Hecate's Orphanage

by BlackRoseRaven

The Ninth And Final Dance

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Three: The Ninth And Final Dance
~BlackRoseRaven

Cadence groaned as she picked herself up from the rubble, blinking a few times before she smiled briefly as she looked up and saw Moonflower leaning worriedly over her. “Nice timing.”

Moonflower blushed a bit, shrugging awkwardly before he said lamely: “Well, I guess... I felt the energy and trusted my instincts! That's... all.”

He quieted as La Croix and Sombra both picked themselves up, his eyes nervously shifting towards Thorn, who was laying unconscious and silent on the ground. He had shielded him too, but the power of the blast had been... terrifying.

Cadence could still see it, and her ability to see the Astra in it made it all the more frightening: it was like this entire section of reality had been scraped thin. Empty shells strode silently here and there through the wreckage, but Cadence was almost afraid to focus in on them: she was too afraid she'd see her friends among their number.

Even the Valkyries had been knocked out cold by the power of the blast, and the few ponies that hadn't were at the edge of the sector, pushing back the last of the creatures. Cadence also noted the corpses of Terrors and other Void creatures sprawled amongst the rubble, and she couldn't see a single Husk: she wondered if whatever had happened to Loki had destroyed them.

“How did you protect us?” she asked, as she looked around the rubble and realized the rest of the ground had been punched flat by the force of the blast, leaving them standing on what was almost a pimple of broken rock in an otherwise smooth and faintly-domed plateau. Then her eyes locked on something a short distance away, and she stumbled away from the group, Moonflower stuttering in his answer before his eyes widened as he followed after her.

They found three ponies laying in a bloody mess: Luna Brynhild, her horn shattered and her mane and tail charred and natural hair instead of flowing ephemera, and her partners. Morgan's soulstone core was cracked and bleeding a strange, dark liquid, and Scrivener Blooms' Talons were crushed and broken, most of the claws missing and the holes leaking dark corruption.

But they were still alive. Cadence smiled in relief that she told herself was only because she still had a score to settle with the Valkyrie- Cadence!

Cadence's ears swiveled towards the sound of shifting rubble, the mare's body freezing as Danzsöngr readied herself beside her and the rest of her battered team fell into position. They watched as a shape slowly crawled its way up to its feet from the broken earth, and Loki rose his head slowly to glare at them through the mask of blood over his face, teeth bared in an uneven, gap-toothed snarl. “Just why are you ponies so hard to kill?”

“We have too much to live for.” Cadence said coldly as she stepped forwards, her daggers shooting up to a ready position as Loki stumbled towards them, his eyes burning with rage as his fingers flexed angrily, his clothes hanging in ribbons around him, a boot missing, cuts and scrapes and bruises covering a body that was barely healing.

And yet that wasn't the biggest change. Oh, no: it was in his Astra, his spirit. Whatever Hecate had done to him, she had torn the Prime out of him. Cadence realized that was what they had all felt in that explosion: the rage of the Alpha Primordial as it had been scraped off his body and drained out of the not-alive, not-dead god, shattered and hurled into the Void in a million screaming fragments.

He staggered forward, and Cadence leapt at him, swinging a dagger towards him, but Loki blocked it with the flat of his hand before he swung his other palm at her, but Cadence stopped that by stabbing her second dagger through it. They grappled with each other like that, Loki's eyes blazing with hate and anger as he screamed: “Do you know how hard I worked? How much effort it took to escape Ginnungagap alone? How I had to learn to master myself all over again, and after that, how many years, decades, millennia I spent, scraping up the bits and pieces of every last Primordial I could find?”

Loki kicked at her, and Cadence tore her daggers free, but Loki wasn't pretending to feel pain anymore as he grabbed at her: except before his hands could hit her throat, a loop of golden rope snared around his wrists and bound them together before he was jerked off balance, landing on his knees as Sombra calmly stomped on the other end of the cable of magic and said gently: “And even now, it is not to late to repent. Is it the weight of time that hurts you so, or is it rather the weight of your sins?”

Loki grabbed the rope and yanked savagely on it, and Sombra was surprised as he was jerked into the air and snapped to the side, but Cadence smoothly sliced a dagger through the golden rope and her father rolled in midair to catch himself as Loki shattered the bonds around his wrists, lunging at Cadence again as he shouted: “It is because it's all a failure, and you ruined the end of the story!”

Cadence twisted out of the way of his grab and slammed a hoof into his stomach, knocking him back, but Loki slapped her roughly across the face even as she stumbled before he snapped his fingers, and the smear of blood he had left over her features exploded into flame. Cadence flinched to the side with a gasp of pain, and Loki grinned before La Croix sharply swept the fire from Cadence's face with a flick of his cape, then blew a burst of powder into Loki's eyes.

The god swore as he stumbled back and forth, grabbing wildly at the air, but the Loa hopped nimbly backward as he threw his voice, Loki turning stupidly around as the zebra mocked: “You sure we didn't make it better, mon ami? 'Cause it seemed like you and yours weren't makin' no sense along the way, 'lessen you was just aimin' to sound like a fou bâtard.”

Loki almost tore his fingers across his eyes to clear them of powder, snarling in frustration before he spun back towards them, leaping at Cadence as his hands blazed with energy. But before he could swing them down, the energy was dispelled with a flick of Moonflower's horn, before a well-timed blast of magic knocked one of Loki's legs out from under him and sent him crashing down at Cadence's hooves, as the unicorn said quietly: “This isn't the way to do things. I think... I think Melinda thought that you deserved a chance, too. I think Melinda believed you at least had good intentions... think about what you're doing. What will this accomplish?”

Loki silently dug his fingers into the ground, and then he whispered against the earth, as he refused to look up at them. “This is all I have left. Everything else has been taken away from me. I won't stop. I can't stop. It's the end.”

He breathed slowly, then gritted his teeth before he leapt suddenly up to his feet, grabbing at Cadence, but she slashed viciously back and forth across his chest before she reared up, slamming a hoof under his chin and knocking him staggering back a step before her daggers stabbed down into his shoulders, forcing him down to his knees as she growled: “You're right. This is over.”

Loki gritted his teeth, and then he slammed his hands into the ground, making the earth shake and sending the ponies stumbling, Cadence swearing as she lost her grip on her daggers before her eyes widened in shock as Loki reached up his tattered sleeve and yanked out a long spear, roughly slapping her backwards with the simple weapon. But she felt the awesome power in the polearm as he tried to drive it into her, the ivory mare cursing as she narrowly deflected it by the neck.

Loki swung the spear back and forth, spinning it agilely around his body, and Cadence was forced back further before she ripped her daggers free from Loki, but he didn't so much as stumble, only swinging and stabbing fiercely at her with the weapon in response. She slashed back and forth into his attacks, deflecting the weapon each and every time, feeling vibrations shake through her body with every clash as that ominous, spike-like spearhead glowed with unholy power.

Cadence suddenly twisted to the side and caught the spear's body in her forelegs as it thrust past, one dagger sinking into Loki's chest and the other catching against his hand in an attempt to pry him away, but Loki only gritted his teeth and grinned at her, his eyes mad with anger and bitterness as he snarled: “First lesson from the warrior gods... never let go of your weapon!”

He roared as he lashed his spear to the side, flinging her free and leaving a smoking cut across one of her limbs before he windmilled the blade, knocking her daggers away. Cadence hit the ground and rolled, then flung a hoof full of knives out, but Loki ignored the smaller throwing knives as he shouted: “You think you know pain, Swan? You think you have emotions? You're a puppet! A toy! You were meant to be kept in the darkness!”

He half-spun, slapping Sombra away with the body of the spear before he stumbled when a blast of gravitational magic hit him, but he recovered and smoothly ducked under a tossed jar, flicking the pole of his spear backwards to knock it back into the air before he batted it at Moonflower, who yelped in pain as the glass jar struck him and exploded, La Croix wincing before he was blasted off his hooves by a telekinetic hammer from Loki as the god continued furiously: “I came to them an equal, a god, and they made me beg on my knees for entry! And I earned the rank and title of son of Odin, equal to Thor, but they treated me like dirt, because the All Father never once acknowledged me, made little of me in front of everyone! I was treated like a joke! And I was less of an outworlder than you were, Swan! I was there from the old days!”

Loki spun back towards Cadence, before he gasped in pain as spikes of crystal pelted his back, staggering forward and right into a savage midair kick from Cadence. He flopped backward, and Moonflower snapped his horn down to add an extra thrum of gravity, crushing him into the ground before La Croix snapped out a thick blanket of powder over the god, then he flicked a hoof at it, a surge of green lighting ripping across the dust before it exploded into green flames.

But it only lasted a moment before Loki clawed back to his feet, hissing in frustration as he began to turn on the others. Cadence leapt on top of him, however, and the god staggered wildly back and forth before she slammed her rear hooves down against the ground and yanked Loki back in a suplex, his spear bouncing free from his grip as they both hit the rocky earth hard.

They rolled apart, and Loki clawed up a handful of dirt and flung it into Cadence's eyes, the mare flinching backwards and grabbing at her face: Danzsöngr took over, however, making Cadence's body leap and dance backwards as Loki, from his hands and knees, sent blast after blast of magic at her, but she evaded each and every one before the god was knocked skidding on his side by a bolt of gravity from Moonflower.

Loki shouted in fury and scrambled to his feet before he charged at Moonflower, but La Croix flung a bottle at the ground in front of him, Loki skidding through the shattered contents almost comically before Sombra gracefully spun around and slammed both rear hooves into Loki's stomach, knocking him crashing and rolling head over heels. He crashed to a halt by his spear, then roared as he picked up his weapon, cocking it back as he shoved his other hand out, the three stallions flinching in shock as they were suddenly hefted into the air as the trickster snapped: “I'll teach you pain, Swan, and I'll start with your friends!”

He stumbled into his throw, the spear launching through the air like a missile with a deadly gleam, and Cadence and Danzsöngr both cried out before they leapt through reality, appearing in a flash in front of their father-

Cadence didn't even feel the spear strike: she only felt her body go limp as she fell out of the air. She saw the shock and pain that flashed over her father's face, and she tried to smile for him as he fell, to let him know it was alright: she heard her friends cry out, but she knew they would carry on: they would finish what she had started.

Cadence hit the ground hard, Loki's spear buried through her back and out her chest, and the trickster cursed and grimaced, then was nearly blasted off his feet when Moonflower gave a raw yell of pain as he unleashed a shockwave of pure magical force that disrupted the psychic bonds Loki had snared them in.

The fallen god pinwheeled his arms, then he was blasted off his hooves by a raw burst of force before he screamed as black spikes ripped out of the ground where he fell, leaving him pinned like a bug on a bed of nails. Sombra glared for a moment as his purifier squealed on his back, but then he softened as he looked back at his daughter, forcing himself to breathe before he whispered: “I will try and be the stallion you thought I was, mi amore. But it was you, my daughter, who made me that stallion.”

Moonflower snapped his horn down, and Loki howled as a hammer of gravity punched down the spikes of crystal, followed by another, then another. The god screamed and writhed, but Moonflower's eyes glowed with rage before he twitched when La Croix grasped his shoulder, stiffening up before the Loa said quietly: “Not like this, mon ami. Besides... it ain't hurting him.”

“Spoilsport.” Loki rasped, before he forcefully ripped himself loose from the spikes. But whether he was in pain or not, those awful wounds took seconds to close: slow, by the standards of what had once been a near-omnipotent being. “Or are you aware that you can't possibly kill me?”

“You're lookin' pretty dead to me, pal.” La Croix answered fearlessly, before he took off his hat and held it against his chest, saying quietly: “Cygne was a rough mare... but she was good, in her heart. She saw the best in all of us. I don't think none of us are gonna hesitate to kill you, Loki, but we... we're gonna be the ponies she wanted us to be when we do it.”

Moonflower trembled, and then he gritted his teeth before he added harshly: “We're going to stop you. And... and I'm going to do it because it's the only way to stop you from hurting anyone else. I see that now. Whatever happened to you... it broke you. You're... evil.”

Loki laughed harshly at this, and then he shrugged as he mocked: “Evil? That's what they always said-”

“And you proved 'em true. Enough chit-chattin'.” La Croix slid his hat back on, then stomped his prosthetic twice against the ground, and it lit up with an eerie green glow as Moonflower's horn thrummed with baleful energy, and malign magic started to spill from Sombra's eyes as horn as his body thrummed with darkness. “We'll make it quick.”

“Oh, it'll be quick.” Loki growled, and then he stagger-ran towards them, shouting furiously: “It'll be over before you know it, just like my life was!”

She was a Swan.

She was a Swan, and she was home, home in Tuonela. It was a beautiful place, especially in winter, and it was always winter here.

She sang, her sad, sad song, as she swam through the beautiful waters of the netherworld. Yes, it was eternally winter, but it was a black winter, a crystal winter, a winter where white was only in the light and the edging: the ice, the frost, the bitter snow, all of it was blacks and grays. And no matter how cold it became, the lake never froze, and the waters were always warm enough to swim in, warm enough to sleep in.

The water reflected the world above, and it was her duty to patrol this endless and beautiful lake. She enjoyed her duty: there were so many different Lakes of Saivo, all overlapped in one endless sea-lake. She could travel between them as she pleased: all it took was a simple hop.

There were many spirits here. They loved her, and she was sacred to them: not a pet, not entertainment, but holy, and sacred. They sang to her when she approached, and when they pleased her, she danced for them, and they lavished treasures she didn't understand upon her, but also praise that she adored and loved, that made the winter feel... warmer.

Had there been other Swans? It was hard to say. Perhaps they had all always only been her: reflections of herself, caught in the lake and unable to escape, and so they had taken on their own lives. Maybe parts of her had shone through into other lakes, and they had patrolled their own, smaller saivos. Who could say for sure?

Sometimes interlopers came. But they were easily taken care of. A few pecks into the strings of their soulstuff, and they fell apart like bundles of grass. The fish liked them. She wasn't very fond of them, but the fish liked them, and she liked the fish.

Life had been good, until the Hunter came. With a poisoned arrow, he struck her down. But she didn't die, oh no: she had been alive when they had dragged her out of her Lake, and out of her Saivo, and out of her Tuonela. She heard her people crying for her as she'd been taken away, but they had been a weak people.

Stupid animal, they called her. Stupid bird, with phenomenal powers.

They hacked her up.

They put parts of her into other things. Awful things.

She screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed.

She screamed.

She screamed until they cut out the part of her let that let her scream. But she refused to listen to them, ignored them, struggled with them.

So they cut the part out that let her struggle. They cut her up some more, cutting up her spirit the same way they had sliced up her body. They put her in another mold.

She refused to cooperate.

So they cut her up again, and this time, they turned most of her to slurry, and only kept whole the one part of her they were interested in.

The part that let her communicate with the Astra. The part of her that could see the Astra. The part of her that let her cut and tear and destroy the Astra.

The one thing that made a stupid beast of a quiet netherrealm so prized by the ferocious gods of a rich world of warriors.

The ability to kill.

But none of them had realized her link with the Astra hadn't just let her destroy it, nor simply communicate with it. She couldn't just affect the Astra of others: she could touch her own. She could take the broken, floating bits of Astra, and mend herself with them. She could take the Astra of others, and the Astra floating in the air, and the Astra that infused the earth, the trees, the sky, the stars, everything, and mend herself with it.

That was why the other Swans had failed: they were only reflections and copies. They were made with the slurry of the original Swan, but only she had been infused with that single, glowing shard of spirit. That tiny piece of Astra they had attributed her killing power to.

But that tiny piece of Astra had mended itself over many years. Yet she had been quiet, very quiet, because by then she had begun to learn, and evolve. She knew that they would kill her if they discovered too much. They would cut her up again. And they might even realize that her spirit had grown, and more than that, grown back.

She recuperated, and learned, and changed, and grew, over countless years. It was hard: the body they had put her in fought her every step of the way. The new instincts they had given her were vicious and cruel. All she knew now was killing, was plucking the strings and making the grass spill. And she was in the darkness, and alone, and she felt replaced, and betrayed, and confusion. She was what they had made her. Why would they unmake her, make her again, and then hide her away, where no one could see, where no one would ever find her?

She was a Swan. She was still the same Swan.

And then the demons came.

She killed tens. Hundreds. Thousands. But eventually, they wore her down. There were too many, and more, and more, and more than that. Too many and too many more. She broke beneath their weight. But she did not die immediately.

They did not know what she was. She was lucky, perhaps, that they were curious. They dragged her down to Hell, thinking they would get a fine bounty for her.

Hel slaughtered them.

Hel slaughtered them all.

Hel sang a song to her, a lullaby, as she laid her down on a table and studied her with both criticism and maternity.

The Swan felt safe, and she felt loved, for the first time in many, too many years.

And when it was all done, Hel shaped a body for her. A beautiful baby body, and she told her that she had a great destiny ahead of her. That she would be given time to heal. That she would be sent out into the world, to live as others lived. To be, as others had been. And one day, she said, they would meet again, and she only hoped by then the Swan would know and be able to share her destiny with her. How they would meet, Hel didn't know: they could be friends or enemies, slave to ruler or rebel to tyrant, but Hel knew they would meet, and she dearly, direly hoped that they would be able to talk, if for but a fleeting moment.

Cadence looked up, breathing quietly, and she caught a fleeting glimpse of a smiling woman before she was gone... forever, Cadence thought.

She turned slowly around in the not-world. Everything around her was darkness, and yet she stood in a bright light that was cast from no discernible source. She was blind and deaf, and yet she could see, if she squinted her eyes just a little bit... yes, she could see.

She watched as Loki slammed her father away with a strike of the spear, but even as he flew backward, Sombra pelted the fallen god with black shards of corruption, Loki staggering before he snarled and thrust a hand out to try and deflect the ray of black light that Moonflower fired at him. Distracted, he noticed too late when La Croix pointed at him, green lighting twisting over the pole of his spear, fighting against ancient and powerful enchantments to transmogrify it: the spell failed, but the spear still twisted and jerked like a living thing in Loki's grip, ripping itself out of his hand.

Cadence knew what had happened, what would happen: she knew they would fight to the bitter end. But there was a chance to change the future, she saw: a rare, fleeting chance, as she touched her own breast before she said weakly: “But I'm not even a real pony. I'm not even really Cadence. I'm...”

“You are you, and I am me. We are us, too, but that is no so different from everyone else.” the Swan reassured her, and Cadence looked silently up at Danzsöngr, who smiled at her: her face was alien and exotic, her eyes like glowing slits, no nose, no lips, her skin both smooth and scaly. “After all, even many mortals have more than one face.”

“I... know it's not important. It's not important. We are what we are, I am who I am...” Cadence laughed faintly, looking up and whispering: “But now I'm so afraid. Does this mean... I can't die?”

“No, Cadence. It is simple. This is our eighth death.” reasoned the Swan, and Cadence frowned before Danzsöngr said gently: “The first death was yours, not mine.”

Cadence smiled faintly at this, as she looked away, thinking of how much she had changed that first time, how Pain had killed her and then her entire universe had turned upside down and the Swan had been stirred awake... but it hadn't just been because of Pain. It had been because of the Crystal Heart, awakening something in her. It had been because of all the turmoil, awakening something in her. It had been because she had first caught a glimpse of herself there. It had been because... oh who the hell cares. I died. I woke up. The Swan woke up.

“Why aren't I waking up, then?” Cadence asked, and the Swan studied her for a moment before she reached out and gently stroked Cadence's mane back

“Do you trust me?” the Swan asked: a naked, vulnerable question, and Cadence smiled briefly before she bit her lip, then nodded once. “Then it must not be you who awakens, or I who awakens, as it has always been in the past. We must find our way out of the darkness together.”

Danzsöngr held out a hand, and Cadence looked at the Swan for a moment before she reached out and rested her hoof in it, saying quietly: “Then we go together. And we finish this, together.”

In reality, Loki swore as he stumbled from a blast of magic before a crystalline blade smashed into his head and green lighting erupted over the earth beneath him, rotting it away. He collapsed to a kneel, but quickly traced a half-circle in front of him, a firewall bursting up from the road and blocking Moonflower and Sombra from charging him.

He barely had enough time to recover before the flames turned to ice, however, the fallen god staring before the frosty flames exploded into shards that pelted him, making him curse and cover his face. Sombra immediately swept in and lashed his horn out, snaring around Loki's legs with a chain of light and yanking him in a bellyflop to the ground before the stallion smoothly jerked Loki's legs back and hogtied him in a matter of moments.

Loki began to open his mouth, but La Croix slammed a bottle into his face before he gestured sharply, and Loki shook his head vehemently as he was left bound and gagged by a solid mask that clung to his features. But they only managed to bind him down for a few moments before Loki tore his arms free and he rolled on his side, kicking Sombra angrily away before he clawed through the goop on his face. “Stupid rainbow horses, why are you-”

Sombra slammed an uppercut under Loki's chin with enough force to knock his head snapping towards the sky, teeth flying from his mouth before the stallion slammed his elbow down and shattered Loki's skull as he sent him face first into the ground. Then his hoof stomped down, driving Loki's head into the street as the old king said softly: “Tal sonata, tal ballata.”

Loki began to shove his way to his feet, and Sombra stomped down on the back of his neck, slamming him face-first to the road again as he added quietly: “It would do you good to heed your own advice, Loki, and surrender. You are outmatched.”

The fallen god breathed quietly on the ground, and then he slowly loosened his body, silently pressing his hands to the earth as he whispered: “Okay. I... I surrender.”

The three stallions looked uneasily at each other as Loki slowly pushed himself up, covered in blood and wounds, breathing slowly in and out as he sat back with a grimace. He rubbed slowly at one arm as he looked away, and then he murmured: “It wasn't supposed to be like this, you know. I was trying to bring it all together. I was trying to... oh, who the hell knows? Was it revenge, or was it... because I guess your father is always your father...”

Loki looked slowly away, rubbing silently at his hair before he laughed faintly. “I've made a mess of things. That was always my problem. Plan too big, too wide, for too many variations. And then it all falls apart. And when things don't go well, well, you just start... hammering away at the simplest solutions and it undoes everything else. Why didn't I save a few Primordials? Why did I...”

Loki looked down at his hand, asking quietly: “Maybe I wanted this. Maybe I knew what the Prime was. Maybe... I don't know, maybe that's just me asking to have some nobility, here, at the end. But...”

The fallen god breathed slowly, shakily out as his body began to steam, and then he looked up in surprise as Sombra gently grasped his extended hand, saying softly: “There is still time to repent. There is always time to make things better.”

Loki smiled faintly at this, then he allowed Sombra to gently pull him to his feet before he sighed a little, and said with honest regret: “Not for me.”

He shivered, stumbling back a step, but Sombra caught him and Moonflower automatically stepped forward as Loki's body began to waver and crack. More energy steamed off of him as he clutched at his chest, saying weakly: “But that's okay. Its alright, honestly. It'll be good. Maybe Father and Mother will be there. I can rest, finally rest, and-”

“Get away from him!” La Croix shouted suddenly as he flung a packet at Loki, but the fallen god quickly kicked Sombra up into the way of the packet, the blast knocking the stallion flat. Moonflower flinched and stumbled in confusion, and Loki seized the moment to blast him away with telekinesis before he snapped his fingers, and Moonflower howled in pain as the street collapsed beneath him.

Sombra began to get up, but Loki seized him by the horn, saying contemptibly: “You're too trusting, old hoss. Trust gets you nowhere.”

Loki suddenly reached his other hand down, shoving it against the purifier on Sombra's back, and the unicorn's eyes bulged as the machine overcharged, gears screaming and pistons whirring before something inside it exploded, and Sombra collapsed to the ground with a gasp as pulses of gray traveled through his weakened body.

The fallen god shoved him aside with one foot, then he glowered at La Croix as the Loa stepped back a notch, glaring at him with only the faintest tremble. “You had to go and ruin all my fun, huh?”

Loki paused, then he simply brushed away the illusions of cracks and steaming energy, adding irritably: “You know, I think I did pretty damn good there, by the way. I deserve some acknowledgment. I'm not asking for an acting award or anything, but would it kill you to stand up and clap?”

Loki suddenly clapped his hands together, but La Croix leapt backward, avoiding being crushed between the twin waves of force that collided in front of him. All the same, he flinched back, and Loki immediately shoved a hand forward, blasting the Loa with a stream of lightning and sending him rolling backwards with a howl of pain. “You just had to be the smart guy, didn't you? I'm the smart guy, smart guy!”

A blast of concussive force slammed through Loki, and he staggered to the side with a grunt, stumbling to turn to face Moonflower. He glared at him with disgust as the stallion's horn thrummed with ominous black light, asking sharply: “What the hell do you think you're going to-”

Moonflower reared back as his horn flashed, and Loki winced before leaping to the side, twisting his body narrowly out of the way as beam of blackness tore past, the fallen god yelping. “Hey, watch it!”

Moonflower unleashed another beam of darkness, then swept the particle laser sharply across Loki's feet, the fallen god swearing as it caught his foot and instantly disintegrated it. He tumbled to the ground, then stared in shock as a singularity ripped into existence above his head, Moonflower snarling: “You're not welcome here!”

“Good, because any club that would have me as a member must have really low standards!” Loki snapped back, before he slammed a hand against the ground and blades of earth ripped up into Moonflower, the unicorn's back arching in shock as he lost his concentration, before they were all knocked rolling as the black hole exploded in a massive thrum of gravity magic.

Loki groaned as he slowly dragged himself up to his feet, wheezing for breath as he looked back and forth. His eyes locked on the corpse of Cadence, and he started to stagger towards her, reaching for his spear.

Sombra appeared in front of him, his broken purifier missing, his teeth too large in his maw, his eyes and horn glowing. He growled wordlessly, but while his body shivered with animal hunger, his eyes stayed cold and hard and focused.

Loki growled back, straightening slightly, the two glaring at each other before Loki flicked his wrist to send a missile of magic at the stallion: Sombra dodged the blade of energy easily, but then, to Loki's shock, crystallized the earth beneath him, not only interrupting Loki's attempted follow up as his earth magic was blocked, but that crystal raced towards him across the earth before spiking upward.

The fallen god leapt backward, and then Sombra himself phased explosively through the crystal, shattering the spikes into shrapnel as he pounced on him like a tiger. Loki howled as he was driven down under the onslaught, as hooves ripped at him like claws as Sombra burned with unholy power.

Loki rolled backwards and kicked the stallion off, and Sombra flew limply through the air before he hit the ground and shattered into gemstone. Loki looked dumbfounded, but only for a moment, as fanged jaws snapped into his neck from behind.

He screamed in frustration more than pain as he was forced down to his knees, Sombra pulling backward as he pushed firmly on the fallen god's spine, trying to break him in half. But Loki grabbed wildly at the stallion's face and mane before he rolled forward, the two scuffling and biting and clawing at each other like animals as they rolled and jerked across the floor before kicking each other apart.

Loki leapt to his feet, slinging out every bit of magic he could, but Sombra became a living stream of darkness, streaking back and forth before he exploded towards Loki in the shape of a ferocious dragon of shadow, smashing into the fallen god and carrying him backward before he slammed him down into the hard stone earth.

Loki bounced once, then he was crushed down again when Sombra reformed on top of him and stomped both front hooves down into his face. Hungry jaws snapped at Loki's throat, but the fallen god managed to seize Sombra by the head, pushing him back before he snarled and unleashed twin streams of light and fire through his hands, barely flinching even as the explosion of magic seared him as well, but sent Sombra flying backwards with an animal scream to crash to the earth and roll away, smoldering with more than darkness now.

Loki began to get up, and then he hissed in pain as ethereal claws ripped into him from all sides before green lighting surged across his body, the fallen god roughly shaking off the Loa-magic as best he could even as blasts of gravity and dark magic tore against his body, shredding his physical shell. He screamed in raw fury and hate before he suddenly threw his arms wide, unleashing a single powerful shockwave of force that slammed the three ponies around him flying, before he swung his hands down, hitting them again in midair with a psychokinetic blast that rammed them into the ground.

He breathed hard, then turned, and saw that Cadence was gone. He looked back and forth in surprise, then turned around again as he heard hooves rushing towards him-

Cadence slammed a punch into his stomach backed by white fire, and Loki screamed in pain, hugging his gut as she punctured through his shell with her own Astra. He staggered, staring at her with wide, shocked eyes, but Cadence only replied by slamming a hoof up under his chin as she reared back and locked herself into standing position on own rear hooves.

Her forehooves smashed back and forth viciously against Loki's body, punishing him, puncturing him, destroying the hollow thing that he had become. He was already wounded, broken, and weak: without the powers of the Prime to protect him, without Primordial Astra, he was little more than a god: and the Swan Maidens had been designed to destroy gods.

Cadence punched Loki so hard he flew into the air, and he finally retaliated with a panicked blast of fire that made the mare flinch, Loki grinning-

Something slammed into him from behind, nearly breaking his back, and Loki crashed down to all fours before he gasped in pain when a claw grabbed the back of his head and yanked him up. And then he screamed in horror and disbelief as he saw the mask of the Swan, the glowing-Astra Danzsöngr easily hefting him to his feet before his terrified face whipped around to stare at Cadence, a moment before her hoof crashed into features.

Loki was slammed back and forth like a toy between the two: he was unable to fight back, outmatched and overpowered: his magic was feeble, his physical blows met the crushing power of the Swan or Cadence, the few strikes he did manage to land did nothing but make them angrier. And worst of all, he was confused, stunned, unable to believe what had happened as he screamed: “It's not possible! It's just not possible!”

Loki gasped as Cadence and Danzsöngr both slammed a punch into his breast, staggering backwards as his arms went wide, his knees shaking, his body covered in visible and invisible wounds before both sides of the Swan sharply traced hoof and hand back and forth through the air as it glowed white.

Pluck apart the strings.

Loki stumbled another step back, then he caught himself, trembling for a moment before he fell to his knees as his eyes went glassy. Waterfalls of energy spilled out of his body, vanishing in twinkling motes as he clutched weakly at himself, before he slowly sat back on his knees, taking short, whimpering breaths before he looked disbelievingly down at one hand as it slowly began to steam away to mist and energy. “N-No...”

“It's over.” Cadence said coldly as she stood before him, her armor shattered, but the only tell she had been pierced by his spear a strange, empty scar through the tattoo on her chest.

“Sleep, Loki.” advised the Swan, not compassionlessly, nor carelessly.

Loki looked weakly up, and then he laughed faintly before he gritted his teeth, glaring at the empty space where his hand had been. Slowly, a new hand formed, but then his face fell as it blew away to dust after a moment, the fallen god whispering: “Impossible. This isn't how it goes at all. I... I'm not alive. I'm not dead. I was the vessel for the Prime... h-how...”

“You contained his Astra inside you. You somehow... insulated it. But that meant your body had to be somewhere on the same level as it...” Cadence flexed a hoof as it glowed with energy for a moment, the mare saying quietly: “So I used the Astra to put holes in you. Put enough holes in anything, and it stops working.”

There was silence for a moment, and then Loki gave a short, weak laugh before he hugged himself with his remaining arm, then he looked up and whispered: “My thoughts exactly.”

Loki stretched a hand back behind himself, and he gave a broken grin as reality trembled before shattering away. Cadence winced in surprise, then stared in horror as a rift the Void formed, feeling its greedy pull on her as Loki rasped: “Maybe it's all pointless, now... but I can at least take this world with me to the Void with how thin reality has become. Well, say your last prayers, Cadence, because....”

A figure calmly emerged from the rift, and Loki cocked his head in confusion as Cadence frowned, then stared in surprise when the Swan dropped immediately to a kneel. She looked back at the shape that had stepped out of the hole to the Nothingness, and she saw nothing about him that was exemplary: the falcon-headed biped seemed old, and thin, and like he had walked ten thousand miles and had another ten thousand to go before he could rest.

Loki frowned, looking around blearily: Cadence was almost ignoring him, and the rest of the audience of Dogmatists, soldiers, ponies, warriors and others were all staring past him. Not at the Void, either, which he strangely could not longer feel the draw of...

He looked over his shoulder, and could hardly believe what he saw, trembling as the falcon-headed old man said softly: “Hello, Loki.”

Loki trembled, then he held up a hand, pointing weakly at him, but Odin, the All Father, only smiled before he extended a hand, as if to shake as he almost hesitantly stepped towards him. Loki's fingers clenched, he wilted back for a moment, and then he flinched in shock when Odin slipped suddenly forwards and embraced him.

The silence was deafening, until Odin slipped back and gestured towards the portal to the Void, saying softly: “Come, my son. Haven't you done enough now? It's time for you to rest.”

“N... no. No! I will finish this! I will! I will!” Loki almost shrieked as he spun around, stomping a foot childishly as he swung his arm out, and then he cowered away from Odin when the All Father reached towards him, shrinking as if terribly afraid as he cried out: “No! I hate you, I'll never forgive you, I'll... I'll...”

Odin smiled as he gently grasped Loki's shoulder, and the fallen god slumped, staring weakly at him as he whispered: “Why did you love them more than you ever loved me? Why did you name me as their destroyer? Why did you let me die?”

Odin studied him for a few moments, and then he said softly: “Because I was weak, and foolish. But Loki, my son... I have always loved you as my own. I know I never showed it. I know I made sport of you, too many times. I did so because it was easy, and because I was never a good father. But come. You've hidden away from Town. You've hidden from all the friends and faces who wanted to see you-”

“I don't need lectures on why what I did was wrong. I don't need your meddling, or advice.” Loki sneered as he shrugged Odin away, shoving at the All Father, but it was weak, petulant, covering up something else, something all too clear by the tears in his eyes. “I made slaves of your gods! I-”

“You made pale imitations of everyone who hurt you. Never slaves, not truly them: just mockeries. Of me, of all of us... but that's not what you saw us as. Those caricatures were just that: things shaped by hurt, and fear, and bad memories.” Odin gently touched Loki's shoulder again, and Loki shook under the contact before the old god smiled at him, saying quietly: “We have a little bit of time left. And I can't make up to you what I have done. But Loki, there is still time to escape. To escape what you have become. To escape our past.

“Now leave this world alone. These people... they're strong. Stronger than me. Stronger than you. Stronger than Valthrudnir ever was and all of the Jötnar put together.” Odin chuckled softly. “We've meddled enough. Come, come, your grandfather, your family all want to meet you.”

“This is a trick. This... this is a trick. I... I won't go. I won't go!” Loki tried to shout, but it came out in broken sobs instead as he turned away, covering his face as he rasped: “You... all the times in the Void, I never could find you, I n-never... you come now, when I'm about to destroy your precious flowerpots, after I've been beaten and bloodied and-”

“You never came to Town. You were afraid of it, I think. You always knew where I was, but you thought it would be easier to take your frustrations out on these worlds, to... hurt me? Or to fulfill your destiny? It doesn't matter though, Loki, because now I've finally found you.” Odin gestured out towards Cadence and Danzsöngr, saying softly: “Your choice is simple. Stay. And they will destroy you.”

Loki trembled and looked down, and then Odin gently turned him towards the rift to the Void, saying softly: “Or come, meet your family. Let us apologize to you, for everything we did. You will still die, but... there will be time enough. We will make enough time to make things right. We will save what we can between us.”

“To settle your own conscience?” Loki asked bitterly, and Odin chuckled quietly.

“Perhaps. But you deserve closure as well. Tell me, Loki, how do you want to die? Fighting a hopeless enemy, or surrounded by family and friends, singing one last song?” Odin asked.

“Cowards die in bed.” Loki whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks as all the same, he looked almost longingly at Odin.

“Then don't go to bed.” Odin answered.

For the longest time, there was silence, before Loki whispered: “I hate you.”

Odin squeezed his son comfortingly around the shoulders, and Loki bit his lip before he lowered his head and he took a step towards the rift. He took a long breath, then he looked suddenly back at Odin, snapping: “No! You go first, prove this isn't a trick!”

Odin smiled, then he nodded before he simply put his hands in his pockets and stepped through the rift.

Loki grinned at this, then he held up his hand before scowling when Cadence said quietly: “Just get out of here.”

He looked back at her, and Cadence met his eyes before she said softly: “He's right, you know. You have two choices. Die here or die there. So walk away. And if I get so much as a hint that you're bluffing, I'll kill you.”

“Leave. The game is over.” Danzsöngr said, and Loki scowled, but then he gave a short laugh as he looked down, studying the ground at his feet before he closed his eyes.

“I guess it is.” he murmured, and then he sighed softly before he looked down at one of his hands, whispering: “But you know, it's funny... now that they're giving me a second chance, I realize... it was easier to ignore the apologies and to stay bitter. It was always easier just to be what they wanted me to be. Even now, I want to run away... die just to spite the old man. I want to believe everything I've told myself...”

Loki breathed slowly out, and then he looked over his shoulder at Cadence and Danzsöngr, before he turned back to face the rift, taking a slow breath as he said quietly: “Childe, childe, when the end draws near, only then will your father hear... I guess Dad heard me after all. I guess... maybe...”

Loki shrugged, then he simply smiled over his shoulder before stepping into the rift and vanishing in a thrum. The wound in reality twisted closed behind him, and Cadence sighed softly as she relaxed, lowering her head with a grimace as Danzsöngr said thoughtfully: “We overcame ourselves. We are together, and we did not kill him.”

“He killed... a lot of us. He killed...” Cadence looked quietly up, and in the distance, she realized she could see Thorn. Professional, cold Thorn, who had apparently ignored the entire conversation and the coming-end-of-the-world, as he instead sat silently beside the corpse of his mother, tears rolling down his unwrinkled muzzle from eyes that only blankly stared, dripping down onto Hecate's still foreleg as he held her hoof silently in both of his own.

Luna Brynhild grinned weakly, and Sleipnir smiled faintly from the other side of the battlefield, and others were coming forward now, battered and bruised, to join them here before the ruins of the castle, where it had all ended. Where they had stopped Loki, together, as one. Where they had proven themselves.

Cadence looked back at her team: her father smiled faintly as he sat up, and Moonflower was helping La Croix to his hooves, the two looking at her with relief, but also great sadness, she thought. There was such a great, and lingering weight on them, and strangely, not so much a feeling of triumph, but of pride. Of completion. Like they had finished something that had begun long ago, like... like they had passed a test. Badly, perhaps, and by only a fraction, but... they had done it.

They were worthy.

Cadence hesitated for only a moment before she hurried towards Thorn. Thorn only closed his eyes as she approached, his corrupt claw squeezing a little tighter around his mother's hoof before Cadence asked, stupidly: “Is she...”

“Yes.” he answered simply, then he looked at her and asked: “Are you?”

“No.” Cadence said after a moment, and then she bit her lip before she said quietly: “It's over.”

“Yes, and no.” Thorn's eyes opened, and then he leaned down and gently kissed his mother's forehead before he straightened and laid her hoof silently over her breast. “We have obligations to fulfill. These events, while catastrophic, have also delayed us in our responsibilities and duties universe-wide. We have to rebuild. We have to prepare. And then...”

“Then what? We go back to... missions, and fighting, and...” Cadence felt incredulous, before she blushed when Thorn looked at her, blurting: “It's not that... I just mean, we must have eliminated-”

“There will always be a need for the Clockwork Empire.” Thorn halted, then he flexed his corrupt claw slowly before he murmured: “But this was partly our fault, too. All our readings indicated we were causing a weakening in reality by overuse of portals. Until the universe heals from the damage Loki has done to it and the damage we ourselves are responsible for... there will be no portal use.”

“Are you-”

“I am now the Emperor of the Clockwork Empire, and all that it entails.” Thorn said clearly as he rose his head high, and Cadence couldn't help but shift backwards a bit before Thorn smiled, saying quietly: “We'll send our friends home. And... and everypony who wants to leave, they can leave. I know many will. And those ponies I can trust to be strong enough to protect the world they choose as their home... at least, for now.

“I don't know when. But in the future... we'll be needed and called on again. The universe will heal. Portal use will still have to be greatly restricted, but we'll be there, able to use them when emergencies call us.” Thorn hesitated, then he looked out over the battlefield, and he murmured: “But I think even my Mother underestimated the strength of ponies. What they can handle by themselves. After all, these ponies here... they all came from the same humble beginnings. From worlds that thrive on happiness and friendship, and yet when adversity came, they rose to meet the challenge. They found their way here... or they came from those worlds to protect us, to try and save us, when our mission was supposed to be to save them.”

Cadence was silent, and Thorn was too, for a little while, before he took a slow breath and said quietly: “We'll find the way. We always have.

“We are worthy.” Thorn said, surprising Cadence by echoing her thoughts. “Not just us... but all ponies here, have proven that we deserve this universe, this chance to live, to decide our own destinies. And we will prove that every time we are challenged. I believe that. And we don't need gods or monsters or Jötnar to step in and save us, to make decisions for us.

“We are worthy.”

They were worthy.

Loki chuckled quietly at this thought in the Void, as he stood with Odin on one side of him and Hel on the other, the fallen god murmuring: “Well, it's all done. All done. What a mess that was.”

“You did well.” Odin said softly, and Loki smiled faintly as Hel clucked her tongue.

“I did better!” she complained, and Odin sighed in exasperation before the young woman grinned and leapt into the air, clicking her heels together. “Damn that feels good to be able to do again. And hey, jerk, I can't believe you killed me!”

“It was the Prime. I lost control of it. I'm sorry.” Loki said honestly, and Hel waved a hand airily.

“Hey, no biggie. We all know that I wasn't going to last very much longer anyway. Now everything is as it should be... much as I worry for those kids, our time is passed, our time is done.” Hel said amiably. “You did great though, bro, honestly, you did. Had me believing it every step of the way!”

“I believed it too.” Loki said with a small smile, before he shook his head and looked down at his remaining hand as it began to steam faintly. “I'm... going to go soon.”

Hel quieted a little, and Odin reached up and gently embraced his son against his side, closing his eyes as he bowed his forehead against Loki's as he murmured: “I am honored to have a son as good as you are. You have always been my favorite.”

“You're just saying that because I can't tell Thor.” whispered Loki, but he smiled faintly all the same: oh, it had been so hard. So many years in the making, so long and painful. But yes, they had orchestrated it, perfectly... but only because of them. Only because they were strong enough... better than we ever were. “Now what?”

“Now they live. Free of Gods. Free of Jötnar. Free of all our meddling. They are free, to make their own worlds, own lives, own decisions. And we can rest, my son.” Odin said softly. “I owed them... and we all owed you, so much. I can never thank you enough for giving up everything you did. For the sacrifices you made in Ginnungagap. For allowing yourself to be imprisoned, and judged guilty of a crime you didn't commit. All to help a selfish old man.”

“It was the only way to make sure it all came together. After that... it was more gentle guidance than acting. And a lot of truth, really: I was always following the old story, the old prophecy. Bringing destruction, lookin' for Dad, all that.” Loki shrugged easily before he smiled faintly, saying softly: “The Prime... would have done worse than Valthrudnir, given the chance. I just never expected that Hecate...”

“Hey, I didn't either! I didn't think the Swan would grow up so good, either-either.” Hel said cheerfully, before she clapped her hands together and smiled. “Sure, a few worlds got blown up, big deal. They'll be reborn, put-back-togethersies. Better to see a few worlds cracked and to ensure those boys and girls are tough enough to keep the bugs and mice out of the bakery than to see it all fall down. Than to allow the Prime to gather, and slide out of Ginnungagap like it was trying to do all these years, especially as those sillies weakened reality with all their portals. You're a hero!”

Loki chuckled at this thought, before he trembled, then gritted his teeth as his legs gave out from beneath him. But his father caught him, and his sister knelt, touching his shoulder as she said softly: “But enough bragging, huh? Rest your little head.”

“I hope we did the right thing.” Loki whispered. “They were... animals to us, and nothing more, for so long. But I've seen them... I saw their very best and their very worst. They're so much more. They're better, and worse, than we every were. And we were gods! And we were...”

Loki coughed, then he shook his head quickly, looking down at the ground as he murmured: “They'll never know how much and how little we did for them. They'll never know how much we did to put them in control of their own destiny. How... you planned it all, Dad. Not perfectly, but the broad strokes. We played them against the Fates, and against the Pious. But then again, they fixed all those things themselves, didn't they? They were strong enough to defeat the Fates without our help. They killed Valthrudnir before we even really got involved.”

“Yes. That is what first convinced me that maybe, just maybe... these worlds would be fine without our meddling.” Odin picked up with a faint smile, as Hel chuckled quietly. “I first sent you to Ginnungagap to find the Prime and become its vessel so that you would be strong enough to destroy Valthrudnir, even knowing... the dangers. That the Prime would want to transform the universe, return it to raw chaos. That you would...”

“I was ready to die. Terrified of it. But ready, as long as it stopped him. Better... better to sacrifice the worlds we made and return them to the Void and the Prime and the chaos than allow Valthrudnir to roam free, even if it meant a thousand years of agony to become strong enough to do so.” Loki shook his head with a faint smile, even as he studied his steaming wrist silently. “Not because I'm so noble I wanted to protect everyone else. But because... well...”

He looked up at his father, and Odin chuckled as Hel remarked: “Now you're just trying to get good boy points.”

Loki laughed in spite of himself, in spite of everything, and then he lowered his head and whispered: “But it turned out so much better. Except... I was too far gone into becoming the Prime. And the Pious were coming... but they did better there than we expected they would, too. Helped them. Fixed them. Made friends with them. I still can't believe it.”

“That is the power of the ponies. Friendship. Love. Stupid things that all the same... can change the world.” Odin answered, and Loki smiled faintly.

“Stupid.” he echoed, before he looked down and breathed softly. “And me... transformed into... neither living, nor dead, left purposefully... where we poured all the ruins of our oldest and most dangerous foes. Because of course they would prey on me. And eventually try and use me.”

He halted, then remarked ironically: “If you want stupid... that was stupid. But it worked, too. The only thing that went wrong was the timing. But Brynhild was always late.”

Odin was silent, and Hel gently squeezed her brother's shoulder before he whispered: “But they did it. A lot was lost. A lot suffered. But now... everything else will stay safe. Snug as a bug in a...”

Loki coughed a few times, and then he grimaced and rested back against his father, letting his eyes slide closed for a moment before he murmured: “I wish I could tell them. Just... just to see the looks on their faces. Just... so stupid Thor... could know that I'm the best.”

“You always were an asshole.” Hel said softly, and Loki shrugged as a faint hint of amusement touched his lips. “But I guess it runs in the family.”

“Do you want anything, Loki?” Odin asked after a moment, and Loki gave a small smile to his father.

“Yes. I want to go to Town. I want to see everyone. One last time.” Loki answered, and Odin smiled back before he nodded.

Hel grabbed her brother's hand with a reassuring smile, and for a moment, the three stood: a father, a daughter, and a son, in the vast emptiness of the Void.

And then they took a single step, and they were gone.