The Dark Mirror Saga: Book 1: The Tale of the Last Caribou

“Things can’t possibly worsen,” I said to myself, as if someone would care about my opinion as I read through reports that had been forgotten or intentionally embellished in the name of hiding the truth from my eyes. I knew that the situation was bad, but after reading thirty damnable pieces of paper, I was made aware of just how lacking my imagination was.

“I’m afraid, Master, that there is another pile…,” Raven said, dumbly pointing at another stack of scrolls to my right, as if I hadn’t noticed it already. Internally, I smiled. She was well-intentioned, and I liked her, as I mentioned before. Sadly, her sharp mind was gone and only a dull but good-hearted and servile mare remained. Her maid uniform was a mockery, too. A miniskirt that covered nothing with her nipples pierced by a short chain that united them, and a large buttplug with a tiny bell stuck to its end. A funny detail left in there by Ivangri as a lasting memento to his cruelty.

“Thank you, Raven,” I said, reaching a hand to pet her mane to which she leaned happily. The rest of my pets were sleeping, with the exception of Nightingale, the thestral, acting as my personal guard mare. Her mind reduced to that of a dog, in essence, but her loyalty was inspiring… or would be under other circumstances. My eyes moved to Celestia, and her beautiful, serene face. It pained me to see her, knowing that she was there because of me… because she’d been weak.

By this point, I had been working on the gift, slowly but surely mastering the craft. It wasn’t quite ready yet, but it would be soon. Alas, whatever peace I could gain in my chambers was ruined when my gaze returned to the stacks of papers informing me just how bad things truly were.

“Entire stockpiles and storages empty. What little was left was ransacked. Our fields produce nothing but wilting weeds thanks to the fucking idiots in charge insisting to grow plants meant for a different climate. Trottingham, Philadelphia, and Las Pegasus are basically on fire. Riots and protests are spreading like wildfire across my kingdom. Bandits and other scumbags are assaulting the borders. And what little food remains is being wasted by my own people!” I snarled in anger, tossing away the scroll I was reading into the roaring bonfire warming my chambers.

I sighed heavily. “Is this your doing, Spirit?” I asked, but for once, received no answer for there was no Spirit there to mock me. But I knew it was there, somewhere, watching… and laughing at my misery.

“What Spirit, Master?” Raven asked.

“Forget I said anything,” I replied, reaching for yet another paper giving me nothing but bad news. As I read through the paper, my scowl deepened. “The Crystal Empire is… refusing to send aid?” I muttered, baffled. I read the scroll in detail, only to grit my teeth in fury once I was done. “No! NO! T-The Crystal Empire was a crucial breadbasket! Whatever happened to their food production!?” In a panic, I searched for any other scroll that clarified what had happened.

For months I had believed Orestes’ claims that the Empire was standing strong and capable of self-sustinance as they expanded their reach. So what had happened? My search ended with a series of reports months old. Purposefully hidden and masked for me to find at a later date.

“Oksho was right…,” I muttered weakly as the whole picture became clear. My subjects and my people were not only wasteful, but needlessly so. They turned every existing holiday into an event similar to the Gala in the sense of scale. The amount of food and drink used on each event was next to appalling. And that was without adding the new holidays and events that put mares under their hooves; festivals of debauchery and reckless hedonism in which they showed how a female was meant to be.

Rape was the order of the day, humiliation the blood keeping it running, and gratification of the flesh the reward. Everyone had become addicted to it and it blinded them from everything else until it was too late. No. Not even that curved them. What little remained was being used to indulge for an extra day. “So… this is what Svarndagr knew what would happen if he laxed on his iron-fisted control.”

The image before my eyes was clear and for the first time… I didn’t delude myself with an alternative or positive outcome. There was no plan that could turn around the disaster that was happening all around me. “We’re doomed. A civil war is inevitable... A war for scraps… a war of starvation…”

“M-Master, w-what does that mean? I-I’m scared, Master,” Raven muttered, unable to understand what was going on but fearing it on a primal level.

“You’re right to be scared,” I murmured. “By the Gods… what have I allowed to happen?” I asked myself, but then shook my head. “No. This can’t be the end. I won’t allow it… we are doomed without help, but we are not alone,” I stood up and went to bed, my mind drifting into a sleepless slumber.

When I woke up the next day, tired and with a pulsating headache, I demanded the zebra ambassador to present himself before me. He obeyed and soon he was in my presence but something was off about him. I could no longer sense submission in his actions.

“Thank you for heeding my call, ambassador,” I said to the tall, muscular zebra stallion. “As you may know, we are facing a crisis at the moment. One that we cannot resolve ourselves without countless casualties. Rejoice, for you can prove your fealty to the Caribou Empire and me in full. Zebrica shall supply us with food, goods, and soldiers to re-establish order across the Empire. Do this, and your rewards shall be immeasurable,” I said in my best diplomatic tone, but the zebra only tilted his head and smiled condescendingly at me.

“Zebrica replies: No.”

My guards froze, I froze, the air itself froze. But the ambassador continued. “To clarify, Idiot King, Zebrica refuses to aid you in any way,” he chuckled. “We were surprised at how incompetent you caribou really are. Infiltrating your Empire was an almost laughable thing to achieve.”

“W-What is the meaning of this?” I asked, too confused to understand what was going on.

“Playing along and pretending to share your beliefs… our best soldiers and shamans offered themselves up to infiltrate your ranks. I honestly thought it would be harder, that we would face a genius. What we found were dull simpletons that think they are invincible when they, in fact, are nothing more than morons,” he chuckled. “We know every little secret of yours. We didn’t need to plant dissent among your populace because you are so divided it's laughable.”

“Y-You dare!” I exclaimed, raising to my hooves.

“Dare? We already did everything we planned to do. And now… now our plan can continue and you-” the ambassador pointed a finger at me, “-will know the full might of Zebrica. You shall pay for everything you did to our beloved friends, the ponies, and to the Sun and Moon Goddesses. You shall pay for the monsters they became, the debauchery they now seep themselves in, the malevolence in their actions and the rampant hedonism that shouldn’t exist in Equestria. Prepare yourself, Arrogant Fool, for now your petty, stupid, crumbling Empire and Zebrica are at total war and if we can’t save the ponies… we will avenge them. Your tricks do not work on us. Your magic is useless against us. We’ve sabotaged your industries even further, the ‘whores’ bought by high officials are now dead, never knowing they let assassins and powerful shamans under their roofs.”

I couldn’t contain my rage. Everything was crumbling around me and there was nothing that I could do. For the first time in my life… I allowed rage to consume in full. “GET OUT!” I shouted in fury. I wanted to kill him, to choke the life out of him, but I couldn’t move an inch. Despite my rage, I knew killing him would be futile. With a mocking bow, the ambassador was consumed by living shadows and then he was there no more.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Twilight winced slightly. “H-How could you be so stupid?” It wasn’t derision that drove her words, but rather confusion. “Zebras are fiercely independent but loyal friends… how could you believe that they would surrender to you so easily?” She shook her head. “Never mind that, how, in the name of all that is sacred, did you allow such a waste to happen in the first place? I know you told me about the farms, the working conditions, the stubbornness of the new owners… but Dainn, please, you couldn’t be so stupid. W-Why didn’t you at least rationed your food when the storages started to dwindle?”

“Because, my dear Twilight, I simply couldn’t. The entire motive of our conquest was to show that rule under the caribou was better than the false, oppressive rule of the lying alicorns,” he said with disdain and derision. “We had to show everyone that a life of luxury, plenty, wealth, and prosperity was what awaited under the caribou rule… my rule. We had to prove that the stupid equality spewed by a tyrannic matriarchy was folly and that Male Superiority was the only true form of government. The strong rule, the weak obey… and none is stronger than the caribou.”

“And that mentality only drove you further and further into a grave,” Twilight reasoned. “What did you do in response to their declaration?”

“What else could I do? I tried to fight them, but that fell off the rails faster than a burning train,” Dainn replied. “There was chaos everywhere, Discord refused to help… I think… it’s as if I have a thousand different version running in my head everytime he shows up. All real. All fake. I can’t say what the real one is but I can draw a reasonable conclusion given everything else. At any rate, a civil war was now inevitable. People started fighting for scraps of food, water, and resources; only to waste them in hedonistic parties.”

“That bad?” Twilight asked, wincing.

“Worse. Remember I said that caribou stags were getting out of shape because they were lazy?” Twilight nodded. “Well, that also reflected on just… how useless they became. Have a problem? Send the ponies at it. Need something to do? Make the mares work in it. They became lazy, fat, and only cared about enjoying the fruits of… my mistakes. Before, even a simple farmer would know how to hold a sword at the very least. They became weaklings. Svarndagr would’ve first eaten his war hammer and spit it out the nails before allowing that to happen. Yet, it was my reality. Unlike ponies, no offense, every stag was more than ready to fight any foe or threat ourselves without overlying on a group of heroes to save our homes.”

“...it’s worked for us so far, but we’re changing that now!” Twilight replied, embarrassed.

“Even before my arrival ponies were threatened by beasts that could swallow you whole, you allowed dragons to traverse your territories, gave way to a large, untamed land where a single Zebra could live in peace but that housed thousands of monsters,” he sighed. “And even then, in that regard, Equestria was a safe heaven compared to our homeland. We had to deal with actual monsters that not only swallowed caribou whole, but destroyed entire villages in a day. Monsters of renown and might; terrible and cruel. Garm is but one example of far too many. Svarndagr had no other choice but to turn us all into warriors.”

“Not everyone was cut for that. I am an example of that. But I could at least fight if need be. Compared to us, your military power was so damn pathetic that if this Storm King you speak of, with an actual military might, had come instead of me, you wouldn’t have fared any better. At least, the ponies in this dimension wouldn’t. Nor did yours, apparently,” Dainn said with a mild touch of well-intentioned humor in his voice.

“To be fair… he attacked us out of nowhere… and we were having a festival… and we were not ready for--” Twilight sighed heavily. “Why do I even try? Yes. We were defeated easily and were it not for mere chance and luck, we would’ve been utterly fucked.”

“More like headless chickens running around without a sense of direction or purpose. Do you even have a structured chain of command?” Dainn asked, raising an eyebrow when Twilight’s blush intensified. “Oh for the love of all that is holy, I WAS JOKING!” He cried out in exasperation. “Please tell me I am wrong!”

“...The moment the Storm King showed up, ponies started running around like headless chickens, yeah… and the Guard has a very… VERY loose chain of command… no one knew what they were doing nor who to obey,” Twilight confessed. “If not for a brave friend of mine, Derpy Hooves, I would’ve been captured there and then.”

“I wish to bash my head against a wall, but I believe that is weaker than the skull of you ponies. Naivety and innocence are a… terrible combination for survival,” Dainn countered.

“...Fuck you…” Twilight said, still blushing and crossing her arms in indignation. “At least we were not like the caribou. Better to be peace-loving than hedonistic conquerors.”

“On that regard, I agree. But peace-loving doesn’t have to be defenseless, weak, and incomprehensibly naive!” Dainn countered. “Even during festivals, every stag had to be armed. Danger could come at any moment, from any source, at any time. Never forget that.”

“I assume that means that if the Storm King had come to you before the War of Food began, you would’ve fought him off easily?” She questioned.

“But of course. Having warriors is good. Having an army is better. Having an armed and ready population ready to draw a sword in the defense of their nation is outstanding,” Dainn said, ending with a chuckle. “That is why seeing my people reduced to slobs… hurt so much. At a glance, I knew we were done for. We were no longer strong, not even in our delusional minds. It was only a matter of time. If not the zebras, then the griffons would come knocking. Or the minotaurs. Or, much to my horror, the dragons.”

“Speaking of the zebras… what were their goals, exactly? I know they infiltrated your ranks to get all the information they could get their hands on and to kill several high-ranking caribou… but what were their long-term plans. Maybe the zebras here are different from the ones I know,” Twilight asked, intrigued.

“At first, I thought the ambassador was lying. But he was earnest The zebra’s goal was going to be liberation and, failing that, ending the corruption the ponies were suffering. Attacking them was out of the question. Forget logistical issues. Without food to even feed out home populace, launching an attack was impossible. Then there was the heat of Zebrica and you know the dilemma regarding our armors. Add to that… the fact that I had only seen scattered tribes and a few small towns in the reports from the Zebrica front prior to the Gala. They have cities and great towns of their own. We were only fighting the very weakest and most scattered members of the zebras and we were losing already,” Dainn sighed.

“When they arrived and started to attack, it only got worse. They were tactical, strategical, and never took anything for granted. They targeted weak caribou first and then moved into villages and towns, slaughtering the now fat and lazy caribou to the last. They were hungry and starving, most likely already reduced in numbers after fighting for scraps of food with others…,” Dainn paused for a moment. “And without pony support? The defeats were even worse. Pathetic doesn’t even begin to describe the performance of my people against the invading zebras.”

Twilight shuddered violently. “The ponies… they left them to die, didn’t they? B-But why? If they were corrupted, Enchanted, then… shouldn’t they fight for their masters?”

“That was the biggest ruse of all,” Dainn began. “The Enchantment was never designed to make them subservient to us. Storm didn’t know what the fuck he had created,” he spat out in anger. “It worked. It seemed to do what he wanted. So he never questioned it. When Neighpan fell, Shining Armor crowned himself as the new Emperor of Equestria and many flocked to him. That had been Orestes’ gamble and plan all along. To create a worthy pony king, not a caribou one, but still retaining the values and ideologies of Male Superiority.”

“With stallions at the top instead of stags,” Twilight muttered in understanding, shivering.

“Exactly. The rest of the Enchanted ponies… didn’t care. They left the caribou and moved back from the zebras not because they were scared. Heavens no. They just wanted to drink in their debauchery for as long as possible, always seeking new heights all directed by their Goddess of Pleasure herself, Cadance,” Dainn said, shivering. “I saw her, Twilight… I saw her and what the corrupted ponies did. I dare not speak of it in detail, but know that every act of senseless brutality and lust-seeking dementia was reached, surpassed, and then expanded ten times over. Think of the grossest, most brutal, cruelest thing you can imagine… and it was most certainly done in the search for pleasure.”

“Excess,” Twilight whispered, frightened and almost voiding her stomach. “Unspeakable excess.”

“Precisely,” Dainn confirmed.

“How were you able to fight against that? C-Could you even fight against such depravity?” Twilight asked, concerned, but already knew the answer ever since her first arrival.

“At first, I tried. Martial law proved to be ineffective when most of the guards and soldiers joined in instead of doing their jobs. Public lashings and punishments didn’t work. How can that work when the prisoners began to line up to be punished because they enjoyed it?” Dainn shuddered with disgust. “Forced labor did nothing either. Prison and dungeon penalties? It was like inviting them to a private party. Finally, my only option was executions… I avoided resorting to that measure when I suspected that would only, somehow, encourage them further,” he said, his voice low and icy; frail like the day they met. “What would you have done?”

“I… I… I don’t know…,” Twilight admitted. “We’ve never faced anything even remotely close to civil unrest. You couldn’t use the Elements of Harmony… and I don’t know it they would’ve worked. Everything sounds so… corrupted,” Twilight admitted and she looked around the throne room, the howling winds reminding her of the emptiness outside and what had led it to its downfall. “Cadance… my sister in all but blood… being called the Goddess of Pleasure… I don’t want to imagine her like that.”

“I wish I could burn away those memories… I wish I could forget… that I could die and leave this world as an empty, dead husk at long last. But… I can’t,” Dainn continued. “After that… after everything failed and mounting reports of Surt’s rampage, a civil war breaking out, starvation hitting across Equestria, Appaloosa being raped and pillaged for what little they had left, the zebra invasion… and so much worse happening across my Kingdom… I finally gave up and secluded myself.”

With icy, blue, almost ethereal eyes but full of sincerity, Dainn chuckled. “I crafted my gift for Celestia two days prior to rebel groups assaulting Canterlot, hoping to kill me and free Equestria themselves. But they were too late. It was already over. I could feel it… deep inside me that I had made my most terrible mistake in a fit of greed and power lust,” Dainn smiled and chuckled heartedly.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked, concerned. Dainn had begun to show emotions slowly with every of her visits, but seeing him like that made her uneasy. It was as if he found the end of all things to be amusing somehow. In truth, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know, but her curiosity won over.

“That Karma is a fickle bitch,” Dainn said weakly. “Do you want to know how some of my… councilors and advisers met their ends? For most of them, I have no idea, but I hope their ends were brutal and gruesome,” Twilight nodded weakly. “Ivangri was the first to die. The depraved, abusive, brainrotted simpleton only saught pleasure and dominance over his females. He kept consuming Hardshaft recklessly and when he couldn’t take anymore and was empty, his sex-crazed mares kept feeding him more. Forcing him to go on and on.”

“It is a terrifying sight, I must admit. The mares and stallions, all those touched by the Enchantment were now well and truly insatiable. They didn’t sleep, they didn’t eat. They only craved sex, pleasure, and excess,” Dainn said, his eyes trembling with distress.

“They… they f-fucked him to death?” Twilight asked, gulping hard. As much as she came to detest Ivangri and almost every other caribou she’d heard about, she couldn’t imagine such a death to be anything but unpleasant.

“He had nothing left to give but they demanded more. Seeing someone climax at the same time they’re having a heart attack is something you won’t forget, ever,” Dainn replied with a bemused sigh. “Bastard deserved more suffering… but a more perfect punishment there was none. His slaves left him there, to rot, alone, unmourned, forgotten and moved to find a new cock to fill their holes with.”

“W-What about Vestri?” Twilight asked.

“Captured by zebra infiltrators. Neutered. And then beheaded as far as I know,” Dainn answered.

“Storm?”

“I… don’t remember what really happened. Either he was ‘blessed’ by Cadance, he died trying to modify one of his spells, or was torn to pieces by freed slaves. It is confusing. However, what I do know for certain was that the last words I heard from his repugnant mouth were ‘N-No… this isn’t right! This is not part of--’ and then, no other word left his putrid tongue,” Dainn replied. “Hrathr died at my hands. He claimed that since ‘I tamed Celestia, not you! I should be King, weakling female!’,” he said, putting his best Hrathr interpretation, “he deserved the crown, not me. I was far too strong, far too empowered by that point to be considered weak anymore and I killed him with repugnant ease.”

“W-What about Oksho’s followers?”

“Died at some point or another. Never saw them again. Only Surtr remained when the end came,” Dainn replied softly.

“And… Gunne and Ginna?”

“I will forever hate myself for it. Rather than live to see the inevitable become a reality, they took their own lives in a peaceful slumber with poison. Quick. Painless,” Dainn said, clutching his chest. “They weren’t the only ones. Some were cowards, yes. But most of them were like them: caribou trying to be better and change our weak, authoritarian ideologies.”

“I’m… so, so sorry to hear that, Dainn,” Twilight replied.

“I welcome your sincere words, though nothing changes the fact of what has been done,” Dainn remarked with profound sadness. “The zebras advanced with almost no opposition, the civil war erupted in full, Shining Armor and his Empire crumbled within weeks; consumed from within by hedonism, excess, and sheer, pure depravity,” he chuckled darkly. “At least, as far as I know, Orestes’ demise was especially gruesome. I hope it was.”

“I see…,” Twilight sighed softly. “Then… how did everything come to an end?”

“By performing my cruelest, vilest, most despicable act of all,” Dainn replied. “I thought myself as weak, despite my physical changes, I was still weak. I still desired to save my people and fix my mistake. To guide them properly and give them the King they truly deserved. But I needed more. I needed power. I had already taken some of their power… now I needed all of it.”

Twilight closed her eyes for a moment. She already knew he had stolen the powers of the alicorns. Now the question was how. He was right. His actions were more than despicable. But this wasn’t her world… and she needed to see how his story ended. “H-How did you do it? How did you trick or capture Cadance to steal her powers?”

Dainn pointed behind him and at the Nightmare Throne. “I didn’t. I had already everything I needed. I figured that… if a horn can be used to cast magic, then it can serve as a funnel or a receiver of sorts. I wish I had known what you’ve told me regarding your horns and magic…,” he said bitterly. “I wish I had allowed my species to burn… I wish I hadn’t done anything of what I did… not just because of this,” he said, spreading his arms. “But because of all the suffering I caused… if only I had listened… if only those dark whispers had stopped… if only… if only…”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Dainn, don’t do this, I beg you!” Luna cried out from her bounded prison. At her side, Celestia and Twilight waited dumbly.

He was alone in his throne room. Outside, battle raged. “My Kingdom is burning, my species is once again nearing extinction, and there are invaders at our doorstep! I will not allow my Kingdom to perish! No matter how twisted it has become, I can save it! I can make it better!” I argued in vain and my eyes landed on Celestia. She didn’t know what was happening, but she was happy, blushing. I planned on giving her my gift after everything was over. Maybe… maybe even revert the damage she had sustained.

Celestia. Gorgeous, beautiful, kind Celestia deserved so much better. “It won’t be long… I’ll just take it and solve the problem. Then, I’ll give some of it back. I’ll be immortal, just like you alicorns… and I’ll guide the caribou forevermore with a sage hand! You’ll see! Everything will be better!” I lied to myself in pure desperation.

“You know not what you’re doing!” Luna insisted, sounding fearful.

“QUIET!” I shouted back in anger and frustration. I was so delusional at that point. Blinded by paranoia, disgust, guilt, shame… weakness. Frustration and rage fueled me. The same kind that drove Svarndagr to rule with an iron fist. “I will become immortal and the Cycle will end with me! NO MORE! I shall become the God this world needs!”

“DAINN!” Luna pleaded in desperation.

The ritual was simple, yet dangerous. One mistake, and it would end me. But I had taken my precautions. Dark magic was foreign to me, but there were plentiful books and scrolls left behind for me to study. I found my answer. The Ritual of Absorbtion. To take what belongs to others and make it yours.

I sat on my throne and summoned my magic to start the ritual. The horns lit up and it began.

The screams were not something I expected. Twilight, Luna, and Celestia started to scream in pure agony as a lifeline formed between their bodies and their severed horns. A fourth line appeared, connecting Cadance to me from wherever she was. Upon hearing Celestia’s screams, I wanted to stop the ritual, but I couldn’t move anymore as their power flooded my very soul with their unimaginable power.

“YES! YEEEEESSS! It’s working! I can feel it! I CAN FEEL THE POWER!” I shouted in victory as more and more power entered my body, making me stronger, making me bigger. Whatever changes I had experienced before were but droplets compared to the vast ocean I was drinking now.

“YES! With this power I can defeat the zebra invaders and anyone that may dare stand in my--my way!” The power continued to grow inside me, more and more without an end in sight. I could feel it. The surge in power… and the moment I changed. I don’t know how to explain it, but in an instant I knew I was immortal. I took the immortality and power of the alicorns and made it my own truly at last.

But something was terribly wrong. The power… the power was draining them. Celestia was now devoid of color, her Cutie Mark gone, and her mane and tail a dull grey. Luna and Twilight were the same. But there was still more power to absorb. Too much. Too much. Too much.

“N-No! Wait, t-this is not what the ritual described! It s-should only steal their powers, not their life essence!” I protested as I grew stronger and stronger. Stronger than Surtr. Stonger than Svarndagr. Whatever was happening to me, I was now getting the power of a God and becoming one. I was crossed between worry and elation when a terrible, bone-breaking pain exploded in my chest.

“AAARRGGGHHH! W-What is happening!?” It was at that moment that I realized my terrible mistake. I had delved into unknown magics too recklessly and I was now paying the price. The pain was growing and growing within me in tandem with the power that was flowing into me: an endless ocean crammed into a tincan. And it just kept coming. “M-MAKE IT STOP!”

I screamed, but no one came.

Everything turned to white noise and all I could see was blurry images within seconds as the pain grew and a multicolored light emerged from my chest.

The last thing I saw was a deathly glare of disappointment, hatred, and damnation coming from Celestia.

Then, there was a bright light and the world went dark. I remained unconscious for what felt like mere seconds, but when I breathed, I inhaled a mouthful of ash. I coughed violently and tried to stand up, only to find that my body was covered in dirt and ash; my visage was… dreadful, skeletal. What little muscles I had shouldn’t be able to lift my now diminished weight, but they did.

Then I felt it. The thirst. The hunger. Gods, such unspeakable pain. I could feel the atrophy of my body. I could feel my weakness. I could feel my power, faded and weak, but still swirling within me. But most of all… I could still feel alive. So very alive. I was immortal. My chest was splintered, but it was healing slowly.

“C-Celestia? R-Raven! Twilight! Luna… anyone?” I cried out, standing up and finding I was still on the throne room. “Celes--” my words died in my aching throat when I saw the bodies. Or rather, the charred bones that once belonged to the alicorn princesses. “W-What… what happened… how… why?” As I looked around, I found there were more bodies and bones scattered around the room that definitely were not there when I started the ritual. Some bodies were hugging each other, dried-up husks and nothing more.

Tears swelled up in my ice, but they were made of pure magic, ice, and ethereal cold. I looked down at my hands as the horror started to consume my senses. “What have I become?”

Suddenly, the Spirit of Harmony manifested itself in front of me with the saddest, most pitiful expression I had ever seen. But something was wrong with it. I could see it. It was… weak. Almost lifeless.

“Oh, King of Fools. You found the key and turned the knob; now you find that your actions have the worth of a cob? A worthless schemes for a worthless mind. Pray tell, did you not hear the dead in the wind?”

“Th-The dead… no…NO! T-This can’t be real! This is an illusion!” I protested in vain.

“Cry and moan; beg and sow. Staleness is your reward. Are you so blind that the reason for this demise eludes your regard?” It asked weakly. “A land alive I tried to maintain after fire and ash came. All is dead, nothing lives. Not but you, King of Fools.”

My eyes widened as I stumbled back in horror. “This… this is my fault? B-But how?”

“The reason you know… Coward without a crown… The reason you know… Speak the words, this you owe!” The spirit cried out as golden tears fell down its cheeks.

I didn’t want to. I knew the answer and everything was better than accepting the truth… but I couldn’t deny the Spirit. Despite the pain. Despite the fear and horror and guilt… my mind was my own and it was blissfully, horribly clear for the first time in my life. “The Cycle… is an explosion of pure, raw power that comes from He Who is King; a caribou with too much power… much… much more… power than what… then… can… hold…” I replied in a whisper. “N-No… wait…,” I looked around the corpses, breathing the stale, ash-filled air before my eyes landed on Celestia’s charred, darkened bones. “I… I cause the Cycle? B-But how? I was the weakest… I… I didn't want this to happen! I…”

“You never saw the truth, blinded by greed and ambition. The Alicorns are divine beings wearing flesh; Gods in all but name - yet the same you thought you were, without understanding what it entails,” the Spirit interjected, falling to its knees. “Enjoy your reward: this is what you yearned, delight in the spoils of war.”

“I NEVER WANTED THIS!” I cried out in pure desperation. “T-This was an accident! Why!? If these alicorns were divine, then why did the Cycle not come for them!? Each was stronger than Svarndagr! Why… why didn’t they explode if they were so strong? Why were we cursed and they were not?”

The Spirit let out a dry chuckle. “You’re Evil given form. What more reason is there to understand?” It asked cryptically as its body began to crack. “Look into your past… and you’ll see nothing but demise. That which… that which can’t create… can only take… and corrupt that… which… exists…”

“I didn’t mean to!” I creid out. “It was… it was an accident. I only wanted to save my people!”

“You were… different… King of Fools… your chance was taken… from you… unfair and terrible… your failure steep,” it said closing its eyes. “Your toture starts… your reward… for allowing… Darkness to win… your battles for you… victories cheap,” it rasped. “Never did you comprehend… the power of this land… never could see… beyond your idiocy… never accepting that a female… could be stronger than a male… and that a rule it wasn’t… and so you weep.”

“Outnumbered a thousand to one… no hope of victory lied… a hand of friendship… was needed but you… chose a strike from the deep. Now you see? Compassion was a folly… restrain… a damnation… for who could be so callous… as to use a power… whose pierce is reap?”

Understanding downed on me. With the kind of power I absorbed from even just one of the alicorns, they would’ve been able to wipe us out easily. “But why didn’t they? They could’ve stopped me the second I invaded Canterlot.”

“You won nothing… but hollow victories… relying on Darkness… to spread your seed… and twist those around you… like a creeping weed. Rewriting history… to make yourself stand proud… masculinity so frail… that it needed a crutch… to avoid being so meep,” it joked darkly, pieces of its body shattering into dust little by little but it began to scribble something of the plank of wood it was resting on. “Gone will I be… alone you’ll remain… mayhaps in your solitude… you will find solace… and a lesson most sweet. Know that despite… your foolish antics, never… did I despise you… oh, Dainn… many times you’ve failed… in other times… in other places… the result makes one weep.”

“W-What do you mean… I can’t… I don’t… w-why do I still live?” I asked, not out of ignorance, but out of desperation. My sanity returned, my thoughts unclouded. The reality of what I had done was too much to bear. And it was there that I understood my greatest mistake.

In my desperation to save something, anything of my people. To fix my mistakes and build something good, something better from what had been done, I had condemned myself and everyone else to a fiery end. By consuming the power and divinity of four alicorns, making it mine… I had all but become the most potent bomb the Cycle had ever created. Such excess of power, so bloated I had become, that the process that takes decades, even centuries to form… was completed within moments.

In my quest to end the Cycle, thinking I had outsmarted it, I brought the worst one yet. It was a cruel joke and I had no one to blame… but myself. “W-What did I do wrong?” I asked, choking in my own guilt and remorse.

“You already know… and thus, no victor… was left standing… the prize unclaimed; except for you… hollow and empty… that for a year slumbered… only to wake and find not what you seek,” it said softly, weakly, as more and more of itself shattered. “Alone you will remain… and no pleasure this brings me… despite your conquest and beliefs… I never wished to harm… not even as you destroyed the Harmony of this land. So now… I go… I leave… a lone immortal stands… in a dead land that belongs… to emptiness most dire… never finding solace… never finding peace… always asking questions… with answers easy to reach. Goodbye… Dainn the Fool… I will forever lament… what you could’ve become… but for me?” It chuckled sadly as a single, golden tear ran down its right cheek. “Now I sleep.”

The Spirit of Harmony said in a howling echo as its body suddenly broke apart and turned to a golden dust. I rushed to it, grabbing the golden dust before storing all of it inside a makeshift leather bag. When I was done, I saw the plank of wood it had been resting on and the single word carved in it. I read it aloud.

“Unless,” my voice a mere whisper.

And then, I cried in anguish for I was… well and truly alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Twilight stared at Dainn for several minutes of silence, imagining just how dreadful his situation really was. Imagining the pain of the howl of anguish he had unleashed as the weight of his sins and actions came crashing down on him all at once. To know there was nothing more he could do. That he would remain alive with nothing else in the world to keep him company. Her jaw dangled openly, refusing to move as she comprehended the anguish, sorrow, guilt, regret, hatred, and a hundred other emotions swirling inside of Dainn for the very first time.

And for the very first time, she felt nothing but pity for him. There was no hidden anger or contempt or a veiled satisfaction that a vile villain was getting what they deserved. Before her was a pitiful old man who knew his mistakes and wished nothing more but a chance to make things right or to suffer rightfully for his sins.

“So it really was your fault in the end. Your horrid culture and your ideologies… caused all of this,” she said without anger, only sadness. “You couldn’t accept that someone could be stronger than the mighty caribou, less so females, so in your quest to unite the world… you ended it,” she paused briefly, closing her eyes. “You thought your way was the only and correct way to spread peace and harmony… when it was the last thing your culture and dominion was capable of spreading.”

“I knew nothing else. I saw Svarndagr. I knew it worked. But only after I was alone and all was dead did I realize that order and control are different from peace and harmony. It is no excuse… but I knew nothing better, despite how much I wanted to do good, I only brought suffering,” Dainn remarked. “After I finished crying, I returned to my now worthless throne… my Nightmare Throne and sat there, crying, lamenting, and hugging the piece of wood for dear life.”

“I tried to kill myself so many times… the pain, by the Gods, the first ten years were the worst as I traveled the land. Of those travels, you already know, and when I returned here, I realized that Dainn… the Dainn that killed the world died with it and only I remained. The caribou and everyone else died with HIM, just like the Cycle ended all other previous great caribou kings. Only I brought an end to it once and for all… in the worst way possible. The caribou is dead, only this immortal mockery of a lich remains,” Dainn said and raised a hand.

Twilight watched as Dainn grabbed the edge of his hood and pull it back, revealing his face in full for the first time. Had she seen his face upon their meeting, she would’ve screamed in terror. Now? Now she cried. “You’re right… Dainn died with his Cycle… and who are you?” She asked softly as she inspected every inch of his face.

His skin was dry and closer to being parchment than flesh. Deep, sunken cheeks marred his face, his lips were died up, exposing the gums of his teeth. His nose had deteriorated, leaving only a bony protrusion. His eye sockets were sunken, giving space to his eyes. His ears were little more than slightly pointy withered, dried twigs, he lacked any fur across his features, and she could see every little gruesome detail of his bone structure pressing against his wrinkled, bald, ash-like skin. The protrusions that his hood covered were revealed to be what once was were antlers. Now they were like dried, dead branches of a burnt-out husk of a tree; lifeless, grey, and decidedly eerie to look at - like thinned bones covered in a thin sheen of etheric ice.

“I’m what remains: Sorrow. Guilt. Remorse. Anger. Regret. Sadness. Call me by any name, for I am Dainn… but Dainn no longer,” Dainn replied without truly moving his mouth to do so.

Twilight wondered how was he able to speak when she couldn’t see him move the tube of flesh and bones that he called his neck. A shudder crossed her body as a terrible remainder to what immortality could truly look like when all the bad choices were taken. “I’m truly sorry, Dainn… truly, I am. However… may I ask, what does ‘Unless’ mean?”

“Ever since the Spirit died and I was left alone in this dead world, sitting on this worthless throne, admiring worthless trophies, with worthless victories… I’ve pondered the same thing every single day, and no answer has been satisfactory,” he waited for a moment, then, he stood up. “Now that you know my story, I have a question for you, Not My Twilight.”

“And that is?” Twilight asked.

“Would you like to see the vault?”