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.