Scream woke up from her long stupor. Unlike normal ponies, the golden alicorn's mind didn't experience any existential uncertainty every being suffers after an extended period of sleep. Granted, most ponies don't sleep for weeks while sorting out the chaotic memories of three gods which had earlier been taken from somepony who had in even more distant past gotten them by accident.
In short, the alicorn of Lust woke up, didn't even yawn, and stood up from her notoriously comfortable bean bag made of bones with a clear result in mind. She didn't like how clear the result was, though. She had gone through every memory they had managed to pry out of Blazing Light's mind during their visit to Manehattan, and her worrying conclusion was:
There was no way to win.
The enemy was clear as well. One of the three gods of Equus - Harmony, who had been banished by the other two eons ago out of this reality into the emptiness which lies between different planes of existence, was coming back. That, in itself, would under normal circumstances not be an issue because as soon as he got back the other two gods would start their scheming again, and everything would just turn into a power struggle between the three where neither would be TOO powerful, and the mortals and semi-mortals would be able to live in relative peace.
The problem was that Harmony had outsmarted both the other gods and the mortals. Using the only weapon powerful enough to harm gods directly, the Elements crafted directly from its essence, the assorted races of Equus had over ages wrestled sovereignity over the land from the hands, or other appendages, of Discord and Nightmare. Now the two deities still remaining in this reality had been weakened enough to allow Harmony to return and win the eternal struggle between Creation, Existence, and Destruction. With no more beginning or end, and the inability of Harmony to create new gods, the only limitation of the deity's power, every living being present in this world when Harmony's power took hold would be locked in a hell of insanity without ever feeling the releasing touch of death. Possessing all knowledge, having a body existing in all dimensions, infinitely strong senses, and no way of controlling anything, because that was what only the god itself could, was the fate Scream wouldn't inflict on her worst enemy.
And there were ponies around she REALLY despised.
The point was that there would be no fighting. She had tried to fight Nightmare once, here in her own dimension, when the god had just barely awoken and its host was resisting... and she had still lost, leaving her a mindless sack of flesh. The only reason Scream was still here was that Nightmare wanted to torture Void with Scream's brainless body, not kill her. With Discord's help, Scream had recovered, but she knew how futile the struggle against a god was. All mortals, all alicorns combined would not even be a drop in the ocean against a single deity at its peak of power. The Elements were the only way to fight back, and now their creator was coming back to reap the harvest.
That left only two choices.
One of them was to find out how the Elements worked in full detail and reverse engineer them to build something similar which would work against Harmony, a feat for which they simply did not have the time. Harmony's return could happen in a week or in several decades, but there were no known sources of basic knowledge, no ways of obtaining it from the Elements or the Tree, nor enough ponies for the job.
The other one felt even less likely - enlisting the help of both Nightmare and Discord in a straight up fight against Harmony. Unfortunately, with Harmony returning on its own, Scream suspected it knew that even the united front of the others would not suffice. Still, it was her best shot.
Nightmare... Nightmare was managing to dig its own grave, so to get its assistance all Scream had to do was put its current host, the hippogriff colt, into a life or death situation from which Nightmare wouldn't be able to simply run away. That meant either acting before it got powerful enough to find and corrupt a better host, or putting it into a position where it would face something which would prevent its escape. Getting Discord to fight Nightmare was not going to happen because they needed to be on the same side, which left the only possible solution.
Scream had to arrange Harmony's return to happen soon. The coming god had time, they did not. She needed to put the scheme into motion while Nightmare was weak, but not too weak, while Blazing Light with his ability to steal power could act as a shield at least for few moments, and while Harmony's pawn, Blinding Light, had not yet gathered enough 'evolved' followers to make any action against him futile. That put a lot of constraints on her plan.
As for Discord... the road to him led through his biggest pain in the ass - Void. What the gods hated most was not having absolute power, the ability to play game after game with their little pieces without repercussions, and Void's existence was directly against that. In his Final Sanctuary, Void could hold against any of the three gods, but in the real world his most powerful weapon was knowledge. The last of the three primal alicorns could safeguard mortals, lead them, and teach them how to resist the gods' influence. Without any way to know the gods' true goals, the mortals would be just pawns in the big game. To make Discord cooperate, she would have to offer him a way to get rid of Void. A world without him was not a place where she would want to be, though. Still, the pieces were there for her. Gods, alicorns, mortals, all would dance to Scream's tune.
Too bad she knew it was going to be her requiem.
With a mere thought she disappeared from her mountain and reappeared in the obsidian temple over the entrance to the Sanctuary, or the Underworld as mortals called it.
Void looked up from a book and smiled.
"Hi, what brings-"
"Sleep," Scream's horn flickered, and Void crumbled on his throne.
The alicorn of Death was practically immune to magic, but she knew everything about him, all his buttons, and how to get to his heart.
Conjuring a piece of paper and a pen, she scribbled a short note and left it in Void's lap.
"I can't let you get in my way, honey, so please just have a rest. A week should be enough. If I come back then you can yell at me as much as you want, but if I don't... I know you will do what is right. I caused all of this - Blazing Light's rise due to my tampering with Sombra, the repeated destruction of Nightmare's hosts when faced with either Blazing or the Elements, and the insanity of his father causing him to become Harmony's prey. It's only fair I do all I can to make things right when push comes to shove. I hate to leave you here alone... I know how hard it gets when there is nopony around. Heh, I still remember the first time I met you, reaping souls of griffons after a volcano washed their village away," Scream realized there were tears streaming down her cheeks and shook her head, "Sorry I'm running my mouth like an idiot, honey. It's quite unbecoming of a powerful archmage, a schemer who is right now trying to outsmart gods themselves like me. Look on the bright side, though, if it works better than I think it will, I'll come back and you won't remember any of this."
A green flame washed over her coat and all imperfections from her face disappeared. Only a confident alicorn of Lust remained.
"I love you, Voidie."
She turned to leave.
She turned back and kissed the sleeping alicorn.
"Goodbye."
She wasn't the only one calling her the most powerful magic user in existence, although Magnus would violently disagree. Everypony who had ever dealt with serious Scream and lived to tell the tale knew how easy unimaginable feats of magic were to her. She proved it once again when her thoughts filled with intent to search found Blinding Light's location within mere minutes. In a blink of an eye she passed all the barriers surrounding him and appeared in a cheap Manehattan apartment.
The unicorn didn't bat an eyelid at the alicorn's presence.
"The Watcher was wondering when the two of you would act directly," Blinding greeted Scream, and stood up from the table where he had been casually reading a book, "So, should we end the pretense of politeness and go at each other's throat?"
"No," Scream shook her head, causing Blinding to raise an eyebrow, "I am here to offer you a deal."
"Begging for your life?" Blinding snickered, "The Watcher must have overestimated you."
"Call it what you wish, I want a part of this world where all living beings will be safe from Harmony's power under mine and Void's protection. In return, I can help you bring it back from the emptiness of its prison within two weeks. I know the barriers surrouding this reality better than anypony, and I can make it so they don't offer too much resistance when Harmony passes through."
Blinding was clearly taken aback for a second, but as if something calmed him down from the inside, complete confidence settled on his face once again.
"The Watcher, or as you call him 'Harmony', agrees. What is your plan, traitor?"
"Beyond the White Tail Woods to the west, there lie ruins of a pony civilization which used to worship the horrors which lurk between realities in the same way your 'Watcher' does now. Once upon a time, with a monstrous amount of pony sacrifices, they succeeded in ripping the protective veil of Equus apart and bring one here."
"Interesting," Blinding looked himself once again, "Is that some sort of a legend?"
"Huh?" Scream smirked, "No, no legend. They really did summon the horror, hence the ruins of their civilization. I believe Magnus and Void destroyed the evil one and used its remains for some research. If I set up the right sources of power in the right way they would disrupt this world's protection and act as a beacon for Harmony to get here faster."
"What about the others, wouldn't they resist?"
"I know best how futile any attempt to fight is, and I have already made sure Void will not interfere. Without him there is nothing that can stop us."
"I am intrigued by your firm belief in us keeping our word."
Scream sighed, and for once didn't look in charge of the situation. Just this once, she looked small and vulnerable.
"I... I have nothing else, no bargaining chips or allies. Only gods can fight gods on even ground, and neither Discord nor Nightmare will be mine or Void's allies after what we did to them through the ages," she smiled desperately at Blinding, "And I don't want that much, do I? Just a valley or some hidden place where Void and I can pretend everything we've grown used to isn't gone. Living with the guilt and lying to Void about what happened for the rest of our lives will be punishment enough."
"Heh. Throwing the world under a train just to keep your loved one and a bit of normality in your life. I would have done the same for my wife if some murderer..." his voice turned to a growl and stopped. Blinding took a breath to calm himself, "I mean, I can sympathize. So, about the power sources or whatever it was-"
"Right, right. I'm going to need several crystals cut in a precise fashion and filled with the right kind of magic. Getting them is going to take only few days. After all, I can pay anything the jewellers ask for. When they are done and charged, all I need to do is place them in the right vessels and aim at where the rift used to be. Then we just wait and watch Harmony's return from the best seats."
"Is it really THAT simple?" Blinding narrowed his eyes.
"With my knowledge and power? Yes. In secret? Yes. With ponies and alicorns trying to stop it? Not gonna happen, ever. The crystals will be fragile and in need of protection, which I think you can arrange."
"The Vigil will stand guard to oversee my master's coming."
Scream just nodded, and disappeared.
Blinding couldn't stop the grin on his face from widening. Did alicorns really consider mortals THAT stupid, THAT blind? But she would learn soon enough. He would let her go on with the charade, and possibly gain a little from it as well. If, by a random chance, she did what she promised, then the time of equality between mortals and immortals would come. If she didn't then...
...only Blinding truly knew how powerful he really was now.
He looked at his reflection in the big emerald embedded in the Watcher's necklace. The reflection gave him an exhausted smile.
"Soon, we will have our peace, and I will meet Precious Gift, Searing Light, and even little Blazing again."
The candle on his reading table hissed out, leaving the room in darkness. Blinding picked up his book without a second thought, and continued reading.
Mere four days later, he stood on the top of a ruined pyramid deep in the western jungles. Four large pillars several hundred meters away formed a square around it, each one tipped with a bowl holding one of the strangely shaped crystals Scream had brought. All four bowls were tilted so that the crystals were aiming at one spot in the sky. To Blinding's eyes, the place the crystals pointed at looked like a barely healed red scar shining from behind winter clouds. He could also feel the Vigil members scouring the area for any unwanted visitors.
The alicorn of Lust landed next to him, breathing heavily after adjusting the magical charges burning within the crystals. Until this point, Blinding was honestly convinced that all this was just Scream's ruse to get him to lower his guard, but now that he saw the sky unraveling before him, he had to admit the alicorn had to be desperate.
"How long?" he asked without looking at her.
"The veil is weaker than I expected, or I'm just better than I used to. A week at most. It depends on Harmony now, not us. As soon as it homes onto the beacon the big countdown starts."
"I guess you really DID deliver on your promise," Blinding shrugged, "Your reward is in order then."
"Hm? Isn't Harmony supposed to show me where the land-"
"Don't be silly, alicorn."
Scream flew upwards and aimed her horn at Blinding. He disappeared in a burst of green light and appeared next to her, punching her straight in the face.
That repeated itself several times.
She had anticipated this. It was clear her request was pointless, but...
...she had believed she would at least weaken Harmony's avatar for later.
He dodged everything. Every single spell no matter the area of effect. It was as if he knew beforehoof what she would do, how she was spinning magic inside her head. She could have dealt with just that, but Blinding wasn't subject to fatigue, confusion, or any side effects of magic overuse. He kept teleporting, dodging, levitating, and all that just to punch her over and over.
With the force of a falling star.
At was depressing how little all her magical barriers and shields meant, how little her telekinesis slowed his blows, how little all the power gained over millenia meant.
Finally, a blow to her chest sent her crashing into the long stairs leading to the top of the pyramid.
"My master can't have you and Void scheming, no matter how ultimately futile it would prove," Blinding landed on top of her, and a blade of emerald fire sprouted from his front leg.
"YOU PROMISED!" Scream played her heart out. She hoped it wouldn't come to this, but she knew it would. Her ability to see the future prohibited her from using it for herself. She didn't need it, though.
"The world will be cleansed from you overprivileged divine filth!" Blinding snarled, "Nothing is perfect, but existence will start over without you."
Scream pondered whether Blinding actually had no idea what was going to happen, or whether he just didn't care anymore. She settled for the second and continued her act.
"I helped you! You promised!" she repeated, tears streaking from her eyes.
"You did help me, alicorn," Blinding sighed, and patted her head gently, "I won't have to wait decades for this hell to end. Just few more days and I will be with my family once again. For that, I will make this quick," his hooves pushed her firmly to the moss-covered stairs, "You will rest in peace as well. The Watc- Harmony will purify the divinity inside you and rid you of the curse of immortality. Rest in peace, Scream."
The green fire of his blade entered her chest.
In the fraction of a second she had before everything that made her herself disappeared, she managed to force a bitter smile, gathered all her divine power, sent her mind wandering through various planes of existence looking for a certain pony...
...and she found one. A deceitful, tantric, and selfish pony who could become the embodiment of Lust, but also a protective and loving one who understood responsibility and sacrifice. Scream's divinity left her before Blinding's strike, crossed to the realm of lost souls, and buried itself deep within her target.
"HAHAH-"
Her eyes glossed over, and then her body burned to ashes.
Blinding walked up on the top of the pyramid and sat down. Snow, frost, rain, nothing bothered him in the slightest.
All that remained now to wait for the sky to tear apart.
"-you here?"
Void blinked, and licked his lips glued together by a string of drool.
"What?"
He pieced together the last things he remembered. He had been siting on his throne, reading about a small-scale skirmish in the Griffon Empire, then Scream appeared, and... then he had woken up few second ago.
A piece of folded paper fell onto the obsidian floor. He unraveled it, his muzzle started trembling. In less than a second he scanned all the world of the living and the dead, and knew the most important thing - she wasn't there anymore.
He could act later.
He had been strong for eons, the rock supporting the weight of the world. There had been only one time where he had felt like he did now. Back in Tartarus when he believed it was Scream who had played him and imprisoned him there for all eternity. Hated by others and himself, all alone, younger, so much younger.
He could act later.
No amount of experience and resolve could prepare him for this happening again. He wanted to let go, to cry his eyes out, to let blind fury consume him, but he knew it wouldn't change anything, not for the better at least. However, Scream relied on him, the note was clear.
He had to act now.
One thing needed to be done, then... then he could... he could finally leave.
I know even you can be selfish. For once, follow your heart, not your honor.
He knew exactly what the note meant, and what it would lead to.
With a clear direction in mind, he disappeared from his temple.
The spot near Ponyville where sun shone through a hole in the clouds and where a pegasus and a god of Creation were having a picnic was familiar enough to Void. When time stopped for every creature around aside from Discord and Void, the deity put his cup of tea down and rolled his eyes.
"I hope you don't plan on doing this more often. I thought we sorted this the last time you so rudely-"
"I come with an offer."
"You have nothing I want."
"My knowledge, my power, and I will leave this world in exchange for your cooperation. You will be free to toy with the other alicorns and mortals as much as you like, and so will Nightmare. As long as-"
"Harmony doesn't win, am I right?" when Void nodded Discord snorted, "I hate to break it to you but I'm not-"
"Same goes for Scream. My sister is gone, Magnus has no interest in the world as it is, he will just go on experimenting on whatever is left when this is done, and the other alicorns have no clue what is really going on. With me gone, and if Harmony fails, all keeping you and Nightmare at bay will be each other and the Elements which might not even work if you win. No more protection of souls. Necromancy and dark magic will run rampant, causing so much chaos you like."
"What would you like me to do?" Discord said slowly, carefully measuring every word.
"Scream made sure we know where and when the return will happen. Be there and fight so that you have a world to play with later."
"Deal," Discord's tail hand scratched Void behind the ears. The god hissed as the black fire of the alicorn's mane sizzled when touched, "Under one more condition."
"Discord!"
"Just to make sure you trust me, and that I can trust you. You will not interfere until Harmony's return is resolved, no matter whether we win or lose."
Helpless, Void was completely helpless. What Discord didn't know about the alicorn despite clashing with him for ages was that as much as Void's presence beat some sense of responsibility into Scream, her influence over him left marks as well. Void didn't like underhooved tactics and playing with words, but sometimes it was all one had left.
"I agree."
"Good, then I won't have to mention that you offering me Scream leaving was pretty dirty from you."
"I apologize."
"You better," Discord took an uncharacteristically serious bow, "It was an honor to have you as my nemesis. No demigod or mortal had ever gotten as far as you, Void. The new alicorn of Death will never live up to the image."
Void returned the gesture.
"It should not, but that means a lot to me."
Both of them looked at Fluttershy, frozen in time.
"My sincerest condolences, Void," said Discord.
The alicorn of Death disappeared and, once again, time returned.
"Another tea, Discord?" asked the yellow pegasus.
"I'm afraid I must refuse, dearest Flutterbutter, I need to hit the gym."