Introduction
Spoilers for Devil Survivor 2 below. Read at your own risk.
INTRODUCTION ACT: From Heaven to Hell
Far beyond the reaches of time and space, there was the delicate, scratching sound of ink-stained of scraping against the flat body of well-worn scroll. Looping, straight down, directly up, forwards and backwards…the words flowed across the dry paper as easily as a boat sailing down a gentle stream. The owner of the quill and the scroll--A alicorn, sat on a violet, velvet-lined cushion in her personal library, so lost in her own work that she ignored the goblet of sparkling water and the fresh, hot pastries her servant placed on her desktop. Beads of sweat trickled down her white body, and her red mane magically whipped and twisted by itself in her stress.
A single world could describe the library she was in—quizzical. To the average newcomer, it was near-impossible to comprehend. A gigantic mishmash of wood, glass and steel filled with an almost infinite number of shelves and an even greater number of books that seemed and did stretch on forever…that was the library in its simplest. It was as if someone had placed a wooden plank, a shard of glass and a steel bar in a bog as three seeds, and over a dozen millennia this was the result. The skylight windows were shaped in the forms of varying animals, plants and objects found throughout the universe. Every single door was built in a different style, ranging from futuristic steel to ancient cathedral double doors and everything in between.
As the alicorn dipped the quill in the black moonstone ink, the single glass door swung open and a humanoid creature draped in a dusky brown cloak walked in. His footsteps echoed like thunder as he strode across the quiet room towards the alicorn.
“O, Almighty Goddess. Once again, you stand before me as the shining beacon of radiance and pureness in the dark, foul swamp of the universe.” The man said, his tone as greasy as the oil waterfall flowing in the room behind them. There was a visible smirk on this face, a curly smile that hinted the beginning of a game, something without seriousness; merely playing around. “Those shining blue eyes, that perfectly groomed mane, your soft velvet coat and wondrously curved body…no wonder you have not descended to the mortal plane in millennia. I say they would simply die in your presence. Even I, your very own servant, don’t feel worthy enough to be in your magnificent, divine and holy presence—”
“Benetnasch.” The alicorn suddenly spoke, not bothering to look up from her work.
“Yes, my goddess?” the man simpered.
“Quit flattering me and cut to the chase. What is it?”
The man, apparently named Benetnasch, pouted. With his disappointment, his cloak billowed behind him, revealing the shiny black cloth lining the insides. “Already? Five seconds, now? You’re no fun, younger sister.”
“I have lot of work to do.”
“Because you’re the current administrator of the universe…yeah yeah, tons of responsibilities and all. But I can’t at least occasionally come and pester you like I did back in the old days?”
“No.” Came the alicorn’s reply, short and succinct like the full stop at the end of her recently written sentence. “Now tell me, what is going on?”
Benetnasch rolled his eyes and shrugged. No more games, it seemed. How unfortunate, they were his favourite hobby. “We have a visitor. I found her lying in front of the Heaven’s Throne.”
The alicorn did not pause from carving notches in the scroll. “Describe her to me.” She said calmly.
“It’s a unicorn, similar to your current form. Female, and looks absolutely nothing like you.” The greasy smirk was back on Benetnasch’s face and his eyes glittered like jewels. The alicorn, ears pricked upwards, actually turned around and gave him a flat look that said in spades: ‘Don’t you even think about it.’ Much to her disdain, he went on anyway. “In other words: completely ugly; the opposite to your majestic, awesome beauty, dearest younger sister. A roughly combed mane resembling a birdnest, covered in grime and dirt, a body the color of a grape, eyes that have seen years of overuse—which might mean Obessive Compulsive Disorder? She’s roughly eighteen or nineteen years old, too.”
“That’s it, my older brother?” The alicorn muttered with obvious boredom, having shifted her attention back to her work. The ink-stained quill was back, and the delicate scratching sounds rang through the silence. “Nothing else? If so, then leave and throw her out.”
“Can’t you call me Benny for once?” Benetnasch said, with all of the emotion of a child being refused candy by his mother. This was a tone that the alicorn had heard more than a dozen times; Benetnasch had always been the type to fake sadness, just to further his own little humorous (and fortunately, harmless) schemes. It was how he had convinced Grandfather to make his Star form smaller and much wieldier than all their other siblings. “Fine my pretty little equine sister, I suppose if I have to tell you..”
“And you do.” The alicorn interjected without any enthusiasm.
“…there are two things of interest. For one, our mysterious unicorn visitor is cradling a fractured gold crown like it’s her own baby or something.”
There was a pause as the alicorn eyes shifted upwards, now focused on a certain paragraph written on the scroll.
Whispering to herself, her eyes widened a fraction. She turned and gave her older brother a very frank look.
“Answer me honestly, Benetnasch. Does the crown have a jewel in the shape of a six-pointed star on top?”
Benetnasch blinked and had the decency to appear surprised for once. “How did you know—” his voice trailed downwards upon laying eyes on the scroll his younger sister was levitating in front of him. “Ah, right. Akashic records; they let you know everything that is mortal. Then I guess you know there’s a gaping big hole where the unicorn’s heart is supposed to be, and it’s somehow bleeding like crazy with no sign of stopping? Or the fact that the mare still hasn’t died of blood loss?”
“It’s because she’s already dead.” The alicorn said.
“A dead soul, forced to relive her cause of death for eternity, eh? We haven’t had one come to the Akasha Stratum in over ten thousand years.” The cloaked man mused, placing a gnarled finger under his chin in interest. He did remember the last guest; a good-natured human being who coindicentally had been the savior of his world. Would this new guest ever compare? “A terrible fate indeed, but is it the type she deserves? What do you think, or rather know, dearest sister?”
The alicorn flung the scroll into Benetnasch’s face and stood up, crimson tail swishing about. The report was completed, boasting a grand total of around ten thousand words with a gold seal and beautifully inscribed signature at the bottom. The cloaked man ripped it off his face, unaware that blotches of ink were stuck to his cheeks and began reading it with interest.
XXX
Inside the Heaven’s Throne, a unicorn stared blankly at a wall, mind smashed to pieces by the cause of her death and the realization of its consequences. Before, she had been crying; the salty tears that spoke volumes of anguish and self-loathing flowing out and dripping onto the tiled ground. Now, she had stopped. Her eyes were soulless, her mouth was sealed shut and her heart might as well have halted altogether.
She was more or less an empty shell.
“Why? What’s happening? Where’s the spark? Why aren’t the elements working?”
The heretic princess’s eyes widened, she smiled and a gigantic malevolent aura burst out of her like water rushing out of a broken dam. At once, the six foals opposing her were overwhelmed by the massive killing intent, images of brutal pain, death and a fiery hell clouding their already panicked mind.
“Foolish child!” the heretic said, laughing crazily like the insane, spiteful fiend that she was. With each breath, she revealed her razor-sharp teeth, sharp icicles that were ready to bite anything that stood in her way to pieces. “Did you really think the Elements of Harmony could stop me?”
“But…but…” the unicorn stammered, “Princess Celestia said the Elements would work! She’s always right!”
“Princess Celestia is a fool! After all, she sent six girls to fight a deity like me. You never had a chance.” A tentacle, made out of a grisly blue star-like aura, grabbed the unicorn and hoisted her high up into the air, then squeezed her tight. Bones cracked and skin tightened. The heretic princess then began to smirk along to the unicorn’s tearful screams…
Near her, two twins—a humanoid boy and a humanoid girl—that were dressed in lime-green and sulphur-yellow robes hoisted the crown that the unicorn had carelessly tossed aside in her grief and began to play with it, giggling as they did so.
“Wow, it’s so big! I feel like a princess.” the girl said, wearing the metal structure on top of her head. She began speaking in a falsetto; fake, regal tone that had great similarities to one of their older siblings. “My name is Princess Mizar! I order you, my subjects, to write two thousand book reports otherwise I’ll send every last one of you to the dungeon. Court dismissed!”
The two twins shared a quick laugh, peals of their enjoyment ringing through the massive room. The girl then got another idea.
“Hey brother, do you think it’s made out of real gold? Do you? Come on, tell me!”
“Gimme that!” The boy snatched the crown off his sister’s head and clasped it in his hands, palms that were tattooed with the images of the star and the moon. Blue eyes carefully moving up and down, the boy then gave it back, much to his sister’s delight. “Nah, I don’t think so. It’s cracked. If it was real gold it wouldn’t be so broken.”
“You’re stupid, Phecd-A.” The girl laughed airily, her child-like shrieks bouncing off the walls. Her happiness was almost infectious. “Gold is soft and stuff. It bends and breaks easily. I know because sister Faust told me.”
“Nuh-uh! You can’t be right.”
“Oh yeah, who says? Sister Faust said so, and everything she says is right.”
Phecd-A, the young boy, jerked his thumb in the direction of the silent unicorn. “Yeah, well maybe sister Faust was wrong! Um, why don’t we ask her? She’s the one who owns the crown…”
Her friends had abandoned her. She was alone, flailed across the hard ground with every single limb in her body crushed to pieces and blood gushing out of the many wounds slashed across her body. Her vision was blurry.
“You poor, poor foal.” The heretic princess said, teasing the unicorn by putting on a fake, benevolent tone. Her voice sounded far away, as if she was speaking from the other side of the dark tunnel. “Look at your limp, pitiful form. Your princess sent you here to die, on a wild goose chase to find some magic stones that couldn’t even defeat me. Your friends have left you in the dust, the selfish fools that they are. You are all alone, without any hope nor salvation.” A false sigh. “Whatever are we going to do with you?”
The unicorn looked up hatefully. She couldn’t speak; her tongue had been burned to ashes by the heretic’s flames.
The heretic appeared to pause for a moment, contemplating. “I think that death would be rather suitable, would you?”
A flash of moonlight glinted off a sharp horn. Seconds later, a small lump of flesh and blood, veins and arteries—the unicorn’s heart—was impaled on top of it.
“Hey miss!” the girl waved a hand so that it would cover the majority of the unicorn’s vision, and beamed her most cheerful smile. “Is this crown yours? Can you tell us if it’s made out of gold or not, because me and my brother really want to know.”
There was no response. The unicorn’s eyelids didn’t even flicker.
“Hellooo? Anybody home?”
The girl frowned, crawled to the front of the unicorn and waved her hands and arms around like a windmill. Efforts fruitless, the girl then began to poke the unicorn with her index finger, increasing strength with every jab. When even that turned out to be a complete waste of time, the girl made a long face and went back to Phecd-A’s side.
“How’d it go?” the boy asked.
“She’s a stupid, mean unicorn.” The girl said, her voice petulant. Crossing her arms, she shot a nasty glare at the equine creature before returning to face her brother. “She won’t even talk to me. I don’t remember our last guest being this mean.”
“Maybe she doesn’t like you, Phecd-B.” the boy said in an innocent tone.
The girl simply huffed, grabbed the crown and put it back on her head. “That’s impossible. Everyone likes me.”
She was fading. Her body felt like ice. Every part of her, except for the heart that had been ripped out and splattered across the ground, was freezing. The darkness was overcoming her, blinding her and soaking her in its endless, eternal embrace.
And suddenly, she was floating no, flying through an unknown space. All around her, visions popped up like bubbles, and through them she could see the fate of her world.
“No…”
An unholy darkness was blotting out the sun, forcing it to retreat behind the clouds and never return. Its guardian, the ruling princess of the land, was beheaded in front of her crowd, her final expression displaying a mixture of sadness and defeat. All around the scene, the royal guards bowed and kissed the ground in front of their new empress…
“No...this can’t be happening…”
Torture. That was her five friends were experiencing. Nailed to wooden crosses, they howled and screamed and wept as hot pikes and spikes were inserted into their frail bodies. One was unconscious, another had soiled herself. The life was being sucked out of their bodies by some sort of machine...
“Stop…stop this at once…”
A rift was appearing in the sky. It cracked, and split open, unleashing a fiery hell onto the night-shrouded world.
Monsters, fiends, creatures of the night and beasts; they crawled out of the rift and descended on the inhabitants of the kingdom. The stench of bloodlust filled the cool air…
“This isn’t supposed to happen…this isn’t it how it should be! This can’t be happening! Stop it!”
But she couldn’t. She was helpless, only able to watch as her world was destroyed by the heretic princess and the beings originating from the hole in the sky. She howled and screamed and kicked against the flow, but received nothing for her efforts.
The rule was clear: dead mares tell no tales nor help others…
The twins had stopped playing with the crown and were now deeply focused in an exciting game of tic-tac-toe, drawn on a sheet of paper Phecd-B had withdrawn out of his pockets. Snatching the blue crayon, Phecd-A scribbled a cross on the upper-left square, securing a complete trio and thus winning the game. A big smile gleamed on her rosy face.
“Aw, you beat me again. You always do that.” Phecd-B grumbled, watching his twin sister jump up and whoop around the room in an ecstatic victory dance. He plonked his bottom on the hard ground and sulked, mouth drooped in a big frown. He stared at the unicorn, who was still unmoving, and back to the piece of paper, which now appeared to have been the site of a blueberry jam explosion. Suddenly, an idea struck him like a bolt of lightning. He flipped over the paper and drew another nine squares, eyes blazing with childish determination.
“Best seven out of thirteen?” he called.
“You’re on!” Phecd-A stopped in her tracks and touched down to the ground, gazing intently at the piece of paper. Her body vibrated with enthusiasm and sparks flew from her fingertips, singing a few spots on the tiles that the twin dutifully ignored. Her brother had already started off by drawing a circle in the circle square. Phecd-A yanked the crayon out of his arm the moment he had extended it and scrawled a thick cross in the lower-right.
So absorbed in their little game; the two twins did not register the soft, clopping noise of hoofsteps entering the throne room. It was only until the overbearing presence of the alicorn had forced it through the sanctum that they looked up.
“Hello, sister Faust!” they said in unison, adorable and charming smiles on their lips.
“Good day to you both, Phecda twins.” Faust the alicorn said back, a hint of a smirk appearing on her lips. “Since the two of you are in my throne room playing…ah, tic-tac-toe, I assume that you’ve both finished your lessons?”
“Yeah.” Phecd-A grinned cheekily. “Sister Mizar didn’t give us a lot of work to do. She said she was tired and she wanted us to start interdimensional advanced calculus next time, so we got let out early!”
Faust raised an eyebrow sceptically. “I will be checking on your words with Mizar; you do realize that?” As cute as the Phecda twins were, the goddess was no fool and knew that her siblings were mischievous little buggers, prone to playing hide-and-seek around the dangerous parts of Stratum, unleashing tricks at very inappropriate of times and finally, sneaking out of classes they found boring. She shot them a stern look, just for emphasis.
Phecd-A and Phecd-B just smiled back. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye!” they both chanted, tiny halos practically appearing above their thick, blonde hair.
“We sat through the lesson, we did.” Phecd-A started.
“Sister Mizar told us she would give us treats if we behaved…” Phecd-B continued.
“…so we studied hard, and got lollies at the end…”
“…they were really delicious! You can go and check with her, she’ll tell you everything. Then we came here because we were bored and we felt a visitor arrive.”
“Oh.” Faust said curtly, nodding in the direction of the blanked-eyed unicorn. Despite the fact that the alicorn was radiating sheer power just by standing on the spot, the unicorn did not tremble nor pay attention. Being divine creatures, the two twins were also unaffected by the raging maelstrom, but this was because they too possessed an extreme amount of power that countered the effect. “I see that the two of you have met our guest.”
“Yeah.” The smile dropped from Phecd-B’s face. She frowned, and said, “The unicorn’s mean, unlike you sister. She let us have her crown, but she’s still mean because she won’t talk to us.”
“She lent you two her crown?” Faust said with suspicion, frowning a little. The regal ornament sitting on top of Phecd-B’s head, she observed, was exactly like how Benetnasch had described it: gold, cracked and with a six-pointed jewel. There was also something else about it; a trace of power that hinted of a great force when its horned owner had been alive, but was now weakened and almost useless. “I find that rather surprising, considering that she cannot talk. Did you take it without her permission?”
“Well…” Phecd-B said weakly.
“It’s because she didn’t talk to us. We were only going to borrow it for a while and then give it back once she asked, honest. We didn’t intend to keep it, sister Faust.” Phecd-A explained, hoping to the stars that their equine sister would accept his explanation and let go without any punishment. Faust was infamous amongst the Stratum for her strictness.
Faust sighed. “I see. Hand it over to me; I’ll make sure it’ll be returned back to its rightful owner.”
Grudgingly, Phecd-B took the chunk of gold off her messy blonde nest and tossed to the red-haired alicorn, who caught it with her magic the moment it nearly connected with her chest.
“Sister Faust, do you why the unicorn isn’t speaking to us?” Phecd-A asked, “Phecd-B and I tried to get her to play with us, but she didn’t respond and we really want her to play with us.”
“It’s because she’s suffering from a bout of trauma. Once I talk to her she’ll be fine again. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to play with her.” Faust replied gently. She knew from expertise that the twins always fell into gloom when they couldn’t play with anyone new. She was correct.
“But, why?” Phecd-A whined.
“Yeah, how come?” his feminine twin demanded, voice high.
“Where do I start? Firstly, she is dead.” Apparently the notion of their new ‘playmate’ being dead was something new; the two twins exchanged shocked glances. They had never had a dead friend before. Divine ones yes, but never dead ones. Eyes wide, they stared at their sister. “She is a lost soul, having briefly wandered around the land of the deceased before somehow ending up in the Akasha Stratum. If you have been paying attention to your lessons, and I sincerely hope that you have…” Faust’s voice trailed off warningly, to which the two twins gulped before giving the alicorn nervous smiles.
“We’ve been playing attention!”
“Yeah!”
“…you will know this signifies that she is special; a lost soul holding a great amount of power for a mortal. Like both of you, I am curious as to why she managed to make her way to the Stratum, and to find out I must talk to her. Unfortunately, this conversation must be conducted in private, which means that both of you will have to leave.”
Both twins gave audible groans, before muttering childish curses under their breaths. Although their words were angry, Faust could tell that both them were genuinely sad. Feeling the tiniest bit of sorry for them, she activated her magic and affectionately ruffled their hairs. It helped; Phecd-B smiled a little, while her male counterpart grimaced and rubbed his forehead (“Stop it, sis…”).
“Why don’t you two play with Benetnasch?” Faust suggested. With her magic, she projected a magical bubble in the air, showing an image of the cloaked man sitting on a table in the library, rapping on his forehead with a pencil. His boredom was so apparent that even the twins picked up on it. “As you can see, he’s free. I’m sure he would be happy to accompany you two for a while.”
“Really?” Phecd-A cried, now happy again. Benetnasch was a great playmate. He would often help them reach the cookie jar on the highest shelf of the pantry. “Do you think so, sister Faust?”
Faust forwarded them an amused look. “Why don’t you two go and ask?” She pointed her two wings, magnificent feathered pieces of muscle that had experienced aeons of training and good care, at the door, where the grand hallways of the Akasha Stratum invited themselves enticingly. The twins lit up instantly.
“Super special awesome Phecda twins of the Ursa Major go!” A leap and a bounce, and the two twins were charging down the hallway, footsteps loud and emotions gleeful. Within seconds, they had disappeared in the direction of the library. Faust smiled again and shook her head. Her two little siblings were a real handful with their overexcited and hyperactive natures, but the cheerfulness and joy they brought into the Stratum more than made up for it.
Her expression hardened the moment she remembered why she was here. The guest was waiting, and Faust seethed internally. She knew exactly why that unicorn was here, and she was positively furious. It wasn’t because the foal had entered the Stratum without permission; all guests did that. No, there was a far greater, more personal reason for why the Almighty Goddess was so angry.
She strode towards the unicorn, hooves quaking across the pearl-white tiles. Somewhere in the universe, a planet cracked and disintegrated.
“So,” she growled, staring down at the guest., noting that Benetnasch’s analysis had been spot on. It was quite astonishing how much the goddess now resembled a vicious, rampaging dragon, “You’re here.”
Despite the sheer amount of force pouring from the alicorn’s body, filling the room with an enormous killing intent, the unicorn still ignored the goddess’s words and continued to stare blankly at the wall.
“The Elements of Harmony failed to activate. Nightmare Moon defeated its bearers. Equestria has been covered in eternal night.” Faust’s words were as icy as a ten-ton glacier submerged in deep, cold seawater. Unlike some of her siblings, her anger was sharp and harsh, reminiscent of a knife silently slicing through raw flesh. It had the quality of freezing the receiver on the spot, rendering them unable to do anything besides suffer the wrath of the goddess. “You, on the other hoof, are—”
“I know.”
Faust’s words caught in her throat as she abruptly realized the unicorn had just spoken. The voice was utterly flat, no emotion behind it whatsoever. The foal was still staring, unblinking, at the wall. There was a brief pause before Faust regained control of her speech.
“What did you just say?” she snapped venomously.
“I know that I’m dead.” This time, the unicorn turned and faced the Almighty Goddess. Faust was mentally struck by how empty the foal’s eyes were. No joy, no sadness, no regret nor anger; they were mu. It was like staring into straight into a black hole; dark, endless and unable to look away. “I know I failed my country. I know it’s become shrouded in eternal night; and that Nightmare Moon is now Equestria’s queen. I saw all consequences of my loss the moment I died. You don’t have to tell me twice.”
Faust drew a deep breath. She was much more furious now, and was sorely tempted to vaporise the foal on the spot. One concentrated burst of solar energy, and she would not have to deal with the insolent fool ever again. Only millennia of royal discipline and a quick reminder of her duties prevented her from doing so.
“Then, you are no doubt aware that Princess Celestia is dead.” Faust paused. “My daughter is dead, and she’ll never return. My other daughter committed deicide by slaying her, and plunged Equestria into chaos and destruction. Because you failed in your duties, my homeworld was destroyed, eldest daughter slain and the youngest damned to eternal punishment. Tell me foal, what do you have to say for yourself?”
The unicorn just shrugged and continued to stare at the wall. “What should I say, or do? Sob my eyes out? I already did that. Beg for your forgiveness? I’m a dead mare, with no hope of salvation. Punish myself for my failure? I can’t think of any ways to make the pain I feel even worse, and torturing myself is a waste of time, as it won’t fix my mistake instantly. No, the only option I have is to do nothing and wait until I pass into the afterlife. I don’t even know why I’m here, sitting in this divine plane.”
Earlier, Faust had put on a calm and rational façade around Benetnasch and the Phecda twins, as she detested the idea of unleashing her anger on people who had no idea about her personal problems. Her family had nothing to do with Celestia’s death, and they did not deserve to suffer the Almighty Goddess’s wrath. But now, alone, she was literally shaking with rage. Her enmity was pouring out of her heart like a leaking dam, devastating the air with her power.
How dare she…how dare she shame the memory of my precious daughter by sitting there, drenched in her own apathy, uncaring about the state of her own home!
She wanted nothing more to punish the unicorn for eternity; to fling her into the deepest corners of the underworld and let her pay for her actions.
But, a rational voice said in the back of the alicorn’s mind before she lashed out, the foal is correct. There really is nothing she can do. Do not forget your purpose, former queen of Equestria.
Faust stopped dead in her tracks. As much as she hated to admit it, the little voice was right. Destroying the foal’s soul would do nothing to fix the problem Nightmare Moon had wrecked across her kingdom. No, she reminded herself, violence was not the solution here.
What would Celestia do?
The akashic records had told her the future of Equestria. She could read them because was a goddess, existing beyond time and space. Her eyes had seen tales of conquest, war, famine and ultimately death; and they had disgusted her.
No. the voice spoke up again, You cannot allow Equestria to fall into ruin. It’s already bad as it is. Calm yourself, Almighty Goddess. Remember why you are here.
Faust forced herself to calm down—not an easy task. Her emotions were tumbling and mixing inside of her: sadness at Celestia’s death, anger at Nightmare Moon for deicide and dragging Equestria into ruin, rage at the foal for her apathy (even though there was a good reason) and loathing towards herself for allowing events to transpire this way. After many, many deep breaths, the number of which she had lost count, her heart had stopped beating like a hyperactive hummingbird and she strode over to the unicorn.
“Listen, you foal. I am only going to say this once.”
The unicorn just looked up again, not a hint of interest displayed on her blank features. “What?”
“There is a way for you to go back and save Equestria. What do you make of that?”
For an instant, Faust noticed a spark of light igniting inside of the foal’s eyes. Then, as quickly as it disappeared, it was snuffed out and the foal resumed to staring at the wall. “You lie.” She said softly, with a hint of what may have been animosity. "There is no way."
Faust scowled, “Do you know who I am, child? I am the Almighty Goddess, mother of Princess Celestia, conqueror of life and death. Do not think that returning a deceased soul to the mortal plane is beyond me. I created death in your world; I know everything about it.”
“If you know so much about death, why don’t you send Princess Celestia to save Equestria, then?” the foal said listlessly. “She’s stronger than I am.”
“Because my daughter has already passed onto the afterlife. Dead souls cannot be returned if they have resigned themselves to the ultimate end. Even a creator such as I is bound by her own rules. Now, I will ask you again. I am offering a chance for you to go back to save Equestria. An exact replica of your body will be created for your soul to inhabit. The process, however, will be painful and it may backfire on you. If it does, you will spend ten thousand years in limbo, before forced into reincarnation. Do you accept my terms?"
The unicorn swiveled her head and gazed into the Almighty Goddess’s eyes for the longest time, not saying a single word. Unwilling to back down, Faust simply glared back. She had almost believed that the unicorn’s silence meant no, and was just about to resign and condemn the foal to true death, until she saw the mare’s mouth move.
“I can’t tell if you are lying or not. I’ve thought about it, and it doesn’t matter anyway. This is either an illusion or real life.” The unicorn said, words soft as ever, “If your words are true, return me back to life. The thought sounds appealing, I have to admit.”
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, then. We shall begin.” Faust horn glowed and she shot the unicorn with a beam of divine energy. The results were instantaneous. The unicorn howled in agony, uncharacteristic in comparison to her early silence, as her soul rapidly decomposed into individual spiritual molecules, transposing her into a cloudy mass suspended in thin air. The crown followed suit.
Another ray of energy hit the floor, and a portal appeared. The molecules floated downwards into a dark, endless pit, and the portal sealed up as quickly as it had appeared.
It was over.
Faust panted and gasped. Sweat was pouring down her brow. Creating life from scratch, even a relatively simple type as such an empty body, was never an easy task. To top it off she had willed herself to remove the unicorn’s apathy and uncaring nature, despite the extra effort. An emotionless fool would never be able to restore Equestria, a land once full of happiness and kindness.
Despite herself, the goddess found herself speaking in the empty room. “Good luck, foal. You will need it…”
XXX
“Wake up, little pony.”
Her eyes snapped—no, hammered open. What…what happened?
A white palace, a goddess, falling down into a pit and drawing blood, losing unconsciousness…that was what had happened. Twilight blinked and reasserted her senses.
Right now, she was in an unfamiliar place with nothing she knew in sight. This was rather terrifying.
It was dark. The pitch blackness spread everywhere, but Twilight could see them clearly—a small human boy with long blonde hair, and a human woman dressed in black. A thick veil covered her face. None of it made sense—most of all the fact that the overwhelming darkness was so intense she couldn’t see any part of herself, yet she could still see the duo in front of her.
Are those humans? Aren’t they just little filly tales? To think that they actually exist…
The human boy whispered something to the woman. Twilight had no clue what he was saying, but from the way the woman’s mouth upturned into a malicious smirk, she began to worry.
“Young foal,” the woman said, “It pleases me to inform you that my master has chosen to give you a gift.”
“A…a gift?” Twilight croaked out the words. Her throat was on fire. Everything hurt.
“Yes. A very rare gift. The almighty Goddess has decided to give you a second chance, as you already know. Our master had offered to help; he has taken quite an interest in you.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
“Who…are you? Where am I? And what’s this…gift?”
“Please don’t move. This will be a trifle unpleasant.”
“Wait, you didn’t answer my questions!”
The woman came towards Twilight, and with a surprising amount of strength, pinned Twilight down on the dark ground.
Despite herself, Twilight was stunned. Are all humans this strong?
Her strength was powerful or her weight was incredible—Twilight couldn’t tell, but she was completely immobilized. But her mouth still moved, and she could still see the little boy walk over to her, stand over her body…
He held out a long centipede like insect, with the biggest pincers she had ever seen.
“Wha…what’s that?” Twilight gasped.
“Don’t worry, the pain will be over soon.” The woman said soothingly. It did nothing to quell Twilight’s rapidly rising fears.
“What are you going to do to me?” Twilight shouted, “Let me go!”
“You cannot survive in your world the way you are now. It has changed for too much for your liking. You must become a demon. Now, just lie still for a moment please.”
It took several precious seconds for the woman’s words to register in Twilight’s brain, for her to figure out what the human had just said to her.
You must become a demon.
A demon.
You must become one.
You must become a monster.
…no…
NO.
“NO!” Twilight shrieked. Her body kicked into overdrive. She did not want to become a demon! She went berserk—she screeched, she thrashed, she bit, she kicked, she flailed and her strength increased a millionfold as she tried to escape. Everything in her body was rebelling against the human woman.
She tried to throw the woman off with her magic, only to find that it didn’t work. She couldn’t feel the familiar buzz of the energy running through her horn, solving all of her problems in an instant.
My magic! What’s going on? Why is this happening to me?
“Noooo! NO NONONONONO!” Twilight repeated the word over and over again, as if it could get her out of this situation, as though it was a magic key that could get her out of this predicament. “No, no, no! I won’t let you make me a demon! I won’t! I won’t!”
The blonde haired boy, who had been silent for all this time, finally made of noise. It was a snort, a cough of amusement. “Didn’t you want to save your home? Well, this is how. I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.” He smirked.
This…this isn’t happening! This isn’t really happening, it’s just a nightmare. A really vivid nightmare, but still a nightmare.
But even in her nightmares, Twilight didn’t want to become a demon. The idea went against everything she knew. Nightmare Moon was a demon, and she had destroyed her life! There was no way Twilight becoming as bad as the heretic princess! She continued to fight them, but this only made the woman hold her down tighter, immobilising her legs so that all she could do was attack them with her voice, using offensive slogans that would’ve made the nobles of Canterlot faint with shock.
“You…how dare you! I am Princess Celestia’s personal student! She will smite you down for this!”
“Princess Celestia is dead.” The woman said, “You already know that.”
When that didn’t work, she tried pleading for herself, for her life and her status as a pony. “Please…please don’t do this…I don’t want to be a demon…please!”
“Don’t move.” The woman stated, ignoring Twilight’s pleas. Twilight didn’t listen, she continued to thrash around. Normally she wasn’t like this, but now she was completely helpless. So far, anger, pleading and begging hadn’t work; she had to think of something fast.
But the woman’s strength was overwhelming—she couldn’t move. All Twilight could do was watch as the awful parasite flailed above her in the air, held by the young boy, its gigantic sharp mandibles snapping in anticipation.
“PRINCESS CELESTIA! PRINCESS CADENCE! ANYPONY, HELP ME!” Twilight screamed out their names, the crushing sense of hopelessness weighing down on her soul.
“Somepony…please…help me…anypony…”
“We are.” The woman told her.
Then the young boy let the centipede go. It was falling towards her, cartwheeling through the air as though in slow motion, doing two full rotations as it came closer and closer to her.
It landed on her face. It felt cold and clammy, like an iceblock with one hundred legs. It was scuttling, sniffing across her nose, trying to seek out something but she didn’t know what. It wasn’t very big, only about ten centimetres, at the longest, but its gigantic mandibles were incredibly sharp and it was coming up to her right eye, so she was getting a good look at them—
“AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”
And now it was biting into her eye. Its pincers were biting it, tearing off chunks out of it and she screamed murder because IT WAS DIGGING INTO HER EYE. Her head flew back and slammed against whatever it hit and she howled, howled until she was running low on oxygen and it turned into a high-pitched squealing.
I’m…I’m shrieking like a little filly…Rainbow Dash would have a field day with this. Said a tiny part of her brain that was strangely rational about the whole thing.
She was crying now, crying with her good eye, and silently begging for the princess to help her. She tried to wipe at her tears with her hoof, but her legs were pinned down to her sides. She tried to wriggle her head left and right but it had little effect other than giving her a debilitating headache. She kept on screaming, as the centipede burrowed further until it had burrowed through her eye, and until she couldn’t see through it.
She wailed with renewed vigour at the horrible, unspeakable, unforgettable, excruciating agony.
There was pain in her mouth, just as there was pain anywhere else, and the dimly rational part of her mind informed her that she had bitten her tongue clean in half, so that was rendered mute as well as half blind.
She was convulsing, still shaking. Ever part of her was opening wide in horror, but she was too preoccupied to notice. She couldn’t breathe. She was dying, down her neck and into her hooves, and her mouth screeched incoherently as she tried to will herself to die, to sleep, to just let this pain to end.
But it wouldn’t happen. She was wide awake.
Her strength and her soul were flowing out of her. Everything was flowing out of her. Her identity, personality, magic and mind…it was all leaving with her increasingly desperate gasps for air. She was dying. The pain would end, everything would stop and the nightmare would be over.
She didn’t know when she lost unconsciousness. She was unaware that her old self was now gone from the world, just as the world had gone from her. She had flowed out of her body, leaving an empty shell that writhed, gurgled and finally…
Transformed…
After it was all over, the two figures stared down above her, their expressions unreadable.
“Looks like a success.” The old woman said to the young boy, “I never doubted you, young Master. It’s clear that you can see something in her that the others cannot, least of all that abominable heretic. Let us leave her here. Her trial begins now…”
The boy looked up at the woman, and whispered something into her ear.
“Yes, I agree. We must move quickly, or everything will be delayed…”
She looked down at the pony in front of her, knowing that right now, Twilight was in her nightmares.
“Sleep well, young foal. My master expects great things of you…”
XXX
She was falling again. She couldn’t see anything but dizzying brightness, couldn’t hear nor speak over the rush of the air. The source of the light was above her, pulsating in time with her beating heart.
You who have returned from death into life, show me your soul.
Her body was burning up, searing hot and images began to flash in front of her. A mare and a stallion. A brother. A group of friends. A beloved mentor. A home.
“What…what are these?” she whispered.
There is no need for you to have such useless memories. Therefore, they shall be removed.
In an instant, the images disappeared and she could not recall that they had ever existed. Her old life was flowing away from her. Everything she had once knew, was gone.
…This is unacceptable. You have nothing in your heart, not even a hint of reason.
“…a reason? What are you saying?”
For one who is destined to change the world, this must be remedied.
Darkness erupted through her. She was diving into blackness and pain.
Go! Explore this world divided between equine and demonkind. Find your true self…
A crash landing, and then there was silence…
XXX
…
…
…
The mare awoke with a debilitating headache. It was so painful, that she felt obliged to write a report to the princess explaining the concepts of pain, its purpose in the equine nervous system and why it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences in existence.
Her next thought was: what’s a princess? ‘What’s my name?’ came soon after. Something to do with the stars, her mind conjured. It had something to do with the night, the day and the heavenly beings above.
She sat up and her nerves went haywire, forcing electrical needles through every inch of her system.
“Ow…” she groaned, rubbing her aching skull. What did this all mean? Where was she? Who was she?
She looked at the area around her. For a moment, her brain projected a vision of a magnificent library, rows and rows of books neatly stacked together like toy soldiers, their almost infinite sum of knowledge waiting for her to consume. The image quickly disappeared. The walls were stone and the room was large. It was dark. A ray of moonlight peeked through an ancient, open window. The ugly scent of dust filled the dry air.
She was standing on top of a stone platform, six granite orbs placed around her in a neat semi-circle. Something glinted out of the corner of her eye, and with her new-found curiosity, she swooped down to check.
Nothing. There was nothing lying at the nearest stone orb. The mare eyelids opened and closed like shutters, visibly confused. Before she could stand up again, she heard the sound of a throat clearing. Curious yet again, she turned around…
…and came face to face with a ghost, who was staring at her. “Wow. You finally woke up. Didn’t think you would.”
The mare blinked, and stared back. It wasn’t everyday that you saw a ghost. “What?”
The ghost floated in front of her, pegasi wings flapping and the silver earring hooked onto its left air dangling around as it watched her look straight ahead with a blank expression. “I said, you finally woke up. You’ve been asleep for seven years straight, hardly moving a single muscle. I would know; I’ve been stuck in this castle for that long.”
A brief moment of silence, before the mare cocked her head and blinked yet again. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”
The ghost rolled its eyes and rapped the side of its earring-less ear, with an expression that was more or less a gigantic neon sign displaying, ‘ARE YOU DEAF?’
“Is it a new trend for demons to have blocked ears, or what? Geez, you’re one annoying unicorn. I said, you’ve been asleep for seven years, I’ve been stuck in this castle because my soul is rooted here and…”
“No no no,” the mare clarified, waving her front hooves around. “I’ve been asleep for seven years? And I’m in a castle? And you mentioned something about a demon?”
“To answer your questions, yes, yes and yes.” The ghost said tiredly. “By the way, every time I poked you a magical force-field would erupt around you and shock me in the scrotum. Afterwards, I stopped doing that. But I sure as hell am annoyed about it!”
“Okay, I understand that.” The mare continued, her face betraying her complete ignorance towards the ghost’s irritation.
“But where’s the demon?”
There was a long pause. The ghost floated forward and poked a hoof straight at the mare’s chest. “Right here.”
A slow, numb feeling rose up inside her stomach. Her pupils shrunk and she gasped. Taking a few steps back, she tripped over one of the stone orbs and banged her head against the hard wall, thus meeting her old friend the headache. The
ghost couldn’t help smirking. After all this time, finally some revenge. “You mean I’m the demon?” she gasped.
“Yup.”
The mare’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. She trembled a little, frowned and the ghost thought she was on the verge of bursting into tears and galloping around like a sissy, which would be a very unusual and humiliating thing to do for a demon.
All of a sudden, her facial muscles relaxed and it was back to the blank, half-sleepy expression the ghost had gotten to know so well. He groaned internally. “Oh, okay then.” The pony stated, “I thought I was a mare, not a demon. Confirmation is nice.”
“Well, it kinda hard to not see as you as a demon when you keep muttering ‘my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am a demon’ in your sleep.”
“…I said all of that in my sleep? Is Twilight Sparkle my name?” the mare questioned.
“Apparently so. What else could it be?”
“Twilight Sparkle. I like it.” the newly christened Twilight Sparkle said, tapping her hoof against the hard floor. Dust scattered and floated about in the air. “And I’m a demon, too.”
“Yes, demons exist in this world now. What, were you living under a rock through the apocalypse?”
“…apocalypse?”
“You know, the heretic princess returning from the moon, the deicide of the sun goddess, demons eating ponies, chaos reigning across the land and whatnot?” Then the ghost slapped himself. “Oh yeah, you were asleep for seven years.” He growled sarcastically. “My bad.”
“…sorry.”
“Whatever. Well, since you’re all new and all, let me be the first to welcome officially welcome you to this night-shrouded excuse of a world. Have a nice stay, see the sights, maybe eat a few demons while you’re here, perhaps even bring back a souvenir or two. Just don’t stand around pestering with questions. Luna, I already know you for two minutes and I think I want to punch you in the face. If eternity was gonna be like this I would’ve done more with my life…”
“Ah.” Twilight Sparkle said with an air of realization. “You’re dead.”
“You only just realized that? Christ, I didn’t think anything would be that stupid!” The ghost ripped his earring off in irritation and flung it towards a barricaded double door. It bounced off and reappeared in his hoof, undamaged. “Look, there’s the exit. If you want to get out, to which I suggest you do because it will benefit the both of us, then go through there.”
“Um, alright then.” Twilight Sparkle said. “I don’t really have much to do anyway, and I wonder if there are other ponies out there…
“Good luck with that.” The ghost snorted, gliding out of the way to allow the newly-christened Twilight to trot away, “Well, nice knowing you…”
Twilight was already gone, ripping open the door and walking through it. The ghost watched in disdain as it slammed shut in front of him.
“…you weirdo.”
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Author's Notes:
Well, here it is: a story about ponies and demons that takes place in a different universe from the mainline Shin Equus Tensei. Shin Equus Tensei: Episode One was closer to the Persona and Devil Survivor games in terms of content, which isn't necessary a bad thing. However, I've been hankering down to write about something more in common with mainstream SMT, something dark and which killing your friends is most likely a necessary thing.
As for the Almighty Goddess character...well, I tried writing her with other names but I found that only 'Faust' fit. Might be a little creepy, but Lauren doesn't read fanfiction, so I'm safe.
Also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-9Wj7kuZtA
I haven't even read it yet, but the simple premise of mixing Nocturne into Equestria, or vice versa, has my attention, I will be making a point of keeping my eye on this, and giving out whatever critique I can think of as I see it.
This Can Be Good, or It Can Be Exceptional.
I hope for the later.
The story has a few instances of missing a word or two, but other than that it's a solid chapter. As a MegaTen fan, it'll be interesting to see where this goes, and how you use the mythos.
Twilight is going to have to kill the rest of the Mane Six isn't she?
Also, "Unparalleled by nobody," is a double negative.
And Patricide is killing your own father. You probably meant deicide.
i was going to joke about your double negatives, but i see everyone else has already.
I don't like the way this story is told, so this is as far as I read.
905367
I'm always open to constructive criticism. Care to explain why?
Well I think there is too much dialogue and too much 'Tell'.
I also think it is a flaw to have important(especially tragic) events happen to a character before you've made the audience care about the character - like this universe's version of Twilight, I don't think any of your readers know her enough to care about the hell you're putting her through.
And I realize this is harsh criticism considering it's just page 1, and I could be judging too early, but the way you decided to open the story, coupled with other little flaws put me off enough to take it off my read-later list.
I see there are people who did like your opening. Good for you, I hope your later pages prove me wrong and I see this on EQD and read the whole thing.
905488
Any constructive criticism is helpful, so thank you!
As for Twilight's tragedy, my intended purpose wasn't to make the readers care about her, something that sort of related to Wangst (look it up on Tvtropes). It was just to set the scene and give the Almighty Goddess a reason to return her to life. Twilight loses her memory anyway, and thus the hell she goes through become pretty obsolete (IMO).
It's still too early in the story to have a real opinion about it, but I can comment on the technical aspects of this. Overall, it's not badly written, but there are enough errors (capitalization and incorrect words mostly) to disrupt immersion. Also a few sentences just didn't make sense to me. Such as: "Unusually, the mare would herself keeping up"
The centipede ate her.... -Sobs in corner-
WHEN I FIND THAT CENTIPEDE!!!!! -Insane Laugh- 
Poor Twilight, she was blamed for failing to accomplish responsibility she never knew about and what was forced upon her, she was blamed for failing to defeat a being far more powerful then her ( it was like, hey you, yes, you, go there and fight a beast 100 times stronger then you, if you succeed I will say thank you for saving country and you can go back to your normal life without any reward, and if you fail, you will die and suffer eternal pain and suffering ).
I totally do not like Faust attitude in this story, if she is so Almighty, why she not deal with Nightmare Moon herself, if she can stop death, why she not stopped Celestia from dying like she is doing now with Twilight, why she is so arrogant to even think of giving innocent Unicorn a eternal punishment and suffering because she failed, when it was her own Daughter who killed Celestia, who killed Twilight and now is threat.
So yea,the way Faust talk with Twilight really annoyed me, Faust gets angry thinking that Twilight is insensitive, when in reality Faust was insensitive to Unicorn feeling's to incredible level.
Very chilling. I enjoyed it very much
The entire Magatama scene from Nocturne being played out with the "victim" actually reacting was very interesting.