Badlands.
The ‘official’ designation for any area without a direct Order presence, usually being areas such as Demon Wastes, Outlaw settlements, or even territories of other factions such as the Ebony Guild, Un-Axis, or Bottomline Industries.
Anything and everything can happen in these lawless and volatile lands.
Although, Scootaloo could probably care less about the specifics when she’s simply trying to survive.
The pegasus filly eyes her surroundings carefully.
It's been weeks since her escape from her villages' destruction, but she barely feels any more familiar with this place than before.
She grabs a nearby rock, before chucking it as far as she can manage. The throw is rather weak and pitiful, but it gets far enough.
A few seconds pass, and nothing.
This is as good a signal as she can get that the ‘coast is clear’. She cautiously inches out of her burrow, proceeding to venture further through the rocky trail she’s found herself in.
In hindsight, traveling to somewhere this barren probably wasn’t a good idea when the goal was to find food or water, but that giant snake thing scared her straight out of the nearby forest.
After some more scavenging, her eyes widen. She finds a jack-pot.
A clean stream of water!
She immediately runs over as fast as her tiny legs can manage, beginning to drink straight away. She briefly recalls something about ‘not drinking too fast when you haven’t drank water in a long time’, but she doesn’t care right now, continuing to drink to her heart's content.
The filly suddenly hears a noise behind her. Like a stick breaking.
With no hesitation, she skitters away as quickly as possible, finding a suitable hiding spot inside of a bush.
She peeks a singular eye out, staring at the direction of the noise.
Eventually, she sees the culprit.
A ‘pony’ walks — no — stumbles into view. It’s clearly not a regular pony, moving more like it’s being puppeted, and having hollow black eyes. One of its legs is visibly broken, and it’s covered with various cuts and bruises, but it doesn’t seem daunted whatsoever.
When it moves further into view, Scootaloo can see it appears to be dragging what looks like another pony. Either a corpse, or an unconscious pony.
The shambling pony drags it near the stream, letting go. Its jaw unhinges, revealing a black fog similar to its eyes. After the fog fully leaves the body, it dissipates into the air, and the pony collapses. It’s body falls into the stream, being carried away.
Scootaloo barely reacts to this bizarre display. She’s seen much worse and stranger things recently.
But she’s more enticed by the dropped pony. She does her rock trick again, and after ‘confirming’ it's clear, she slinks out towards it.
She gives it a few pokes, trying to see if they’re really dead or unconscious. Either way, they don’t respond.
Scootaloo wastes no time beginning to rummage through the ponies clothing for anything of value.
A little part of her feels guilty about always doing this. It’s essentially grave robbing. But then again, it’s for survival, and also there’s no grave, so maybe—
"RAHHHHHHHH!!!"
The body suddenly shoots upright, eyes hollow just like the pony that fell into the stream.
Scootaloo screams as well, and scampers backwards. She tries to run away, but the re-animated pony grabs one of her legs, pulling her back roughly.
It whips her against the ground, sending her sprawling away.
She breathes heavily. Months of malnutrition and exhaustion has left her extremely skinny and weak.
She feels like one of her legs is broken…
The filly can barely begin to crawl away from the shambling pony, who begins to approach her.
It stands above her, jaw unhinging and black fog forming just like the previous pony did. She doesn't know what it's trying to do, but it can't be good.
She tries to struggle, to no avail. She doesn’t even bother screaming anymore, knowing that nopony is around to save her.
But, right as the fog is about to fully leave the mouth…
A blur tackles the pony, sending it sprawling away. Scootaloo turns over as far as she can manage, surprised.
She sees the backside of some new figure. Another pony!
She has a pink mane and tail, and a light pink coat, along with some weird clothes that Scootaloo doesn’t recognize. She's also quite big and lean, although everypony does when the Scootaloo is the whom they're brit compared to.
The pink pony slightly and rapidly hops around like she’s preparing for a boxing match. From her current position, Scootaloo can barely see a smile plastering the pony's face.
“Let’s go!” the pink pony exclaims.
The shambling pony yells as it runs at her, before easily being side-stepped and hoofed in the face. The blow looks like it deals massive damage, immediately breaking the creatures face.
It proceeds to do a wide swipe, which is also easily dodged and countered.
The pink pony delivers a rapid barrage of punches, each one hammering into the shambling pony like a punching bag.
Eventually, the monster can barely stand anymore.
The pink pony laughs as she does a spin, her tail smashing into the shambling pony and sending him flying into a rock.
She puts one hoof to her side, looking at the beaten foe like she's satisfied with her work.
Scootaloo looks in awe.
Is this a Demon Hunter??? It has to be!
The pink pony is about to turn around, but stops when she hears the body creaking and cracking. Scootaloo hears the noises as well, looking in shock.
The battered shambling pony suddenly stands up once more, its body breaking and cracking into a larger form, bones dislocating, and flesh stretching and pulsing.
Black spikes and horns shoot out of its body in various locations, with two particularly large ones curving out of its forehead
When it’s all finished, it's MUCH more imposing than before, now dwarfing the pink pony with a mass of spikes and flesh.
It roars at her, causing her mane to fly back somewhat.
Scootaloo looks horrified. Can this pony take that thing down???
All she hears is a chuckle in response.
The Demon screeches, wildly flailing forward, trying to stab the pink pony on its spikes. She easily side-steps them, even ducking at one point.
She jumps backwards, hoofing for the demon to come closer. It obliges, only for her tail to spring her straight into its unprotected face, giving it a swift kick.
She grabs onto its front horns, using them like handles as she continues to kick its face multiple times. After a while, its face is little more than a pulp.
The demon roars, spinning around to try and throw the pink pony off.
"Wheeeee!" She says with a laugh.
Eventually, the pink pony kicks off and away from the Demon's face, ripping off the a large part of both horns in the process. The sudden force changes causes the still-spinning Demon to lose its footing, and smash face-first into a large rock nearby.
Scootaloo looks in awe. This pony is insane.
Her amazement is quickly undercut by the sounds of further cracks and pops filling the air.
The Demon slowly gets back to its hooves, all the visible damage it took being repaired and reconnecting in real-time. Even its broken horns are pushed out and replaced with new ones.
The pink pony puts a hoof to her temple.
"Hm." She says, somewhat unamused.
The pony reaches into her pocket, pulling out some sort of sharp glass object.
Scootaloo cant get a good view of it, but certainly sees it.
Is it some kind of dagger? Syringe?
The pink pony looks at a nearby tree, a smile coming across her face.
“It sure does suck how that tree always had a propensity for falling at the worst possible time!” The pink pony says.
The demon barely has time to turn around, hearing creaking and cracking behind it. It roars as the tree comes barreling onto it, smashing its body into the ground and pinning it down.
The pink pony immediately leaps next to its face, stabbing into it with the glass object. Its screams turn into gurgles, and then simply heaves.
The Demons body quickly shrivels up, the glass object appearing to fill with some sort of red fluid.
The pink pony takes it out of the demon, flicking it a few times to watch the liquid vibrate.
Scootaloo isn’t so sure this pony is a Demon Hunter anymore. This went in a strange direction.
She should probably get out of here.
The filly begins to crawl away, but accidentally steps on a stick, a loud crack ensuing.
She bites her tongue.
Looking back, Scootaloo sees the pinky pony perk up somewhat, ears twitching a few times.
Crap.
Okay. She just needs to get back to her other hiding spot and she can hopefully wait this out…
She looks back at the direction of the pink pony once more, only to see she's entirely disappeared out of sight.
What..? She was just there a few seconds ago… Where—
“Who are we hiding from?” A voice says from behind Scootaloo.
The filly screams as she bursts out of the bush and tries to scamper away. Emphasis on the 'try', due to her busted leg.
The pink pony just nonchalantly walks after her at a brisk pace.
Eventually, she smacks into a rock, being unable to move further. She quickly turns around to look at the pony, staring straight at her.
She has a toothy smile on her face, similar to one that a psycho killer might have. But that’s far from the worst part.
Her eyes are red, with pupils and ears sharper than what a normal pony would have. Most ominously, her teeth are visibly pointed, nearly fangs.
All tell-tale signs of a monster.
“DON’T KILL ME! OR EAT ME!” Scootaloo cries, trying to cover her face with her hooves.
The pink pony tilts her head, frowning. “Why would I do that?” She asks.
“Because… you’re a monster..?” Scootalo says, nearly phrasing it like a question.
“Oh really? What type of monster am I, then?” The pink pony says, leaning in a little. She looks unamused.
“Uh… vampire?”
“Nope.”
“Werewolf.”
“No.”
“...Ghoul?”
“What?! Do I look like a ghoul to you?” The pink pony says, leaning in further to give Scootaloo a good look at her face. She almost seems offended.
“M-maybe you’re like a fresh one or something? Haven’t rotted yet..?” Scootaloo says, unsure.
The pink pony chuckles. “That was good, but still, no.”
She sports an even wider smile, while also leaning in even further.
“I’m a Demon.”
Scootaloo covers her face with her hooves and screams, again.
The pink pony covers the fillies' mouth quickly.
“Hey! Don’t scream. We don’t know if there’s any more Demons out here!”
“MMPMPPH MP MMPHM!” Scootaloo says, muffled.
“Oh, sorry.” The pink pony takes her hoof off with a ‘pop’.
“What do you mean more Demons?! You’re a Demon!”
The pink pony face-hooves.
“Demons like… that guy.” She says, hoofing towards the shriveled and crushed corpse.
She leans in. “Be real. Who scared you more?” the pony asks, putting on a pleasant smile and blinking a few times, fit with overly large eyelashes.
Scootaloo can’t help but admit that she sure looks a lot more amicable than the giant spike dude thing.
“Okay… why did you save me, then? Are you going to possess me?”
“I can’t do that.”
“Use me for blood sacrifices?”
“I don’t use blood for rituals.”
“Eat me?”
“I already said I wasn’t going to kill or eat you!” The pink pony snaps.
Scootaloo looks down, afraid.
The pink pony suddenly softens, feeling bad.
“Okay, look. Here’s an important lesson. There are different kinds of Demons, just like there’s different kinds of ponies! Some are bad, and some are… Well, less bad? Point is, I’m not gonna kill or eat you or something.” The pink pony assures.
“Oh yeah, of course you would say you’re a less bad Demon.”
“Would a not-less bad Demon not have not spared you already?”
“...Yes?"
Scootaloo pauses. "Wait, no. I lost track of what you’re saying.”
The pink pony thinks. “Crap. I lost track too. Look, I’m just trying to say that I’m not gonna hurt you.” She says, genuinely.
She steps away, giving Scootaloo some space.
“As a gesture of good will, I’ll even tell you some things about me! I’m what’s known as a ‘Fiend’, a half Demon, half pony! So if it makes you feel any better, I’m not actually a full demon.”
“Fiend? Isn’t that like… a term for bad people?” Scootaloo asks.
The pink pony frowns. “It’s just a name. A word. Why don’t you tell me your name?”
Scootaloo is about to answer, but thinks. She remembers hearing something about Demons and ‘true names’ having powers… maybe she shouldn't give her real name to this thing.
“Cassy. My name is Cassy.”
“Okay, Cassy. You know what Cassy sounds like? Ass. Are you an ass?”
“Okay, okay! I get it. It’s just a name.” Scootaloo says, putting her hooves up defensively.
The pink pony ‘hmph’s, a bit.
Scootaloo stops to think about what she said before that.
“Wait, did you say half Demon and half pony? How even does that work..?”
The pink pony waves a hoof. “It’s simple, really! My mom was a Demon and my dad was a very courageous stallion.”
The filly blinks a few times.
“Just kidding! That’s not how this works. I was actually created through the ritual of merging a Demon and pony’s essence into one composite being, haha!” the pink pony clarifies.
Scootaloo can’t tell which is worse.
“Anyways. Fiends have much more autonomy than regular Demons do. Full Demons are usually mindlessly or fully evil like Mr. Spike over there, unless they're being controlled by somepony. But Fiends are basically equal to regular ponies in what they want to do!”
She tilts her head slightly. “I’ll tell you another thing just to show you I’m nice. My name is Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie says.
Scootaloo immediately thinks about trying to use the name, but she weighs her options.
If Pinkie isn’t her true name, then she would basically expose herself for trying to use it. If it is, then Pinkie would probably kill her the moment she tried to use it. And she doesn’t even know if the true name stuff is legit or not, or how to even use it if she did have it.
She decides against it.
During her thinking, the fillies' eyes drift towards the glass tool still in Pinkie’s hoof, and the red liquid within.
“Uh. Is that… blood?” Scootaloo asks.
Pinkie looks at herself, thinking she has blood somewhere on her clothes, before looking at the vial.
“Oh! No. This is called ‘Anima’. It’s kind of like blood, but it's more magical and cool! It’s also mainly a Demon thing, but everypony has it in them. Including you.”
Scootaloo looks at herself with some surprise. “I’m a demon?!” She exclaims.
Pinkie face-hooves.
“No, I just said everypony has it. But in regular and average ponies, it's so small that it barely even registers. That’s why most Demons try to prey on stronger ponies!”
“So what was his deal, then?” Scootaloo asks, gesturing to the shriveled corpse, again.
“Probably was just a loser. Or didn’t like fillies. Some Demons are like that.”
The filly looks at the Demon again.
"...is it actually dead? Aren't Demons supposed to like, disappear when they die?" She asks.
"That's just the remains of whoever it was possessing. Those don't get exorcised. The actual Demon is already gone, though."
Scootaloo blinks a few times. "Huh." She tries to get to her hooves, but stumbles a bit, the bad leg hampering her.
Pinkie frowns, seeing her injury.
“Say, how about I take you back to my place? You look like you could use some help!” Pinkie exclaims.
Scootaloo puts her hooves up. “Listen, I’m thankful for being saved from a horrible demonic fate and all… but I don’t know about going back to… wherever you live.”
Pinkie frowns. “Come on! What else do you really have going on for you back here? Judging from your current state, it looks like the world hasn’t been kind to you.” She says, looking at the malnourished and injured filly.
Scootaloo realizes Pinkie is right. It's a living hell out here. Besides, it's unlikely she'll ever be taken back at The Order with how much she's interacted with this Demon.
At least she could probably get some good rest.
“Fine. But I don’t think I’m in any state to travel right now…”
Pinkie smirks, tilting her head. “You know, it sure is lucky how that Demon didn’t hurt you at all.”
Scootaloo is about to say something, when she realizes the pain in her leg is gone. She quickly lifts it, seeing it look as good as new.
“Wh-what?! How did you do that?” Scootaloo asks, bewildered.
“Retrocausality. I can alter how things went in the past to make different effects in the present.”
Scootaloo blinks a few times, trying to wrap that around her tiny filly brain.
“Wouldn’t that mean you’re, like, a god?”
Pinkie laughs.
“Hah! Sadly, no. I’m not that powerful. I can only alter something so much, and it become significantly harder the more distant or larger the change is. I also need to say it out loud for it to work, so that's a natural balancer.”
Pinkie briefly inspects Scootaloo’s extremely unhealthy frame, frowning.
“How old are you?” She asks.
“Fifteen.”
The Fiend puts a hoof to her temple.
“Oh geez. Older than I expected… oh well!”
She takes a deep breath.
“Thankfully, you’ve been fed well and physically active for the past…" Pinkie pauses to think of an appropriate amount of time. "...year.”
Scootaloo immediately feels different. She looks down at herself, lifting a leg to get a better close.
She’s still skinny, but she doesn’t look or feel like a skeleton anymore.
She jumps a few times, not feeling any pain!
“Woah! This is amazing! Thank you!” She exclaims.
Pinkie gives a somewhat weary smirk, visibly a bit tired. "You're... welcome."
“...but uh… can you go further..?” Scootaloo asks, tilting her head and smiling. She wouldn't mind being more fit.
Pinkie immediately frowns.
“Doing that already was quite energy intensive. It only gets harder the further I go from the baseline reality, so… technically, yes. Practically? No."
Scootaloo thinks, her eyes widening.
"Oh! what about... my wings..?"
The filly flares out her wings, or at least she tries to. The pathetic and shriveled feathers and bones barely move at all.
Pinkie cringes a little, not out of disgust... more like pity.
"How long have you been like this? Is it genetic or did it happen after you were born?" She inquires.
Scootaloo thinks.
"I've been like this as long as I can remember." Is all she can say.
Pinkie shakes and lowers her head.
"I'm terribly sorry... but... no. Changing something that drastic is beyond my ability."
Scootaloo frowns and lowers her head, herself. That would have been too good to be true.
The fiend elaborates. "For context, the largest change I ever made was making it so that an opponent of mine had a coconut dropped on their head as a baby. You can imagine what that did to them in the present. But that put me into a coma for a few weeks and also permanently weakened my powers.”
The filly is a bit curious at that last part. “What are you like right now, then?”
“Lemme see... minor psychic powers, enhanced strength, regeneration, speed, flexibility, prehensile tail, and of course the retrocausality stuff.”
Scootalo blinks a few times.
“And this is you being ‘weakened’?” she asks, bewildered.
Pinkie laughs. “Yeah. I used to be super broken!” She says with the same tone of someone reliving a nice memory.
She claps her hooves, turning back to and approaching Scootaloo.
“Anyways. Ready to leave?”
Scootaloo gets to her hooves.
“Yeah. How long will it take to get there?”
Pinkie smirks. “A few seconds.”
“What?”
Suddenly, the entire world around them appears to vibrate and shake. Scootaloo isn’t being moved whatsoever, but she feels like she is. She wobbles around, trying to get her footing.
“WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” she shouts.
In a flash, it’s like everything around them has changed. Scootaloo screams as she falls a few feet from the air, and lands in some mud below. Pinkie lands gracefully without any issue.
“Oops. I probably should've told you about the drop.” She says, helping Scootaloo to her hooves.
Scootaloo looks up, wiping mud off her face. They look like they’re in a completely new location.
The sky is neither the crimson red of day, nor the blackness of night, instead being a more greyish color.
“What… where… Did we just teleport?” She asks with awe.
“Yes, and no. We shifted to another ‘Pocket’ of reality. We simply 'hopped' over, if you wanna call it that."
Scootaloo looks at her with pure confusion.
Pinkie sighs.
“Okay. Think of it like a stack of pancakes. We were at one pancake, and now we’re at a different one. Same stack of pancakes, but different pancake in the stack. Make sense?” She asks.
Scootaloo gets it a little better. "Sorta..?"
“Alright! Let’s go then.” Pinkie says, prancing ahead. Scootaloo hastily catches up with her.
After a few minutes of trekking through the unknown land, they come across some… place?
It’s clearly a sort of settlement, but it’s certainly not in any style that Scootaloo is used to.
A crude but large wall surrounds a rural sprawl of various shacks and other buildings, like an enclosed shanty-town. While the front-end of the town is open, the back-end is completely dominated by a giant 'U' shaped valley that stretches into the sky itself. An extremely large passageway deeper into the valley above is visible from where they stand.
“What is that place?” Scootaloo asks.
“That here is the main grounds of Jocus Jucundus, the group I work for.”
Scootaloo raises an eyebrow.
“And by ‘group’ you mean cult?”
“I’m a literal Demon who just stole another Demons life force, before taking a filly to an alternate plane of existence. Is this a cult, Cassy?” Pinkie asks.
“Fair enough.”
The two head into the town, passing through a large gate. Pinkie tells Scootaloo to stay near her. While nothing here would randomly attack her, it would be unwise to let her wander freely.
Scootaloo looks around with a mixture of awe and fear at the different types of creatures all around her. She can’t tell where the Demons begin and where the other monsters end. A few shoot her weird looks, but stop when they notice Pinkie chaperoning her.
Eventually, the two reach the beginning of that giant passageway. A pair of huge, scary-looking guards stop them, crossing spears in their path.
One of the guards bellows deeply. "HALT! WHO GOES-!"
Its eyes widen when it looks down. “Oh, hey Pinkie!” It says in the highest pitched tone ever.
“Who’s the kid?” The other asks in a more normal tone.
“She’s with me. I’m taking her to see the boss!”
“The who?” Scootaloo asks.
The guards nod, unlocking their spears and pushing open the gates for them.
“Thanks!” Pinkie says, directing for Scootaloo to follow.
Scootaloo gives an awkward wave as she passes through. One of the guards waves back.
After a stair-case that felt somehow too long and too short, the duo enter some sort of large cavernous chamber. It looks quite eccentric, with various bones, candles, torches, and other paraphernalia lying around.
Scootaloo accidentally steps on a bone, and it breaks apart.
The pegasus immediately looks down in shock, but is instead confused. "Is this Styrofoam..?” Scootaloo asks, looking down.
“Oh yeah. We wouldn’t wanna use real bones. That would be nasty!” Pinkie says.
Scootaloo really wonders what is and isn't nasty to these guys.
The two venture in a bit further, and come to a large throne or similar type of seat. Some kind of cloth and straw puppet sits atop the chair, slumped over.
The filly stares at it, not really sure what to make of it.
“So... is this like the stand-in for when your boss isn’t here, or something?” She asks, trying to get ahead of the game this time.
“So close!” Pinkie says.
The puppet suddenly begins to come to life, body cracking and snapping as it corrects its position, slowly sitting upright and eventually taking a pose similar to a real pony.
It lifts into the air, approaching the two, moving ike it’s being puppeted by strings, despite none being visible.
It stops just short of physical contact.
At closer glance, Scootaloo can see the puppet appears to have a semi-detailed face, with buttons for eyes and straw making up the mouth, cheeks, and eyebrows.
“Ah! Pinkie! Welcome back!” The puppet says in a jovial tone. It's face actually moves to match its emotions and words.
It snaps up to Scootaloo at an unnatural angle.
“Who’s the filly?” It asks.
“Oh, this is my new friend!”
The puppet rapidly floats to and away from Scootaloo's face, while waving its hooves around like a ghost in a very threatening manner.
“Beeeeee not afraid, child! I meeeean no threat!” it says, in a mystical tone.
Scootaloo blinks a few times.
“I’ve seen way scarier things than you, dude. Like ten minutes ago there was some crazy body-swapping ghost spike thing.”
The puppet's face cringes. “Oh. Really?" It now has a completely nonchalant tone. "Wait, do you mean a Vessel? Those things are scary as shi—”
Pinkie loudly clears her throat, glancing at the puppet.
“Scary as heck!” It corrects.
The Fiend pops up between Scootaloo and the puppet.
“Yacci, meet Cassy! Cassy, meet Yacci!" she says, grabbing their hooves and putting them together in a hoof-shake.
Scootaloo still looks with a bit of reluctance.
"Who... what are you?" The filly asks.
"I am Yacci, Arch-Demon and Head of Jocus Jocundus."
Because that totally clears it up.
Yacci leans on his side while tilting his 'head'. "Now, your turn! Who are you?"
"Uh... Cassy. Just an orphan pegasus filly, I guess."
Yacci leans closer. "No, I mean, who are you, really?" He asks, still strangely jovial.
"W-what? I'm-"
Scootaloo pauses, realizing. She sighs
"Okay, okay! I'm not 'Cassy'. My real name is Scootaloo." She says, a bit ashamed.
The filly looks at Pinkie, who has no reaction other than a blink or two.
Scootaloo does a double-take. "Are you not surprised?" She asks to Pinkie.
"Huh? I already knew that wasn't your real name." The Fiend responds, simply.
Scootaloo smacks her forehead. "Forgot you said you were psychic." She groans.
Pinkie quickly waves a hoof. "Oh, no! Not that kind of psychic! I can't read minds or anything. I can just move stuff from afar by thinking about it!"
The filly raises an eyebrow. "Isn't that just... levitation?"
"Technically yes, but 'psychic' sounds cooler!" Pinkie responds.
"How did you even know, then?" Scootaloo asks, confused
"Dunno. Had a feeling that it wasn't your real name."
"That just sounds like actual psychic-stuff to me." Scootaloo retorts.
Yacci clears his throat, making both ponies look at him.
"Oh, right." The filly says. She backs away a bit, somewhat afraid of what might happen next.
Yacci simply gives a warm smile. “Don't worry, Scootaloo. It’s pretty common for ponies to be afraid to give their real names away to Demons.”
“Is it because the true name stuff isn’t real?” Scootaloo guesses.
Yacci quickly leans forward. “HECK NO! It’s real as can be! It’s just true names for regular ponies don't do jack!” he explains, now wide-eyed.
“Oh.” Scootaloo says, defeated again. But she wonders.
"Wait, so is Pinkie actually her true name then?" The filly asks, gesturing to the Fiend.
Pinkie blows with her mouth, trying not to laugh.
"I don't even know my own true name! Pinkie is just a nick-name I made for myself. Only Yacci knows what it really is." The pink pony says, glancing at the puppet.
Well at least Pinkie technically didn't lie about what her name was.
Yacci elaborates. "No Demon will ever tell you their true name unless they're insane or absolutely trust you. They'll make all sorts of insane nick-names instead. Like one guy I saw was called 'Shitbeard'. Another was called 'Kevin'. Kevin. 'Hey guys! Let's summon Kevin.' Blegh!" He says with disgust.
The puppet then floats next to Pinkie.
“Anyways. You two said you encountered a Vessel, right? Do you have the—”
Pinkie pulls out the vial of Anima. Yacci grabs it from her in a flash and injects it into his cloth skin with a satisfied groan.
Scootaloo looks a bit uncomfortable, watching both the process and reaction.
“Hate to ask… but is that like… a drug to you?” She asks.
Yacci coughs. Or atleast, makes a coughing noise.
“One. I cannot feel anything! Two. No. Injecting Anima into me is how we plan to bring forth the second coming of Jocus Jocundus's Exalted One, Ridiculus!” he exclaims, grandiosely.
Scootaloo has no idea what an 'Exalted One' is or who 'Ridiculus' is, but it sounds ominous.
“Uh… isn’t that like… bad?” Scootaloo asks, a bit worried about the reaction.
Pinkie and Yacci share a serious glance.
Scootaloo bites her lip. Did she screw up?
Suddenly, the two Demons start to laugh wildly, throwing their head backs and holding each other by the shoulder.
Scootaloo's fear turns into mild annoyance as the two mad-ponies laugh wildly like they just had the greatest in-joke of all time.
After a few seconds, they wipe their eyes, or buttons in Yacci's case.
“ 'Bad’ is relative, dear. For everypony else, yes. But for us, no! If we manage to summon Ridiculus into the physical plane, then we shall receive eternal bliss.” Yacci explains.
"Uh... why isn't everypony trying to do it then?" Scootaloo asks.
"Because they are!" Pinkie says with glee.
Yacci elaborates further. "Every cult has their own guy they're trying to bring back. Imagine, like, a big race, but the first pony to win causes the other ponies to immediately explode. And also they are able to re-shape the entire race-track into a paradise for them and their fans."
Scootaloo shivers a little at that somewhat menacing description. The worst part is, it must be so common knowledge that Yacci has no problem explaining it to a random filly who isn't even apart of the cult.
The puppet 'stretches' a little. “Pinkie, I don’t mind expositing to small children, but why exactly did you bring her here? I have no problem with it, just wondering…” he inquiries.
“Oh! I was wondering if she could join us!” Pinkie says.
Scootaloo’s eyes widen. “Woah, woah! I said I would come see the place, not… join a cult yet! Aren’t we moving a bit fast?”
Yacci makes a blowing noise while waving a hoof.
“No need to say ‘cult’ so derogatory. ‘Cult’ has honestly lost all meaning nowadays. You know, I once saw a ‘cult’ about elderly grandmothers baking for their grandchildren. It was honestly kind of wholesome, but they still got arrested en masse by The Order. The point still stands, though. Cults' are just modern day fan-clubs now.” He explains.
Pinkie chips in. “Yeah! Some ponies even use cults as a way to just get more people to join their thing! How stupid is it to advertise or name yourself as being one thing, only to create something entirely different?!”
Pinkie and Yacci stare off into the void for a few seconds, facing forward.
Scootaloo shakes her head. “Look, I’m just saying I’m not sure about all this Demon stuff yet… just like twenty minutes ago I thought all Demons were evil monsters, and now I’m having a tea party with two of them!” She exclaims.
“One and a half.” Pinkie corrects, leaning in.
Scootaloo squints at her, before looking back at Yacci. "Can I at least know my other options, cult-wise..? No offense."
Pinkie frowns a little.
Yacci floats back to his chair, rubbing his chin with his hoof.
"Hm. Well... lets see. The largest one is Daemoni Dominatio, Demons who believe Demons should rule the world. There's also Vae Victis who are ponies who believe that they should rule the world. And then of course there's also Fatum Fatale who just want to destroy the world. There's a few others but you get the idea. I assume you don't want to be a slave to Demons, slave to ponies, or obliterated to nothingness?" Yacci asks, bluntly.
Scootaloo blinks a few times.
Yacci simply shrugs. “If you don’t want to join us, then that’s perfectly fine. It's up to you. But, Scootaloo, I will say. We can give you the things we know you sorely lack right now. Safety. Shelter. Friends. Family... All can be well… if you join us.” The puppet calmly says, sticking out his forelegs in both directions like an embrace.
Scootaloo thinks on it. While it may have been the most obvious pitch ever, she does lack everything he listed.
The filly feels some anger form within her. The Order always said how Demons are the ultimate enemy… yet here they are, giving her a new, better life.
Something The Order couldn’t, and wouldn’t.
"Maybe we could even find a solution to your wing problem, there..." Yacci says with an honest smile.
Scootaloo's eyes widen. That's the finisher.
She takes a deep breath. “Alright... I’ll join.” The filly says.
Pinkie looks elated. "Yay!" she says, jumping into the air.
“Wonderful! We’ll just need to stab you, though.” Yacci says, plainly.
“Come again?” Scootaloo says.
Yacci pulls out a comically large and jagged knife, almost the size of one of Scootaloo's legs.
Scootaloo's eyes widen and she backs away with fear.
Pinkie looks at the knife with wide eyes as well. "Yacci! Wrong knife!" She whispers.
The puppet looks at the knife with some brief confusion. "Ah! My bad. This is the regular knife. You need the filly one!"
He puts the large knife away, and replaces it with the world's tiniest knife. It has the proportions of a regular knife, but is smaller than a toothpick.
Scootaloo stops backing away. “Oh. Okay.”
Do they really do this enough to require a designated filly knife?
Yacci hands the knife to Pinkie, who proceeds to prick the filly, drawing a single drop of blood.
She can barely feel it whatsoever. Thank Celestia Scootaloo decided to join at this age.
The puppet takes the drop of blood carefully, before opening a crimson-red tome. He flips to an empty page, dipping the drop in, and closing the book. The tome glows red briefly, before going back to being dull.
“Scootaloo... you are now officially apart of... Jocus Jocundus!” The puppet says with grandiose.
The filly waits a few seconds, expecting some immediate change or effect, but nothing happens. She’s honestly a little disappointed.
“Okay, Pinkie. I’ll let you do whatever you want to teach Scootaloo here the ropes, but on one condition. You must return to me as soon as I summon you. Do you understand? Yacci asks, with some seldom seen seriousness.
“Aye aye!” Pinkie responds, saluting with her hoof.
Yacci floats back to his chair. “Good. Now... it's sleepy time.”
The puppet proceeds to collapse back into a state similar to when they first got here.
Scootaloo suddenly perks up. “Wait! I have one more question!”
After a short pause, two hear a whisper in the air.
“It’s sleeepyyy timeeeee…..”
Pinkie shrugs. “We can ask him later. Right now, it’s time to begin your new and awesome life!” She says, somewhat giddy.
Scootaloo gulps.
She can only hope she made the right choice here.