In the first few moments of Stygian’s death, he was met by pure darkness.
He stared into the infinite abyss, searching for any sign of movement. There was a hissing that echoed all around him, like the sound of pressurized air released from a tight container.
Then, the abyss stared back.
Two giant, bright white eyes materialized in front of him, gazing at him intently. There was a moment of silence as they both stared at each other unblinkingly. From every direction, Stygian heard a booming, echoing voice.
“Well, this is… quite the predicament you’ve gotten yourself into.”
Stygian could recognize that voice from anywhere. “The Pony of Shadows,” he growled, shrinking into a defensive posture. “What are you doing here.”
“Oh, nothing,” the Pony of Shadows crooned, his voice sickly sweet and cloying. “Just paying you a visit, now that you’re, well, dead. That’s quite a shame, isn’t it? Quite. A. Shame.”
“Get out of here,” said Stygian. “If—if I’m dead, then leave me be. I have nothing I can provide you, and nothing I’d give you anyway.”
“That’s not quite true,” replied the spirit, his voice even more saccharine than before. “You see—” An image of the building appeared in the void, firefighters quenching the flames and charging inside. “I can offer you another chance at life, if you’d like. Provided a few terms and conditions, of course.”
Stygian waved a weak hoof. “No. I’m dead, and that’s that. I’m never letting you control me again, so you can hurt the ponies that I care about.
“Why not?” the spirit intoned. “After all, I hold so much power.” At the last word, the hissing grew to an incessant screech, causing Stygian to scramble back.
But he recalled Starswirl’s confident hoof on his shoulder, the words of belief he’d given. “No. You’re just a sliver. I’m not letting you win, and—”
From afar, there came a piercing cry.
Both Stygian and the Pony of Shadows turned toward the source of the noise. Stygian’s eyes widened in shock. In the distance, Philomena was accelerating relentlessly toward them.
He recalled Celestia’s letter, and it dawned on him. “You don’t control me, spirit. I let you once, and that was my greatest mistake.”
With a great flap of her wings, Philomena was back on his shoulder. He looked at her and nodded, courage filling his heart. “You don’t control me. But I’ll learn to control you.”
Philomena looked back, eyes blazing, and returned the nod. Then she screeched and spread her wings and concentrated, and flapped. Her fire intensified and flew in every direction. It spread to Stygian’s body, but he no longer felt pain. It spread to the void around him, the black slowly morphing into a raging mix of oranges, reds, and yellows. It spread to the Pony of Shadows, who cried out in agony. “No, no, no!”
As the fire consumed the void, there was a blinding flash of light, and the world went white.
When he came to, he was lying on the ground in a pile of rubble. The flames around him had died to embers.
Leaping to his feet, he quickly raised his hooves, then looked at his entire body with a look of disbelief.
Nothing was hurting. There were no burn marks, or scars, or wounds, or anything.
He spun around as a soft chirp sounded behind him. Philomena was perched on a collapsed rafter, staring up at him.
“Wh-what happened?” he asked, the words slipping out of his numbed mouth.
Philomena hopped in place excitedly, chirping a happy tune. She pointed a wing at him, then at herself.
Stygian checked himself once more. “Yo-you’re saying that I’m a phoenix now?” A nod. “That’s…” Stygian breathed. “That’s unbelievable.”
The sound of yelling from the first floor brought him fully back into reality. Shaking himself out of stupor, Stygian ran to the stairs and walked down. He ignored the looks of shock the firefighters gave him. “I’m okay, thanks.” He stepped out the door.
It was a beautiful day. Outside the smoldering house, ponies walked by in trepidation, glancing nervously at its remains.
As Stygian prepared to head home, something caught his eye. There was a thin strand of fire pointing away, a barely visible string of flickering light.
He didn’t know what it meant, or where it led to, but he decided to follow it.