Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MyQWrLK3BuETkbJqWeiqgLlI6WAPU5QFFnCCBoPy98c/edit?usp=sharing

Just a few minutes later, Twilight ran out of the Ponyville hospital, closely followed by Crystal Blossom and Fluttershy. On the outside, she only showed determination and indeed, she was in a killing mode. But on the inside, she was still struggling. After all, Twilight was not a reaper. She was not cold hearted and emotionless. She knew what she had just done was against pony nature and she had just put herself on the same level as the cultists. The only difference now was her motivation.

Still, there was no way to undo this anymore. She had killed a pony and had to live with that knowledge. All she could do now was to repress her self-hate for stepping down to the cultists’ methods and focus on the emotions that fuelled her: Anger, sadness, protective instincts for her friends and a sense of justice. Even though she still didn’t want to kill, she knew she would have to do it more than once again. This was just what a civil war was like.

“So where are we heading, Twilight?” Crystal wondered.

“I have a pretty good idea where the BloodClaw church might be at. Let’s go back to Ponyville first,” the purple mare responded and ran ahead.

---

A few years ago, Sugarcube Corner had been closed down due to a horrible crime. Although the public never learned the truth, the sweets shop remained closed for a long time. But just one and a half years ago, two couples found themselves fascinated by the design of the building and could not resist the urge to reopen it, even going so far as to make a compromise and share it. Although the new owners never were as successful as the Cakes had been, the ponies of Ponyville finally had their favorite bakery and meeting point back.

That day again, things seemed to be going the usual way. The four ponies were going through their daily routine of checking ingredient stocks, sales and recipes. They were already cleaning up and about to close when a purple mare came walking through the front door, followed by two reapers. Her expression was so serious and her eyes burning so much, it bordered on being scary.

“Good afternoon! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I-” the mare behind the counter started.

“Royal investigation. We need to examine your kitchen,” the purple mare spoke.

Without waiting for a response, she stepped behind the counter and aimed for the kitchen, directly followed by the the two reapers. Instantly, all four owners rushed over to stop them.

“W-wait a minute! You can’t just walk in here like that! This is staff only area!” one of the stallions protested.

“Maledictum Insania,” the purple mare suddenly spoke, completely out of context. “Just as I thought.”

While the serious expression on her face remained, the four owners were completely baffled. Just now, they realized whom they were dealing with. All of them tried to turn around and grab some sort of weapon, but were pushed to the ground hard by a powerful gravity spell. Unable to move, they felt how a front hoof moved the fur behind their ears.

“They are all cultists,” the light blue reaper mare stated.

“Let’s get rid of these monsters,” the purple mare ordered coldly.

After that, all the four ponies could feel was a short sharp pain in their backs. But seconds later, everything turned black for them and their souls left their bodies.

“I wonder if they already were cultists when they purchased Sugarcube Corner,” Fluttershy spoke.

“Let’s find out. If I remember correctly, the door should be about… here,” Twilight responded, eyeing up a wall next to the fridge.

Since the door was hidden behind panels which could only be removed if exactly known how to, Twilight decided to go for the blunt way. Using an arcane bolt, she blasted off the panels, revealing a metal door. She tried to open it, but had to realize that it was locked. It seemed like the new owners had known about this secret, since they had repaired the lock. So, the purple mare used another powerful arcane bolt to destroy the door.

After a short walk downstairs into the dark, Twilight faced the second metal door. This one, too, had been repaired and needed a powerful spell to be broken open. After Twilight finished her work and opened it, she instantly had to cover her nose.

“Ugh… Smells just as bad as the first time I was here,” she commented.

The group entered and looked around. Several things had changed to how Twilight remembered this torture chamber. The skulls on the walls were gone. Prayers and poems about Nightmare Moon and the demons were smeared on the walls with blood instead. The macabre party decor had been removed as well and replaced with hoof-drawn pictures of demons, depicted in a sacred manner. Even the torture rack was moved to the side to make space for a small altar. But despite all these changes, it was not enough to satisfy.

“They clearly used this room in its intended way and to worship demons, but this is far too small to be used as a church,” Crystal commented.

“Yes. You are right. Shoot. I was so sure this would be it. But now that I think about it… Even though this place is not known to the public, the authorities knew of its existence. It may be hidden very well, but it still is too obvious for the cult’s standard,” Twilight replied in mild frustration.

“So this is where it happened… This is where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie died…” Fluttershy spoke.

“This place holds more bad memories than necessary. Well, we busted a cultist hideout, but this won’t be enough. Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to stay around for any longer than really needed,” Twilight replied.

On their way back up, Twilight sealed the metal doors by magic. This was anticlimactic. She really was sure the cult would be hiding where nopony would expect it. But perhaps if she could figure that out, it was not unexpected enough. Where else could they be meeting up? The purple mare had been living in Ponyville for years and knew pretty much every place inside out. What could be even more hidden than this torture room? Would they have their church in Everfree Forest? No, that would be too dangerous to reach and too far away. Which place was even less known than Pinkamena’s playroom?

Suddenly, an idea shot through Twilight’s head and she picked up pace again. After just a few seconds, it became clear where they were heading to.

“Sweet Apple Acres? Why do you think the church is there?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Remember when we found out Applebloom turned into Pinkamena’s trainee? She had her own torture room and it was so well hidden, only the fewest knew about it. Not even the authorities ever found it. I mean, if anypony knew Big Macintosh had died, it would have been reported and his body would have been carried away. Yet, the orchard was entirely deserted when we came there, as if all the workers had suddenly left. Now that I put everything together, I think the cultists originally immigrated to Ponyville as workers for the apple orchard. They must have been waiting for just the right situation to take over Ponyville and as the first cultist failed on her attempt to assassinate me, causing us to leave Ponyville, they got exactly that,” the purple mare explained.

“Very well analyzed, Twilight,” Crystal commented. “Let us just hope this assumption turns out to be correct. If we do not find this church soon, it will move away.”

This caused Twilight to run even faster. To save as much time as possible, she even teleported her friends and herself several times. Finally, they landed right in front of the former Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse. Just moments after they landed, the group saw two stallions coming out of the hidden basement, carrying a blood stained altar. It seemed like they already were about to start moving the church. The second they needed to realize what was going on was already too much hesitation. Twilight used another gravity spell to pin them to the ground.

“Heretics! They are here!” one of the stallions shouted.

Instantly, ten ponies wearing the robes of the BloodClaw Cult came rushing from a door beneath the tree, drawing their daggers. While Crystal and Fluttershy took care of those, Twilight towered over the two cultists she had immobilized. Their faces were filled with expressions of fury because she dared to attack their holy grounds. But Twilight had just the same expression on her face. She once again used her magic to form a magical sword and let it hover over the first cultist.

Twilight hesitated for a moment. She knew she had to do this, but for a pony trying to be a pacifist, it just wasn’t easy to take a life. Ultimately, she pressed her eyes shut and rammed the blade through the cultist’s chest, withdrawing it moments later.

By the time she found herself ready to kill the other one, she felt the flow of magic change nearby. A unicorn behind her was casting a fire spell and aiming it at her. Twilight quickly turned around, caught the fireball in flight and changed it into a sharp dart made of lava. Then, she launched the spell back at the aggressor with such speed, it flew right through the cultist and even killed the one behind her.

Being distracted for just a moment was enough for the cultist to escape Twilight’s gravity spell and jumped in the air with the dagger in his mouth, trying to pounce the purple mare. But, again, Twilight was faster and smarter. She still had the magical blade flying next to her, so she just quickly turned over again and swung the sword, decapitating the cultist.

As an act of self-defence, it was easier for Twilight to kill. It just felt more justified, more righteous than murdering an immobile and defenceless pony. Her focus turned back towards her two friends and she realized that she really was a lot slower than them. In the time she needed to kill four cultists, Fluttershy and Crystal had killed twenty. At least, this sight confirmed that Twilight was right. This truly was the church.

The purple mare just didn’t know what to feel anymore. She was just so torn between her emotions, the knowledge what the cult had done to her friends and the heat of the battle that she went into frenzy. Twilight built up an arcane shield around her and charged right through the door down into the hidden basement.

Applebloom’s playroom had been heavily redesigned. The cultists had expanded it a lot and had replaced the wooden floor and walls with cobblestone. There even was a separate room, which seemed to be the sanctuary, as demons were coming out of it. Macabre decor and demonic symbols were filling the hall. There were more cultists around here than she could count in the swift moment she had to analyze. But to her huge disappointment and shock, some of the faces she saw were familiar to her. Several of the present cultists were villagers she knew personally.

Twilight stopped in the middle of the hall, getting surrounded by cultists. Time seemed to flow in slow motion again. As she briefly looked around, she spotted a cultist running over to her, wielding a reaper scythe. This thing might actually be able to break through her shield. She would need to act soon.

While her eyes rapidly wandered around, spotting one familiar pony after the other, her fury intensified enormously. Just how could they dare to do all this? First, they set up their church right at Sweet Apple Acres. Then, they eliminated Applejack’s family members one by one, just to make her suffer. Finally, they waited to kill her brother until just the right moment so Applejack would stumble across his dead body to make her break down entirely. All this was done by them with zero feeling of guilt or regret.

Tears of rage filled Twilight’s white eyes. She had had enough. ‘Forget about if this is wrong or not,’ she thought by herself. ‘They just need to pay. They have to pay the price for the sick things they did. It doesn’t matter how you will feel afterwards. Just do it!’

“For the Apple family!” Twilight shouted with all her strength.

Along with her rage, she unleashed an immense arcane explosion, nearly causing the whole church to collapse. After that, it suddenly became silent around her.

Twilight felt dizzy. She just used up most of her strength without even exactly knowing what she did. Several seconds passed while the purple mare tried to come back to her senses. The first thing she realized was that a demon was charging over to her.

The purple mare took a leap to the side to dodge the attack, but ended up stepping on something slippery and fell. She quickly looked up again, getting ready to defend herself. But just as the demon was about to attack, it suddenly seemed to have stopped moving entirely, as if it had been solidified. Just a split second later, Fluttershy pounced the demon, dissolved into a black cloud and formed back together. She must have used the Stare to paralyze the demon.

“Are you okay, Twilight? That was a devastating explosion,” the yellow mare asked, helping her friend back on her legs.

Twilight nodded shortly and looked around. Her mouth slowly fell open and she went wide eyed as she realized what her rage had caused. The thing she had tripped on was a mushy piece of flesh. All the cultists were blown to pieces. She shredded them all to the point that it was hardly even possible to make out that they used to be ponies anymore.

The purple mare sat on the floor for a moment, just staring around absent-mindedly. While Fluttershy guarded her, Crystal took care of the remaining demons with a skillful combination of ice spells, dark magic and disabling moves. Then, it was finally over. The last cultist got reaped. The BloodClaw church in Ponyville had been eliminated.

“Apprentice. Take care of Twilight. I will scan the sanctuary for skin-walkers,” the elder reaper mare ordered.

Fluttershy nodded shortly. Then, Crystal opened the door and disappeared behind it.

Twilight still just sat there, her mind blown because of her own brutality. She knew she was capable of a lot, but she would have never figured to be able to do something like that. Her mind jumped back to Obsidian’s last day. If only she would have fulfilled his request back then. If only she would have been able to kill him. All the suffering of her friends could have been avoided. Now that Twilight saw that she indeed was very much capable of killing, she felt like a hypocrite.

“Um. Twilight. You are bleeding,” Fluttershy stated.

Now that she mentioned it, the purple mare realized a warm sensation running down on her face. After touching her nose and eyeing up her front hoof, she came to understand that she had just come very close to her limits. Using so much arcane energy at once caused her some small internal bleeding. She would need to take her medication very soon, or it would get worse very quickly.

“Stupid organ damage…” she commented. “Can you help me out a bit, Fluttershy?”

“Of course,” the yellow mare responded, stepping next to Twilight, helping her get back on her legs and supported her while walking.

“I… I really overdid it here, didn’t I?” the purple mare wanted to know.

“Well, you killed almost every cultist inside with one single attack. While this was pretty efficient, you clearly exhausted yourself too much,” Fluttershy responded.

“I don’t mean that… I let my emotions get the better of me. I was just… so angry... I lost control,” Twilight corrected.

“You are not a reaper, Twilight. I can’t judge you like one of us and I really don’t want to. We planned to kill them all anyway, so that’s that. But if you are worried you might lose yourself in your emotions, perhaps you should try meditating as well. It helped me out a lot, as you remember,” Fluttershy suggested.

“I’ll definitely try to find a way to balance myself better. Now that I went this far, I suppose I’m getting closer to Maledictum Insania again, so I should be careful. Anyway, I saw a cultist using a reaper scythe. Perhaps Derpy is still here. Let’s go find her,” the purple mare spoke.

With a nod, Fluttershy adjusted her grip on Twilight and helped her walk around slowly. Although the room was a lot bigger now, it still did not take long to get to the other side. They both soon spotted a large curtain in a corner. Several now broken floodlights were aimed at it, as if it was a small stage. After Twilight moved the curtain by magic, she revealed Applebloom’s torture rack. Derpy was still tied on it with a ball gag in her mouth, several bad cuts and heavily bloodstained. Her glass eye was missing as well.

After the curtain moved, Derpy twitched a bit, expecting to see a cultist about to torture her some more. But she quickly seemed relieved after she realized Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle were in front of her. Mumbling with the gag in her mouth, she shifted around on the rack, seemingly asking to be freed. Twilight quickly opened the shackles by magic, letting Derpy drop to the floor and remove the strap around her head.

“Gosh. Finally I can move and speak again. That was almost more annoying than being cut open every few hours. Now, where did they put my glass eye?” Derpy spoke, looking around in search.

“Are you okay? You are still bleeding,” Twilight wondered.

“Well, I haven’t been able to eat for weeks and then these cultists got me. But I’ll be able to fix that right away as it looks like. Good job on the cultists! They are all conveniently reduced to bite-size pieces!” the gray mare replied, then picked up a piece of flesh and tossed it in her mouth.

“Yeah… I’m not exactly proud of this,” Twilight commented.

“Oh well,” Derpy mumbled with a full mouth, then swallowed and glanced over to Fluttershy. “Gosh, I just need to look at you and can already tell that you haven’t been eating anything for quite a while. You should watch your physical condition more closely. Come on! Join in on the free feast! We don’t get such an opportunity every day!”

After a short hesitation, Fluttershy as well lifted up a piece of flesh, put it in her mouth and started chewing. At times like these, Twilight felt a bit inconvenient knowing that some of her close friends are actually meat-eaters. But after all she had witnessed and done herself, she slowly started getting used to these things.

“So, Twilight. What caused you to go home and save my sorry rump?” Derpy asked casually, picking up another piece of meat and eating it.

“That’s a bit of a longer story to explain. I’ll tell you all about it when we got more-” the purple mare started.

Suddenly, Crystal Blossom was launched out of the sanctuary and hit a wall hard. The group instantly turned around, getting ready to fight. Derpy even resummoned her scythe and jumped next to Fluttershy, who had hers ready as well.

Despair came jumping out of the sanctuary, turned her mane and tail into razor-sharp saws and sliced right past their defences. She grabbed both reapers with the large mouths in her front legs and crushed them to the ground.

Twilight had disbelief written on her face. Why was she here?! Just as she thought that, the demoness looked over to her and gave Twilight a vicious grin. This already caused the purple mare to try and regain her arcane aura. But the demoness just continued running out of the church. By now, Crystal got back on her legs and started chasing after her.

“I will do whatever I can to stop or slow her! You have to get to Canterlot before she does!” the elder reaper mare shouted as she ran past Twilight.

Why Despair was here of all places when she had the leader of the BloodClaw Cult to protect was a complete mystery. But Crystal Blossom was right. If the Guillotine of Hope was here, it meant that Black Widow was unguarded right now. If they were fast enough, they would be able to catch the BloodClaw Cult vulnerable.

Twilight turned around and ran outside, soon followed by the other two reapers. They had to get back to Rarity as quickly as possible.