The Life of Penumbra Heartbreak

by Unwhole Hole

Chapter 25: A Door Once Opened

The thin mechanical arms retracted, their claws and blades glimmering in the harsh light of magic lamps. Twilight Luciferian sat up as the machines receded and stared into the face of a pale-tan unicorn, one dressed in a coarse brown robe whose face was lined with stress and horror.

“A mirror,” rasped Luciferian. “I need a mirror.”

“Sir, I- -”

“A MIRROR, Lemonleaf. NOW.”

The tan unicorn gulped and lifted a small mirror, as instructed. Luciferian immediately wrenched it away from him with his own magic.

He levitated it in front of his face and looked through. What he saw was dismaying, but expected. A mottled white and violet horn was attached to his forehead, glowing with violet light as he supported the mirror.

Luciferian smiled as he turned his head to see his new horn from multiple angles. “You have done excellent work, Lemonleaf. I suppose your skills apply adequately to the living as well as...well, the not.”

“I was able to connect eighty-seven percent of the nervous structure and confer circulation.” Lemonleaf spoke with confidence, but not arrogance; his time with Necrophilo had taught him well.

“Only eighty-seven?”

“The remainder had inoperable damage. I’m sorry, sir. I can’t work miracles. With the feedback you took- -you are lucky to have survived.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it.” Luciferian stood up, and Lemonleaf’s eyes widened.

“Sir, please! You just had brain surgery- -fully awake- -”

“And you’re wondering how I did it?” Luciferian grinned cruelly. “Is that empathy? Thinking to yourself how painful that surgery would be, how agonizing it must have been?” Luciferian chuckled. “Let me tell you a secret. This isn’t the first time. I’ve reconnected ALL of my nerves three times. Whenever I move to a new clone. The horn alone is trivial in comparison.”

Luciferian pushed past the younger unicorn and headed for the door. As he did, he stopped, looking at one corner of the room. Failure was lying in a pool of silver, slowly sobbing and clutching her forehead.

“Well, look at the newly-minted earth-pony! And here I thought you couldn’t get even MORE disgusting.”

“Daddy...” whimpered Failure. “My...my horn...”

“It is not YOUR horn!” snapped Luciferian. “No part of you is YOURS! I created you, you belong to ME!” He raised his hoof to stomp on her, but a better idea occurred to him.

Luciferian lowered his hoof and turned to Lemonleaf. “You see it too, don’t you?”

“Sir?”

“Look at her.” Luciferian grabbed Failure by the hair and lifted her, causing her to squeak. “LOOK AT HER. She was supposed to be perfect and pure, a new vessel to contain me.” He threw Failure back onto the floor and wiped his hoof on the wall. “But the spell to make them doesn’t work indefinitely. This one came out WRONG. Disgusting. NOT WHITE. Not white at all...and missing a chromosome.”

“I’m sorry, daddy,” whispered Failure. “I’m sorry I can’t be perfect.”

“Stop talking. I can’t bear the sound of your voice.” Luciferian slowly walked toward Lemonleaf, barely able to partially contain his laughter. “I let this one develop completely. Out of pure curiosity. Let it form a mind of its own. And just as I thought, it came out weak. Impure. Pointless. But...” He pointed to his horn with his violet-mottled left front leg, “...useful for certain things.”

“Yes sir,” said Lemonleaf. “The weak do not deserve a place among the great.”

“I am glad you understand, Lemon. Necrophilo never saw your potential. He threw you away when you failed to equal him. But I can see the value of inferiors. I knew you were special when you dared to challenge me- -and still held loyalty to the mentor who rejected you. I knew that you would make an adequate apprentice.”

“Yes, sir.” Lemonleaf bowed. “I am forever in your debt. And I will serve you until the end.” He looked up, and, taking a risk, added, “or until I surpass you.”

“The code of the purebloods. Even if your blood is tainted with colored genes, you have the right spirit.” Lucifarian’s horn glowed, and across the room a table collapsed as he ripped one of the thick oaken legs off of it. He held it out to Lemonleaf, and Lemonleaf took it, clearly confused.

“Sir, what is this for?”

Luciferian stepped to the side and pointed at Failure, who looked up, her eye wide, knowing what was coming. “She disgusts you too, doesn’t she? So go over there and give her what she deserves. For being WEAK. For being a FAILURE. For being COLORED. Prove to me that you and I understand one another.”

Lemonleaf’s eyes widened. “Sir, is that really- -”

The smile vanished from Luciferian’s face. “We have not even started lessons, and you’re already willing to quit? Are you going to be that much of a disappointment, Lemon?

“N- -no, sir. I will not.”

Lemonleaf took a deep breath and steeled himself. Then he slowly began to approach Failure.

She did not run, or retreat, or even recoil. She had lived within this tower for the entirety of her life, however many decades or centuries- -or months- -that had been. She knew that there was nowhere to escape, and that trying to run only made the beatings worse.

Yet she kept staring, her eye following Lemonleaf with every step, not even blinking. It was maddening staring into that almond-shaped, violet eye. It was Luciferian’s eye, and yet not; it was not tinged with madness or hatred. It was tinged with something else, and Lemonleaf felt himself overwhelmed with pity- -and inexplicable fear.

He finally stopped and stood over her. He raised the chair-leg over his head, his magic shaking. She looked up at him, and Lemonleaf suddenly understood. She KNEW. That it was not Luciferian who had taken her horn- -it had been HIM.

Lemonleaf lowered the club. “Sir...”

“Beat the pony, Lemon. Beat the pony NOW.”

Lemonleaf held the chair leg and took a breath. He knew it had to be done. If he stopped here, he would never advance. All he had worked for would end without a mentor. Necrophilo had rejected him- -he would not allow Luciferian to do the same. Not over a clone failure like this.

And yet tears were running down his face as he raised the chair leg once again. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m sorry!”

“I don’t blame you,” said Failure, softly. “Don’t worry about me. I’m used to it.”

Lemonleaf raised the club. Failure sighed and closed her eyes. Lemonleaf closed his as well. He could not bear to see what he was about to do.

And he dropped the chair leg. It clattered to the ground.

“Sir. I can’t. I just can’t do this.”

Failure gasped, both terrified- -and amazed at the first kindness she had ever been shown in her entire leaf. “Mr. Lemon, no! You can’t!”

“Sir,” said Lemon, turning slowly. “She’s your daughter- -”

“EX CRUCIO.”

Luciferian’s spell struck Lemonleaf’s chest, and he immediately screamed as he was engulfed in pink lightning. He fell to the ground, convulsing in agony as the lightning wormed its way into his skin and nerves and into his very being.

“I did NOT waste my time to create TWO failures,” said Luciferian, looming over the unicorn. “And I will NOT tolerate it. Think on this for an hour or so. If you aren’t insane when I come back, we can try again.”

Luciferian turned and left the room. Lemonleaf had ceased screaming, but was still wracked with pain on the floor, weeping through his groans as the pain spell engulfed him.

As soon has she saw her father had left, Failure stood and grabbed onto Lemonleaf. “Why?” she said, tears running down her own face for a reason she could not understand. “Why did you do that? You can’t disobey him, it only makes things worse!”

“It hurts!” gasped Lemonleaf, curling into the fetal position. “It hurts so much!”

Failure hugged him tightly, trying to slow the convulsions. “I know. I know, but listen to me. You have to listen! The pain will stop. It’s bad now, but it WILL stop.”

“But it hurts so much, I can’t take it- -”

“You have to!” Failure held him. “I know from experience. Don’t worry, I’m here. I won’t leave you until it’s over. And it will be over soon, I promise.” She looked up toward the door that Luciferian had exited through. “All our pain will be over soon.”

The efficiency of the link was poor. Luciferian had his magic back, but the link was tenuous. This was an area of inquiry that had rarely been studied in detail, mostly because the techniques involved had not existed until he had invented them. The only solution, therefore, was to attempt to find information on the subject- -by looking in a book.

Luciferian immediately went to his library and collected a stack of tomes. Before he could even read through the third, though, he sensed something disturbing.

“Ha,” said the demon, who was standing inverted on his ceiling. “You got beat by a widdwe pwincess. What a shmuck.”

“I am trying to READ,” he said through gritted teeth. “Do not distract me!”

“Giving orders now,” she said, appearing on top of his table and striking a pose that might have been cute had she not been an unholy abomination. “Hilarious.”

Luciferian closed his book. “I have encountered a setback.”

“I know. I was there for that part. Literally. And it’s a little more than a ‘setback’.”

“I never do anything without contingencies.”

“You know what they say about the plans of mice and mares. And you’re totally Sombra’s mare now. Or the princess’s...s.” She shrugged and rolled off the table, appearing at Luciferian’s side. “You can’t go back to the Crystal Empire.”

“Not immediately, no, but I have expected something like this to happen for some time. I have embedded contacts. You know that.”

“Contacts that you can’t keep control of.”

“I don’t need ‘control’, just a back door to return should I need it.”

“Going in the back door is always my favorite.”

Luciferian walked away from the desk and began to pace through the library. It was the place where he always did his best thinking.

“In some ways, this is actually an advantage,” he realized. “Working in the shadows is slow. It requires a delicate touch.”

“You can touch me delicately. Or hard. I kind of prefer the second one.”

Luciferian ignored her, as well as the ever-growing pain in his left front leg. “All that matters is that Sombra is overthrown. I can still do that as an open enemy. Except then it will be conquest.”

“And you don’t need the princess.”

Luciferian stopped. “No,” he said, slowly. “Not technically. But the prophecy is still valid.” A smile crossed his face. “Maybe I was thinking too small. Using her as a tool to gain the thrown...but I made an invalid assumption. That she has no power.” He pointed to his horn. “I am the greatest pureblood ever to live, and she did THIS to me. Imagine what I could do with a being like that, loyally chained to my side. Or...” His joy grew, “what I could LEARN. If I could understand how her power works, through careful study...”

“...of her supple princess body and long, hard horn...”

“I could apply it to MYSELF. If I had that power...” He laughed. “Why, even Celestia couldn’t stop me!”

The demon’s face darkened- -yet her smile persisted. “Even though you already have MY power?”

Luciferian’s left front leg suddenly burned intensely, and he cried out. He grasped it, only to realize to his horror that it was becoming increasingly yellow- -and that the growth of the foreign tissue had passed the surgical connection onto his own skin.

“But that...that’s not possible...”

“You thought you could trick me,” said the demon, smiling even more widely. “I almost manifested. But you stopped me.”

Luciferian glared at her, and then smiled. “Because I’m still in control. Pride is a sin, demon. Remember, I summoned you as a servant. You are nothing more than a power battery for my spells. I do not need to manifest you. Not completely.”

“Because you know the consequences? But do you really?”

The smile fell from Luciferian’s face as the demon walked to a table containing a vase filled with magical flowers.

The demon leaned against the table. “Whoops.” She slid her hoof across the surface, knocking the vase onto the floor. It shattered and the flowers dissipated.

Luciferian gasped in shock and took a step back. “You’re- -you’re solid! You’ve manifested!”

“You idiot.” She was not smiling. “But what do I expect from a mortal.” She started walking toward him. “Of course I’m solid. I’ve ALWAYS been solid. When I choose to be. I think the princess can even see me. It’s harder to hide from beings without souls, ironically.”

“But I stopped you from manifesting!”

“That isn’t what it means. Why don’t you understand? It’s not hard. I can manifest physically wherever I want. Whenever I want. In any form I choose. And I could do whatever I want. Stack your mares like cordwood? Make your planet’s surface uninhabitable? Sure. Why not. Except that those things are no fun. Except the mares. I would very much like to stack them. But that’s getting ahead of myself.”

“But the spell!” Luciferian looked down at his hoof, checking the markings and circles closely. They were all right, he was sure of it. “It summons a demon familiar- -”

“You believed that because you wanted to believe it. That your own magic, your skill, your stupid smelly BOOKS- -that those things could give you power and control. That knowledge- -that YOU- -actually even matter.” She laughed in his face. “News flash: I’m not actually a demon.”

“But then what are you?” Luciferian shuddered, immediately wishing that he had not asked that terrible question.

“I am the most beautiful pony. Did you not know that I AM GOD?”

Luciferian took a step back. “No- -”

“What you call ‘demons’ are my angels, born from my bottomless womb. To bring my divine light across your world, to show ponies the glorious truth- -of violence, debauchery, and the meaninglessness of their own mortal existences.”

“The Fallen One- -”

“NO.” Her voice boomed, and Luciferian covered his ears in pain, even though the sound was not heard- -nor felt. It was deep within his soul. “There is nothing to fall from. Are you that ignorant? Did you not realize that there is no Heaven? That all souls- -the kind, righteous, depraved, cruel, evil, pure- -that they ALL fall to me, to eternal torment?” She laughed softly, and for a moment Luciferian almost saw here- -not as a beautiful mare, but as a thing with a form too unspeakable to comprehend, marked only by a pair of flaming crimson spheres. He nearly choked as the air around him was replaced with the gasses of decay and the sickening perfume of ten million carnations.

“No- -NO!” he pushed forward toward the impossible mass. “I am a stallion of SCIENCE! There is no devil! You’re trying to TRICK ME!”

“Am I?” She was now leaning on his side, gently stroking his mostly-white mane. “That’s the only question you seem to be interested, isn’t it. Am I?”

Luciferian pushed her away. He almost passed out from touching her; her skin was cold and disgusting, despite looking so pure and beautiful.

“The spell is not yet complete. Whatever you are, I stopped you- -” He cried out as his leg burned from within. “I stopped you!”

“You THOUGHT you could. By using a surrogate limb. Sacrificing flesh that was not yours to sacrifice. But it doesn’t work that way. I can’t help it if you’re stupid. Or maybe you aren’t? Maybe you DO understand?” She took his tattooed and scarred hoof. The pain was searing.

“The spell...the spell...”

“Doesn’t manifest me in a physical sense. I can already do that. It manifests me within YOU.” She stroked the limb, and Luciferian nearly passed out as the runes glowed from within. “Sweet me, it’s tingling my...well...whatever I have,” she gurgled. “That’s more or less up to you. Again, any form you want. Horn, wings, horn...I can do either. Or all three.”

She laughed and released him.

“You see,” she continued. “There’s a reason your father never completed the spell. Because he wasn’t nearly as bold and handsome as you. Also, when it completes, I BECOME you. As in, you cease to exist in any real sense, and I gain absolute control of that adorable little pony body.”

“But why? If you can- -”

The demon jumped onto the table and lay down, crossing her front legs. “Because it’s boring being God. But mortals are so much fun. My favorite thing is to corrupt them. To watch pure, kind souls slowly decay into depravity, making excuses for why it’s justified- -only to see in the end that it never really mattered. To break their souls in the only time of light they have before endless, eternal darkness.”

“I’m not a theologian.”

“Unfortunately. I mean, have you ever corrupted a priest? It’s hilarious! But that’s not the point, stop distracting me. Here’s the honest truth, and I’m not honest very often. Queen of lies and all. It tingles in a bad way. Elements of Harmony and all.” She rolled over onto her back. “I came to you because you were different. A family of dark wizards, evil sorcerers...boring. But YOU were a good pony. A fundamentally pure one. A glorious White Unicorn.”

“I have never claimed to be good. Nor do I have a need to be.”

“But you were! And you are, even if you don’t realize it. You are a vampire, of sorts, and vital blood from a white unicorn would render you immortal.”

“And curse me.”

“Look at you’re leg. You’re cursed pretty bad. But no. You make them anemic but never...you know.”

“That has nothing to do with- -”

“And little Failure. You keep her around. And she isn’t chained in the basement. You let her walk free.” She turned over again. “But I’M the reason you beat her.”

“No, I do that because- -”

“Because you want to? Because of your anger, your hate? The purest virtues of a pony? Look back at your life. There was a time when you could have been good, when you could have pulled House Twilight out of the shadows and rejoined the ranks of the purebloods as its greatest member. But as soon as you took that spell and superseded your father...well….”

“No. No, this was me. ME. You had nothing to do with it, these were my choices- -”

“And when I take you completely, body and soul, you won’t exist anymore. Not as you do now. Your fall will be complete, and I will rule the Crystal Empire. Then together we will sire an endless bloodline of pure, sacred white unicorns- -and I will crush the souls and happiness of each and every one of them across all eternity, until one is born strong enough to finally lift your curse.” She sighed. “Then I’ll probably have lunch. Maybe some beans. Or a salad. Or a BANANA. It’s the evilest food, you know.”

Luciferian looked down at his hoof, at the spell and at the flesh that was not his slowly seeping up into his body. Worse, he could feel it within his mind as well. There were changes at the very edges of his consciousness. Slow changes, but ones that grew closer every second.

“And...and if I don’t manifest you?” he looked up and faced his master. “If I never complete the spell, you can’t manifest.”

“Hmm. True. But not really. You’ve already manifested me, just slowly. You will eventually turn. But I would bet- -and I often bet- -that you will use my power sooner rather than later. And next time you won’t be able to control it. I will devour you in the most pleasurable way possible, and you won’t need to worry about the Crystal Empire anymore…because it will be MINE.”

She jumped from the table and, before he could stop her, kissed Luciferian. Her tongues were long and forked, and amazingly talented- -and tasted like some unspeakable form of chemical decay.

Then she was gone. It had been Luciferian’s first kiss.

Comments

[AppleTank]

ah, the classic "we're all tiny specks"