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“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.