Chapter Six: The Killing Light
~BlackRoseRaven
Morpheus and Celestia stood some thirty feet apart, the ivory mare seeming to glare down at him patronizingly in spite of the fact he had the higher ground with the dais he was standing on. He gritted his teeth, hating how she was looking at him, lording over him... and yet for some reason, that wasn't what was making him angriest right now.
“How could you just throw away their lives like that? They trusted you, and... you, so-called 'savior,' you proved you really are nothing more than the Killing Light! You tried to kill them, not just innocent ponies, but the Elements of Harmony, heroes of your nation!” Morpheus snapped, gesturing angrily out around his destroyed throne room as the dust and shaking finally settled.
Celestia only smiled coldly in response, shaking her head slowly before she asked contemptibly: “And what do you know about 'sacrifice,' Morpheus? Sacrificing the things you hold dear yourself, I mean, not... using up and throwing away the lives of other innocent ponies who mean nothing to you.”
The ivory mare was still smiling, but her eyes were blazing, and her mane was slowly beginning to separate into glowing, crackling strands as she continued icily: “I do. You seem to think you know all about me... who I really am, where I came from, what I am capable of. But you know none of these things. You have no idea what horrors we fought when we first came to this brittle and blackened land, more than a thousand years ago now. You have no idea how it felt to watch my friends ripped apart by monsters, and politics tear my illustrious family apart. I did the only thing I could do!”
Morpheus shivered a little as Celestia's eyes blazed, the mare leaning forwards and snarling: “We were here to bring order and justice! But those savages refused to give up their beliefs, refused to elevate themselves to a higher, purer level! We were as angels and they were nothing but dogs!”
Morpheus winced as tremors tore through the room, before he set himself and said coldly: “Except you weren't shy about helping yourself to their treasures along the way, now were you? Don't lie to me or yourself, Celestia: the Forgotten Crusade was about curbing a growing threat to the Old Kingdom and stealing treasure more than anything else. Something I would actually admire if you weren't so self-righteous about it.”
“To the victor go the spoils, Morpheus.” Celestia smiled thinly, and then she straightened as the choker around her neck gleamed, her eyes glowing with power as she said with disgust: “I claimed what was rightfully mine. You are a thief, a coward, and... pathetic.”
“Pathetic, yes, I'm the pathetic one here.” Morpheus rolled his eyes, then he pointed towards the ivory mare and said darkly: “You made me what I am today, Celestia. You created me, with your absolute refusal to give me so much as a chance... all I wanted was a chance! I came to you with an understanding of night magic that, even in the past, completely dwarfed even the most knowledgeable necromancer or keeper of secrets!”
Celestia laughed shortly at this, shaking her head slowly. “All you brought were bad memories. Now, you and I, here and now... we are going to settle things. In the past, when I led the crusades here, I saw terrible, awful things, and I met a ruler who refused to do anything for her people even though they saw her as a goddess. Who refused to use her power to end the conflict...”
Celestia lowered her head, shaking it contemptibly before she said coldly: “She talked down to me, you know. She saw me... likely similar to the way that I see you. A meddling, rude little insect, a cockroach... no, a maggot. A slimy little rot-eater. But the difference between you and I, Moonflower, is that my goals are noble. Even if you kill me, you'll only make me a martyr. And the ponies will never obey you, never listen to you, never accept you.”
“Maybe not. But I don't need them to...” Morpheus gritted his teeth, shaking his head and glaring at her furiously. “You've built yourself a house of cards, Celestia, and the only thing I want to do is smash it down. Once I get the Tablet of Dreams, I'll use it to do to your happy little sycophants precisely what you did to me: wish them away into an endless darkness... and the only difference between what they'll suffer and I did is that none of them will escape.”
Celestia smiled coldly at this, leaning forwards as her horn sparked, her eyes glowing as she said coldly: “So you'll punish the entire world just because you were held accountable for your actions, is that it? You really are pathetic, Moonflower.”
Morpheus snorted at this, then he looked up coldly and retorted: “I'll punish the world for all the reasons you already gave me, Celestia. Because this is your world, not mine. Because this is a world of light, and happiness, and I am evil and darkness. Because I will never be accepted by these ponies, just like you told me: and if I'm going to be alone, I'd rather be alone in the darkness than forced to spend my solitude surrounded by happy ponies, living together in their wretched, false harmony you've imposed over them.”
The ivory mare laughed shortly at this, and then she shook her head slowly before saying in a disgusted voice: “Then so be it, Morpheus. But the Tablet of Dreams isn't the only artifact of great power in my possession.”
She rose her head, smiling coldly as the choker around her neck gleamed, and Morpheus began to snarl before the mare snapped her head forwards and unleashed a tremendous blast of golden flame. It smashed into the stallion, too large to dodge and too fast to stop, and he was flung backwards through his own throne to crash into the back wall.
The stallion snarled as he tore himself loose from the cracked stone, his eyes blazing, his body seared and aching... but it was anger more than pain that drove him as he snapped: “Go ahead, use all the stupid little toys you want, Celestia, but you'll never be as powerful as I am!”
Celestia snarled as she snapped her horn down, unleashing another torrent of holy fire, but this time Morpheus was prepared: he flapped his wings hard as he leapt straight up, veering out of the way before he fired a black fireball at the mare, but Celestia only flicked her horn to the side and negated it with her own magic, saying with disgust: “You're nothing but an ignorant child, Morpheus. Even a foal wouldn't be so direct with such a weak spell.”
She flicked her horn sharply, replying with another massive blast of golden flames, and Morpheus snarled as he lashed his horn forwards, creating a shield of black energy that the holy fire uselessly disintegrated against.
The stallion shoved his front hooves into the barrier, his horn glowing darkly as the black shield slowly began to spin, becoming a black vortex that started to slowly but steadily expand as it pulled in debris and energy. Celestia swore under her breath as she felt it pulling at her, glaring furiously up at the stallion before she dragged herself backwards even as she felt the strength of its grasp increasing.
Her horn glowed brightly as she continued to pull herself away from the growing grip of the vortex, swearing under her breath before she suddenly stomped both hooves savagely into the ground. Cracks ripped through the floor in front of her, speeding forwards before a massive pillar of stone ripped out ground behind the vortex, smashing into Morpheus and knocking him out of the air with a curse of pain.
The black vortex sparked before it exploded in a tremendous black wave that hit Morpheus before he could crash to the ground, flinging him bonelessly across his throne room: the force of the shockwave knocked Celestia staggering as well, and sent several more thin sections of wall collapsing into ruin, filling the air with dust and debris.
Celestia looked sharply back and forth as she recovered, before she snarled as she sensed movement, snapping her horn to the side... but all she hit was another tottering wall, blowing it into pieces in a flash of white light. She swore under her breath, eyes glowing, her mane separated now into long, glowing strands of multicolored energy that looked almost serpentine, eyes glowing with eerie amethyst light as she hissed: “Where are you...”
A rock flew at her, but Celestia slapped it aside before cursing and raising one wing as a blast of black fire streaked towards her: they bounced almost uselessly off the almost-glowing white feathers, however, and Celestia spun towards Morpheus as she lashed her horn out, sending a blade of golden light streaking through the air.
Morpheus deflected this with his own horn, and then he grinned coldly as he fired a volley of dark magic back at the mare. But every crescent blade he launched was met and canceled out by a blade of holy light, before Celestia roared and snapped her horn forwards, and six missiles of white energy streaked out of her horn, zigzagging wildly in every direction before they homed sharply in on the stallion.
Morpheus barely managed to avoid two of the bullets of energy, while the rest hammered viciously against his body, bruising and burning him as he was flung backwards to crash and roll painfully away on his back. But he recovered quickly, gritting his teeth as he forced himself to shove backwards and land on his stomach... before wincing and creating a wall of black energy in front of himself as another barrage of golden blades shot towards him.
His barrier held under the assault, and Morpheus gave a sigh of relief... a moment before the ground beneath him exploded in a tremendous burst of white light, the stallion sent flying through the air to bounce painfully off the black crystal box imprisoning Twilight Sparkle, sending cracks through the dark stone before he landed with a thump on the other side.
Celestia snarled, launching a mortar of holy energy after the stallion: this crashed down on top of the box and exploded with a tremendous wave of white energy, knocking Morpheus rolling backwards with a curse and shattering the top of the box completely. Then the ivory mare paused before scowling as a whimpering Twilight Sparkle stuck her head out of the box, looking back and forth fearfully before Celestia snapped: “Twilight! Come here!”
Twilight Sparkle looked at her mentor... and her eyes widened in fear at what she saw, as the gorgonesque mare glared at her with hate-filled, glowing violet sockets, her tendril mane snapping back and forth, her body thrumming with a terrible, unnatural radiance. The violet mare trembled violently for a moment... and then Celestia snarled, her horn glowing gold, and the purple mare screaming in agony and falling to the ground as pain ripped through her system. “Do not make me repeat myself!”
“Your hypocrisy will be your undoing, Celestia.” Morpheus said coldly as he stood up, glaring furiously over at the ivory mare, and she slowly turned her attention to him with a look of contempt. But Morpheus looked fearlessly back, brushing at himself slowly as he said with disgust: “Magic is only a tool. It is what we do with it that determines whether it is good or evil... and at least I'm open about my aims, Celestia. You... you are only the Killing Light.”
Celestia snarled furiously... and then, slowly, she steadied herself before giving a cruel smile. She snapped her horn to the side, and Twilight Sparkle was batted away like a toy, crashing bonelessly to the ground on the other side of the throne room as the mare said darkly: “You're only right about one thing, Morpheus. Because you see... even when I must allow the darkness to live, I keep it in chains and shackles. I show no mercy for anyone infected by the disease of shadow. None of them can handle it: Antecedes, you, Twilight Sparkle... all of them are corrupted by it. That is why they must be controlled, and monitored, and punished... and eventually disposed of, when they get too strong or when they refuse to listen to my orders. When they refuse to serve the light.
“But I am the Killing Light, Morpheus.” Celestia smiled coldly, raising her head and saying softly: “And I'm going to give you the honor of fighting me as I was in my prime. Before I took on this... tawdry, stupid disguise to make the ponies listen to me.”
Celestia stomped her hooves down, her eyes glowing as she dropped her head forwards and snarled, white light spreading over her body as her choker gleamed dangerously around her neck, and Morpheus gritted his teeth and winced away as the glow built higher and higher... and then it vanished, and left an armor-clad beast in its wake.
A cold smile spread over a scaled face crisscrossed with scars, half-equine and half-dragon. Two new, darker and sleeker horns pushed out the back of her skull through a mane of tendrils that snaked and twisted over her now armored back, kept out of her face by the heavy crown-helm over her features that was designed to add extra support to her unicorn horn, which had become bladed and even larger. Massive, bladed boots protected her hooves, and large, feathered wings stretched out and flapped slowly, eagle-like at first glance... demonic at the second, with the almost-hidden claws at the end of each and their enormous, draconic structure.
She was covered form head-to-tail in thick golden plating, gothic spikes sticking out of her shoulders and running along her limbs and down the length of her thick tail; this particular armored appendage ended in four huge, thick blades, turning her tail into a flanged mace that weaved slowly back and forth.
And at her neck, that choker glowed brightly, feeding her power as the half-dragon, half-mare said coldly: “You called me the Killing Light, Morpheus. The ponies call me Celestia. But the name you curs first came to know me by was Lady Stronghold Halfdragon.”
“The most feared commander of the crusades. When I was a foal, parents were still telling their children that if they misbehaved, Lady Halfdragon would devour them.” Morpheus said coldly, his eyes narrowed, his body tense as they faced each other. “Shouldn't that tell you we're more alike than you want to admit?”
Celestia... no, Halfdragon only laughed loudly before she shook her head slowly and said quietly: “My name has been erased from the sands of time. No one knows the truth... that I used the Tablet of Dreams to replace Princess Celestia after I killed her. What choice did I have, though? We were sent here to purge the barbarians and monsters from this land, to bring the Order of the White Dragon here. Our prophets told us that our God demanded war and eradication of those ponies who would not serve.”
Morpheus laughed at this, and Halfdragon narrowed her eyes at him before he asked mockingly: “Is the god of dragons really so impotent he's scared of a few ponies on the other side of the ocean?”
Halfdragon snarled... but then she caught herself, instead smiling thinly before shaking her head and saying with disgust: “We are not dragons, like the brutes that live throughout Equestria. We are... were Draekin. But in a moment of... of stupidity and weakness, our holy army was disbanded and excommunicated by the High Elder after all the work we had done for God, and we were left alone in this wretched place...”
The mare shook her head shortly again, and then she closed her eyes and smiled thinly. “My home country was destroyed shortly after. Of course it was: peace is maintained through force, unity is maintained by conformity. The High Elder turned against these teachings. I don't know and don't care why. I do know that the leader of the ponies, Princess Celestia, had spoken to him, and even if she refused to force order over this country... the ponies listened to her. And in her presence, I felt...”
Halfdragon stopped and almost seemed to lose herself for a moment, then looked coldly across at Morpheus as she flexed her body slowly, then smiled calmly. “Well, Moonflower, you know enough of my secrets, and I've quibbled away enough time with you. Thank you, by the way. For so politely sitting there and listening. It's been a long time since I've been able to show my real face to anyone... and more importantly, it takes quite a while for my strength to reach its peak.”
Morpheus only smiled in return, raising his head high and replying pleasantly: “Well, Celestia... or Lady Stronghold Halfdragon, if you prefer... I wouldn't want to fight you if you weren't feeling your best. After all, I want to make it clear, beyond the shadow of a doubt, which of us is superior. And besides... you've given me all the more reason to kill you and destroy this entire country.”
The mare snorted, then reached up and snapped her helm's visor down over her eyes, her expression cold as she said contemptibly: “I've saved this country. I brought them together, under one banner, under one rule. It's too bad I have to kill you now, Moonflower, you would have made a pretty ornament to add to my collection. And you'd make an excellent test subject for conversion... a process I've been working on for many years now, that turns negative energy into positive power. My ultimate answer for this nation of ponies that seem to always revert to their old ways.”
“That's funny, Lady Halfdragon. I thought you were a commander of the crusaders. There's something in most religions about greed and lust and hate, isn't there?” Morpheus asked moodily, looking at the mare with an almost childish disgust. “Even you have to realize you can't just take everything that's 'evil' in the world, and try and make it 'good.'”
But Halfdragon only grinned coldly, replying darkly: “We did God's work, and we were thrown to the wolves for it. What I've learned is that god doesn't exist, and rules are only for the weak. But I am strong, Morpheus: I can handle the weight of my so-called 'sins.' The rest of the world either can't, or won't... and so they leave me no choice but to take matters into my own hooves.”
And, without wasting another word, Lady Halfdragon leapt suddenly forwards, snapping her horn out and unleashing a blast of holy fire straight at Morpheus. But the stallion deflected this with a bolt of dark energy, before snarling and snapping his horn back and forth as Halfdragon roared and fired spell after spell at him.
Blasts of magic collided in the air and ricocheted off each other, smashing apart stone and forcing the two to struggle to focus through the explosions of light and sound that wreaked havoc on their senses. But every spell was countered or neutralized by their opponent: Morpheus' dark magic had barely managed to leave a single burn against Halfdragon's armor, and Halfdragon's holy energy had only left the smallest of scratches over Morpheus' side.
Then Halfdragon suddenly leapt upwards, flapping her wings hard and taking to the air: Morpheus cursed as he quickly backpedaled, looking up before his eyes widened in horror as Halfdragon leaned down and roared out a blast of white hellfire: an attack he admittedly hadn't expected from a creature he was still thinking of as Celestia.
He leapt to the side, and the scouring flames slowly pursued him as the mare snarled in fury. The power of it was incredible and intense, and Morpheus grimaced as he realized that this kind of attack would likely eat through even his strongest defense... except...
His eyes widened, and he suddenly snapped a hoof upwards, a black wall appearing in a blind spot at Halfdragon's side before he shoved his other hoof up in front of him, a second black vortex forming. The gout of flames blasted down into this as Halfdragon grinned cruelly... before her eyes widened in shock as her own fire was redirected through the dark oval beside her, her wings flapping wildly as her own flames seared her armor and roasted her flesh.
She fell from the air a moment later to land on her hooves with a tremendous crash, snarling; but before she could regain her balance, she was driven backwards by a barrage of black magic, bolts of dark lightning sizzling and crackling around her body as she swore and shook herself back and forth angrily, shouting: “I will not stand for this embarrassment, filth!”
Her horn glowed brightly before she snapped it back with a roar, and a blast of force and flame erupted through the air around her, negating Morpheus' magic and knocking him crashing backwards with a wince. The winged unicorn barely managed to catch himself before his eyes widened as Halfdragon leapt out of the inferno, her eyes blazing with hatred and her horn thrumming with power.
She snapped the spire forwards, and a tremendous blast of white lightning hammered into Morpheus and launched him backwards with a squeal before he crashed and bounced violently over the floor until he hit the wall with a thunk. Halfdragon grinned coldly at this, then seized the stunned stallion with telekinesis before he could resist, the mare spinning around and lashing him through the air to send him flying face-first into another section of wall.
He smashed through the thin stone plate with a tremendous crash, striking the wall past it and knocking that section crumbling forwards. He ended up sprawled out over the fallen slab, his eyes rolling in his head, his expression dazed before he shook himself out and mumbled: “Perhaps Antecedes was right with all his... complaining about shoddy work...”
Morpheus shook himself out, then turned around and gritted his teeth, shoving himself off the fallen wall and launching back into the throne room area... only to squeal like a filly and kick wildly at the air as Halfdragon's bladed tail snapped down towards him. He barely managed to throw himself out of the way, hitting the ground painfully on his side... but it was much better than being torn in half by the deadly mace-tail.
Halfdragon yanked her tail back as she leapt at Morpheus with a snarl, but the stallion managed to roll out of the way before he snapped his horn out, and a spinning wave of dark energy slammed into Halfdragon, yanking her violently backwards in a wild, out-of-control whirl before she crashed down to the ground on her face, rolling almost comically backwards. But she caught herself with a snarl and skidded around in a half-circle, her eyes blazing as she roared: “I'll rip you apart!”
She snapped her horn out, and a massive blade of golden energy ripped towards the stallion, Morpheus' eyes widening in shock as he barely managed to duck out of the way of the blast of magic. He glanced over his shoulder in disbelief as he heard an awful smashing noise, and he stared with horror at the sight of the rear wall of the throne room: a slash almost ten feet long had been torn through it by the blast, at least a meter deep. Even he wouldn't survive getting hit with one of those attacks...
He turned around just in time to see Halfdragon follow up with two more that formed a crisscrossing X, and the stallion gritted his teeth before he ran forwards and then furled his wings tightly at his sides as he dove through the narrow space beneath the crossed blades.
Halfdragon's eyes widened in surprise, and then Morpheus snapped his horn out and blasted her with a telekinetic hammer, knocking her rearing back as she snarled in fury and spread her wings on instinct. But before she could anchor herself back to earth, Morpheus snapped his horn straight up, and a tornado of black energy tore up around the mare, yanking her off-balance body into the air as she howled in frustration and fury, one of her wings snapping loudly as the other tried uselessly to steer her into some kind of control.
She was dragged almost up to the ceiling by the black twister before it simply disintegrated, and the mare was dropped unceremoniously through the air, crashing down through one of the wall sections head-first with a tremendous bang. Morpheus couldn't help but grin at the sight of this as he stood up, then he called mockingly: “What's wrong? I thought you were supposed to be a feared crusader, not a... fearful pushover!”
Morpheus began to smile... and then the world all-but-exploded, the stallion flinching away from the terrible light that filled the air before he looked up in horror at the sight of Halfdragon standing with a look of absolute hatred on her bloody features, her eyes glowing with rage as dozens of pieces of broken stone wall floated like jagged blades around her, the mare roaring: “I'll show you why I was the bane of your nation, pack-beast!”
Massive chunks of concrete shot through the air, one after the other, and Morpheus was barely able to dodge back and forth between them: except every time a piece of stone drew close, it exploded in a hail of shrapnel and aureate fire, digging gashes through his body and distracting him.
He attempted to shield himself, but he couldn't concentrate enough to prepare the magic. Instead, his badly-timed pause was rewarded with a large chunk of rock to the face, knocking him sprawling backwards in a broken heap before he howled in misery as an avalanche of burning, magic-charged rock was slung on top of him.
Halfdragon grinned, then she ran forwards before tackling the stallion just as he started to scramble upwards, pinning him cruelly on his back. She leaned down, eyes blazing as she shoved her face down into his, and hissed: “See? You're nothing. You're a worthless little pile of meat. You don't have power: I have power. I have everything, and you have nothing. Your friends aren't going to come running to your aid: darkness is a dead end, useful only when I need a quick and dirty solution.”
Morpheus gritted his teeth... and then Halfdragon brought a hoof up and smashed it down into his face, crushing his features down into the ground as she bared her fangs at him. “I feel younger than I have in years! I'd forgotten everything I'd given up... this, you see, this is sacrifice! I was born to be judgment and wrath, to be the sword of Heaven... but instead, I had to give all that up to become a preening little pony princess, and pretend to be loving and compassionate and kind. I had to rule them like I really was some useless alicorn named Celestia. I had to become Celestia. And I did it for the greater good, to serve and protect these ponies!”
“You did it... to rule them yourself... because you think you're better and stronger than them, because you think you know what's best for them and... you're scared of them.” Morpheus retorted... and then he cursed in pain when Halfdragon slapped him across the face, looking down at him with disgust and hatred.
“I did it because without my aid, they were barbarians. Unicorns enslaved earth ponies and Pegasi were thugs and the few earth ponies that escaped their masters became criminals. Your people were primitives, savages, ruled over by a Princess who didn't care about them! I cared! And when god abandoned me, when I learned Heaven does not watch out for us and our world, I made it my mission to be that god, that ruler, that controller, to keep Equestria from becoming a threat to itself or the rest of the world!” Halfdragon snarled, seizing him by the throat and shaking him roughly. “How many people would give up their lives to protect the very people they had been sent to destroy? I have trained these ponies to protect what is good, and to eradicate what is evil! I am their savior!”
Morpheus laughed weakly at this, and then he smiled bitterly before whispering: “And here I thought that I was supposed to have the delusions of godhood, as the villain and all... that's rather disappointing. I may call myself Prince of Darkness, God of Evil, oh, any of these other silly names... but I know in my heart I'll never be anyone more than Moonflower, the colt no one loved, the little boy that will always be alone, forever...”
“Not for much longer, Moonflower. Very shortly, you'll be dead.” Halfdragon said contemptibly, and then she pinned him down by the shoulders as she asked cruelly: “So do you have any last words? If you beg, I might be willing to let you live a little longer. I've missed having someone to talk to.”
“You're deranged. And that's not a compliment coming from me.” Morpheus replied gently, and then he gave a thin smile before adding calmly: “And I'm the one with the upper hoof here, I'm afraid... so if anyone here should be begingg for life, it's you.”
Halfdragon gave a cruel grin, opening her mouth... and then her eyes widened in shock as there was a distinct cracking sound. She trembled for a moment, then reached a hoof slowly up to touch her choker, before she snarled as she felt the amethyst orb flaking and tumbling away under her gentle touch, reduced to nothing but blackened, broken pieces.
She looked down at Morpheus, who smiled coldly back up at her before he winked as his horn gave one brief black glow... and then the radiance and the sense of magic vanished, as he asked wryly: “Didn't you teach me that it was a beginner's level trick to cloak your magic?”
Halfdragon snarled, then wrenched him up off the ground before turning and flinging him across the room. Morpheus barely managed to catch himself before his eyes widened as he felt a tremendous surge of magic power as the mare roared furiously: “Then why don't we stop playing games, Moonflower?”
She snapped her horn forwards, and it felt like she had just channeled all the raw power of the sun into the roaring comet that streaked towards him. And Morpheus realized with horror that all that energy, crammed into one barely-focused, barely-coherent meteor, was going to create a blast of apocalyptic magnitude. It wasn't just going to erase him if it hit: it was going to eradicate this entire fortress, likely including Halfdragon herself.
Morpheus leapt into the air and flapped his wings hard, the fireball tearing past him before it started to curve downwards... but if it hit the ground, he knew they were all just as dead. So instead, he snapped his horn down, a blast of black lightning hammering into the fireball before it formed a latticework of energy around the meteor, multiple leashes of lightning feeding out of this back to the stallion's front hooves and horn.
He roared as he flapped his wings hard and wrenched upwards with all the strength he could muster, gritting his teeth as he hoped against hope this was going to work. The comet streaked towards the ceiling, and the stallion snapped the leashes of dark energy binding him to it before he snapped his horn out to boost the fireball wrapped in the net of black lightning with all the power he could spare.
It shot upwards and hit the fractured ceiling... and thankfully, tore straight through it. It rose, higher and higher, as Halfdragon's eyes widened and she strode forwards, staring up through the collapsing roof before she shouted in denial as it streaked into the sky...
The fireball rose... and then suddenly gleamed brightly before exploding in a monumental burst that shook the walls of the fortress and sent a rain of fire cascading over the swamps and dark forest. Morpheus was knocked to the ground by the force of the blast, and Halfdragon staggered back and forth, struggling to maintain her balance before she cried out in denial again: partly because of her failure to destroy them all, and partly because her body was beginning to revert, armor loosening against her frame and her mane starting to fuse back together into one radiant mass.
Then she snarled in fury as she spun towards Morpheus, charging sloppily for him even as the stallion began to pick himself up. He barely had the time to look up before a hoof smashed across his face, knocking him onto his back with a wince before Halfdragon shouted furiously down at him: “There is no retreat, Morpheus! I don't care how powerful you've become, I will fight you and I will destroy you, do you understand?”
Morpheus glared up at her... and then he looked to the side in surprise as a trembling voice asked weakly: “P-Princess... what.... what's going on...”
Halfdragon's eyes widened before she turned towards Twilight Sparkle, who was staring with horror at the mare... and for good reason. Bits and pieces of her body had returned to Celestia's shape, but with the dragon scales and the horns and other parts of her body that had yet to revert, she looked even more monstrous, especially in her damaged, bloodied armor. “Twilight Sparkle... I...”
Halfdragon gritted her teeth, and then she stepped back and ordered sharply, pointing at Morpheus: “Kill him. I order you to finish him off.”
“Oh please, Lady Halfdragon. If you can't kill me, a novice like her can't. Leave her out of this.” Morpheus interrupted irritably as he climbed to his hooves, and the ivory half-pony glared at him furiously as he looked coldly back. “Die with dignity. Because unlike you, I don't enjoy the thought of making people beg for their lives when I have interest in leaving them alive.”
Twilight swallowed thickly, looking back and forth between the two disbelievingly as Halfdragon gritted her malformed teeth... and then she suddenly spun towards Twilight, eyes blazing as she snarled: “I gave you an order!”
Her horn glowed, and even if her magic sputtered weakly, it was still enough to send the violet mare into agony, screaming as she dropped and hugged her stomach. Morpheus' eyes widened in shock at this, before he snarled when Halfdragon suddenly picked the convulsing mare up with telekinesis before turning and flinging Twilight savagely at him.
He caught her with a curse... and then howled in pain when a blast of golden flames followed up the unicorn, sending her flopping bonelessly away to crash on her side with a whimper and a gasp, as Morpheus hit the ground on his back. Then he hissed in shock as golden restraints formed around his forelimbs and yanked them both wide, pinning him to the ground as Halfdragon slowly began to approach, growling even as her horn sparked and her body shivered with pain: “I will do anything it takes to protect what I have built... their lives mean nothing to me, all that matters is purging this country of all evil...”
“You are evil, Halfdragon. A competing evil.” Morpheus growled, and then his horn glowed blackly and released a pulse of powerful magic, making the mare wince as the restraints binding him were shattered. And his horn continued to crackle with dark power as he climbed to his hooves, his eyes blazing with a rage he couldn't entirely explain at the way Halfdragon so carelessly tortured, cheated, hurt others just to maintain a worthless facade even she seemed to hate... “I don't like competitors.”
There was a rumble from behind Halfdragon, and the mare frowned before her eyes widened in horror as a black vortex swirled into being. But this wasn't like the portals before: this malevolence exerted a titanic pull that immediately began to drag her backwards as it sucked up stone and debris, and it devoured even light...
“No... no!” Halfdragon tried to throw herself forwards, eyes filling with fear as the black hole dragged her slowly but steadily backwards. She snarled, then swore and looked over her shoulder in horror as chunks of armor were peeled from her body like skin from a fruit, cursing as she struggled to resist the tightening grasp of the vortex.
Morpheus bared his fangs at her, glaring furiously at the mare as he kept himself anchored, trying to use his raw hatred to will her into the portal. But Halfdragon, even exhausted and with barely a shred of magic left, was putting up a tremendous fight against him. And if he wanted to maintain control over this powerful and dangerous a spell, he couldn't risk so much as moving a single step.
Halfdragon snarled, glaring furiously at the stallion before she tried to lurch towards him... but the pull was too strong. No, she needed to make him cancel the spell... and the mare gritted her teeth before shouting suddenly: “I... I surrender! You're right, you're... you win, just please don't kill me!”
“Then allow me to show you the same mercy you showed me!” Morpheus retorted, his eyes blazing as he focused more energy into the magic, and Halfdragon howled as the entire tail section of her armor was torn free and devoured by the black hole, the mare clawing at the stone floor for any kind of purchase.
She snarled, raising her horn as it glowed, but Morpheus only grinned at her challengingly, fearlessly, which confirmed her worry: this vortex wasn't going to magically go away if he lost his concentration. He was willing to risk killing them all to kill her... or at least...
Halfdragon's sharp eyes flicked towards Twilight Sparkle, who was trembling on the ground, staring at her... and then the violet mare convulsed as Halfdragon's horn glowed brightly, and she ordered sharply: “Throw yourself into the vortex!”
“What?” Morpheus' eyes widened as he looked with disbelief towards the violet unicorn... and then he shouted a useless denial as the young mare shoved herself up to her hooves, swaying back and forth and whimpering as tears filled her eyes, staggering weakly into the pull of the black hole and letting herself be drawn towards it: whatever Halfdragon had done to her, Twilight couldn't fight it.
The stallion snarled, his eyes flicking back and forth, breathing hard and not knowing what to do before he suddenly swore and snapped his horn down. And immediately, the black hole snapped shut, letting Halfdragon leap forwards with a cold grin before she turned towards Twilight Sparkle and lunged, stabbing her horn cruelly down.
Twilight looked weakly up as her mentor's horn thrust towards her... and then the violet mare's eyes widened in shock as she realized there was something over her. A shadow, and a warm weight.. and then the Princess she had once so adored slowly stumbled backwards, gasping quietly, trembling violently as she clutched at a bloody wound torn down the side of her neck.
Morpheus breathed hard, not even knowing how he'd moved so fast... although he'd suffered for it, too, from the long slash ripped down his own face. He didn't know if Halfdragon had expected him to try and protect Twilight or not, but the mare was devious... but not fast enough to take advantage of the opening she'd created either by accident or intention, with how beaten and low on energy she was.
Halfdragon staggered backwards even as her features finished reverting to that of Celestia's, and she trembled for a moment before slumping to the ground, bleeding heavily from the gaping wound in her throat. Morpheus shook his head in contempt... then stared in disbelief as Twilight launched herself out from under him, running over to the mare and catching her head as it fell, crying out: “C-Celestia! Princess Celestia!”
Lady Halfdragon only laughed weakly at this, shaking her head slowly before she whispered: “Stupid filly. I'm not... I'm not your...”
Her eyes fluttered, and then she snarled and attempted to look up, rasping: “My... sister will stop you. Worthless, stupid brat or not... she can reach the Tablet of Dreams before you can. You're going to die, Morpheus. You're going to die horribly.”
“Princess, shush now, we're... I c-can try and heal this, you need to stop talking, though, you're making yourself bleed more and-” Twilight Sparkle was abruptly cut off as Halfdragon shoved her away with surprising strength, and the violet mare whimpered as the not-Princess glared up at her coldly.
“I thought... you would be my successor. Instead, you're... nothing but...” Halfdragon coughed, then shivered once before dropping her head to the ground, and Twilight Sparkle trembled violently before hugging the mare's head tightly and burying her face down in her mane.
She shivered, trying to hold back her sobs before she opened her eyes... and then almost threw herself backwards in shock as she saw not a pony, but an ancient, emaciated drake.
She shook her head weakly... then trembled as she turned around, looking up at Morpheus as tears ran down her cheeks. She started to snarl at him, but Morpheus only shook his head before he said softly: “My quarrel isn't with you, Twilight Sparkle. Besides, I need you alive. But if it makes you feel any better, the pain is going to be over soon... for... for all of us.”
Twilight looked down, shivering before she gritted her teeth, then turned her teary eyes back up to whisper: “She just wanted to protect us. She loved us. She loved me. She told me so... she s-said I would be... that I could be...”
Morpheus only gave a brief smile, and then he shook his head slowly before he muttered: “I don't think any of us really know what we want. Now, if you'll excuse me, Twilight Sparkle, I have to go and make sure your friends are safe, then head to Canterlot. I'm eager to finally see what the Tablet of Dreams can do... and to make my one wish come true.”
“It won't change anything.” Twilight whispered as Morpheus began to turn away, and the stallion frowned a little, halting and looking uncertainly over his shoulder at her. But the violet mare only smiled bitterly, shaking her head and looking down as she said bitterly: “Even if you kill us all, what's it going to solve? You'll still be alone. The only difference is you won't have any distractions, any plans, any future. Just a past you'll never, ever be able to get rid of.”
Morpheus bit his lip at this, shifting uncertainly for a moment before he shook his head shortly and muttered: “It... it will give me peace, it will. You'll see.” He stopped, then scowled a little, adding moodily: “Actually, I suppose you won't.”
He stopped, then shifted uncomfortably as Twilight looked up at him coldly before the violet mare turned back towards the drake. A tremble ran down her spine, and then she shook her head fiercely before whispering: “Just go. Leave me alone. All I want to do is spend my last few moments here, with Princess Celestia.”
Morpheus opened his mouth... and then he only sighed as the poor, delusional mare silently walked over to the corpse and curled herself against the dead, already-decaying drake. He studied her for a few moments, wishing strangely that he could say something... then only shook his head and finally turned away, bitterly reminding himself that no matter what he did, he was never going to be accepted by any of these ponies anyway. He could conquer even a legend from the past who had usurped a goddess of the present... but none of it changed a thing.
So Morpheus walked away, leaving Twilight Sparkle in the embrace of a husk; and as he left, he couldn't help but reflect bitterly that if only Halfdragon could see the love this little pony still had for her in spite of all that had happened, it would convince her that she had finally succeeded... and destroyed every last shred of dignity these ponies had once possessed in the process.