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.