his surprise and horror, he saw the very core of the Crystal Empire- -what was to be his seat of power- -hovering high above the city, held aloft by the accursed magic of the Nameless One.
Something erupted beside him, a strange yellow anomaly in space. Luciferian took a defensive stance, fully expecting Starlight to arrive to finish what she had started. Instead, though, a murder of crows burst outward, carrying with them a technetium dial.
The crows rapidly rammed into one another, their flesh merging into a single being- -and in seconds Luciferian found himself standing beside a gaunt black unicorn, his yellow eyes wide and distant.
“Al’Hrabnaz?”
“In the flesh,” he replied. “So to speak.” He looked upward at the floating kingdom, and his expression darkened. “I see,” he sighed. “So I was not good enough.”
Suddenly, the sky cracked open. Luciferian ducked to the ground, grabbing onto it as a strong and frigid wind poured through the kingdom-sized rift.
“What is she DOING?!” he cried.
Al’Hrabnaz’s dial clicked and he cast a bubble around himself. He stared upward at the hole, an interdimensional vortex more vast than any living pony or surviving machine could ever hope to accomplish. “She’s opening a rift,” he said. His large eyes turned to Luciferian. “She’s going to rift the entire kingdom!”
“To where? WHERE?!”
“I do not know. But this means that it is time for us to retreat.”
“Retreat?! You idiot, there is nowhere to GO! If the Nameless One is taking the kingdom, it means he’s DEAD! Sombra is DEAD!!”
A thin smile crossed Gxurab Al’Hrabnaz’s face- -a smile that did not reach his eyes, which seemed terrified by some unseen vision. “That which is not dead which can eternal lie. And in strange eons, even death may die.”
With that, his dial shifted as he opened his own door back into his own empty realm, his body collapsing into a flock of ravens and vanishing within.
“Coward!” screamed Luciferian. “COWARD!”
Space began to crackle and distort from the landmass overhead. The whole of it was hundreds of times larger than even the Monocerus, and as Luciferian watched it began to glow.
Then the spell was initiated. With a deafening thud, the entirety of it was torn free of reality and cast outward through space and time, leaving behind nothing but a crater. The rift sealed, with the only indication of it ever having been present a circle of clouds surrounding a clear, calm circle in the sky.
“No,” he said, collapsing to his knees in the frigid cold. “No, it’s gone...but my prophecy...”
“You still don’t understand,” laughed the demon. “Well, I guess I do love when ponies are ignorant. It’s adorable. Even if it’s not going to last much longer. Oh, I can’t wait to see the look on your face.”
Luciferian turned to her, confused, but saw that she was gone. At the same time, he sensed something strange. A presence- -or the presence of multiple ponies. And when he felt them, his heart sank, because he recognized them. There was no way he could ever forget their foul stench.
He turned as the first of them began to climb over the rubble. The first to come where battered, their coats soiled by ash and dirt from battle: Lacy Pants, Rancine De’Lis, and Baron Blueblood. They did not arrive alone, though; to their left appeared a stout boy with an electric-blue mane and thick, protective red goggles, the mute scion of House Sab3th3S. Then, from the other side of a collapsed building came Knowsay, the son of Daysay, of House Say, a gaunt and unpleasant creature.
Then came their leader, the oldest among them all, clad in rose-quartz armor: Glittershine, of House Shine, the only one among them who had begun to show signs of her centuries of existence- -not in wrinkles or graying as with the lesser races of unicorn, but with the distinct development of fangs and strange pupils that accompanied the feeding regimen required for a pony to stay alive for so very long.
They stood before him, the scions of the great Houses of the white purebloods, the elite ruling class of ponies second only to the White Queen herself. Ponies of unnatural magical prowess, and ponies privy to arcane secrets beyond the understanding of lesser ponies. The keepers of lore and of blood purity- -the group that Luciferian himself, by accident of birth alone, was a part of.
Except that something was wrong. Something was tugging inside Luciferian. Something terrible.
Then the last of them stepped over the summit of the rubble, coming out of the sun. Luciferian looked up when he heard the metal click of a mechanical hoof against the fractured crystal of the fallen building, and as his eyes adjusted he saw his own face staring back at him- -his own face, with one tiny blue eye in the process of regeneration and a scar where a horn had once been hidden beneath long, violet-tinted bangs.
Luciferian took a step back. “YOU!” he bellowed. “How- -how DARE YOU!”
The pony that Luciferian alone knew as Failure giggled. “Hello, daddy.” A wide grin spread across her face. “You have something of mine. I’ve come to take it back.”
Luciferian’s eyes narrowed, his rage overcoming his better judgment. “You filthy stupid FAILURE!” he screamed. “How dare you! HOW DARE YOU?!”
He charged his horn- -HER horn- -with his full magic, ignoring the pain as the last of the nerve endings began to separate. As he did, Failure charged him. She was almost absurdly fast, but Luciferian was faster.
He fired the spell, and it ripped through her, tearing through her nerves in a single massive feedback wave- -but she did not slow for even a moment. The pain had no effect on her. She had grown far too accustomed to it.
Words escaped her lips that Luciferian could not understand, apart from that it was a filthy and blasphemous Zebric rhyme. Failure turned and raised her intact hoof, sending out a swarm-spiral of burning yellow runes. Luciferian cried out as they edged themselves into him, forming spells through his body through mechanisms he could not immediately comprehend.
He could not move, and felt himself being punched in the face by a metal hoof- -and then its claws closing around his face. The runes carved into the metal leg ignited with magic fire, and pure elemental force was poured into Luciferian’s body. He screamed as he was knocked back, smoking and twitching, into a pile of rubble.
Failure looked down at her claw, flexing the small fingers before retracting them. “Or...perhaps I don’t want it. I seem to do fine without it.”
“Zebra magic,” groaned Luciferian, attempting to right himself. “Rune spells- -filthy half-magic! You don’t deserve even that! You can’t use magic...you’re a FAILURE...”
Failure smiled. “What do you expect, daddy? You trapped me in a castle full of books for my WHOLE LIFE!” She burst into laughter. “Did you expect me not to READ?”
Luciferian stood. Even as he did, the other purebloods were moving in, with Glittershine presiding. To ensure he did not escape. This was their way. They would let her settle her grievance, even if she- -a failure in every way, a filthy abomination not worthy of the cellular material used to create her- -was by no means a pureblood.
“You’re just a clone.” Luciferian spit silver onto the ground in front of him. “You’re just an inferior copy. I’m the real Luciferian. NOT YOU.”
“No. That’s where you’re wrong, daddy. In fact, I AM you. One hundred twenty-seven of your chromosomes are INSIDE ME. Or are you that bothered because you left one out?”
She began walking around him. Circling, preparing for an attack- -or perhaps trying to mock him.
“All your ambition, your desire, your willingness to do whatever it takes to get what you want...I have all that too.”
“You never showed an ounce of ambition...”
“Because if I had? Well, I don’t think you need spare parts THAT bad. But you taught me some very, very important lessons, didn’t you, daddy? Like how to take pain. How to mask the hatred. How to wait until the time was perfect.” She stopped and raised her robotic hoof, flexing it. “Do you like it? Celestia’s forces do good work.”
Luciferian’s eyes widened. “You dirty traitorous horse- -”
“From where I stand, you’re the traitor, daddy.”
“Stop calling me that. I’m not your father.”
“Why not, daddy? Isn’t that what you wanted me to call you? You created me. And then I suppose you resented the fact that you wanted me. I suppose it’s because you can only ever love yourself, isn’t it?”
“I will never love you.”
“I know. It doesn’t really matter.” She shrugged. “I did what you never could. It was easy. So easy. I’m on their side now.” She gestured toward her new friends. “I am reuniting House Twilight with the rest of our kind. I serve Celestia now, as they do. I even took a new name.” She leaned in closely. “You can call me Twilight Phoenix, the new scion of House Twilight.”
Luciferian lashed out against her. She deflected his blow easily, dodging and putting her metal hoof directly into his ribs. As he fell, winded, she kicked him in the face.
“Now now, daddy, don’t strain yourself. I know it can be hard being so old.”
“You can’t- -you can’t be- -I’m the last Twilight! The very last! There won’t- -there won’t be any more after me...”
Phoenix laughed. “Really?” She backed away. “Because from where it stands, it looks like I’m about to inherit a massive castle filled with our entire family’s library. I suppose I will have to take them to Canterlot, though. I always hated your castle.” Her eyes narrowed. “And that also means I get to inherit your student. He is ambitious, like you, but weak. And kind. The only pony who ever showed me kindness, even considering how I must have looked to him.” She smiled. “I think he will serve as a useful sire to continue my eternal bloodline.”
Luciferian’s eyes widened as he suddenly realized, to his horror, that everything he had built his plans on was a lie. He could almost hear Eternity laughing at him, at how she had been right when he had been too blinded by his own ambition and desire to see what should have been obvious.
The prophecy had stated that a white unicorn would rule the Crystal Empire beside Princess Penumbra- -and Luciferian had assumed that the unicorn was him. If Failure took the mantle of House Twilight, though- -a course of events that had absolutely unthinkable before- -then she would produce an entire bloodline of ponies that could serve just as well in Luciferian’s place. And while they took the life he so desperately desired, he would be left behind.
And, realizing this, he burst out laughing.
The purebloods stared at him, not sure what to think. They began to wonder if he had gone insane. Only one of them realized that he always had been.
“So be it!” he cried through his laughter. “It was all for nothing! NOTHING!” He charged his horn with one last spell and lifted his scarred, tattooed left leg. “Then I have nothing to lose! If I’ll never rule the kingdom, at least I can take YOU ALL DOWN WITH ME!”
He cut into his spell.
“What are you doing?” demanded the demon at his side, for the first time sounding afraid. “You fool! Stop NOW!”
Luciferian did not stop. He began to change the spell, drawing new lines across it and linking others, changing the runes and symbols in ways driven by his deepest instinct for survival and his innate but misused brilliance. He altered the coordinates, and the linking patterns, changing where the spell connected him and how- -and as he formed new, symmetrical marks, the spell began to glow with a hideous blue light.
The demon smiled. “So it is done,” she said. “You have no idea what you have done, Twilight Luciferian. But you will, soon enough. Even I cannot save you now.”
And with that, she was gone. Luciferian suddenly buckled, brought to his knees as an unfathomable amount of power flowed through the dimensional link carved into his leg. Failure, proving her weakness, took a step forward, as if to aid him- -and his magic exploded outward, hemorrhaging blue light outward in every direction.
Twilight Phoenix was thrown backward, just as Glittershine and Knowsay leapt to her side, casting a combined shield. Luciferian’s magic arced across it, skittering over the surface, and as he turned his attention toward it the whole of it exploded inward, overwhelmed by his power.
Phoenix shielded the other two with her body, casting a rune-spell. It touched Luciferian, and distantly he understood it, but he felt nothing. His body no longer had sensation. Only power.
Vines erupted from the soil near him, wrapping his limbs in thorns- -and they were vaporized on contact with his corrosive magic. At the same time, Lacy Pants and Glittershine charged, each forming entangled symmetrical spells.
Both struck on target, and Luciferian returned fire, drawing on the limitless sorce within him, screaming with laughter as their spells were blown apart from within. It was not like unicorn magic. There was no word for what he had become. The magic came from within him, resonating in every cell of his being. Everything that the demon had taken had been given back tenfold, forged from the newfound force of a dimension of pure energy.
The other ponies formed up, generating spells meant to seal him. Luciferian struck out at them, grabbing Baron Blueblood by the beard and beating Rancine De’Lis with him. He then turned his attention to Glittershine, whose horn was charged and ready for attack. As Luciferian attacked, she suddenly jumped out of the way, revealing Battl3Pwn3 Sab3th3S, who promptly began to vibrate before releasing his own magic in the form of a devastating bass wave.
The sonic explosion struck Luciferian and he deflected it, sending it back at its creator. White unicorns were sent flying, and Luciferian began to cackle.
“Unlimited power!” he cried, his magic pouring out at an even greater level, incinerating and corroding everything around him. “With this power, why do I even need the Empire?! I could rule everything! EVERYTHING!”
He began to laugh uncontrollably. The purebloods fled, retreating from his power. Even Failure tried to leave with them- -but Luciferian grasped her by the leg, pulling her back.
“I will fulfill my destiny,” he hissed, raising his magic above him. “You will NOT stand in my way!”
He laughed again- -but as he did, something exploded inside his chest.
The world suddenly changed. Luciferian stared out at it, not even sure he could begin to describe how it had changed.
Then he saw them move. The gaunt horrors that covered the battlefield suddenly saw him, and raised their heads from their experiments.
Luciferian cried out when he looked down and saw what his daughter had become, what they had done to her. How she was even alive with so much of her body missing he could not fathom, or what the machines grafted to her in the place of organs and limbs were meant to do.
It was the same for all of them. Although they could not see it, their bodies bore the marks of extensive and repeated surgery, of some parts missing and some pieces replaced. Surgery performed by the thin alicorns that stood at their sides, performing experiments just out of phase with the normal universe.
Even now they sat over the battlefield, at the sides of the wounded, adjusting the implants and meters as they attempted to understand. But as Luciferian saw them, they stood, their bodies slowly drifting toward him. They saw him, and had always seen him- -but now they knew that, for the first time, he could see THEM.
“N- -no! NO!”
Luciferian took a step back. Their hoofsteps made no sounds. Somehow, this world was deathly silent. Not even the endlessly falling snow- -or perhaps ash- -made sound.
One of them stepped forward, approaching him and standing over him. It was an alicorn, but not like Celestia or Nightmare Moon or even Penumbra. Somehow it was different, as if it were a parody of itself, and it stared down with eyes that were perfectly white save for pupils lit from within by unnatural and grotesque blue light.
“Hello, Twilight Luciferian. My name is Harvestor. We have been waiting for you.”
“No! GET AWAY FROM ME!”
Luciferian fired his magic at the creature. Its body exploded like an overripe fruit, and Luciferian nearly fainted when he realized that they were not alive, nor had they ever been. What was inside it was not flesh but some unnameable organic substance bound by endless connections of strange and unnatural silver machines.
` “Do not do that,” it said as its head fell away from its body, both halves rapidly regenerating until two identical alicorns stood before Luciferian.
“Buck you! BUCK YOU ALL!”
He struck out again, but this time the magic did nothing. The alicorn lit his own horn, and it glowed with the same blue light, canceling out Luciferian’s attack.
The alicorn smiled. “We were created by the light of Dagon. It cannot ever be wielded against us, Luciferian. And we are so glad you have decided to join us. Dagon has been waiting.”
“What are you...no...” Luciferian took a step back, looking down at his hoof. “I’m out of phase! I’m not supposed to be here, I can’t, I can’t be here- -”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that, Twilight. Listen to the sound of your heart. You will find that it has already stopped.”
Luciferian did, and to his horror, he understood why the world seemed so silent.
“You are of no use to us if you go back,” said one of the alicorns as they began to surround him, stepping over the shadows that the purebloods cast into their half-reality.
“You chose correctly,” said another, smiling. “Welcome home, Luciferian.”
The world seemed to change. It was dark and shrouded, a half-shadow of what was and what could never be, the shadow-space clinging to a reality that could not normally be perceived- -but as Luciferian stood before the children of Dagon, their world opened to him.
He looked up at the terrible sky above the world of its creation, through the ice and snow and past endless, impossible towers. And the sky looked back at him.
Luciferian’s mind shattered. As he was drawn upward, the burning shards of his mind wept at his own arrogance.