Author's Note

This chapter mad me cry no matter how many times I read it. I hope it at least makes you shed a tear.

Illusions

"Atrum, do it, now!" Lavey commands.

The demon prince wastes little time as he forms into a black blob of smoke and dives into Cadance's body. Unlike with Shining Armor, she doesn't writhe in agony or contort from the pain, considering she barely has any strength to fight back in the first place. She falls into her husband's hooves, trying her best to stay awake and alive.

Her dead eyes suddenly glow with life as she leaps back onto her hooves, to everyone's shock and surprise. Trying his best to surge mana into the princess’s horn, Atrum manages to reignite the shielding spell, impeding Sombra's advancement and keeping him blocked out in the piercing blizzard.

"Bloody ‘ell," Atrum grunts as he struggles to hold up Cadance's figure. "She's pretty frail and her body is malnourished. Even with me in control, I doubt I'll be able to give her enough strength to keep this spell up for long."

Lavey watches the scene outside with trepidation, knowing their time is running out faster than they can conceive ideas. Suddenly, Twilight recollects the reason she came up here in the first place.

"Shining Armor," the young unicorn says in an authoritative tone, "you stay with Cadence—er—Atrum, and try to exchange some of your mana with them." She then turns to Lavey, who looks down at his paramour with desperate expectancy. "Lavey, we're going to go find the Crystal Heart."

"B-but I haven't even properly performed an exorcism yet!" he rebuts. "If I'm going to—"

"Don't worry," Twilight calmly interferes. "I know you can do it, Lavey, but I need you to be with me for this one. King Sombra hid the Crystal Heart away and I'm pretty sure he placed some booby traps somewhere in the castle."

The hybrid looks between his mate, Atrum, Shining Armor, and the fritzing mirage. Between helping Twilight and performing a proper exorcism, he knows which one takes priority over the other. He solemnly nods in compliance, attempting to put on a small smile for Twilight's reassurance.

"Alright!" Rainbow Dash exclaims. "Let's go—!"

"Not you Rainbow," Twilight interrupts. "I need you and everypony else to keep the Faire up and running. "The whole purpose of the Crystal Faire is to power the Crystal Heart. If the Crystal Ponies find out that King Sombra is trying to take over the Empire again—"

"Then their spirits will die out and the Beast will conquer the empire," Lavey finishes solemnly.

"Keep the Crystal Faire going to keep the Crystal Ponies' spirits up, got it!" With that, the pegasus dashes out of the castle to alert the rest of her friends of the new plan.

"Um, Twilight," Spike pipes up. All eyes turn to the little drake hobbling over, who keeps his arms folded across his chest. "I know you might say no but can I tag along?"

Knowing Twilight to be a persnickety pony when it comes to following directions, Lavey fully expects the mare to deny Spike's request. Imagine his surprise when Twilight embraces her assistant and complies with his wishes.

"I'd never leave you behind, Spike," Twilight affirms. "But don't touch anything. Gotta do this on my own."

Though it's nice to have the little drake along for the ride, it still irks Lavey that Twilight still doesn't understand what needs to be done. He keeps quiet, however, as the trio begin their search around the castle, hoping the little unicorn eventually learns a lesson—as he's sure it's Celestia's reason for this excursion.

"The only place King Sombra and the Beast could have hidden the Crystal Heart should be in the castle," Twilight says as she, Lavey, and Spike search around the majestic edifice. "They would have known that the citizens would be too afraid to even step hoof into the castle, since it would have been a literal death sentence."

"And I can tell," the hell-spawn says as he scans the walls and pans his ears around, "there's definitely some odd spells cast upon the castle, though I don't know where."

Spike remains silent while keeping his arms folded to make sure he doesn't interfere in the duo's task. However, Lavey has told Twilight countless times since they've begun their adventure to allow the little dragon to help. After all, Celestia did say it was the duty of them and their friends to save the empire, Spike included.

Lavey searches behind a few paintings or vases for any sign of a trap door or secret passageway, but to no avail. Spike manages to help out as well in secret, just being covered by Lavey whenever Twilight turns back to view the hybrid's progress.

"That's it!" Twilight exclaims in a moment of eureka, startling the dragon and hybrid from their task.

Spike and Lavey poke their heads through the doorway of the throne room as they watch Twilight trot up to the regal seat. She stops just in front of the dais upon which the throne sits upon, eyeing the structure with curiosity while the boys stare at her with befuddlement. They scan the area for any sign of a passageway but there is still nothing to be found. However, Lavey can pick up the hint of a powerful spell in the area.

"What's it?" the prince inquires. "King Sombra's throne?"

"No," Twilight blatantly replies. "Because this isn't King Sombra's castle."

The hell-spawn and dragon look at each other and back at the unicorn with bewilderment.

"But...this used to belong to the king before he succumbed to the Beast's control, was it not?" Lavey asks.

"That's right. It belonged to the kindhearted king before being possessed. The Beast would have a darker castle to rule from, not something this majestic."

Twilight ignites her horn in a magenta aura but, to the boys' surprise, the aura turns as black as night, devouring the protrusion in darkness. As her eyes ignite with purple flames, wild purple and green energy bubble from her horn, which fires off a violent beam of dark magic at the apex crystal on the throne. The gem is engulfed in shadows and spreads a shady projection on the floor that reveals a hidden, spiraling staircase in the middle of the room.

"Thank goodness Celestia taught you that neat spell," Lavey says as he peers down the abyss. He squints his eyes and peers into the hole, noticing a stone foundation at the bottom. "I see a bottom but...I don't know how far it is."

"Do you think you can jump in and see, Lavey?" Twilight asks.

The hybrid shrugs and gets down on one knee to allow the unicorn and drake onto his back. Carefully, he drops into the hole, taking his time by cautiously leaping down the staircase.

As he slowly descends, he senses a strong presence of magic that cause goosebumps to tingle his skin. It feels eldritch and dark but it doesn’t feel like it’s made to physically harm someone. Whatever it is, though, it has 'Beast' written all over it.

At last, Lavey lands at the bottom, allowing his passengers to disembark. There’s nothing interesting in the pit besides a door built into the wall. Twilight slowly approaches it but the door suddenly runs to the opposite side of the wall, leaving the trio flabbergasted. The unicorn runs to the door this time, only for it to evade her again. In her frustration, Twilight fires another dark spell at the crystal on top of the doorway, forcing it to open unto her.

Lavey is confused, as the door reveals a blank wall. However, Twilight and Spike seem to be intently peering into it as if they've found something interesting. What's stranger, they seem to be talking to someone but not to each other and no one is around besides them.

"Guys, are you alright?" the prince asks. Twilight and Spike don't break away from their trance. In fact, they start breaking down on the floor, their heads buried in her hooves and claws. "Guys, snap out of it!"

Lavey turns Twilight and Spike around to face him instead of the blank door. Their watery eyes have a strange green glow while their pupils shimmer like rubies, similar in style to the creature lurking along the perimeter of the kingdom. They shake their heads to clear out the strange thoughts clouding their minds, finally managing to look the hybrid in his worrisome eyes.

"Lavey, what happened?" Twilight groggily asks.

Before answering her, the hybrid embraces her and the drake within a warm hug. "I'm glad you're alright," he says. He slowly pulls his friends away so he can see their confused, tear-stained faces. "What happened to you two? You were just looking at that stone wall like you found something."

They don't answer but look back at the blank face of the wall in confusion. Twilight and Spike remove themselves from Lavey's embrace and stand behind the hybrid, allowing him to look at the blank wall instead.

Confused, Lavey looks at the obstructed doorway to see it shimmering with a blinding light. He closes his eyes and puts a hand up to block the rays but they seem to pierce through his palm and eyelids. As quickly as it came, the illumination recedes, allowing the hell-spawn to see his home in Satan's citadel. However, something feels off...by a few years.

"Mommy?"

A child's voice rings out through the hall, causing Lavey’s hearts to skip a beat. It's been years since he's heard that voice, and yet he's all too familiar with it. Intrigued by the voice, he approaches a familiar, open doorway to take a gander at the events unfolding. As he peeks into a familiar room, his eyes widen in staggering shock at what he sees. He rubs his eyes and pinches himself to make sure he isn't dreaming; how unfortunate that he isn't and this is all real. As he looks upon the events taking place in a child's bedroom, tears begin to well up.

His mother, Lutfana, in all her angelic beauty and kindness, is sitting on the edge of Lavey’s childhood bed, while the young, five-year old hybrid—with little nubs for horns, pure black hair, and a metalhead T-shirt—plays around with his toys to the left of his mother, unaware of the fate his mother is going through right at this very moment.

The angelic figure is undeniably his mother as, even in this strange illusion, her gentle aura is still tangible; it washes over the hybrid like a gentle breeze tingling his skin. She has black hair like a shimmering night sky draping over her shoulders. Her peachy skin is as smooth as silk. Her eye—one severely wounded and covered by a white eye-patch—is like a glistening sapphire that instills peace into the members of her family and those around her, but always shows a bit of cold authority whenever she needs to express it.

An immaculate gown as white as snow covers her beautiful figure. She's nothing to drool over, being an Archangel warrior and Child of Asherah, but she found favor in Satan's eyes and he in hers. It was a match made outside of the known universe or outside of reality, as some used to say.

Her body looks to be in perfect health, but that is merely one of the many benefits of being an angel, since it simply hides the painful truth from those around her. Angels are meant to be immortal beings but only if they bask within the light of God. In Hell, a realm devoid of light and God's grace, she suffers quietly, keeping her loved ones in the dark about her condition until it was too late.

"Mommy, why don't you live with the other angels in Heaven?" young Lavey asks, his juvenile mind still filled with wonder and curiosity.

His mother looks at the child with a compassionate, yet weak gaze, and rests a gentle hand on the back of his head. "Why? Do you want me to leave?" She asks the question so carefreely and loosely with a kind smile, but it stings the present hybrid's heart, knowing the events to come.

As much as he wants to escape, Lavey wants to relive the heartwarming scene once again until it fades into darkness.

"No!" the child whines. He clings onto his mother's waist and hugs her tightly out of fear. "I just asked a question, mama. I don't ever want you to leave!"

"I'm sorry, sweetie," his mother replies as she rests a reassuring arm around her son. "I—COUGH—promise I won't leave."

Present Lavey bites his lower lip in anguish until he draws blood. He tries his best not to shed tears, knowing damn well that he can't do anything about his mother's condition. The beautiful angel's façade is fading quickly and everything she says now is nothing but sweet lies to hide the ugly truth. All he can do is only watch in silent agony as his mother suffers once more.

"Come now, son," a deep, gruff voice calls out next to the present hybrid. "You should know that your mother would never leave you."

A hulking figure enters the room and, where most would bow and tremble in his presence, younger Lavey and his mother smile at him with adoration.

The demon has the curled horns of a ram on the sides of his temple and spiraling antelope horns at the front. His four, glowing, yellow eyes have a piercing calm to them. His face is flat and looks like that of a dragon with an exposed mandible and teeth. His body is like a red, steel wall with an inverted pentagram burned onto his bosom. A massive reptilian tail drags behind him but seems to twitch and move about as if having a mind of its own.

He wears a large, gothic kilt that covers his legs down to his hooves, decorated with metal buckles, skulls, and chains. His left arm is replaced with a silver, robotic prosthetic that hums with the Crown's own demonic energy.

Both Satan and Lutfana earned their injuries from different previous conflicts. Most of their wounds healed or left scars but some never managed to fully recover. Their injuries were never shameful reminders, though; they wear their scars like badges of honor and as reminders of their thrilling encounters.

Satan sits on the bed next to the hybrid, opposite of his wife, and rests his organic hand over younger Lavey's shoulder. "We love you with all our hearts, Lavey. No matter what, we—"

*COUGH* *COUGH*

Lavey's mother begins a terrible coughing fit and the hybrid realizes it's almost time. He tries to turn away to escape this scene but his head doesn't move, neither do his eyes or the rest of his body. He's literally frozen in place as he watches the forlorn memories move forward with no hope of him escaping.

Lutfana attempts to get up from the bed but Satan tries to hold her back. However, she slips from his grasp and takes a few steps to the door; her legs wobbling and frail, about to collapse at any second. She reaches out to hold onto the doorframe but misses completely and bashes her head against the stone frame before crumpling to the floor in harrowing pain. Satan and the younger hybrid run over to the sickly angel in fear and worry, looking to see what's wrong with her. Blood gushes from the wound in her head but only the bone and a bit of underlying tissue manages to regenerate as her body slowly loses strength.

"Mommy? Mommy, what's wrong?" the child asks, completely unaware of what's happening. His young mind is still immature when it comes to death and loss but he will soon learn those difficult lessons. "Daddy, what's wrong with mommy?"

Satan doesn't speak a word but proceeds to pick up the fallen angel in his arms. The Crown rushes out of the bedroom, young Lavey in tow, as they make their way to the medical bay.

Suddenly, the scene shifts, causing a lump of fear to drop into Lavey's gut. He knows just what's about to come so he tries to move again. Still, his muscles won't respond to his commands, forcing him to stay in place as the scene changes to the final moments of his mother's existence.

She lies on her deathbed with her loved ones surrounding her—Satan, Lavey and his many siblings, the other Crowns, and other members of the citadel. Medical equipment measure and survey every detail of her deteriorating health. Her EKG beeps with every beat of her withering heart; slow, weak spikes are represented on the device but slowly erode into small hills with each passing second.

Medical staff do their best to keep Lutfana alive, but to no avail; nothing can impede the illness that plagues her now.

For the first time in Lavey's life, his mother's beauty is no longer present. Her cheeks are sunken in and her bright, peachy skin is dry and leathery with gray patches. Her majestic black hair is thinning out and losing their color to make her seem like a mortal. Her wings are tattered and some of her feathers shed, dissipating into light as they hit the ground. However, despite the pain, despite knowing she's fading from this plane into God knows where, she continues to smile.

"Mama?" young Lavey whimpers as he holds his mother's frail, bony hand. His voice has that clear bit of fear that a child his age shouldn't have. "You said you weren't going to leave. Don't leave, mama!"

Lavey tries to move his legs once more, finally realizing he can at last. Although this is the perfect chance to try and escape this nightmare, Lavey moves closer to his perishing mother instead. He phases through the demons gathered around the angel as if they were specters or holograms, but the hybrid pays it no heed. He finally stands next to his younger self and before his ailing mother, witnessing her final moments.

Lutfana glances over at the weeping child and manages to place a withered finger on his cheek, wiping away a single tear. Cupping the boy's face in his hand, she speaks faintly to reassure him and the rest of the demons she's influenced gathered around her bed.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't plan on leaving any time soon. But please, don't be sad. Always know that I love you and everyone here. You asked why I don't live with your uncles and everyone in Heaven? It's because I couldn't bear to leave my family behind." She closes her eyes and takes a deep inhale before releasing a trembling breath. "The family I was so blessed to have... I wouldn't trade it for anything on Earth or Heaven above.

"In times like this, I am reminded of one of my favorite verses," the angel weakly whispers. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies...and God of all...comfort." With each passing second, her strength grows weaker, causing her to stagger on reciting the scripture.

To everyone's grief, her body begins to fade into particles of light, slowly dragging her into the warm embrace of Death. Her hand goes limp and falls over the edge of the bed as her strength gradually fades. She attempts to finish the verse but her lips only tremble, no words escape. Fortunately, Satan takes up the mantle and finishes it for her.

"Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Amen."

Present Lavey drops to his knees and cups his mother's face one last time in his hand. Her skin is like sandpaper and uncomfortable to the touch; but it's comforting for his heart to feel, nonetheless, in these last agonizing moments. As his mother's body finally dissipates into the atmosphere without a trace, as tears flow from the eyes of both Laveys, the last thing they see before Lutfana finally fades into nothing is her compassionate, angelic smile, which is fragmented into specks of light.

No matter how many times he may replay the moment in his head, it always stabs him in the heart. He buries his face into his hands as he wails in anguish as the scene fades into black. Grief and sorrow plague his mind and heart as the scene is freshly imprinted in his head once again. But now that it's over, he can finally...

"Mommy?"

Lavey chokes back on his tears, stops his sniffling, and slowly lifts his face from his hands to see his bedroom once again. His mother sits on the bed in perfect health despite her being withered and sickly on her deathbed just seconds ago. His eyes widen in terror as the memory plays out once again with his mother losing her composure, fainting from her illness, being taken to the medical bay, and finally passing away all over again until restarting from the beginning like a video on loop.

"No. No, please!" the hybrid cries out. His head starts to throb as the world around him spins out of control in a cacophony of noise. He clutches his head in his claws as he breaks down in tears. "No more! I can't take it! End her suffering! LET ME OUT!!!"

Suddenly, everything fades to black before the scene before him turns into a blank, wooden door. Lavey blinks a few times in confusion before looking around to see Twilight and Spike looking at him with worry.

"W-what...?" He can not utter a word out of terror and grief still gripping his heart. Tears still fall from his face and onto the stone floor as he looks around the empty pit. "What happened?"

"I'm assuming this is the Beast's power," Twilight responds as approaches the dark door. "A doorway that leads to your darkest thoughts."

Lavey looks down at his trembling hands and plants his face back into his palms as he begins to break down again. Despite the vision no longer being present before him, the memory rewinds in his mind over and over and over.

"I witnessed the memory of my mother's death over and over in an endless loop. No matter how many times I watched it, it's always worse the next time around. I... I can't..."

Before he can finish his sentence, Twilight wraps her hooves around the sobbing hybrid's neck and brings him into a loving hug. He can feel his stress beginning to slowly fade away as Twilight's compassion embraces him. The dark memories disappear and are soon replaced by brighter ones he's made so far with his family and friends.

"Everything will be alright," Twilight comforts. "I don't know the pain of loss but I do know how heavy a heart can be when it experiences a deep pain. I'll always be there for you Lavey, just as you will for me."

Lavey reciprocates by graciously embracing his paramour as a calm smile spreads across his lips.

Unfortunately, the warm moment is doused by Spike gathering their attention with a small cough. The couple look at the dragon, who points to the closed door, suggesting for a way out.

"Need to get the Heart, you guys," he says.

“Sorry,” Lavey chokes as he wipes away tears.

As Twilight removes herself from her paramour’s hold, Lavey’s skin begins to writhe and squirm as if a parasite is buried in his flesh. Sprouting cleanly from his thorax as if phasing through the skin and muscle, are a set of six, pearly-white bones with spear-like tips at the ends. Each section of bone is about a foot in length with multi-axial joints to allow quick and easy movement in all directions.

“Are you copying Bone Magic?” Twilight asks with a cheeky smile.

The hybrid peers back at his mate, his eyes lifeless and dull. “Supēdo ōkoku no eikō no tame ni,” Lavey responds in a mockingly dead, deep tone. “Or, I guess, Kurisutaruenpaia no eikō no tame ni. Just...do the spell, please."

Lavey pierces the wall around the doorframe's outer perimeter, preventing it from moving, while Twilight conjures another spell in her horn, this time with more light. As she fires a warm beam at the crystal atop the door, a brilliant rainbow floods the room and the door swings open, this time, to no more fears. The trio walk through the doorway, only to find a white room with another winding staircase leading upward.

"More stairs," Lavey grumbles. "Alright, everyone grab on tight."

Lavey kneels to allow Twilight and Spike onto his back once more. He unfurls his wings and, with a single flap, he shoots up the staircase at mach speed. The higher he goes, the colder the air seems to get and a chilling breeze hits his face, signifying there must be an opening up above. In a mere few seconds, he reaches the top of the stairs and lands on the platform where the Crystal Heart rests.

"Finally!" Lavey cheers with elation. "Hurry up and grab it so we can—"

"Brother!" Atrum calls out.

Everyone looks back to see the demon wearily flapping over to them. His face is filled with fear and despair as he stumbles in his path and crash lands in front of the group.

"Atrum, what's going on? Where is Princess Cadance?" Lavey hastily inquires as he lifts his brother to his feet.

"Her and the stallion's magic have fully run dry," Atrum groggily responds. "The princess’s body has grown too weak to keep the shield up."

Lavey's eyes widen in fear as he looks to the shattering mirage, revealing the darkness creeping into the kingdom. He looks out into the distance and can see the eyes of death peering back at him hungrily. He wants to run but his body is constricted by fear as the Beast advances.