My Little Pony: The Seal of Death

by Azrael the alicorn

06: Plans

The Mane Six watched the edge of the ruins of the Royal Sister’s palace with grief in their hearts. All their friends, all their families, gone in a matter of few hours. And they couldn’t do anything to stop it. Azrael could feel all of their pain. In fact, he felt even worse, because he knew that this tragedy was his fault.

“I know that you have lost much, and wish to pay respect to your beloved ones, but we must move now if we want to be prepared” Azrael said.

“Prepared for what? To lose?” asked Rainbow Dash while trying to fight back tears.

“Why are you being so pessimistic, Dashie?” exclaimed Rarity, finding hard to believe that the most stubborn of the group was being so hopeless.

“She’s right to be so negative. You’ve seen how easily Sombra beat us. The elements of Harmony are worthless!” exclaimed Applejack, while she tried her best to not image the lifeless corpses of her family on the ground, and then added with bitterness “WE are worthless”.

Suddenly Twilight Sparkle stomped on the ground, “Don’t say such things! Sombra may be more powerful than the elements of Harmony but he can’t be invincible. I refuse to give him the pleasure see us squirm and allow him to do what he wants with this world. Not after what he’s taken from us!” shouted the purple alicorn. Her voice then became more calm and soft, “I know we have taken a beating, but we can’t give up. I know that if we stick together we will find a way to stop Sombra. Maybe we will not defeat him with a rainbow ray, but I’m sure that there is another way.”

Celestia felt so proud seeing how her protégé was so strong and brave, not allowing that sorrow and pain stop her from supporting her friends. Even Luna and Azrael were impressed by her strong will.

“You’re right, Twily. We … I should have known better than being a downer. I’m sorry,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Me too,” added Applejack, wiping off her tears.

“You don’t have to apologize, girls. It’s alright being broken after what we’ve been through,” assured Twilight with a comforting smile.

“But the question remains: how are we going to stop Sombra?” asked Rarity.

“I have a plan,” said Azrael, making everyone heads turning to watch him.

“Didn’t you said that you didn’t some minutes ago?” asked Pinkie Pie, a little confused.

“I preferred to keep it a secret. If Sombra would have heard of it I’m sure he wouldn’t have given us this second chance,” explained the angel of death.

“Alright then, what’s the plan?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“We must break the seal.”

“How can we destroy it if not even Discord could?” asked Princess Luna.

“I can destroy it. But I’m going to need your help to do so” explained Azrael.

“That sound like a plan, but there is something that bothers me” said Twilight Sparkle.

“What is it?”

“If the Seal is broken then it would free Death… right?”

Azrael remained quiet, but his expression was clearer than any words, for much of the displeasure of everyone.

“We can’t do that! If Death is freed then what he will do to us!?” cried out Rainbow Dash.

“There is no other way,” Azrael told them with a resigned calm.

“Yes there is, we could try to remove the Seal. Steal it,” proposed Twilight Sparkle.

“A good plan, but sadly the Seal works like the Alicorn Amulet. Only the one who’s wearing it can take it off,” he said, then added, “There is nothing else we can do, except surrender to Sombra—or be killed”.

The Mane Six and the princesses knew that Azrael was right, but they couldn’t help but fear what would happen if Death itself was freed. Azrael knew that, so he tried to calm their fear.

“We can’t be sure of how Death will react once freed. But he may be pleased... and he could even fix the whole mess that Sombra did, bringing back everyone he killed,” Azrael suggested, trying to sound convincing enough.

Applejack wasn’t the only one who looked unimpressed. “You know how stretched that sounds?” asked the multi-colored pegasus.

“It’s stretched, but it’s our only hope,” said Princess Luna, backing up Azrael. The rest of the group sighed in defeat.

“Fine. I guess it’s better than leaving that jerk of Sombra have the last word,” admitted Rainbow Dash.

“Then it’s settled. We must move to the Crystal Empire, warn Cadence of the incoming war and prepare an army to fight Sombra,” summed up Princess Celestia.

“I’m afraid that we’re going to need a bigger army than the one we will find here” said Azrael.

“What do you mean? And why I have the feeling that we are not going to like it what you mean?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“I’ve used some of my powers over the souls to see what Sombra was thinking and, even though I couldn’t see much, I know what kind of army will unleash. It’s not an army of Changelings but an army of alicorns. All those who died during the past wars,” explained Azrael with grave voice, causing everyone else to gasp in horror.

“By all the constellations!” muttered Celestia, feeling almost dirty thinking of how Sombra wanted to use her ancestors against them.

“But because of what they suffered in life and then in their demise, I highly doubt that they will be that powerful, even if their sheer strength and number is going to be huge,” added the angel of Death.

“Then we shall look for allies everywhere we can. Everypony who can fight should join us,” said Rainbow Dash.

“And not just ponies. We could ask for the help of Chief Thunderhooves and his tribe,” proposed Applejack.

“Great idea! And what about the griffins? They could help us too!” added Pinkie Pie.

At that Rainbow Dash frowned, remembering what happened last time she meet up with Gilda and of how their friendship was harshly shattered by the arrogant behavior of the female griffin. She sure wasn’t looking for a reunion. Even Princess Luna didn’t look that convinced, but for more deep reasons.

“We can’t be sure of griffin’s help in this war,” she objected.

“I know that our nations had a troubled past, but now we live in peace and harmony,” stated Celestia, not sharing her sisters doubts.

“Making them participate to the Equestria Games or to some culinary contest is not the same thing as asking them to aid us in fighting a being powerful as Sombra,” replied Luna. “And what if there is still some griffons who hold grudges towards ponies? They could think that it’s better leaving us alone.”

“We must hope that they will not let their emotions get the better of their logic. We have to try. But now, enough talk; we have a long journey on the way … and the clock is ticking.”

Author's Note:

As I promised here's the new chapter and thanks to Jarvy Jared and Arctofire for adjusting this chapter! I will try to post one chapter for week and I hope to not let you wait to much in case of delays.
That said Im pretty sure that you are now curious to know how the Griffins kingdom is gonna look like I can promise you that is not gonna look like what we've seen in the episode of Season 5.