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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.