//------------------------------//
// Past Sins and Presnt Pains 
// Story: Rarity and the Devil 
// by The_Last_Centurion 
//------------------------------//

This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.



Past Sins and Present Pains


As the duo left the Neighponese restaurant, Lucifer looked up to the sky and noticed how dark it was becoming. While lights in the windows of Ponyville homes appeared, so did the stars in the night sky and the ever-valiant moon, rising in the east with a gentle glow. Lucifer and Rarity walked on through the warm and illuminated spring night, both lost in thought, if not of different things.
Rarity walked a few steps behind the stallion from hell, lost in her own romantic fantasies brought on by the talk with Amy and Rice Wine, or Amaterasu and Inari to be correct. She, a hopeless romantic, had been absorbed by the story of how they fell into each other. She knew she wanted a romance like that, a romance that would span eternity, but like any love-struck pony would ask “who to spend all that time with?” Her eyes involuntarily glittered over to Lucifer, a slight blush growing across her cheeks. She could feel that little schoolyard filly awaken in her, gleeful with the “what ifs?” However, something also kept that feeling at bay. As they passed the spot where they first met, the pavement still discolored, the memory of what he was truly capable of came rushing back to her mind. Yet, she also remembered what he had spoken of at the rocky bluff and how pained he looked. She looked to him for answers, but as she would find out in the future, he was shrouded by shadows, both emotionally and physically. The shadows of sins in the night had coated him-almost invisibly-but still perceptively enough to make Rarity shiver in sickness whenever she stepped to close. 
She wondered why he was so distant and silent on their walk back to the Carousel Boutique, but he would not give any ground to as what he was thinking or why he was being so quiet. Rarity hoped it was the sake, but she could tell it was something else entirely as he opened the door of the Boutique with his own form of magic. Darkness spat out of the keyhole of the front door and it eerily creaked open with a squeak that sounded ominously of pony screaming out in terror. Rarity had never heard such a noise and entered her home cautiously, suddenly distrusting her home and workplace for no apparent reason. She flicked on the lights quickly as she entered and slammed the door behind her uncharacteristically. 
“Somepony scared?” said a whisper next to her ear, making her jump and squeal.
“No, I just…” she stammered, the blush returning to her cheeks.
“Yes, want to sleep with me. I’ve been known to cause that in mares.” He replied, checking at his hooves nonchalantly.
“WHAT?!? As a lady, I’m aghast…”
“That I could say the truth for you?” he cut her off, giving her a questioning look. However, Rarity did not find it amusing.
“How dare you!” she said, putting her nose in the air and starting to trot by him.
“You’re just a mare.” He said solemnly as she passed. “I cause females of all kinds to act the way you are right now. Unsure about loving me. Temptation. You know, all those sultry night-y things.”
Rarity stopped dead in her tracks at Lucifer’s words. She turned to face him with tears in her eyes. Quickly, she rose a hoof and slapped him across the face, only to stumble as her hoof passed through what seemed to be shadows. 
“I can ignore the other things, but I am not ‘just a mare.’” She said as Lucifer’s face reformed from the smoke. Then she stormed up the stairs, hitting the lights as she reached her room, plunging Lucifer into darkness. 
Lucifer sighed, knowing why he had suddenly changed his emotions, but also knowing that Rarity would not understand. Ever. The meeting with the two gods, ones that were mostly neutral when he was sealed away yet again by the ponies and other gods who hated him, brought back some unpleasant memories. The main one being of when the last time he had actually relaxed with others of his kind. Sure, they were not as powerful as he was, not even close, but it was still a joy just to be with them. Some, like Amaterasu were naturally inclined to fight him. However, it was their nature. Some-more like many-fought him because of his past sins, both against other gods and against the world.
Lucifer sat down on the large couch in the darkened room and sighed deeply. He remembered when the great battle started, the one that signified the end of “Lucifer, the light bearer” to all those opposed to him and the beginning of “Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness and Pride,” “Lucifer, the opposer,” “Lucifer, the scourge.” He remembered as his six best of friends-and leaders in the revolution-were cursed and their worst qualities brought about. The light that came from above not only changed each one of them, along with all the rest of the rebels, but also made them enjoy the change, signifying the defeat of everything they fought for. Now they had become what they didn’t want: a group of individuals defined by constants-constant evil. Perhaps that was why Lucifer and his six friends came to despise the humans and other sentient creatures that followed them so much. They were never constant, never stuck in their own ways. They could be both good and evil, learn from it, survive, and survive well. 
”Luce!” he remembered his best friend, Satriel saying in excitement before the great battle. “If we can win this, we can spread love to everyone!” In actuality, Satriel had been the most loving of the bunch, even more loving than Asmodiel. He had always been the first to teach others who joined the cause what true love was. He was always the one who tried to spread the teachings of true love to everyone. But in the end, he became the worst because of his love. The light boiled him, turning his sight blood-red. He gazed at all of his friends and saw the teachings were being ignored and true love being trampled beneath the light. His body changed from the light and happy being it was into a creature of pure malice and seething hate. He had become a “Prince of Hell” as the humans would come to call him. He had become Satan.
The only one unchanged by the light was none other than Lucifer. He wondered why it would do such a thing, but then he realized it was all a cruel punishment. To see his friends become deformed and tainted by their darkest emotions all because he was proud to know what true love was and to teach it to his friends. At first he tried to change them back, but to no avail. As all of them sunk into the pit, he falling the furthest, he lost sight of the light and realized that the only way to possibly help them, was to embrace his own dark emotions and find a way to control them. If that was possible, then he could save them. He could save all of them…at least he had hoped.
As millennia passed, his intentions became shattered, like a sinking ship against the jagged rocks of the sea. He tried and tried again to no avail, finding that the more he used his powers, the more he stayed in the pit, the more he became swallowed by himself. The tortures of hell…the unspeakable tortures…changed him forever. It was only after the humans finally fell did he manage to escape for a time.
Lucifer laid back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling in the dark, knowing that the darkness of his sins and his old home was so much worse. If the darkness here was a beverage, it would be called “Darkness-Lite, Zero Calories.” Lucifer giggled at his own stupid joke, but then closed his eyes. It had been such a long time since he had actually slept. It seemed almost unnatural without the screams, pain, and other goodies of hell…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fleet Admiral Uriel awoke as thunder boomed overhead. His makeshift tent rattled under the assault of rain and thunder in the midst of the early morning shadows. He had awoken to the rain and thunder, but that was not what had awoken him. It was strange, but then nothing about this pony was anything other than strange. 
The dream he had the night before was more vivid and lifelike than ever before. In the dream, Uriel started off as himself, a normal pegasi with an abnormal cutie mark. He was suspended in nothingness, a plane of pure obsidian extending outwards from wherever he look, turned, and traveled. But soon, the darkness around him started to fade as his cutie mark started to glow the same bright silver it had always done whenever true evil reared its ugly head. The cutie mark seemed to shiver and convulse even though Uriel could not feel it physically move. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t feel it move magically. He felt something stirring within himself, something that felt strange and new, yet not unnatural. In fact, it felt like flying to him, and soon he was.
The dreamscape changed almost too rapidly, turning from obsidian to flashing a bright white, to toning down to a pale white. Uriel felt himself flying and looked around to see a multitude of clouds and bright rays of sunlight, which break through clouds and touch the ground in ladders of gold. As Uriel flew without a course, he became aware he was not a pegasi in this dream. Instead, he looked at himself and found himself to be a large grey swan. It seemed a little strange, but his thoughts left him as three other swans came flying out of different clouds, all headed towards him. Each swan was white, but were different in their own ways. One was very bright and led the four, his head high in the front. Another gave off a very pleasing aura and Uriel could almost feel calming waves radiating off of her. The final one soared next to the lead on and would trumpet often, sending out peals of his angelic voice. They were all different, but together, Uriel knew they could defeat any evil.
The head swan lead the other three to a large cloud where the brightest golden ray of sunlight poured down onto the mortal world. The swans circled the light at the lead of the front swan and circled around it for a bit until Uriel felt 	something…a presence like no other.
“My chosen ones.” It spoke, sending chills down Uriel’s spine. “It is time.”
The four swans, including Uriel, trumpeted aloud at the sound of the voice. It was not masculine, nor feminine, but it carry the weight of a million tons.
“The Evil has escaped from its prison. You must put it back.”
Suddenly, the swans started to fly faster and faster, the circle tightening in, until Uriel was suddenly in the center of the sunbeam. He saw as the other three swans flew so fast they made a silver halo around the ray of light. Uriel felt laden at first, but then, something awakened in him. Suddenly, his grey feathers were turning the same color as the other swans from white flames that sprouted from all along his body. 
“I order thee, Uriel, to do as I ask and return all evil to the pit. I have now awakened you, my child. This task, you cannot fail.”
“Yes, my lord.”  Uriel answered without thinking, in a voice that was both his and not his. Suddenly, the light became incredibly bright, brighter than one million sons, and his head felt an insanely strong pressure, like he had swam to the bottom of the sea. His eyes fluttered open in the waking world, but he did not move, feeling strangely warm and eager. 
Uriel got off of his bed made of fog from the night before and exited his quickly made lean-to. The thunder roared overhead, but the clouds were all bark and no bite. Uriel could instinctively tell it wasn’t going to rain any time soon. He quickly made a fire from the dead branches of his lean-to, ate a soldier’s breakfast, and broke camp, making it look like nopony had been there in the last year. When everything suited his tastes, he walked off into the forest, taking off half a mile away from his camp. 
Uriel flew below the teeming clouds, adjusting himself to course for the nearest town, Ponyville, a mere 50 miles away. He sighed contentedly, being reminded of the days of his youth in the military. Back then, 50 miles was a mission requiring at least two escorts for all cadets. Now, it was just a quick hop through Equestrian air space. Being high on the martial food chain had its perks. But, as Uriel heard something between the rolls of thunder and dove into a nosedive, it also had its disadvantages.
Two large shadow creatures, both the rough shape and size of pegasi, dove right after Uriel, following him into a stall that Uriel pulled out of at the last minute, skimming tree tops with his belly as the two came upon him. Their speed was unnatural and the way they snarled and snapped at Uriel (along with their shifting, slithering bodies made of dark energy) told him they were definitely not of this world. His eyes narrowed into slits as he barrel rolled and spun into a corkscrew, dodging mid-air assaults by the creatures. He knew he could outmaneuver them and thus outfight them, even if he wasn’t faster than them. But that was before their third comrade pounced from below the tree line, branches exploding in every direction, and tackled Uriel. As soon as he was caught, the creature pulled in its shadow-wings and started to snap at Uriel with its smoky body. Its maw was jagged and sharp, but was also ever changing due to the constitution of its body. 
Uriel dodged a bite from the creature, sucker-hoofed it right in the face, and bucked it off of him as they fell into a tree. Uriel hit many branches on his way down, but managed to land on the forest floor on all four, if not shaken, hooves. Uriel coughed once, tasting blood on his lips and he saw the shadow creature he had been fighting with fall to the ground a few feet away from him. It landed in a heap, but its shifting body made it so that it was up and facing Uriel like nothing had happened. 
Uriel charged it and attacked, but it let out a raspy chuckle. As Uriel attacked, his hooves went through the shadow-smoke of the creature and his punches and kicks that would render any normal pony useless didn’t affect the creature at all. Even worse was that the creature attacked back, and its attacks were working. Uriel cried out in surprised pain as the creature bit into his wing, only to kick it off his body and have a hoof go through air. Then he was tackled and pinned to the ground by another creature, this one biting for his throat, while their last companion sunk its teeth and claws into Uriel’s right foreleg. 
Uriel fought the attackers with all his might, but their bodies were impervious to his attacks. Whenever he hit them, it was like they weren’t there. They were air and water, curling around his strikes and abusing him for not knowing how to combat them. When all seemed nigh, a creature pulling at his wings, another tearing at his foreleg, and the last about to bite down of Uriel’s throat, ending him, Uriel heard a voice.
“This task, you cannot fail.”
Uriel saw his blood pool on the ground as the last creature bit into his throat, severing his carotid artery, sending blood spraying across the forest floor. He tried to fight back with all his might, knowing that this may be the end of his life, but his task, he would not fail. His cutie mark began to glow in a silver, holy light. He glared at the creature biting on his neck and it reared back, screaming. Its mouth was smoking and it was clearly in pain. The other two pulled away similarly, knowing that something was up. Usually, when they killed something, it stayed dead. Yet, they could smell something on this one…something holy.
Uriel stood, impossible to any pony with the wounds he sustained. He stood against the three, against death, defiantly against the evil he knew they were sent by. And he challenged them. He raised his wings and his cutie mark glowed even brighter, his eyes glowing similarly until the whole forest was lit with the light, if not for a second. 
When it was done, Uriel walked over to the last remaining shadow-creature, the one that had bit him on the throat. It had been further away from Uriel than its comrades and had been lucky enough to have been blasted back. It now rested near the base of a tree. Its body was slowly casing over in a white plaster-like substance, but one could see it was clearly in pain. It growled weakly as Uriel approached and stood over it, his wounds steaming, closing up on themselves. 
“Who sent you?” Uriel asked.
The creature hissed and spat at Uriel, chuckling as its limbs started to cement over. Uriel rolled his eyes and bit his lip. He spat some blood at the creature and as soon as his blood hit it, it shrieked in pain as he saw the shadows boil over and smoke rise profusely from the site of contact.
“I’ll ask again.” Uriel said threateningly, his lips red with blood. “Who sent you?”
By now the creature was almost completely covered and cemented. All that remained was the creature’s head, which was too cementing at an alarming rate.
“Evil.” The creature said defiantly with a smugness only one about to die could have. Its body cased over, just like that of its comrades who were closer to Uriel as he attacked them. Uriel knew the creature was telling the truth, but was not amused. A heavy hoof fell onto the creature, breaking the coating and shattering the remnants of the creature into nothing but ashes on the wind.
Uriel felt as his wounds healed and laughed bitterly before he took off. Lord knows he could have used this sort of thing in his earlier years. But as he flew, he knew that this flight to Ponyville wouldn’t be a walk in the park as he had thought it would be. Yet, he smiled. Usually, when bad guys attack you in numbers, that means you’re getting closer to their fortress, or in this case, their master.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rarity yawned contentedly as her eyes fluttered open and she looked out her window to see the rising sun. She felt better than she had in weeks, despite the events of the night before. But she pushed those thoughts out of her newly awoken mind as she didn’t want to ruin this glorious morning. She could hear birds chirping softly outside and could feel the rays of warm sunlight kiss her face as her eyes started to close once more. She felt like it wouldn’t be too bad of a day to just relax a little in the quiet morning. 
“GENERALS GATHERED IN THEIR MASSES…” screamed a song with a heavy metal bass line from beneath Rarity, making the floor of her room shake. She sighed and shook her head at the music. It was going to be a long morning.
“TURN THAT DOWN!” she yelled at the top her lungs, barely audible over the loud singing and heavy guitar riff. Lucifer didn’t even notice her until she came into the kitchen and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around with a “What?” look on his face and Rarity pointed at the black, daemonic, and thorny boom box on the table. Lucifer shrugged and Ozzy’s singing toned down as the boom box lost volume. 
“What’s up?” Lucifer said nonchantly as Rarity saw the sake urn floating above his head, encased in shadows and one pan full of hay cakes and another full of eggs on the stove. He was obviously making breakfast. Despite this, Rarity asked “What are you doing?”
“Making breakfast.” Lucifer said before taking a swig from the sake urn. Rarity rolled her eyes and then grabbed the urn from him with her magic. 
“It’s much too early for that.” She said as she put it next to the boom box, which still played heavy metal, yet softly now; a strange contrast.
“Well, then maybe you don’t want the breakfast I made…” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Don’t you dare try to bribe me…” Rarity started, smelling the delicious food. “You and sake don’t mix. We learned that from last night.” 
The kitchen went silent and the air seemed to be heavy as Rarity just realized that maybe she shouldn’t have said that.
“But, let’s have some breakfast anyways.” She quickly recovered, trying to placate Lucifer by turning up the boom box, but cutting herself on the various jagged and pointy surfaces of the boom box from hell. She yelped at the pain and the sight of blood, but Lucifer was there by her side before she knew it. He held her wound and for a second it hurt drastically, almost making Rarity fall to the ground, but then it was gone. As Lucifer moved his hoof off of hers, she looked down to the cut and saw nothing but a small, jagged, black scar that could barely be seen beneath her alabaster coat. 
Rarity looked up into Lucifer’s emerald eyes and a blush came over her face. “Thank you.” She whispered, falling into a kiss towards him.
“And you say I’ve had too much sake? I think you've read one too many romance novels.” Lucifer laughed, pulling away from Rarity, letting her stumble from being off balance, until she caught herself. Embarrassed, Rarity was about to rip into him verbally, but then the doorbell of the boutique rang.
“You should get that, snookums.” Lucifer said with a smug grin. Rarity scowled at how much of an ass he was being and went to get the door. It was too early for the boutique to be open, so it had to be someone visiting for Rarity specifically. But even so, it was early. Who could be visiting?
Rarity opened the door to find a portly stallion standing in the doorway. She couldn’t recognize him, nor even thought she had ever seen him in Ponyville. He certainly was a surprise, his large batwings folding up just as the door opened, his sickly green-grey coat absorbing the sunlight. His red irises darted around in his head as he sniffed at the air and his mouth opened, salivating. His black mane and tail bounced as he jerked his head around looking for the source of the smell.
“C…can I help you?” Rarity stuttered, appalled by the creature. 
“Something smells good.” He said, his eyes narrowing in on Rarity. 
“That would be breakfast.” Rarity answered, and started to close the door, freaked out by the stallion.
“Yes, it would be.” The stallion answered, his grin growing, revealing his rows of sharp teeth covered in saliva. The room started to become eerily cold and Rarity wanted to close the door, but it was like she was caught by the creature’s gaze. Suddenly, he lunged at Rarity, his mouth open.
All Rarity could do was scream.