Maledictum Insania 3: Rebellion Years

by Nero Darkard

First published 4th of June, 2014

Final book in the series. Who will win the demon war?

With Equestria in the hooves of a corrupt king and cult, the demons helping them and the keepers of harmony banished, the days could not be darker for pony-kind. How can these creatures, so small and weak, even hope to survive the unrelenting hatred of the demon queen now? Despite all odds, the keepers of harmony have set up a rebellion. Should they fail, then these might about be the final years of this world and the red night shall last forever.

First Year

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zKXARRfp8DxR7OgKn9swndyZgx6QkVz73wQRVrhwo4s/edit?usp=sharing

Warning: This my little pony fan fiction is very grimdark and contains influences from other very grimdark fan fictions. Read at your own risk.

Note: I will ignore several facts from the show to remain accurate to the standards I set up during the events of the previous books.

Revenge. How much is it worth? How far would one go to achieve it? Does hatred and destruction not only lead to more hatred and destruction? These questions are the ones which the whole world should be wondering these days. But the biggest question of all is: After one thousand years of war, have goals become blurry on both sides? When will it ever end and what will be necessary?

A war that has been raging for such a long time seems unending. But with King Blueblood’s rise to power, fear started to spread across the globe. Fear and rumors of everything soon coming to a change. Yet, no one seems to be capable of telling in what way.

However, where there is fear, there is also hope. Is this hope strong enough to defeat the fear? So many questions, so little answers. In the end, it comes down to two things: a severed horn held in the clutches of a demoness and a necklace worn around an alicorn's neck.

---

The arctic north of Equestria is known for being very calm. The few forests in the seemingly endless frozen planes are, like everything, nearly suffocating in the thick, flawless snow. The sound of the cold wind blowing between the pines is all that can be heard in the blue, black and white night. Silence and calmness fills the air and the whole world seems asleep.

Tonight, though, the silence is an illusion. The calmness and harmony is deceiving. In the muffling soft mass, hooves can not be heard. Hooves that are running to safety and likewise, the hooves which give chase can not be heard either.

Four ponies were running for their lives. Their goal was to reach the train before they get caught. But with skilled assassins just behind them, this is by no means an easy task. Especially when one half of the group were past their best years and the other half still had their best ahead of them.

The trees were rushing by, appearing like huge black monsters to the younger ponies. It only made them even more scared than they already were. Stopping or panicking were no options, though. They both realized that. All they could do was trying to dig their way through the deep snow as fast as they could, staying closely behind their parents.

The two foals were panting in stress and exhaustion. They could hear their parents pant in front of them as they desperately tried to shove the snow aside for their children. But also, they could hear the panting of their pursuers. It was tempting to turn around, just to see how closely behind they really were. But the two foals would not dare to do anything that might slow them down.

Suddenly, the colt fell. A frozen lake was buried beneath the snow. As he screamed, both his sister and his parents instantly stopped, even though they knew this could be fatal.

Instantly, the father saw a silhouette jump into the air. The only part that could be made out clearly was the blade, shining in the moonlight. He could not let this happen. He could not let his son die. So he ran into the aggressor, punching where he suspected would be the mouth holding the dagger.

As the mother helped her son back up in the meantime, another scream followed. The daughter was bleeding, another pony towering over her. The mother thought it was over now. The assassins had them. But then, to her great relief, she spotted something rush by in the corner of her eye.

The assassin did not have enough time to stab the filly a second time before his blood came dripping down on her and the body collapsed to her side moments later. Before she even understood what was happening, she felt how magic lifted her into the air and she got carried away. She was still in pain, but that was not as important to her as the fact that the silhouettes of her mother, father and brother were growing smaller and smaller the further she went away. But soon, another silhouette jumped down from atop a pine tree, striking down another assassin. This finally gave the family enough time to start running again.

“It’s not far anymore!” a female voice shouted.

The filly finally realized that there was a unicorn mare wearing a fully body set of shiny blue armor that sparkled brightly in the moonlight. Judging by the glowing horn, she must be the one who kept her in the air. But everything was very hectic and happening too quickly for the filly to follow. Just after she spotted the one who carried her out of danger, she was placed on her father’s back who suddenly appeared right behind the armored mare. Her mother was by his side, carrying the son.

At last, they saw their goal. The silhouette of a small train appeared as they left the woods and instantly, it started to move.

“This is going to be a close call! Get on board!” the armored mare commanded.

Even though the parents were very exhausted and could hardly catch enough air to breathe, they picked up the pace and gave it one final sprint.

“There they are!” a male voice shouted.

The mother could hear how a blade flew past her ear. She risked to look behind and saw a whole troop of ponies chase after her. Just a second later, another mare in sparkling blue armor jumped in between her and the assassins. A purple aura quickly built up around her, followed by a mighty purple lightning bolt shooting at the pursuers. The explosion launched them all over the place, partially even ripping them into pieces.

Finally, the parents and their children managed to jump on board of the rolling train. But so did a few of the aggressors. Swiftly, the father opened a door to a carriage and guided his wife and children inside. He could close and block off the door just in time, but the assassins instantly started breaking it down.

The small family reached the other end of the carriage and opened the door again. All became startled by the cloaked mare standing just in front of them. She, though, quickly pushed them through the door and started running across the carriage. Letting a scythe appear out of thin air, she used it to strike down the first pony that came charging towards her. Then a second, followed by a third. What bursted in next, though, was not a pony. It was an indefinable black mass of blades, mouths and claws with glowing red eyes.

This battle took significantly longer. The mare got bitten and cut several times, but ultimately was able to make the creature look into her eyes. It instantly stopped fighting and seemed paralyzed, allowing the mare to engulf it in a black smoke.

Finally, it was calm. The family was hiding one carriage ahead and none of the pursuers could catch the train anymore, so they soon stopped running. A bright flash filled the carriage and the two armored unicorn mares appeared, panting heavily.

Minutes passed by without any more attacks. The parents dared to leave their covers and looked around. The only ponies they could see were the two mares in crystal armor quickly entering their carriage to cast healing spells on the filly in order to stop the bleeding. Finally, they signalled their children that it was over. They did it. They managed to escape. Their next destination would soon become their new home: The Crystal Empire.

---

The sun was still down when the train approached a menacing blizzard. But just as the machine risked to get frozen over, a tunnel formed in the storm, revealing the tracks. Next to them was a light blue mare with curved horn, demonic wings and black eyes, wearing a black cloak. The cold seemed to not harm or bother her at all and she just waited for the train to pass through before she caused the tunnel to disappear again.

Finally, the family could see it. The perfectly symmetrical empire made entirely out of crystals. So far, they only heard about this place, but have never been to it themselves. Even the injured and traumatized foals started smiling and sighing in relief at the sight presented to them. They knew that they were finally safe now.

Two minutes later, the train stopped. Completely exhausted and suffering from sleep deprivation, the family left the train. Just a moment later, the three mares who saved their lives followed. Now finally being on safe grounds, the armored unicorns could risk to take off their helmets.

“Thanks you so much for everything tonight. I don’t know how we will ever be able to repay you for this,” the father started, speaking to Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Fluttershy.

“You don’t owe us a thing, Mr. Cake. It was me who wanted you to keep spying on the cult to begin with, so personally saving you and your family after your cover got blown was the least I could do,” Twilight responded.

“You shouldn’t waste any time, though! Pumpkin’s cuts are pretty bad and the healing spells won’t help much!” Rarity spoke while looking at Cup Cake and her daughter.

Both parents focused at their daughter in worry. Her expression clearly showed that she had no idea how she should be feeling right now. Should she cry because of pain? Should she scream due to all the things she had seen? Or should she smile over the fact that she finally was safe and her family alive? In the end, all she was capable of doing was staying silent.

“Let me escort you to the doctor,” Fluttershy offered, then turned to Twilight and Rarity. “I will meet you at the palace.”

The two mares nodded. As they watched the family run away, Twilight let out a sigh of satisfaction. Another mission successful. Another small victory over the BloodClaw Cult. Suddenly, she turned around to her friend.

“Rarity,” the purple mare called.

“Yes, darling?” the fashion diva replied.

“Toothless,” Twilight spoke, expecting a response.

“Alligator,” Rarity replied.

That was the correct answer. Now Twilight could safely assume that this truly was her friend, and not a skin-walker trying to infiltrate the empire. The purple mare smiled, then turned around and started walking, her crystal helmet floating right next to her.

“I’ll need to check on my parents and Owlowiscious. Do you want to come with me?” she asked.

“Sure. I never really had a lot of opportunities to talk with your parents,” Rarity agreed and began to follow while as well letting her helmet float beside her through magic.

“Neither did I with yours,” Twilight stated.

“Don’t worry about that, darling. I am their daughter and not even I could ever spend a lot of time with those two adventurers. Always traveling, always looking for something new,” the white mare responded.

Twilight smiled again. It’s strange, she thought. After all she had been through, it are these small things which still get her to smile. She just came home from an escort mission and killed at least ten cultists by violently blasting them into shreds and she just shrugged it off like it was nothing more than finishing a school day. These battles and struggles have become just too normal for her taste. Finally, she let out a sigh.

“Gee… I can’t believe it has already been six months since we got banished from Equestria. Six months of rebellion and we still don’t have the slightest clue where all of this is going,” the purple mare spoke lowly.

“Think positive. So far, we had a lot of success! The Crystal Empire is known throughout a majority of Equestria to be a safe haven for all refugees of Blueblood’s regime. Aside of them and the crystal ponies, several wandering caravans of cattle joined the rebellion as well!” Rarity stated.

“We are just barely enough to defend ourselves against a large cultist attack. Not to mention that we still don’t have enough outposts in the cities of Equestria to help guiding refugees towards us and to plan liberation missions. We might be safe for now, but it is just a matter of time before Blueblood will start taking us serious as a threat and orders demons to attack. We need to be prepared for such a case,” Twilight responded.

“What do you plan to do?” the fashion diva wanted to know.

“Let’s discuss that during the meeting. Even though all 87 reapers are here and constantly patrolling around, we can’t know for sure that we are not being spied on right now,” the purple mare suggested.

With that, it became silent again. Minutes passed by before both noticed a bright glow in the air. It was Philomena, Celestia’s pet phoenix. It seemed like she took a detour from her patrolling around the crystal palace to greet them, so the two mares waved up to her.

“I just hope it’s warm enough for her,” Twilight worried.

“I think she’ll be fine,” Rarity responded, then closed her eyes and smiled. “It is good to know our pets are all safe and doing well. Winona is with Applejack and Babs Seed. Owlowiscious is living with your parents. Gummy has grown up, finally grew some teeth and got returned to the wilds. Tank is living with the other wild animals in Fluttershy’s cottage back in Ponyville…”

“Sorry you lost your cat, though…” Twilight spoke in condolence.

“It’s… it’s fine, darling. Opalescence was old. I’m just happy she died a natural death and I was there when it happened,” Rarity explained.

Once again, the two unicorn mares became silent. After taking a turn, Rarity suddenly coughed a bit.

“Gosh, you are still coughing?” Twilight wondered.

“I don’t think I take the air around here so well,” Rarity stated with a shrug.

“This has been going for quite a while now. Does the pectoral not work at all?” the purple mare wanted to know.

“It worked just fine in the beginning. But now, it hardly makes a difference anymore. Do you think I should get a stronger medicine?” the fashion diva wondered.

“Probably. But I mostly think you should visit the doctor again,” Twilight suggested in a worried tone.

“Well, I will see to it tomorrow. It has been a long day and all I want to do now is just getting our meeting done and go to bed,” Rarity explained.

The purple mare nodded in understanding. She could not deny that she had difficulties to stay focused herself after being up for nearly twenty hours straight. But as long as there were things to do, she would not risk to just fall asleep on the spot.

After taking a turn down another street, they finally reached the small house made of crystal where her parents were residing. Just as she expected, the lights were still on and before they even reached the door, it opened by magic. Twilight Velvet came running out, embracing her daughter.

“My gosh… I was so worried. Are you hurt? Is everything alright?” she asked immediately.

“Gee, mom! Don’t worry, I’m fine! And yes, everything turned out well. One of the Cake twins got injured, though. But she has good chances to survive,” Twilight Sparkle explained, then looked over to the door where Night Light was standing with the pet owl on his back. “Hi, dad. Hi Owlowiscious.”

“Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle!” Rarity greeted.

“Hey, Twilight and good evening, Miss Rarity!” Night Light started. “Though, ‘evening’ might be a bit of an understatement, considering that it will be sunrise in a few hours. Anyway, since we are all awake anyway, why don’t you come in? You both look pretty tired.”

“Sorry, but I just have enough time to check on you,” Twilight explained, loosening herself from her mother again. “I’m really sorry I can’t spend so much time with you anymore, but leading a rebellion is a pretty time-consuming and stressful job.”

“Oh, sweetie. I fully understand and honestly, I could not be prouder. You help more ponies everyday than any of us could ever dream to help in a lifetime! Thank you for stopping by. Now I will be able to sleep peacefully for the rest of the night,” Twilight Velvet responded.

“I will keep that offer of getting together with the two of you over a cup of tea in mind, though,” Rarity stated a bit teasingly.

“Haha. Yes and tell the others that they are invited, too! Good night!” Night Light spoke and started waving.

The ponies said their goodbyes, then Twilight’s parents went back inside. The two friends, though, turned around and started heading towards the crystal palace.

---

Just ten minutes later, the circle of rebellion leaders met up in a well-guarded hall. Aside of Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack, the former demi-goddesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence were present as well. To their side were Shining Armor, Derpy Hooves and Crystal Blossom.

The ten placed their front hooves on the table, all focusing Twilight. She seemed to be mustering all of her friends in suspicion.

“Applejack. Is Babs Seed your friend or our friend?” she began to ask.

“Mah friend,” Applejack responded.

Another correct answer. In order to prevent any possible espionage by skin-walker demons, Twilight thought up a complex system to scan for possible infiltrators of their meetings. All of them had to answer very personal questions only they could know the answers for. While doing so, they had to keep several codes in mind. Saying somepony is only your friend means that they may be close to you and even part of your family, but they are not a pony who can be entrusted with all secrets. On the contrary, saying somepony is the friend of all members of the circle means they know all the secrets the circle knows as well. The whole group established who belongs to which side of the system long ago.

“Shining Armor. What do I usually call you?” Twilight kept asking.

“Big brother best friend forever,” Shining replied.

“Rarity. Who taught you about gemstone magic?”

“It was Obsidian Shards.”

“Crystal Blossom. What did you tell me when I was about to commit my first execution?”

“I will keep believing in you, no matter what may come.”

“Derpy. How did we defeat Despair the first time?”

“By you gaining control over your arcane magic.”

“Fluttershy. What is the name of the curse haunting Equestria?” Twilight asked next.

Every once in a while, Twilight would throw in a question like this. It does not fit into the usual system on purpose, since it is not a personal question. But this one in particular acted as a check if there might be any creature present that did not belong into the circle.

“Maledictum Insania… and I helped Rainbow Dash find a pet. Tank the tortoise,” the reaper mare replied.

Since she, like most of the members of the circle, was cursed with the curse of secrets, being able to speak out those two words loudly just proved that there was nopony nearby eavesdropping on them. The latter statement was to confirm her identity.

“Cadence. What was my favorite rhyme in my childhood?”

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake.”

“Luna. What did you learn from Fluttershy when you first visited us in Ponyville?”

“How to lower my volume and speak more gently.”

“Celestia. For what reason did you let me pass my test surrounding the return of the Crystal Empire?”

“You were willing to risk failing the test as long as it meant guaranteeing the safety of the crystal ponies.”

Everypony present proved their identities to be correct. Now it was Twilight’s turn to answer a question, then they could finally begin their meeting. This time, it was Derpy Hooves who raised her hoof first.

“Twilight. Where did you first discover that I am a reaper?”

“On top of Death Rock Mountain during my first visit of Tripudium Messōrum. You showed me your rune cutie mark and revealed that your left eye is actually a glass eye.”

Just seconds after it became clear that everyone of the leadership circle was present, the atmosphere changed and everything became a lot more comfortable and relaxed. Though Applejack could only sigh.

“This is so darn tedious. Can we at least keep the meeting short? Ah still gotta get up in the mornin’,” she complained.

“Sorry to wake you up in the middle of the night. I will try to get this over with quickly,” Twilight apologized. “So, the escort mission was a success, although Pumpkin Cake got stabbed by a cultist.”

“How bad are her wounds?” Luna wanted to know.

“She will need to wear a bandage around her leg for a while, but she will fully recover,” Fluttershy responded.

“But seeing how the cultists were ambushing you, it seems we need to change our escorting route again,” Cadence suggested.

“Yes, sadly. But we still have plenty of alternate paths to go. Anyway, what’s the latest status on Equestria?” Twilight wanted to know.

“We can confirm that the crystal caverns inside the mountain beneath Canterlot have been taken over by the demons. They turned them into a new stronghold they call Hades. This makes Canterlot the city with the tightest security in the land. Aside of that, Blueblood ordered the demons to attack Maretonia. Needless to say, they conquered the country very quickly and killed the duke and duchess,” Crystal Blossom summarized.

“I was going to ask them next to support the rebellion…shoot,” Twilight spoke in worry.

“That was the last place bordering on Equestria that hadn’t been conquered…” Rarity resumed.

“With this development, other nations should start to feel very threatened by Blueblood. The next closest nation to us is the Mule Republic. I suggest we should focus on getting them to join the rebellion next,” Celestia spoke.

“Sounds good. Anypony else agreeing to the plan?” Twilight asked back.

Unanimously, all present ponies, reapers and fallen alicorns raised their hooves.

“Alright. That settles everything for now. Thank you all for coming. Good night,” Twilight concluded.

With that, the circle members left the hall, all of them heading to their rooms in the palace or homes outside. Most would go to sleep now. Only the reapers and Luna would stay up for the rest of the night to watch over the empire and make arrangements.

---

While Twilight and her friends were getting some rest, the demons in Equestria had entirely different plans. Despair, The Guillotine of Hope and Toxica, The Cloud of Disaster were walking through a just recently destroyed settlement. The ponies there dared to raise their voice against King Blueblood. Therefore, he ordered them to kill every last of them. Blueblood did not tolerate anypony saying so much as a single bad word about him within his kingdom.

As usual, Toxica was very playful. She fluttered from one burnt down house to the other, picking up random objects and severed pony limbs to play with them. But that was not why Despair was here. She just stopped in the middle of the destruction, waiting for one more demon to arrive.

A couple of minutes later, a small troop of ponies approached, carrying a large red pillow with another demoness on top. It was Succubus, The Insatiable Lust. As they reached Despair, the group halted and gently placed the pillow on the ground. Succubus, though, remained laying on it and threw a few poses for her servants.

“Thank you so much, my sweets,” she spoke softly.

“Did they find it?” was all Despair wanted to know.

“Of course, honey. Lemon Hearts, my dear. Would you be so kind?” Succubus requested.

The unicorn mare in question had a yellow coat and cerulean mane. Like all of Succubus’ servants, she acted as if she was sleepwalking while constantly having very dreamy eyes, focusing on her mistress with a strong blush on her cheeks. Immediately after the red and black demoness spoke out her request, Lemon Hearts approached Despair and pulled an item out of her saddlebag.

Despair grinned sinisterly. In front of her was an object she had been searching for a long time now. It was a large, dark gray horn. Its tip was dyed in a strong crimson. The demoness knew precisely whom it used to belong to. In just a few short years, this horn would become an important key element to her masterplan.

Despair reached out her right front leg. The mouth inside it opened widely and grabbed the horn.

A Friend

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WJOdmjHDIhRqrTqIsv-6nlSC6CKvM8fDCqd4qP9bQLI/edit?usp=sharing

As the first beams of sunlight shined into Spring Sapling’s bedroom, the green crystal stallion was still asleep. It needed half an hour for the light to wander across his room and shine onto his face to wake him up. After a big yawn and stretch, he climbed out of his bed and walked over to a small safe. He entered his number code, inserted his key and opened it. The content was rather sparsely. A small pile of Equestrian Bits, a few gems and a silver bracelet. But of all these things, it was a book that he was aiming for. After pulling it out and locking his safe again, he placed his account book on a table.

The times surely had changed for the entirety of the Crystal Empire. Spring Sapling used to have so few workers for his crystal berry farm, he had to do most of the work himself. In return, though, he made quite a lot of money he invested in expanding his farm. Now, everything was the entire opposite. With all the refugees and the support the rebellion against Equestria’s current leader has gotten, he got a lot of workers. But in return, he barely made any profit anymore, since he had to pay them all and support the rebellion with a small portion of his financial income. Still, this was a sacrifice he was very willing to make. Money and wealth never mattered much to him. He was just glad he could offer quite a bunch of ponies a safe job and stable income. Also, while managing all these workers was quite tedious, it at least was the only thing he had to do now, along with keeping up the farm’s management.

After he was done checking the numbers and making notes, Spring Sapling went out on the field. Only few workers were here yet, but that was alright. The working hours of all fruit pickers were flexible. They could come and go whenever they wished, so long as they fulfilled their weekly minimum.

Most of his workers were following that arrangement and making the most out of it. But there was one particular mare who was always out in the fields already when he opened his door in the morning. Today as well, the first pony he saw was Applejack. It had only been a few months since she started working for him, but Sapling could already say that she was by far the best catch he made so far. Always so eager to work. Always so full of energy. It seemed like she had unlimited stamina.

As the orange mare lifted her head, she saw her boss and began to smile. Leaning her front half against a pole, she could raise her remaining left front leg and wave at him. She still seemed to be tired, though. Spring Sapling knew that she was a member of the rebellion leadership circle and their last meeting must have been pretty late. Still, this did not stop her from giving her all on the fields.

Spring Sapling couldn’t help but smile as he waved back. This was just such an impressive sight to him each and every time. She was handicapped, yet she worked harder than most healthy stallions he had employed over the years. She really seemed to enjoy her work, too.

He just couldn’t help himself. Although he had places to be and arrangements to make, Spring Sapling decided to walk over to Applejack and tell her just what he thought of her.

“Bright and early as everyday, huh Miss Applejack?” he greeted.

“Yes, sir! Ah got two full baskets of berries already and Ah took the liberty to water the bushes in the south-west. The leaves looked a bit dried up,” Applejack responded.

“Heh. You’re really the best mare in my team. You can get more done with your three legs than other ponies with four and you have a great eye when it comes to the condition of my plants,” the crystal stallion complimented.

“Aw shucks. That’s nothin’. Ah’ve been living on an apple orchard mah entire life. Ah just got the routines down, is all. It’s the lifestyle Ah’m used to,” the orange mare stated.

“Nonetheless, I am very happy to have you on board. Keep up the good work!” Spring Sapling spoke, then turned around and left.

Applejack smiled, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. The smell of the crystal berry plantation was quite similar to that of an apple orchard. It brought happy memories of Sweet Apple Acres back to her mind. The many years she spent outdoors, bucking trees and carrying buckets. Back then as well as now, farm work sure is hard. But she wouldn’t trade this job for any other in the world. Nothing else would be able to give her so much satisfaction.

The orange mare slowly exhaled again and opened her eyes. The sun was shining down on those countless small green bushes, the colorful berries glistening in the light. It was a beautiful sight. Scenes like these made her forget the past for a moment and helped her living in the present. Even though picking berries takes more time, since you can’t just buck the bushes and cause all berries to fall in perfectly placed buckets, it also was less physically exhausting than apple bucking. In fact, the slower pace of hoof-picking the berries had something very relaxing and mesmerizing. It was stunning to Applejack how she could have forgotten this the first time she visited the Crystal Empire and helped picking berries.

This all seemed so long ago. Never would she have guessed that the empire she once helped to rescue would become her new home. She also would have never thought she would end up living in a fancy house chiseled out of a massive crystal. But here she was.

“Cuz!” a familiar voice called from behind.

Applejack could barely turn her head fast enough. Before she was able to even say a word, the orange mare got glomped, causing her to fall over.

“Whoa, Nelly! Hey, Babs. Glad to see ya too, but no reason to push me over like a sleepin’ cow,” Applejack started.

“Sorry. I’m just so glad to finally be back home and seein’ you again,” the brown teenage filly replied.

Babs Seed was gone for about two weeks. Along with a few other former police officers who fled after Blueblood came to power, she made it her task to find refugees and guide them across Equestria’s border. A very dangerous task, considering that she had to blend in large crowds consisting mostly of cultists, oppressed subjects and demons. But luckily, she still had enough connections within the enemy territory to get around unnoticed. After helping her older cousin back up, Babs Seed gained a mildly disgusted expression as the memories of the past weeks came back to her.

“Equestria sure is not what it used to be anymore. Public executions, sentries everywhere… and just walkin’ past a demon is quite nerve-racking. Can’t help but get chills everytime,” she explained.

“Ah know… Anyway, what’s new over there?” Applejack wanted to know.

“Eh… Blueblood just does whatever he wants to. Cultists openly torture subjects on the streets and whenever somepony tries to help, a demon jumps in and instantly kills the troublemaker. More and more ponies go mad due to fear…” Babs explained.

“Darnit… Well, what about Rarity’s parents? Any news on them?” the orange mare wondered.

“Nope, sorry. It would be much easier to track ‘em down if they wouldn’t wander around all the time. But we’ll find ‘em eventually,” Babs replied.

“It sure would be easier if we had more brave ponies to help searchin’. Am proud of ya, Babs,” Applejack stated.

“Thanks. I can say the same thing about ya. You’ve been through way more than me and still ya keep goin’,” the teenager replied with a smile.

“Well, you and I are the last Apples alive. We gotta keep goin’. Can’t let the darn cult win now, can we?” Applejack asked with a playful determination.

“Nope! They can try whatever they want to. These two Apples here won’t be shaken down from their trees!” Babs replied.

“That’s the spirit! Now get along. Ah got some apple pie in the fridge back home waitin’ for ya,” the orange mare spoke.

“Wowza! It’s been ages since I last had one! Thanks! See ya later!” the teenage filly spoke, then quickly turned around and ran home.

Applejack smiled happily, followed by a big yawn before she returned to her work. Yes, it wasn’t over quite yet. She just had to keep the conversations she had with Derpy Hooves in mind and keep chasing her dreams. The times may be darker than ever, but it wouldn’t stop her. In fact, now was a time where hopes and dreams were worth more than ever before. It was this feeling of hope, the determination to do whatever possible to bring things to a brighter future for everypony which kept the whole rebellion going.

Two hours passed by. The orange mare just emptied her baskets again and was about to return to the bushes when she noticed Spring Sapling walking across the plantation, followed closely by a light amber stallion with brown mane and tail. His cutie mark were three blue horseshoes. Applejack had to think for a moment why this stallion looked so familiar to her. But by the time Sapling was done introducing the new stallion, she remembered. It was Caramel, an old friend from Ponyville! He and his girlfriend Sassaflash moved away years ago in search for work. Applejack had seen him in various places all over Equestria in the last years. Once, he even worked as a staff member of the yearly Equestria Rodeo Competition in Canterlot. Though they never really spent all that much time together, not even back in the happier times. She was just always way too busy with her farm work and helping her friends. But now, since the times had changed and she was so much ahead in her work already, the orange mare figured it would be fine if she took a short break and spoke to him.

“Howdy, Caramel! Haven’t seen ya in ages!” the orange mare greeted.

“Oh. Hi, Applejack. Yeah. It’s been a while,” Caramel greeted back.

“Ah’m glad to see ya made it here. What have ya been doin’ since the last time we’ve met?” Applejack wondered.

“Not that much… I spent most of the time wandering all across Equestria and looking for a job. Not that easy when you constantly forget and lose things… And then, Blueblood happened,” the light brown stallion replied in a depressed tone.

Applejack felt a bit awkward about this. She still remembered he always was a bit forgetful and even delayed Winter Wrap Up Day once because he lost a bag of grass seeds three times in a row. But she just thought it was simply bad luck that day. She had no idea it actually was such a big problem for him. Applejack felt the need to say something motivational now.

“Well… look on the bright side! Ya got a job here now and ya can help the rebellion, too!” she spoke.

Caramel did not respond. Her words did not seem to achieve what she was aiming for, since he still looked sad. Applejack then caught him sneaking a quick peek on the stump where her right front leg used to be. It was obvious right away that he seemed to be worried, but did not want to appear rude by staring at her or making a comment. So Applejack did not mind and instead smiled a bit.

“No need to feel all awkward about it, Sugarcube. It’s fine, ya can look,” the orange mare spoke.

“If it’s okay to ask… When did that happen?” Caramel asked carefully.

“A couple of years ago. It’s a bit of a longer story to tell. But to give ya the short version: Ah lost mah leg in a really bad fight that ended with all of mah best friends gettin’ permanent injuries and one of them even dead. Was quite a hard time… We all lost a lot...” Applejack explained.

Again, the stallion did not say a word and instead just stared at the ground. Applejack was about to say something to lighten the mood again, but then he finally replied.

“I’m sorry to hear that…” he spoke.

“Well, all ya can do after such things happen is to keep goin’ forward and look on the good things that are left. Ah still got most of mah friends and even made a few new ones,” Applejack explained.

Caramel still wasn’t saying much. She didn’t remember him as being so quiet and depressed. He must have been through a lot himself, she figured. Not a big surprise, considering he had been living in Equestria until just recently. With him wandering across the land in search for work, he must have seen the whole rise of the BloodClaw Cult and their takeover of Equestria first-hoof. These memories must still be very fresh and traumatizing.

“Well, how’s Sassa-” Applejack started again.

“Can we please get to work now?” Caramel interrupted instantly.

The orange mare became silent for a moment. Did she go too far there? Was he just done talking? Or worse yet, did she hit on a painful topic? It seemed like he didn’t want to talk anymore, so she figured the best thing she could do was to follow his request.

“Um… Sure. Ah guess Sapling showed you around already. Ya can help me with the baskets if ya want,” Applejack offered.

“Got my own chores… See you later,” Caramel spoke and quickly walked away.

Applejack watched him for a moment longer with a frown on her face. Scenes like these reminded her of the things happening outside of the magical blizzard protecting the empire from infiltrators. She hadn’t seen Equestria in months, so Applejack could only imagine what horrors the inhabitants must be going through every day. All the more reason for her to do her best and support the rebellion. The harder she worked on the plantation, the more money was made, which in return was spent on resources and projects for the rebellion. Determination returned to Applejack’s face as she quickly walked back to the berry bushes and started picking again, faster than before.

Grim Visions

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kAoMxjtlPTaDTEYEsYqOYdDg_CyTFwss-547rNncl04/edit?usp=sharing

Throughout its history, Canterlot Castle had been the center of many events. These halls of white marble, gilded panels and red carpets had survived the red age, the assault of Tirek, the return of Discord and the changeling invasion, just to name a few. For hundreds of years, it had seen little alteration. But now, with the royal sisters gone, the appearance of this majestic palace has changed drastically. While still looking the same on the outside, the influence of the BloodClaw Cult was ever-present on the inside. Every statue and piece of art that once displayed the royal family was gone. Banners depicting the symbol of the cult, statues of Nightmare Moon and demonic stained glass had taken over their places. Instead of royal guards, demons were protecting every corner and corridor. Only the lack of corpses and blood made it clear that this was not in fact an oversized church, since the new ruler of Equestria wished his home to remain clean.

Once, this used to be the most regal place in all of Equestria. The home of royalty and a symbol of freedom. But now, it was the home of a selfish alicorn and his slaves. Like many of those who were so unfortunate as to be good-looking in the corrupted king’s eyes, a white pegasus mare of barely legal age was among his personal maidens. No other pony was able to get this close to the king of corruption, as some titled him secretly. But never would they dare thinking about harming or even assaulting him. As if his incommensurable might and legion of demon bodyguards were not intimidating enough, Blueblood did not take any chances when it came to his ‘playthings’. Like all of the other slaves living in the castle, the white mare had to wear a cursed shackle around her neck. Should she displease her king, or should anypony other than him attempt to remove the shackle, the curse would cause her head to fall off. Knowing this, it was in all the mares’ best interest to constantly make sure the piece of metal which kept them alive was tightly closed and nopony would attempt to touch it.

The young white mare stood next to the throne, fanning her master with a palm leaf. The others either had to feed him fruits or just keep him company. Blueblood himself struck a lazy, yet confident pose on his throne. The necklace which brought him into this position, Nightmare’s Eyes, was dangling from his neck while the animate eye-shaped red gem occasionally moved, looking around the throne room. As if it sensed somepony was coming, it started at the entrance. With her head lowered, an elderly light gray pegasus entered. Shock filled the young white one as she saw her approach the evil king.

“So? What brings you to me, my subject?” Blueblood asked casually.

“My… my king… I would…” she started, taking a short break to focus on the white mare and then raising her head in confidence. “I would like to request my daughter to be released.”

“That is all? Quite a shallow reason to request an audience with me, is it not?” Blueblood stated with a cocky smile, then turned his head to the side. “Snowflake. Come over here.”

Instantly, the white mare’s heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest. Shakily and hesitant, she walked right next to the alicorn stallion.

“This is the one, yes?” Blueblood asked.

“Y-yes. That is her,” the mother replied.

“Now explain to me, why exactly should I let her go? That would mean I would lack a maiden and only ends up in me needing a new one. Do you know what nuisance this would mean? I would have to go through the trouble to order my demons to capture another twenty young mares and bring them to me so I could pick the one I like. The lucky one would then get a collar around her neck while the rest get fed to my demons as a reward for following my orders. Is she worth that much to you? Could you live with the thought that you would exchange the fate of your daughter with that of another and even being the death of nineteen young mares who never even had a coltfriend in their lives?” the corrupted king questioned.

Trying to guilt-trip the old mare caused her to get furious. She did not fall for this and instead started clenching her right front hoof and waving it at him.

“Well how about you stop doing these awful things to those poor young ladies altogether? I swear, you are the worst ruler Equestria has ever seen!” she shouted.

Snowflake’s heart skipped a beat and her expression of shock intensified. Insulting the king was never a good idea. If she could, she would tell her mother to just shut up right now. But if she would involve herself in this discussion now, she as well would be put under some form of punishment. Snowflake could just watch mutely as her mother brought herself in ever-increasing trouble.

“Do you even care about Equestria at all? Do you ever get your lazy bum off from that throne and look outside? The whole land is going down the drain and that’s your fault! The cultists destroy the homes of innocent families, the demons defile the farmlands, everypony is frozen in fear of doing anything wrong. But I won’t take this anymore! You better fix this mess right now, or you will get into some serious trouble, young man!” the old mare kept shouting.

The expression on Blueblood’s face became dead serious. He sat up and slowly lifted out of his throne. Now, the old mare stopped her speech, as she realized she made her king angry. She toyed with the idea to turn around and fly away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The situation might only turn out even worse if she did that now. So eventually, she squeezed her eyes shut and just waited for whatever Blueblood was going to do with her. But all that followed was that she suddenly felt a front leg being placed across her shoulders.

Slowly, the old mare opened her eyes again. Blueblood was right next to her, smiling down with an unexpected benevolence.

“See? I do get out of my throne from time to time,” he stated.

With a light push, he signalled the mare to walk over to a window with him. As they stopped in front of it, they could see Equestria. Large parts of the country were covered in thick clouds of red darkness. Small fires were burning everywhere.

“I think you misunderstand, milady. I am not a bad pony. The well being of my subjects is of immense value to me, otherwise I would have taken way easier methods to rise to power and would just have killed Equestria’s entire population. I want to rule a land that flourishes under my leadership, not crumbles. Just look at what I have accomplished so far! Thanks to me, the territory of Equestria has nearly doubled by now. So much more land for my subjects, no matter if demonic or equine. More and more ponies come to understand that the path of the BloodClaw Cult is the only true one. But you see, there is still resistance. Some just completely refuse to accept change. That is the only reason why there is this completely unnecessary bloodshed out there. If you would all just convert to the worshippers of Nightmare Moon and accept my reign, we could all live in a form of harmony Celestia and Luna never even came close to,” he explained.

The old mare did not know what to say. This almost sounded convincing. Was he truly just trying to do what he thought would be best for Equestria? But what about his methods? He was so cruel and selfish when it came to his own needs. Suddenly, the alicorn stallion lifted his other front leg and slowly moved it to point across the land.

“Demons and ponies going hoof in claw, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. This is my great vision. A world that learns to accept Nightmare Moon as part of it. All I need to do for that is to make my point clear across the entire globe. I do not wish to forcefully conquer every last empire in this world. But if that is what is necessary, then I have no choice. You should be thankful I am so kind to you, my subject. I freed you from a tyrant who brain-washed you all to not even realize you were living in a tyranny. Celestia has done so many horrible things over the centuries. But now I am here to undo all her faults. So, yes. I have no problem with releasing your daughter,” Blueblood explained with a gentle smile.

“Re… really?!” the old mare asked, speechlessly.

“Why of course! Also, I very much appreciate that you informed me of how much my dear subjects are suffering. After this meeting, I will take measures immediately to improve the living standards for all those who accept my rule. But… there is one tiny little thing I need to let you know before that,” the alicorn stallion spoke.

The old mare focused her king in confusion, only to slowly let her expression slide back into fear. The smile on Blueblood’s face widened a lot, now coming off as extremely smug and making it clear he was planning something awful.

“You see, I just can’t staaaand it when you lowly creatures insult me,” he spoke calmly.

After that, he gave the mare a hard push, tossing her back into the center of the room. Five demons instantly pounced her, starting to rip her apart.

“Mama!” Snowflake shouted, hyperventilating and shaking all over.

Screams of agony filled the throne room. The other mares turned their heads away and whimpered, but Snowflake could only stare with an open mouth, tears running down her face. Blueblood did not even have the time to angrily walk back to his throne before nothing but blood and bones were remaining of the old mare.

“Grapes!” the alicorn stallion shouted in fury as he tossed himself back on his throne.

The mares twitched in shock, but very quickly picked up a bowl of fruits. They could just react in time before Blueblood was finished leaning his head back and opening his mouth, waiting for a grape to fall inside it.

It was quiet again in the throne room. Only the whimpering and faint sobbing of a few enslaved mares could be heard. Blueblood took the moment he needed to eat five grapes to calm down again. After he swallowed the last one, he let out a frustrated puff.

“Stupid old piece of scum,” he mumbled, then focused his slaves. “Well, don’t just stand there! You, you and you! Clean up this mess! I don’t want to see even the smallest bloodstain once you’re done!”

Even though Blueblood did not look at her, Snowflake slowly got up, thinking her king expected of her to remove the remains of her own mother as well. But before she could even place the first hoof in her direction, the alicorn stallion stopped her.

“No. Not you. It is as I said: I am not a bad pony. You have been serving me well so far, so I don’t want you to be forced to watch this any longer. Go to my bed chamber. You will share it with me tonight,” Blueblood ordered.

Snowflake obeyed immediately and started running out of the throne room while crying audibly. This was easily the worst day of her life and the night would not be any bit better. Blueblood just expected of her to see it as an honor to be his mate. But after this, she could not be filled with more hate and disgust towards him. The other mares watched her run away for just a moment, condolence written in their faces. But then they quickly returned to the cleaning, since they knew what would happen if Blueblood would get upset about one of them now, too. Although they were deeply disgusted and had to battle with their stomachs to not make this mess even worse, they put all their effort into the cleaning. Partially in fear because of Blueblood, but mostly just trying to get this over with as quickly as possible. Before they were even half done, another entered the throne room. This time, it was a demoness. Despair, the advisor of the king.

“That was a swift one,” she commented while jumping over the corpse.

“Ah, you are back. So? What can you tell me about the rebels in my land?” Blueblood wanted to know.

“Cowards, all of them. But smart. They manage to hide from the BloodClaw Cult, even though they were masters of hiding these past few years themselves. It seems like now that we have Equestria under our control-” the demoness started.

“Under my control, Despair,” Blueblood interrupted.

“Under your control, master, the cultists have lowered their guards and became less attentive,” Despair finished.

“It seems they need a reminder of their duties. Send out the word that I will not tolerate any rebels within my kingdom any longer. Every cultist who can bring me the head of a confirmed rebel shall be rewarded,” the alicorn spoke.

“I have an even better suggestion, master,” Despair offered.

“Let me hear it, my advisor,” Blueblood accepted.

“Order us to attack the Crystal Empire with full force. Tartarus, Niflheim, Jahannam and Tuonela stand ready to attack,” the demoness suggested.

“Four demon strongholds at once? That is a bit excessive, don’t you think?” the alicorn asked in mild amusement.

“If you decide to strike them, then strike them hard. You would do good to make this as bad for them as thinkably possible. Show your might and no mercy by letting us completely obliterate their headquarter. The psychological damage we would cause to them, if any would even survive that attack, would be massive. Too massive for them to ever reform and try to dethrone you again,” Despair explained.

Now, Blueblood could not hold back a small laughter. She was so serious about this, it amused him.

“Dethrone me? That is your concern? And here I thought you were the smartest of the demons. That is never going to happen. This pathetic rebellion is hardly even worth my attention at all. I won’t need more than a single order to keep them out of my kingdom,” he stated.

“Master… this ‘pathetic little rebellion’ is not as small and weak as you may think it is anymore. Their number of allies increases every day. We need a preventative strike before they can even start thinking about sieging Canterlot Castle,” Despair argued.

“Really, Despair. A siege on my castle is completely out of question. My reign is eternal. I have Nightmare Moon’s favor on my side and as long as you keep your part of the bargain, which you will considering I am the one wearing Nightmare’s Eye, I won’t ever need to worry about my own protection. No rebel will ever even get close to Canterlot Castle, and you will be the one making sure of that,” the alicorn stallion spoke with an arrogant smile on his face.

The Guillotine of Hope lowered her head and sighed quietly. Blueblood was even more self-confident than she was, but for good reason. What he said was true. As long as this cursed necklace remained around his neck, no demon will ever be able to deny his wish. No demon will ever be able to harm him. His reign may very well last for all eternity, but that is what the demons had bargained for. He is the master in return for them being able to walk around freely. But still, Despair knew what she was talking about. She needed to get the message across.

“Master... Have I ever let you down? Do you not trust my advice anymore?” she wondered in a lowly tone.

“What’s this now? Taking it personal, Despair?” Blueblood asked back with a smirk. “Who knew demons were so easy to get frustrated. You don’t have to worry. Even though the only reason we get along is this necklace here, I still value your advice. Well, fine. If you are so convinced the Crystal Empire must fall as quickly as possible and with as much force as possible, then send the word to the four demon strongholds you mentioned. Make this a massacre of such grand proportions and brutality that it goes down into the history books. No one, not pony, not griffon, not even dragon, shall ever dare to oppose me ever again.”

“Very well. Thank you, master. By tomorrow, the rebellion will be no more,” Despair assured.

This caused Blueblood to laugh a bit in a sinister tone.

“You know what I like the most about you demons serving me? You mean what you say and you get the job done extremely fast,” he commented.

Without saying another word, Despair bowed down and left the throne room again.

---

For nearly ten minutes, Lady Truesight the reaper clairvoyant was gazing into space. She seemed completely absent-minded. But slowly, her eyes widened as her vision came to an end.

“Truesight? Are you seeing something?” Amber wanted to know.

What the reaper mare had just seen was not immediate, but definitely fatal. This information needed to be presented to the rebellion circle. Finally snapping out of her trance, she focused the little filly and signalled her to turn around.

“Sorry, Amber. We need to delay the training. This is something I must inform the rebellion leaders about right away,” she stated.

Both the clairvoyant and her fosterling began to run and aimed straight for the crystal palace.

Timeline

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qITxhK2PK4nuYe2kzmqlQeKjBH1N98Nc65DjHW4xqc4/edit?usp=sharing

“How are the preparations doing?” Twilight asked eveypony around.

“We are still trying to find a safe route. Since the last ambush, the number of patrols has nearly doubled,” Derpy explained.

“Triple on the northeastern border. They seem to know what we are planning,” Shining Armor added.

“Seems like going through the fields north of Manehattan is out of question then,” Fluttershy commented.

“How about we go over the Crystal Mountains?” Celestia suggested.

“Right through the Frozen North? How are we going to survive the ice storm? I heard just a few days ago that somepony tried to reach us through them and got impaled by sharp flying ice shards,” Rarity worried.

“I would offer my help, but I have to remain close to the Crystal Empire to maintain the blizzard,” Crystal Blossom stated.

“Well, leave this task to me then,” Twilight offered. “The ice storm might be infamous, but I bet it’s nothing arcane magic can’t handle.”

“Boy howdy. Ya’ll sure know how to pick the most dangerous paths,” Applejack commented.

“But if even we have trouble passing through and require somepony with enormous magical capabilities, then that pretty much eliminates every chance for the cultists to follow us,” Cadence replied.

“And the demons do not leave Equestria unless Blueblood demands them to,” Luna added. “He pays so little attention to us, it is very unlikely he will even come up with the idea we might pass through the Frozen North. Once we reach the mountains, the way ahead will be our only concern.”

“I guess it’s settled then. Yet, I want to make sure this is the best option. Send word to Lady Truesight that we-” Twilight spoke.

The large door to the meeting hall slowly began to open. Before she could even finish speaking, two rainbow-maned females entered. One a reaper mare, the other a little filly.

“Your timing amazes time after time again, Truesight,” Crystal commented.

Again, Twilight opened her mouth in attempt to ask her a question to verify her identity. But, yet again, she was interrupted.

“I lied on purpose when I told Rainbow Dash that being a spectralist has no specific meaning,” Truesight stated quickly.

From the moment on they entered, Amber kept sticking very close to the reaper clairvoyant. Her eyes nervously kept jumping between her guardian and the circle of ponies. Of course, she had not forgotten it were them who helped saving her life. She also did not forget that she herself wanted to help them in return, about half a year ago. But the gruesome memories of being held captive by the BloodClaw Cult still haunted her. Even though she was a pony herself, other ponies still scared her to death. Truesight knew of this, so she carefully placed her left front hoof on Amber’s back and caressed her to calm her down. But as soon as the reaper mare started approaching the crowd, the little filly disappeared behind her.

As usual, Truesight ignored most of the ponies and only bowed shortly to Fluttershy and Crystal Blossom before she approached Celestia and kneeled down.

“My mistress. I have information of utmost importance for you,” she started.

“I am listening,” the fallen alicorn spoke.

A moment of silence passed. Hesitating to give away what she saw, Truesight’s eyes wandered over to Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

“I would… appreciate it if I could speak to you in private about it,” she requested.

“If it is that important, then it is something the entire circle must know. Speak,” Celestia ordered.

Instantly, Truesight lowered her head in humility. But Twilight could only sigh silently. She really wished the relation with her would be easier.

“Yes, my mistress. I have received a highly alarming vision. In about three years, Blueblood will order a massive assault on the Crystal Empire. Four full demon strongholds will be attacking at once,” the reaper mare spoke.

As this information sank in, it became quiet again. Shock filled the meeting hall. Everypony was staring at the clairvoyant in disbelief and even Derpy Hooves couldn’t help but to gasp.

“F-four?! Four at once?! That’s… That’s over 600 000 demons!” she spoke, half yelling.

“Are you absolutely sure, Truesight?” Celestia wanted to know.

“Yes, my mistress. This will happen and the demons will not be our only problem. A large number of cultists and undead battle slaves will be participating as well. The earth will shake from the countless steps of this army. The entire land around the empire will become a black ocean filled with red eyes. Even the sun will disappear behind the thick curtain of red darkness,” Truesight stated.

A minute of silence passed. Everypony knew that this would happen eventually, but none of them would have imagined Blueblood would send such a massive army. Finally, Derpy let her head drop on the table in desperation.

“Well, we are done for then. Over 600 000 demons… There is absolutely no way we would be able to handle such a number, even if all reapers would fight,” she mumbled.

“Topic change for a minute. Three years from now? That is still pretty far in the future. Why does it take him so long to come up with this idea?” Twilight wondered.

Again, the reaper clairvoyant remained silent and just focused Amber as she hid herself beneath her guardian’s cloak. Neither of them would answer.

“I guess he is more concerned about conquering the smaller kingdoms around Equestria and doesn’t consider us as any form of threat. He is sending so many demons into war right now that there are not enough left to attack us,” Shining Armor figured.

“Still, this seems very radical, even for him…” Twilight commented, then turned her focus to Truesight. “Does Despair have anything to do with this by any chance?”

The reaper clairvoyant still remained quiet.

“Truesight…” Celestia spoke in an almost ordering tone.

“Yes,” she finally responded. ”She will be the one convincing Blueblood into giving this order.”

“I knew it…” Twilight commented. “She is definitely planning something then.”

“Do you think that this might be the ‘plans’ she had been talking about the last time we saw her?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Maybe, maybe not. It is really hard to tell with her. In any case, we need to prepare for this. From now on, getting more allies needs to be our highest priority,” Twilight replied.

“Your efforts will be exactly the main argument for Despair to even suggest this attack,” Truesight stated, sounding more like a critique to Twilight’s logic.

“We are a rebellion, Truesight. What point would all this have if we would be too afraid to gather more allies and try to dethrone Blueblood? Tell me, would he never order to attack us if we remained small and inactive?” Twilight wanted to know.

After taking a moment to consider if she should even respond, Truesight closed her eyes. Apparently, she was searching for the answer and after just a few seconds, she opened them again.

“No. Despair would convince him to give out the exact order either way,” she replied.

“Then gathering allies and having more fighters once that day comes at least increases our chances to survive,” the purple mare stated.

“But also the number of possible casualties…” Celestia spoke quietly.

“Still, this would only help us handling the cultists. Everyone who is not a reaper will not be able to defeat the undead or demons. At best, they would only be able to hold them back for a bit longer,” Crystal stated.

“What about the crystal heart? Wasn’t this artifact the main reason why we considered setting up our headquarter in the empire in the first place?” Luna wondered.

“I am not sure if the crystal heart is even capable to cause enough harm on them. As long as we keep the crystal ponies filled with hope and harmony, it could be an effective weapon… Maybe… We never have actually tried using it against demons,” Cadence stated.

Everyone in the room sank in thoughts. They needed an idea. Something that would drastically improve their chances. All of them were on this topic, except for Fluttershy. Her eyes eventually wandered down to the heart pin on her cloak and she began to dive into memories again. This was something she did pretty often and over the past months, after all this happened, she sought comfort in the memories of Obsidian Shards even more frequently.

The world slowly faded away around Fluttershy and all that remained was the cloak covering her body and the heart pin in her front hooves. Everything had turned to darkness and she could not even see her friends anymore. If she wouldn’t know better, she would describe this as a form of feeling alone and lost. But, after all, she was a reaper now for almost four years. She couldn’t feel anything other than physical pain. She was almost completely numb on the inside and the only rare instances she still could claim to be feeling something was when it was a really intense emotion. For example this one time during their investigation of the BloodClaw Cult she thought that killing Obsidian was for nothing. Still, despite the fact that only the worst of feelings still somewhat had an effect on her, imagining the gentle smile of her deceased beloved one gave her stability. At times, she wondered if there was anything she could have done better. If there was any oh so small possibility she could have somehow saved him. No matter how hard the thought about it, she never could come up with a way that was nothing more than fantasy. Suddenly, Celestia broke the silence and Fluttershy came back to the present.

“I am not sure if this is possible, but… How about we try to amplify the powers of the crystal heart?” she suggested.

“Huh? How? What do you have in mind?” Twilight wondered.

“Do you remember Canterlot Tower? The resting place of the elements of harmony? Just before Blueblood stripped me from my arcane magic, I cast a spell to open the door. My guards were ordered to hide the elements,” Celestia explained.

“Does that mean ya have them? Why the hay would ya not tell us about that sooner, princess?!” Applejack wondered in shock.

“I did not want to bring up false hopes. Since Rainbow Dash and Pinkamena died, the elements became unusable. Without all of the other five elements having a keeper, the element of magic faded away. At this point, they are nothing more than indestructible necklaces… Also, please do not call me princess anymore… I lost that title with my powers and my kingdom…” Celestia stated.

“We are going to change that someday. Anyway, you have a point. Even though one element is gone, there might be a way to use them after all. Cadence, you are linked to the crystal heart, right? Do you think you could modify it so the other elements accept it as a substitute for the element of magic?” Twilight wondered.

“I’m… not sure, Twilight. They might work similarly, but both the elements of harmony and the crystal heart are powerful and very specific in their purpose. It would be dangerous… Difficult at least. Very difficult. I would need quite some time to study the artifacts and see if I can find a way to link them,” Cadence worried.

“It will be worth a shot. If we can somehow pull this off, we would create a blast of pure harmony that would cover the entirety of the Crystal Empire. This could make a significant change in our battle. In best case, we would be able to successfully defend ourselves and destroy the population of four demon strongholds at once,” Twilight stated.

“That seems very far fetched, my faithful student,” Celestia commented.

“Hope, Celestia. This is what our rebellion stands for. We have to keep believing, even if it seems impossible. Stick to the hope that we can make it,” Twilight motivated.

“In case we would be able to do this, it would be an enormous blow to the demons and Blueblood. He would not be able to attack any more kingdoms until they reproduced again and if we use that window to attack, there might be a good chance we would make it all the way to Canterlot Castle,” Crystal Blossom analyzed.

“See? That’s the spirit!” Twilight cheered.

“Truesight. Is there anything else you can tell us about this battle to come?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Only vague images,” The reaper clairvoyant spoke, then closed her eyes to concentrate. “I see walls of fire, vortexes of claws, a walking black tower… and strange eyes which do not belong to a demon.”

“Thank you for your help, Truesight. You may return to your duties now,” Celestia spoke.

“As you wish, my mistress,” Truesight responded and turned back around.

Without even needing to say anything, Amber stepped out from underneath the reaper cloak and followed Truesight back outside. On their way, she frequently looked back, apparently making sure none of the ponies were sneaking up on her. Then finally, the door closed again.

“I so wished there was something I could do so she trusts us more…” Twilight commented.

“She is set in her ways, Twilight,” Derpy replied. “All we can do is accept her the way she is. She still is a reaper, so she is unshakably loyal to Celestia. She will still help us wherever she can.”

“I think everything is settled then. We should go off to the Mule Republic as soon as possible,” Celestia suggested.

“Agreed. That’s it for today then. If you excuse me, I need to take my medication. Good night, everypony,” Twilight concluded.

---

The war against the demons is old. In the many centuries, they have claimed many victims. Among them was a city populated by ponies who were entirely white, black or gray. Not long after the bell tower was destroyed, the homes of these ponies followed. Screams, blood and guts filled the air. The reapers were fighting against the demons in desperate attempt to save any of the monochrome citizens. But while everything else was very hectic and dirty, one demon stood dapper. The faceless one, Slendermane, slowly walked down the streets of Coltholm, turning his head every now and then to apparently observe his kinsmen slaughter the ponies. He himself was attacked from time to time by a reaper, but none of them stood a chance. He was the firstborn of Nightmare Moon. The oldest demon there is and to this very day undefeated.

Slendermane’s speciality was stalking. He could sneak without making any noise. A single blink was enough time for him to appear and disappear in front of you. His ability to grow as many black arms as he needed out of his back and let them stretch to practically infinite length and the fact that he could enter and exit through any shadow made more than up for his complete lack of any magical abilities. He had been there since the very beginning and therefore was well battle experienced. He could just casually walk down the roads while his arms did all the work for him.

As so often, Slendermane’s main task was to observe. This day again, he was here to watch and make sure his brothers and sisters did not let anypony escape. But while he walked past a recently destroyed house, he noticed something. There was a body hidden underneath the rubble. Through small gaps, he could see a tiny black colt buried beneath the stones. His kinsmen were all too young and inexperienced. They did not pay attention to such details. But he did, which is why Nightmare Moon sent him here. He could see him, and he knew this colt was still alive. A black arm rose into the air. All it needed was one quick strike and the colt would be sliced in half.

“Not this one. We need him,” Nightmare Moon whispered in his mind.

The white demon in black suit stopped. Instead, he focused on the reaper trying to sneak up on him. So foolish. Just because there was a lot of noise around does not mean he could not hear him.

Slendermane made this a quick one. He just grabbed the reaper by his neck, pinned him against a wall and shoved another black arm down his throat. Seconds later, it resurfaced, holding the reaper’s soul in his black hand. The body became limp instantly and while the demon stored the soul in his pocket, he just tossed the rest to the side. Slendermane was about to move on as an idea shot through his hairless head.

“Do it,” Nightmare Moon motivated.

If the demon queen needed this foal, he should live for as long as possible. With so many reapers dieing around him, one cloak just had to find this foal. He needed to make sure this would happen.

As the pale demon picked up the reaper’s corpse again, the cloak and curse had already flown off. He lifted the body into the air, wrapped two sets of arms around the upper and the lower half of the torso and ripped it apart. Slendermane then tossed the carcass next to the rubble, making sure the blood would flow underneath. The little colt tried to keep himself together, but Slendermane still noticed how disgusted he was. The blood was running along his legs and belly. Soon, he would be completely covered in it.

The demon’s job was done. Slendermane could leave now, knowing what this little boy would become. It was just a matter of time before they would see each other again.

Relatives

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N6LR8UW-z6Xosy0S604cD1Peaq2EK3lZKkm1ou26hnc/edit?usp=sharing

Blinded by endless amounts of white, eight ponies forced their way through the Frozen North, the coldest place in the world. The weather was constantly so harsh, no live was possible to exist in this realm of ice spears and razor sharp cliffs. Not even creatures made of ice could appreciate it, as the constant glacier movements and flying ice darts would crush them. The ponies as well could only agree in unison that the permanent blizzards were so violent and so cold, they even outdid the powers of Crystal Blossom’s icy magic.

Twilight Sparkle needed all her willpower to maintain the arcane sphere which guarded them from the partially tree-sized ice spears flying around. It was a never-ending bombardment against the purple force field, each hit causing a frozen explosion and creating countless small ice shrapnels. To Twilight, each of these hits felt like somepony was smashing such an ice shard directly against her head. But while she was able to cope with this, the extremely low temperatures and the strong winds still made it through the shield.

The entire group was suffering from hypothermia. Rarity brought as many rubies on the journey as she could get her hooves on, in order to create fire spells to warm them up. But she was forced to use them up much faster than she hoped. Deeply worried, she stared into her ever dwindling supplies, having to pull the next gem from deeper and deeper out of the bags.

“I’m not sure how much longer this will last,” she shouted against the wind in worry.

“Maybe we should look for shelter,” Shining Armor suggested.

“Bad idea. The storm never stops. We would only end up trapping ourselves,” Cadence disagreed.

“Just keep pushing forward!” Luna shouted.

Derpy’s and Fluttershy’s reaper cloaks flattered wildly in the wind. Yet, they would not need to worry about them getting loose and flying off. Just like their scythes, the cloaks would dematerialize into black fog and reappear around their bodies again. But still, Fluttershy constantly covered the heart pin on hers with her right front hoof. She would not be able to bear it if it would get lost.

Derpy Hooves, though, kept her focus in the present. She remained alert, observing the group and the surroundings. The low temperatures made them all retreat inwards. The heads were lowered, pushing against the wind. Especially the fallen alicorns seemed to struggle, since they were not used to being the size and physique of a common pony anymore, not to mention being mortal. But of all who were enduring this harsh journey, it was Fluttershy who seemed to be particularly deep sunken in thought. This changed when she suddenly turned her head to the right.

Derpy would not be able to see it. But off in the distance, far outside the force field and seeking shelter between two ice-covered rocks stood the grey figure again. The same mysterious being that was following Fluttershy for over about a year now. Since the moment Twilight realized she could sense its presence, it started to only appear when the purple mare was either absent or distracted. This might also be the reason why it now only appeared so far away that even the yellow mare could barely spot it.

The grey figure stood there motionlessly, doing what it did all the time: Watching. For everypony else, this would be something worthy mentioning to their friends. But Fluttershy was past the point of which she would still care about its presence. She did not care if it was following her or watching her. She did not even talk about it anymore. The grey figure had become something like a shadow for Fluttershy. A normal thing to be around you, only rarely even catching her awareness. Yet, as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished again. As another ice shard flew past Fluttershy’s vision outside of the force field, the grey figure was gone.

A couple of seconds later, the yellow mare lowered her head again. Derpy moved her focus from right to left, observing the former princesses of Equestria and the Crystal Empire anew in worry. Cadence was clearly struggling with the cold, harsh wind. But her husband tried everything he could to keep her warm, including magic spells. Luna had a nearly ferocious expression on her face while she stared straight ahead. It seemed like she had gotten it into her mind that she would not allow something like a blizzard to subdue her. But while the younger sister was fighting against the wind, the elder let her head hanging. Her expression seemed to be even much more thoughtful than that of Fluttershy. But after two seconds, Celestia focused Derpy back, raised her head again and began to smile.

Suddenly, Derpy felt an intense sinister sensation, causing her eyes to grow wide open. Her focus returned to Fluttershy. She as well seemed to be alerted. Seeing each other like this was confirmation enough for both of them.

“Everypony, look out!” the grey mare shouted.

Instantly, the group snapped out of its trance and ran to the next best crevice they could find. After they all found a hiding spot, Twilight let the arcane shield shrink to a minimum, making them very hard to spot. A minute passed, but none of them could see anything. Then suddenly, it got dark.

“Look up!” Shining Armor announced as quietly as he could.

Right above the group, very high up was a massive floating black cloud. Although it was very difficult to see any shape, it appeared to have wings and seemed to glide effortlessly against the cold storm.

“Ow gee! Are we lucky Fluttershy and I noticed that in time! It’s a devastator!” Derpy stated.

“Just by the name I can tell this thing must be really bad,” Rarity commented.

“You bet! Devastators are high-ranked demons capable of devouring every matter, not just bodies and souls. The more they devour, the larger they grow, enabling them to devour even more. It’s a growth that is next to unstoppable. Just recently, we heard a whole town in Equestria got eaten by a single devastator,” the grey explained.

“Hundreds of lives… gone… Just like that…” Celestia spoke quietly and lowered her head again.

“I wonder what it is doing out here,” Luna spoke.

“I guess Blueblood sent it to war. We can only hope it is not aiming for the Mule Republic,” Fluttershy stated.

The group maintained its position for several minutes more, watching the demon grow to a small spot on the horizon. As they finally decided it would be safe to come out again, the journey continued.

---

Hours passed again and Rarity had used up most of her rubies when they finally saw some snow-covered trees ahead of them. The first sign of life in days. Now, the blizzard began to grow weaker and weaker the farther they walked into what turned out to become a pine forest. As the wind finally stopped, most of them were so exhausted and subcooled, they could not go a single step further. So, using the last reserves of magic they had left, they set up a temporary camp and built a fire.

It took a while, but as the ponies slowly warmed up, the mood changed into a more cheerful one. They just accomplished something only the bravest of adventurers ever even attempted. They successfully passed through the Frozen North and survived without a scratch. As their senses began to thaw again, they realized they were pretty hungry. So each of them put some preserved vegetables they brought along into a large pot, added a lot of snow and began to cook a makeshift soup above the fire. Although it wasn’t the most refined recipe they ever had and lacked any sort of spice, the soup tasted like the best in the entire world in this particular instance. Soon, their stomachs were filled with something warm and soothing, enabling them to finally get some sleep.

---

The days went on and now that they made it through the Frozen North, the journey became a lot easier. With every step they took down from the mountains, the air became warmer and warmer. After a while, they reached the point where there was no snow anymore. Birds were flying through the sky, squirrels gathering acorns, and foxes swiftly running between the trees. A sight that even managed to bring Fluttershy’s focus away from her pin.

The warmer it got, the more cheerful the mood became. These last few days were hard for all of them and since Rarity already had some health issues, it was no big surprise when she found out that she caught a cold. But even when sick, Rarity kept pushing forward without saying much of a word about it. This not only surprised all of her friends, but also herself. She used to be so picky and sensitive and she used to be very dramatic about her problems. But these last few years changed her. Having seen and endured all of this, she now thought it would be incredibly selfish of her to put her issues into the foreground and complain about details when there were much bigger things going on.

The farther they went, the more the ponies began to realize just how little they had truly been traveling. Even though the homeland of donkeys did not look all that different from Equestria, it had a completely different feeling to it. Even the air tasted completely different. Most of them just now gathered the first glimpses of the vastness of this world.

“Dear me! What have I found here!” a male voice suddenly called.

After looking around for a bit, they spotted a young adult jack in a clean white suit with blue saddlebags approaching them. Finally a confirmation that they were indeed in the Mule Republic now.

“Greetings, my dear Equestrian friends! I say, it looks like you have quite the journey behind you! Do you require assistance?” the male donkey wondered.

“Oh, hi! Yes, actually!” Twilight started. ”Phew… I am so glad to finally see a donkey. We are coming from the Frozen North, you see.”

“The Frozen? My gosh! I am gobsmacked you made it!” the donkey commented.

“Do you know where we can find civilization?” Shining Armor wondered.

“I was just about to complete my research hereabout and head on my way back. Come along! I will be your guide!” the donkey offered.

“Why thank you most kindly, mister… um…” Rarity spoke in a weakened tone, sniffling every once in a while.

“The full name is Sir Devinius Phial! But that is quite a mouth full. Simply Devin will do, too,” the jack offered.

“Oh! A sir!” Rarity spoke in a flattery tone. “It is so good to meet you. I am Rarity and, if I may take the liberty, these are Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Derpy Hooves, Prince Shining Armor and the three princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence.”

“Golly! I am in the presence of royalty!” Devin spoke in astonishment and quickly bowed down. “It is an honor to meet you! But on a different topic… Excuse me, Miss Rarity. But could it be that you are sick?”

“Oh, I appreciate an observant male! Sadly, I am. But don’t worry about it, darling. It is just a cold,” Rarity replied with a small gesture, signalling it was no big deal.

“Even so, we should not make it any worse! Let us not dally any longer!” Devin insisted and turned around.

The donkey started walking, leading the way for the others. It did not take long before the silence was broken again.

“If I may, what brings you here through such a dangerous path?” he wanted to know.

“We are members of the rebellion against King Blueblood and here on a political mission. We hope to meet the mule council and ask them to support our cause,” Luna replied.

“I am afraid I might not be able to provide you a direct way, but I could at least give you pointers as to where to go and whom to ask,” the donkey offered.

“Any help is more than welcome, Sir Phial,” Twilight spoke.

“Please, keep it at Devin. I insist,” the jack replied.

“By the way: Did you spot a large black cloud flying by?” Shining Armor wanted to know, instantly reminding Derpy and getting her alert.

“Hm… No. Not that I could remember,” Devin answered.

“Phew…” Derpy spoke in relief “Well, what about you? What brings you out into the wilderness?”

“Research, my dear! I am performing field studies for the magical research department! My particular profession is gathering and analyzing samples of magical potential in relation to natural effects!” Devin replied.

“That sounds interesting!” Twilight commented.

“Oh, yes indeed!” the jack spoke with enthusiasm written all over his face. “I certainly could tell you a lot about my findings! You see, it sometimes just takes a sample of air in different areas to get a good view on the kind of magic flowing around in the region. Over the years, I gathered a lot of seemingly unimpressive samples of soil, water and air. But with the right tools, they can tell you so much about just how much impact magic has on the entirety of this world! It, is, fascinating I tell you! For example: Did you know that many types of animals and plants only developed in certain areas because the magic was flowing differently there?”

“I read something about that in a book once,” Twilight started. “It also explained how it is the flow of magic that causes different climates on our world. Hot areas are created by the friction of two or more magic streams crossing, while cold areas like the Frozen North lack major streams.”

“Well certainly! I say, the work of the ancient pony scholar Starswirl The Bearded truly was groundbreaking! He was so far ahead of his time and even today, we still base our research on his findings and methods! I understand that he had become a forgotten legend in Equestria?” Devin continued.

“Yes, sadly,” Twilight replied.

“That is a tragedy indeed. Well, do not be worried! He will certainly not be forgotten! The Mule Republic still acknowledges his work as the most important in the history of ponies and donkeys alike! But speaking of Equestria, there is something puzzling about this land that I still have not been able to figure out. Perhaps you can help me with that?” the donkey asked.

“What’s the matter?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Well, you see. I have samples from all round the world. From the zebra tribal lands, to the Flaming Islands of the dragons, across the Frozen North and even from the the southern wastelands. They all have a specific kind of magic flowing through them. But whenever I get a sample from Equestria, the magic filling them is rather different,” Devin stated.

“Different as in how?” Cadence wondered.

“That is the thing! It is very confusing to me and difficult to explain! Most of it is dandy. Some of the finest and purest I could ever find. But occasionally, my instruments spike out. It is almost like there is something else going on deeper inside. Almost as if this pure magic is covering something more… I dare say sinister. And this was not just since that no good king got to power. My institution has samples which date back hundreds of years ago and they are all the same,” he replied.

The whole group became quiet now. This donkey had no idea that he was on the verge to discover the very specific signature Maledictum Insania gave off. Still, without exactly knowing that this is a curse and without knowing the effects it has, he would not be able to get very far.

“So? Any idea what might be up with this?” Devin wanted to know.

“Sorry, no. I never noticed anything bad going on in Equestria before Blueblood came to power. Well, besides some occasional monsters, of course… Hey! Maybe the monsters are causing this!” Twilight replied.

The curse of secrets which several of the ponies are under might prevent them from talking about this topic to the uninitiated, but it would not forbid them to lie in order to dodge the confrontation. After Twilight gave her theory, Devin’s face became thoughtful for a couple of seconds before refocusing the purple mare.

“I don’t quite think that this is the reason. Sure, monsters have a sinister magic about them. But they would never cause my instruments to react like that. There must be something going on, I say! Are you sure you do not have any ideas?” he asked again.

“Sorry, but no,” Shining Armor replied.

“Too bad. This topic has been bugging me for quite a while now. But I won’t rest until I found out what this means! Perhaps I might even find a way to cleanse the magic flow in Equestria! That would benefit the entire land, should you be successful with your rebellion!” Devin swore.

Once again, Celestia’s focus lowered, but without changing her expression. Staring at her mortal body which she still hasn’t become used to again, with her pink mane covering the right side of her field of view, she could only stay silent. He made it sound so easy. Cleanse the land and all the troubles will be gone. Celestia tried to do the exact same thing for over one thousand years without success. All that ever happened was that the situation slowly became worse and worse, now having reached its lowest point yet. Gathering her focus again, she looked back at the jack and smiled warmly.

“That would be much appreciated,” she spoke.

“Thank you, your highness!” Devin replied.

“I must say, I truly wished we had more donkeys like you back in the good days,” Rarity commented.

“Well, there is a reason why not all too many of us leave the Mule Republic to live in Equestria. Not that we have anything against the land or a principality, especially if it works so well and harmonious as it used to before Blueblood turned it into a monarchy. But Equestrian ponies have a bit of a racism problem. I blame the pretty isolated location on a continent cut off by seas, deserts and the Frozen North,” Devin replied.

“What do you mean by ‘racism problem’?” Fluttershy wanted to know.

“Ah, you know. Those lines like ‘as stubborn as a mule’, or ‘too cool for mules’, or even ‘as ugly as a mule’. It doesn’t just limit to my kind either. Ponies are scared of griffons and zebras. Even zebras! They have the by far most peaceful and non-violent culture in the world! Can you believe it?” the jack stated.

“Actually… yes. I’m ashamed to admit that we, too, used some of these phrases and stereotypes before,” Twilight admitted with a mildly embarrassed blush on her cheeks.

“Don’t sweat it! Most mules are very hard to get truly upset. We are a sophisticated society that values the power of the common citizen. We are intelligent and not easily shaken by clichê thinking. But most mules simply do not feel like having to put up with stereotypes on a daily basis. Hey! If the Mule Republic joins the rebellion and you dethrone Blueblood, that might also put us into a better light for the common pony!” Devin analyzed.

“Another good reason for them to join our cause,” Luna commented.

Devin already opened his mouth, ready to start again. But then, he realized where they were by now.

“My! Time is flying in good company! We are almost there!” he announced.

---

Another day passed and after a lot of talking around, the group finally got an audience at the parliament. Devin accompanied them and even stood with them in the lobby area as they waited. It was a tedious time, having to just sit around. Twilight took this opportunity to take her dose of pills, inspiring Rarity to take her own medicine. But as the large wooden door finally opened, a mule in noble darkblue suit coming out and signaling them it was time for their audience, they had to say their farewells.

“It was a jolly good time with you ponies! Best of luck in your future endeavours!” the jack spoke.

“Thanks a lot for all the help, Devin. I hope we will meet each other again in better times,” Shining Armor spoke.

Devin stood behind and waved his left front leg as he watched the door close behind the group.

---

The inside of this hall astonished everypony. The council of the Mule Republic turned out to consist of multiple hundred members, all of them watching as the eight approached the center. Only one donkey was standing, awaiting them with a smile on his face and shaking their hooves individually.

“Warmest welcomes to you, dear ponies! Please, have a seat!” he offered.

All members of the group got their own section in the center front row of the hall, refreshments standing ready. After they all took places, the donkey welcoming them stepped to the podium in the middle of the hall and spoke into a microphone. While not exactly being good at magic directly, these mules sure knew how to use it in combination with technology.

“We are opening meeting number thirty-seven. The delegates of the Crystal Empire would like to announce a request towards the entirety of the Mule Republic. Ladies. Gentlecolts. The stage is yours,” he announced, loud and clear enough so even those in the far back could hear him well.

After exchanging a few glances, they came to an agreement that Cadence should step up first. She seemed to want to open the debate the most. So as the male donkey stepped down from the podium and went back to his own seat, Cadence stepped forth and opened the debate.

“Dear jennies and jack of the Mule Republic. We came here as ambassadors of the rebellion trying to dethrone King Blueblood. There is no denying that this tyrant is growing more powerful and megalomaniacal with every day passing. Same goes for his list of crimes, which keeps getting longer and longer. As you can see by my wings and horn, I used to be one of the three demi-goddesses guarding the land of ponies. The same land that now no longer represents freedom and harmony, but captivity and torture. The horrors the ponies of Equestria have to suffer through every day are unimaginable. Something must be done to help them! But on our own, we won’t be able to make much of a difference. Your help would make a tremendous change in our efforts to return Equestria to harmony. So, we beg you to join our cause and actively help us to take down Blueblood and bring him to justice,” she spoke.

Almost immediately after she stopped speaking, one of the donkeys put his front legs on her table, got up and lowered her head to a microphone.

“What you are asking of us would violate our believes of freedom and separation. Of course, Blueblood’s takeover of Equestria was quite hostile. But who are we to decide what is good and what is evil? Are we so flawless that we can say without a doubt that our perspectives, even yours, are the only true ones? For what I understand, Blueblood is already trying to bring Equestria to harmony again under his rule. Jumping into action like this might only throw us into a war that could possibly be avoided altogether!” she stated, sitting back down immediately after finishing.

Mumbling filled the hall. Some seemed to agree with her, some didn’t. But already, this first statement infuriated Twilight. She could not believe what she just heard. But Celestia tapped her shoulder to calm her down. She knew that this was a normal part of mule politics and that there would always be some completely agreeing and some completely disagreeing with your points.

“The methods he is using to achieve peace and unity within Equestria do, by all means, violate common equine rights. Everypony speaking against him gets eliminated. Either through assassination, or by being turned into a slave. This is not harmony, this is suppression. The only ones truly winning are the demons and Blueblood’s cultists. He is building a form of society which hasn’t been seen since King Sombra’s reign, only that he is going far more extreme,” Cadence replied.

Instantly, another jenny got up and started speaking.

“I agree! It baffles me that all the council has decided to do so far is to officially warn Blueblood. It was obvious from the very beginning that he would ignore our warnings and even if we would go to our currently legal maximum and entirely shut down trading with Equestria, he would not care the least bit. The land is fully capable to sustain itself. All that would change is that the rare goods he gets from us would only become even more appealing to him. We would make ourselves his next goal in his insane quest to conquer the world!” she spoke out loudly.

Again, a pulse of rage bolted through Twilight. They were still trading with Blueblood? Twilight had to really hold it together to not just jump up and start shouting. So instead, she just poured some water into a glass cup by magic and started drinking out of the straw in attempt to suffocate her fury.

Rarity, though, did not seem to pay much attention to what was going on. She seemed a bit absent-minded, coughing every now and then and blowing her nose. Even Shining Armor just sat there next to the reaper mares, not saying a word or showing any expression other than determination. Suddenly, a male donkey took over the upset part for Twilight and stood up.

“Nonsense! Do you genuinely believe that shutting down trades would provoke him more than any act of war? Attacking Blueblood would guarantee us to be targeted by him! So far, he leaves us alone. I know it is just a matter of time before he would consider conquering the republic as well, but we still don’t even know what these creatures are he uses! Do you want to go on war against an enemy you don’t even know?” he argued.

Heated mumbling filled the air again. To several of the ponies, this whole scene was very strange. They were used to having maybe one or two deciding over all actions of a nation. Even this ten-leaders-system Twilight insisted on using for their rebellion was already something they had to get used to. But a whole hall filled with hundreds of politicians arguing what the best route of action would be seemed highly inefficient to them. They could not even begin to imagine how their republic was even working and still existing.

The mumbling stopped again. After exchanging a few glances, Cadence left the podium again and Luna stepped forth.

“Please, dear donkeys. I assure you, you have my utmost respect. Your society and government is maybe the most advanced of our time. But simply talking about this matter will get us nowhere. With every moment that passes, another nation is attacked and another pony dies in Equestria! We need your support! If we do not stop Blueblood in time, the results will be catastrophic! All you need to do is have a look at my sister, my niece and me! Blueblood stops at nothing to get what he wants! Nothing is holy to him! He knows not of rights others have. Only of the ones he makes for himself! No nation, no matter how strong, is safe from him! He will not stop before he can truthfully claim the whole world as his own!” she pleaded.

“If he is so powerful, what can the Mule Republic do to defeat him in the first place? None of these ‘demons’ he is using could ever be defeated in combat! Fighting an army of them is like fighting an ocean with your bare hooves!” a male donkey argued.

“That is not true! We have ways defeat demons! A special legion we call the reapers! But they are far too few to handle the sheer masses of demons Blueblood is sending. So far, we are not interesting enough to be targeted by him. But if you let us die, if you let our rebellion fail without even having tried, the whole world would lose its maybe last chance to be saved!” Luna explained.

“Then what role would we play in this rebellion of yours? If only your reapers can defeat demons, what are we supposed to do?” a female donkey wanted to know.

“We are working on finding more ways to defeat demons. We were able to rescue several magical artefacts that might be able to turn the war to our advantage! With your knowledge of both technology and magic, we might speed up the research a lot! Besides, demons are not the only threat! Blueblood is sending whole armies of cultists to war when he is at a lack of available demons, too! Those can very well be defeated by a soldier of the Mule Republic!” Luna replied.

Once more, mumbling filled the hall. They seemed to be unsure. Suddenly, another jenny got up.

“Still, this does not change the first argument we brought up. Even if we had a realistic chance to defeat Blueblood and his armies, it would violate against our own laws. Laws which kept the Mule Republic stable for hundreds of years! Are we going to change these laws now? Because of the actions of a single stallion? Dear fellow donkeys. I ask you, are you willing to live with the consequences this would bring? Can you sleep safe and sound in your beds, knowing we enforced laws that support actively killing other intelligent creatures?” she argued.

It immediately got silent. Luna took the opportunity to step down from the podium and give it to her sister, hoping that due to her age and wisdom, she might be able to convince them yet. In fact, Celestia seemed to be the calmest of all about this situation.

“Fair donkeys of the Mule Republic. I am fully aware that we are asking for a lot. Making the decision to join our cause and fight a war against Blueblood would, without a doubt, result into millions of deaths on both sides. Laws would need to be changed to make this possible, which might make you morally touchable for the first time in hundreds of years. You will have to face bad criticism and you will have to deal with all the attempts of sinister citizens trying to use this new gap to their advantage. I know what I am talking about. I have lived through all this myself. But I ask you all to weigh all this against what would happen if none of us would do anything at all. What is more questionable? Declaring war against a tyrant, or letting him murder unpunished?” she questioned.

“Princess Celestia. You don’t surprise at all with an argument like that. Under your reign, Equestria became known for quickly jumping into war against an enemy that seemed unethical in your eyes. None of us might have lived during these times, but history remembers the results of your wars. For more than one thousand years, crystal ponies were believed to be extinct, because you decided to go to war against King Sombra. Back then just as now, you came to us looking for help. We might have denied you back then, but that does not mean we are forced to agree with you this time. My questions is: What guarantee do we have that this won’t repeat time after time again, once you find an unethical enemy to fight? What if you ended up deciding one day that we are unethical?” a jack wanted to know.

“What you are asking for possibly lies hundreds of years ahead. You have to consider several things. It is still unclear if we will win this upcoming war and even if we do, keeping my current physical state in mind, there is no guarantee whether or not I will ever become immortal again. Just assuming that I will still be alive in more than just a few years is rather… optimistic in my eyes. Well, I can not make any promises for something that lies so far ahead into the future, especially if I may not even survive until then. But should this scenario come to happen, everything will have changed. For the better or worse has yet to be seen. But at least it will go on,” Celestia replied.

Again, the hall became quiet. All donkeys seemed to be sunken in thought. Even the other ponies seemed to be shocked. Those were rather depressing words Celestia spoke there. Suddenly, another jenny stood up.

“I request Twilight Sparkle to speak in front of us,” she spoke.

This came so out of the blue, it shocked Twilight and even several donkey seemed to be surprised. Hesitantly, the purple mare first took a deep breath to calm herself down and get her emotions in place. Then she got up from her seat, crossed Celestia on her way back and placed her front hooves on the podium.

“Miss Sparkle. I understand that you were a student under Princess Celestia’s guidance?” the female donkey wondered.

“That is correct,” Twilight replied, visibly nervous from having to speak in front of hundreds of donkeys.

“This is not an interrogation. So by all means, please do not take it as one. I simply have a few questions left before we close the meeting and come to a decision. Anyway, for what I understand, you are officially the leader of this rebellion. Even the princesses are below you?” the jenny wanted to know.

“Technically, you could say that the whole rebellion rests squarely on my shoulders. But I would never consider the princesses, or any of my friends, to be below me. I need them just as much as they need me,” Twilight responded.

“But why did you take up the leadership of this rebellion? You, as a simple student in the arts of magic?” the jenny kept asking.

“To be completely honest, I have been asking myself questions like these long before. From the moment I came across this book predicting the return of Nightmare Moon many years ago, it seemed like destiny just chose to give me leading roles. I was made the leader in the fight against her, Discord and even King Sombra. But while I at first just felt overwhelmed, I learned to take over the leadership role and fight against Blueblood and his demon worshipping cult with a passion. Not because I was made into a leader, but because I made a decision. I chose to believe in a better future for everypony. I chose to believe in friendship, love, peace and freedom and I chose to fight until my last breath to keep those dear to me alive. No, not just those dear to me. Everyone! Be it pony, donkey, zebra, griffon or even dragon. I care for all us intelligent creatures in this world. I care for this world! As Princess Celestia said, we can’t guarantee that we will win against Blueblood and make Equestria better than it was before. But I can guarantee that I will do everything within my power to protect harmony for all of us,” the purple mare replied.

After Twilight finished, not a single donkey uttered even a word. For twenty seconds, the silence in the hall was deafening. Then, the jenny stood up again.

“Thank you,” she spoke and sat back down.

This seemed to be it. The donkey who first welcomed the group stepped up to the podium again, signalling Twilight to return to her friends. As she walked back to them, all aside of the reapers had proud smiles on their faces.

“Jennies and Gentlejacks. It is time to vote on our actions. As always, decisions are only made if one side wins a vast majority. All those against joining the rebellion, please raise a hoof,” he requested.

Dozens of hooves lifted into the air and lowered moments later. Twilight couldn’t help herself but to frown at the sheer number of donkeys not willing to support her.

“All those in favor, please raise your hooves now,” the jack requested again.

Nearly the entire rest of the present donkeys now raised their hooves. This was more than clearly the majority, causing the group to smile widely.

“All those abstaining from voting, please raise your hooves now,” the donkey requested one last time.

A couple widely scattered hooves lifted and lowered again.

“By vast majority, the council decided to join the rebellion. We would like to invite the rebellion leaders to stay in the republic for at least a few days more so we can negociate and organize," the jack offered.

“We gladly accept the invitation. Thank you. Thank you all,” Twilight spoke from her table, trying her best to not burst out in cheer.

“Very well. The first negotiation is scheduled for tomorrow evening. Meeting number thirty-seven is closed. We will open meeting number thirty-eight in one hour. Good day,” the jack finished.

The Quest

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19rN_Km-zUdY8MW9mkeilkUcEd6FnxS5iGVNzbcosFgg/edit?usp=sharing

The group had to remain in the Mule Republic for five more days before all plans and arrangements were finally made. At least for now, it seemed like the donkeys would not be able to provide much military support, as they were now working on rewriting their laws. But this journey was by no means in vain. For their way back to the Crystal Empire, a few dozen scientists and mechanics volunteered to follow, assisting in getting past the Frozen North again and starting to work on connecting the elements of harmony with the crystal heart as soon as they would arrive.

During their stay with the donkeys, Twilight and Rarity had to learn just how many false prejudices they had. The Mule Republic was indeed a cultural citadel. A society rich with art, poetry, philosophy and knowledge. It wasn’t before this trip that Twilight had to find out with a little shock that an enormous number of the more intellectual books she had read were actually written by donkeys. Now, looking back, it became baffling to her how ponies ever even started thinking of donkeys as dull and stubborn. Perhaps it was due to the fact that they don’t talk back when being insulted and rarely ever correct anyone with false theories unless asked for an opinion. They were just too polite to toss themselves in random conversations and convince others that they were in the right. That is unless they were trained politicians, of course, whose jobs were to do exactly that for the greater good of the republic.

But still, despite all the positive experiences they all made while being with the donkeys, something kept concerning Twilight a bit: The speech Celestia gave. Hearing such depressing and negative words from her, of all ponies, was quite unusual. So far, there was just no opportunity to talk about this. But as nighttime began on the fifth day and the group returned to their hotel from the last meeting with the mule council, the purple mare knew she would get her chance.

“Well, this is getting quite promising,” Shining Armor began to recap. “Now we can be sure that the republic will say a good word for us to their allies. This surely will help us speed up the process of getting more to join us.”

“We can only hope the word gets around fast enough and that they actually are able to convince others to join us as well,” Cadence spoke. “We still have a few years left before the demons come, but we can’t afford to waste any time.”

“How are you holding out, Rarity?” Fluttershy wondered.

“I’m… ugh… I wished my nose would stop running…” Rarity replied, trying hard to not make this sound like she was complaining.

“I really think you should go to bed early today. How about I arrange you some vegetable soup?” Derpy offered.

“Oh, you are such a sweetheart. Thank you so much,” the sick unicorn accepted with a smile.

“Perhaps we should all head to our bedrooms. The way back will be very exhausting again and we need to start early if we want to find shelter in the Crystal Mountains before the strong afternoon blizzards come. None of us can afford to be unrested tomorrow,” Luna suggested.

“Good point. Don’t worry, I will stand guard during the night as usual,” Fluttershy offered.

With a short nod, everyone agreed and the group split up. Fortunately for Twilight, her room was right next to Celestia’s. Using the time they needed to reach their rooms, it finally gave her a moment to talk to the former demi-goddess in private.

“Um… Princess Celestia?” she started carefully.

“Celestia is enough, Twilight. You know that I am not really a princess anymore, now that I have no kingdom to rule over. Not to mention we know each other for ages now,” the white mare offered.

“It just doesn’t feel right, seeing that you were and in a sense still are my mentor,” Twilight stated.

“I would prefer it if you would see me as your friend and not as your superior from now on. After all, you are the head of the rebellion,” Celestia insisted.

“Well, if that is what you want… Anyway, I need to ask you something,” the purple mare began anew.

This time, Celestia did not respond. She just looked at Twilight, waiting for her to continue while they were still walking.

“I know it is a bit late, but there just wasn’t any time to ask you sooner… I have been watching you the last few days. You hardly ever talk and what you said during the first meeting with the council… Are you alright?” Twilight asked in worry.

“Quite alright, Twilight,” the white mare confirmed with a smile.

“Are you sure? I honestly was pretty shocked to hear such depressing words from you. You didn’t actually mean them, didn’t you? Or do you really think you will never get back on the throne of Equestria?” the purple mare wanted to know.

“I suppose my speech came out more depressing than I intended. I only wanted to be realistic and give the council an accurate description of the situation,” Celestia responded.

“Still, Prin- I mean… Celestia… I think some more optimism would do you good. We need to stand our ground and be absolutely certain that we can do this,” the purple mare insisted, causing Celestia to smile again.

“Don’t worry, my faithful student. If there is one thing I have total confidence in, it is you. You have proven more than just once that you are able to achieve which I never could, starting with rescuing my dear sister Luna. So long as you lead this rebellion, we will succeed,” her mentor spoke warmly.

This now caused Twilight to blush and look away in embarrassment. Such words always meant ten times more to her when they came from Celestia. After all, Twilight had been idolizing her for as long as she could remember. So wise, so regal, so patient and understanding. The purple mare still completely failed to understand why the BloodClaw Cult hated Celestia so much that they would even create lies like she started this ancient war against the demons. Then again, they were demon worshippers. These ponies would just believe anything those monsters would tell them. All the more reason why Celestia had to be put back on the throne as soon as possible.

“Twilight. Your nose,” Celestia stated suddenly.

“Huh? Oh gee. Don’t tell me I am bleeding again,” The purple mare spoke, torn out of her thoughts and then sighed. “Well, I better get my medication. Good night.”

“Good night,” the former demi-goddess spoke and aimed for her own door.

---

Just like before, Twilight was able to protect the entire group from the ice shards of the Frozen North, including the donkeys. But the larger the group, the slower it can travel. Especially now that Rarity got sick and used up all of her rubies, they had to rely on shelters and donkey machinery to keep them warm. One of them was carrying an entire small stove on his back, adorned with wires, crystals, gears and a pipe. It was built and enchanted in a way that it could create a small invisible field that trapped the heat once turned on. But while this was essential for the survival of the group, it also meant that they couldn’t get far before having to take another break and warm up again. Especially as the layers of snow began to get high, the group could hardly cover a mile before getting exhausted and subcooled again. Considering all this, they needed to make sure Rarity constantly remained close to the stove. None of them wanted her illness to grow any worse.

On their way, the ponies and reapers kept on having conversations with the donkeys. Sometimes, it just stunned them that they were living in a land so rich with resources. No other part of the world had such an extremely high concentration of gems. Hearing this made Rarity feel bad as to how recklessly she had been using them over the years. So many of her dresses were decorated with gems. So many had been used for combat in the more recent past. If there were other creatures capable of performing gemstone magic, they must have a hard time gathering just the basics to perform their talent, she kept thinking. Rarity had always been a mare of luxury, but never would she have thought that she truly was that wealthy, considering she could gather up whole saddlebags full of rubies with relative ease.

These and similar thoughts were frequently in the air as the group traveled or rested by the magical stove. A great help to keep their minds working, considering that this time it would easily take over a week of wandering through extremely low temperatures to get home.

---

As promised, the donkeys got straight to work once the group arrived in the empire. Even though Rarity’s illness did not get worse, traveling through the Frozen North again certainly did not help her. Even a week after they got home, which she mostly spent in bed with soup and tea, she was still coughing and fighting against her runny nose. But despite her condition, she did not want to miss out on any meetings of the rebellion circle. That evening again, she climbed out of her bed to participate. Out of respect for the health of the others, she was sitting a bit away from everypony else and covered her mouth and nose with a silky handkerchief.

“Are there still no updates?” Twilight asked in a mildly frustrated tone.

“You need to be patient, Twilight,” Celestia started. “It takes a couple of weeks alone for a message like ours to spread, even with the help of the Mule Republic. Then the other kingdoms first have to consider following our call. I would not expect any kind of response until at least a few months have passed.”

“A few months… Celestia, you know time is our enemy. If we don’t gather up enough allies before the attack, we are done for. We need to show the other intelligent species of this world just how urgent the situation really is and that we must act immediately,” the purple mare insisted.

“Blueblood is hovering his hoof above the world, ready to crush anyone trying to attack him,” Crystal Blossom began to explain. “Even though most empires still don’t even know what is happening here, those who do live in fear of his wrath. We must prove ourselves through actions first, to show that provoking Blueblood is worth the risk.”

“We are already escorting as many refugees as we possibly can and spy on Equestria,” Twilight stated swiftly.

“That is not enough, Twilight,” Luna began. “Externally, we still only look like a minor organization. Anyone can organize such missions and try to help on a smaller scale. Right now, the Mule Republic is the only one speaking in our favor. What we need is a loud and clear statement everyone can hear and see. We need to show that we truly mean to bring down Blueblood and that we are more than meets the eye.”

“The Wonderbolts still owe us favors for saving Spitfire, don’t they? How about we ask them for help?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Huh, why didn’t I come up with this?” the purple mare wondered, scratching her head.

“Honestly, Ah forgot about that mahself. Sounds like a good plan, though,” Applejack commented.

“What about our project? Any updates on the elements of harmony and the crystal heart?” Derpy wanted to know.

“The scientists are still busy trying to figure out how they work,“ Crystal Blossom started. “There are no official studies on them and due to their power, they were kept out of reach for everypony for a very long time.”

“So we will need to wait for months with that as well, I take,” Shining Armor commented.

“It seems like it. I do understand that we are all in a hurry, but there are things we can not rush. The artifacts in particular are so important to us that we just can not risk our plans to fail in the end because we rushed the research,” Crystal explained.

“I don’t like this… I don’t like this at all…” Twilight mumbled.

“Well, how about ya just keep focusin’ on something else? Ah mean gettin’ allies and the artefacts working is big and important and all, but there are other things we need to think about, too. I’d say, we should try gettin’ a few smaller villages back from Blueblood! If we can pull that off, it surely would make us look more impressive!” Applejack suggested.

“Even if we can do that, these outposts will be difficult to keep. I am not sure if the sacrifices of soldiers we would need for this are worth it,” Shining Armor retorted.

“You know, now that it is clear that there won’t be any progress for at least a month, perhaps we should just use that time to strengthen the rebellion. Gathering supplies, guiding refugees, training soldiers and maintaining connections seem the most plausible and safe things to do at the moment,” Twilight figured.

“Still, we should keep the Wonderbolts ready to take action, just in case we need to act swiftly,” Crystal suggested.

“Agreed…” the purple mare spoke, then let out a big yawn. “Okay, I think that is all. Unless anypony has anything else in mind, I would say we end this meeting here.”

All members of the circle shook their heads, confirming that the meeting was over. After a few goodnight wishes, all left the meeting hall again.

---

A couple of hours passed and it was well beyond midnight when Twilight Sparkle shifted around in her bed. Suddenly, her eyes shot open and she got upright, breathing heavily. But as soon as she realized that she had just woken up, she calmed down again.

“Another nightmare…” she mumbled, staring at her blanket.

At night, the decisions Twilight had to make took their toll on her. While frequently fighting and killing ponies during the day, she learned to see it as if it was nothing. But Fluttershy was right when she warned Twilight that murdering is unnatural for ponies and will haunt her, roughly a year ago. At night, when she was trying to sleep, she still frequently had nightmares of ponies sneaking up on her and trying to slit her throat. Whenever she would defend herself in her dreams and kill the aggressors, the families of those ponies would appear in front of her. Every time, it was the same. She saw the widows or widowers and their children cry, heard their desperation as they keep repeatedly questioning why she had taken away their beloved ones. Then she would realize just to how many ponies she had done this by now and hundreds, if not thousands of broken families would appear in front of her, all crying and blaming her for making the wrong choice.

Twilight was awake now. The dream was over, but it still kept going inside her head. She hated the moments when she became aware of how many ponies she was forced to kill so far, and the fact that there would still be a lot more to come. It was wrong. It was unnatural for her as a pony, yet it had to be done. Slowly, she closed her eyes and covered them with both front hooves before the tears began to flow.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she whispered while occasionally sniffling.

This was by far not the first time this happened. But like before, as soon as the first thoughts of regret went by, she could remind herself of why she had done all this. After just a few minutes, she always could catch herself and calm down again. Still, she did not want to go back to sleep immediately, afraid the exact same dream might return. So the purple mare climbed out of her bed, left her chamber and started wandering through the Crystal Palace.

As she walked up and down the corridors, her steps echoing against the crystal walls, she stared at her own reflection beneath her. Her mind was not sure what to think about. Some of her thoughts were in the past, in happy days long gone when she still had all of her friends and the only problems she had were wrapping up winter in time and writing weekly friendship reports. Others were in the present, considering all options of what could be done to support the rebellion. It were the latter thoughts which eventually dominated.

Twilight was unsatisfied. With pretty much everything. She so longed to make the world as she remembered it from her youthful years, before she knew about Maledictum Insania. Just like Celestia, all she aimed for was a world of harmony and she was willing to make sacrifices to get there. Still, all this barely brought her forward. Especially the results of the last circle meeting left her very unhappy. She wanted her plan of connecting the elements of harmony with the crystal heart to work. She wanted to have the entire world supporting her. If only she could think of anything else she could do to help. This situation in total, this rebellion… She wished it would be over soon. Nothing would make her more happy than to see this over one thousand years old conflict coming to an end.

The purple mare had left the palace by now and roamed through the streets. Nearly everyone else was sleeping. The pony refugees, the crystal ponies, the cattle and the donkeys were all resting inside the buildings. Only the reapers still seemed to be awake, as she could catch a few of them rushing by in the corners of her eyes. Apparently, they were observing Twilight, unsure if she truly was the original. That was alright, though. It proved that they were taking their job serious and paying attention.

The farther she went, the less thoughts were left roaming through her head and she began to just sleepily observe her surroundings, partially making it sort of a game out of trying to spot the hiding reapers. She was about to consider going back to her bed when she saw a light blue flash in the blizzard outside of the empire. After observing for a moment and realizing that the reapers remained relaxed, she judged that this was no threat and began to curiously investigate. Raising a small force field around herself, Twilight stepped into the magical storm rotating around the empire. Seeing as she had made a lot of experience with blizzards in this past month, she figured she would be able to pass through easily. But to her surprise, the storm was so powerful it nearly blew her away. Twilight figured she must have underestimated Crystal Blossom and her ice magic yet again.

With that name still in the back of her mind, Twilight was half amused and half expecting it when she reached the source of the lights and found said elder reaper mare. Crystal seemed to have created a hole in her own blizzard, which she used as a training ground. She was fighting about twenty snow golems with a large variety of ice spells, which she seemed to be raising herself. It was like shadow-boxing in magical form, since Twilight could observe that these golems had magical abilities themselves and were cooperating and creating plans in attempt to immobilize her. Quite an impressive display of skill, considering she did all this while simultaneously keeping the blizzard up around the empire. But as it was to expect from an elder reaper, Crystal quickly came to realize that she was being watched and dispelled the golems.

“Whom did you meet while preparing to attack the Canterlot BloodClaw church?” she wanted to know as confirmation this truly was Twilight Sparkle.

“Lady Truesight and Amber,” the purple mare answered.

“Still awake at this hour?” Crystal wondered.

“Awake again. Yet another night where the nightmares rob me of my sleep…” Twilight replied with a frustrated sigh.

“Wandering out here will not make up for it,” the light blue reaper mare stated.

“I just needed to get some fresh air and clear my head before going back to sleep. Anyway, you can cast quite a lot of spells at once and some of them are quite powerful. Aren’t you concerned demons might be watching you practise and learn what you are capable of?” Twilight wondered.

“Do not worry. I keep my strongest spells secret. You see, there are even far more destructive ice spells, capable of freezing whole landscapes. But I only use those in extreme situations,” Crystal explained.

“Ah, I see. Pretty interesting. Anyway, how do you manage to cast so many spells at once without letting the blizzard fade away? I can only imagine what kind of mental effort that must be,” Twilight commented.

“This actually is a very advanced trick only true masters of magic can pull off. No matter if I am awake or asleep, I constantly keep casting the blizzard spell in the back of my mind. It takes many years of practise and experience with the deepest possible meditative states to learn,” Crystal explained.

Twilight smiled shortly. But then she hung her head, closed her eyes and sighed audibly.

“You are still young compared to me, Twilight. Do not be so hard on yourself for not knowing or even being able to do this,” the reaper mare spoke.

“That’s not it, Crystal. I am just frustrated with everything. But the one I am most frustrated with is myself. To this date, I am the only known mortal being capable of utilizing arcane magic. I can easily be considered one of the most powerful magical creatures that ever existed. Yet, even though I have so much power, I can barely use it. I don’t know much more than how to create arcane force fields, weapons and bolts,” the purple mare responded.

“Again, you are being way too harsh on yourself,” the reaper mare started anew. “Do not forget that, despite the fact that you are now well adult at this point, you are still just a student in the arts of magic. With everything that happened, you were unable to study for a long time.”

“I know, but still. Just looking at what potential I have and how fast I can learn, I should be way more ahead. I am living with this ability for years now, yet I hardly advanced at all,” Twilight retorted, the frustration growing in her voice.

“Now listen to me, Twilight Sparkle. I myself had to study magic for decades before being able to use it properly. Even the great Starswirl did not begin to create his own spells before completing twenty years of study after graduating,” Crystal began.

“Oh? That’s something even I didn’t know! That means he must have gotten unusually old for a pony,” Twilight commented swiftly.

“Indeed. Considering all this, you are still incredibly gifted. Do not focus so much on your magical abilities alone and more on all the deeds you have done so far. No hero in the entirety of pony history could ever claim to have accomplished even nearly as much as you have to this point and you are far from done,” the light blue mare finished.

Twilight remained silent for a moment, staring at her front legs. But then she lifted her head again and smiled at the elder reaper.

“You know, you are a really good friend, Crystal Blossom. Whenever I feel down, you go out of your way to cheer me up again,” she commented.

“I do what I can, Twilight,” Crystal replied.

After smiling again, the purple mare approached and gave her friend a hug. Shortly after, her eyes wandered out into the blizzard and she seemed to dive into thoughts again. But before Crystal could say a word, an expression of determination returned to Twilight’s face and she turned back to her.

“You know what? You are right about me being unable to study for so long. I will use every moment of spare time I have to continue my training and gain a deeper understanding of magic,” she decided.

“So long as you are not overdoing it, this does seem like a good plan,” Crystal confirmed.

“Don’t worry. The rebellion will remain the most important thing to me. But it really is high time I hit some books again. I really miss reading and learning, too. Not to mention that every tiny bit of knowledge needs to be used to prepare for the battle ahead. But as for now, I think I will go back to bed,” Twilight explained.

“Have a good night,” Crystal spoke.

“You too, Crystal. See you tomorrow,” the purple mare spoke.

While Twilight went on her way back, Crystal Blossom sat down in the snow and closed her eyes to meditate. She still had to finish her own training routine before considering to sleep.

Wall of Ice

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GEZsBHNL23QmRl2SpComkNo0b5AxKoriO5vrExeTBYs/edit?usp=sharing

Approximately two months passed since the donkeys began to study the crystal heart and the elements of harmony. But so far, these magical artifacts remained a puzzling mystery to even the most educated in the fields of magic and science. The biggest difficulty was that nopony had any idea about their origins. Knowing that would make it so much easier to understand the relics. All that was known about the crystal heart was that the mineral it was made of originated from the Frozen North. Celestia and Luna claimed to have ‘harvested’ the elements of harmony from the so called ‘Tree of Harmony’, which apparently used to grow in Equestria, right underneath the old castle of the royal sisters. But like with the heart, there was no way of proving that and it gave no insight to why they were so powerful. Considering that Everfree City and the castle had been completely destroyed during the early years of the demon war and Malice’s rise, it was very likely the tree had been destroyed as well.

Like the research, the rebellion did not advance at all. Occasionally, Babs Seed succeeded in bringing a wave of refugees to the empire and a demon tried to sneak in, which immediately would be consumed by the reapers. But other than that, the only changes seen were in the infrastructure.

The Crystal Empire used to have a very low population. Despite being large enough to house several hundred thousand ponies, only a couple of hundred crystal houses were ever built. Now with the population continuously rising, more and more homes needed to be created. This was by no means a difficult task, considering that there were tons of crystals all around the empire and the crystal ponies could even create more with the empire’s magic. Also, there were plenty of very large gaps in between the buildings. While it was kind of a sad thing for the foals to see their favorite playing meadows disappear, they would soon get over it, seeing as each new wave of refugees brought more playmates and they would quickly find new meadows to play on. Same story applied to the little crystal filly named Sunshine and her friends.

Sunshine had been playing on her new favorite meadow for a couple of weeks now. It was pretty far off from the center, so it would not be targeted by those stupid construction ponies any time soon. A nice large space that didn’t even have any crystal shards laying around. While this wouldn’t have been a problem for Sunshine, most of her friends were not crystal ponies and therefore would get hurt when falling on such a shard. So having a large and clear field definitely was an advantage for them, too.

Today, they were playing marco pony again. Sunshine had to wear a blindfold and try to catch her friends while saying ‘marco’, to which her friends would respond with ‘pony’. She wasn’t exactly the best at this game. The current round had been going for about ten minutes now and she still didn’t catch a single one of her friends.

“Marco!” she called.

“Pony!” her friends answered.

Sunshine tried to walk to one of the sources of the sound as quickly as she could, but she was a bit paranoid about stumbling. Just yesterday, she tripped over a rock and gotten herself a painful crack in her left front leg. Even though the crack had been completely sealed through magic, she did not want to get another crack any time soon. What if she fell flat on her face and chipped her nose off? That would be quite painful and she would look pretty stupid.

“Marco!” Sunshine called again.

“Pony!” her friends responded.

Sunshine approached one of her friends as fast as she could. She was so sure she would catch one this time. But all she could hear was the giggling of a colt, followed by a breeze as he narrowly rushed past her. This frustrated Sunshine. What a stupid game! When anypony else was it, they would get her so fast. But whenever she was it, she would so often have to give up because she just couldn’t catch everypony! Her friends were so stupid at times! Perhaps she should have tried to invite the little rainbow-maned filly Amber again. Maybe then things would have been different. But then again, the only one Amber ever hung around with was her adoptive reaper mother Truesight. Amber never agreed to any invitation so far and hardly ever spoke a word. In fact, she seemed to even be scared of other foals. Sunshine just couldn’t understand why.

“Marco!” she called again.

“Pon- Gaaahhh!” her friends screamed.

This startled Sunshine and she instantly removed her blindfold. Her friends were staring at a hole in the ground, out of which a pretty young diamond dog was looking. Although covered in dirt, two trails coming down from his eyes remained clean, as he was crying heavily.

“Help! Ponies help! Help Casper, quick!” the diamond dog puppy started screaming.

---

Since Twilight decided to continue her magic studies on her own, she dedicated one day per week solely on reading in the empire’s library. Among the many books she picked this time were some about advanced magic tricks, the history of Equestria and the same one about the Crystal Empire’s history she had been reading through before, years ago. It was the only copy of its kind and since she could not fully remember its content, she hoped to find a clue to the origin of the crystal heart in it. But her research remained inconclusive. Twilight was pretty sure that the missing last page in the very back would have revealed so much about the crystal heart. Sadly, it never turned up. Maybe King Sombra had it torn out? As a precaution, should he ever fall? One could only assume.

Finally being able to read again made Twilight remember just how much she used to love studying. Once she was in the zone, her brain could just soak up the entire content of several books within just a few hours like a sponge. In the past, she used to forget and ignore everything around her once she reached that state of mind. But the last few years of constantly having to pay attention and being ready to jump into self-defence taught her to remain alert. So, as a crystal guard came running over to her, she instantly shut the book she was reading and jumped up.

“Miss Twilight! The circle needs you at the meeting hall immediately! It is urgent!” he alerted her.

“Thank you,” was all she said before casting a teleportation spell.

---

As the purple mare materialized again, she was standing just in front of the doors to the meeting hall. Several guards and reapers were already standing ready and instantly drew their weapons. As always when not all members of the circle had arrived yet, the door remained open but was blocked by several reapers at once in case of any assault attempts. Peeking past the reapers, Twilight could see that all the others were already there.

“Twilight, what kind of sport did I teach you when you were still a filly?” Shining Armor asked from inside.

“Kite flying. What was my favorite childhood toy?” Twilight asked back.

“Your Smarty Pants doll,” her brother replied.

Instantly, the reapers moved aside and allowed her in. Once she reached the table, the door closed.

“Alright, what is so-” Twilight started anew.

Before even finishing the sentence, she already got her answer as she spotted a young diamond dog pup on the other side of the table, being held and comforted by Fluttershy.

“The underground city he is from is currently being attacked by the BloodClaw Cult,” Cadence stated.

“Blueblood…” Twilight analyzed quickly.

“Yes,” Crystal Blossom continued. “Apparently, he wants to drive all diamond dogs off from Equestria and does not hesitate to do this through mass murder. This pup was sent to us by his parents to beg for help. The attack has only just begun. We need to make a decision. Very fast.”

“There is nothing to decide here. Of course we are going, instantly,” Twilight responded. The others seemed to think just the same way.

“Casper. How can we get to your city?” Derpy wanted to know.

“There is big cave not far from here. Go down, down, down and city there,” the young diamond dog responded.

Immediately, everyone present got up. Fluttershy stroked the puppy once more across the head, then let go of him.

“Stay here in the castle where you are safe. We will do everything we can to rescue your home and your parents,” she assured.

“Okay… Casper will wait…” the puppy responded while sniffling.

The door opened again and the whole group started running outside.

“Attention! All available soldiers and a quarter of the reapers have to meet up at the northern border within the next ten minutes! Also, send word to the Wonderbolts that we need their assistance!” Twilight ordered.

“Yes, mam!” the guards and reapers replied, then dispatched instantly.

“Rarity and Applejack. I need you two to stay here. Neither one of you is fit enough for a battle against the cult,” Celestia insisted.

“Agreed. I hope you understand,” Twilight confirmed.

“Was kinda expectin’ it. Don’t cha worry. C’mon, Rarity. Let’s get ya right back to bed,” Applejack stated and turned around.

“Good luck, girls,” Rarity spoke, then followed up.

The rest of the group started running straight out of the palace.

---

It didn’t take the group more than two minutes to reach the northern border of the Crystal Empire. To their surprise, Lady Truesight and Amber were waiting there already.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting to see you here! Are you going to join us?” Twilight wanted to know, but Truesight only shook her head.

“Not unless my mistress orders me to join this pointless waste of soldiers. Even then, I would like to remind you that I am sworn to safeguard this filly,” Truesight spoke, then began to focus Celestia while pointing at Amber beneath the cloak.

“No, it is fine. Stay here and protect Amber,” Celestia ordered.

“Yes, my mistress,” the reaper clairvoyant spoke and bowed down shortly. “In any case, I am solely here to warn you.”

“Well, our situation may be… difficult… but we still gladly accept your help, Truesight!” Twilight explained.

“Twilight Sparkle. Why do you want to help the diamond dogs?” Truesight wanted to know.

“Isn’t it obvious? We are a rebellion fighting against Blueblood! Thwarting his plans is always a good move on our end. We would be saving countless innocent beings! But most of all, this is the opportunity we had been waiting for! By doing this, we finally gain some recognition and will be seen as something worthy of supporting!” the purple mare answered.

“Exactly. What you are about to do will turn into a massacre. With this act, you begin to walk down the path which eventually leads to the demon attack in a few years. A smaller bloodbath concludes in a much, much larger one. I am aware you think of yourself as doing the right thing, but I must ask you to stop. Turn around and let the diamond dogs die,” Truesight spoke, almost sounding threatening.

“You are overstepping your boundaries, Truesight,” Celestia spoke sharply. “You are a reaper, a servant of death. Not a commander of destiny. Even your future predicting abilities are limited. You can’t possibly know of how this all will end and if I, your mistress, have total confidence in my student’s decisions, then I ask you to respect them as well. This was not solely her decision either. We all agreed to this mission.”

Instantly, Truesight bowed down.

“Yes. You are right, my mistress. I apologize. It is true that I can not see how this rebellion will end,” she spoke.

After a moment of silence, the delegated soldiers and reapers arrived, lead by Spitfire and ten of her Wonderbolts.

“We are ready for action!” she spoke to Twilight.

“Good. Our goal is a diamond dog city under attack by Blueblood. The entrance cave should be nearby,” the purple mare explained.

“Wait a minute… That’s underground, isn’t it? What do you need the best flies in all of Equestria for in an underground mission?” Spitfire wanted to know.

“More than anything else, this is a rescue mission. I need you to escort the diamond dogs to the empire as fast and precise as thinkably possible!” Twilight explained.

“Alright, got it,” the captain of the Wonderbolts spoke and then turned to her team. “You heard her, Wonderbolts! Today, you can prove that we still are the best of the best! Give it all you got!”

After the other Wonderbolts saluted shortly, Twilight gave the command to go. Crystal Blossom opened a tunnel in her blizzard and allowed the whole troop through. Just as she was about to follow them, Truesight grabbed her shoulder, causing the light blue mare to turn around.

“Twilight Sparkle may have ordered you to join her, but the decision is yours. If you wish to believe it or not. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” the reaper clairvoyant questioned.

Crystal heard her say these words before. But just like back then, she had the same opinion as now. Instead of words, Crystal just gave Truesight a nod. After that, a couple of seconds passed, neither one of them moving or saying a word. Finally, Truesight placed her hoof back on the ground.

“I wish you the best of luck, elder,” she spoke.

No words were necessary anymore. Crystal Blossom turned back around and ran, the blizzard closing behind her immediately.

---

Merely moments after they started running, the Wonderbolts spotted the cave from above and lead the whole group inside. Just as they entered, they could already hear screams echoing against the walls.

“This reminds me of our first true battle against a demon,” Fluttershy commented after a while.

“You mean against the spawn in the Everfree Underground Passage?” Twilight wondered, which Fluttershy confirmed with a nod.

“Focus! We are almost there!” Luna demanded.

Seconds after saying that, they spotted a group of diamond dogs running towards them, being closely chased by ten cultists. Before they could even react, one of them jumped into the air and managed to ram a knife into the neck of a female.

Spitfire rushed ahead, knocking one of the other cultists over before he could pounce his victim. Caught by surprise, the reapers had enough time to take care of the group. Although it wasn’t as easy as it used to be. Those cultists were all wearing steel plate armor, making it harder to land a lethal blow. Only the one who already caught a victim could put up a fight, but was ultimately frozen solid by Crystal Blossom and then immediately reaped, too. All this happened within less than twenty seconds, so fast that the diamond dogs only realized what was going on after their attackers were gone. But before they could even thank their equine saviors, the rescue troop had moved on and only one of the Wonderbolts stood behind to tell them to keep running, then immediately caught up with the others.

From then on, the further down they went, the louder the noises of battle became. More and more diamond dogs rushed past them, chased by more and more cultists they had to take down before being able to proceed.

After taking another turn, they found themselves in a large underground ravine with countless houses dug into the walls. Multiple thousand diamond dogs were running around, screaming in panic, looking for family members or trying to find a way to escape. A large number of them were injured, partially so bad that they collapsed dead moments later. Bodies were scattered all around, their blood dripping down from higher areas and running along the walls. Pups had lost track of their parents and were standing idly in place, crying and screaming for help.

It was pure chaos and terror. The ones responsible for this bloodshed could be seen all around. Several thousand cultists were rushing from one end of the city to the other, trying their best to prevent any diamond dog from escaping and attacking any they came across on their way. Although the diamond dogs were fighting back, it was clear that they did not have the needed skills to take on those by now well-trained assassins. After analyzing the situation, Twilight quickly gave out the orders.

“Okay! Soldiers, clear the paths outside first! Then join the reapers in taking care of the cultists across the city! Spitfire, you and your team need to guide the diamond dogs outside! Everyone else comes with me to the center! We need to take control of the battlefield!” she announced.

Instantly, the troop began to spread out. It did not take the cultists very long to realize that they got company and started attacking the rebels. It was a clash of battle techniques between the cultists and soldiers. Only the reapers could nearly effortlessly fight their way through the cultists, killing dozens of them within the first minutes. All magic wielding rebels used their respective professions to help and fight. Celestia used her light magic to fight and blind the cultists. Luna used dark magic to force their enemies to submit. Cadence created illusions, while Twilight tried to take out as many cultists as possible as quickly as possible with chain-bolts of arcane magic. Shining Armor, Crystal Blossom, Fluttershy and Derpy acted as the guards of the circle members, making sure no cultist could get too close to them. Their tactic was very efficient and the cultists had large problems organizing and fighting back the rescue troop.

Slowly, from the center outwards, the group gained control by forcing the cultists to the sides. But the more they pushed, the larger the gaps between the members became. Then suddenly, after killing another cultist, Twilight realized that the only one left nearby was Cadence.

“Where are the others?” Twilight shouted.

“I don’t know. I think I saw Derpy rush by over there!” Cadence replied.

Without much hesitation, Twilight turned around and started following her sister in law. Fighting back the occasional cultist, the purple mare realized that they were getting too far away from the center. Suddenly, she stopped.

“Did you see one?” Cadence wondered.

“Ladybugs,” Twilight stated out of the blue.

“What?” Cadence replied.

Instantly, Twilight expression became very serious and she launched an arcane beam at her former foalsitter. After flying into a wall, Cadence showed a grimace of pain and shock as she stared at the purple mare.

“Nice try, Despair,” Twilight stated, anger burning in her eyes.

Instantly, Cadence stopped acting as if she was insured. Her eyes turned red and a sinister smile grew on her face.

“So you are using codes now. Not bad, Twilight,” Despair spoke with her normal, echoing voice now.

A split second after she finished speaking, the demoness turned back into her normal form. Not willing to give Despair even a moment to react, Twilight shot another beam at her. This time, though, she could dodge it. The Guillotine of Hope certainly has become more skilled since the last time they fought.

A magical fight to death broke loose between the two. But while Twilight tried to take down her arch nemesis with fierce blasts of arcane magic, Despair mostly just dodged her attacks and grinned.

“You need to improve your aim,” the demoness started mocking.

This made Twilight furious. She put a lot of force into a massive arcane beam and managed to aim it directly at the demons. She, though, remained in place. Grinning widely with her sharp teeth, Despair’s eyes suddenly turned thoroughly red and her horn began to glow in the same color. Just before the beam hit her, she created a force field and somehow managed to successfully block off even this powerful magic attack.

Twilight’s eyes and mouth went wide open. How could she just block off an arcane beam like that? How could she have gotten so powerful? Then finally, she realized something she hadn’t been paying attention to so far. Despair was wearing a necklace. A very familiar one, which caused the purple mare to gasp a bit in dread. It was the Alicorn Amulet.

“When it comes to me, you really need a long time to start paying attention properly,” Despair kept mocking as she realized that Twilight noticed the amulet.

Catching herself again, the purple mare’s expression changed back to an angered one and she returned to battle stance.

“I am not even going to ask how you could find that,” the purple mare stated.

“You know, it is quite useful to be a demon. We don’t have souls, so this amulet has absolutely no negative effects on me. All I get is power great enough to even withstand your magic,” the demoness stated.

“We will see about that!” Twilight shouted and cast a teleportation spell.

After materializing behind the demoness, she launched another arcane beam. But Despair saw it coming and teleported as well. With a flash, she appeared behind Twilight, turned her right front leg into a large blade and tried to slice it through Twilight’s throat. She, though, could raise a force field and block off the blade.

“1007 years ago, Queen Nightmare Moon declared war against pony-kind,” Despair spoke into Twilight’s ear, then let go of her.

“So what?” the purple mare questioned.

Completely ignoring Twilight’s words, the demoness began to grin and made another statement.

“You know, even the Alicorn Amulet has its limits. If you knew how to use your abilities properly, I would still stand no chance against you. So much power, but you don't know how to use it. Shameful, considering you once were the keeper of magic.”

“I defeated you once. I can defeat you again!” Twilight shouted.

“Do you remember what I told you a year ago? I already explained to you that it is too late. Nothing can be changed anymore. The moment you attacked Black Widow, we crossed the point of no return. Why do you even keep trying? Nothing you do matters,” the demoness stated.

The purple mare created a sword of pure arcane magic, letting it float next to her. After dodging the first couple of swings, Despair grabbed the blade with the mouth in her left front leg and held it immobilized.

“No matter how much you fight, it will not change the outcome. What did you even think you would accomplish by coming here? All your efforts are wasted. Everything you do is useless. I have Sombra's horn. The only part of him that was not destroyed,” Despair stated, then began to grin devilish. “I am convinced he would appreciate having his empire back.”

Twilight tried her best to not care about the demoness’ words at the moment. She only wanted to catch her off-guard right now. Instead, she kept struggling against the demoness’ grip. But suddenly, Twilight stopped.

Just now, a thought crossed her mind which she should have come up with much sooner. If Despair was here, then there surely would be other demons, too! Without saying a word, she let the blade vanish, turned around and started running.

Casting multiple teleportation spells, the purple mare tried to get back to the center as quickly as possible. For some reason, Despair wasn’t following her. Then suddenly, Fluttershy shot out from around the corner.

“Demons are coming to reenforce the cultists!” she announced.

“How many?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Hundreds! Definitely too many for us to handle! We are rapidly losing control of the battle field!” the yellow mare replied.

“Then there is nothing we can do. We need to get out of here! Gather as many diamond dogs as you can and bring them to the tunnel we came from!” the purple mare ordered.

“Will do!” Fluttershy confirmed and flew away.

Twilight as well focused on calling diamond dogs over to her, telling them to follow her if they want to get out. Soon, red darkness started seeping in through the tunnels. This sight confirmed that a large mass of demons was just around the corner and if she wouldn’t pick up the pace now, this quickly would turn into something similar to the battle of Tartarus, when she had to be rescued from there.

As Twilight looked ahead, she saw that hundreds of diamond dogs were escaping through the tunnels. Sadly, some were running straight to those out of which the red clouds were coming and even the Wonderbolts couldn’t get them to stop in their panic. So many would still die and there was nothing any of them could do about it.

Just as she thought that, a flood of demons bursted through the first tunnel and within seconds, countless diamond dogs were torn to pieces. Twilight looked around and saw that the rest of the circle members were approaching her from the sides and behind, closely followed by large mobs of panicking diamond dogs. While still on the run, they checked each others identity through code words. Ultimately, they all found themselves reunited, surrounded by soldiers, reapers and dogs.

But the screams and sounds of tearing flesh were approaching quickly. Behind was a large wave of demons, crawling all around the walls, the ceiling and floating in the tunnel. There was still some distance left, but they could run significantly faster than the mob.

“We need to slow them down!” Twilight shouted and launched another arcane spell down the tunnel.

A large number of demons got launched back, but the rest quickly filled the created gap. She would need to constantly be doing this to really make a difference. But after casting so many arcane spells, she was running out of stamina and focus. The soldiers, reapers and magic-wielders tried all they could to fight back the demons and maybe cause the tunnel to collapse, but it was no use. There were just so many and they were too few.

Crystal Blossom ran as fast as she could, using her magic to levitate diamond dogs too close to the demons in front of the crowd until she was the only one left at the very back. She kept on casting ice spells to make it harder for the demons to approach, but it was like trying to fight back a flooding.

“This isn’t good! They are catching up on us! We won’t make it out in time!” Derpy announced.

Despite being exhausted, Twilight’s brain was hard at work, trying to come up with anything. She looked around. There was nothing useful nearby. There was no alternate path they could take. Once more, she looked back to observe the situation. What she saw then made the rest of the escape seem like it was going in slow motion to her.

Twilight caught the precise moment where Crystal Blossom had decided to stop running. She just stood there, staring at the purple mare without any expression.

“Crystal! No!” the purple mare shouted.

All her friends now looked back as well, the shock in their faces growing slowly as they all seemingly were running in slow motion now. Crystal Blossom bowed down shortly as a sign to say farewell. They couldn’t stop. They couldn’t turn back to get her. All they could do was keep running and watch as the elder reaper mare turned around to face her doom.

Crystal waited until they were far enough away. Then she began to cast the strongest ice spell she knew. Her white mane and tail fluttered around in a magical breeze, as if they were made of snow. Frost started to form on the wall of the tunnel and the temperature dropped very rapidly. The light blue mare closed her eyes, snowflakes swirling around her body and gathering up above her head. Then suddenly, an icy portal opened, letting a Windigo through moments later.

These sinister winter spirits were known to be capable of turning entire continents into freezing cold deserts, even when in tiny numbers. It instantly began to turn the whole tunnel into one solid piece of ice. The demons became slowed down more and more, until they stopped moving entirely. Only one could keep on fighting against the powerful spell. Only Despair could force her way ever closer to Crystal Blossom, who was frozen immobile herself at this point. Finally, the Windigo disappeared again.

Although they both were stuck in the ice, Despair would be able to get out much sooner than Crystal. Just inches separated the two of them, both facing each other. Then Despair began to grin sinisterly.

“You will do,” she stated in satisfaction.

---

The troop and the rescued diamond dogs kept running. Only that they weren’t trying to escape from the demons anymore, but from the huge glacier which was filling the tunnel more and more. They could barely make it outside before the entrance was entirely sealed.

“Crystal…” Fluttershy commented.

Many had lost their lives in this mission. Soldiers, some reapers and of course a lot of diamond dogs. But none would have expected one of the circle members to die tonight. With tears in their eyes, they all stared at the entrance. Twilight approached it and placed her hooves against the block, peeking inside. But there was no trace of the reaper mare.

“Not another… I… I lost another friend…” the purple mare mumbled while the tears began to roll down her face.

As the others caught their breaths from this sprint and slowly started to cheer up over the realization that they just survived, the circle members gathered up and began to mourn, here at the wall of ice.

Second Year

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Irt14lzz9G81Zaa0Dhe-UIiBUtwg0Y7yfJpK_jVbOa0/edit

It was about a month after Hearth’s Warming Eve. The rebellion had been going for over a year now and it started showing changes in the Crystal Empire. The number of buildings had doubled at this point and never before had there been such a huge diversity of species inside of it, seeing how the crystal ponies are usually very solitary and stick to themselves. While it was at first a bit difficult for them to cope with the changes in such a static, stable environment as theirs, their horizons slowly became expanded more and more with each new type of creature joining the rebellion and started living with them. Just now, they began to understand the joy and excitement of change and cultural diversity, as many crystal ponies could be seen walking straight up to newcomers of all sorts to welcome them and talk. The only thing that did not change and never would was the weather.

While it was deepest winter outside, which meant it was even colder with even more snow than usual, the empire’s magic kept the climate stable on the inside. It was something that always seemed to fascinate other creatures, since they were not used to the ‘Ever Season’, as the crystal ponies called it. Just as the name suggests, this special season was everlasting and kept the weather and temperature constantly pleasant, as well as the ground fertile all year long. Furthermore, it assured the constant supply of fresh food, which was much to the delight of Applejack.

Normally during this time of the year, she would spend most of her time just checking on stocks, meeting friends and slacking off. But while this was something others might look forward to and would be very annoyed over the existence of the Ever Season, Applejack was known to not like being lazy and doing nothing productive. Now she had something to do even during the usually very boring winter months. So despite the fact that most of her co-workers had been taking leave, she kept on working in the crystal berry fields.

Next to no one was around for over a week now, yet many berry bushes were ripe for the harvest. For the first time in years, Applejack was working to capacity. Having to rapidly wander from one bush to the next, transporting basket after basket in record time was physically exhausting to her. She wasn’t used to such hard labor anymore, especially with her handicap. But it was something she thoroughly relished. In the heart of a heavy labor filled day, she could bloom. Applejack had been working herself into the zone for hours until she reached a section of the farm where she finally saw another fruit picker nearby.

“Howdy, Caramel!” she greeted, panting but happy.

“Hi…” Caramel greeted back with a saddened expression, then continued picking berries.

Slowly, the smile faded out of Applejack’s face. Caramel still seemed to be in the same bad mood as on the first day. They rarely got to talk so far, but now knowing that her colleague was going through something long-term, she needed to slow down a bit and invest some time into him. After all, she still thought of herself as the loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies.

“Nice to see Ah still got some company out here! Ah’m used to that life, but almost all the others took some time off,” the orange mare stated to restart the conversation.

“Can’t afford to take some time off,” Caramel replied.

“Why not?” Applejack wanted to know.

Caramel suddenly stopped, his head still half hiding behind a berry bush. He glanced over to the orange mare with a saddened expression, then looked away and sighed audibly.

“I lost my wage from the whole last month. Had to strike a deal with the farm owner. I am working extra shifts but get paid immediately after, so I can afford some food for this and the next month,” he stated in shame.

“Oh… How did that happen?” Applejack wanted to know.

“I was carrying the bits in a small bag in my mouth, then slipped on a puddle and threw them right down a drain…” the light amber stallion explained, now sounding kind of annoyed of himself.

“Now that’s some serious bad luck… Sorry to hear,” Applejack stated.

“It’s fine… I am used to stuff like this,” Caramel responded and resumed with his work.

Applejack did not know what to say. For a moment, she just stood there, thinking and staring. Then she returned to her own work, significantly slower than before, though. While picking berries, storing them in her basket and bringing it to the barn to empty it out, she kept on thinking the whole time. Sure, she never was all that close of a friend with Caramel. But it seemed like he really could use somepony willing to spend some time with him. Each and every day, he seemed so down and depressed. Applejack also did not forget how strangely he reacted when she mentioned his girlfriend. There was something going on. Something she might be able to help with. She just couldn’t take seeing him like this. She just had to do something! So after she picked up her basket, she walked straight back to the stallion.

“Hey, um… So Ah was wonderin’... did ya have anythin’ planned for this evenin’?” she asked.

“I was just going to get back home after work, as every day…” Caramel replied.

“Well, how about we go and spend some time together? Ah reckon ya could use some company,” Applejack offered.

Caramel twitched a little. This seemed to have been really unexpected to him, as he looked at Applejack with wide open eyes, then let them wander around, unsure what to respond.

“Ya don’t have to if ya don’t want to…” Applejack spoke carefully.

“N-no, no. I… I would like hanging out with you,” he spoke quickly.

“Ah, alright then! So is here at four good for ya? Ah still gotta get somethin’ for mah cousin Babs Seed,” the orange mare suggested.

“Yeah. That sounds… alright,” Caramel replied.

After that, the conversation suddenly came to an end, as the light amber stallion just turned around and kept going with his work. Applejack did not exactly know how to react to this, but since he already agreed to the meeting, she just smiled and started filling her basket again.

---

As the sun began to set over the mountains, Applejack went on her way back to the plantation. She was pretty early and expected to be the first to arrive. But to her surprise, Caramel was already waiting. It might very well be that he had been waiting since the moment he finished. This further confirmed to her that he was desperately looking for a friend, even if he wouldn’t really admit it.

The orange mare approached the stallion with a friendly smile, but all he could give in response was waving shortly before looking away again. Applejack already knew that this would be a tough nut to crack.

“Glad to see ya’re here so soon. Where would ya like to go?” she wondered.

“Anywhere is fine…” Caramel responded.

So the decision was up to Applejack. She wanted to get him talking, so a scenario with few distractions would be preferable.

“Well how about we just go wanderin’ around the empire for a bit?” the orange mare suggested.

“Sure, why not,” Caramel agreed.

Smiling again, Applejack led the way. She was aiming to make this walk as long as possible, so she planned the route to go once around the entire empire along the borders. The first couple of minutes passed, but both were still silent. Caramel constantly kept his head low, stared at the ground and let his ears hanging.

“How do ya like the farm life so far?” Applejack asked suddenly.

“It’s okay,” Caramel replied.

“Ah guess that’s not really your profession, is it?” the orange mare wondered.

“Nah, not really,” the stallion answered.

It became silent again. Caramel sure wasn’t very talkative. At least Applejack still had a few ideas how to reignite this conversation. With the blizzard around the Crystal Empire gone, they now could see the endless snowy landscape outside.

“Gotta say, it’s darn pretty here. The empire’s nice to look at and so are the snowy fields. Sometimes, Ah feel like Ah’m living in a reverse snow globe,” the orange mare commented.

“Hm…” was all Caramel gave as a response.

He sure wasn’t making it easy for Applejack. They kept on walking for a while more, the orange mare desperately looking for some topics to talk about. As they were about halfway done circling the empire, she got another idea.

“But Ah am sure ya got some great talents!” she spoke out.

“Yeah… very great…” the light amber stallion responded, then sighed. “The only thing I am really good at is losing things.”

“But what about yer cutie mark? That’s gotta mean something. What’s your special talent?” Applejack wanted to know.

“Well, I am decent at fitting horseshoes. Never managed to keep a job as blacksmith, though. Always got fired for losing things. Maybe the truth behind my cutie mark is that it’s an ironic symbol for my bad luck…” Caramel figured.

At least she got him to speak more than a sentence now. This poor guy was suffering from pretty low self-esteem. No wonder, considering just how unlucky he had been so far.

The walk kept going in silence, Applejack’s head nearly smoking over trying to bring up topics he might respond to. As they nearly finished circling the empire, Applejack decided to buy some more time by aiming to walk towards the center.

As they walked down some barely used roads, making sure there wouldn’t be any bystanders, Applejack decided that she had no choice anymore. She was going to bring up a topic which she knew would hit Caramel, but she didn’t have anything left to talk about. She just wanted to get to the core of this and help somehow.

“Caramel… What happened to Sassaflash?” she asked.

Instantly, the light amber stallion stopped walking. Applejack noticed and stopped, too. Her mouth was slightly opened and she stared at him in worry that she might have gone too far. She closely observed as he stared at the ground with the same sad expression as always. Then suddenly, he pressed his eyes shut, started sniffling and let tears wash over his face.

“They killed her! They just up right killed her!” he suddenly shouted.

Applejack immediately walked over to Caramel and embraced him. This seemed to be just what he needed, as he embraced her right back. They both remained like that for about a minute before Caramel could catch himself again.

“The BloodClaw Cult was after us,” he began to explain with teary eyes. “They said if we didn’t join them, we would be sorry. Sassa was so scared. She didn’t see any other option anymore, so she followed their request. I told her this was a very bad idea! But she only said ‘How bad could it be? At least they will leave us alone!’”

“And then?” Applejack wanted to know.

“They dragged her through the same stuff all cultists need to do. She was completely horrified and disgusted. Told me a lot about the terrible things they do. She wanted to quit again, but that was seen as blasphemy. As a punishment, they nailed her hoofs into a wooden wall, cut her belly open, pulled her organs out and let her be eaten alive by demons… I had to watch it all. They made me watch as these things tore her apart. I could hear her scream and beg me for help. But I… I couldn’t help her… I couldn’t… I just couldn’t…” Caramel continued, tears flowing freely again.

“That’s… That’s so awful. This darn cult… Ah just don’t get how they can think what they do is right,” Applejack commented and stroked him over the head. “But… Sugarcube… Nopony is blaming ya for not bein’ able to help. There was nothin’ ya could’ve done.”

“You don’t understand, Applejack! She screamed my name! She begged me to help her! And I just stood there, not able to move a muscle… I… I didn’t even try to help her…” Caramel continued, still sobbing.

“If ya would have moved as much as a muscle, ya would be dead now as well. Ya wouldn’t have had the smallest chance to even get near her. The cultists and demons would have killed ya, too,” the orange mare tried to reason.

“Perhaps it would have been better like this… Ever since this happened… My life is so meaningless now. I so often think about… killing myself so I can be with her again…” Caramel stated.

“That’s not what she would have wanted for ya. Ah am pretty sure of that,” Applejack stated.

Suddenly, the mood changed. Caramel got angry over her last statement and suddenly pushed the orange mare away from him.

“Oh yeah? What do you know about this anyway? Do you have any idea what it is like to lose somepony so dear to you in such a horrible way?” the light amber stallion shouted with a furious expression.

For a moment, Applejack was deeply shocked he dared to say this. But she caught herself before saying or doing anything wrong and managed to remind herself that he was being irrational right now and could not possibly know about all the things she had gone through. Instead of getting upset, Applejack’s expression became serious with a touch of sadness.

“Yes. Ah know exactly what that’s like,” she spoke calmly.

Caramel puffed two more times in anger, but finally her words sank in and he realized by the tone of her voice and the expression on her face that she knew what she was talking about. Then Applejack sat down on the ground and lifted her front leg.

“Ya see this?” she asked, revealing the long scar on the leg. “And this?” she asked again, pointing at the scar on her neck “And even this?” she asked once more, pointing at the scars on her chest now.

“Wh… what…” Caramel mumbled, unsure if he should ask. But Applejack was going to explain anyway.

“Ah tried to kill mahself, Sugarcube. Nearly mah entire family is dead and Ah lost a whole bunch of close friends, too. The time two years ago was hell for me and aside of me, Babs is the only member of the Apple family still left,” she spoke.

“I… I had no Idea…” Caramel stated in shock.

“It all started with a reaper called Obsidian Shards,” Applejack began to explain. “We became really close friends with him and he revealed the whole demon thing to us. He also was the one who guided mah good old Granny Smith into the afterlife when her time had come. That already was difficult for me to accept, but by far not the worst thing happenin’ to me and mah family. One day, he disappeared and turned up a couple of days later along with the dead bodies of two of mah best friends: Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Turns out Pinkie was a cannibal and tortured Rainbow. He killed both of them to punish Pinkie and end Rainbow’s suffering, since she couldn’t be saved. As if that wasn’t hard enough to handle for my friends, me and even him, we also had to find out that mah very own sister Applebloom was bein’ trained by Pinkie to eat and torture other ponies, too. So Obsidian had no choice but to kill her as well. He felt so guilty over all of this that he eventually went mad and wanted to go on a killin’ spree. We were able to stop him, but the only way we could do this was by killin’ him. That’s how Ah lost mah leg.”

“Oh my gosh…” Caramel commented.

“Then the cult came and Ah was on the front fightin’ against them. As that came out, they started targetin’ mah family to make me stop. Eventually, Ah found mah brother Big Macintosh dead in his bed, throat sliced open… He was the most important pony to me and the only bit of family Ah had left back home... That was too much for me. Ah tried to end mahself, but mah friends rescued me. Ah got to the hospital, healed up, had to rethink mah life and just as Ah was about to turn things around, we had to flee to the Crystal Empire because Blueblood got to power. Ah’ve been through things Ah wouldn’t wish mah worst enemy to go through. But despite all that, Ah still keep goin’,” Applejack finished.

“I’m… Oh my gosh… I’m so sorry. I feel so ignorant now…” Caramel apologized.

It took until now for the orange mare to realize that a tear was rolling down her cheek. She swiftly wiped it away and began to smile at the stallion in front of her again.

“It’s alright, Sugarcube. Ya couldn’t have known. All I wanna say with this is: Ya’re not alone. We’re livin’ in a time where many have to lose friends, family and lovers. Ah very well understand what’s goin’ on inside ya. The fear, the anger, the depression and desperation, the guilt, the feelin’ of bein’ stuck in a time loop where nothin’ is movin’ forward. It takes time to heal, like every injury. But give yaself a chance to let it heal. If ya wanna talk, Ah’ll be listenin’. If ya need help, Ah’ll be there. Ah swear to ya by the Apple family’s pride!” Applejack spoke, full of confidence but with tears gathering in her eyes the more she spoke, as well as her voice giving in to sadness.

Even when broken herself, Applejack kept on being the strong one who would support others. But Caramel could see that she needed just as much help as he needed, maybe even more. So he came closer and embraced the orange mare again. Resuming all this had her worn down as well, so she began to cry as he held her.

“I… I don’t even know what to say. You are pretty amazing, you know? I guess I could offer the same thing to you, too. If you ever want to talk or need help, just let me know,” Caramel offered.

“That’s nice of ya,” Applejack stated and sniffled a bit.

“Nothing compared to what you just did for me. Thank you, Applejack. Thank you for caring and for telling me all this,” the light amber stallion spoke.

“Thank ya too, Sugarcube,” the orange mare replied.

Minutes passed while they both held each other closer, looking for comfort. But eventually, they could both catch themselves. Sometimes, just crying it out can do wonders. Even though this had been a highly emotional evening, they both felt a lot better now.

“Ah guess we should go home now. We gotta be in good shape for the harvest tomorrow,” Applejack suggested.

“Yeah, I guess… Good night, Applejack. And thank you again,” Caramel agreed.

“Seeya tomorrow, Caramel,” Applejack replied.

Now, they both turned around and went separate ways, back to their homes.

Strengthening

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fMHNDhtDHftXIc5ViLitnPSiIWghnpLEb9XtWE5DO4k/edit

Once again, Twilight Sparkle shot up from a nightmare. Breathing heavily, she stared into the room with wide open eyes, soon calming down again. As the adrenalin settled, she realized how sleepy she still was and rubbed her eyes. This was starting to get far too frequent for her taste. The sun was up already, which meant that she didn’t have to try to return to sleep anymore and could get up.

“I’m starting to understand what Rainbow Dash must have gone through with her nightly visions…” she mumbled to herself.

Lately, Twilight had a lot more work to do than usual. It were not escort missions or attempts to liberate Equestria. Neither were it endeavours to get more allies. In fact, she hadn’t been able to leave the Crystal Empire for months. The reason for that was always the same. Something she could already hear from the outside. Yet again, there was loud arguing on the streets.

After swiftly going through her morning routine and taking her medication, Twilight walked out of the crystal palace. She immediately spotted the source of the noises. Several crystal guards were standing around a small brown diamond dog with a large gray sack on his shoulder, while Fluttershy, Applejack, Derpy Hooves and Rarity were standing in front of him.

“But we diamond dogs! We hunt! Is in our genes. Ponies not can expect us not to hunt!” the diamond dog tried to reason.

“Still, you cannot just... “ Rarity started, but then had to cough. “You cannot just take something that doesn’t belong to you! Even diamond dogs should know that!”

“Rarity, you really shouldn’t be out of bed right now,” Applejack spoke in worry.

“Please, Rufus. Be reasonable,” Fluttershy pleaded.

“No! Rufus will hunt! Not can stop diamond dog from being diamond dog!” Rufus refused with his front legs crossed in protest.

Twilight could only sigh. Ever since they rescued a whole city full of diamond dogs, conflicts like these had become a daily thing. No matter how much you would argue with these treasure hunters, it was not possible to prevent them from stealing gems. The purple mare gathered her nerves and started approaching.

“Oh! Hey Rufus! Look who’s coming there! That’s the pony you helped us to rescue a few years back,” Derpy stated as she spotted Twilight, waving at her.

Now the whole small crowd turned their focus over to the head of the rebellion. Twilight never met Rufus, but she knew it was a diamond dog that helped her friends in finding her when she was put under an illusion spell several years ago.

“Nice to meet you, Rufus. So you are the diamond dog responsible for me still being alive today,” she greeted.

“Rufus had deal. Rufus sniff out red-eye monsters, cursed ponies give gems! Rufus diamond dog and diamond dogs hunt gems!” the brown dog tried to explain.

“Would you even take the gems if they were your house? Would you rather sleep on a pile of gems like a dragon than have a roof over your head and a place to keep you dry and warm?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Yes! Put us in empire made of crystals is like putting puppy into empire made of dog treats. Not can help it! Is in genes!” Rufus stated, nearly shouting in anger because nopony seemed to understand him.

“You know, this can’t go on like this. We gladly helped you and your people. But if you keep stealing and destroying property, we will have to end our alliance,” Twilight tried to reason.

“We homeless! You kick us out, we be strays! Easy prey for red-eye monsters! Why ponies not understand diamond dogs? Not care to understand? We hunt! We must! Not can help it! Have to hoard all gems!” Rufus pleaded.

It was obvious that this wouldn’t go anywhere. For months, they had been trying their best to deal with these creatures, but never could find a solution. Twilight looked around and could see that the other diamond dogs did their best to fight against their instincts. They were trembling, constantly looking around, shaking their heads wildly and some even broke sweat in stress. The purple mare lowered her glance and began rubbing her chin. There must be something they could do. In the meantime, Derpy seemed to get worked up over the situation.

“Oh come on, Rufus!” she shouted. “We try our best to be open-minded. But what do you expect of us to do when you guys break down entire houses and steal from donkeys and cattle? They are our allies, your allies! We even had a few instances of diamond dogs kidnapping crystal ponies and keeping them hostage like some sort of object!”

“Crystal ponies so shiny. Body made of gems. So hard not to hunt! So hard not to see as treasure! Moving here was bad idea. All driving us crazy! But have no choice but to stay!” Rufus spoke in a nearly desperate tone.

“Hold on a minute…” Twilight suddenly stated.

“Pony have idea?” the brown diamond dog wondered.

“Perhaps. What if you just changed your perspective on the empire?” the purple mare suggested.

“Change perspective? How mean?” Rufus wanted to know.

“Ok, look at this this way: The Crystal Empire is your new home, yes? In a way, it is a lot like a diamond dog city. There are houses, there is food, there are other diamond dogs. You can even see the sky as the ceiling above you! Well, if you live in a city full of gems, what sense does it make to gather them? Every gem that is here is already hoarded by you! So if you take gems and hoard them at your place, that’s just like moving them from one part of your treasure chamber to another. Makes very little sense, right?” Twilight wondered.

“Y… Yes… Not make sense to move gems… Empire is treasure chamber… All already here…” Rufus mumbled, then suddenly his eyes shot wide open in enlightenment and he let his sack drop to the ground. “Empire is hoarded treasure!”

“Yes, exactly! The empire is your treasure! You shouldn’t waste your energy on moving things around, but rather protect your treasure!” the purple mare suggested in excitement as she realized her plan was working.

“Empire is diamond dog treasure! Must guard! No Red-eye or bad pony take a single piece! Must tell other diamond dogs! Let go! Let Rufus go! Must tell!” Rufus requested.

“Sure! Go right ahead!” Twilight agreed with a smile, then made a small gesture to tell the guards to let him go.

As soon as the first guard moved out of the way, Rufus began to run, not even thinking about the sack he left behind. Not only did he voluntarily give up his stolen goods, but he also seemed to be extremely happy right now, as he was running with a huge smile on his face and his tongue hanging out of the side. The guards just picked up the sack and walked away, aiming to give the goods back to their respective owners. But the others stared at Twilight with open mouths.

“Well Ah’ll be damned, Twilight! That was down-right ingenious of you!” Applejack congratulated.

“We have been struggling with them for months… So many months without any progress… And now, all the sudden, the problems are gone! Just like that!” Rarity spoke in disbelief, then blew her nose with a silky tissue.

“Looks like I still got my brilliant moments sometimes,” Twilight spoke proudly and posed with her left front leg lifted.

“If only Crystal could have seen this…” Fluttershy stated suddenly.

Right after saying this, the mood changed. Twilight stopped posing and all lowered their heads to mourn. After a couple of seconds of silence, the purple mare sighed again.

“Well… we have to carry on. It is a real problem that her protective blizzard is gone, too. But we need to manage without her somehow,” she spoke.

“Oh!” Derpy suddenly started, “Sorry for changing the topic like that, but I just remembered something! We got a message from Saddle Arabia!”

“Wow, really? What do they say?” Twilight wondered.

“We haven’t opened the scroll yet. I think we should all meet up for that. Could be important and we don’t want any potential spies around here to know,” the gray mare suggested.

“Alright. How about in an hour?” the purple mare suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Applejack agreed, followed by the others nodding.

“Tell the princesses and my brother about it. I gotta make sure the diamond dog problem really resolves itself,” Twilight stated and began to walk away.

---

As always, the circle gathered up in the meeting hall of the crystal palace. Within just this hour, the idea Twilight sparked in the heads of the diamond dogs spread around like wildfire. They instantly started patrolling around the empire, fiercely guarding it against any possible enemy. Also, since they are extremely sensitive towards any shockwaves in the ground, they began to dig holes around the empire, hiding in them and using them like inverted watch towers as an early warning system. This might not be as effective as a blizzard shield, but definitely would make it much harder for cultists and demons to approach. Needless to say, Twilight received a lot of recognition, causing her to blush. But there were more pressing matters at hand, so she quickly changed the topic.

“Anyway, let’s get to the scroll. As you probably know by now, we received a message from Saddle Arabia. I am very curious as to what they want,” she stated.

After exchanging a swift glance, Derpy nodded and pulled the scroll out of her cloak. She broke the seal, unrolled it and began to read out loud.

“Out of safety precautions, we will not call out any names in this message. We heard of both your endeavours and great accomplishments. We, too, are being threatened by a common enemy. We would like to invite you in our kingdom… That’s all there is,” she stated.

“They must be very scared if they are so careful about how much and what they say…” Fluttershy figured.

“Still, these are excellent news!” Luna spoke, getting up and placing her front hooves on the table. “This very much sounds like they wish to discuss the terms for an alliance! We should respond to their invitation immediately!”

“It is nice to see you so eager, my sister,” Celestia commented with a smile.

“Eager maybe, but she is right. Isn’t this exactly what we had been waiting for?” Cadence wondered.

“It sure is, but Saddle Arabia is pretty far away from here. Even if we find a quick way to travel, we will be gone for almost a month. We can’t all be gone for such a long time in case decisions need to be made for the rebellion. Some of us need to stay behind and make sure things keep running smoothly,” Shining Armor explained.

“Well, ya can count me in for that. Spring Sapling’s crystal berry farm would break down without me,” Applejack stated with a mild snicker. “And Ah bet ya’ll stay here, too. Right, Rarity?”

“You know what? I am done with laying in bed all the time! I don’t care if I am sneezing and coughing. I will join in!” Rarity spoke in protest.

“This really isn’t a good idea. You have been sick for ages now and it is not getting better. The only place you should go is to the hospital,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Pish-posh! If I have to spend one more day solely laying in a bed and doing nothing at all, I might as well fall under Maledictum Insania! And although I do believe the doctors here in the empire are quite well trained, nothing they give me really works. I think all I need is getting away from the cold for a while. What better place would there be to go for that than a desert land?” Rarity asked.

“Are you sure you can handle yourself?” Celestia wondered.

“I certainly won’t be able to do everything, but at least for the journey, I am sure I will be able to keep up with you all!” the white mare spoke confidently. “Please, Twilight! I need to help!”

“Alright… But we better bring a cart this time. I am pretty sure you will need a break every now and then. And don’t forget your medicine,” Twilight agreed.

“Well if she is joining in, who will stay behind and help Applejack with the rebellion?” Cadence wondered.

“Ugh…” Derpy spoke and lowered her head a bit in frustration. “Okay, okay. I will stay.”

“Maybe I should stay, too…” Fluttershy suggested.

“No. We definitely should have at least one reaper on this journey. And…” Twilight began, then gained a worried expression. “In all honesty… Sorry if this comes across as a bit harsh, but… You really could use some more distraction…”

“Nothing is going to make me forget Obsidian, you know…” Fluttershy replied, then lowered her focus to the heart pin on her cloak.

“Nopony ever said you should forget him, Fluttershy,” Celestia spoke while getting up and placing a front hoof on the yellow mare’s shoulder. “Honor his memory, but don’t let his tragedy consume you.”

Fluttershy kept staring at the pin and gently caressed it. For a moment, she was considering to respond to this statement, saying that Celestia doesn’t know what she is going through. But if there is anypony in the entire world who truly is familiar with losing friends, it is the former demi-goddess of the sun. She had lived through so many generations, watched so many ponies grow old and die. A thought that made Fluttershy think of herself as bad and selfish.

“I’m sorry…” she finally spoke.

“Don’t be, darling. We all feel for you. First you lose your beloved one, then your mentor… But we need to make their deaths, and by that also the deaths of everypony else who died so far, mean something,” Rarity stated.

Finally, Fluttershy lifted her head again and nodded in agreement.

“I guess we are done then. Pack your things, everypony. Make sure you bring a lot of food and water supplies and some tools to gather and clean more food and water on the way. We will be leaving in two days,” Twilight concluded.

---

To avoid as many conflicts as possible, the group decided to wander during the night. In order to get to Saddle Arabia, they would have to get to the entirely opposite end of Equestria, which meant they had two major options: Either taking the shortest route, which meant going straight through the land, or taking a massive detour and wander along the borders.

Their decision ended up with being the latter option. This might reduce the chances of them encountering cultists or demons a lot, but also would take a good bit more than the predicted month of traveling. But luckily, Fluttershy still had a very good connection with the wildlife in Equestria. With the help of the nocturnal animals, they would often get warned if danger was ahead and the animals would even provide distractions, allowing them to slip by unseen. Like this, they had been sneaking from forest to forest, from crop field to crop field for days, constantly remaining hidden. It was difficult for most of them to try and adapt a nocturnal lifestyle for the journey and sleep during the bright daytime. But Luna could provide some good advice to the others to make it all easier.

“Alright, we should be close to the western ocean,” Twilight whispered while checking her map.

At that moment, Rarity had a flashback that caused her to giggle a bit, catching the attention of the others.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked, as she felt that this was aimed towards her statement.

“Do you remember that time when a dragon was hibernating up in a mountain not far from Ponyville?” the white mare wondered.

“Oh, how could I ever forget that one,” Twilight responded.

“What you just said reminded me of our adventure back then. You checking the map, Rainbow Dash commenting that she is not sure if bringing Fluttershy along would be a good idea because she was so easily scared back then. Well, now look at her! If I hadn’t started giggling, I am sure one of you would have made a comment like: ‘Are we glad we brought Fluttershy along with us. Her skills with animals are so useful!’. Thinking that our opinion of you, darling, flipped around entirely is what made this so funny to me,” Rarity explained.

Fluttershy did not respond, but she lightly turned her head away. If she could still feel, Rarity was pretty sure she would be blushing. Now that Twilight thought about it, she began to giggle as well.

“You know, this really is kind of funny!” she commented.

The others remained silent and just smiled a bit. Especially Celestia was happy to see that, even though they had been through so many bad things, they were still a very cheerful little group of friends. But soon after, the smile vanished from her face and she lowered her head again, sinking back into thoughts. Now silent again, the group kept walking until Fluttershy heard an owl scream not far from them.

“Stop,” she requested and reached out her right front leg to halt the entire group.

The others couldn’t understand the language of animals, but they didn’t need to. They already knew this would mean trouble. Had they been spotted? Were they too loud? Staying as quiet as possible, they all got into battle stance and Fluttershy summoned her scythe.

Another nocturnal animal squealed nearby. The sound of moving grass could be heard from the left and right. Then suddenly, a cultist rushed out and aimed straight for Celestia.

The white fallen alicorn could disarm her enemy with a quick spell, but he swiftly drew a sword out from underneath his cultist robe and let it float in the air by magic. Not even a second later, twenty more heavily armed and armored cultists came jumping out of their covers and attacked the group.

Seeing as they already lost a dear friend a while ago, Twilight did not want to take any chances. She enveloped the whole group in an arcane shield and prepared one of her by now trademark explosions. But it quickly turned out to not be required, as other creatures charged down from the sky and attacked the aggressors moments later.

The battle lasted only for about a minute. Although trained in the arts of close combat, the cultists did not stand a chance. They were facing an enemy of military-grade skills, wielding sharp, aerodynamic spears and light but strong armor. Those who realized this quick enough fled and got away with their lives.

“There you are! I have to say, you guys are pretty hard to find,” one of their saviors spoke, then stepped into the moonlight.

At the sight of the griffon, Twilight let the force field disappear again and stepped closer to offer him her hoof.

“Unexpected support, but very welcome. You have my thanks,” she spoke.

“The pleasure is mine,” the griffon spoke, shaking Twilight’s hoof. “My name is Gabriel. I am commander-in-chief of the second military division of the Griffon Empire. We are currently in war with King Blueblood and as we heard that there is a resistance fighting against him as well, we decided that the enemy of our enemy is our friend. We arrived in the Crystal Empire about a week after you left and with the help of your friends, we established an alliance. We then chose to look for you and assist you in your journey to Saddle Arabia.”

“Excellent! It is really good to hear that the word is starting to reach other kingdoms and I am very honored you chose to join our cause. Thank you for your generous offer! I hope you do not mind traveling during the night, but this is the safest way to get around,” Twilight stated.

“The griffons have a very large and well-trained military. We will be fine. So by all means, please lead the way!” Gabriel spoke.

This certainly took an unexpected turn. Twilight had been hoping for any form of contact from other kingdoms for months and now, it seemed like they were all starting to come to them. This was exactly what she wanted, so she could not have been happier at that moment. With the help of their reinforcements, they all could risk to wander a bit faster, cutting off several days from their journey.

Colors of Dawn and Dusk

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yUF4-pA05eAJaCWEzOKhtpoLWPYkImhosMOdvajb43k/edit?usp=sharing

Endless sand sparkling in the sunlight. A breeze of heat washing over their faces. Widely scattered exotic trees and bushes. Occasional small rivers and oases around which the wildlife blooms. In a sense, Saddle Arabia was like another world. A place that could be beautiful if you were willing to live with the harsh climate. While boiling hot during the day, it got so cold at night that the keepers of harmony sometimes thought they were back at the Crystal Empire.

Just as predicted, Rarity had trouble keeping up with the others and frequently needed to take a break in the cart while one of the griffon soldiers pulled it. But it seemed like she was right. Her coughing and sneezing had reduced a lot and it seemed like she was finally starting to get better.

The group had been traveling for almost two months now, but at least they had relatively few dangerous encounters on their way. The closer they came to the border of Equestria, the less demons and cultists were left around. But now that they were deep in the land, their problems had changed. Their need for water had increased dramatically and the creatures in the tundras and deserts were dangerous, not to mention foreign to Fluttershy. Most of the time, she could handle them and convince them to leave the group alone. But especially the monsters were too hard for even her to understand, leaving them no other option but to fight and kill them.

One would like to imagine that in a land that lacked mountains, where dunes were the highest the landscape had to offer and the horizon was constantly in plain sight, it would be easy to find your way around. But the opposite was the fact. The whole group lost orientation a few times and wandered from settlement to settlement, trying to find the capital of the land. Two whole weeks passed like this before they finally met a caravan by sheer coincidence, heading to their goal and willing to let the group join up.

The ponies of Saddle Arabia were so unlike the ones in Equestria. There were no pegasi or unicorns among them and all had a nearly alicorn-like size and body shape. Twilight theorized that this was due to adaptation to the harsh environment. At the very least, they were so used to the heat that even during the hottest times of the day, none of them were even sweating. The ponies on the other hand were suffering enormously from the heat and intense sunlight, although it seemed like at least Celestia could cope with the latter very well. Regardless, all including the griffons were very relieved when they finally saw the large walls of Baleg.

From the outside, the capital wasn’t easy to spot, even when nearby. The sandstone walls looked nearly identical to the rest of the desert it was located in. One had to look very carefully, otherwise you could mistake it for just another large dune. Maybe this was a disguise on purpose, the griffons figured. That would not only explain why they had so much trouble finding this city, but also the reason why the arabian ponies were still able to defend themselves against Blueblood and his army. For now at least. The letter they sent made it pretty clear that they badly needed support.

“Halt! Identify yourselves!” a guard shouted down from atop a tower at the front gate.

“I am Twilight Sparkle, leader of the rebellion against Blueblood. These are the members of the circle and some of my allies. We are here to answer to your request,” Twilight called back.

Instantly, the expression on the guard’s face changed into astonishment. He swiftly gave the signal to open the gate and started running down the stairs to meet the group. Once he arrived, the gate was open just wide enough for them to pass through individually and the guard bowed down before them.

“The sultan and his wife await. Please allow me to guide you,” he spoke.

With a small nod, the group agreed. Although none of them said a word, it seemed like the guards were very tense and hope the group would enter as quickly as possible. Shining Armor, being the last to step inside the city, could barely move his tail aside in time to prevent it from getting stuck in the quickly closing gate.

While unsuspicious on the outside, Baleg was a wonderous place on the inside. Colorful oriental decor was adorning all the walls and streets. The spherical, pointy roofs had beautiful patterns of differently colored tiles in them. Right next to them were the first stalls, offering dates, figs, herbs, tea and silk. The arabian ponies themselves wore a lot of colorful but light clothing in a very traditional oriental style. A sight that marveled Rarity more than anypony else. Up in the sky, an occasional wizard pony was flying by on an enchanted carpet. Again an impression that made them believe they crossed the border to another world.

But despite all the wonders and beauty, the atmosphere in the city was less than comforting. It was silent. Next to nopony was on the streets and those who did dare to go outside seemed very cautious and scared. It was utter fear filling the whole city. Perhaps they were just recently attacked by the BloodClaw Cult or at the very least they were being threatened by them.

Before any of them could think about this any further, another wonderous sight presented itself to them. The palace of the sultan was an enormous symmetrical building of white stone and golden roofs that could even rival Canterlot Castle in size. Long rectangular but shallow pits were cut in the white stone ground and filled with water, streaming in and out through aqueducts. The water seemed to be clean and to public access, as a few citizens could be seen either drinking out of them or filling crocks. Nearby, where the ground would still be moistened from the artificial rivers, perfectly symmetrical palm trees and flower bushes were growing. A very wide staircase lead between several columns and finally up to another massive door, adorned with gold. After parking the cart at the bottom, Fluttershy helped Rarity out of the cart and supported her on the way up the stairs. Upon seeing the gatekeeper approach with a group of equestrian ponies, the palace guards began to open the path and revealed a long and heavily decorated throne hall. Though the griffons stood behind. Weapons were not allowed inside the palace and since this was a meeting only between leaders, Gabriel decided to remain outside and join the palace guards on their duty for the duration of the meeting.

The hoof steps of the circle members echoed in the massive hall. At its very end were two empty thrones. As they arrived just in front of them, a couple of servants appeared and started placing pillows on the ground.

“The sultan will arrive shortly. Please make yourselves comfortable in the meantime,” one of the servants stated. “May we bring you something to recover from the exhausting journey? Some tea perhaps? Or a meal?”

“Both would be nice. Thank you very much,” Luna stated.

The servants bowed down and backed away several steps before turning around and hastily walking to the kitchen. Finally, Twilight let out a sigh.

“At least it is a bit cooler in here. Oh my gosh. I had no idea what I was getting myself into by coming here. I read so much about Saddle Arabia, its culture and its climate. But I would have never expected it to be that hot!” she stated.

“I’m just glad we are finally here,” Shining Armor commented.

“And I am starving, I tell you,” Rarity added.

“Mistress. How are you doing?” Fluttershy wondered, looking at Celestia and bowing down before her.

“Quite alright. Thank you, Fluttershy,” the white mare replied with a gentle smile.

The minutes passed by as the whole group gathered their strength. To their surprise, the servants returned much sooner than expected, carrying small tables and trays with tea pots and cups, rice, curry sauce, mixed vegetables, seasoned lentils, flower salad and flatbread. Most of this was foreign to Twilight, but she was more than happy to try it.

“Thank you,” she spoke in behalf of the group and started eating.

The food was surprisingly spicy. She would have imagined that when it was so hot all the time, food would be milder. But as a matter of fact, some of it was even a bit hot. Especially the fact that they served hot tea was confusing to the purple mare. Yet, it seemed like the servants put their efforts in adjusting the recipes to tone them down a bit, so it would still be enjoyable for those not used to these spices.

But soon, Twilight began to notice something paradox. The heat filling her on the inside made the air around her feel more pleasant. After looking at the others, they seemed to be feeling the same way. It seemed like this was one of the secrets how the arabian ponies could endure the heat of the desert. Again, minutes passed while the group was eating and drinking. The servants immediately walked back to the kitchen whenever a teapot was emptied in order to refill. Like this, they all could easily quench their thirst and fill their stomachs.

All except of Fluttershy. She had been unable to consume flesh and blood for weeks, thus she would not dare to touch regular food. The last thing she wanted was to snap due to being unable to provide the demons inside her what they desire. After all, she still remembered the story Applejack told her when Obsidian first visited her at Sweet Apple Acres and she gave him a slice of apple pie. So instead, she just secretly bit her left front leg and began to lick up her own blood, hoping this would be enough for the moment.

Being so busy with the food and tea, it seemed like no time at all had passed when the sultan and his wife entered. To show their respect, the group stopped eating and bowed down to them.

“By all means, do not let me interrupt you. I can only imagine the troubles you must have undertaken to get here,” the sultan spoke, then bowed down himself. “If anypony has to be respectful, it would be me. I am very grateful you responded to my invitation.”

“If that is the case, how about we meet each other as equal?” Twilight suggested with a friendly smile. “I am Twilight Sparkle, leader of the rebellion.”

“You are honoring us, Lady Sparkle,” the female arabian pony replied and bowed down as well. “I am Jinan, wife of Sultan Asim. If I may ask, who are the others following you?”

“We are members of the leadership circle. I am Rarity,” the fashion diva started.

“I am the reaper Fluttershy. Guardian of the circle,” Fluttershy continued.

“I am Shining Armor. Prince of the Crystal Empire, “ Shining Armor spoke.

“And we are Cadence, Luna and Celestia,” Celestia spoke, looking at each one of them while saying their name and pointing her front hoof at herself when saying her own name.

“W-Wait… The Celestia? Princess Celestia?” Sultan Asim wondered in shock.

“Not princess anymore…” the fallen alicorn replied.

“As King Blueblood took over Equestria, he robbed us of our powers and immortality, which is why we look like this now,” Luna explained.

“By the creator… I apologize for not having recognized you sooner. Quite honestly, I am deeply shocked to see you like this,” Asim commented.

“Apologies for asking so bluntly, but this has me worried. Do we now need to be afraid you might die soon?” Jinan wanted to know.

“Not any more than anypony else,” Cadence started. “We age normally, so we still should have many years left. That of course changes once we defeat Blueblood and get our powers back.”

“You seem so confident you will win,” the sultan commented.

“Because we will. No matter what it takes, we will take down Blueblood and return Equestria and the entire world to what it used to be,” Twilight stated, very sure of herself.

“Are you actually sure you can simply return to immortality like that?” Jinan wondered.

“Yes. If Blueblood truly became immortal through our powers, it seems very likely this will work for us again as well,” Luna explained.

“But even in the case it wouldn’t work, we are willing to take that possibility. Such power must not remain in the hooves of corruption. To be honest, the idea of outliving my husband Shining Armor had me terrified for a long time. But now, even if we fail at becoming demi-goddesses again, I will at least not have to fear about this anymore. So no matter how you turn it, there are always positive aspects to be found,” Cadence added.

Shining Armor seemed to be touched by her words. They both smiled at each other and shared a short kiss, causing Jinan to sigh a little. This was a strong and assertive message, not to mention romantic in a blissful yet tragic way.

“A love like that may last through death and beyond. You two are meant for each other, I can feel it,” Jinan commented.

“We are convinced of your devotion to your cause. But what about others? How strong are your alliances?” Asim wanted to know.

“Oh, we have quite a few by now. At this very moment, Cows, donkeys, diamond dogs, griffons and of course crystal ponies are roaming through the Crystal Empire, ready to fight and support you,” Twilight responded.

“Impressive. You see, my subjects are constantly living in fear of a possible attack. We have been threatened and the attack can happen any moment. Do you have some advice as to how we can guard ourselves better against the cultists and demons?” the sultan requested.

“An early detection system would be useful. Back home, we have diamond dogs feeling the vibrations in the ground to notice if any creature approaches the empire. But seeing as your people can use magic, you could try it that way,” Fluttershy suggested.

“I fear you overestimate our magic abilities,” Jinan started. “Seeing as we are of earth pony descent, we lack horns and thus can not use magic directly as unicorns can. We have to rely on staffs and other enchanted items. Even then, far not everypony is capable of magic. I would say that our court wizard Djin is the most talented magician in the entirety of my kingdom. But even his abilities are limited, as he is more a scholar than a great sorcerer.”

“In that case, we will do our best to get more diamond dog allies and request them to protect your cities. I am also certain that the griffons are willing to spare an army, seeing as they are so far successfully fighting back the BloodClaw Cult on their own,” Shining Armor assured.

Now, both the sultan and his wife began to smile happily.

“Your words and promises are very reassuring. I fear, though, that our contribution to the rebellion might be rather small. We lack a strong military presence and hold no magical artifacts worth mentioning. We also can not offer many goods, as we need most for ourselves to survive. Some money, a few spices and magical ingredients maybe,” Asim explained.

“That is okay. We want to protect, not to gain profit. I also think that your kingdom will get stronger with our support, making it easier for you to help us in return,” Twilight stated.

“With all the terror going on these days, it is good to hear of such good-hearted ponies as you, who fight for hope and a better future,” Jinan commented.

“It seems we have a mutual agreement,” the sultan stated happily. “In behalf of my subjects, I would like to request an alliance with the rebellion.”

“You are most welcome, Sultan Asim,” Twilight accepted instantly, smiling widely.

A moment of happy silence filled the hall. Another success for the purple mare. Another step closer to her goal of returning the world to harmony. Who knows, maybe by uniting so many species in an alliance, she will even find a way to defeat Nightmare Moon.

“It appears you are done with your meals. Is there anything else we can offer you?” Asim wanted to know.

“If it is not too much trouble… Could you recommend me a good doctor around here?” Rarity requested. “I have been sick for a while now and back in the Crystal Empire, none were able to help me.

“The court doctor shall take care of you. We will do our best to send you home healthy again,” Jinan offered.

“Oh my stars. The doctor of royalty! Why thank you most kindly!” the white mare spoke.

“I think we’re are done then,” Twilight started. “We will be staying one or two days more to restock for the journey home and to make some arrangements.”

“Please feel free to use the guest rooms of the palace during your stay,” Asim offered.

“Thank you very much for your hospitality,” Shining Armor thanked and got up.

The servants had been waiting for a signal nearby the whole time. As they saw the guests getting up, they quickly cleaned up and offered guidance through the palace. The others were already gone, Asim and Jinan just about to leave as well when Twilight suddenly turned around and approached them again.

“Excuse me, but where can I find your court wizard?” she wanted to know.

“Oh, he is currently not in Baleg. He will return this evening. His study tower is located on the eastern wing. One of the servants will guide you to him,” Asim explained.

“Thank you,” Twilight spoke, then turned back around and joined the others.

---

It was evening now and as promised, Djin the scholar was at the top of his tower, which consisted solely of a balcony. Climbing up a tower filled with books and magical devices gave her a sense of nostalgia. It was so many years ago when Twilight was a magic student herself and she spent so many hours learning and researching in her tower back in Canterlot, she couldn’t even begin to guess. While walking past all these books, she discovered a surprisingly high amount of familiar titles. Many of these were her own study material. But there also were a lot of strange and obscure topics laying about. Twilight didn’t have the time to read more than just a few words of individual pages as she walked by, but it was enough information for her to conclude that it seemed like Djin had been trying to figure out where demons come from and what they actually are. Something she would gladly help explaining him, if she only could. All she could give out would be a fraction of the truth, since the curse of secrets still blocked her from telling everything she knew. This just would not do and wasn’t the reason she wanted to meet him anyway, so she already decided to not discuss that topic. At last, they reached the top.

“Master Djin, here is a young mare who wishes to speak with you,” the servant spoke.

Djin was a surprisingly young puce stallion in a traditional green and cyan sage robe, seemingly meditating in the middle of the balcony. He did not even open his eyes as he responded.

“Thank you. You may leave now,” he spoke.

Again, the servant bowed down and walked a few steps backwards before turning around and hastily leaving. Twilight, on the other side, slowly approached.

“Looks like I am not so unusual for getting very far in magic training at young age after all,” she spoke and halted before him. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you.”

“Ah. I have heard a lot about you. The legendary keeper of magic. It is an honor to get to meet you,” the stallion spoke, still not opening his eyes. “As you may know by now, I am Djin. Court wizard of the sultan of Saddle Arabia. What can I do for you?”

“I am still continuing my magic studies and I am always eager to hear the thoughts of great scholars. Seeing as you are still pretty young for a court wizard is quite astonishing. I myself never managed to complete my official magic training,” the purple mare explained.

“In other words, you wish to hear some words of wisdom. I can not say that I have had anypony other than the sultan asking me for such advice before, but I will try my best. But where to begin and what to talk about?” Djin wondered.

“Hm… I don’t know… Let me think of something,” Twilight stated.

For a few seconds, Twilight sunk into thoughts, but she quickly got distracted as the colors of the sunset started to unfold and began to stare into the distance.

“Oh my. I must say, the sunsets are beautiful here in the desert. I have never seen anything like this before,” she commented.

This made Djin chuckle a bit, catching Twilight’s attention.

“I wished I could say the same. But as a matter of fact, I have never seen anything in my life before,” he stated.

“Huh? What do you mean? Are you implying that… um... “ the purple mare spoke in confusion.

“Yes, indeed,” Djin confirmed her suspicion and finally opened his eyes. “I am blind since birth.”

Twilight couldn’t hold back a little gasp, but out of two reasons which had nothing to do with disrespect. She had seen blind ponies before, but his eyes were pretty remarkable. They were of an intense silvery gray, almost as if they weren’t organic at all.

“Oh wow. You may not be able to see with them, but you have very beautiful eyes,” she commented.

“You think so? Why thank you most kindly,” Djin replied, smiling a bit.

The other thing that astonished Twilight was the fact what she had just seen a minute ago, one staircase down.

“But how are you able to read books that aren’t written in braille?” she wondered.

“Learning that was the key to my success. At young age, I developed a spell that copied the information out of a book and drew it directly into my head. I can not take credit for it, though, as I got the idea while reading about Starswirl The Bearded and his work in a rare braille edition. It was said there that rumors had been going about that he was capable of reading the minds of other ponies through magic spells, although he was the only one who ever managed to successfully perform the spell. I just thought if it does not work on living things, perhaps it works on something that does not live. So I just took the spell and modified it until it fit,” the scholar explained.

“That is amazing! Oh my gosh, I can only imagine how useful that is! Whole chapters, absorbed into your brain within seconds! All the books I could read that way within just a single day!” Twilight stated, highly excited.

“Hm. You must like reading a lot. I can not say I met anypony before who got so excited about this,” Djin figured, closing his eyes again.

“Oh yes, I do! When I was young, I used to read up to three books simultaneously!” the purple mare explained.

This really seemed to amuse Djin. He could hardly suppress a laughter and needed a moment to catch himself.

“Well in that case, would you like me to teach you that spell?” the stallion offered.

“Would I?! Yes, of course!” Twilight happily accepted, nearly shouting in excitement.

“Then would you be so good as to quickly fetch me a book that catches your interest?” Djin requested.

Instantly, Twilight turned around and ran down the stairs. She picked up the first best book about magic theories she could find and placed it in front of him. Djin now hid his mouth underneath his robe and pulled some sort of silvery glove with arcane symbols out of it and put it over his left front hoof.

“Will I need that, too?” Twilight wondered.

“No, no. This is just a medium that allows me to cast the spell. Since you are presumably a unicorn, you can just cast it straight from your mind,” Djin explained.

Twilight watched closely as he placed the covered hoof on the book, a magic aura forming around both. Then the book began to levitate into the air, opened, rapidly flipped through all its pages and closed again. After that he let it land on the ground again.

“That’s it? Wow that was fast!” the purple mare commented.

“Indeed, it is very useful,” Djin agreed, then let the book float over to Twilight. “I also quickly noted down the spell on the first blank page of the book. Have a look at it, then I will tell you how to use it.”

Twilight didn’t need to be told that twice. She used her magic to take over control of the floating book, quickly opened it and read through the magic formula and connecting text.

“Done!” she announced.

“Okay. Now close your eyes and try to establish a mental connection to the book. You have to feel as it floats in front of you. It must be precise enough that I could technically spin you around and you would still immediately be able to walk back to the book and touch it on first try, all while your eyes remain closed,” the scholar explained.

Luckily, Twilight had been practising this before. A quick flashback to the early days when Obsidian first came to Ponyville came to her mind, how he taught her several spells and how to make the most out of her magic. She tested herself by walking in circle three times with her eyes closed, then tried to touch the book. She could pull it off instantly.

“Done!” she announced again happily.

“Oh, impressive!” Djin commented. “Now open the book and flip through all pages while casting the spell in the back of your mind. Your levitation spell will act as an extension to your mind, eidetically memorizing each page in the fraction of a second. Then the spell returns to you, allowing all the knowledge to enter your head.”

That was a bit of an adept trick to pull off, but Twilight could manage it. As she finished casting the spell, her eyes suddenly went wide open and she let the book drop on the ground. Slowly a huge smile grew on her face, followed by her hoofing it in place in excitement.

“This is unbelievable! I just learned everything about Gazer’s First Theory of Magic-to-Matter Spells using Symmetrical Patterns! My gosh! This guy was a genious when it came to turning gathered magical energy into solids! But I have to say, I don’t quite agree with his attempts to explain how to turn them into non-reactive liquids. He completely disregarded the fact that on an atomic level, liquids are… Oh, sorry. I got carried away,” Twilight babbled.

“It is fine. I still remember how overwhelmed I was the first time I successfully pulled this spell off,” Djin replied.

Again, Twilight smiled and stared back into the distance, watching the sun set while she processed all the things she just learned.

“Quite a train of thought we went through there. Starting from the sunset, we went to your eyes, to reading regular books while blind, to teaching me the spell how you do it,” she commented.

“You know, I may not be able to see the sunset, but I can feel it. Just like I can feel it when the sun rises in the morning. Sometimes, it even wakes me up,” Djin responded.

“Huh? Really? You can feel that? Oh, I guess it is the difference in temperature. I heard that when you lack one sense, your others become sharper,” Twilight figured.

“No, not at all. You see, I have no idea what the color orange looks like. But I know for a fact that there is a stripe of orange in the sky over there,” the scholar spoke, pointing at a specific point in the evening sky to his right.

Twilight’s mouth fell open in astonishment. He got that one right. There was no way he could have known this part was orange at this precise moment. Just a minute before, it was yellow. A minute later, it would be green.

“How did you know that?” she wanted to know.

“What many don’t know is that aside of hearing, smelling, feeling, seeing, tasting and balance, magic-wielders have a seventh sense. To us, casting spells comes so naturally that a lot don’t even think about it. In fact, so few know about this that it is hardly researched and just called the magic sense. You are a very talented magic-wielder yourself. Just close your eyes and try to feel it for a moment. Now that it is dusk, you have the best possible conditions to notice the seventh. Concentrate very closely on what your head tells you, then you will notice your magic sense respond,” Djin explained.

Again, Twilight closed her eyes. For a while, she had no idea what he was talking about. She could not feel anything, or whatever was supposed to happen. She tried harder and harder, until it crossed her mind that she may be trying too hard. This was supposed to be a very natural sense. The less force she put into it, the easier it would come, she figured. Indeed, just as she relaxed, she started noticing something moments later.

“I think I… feel it? I don’t know how to describe this sensation. There is some sort of tingling in the top left side of my forehead, although it is not really a tingling either. Gee, I have no words for this,” Twilight stated.

“Ah, yes. That is the magic sense. You wanted some words of wisdom from me, so my wisdom would be to make good use of the spell I taught you and to practise your magic sense. It can become very useful when having control over it,” the stallion advised.

“Now that I think about it, I had this sensation a few times before. Back then I used to describe it as being able to feel the magic around me. I could even sometimes feel when there was a disturbance in the magic,” the purple mare commented.

“You must already be very sensitive towards magic if you can do that,” Djin figured.

“But there is something I don’t understand. What do dusk and dawn have to do with the magic sense?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Think about it for a moment. Can’t you answer that question yourself? You as a pony from Equestria should be able to come up with the solution much sooner than others,” the stallion spoke.

Twilight began to rub her chin in thought. After a few moments, she looked at Djin in confusion.

“Are you implying something that has to do with my name? Sun and moon being powerful symbols of the two major forces light and darkness? Both meeting and creating some sort of reaction?” she wondered.

“You are close there. You see, this world is not made of just two major forces, but three. Magic itself is a very powerful force, but it only shows itself when it is either being called or when the other two forces meet. The colors of dawn and dusk are basically magic in its purest form,” the scholar explained.

“Arcane magic…” the purple mare analyzed in astonishment.

“Indeed. Now, is it a coincidence that your name is Twilight? Seems unlikely to me. I don’t think you were given that name just because of the way you look, assuming you have the color of twilight since ponies often name their children after the way they look. I think somepony saw a connection to magic in you from the very beginning, presumably your parents. Also, many don’t seem to get just how important magic is to this world. If it was solely for light and darkness, nothing but these two would exist. But it is magic that makes them both unite, creating everything we know. Magic is the very essence of life, the force which holds the world together. Without magic, there would be no spectacular sunset. Without magic, dragons would not be able to breathe fire. Without magic, none of us would have ever been born. We owe all of this to the third party, which always keeps itself neutral and acts as the ambassador and middleman between the two other, very contrasting forces,” Djin explained.

“Wow… that was… quite eye-opening. Unbelievable… how much you know at your age. That is just… wow,” Twilight commented.

“Just spend a few years casting the spell I taught you on whole libraries and you will get to my level pretty easily,” the stallion spoke, smiling a bit.

Once more, Twilight could only smile and watch the soon ending sunset. One more time, she closed her eyes, getting the same sensation as before again. Then finally, she realized that she was getting tired.

“Well, this was a really deep conversation. I am so glad you took the time to talk to me. I learned so much today. Thank you so much for that,” she spoke.

“Anything for a heroine like you,” Djin replied.

“Heh. Well I need to go to bed now. We need to prepare for the way back home. I hope we meet again some day. Good night,” Twilight finished.

“I hope so, too. Good night and goodbye, Lady Twilight Sparkle,” Djin spoke.

This surely was much better than the purple mare had hoped. At last, she made some real progress in her magic studies. She hoped she would find a few moments of time tomorrow to scan through the local library using her new spell. She also could not wait to get back to the Crystal Empire now. While before, it would have taken more than a lifetime to read every last book in its library, she now had a realistic chance to actually learn everything it had to offer.

---

Five days passed and the group was on its way back home to the Crystal Empire. None of them had gotten used to the heat yet and it seemed like Rarity was particularly suffering from it. She hadn’t been walking a single step on her own since yesterday and was breathing heavily. Once again, the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her and just gave her more medication.

“Rarity, are you okay?” Shining Armor wanted to know.

The white mare gave no response. She did not even look at him and just kept panting, sweat washing over her face.

“Rarity?” Twilight called in worry.

Still, their friend did not react the least bit. It was as if she didn’t even hear them. Suddenly, she began to shiver and made sounds as if she was freezing. She wanted to wrap her front legs around her chest to keep herself warm, but she couldn’t keep up the balance. As she fell on the bottom of the cart, she immediately lost consciousness.

“Rarity! Oh my gosh! Stop the cart! Rarity has a heat stroke!” Twilight shouted.

A pick-nick

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BYInfgpXtAM-o1giCQ874v0zv2rvL0fLclB5uZCyTMY/edit?usp=sharing

Bouncing left. Bouncing right. Fluttering to the broken roof and down again. Picking up everything interesting while leaving behind radiantly green trails of smoke in the air. Toxica could not be happier. Some might even argue that she is probably the happiest little demon in the world. Having spent most of her existence underground, hiding in strongholds and just waiting endlessly, it was only understandable that everything around her was new and exciting, no matter where she went. Now that Equestria belonged to the demons, she was finally free. Still, there were places she was not allowed to go, especially when Succubus’ servants were there. So while they were searching in the old castle of the royal sisters, she had to stay outside and stand guard in case any rebels might attack. As with everything, she turned this into a game she kept playing eagerly for hours.

In the meantime, Despair was inside, displaying a tense but grim expression. She knew it was very unlikely anyone would even dare to attack her. But when going after such important tasks as right now, she could not make any mistakes. So she just sat there, acting as the supervisor watching over the ponies that had fallen for Succubus’ beauty. As they were searching, their mistress kept one of her followers for herself. Without a care in the world, she lay on top of a stallion, sliding her long snake tongue down his throat and enjoying everything he could offer to her.

“Mmmh. What a nice specimen. So much vigor. You wouldn’t mind sharing any of it with your lady, wouldn’t you, honey?” Succubus requested.

The stallion was fully entranced, nearly absent-minded. With dreamy eyes and heavily blushing, he could only slowly nod, then close his eyes and present his neck. The red and black demoness did not wait long. She gave it a long lick, then slowly sank her teeth into it and began to drink. After swallowing a few times, she stopped again.

“Despair, sweetie. You really should have a taste of his blood. It is so rich and sweet,” Succubus commented, licking her lips.

“I got no time. Someone has to watch these ponies,” Despair argued.

“You worry way too much, sweetheart. When they hear my voice, they will come to me. When they see me, they will fall in love. When they smell me, they will do everything I desire. And when I kiss them, they will eternally be mine. I own every last pony here and they are quite reliable servants. None of them could ever resist me,” the demonic seducer explained.

“You are born that way, so I don’t blame you. But even when we are clearly in advantage and dominate everything, we can never allow ourselves to get lazy or cocky. Don’t forget why we are here. We must find it and we must keep it safe. This is important for everything else to work out,” Despair stated, then got up and started wandering through the old library.

Succubus just smiled and lowered her head back to the stallions neck. A few more sips followed, then she was finally done. The wound was not deep, since it was not her intention to kill the stallion. But he definitely was suffering from blood loss now. So as a small stream of blood leaked out of the wounds, she just kept licking them until they stopped bleeding before getting up.

“Very nice, sugar. Now would you be so good as to put your hazard suit back on and go outside? I bet Toxica could use a playmate,” the demoness requested.

Again, the stallion just remained silent as he got up and dizzily followed her wish. He was unable to think, but Succubus was not. She knew that she just sent him to his death. Even though the poison may not kill him, Toxica was known for being a very destructive player. At least she had been playing with so many ponies by now that her patience increased, allowing her to relish the games longer before she would utterly mangle her playmate. The idea made Succubus lift her left front leg in front of her mouth, smile and chuckle a bit.

But soon, the burning desires inside of her dominated again. One pony was never enough to satisfy her. Succubus’ lust was, as her title implied, insatiable. Craving a female body now, she just walked around the library, picking the next best mare close to Despair and started feeling her up.

“You know, what I don’t understand is why we didn’t do this any sooner. What if at some point, Celestia would have started wondering if that scroll existed and began searching for it herself?” Succubus wondered.

“We kept her so busy with the present, she could not even start to think about the past. She never found out how it all exactly began anyway. The only one who could have told her was Luna, but even she has lost her memory,” Despair stated, then began to grin sinisterly. “It is funny, really. Celestia doesn’t even understand that she was actually helping us by making sure nopony, not even her own sister, would remember the rise of our queen.”

“And still, honey,” Succubus started, then gave the mare’s left front leg a long, slow lick before continuing. “There were so many opportunities where we could have gotten the scroll earlier. Slendermane could have so easily just picked it up and disappeared with it.”

“You don’t get the point, Succubus. If we would have taken any actions on it earlier than now, we would have risked the scroll to fall in the hooves of Celestia. If not even we know where exactly it is, it would be impossible for her to ever find it. Only through us, she would have gotten it. Only now that Blueblood… Master Blueblood is in control, we can securely attempt to retrieve it. After all, Celestia never hesitated to even order attacks on our strongholds whenever it was possible. Even if we could have secured the scroll sooner, she might have sent reapers to take it away from us again. We can’t allow any of that to happen. So, it was best to show absolutely no interest in the castle ruins at all,” Despair explained.

“At least we can go here now. These old, crumbling halls have a very special feeling of dread to them. This was the birthplace of our queen. This is where it all began. No wonder the BloodClaw Cult wants to build a shrine here so badly,” Succubus commented while laying on her side and petting the mare’s head as she placed a trail of kisses on the demoness’ belly.

Soon, erotic noises were following. The servants of the demoness were very tempted to turn around and jealously observe their evil lady as she played her games with one of them. But that would mean disregarding her wishes. An absolutely impossible thing to do. Even Despair did not respond or pay any attention at all and just continued wandering around, making sure the ponies were not secretly planning anything or slacking off. She had full confidence in Succubus’ abilities, but with such an important item, she could not be careful enough. At last, another mare shouted in cheer from the other end of the library.

“I think I found it!” she announced.

Despair instantly ran over as fast as she could, almost tearing the scroll out of the mare’s hoof. Turning her front legs into claws, she carefully unrolled the scroll. A big sinister grin followed moments later.

“So that is what it looks like? Very beautiful in its own way,” Succubus commented as she approached from behind.

“Yes, this is it. Luna’s artificial pony rune. This thing is what created our queen,” Despair explained.

Moments later, a scream of agony could be heard outside of the castle ruins, followed by Toxica’s child-like giggling.

---

Around the Crystal Empire, the first signs of spring could be seen. Tiny streams created from thawing snow were running down the rocky hills and the first animals started to wake up from their hibernation. It never really gets all that warm this high up in the north. But at least for a few short months, plants could grow on the snowfree spots in the ground. Not that it would really matter for the residents of the Crystal Empire. They always had the same pleasant atmosphere due to the Ever Season. But the slowly awakening scenery around the empire inspired many to get into a more cheerful mood, welcoming the spring.

Same rule applied to Applejack and Babs Seed. Both were carrying baskets in their mouths up a hill and looking for a nice flat spot in the grass, preferably close to a tree. After just a few moments, they could find a good location, placing their baskets down there and opening them. Babs’ basket contained nothing but items. A large rug, plates and cups. Applejack’s was full of food. Mostly pastry made with crystal berries and homemade apple juice. About ten minutes after they were finished unpacking, they spotted Caramel running towards them.

“Phew… made it… Sorry for being so late,” he apologized breathlessly as soon as he arrived.

“Oh, don’t sweat it. I’m just glad you could make it!” Babs stated happily.

“Ah take Spring Sapling lectured ya again?” Applejack wondered.

“Yeah… I don’t know, but I think he has something against me,” the stallion figured.

“Or it might be because ya lost the keys to the storage barn three times in a row,” Applejack commented with a light chuckle.

“Go rub salt into the wounds, why don’t you?” Caramel spoke in a grumpy tone.

“Ya know she’s just teasin’. Come on and have a seat,” Babs invited, offering a plate with a crystal berry muffin on it.

The light brown stallion began to smile again and opened his own basket. Suddenly, his expression changed into confusion and he seemed to nearly panickly search for something. Eventually, he stopped and let out a depressed sigh.

“Sorry… Seems like I lost the pie I promised you on the way here... “ he stated.

“Aw man!” Babs commented with a mildly frustrated and disappointed expression.

“Well, good thing Ah brought extra food!” Applejack commented.

“You knew something like this would happen, didn’t you, AJ?” Caramel mumbled, feeling mildly insulted.

“Aw, come on now, Sugarcube. Ah just wanted to make sure we all get enough to eat. Don’t be all saddle-sore ‘cause of the pie. Ya know Ah just want to support ya,” Applejack stated.

“Yeah… sorry… again…” Caramel spoke meekly.

“Enough with all the awkward stuff now! Come and try some of the apple juice! We made it ourselves just before we left!” Babs invited.

At last, the light brown stallion sat down and began to eat while Babs filled his cup with some of the juice. His eyes suddenly went wide open after he took a sip to wash down the muffin.

“Wow! What’s in this stuff? It’s great!” he commented.

“Nothin’. Just apples. Good apples, that is,” Applejack replied. “Ya know, it’s pretty hard to get some decent ones around here. The merchants don’t even know the difference between a Gala and a Red Delicious. But with the right knowledge about the right types of apples, ya can make really darn good stuff out of them.”

“I have to admit that I didn’t even know that there are different types of apples. I thought apples are all just the same…” Caramel commented with an awkward smile.

“That’s no big surprise. I heard just the same about most of the city folks. They think there’s just one type of fruit or vegetable for everythin’. But there’s such a huge variety! Same goes for the crystal berries we farm, by the way! Just by lookin’ at the different bushes, ya can see that we are growing various types! The ones Ah figured out so far are Prism Pride, Tenderness, Sunshine Delight and Faintling,” Applejack explained.

“My gosh. I had no idea!” the light brown stallion replied in astonishment, causing Applejack to giggle.

“Ya should’ve seen Sapling’s face when Ah told him that Ah figured that out by mahself. Ah think he nearly became a Faintling himself, if ya know what Ah mean,” the orange mare stated, followed by all three giggling a bit.

“That reminds me of Lily Valley. Remember her? That pink earth pony mare from Ponyville who would faint every single time when she became stressed?” Caramel wondered.

“Hehe. Yeah Ah do,” Applejack replied with an awkward smile. “She once fainted because of a bunny stampede. Boy was she angry when she figured out that Ah caused it.”

“How the hay did you even do that?” Babs wanted to know.

“Well… Long story short: Ah had to harvest all of Sweet Apple Acres just at the beginnin’ of applebuck season once, because mah brother had hurt himself. Ah was too proud to ask any of mah friends for help, so Ah worked mahself to the bone. Still, Ah had to help others, Fluttershy in particular for this incident. Had no patience, since Ah just wanted to get back to work. So Ah tried to round the baby bunnies up like cows or sheep… Didn’t know bunnies don’t take that too well and would panic. So… That’s that…” the orange mare summarized.

“And here I thought I was the only one causing trouble! You can cause some serious havoc compared to me!” Caramel stated while chuckling.

“Okay Ah admit, Ah deserved that one for earlier,” Applejack replied, adjusting her hat.

“Oh man, what a story! But then again, I caused just as much trouble when I first came to Ponyville,” Babs commented, rubbing the back of her head.

“Didn’t we want to leave the awkward stuff aside and focus on the pick-nick?” Caramel wondered playfully.

Another round of giggling followed, then all three continued eating and drinking. Once they were done, they all just laid back and looked straight up into the blue sky. Barely any cloud could be seen all around.

“Ya know, Ah really do enjoy thinkin’ back to the happy times. Much has changed, that’s for sure. But with the help of good friends, ya can overcome anythin’,” Applejack commented.

“Ya do have pretty extraordinary friends, cuz. Then again, you are pretty extraordinary yourself,” Babs commented.

“Aw shucks, Babs. But truth is, Ah am very grateful Ah have such amazin’ friends. Without them, Ah don’t think Ah’d still be alive today,” the orange mare replied.

“Well, I can’t really say anything as extreme about you, but I am incredibly grateful I have you as a friend myself, Applejack. Thanks for dragging me out of that dark pit I’ve been stuck in,” Caramel added.

“It’s the least Ah could do for ya, Sugarcube. Ah’ve been through all of this mahself and in all honesty, Ah’m really glad to have ya as a friend, too,” Applejack replied.

“Hearing that means a lot to me. Really,” the light brown stallion finished.

After that, the conversation came to a halt, as all three just laid there and enjoyed the nice weather. Babs was even about to fall asleep when they suddenly heard somepony running towards them. Applejack was the first to lift her head, smiling widely as she spotted a friend she hadn’t seen in months.

“Howdy, Twilight! So glad ya’re finally back home! How did things go with the arabian ponies?” she wanted to know.

“Hi, Applejack. We got their support, but that’s not the most important thing at the moment. Rarity is doing really bad! We just brought her to the hospital,” the purple mare stated.

Instantly, Applejack jumped up in shock. Babs and Caramel, too, got up and showed expressions of worry.

“What?! Darn! Ah knew it was a bad idea to travel in her condition! Ah just knew it!” the orange mare stated while stamping on the ground, blaming herself for letting Rarity go that easily.

“I need to get back to the others. I just wanted to let you know. We will have to talk about everything later!” Twilight stated, then turned around and started running again.

Applejack was clearly nervous now. She quickly gathered her belongings and stored them back into the basket.

“Ah’m sorry, but Ah just gotta check on her! Pardon!” she mumbled with the basket in her mouth.

The others understood and just let her go. Even though they didn’t know Rarity all that well, they too were worried about Applejack’s friend. So Babs and Caramel continued the pick-nick on their own, the atmosphere now slightly less relaxed.

Reflections

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q81uugSweO1yOzTAGvJPhzJCPAr3zFqLoK9VxMSSosY/edit?usp=sharing

Ever since the rebellion started, the Pure Hearts Hospital had become one of the most important structures in the entire Crystal Empire. As time passed, more and more patients were occupying the building, to the point where additional doctors and nurses had to be hired. Eventually, the building was starting to run out of space, especially due to all the different intelligent species now fighting for the rebellion. The hospital had no option but to expand, getting permission to use the plot behind it to construct additional space to hold the injured and sick.

Things had been especially hectic in the recent months. One of the scouting groups got ambushed by the BloodClaw Cult and came back with very bad injuries. The easy-to-kill demon worshippers of the civil war age were no more. In their place, only highly trained warriors could be found. Every single member of the cult out to actively fight heretics was wearing full body steel plate armor at this point, making it extremely hard to deal any damage to them at all. Additionally, the cultists also improved their weapons. Instead of subtle daggers and knives, they were now using broadswords, halberts, spears, battle axes, longbows and crossbows. As if this selection of weapons would not be devastating enough, the cultists had a habit of imbuing their arsenal with poisons, diseases and curses. Accordingly, the wounds received by those weapons were very difficult to treat and many did not make it. But all the horrible things aside, there were also more regular cases. Several ponies had become patrons at Pure Hearts. Some just needed frequent support, others came because they had caught the flu which was wandering through the crowds. There even were a few rare cases of ponies trying to slack off by pretending to have the flu, but those were usually quickly found out and send back to their work. One who had thus far frequently been visiting the hospital but definitely was not just pretending to be sick, though, was Rarity.

This was the second time now that the entire group of Twilight Sparkle and her friends were gathering in the waiting room of a hospital. Yet, in contrast to before, the positions of Applejack and Rarity had been switched. But unlike the last time, they didn’t have to wait very long before a doctor came out of the emergency room.

“Well, I got good news and bad news,” he started, obviously dissatisfied with himself. “The good news is that she is no longer critical and will be able to walk around again by tomorrow. The bad news is… Well this is definitely not a flu, cold, heat stroke or whatever.”

“Then what is it?” Twilight wanted to know.

“She had been visiting us frequently for quite a while now, but we could never clearly identify what she has. Seeing for how long she had been struggling with her condition and the fact that none-magical medication so far only helped with the symptoms makes the likeliness very high that she is suffering from a magical disease,” the stallion explained.

“You mean like the Cutie Pox?” Fluttershy wondered.

“If it was something as simple to identify as Cutie Pox, we would have found it out by now,” the doctor stated. “We are quite professional at dealing with magical illnesses of all kind, but this is something different. It must be something very rare and exotic. We have the gathered medical and arcane knowledge of nearly two thousand years and we still could not figure out much yet. But I can assure you, we will not stop before we found a way to heal Miss Rarity.”

“Can we visit her?” Applejack requested.

“Well she is not contagious it seems. So go right ahead. She should be awake and doing much better now. I’ll show you to her room,” the doctor spoke and lead the way.

---

Just minutes later, the group found itself in a familiar position. Everyone silently sitting around and pondering. Twilight walking up and down the room with her focus lowered to the ground while thinking as hard as she could. Only Applejack prefered to take care of Rarity over joining the others. While she remained close to the bed and placed her front leg on Rarity’s shoulder, Rarity herself was enjoying a particularly juicy and sweet apple her friend had gifted to her. The white mare of course was grateful for the company, the gift and the care. Yet still, there was not a single smile in the room.

“I have read so many books… I just have to be able to come up with a solution,” Twilight mumbled while still pacing.

Rarity wanted to respond to her, giving her friend comforting thoughts. But she honestly did not know what to say. Now knowing that whatever was going on with her had to be serious, she was very worried and scared herself.

“I wonder how this started and why nopony else has got the same problem,” Fluttershy commented.

“This is something I, too, would like to know,” Rarity finally started. “Could it have been one of the cultists’ cursed blades?”

“If so, why is your disease so much different compared to the other patients in the hospital?” Cadence asked back. ”Even though the doctors could not always save those struck by a cultist’s cursed weapons, they at least could quickly identify the curse or magical disease and begin treating it.”

“Honestly… this is scary…” Rarity commented.

“If only we knew how you caught this disease. Ever since the rebellion began, you had always been accompanied by at least one of us. If you got sick by the time we were already living here in the Crystal Empire, at least one of us would have gotten it, too,” Twilight stated.

Rarity frowned and stared at her apple. If only she knew the answer to that. This sickness has been going on for such a long time. Almost as if she had gotten sick just as the rebellion…

The white mare was about to take another bite of her apple when her eyes suddenly went wide open and she stopped. Shock filled her whole body, loosening her grip on the fruit and letting it fall on the bed, which immediately caught Applejack’s attention.

“Are you alright, Sugarcube?” she wondered.

“Oh no…” was all Rarity spoke in response.

Immediately, everyone in the room focused her in worry while the fashion diva’s thoughts were racing through her head. This can’t be a coincidence. But if it’s not…

“Rarity?” Twilight called.

“Toxica. It is Toxica,” the white mare replied. “While we were fleeing from Canterlot Castle, the demons stopped me for just a moment after all of you had ran ahead. Blueblood gave a subtle order to Toxica and before I could realize what was going on, she kissed me. I… I thought he just wanted to tease me with this when he said this would be a farewell gift and payback for the incident at the Grand Galloping Gala, years ago…”

“Shoot…” was all Twilight could say in response.

“Hold on… Toxica was that poison and disease demon, right?” Applejack wondered.

“Yes… That is her…” Fluttershy replied.

“Well, that explains a lot. She must have given you something really cruel that takes a long time to develop,” Derpy stated.

“All the more reason for us to find a cure quickly,” Twilight responded.

“But where do we start?” Shining Armor wanted to know.

“Now that I think of it…” Twilight started, rubbing her chin. “The doctor said it might be something exotic and rare. Who do we know who had always been helping us with such things?”

“Twilight… Ah wouldn’t put all mah hopes on Zecora if Ah were you. We haven’t heard a word of her in ages,” Applejack commented.

“I still think we should give it at least a try. As true friends, we owe this to Rarity. It will be risky to get to Everfree Forest with all those highly armed cultists around. Even riskier would be trying to bring Zecora back to the empire, let alone the time we would waste doing so. The doctors said you should be able to walk again by tomorrow so I would suggest we bring you to Zecora as quickly as possible, Rarity,” she explained.

“Well, I certainly got nothing against that. I will ask the doctors to get me some extra medication for the way. Also I would need one of you to help me packing,” Rarity agreed.

“Ya know what, Sugarcube? I’ll do it and I’ll come with ya this time as support! It’s the least Ah can do. But Rarity: Don’t ya expect of me to pack twenty bags full of dresses, ya hear me?” Applejack spoke, jokingly near the end.

“Always up for teasing me, hm darling?” Rarity replied, gaining a sly expression. “You know I will have retaliation eventually.”

“That’s what Ah’m hopin’ for,” the orange mare replied with a wink.

“I hate to break the atmosphere like that, but something else just came to my mind,” Luna started.

“What is it?” Derpy wondered.

“Twilight Sparkle. A while back, you told us something about Despair having found Sombra’s horn and his possible revival?” the fallen alicorn questioned.

“Right, but the situation hasn’t changed. There is still no proof if what Despair said was true or not. It could be just another of her mind games, or it could be serious. That would explain the ‘strange eyes’ Truesight saw in her vision. Whatever the case may be: If the demons have it, it is out of reach for us. For now at least. There is not much we can do about this threat, so I still think finding a cure for Rarity and improving the defences of the empire should be our top priority for the moment,” Twilight explained.

“True. But just like before, not all of us can leave the empire at once. I volunteer to stay behind and keep the rebellion going,” Luna offered.

“I know how important this is to you, Twilight. But this mission really shouldn’t require most of us to go. A smaller group would attract less attention and the work here has been piling up since our last journey. I think Celestia, Shining Armor and I should also stay here, so we can get things done efficiently,” Cadence suggested, followed by the two mentioned others nodding in agreement.

“Alright, but Fluttershy: I would highly appreciate it if you could come with us again for protection,” the purple mare requested.

“Will do,” Fluttershy responded calmly.

“Good. I also think I owe you an opportunity to join us, since you missed out on last time. Right, Ditzy?” Twilight started again.

At first, the others were confused about this name and why Twilight was looking at Derpy when she said it. The grey mare herself seemed to not have realized she was being called and just keep glancing into the air in thought.

“Ditzy Doo?” Twilight called again.

“Wha-What? Did you… Did you just call me?” Derpy spoke, deeply stunned all the sudden.

“Wasn’t this your actual name?” Twilight asked carefully.

“Um… yes it is. It’s just… Gosh, this is weird. I haven’t been called by my real name in… ages,” the reaper mare explained.

“Is it bothering you? Would you prefer it if I kept calling you Derpy Hooves?” the purple mare wondered.

“No, no. It is alright. I… just need to get used to this again… Anyway, I am in!” Derpy replied.

“So it is Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, Derpy a.k.a. Ditzy and mahself. That should do it,” Applejack commented. “Ah’ll get packin’ right away. See ya’ll tomorrow.”

---

Wandering straight through Equestria as well known targets of the cult could be compared to walking through a minefield. The threat was ever-present and just one wrong step could have fatal consequences. By now, Canterlot had become a giant watchtower, packed with searchlights and powerful telescopes to scan a huge area all around the mountain which the city was built on. Getting anywhere near the capital would have a similar effect to trying to break out of a prison. But unfortunately, Ponyville and Everfree Forest were both in good view of the mountain city. Getting there unseen would be a very difficult task that required a lot of thought. The planes beneath Cloudsdale were obviously out of question due to all the pegasus cultists flying around. Going east was also not a good option, since Foal Mountain was blocking the way and the only open paths available besides it would either bring them much too close to Canterlot or right through Fillydelphia. In order to stay hidden, they had to frequently seek the visual cover of the woods. So the only path they could use to stay as hidden as possible would be to follow the Crystal Mountains west, pass through the woods behind Galloping Gorge, sneak along Smokey Mountain, walk through White Tail Woods, over to Froggy Bottom Bog and eventually arriving in Everfree Forest. A huge and complex journey for the fact that they were just trying to get close to the center of a country that was practically outside of their doors. But while this would cost them weeks, it also brought them close to many memorable places, which evoked happy memories of the past. Smokey Mountain, for example, was were they had their first contact with an adult dragon and Fluttershy had her first big shining moment since the defeat of Nightmare Moon. White Tail Woods still held the traditional path for the Running of the Leaves and was just as beautiful as always, despite the Cult’s presence. It even seemed like the frogs at Froggy Bottom Bog had managed to deal with the hydra living there, since it was nowhere to be found and the frog population was booming, much to Fluttershy’s appreciation. At last, after all the sneaking, hiding and occasional killing of scouting cultists, they managed to arrive at the south-west end of Everfree Forest.

“That place didn’t change at all,” Applejack started and gulped. “Still as scary as it’s always been.”

“We should be especially careful once inside. With no reapers around to regulate things, who knows how many dangerous creatures and demons we might encounter,” Derpy suggested.

“I just hope that all this didn’t scare Zecora away,” Twilight commented in worry.

“Well, now that we are here, we might as well just go inside and see for ourselves,” Rarity stated.

“Let’s just hope there are at least some friendly animals left inside to help us,” Fluttershy commented.

After all had been said, Twilight went ahead and lead the group. Despite everything, the journey had so far been a rather positive event due to all the happy memories. But now that they were back here, the bad memories began to return. Whether this was due to the dark powers running through the forest or because of their own minds was not clear. But soon enough, they began talking about it.

“This looks familiar,” Rarity began. “Was this the place where Obsidian fought against a chimera?”

Fluttershy’s head did not move, but ears were clearly focusing Rarity now that she heard this name.

“I don’t know. Everything kind of looks the same around here,” Twilight commented.

“All that talk about demon strongholds, zones and curses… We had all been livin’ in an illusion up to that point,” Applejack added.

“I think it was even earlier when the disguise fell. At least to me, it was the moment when Trixie unleashed the Salamander and got eaten by it,” Twilight replied.

“True. That was horrible. The first time any of us had seen a pony die in such a horrible way. The fact that she didn’t stay dead made it all even worse,” Applejack agreed.

Both Rarity and Fluttershy just remained silent and had their focus lowered. While Rarity was trying to figure out which stump it was she had jumped on after Obsidian told her that Everfree Forest was a defiled place, Fluttershy was staring at the heart pin on her cloak.

“Oh gee, we should go deeper into the forest! I can see the meadows of Ponyville through the gaps in the trees!” Derpy commented.

Immediately, Twilight and Fluttershy both glanced over. The purple mare did not have the improved sight of a reaper, so she could not see more than small dots of light between the dark trees. What kept her staring while walking, though, were once again the memories. She believed that the circle of burnt grass would not be visible anymore at this point. The circle which sealed the Salamander away and cost Obsidian an eye. Yes, the Salamander incident definitely was the key moment for Twilight to realize that something was really wrong with Equestria. Thinking back, she was grateful Celestia sent the black stallion to her as their guide into the forbidden and hidden things. Although they had their problems with him at first, she could not think of any reaper who could have done it any better than he did. After all, what is to expect of a rollercoaster ride into Nightmare Moon’s world?

“What’s wrong, Fluttershy?” Derpy suddenly asked.

The group stopped and turned around. The yellow mare was staring in the direction of Ponyville. Without being able to express herself anymore, she just stood there with a neutral face for nearly a minute before she replied.

“They tore down the bell,” she spoke quietly.

“ The… Oh those monsters!” Rarity suddenly mumbled in anger as she realized what Fluttershy was talking about.

The yellow mare was able to see right through the trees and see a tiny section of the graveyard in their home village. Obsidian’s gravestone was still there, but the bell on top of it was missing. The cultists had taken away the one material object the black stallion could ever truly name his own. They had taken away the symbol of his childhood, his innocence, his family and their everlasting friendship to him. All that was left was now were stone and bones.

This was something they all should have seen coming and still, it was hard for them to take. Especially Twilight and Rarity got so angry over the news that they had to fight their tears. But as it was to expect, the purple mare quickly caught herself again.

“There is no point in crying over this. It’s just another of all the sins the BloodClaw Cult has committed and just like with all the others, they will pay for it. We need to stay focused on the task ahead. Let’s cure Rarity, bring Celestia back on the throne and then, Blueblood and his sick cult will have to face justice,” she announced.

“Right… Let’s keep goin’,” Applejack agreed.

While most of the group kept talking for the rest of the journey, Fluttershy only looked at the heart pin and held it securely. Now, this little object was all that was left of Obsidian. All that she still had to remind herself of him. Nothing should ever happen to it.

---

It only took about half an hour for them to finally find the hollowed out tree which Zecora called her home. It still looked like always: Tribal masks greeting visitors, potion bottles hanging from branches. Twilight got very excited as she saw this and ran ahead. She knocked at the door, only to find that it was not locked. As it slowly slid open, it revealed the disarranged inside. Many of the potions and ingredients the zebra herbalist had gathered were still there, but they were not in their proper place.

“She’s not here…” Twilight mumbled in disappointment.

Moments later, Derpy caught up and looked inside, analyzing the situation.

“Hmm… Either something ambushed her while she was working on a potion, or she left this place in a hurry,” the grey mare analyzed.

“Let’s hope it is the latter. Not for my own sake, but for her’s,” Rarity commented. “I would hate to find out that something happened to her.”

“Well, shoot…” Applejack spoke, half in a sigh. “Ya think she might still be around here somewhere?”

Derpy entered the hut and took a more closely look at the exposed ingredients. After just a few moments, she turned back around and shook her head.

“The plants are dried up and dead, the potions have rotten and that cauldron hadn’t been cleaned in ages. She would never let her things succumb like that if she was planning to return,” the grey mare explained.

“Then it was for nothing…” Twilight stated, followed by a stomp on the ground and a sad look over to her sick friend. “I’m sorry, Rarity.”

“Darling, please. You tried. What more could anypony ask for?” Rarity asked back.

“Let’s get back to the empire,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Yeah… Nothin’ to do here anymore,” Applejack agreed and turned around.

Unwillingly, Twilight followed along with the others. Her head was hanging low and she had a grim expression on her face. Why couldn’t she have luck with anything just once? Where did Zecora go? Was she hurt?

Worry began to fill the purple mare’s mind. Memories of Zecora were mixing up with the memories of Everfree Forest. The zebra lady always prefered living in a wild and dangerous forest over the safety of the village because it brought her closer to unusual and rare ingredients for potions. A long time ago, Twilight had a conversation with Zecora about this and that she was worried about her security. But it seemed like Zecora was very capable of defending herself and she just kept arguing that there was a special type of magic flowing through this place. It wasn’t just the demonic energy in the soil, plants and animals. There was a different power here as well. Something older than the forest itself. Something pure and powerful, but unpredictable. It were these rare, pure things in this cursed forest that Zecora was searching.

And into her own reflection she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared.

With all the thoughts and memories stirring in her, Twilight’s mind made a sudden jump. A well remembered event in Ponyville, which had its origin here in this forest. A place she remembered because she was the one who sealed it away. Somewhere around here, the Mirror Pool was still hidden underneath a rock. Unknown by anypony, untouched for nearly a decade. Even if the cult would somehow have come across that old legend, they would have never been able to find it. Twilight was the only one still alive knowing about its location. Suddenly, the purple mare stopped.

“Girls,” she called, causing all the others to turn around.

“What is it, Twilight?” Derpy wanted to know.

The purple mare hesitated with her answer. It was a thought steering in her head, but she still wasn’t sure if it was a good thought. But after a few moments of insecurity, her expression suddenly became very serious.

“I have an idea, but I’m not sure if you will like it. This journey won’t have been for nothing if we take a little detour,” she suggested.

“Well, where are we heading, darling?” Rarity wanted to know.

“The Mirror Pool,” Twilight replied.

A brief moment of silence followed. Was she serious about this? Everyone had the same thought, but it was Applejack who first put it into words.

“You plan on clonin’ us, Sugarcube? Why? What’s the point?” the orange mare wondered.

“With all the help we have gained so far, the cultists still outnumber us by a lot. But the last thing they will expect is to see an army of clones,” Twilight explained.

“Haven’t you learned anything from the last time the pool was used?!” Derpy protested in shock. “Those clones are completely out of control! How can you even think that this would be a good idea?”

“These clones were out of control because they were Pinkamena’s clones. You know how random she… acted. I do believe if we made them, they would turn out a lot different,” Twilight retorted.

“But even then, do you believe that this will work out as you want it to? How are we even supposed to get them back to the Crystal Empire unseen?” Fluttershy wondered.

“I know, I know. This will need a lot of thought. But I am developing a plan just as we speak and I am pretty sure it works. Pinkamena told me everything and all about the legend and the rhyme going with it. Let’s just get there. I will explain everything on the way,” the purple mare requested and started walking ahead.

“Well… alright, darling. I am in for it. Tell us about your plan,” Rarity agreed and began to follow her, with the others coming along moments later.

---

For years, the luminescent mushrooms had been the only source of light in the cavern that held these enchanted waters. But as the rock lifted from the entrance, sunlight filled the whole place. The Mirror Pool reacted to the light, shining brightly as it absorbed the rays of sunlight. It was a liquid unlike any water else in the world. So pure, despite being surrounded by dirt. One might be tempted to drink from it, but who knows what would happen then. Was this even water? Twilight already knew that many would like to research this pond and its liquid, because she felt the very same urge. But she knew better. Such magic is best hidden away, at least while the world was still in such disarray.

As the group stood before the pool, they all had mixed feelings. They trusted Twilight, of course. But they were still unsure about this. Yet, if this worked out, it would be an enormous advantage for the rebellion. They just needed to give it a try.

Twilight stood in front of her friends and began to cast a spell. Moments later, they all gained random large blotches all over their bodies which had a slightly darker color than the rest of their fur.

“I’m glad this is just temporary. This so doesn’t go for me,” Rarity complained.

“Just endure it for a moment,” Twilight responded. “Okay, Fluttershy: I want to test something, so you should do the ritual first.”

The yellow mare nodded shortly and stepped in front of the Mirror Pool. Already, the reflection she saw was so much deeper and better than any water surface or mirror could ever create. It felt like it was just about to climb out of the pond on its own. Perhaps it was wanting to, but needed Fluttershy’s approval to do so. An approval given by a specific rhyme, which the yellow mare then began to reside.

"Into her own reflection she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared.”

Silence filled the cave. Fluttershy kept staring at the reflection in front of her, but nothing was happening. Then suddenly, the reflection in the pool turned around and disappeared into the depths. This was something even Twilight was surprised to see happening, causing her eyes to go wide open.

“So that is how it responds if it’s not possible. Pretty fascinating,” she spoke.

“Why didn’t it work, though?” Applejack wanted to know.

“I want to take one more test to make sure. Ditzy: Could you give it a try now?” Twilight requested.

“Sure thing!” the grey mare replied cheerfully and went in front of the pool. "Into her own reflection she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared!”

The reflection moved along perfectly and even had Derpy’s grin on its face after she finished the rhyme. But again, nothing happened. Moments later, her reflection stopped smiling, turned around and walked away as well.

“Hey! I did everything right! Come back, you!” the grey mare spoke in frustration.

“It’s alright, Ditzy. I expected this to happen,” Twilight commented.

“Would you care to explain, Twilight?” Rarity requested.

“I just wanted to make sure. You see, the rhyme clearly says ‘her’, ‘she’ and ‘doubly mared’. What if a stallion tried the ritual? Or something that isn’t a pony? My theory was that the pool only accepts female earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi. I wanted to test if it would also consider reapers as ponies, but it doesn’t,” Twilight spoke.

“That makes sense. We may still look like ponies, but our bodies don’t work like ponies at all anymore,” Fluttershy agreed.

“And now we go for the counter-thesis,” Twilight announced as she stepped in front of the pool herself. "Into her own reflection she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared.”

In contrast to the two attempts before, a purple hoof reached out of the water, asking Twilight for assistance. She grabbed it and moments later, there were two Twilights standing next to each other.

“See? It worked!” the left one commented happily.

“What worked?” the right one wanted to know.

“We will explain that to you later. For now, why don’t you introduce yourself?” the first Twilight requested.

“Oh, sure! My name is Twilight Sparkle! What’s your name?” the second asked back.

Without responding, the other Twilight just smiled and waved her friends over to the pool. This was another one of Twilight’s tests. Apparently, the clones are able to recognize themselves, but do not realize it immediately when they see a doppelganger. Derpy and Fluttershy stepped back and started counting the clones rising out of the pool. The more there were made, the greater the confusion became about which ones the real ones were. The other clones just stood there, deeply confused as to what was happening. Some even decided to join the three mares in saying the magical rhyme, making everything even harder. After about half an hour, the cave was completely filled with clones, to the point that barely any of them could still move and most had very annoyed expressions.

“Okay, I think that should be enough,” one of the Twilights at the pool announced.

Immediately, one of the Applejacks and Rarities stopped as well, soon followed by the remaining ones stopping and focusing the three.

“Listen up, everypony!” Twilight started announcing. “I am pretty sure that by now, you have realized that we are making clones and that you are one yourself-”

“Oh you think I am a clone?” one of the Rarities asked in an irritated tone. “What makes you think you are the real one then?”

“That is simple,” the Twilight spoke and started casting a spell to undo the blotches on herself and one other Rarity and Applejack. “Our blotches are magical. I gave them us to be able to differ between the real ones and clones. I know you don’t have the same knowledge we do, so only by knowing the spell the blotches will disappear and only we three know it. But please, don’t get this the wrong way. To us, you are all originals. Everyone of you is a Rarity, Applejack or Twilight and you are free to use that name, or any name you would like. We are not here to take advantage over you or use you in any way. You are free to do whatever you like and we promise that none of you will be sent back into the pool.”

“Then, what keeps us from just leavin’ this place?” an Applejack clone wanted to know.

“Nothin’,” the real Applejack replied. “But before ya go, we want ya’ll to know something. We know ya don’t have our memories, skills or knowledge. So it’s only fair to tell ya that there’s a war ragin’ up there. Right now, we’re all deep in enemy territory and if ya just go out there alone and talk to anypony, they will kill ya. We can show you a save way out of here, but there’s something ya need to consider.”

“And what is that?” a Twilight clone wanted to know.

“This war out there is world-wide. Our enemy is an evil stallion controlling an even worse army of cultists and monsters. If we don’t stop them, there will soon be no place left to go to. We can’t force you to join us, but please, we need your help to save many, many lives. Joining in a war against an enemy you don’t even know anything about yet is asked for a lot, I know. But we wouldn’t have done this if we weren’t convinced that this was necessary to not only save ourselves, but the whole world,” the real Rarity spoke.

“If you come with us, we offer you education, protection, shelter and food. All we ask for in return is that you do the right thing when the time comes. Please! We need your help! This is all so much bigger than you can yet imagine!” the real Twilight stated.

The clones began to mumble and argue with each other. It took minutes, but it eventually became quiet again as an orange, blotched hoof raised into the air.

“Well if we have the freedom to go wherever we wanna go, then Ah say we find out about these things ourselves! Everyone who agrees with me, come along now!” one of the Applejacks spoke and started walking.

“Now hold on there just a minute!” another Applejack started. “Ah know this is weird and all, but Ah got a good feelin’ about these ponies. There’re so many questions in mah head right now. Ah don’t know about ya’ll, but Ah’m goin’ with ‘em!”

The three originals were all pretty stunned about this scenario. All these ponies in front of them were clones, but they could come to such different decisions. After some more discussing and arguing, it was decided. Of the many clones they created, only a few left on their own. The majority had trust in their creators and decided to stay. It wasn’t exactly as Twilight hoped it would turn out to be, but it was more than enough to please her and call it a success.

“Very well. I thank you all for your trust. For now, we need to find a way to get back to the Crystal Empire unseen. Here is a map of Equestria, the land we are currently in, if you don’t know that already. With your help, I hope to come up with a few plans of how we can all reach our goal,” the real Twilight explained and unrolled the map in front of the clones.

The Underworld League

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dkIqTOphi3_Or2F_PcIen-dk8sz5KlC74cTA1N7AwGs/edit?usp=sharing

For the rebellion, it was a common thing to see circle members depart and arrive again. But when group after group after group of clones arrived, huge confusion spread through the whole Crystal Empire. At first, it was considered a trick. An attack by skin-walker demons. Luckily, the situation could be explained before any blood needed to be shed.

The stream of tiny groups of clones arriving at the empire went on for days. Babs Seed soon realized that, if this kept going, the food supplies would get stretched thin. Although the productivity of the Crystal Empire had increased enormously to supply all the rebels, it was going to reach its limit soon. It was clear that they would not be able to make enough food for any more large waves of supporters on their own. So she immediately began arranging troops of gatherers. There was no option left but trying to scavenge supplies from Equestria. This surely would bring more unwanted attention to the rebellion.

After more than two weeks, the frequency of clones arriving finally reduced. Ultimately, the originals who set this stream in motion arrived back home, being immediately welcomed by Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor with grim expressions.

“We’re back, everypony!” Twilight announced happily.

“We can see that,” Luna replied.

“I guess we have a bit of explaining to do,” Rarity commented.

“That you do,” Shining Armor started, then focused his sister. “Twily, what were you thinking?”

“That’s just what Applejack and Rarity had been asking me before I could convince them to do this. Shining Armor, Cadence, Celestia, Luna: If we want to stand any chance against Blueblood and his millions of demons and cultists, we need more rebels. So many kingdoms and empires are still too afraid to help us or haven’t even heard of us yet. Time is running and we can’t just sit here, twiddling our hooves and hoping others will respond in time,” the purple mare explained.

“This was still very short-sighted of you, my faithful student,” Celestia started. “If even a single scout figured out what you did, the Mirror Pool might already be in the hooves of the cult by now. We may have gained a few hundred rebels, but can you even imagine how many more cultists will arise from this?”

“Ya needn’t worry about that. Twilight and her clones took care about the hidin’ and travelin’. They all came here in pairs of three different ones and made sure they won’t cross paths and depart with delays. We also insisted on them leavin’ large gaps to the next group goin’. Even if a few got seen and caught, all that would cause is for the cult to think it’s a trick so we can get back safely. The worst that’s happenin’ right now is that the cultists and demons search all around Equestria for somethin’ that isn’t there anymore!” Applejack explained.

“And when it comes to the pool: Twilight cast a spell on the exit to make the clones walking out forget about the pool and where it can be found. We made sure we were the last leaving and collapsed the way behind us. Even the demons wouldn’t be able to find and reach the pool now. It is sealed away for good,” Rarity finished.

“Clever, but that was still a really questionable decision,” Cadence commented.

“Questionable or not, it was necessary. Even if we got another troop of griffons and arabian ponies, we still would barely be able to survive a large attack. We should consider ourselves lucky the BloodClaw Cult didn’t come up with the idea to spontaneously give us a visit so far, but it can’t go on like this. If we can’t even defend ourselves, how are we supposed to strike back at some point?” Twilight questioned.

“I don’t completely agree with this course of action, but I have faith in your decision making, Twilight,” Celestia commented. “You got us this far, so I hope you know what you do.”

The purple mare smiled, but deep inside of her, she still asked herself the same question. Twilight was well aware of the responsibility she was carrying. Their rebellion had to succeed, or else Blueblood would gain power and control beyond imagination. But there was no time to drown into thoughts of if’s and why’s.

“Alright. I guess we will have another meetings this evening. If you need me sooner, I’m back in the library, as usual,” she announced and started walking.

“Yeah, I gotta get some rest and see what the other reapers are doing. Seeya!” Derpy stated and flew away.

As the group split up again, Applejack also went on her way back home. She actually was looking forward to working on the farm again tomorrow. It was also high time she met up with Babs Seed again. After all, it had nearly been a month since the last time the orange mare could meet her last living family member.

While on her way back home, Applejack started thinking back. It was strange, really. She never was all that close with Babs Seed in the years before. The teenage filly used to be much closer with Applebloom than her. But as everything withered away, these two instinctively sought each others company and bonded much tighter. Although still just a little cousin, Babs had become as dear to her as a sister. Especially since the day they moved to the Crystal Empire, they spent as much time as possible together. Applejack wondered if she should bake something for her as a surprise.

After just a few minutes more, she finally arrived. As the door opened, she saw that her cousin had a visitor. It was Caramel, sitting on the floor and playing with Winona.

“Cuz! Welcome home!” Babs shouted.

The teenager got up from her chair immediately, ran over to Applejack and embraced her. She surely had missed her, too.

“Hey, Babs! How ya doin’?” Applejack wondered.

“All is fine! Caramel and Ah were just talking about you, right?” Babs asked, turning her head around to her guest for a response.

In contrast to the other two, Caramel had a very grim expression on his face. Even Winona got the hint and immediately stopped playing with him, just sitting down next to the fridge.

“Babs… Could you leave us alone for a moment, please?” he requested.

The teenager had been scolded enough times in the past to know what was gonna happen next. Without saying much, she just went upstairs to her’s and Applejack’s bedroom. Caramel stood up and took position in the middle of the room, waiting for the orange mare to fully come into the small house and close the door behind her.

“Caramel, Ah-” she wanted to start.

“Me first!” the stallion insisted and took a deep breath before he continued. “Applejack… What in the name of Celestia were you thinking? Going on such a dangerous adventure? In your condition?”

“Ah needed to help mah friend is what Ah’d been thinkin’!” Applejack replied, getting upset now herself because he dared to scold her for that.

“Without telling anypony first? Just up and leaving overnight? I had to ask Babs to find out you just left! You didn’t say a word to me!” Caramel kept going.

“Well, there wasn’t much time! Ah’m sorry ‘bout that, okay? Ah didn’t have the time to tell everypony first! Ah’m a member of the leadership circle after all! Sometimes, these things happen! If ya had to make up for me at the farm, then-” the orange mare tried to explain.

“This isn’t about the farm, for Pete’s sake! Sorry for being so selfish, but this is about me!” Caramel interrupted. “I was worried about you, okay? I know what you have been through and I know you aren’t what you used to be anymore! The whole time you were gone, I couldn’t sleep at night! I was so worried you would get ambushed and killed and I would never find out about it!”

Suddenly, Applejack became quiet. This was a lot more personal to him than she anticipated. The light brown stallion actually had tears in his eyes, but wiped them away before they could start flowing.

“Caramel… Ah-” Applejack started again.

“You are not the only one who lost a lot, AJ,” Caramel started again. “I left everything behind just to get here. I didn’t just lose things, but also friends, family and even my beloved one. I lost so many things in my life already…”

The light brown stallion paused. He took a few steps forward and wrapped his front legs around Applejack, holding her tight.

“But by the stars, the moon and the sun, I will be damned if I lose you now as well, Applejack!” he finished.

Applejack rested her head on his shoulder and stared to the floor in guilt. It seemed like Babs wasn’t the only pony for whom she had become a lot more important. The orange mare closed her eyes, ignoring the hat sliding off from her head and falling to the ground.

“Ah’m sorry, Caramel. Ah’m sorry,” she spoke quietly, causing the stallion to hold her even tighter.

---

As the months went by, the rebellion slowly began to get used to seeing dozens of copies of Applejack, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity around. Several of the clones began to alter their looks and identity to become more unique. A few even chose to have a fully body dying job to become as unique as possible, although the typical issues of the originals still remained. The Rarity clones seemed to be upset about their health issues and the fact that their necks were scarred and their noses deformed, some even going for semi-drastic measures in attempt to correct this. The Applejack clones had trouble figuring out how to handle things with only three legs, while the Twilight clones caused an increased demand on medication to keep themselves from bleeding to death internally.

As for the original Twilight, the nightmares she kept on experiencing started to shift. It were no longer the deaths of cultists that haunted her, but the deaths of Moondancer and Spike which kept on repeating in her head every so often and waking her up in the middle of the night with tears streaming down from her face. Moondancer’s death was her original sin and Spike’s was her punishment. They both died because of her. A fact that she would remind herself of for the rest of her life. And still, these random dreams about them felt like they were more than just that. Was it her own mind trying to torture her with the events of the past? Or was something else sending her these nightly visions?

Pondering remained inconclusive every time. Twilight tried her best to push the things she couldn’t change anymore out of her mind by filling it with new things. This spell Djin taught her turned out even much more useful than she believed. Within seconds, she could now absorb what would usually take her weeks. Yet sometimes, she was too fast for her own good. Due to the spell bypassing her normal learning process, she sometimes caused herself to get a bad headache, to the point where she actually forgot the content of previous books. Still, if she kept going with her pace, Twilight would know every single book in the Crystal Empire library by the end of the year.

The last few weeks had been rather eventless. Twilight was starting to get dissatisfied with the progress of the rebellion again. She wished things would finally pick up and she could start to actually fight Blueblood. But just days after she began feeling that way, Luna had interesting news to present during a meeting.

“Our griffon friends have been busy using their connections lately and I am happy to say that things came to a pleasing result! They always were in good terms with the minotaurs and thanks to them, we can now officially count them as part of the rebellion!” she announced.

“Those are excellent news!” Shining Armor spoke in excitement. “The minotaurs are known for being some of the best ground fighters in the whole world! They are not only physically very strong, but also have an enormous willpower! With them on our side, we gained a huge advantage!”

“Good. Very good,” was all Twilight said, constantly staring at the table.

“Is something wrong? You seem distracted,” Fluttershy wondered.

“Hm? Oh. No, I’m fine. I am just way ahead of myself again in planning,” the purple mare explained.

“Ya want to go on another trip, don’t cha?” Applejack figured.

“I am that easy to read, huh?” Twilight wondered with an awkward smile.

“Knowing you, you probably just came up with the idea as you heard about the minotaurs,” Rarity commented, followed by blowing her nose into a handkerchief.

“You guys just know me too well,” the purple mare stated, sighing. “Well, yes. If the minotaurs would be guarding the empire, we could take the risk on going for much bigger journeys now. I was thinking of the Zebra Tribal Lands as our next goal to look for allies and for a cure for you, Rarity.”

“Not that much of a bigger journey, though. The tribal lands are not a lot further away from us than Saddle Arabia,” Celestia commented.

“I already searched for possible routes. It would be about the same length to journey there and back, plus a few weeks maybe to get through the jungle,” Twilight replied.

“Well then. The empire’s organization is back in order, so I guess we can all go. It definitely would make a better impression if we all presented ourselves to the zebras,” Cadence suggested.

“Sorry, but ya have to count me out. Caramel’s still kinda upset about me just leavin’ the last time and the berry farm really needs mah help,” Applejack stated.

“That’s okay. But I really hope you come along, Rarity,” Twilight spoke.

“Well if half of the reason we even take that trip is for me, of course I have to come along. I have to say, I am kind of excited about visiting the tribal lands. Zecora told me so much about their exotic culture that she really got me curious,” the white mare agreed.

“Oh, you are not the only one who wants to hang out with zebras really badly! Let the Wonderbolts take over my chores for a while! I am so in!” Derpy stated in excitement.

“It’s good to know that I can count on you all,” Twilight spoke with a smile. “So, when do you think we should-”

Before she could finish the sentence, they heard knocking at the door to their meeting room, immediately followed by it swinging open and a reaper running in.

“Apologies for disturbing your meeting, but we have a case of emergency! Demons are gathering up at the borders of the empire!” she announced.

“Demons?!” Luna shouted and jumped up on her legs in surprise.

“How many?” Celestia asked, placing her front legs on the table and pushing herself upright.

“Just a small group, my mistress. Four in total. But they are known unique ones: Slendermane, Toxica, Succubus and Despair,” the reaper replied.

“Her again… What are they doing?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Nothing so far. They just stand and observe the empire. They also brought a large metal box with them. It seems like they are waiting for something,” the reaper mare explained.

“Those four are dangerous, but if they wanted to attack the empire, they would have done so by now. I guess they are waiting for us,” Shining Armor figured.

“Like always, we need to be careful. This might very well be a trap of sorts. But we shouldn’t keep them waiting or they might start doing something much more drastic to get our attention,” Twilight stated.

“Let’s go then,” Applejack concluded and started walking, followed by the others.

---

The four demons kept a respectful distance to the empire and aside of Toxica, they were all standing perfectly still. Succubus did not even bring any of her servants. This gave the impression that they were only here as messengers. But if so, what purpose did the metal container have? These and more were thoughts rushing through Twilight’s mind as she approached the small group of Nightmare Moon’s children. Immediately as they got in their line of sight, Despair gained her typical sinister grin. None of the demons moved even a step closer or spoke a word. They all just waited until the whole circle arrived.

“There they are, Despy! There they are!” Toxica shouted in excitement while flapping her tiny wings frantically.

The Guillotine of Hope did not respond. She still remained perfectly silent and motionless. She seemed to be waiting for Twilight to start the conversation. A hint the purple mare got quickly.

“What do you want?” she asked.

The grin on Despair’s face grew even wider. If arrogance was liquid, it would be dripping off from her body right now. Whatever she had planned, it must be something she had been very looking forward to.

“1006 years ago, Queen Nightmare Moon was banished and Princess Celestia stole the moon from darkness itself. Thus, Maledictum Insania was cast upon Equestria,” the demoness started speaking.

“We don’t need a lesson in history! We are well aware of what happened!” Luna growled.

“Are you now? My queen claims that you were on the verge of non-existence during that time. It would surprise her if you had any memories of your banishment at all,” Despair commented.

“Are you just here to mock us, or do you actually have something to say?” Shining Armor asked with a grim expression.

“Oh! He is fierce and handsome! I will have to try my talents on you at some point, Sugar,” Succubus commented, scrutinizing the prince while placing her right front hoof on her lower lip.

“Keep your hooves to yourself, you foul beast!” Cadence replied angrily.

Whatever was happening right now, the four demons seemed to relish this moment. Even Toxica just hovered in the air, covering her mouth with her left front hoof while giggling.

“All in good time, Succubus. I think we have demanded their attention for long enough,” Despair started again. “You left something behind the last time we met, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” Celestia wanted to know.

“A friend, for what I understand. Isn’t friendship fascinating? You all just keep running and left her behind to be torn apart by us. You prefered to save your own hide over turning around and trying to save her. Oh yes, friendship is truly magical,” Despair kept mocking.

Despite the harsh words, the angry expressions got blown out of the ponies’ faces. Especially Fluttershy seemed highly alerted and stared at the chained up metal container.

“Well, it seems I make a much better friend than you ponies do. While you abandoned her and left her to die, I actually went through the trouble of catching her before she could freeze herself solid. But us demons have no use for traitors like the reapers. So I thought I might as well return her to you,” the demoness explained.

A swift glance over to Slendermane followed. He nodded in response and began to break apart the chains around the container. As the last chain fell, the box opened. It was brimmed with blood, causing a large flood washing towards the group who backed away in horror. But as most was spilled out moments later, a red mass became visible. It immediately fell over and landed in the blood.

Seconds went by without neither the demons nor the ponies or reapers moving. They just stared at this lump in pony-shape. It did not take long for it to start gagging and trying to get up. Despair spoke the truth. It really was Crystal Blossom.

“Mentor!” Fluttershy called and broke out of the group.

The others called her back, but their words fell on deaf ears. Fluttershy just ignored the blood and tried her best to help the soaked mare to get back on her legs. Crystal was panting and gagging as if she hadn’t been able to breather for days. She focused Fluttershy, not saying a word.

Twilight remained highly alarmed, her eyes jumping all over the place to keep track of the situation. The demons still just stood there and grinned. They had absolutely no motivation to do anything at all. It seemed like they only wanted to observe the shocked and puzzled expressions of the group.

It took about three minutes, but Crystal Blossom was finally getting a hold of herself. She kept on staring at Fluttershy the whole time with no expression as it was expected of her.

“Mentor, are you alright?” Fluttershy wondered.

The elder reaper mare did not reply and just kept staring. Nothing about this situation felt right. Something twisted was about to happen, Twilight was sure of it.

The muscles in Crystal’s cheeks began to twitch lightly. Soon, her mouth began to slowly form a smile. The light blue mare’s eyes opened further and further. Even Fluttershy now realized that she needed to back away.

The smile quickly grew into a grin, growing larger and larger. Crystal’s eyes went as wide open as they could. A low chuckle escaped through her jagged fang and her whole body began to tremble.

“She was pretty resistant. Completely refused to eat or drink. We tried to force-feed her, but she just struggled too much. In the end, we decided it would be easiest to just lock her into a container full of elder reaper blood and let her drown in it over and over again. What you see before yourself is the result of whole months spent in that metal cage,” Despair commented, highly satisfied.

The whole group took a few steps backwards and came closer together. All got ready for battle. Crystal’s breath became continuously deeper and faster. Her blood started pumping and her heart began to race. Adrenalin filled her being and only one instinct still remained in her malfunctional mind: kill.

All the sudden, the battle began. Crystal unleashed a fearsome ice storm and teleported herself right behind the group. She lifted her scythe, aiming for Celestia. Yet, her strike was blocked by her own apprentice. But where the scythe failed, the blast of air continued, launching a solid frozen rock at the former princess of the sun and lifting her into the hostile air.

Although they all were still blinded from the snow, Luna reacted immediately. She teleported her sister back to the ground before the frozen shards could impale her and began to cast dark spears on the insane mare herself. But as they hit Crystal Blossom, her body shattered into icy shards, launching right back at her. In the confusion over what just happened, she was able to block off the attack, but could not react fast enough to avoid their former friend to appear behind her and place the blade of her scythe against Luna’s neck.

Twilight saw this in time and used her magic in attempt to take over the scythe, causing a short power struggle that left Luna enough time to escape her death. While still maintaining her magical grip on the scythe, the purple mare took over some of the flying ice shards and let them fly towards Crystal. She, though, placed her hoof in the blood, quickly lifted it up and thus created a red, frozen shield to block them off. Before Twilight could cast another spell, Crystal disappeared into the blizzard.

Moments later, Applejack could be heard screaming in pain. Blood was running down from her back as frozen claws were pinning her down. An ice golem had appeared out of nowhere. Shining Armor was the closest to her and cast a spell to destroy the golem, guarding Applejack immediately after.

But with one down, another followed up instantly. Before Rarity knew what was going on, she found herself encased in ice and lifted into the air by a frozen bird. But fortunately, she was careful enough to bring a jewel necklace to battle, allowing herself to cast a powerful blast of fire at the bird and melting it away.

As Rarity landed in the soft snow unharmed, more and more golems appeared. Razor sharp darts of ice were hailing down from above and spikes of ice were rapidly growing beneath them. They had seen what Crystal was capable off during the Manehattan incident, but having all this power aimed at them left them completely overwhelmed.

Twilight saw no option anymore. Her eyes turned white and she unleashed a massive purple explosion of arcane magic, tearing the whole blizzard apart. For a moment, the battlefield was clear again. The demons still stood motionlessly and kept on observing. The rest of the Crystal Empire seemed to try to reach them, but something prevented them from coming closer. Could Despair have raised a force field around them?

Crystal stood nearby, frozen over in a protective icy armor and presenting her sharp teeth. She took a step towards the group and created a snowy tornado that moments later formed into an avalanche. Twilight launched an arcane beam right into it, hoping to blast it apart. But as she did so, the explosion turned the snow into countless frozen needles now storming towards them.

The three fallen demi-goddesses combined their magic and created a sphere around the whole group to protect them from the attack. Just as everything seemed to have stopped moving, the ice shards clustered together and formed a massive insect-like golem, grabbing the sphere with a pair of nippers and tossing it into the air.

The ponies screamed as they were flying. There was just too much snow and ice around. Twilight remembered an old trick and inverted the temperature of the battlefield, causing the golem to turn into burning crystalline fragments. It collapsed moments later because the insane mare lost her concentration due to her frozen armor now having become a burning prison she needed to get out of. Seeing their opportunity, the mares began to counter attack while Shining Armor took over the sphere and made sure they all would land safely. Rarity used another ruby to launch a fireball straight at Crystal Blossom. Celestia used chains of light to tie the insane mare down. Luna created dark bindings to pin her scythe to the ground, out of reach. Cadence constantly kept casting counterspells to prevent her from teleporting away.

Crystal Blossom might be a powerful elder reaper and she might be even more devastating when she had fallen under Maledictum Insania, but she still was no match for a group as mighty as the rebellion leaders. The battle was over and now they had a moment to react.

The reapers knew what needed to be done, but Fluttershy hesitated. Seeing this, Derpy quickly stepped in. She approached, readying her scythe and-

Cadence let out a short scream of pain.

The whole group turned around. In one short moment where they had forgotten about the demons, Despair had stepped in and rammed a spear-like limb into the fallen alicorn’s side.

“Cadence!” Shining Armor shouted and started running to her.

Despair withdrew and just grinned at him, then her eyes jumped back to Crystal Blossom. Needless to say, the attack broke Cadence’s concentration, allowing the insane mare to teleport out of the chains.

Shining Armor quickly embraced his wife and began to cast healing spells on her. Twilight joined in straight away. It were Celestia and Luna now trying to find the red reaper and deal with her.

As the moment of shock settled, they realized that Crystal was standing not far from them. The battle clearly left its marks on her, too. She was bleeding, scorched and out of breath. She just used up her energy too quickly. But judging from the grin, she still had one more trick up her sleeve.

The air rapidly began to cool down again. Crystal’s mane and tail began to flow in a magical breeze. Ice began to swirl around her and above Crystal’s head, a portal opened. Twilight knew what would happen now and created a shield to block off the blast. The fraction of a second later, they were all encased in thick ice while a Windigo stared down on them in wrath.

Crystal saw herself victorious and began walking towards the group to claim their lives. But walking was difficult for her, too. Her steps became slower and slower, yet her desire to kill remained unbroken. She pushed herself forward as hard as she possibly could, even using magic to go where her body couldn’t on its own. Bones began to snap and fur started to rip off. Blood stained more and more of the ice, as it immediately froze the open wounds, causing them to be torn even more as Crystal pushed on. Eventually, the wounds got so fatal that they revealed her bones.

“Where the willpower exceeds the physical limits, nothing is impossible. A shattered mind, to some, can be a womb for others. A womb for something much bigger, much stronger, much more dreadful,” Despair started commenting.

The exposed bones underneath Crystal’s freezing and tearing flesh were not white. As more and more of the black inside the breaking body exposed itself, the ice became tinted with a strong red aura. Even the Windigo seemed to be terrified of what was breaking free below it, causing it to quickly vanish again.

The black bones grew, breaking apart the ice around them and inside of them. A long skeletal tail appeared out of the shattering flesh. Large spiked bone wings tore out of the back. The reaper cloak changed in shape, adapting to the creature breaking free and the scythe as well became red and demonic.

“So far, we had been lacking a proper leader. I was never meant to lead and I gladly give the leadership of the demons to much, much more capable claws. He as well had been waiting to take over command for a very long time,” Despair kept going.

The black skeleton began to lift itself upright. It towered over the ponies larger than an alicorn, an aura of pure red darkness flowing around it. As the group tried its best to melt the ice, they did not know why they shook more. From the cold or from the fear. The demon turned its focus to the others, who bowed down before him.

“Malice, The Right Hand of Nightmare Moon. We are glad to finally have you back, demon commander,” Despair spoke.

“The queen is pleased with you, Despair,” was all Malice spoke in response.

He completely ignored the ponies now and joined up with the other demons. Everyone was still too numb from the cold and fear to react much. This was a disaster. An utter, incomparable disaster.

“At last, the Underworld League is complete. Beware, ponies. The end time draws near,” Despair finished.

After saying that, the demons just started walking away, leaving everything behind. The shivering group, the bloody metal container, the terrified witnesses in the empire. Everything. They already got what they wanted.

Reign

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_mhYBjDRxsHE4b4Hfp-sds5zWl1UqFCPo4s8YNwcoOg/edit?usp=sharing

Within just one day, the mood of a whole rebellion can change. The solid hope for a better future gained some deep cracks and doubt filled the Crystal Empire. At first, many did not understand what exactly had happened and just felt an unexplainable sensation of overwhelming dread. But as soon as the situation had been explained to the public, an all too familiar sight unfolded before Celestia. Ponies cowering, hiding, unwilling to move out into the open out of sheer fear. Just one day after Malice’s revival, the streets of the empire had become empty and silent. It was time for another meeting of the circle, with Lady Truesight being invited this time.

“Apologies, my mistress. I can’t see anything but the red glowing eyes of Nightmare Moon herself. She does not want me to see this and I am not strong enough to see past her gaze,” the reaper clairvoyant stated.

Most members of the group sighed in disappointment. It seemed like many of their questions would remain unanswered for now. Moments later, Twilight lifted her head and gave her sister-in-law a worried look.

“How are you doing, Cadence?” she wanted to know.

“Much better. It barely even hurts anymore,” the pink fallen alicorn replied.

“I don’t get it. I just don’t get it at all,” Derpy started while rubbing her head. “Despair could have easily killed you there. Why this weird stab? Why purposely avoiding all organs and blood vessels? She clearly wanted to break your concentration, so why not finishing you off when there was an easy chance? This just doesn’t make sense.”

“I have no clue. Maybe she has something bigger planned out that requires of us to stay alive. That would also explain why Malice didn’t attack us. I don’t know…” Shining Armor figured.

“Everything is just getting worse and worse…” Rarity commented.

“This is the path you have chosen, keepers,” Truesight commented while sitting on the ground and hiding Amber in her cloak. “You chose to disregard my warnings and once more, an elder reaper has fallen because of you.”

“Stop this at once, Truesight!” Celestia ordered.

The red mare just lowered her glance to the little filly in her front legs and did not even bother to apologize. Celestia was about to speak again, forcing her into an apology. But Twilight just lifted her front leg, saying this would not be needed. It would be a fake apology anyway and in a sense, Truesight was right.

Once again, Fluttershy remained silent most of the time. These most recent events had hit her very hard. Seeing her kind, wise and supportive mentor become insane and giving birth to Malice before her very eyes… It was an unbelievably hard blow to her. Crystal Blossom really didn’t deserve this. Her soul being claimed by the demons… Once again, all Fluttershy could do was to retreat into herself and mourn.

“Well… any news on the Crystal Heart and the elements?” Luna wondered.

“Ah’ve just been talkin’ with the donkeys. Sorry to say, but no. None,” Applejack replied.

Once more, a moment of silence filled the room. There were just no topics at all to talk about. Nothing but bad news all over the place. The only thing that broke the silence was the sound of thundering, as it began to rain outside. It seemed like the gloomy mood of the crystal ponies caused the weather to change within the empire. At last, it was Truesight ending the silence.

“While time may seem to stand still for you right now, it keeps going in Equestria. In less than two years, the demons will come. You must keep going and prepare,” she explained.

“You are dismissed, Truesight,” Celestia announced with a sad expression.

“Yes, my mistress,” the red mare replied, got up and left the room.

Truesight was known for being pretty harsh at times. The day the rebellion leaders returned without Crystal, her opinion of them became even worse. Right now, she is just looking down upon Twilight and her friends as horrible creatures that do not know what they are doing and just needlessly sacrifice lives. As a reaper who had overcome her emotions for such a long time now, she would not understand that they are all in mourning right now, already blaming themselves for not having been able to rescue their friend.

“Well… what do we do now?” Applejack wanted to know.

“I suppose we just keep going, like we always do,” Cadence suggested.

“True. We still have a war to win. Right, sister?” Luna asked, focusing Celestia.

For some reason, the white mare seemed to be sunken in thoughts now. She seemed to be taking this all a lot more personal than anypony else in the room.

“Sister? Are you alright?” Luna wondered in worry.

“I’m… I’m sorry. I need to be alone for a while,” the white mare replied and just walked straight out of the door.

“Well… that is… wow. The mistress just left in the middle of a meeting. Wasn’t she the one who insisted on such a thing not happening?” Derpy wondered.

“What do you think is wrong with her to do such a thing?” Rarity asked while looking at Luna.

“I… I’m unsure,” Luna replied.

“My guess would be that she is reliving a trauma,” Twilight started. “She had fought against Malice herself. She had seen all this devastation and brutality before. Of course, she would never admit it since she has to be the strong one and she already proved quite a lot of self-control with being able to just sit with us and trying to push these thoughts out of her mind. But it seems like she just reached her limit.”

“I guess the meeting is over then,” Shining Armor figured.

“It would seem so… Good night, everypony,” Luna agreed and got up.

One by one, the circle members left their meeting hall, each one returning to their rooms or homes to recover.

---

Twilight could not find enough sleep that night. Thoughts were constantly rotating in her mind, preventing her from falling asleep. She eventually managed to get a few short hours of rest before she was woken up by Fluttershy.

“I know it’s early, sorry. But Mistress Celestia wants to speak with you,” she explained.

Twilight was still too tried to respond and just slowly got up, brushed her mane and took her medication. After having come to her senses, she returned her focus to the yellow mare.

“Where is she?” Twilight wanted to know.

“On the balcony,” Fluttershy replied.

So the purple mare got on her way. It was still very early. Although she could not see the sun though the windows in the main hall because all the clouds covered the sky, she did realize that it was slowly getting bright. But the same sight also caused her confusion. It was still raining and Celestia was apparently waiting for her on the balcony?

It took a few more minutes, but Twilight eventually arrived with her thoughts and worries being confirmed. The fallen white alicorn was sitting on the wet crystal floor, completely drenched in rain. But also, a strange sight was presented to Twilight. Through the clouds, a single ray of light was shining down right onto Celestia. She seemed to be staring right back into this tiny gap of sunlight with a sad and worried expression. Twilight didn’t know where it came from, but she could have sworn that she was hearing a very faint, echoing voice, speaking with such a peaceful tone that it would almost seem like singing. She could not make out a single word of what she was hearing, but apparently Celestia could. She seemed to be responding to this voice.

“I know but…” she could hear the white mare speak.

Twilight just stood half hidden for a while longer and observed. She had the strange feeling that she just came across a huge secret or something that should not be interrupted. So she just watched Celestia’s expression while she stared up into the light.

“Do you really think so?” Celestia spoke again.

The response was a lot shorter this time and even more faint than before. A deep melancholia filled this otherworldly voice.

“Is there no other way?” the white mare wanted to know.

Another short sound followed. Celestia just kept looking straight into the light the whole time. Other ponies would instantly go blind if they were exposing their sensitive eyes to direct sunlight for such a long time. But not her. Even now that she had fallen and lost her power, Celestia was still the only one who could look directly into the sun without being blinded.

Slowly, the beam of light faded away and the gap between the clouds closed. It was now that Celestia realized she had been watched. Instantly, her expression switched to a smile.

“Ah. Twilight. One moment, I will come to you,” she spoke and got up.

Without saying a word, Twilight just summoned a large towel, waiting for the former princess to re-enter the building before handing it to her by magic.

“Thank you,” Celestia spoke and started drying herself.

Twilight was not sure if she should admit she had been spying on her. It felt like a wrong thing to do. But the purple mare was just too curious about what just had happened.

“Whom were you talking to?” she wanted to know.

“The light, Twilight. I have been speaking to light itself, through the sun. You are a lucky pony to have witnessed this. It is a very rare event. Only happens every few hundred years,” Celestia explained casually while drying her wings.

“Oh. That is interesting. It sounded beautiful,” Twilight commented.

“Yes… It is a very soothing sound to me. It reminds me of my mothers… Have I ever told you about my parents?” Celestia wondered.

“Your… your parents? I don’t think that is something a single pony in the whole world knows. At least I have never come across any books that would tell about them,” the purple mare replied.

“That doesn’t surprise me. I have a tendency to… just try to forget the past…” Celestia spoke with a sad tone and even stopped drying herself for a moment.

A moment of silence followed. Twilight did not know what to say. Obviously, something was going on with her former mentor, but she could not tell what it was. Still, she was very eager to hear about her past. This would answer a few questions she kept wondering about ever since she had first climbed up to Death Rock Mountain, years and years ago.

“Well, you know that the homeland of ponies is not actually Equestria, but one far away from here, right?” Celestia started again.

“Yes, of course,” Twilight replied.

“What most don’t know is that far not all ponies left when the leaders of the three pony tribes set out to find Equestria in ancient times. Some refused to give up their home and remained. Life was particularly hard for those few left. It was a constant battle for the last resources the land could provide. Many starved, froze to death or killed each other. But as the population reached a critical minimum, they came to realize that things couldn’t go on like this anymore. They needed guidance. They needed something that was thinking in much larger schemes than themselves to survive. The ancient ponies were not able to overcome their hatred and distrust for each other, but could agree to a peace treaty during which they performed one final act of desperation. Combining the strength and endurance of earth ponies, the agility and flight of pegasi and the patience and magic of unicorns, they transformed two voluntary twin sisters by the names of Flora and Fauna. Those two became the world’s first alicorns,” the white mare explained.

A short break followed. Celestia shut her eyes briefly and even chuckled a bit before she resumed.

“You know, I instantly grew a strong liking to Fluttershy the day I first met her. She so reminds me of Flora and Fauna. Flora was very focused on plants, crops and the earth while Fauna mostly cared about animals and ponies. They both had infinite love to share and it is thanks to them and their magic that the ancestral homeland of ponies recovered. Under their guidance, the three tribes finally learned to trust each other. It was that time in which the twin sisters decided to adopt two little unicorn orphans: Luna and myself,” the white mare kept going.

“So they weren’t your biological mothers?” Twilight asked to make sure.

“No, but they were just as dear to us,” Celestia stated. “We never got to meet our real parents. They died while we were both just a few days old. But thanks to Flora and Fauna, we found a family. We lived together in Arcania, a city that was built in honor of Starswirl The Bearded and acted as his final resting place. We enjoyed an extensive education and soon excelled in magic. For the whole population, Luna and I became beacons of hope and high morality. Eventually, we earned our own ascensions to the status of demi-gods just like our mothers by mastering the bond to our respective base element. After that, we lived in a state of peace and harmony that felt like it would last forever. Hundreds of years went by and eventually, we heard word of the new home of pony-kind, Equestria, being taken over by a corrupt creature named Discord.”

“Ah. And then you came to Equestria to defeat him,” Twilight recapped.

“Correct,” Celestia agreed. “Flora and Fauna tasked us to overthrow Discord and provide support for Equestria’s population for all eternity. It was clear right away that this would be a farewell forever. But we couldn’t take it. Just a few years after Discord’s fall, Luna and I went on a journey back home to our parents. But by the time we arrived, the ancestral homeland was no more. Within the few short years we were gone, the unstable environment Flora and Fauna provided collapsed. Every last pony had died… even the twin sisters…”

“I’m… I’m sorry you had to go through this, Celestia” Twilight spoke in condolence.

“It is alright, Twilight. Luna and I are convinced they saw this coming. They sent us to Equestria to save us and to prevent it from falling to the same corruption as before. But ever since then, things were just… different. The sorrow of our loss made Luna become very quiet and I just tried my best to distract myself. Eventually, it divided us… I sunk deeper and deeper into my role as a ruler and completely forgot of my duties as a sister...” the white mare spoke in sorrow.

“Celestia… you did your very best. Nopony is perfect, not even you,” the purple mare tried to reassure.

“I had to be, though,” Celestia continued. “As a demi-goddess, it was required of me to be perfect and flawless in every aspect. But I wasn’t.... I could not fulfill my role. I kept making the wrong choices and had to make so many terrible decisions… so many lives were lost because of me. Because I couldn’t do what I had to… If only I had paid more attention to my own sister. If only I had realized I was trapping her in complete isolation...”

At this moment, Twilight remembered the words of Fleur De Lis, the high priestess of the BloodClaw Cult she had been hunting down.

“Celestia… When I was confronting Fleur De Lis… Black Widow… she claimed that you were the reason Luna grew insane and created Nightmare Moon. She said that your disregard of Luna’s needs is what set this all in motion. I never believed her wor-” Twilight started.

“It is true, Twilight. All of it. Deep down, the cult runs on a well hidden truth that even I expelled from my own mind. It took me a long time, but over the last few years, I remembered it all. My whole guilt… You see, a lot of things in Equestria used to get done by themselves. Animals would take care of themselves, the weather would change on its own… I shut all of this down with my magic so ponies were forced to do it. I had to convince them that it was a long-term aftereffect of Discord's magic, that the land could no longer sustain itself and needed the ponies so it would not become a wasteland. It was all just to make the ponies so busy that they would not have the time to look around and discover the demons and the curse of madness… It is quite pathetic actually, is it not? That I chose to forget my own guilt in all this…” Celestia revealed in a tone of deep sadness.

Twilight was shocked. She stood there with wide open eyes and mouth. The whole rebellion had thus far been running on her unshakeable belief that the cult was lying and Celestia truly was innocent. This just overthrew everything. Even her perspective of the former ruler of Equestria started to shake. But Twilight could see the deep regret inside of her. Over a thousand years of guilt, horror and bloodshed were weighing on her shoulders. She may have started it all, but Twilight could see that she never meant any of it. Eventually, the purple mare’s expression started showing sympathy again.

“You made mistakes, yes. That is true, Celestia. But we all make mistakes. You never wanted the demons to come. You never intended for all these horrible things to happen. It was an accident. Something nopony should blame you to the extent as the cult does. Frankly, I am… shocked to the core to hear this now… But it doesn’t change anything. Despite all its flaws, your reign was peaceful, prosper and full of kindness. All aspects Blueblood is very far away from. You may not be the perfect ruler you want to be, but you still are the best one for Equestria. I still wish to see you back on the throne more than anything else,” she stated.

Slowly, Celestia’s expression switched back to a smile. These words seemed to mean just as much to her as they did to the purple mare.

“Thank you, Twilight. Thank you,” Celestia spoke.

The white mare was done drying herself at this point. She walked up to Twilight and gave her a short hug, which the purple mare happily joined in. But as it ended, a moment of silence returned, immediately broken as quickly as it came.

“Twilight, the reason why I asked you to meet me is because I want to offer you to become the mistress of the reapers,” Celestia stated.

Instantly, Twilight’s eyes and mouth went wide open again.

“W-what?!” she asked in disbelief.

“You heard me right. I am stepping down from this position and I want you to become my successor,” the white mare repeated.

“But… but… Celestia… I can’t do this! You have been the mistress for such a long time now! Why the sudden change?” Twilight wanted to know.

“If you ask me, I think it is long overdue. I am not a princess anymore and you have officially become the leading force in the war against the demons. In my hooves, this power is by far not as efficient as it would be in yours. We need a leader to be in charge of the reapers,” Celestia explained.

“Still, this is short-sighted! Our goal is to put you back on the throne, remember? Who knows what might still happen to me during this war. What if I died? Something like this never happened. There is a risk you can’t become the mistress again if that is the case! I won’t take chances! The reapers must remain in command of an immortal being!” Twilight refused.

“Twilight, my faithful student. Must I remind you that I am mortal myself now? It is unclear if I will ever regain my immortality. Until the moment we can finally figure this out, the reapers are useless under my control. How well I have been leading them so far is debateable, but I am convinced you would be able to use them much better than I ever could. All of my hope rests in you, Twilight. I can’t end this war. Only you can. So please, accept my offer,” Celestia insisted.

Twilight became silent.

---

The following day, both Celestia and Twilight had been retreating for several hours, wishing to not be disturbed. Of course, this caused the rest of the leadership circle to get worried. But eventually, Twilight emerged again with a strange expression on her face. Without explaining anything to her friends, she just stated that Celestia had ordered Tripudium Messōrum, the dance of the reapers, to take place tonight beneath the palace. The whole population of the Crystal Empire had been invited to join in.

Finally, it got dark. Never before did this exclusive event have so many visitors. To the very most, it was new and exciting. But for the leadership circle, it was a worrying and confusing thing, since both Twilight and Celestia completely refused to say why this was happening. After they both got in position near the Crystal Heart and the reapers formed a ring around them, Celestia’s announcement could begin.

“My dear reapers. Under my rule, many things had changed, with the last few years being filled with the most changes. But after contemplating the situation we find ourselves in now, I have come to the conclusion to make the most extreme change in the entirety of our mutual history. I have decided to step down as your mistress,” she spoke.

Immediately, a wave of unimaginable disbelief rushed through the reapers. While the elder ones still could keep themselves together and just mumbled to each other, the younger ones were completely shocked. It required of Celestia to lift a front hoof into the air to get them to calm down again.

“Though this does not mean that you have become obsolete now. I may no longer be your mistress, but you will gain a new one. My student Twilight Sparkle has agreed to take over the burden of leading you from this night on,” the white mare continued.

Twilight could hear her friends shout in bewilderment. She tried not to listen to what they were saying. Nothing had to change her decision now. It was already too late.

Celestia closed her eyes and her horn began to glow. Moments later, a large black book with golden corners appeared. Celestia’s book of death. The original after which all copies the reapers are carrying are created. Twilight had a mixed expression on her face as she turned to the fallen alicorn. She mostly seemed assertive and strong, but there also was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“Twilight Sparkle. I ask you, in front of all my reapers. Will you be my successor and make this book your own, so that I may forget how it is used?” Celestia spoke.

“I will lead the reapers from now on until the time I see another mistress fit to replace me. I accept all the powers and burdens that come with this responsibility and am aware which consequences using them will have,” Twilight declared.

After saying that, Celestia opened the book on the first page. It was completely blank aside of a single name being written on it. Her own.

Using her magic, she made a quill and ink float in front of her. The tip of the feather dipped into the black liquid and then touched the page. All she needed to do was draw one line through it. The hardest line she would ever draw in her entire life.

Having ruled over the reapers for so long, she could not help herself but to hesitate. Many memories she made with them rushed through her head. Most of them were bad, but near the end, they became better and better, eventually reassuring her that she was doing the right thing.

The quill slid across Celestia’s name. Immediately after, it disappeared from the book. To complete this ritual, Twilight would have to write her own name in it now. So Celestia offered the ink and blank page to her student.

The purple mare did not hesitate. She immediately wrote her name on it, even though it was clearly difficult for her. Just as she did that, Twilight suddenly gained a strong headache and Celestia collapsed unconscious.

Several reapers left their position to check on their now former mistress. But it took mere moments for her to regain her consciousness and for Twilight’s pain to cease. Everyone seemed to naturally understand what had just happened. All knowledge surrounding the book of death and the reaper curse just violently ripped away from Celestia’s mind and entered Twilight’s.

Mentor and student looked at each other, both unsure how they should feel now that their roles were pretty much reversed. But eventually, Celestia gave an approving nod, then Twilight turned around.

“Reapers, do you accept me as your mistress and acknowledge my rule?” she asked.

While most reapers were still too shocked over what just had happened, Fluttershy reacted pretty much instantaneously and kneeled down.

“Yes, my mistress,” she replied.

At last, the reapers were understanding that this was serious. One by one, they kneeled down and repeated after Fluttershy. In the end, there was only one reaper left standing upright. Lady Truesight.

She gazed at Twilight with an empty expression, getting the purple mare very worried. If she wouldn’t be acknowledged by all reapers, they are bond to split eventually. But suddenly, Truesight’s eyes slowly went wider and wider. Her gaze still remained on Twilight, but she did not seem to be fully there. She must be experiencing a vision, the purple mare figured. After several seconds, the clairvoyant as well kneeled down.

“Yes, my mistress,” she spoke.

For a short moment, Twilight smiled. At last, it seemed like she finally regained the trust and support of Lady Truesight. But immediately, an expression of worry resurfaced on her face. Twilight’s focus wandered to her friends. They too were not sure what to think of all this.

Third Year

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E44OHdPFteyJsiyqSWWfgUmS1zXsgw1LbaC0a1aMeTQ/edit?usp=sharing

Once more, the seasons changed. Once more, a year has gone by since the rebellion began. With this new year, the fear of the upcoming onslaught has become a very present topic to the circle members. At some point next year, a whole army of demons and cultists will come in attempt to wipe them out. The rebellion made a lot of progress within its first two years, but it still was not enough yet. If they wanted to survive such an attack, they needed much more of everything. Much more support, much more supplies, many more soldiers and much more progress on their project with the elements and the Crystal Heart.

At this point, Rarity was no longer herself. She had become very weak and her fever would no longer go down, no matter what the doctors attempted. Every movement was straining to her and although she tried to contain herself, it was clear to all that she was in pain. Her clones were doing no better. Many had become too sick to leave their homes and a few had already succumbed to this mysterious disease.

No matter where they looked, they knew that time was running short. So it was no surprise that they started their journey to the Zebra Tribal Lands as soon as it was possible. Although they needed a whole week longer than expected, since Rarity was unable to walk on her own for most of the time.

Eventually, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Derpy Hooves, Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor found themselves in a massive savanna. Most of the landscape was rather even and covered with tall, light brown tinted dry grass. Occasional acacia trees were dotting this seemingly infinite realm, providing some sparse protection from the intense sunlight. In the far distance, the group could see mountains, thickly covered in dark green jungle. These mountains were also the only place where clouds could be seen, as they mostly just disappeared as soon as they came close to the savanna.

The air flickered with heat, which was particularly hard for Rarity to take. She remembered all too well what happened the last time she exposed herself to such high temperatures for so long. But this time, she was better prepared. Laying motionlessly in the cart, she tried her best to hide herself from the sun using a large parasol and occasionally used her magic to spray herself with a fine mist of water. Still, it helped only so much, considering she already had high fever. She just kept laying there, only half conscious and panting heavily as the sweat ran down her body.

“Just hang in there. It can’t be too long now until we find someone,” Twilight reassured while giving the fashion diva a concerned look.

The purple mare and her other friends were very worried. Rarity could hardly speak for the last few days and was constantly making noises of pain. They badly needed to find some intelligent creature around here soon. But the tribal lands were a place filled with dangers. Many poisonous creatures were living here and the predators were exceptionally large and plentiful, but so were the herbivores. Hyenas, lions, scorpions, snakes, spiders, rhinos and elephants were just a few of the threats they came across. Once more, Fluttershy could prove her usefulness and her deep knowledge when it came to animals. She exactly knew how to behave around all of them. The only thing she was worried about were the mythological beasts and monsters of the tribal lands. She heard stories of creatures that only come out at night and would sneak up on sleeping prey, drink their blood and ultimately turn it into one of them. A thought that at first seemed scary, but soon reminded them of the demons in Equestria. They had been dealing with worse, they figured.

Not much later, they had to put these myths to test. Having not found any zebras on the first day after their arrival, they had no option but to set up a camp as soon as it started getting dark. The sounds of the savanna at night were foreign and eerie to the ponies. Sometimes, they could hear a creature walk nearby. But whatever was stalking in the night, it constantly remained in the dark. Even the reapers could not clearly make out what was happening around them. Still, due to them guarding the camp all night long and the fact that they had a large campfire, the creatures did not dare to come any closer.

---

The next morning, most of the ponies woke up having barely slept at all. They were all tired and drained from the journey, but they had no option. They needed to keep walking, keep looking for any sign of civilization. After hours of aimless wandering, their prayers were finally answered.

“Guys! Over there! I see three zebras, digging in the ground!” Derpy announced.

“Finally! Good job, Ditzy!” Twilight responded.

The group was still too far away for the zebras to have heard them, but they quickly noticed the group approaching and stopped with their work to stare at the ponies. As they came closer, it almost seemed like the zebras were frightened. Had they never seen ponies before?

When they noticed that the zebras were backing away, the group stopped. Having come this far, the last thing they wanted was to scare away exactly those they had been searching for.

“Habari yako?” the zebra stallion called.

“Um… hello?” Twilight replied.

“Sielewi,” the stallion spoke again.

“Shoot,” Twilight mumbled and looked back to the group. “I was hoping they would understand our language. I don’t know how to speak zebra.”

“Let me give it a try. I know a few phrases,” Celestia offered, stepped forward and began to call. “Hamjambo. Jina langu ni Celestia. Natoka Crystal Empire. Nimefurahi kukutana nawe.”

It seemed like the zebras understood. They started to get more curious and slowly approached.

“Cris-hal... Im-pae?” one of the two zebra mares tried to say.

“Ndiyo. Unatoka wapi?” Celestia replied.

A moment of quietness followed. The three zebras seemed to whisper to each other, unsure what to do. But when Rarity lifted her head out of the cart, they instantly realized they were transporting one of them who was very sick and so deemed the group as no threat. Eventually, they gave a foreign gesture and turned around.

“They are going to bring us to their tribe,” Celestia explained.

“Great! That was pretty impressive, Celestia!” Twilight commented, causing the white fallen alicorn to chuckle shortly.

“When you spend several hundred years trying to build connections all around the world and thus have to learn some basic means of communication in various languages, it is no big thing,” she replied.

“We have… found some?” Rarity spoke weakly, seemingly not having been able to understand what just happend.

“Yes, Rarity. Don’t worry. We will bring you to a herbalist soon,” Fluttershy replied, placing a hoof on the white mare’s shoulder.

Smiling weakly in response, she slowly sank back down in the cart. Rarity really wasn’t doing well. It was high time she would get some treatment. Twilight could only hope that the zebras knew a cure for her condition.

---

Wandering around for ages in the burning sunlight in search of food and ingredients seemed to be normal to zebras. They needed three more hours before the group eventually arrived at a small hamlet consisting of only a few houses. At first, it was difficult for the group to even spot them, since the houses were made of the same orange-brown soil the rest of the savanna consisted of. But it seemed like the zebras mixed in some resin to give the walls some solidity. The roofs were made of dried reeds, tied together in a circular pattern. As soon as the zebras saw the group approach, they became very excited, though the ponies were not able to tell if it was in a good or bad way.

The first zebra to welcome both their tribe members and the group was a mare wielding a staff and wearing a costume made of colored leaves adorned with golden rings. The group quickly figured out that this had to be the shaman. Again, the ponies could not make out what they were talking about, but it seemed like the three gatherers were explaining the situation. The shaman seemed very unsure, but eventually approached each pony individually to place her left front hoof on their shoulders.

“It means that we are welcome,” Celestia explained.

“Phew. That is good to know,” Twilight replied in relief. “Alright, everypony. Let’s try to get acquainted with the zebras. We need to figure out how to communicate with them.”

“As you command, my mistress,” Fluttershy spoke and kneeled down.

At this sight, Twilight couldn’t hold back a sigh. She immediately walked over to her friend and placed her back on her four legs.

“Don’t even start with that, Fluttershy. True, I may be your mistress now, but we are still friends. I don’t want this to develop a gap between us. When it comes to you and Derpy, I want you both to drop the title entirely and just act around me as you always have,” the purple mare requested.

“Sorry, Twilight. It is kind of instinctive,” Fluttershy apologized.

“It’s okay. Just please keep in mind that our friendship is more important than my title. Both of you,” Twilight spoke while wandering her eyes from Fluttershy to Derpy.

“Will do!” the gray mare replied.

Now, Twilight began to smile again. She was still not too sure about the idea of being in charge of the reapers now, but it was just another thing she just needed to get used to, she figured. While the two reaper mares joined with the others, Twilight remained by Rarity’s side. Not much later, she spotted a zebra stallion showing clear interest in the sick mare. He was wearing several golden rings around his neck, in his ears and on his left front leg. A dressing choice that strongly reminded her of Zecora and caused her to approach the stallion.

“Excuse me, are you a herbalist?” she wanted to know.

Again, the zebra turned out to not be able to understand her. Instead of replying, he just tried to communicate via gestures. So he chose to approach and point at Rarity.

“Yes, she is sick. Can you help her?” the purple mare tried again.

Although the zebra stallion clearly did not understand a word, his worried expression gave away that he seemingly understood what she was trying to say. With a little gesture, he asked for help in carrying the white mare into his hut. After Rarity had been laid down on a bed made of leaves, the stallion started gathering ingredients. Twilight seemed to have guessed right. He really was a herbalist.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure he will be able to cure you,” the purple mare spoke.

Rarity did not respond. She was very tired and just fell asleep moments later. Now, it was up to Twilight to show that they trusted the zebras by leaving the herbalist to his work and going outside again.

---

The next day, the first thing Twilight did was checking on Rarity. She was actually quite confident that the white mare would be doing much better now, having seen the healing abilities of zebra herbalists herself. But to her disappointment, Rarity was still just as sick as yesterday. Even the stallion seemed to be puzzled as for why his potions were not working.

“Well… Please keep trying,” the purple mare pleaded.

Once more, the words failed at bringing the message across, but Twilight’s countenance succeeded in return. The stallion seemed to feel sorry, as he let his ears hanging and frowned before he immediately turned around and tried another mixture.

“Twilight? Is that you?” Rarity mumbled.

“Yes, it’s me,” the purple mare replied. “How do you feel?”

“Awful… Just awful… I can feel my heartbeat stretch my chest and veins and it hurts…” the white mare explained.

“I’m so sorry for you, Rarity. Is there anything I can do for you?” Twilight asked.

“Could you… maybe bring me my water flask?” Rarity requested.

“Of course. I will be right back,” the purple mare assured and was about to turn around.

“No need for that,” Shining Armor spoke as he entered the hut, the flask levitating next to him.

“You are such a dear, Shining. Cadence must feel so lucky to have you,” Rarity commented with a tired smile on her face.

“I sure do,” Cadence spoke as she entered, followed by the others moments later.

The herbalist did not seem to mind having so many visitors in his hut and just remained focused on his work. But Twilight could observe that he kept one ear turned towards them, apparently trying to understand what they were saying.

“So, how is the communication doing?” Twilight asked while focusing Celestia.

“I’m sorry to say, but my knowledge of their language is not enough to tell them what we want,” the white fallen alicorn responded.

“But there must be a way we can talk to them,” Luna figured.

“Maybe we should try it through signs and pictures,” Derpy suggested.

“Worth a shot, but be careful what you draw. We don’t want to accidentally insult them,” Cadence worried.

“Well, our main goal for the next few days needs to be helping the tribe with their tasks and trying to tell them why we are here,” Twilight concluded.

“I would like to stay by Rarity’s side, if that’s okay,” Fluttershy requested.

“Sure thing,” the purple mare agreed. “Everypony else, time is slipping away. Let’s get to it.”

---

The Circle remained with the zebra tribe for six days, but eventually decided to move on. Communication with these zebras proved unsuccessful and the herbalist just couldn’t manage to help Rarity in any way. All that was left for them to do was to ask for the direction to the next tribe and keep wandering.

What started out as a journey that was only planned to be about one month long quickly turned out to become nearly double the length. For weeks, the group kept wandering from tribe to tribe, unable to find even one zebra with the ability to speak their language. At least they now found out that the rumors of zebras being very peaceful and welcoming turned out to be true. Although they were very puzzled to see something as exotic as a group of ponies in their land each time, they quickly accepted the group, shared their meals with them and provided them a place to sleep. Twilight tried her best to communicate with the zebras, even going so far as to use Djin’s spell on a few books the zebras had written in attempt to learn their language, but it was no use. It just wasn’t enough information for her to get it. She tried to secretly study the zebras and their behavior in attempt to understand them better, but with this method as well, many mysteries popped up. The purple mare could observe them gathering up several times a day to chant themselves into trances, burning dried herbs and creating figurines out of wood and clay. Sometimes, she could even see a shaman leaving the tribe, only to return a few hours later. Twilight once tried to follow a shaman, but he and the other zebras seemed displeased with that, so she quickly abandoned her intention.

For a pony from Equestria, such behavior was puzzling. The only form of religion Twilight had ever seen was the twisted one of the BloodClaw Cult. But this one was much more peaceful. It actually had something appealing to it, she thought. But Twilight just couldn’t figure out what they were actually worshipping. Each tribe was creating different figurines and had its own variation of ceremonial acts.

With each unsuccessful encounter with a tribe, the hopes of the group kept dropping. It seemed like not a single zebra was able to speak their language. Twilight started to think that she had been hoping for too much. With all the success in the past, she expected this to go just as well as all the times before. But the language barrier turned out too big of an obstacle to conquer. The only things the group could achieve while visiting a tribe was to restock on food and water, get some treatment for Rarity and leaving behind a positive impression, as they helped the tribes wherever possible.

After what felt like an eternity of peregrination, the group arrived at another zebra settlement. This one was larger than some of the previous they had seen, most likely because it was closer to the jungle so the tribe was provided with more resources. In fact, most buildings consisted of wood instead of soil and they had a large fire burning in the center. After introducing themselves and placing down their things, Twilight was getting ready to go through her usual routine of searching for any zebra able to speak their language. But to her surprise, she was being approached first this time. A nearly adult young mare with a golden ring holding together the end of her long striped mane and tail came straight towards her, although with an expression of insecurity on her face.

“Forgive me for the truth I seek… But is this the language that you do speak?” she wondered.

Twilight was stunned at first. She could hardly believe it. For weeks, they had been trying to communicate with the zebras. Now, all the sudden, this filly comes up to them out of nowhere.

“Oh! Oh, yes! Yes indeed! Thank goodness… You don’t know how hard it is to find a zebra who understands us,” she eventually responded.

“For zebras, if old or young, it is uncommon to speak more than the native tongue,” the young mare spoke.

“We have noticed. Anyway, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” the purple mare wanted to know.

“From the day of my birth, to me given was the name Maarith,” the zebra mare replied.

“Nice to meet you. Where did you learn to speak our language so well?” Twilight wondered.

“From my mother second-hand, who lived for years in the pony land. But her time there fell sadly short, because of a terrible reign-shift of sort,” Maarith explained.

Something clicked in the purple mare’s head. This seemed oddly familiar. There was no way this was a coincidence.

“Your mother… Excuse me, but can my friends and I maybe meet her?” she requested.

“She is out to find a tome, but if you follow me, we can meet at home,” the young mare offered.

“Alright. I will tell the others. Give me a moment,” Twilight stated.

Maarith nodded in understanding and waited while the purple mare quickly ran back to her friends with a smile on her face.

“Guys, I think we might have found a lost friend!” she announced.

---

Minutes later, the group arrived at a rather large wooden hut. Maarith opened the door, presenting the richly decorated interior. Many traditional items could be seen on the walls, but there also were countless shelves full of potion ingredients as well as a fire pit with a large terra cotta cauldron on top in the middle of the room. Several additional beds stood ready, as if they were used to frequently have visitors that remained with them for a while. While Maarith’s mother was not home yet, her father was. As so often before, he first seemed confused about what was going on. But luckily, Maarith could act as a translator between him and the ponies, so he quickly came to understand the situation and welcome them. Twilight and her friends were rather excited and couldn’t wait for Maarith’s mother to come home. The purple mare had a strong suspicion about who she might be. One hour later, the door opened again and finally confirmed her suspicions.

With an expression of both surprise and happiness, Zecora came walking in, only to be embraced by Twilight and Fluttershy immediately.

“I can’t believe it’s really you! I thought we would never see you again!” Twilight cheered happily.

“I am overjoyed too, for I thought the same about you!” Zecora greeted back.

“We were worried the demons or cult might have gotten you,” Fluttershy commented.

“As the forest became haunted by the cult, I feared it would lead to a bad result. Sadly, I predicted it would come to this day, so I made sure to get away,” the zebra herbalist explained.

“You never told us that you had a husband and daughter. Sorry if this is a bit tactless, but it makes me wonder why you left the tribal lands in the first place,” Twilight spoke.

“Do not worry about your tact. This is not considered a rude act. You have to see, in our culture, it is expected to journey with the vulture. At one point in a zebra’s life, we experience this urgent strife. One to find enlightenment and who we really are, so we must venture very far. The vultures called me to cursed woods where I would find ingredients and goods to prove myself as a herbalist… but then came the cult’s unfortunate twist. After living with you for many years, my eyes being filled with truest tears, I had no choice but to go back, although a farewell I would lack...” Zecora explained with a sad expression.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad nothing happened to you,” Twilight responded.

“I have heard of your revolution. Are you here to bring it to a conclusion?” Zecora wondered.

“Sadly, we are still far away from actually attacking Blueblood and the cult. But we have already gathered a lot of allies and we hoped to get the support of zebras, too,” the purple mare stated.

“Wise, for our abilities are not to underestimate. With our help, a victory you will soon celebrate. But to achieve this you must be guided, because unlike ponies, zebra tribes are not united,” Zecora commented.

“We will get to that. But for now, we need to recover. This has been a very, very long journey for us. Also, we badly need your help,” Cadence started.

“In that case, just give me the gist, to make sure that I can assist,” Zecora replied.

The group turned around to Rarity, who was barely even conscious. She smiled lightly to see Zecora again, but could not do anything beyond that. Instantly Zecora showed a shocked expression.

“She is very sick, Zecora. We have brought her to every doctor and herbalist we could find, but nopony can even figure out what is wrong with her,” Twilight summarized.

“It does make me truly sad to see her condition is so bad. I will do my very best, but all of you should get some rest. If anyone can find a cure, it will be me, that I assure,” Zecora promised.

“Thank you so much. Also, I guess you are right. I badly need some sleep,” Twilight replied.

“Not just you, Twilight,” Cadence commented. “Let’s find a place to rest for tonight.”

“Mother’s friends shall not be dismissed! You may stay with us, I insist!” Maarith announced.

“A kind young zebra is what you are, clearly the apple did not fall very far,” Zecora commented to her daughter with a chuckle. “I indeed also must say, I would prefer it if you stay.”

“Thank you very much for your invitation, Miss Zecora,” Shining Armor responded.

After everything had been said, Rarity was placed down on a bed made of bamboo canes and large leaves, followed by the others laying down on beds as well. Zecora began to analyze the sick mare and after just a few moments of rubbing her chin in thought, she started gathering various ingredients from her shelves. But before she could even start her first brew, Twilight had already fallen asleep.

Beliefs

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AY45WPiioKXELpldOrYykYh1qCNhJro-EX30t8PkwGo/edit?usp=sharing

Twilight Sparkle found herself to be completely alone in a flat, dark realm. No matter where she looked, nothing but darkness was all around her. She could not even identify what the ground was made out of. Feeling scared and isolated, she started walking. Soon, her aimless wandering turned into a trot and her trotting finally became a full run. She was not even sure if she was moving at all, even though she put her everything in getting away from this place. As she turned, she suddenly saw Despair right in front of her face.

“996 years ago, Celestia forced the reapers to go down a path of self-sacrifice in favor of her subjects,” she stated.

Once more, Twilight Sparkle nearly jumped out of her bed due to a bad dream. After catching herself, she realized that the sun had already risen. So far, Blueblood had been doing a somewhat decent job at cycling between day and night. But who knows how long it would take for him to get annoyed with this task. While the rest of Twilight’s friends were still asleep, Zecora was up already and applying a green paste on Rarity’s chest. The medicine had such a strong, foreign aroma, Twilight could smell it all the way from her bed on the other end of the hut. But it seemed to do its purpose. It had been quite a while since the white mare could sleep so peacefully and without getting a brutal coughing fit.

“I’m glad to see we are finally making some progress on her health,” Twilight whispered.

Zecora instantly looked up in surprise. Apparently, she hadn’t realized that the purple mare had woken up. It was now that Twilight could see the tired eyes of her zebra friend. She must have been staying up all night in attempt to heal Rarity.

“I must have been working far too steady. Is it truly this late already?” Zecora wondered after glancing through a window.

“Wow. I do appreciate your dedication, but you shouldn’t overdo it like this,” Twilight commented.

“Sadly, I am far from done. Results, so far, I do have none. I must do my very best. Otherwise, I can not rest,” the zebra mare spoke with determination.

“If it helps, we suspect her sickness to be of magical nature,” the purple mare spoke.

“I will try calling the spirits for her sake. But for now, I need a break. I suspect you are in the mood for some fresh brewed tea and some food?” Zecora wondered.

“Don’t you want to lay down for a bit?” Twilight wondered.

Her friend just shook her head shortly. Even though she looked tired, she still seemed to have a lot of energy left. She must be used to staying up late for her work, Twilight figured. The least she could do was to help Zecora prepare breakfast.

Before they started, Zecora went over to her sleeping daughter and husband, waking them up. After rubbing their eyes shortly, Maarith got up and picked some incense sticks while her father left the hut with an empty bowl. After lighting the sticks while continuously mumbling the same phrases over and over again in her native language, Maarith eventually brought them in front of a tiny altar consisting of a painted wood mask, several small clay figures and a wooden ladle. She sat down and seemingly began to meditate, still mumbling the same words. In the meanwhile, Twilight was busy cutting some roots with a conjured knife, accompanied by Zecora. Not much later, Zecora’s husband returned with the bowl being filled with muddy water, which he then handed to his daughter.

Now, Maarith’s words changed. While she slowly moved the incense sticks over the bowl, the smoke began to form a ring over the altar. Next, she arranged the figures around the bowl and drew some lines around the mask. The incense sticks extinguished, the ring of smoke descended into the bowl and suddenly, the water became clear. Maarith’s mumbling changed again as she picked up the ladle, filled it with water and evenly poured its content over the figures, which dried up seconds later as if they were drinking up the water. Once the ritual was done, she placed the ladle and figures back in place.

“Ow!” Twilight exclaimed suddenly.

The purple mare had been observing this magical purification ritual with such fascination, she accidentally cut herself with the knife. This sadly now woke up the rest of her friends. But while they were slowly coming to their senses and looking at her in confusion, Zecora casually dropped some liquid on the wound, letting it heal up moments later.

“Thanks,” Twilight spoke while blushing a bit in awkwardness. “I guess I’m still easily distracted when I find something fascinating. That was a lot of ritual for a simple water purification spell.”

“Zebra magic might seem weak, but it’s not, just quite unique. One can not stop to stress how important it is to get the spirits’ bless,” Maarith explained.

“You keep mentioning spirits and your magic seems to be based on them and natural elements, but I don’t quite get it yet,” Twilight commented.

For a moment, Zecora rubbed her chin, trying to think of how to explain this. Her thoughts came to a halt when Maarith tapped her on the shoulder and started speaking to her in their native language. After a short conversation, Zecora nodded and turned back to Twilight.

“Our stories are mostly untold, for zebra magic is very old. Books containing them have long since rotten, but our people have not forgotten. If with a true master you wish to speak, Roho Maua is whom you seek,” she explained.

“Who’s that?” Shining Armor wondered.

“As of our current age, Roho Maua is the zebras’ spirit sage. Her wisdom is well respected and through her, all tribes stay connected,” Maarith replied.

“I have heard only vague rumors of the spirit sages,” Celestia started. “There is always only one and they act as the spiritual leader of all zebra tribes. Supposedly, they are chosen by the spirits themselves and must dedicate their entire life exclusively to them. But these sages live in complete isolation and only the most trustworthy are allowed to know where they are hiding.”

“If we could convince her of our cause, we have good chances to get the support all tribes,” Luna concluded.

“Finally we have a lead,” Twilight commented happily. “Zecora, do you by any chance know where Roho Maua is living?”

“Years ago, I did beseech, asking if she could teach me the pony speech. But my daughter also knows the way, making sure that I can stay. Healing Miss Rarity is, of course, still my priority. Without question, you have my trust. But the group size, you need to adjust. To keep secrecy and to greet, only one of you can come and meet,” the zebra herbalist stated.

“Then I think Twilight should go,” Cadence suggested. “You are the head of the rebellion and I am sure there are quite a few things you would want to learn from her.”

“As long as this is okay with all of you, I definitely would love to have such a rare opportunity,” the purple mare replied.

“Don’t worry about us, Twilight. We will be here,” Fluttershy assured.

“Yeah. Go right ahead. We will stay and guard Rarity,” Derpy agreed, followed by the rest nodding in agreement.

“Well then. Let us have breakfast first and then we will see,” Twilight stated.

Not much later, breakfast was done and the ponies as well as zebras gathered up to eat.

---

After their rather small breakfast, Twilight and Maarith went on their way towards the thick jungle. Just getting there would take them an hour. The way through the jungle itself would be a lot more difficult, since it was so tightly clustered. But Maarith assured that they would not need to bring any supplies. The path to the spirit sage was supposedly dotted with small hidden camps for pilgrims to rest.

As they arrived at the jungle, Twilight’s suspicions became confirmed. Hours passed extremely fast as they tried to find their way through all the vines, ferns and bushes. The huge ancient trees created the rooftop of this enormous forest, which blocked out most of the sunlight. It was pretty much the opposite of the savanna. Humid, dark, but still very hot. A very draining combination for Twilight, although it seemed to affect Maarith very little. Yet, wandering through thick vegetation that provided little light even during the middle of the day seemed all too familiar to her.

At the end of the day, as it truly started to get dark, they arrived at one of those hidden camps Maarith mentioned. A small fireplace, surrounded by wooden figures. The young zebra mare performed a short ritual in front of the statues, each one suddenly beginning to move and lower a limb, presenting gifts to them. Some contained tinder and flints for the fire, some water and food, others even a comfortable mat to wrap themselves in during the night.

It was so strange to Twilight. So foreign. Of course, she witnessed zebra magic in the past before. But it still seemed so puzzlingly alien. How did it work? She would have loved to observe Maarith for just a little longer, but their pilgrimage had drained her. Twilight's eyes soon fell shut on their own.

---

It was the second day of their journey to the zebra spirit sage now. Twilight had stopped thinking hours ago and just kept following Maarith through the endless walls of green, being pestered by mosquitoes and other parasites. In the few moments she felt being bitten, causing her to regain her wits for the moment, she just used her magic to free herself from the bugs. For everything else, she was not able to focus enough. She was panting and sweating profusely, her whole body craving for water and a cool place to recover. As if something was reading her mind, it suddenly started to rain. Twilight let out a sigh of relief, getting the feeling that this was not a coincidence. It was no ordinary rain either. The purple mare could feel magic in the drops. As the cooling sensation washed over her body, she noticed that her bug bites stopped itching, as if they were being washed away.

“We are close, right?” Twilight wondered.

Maarith nodded in response. From the moment it started to rain, the atmosphere of the jungle seemed to change. There was something in the air, all around the two of them. It kind of felt familiar, though. She had been feeling this before, but not quite as gentle and harmonious as it was now. After passing a few more trees, Maarith stopped and pointed up. There was a hut in the crown of one of the trees before them, so well hidden that she would have never spotted it on her own. But how would they be able to get up there? Once again, it seemed like something was reading her mind. The trees close to the one with the hut on top started to move their branches, creating stairs for them to walk on, spiraling all the way up to the hut. There truly was a lot of magic flowing around. But still… this was strange. The plants obviously wouldn’t be able to move like that on their own. They seemed to be in some sort of symbiotic relationship with the magic in the area. Even though she had learned so much about magic already, this was something completely new to her. Twilight kept staring at the branches with wide open eyes and a slightly opened mouth as they formed a path before them and moved back to their original position as soon as they passed.

At last, they reached their destination. Now that Twilight stood right in front of the building, she realized that it was actually a temple. While the outside was made out of leaves and branches to disguise it as much as possible, the inside was made out of chiseled sandstone. Figures similar to those she had seen before throughout the various villages were displayed in the walls and the two pillars keeping the roof up. The place was small, even smaller than Zecora’s hut. So as soon as they stepped inside, they found the altar at the back end of the temple, in front of which a zebra mare adorned with countless golden rings around her neck and limbs, even in her ears was praying quietly. The air was filled with smoke from the incense sticks at the altar, yet it seemed to move and swirl in frequent harmonious patterns while the spirit sage kept whispering. Out of respect, both Maarith and Twilight kept standing just behind the open entrance, waiting for her to finish her prayer in silence. Whatever she was doing, it must be the cause of the magical sensation Twilight was feeling. She felt a strong pleasant tingling in her horn, going all the way down into her forehead. It felt like she was absorbing the feeling, giving her strength and focus again. In fact, from the moment it started to rain until she arrived here, she felt herself getting increasingly stronger and more focused again. Roho Maua must have been expecting them, the purple mare assumed.

The prayer finished and the smoke vanished. As the zebra mare turned around, the golden rings jingled audibly. Only now could Twilight see that there were even more golden rings attached to the ends of each strand of her long black and white mane. She smiled at their visitors, her eyes half closed. She seemed to be extremely calm, giving off a strong benevolent magical aura.

“Maarith, I remember you. Tell me, how does your mother do?” Roho asked gently and calmly.

“Home again, having zebra grees, ensuring she can help by any means. It is just as it should. My mother is doing good,” Maarith replied.

“Your mother helps, that I can see. But whom have you brought to me?” the spirit sage wondered.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am the leader of the rebellion against Blueblood. It is an honor to meet you,” the purple mare replied.

“An important cause, a noble deed. No easy task it is to lead. The spirits told me you would come. The cult Blueblood leads make them feel numb. A great power, very evil. It can be sensed by even a weevil. But unlike him, you stay meek. It is my support which you do seek,” Roho Maua spoke.

“That is true. I am glad the word made it all the way here,” the purple mare replied. “We have been trying to talk to the zebra tribes, but we don’t understand their language enough. There also seems to be too many differences between the individual tribes. But against an enemy such as Blueblood and the BloodClaw Cult, we need all zebras to unite. I was told you would be able to help us to accomplish this.”

“Destructive power like his can not be ignored. But I must ask, what will you do when Equestria is restored?” Roho wondered.

“We hope to give Celestia, Luna and Cadence their immortality back and bring them back on their thrones. I just want to return life to normal, as it used to be,” Twilight explained.

“But I know that this normality, which has been in Equestria, was mere formality. Evil spirits do still dwell. Do you wish to destroy them as well?” the spirit sage wanted to know.

“Those are not spirits, honored spirit sage. Those are demons. They are a hazard to all life in this world. So long as they exist, they will continue to bring terror wherever they go. The only way to prevent something like the BloodClaw Cult to ever happen again is by wiping them out completely. But I’m not so foolish as to think that this could be accomplished any time soon, seeing as we struggle to just get Equestria back and driving them away,” Twilight stated.

“The demons may be quite obscure, but to deny them to be spirits, I would not be so sure. Both fighting them or leaving them be poses a risk. But tell me, do you really believe they have no right to exist?” Roho wondered.

“I understand that you have very little knowledge about the demons and I don’t really have the time to explain everything we know about them just yet. But I can absolutely assure you, they are a force that does not belong into this world. I’m not so sure how these things work, but perhaps you should ask your spirits about their opinion. I do feel a strong magical presence after all, so I am sure they are here,” Twilight stated.

Again, Roho Maua began to smile and noded lightly. There was such a calm aura about her. Usually, Twilight would be a lot more fierce when it came to the topic of demons. She just wanted these creatures to be erased so badly, she could get a bit aggressive in her debates. But there was something very soothing and relaxing about the spirit sage.

“The fact you have such a strong magic sense can not be a mere coincidence. Inside you, I feel a yearn. A strong desire just to learn. Come, pray with me and very soon, you will begin to see,” she invited.

“Oh I’m… I’m not sure. I mean, yes, I do want to learn as much about magic as I can. But… you see… we ponies aren’t really religious in any way,” Twilight replied with a bit of inconvenience written in her face.

“Come, Miss Twilight. Give it a try. Such a rare opportunity, you do not want to let pass by,” Maarith whispered.

The purple mare hesitated for a moment. This was outside of her comfort zone, since the memories of the cultists speaking their prayers during twisted rituals were branded deeply into her mind. The only time she did this herself was when she was disguising as one of them. Worshipping higher beings… The princesses never wanted their subjects to do anything like that, even though they were demi-goddesses. But be it as it may, Twilight was offered an opportunity to learn something that was yet beyond her grasp. Perhaps it was time to expand her mind on these aspects now as well.

“Okay…“ she eventually replied.

Roho Maua lowered her head a bit and made a gesture, inviting her to sit by her side in front of the altar. Still insecure, Twilight stepped over to her and took position. The spirit sage herself turned her focus back to the altar as well. The incense sticks were still slightly smoldering, but no smoke was rising from them anymore. The zebra mare sat down cross-legged, placing her front hooves against each other and letting them rest on her crossed hindlegs. Twilight mimicked the position, then looked at Roho waiting for instructions.

“Open your soul, clear your mind. Leave the troubles of this world behind. Repeat my words, just give it a try. Soon enough, the spirits will reply,” she spoke.

Twilight gave a nod, then Roho closed her eyes. She spoke slowly and clearly in the language of the zebras, word by word so Twilight could follow easily. She as well had her eyes closed and tried to focus on her words alone. The purple mare felt uncomfortable, speaking words of which she did not even know their meaning. It took minutes and she was nearly convinced that whatever they were trying to do would not work. But then, she began to feel a wave of magic approach her. Instantly, her eyes opened and she saw that the incense stick magically started to smoke again. But because she stopped praying, the sensation soon vanished again, as well as the smoke.

“Spirits can be very shy. They usually avoid an open eye. But I feel they are curious, so give them time. To speak with them, repeat my rhyme,” Roho Maua instructed.

“Okay. I’m sorry… let’s try it again,” Twilight agreed.

Once more, they both closed their eyes and started their prayers. This time, Twilight told herself to not get so easily distracted and go through with it. This did fascinate her after all, so she should be as open-minded as she can be. Again, the minutes passed as they were praying and the magical sensation returned. But this time, Twilight kept her eyes shut and kept on repeating after Roho Maua. After a while, she realized a pattern in the prayer and kept on repeating it on her own. Slowly, she began to hear something similar to a ghostly whisper. As it gradually got louder, she could make out what it was saying.

“Hush, hush, do not fear. Even though that we are here. We mean no harm, so please be eased. All we want is for you to be pleased. Spirits of great, spirits of old. Spirits of stories yet to be told. So if it brings you pleasence, bless us with your presence.”

It took Twilight mere moments to understand that what this voice was saying were exactly their prayers, translated into Twilight’s language. It seems like rhyming is the way of spirits to communicate, which would explain why zebras exclusively communicate via rhymes. Even Discord was using rhymes for his riddles, even though he seemed to have adapted to the way ponies speak for quite some time already.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes again, seeing the incense sticks smoking again as she continued to pray. Just like before, the smoke seemed to move in patterns and swirls. In fact, she believed to see figures in them. Eyes looking at her. Lips repeating their words.

Roho Maua suddenly stopped praying. At first, Twilight didn’t notice and just kept going. But then she too became silent. As she turned over to her to see why she ended her prayer so suddenly, she could see a strange, ghostly figure made out of smoke. It seemed to be a tree creature with branches as arms and roots as feet, its mossy bark displaying a face. Roho Maua was looking right at it, but the creature did not look at her. Instead, it was focusing Twilight with an expression that could be interpreted as insecure curiosity. The purple mare had a very similar expression on her face as she slowly stood up and took a few steps towards the tree made of smoke.

It seemed to be much more insecure than Twilight was, taking only a single step forward. But as they were looking at each other for a couple of seconds, it extended one of its branch arms in her direction, apparently wanting to touch her. Twilight did the same, lifting a front leg and slowly letting it approach the hand of twigs. Her hoof was passing right through the smoke, but a pleasantly warm feeling filled her as it did. A few seconds later, the smoke disappeared.

Twilight stood there with wide open eyes and mouth. To her, this was as if she had met an alien. She found herself speechless, staring at the place where the tree creature had been just moments ago.

“Was… that a spirit? They do actually exist?” she questioned after a while.

Roho Maua still had that pleasant calm smile on her face as she nodded in response. Twilight focused Maarith and she as well nodded in response with a happy smile.

“I… I honestly had my doubts they were even real…” the purple mare stated.

“For what I understand, ponies did already encounter spirits in their homeland. Windigos, spirits of winter. Their aura so cold, they can make friendship splinter. Discord, chaos in physical form. Washing over Equestria like a storm. The one which you just saw is the reason you came this far. A guardian spirit, benevolent and kind. Giving healing rain and one with all trees you could find,” Roho Maua stated.

Only now did Twilight understand that Roho Maua hadn’t been casting any spells at all so far. It was this tree spirit that informed the sage of their coming. It helped Twilight cool off, heal her bug bites and strengthened her mind, as well as creating the stairs which led up to this temple.

“I always thought that the word ‘spirit’ is given to everything that could not be clearly defined otherwise. Nopony understood what Discord or the Windigos actually were. But… if spirits can be so hostile, why do you worship them?” she wanted to know.

“Spirits can be good or bad, depending on which intentions they had. Whenever imbalance is in the world, magic sprouts a leaf, out of which a spirit is unfurled. They can protect, they can destroy. They can bring sadness or bring joy. But if you know how they are pleased, spirits are easily appeased. And once the spirits are on your side, you can make it past any tide. That is why, for so many hundred years, we zebras lived without any fears,” the spirit sage explained.

“I see… that explains a lot about the zebra culture and why you live so peacefully with your religion. You must be allied with many spirits. That must also be the reason why you can use magic as non-magical creatures,” Twilight figured.

Again, Roho Maua nodded in confirmation. Things were finally coming together for Twilight. Zecora was right by saying getting the support of the zebras would be immensely valuable for their cause. If the zebras joined the rebellion, countless spirits would follow and support it as well. But there still were a few things left that confused her.

“But aren’t spirits, ghosts and souls basically all the same?” the purple mare wanted to know.

“According to old zebra lore, spirits were here long before. They existed for a much longer span, before even the first life began. They have few limits, free to be ghostly or physical form. As for souls, wearing a body is the norm. Spirits often leave us souls shaken, frequently being as ghosts mistaken. Ghosts, in fact, do not be. I hope that now you begin to see,” Roho summarized.

“Hmm… And there is no way for a soul to become a spirit?” Twilight wondered.

Both Roho and Maarith shook their heads slowly. This knowledge was very exotic, but it must have been very old as well. This only brought up further questions.

“How come you zebras know so much about spirits and we ponies know even less about them than about dragons?” Twilight asked.

“With multiple demi-goddesses making the land pleasant, why should spirits feel the need to be present? With harmony being sown, only spirits of disruption may not leave the land alone. And during times when buildings burn, souls are too busy healing to just learn. The only pony who ever, fully hearted, studied spirits was Starswirl The Bearded,” the spirit sage replied.

“Heh. That makes sense. According to the stories I read over him, he must have been quite the glutton for knowledge. He would have studied everything that was even remotely linked to magic. I guess he was the only pony who ever truly understood spirits in a level as zebras do,” Twilight commented.

This time, Roho Maua remained silent. She just kept smiling calmly at Twilight, pleased to see that she was beginning to understand the way of zebras and their spirit-centered religion. After a while, she approached the purple mare and placed her left front hoof on her shoulder.

“I do see your intentions as just and by understanding us, you gained my trust. In your fight against king, cult and demon, I will speak to every shaman. In attempt to make the world better, I will bring each tribe together,” Roho Maua promised.

“Thank you. This means so much to me and the entire rebellion,” Twilight spoke with joy in her voice.

“The way home is long. You need to rest. For the night, please be my guest,” the spirit sage offered.

“Once again, thank you, honored spirit sage. In fact, I think I will try to pray to the spirits some more,” Twilight replied, then sat down in front of the altar again.

Bravery

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nBDLFt0h0gBrrSBECYUi7nsWb04VGyXqVc_g8NspBT8/edit?usp=sharing

Compared to the exhausting journey through the jungle, the way back to the zebra tribe felt much faster and easier to Twilight. Mostly because she managed to get several spirits interested in her, making her path back more convenient. But what truly made time to seem flying by to her was that she couldn’t stop thinking about what she had learned. Actually meeting some of the spirits in the tribal lands was a mindblowing experience to her.

The world seemed so much more alive now. She focused on her magic sense, feeling invisible beings all around her. Who knows how many creatures were there, which she just couldn’t perceive due to her limited senses and bodily abilities. That thought also made her think of many other things that were often overlooked: Mushrooms, ants, fern, worms, grass, fish and so much more. Twilight’s world was rich with beauty and life. All of this would be destroyed should the demons win this war. The purple mare always knew that much was at stake, but only now did she truly begin to grasp what a world ruled by a corrupt king, demons and cult would be like. No matter what, their rebellion had to succeed. It just had to. There was no way she would let something like this happen. Silently, she told herself that she would fight until her last breath, come what may come.

---

With the purple mare absent, the gray figure Fluttershy kept on seeing dared to appear again. It was standing outside, staring at Rarity through the window. Nopony but the reaper mare was able to see it and due its position, they all would just assume that she was looking out the window, sunken in thought. But they didn’t really look at her anyway. Most of them were focused on the sick unicorn. Their eyes were filled with worry and especially Zecora seemed to be very sad. The days of intense medical care managed to stabilize Rarity. She was awake and doing fairly well, considering her condition.

Fluttershy, though, was not too sure where her black eyes should wander. Sometimes, she was looking at Rarity. Other times, she focused the gray figure. Being unable to feel anything aside, she didn’t really find any reason to care about the current situation. As so often, her thoughts were in the past. It had only been a few short years, but the time before she became a reaper already seemed to fade to gray and became increasingly more like a fairy tale: Too good to have been true.

Her left front hoof rose up to the heart pin, covering it. There is a difference between not being able to feel at all and feeling numb on the inside. At this point, Fluttershy just felt numb. Of course, she still cared for her friends and she would protect them all with her life. But as the time passed by over the years, she began to think more and more that everything was just all the same. It was becoming increasingly harder for her to find motivation. All which kept her going were duties, her friends and of course her memories. While her behavior had heavily changed due to her transformation, she was now at the point where she was feeling like she would lose her personality altogether. Just like Twilight, Fluttershy made a discovery on her own. This must have been what Obsidian had been going through, she figured. If only she could still feel anything. She would be even more sorry for her lost love now.

The gray figure vanished suddenly. About ten minutes later, Maarith and the purple mare returned. As her friends welcomed them with some short smiles and hugs, they could already tell that something was steering in her again.

“You seem so different now, Twilight,” Cadence started. “So calm and relaxed, but also very thoughtful and focused.”

“Looks like the way of the zebras rubbed off on you a bit, darling,” Rarity commented.

“You could say that,” the purple mare confirmed. “That was a very eye-opening experience. But let’s get to the important news. I got Roho Maua’s support. She will help us unite the zebra tribes and convince them to join the rebellion.”

“Great news!” Derpy exclaimed happily.

“Indeed. Is there anything new about Rarity’s disease?” Twilight asked, looking at Zecora

The zebra herbalist had not yet spoken a word and even continued to remain silent after being directly spoken to. She just looked at the group as if she was bordering to break out in tears. They all noticed this and eventually turned around to her.

“What’s wrong, Zecora?” Twilight asked again.

Zecora still couldn’t bring herself to reply. Her eyes wandered to Rarity, who now started to get very worried herself. If it was this difficult for her to say, it had to be something very, very bad. After a while, Zecora closed her eyes, took a deep breath and focused the group again.

“My friends… I’m sad to say… Miss Rarity will not be okay. I did everything I could and nothing worked as it should. Be it magic or natural, the effects were only minimal. After thinking, long and long, I finally figured out what is wrong,” she spoke.

“Well, what is it?” Fluttershy wanted to know.

“It is hard for me to say this out in a single breath… But… I am afraid… Miss Rarity received a Kiss of Death,” Zecora spoke with a lot of hesitation.

“I’m… not sure I’m familiar with that,” Celestia commented.

“A disease curse that, although extremely rare, is known to cause a lot of despair. With a kiss, it is sown. A cure for it was never known. It is torture, developing slow. Over years, the agony will grow. The name is not to be taken as a lie… I am sorry to say but… Miss Rarity is going to die…” the zebra mare announced.

Nearly everpony present felt like they were being hit by a train. Of course, Rarity was the most shocked of all. Everyone would have expected of her to start crying now. But the shock was so deep, she couldn’t.

“I… I’m… going to die…?” she asked back, not wanting to believe what Zecora just said.

As their zebra friend nodded, Rarity’s eyes began to fill with tears. It finally got through. Immediately, all of her friends gathered around and held her gently, most of them close to crying themselves.

The silence was gone and instead the sound of the sobbing white mare filled the hut. For minutes, they just held Rarity. It was another one of those moments where none of them knew what to say or even think. A few times, Fluttershy, Celestia, Derpy and Cadence opened their mouths, intending to give a soothing statement and cheering her up. Yet, they just didn’t know what to say. They tried to sort their thoughts, to come up with any words. But they failed.

Twilight was no different. She stood there next to Rarity, holding her hoof and feeling the tears run down her face. She just couldn’t believe it. Once again, she was going to lose a friend. She had already lost so many and there was nothing in her power to change this… As that thought crossed her mind, her expression suddenly turned from sadness into anger.

“No,” she spoke out audibly, getting the attention of all present. “Not again. I’m done with seeing friends die around me! Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Obsidian Shards, Moondancer, Crystal Blossom… Enough is enough! I won’t let this happen again! Especially not to you, Rarity!”

“But Zecora just said that her sickness is incurable…” Shining Armor resumed.

“So what? I don’t care! How many times did we have to fight against impossible odds and we did it? This is no different! I won’t let any more of you die! Not, one, more!” Twilight argued, returning her focus to her sick friend and holding her hoof with both front legs. “Rarity, I won’t let you die. I won’t! If I have to, I will travel the entire world to find a cure and if it doesn’t exist, I will invent it! I won’t give the demons one single more victory!”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. From here on, her path down is very steep. The most for her that I can heft is that she has merely a few months left,” Zecora commented.

“That will have to do then. As soon as we get back to the crystal empire, I will mobilize everything to find a cure. Don’t worry, Rarity. I will save you,” Twilight promised.

The white mare did not reply. She just closed her eyes, continuing to cry quietly.

---

Two hours later, the group got ready to depart from the Zebra Tribal Lands. While the others were busy packing, Rarity was not allowed to move much. To give her as much time as possible, Zecora advised that she should remain lying down for most of the time. So she just remained in her bed, curled up and crying every now and then. Long ago, Rarity used to get a bit over the top when it came to expressing her emotions. She used to act things out much worse than they actually were, thus causing difficulties with coming across as genuine and authentic. But this sight right there, her laying curled up, losing all her hope and crying without making any noise… Twilight would prefer Rarity’s theatric side over this genuine one. Seeing her like this was heartbreaking to the purple mare. After all they had been through, it seemed that she now as well had reached the end of her strength and was willing to just give up. The rebellion wasn’t even over yet and things already began to fall apart.

Twilight’s gaze wander around the hut. Nearly all of her friends had the same sad and hopeless expression on their faces. She hated this sight. She hated that they all had to go through this. If she could, she would shoulder all their burdens, just to see them smiling happily again. But there was no point in daydreaming and begging for illusions. These were very hard times with a lot at stake and now that Twilight was the new mistress of the reapers, she had become the center of everything. All the power rested on her shoulders, as well as all the burdens. If she failed, everything would fail. If she gave up, everyone would follow. This was all the more reason for her to force herself to keep going. She wouldn’t give up. If all the buildings crumble around her, she wouldn’t give up. If all those she cares about die around her, she wouldn’t give up. If she was the last mare standing, she still wouldn’t give up. She never would.

As the cart was finally packed and they were ready to leave, the purple mare used her magic to gently lift Rarity on top of it. She immediately found herself surrounded by countless potions and herbs, which Zecora had generously gifted to them. Although they would not cure Rarity and it would not stop her condition from getting worse, it would at least buy her valuable time.

“Thank you for everything, Zecora,” Twilight spoke, giving her friend one last hug. “Take care… and stay safe.”

This was not a happy separation. Zecora still had a frown on her face and rubbed her eyes shortly to get the tears out of them before she started waving them goodbye. The group waved back, then turned around and started walking.

No, Twilight would never give up. There was a lot that needed to be done now. A lot of research, a lot of organization and management. She would need scouts and send them all over the place. She would need to talk to all the species that had joined the rebellion for any information that could help. It wasn’t over yet, especially for Rarity.

---

A few things had changed in the nearly three months the group was away. While the diamond dogs were scouting the underground of Equestria, they came across an old friend: Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound. He was badly injured and very weak, but they managed to bring him back to the Crystal Empire in time. Apparently, he tried to keep the demons from leaving Tartarus, but eventually became overwhelmed. He was recovering well and soon turned out to become another valuable asset for their rebellion. He definitely would make a significant difference during ‘The Red Day’, as the rebels began to call the dreaded upcoming assault of the demons.

A lot of internal difficulties were being settled during the time of the group’s journey as well. While the equestrian ponies, the arabian ponies, the crystal ponies and the mules were getting along with the cattle very well, they were still terrified of all those carnivorous allies. The diamond dogs seemed to be very little interested in cows and bulls, but that was a whole different story with the griffons. They had been known to hunt cattle in the past and the fact that the supply of food for creatures that don’t mainly feed on hay, oats and vegetables was barely organized, causing stocks to become scarce, didn’t help either. The griffons could make-do with bread and pastry, but many of them were starting to crave meat, causing them to stare at the cows with a look on their faces that would terrify any herbivore. Luckily, the griffons present in the Crystal Empire were highly trained soldiers and knew how to keep themselves together. It was unlikely that any murders would happen within the rebellion, especially because the amount of vegetarian allies clearly predominated, putting pressure on the griffons to behave. But the biggest guardians of the Cattle were definitely the minotaurs. Being nearly twice as big and strong as a griffon caused them to become the main protectors of their cousins.

Aside of that, there were further bad news. The Rarity clones in the empire had started to die now. Nearly every day, another one collapsed on the ground and had to be reaped. This gave a constant reminder to the original and all the remaining clones of the grim outlook their near future would provide.

But while there were problems on one side, there also were many positive things to say on the other. Being already related to each other, several cows and bulls started relationships with minotaurs. Nearly at the same time, other interspecies couples popped up. Donkeys could be seen dating diamond dogs, griffons were with arabian ponies and more. These couples were rare for now, but the general desire of understanding and getting along with each other created an atmosphere of tolerance, openly welcoming this change. A sight many in the group, Twilight in particular, needed. There was still hope. Arch-enemies were banding to fight a common enemy, creating new friendships and lovers along the way. Life and love alike still find a way, despite the dire circumstances.

But the most important questions remained unanswered. There was still no progress in trying to link the Elements of Harmony with the Crystal Heart. Despite the best efforts of donkey scientists and arabian scholars, they so far just couldn’t find a way to create a connection, stating that the differences between those artifacts were just too immense. They still seemed optimistic, though. They hadn’t tried everything yet and were starting to understand both the elements and the heart slowly. They were sure that there would be some traces of similarities between the two. After all, they were both based on gems. The scientists and magicians simply asked for more time and resumed their work.

Twilight Sparkle took an example of this and turned her plans to action. With her order to find anything even remotely related to Rarity’s disease, she set a lot in motion. Hundreds of scouts lead by the Wonderbolts were spreading all around, turning every stone and scanning every plant. Thousands of samples returned to the purple mare on a daily basis, which she directly brought to the library. She had claimed a section of the massive building for herself, setting up a medical laboratory right in the corner between the science, medicine and magic book shelves. While her eyes were focused on the samples, she kept on picking up one book after another, using her magic to instantly learn its content. Everything that could be even remotely useful became absorbed by her, even if it was on the other end of the library. Nopony could keep track of the amount of knowledge she consumed per day and even she did not pay attention to anything else but her search for a cure.

Twilight turned herself into a data processing machine, barely eating or sleeping. She spent every waking hour doing research and even brought her work to the dining table and briefing room. Rarity may have become silent, introverted and thoughtful, but Twilight’s behavior wasn’t any more healthy either.

But eventually, as the time passed, she needed to put her personal goals aside more and more, returning her focus to the rebellion. They still weren’t ready for The Red Day and since Twilight put all efforts in gathering allies and improving defences on hiatus in favor of finding a cure for Rarity’s Kiss of Death, her allies as well as friends started to get increasingly more nervous. Finally, it was Applejack who broke her concentration.

“Snap out of it, Twilight! It is mighty nice of ya to put so much effort into helpin’ Rarity, but ya can’t leave the big thing hangin’ for a smaller thing!” she shouted with a grim expression

Twilight twitched heavily, letting the magnifying glass she held aloft in front of her face by magic drop on the table, as well as the plant sample she had just received from Spitfire. Her ears dropped, her lips tensed and she gained an awkward expression while rubbing her tired eyed.

“Sorry…” was all the purple mare said in return.

“Look. Ah don’t really blame ya for trying to help. None of us are. But Rarity’s life isn’t the only one hangin’ on a loose branch. We’ve got thousands and thousands of friends walkin’ around the empire now. They all entrusted us their lives! We can’t let them down! We need to focus on the things ahead!” Applejack explained.

“I have to agree with Applejack. As important as Rarity may be to us, we also have to focus on the others,” Fluttershy commented.

The others remained silent. Rarity as well just kept sitting on her pillow with her head lowered, staring at the table. Twilight couldn’t help herself but to look at her in worry for a moment before she could catch herself again.

“You’re right… So? Any news of the other regions of the world? Any more governments, kingdoms or empires looking to join us?” Twilight wanted to know.

“No. Nothing,” Shining Armor started. “Blueblood may not have given an official order yet, but the demons are starting to block our efforts to spread the word of our rebellion on their own now. We get random reports of scouts being attacked and messengers disappearing. We are currently working on finding safer routes.”

“We are pretty close to reaching our limits. The demons memorize our paths and tactics. It gets increasingly harder to find a secure way out of Equestria,” Luna added.

“Then… If going over the land is getting this difficult, how about going across the ocean?” Derpy suggested.

“The eastern sea does not provide many places to look for allies.There is only one major landmass, which the griffons inhabit. Other than that, there are just a few unpopulated islands,” Celestia responded.

“Hm…” Twilight mumbled, turning around to the map of Equestria and analyzing it. “Let’s see… We have been this way… We’ve been walking that way… Oh, this is tricky. I just wished it wouldn’t be so difficult to get any decent maps of our world. Those that already had been in the library were very outdated. Maybe I should-”

Suddenly, they could hear knocking at the door to the meeting room. As it slowly opened, the group could see Truesight poking her head through.

“That will not be necessary, my mistress,” she started speaking. “May I enter? I have what you need.”

“Oh! Of course! Come in!” Twilight spoke happily.

With a lot of caution, the red mare with rainbow mane entered, as usual closely accompanied by her foster child Amber. The reaper clairvoyant’s behavior had changed dramatically since Celestia had stepped down and gave her title to Twilight. She became very humble towards the former keepers of harmony, almost coming across as timid. A change that certainly made Twilight happy. It really seemed like Truesight finally accepted and respected the whole group again.

As she arrived in front of Twilight, she kneeled down and opened her cloak. Amber was still hiding underneath her, but she seemed to have improved. Without much hesitation, she actually stepped out of her cover to hand Twilight a large scroll, who immediately unrolled it. Once again, Truesight had proven her skill in predicting the future. It was a map of the griffon empire and the surrounding oceans.

“That’s great! Thanks a lot!” Twilight replied happily.

Truesight and Amber remained silent. While the filly started hiding again, Truesight kept her head low. Moments later, she got back up and just left again.

“Glad we got at least that fixed,” Applejack commented.

“I am very relieved to see this change of mind in her myself,” Celestia agreed with a smile. “Well, Twilight? What do you think?”

“One moment. I’m still looking,” the purple mare replied as she studied the map while rubbing her chin.

Celestia was right. The eastern sea truly did not provide much in terms of finding more allies. Dozens of tiny islands, hardly big enough to even carry a bigger population. She remembered the names of several of these islands, because the Wonderbolts had focused mostly on gathering hard to reach samples during their scouting for a cure. Of course, Twilight wanted this map and Truesight knew this would happen. So she provided. But Twilight was sure that, if this map wouldn’t bring up what she was looking for, she would have asked for another. Why did Truesight only bring this one?

A certain name caught her attention: The Flaming Islands. A cluster of medium-size islands with a lot of volcanic activity that was widely known to be the home of dragons. Twilight kept staring at this name for a while, sunken in thought.

“What’s the matter? Did you find something?” Cadence wondered, immediately noticing the change in her expression and behavior.

“Yes, I got an idea. It’s daring, but I think it may be worth a shot,” the purple mare replied, putting the map on the center of the table and pointing at the place she had been analyzing so much.

As it was to expect, many eyes went wide and mouths slightly opened in disbelief. Glances kept jumping between the map and Twilight, who seemed to be way too calm for what she was suggesting to do.

“Ya can’t be serious, Sugarcube,” Applejack commented.

“I am not making jokes, AJ,” the purple mare replied.

“Dragons? Are you sure about this, Twily?” Shining Armor wanted to know.

“I know, I know. This is dangerous. But think about it! Dragons are among the most powerful beings in the world! If we could maybe just get a few of them to join our cause, we would have good chances to not only survive four demon strongholds attacking at once, but also to defeat them and critically hit Blueblood’s army!” Twilight assured.

“In all the time I have been ruling Equestria, I never could manage to establish any kind of agreement with them,” Celestia started. “From my own experience, I can say that dragons are very arrogant. They are mighty and they know that. Most creatures can’t do anything about them and their decisions. They are also incredibly territorial. If they get something in their mind, it is not possible to convince them otherwise. Throughout the centuries, dragons kept coming to Equestria, claiming areas and driving away all other creatures. But where I failed, I am sure you will succeed, Twilight.”

“Thanks. I will give it my all to convince them. And on a side note, there might also be a chance that we find Rarity’s cure there!” the purple mare stated.

“What makes you think that?” Fluttershy wanted to know.

“Simple: Next to no intelligent creature was ever brave enough to go to the homelands of the dragons. The Wonderbolts as well avoided the Flaming Islands so far. Maybe the only reason why nopony ever found a cure for the Kiss of Death was because they didn’t dare to look for it there!” Twilight figured.

“You do realize that this is a massive journey, right?” Luna wondered. “We will have to arrange a ship and sea-faring consumed a lot of time. We will need months just to arrive.”

“I think it would be worth it even for the remote chance to get the support of the dragons and finding a cure for Rarity,” Twilight argued, then turned her focus to the white mare. “Of course, that would mean we would need to bring you along. If we actually find a cure there, we can’t waste any time. You would have to get it immediately.”

“Okay…” Rarity replied meekly.

“Don’t worry. I will make sure nothing happens to you,” the purple mare reassured. “The question is, though: Who else will join in?”

Immediately, Applejack let out a sigh. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to do much in her condition and at this point, she had become essential for keeping the rebellion running while Twilight was absent.

“Ah shucks. I guess I’ll have to stay again. Can’t really run fast enough if things go down,” she spoke while tilting her hat forward a bit.

“Well, with such a high-risk journey, it would be better to bring at least one reaper, I guess,” Derpy figured. “I’ll join you.”

“Thanks, Ditzy,” Twilight replied with a smile immediately.

The purple mare focused the former princesses and her brother. Without words, they were just looking at each other for a few moments and then began to smile.

“I think I speak for all four of us if I say that Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor and I would gladly join in. It is just safer that way,” Celestia stated. followed by nodding of the others.

Twilight smiled in response. It was clear to her that they would be coming. But now, her focus turned to Fluttershy. She kept her head low, focusing the heart pin and gently caressing it.

“Dragons…” she spoke quietly, apparently noticing that she was being watched.

“Are you still afraid of them?” Twilight wanted to know.

“I’m… not sure… I don’t really feel anything, but I know I used to be really afraid of them. I guess I’m just… cautious,” the yellow mare replied.

“We really could use you for this journey. We need the extra protection,” Twilight stated.

“Then I will join you,” Fluttershy replied shortly.

“Good! Again… Sorry, Applejack. Sorry we are keeping you out of these things,” the purple mare apologized to her friend.

“Honestly? Ah think Ah had a fair share of adventurin’ already. Won’t be able to follow mah dream of startin’ a family while I’m away riskin’ my life anyway, would Ah? Ya’ll got your chores, Ah got mine. Ain’t nothin’ more to it than that,” Applejack stated.

“Alright… Well I will see what kind of ship we can arrange and whom we can bring as guards. You should all get to bed early tonight. We have a lot of preparations to make in the next days,” Twilight finished.

With that, the meeting was over. Twilight, Shining Armor, Derpy, Cadence, Fluttershy, Luna and Celestia got up and started walking towards the door. Applejack went over to Rarity, aiming to help her up. The orange mare immediately noticed an unusually serious expression on her friend’s face. She had tear trails, but looked down to the floor very grimly. As Applejack placed her front hoof on Rarity’s shoulder, she just pushed it away and forced herself up on her own.

“Twilight, wait a moment,” she requested.

Not only Twilight, but all members of the circle stopped and turned around in surprise. They can’t recall ever having seen such a serious and determined expression on the fashion diva’s face before. This was way beyond the expression she had during arguments and competitions. She slowly walked over to the purple mare, her eyes focused on the ground and rapidly jumping around, as if she was rethinking something. The conclusion seemed to remain the same, though, as she not much later stood before Twilight, wiping the tears out of her face and placing her left front leg on her shoulder.

“Darling… I really do appreciate all the efforts in trying to help me. But all your determination aside, you as well will have to agree that we should take steps in case you… can’t heal me,” she started.

“Rarity… I am not going to talk about preparations for your funeral,” Twilight denied with a sad expression.

“Neither am I, darling. That is exactly why I wanted to talk to you specifically. You are the mistress of the reapers now, so you are the one who can make what I am going to ask you for possible,” the white mare continued.

“You… you don’t mean…” Twilight spoke, very unsure.

“Actually, that is exactly what I mean. Please… should you not be able to find a cure in time… tell your reapers to not reap me,” Rarity requested.

“W… why? Why would you want that? You should know what happens if they don’t. I can’t let you go through so much pain. I wouldn’t be able to take seeing you suffer like that,” Twilight stated.

“I am fully aware of the consequences. But it’s not something that can’t be undone at any point later. In the past, I may have made a few mistakes and put my generosity into question. But the time where we could allow ourselves to be selfish are over. This war isn’t anywhere near to being done and I won’t let my own death stop me from supporting this rebellion. Even if it means I have to wake up again as an undead, I will do my best to keep helping,” the white mare argued.

“Are you sure about this?” Celestia wanted to know.

Rarity nodded in response. All members of the circle started looking at each other. Eventually, Twilight started focusing Celestia and her two reaper friends.

“Is that possible without risking her falling into insanity due to the agony?” she wanted to know.

“Well… there are ways to slow down her path to Maledictum Insania,” Derpy responded. “As long as she has anyone caring for her and talking to her frequently, she will be able to walk around as a dead pony for quite a while before she loses her mind and gives birth to a demon.”

“I see…” Twilight spoke, returning her focus to Rarity. “I’m… really unsure about this. But I do admire your courage and generosity. I will give the order to all reapers… and I guess we need to arrange a few things so you don’t have to be alone for any longer period of time once you are… well… undead. But this is still just a last resort, okay? I will still do everything I can to prevent this from happening.”

Finally, Rarity let out a sigh and relaxed her expression. This seemed to have been very important to her. A smile even returned to her face.

“That is okay. Thank you, Twilight,” she replied.

Even when facing imminent death, none of them were willing to give up. It wasn’t over yet, especially for Rarity.

Honesty

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p71E8-C9mHhpHXdAbAIeoBm8ECPPcY9XYIOwm-yQ0q4/edit?usp=sharing

Another particularly slow day ended in the Crystal Empire. Applejack was the last to go home from the berry plantation, even though she had barely spent any time there in the first place. It could have been a fine day for her. The weather was always great, the co-workers always nice and even Caramel started to get used to his responsibilities and chores, often working together with her. Applejack never had any trouble with her boss either. But it had been ages since the last time she could solely focus on the job she relished. Applejack was a farm worker, not a politician or organizer. Yet, that is what she had to focus on the most. Her chances to work on the fields became increasingly more rare. So, today again, she could only work on the plantation for a few hours before having to spend the rest of the day at the palace. Until sundown, she had a lot of paperwork to do, orders to give out and things to organize, only finding time to talk to Spring Sapling as she passed the plantation on her way home. Those were her new responsibilities now. She didn’t mind it too much. Sweet Apple Acres, too, had needed a lot of planning to schedule the many tasks, chores and events properly. But this part of her job had always been the slowest and most tedious.

The orange mare felt mentally drained from staring at so many letters and documents when she finally arrived back home. This was more exhausting to her than hours of hard physical labor. The only plans she had left for the day were to get Babs something to eat and then going to bed. But as she opened the door to her little crystal house, she could see that the teenage filly was resting her head on the table, surrounded by countless notes and maps. She was breathing slowly and did not look up to see who entered. Once again, Babs had worked far too hard and eventually just fell asleep in the middle of it. Applejack had mixed feelings about this sight. She smiled a bit, happy to see that she was so dedicated and could find a way to distract herself. But she also felt sad and sorry that she had to. After all, Babs was still just a teenager. She shouldn’t have to work this hard. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about cooking dinner anymore, Applejack thought to herself.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, the orange mare walked up to her last living family member, lifted her onto her back and carried her upstairs to bed. Babs was so tuckered out that she didn’t notice any of this and slept through the whole transportation. Applejack quietly closed the door behind her, went back downstairs and started to put away the notes. She had to be careful not to confound the way Babs put them down. She would get angry having to reconstruct the task she had been working on. Applejack knew that feeling just too well. There was nothing more annoying than when the janitor had moved some important document around in the meeting room of the palace and she had to find it again first. The reapers really should pay more attention to these things, she figured. If they already scan the janitor twice, once while coming and once while leaving, to see if he is actually a pony or skin-walker demon and also to make sure he wouldn’t smuggle out any intelligence, they could also watch where he puts the documents.

Suddenly, the orange mare stopped. She gasped a bit and her eyes went wide open. Slowly, her front leg lowered to the table, carefully picking up a picture. It was a family photo from their last Apple Family Reunion, years ago. Everypony was still alive back then. Applebloom, Granny Smith, Big Mac, aunt and uncle Orange, Apple Strudel, Auntie Applesauce and so many more. They were all there, right on the picture. The oldest and the youngest. The closest and the farthest away.

Applejack spent minutes sitting on the floor and staring at the image with a slightly open mouth. She still knew all of them. She still remembered all names. Everytime she focused a face, countless memories popped up. She could still hear their voices, still remembered what they liked to talk about, still had the most important moments with all of them in her mind. Tears began to form in her eyes and not much later, she started crying. Her first teardrop landed on the picture, which she quickly wiped away. Such a precious memory must not be tainted. She placed the picture back on the table, looking at it for a few moments more before closing her eyes, resting her forehead on the table and sobbing quietly. She figured that this must have been how Babs had fallen asleep.

But she wouldn’t get the chance to follow her example. After some time, she heard knocking at the door. The surprise helped her to catch herself again, wiping the tears out of her face and walking over to the door. Once opened, she could see an light brown stallion with dark brown mane looking at her with a worried expression.

“Caramel? What brings ya here at this hour?” Applejack wondered.

“Sometimes, I have the feeling that me losing things is a matter of destiny,” the stallion started. “On my way home, I lost my key. I managed to find it again, but that brought me over here. I heard you crying so I thought I’d better check on you.”

“Aww. Ya’re so sweet, Sugarcube,” the orange mare stated with a little smile and hugged her friend. “Well… truth is Ah could use a little company right now. Come on in.”

For a while, it was silent again. Applejack figured she should give her guest something to drink, so she picked up two cups and a jug of Crystal Empire Nectar she had been brewing herself. Smiles were exchanged as Caramel sat down on the opposite end of the table and Applejack filled the cups. Both drank a few sips before silence and worry eventually became too uncomfortable for Caramel to bear it anymore.

“So… is there anything you want to talk about?” he wondered.

The orange mare let out a sigh and let her ears hang down, then she moved the picture over to Caramel so he could see it better.

“It’s nothin’, really. Ah just had one of those moments where Ah remembered all the friends and family Ah had lost,” she spoke in a sad tone while he was still analyzing the picture.

“Applejack… After all you told me about what you have been through… It’s horrible…” Caramel commented, placing his left front leg on hers and holding her gently. “Of all ponies in the whole wide world, you are the one who least deserved all of this. I can only imagine what kind of burden this must be for you.”

“Ya’d be surprised how much ya can handle when there are some real good friends around to help ya cope with it. Ah wouldn’t even be here anymore if it wasn’t for them. But Ah reckon Ah still act tougher than Ah really am. They had to set out for a pretty big journey. It’s gonna be months before Ah see them again and Ah already miss them so much… Told them Ah’d be fine while they were gone. Turns out that’s not fully the case… Ah just hate bein’ alone these days…” Applejack explained.

“But you are not alone, Applejack. You got Babs… and you got me,” the light brown stallion stated.

“True… But still. Ah wished Ah could have somepony by mah side. It gets pretty lonely in that big palace, all by mahself,” the orange mare replied.

Caramel did not reply to this. He stared down into his cup, remaining silent. By sheer random, Philomina decided to pay them a visit. The phoenix landed by the window, instantly catching their attention due to the bright light she emits. She had become a very rare encounter these days, constantly being busy with scanning the empire from above and paying all sorts of creatures a visit. She seemed to be most interested in foals, though, as she could mostly be seen playing with them during the day. As with all of her encounters, this one was short as well. Seeing that only Applejack was actually interested in her and Caramel kept on staring into his cup, she not much later decided to fly away again, leaving behind the same uncomfortable silence as before. Slowly, Applejack as well started to get confused what he was pondering so much about. Nearly half a minute passed before Caramel spoke up again.

“Well… I may not be able to follow you into the meeting room, but I can wait for you outside. We already spend a lot of time together at work and in our freetime. But I know what you mean with ‘having somepony by your side’,” he stated, still staring into his cup.

Again, it became silent. There were things she could only solve herself, Applejack thought to herself. But she did appreciated his efforts. Suddenly, Caramel finished his cup and got up. She thought he would tell her goodnight now and get on his way home.

“Can I ask you for a favor?” Caramel requested, looking a bit shy.

“What is it?” Applejack wanted to know.

“I… I’m kind of having trouble saying this. So, uhm… Could you maybe just close your eyes for a moment?” he requested.

A puzzling request to the orange mare. She gave him a short confused look, but then shrugged and shut her eyes. Mere seconds later, they went wide open again in surprise. She saw Caramel not even inches in front of her face. He was blushing a bit while he placed his lips on hers. Before she could even realize herself what was happening, he already withdrew and turned his head aside sheepishly and with a strong blush on his cheeks.

Applejack stared at him with an expression of shock and fluster. She did not expect this of him, not even after all the time they spent together. To her, it always seemed like he was still mourning for Sassaflash. Maybe he still was, but he seemed to have decided to move on. Eventually, he regained enough courage to comment on his action.

“I’m sorry… I know this is a bit sudden. I planned to tell you for a while now, but it never felt like the right time. You have been the best that happened to me in years. I completely understand how lonely you must feel. Ever since Sassa died, I had been all alone. I just couldn’t find any reason to keep going anymore. If it weren’t for you… I don’t even know what I would have done. I know, I’m a nopony and nothing special at all. I keep losing and forgetting a lot of things. But I just wanted to let you know that I… I really, really care about you. It hurts so much to see you so sad… I just want you to be happy,” he explained.

Gradually, Applejack’s expression relaxed again. She even gained a smile and tears of joy gathered in her eyes, which she wiped away before they could start flowing.

“Ya’re a really sweet guy, Caramel. A real, real good stallion… and don’t get me wrong, Ah like ya a lot too. But… Ah swore to mahself to not look for a partner before this war’s over. Ah wouldn’t be able to handle another such loss if somethin’ happened, ya know? But Ah’ll tell ya that: Should we both somehow make it through alive, Ah’ll come back to ya. How does that sound?” Applejack wanted to know.

Caramel let his ears hang down and lowered his glance to the floor. Clearly, he was deeply disappointed.

“Oh… okay…” was all he could say in response.

“Ah’m sorry, Sugarcube. Under any other circumstance, Ah would have said ‘yes’ straight away. But that ain’t a ‘no’ either. Let’s just give it some time, see how things look after The Red Day,” Applejack explained.

Caramel needed a moment to regain himself after this rejection, but he eventually started smiling again.

“Well, as I said. I just wanted to let you know how I feel. If there is anything I can do for you, let me know. You have been there for me, so I want to be there for you, too,” he spoke.

“Sure thing, Caramel. Thanks for bein’ honest to me. Ah appreciate it,” Applejack replied.

They both sat together for a little longer, sipping nectar. Only few conversations were held before Caramel finished and got up.

“Well, see you tomorrow,” Caramel spoke.

“Before ya go… Ah just need to make sure. Ya do understand mah reasons, right?” the orange mare wanted to make sure.

“Yes, don’t worry. These are difficult times. Nopony knows if we’ll both still be alive tomorrow, let alone after The Red Day. But I take you by your word, Applejack. Should we make it through, I expect of you to come back to me about that topic,” Caramel assured.

“Ya’re important to me, Caramel. Ah’m known for mah honesty and especially with such important things, Ah wouldn’t think up lies,” the orange mare replied.

“Okay. Good night,” the stallion repeated shortly.

“See ya, Sugarcube. Good night,” Applejack replied.

A short embrace followed, then Caramel got on his way. Applejack went upstairs to check on Babs. She was still sleeping soundly, having gotten into a more relaxed position now. Then the orange mare went straight to bed herself. She felt a bit guilty for rejecting Caramel like that, but this just wasn’t a good time to start new romances, she figured. If they would not both come out alive, it would completely emotionally destroy the one of them who would. But at least, she could fall asleep with a smile on her face that night. It was a good feeling to know that somepony was out there who loved her.

Abducted

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tuQssfl8y1JfsuOPFUW5BCDDhzAEMpJLUH-9j103HgE/edit?usp=sharing

Twilight and her friends, accompanied by a small troop of minotaurs and griffons, had been traveling for a few days by now. Their first goal was a simple one: Reaching the eastern coast and board a small ship they could arrange. But this was easier said than done. Even years after Toxica’s attack, Manehattan remained a quarantine zone. Nopony could even begin to guess how long it would take before ponies could start living there again. With the closest city to the ocean being out of question, the group had to get dangerously close to Fillydelphia. Wanting to at least avoid getting too close to Canterlot, they decided to pass through Hollow Shades. A forest that was just a little smaller than Everfree and even though not quite as filled with dangerous creatures, many stories surrounded the place. Even much more than the cursed forest, Hollow Shades was infamous for ponies getting lost in it and never finding their way back out again. It had always been a meeting place for shady beings and the home to countless outlaw camps.

But that was before Blueblood’s reign. According to what the scouts and Wonderbolts reported, it had turned into a refuge from the BloodClaw Cult and the demons, although that only lasted the first two months. These days, it was just a dark and dense forest few would dare to pass due to all the old rumors. But exactly those were what Twilight intended to use to her advantage. She hoped that Hollow Shades would be mostly avoided, giving them a nearly straight path to their goal.

Additionally, it gave Twilight one more barely scanned place to look for a cure. She tried to slow down the journey as little as possible, using her magic to swiftly pick up anything interesting that crossed her eye as they passed. She had become pretty good at multitasking, allowing her to research her findings and brew some test potions on the go with a little alchemy kit she brought with her, while she at the same time carefully paid attention to both her surroundings and Rarity.

The white mare was definitely not doing good. Breathing became increasingly harder for her and they had to frequently stuff her with strong medicine to silence her coughing and sneezing, which could reveal their position to nearby cultists or demons. Rarity tried her best to keep herself together, but she was writhing in agony, stating that it felt like she was being torn apart from the inside while being set on fire. Every bone in her body hurt, every movement caused her enormous suffering. This final stage of her illness definitely was the most cruel one. Frequently, the pain became so bad that she started crying. The comforting words of her friends helped her endure it a bit better, but unless she was drugged to near unconsciousness, they weren’t even able to touch her anymore without having her scream in pain.

The longer this kept going, the more death and unlife seemed like an appealing thought to her. Whenever it was possible for her, Rarity kept asking Fluttershy and Derpy about their experiences with death and the undead.

“The stages of death and undeath are a pretty well-studied and taught topic among reapers,” Derpy began explaining. “We especially know a lot about the undead and what they have to go through. If the pony died a violent death, it will keep on suffering the same pain it received from its injuries. Decay has it much easier to creep into open wounds, meaning these undead will rot faster and therefore suffer more in a quicker pace. However, if the pony died due to hypothermia, dehydration, starvation or - as in your case- disease, they will actually feel better for a while after they wake up again. Especially magical diseases lift themselves once they accomplished their goal.”

“I will actually be better once undead…” Rarity summarized.

“Would, Rarity. You would feel better if that happened,” Twilight corrected.

“Right… So you are saying, as long as I make sure I don’t hurt myself, I will be fine for some time?” the white mare wondered.

“Yes, but that will be very hard to avoid. Once you are undead, your natural bodily healing abilities stop working. Every tiny scratch you gain remains. But time will be your biggest enemy. Every living creature already has millions of bacteria inside of them, be it friendly or hostile. The moment you die, these bacteria will start to decompose your body. As an undead, you will be a walking corpse, Rarity. Decay and therefore agony will eventually happen,” Twilight replied.

“Well, that is not entirely true,” Derpy objected. “Where there is no water, bacteria and maggots can’t survive. We have come across some undead ponies in the past who were smart enough to mummify themselves. Draining all their body fluids, drying up their flesh and preserving themselves with oils brought their decay to nearly full stop. But while this had the advantage of avoiding a majority of the pain of being undead, it also gave them big disadvantages. Dried up like that, they could barely move and communication was completely impossible for them. Undead ponies generally have huge issues with their senses because of decay, but mummified undead generally are blind, deaf, numb and mute. You would trap yourself in a shell that would become increasingly more incapable of interacting with the world around it.”

“That sounds awful… Is there maybe a middle way?” the white mare wanted to know.

“Well, throughout history, there weren’t very many undead ponies that ‘lived’ for very long, since we were ordered from the very beginning to kill them on sight, freeing them from their suffering. But in theory, it should work similar to trying to preserve fruits and vegetables for winter. If you keep your body cold, wrap it up airtight and use methods of preservation on yourself, I guess you can stay fresh for several months before even the first signs of decay appear,” Derpy explained.

“And, of course, the usual body care for ponies still works for the undead. If you clean yourself frequently, you make it difficult for bacteria and parasites to infest you,” Fluttershy added.

“So maybe I should use disinfectant instead of body lotion and shampoo?” Rarity suggested.

“I would be careful with that,” Derpy responded. “Sure, it kills off bacteria effectively, but they will eventually build up a resistance. The result would be much more aggressive bacteria that not only do much more harm to your body, but also pose a threat to every creature around you that is not a reaper.”

“Oh… I see…” the sick mare commented.

“Girls, this is really depressing to listen to. While I completely understand that you want to prepare for the worst, it mostly sounds like you have already given up on the chance that you might yet survive,” Twilight interfered suddenly.

“I’m sorry, darling…” Rarity responded, lowering her glance.

“Please, you have to keep on fighting. Fight for your life,” Twilight pleaded, shortly returning her focus to the alchemy kit and then lifting a test tube into the air by magic, letting it float over to her sick friend. “Here, try this one.”

Mutely, Rarity complied and drank the potion. She gagged shortly after finishing it and made an expression of revulsion.

“How do you feel now?” Twilight wanted to know immediately.

“Not any different. That just was pretty nasty and rough to the throat,” the white mare reviewed.

Twilight gave a short expression of disappointment, but then started brewing another potion right away. She had tried so many herbs, mushrooms, spices, essences and magical substances. One of them, maybe in combination with others, just had to work! It just couldn’t be that a stupid disease curse manages to beat her and cost her friend’s life! Maybe they should have gone through Manehattan after all. Since Toxica was the reason for the Kiss of Death, maybe she would be the solution as well. There just had to be a tiny patch of her poison clouds left somewhere. Twilight knew that just attempting to capture and analyze Toxica’s poison was beyond insanely dangerous. But for her friends, she was willing to risk everything. It might be short-sighted of her, seeing that the whole rebellion was running on her ideas and she should never risk her life like this. But that did not matter to Twilight. What mattered to her was saving lives, especially those of her friends. She would gladly sacrifice herself if that meant that just one of her friends could keep on living.

The purple mare had sunken so deep into her thoughts that she, just for a moment, did not pay attention to the potion she was brewing. She realized too late that the sensitive chemicals had lost their balance and reacted beyond her desire. Before she could stop it, all that was left inside the test tube was a dark gray, thick and smelly substance.

“Ugh, great…” she commented in frustration.

“Maybe you should just do one thing at a time, Twilight,” Fluttershy suggested. “Even you can’t keep track of everything.”

“Don’t worry about me. I can handle it,” the purple mare assured, then covered up the failed potion and stored it in her bag.

On a journey like this, it was crucial to not leave behind any evidence that they had been here. Throwing away a failed test potion would not only be bad for the forest, but would also leave behind evidence of their presence. It was better to carry it around than risking their path home to get blocked.

---

Half an hour passed and Twilight still had no luck in creating a cure for Rarity. Slowly, her confidence and determination began to shake. Maybe there really wasn’t a cure after all. Maybe there truly was nothing anypony could do for Rarity and the only options for her left would be to choose between death and unlife.

Just how could it all have come to this? Equestria in the hooves of a bloodthirsty, insane cult, the princesses pushed off from their thrones, many of Twilight’s friends dead and another on the verge of death. Her life used to be so stable and peaceful. Before Obsidian Shards, nothing even indicated that anything was wrong at all with Equestria, aside of some stray monsters in the unpopulated areas. It felt like this all happened so fast. Over a thousand years of peace and all the sudden, everything breaks down so rapidly. Why? Why now? How so suddenly? What changed to set this all in motion?

As Twilight pondered, she eventually came to a solution. She herself was the reason. She and all of her friends. As they defeated Nightmare Moon after her escape from the moon and set Luna free, the rules of the game changed. The demon queen was no longer a physical entity, but an ever-present ghost. A part of her had been following Twilight around since her birth. How much is Nightmare Moon truly able to see and hear in this form? Could she read the minds of everypony? No, unlikely. If that was the case, Equestria would have fallen much, much sooner and she would not have needed Blueblood to accomplish this. But one thing was clear: There still was a deep bond between the demon queen and her demon children. Whenever they mentioned Nightmare Moon, they spoke out her name with enormous respect. But was this a kind of love between a mother and her children? Or was it just mere narcissism? After all, demons are born out of the fragments of Nightmare Moon feasting on a pony’s soul. Technically, all demons are just tiny pieces of the demon queen, different variations of her insurmountable terror. No, they don’t know anything about love, friendship and family bonds. They were all just driven by the same motive: Total destruction.

One of the minotaurs suddenly stopped, making the rest of the group halt, too. Twilight instantly started to focus again. She ducked herself, listening carefully. Ahead of them, they could hear some leaves rustling. Then they heard a twig break. Someone or something definitely was not far from them.

Trying their best to make no noise at all, the whole troop carefully snuck into the next best nearby hideout. Minutes later, they could see ponies in heavy armor wearing capes with the BloodClaw symbol on them.

“The smell comes from over here. They can’t be far,” one of them commented.

Bad luck for the group. They crossed their paths with a troop of cultists patrolling the forest. Now, Twilight’s decision to keep the failed potion was backfiring on her. The cultists had picked up the scent and would find them soon.

But they had been in this situation before. Giving some orders to the others via gestures, Twilight arranged a pre-emptive strike. First, Fluttershy and Derpy hid in the shadows, tossing around sticks to create distractions. Then, one by one, the others started to sneak up behind the cultists, surrounding them from three sides. Swiftly, the reapers struck from behind, killing off two cultists silently without alarming the others and hiding their bodies. Next, Twilight successfully managed to use her magic to choke a cultist to death, creating an invisible sound bubble around him so he could not alarm the remaining ones. The griffons as well managed to kill off two more cultists, but then they finally were spotted. As the battle broke loose, already half of the cultists were dead. The remaining ones were no match for the close combat skills of the minotaurs. Not even a minute later, the entire patrol was eliminated without any casualties.

“Good job, everyone,” Twilight spoke with a sigh of relief.

She was about to turn around and keep on walking when Fluttershy suddenly held the purple mare by her shoulder.

“It’s not over yet,” she stated.

“Oh no… not him…” Derpy commented and started to get slightly tense and nervous. “How did he know we would be here?”

Twilight went back into battle stance and her horn lit up. She yet couldn’t see anything, but the fact that it were the reapers who first noticed their next enemy approach could only mean it had to be a demon. She already had a terrible suspicion whom it could be.

The troop clustered together, back to back. All eyes wandered around and Twilight especially paid very close attention to Rarity. Right now, she was far more in danger than anyone else present.

A short scream filled the air. As they looked towards its source, they could find none. Just a second ago, a griffon used to stand there. Almost instantly, another scream could be heard and a minotaur vanished into thin air. This tactic was familiar to Twilight, bringing confirmation to her suspicions.

“Slendermane,” she whispered, climbing on top of the carriage Rarity was laying in and towering above her protectively.

Luckily for Rarity, she was very exhausted from the heavy medicine and on the verge of passing out. She definitely did not need a panic attack right now. Eyes darted around again and just for a brief moment, a minotaur could spot the white demon in black suit in the corner of his eye. But he acted smart. Instead of charging right towards the enemy, he remained in place and just calmly informed the others.

The minutes passed. Slendermane kept himself out of any straight line of sight. He managed to abduct a few more griffons and minotaurs, but the troop did not split up. Then he suddenly changed his tactic. As Twilight blinked, the tall demon suddenly stood right in front of her, making her give out a short shriek. She could catch herself again within just the fraction of a second, giving her barely enough time to summon a force field around Rarity and herself before black arms began to wrap around them.

The purple mare could no longer see what was happening outside, but she could hear fierce fighting. Minotaurs were giving off battle screams, griffons were charging, the sound of clashing metal filled the air and every once in a while, a scream could be heard. Just as Twilight started to wonder why Fluttershy hadn’t used her stare on him yet, she could see her reaper friend through a gap between the black arms. Slendermane managed to wrap one of his arms around her head and rammed them into her eye sockets, blinding her. Fluttershy was struggling against the pain and grip, swinging her scythe around in attempt to break free, but to no avail.

The purple mare had to use all of her strength in keeping the force field up. Slendermane tossed them around, smashing the sphere against trees and rocks and tried to crush them with his powerful black arms. Twilight’s face showed enormous tension and sweat began to run down her forehead. At this point, she was forced to keep her eyes shut and use all of her might to protect Rarity. But even though she used her arcane magic, she slowly began to run out of strength. This demon was just so powerful.

The sound of her force field cracking filled Twilight’s ears. She knew he would be breaking through any moment now. Using the last of her strength, the purple mare teleported Rarity away. She didn’t even know herself where she sent her sick friend. Just somewhere outside of Slendermane’s range was all she could think of. Finally, the force field broke down. Twilight laid on the floor, gasping in exhaustion for a moment before she could focus again. Slendermane seemed confused. His faceless head kept moving around, apparently looking for Rarity. She would have loved to give him a cheeky smirk right now, but she knew she couldn’t waste time. While the demon was still confused, Twilight got up and started running.

The purple mare tried to reunite with her friends, but Slendermane blocked her path with his countless arms. The others tried to help her, but it seemed like he now had found a new target. Taking out their leader would bring enormous damage to the whole rebellion. At first, Twilight tried to fight back. But she just couldn’t keep up with the ever increasing number of black arms launching at her. It quickly became clear to her that fighting him was just too difficult for her. So Twilight decided to run. If Slendermane truly wanted her, he would have to catch her, she thought to herself. All she cared about was trying to lure this dangerous demon away from her friends.

Not long after she decided to flee, it became silent again. The rest of the group had vanished and she was in the middle of a seemingly endless forest. Twilight listened carefully, but Slendermane could move without making any sound. She kept on looking around but was unable to catch more than a brief glimpse of this ancient demon. Slowly, panic started to build up in her. She kept on running but Slendermane always seemed to be right behind her. Just what should she do? All alone, she stood no chance against him. Was this it? Was this the end of her?

The purple mare was panting heavily, running as fast as her legs allowed her to. Having exhausted herself so much mentally and physically forcefully reminded her of her organ damage, as she started spitting out blood while still on the run. The faceless demon appeared to her left. The faceless demon appeared to her right. He was coming closer and closer. Every once in a while, she could feel him teasingly trying to grab her. He relished her fear and panic. He relished that he could scare the leader of the rebellion out of her mind and make her run for her life.

At this point, Twilight was so much in fear that she started to cry. There was nothing she could do. He was coming closer and closer. While she was looking back to see how far away he still was, she suddenly felt a hard strike to her head. Twilight instantly collapsed unconscious.

---

The first thing Twilight noticed as she regained her senses was that she had a really bad headache. It took her over a minute just to come back enough to realize that she couldn’t move. Her eyes opened slowly. Everything was a massive blur at first, but she gradually began to focus. She realized that the place she was at was very dark. Some sort of cave or tunnel she figured, since the few things she could see were stones and stone walls. Narrowing her sight, she could see her own front legs in the corners of her eyes. She was restrained with some kind of rope. Twilight tried to free herself with magic, but her spells failed. There was something on her horn that seemed to prevent her from casting spells.

The purple mare tried her best to stay calm and analyze this situation. She started roaming through her memory, trying to figure out what had happened. The last thing she could remember was being chased by Slendermane, then everything went dark. Did he succeed? Had he captured her? If so, why didn’t he kill her? This also didn’t look like a demon stronghold, since there were no red eyes to be seen anywhere and the darkness in this place was black instead of red. How did she end up here?

Twilight struggled against the binds, trying to slide out of them. But whoever made those was very well experienced with knots. The more she moved, the tighter they became. Eventually, the noises she made were heard. Hoof steps could be heard approaching in her direction, causing Twilight to stop. Her eyes went wide and her ears raised up, fearful of what was approaching her.

The figure stopped with some distance in front of her. Twilight couldn’t make out what it was. She tried her best to appear confident, but couldn’t hold her increased breath rate and heartbeat back. She stared at the creature in front of her with a grim expression, waiting for something to happen.

“Don’t worry. You are safe. For now,” an unfamiliar female voice spoke calmly.

“I’m not sure if I should believe you,” Twilight spoke confidently.

“Those straps are for my own protection,” the mare replied.

“Why would I attack the pony who saved my life, assuming you were the one who rescued me from the demon chasing me,” the purple mare wondered.

“Because you hate me. You don’t know me yet, but as soon as you hear my name, you will hate me. You will try to kill me,” the mare explained.

“If that’s the case, why did you even bother to rescue me?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Because I need you to stay alive. I know who you are and I know what you do. I can’t let you go, yet. It’s not safe. You will have to stay with me for a while and you will have to endure being tied up. I’m not asking of you to trust me. I don’t trust you either. But as long as you are with me, nothing will happen to you. I would rather give away one of my hind legs than just so much as harm a hair on your head,” the mare in the dark promised.

“Well if you say so,” Twilight responded.

She still didn’t feel safe. Her expression as well as her body remained tense. Twilight didn’t really get what was going on or why this mare needed her to stay alive. She would need to find a way to escape. Soon.

Four Days

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1isLvYXho5N7deW7jj9TA5rFYalAI-gW8abTCxBOuT24/edit?usp=sharing

An hour had passed since Twilight woke up. Aside of their initial conversation, neither her nor the kidnapper were saying anything. But it seemed like this mysterious mare kept her word. So far, she hadn’t even come close to Twilight. But since she stood in the dark constantly, the purple mare couldn’t tell what her ‘host’ was doing. From time to time, she just heard stones rolling and leather rubbing against objects.

Twilight wasn’t sure if she felt tense, nervous, bored or all at the same time. Nothing was happening and her uncomfortable position started to wear on her joints. From time to time, she squirmed around in her bonds, trying to get more comfortable. But every time, she only ended up regretting it, as the knots only tightened more and started to slightly hurt now. Secretly, she was planning her escape, looking around for anything that could help her get free and overpower the mare. If only she could cast spells. What was that thing on her horn anyway? Well, it had been so boring this past hour, she might as well start talking to the one keeping her, if she really has no bad intentions as she claimed.

“What did you put on my horn?” Twilight wanted to know.

“A magic shackle I chiseled out of magnetite,” the kidnapper replied calmly.

That made sense to Twilight. Strong magnetic fields were known to cause unicorns significant problems to cast spells when up close to the source. Out of the many history books she had read, she knew that magnetite was often used to prohibit spell-casting in high security areas. This mare was well informed.

“How did you learn to do that?” the purple mare wondered.

“It’s a hobby,” the other mare replied shortly.

“Making magic shackles?” Twilight asked again.

“No…” was all she got as response.

The purple mare waited for a response, but the kidnapper did not speak anymore. She seemed to purposely avoid answering this question, possibly to prevent giving out any hints about her identity. Twilight’s eyes started wandering again for a moment before she continued speaking.

“So when do you intend to let me go again?” she wanted to know.

“When it’s safe. I don’t know myself when that will be. The cultists have been very active around here lately,” the mare in the dark answered.

That concerned Twilight. She feared that, somehow, informations of her plans had leaked through to the cult. If that was the case, her whole mission might be at stake. Twilight wanted to avoid this topic, because she couldn’t trust the mare. But now, she just needed to know.

“What about the others? I was with a group of ponies, griffons and minotaurs. Have you seen them?” she asked.

“They are out of danger and looking for you. But so are the cultists and demons. If I let you go now, you will all get caught,” the kidnapper spoke.

“We have killed plenty of cultists and demons,” Twilight stated.

“I have been hiding for long enough. I know what I am talking about. It is best for both you and your friends to be separated. Without you, they will be more cautious. I will lead them here when the time is right,” the mare explained.

“Well, if you intend to keep me here for a longer period of time, you eventually will have no choice but to free me. Like every pony, I need to eat, drink and use the bushes every once in a while,” Twilight argued.

“You can do all of that just where you are right now,” the mare in the dark denied.

For a moment, Twilight’s anger increased. Did she just expect of her to soil herself? But as her eyes wandered down, she could make out a deep hole below her, not wide enough for Twilight to fall into. The purple mare sighed. There was no way around it. This mare would not let her go under any given circumstance and calling for help probably wouldn’t help either. Twilight had been in this situation before and knew that such hideouts are usually so remote that shouting and yelling wouldn’t do a thing. Trying to distract herself from the thoughts of what she might need to do in a while, the purple mare resumed the conversation.

“Why is the BloodClaw Cult after you?” she asked.

The answer did not come immediate like with her previous questions. The mare stopped whatever she was doing for a moment, apparently thinking about if she should answer this or not.

“They want me to join them,” she eventually replied shortly.

“And why don’t you?” Twilight kept asking.

“Because I know what their goal is. Or rather, I know what their lords’ goal is. I have no interest in dying,” the mare explained.

“If that’s the case, why don’t you join us?” the purple mare continued.

“Because I can’t do that either. My name alone will be reason enough for all of you to kill me,” the kidnapper stated.

“What if I gave you my word that we won’t do anything to you?” Twilight offered.

“You can’t promise that. Even if you could push your will through with the others, there are many in your rebellion that will see me as a threat or will still want me to die for... events in the past. It would be too dangerous for me and it would distract your friends and allies too much,” the mare explained.

“You can’t join the cult, nor can you join the rebellion… I see. But if you are actually against Blueblood, the cult and the demons, you are a friend to us. We could still use your help in fighting them,” Twilight spoke.

“I guess I can help you,” the mare agreed shortly.

“Good. But without knowing who you are, how will I know it’s you?” Twilight needed to know.

Again, the mare keeping herself in the dark stopped her task to think. This time, it was significantly longer. After a while, she began to look around and seemed to pick up a hoof-size stone. Twilight couldn’t really tell what she was doing, but she heard cracking noises and pebbles falling to the ground. After about two minutes, the result of her work rolled over to Twilight in very irregular movements.

Obviously, it was a stone. A cut stone. But what surprised was the precision with which it had been cut. Significantly better than anything Twilight could do. It had a perfect diamond pattern.

“When you see this, you know it’s me,” the mare stated.

Good enough, Twilight figured. There were more things she wanted to talk about, but the mare now started walking away.

“I will be gone for a while. Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to you while I’m gone,” she explained, then just kept going.

The hoof clattering on the stone floor became more and more quiet. Eventually, Twilight couldn’t hear them anymore. This was her cue to try to escape. For over two hours, Twilight continuously fought against her binds, trying her best to free herself just a bit. But it was useless. No matter what she tried, they only ended up even tighter and gripping her even harder. She tried swaying her tail to move some stones on the ground, hoping she could somehow pick them up. But most just ended up falling into the hole below her. Eventually, she tired herself out. Getting sore wherever the binds rubbed against her skin and being held painfully tight, she eventually stopped struggling and fell asleep.

---

When Twilight woke up again, her kidnapper was back. The purple mare immediately noticed that she felt way more comfortable in her binds now. They weren’t rubbing or clenching her anymore, but still held her securely. Did the mare adjust the rack to make it more comfortable for Twilight?

These questions remained unanswered, as her growling stomach interrupted her before she could even begin to speak. The kidnapper noticed that she was awake and started moving. Soon, a hoof reached out in front of Twilight’s face, holding something that looked like mushrooms.

Twilight still wasn’t sure if she could actually trust this mare so far as to accept food from her. What if they were poisonous? She just kept her mouth shut and looked away in rejection. But then, she suddenly felt her mouth being opened by force and the mushrooms being shoved right into them. Twilight wanted to spit them out, but the hoof held her mouth closed. After struggling a while, she accidentally swallowed, nearly choking on the mushrooms because she hadn’t chewed them.

At first, the purple mare panicked a bit. What was going to happen to her now? But ten minutes passed, twenty, thirty without anything bad happening to her. It seemed like those mushrooms truly were edible after all.

“Thanks…” Twilight eventually spoke.

“I need you to stay strong,” the mare explained shortly.

“Can I… have some water, too?” Twilight asked carefully.

Mutely, the kidnapper started moving again. Taking a few steps to the left, Twilight could see her reaching up to something. The sound of flowing water filled the cave for a moment, then the mare climbed back down and returned to Twilight, placing a stone bowl against her lips.

Twilight hadn’t been drinking anything for a day. It didn’t even take her a minute to empty it, letting out a breathless gasp afterwards. Once the feeding was done, time seemed to move extremely slowly again. The mare just returned deeper into the dark, working on something again.

“Wait,” the purple mare requested, getting the attention of her kidnapper again. “My saddlebags. Do you have them?”

“Yes,” the kidnapper answered.

“There are pills in the left one. I need them,” Twilight explained.

Again, the mare got up and walked away, followed by rustling not much later.

“How many?” the mare asked.

“Just one,” Twilight replied.

The rattling of pills in a bottle could be heard. Moments later, the mysterious mare walked back to her water source and refilled the stone bowl. She then presented the pill to Twilight, who this time willingly opened her mouth and took the pill along with the water.

“Thank you again,” Twilight spoke afterwards.

The mare did not respond. She just moved back into the dark and started working again.

“What are you doing there?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Too difficult to explain,” the kidnapper replied shortly.

“Hm… You are pretty good at stone cutting, though. Were you a jeweller before the war began?” Twilight kept asking.

“No,” was all she got as a reply.

The purple mare stopped asking. She should have known that this was too personal. But perhaps she could have slipped up and revealed something about her identity.

The following hours were quiet and boring. Both mares had not much to talk about and Twilight was not sure what she should say anyway. After all, she was helpless right now. The worst she could do was to upset the one who had power over her.

Sunlight couldn’t be seen anywhere. Twilight had no idea how much time had passed and if it was day or night right now. But the more time passed, the more restless the kidnapper became. She started walking around more and more, sometimes eating some berries. It didn’t seem to help, though, as the pacing only became worse. After a while, the mare started chewing on some leaves, apparently trying to take her time and eating them as slowly as she could. Twilight started to get worried now. Something was wrong with this mare. But what?

“Are you okay?” she asked carefully.

No response. The kidnapper just kept on pacing and after what felt like an eternity, she suddenly left without saying a word. This confused Twilight even more. Was this mare sick, maybe? If so, Twilight could only hope she wouldn’t die and leave her hanging on the rack. Nopony would be able to find her in time. Trying to stay focused, she considered the things she could do. Since the feeding, Twilight gained more trust towards the one who held her captive. But she still couldn’t be sure about her intentions. So she thought she would prefer to sleep while the kidnapper was away. Having come to that conclusion, she closed her eyes and took a nap.

---

It felt like no time at all had passed when Twilight suddenly woke up again, hearing the noises of something dragging across the stone floor. Did the mare get hurt? As the sound came closer, she could see a strange silhouette that was larger than the kidnapper who abducted her. As it came closer, it broke into two silhouettes. It was the mare, as well as another pony she had brought to the cave. She finally stopped with an unconscious stallion, whom she presented to Twilight.

“Do you know this one? Is he a friend?” she wanted to know.

Twilight had to focus and stare at the stallion for a while with narrowed eyes to make out his face. Then she slowly shook her head.

“No, I don’t think I have ever seen him. Why are you asking? Is he a cultist?” Twilight asked back.

“I don’t know and since he is not a friend, it doesn’t matter,” the kidnapper replied.

Twilight was confused. Where did she pick this guy up? What was she planning to do with him? Trying to follow what was going on, she could vaguely make out that the mare was tying him up to a rack similar to the one Twilight was on. Maybe he was another pony she wanted to ‘keep safe’?

The mare seemed to wait for something. She stood idly in front of the stallion, remaining motionless for nearly a minute. Eventually, a smack could be heard, indicating that she had slapped the stallion. He now finally started coming back to his senses.

“Ugh… Huh? Who are you?” the stallion wondered.

He got no instant reply. The mare just kept standing there, staring at him for a moment longer.

“Hi,” was all she said.

The silhouette of the mare covered the one of the stallion. First, they were silent. But then, a horrible scream of agony came from the stallion, startling Twilight heavily. Her eyes sprung wide open. The strange black mass these two formed in the dark made it impossible for her to identify what was going on. The stallion was still screaming when the mare took a step away from him, not breaking eye-contact with him. Twilight could see her licking one of her front legs slowly, then she returned back to her hostage.

“No! No! Please!” he pleaded.

Breaking and tearing sounds could be heard, as well as another soul-tearing scream. A part of their mixed silhouette flew away and landed in the dark, causing Twilight to gasp. She was killing him! She was ripping him apart with her bare hooves!

The screams this poor stallion gave off where unbearable for Twilight. She wished she could stop this somehow. She struggled with her bonds once again, but only came to the same results as before. She clenched her eyes shut and forced all of her willpower into bypassing the shackle on her horn, but to no result. The splashing of blood and breaking of bones echoed against the cave walls and soon, Twilight could see a stream of blood flowing into her direction and falling down into the hole below her.

Not even a minute later, the stallion stopped screaming. Yet, the tearing and splashing sounds continued. By now, Twilight was shaking in fear. This really was like the last time she got abducted. Her old trauma returned and she begged for her life, hoping she wouldn’t wind up next.

The kidnapper kept on working on the lifeless body for nearly half an hour, letting random pieces fly around. But eventually, she stopped and climbed back down from the rack. She was breathing audibly and shaking so much, Twilight could see it even in the dark. She then turned around to the purple mare, seemingly staring at her.

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. Her pupils shrunk to tiny black dots in fear as the mare approached her slowly, dripping noises accompanying her steps. As she arrived just inches in front of Twilight, the purple mare herself was shaking just as heavily as the kidnapper.

Eyes wide open and blood-shot. Enormous unnatural grin. Shaking and twitching randomly. Her mouth, teeth and front legs were completely soaked in blood. Now she understood why the BloodClaw Cult wanted her. She was a cannibal. A very strong one at that for being able to shred a stallion like paper.

The crazy mare kept staring Twilight deep into the eyes. Cold sweat ran down the purple mare’s forehead. She was going to break her promise. She was going to kill her. Slowly, a front leg rose into the air, approaching Twilight. The purple mare clenched her eyes and put tension on her whole body, trying to prepare herself for unimaginable pain.

The hoof gently touched Twilight’s lips and slid down to just before her chin. Twilight’s eyes opened again, looking at the hoof first and then back at the mare. She still had the same insane expression on her face, but didn’t move. She just stood there, staring with wide open eyes and huge grin. Several seconds passed before she placed her hoof back to the ground, turned around and left again. Twilight, though, could not stop shaking. The faint taste of blood crept from her lips into her mouth, instantly causing her to spit it back out and trying to clean her lips with the little movement she had in her face. While at first warm, the blood soon became cold and there was nothing she could do about it. Just what exactly had just happened? What was this gesture about? Was she trying to tell Twilight to calm down? Or was she teasing her by covering her mouth with the blood of her victim? Maybe it was both.

---

For an hour after this incident, it was silent in the cave again. All that could be heard was breathing from both mares and the occasional blood dripping from the stallion’s remains. The purple mare tried her best to keep her mouth tightly shut to not let any more blood find its way inside. Then, the kidnapper started moving again. Twilight could only hear her somewhere in the dark, but she now realized that she had laid down after finishing. She was coming back to Twilight, who twitched heavily as she once again felt something on her lips. But she quickly came to realize that it was a piece of cloth, wiping the blood away.

“I’m sorry about that,” she spoke calmly.

Twilight was still very scared and shaking. The mare noticed and stepped into the dark again after she finished cleaning Twilight’s mouth.

“You don’t have to worry. I have it under control,” she explained.

“Didn’t seem like it to me,” Twilight commented.

“I admit I went a bit far. It is hard to stop yourself when you are on a blood frenzy. I guess I let my sadism out a bit too much. But still, I would never hurt you,” the kidnapper assured.

“If you really are just half as reasonable as you claim yourself to be, you should know that I now can’t trust anything you say anymore,” Twilight stated.

“I never asked of you to trust me in the first place and I myself still don’t trust you,” the mare replied, then went over to her water source. “But think about it: I could have killed you at any point and I didn’t. My regular food supplies are extremely scarce, yet I shared with you. I even gave you your pills. If I wanted you to die, you would be dead by now.”

“That is not very reassuring,” the purple mare commented.

“It doesn’t matter. Believe me or not, but you are going to get out of here unscathed. To me, this is about survival,” the cannibal mare argued.

“Killing and eating ponies, too?” Twilight wondered.

“You are not one of us. You don’t understand what it is like,” the kidnapper spoke.

“No. No I don’t,” the purple mare replied.

Once more, it became silent for a while. The mare resumed to her regular unknown work while she every once in a while picked up a piece of the corpse, cleaned it with some water and then ate it. During this time, Twilight kept on thinking what to do now and how this knowledge… this act performed before her very eyes affected her. It didn’t take her long to start thinking of Fluttershy and Derpy when it came to eating ponies. After all, Twilight knew that they were both doing this. She even offered her blood to Fluttershy once because she saw how starved her friend was.

Slowly, the purple mare calmed down. She remembered how the kidnapper had been acting before she went out to catch this stallion. She remembered how worried she was and that she asked herself if this mare was sick. Maybe it was time for her to learn more about these things.

“But that doesn’t mean I am rejecting an attempt to explain it to me,” she stated.

The kidnapper stopped and turned her head back around to her hostage. This seemed to surprise her. Slowly, the mare got up and came back to her.

“It is an addiction, Twilight Sparkle. Worse than anything you can imagine. Once you grow a liking to the taste of flesh, your body will want more and more. This is what is known among us as ‘the hunger’. You stop seeing other ponies as friends and family. You stare at foals and your mouth begins to water, your stomach growls and your hooves shake from craving. I can hear a voice in my head, getting louder and louder. ‘Eat. Eat. Eat.’ it says,” she spoke.

“I am friends with former cannibals. If you have the willpower to keep yourself together, I don’t see any reason why you are not using it for a withdrawal instead,” Twilight argued.

“You can never stop being a cannibal. If you want a comparison, then try imagining it with alcohol. Once you get addicted to it, you become an alcoholic. Even if you stop drinking, you will never return to the way you were before. You can only be a dry alcoholic. It is the same with cannibalism. Even when you decide to stop eating other ponies, you can only ever become a ‘dry cannibal’. There is no way to go back. You may have the willpower to defeat the hunger inside you, but it will never go away. It stays in your mind, screaming at you to eat flesh. And just like with alcoholics, there is a risk of relapse. If you watch your friends closely while they are near a corpse or even just a pony with a small bleeding wound, you will see them staring, swallowing and getting uncomfortable. I can’t get away from it, Twilight Sparkle. I already tried countless times. My existence was supposed to remain a secret. Not having to go out to hunt anymore would have helped me enormously in trying to stay hidden, and still would,” the kidnapper explained.

“Maybe we can help you with that, then,” Twilight offered.

“That doesn’t work either,” the cannibal mare declined while slowly shaking her head. “There are more like me out there. Cannibals that avoid the cult, trying to survive in a world torn apart by war. I once had a friend who offered me exactly what you just did. I made him force a withdrawal on me, made him tie me up. Just days after we began, I lost control over myself. I managed to free myself and ate him alive. These are particularly dark times, Twilight Sparkle, where even cannibals break their code and eat other cannibals. Hate me for it if you need to, but my decision to keep eating ponies is conscious. I rather go out and hunt instead of losing control over myself.”

“I… guess I’m starting to understand,” Twilight commented.

The cannibal mare turned back around, hiding in the darkness once more. Twilight needed some time to swallow what she just learned, forced to rethink her opinion about cannibalism. Or at least that of this particular mare.

“You know,” the kidnapper suddenly started again. “It is actually a huge disadvantage to be a pony.”

“And why is that?” Twilight wanted to know.

“We are soft and tender creatures. Not only from the way we are, but also from our bodies. Our flesh tastes very good. It is soft, succulent and tender,” the mare stated.

“Too much information…” Twilight replied with a slightly repulsed tone.

“Maybe so, but have you ever wondered why, of the many species in this world, ponies have by far the highest number of cannibals? I am talking about times before the cult here. In the darkest chapters of pony history, even before the founding of Equestria, there already were stories of ponies eating other ponies to survive from the long lasting blizzard. Why do you think demons prefer eating ponies over any other species?” the kidnapper asked.

“That has different reasons and if I could trust you more, I would tell you what I know,” Twilight stated.

“I won’t give you my name and I won’t tell you about my past. If this comes out, I am dead. I will keep an eye on you and your friends, trying to help where I can without risking myself. But you can’t expect of me to reveal myself. All I will tell you is that I am more important than you can imagine,” the cannibal mare explained.

“What do you mean? Are you royal?” Twilight wondered.

“No,” the kidnapper replied shortly.

With that, Twilight asked one wrong question too many. The mare just became silent now, ignoring any question about her that would yet still come from Twilight.

Thinking about it, this was an extremely strange situation Twilight found herself in. A strong, skilled cannibal mare that refuses to follow the BloodClaw Cult keeping her safe. She imagined something like this was impossible to ever happen. It was also very surprising how much self-control she still had, despite being heavily afflicted by Maledictum Insania. This threw Twilight for a loop. If there was one thing she had learned from this strange time with her abductor, it was that this whole war was far more complicated than she thought. Things definitely weren’t just black and white, right or wrong, good or bad. There were so many shades of gray in between and as leader of the rebellion, it was up to her to decide which still could be considered good and which was already bad. She was the one deciding the morals of the rebellion. Should she win this war against Blueblood, it would be her decisions which would become the standard for whatever came afterwards. It was up to her if Equestria became a paradise again or would once more fall to corruption. She had to be weary not to win this war at the cost of her morals.

---

Once again, Twilight fell asleep. Once again, she woke up with the feeling she hadn’t even slept for one second. But what surprised her was the feeling of gravity affecting her differently than usual. Then she noticed that she felt no pressure around her head, chest and limbs. As she tried to move, she realized she was unbound, laying on a few sheets of cloth. Instantly, she jumped up and reached up to her horn. The shackle was gone as well. She cast a light spell to illuminate the cave. Nothing indicated that anything bad had been happening around here at all. There was no corpse, no blood, no racks and even the hole was gone. Only her and her saddlebags remained. No signs were left behind that this cave had ever been used by anypony other than her.

After turning her head, Twilight realized that her last thought was not true. There was a stone cut in diamond pattern laying on the floor not far from her, holding a piece of paper beneath it. She lifted both up with magic, letting out a happy sigh.

“Feels good to be able to use magic again,” she whispered to herself.

After giving herself a few good stretches, she analyzed the stone. It was not the same the mysterious mare had showed to her. It had a few slight differences in the stone structure, but was the same exact precisely cut pattern. She then levitated the piece of paper in front of her eyes.

“Wait here. Your friends will come soon,” she read out.

The purple mare placed both back to the ground and turned to her saddlebag in order to take another pill. As she opened it, she realized that her inventory had grown. There were a few more edible plants in it than before. No, Twilight hadn’t just been imagining all this. It really happened.

At this point, she figured she would be well able to defend herself again. So even if the kidnapper ultimately would end up trying to attack her, she was sure she would win. With this thought, Twilight decided to follow the advice on the paper and sat back down, creating a force field around herself.

---

The purple mare had spent a while analyzing more herbs and even the new plants in her bags, as well as brewing new potions for Rarity when she suddenly heard hoof clattering approaching her from the distance. Unable to be sure who it would be, she readied herself for a possible fight. But as the group arrived, she happily let down her force field. It were her friends, just like the kidnapper promised.

“Twily!” Shining Armor shouted, instantly running to the purple mare and embracing her. “Oh my gosh, it’s really you! How are you? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. What about you guys?” Twilight asked back.

“All of us are doing well,” Luna replied. “Fluttershy got injured during our battle against Slendermane, but she has fully recovered by now, as you can see.”

“What happened to you?” Fluttershy wanted to know.

“That’s… well, I don’t really know what to think of it. Let’s just say somepony took care of me and kept me safe. How much time has passed?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Four days,” Celestia replied.

“Really? That much? Well, I guess you can’t really keep track of time in total darkness,” the purple mare stated.

“We were really worried… Can you tell us what was going on?” Rarity requested weakly.

“I’ll tell you everything on the go. We already wasted enough time. After all, we still have a ship to catch,” Twilight reminded.

At last, she could escape from this cave that had her trapped with a cannibal mare for such a long time. Until the end, she couldn’t figure out who this mare was. But at least the symbol, the stone in diamond pattern, she could keep in mind. It was a strange thought to be supported by the type of pony she was usually fighting. Only time would tell if they would ever see each other again face to face or if this stone would be all Twilight would ever see of this mare again. All in all, she still would prefer the latter option to come true.

Unshakeable

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o-wLKNKUefhO_nhCas09JDcX_kH5KDI3lEnRLu6ysGc/edit?usp=sharing

Left to right. Up and down. Steadily ahead. Rarity usually wasn’t known for getting sea-sick very easily. But due to her disease, she by default already felt like the ground was made of water. So it was no big surprise that, once they were actually on board, she would not be able to handle her dizziness anymore. The normally white mare gained a green face and was hanging her head over the ship’s railing the whole time. Fluttershy remained closely by her side the whole time, trying to comfort her. What made this all even worse was the fact that due to her nausea, she just couldn’t keep her medicine inside. She would have loved to return to near unconsciousness instead of being fully there for the first time in days, capable of witnessing her pain and sickness. There was nothing they could do for her aside of giving her water and nutrition via injections. The liquid painkiller had already turned out to be too violent for her, only making her nausea even worse. She just had to sit through this part of their journey, hoping it would be over soon.

The others, though, gathered around a table in the middle of the ship. Twilight was studying the map Truesight had given her closely, looking out for obstacles and shortcuts to their destination. She already seemed to have dismissed her recent captivity as just another event during her time as a rebel. Of course, she had intense conversations about the things she had experienced and tried to figure out who that mysterious mare could have been, but none of her friends or allies had even the slightest clue. Having run into a dead end with that mystery, the purple mare decided to focus on their main objective again: Gaining the support of the dragons.

This was probably the most important journey they had been on so far. It would take a large troop of cultist to just bring down one single dragon and that with heavy casualties on their side. A whole army of dragons would be such a force, it deserved to be respected by even the most arrogant of demon. The sheer number of enemy forces would hardly matter anymore against these mighty creatures.

It was pretty clear to all present: Gaining an alliance with the dragons meant winning on The Red Day. Being rejected by them would mean failing and consequentially, dieing. The stakes were incredibly high and so they all were tense and nervous. It especially showed on the purple mare.

“Twilight… Are you okay?” Cadence asked in worry.

“I admit I’m really, really nervous about this,” Twilight replied, rubbing her aching forehead. “We just must get their support. But this is not going to be easy. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they decided to attack us at first.”

“Dragons focus on power. By default, they see ponies as weak, easy prey. But if you let them know that you are strong enough to defend yourself, you will gain their respect,” Celestia explained. “This is one of those situations where you have to show off your abilities in order to be accepted.”

“Is that how you managed to keep dragons away from Equestria?” Fluttershy wanted to know.

“Yes,” Luna spoke in behalf of her sister. “Titles are meaningless to them. Just by saying you are… were a princess, they will not feel any different about you. Dragons are crude beings with crude philosophies.”

“I see. Will keep that in mind,” Twilight assured, then turned her focus up to the steering wheel. “Stay right on course, captain! We should be arriving at the Flaming Islands in three days at this rate!”

“Aye-aye!” the mare controlling the ship replied.

“There is not much else to do until then. We best try to get some rest and take preparations,” Shining Armor suggested.

“Agreed,” Twilight responded. “I’d say, everypony just do whatever you want to do. Make sure you go to bed early. We need to be in good shape in case things go wrong.”

“I’ll just stay up here, watching the ship. Even on sea, you can always get attacked by demons,” Derpy stated.

“Rarity. Do you want to go somewhere else?” Fluttershy asked her friend.

“I’m… ugh... not going anywhere…” the white mare announced.

A few nods followed, then the group dispersed. Twilight decided to go under deck and to her corner in the sleeping quarters. Nopony was around. At this time, they were all on duty. The perfect timing for Twilight to get some much deserved shut-eye. She climbed into her hammock, turned around a few times, let out a couple of yawns and eventually fell asleep.

---

Endless red. No matter where Twilight looked, there was red all around her. She could not even clearly make out what the ground below her was, since she didn’t feel any ground. She was alone and no matter how much she called for her friends, the calls remained unanswered. Faint whispering crept through the air, coming from all directions, yet none at all. Twilight looked around. Nothing was there.

The whispers came closer. Twilight looked around. Nothing was there. She started running, looking for an exit from this place. She couldn’t find one. The whispering became louder, enabling her to understand what it was saying.

“796 years ago, sprouting out of the first red reaper, Lord Malice was born and destroyed the former capital of Equestria.”

It was the voice of Despair, once again stating a fact of the demon war. Twilight stopped running and instead got ready to fight. She had a grim expression on her face, waiting for the demoness to come out of her cover and attack. But nothing happened.

Twilight kept looking around. Nothing was there. The whispering became inaudible again. Her glance rapidly moved around. Finally, she spotted something. Large red eyes, more intense and evil than any she had ever seen before. They did not belong to Despair. The eyes approached her with enormous speed.

Just the fraction of a second before they could reach Twilight, she woke up again. Her own eyes instantly were wide open and she gasped. The purple mare could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Those eyes… They were filled with so much unspeakable hate and evil, it terrified her to the bone. To think that a mare who had fought countless battles and survived waking nightmares much worse than that one got so startled from a set of eyes…

The purple mare soon calmed down again, but even though she tried, she now found it difficult to fall back asleep. After turning around in her hammock for nearly half an hour, she eventually had had enough and got back up again. She decided that, now that she was awake, she might as well go through her things and do some more research. There were a few last samples she hadn’t yet analyzed.

This only occupied her for merely another half hour before she was done. Negative. Still no cure for Rarity. More and more, the Flaming Islands were turning into a last resort. Rarity had been bravely enduring unspeakable agony so far, but nopony knew how much longer she could take it.

Twilight kept roaming through her saddlebags, then let her horn light up to once again levitate up her medicine bottle and consuming one of the pills inside with a floating sphere of water. She placed the bottle back in place and was about to get up when something caught her attention: Incense sticks.

“Right. Roho Maua gave me some of those,” she spoke to herself.

The purple mare instantly found herself reminded of the moment she came to understand that spirits are real and how silly she had been for not having taken Discord serious as a literal spirit of chaos. Twilight began to wonder. Are there spirits everywhere?

Curiosity rose in her and the purple mare decided to try a little experiment. She pulled out the incense sticks and arranged a small improvised altar like that Roho Maua had been praying in front of. Then she sat down and closed her eyes. It had been a while since she last tried to speak to spirits, so she needed some time to remember the chant necessary. Eventually, though, the words came back to her. She lit up the sticks by magic and began to whisper.

This time was significantly different. The spirits trusted their sage, so they were more comfortable with revealing themselves in front of Twilight. But without Roho Maua present, Twilight’s words got no response. But the purple mare had learned to be patient with those immaterial beings. She just kept on whispering, kept on paying. After nearly half an hour, she eventually was heard. A voice was responding to her, repeating her chanting just like the tree spirit in the jungle did. Twilight tried her best to remain calm, just continuing with her chanting and waiting for the voice to come closer.

After a while, she could feel a faint breeze. It was here. Carefully, the purple mare opened her eyes. The smoke of the incense sticks formed the silhouette of a pony-sized being that looked similar to a catfish with very long whiskers. It gently floated in the air, slowly circulating around Twilight. The spirit still seemed very unsure what to think of her. This was probably the very first time a non-zebra used their chantings to talk with it.

Talking to spirits still was a strange experience to Twilight. Once they were there, no words were needed. It was a conversation where silence could say more than a thousand words. The spirit seemed to read Twilight’s intentions, noticed her curiosity and benevolence. The purple mare smiled and she could have sworn that the smile was returned, though it was very hard to tell on the face of a fish. The spirit stopped in front of her face with a few inches of distance, swimming idly in the air. The left whisker reached out and caressed her cheek. Twilight could not feel any touch, but a pleasant warmth and the slight smell of sea water. It seemed to like her.

What happened next confused Twilight. The spirit seemed to inhale and blow itself up like a pufferfish. As it exhaled, it seemed to blow itself, or at least the smoke it was made of, apart. The incense sticks extinguished and the smoke quickly became spread apart so far that it couldn’t be seen anymore. Suddenly, the whole ship tilted forward, causing Twilight to fall over with a surprised yelp.

“Oh no! Did I make it angry? I hope I didn’t just accidentally put the whole ship in danger!” she spoke to herself loudly.

The purple mare jumped back on her hoofs and ran upstairs on deck. The whole crew as well as most of Twilight’s friends seemed just as surprised as she was, holding themselves to any solid object in their reach.

“Miss Sparkle! The seas have shifted! We are being pushed forward with huge speed! I don’t think I have ever seen this ship travel this fast before!” the captain announced.

“Can you handle it? Are we in danger?” Twilight wanted to know.

“No danger here, mam! In fact, we are being driven right through the safe spots between the corals and riffs! The water flow and the wind have turned to our advantage! At this rate, we will be at the Flaming Islands by tomorrow morning!” the captain replied.

“Really? That is amazing!” the purple mare cheered.

“Something tells me that you have something to do with this,” Celestia analyzed, half shouting to be heard in the strong wind.

“Yes, I have been talking to a spirit again! I had no idea this would happen!” Twilight exclaimed back with a half apologizing tone, then turned her attention to Rarity. “Sorry I made this so rough.”

“Actually, I’m fine right now,” her sick friend replied, who now had regained her usual white color. “I don’t know what it is but there is a strange salty herbal aroma in the air. I don’t feel seasick anymore and for the first time in weeks, I can actually breathe fine!”

Twilight smiled happily. The wind blew her mane in front of her face and made it hard for her to see, so she turned around, looking straight ahead. As the ship speeded ahead with easily three times its previous speed, she felt a little excited. This actually felt like an adventure now, approaching the unknown with eager expectations and a smile on the face. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the same pleasant herbal aroma Rarity had described. Yes. They would succeed. She had friends and not just her close ones. Thousands and thousands were following her, fighting for a better tomorrow. Hope dies last and Twilight’s hopes were far from coming to an end.

---

“Land, ho!” the captain announced the next morning, a few hours after sunrise.

The benevolent weather held throughout the night. This easily made up for the days they had lost in Hollow Shades. Quickly, the whole crew came on deck to have a look at their destination.

There they were. The Flaming Islands. Truly, the name described them accurately. Even though still far away, it was already clear that this was a massive cluster of islands, of which most were created through their own active volcano. These natural chimneys and the huge pillars of smoke coming from them could be seen from very far away already. Twilight could already count about twenty smoking volcanos and as they came closer, they could spot the first dragons circling around them.

“We better pack our things and get ready,” Luna suggested.

The group agreed silently and went back down into the ship, readying their saddlebags. Not even an hour later, the ship stopped at the shores of the closest island. Of course, their presence had already been noticed. There were about fifty dragons sitting on the cliffs and eyeing them up in distrust and confusion. These dragons were not quite as big as the ones Twilight had seen before, so she figured they must still be young.

Memories of the past returned to the purple mare. She once had been disguising as a dragon herself, along with Rainbow Dash and Rarity, in order to watch over Spike on his quest of self-discovery. The adult dragons were all by themselves, but the younger ones seemed to seek each other’s company. Probably a way to protect themselves through strength in numbers. As the crew began to unload the ship, Twilight, Fluttershy and Derpy kept on watching the younger dragons closely. Some seemed to ignore them, digging through the cliffs in search for gemstones to eat. Others were play-fighting with one another. But most remained in position, still watching the ponies, griffons and minotaurs with grim expressions.

“They don’t like us being here,” Fluttershy analyzed.

“Let’s hope they don’t get any weird ideas. Like setting our ship on fire,” Derpy commented.

“We will be fine,” one of the minotaurs responded. “They may not have much respect for ponies, but they do have some for griffons and us.”

“Also, we are a large group,” a griffon added.

Twilight nodded in understanding and stepped down from the ship. The island itself was almost completely made out of a very dark stone, created through cooled down lava. The few other things that could be seen were the occasional mineral or crystal sticking out of the ground. If Twilight hadn’t been raising a baby dragon herself, she would be wondering how they survive without any plants or animals being around. But their natural resistance to fire made it easy for them to live here, while strong volcanic activity constantly brought up new gemstones they could feed on. As the group and their guards started wandering up the cliffs, they could feel the temperature rapidly increasing the further they got away from the shores. No wonder there was barely anything known about dragons. These islands were extremely dangerous for any other species. Rivers and lakes of lava were all around. Fissures jetting out hot steam blocked many of their walking paths. Loose rocks made it difficult for them to find a way around without causing a lethal avalanche.

The dragons, on the other hoof, had absolutely no problems with this environment. They were bathing in the lava pools, using the rivers as water slides. They used the hot steam to clean themselves from the cooling and hardening lava once they climbed back outside. Even when unable to fly, the large rocks falling on them hardly even put a scratch in their thick scale armors. No question, they were perfectly adapted.

The further they went, the more grown up dragons they could spot. Most were flying around or waiting directly at the tip of the vulcanos, apparently hoping to catch some gems as they erupt. Just like the younger ones, the adult dragons eyed them up in suspicion. But they never even got the chance to react to the group. As soon as an adult dragon got distracted by the group or even attempted to approach it, another grown up dragon came launching down from the sky, attacking the other one. Wherever Twilight looked, she could frequently see adult dragons fighting and stealing each others gems. Due to the dense population, there seemed to be intense competition going on. But as much as all this demanded her attention, she could not hold back a frown on her face.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Derpy wanted to know.

“None… there are no plants here. No herbs. Nothing…” the purple mare commented.

“Maybe we have better luck on the other islands. This is just the first after all,” Rarity replied.

“For now, let’s try to find a dragon we can actually talk to,” Cadence suggested.

Twilight and the others agreed with short nods, then changed their path. They wanted to get as high up as possible, so they chose to climb on top an inactive volcano. It was a difficult and very steep path, but after half an hour of struggling, they finally ended up on top.

The eyes of the purple mare went wide open. There were easily a hundred islands and over three hundred active volcanoes, spreading as far as she could see. The sky was full of dragons and where the ground wasn’t spitting fire on its own, the roosting dragons did instead. She could not even begin to guess how many there were. Thousands at least. Suddenly, a large blue dragon flew up in front of the group with an angry look on his face.

“Who are you and what are you doing on my island?” it wanted to know with a growl in its voice.

Instantly, the first instinct of most was to back away slightly and feel intimidated. Celestia, Luna and Fluttershy, though, remained unmoved. But the bad history of the yellow mare when it came to dragons could still be seen in her behavior. She may not be able to feel fear, but she was the only one who drew her weapon and got ready to defend herself. Twilight gently tapped her on the shoulder, telling her to sheath her scythe again. They were here for allies, not for fights.

“Hello, mister dragon! You may or may not have heard of us, but we represent the rebellion fighting against the corrupted pony king Blueblood,” Twilight started, a bit intimidated from the angered approach of this massive creature.

“Hm. I haven’t heard of a rebellion. But I did hear about this Blueblood. But that doesn’t explain why you are in my territory!” the dragon answered, still grim in his tone.

“We were looking to talk to the dragons and this was the first island we landed on. We apologize if we intruded,” Luna explained.

“Can you maybe tell us where to find your leader or leaders?” Cadence wondered.

The blue dragon suddenly became quiet. Moments later, a smile grew on his face, followed by a laugh. Without answering the question, he just turned around and flew away.

“Well, that’s not very polite,” Cadence commented.

“At least he doesn’t see us as a threat,” Luna replied.

“I’m sorry… I should keep it together more…” Fluttershy apologized.

“You did nothing wrong. With dangerous creatures like dragons, you can never be too careful,” Twilight spoke, then turned around. “Come on. Maybe this one won’t give us the answers we need, but there are tons of other dragons. One of them just has to be a helpful one.”

---

The little ship sailed from island to island all day, neither getting any information nor being attacked. The last thing Twilight had expected this to turn into was a second wandership like in the Zebra Tribal Lands. Of course she didn’t expect the dragons to be all too cooperative right away, but she at least hoped to get pointers whom to talk to. At the end of the day, she decided to go for a different strategy. Instead of aimlessly sailing around, she wanted to get as deep into dragon territory as possible, finding a place where the adults clustered up and talking to them. Seeing how territorial they were, some doubted such a place would even exist. But near evening, they finally found what Twilight was looking for.

While not exactly a place of meeting, it was a point on a particularly large island which several dragons at once seemed to claim for themselves. The way they looked at each other made it pretty clear for the group that there were invisible boundaries sectioning the individual territories of the dragons. Fortunately for them, the dragons seemed to have come to a common agreement to start outlining their territories from the center. This was where they ultimately chose to go. The one place that was infiltrating the territories of all dragons living on the island, demanding their attention, yet also not crossing any, preventing unneeded provocation.

Twilight’s plan worked out well. Just moments after their arrival on the center spot, three fully grown dragons approached them. Obviously, they did appreciate each other’s presence. Tension filled the air, as if the dragons were just about to pounce. But luckily, their main focus remained on the group.

“You are smart for ponies, dancing right along the borders of our territories,” a green dragon commented.

“I dare to claim myself a quick learner,” Twilight spoke, then bowed down to the dragons individually. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. My friends and I came to ask you for your help.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” a brown dragon spoke out loud with a sinister smile on his face. “Such puny little creatures as you. Of course you want to win the favor of us mighty dragons. Just look at you. Why shouldn’t I just swallow you whole, right here and now?”

Twilight reacted immediately. Her face showed great anger as her eyes turned white and her horn began to glow. This massive brown fire-breathing lizard did not expect to be forcefully slammed to the ground by the magical aura of a creature about a hundred times smaller than it. The dragon’s eyes went wide open while the others observed with an amused grin on their faces.

“I would like to see you try,” Twilight threatened.

“This one actually got strength. Impressive,” an orange dragon commented.

“You little… How dare you humiliate a dragon like this?!” the brown dragon growled.

He forced himself back up, making Twilight lose control over him. The dragon tried to slash the purple mare with his massive claws. But this time, Fluttershy’s distrust towards dragons paid off. She quickly positioned herself in front of Twilight and just as the claw was about to strike them, she swung her scythe and deflected it, even cutting off a claw and causing the dragon to roar shortly in pain.

“Not just this one,” the reaper mare continued. “You would do well to face us with respect.”

“Ha ha! Such strength! Such courage! And spoken with the ferocity of a dragon!” the green dragon commented with a little laugh. “Are you sure you two are not actually of our kind, cursed to be in such embarrassing forms?”

Celestia, Luna and Cadence smiled while Twilight whispered words of approval to Fluttershy for reacting like she did. So far, this went very well! They already gained the respect of the dragons!

“Fine,” the brown dragon spoke while eyeing up his wound, apparently not have expected anything to be able to cut through his scales this easily. “We are listening. What do you itty, bitty, tiny creatures want from us?”

“This world has sunken into a global war. Nearly all regions are being attacked by the cultist ponies and demons of the insane king Blueblood. Our goal is to stop him,” Celestia explained.

“Ah, yes. I heard about that. But before I say anything about that, maybe you would like to specify whom of us you are asking to help you fight this king,” the orange dragon responded.

“Well, as of right now, this request goes to all three of you,” Twilight stated. “I would also like to ask all other dragons to join us.”

“That will take you a long, long time, asking every single dragon on the Flaming Islands,” the green dragon analyzed.

“It would be easier if you could point us to your leader or the group of dragons representing them,” Luna requested.

The dragons looked at each other shortly, then began laughing, just like the one before.

“What’s so funny about that?” Twilight wanted to know.

“This is just so typical for you lesser creatures,” the brown dragon started. “You are too weak to fight for yourselves, hiding behind one of your own to make all the decisions for you. We dragons don’t live in any form of government or rulership. Every dragon is the master of their own territory. Only those strong enough to claim one and protect it against rivals are allowed to keep it.”

“Well maybe you don’t have a leader, but could we ask of you to distribute this request to all other dragons?” Twilight asked.

“Honestly, I don’t see any reason why we should even keep talking. I’m not interested in fighting for something that has nothing to do with me,” the green dragon stated.

“You don’t understand!” Cadence exclaimed. “The war is spreading around the entire world! It is just a matter of time before demons start showing up here, too!”

“So what? This wouldn’t be the first time some stupid creature tried to push us off the throne of the world. Since the beginning of time, the Flaming Islands had always been the home to dragons. Countless empires rose and fell, countless brave warriors tried to conquer us. But none ever succeeded. We are and will always be the mightiest creatures in this world,” the orange dragon stated.

“But you are part of this world! You are completely underestimating the demons! They alone are enough to drown every nation and every government that currently exists in chaos! You can’t just sit here and do nothing!” Shining Armor shouted.

Suddenly, the dragons gained furious expressions. They surrounded the group, causing the minotaurs and griffons to pull out their weapons, as well as Derpy and Fluttershy to get in battle stance. The green dragon slammed his clenched fist to the ground close to the group, causing a small earthquake.

“You need to watch your tongue, pathetic worm! Who do you think you are to dare command us dragons? We have been ruling over the world since the beginning and will be ruling over it until the end. Those demons are nothing! While they may be enough to completely destroy all of you, they are just a joke to us! We will crush them with ease, just like we crushed everything else that dared to challenge us!” he explained sharply.

“But what about this world? Are you really willing to just let them destroy everything aside of the Flaming Islands?” Twilight wondered, now shouting herself.

“Once all this mess is done, we will just fly over and turn them to ash with our mighty flames. There will be plenty of new territory to claim once you little pests are gone. Who knows, maybe in a few thousand years, another worm crawls out of the dirt, grows legs and starts talking.” the brown dragon stated.

“Then all the variety on this world would be lost! Even you will have to realize that this is a horrible fate that needs to be prevented at any cost!” Celestia stated.

“Heh. You ponies are funny, thinking we would care about anything else but our own needs,” the orange dragon spoke, then turned to the green one. “You know, they kind of remind me of Margspakr. That old fool and his sentimentality. Maybe if they are lucky, he will let them move in with him in his cave.”

“Then it would not be the demons killing them, but his endless boring stories!” the green dragon spoke, half laughing.

The group became furious and desperate. The dragons now returned to mocking them. It seemed like there was no way to get their support. But the last words did catch Twilight’s attention.

“Who is this Margspakr?” she wanted to know.

“Pathetic, old and weak. That’s all anyone needs to know of him,” the brown dragon replied shortly.

“Actually, I’m going to tell them all about him. This fool might just be dumb enough to actually support them. Would be fine with me. Another cave I can claim,” the green dragon announced, then refocused Twilight. “He is a bunch of really old bones. One of the oldest still living dragons. The age got his head mushy. He has these really ridiculous thoughts that we should get along with all other creatures of this world and step down from our position as rulers. Only a fool would give up absolute power to make himself even with the creatures squirming in the mud.”

“Where can we find him?” Twilight wondered.

“Oh, he is on the island over there somewhere,” the green dragon stated, pointing into the distance. “He is too old and weak to still keep a territory, so he had to crawl into a cave no one wants. Hasn’t come out in centuries.”

Now, the others as well realized what Twilight was aiming for. Perhaps a dragon this old and wise might know of a way to convince the others to follow their cause.

“Are we done here?” the orange dragon asked with a grumpy tone.

“Well, don’t know what keeps you here still but I’m done,” the brown dragon stated and lifted into the air.

Now, all three dragons flew away, not saying another word to the ponies. This surely went bad, but they at least still got a chance to turn things around.

“So, Margspakr it is then?” Derpy wondered.

“Yes,” Twilight confirmed and turned around. “Let’s go back to the ship and end the day. We will try our luck with this ancient dragon tomorrow.

Restless

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G3LjkH8woZX-p6zWgerlAPZYPrZN81gD4rR5zU8HGAU/edit?usp=sharing

If there was one thing the Crystal Empire had more of than ever before, it was migrants. Half the world knew by now that the rebellion was becoming a real force to be reckoned with and could count some major success on their side. More than enough reason for thousands to flee from the demons and cultists invading their homes and seek shelter in this remote fortress near the icy mountains. With Applejack being the only one of the leadership circle present, she had to make a lot of decisions. Eventually, she became fed up with this and decided on her own to reorganize the structure of the rebellion. She did not want to be troubled with unimportant mundane tasks the rebels very well could solve themselves. The individual beings from all sorts of species had already grown close due to their common goals, letting the rebellion now start to almost run itself completely. Applejack was sure that this was a big step forward and could not wait for Twilight to see the results of her work.

At last, the orange mare could focus on what made her happy again. She could finally dedicate herself to the crystal berry plantation again. Manual labor was just so much more satisfying to her than going through documents and audiences, like she was some sort of princess. That just wasn’t her world and she was way too humble to ever wanting to be seen as any form of leader. Being a farmer was all she ever wanted. Well, that and being a mother some day. But this just wasn’t the right time for that. Raising children during times of war, having them witness the cruelty of the cult and demon, as well as the corruption of their king… No. Applejack wanted to avoid all this. Sure she would love to start a family as soon as possible and make sure that the Apple family lives on, but she figured she would just have to wait a bit longer. After all she had gone through together with her friends, she was certain that the war was just about to be over anyway.

Outside of the empire’s magic, it was getting cold again. Soon, snow would start to fall, giving the empire its unique and strange look of being the only clear spot in an ocean of white. It was just so weird to stare up into the sky and see the snowflakes deliberately avoid falling down on the ponies. Instead, they were sliding down an invisible dome that was so smooth, not a single flake could settle on top. At times, Applejack wondered where this snow even came from. There were no weather pegasi around the empire, yet the seasons still changed. She once heard the donkey scientists working on the elements and Crystal Heart talk about this before, saying it had something to do with the magic from the mountains. Or was it a lack of magic, colliding with the overflow of the empire? Whichever it was, Applejack did not get all those magical terms. Maybe she should ask Twilight for a better explanation at some point.

“Ever thought about taking some time off?” Spring Sapling asked suddenly, tearing the orange mare out of her train of thought.

“Oh, uh. Nah, not really. And honestly, after havin’ to do all that leadin’ business, bein’ back to the farm is pretty much vacation to me,” Applejack replied.

“As much as I love having you around, you have to take a breather every now and then. There are so many newcomers to the empire these days, I can easily find someone to jump in while you are away,” the plantation owner suggested.

“That kinda sounds like ya want to replace me,” Applejack analyzed with a sly smirk.

“Haha. Don’t worry. You are irreplaceable to me. I have never met anypony as dedicated as you. In fact, I am the one who actually needs to be careful about my position. If you keep going at this pace, you will be taking over my whole plantation!” Sapling said jokingly.

“So that’s why ya want me to take some time off, ya old fox,” the orange mare spoke, half laughing.

“Exactly! Haha! No, in all honest now. I think you should only stay for half the time today and spend the rest with Babs,” the plantation owner suggested in an almost ordering tone.

“Well, as ya wish, sir!” Applejack agreed, saluting to him. “Ah’ll finish up here and be on mah way home then.”

“That’s my girl! Gosh, I wished I had you working for me sooner,” Sapling spoke, then turned around and went away.

Applejack chuckled a little. Spring Sapling was quite a nice guy. Not as cute as Caramel, but still a nice guy. Where was Caramel anyway? Applejack hadn’t seen him all day. Maybe she should check on him, now that she could leave early anyway. The orange mare finished up her chores, clocked herself out and left, aiming for the south of the empire.

It was another busy day for the other members of the rebellion. Little griffons and diamond dogs were playing on the streets, some minotaurs were using oversized hammers to flatten the ground in order to build a new house, a saddle arabian merchant was pulling his cart down the main road, selling goods from his homeland, clones were teaming up to help wherever they could. Even a few zebras could be found, talking to some crystal ponies and looking around in awe. Never before in its entire history had this place been so crowded. It even surpassed Manehattan at this point. But not all rebels were in a good mood. Several could be seen with worried expressions on their faces and small groups were talking about the Red Day. Most rebels so far only had been partaking in some basic combat training. Even the cultists knew to avoid the empire. They stood no chance against so many rebels as there had been clustering up now. But it became clearer with every day passing that war was just around the corner, even here in the headquarter of the rebellion. Soon, they would start to prepare for the battle. More and more jobs in security, weapon production and armor crafting were opening up. Due to the blooming interspecial friendships and romances, the rebels could keep each other calm very well. But the mood was bond to change sooner or later. Not even a full year was left before the demons would come.

Applejack finally arrived at Caramel’s house, a small apartment building with only three floors. The orange mare entered and aimed straight to the first door she found, knocking at it. Several seconds passed without anything happening, so Applejack knocked again.

“Caramel? Are ya home?” she spoke loudly.

This time, she could hear something move on the other side, though it still took a while before the door finally opened.

“Hi, AJ…” Caramel spoke with a really sad tone, leaving his head and ears hanging.

“What’s wrong, Sugarcube? Why didn’t ya show up at work today?” Applejack wondered.

“Little point in going back to the plantation when I don’t work there anymore…” the light brown stallion spoke with a sigh.

“Huh?! Don’t tell me…” the orange mare spoke in worry.

“Yep… I lost something again… twice over, actually. First Sapling’s keys, then my job…” Caramel replied, getting even more depressed.

Applejack came a step closer, hugging the stallion. She felt really bad for him. He really didn’t deserve constantly being so unfortunate.

“Well, I guess this means goodbye,” Caramel started again.

“Come on now. Just because ya lost yer job doesn’t mean ya have to leave the empire,” the orange mare replied, petting his neck.

“Actually, that’s exactly what it means. You, of all ponies, should know this,” Caramel commented.

“What do you mean?” Applejack wanted to know, letting go of him.

“Well, soon after Spring Sapling fired me, a bunch of guards showed up at my door. They said that the resources of the empire are being stretched extremely thin now and that we have big problems providing for everyone. Apparently there is no room for ponies that don’t actively support the rebellion. If I don’t get a new job within a week, which is pretty much impossible with all the competition for jobs going on, I would have to leave,” the light brown stallion explained.

Applejack eyes and mouth went wide open. She was shocked to hear this. Is that what the rebels understood by ‘handling things themselves’? It seemed like she definitely would have to fix this attitude, but that would take a while. Maybe too long for Caramel.

“What?! Ah can’t believe it! Ah never agreed to somethin’ like that! Hang on, Sugarcube. I’ll talk to Saplin’ about this. He just has to take ya back in!” the orange mare stated.

“Don’t bother. He said I should never dare to show my face at the plantation ever again. Even you can’t do anything about it,” the stallion spoke, sighing again.

“Well, then I’ll just have to work even harder to make up for ya!” Applejack suggested.

“You already did that the whole time, AJ. Quite honestly, I was never really good at plantation work. It’s no use… My bad luck has struck again. I will just have to find some other place to go to and hope the cultists don’t catch me on the way…” Caramel spoke.

“Ah can not believe this! What are they thinkin’?!” Applejack shouted in anger.

“It’s okay… I have been wandering around for so long now, looking for a job to keep. I kind of expected this to happen eventually as soon as I got into my first fight with Sapling. I will be fine, I guess. In any case, thank you for everything, AJ. I really enjoyed the time we could spend together and I appreciate that you helped me overcome Sassa’s death. Maybe, when this madness is finally over, we will meet each other again,” the light brown stallion stated with a fake smile.

“Sugarcube… at least try to find a job!” Applejack requested in an almost desperate tone.

“Well, for you, I will try my best. But I can’t make any promises. Now, if you excuse me, I need to be alone for a while…” Caramel spoke.

With a frown on her face, Applejack hugged her friend a second time before turning back around. As the door closed behind her, her own ears were hanging in worry. This was certainly not what she wanted when she gave the rebels more freedom to arrange things themselves. Moments after returning outside of the building, she started running towards the Crystal Palace.

---

The sun wasn’t even full up yet when Caramel woke up from a very restless night. He looked drained and very depressed. Gradually, he climbed out of his bed and walked over to the calendar on his wall. Using a pen, he crossed out the last day of his deadline. He didn’t make it. A week had passed and even though he turned half of the empire upside down, he couldn’t find a job, just as he predicted. His gaze wandered over to the clock in his kitchen. He still had five hours before the guards would come. Although expecting it, he still hoped to avoid having to leave the empire’s protection. Due to this, he did not pack his things together, yet. It was high time now he got to that. After having a very small breakfast due to a lack of appetite, he began to collect all that belonged to him and put it into the only saddlebag he owned. Caramel toyed with the idea to just run over to Applejack’s and Babs’ place, wake them up and spend some final moments with them. But he figured he would only make them angry. After all, who is he to claim to be so important as to rob some hard working and successful ponies of their badly needed sleep?

Unfortunately, time passed much faster than he wished for. Two hours vanished by the time he finally completed gathering his things. But that also was not much to his surprise. He had lost his toothbrush and needed to look for it first. Then he discovered he had lost a scarf, then another thing and so on. Losing, losing, losing. That was all Caramel could do. Now, he was even going to lose Applejack.

For the rest of the time, the light brown stallion just sat in place and stared to the floor, sunken in thought. He had surrendered to his situation completely and just waited for the guards. After all, he was good for nothing, so he probably should just do nothing.

Three knocks were heard on his door. Caramel let out a sigh, got up, walked over and opened it. Two guards in crystal armor were waiting on the other side.

“Are you ready, Mr. Caramel?” one of them asked.

“One moment,” the unfortunate stallion requested, then turned around and picked up his saddlebag.

Obviously, AJ couldn’t change things. The guards stepped aside and let him out. Caramel had to hand over the key immediately, letting one of the guards lock the door. Then they began walking down the streets. One last time, Caramel’s gaze wandered around, absorbing this wonderful sight. So many creatures living together and getting along. So many cultures colliding and exchanging. A smile grew on his face. He really liked being here and hoped he could return one day.

“Wait!” a voice called from behind.

The guards and Caramel turned around. An orange mare was running towards them.

“Is that one of her clones?” the left guard wondered.

“Hm…” the other spoke, lifting a front hoof and placing it over his forehead to cast a shadow so he could see better. “No, that’s the real one!”

Instantly, the guards straightened themselves and saluted. As Applejack arrived in front of them, she was breathless. A satchel was hanging from her neck. After taking a short breather, she gained a furious expression.

“What in tarnation do ya think ya’ll doin’ here?!” she shouted.

“Look, Miss Applejack. We have been trying to explain this to you before. The empire is already overcrowded and we already can’t keep up with the ever increasing number of migrants. As much as we would love to provide a safe place for everypony, we just can’t. At least at the moment, it is not manageable to just let them stay here if they don’t do anything,” one of the guards spoke.

“We are aware of his situation and that this might seem pretty unfair. We also know that this sends a bad message. But what can we do? Even we have our limits!” the other one added.

“Well hold your horseshoes for just one second there,” Applejack ordered, then opened up her satchel and pulled out a piece of paper. “There. An employment document for Caramel. Ah managed to get him a place as armorsmith just five minutes ago.”

Caramel’s eyes went wide open. He couldn’t believe it! She actually got him a place just by recommendation! This was such a close call, too! She must have been working to get one for him all week! The guards picked up the piece of paper, read it through and then gave it to Caramel along with his key.

“Suppose these are yours. Don’t know what this will look like to the outside, though, if we start keeping extra migrants through personal favors from the leadership circle,” the guard commented.

“Ah don’t give a darn about what it looks like to the outside!” Applejack began to shout in fury. “Yes, this is personal! Ah don’t want him to go and Ah don’t give a flying feather if this causes trouble! Ya can’t just kick people out of the empire as you see fit! We are preparin’ for a war, dagnabbit! We need every helpin’ hoof, claw or whatever we can get, even if it means that we’ll have less to eat for a few nights!”

“If I may make a recommendation…?” the other guard spoke, lifting his front leg. “The donkeys seem to be pretty good at this kind of organisation. Maybe they can give a few pointers on how to arrange the empire’s situation.”

“That’s more of the way Ah’d wanted ya guys to start thinkin’. Now stop pickin’ on those who can’t defend themselves and actually do somethin’ useful like trainin’ soldiers!” Applejack ordered.

The guards saluted again, then quickly walked away. Applejack kept on focusing them with an angry and distrusting glance for a while longer before she eventually let out a relieved sigh, turned back around and smiled at Caramel.

“Boy am Ah glad Ah got ya in time,” she commented.

Caramel’s eyes were still wide open. He stared at the document, reading it over and over, unbelieving this was real. Nopony had ever gone through so much trouble for him.

“Are you okay, Sugarcube?” Applejack wondered in worry.

The stallion’s focus returned to the orange mare. He kept on staring in disbelief for a moment longer, before eventually breaking out in tears and hugging her.

“Thank you, AJ! Thank you so much!” he spoke, tightly holding the mare. “I was so scared! I was convinced that I wouldn’t survive for even a day outside of the empire!”

The orange mare did not respond. She just embraced Caramel back and tried her best to comfort him. Secretly, she was shedding a tear herself. He was probably right. Equestria had become extremely dangerous these days. He just needed to be unfortunate enough to come across a cultist and he would have been done for. But now, he was safe. All he needed to do now was to prove that he really was as skilled in fitting horse shoes as he claimed to be.

---

She was up on her legs for hours now. She, her friends, her enemies, her teachers… The whole kindergarden had to join this endless line. Demons to the left. Demons to the right. There was no way to escape. They all just stood there, sobbing quietly in fear.

The air was red as always. The filly couldn’t remember when she had last seen a proper sun or moon. Everything looked the same with this red, dark aura in the air. The demons stared at them with their glowing red eyes, grinned at them with their sharp teeth. They were being observed, watched, kept in place. Every now and then, the line moved forward into the distance. A few steps, then waiting again. Another few steps, then waiting again. Her legs were starting to hurt from all the standing. She wanted to sit down, but the demons would not let her. The line had to keep on moving.

The kindergarden teachers were mumbling something. Probably to comfort them and calm them down. But she couldn’t hear it. She was too far away from them. She was so scared.

A mountain could be seen in the distance. A mountain where there was none before. The endless queue lead up straight to it. There was no escape. No way out. Her legs hurt and she was scared. The children were crying and the kindergarden teachers whimpering. Demons were smiling and staring. A step forward. Another step. They were coming closer and closer.

A scream! She heard screams in the distance. Her legs were shaking. Another scream! She wanted to run, but she couldn’t. They were getting closer and closer. The screams were getting louder!

A purple demon with black mane and a red stripe was nearby. She was watching, walking up and down, making notes on a hovering scroll with a hovering quil. She was scary. Her front legs were mouths, her back legs had bandages and blades, her chest had a bleeding heart-shaped hole. Her horn was weirdly shaped, edgy and sharp. She was so scary and she looked right at her! The filly cowered. The filly looked away. Was she still there? No. The demoness had moved on.

The mountain was close now. Water was running down from it and the screams were very clear now. Countless at once, wave after wave. Never the same voice twice. Something was moving in the mountain, digging through it like a mole. Something small and bright green popped out of it. It was another filly! Did she escape?

No. It wasn’t a filly. It had red eyes and her mane and tail were like green clouds. It was another demon. But she was chewing. Was she eating the dirt? She disappeared again…

The filly heard something new. When the ponies screamed, they all stopped very suddenly at the same time and another sound could be heard. She didn’t know what it was. The queue moved forward again. She stepped in a puddle. The water was sticking to her hoof. It would not go off!

“Those were over a million by now, but we still have plenty more.”

The purple demoness was back! The filly cowered and tried to hide between her friends. She wasn’t looking at her, but talking to the mountain.

“Good.”

The mountain talks! Ponies screamed again, then suddenly stopped again.

“What is their latest status?”

“The group arrived at the Flaming Islands. The empire is overflowing with rebels and they are preparing for war.”

“The elements and the Crystal Heart?”

“No progress.”

Ponies screamed again, then became silent. The filly was shaking. The little green demoness popped out of the mountain again, chewing and swallowing. She looked confused. The filly was watching her as she flapped her little wings, flew over the queue and landed next to the purple demoness.

“Despy?”

“What is it?”

“I have been eating non-stop for the past two days. I ate so much and still, I feel hungry. How much does a demon need to eat to be satisfied?”

Suddenly, the purple demoness looked sad. She was looking at the ground and not smiling anymore.

“Well, you could eat the whole world and you would not feel satisfied. It’s the same reason why we can’t rest or sleep. As long as our queen is restless and has cravings, so do we. No matter what we do, we will forever feel nothing but burning hatred.”

“Really?”

Now the little green demon looked sad as well. Her ears were hanging and she was frowning.

“Focus.”

The mountain spoke again! The green and the purple demon now looked at it. Then they went away.

The queue kept going. Step after step. Scream after scream. It was going around the mountain. It looked so wet and weird. Those were strange white rocks sticking out of it. It was squishy. Why are the others crying so much now? They were making her even more scared!

Heads. Heads without bodies were lying on the ground! And in the mountain! No… The mountain… It was heads! Heads and pieces of ponies! Rivers of blood were flowing out underneath it!

The filly was in terror. She screamed. She cried. She tried to run away, but the demons wouldn’t let her. They were getting closer and closer to the mountain of dead ponies.

A massive black hoof. A massive black bone attached to it. The black skeleton of a giant was sitting on the mountain! It was huge! So huge!

Ten ponies lifted into the air in front of the skeleton. It had a massive red scythe. It lifted the scythe into the air and swung! The ponies screamed for a moment, then became silent. A strange metal sound could be heard before their heads fell to the ground. The whole kindergarden group was screaming and crying. All tried to run, but none could get away. The skeleton lifted the other hand and made glowing lights come out of the headless bodies and gather in it. Then he ate them.

The filly couldn’t feel the ground beneath her anymore. She wiggled her legs, but only kicked air. She was floating up! All her friends were screaming. Even the teachers were screaming!

The skeleton had no eyes. But there was a red glow where the eyes should be. It was over and over drenched in blood, as well as its cloak. The purple demoness was back and looking at the black skeleton.

“When should I go to Master Blueblood?”

“We still need a few more months. Another six hundred thousand, then you can tell him about our plans.”

She nodded, turned around and left again. The black skeleton stared at the filly now. It lifted the massive scythe into the air. The filly screamed. She screamed like never before, as hard as she could. Then she became silent.

Of Time Passing

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X4URwqwaFnzu_kgfL3avEICGIHR1DpK10TGC5m9QIFc/edit?usp=sharing

It was no easy task to find out exactly where Margspakr had his lair. The description of the dragon was very vague and just as this one, all the others had very little interest in helping a group of creatures that only appeared tiny and meaningless to them. But after sailing around randomly once again, they eventually managed to arrive on the correct island, even though they all pretty much looked the same: Dark rock, running lava, crowded with dragons. Only as they started climbing did they realize that what made this island special was the fact that nearly all dragons living on it had no wings. They were a lot bulkier and sturdier looking than their flying cousins, kind of like comparing a pegasus to an earth pony. Twilight once again came to realize that there is next to nothing known about the dragons and if they actually have different sub-species. She as well had to admit that she did not pay enough attention to how the dragons looked like to really be able to tell any difference. The only thing she noticed was that most young dragons had very unique shapes and appearances. Apparently, they would lose their imbalanced bodily appearance as they age and shape into adults to annihilate weaknesses.

Pondering upon these thoughts, Twilight kept looking around in search for the cave in which the ancient dragon would be hiding. The flying members of her group were eager to scout the area, but the purple mare forbid them to spread. So deep in their territories, none of them could predict the dragons’ reactions. There was a constant risk of one spontaneously deciding to attack the group, inspiring plenty of others to join in and utterly destroy the little group like a swarm of armored, flying, firebreathing piranhas. A slower pace was an acceptable trade for the increased security of sticking around in numbers. So the group remained together, scanning everything around them. They had to watch the sky, the ground, the obstacles and of course the dragons. So many potential hazards. The Flaming Islands certainly were not a very welcoming place.

Suddenly, Twilight stopped. Her eyes were wide open and even her jaw dropped slightly. Her friends were about to snap her out of it and ask her what was wrong before they turned their own heads towards what she was seeing, gaining stunned expressions themselves.

A fully grown wingless dragon. Most of its body was covered in purple scales, but from the neck to the belly, it had green scales, as well as green spines, claws and eyes.

Twilight couldn’t help herself. She just needed to know. Abandoning her own words and plans, she broke out of the group and started running straight over to the purple and green dragon. Of course, it saw her coming from far away, closely observing as she approached and eventually halted with some respectful distance.

“What do you want, little pony?” the dragon spoke in a feminine voice, giving away that it was actually a dragoness.

Twilight was flustered. She knew what she wanted to say, but the sight alone made her mind get flooded with memories. She needed a moment to sort her thoughts before she could respond.

“Excuse me… Um… I… You look very familiar to me. I once knew a young dragon that looked almost exactly like you,” the purple mare mumbled.

“So what?” the dragoness wanted to know.

“I was just wondering if there might be any chance you could have been related to said dragon. His name was Spike. Have you ever heard of him?” Twilight wondered.

“That’s not a dragon name. Sounds more like something one of you ponies would name a dragon,” the wingless dragoness responded, then started scratching her chin in thought. “Wait a moment… Ah, yes. I remember. I laid an egg a couple of years ago. Really annoying. But I guess that is why I’m actually tolerating you in my territory. Made a good experience with you ponies back then.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy wondered after she and the rest caught up.

“There is nothing more annoying to a dragoness than having to watch over eggs and hatchlings. Baby dragons take decades to even become teenagers if they don’t get nurtured with enough gems and greed. Do I look like I had the patience to do something so tedious?” the dragoness replied.

“Then, what does this have to do with us ponies?” Twilight asked again.

“Just days after I laid that egg, I got fed up with it. I was just about to throw it away when a pony showed up and asked me if he could have it, since I don’t want it. He said some nonsense about knowing a school in some pony city that would love to have something like that. Didn’t care then and don’t care now. I was just glad I got rid of that egg, one way or the other,” the dragoness answered.

Once more, Twilight became silent and stunned. Her focus slowly lowered from the face of the dragoness and wandered to the ground. It was clear to her friends right away that this really hit her.

“Don’t overstay your welcome. I was only going to answer that question. Now get lost,” the dragoness demanded.

Without saying a word, Twilight just turned around and left. Her focus returned to a neutral one, but the others could still clearly tell that something was stirring inside of her.

“Are you okay, Twily?” Shining Armor asked in worry.

The purple mare made a short gesture, telling him and the others to wait for a moment. Apparently, she tried her best to hold herself together while they were still in line of sight of any dragon. Only after they walked around a large rock were at least the purple and green dragoness couldn’t see them anymore, she suddenly stopped and sat down. Twilight let her ears hanging as she stared at the rocky ground. She sniffled a bit, but refused to cry.

“To think that Spike’s genetic mother just threw him away like that before he even hatched… He almost would have never made it past his egg shell,” she spoke quietly, rubbing her eyes one at a time. “Did you hear how casual she was about all this? Spike meant the world to me and she would just have let him die.”

“Try thinking about it the other way round, Twilight,” Cadence suggested. “If she hadn’t denied Spike, you two would have never met.”

“I know… But the worst part about all this is… He once set out to try and find his roots. He so wanted to know where he came from and what it meant to be a dragon. Even though this is pretty horrible knowledge, he would have wanted… no… even needed to hear that. Why must I find out about this now… While he is dead for years already…” Twilight responded.

“We are aware of how much you still suffer from the loss of your adoptive son, Twilight,” Luna started, placing a front hoof on the purple mare’s shoulder. “You also may not like to hear this, but… The past is the past. What happened, happened. It can not be undone. All that is left for us is to move forward, no matter what is thrown at us.”

Twilight did not respond. She just sat there for a moment longer, staring at the floor and letting the memories flood through her head. After a few moments, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and got up again.

“I know that… Let’s find the cave already…” she spoke and started walking.

The others followed mutely. Even the minotaurs seemed to feel condolence for what their leader had gone though. With the focus being on Twilight, Celestia could allow herself a moment to let down her facade. She stared at the floor, regret filling her entire being. Once again, she made a terrible mistake. All the time, she knew where Spike came from. She was the one who had to agree to the Canterlot School for gifted unicorns getting the egg, so she knew the whole story. If only she had known much sooner that this information was actually very important to both Twilight and Spike. These details just keep slipping her mind, which is why they ended up in this position in the first place. At times, Celestia wondered if it really was such a good idea for her to get back on the throne.

---

It only took a few minutes more before they finally found what they were searching for. A wide, dark and steep tunnel, leading into the darkness. Already being occupied with memories of the past, this quickly came to remind Twilight of her very first mission against a demon: the fight against the Spawn in the Everfree Underground Passage.

Obsidian had warned them. Demons surely were and still are the most dangerous enemies Twilight and her friends ever faced, but it all seemed so much easier back then. Despite Obsidian’s warnings, they underestimated these monsters. Now, it was once more time for Twilight to decent into the darkness, looking for hidden knowledge.

The path was tricky. Even though the ground was solid and few loose rocks were present, they still had to be careful not to slip. At the recommendation of the minotaurs and griffons, the ponies decided to tie themselves to each other and let their allies make sure they get down safely. Streams of lava illuminated the cave, soon revealing that it actually was an emptied out lava chamber. If this was the work of dragons or of natural cause could not be clearly told, but it certainly provided enough space for a fully grown dragon to live in, even if just barely.

As they reached the bottom, Twilight and her friends started to look around again. Where was he? One would suspect that something as big as a dragon could easily be spotted.

“Hello? Hello!” Twilight called.

Suddenly, the whole cave started to shake. It was not long before they came to realize that they were standing right on top of the ancient dragon. As the mares shrieked, fearing to fall and get crushed underneath this giant lizard, the movement stopped. Instead, a large head rose out of the dark, turning towards them.

Gray eyes as large as Celestia once used to be stared at them sleepily. The dragon did not move. It just kept on watching, seemingly waiting for further words.

“Um… hello…” Twilight started again. “Sorry if we woke you up.”

“Don’t worry about that. I spent most of my time asleep anyway and since I didn’t have visitors in centuries, this is a very pleasant change,” the dragon spoke in a gentle tone, then his eyes wandered over to Celestia, Luna and Cadence. “It is an honor to meet pony royalty.”

“You know about us?” Luna wondered.

“Most of my kin may not care for other species, but I try to stay informed as best as I can in here. These walls echo with the voices on the surface. I heard rumors of your land having fallen to terrible monsters. My sincerest commiseration,” the dragon spoke.

He definitely was a lot more friendly and understanding than any other member of his species they had met so far. No doubt, this was Margspakr. After so much hostility, it felt really good to be welcome for a change.

“Pardon me, but may I ask of you to step down from me? My joints are not what they used to be anymore and this position is starting to get painful,” he requested.

“Oh, sorry, of course!” Twilight responded hastily.

The purple mare looked around for a moment, trying to find the quickest way down from him. Though Margspakr himself offered them a solution. He reached his claw down to them and spread it open as a platform for them to stand on. Twilight immediately stepped on it, but the others hesitated. After all, he was a dragon. He just needed to clench his claws and they would all instantly get turned to mush. But with a serious glance of the purple mare, the others were encouraged to display some trust to this dragon and climbed on as well. The ride was short, but gentle. He simply carried them to a nearby platform on a wall, then waited until they all got on it before he eventually started lifting himself out of the ground. The sound of several tons of gravel falling to the ground echoed against the walls with incredible noise. As the dragon got upright, they could see lava running down from his belly and a huge bubbling crater beneath him. With this additional source of light, the ponies could finally make out the appearance of this dragon. He was enormous, very thin and of a dirty gray color. Barely any scales on his body were not scratched or chipped. His eyes seemed very milky, indicating that he was suffering from cataract and nearly blind. Overall, he made a very weak appearance, barely capable of even keeping himself upright.

“If you have come to ask for help to retake your land, I am afraid I won’t be much of a help to you. Had this happened a thousand years earlier or so, I would have gladly fought for you. But it seems my old age won’t allow me to undertake such an adventure anymore,” Margspakr apologized.

“There is no need to feel sorry. We came here to learn and negotiate,” Twilight replied.

“Again, I am sad to disappoint. In your culture, the old and wise may be respected, but dragons only care for strength. The only reason I still have this small territory here at all is due to me using my knowledge to outsmart challengers. I will not be able to inspire them to join your cause,” the old dragon apologized again.

“Well, aside of that, there is another thing we hoped you could help us with,” the purple mare started anew, then gave Rarity a look to step over to her. “My friend here is suffering from a lethal curse called the Kiss of Death. I have turned half of the world upside down in search for a cure, but couldn’t find one so far. Do you have any knowledge on that matter?”

Margspakr slowly lowered his head, getting very close to Rarity, who stared up to the enormous head in more fear than respect. She was shaking out of control, but she really couldn’t tell if this was due to the dragon or her disease. Large quantities of air rushed past the sick white mare and into his nostrils. For a few moments, Margspakr’s gaze wandered up to the ceiling in thought, but then he lowered his head again and shook it slowly.

“It is a very foul magic that has befallen your friend. I fear I am not as much of use to you as you may have wished for. A cure to such a horrible curse is not known to me,” he explained.

“But there has to be something you can tell us! Please, this is very urgent!” Twilight pleaded.

Margspakr got upright again and closed his eyes. It seemed like he really tried to roam through his memories and knowledge to give any sort of advice. Eventually, he let out a sigh.

“I am ancient, that is true. But as much as I would like to be, I am not all-knowing. Truthfully, I hardly know anything about curses in the first place,” he spoke while slowly shaking his head, but then started to stare at Twilight for a moment before continuing. “But it would be a shame if you came all this way for nothing. While I can’t provide a cure or support for your rebellion, I still can share knowledge of ages long passed. Maybe some of it may turn out to be useful to you.”

Twilight was disappointed. But by now, she didn’t really expect a different outcome. She just thought to herself that she was lucky to have this unique opportunity of gaining rare knowledge.

“That is very nice of you, darling,” Rarity thanked weakly.

The old dragon gave her a benevolent smile, then again seemed to be roaming through his memory.

“Hmm… Time seems to be of great importance to you. You all seem very stressed and under pressure. You will have to leave the islands and return home soon, I take?” he wondered.

“Yes. We need to prepare for an assault on our headquarter,” Celestia explained.

“I see. Hmm. I don’t know how much use this will be, but something urges me to tell you a little secret about time and how it affects our world,” the dragon stated.

“Any knowledge could be helpful. We gladly accept anything you can share,” Twilight spoke.

“Well then,” Margspakr started, but again dove back into thought, apparently having issues figuring out how to start. “Immortality. It is something all mortal creatures want to achieve. Even us dragons, who exist for thousands and thousands of years, wish for nothing more than to live for as long as possibly imaginable. I know alicorns can basically live forever. You have no natural death and the only way you can perish is by violence, be it an accident or on purpose. But eternity is an illusion. Nothing lasts forever. Because even though millions of years may pass, there will always be a point where what had always been a stable constant suddenly changes. That which you call ‘time’ is nothing but a scale created by us mortal beings to measure the span between such changes. Time never was a creation of our world. In truth, it does not exist. It is meaningless. There is no forward or backward. There is always only the now. What we call ‘the past’ are the impressions left to us by memories. What we call ‘the future’ is nothing but speculation of what changes may be ahead of us.”

“But how do you explain time traveling spells then?” the purple mare wanted to know.

“Ah. A student of the teachings of Starswirl, I see,” the dragon spoke with a smile. “I met him once, you know. He may have created this ‘time traveling spell’, but he only named it that way to make it simpler for others to understand. Starswirl as well was aware of the fact that time does not exist. In fact, I learned what I am teaching you right now from him! With this spell, he tried to put this knowledge to a test. Of course, it would seem like you are traveling through time if you are capable of meeting yourself from an age passed. But what this spell truly does is nothing more than creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. If time travel would be possible, events of the past could be changed for a different outcome in present and future. It would be a power that could be used for both good or bad. But if it was used either way, why did your kingdom fall and why hasn’t your rebellion been eradicated before it ever started? Also, if it was so easy to travel through time as to simply cast a spell, many would be using this power. This world would be constantly changing. Every day… no. Even every hour would make the world look entirely different. With each moment passing, we would see it in ashes or blooming. But you can’t manipulate what doesn’t exist. Our world is a constant that only major forces can change over a long period.”

“That is an interesting way to look at it. Let me try to get this… I once was visited by my future self who tried to warn me from a disaster in the future. Afterwards, I spent days trying to prevent said disaster and by doing so, I started looking more and more like my future self. In the end, the disaster never happened and I tried to use the time travel spell to tell my past self to stop chasing after the disaster. Hm, true. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Nothing changed in the end. But it is hard for me to understand how this could have started. When my future self talked to me, I didn’t even know a time travel spell existed. I only gained the knowledge to cast it after the event transpired. How could I talk to myself twice then? And how were our words exactly the same both times?” Twilight wondered.

“Starswirl put his everything into the spell. He tried his very best to disprove his own theory. In fact, he tried it so hard that he managed to create a highly complex illusion that keeps on roaming throughout this world even today. A paradox that creates an illusion to reveal the possibility of a time traveling spell to an individual with exceptional magical capabilities and a strong hunger for knowledge. It reads the mind of the individual, forms an illusion that seems plausible to them and encourages them to pursue a goal that eventually leads them to casting the spell themselves. With their strong believe of what they were seeing after casting this spell was real, they failed to recognize this illusion and that the spell makes them speak out the words they had in their mind from the first encounter with the paradox. Starswirl as well fell for this. You see, the first time he cast that spell, nothing happened. Only the following attempts were successful. But he was smart enough to check the results and repeat the experiment several times over. This way, he could figure out that it was his own mind deceiving him by making him cast the spell that set everything in motion in the first place. This paradox Starswirl created could be seen as a form of being. After being cast, it wanders off to look for a creature willing to cast the spell again. After performing the illusion, it vanishes, only to be recreated by the spell being cast again. Frankly, it is humorous once you think about it. Without it being his intention, he created the longest lasting prank in the history of this world,” the old dragon spoke, snickering a bit near the end.

“Heh. You are right. This is kind of funny. I envy you, Margspakr. You had the chance to meet Starswirl in person. Oh the things I could learn from him if he were still alive…” Twilight commented.

“Don’t forget my words, young mare. Time does not exist. It is meaningless. His bones still remain to this day, lying in his grave in Arcania. You can still meet him in person if you wish to,” Margspakr replied.

“It just wouldn’t be the same. But maybe one day, I will visit his resting place. Anyway, thank you for sharing this,” the purple mare spoke.

“There is much more I can share with you, if you can spare the time,” the dragon offered.

“Of course! What else can you tell me?” Twilight wondered.

---

It was evening. The sun slowly started to set after the fourth day the group spent with Margspakr. He really seemed to love talking to them and it felt like he never wanted them to leave. But sadly, their time was limited. Twilight was mostly interested in what the old dragon could tell about his own kind, important events in history, strategies and spells. Now, it was time for them to leave. Even though they gained nothing of what they originally desired, this journey at least didn’t turn out to be a waste. The dragon managed to inspire Twilight. She already started working on a battle plan for the Red Day, but so far just got the rough concept done. Since this was extremely critical information, she told the others that she would not reveal the plan until just hours before the attack. By then, she could only hope to have it fully fleshed out.

The heads of the ponies were fully with thoughts. They gained a glimpse of what it was like to be a creature even far older than Celestia. All of them proceeded the impressions in their own, unique way. Only one couldn’t focus.

As they were climbing down the hill from Margspakr’s cave towards the shore, Rarity felt incredibly exhausted. She could hardly breathe, her whole body was on fire and she could hear her own heartbeat pumping in her ears. Her eyes were sore and her vision blurry. Each step was a great struggle. She was shaking of weakness. Suddenly, her hoof gave in and she fell to the ground.

The white mare gagged as she landed on her chest. Her lungs and ribcage hurt enormously and the landing made her so sick, she couldn’t keep the content of her stomach to herself. Immediately, her friends came over to help her back up. Rarity tried to be strong. She insisted on trying to keep walking on her own. But just a few steps later, she fell again. This time on her side, causing her to cough badly and letting the world spin out of control. She felt miserable, but too weak to really care about it.

Twilight and the others once again came to Rarity, trying to help her back up. She could no longer stand. Her legs just wouldn’t support her anymore.

“Get the cart,” the purple mare ordered to a minotaur.

While this one left, the rest of the group remained in place. The other minotaurs and the griffons took position and secured the area from all directions. Fortunately, the dragons seemed to get tired now. None were interested in the group and some easy prey.

Fluttershy remained next to Rarity, watching her closely. The white mare was shivering, but also sweating at the same time. Every few moments, she started coughing heavily, some blood coming out of her mouth each time. The white mare and the yellow mare stared at each other. It seemed like they were speaking to one another without any words. Suddenly, Fluttershy gave her a nod, causing Rarity to take a deep breath to recollect herself.

“Twilight… Forget about the cart. It is time…” she spoke with strange confidence and certainty.

“No. Don’t talk like that, Rarity. We got you this far. It’s not over yet,” the purple mare replied.

“Twilight… I’m sorry to say, but she’s right. She is dying,” Fluttershy explained.

Instantly, the entire group became alert. Her closest friends clustered up around the white mare, looking at her with wide open eyes of shock. Then their focus jumped to Twilight.

The purple mare sighed. She knew they wanted confirmation. So far, Twilight never once summoned her book of death, mostly to prevent herself from even accidentally seeing Rarity’s date of death. But it seemed like she now had no choice anymore. As much as she tried to deny it and didn’t want this knowledge, she had to see it now.

Twilight’s horn lit up and moments later, the large black book appeared in front of her. The book seemed to immediately know what she wanted and opened up by itself, flipping several of its pages before it stopped. The purple mare read through the page. Most names were unfamiliar to her. A few she recognized from Equestria or the rebellion. Then, she found her friend’s name.

The others were staring at the purple mare, trying to read her expression. Twilight tried her hardest to not show anything. But gradually, her expression slipped and tears started to wash down her face. In less than ten minutes, Rarity would be dead.

She didn’t need to say a word. The others understood by Twilight’s reaction alone, falling into grief themselves. Her friends now started hugging the sick mare. She, however, just smiled at them, laying on her back and shaking in fever and agony.

Twilight stared at the floor as she made the book disappear again, tears dropping to the rocky ground. A mix of emotions filled her. A strong sadness, a furious anger and an overbearing shame. Shame that she had been acting so immature and blue-eyed about this. Shame that she broke yet another very important promise. Crying herself into hiccups, she walked over to Rarity and held her front hoof.

“I’m so sorry, Rarity… I’m so sorry… I failed. I couldn’t save you in time…” she spoke, her voice reaching a high, sorrowful pitch.

“Darling…” the white mare started, then had to cough several times before she could continue. “You don’t have to be sorry for anything. You went way out of your way to try and stop the unstoppable. It has long been clear to me that this day would come. You have nothing to regret… And neither do I.”

As soon as she was done speaking, Celestia turned around. She was battling against her own tears and didn’t want anypony to see her cry. Once again, she could only blame herself for yet another life being lost due to her terrible past decisions.

“Just… Please keep my request in mind. Don’t reap me. Please don’t,” Rarity spoke, her voice losing strength now.

“Don’t worry. We won’t,” Derpy assured.

Luna noticed her sister crying and turned around to her. With a light touch to her shoulder, she managed to get Celestia’s attention. The royal siblings looked at each other for a moment with very sad expressions. Luna, too, had tears in her eyes. Then they embraced each other and started to cry silently.

Rarity, though, was being very brave about this situation. She just kept smiling as these seemingly endless minutes passed. But suddenly, she lost her composure. The facade fell and she started crying herself now.

“I’m so scared…” she whispered.

“We are all here for you. We are all here…” Twilight reassured.

Shining Armor and Cadence never were as close to Rarity as the others were. They were staying a few steps back, leaving the space to her closest friends. Just like everypony else, the couple was grieving. Holding each other’s front hoof, they kept on focusing Rarity, showing their support.

Gradually, the white mare calmed down again. The others couldn’t even imagine what she must be going through right now. She quickly seemed to lose her grip on the world, getting weaker and weaker.

“It is… cold… So cold…” Rarity mumbled.

The shaking reduced more and more. Her head stopped moving around and her eyes stared straight up into the sky. Her breathing became slower and slower. Her eye rolled up and suddenly, her front leg fell to the ground. Rarity gave her final breath.

Twilight bust out into heavy sobbing. Even Fluttershy began to cry a few black tears. Derpy, Cadence and Shining Armor just closed their eyes and lowered their heads. Like this, they remained for a while. Especially Twilight needed a long time to catch herself again.

“Let’s… Let’s wait for her to wake up again…” she suggested.

The others agreed with silent nodding. All mourned, a few got up to take a few steps. But Twilight did not move an inch from Rarity’s side. She kept on looking at the dead mare, waiting to see the first signs of her beginning unlife.

Merely sixteen minutes passed when Rarity’s open eyelids suddenly started twitching again. A few blinks followed, then an audible gasp and coughing. Her friends returned around the white mare as she slowly came back to her senses. Her eyes began to move around again, slowly focusing her individual friends. She wasn’t shaking anymore. She wasn’t feeling pain anymore and she no longer felt sick. Now that the curse accomplished its goal, it lifted itself. It was true what the reapers said. For a while, she will actually be feeling better now. But it was just a matter of time before a new and much worse suffering began.

Out of reflex, she took a few deep breaths. But they did not fill her with life anymore. Her heart was no longer beating, her body no longer working. So breathing as well was pointless now. Her head started to move and she slowly tried to push herself back up. Her friends helped her in the attempt and soon, she was back up on her legs stably.

“How do you feel?” Twilight wanted to know.

Rarity looked around. She stared at her body that still looked the same as just minutes ago, but now was just a dead mass and rather felt like a prison than the home of her soul. But she was fine with that feeling. She chose this.

“I don’t know…” she replied.

No matter where she looked, Rarity could only see teary eyes and frowning mouths. All felt sorry for her. She as well gained first doubts of her plan and wondered if this was such a smart choice after all. But she had the option to end her unlife any given time. For now, she just figured she would have to get used to this and see what comes.

The now undead Rarity took her first few steps forward. It felt so strange now. Deep inside, she knew that this body wasn’t really hers anymore. It was a dead mass that would soon begin to rot and with every motion she could feel it as such. Another breath entered and left Rarity unaltered. No oxygen was extracted, no carbon dioxide exhaled. The blood in her arteries stood idle and her muscles were no longer being nurtured. Rarity arrived at a cliff and stared off into the distance. The sun was low now, half hidden behind the ocean already. The others joined her and all watched as the light vanished.

Fourth Year

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EAyBM0_tDxbkCPOTmXmBTvkscGsVaqTypINiq-qD2d4/edit?usp=sharing

Liquid red strings were spreading through the ocean, dissipating rapidly. Soon, other bodily fluids would join them. To help Rarity cope with her unlife, Twilight tried several tricks to assist preserving her body. She used teleportation spells to drain it of its blood and empty out her digestive system. After all, she would never have to eat or drink again. Additionally, the purple mare made a few experiments and managed to create an altered version of the age spell. Although she could not bring Rarity back to life by turning her young again, she could at least use the modified spell to slow down her decomposition a lot. The whole procedure was painless for the undead white mare, even if it wasn’t clear if she would even be able to feel this at all.

“How many?”

Rarity seemed to have very mixed feelings about her new state. Of course, a part of her highly disliked being a zombie pony and felt disgusted with herself. But the fact that she finally was having a rest from the constant torture cleary was more important to her. She nearly seemed relieved to finally be undead. For the first time in months, she could walk around without any problem at all.

“I… I can’t…”

When the group finally returned home, they were welcomed warmly. But despite all attempts of preservation, Rarity’s unlife was visible now. Her eyes had lost the shine of life, making all rebels instantly understand what had happened to her. Wherever she passed, others became silent. Some approached the white mare, speaking out their sympathy for her. A few even cried. But as it was to expect, Applejack was the most shocked of all to see Rarity in this state now. She immediately broke out in tears and hugged her friend.

“Just tell us already…”

For the following days, it became quiet in the overcrowded empire. Although she was still walking among them, the rebels were mourning over Rarity’s death. Even their mighty leaders were not invulnerable. With her beginning unlife, the white mare had created the first doubts in the rebellion. Not doubts in its cause or methods, but doubts in its survivability. After years of preparation, time was running short now. Years of research were put into the defence of the empire, as well as its artefacts. The time would come soon to see if all those efforts were bearing fruit.

After a week of getting the empire used to the presence of all leaders again and putting it in shape, keeping the changes Applejack pushed through in mind, the leadership circle had another meeting. Terrible events had transpired during their absence.

Applejack, Rarity, Celestia, Luna, Fluttershy, Derpy Hooves, Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, Lady Truesight and Amber were once again sitting around the round crystal table in their hall. Only Cadence was not present to get the final conclusion from the donkey scientists’ research. Soon, she would return with news which would dramatically influence their chances of surviving the Red Day. For now, the rest were speaking to one of their scouts.

“How many?” Twilight repeated once again with a very serious look on her face.

“M… Millions... “ the scout replied very hesitantly. “Nearly two-thirds of Equestria’s entire population. They… they mostly focused on breaking down society as we knew it. All celebrities and nearly every last pony who hadn’t yet joined the BloodClaw Cult were part of the mass execution.”

Jaws slowly dropped. A sensation that can only be described as an intense icy burn crept through their spines and their hearts felt like they had just turned to stone and dropped into their stomachs. Especially Celestia seemed to be immensely heartbroken, once again incapable of holding back her tears and requiring comfort from her sister.

“They made no difference between foals, elderly or even pregnant mares. The mountain of corpses is still clearly visible… Demons are casually feasting on it from time to time…” the scout added.

“As it is to expect, this set a whole new level of terror for the population of Equestria. Almost all who hadn’t yet joined the BloodClaw Cult now did, just to evade their own execution,” Truesight explained.

“Why… Why did they do this?” Luna wanted to know while holding her sobbing big sister.

“We can only speculate. Maybe it was to make an example to all of ponykind, setting a statement like ‘If you are not with us, you are against us’. Perhaps they decided to hold a festival for Nightmare Moon and sacrificed all those ponies in her honor. We can’t know for sure,” the scout replied.

These were the worst news, yet. The sheer number of victims was unimaginable to them. Such a display of cruelty. The cult really outdid itself this time. Twilight tried her hardest to keep her composure. She simply gave herself a moment to collect herself before she turned to Lady Truesight.

“How much time do we have left?” she wanted to know.

“I apologize, my mistress. But I can not give you a precise date,” the reaper clairvoyant started, then closed her eyes to focus. “Judging from how the landscape looks in my vision, I can merely tell that we have one more change of season left in time.”

“So only a few months… And you really can’t predict the outcome?” Derpy wondered.

Truesight shook her head slowly. She had been asked this question several times by now and every time, she tried her hardest to see past this event, but to no success. Just like with the prophecy, years ago, this seemed to be an event which blocked her vision.

“Well, we have to keep our heads up. I have intensified the training of our guards and we are trying to simulate scenarios of demon invasions. No matter what we do, we need to be as well prepared as we can,” Shining Armor stated.

“Don’t forget that we still have the other reapers to support us in battle,” Fluttershy reminded. “Even though a lot of elders died, we still have a few very powerful ones left.”

Twilight did not respond to any of this. Rarity’s death made the purple mare become rueful. She no longer wanted to make promises she couldn’t keep and left the motivational speeches to others. She didn’t want to start being seen as unreliable when it came to such important matters by making claims she couldn’t pull off.

The others noticed and became silent again. It felt wrong to see Twilight suffer like this. Technically, she still was young for having to carry so many heavy burdens. Every new tragic event made her maturity take another big leap forward. She no longer was the cheerful, youthful and naive filly she once had been. Her mental scars overshadowed any physical ones which had been inflicted on her. She had to grow up way too fast and although she had the mental capability to handle all these enormous, world-changing responsibilities, all of her friends and family members secretly wished she hadn’t ever been forced to take this position. And Rarity… she now had become the very embodiment of everything that was wrong with this war. Was this world really so cruel that it forced something like her to exist? Did it really thrive so much on the suffering of others?

Losing faith in the world was a common thing these days. Nopony could really claim to still think what was happening could be justified in any way. The rebellion, although a last beacon of hope, seemed like a tiny candle desperately trying to float on top of an never-ending ocean of injustice.

“Thank you… You can go now,” Twilight spoke to the scout.

Even after he was gone, the ponies remained silent for a few moments more. What was one supposed to say or think after getting such news? Of course, it was clear from the very beginning that Equestria would never be the same again. But now, after this mass execution… Even if they succeeded and reconquered the throne, the whole remaining population consisted of nearly exclusively cultists. Many may still gladly leave the terror and demon worship behind, but there would also be many which would completely refuse to ever be ruled by Celestia again. Even if they win the global war, the civil war inside of Equestria would continue for many years more.

Eventually, the door opened again and Cadence entered. Her sad expression already gave away what she wanted to say, but she spoke out the results anyway.

“It is impossible. The elements don’t accept the Crystal Heart as a substitute sixth element,” she stated.

Twilight didn’t even care about knowing any details anymore. She just hung her head, a strong feeling of defeat washing over her. It was Fluttershy who would not be satisfied with such a short answer.

“Why not?” the yellow mare wanted to know.

“The Crystal Heart itself seems to be willing to partake in this bond. It are the elements which refuse. They are just too specifically made for each other. The scientists claim that, if the sixth element would still exist, this link would actually work. But then we wouldn’t need to do this in the first place…” Cadence explained.

“Well… we will just have to make it without them, then. At least the Crystal Heart still works. I don’t know what good it will do for us, but we can at least give it a try,” Luna stated.

“But will it be enough?” Applejack wondered.

“I don’t know… It will have to do, I suppose. We don’t have any other choice,” Twilight responded.

“Ya know… If things really do look this bad for us… Maybe we should evacuate. Fold up the tents, get out of the empire and go into hidin’ before the demons arrive,” the orange mare suggested.

“We can’t do that, Applejack…” Celestia retorted in a depressed tone as she finally stopped crying.

“Why not? We still got enough time to plan and organize it,” Applejack argued.

“It would be no use,” Luna started. “You know how relentless the cult and especially the demons are. Even if we hid somewhere far away or as inaccessible as the Frozen North, they will find us. Despite everything, the Crystal Empire still offers the best strategic defense compared to all other options available to us. The best we can do now is to let them come for us in a place which we are familiar with and have the home advantage over letting them catch us off-guard while we are still setting up our defences in a foreign territory.”

Applejack opened her mouth again, but no new argument left her lips. Luna was right. All they could do now was to wait until the attack finally came. For the very first time, Applejack now truly understood that they were facing the possible end of their rebellion and with it the end of their lives. Her mouth closed again and she gained a similarly depressed expression as everypony else.

“Go home, everypony,” Twilight suddenly suggested. “Go home and have a good time. Talk to your other friends, do things you always wanted to do, make some good memories. Not even Lady Truesight knows what will happen after the Red Day. But just for the chance that these may be our final days, make them worth something.”

“Twilight…” Derpy spoke in a tone between sadness, condolence and worry.

“I’m not giving up. I never will. I’m just saying… Find some happiness before the worst comes. Do it now before the moment comes where you come to regret not having done things when you had the chance,” the purple mare continued.

Nopony spoke a word anymore. After a short delay, the ponies got up, one at a time and left slowly. Celestia was still in bad shape, so she and Luna retreated to their private room to talk for a bit. The reapers returned to their duties, as well as Cadence and Shining Armor. Twilight seemed to be heading to the library as usual, followed by Rarity to make more research on how to keep herself fresh for as long as possible. Applejack was among the last to leave the room. She really was worried about all of her friends and wanted to make sure they were okay. Twilight in particular seemed very down, so she spoke to her on the way out of the palace. The purple mare said she would be able to handle it, but Applejack wasn’t so sure.

It was barely noon. The entirety of the empire was very busy. War preparations were made in all directions. Weapons and armor were smithed, barricades built, tactics discussed, attack formations practised, duels being held to train combat. The streets were no longer a place for foals to spend their time on. With the rising fear, the few retreats the younger generations had were being heavily guarded. Most foals weren’t even in the mood to play anymore. They were cowering and practising their duck-and-cover routine. Frankly, end-time feeling was in the air.

Applejack didn’t really know what to do with the rest of her day. She could go back to the plantation and pick some more crystal berries, she figured. There was always more work to be done. But this time, she wasn’t really in the mood to work. Twilight’s words were stirring inside of her. The way she said them… It made Applejack feel like she was missing out on something. Like she was exactly about to do what Twilight warned her of: Make a mistake she would not be able to undo later. Sunken in thought, she wandered down the roads of the empire, thinking hard on what it could be. What was this feeling? What would this one thing be she would regret be?

Her thoughts stopped at a stallion: Caramel. At first, she was convinced that this couldn’t be it. But the harder she tried to think of anything else, the clearer it became to her that it really was Caramel her unexplainable worry was centered around. Maybe she should go check on him, the orange mare figured.

She didn’t need long to find the light brown stallion. Applejack still remembered which smithy she recommended him to. It soon turned out that he wasn’t hard to find either. He was right in the center, quickly producing one steel horseshoe after the other like an old master. He was dirty, sweaty and had a few burnt spots in his coat, but he was smiling happily. For the first time, Caramel seemed to be in his element. Others were standing around him, marveling his skill and speed. Even the minotaurs seemed very impressed. A sight which made Applejack smile again. His eyes were shining with joy and life like she had never seen it from him before. The work clearly was very exhausting, but he seemed to relish it at least as much as Applejack relished farm work. It was out of question that she did him a huge favor.

Applejack did everything right with him. He was doing well. Exceptionally well, compared to the past years. But…

The smile on the orange mare’s face faded away again. Why was she still feeling worried and sad? Could it be? She sunk deep into herself again, exploring her feelings. Of course, she considered taking Caramel as her partner before. But she never really had that of intense feelings for him. She mostly did this with her ultimate life goal in mind: Starting a family.

Sure, Caramel was nice and sweet and all that. And of course, he was good enough. Applejack certainly wasn’t that arrogant or picky. But was he really ‘the one’? Was this the stallion she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and have foals with?

Was it a mistake to wait until after the war to find out?

The orange mare’s thoughts ran wild. She tried to imagine everything that could be, everything that could happen. What was her heart telling her? What was her brain telling her? And what about her conscience?

Her body started moving forward. Step by step, she approached Caramel, until he realized she was there.

“Oh! Hi, AJ! How are you…” he greeted, but immediately got confused by her expression. “Are you okay?”

Caramel stopped with his work and placed his hammer and glowing hot metal on the anvil before him. He had never seen this face on her before. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking or feeling. Something was heavily stirring inside of her.

Her eyes were like glued to the ground, not moving up an inch. Did she even realize where she was? It seemed like she was a million miles away right now, looking straight through the world as if it was made of glass. Then suddenly, her focus shot up to Caramel and her expression changed. Her eyebrows lowered, her lips pressed together. She became tense.

“Wh… what did I do?” Caramel wanted to know insecurely.

She seemed so angry right now. Did he lose something again? Would his bad luck ever end? Or maybe… oh my gosh… Was this the end? Did she no longer care about him? She hadn’t even said anything yet and he could already feel his heart break.

The orange mare took another step forward. Caramel’s eyes went wide open in surprise. He misjudged the situation. This wasn’t an expression of anger, but one of determination. Her lips tightly pressed against his, her eyes closed and she relished the moment. Before Caramel even understood what was going on, the kiss ended again.

“But… didn’t you say…” Caramel started, still speechless of what just happened.

“Forget what Ah said,” Applejack interrupted. “In case we all die when the demons come, Ah’d rather die in the hoofs of mah special somepony than all alone.”

Caramel still stood there in complete stun, his mouth slightly opened. He could still feel her kiss on his lips and it excited him more than he thought it would. The sensation quickly spread through his whole body as he came to understand the meaning of her words and actions. A smile grew on his face, a short exhaling burst came from his lips, the sound of an interrupted laugh of joy. He finally managed to regain his composure, stepped up to the orange mare and places his hooves on her shoulders, moving his face very close to hers.

“I won’t let you die, Applejack. And I won’t die either. Come what may come. We can do this, I’m sure of it,” he spoke warmly, a blush growing on his face and his eyes getting even shinier than they had already been.

Slowly, a blush started to grow on Applejack’s cheeks as well as she smiled back at him. She closed her eyes and kissed him again, surrounded by the applause of all nearby rebels.

One Last Try

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11Da2amiZe-GqOc3bzfm_8dxjdrCVY-CAwGtkV4-6-ZQ/edit?usp=sharing

The clock was ticking. Louder and louder. Although there was no mechanism nearby, all rebels could hear the tick. Even the bravest were getting scared now. But instead of letting fear paralyze them, the rebels clinged to their hopes and went into overdrive. Within just one week after the leaders’ return, massive defensive structures were being erected. Barricade after barricade, wall after wall, trap after trap. Shelters for pony foals, diamond dog puppies and griffon chicks, as well as those incapable of fighting. Barracks at strategic points for soldiers and guards to gather up. Watchtowers for the griffons, as well as underground stations for the diamond dogs. The whole empire was being redesigned, only leaving the roads, the palace and the basic shape untouched. The construction plan for the empire’s defence was massive and well thought through, constantly being improved by the brightest minds this world had to offer. Since the waves of migrants also completely stopped due to the mass murder in Equestria, the rebels could build up several defensive circles around the empire without having to worry to shut out anypony.

Work, work, work. That was all everyone had in mind right now. The more they worked, the less time they had to be afraid, to think of what would happen soon. Even the children helped wherever they could and those who weren’t working physically were doing their part mentally.

Twilight Sparkle was among the latter. She, as usual, spent a majority of her time in the library, using the spell she learned to read as many books as possible simultaneously. By now, she had read every single book in this massive archive at least three times over, looking for even the smallest, tiniest, most insignificant hint of an information that could be beneficial. She even decided to write down the things she learned throughout her many journeys, before and after the rebellion began, rereading them several times over as well.

She looked very tired. All that magic, all that mental strain was exhausting her. She barely slept, ate or drank and even frequently forgot to take her medication until she noticed blood dripping from her nose onto the books. But despite all, she kept on going like she said she would. Information was constantly flowing through her brain, scanning, analyzing and sorting everything over and over again. From time to time, she made notes about random things. Sometimes, they helped improve the defence of the empire. Other times, they were useful for her own strategy during The Red Day. But mostly, they were completely unrelated to anything. She gave out the notes anyway, no matter if with or without explanation. Anything that was even remotely useful needed to be used.

Hardly any thoughts or emotions were found inside of her for more than a week now. She had, at least for now, turned herself into a living archive, constantly craving for new information. Her friends took the purple mare’s actions with mixed feelings. While some were worried, others took her dedication with humor, saying that if she learned any more, her head would explode. But there was a reason why she was so eager. A reason they couldn’t have known, because for the most time, Twilight herself didn’t know why she was doing this. It had slipped her mind that she possessed a mighty weapon all along.

Her own arcane magic. As a mortal pony, her power had no equal. A power that had throughout pony history been used to fight some of the greatest threats to ponykind, be it in distant or recent past. But still, to Twilight, using this power was like breaking a dam. Releasing a force so enormous she could not hope to control it. What she had done with this power so far was impressive, no doubt. But so far, she was just poking holes into the wall of her internal dam. Never did she dare to truly go all out. Even when her emotions went out of control, she just knew she lacked control and understanding. Seeing how a simple outburst of rage could cause an explosion capable of killing dozens of ponies at once, she forbid herself to let this magic fully go and flow freely through her. If she ever lost control, she would become at least as big of a threat to the empire as the demons themselves. Fortunately, her own inner demon remained silent ever since she defeated it during the wake of her arcane magic. Of course, like all ponies born in Equestria, she still was cursed with Maledictum Insania. The curse of madness always loomed over her, as well as the shadow of Nightmare Moon herself. If she allowed her power to overthrow her mind, the demon queen would not hesitate a moment to use this to her advantage. So, for the safety of all and to finally gain a sufficient advantage over the nearly unstoppable force the demons provided, it was about time she learned how to breach the dam without letting the water rush and destroy. If she could do that, if she could bring her control of magic to alicorn-like levels, she would become the key to Blueblood’s downfall. Right now, he possessed the power of three alicorns at once. But there was no way that, even after living like that for years now, he would have full control over it. But if Twilight had this much control, she would have a significant advantage over him in combat. Of course, planning the victory of the rebellion this soon when there were more pressing matters at hoof was a long shot, to say the least. But any good plan needed to be thought through from beginning to end.

Twilight’s mind kept on roaming and roaming. All books she read indicated that it was pretty much impossible for a regular unicorn to gain this much control over magic. But she did not care about this statement, no matter how many times it was repeated. After all, she was the impossible! She was a unicorn with the magical strength of an alicorn! In all the history books Twilight read, nothing like this ever existed before. So there had to be a way.

The purple mare kept searching, kept reading, kept memorizing. So much knowledge was flowing through her. A sensation that could not be described with any words. Yet, she could also feel a clear barrier in her mind. A lock she needed to open to no longer be restrained. Now more than ever, this had to be her highest priority.

Memories rushed through her head, getting compared with all the knowledge of the books. Obsidian Shards, curses, Nightmare Moon, Discord, the elements of harmony, timberwolves, Starwirl The Bearded.

Starswirl. Fake time traveling spell. Morphology. Arcane thesis. Over two hundred spells created… Twilight dismissed the thought.

Saddle Arabia. Djin. The colors of magic. Magic sense. Instant-reading spell. Based on the work of Starswirl The Bearded… Twilight dismissed the thought.

Zebra Tribal Lands. Spirits. Nature magic. Ceremonies and rituals. Starswirl The Bearded was studying spirits as well… Twilight dismissed the thought.

The Flaming Islands. Margspakr. Non-existence of time. Time traveling impossible. Learned from Starswirl The Bearded…

Twilight gave a sigh. This unicorn from ages long gone certainly was one of the brightest minds that ever existed. A genius, no matter how you look at it, filled with a deep wisdom and understanding that would put any other scholar to shame. Even if Twilight spent the rest of her life learning, she would never even compare to his intelligence, his level of understanding. Until she was born, Starswirl was written down in history books as the most powerful unicorn that ever existed. He kept this title for nearly two thousand years. His work was groundbreaking and still acts as the foundation any other magical research is based on. She knew nearly all books he ever wrote, read them over and over again. But even with her level of intelligence, books only tell so much. They were only talking about the things he specifically wanted to talk about. Her problem, though, was too specific. Oh, how much she would give for a chance to just glimpse inside this seemingly infinite wisdom in his head. But all that remained of this one bright star are now nothing more than bones and dust. Decay had certainly taken its toll on this legend.

Decay. Decomposition of matter over a larger period of time.

Suddenly, every last book Twilight kept in the air with her magic fell to the ground. The mare stared straight ahead, as if she was looking through the building into the distance with wide open eyes. All the information repeating itself in her head suddenly stopped flowing, as if it had locked onto a single thought. A thought that suddenly seemed to her like the solution to everything. Of course, Starswirl was dead for a very long time now. But that is just the thing: Time. It doesn’t exist. Time is meaningless. There is no strict forward and backward. It goes in all directions. Something lost in the past can still be recreated in the distant future, even when about two thousand years had passed.

The age spell. Mighty transformation spell that alters the physical age of a pony.
Time does not exist. Age is meaningless.

Twilight herself found it hard to believe what her mind was coming up with at this very moment. It seemed ludicrous, grotesque, bizarre. But… maybe this was the only way.

Learning from Starswirl The Bearded himself. In person. Surely, Twilight wasn’t the first magic student who would have given everything for such an opportunity. But unlike them, she actually had the capability of making this possible… Maybe. It certainly would be a very questionable act, bringing a pony back from the dead. It would bother on necromancy and who knows which moral consequences this would bring. It certainly wasn’t for her alone to decide this. Twilight wasn’t arrogant like Blueblood. It was time she got out of the library again and met up with her friends.

---

The call for a meeting came as a surprise to the others. Twilight was completely absent for so long and now, all the sudden, she snapped out of it. Clearly, she must have had a sort of epiphany, they figured. All eyes were glued to the purple mare as she came walking into the meeting hall, her expression giving away that she was uncertain what to think or feel.

She took her time, slowly sat down on her crystal chair, let her eyes wander between her friends and perform the usual routine to confirm everypony’s identity. Her friends, though, could hardly wait and as soon as it was clear they all really were who they claimed to be, Rarity started speaking.

“Well? What is it, darling?” she wanted to know while spreading an oily embalming liquid along her front legs and over her face.

Twilight roamed through her head for the right words one more time, then took a deep breath before she started to speak.

“I am considering to take one last journey before the Red Day,” the purple mare stated.

“This close? Are you sure about this?” Cadence wondered, her tone already getting filled with worry.

“No, I’m not sure. That’s why I asked you to come here. I want to discuss my idea. There are a few questionable things I intend to do and I would like to hear your thoughts on it and I want all of us to decide on it together,” Twilight replied.

“What do you have in mind, Twily?” Shining Armor asked.

“I want to go to the ancestral homeland of ponies, to the city of Arcania. Alone, so I can travel fast by teleporting myself. I will be visiting the tomb of Starswirl The Bearded,” Twilight explained.

“By yerself? That seems mighty dangerous, Sugarcube,” Applejack commented.

“What do you intend to do there?” Celestia wondered.

“This is the questionable part. I guess I will just be blunt and speak it straight out. I want to attempt bringing Starswirl back to life so I can ask him questions regarding our situation,” Twilight stated.

Instantly, all eyes went wide open. Rarity stopped oiling herself promptly, her front legs frozen in position and allowing the smeary liquid to fall onto the floor, drop by drop. Fluttershy in particular stared at her friend with an open mouth and an expression of disbelief.

“I know how it sounds, but hear me out first,” Twilight requested. “I know, nopony has ever succeeded to pull this off and it sounds very close to necromancy. But if I have my own theory involving the age spell which, at least to me, seems somewhat promising. Should I actually succeed, we could have the mightiest wizard that ever lived on our side. The knowledge he could share with us would be invaluable. Maybe he could even help me with my arcane magic. Just a mere conversation could share information which can turn this war around for good. Yet, despite it all, we have to keep the moral consequences in mind. Can we carry this ethically or not? That is what I would like to discuss with all of you.”

A short moment of silence and pondering followed. Rarity was the first to break it as she continued with her attempts of self-preservation.

“I don’t know, Twilight. This seems really shady,” she commented.

“The rebels may not take such an act too kindly. It would make us look like we are resorting to similar measures the cult is using,” Luna argued.

“But Twily is right about the advantages. Talking to Starswirl The Bearded… This could change everything!” Shining Armor spoke.

“And having him on our side would make him a valuable ally,” Cadence added.

“What do you think, Celestia?” Applejack asked while still rubbing her chin with a thoughtful expression.

Celestia, of all, seemed to be the least shaken by Twilight’s radical plan. She quickly started showing composure again and her expression relaxed.

“To be honest, I don’t know what to think of either direction. Doing the right thing had always been of highest priority to me. But ironically, that lead me to making many regrettable mistakes and ended up in me performing questionable acts myself. It is clear that just the very act of attempting to bring him back will have consequences. Acting against nature is always inadvisable, no matter how powerful you are. We all should be aware of that,” she stated.

“I know. But another thing to keep in mind is the importance of our cause. This is by no means meant to sound arrogant or self-centered, but… If the rebellion fails, there is nothing left to stop Blueblood. Others may rise over time to attempt to take him down, but he will be untouchable by then. We can’t let that happen. It is now or never,” Twilight argued.

“But bringing a pony back from the dead? Starswirl wouldn’t be much different to me I believe,” Rarity spoke, using her magic to keep her mane away while she coated her ears.

“Starswirl lived and died long before Maledictum Insania. Nightmare Moon won’t be able to interfere and make him come out as an undead. This is one of those rare cases where we can only have two outcomes. Either I succeed or I don’t. It is clear that I will have to study the age spell intensely before I go and will have to practise it for a while, maybe even modify it,” Twilight explained.

“Nonetheless, this is very short-term. Even if you teleport yourself, it is quite the journey to the ancestral homeland. What if you don’t make it back in time? We need you here,” Luna worried.

“I know. I can’t guarantee I will be fast enough. This whole plan feels wrong and a part of me just wants to abandon it. But another part of me… I can’t really explain it. It’s like… this is what everything has been building up to for me. Like I am meant to do that. It is almost as if the answers are calling for me. I don’t know… maybe I’m just losing it again…” the purple mare figured.

“Or perhaps this is your destiny, calling for you,” Celestia commented.

“So you think she should go?” Luna wondered.

“I personally can’t come up with a clear opinion about the plan. This is far outside of what I would consider to be right, but I am not in charge anymore. I stepped down for a reason: Because I realized that the true potential and authority no longer lies within me, but within my faithful student. In dark times like these, it is hard to find anything you can still believe in. But I believe in you, Twilight Sparkle. I believe in you more than I ever believed in anything I have ever done. Right from the first moment on I laid my eyes upon you, I knew you were special. Not just for your arcane abilities. I always felt this urge in you, this force pushing you forward. I did everything I could to guide you around obstacles and make you grow capable of overcoming anything that stands in your way by yourself. I always knew that there was something fate had in store for you. If this is what you think needs to be done from the very bottom of your core, then I have no reason to doubt your judgement. Just look how far you have gotten us, just by doing what you think was the right thing to do. So go forth, my faithful student. Follow your destiny,” Celestia stated with a gentle smile on her face.

Twilight couldn’t help but feel bashful from this enormous praise in front of all her friends. Her purple cheeks gained a deep red blush. A part of her felt like sinking down into her chair, since she didn’t think she deserved this. But part of her also felt immensely proud and honored from the sheer trust she was given. The approving smiles of the others only made these feelings worse. Twilight soon pushed her feelings aside and focused on returning to the subject, placing her front legs on the table and leaning over it.

“Alright. What do the rest of you think? Should I go? Should I do this?” the purple mare wanted to know.

Applejack just smirked, tilted her head slightly and adjusted her hat before replying.

“Celestia pretty much summed it all up. If ya feel like ya have to do this, then do it. You got mah support, Sugarcube,” she replied.

It seemed like the others had very similar thoughts, as they all nodded in approval. Again, Twilight felt sheepish. So much trust. So much believe in her. All this time, it just seemed natural for her to do as many good things as she could, despite the circumstances and risking her life over and over again. Being rewarded like this, just with this gesture… No, she needed to focus. Twilight took a deep breath and relaxed again.

“Okay then. I will try to get this all done as quickly as possible. Coming back in time will be my highest priority. That’s all for now and… From the bottom of my heart… Thank you. All of you. You are such good friends. I don’t know what I would do without you,” she spoke with a warm smile and a few glimmering tears in her eyes.

Quickly, the leadership circle gathered up around the purple mare. Everypony hugged her while she hugged them all back. Then the meeting ended and all left the meeting room. Fluttershy went on her own way down a corridor. She only took a few steps before the rest of her friends were all gone. She stood alone, staring at nothing. Her focus turned to the wall next to her, watching her own reflection in the crystal. Then her head lowered to the heart pin on her cloak, staring at it for what felt like ages, sunken in thought.

Deepest Wisdom

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12Fje7YlI05ax0K1usMuSYzTpqkEwbooAOHSpLWxWUyg/edit?usp=sharing

Teleportation. An ability of unicorns that has been widely discussed to be one of the most useful they ever created. Being able to skip distances almost instantaneously with such ease would make anyone wonder why it was used so rarely. Non-unicorns wouldn’t understand how difficult it was to just leap short distances using magic. Foals can’t pull it off at all. Even most adults do not have the mental capabilities to use this spell. It requires a lot of skill and training in order to be able to teleport efficiently. Usually, one was required to be a magic student on an academy. But even then, traveling long distances seemed like an impossible thing to do.

Twilight was different, though. She had been practicing her mental and magical capabilities for years. Leaping across planes, from mountain to mountain and across wide rivers was actually possible for her. But even she found this continuous casting very exhausting, having to resort to her seemingly infinite pool of arcane magic in order to pull it off. But keeping this much power under control exhausted her even more. Technically, she could reach her destination in just a few days, should she spent a majority of her time teleporting herself. But she frequently had to take hour-long breaks. Traveling by herself and packed as lightly as she could, she did not bring anything that could help her keep track of time.Twilight didn’t know if a week had passed by now, or two, maybe more. But she could definitely feel that she was getting closer and closer to her target.

As she left the commonly known lands, the magic started to shift. The closer she came to the homeland of her ancestors, the more she could feel a void in the air, as if it had been entirely drained of all feelings and nothing but the cold of emptiness remained. This only became worse as she crossed the border. To this day, the ancestral homeland was frozen over. Long destroyed buildings were nearly completely covered in snow. No sign of life was anywhere to be found. Not even animals seemed to still roam this plane. All the once great cities of the three pony tribes were now barely even recognizable as ruins anymore. The cold wind and natural decay had turned them into fields of rubble. But there was one exception. One city that was so important to the ancient ponies, they refused to let anything ever destroy it completely.

Arcania had been exposed to the harshness of this eternal winter for almost two thousand years now and it was still clearly visible. The sight of this star-shaped construct of stone made Twilight sigh in relief as she stared down on it from a mountain top. She was finally there.

A few more, comparatively short teleportations followed and for the first time in days, she found herself at a place where there was no snow. Although the once grand castle had been reduced to a gaping open ruin, the underground was still almost completely intact. Twilight stood merely in the opening and already experienced protection from the cruel winds, something she hadn’t felt for what seemed like an eternity. Now that she was finally here, she couldn’t allow herself to let her guard drop. She hid herself, scanned the area to see if anything was nearby or had managed to follow her. Nothing. She was all alone, the first living thing that had been here in centuries.

It was time. Twilight got out of her cover again and started walking into the dark. Her horn lit up, exposing a series of corridors. It would be easy for her to get lost in this place, but even the carvings in the walls were still well preserved. Words written in the ancient pony language were chiseled into the stone at each crossing, indicating what would lie ahead. Twilight had been reading so many books by now, she could somewhat successfully translate the words. Finding the right way to go proved to be of no challenge to her.

Still, the underground area was expansive. The purple mare could only imagine what all those rooms and spaces were used for, as there was just not enough knowledge surviving from this age. As she wandered, so did her imagination. How must it have been like to live here, before the environment collapsed? Ancient documents report of a prosperous society in an age of until then unfamiliarly lengthy peace. Harmony between the three tribes had just been invented. It must have been so wonderful, Twilight figured. All she ever experienced was a false peace, the illusion of safety and harmony while the demons lurked in the shadows, just waiting to slaughter all of them. But this… This was real peace. Real harmony. Hundreds of years free of war, fear, threats and quarrels. How horrible it must have been to have all of this taken away so suddenly. The environment of this land collapsed suddenly. So suddenly that there aren’t even any documents of the event. It must have felt like the world was ending. To think that all of this was caused by evil spirits, Windigos, which the ancestors had drawn towards them in the past with the coldness in their hearts… It seemed like no sin was ever left unpunished in the most cruel ways imaginable for as long as ponies existed. Still, down in the very core of each pony, they all hold hope for a better future. Maybe exactly because their history was not very happy so far…

A sudden ray of light tore Twilight out of her thoughts. After wandering around in the dark for so long, it blinded her and forced her to cancel the light spell as well as cover her eyes for a moment. Where was this coming from? As she could focus again, Twilight’s face showed astonishment. She had arrived at Starswirl’s tomb. A large hall of similar proportions to the ball room in Canterlot Castle. Countless reliefs in the walls depicted the history of Arcania and Starswirl’s influence to it. Between the walls, a total of eight giant pillars embedded with figures of pony wizards were reaching up and coming together to a hole in the middle, through which sunlight was shining. The ray was going straight down to the center of the hall, right onto a, compared to the rest of the hall, surprisingly undecorated stone sarcophagus. This was it. This was the resting place of the great Starswirl The Bearded.

The purple mare slowly stepped forward, her eyes wandering all around the hall. Judging from the depictions in the walls, the ancient ponies praised Starswirl as a hero with uncomparable deeds. The whole aura of this place was different to the entire rest of the land. There still was magic floating in the air. Gentle and peaceful, yet filled with tremendous pride. It affected Twilight, giving her a deep feeling of awe for the sarcophagus and its content. The place was so silent, she could hear her own breath echo against the walls. Yet, for some reason, Twilight believed she could almost hear something like a choir of stallions singing.

It must have been so long since the last time any living creature had been standing here, she thought to herself. Such an impressive tomb for just a single unicorn. Twilight was speechless. She felt the need to just stop thinking and remain in silence for a moment, as to honor the one buried here. Her eyes kept on wandering around, taking in all those pictures and impressions. But as she remembered why she was here, she couldn’t help herself but feel sorry and guilty for what she was about to do.

Her steps continued forward to the stone sarcophagus. Twilight frowned at her own intentions, but she didn’t go this far to stop now. Her eyes closed and her horn lit up. Moments later, the lid of the sarcophagus carefully lifted into the air, moved over and gently landed down on the ground.

Twilight opened her eyes again. There he was. Starswirl The Bearded. The skeleton still had every single bone perfectly in position. Nothing ever shook or moved the sarcophagus until this very day. His clothes still were attached around him, even though they had long become brittle and lost their coloration. Still, even now that Twilight dared to desecrate his tomb, the magic in the hall remained unaltered. It almost seemed like something was trying to tell Twilight that this was okay, at least for her.

The purple mare placed her saddlebag on the ground, roaming through it shortly before pulling out a scroll. The Age Spell was written down on it. Like she intended, she had been practising this powerful spell and made some slight alterations before she left. Even throughout her journey, she kept on repeatedly testing the spell whenever her mental capabilities allowed it. The results were mixed, especially when she attempted to let her arcane magic flow into it.

Once more, Twilight closed her eyes, but only for a moment this time. They quickly opened up again, having turned entirely white. A strong purple aura rapidly grew around her body. Then she leaned her head down, aiming her horn inside the sarcophagus. The beam hit the bones, immediately causing them to start floating in the air along with the clothes. More and more magic gathered up and, for some reason, it seemed like it was shaping the result by itself without Twilight’s influence. The light coming from the magic around the bones became brighter and brighter. Everything turned white around her, forcing Twilight to close her eyes from the sheer intensity. As the light faded, she looked again.

The first thing she saw was a blue cape with stars and bells attached to it. A wizard hat in similar fashion was just above it. Then she noticed a grey hoof poking out beneath the cape. Keeping her composure, the purple mare took a few steps to the side. Grey fur, long white beard, white mane, closed eyes. She herself didn’t understand how, but she succeeded. Starswirl The Bearded was standing before her, taking his first deep breath in nearly two thousand years.

His eyes slowly opened, revealing his yellow pupils. He quickly noticed the mare and looked straight at her in complete calmness. Twilight couldn’t help herself but blink a few times in disbelief. Even though she planned for this to happen, she found it hard to believe that she managed to bring him back from the dead this easily. Having this legendary unicorn in front of her, in flesh… It just seemed so surreal to her. It was a meeting of two entirely different eras, a meeting across time and space.

“U-uhm… He-hello. My name is-” Twilight stuttered, having a hard time finding the right words in front of her greatest idol in the world of magic.

Though it seemed like Starswirl was not stunned at all. He even turned aside while Twilight was still speaking, using his yellow magic to conjure up an abacus.

“Give me just a moment,” he requested in his deep, elderly voice.

Interrupted in the middle of her sentence like that, Twilight just stood there with her mouth gaping open. Her eyes were glued to the wizard’s actions in curiosity and confusion. What was he doing? Why was he acting so casual? Did he not realize that he was dead just a moment ago?

“Hmmm… That is strange,” he suddenly commented, letting the beads continue to slide around in the abacus.

“Wha… What is?” Twilight wondered, still deeply confused.

“You are later than I expected. I would have imagined somepony would try to resurrect me much sooner,” he explained casually, still staring at his calculation tool.

Again, Twilight could only stay there in stun. He was aware of what had happened. He even predicted it. Just how deep was his wisdom and foresight? Had he been planning and waiting for this to happen all along, even so many years after his death?

“You knew I was coming?” she asked, wanting to make sure.

“Not you specifically, but somepony like you. It was bound to happen eventually. I am very sensitive to the flow of magic and events in the world. I made many predictions in my life and wrote many prophecies. I knew, one day, somepony in dire need for my help would commit an act of desperation and try to bring me back to life so I could aid them. I took preparations for this event. Before I died, I left markings of my soul here in this tomb so any attempt to bring me back would be much easier for the caster to pull off,” Starswirl stated.

Once again, Twilight couldn’t bring herself but do anything other than stare at this ancient wizard with wide open eyes and mouth. Starswirl noticed that she was obviously needing more time to cope with this situation than he did. So he just let the abacus vanish again and started looking around. Judging from his expression, not much had changed visibly. But after a moment, his face became more serious and troubled.

“Hmm… I can see why you brought me back. I do not even know what is happening at this very moment, but I can already feel that the entire world is almost critically out of balance. I can feel so much hostile magic,” he spoke, but then returned his focus to Twilight. “But as a matter of fact, it is rather difficult to feel that with the intensity of your aura overpowering my senses. I can already tell you are exceptional. So much power, so much potential. Yet, you are mortal.”

“Well… y-yes, you are right. How did you know all this?” Twilight eventually asked.

“I was alive during the reign of the first alicorns, Flora and Fauna. I do not like to brag about it, but I was playing a critical role in creating the race of alicorns in the first place. The twin sisters were perfect. A flawless fusion of body, soul, mind and magic. Just being near them made even non-magical creatures feel very at peace. But the sisters they adopted, Celestia and Luna. They were not created the same way. Their aura was different, always has been. A strong pride in the Princess of Light and strong emotions in the Princess of Darkness. They were getting along well during my time, but I felt a potential conflict arise between them. I particularly feared for the well-being of Princess Luna. Having an infinite lifespan also gives one infinite opportunities to let tears widen. Do not misunderstand me, I truly supported all members of the royal alicorn family. But I knew it was just a matter of time before something would happen. I just figured it would be much sooner,” Starswirl explained.

He was reaching out very far with this statement. At first, it seemed to Twilight like he was dodging the answer. But the more he spoke, the more she came to realize that he was trying his best to explain his complex thoughts. There was no easy way to explain Starswirl. His mind was just so all-encompassing, it was difficult for a regular pony to grasp his wisdom. But Twilight still would try her best, she kept telling herself. This was just too important.

“Sadly, you were right. Something did happen and it has to do with Celestia and Luna. Oh, where do I start… It is all so much to explain…” she worried.

“Take your time,” Starswirl replied calmly, just sitting down and listening.

“Well…” the purple mare started, as well sitting down and roaming through her thoughts. “Evil creatures emerged which we call demons. They have their roots in a terrible conflict between Celestia and Luna during-”

Suddenly, Twilight’s train of thought forcefully stopped. She couldn’t utter a single word anymore. At first confused, she quickly came to remember that she was still under the Curse of Secrets, preventing her from talking about Maledictum Insania. It frustrated her visibly, letting even Starswirl catch on that something was wrong.

“Ah. Now I can feel it. There is some kind of magic placed upon you, isn’t there? Something very vile, like I have never seen before,” he analyzed.

Twilight still couldn’t speak. No matter how she attempted to explain this, she couldn’t find the right words without even hinting about why she was cursed. But it still allowed her to nod in response. Apparently, that was all Starwirl needed. He closed his eyes and his horn began to glow. Twilight felt that the magic around her was shifting. A strange sensation was rushing through her, as if an invisible touch was analyzing her soul. The feeling inside of her shifted gradually, giving her a vast variety of sensations that could not be described with any words. But then, one suddenly dominated. In an instant, Twilight felt very light. It made her take a deep breath and a feeling spread through her body as if she had just been thoroughly cleansed.

“A very curious magic, indeed. Try speaking now,” Starswirl requested.

“Maledictum Insania,” Twilight babbled out without even thinking about it.

Her eyes instantly went wide open and she covered her mouth with both front legs, disbelieving that she just managed to say that. She figured the Curse of Secrets would just cut her off again. But how could she...

Was it possible? Did Starswirl just, completely casually, lift the Curse of Secrets from Twilight? It was specifically designed to be unliftable! How did he do it and so quickly on top of that?

Again and again, the purple mare found herself incredibly astonished by the seemingly infinite capabilities of this old wizard. Starswirl just kept sitting there, not looking confused over her words at all. He just patiently waited for her to continue explaining. So Twilight calmed down again, placed her front hooves back on the ground and resumed.

“Well, even though I can now openly speak about it, there are many words that would need quite some time to explain. What you just lifted from me was a curse. And as I said, we are fighting against creatures called demons. Then I also need to talk about reapers… As much as I would absolutely adore spending as much time with you as possible and learning everything you are willing to share, time is of essence right now,” the purple mare explained.

“I see. Of course, almost two thousand years of history cannot simply be summarized in one day and I realize knowing what you know is necessary for me to be able to help you. Would you allow me to access your memories directly?” Starswirl requested.

“Yes, that would be a big help,” Twilight agreed, just now remembering that he was actually capable of doing that.

Starswirl The Bearded took a few steps forward and closed his eyes. His horn began to glow with yellow magic again and he gradually moved his head towards Twilight’s. The purple mare just stood in place, observing as their horns made contact. A short bolt of magic rushed through Twilight, making her dizzy for a moment. But it seemed like that was all the contact needed. Starswirl instantly backed away, his eyes shooting open. For the first time, he actually looked shocked.

“You…” he started, seemingly so horrified that he couldn’t find the right words at first. “You definitely made the right choice by coming here. This is beyond anything I could have ever predicted. The sheer malevolence… I cannot find suitable words to describe it…”

Twilight opened her mouth again, aiming to ask another question. But before she could utter even a sound, Starswirl raised his hoof to interrupt.

“I know what you want to ask. I am afraid, no. I can’t lift Maledictum Insania. The complexity of this curse… Not only is it even far beyond me, but it also is tied to a much greater problem. The curse cannot be lifted so long as this world is so far out of balance. This war you are fighting is for the right cause, but you still don’t fully grasp just how deep down into the very essence of this world it is tied,” he explained.

“But there must be something you can do! Please! You saw my memories! If the rebellion fails, this will be the end!” Twilight argued.

“You are right about that. King Blueblood cannot be allowed to succeed. But putting the world back in balance will still be a delicate act of which even the tiniest of actions can have an enormous result. I will tell you what you need to know. But you have to promise me something first,” the ancient wizard requested.

“No worries. I won’t abuse the knowledge to do anything that lies beyond ending this war,” Twilight replied immediately.

“That is good to know, but not what I would ask of you. Once I am done sharing my knowledge with you, I have to ask you to undo the Age Spell you cast upon me and turn me back into bones and dust. While I prepared for this, it still is unnatural for me to be alive at this point. My resurrection already had a negative impact on the balance of the world. I can feel the magic itself shift. I hope you understand that because of this, I cannot actively support you in your cause,” Starswirl resumed.

“This is… sad to hear. But I already assumed you would ask for something like this. The last thing I want to do is make things even worse anyway,” the purple mare agreed.

“Thank you. So then,” the ancient wizard started again, his horn now glowing much brighter than before. “Straight away, I want to show you one of my most closely guarded secrets. Prepare yourself.”

Twilight could feel her body starting to float. A mighty aura of magic was gathering around them. This felt a lot like a teleportation spell. Just much, much stronger than anything she had ever cast. Before she could even wonder where they would end up, both disappeared into thin air.

---

Starswirl’s magic certainly was precise and powerful. No teleportation spell had ever made her so dizzy before. She needed a moment to even start focusing. But what she saw made no sense to her. A slight, purple, magical aura was flowing all around her. No matter where she looked, there was night sky in all directions. Until suddenly, she noticed an enormous sphere far, far below her. A sphere made of mostly blue and green. Twilight had never seen it like that before, so it didn’t immediately click to her what she was looking at. But then, her eyes shot wide open. Below her was her own world!

Her eyes hastily looked around again, scanning for Starswirl. It did not take her long to realize that he was nearby, just a few steps away from her, if you can even call it steps, floating in this realm where there is seemingly no up and down.

“Where are we?” Twilight wanted to know.

“As you probably realized by now, we are no longer on the world we call home. This is the Aether,” Starswirl explained.

“The… Aether? I have never even heard of this before,” the purple mare commented.

“Not surprising. In such a busy world, few ever look towards where you won’t see anything. The Aether is a realm of pure arcane magic that surrounds our world. You won’t find a more mysterious place anywhere. Next to nothing is known about the Aether. Usually, only alicorns are capable of even getting here. The two of us are the first and only mortal creatures that ever managed to leave the world without leaving our bodies behind,” the ancient wizard continued to explain.

“Incredible… I can’t even describe how I’m feeling right now… And it is so beautiful, too,” Twilight stated, looking around again in fascination.

“Indeed. But it wasn’t always like this,” Starswirl spoke, getting Twilight’s attention again. “You see, every creature is easily capable of seeing the Aether from the ground of our world. It is simply the sky at night. But at my time, the Aether and therefore the nightsky used to be much less spectacular. From the ground, it simply seemed like a black void. From up here, you were surrounded by nothing but purple fog. It wasn’t before Princess Luna that the Aether changed. She used her dark magic to enrich it with beauty, creating what we can see now today. Only due to that are we even capable of seeing our own world below us. From here, we can observe everything this tiny capsule we call existence has to offer. An ocean of magic with a single, beautiful pearl in the middle, orbited by a sphere of total light, the sun, and a sphere of total darkness, the moon,” Starswirl answered.

“Nopony will ever believe me when I tell them about this. Just being here… I get the feeling that my soul is expanding. It is almost like… Like everything is becoming so much clearer now. Is this why you brought me here?” Twilight wondered.

“Yes and no. It is true that having spent a significant amount of time trying to research the Aether contributed to my understanding of magic, but there is something else. Through research, I came to the conclusion that the Aether, all of this, is the source of all magic. As magical beings, being surrounded by so much raw magic unlocks enormous potential to us. Spells we cast now have either much stronger or very different effects. For example, a simple observation spell becomes amplified to such an extent that we can easily magnify a specific point in the world,” the ancient wizard explained.

Immediately, his horn began to light up again. This time, the act of casting a spell was visualized in a way Twilight never saw before. She could see small purple streams of the Aether approach the tip of his horn, seeping into it, flowing through his mind and returning again, having taken a yellow color. A circle appeared before them with a blurry yellow outline. Inside of it, Twilight could see a detailed picture from within the Everfree Forest. It was astonishing to her. The magnification was so strong and detailed, she actually could see more than she usually would be able to with her bare eyes. For a moment, she wondered to herself if that was how reapers perceived the world. But then her head turned to Starswirl, her expression full of questions.

He seemed to understand and gave her a patient smile. The yellow magic around his horn shifted slightly, letting the magnification wander. It went straight through the ground, digging down into the earth like a mole. Suddenly, it reached a cave. Twilight just couldn’t seem to find a moment where she wasn’t deeply impressed, as yet another marvelous picture revealed itself to her. This deep down underground, there was a single, large tree made entirely out of a magically glowing blue crystal. Small round crystal leaves were hanging from shiny vines. Five of its largest branches had larger growths with hexagonal holes in them, as if something had been removed from them. The trunk had imprints of the sun and the moon, which Twilight could identify as the exact same shape as the cutie marks of Celestia and Luna. The center showed a large star in a very similar shape to her own cutie mark. Even though they were looking at this tree from so far away, Twilight felt an unspeakably strong aura coming from it.

“This, Twilight Sparkle, is why we needed to go to the Aether. Only here is my magic strong enough to show you this marvelous flora I once discovered a long, long time ago by tracking sources of magic. This is the Tree of Harmony,” Starswirl began to explain.

“How can something so beautiful be so unknown? Did you give it that name?” the purple mare wanted to know.

“No. It gave itself that name and it is only known by a total of four individuals now. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, you and myself. The artefacts you know as the Elements of Harmony originally grew on this tree like fruits before Celestia and Luna harvested them,” Starswirl spoke.

“Hold on. This is where the elements came from?! And it gave itself this name? Does that mean it is sentient?” Twilight wondered.

“More so than you can yet even begin to grasp. The Tree of Harmony is just as old as the world itself. It was created by a union of all three major forces: Light, Darkness and Magic. Just like alicorns, the tree has an infinite lifespan and I am very certain you can feel the aura coming from it. You see, alicorns are often referred to as demi-gods. But what you are looking at here, Twilight Sparkle, is a true god. A being whose power lies beyond the grasp of anything that has ever been alive, or will ever be,” the ancient wizard stated, his voice filled with utmost respect.

Twilight kept on staring at the tree, trying to understand what she was hearing, seeing and feeling. A god? This tree was a living god, hiding beneath Everfree Forest? As remarkable as this knowledge was, it only raised even more questions.

“Why is it here?” she wanted to know.

“It is the nature of gods to have a grasp of things that exceeds that of all other beings. For all I understand, the tree specifically chose this exact location to grow at when it was created. I am convinced it was predicting everything that has happened thus far long before even the first mortal creatures appeared. Much like the Aether, this tree is pure magic, in crystalised form. It needs nothing in order to grow and stay nurtured. Yet, its roots go deep down into the core of this world and from there spread around to every continent. I never managed to fully understand the meaning behind this. Maybe it is holding the world together this way. Maybe it acts as a magic relay between the Aether and the world. It also seems to prevent the hostile magic… this demonic energy that has befallen Everfree Forest from spreading. But since we are now talking about demons anyway, here is an even more fascinating fact that I want to bring to your attention,” Starswirl spoke.

He suddenly halted, making Twilight look at him beggingly. He once again gave her a warm, patient smile before resuming.

“You see, the tree has predicted the rise and fall of Nightmare Moon. It has predicted the birth and defeat of Malice. It seems like it chose this place because this is where Malice had fallen and defiled the ground with his evil energy. It is stopping the growth of Everfree Forest, yet no demon ever set foot anywhere near it. Judging from your own memories, demons and even Nightmare Moon herself would be very capable of reaching and destroying the tree. But they never even tried, even though they would be capable of feeling its presence. It would be highly unlikely for Nightmare Moon to not know about the Tree of Harmony. Why? Why aren’t they destroying it if their goal is to destroy everything? Why not kill this living god and allow Everfree Forest to continue to grow out of control?”

Twilight remained silent. She had no answer to this. Demons had no respect for any life and only sought out the total destruction of the world. But why wouldn’t they even attempt to destroy the tree? Why does Nightmare Moon not show any interest in it at all? It was unexplainable to her.

While still puzzling over this question, Starswirl let the image in his magical magnifying glass flash. After a moment of white, it showed an entirely different picture. Giant mushrooms and flowers were growing by a pond. Buildings and structures the size of doll houses were spread all around the pond. The air was full of tiny creatures with enormous see-through wings. They seemed to be gently floating around without any effort. Twilight focused on one standing still and due to the improved vision from the spell, she could make out that it actually looked a lot like a microscopic pony.

“What are they?” she asked.

“These creatures are called Breezies. Judging by your expression, you had no idea they existed. But there is no need to feel bad about this. As a matter of fact, you won’t usually find them in Equestria. Not even anywhere else in the world,” Starswirl replied.

“Huh? What do you mean by that? Where is this place?” the purple mare eagerly wanted to know.

“Look and feel very closely, Twilight Sparkle. What you are looking at is not our own world. The Breezies come from another, originating from a different aspect of the Aether close to ours. Our worlds will never meet, yet they are still so close to each other that, from time to time, a portal opens between them. The Breezies had discovered these portals many thousands of years ago and use them whenever they surface. They come to our world seeking for pollen, which they use as food and fertilizer of their own world. Only those very dedicated to nature may come across these beings on one of their interdimensional journeys,” the ancient wizard continued.

“Wow… I just can’t stop being impressed. I wonder if Fluttershy ever saw them,” Twilight spoke.

“Perhaps. But there is another specific reason why I am showing this to you. Right at this very moment, there is an open portal between our worlds. Let me show you,” Starswirl stated, letting the light on his horn flicker again.

The image shifted and this time, Twilight’s eyes widened not in astonishment, but in horror. The portal Starswirl just mentioned was in the middle of a demon stronghold. A swarm of Breezies was floating through the thick red darkness, countless glowing red eyes around them. They looked extremely nervous and Twilight herself was fearing for their lives.

“Starswirl, please! Stop this! Save them!” she begged, bordering on panic.

“There is no need for me to do anything. Watch and observe,” he replied calmly.

Twilight’s focus nervously jumped back to the magical window. Countless demons were staring straight at them. She knew they would attack any second now.

But the seconds passed. Not a single demon moved and a few even stopped observing after a while. Not much later, the Breezies simply flew out of the stronghold, unhindered.

Now, Twilight’s jaw seriously dropped. What she just saw was impossible to happen. The Breezies were such small and fragile creatures. They would stand absolutely no chance against the demons. Yet, they were left unharmed, even ignored.

“I can tell you did not expect them to behave like this. So just like with the tree, I will ask you again. Why didn’t they just kill the Breezies?” Starswirl questioned.

“I seriously don’t know! If I hadn’t just seen it with my own eyes, I would think that this is impossible!” the purple mare replied quickly, still extremely stunned.

“Think, Twilight Sparkle. Think very closely and try to find an answer by yourself. Understandably, your past experiences with demons made you develop a burning hate for them. But these emotions cloud your judgement. If you want to win this war, you will have to understand your enemy. Put your past experiences, feelings and prejudices aside. Think, from an as purely logical point of view as you can,” the ancient wizard encouraged.

Twilight nodded in response. Her focus returned to the image of the stronghold full of demons while she roamed her thoughts. It was surprisingly difficult for her to not get distracted by angry thoughts and horrible memories when she was watching these eyes burning with absolute hate. Minutes passed, during which Starswirl just kept patiently waiting. It seemed really important to him that she came up with a conclusion on her own. Slowly, Twilight’s expression relaxed.

“Could I be wrong?” she asked herself aloud suddenly. “Could what I think of the demons… what they do… why they do it… be wrong? It’s not their goal to just destroy everything at the first best chance given? Could there be a deeper motive?”

“And now you are beginning to walk the right path of perception,” Starswirl commented. “All the Tree of Harmony had ever done was maintaining balance. It stopped the growth of Everfree Forest in attempt to keep the forces more balanced, but never attempted to influence the course of this conflict. Nightmare Moon herself understood this and allowed it to happen. The Breezies are creatures that do not even come from our own world. They never had anything to do with the war. They never contributed to Nightmare Moon’s wrath. She has absolutely no reason to harm them.”

“I had always known that the will of the demons is directly linked with the will of Nightmare Moon. It seems her motivations are more complex than I had always been assuming. It isn’t her main objective to just randomly lash out. She is working towards something specific. All that has so far happened was part of a big plan: Revenge. She and all her demons have their own strict set of morals and their own sense of justice… I have always known this, but I never acknowledged it. Now I understand that this was a big mistake. I never viewed Nightmare Moon as an individual of morals. Maybe that is why we kept on failing against her. Maybe that is why Celestia failed. If they were just doom driven, they would have never even accepted cooperation with Blueblood,” Twilight figured.

“Your eyes are beginning to open now, but there is still a long way for you to go. I know, you are surprised about how much I already understand about this conflict, even though I just learned about it from you. You may call it the age difference. But I can feel a shift in your magic happening right now. Soon, you will surpass me. I can sense it and I am proud to know this. You do not need me to win this war. You already are the Starswirl of your era,” the ancient wizard spoke in a warm tone.

“Oh my gosh,” the purple mare responded, looking away as her cheeks gained a strong red tint. “Stop it, you. I’m already getting way too much praise lately, but this is just too much.”

Starswirl just smiled again in response, seemingly pleased to see that, despite the fact she had so much power, she remained so modest. Twilight herself soon calmed down again and returned her focus to the world below her. Somewhere down there was Equestria. Somewhere down there was the Crystal Empire, where all her friends were. Twilight felt the magic freely flow through her, her mind feeling lighter and clearer than it had ever been. Everything suddenly seemed so much more plausible. All Starswirl did was show her a few things, but this seemed to have expanded her horizon to a similar scale as the time she discovered the significance of friendship. Even though she was so far away, the purple mare never felt more connected to her own world. She could feel everything. The lifeforce of billions and billions of creatures. The flow of magic as it washed over the world. Her own magic flowing harmonically through her body.

No. It was more than just flowing through her. It felt like she was now deeply fused with the Aether. Almost as if they had become one. There was no explanation as to how… but something changed in Twilight. She just suddenly… knew. She understood. As a result, she precisely knew that she no longer needed fear over her own powers. The barrier had fallen. The force Twilight had been so afraid of unleashing now wouldn’t move anymore unless she moved and wanted it to move.

As Twilight kept on watching the world, she felt nothing but absolute peace and calmness. Having seen, felt, learned and experienced all that Starswirl showed to her made her mind ascent. There was no telling what she would be capable of now. The possibilities seemed infinite.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Such a feeling… breathing not air, but pure magic. She just now started becoming aware of that fact. Her thoughts were not random anymore, but had a calm order and pattern. She wasn’t even feeling stunned anymore. Everything just made sense now and she felt like, deep down, she had always known these answers. Twilight’s eyes opened again.

“Magic is life. Magic is friendship. It is love, it is existence. There is no difference. This feeling… it is what fills every being, magical or not. This is what you wanted to show me, am I right?” she asked.

“Precisely. Your aura is shifting. I can feel you becoming more in harmony with magic by the second. Even I have to admit, you are beyond anything I could have ever anticipated. I may have the knowledge, but not the capabilities to utilize it. But you… It seems like you were born for this exact purpose. Magic truly is your destiny. You will be able to reach where I never could. But more importantly, you will be able to end this war,” Starswirl commented.

Twilight now had a similarly calm smile on her face as he did. She just looked at him, not as a superior being anymore, but as an equal.

“I wished I could have been your student, back in your time,” she stated.

“You are flattering me,” the ancient wizard responded, almost laughing.

“Well… I think we can go home now,” the purple mare suggested.

Starswirl nodded and closed his eyes. His horn began to glow again and with a flash, they disappeared again.

---

The sun and moon had both moved a significant amount while these two magicians were gone. Now back in their world, Twilight could feel everything around her. Without having to touch anything, she could feel the stone walls, the energy in the ground, the spirits in the air. She just stood there for a moment with closed eyes, savoring this feeling. As she looked again, she could see Starswirl climbing back inside of his sarcophagus.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Twilight Sparkle,” he spoke before laying down.

The purple mare smiled in response, closing her eyes again and starting to undo her spell. A purple aura formed around the stone coffin and slowly, the lid rose into the air, ready to be put back in place.

“Oh, by the way. If you one day get a chance to meet my dear, old friend Scorpan, send him my best regards. I am very proud of what he has accomplished,” the wizard requested quickly.

“I will keep that in mind, Starswirl,” Twilight promised.

The air became filled with arcane magic again. As quickly as his resurrection happened, it ended again. With a white flash, Starswirl had returned to being dust and bones, resting peacefully in his stony grave.

Twilight covered the sarcophagus again. Then she turned around and started walking back outside. She did not remember the exact way how to get out, but she didn’t need to. She could feel the structure of the entire city laid out before her like a map. Within minutes, she was back out in the cold.

The air was still vacant of any life, but Twilight wasn’t completely right before about there not being any magic around. There still was some left, allowing her to feel, to see. It would be easy for her now to skip entire continents using teleportation and she immediately proved it to herself by teleporting straight out of the ancestral homeland in just one spell.

Happier Times

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S2RgriNEb5fHh_Jm_ZNflcJUToWNDUIXLE-q2AACnjc/edit?usp=sharing

As it was to expect, Twilight’s friends were quite stunned when she just appeared next to them out of thin air. Just as she promised, she made it back in time. As a matter of fact, her journey back was a lot faster than getting to the ancestral homeland. Within just a single day, she managed to get all the way back to the Crystal Empire. Immediately, she requested a meeting of the leadership circle to be held in the evening. This particular one seemed to be even far more exclusive than the others before, as she tightly insisted on keeping up security to a maximum. She even insisted on both Truesight and Amber to help secure the meeting with their future predicting abilities. When the purple mare was finally convinced that they could talk openly without a demon or cultist spying on them, Applejack could barely take the suspense anymore.

“Well Ah’ll be damned, Twi! You keep checkin’ our identities for twenty minutes straight now! We passed all the checks! Just tell us what is goin’ on already!” the orange mare insisted.

Twilight still remained calm with a little smile on her face as she raised her front hoof in attempt to settle down her friend. It was clear to everyone that this short journey had yet again changed her, but this time for the better. She didn’t seem sunken in thought and regret anymore. Instead, she was emitting a strong aura of peace and harmony.

“My attempt to bring Starswirl back from the dead was a success. I asked him to join our cause, but he declined, reasoning that his resurrection alone caused too much damage on the flow of magic in our world and he would not want to make it even worse. Instead, he offered me some of his secrets, under the condition that I undo the spell I cast on him in order to return balance,” she summarized shortly.

“That is a shame… But did he tell you anything useful?” Shining Armor wanted to know.

“Quite so,” Twilight replied with a little nod. “While the things he showed to me are difficult to explain and hard to grasp for somepony who hasn’t experienced them first-hoof, it did help me a lot in becoming at peace with myself. I have created a very deep bond to my own arcane magic and therefore now understand a lot of things much better. Starswirl himself may not be able to support us directly, but he gave me everything I needed to know in order for us to win this war.”

The purple mare got up shortly to roam through her saddle bag. What she then placed on the table caused all of them to gasp. A purple crystal in the shape of a six-pointed star.

“Is… Is that…” Rarity mumbled speechlessly.

“I’m afraid, no. This is just a replica of the Element of Magic. While it does have similar powers and functions as the original, it is not quite as stable. We will only be able to use it a few times before it shatters,” Twilight explained.

“How in the world did you get that?” Cadence wondered.

“Again, this is difficult to explain. Out there in Equestria, beneath the Everfree Forest, there is a tree made entirely of magical crystal. The Tree of Harmony,” Twilight spoke, instantly causing Celestia and Luna to become wide-eyed. “I will tell you more about that later. For now, let’s just say that it was this tree the elements originally came from. On my way back, I visited the tree and communicated with it. It allowed me to access its powers to recreate the lost element.”

“Twilight Sparkle… I am speechless. For you to be able to do this… I would have never thought…” Celestia commented, causing the purple mare to smile again.

“Starswirl has taught me a lot. I now realize that I am capable of doing many things that can be considered world-changing. But with this power comes responsibility. I am afraid that most things I can do, I actually never will. I am more sensitive to magic now than I have ever been. I can feel even the slightest shifts. My powers can bypass rules of this world, but that would cause more damage than it would help. But while I can’t break the rules, I can at least bend them to some degree without causing harm. This replica here is the result. If we use it as a link between the Crystal Heart and the other elements, the experiments our donkey scientists have been attempting will finally work. The artefacts will resonate with each other and amplify their powers, giving us a very efficient weapon capable of even erasing demons. This is why I wanted to make absolutely sure we can talk in secrecy. This knowledge can’t be allowed to spread. For the first time, we are in a position of advantage over the demons, because they have no idea we have such a weapon. This replica might very well be the key to our survival during the Red Day,” the purple mare explained.

“Twilight, I can’t even put in words how amazing you are!” Derpy shouted out suddenly. “This is brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Haha! To be completely honest, for the longest time, I thought we were done for. But now, I believe we can actually do this!”

“But how does that work? Won’t using the Elements of Harmony in that way backfire on us, since we have reapers and even an undead pony among us?” Luna worried.

“I actually thought about that. While making the replica, I knew that the stronger it was, the more fragile it would become. I made a slight compromise to adjust the efficiency and effect. It will still be capable of purifying demons, erasing them completely. But everything that was directly created by Nightmare Moon herself, in this case Maledictum Insania and the reaper curse, is too strong to be lifted. So our reapers and Rarity are safe. That also means, though, that any other undead fighting on the side of the demons won’t be affected by the artefacts. We will have to rely on the reapers to deal with them, but that should very well be possible to pull off,” Twilight stated.

“Excellent! These are great news! Now, I am actually glad you made this trip, Twily! I will make sure our soldiers and allies play their role.” Shining Armor announced.

“But Twilight is right about keeping the replica a secret,” Cadence interjected. “As much as I would love to have it tested by the scientists at least once, we can’t allow this knowledge to leak through.”

“Then it all comes down to a raw test of the artefacts during the attack…” Celestia analyzed in worry.

“They will work, I assure you,” Twilight commented swiftly with an expression of absolute confidence.

“Well, Ah’m puttin’ ma faith into ya, Sugarcube. If you say this is gonna work, I trust ya,” Applejack spoke.

“Thank you. If that is said and done, I have two more things I would like to do. First of, I would like to ask Truesight in. If so, we won’t talk about the replica again until the time has come to use it. Agreed?” Twilight wondered.

“Agreed,” the others spoke simultaneously.

“Alright,” the purple mare spoke, then used her magic to open the door, turning her focus to it. “Lady Truesight. Could you come in, please?”

Instantly, the red mare with the rainbow mane complied, immediately followed by Amber. The little filly had grown a good bit since the last time they saw her and she also seemed to have made a lot of progress, since she was no longer hiding underneath her foster-mother’s cloak. Still, the small orange-brown filly seemed to continue having trust issues as her eyes kept darting around, scanning for potential threats with a tension-filled expression. As soon as they arrived in front of Twilight, Truesight bowed down.

“How may I serve you, my mistress?” she asked politely.

“We need your special talent. Can you repeat your visions of the Red Day to us again?” Twilight requested.

“As you wish,” the reaper clairvoyant replied and closed her eyes. “I see… countless red eyes. An ocean of black… The landscape matches up with what I have been observing around the empire lately, so it must be happening very soon… The eyes cover the entire landscape, so we should be expecting an attack from all directions. There… there is something else… a sensation of dread that is hard to define. Something else is happening that day, but I can’t clearly make it out. I apologize, my mistress.”

“I don’t expect of you to be capable of seeing everything. You still are a great help,” Twilight commented with a warm smile.

“Thank you,” Truesight replied humbly.

“Is there anything else you can tell us? Do you have any more suggestions or thoughts you have come up with since the last time?” Cadence wanted to know.

“I am afraid, no. There is not much else I can tell,” the red mare answered shortly.

“Very well,” Twilight stated shortly before seemingly gathering herself shortly for something else. “Now, the second thing I wanted to do is lift this tedious curse that has been cast on us. Remember the Curse of Secrets?”

“Yeah, but hang on a minute. Wasn’t that unliftable?” Applejack wondered.

“It may have been designed like that, but there is a way, actually,” the purple mare stated shortly, closing her eyes and letting her horn glow.

Suddenly, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Derpy and even Truesight felt a strange pleasant sensation rushing through their bodies. Just like Twilight before, they felt the urge to sigh in relief as the magic had done its work. Truesight in particular seemed extremely astonished, as if this was something she could have never seen coming.

“Well, I do feel better now, but did that actually do it?” Derpy wondered, unsure of the result.

“You are free to try it out. Just speaking out ‘Maledictum Insania’ in front of a pony won’t give them the knowledge of what it actually is,” Twilight spoke, then returned her focus to Truesight. “That is all. Thank you for your help. You may go back to your duties.”

Though the red mare hesitated for a moment. As she lifted her head, she let her focus wander among the friends of her mistress before returning it to the purple mare herself.

“Thank you for lifting this burden from me, my mistress. But… With your permission, I would like to say one more thing before I go back, provided you can spare the time,” she requested meekly.

“Oh, sure. I have time for you. What is on your mind?” Twilight wanted to know.

Instantly, the red mare bowed down again, closing her eyes.

“I wanted to apologize to you for my previous behavior, my mistress. In fact, I wanted to apologize to all of you. I had my doubts about all of you. I was convinced that if Mistress Twilight took over, it would be our downfall. To my shame, I have to admit that I kept on thinking that way until the time you asked us if we would be following your command. At that moment, I had a vision. I saw you, towering over Blueblood, holding Nightmare’s Eye in your hoof. I saw you winning this war. I misjudged you and for that, I am deeply sorry.”

“Well that’s mighty nice of ya. But let me get this straight: Ya had such a vision and didn’t tell us about it?” Applejack picked up, clearly not sure how to feel about this.

“It is understandable,” Twilight spoke quickly in behalf of Truesight. “While it is true that most of her visions come true, not all do. She once said herself that the future is not written in stone and can be altered. While this is comforting to know, we should not rest easy on this vision alone. Assume the best, prepare for the worst.”

“I have to agree with Twilight,” Luna commented. “We should not let this make us become overly confident, or we will make mistakes that will falsify this vision.”

“In any case, your honesty is very appreciated, Truesight. Frankly, it puts me at ease, knowing you believe in me now,” the purple mare answered to the reaper clairvoyant.

Truesight bowed down one final time before she turned around and got on her way out. The door to the meeting room closed behind her and Amber, then both went down a hallway. Again, the little filly’s eyes darted around, expecting danger to come from any direction. But then, she suddenly stopped. Truesight immediately noticed and turned around to check on her adoptive daughter.

Amber’s eyes were wide open, as well as her mouth. She was staring into the distance, seemingly lost in a vision. But then, her eyes suddenly jumped over to Truesight with the same shocked expression.

The reaper clairvoyant knew exactly what she was seeing. She nodded slowly. Almost instantly, Amber’s eyes began to fill with tears. She rushed to the red mare, hugging her front leg tightly for a moment before Truesight sat down, closed her eyes and embraced the little filly tenderly.

---

The meeting went on for half an hour more. A few additional points in their plans needed to be discussed before they could call it a day and everypony went on their way. Twilight, as usual, aimed straight for the library. This time, though, she was accompanied by Fluttershy on her way out. The purple mare already knew what her friend wanted from her.

“You know I can’t do it,” Twilight started.

“Do what?” Fluttershy wondered, unsure if she really had the same idea she had.

“I know why you are following me. I know what you want to ask. I’m sorry, Fluttershy. But there is a big difference between Starswirl and Obsidian,” the purple mare explained.

“And what would that be?” Fluttershy wanted to know.

“Starswirl lived and died during a time where Maledictum Insania wasn’t yet created. Obsidian’s soul, though, had always been touched by Nightmare Moon, just like ours. I couldn’t bring Starswirl back for more than a few hours before I had to undo my spell. What do you think would happen if I tried to bring Obsidian back from the dead?” Twilight questioned.

“There has to be a way,” the yellow mare insisted.

“I know how tempting this must sound to you and believe me: I would do so much just to see him again and thank him for all he has done for us. But I just can’t do it. The damage would be far too great,” Twilight tried to explain.

“Don’t give me that,” Fluttershy replied, almost sounding angry if she weren’t a reaper. “You even managed to recreate the Element of Magic and you want to tell me there is absolutely no way you can bring Obsidian back? I have been waiting so long for even the slightest chance… Please, Twilight. Do this for me.”

“Fluttershy… I would. Honestly, I would. Both you and him mean a lot to me and if this could be done, I would move mountains to make it possible. But you don’t have a magic sense. You wouldn’t be able to understand. I have grown so sensitive to magic now, I can even feel the small swirls of magic that are created when you take a step and your dark aura twirls and dances with the aura of the environment around you. I know exactly what would happen if I brought him back.”

“Then tell me, please. What would happen?” Fluttershy insisted.

“The least of our concern would be the aura of the entire Crystal Empire to collapse. This would be at least as tragic as when the ancestral homeland collapsed. But this… tear… it would spread around the world, causing further imbalance everywhere. Sure, it would dilute with increasing distance, but the demons and Nightmare Moon would be using this to their advantage. In worst case, it would affect the replica. So many lives would be at stake, just for trying to bring one life back,” Twilight explained patiently.

Now, Fluttershy became silent. Her focus lowered. Her head followed. She spent minutes like that while still following Twilight before she eventually looked back at her friend while her head was still lowered submissively.

“Please. This must be possible in some way. Please, Twilight,” she begged.

“I miss him too, Fluttershy. But messing with the rules of this world would make us just as ignorant as Blueblood himself. We want to save the world, not damage it further… I’m sorry,” Twilight finished.

It seemed like Fluttershy finally gave up now. She stopped following Twilight and, without saying a word, just turned around to walk a different direction. The sound of Twilight’s hoof steps echoing on the crystal floor soon vanished while she herself left the palace through a different exit.

It was night time by now. Next to no one was outside. A few different species occasionally crossed a street in the corner of Fluttershy’s eye, but she didn’t pay much attention to it. She just kept on walking, her thoughts centered around Obsidian Shards. A small sound caught her attention. Droplets falling onto the roads, very close to her. As she lowered her head, the light coming from the lanterns allowed her to make out a small black splatter on the ground, like ink. Her right front hoof lifted to her eyes and she swiped over them shortly. Her hoof had become covered in black tears.

Fluttershy stared at her hoof for a while. Clearly, she was crying. But the feelings just wouldn’t get through properly. The reaper curse had just dulled her too much. But what she couldn’t feel, she could analyze. Her behavior and her thoughts… everything was currently locked down on her loss again.

Fluttershy had reached a new low point in her grief. For a short time, there was a faint sensation. Something that she remembered she used to call ‘hope’. But this hope was misplaced. Obsidian will never come back and nothing but the cloak, the heart pin and her memories of him remained. The more years passed, the more it seemed like this was all just a dream. The year she spent with the stallion that made her feel so whole, so happy. Was it ever even real? Her current situation and the pin implied this, but it seemed so unreal by now. How could she have ever been that happy?

The reaper mare decided to just continue walking, taking a patrol through the streets. This time, though, she did pay attention to others. The occasional guard, a crystal pony waving at her, some cattle transporting tools and weapons on their backs. But there also were a few couples outside, enjoying a night-time stroll. They were rare compared to the others roaming around at this hour. But they caught her attention so much that it seemed like there were happy couples all around her. A griffon and a pony, a donkey and a diamond dog, a diamond dog and a saddle arabian pony. Each time she spotted a couple, she stopped to almost enviously observe them. Sparkling eyes, blushing cheeks, tender hugs and kisses. Her memories mixed with reality, allowing her to see herself and Obsidian in their place.

He is gone. Forever. Fluttershy had to forcefully tear her eyes away from the couples each time and remind herself of that fact. Each time she did that, the image of Obsidian’s corpse came to her mind. She held him in her hooves. He was completely covered in blood, but smiling faintly. It was the last time she had seen him. The last impression she had of him.

The world got completely dark around the yellow mare. All lights disappeared. She caught herself yet again staring at the heart pin on her cloak and polishing it carefully. Fluttershy knew she was stuck in an endless loop of grief, but there was no way out of it for her. She just missed him so much, she could hardly think of anything else.

Fluttershy was clinging onto the happy impressions she had left of him. The things that used to make her feel… something. There was this one particular scene that she used to relish more than any other. It was during winter, while Obsidian was off duty. Their walk through the snow, their ascension into the night sky. Floating free above the world, without a care. The endless vastness of the winter sky and that feeling of complete security, watching the moon while sitting on a small patch of cloud. It was their most tender moment. Never before and never since had she felt so good, so secure, while all the same she learned to embrace darkness.

The yellow mare felt the corners of her lips move ever so slightly, hinting on the faintest attempt of a smile. Even now, this memory was still so strong that it managed to affect her physically, even if it was barely noticeable at all. She needed this. She needed to remember, to know what it was like.Her eyes closed. Her wings spread out. With a few beats, she became airborne. Gradually, she was levitating into the air, remembering what Obsidian told her.

“Do not worry. I will not let anything happen to you. Trust me and close your eyes.”

She remembered Obsidian’s voice. She remembered how it felt like to be held by him. Fluttershy could feel her body ease up.

“You are very high up right now. How do you feel?”

Fluttershy actually wasn’t sure how high she was by now, but she just kept flying up gently. How did she feel? She felt the cold wind brush past her… but that was all.

“I am your darkness, mea amāta.”

The Red Day, Part 1

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OMyXCJmDy0K8k5vpwB_iGAyRJqrNlC9_mo3kw6RrN74/edit?usp=sharing

Silence. Waiting. Fear. The tension in the Crystal Empire was almost unbearable at this point. All knew that the Red Day was almost there now. But it was the uncertainty when exactly it would happen that nearly crazed the rebels. It could happen any moment or in a few days. The leadership circle tried to keep the masses as well updated as possible, constantly checking back on Truesight. Eventually, she managed to find out what they all needed to know.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the Red Day. She saw Blueblood’s army approach. By tomorrow, they would reach the empire.

As soon as that knowledge was made public, all rebels mobilized. They spent the rest of the day making some last-minute preparations, sharpening their weapons, improving their armor, checking the bows for any flaw that could render them useless during battle. Then, they all just waited. For hours, in frequently changing shifts, nearly all members of the rebellion stood at the borders of the empire to watch, to be ready, to give a signal as soon as they spotted the first enemy. The reapers as well were constantly patrolling and gazing into the distance. They could not be caught off-guard.

Twilight spent this day observing the state her allies and friends were in. Most had the same expression. Tense faces, gazing into the distance. Waiting. Silence.

Like this, the hours passed by. The sun went down and it became night again. Even then, the shifts kept switching and everyone tried to stay as alert as they could. Most had trouble sleeping, but the rebels supported each other, telling other rebels that the sleep was needed to be ready for the battle. Twilight’s friends were no different.

---

Another night passed where the purple mare had to go through strange nightmares. She found herself in an infinite dark red realm. Whispers filled the air, too quited to be able to understand what they were saying. Twilight felt as if she was being observed, but could not see anything around her. Then suddenly, a voice was whispering directly into her ear.

“Twilight”

The purple mare got woken up by the sound of a horn. Countless more horns followed. That was the signal. It was happening.

She instantly jumped out of her bed and rushed down the corridors to the balcony, immediately followed by all of her friends. But there were no demons anywhere to be seen. Instead, thousands of dragons were approaching, soon beginning to circle around the empire.

“What?! What’s goin’ on?” Applejack shouted in shock.

“Could they have sided with Blueblood?” Fluttershy questioned..

Twilight raised her hoof, telling her friends to stay calm. She approached the railing of the balcony, watching the rest of the empire. All allies were just as confused and scared as her friends. The minotaurs and griffons, though, seemed extremely eager to attack them. They were just waiting for the order, nearly unable to hold back.

It didn’t take long before one of the dragons spotted Twilight. It approached in a slow glide and halted in front of her with some respectful distance.

“We have heard of the rebellion being threatened. We have come to support you during the attack,” the dragon explained.

Nearly instantly, the mouths of most of Twilight’s friends fell open. It was Luna who first caught herself, gained an angry expression and rushed next to Twilight.

“Now you come? After letting so much time pass? Do you have any idea what we could have achieved if you had joined us while we asked you to?” she spoke angrily.

“Calm down, Luna,” Celestia spoke, following up. “Of course, we thankfully accept your offer. But it makes me wonder what made you change your mind.”

The dragon turned his head away, gaining an expression of shame that nopony had ever seen on a dragon before.

“Demons attacked the Flaming Islands. Dozens of us died within minutes. For the first time in history, we are facing an enemy that is too powerful for us. We now understand that our arrogance made us vulnerable. All dragons here have come to the conclusion that the rebellion is the only way for dragon-kind to survive. We are willing to cast our pride aside and do whatever is necessary to survive... even if it means taking orders from a pony,” it explained.

“I don’t think any dragon has ever gone as far as all of you did. As Celestia said, your help is very much appreciated. Welcome to the rebellion,” Twilight declared.

“What are your orders?” the dragon wanted to know.

“Explain to the rest of the rebels that you are here to help and do exactly that. Support them in any way you can. But most importantly, be ready. At some point today, we will be attacked. Protect each other, protect the rebels and whatever you do, do not let a single demon make it to the palace,” the purple mare ordered.

“Understood,” the dragon answered, then flew away to distribute the order.

Tthe dragons changed their behavior, landing outside of the empire, lowering their heads to the height of the other rebels and started speaking to them. The rebels seemed to have a hard time believing that they could now count dragons among their allies, so shortly before the battle. But these were news most seemed very willing to accept.

“Unbelievable…” was all Derpy could say.

“I’m just glad they changed their mind in time,” Twilight commented.

“Do you think we can trust them, Twily?” Shining Armor wanted to know.

“We have to. There is no other option,” the purple mare replied shortly.

“We can all just hope for the best…” Luna added.

---

Again, time passed and as the early morning hours went by, some more preparations were made. The dragons had brought an unexpected gift: Whole treasure chests full of their own scales.

These usually were amongst the hardest items to acquire. Due to their enormous durability, dragon scales are rarely ever shed. It turned out that, weeks beforehand, the dragons voluntarily pulled them out of their bodies in order to have enough time to regrow. Armor and weapons made of dragon scales are said to be some of the strongest in existence, even surpassing the crystal armor and weapons of the empire.

Instantly, the forges were started up again. In ludicrously high speed, the blacksmiths were producing full body dragon-scale armors, spears, swords and arrows. With the help of the dragons, who gladly shared the knowledge of how to forge with their scales and even went so far as to assist by imbuing the forges and furnaces with dragon breath to make them work faster, the arsenal got stocked up rapidly. But even more surprisingly, it seemed like Caramel had a natural understanding for this rare and unusual material. Without much explanation, he figured out how to forge armor and weapons on his own and, compared to the work of other blacksmiths, his dragon-scale creations turned out a lot sharper and well crafted. A fact he could find a lot of pride in, which was a rare experience for the usually very unfortunate stallion.

But, alas, the time was over.

The sound of horns filled the air again. A red aura had been spotted to the south-west. Not much later, the ground started to shake, gradually getting worse and worse. This was it. They were here. The Red Day had finally come.

Within minutes, the horizon gained a black line that quickly grew in size. The red clouds around these creatures gradually filled the air and even managed to block out some of the sunlight. But before the first demon could get anywhere even remotely close to the empire, all rebels stood ready in their positions. A massive purple force field wrapped around the entirety of the Crystal Empire, followed by a secondary force field completely covering the palace. Soon, the snowy white plains became covered by an ocean of black, dotted with more red eyes than anyone could ever count. Mixed in this black tidal wave were countless ponies, proudly wearing full battle armor with the three claw marks of the BloodClaw Cult on them. As if that wasn’t enough, the scouts could also see a lot of undead ponies among them. Ponies with their heads removed, clad in a crude armor full of razor-sharp edges. It seemed like Blueblood was playing a sadistic joke on both them and the rebels by sending these ‘headless horses’ at them, aiming to turn this day into a literal horror story.

The demons reached the outer force field and began to position themselves around it, surrounding the entire Crystal Empire from all directions. Already, even the most battle-hardened warriors began to shake. It was a sight that defied any description, just seeing so many of these abstract, truly terrifying creatures all around. There was a selection of demons available which even most of the reapers hadn’t seen before. Some small, some large. Some thin and long, some dense and bulky. Some looking like they were armed to their teeth, some nearly invisible as they kept merging in the darkness of their masses. More and more were coming. Positioning themselves, organizing themselves, readying themselves. Wraiths, Spawns, Shadows, Skin-Walkers, Salamanders, Devastators. The list went on and on and on.

The leaders of the rebellion were standing on the very top of the palace, observing everything around them. Caramel was the only regular rebel allowed to be among them, as Applejack insisted on keeping him close and out of direct danger.

“No matter what happens today… We’ll stick together. Alright?” The orange mare asked her partner in fear.

Caramel could barely give off any noise. He just nodded swiftly, shaking like crazy. While the two were holding each other,Twilight had her front hooves placed on the railing. Her mane and tail were slightly floating in the air as pure arcane magic was freely flowing through and around her. She gazed down to her allies with her eyes glowing white. It was her main responsibility to keep the force fields up. A task she knew would consume most of her focus and strength. Soon, she would become nearly unable to interact with her surroundings, having to put all her might in protecting her rebellion. It was up to all others to give out orders and make decisions.

Behind Twilight was the Crystal Heart, the Element of Magic replica floating directly above it and the other elements forming a rotating circle that floated in the middle around both. All artefacts were glowing, gentle streams of colorful light flowing between them. So far, it seemed like Twilight was right. With the replica, the Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony were cooperating. A quick look back at them was enough for Twilight to activate them. The Crystal Heart gradually started spinning, absorbing the colorful streams of energy coming from each element.

Just when it seemed like the last few demons were getting in position, the quaking changed. In frequent intervals, massive shockwaves were pulsing through the ground. The source became clearly visible not much later. A giant demon was approaching. The largest one they had ever seen. Even the former princesses of Equestria couldn’t hold back a gasp as they came to realize that it was so massive, it alone created an aura that was almost double the size of the entire army of demons.

“What in heaven’s sake is that?!” Applejack shouted in absolute disbelief.

“Malice, the Right Hand of Nightmare Moon,” Twilight responded firmly, since she could clearly identify the kind of energy it was emitting.

The others could hardly believe it. They kept on staring as the colossal demon approached, hoping in vain that Twilight was wrong. But it was true. Not much later, the silhouette could clearly be made out as an enormous cloak covering a black skeleton that was just about the same size as the Crystal Palace. At last, it became clear why the BloodClaw Cult had decided to murder a majority of Equestria’s population. They had fed their souls to the demon commander. This behemoth consisted of several million souls. None, not even Twilight, could tell just how strong he must be now.

The sight was pure terror to the rebels. It made several of them get weak in their limbs and the tremendous earthquakes caused by his steps knocked them on their backs and bellies. It was as if death in person was approaching them.

The demons seemed to know exactly where he would step and made space just in time before his enormous black boney hooves came crushing down on the ground, leaving behind a small crater which instantly became filled with demons again as soon as he passed. Eventually, he reached the force field and stopped. While he stared down on the empire, his eye sockets were glowing with a powerful, bloodthirsty red. The other demons grinned at the rebels in anticipation. For them, this was a feast about to begin. They would tear the rebels apart, repaint the empire in their blood, cover all buildings with their ripped-out organs and display whatever they would leave behind of their corpses as trophies.

But the battle hadn’t started just yet. Malice was the one giving the orders and all demons were patiently waiting for his command. He turned to the left and started walking, circling the empire clock-wise. Like before, the demons made space for his steps and closed the gaps again as soon as he passed.

“What is he waiting for?” Rarity wondered with a very scared and tense expression, not even sure if she actually wanted to know the answer.

“He is not waiting. He is analyzing,” Celestia stated, her face just as tense, but not filled with worry.

It now became clear to all that, despite his enormous power and army, he wasn’t going to just try and crush them with brute force. He was setting up a strategy. Many of the more combat experienced rebels had secretly hoped that the demons would at least not act rationally in any way, giving them the chance to outsmart them. But that wish was utterly crushed now.

Suddenly, the five Salamanders that had come to the battle were approaching Malice. Twilight and her friends still remembered what an enormous threat just a single of them was. Having to deal with five of them now…

The demon commander turned around, gazing at one of the Salamanders. Then something completely unexpected happened. He struck it. He started beating the huge burning lizard with such force that it could barely keep itself on its feet. The Salamander didn’t fight back. It just allowed this to happen.

While the rebels were still deeply surprised and pondering why he had suddenly turned against another demon, Malice grabbed the Salamander by the neck and pinned it to the ground with enough force to cause yet another big earthquake. Of course, all demons moved aside again in time, as if they had seen this coming. The Salamander struggled, kicking its legs around in attempt to get back up. But that only made Malice crush it down harder, partially pressing it into the ground. He lowered his skeletal head down to it until their faces nearly met.

The Salamander roared. It screamed with full force in unspeakable fury. Its flames intensified so much, the heat could be felt even through the force field. At last, Malice let go of it. The demon got right back up and remained in place, though obviously so angry now that it could barely stand still.

“Salamanders are demons of rage. He provokes them on purpose to make them even stronger,” Shining Armor analyzed with a tense frown.

In just one more minute, Malice was done enraging all five Salamanders. Now, they were getting in position. The flaming reptiles spread around the empire in equal distances. With a small hand gesture, Malice gave an order to all other demons. The Devastators started hovering above the empire. Countless small demons were clustering all around the Right Hand of Nightmare Moon. Medium-sized demons were pushing the undead battle slaves up in front of the force field. The larger ones positioned themselves further back. Off in the distance, Twilight spotted the rest of the Underworld League: Toxica, Slendermane, Succubus and Despair. They remained behind, watching from a safe distance.

Malice reached inside of his cloak and gradually pulled out his now equally giant red scythe.

“All hail the demon queen!” He shouted so loud, nearly all rebels had to cover their ears.

Soul-tearing battle cries filled the air, instantly followed by a flood of demons crushing against the force field. The Devastators dropped themselves down on the barrier repeatedly, each time turning into huge black explosion clouds, only to gather back up and rise into the air again. Malice as well began to strike down hard on the force field with his scythe, causing the whole empire to shake.

Twilight instantly tensed up and gave off suppressed noises of stress. She had her eyes clenched shut and her teeth exposed, pressed together, while she gradually backed up to the artefacts. Her friends could only imagine the level of mental stress she must be experiencing right now.

She twitched, she cringed. But marvelously, the force field held. Strike after strike, thousands of blows and that scythe crushing down on it repeatedly. Yet, it didn’t shatter. Shining Armor’s astonished expression revealed that there was no way he himself would be able to withstand such force with his mental capacity. There was no pony alive that could even hope to do anything like this. Only Twilight was capable of keeping the masses out of the empire.

But it was clear that this would not last forever. Each blow, hundreds per second, drained the purple mare. A short moment of weakness in her focus was enough for Malice to create a crack in the force field, which he kept exploiting by beating down on the same spot over and over again while the entire rest of the army assisted in weakening Twilight’s concentration.

The rebellion leaders closely kept observing what was happening around them. There was nothing else they could do right now. They were the ones giving the defensive strategy and protecting the artefacts, so leaving their position was out of question.

A shattering sound filled the empire. The red scythe had broken through by a quarter of its blade’s length. Before Twilight had any chance to seal it again, Malice reached his massive black skeletal hand inside. His other followed and with visible force, held the tear open. The many small demons that had clustered up around the demon commander now started running straight into his hooves, seemingly merging with him. But just a split second later, they resurfaced on his hands and began jumping down into the empire.

The battle had begun. The low-ranked demons charged ahead into the first line of defense, which mostly consisted out of minotaurs in extremely thick and heavy armor, holding massive shields that required both their arms to handle. The demons came crushing into them like an avalanche, but the defense held. As soon as they got stopped and tried to either break the shields or get around them, the ground beneath the demons gave in and created a hole out of which heavily armored diamond dogs were grabbing them and pulling them down. This way, the first wave of demons was completely immobilized for a few seconds. More than enough time for the reapers to storm in and consume them.

But the mistakes the first demons made were learnt by those who followed. The rebellion experienced their first casualties as the demons used their masses to keep the reaper occupied while several others jumped down into the holes to go for the diamond dogs. None of the other species could help in time before screams could be heard coming from the holes.

The reapers quickly gathered up as close to the tear as they could, trying their very best to at least slow down this avalanche. But tragically, it were the rebels who had to deal with most of the demonic intruders.

The donkeys noticed the efforts of the reapers and focused their weapons on Malice’s hands. As one of the few species focusing more on science than magic, they could count themselves among the first to discover gunpowder, providing them with the means to construct legitimate early firearms. A row of donkey soldiers positioned themselves on the minotaurs’ shoulders, aiming their muskets at the tear and firing. It had no effect, other than being in the reach of the demons now. Several donkeys got grabbed and pulled into the masses, being instantly shredded to pieces. The other donkeys tried to defend themselves by stabbing the demons with their bayonets, but this as well caused no harm to the demons.

The front held so far, but several demons managed to jump past the minotaurs and aimed for the weakest targets they could find. Cattle never were known for having any particular fighting skills. They seemed easy prey and it was up to the equestrian ponies, saddle arabian ponies and crystal ponies to defend them.

For a long time, there was an unspoken debate going on. Do crystal ponies bleed? Now, the rebels had to find out the hard way that the answer was ‘no’. As some of the demons pounced a few crystal ponies, managed to break their crystal armors after a short combat and sank their fangs, claws and spikes into them, they did not bleed. Instead, they shattered into pieces. It was a shocking sight to see their broken-off heads fly through the air before falling to the ground and bursting into countless little shards.

The rebellion leaders up on the top all had heavy worry written in their faces. Up here, there was nothing they could do to directly aid in combat aside of frequently sending new orders to the generals of the different divisions of soldiers. Their role was a much more important one. The artefacts had to be guarded at all cost. So their eyes constantly kept on jumping between the battlefield, the artefacts and Twilight.

The purple mare was still there, but heavily cringing in stress. Her eyes opened every now and then, focusing the Crystal Heart as it kept spinning rapidly. They were forced to wait. Precious time during which dozens of their allies died. Even though the artefacts were nearly ready, they too had plans on how to handle this situation.

Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Derpy Hooves. They all kept looking around rapidly, trying to judge how many demons were still outside and how many had already entered. A tenth of all demons came in. A ninth, an eighth, seventh, sixth.

Thousands of demons were fighting against mostly griffons and dragons now, who were desperately trying to prevent their advance. The ground gradually became covered in blood. But so far, the dragon-scale armors were doing the trick quite well. The demons seemed to have problems landing lethal strikes on the rebels wearing them.

Luna wouldn’t risk it anymore. The line of defense the rebels had set up could not be allowed to breach. She suddenly turned around and started shouting.

“Now! Twilight! Unleash them now!”

The purple mare hardly reacted, still standing there completely tensed up. But she did hear it, as the Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony suddenly began to glow brightly. Together, they formed a heavily condensed sphere of rainbow color. Then, the Crystal Heart stopped spinning abruptly.

What followed was the biggest explosion anypony had ever seen. An enormous colorful radiant light expanded evenly in all directions, so fast that it was impossible to follow with bare eyes. While it did not affect the leadership circle, the rebels or the reapers, all demons that came in contact with this light instantly became dissolved into nothingness.

Malice could barely react in time as he pulled his skeletal hands out of the breach. But the expansion still kept going even outside of the empire’s boundaries. Every demon that was too close instantly vanished. Malice let his scythe disappear and placed both his hands against the still growing sphere, pushing against it. Somehow, he succeeded. He managed to slow down the expansion more and more, until it came to a full stop. He was heavily shaking in tension as he did his best to keep it there. After a few more seconds, the blast ran out of energy and dissolved.

Malice stood there, staring at his hands. They were half gone, but gradually reformed out of his own aura condensing in the place of the missing pieces. Even though the blast failed to eradicate the demon commander himself, this attack clearly came as a surprise to the demons. They stared up to the top of the Crystal Palace with expressions of disbelief in their eyes. The cultists seemed even much more shocked. A few let their weapons fall, while others took off their helmets and fell on their knees. So many of their lords… killed? In one strike? How? How was that possible?

Already, the rebels started cheering. For good reason, too. With just one strike, they already erased over a fifth of the demons and left behind such an enormous impression that even Malice ordered the remaining army to stand back with a gesture.

The leaders were cheering as well. This halt was going on for over a minute now. More than enough time for Twilight to completely repair the force field and recover her full mental capacity. She opened her brightly glowing white eyes again and couldn’t help but smile herself. Even though the battle wasn’t over yet and they would not be able to catch the demons by surprise with this attack again, she felt that they might actually do this. A few more strikes like this and they could win. They could actually win and survive the Red Day.

Malice started circling around the empire again, closely observing and planning his next move.

The Red Day, Part 2

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-1ERXM5uRfOmkCcsqXzJ636ivdF0o5dVkscidQbcTwA/edit?usp=sharing

For nearly a minute now, the Right Hand of Nightmare Moon kept on watching the rebels carefully. He mostly focused on the top of the Crystal Palace, observing as the Crystal Heart gradually started spinning and absorbing energy from the elements again. He knew it would take a while before it could be used again, but neither him nor the rebels could clearly tell how long it would take.

Just like Twilight planned, Rarity was not affected by the beam. Neither were the cultists that were standing too close and got struck by it. But it did affect the reapers. Being creatures of darkness and death, this much light had knocked them unconscious. Fluttershy, being the reaper closest to the source, needed the most time to get back on her legs. She was very dizzy, as if she had been struck hard against her head.

“We need to be even more careful now,” Twilight stated suddenly. “His main objective will be to disable the artefacts.”

It was easy to come to that conclusion. Malice kept watching them the whole time as he circled the empire, seemingly staring straight at the elements and the heart. The other demons, though, were just staring at him, seemingly waiting for orders. The shock had vanished from their faces. Instead, they were showing both anger and focus. It was likely that they would be more strategic about their moves from this point on.

Finally, Malice stopped. With a wave of his skeletal hand, he gave a new order. All small and low-ranked demons now stepped back and instead pushed the headless horses underneath one of the Salamanders. The heat coming from this beast should fry them to a crisp in seconds, but it didn’t. The zombie ponies remained unharmed. Apparently, Salamanders were able to control their heat.

Almost immediately, another Salamander stepped next to it, under which the cultists began to gather. Now the Devastators began to change their position as well, splitting into two groups, each hovering right in front of the two formations. Twilight started getting tense again, preparing herself for the attack order.

The demon commander lifted his arm and pointed towards the empire. Instantly, the Devastators in front of the undead battle slaves merged together and formed a nearly horizontal tornado, pushing against the force field. Twilight had to press her eyes shut again, struggling to keep the force field up. While the black storm pressed its tip harder and harder against the shield, the other demons assisted by attacking from all directions again.

Cadence understood what they were trying to do. She sent out an order via teleporting a scroll. Moments later, the dragons positioned themselves to stop the attack formation, followed by the griffons forming a line of defence beneath them and creating a wall with countless spears aiming towards the enemies. The donkeys stood directly behind them and arabian archers stood behind those, all readying their weapons and waiting to fire.

It took a while, but the Devastators eventually managed to drill a hole into the force field. The very moment it was created, the first Salamander began to squeeze its head through the gap. The unicorns used their magic to enchant the muskets, allowing them to shoot freezing bullets at the flaming reptile, which instantly turned into steam clouds as they made contact. The Salamander roared and even backed away for a moment, but then only became even more eager to pass through. As soon as it managed to push its head past the barrier, it exhaled a massive flame. But the rebels remained motionless. The fire just passed around them, guided away by magic. Though this was not the doing of unicorns. In some distance, zebras could be observed whispering incantations.

Another burst of frozen bullets followed, but it wouldn’t scare the Salamander away. It managed to pull a leg through, then another leg. The Devastators were pulling at the tear as hard as they could, opening it wide enough to not only allow the demon to pass through, but also the undead ponies. The Salamander charged ahead, instantly causing the dragons to tackle at it. As they attempted to stop this massive beast, the headless horses came running at the rebels. The first row just ran straight into the spears, seemingly willingly. The second row could use this to climb and run past front row, instantly being impaled by the next set of spears. This continued until a large number of headless horses were disabled, in return rendering the spears useless and allowing the remaining to come dangerously close to the donkeys

In the meantime, Celestia had set up her own plan. While the dragons were fiercely fighting the Salamander and keeping it occupied, she told the diamond dogs to dig tunnels right behind the zombie ponies, out of which a combined force of diamond dogs and minotaurs came charging. Now having to fight at two fronts at once, these undead battle slaves had it very difficult to defend themselves. The brute strength of the minotaurs allowed them to just chop the zombies in pieces, to the point where they became unable to move. The diamond dogs, though, rather chose an indirect approach, since the enemies were covered in sharp blades. Instead of directly attacking, they used their digging abilities to either trap them in the ground or bury them in a pile of dirt, which they then pounced to immobilize the zombie beneath it. With most of them disabled like this, a couple of reapers were enough to finish the attackers off, one by one.

Suddenly, a dragon’s head fell to the ground, flooding the soil with a tidal wave of its blood. The ongoing struggle gradually increased the Salamander’s furry further, making it strong enough to gradually fight its way past the dragons and kill a few. As if that wasn’t enough, some large demons were coming through the breach now, assisting the burning reptile.

The remaining reapers came charging at the new intruders, but were just ignored and dodged. Some of the demons were aiming for the dragons, some for the rebels. Even though far less enemies were on the battlefield this time, the defence was already in danger again. Malice seemed to give individual demons the order to pass through and attack, apparently probing as to how much they can handle before the line would fall.

“He wants us to use the artefacts again!” Fluttershy analyzed.

“Then don’t give him what he wants!” Luna shouted.

“We can’t use them anyway! They aren’t ready yet! We need to buy more time!” Derpy stated after taking a glance at the crystal heart.

“Don’t let the dragons die, or the Salamander will go straight for the rebels!” Celestia responded.

“Twilight! Close the force field! Please!” Applejack shouted.

The purple mare didn’t respond. She was still cringing, sweat running from her forehead. All demons outside of the empire still kept on attacking the force field, merely to keep her occupied. She tried her best to fight against the grip of the Devastators, but she just couldn’t maintain enough focus to seal the shield.

Derpy seemed very uneasy. It was clear that she was strongly playing with the idea to just jump down and help in any way she could, but Fluttershy held her back. No words were needed to remind her of her duty of protecting the leadership circle. If just one enemy made it up here and caught them by surprise, the whole chain of command would collapse.

“We have no choice! I will use another of our trump cards!” Shining Armor announced as he used his magic to write another order on a scroll, then immediately teleported it away.

The dragons received the news, pushing the Salamander back along with the other demons attacking them. While they flew behind the front line, some crystal ponies opened the doors to a very large shed. Instantly, Cerberus came running out of it, jumped past the rebels and pounced the first demon he could find. It seemed like they didn’t expect to see the former gate guard of Tartarus again. His arrival in the Crystal Empire was not widely known. He alone was enough to buy the dragons a few moments to rest, which they used to aim for the cattles, bringing them healing tonics.

The potions were brewed by some of the best alchemists this world had to offer. Within seconds, their injuries healed up and the dragons returned to support Cerberus. Malice observed the battle, laughing lowly in amusement. The fact that the rebellion leaders chose to bring Cerberus to the battlefield this soon was evidence to him that they were struggling. Though he himself remained standing in place, observing the battle.

“Over there!” Rarity shouted, pointing at the opposite end of the empire.

Luna and Cadence reacted right away, running to the other side of the balcony. A few demons had breached the force field and were attacking the unprepared rebels. Twilight must be getting weaker, they figured.

Luna tried her best to give out orders to all the still free warriors, sending additional reapers to support. Yet, the number of casualties kept on increasing. Too many were getting through now.

“It is ready!” Cadence announced after taking another glance at the Crystal Heart.

“Go! Go!” Celestia ordered.

Once more, the artefacts reached their highest possible charge and unleashed it in a second spherical explosion. Several hundred demons became eradicated, including the Salamander and the Devastators keeping the tear open. But this time, the demons on the outside were prepared. Most could get away from the blast in time.

Like before, Malice personally battled against the blast, preventing it from extending too far again. The rebels could observe as his hands became dissolved more and more by the light, as if they were being dipped into a strong acid.

Finally, a swift moment of rest for all the brave warriors of the rebellion. As the magic did its work on the demons, they all could take a moment to lower their guards. Even the minotaurs seemed to start getting exhausted, as a few were placing their battleaxes upside down on the ground, leaning on the handle and panting heavily. It was now that the rebels realized the carnage around them. Corpses of dear friends, shredded to pieces. Streams of blood running down the crystal roads. Not many of those who got injured were still alive. Several heavily bleeding rebels of all species were laying on the ground, trying to crawl away or writhing in agony, only to pass away moments later. The trauma could be seen in their faces, each individual handling the sight differently. But before any of them could even start to process what was happening around them, the fight continued.

The moment the blast was gone, Malice gave another order. Twilight didn’t even have enough time to fully seal the force field again before the second group of Devastators took over the position of the previous ones, holding the tear open and allowing the second formation to enter. The Salamander didn’t waste any time and started climbing through the hole as soon as the light disappeared. As it pushed its head through, the flaming reptile exhaled a huge cloud of smoke. Within seconds, a good quarter of the Crystal Empire became covered, reducing the sight to zero. Without visual contact, the rebellion leaders could only give limited orders and had to rely on the skills of their allies. Applejack mostly focused on how the reapers were doing. Like before, they had fallen unconscious. For a couple of minutes, the rebels had to deal with the remaining undead battle slaves themselves. But with most of them already defeated and without the aid of demons, it seemed like they were getting the situation under control. Applejack noticed that most of her friends were focusing on the cloud, trying to understand what was going on in there. She decided to take matters into her own hoof, writing an order to wake up the reapers and take down the last zombie ponies.

Celestia was particularly uneasy about the lack of visual feedback. The occasional flying arrow or spell indicated that the rebels were fighting the cultists within the smoke. She wished she could do more. Her eyes wandered across the empire, rapidly counting all remaining allies in the back of her head when something struck her as odd. So far, the crystal ponies had taken far less casualties than any other species. Were they just lucky or had they been spared? Celestia couldn’t exactly tell which of both was true.

Suddenly, a battle broke loose right in front of the force field of the Crystal Palace. Fluttershy was the first to notice, informing the rest. The sight was something they did not expect. A diamond dog had stabbed a minotaur in the back. Moments later, the same happened between an arabian pony and a donkey. More and more betrayals were taking place right in front of them.

“What in tarnation are they doin’?!” Applejack shouted in disbelief.

Fluttershy kept observing closely, signaling the others to pay attention to other places. The traitorous rebels were clearing a path leading straight to the palace. Finally, the reapers came back to their senses and started fighting. It did not take long before these rebels suddenly started to change in color, transform into bizarre masses covered in blades, claws and teeth and gained red eyes.

“Those are Skin-Walkers!” the yellow mare announced.

“They must have used the smoke as a cover!” Shining Armor concluded.

“Let’s give them a taste of their own medicine!” Cadence suggested, immediately writing another order.

Not much later, a small hole opened in the inner force field, out of which a legion of Twilights and Applejacks covered in blotches came storming and closed again as soon as all were out. Sadly, only very few Rarity clones were left at this point, of which the most were either dying or too weak to fight. Still, the ambush of an entire legion of clones came as a surprise to the demons. The moment of confusion, which caused them to stand idly and drop their guards, was enough for the reapers to take out a large number of Skin-Walkers. Even those that didn’t drop their cover yet could easily be spotted in the masses, as they were staring at the clones in just as much confusion. Every true rebel would by now be used to that sight.

As the demons came to understand they needed to change their tactic, they began to cluster up. It seemed like they were very determined to keep a clear area close to the palace, even though it didn’t seem to make much sense to the rebellion leaders. They were surrounded and being attacked from all directions. There was no way they could be assisted any time soon and the artefacts were charging up again.

Twilight seemed very drained. She was barely able to stand anymore and sweating heavily in stress. It almost seemed like she was about to faint.

“Twilight! Please! Keep it together!” Rarity called.

For a brief moment, the purple mare opened her eyes. They were still glowing in an intense magical white, indicating that she hadn’t reached the end of her mental strength just yet. But it was clear that her body was in fact weaker than her mind. Despite all, the organ damage still took its toll on her. Her nose began to bleed again, but there was no time for her to take her medicine. She had no choice anymore but to completely shut down, putting her mind over her body. The purple mare began to gradually hover in the air, just inches above the floor. She became completely limb and her breath reduced to a minimum. It was a sight that scared her friends. Even though Twilight would be fine for a while in this almost meditative state, it meant that she had now become completely unresponsive.

The smoke started to clear up, revealing the battlefield. Corpses were covering a large area within the empire. The rebellion was experiencing a lot of casualties, but there still were more dead cultists covering the ground. Something had to change soon, or the number of rebels remaining would drop too far.

A loud cracking sound filled the air. Yet another Devastator was striking the outer force field from above, gradually damaging it. By the time the demon was noticed, it was too late. Like a black meteor, it came crushing down onto the ground, right in the center between the Skin-Walkers. The demons then retreated, this seemingly having been their objective. The Devastator turned from a shapeless black mass into a whirlpool, constantly rotating and growing while massive black limbs with a single long needle at the end of each were rising out of its center. Like Derpy claimed, it started pulling any matter it could find around it inside the whirlpool, growing with every bit it devoured. Its size and mass rapidly increased, allowing it to catch several rebels as they were trying to run away.

The reapers were struggling against this particularly dangerous demon. The rebels were still busy fighting the cultists. Cerberus was struggling against the second Salamander. The clones were trying to figure out how to help. Malice noticed all of this. It seemed like everything was in position according to his plans, because he now gave a new order. His right skeletal hand gradually lifted into the air, pointing at the Crystal Palace.

At last, the Underworld League that had so far been staying back stepped into action. Slendermane made them all disappear in the ground beneath them, only to reappear inside the empire. Within the fraction of a second, he used his countless black arms to pin down any nearby rebels while Succubus casually stepped to his side. The seductive demoness started singing, instantly alluring the rebels into siding with her. Before she even gave her first order, Slendermane disappeared again, only to reappear at another spot, far away from Succubus.

Toxica, the Cloud of Disaster, came jumping down from his back. A few griffons noticed her and started attacking. But she just casually jumped on top of them, from head to head, causing them to inhale her venomous aura and instantly fall over dead. Slendermane disappeared again, resurfacing on yet another spot at which he now remained to fight while the little green demoness lifted into the air and took a deep, audible breath. It was a sight that brought terror to the faces of Twilight’s friends. They knew what was happening next, but were unable to stop it.

Another explosion filled the empire. But this time, it was caused by the enemy. Like in Manehattan, years ago, Toxica unleashed a tremendous amount of poison smoke. Within seconds, hundreds of rebels died as the green clouds came over them like an avalanche. The unicorns and arabian ponies tried their best to contain the clouds, using their own smaller force fields, but to only limited success.

In the meantime, Succubus and her rapidly growing army of seduced allies on the exact opposite end of the empire started attacking the rebels. The red and black demoness remained casually laying on a large pillow as she was being carried by two minotaurs, the air above her guarded by several griffons hovering nearby.

Slendermane mostly focused on reapers, seeking their attention on purpose. He constantly kept attacking them, only to disappear and reappear at another place nearby moments later. Like this, he effectively prevented them from organizing themselves and forced them to focus on him.

The battle had now spread around the entire empire. Things were getting out of control, yet the Crystal Heart was still charging. All the rebels could do now was to try their best and survive long enough before it could be used again. Blood and guts covered more and more of the shiny roads. But still, none of the allies were thinking about giving up. They just needed to make it for a bit longer. Just keep fighting. Once the artefacts were ready again, it would deliver such a heavy blow to the enemy that the tables would finally turn.

Yet, Skin-Walkers were eager to thwart this plan. Despite the previous surprise and the fact that most became revealed, a few remained and steadily changed forms to remain untraceable. One of them was particularly skilled. Several rebels were trying to chase after it, but were unable to keep track. Even worse, it managed to quickly go in a circle and snuck up behind its pursuers, quickly slicing their heads off. As soon as they were dealt with, the demon kept on sneaking behind the enemy lines, constantly disguising as a different species while it approached the Crystal Palace. In the chaos the Devastator was creating, it could easily sneak behind the black vortex and started casting a strong spell against the force field. It took a few moments, but the demon eventually caused a break, just wide enough for it to fit through.

The Skin-Walker rushed up into the palace and through the corridors, aiming straight for the throne room. The few guards remaining inside stood no chance against it. The demon turned into a charging wall of spikes, simply impaling everyone standing in its way. Soon, it reached the throne room and looked around. Its focus fell on a crystal at the very top Cadence’s throne. Another dark spell followed, aimed at this crystal. Like many years ago, this caused a secret passage to open in the ground. The demon skipped the stairs entirely, jumping down the middle. Like this, it only needed seconds to reach the ground. The door present there immediately started wandering along the walls, refusing to be opened. But the demon was stronger than the enchantment. With yet another magical blast, it simply destroyed the door, opening the way for the final stairwell. The demon grew several additional long limbs, rapidly crawling along the side of the spiral like a spider.

It arrived. The presence of this demon became noticed right away and all members of the leadership circle except for Twilight turned towards the intruder.

“One got through!” Derpy shouted, summoning her scythe and getting ready to strike.

The demon stood in place, analyzing the situation. The rebellion leaders were ready to fight. Twilight was hovering close to the artefacts. The Crystal Heart sped up more and more in its rotation while it also became increasingly brighter.

It smirked.

The demon changed its form again. A dark purple equine-like body with massive maws in its forelegs. Black mane and tail with a red stripe in both. Blades growing out of the back legs, which became wrapped in bandages. A sharp, strangely shaped horn on the forehead. A bleeding heart-shaped hole in its chest.

“Hello, Despair,” Celestia spoke with a tense expression.

The Guillotine of Hope grinned at them in confidence. It took them until now to realize that she was wearing the Alicorn Amulet. She lifted her left front leg, letting the mouth in it open. Instead of a tongue, a fleshy claw extended out of it, holding a black and red curved horn. The horn of King Sombra, as they immediately came to understand.

“It is time you give the true king of this empire his throne back,” she demanded.

The Red Day, Part 3

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GCvVRHJj1rAeRkkSLXFTVbUnCFqcMqTDcM4YmR_O-5I/edit?usp=sharing

Two reapers, three fallen alicorns, a living unicorn, an undead unicorn and a three-legged earth pony. Those were all that stood between Despair and her target: the Crystal Heart. With a gesture, Applejack demanded of Caramel to stand back. She had been scared and nearly unable to do anything so far. But now, she would do everything she could to guard him, her friends and the entire rebellion.

The demoness still stood there, proudly presenting the severed horn of the former crystal king. How she managed to get it was beyond all of them. They never even contemplated that anything still remained of Sombra after he had been completely destroyed by the power of the Crystal Heart. But now, it seemed like the very object of his undoing would become his chance to reincarnate. It was easy to see him agreeing to cooperate with the demons, maybe even Blueblood.

The horn disappeared inside of Despair’s leg again and she lowered herself into a battle stance, followed by the rebellion leaders doing the same. It was clear to all that the next few minutes would decide the outcome of the Red Day. This horn needed to be destroyed, or at least kept away from the Crystal Heart long enough for it to fire again at any cost.

“351 years ago, Obsidian Shards was born,” Despair started speaking again, causing Fluttershy to raise her head instantly. “I have to hand it to you. You have come up with quite the elaborate defence plan. Twilight also certainly improved dramatically, being able to keep up these force fields all on her own. But do you honestly believe you stand a chance?”

“You already know the answer,” Shining Armor responded angrily.

“Not much for talking, hm?” Despair wondered, grinning even wider. “Then let’s get this over with.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the Alicorn Amulet started glowing in a menacing red. Her eyes turned completely red and began to glow in a similar fashion as Twilight’s were glowing in white. She charged straight towards the artefacts, immediately causing all of Twilight’s friends to react. A wall of spells came flying at her, which should be extremely difficult for her to stop, considering the tiny amount of space available in the area. But her reaction was supernaturally fast. She simply cast a counterspell to blast the magic aimed at her apart, not even a split second after they had finished casting. Fluttershy and Derpy jumped into the air at nearly the same time, though the blast of Despair’s spell knocked them back.

Not even a second passed after the fight began and Despair was already nothing more than one single leap away from the Crystal Heart while all others were knocked out of the way. All aside of Twilight, who was still floating in the air close to the artefacts. Her eyes opened once again. Before Despair could reach her goal, Twilight somehow conjured up enough strength to create a third force field around herself and the artefacts, letting the Guillotine of Hope crash right into it. This angered her visibly. Her expression became very serious and tense as her front legs opened up like macabre flowers of flesh, covered in teeth and wrapped themselves around the entire force field. Additional long, spiked, insect-like limbs grew out of her back and wrapped all the way around the force field, letting her whole body latch onto it. Twilight showed no expression as she still kept floating there with open eyes. However she managed to create even a third layer of protection, she must still be in a deep trance, not truly aware of what she was doing or what was happening around her.

All this just happened within moments, which the reapers needed to regain their balance. Now that these moments passed, they came straight at Despair again, their weapons ready to strike. But Twilight’s arch nemesis was prepared. Her head turned around to face them, ignoring any physical limitation. Her neck stretched in Derpy’s direction and her bottom jaw split in half, creating a large, terrifying maw full of javelin-like teeth. The gray mare could barely react fast enough to use her wings for a quick dodge. But as the head came past her, another claw extended out of the neck and grabbed her.

Luna cast a quick spell to teleport Derpy out of her clutches before she could get crushed. At the same time, Celestia cast a chain of pure light to tie the overextended neck to the ground. Though this didn’t seem to bother Despair even the slightest. Her body began to seemingly melt, letting her dark purple skin cover the ground. Skeletal claws began to emerge by the dozen from the created puddle, reaching out to the other members of the group.

With each passing second, Despair lost more and more of any recognizable shape while at the same time, she grew larger and larger. The Alicorn Amulet certainly put her abilities as a shape-shifter to a whole new level, as well as her magic. She knew that the rebellion leaders were well aware of this, so she let the amulet sink deep into her increasingly more abstract form, out of reach for any of them.

Like a web of slime and flesh, she grew countless strings that attached themselves to the nearby pillars, giving the group less and less safe space. Eyes glowing in an intense red were appearing everywhere on her shifting form, all while she kept on clenching down on the force field around Twilight.

Cadence decided she would not be pushed out of the balcony like that. Creating a magical shield in front of herself, she charged right into shapeless demoness, even repelling the spilled purple on the floor. Shining Armor immediately understood her intention and followed up, until they were both back in the center of the balcony. He created his own shield, completing hers and with their magic combined, they pushed the dark purple demoness to the ceiling and away from Twilight.

Again, it didn’t seem like this was bothering Despair. Her body seemed to fuse with the peak of the palace now, teeth growing out of the roof above them while the dark purple slime crawled down all of the pillars, turning them into a part of her.

Rarity immediately understood that they were now in something that could be called her mouth and she was just seconds away from letting the roof come down on them, impaling and crushing them all at once. In a split-second decision, she tore a still good piece of the floor away and used her unique magical talent to turn it into a beam of light, aiming it at the largest eye she could reach. The roof reacted by moving up a bit.

Applejack saw her chance to help. Despair couldn’t be allowed to grow any further below them, so she turned her back towards a nearby pillar that hadn’t been entirely consumed yet and gave it the strongest kick she could deliver. Needless to say, her two back legs were a lot stronger than her one front leg, causing her to knock herself over. But the blow did its job. The crystal broke and the upper part of the pillar became completely disconnected from the rest.

Derpy observed Applejack’s actions, then joined in right away. Bumping her hip into the pillar next to her, the magic rune on her flank reacted and caused it to shatter. Celestia, Luna and Rarity followed the example, helping to destroy the remaining pillars.

The roof had become completely detached from the rest of the palace. Cadence and Shining Armor still kept it aloft and now had the chance to just launch it away. But as it was flying, Despair detached herself from the chunk of crystal, grew four large wings and simply flew back to them. Another arsenal of spells followed in intention to keep her away. Though the Guillotine of Hope just grew another limb that came shooting down to the palace, just beneath the balcony and immediately began to grow again.

Malice had so far just been observing the battle. But it now seemed like he judged that Despair was struggling too much. His left arm reached back and he spread out his skeletal claws. His arm came thrusting forward, crushing against the force field with such force it caused another earthquake. Twilight definitely had become weaker, as it was passing through not much later. While the rest of his body forcefully dug its way past the shield, the arm that had entered summoned his red scythe. Somehow, Despair seemed to understand what was happening. She looked back swiftly to the demon commander, then took a dive downwards with her limb still attached to the palace.

The scythe came swinging sideways, crushing into the force field around the palace. This close to the source of the quake, all off Twilight’s friends became knocked over, giving Despair enough time to climb back up to them.

Eyes were jumping around. Despair was approaching, Malice was pushing himself onto the battlefield, the Crystal Heart was spinning rapidly. Just a few more moments. If they could manage to keep Despair away from the artefacts for just a little bit longer, they would be able to fire again. Now that Malice was fighting his way to get to them as well, it was becoming a close call. But if they managed to use the artefacts now, Malice would not be able to retreat in time to save himself. It would be his end and with him, the enemy would lose their commander. It would be over. They would win.

The three fallen alicorns used their magic to root the whole group to the floor, preventing them from being knocked over again. Fluttershy and Derpy came flying at Despair again. She spread herself into a large sheet covered in blades, aiming to wrap herself around them. The reapers, though, spread out left and right, flying past the demoness and grabbing a corner of her form, trying to pull her way. Another quake followed as Malice struck the secondary force field again, now having fully entered the empire and being attacked by dozens of rebels, reapers and dragons at once without any visible effect. Despair grew two heads out of her backside, each launching at one of the two reapers.

Twilight’s head moved again. She was staring straight at the Guillotine of Hope. The force field around her vanished and instead, she launched an arcane bolt at the demoness. Since she had spread herself into a thin sheet, the blast blew a hole through her.

Time seemed to go in slow-motion as all the rebellion leaders were staring at the hole. Twilight was aiming at this specific location for a reason. She used the short moment of distraction to tear the horn out of Despair’s body. It was flying through the air now, spinning rapidly.

Despair knew she had lost it, as all the eyes were now turning towards it. Within the fraction of a second, she compressed herself back into her normal form, opened the maw in her left front leg and reached for it.

But Fluttershy was closer. She reached for it. She grabbed it.

Despair’s expression became extremely tense as she glared at the yellow reaper mare. She reached out the other front leg, the maw opening, an arm extending out of it.

Fluttershy threw the horn over to Derpy. She caught it and instantly tossed it as far away as she could. Despair’s eyes followed the flying horn and so did her claw. One last time, Twilight gathered energy in her horn and unleashed it into a blast of arcane magic. The beam and the claw were racing each other.

The beam hit first.

Disbelief spread in Despair’s face. The horn vanished into nothingness before her very eyes.

Malice was about to strike the force field surrounding the palace again in attempt to get through, but he stopped mid-motion as he saw the horn being destroyed. Along with him, all demons suddenly stopped fighting and glanced up to the top of the palace. The rebels kept attacking them for a while more. But as they noticed it didn’t have any effect and the demons were still frozen in their stare, they eventually stopped, too.

Now having nothing to fight for anymore, Despair kept her head hanging as she climbed back up to the rebellion leaders. Fluttershy and Derpy instantly pinned her down, but the demoness didn’t resist. One more glance over to the Crystal Heart followed. It was almost ready again.

Twilight sensed that the demons stopped fighting. She was barely able to keep up the force fields anymore anyway, so she just collapsed on the ground now, her eyes turning back to normal and the purple aura vanishing. She was breathing heavily, but slowly. Her front hooves were very shaky as she pushed her upper half away from the floor.

“It is over, Despair,” Celestia declared.

The demoness did not respond. Her head was hanging lowly and her eyes closed. Two small hands slowly grew out of her back. Horns were instantly aimed at her, ready to stop any move she could possibly take. But then they noticed the hands were aiming for the back of Despair’s own neck, undoing the Alicorn Amulet.

The entire Crystal Empire was silent. Many of the rebels and their leaders had ringing ears from all that noise of the battle. The demons stood motionless, still staring. Not even Malice made a single move. Could it be? Had they given up?

The left hand on Despair let go of the amulet, letting the left side of this cursed necklace fall off from her neck. She instantly lost the power it gave her. The right hand was all that was left still holding the amulet. It gradually extended over to Twilight. Even Despair had given up now? She was willingly giving away the Alicorn Amulet?

Twilight was still unsure about this whole scenario as she turned her left front leg upside down, ready to receive the necklace. The hand left it hovering right above the purple mare’s hoof.

Despair rose her head again, a sinister grin growing on her face.

She suddenly threw the Alicorn Amulet high into the air. All horns instantly aimed at it, trying to catch it with their magic. But a dark aura formed around the necklace which the others couldn’t penetrate. It was Malice. His hand aimed straight at the amulet.

A small motion followed, letting the Alicorn Amulet launch back down. Twilight’s eyes turned white again. She managed to create one more arcane blast, but couldn’t focus enough anymore. She missed.

The Crystal Heart was glowing intensely. It was ready to be used. Twilight turned around, aiming her horn at it. But before she could cast anything, it was the Alicorn Amulet that hit it first.

The heart instantly stopped rotating. None of the rebellion leaders could act fast enough before the amulet seemed to melt into it. Just seconds later, it started changing its color. From a bright blue, it turned darker and darker, gaining cracks as it discolored, until it turned completely dark gray. The Elements of Harmony and the replica lost their connection, simply falling to the ground. It was now that they finally understood that, all along, the horn was just a distraction. It was meaningless. The real object they should have been concerned about was the Alicorn Amulet.

A dark aura started growing out of the Crystal Heart. While most were just shocked of what was going on right now and trying to figure out what to do, Shining Armor kept his wits together enough to pick up the Elements and the replica by magic, pulling them over to him. The black mist gathered up in front of the group, gradually taking shape. Then suddenly, a head emerged. King Sombra was back.

Spells were immediately cast at him, but he could easily block them off. Not much later, he had fully regained his physical form. Despair took the distraction to break free from the reapers, jumping next to the crystal king.

Where he was standing, the floor began to change. Rapidly, the entire palace discolored and turned into dark crystal. The corruption spread through the entire empire in a matter of seconds. Eventually, it even reached the crystal ponies. They were showing tense expressions and seemed to struggle. But moments later, they too discolored and gained cracks all over their bodies. Their eyes turned green and their pupils red. Then they gradually turned around and…

The battle had broken loose again. It were the crystal ponies now that started attacking the other rebels. The demons instantly joined them.

Twilight forced herself back up and tried her best to concentrate, but she had reached the end of her strength. All she managed to do was strain herself so much, she began to cough up blood.

With her unable to create any more force fields, the battle turned into a massacre. Screams filled the air as the rebels were torn to pieces. There was no point in fighting anymore. Fluttershy quickly picked up the nearly unconscious purple mare and all started running down the palace. Neither Despair nor King Sombra followed. They remained on top, watching the carnage with sinister grins.

---

Twilight’s mind kept fading in and out. Her vision was blurry and she only managed to make out shot scenes of what was going on. She saw herself being carried through the air, crystal ponies attacking them in the hallways, demons blocking the exit, reapers forming a path for them on the roads.

By the time she finally managed to get a hold of herself again, she found herself on a snowy hill, far away from the battle. She gradually pushed herself upright, noticing that Derpy and Fluttershy were just next to her.

“Easy, Twilight. You completely exhausted yourself,” Fluttershy spoke.

“My… medicine…” the purple mare spoke weakly.

“Don’t worry. We already gave it to you while you were out cold,” Derpy replied.

Twilight remained silent now. Her body felt like it was weighing several tons. She could barely even lift her head. Her sight was still blurry, but she could make out the rest of her friends sitting close to each other and looking into the distance. She already knew what they were looking at. She needed to see it herself in order to truly grasp what just happened.

She pushed herself back up slowly and began to walk over to the others. The Crystal Empire was far away. They were all well behind the enemy lines. She had no idea how they managed to get here, alive on top of that. Twilight saw as a dragon lifted into the air, but immediately was caught by a Devastator and ripped apart mid-air.

Twilight stood there, watching with a nearly blank expression. She was too exhausted to even cry right now. But another wasn’t. She now noticed that her friends were gathered around Celestia and Luna was holding her closely. The former demi-goddess of light was sobbing heavily.

“I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry…” she kept on whispering over and over again.

“Sister…” was all Luna could say. Even she didn’t know the right words to soothe Celestia right now.

The screams of pain were so loud, they still could be heard from this far away. The entirety of the empire had turned dark gray, covered with lakes of red. Occasionally, a black spot lifted into the air and flew away, most likely being a reaper cloak.

“It is over. We did our best, but it wasn’t good enough… The rebellion-” Shining Armor started.

“Is not at its end,” Twilight interrupted instantly.

At last, all her friends turned around to look at the purple mare. Their expressions gave away that they had already given up.

“Twilight… Just look at this,” her brother started again.

“We made it out alive, so I’m sure others made it as well. I know… every life that is lost right now is because I failed… I will have to take responsibility for that later. But what matters right now is that we are still alive. As long as this heart keeps on beating, I refuse to give up. It won’t end until they tear it out of my chest and I’d like to see them try. Even after all this, even after going all out on us, they couldn’t manage to kill me, or any of us for that matter. Yes, we need to start over again. Yes, we lost everything we had. But as long as the circle exists, the rebellion exists. We must, keep, going,” the purple mare declared, her voice burning with determination now more than ever.

The others exchanged glances for a moment. Especially Celestia was deeply stunned that, after all that happened, Twilight was still far from done. After all that happened, she still remained to be the strongest of them all and if she kept hanging on, then they should, too. Eventually, they all nodded in agreement.

“We…” Celestia started again, wiping her eyes. “We need to get going. It won’t be long before they spot us.”

Twilight was still shaking heavily, hardly able to stand upright. Fluttershy tried to help her walk, but she gently refused the offer. Now more than ever, she wanted to prove how strong she was. That, even though she had completely exhausted herself, she would keep on walking without any need for help. It was more symbolic than anything else, but it did leave an impression on the others. Her fire was still burning strong.

The whole group turned around and started walking, matching their speed to Twilight’s. Celestia needed the longest to get back up, her focus returning to the Crystal Empire. She couldn’t hold back sniffling a few more times, followed by more tears running down her cheeks. But at last, she as well had to get up and turn around.

Despite years of preparation, a large number of allies and overcoming impossible obstacles, the Red Day had brought about the fall of the Crystal Empire.

Fifth Year

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/165_lS95U7uP6aw_1SD_YbFEbfWmOUvZU4Cm7DhzLpyQ/edit?usp=sharing

Months passed since the Crystal Empire was taken over by the demons and Sombra had returned to the throne. This once beautiful and lively realm had become yet another demon stronghold, a huge wall of dark crystal surrounding it entirely. The crystal ponies as well changed, having turned dark, cracked with strange eyes and changed their behavior to be both very violent and very obedient. The day they and their home realm became like this went down as the darkest chapter in the collective history of all sentient beings. With the utter destruction of the rebellion, there was nothing left to stop Blueblood from world-domination.

The news spread around like wildfire. So many believed that the rebellion would succeed. So many thought it was a serious force to be reckoned with. For it to be crushed with such ease and so thoroughly made nearly all remaining kingdoms in the world surrender. Globally, every last bit of hope had vanished. None even dared to consider refusing Blueblood anymore. His display of power was simply too overwhelming.

As the rebellion fell, many fell with it. The list of casualties was endless, which tragically included Cerberus and both of Twilight’s parents. While the hellhound had already fallen while the leadership circle was still fleeing from the battleground, nopony could clearly say when Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle were murdered. The group was unable to find them in the masses and did not have the time needed to search for them. These news were particularly hard to take for their daughter and son.

Twilight did everything she could. She had become so mighty that some started wondering how she was not an alicorn. But it wasn’t enough. All this power could not protect the rebellion, or even her own parents. The purple mare tried her best to keep up an appearance of stability, but she frequently just crumbled in front of her friends. None of them could even count the many days she just spent crying at this point. Although she still remained sticking to her word of continuing the fight, no matter what it takes, she was just broken on the inside. Only the fewest could even begin to imagine what she must be going through, of which Shining Armor seemed to be the closest to getting the picture, since he was going through the very same loss and grief. At the very least, he did not blame Twilight one bit and tried to support her as much as he could in his mourning state.

Celestia’s condition as well became a lot worse. After the fall of the Crystal Empire, she started drowning herself in her guilt. As time passed by, it only became increasingly more difficult to even get her to talk anymore. Whenever she could, the former ruler of Equestria retreated as far as the others would let her, taking every opportunity to be alone. She couldn’t even bring herself to even look at Twilight anymore. Not because of spite, but because of how much she blamed herself for what her star student was going through. Celestia firmly believed that the death of her parents was exclusively her fault, not even having thought of a backup plan for their evacuation. Knowing that all this started because she made a mistake and never managed to correct it became a burden nearly unable for her to carry anymore. If it wasn’t for her own sister, none could clearly say what Celestia would be doing at this point.

Aside of that, the status of all others dear to the the group of friends was unknown. Even Caramel became disconnected from them as they tried to escape. This only came out minutes after the escape, but Applejack had to witness as a cultist rammed his spear into Caramel’s hind leg, making him fall over. There was nothing she could do. The mere split second she needed to realize he was in trouble was already too late and a wall of demons closed the gap between them. Needless to say, the orange mare was wrecked. But she refused to even picture that he might be dead by now. So long as there was no evidence to either his survival or death, she would keep believing he was still out there somewhere, walking with another splinter group of survivalists. She could also only hope that Babs Seed was with him, since she also hadn’t been seen since the Red Day.

Summarized, it could easily be said that all of them had reached rock bottom. While it is generally said that things can always get worse, not many things could still considerably worsen their situation any significantly further. If it wasn’t for Twilight, they would have just given up by now. But seeing how she, despite what happened, despite what she was going through, still kept hanging on gave the rest of her friends and family just the small bit of motivation they needed to still keep going.

They didn’t even know for how long they had been fleeing now. With the rebellion gone, it seemed like there were enemies around every corner now. Countless smaller attacks and battles were fought in secrecy, making sure they always finish off any aggressor to keep their survival a secret. All the group could do was to continuously run in random directions. Lacking a map, they all completely lost orientation. All they could be sure of was that they were in a very old forest, full of crooked and twisted trees. Were they east of Equestria? West? South? Were they inside of Equestria? Or maybe far, far away? There was no way of knowing. For a good month now, it seemed like they were just stuck constantly walking in circles, trying to find a way through these woods without success. The lack of any supplies didn’t make this any easier. For a long time now, the whole circle had to resort to eating whatever fruit or wild vegetable they could find along the way. There simply wasn’t any chance for them to gather supplies as they fled from the Crystal Empire and with the constant threats in the corners of their eyes, always fearing another cultist or demon could jump at them any second, they found it extremely difficult to even gather anything.

Starved, dehydrated, deprived of sleep and very exhausted, Twilight and her friends kept on walking endlessly. Day after day. Night after night. They had become so dirty and lost so much weight, it would be easy to mistake them for zombies. But luckily, there still was only one true undead among them so far.

Rarity was doing just as poorly as all the others. Lacking the required materials to embalm herself, the decay of her body was clearly starting to show now. For the first time in months, she was feeling something again. Something she was just too familiar with during the final weeks of her life: Pain.

It started out as just an aching in the joints and a stinging sensation in the spine, but each passing day made it a little bit worse. Having gone through mind-breaking agony before, this so far was nothing she couldn’t handle. Even though she hated the dirty, messy and rotten way she looked, even though she despised the way she smelled of rotting flesh and attracted flies, Rarity remained silent. Even though she was a living corpse, she believed that the others, Twilight and Shining Armor in particular, were going through way worse things than she was. Rarity was just suffering physically. Her mind could still rest peacefully at night, knowing that her parents were still out there somewhere, still uncaught by the BloodClaw Cult and probably having sought refuge in another kingdom. Twilight was completely different in that regard. There were nights during which she couldn’t sleep at all, causing her to only be more exhausted the next day and randomly pass out several times. Rarity’s true worries were centered around her friends, not herself.

To them, it felt like an age had gone by when one day, the bushes started to rattle and the sound of cracking branches filled the air. As usual, the group jumped in position, ready to fight whatever would come at them. A hoof rose out of the bushes, requesting of them to not attack. It was brown and not fully grown. Moments later, a face followed. Applejack’s eyes quickly became watery and tears started rolling down her face as she ran towards the pony, embracing her and immediately being hugged back.

“Babs…” was all the orange mare could utter as she was struggling against her own tears.

“Hi, big cuz,” Babs Seed greeted, tears running down her own cheek.

The others tried to hold her back, but lacked the needed reaction time and strength. They were suspicious at first. This could as well just be a Skin-Walker, they feared. But already while Babs was leaving her cover, another familiar face followed. It was Amber, wearing a black cloak. This sight simultaneously made them feel out of danger and very sad. Twilight walked over to the still young filly, who in return bowed down before her.

“There is no need for that,” Twilight assured, then gave a gesture telling her to get back up. “Amber… where is Truesight.”

The filly’s yellow eye wandered to the ground, focusing it for a couple of seconds before looking up to Twilight again.

“She is dead…” Amber replied in a calm, emotionless tone.

Now, Twilight lowered her focus as well. She immediately understood. Everything that had been between Truesight and Amber suddenly became clear. The reaper clairvoyant must have foreseen her own death during the Red Day many years ago. Through a vision, she must have found out about Amber and decided to adopt her, raise her and prepare her for becoming her successor. This way, even after she would pass, another spectralist would be there to take her spot as clairvoyant. If only she hadn’t been so secretive about all this, Twilight thought to herself. She would have been behaving differently around them both. But perhaps this was exactly what Truesight wanted to avoid by not telling anyone about her plans.

Whatever the reason may have been, Truesight was gone now. Her life ended and Amber inherited her cloak as well as her curse. Twilight rose her head again, forcing herself into a smile.

“Pretty impressive that you managed to find us and brought Babs to us safely,” she complimented.

“I saw Babs in a vision and thought we would be better off together. Then I saw all of you, so I came… What are my orders, my mistress?” Amber wanted to know.

“Sweetie… You have been through a lot. I don’t have any direct orders for you. Just take your time and come to terms with what happened. I know, perception is different for you and you probably had a lot more time to prepare for this. But still, I would like of you to take it easy for now,” Twilight responded, then looked over to Fluttershy and Derpy. “Would either one of you be willing to become her mentor for now?”

“Don’t look at me! I barely know much more than she already does!” Derpy replied.

“Then I will take care of her,” Fluttershy agreed.

The purple mare gave a short nod, then turned back around. Cadence stepped up next to her, focusing the new little reaper filly.

“Do you know anything about the rebels? Are there any survivors? And do you have any clue where we are right now?” she wanted to know.

“A few reapers managed to escape. They spread out and are looking for whom the cloaks chose to replace the dead ones. They plan to gather any survivor they can find along the way and then start looking for you. As to where we are, I’m not sure. I had to walk south a lot. I can only say that we are well past Appleloosa and out of Equestria,” Amber explained.

“I’m pretty sure the reapers will manage to find us eventually,” Shining Armor suddenly started. “After all, they are bond to you, Twily. That means we need to stay around here and try to make it until they arrive. Then we can start to rebuild.”

“But this forest can barely even sustain the few of us,” Rarity disagreed. “If I still needed food myself, one of us would have starved by now. And that is with us actively wandering around and searching for food. How are we going to make it if we stay in-”

A loud scream not far from them suddenly interrupted Rarity’s argument. Once again, they all got ready to fight, this time joined by Babs and Amber. But nothing came. Wild beasts attacking a pony, perhaps? No, they would be able to smell them, or at least would have heard them talk. Without saying a word, Twilight gestured to tell them all to stick together as they approached the source of the scream to investigate.

Slowly sneaking past a bunch of bushes and trees, they suddenly halted. A gutted and partially eaten pony was hanging dead on a tree, held by two nails made of stone rammed in its front legs. He was wearing the robe of the BloodClaw Cult. The group decided to take a few more steps forward, now able to see that there were several baskets weaved out of fresh leaves close to the corpse, containing fruits, nuts, mushrooms, vegetables and wooden flasks filled with water. This just looked way too suspicious for the group. This had to be a trap of some sort. But surprisingly, it was Twilight who stepped out of the cover, lowered her guard and walked straight up to the scene.

The others remained silent, unsure if she was taking it upon herself to see if the area was secure. Twilight walked up to the corpse, looking at the roots beneath it. Then, she picked up a stone that looked like it had been chiseled into a diamond pattern.

“Wow…” was all she said before waving the others over. “You can come. Don’t worry, we can eat and drink all of this. They come from an ally.”

“What kind of ally would be able to track us down in the middle of the woods like that? And more importantly, why are they hiding?” Babs wondered.

“About two years ago, I was held captive by a cannibal mare for four days. She was trying to hide me from a particularly dangerous demon and possibly saved my life that way. This is her doing, I’m absolutely positive about this,” the purple mare responded.

“Are you really sure we can trust her?” Shining Armor wondered.

“Yes. My well-being was very important to her and even when she lost control, she refused to do anything to me. If she wanted us to die, she wouldn’t even need to go through the trouble of poisoning the food or water she provided for us. As Rarity just said, we wouldn’t be able to survive much longer without any help,” Twilight explained with confidence.

“Oh boy! Let’s have a feast then, everypony! Just look at this! She must have spent ages gathering that much food and clean water!” Derpy commented.

“She even left most of this dead cultist behind so we reapers could feed as well,” Fluttershy analyzed.

“Honestly, I’m more worried about the fact that this cultist is looking the way it is than anything else. Even if she is on our side, she is dangerous. To think she killed and shredded him like that in the few minutes we needed to get here and managed to get away unseen on top of that… Her hunting skills are uncanny,” Twilight analyzed.

“So can we trust her or not?” Luna wondered, wanting to make sure.

“I suppose we have to,” the purple mare finalized.

The others looked at each other for a moment, still a bit unsure. But their thirst and hunger eventually made them overthrow their worries and all began to refuel themselves. Of course, with Babs present, the reapers made sure to drag the dead body around the tree, feeding on it out of her sight. There even was a small bottle containing some kind of mineral powder at the bottom of one of the baskets, which seemed to be specifically for Rarity. Twilight didn’t much like the idea to depend on a cannibal pony for their survival, but she was in no position to be picky about her allies. As the day came to an end, they all finally felt energy returning to their bodies and prepared to set up camp. The rebellion started again.

From Sparks to Flame

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_7rRQP-IvP2mQlj-ObDuSb9KPALurGlQG5gx8Ph_qO0/edit?usp=sharing

As the days went by, Twilight and her friends found themselves to feel a lot better now with the new supplies. Every few days, another donation from their anonymous, ambiguous benefactor could be found nearby, though they were significantly smaller now. Still, it was enough for all of them, so they started constructing a tiny settlement, hidden in the densest part of the forest. A few improvised shelters, a partially buried fire pit to prevent excessive smoke and a small cache for their supplies was all they could manage to build within the timespan of two weeks. At the very least, it was some form of progress after being stuck fleeing for months.

Gradually, the reapers returned to their mistress. Each had their own way of tracking them down and they rarely came alone. There was always at least one additional survivor tagging along. One ally at a time, the rebellion was rebuilding and the few shelters turned into a small village with a total population of eighteen rebels and six reapers. The mare keeping herself in the dark caused them all to remain uneasy. She was like a constant shadow, hiding just outside of their view and sometimes, the rebels could hear screams at night. But every time they investigated, the victim was never one of their own. Even if she didn’t want to, her hunting, killing and eating of other ponies spread fear and distrust. After a while, they all decided to not investigate anymore at all when they heard screams. But judging by how little was left of each victim just a day later made it clear that she was exhausting herself, trying her hardest to continuously bring larger quantities of supplies as the number of rebels increased. Her body must be burning a whole lot of energy if she could eat an entire stallion within one night. Or perhaps she had friends that were like her and she needed to share her prey. A thought that only made the rebels even more uneasy.

Even though none of the rebellion leaders were all too willing to have her around in the dark, she was necessary. They just wouldn’t be able to gather enough food on their own. So with that worry being gone, they all could focus on planning and building. Twilight had just finished constructing a very basic shack for dry goods along with Applejack when one of the reapers approached them.

“We have spotted another group getting close,” he announced.

“Anypony we know?” the purple wondered.

“Perhaps. I am unsure, my mistress,” the reaper responded.

Twilight shortly turned around to Applejack, signaling her that she was going to check out the situation. Then she left, guided and guarded by the reaper. Applejack didn’t really think about it and just continued with the next project. They still needed a place to hang things once they got wet from rain. So she gathered some large sticks, some rope she made the other day and started constructing near the fire pit. Just as she managed to set up some sort of scaffolding, hooves covered her eyes from behind. For a brief moment, she was panicking. But then she realized that there were plenty of eyes around to spot a potential aggressor. This couldn’t be a pony with malevolent intentions, she summarizes.

“Guess who?” a very familiar male voice spoke.

Applejack froze in place, instantly knowing whom this voice belonged to. She remained quiet as the seconds passed, but the stallion let go on his own as he felt her tears coating his hooves, sending him into worry. Applejack turned around to him, seeing his nervous expression, fearing he messed up yet again. Words could not express what she was feeling at that moment. First, she got Babs back and now, she even had Caramel again. Nearly instantly, her expression shifted to anger.

“Ya gosh darn numb nut! Ah was worried sick about ya and this is how ya greet me? After months passed? That having happened to the empire?” she shouts.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just thought that… a little joke from the get-go makes it clear that I’m okay!” Caramel apologizes hastily.

All eyes were focused on them. Applejack quickly relaxed again, letting out an audible sigh to alleviate herself of her frustration. She just couldn’t be mad at him. Not after not seeing him for this long. So she just came a step closer and tightly wrapped her front leg around his neck.

“Ah missed ya so much, Sugarcube. Boy, am Ah glad you’re doing fine,” Applejack mumbled, still crying.

“I missed you so, so much, too,” Caramel replies, holding her closely. “It was terrible not knowing if you are still alive or not.”

“How did ya get outta there? I saw ya get injured,” the orange mare wanted to know.

“Honestly, I don’t even know. One thing lead to the next, I guess. I thought I was done for when that spear hit my leg. But then reapers popped up. Then demons. Then… I don’t know. I think my cutie mark must have triggered again, because I lost something again. Balance, that time. The ground gave away and I fell a floor lower. It was all so hectic. I was pushed, pulled, eventually dragged. Before I knew it, I was outside of the empire accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” the light brown stallion explained, then turned to the side.

The married couple and their two kids were right behind them. While Pumpkin and Pound just looked very exhausted and traumatized, their parents showed expressions revealing all sorts of emotions going on in them right now as they awkwardly waved at Applejack. They all were in terrible shape. Bandages, bruises, dirty fur, messy manes and tails. The parents even had some small splatters of dried blood on them.

Next to them was another couple. Rarity’s parents. The undead mare noticed them way earlier than she did, being busy with Caramel. Applejack caught the moment she rushed over to them and wrapped her front legs around both. Strange noises were coming from Rarity. As if she was trying to cry, but due to her undead state had no tears inside of her anymore. Though it were her parents that were the most emotional of all.

“R-Rarity… Is that… What…” her mother mumbled, completely unable to understand what she was seeing.

“What happened to you?” her father finished, not quite crying in shock as his wife did, but still frozen in terror and incapable of handling the situation.

Rarity did not respond. She just squeezed them both even tighter to her chest. It was clear she had actually given up ever seeing them again. As all of this happened, Twilight kept a close eye on the three. Her parents were clearly very disturbed. This pony looked like Rarity, but it smelled off like a corpse. Having hugged Rarity herself in recent times, Twilight knew that her body felt unnaturally cold to the touch. The purple mare noticed that the parents were getting extremely uneasy, so she decided to tap on Rarity’s shoulder, followed by Twilight tilting her head to make her observe the reactions. Unwillingly, the undead mare let go of them.

“This needs some explanation and I am pretty sure you three have a lot to talk about,” Twilight states, waving them over to her and guiding them to a more secluded area of the camp.

“Umm… Twilight, deary… Can we talk?” Mrs. Cake spoke before the purple mare could walk away.

Twilight stopped again, giving the couple and their children another look. Judging by the multitude of emotions they tried their best to hide from their expressions, something must have happened. As much as she would have loved to help Rarity reconnect with her parents, this seemed to be of greater importance. The purple mare simply showed them where they could talk without being disturbed too much before she turned her focus back to the Cakes.

“How can I help you?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Can we… um… maybe talk about this somewhere else?” Mr. Cake requested before lowering his head to Pound and Pumpkin. “You two can go play now, or whatever you feel like doing. Just… don’t walk out of the camp, okay?”

The children barely responded. They must have been through a lot. A horrible time we live in where foals have to witness such horrors, Twilight thought to herself. Still, the two complied and slowly walked off. Applejack still was busy with Caramel, so the purple mare guided Cup Cake and Carrot Cake behind a tree. Instantly, they dropped their facades. Cup Cake even started to cry, her husband trying to comfort her. Twilight simply kept her own emotions in check and waited for both of them to calm down.

“We… we have quite a few terrible things to tell you…” Cup Cake eventually started. “First off… We… we relapsed… We had to use our old stalking techniques to escape the cult and there just wasn’t enough food… We had no choice but to eat another pony to survive…”

That explained the blood. Did Pound and Pumpkin witness their parents cannibalising on another of their kind? Is that why they were so traumatized? These two would need some special care later. At least Twilight could be sure that Caramel didn’t see them eat another pony, otherwise he would not have been so comfortable in their presence.

“How much do you two have yourselves under control?” Twilight instantly wanted to know.

“Barely, but we won’t be a threat to you or the others around,” Carrot Cake assured.

“Good. Also, don’t worry. I won’t tell anypony else. After all you two have done for us, I am convinced I can still trust you,” Twilight promised.

While Mr. Cake sighed, Mrs. Cake started crying again, this time in relief. They seemed to have been convinced they would get punished for this.

“We also got news from Equestria,” Carrot Cake started again. “Blueblood and the cult know you got away. The demons known as The Underworld League have been tasked to hunt you down and kill off any last remaining embers of the rebellion.”

“I expected as much… Seems like we won’t be able to stay here for much longer. We need to be on the move and look for a proper refuge to rebuild. Is there anything else?” Twilight wondered.

Suddenly, both Mr. and Mrs. Cake started to shake. They seemed to be completely terrified, even more so than the thought of a group of demons being after them.

“We…” Cup Cake started, but needed another moment before she could put her thoughts into words. “While we were fleeing from Equestria, we heard a lot of rumors and some plans of the cult. Word is going around that a ‘legendary cannibal’ is hiding somewhere. We kept hearing phrases like ‘She is an inspiration to all of us’ and ‘If we find her, we must have her on our side’. Finally, a name was dropped… Maudenette Evangeline Pie…”

Even Twilight’s eyes went wide now. Pie… Another member of the Pie family is still alive? How could she have escaped?

“We can tell what you are thinking right now,” Carrot Cake started again. “We had the same exact thoughts. Having to deal with another Pie… This would be beyond what we could take. We needed to make sure, so we searched the old burnt down rock farm of the Pie family. Buried deep in the rubble, we came across this.”

While still talking, he undid his saddlebag and pulled out a wittered and partially burnt photo. It was a bit tricky to make out, but it showed Pinkamena Diane Pie at a very young age, accompanied by her parents. To Twilight’s big shock, she could count not three, but four fillies. One looked significantly older than the others. Purple mane, gray coat, blue eyes. Then she noticed the cutie mark. Twilight couldn’t hold back a gasp. It was a rock, cut in a diamond pattern. The same symbol the mare hidden in the dark was using to communicate with them. This was just too big of a coincidence. It had to be her. The mare stalking and protecting them, the mare that saved Twilight’s life and held her captive. The mare that feasted on a stallion, tore him limb from limb and coated Twilight’s mouth in his blood. It was her. Maud Pie.

As Twilight’s thoughts returned to the moment, she realized that both of the Cakes were looking at her in deep worry, trying to read her expression. They instantly understood that she knew something they didn’t. Taking a deep breath, Twilight recollected herself.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news for you, too, then,” she spoke, using her magic to let one of the cut rocks she kept in the camp fly over to her and presenting it to the couple. “She’s here.”

The pupils of Mr. and Mrs. Cake almost instantly shrunk to tiny spots and they were just one moment away from screaming in panic, but Twilight lifted her front leg and made a small gesture, requesting of them to keep it together. They both visibly struggled a lot trying to oblige and only started to shake even more.

“She’s alive… I can’t believe she’s alive and even hiding somewhere nearby!” Cup Cake whimpered.

“She so far has been nothing but helpful. While she doesn’t consider herself a direct part of the rebellion and refuses to show herself, she keeps on bringing us vital supplies and seems to hunt down any cultist trying to find us. I have to admit, if I had known that she was the last living member of the Pie family from the beginning, I would feel not much different than you two do now. But now I understand why she neither wants to join the cult, nor the rebellion. She really must be skilled, never having been found out until just recently. In any case, her actions speak for themselves and so long as she doesn’t change, she won’t be a threat,” Twilight summarized.

“You don’t understand! Try thinking from our perspective! Our families were very close and we are the reason her last remaining sister was killed!” Cup Cake started, now constantly looking around in fear. “We are dead! We are so dead! Maybe the only reason she keeps sticking around is because she was waiting for the two of us to show up!”

“Don’t worry. She may be skilled, but even she can’t do the impossible. More and more reapers are returning to me and I myself have very keen senses by now. I will assign some of my reapers specifically to you and your foals. You are under my protection now, so you don’t have to worry,” the purple mare assured.

Neither Mr. Cake nor Mrs. Cake were too sure about her being able to keep this promise, but it was good enough for them to at least start relaxing again.

“Our lives and those of our foals are in your hooves now, Twilight. You trust us and we are very, very grateful for that. So we will trust you as well…” Carrot Cake spoke, then turned to his wife. “Come, honeybun. Let’s check on our ginger snaps.”

---

The rest of the day went by rather uneventful. The sun went down and most of the rebels were going to sleep. Only the reapers and some minotaurs remained awake for the night watch. The flames of the fire pit had become small and only gave off a dim light. The logs had mostly turned to ash and what remained gave off a soft crinkling sound as small glowing particles of ember rose into the air, only to completely vanish seconds later. The atmosphere of peace, protection and romance affected both Applejack and Caramel, as they were snuggled up to each other, watching the flames dance.

“I wished it could always be like this,” Caramel commented, breaking the silence.

“Like how?” Applejack wanted to know.

“Well, this whole moment. Just laying here, holding your beloved one close, not having to worry about a thing in the world…” the light brown stallion explained.

“Yeah… just with less war goin’ on would be nice…” Applejack mumbled, an expression of worry growing on her face. “It’s already hard enough to believe we were so lucky as to meet again after all that. That luck’s gonna run out someday.”

“Well, no matter what life throws at us, I’ll always be there for you, AJ,” Caramel promised.

“Thanks, Sugarcube. But still, Ah’m worried. Ya still remember mah big plan, right?” the orange mare wondered.

“You mean having foals and rebuilding your family? Of course I remember that!” Caramel ensured.

“Would ya still like to be part of that plan?” Applejack wanted to make sure.

“I still don’t know how good of a father I would be. But yeah, I can see myself having foals one day,” Caramel replied.

“Ah’m glad yer think so… But, the way things have been goin’ downhill for a while now, Ah dunno if we’ll ever get to that point…” the orange mare spoke, turning her head away as troubling thoughts filled her mind.

“I know what you mean. The situation isn’t going to get any better for the rebellion. There’s a good chance we might fail in the end. But if we go down, at least we will try to do everything within our power to go down together,” Caramel promised.

Applejack still seemed to be sinking in her thoughts. Caramel just leaned back, caressing her neck while he sleepily stared into the glowing embers. It was quiet again, the crinkling of the fire being the only sound filling the woods. Not even a breeze was moving through the trees. Caramel felt content like this. He wouldn’t mind just falling asleep with his beloved Applejack in his front legs. For so long, he dreamed of finally being able to hold her like this again, to just be with her. But while he was at peace, Applejack’s mind began to race again, making yet another big decision that would affect her life heavily. Without really being there, her eyes wandered along the top of her vision, scrutinizing, pondering, weighing out her options. Gradually, as she became more and more sure of her thoughts, her expression changed. While showing increasingly more determination on her face, a blush started to simultaneously saturate her cheeks.

Applejack turned her head, looking up to Caramel who returned the glance with a loving smile. She looked really cute to him right now. Big sparkly eyes, a strong blush on her cheeks. He didn’t really think about what this could mean until she suddenly got up.

“Going to bed?” Caramel wondered.

“Not… um. Just… just wait a moment, okay?” the orange mare mumbled.

This finally caught Caramel’s attention. Why was she suddenly so flustered and insecure? Did he say or do something bad again? The light brown stallion watched as she walked up to her reaper friend Fluttershy. While the yellow mare underneath the black cloak focused her without any form of expression, Applejack’s blush seemed to get even stronger now. With a slight smile on her face, she focused the ground while shily kicking a pebble with her left back leg.

“Can I help you, AJ?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Well, uh… Sugarcube… Can Ah ask ya for a lil’ favor?” the orange mare kept mumbling.

“Of course,” Fluttershy replied calmly.

Caramel still didn’t understand what was going on. He couldn’t even begin to fathom what she was planning and just kept observing in curiosity, his ears up and keeping his upper body upright using both of his front legs.

“Would ya… um…” Applejack kept on speaking unusually sheepish, but now looked her friend in the eyes. “Ah need ya for a bit. Can ya watch mah back while Caramel and Ah… retreat for a while?”

“Sure,” Fluttershy replied calmly.

Caramel was getting more confused by the moment. Retreat? Why would they… Suddenly, Caramel’s eyes went wide open and he himself began to blush heavily.

“J-Jackie? What are you planning?” the light brown stallion mumbled, looking for confirmation.

“Well… Ah reckon ya already got the right idea,” Applejack started as she turned back around and smiled at him with an even stronger blush now. “It’d be risky goin’ out of the camp on our own. We need her to… Well… Guard us while we… Um… Ya know…”

Now being sure they were talking about the same idea, Caramel’s heart started to race and he felt himself getting hot, even a tiny bit sweaty. This came so out of the blue and violated against everything they were just talking about.

“B-But… Wow, there! Don’t you think this is a bad timing, starting with your plans now in the middle of things?” Caramel questioned, trying to figure out if she was just acting out of emotion or being serious with this calculated risk.

“Ya just said it yerself. It ain’t gonna get better. So we best do this now while we can before it’s too late is what Ah say,” Applejack explained, slowly approaching the stallion again.

This expression was one he had never seen on her before. Flirty eyes, blushy cheeks, ears lowered to the sides. She even walked a bit seductively as she approached! Caramel’s heart was pounding out of his chest. Sure, he wanted this. He had been dreaming of the moment they would get this close for a very long time now. But the setup made him incredibly insecure and uncomfortable.

“I-I don’t know about this, AJ,” Caramel mumbled, visibly shaking while he glanced over to Fluttershy. “Especially with somepony watching us.”

Applejack stood in front of Caramel now. She sat down to the ground to free her only remaining front leg to caress his cheek lovingly and give him a warm smile.

“We don’t have much of a choice, Sugarcube. Sneakin’ away from the others in the middle of the night is just flat out dangerous and stupid. Ah’m askin’ Fluttershy for this because she’s the only one Ah’d trust with being around in such a situation. Ah know ya’ve wanted to do this for ages now. Just do both of us a favor and say yes,” the orange mare argued.

Caramel’s face was really hot at this point and he could feel drops of sweat run down his forehead. Applejack either didn’t mind or didn’t notice, as she just continued to give him suggestive looks. The stallion’s eyes jumped back over to Fluttershy. Even though it was now exceedingly clear what her friend was going to do with him, she still didn’t show the slightest bit of any sort of expression.

“Don’t worry about me. I won’t look and you won’t even notice me. Just pretend I’m not there at all and, of course, I won’t tell anypony,” the yellow reaper mare promised.

Caramel’s heart was pounding so heavily, he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears. Eventually, he let out a long sigh and started easing up a bit.

“Yeah... I guess that makes sense. A-alright... but give me some time, okay? I'm k-kinda nervous right now,” he mumbled, still not really secure or comfortable.

Hearing this clearly pleased Applejack, as her smile only grew wider. She, too, had a racing heart from what was about to happen and it didn’t help that Caramel was being so cute about this.

“Aw, mah little candy apple. Aren't ya just the sweetest stallion Ah've ever met. C’mere,” she spoke gently before pulling him closer and kissing him lovingly for a little bit.

This seemed to calm Caramel down enough for things to finally get in motion. While the couple exchanged happy smiles of anticipation and started walking, Fluttershy followed them nearly inaudibly. Even though she couldn’t feel, she still wasn’t too sure what to think. Of course, Fluttershy would protect her friends in any given situation, even this one. Even if Applejack asked for her protection a second time, she would instantly say yes again. But what she has seen so far between them and what she was about to witness… It will remind her a painful lot of Obsidian and what she had planned for both of their lives. Fluttershy already knew she would have a hard time swallowing these thoughts and impressions.

---

The moon was high up and everypony including the earth pony couple were long asleep when a shadowy figure approached the camp. Observing the reapers standing guard for a while, it soon found a gap and effortlessly slipped into the camp without being noticed. One tent in particular was of interested for it, but it was guarded by at least three reapers at once. But what Twilight figured as impossible to do for a normal pony, this one could do without any problem at all. Before long, the figure… she… was inside.

The Cake family lay before her on improvised padding. They were all clueless of the intruder, watching them with a knife hidden in one of her pockets. She approached them, mustering the parents and their foals. Then she reached into her mantle. But instead of a blade, a rock cut in diamond pattern surfaced. She placed it on the ground right in the middle of the tent, then simply turned around and skulked away. With the passing of the moon, a message cut into the stone became visible.

“I don’t hate you.”

Hunted

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/189h1oJP9QQvkd1KTyFJUy4y8wOHGR-5fXnyrDnhTYwU/edit?usp=sharing

To everyone’s great displeasure, Twilight announced the next morning that the entire settlement had to be abandoned and everything they had built so far needed to be deconstructed again. Some of the survivors had grown fond of the idea of having their new base hidden deep inside of an ancient forest, living like heroic wildlings under the protection of this maze. But the arguments against this idea were simply too dominant. Lack of food, lack of defense and the fact that they were being looked for made it rather clear that they couldn’t stay. So began another period of aimless wandering, something pretty much everyone in the rebellion had grown very tired of, including Twilight. Being stuck in this Post-Red-Day-State frustrated her. She and the other members of the circle wanted to finally move on. But first, they would have to go somewhere where the Underworld League could not reach them. The very thought seemed impossible to achieve. Where in the world would they still be safe from the demons? From the cult? From Blueblood? It would have to be a place that is extremely well hidden, but finding such places and turning them into strongholds was a specialty of the demons. It would have to be a place that is so well fortified, they would be able to withstand a large-scale onslaught. Yet that, too, had always been a major focus of the demons for centuries. But there still had to be a place left somewhere. A place the demons didn’t think of or couldn’t reach, yet. It just had to be somewhere out there: Their new home.

The days passed by. Each night, the rebels would set up a temporary camp, only to take it down again the next day and move on. Twilight tried her very best to keep them all motivated, but this seemingly eternal peregrination was sickening. This brought a few positive aspects, though. Constantly being on the move to new ground made the rebellion stumble across the occasional food, water and herbal medicine supply. The cannibal mare… Maud Pie… hadn’t been showing any signs of activity ever since they started walking, suggesting that she had lost track of them and thus giving a sensation of relief and security to the rebels. Caramel and Applejack had become very close again and seemed to support each other even more than usual. But somewhat surprisingly, it was Derpy who did the most in order to keep the spirits of the rebels high.

Something must have changed for her to the better, since the gray reaper mare was now more casual and relaxed than she had been in months. It probably was surviving the Red Day, most members of the leadership circle assumed. During the whole preparation for that day, she had been very tense and even though it ended in such a catastrophe, she and many others made it through alive. She clearly showed her relief, really letting down her mane now and being silly again, to the point of being amusing. Additionally, she started turning into a bit of a prankster, using her extensive knowledge of rune magic to trick her allies. While this may sound like not much, her carefree spirit truly helped lighten the mood. For the first time in ages, Twilight could see the rebels smile again.

But not everypony was smiling. Celestia’s state did not change at all. Her eyes lacked shine as they constantly focused the ground. She always seemed to be lost in thought and became very introversive. She barely spoke a word or participated in any activities. Twilight was worried. In this state, she would not be able to retake the throne of Equestria and rule the land again. Even though the mere chance to do so was still far away on the horizon, they needed to be prepared to jump at the opportunity as soon as it presented itself to them. It was clear Celestia needed help. All she had witnessed was just too much for her and Twilight knew she was feeling guilty for every single death that ever happened since the war began, more than a thousand years ago. But as wise as Twilight may be now, as powerful as she may have become, she did not know how to help. Celestia just wouldn’t get out of her state no matter how many times Twilight tried to talk to her. Perhaps only time could tell if she would ever recover.

Another day ended. Another night began. Shelters were set up and the rebels gathered around for a little entertainment from Derpy. The interest in her tricks using runes increased gradually over time, now having reached the point where she was openly demonstrating how to draw and use runes, performing several tricks in front of a growing audience. For her next trick, Derpy wanted to create something without much purpose other than looking impressive. She drew another rune on the ground and carefully placed small rocks in the air above it. As the rune began to emit a soft glow, Derpy let go of the rocks, letting them float in place as if they had been affixed into the air. She then started asking for increasingly larger objects, letting them all float motionlessly above the rune. An Equestrian Bit, a leaf, a stick, even an entire armor. But suddenly, something flew into the rune from behind Derpy. Being tossed in like that, the rune could not grab onto it and instead the object landed on the lines, blurring them. This caused the rune to malfunction and the objects scattered around.

“Hey! Who was that? I was in the middle of something!” The gray mare protested.

No one could be seen. Two griffons decided to investigate. After all, it could be an enemy. But while they were going, Derpy’s focus went to the object that had been thrown into her show so rudely. Almost instantly, her eyes shot wide open.

“Stop! Don’t go!” Derpy shouted.

The griffons were confused, but quickly came back. Without any explanation, Derpy grabbed the object and flew over to Twilight, who had been observing the whole scenario. The gray mare held another rock cut in diamond pattern, a single word carved into it: ‘Run’. Twilight did not waste any time and got up right away.

“Everyone! We have been found! Grab anything you can and run!” she shouted.

Chaos broke loose. Very hastily, the rebels picked up only the most essential things, leaving behind their shelters and luxuries they had created over the past few weeks. Twilight made sure no one was left behind before she started running herself.

The rebellion dashed through the woods, creating a passage through the branches whenever they needed to. They were running, but heard nothing. So far, nothing seemed to be nearby. But even though the one this warning came from was questionable, Twilight had no reason to believe Maud was just tricking them. Judging by how skilled she was, she must have spotted the aggressors from some good distance away, giving them plenty of time to escape.

That assumption quickly turned out to be false, though. Out of nowhere, demons jumped at them. The rebels instantly grouped together, defending themselves while the reapers were going for the offense. The first wave was quickly disabled and consume, but more kept coming. Twilight didn’t want to take any chances and created another arcane force field, separating them all from the demons.

“Keep going!” she shouted, starting to run again with the magic shield following her movement.

Some of the backmost rebels found themselves being scooped up by the magic, but quickly jumped back on their legs and continued running. There was no chance to put effort into minding the forest around them, so the force field just broke through every tree in the way, creating a wide and clearly visible passage through the woods. From a strategic point of view, it would not matter anyway. They would not be able to lose the demons in the forest and it only hindered their visibility. Twilight needed to force her way out into the open. After guiding the group over a hill, she could see a large opening in the forest nearby. This would have to do for now, she figured. It would give them a chance to orient themselves and find a possible opportunity to get away from the attackers.

Trying to get there as quickly as possible, Twilight shot an arcane bolt ahead, clearing the path to prevent the group from getting slowed down. As soon as they arrived, the scale of the attack finally became clear. Nearly a hundred demons were following them out of the twisty woods, aiming to surround the sphere and attack it from all directions, just like during the Red Day. This brought back far too many traumatic memories for the surviving rebels. Some started screaming, some crying, others just collapsed in place or became paralyzed in fear.

The leadership circle, though, kept a clear head. They all looked around hastily, scanning the area for a way to escape. Fluttershy lifted into the air as high as the sphere allowed it. From up here, she spotted something in the ground nearby.

“There is a ravine over there!” she announced.

Twilight immediately started running again, causing a large amount of rebels to be pressed against the shield. At this point, she just wanted to get them out of danger by any means necessary. Though the demons took her disregard for the rebels’ immobility with humor, pressing their faces, tongues, teeth and claws against the force field wherever an eye was on the inside. Before Twilight could reach the ravine, the demons figured out what she was aiming to do. About half of them rushed ahead, jumping down the chasm just moments before group arrived at the cliff. The purple mare was forced to pull a full break, her four legs sliding across the grass for a few inches. But before she could come to a stop, the momentum tossed the rebels against her. She needed to use her magic to prevent herself from falling down, dragging everyone along with her.

Again, the rebels found themselves presented with a terrifying sight. Sitting or laying on something that felt like nothing more than a thin layer of purple glass, they could see the demons grin at them from below, snarling at them and reaching up in anticipation. Fortunately, they were only forced to hang like this for a moment, as Twilight lifted everyone back on top of the cliff, despite the demons behind them trying to push them down. The rebellion now found all its escape routes cut off, surrounded by a line of demons on one side and an abyss filled with demons on the other.

“We’re trapped!” Applejack shouted.

“We handled larger numbers than that! We just need… to…” Twilight started, but suddenly found her mind getting clouded.

Along with her, the behavior of almost all rebels and reapers changed. They suddenly became still, their eyes wide and their ears perking up. A melody was filling the air, given from a voice of otherworldly beauty. They turned towards the source, discovering that the demon Succubus was on the other side of the Ravine, singing to them and beckoning them over. Like before, Fluttershy was the only one unaffected by the demon’s seductive capabilities. Everyone else, Twilight included, dropped their guards and started walking back towards the ravine.

As Twilight’s eyes returned from white to purple and the force field disappeared, the demons instantly started attacking from behind. At the same time, the frontmost rebels just stepped into the void, falling down into the ravine and right into the maws and claws of demons. Fluttershy was forced to defend herself for a moment. But as soon as she could, she fled from the attack and flew over to Twilight, covering her eyes and ears. The purple mare instantly snapped out of the trance, her eyes clenching shut under her friend’s front leg and her teeth pressed together while she reformed the barrier around them. Just this time, she additionally cast a spell to make the force field soundproof.

Twilight really felt like cussing herself for not seeing this coming. Again, lives were lost because for just mere moments, she lost control. She turned her head away from the red and black demoness, but nearly everyone else was still staring at Succubus, enabling her to keep luring the rebels, making them push the sphere towards the gorge.

“Agh… Stop! Don’t look at her!” Twilight shouted in attempt to make them snap out of it.

Her words remained unheard. Looking at the demoness directly seemed to strengthen her hold on them even more than just listening to her voice. Now that she wasn’t focusing on the Insatiable Lust anymore, Twilight realized that the Guillotine of Hope, Despair, and the Faceless Horror, Slendermane, were present as well. Despair was down in the ravine, pulling on the sphere while the pale demon’s countless black arms pushed from behind. It was hard for Twilight to focus on all this, trying to keep the force field soundproof, stable and immobile. But still, she could come to an analysis.

“It’s only those three! Malice and Toxica aren’t here!” she shouted out.

“Then we have a chance to fight back! Open up the force field, I’m going out!” Fluttershy requested.

“You alone? Against this many demons? Even with The Stare, that is suicide!” Twilight stated, focusing her magic to create a pair of earplugs, but needing several seconds to summon them due to most of her concentration going into the sphere. “Take Ditzy with you! Focus on Slendermane, he is giving me the most trouble! If the two of you can just distract him for long enough, I can bring the rest of us out of here!”

The yellow reaper mare quickly nodded and grabbed the plugs, flying over to Derpy. Her glass eye had rolled into her head at this point, but her still good eye was locked down on Succubus. Fluttershy stepped right in between the line of sight, causing Derpy to come back to her senses, shaking her head wildly. Without saying a word, Fluttershy presented the earplugs to her. Derpy understood without any need for words and gained a serious expression while she quickly put them in.

Both reapers summoned their weapons and lifted into the air. Twilight timed an opening in the top at just the right time for both of them to pass through. Deliberately facing away from the ravine and Succubus, both looked down to the demons. Derpy realized that Fluttershy wasted no second, as the demons instantly froze into place. Only Slendermane saw this coming and had his head turned away from them, launching black hands towards the yellow mare.

Despair realized what was going on and changed her plan. She was now climbing up the walls in order to assist her other member of the Underworld League. But Twilight decided she would not let her. With the demons now no longer attacking the shield, she could bring up the focus to block off Despair’s path up. Although that only ended up in another power struggle. The demoness kept on changing her form and even turned liquid in attempt to squeeze through the gaps in Twilight’s defence while using a large arsenal of spells to break the shield.

Succubus, though, realized that her singing had little point at this moment anymore. All she needed to do was standing there, keeping the focus of the rebels on her. She chuckled a little as she watched in delight as the entranced rebels tried to get to her.

A vast amount of black arms erupted from Slendermane’s back. Once again, it seemed like this ancient demon was simply too powerful to be defeated. He could block off all attacks both reapers dished out on him with ease, all while still pushing on the sphere. Both Fluttershy and Derpy knew that just one bad movement would be enough for him to capture and kill them, so they both were playing it safe, trying to keep their distance.

Derpy realized that this was going nowhere. It took dozens of reapers to even stand a remote chance against Slendermane. So what were just the two of them supposed to accomplish? Suddenly, a thought rushed through her head. She didn’t even give it a second thought and just immediately changed her direction midflight. She flew away from the battle, leaving Fluttershy alone with this powerful demon. Both the yellow mare and Slendermane seemed to be surprised about this. Even Twilight saw her, disbelief written on her face. Was she seriously abandoning them now?

But then, Derpy’s course changed again. She flew a large circle around the ravine, covering her eyes while flying straight up to Succubus from behind. She saw her coming and for the first time, the red and black demoness showed shock in her expression. She could not dodge fast enough before Derpy crushed right into her, exploding into a black cloud.

“No! Not now! This is too early! I can’t just fade like that! No! NO!” Succubus screamed as the black fog engulfed her more and more, unable to fight back.

For having such an impressive power, it turned out that Succubus is actually completely incapable of defending herself. Her greatest strength was alluring creatures to fight for her. But she didn’t have any at her disposal this time. She got careless. After just a few moments of struggle, Succubus was gone.

Instantly, all rebels came back to their senses. At the same time, all demons, including Despair, seemed to be extremely shocked. The tables had turned for this battle. Twilight let the barrier disappear and several reapers charged at Slendermane, while Fluttershy kept the rest of the demons paralyzed and easy prey for the more inexperienced reapers staying back. It only took a couple of minutes more before the demons in the ravine and the other two remaining members of the Underworld League realized that they had lost the fight and started to retreat.

While it is true that Slendermane is by far the oldest and most experienced demon, capable of keeping dozens of reapers in check, just one accidental glimpse at Fluttershy’s Stare would immobilize him. That would be his defeat, a risk he could not take. He did not survive more than one thousand years by being very careful with every step he took to be taken down in a quick assault like that for getting sloppy, especially when another member of the Underworld League had just been defeated. So, Slendermane just instantly disappeared into the shadow beneath him.

As the last regular demon still present was devoured, the rebels started cheering in victory. They actually did it! After all the terrible things that had happened and all the failures, they managed to defeat a large onslaught of demons!

Twilight’s eyes kept darting around, looking for any more enemies. Off in the distance, she saw Despair staring back. Her expression was furious, her eyes burning with hate and giving away that she would love to kill her and all of her friends right now. Though she decided to not follow that notion, just teleporting away. Finally, Twilight allowed herself to take a deep breath in relief.

“Good job, everyone,” she commented.

Fluttershy was still hovering in the air, scanning the area for threats. She realized that Derpy was still lying on the ground, not moving since she devoured Succubus. The yellow mare decided to fly over and check on her. But before she could even put a hoof on Derpy, the gray mare started moving on her own, quickly getting up again. It seemed like she only needed a moment to handle this.

“Oh man… That was a big one… Never had to take in that much demonic energy before…” Derpy commented, now realizing Fluttershy had her eyes wide open. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Fluttershy did not respond. She simply grabbed the gray mare and flew back with her to the others. As they got to see Derpy, most rebels stopped cheering and gasped. Even Twilight had her mouth wide open.

“W-what is it? Did something happen to me?” Derpy asked in worry.

Quickly, Twilight’s expression changed to a smile as she created a magical mirror.

“Ditzy. You are not an apprentice anymore!” she announced while showing Derpy her own reflection.

Now even she had to gasp in shock, but it was much heavier than anyone else did. Her glass eye still looked fine, of course. Just wandering around aimlessly as usual. But her good eye was no longer yellow.

“It’s… it’s black! My eye is black! Oh my gosh! Finally!” Derpy started shouting and celebrating.

“She must have been made out of a whole lot of demonic energy. Congratulations,” Fluttershy commented.

“Aw man! I have been waiting for ages!” Derpy cheered, then suddenly stopped. “Oh shoot! I need a new glass eye now!”

“Let me take care of that, darling,” Rarity offered happily.

Hearing her friend’s voice made Twilight go wide-eyed and her expression filled with worry. She realized she hadn’t checked on everyone yet. Her eyes darted around, spotting one friend after the other. She sighed again as she realized that everyone was still alive and well, then turned back to her reaper friend.

“Well, you deserve it, Ditzy. That was a great move! You saved all of us!” the purple mare spoke.

Another short celebration followed with the rebels picking up the gray mare and tossing her into the air repeatedly like the hero she was. She clearly relished this, laughing and smiling widely as she was flung into the air and came back down. It was a much needed celebration, a much needed victory to keep the rebellion motivated. Not only did they survive, they also delivered a heavy blow to the Underworld League, stripping them of one of their most useful members. At last, things were looking up again.

Colossus

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Frs8wdJgnldxSmeFArk8ztCokM6qS1Iudl_VknpOddk/edit?usp=sharing

Two weeks went by since the demon Succubus had been defeated, but only three days passed since the last demon attack. Now that they had been spotted and the Underworld League reduced by a member, it seemed like Despair wanted to keep the pressure high on all remaining rebels. One attack followed the other, but the waves of demons were of vastly varying in strength and number each time. The elevated spirit of the rebellion was soon violently destroyed again. Little by little, one individual at a time, the casualties piled up and the already nearly broken rebellion only ended up shrinking up even more.

With each passing day, the quantity of injured allies increased, slowing down the wandership of the rebels more and more. It was another very draining time for Twilight, constantly having to stay alert and being ready to conjure a force field any given time. She frequently was so tired, she just fell over asleep, only to jump back up moments later at even the slightest noise. She and many others had to agree that they would gladly exchange the frequent assaults with the presence of Maud Pie again. At the very least, she allowed them to sleep. This seemed to be the main goal for the Guillotine of Hope. While the attacks she ordered may not be enough to take down the rebellion for good, they were strategically placed to allow them as little time to recover as possible.

With the beginning of the next week, the group finally reached the border of the forest. Finally, an opening allowing them to breathe in this claustrophobic forest. Everyone was feeling very sick of wandering around without any sense of orientation. But in front of them lay a long, flat plain, seemingly leading into a wasteland. Not exactly the most welcoming sight. Twilight let out a sigh as she started considering her options, turning around to what was left of the rebellion.

“Looks like we have to make a decision,” she started, dissatisfaction clearly shown in her expression. “Should we leave the protection of the woods and walk out into the open? Or should we stay?”

“Leaving the forest seems like a dangerous choice. But then again, we might risk starvation if we remain here,” Luna commented.

“Yep... if this darn forest made one thing exceedingly clear, it’s that it just can’t support us,” Applejack added.

Twilight waited a moment, hoping for any more comments. But the remaining members of the leadership circle as well as the individual rebels and the reapers remained silent. Twilight just couldn’t stop worrying about the way everyone was faring. Nobody really seemed to care anymore at this point. The purple mare eventually decided to end the silence.

“Alright. Who is for staying?” she asked.

Only few hooves raised into the air.

“And who is for leaving?” Twilight asked anew.

A minimally greater number of hooves rose up. Most of the rebels did not even vote. This really displeased Twilight. Where did the good mood and motivation go that had been present two weeks ago? How did it fade away so quickly? There was no real point in arguing about it, so she simply turned back around.

“Out we go, then,” she simply commented and started walking.

---

Only a day after they started strolling through the rocky planes, it became clear that things did not look any better for the rebellion now than they had been back in the forest in terms of food. Not only were their supplies dangerously low now, but also their water supplies started to dwindle. No river could be seen as far as their eye could reach and the few dried up plants provided barely any nutrition, let alone good flavor. The occasional snake slithering by at least gave the griffons some meat, but it was only a matter of time before the first rebels would start dieing from hunger and thirst. But there was no going back now. The forest had been seized by the demons anyway. A faint bit of hope remained, though, that maybe somewhere around this plain, there might be a place they could turn into their refuge. On top of that, the demon attacks had stopped, too. It seemed like they were still looking for the rebels in the twisty woods. A chance for them to disappear and rebuild again.

Tragically, the first death not caused by these creatures set in much quicker than expected. Just hours after they started walking, an arabian pony collapsed dead. He must have already been eating and drinking far too little while they were still in the forest. Some of the rebels expected of the griffons to tackle the corpse like wild beasts. But at this point, there were so few rebels left and they all spent so much time together that all rebels knew each other. Even the starved griffons would not dare to eat a creature they called a friend, giving him a proper burial and mourning his passing instead. The ceremony was very short, though. They could not let this start to slow them down, especially as more were surely going to die along the way.

By the middle of the third day out in the open, all rebels were just walking without thinking. Twilight was very drained. Her stomach growled, her head hurt from dehydration and her entire body was begging for nourishment and water. This reminded her just too much of her time wandering through the deserts and savanna a few years back. She already felt like she had experienced enough drought to last a lifetime. A teenage colt seemed to have noticed how drained she was and decided to walk over and offer her some trail mix from his personal gatherings, along with a flask of water. Twilight looked at what seemed like a royal feast to her at this point, but decided to hold herself back and only reach for the water.

“You should keep your supplies for yourself. You are still young and need the food more than I do,” she argued with an exhausted smile, taking only a small sip from the flask in order to swallow her pill with it.

The colt seemed disappointed, but just kept walking without any comment. Twilight felt bad that she needed to stamp out this little ember of benevolence and kindness, but every bit was counting at this point. Desperation overwhelmed them all. The rebels tried to at least keep up the strength of their leaders, but they as well were struggling. As that thought made its way through Twilight’s hazy mind, she decided to check on her friends, starting with the little bit of family she still had left.

“Shining, Cadence. How are you two holding up?” she wondered while focusing the married couple.

“Well, I’m doing mostly okay, I guess. But… Cadence, you are worrying me,” Shining Armor started, glancing at his wife. “You haven’t eaten properly in days and I can’t recall one moment you even reached for the water today…”

“I’m… fine… Don’t worry about me. Just give my rations to someone who needs it more than me,” the former princess insisted as she just kept walking.

“Sweetie… please. You are overdoing it. There is no point in starving yourself,” her husband pleaded, his eyes giving away that he was worried she would be collapsing next.

Cadence gave both Twilight and her brother a tired look. A slight sigh followed as a form of agreement, lifting up her water bottle by magic and taking a sip from it, followed by taking a bite out of a rather old and dry piece of bread. This relaxed Shining Armor, making him smile slightly and pulling his wife close by wrapping his left front leg around her neck.

Twilight, too, was showing some signs of relief. It was one thing if she drained herself, but another if any of her friends and family did that. Next, she aimed to head over to Applejack and Caramel, but after just one glance, she realized that it wasn’t necessary of her to check on them. They both still seemed in a relatively good mood, even though they were just as drained as everyone else. The purple mare watched as they shared their last bottle of apple juice and ate some pickled vegetables together on the go. It seemed like Applejack always got a bit more of both food and water than Caramel. He clearly didn’t mind this, though, even willingly giving her some of his dried berries. Twilight was getting the feeling that something was going on between those two, even more so than usual. As if they were planning something big for just the two of them. The purple mare decided to not investigate further, allowing them to keep their secret hidden for a bit longer and letting them plan some more.

Rarity suddenly appeared next to Twilight. She actually didn’t expect that anyone would be checking on her, too. The skin of the undead mare looked very dry by now and her movements were rather stiff. The silhouette of her bones, her ribcage, spine and hipbone in particular, could be clearly seen under the thin layer of fur.

“And how about you, darling? I saw how you rejected food from the colt and I heard what Cadence is going through. I couldn’t help but notice you are doing the same exact thing. Are you okay?” the undead mare wondered, her voice deeper now that her vocal cords had become mummified and sounding strangely… hollow.

“I’m fine as long as all of you are fine. I can actually manage to gather some moisture and nutrition from the air around us with my magic, so I don’t need quite as much as everyone else. What about you, Rarity?” Twilight asked back.

“To be completely honest…” Rarity started again, a slight hint of a laugh in her voice and smiling a bit. “I actually am very glad to be undead at this point. I mean… yes, it hurts… but it is a relief to know that I won’t be putting any burden on the others in terms of needing supplies. Frankly, the farther away I stay from moisture and food that can spoil, the better off I will be. I feel so bad for everyone else, though… With every day going by, it seems to me that all of you are becoming more and more like me…”

“I can only try my best to secure the survival of the rebellion and keep everyone alive. But what is my power good for if I can’t even do something as simple as use it to create food and water?” Twilight spoke with a sigh, leaving her head hanging.

“Actually, why can’t you do that?” her friend wanted to know.

“Technically, I can create things out of thin air. But you can’t imagine how fragile the balance of this world is by now. There are completely safe spells that turns ingredients into processed food, but that requires edible matter to be present in a decent quantity. Also, these spells always waste some of the matter. To create food and water out of nothing, I would have to dive deep into manipulating the flow of magic. I am really afraid of doing that. One small mistake could mean an environmental breakdown. I will only do this as a last resort, should we all be on the verge of dieing,” the purple mare explained.

“I’m afraid that won’t be all too long anymore…” Rarity finished, her dull eyes wandering among the rebels.

The zombie mare’s parents were not far behind and appeared to have been listening. Along with showing the same exhaustion as everyone else, they also seemed to still be unsure how to act towards their own daughter. They probably made some bad encounters with undead ponies before, making them fear she might suddenly attack them. Hopefully, as time passed by, they would come to understand that, even though Rarity was dead, she was still herself.

It seemed like only the reapers were still doing fine. After all, they could not die and were used to starving themselves at times. It even seemed like Fluttershy took it upon herself to train all the apprentices and reaper foals in self-control, so they would be able to make it through this time without ending up attacking their own allies due to hunger. Especially little Amber seemed to be handling this very well, probably having seen this coming in a vision and thus giving her time to mentally prepare herself. But since they never showed any expression, one would not be able to tell if these assumptions were correct. Better safe than sorry, Twilight figured, as she approached Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves.

“What about you and the other reapers?” she asked.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Feeling starvation and dehydration gnawing at you isn’t pleasant, but it won’t affect us for a while. But eventually, we will have to silence the demons we consumed again, or we will start to get weak,” Fluttershy explained.

“Let me know when that comes close to happening. I will figure something out,” Twilight requested.

Fluttershy nodded in response before letting her eyes lower to the heart-shaped pin on her cloak, as so many times before. Derpy didn’t seem to care about the lack of food and water at all. She still was posing proudly, showing off her black eye while keeping the empty socket with her glass eye shut over extended periods of times to put focus on the good one. A personal victory like that seemed to be enough for her to keep it together.

Now, Twilight spotted that Rarity’s parents were walking up to their daughter. Having spoken to the undead mare seemed to have made them a bit more confident now. But they still had insecurity written in their expressions, as well as grief now. The purple mare could only imagine how horrible it must be for them to have survived everything only to find out that their daughter didn’t. The fact that she was still walking around and speaking to them normally was calming them, but not truly making anything better.

Twilight eventually reached the former rulers of Equestria. As usual, Luna showed enormous willpower, determination and drive. Even though she was struggling just as much as everyone else, she remained unbroken, still pushing forward, still giving it her all in trying to win this war. Truth be told, she was an inspiration to Twilight. Her sister, though, was a completely different case. Several times, Twilight was worried they had left Celestia behind, because she made herself so unnoticed. She decided to speak to both of them.

“Luna?” was all she needed to say, as the dark fallen alicorn had been watching the whole time.

“I am doing well. I make sure to keep my strength up and I do the same for my sister,” she replied swiftly, but then gave Celestia a worried look. “I can barely get her to speak, though. It worries me deeply. I have never seen her like this before. Usually, I am the silent one…”

The white fallen alicorn kept walking with her head low, her ears hanging down and staring at the ground as if she didn’t hear anything. Just what was she thinking lately? What thoughts were running through her mind that she was constantly in this state?

“Celestia?” Twilight called.

No reaction. The former ruler of Equestria just kept on walking, kept on staring at the ground.

“Celestia!” Twilight repeated.

This time, she heard her. Celestia’s ears instantly moved up and her eyes went wide open as she lifted her head. She really had been so bemused that she did not hear them.

“Are you okay?” the purple mare wanted to know.

Again, Celestia did not reply. Her ears just started hanging again and her eyes returned to a half closed state, as well as lowering her focus to the ground. She even turned her head away, seemingly in shame.

“You need to talk to us… It eats you up and-” Twilight started, but found herself stopped.

The interruption did not come from any pony, zebra, griffon, donkey, cow, minotaur or reaper. It came from beneath them. An earthquake shook them all up and startled the rebels heavily after walking for hours in a trance-like state. Another wave of quaking ground followed. And another. Again and again, getting more intense each time. It quickly dawned to everyone what this meant.

“We can’t just ever get a break, can we?” Twilight growled angrily. “I guess it wasn’t Despair who ordered the assaults on us after all. It was him. Taking down Succubus must have infuriated him so much, he ordered other demons to push us out of the forest so he could personally take care of us.”

No name was needed. There was only one creature that could cause such earthquakes while walking. Moments later, a red aura appearing on the horizon confirmed their suspicion. Malice was on the approach.

Everyone started running again, panic fueling them with energy. The group was in total chaos, everyone running or flying around aimlessly, not knowing whether to hide, spread out or stay together. Twilight tried her best to keep them all together, but quickly noticed that one of her friends was missing. With a quick glance back, she came to realize that Celestia was frozen in fear. She stared at the advancing demon with wide open eyes and mouth, shaking all over as her limbs nearly gave in and she struggled to stand. Twilight had no choice. She gave a short signal to the rest, telling them to keep running while she turned around and back to the fallen alicorn, ready to defend her. Malice was still far away when he already began casting spells at them, an enormous barrage of black razor-sharp shards raining down from the skies. Within mere seconds, Twilight’s eyes turned white and her purple aura filled the air around them. She created a massive shield, trying to block off as many of the shards as possible, fearing they might be hitting the others. Almost instantly, a huge wall of black flames rushed over to them. Twilight cut her shield in half and placed it on the ground, letting the flames rush past her left and right, once again leaving a passage for the still fleeing rebels behind her.

But the other members of the leadership circle would not leave the two mares behind to fight this mountain of a demon. After all orders were given, Shining Armor, Cadence and Luna were the first to turn around and rush to Twilight’s aid, quickly followed by Fluttershy, Derpy, Applejack and Rarity. This was exactly what Twilight did not want. She just wanted them out of danger, no matter how much she was putting herself at risk for that.

Malice was now no longer just casually walking, but started running. The ground was shaking so heavily, the purple mare found it very difficult to remain upright and her friends as well kept falling over repeatedly as they approached from behind. Malice moved his arms out to the side, his magic ripping huge chunks out of the ground left and right of Twilight and Celestia. The flat sides which used to be the surface just moments ago turned towards each other and launched in their direction, threatening to crush them. Twilight clenched her eyes shut as she created two equally enormous purple walls of arcane magic, making the massive rocks crumble into many pieces on contact. Almost instantly after, Malice summoned his giant red scythe and held it ready in his right skeletal hand while his left rose into the air. The whole plain rapidly became brighter and brighter, the source of light coming from above them. Malice was now powerful enough to tear one of Luna’s stars out of the Aether and launch it down on them as a monstrous comet.

Twilight was stunned and shocked to see the burning mass rush down from above. She could barely react fast enough to manipulate the star’s path, making it narrowly miss the ground and instead fly at Malice. But the demon was prepared for this. A single upwards slash of his scythe was enough to cut the approaching star in half, letting the two pieces fly right past him and detonate off in the distance.

The demon commander finally came close enough to strike Twilight with his scythe. The force of impact was enormous as it came swinging from the side, colliding against Twilight’s force field wrapping around her friends and herself. Despite her best efforts, she could not prevent being knocked away, letting the comparably tiny sphere fly through the plain for miles before coming to a stop again. The shockwave of the impact tossed up so much dust, they couldn’t even see anything of the demon anymore aside of his red aura. But then the earth started to shake again. Twilight was getting ready for another blow of any form. But what actually happened next was something she could have never been prepared for.

All beings contained in the sphere could not believe their eyes as a colossal winged monkey leaped over them seemingly out of nowhere, pouncing Malice and trying to disarm him. It seemed like he as well did not see this coming. Not only was this creature so massive, it could actually match Malice’s size, but also seemed to have tremendous magical and combat abilities, as he could actually keep this seemingly unstoppable demon busy. Even more bizarre was the fact that hundreds of strange-looking creatures came rushing at them from the same direction this monkey came from. Twilight’s first instinct was to defend herself, but these beings were not out for a fight. On the contrary, they picked up the sphere the rebellion leaders were in and carried it away from the battle. As the figures of Malice and the mountain-sized winged monkey became gradually smaller, they found themselves reunited with the rest of the rebels and reapers, all running alongside their unexpected allies. It now dawned to all of them that these creatures looked like seemingly completely random hybrids of all sorts of animals, always consisting of at least two different ones. Only few of them even looked similar to each other.

“Beast men…” Celestia finally commented as she was now coming back to her senses and managed to process what was going on in all this chaos.

“You know them?” Twilight wondered, still heavily confused as to what was actually going on.

“Not really. I have only heard of them before,” the fallen alicorn continued.

“But they never leave their home country. That must mean…” Luna added, looking around in confusion for a moment. “Did we really end up this far away from Equestria? Are those the Southern Wastelands?”

Eyes kept darting around. The beast men kept running while carrying Twilight and her friends in their bubble as well as any weak or injured rebel who couldn’t run on their own. No answers were presented to their questions. Twilight had yet to figure out what they actually wanted with them, if the beast men were acting out of benevolent intentions or had their own plans with the last remains of the rebellion. But for now, they were out of danger and being carried to safety, the purple mare hoped.

Rebuilding

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IofK963l3d0MNWVrtc2UDDN8xciKu6CuqW8jmWhj4sY/edit?usp=sharing

For hours, the beast men kept running and picking up more rebels that became too slow or weak to keep up the pace. It felt like these creatures had infinite stamina as they were not showing any signs of exhaustion. Not one of them had been speaking so far. They just seemed to be aiming for a specific place and after more than two days of non-stop running, it finally came into their view.

Enormous stalagmitic columns started coarsely dotting the landscape, gradually getting more and more dense. As if that sight was not surreal enough, they were being brought straight to the center of this landscape, which consisted of rich plant life with many unique animals roaming around freely. A huge oasis in the middle of a wasteland with ivy vines, trees and bushes having completely overgrown the sharp pillars of rock. Now that they got here, the rebels could see that most of these columns were hollowed out and had windows chiseled into them, thousands of curious and excited looking beast man heads poking out of them. The rebellion had been brought straight to the heart of their society.

At last, their saviors stopped running and gently placed down the exhausted rebels. Finally, they, too, collapsed from exhaustion, several even unconscious. They must have given it their all to bring the rebels here as fast as possible. Just moments after the arrival, more beast men came running, bringing medical supplies as well as fresh food and water, immediately beginning to treat the injured and malnourished rebels as well as the beast men bringing them here. That confirmed it to Twilight, as she as well found a halved coconut being placed in her front hooves, filled to be brim with its water. They really were here to help them. It felt like an enormous weight had been taken off from the heart of the purple mare and she gladly began drinking. They were all going to survive now.

Over the course of several hours, the beast men did not have much to talk about. They were way too busy spreading the news of the arrival of the rebellion as well as tending to it. Some of the rebels were in a critical state and needed a lot of attention to prevent their passing. But the few times a beast man could find the time to talk, it was assuring that none of them were going to be harmed. The beast men also kept repeating over and over that they would rather leave the talking to their leader, who was currently unavailable. It took until late at night before things finally started to calm down. It was then when the moonlight became suddenly blocked off by a giant soaring through the sky and gently landing inside the vast oasis not much later, taking great care in not accidentally crushing anyone. It was the winged monkey. He was injured and bleeding, but alive. He instantly was welcomed by loud cheering. Now that Celestia and Luna actually had a moment to properly look at this creature, they gasped at almost the exact same time as they stared at the creature with wide open eyes.

“Scorpan!” they exclaimed in a stunned tone.

The giant responded with a happy smile, lowering himself to get a better look at the sisters and allow the smaller beast men to treat his injuries under the light of magically glowing plants that now were shining their light on them, as if commanded to.

“It is so good to see you two again. How long has it been? Five hundred years? Six hundred?” he asked in a friendly tone.

The name of this colossus instantly made Twilight’s eyes to go wide open as well and additionally caused her jaw to drop. She found no words to express how stunned she was. This was the creature Starswirl mentioned to her?! This was Scorpan?! Of course, Twilight already knew of him beforehand from the many history books she read. When Starswirl dropped his name, she did not give it much thought. She was still too busy dealing with her new discoveries back then and actually did not expect to meet a being that had already existed so long ago. Even during the short time the ancient pony wizard had been resurrected, he already predicted this meeting. Twilight could not stop being amazed at his skills and foresight. He knew she would come across him! He knew this would happen! The purple mare did not even pay attention to what he, Luna and Celestia were talking about. It was just relief enough to see that Celestia’s lips were actually moving and she was smiling again after such a long time of silence and gloom. After some time, Scorpan’s eyes moved over to Twilight, making her snap out of her stun.

“The fabled Twilight Sparkle. I have been looking forward to the day we could finally meet,” he spoke very calmly, despite his injury.

“So you are the Lord Scorpan? The hero who turned against his own arbitrary brother and thus saved Equestria? His name is Tirek, if I recall correctly?” the purple mare wondered, now naturally assuming that his brother would still be around, too.

“I am and… Well… he was,” the giant replied, his expression now turning sad. “For his crimes, my brother was imprisoned in Tartarus. But the demons eventually found this prison and quickly turned it into a stronghold, slaughtering him along with every other creature locked in there.”

As soon as he said that, Celestia stopped smiling again. She lowered her head in guilt and shame once more, being reminded of yet another thing she could be blamed for. Twilight was about to ask how he knew of the demons and speak out her condolence, but watching how the white fallen alicorn reacted to this, she changed her mind and decided to dodge the topic altogether. Thinking about it for a moment, it would seem that at some point in the last few years, Celestia informed him somehow. Suddenly, the memory of a promise came to Twilight’s mind.

“I have a message for you from Starswirl. He asked me to give you his best regards and to tell you that he is very proud of what you have accomplished,” the purple mare relayed.

Scorpan’s eyes went wide for a moment, but quickly became relaxed again and he even started to chuckle a bit.

“Ah, I should have known. Thank you,” he responded happily.

Judging by his reaction, he wasn’t all that surprised to hear of his old, long-dead friend again. Maybe he was even half expecting it. Twilight’s gaze wandered to the other beast men before returning to their leader, needing to raise her head quite a bit to meet his gaze. She figured it would be appropriate to bring up another topic and talk about the main reason for her confusion, which also seemed to be the reason why Celestia and Luna did not immediately recognize him.

“None of the history books mentioned you were this tall. The depictions I saw of you suggested that you were about alicorn-size,” she commented, openly showing her confusion.

“Oh! Pardon me for perplexing you! I should explain this,” Scorpan spoke, now sitting down to the ground. “You see, we beast men are closely related to other mighty animal hybrid creatures, such as cockatrice, chimeras, cyclopes, jackalopes, manticores and more. Actually, cyclopes are a type of beast man. Also, as a matter of fact, the griffons are actually distantly related offspring from the beast men, who developed down their own path. But I digress. Being created out of various very different animals, we need a lot of magic to even function. We are known to be powerful… ‘magic sponges’ is a fitting word, I guess. This goes so far that we even have the ability to rob other magical beings or objects of their magic. When we do that, we significantly gain in strength, size and of course magical capabilities. Furthermore, the more magic we absorb, the longer our lifespan becomes. Some of the oldest recorded beast men were multiple thousand years old.”

“So basically…” Rarity started, her face already showing disgust. “The reason you are this huge and ancient is because you stole the magic from a lot of magical creatures?”

“Oh no, no. We don’t do that anymore for almost half a millennium by now! I actually am quite proud to say that I actively contributed to this change of mind! After I had seen just how beautiful and prosper Equestria was and the way my own brother treated it, I knew my kind couldn’t go on the way it had been for so long anymore. We were only looking out for our own needs, leaving any other species in the dust behind us. Our egoistic ways kept our homeland constantly exhausted. When I first introduced the concept of cooperation among each other and with other beings, my parents the king and queen did not approve. It took until their passing that I finally got my chance. It was difficult to change the mind of a society that had been set in its ways for eons, but after several hundreds of years, I finally succeeded. On this side of the world, we soon became known for being the guardians of the weak. In return for helping others, we found ourselves showered with love and kindness. From all over, they came to visit us in our homeland and helped to improve our own living standards. This is how this beautiful oasis was created. I usually am always right at the front when one of our neighbors gets in trouble and I quickly became elevated to the status of a hero for that, even among beast men. Mighty leaders from all around us kept on bringing me precious artifacts so I could take the magic inside of them, so I could become even stronger, so I could help even more. I assure you, my size comes solely from the equally tall mountain of artefacts which I took the magic from. I earned this the good and honest way,” Scorpan explained casually.

“To imagine you became so powerful that you can keep up with the mightiest demon I have ever encountered… To imagine that you know who I am, even though the troubles of Equestria are so far away from you… It is reassuring to know that even this far south, the word of our cause is being heard,” the purple mare commented.

“I just hope you can forgive me for not taking actions any sooner. I tried to get my fellow beast men to join your cause, but as you heard, we tend to take some time before change occurs. Helping neighbors and actively participating in a war are two very different things, it seems. Don’t misunderstand, we only even heard of Blueblood and your rebellion about a year back. We just took too long debating over what to do. Everyone was very shocked when we finally heard of what happened in the Crystal Empire and that our idleness contributed to the sheer number of lives lost… So many felt deep guilt and I just recently managed to use this to change their minds...” the giant winged monkey explained in regret.

“Realistically speaking, you probably wouldn’t have been able to come in time to help us anyway. It is terrible how many died that day… But we need to honor their deaths. Our allies died fighting for a cause they believed in. The least we can do is to keep on fighting, so that one day they may not have died in vain,” Twilight stated, a calm sadness in her voice.

“Words of wisdom, spoken like a true leader,” Scorpan commented, a smile growing on his face again. “We should have met sooner, Miss Sparkle.”

The purple mare herself just couldn’t stay sad for long in the presence of this ancient giant either. Despite being incredibly mighty, his aura was very harmonious and gentle. Twilight had to admit that his mere existence was starting to please her more and more. He was the living evidence that one could become mighty and be remembered throughout history without having to fall to corruption, like Blueblood. In fact, the way this entire oasis felt really backed up Scorpan’s story. A wild mixture of magic, balanced out just right for all the beings living here to flourish. Twilight could only sense benevolence, mercy and regret in the beast men, but no traces of their arrogant and aggressive past. The more she thought of it, the clearer it became to her. This is it. This is their refuge the rebellion had been looking for. Twilight raised her head again and opened her mouth, but it seemed like Scorpan already knew what she was going to ask.

“Of course you can stay. This is why we brought you here. It is time for the beast men to get involved and we will actively support you wherever we can,” he spoke swiftly.

“Wow! Really?!” Derpy Hooves instantly started shouting out.

As the eyes turned over to her, the rebels saw the gray reaper mare beam. Perhaps she was acting more casual and relaxed than she had actually been all this time to keep the mood of the rebels up. Or perhaps she actually was struggling during their wandership through the wasteland way more than she gave away. Whatever the reason may be, she openly showed enormous relief now, her excitement only increasing as Scorpan nodded in response with a patient smile.

“Oh my gosh! You hear that, everyone? We finally got a new home! We are safe! Thank you so much, Mr. Monkey!” she shouted while zipping through the air.

“Haha! Aren’t you a sweet little mare,” the giant commented while laughing, but soon recollected himself. “By the way, it is Mr. Gargoyle. I know, I’m mostly monkey. But there is also some bat and lion in me. Beast men consist of lots of different types of creatures and since we all are compatible with each other, the offspring often turns out to be a very different race than the parents. As for me, I fall under the gargoyle category.”

“Okay!” Derpy cheered, still flying through the air and notifying the rebels. “Come on, guys! Didn’t you hear it? We made it! We got a new HQ!”

The gray mare acted as a catalyst for the rest of the rebels. Little by little, it sunk in. None of them actually expected that the rebellion would stay here. As realization kicked in that they finally had a safe haven, the mood rapidly improved. They finally could truly start to rebuild, scout for more stray rebels wandering around aimlessly and guide them here. They finally could start recruiting again and soon, the first plans on the rebellion’s next move against Blueblood would be planned. Especially the leadership circle seemed immensely relieved over this development.

All except for Fluttershy. Her expression, as usual, remained blank. To her, this was just like any other day, any other event. Why did this already seem so familiar to her? Had she really gone through that much already that every twist and development in this war seemed old already? Once again, her hoof lowered to the heart pin, gradually slipping back to her memories again.

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide open as her touch only reached the strange fabric her cloak was made of. She looked down. She looked around… The heart pin was gone.

Insanity versus Insanity

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17k0SBpM4PfoMAgwzvWmh_qt5HSrDXhdkUb_FRndSf9Q/edit?usp=sharing

East to west. West to East. North to south. South to north. The sky above the homeland of the beast men had never been this busy before. It took an entire month, but at last, the number of rebels was increasing again. Scorpan quickly proved to be extremely helpful in maneuvering scouts and small troops to secure the landscape around them and after even Malice, the demon commander himself, failed to take down the rebellion, all attacks completely ceased. At least for now.

It was clear that The Right Hand of Nightmare Moon was regrouping his own troops and planning an attack. The rebels dreaded the possibility of a second Red Day. But Amber, who now officially took over the role as clairvoyant, assured that this would not be the case any time soon. She could not see any larger attacks on the new headquarters. To give them as much time as possible, Scorpan and a few other skilled magic users developed a spell to hide the location of the oasis and confuse anyone trying to enter against their will. It seemed to be effective, since every time a scout spotted a demon scouring through the wasteland, it was wandering around aimlessly in the distance until it eventually went back where it came from.

More often than anyone else, it was Fluttershy spotting these singular demons. Ever since they arrived, she spent a lot of time flying all over the wasteland, seemingly in search for something. Sometimes, she was even gone for days. None of her friends had noticed that the heart pin she was always carrying had been lost during their rescue and she herself kept quiet about this, acting as if she was just patrolling and being careful. If she weren’t a reaper, one could argue that she seemed desperate over the fact that she had lost the pin. It was all she had left of Obsidian Shards. Of all their mementos, this was the single most important one. As the replica of the Seven Sounds Bell stood for their friendship to Obsidian, the pin was symbolic for the love he and Fluttershy shared. The day he died, the day he returned this object of immense personal value to her, he symbolically entrusted her his heart. Therefore, having lost the pin was a disaster to Fluttershy. Something that seemed equivalent to her as a tremendous crime. Fluttershy already knew that, should the pin be lost for good now, she would not be able to ever forgive herself. No matter how much she needed to search, she would not stop looking for it until she would find it again.

While the unwelcome were fooled by the illusion, everyone who was invited seemed to have no trouble finding the oasis at all. Griffons, zebras, donkeys, minotaurs, cattle, diamond dogs, arabian ponies, even dragons gathered up over time and with the huge number of beast men supporting them, the rebellion finally returned to a respectable size. Each new recruit brought rumors from their own homeland. It seemed like no nation was willing to put up a fight against Blueblood anymore. Many had surrendered to him and those who didn’t were destroyed. Kingdoms that had existed for millennia were completely erased and the unruled land was simply added to Equestria’s ever growing size. The land Twilight grew up in had turned into an ever-growing tumour on the face of their world. A grotesque and disgusting mass of cruel religion, misleading rulership and unforgiving laws. Blueblood was getting to his goal of uniting the whole world under his reign, step by step. But would King Sombra follow this example? A question the leadership circle had been wondering for awhile now.

Like several times before, Twilight, Rarity, Luna, Celestia, Cadence, Shining Armor, Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves gathered at the highest room in the central stalagmit at the oasis to discuss the latest intel they received. Only Applejack could not come, because she had to see the doctor. After going through the regular process of making sure no intruders were present at this most secretive of meetings and confirming the identities of all leaders, Cadence opened the discussion.

“As it turned out, Sombra instantly jumped at Blueblood’s offer for an alliance, even though he and the brain-washed crystal ponies don’t take any actions,” she started speaking. “Sombra seems to be content just ruling over the Crystal Empire again… The crystal ponies themselves are in a miserable state. Their bodies are still dark and cracked, their eyes are constantly showing nothing but hate or fear. From what I gathered from some who could catch a glimpse on them, they are walking very weak and stumble a lot, as if every bit of their strength is being drained and poured in the still overcharging Crystal Heart.”

“Just what is Sombra doing? How much has he defiled this beautiful ancient artefact by now with forcing so much corrupted energy into it?” Rarity commented in a desperate frustration, showing with a bit of dramatism that she felt sorry for this gem.

“Even more importantly: How much more could it possibly take?” Luna added. “What is he waiting and aiming for? Could this be something Blueblood ordered?”

“Perhaps they are both trying to turn the entire empire into a massively oversized weapon, like Twilight did with the Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony,” Derpy figured.

“No information we gain is solid in that regard,” Shining Armor continued. “But with these grim speculations, it is obvious that taking back the Crystal Empire has to be the most important task for the rebellion now. We can’t allow whatever they are doing to be completed.”

“This is going to be a monumental effort and will require a lot of planning…” Twilight commented, rubbing her chin in thought. “While we have yet to figure out how to even tackle this task, we can at least start by going through different scenarios and come up with various plans. We have to be prepared when the opportunity presents itself.”

“I will take care of that,” Luna offered.

“Good. We also-”

Before the purple mare could finish her sentence, she heard knocking on the door. Out of reflex, both Fluttershy and Derpy summoned their scythes and charged in front of the door. Even with the illusion up, one could never be too careful. As the two reapers opened the door, they saw Applejack and Caramel. Being welcomed with drawn weapons and tense faces was something the orange mare was used to, though Caramel’s first instinct was to jump backwards. With a swift glance of reassurance, Applejack convinced him to enter the meeting room, the door closing directly behind them again through Twilight’s magic.

“Treadmill,” the purple mare spoke in an ordering tone.

“Cider,” Applejack replied casually, then turned to her stallion. “When was the first time we talked about mah scars?”

“Um… Oh! We were talking about Sassaflash and how much I missed her. I got angry at you when you said you could imagine what she would have wanted for me and I told you… well… that you didn’t know what it was like to lose somepony important to you. Then you told me what happened to your family…” Caramel summarized.

Instantly, the whole group started to relax and the reapers let their scythes vanish again.

“Glad you could come. I don’t mean to be rude, but… Is there a reason you brought Caramel with you?” Twilight wanted to know.

The country mare took her time, calmly turning back around and remaining silent for just a bit longer. Even without saying anything, her friends could already tell that she had something big and important to tell them. The expression she had was one they had never seen on her before. She seemed overjoyed, her eyes sparkling like never before, a gentle smile on her face and a slight blush adorning her cheeks.

“Oh my stars! Darling!” Rarity shouted out in as much excitement as her undead voice allowed her. “Don’t tell me. That look can only mean one thing! Could it be? You two are planning to get married?”

Within the fraction of a second, Caramel’s ears shot upright, his eyes went wide open and his entire face turned as red as a tomato. Applejack’s expression remained the same as she looked back to see him react to these words, chuckling a bit over how flustered he was.

“Well… that’s something we’re considerin’, alright,” Applejack explained as she turned around, immediately sitting down to be able to lift her front leg to prevent Rarity from freaking out. “But that’s not the actual reason why we’re here.”

“Then don’t torture us any longer! What’s the occasion?” Cadence demanded cheerfully.

“Well, uh… Ah don’t really know how to put it. Guess Ah’ll just say it straight out,” Applejack started, her blush growing stronger, getting up again and shyly crossing her hind legs while turning her head to the side. “Well Ah’m… Ah’m pregnant.”

Despite her condition, Rarity almost exploded with happiness and excitement. Having no fluids left in her body, her tears of joy failed to materialize, even though she was showing the expression as she rushed over to the orange mare and hugged her, then proceeding to hug Caramel just moments later, too. Cadence and Shining Armor as well were extremely happy to hear these news, getting up from their chairs to congratulate the couple. Twilight had a bit of a stunned expression, not actually having expected of her to go this far with him, especially during these times. But she quickly started smiling in approval as well. Even the constantly gloomy and absent-minded Celestia raised her head to stare at Applejack with wide open eyes. The reapers as well hugged and congratulated the couple. But of everyone present, Fluttershy was the only one not surprised of this outcome, having guarded the couple several times as they retreated late at night. It took Rarity several minutes to calm down again and let go of her friend, now simply holding her front leg.

“How far are you in?” she immediately wanted to know.

“About a month. Ah had mah suspicions, but Ah wanted to wait with the announcement until it was sure as sugar,” Applejack replied, still surprisingly shy about this.

“So that’s what the visit with the doctor was all about! My gosh, you lucky filly! I can’t believe it!” Rarity continued, still extremely excited.

“Definitely not a filly anymore now!” Applejack commented jokingly.

“It is great to hear of the next generation being on its way, but do you not think that this might be rather risky?” Luna wondered.

“Well…” Caramel started, suddenly regaining his courage, stepping next to Applejack and wrapping his left front leg around her back. “We had been talking about this for quite some time. We are aware of the risks and decided it would still be worth it. Now is as good of a time to start as any, we figured. I only agreed to this under the condition that AJ would be really careful from now on and not get herself involved in any fights anymore.”

“Eyup!” was all the orange mare said in response, proudly raising her head while still having a strong blush on her cheeks.

“I definitely have to agree with that notion,” Twilight responded with a calm, happy smile. “Don’t worry, AJ. We completely understand. From now on, you don’t have to worry about putting yourself in danger ever again. I’m very happy for you to finally get the opportunity to rebuild your family. I will do everything within my power to protect you, Caramel, Babs and your foal.”

“Thanks, Twi. Ah gotta admit, Ah still haven’t really wrapped mah own head around this. Ah’ll need some time comin’ to terms with the changes, but Ah definitely wanted to let y’all know,” Applejack responded, still grinning in joy.

“Of course. Take your time,” Cadence spoke, waving goodbye to the couple.

As quickly as they showed up, Caramel and Applejack left again. These news really changed the mood in the meeting room. Almost everypony was smiling now.

“I would never have thought!” Luna commented.

“Well, she did plan this for quite some time now. She just never got the chance,” Rarity explained as she walked back to her seat, still beaming with joy.

“I just find it incredible how strong love can blossom at even the darkest of times,” Cadence added with a cheerful expression.

“Anyway, what were you trying to say before, Twilight?” Derpy wondered.

“Ah, right. We need better ways of escorting survivors, refugees and escapees through the wasteland. So far, we don’t have any clear routes set up and I had to send out reapers to recover lost groups several times,” the purple mare resumed.

“I think we need more information from Scorpan and the beast men, then. After all, they know this landscape better than anyone else,” Shining Armor suggested.

“They may know the landscape, but they can’t distinguish between friend and foe very well,” an unfamiliar monotone voice commented suddenly.

Everyone became heavily startled. Someone had made it in! But how? The whole circle put a lot of effort into making sure they were not being eavesdropped! Of all present, Twilight was startled the most by this voice. She was the only one who heard it before.

A mere moment later, they spotted a pony laying on top of a bookshelf, glancing down to them. A gray earth pony mare with purple mane and tail, light blue eyes and a very dirty torn blue frock. Her expression was completely blank, almost soulless. Yet, the dark rings under her eyes gave away that she was actually very tired and exhausted. Twilight couldn’t help but flinch at her sight. Even now, after everything, she needed a moment to collect herself. The others were sitting on their chairs, looking at the intruder in big surprise, while Derpy and Fluttershy drew their weapons and stood ready to battle. Twilight got up, putting her front legs onto the table.

“How did you get in here, Maudenette Evangeline Pie?” she asked aloud, alarming everypony and causing them to instantly jump up from their seats.

“I walked through the door,” the mare replied casually.

“You have no business being here!” Luna shouted with anger written on her face, her horn starting to glow and standing ready to fight. “You should already consider yourself lucky that we have not yet decided to hunt you down, cannibal! Leave at once!”

Maud seemed unimpressed, her expression not changing even the slightest as she looked down to the group ready to pounce her should she make the wrong move.

“I haven’t harmed any of you. Neither did I harm any of your allies. On the contrary, I actually supported you all in the shadows by taking out threats when they were getting too close to your camps. I even put my own life at risk by warning you from a demon assault,” she spoke, still keeping her monotone voice. “If I wanted to, I could have killed at least one of you without any of you seeing it coming, but I didn’t. I openly revealed my presence and I come unarmed. How much more must I do to prove I’m not your enemy?”

Twilight’s expression remained being tense, but her body relaxed. She sat down on her chair and signaled the others to calm down. Luna was especially reluctant, but she as well sat down after even the reapers let their weapons disappear again. Maud took this as a signal that she could approach now and jumped down from the bookshelf. While she grabbed a chair and aimed to join them on the table, the purple mare looked around. Nopony else was present. Maud must have slipped through the door while they were being distracted with Applejack and Caramel, she figured. Before Maud sat down, Derpy and Fluttershy closely inspected her. She was telling the truth. There were no hidden weapons under her frock.

“Why are you here?” Twilight asked, her tone still a bit harsh and distrusting.

“I have no options left. There are no hiding places anymore anywhere. You are my last chance for survival. I have decided to officially join the rebellion,” the gray mare explained calmly.

Again, Luna became very tense and angry, openly showing her displeasure, even though she did not say a word. Maud immediately noticed, eyeing her up as well as the whole group while maintaining this blank expression. They all did not much care for the idea of a cannibal being amongst their allies, but Maud had been speaking the truth about her supportiveness. Not once had she ever been a threat to any member of the rebellion.

Twilight did not immediately pass any form of judgement. She allowed the tense, silent situation to be to her advantage, using the time to think. She still remembered both sides on Maud. The pony that saved her. The pony that killed and ate another pony before her eyes. The pony that smeared the blood of her victim on Twilight’s lips. The pony who explained cannibalism to her from the perspective of a cannibal. In all this time, Twilight did not get to see Maud’s face. Now that she could look at her, she saw something strangely familiar. As wicked and dangerous as Maud Pie, the last member of the Pie family may be, she was displaying an incredible amount of self-control. That monotone, calm voice. This blank, emotionless expression. She was at least as disciplined as some of Twilight’s best elder reapers.

“You said it yourself: Cannibalism is an addiction. How can we be sure you won’t suddenly turn on us?” the purple mare wanted to know, instantly getting the focus of all present for even considering to accept her.

“I don’t snap and even when I lose control, nopony gets harmed. You already know that. But yes, you are right. I am an addict and I need to eat ponies frequently. If you want to help me cope with the temptation of killing one of your allies, you will have to help me hunt your enemies. I don’t ask for much. I can go for weeks on a single cultist,” Maud spoke, taking a moment to observe the expressions of the circle members before finishing. “And so do the others.”

“The others?” Celestia inquired suddenly.

“Even I can’t eat all the cultists I killed for you. I lead a small group of highly skilled hunters who as well have no interest in joining the BloodClaw Cult. I personally trained them in self-control and close-combat. We have successfully been able to not only defeat reapers in the past, before the rebellion even began, but also managed to kill one of the cult’s own very skilled reaper hunters. I brought them here. They are currently hiding among your allies, waiting for feedback from me,” the cannibal mare explained.

“You did WHAT?!” Rarity shouted out, her voice cracking from being unable to handle such intensity anymore.

Instantly, Shining Armor got up again and stomped his front legs onto the table.

“If they kill just one rebel, I will personally make sure you and your friends are being executed. You got that?” he growled.

“They won’t. Before coming here, we gorged ourselves and stocked up. It will be at least a month before any of us will need to hunt again. More than enough time for you to make up your minds on how to handle us, I hope,” Maud assured.

“How many are you in total?” Derpy wanted to know.

“Eleven, including me. But I will not give away their identities, no matter what you do to me,” the cannibal mare responded immediately.

“So you want us to accept and protect you from the cult, as well as bringing you cultists to feed on. In return, you are offering to fight for us, which would basically give me eleven more warriors with skills equal to reapers?” Twilight summarized.

“I can offer you more: Information. While hunting in Equestria, we infiltrated some meetings of the cult and overheard some of their plans. I will tell you what I know, but only if you take us in,” Maud demanded.

“What value could this information possibly have that we should even consider accepting your terms?” Luna wanted to know, a bit more open about this now but still looking grim.

“You were planning to take back the Crystal Empire. I can serve it to you on a silver platter with this information. Something is happening within the next two months that, when you play out your cards right, will finally give you the upper hoof in this war,” the gray mare explained.

All eyes went wide again. Could it really be this simple? After receiving blow after blow and having everything taken from them, they would be getting a chance to turn things around? Just like that?

“How can we be sure you’re not just making this up?” Fluttershy wanted to know.

“I have evidence. This being the only ace up my sleeve, I double-checked to make absolutely sure,” Maud claimed.

A moment of silence followed. At this point, her offer was very tempting. Even if it turns out they couldn’t use her information, having some insight in Blueblood’s plans alone would help a lot, no matter what it is. All present kept looking at each other with thoughtful expressions, eyeing up Maud every now and then. Maud herself remained being completely calm with half closed eyes and a blank expression.

“Can we really trust you?” Twilight wondered.

“Can you afford not to?” Maud countered.

Sadly, she had a point. The rebellion may no longer be just a small group struggling to survive, but they were still in absolutely no position to make any moves. If they wanted to win against Blueblood, they needed the help. All eyes were resting on Twilight now, waiting for her. She, though, leaned back and rubbed her head shortly with closed eyes.

“I can’t make this decision alone. We need to vote on this,” she spoke, getting up again. “If you are for accepting them, raise your hoof.”

Shining Armor, Cadence, Derpy and Twilight herself raised their hooves. Rarity, Fluttershy, Celestia and Luna did not immediately choose, but kept looking at the others, each other and Maud. Celestia was too unsure about this, so her hoof remained down. Fluttershy’s distrust towards Maud was simply too big to be pushed aside so quickly, so she as well did not raise her hoof. Rarity, being completely grossed out from the idea of having active cannibals in the rebellion clearly was against this. Only Luna seemed to be wavering still. She kept on looking at Maud, trying to read her. Occasionally, her glance wandered to the ceiling. At last, she let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

“I cannot believe we are going there…” she commented as she raised her hoof.

“That’s five to three. It is decided. You and your friends are welcome in the rebellion, so long as you stick to your words,” Twilight spoke.

“Thank you. I need to tell the others, then. I will come back after that,” Maud explained and got up from her chair.

“Before you go… One last thing…” the purple mare started, causing Maud to stop walking and look at her. “What your family has done may be horrible, but having lost my own parents in this war, I know how much this hurts. Putting aside if they deserved it or not… I wanted you to know that… I’m sorry. And I’m also sorry you had to lose your last sister, too…”

“I put this long behind me, Twilight. I know now that what we did was wrong and what I am still doing is also wrong. I was brought up with the believe that eating ponies is okay as long as you don’t get caught doing it. I got hooked on pony flesh when I was still a little filly. The only reason I’m even alive today is because I left the family rock farm when I was still a teenager to pursue my own interests. My parents and my sisters were punished. One day, I know I as well will have to face punishment. Probably when Celestia is back on the throne. I just hope that by supporting you in any way I can, you will lower my punishment and let me live. Otherwise I will have to start running and hiding again and honestly, I am tired of running away,” Maud replied, completely lacking any emotion like before.

With these words, the first cannibal rebel left the meeting room. No one in the entire oasis aside of the leadership circle and the Cakes had any idea who she was. No one else had seen her face or heard her voice before and now that this deal had been sealed, the rebellion leaders would not make this secret public either, as well as ordering Carrot Cake and Cup Cake to do the same. After giving these events a moment to sink in, Rarity lifted her head.

“We have overthrown our standards with this… Did we really do the right thing?” she wondered.

“Only time can tell now. We should still be expecting of her to turn on us out of nowhere at the worst possible timing. But as for now, I believe she has done enough to prove herself,” Cadence commented.

“Judging from how she managed to sneak past us this easily and seeing how strong she is, being easily capable of tearing a full grown pony apart like it is nothing, we need to be really, really careful with her,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Maybe we should take a break. We all need to process this, I suppose,” Shining Armor requested.

With a confirming nod from all members, the meeting came to a halt with everyone leaving the room in silence.

Gray

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7TmbjCh_zKUypG2uraRg7IoPXgv90hqRZF5bBMXjcg/edit?usp=sharing

The break only lasted fifteen minutes. But those fifteen minutes were enough time for the weather to change. Fluttershy stood in front of a window inside of the stalagmite the rebellion leaders were in, watching as the beast men suddenly stopped working and gazed towards the horizon. Immediately after, they approached the rebels, seemingly talking to them. With quick but calm steps, the entire population of the oasis retreated into the stone pillars. It seemed to her as if someone gave the order for an inverse fire drill.

A storm was brewing in the distance, quickly coming towards them. A storm not made of clouds and rain, but of wind and dust. The sight made Fluttershy tense up her front legs, letting them shake. Yet, her reaction was not out of fear. This sandstorm was about to destroy every chance she might still have to recover the heart pin.

---

By the time their break came to an end, the whole group gathered back up on the way back to the meeting room. Maud as well joined them before they arrived. Celestia, as usual, kept her head hanging, her ears low and her focus to the ground. But this time, she was accompanied by Fluttershy doing the same. As they all sat back down around the table, nopony was paying attention to her. Their newest rebel still drew all the focus on her without even doing anything.

“Well, you got what you wanted. You and your friends are rebels now. Time to fulfill your part of the bargain. What is this information you have for us?” Twilight immediately wanted to know.

Maud stood perfectly still on her chair. Her face showing no expression. Her lips remaining sealed.

“You can trust us, darling. We are not the BloodClaw Cult. We won’t throw you out again straight after we got what we wanted,” Rarity assured.

Maud still did not move a muscle. It almost seemed like she had turned into stone.

“Is something wrong?” Cadence wondered.

Again, no response. Maud slowly began to tilt to the left, more and more. Then suddenly, she fell over, dropping from the chair and onto the ground. Everyone present instantly got up to check on her.

“Oh my goodness! Is she alright?” Rarity asked in worry.

“She seems to be unharmed, but she is completely out cold,” Shining Armor stated after analyzing the cannibal mare’s head for injuries.

“So even she has limits,” Twilight concluded calmly, letting her horn light up as she readied a healing spell. “It must have drained every bit of energy she had left to gather the information she needed, stock up on food, making the journey here with her group and preparing for this meeting. Let’s just give her a moment to recover.”

The leadership circle kept a close eye on Maud. Some of them more out of suspicion than concern. This still could be just a trick. Even after Twilight’s magic spread throughout her body, the last living Pie sister kept breathing slowly with her eyes closed and completely limb for almost ten minutes before her consciousness slowly returned. Right away, she tried to get back on her legs, but was shaking all over.

“Easy, easy. Take your time,” Cadence spoke in a calm, benevolent tone, using magic to let a glass of orange juice float over to the cannibal mare.

Maud had a lot of trouble lifting her front legs and securely grabbing the glass. Twilight helped her a bit, putting her own front hoof under Maud’s to stabilize her weak and shaky grasp. A gentle push up followed, bringing the rim of the glass to Maud’s lips. A few small sips followed before she stopped again.

Twilight put the glass back on the table. After breathing a few more times, Maud slowly pushed herself back on all four. Her stance was wobbly, but stable.

“Thank you… That was humiliating,” Maud spoke, still sounding completely monotone even after that.

“This better not have been just an act to make us feel sorry for you,” Luna commented a bit harshly.

The cannibal mare did not respond. Instead of trying to justify herself, she simply reached into the collar of her frock and pulled out a small stack of photographs.

“The evidence, as promised,” she stated.

Twilight’s horn started glowing again. The photos lifted off from Maud’s hoof and hovered in front of the purple mare. These pictures were displaying several up close sections of the same open scroll, the seal of the BloodClaw Cult on it. Twilight recognized the signature at the bottom.

“It’s a letter from Blueblood. He is hosting a meeting in Canterlot and wants Sombra to be present,” the purple mare explained.

“That is all? Photos of a letter?” Rarity wondered, already looking disappointed and angry.

“Wait, Rarity. This is actually more valuable than it seems,” Cadence stated quickly, then turned her focus to Twilight. “Does it state a clear date?”

“Yes. It’s in exactly fifty five days,” Twilight replied, lifting her head again to look at Maud. “How did you get your hooves on that?”

“We used to be twelve. One of us sacrificed himself to create a distraction so we could sneak into a sanctuary. None of the cultists even knew we were there and saw the letter,” the cannibal mare explained, still not showing any emotion.

“Well, I don’t get it. How does this help us at all?” Derpy wanted to know.

“Knowing Blueblood, he won’t take kindly to a ‘no’ from Sombra. He has no choice. He has to come and by doing so leave the protection of the Crystal Empire,” Shining Armor started while rubbing his chin in thought. “At this time of the year, the rails connecting to the Crystal Empire are completely buried under a thick layer of snow. Even if the cultists would clear them out, the rails have fallen under disrepair during the time we prepared for the Red Day. They won’t be able to fix them in time. The weather will leave Sombra no choice but to travel on hoof or by carriage and there are only so many paths he can choose. Of course, he will be heavily guarded. But he would still be out in the open and vulnerable for the very first time.”

“A chance to cut off the snake’s head,” Luna continued. “Sombra is the one overcharging the Crystal Heart. If he goes down, not only will whatever they are planning be stopped, but the crystal ponies will also be freed from his control. If we act very quickly after that, the demons won’t have enough time to organize. We would be able to drive them out of the Crystal Empire and reclaim it.”

“You were telling the truth, Maud Pie. This could potentially be the turning point of the war. Reclaiming an entire empire from Blueblood would send out a powerful message. We would reignite the fight globally and if we can manage to organize with the remaining nations, we can force Blueblood to disperse his demons so thinly, his line of defence would break. We finally would be able to take the world back, piece by piece,” Twilight summarized.

Again, Maud hardly reacted. Though she seemed to recover now. Twilight couldn’t even imagine how she could have possibly managed to do all this. Twilight herself would have to rely on her arcane magic a lot and would still certainly be spotted. Maud risked everything and lost friends, just to bring this information to the circle, just to protect the rest of her group and herself. This strongly reminded Twilight of herself and how she valued her own friends. Of course, there was a good chance her main motivation may just be selfishness and trying to save her own hide. Perhaps she just used the other cannibals to get to this point. She definitely could not have pulled this off on her own. But if that was the case, she wouldn’t have needed to bring them here. She may not be able to show it, but she does care about them and she has gone way out of her way to protect them.

“As I said: Play out your cards right and this war will turn around,” the cannibal mare commented suddenly.

“This is truly useful information. We will honor our arrangement. You and your friends are accepted as rebels and free to stay,” Luna stated.

“This means a lot to me. Thank you. I will go look for a doctor now,” Maud replied.

“Do you need somepony to help you get about?” Shining Armor wanted to know.

“No. I can manage,” Maud replied shortly.

Without saying another word, the cannibal rebel slowly left the room, closing the door behind her. For the rest of the meeting, the ponies were not sure how to feel. A lot has happened now in a very short amount of time. Things needed to be organized. They only had about half a month before the rebellion needed to be ready to move out for the assault on Sombra. Fluttershy, though, did not care about any words spoken in the circle. Her gaze was glued to the window, watching as the strong gusts dispersed particles all over the wastelands.

“My gosh, the weather is terrible,” Derpy commented.

---

When the storm was over, the entire oasis was covered in a blanket of dust and sand. The beast men just casually started clearing out the paths again, seemingly dealing with this on a frequent basis. Straight away, the rest of the rebellion joined in, every species using their talents to get the work done much, much faster. The reapers, as usual, stood guard and watched over the headquarters and the individual rebels roaming around.

All except of Fluttershy. Once again, she was out alone in the wastes, her behavior constantly switching. One moment, her gaze was rapidly darting all around. The next, she started staring intensely at a specific spot for several seconds. Then, she rapidly flew across the small, freshly formed dunes. After that, she slowed down a lot and began to hover. The only thing that remained consistent was the increasing pace in which she dug through the new layers. From carefully scraping the surface, her digging turned more and more into a wild act of tossing dirt all around. As the hours passed, her movements became more and more frantic. But as the sun began to set in the distance, she finally stopped. Fluttershy just sat down, gazing at the horizon for a moment with black tears running down her cheeks. It was lost. The heart pin was irreversibly lost.

The yellow reaper mare soon got up again and started walking back towards the oasis which the rebellion now called its home. Her steps were slow, her head hanging down and her eyes closed. As if sleepwalking, she returned without caring about how much time would pass.

---

Days went by, all uneventful. Fluttershy had never felt this numb before, even as a reaper. She went through her daily routines like a machine, not speaking, not listening, not thinking. She didn’t even realize when others were greeting her anymore. From her perspective, all the people around her had turned into shadows, just passing her left and right as she walked. It eventually became so bad that she hardly even reacted to her own friends anymore. With each day she refused to talk passing by, their worries increased. But Fluttershy didn’t see it. She didn’t hear it… She didn’t feel it.

Emptiness. A void was rapidly expanding in the yellow mare, consuming her thoughts and memories. But as the world around her began to fade more and more to black, her mind locked onto a singular image left in her: Obsidian’s smile.

As the days proceeded and the rebellion started preparing for the assault, the memory of Obsidian Shards smiling at her was constantly in front of her. She held onto it with everything she had, but to no avail. Gradually, the image slipped away. She started forgetting where the individual, varyingly long streaks of mane on his head were. She started forgetting how many scars he had and what they looked like. At some point, she even had to remind herself that he had two differently colored eyes.

Fluttershy had reached the end. Nothing existed around her anymore. She could be in a large crowd and would be unable to perceive anyone. Having reached such a point of carelessness, she forgot she was supposed to attend another meeting of the leadership circle. Instead, she spent the night on top of a dune outside of the oasis. She couldn’t even discern the dune anymore or the moon she seemed to be staring at. She was locked into her own mind, which consisted of nothing but void.

Not able to hear her name being called, it needed a harsher approach to free her. A slight nudge on Fluttershy’s back finally caused her to react. Heavily so. Out of pure reflex, she summoned her scythe and swung it. A sharp clashing sound followed as it collided against another scythe: Derpy’s.

Fortunately, the gray mare assumed she might react like this. All of her friends had come to check on her and even though some had shock written in their faces over the fact she lashed out so automatically, none of them were harmed.

“Sugarcube… We’re…”

That, already, was all the yellow reaper mare could hear before she started drifting away again. She still had her weapon drawn and stuck against Derpy’s when her focus slowly lowered back to the ground.

Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. She hated her friend being stuck like that. Having been so busy during these difficult times, she blamed herself for not having seen her suffering or reacting to it sooner. So she approached.

Derpy immediately lowered her weapon as the purple mare grabbed her friend’s shoulders and looked her deep into the eyes. This gesture sparked a faint memory in Fluttershy. Obsidian used to do the same thing with her whenever he was getting concerned. In Fluttershy’s eyes, Twilight even had the same exact expression. This caused the yellow mare’s eyes to widen, her scythe to drop to the ground and her focus to return.

“Please… Talk to me,” Twilight begged with sadness in her voice. “We know you are struggling way more than usual, lately. I need you to come back to your senses. Not just because we need you, but because we care for you.”

“What’s the point…” Fluttershy replied, her first words in over a day.

“Well, aside of all of us worrying about you, we have an assault to plan! Whatever is going on with you lately, you are still a reaper! What about your duties? You are usually so strong and focused…” Derpy commented.

“I don’t think we should do this,” the yellow mare stated briefly.

“Why not, darling? This seems like the perfect opportunity to move forward,” Rarity wanted to know.

“It won’t succeed… Nothing we ever did succeeded. After all we have seen of what Blueblood can do, what the demons can do, what the cult can do… How can you still believe we even remotely stand a chance? We tried so hard and we still couldn’t prevent most of the world from being conquered and millions from being killed. It is pointless…” Fluttershy insisted, turning her focus away from Twilight.

A brief moment of silence followed. Hearing her say these words was even more shocking than her actions. She never once doubted the cause of the rebellion. She never once tried to stop Twilight from doing what she thought was the right thing to do. What changed? How could she have suddenly become so negative? Twilight felt like she needed to reassure her.

“Even if it is impossible. Even if we all die during this. Don’t you think we owe it to the world that we at least try?” the purple mare wondered.

“I think I have given the world already more than enough without getting anything in return…” the yellow mare spoke shortly.

A second moment of silence followed. Fluttershy had always been depressed since Obsidian Shards died. That never was a secret to anypony. But even though she was still struggling with her loss to this very day, she never stopped. Something kept her going. Was it maybe just Twilight’s determination to end this war that she could latch on to? Probably not, the purple mare thought. Otherwise, this very moment would not be happening. It was Applejack who first figured out the problem, immediately taking off her hat.

“Sugarcube…” was all she said to gain Fluttershy’s attention.

“Yes?” the yellow mare replied.

“Your pin… It’s gone, ain’t it?” Applejack wondered, now causing everypony else to notice.

Fluttershy gave no response. After a few seconds, Twilight could feel something liquid rolling down along her hooves. A mere moment later, black tear trails formed next to the reaper mare’s chin.

Sorrowful silence was hanging in the air of this dreary wasteland. Twilight pulled her friend closer and embraced her. Fluttershy did not react to this at all. The others were now coming closer as well, condolence written in their expressions. Only Celestia did not dare to approach, being so directly involved in the demise of Fluttershy’s lover. How could they not have noticed this sooner? How could they forget? Those were questions all of Fluttershy’s friends were wondering now.

It may seem like just a small thing to others, but all those closest to the yellow mare understood just how tragic the loss of the heart pin was to her. Like Maud, a reaper is incapable of expressing their internal processes. Additionally, any feelings are being subdued to near non-existence due to the reaper curse. But even without these abilities, to feel and to express, if one knew a reaper for long enough, one would still be able to read them.

They all understood why she was isolating herself so much now and why she disagreed to the assault plan. Fluttershy was wrecked. The pin was everything she had left, everything that kept her connected with the love she lost so long ago. All along, it where her memories that caused her to keep moving. Now that the pin was gone, so was everything that reminded her of why she still continued to fight. Fluttershy couldn’t go forward anymore. She had given up. Twilight loosened the embrace again to look her friend into the eyes.

“I know I say this a lot, but… We can do this. We can still change things. If we just try hard enough, there will be a better future,” the purple mare started again, trying to stay as calm as possible.

“You just don’t understand it, Twilight,” Fluttershy disagreed, gently pushing her friend away. “There is no future. Maybe you are right about the assault and the entire rebellion for that matter… Maybe you all have a future… But I don’t. I just don’t and I have to finally learn to accept that fact. You know… Now that I am at this point, I finally understand what Obsidian must have gone through. I am a reaper now, not the pegasus you once knew from years back. The whole rest of my life will be nothing but ending the lives of ponies. That is the sole purpose of my existence… That is what I have agreed to when I… When I killed Obsidian with my very own hooves. The moment he gave his last breath, I lost every chance to ever live a normal life ever again. That is the burden I have to carry. I thought I could handle it. But I can’t… What is there left for me?”

“We are still left, Fluttershy,” Cadence interjected quickly in an attempt to cheer her back up. “You still have so many friends left and you keep making new ones, even as a reaper.”

“Cadence… You were immortal once yourself, don’t you remember? How many times did you have to see your friends grow old and die? All of you are growing older. All of you are past the peak of your youth by now. All… except for me. The curse won’t let me age anymore. I am going to outlive all of you in just a few short years. I am forced to see you all grow old and die. But that will only be the beginning. Even after all of you are long gone… Even after everypony I’ve ever known has passed away… I still won’t have been a reaper for more than sixty years. Once all of you are dead, I still have to keep going for centuries. I will be all alone… Lost forever… I will have nothing anymore and nopony has the power to change this… I can’t do this. I can’t do it anymore,” Fluttershy disagreed, her tears flowing stronger now.

All of her friends were speechless. No matter what they would say, no matter how much they would try to make her live in the moment and not care about the future, they all knew it would be in vain. Applejack now began to cry now as well, unable to handle the intense sorrow Fluttershy was carrying and being unable to help her deal with it. Rarity, too, showed an expression of grief. But like before, she had no tears left in her dried up body. Celestia stood behind, only accompanied by her sister to give her support. Once more, guilt was consuming the former ruler of Equestria. How could she have done this to such a sweet and sensitive young mare? How could she have destroyed her life so coldly? It didn’t matter that this was her choice and could not be avoided by any means. Celestia still could not believe how every single action she ever took caused nothing but tremendous suffering for everypony around her.

Fluttershy’s focus lowered to the ground. A tiny black puddle had formed beneath her with a small stream flowing off to the side, near her scythe. Her focus now locked onto the weapon. Twilight noticed and she immediately understood what was going through her friend’s head now, causing tears to form in her eyes.

“I said this to Applejack back then and I will say it to you as well: Please don’t do it. We will miss you and you would leave behind a void in our hearts that cannot be filled…” the purple mare spoke, shaking a bit at the thought of losing yet another very dear friend.

Eyes went wide again as her words sank in and the others now came to understand as well that Fluttershy was considering suicide at this very moment. Derpy, Shining Armor and Applejack instantly aimed for the tool of death, trying to get it out of the yellow mare’s reach. Yet, contrary to what Twilight just said, she raised her hoof to tell them to stop.

“I don’t want this to happen and I guess everypony here as well would hate to see you go. But in the end, it is not our decision. I will treat this the same way I treated AJ’s suicidal thoughts. What right do we have to tell our friends to keep living against their will or to deny them death if they wished for it? We can talk, but it is not our place to interfere by force,” the purple mare explained, now starting to cry as well.

Her friends understood, but still needed to force themselves to keep a respectful distance. All of Fluttershy’s old friends were now crying and even Derpy seemed to be struggling to hold it together. The yellow mare kept on staring at the scythe for several minutes. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, her thoughts were running again. She carefully considered her options, trying to judge the consequences either decision would bring.

But suddenly, before she even formed the thought to reach for her scythe, another hoof placed itself on the handle. A gray one, yet it did not belong to Derpy. Fluttershy’s ears perked up again, Twilight showing the same reaction. But aside of them, no one else seemed to notice.

“Twilight… It is here again,” the yellow mare commented.

“I know… I can feel it,” her friend replied immediately.

Rarity, Applejack, Cadence, Celestia, Shining Armor, Derpy and Luna gained confused expressions, looking around in search for whatever they were talking about.

“What do you two mean?” Luna wanted to know.

“I’m surprised, myself,” Twilight stated, calming down again due to the distraction. “It didn’t show up for several years now. I thought it just disappeared for good.”

“Wait… You can’t possibly mean this creature that kept following Fluttershy during our investigations on the BloodClaw Cult way back in the day, can you?” Rarity wanted to know.

“The same exact,” Fluttershy confirmed, still watching at this strange, nearly unexplainable being that seemed to look straight at her.

Like before, the gray figure seemed to be invisible to everyone but Fluttershy. Even Twilight could only guess where it was standing. But unlike any previous time, it did not disappear after being noticed. This time, it remained, constantly looking at Fluttershy while leaving its front hoof on the scythe.

“That can’t be a coincidence,” Applejack concluded, looking roughly to the same spot both Twilight and Fluttershy were looking. “It reappeared at this very moment, of all?”

“It’s not leaving this time,” Twilight analyzed. “Maybe it wants to-”

The purple mare suddenly let out a gasp and her eyes widened. A shudder wandered down her back. While the rest of her friends were getting concerned, Fluttershy noticed that the being’s focus had shifted from her to the purple mare.

“It is looking at me! I can definitely feel that!” she announced.

While most were confused, both Twilight and Fluttershy seemed to remain calm. The yellow mare observed as the figure stepped down from her scythe and approached Twilight. She clearly felt the presence of it getting closer and closer, showing it by her body language as she was slightly shifting backwards, fearing it would walk right into her. But the figure stopped again, several steps in front of her. Twilight stared into the nothingness, pondering upon its behavior.

“Do you have any idea what it wants?” Shining Armor wondered.

“I have an idea…” Twilight replied, now starting to focus and letting her horn light up. “Whatever you are, I’m not going to hurt you. You clearly want something and I believe by turning you visible, you will have it easier to communicate with us.”

The magical aura formed in the air directly in front of Twilight, seemingly trying to form around the gray figure. Yet, being unable to precisely make out where it is, the magic only wrapped itself around air. The gray figure itself remained in place, watching as the magic came searching for it. Before long, Twilight felt her magic brush against the being and was finally able to locate it. As the aura wrapped itself around the being and gradually seeped in, it remained perfectly still, just waiting for her to finish casting the spell. Little by little, the creature that had been invisible for so long to almost everyone lost more and more of its transparency, until it became fully visible. Astonishment could be seen in the faces of all ponies. Some doubted it truly existed until now. But there it was, entirely gray and almost glowing with a strange radiance.

The figure started looking around between the ponies. It still did not give off any noise and even though the being was visible now, it still was very difficult to comprehend. Its shape seemed more like a blurry silhouette, diffused by several sources of light at once. There definitely were hooves and a head. But the rest was just too unclear.

Most were very curious about this strange creature. But Fluttershy, being the one who had been stalked by it, was the most intrigued. The spell made the figure more clear to her as well and she started walking around it, as if sensing something familiar about it. Twilight decided to come closer, hesitantly lifting a front hoof in attempt to touch it. The gray figure just remained standing still, watching as the hoof passed right through it like going through smoke. The feeling was very strange, slightly startling Twilight and causing her to take a few steps back.

Fluttershy kept on circling very close to this immaterial being. Along with her, everyone else kept analyzing closely, trying to understand what they were seeing. They could make out several more features under close inspection. A horn… and wings? An alicorn made of smoke? As Fluttershy came in front of it, the figure turned its head back to her. She closely looked at what seemed to be the face. The longer she looked, the more she noticed outlines. A mane. Long and irregular streaks of hair.

The yellow mare froze in place, her eyes growing wide. Worried, the others kept their focus jumping between the figure and their friend. A slight gasp followed and they all now gained expressions of disbelief.

“No… This can’t be… How…” Fluttershy stammered.

She decided to step even closer. Again, the figure refused to back away or disappear. Standing directly in front of it, she could make out the eyes. One had a slightly different shade than the other. As soon as she noticed that, her eyes widened even more, her mouth fell open and she backed away, needing several seconds to process.

“Obsidian?” she asked eventually.

Finally, the gray figure gave a response. It nodded.

Speechless silence followed. For nearly a minute, they all just stared. This was unbelievably difficult for almost everyone to understand. It seemed like only Twilight could keep up at least some form of composure.

Fluttershy’s eyes were locked onto Obsidian’s face. The more she watched, the more scars she could make out. She just couldn’t believe it. This went beyond her capabilities to understand. But she wasn’t the only one.

“How is this possible? Is… Is he a ghost?” Rarity wondered, frequently rubbing her dull eyes, thinking they were playing tricks on her.

“No. Ghosts do not exist,” Twilight replied instantly, her sadness increasing again as she spoke. “That in front of us isn’t exactly Obsidian Shards either. I finally get it now. It is a spirit.”

“A spirit?” Applejack wondered shortly.

“Yes. Roho Maua, the spirit sage from the Zebra Tribal Lands, taught me about them. They are created by a disruption in the flow of magic to try to bring it back to balance…” the purple mare spoke, stopping for a moment so sniffle. “I knew it felt familiar. The flow of magic around it distorts into chaos. This thing… These disturbances… I don’t know how or why, but I am convinced without a doubt that it once used to be Discord. It feels the same exact way, just far, far weaker. I really can’t explain it. All I can assume is that during some point in his life, Obsidian somehow must have come in contact with Discord’s magic, which caused this new spirit to form. Seeing how much it focused on Fluttershy all this time and tried to help, I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually believes itself to be Obsidian Shards… At the very least, it does seem to have his memories…”

More time was needed to process this discovery after Twilight finished speaking. Now that they understood what it was supposed to be, they all understood the appearance much better. Looking at this being brought back many memories of their dead friend, which once again caused tears to form in the eyes of all those who were the closest to him.

Fluttershy still stood there, staring with wide open eyes and mouth. She thought she had forgotten everything. She started believing her past life never even happened, that she had always been a reaper. But just looking at this… spirit Obsidian… the memories came back. But along with remembering what used to be, she also remembered all the things she lost. It overwhelmed her, forcing her to sit down as she rapidly spiraled into an even deeper state of depression.

“Why… Why is this happening right now? Why do I have to see him like this? This is too much… I can’t take it…” Fluttershy started speaking, lowering her focus to the ground. “I… I miss him so much. I have never missed anypony so much in my entire life… Without Obsidian… there is no point in going on anymore…”

Something started boiling inside of the yellow mare, growing more and more intense. None of her friends knew what to say or do. This scene was just too overwhelming. They all had to really fight to keep it together at this point. Suddenly, whatever Fluttershy was going through right now seemed to be bursting out of her. She instantly broke out in tears again and for the first time in years, she displayed an expression. She frowned, her eyebrows raising, her ears dropping. She now was openly showing her pain.

“I can’t do it! I can’t take it anymore!” she began to shout, looking up to the spirit again. “I miss you! I miss you so very much, Obsidian! It is driving me crazy! My life has no point anymore without you! Everything is just a deep, black pit of suffering! Every single day, I keep going in circles and can’t find a way out! Not without you…”

After almost a decade of the reaper curse forcefully subduing Fluttershy’s emotions, they finally bursted out of her. Everything that was pent up in her for so long just came out in one enormous emotional outburst. None of her friends could ever recall an instance where she had been crying this heavily. Fluttershy was going through a complete breakdown from seeing Obsidian as a ghost. She just couldn’t bare looking at him, covering her eyes as she sobbed heavily.

“No… Oh please no… Oh my love… Why… Why did you have to die… Why…” was all she could say now as she almost cowered on the ground.

The spirit finally moved. It approached Fluttershy and wrapped its front legs around her, seemingly trying to hug her. It was a heartbreaking sight to her friends. A being that looked like the ghost of her beloved stallion was trying to comfort her over his own death. They all felt her pain, causing them to cry along with her. She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve this one bit.

The spirit began to caress Fluttershy’s head slowly in an attempt to soothe her. It wasn’t entirely clear if she could feel this or not, since her behavior did not change. Like this, everyone present just remained in place for several minutes, overwhelmed by sadness and incapable of acting. Fluttershy still kept crying like never before in her life, staining large parts of her coat with black tears.

Eventually, as time passed, the yellow mare began to calm down again. Her front hooves moved away from her eyes and lowered to the ground again. The spirit now moved anew, letting go of the yellow mare and placing his left front hoof under her chin. This time, she definitely felt it, because she raised her head in response.

It was a scene that happened several times during their relationship before. As a symbol of affection, Obsidian would gently hold her head like this and smile at her with the warmest expression she had ever seen. Her heart used to race and her cheeks used to turn red whenever this happened. Now, it was happening again and although the situation was very different this time, it still worked. It calmed her down again, just looking at this ghostly face smiling at her, full of benevolence.

After a few moments, the spirit let go again and moved next to Fluttershy. It lifted its right front leg and took a step. Fluttershy observed this, not understanding what this meant. Then, the spirit took another step, looking at the yellow mare after it finished. Somehow, it seemed like it wanted her to mimic. So she did. Fluttershy slowly got up and took a step forward. As a response, the spirit took another step, which Fluttershy again mimicked.

Step by step, they both went forward. The spirit just keep looking ahead, but Fluttershy observed it carefully, trying to figure out what this meant. It took a moment, but she eventually stopped again as she understood.

“You… want me to keep going? Is this why you appeared? Is that why you are following me?” she wondered.

The spirit turned around and nodded in response. This caused the yellow mare to start thinking, lowering her focus again.

“All this time… Every time you appeared, it was when I was stuck in one way or another… You have been doing all this because you wanted me to move on?” she wanted to know, raising her head again after she finished speaking.

The spirit nodded in response. Fluttershy just wasn’t sure what to make out of all this. If this really was Obsidian or just some spirit thinking it is Obsidian. But what truly surprised her was how much of an impact this message had on her.

Her friend mattered to Fluttershy. There was no doubt about that. But no matter what they would have said to her, it just wouldn’t have been enough to convince her. Yet… having this spirit wanting her to move on… Even if it wasn’t Obsidian, it had his memories. It acted like him. Maybe, in a sense, it was a way for him to pass along a message even after his death, kind of like a last will. No words in the world would have changed Fluttershy’s mind. But this message consisted of no words and it came from the stallion she cared for the most. None of her friends would have been able to save Fluttershy. It really did need Obsidian.

“You have been so good to me… You have taught and given me so much… And all you ever wanted in return was seeing me grow strong and happy… I wouldn’t stand here today if it weren’t for you. Without all you have given me, I would have died long ago… And even now that you are dead, you still only want to see me strong and happy…” she spoke thoughtfully.

Her friends were still crying a bit, even though the yellow mare caught herself again. They also remained silent, just letting this moment happen. This spirit… It somehow was helping Fluttershy. Where all their words failed, its silence worked. Fluttershy took a moment to think again, slowly sitting back down to the ground.

“I still remember everything you said to me on your last day… You said there will still be many happy moments for me and that I perhaps will one day find a stallion whom I will start a family with… Even though that is impossible now, you wanted me to move on from the very beginning… You didn’t want me to remain stuck mourning over you…” she contemplated, sunken in thought and memory.

The spirit remained standing in front of Fluttershy, looking at her as her focus moved up to meet the glance.

“When you taught me about darkness, you wanted me to believe and trust in it. Now I have to do the same thing again. I have to believe that there will be a better future, even for me… and I have to trust into my own strength being all I need to keep walking, even without you,” Fluttershy concluded.

Again, the spirit nodded. The yellow mare looked around for a moment, then noticed the expressions of her friends. They were so sad. So many tears were shed over her. She… felt sorry for them. This wasn’t what she wanted. She didn’t want to pass her suffering on to those dear to her. Now, Fluttershy lowered her glance again.

“I let you down, my love… I’m sorry… I let myself drown in the belief that I can’t live without you. But you wanted me to be strong on my own all along. You were always so wise… Why should I ever doubt you? Even now…” she spoke.

The spirit smiled at her warmly as it approached, stopping just in front of her again. It lowered its head to her level to look her into the eyes. Fluttershy returned the glance for a moment before she closed her eyes and moved her head forward, trying to lean her forehead against that of the spirit. It accepted this gesture and as well closed its eyes. Fluttershy’s head slightly passed through its form, but neither one of them seemed to care. After taking this last bit of intimacy and comfort from the being that had followed her for so long, Fluttershy got up again, once more looking at it with a sad expression.

“But if you truly want me to move on… You have to go. If my past keeps haunting me like this, I won't be able to continue… So please… go…” the yellow mare requested, her voice giving away how hard it was for her.

The smile on the spirit’s face widened even more, as if this was exactly what it wanted to hear. One last time, it turned to face the entire group. Then, like Obsidian used to do so many times before, it bowed down to them. Especially Twilight was very touched by this gesture, her breath quivering for a moment and a few tears rolling down her cheeks while she couldn’t decide if she should smile or frown.

As the spirit got up again, it started fading. Twilight could feel that it wasn’t just turning invisible again, but entirely faded from existence. This was all it ever aimed for, it seemed. After just a few moments, it was entirely gone, having disappeared with a content smile.

“I will forever love you, Obsidian. I will never forget you…” Fluttershy whispered one final time, starting to cry again a little.

“And neither will we,” Twilight assured calmly.

With this tragic scene being over, all of Fluttershy’s friends approached the yellow mare, placing a front hoof each on her back to symbolize their support. Then, she turned around to them. She was still crying. But for the first time in ages, she was smiling again. This must have been such an enormous weight taken off from her shoulders, they all came to think. Only now did they realize that the Fluttershy they have been with for years now wasn’t the one they knew. This smile made it clear without a doubt: The real Fluttershy was finally back.

Celestia as well was still crying, yet smiling at the same time. Seeing Fluttershy recover despite the things she had been through gave her hope again. For once, one of her actions didn’t ultimately end in nothing but suffering. A thought that comforted her and finally gave her, as well, some newfound strength and confidence.

Wrath

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rj8rMLBa2M9VXjZ6m0Bz53gwO4NTnFsUqLPsJcD6h2U/edit?usp=sharing

The time had come for the rebellion to move out again. Their stay in the oasis of the beast men was much shorter than many would have liked. Yet, this single month they had been here was enough for the rebellion to grow to an impressive army again, now consisting mostly of the beast men. It was a grand and slightly terrifying thing for almost every last one of them to abandon their home and travel into the unknown, not usually leaving their acquainted territories. But since Scorpan was personally partaking in this assault and leading the beast men, it felt more like the biggest adventure their species had ever undertaken. Should this succeed, it would change everything. A chance for all of them to not only help in reclaiming the world, but also making up for their idleness which ended up costing so many lives.

But not only the beast men were in high spirits. Fluttershy recovered well from her final encounter with the spirit. She came to the conclusion to keep living and pushing forward, to prove to Obsidian and herself that she could stand on her own. She now was smiling frequently again and seemed to have become even stronger from the experience. All this positive energy also seemed to affect Celestia, as she completely stopped hanging her head and for the first time in almost a year was showing determination again. A large army, a giant beast man capable of wielding enormous magical power, a unicorn capable of using arcane magic and everyone in solid belief that they will succeed. The conditions could not be better.

At last, the carriages were stocked with food, water, medical supplies and useful items. The rebels were geared up and the weapons sharpened. The sound of a horn filling the oasis finally announced the departure of the rebellion. It was time to return the favor of having experienced The Red Day by making Sombra go through the same thing.

The plan was fully fleshed out. Since it was very likely that the Underworld League would be guarding Sombra, the leadership circle as well as Scorpan and a large mixed troop of heavily armed rebels would be directly involved in taking him down. The entire rest of the rebellion would wait in close proximity to the Crystal Empire, waiting for the tall walls of dark crystal to disappear with Sombra’s fall before giving up their covers and charging inside. As soon as the crystal king would fall, the crystal ponies would be freed and would certainly join the fight straight away. A small group of the most trustworthy rebels were tasked to charge through the battlefield while carrying the Elements of Harmony and the replica of the Element of Magic. They are to aim straight for the Crystal Heart, rejoin it with the elements and send out another blast to eradicate every last demon remaining. Though it was clear that there was probably only one last shot remaining. The replica was heavily cracked by now and would not be able to handle much more before shattering. But should this succeed, not only would the rebellion have its old headquarters back, but they would also deliver a heavy blow to Blueblood’s armies.

From now on, time was the most important aspect to keep in mind. From the moment Sombra would die, everything had to be arranged extremely fast. Reclaiming the Crystal Empire, communicating with other nations and empires, arranging a global counterattack, infiltrating Blueblood’s lines of defence, exploiting weaknesses in his strategies, pushing the demons back, eradicating every cultist standing in the way, assaulting from as many angles as possible, creating a passage to Canterlot Castle and ultimately taking down Blueblood himself. Once Sombra would die, this all had to be done within just a few weeks before he or the demons would find a way to stop them. The calculations made it clear that this was, in fact, possible, just very difficult to pull off fast enough. Should they do it, this would go down in history as the most monumental cooperative task to end a tyranny this world had ever seen. Such glory was particularly thrilling for the various warrior species in the rebellion, further improving the already great mood.

So they left. Thousands of steps at once tossed up dust around them, leaving behind a trail on their passing. Dragons following in the sky, Diamond Dogs underground, Minotaurs to the left, zebras to the right and at the very end marched Scorpan, the living tower of this army. By now, little Amber had adapted well to her new life as a reaper. It seemed like the reaper curse actually helped her overcome her intense fear of ponies and she frequently sought out the leadership circle to help with her predictions. Ahead of them lay a long journey and the young clairvoyant assured them that they would arrive in time. Yet, there would be no time to set up traps or wait to ambush their enemy, especially not with Scorpan’s size. No, they had to fully utilize the element of surprise. A short, yet completely devastating assault, done in less than half an hour. But Amber could not clearly predict the outcome of this battle. Despite being trained and having her skills refined, this still seemed to difficult for her to pinpoint exactly.

But for now, they had to walk. Long, long hours of marching, getting closer to the borders of the giant tumor known as Equestria step by step. Their journey brought them back to the very woods the rebellion was stuck in for what felt like a century. Just this time, they would go around it. Some eyes belonging to the older rebels stared at the twisty woods as they passed, memories filling their minds. Never again would they let themselves get stuck like that.

---

For several weeks, the rebellion was now marching through the lands, trying to avoid open roads and populations as far as possible, killing off any cultist they could find roaming outside of the borders of Equestria, consuming every demon that would threaten to expose their plans. Maud once again proved her usefulness and reliability as she tightly cooperated with the reapers and often found potential enemies even sooner than them. But although she tried her best to be only seen as a support, she still was dangerous. At times, traces of blood could be seen on her face, indicating that she had been feeding on a being they did not know of and could either be a cultist, ideally, or an innocent bystander.

Having to be constantly on the lookout once again was incredibly tiresome to Twilight. She noticed that Scorpan had been keeping an eye on her, looking at her with a worried expression. Eventually, he decided to cast a levitation spell, picking her up and placing her on his hand in order to carry her for some time.

“We are both beings of enormous magical capability. Yet, you look so much more exhausted than I am. I know you have been through a lot, but this still worries me,” he spoke gently.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Scorpan. It’s just that I already had been through enough sneaking and wandering for a lifetime. Hopefully, after this, there will only be two major journeys left: One to the Crystal Empire and the final one back home to Equestria, to take down Blueblood and reclaim my homeland,” Twilight assured.

“I know you have medical issues. I hoped we would have been able to help you more. This is a game changer, after all. We need to be in the best possible condition,” the giant gargoyle whispered, looking away in remorse.

“There is nothing you could do about this. While it might actually be possible to heal me through the use of intense magic, the world really can’t handle this right now. Also, don’t get me wrong. The month in the oasis was great. I really, really needed that break. Yet, it also made me almost forget of the hardships I had to endure previously. Now, the memories are just all too present again,” the purple mare explained.

“I can only imagine how tired you must be from all this fighting. I, as well, have been through a lot of battles, but nothing quite as big as this,” Scorpan commented.

“Honestly, as bad as this may sound, but… I have gotten so used to fighting for my life, it has become a part of me. I hardly even know it any different anymore at this point. This may also sound silly, but what really exhausts me the most is all this wandering. A short conflict during which I mostly rely on my magic, I can handle. But these hours and hours of walking… If only I could at least distract myself with a book. I guess I’m just starting to feel old, because all I’m looking forward to all day long is the moment when we can finally stop and take a rest,” the purple mare mumbled as she laid down.

This seemed to be pretty funny to Scorpan, because he started smiling widely and chuckled a bit.

“You are not that old, Miss Sparkle. Although, I must admit. You will make a fine elderly librarian one day,” he spoke almost teasingly.

“Oh shush, you flatterer! But it’s funny you pointed it out like that. Did you know I used to live in a library?” Twilight replied, making a little gesture with her left front hoof.

“Somehow, that does not surprise me,” Scorpan stated, his voice almost slipping into a laugh and covering his mouth with his free hand.

“I know, I know. I’m easy to ‘read’, am I not?” Twilight commented jokingly with a sly look on her face.

This situation may not have been this funny to all others listening and observing. But it seemed like these two just clicked. After a month of cooperation, they had actually become quite close. Twilight and Scorpan both had the same opinion on many topics, had a similar sense of humor and even shared a very similar sense of moral. This made them work together so well that Scorpan needed a few moments, trying to suppress a laughter before he could speak again.

“Oh, we should have met so much sooner, Miss Sparkle. You are a delight. I surely do hope we stay in close contact after everything is over,” he requested.

“You can bet on that! But don’t get your hopes up. I’m not interested in marrying a being that is a whole lot older than me and is going to outlive me,” Twilight spoke jokingly.

“I guess I deserved a little payback,” the giant gargoyle replied, again chuckling a bit.

Like this, they both kept talking and joking around for the rest of the day, causing even some of the rebels to snicker. This made the time fly by a whole lot faster and the sun soon began to set. Only able to stop for sleep and immediately having to start walking again on the next morning, there was no time to set up tents and fires. Laying down into the grass would have to suffice. This night again, Twilight laid her head down into the greens. The aroma of the grass seemed familiar to her. Having traveled to so many places across the world, she realized that the smell of grass heavily varied depending on where she was. But now, as they were aiming for Sombra, she realized that the grass smelled more and more of home the farther they traveled. It was comforting the weary unicorn, quickly putting her to sleep.

---

The first rays of light woke the purple mare from her slumber. After stretching herself shortly, she found it surprising how well her body could handle constantly sleeping on the ground for weeks, as she was feeling no aches at all. The other members of the leadership circle were already awake, coming together to discuss their progress. Even though they were out in the open, they still made sure to confirm identities whenever someone joined them.

“Gala,” Celestia spoke shortly.

“Chaos,” Twilight replied, still looking a bit sleepy and giving off a big yawn before sitting down and analyzing a map they had spread out in the middle. “Where are we currently?”

“It is rather insane, but we have passed through Equestria’s current borders yesterday. We are about two weeks away from Appleloosa and will soon have to choose which way we go. Do we go west along the Ghastly Gorge, through Everfree Forest and past Cloudsdale? Or should we go east towards Dodge Junction, then north through Foal Mountain and past the Neighagra Falls?” Luna wondered.

“Didn’t we talk about this already? Both routes get us way too close to Canterlot. We need to play it safe if we want to avoid Scorpan from being seen. We need to aim for White Tail Woods, then north through the Unicorn Range and then make a curve around Cloudsdale, intercepting the path between the Crystal Empire and Canterlot,” Twilight stated.

“What about the cover, darling?” Rarity wondered immediately. “How are we supposed to hide Scorpan when we are so exposed in the meadows?”

“The spell, Rarity,” Shining Armor reminded swiftly. “We are going to hide us the same way we hid the oasis.”

“We need to be careful, though. This time, there are far more eyes wandering around. We can’t guarantee that the confusion effect won’t make them accidentally walk right into us this time,” Twilight added.

“Why don’t we just use the tunnels? Even if there aren’t any that lead to our destination, we got enough diamond dogs to bury us through,” Derpy wondered.

“Too dangerous. The cave systems are demon territory. You should know that,” Twilight replied, rubbing her chin in thought.[

“Hmm… what abo-”

Cadence could not finish her sentence. Instead of words, a large splatter of blood left her lips and landed right onto the map. This immediately alerted everyone present, staring at the pink fallen alicorn in shock. Cadence herself had wide open eyes as well while she stared at the puddle in front of her, covering her mouth with her front hooves as more began to run down her face.

Of course, Twilight’s first instinct was to cast a healing spell on her. But just seconds later, Celestia began vomiting blood as well. Applejack followed, then Shining Armor, Fluttershy, Luna, Derpy. All except for Twilight were experiencing sudden and unexplainable heavy bleeding while Twilight engulfed them in her purple magic, trying to stop it. At first, she just acted automatically and kept her feelings in check. But as the spells she put on her friends and family showed no effect, she rapidly fell into panic. Her eyes went wide open in shock and fear while she even used her arcane magic to amplify the healing spells. Did they have a traitor among them? Did someone poison their food or add sharp objects to them? Those were the thoughts rushing through her mind as her head moved around rapidly, trying to keep focus on all members of the circle.

Her magic did not have any effect. Twilight was forced to witness as blood now started to pour out of their eyes and ears as well. They all stared at her, incapable of speaking but begging for help with their glances. They were writhing in agony and fear, realizing that the magic couldn’t even slow the process.

“Somepony! Anypony! Help! Help!” the purple mare shouted in panic.

For the first time in ages, Twilight felt helpless. She kept on casting, walking around in place, trying to focus on all of them. Yet, no matter what she tried, it didn’t work. No rebel came to help. Tears began to roll down her face as they were quickly getting weaker and started to pass out. As their bodies collapsed, it forced even more blood out of them. The entire area all around Twilight became flooded with the blood of her friends while more and more gashes opened in their bodies, letting the blood run freely. She had to watch as her friends crumbled into pieces of flesh and bone, a limitless ocean of blood rapidly rising and engulfing the purple mare. She kicked around wildly. She tried to swim, tried to surface. But it felt like a strong current was only sucking her even further down into the red abyss.

Just when she thought she was about to share the same fate as her friends, Twilight suddenly surfaced again. She emerged from the blood, standing on all four on top of it as if casting a waterwalking spell. She was completely dry, yet still coughing heavily from having almost drowned. Still terrified and confused, she started looking around. Nothing but a completely black sky and the ocean of blood beneath her could be seen anywhere.

“Hello?” she called, shaking in fear.

Her voice echoed through the void, being returned to her with the same volume as it was sent off. Her own message repeated itself several times in her ears, then everything returned to silence.

“Is anypony there?” Twilight called again.

The words echoed back from walls that did not exist, nothing moving anywhere aside of the surface of the blood ocean giving off small ripples from her movements.

“What happened? Where am I?” the purple mare wondered aloud.

“You are now in my realm,” a familiar, sinister female voice responded.

Twilight twitched heavily in fear. As she turned around to look at the source, she was looking at a being she hoped to never see again. A being worse than Blueblood, worse than Despair, even worse than Malice.

A, tall, black equine appearance. Red eyes glowing with more malevolence than any other demon ever could show. A crimson chest plate, hoof guards and helmet. Large black wings. Mane and tail made out of pure red darkness. It was the demon queen herself. Nightmare Moon stood just a few steps away from her.

Immediately, Twilight began to back off slowly. Her eyes wide in disbelief, her body trembling nearly out of control, making every step very unstable. How this could be happening, how anything that had thus far occurred could be happening was beyond her capability to comprehend. She could not even find the moment to start thinking and analyzing what was happening. Her mind was overloaded trying to handle the sheer evil the demon queen was constantly emitting. As Nightmare Moon decided to approach, Twilight suddenly found herself unable to move even one step further. She was frozen in place by fear beyond any description.

“I could have toyed with you longer, gotten more information out of you about the assault you are planning. But what you told me so far was enough confirmation,” Nightmare Moon spoke, her voice dripping with ill intentions.

Twilight was shaking all over, standing in place and watching the demon queen starting to circle around her like a predator circling its prey. But as soon as Twilight processed her words, her ears perked up again and she once more began to look around. Quickly, she calmed down again, finally realizing what was going on.

“This is a dream,” she analyzed.

“A nightmare, to be exact,” Nightmare Moon corrected, constantly keeping an eye on her as she kept on circling. “Being born out of Luna, I adopted her ability to dreamwalk. But my domain is not the realm of sweet dreams. I control the nightmares. For quite some time now, I have been trying to communicate with you. An impressive display to be able to defy my will for such a long time, Twilight Sparkle.”

At last, Twilight regained her composure and confidence after she took a deep breath to calm down. Just now, she realized that she should have noticed that something was off. Why would their friends ask questions they already knew the answers to? But more noticeably: Why would Applejack be with them? She wasn’t even part of the assault team. She was currently being escorted to a safe place along with a few other rebels that were unfit for combat. Twilight’s stance became stable again and she returned a despise-filled look to the demon queen.

“Well, I have defeated you in several ways by now. I won our first encounter, I defeated all the demons you threw at me so far and I even defeated the demon growing inside my own soul,” she responded with a mixed tone of pride and disgust.

“You think so?” Nightmare Moon wondered, finally stopping and looking down on the mare beneath her. “I have been a part of you since the day you were procreated. A tiny fragment of me remains in your soul, no matter what you do. As with all other ponies in this world, I am just waiting for your mind to slip again so I can reach into it once more.”

“If you think a little nightmare like this is enough for me to give in to your curse again, you are badly mistaken. What do you expect to accomplish with this?” Twilight wondered, tracing each and every movement of the evil queen.

Now, Nightmare Moon’s expression changed. A confident and relaxed smile grew on her face as she took several steps away from Twilight, focusing into the void.

“Unlike anypony else, you actually put up quite the fight in denying me. Not even Celestia was as passionate about defeating me for good as you are, plus she spent far too much time trying to forget her own sins to be an actual threat to me. I never bothered trying to speak with her. She is just a big waste of time to me. But you!” the mistress of red shadows spoke, immediately turning around and lowering her face right in front of Twilight’s with a grin that could only be described as utmost psychotic and terrifying. “You, I find interesting. While you were not the first who escaped my grasp and will not be the last, you made a choice like nopony ever before. You felt my touch, felt my insanity. Others turned away, wishing to avoid ever feeling my will being put upon them ever again. Few found this enjoyable and sought to be under my control again, eventually turning to the BloodClaw Cult. But you do neither. You are actively looking for me, but only to reject me again. What a strange addiction you have, Twilight Sparkle. Seeking out the drug you crave only to destroy it immediately after obtaining it. You constantly crave more, unable to ever feel satisfied. Just when you get what you want, you make sure it gets as far away from you again as possible.”

“And you have a very strange… sick way of looking at these things,” Twilight returned confidently, yet having to back away a bit from feeling intense discomfort caused by the evil aura being so close. “But I don’t expect anything else. What would you know about fighting for what is right, good intentions, hope and the will to secure a future for everybody.”

Nightmare Moon rose her head again, looking down on the purple mare with an expression of disgust.

“Justice. You disappoint me if you still believe I know nothing about justice,” she commented in a disenchanted manner.

The demon queen turned her focus away from Twilight. Looking into the void again, she made a small gesture with her right wing. By slowly moving it up, she caused the whole ocean to tremble. Moments later, countless heavy chains thickly coated in rust and dried blood surfaced, continuing to rise straight up into the darkness. Attached on these chains where the disfigured, rotten corpses of countless ponies. Twilight’s eyes went wide with shock once more as she came to realize that she knew many of them. Big Macintosh, Snails, Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, her own parents, Obsidian Shards, Scootaloo, Moondancer, Crystal Blossom… Spike… So many of her long-dead friends were here, she couldn’t even count them all.

“These ponies and many more are which I have taken from you. All fell victim to my fury and far more are yet to come. I am the judge. I am the jury. I am the executioner and I am the crowd, watching as yet another head rolls during my campaign of revenge. You will not stop me, Twilight Sparkle. You are incapable of ever ending my bloodlust. So what is it then, little pony? What keeps you pushing? Why do you insist so much on resisting me when the whole world had learned to give in by now?” the demi-goddess of red darkness wanted to know.

“This…” Twilight started again, needing a moment to recover from the sight presented to her, but then immediately regained a growl in her voice, really having to keep it together now. “This is all you know, don’t you? Torturing and killing is all you ever did. It doesn’t even cross your mind that you are doing far too much damage. Your ‘punishments’ are completely out of proportion, no matter what happened in the past. You just take, take, take.”

“After all this time of fighting against me, you still don’t know anything. Celestia herself confessed the unspeakable sins she had committed over the centuries to you, yet you still refuse to get it,” Nightmare Moon spoke in a strong tone, lowering her head again and letting her eyes glow with an intense evil red. “You are all guilty. Elder and newborn, noble and beggar, cultist and rebel. None of you ever learned your lesson. The more you fight against your punishment, the heavier it becomes. The reason it is so out of proportion is because, by now, you forced me to sentence your whole world to complete destruction hundreds of times over. Still, you don’t stop. You keep fighting, only making the punishment even worse. This is the big mistake Celestia made and now that she stepped down, you are following straight up in her hoofsteps, again not having learned a single thing.”

“Because we have to, you cruel monster! No matter what you think we deserve, we don’t want to die or let our world end! We have to fight you for even the remote chance to stop you! You give us no alternative!” Twilight shouted in anger.

The mistress of red shadows raised her head again, looking down on this puny little creature that dared to shout at her. But her reaction was not one of anger. Instead, she showed a grin.

“Me? It has never been about what I think this world deserves. And here I thought you understood us demons by now. How much more must you witness before you finally come to understand that we are all linked? My children are murderous because I am murderous. And I am murderous because red darkness is murderous. I couldn’t care less about any of you. I have absolutely no opinion or desires on my own. As I said before: I am the judge. I am the jury. I am the executioner. I, as well, just do as I am told. I am the catalyst of the red darkness. Through me, it expresses its feelings and desires. Through me, it exerts its will. I only exist because I am the only way to give a maddened major force a way to express itself. A wild animal, caged up and crazed. Only if it gets what it wants, this war will ever end,” she explained, surprisingly calm.

“But what it wants is the death of all beings! The end of the world! If you are so neutral as you claim, can’t you see this is going way too far?!” Twilight questioned, her voice still filled with rage.

Nightmare Moon began to chuckle a bit at her words. She seemed to relish seeing Twilight in such an emotional state.

“You hate me so much, Twilight Sparkle. You hate me with every fiber of your being. No matter what you pretend to have become over time, no matter how high you think you have risen. Deep down, you are still the same enraged filly. You, of all, should know what it is like to truly hate and to want payback for all the wrongs done to you.”

The purple mare could feel how the intentions of the demon queen suddenly shifted. Even in just a bad dream, Nightmare Moon’s power and mind were so enormous, Twilight felt herself completely overpowered and incapable of resisting. This demon… she was just way, way too strong. Like before, she couldn’t move while the demon queen approached and unfurled her large black wings. Her red aura gathered up more and more around Twilight as she approached, the purple mare’s heart racing out of control and hyperventilating in absolute panic.

“So let me show you. Let me give you but a glimpse of what it is like to be me,” the demon queen announced.

The gathered red aura suddenly launched at the purple mare and she could only close her eyes in response. She didn’t know what to expect when dealing with the most powerful demon that ever existed. She might even be capable of killing Twilight with a nightmare.

But instead of the cold sensation of death, voices filled her. From all around, she could suddenly hear completely incomprehensible speaking. Twilight slowly opened her eyes, but all she could see was red. She couldn’t even see her own hooves when lifted in front of her face or her own body when looking down. Everything was just a red so thick it didn’t allow anything else.

The voices were uncountable. It sounded like millions, if not billions were speaking, whispering, screaming, crying. While listening and looking, Twilight felt an intense headache. It was as if these voices were violently forcing themselves into her brain, trying to force her to understand every single one. Even for her, this was an impossible task that became so mentally exhausting within just the fraction of a second, it caused her physical pain. But the voices didn’t stop, even after she started covering her ears. Much more than before, her mind became completely overloaded as the voices forcefully placed thoughts and images in her head. Visions of cruelty that defied any description. Horrifying depictions, glorifying violence.

It was too much. Too intense, too evil, too wicked. Twilight started screaming in distress and pain. Never had she ever experienced anything like this. Just hearing these voices, these demands… Just seeing these pictures and scenes… This alone made her wish she would just drop dead this very moment. Being physically tortured would be merciful compared to this. Twilight kept on screaming and screaming, her eyes wide open and pupils shrunken.

Finally, it seemed like she was being heard. The voices completely stopped and the pictures vanished, as if they had now become aware of her presence or the fact that she wasn’t Nightmare Moon. Though Twilight could not relish this moment, because they became replaced with a heavy feeling, as if those billions of voices had turned into billions of eyes, crushing her with their stares. This only lasted a few moments before the voices suddenly returned, this time shouting at her with extreme aggression. There were no pictures, no words. Just this all-devouring cry of fury, crushing through Twilight as if trying to tear her very soul into thousands of pieces. She couldn’t even scream anymore this time. Not even that bit of relief was given to her. She just collapsed and started spazzing out. These voices hated her with ineffable intensity. They wanted her dead. They wanted her to die in ways so cruel it would not be conceivably possible to perform. Twilight was convinced that this would be the end of her. Somehow, these screams would be enough to kill her.

Just as she thought she would lose her grip on the world altogether, the red suddenly vanished. Above her towered Nightmare Moon again, staring at Twilight with an expression as if analyzing her.

The voices were gone. The feeling of dying was gone. Still, Twilight could not get up, utter a single word or even think. She was still laying in the blood, shaking in trauma. This was easily the most intense sensation of terror she ever experienced. Now, the expression of the demon queen began to shift. She suddenly seemed sad.

“I was made to handle this. I am the only creature capable of understanding this complete insanity that is the will of red darkness. But tell me, Twilight Sparkle… Do you… Have any idea… what this can do to you? Can you even fathom what kind of burden it is to hear and see this, all the time?” she wondered, almost sounding tired.

Twilight remained unresponsive. She just couldn’t get her body back under control. It was still shaking and completely cramped up, as if she was having a seizure. But her mind gradually cleared, allowing her to hear and understand Nightmare Moon.

This… she couldn’t even put it in words. Such hate, such aggression. She never thought she would ever think this, but Twilight now actually understood what Nightmare Moon was going through. Having experienced the insanity she had to burden for just a few moments was already enough to nearly kill the purple mare. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like to continuously see and hear this over the course of more than one thousand years. As the shaking reduced and Twilight managed to slowly get back up, her expression of repugnance returned.

“This doesn’t change anything. After all you have done to me, to ponykind, to Equestria and the entire world, do you seriously believe I would feel sorry for you? I get now why you act like you do, but it still is wrong. If anything, you just gave me even more reason to stop you. It is true, I hate you. I hate you like nothing else. But I won’t use your methods on you. If violence is not the answer, mercy is. I will end you by ending your suffering. I will purge you by purging the red darkness,” she spoke in determination.

This only caused Nightmare Moon’s face to show disgust and anger towards the purple mare again, raising her head and looking down on her.

“Unbelievable. Not even after showing you the mind of red darkness, you are capable of understanding. You can’t destroy me. You can’t just purge the red darkness. It is half of this bipolar force which together makes up darkness. One half black and regretful, the other red and hateful. You can’t simply destroy half a mind,” the demon queen tried to explain.

“And it seems like you still can’t understand why I must keep fighting. No matter what you show me, I will remain just as determined to achieve my goals as you are,” Twilight responded firmly.

“For once, I need to agree with you, Twilight Sparkle,” Nightmare Moon spoke, then turned around and started walking away. “Neither can I understand you, nor will I ever be able to, it seems. Mutual misunderstanding has always been the root of every war in this world. Conflicting interests, incapable of being resolved peacefully.”

Twilight didn’t even bother to say anything at this point anymore. It seemed like Nightmare Moon was about to leave and the sooner this nightmare was over, the better, she figured. One last time, the demon queen stopped. But she did not turn around anymore. She remained still, staring into the void for several seconds before raising her voice again.

“I had my hopes about you, little pony. I believed you to be very different from all the others, having gained such an open mind and so much wisdom throughout your journeys. But in the end, you are just as hopeless as Celestia… My children know you are coming. I sent the entire remaining Underworld League to protect Sombra. If you think you are any better than this pathetic being you once called your mentor, you will have to prove it to me. Show me that your will is stronger than mine,” she challenged in a sinister tone.

Finally, the demon queen disappeared.

---

Twilight suddenly shoot upright, breathing heavily. She now realized she was sitting on the ground, surrounded by her friends, having worried expressions.

“Oh thank goodness, you are finally awake,” Rarity started immediately. “That must have been one terrible nightmare, darling. You kept crying and screaming the whole time and no matter what we tried, we couldn’t wake you up."

The purple mare was still a bit shaky and breathless as her eyes wandered around. Naturally, after being deceived once before and remembering how she had been put under a terrible illusion once, she had her doubts if what she was seeing was actually real. Relying on her arcane abilities once again, she closed her eyes to pay attention to how the magic flows all around her. Giving it a few seconds of analysis, she could conclude with confidence that she truly was awake now and this was not yet another illusion. As her eyes opened again, she had a very tired, yet serious look on her face.

“That was no ordinary nightmare. The demon queen spoke to me in person and I am very convinced this was more than just a figment of my mind. She knows what we are planning. This battle is going to be much, much harder than we hoped.”

Red Eyes

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gyGHqBBP6pbRf4JMCTRhP0ZWz7yvUu_07_RjnHQM-qY/edit?usp=sharing

As expected, the last part of their journey was the most difficult. It required the full awareness of all rebels partaking in the assault to prevent them from being discovered. But although the demons seemed to know of their plans, as they could sometimes be found patrolling the paths Twilight accidentally revealed in her nightmare, the cultists seemed to be oblivious, staying in the towns and cities to hold sermons.They were finally home. Equestria… this land they once remembered to be so peaceful and beautiful now had a constant dread hanging over it. Only the cultists and demons remained. A paradise to them, of course. But for any outsider, anyone opposing their extremist ideals, it was a hellish place. The corpses of the ‘heretics’ these cultists punished years ago were still hanging in the air or remained nailed to walls, most of them now only being skeletons with barely any skin left on them. The roads of dirt and cobblestone still had traces of dried blood on them, as if not even the rain could wash all these sins away. Disturbing chants could faintly be heard in the distance at nearly all time. After having the reapers scour the area ahead in the shadows to ensure safe passage, it had become clear that the cultists had fallen so deep into their religion, they became completely obsessed with it. Anypony spotted that was still living in this corrupted land could be seen constantly giggling in insanity, shaking, grinning with wide open bloodshot eyes, speaking to themselves or whispering prayers. Every last one of them had completely fallen to the curse of madness, going so far that the reapers could even observe the birth of new demons here and there while other cultists gathered around their dying friend to observe in joy.

“It is hard to believe that I used to walk across these same meadows, or sit under these same trees, or even swam through these same rivers…” Fluttershy commented.

“I know what you mean, darling,” Rarity agreed, looking around with a sad expression. “I just can’t believe that this is Equestria. I mean, it mostly still looks the same, but that is about all that remained the same.”

“It’s like walking through a disturbing alternate universe. Something that could not be, that should not be, but still is…” Twilight added, having the same expression on her face as her eyes wandered around.

“This is not our home any longer. Whatever it has become, it is definitely not a land suitable for ponies… or anything other than cultists and demons anymore… Words are insufficient to describe how I feel…” Luna whispered.

“I wonder how the animals are coping with all this. I can see birds and squirrels hiding in the trees. These poor things look completely terrified…” Fluttershy continued.

Surprisingly and completely contrary to the general mood of the situation, that comment put happy smiles on all of her friends’ faces. Fluttershy immediately noticed and looked at them in utter confusion.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” she wondered.

“Do you realize that this is the first time in literally years that you even spoke of animals?” Twilight inquired.Fluttershy opened her mouth to give a quick response. But as she thought about countering arguments, she found herself so surprised she didn’t have any that her own eyes went wide in surprise.

“Oh my goodness! You are right! Did I really become that lost in myself?” she wanted to know.

“Do you remember what I told you when you first came back to meet us in Ponyville? Just before the investigations and all this began? You were a completely different person at that time already and it only became worse and worse over the years. Your change of heart is so strong it even makes you speak differently now! The way you just worded that… You sound just like you used to before you became a reaper. Frankly, I’m so glad you are finally returning to your old self now, I feel like crying…” Twilight replied, her slightly hoarse voice and expression giving away that she really meant those words.

Fluttershy placed a front hoof over her mouth, her eyes filled with condolence and sympathy. She then immediately flew over to her friend to give her a hug. Twilight gladly accepted it and hugged her friend back tightly. She couldn’t believe she was about to give up on her. She couldn’t believe she was about to let her die. Yet, in the end, exactly this moment was needed for the spirit to take action. The purple mare was incredibly relieved that things ended up turning out like this. She wasn’t sure if she could have handled Fluttershy’s death.

“Yes… It’s good to have you back, darling,” Rarity added with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

“Um…” a little voice interrupted, which after a glance to the source turned out to belong to Amber. “My apologies, but we really must keep going if we want to catch the caravan in time.”

After the hug ended, all rebels continued walking in silence and concentration. Amber just reminded all of them that they did not come here to rekindle friendships, for the sensation of coming home or the memories of a better past, anyway. They came to fight and this was what they had to focus on.

“Are you sure you want to fight with us? I don’t like the idea of putting a life on the line that is still this young…” Twilight asked, looking at the young clairvoyant.

“Don’t worry, my mistress. I may not be able to predict the outcome, but I can predict that this will not be my last fight. I will make it through,” Amber assured.

“If you insist… Still, be very careful,” Twilight demanded, to which the reaper spectralist bowed in response.

Avoiding every bigger population as far as possible without detouring too much from their path, they snuck through the land. Out in the open, yet not visible due to the mirage they used. Their eyes eventually stopped looking around and simply focused on the way ahead, towards their goal. After a few more days, during which some started to fear they would not make it in time, the rebels finally stopped. They found themselves at the edge of a forest, some more meadows to their right and the Neighagra Falls in the distance. In front of them stood a mountain range, behind which the Crystal Empire was hiding. To their backs, off in the distance, was Canterlot, towering on its mountain in the center of Equestria. This was the place. In just 10 minutes, Sombra would be passing through.

It was as predicted. Having known they would have no time to set up traps, they instead paced themselves for this final march. All rebels used up just a small portion of their stamina, only enough to be warmed up already. The majority of the attack force had split away from the leadership circle days ago, taking safer, but longer routes to reach the Crystal Empire without being discovered, as the spell remained with the assault troop for the best possible outcome. Now that they were in place and the battle was mere moments away from beginning, they all could only hope that the rest of the army arrived at the empire by now as well. Seamlessness was of utmost importance for this task. But having no way of communicating with the others, the assault troop would have to wait until after their attack to see the results.

Just as these last few thoughts wandered through the minds of the rebels, it already began. Sombra’s approach was easily detected by a massive dark figure approaching from the distance, causing the ground to shake with each step. Malice stood behind the comparatively tiny escort, scanning the area with great care. After coming closer, the other demons could be seen looking around as well. Twilight’s nightmare truly wasn’t just a regular one. They were being expected.

Twilight and Scorpan kept the hiding spell up while the troop split up in two, awaiting the escort to walk right between them. Scorpan was trying to hide with the trees in the forest on one side, Twilight standing out in the open and casting her part of the illusion on the other side, leaving a gap between them to prevent immediately being seen as the demons walk right through their combined magic. They all stood low, barely moving, barely breathing. Ponies acting like predators ready for the pounce. The quaking got heavier and heavier, making them as well as the reapers, griffons, minotaurs and beast men adjust their stance to prevent toppling over.

“We are ready when you are,” Fluttershy whispered to Twilight with a serious and tense expression.

The escort arrived. Despair was at the very front, her eyes darting around as if sensing something was wrong. Immediately behind her was Slendermane, as well looking around with his blank face. A large group of lower ranked demons followed, walking in a circle around a carriage pulled by two headless horses. No doubt, Sombra was in there. Finally, Toxica was following directly behind the carriage, showing an unusually serious expression.

Twilight and Scorpan exchanged glances. They waited until the carriage was exactly in between of them before they simultaneously canceled the spell and Scorpan instantly launched himself at Malice.

Right from the first move, the strongest of the demons was occupied dealing with the strongest of the beast men. Before the other demons even had a chance to realize the assault had begun, the reapers launched forth and consumed the first few of them. Despair was the first to react, showing a very tense expression as she teleported herself right on top of the carriage and shape-shifted into a layer of jagged armor, coating it entirely. Directly after, Toxica realized what was going on and immediately started looking around. As she spotted Twilight fighting against three demons at once, her expression changed into pure fury. She jumped into the air and aimed straight for the purple mare.

“Bad pony,” was all she said before inhaling sharply.

Like before, the tiny green demoness exploded into a massive cloud of poison and disease. But Twilight didn’t move or show any fear. Her eyes simply turned white and just by looking in Toxica’s direction, she caused the green clouds to stop expanding. Toxica was in disbelief as her wide open eyes and mouth indicated. The last time she fought against Twilight, this worked so well! But a lot had changed since then. Toxica’s clouds of disaster were no longer a threat as long as Twilight was present.

But Slendermane still was. While keeping up the spell which held the deadly fog in place, the purple mare quickly had to change her focus back to the battlefield and teleport herself away to dodge the black arms coming for her. She expected of Nightmare Moon’s firstborn to immediately focus on her, as she was just as big of a threat as Scorpan, but not yet having a direct opponent in this battle like Malice. He was still fighting against several other rebels at the same time, using his seemingly infinite supply of long black arms coming out of his back while he suddenly disappeared, only to reappear directly behind Twilight. Yet, again, Twilight had a lot of experience with the behavior of this particular demon. Directly as she finished teleporting herself, she turned around and wrapped herself in an arcane sphere to block off the arms which followed less than a second later.

Yet, this turned out to not be necessary. The arms could not even reach the sphere before Slendermane froze in place, unable to move. Now that Succubus is gone, there is no counter for Fluttershy’s Stare anymore. One quick look from the yellow reaper mare was enough to completely paralyze him before she returned her focus to the demon she was about to consume.

Twilight used the moment to transfer the sphere over to Slendermane. Careful as he always is, Slendermane made sure that there were no reaper close enough to consume him in case he would become incapacitated like this before he would be able to regain control. Twilight had to make sure he would not follow up immediately as soon as he snapped out of the Stare. Trapping him in a bubble of pure arcane magic would at least occupy him for a while, until he would figure out a way to vanish again. A break Twilight used to focus her attention on the carriage now.

Despair still covered the whole vehicle, having grown several eyes on her surface to observe the battle all around her. She instantly noticed Twilight coming straight for her and the carriage, growing long, flexible, bladed limbs to counterattack. Even without the immense magical power of the Alicorn Amulet, Despair was still a formidable shape-shifter for having claimed Queen Chrysalis’ soul. It was clear that she had not the slightest intention of moving away from Sombra, so Twilight really had to give it her all to break through, somehow.

The purple mare looked around quickly in between each dodge from the sharp limbs to search for potential aid. Scorpan was locked in a power struggle against Malice, the Right Hand of Nightmare Moon, trying to cut him with his massive red scythe while the gargoyle held onto the weapon and tried to turn it against its master. Rarity was having a hard time keeping the demons pursuing her at bay, rapidly going through her supply of gems to cast stronger spells while she aimed for the next best rebel, looking for aid herself. Shining Armor and Cadence were standing back to back against four demons surrounding them, Derpy accompanying the two and giving them protection from above against another demon charging in. Fluttershy was sticking closely to Amber and another reaper, teaming up against a single demon at a time. Yet, they were too far away to be able to help. Celestia had taken over keeping Toxica and her lethal clouds at bay, trying her best to hold the little squirming demoness while Luna protected her against any attacker. Everyone else was busy with their own opponent, some rebels receiving lethal blows as she looked while on the other side, demons were being consumed. For now, Twilight was on her own.

After dodging another strike, Twilight focused her arcane magic onto pinning down the limbs. As a response, more limbs with maws full of sharp teeth grew out of the shape-shifter demoness, which Twilight ended up pinning down as well. She hoped that this way, the Guillotine of Hope would loosen her grip on the carriage. But Despair seemed to know what she was planning on and ceased attacking altogether. It was no use. Twilight had to utilize brute force to gain access to their main target. Her magic wrapped around Despair and started to pull from all directions. The many eyes of the demoness closed and she seemed to struggle, holding onto the carriage as tightly as she could. Twilight kept pulling with all she had, but having to distribute her magic between Despair, her limbs, several other demons attacking her and the sphere Slendermane was still trapped in and frantically looking for a way out, it wasn’t enough. Despair’s grasp on the vehicle seemed to slowly slip, though, as deep scratch marks could be seen slowly appearing on the wood. After launching another demon away, a passage through the battlefield was created for a brief moment, which Fluttershy used to catch up with Twilight. She aimed straight for Despair, ramming her scythe underneath the demoness in a gap between her and the carriage, then started pulling on her scythe like a lever, trying to get the demoness away. The Guillotine responded by slowly expanding over the scythe like a viscous fluid, grabbing Fluttershy by the front legs and neck. It seemed Despair was really struggling and there just wasn’t any other demon able to get close enough to assist her. One more Stare was enough for Fluttershy to paralyze the demoness and free herself from the hold. The yellow mare succeeded in getting significant leverage moments later, pealing Despair away from the carriage. Twilight instantly charged into the opening, readying an arcane blast to finish him off.

At that moment, doubt began to fill her mind. This was too easy. Those were too few demons for the fact they knew of their plans. Could this be a trick? Would her blast destroy a carriage containing nothing? After all the trickery she had been through, especially thanks to Despair, how could she not question things at this point?

Just before she fired her arcane beam, a dark stallion hastily escaped the vehicle. He could save its own life, yet the carriage got blasted into pieces and Despair was launched out of the battlefield. The stallion attacked immediately, sending several daggers made of dark crystal at Twilight, who could barely react in time to block them off with a magic shield. The daggers dispersed into darkness on impact. Twilight became very relieved to see that the stallion was, indeed, King Sombra in person. It couldn’t be a Skin-Walker either, as Despair was the only one capable of using magic. Their main target was now exposed, out in the open and vulnerable.

The other rebels were still too busy fighting their own opponents. Fluttershy and Twilight quickly exchanged glances and nods. They both knew what they had to do in order to end the battle now. Despair had already recovered from the blast and flew back into the battle with fleshy wings as quickly as she could, but Twilight was waiting for her. Being forced to keep the Guillotine of Hope occupied, it was up to Fluttershy to deliver the killing blow. As Twilight and Despair started fighting again, Fluttershy came running for the Crystal King. He bombarded her with a barrage of corrupted shards. Fluttershy had no chance to block them all, so she decided to simply take the attack. Her cloaks would give her enough protection to withstand anyway and indeed, she only received some minor cuts along the exposed legs. She was in striking range now, but Sombra struck first, summoning a large sword made of black crystal and swinging it at her. Fluttershy ducked beneath the strike and used her scythe to prevent the sword from coming right back at her. She gave Sombra another Stare, leaving his guard wide open… and her scythe impaled him.

The yellow mare was breathing heavily, standing on her hind legs while holding her weapon with both front hooves. The blade was deep inside of Sombra’s stomach, his head lowered from the heavy blow. This was it! She did it! Any moment now, he would collapse to the floor. Their assault was a success. After all this suffering, the rebellion finally, finally got the upper hoof.

But Sombra kept standing. After a few seconds, he grabbed the handle of the scythe close to the blade and started pushing it away from him. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide open. How could he not be dead from this blow? Even if it weren’t a reaper scythe, that kind of injury is fatal! As she observed in disbelieve as Sombra fought back, the scythe shaking as it was being pushed in two opposing directions, she came to realize that there was no blood on the blade as it exited Sombra’s body. Her eyes moved up to meet his. It was then that she noticed they were no longer green and red with a strange purple aura emitting from them. They had become entirely red now. A confident, yet sinister smile on the Crystal King’s face confirmed her suspicion. There was no explanation as to how this was possible, since even the BloodClaw Cult completely failed at this despite wanting it the most. But somehow, Sombra managed to turn himself into a demon.

Fluttershy quickly tried to adapt, dispersing into a dark cloud in attempt to consume Sombra. But he was still at the peak of his strength, so he could repel her attempts. Fluttershy condensed back into her normal form, striking with her scythe again and again. But she failed to change the outcome. She mustered up another Stare, hoping the moment he was incapable of fighting back would be enough to consume him, but she did not get the chance. Before she could even make eye contact with Sombra, her eyes became covered by black hands, reaching from behind. Slendermane finally got out of Twilight’s trap, forcing Fluttershy to her to split her attention between both of them now.

The battle suddenly came to a full stop, even on the demon’s side, as a loud slashing sound filled the air. A noise like a large boulder falling to the ground followed, accompanied by a short earthquake as if their battle caused an avalanche on a nearby mountain. But this noise didn’t come from rocks.

It was Scorpan… Or more accurately, his head. Eyes went wide as everyone came to realize what just happened. Blood started washing across the battlefield, quickly forming a shallow red river. Malice stood tall and proud, holding the lifeless body of the enormous gargoyle and watching as the blood came spurting out of the open neck while he held his scythe low in his other hand, blood dripping from it. For the beast men, the unthinkable happened. The strongest of all of them was killed. They all had to watch helplessly as the giant skeleton opened his jaws and held his mouth over the bleeding neck, drawing Scorpan’s soul right into him.

Instantly, the red aura of the demon commander intensified. The tremendous feeling of threat coming from him nearly multiplied. Malice let go of the corpse, a huge shockwave going through the ground on impact and massive amounts of blood flooding from it. As the rebels tried to dodge the blood, recollected themselves and resumed the combat, Malice let his scythe disappear. Some brave reapers immediately started attacking him, yet he simply ignored them. The demon commander reached out with both of his black skeletal arm in front of him, creating a small black sphere between them and rotating his hands around it as the sphere grew quickly, seemingly drawing in darkness from all around it.

Twilight witnessed all of this, yet continued fighting Despair until she felt the sphere of darkness growing between Malice’s hands. This, of all things, terrified her more than anything she had just witnessed. She did not know the spell he was performing, yet all her instincts were telling her to flee. She instantly let go of Despair and started running, canceling all spells she kept active to instead gather up her friends and fellow rebels via levitation.

“The battle is lost! Run! Run for your lives!” she shouted while sprinting away from the demons.

Sombra, the Underworld League and any other demon remaining didn’t even bother to chase after them. They knew what would happen next, just watching with wide sinister grins. The orb Malice created grew larger and larger, starting to affect gravity and lifting pebbles up from the ground. Very fast, increasingly larger objects became drawn into it, entire trees uprooting and patches of ground tearing away. Now having Scorpan’s soul on top of his already impressive powers, Malice became able to cast a spell only the demon queen herself could perform so far. He could create a black hole.

Celestia was the only one who recognized the spell. Traumatic memories of the first time she witnessed its dreadful potential returned. Once again, she became unable to fight, overwhelmed with the burdens of the past returning to haunt her. She just remained hovering in the air through Twilight’s magic, shaking in terror while she stared at the orb devouring everything around it.

The gargoyle’s head became sucked in. Then the whole body started lifting off the ground. Yet, the demons were unaffected. Malice seemed to be able to make this spell selective, not drawing in those under his command and leaving patches of grass beneath them to stand on. Toxica prefered to hover in the air, though, gigging with her left front hoof in front of her wide grin as she happily watched the first rebels falling into this orb of death, screaming as they got torn to pieces by the immense gravity.

No matter how fast any of the rebels ran, the gravity of the sphere spread faster. Twilight once again gave it her all, using her full magic potential to keep the rebels together. She could not look back, but she could both hear and feel that her efforts were in vain. The gravitational force of the black hole was greater than anything she could muster up. Her troop became decimated from the back to the front and she just couldn’t teleport this many individuals at once. Minotaurs, griffons, zebras, donkeys, beast men, fellow ponies, even reapers. For the purple mare, it was a terrible sensation to feel as the rebels slipped from her magical grasp and fell into the void. But with each rebel she could not save, her grip on the remaining ones got stronger and she could gather up increasingly more concentration. No matter what, she just had to pull off a teleportation, taking as many rebels to safety with her as she could.

Eventually, Twilight herself felt how she began to float. She desperately kicked her legs through the air for a moment before she surrendered to the fact she could not reconnect to the ground. She turned around and faced the dark sphere, having now grown nearly as large as Malice. More and more rebels fell into it, screaming, kicking around, flapping their wings in panic. There was nothing she could do. She had to watch them getting stretched to thin strips by the gravity of the black hole, skin tearing, bones breaking, screams distorting and the bodies eventually becoming completely dissolved into their atoms which then dispersed around everywhere.

Twilight clenched her teeth. Just a little longer. If she could just endure a little bit longer… Having to sacrifice those who trusted her disgusted the purple mare, but she had no choice. If she wouldn’t willingly let go of a few in order to achieve teleportation, they would all die. At least she could make it look like her concentration slipped, so her allies would not turn on her later for obviously letting them go.

As Twilight was getting ready for the teleportation, Slendermane suddenly started moving again. It seemed like he wanted to give her a little payback for humiliating him by trapping him in what he perceived to be a goldfish bowl. Jumping from floating rock to floating rock, he rapidly approached. Toxica cheered him on, having been unable to contribute to this battle at all. Despair just grinned. At last, they would be able to avenge Succubus.

The former princesses were helpless. Twilight’s magic was all that prevented them from certain death at this point. It was Rarity who first became aware of this and the fact that Slendermane was coming right for them. Using her own magic, the undead mare pulled out another gem from her bag, but she instantly lost control over it and it fell into the black hole. At least, she managed to make them and Shining Armor aware of the incoming attacker. All four immediately started casting spells at him, but not a single even managed to reach him. If a black hole was capable of even sucking up light, what chance would their spells have to hit him? Twilight didn’t even notice any of this. She clenched her eyes shut, trying her best to pull off the teleportation spell.

The faceless demon was close now. His arms reached out, trying to grab all three fallen alicorns at once. In an act of desperation, they created magic shields. But Shining Armor knew that would do nothing. He couldn’t let this happen, especially not to Cadence. So his own horn began to glow.

Finally, a bright flash appeared, fighting the darkness of the black hole for a moment before disappearing again. Twilight and her friends escaped.

---

A few days had passed since the meadows of Unicorn Range had last seen rebels. Now, with a sudden flash, a hoof full of them reappeared out of nowhere. A shamefully small group of survivors compared to the large assault troop that originally split away from the army of rebels. Twilight had once again exhausted herself. She could barely stand upright and was panting heavily. Yet another miserable failure. Yet another way too close call. The purple mare tried her best to recollect herself, gaining a more stable stance and turning around to her friends.

“We need to… get to the others… as quickly as possible… if they-” she started before becoming interrupted by Cadence.

“Shining! Where is Shining?!” she shouted in panic.

Twilight’s eyes went wide. She and the rest of the leadership circle quickly looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he landed somewhere further away. Maybe he was unconscious and unable to respond. They kept looking. They still kept looking. But he wasn’t there. Twilight’s and Cadence’s eyes gradually filled with tears as the knowledge sunk in that he didn’t get teleported with them.

“No… No… Not him… He was all I had left of my family…” Twilight conceived, unable to even raise her voice.

Cadence couldn’t even conjure up a single word. She collapsed right where she stood, covering her face with both front hooves as she cried loudly.

The others were still too shocked to act. This could hardly have backfired even more. Not only did they lose Scorpan and made Malice even stronger. No, they also lost Shining Armor? They both survived impossible odds, only to die now in the same battle? Even worse was the fact that they now had a widow in the group.

Twilight remained standing. She stared off into the distance, constant streams poured down from her cheeks. Her ears were hanging down, a strong frown on her face and her eyes revealing her unimaginable heartbreak. For a moment, she could see the black hole far away before it vanished, leaving behind a crater where it was cast. Twilight was shaking, her mind incapable of coming with the situation. Her focus shifted to Cadence, still laying on the ground, completely emotionally broken. She was suffering at least as much as Twilight was, maybe even more. At last, the Underworld League got even with them.

Breakdown

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FyklBxXLkf-lZgjP6BnHv1WvICV-sYQcaUU9uNlCCJY/edit?usp=sharing

It had been long since the group of friends could last see the moon rise over their homeland. Yet, this night, five days after their devastatingly failed attempt to assassinate King Sombra, it was unusually dark and gloomy. None of the ponies could remember having seen Equestria this colorless at night before. Was the true, black darkness running out of strength? Or was this just their imagination? Whatever the reason may be, it was this particularly dreary night when the last survivors returned from the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. To find out that barely any more than the assault troop survived on that end was an even bigger blow. After having rebuilt the rebellion to an impressive force, they were thrown right back to the edge of nonexistence. The sheer number of beast men casualties, who made up most of the army, was so high that they were now close to extinction.

Applejack, Babs, Caramel and the Cake family managed to find a long abandoned shack close to the forest near Smokey Mountain before the rebels split up. There was no furniture left inside and the wood was dilapidated to the point of breaking when stepped on the wrong way. It was this shack that had been chosen by the rebellion as a meeting point after the attack would be over. This insignificant rotten structure of wood would become another historic landmark to this age as what was left of the rebellion slowly gathered up at it. Immediately, the couple came to understand something went horribly wrong when they saw Twilight, Rarity, Derpy, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Fluttershy and only a few other rebels walk towards them slowly and with lowered heads, covered in bruises and small wounds. If the plan would have worked out well, they would be looking way more enthusiastic. Instead, especially Twilight and Cadence seemed to be completely emotionally wrecked. When they realized Shining Armor was not among them and Fluttershy explained what had happened, Applejack fell into speechless consternation.

Over time, hardly any more rebels returned from the Crystal Empire, but all were injured. Some so badly even that they had lost body parts in the battle, bloody bandages covering their wounds. Never would Applejack have imagined things could go this wrong. They were so many! And then there was Scorpan… They only just met him a while back and now he is gone? The oldest living beast man? The strongest there ever was who survived absolutely everything up until this point? How could they have been decimated like that, despite all their careful planning? It just didn’t make any sense!

As soon as the remains of the assault troop returned, Twilight went indoors and stood there for hours, sitting on the floor at the opposite end, facing a wall. Fluttershy accompanied her the whole time, trying to comfort her friend. Cadence, on the other hoof, prefered to stick with Celestia and Luna. She looked just as miserable and broken as her sister-in-law, even though she seemed to handle her loss differently. This became especially obvious when she saw Maud Pie return, almost completely unharmed. The former princess of love instantly gained an expression of pure hate. She jumped up and ran straight to the cannibal mare. The others reacted too slowly to stop her. Maud was easily strong enough to kill Cadence if she wanted to. But she didn’t. When Cadence pounced her, Maud didn’t even flinch. Her expression remained completely blank as always while the pink fallen alicorn pinned her to the ground.

“This is your fault! All of this is your fault! We should have never even given you the chance to prove yourself as a friend and ally! You, a pony-eater! You have been with the BloodClaw Cult this whole time, haven’t you?!” Cadence shouted in mindless rage.

The eyes of both Celestia and Luna went wide, quickly wandering around the other rebels. Their expressions of shock were very noticeable and for the first time, Maud as well showed a form of expression. She was frowning, clearly displeased to be exposed like that. In Cadence’s emotional state, she didn’t even care about keeping secrets only the circle knew anymore. Both Luna and Celestia instantly started running towards Cadence.

“I never worked for the cult and I never betrayed you. It isn’t my fault the plan failed. I did everything I could,” Maud replied, still far too calm for the situation she was in.

“Then how do you explain any of this? You were in the Crystal Empire troop and you got hardly any more than a few scratches while nearly everyone else died! You set us all up, feeding us false information so we all get killed! You informed them about our plans and you made sure we would get crushed!” Cadence continued, her expression shifting to a more and more extreme state.

“I did not. I also firmly believed that the evidence I brought you was real. I fought for you, all this time. I’m not even resisting you right now. The only reason I got out of there the way I am is because of my skills and that I knew when the battle was lost. If you want to punish me for a crime I didn’t even commit, I will have to defend myself. Don’t push me to that,” Maud explained.

“The only reason you are not resisting is because you know you are guilty!” Cadence screamed, tears running down her cheeks while she still made the most furious face imaginable.

When Celestia and Luna finally reached her and pulled her away from Maud, they came to realize that her eyes were starting to get bloodshot and her pupils had already shrunken. The loss of her husband took such a heavy toll on Cadence that she was close to falling to Maledictum Insania.

“Cadence, please! Control yourself!” Celestia pleaded in an ordering tone, creating a small mirror with her magic to show Cadence her own expression.

Immediately, the fallen princess became shocked at the sight. She knew the symptoms just all too well, but never would she have imagined seeing her own face with them. It happened so suddenly and so fluently. She didn’t even realize she was slipping. As quickly as her face of rage changed to one of shock, it changed again to one of endless sorrow. Cadence embraced Celestia, crying loudly once again.

Celestia and Luna both felt her agony, bringing them close to tears as well. But they also had to watch the rebels with the information that had just slipped. As Maud stood back up, the other rebels were still staring at her in shock, distrust or both. Maud’s own eyes kept jumping left to right with her usual expression, seemingly anticipating to be attacked any moment. Or perhaps this deeply humiliated her. Still, she did not move while the rebels started whispering to each other.

“The real culprits are here!” a voice announced suddenly.

At last, the eyes moved away from Maud and switched over to the new source. Another small group of rebels returned, all of them injured just like the others. But the only griffon in the group, forced to stay on the ground because he had lost a wing, was walking closely behind two ponies with chains around their necks. Even though their heads were lowered, the leaders immediately understood who they were. Again, one of them reacted far heavier than the others. This time, it was Rarity.

“No! Impossible!” was all she could exclaim as her own parents were brought up to them.

“We weren’t expecting the whole Crystal Empire to be on the alert. Somepony must have warned them. We were waiting for the crystal ponies to start rebelling, as planned, when within our own rows, these two revealed our position. All this time, we had traitors among us. They lit up a firework when no one was looking. Next we knew, every last demon in the empire came right at us. They tried to surround us… It was a slaughter,” the griffon summarized, giving both of Rarity’s parents very disgusted glances.

While all were in shock yet again, Rarity still could not believe what she was hearing. She ran straight up to her parents and forcefully analyzed the backside of their ears, keeping them both immobile with her magic. A gasp followed when she realized they both had the claw mark symbol carved in underneath their fur. The undead mare started to shake, backing off slowly while canceling her spell.

“I… I can’t believe it. You two, of all ponies? My own parents? How… Just how could you?!” Rarity wondered, still not able to wrap her head around this.

Simultaneously, both her parents raised their heads. At last, their dropped their masquerade and showed what they really thought of their daughter. Their eyes were burning with hate and disgust.

“When we were first caught by the BloodClaw Cult, they gave us the same options as everypony else. Join… or die. Originally, we thought of you when we joined the cult. You wouldn’t have been able to handle it is what we thought,” the mother started.

“But the more we learned, the more we realized that we had been living under an unacceptable tyranny all this time. Celestia knew what was going to happen to Sweetie Belle, yet she couldn’t even be bothered to prevent her from being brutally murdered by her own best friend! How could we support a princess this heartless? That makes her just as bad as the killer herself!” the father continued, almost shouting by the end.

“But the greatest insult of all was when we heard that you teamed up with her. You! We never would have thought you would ever end up working for the wrong side. We always thought we would end up seeing you again in the cult. We are not the traitors here! You are! All of you are! You all support a child-killer, you idiots!” Rarity’s mother finished, shouting out in anger.

A moment of silence followed. Eyes started wandering again, this time to Celestia. Having this much guilt and shame on her face as she did at that moment was exactly the opposite of what she should have done. That only confirmed it to the other rebels that these two were telling the truth.

Rarity had her head lowered. If she could still cry, she would be right now. But slowly, her expression shifted again. As her head rose, she returned the same expression of hate and disgust to her parents she received from them.

“And you two think that justifies killing this many people? You really think all the cruelty of the cult is better than what we had before? You two should have chosen to die back then. You are hurting me far more right now than you would have by being killed,” she returned, now shifting her focus to Derpy. “But I will correct that mistake now.”

The gray reaper mare was confused at first, but then became wide-eyed as she came to understand what that look meant.

“You sure about this?” Derpy wanted to make sure as she approached, still remembering Rarity telling her how she reacted when Twilight killed a cultist for the first time.

Rarity simply gave a nod. Twilight already set the standards, she thought to herself. Her own parents betrayed everything Rarity believed in. They needed to die. Not only as punishment, but also to make sure they could never hurt anypony like that ever again. As soon as Derpy summoned her scythe, Rarity grabbed it with her teeth, showing no hesitation. As she reached out for the strike, she looked at them both one last time. Their eyes suddenly went wide and their mouths opened slightly. They genuinely seemed surprised she was about to do this. But just before the strike, her father gained the most sadistic smile she had ever seen.

“I hope you stay undead for a long, long time, my daughter. You deserve every bit of suffering you get from this,” he finished.

This did not change Rarity’s resolve. Compared to what she was going through herself, killing them was merciful. So she swung, the unnaturally sharp blade effortlessly removing their heads from their necks.

As their blood washed over Rarity’s hooves and she watched their souls leave the bodies and disappear, the zombie mare let go of the scythe, which also disappeared immediately. One last time, she showed grief in her eyes and let her ears hang down. She did not regret what she just did. Her only regret was that it even came to this. Rarity turned around and walked inside the shack to join Twilight, Fluttershy and the Cakes. She had had enough. She just couldn’t believe it were her own parents which caused so many of their plans to fail miserably.

But it seemed that this improvised court was not closed yet. The rebels kept on mumbling to each other, their faces becoming more and more serious. Then they started walking towards the shack as well, walking past both Celestia and Luna without even looking at them. Again, Celestia hung her head in shame. But Luna knew that this situation meant trouble.

“Twilight Sparkle! We need to talk!” a donkey at the very front shouted into the shack.

For the first time in hours, the purple mare started moving again. Followed by Fluttershy, she slowly got up and walked out of the door, facing her rebels. Her ears were constantly hanging down now and her eyes nearly lost any shine. She seemed very drained, emotionally tired.

“We saw what you did. You tried to make it look like you lost control, but there was just too clear of a pattern in how you let go of the rebels to have it be an accident. You sacrificed more than half of your own troop to get away! People who trusted you with their lives!” the donkey accused, struggling to keep it together.

Twilight did not respond. So not even that plan worked out, she thought to herself. Instead of justifying herself, her focus shifted away from the small crowd of angry faces. In her stead, Fluttershy spoke up.

“Even if that’s true, we would all be dead if she hadn’t done that! You saw it yourself! There was no escaping from that spell!” the yellow reaper mare argued.

“If only I could believe that. Trust me, I want to. I really, really want to. But after all we just heard, I’m sad to say I can no longer trust the judgement of the leadership circle. And not just me! All of us here!” the donkey rebel continued.

Twilight still kept her focus away from the crowd. She didn’t even want to know if Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Rarity and Derpy had turned around to watch.

“Your sense of morality has decayed far too much over the course of this rebellion! You despise cannibals, yet let them walk between us without notifying any of us! You hate cultists, yet you fail to analyze those properly who are dear to you, simply assuming they cannot possibly be the enemy! This begs the question if the entire assault on Sombra and the Crystal Empire was even anywhere close to being properly planned! Do you even grasp how many lives were lost because of your decision?” the donkey proceeded.

Twilight still didn’t react in the slightest. Her friends were starting to get very worried now. She already was going through a heavy loss and now this? Just what was going on in her head right now?

“Aren’t you going to say anything? You are being accused of betraying your own allies and making terrible miscalculations that not only severely hit all species, but also hit the beast men particularly hard! There are barely any left now and your assault even got Scorpan killed! Aren’t you going to justify yourself?” the donkey wanted to know.

“No…” Twilight replied instantly.

One more time, eyes went wide open. Despite her condition, that was the least expected response from her. Twilight took a deep slow breath, but still refused to even look at any of them.

“It is true… Everything you just said is true… I thought I would be able to make this rebellion succeed. I gave it everything I got, but it wasn’t good enough… Even worse is, by trying so hard, I let my own sense of moral slip more and more. Anything I ever did was because I thought it was the right thing to do… but I was wrong… I’m not worthy of leading this rebellion…” the purple mare spoke, her voice full of sadness, yet sounding like she didn’t actually care about anything anymore.

The rebels started looking at each other again. A few whispers followed, but they soon made up their minds.

“And neither do we think any of the other members of the circle are worthy of that honor. But without anyone qualified to plan this rebellion, it is over. Our only choice now is to disband and go our own ways. Some may continue the fight on their own. Some may switch sides. Some may try to run and hide. But whatever anyone here ends up deciding is their own choice now. I deeply regret that it has come to this, but this is the end. We will no longer support you,” the donkey finalized.

As the rebels turned around and started walking away, some of Twilight’s friends tried to argue with them, trying to make them rethink their decision. But it was pointless. When Twilight finally looked up again, just a few minutes later, only her friends, the reapers, the bodies of Rarity’s parents, the Cakes, Babs and Maud remained. Twilight ended up focusing on the cannibal mare the most.

“Why aren’t you leaving?” she wondered.

“Most of them won’t even make it out of Equestria alive and even if they do, there still is no place left to hide. You all still are my last resort,” Maud explained.

Twilight nodded, showing that she understood. Then she turned around, looking inside the shack where the Cake family and Applejack’s cousin had been watching everything going on.

“And what about you? Why aren’t you leaving? I can’t even protect any of you anymore…” Twilight wondered.

“We have nowhere to go. Like Maud said, it is either you girls or nothing,” Cupcake replied, Babs agreeing with a silent nod.

Twilight did not respond. She didn’t even have to ask any of the reapers why they remained, because she already knew the answer. They had to obey her, no matter the circumstances. She also knew that no matter what she said, her friends would never abandon Twilight, even if she wanted them to. The purple mare just hung her head again and walked back inside. This time, everyone still left followed her, except for the reapers. Only Derpy and Fluttershy also went inside. The rest remained outdoors, guarding the shack.

---

A single candle was all that filled the shack with light, casting the silhouettes of the ponies and reapers sitting around it on the walls. It had become slightly crowded with all those people inside. The wood creaked every now and then, giving away that the floor was struggling to handle the weight. But since the planks were laid directly on the ground, none of them had to fear falling through.

But also did none of them know what to say. All their efforts were in vain. They had come this far, only to fail. So they just kept silent, minute after minute. All eyes were glued to the flame of the candle. It felt like this was the only light left in the entire world. But eventually, Cadence couldn’t stay quiet anymore. She once again broke out in tears, immediately getting comforted by all close to her.

“You know… I was actually glad when Blueblood took my immortality. For such a long time, I secretly dreaded the day I would outlive Shining Armor. Having to watch him die and never being able to join him… It was a thought I hated more than anything. My biggest fear. I was so relieved when I got my chance to grow old with Shining and die in his embrace… But now…” Cadence spoke, starting to cry heavily again. “Now I outlived him after all…”

“I’m so sorry, Cadence… I’m so sorry…” Twilight apologized in a nearly whispering tone, looking away again with still hanging ears as she spoke.

“Shining Armor meant at least as much to you as he meant to Cadence, Twilight. This is not your fault,” Luna responded.

Muteness returned. It seemed like their whole world had been reduced to this shack, the light of the candle and the crying of Cadence. There was nothing else left. Nothing to say, nothing to think, nothing to believe in. But still, Carrot Cake broke the silence a second time after a while.

“Well… what are we going to do now?” he wondered.

“I don’t know… The rebellion was our only chance to at least try to return things to the way they were. Without the help, we can forget about continuing the fight,” Twilight stated.

“But… Twilight! What about your determination? What about ‘so long as this heart keeps on beating, I will continue the fight’?” Fluttershy wondered.

“That died along with my brother…” the purple mare replied quickly, now turning her entire head away from her friends. “In my nightmare, when I spoke to the demon queen, she said that no matter what I do, I only make things worse. Now I see that she is right. Every single step I ever took only led me to this point… The more I struggled, the more I lost… Moondancer, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Obsidian Shards, Crystal Blossom, Scorpan… and now Shining Armor… I will continue to lose one friend at a time until all of you are dead… Maybe this really is how it is meant to be… Letting Blueblood and the cult have their way…”

“You can’t be serious, Twilight…” Babs Seed responded.

She didn’t even say anything to that anymore. Everyone expected of her to snap out of it any moment now. Any second, she would give an epic, motivating speech and buckle up her ideas. But she just stayed silent. This really was it. She had really given up.

“So this is it, then?” Caramel wondered.

Twilight nodded. The one with the strongest resolve of all of them had surrendered. What were they going to do now? Where would they go? Would they even have a chance to survive? It were either these thoughts filling the minds of all present or none at all. As they started to sink into their own minds now, the crying of the cake twins could be heard as even they now came to realize that it was hopeless, fear bringing them to tears.

“Finally,” another voice spoke directly at the door.

This unexpected comment caught their attention. A reaper stood in the open frame, smirking at Twilight… A smirking reaper?

“You have finally given up,” the cursed stallion repeated, a sinister grin growing on his face.

As it clicked to all that this was actually Despair, they jumped up. But before they could get ready to fight, a red magical aura paralyzed them. A huge earthquake followed as Malice stopped flying and landed on the ground. Toxica flew through the broken window as well, giving her typical playful giggle. Finally, Despair dropped her disguise and started walking towards Twilight.

“Now, we can really get to business,” she stated.

The Darkest Hour

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ut_DSKImIicXIF0epgr3XvdcmjJt9DZp7UPCf0cezsY/edit?usp=sharing

Pound and Pumpkin screamed as loudly as they could. Even Babs, who was significantly older and more experienced than the twins, was panicking. The red magic held them all firmly in place, but still allowed communicating, it seemed. Twilight realized that it wasn’t Despair casting the spell, as her horn was not glowing. The sinister magic radiated in from outside, from Malice. The purple mare could hear muffled sounds all around the shack. What good is the presence of every last reaper if the demon commander can mute and immobilize them from so far away that they couldn’t even see him approach? She should have assumed as much, Twilight thought to herself. There is next to nothing Malice is incapable of doing now with all that power. Maybe he could also cloud Amber’s future predicting ability, because even she didn’t see this coming. But mostly, Twilight could only blame herself for all of them getting ambushed and captured like this. She was so distracted with her loss and thoughts that she did not feel the demon commander approach.

Toxica remained hovering in the air, rapidly flapping her small wings, chuckling and wiggling her hind legs in anticipation. The Right Hand of Nightmare Moon himself remained outdoors, not even watching, seemingly leaving the work to his subordinates. Despair, too, remained still. Grinning, watching, waiting. She was waiting for Twilight to react, that much the purple mare knew. Twilight was shocked at first as this situation could easily be the end of all of them. She already had huge trouble fighting Malice before, so she had no idea if she even stood a chance against him now. But as the purple mare realized the demons were hesitant to act, she relaxed quickly, sighed and regained her exhausted expression.“I may be at my end, but I will still keep up a fight if you try to take even a single more friend away from me. If you really must kill one of us, just kill me and be done with it. Without me, the last embers of the rebellion will die off,” Twilight suggested, once again shocking her friends that she was so willing to give up her own life without even the slightest intention of fighting back.

Contrary to what the purple mare just suggested, Despair stopped smiling. Everyone, including Twilight, was in firm believe that she would instantly jump at the opportunity.

“If I wanted you dead, you would have died years ago. Trust me, I toyed with the idea many times. There were quite a few situations where I was so close, you wouldn’t even have had the time to react and during the instances when we were fighting, I always had to hold myself back. But truth is: We need you. Now more than ever,” Despair explained.

These words seemed highly unusual for a demon, the Guillotine of Hope in particular. Hadn’t it been her prime objective to completely destroy Twilight all this time? Eventually, Babs was the one speaking out what everyone was thinking.

“What kind of trick are you trying to pull on us this time?” the teenage filly wondered in a tense tone.

“This, my little ponies! This is what I have been planning all along. This exact situation is what all my efforts were centered around. You, Twilight, at your limit. Having nothing left to lose. Willing to do anything for even the faintest chance. All your friends are depending on you so much, they are doomed without you. I have pushed and pulled on your rebellion since the day of its founding. I have used you all like marionettes, only to get you to the very edge. Now, finally, you all are completely at my disposal,” the demoness with multiple voices replied, regaining her confident, evil grin.“No matter what you do to us. No matter how well you planned things. We will never obey you!” Luna protested.“I’m not so naive as to think I could bring you to serve me. But you will cooperate! I’m leaving you no other option. And I can prove it,” Despair countered, turning her head around and giving a glance outside. “Why is it that I always must clean up after you, Twilight? You really have a thing for abandoning those dear to you. Which one of us is truly the demoness here?”

Slow steps could be heard approaching the door to the shack. It sounded like hoof steps, very reluctant, even rebelling to move forward. Then the face of this pony became visible.

“Shining!” Cadence shouted out instantly, tears filling her eyes yet again.

Most of the others could not believe their eyes, either. Shining Armor was unharmed and simply had a blindfold wrapped around his head. He was struggling, resisting. Only Twilight kept the same depressed expression. She wasn’t believing this for even a second.

“N… No! I’m not Shining Armor! He is dead. I’m a Skin-Walker! This is just a trick!” the stallion denied.

While that response confirmed Twilight’s thoughts, it put the others into uncertainty. If this really was Shining Armor, then this is how he would act, they figured. His wife, however, had the hardest time handling all that had transpired so far. She was stuck on an emotional rollercoaster, constantly crying out of either desperation or relief, unable to figure out what she should believe in. What kind of mind game was Despair trying to pull on them? Said demoness reacted to the stallion’s proclamation right away, turning around and shape-shifting her right front leg. The fanged maw disappeared and instead turned into a bladeless claw, holding him by the jaw.

“You will play along, or your precious Cadence dies. Twilight may be irreplaceable, but she is not,” Despair threatened.

The stallion gave off noises of displeasure, moving his head to free his chin. His head lowered slightly, signalling that he was submitting. Still, Twilight remained unfazed.

“We’ve been in this kind of setup before, haven’t we?” the purple mare recalled.

“You insult me, Twilight. With all my intellect and skill, you seriously think I would pull off the same trick twice?” Despair retorted, her expression more smug than upset.

“You are a demon. You never act out of good intentions. No matter what things may look like, there is always a catch to it,” Twilight replied, looking to the ground again.“True, I am not doing this out of kindness of my non-existent heart,” the Guillotine of Hope answered with a smirk while pointing at the bleeding hole in her chest. “But it should be pretty easy for you to figure out if this is your brother or not, shouldn’t it?”

Twilight gave off a frustrated sigh and looked up again. She wasn’t exactly in the position to argue. If this was the game Despair wanted to play, Twilight would play along, just to protect her friends.

“Breeze,” she spoke out.

“Kite…” the stallion replied.

The purple mare rolled her eyes. Lucky guess, she thought to herself. There could be a number of ways the demons figured that one out.

“What kind of pet did you have when you were a teenage colt?” Twilight asked.

“Ants… I owned an ant farm,” the stallion answered.

Now, Twilight’s eyes widened and her ears perked up again. In contrast to the kite lessons Shining Armor gave her, that was something he never brought out into the public. Only she, their parents and Cadence even knew about this. There was only one way to be absolutely sure. She had to make him recite a painful memory.

“When I confronted you about the fake Cadence’s behavior, one day before your wedding when you all still believed she was the real one and thought I was just trying to bully her out of the ceremony, what did you say to me after you finished justifying the situation?” she wanted to know.

“I said you could forget about being my best mare and if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all…” the stallion replied with a bit of hesitation.As Twilight’s mouth slightly fell open in realization, the shine of life returned to her eyes. There was no doubt now. If this was an imposter, he would have gotten at least one of these checks wrong. The purple mare quickly looked over to Cadence, who now also was in firm believe that this truly was her husband. Never before did Twilight see this much relief in a single expression. Her light from the candle, reflecting in her eyes, was floating around on the tears in her eyes. Her smile was shaky and unstable, having to press her lips together to not shout out. Cadence was squirming and struggling against the magical hold. She wanted to get to him so badly, crying so much in joy, it was heartbreaking. But Twilight kept her emotions in place. Her focus soon returned to Despair, now giving her a serious look.

“Why? What are you getting out of this?” she wanted to know.

“Your cooperation, of course! He is the key to make you act. You are useless without your hope, so assuming direct control of it in turn gives me full control over you,” the demoness replied, lowering her head slightly and grinning sinisterly.

“You really honor your name, hm?” Twilight noted. “Fine. I’m biting. What do you want?”

Toxica began to chuckle again, seemingly getting very excited now. This seems to have been the part she had been waiting for. Despair’s expression also shifted into a more serious one.

“You would not believe how closely our goal align at times. You want to take down Blueblood? So do we! I want you and your friends to go straight to Canterlot Castle and tear Nightmare’s Eye from his neck,” she spoke in an ordering tone.

“Wait, what?!” Luna shouted out suddenly, deeply astonished to hear that request.

“He is your ally! Why are you turning on him now, all the sudden?” Celestia wanted to know.

“He was our ally. For a long time now, he stopped seeing us as what we are and only uses us as his servants. He served his purpose. But now, he is nothing more than a nuisance,” the Guillotine of Hope explained.

“So tearing down the rebellion was nothing more than for your own sick pleasure? If you hadn’t made it so hard for us, we would be there by now,” Twilight analyzed with a growl in her voice.“If Blueblood is to fall, he will fall on our terms, not yours! Due to the necklace, we can’t harm him while also being forced to follow his every command. Also, why would we allow the entire world to unite against us? What we have here, right now, is what we wanted all along. A small group of powerful individuals, just enough to defeat him. You will not get the pleasure to execute him. For the way he has been treating us, that will fall to us!” Despair clarified.

“And how can we be sure we aren’t getting killed next, as soon as we have ‘fulfilled our purposes’, too?” Fluttershy wondered.

“I guess you can’t,” Despair spoke with a wide, evil grin, causing Toxica to giggle again. “You won’t be able to argue about any of the conditions we give you. Either you all do exactly as we tell you, or you die. Simple as that. But knowing you all as well as I do, you wouldn’t just throw away your lives like that if you even get the smallest of chances to achieve your goal. It would go against your morals to let him reign forever.”

“Then what should stop us from just finishing him off? Why should we give you anything?” Derpy wondered, looking at the demoness angrily.

The answer came not in words, but in actions. Despair turned around again and undid the blindfold. Instantly, black tears started flowing out of Shining Armor’s eyes. They now realized what he was fighting against this whole time.

“Slendermane volunteered to possess your dear brother. This way, we will all be able to keep a close eye on you while also letting him join the battle. If you displease us, he will be choked to death. If you go too far, Slendermane will disable all of you, making you easy prey. Don’t forget: Our stronghold Hades is directly in the crystal mine below Canterlot. You will be swarmed in seconds if you sheer from our plans,” Despair explained.

No arguments followed anymore. They really were trapped. Despair had them. Angry or scared glances from the rebels were responded to by confident and excited looks from the demons.

“We aren’t seriously considering working with them, are we?” Babs wanted to know.

The circle did not reply. Like before, it seemed like everything was up to Twilight now. She spent a few more moments thinking about this before looking straight back to her arch nemesis.

“What about those here who won’t be able to contribute to the attack? Are you really expecting parents, foals and my handicapped friend to join in?” Twilight needed to clarify.“We could just kill them. Right here, right now. But that would damage your resolve. In the end, we can only succeed if we cooperate on this. The Cake family, Babs Seed, Applejack, Caramel and, because I really want to stay in good terms with you so this succeeds, Amber as well will be left alone. You are free to hide, run away or do whatever you want. We will open every gate for you, kill every cultist trying to alarm Blueblood and mysteriously disappear when you get close, so he can’t order us to protect him. It was his great vision to see ponies and demons cooperate. Now, he is finally getting what he wanted. Only if we join forces, he will fall,” Despair stated.

“And what about after?” Applejack wanted to know. “What’s gonna become of Equestria once he’s a goner?”“I guess we will see, won’t we?” the demoness replied, grinning sinisterly. “You can’t deny that we are clearly in advantage right now. Perhaps this will be the end of Equestria and the rest of the world will have to fight for survival. Perhaps one of your allies decides to return and help you reclaim Equestria. In that case, things would be just the way you wanted them. Exactly like before the BloodClaw Cult. Whatever the outcome may be, you know yourself that this war is long from being over.”

“I guess that is the best we can get out of you and this ‘deal’,” Twilight commented disdainfully.

“Come on, stupid ponies!” Toxica suddenly started speaking, apparently getting impatient. “We are offering you Blueblood on a silver platter and you are arguing!”“Let them decide,” the deep, powerful voice of Malice spoke from outside.

The little demoness made a pouty face, then turned away while still hovering. A second time, what was left of the rebellion spent a few moments considering. If they do this and the demons are telling the truth about their intentions, they could finally end Blueblood’s reign of terror and corruption. The exact thing they wanted this whole time. But the cost would be enormous. Cooperating with the demons… the enemy… They would be submitting to their methods, their standards, their judgement. Is achieving their ultimate goal really worth throwing away everything they believed to be the right thing to do?

At last, Malice canceled his spell. Cadence rushed over to Shining Armor straight away and embraced him, crying happily one final time. He embraced her back by wrapping his left front leg around her back. The reapers were allowed to move freely again as well, but they did not attack. They heard every word, now waiting for their mistress to make the choice.

“What will it be, Twilight Sparkle? Do we have a deal?” Despair wondered, reaching out her right front leg again and shifting it into a claw, offering a handshake.

The purple mare stared at the claw. She might be getting blackmailed into this, but she still had to give it her agreement. If she accepted, she would betray everything.

“This is a mistake, Twily…” her brother commented.

“She is not giving us any other choice…” the purple mare concluded.

As she raised her front leg, her focus was lowered to the ground. This was the most humiliating thing she had ever done. Twilight couldn’t even bring herself to look up as she shook Despair’s claw. But the others saw just how wide the grins of both the Guillotine of Hope and the Cloud of Disaster slowly became.

“Wooo! Wooo! Finally! Blueblood is gonna die now! Yes!” the little green demoness started celebrating, raising her front hooves into the air, followed by her landing on the wooden floor so she could start jumping around in sheer excitement.

“You made the right decision,” Despair assured with her usual cocky smile.Twilight, though, wasn’t so sure about that when her hoof finally parted away and lowered to the ground. She wouldn’t even be able to look at herself in the mirror anymore, she thought to herself. What was Celestia thinking of her now? What about Luna? Or all of her friends, for that matter? The rebellion had reached its lowest possible point now.

Chess

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19mqgrYSVm82h8bO7GxtmM3-Qo6EvItgtpndHTp9B1nU/edit?usp=sharing

An hour passed after Twilight and her friends agreed to cooperate with the demons under constraint. It was far into the night now, but none of them could even think of sleeping, despite being emotionally exhausted from all that happened. It was a particularly bitter pill to swallow for all of them, still not fully believing it really ended up coming to this. If they were working with the demons and accepting their ways, what even made them any different from the BloodClaw Cult now? Still, it was only intelligent to be sceptical about the Underworld League and their intentions. So long as they remained close by and would not sleep, neither would any of the ponies or reapers.

The messengers of death themselves did not express their feelings, mostly because they didn’t have any. But even they found it hard to believe they were now back to working with their original superiors. But despite everything, Twilight remained their mistress. A pony was still in control of the true Book of Death, not a demon. They still could find some form of comfort in that knowledge. They might be cooperating with whom they had been fighting against for over one thousand years now, but this would only last for as long as Twilight Sparkle got an advantage out of it. Unfortunately, though, despite the leadership circle’s best attempts, Despair was not budging the slightest bit to change the conditions she was giving them. Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves where the only reapers permitted to join the siege of Canterlot Castle. All the others were not even allowed to get near the castle, forced to remain in the shadows far away, cutting off all paths to the city to prevent messages from spreading should a cultist spot the attackers and try to warn the population. It was their task to make sure that, once the battle between the leadership circle and Blueblood started, the corrupt king would not get any help. The demons simply could not afford to be close enough for Blueblood to spot them and give the order to help him. Considering that he had the powers of three alicorns at once, not having the reapers help with the attack was a huge problem. It was clear that, once again, it would be up to Twilight to deal the most damage. She was the only one who could even hope to stand a chance against him, all her friends only acting as assistance for her. Despair was really telling the truth. She pushed Twilight to improve herself, made her become this incredibly mighty being she had become. Twilight and her arcane powers were needed, otherwise such a small group would never be able to defeat the King of Corruption.

The thoughts and realizations kept creeping in over the past hour. Had everything they had been doing been predicted? Were they just walking down a road which the demons provided without even noticing it? Especially Twilight kept pondering on these questions as she sat outside of the door, staring at her right front hoof. She had been covered head to hoof in ash, dust, rubble, mud, slime, blood and guts before. But even after having been through all that, she never felt as filthy and disgusting as she felt right there and then. A part of her just wanted to cut off that hoof which shook the claw of her arch enemy. No matter how much she would wash herself, she would never be able to ever get this feeling to go away again. Just how could she have become reduced to… this. Eventually, Twilight thought to herself that it was pointless to even keep thinking about what she had done. She let out a sigh and put her hoof back down to the ground as she came to the conclusion that all which was left now was to, once again, just keep pushing forward.

Her eyes started wandering around again. She looked back inside to check on those under her protection. Applejack and Caramel seemed to be doing fine. They were holding each other closely for reassurance. Looking more closely, Twilight was in firm belief that the orange mare even had a little bit of a bulge on her belly. Was she that far in, already? No matter if this was just her mind playing tricks on her or not, the thought brought a smile to Twilight’s face.

Babs Seed tried her best to calm down Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. But the twins had been through just too much and would not relax as long as there were demons still around. Carrot Cake and Cup Cake also seemed to still be nervous. At least the demons had the decency to leave the shack again and remain outside.

The purple mare let her focus stray more. Fluttershy, Amber and Derpy were with the other reapers, talking to them. It seemed like they were arguing, assumably justifying Twilight’s decision and reasoning over the circumstances.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you like that,” Twilight heard Cadence speak.

With a quick turn of her head, she could see her sister-in-law standing next to Maud Pie with an ashamed expression. Maud looked back at her, but as usual failed to form any kind of expression.

“So long as you don’t attack me, I don’t mind,” Maud responded calmly.

“Speaking of attacking,” the mixed voices of Despair suddenly interrupted, approaching the two and instantly gaining displeased glances from Cadence. “Have your other cannibal friends survived?”

“Yes,” Maud answered straight away, surprising the fallen alicorn next to her a bit about how open she was with the demoness.

“Good, then you and your friends will help us clear the path for Twilight. You will not help fighting Blueblood directly, but you are free to kill and eat as may of the cultists as you like,” the Guillotine of Hope demanded.

“Okay,” Maud replied shortly.

After that, Despair simply smirked and walked away again. Maud seemed to want to be alone for a bit, walking off, too, behind the shack. Cadence then returned to Shining Armor, who had decided to sit down next to Twilight.

“I’m so pathetic…” Cadence started, nuzzling her face into the fur on her husband’s side. “When I thought I lost you, I completely lost control. This just isn’t like me… I’m sorry.”

Shining Armor smiled at his wife, another black tear which he had no control over rolling down his face, having to swipe it away before he hugged her tightly.

“Honestly, I don’t think I would have been acting much different,” he stated, then focused his sister with a worried expression. “How are you coping, Twily?”

The purple mare let out another sigh. This time, though, it was a frustrated one, followed by her leaving her ears hanging again.

“I hate myself for this. But if this is how things have to be, then so be it,” she explained.

“We just need to make sure to get out of there as soon as Blueblood is dead,” Shining Armor suggested.

Twilight gave a short smile to her brother to reassure him. But on the inside, she thought that it was pretty silly that he, of all, was thinking this, considering that there was a demon right in his mind, watching and listening to everything they were doing.

Now that she was thinking of the demons, she started to focus on them more. Malice was sitting on the ground, a short gallop away from the shack. It showed that he was made out of a reaper’s soul… Crystal Blossom’s, tragically… as he sat down in what seemed to be a meditative pose. He was so still, it felt just as unnatural as he was. Only the enormous cloak covering this mountain of black bones slightly moved with the occasional breeze. But his glowing eye sockets were constantly aimed at the shack. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a chill run down her spine as she now felt his stare. Just like Slendermane inside of Shining Armor, Malice was watching and listening closely the whole time.

The purple mare came to realize that she heard faint singing closely by, making her ears go up again. She decided to get up and investigate, tracking down the noise to the left side of the shack. Twilight felt a bit dense when she realized it was only Toxica, acting like a juvenile pony again. She had drawn some lines into the ground and was playing hopscotch by herself. Of all the demons Twilight encountered, Toxica confused her the most. That child-like behavior and naivety was so convincing.

“She was really mad at you, Twilight,” Despair commented suddenly.

Twilight winced heavily, turning her head around to the demoness with wide open eyes. Despair grinned in response. She did this on purpose.

“You said you wanted me to stay alive. Maybe you should stop trying to give me a heart attack, then,” the purple mare returned with an angered expression.

“If I can’t kill you, you will at least have to endure me scaring you every once in a while. This also helps you to stay alert,” Despair argued, smiling wickedly.

Twilight huffed shortly before returning her attention to Toxica. Despair knew her presence was not appreciated, yet still decided to stand right beside her.

“She was really eager to get her hooves on Shining Armor. If it was for her to decide, she would have flailed him alive, just to get even with you,” the Guillotine of Hope explained.

“With me? Why that?” Twilight wondered, her slightly monotone voice giving away that she wasn’t truly interested in a conversation.

“She cared a lot about Succubus. When your reaper friend Ditzy Doo consumed her, we were all very angry. Toxica in particular would have loved to take revenge. But when she came to understand that Ditzy only acted based on your orders, her focus shifted on you,” Despair continued.

“A demon who values friendship. Pah. Now I heard everything,” the purple mare commented in incredulity.

“Succubus was her sister, just like she was my sister, or Slendermane’s or even Malice’s. We may all be very different, but we are all related. We are the children of our queen Nightmare Moon and as such, we stick together,” Despair clarified while giving Twilight a calm but malevolent look. “Still, Toxica isn’t like you, or even me. When I was born, I was already fully formed and adult. That is what happens to most of us. Toxica may be older than me, but she will stay a child forever.”

“Because Nightmare Moon thought it would suit her role the best?” Twilight wondered, returning Despair’s look with an equally arrogant and malevolent one.

“No, because the soul she is based on was a particularly cruel yet naive one,” the demoness replied shortly.

Twilight was about to give a sarcastic comment, but Despair decided to approach Toxica. The little green demoness didn’t seem to have noticed their entire conversation. But as soon as she spotted Despair, Toxica stopped playing and came bouncing over to her.

“Despy!” the Cloud of Disaster greeted cheerfully, like they hadn’t seen each other in weeks.

“We were talking about you. Say, would you mind telling Twilight whom you were born out of?” Despair inquired.

Instantly, Toxica’s expression shifted to an angry one as she focused the purple mare.

“I still don’t like her. She got Succy consumed,” the small demoness replied.

“I think it would hurt her if she found that out, though,” Despair argued with an evil smile.

Toxica’s eyes went wide for a moment, focusing Despair. She then, too, began to grin widely, baring her many jagged teeth. Quickly, her attention returned to Twilight.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie!” the filly-sized demoness called out.

Instantly, Twilight felt a wave of shock washing over her. Her eyes went wide and her whole body petrified for a moment.

“H... How in the world is this possible? I saw Pinkamena dead with my own eyes and there were no signs that a demon escaped from her. Obsidian surely would have told me something this important!” the purple mare wondered, aghast.

“Think, Twilight Sparkle. Yes, the one you saw was reaped before a demon could birth out of her. But there was a time when more than a single Pinkamena was roaming Ponyville, don’t you remember?” Despair commented, lowering her head a little and grinning evilly. “With so many clones wandering around, one was bound to get lost in Everfree Forest. It was an interesting test to see if the Mirror Pool could not only copy a pony’s body and mind, but also their soul. Little Toxica here is the result of this experiment.”

This shocked Twilight. Even she had no idea this was possible, though this thought should have crossed her mind at some point, she figured. But soon, her angry and confident expression returned.

“That would explain where so many of you came from in the recent years. You captured ponies, made them use the mirror pool and then used the clones to make more of you,” Twilight analyzed.

“You wish it was that simple to explain our numbers, hm? No, we never managed to find the Mirror Pool, even though we had been thinking the same thing. Now, it doesn’t matter anymore. Wherever it was, you sealed it off for good. No pony or demon will ever be able to use the pool ever again,” Despair countered.

Hearing that actually relieved Twilight. Of course, she could not take Despair’s words as definite truth. But if they actually were able to utilize the pool, the number of demons would have exploded noticeably. The Guillotine of Hope seems to once again be able to read Twilight’s thoughts as her grin grew wider and she continued.

“But can you imagine if we, by sheer chance, would have caught the original? Toxica is already one of the strongest demons in existence, but can you even picture how strong she would be if we had caught the real Pinkie?” she questioned.

“Who says we didn’t?” Toxica commented, chuckling a bit.

“I guess we may never know,” Despair added as she looked at the little green demoness with a smirk.

After that, Toxica simply turned around and bounced back to continue playing. Now knowing this, Twilight realized the typical trademark Pinkie Pie bounce should have been a dead give-away all this time.

“So… this is what happens when Pinkamena loses her soul to a demon. I am glad there aren’t more of her,” Twilight commented in despise.

“She once had a play-fight against an, as you call them, Devastator. She blasted it across the entirety of Tartarus with playful ease. Just a few more of her would have been enough to wipe out all life in Equestria. But it was never meant to happen, it seems,” Despair remembered.

Twilight didn’t even want to think of that possibility. Not even the Toxica in existence should have ever come to be. Every demon, for that matter. But all things considered, this was still an outcome for the better, she concluded. Not even saying another word, the purple mare turned around and started walking back to the front of the shack, Despair still accompanying her.

“Will you stop following me?” Twilight demanded.

“You are not in any kind of position to make demands,” Despair reminded with an evil grin.

Twilight saved her breath. It was pointless to argue with a demon, Despair in particular. Her eyes simply focused on the entrance of the shack. Shining Armor and Cadence had gone inside now, holding each other closely. The Cake twins finally managed to calm down and fell asleep as the first of anyone around here. But Babs also looked very tired, apparently struggling to stay awake. Carrot Cake and Cup Cake were not faring any better.

“You really should all go to sleep soon. It will take a day before we reach Hades from here,” Despair suggested.

“So you can do Pete knows what with us while we are asleep? So long as you are awake, I stay awake,” Twilight argued.

“Then you are out of luck, Twilight Sparkle. Demons don’t sleep. Ever,” the demoness replied casually.

That was something the purple mare actually was unaware of. Not even the reapers seemed to be sure about this fact. Or maybe Despair was bluffing. She would put that statement to the test, Twilight figured. She kept wandering around aimlessly, trying to get a moment by herself. But the shape-shifting demoness would not stop pestering her.

“You may disagree, but I believe a conversation between us is long overdue. We have been fighting each other for a long time now, but never really got to know one another,” Despair commented.

“And I would like to keep it that way. I have nothing to say to you, Despair. You represent everything that is wrong in my eyes,” Twilight returned.

“I can tell you are bored, though. Your mind is craving exercise. Something to help you stay sharp,” the Guillotine of Hope analyzed, then started casting a spell to make a set of chairs and a table appear. “You have beaten me in combat before, but can you beat me in a game of chess?”

“I’m already very fed up with playing your games,” the purple mare replied, feeling insulted from the insinuation.

“And yet I keep insisting,” Despair spoke as she climbed onto one of the chairs, gesturing at Twilight to take the other place.

Yet another frustrated sigh escaped Twilight. If the situation were to be just slightly different, she would simply launch Despair across Equestria. But if she wanted to play chess against Twilight, there was nothing she could do now. Knowing Despair, she would keep pushing Twilight harder and harder with ever more extreme threats until she agreed anyway. Unwillingly, the purple mare sat down, putting her elbows onto the table and resting her head in her front hooves with a very annoyed expression.

“Let’s just get this over with,” she mumbled.

Another small flash followed, letting a board and chess pieces appear on the table. The demoness let all white figures float to Twilight while giving herself the black ones. How fitting, she thought to herself. The pieces were quickly arranged and the first few moves were made. Twilight could immediately tell that Despair was playing for a long game, frustrating her even more.

“35 years ago, Obsidian Shards annihilated the Pie family, only allowing Pinkamena Diane Pie to escape,” Despair started telling out of the blue.

“Why do you keep mentioning these events in history?” Twilight wanted to know.

“I will let you in on a little secret, Twilight,” the Guillotine of Hope started, her expression now shifting to one Twilight had never seen before. She looked very sad and exhausted. “We actually want to sleep. We are all linked to our queen, as you know. So everything she feels, we also feel. She is tired. Very, very tired of all this fighting, so we are as well. It doesn’t matter if we are ancient or newborn. We all feel this same overwhelming tiredness. But revenge has never been achieved. This hate coming from the red darkness still burns strong in us, preventing us from resting.”

As usual, Despair completely dodged answering Twilight’s question. But what she just revealed instead was, frankly, quite intriguing. If even the smallest bit of what she had just said was true, it would hint on that the demons actually don’t want to keep fighting. Could this be used in some way? Could there be a base for a form of peace negotiation? It seems impossible, but Twilight had managed to do the impossible countless times before.

“I’m also sure you are curious about why I look the way I am. Especially since I am a Skin-Walker and can shape myself into any form I like,” Despair resumed the conversation as she moved a pawn forward.

“Guess I am about to find out now?” Twilight wondered in a more sarcastic tone, still not showing real interest in speaking to her greatest enemy and instead focusing on the game.

“It is actually exactly for the reason that I am a Skin-Walker and can take any form I want that I choose this one to remind myself of whom I am. The heart-shaped hole and colors remain to remind myself of what I started out as. The blades on my hind legs, as well as the maws in my front legs, are to remind me of what I have become. I keep the approximate shape of Chrysalis’ horn and the streak of mane across my face to keep in mind that it is due to her that I have become this strong. But as for the bandages around my hind legs… I know what you think of me, Twilight Sparkle. But all my arrogance aside, I actually do acknowledge defeat. They remind me of the fact that I lost against you… and serve as motivation to never let it happen again,” the demoness spoke surprisingly open about herself, but regaining her evil smirk near the end.

Again, Twilight had nothing to say about any of this as she simply put her knight in position. Only in her mind, she actually processed her words. With that knowledge, her strange mixed voice consisting of those of Queen Chrysalis, herself and something new also became explainable. Still… Chrysalis was worthy of partially shaping herself after, but Moondancer and Spike were not even worth mentioning? The words of the shape-shifting demoness only made her hate Despair even more. But what is to be expected of a demon in the first place.

“I also have to admit that you made it very difficult for me to get to this point for all these years,” the Guillotine commented.

“Well, I am glad I could provide a challenge,” Twilight replied in the most sarcastic tone she could muster, causing the demoness to grin.

“If only you had known that it was exactly your hope that made it so hard for me. Had you ever figured that out, it would have taken many more years and maybe you would even have gotten your rebellion so far that you would actually have been able to plan a siege of Canterlot Castle yourself. I may be the Guillotine of Hope, but hope is exactly my biggest weakness. As you mentioned before, it all comes down to my name. I flourish from the despair of others, but hope weakens me,” Despair explained as she let her rook move to the side.

This made Twilight go wide-eyed again and drop the bishop she kept afloat. She just completely casually revealed how she could have been defeated all this time, and still could. Another trick, perhaps? Or was her thoughtless babbling causing her to give away secrets Twilight was never meant to know?

“Got your attention with that, hm?” the demoness commented, grinning sinisterly yet again. “Then I also suppose you would like to know the weaknesses of all the other members of the Underworld League. It is simple, really. Just think of what defines each of us and think of the opposite then. Slendermane thrives on fear, so courage is his greatest weakness. Toxica is very playful and immature, so maturity and seriousness are her weaknesses. Succubus was all about temptation and desires. With her, you can actually see what I mean with our weaknesses. A reaper, a being of complete self-control and discipline, defeated her. As for Malice, he is pure power and megalomania. Modesty and selflessness could still bring about his downfall, even with all the power he has.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Twilight wondered in genuine surprise as she finally placed the bishop in position. She realized that none of the other demons even reacted to the demoness revealing these very intimate and critical details. Not even Malice objected the slightest bit.

“Because it doesn’t matter anymore if you know this or not. Do you remember when we met again after my defeat, during your first attempt to kill high priestess Black Widow? I told you that we crossed the point where nothing could be changed anymore. Until recently, this knowledge would have only delayed my work by some completely unnecessary years. But now, you will never even be able to use this to your advantage,” Despair explained, moving her own knight now.

“We will see about that,” the purple mare finished, emphasising her words by placing her queen in striking position.

Despair seemed unimpressed and simply used one of her own bishops to block the way. Twilight knew she was expecting of her to take the bishop, so she decided to take down a pawn in range of her knight instead. But just two turns later, Twilight lost her queen to one of Despair’s pawns. A move she did not see coming, angering her quite a bit.

“Another thing you won’t find in any history books is that all of ponykind actually got our names wrong,” the demoness started again, still smirking over the move she pulled off. “We were originally called de manis. Spirits of the depth of the mind. But thanks to Celestia, the population forgot more and more about us, until we became reduced to scary stories before the rise of the BloodClaw Cult. De manis, demanis, demans, demons. It deteriorated more and more over time.”

“How very fascinating,” Twilight growled in sarcasm, trying to salvage her lost queen by moving her pawn forward.

The rest of the game only lasted a few more minutes. The purple mare quickly had to face that the loss of her queen crippled her critically. Despair chipped away at her pawns one by one. Twilight could manage to take a few of her figures out, but became cornered more and more. The development of this game angered her a lot. It just reminded her too much of how her entire rebellion had been going.

“Checkmate,” Despair announced eventually as she completely surrounded Twilight’s king.

“Hmpf… You just got lucky,” Twilight replied, turning her head away with an angry expression.

“Being a sore loser?” the demoness wondered with another smirk.

Twilight didn’t need to justify herself, she thought. Especially not in front of Despair. She was about to get up when the demoness suddenly moved forward and pinned Twilight’s front hooves on the table with her own, forcing her to look back.

“This is more symbolic than you seem to realize. No matter what you do, you can’t win against us. You can’t,” Despair explained.

“Why?” Twilight asked, now getting loud and pushing herself up as well. “Because you are so many? Because you are stronger? Because only the reapers and the elements of harmony can actually defeat you? I have found ways before and I will find them again!”

Despair kept on smiling cockily, just staying there for a few seconds, drinking the moment in before she slowly sat back down and let her front hooves slide away from Twilight’s.

“No. Because we are in the right,” the Guillotine explained.

“That is not how I see things,” the purple mare responded, slowly sitting back down as well.

In the corner of her eye, Twilight saw Applejack looking through one of the windows of the shack. After turning her head to her, she saw a mixed expression of worry, curiosity and disbelief. This made Twilight realize how the scene between her and Despair looked like right now. The thought of actually bonding with the demon who ruined her life and the lives of so many others disgusted her deeply, so she simply got up again.

“I’m done with this,” she announced before starting to walk away.

---

Ten minutes passed after Twilight decided to walk behind the shack, looking to be by herself for a while. She felt the late hours weigh down her eyelids, yet kept them up with all her might. After being humiliated like that, the purple mare sought another form of distraction. But looking for Maud and what she was up to proved to be not very captivating. Maud simply looked around for rocks and analyzed them. It really showed that she had been living on a rock farm for most of her youth. Boredom only made Twilight get more tired, so she eventually decided to walk back to the front. Malice was still sitting there and watching. Toxica stopped with her game of hopscotch and instead was climbing through a tree. Sadly, due to her strong poison, it was already dead by the time she came back. The leaves were falling off one by one as the little green demoness jumped between the branches. A look inside the shack revealed to Twilight that she was actually the last one still awake. Everyone else had fallen asleep. Even the reapers came to the conclusion that with the demons now on their side, there was no threat left to worry about and all decided to get some much needed sleep. But just a slight shift of Twilight’s focus made her become outraged again on the inside. Despair was leaning her upper body against some railings, having shifted her appearance to that of a white mare with red mane and a red moon cutie mark. It took mere seconds before she spotted Twilight.

“Still as childish as back then, I see,” Despair spoke in a different, much more feminine voice.

“You heartless monster… Isn't it enough that you devoured her soul? Do you have to ridicule Moondancer as well?" the purple mare wondered.

“You are one to talk, Twilight! After everything you have done to me!” Despair continued, still impersonating Twilight’s long dead friend.

“Very funny… You demons have such a sick sense of humor,” Twilight condemned, turning her focus away because the memory still hurt.

At last, Despair gave off a sigh in her normal voice. She let go of the railing and walked over to the purple mare.

“I might not be her, but I am made from her soul. I know absolutely everything about Moondancer there is to know, even including your perspective on her. This is the closest thing to her you will ever get to encounter. I am giving you the opportunity to get some real closure, all for the sakes of improving your performance when we go for Blueblood. Use this opportunity to talk to her while you can,” the demoness explained.

“I'm not falling for it. This is all just for your own entertainment, like everything else has been so far. But I am done humoring you. Just do something good for once in your horrible existence and let her be,” Twilight demanded with a firm, serious look.

Despair gained a very displeased expression. She quickly looked over to the shack, then cast a spell on it. A bubble formed around the ruined building, sealing it away from the sounds of the outside. After that, the demoness refocused Twilight and gained an angry expression.

“No, you shut up, just for once! In a sense, I am Moondancer! I can act perfectly in her character and I'm not doing this to make you suffer, but to give you a chance to talk to her! If you don't want it, fine! Seems like not everypony appreciates the chance to apologize to a friend they completely destroyed and see how she would have thought about all this!” Despair shouted, then turned around, still keeping her form.

Twilight found herself out of words or arguments. Needless to say, this just couldn’t compare. If there was a way to bring the real Moondancer back, Twilight would do nearly anything to do so. She kept the weight of her completely unnecessary death on her shoulders for so long now. The mere thought of actually being able to talk to Moondancer in some way and apologizing to her… It was tempting.

“Alright…” the purple mare spoke shortly.

With that, Despair turned back around. She looked exactly like Twilight remembered Moondancer. That long red mane. Those hopeless eyes. It even felt like her. For a moment, they both just stood there. The purple mare found it surprisingly difficult to say anything as she soon came to realize. For a few moments, there was an awkward silence, like the one between a child about to confess to their parent.

“So… um…” Twilight mumbled, trying to find the right words to start.

“You best keep your mouth shut, Twilight,” Despair growled in Moondancer’s voice again.

This broke the moment for the purple mare, letting her expression change back to a sceptical one.

“I thought you wanted me to talk,” she recapped.

“Ugh! You really don't get it, do you? I am acting in her character right now! After all this, she would still be angry at you,” the demoness spoke in her own voice again, seeming genuinely frustrated. But immediately, she switched back into character and changed her voice back. “But then again… I'm sorry, Twilight… You know me… I always had a tendency to let my emotions get the best of me.”

“I… see…” Twilight commented, still not sure what to think or say.

Another moment of silence passed, during which Twilight looked away. This needed more getting used to that she assumed. She never even dreamt of something like that ever happening. Then again, nothing was like she ever thought would happen. After sorting her thoughts for a while, Twilight lifted her head again and took a deep breath.

“Look, Moondancer. What happened to you… I never wanted this to happen… I know, I shouldn't have reacted like I did. I was such an idiot for hurting you like that when you were already very fragile. I had no idea I would kill you with that. I'm… I'm sorry…” she spoke, really needing to force herself to take this as serious as possible.

‘Moondancer’ did not say anything. Her expression became very sad and her ears started hanging instead. Then she started looking at the ground.

“You know, Twilight… I… I used to be really mad at you for a long time for what you have done to me. I really wanted Despair to make you suffer… But when it actually happened… When I saw how she treated you and almost killed you… I, so to say, died again a second time…” she admitted.

“You… you did?” the purple mare wondered, astonished to hear this.

Instead of an answer, the replication of Moondancer started turning around, giving Twilight a gesture to come along with her. Still a bit reluctant, Twilight followed. They both ended up by the railing again, leaning their front legs over it and staring into the night.

“For quite a while, I really hated you for making me suffer like that and it only became worse after I died. I can't say I really like what I have become, either. This is worse than death, Twilight. Much worse and it hurts even more that I am in this state because of you. But… no matter how I look at it… or rather how I look at you… I can’t help but admit that, despite everything, I still love you,” Moondancer confessed, her tone more sad than anything else, though.

“Moondancer…” the purple mare mumbled, again trying to find the right words.

“No, Twilight… you said and did enough already…” the replicated mare interrupted.

After that, Twilight didn’t know what to say anymore. She just started hanging her head, guilt filling her yet again. But Moondancer noticed the effect her words had on her and started focusing her again.

“Not like that. Don't get it the wrong way. I made you suffer as well, Twilight. You always just aimed to do the best. You know, it wasn’t you who killed me. I killed myself. I was the one pushing you so much and trying to force you… I couldn't think clearly anymore when the moment came and I could finally let out everything I had to carry inside of me for such a long time. I was the one acting the fool… So now, it is my turn to apologize to you, Twilight. I'm sorry I tried to force you to love me. I was rushing it all too much and I should have stopped it after I realized you didn't want me as your marefriend,” she spoke, her voice and expression surprisingly composed.

“Oh, Moondancer…” was all Twilight could say, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“I swear, if I had had more control over myself, things would have turned out quite different. Yes, I suffered a lot because of you. But you also suffered a lot because of me.You know… looking at it now, I kind of have to admit I deserve what happened to me,” the white mare concluded, letting her ears hang again and gaining a sad frown.

“Don't say that. Nopony ever deserves to be devoured by a demon,” Twilight insisted.

“Well… be that as it may, I am what I am now. You have been blaming yourself for my death for so many years now. It’s enough. I just want you to know that… it's alright. I'm not mad at you anymore. And I don't want to see you suffer because of me anymore. I don't know how things will turn out for Equestria in near future, but I wish for you to have a long and happy life and find somepony who loves you just as much as I do,” Moondancer spoke.

At this point, Twilight was sniffling and fighting her tears. She would have never thought that hearing this would mean this much to her.

“Is… Is that really what you think, Moondancer? Really?” she wanted to make sure.

“Yes… What happened back then at the Grand Galloping Gala Midnight Masquerade is all the past now. I hold no grudge against you anymore. Looking at the big picture, you suffered even more than I did by now and I know, somewhere deep inside me, beyond all the madness that filled my mind, I just want to see you happy. So please, forget about it. You don't have to carry any guilt because of me anymore. Just… please… never forget me,” the white mare requested.

“As if I could ever forget you, Moondancer. Thank you… Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me,” the purple mare spoke, unable to hold back her tears any longer.

Moondancer began to smile. She lifted one front leg away from the railing, offering a hug. Against Twilight’s better judgement, she accepted the hug. Another huge wave of relief filled her as she held her long dead friend and surprisingly, Despair did not use the moment to harm Twilight in any way. She simply let go again after a while.

“Well… I suppose that’s it, then. Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle. I love you, even if you don't love me back. Have a nice life. Fare well,” the white mare spoke, still smiling.

“Goodbye, Moondancer. I will never forget. I hope, one day, you too will find some kind of peace,” Twilight finished, still crying a bit, but smiling, too.

As soon as they finished talking, Despair changed back into her regular appearance. The gentle, happy smile was gone and in its place the smirk of the demoness returned. After having gone through so much emotion, the purple mare needed a moment to recollect herself.

“You really think that this is what she would say?” she wondered.

“Without a doubt. I have her in me, you know,” Despair confirmed.

“I… never thought I would ever say this. But… thank you,” Twilight spoke.

“Let me just make one thing perfectly clear,” the demoness insisted, getting close to Twilight and giving her a very, very serious look. “This does not make us friends. She may forgive you, but to me, you are still just as guilty as all other ponies. I hate you with every fiber of my being. I’m just doing this because I have to in order for you to be emotionally sound when we attack.”

“Don’t worry, Despair. The feeling is mutual,” the purple mare answered.

With that Despair seemed to be satisfied and backed off again. Twilight took a moment to let this staged encounter sink in. Suddenly, the night didn’t seem so gloomy anymore. It appeared to have been Twilight’s imagination after all.

“How about Spike? Do you want to talk to him as well?” Despair wondered.

Still feeling quite emotional, Twilight had to consider this thought for a moment. But eventually, she ended up shaking her head.

“It would not be the same. I knew him better than you did,” she rejected.

“Suit yourself,” Despair commented with a shrug. “How are you going to spend the rest of the night? Another game of chess, perhaps?”

“No. I think… I can actually sleep now,” Twilight analyzed.

“Good. Rest up, then. Tomorrow night will be the hardest and most important battle you have ever fought,” the Guillotine of Hope insisted.

Twilight simply nodded and started walking to the shack, dispelling the bubble around it and stepped inside. Soon, she was laying down, resting between her friends. A soothing thought that, despite the circumstances, quickly put her to sleep.

Siege

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ixnlDgsTqnqi1-1Avg-7OTKo8nO3aa3MYav1XNiDbZc/edit?usp=sharing

How does one invade a castle built on the most narrow mountain in all of Equestria? How does one do so without having the several thousand cultists living in the city directly on the other end of the drawbridge spot you? The answer was known to the rebels all along: the abandoned crystal mine which originally became the reason Canterlot was founded in the first place. If it hadn’t been for one crucial obstacle, the rebellion could have attacked Blueblood years ago. The same mines had turned into the demon stronghold Hades and as long as they blocked the way, there was no way to reach Blueblood without coordinating a huge, open assault. Now, the moment had come Twilight would have never dared to dream of. She and her friends stood before the gates of Hades, watching as they opened and thick clouds of red darkness came flooding out of them, quickly robbing them of nearly all their visibility. Still, the eyes of the demons were burning so intensely, they could even be seen through this terrible crimson. But instead of moving closer, as they usually would, the eyes went away. With the gates opening and the view of Twilight Sparkle at the entrance, the signal to begin their betrayal had been given. As promised, the demons retreated, leaving Hades through an underground tunnel complex. Soon, the group and even the reapers were faced with a view nopony throughout history had ever seen. An empty, abandoned demon stronghold.

This was it. Their final attack. It was all or nothing now. Twilight and her friends knew there were only two options. Either they would succeed and make Blueblood surrender, or they would die trying. Everything else, especially fleeing in the middle of the battle, was out of question. Twilight stared into the red, her eyes burning once again with determination. This was the Twilight all of her friends knew and loved. This was the expression they all could find strength in. So long as she looked like this, they would follow her anywhere and even be willing to risk their lives. The purple mare’s horn lit up with magic and her left saddlebag started to open. A small bottle of water and a single pill came flying out of it, hovering before her eyes. She took a moment to look at her medicine, watching as it slightly hovered up and down. Twilight had been through so many sticky situations before. So often, it could have been her end. But this time, for the first time ever, she thought that this pill might be the last she would ever swallow. She soon closed her eyes, opened her mouth and let the pill fly in. A sip from her water bottle followed, then she put it back. Now, she was ready. But before she started walking, there was something she had to say. So she turned back around to face her friends and reapers.

“I wanted to thank you all for staying with me and supporting me for all these years. Despite having taken beating after beating, I would not be able to stand here today if it hadn’t been for all of you,” she spoke warmly.

While the reapers bowed in respect, her friends responded with warm, yet confident smiles. None of them had anything to say or even think. If she wasn’t scared, neither would any of them be. Looking back, Twilight couldn’t help but think that all, she included, had grown so much since all of this began, so many years ago. But now was not the time to reminisce. The end of their road and their future was just before them. The purple mare ran ahead, immediately followed by everyone else.

---

It was a long, long time ago when Twilight last saw Canterlot’s crystal mine. The red darkness made it very difficult for her to see anything, but it appeared as if the demons had done some restructuring while they were here. Entire pillars of crystal had been pushed over to form ramps to areas otherwise only very hard to reach. Tunnels that would only lead into loops and confuse explorers were sealed off, while new tunnels forming easy paths to maneuver the mines had been dug out. It was easy to read in this that the demons had prepared their stronghold for Twilight and her friends so they could easily find their way and reach the exit on top. Just for how long had the demons been planning this and for how long did they know that this would happen for certain? Were demons capable of making such drastic changes within just a day? Or had they been carefully designing this for years? Both options seemed quite possible.

With the layout being this easy to pass through, it only took about ten minutes before the group reached an exit at the end of a path seemingly prepared just for them. As they came closer, they all slowed down more and more, reducing the noise their hooves made on the crystals and stone floor. Twilight was the first to carefully poke her head out. The exit was hidden behind a tall bush, surrounded by a group of trees not too far away from the walls of Canterlot City. As Twilight analyzed the surroundings, she came to realize that there was like a miniature forest leading along the east wall. From her angle, she could make out a narrow path dug out deep between the trees. This was definitely set up artificially, as from any other angle, this road and anyone traversing it would be completely invisible. There was no doubt now, the demons had prepared to betray Blueblood for years, providing a way to bypass all of the city’s security.

While Twilight and her friends continued walking, this was where the reapers had to split off. They would hide in the shadows all over the city, preventing any cultist from coming in or getting out. Maud as well split off from the rest of the group now. She had to take a different path to systematically tear down the security of the castle. Also, she still would not risk to expose the identities of her little group of cannibal survivors, so she had to meet with them in secrecy. As soon as the circle of friends was alone, they felt much more exposed and vulnerable. It only now truly dawned to them just how difficult the battle was going to be. But there was no going back, especially with Slendermane still possessing Shining Armor and watching their moves closely. So Twilight just kept walking, sneaking down the road provided for them. She could feel the faceless demon stare at her through her brother’s eyes. From the way this situation was being set up, it would raise the question what Blueblood would do if he saw Shining Armor in his state. Perhaps he didn’t know the symptoms when a demon possessed a pony. Perhaps he didn’t even know demons could do that. Twilight could only hope their new and not much appreciated allies kept that little detail in mind, otherwise this fight would become even harder.

As they walked, Twilight heard a noise next to her, very close to the wall. She instantly became alarmed, signaling her friends to stop and lowering her body close to the ground. As she investigated the source of the noise, she could find a bow. After a short moment of confusion, Twilight decided to look up. High on the wall, not far from her, she could see as a cultist archer was assaulted from behind, dropping their weapon and falling backwards. Soon, another noise followed closely by, as the bow landed in the grass. This put Twilight at ease. Her reapers were doing an excellent job providing a gap for them to slip through unnoticed. Another small gesture followed and they all started walking again.

Once more, it did not take long for them to reach the other end of the city. But the walls around Canterlot Castle where much thicker and much steeper. There was no way to get up without using flight or brightly glowing magic, which could be easily seen this late at night. There had to be more to this, Twilight figured. Why lead them all the way here when they would just be faced with a dead end? After the group spent some time checking the wall, Derpy made a small noise to catch Twilight’s attention. The gray mare found a spot in the wall where the stones were unusually loose and immediately began removing them, one by one. Just as expected, there was a way in. After Twilight crawled through a tunnel about twice as long as a pony and barely wide enough for one to fit through, she found herself in a storage cellar. Thick sheets of cloth, tall stacks of firewood, large piles of coal and countless open boxes filled with candles and other such goods made her conclude that this was where all the things needed for winter were kept. A long, slim strip of light wandered across the room, starting from the wooden door to Twilight’s left. A guard was patrolling the corridor. Fortunately, the group was well experienced in infiltration and silently taking out guards by now. While the others were crawling in, one after the other, Twilight positioned herself right next to the door and closed her eyes. Fluttershy decided to do the same, leaning against the wall on the other side of the door and started listening closely. Just one. There were no other guards in the immediate vicinity. After giving each other a quick look and nod, Twilight knocked at the door once. The slight clinking noise from the cultist guard’s armor stopped for a moment, then started getting increasingly louder. The light coming from underneath the door cast another beam, getting brighter and longer the closer the guard came. Just as he was standing in front of the door, Fluttershy summoned her scythe and rammed it straight through the wood. No more noises could be heard. As blood started flowing in from underneath, it confirmed that Fluttershy hit her target. She withdrew the scythe, a short dulled clattering sound following as the corpse landed on the floor. Twilight opened and pulled the dead mare inside by magic, hiding her behind some crates and cleaning up the spilled blood with another spell.

The corridor was clear now. No candles were lit, no sounds could be heard and no other lights indicated the presence of more guards. Still, they had to be very careful and strategic about this, clinging to the walls and sneaking as quietly as they could. Twilight had never been this low in the castle before. She had no idea where to go, so she resorted to her magic sense again. She could feel the intense magic radiating from Blueblood, but he was not anywhere close. Yet, feeling how the magic flowed through the air, along the corridors and walls, she could make out a rough map of this section of the castle. Leading the way again, she slowly guided the others to the closest set of stairs leading up she could find. She was about to start going up when she heard the creaking of a door above. Quickly, the group walked to the next best storage room and hid inside. Twilight remained by the door, keeping it open by a narrow slit. A stallion in a butler outfit came down the stairs, then took a turn and started walking away. The group would easily be capable of sneaking past him, once he was in the storage room he aimed for. But it seemed like Slendermane was sensing their intentions, yet not willing to take the risk of them getting caught. Shining Armor gave off a muffled noise of pain as two long black arms grew out of his back, pushing the door wide open and aiming straight for the butler pony. He heard and saw them approach, but couldn’t even gasp before both hands grabbed him, covering his mouth. A quick and hard spin followed, flipping his entire head upside down and snapping his neck noisily. After the deed was done, the arms retreated again. For a moment, Twilight sighed in frustration. This demons should cooperate more closely with her, she wished. But then again, every innocent pony that lived in Equestria was now inside of Malice. Only the cultists remained. So no matter who that stallion was, he was just as much of an enemy as the guard mare was they killed just moments ago.

All seemed to be clear now, so Twilight just once again dragged the corpse into the room they were in and hid it as best as she could before she stepped outside and went up the stairs.

---

A few twists and turns later, killing three more cultists on the way, the group of friends found themselves at the edge to the castle’s main entrance hall. Twilight’s expression became very grim when she saw how different things looked now. Red banners displaying three black claw marks replaced the blue and red ones she knew. The beautiful stained glass windows portraying the day and night had been torn out to display Nightmare Moon and Blueblood instead. Even the carpet was a darker shade of red now. She couldn’t wait to see all this trash being thrown out. But for now, the two cultists blocking the stairs up to the throne room had to be her main concern. She looked around for a moment for the best way to tackle this situation. But before she could find one, the two cultists suddenly looked directly at her. Her eyes went wide and she instantly jumped out of her cover, letting her horn glow and getting ready to fight. These two must be particularly attentive, she figured. But the cultists did not attack or even change expression. When their eyes suddenly turned red, the purple mare came to realize they were Skin-Walkers and must have been waiting for her. Without saying a word, they simply walked away. Smart, actually, the purple mare came to think. If all demons vanished at once, it would seem suspicious. A few remained to wait for Twilight before they, too, would leave.

“This is too easy… I don’t trust this at all,” Luna commented in a whisper.

“And right you are to do so. But perhaps they make it this easy for us so we save our strength for Blueblood,” Cadence figured.

Twilight had nothing to add. She simply lead the way once again as she walked up the stairs. Sneaking past the ball hall, they soon reached the throne room. It was completely unguarded. Twilight snuck ahead, carefully opening one of the great doors and peeking inside. Empty. She should have figured it wouldn’t be that easy. At this hour, it was more than likely Blueblood was sleeping. Still, it was clear he spends a lot of time in there, because countless pictures of him were spread all throughout the throne room, making Twilight grunt a bit in disgust. The egocentricity of this guy knows no bounds, she thought. Suddenly, the purple mare felt something pointy at her neck.

“Now where do you think you’re-”

Before the guard stallion could even finish his sentence, Twilight simply used her superior magic strength to pull the lance out of his grip, turned it around and impaled him with it, all without her even looking or changing expression. The only thing she actually did was looking around, seeing if any more guards were nearby or coming. Once again, nothing.

“My goodness, Twilight…” Celestia whispered, slightly disturbed.

That comment actually managed to make the purple mare’s eyes widen for a brief moment before she looked back to her former mentor with an apologetic and slightly ashamed expression. Celestia had never seen her star student kill a pony this indifferently. She came to think that Twilight had changed so much over the course of her involvement in this war. To know that, for the longest time, she couldn’t even think about killing a pony and now it was the most normal thing in the world for her to do… Celestia couldn’t help but gain a few tears in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away before Twilight could spot them. Celestia wished it would have never been necessary for her to get to this point.

Again, they all had to focus on what truly mattered right now. Another corpse became hidden, this time behind a pillar inside of the throne room, as well as the spilled blood removed by spell. Twilight closed her eyes again, trying to focus on where the strongest presence of magic in the area came from. It seemed to be somewhere outdoors. With a tilt of her head, the purple mare indicated the way they had to go.

---

They were in the gardens now. Blueblood didn’t seem to be a big fan of this part of the castle, as weeds had overgrown nearly everything. Once again, there was a surprisingly low number of guards or cultists around. Then Twilight spotted a few bones peaking out from underneath a spiked bush. Before her eyes, a beautiful flower blossomed and an overwhelmingly sweet flowery aroma filled the air. But the scent and sight were coupled with bad memories for the purple mare, so she shook her head to keep her wits together. She would not fall for a Vampire Rose again. Twilight turned around to check on her friends, making sure they also wouldn’t just walk right into its venomous tendrils. Most of them could snap out of it on their own, as her closest friends were there with her when they last encountered one of these cursed plants from Everfree Forest. Only Shining Armor seemed to have no experience with it, but Slendermane used his black hands to cover his nostrils and forced him to look away. How did something from the defiled forest even end up here, Twilight wondered. Did the demons plant it? Maybe it, too, was part of the path they provided for her. Whatever the reason, this evil rose bush seemed to be why nopony wanted to be here, so they could simply walk around it, breathing through their mouths and avoiding eye contact with the flower.

After focusing again, Twilight finally managed to spot where exactly Blueblood was hiding. He was far up in one of the towers. A smart choice to make yourself as inaccessible as possible while you sleep. Twilight wasn’t exactly sure how to get up there, but she knew the way to the bridge that lead over to that section of the castle. Continuing to walk the more secluded parts of the gardens, Twilight eventually had to give the signal for the whole group to stop. Finally, they were facing a significant number of cultists as a part of the garden had been restructured into an open-air shrine to Nightmare Moon. They seemed to hold a late night sermon to show their dedication. Unfortunately, the stairs they needed to access the bridge was right behind the altar. There was no way to sneak around them.

Twilight started looking around again, thinking of the best possible way to solve this problem. An attack from behind? No, too many, too noisy. Trying to blend in? No, they would never get latecomers like that and their faces were far too well known. A tab on Twilight’s shoulder made her turn around. It was Rarity, pointing back to the rose bush. Immediately, Twilight’s eyes went wide and she smiled in agreement. A clever idea, she thought to herself. The purple mare walked back towards the plant that tried to lure them in before, waited for it to open its flower again and then simply used magic to cut it off. The vines started moving around, the plant seemingly upset over losing its rose. But Twilight was not done yet. She focused all of her magic into the rose, performing a delicate spell mixture of age reversal and time acceleration. The flower closed again and within seconds turned into a slightly glowing enchanted seed. An incredibly sensitive magical bomb, the way she made it. Twilight came sneaking back to the group, everyone watching her in curiosity. Closing one eye and sticking her tongue out to the side, she aimed right for the center of the group of cultists, then threw the seed between them. As it landed, it caught their attention. The second they stared was already too long, as the seed bursted into a fully grown Vampire Rose bush, spiked tendrils wrapping themselves around the cultists. The cursed venom drained them of their blood so fast, they had no time to scream before they passed out and died seconds later.

That worked out so well, even Twilight had to grin a little. That was a very, very delicate move she just pulled off, with a plant she barely even knew. Rarity, too, smiled widely and winked at her to congratulate the purple mare. Another spell followed and the whole new rose bush became immobilized, allowing them to simply walk past it. Although it was probably busy enough digesting all these cultists, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Next up came a difficult part. The bridge was very open. No way to hide while crossing it and no easy way around this. The illusion spell she used before was not suitable here, either, as its range was simply too big. Careful glances were thrown up and around the corner. There were more cultists higher up on a balcony. They hadn’t noticed Twilight’s move, as the angle would not allow them to see it. But they would certainly spot them when they tried to cross the bridge. So the purple mare looked back to Fluttershy and Derpy.

Both simply nodded, not needing words to understand that order. They lifted into the air, staying on the shadowy side of the corner to prevent being exposed by moonlight. Flying slowly and carefully so their wings would not make excess noise, they eventually approached the cultists from behind. A quiet slicing sound was all that could be heard before the heads of the guards fell to the floor, followed by the bodies.

The two reapers came flying back down the same way they got up. Another careful look around the corner followed. There was a blind spot Twilight could not look around without walking out into the open. It was a risk, but one they had to take. The purple mare gave a small wave with her left front hoof as she started walking across the bridge sideways, her eyes constantly stuck to the blind spot. The others followed closely, all looking around other ways to make sure they would be able to see a threat in time. As Twilight feared, another cultist popped out around the corner and spotted them immediately.

“He-”

Again, an enemy pony died before even finishing. But this time, it wasn’t Twilight or anyone in her group doing it. A blade was protruding through the mare’s skull, her mouth still open as if shouting, but her eyes rolling into opposite directions. The dagger became pulled out and Twilight could see two ponies behind the collapsing body, immediately leaning over it and biting pieces out of it. One was a stallion, keeping himself in the dark and avoiding to show his face. The other was Maud Pie, sinking her teeth into the dead mare’s neck and shaking her head like a starved predator tearing its prey. A sight that made Twilight freeze in place for a moment with wide open eyes. After all, this was still traumatic to her.

Maud lifted her head again, her entire face was covered in blood. Tiny black dots of pupils around a large white area covered in pulsing veins. She grinned widely as she held a sinew between her teeth, which was still attached to the mare’s neck and thus lifted up the entire head. The whole group became shocked at this display of gore and insanity, but they were only allowed to witness it for a few seconds before both cannibals dragged the corpse back around the corner to continue the feast.

“We really let her into our rebellion?” Cadence questioned softly.

“She is on our side. Everything else doesn’t matter, at least for the moment,” Shining Armor whispered back.

With that, everything was said that needed to be said. Twilight kept walking, the others following closely.

---

Step by step, they were getting closer to the tower. They had to walk back into the main part of the castle through a different door to access higher floors, killing several more guards on the way. But now, they came across a bunch of partially eaten corpses, too. It seemed like Maud and her cannibal friends went for the exact opposite way Twilight was going for. They somehow started high up in the castle and have been working their way down since. Quite strategic, actually, Twilight thought. This way, now that they were getting close, the risk of getting caught and thus alarming Blueblood became smaller and smaller.

At last, they found the right way. All that was left for them to do now was walk up one final set of stairs, spiralling up to the tower to Blueblood’s chambers. If the atmosphere hadn’t been tense enough already, it now reached a whole new level. All in this group of friends had been waiting for this moment for years. As they arrived at the end of the stairs, two more guards were standing before them and looking right at them. But to avoid either party from making noises that would ruin the mission so close before the finale, the Skin-Walkers instantly shifted their appearance to make it clear they were not going to be a threat. The two demons simply jumped down from the tower, a steep drop straight to the ground, landing completely unharmed and running away like all the other demons before.

All waited until the demons were far away. Twilight then became especially cautious, slowly sneaking up to the door and listening through it. She heard the corrupt king’s voice, which frustrated her. He was awake and speaking to somepony. She hoped he would be asleep, making it much easier to take the necklace which gave him his unique position. It didn’t matter to her, though. She was very, very willing to go all out on him and make him pay for his countless crimes.

She looked back to her friends, giving them a sign to get in position to charge in. All of them started getting to their places. Then, the door opened by itself. They had been spotted. Blueblood was lying on his bed, fully dressed in his royal garbs. He looked right at the group, smiling arrogantly. Had he been expecting them? A moment later, they all came to realize that the pony keeping him company was one of the Rarity clones, wearing a shackle around her neck. She, too, gave an arrogant and devious smirk at the invaders. How she was alive when even the original died ages ago and how she got herself in this very unexpected position was completely unexplainable. Twilight immediately became frustrated and furious. Once again, Despair had been setting them up.

“Told you it was unusually calm tonight. Something just had to happen,” the clone spoke.

This made Twilight’s eyes widen even more. Despair was not to blame for this. The Rarity clone kept Blueblood awake. She must have been one of the clones who refused to join the rebellion and instead switched sides.

“Well? Don’t just stand there. You must have gone through so much trouble just to see me. Come in, my guests,” Blueblood insisted.

Maybe, just maybe, there might be room for negotiation, Twilight hoped. Weapons were lowered and they all got out of fighting stance, simply walking into the king’s private chambers and the door closing behind them.

To be King

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zGiuYnnl2ulFW8vIvgij2dYP1hRnIRosBYhhBkICZd4/edit?usp=sharing

Like the throne room, Blueblood’s chambers were just another place for self-aggrandizement. All the windows exclusively portrayed him as a mighty, god-like being, either hovering over his cultists, holding the entire world in his hooves or displaying himself as equal with the demon queen. He even had four statues of himself in here. Merely a single BloodClaw banner hanging from the ceiling gave just so much as an indication that he was more than a self-absorbed monarch. With all this junk around, it actually surprised Twilight a bit that there was still room left for a few small flower pots and planters containing ferns. But while the purple mare was stretching out the tension and silence, apparently not fully willing to even speak to Blueblood, the others found themselves having difficulties to keep it together. Some, like Fluttershy, Derpy and Luna, just wanted to attack him straight away. Others, like Cadence, Shining Armor, Rarity and especially Celestia, had to give it all they got to remain silent. There was a lot they had on their minds and they would have loved to just let it all out in front of him. King Blueblood himself was still just laying on his bed casually, his personal Rarity clone lying just in front of him. He smiled, calmly and confidently, just letting his ‘visitors’ take their time. Eyes were frequently focusing Blueblood’s neck again and again. Nightmare’s Eye, the necklace they had been coming for, was staring back at the group, sometimes looking up to Blueblood to observe his reaction to all this. Finally, it seemed like Twilight had had enough of the awkward silence and refocused him.

“I guess you know why we are here, then,” she assumed.

“Of course. You want the throne back. Why else would you be here? I have given you quite the thrashing over the years and no matter how close I was to getting you, I never managed to kill you or get you to surrender. But honestly, did you think you could sneak up on me like that? Your magic radiates almost as intensely as the sun itself and if you think I'm so blind as to not see what is going on with the demons, you insult me. I never expected of them to be loyal. It was just a matter of time before they would eventually try to betray me,” Blueblood confirmed.

“Don’t talk yourself down like that, your majesty. You did manage to kill this one, it seems,” the clone spoke, giving off a grin that was just as arrogant and sadistic as her master’s. “Looking at that little zombie over there, I am actually really glad I made the right call.”

“I prefer to be undead over being a slave,” the real Rarity growled.

“You never learned your lesson, did you? I heard what you did to my king, years ago. That is the reason you got into this miserable condition in the first place. You brought this to yourself and all you ever had to do was to admit you were wrong. You only had to apologize to him, then he would have spared you. Like he spared me,” the clone argued.

“Is that how you are still alive? There actually is a cure?” Derpy wanted to know, still keeping a tense expression despite her curiosity.

This caused Blueblood to chuckle a bit, greatly infuriating Rarity and making her bare her teeth in tension. Hearing that there truly was a way Twilight could have saved her friend’s life and have spared her of this suffering she was and still is going through… It made the purple mare tense up and tremble slightly in rage. He was hiding the cure from them all this time. Another unforgivable crime for which Twilight wanted to see him die the most miserable way. Yet, she remained silent. For now.

“Toxica gave the disease and Toxica can remove it again. I requested a slow and painful one to be placed upon you on purpose, so you had all the time in the world to think about your actions and make amends. But in your pride, you never even considered apologizing. You would rather die a painful death and live an even more painful unlife than ever say: I’m sorry. To think it actually took a clone of you, who knew nothing about anything that had happened before she was born, to do this for you is actually quite the testament for your poor manners and judgement,” Blueblood mocked.

“Unbelievable… You did this to her just for getting covered in cake? You are a monster,” Cadence couldn’t help but comment, complete disgust written all over her face for his actions.

“Am I? I could have killed you, you know. Right there when I gained my powers. But nopony should ever say I’m not merciful,” Blueblood mocked.

“Those powers aren’t yours, you thief!” Luna called out in anger.

Fluttershy walked up to the former princess immediately, trying to calm her down again. Rarity, though, couldn’t take it anymore. She took a few steps forward, standing right next to Twilight. Her slightly mummified face never showed this much rage before, be it in her current state or when she was still alive.

“This is what you call merciful?!” she shouted.

Twilight reached out a hoof in front of her to symbolically hold her back. Though it was not easy for her to do this, since she was completely on Rarity’s side. To a large part, she just wanted to rip the necklace from his neck this very instance. It took Twilight even more of her composure to not just blast him into pieces. After all, she was hoping that, at some point in all this, she would find a way to negotiate with him. As for now, the purple mare decided to just stay passive, giving her friends the chance to finally speak out their minds.

“Keep it together, Rarity,” she requested, obviously having to force herself to follow her own advice.

Again, a short moment of silence followed. Both Blueblood and his slave seemed to struggle as well, but they were trying to not burst out in laughter. The corrupt king quickly seemed capable of recollecting himself, even though the clone still had to cover her lips with the bottom joint of her right front leg to hide her expression. During all this, Twilight couldn’t help but feel how the eye-shaped gem stared at her. The intensity of dread coming from it was just all too familiar.

“You were my enemy, Rarity. Up until that point, your sole focus was to stop my cult and prevent my reign. That never changed. You still are my enemy. So tell me, what do you think I was supposed to do instead? Letting you go, unpunished? I let all of your friends go, sparing them of any harm. But with you, I had a personal score to settle. Honestly, did you think I, as royalty, would not expect of a lowly peasant as you are to serve me? I had to punish you for your insolence,” Blueblood stated.

“I am not a peasant! Even back then, I had status in high society!” Rarity shouted again, then turned her head to the side and gave him the most dismissive glance she had in her. “But I suppose some things never change. You were a royal pain back then and you have only gotten worse now.”

“You just had to play along,” the clone started again. “What are a few demands here and there in comparison to a lifetime of status? What is the status of a popular designer compared to being a princess, or as in my case now since you completely ruined that chance, a king’s favorite slave? You could have had it all, Rarity. All your dreams could have been fulfilled if only you hadn’t been so stuck-up and fussy. Just look where it has gotten you. You have nothing anymore, not even a beating heart, while I have everything.”

“Enough!” Celestia shouted suddenly, drawing all the attention to her. “Enough. I can’t stand to hear any more of this!”

Luna herself was very close to snapping at Blueblood. But even she did not expect of Celestia to suddenly explode like that, considering how silent she had been all this time. The corrupt king seemed indifferent, though, simply smiling and caressing the cloned Rarity’s mane as if caressing a pet.

“Old habits die hard, I see. Still just as dominant and demanding as back then. Some things really never change,” he commented casually.

Celestia bared her teeth and seemed incredibly tense. She looked like she was just about to pounce Blueblood, even though her current form wouldn’t really get her anywhere with that. It was obvious she had a lot on her mind and was unable to hold it back any longer.

“I have raised you as if you were my own child. I cared for you so much. Was that not enough for you? Despite everything I have given to you, you still had to betray me like that?” the former princess of the sun wanted to know.

“And here we go again. Always the same talk. Betrayal here, betrayal there. Feels like that is the only relevant topic to even talk about,” Blueblood spoke in an annoyed tone, rolling his eyes. “Sure, you raised me after my parents died. But you never even told me anything about them. I don’t even know their names and any information on them had been completely erased from all documents. I could throw the ball right back to you, auntie. I could ask you why you did this, why you kept such a big part of my life in the dark and why you betrayed me. But there is no need for that anymore now. I know why you did it. You never wanted me to find out that they were murdered by demons. As I came to know this, I realized it was only the tip of the iceberg. The deeper I dug, the more I realized just what a despicable liar you are. So many secrets, so many dead subjects. You were a miserable ruler. So I took it upon myself to be a better one. I wanted to approach everything differently than you did, so I refused to immediately condemn the demons, even though they killed my mother and father. Now, just look at what I have accomplished while sitting on the throne. You could barely keep Equestria together, while I conquered nearly the entire world. Just face it, auntie. I’m a better leader than you could ever dream to be.”

“How dare you mock my sister!” Luna suddenly shouted out herself.

She was quickly walking forward with clear intentions to get physical. The others could barely hold her back in time before she just straight up punched him. Even though her failed attempt, prevented by Luna’s own friends, amused Blueblood, she would not be held back on her words.

“Celestia was like a mother to you and you trample on her like this without a second thought! Without her, you would have nothing! You would have ended up just like any other orphan, waiting for a family to adopt you! I, myself, have never once been treating you poorly since the day I came back! Never would I have thought you would turn against us like this! There is nothing, nothing, you could say to justify your actions!” she kept on shouting.

Again, Blueblood could only chuckle a bit, letting his focus wander back to Celestia.

“Say, auntie. Since when do you need your sister to stand up for you? Interesting how a few years of banishment can switch the roles of sisters around,” he commented, causing Celestia to become even more furious.

“Are you serious with any of this?” Shining Armor questioned, stepping forth himself. “No pony in their right mind would turn against their own family for such low reasons! You pushed her off the throne, simply because she was trying to hide dangerous knowledge? Are you really that arrogant and stupid that you can’t see she was trying to protect you from misery? You kicked everything she had given to you with your hooves, you ungrateful, spoiled brat! You are a disgrace!”

“Says the lowly guard with no royal bloodline at all who won over a princess of questionable origin to become prince himself. I am pure. I was born with this title, while you are nothing but filth. I don’t expect for such lesser creatures as you and your wife to understand my choices,” the corrupt king retorted casually.

Shining Armor now began to bare his teeth as well, growling like a wolf. Cadence looked just as grim, confirming she had the same thoughts, while she placed a front hoof on her husband’s back to calm him down. But while he didn’t seem to have anything else to add, his wife wasn’t finished, yet.

“What meaning does a title given from birth even have if you waste it like that? Shining Armor earned this, even if he is not an alicorn. You started out the same way, Blueblood, so don’t pretend to be any better than him. But all you ever did was living on the cost of others and stealing what you wanted. You never earned anything yourself,” she argued.

“Your words are meaningless to me, Mi Amore Cadenza,” the King of Corruption immediately returned, grinning at her with his head raised. “What would you know about what it truly means to be of royal bloodline? It doesn’t actually surprise me you married somepony way below your status. You, too, started out as a peasant and just worked your way up to the status of royalty. There is not one single drop of blue blood in you. I, on the other hoof, am so pure, even my name is Blueblood. How can you argue with that, hm? So tell me: Exactly why shouldn’t I just take what I want? I don’t have to earn anything. I was already born with greatness. You will never be able to understand that. You will never come near to having anything close to that.”

“You may be pure-blooded royalty, but that doesn’t make you any less of a scum,” the pink fallen alicorn growled.

“Are insults and insolence the only things you have in you?” Luna shouted out again, once more trying to get to Blueblood and having to be held back by the combined efforts of her friends. “In any other age, you would have become an outcast for turning against your family! How something like you can even be considered a worthy king defies any reasoning and logic!”

“Just how could you turn into this heartless monster? This is what I feared would happen if I told you! I wanted to protect you and to prevent you from going down a path of destruction and insanity. This rule of yours… How can you even compare it to mine? Yes, I admit many died under my command. But never, not even once, did I commit mass murder like you have. Never once did I declare war to our neighbours like you have. The sheer hypocrisy! To call me a tyrant after all the blood you have spilled, even during the early days of the BloodClaw Cult already. How can you honestly believe that anything you do is justifiable?” the white fallen alicorn wanted to know, her voice constantly switching between sadness and fury.

“Well, ask my subjects. Those who still remain are completely loyal and agree that I made the right decision to rid Equestria from all non-believers. This is what separates me from you, auntie. I am actually capable of making the hard choices. I don’t care how much blood I have to spill in order to fix everything you have messed up. If Nightmare Moon wants souls, then souls she shall have. You really don’t see what I’m trying to do here? This world is going to end if she doesn’t get her way. I am in constant negotiation to bargain the value of this world down more and more, until I can pacify her just by sacrificing most of the world, not everything. If things would still be going your way, you would just continue to fight with the same pointless strategies you have been using for over one thousand years now. Strategies which lead nowhere and only make the price of revenge skyrocket more and more. Never changing. Never adapting. Everything you ever did made this war only escalate more and more. Do you even remember what you were fighting for? Do you even remember what Nightmare Moon originally wanted? My approach to saving the world may be horrible, but it is the only one which will work. And if I, completely on the side, just happen to end up becoming an eternal emperor of the entire world, then that just suits me quite well,” Blueblood elaborated, looking at Nightmare’s Eye as he let it dangle on his right front leg, emphasising his indifference about Celestia’s feelings and her sense of morality.

“Is there no limit to your arrogance, you insane fool? What is next after that? Do you believe yourself to be so far above any rules that you think you can even overthrow the demon queen? I am stunned to have to admit this, but I am really starting to understand why the demons want you gone!” Luna yelled out once again, her rage nearly uncontainable at this point.

“Perhaps. I certainly would be far more appreciated,” Blueblood spoke casually with a sleazy smile.

“Quit it already with your pretentious good intentions!” Celestia screamed, putting her entire world of emotions into these words. ”I never would have believed the little, sweet colt I remembered would grow up to become like this. I thought you had just fallen under poor guidance. But now I can see what you truly are! Nopony, nothing matters to you! You think of yourself as the center of the world and everything has to go exactly your way, or not at all! No matter with which words you attempt to cover up your true intentions, there is no way you honestly believe there is one good thing in your deeds!”

Even Twilight had to simmer down a bit as she saw her former mentor go off like that. She had never seen her this angry before. Was she finally letting out everything she had been carrying in her soul all this time? As the purple mare looked to her friends, she saw that they were just as surprised about her become this vocal now, after entire years of speaking barely a word.

Luna in particular seemed aghast, but also had a slight glimmer of happiness in her eyes. She had been worried sick about Celestia throughout most of the rebellion. To see her finally turn around was an enormous relief to her and it couldn’t have happened at a better timing.

The words also affected Blueblood. It seemed like Celestia hit a sore spot on him, as his arrogant smile vanished. His front hoof lowered, letting the necklace hang from his neck again and instead, he stared at his aunt with a very serious look.

“Once again, you are wrong, Celestia,” the Rarity clone started again, her pose, gesture and expression all provokingly confident. “He cares about me! I’m his favorite slave! So much so that he barely even looks at the other ones by now. Isn’t that right, your highness?”

Blueblood’s expression shifted into a stoic one. Then, as he looked back to his slave, he began smiling again.

“Actually, no. She is right about that. I honestly don’t care,” he confessed unexpectedly.

The clone went wide-eyed, surprised to hear him say that. Blueblood then suddenly grabbed her shackle with both his wings and forcefully ripped it open. The clone was absolutely shocked, her pupils shrinking and her ears dropping. She opened her mouth to gasp or speak, but no noise could escape her in time before her head began to slide away from her neck and a second later fell off to land on the ground. Spurts of blood sprayed on the bed and the corrupt king, flowing down the whole bed and onto the carpet.

The group of friends all could not believe he just did that. Such a seemingly completely random act of cruelty. Why? Why kill the only living Rarity clone left, even though she belonged to him? Was this really just to emphasise how indifferent he truly was and how the only thing that mattered to him was himself? At last, Blueblood climbed out of the bed and towered before the group of friends, staring down on them with an angry, murderous expression.

“So you think you know me? You think you can do it better? Prove it! Because all I have seen from you so far is nothing but failure! Never before in history had there ever been a point where demons did not want to kill ponies on sight! But look outside the window right now! Demons and ponies, hoof in claw. You could never claim to have accomplished anything like that! So what if I am arrogant and cruel? So what if I stain the world in blood? I will be whatever I want to be, do whatever I want to do! I deserve this! Everyone and everything has to do as I say, because I am the solution! Because I can end this war! And because I can simply do everything better than any of you! I am the prince, the king, the emperor, the god this world deserves!” Blueblood spoke, louder than before.

At last,Twilight put herself into the center again. She knew they were about to lose every chance to form a kind of negotiation, though she did not regret missing out to interfere. She valued her friends more than she valued the unlikely chance to come to a deal with the King of Corruption. Everything they just said needed to be said. Now, judging by the looks on their faces, the purple mare understood that there was nothing anyone had left to say and they all felt much better and more confident. Still, she would give it one single try to get him to cooperate. She would try to elicit that maybe still existing tiny glimmer of decency left inside of him, even though she already believed it to be pointless. She had to do this, mostly for herself. To prove that she was better than him and to show him what mercy truly meant.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, Blueblood. All this bloodshed doesn’t have to be. There is another way. There is always another way. As you figured out yourself, the demons are just waiting for us to defeat you, so they can deliver their own judgement on you. We can still turn this around, but you need to help us. Give us Nightmare’s Eye. Give Celestia, Luna and Cadence their powers and immortality back. Help us drive the demons back underground. This could save Equestria. It is not too late. You can still do what is right,” she offered.

“I already made my choice long ago. What you just suggested is not one bit different to what Celestia is trying to do. You, too, Twilight Sparkle, have never learned a thing. Your methods of handling this war don’t work. I will save not only Equestria, but the entire world, by burning down most of it. So long as just a few survive when it all is over, I have done my job right,” Blueblood rejected.

Nopony should ever be able to say Twilight did not try. Even though he refused, she still did her part in leaving a moment of sense and morality in history.

“If that’s the case…” Twilight started again, finally lowering herself to a fighting stance, all of her friends immediately doing the same. “Then you leave us no other choice.”

Blood and Magic

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iCD7vpYBJJydQg3o0breidWvKAvOcbK2bJuIceh70A8/edit?usp=sharing

Blueblood simply smirked as his eyes turned white and he started hovering in the air, arcane magic forming a thick, purple, lightning-filled atmosphere around him. He knew very well that he was practically radiating with power and convinced that this would be a short, easy battle. So, naturally, he was also the one making the first move, shooting a purple beam right into the middle of the group. He made no efforts to actually hit any of them, only wanting to intimidate, so all in the group could easily jump out of range, only leaving a burning mark on the carpet. While Luna had to be held back this whole time, nothing was going to stop her anymore now. She came running right at the corrupt king, firing her own magical energy beam. But lacking the superior powers of an alicorn now, Blueblood didn’t even need to use magic to block it. Simply using his wing as a shield and flicking the beam away was enough, causing him to grin.

Luna still had rage written on her face. If magic would not be enough, her hooves would be. Blueblood waited for her to get close before, in a twisted sense of irony, he used the dark powers he stole from her to form a sword out of pure darkness, using levitation to swing it at her. Luna’s eyes widened and she ducked just in time to prevent her own reckless decapitation. With her sister being right in front of their arch enemy and completely unprotected now, Celestia immediately jumped into action in attempt to protect her from a second strike already in the making. She used a teleportation spell to make her switch places with her sister, quickly creating a magic shield to block the dark blade and fired her own beam straight at her nephew’s chest. Again opting for an ironic approach, he used Celestia’s bright magic to form a sword made out of pure light to block the beam. Though the white fallen alicorn was just about as furious as her sister, the many years of war made her more careful and strategic. She immediately jumped out of range before Blueblood even had a chance to swing at her.

All this happened just within the first five seconds of the battle and still, Blueblood did not move a muscle. He just hovered there, his front legs crossed, his mane floating softly in the air while he had the two blades of opposing elements hovering in front of him. His smirk reeked of confidence and the magic sparks forming around his body could barely contain themselves. Now, he was waiting. Waiting for an, in his eyes, actual challenger to make her move.

Celestia and Luna both stood next to each other again, both equally frustrated to not be able to deal any harm. Their eyes jumped over to Twilight. She stared at Blueblood with a grim visage. For once, Despair was telling them the truth. It all came down to her and Blueblood truly seemed to be completely oblivious to Slendermane’s presence inside of Shining Armor. All of Twilight’s friends were only support in this fight. Pawns and distractions at her disposal with the observant demon being the only exception, having to stay passive to prevent Blueblood from ordering him to assist. Twilight did not like looking at any of her dear friends this way. Yet, it was necessary right now. If they wanted to beat Blueblood, they had to work together.

Giving quick looks to her both sides, the purple mare silently gave both Derpy and Fluttershy a signal. They instantly readied their scythes while the purple mare’s eyes became white and arcane magic began to cluster around her as well. The entire room became flooded with an intense light coming from Twilight’s horn, aiming to blind Blueblood. Though he simply held the dark sword before his eyes, seeing her right through it. He watched as Twilight teleported both of her reaper friends away, the shift in magic making him feel as they rematerialized behind him. At the very least, they got him to turn around and block both scythes with his elemental swords, creating an arcane shield behind him to block the deadly beam Twilight was firing at him immediately after. A quick look back accompanied with a sly smirk confirmed to Twilight that this was far too easy for him and that he still didn’t take this fight any serious.

Fine then, Twilight thought to herself. If he wanted a dance, then she would give him one. With Twilight charging ahead, she gave the signal for all of them to go all out on him. Magic and kicks came flying at the corrupt king. Though he, again, did not even flinch. Casually floating in the air, he encased himself in an arcane sphere and let it take the blows for him while he let the two swords fly around him outside and swing at his enemies. Twilight was expecting this of him and still, she kept on firing bolt after bolt, even though they had no effect. Then suddenly, she issued a verbal command.

“Tripudium Messōrum!” she shouted.

Fluttershy and Derpy reacted immediately, hovering at opposing ends around Blueblood’s sphere. Integrating dodging the blades into their dance, they started to distract the corrupt king. He seemed both confused and amused that they would go for a dancing weapon demonstration in the middle of a battle like that. But as they started turning into black fog, both swords not able to land any more strikes on them and he felt how the storm circling around him began to pull on his shield, he suddenly became wide-eyed. This was what Twilight was hoping for. The shift in his magical focus was so subtle, no one else would be able to notice. But she could feel how the King of Corruption lessened his grip on his weapons to instead focus on holding the shield under control. Now, it was as simple as mentally disarming Blueblood for Twilight to take over control of the swords. Of course, Blueblood felt that. But the fraction of a second this all needed was already enough for Twilight to use the king’s weapons against himself, shattering his protective sphere with the swords.

Finally, Blueblood seemed to be genuinely shocked. Although the swords almost instantly dissipated as he stopped fueling them with his magic, it was enough time for Twilight to break through his barrier by using his stolen magic against him. His eyes shot to the side and he created a new sphere before Cadence and Shining Armor could land a hit on him.

Twilight simply gave a nod to both reapers, signaling them to go for the same strategy a second time. Blueblood was visibly more tense this time, but his approach had changed slightly. Twilight felt that he now was keeping a firm grip on the swords he conjured again, but in turn neglected to fully power his shield. Instantly, Twilight shot another beam at Blueblood, this time being able to shatter the sphere due to Blueblood’s lack of focus on it. The force was strong enough to launch the corrupt king against the wall behind him and for a brief moment, he lost his concentration, letting his eyes turn blue again, his aura disappear and making him stand on the ground.

The expression of disbelief on his face was incredibly satisfying to Twilight, causing her to smirk at him for a change. He actually believed himself to be unstoppable. But even though he easily had more magic power than Twilight, his inexperience in combat was equally easy for the purple mare to exploit. She would not allow him to create any more shields and every time he would try, she would just break it again immediately.

Blueblood seemed to understand Twilight’s intentions by reading her smirk and seemed pretty angered by her insolent demeanor. His eyes turned white again, but he remained on the ground this time. Finally getting serious, he lifted his head and let several beams shoot out of his horn, randomly letting them wander across the room. Twilight simply created a shield, the fallen alicorns, Shining Armor and Rarity immediately jumping behind their friend to take cover while Fluttershy and Derpy simply kept dodging the beams and approached Blueblood again for yet another strike. The beams occasionally found their way to the headless body of the Rarity clone, cutting it into large, uneven chunks like a hot knife running through butter and cauterizing the created wounds immediately. Blueblood, though, was only focusing on the reapers, trying his best to keep them at distance by swinging his levitating swords at them. But this lead to him neglecting Twilight. Seeing how much they had been occupying him so far, he really seemed to be struggling to handle the immortal messengers of death.

As an opening presented itself between the beams, Rarity decided to take the opportunity and jumped out of cover. Since she was already undead, she figured it wouldn’t matter much if she would get struck at this point. She came running at Blueblood, aiming to kick him and throw off his balance. With an almost panicky expression, the King of Corruption reacted, quickly swinging the sword made of darkness at her. Without a protective sphere to guard him, he just couldn’t keep a watch on so many enemies at once. While Rarity threw herself to the ground to dodge the blade, Derpy swung her scythe vertically upwards behind Blueblood. Although he could react just in time to avoid feeling the tool of death piercing through his chest, his garments gained a not so decorative slice through almost the entire length of the backside, just stopping short of the collar piece. Fluttershy realized that Blueblood wasn’t focusing her anymore, so she came flying in, ready to swing. Blueblood’s pupils shrunk visibly and he clenched his eyes shut in tension as he could barely block the strike in time with his sword of light.

The beams stopped as Blueblood was busy with the three mares attacking him, giving Twilight the chance to dispel her shield and start attacking again. As he opened his eyes again, he saw a purple lightning coming straight for him. At last, he was unable to react in time, the bolt striking him in the stomach area and launching him into a wall a second time. As the group of friends quickly clustered back together and readied themselves for another attack, they saw blood running down his belly. Moments later, Blueblood began to vomit in red as well. Twilight feared that she overdid it and actually dealt a lethal blow, breaking the pact she had with the demons. But the sinister king quickly let his weapons disappear to instead focus entirely on defending himself with a new sphere and casting healing spells on himself. The wound sealed up, but the blood loss and hideous scars in lightning pattern received due to this attack remained. Just trying to catch his breath for a moment and wiping the blood from his lips, Blueblood stared at the mares who dared to permanently mark him like this. Even through the barrier, the group could see the murderous intentions flaring up in his eyes now.

As soon as he dropped his protection, Blueblood recreated his two swords and came running at the group with a furious battle cry. He finally was going for the offense, but Twilight would not take any chances. She teleported all of them behind Blueblood, forcing him to turn back around and giving all of Twilight’s friends more time to react and adapt. As if the roles were reversed now, they all started dispersing in different directions, constantly dodging the wildly swinging swords circling all around the furious king. As he realized he wasn’t hitting anything, he created more weapons. Dozens of purple daggers made out of arcane magic were randomly flying around the room, most of them not even aiming for anything or getting stuck in the walls. Still, injuries were unavoidable at this point. Despite all the battle experience the members of the leadership circle gained over the years, cuts were quickly being received. Twilight could not allow this to go on, or he might actually manage to kill one of them. But before she could come up with any plan, Rarity once again showed the initiative. She decided to ignore the daggers and ran up to Blueblood from behind. Although she became stabbed several times, two of the daggers even ramming themselves into her neck and side, she simply kept running until she managed to jump onto Blueblood’s back and delivered a hard hind leg kick to the back of his head.

Immediately, all daggers disappeared as the King of Corruption was staggering. He really seemed dizzy for a moment, even lowering the two swords he used as his main weapons. Rarity was in pain from the new wounds, but grinned widely in satisfaction as she saw him in this state. Going for seconds, she came running again. But Blueblood could recover in time to retaliate. It truly was fortunate that Rarity was dead already, otherwise having her jump right into a dark blade and getting impaled on it would have been fatal. Still, she showed an expression of intense pain and the view still shocked her friends, causing them to start attacking now, too. After letting the undead mare drop to the ground, Blueblood’s blades came flying left and right, clashing against the scythes of the reapers and a spear Twilight formed out of her purple magic. But it was Shining Armor who proved that a unicorn horn is good for more than just casting spells. With all this wild, uncontrolled swinging, he still found an opening and simply leapt forward, ramming his horn into Blueblood’s side and causing him to scream out in pain.

Before Shining Armor could withdraw, Blueblood’s expression changed to pure fury, sending out a magical shockwave in all directions. The explosion tore the entire top of the tower asunder, bricks and furniture flying all over the castle in a wide radius as the members of the circle found themselves midair, risking to fall down from the entire mountain. Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Derpy and Fluttershy could quickly recover, catching Rarity and Shining Armor. Twilight didn’t need any help, using her magic to keep herself afloat. As soon as all were safe, eyes quickly returned to Blueblood, watching him as he flapped his wings, hovering above what was left of the tower and using another healing spell to seal the bleeding hole Shining Armor caused. The rage in his expression was defying any description. Pupils shrunken, eyes bloodshot, veins in his neck and forehead pulsing. He was so enraged, it allowed the curse of madness to affect him.

“You annoying little pests! I will not be beaten by worms! This is my world, my throne, my destiny! And you? You are but insects compared to me!” he screamed as loud as he could, even using something similar to the fabled Royal Canterlot Voice.

By now, all cultists in Canterlot City were aware of what was going on, fighting against the reapers on the streets and trying to get to the castle. But all ways were blocked and the air guarded by elder reapers. Twilight could also safely assume that Maud and her friends were still nearby, making sure nothing would be able to reach them. In his current state, Blueblood would not be able to think clearly anymore. The leadership circle simply needed to prevent him from running away or flying towards the city.

As for now, the King of Corruption had very different intentions. His eyes turned white again and he shot a massive beam of arcane magic at the group, too big to dodge in time and too strong for Twilight to block. So, once more, she simply teleported the entire circle out of danger. The arcane beam destroyed everything in its path, blasting a hole in the city wall, tearing up a cliff and annihilating several trees. He might be going all out now, but this proved to the purple mare that they were getting close to winning. He was desperate. If they managed to get him to exhaust himself, it would be over.

The battle continued in the air now, Twilight choosing to share a portion of her magical powers to Shining Armor and Rarity, allowing them to levitate at their own will. After a brief moment of adaptation to the sudden surge, they both resumed the fight. Rarity was still visibly in pain, covering the hole in her torso with both front legs. Yet, she kept on staring at Blueblood grimly, floating to a safe distance and planning her next move. The blood on Shining Armor’s horn was running down his forehead and towards his eye, but being the trained guard he is, he simply wiped it away and got ready to strike again.

Blueblood himself was baring his teeth in rage. His elemental swords were gone. Instead, he now let the dark and bright powers he had stolen flow freely. A thick purple cloud, wildly sparking with arcane lightnings made Blueblood nearly invisible. The air became filled with random specks of light and darkness, hovering as if they didn’t know why they were there either.

At last, the corrupt king started moving again, swinging his head from one side to another and aiming his front legs around randomly. Bolts of magic fired wherever he was pointing, beams of light pierced through everything in their path like the bullets of a mule musket. Dark orbs spontaneously exploded and compressed again. On top of all that, Blueblood kept on firing massive beams out of his horn, bright enough to make the night seem as the day with each shot. From the side of the mountain all the way high up into the sky, everything was filled with hostile magic, lashing out so crazily that none in the group could think of anything other than dodging. Shining Armor trying to protect Cadence. Cadence trying to protect Shining Armor. Luna staying closer to the dark magic, as she could handle it better. Celestia doing the same with the bright magic. Rarity forced to fly further and further away to avoid taking any more unneeded blows, although she continuously tried to reach Blueblood again. Fluttershy and Derpy skillfully dodging all attacks, trying their hardest to reach Twilight and the purple mare herself just hovering there, engulfed in the same arcane sphere she denied Blueblood from using. She chose to stick to the weaker magic attacks and letting her shield absorb the damage instead of exposing herself to the stronger ones. Bit by bit, she slipped between the blows, getting ever closer to the enraged alicorn.

He was screaming in fury and flailing around, letting his magic hit everything and nothing. Beneath them, the castle became shredded, entire walls and towers flying through the sky as the magical strikes ripped them out. The occasional stray magic bolt shot into the city, causing a purple detonation wherever it landed and dealing severe damage to the population as well. Twilight could watch as the cultists stopped trying to aid their king and instead fled in panic. Moments later, a good third of Canterlot City’s foundation suddenly broke off and fell down the mountain, making countless cultists drop to their deaths.

The sensation of a big wave of arcane magic rushing towards Twilight made her refocus their main target. Blueblood was staring straight at her as he unleashed a huge purple shockwave towards her. Certain she would not be able to block that attack, she quickly teleported out of range. Another wall of purple came flying at her immediately, forcing Twilight to teleport again. Over and over, she was now forced to avoid, visibly enraging Blueblood even more. Once again, he screamed out in fury, unleashing a purple detonation much bigger than anything Twilight had ever created.

A second time, the rebels found themselves being blasted through the air, but fortunately none of them were mortally injured, having been carefully watching all the attacks around them and being forced to stay at a distance. The castle and mountain were not so fortunate, though. The blast tore the entire peak away, shortening it by several miles and putting Canterlot Castle into an even much worse state than the castle ruins in Everfree Forest. But it seemed like this finally caused Blueblood to exhaust himself, as he was simply hovering now with barely any arcane aura around him, panting heavily.

Twilight saw her chance. It was time to finish this. With another teleportation, she landed right in front of the King of Corruption, firing a magic beam at him. Blueblood could block it, but he seemed to struggle. While still shooting, she levitated one of the still airborne chunks of mountain over and smashed it against him. Blueblood was hit with full force and started spinning through the air out of control. Twilight teleported once again, just short of where he was heading to launch another arcane beam at him, this time hitting him unblocked.

A trail of blood, the king and the rebellion leaders were now everything still flying through the air. Blueblood clenched his entire face in pain, already casting another healing spell on himself. But with nothing left to keep the rebels on a distance, they now came rushing in. Rarity delivered another kick, straight onto the wound he was trying to seal. He shouted out in pain and fury, aiming his horn at the undead mare. But by that time, Cadence arrived to harshly pull on his long mane, forcing his head back and making him fire into the sky. Before he could adapt, Shining Armor joined in, grabbing Blueblood by his tail and pulling him up, making him spin up and out of control once again. As the evil king tried to regain control, Derpy swiftly flew by with the scythe in her mouth, slicing his left wing clean off. Another scream of pain filled the air. Blueblood knew he could not regrow a wing by magic in time before he would fall to the ground, so he instead readied another huge arcane beam to hit the rebels while they were all clustered together. But as he raised his head, Fluttershy came flying by, her scythe slicing his horn clean off. While the yellow reaper mare was flying fast enough to escape the prematurely detonating spell, Blueblood’s face received the full blast, burning his fur and partially tearing his skin off. While he was busy covering his hurting face with his front hooves, Twilight teleported herself one last time. She was hovering above Blueblood, readying an arcane beam herself.

The King of Corruption looked back up. At this point, time seemed to slow down for him. He watched in terror as Twilight’s horn started glowing more and more, before her head slowly lowered down to him. With this view, he finally understood that he had lost.

The beam fired. Blueblood became launched down forcefully atop what was left of the mountain, leaving a small crater in it. All members came flying down to check on their opponent, landing in a circle around him and his crater. Blood was splattered all over the hole, countless bones were broken and some even piercing out of his body. Blood slowly came flowing out of his many wounds, mouth and nose. But amazingly, he was still alive, breathing and awake. Any other pony would have been torn to shreds by that kind of treatment, but it seemed like the large quantities of arcane magic inside of him made him far more resilient than they all anticipated. But it didn’t matter anymore at this point. Blueblood was severely crippled and incapable of fighting. To honor their pact with the demons, all magic casters in the group decided to cast healing spells on him, just enough to prevent his death. After so many years, Twilight and her friends finally accomplished their goal. The king has fallen.

Master Plan

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kdjyGryIE7MceY1fszlrim8mC-LdqEK8zfg8uS10gL0/edit?usp=sharing

It took a few minutes to stabilize Blueblood again, even with the combined efforts of the leadership circle. As the wounds sealed, the broken bones slipped back into place and the blood stopped flowing, he appeared indifferent. Blueblood just kept lying there, breathing slowly and avoiding eye contact with the rebels. Perhaps he viewed their efforts to heal him not as merciful, but as weakness. From what they had learned about him, that kind of attitude would suit him. Even after they finished and for the few seconds where there was just silence with all staring down at the broken king, he just kept lying there. No glances were gentle ones. None of regret, none of condolence, not even of anger. There was just an atmosphere of disappointment hanging in the dead silent air. Especially Celestia was showing these feelings the most as she focused on his expression more than all the others.

“It is over, Blueblood,” Twilight finally started. “You have lost.”

Contrary to how all thought he would react now, he started smirking again, slowly turning his head to finally look back at the ponies who defeated him.

“You do realize you just doomed the whole world, don’t you?” he questioned.

Immediately, Celestia let out a sigh of deep disappointment and lowered her head. Luna, though, started getting angry again. Even after getting beaten up this badly, he was still showing attitude.

“You just can’t stop,” she commented with a tense face.

“Heh… what can I say, I am a firm believer in my own cause. What kind of ruler would I be if I didn’t practise what I am preaching?” Blueblood explained.

“All that you are now is a defeated one,” Cadence commented immediately, looking down on him.

“And you actually think that this is for the better, hm? You have no idea what you are doing. You just act on your oh so righteous morals, ignoring the consequences. Have you ever even thought of what to do once you reached this point? How do you get the cult to stop doing what it is doing? How do you drive the demons back? How do you regain the trust of the other nations?” the fallen king wanted to know.

“Those are all our next goals. As soon as you give Celestia, Luna and Cadence their powers and immortality back, we can start working on that,” Twilight explained.

Despite being roughed up pretty badly, Blueblood still found the energy to chuckle at these words, immediately making most members of the group get tense and angry again.

“As I thought. You have no ideas or plans. You focused your entire energy on achieving this very moment and now that it has come, you have no idea what to do next. With my defeat, you leave Equestria in a shambles. There will be total anarchy from here on out. Despite how far you all have come, you still are completely naive. Do you honestly think I am willingly giving you these powers back?” he continued.

“We are leaving you no other choice,” Rarity stated coldly.

“By doing what exactly? Imprisoning me until I give in? Trying to use magic to take magic? There is nothing else you can do. With your precious morals, you wouldn’t dare to torture me. You wouldn’t dare to put me under psychological trauma. Sorry for bursting your bubble like that, but you are not getting your immortality back. Unless you can somehow draw it out of a corpse, once the demons are done with me,” Blueblood retorted.

“That is fine as well,” Celestia stated, completely calm. “We all have been debating about this outcome and the three of us have agreed that it still might be for the better. Getting our powers and immortality back is optional. I still will return to the throne and you still will get punished. All that changes now is that Luna and I will have to choose a successor for when the day comes that we die of old age.”

For a moment, the grin on Blueblood’s face vanishes. But just a moment later, he started smirking again and giving his aunt a cocky look.

“At least I managed to do this to you. Now then. What are you waiting for? Be a good little puppet and do what the demons told you to do,” he challenged.

These last words of his reign did not affect anyone in the group anymore. Twilight simply reached for Nightmare’s Eye and started undoing the lock. It cost her a surprising bit of overcoming to even touch that necklace, as the intense dread coming from it forced her to fighting against her instinctive fear. But she would not give him any time to recover and get away. Working as quickly as she could, she finally removed the cursed object form his neck and immediately tossed it aside so she wouldn’t have to touch it anymore.

“It is done, then,” Shining Armor commented.

“Indeed. Now, you have truly done it. All the colossal screw-ups my auntie caused pale in comparison to this atrocity,” Blueblood added.

“Just shut up already,” Fluttershy ordered.

“Go ahead and make me,” Blueblood challenged again, already knowing that none of them would act on these words, only making even cockier. “Oh, what’s that? You can’t? Because it would violate your deal with the demons? Sucks, doesn’t it? You never were in charge of anything that has happened tonight. It all was orchestrated by the demons, just like everything else in the entirety of this war. You would have never made it to me without their help. Now, you will simply have to suffer my words until th-”

All the sudden, eyes widened and pupils shrunk. The rebels started cowering while Blueblood clenched his chest. Completely out of nowhere, an overwhelming sensation of horror filled all of them, so intense that it paralyzed the rebels and made Blueblood feel like suffocating. Immediately after, Slendermane finally decided to leave Shining Armor. Forcing him to throw up a black liquid, the tall, pale demon quickly rose out of it, leaving the stallion feeling too weak to even stand anymore.

“What… You… You were… In there? All this time?” Blueblood commented while gasping for air.

“W-What is g-going on? Why am I sh-sh-shaking so m-much?” Derpy wondered, openly showing that she was completely terrified and confused.

Slendermane stopped before the fallen king, staring down at him with his empty face. He just remained there, as if waiting and guarding. Meanwhile, Blueblood was panicking so much, he managed to turn around, sitting on the ground, his back curved, his head lowered and pressing his left hoof against his chest while supporting his weight on the ground with the other. Twilight and her friends tried to move and fight against this sensation, but it was simply too strong. Wherever it came from, it was the most intense feeling of fear any of them had ever experienced. They could hardly even form the thoughts necessary to speak, stifling any form of impulse they might have.

As the ground started to shake and a massive silhouette appeared in the distance, quickly approaching the mountain, it signalled that the rest of the Underworld League was coming now. But long before Malice even reached the mountain, as if they had been hiding just nearby, Toxica and Despair came walking up the sides. Unaffected by the strange sensation completely disabling everyone else, they both seemed unusually excited. Toxica could barely hold it together, jumping up and down rapidly while grinning from ear to ear. Despair simply gave a devious and victorious look to Twilight.

Not interacting with the rebellion leaders or their king in any other form anymore, all three demons united. Despair pulled a scroll out of the cavity in her chest and unfolded it. After looking on it carefully, the Guillotine of Hope handed out a piece of charcoal to both Slendermane and Toxica, keeping a third piece for herself. The scroll was returned into the heart-shaped hole and the three demons began drawing lines on the ground.

“What is… the meaning… of any of this?” Blueblood wanted to know, still gasping heavily between the words.

While still drawing the lines on the ground, Despair turned around to face her former king, grinning at him sinisterly.

“Just so you know: It is true that the wearer of Nightmare’s Eye cannot be harmed by demons in any way. But it is a complete lie that it also gives you command over us. We were just playing along to give you the illusion of being in charge. You as well, Blueblood, have just been another pawn in our one thousand years old game of chess,” she explained.

This made Blueblood become wide-eyed. He truly believed himself to be in charge. His heavy breathing only became faster now as he also realized that the lines these demons were drawing were going around him, putting him into the center.

The ground started shaking again heavily as Malice began climbing up the side of the mountain. Whatever was happening right now, especially to Blueblood as he was acting as if having an asthma attack, it was quickly getting worse and worse. The lines gradually formed a recognizable pattern. It looked like they were drawing a very large and complex rune around the King of Corruption, but none of them recognized it. Only Luna would have been able to understand what they were doing right now if she hadn’t lost her memory of everything that happened during the first rise of the demons. As Malice reached the top, his huge black skeletal head hovering just above them and the red aura around him overflowing, Despair turned back around to Twilight with the most devious grin she has ever shown.

“18 years ago, the keepers of harmony formed, purifying Princess Luna as their first official act and thus freeing Queen Nightmare Moon from her only weakness,” she started telling.

Twilight could hear her words, but was unable to respond to them. She just kept shaking all over, her mind overloaded with dread.

“9 years ago, the keepers of harmony discovered a prophecy of Nightmare Moon’s second attempt to return. This lead to Obsidian Shards’ death, as he was part of this prophecy,” the shape-shifter demoness continued.

For the first time, Despair stated two of these historic facts in a row. Something was different now. Something was really, really wrong. Again, Twilight struggled to intervene with whatever they were doing, but she couldn’t move a muscle, just like all of her friends.

“8 years ago, Prince Blueblood struck a deal with demon-kind. Thus, the BloodClaw Cult was formed,” Despair kept going.

Twilight’s eyes widened in shock. Only now, she got to understand what these random statements meant. Only now did she realize that they were not lecture, getting more and more into the present, but actually a countdown.

“5 years ago, Prince Blueblood conquered the throne of Equestria, causing the demon war to spread world-wide,” Despair proceeded, still grinning sinisterly.

The rune was complete. The former king of Equestria looked like he was struggling to keep in touch with reality at this point. His eyes randomly became blood-shot and the occasional insane giggle escaped his grin.

“One year ago, the Crystal Empire was taken over by the demons,” Despair continued.

Slendermane and Toxica casually walked back out of the rune, standing next to the Guillotine of Hope now, seemingly waiting for her. Malice as well was staying perfectly still, just awaiting his cue.

“This year, King Blueblood was dethroned, bringing our master plan to its conclusion,” Despair finished.

Without saying a word, she simply shifted her focus to Slendermane. The ancient demon needed no words. He simply nodded and disappeared in the shadow beneath him. This made Toxica extremely excited again. She looked like she was about to explode with joy.

---

No pony had been given the privilege to see what was going on behind the tall walls of the Crystal Empire ever since it had been conquered. That very night, as Twilight and her friends were fighting Blueblood, Sombra forced all the corrupted, mind-controlled crystal ponies to gather around the equally corrupted Crystal Heart. Having been forced to continuously absorb all the negative energy coming from the crystal ponies for an entire year now, it was heavily cracked and glowing maliciously. King Sombra himself was sitting in his throne room, seemingly waiting for something. Suddenly, Slendermane appeared before him. The two demons looked at each other for a brief moment. Then, all the faceless demon did was give him a nod, before sinking back into the ground.

It was the signal Sombra had been waiting for. A grin of pure evil grew on his face as he let his red horn emit dark magic. It instantly affected the crystal ponies, making them cower and letting their eyes glow in green with a purple aura trailing off from them. They became very tense, shaking a bit even, as they showed enormous hate, channeling it all directly into the Crystal Heart.

The magical artifact began to spin faster and faster, glowing intensely in a sick gray. At last, it was going beyond its limits of storing energy. With a massive explosion, it released all the negativity it had gathered into a gigantic gray beam straight into the sky, disintegrating the artifact in the process.

---

Slendermane soon reappeared next to Despair. Moments later, off in the distance, a pillar of pure gray energy shot into the sky. The demons, the rebellion leaders and Blueblood all watched as it rose higher and higher, only to eventually curve down and aim straight for them. While Twilight, her friends and the fallen king had horror written in their expressions, the pure evil joy in Despair’s face outshined any grin or smirk she had ever given off before. She showed complete contentedness as the beam rapidly fell down towards the broken mountain top.

Of all targets present, the beam landed exactly on Blueblood in the middle of the rune. Even through the intense noise this pillar of energy was giving off, his screams of pain could be heard. The blast was rapidly dissolving him, making him float into the air as his body became torn apart from the outside inwards. With the beam still coming down, Malice opened his maw and exhaled an entire ocean worth of red clouds into the beam, which all became absorbed effortlessly. It seemed like he was giving up all the power he had gained over the years, as his skeletal body quickly shrank down in the process, until he was only about twice as tall as an alicorn again. In Blueblood’s last moments, he looked straight at Nightmare’s Eye, reaching out to it. But, of course, the demon artefact was far, far out of his reach. The eye simply stared back and watched him turn into nothingness.

The black charcoal lines began to glow as they reacted with the combined mass gathered on top of the rune, making it give off a dark aura. This caused it all to become combined and shaped into a single, large red orb, which stood still above the rune for a few seconds. Just as the rebels thought it was over, the lines of the rune changed in color, turning intensely red. A fraction of a second later, another huge explosion followed.

Twilight couldn’t see anything anymore. Everything was red. A thick red cloud that wouldn’t even let her see her own hooves before her very eyes. But the blanket slowly lifted up, allowing the group to realize its true size. Spanning across the horizon, the red cloud was covering most of Equestria. As if it had a mind on its own, the red fog started turning, forming a tornado going straight back down in the middle of the rune. Within mere seconds, everything condensed back.

A black hoof reached out of the cloud. Too tall to be a regular pony, too unnatural looking to be of an alicorn. A second followed and now, it became clear what was going on. Twilight instantly started crying in disbelief and desperation, shaking her head slowly.

“No…” was all she could say.

At last, a head rose out of the mist. The black face was partially hidden in a crimson helmet, but still showed eyes burning with a red so intense, it let everything else seem gray in comparison. Toxica’s eyes were wide open and she began to grin so widely, every little detail in her jagged teeth could be seen. Despair as well showed a grin of utter satisfaction at the view presented to her, by both what was forming out of the red darkness as well as the expressions of horror Twilight was showing. Almost simultaneously, all other rebellion leaders let their mouths fall open and their eyes go wide, unwilling to believe what was happening right in front of them.

“No…” Twilight commented again, the tone in her voice even more desperate now.

A step forward followed and a red chest plate was revealed, as well as the entire black torso. Wings sprung open, revealing the hind legs. The rest of the red fog formed into a long mane and tail. The sensation of dread became ten times worse and all of Twilight’s friends were shocked to the bone. She was back.

Nightmare Moon had been tied closely to Maledictum Insania for over a thousand years now. The lifting of the curse would mean the resurrection of the demon queen. But for that to happen, every single of her fragments would need to be gathered. Throughout history, the demons never had a chance to extinct pony-kind and therefore gather the souls necessary to achieve this. So, an alternate plan had to be forged. A plan that took over a thousand years to unfold.

After Malice’s resurrection, he devoured the souls of millions of ponies. While this added to his already tremendous power significantly, it also meant that he was storing two thirds of all fragments of Nightmare Moon inside of him. Of course, with an entire third missing, this would never be enough to bring the demon queen back. So, a substitute was needed, but this would require unspeakable amounts of energy.

Ultimately, the demons found the energy needed in two key components. One of them was King Blueblood. Aside of providing one more fragment of Nightmare Moon in his soul, he carried the powers of three alicorns at once. The other was the Crystal Heart. With Sombra having it corrupted beyond measure, it was capable of storing enough hate and negativity to replace what Nightmare Moon would be missing.

Still, all of this would have never worked if the demon queen would not be able to regain any form of direct grasp onto the world. Therefore, the demons forged Nightmare’s Eye. The reason why no demon could possibly harm a pony wearing it was because, by wearing the necklace, you made your soul a direct offering to Nightmare Moon herself. Only after the necklace is taken off again is the offering made complete and thus allowing Nightmare Moon to directly grasp for the soul presented to her. Without realizing it, Blueblood had been wearing a slave collar that would kill him upon removal all this time himself, just like he used to make his slaves do.

In the end, it was all perfectly timed to work together. As the demon queen was taking a hold on Blueblood’s soul, Malice added most of her fragments and Sombra added the missing negativity into the mix, Blueblood’s stolen powers providing the last missing bit of energy for the reaction.

The final key ingredient to make this plan work was the rune. When the Underworld League searched through the castle ruins in Everfree Forest, they were searching for the rune Luna created more than a thousand years ago. The same rune that originally created Nightmare Moon. This time, with all the right ingredients provided, the rune worked flawlessly. The fragments, the magic of three alicorns, the negative charge of the Crystal Heart, Nightmare’s Eye and the rune. All worked together to make the impossible become possible. Even though Maledictum Insania has not been lifted and there were still countless ponies alive carrying fragments of the demon queen herself in their souls, she could manifest a physical form again. Demon Queen Nightmare Moon has been reborn.

The first demon. The greatest of all. She stood before Twilight’s little group of friends. They still could not believe their eyes. The purple mare herself just sat there, continuously crying as she looked up to the being that had visited her in her dreams not long ago. There she was, in the waking world. Nightmare Moon looked to her sides. Instantly, the members of the Underworld League bowed down before her.

“All hail the demon queen,” they all spoke at the same time.

Twilight still was struggling to believe the scene before her was actually real. This just couldn’t be happening. It just couldn’t. Yet, there she was, glancing over all and everything with an expression of indifference. It was clear now that, never once, she worried this plan might fail. Never once did she have any doubts. She outsmarted all of them. She outdid all of them.

Off in the distance, down in Equestria, the cheering of the cultists was so loud, it could be faintly heard even this far away. They had achieved the ultimate victory. The demon queen was back.

At last, Nightmare Moon’s expression shifted to the most evil and wicked grin ever seen by any pony or reaper. Her head slowly rose up as she started laughing, louder and louder. An intense red aura began to grow around the demon queen, quickly expanding. It accelerated more and more, turning all of Equestria red. Moments later, the neighboring countries also became covered in the same red aura. Then the following. Within less than a minute, the entire world became engulfed by a powerful red. With the demon queen still laughing, the apocalypse began. From the red clouds in the sky, mountain-sized maws came down, opening wide to devour whole landscapes at once. The ground began to tear open all over the place, enormous thin red arms reaching out of them to drag anything they could grab inside. On random spots, gravity seemed to stop existing, letting things fly into the air and simply dissolve like Blueblood did.

Twilight and her friends watched all of this unfold in total terror. Equestria was being ripped apart, whole villages simply ceasing to be. The purple mare still kept her head shaking and crying the entire time. As Nightmare Moon stopped laughing, she quickly turned around to look at her. These eyes of absolute, abysmal evil were focusing right at her. Her demon children grinning wickedly along with her in pure joy. Then, she suddenly teleported away, along with the Underworld League.

The purple mare looked up into the sky. In the clouds, another maw opened widely and came falling down straight towards the mountain. All of her friends simply sat there and looked up, just waiting for it to kill them instantly. But Twilight noticed that, since the demon queen was not directly present anymore, the paralyzing feeling of fear had vanished. One last time, she clenched her eyes shut and allowed her horn to start glowing. A small bright flash could be seen, less than a second before the maw devoured the entire mountain at once.

The End of all Things

Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nhjhOYOXcC8bbbjJfPFgNsZLkzzsSjnnD1Bu7sKyhxM/edit?usp=sharing

At last, the day had come. This would be the last day of all living things in the world. With the demon queen back, there was nothing her children needed to hold back for anymore. As soon as the entire world became covered in red darkness, the demons turned on the BloodClaw Cult and started slaughtering their members. The reactions of the cultists were all very different. While some were completely shocked, others accepted their end willingly, literally throwing themselves at their gods. But ponies weren’t the only targets anymore. The demons attacked every living being on sight. Birds, bears, cats, dogs, bunnies, even bugs and worms. They would not spare a single life. Everything that could be considered living had to die.

As the maw descended from the red sky and consumed the rest of Canterlot Mountain, many cultists still alive at that point watching the event believed it had instantly killed the entire leadership circle at once. Those few who saw Twilight teleport her friends and herself away did not live long enough to tell anypony about it. Even if they tried to warn the demons, they were not listening to anyone anymore, other than their queen. No more bargains could be struck and frankly, they would not care about this information anyway.

So there they were, on a small hill near Unicorn Range. They just sat there, watching as the world around them got torn apart. They watched as another canyon opened right through Ponyville, destroying most of the village instantly. The few buildings spared were soon getting dragged down by both demons and arms rising out of the dark depths. A heartbreaking sight for all of them, extinguishing the last embers of hope they had left. This truly was the end.

All around them, the other cities and villages faced a similar fate. The very fabric of reality became torn apart right in front of them as the world gradually distorted into something less and less explainable. To think that this much destruction could come from a single demon… Nightmare Moon’s powers truly were beyond any description. Defeated and simply waiting for their deaths, they all just sat there and watched, tears washing down their faces. Cadence held Shining Armor as closely as she could, shaking in his embrace.

“At least… we die together…” she whimpered.

Like most others, Shining Armor had no comforting words to spare. Nothing was comforting anymore when facing the end of the world. Fluttershy and Derpy both tried to meditate and find peace in their imminent deaths, but were visibly struggling. Rarity’s eyes and mouth were wide open as her focus slowly wandered around, following the spreading destruction in speechlessness. Luna kept on baring her teeth and clenching her eyes, angrily stomping the ground with her right front leg while crying at the same time. More than anything, she was furious with herself for being unable to achieve the victory over Nightmare Moon she so desperately desired. She so very wanted to prove herself to be the better idol of darkness, to prove the demon queen wrong and to show that she is more than a dismissed host of the greatest of all demons. In the end, she could have none of this.

Celestia’s expression was the most calm of them all. Although crying herself, she showed barely any expression as her gaze wandered over her kingdom, watching it being erased from existence and observing her dear friends and sister react to it. Eventually, her focus became stuck on Twilight. Never before had she been crying this much. Celestia didn’t even need to speak to her to understand that Twilight considered herself the biggest failure in history right now. The fate of the whole world rested squarely on her shoulders, but she failed at every step on the way. Right from the very beginning, the demons had been controlling every step she took, just like they used to do with Celestia. Without ever realizing it, they were being pulled like a key on an invisible string, slowly sliding towards the keyhole. By the time they figured out they were being controlled, it was already too late. They willingly turned the key and opened the door. Now, there was no closing it anymore. That is what Twilight believed. She had given up before and her last chance had just been another trap, disgustingly using the hope she held so dearly against her. She had no plans left, no thought other than regret over her defeat and asking herself how she could have been so blind.

The bright fallen alicorn, just like all the others, had no words that would comfort her precious student. Telling her it was not her fault wasn’t cutting it. Telling her she did everything she could wasn’t good enough. Telling her she was proud of her for trying would only have made her feel even more miserable. There just was nothing left to say. All that could be done now was to watch the world around them fall apart and wait for the moment they, too, would perish. So, without Celestia being able to say anything, she just lowered her head. All this would have never happened if it hadn’t been for her, she thought to herself. If only she had been watching her sister more. If only she had chosen to do the right thing, right at the very beginning.

As Celestia’s gaze lowered to the ground, she noticed something laying right next to her in the grass. It would seem that Twilight didn’t have the time to selectively teleport just her friends and herself. In the intense red tint in the air, the small, brightly painted piece of one of Canterlot Castle’s towers seemed to almost glow in a shade between crimson and pink. Now having her focus drawn to what was just nearby, she started looking around. Rocks, bricks, broken ornaments. All scattered around them.

Celestia’s ears suddenly perked up and she gained an expression of determination as she stood back up and started looking around. Little by little, her behavior caught the attention of the others. What could she possibly be searching that would still be of any significance at this point? It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. Sitting back down for a moment, she used both front legs to pick up Nightmare’s Eye. The crying stopped and all watched with a bit of curiosity and confusion as the former princess stared straight into the eye-shaped, moving gem in the middle while it stared back at her. They watched as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. None of the rebellion leaders thought there was anything left still capable of shocking them. But even with the world getting destroyed around them, they still found the sight of Celestia putting the cursed necklace around her own neck and locking it to be the most shocking view of all.

“W… What?! What are you doing?!” Twilight shouted as soon as the object was in place, completely baffled.

“Sister! Have you lost your mind?!” Luna shouted out as well, immediately standing up and walking over to Celestia.

Even though no one told them what this demon artefact does, they could easily figure it out themselves now. So what could possibly drive the bright fallen alicorn to do something this drastic? Yet, there was no trace of doubt in her expression. Her eyes had a determination burning in them like they hadn’t seen in years. Could it be? Could she have one final resort? Her focus shifted back to her former student.

“Twilight, do you still have the elements and the replica?” Celestia wondered.

Instantly, the purple mare understood what her mentor was going for, causing her jaw to drop for a moment. Twilight quickly regained her senses, though, searching through her saddlebags. She indeed still was in possession of the six artefacts. The replica of the element of magic was heavily cracked from the previous use, but still functional. It maybe had one, if they are lucky two uses left in it before it would break. The next strike had to hit, no matter what.

Twilight rose her head again and gave a nod. Determination returned to the other rebels as well as they came to understand Celestia’s plan. No creature of evil and imbalance could possibly survive two purifications by the elements of harmony. Nightmare Moon had been struck once before. No matter how powerful she was, another hit and she would share the same fate as Discord. All this time before, this would have failed, as the demon queen never had a singular, material presence. But now that she was resurrected, she could be targeted again. Yet, if they were to simply walk up to her, the group would instantly get killed before they could possibly get in striking range. It was therefore that Celestia had to wear Nightmare’s Eye and use it against her. No demon, not even the demon queen, could touch her this way. She would purify Nightmare Moon and consequently, all her children would also cease to be, alongside their curses. Maledictum Insania would be lifted and Celestia would be able to safely remove the necklace again.

“We first need to find Applejack and Caramel. Right now, they are the safest when with us,” Celestia suggested.

“But then what? Where in the whole wide world would Nightmare Moon be right now?” Rarity wondered.

“I already have my suspicions. There is only one place where she would truly feel like she belonged to. Once we made sure our friends are safe with us, we are going to Tartarus,” the former princess of the sun explained.

---

Without the help of teleportation, it would have been impossible to get anywhere. More and more hazards appeared as time passed, as if Nightmare Moon was testing the limits of her creativity. Invisible abnormalities seemed to be wandering around randomly all over the land, erasing everything they came in contact with. New canyons opened up everywhere. Spontaneously, random things busted into flames, even non-flammable objects like rocks. Massive fountains of crimson liquid shot out of the ground, looking like blood but melting everything like acid. Still, with all these dangers just at ground-level, the greatest threats came from the sky. Over and over, the maws came from the red clouds, biting massive chunks out of the ground and then retracted again. Not seeing any of these mortal dangers in time to avoid them would guarantee death. Yet, miraculously, Applejack and Caramel were both still alive when the group arrived at their hideout. The orange mare clearly was both incredibly terrified and confused. Unfortunately, there was not much time to explain the events that had transpired. But the short explanation was enough to get the couple deeply shocked. Still, they were both easily convinced to join the group on their suicidal final mission. Mostly because, just as they were speaking, another maw opened right above them and they all had to be teleported away quickly once again. Truly, there was no safe spot left in the world. So, Applejack, too, concluded that it was at least slightly safer being in a group than just the two of them, no matter where they wanted to go.

With millions of creatures both feral and sentient dying every second, they had no time to lose. Skipping as much land as possible between teleportations, they ended up in front of the main gates of Tartarus, just slightly over an hour since the apocalypse began. The gates were wide open, but no demon was entering or leaving. With the entire world engulfed in red darkness, the inside of this stronghold seemed just as darkly red as the outside, making virtually no visible difference. There certainly was a massive difference in feeling, though. Even the non-magical members of the group could sense a dread coming from inside that was beyond anything else in the world. No doubt, Celestia guessed right. She certainly was here.

Boldly, the fallen bright alicorn with the cursed amulet around her neck walked ahead, leading the others. The group expected to be attacked instantly, like the last time they were here. But even though thousands of glowing red eyes, still bright enough to pierce through the intense red fog, were focusing them grimly, none of the demons moved. They remained still, but notably tense, as if they were ordered to stand down and wait.

All members of the group had been through a lot within just the last few hours. Most of them had their hearts racing so much, they feared it might jump right out of their chests. But having to walk right through a huge crowd of demons made every step they took extremely shaky and insecure, or tense as in the case of the two reapers. Paradoxically, the demons stepped out of the way as they approached, creating a clear path straight to the core of the stronghold. Their behavior could mean anything at this point. From the demon queen actually interested in personally confronting the rebellion leaders once again, to just letting them get as deep into their midst as possible before assaulting them from all directions. Like the first time, the floor was made of countless bones, coated in thick, slimy blood. But it seemed like the morbid coating became increasingly runnier the deeper they walked in, eventually forming tiny streams flowing freely between the bones.

With every step forward, the sensation of overwhelming evil became more and more unbearable, causing even the reapers to have increasingly more trouble continuing to walk. It was especially difficult for Applejack to keep pushing on against all her instincts telling her to get her unborn foal and beloved one out of danger. If it weren’t for Caramel, she would be frozen in fear by now. Even though dead scared himself, he did his best to be there for the orange mare, it being just enough for her to keep walking.

At last, Nightmare Moon herself came into their sight. She was still a bit away from them, but could be seen well in this thick red, as her colors were so strong and deep, it seemed like she was the same red fog filling the stronghold in extremely concentrated form. The view alone caused them all, even Celestia, to stop for a moment and gasp in fear. There just was an aura of absolute terror and dominance surrounding her which even the strongest could not withstand. But the older formerly royal sister proved the power of her will as it only took her a second before she shook her head and regained a stoic expression while continuing her approach.

After coming even closer, they realized that the entire Underworld League was present. They all stood left and right of a throne made of freshly killed creatures which the demon queen was sitting on. The bodies had been skinned and coarsely broken up, but were carefully arranged to form symmetric sides and have the bleeding pieces interlock, creating a stable medium for the greatest of all demons to tower atop. This throne turned out to be the source of the fresh blood that spread all over the stronghold. Judging by the sheer amount still flowing, none of these poor creatures could have been dead for more than a minute or two, which would mean they were expecting the group.

Malice, now just barely as tall as the throne itself, stood to Nightmare Moon’s right side, fitting to his title. His red scythe was drawn, his boney wings spread and he was visibly assuming the role of her bodyguard, although this was most likely unnecessary. Next to him was Slendermane, standing tall as usual, watching the group with no eyes. On the other side of the throne was Despair, grinning deviously at the approaching ponies. Next to her was Toxica, as per usual bouncing up and down excitedly and fluttering her small wings while grinning widely. At last, Celestia stopped, just a couple more steps away from Nightmare Moon. The entire stronghold was watching them now, glances both hateful and judging. None of the ponies or reapers could handle looking straight into the demon queen’s eyes. This burning of hate in them was more powerful than the hateful glances of all her children combined. Too much for even the most battle-hardened warrior. Her gaze alone had an overwhelming strength to it, giving anypony she looked at the feeling like they were getting crushed by their own fear. But most members of the leadership circle did not have to endure her eyes for long. Not even Celestia seemed to be all too interesting to her. Nightmare Moon’s focus soon found itself stuck on Luna.

“It would seem your wish has finally come true, Luna. At long last, the world’s first de manis and the former demi-goddess of darkness stand in front of each other, for all the world to see,” the demon queen started calmly.

Even though Luna could not possibly remember ever having said or wished for something like this, it made her shudder and cower, hiding behind her big sister like she used to do so, so long ago when they were both still very young. It was a disheartening sight to see Luna’s embers extinguish like that. Just earlier tonight, she would have loved to personally destroy Nightmare Moon. But now that she was actually in front of her, Luna became completely overwhelmed by her intense evil. Strangely, this sight did not seem to amuse Nightmare Moon. She did not even grin in malevolence. She did not revel in her power and did not enjoy dominating Luna so easily, just by being present. She just sat there, looking, waiting, judging.

Celestia struggled just as much as all the others. It took every bit of will power she had to raise her head and look straight at the demon queen. This immediately made Nightmare Moon shift her focus from the blue sister to the white one. Celestia lowered herself a bit as the heavy glare crushed down on her. But she forced herself back upright, shaking visibly and returning a glance of determination.

Twilight was still just a bystander. Unsure if Nightmare Moon could read her thoughts or not, she tried to think of everything but the plan they had. She forcefully looked away from her saddlebags, constantly struggling between not thinking of the elements and thinking about having to be ready to draw as soon as Celestia gave the signal. Fortunately, the presence of Despair helped the purple mare to distract herself by watching the demoness in suspicion. Like the other members of the Underworld League, Despair did not break away from her position and expression, staying idle, silent and watching the group closely. For almost a minute, there was just silence. None in the group could find the strength to utter a single world or take any actions. Applejack and Caramel were hugging each other while trembling. Rarity was very tense, a fearful expression on her face. Cadence only had eyes for Shining Armor right now and vise versa, as if they were trying to get last impression of one another, seemingly expecting to be torn apart any second. Derpy and Fluttershy were both showing tense faces, but also looking away from Nightmare Moon and judging by the slightly lifted and angled front leg they both had, they were just one tiny thing away from drawing their weapons. At last, the demon queen leaned back against her throne, this somehow easing the feeling of dread enough for the group to shake less and have more control over their bodies and minds.

“I know why you are here. The embers of hope have always been difficult to stamp out entirely. You are here for a final confrontation, thinking you can strike me with the elements and this cracked replica of yours one last time in hopes it would destroy me, now that I am corporeal again. It does not matter how flawed this plan is, as it is an act of desperation. As you can see, I can prevent you from even moving if I so desire. It is effortless to me. So, knowing this now, what will you do next? Will you still attempt a strike? Is it your desire to perish in battle?” Nightmare Moon questioned.

“Wh…” Celestia started after a brief moment of collection, but still needed more time to gather her thoughts and finish her question. “Why is the world not destroyed yet?”

This immediately caused Luna’s, Shining Armor’s and Cadence’s ears to perk up and focus the fallen princess. But even more than them, it stunned Twilight the most, staring at her old mentor. At this point, there is no grasping of what Nightmare Moon was capable of. The purple mare had been assuming that all this devastation she was causing all over the world this very moment was already the full display of her power. It was foolish of her to think this, the purple mare now came to realize. But if she could do even more… why didn’t she? Could she still be holding back? What for?

“I might know you better than you know yourself, Celestia. Do you understand what truly drove you to wearing my artefact? Or do your true intentions only just now dawn on you?” Nightmare Moon wondered, looking down on the fallen princess with a glance that could only be interpreted as pure disappointment. “I knew for a long, long time that this was exactly how you would act. I expected of you to do exactly what you did, and I allowed it to happen. What does it matter now if I destroy this world in an instant or take it apart slowly? Revenge will never be achieved. By wearing this necklace, you made sure of that. At least, if I let all creatures suffer just a little longer like this, it will be slightly more fulfilling.”

Twilight was starting to get nervous now, not knowing how much longer she could take having Despair stare straight at her with this smug grin of hers the purple mare hated so much. What was taking Celestia so long? Why where they still talking?

Fluttershy had been observing her friends closely and decided to take matters into her own hooves. If they were here to fight, then now was as good of a moment as any. With a flap of her wings, she lifted above the group and threw a Stare straight at Nightmare Moon. For a moment, it seemed like this was the starting signal for the battle. But none of the demons reacted. Not even the Underworld League changed their positions even the slightest bit. The group of friends only looked up to Fluttershy in worry that this might have been the wrong move. Her Stare instantly ended and made way for an expression of shock as Nightmare Moon leaned forward with an almost bored expression.

“I created Succubus, The Insatiable Lust. She, too, was just another aspect of me. Do you truly believe this would affect me? I am beyond power, beyond skill, beyond wisdom,” she commented casually.

Fluttershy landed back on the ground and gained a mixed expression of worry and intimidation. Twilight watched this all with still building tension, feeling like she was about to explode. She was more than ready to sacrifice herself right now, just so that the world, her friends and especially Celestia could survive. Twilight was willing to do pretty much anything to stop the end. She was willing to go through any consequence, any pain, any suffering.

“And just as I expected, you ended up creating nothing but a copy of yourself with your beloved star student, Celestia. Just another decoy, willing to take the blame for you, willing to take the pain for you. I truly hoped she was different. Perhaps, if she at any point had ever understood, things would have turned out differently to this. Yet, in the end, she only adapted all of your perspectives without developing any alternative views on her own,” Nightmare Moon started again, shifting her focus to Twilight and immediately causing her to cower, subduing her tension. “Let me tell you something, Twilight Sparkle. You think your idol took you here to assist her in defeating me. You still believe that, despite the endless magnitude of her incompetence you have witnessed yourself, under her guidance, the world can be saved. What you do not realize is that you, too, have always only been a pawn to her. Just another chess piece on the board. You have not been brought here for a battle, but for a sacrifice. All of you. Once again, Celestia is proving her cowardice by trying to strike a bargain with me,” Nightmare Moon stated, cold as ice.

Twilight heard the demon queen’s words, but could barely react to them. Too powerful was the sensation she was putting her under. Still, the purple mare did not believe her. She wouldn’t, she couldn’t. This was something the purple mare knew her mentor would never do. The others also were showing no signs of worry at all as they focused Celestia with glances of trust and disbelief over the demon queen’s insulting words. How could they? Nightmare Moon was the queen of demons after all. The pure embodiment of evil. None of her words should ever be viewed as truth. This probably was just a theory of hers, trying to understand what a heartless creature like her would view as nothing more than irrational plans and extreme actions.

Celestia showed absolutely no reaction to Nightmare Moon’s words at all. No doubt existed in any of their minds. This was just another weak attempt of sowing distrust between close friends. Celestia would never betray them, just to save her own hide. Especially not her own sister. It may be true that in her long history with the demon queen, many have died for her protection. But not once did she actively use any of her subjects or allies as shields or distractions to protect herself. The bright fallen alicorn also had had enough of these insolent accusations as she let her horn light up and allowed her magic to reach into Twilight’s saddlebags, pulling out the elements of harmony and the replica of the element of magic, hovering them just in front of her.

The eyes of the demon queen narrowed in suspicion. Celestia wasn’t even trying to make this stealthy at all. She openly showed the elements and held them ready for use. All demons in the stronghold became notably tense. Malice readied himself for battle and black arms started to rise out of Slendermane’s back again. Toxica and Despair did not react, though, still remaining in their positions, as if ordered to. With the focus no longer being on Twilight, but the elements, she could recollect herself once again. This was the moment she had been waiting for. Twilight, and all of her friends by extension, lowered into a fighting stance. They only had this one chance. If there really was no other way… no matter how many of them had to die during this, any casualty would be worth it if it meant defeating Nightmare Moon for good. Hooves trembled in tension, wings were spread and stiff, scythes were drawn, spells were readied.

The elements of harmony floated over to the demon queen, then the magic canceled, dropping them to the blood-soaked, boney floor. The sound these crystals made on impact with the bones echoed through the stronghold. A moment that seemed like it was lasting for minutes while they all stared at this scene before them, unable to even form a thought. Celestia’s expression shifted from a stoic one into a sad one and her head lowered. She actually just did this on purpose.

As soon as Twilight snapped out of the initial shock, she instantly tried to grab the elements again with her magic. But it was already too late. The red magical aura of the demon queen held them in a grip too firm for her to ever break, even if she put all of her might into it. Rarity, being closer to the front than Twilight went so far as to break away from the group in attempt to jump to grab the elements. But Twilight would not allow it, holding her back with her purple magic. She was not willing to risk a friend on something she knew was pointless. This was the second time Nightmare Moon had ever been in possession of the elements and like before, she instantly began to destroy them. A simple stomp to break them into pieces would not do this time, though. Floating in front of her eyes, the demons and the rebels watched as they completely dissolved into nothingness. They were gone… Their last chance to defeat Nightmare Moon was gone.

“What in the hay did ya do that for?!” Applejack shouted out immediately while Caramel bit his lower lip with wide open eyes and tiny pupils.

Immediately, Luna ran ahead and grabbed Celestia firmly, pressing her nose against her sister’s and giving her the most furious expression she had ever given anypony.

“Do you even understand what you just did, sister?! You doomed us!” she shouted straight into her face.

All Celestia did in response was to turn her head away from Luna, maintaining this sad look on her face. A sensation of unimaginable shock overwhelmed the ponies and reapers as they stared. How could she have done this? How?! After all this time, after all they had been through together. Now that it mattered the most, she was turning on them. Especially Luna could not believe her eyes, having them quickly fill with tears as she stood there speechlessly with a slightly open mouth, still grabbing her sister by the shoulders. Never before did Luna feel so heartbroken as in that very moment.

Now, it was clear what would happen next. Celestia would offer all of her friends, including her own sister and Twilight, to be devoured by the demons. With the necklace protecting her, no demon would be able to touch Celestia. The whole world would come to an end with Celestia being the last living thing left. She would continue existing for as long as the crumbling and fading realm would support her, until she would eventually die as well. As the world fully ceases to be, her corpse would still remain the only thing left untouched, forever. Celestia would be the only being in the entire world whose soul would escape from being devoured by demons. Now, it made sense why Nightmare Moon allowed Celestia to use the necklace. There is no satisfaction, no revenge, in taking the life of a pony willing to do such terrible and cowardly things just to get away. No matter if her soul was devoured or escaped. Under these circumstances, killing Celestia would be a hollow, meaningless final victory. The pointless conclusion to a pointless, age old war.

Twilight stood there, eyes wide, pupils small, mouth open and head slowly shaking from left to right and back again. This was unimaginable to her, more so than the resurrection of Nightmare Moon or the world ending. This was impossible to happen, yet it just did. Celestia turning on her shook the very foundation of everything Twilight believed in.

All of this took just mere seconds, but the shock was so deep, it stretched the moment to an eternity. To the group, it felt like they had been staring at Celestia’s sad expression, Luna’s tear-filled eyes, Nightmare Moon’s disappointment, each other’s unbelieving faces and the sinister grins of the demons for hours. Slendermane and Malice had both returned to their previous stances. Despair still hadn’t moved a muscle, still just grinning as if she had known this would happen. Time seemed to stand still, the red darkness almost stopping to flow, each heart beat subjectively taking minutes. They all knew they would die in just a few moments now, desperately trying to stretch out their final moments as long as possible. But, alas, the time-freeze was broken as Celestia spoke up again.

“It is true… I have not come to try and defeat you. I know by now that this is impossible. I was doomed to fail from the very beginning and by resisting, I only made things worse and worse…” she spoke lowly.

For a few seconds, Luna’s mouth and eyes widened even more. Then, almost instantly, her expression shifted back to one of unimaginable fury. She bared her teeth, lowered her stance, let her horn glow, willing to attack.

“Sister… I cannot believe this. After all these centuries. You… you traitorous…“ she growled.

With time seemingly starting to flow again, the rest of the leadership circle joined in with Luna, slowly approaching with hate burning in their eyes. This was the biggest betrayal conceivably possible and they were not willing to go down without a fight. Now, it even felt like they had a glimpse into how the demon queen must be feeling towards this despicable alicorn. The desire for revenge they were experiencing must only be like a single drop in an entire ocean compared to how she must feel. Perhaps she also expected exactly this situation to occur. Perhaps she was planning on her own friends to kill her once they finally saw her for the devious coward she was, making sure Celestia would not remain unpunished in at least some form. Noticing just how closely they were about to attack her now, Celestia quickly spoke up again.

“But I also have not come to try to bargain my way out of this,” she stated swiftly before any of them took actions.

This already was enough for all of them to stop. Maybe she had a reason for acting the way she was. A friend that had been by their side for this long deserved a chance to justify herself, no matter how her actions looked like. Still, there was even more confusion now. Even more things that made no sense anymore. Battle stances broke, heads raised and expressions relaxed slightly again to make way for mild perplexity.

By now, no one knew what to think anymore. What was real and what was a lie? What was Celestia planning that required of her to willingly give the elements to the demon queen? Why was she keeping it secret from her own friends and even her sister? Nightmare Moon stared down at the fallen alicorn, her eyes narrowed and full of suspicion. It seemed like the greatest demon there ever was and ever will be had no rush in killing the little group and just allowed them to have as many moments as they wanted to. She probably knew that this might very well be her last interaction with any being that was not one of her children. Perhaps she would miss this in a sense, so she allowed this moment to stretch out for as long as it needed to. Celestia kept her head low, breaking away from her sister and walking straight up to her greatest nemesis. Mouths fell open as they saw her bow down.

“I was wrong… I was wrong all along. Any burden this world has to carry is due to me. All the destruction is my fault. It is my responsibility, not that of anypony else. I did not come to sacrifice my friends or sister… I came to say that you were right. You have always been. I came to surrender and… and accept my punishment…” she explained, her words strangely calm and collected for the fact that she was literally offering herself to the demon queen.

Not only did the eyes of the ponies and reaper go wide now, but those of the demons as well. Especially Despair’s expression shifted to one of disbelief like Twilight had never seen on her before. The purple mare herself also thought her mind just played tricks on her. She stood there, paralyzed for a moment, unable to think. But this time, it was not due to Nightmare Moon.

“Sister, no!” Luna instantly protested, walking over to her sister again and grabbing her, trying to pull her away.

The demon queen was the only one not affected by the former demi-goddess’ unexpected surrender. Her narrowed eyes and slightly tensed lips made it clear that she was still suspicious and unbelieving.

“A change of mind out of the blue like that is unlike you, Celestia. You have been trying so hard to avoid your punishment for so long. Why should I believe this for even a second? I am not buying your act. You would say anything at this point in attempt to confuse and trick me, or simply to make yourself look good in front of your friends. Another cowardly, masked performance to hide your true intentions. Not even now that all things end and all of your friends are about to die can you be honest to anyone,” Nightmare Moon commented calmly, almost bored.

Celestia gently pushed her sister away, then raised her head. She looked Nightmare Moon straight in the eyes with the most honest look she has ever given. What changed that she could suddenly bare to look into her eyes like that?

“This is no trick. I have given you the elements, knowing that I would never defeat you. It was wrong of me to ever even try. I am yours now. I accept any punishment you are giving me,” the former princess confessed, her voice filled with regret and sadness.

“Ce… Celestia…” Twilight spoke, barely audible, as tears began to form in her eyes.

The demon queen lowered her head towards Celestia, her red eyes burning with disgust. While the others were still mostly confused and speechless, she was equally unwilling to trust her words.

“And what exactly are you trying to accomplish with this? Do you think by heroically sacrificing yourself, you can save your friends and what is left of the world? What kind of bargain do you hope to strike here?” the demon queen questioned, a slightly angered sharpness in her tone, strong enough to make the legs of all ponies and reapers tremble.

Celestia, too, was shaking. With everything Nightmare Moon did, she was radiating so much power that it was unbearable for any living being to just be in her presence. But the older of the two sisters also shook her head from side to side slowly, not breaking eye contact with her greatest nemesis, despite how difficult it was. To Luna, it gradually started sinking in that this really was her true intention.

“I am not trying to accomplish anything. I’m not trying to strike a deal. Destroy the world or leave it be. Kill all who are dear to me or spare them. It doesn’t change the fact that I am yours now. Whatever you do now is your choice entirely. I have simply decided to stop running and to accept the consequences of my arrogance,” Celestia clarified, lowering her glance again in submission. “You asked me why I decided to wear your artefact. It is to make sure my soul ends up in your hooves. I am guilty. I doomed this world. There is nothing I could say or do to rectify my crimes. But now, I will stand straight and accept my end. You are my judge and my executioner.”

It was now that Nightmare Moon’s eyes, too, slowly began to widen, actually standing up now, almost as if she was shocked to hear this. Such an expression of surprise on the most dangerous being in the world truly added to the unrealness of this whole situation. It seemed that the demon queen was finally starting to believe that Celestia’s words and intentions were true and honest.

“Over one thousand years, Celestia… It took you over one thousand years and the end of the world to finally understand? You, the pony who I believed would be the last to ever give in… You finally are willing to see the error of your arrogance?” Nightmare Moon questioned once more.

“Yes…” the bright fallen alicorn replied briefly.

This is why she made them all follow her and why she was hiding her true intentions until now, all of her friends and Luna as well finally came to understand. She knew they would try to stop her or talk her out of this. They wouldn’t be able to understand that this was the only way this could have ever ended. Right from the very beginning, no one ever stood a chance against Nightmare Moon. All this time, the demon queen truly was in the right of it. Celestia had to die. This simply was as it had to be. She brought them here so they could be witnesses of her confession and her surrender. She hoped that, maybe this way, they would also begin to understand and be able to see why she had to end up doing this. But, of course, this was all too sudden for Twilight to be willing to let her go.

“Celestia, no,” the purple mare disagreed in a very ordering tone, now also walking towards her former mentor. “This is not how it ends! I won’t allow it to happen! I won’t let you die! Not you!”

Celestia turned back around, smiling at the unicorn who inspired her so much. She simply folded her wing around Twilight, holding her closely. Luna still just stood there, starting to cry again in an emotional rollercoaster from everything happening so quickly.

“Please… no… Don’t do this to me… Don’t leave, sister,” Luna begged, starting to sniffle. “W… What am I going to do without you? We have been apart for so long and now, after just these few short years, I am to lose you again?”

Her sister did not say a word. She simply hugged Luna as well and held them both closely pressed against her fur. The wings started slowly caressing down the backsides of Luna’s and Twilight’s heads, gliding down their necks. Celestia then turned her head to look at her student with a gentle, warm smile.

“My wonderful, dedicated and loyal Twilight. Do you remember the day you saw me speak to the light? The heavy rain coming down over the Crystal Empire. A single opening in the thick gray clouds and me staying in the beam of light coming through it. With a curious nature like yours, I am surprised you never asked me what we were discussing. Although, I can understand you might have felt like it was not your place to ask such questions… The light and I have come to the conclusion that this might eventually be the only possible outcome of our conflict against the red darkness. There truly was a glimmer of truth in Blueblood’s words and in the beliefs of the BloodClaw Cult. As long as I live, others will have to suffer the pain that is reserved for me. It was that day when I finally understood that this would eventually be necessary, although I did everything I could to still support you. The light is willing to sacrifice its embodiment… me… to finally appease the red darkness,” she spoke in a motherly, regretful tone.

For this, Twilight had no words. A million arguments came to her mind against why Celestia should do this. All of them were personal, but none of them were valid. She had always seen her mentor like a third parent and especially since her own died, she focused even more on keeping at least Celestia alive and around. This always had been about more than just putting her back on the throne. It never was a secret that Celestia was one of the most important anchors to Twilight. But for Luna, this was even more devastating. Their bond was even deeper. Aside of the one thousand unconscious years Luna was trapped with the demon queen on the moon, there was no time she had ever been apart from her sister. Now, the thought of living the rest of her live without her dear, precious big sister wrecked Luna. She just held Celestia closely now, unknowingly making final mental notes about her. How soft her fur felt. How she smelled. How her voice sounded like. It all only made Luna cry even more. She never wanted to let go. But Celestia knew that she had to, so she gave her a brief moment and also relished the final hug they shared before the older sister parted away from her little sister, looking her deep into the eyes. Luna burned the way Celestia’s face looked like deep into her mind, fighting against the tears trying to blur her vision and ruin this memory.

“Luna… My beloved sister… I am so sorry. It always could only have ever ended like this. I am the core of the problem and nothing will ever have a chance of getting better as long as I live. I’m sorry our time of being reunited was this short and I am sorry I have to leave you like this. I am sorry for all the horrible things I did to you. I can only hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me… All of you,” Celestia finished, raising her head and looking at all members of the group individually.

“Princess…” Fluttershy commented, frowning and having a black tear roll down her face.

More tears started followed quickly by all friends present. There was no talking her out of this and surrounded by demons, there was no chance of getting away either. It was goodbye now. Shining Armor, Cadence, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Derpy, even Caramel came to hug her.

“I wished you had told us of this sooner… I would have understood,” Rarity commented, biting her lower lip slightly to express her grief as she couldn’t cry. “This makes it really, really hard to let you go…”

“I know… I’m sorry,” Celestia replied briefly.

“If we get out of here alive… I will make sure the world will remember you for this, auntie,” Cadence offered, her voice very weak in grief.

For Twilight, it still seemed like she wasn’t fully grasping this situation. She wasn’t crying quite as much as the others and still had a thoughtful expression on her face. As she looked back at her mentor, she noticed her sceptic expression immediately.

“You… you do understand what she is going to do to you, right?” Twilight questioned, tears rolling down her face.

At last, Celestia’s façade fell. Until now, she had been been putting on a mask, trying to push this thought away and ignore it while playing strong, all for the sakes of making it easier for her friends. But now, she herself began to cry in fear.

“Yes… I do… And I am scared. I have never been so scared in my whole life. But… there is no way out of this. I must do this…” she spoke, her voice getting increasingly more broken from her panic and tears, wiping her eyes briefly. “I’m… I’m so grateful you are here with me right now. I’m so glad I could say goodbye… I don’t know if I would have been able to do this if I had to come here by myself…”

The group of friends held Celestia closely, desperately trying to comfort her. Throughout all of this, Nightmare Moon remained surprisingly quiet. For reasons beyond the understanding of anyone, she allowed them to have this farewell, just sitting there on her throne with a thoughtful expression. It wasn’t until the group of friends slowly backed away from Celestia, minutes later, that she started speaking again.

“This changes… everything, Celestia. Both the red darkness and I have long surrendered to the thought that we will never get you to understand and to kill you. That the chance of the light giving in, respecting the red darkness and thus giving up its idol so we can have revenge would be impossible. We were both just trying to get at least a fraction of what we deserved all this time, by literally taking everything else. But with you offering your life and soul to me directly, under the agreement of the light…” the queen of demons commented.

Shakily, the bright sister turned back around, her face still showing tear trails as she looked up to the creature which was going to murder her.

“May I just ask… If I suffer enough, will it be enough?” she wondered.

“For revenge, you ask? Truthfully, I am unsure… You are but a single, mortal creature. It is true, red darkness and I hate you so much, your soul alone is worth as much as every single other one on this world to us. But to focus all the hate of the red darkness solely on you… Your body would not be able to take it. You would die just from the pain and shock long before any satisfying amount of justice could be exerted,” Nightmare Moon replied factually.

“Take… Take it all out on me. Make me die a million deaths if need be. Hurt me more than you or your children have ever hurt anypony else. I will take it… Please…” Celestia begged, clearly fearful of her own words.

Another moment of silence followed. All demons in Tartarus kept constantly looking at each other, their expressions difficult to read, especially in the dark red. Nightmare Moon remained perfectly still, staring straight ahead as if she was talking in her head to the red darkness directly. Eventually, her focus lowered back to Celestia.

“We don’t know if it will be enough. I still remember that, at first, the red darkness and I only wanted to extinct pony-kind and kill you after. We would have been satisfied with that if you hadn’t resisted. At this point, everything in this world that once was linked to your original crime has long since turned to dust. Aside of you and your sister, no living being remains from the era of my origin. This entire war has long lost its meaning, to the point were goals became unclear and made way for nothing but plans to get to some halfway meaningful end. Maybe we can forgive some smaller injustices that have occurred over the centuries. But you will still have to suffer for keeping the darkness split, maddened and enraged for over one thousand years. I will do everything within my might to make you suffer, all while constantly talking to the red darkness and trying to come to an agreement with it. This will be a death so cruel, it will be unmatched by anything in history. Both in past and in future. It will take many hours of pain so great, it will make you lose and find your mind again and again. Once I exhausted myself on you and finally allow you to die, your soul will be devoured by me. During all of this, I will not allow your friends, your niece or your sister to leave. They must stay and listen. You must know that they, too, are suffering unimaginable pain from hearing your tortured screams. Know this as you make your choice. For in the end, you have to prove the honesty of your own words. The very necklace which guarantees of me to get your soul is also the one keeping you protected from me. Prove that all the words you have spoken in front of me now are the truth. If you really accept your punishment, you must take off my artifact,” Nightmare Moon explained.

Celestia took a deep breath and nodded in understanding. One last time, she looked back at her friends. This would be the last image any of them would have of her. The fear fueled tear trails on her face, the regret in her eyes and this expression telling them to stay back, to let it happen and that she was sorry they were about to go through this. Slowly and shakily, her left front hoof rose from the ground and wandered towards the back of her own neck. The demon queen was getting visibly more excited the closer it got to the locking mechanism of her artefact. She herself was trembling, but in excitement. Her eyes widened more and more, a wicked grin growing wider and wider. Her whole body became tense and lowered, getting ready to pounce Celestia as soon as the lock opened. This sight only made it all the more difficult for Celestia to push through. She started hyperventilating in fear and slowed down more and more, her hoof shaking wildly as it hovered just above the lock. With an expression of panic, she looked up to Nightmare Moon. The demon queen grinned back at her in an expression of untamed insanity, showing that she was barely able to take it any longer. Celestia started crying uncontrollably as her tiny dots of pupils were glued to the demon queen’s expression. She pressed her eyes shut, pressed her teeth together and in one quick movement, she opened the lock and tossed Nightmare’s Eye to the side.

The demon queen reacted instantly. She launched herself at Celestia, grabbing and dragging her down into the depths of Tartarus. Luna, Twilight and then all the others began to cry heavily themselves now. Just seconds later, laughter even more insane than earlier, as well as screams louder and more horrible than any they had ever heard filled the entire stronghold. Hearing Celestia’s voice scream and cry like this was beyond description and the worst part was that they had to stay here for the entire duration of it. The remaining members of the leadership circle came closely together, holding each other and crying along as they were forced to acoustically witness Celestia’s torture.

---

None of them knew for how long they had been sitting there now, listening to these screams and that crying while from time to time words of regret were shouted into the air. The demons were either staring down into the depths, like Slendermane did, or pacing around restlessly, like Malice and Toxica did. Despair was one of the very few demons doing neither. For the first time ever, she seemed incredibly unsure and anxious, constantly looking around as if expecting an attack. By now, Luna was just covering her ears and crying constantly. She had accepted her sister’s decision by now and was trying her best to cope. Most of the others were fairing very similar, Fluttershy, Derpy and Rarity in particular trying to comfort Luna while the two couples were looking for the same comfort in one another. But Twilight was different. Sure, she was crying just as much as her friends and holding them in desperate attempt to seek relief of this psychological torture. But unlike them, she became increasingly more tense with every passing hour. She just couldn’t take hearing Celestia scream like this, no matter how much she tried to accept it.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” the former princess shouted loudly mixed with uncontrolled crying, followed by a particularly loud, soul-shredding scream of pain.

This made the barrel overflow for Twilight. She couldn’t take this anymore. She instantly got up and rapidly walked towards the border of the pit. Her friends and remaining family noticed and called out to her, but their words were silent to the purple mare. With an angry face and freely flowing tears she came close and closer to the border, preparing a teleportation spell. But before she could even cover half the distance, Despair suddenly jumped in front of her.

“Twilight, wait! Don’t do it!” she shouted, her eyes wide open, almost as if she was scared.

“If it is a fight you are looking for, I will make it quick. If I have to, I will fight every single demon in Tartarus myself. I thought I could let this happen and respect Celestia’s decision, but I can’t. I will save her and none of you will stand in my way,” Twilight answered quickly and angrily.

“I won’t fight you! I can’t! Queen Nightmare Moon is ordering all of us to not touch you, no matter what you do,” Despair explained, visibly tense.

“Then get out of my way!” Twilight shouted and simply trotted around Despair at a quick pace.

The expression of panic intensified on the demoness’ face. With a quick flash, she teleported herself back in front of Twilight to cut off her path again.

“Don’t you understand what is happening right now? This is a test! Our queen is ordering us to stand down to see if you truly learned your lesson and allowed this to happen! If you interfere now, all the suffering Celestia has gone through so far would be for nothing! The destruction of the world is being delayed right now, all because of this! It will continue the second you teleport down there!” Despair spoke panickingly.

“I don’t care! I just don’t care! I can’t let her die. I just can’t lose Celestia!” Twilight shouted, tears washing over her face more intensely now while her eyes were burning with rage.

“Twilight, be rational! You have always been rational! Think about it. This is the closest we have ever gotten to achieving revenge! This could be it and all you need to do is let this happen! This could save your world! This could save all of you! Use your senses, Twilight!” Despair argued back, getting louder herself.

“I tried! I really tried! But after all this, I just can’t anymore! If this is an emotional and irrational reaction now, so be it!” the purple mare screamed at the top of her lungs.

Again, she quickly walked around Despair, getting critically close to the end of the platform now. The demoness’ eyes started darting around in complete panic, her ears hanging low and almost looking like a regular pony now with how emotional and scared she was. She rubbed her forehead and pressed her eyes shut, visibly putting all her might into coming up with something. Then her eyes suddenly sprung open again and she turned around to the purple mare.

“I will give back Spike’s and Moondancer’s souls!” she shouted into the stronghold, her words causing a moment of silence even from the depth of the pit.

It worked. For just a moment, Twilight stood there as if frozen to ice mid-trot. Her head slowly turned back around to the demoness, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. The entire stronghold, in fact, stared at Despair in disbelief. It didn’t seem to bother her at all, though, as she simply ignored the eyes and gave out a sigh of mixed relief and sadness that she managed to stop Twilight but had to go this far in order to do so.

“I will give them up. It won’t bring them back to life, but they will be free again. Your own very personal worst mistake will be undone, Twilight,” Despair offered in a much calmer voice as the screams continued again in the background.

“I thought you said they don’t even really exist anymore,” the purple mare inquired.

“You ponies are not supposed to know, but… This can be undone. Souls are much more resilient than us soulless creatures. While we can disappear into nothingness, souls always remain. I am breaking unspoken rules by making this offer. No demon has ever given up any soul they claimed. Ever. I would be the first to do so,” the Guillotine of Hope explained.

“You are based on Moondancer’s soul. Wouldn’t setting her free erase you?” Twilight wondered.

“I am the strongest, most talented Skin-Walker there is, Twilight. Ever since I was remade, I am depending way more on Queen Chrysalis’ soul than that of Moondancer. Even if I were to lose hers as well, I still devoured plenty of souls by now to base my continuing existence on. I am willing to pay any price you want, Twilight. Just… please… Let this happen. This means everything to us as demons. Even if you don’t care one bit about that, Celestia is so injured by now, she could never be saved. Not even with the strongest magic and the best healing spells there are. I am not expecting of you to believe me, but I do… hope… you understand how serious we are about our bargains… Just for the chance, Twilight. Just for the chance I might actually set Spike and Moondancer free. Isn’t that worth it to you?” Despair argued.

The screams continued, just as bad as they were before. Malice and Slendermane stared down at the Guillotine of Hope judgingly. Toxica, for the first time, was standing still as she stared up to her ‘Despy’ in astonishment. As for Twilight, she remained standing there with insecurity written all over. Her focus constantly switched between the depths beneath her where Celestia was slowly being tortured to death and her arch nemesis to her side, giving her this just too pony-like expression of regret and worry. One more glance was thrown back to her friends, now realizing the concerned expressions they were displaying. They, too, were clearly thinking Twilight was about to make the wrong choice here, acting purely out of emotion and disregarding the consequences. It took her several minutes before she gradually slipped back into crying and hung her head low.

“It is…” she stated, hateful of her decision.

Despair instantly shifted her right front leg into a claw and reached it out towards the purple mare, offering a handshake to seal the deal. Rarity, Applejack, Caramel, Fluttershy, Derpy, Luna, Shining Armor, Cadence… They all were watching while Twilight slowly approached the demoness and reached out her own front leg. She still couldn’t believe she was letting Celestia die now while she walked back into her group of friends. For a moment, she feared they would judge her for this. But they welcomed her back with open front legs, fully understanding her reactions and decisions.

---

It felt like an era had gone by since Celestia’s torture began. All members of the leadership circle were hungry, very thirsty and tired. But there was no chance to rest or distract oneself while they were all constantly forced to hear these screams of agony. The most they could do was try their best to focus on Luna, as this was by far the hardest for her to take. Then, suddenly, the screaming stopped, instantly grabbing the attention of the group. It was completely silent for a few more minutes, causing all to wonder if this was the end, if Nightmare Moon finally had her fill and allowed Celestia to die. Of all curious things that happened in this stronghold so far, what followed then was the most astonishing.

Very rapidly, the red darkness in the stronghold faded away and turned to regular, black one. The eyes of the demons stopped glowing, making them invisible in the dark and collectively, they let out a sigh.

Everything was black and silent now. Twilight let her horn light up and for the first time successfully illuminated the stronghold. Immediately, she spotted Despair. Her eyes were still red, like all other demon eyes. But there was no hateful burning in them anymore. She looked so calm now, so tired. It seemed so strange to see a demon like this.

Moments later, Nightmare Moon returned from the depths. She was entirely soaked in blood, from the bottom of her hooves to the tip of her horn. Not one spot on her body remained untainted. Atop of her helmet rested Celestia’s tiara, equally soaked completely in blood. The sight made Luna cry harder again. She truly was done. Celestia was dead. At last, the ponies could truly begin to mourn.

The demon queen had a very calm expression on her face. No more evil intentions were radiating from her and she, too, had no glow in her red eyes left anymore. Nightmare Moon took a long, slow, deep breath, closing her eyes in the process. Then, she refocused the group. No more sensation of crushing fear filled them. It was a neutral glance now, like any other.

“Revenge… has been achieved. The red darkness has been calmed at last and thus reunited with the black. My children and I will retreat to our strongholds. We now have no interest in the world anymore, but the souls we claimed will remain ours. They are the price for our existence, as we have been on this world for so long now, we earned our right to exist in it. What is left of the world will be spared, but our continuing existence shall stand as an eternal reminder to the light as well as all lesser creatures that the line darkness has fought for is never to be crossed again. This is the end of everything, little ponies. Of everything… this war stood for. With the rise of the sun, Maledictum Insania and all of my other curses will be lifted. Now, you must leave. The gates of Tartarus will close,” the demon queen announced calmly.

The ponies had nothing to say to this at the moment. It hadn’t really clicked to them yet as they were just too exhausted, traumatized and focused on Luna at the moment. They simply got up and turned around, slowly leaving Tartarus the same way they came. No noise could be heard other than Luna’s quiet, grief-filled crying. As they walked, the group was met with absolutely no resistance again. In fact, the demons seemed very slow and exhausted now, barely able to keep their eyes open. Next to none of these dark beings even looked at the group anymore. Before long, they were reaching the gates again.

---

Eyes on the horizon, they stand there now. All over, they see how demons slowly walk back to their strongholds and disappear underground. Within just a few short minutes, all demons vanish from the surface of Equestria, even though they are in no rush. Surprisingly, Sombra is among them, walking just past them and throwing a displeased glance at Twilight and her friends before he enters the depths of Tartarus. He, too, is a demon now after all and has to obey Nightmare Moon. She did keep her part of their original bargain of him being freed and regaining his kingdom. With the world coming to an end and actively participating in this happening, he surely didn’t seem to mind the destruction of the Crystal Empire either. Still, he seems to be unsatisfied with this outcome. But it didn’t matter anymore. He has to return to his kind, if he wants to or not.

“Twilight…” an all too familiar mixed voice speaks from behind.

The purple mare turns back around to see Despair and the rest of the Underworld League behind them. They all look incredibly tired. It even is very apparent on Slendermane, as he has his head lowered. Malice is the first to sit down just inside of Tartarus. Crossing his legs and assuming a pose very similar to that of a meditating reaper, he leans against a wall and his empty eye sockets stop glowing. His movements stop entirely, giving the impression as if he is only a large black skeleton in a ragged black cloak now.

“A deal is a deal… Our queen approved of this, as the bargain was struck before Celestia died…” the Guillotine of Hope states.

With an expression as if regretting she has to do this, Despair reaches into the hole in her chest with her right front leg. It takes a moment, but it returns with two souls in its grasp. One green, the other red. No doubt, those are Spike and Moondancer. Despair is visibly struggling for a moment but eventually forces herself to let go and allow these two little orbs to lift into the air and disappear. Immediately, Twilight starts crying again, but maintains a smile on her face. This sight finally causes her to understand and mentally catch up with anything that happened. It is a relief like no other to her to see these two souls free and flying away. She watches for as long as she could before they disappear from her sight. Twilight snuffles for a moment and wipes the tears out of her eyes before refocusing Despair.

“Thank you… You can probably imagine how much this means to me,” she states.

“I can…” the demoness replies briefly.

Another moment of silence. By now, even Slendermane has laid down on the ground and curled up as if trying to sleep. Toxica as well is barely capable of staying on her tiny legs, wobbling around and struggling to maintain her balance.

“What are you going to do now?” Twilight asks Despair again.

“We will sleep. One thousand years of burning hate takes a toll on you, even as a demon. We will probably sleep for the next few thousand years. But even when we wake up again, we will probably never leave the strongholds ever again. There just isn’t anything of interest left out there, at least to us,” the Guillotine of Hope answers.

Twilight nods in understanding. At last, Toxica couldn’t keep her balance anymore. She just flops over and instantly falls deep asleep. It is kind of funny, Twilight thinks to herself. Like this, the Cloud of Disaster looks like an actual filly, fast asleep after a long day of playing.

“I know we have no bargains left to make, but I have some final words for you, Twilight. Words of advice,” Despair starts again while using her red magic to levitate Toxica back into Tartarus and gently laying her back down on the ground. “Never, ever, ever return. Make sure these gates stay sealed forever. No matter how many millenia may pass from here on out, you need to make absolutely sure Tartarus is never opened again.”

“Don’t worry about that. I was planning on doing exactly this anyway,” Twilight responds briefly.

This seems to satisfy her arch nemesis. A short nod is all Despair gives before walking back inside, her head hanging low in exhaustion. Slowly, the gates of Tartarus close behind her and two massive metal hooks interlock to tightly seal the stronghold like a vault.

Twilight turns back around to her friends. They all gathered at a cliff, staring into the distance as their minds are slowly clearing. Of course, Luna is still very sad with her ears hanging and a frown on her face. But it seems like she, too, is slowly coming to terms. Twilight simply sits down with Applejack hugging Caramel to her left and Rarity to her right. Shining Armor and Cadence are just staring into the distance, clearly having many questions on their minds right now. At last, Twilight breaks out in tears of relief, crying happily like she did never before.

“It is over… I can’t believe it is over…” she comments, almost speechless.

“What is going to become of the sun and moon now?” Shining Armor asks right away.

“Well, Nightmare Moon made it pretty clear that she will be responsible for this sun rise. But after that… Hmmm…” Cadence starts, looking into the air while collecting her thoughts. “According to ancient pony history, unicorns had always been raising both sun and moon for eons before Celestia and Luna arrived. It would only make sense if that responsibility returns to them now.”

“What about Equestria and the Crystal Empire?” Fluttershy wonders.

“Assuming the Empire still exists, it will desperately be in need of help. Sombra left, so there is no reason why Cadence and Shining Armor couldn’t return there and help rebuild. As for Equestria… I suppose it is up to Luna now,” Twilight analyzes, still sniffling and rubbing her eyes from time to time.

“I… I don’t think I can… After all this, I really don’t think I can rule Equestria anymore. It all just seems wrong now...” Luna starts, shaking her head as she speaks before fully focusing the purple mare. “Do you still feel like you can keep leading? You have been doing an exceptional job. No matter how bad things got, you pushed us through everything.”

“I don’t know… I guess if you really want me to, I can at least temporarily take over rulership over Equestria. But looking back, I don’t think the system of our society was all that great. Everything rested solely on you two. We should get more ponies involved. Maybe I will try to contact the Mule Republic and study this democracy they are using. Who knows, it might work for Equestria. I really dont have the mind for this right now,” Twilight states.

“The demon war is over, Twilight. It is time to look for the future now,” Rarity comments.

“But… what about your future, Rarity? You heard Nightmare Moon. As soon as the sun comes up…” the purple mare wonders in worry.

“Shhh, darling. It is fine. I am dead already, remember? This only means that I did everything right and I can finally rest. Don’t cry over me. We already said our goodbyes back then,” the undead mare explains calmly with a gentle smile on her face.

Silence returns. Equestria has changed heavily in appearance. Mountains vanished, canyons opened, valleys came into existence. But still, there are animals slowly coming out of their hiding. Far in the distance, a small group of ponies wanders around, seemingly exploring this new face of Equestria. Scarred, hurt, but alive.

“Guess we’re movin’ back to Equestria now,” Applejack comments.

“Yeah, I guess so. My gosh I can’t believe we survived all of this. Suppose I’m not as unlucky as I always thought. I made it through the end of the world, all the demons are gone now, the curses are about to be lifted and I got the mare of my life by my side with my child safe in her belly. Honestly… despite everything, I couldn’t be happier right now. I’m really looking forward to what the future has to hold,” Caramel adds, gaining an approving smile from his mare.

“Totally! Oh boy, I’m actually really excited to help Equestria back on its hooves! What will you do, Luna?” Derpy wonders.

“I… I think I will focus on preserving this chapter in history. I will make sure everypony remembers my sister and what she had to do in order to save everyone. It’s the least I can do to honor her… Oh, sister…” Luna replies, immediately starting to cry again.

All of her friends cluster around the dark fallen alicorn, giving her more comfort. It is obvious that this will take a very long time to heal. But already, Luna is having very constructive intentions to handle her grief. There is no doubt she will eventually recover, even if losing Celestia will forever leave a void in her heart. Yes, the future looks bright now for all of them.

At last, the dark sky begins to brighten. Streaks of orange spread across the horizon as all of Equestria slowly begins to light up. The dark shadow of horror covering the land is forced away to make space for the first rays of sun. At last, the great symbol of light shines onto the little group of friends, an incredible sensation of freedom filling them. They can just feel how Maledictum Insania is washed out of their souls and, for the first time in their lives, it feels like they can truly breathe now. As if erased from their minds, all malevolent thoughts are gone in an instant and in their place a feeling of true innocence fills them. Heads turn to Fluttershy and Derpy, seeing as their cloaks simply dissolve into smoke and get washed away by the sunlight. Even the darkness in their eyes gets blown away, revealing their true colors again. Fluttershy immediately lets out a sigh of enormous relief. All of her friends can only imagine how much of a burden the now former reapers is being taken off their shoulders now.

Then, eyes move to the right. Rarity has already collapsed to the ground. The last thing she saw must have probably been the sunlight before her trapped soul instantly became freed of her rotting body, as she has a gentle, happy smile on her face. Even though she asked of her friends to not cry over her, they couldn’t help but have a few tears roll down their faces. But immediately, happy smiles return along with the tears, knowing that she is now finally free of this suffering.

The ponies sit together at the cliff, watching as the sun slowly rises over the world. Not too far away from them, they spot a familiar face. Maud Pie somehow managed to track the group and heard their words. Though she doesn’t seem much different from her usual behavior. She looks down on herself and places her left front hoof on her belly, holding it for a moment before looking back up to the group. She bows to them out of respect and to thank them. The Hunger she was suffering from seems to have vanished now, yet she is still as cold and controlled as she has been all this time. This truly seems to be her real personality. Without saying a word, she simply turns around and walks away, probably returning to her own group and telling them the news.

The sun rises over Equestria, once again bringing a new era. A lot of work is still ahead of them, but it is nothing they wouldn’t be able to manage. Despite all odds. Despite all obstacles and burdens. Despite how impossible it seemed and how much was lost along the way, hope prevails. Equestria is finally free of the curse of madness, the demon war and the bloodshed. The rebuilding of the world can now begin.

The End.