Dark as Chitin

Chimera awoke in a smoking crater, his body damaged to the point where he could no longer walk or channel magic efficiently anymore. Rolling over, Chimera began having a violent coughing fit before going limp once again, his ears ringing from the explosion. Despite how much pain he was in, however, he knew that the proxy needed to be destroyed, and he had to know that everypony was safe. So, he crawled. Using his hooves like had done to crawl out of a ravine, he crawled in agonizing pain out of the crater. As he crawled he heard the peculiar sound of something shattering below his barrel. Chimera titled his head down to see Celestia's Embrace no longer had the gem of the blazing sun in its prong. Instead, it had crumbled to shards and dust just below him.

Seeing it go filled Chimera with a bit of sadness, it was the gift he had gotten for Luster Dawn. Brushing it aside, Chimera continued feebly crawling out of the crater, rolling over on the edge of it once out, and staring up at the sky. It had turned dark as coal, reminding him that time was almost up. Chimera rolled over once more and continued crawling. Everypony that was near the explosion looked all around in good shape, if not unconscious. Discord laid on the ground, looking exhausted and bewildered. Sure that Discord was the only reason everypony was still alive, Chimera noted to thank him later if they survived this ordeal, that is. Sombra had laced his explosion with those otherworldly shadows, it was no wonder Discord was the only one that could block it in some capacity.

Segment Music

Chimera looked around the ruins of the Crystal Empire with his magic vision in search of the proxy. The trick wasn't to look for its magic signature, the trick was to look for where it was not. That's when he spotted it, a void in the sea of magicules. Crawling over to it, Chimera put all effort into sitting up straight, taking the proxy in his hooves. Rearing his right hoof back, he brought it down on the cube repeatedly until it no longer had anything to give, yet it wouldn't break.

Desperately smashing the cube, a malevolent voice began emanating from it as a strange slitted eye, burning with a primal fire formed on the side of the cube facing Chimera. "It's futile, soon this world will be consumed. Even if Faust did send you to stop me, it was all for naught," the voice laughed.

Chimera smashed the cube on its eye, causing the voice to grunt in frustration and pain. "Were you not listening!? Give up!"

"I won't! Everypony's depending on me!"

The voice began laughing again. "Look at the sky, mortal, you're out of time. You failed."

Chimera's head quickly jolted toward the sky, a feeling of despair overtaking him. The darkness was now closing in, the magicules in the atmosphere were rapidly vanishing into nothing.

"See? You might as well accept your fate. At the very least, you can be rest assured knowing that I won't take that other soul of yours," the voice said before breaking into maniacal laughter.

For a brief moment, Chimera allowed himself to give up, his head hanging low and feeling dejected. However, through the despair, Chimera was able to find the will to press on. "Buck you!"

"Language," Chrysalis said from behind Chimera as she collapsed on his shoulder.

"M-mom?"

"I know you're frustrated, but the least you can do is your best, right?" Chrysalis stated tiredly.

Chimera looked back at the cube with a reignited will. Pressing the cube between his front hooves, he began attempting to crush it.

The voice chuckled. "That won't wo-"

Before the entity could finish, a crack formed in the cube, then another. Escaping from each crack were ethereal magenta rays. A series of cracks had formed along the cube, and right when Chimera thought he had done it, the cube let out a shockwave, blasting him and his mother back.

Chimera laid on the ground in pain for a bit before getting back to his hooves shakily and returning his attention to the cube. It was now floating, and all of the cracks that had formed in it were now closing themselves.

"No..." Chimera whispered to himself.

Somehow, he had found it in himself to rush the cube, only to be blasted back again, this time feeling something essential leaving his being. He no longer had the energy to move, all he could do was look at the sight before him in awe and confusion.

Floating in front of the cube was a nebulous white mist that seemed to form the shape of some kind of creature, a human, Chimera recognized it as.

"S-soul?" Chimera stammered out.

The figure only looked back at Chimera, shooting him a thumbs up before turning its attention back to the cube.

Souls' POV...

I think I get it now. The proxy acts as this entity's true body, but we don't have to destructive capability to destroy it. The shadows are attracted to it. Then... there's only one thing left to do, I have to get rid of it. During my time in Equestria, I learned quite a bit about magic. One thing remained constant across the board; magic is energy. Extending my hand to the sky, I began channeling as many magicules as my vessel could handle.

"You think you can destroy me? Go ahead and try," the voice mocked telepathically.

I smirked at this before snatching the cube in my hand. I could feel it draining the magic from my soul, so I had to be quick. Looking back at everyone I had met so far, stopping on Chimera, I said only one thing to all of them.

"It's been fun."

Turning to look at the sky, I took off as fast as possible, heading straight for the sky of shadows.

Third Person POV...(Segment Music)

A beacon of white light shined through the darkness that had consumed the sky, catching all of Equestria's attention. There was now a prominent hole in the sky as a spire of light shined through.

Soul's POV...

Being a soul meant I had no mass, meaning that as I was propelled by magic, I was moving far too fast for the darkness to catch me. My goal wasn't to destroy the proxy anymore, rather, I had to get it as far away from Equestria as possible. No, even further...

If the entity used this cube to enter the universe, then that means I can also use it to kick him out. Thus, I would have to fly all the way to the universal barrier.

"You've lost your mind, I see," the entity stated.

"Maybe a little," I said coyly, before breaking out into laughter.

I could feel my soul breaking apart, but it didn't bother me in the slightest. I continued to push on through the darkness, only getting faster as time went on.

"You think sending me away from the planet will stop me? I'll just come back, just like the worlds before this one."

I couldn't help but laugh more at this. "You think I'm just sending away from the planet? I'm kicking your ass out of this universe, along with me!"

This seemed to crack the entity's ego, as it was now stumbling over its words. "Y-you d-dare!?"

Again, I picked up speed, the light I was emanating seemed to distort itself around me. All at once, the darkness around me seemed to form a narrow passageway for me. My speed was inexorable now. I couldn't stop now even if I wanted to.

Third Person POV...

"The darkness is lifting," Twilight stated, a bit dazed.

Chimera merely sat on the ground, looking up at the sky, feeling like an essential part of him was missing. His mother placed a hoof on him to comfort him, Luster Dawn doing the same.

The darkness that had threatened to consume Equestria was retracting rather quickly through the sky, and even into the heavens. Every being in Equestria silently hoped that this trend would continue.

Soul's POV...

There it is, the universal barrier. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking at, but I knew it was the universal barrier. Just looking at it made my head spin, but I pushed on anyway, extending the proxy out in front of me, colliding with the barrier. Surprisingly, I effortlessly punctured a hole through it, launching myself and the cube outside of the universal. The darkness seemed to follow after me, getting sucked through the hole like a vacuum, the hole closing afterward.

For a while, I drifted through the space between worlds, reminiscing about what had got me here, proxy still in hand. It all started with those pills. Even now, as I await my death, I don't regret taking them. I've made some memories and met so many people I've grown quite fond of. Being in this space was a strange experience. There seemed to be universal barriers on the left and right of me, yet nothing above or below. The barriers were infinitely expansive but hypnotically beautiful.

"Yeah, I'm satisfied with this," I thought to myself, smiling.

"Though you've foiled my plans, I can always try again, and that starts with your demise."

The proxy suddenly flew out my hand, some ways away, growling a pure violet light. A purple haze began fuming from the cube forming some sort of structure.

"A goat!?" I exclaimed.

"Grogar," the voice of Faust said sternly, resonating within my head.

Looking around myself, I found that Faust had suddenly appeared beside me.

"Faust?! How did you- when?"

She smiled to herself before taking on a more serious expression. "I have my ways. On the off hoof, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You were able to protect my world, and free all of the imprisoned souls in the process."

"Yeah, there's just one problem though. I didn't destroy the proxy, my energy's spent, and this guy has no intentions of giving up."

Faust began floating toward Grogar. "I'm well aware of the situation, you can rest easy now. As promised, I'll handle the rest."

Third Person POV...

"Faust...you always find a way to get in my way. At first, I had thought the happenings of Equestria and all of my failures were due to my own miscalculations. Imagine my surprise, when I realized that it was you pulling the strings behind my defeats every time."

"If you thought you would get away with harming Equestria, then you were sorely mistaken. It saddens me to see that you've fallen so far from grace, making deals with eldritch entities," Faust lamented, shaking her head.

"What choice did I have? After being banished from reality, I drifted through the abyss of purgatory, unsure if I even existed. That's when came into contact with an entity, ancient and malevolent. Yet, it took pity on me, offering me a fraction of its power, changing me into what I am now. The power was unimaginable, but with it, came an endless hunger."

"I see, that truly is a pitiful existence. Fear not, you will not have to suffer anymore."

With that, Faust's entire body lit up with magic. All could tell that it was distinctly different from Equestria's magic. Her body seemed to radiate with an otherworldly power, catching Grogar off guard. As if sensing the imminent danger, Grogar lunged at Faust.

Grogar roared in a fit of rage."Faust!"

An ever-expanding sphere of blue light exploded from Faust's body, the proxy fading away like ashes in the wind along with Grogar's shadowy body.

"Where there is light, there will always be darkness..."

Soul's POV...

I'm not sure if I passed out and was moved, but I definitely couldn't tell what happened during that bright flash of light. I'm now looking at a starry void with a backdrop reminiscent of the northern lights. After realizing that I was laying down, I sat up, seeing Faust sitting beside me, looking at multiple projections of different scenes playing out in Equestria. She was smiling happily to herself.

"Is it over," I asked tiredly.

Faust perked up at this. "You're awake, good. Yes, it's all over now."

I sighed in relief. "That's good," I replied, closing my metaphysical eyes.

Faust looked down at me somberly. "You've done a great deal for Equestria. I can't thank you enough. But...what will you do now?"

I pondered the thought for a moment. "I'm not really sure."

Faust stood up, looking down at me before conjuring something in her magic. It was a peculiar blue orb, a magic core.

"Well, if you're open to suggestions, I have a gift for you."

"A magic orb? Thanks, but, what am I supposed to do with it."

Faust giggled as if what I had said was silly. "I'm sure that you're aware magic cores contain a highly condensed amount of magic in them. Well, it just so happens that this core is embedded with my magic. It took me quite some time to create, but I'm offering it to you, to inhabit."

"Inhabit? Like, use as my body?"

Faust said, levitating the orb closer to me. "Precisely. As powerful as I may be, it has occurred to me that I do not have all of the solutions. It was by sheer luck that you appeared in this universe, yet you managed to save it. If you aren't opposed to the idea, then would you perhaps inhabit this magic core and assist me in protecting Equestria? I'll teach you the ropes of divine guardianship and you can protect Equestria from the inside. Every now and then, we could even swap out. I would so love to visit my family in their homes once in a while."

I hummed to myself in thought. "Not a bad idea, I'll get back to you on that. I need a nap after all that."

"But you just woke up."

"I know."