//------------------------------// // The Daemon // Story: From Dust // by Vermillion Prose //------------------------------// The study was filled with the light and hum of magic as Twilight finished her work, the last of a dozen interwoven spellworks combining into a lavender gem on a silver chain. Levitating it up, she gave it one last inspection before nodding in satisfaction and moving to the Rubricae standing nearby. After a bit of adjustment, the chain dangled from its neck to leave the faintly glowing crystal resting against his breastplate. With a satisfied nod, she stepped back and considered her work. The stone glowed gently as it rested against the plate, now cleansed of the fire blackening and restored to the blue it had been. He had not requested as much, but it had been a simple task with Twilight’s magic. The ouroboros mark on his pauldron had been left off, however, as he insisted that allegiance was now for nought. After her exhausting experience casting communion spells day after day for their study sessions together, she had deemed it wise to devise a more permanent solution. The crystal that now adorned him was attuned to his soul and her magic, allowing them to speak telepathically. They had spent the last couple days working through the language barriers that limited their exchanges, and finally a translation matrix had been conceived that was woven in with the telepathy spells worked into the communications gem. As such, they should be able to speak clearly to each other for the first time since meeting. All they needed to do was test it. “Well… here goes. Good morning?” ++Good morning to you, Lady Sparkle.++ Her eyes widened as a giddy grin plastered her muzzle and she began hopping around her study, thrilled with her success. His responses from that point on were faintly amused as they conversed in earnest. She asked questions about the races he had encountered, the technology of his race, his knowledge of psychic ability and how it might compare to magic, and a wide assortment of other subjects. He carefully steered her around the topics of war, weapons, and violence, knowing from his observations and her statements that conflicts such that he was made for were as alien as he to Equestria. That was what this place was called, he had learned, among other things. Fitting. Having fought many strange beasts, the bestiaries Twilight had aided him in researching hardly astounded him. He was merely amused and curious how so many of the creatures of Terran myth had all manifested in this one realm. As such, their discussion led them down many tangential paths, and it was a pleasant change of pace from his previous life as a warrior to simply be the scholar he was on Prospero. Twilight would have made  a wonderful collaborator on some of his studies in Tizca. Magnus himself would have been most amused by her antics. This continued into the afternoon, Twilight solidifying the bond of friendship with the armor-bound soul that had been thrown into her world. She could tell from the way he spoke with her now that she had actually found a friend in him, and she could recall very few times she blushed as furiously as she did when he thanked her for giving him a new life and purpose away from war. It was unfortunate, then, that the wonderful afternoon be broken by a scream torn from Fluttershy’s throat. The edges of a massive beak curled up in a sinister smile as clawed hands tossed aside the broken body of a manticore, the beast’s blood dribbling down the talons to the loamy soil below. Watching the pathetic yellow creature that had been tending it flee in terror had been a delicious treat. It loomed up into the trees, gangly wings folded awkwardly against its sides. It had only manifested by merging with an essence that had dubbed itself the Nightmare, and as a result its normally iridescent feathers shifted through dozens of shades of midnight blue, to purple, to black in as many seconds, giving its already unnatural presence an oily sheen. It’s beak and limbs resembled those of a griffon, but it stood tall and gangly like a man. It’s limbs had too many joints, and its claws too many digits. Its form continued to subtly shift and change, the physical form it inhabited rebelling against the constancy of reality. The voices in its head it was accustomed to warred with the voices of the Nightmare. It was pleasantly cacophonous and maddening. It paused as it stepped from the shadows of the forest to bring a hand over its eyes. The sun was damnably bright, and it singed the edges of its feathers. But it was setting, and soon night would fall. And this night, if all went well, would last forever. Twilight observed the creature step forth from the woods, her eyes refusing to register all of its details, like the telescope she peered through refused to focus, yet everything near it seemed almost too sharply detailed by comparison. Even from her crystal castle, she could sense the malice radiating from it and taste the hideous sorcery that roiled within it. It reminded her of the warp rift above Equestria. She turned towards her study to go find the Rubricae to find it standing next to her on the balcony, facing the great beast. He was passive but she could sense the tension coming from him in waves radiated by the stone on his breast. Whatever this creature was, it was not a friend. Fluttershy burst into the study at that moment, tears streaming from her eyes. Twilight swooped over to her and embraced her as the meek pegasus described in panicked words what it had done. Twilight’s face twisted in revulsion and horror before taking on a determined cast. Snapping to her guards, she ordered them to make for the edge of town and establish defenses before disappearing in a flash of lavender magic. The guards were about to make their way out the door before a massive blur of blue and gold rushed through the doorway, his heavy tread emphasizing the urgency of his passage. Twilight stood before the creature, standing between it and Fluttershy’s cottage. The animals had fled at its approach, and now she was all that stood between it and Ponyville. It looked down at her with what she could only assume was amusement, but the malice in its eyes made her shudder. How could there be so much hate in a creature? She accosted it without hesitation, demanding it surrender itself and be held accountable for its crimes. It responded with a laugh that may have left a lesser pony unhinged. It did not hurt that she had skirted the line of madness enough to dance finely on that edge… You know not what you tempt. It gestured at her with a claw, and she noticed the blood and bits of viscera that slowly dribbled from the edges of the talons. Beyond the beast, she glimpsed the edge of a pool of blood slowly expanding from the undergrowth. She was struck with such sadness that a creature had been so abruptly ended without cause before anger flashed hotly to the fore. We are Nightmare Morphos, emissary of the Great Changer, greater daemon of… The nightmare-daemon was interrupted by a violent stream of incandescent violet, fired from the horn of a very angry pony princess. Twilight was a learner. She observed and processed everything that she observed or performed. Her battle with Tirek had been an eye opener about her abilities. And her anger was even greater now than it had been against Tirek. Tirek never killed. This monster did. The daemon began to splutter a retort but was silenced as Twilight grasped it by the beak and slammed it to the ground. It stumbled up, its eyes flashing dangerously as warpfire manifested in its grasp. It flung a ball of roiling energy at her, and it grinned cruelly as it broke upon her shield, awaiting the soul-searing flames to render its tormentor a screaming wreck. Instead, it found a chicken coop smashing against its face, making it cry out in surprise, pain, and fury. Then a solid punch from a hoof encased in a field of arcane energy left it reeling. Twilight landed before it, her demonstration of ability and intent complete. She demanded immediate surrender. The daemon responded by showing its full potential. Reality bent around its presence, holes in existences briefly manifesting around it and giving a glimpse of the madness beyond. It reached into one such rift and drew out a gnarled staff with the serpentine symbol of the God of Fate for the head. Raw warp power bled from the staff as it was channeled through, then Twilight knew a world of pain as the very ground she stood upon rebelled, the air around her shrieked, and only her hastily erected shield prevented her body from being torn apart by the insanity of impossibility. The daemon then flung incendiary waves unlike anything the mages of Equestria could have ever dreamed of conjuring. They were the balefires of nightmares, and what they touched burned, twisted into something hideous, or melted as if wax. The earth erupted around her, boulders and large clods of ground slamming down around her, telekinetic shields shattering under the force of it all. An uprooted tree crashed down on her, and she screamed as she felt a wing break and a hind leg dislocate. Blood trickled from dozens of cuts and from her nose, whether from a blow to her muzzle or the backwash of so many magical barriers breaking, she could not be sure. She desperately tried to summon up her magic, to escape, to heal, to do anything, but the pain and fear made crystallizing her focus or energy impossible. The daemon then manifested the most intense fireball yet, and flung it mercilessly at the trapped mare. Twilight had often wondered if a pony’s life did indeed flash before his or her eyes before they died, and if it did, if it would be anything like what her friends experienced when she had restored their cutie marks shortly before her ascension. As time slowed in her perception, that curiosity amused the detached part of her. She was still researching and hypothesizing even as she was about to die. Even so, no memories flashed. All she could see was the sickening rainbow of impossible colors as the warpfire hurtled towards her. She almost welcomed the darkness blotting out her life. Not her life, just the fireball. And it was tall, bipedal. She lifter her neck as far as she could and had a moment to recognize the Rubricae before the fireball erupted over him and blinded her with a brilliant explosion.