Anxiety darted up and down his fur like lightning.
An entire year of preparation, and now he was here, at the gates of the world above waiting for it to open, to shine the light of the Equestrian sky. The dawning of reclamation day was over, now the day itself was here.
Reclamation Day.
Did it think that the world could ever be fixed? Was Equestria buried- did it ever exist? Were they hoping for a life of heavenly bliss, as they stepped out beyond? To be lost in awe, yet they had to be quick- all to build a hovel using death as the bricks if they wished for a life outside of the darkness.
Envy stared out at the culmination of everything, and committed it all to memory.
Seven squadrons of four. Twenty four living, breathing beings. Of all shapes and sizes and of every single walk of life. Almost. Griffons walked among them, same with changelings and pegasi and unicorns. Heirs of the ones who escaped, inheritors of the ones who inherited the world specially built as their paradise, their blank canvas of bone and sinew- earth and abyss. Of them, only twenty-four had decided they would ascend into hell itself to answer a question that was better left unanswered.
Twenty-four stood together, talking, conversing. All of them prepared and readied- trained and taught. How to build, how to bend, how to break. He had personally dressed them in armor and barding made from things and for purpose that didn't exist in this reality. Imagination formed armor specially tailored for each individual. High powered shields, active camouflage, and thick plating with light weight were its pride and joy, the metal cuirass an amalgam of magic and pride that fit snugly over a black undersuit. It had spared no expense- and gave plates of steel and shield wherever it could while still allowing mobility, and provided a helmet that would fold into the chest piece. An armor better than anything above the surface. A full suit for hazardous operations chemical, biological, or magical.
Some enjoyed the gunmetal coloration of the armor. They took pride in dressing themselves in tones of the dark, a subtle symbol of their heritage.
Others, and there were many others, preferred it painted. Colored to be like their fur, and a few wished for some extra brackets of armor. Some had been trained in combat, only grazing simulacrums of close quarters and long range fighting. Surviving alone, to eat and drink from the land. They were taught, everything, everything that anyone knew and still knew.
Each of these twenty-four brave souls carried with them the weight of all ponies who had fallen before them. Their armor, their weapons, their training, were all a testament to the sacrifice of those who came before them. To all who were burned and turned to glass. They would not fail. They would see their quest through to the end and return home to tell their tale.
Envy himself felt the eyes of the world watching his every movement, his every breath. Nothing more could possibly be done by him now, for as much as he new that He could go over beyond the veil, beyond the tear, beyond the gate. He would not. And he could not. He could not cross that lone line, one line, one line too far.
Perhaps it was fear.
At long last, the time had come. With a low warble, like mourning doves, did the serpentine form of his body appear before the doorway that they had constructed. A gateway, built plainly of stone. It operated for nobody who believed in logic. With a gentle graze, it bit into reality itself, and a black rift opened, splitting the infinite sea of the abyss to allow passage to a green hell.
Horns rang out, an addition to this unnamed ceremony. Lastly, before they were allowed to condemn themselves, Envy said but one final word.
Like our Angel, hold cruel and merciless intent. Go forth, sunbeams; know you'll become a legend.