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The group stood mutely in front of the heavily puffing mare. None of them, not even the reapers, knew what to do now.

“Cerberus... go back to the front gate. You did well. Good boy,” Derpy stated calmly, still focusing the purple mare.

Cerberus started walking off, growling lowly at Twilight and constantly staring at her until he was out of sight. His job was done and if he stood any longer, he may only have ended up killing the keeper of magic due to him being trained to fight any threat.

Twilight’s horn started to glow and by her expression alone, it was clear what she was about to try. In her insanity, she believed to be facing a group of demons that looked like her closest friends. The voice inside her dysfunctional mind had complete control over her thoughts and behavior, giving her clear orders how to act.

The infamous insane giggle of the purple mare echoed through the cave system. The last time it was heard, she was about to cause a friendship problem. But this time, the results would be far worse than just being the cause of a disharmony. She was going to do it. She was going to attack her own friends and try to kill them.

“Twilight. Please. You have to fight it,” Obsidian spoke.

Rocks lifted into the air, breaking apart into small sharp fragments and hovering above the purple mare. As she launched them at the frontmost member of the group, Obsidian Shards, he stood motionlessly and allowed her to critically wound him. The fact that he didn’t even try to block or dodge them shocked the ponies. He used himself as a shield for the other keepers. But soon, Twilight redirected her attack and aimed for the rest of the group. Derpy tossed herself into the line of fire and took the largest amount of damage from the attack.

“Twilight! Stop it! We are your friends! We are your friends!” Rarity shouted in desperation, using her own magic in attempt to obtain control of the flying fragments.

Rainbow’s and Applejack’s faces showed bitter regret as they were about to attack her, yet Obsidian forced himself in their way to hold them off.

“Do not... harm her...” the black stallion ordered.

“But we got to do something! We need to stop her!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“No... do not touch her... do not fight her... if you want to help, then... speak to her,” Obsidian suggested.

“So you are saying that we should just let her do this?!” Fluttershy wondered.

“Rectē... that is all we can do... she needs to fight the demon possessing her by herself,” the black stallion explained.

“Girls! I can’t... I can’t hold them! She’s too strong!” Rarity announced with a touch of panic as she realized she was going to lose the struggle over the levitating stone fragments.

Moments later, Twilight regained full control and launched all the sharp rocks at Rarity. Rainbow Dash was able to rush by, grab her and fly her out of danger just before impact. Twilight reacted, casting several lightning spells after them.

Applejack started running towards the purple mare from the side, but Twilight saw her coming. Using a metamorphosis spell, she changed the ground below Applejack into an extremely sticky mass, making it unable for the orange mare to move.

“Agh... Twilight! Please, sugarcube! Come back to yer senses!” Applejack pleaded.

“Kill the demons, kill the demons, kill the demons, kill the demons...” was all she got in response from the purple mare.

The black tears rolled down Twilight’s face and dripped on the stone ground while she readied a fire spell. Pinkie Pie created a distraction by letting a large amount of balloons jet past her. Due to this irritation, the pink earth pony gained the time to pull Applejack out of her trap.

“Come on, Twilight! Your birthday is in a few weeks! You don’t want your best friends to miss it out, do you?” the pink party pony questioned.

“My best friends are all dead. Kill. Kill the demons, kill the demons, kill the demons,” Twilight mumbled and chuckled in response.

“Wha- WOAH!” Pinkie shouted, narrowly dodging the fire spell Twilight now aimed at her.

“Twilight! We are not dead! We are no demons! Please, stop!” Fluttershy pleaded.

Attracting the unicorn’s attention resulted in her summoning blades and launching them at Fluttershy. She was able to dodge the first few, but then found herself left in an unguarded position where another strike would hit her. As the last blade flew in her direction, Obsidian instantly shot up and threw himself inbetween the blade and the yellow mare.

“Obsidian!” the ponies shouted.

The black stallion was badly injured, but still alive. The blade was stuck in his chest and removal may have resulted in his death, the ponies believed. Now, he was unable to continue fighting.

Twilight started giggling again, readying another set of spells to assault the distracted ponies. But while everyone else was running back to Obsidian, trying to help him, Fluttershy stared at Twilight with a furious expression. She couldn’t hold back her rage anymore and did something she had never done to any of her friends before.

Fluttershy rose her head up and gave the insane mare the Stare. Twilight became overwhelmed with fear, causing her to lose her concentration and cancel her spells.

“You will leave him alone! And you will leave Twilight alone. You hear me, demon?!” she shouted.

As if the demon heard her, the black tears suddenly stopped flowing out of Twilight’s bloodshot eyes.

“F... Fluttershy?” the purple mare spoke very insecurely.

“Twilight? Twilight! My gosh! It’s me, Pinkie Pie! You remember your auntie Pinkie, right?” Pinkie stated.

“Pinkie... no... no, no... You’re dead... you’re all dead... I killed you!” the purple mare stated.

“Stop talking like that, Twi! Look at us! We’re fine! And we’re obviously no demons!” Rainbow Dash responded.

It wasn’t clear to anyone what was happening right now. Somehow, Fluttershy’s stare seemed to paralyze the demon inside the keeper of magic, enabling her to struggle for a small part of her mind to recover. Yet, the things she spoke made no sense. After rummaging through her knowledge and experiences for a while, Derpy finally realized what was going on.

“They put her under a powerful illusion spell!” Derpy announced, just loud enough for the keepers to hear. “Keep talking! Keep her distracted! I will see if I can break it.”

Then, the grey mare began to slowly sneak behind the purple mare, who by now started getting a bad headache and held her head. The spell was the main source of her insanity. Due to it clashing heavily with the words of her friends, Twilight was under a lot of stress and unable to tell what was real and what was not.

“Shut up, demons... shut up... those are lies. All lies... I killed them. I killed all my friends with my very own hooves!” Twilight spoke full of regret.

“Fluttershy... keep up the Stare. It appears... to be holding back the demon possessing her,” Obsidian spoke weakly, ignoring his bleeding wounds and the blade stuck in his body, trying to get up again.

Derpy was now just behind Twilight and started drawing a rune around her. She had to be very slow and careful. Should she break the purple mare’s focus on her friends, they would have to start over again. Furthermore, she would be the first to be attacked.

“Twilight, darling. Please, come back to your senses! You never did anything to us! We are all here, even Obsidian!” Rarity stated.

“No, no, no, no... Obsidian doesn’t exist! He was just part of my coma nightmare! He’s not real! This isn’t real!” the purple mare protested.

“That’s not true, sugarcube! Those darn demons brainwashed you!” Applejack responded.

“Stop those lies! Please, just stop those lies! I know what I have done! Just kill me already! Why are you just sitting there? Why don’t you just kill me?” Twilight begged.

Hearing their friend pleading for death was one of the most painful things they ever heard. None of them, not even Rainbow Dash, could hold back their tears. Finally, Derpy finished and activated the rune. A bright flash ran though Twilight, nearly knocking her out. The grey mare provided her support as she was about to collapse.

“Miss Twilight! Did it work? Are you okay?” she questioned.

After a few moments Twilight was able to refocus. Her expression was a lot more relaxed now, but she still had bloodshot eyes and tiny pupils.

“Derpy?... Where... where am I?” Twilight wondered.

“Twilight!” all her friends shouted at once, startling her a bit.

But as soon as she realized her five best friends were present and healthy, Twilight’s eyes started relaxing and filling with clear tears of joy.

"Y-y-you're...Alive?!" the purple mare asked in huge relief.

“Of course we are, Twi! We’ve been looking for you eversince you got kidnapped!” Rainbow explained.

“Kidnapped... I... I remember... those demons at... Froggy Bottom Bog... ARGH!” Twilight suddenly shouted, holding her head.

“Twilight! Are you okay?” Pinkie worried.

After a couple of seconds, Twilight lifted her head again. Black tears once again started flowing and the insane grin returned to her face.

“Stop interfering, ponies! She belongs to us!” Twilight shouted and started casting a spell again.

“NO! Twilight! Please, come back! You have to fight it!” Fluttershy pleaded.

“Don’t listen! Kill them! Kill them!”

Twilight aimed her horn at the group of friends again, but struggled with her own mind about releasing it.

“This voice...” Twilight stated.

“Fight it, Twilight! You can do it!” Derpy motivated.

“NO! Kill them! Kill them at once!”

“I... I won’t.”

“Yes, you will! Do it!”

“No, I won’t!”

Twilight stopped the spell again and collapsed to the ground, holding her head.

“KILL THEM!”

“Get out of my mind.”

“What?!”

“Get out of my mind!”

“NO! I control you! You will obey me!”

“I... I know this voice...” she spoke.

“NO! Don’t listen to them! They are lying! This isn’t real! You killed your friends! You killed Moondancer!”

“No... Moondancer... died at the gala...” Twilight mumbled.

“You killed her! You killed all your friends! Even Spike!”

“Spike... ran away...” she continued mumbling.

“You killed him! At the library! And you killed those children, too!”

“No... you are the one lying. I know who you are.”

“No! NO!”

“You are...”

“NO! STOP IT! SHUT UP!”

“You are... her... what is left of her...”

“NO! NO! NO!”

“Despair.”

Suddenly, Twilight gave off a black aura, rapidly flying away from her and forming back together in the shadows, not far from her. The entire group turned and watched the black mass shape back into a demon. Finally it opened its glowing red eyes and slowly started walking out of the dark.

“Such a shame. Such a waste,” the demon spoke calmly with a disappointed tone in her voice, which sounded identical to Twilight’s.

“Despair,” Obsidian analyzed, highly alarming the rest of the group.

“I almost had her. I was so close. But as always, you reapers have to mess up our plans. Have you forgotten whom you have sworn loyalty to, traitors?” the demoness asked.

“No. We have not. Our loyalty belongs to Mistress Celestia and no other creature,” the black stallion replied with a serious expression.

“You are such fools. Your punishment will be heavy, once we dominate this land again,” Despair stated.

“As if that day will ever come! Prepare to be consumed, demon!” Derpy announced, about to rush towards her.

Suddenly, Despair’s right front leg turned into a very pointy spear she aimed at her own face.

“Na-ah-ah. I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the demoness commented.

From the curious behavior of the demon, Derpy canceled her attack. It seemed like she had an advantage the grey mare didn’t want her to use. Yet, Despair couldn’t resist a demonstration.

She slowly moved the sharp tip along her cheek. Although it left no visible damage on the demoness, Twilight suddenly started screaming. Her cheek tore open into a cut identical to the line Despair drew on her own face and started bleeding.

“What the hay? What have you done to her?!” Applejack wondered, causing Despair to chuckle.

“From the very beginning, Twilight and I were bound to each other. I merely strengthened that bond as much as possible. Now, what do you think would happen to her if my existence would end?” she questioned.

The reapers and ponies gained troubled expressions. Despair clearly was in advantage right now. They could do nothing to her without risking to kill Twilight. There was only one plausible option left: running away.

The ponies quickly turned around, grabbing Twilight and started running off with her. Derpy flew over to Obsidian and gave him support so they could follow them in flight. But Despair wouldn’t allow them to get away that easily.

Her horn began to glow in a threatening red color and a huge protection sphere appeared, cutting off the path of the group.

“You're not going anywhere,” she stated.

The group stopped and turned back to Despair. She now had her typical victorious grin again, knowing that she created a hopeless situation. Her force field was far too powerful for the ponies and reapers to be dispelled, even if they all worked together. The only way for them to escape now would be to consume her, which again would end in Twilight’s death.

Fighting Despair in her own mind was very exhausting for the purple mare. She was drained, but the stress of the situation made her slowly recover. Now that there was no way to escape anyway, she decided to face the demon who stalked her for such a long time now.

“I just got one question... why me? Why did you put so much effort into me?” the purple mare asked.

“You really want to know? Well, since you already ruined my plan, I’ll just be so generous and tell you. It is so simple, really. I was just following a death wish,” Despair responded.

“A death wish?” Pinkie Pie wondered.

Despair chuckled a bit. Then she closed her eyes, casting a spell on herself. Her face began to change. As the demoness looked up again, Twilight felt another wave of shock running through her body. The demoness’ face turned into that of Moondancer’s, just the moment before she died.

“You will pay for this, Twilight Sparkle. You will pay with all you have!” she quoted, even using Moondancer’s voice with the same exact shaky tone and high pitch.

As soon as she was done, Despair’s face turned back and she refocused Twilight with an evil grin.

“I owe my existence not only to Moondancer, but also to you, Twilight. I’m even designed after you. Moondancer had such strong feelings for you and what did you do? You denied her. You treated her so bad, not even we demons could have done much worse to her. So, in my limitless kindness, I decided to try my best in making Moondancer’s last wish come true and take away everything you value,” the demoness kept on explaining.

“So this was what you were after all the time... and that is why you needed my memories...” Twilight spoke, staring down at the floor.

“Naturally,” Despair replied, slowly walking towards the group. “That, and to create a plan how I could take it all away. Obsidian and Derpy surely were a problem. If it wasn’t for them, I would just have sent a troop of underlings to kill your friends. So instead, I tried to learn as much about you as possible. By learning more and more, our bond became stronger and stronger as well. I became able to influence you even when I was hundreds of miles away.”

“Yet, your plan failed. We rescued her,” Obsidian stated.

“Sadly, that is true. You reapers have once again proven to be annoying little pests. Under my illusion spell, she already lost all of her friends and became a spree killer. Then you showed up. So I had to change my plan. If I could get Twilight to kill even one of her friends for real, it would have been enough to make her lose her mind entirely, giving birth to a demon and concluding Moondancer’s wish. A demon born out of the keeper of magic would have been powerful. But now, breaking her mind again would be too much effort,” Despair explained.

The demoness halted with some distance to the group. She started grinning again, showing her demonic fangs.

“Since that is no option anymore, I will just go to plan B and devour your soul, Twilight Sparkle,” she stated.

“Oh no, you won’t!” Rainbow Dash shouted and speeded in Despair’s direction.

The demoness summoned a large number of spears and simply held them in the air, waiting for Rainbow to fly in them. The athletic mare could change direction in the last moment and tried to approach Despair from another angle. The demoness, though, just stood there calmly as she let the spears chase after Rainbow. Just seconds later, Dash found herself trapped.

“You will have to wait for your turn. Twilight is first. Then, I will devour all of you,” Despair stated, continuing to approach the purple mare.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no! Obsidian! Derpy! Do something!” Rarity pleaded.

“We can not...” Obsidian responded.

“What do you mean you can’t? I mean, at least Derpy can still fight!” Pinkie Pie wondered.

“Yes, but... it’s hopeless. She is so strong and I can’t even banish her without risking to kill Twilight in the progress,” Derpy explained.

“Then I will fight!” Fluttershy announced, but that only caused Despair to laugh.

“Just because I underestimated your power once so you ended up breaking my illusion spell doesn’t mean you stand a chance against me! What do you want to do? Stare me down? Beat me up? Even you can’t do anything,” she explained.

Fluttershy didn’t respond and simply glared at the demoness with an anger filled expression. Finally, Twilight got up and started walking out of the group.

“It’s okay, Fluttershy. I deserve this,” she stated in a low tone.

“What?! You are joking!” Rarity shouted, appalled.

“No, I’m not. I’ve done so many bad things... It’s my fault Moondancer is dead... and it’s my fault Spike ran away... You know... I... I kept on beating him and saying horrible things to him... And eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore,” Twilight explained, causing Despair to grin widely.

“We did not go through all of this effort in rescuing you so you could throw your life away and give your soul to the demons now, Twilight,” Obsidian stated in a very serious tone while grabbing Twilight’s left front leg and pulling her close.

Although the purple mare would have willingly come to her, Despair couldn’t hold back about bragging over her own skills and power.

“You really believe that was you doing all that?” she spoke.

Instantly, the group focused the demoness.

“You mean... That was YOU?!” Twilight shouted.

“Of course it was me! It was all me! Always!” Despair responded, laughing. “I tore you and Spike apart. I sent Slendermane to Ponyville and I was the one planning and executing the obliteration of all the changelings!”

“The changelings are dead?!” Rainbow Dash shouted out. Despair chuckled again.

“I personally took care of queen Chrysalis and devoured her soul! For such a feared and powerful fiend, I found her to be quite embarrassingly unable to protect herself. Her soul was tasty, though. Filled with so much bittersweet hatred for ponies,” the demoness continued.

None of the present ponies or reapers spoke, but they all knew what this meant. If she had the power to command a high ranked demon like Slendermane and even managed to defeat and devour queen Chrysalis, then they were facing a demon of very high rank. Twilight gazed at Despair with unspeakable anger. Now knowing that she was the source of all conflicts with Spike made her change her mind and gave her the motivation to confront the demoness. Surprisingly, Obsidian supported this idea.

“Twilight... fight her,” he spoke.

“W-what?!” the purple mare responded in shock. “How would I have any chance against her?”

“This bond is between you and Despair. If anyone can break it, then it is you. We tried everything we could to save you. But now, if we want to survive, you need to save us. You need to fight her,” the black stallion explained.

“Yes, Twilight. This may be asked for a lot, but there is no other way. We need your help!” Derpy added.

Mutely, Twilight nodded. Despair was her worst nightmare. The creature she feared the most. But now, the time had come for her to face her fears. As Despair realized her horn started to glow and she went into battle stance, the demoness started laughing again.

“My food wants to challenge me? That’s too rich!” she commented.

“I’ll make you pay for what you have done, Despair! I know, without me, you wouldn’t even exist. But you were the one driving Moondancer insane and you were the one who devoured her soul! And of course, I will never forgive you for what you have done to Spike!” Twilight threatened.

“Spike, you say? Wait, I think it’s time for me to finish up my snacks before I start playing with you,” Despair explained.

The demoness reached a hoof inside the bleeding, heart shaped hole in her chest. A few moments later, it returned with a small separated limb. A scaled, rotten, purple claw. The ponies instantly recognized it, filling them with dread, overwhelming sadness and desperation.

“Spikeeeeeey!” Rarity shouted out, tears flowing down her face.

Despair just stood there, grinning at the ponies while she feasted on the remaining bits of rotten flesh on the bone. The sight paralyzed Twilight. She sat down on the ground, staring at the claw and sobbed.

“He was so angry at you, Twilight. So angry, yet so sad. There is barely anything more tragic in this world than a baby dragon’s broken heart. When he realized that, all the time, it was me fooling him in believing you abused him, he was so sorry for leaving you behind. But he didn’t have much time to think about this. I tore him open faster than he could follow. The flesh of dragons is a delicacy I have to tell you! So spicy! But the best part about them are their souls. His had such a nice flavor. I could taste all the sorrow he went through,” Despair explained in pure sadism.

These words made it all that much worse for the ponies. They all cried over the loss of their beloved little dragon friend. Obsidian just ground his teeth in regret. He shouldn’t have let this happen. He should have seen this coming.

Despair was still not satisfied with the way Twilight reacted, so she continued.

“Do you want to know what his last words were?” she offered.

Without even waiting for a response, the demoness coughed shortly. Then, she faked a very sad and scared expression.

“Twilight! Mommy! Help me!” she spoke in Spikes voice.

Now, the purple mare started shaking in anger. Her eyes began glowing in rage and she was breathing heavily again. Despair grinned at her again and continued, disregarding her anger.

“He actually called you mommy. Isn’t that sweet? His last thoughts before I devoured his soul were about you and thinking of you as his mother!” the demoness kept on provoking.

“You... You...You sick little monster!” Twilight shouted in rage.

Instantaneously, the purple mare combusted and started running towards Despair. The demoness mimicked her, turning into a flaming mare herself and ran towards Twilight.

At first, the battle between the demon and the unicorn was nothing but a brawl. Twilight furiously tried to punch, kick, even bite the demoness. Despair, though, dodged most attacks with ease. Occasionally, she even allowed Twilight to hit her with full force, knowing it wouldn’t harm her in the least, but cause Twilight to hurt herself instead.

After a while, the keeper of magic realized pure rage wouldn’t help here. She jumped to distance and assaulted Despair with a large bandwidth of spells. The demoness again easily blocked, dodged or reflected the attacks.

“Give up, Twilight. I know every last spell you know and even a few more. I can do everything you can do and am a lot more powerful than you are,” Despair stated.

All of Twilight’s friends were forced to stay back and watch. There was nothing they could do. This was a showdown only between the two of them. The purple mare started to get her rage under control again and began to act more tactical, trying to set up magic traps and distractions. After letting Despair dodge and reflect a few ice spells, Twilight suddenly casted a strong light spell at her. This managed to hit the demoness. The effect also reflected on Twilight, causing her to get a bit weaker.

“Oh, you want to play serious!” Despair commented, grinning devilishly. “Fine. Let’s play serious then.”

With that statement, the demoness teleported herself right in front of Twilight, grabbed her by the neck and smashed her face first to the ground. After that, she turned around and kicked the purple mare with both hind legs into the air.

“Twilight!” her friends shouted in shock.

Despair was not done, yet. She summoned several daggers and let them fly past Twilight with high speed. Since it was Despair’s goal to play with her, she didn’t cause her any mortal wounds, although she easily could. The demoness only aimed to make her suffer and weaken her. Finally, the purple mare fell to the ground again, causing further injuries. By now, Twilight was too weak to maintain her fire form and extinguished.

“So this is the legendary keeper of magic?” Despair wondered, while walking in her direction.

Twilight tried to get up again, but as soon as she got just her front hooves back in position, Despair launched a powerful dark spell at her, sending her flying again.

“Princess Celestia’s star student?” the demoness kept on questioning.

Again, Twilight tried to get up, but it was much more difficult this time. Another strong dark magic spell hit Twilight and tossed her around again.

“The last hope of all of Equestria?” Despair continued.

Yet again, Twilight tried to get up. This time, though, she didn’t have the strength anymore. The purple mare was bleeding all over and was in too much pain to even breathe normally.

“Pathetic. I hoped you would at least provide a bit more resistance than Chrysalis. Maybe it was a good thing that I failed to get a demon out of you after all,” Despair concluded.

She was now towering just above Twilight. The demoness turned her right front leg into a bladed claw, grabbed Twilight and smashed her against the rock wall. The purple mare struggled, but even the smallest movement caused additional cuts.

“At least you are still good enough for a meal. It is time to meet your fate, Twilight Sparkle,” the demoness spoke, grinning victoriously and presenting her fangs.

This was it. This was her end, Twilight figured. She lost so much blood now that she couldn’t even lift her head anymore to see her friends one last time before she would be gone. It was just like back then, when the Salamander was about to devour her. Almost a year ago, Obsidian could save her in last moment. But this time, she was all on her own. Twilight still had the image of her friends branded in her mind. The image of them calling her name and crying in desperation. Twilight figured they would look at her just the same way now again.

Suddenly, her mind jumped forward to the first magic training lesson Obsidian gave her. She remembered how he showed her how to bend the limits of magic capabilities, how to change elemental spells without altering the spell itself and how to obtain control of hostile spells in flight. Then, she remembered the line Obsidian told her, which always impressed her the most.

“Spells merely help you understand how something is done. Real masters of magic do not even need to cast a specific spell anymore.”

As soon as she thought that, another quote of Obsidian shot through her mind.

“Magic is a free force. It never chooses a side.”

Everything around Twilight seemed to have stopped moving completely while she sunk deeper and deeper into her own mind. Years of magic training rushed through her mind. Magic always fascinated her, yet no magic was more important to her than the magic of friendship. This magic, though, came from her friends. They were on her side. But... if that’s the case... wouldn’t that mean that magic can choose a side?

Twilight’s mind made another huge leap, years and years back to the day of her entrance exam in the Canterlot school for gifted unicorns. Something unexplainable happened back then. This power that flooded through her. It was so intense. She couldn’t control it. Everything around her randomly transformed or became enchanted. It was until many years later that she learned this was caused due to her very first contact with the magic her friends provided her, caused by Rainbow Dash’s very first sonic rainboom.

It was a day that could hardly be more fateful. All of her future best friends earned their cutie mark at nearly the same time.

As Twilight realized this, it all came together now. She wasn’t the keeper of magic for no reason. She had the potential to connect herself with the very essence of magic, but never learned to control it. Through her friends, she became powerful. Powerful enough to use this connection now. Rapidly, Twilight felt how the same sensation she experienced during her entrance exam returned. Just this time, it wasn’t just randomly doing whatever it wanted. She had it under control. She could use it.

Despair was about to sink her teeth into Twilight’s throat as the purple mare’s head suddenly moved up and her eyes opened. They had changed color and became entirely white. An unexplainable sensation thrusted Despair away from Twilight, who levitated in the air now. A purple aura formed around the mare and her wounds healed up in incredible speed. Despair quickly jumped back on her four legs and stared at Twilight in complete disbelief.

“Arcane magic?! How can you use arcane magic?!” the demoness shouted.

Arcane magic is magic in its most powerful form. Raw, unshaped and pure. Up until this very moment, it was believed only alicorns had the ability to control such a power. But now, Twilight had proven this to be wrong.

The purple mare didn’t bother to respond. Instead, she just pointed her right front hoof at Despair with an empty expression, sending a powerful purple lightning after her. The demoness tried to dodge it, but the lightning instantly changed direction and hit her with full force. Surprisingly, this strike harmed Despair heavily, but didn’t cause any damage on Twilight.

“I know everything about you! I even got memories of your life even you have forgotten! How is it that I can’t remember you have this power?!” Despair shouted in anger and shock.

Twilight sent another attack after the demoness. A massive purple wave of magic rushed in her direction. Despair tried to teleport away, but for some reason, she only ended up teleporting herself right into the wave. A massive magical explosion resulted out of the contact, shooting the demon across the tunnel.

“Yes! That’s it! Go, Twilight! Go! Go!” Fluttershy cheered, instinctively knowing this would increase her strength.

“Yeah! Go for it, Twilight! Show that damn demon who’s the boss!” Rainbow Dash joined it.

Now, all of her friends were cheering for Twilight. The purple aura around her grew bigger and stronger.

Despair got up again and ground her teeth. She now casted the strongest spell she had on herself, changing her body into a full shadow form. The demoness ran towards Twilight with enormous speed, but the purple mare pushed her back to distance with countless attacks of pure arcane magic. Finally, Despair launched a massive black lightning at Twilight. Twilight countered the attack with a purple beam.

Both attacks met on half the way, desperately struggling for every inch to proceed. But Twilight’s magic was much stronger. It slowly fought its way closer and closer to Despair.

“No! No! Noooo!” the demoness shouted, just before the beam hit her.

Despair got launched into her own force field with such immense force, it ended up cracking and shattering. She kept on sliding on the ground for a few meters more before finally smashing against a rock and remaining there motionlessly. The dark aura around her vanished and Despair changed back to her normal form. The battle was over. The bond between Twilight and Despair was broken.

Twilight slowly levitated to the ground and the purple aura disappeared. Her eyes as well returned to their natural purple color.

“Holey moley, Twilight! That was absolutely super duper incredible!” Pinkie Pie congratulated.

Twilight turned her head around to her cheering friends and smiled happily. Moments later, she suddenly collapsed in exhaustion.

“Twilight!” her friends shouted and ran over to her.

“Ugh... no worries... I’m fine. I’m just... very... very tired,” the purple mare explained.

Her friends embraced her and congratulated her for her victory over Despair. Obsidian, though, knew it wasn’t over yet. With Derpy’s help, he slowly limped over to the still motionless demon.

Despair was awake, but seemed to be drained of all her strength. The black stallion could just push his right front leg against her chest and slide her up the rock so they were at eye level like a puppet. Despair grinned weakly at the reaper.

“What are you waiting for, Obsidian? Consume me,” she demanded.

“What are you demons planning? Why did you erase the changelings?” Obsidian asked.

Despair started laughing weakly. It seemed like, even though she lost the battle, she still seemed very sure she did everything right.

“It’s not like you could stop us anymore anyway. Queen Nightmare Moon’s plan has proceeded way too far now. We will win,” she explained.

“Nightmare Moon has a plan?!” Derpy shouted in shock.

“Tehe... you reapers really are such fools. Almost one thousand years of planning had passed and you never saw the signs up until now? Do you still not understand who I actually am? I am the second corrupted star,” Despair continued, the victorious grin returning to her face.

“The second... you mean... the legend of the corrupted stars...” Obsidian concluded, with a shock filled expression on his face.

Despair started giggling again, amused by Obsidian’s expression. Then her eyes jumped over to Twilight and her friends.

“Hey, keepers of harmony. Don’t think it ends here. No. The war has just begun. You think you defeated our queen? You freed her! Everything you did up until now only delayed the day of your downfall. Every last of your actions only supported us! The fact that I ended up defeated now only means my role in our queen’s plan is done. Now, go ahead, Obsidian. Consume me. I got nothing more to say to you traitors. May the demon queen let you suffer for all eternity,” she finished.

“Any final words, Twilight?” Obsidian questioned.

“Yes... there is something I want to say... but it’s not meant for you, Despair,” the purple mare spoke, with a sad expression. “Moondancer... Spike... I know you are in there somewhere. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you... I’m so sorry this happened to you. But now, I avenged both of you. I can only hope you will be able to forgive me. I will never forget you two. Never.”

“They can’t hear you, you stupid pony. They don’t even really exist anymore,” Despair spoke as her final words.

Obsidian then turned into a black cloud again and surrounded the defenseless demoness, consuming her. As soon as she was gone, the summoned blade disappeared again and Obsidian recovered just enough so they could make it back home.

“Let’s go, keepers. This was one hell of a day and we need to inform Mistress Celestia,” Derpy suggested.

Finally, the group was complete again and Despair was gone for good. Still, even though they defeated the greatest threat to the keepers of harmony, the knowledge they gained ultimately confirmed what the reapers concerned for such a long time now. They had to return to Ponyville, recover and find out what Nightmare Moon’s plan is.