Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18TPWR-cyUdL3WAmu61g6iB9mvXzRqnBwKgZzlx6BWtA/edit

Honeydew was immediately brought to a seclusive section of Castle Everfree. At first, Celestia tried to help the undead pony by casting healing spells on her. But they had no effect, since she was already dead.

As the morning came, the bright demi-goddess ordered a doctor to the castle and made him swear to keep silent of what he was going to see. Celestia may know a lot, but she had to face that her medical knowledge was not enough to really do anything to ease the pain of this tragic creature.

The doctor was given all medical resources available in the castle in hope he could do something to rescue Honeydew. Yet, Celestia could not just stand by and watch. She had to remain focused. There was so much to do.

Hours passed, which she used to further investigate curse magic. Finally, she had a breakthrough. After long, precise and painstaking research, she ultimately understood how the reaper curse worked. At least she was capable of lifting this one now and noted down the formula on a scroll, hiding it away immediately after she finished writing.

Maledictum Insania, though, remained a big problem. Understanding the reaper curse alone was very difficult, but the curse of madness was a whole lot more complex. The biggest issue was that Celestia barely understood what it did. All she knew so far was that it was a direct bond between Nightmare Moon and the ponies of Equestria, causing them to become insane due to the evil queen’s cruelty and madness.

But Celestia also had to think of the most recent events. Walking, undead ponies? Such a thing never happened ever before and the fact that this undead was the victim of Watermelons made it all the more suspicious. The chances were high that this, too, was a possible effect of Maledictum Insania. The only way to make sure of this would be by studying her more.

The princess of the sun left the castle archives and started walking back to the room where Honeydew was hidden.

---

In the meantime, Lindy Pie was sitting in her guest room on the other side of Castle Everfree. Her condition slowly grew worse. She just couldn’t stop thinking about the things she had seen. She knew the Melon sisters were fighting a lot... but... this. Oh no. She never would have imagined that this would ever happen.

Lindy was smart enough to not leave Everfree City during the entire era of Nightmare Moon. She heard all the terrible stories of ponies getting gutted and eaten alive, cities burning to ashes and much, much worse. But she hadn’t seen any of this herself. So, of course, it caught her completely off guard to see a murder happen right in front of her very eyes just days after the worst was over.

But what confused her the most was how she took those events. At first, she was just shocked. Then, she was deeply mournful over Honeydew’s death. But now, the more the scene repeated itself in her head, the less it unsettled her.

Lindy even tried to precisely remember every detail of what had happened. She tried to memorize where every little drip of blood landed. She tried to focus on the expression Honeydew had while her sister stabbed her to death. She tried to remember the precise motion of the knife as it penetrated Honeydew’s chest over and over again. For some strange and macabre reason, she found these memories interesting.

Slowly, her trauma, shock and fear started slipping into something entirely different. Something she knew very well was extremely weird for her to feel: Curiosity.

While sitting in front of a mirror and looking at herself, she tried to imagine her own face as that of Watermelons while she murdered her sister. This expression she had... those creepy eyes. That creepy grin. Watermelons seemed so... happy.

The more Lindy tried to resume her face, the more her mind focused on the blood she was covered in. It was even more fascinating than the purple mare’s expression. Lindy didn’t get it. Why? Why was this so fascinating?

Blood. A strange liquid. It had such a strong color. Such an intense red. It was actually quite... pretty.

Suddenly, Lindy Pie’s focus came back to the present. While still staring at her own reflection, she realized that she was smiling at the thought of blood. The teenage filly became creeped out by herself and shook her head wildly. She knew she really shouldn’t think this way. It was just wrong. So, she figured that she should distract herself and started walking through the castle, looking for the kitchen.

---

The door opened by magic and Celestia entered. Honeydew was still in horrible condition and shaking all over while lying on the bed. The doctor sat right next to her, rubbing his chin while studying the undead mare.

“Well? Any progress?” Celestia asked while approaching.

The doctor closed his eyes and shook his head in frustration.

“I have no idea what you expect of me, your highness. I can’t perform miracles. I know she is still moving, but seriously, she should be dead by now. She has no pulse, lethal injuries and next to no blood in her veins. I tried everything I could think of. I stitched the cuts, gave her blood packs and medication... How she is still with us is beyond me,” he replied.

The bright demi-goddess’ expression turned into a sad one and she let out a small sigh. Honeydew was looking at her with tear trails and an expression of unimaginable sorrow and agony.

“Help... me...” she begged with a voice so weak, it was barely anything more than a whisper.

“I will do whatever I can to put you out of this situation, my dear subject. Just seeing you like this makes me suffer as well... Doctor. Thank you for your time. If there is nothing else you can do for her, then you are free to leave now. I will take care of this myself,” Celestia spoke.

“As you wish, your highness. And don’t worry. My lips are sealed,” the doctor ensured before packing his medical instruments and leaving.

On his way out of the castle, the doctor was deeply sunken in thoughts. This was something he had never seen before and the fact that Princess Celestia herself asked him for assistance meant that he had just been part in something bigger. This occupied him so much that he didn’t realize how sloppily he had packed his medial tools.

One of his scalpels was loosely hanging out of the doctor’s case. As he went down the main corridor of the castle, it finally fell out. The scalpel landed on the carpet, preventing it from making any noise the doctor might have heard.

---

“You want to what now?” one of the cooks of the castle asked with a unbelieving expression.

“B-bake... if that is okay with you. It’s my special talent and it... well... relaxes me...” Lindy explained.

“And what were you planning to waste castle resources on?” the cook wondered, mild anger in her voice.

“J-just a small p-pie... Nothing big just... anything to distract me,” Lindy spoke lowly.

“Come on now, Blueberry,” another cook started. “She is Princess Celestia’s special guest and we have plenty of ingredients. I am sure we can spare some, don’t you think so, too?”

The first cook let out a small sigh.

“You are right. Sorry there. We are all a bit under tension still. The last weeks had been really hard. You can bake whatever you want,” she spoke.

“Thanks...” Lindy spoke.

It took her awhile to find the ingredients she needed. The castle kitchen was huge and had an even much bigger storage room. They had ingredients she could only have dreamed of during the time of Nightmare Moon.

Finally, Lindy Pie decided to make a strawberry tart. She always liked strawberries the most and it had been quite a while since she was last able to work with them. But this time, she picked them out of another reason as well. She realized this while she started cutting the fruits. Seeing the red juice covering the knife and slowly staining the cutting board was oddly appealing to her. She also enjoyed to watch the blade slide through the fruit and observed closely, making each cut very slow on purpose.

After she finished the last fruit, she kept on staring at the knife for a short while. She watched the strawberry juice run along the blade to the sharp tip, forming a drip which then fell down on the cutting board. Then she watched the reflection in the knife. She could see several cook ponies behind her, all of them preparing their own dishes. Somehow, she liked the idea to bring them in reference to the red stained blade in her front hooves.

Just as she realized what she was thinking, Lindy placed the knife aside and started working on the dough. She knew something was seriously wrong with her to even think something like that. But no matter what she tried, the curiosity soon resurfaced.

As she finished the tart, the teenage filly started cleaning up. It somehow disappointed her to watch the strawberry juice wash off the cutting board and knife. For a moment, she toyed with the idea to take the knife with her. But then she thought it would be very ungrateful to steal from the princess after she had been so kind as to let her temporarily move into the castle. That, and the fact that just too many ponies were watching.

Lindy wasn’t even interested in tasting the tart. She just gifted it to the cooks and went back to her guest room.

---

Celestia spent some time with Honeydew to calm her before she had to return to her duties. After she went down into the castle dungeon, she immediately began to observe Watermelons.

The insane mare was rolling around on the floor, humming some song the bright demi-goddess was not familiar with. Randomly, she either busted out in laughter or began to cry.

“She has been acting like this for a few hours now,” a voice from the prison cell next to her spoke.

Celestia’s focus wandered over to the reapers again. Once more, Silverstream stood in front of the cell door.

“What do you care, monster?” the princess of the sun wondered with an angry expression.

“I may be unable to feel regret, but I prefer doing anything over just waiting for my execution,” the reaper answered.

“You will not have to worry about that for much longer. I solved the secret around the reaper curse. You will all be executed as soon as I have dealt with the other ‘gifts’ your former mistress had left behind,” Celestia explained.

“Other gifts?” Silverstream wondered.

“None of your concern,” the bright demi-goddess replied sharply.

A moment of silence passed while Celestia returned her focus to the insane mare. Silverstream’s next comment was something the princess of the sun did not expect to hear.

“I suppose you mean Maledictum Insania? After what I have been observing so far on this insane mare, it very much does look like the work of our mistress,” he asked.

Celestia’s eyes went wide open and she refocused the reaper. The other reapers as well where looking at him, but none of them were acting. It seemed like they did not care about anything anymore.

“How do you know about that?” the bright demi-goddess wondered.

“Mistress Nightmare Moon was very open to us. We were her elite warriors, so she entrusted us most of her plans. It seems like she was very sure she would win and this knowledge would never end up in your hooves. Anyhow, she did have plans in case things would not develop to her preference,” Silverstream explained.

“Very well... Why are you telling me all this?” Celestia questioned.

“We may not be ponies anymore, but we used to be your subjects. Our mistress is gone, so we have no one to serve anymore. What does it matter now if I give you knowledge Nightmare Moon does not want you to know when we will soon be executed anyway? I simply wish to be of use for anything one last time before I face my punishment,” the reaper spoke.

Celestia became mute for a moment. This was something she did not consider. The knowledge of the reapers could actually be a huge help to her. But could she really take the risk to believe them? Or was this just a trick?

The demi-goddess of light was very powerful. She had already proven that she could take on a reaper and with her new knowledge, she now would be able to kill one in combat. Celestia decided to put the reapers to test.

“Guards! Bring me the reaper Silverstream!” she ordered.

Moments later, the prison cell door opened and four royal guards dragged the silvery gray stallion out and in front of her.

“You want to be of use? Then I will grant you a chance to be of use. Come with me. I want you to see something... Just so we are clear: If you just do one wrong step, I will instantly execute you,” Celestia commanded.

The reaper nodded and started walking back upstairs with the princess.

---

The bright demi-goddess guided Silverstream through rarely used parts of the castle to avoid spreading unneeded panic among the servants. Then, they arrived in the room of Honeydew. Even though she was a living corpse, she reacted heavily to the sight of the reaper, jumping out of the bed and cowering behind it.

“There is no need to be afraid, my dear subject. We are only here to help you,” Celestia assured.

Silverstream stepped to the foot of the bed and stared at the undead mare while she cowered on the ground, crying in fear and agony. Nearly a minute passed before the reaper turned around again.

“Yes. This is definitely Maledictum Insania that affects her. I can feel Mistress Nightmare Moon’s presence in her. She forces her soul to remain stuck in her dead body,” he explained.

“How can we save her?” Celestia asked.

“Not at all. She is already dead. We can not bring her back to life, but we can end her suffering,” the reaper replied.

This answer did not please the princess of the sun, but she had to admit she had the same thoughts before. She took herself a moment, watching the desperate expression of Honeydew, before she finally asked.

“Then how do you plan to free her? I do not want her to suffer any more than she already does,” Celestia wondered.

“If you allow me...” Silverstream stated, turning his head sideways.

A second later, his reaper scythe appeared in front of his face and he grabbed it with his mouth. Celestia instantly went into battle stance and readied a spell, though Silverstream did not go into battle stance himself.

“I do not aim to fight you, Princess,” he stated.

“Knowing you reapers, this is just a valid precaution. As I said, one bad movement and I will execute you. Anyway, what makes you believe this scythe will be able to do what other tools could not?” Celestia wondered.

“When it comes to curses, Mistress Nightmare Moon does not make mistakes. She made us as lethal as thinkably possible. This scythe is not just a weapon, but also a harvesting tool for souls. Since she created this weapon, using it against another of her curses would cause a conflict, giving us a chance to bypass the laws of Maledictum Insania,” Silverstream explained.

“That indeed does make sense,” the bright demi-goddess admitted.

Her focus returned to Honeydew. She heard all they were talking about and by now, she stopped shaking and slowly got up again.

“I am so very sorry, my dear subject. There is nothing I can do to save you. But at least, we might be capable of ending your suffering. Are you willing to accept this?” Celestia asked.

Very insecurely, Honeydew nodded. Anything was better than this agonizing existence, stuck inside a rotting shell. She just wanted it to end, no matter how.

Her breath quickened as the reaper came closer. When he stood just in front of her, she couldn’t take the tension anymore. The undead mare pressed her eyes shut, tensed every last muscle in her body and shook violently all over.

Fortunately, the reaper avoided to let her remain in this situation of extreme stress and fear for more than the fraction of a second. With just one quick swing, he sliced her head off, killing her instantly without any pain. As the body collapsed to the ground, a small orange sphere lifted out of it, rising to the ceiling and disappearing.

“It worked,” Silverstream commented while letting his scythe disappear again.

“Hm... very well... At least she does not have to suffer anymore. Poor thing...” Celestia commented.

The reaper kept on gazing at the corpse with no kind of expression. He had just killed this undead mare as if it was nothing. Even though Celestia had split feelings about this, seeing that he had none whatsoever only further confirmed her impression of those monstrous killers. But while they were at the topic, Celestia just had to keep asking.

“What do you know about Maledictum Insania?” she wondered.

“It is a curse of unimaginable complexity and cruelty. Mistress Nightmare Moon created it with the intention of being unliftable. It ensures her continuing existence, no matter what may happen to her. She mostly created it as a long-term plan to continue bringing punishment to Equestria in case she would fall. Since it ensures that she will continue to exist, it also protects the de manis from being destroyed due to her fall,” Silverstream explained.

“What are the effects?” Celestia kept asking.

“There are various ones. As you have seen yourself, it mostly causes ponies to become insane and violent. But also, from the moment it was spoken out, all ponies that die in this land now will come back as undead ponies. Mistress Nightmare Moon hinted that it has more effects relating to the de manis, but she did not share this knowledge with us,” the reaper answered.

“The de manis...” the princess of the sun mumbled to herself.

Her scouts had told her that the de manis had completely retreated. There was no sign of them anymore and they were clueless where these sinister beasts could have gone to. Now that Celestia heard that Maledictum Insania was in some way connected to them, she knew that their behaviour was planned. They were preparing for something.

The bright demi-goddess was about to ask another question when she noticed the reaper doing something very disturbing. While she was sunken in thoughts, he had started eating the dead body of Honeydew.

“What do you think you are doing?!” she asked in shock.

Silverstream wiped the blood off from his mouth and swallowed before he could speak.

“Feeding myself. Reapers are omnivores. We need to consume flesh. Pony flesh preferably,” he explained.

Celestia was scandalized. Using a teleportation spell, she made the corpse disappear and land back inside Honeydew’s grave outside of the city.

“I warned you, reaper. But before I execute you, I wish to know why you did this in front of my eyes,” the princess of the sun demanded.

“I did this on purpose. I simply aimed to give you more information about us. You said yourself we will all be executed very soon. It does not matter if I die now or later,” Silverstream answered.

This was surprisingly reasonable. Celestia had to admit that this reaper was a lot more cooperative than she imagined. While she would not have felt right about executing him now after he had been so helpful, she still would not allow something like this to happen. Especially here in the middle of Everfree City.

“Equestria is a land of herbivores. I will not tolerate the consumption of any type of meat. You are immortal anyway. You do not need to eat, so there is no excuse for this,” the bright demi-goddess declared.

“There actually is. The reason why we feed on meat and even prefer pony flesh is because we contain de manis inside us,” the reaper stated.

“De manis?! Inside you?!” Celestia spoke in disbelief.

“Yes. Mistress Nightmare Moon showed us how to consume de manis in order to gain strength. They even volunteered to be consumed by us. Each time we absorb one, we gain its strength and abilities, but in return also become more like de manis ourselves. As a result of that, we have to feed like them in order to maintain our strength,” Silverstream explained.

This knowledge changed the situation now. Reapers are not only capable of freeing undead ponies and help investigate Maledictum Insania, they are also effective against de manis!

Yet, having learned this made the bright demi-goddess furious. Her enemies had so many advantages over her. All alone, fighting against the curse of madness would be nearly impossible. But they would...

No. What was she thinking, Celestia wondered. Was she seriously considering to recruit the reapers? After all they had done? This would be highly immoral, no matter how you look at it.

The princess of the sun had enough for the moment. She needed to sort her thoughts again before she could make any decisions, so she brought the reaper back into the dungeon.

---

Fifteen minutes later, Celestia found herself walking up and down her throne room, throwing a look at the scroll she created every now and then.

The things she had just learned overthrew all she had planned. If she lifted the reaper curse now and executed those she held captive in her dungeon right now, she might lose her only chance to make some serious progress on Maledictum Insania and the de manis.

All on her own, Celestia would not be able to fight Nightmare Moon’s children. From the moment on she sealed the wicked mare of darkness and her sister into the moon, she became unable to use the elements of harmony anymore. Both Luna and she were their keepers. They both were required to be present in the same world in order to use them. Now, no creature in the world would ever be able to wield them again. The only weapon Celestia had against the de manis had become useless.

Again, the bright demi-goddess spent several seconds staring at the scroll. Just morally speaking, she had to execute the reapers. What kind ruler would she be if she let them get away with mass murder and betrayal?

But what would the consequences be? Only reaper scythes can free undead ponies from their torments. Only reapers are effective against de manis. Only reapers have the knowledge of Nightmare Moon’s plans. If she executed them, all this would be lost.

Celestia was forced to make a decision. She could either try to fight an already very difficult war against the curse of madness all on her own, or she had to create a horrible precedent.

The princess of the sun kept walking up and down her throne room, sunken in thoughts. Minutes passed by, half an hour, a full hour, until she finally made up her mind. No matter how she looked at it, she had no choice.

Celestia let the scroll levitate by magic and quickly went back to the castle archives, hiding it in a place she was sure of where only she would find it again. Then, she went to the dungeon. As soon as she entered, she gave out an order to her guards.

“Everypony, please give me the keys and leave,” she requested.

The royal guards were clearly confused, but still figured she had her reasons to demand this. As soon as the last of them left the dungeon, she opened the reapers’ prison cell.

“Reapers, step in front of me!” she commanded.

A bit unwillingly, the reapers came outside, maintaining their muteness.

“Silverstream. Step forth!” Celestia ordered again.

The silvery gray pegasus stallion took a few steps out of the crowd and in front of Celestia, focusing her with his dull black eyes and expressionless face. Already, she began to hate herself for what she was going to say.

“As I said before, you all deserve punishment for your actions. No matter what, there is no excuse for your crimes. You betrayed me and all of Equestria in the worst possible ways by following Nightmare Moon. But she is gone now. The situation has changed, and so has yours. To your great fortune, I have to admit that not only I, but the entire land is in need for you. Without a mistress, you have no purpose in your existence anymore. So here is the deal. I shall become your new mistress and give you a new destiny. In return, I demand your loyalty. What do you say, reapers? Are you willing to serve me?” Celestia asked.

Even though reapers have no emotions, she managed to get them wide-eyed with her extremely unexpected offer. It seemed to have caught them so unprepared that they even started looking among each other to see what they were thinking. Half a minute passed until Silverstream decided to break the silence and act in behalf of all of them. He suddenly kneeled down before the bright demi-goddess.

“Yes, my mistress,” he spoke.

Immediately, the other reapers followed his example and kneeled down as well. That sealed it. From now on, Celestia was not only the ruler of all of Equestria and the master of sun and moon, but also the mistress of the reapers.

---

When Lindy returned to her room, she was holding a scalpel in her mouth. She had found it laying on the carpet in the main corridor and just couldn’t help it but to pick it up.

There was something about it that fascinated her. So shiny. So sharp. It was a more than satisfying compensation for the missed opportunity to take a knife from the kitchen.

By now, it was getting late. No servants were walking around anymore, so she could just sit on the floor and inspect the scalpel in her front hooves. Lindy just didn’t understand what was happening to her. But the more time passed, the less she cared. The thoughts of sharp objects and red liquids became more and more pleasing to her.

After a while, Lindy wanted to know how sharp this scalpel truly was. But how could she test it? There was nothing nearby that would come even close to the material this instrument is intended to be used with.

Suddenly, she had an idea. She grabbed the handle of the scalpel with her mouth and carefully slid the blade across her left front leg. Although it hurt, it was not as bad as she imagined it to be. She only made a shallow cut, but it already caused her to bleed a little.

Lindy watched the red liquid spring out of her self-inflicted wound, clustering together to a single drop, which then slowly flowed down her front leg. She found herself deeply fascinated by her own blood.

Such a strange liquid. Such an intense color. The essence of life itself, yet feared by so many. But not by her. Oh no. Lindy wasn’t afraid to look. In fact, she wanted to see more.

Carefully, she deepened the cut a little, causing more blood to flow out. It had such a strange appeal. Lindy began to wonder... can you actually smell blood? She never tried.

After sniffing her wound a few times, she gained a disappointed expression. She could not smell anything. But as she approached to try again, a bit of blood touched her nose.

Lindy twitched lightly after she realized that. She wasn’t so sure what to do right now. Then, once again, curiosity took over. What does blood actually taste like?

Very hesitantly, she placed the scalpel back in her front legs and stuck out her tongue to lick up the drip on her nose. Her eyes immediately grew wide as the flavor struck her. This was so unlike anything she ever tasted! It was warm, metallic, a little bit salty. But most of all, it had an amazing sweetness to it.

Lindy wanted more. She lowered her head to the wound and began to lick it. As the red juice coated her tongue, she closed her eyes and savored the sensation. Each tiny swallow she made filled her with a satisfaction not even baking could bring her.

After a while, she lifted her head again. Slowly, she reopened her eyes, gazing across the room with bloodshot eyes and a dreamy expression. A strange, creepy grin grew on her face, letting small streams of blood flow out of the corners of her mouth.

She had just fallen in love. In love with blood. She needed it. She hungered for it and no matter what, she had to get more.