Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pE6nF82Q7NiD_4cuI5DcDoWQ5tg1wdEDIR_tRmCZLds/edit

The night was not very restful for the six ponies. Fluttershy alone was so drained that she managed to fall asleep quickly. She had barely slept during the past few days after all. Although they were deep in Everfree Forest, she felt safe and comfortable, knowing a strong, experienced warrior was watching over her and her friends. In fact, Obsidian spent the entire night awake, either meditating or patrolling around their camp. This deep in the corrupted forest, it was not easy to tell if it was day or night anymore. The tall, clustered trees blocked off most of the sunlight. The reaper was standing upright on top of his scythe. Balancing on his right hind leg, he held his front hooves together and kept his eyes closed. The scythe was turned with the bladed side down to the ground, so Obsidian could balance on the stick for a more advanced meditative position.

“It’s quite funny how you call a Chimera a monster when you both actually have a lot in common!” Odd Cirs suddenly commented.

“Be quiet,” Obsidian replied calmly.

“Why? It’s true! Reapers were created to cause chaos and death as well!” the voice interposed.

“Those times are long over. For one to be so informed about us, you should know that,” the black stallion retorted quietly.

“Well, if you say so,” Odd Cirs answered Odd in an indifferent tone.

Obsidian then heard one of the keepers of harmony starting to wake up.

“Are you talking to some... wow, that looks difficult,” Rainbow Dash stated, still sounding pretty sleepy. The reaper jumped off his scythe and made it dissolve into a black fog again.

“Salvē,” he greeted the spectral haired Pegasus.

“Huh? You mean ointment? What for?” Dash replied.

She was still too sleepy to have her mind running properly.Obsidian shook his head slowly.

“No. It means ‘greetings’,” he corrected.

“Oh! Your native language! I get it... Salvē!” she greeted back, coming to her senses. Obsidian bowed down lightly, causing Rainbow Dash to giggle a bit.

“This language actually sounds pretty neat! Maybe I should learn a few words myself, just to show off,” she stated while the others slowly started to wake up, too.

“Your interest is honoring me, Rainbow. Good morning, everypony,” Obsidian replied.

The friends were still yawning and stretching their limbs. Now it came to Rainbow’s mind that she actually felt very lucky she did not have this one specific nightmare this time. It would have created an awkward moment for her if she would have jumped up in the middle of the night, screaming her soul out, like she used to do each time she had this dream. Thinking about the vision resumed her suspicion to Obsidian Shards. She liked him and she really wanted to trust him. But the nightmare kept on returning, even after their race. Despite his efforts, she could not trust him completely. The things she saw and felt every time simply made it impossible for her. The ponies packed their things and got ready to continue. Rarity was the slowest, since she excessively brushed her mane and cleaned her coat.

“Ugh, just look at this mess! Why do we have to sleep on the ground?” she complained angrily.

After Obsidian revealed Everfree Forest was defiled with demonic energy, she had begun to have a complex about touching the ground.

“You chose to follow me and you already saw what actions are necessary on a mission like this. You best abandon the idea of maintaining a clean appearance. The spawn will not care about how you look. There will be enough time for beauty care once it has fallen,” the reaper remarked with a cold and serious expression.

Rarity was scandalized, but the black stallion turned away from her before she could protest.

He then spoke to the rest of the group, “Let us continue.”

---

After two more hours of running, the group finally arrived at a cliff.

“The entrance to the passage is up there,” Obsidian explained, “guards will be waiting. Let me go ahead. They will tolerate the sight of a reaper more than the sight of a pony.”

The friends nodded and started climbing the rock wall. The way up was just as difficult and exhausting as most of the running combined. The cliff was covered in loose gravel and each step they made caused some stones to roll down towards the rest of the group. Occasionally, Obsidian changed directions to prevent the group from climbing on unstable rocks, which only caused the climb to become even longer and more exhausting.

Twilight Sparkle was beginning to become drained and unalert again. She had trouble keeping up with the others and slowly started to fall behind. Suddenly, a small tendril unrolled before her. Twilight’s attention was drawn to it, making her stop and look for the rest of the plant. As she turned her head sideways, she spotted a fairly large, thorny rose bush. The flowers were still closed, but they seemed to react to the mare’s glance and slowly opened, creating an image of sheer beauty. They emitted a seductively sweet scent, powerful enough to make the magical mare dizzy. It seemed as though the aroma took control of her body, forcing her to come closer and closer to the roses.

Twilight was only distracted for a couple of seconds, but that was already enough for Obsidian to notice a change in the pattern of hoof clattering the group caused. He turned around and saw how Twilight seemed to sleepwalk towards the rose bush. The reaper recognized this plant. He immediately began running down the cliff and towards Twilight, shouting to warn her.

“Twilight! Get away from it!”

The purple mare snapped out of her hypnosis, but she was already too close to the bush. A large, thorny tendril wrapped itself around Twilight, ramming the thorns in her body. As the pain shot through her, she wanted to scream. But just a split second later, Twilight began to feel weak and tired. The other keepers of harmony turned and tried to reach Twilight as well. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Obsidian flew ahead. While the reaper cut the tendril that held Twilight captive, Rainbow and Fluttershy picked her up and carried her to safety. The rose bush kept attacking. It tried to catch Obsidian. But the black stallion flew into the air, out of reach, and ignited the plant with a strong fire spell. He then quickly flew over to the two Pegasi, who were desperately trying to keep Twilight awake.

“Twilight! Twilight! Stay with us! What’s happening?!” they shouted, shaking the purple mare. She did not respond. Instead, she rapidly became paler and paler. Her eyes began to roll back in her head and her breath and pulse slowed down more and more.

“Quick! We need blood! One of you, give me your front leg!” Obsidian commanded.

All of the present ponies were shocked. They hesitated. Now Rainbow Dash had a chance to prove her loyalty. Despite her distrust, she reached out her right front leg to Obsidian. When it came to saving the life of a friend, she could forget everything else. The reaper quickly summoned his scythe and sliced open Rainbow’s artery. Then, he forcefully pushed the open wound into Twilight’s mouth. The surprise put the magical mare back to focus. Disgust overwhelmed her as she tasted her friends body-warm blood spurting on her tongue. Caught unprepared and in shock, she accidentally swallow the first wave, which only intensified her disgust. But Twilight could feel how this one swallow already extended her time maintaining consciousness.

“Drink it! Drink it or you will die!” Obsidian shouted.

The whole situation was nearly too much for Twilight to take. She had to fight against her mind, desiring to black out so she no longer had to endure this extreme situation. The warm metallic liquid ran down her throat, causing her to gag. Twilight lacked breath, but Obsidian did not allow her to inhale. He forced Twilight to bite into her friends leg and held her nose shut, so she could not breathe and accidentally let the blood run in her lungs. Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash, who’s face showed pain and weakness. Rainbow stared back at Twilight with begging eyes. But the magical mare could no longer swallow. Her eyes rolled back in her head again. Nearly all the life force left her body. At this point, Obsidian overstretched Twilight’s neck, making the blood spray right into her throat, and gave her a throat massage. Now, Twilight had no choice anymore. With each gulp, she could feel strength returning to her body, while at the same time Rainbow became weaker and weaker.

As Dash was about to collapse, Obsidian made another announcement:
“Fluttershy! Bandages! Now!”

The yellow Pegasus jumped a little as her name fell, but then quickly reached into her rucksack and pulled out a first aid kit. Obsidian finally loosened his grip on Twilight and pushed Rainbow’s leg over to Fluttershy, who then helped to stop the bleeding. Applejack came running over and supported Rainbow Dash. The blue Pegasus could barely stand anymore. She had just lost a vast amount of blood. But the only thing she cared about right now was Twilight. She kept on staring as the purple mare regained color and tried to sit up again, breathing and gaging heavily. Twilight’s stomach felt heavy and defiled. She could still taste Rainbow’s blood on her tongue. Her entire body trembled and twitched, fighting against this gruesome and disgusting experience. She was about to throw up, but Obsidian noticed in time and, again, covered her mouth and nose.

“I understand that this is disturbing and obnoxious. But it is crucial you keep it in now. I can not have you die here,” he explained, trying to calm down the purple mare.

Twilight tried hard to push all the thought of what just happened and how she felt aside. The black stallion loosened up again as Twilight’s trembling and twitching reduced, allowing her to breathe again. Her breath was shaky and weak, but she was stable. The friends sighed in relief.

“Horse apples... that was close,” Rainbow Dash commented weakly.

Obsidian supported Twilight for a while more to make sure she would not collapse again. He then sunk his head and stood silent for a moment.

“This incident goes on my account and I will take responsibility for it. Though I do need to have a serious talk with the guards. It was their job to destroy all Vampire Roses around here,” he spoke.

“Oh my gosh! Was that a Vampire Rose?” Pinkie Pie asked nervously. The reaper nodded.

“One of the many corrupted plants of Everfree Forest. It is carnivorous and captures it’s prey by injecting a poison that destroys all the blood in the victim. The poison itself is rather weak and inefficient. But due to the high concentration of demonic energy in these plants, it rather acts like a curse than an actual venom. Because of that, there is no antidote for it. The only way to fight it is to keep feeding the victim blood until the poison becomes saturated. That is why these roses are called Vampire Roses,” he explained.

“Well land sakes. Are we glad you know plenty ‘bout evil things, Obsidian. Y’all just saved Twilight a second time!” Applejack commented.

The reaper though rejected the honoring.

“Do not congratulate me. I failed at protecting you all. I did not pay attention. It is actually Rainbow Dash whom you should honor. Her immediate reaction and loyalty saved Miss Sparkle, not I. To say it in her own words, ‘That’s what I call guts,’” he explained.

Obsidian bowed his head down to Rainbow Dash, who then grinned a bit awkwardly and scratched the back of her head.

“Ah, just another small feat of heroism,” she answered in an a slightly understated and ironic tone.

Twilight was becoming stronger again. She slowly got up and was able to stand on her own.

“I’m sorry...” she apologized.

“There is no need for you to apologize. As I said, it was my fault this happened. Though it does have consequences now. I no longer want Rainbow Dash and you to participate in the battle. Not that I do not believe in your combat abilities, but I can not risk you being detected by the spawn under these circumstances. Demons are intelligent. They attack the weakest members of a group first. If it spots either of you two, it will definitely try to kill you first,” replied Obsidian.

This decision made sense, though Rainbow Dash could hardly accept it. She wanted to show her skills. But she did agree on following the reaper’s orders at the very beginning of the journey without hesitation or discussion. After the group gave Twilight some more time to recover, they got up and continued walking up the cliff. Applejack made it her business to ensure Twilight held the blood she had drunk in, while Fluttershy kept an eye on Rainbow’s bandages. The incident cost the group a good half hour of time and slowed them down enormously. But luckily, they reached the top of the cliff soon without any further incidents.

---

The cave entrance leading to the Everfree underground passage was rather small. Only around five ponies wide in total. It was well hidden in the shadows of the cliff. The only thing that indicated this really was the destination of the group were the eight royal guards standing in front of it. As they saw the group approach, they unfolded their wings to block every possible way in. Obsidian stepped ahead.

“Halt! Who goes there?” one of the guards asked.

Obsidian opened his cape and removed the hood from his head to reveal his identity.

“I am the reaper Obsidian Shards. Mistress Celestia told me to fight a demon in the Everfree underground passage. Here is the order,” the black stallion explained, then pulled a scroll, displaying the royal seal, out of his cloak.

The guards read through the letter carefully and checked the signature. Then they eyed the six ponies following Obsidian suspiciously.

“What about them?” the same guard asked.

“They are my companions. They will follow me inside,” the reaper answered.

The guards’ faces became serious.

“Nopony is permitted to enter the passage. They will have to wait here.” another stated.

Obsidian, too, became serious.

“If you know the rules so well, how come we happened to walk into a Vampire Rose on the way here?” he asked them, a bit angered.

“What? You must be mistaken! We burnt them all!” one of the other guards replied nervously.

“Then how do you explain this sight?” Obsidian asked.

Then he pointed towards Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. Both were still weak from the encounter. The guards then noticed smoke rising up from the cliff side. Suddenly, another guard stepped forth and confronted Obsidian.

“Hah! I don’t see anything wrong with them, besides them being drained and having minor injuries! You are trying to guilt-trip us to make us letting your companions enter!” he accused the reaper.

Now Obsidian became angry. He stomped on the ground hard, causing a small shock wave. The guards became scared at the sight of the provoked reaper, who was obviously more powerful than all of them together.

“Are you implying I lie while on a mission? Are you aware of what kind of insult that is to a reaper? Not taking his tasks serious, or even lying to Mistress Celestia and disobeying her? You better choose your words carefully, guardians! I am an elder reaper! And as such, I have the authority to get these ponies through the passage! This unnecessary intermission will be noted in my report! I will also mention your slacking on your task of securing the surroundings of the passage!” he threatened them.

The guards finally returned Obsidian his scroll and freed the way to the passage. His words were sharp and hard enough for them to understand how serious he was about this situation. They knew if he said he was going to report their behavior, he meant it.

The black stallion turned around to face the group.

“From here on, it will be more dangerous. Stay close to me,” he announced.

The keepers of harmony were a bit worried, but they knew there was no turning back now. Obsidian waited for them to come closely behind him. Then, they all entered.

---

The inside of the passage was pitch black, so Rarity cast a spell to illuminate the cave. What started out as just a steep path down grew wider and wider the further they went, until they finally confronted the true size of this tunnel. It was easily wide and tall enough to have an Ursa Minor walk in without any problems.

Now that the group had finally made it here, they could take their time in walking. That was actually very necessary, knowing a lot of dangerous monsters were here. Maybe even a few demons. Obsidian’s senses sharpened. He constantly looked around and listened to even the smallest of noises. Occasionally, he cast a spell into the dark. Most of the time, he did not hit anything and just attacked to make sure no dangerous creatures were nearby, or to make them flee. Sometimes, though, his magic attacks hit something. The group could not determine what the creatures he hit were, since they just dropped dead from the walls and Obsidian did not want them to go away from him. All that was hard to take for Fluttershy. Each time he mortally hit a creature, she whimpered. But by now she understood how indispensable these actions were. Either Obsidian attacked them, or they would attack the group. With no other source of light available but the light coming from Rarity’s horn, it was hard to tell how long the group was walking for. The patterns in this seemingly endless passage were repetitive. After what seemed like an eternity, Obsidian suddenly stopped. Ahead of them, in far distance, was a dark figure. It seemed to look at them. Then, the figure began to run towards the group, faster than any creature they have ever encountered. The group started to panic, though Obsidian remained calm.

“Cōnsiste, nam ego messor sum!” he shouted at the figure.

It immediately stopped its attack and slowly walked back to its original position. The group calmed down, but in return became confused.

“What just happened?” Twilight asked.

“Just keep going. You will understand in a moment,” Obsidian replied and began to walk towards the black figure.

The group had no choice but to follow him. As they came closer and closer, they realized the dark figure was actually a cloaked pony. No... another reaper, apparently. She was guarding a narrow tunnel, which emitted a powerful, disturbing sensation. The group did not dare to come too close to the tunnel. But from what they could see, it did not fade in black the further it went, but instead faded in a dark shade of red. A very surreal and terrifying sight to all of them, besides the two reapers.

“You need to pass through here?” the female reaper asked coldly.

“No. We are just passing by. How is the demon activity?” Obsidian wondered.

“Low. Suspiciously low.”

“As I thought... a spawn is on its way here.”

“So that’s why... I see...” the female reaper stated.

They both looked around; the reaper mare did a double-take after looking down the tunnel she was guarding. Then, Obsidian spoke up again.

”I do not recall an entrance to an orange zone being here,” he stated.

“We have to blame Discord for that. It appears, in the short period of time he was free, he changed Ponyville and the entire area surrounding it more heavily than the rest of Equestria. Multiple new tunnels have been created. We still could not discover and secure all of them,” the female reaper explained.

“That explains where the spawn is coming from...” Obsidian commented.

The cloaked mare eyed the group following Obsidian. Then her focus returned to him.

“Suntne custōdēs harmoniae?” she suddenly asked.

“Equidem,” he replied.

“Ista rosea. Estne illa?” she asked again.

“Verō, illa est,” he answered.

The female reaper stared at the group for a moment, while they just looked back at the two reapers in confusion.

“Celestia dominatrix semper difficillimās missiōnēs tibi dat,” she finally concluded.

Obsidian did not respond to this statement.

“Purity and sacrifice for Equestria,” he finally spoke to say goodbye to the fellow reaper and to signal the group the conversation is over.

“Purity and sacrifice,” she responded. Then the group continued walking deeper into the underground passage.

“What were you guys talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

“Nothing of importance,” the black stallion responded.

“Yer said she’s guardin’ an orange zone? Why does she have to guard that tunnel all alone, if it’s that dangerous?” Applejack wondered.

“Including her and me, there are only 87 reapers all over Equestria. There can not be more of us. Mistress Celestia has to position us very tactically so we can guard all the critical points in the land. Do not be worried, though. We can handle this.” Obsidian replied.

Again, the group continued walking for what felt like an eternity, while Obsidian randomly attacked creatures crawling along the floor, the walls, and the ceiling.

---

As the group was becoming tired, the light coming from Rarity’s horn dimmed. Just when they started to wonder if they would ever stop walking, Obsidian announced they reached their final destination: a large cave in which multiple passages fused together.

“This is where we will confront the spawn,” the reaper announced, “it will still take a few hours for it to arrive. Until then, we need to set up a camp here. I suggest you all to use this time to rest and prepare for the battle.”

The next half hour, the six friends occupied themselves setting up a secured camp below an overhanging rock wall and fortified it with several large boulders. Twilight was starting to feel better now. She somehow managed to accept the large quantity of blood in her stomach and had begun to recover. Obsidian wanted to make sure she did not exhaust herself too much, so the only thing she was allowed to do was to start up a campfire by magic. Rainbow Dash seemed to be getting better as well. Fluttershy carefully changed her bandages while the friends recovered from this long and terrifying walk. As usual, the friends quickly found a way to cheer themselves up by telling stories and jokes. Obsidian stood away from the group. He walked around the camp and set up several protective runes while constantly watching the movements of the cave creatures. As he finished drawing the last rune in the ground, the monsters seemed to retreat. They somehow sensed that trying to get to the little fort the ponies set up would be fruitless now. Obsidian sat down on the ground and began to meditate. However, the keepers of harmony didn’t like him being so distant.

“Obsidian, you little loney woney. Come here!” Pinkie Pie offered.

The reaper stood up again and went over to the keepers of harmony without a comment.

“-and then he said his dream is to become a Wonderbolt. Can you believe that? Well, I told him he can forget about that, since I am the one here who will become one!” Rainbow Dash spoke, finishing her story. The others made some quick, agreeing statements and giggled a bit.

“So you really want to become one...” Obsidian commented. Rainbow threw a pose.

“That’s right! I tell you all: one day, I’ll be living the dream!” she exclaimed.

“Dreams, huh?” Obsidian asked, causing the group to focus on him.

“You got a problem with that?” Dash wondered, feeling offended. The reaper slowly shook his head.

“Not at all. I am just not used to hear anyone talk about dreams,” he explained.

“What do you mean by that?” Rainbow asked again.

“When living the life of a reaper, there is no space for dreams. As you may be able to guess from what I told you before, our duty is very difficult and time-consuming. We fight until we die,” the black stallion explained.

The group was taken by this statement. After a while, Fluttershy spoke up.

“Oh my goodness... there really is nothing good about being a reaper, is there? That is so sad...” she commented.

The black stallion, though, shook his head again.

“Actually, it is not,” he retorted, puzzling the group.

“Of course it is, silly!” Pinkie Pie stated.

Obsidian shook his head yet again.

“It really is not. At least for us, since we do not feel sadness,” he explained.

“You mean... is it another side-effect of the reaper curse?” Twilight asked.

“It is,” Obsidian replied. “Those who have the curse are turned into cold-blooded murdering machines. We were once Nightmare Moon’s killer elite, and as such, we do not have emotions. At least, not many anymore, as they truly only hinder us. A reaper tries all his life long to get rid of their emotions through constant meditation and practice in self-control. To be honest: most of the times you saw me getting angry I was only acting for the sake of the effect.”

The group was surprised. They only now realized how cold Obsidian truly was. This knowledge now explained the expressionless face he had all the time. A person that can not feel can not form an expression.

“So... you have no feelings?” Fluttershy asked. Obsidian shook his head.

“No dreams?” Rainbow Dash wondered. Obsidian shook his head again.

“No hopes? No joy in your life?” Rarity asked.

“No. None of these,” Obsidian answered.

The group became silent and dropped their gazes. They found themselves speechless. This was unimaginable for all of them. Obsidian had basically just said he had pretty much no personality. He only existed for his duty, for serving Princess Celestia. That is all. Now, after all these weeks they had been living with the black stallion so far, it seemed that they just now finally started to understand him. They began to wonder... is it even possible to befriend such a person? A person with no cares? No feelings? No sense of humor? This knowledge saddened the six friends, although they knew Obsidian would not feel the same. But they concluded, after all, they would still try their best in becoming friends with him. Maybe he would learn to appreciate their efforts, if he did not already. Twilight even decided to go a step further.

“Obsidian Shards. I have an order for you,” she spoke.

The reaper focused her and bowed down.

“Yes, my lady?” he asked.

“Please become our friend. Even if you don’t have any feelings for us, we do have feelings for you,” the purple mare requested.

The reaper did not see this coming. He hesitated for a moment, but then replied.

“As you command.”

---

Hours passed by, but none of the present ponies could feel them. The total darkness that surrounded their camp made them feel like they were stuck in a different world where seconds pass like hours and hours pass like seconds. After a while, they decided to get some sleep. However, their rest was interrupted after a short time as the ground started to shake. They could hear loud growling and the screams of all the cave creatures fleeing in panic. The ponies looked around for Obsidian. He was already outside of the camp, standing in the middle of the cave.

“It is coming,” he announced, “Twilight, Rainbow. You two stay hidden. Everypony else, get ready.”

Adrenaline rushed through the six friends, making them fully awake. They got up and into their positions. The ponies whimpered a bit, but tried hard to keep it together. Before the spawn even came near the cave, his upcoming arrival was already being signaled by huge amounts of black smoke streaming out of the passage in front of them. As if it was not already hard enough to see anything in this dark cave, the smoke further reduced the sight of the group.

“Ignore the smoke. It is just a distraction. No light is necessary. Focus on seeing the spawn through the smoke,” the reaper explained.

Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodded. Fluttershy cowered behind the friends. She was hyperventilating in fear. The delicate Pegasus was always scared of the dark, and this place was now even darker than anything she had ever seen before. Minutes went by as the ground shook more and more. The heavy, deep, breathing of the spawn could be heard and was becoming louder and louder. Finally, two glowing, red, evil, eyes appeared. The semblance of the spawn could hardly be determined. Obsidian was right, though; despite of all the smoke, the spawn itself could be seen more clearly than the rest of the cave. Its outline really was reminiscent of a dragon, but it was thinner than a one, almost spider-like. The glowing red eyes were the only feature of the beast that could be clearly seen all of the time. The spawn soon spotted the small group blocking his way. It roared at them and exhaled a large cloud of black smoke at them. Fluttershy was blown away by the thrust and smashed into a wall, knocking her out.

“Fluttershy!” Applejack shouted, turning around and getting ready to run over to her.

“Stay in position! We cannot let it pass!” Obsidian commanded.

Unwillingly, AJ turned back. The reaper summoned his scythe and flew into the air. He flew towards the pair of red eyes and swung his scythe multiple times, but they all missed narrowly. Despite its size, the spawn was pretty agile.

The red eyes spotted Pinkie Pie and rapidly moved towards her. She panicked and ran away. Applejack guarded her by blocking the way between the spawn and her. As the eyes came close, she turned and kicked the spawn with both legs as hard as she could. Though the spawn did not seem to be hurt by this, the thrust was hard enough to knock the head back into the distance.

Rarity used her magic to lift several large rocks into the air and threw them at the spawn. The demon was pushed further and further back. Pinkie Pie had now calmed down and saw an opportunity to help. She began supplying rocks to Applejack and Rarity while they continued assaulting the spawn. Obsidian continued to fly around the spawn, hitting it repetitively with his scythe and magic attacks.

This demon certainly was weaker than the Salamander. It had difficulties protecting itself while being attacked by multiple opponents at once.

Without noticing it, Pinkie Pie had picked up a stone containing a small diamond and handed it to Rarity. As she launched the stone at the spawn by magic, it emitted a strong light, blinding both the spawn and Obsidian. The reaper collided hard with the spawn and crashed to the ground. The spawn hit a wall hard as well, causing the entire cave to shake. A crack opened at the wall behind the spawn, wandering over to the hideout of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. The overhang became loose and they had no choice but to leave their cover.

Even though they narrowly made it before the overhang came crashing down on their camp, they were now exposed to the demon’s eyes. It instantly began crawling towards them.

Rarity was still not really aware of what had happened and tried to cast another light spell without success. Applejack and Pinkie Pie chased the spawn. As Obsidian got up again, he ran over to Rarity, turned her around, and they both followed the others.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash ran for their lives. The spawn was coming closer and closer. The others tried hard to distract the demon or slow it down, but the spawn had focused on its target. Suddenly, Fluttershy flew right in front of the spawn. She was angry. Very angry.

Without realizing it, she used the only weapon she had against the demon. The Stare.

“You big, old meanie! Don’t you DARE to hurt my friends!” she shouted.

For a reason not even Obsidian could explain, the demon stopped. Its eyes went wide open, as if it was scared of Fluttershy.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, mister! Causing nothing but destruction around here!” she continued shouting.

All of the present ponies, and even the reaper, were stunned by the sight of the spawn, cowering in front of this comparatively tiny Pegasus. Obsidian saw his chance. He lifted above the spawn and exploded into a huge, black cloud, which then surrounded the spawn. Teeth grew out of it and rammed into the spawn, like it had tried with the Salamander. But this time, Obsidian easily overpowered the demon. After only a short struggle, it was entirely surrounded by the cloud, which then compressed more and more. The screaming of the demon seemed to literally dissolve and fade into the black mass. Then finally, it turned back into the reaper. He stood there with his eyes closed. It seemed as though consuming that demon had recharged him and made him stronger. He took a deep breath in. As he exhaled, black fog escaped his mouth. Judging from how calm Obsidian was, the battle was over, and they had come out victorious. All the ponies gathered back around the black stallion.

“Miss Fluttershy. I have to say I am very impressed. I did not expect you to have such a power,” he finally commented.

Fluttershy began to blush.

“I... I didn’t expect it to work either. I’ve never tried the Stare on a demon before,” she stated.

“The Stare?” the reaper wondered.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash suddenly replied, flying over to the yellow mare and putting her right front leg around her neck. “That’s the one thing everyone is afraid of. No one can withstand her stare! And now, she just proved that not even demons can withstand it!”

“So you all know about it?” Obsidian questioned. The friends nodded.

“I don’t really know what causes it, or why it is so powerful. I-I don’t even have control over it! Do you have an idea, Obsidian?” Fluttershy asked. The reaper shook his head.

“No. In the three centuries I had been living so far, I have never seen anything like it. This is a very unique talent, Miss Fluttershy! No one has ever managed to cause such a behaviour on a demon and when I say never, I really mean ever since the first demons appeared,” he replied.

The group was astonished. They congratulated Fluttershy, who only blushed even more.

“But what about that light? Was that me?” Rarity wondered, resuming the former event she caused.

“It appears you, too, have a rare talent. I have seen this only a few times before. One of the stones you threw had a diamond in it. As you used your magic in an offensive attack with it, you turned the gem into a strong magic spell. It seems like gemstone magic is the proper kind of magic for you, Miss Rarity,” Obsidian explained.

“Gemstone magic? Such a thing exists? Oh my, that explains so much! I always had a good connection to gems and jewels. I mean, they are my special talent, obviously” she remarked, turning to present her cutie mark. “But I would have never thought I could cast such spells!”

“You really are a strong group. I am sure if Twilight and Rainbow would have been able to join in the fight, you would not even have needed me at all,” the black stallion complimented.

Indeed, the group had learned a lot today. Rarity, Twilight and Obsidian used their magic to clear out the way to their buried camp so they could pick up their items again. They then started their journey back to Ponyville. In contrast to how this mission began, the seven friends spoke much on the way home and took their time. Obsidian seemed to develop a personal interest in Fluttershy. They had many intense conversations, mostly about Fluttershy’s life, the Stare and the evil creatures they both had encountered so far. After three more relatively uneventful days, they were all finally home.

---

The group separated at the marketplace. The sun was already going down when Fluttershy and Obsidian came to her cottage. Angel and the other animals greeted the gentle mare cheerfully but avoided Obsidian, as usual. The reaper did not care. He walked past them all and went over to the basement door. He was about to touch it when he suddenly stopped.

“Coltholm,” was all he said, making Fluttershy and the animals look at him.

Obsidian did not turn around. He just stood there, knowing every creature in the house was looking at him.

“A while ago, you asked me where I came from, Miss Fluttershy. I was born in Coltholm, the fallen city. I am the only one who survived,” he continued calmly.

After saying that, he opened the door and went downstairs.