//------------------------------// // Falling and Rising pt2 // Story: Shin Megami Tensei: Equestria // by donceluzza //------------------------------// Twilight paced around the lobby of Ponyville hospital waiting for the go ahead to be able to visit Rarity. Nurse Redheart had come to get her personally to tell her that Rarity was waking up and that she should be able to have visitors soon. Twilight also feared what had become of Sweetie Bell and Spike, whom she had sent Scootaloo after, the two of them hadn’t been seen since they left the hospital with Sweetie’s demon in tow. “Isn’t it obvious, they went to kill the Sumner that you left alive.” Twilight mentally hushed her demon, ‘We don’t know that’ she tried to reason ‘they could have just needed some time alone to figure things out, both of them were… are really close to Rarity.’ “Miss Sparkle you may now see your friend” nurse Redheart ushered her to the back of the hospital where the more critical patients were kept. Twilight slowly entered Rarity’s room and let out a sigh of relief that her friend was still alive and kicking. “Twilight,” Rarity said almost in a whisper. “Yeah,” she could barely manage a few words, it was her fault. “But you are also the reason she still lives” Virtue was trying to make his master feel better but she didn’t listen, she had wandered in their without the Elements or a plan of any kind. “Did you beat Trixie?” Rarity asked, Twilight nodded in response. “Good,” Rarity slumped back a bit, “her demons cape was hideous.” Twilight laughed, it was good to see that she was still in good spirits despite what happened. Twilight wandered out to see that Big Mac was waiting for her. “What’s wrong Big Mac?” “Applebloom” he motioned for her to follow him so she did, all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres where Applebloom was nowhere to be found. “She left with Scootaloo,” he stated. “Where did she go?” Twilight realized that she should have seen this coming and that she should have gone after Sweetie Bell herself. “To find Sweetie Bell.” “What’s this about my sister?” the two turned to see a barely awake and heavily bandaged Rarity walking up to them. “Rarity, you should be resting at the hospital…” Rarity raised a hoof in protest, “Twilight I understand your concerns but mine still stand, where is my sister?” Twilight recounted the books contents to Rarity and of Sweetie’s complaint that Trixie still lived. Rarity took the news fairly calmly, “All right that’s all I needed to know.” she pulled a large hat from seemingly nowhere and placed it on her head, it was the color of camouflage but quite large and poufy. “I’m coming with you.” Twilight shook her head “No it’s dangerous!” “Twilight, dear, listen, you have that magnificent demon with you so if things get dangerous, which I don’t believe they will, then you can simply save us with your new friend, now lets find my sister.” Rarity started walking out of the barn and in the direction of the forest with Twilight and Big Mac following behind her. ----------------------------------------------------- Shining Armor wasn’t having a whole lot of fun at his new post. He had lived his life almost exclusively in Canterlot, the sweltering heat of Appaloosa left a lot to be desired in his book. Not to mention his reason for being there. ‘Unearth all the graves and burn the bodies,’ he shivered as he remembered the Princess’ words. His men had been secretly infiltrating the gravesite near Appaloosa for a few days now and had been trying to keep a low profile lest the locals get suspicious of the incredibly suspicious activity being carried out by the royal guard of Canterlot. ‘I’m sure the Princess has a good reason for this’ he tried to reason as he wiped another gallon of sweat from his brow, ‘she just couldn’t explain it to me.’ He tried to get his mind off of that for now as he had a different job to do now. He had promised Twily in his letter that he would get Applejack to go back to Ponyville so that they could round up the elements of harmony and go to Canterlot to see if the Princess would listen to them. Apparently Applejack had been all over Appaloosa the past few days, going between the Bison camp and the settlers and staying at various places to try and get a feel for the recent distrust between two groups of Appaloosan settlers. He finally arrived at the saloon where Applejack was allegedly hanging out. He opened up the doors tentatively and wandered inside thankful to see a big familiar cowboy hat at the bar. “Well howdy there Shining, how are you?” Applejack shouted to the new arrival. He walked over to the bar and sat down, covered in sweat and out of his Royal guard uniform and dressed in some more casual clothing. “I’m… doing alright,” Applejack could smell a lie on anypony but decided not to pursue the issue. “Cadence here with you?” she asked as she took another gulp of cider. “No, I’m here on business,” he furrowed his brow, clearly whatever this ‘business’ was troubled him, he’s a worse liar than Twilight, AJ guessed it ran in the family. “What kind…” “Official business I can’t discuss with anypony.” Applejack backed away from that line of questioning, “But I did have something I needed to talk about Applejack.” “Well shoot.” “You need to go back to Ponyville, something bad is happening and it’s necessary that the elements of harmony be gathered.” Applejack swallowed her cider “Princess’ orders?” “My request.” Applejack was confused by this, the Princess didn’t order this? “This is technically behind the Princess back, it has to do with some things called ‘demons’ who have arrived in Equestria, she’s locked herself and all the other royals and such in Canterlot with a barrier.” Applejack some days cursed the fact that she was so good at spotting lies, she wished that she could have walked away thinking that he was spouting a load of hooey but she knew better. Shining was telling the truth, and in this case that was worse. “I have business to finish, I’ll leave tomorrow.” Shining nodded and ordered a drink as Applejack left; she needed to be alone for a while to figure this out. Demons, the word rang in Applejack’s head. She had never heard of these creatures and now apparently they were a problem that not even the Princess wanted to deal with. Applejack started wandering towards the center of town near her cousin Braeburn’s home. However as she started to get closer she noticed ponies running to and fro. She galloped faster towards the town’s center when she arrived she saw many of what she assumed were demons. They were floating pumpkins with hats and lanterns, which were spitting fire as the demons aimed them at the passing ponies. Applejack rushed forward and jumped up bucking one in the pumpkin-face-thing. When she came back down she noticed she was covered in pumpkin guts, she heard what sounded like screams and realized all eyes were on her. The pumpkins started firing at her as she dodged around trying to lead them away from the town center. “Applejack!” one of the creatures was tied with a lasso and pulled to the ground as Braeburn emerged from his home. “No, Get Back!” but her words didn’t reach him as the lassoed pumpkin shot fire at Braeburn who couldn’t get out of the way and was hit. The fire swiftly consumed him as he screamed and rolled on the ground attempting to extinguish the flame but soon his screams died down. Applejack rushed backwards as she kicked the creature in the face squishing it as she had the other one. Fire flew near Applejack who almost didn’t dodge the blazing projectile and started sprinting for the next creature only to see a blast of magic destroy it. “Shining!” Applejack yelled out before bucking another one of the pumpkin creatures. Shining readied another bolt of magic and fired three consecutive shots at the next pumpkin destroying it. Applejack looked around, as that should have been all of them only to notice another group of about ten of the creatures floating towards them. “There’s more!” Applejack pointed them out to Shining who prepared more magic. Octavia sat in one corner of her family’s home with the demon Orpheus floating next to her. She began to play note after note on her cello while Orpheus followed with his lyre. The two played a melody that Octavia had composed as a filly. A melody about her family and how much she loved them, the song was upbeat and fast-paced as she looked around the room at her father and mother, her youngest sister Quartz and of course her sister Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie was seated next to her demon Nyarlathotep, or Narly as she insisted on calling it. Orpheus had told her that it was one of the most powerful demons in all of existence, and yet her sister had tamed it without fighting. As Octavia finished her piece her family all applauded and began digging into the party snacks that Pinkie Pie had provided for them. “That was great sis!" Pinkie squealed, "even better than you normally do, which is awesome!” “Yes, quite enjoyable.” Octavia shivered as Narly spoke being a “Tamer” as Orpheus called it she could feel Nyarlathotep’s power, she knew that it would barely have to lift a finger if it wished to wipe her out of existence, even if she had an army of Orpheus’ to defend herself. She sat on her families couch as her parents danced with her sisters and Orpheus sat next to her. “So what shall we do now master?” Octavia sipped the tea she had brewed for herself. “My sister believes that she needs to go to Ponyville so we shall accompany her.” Orpheus turned towards the dance floor, where a certain other demon was dancing with her sister. “If you are worried?” Octavia stuck out her hoof “I am, but not just about my sister.” She sipped her tea again “I’m worried for myself.” She set the teacup down with shaking hooves “You said that demons and their tamers often fought when you had previously been in Equestria.” She breathed slow and steady trying not to betray her usual calmness, “I’m not a fighter, I’m a musician, if this Nyarlathotep is as powerful as you say then we should stick with my sister, perhaps I’ll learn a thing or two.” She walked over to Pinkie and began a previously rehearsed speech about how as her older sister she would accompany her to Ponyville and make sure no harm befell her sister as all the while Narly watched and giggled. Shining Armor sunk back, his breathing irregular. How long had he and Applejack been fighting the demons? It seemed like an hour, all around him the bodies of the demons were scattered, they were easy to kill, but numerous. He saw more of the pumpkin demons amassing near the edge of town rushing to replace their fallen comrades. He looked to his fighting partner and saw she was just as tired, this wasn’t going to end well. “Thou art a very righteous pony, perhaps you would form a contract with us to survive?” Shining heard voices in his head, he fired more magic bolts at the pumpkin demons. He looked over to Applejack to see something strange was happening, a white glow was emanating from her and a pentagram appeared on her hoof, she had a contract. Shining watched as the mysterious new demon joined the fray. It was bipedal, had large horns and seemed to be constructed out of solid rock. The demon rushed forward and met the attackers head on tearing several of the pumpkin demons apart. “What is your reason pony?” “Yes, what world do you seek?” The question was strange to Shining, but nonetheless he wondered himself, why was he doing any of this? He went to Appaloosa because Celestia had ordered the bodies of the dead burned, which he had accomplished, but why was he gathering the elements back in Ponyville. "Because Celestia has betrayed our trust." The response came clear as day, and just as quick. Celestia kept the demons a secret, and now with their return she boards up the castle and hides herself within. She no longer deserves to lead, the Royal Guard are ones who carry her orders out, perhaps we should lead. “I’ll overthrow Celestia.” Applejack looked over at him perplexingly as light began to shine around him, “The Royal Guard will lead Equestria, not one ruler but three, three who understand the people and stand by them in times of crisis, not cower in a castle.” It was at that moment that two winged demons appeared in front of Shining Armor. One was covered in blood red armor and held a large spear, the other a long silky green dress and held a book in one arm and a large staff with a cross on the top in the other. “The contract is formed.” The one in armor stated “I am Power, the spear that shall drive thine enemies to death.” the creature stated this as it waded in to the crowd of demons, slicing them up as it went. “I am Principality, the wisdom that shall help lead your world.” it stamped it’s staff on the ground and a brilliant white light shone forth disintegrating the demons around it, and causing all of the stragglers to retreat. Shining breathed a sigh of relief as Applejack approached, “Did you mean what you said?” she looked him straight in the eyes as her demon stood by her side. “Yes, I will use these demons to usurp Celestia and the Royal Guard will stand by the people, not cower in fear in some castle and leave them to die.” he stamped his hoof to the ground and met Applejacks gaze. “Alright then me and Kin-ki here will accompany ya” he staggered back a bit. “My cousin just died in there Shining, I’m not gonna let that happen again.” The people began to crowd around them and a gold light surrounded Shining, “Alright listen these are orders from the Royal Guard, the new rulers of Equestria.” Twilight continued to walk through the Everfree forest with Rarity and Big Macintosh at her side searching for Sweetie Bell. Her demon, Virtue, had also asked her something that she hadn’t been able to answer; 'what was her Reason'? He had explained that all the great tamers had a Reason, something that they would do if they were the ones who ran the world. Twilight had initially waved it off as her demon trying to get her to revolt against the princess but started to consider it as she went on. She had seen the demons do things not even the best of unicorns could accomplish, they had healed her from her wounds in her fight with Trixie, they had stabilized Rarity to the point that the doctors could fix her, they had saved Sweetie Bell and her friends from danger. Why were they kept from the world? Why were they kept from her? Twilight couldn’t believe that there were secrets she didn’t even trust her student with. Her prized student, the element of Magic itself! Twilight attempted to calm herself as she continued to walk through the path but found it difficult, she was the princess prized student, Celestia had been like a mother to Twilight, she continued to walk until Big Mac stopped her and she looked up not noticing that she had led them into the middle of nowhere by accident. “We’re… lost?” Rarity piped up groggily. “Eeyup,” Big Mac confirmed. Twilight just sighed and sat down as her unknowing idiocy had made them lost. “Twilight… you must tell…” Rarity sat breathing heavily as she winced in pain, “us… what’s wrong.” “Why didn’t she tell me?” Rarity and Big Mac simply looked at her “Why banish them at all?” “They… are demons dear.” “But look at what they can do.” She motioned to herself “Virtue completely healed my wounds after the fight with Trixie, he made you stable enough to survive!” Twilight was yelling by this point as she fully realized now what she wanted, “The demons do more good than harm, the only reason this happened is because she didn’t tell anyone about them.” Twilight looked above and saw storm clouds gathering. Rarity sighed, “a… storm now of all times.” “ Eeyup” Big Mac’s stoicism elicited a chuckle from Rarity. “I think we’re close to Zecora’s house," Twilight responded quickly, "I’ll go look, you two stay here, and Big Mac.” Big Macintosh looked her way “Make sure Rarity’s ok.” She turned and ran as Big Mac simply smiled and Rarity sighed as she laid down against a nearby tree. As time went by neither Rarity nor Big Macintosh said anything simply using the trees as cover from the rain above. The sound of the rain was soothing to Rarity it was a beautiful sound, even if she didn’t want to think of what sitting on the wet dirt was doing to her coat. She heard a slight yell off in the distance as though someone was running from something. She forced herself upwards earning a look from Big Mac who then turned in the direction of the sound. Big Macintosh stood up motioning for Rarity to sit back down, ‘what a gentlecolt’ she mused as she slumped backwards. “Help!” She could barely hear the voice but she knew it from somewhere. “Help!” There it was again but louder; who was it? “Help!” “Spike.” She finally put it together that the voice was Spike’s. She turned to see Spike running through the woods followed by a small snowman both of them were carrying a filly on their shoulders. “Sweetie Bell!” Rarity got up and ran out to meet Spike and the snowman both of whom dropped Sweetie Bell in front of her and Big Macintosh as the snowman dissipated into mist and surrounded Sweetie Bell. Rarity looked at her sister, bite marks and gashes from claws lined her sister’s body as blood oozed outwards. “She is alive albeit not for long.” Rarity turned and spun her head in different directions trying to find the source of the voice to no avail. Big Macintosh also looked ahead of them and saw the pack of Timberwolves that had been following Spike as he readied himself to fight them Rarity held her sister and tried to use her magic, her horn simply sputtered and sparks flew as she panted and continued to scream “Come on, wake up” into her sister’s ear. “I can save her,” Rarity stopped as the voice continued, “I can help you, if you’ll make a contract with me.” Rarity shouted back “Whatever it is you want demon I’ll give, my horn, my life, my mane, whatever it is you want just contract with me and save Sweetie Bell!” Rarity screamed as tears rolled down her face. “Very well, I shall save your sister then, master.” a pentagram appeared on Rarity’s left hoof and out of it came a demon. The demon seemed mechanical in nature, it floated above the ground and it’s body seemed made of metal. On it’s sides were two large disks that glowed a bright red matching the color of most of the creature’s body and face. “Recarm” the demon clasped its hands together and began to chant a spell that slowly began to envelop Sweetie Bell. “You don’t really think you can fight them on your own do you?” Big Mac simply shook his head as the Timberwolves approached and he steeled himself to fight them, he would keep Rarity, her sister, and Spike safe. The earth pony gritted his teeth as the Timberwolves attacked, he looked behind him and saw a demon hovering above Rarity and Sweetie Bell and a pentagram on Rarity’s hoof. ‘She’s a Tamer now too, huh’ he grinned and looked forward as the first Timberwolf charged he turned around and bucked it hard in the face. A sick crack could be heard all around as the Timberwolf’s face was crushed by Big Mac mighty strike, ‘that weird voice didn’t know nuthin, I have no problem taking them on my own.’ His self-congratulations didn’t last long however as the second, third, and fourth Timberwolves all found spots on him to chew. Two latched onto his back legs and one his shoulder; he pushed sideways slamming the one on his shoulder into a nearby tree, it grunted but held it grip, he smashed it again, it whined but only bit down harder. “I could help you.” ‘No thanks crazy voice,’ he slammed it again as he planted his front hooves and tried to buck the two on his legs, he planted a solid kick in stomach of one but the other simply unhinged its jaw from him for a few seconds finding a new spot to bite after he planted his hooves on the ground again. “You’ll die, or more importantly, they’ll die.” Big Macintosh stopped as he considered the voices words, it was right, Rarity was hurt and Spike and Sweetie Bell were just kids, one of whom was mortally injured and being helped by the mechanical demon, ‘alright, ya’ll got a deal.’ “Excellent, let me just clear a path.” A white light enveloped Big Macintosh and a strong gust of wind swirled around him, sucking the three Timberwolves into a vortex and spitting them out in a pile in front of him. The demon appeared in front of him, “my name is Fuu-Ki, pleasure to meet you.” Fuu-Ki was a strange sight to Big Macintosh, his skin was blue like the sky, his armor was coated in a darker shade of the same color and in his hand he held a metal rod with two blades on either side. But the strangest thing was it’s head, it had two short horns and where its face should be was an indentation and a small hole. Big Mac ignored the pain wracking his body and stood alongside his new demon companion to fight the remaining Timberwolves. Fuu-Ki rushed forward and attacked before they could all get up and collect themselves after the whirlwind had sent them flying, he twirled his blade in his hands so fast that the wind gathered around it, he stopped and thrust his free palm outwards at one other Timber wolf and a gust of wind blew forth blowing the wolf back and impaling it through a tree branch. The wolf that Fuu-Ki had been charging at leapt at its prey however Fuu-Ki simply twirled around and slashed at the wolf as it was leaping through the air, splitting it in two. Big Macintosh ran at the final Timberwolf punching it with one front hoof and then stomping at its head with both once it was grounded. He breathed in and out slowly as the creature’s crushed head bled outwards. Big Macintosh stepped off of the dead wolf and tried to wipe his hoof against the ground to clear the blood. “You fight well master, I shall enjoy serving you” the creature disappeared as Twilight rushed into the clearing shouting, “What happened?” Twilight sat with her friends in Zecora’s home after they had walked there from the clearing. Sweetie Bell was still unconscious, however Rarity’s new demon, Kikuri-Hime, had healed Big Macintosh so they were all in relatively good health. Twilight still pondered the question, what was her Reason, what would she create? What would she do if she were ruler of Equestria? Would she do anything all that different than Celestia? ‘I would allow the demons to stay’ she thought to herself ‘The breakthrough’s in magic are to numerous, I would allow the demons connected to tamers stay and study them and their magic and attempt to replicate it.’ Virtue chuckled in her head “So that is your Reason, Understanding, I see that I was right to choose you to be my Tamer.” Twilight stood up drawing the attention of all others in the room “It’s settled then, I’ll go to Canterlot and convince the Princess to allow the demons that have tamers to stay so we can study them.” Rarity looked over at her sisters still unconscious form, that Spike had been attending to ever since they had arrived, “I’m coming with you dear.” Twilight looked over at her friend “Kikuri-Hime saved my dear Sweetie Bell’s life, if the princess wishes to banish her I will fight back, she is a friend to me now.” Kikuri-Hime smiled and bowed in the air next to her master “As you say master Rarity, your battles and the battles of your friend are mine.” Twilight looked to Big Macintosh. Big Macintosh hadn’t really given any thought to what he should do, he contracted with Fuu-Ki to stay alive, there wasn’t any alternative motive to it, and he didn’t want to rule Equestria. ‘Just because they’re demons they were banished, that don’t sit right.’ He mulled it over as Twilight walked over to him and bowed slightly, “Will you lend me your strength Big Macintosh?” He looked down towards Twilight and thought of how she claimed that demons and their magic could save the world, he thought before responding “Eeyup.” “And I’m coming too!” they trio looked over at the bed that Zecora had made before leaving again to pick more herbs, Sweetie Bell stood upright with her head in the air and her demon Jack Frost floated next to her head posing with it’s thumb up while the rest of its hand was in a fist. “Sweetie Bell, this is extremely dangerous,” Rarity began. “Exactly!” her younger sister butted in. “I’m a Tamer so ponies may try and hurt me because of it, doesn’t it make more sense for me to be in a group that could protect me.” Rarity opened her mouth to interject but closed it once she realized that Sweetie was right, after all Trixie had attacked both her and Twilight when they didn’t have any demons at all, Equestria was becoming a dangerous place and as the big sister she needed to protect Sweetie Bell. “Alright then," Rarity conceded, "but you will not join us in battle.” “Eeyup,” Big Mac confirmed. “Then it’s settled.” Twilight said as a golden glow surrounded her pentagram, and above it more symbols appeared. “They mark you as the leader of a Reason, a contestant in the Shin Megami Tensei.” Virtue said aloud. “The Shin what?” Sweetie Bell questioned. “The Shin Megami Tensei, the god reincarnation, the one who defeats the previous winner is granted power beyond their wildest dreams, immortality, and they rule this land,” Virtue remarked. Twilight’s eyes widened “Then Princess Celestia…” “Was the previous winner," Virtue confirmed, "she chose to make a world where the demons and the corruption she believed came with them wouldn’t be something her subjects had to deal with.” Rarity was the first to speak, “a land built on a lack of knowledge.” Spike was the next to speak, “rather than let her subjects make the decisions between right and wrong she gave them only one option.” Twilight’s eyes burned, “not for long, come on then we’ll recruit more ponies to our cause and defeat the Princess, we’ll have to leave our old lives behind; tomorrow we’ll go back to Ponyville, and we’ll see if anypony else feels the same.” Twilight laid her head back against the wall, ‘this is the right choice, I’m sure of it.’ The Mysterious Mare stood atop a skyscraper in Manehatten looking down across the city. This was the last one, the last place she had to convince some other ponies to open the portals for her. She could have done it herself, but she was unaware of the Princess’ reaction, she believed that she would attempt to stop at least one summoning but instead she created a wall around Canterlot, and locked herself and her nobles inside. She had felt a rush earlier, which was the sign that somepony had created a Reason, she smiled at this, the Shin Megami Tensei would begin. Another rush hit her, another Reason was made and so soon. She looked down at the city, filled with the weak little ponies that Celestia had raised, unable to help themselves, the demons would cleanse that. She looked at her own hoof adorned with a pentagram and the Praetor symbol above; the praetor symbol being that which showed that she also led a Reason. She released her demon from its cage and it sat upon the building with her. The demon had the body of a great beast and the tail of a serpent with a four-pronged claw on its end, it had ten heads all in the shape of a dragon’s head, it fur and scales were coated black like ash, and it’s eyes glowed a menacing red. “You called, master.” the demon seemed to choke on those words, no matter it would soon realize that despite all the masters the demon had, she was the greatest. “Satan, I thought you would like to see the beginning of downfall of Celestia’s perfect world.” she waved her hoof over at a small fire in the distance. Satan stepped its four massive paws closer to the edge and looked over where its master pointed, demons had begun to pour out of a summoning circle that one of the ponies she had given the spell to had created. She tried to find ponies that were both powerful and easily moldable, she wanted chaos to wreak across Equestria so that when she killed Celestia and unleashed the demons upon the world and allowed them to claim it as their own, it would already feel like home to them. She looked over to the large cliff face upon which stood Canterlot. A grin crept across the mare’s face, this had been generations in the making, and she would be the one to see it happen.