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// 63 - Elsewhere 
// Story: Fading Suns: A New World 
// by David Silver 
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What horrors had he agreed to explore? Most demons he had imagined were that of the mind, lurking inside wicked men and women that had lost the way towards the righteous light and had fallen prey to the symbolic demons.

The claws he parried with his blade were far from symbolic. The flames that licked around the exposed teeth of the creature that wielded it were anything but imagined. It shrieked at him with a shrill whinny as if it were a horse, bringing in its other hand to swat him aside as if he were a doll.

He heard his name being called, a friend and ally rushing to meet the demon's fell charge with a heavy shield, stabbing at it with her spear. It grazed the side of the thing, allowing a thin trail of red to seep free. It bled. That meant it could hurt, and die. With renewed strength, he forced himself back to his feet. "They can bleed," he shouted out, getting a return cry from the rest of his divine unit.

They would, perhaps, not all die that day.





Laud trailed some distance behind Gregor, watching him from a distance. Him and the ponies that he spoke to.

Gregor spread his hands wide. "What a lovely little village you have here. So simple and pure."

Raven raised a hoof to point. "We have a farmer's market right here. There's Quills and Sofas."

"Pardon?"

Mayor Mare lifted her shoulders. "It is exactly what it sounds like. They sell writing implements and comfortable seating furniture. You'd be surprised how well the two go together."

Gregor rubbed at his fuzzy chin. "A curious notion, though I imagine one might enjoy small comforts while performing as a scribe. I can remember the hard stools well."

Their tour went on, with Gregor speaking kindly to the ponies, not at all as suspicious as Laud had suspected in kind. He wondered what Gregor was truly up to, or if not him, his superiors.

"Tell me." His eyes were on a pegasus flying past high in the air. "By what marvel does a creature like that take to the air?"

Mayor Mare held up a hoof to block the light of the sun and see the pegasus better. "She's just flapping her wings. How else would she fly?"

If he had doubts to her words, he did not speak them. "Do others of her ilk have other related talents?"

Raven nodded. "This they do. Pegasi, as they are called, have control over the weather. They can rest on clouds, push them around, shape them, and manipulate them. It is their primary talent besides flying." She pointed at Mayor Mare. "She and I are earth ponies. We have a connection to the earth below us and the plants and animals that live on it, though many of us find positions that do not make use of that talent."

Mayor Mare shrugged at that. "Just as pegasi often do take jobs that are not weather related, or even flying related. We are more than what we were born as, after all, and we have different goals and ambitions. Besides, if we obeyed that, who would be mayor? None of the tribes have an innate talent at leadership."

"Or paperwork," noted Raven with a little smile.

Gregor raised a finger. "Well, we humans have less obvious cues to our potential being. While some are born to greatness, the rest have to figure it out for their own. Few are simply born with some great talent."

Mayor Mare trotted slowly towards the next sight to see. "And what prompted you to become a, what was it, priest?"

Gregor gently pat a pony as he passed, and the pony looked mildly confused, but did not bristle at the contact. "The words of the pancreator always rang true in my ears, and to speak them was like being asked to sing the sweetest song. It came naturally, I think, that I followed it into the order and didn't look back."

Raven perked an ear at him. "What does it say about us?" She pointed at herself. "Wait, could it say anything?"

Mayor Mare shook her head. "He's just meeting us."

Laud tensed, hoping revealing words would be shared. Gregor spread his hands. "They speak of possibilities. For instance, those that are inhuman have different souls than those that are."

"Souls?" asked Raven.

"Ghosts?" asked Mayor Mare, a brow raised.

"Yes, ghosts, but either in us, or in the beyond." He tapped at his chest. "Those stuck in the middle are to be pitied and removed for everyone's sake."

Raven shook her head. "Well, that makes sense. Why would my ghost be a human ghost?"

Mayor Mare shook her head in solidarity. "That would be quite strange indeed."

"Different but just as good!" came a new voice as Pinkie landed just beside Gregor from nowhere in particular. "Heya! Welcome to Ponyvill--" Her statement was cut off, almost along with her head. She bounded back just in time to avoid an incoming sword. "Hey! Only my sister likes catching those."

Gregor held up a lone hand, transitioning to English, "Let her speak." His words swapped back to the horse-like noises of Ponish, "Hello there. Where did you come from, Miss...?"

"I'm Pinkie," she excitedly introduced as if nothing had happened. "Did Laud teach you how to talk? You're good at it!"

"Thank you, Pinkie." He put both hands to his chest before spreading them to gesture at his guards. "I am Father Gregor, a humble priest, and these are my guards. Forgive them, for my safety is their only thought."

"Don't even worry about it." She waved it off before spreading her hooves wide to gesture at all of Ponyville at once. "Welcome to Ponyville!" she finally got out. "I see you're getting the deluxe tour with Mayor Mare and Raven Inkwell. Lucky stallion. You are a stallion, right? I'm like 80% sure."

Mayor Mare nodded towards Pinkie. "Pinkie is one of our valued residents. A party planner, morale expert, and generally friendly pony, she knows how to put a smile on just about anycreature's face given half a chance."

Pinkie nodded with glowing pride. "What's your favorite flavor of cake?"

Gregor looked genuinely perplexed. "I confess, my child, to not having sampled cake very often. I would not know where to start to describe them or decide which is better than the other."

Pinkie clopped her hooves together. "One sampler tray coming up! How long are you going to be in town?"

"With how warmly I am being welcomed, perhaps some time." He smiled gently at the friendly-seeming pony. "Tell me, is the making of merriment your profession?"

Pinkie shook her head quickly. "Nuh uh. I wish! I'm a baker." She pointed off towards Sugarcube Corner, though it was out of sight. "I help Mister and Missus Cake to make sweet treats and to sell and deliver them. What do you do?" She bounced a little in place, smiling brightly.

Things were going well. Perhaps too well... Laud tried to puzzle through the exchanged words, looking for the darker meaning that would pose a threat to his people and his demesne.





Twilight looked up from her desk at the knocking. "Come in!" The door opened to admit a yak child. "Yona, how can I help you today?"

"Yona confused." She pointed upwards. "Last thing go away, new thing come. Last one many creatures, this one only few. What happening?"

Twilight tilted her head before it clicked. "How do you know how many people are there?"

Yona suddenly looked defensive. "Not important, just confused. Answer yak question."

Twilight slipped from her chair, circling her desk towards Yona. "Well, each of those 'things' is a ship, full of those people. How many get off or not can vary depending on what they are doing."

"Not ponies, or yaks, or dragons, or griffons or--"

"Humans," interrupted Twilight, setting a hoof on Yona's shoulder. "They are called humans."

"Yes, humans." Yona nodded her large head. "Humans shape funny."

"Don't say that," gently chastised Twilight. "They are creatures just like you and I, and it falls on us to be their friends. I bet dragons looked very odd at first, didn't they?"

"Yes," she flatly admitted.

"But you are friends with one now, aren't you?"

"Well... yes?" Yona tilted her head a little. "She is good friend. Still look funny, but is good."

Twilight smiled a little. "It can be the same way with the humans. For now, get back to class."

"We safe?" She turned for the door. "If not, Yona can smash stupid ship."

Twilight imagined the little child rushing towards their ship and the likely hostile response to the attack that would follow. "Please don't... do that. It's not nice to smash other people's things without their permission." She considered a moment. "I'll speak with the other faculty. Maybe we'll arrange a proper meeting between the students and our visitors, so you can say hello."

"That sound nice!" She bounced in place. "Best headmare." She bounded off with a grin, clearly looking forward to it.

Twilight watched her go with a more subdued smile of her own. "Well... better get on that..." She just had to get the students to say hello without sparking an inter-planetary war. No big deal, right?





Flames licked at their battered fronts, scorching and roasting. They were fighting a retreat back towards their vessel, the ground littered with the evidence of their efforts. Dead and dying from both sides were scattered across the field in a display of naked violence.

A harsh equine cry came from above. One of the demons held out a claw towards them, barking what sounded like orders. He took the shot. It was uncomfortably far and he didn't have time to line up the shot, but he took it, praying to his god as he did so.

Her cry echoed and she plummeted, caught by another of the demons. She was hurried off the field and the men roughly cheered. They were being forced to retreat,  but they had left their mark. The blood they shed and shed by their fallen brothers and sisters in battle would not have been entirely in vain.

"Kill me," begged a fallen soldier. "Don't let them have their way with me when you're gone. Do it."

"I'll do no such thing." Another soldier grabbed the fallen one at the wrist and yanked them to their unsteady feet. "Let's go. We'll fight His battles another day." Supporting the injured under his arm, the two retreated up onto the ship that was already warming its engines.

Inside the ship, the soldiers could hear the demons clawing and scraping, screaming in their strange equine ways, the howls of demonkind, promising agony to any they got their angry claws on.

The ship shuddered as it began to lift off, propelling into the sky rapidly, but the clawing only slowed. At least a few were still clinging to the ship, trying to gain access to its insides with angry scratches at the tough metal. But it did slow. Less and less scrapes came. It slowed and peace came, until only the rumble of the engine and the soft groans of the injured could be heard in the belly of their ship.

"Stealth activating," noted a voice. "Hull is clear."

A weak cheer rose. They would escape that day.

They had injured to tend to and videos to review. They had expected strange and new things, but literal demons rising from the fiery depths, that was not on the itinerary.  They had been entirely immune to all heat based weapons, making lasers a cruel joke to use against them. Capable of flight, with deadly claws and teeth, with a bloodthirst to match, calling them demons seemed like the only natural course of action.

What else did one call such a beast?

A priest moved among them, seeking out those who had managed to escape, but with too many wounds, saying final words and laying them to rest.