//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13~Hunting 
// Story: Hellfire Dash 
// by Centurion Pike-Wall 
//------------------------------//

Umbra landed at the meeting point she had told Lighting to meet her at. Sure enough, the aqua-colored mare was sitting on a rock, and slid down when she saw her flying towards her. When she landed, she said, "Venandi, what's up? Look like you've just found a timberwolf in your bathroom."

She didn't reply to her at first, merely turning to her bag. She muttered, "Ad venit laci de qua praecisi estis". A portal of fire, much like the kind that brought her to the outskirts of Ponyville about a week ago, formed below her, and she tossed her bag into it. With any luck, it would be found by a cleaning imp, unpacked, cleaned and put away by the time she got back. 

Turning back to her old rival, she said, "Let's just say, I ran into some trouble. Now, any idea where this guy is? I want to get out of this area as soon as possible."

"Hold on", she said. She pulled out a small item from her jacket pocket. Looking a bit around her, she saw it was a small golden lighter with a silver cross on the side and covered in intricate engravings. 

Umbra asked, "What's the lighter for?"

"Well, normally we use them for finding the souls that are headin' for the palaces in the sky. Boss mare modified a few of them to track Pillar. Just let me get it on." She flicked the grindstone a few times, finally getting a small white flame form. With seemingly no wind, the flame seemed to move to the right. She said, "Alright. Seems to be going this way. Let's go."

Umbra unfolded her arms and followed the celestial. She lead them into the woods, weaving past the creepers and trees. The flame seemed to grow a little bit smaller, becoming steadily straighter and straighter, if ever so slightly. Umbra herself just kept moving behind her, only occasionally reaching up to keep her hat on her head. 

After a little while, Lightning asked, "So, who exactly is Pillar? I mean, I've heard of him, but only really off-handedly."

"You've never heard of him?", she asked. "I thought he was pretty well known."

"Must be like what Nightmare Moon and Discord were. We figured they existed, but didn't really take it too seriously. Again, I've heard of him, but nothing too much", she said. 

Umbra said, "Heh. Must be a more Daemon thing."

"Guess so. So...."

"Right", Umbra said, pushing a creeper over her head. "He was a celestial; supposedly one of the first. During the war, before the Covenant, he was something of, admittedly, a badass. Dozens of Daemons at a time, etc, etc. After the Covenant, he still kept attacking and killing Daemons. He was imprisoned, and now has escaped." 

"Huh", Lightning said, and silence reigned from there as they kept moving.

Eventually, they arrived in a sort of clearing, stopping at the edge of a steep cliff. In front of them, across a rickety rope bridge, stood the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, in all its ruin-y glory. Lightning whistled, before looking down at the lighter. "Alright, he's in there. And I am not stepping on that bridge."

"We both having wings, feather-face", Umbra groused, spreading her wings for emphasis. 

"Never said I forgot, horn-head", she said, slamming the lighter shut and sliding it into his lighter pocket. "Well? What're we waiting for?" She kicked off the ground, flying over the ravine with Umbra right on her hooves. 

She looked back at her, an arrogant grin splitting her muzzle. Lightning put on a burst of speed, Umbra matching it in turn. She knew what she was up to, and followed her example. The two were soon neck and neck, with too little space left for one to suitably pull ahead. The slid against the stone on the other side, instinctively bending their legs to absorb the impact of the landing. 

"You just had to, eh?", Umbra asked. 

Lighting panted, yet was still grinning like a feral dog. "Just like old times. You know, 'sides me bucking up." She shook her head, and added, "Come on. Pillar should be inside." 

Slipping past the rubble, the two of them ended up behind a large boulder in the main throne room. Peeking around the edge, Umbra couldn't help but sigh in nostalgia. She hadn't been her in years; not since the incident with Discord's vines. However, one thing stood out among the familiar torn tapestries and bits of broken stone. 

Standing over by the weird metal thing that the Elements of Harmony were on, stood a dull green-colored earth pony stallion. Like the griffon at the gate, he wore a golden cuirass over a white tank top and dark, olive green cargo pants. A sheathed sword hung at his side. His dark blue mane was pulled bag into a short rats-tail. He was facing away from them, apparently talking to somepony. 

"That must be him", Umbra said. 

"Well, he's a Celestial", her compatriot said, pulling out and flipping open her lighter. "And the flame is almost completely straight up. So, yeah, that's our best bet."

"Ok. So, how do you want to go about this?", Umbra said, pulling out her knife from her jacket. 

"I'm gonna try and get him to surrender." 

Umbra looked at her like horns just shot out of her head. "Are you nuts!? This is-"

"I know, I know. I just have my orders, and-"

"You can stop hiding now", a third voice, much louder than the two mares, cut in. "You are terrible at this."

Peeking around what they were hiding behind, they saw that the stallion was looking at them. His face was handsome yet cold, with a dull green, jade-like eyes. His sword was now in his hands; a silver and gold basket-hilted broadsword. The two of them stepped out into the open, and Lightning said, "Pillar. The Boss-mare says you're to come back immediately. Do so, and she won't strip you of your power and hand you over to-"

"That isn't an option, Ms. Dust. I am not bowing down to her, if it means also bowing down to the Daemons", he said, eyes locking with her. Umbra couldn't help but shudder. "I will give you one chance to leave, Ms. Dust. I only wish to kill the Daemon. You may leave."

"Yeah, that's not happening", she said, drawing her own weapons; a pair of foldout batons. "So, we'll just have to drag you back kicking and screaming."

"A shame."

He was in front of her seemingly in an instant, swinging the blade down at her. She barely had time to get out of the way, and even then the brim of her hat was cut. She slid back and kicked off the stones, diving low, knife held at his knees. At the same time, Lightning Dust came at him as well, batons aiming for either side of his head. He lifted up his leg, bringing it down on her when she got close enough, sending Umbra sprawling into the floor. At the same time, he blocked both of the batons, using his other hand to shove her back, before whirling around, bringing the blade down in a deep thrust at Umbra, who once again was just barely able to slip out of the way. She flapped her wings, the leathery limbs getting her airborne and out of range for a short time. 

Umbra caught her breath, before scowling and pulled up her neck gaiter. This was gonna be a tough one. Flipping her knife around in her grip, she dove for one of the pillars. Kicking off of it, she landed just shy of him, kicking off it once again and charging him. She reasoned that if she could move fast enough, she just might be able to overwhelm him. 

He seemingly anticipated it, sidestepping her attack, then blocking the twin strikes from Lightning, and turning to focus on her. Umbra whirled around in the air, diving at him from behind. He ducked one of Dusts strikes before kicking backward, preventing her from getting in close at that moment. He swung up the blocked baton, the slashed it in a wide arc, sending both of them back. He snarled, "I've beaten dozens of Daemons, all stronger than you two. You think you're a challenge?"

"Just shut up", Lightning said, striking at the back of his knees. He blocked it, then tried to grab Umbra's arm when she stabbed down at his neck. He managed to prevent it from hitting that, but the blade still dug into his shoulder. Dust, seeing an opportunity, had gotten back and flew in, dropkicking him square in the back. The force of the impact, likely combined with a bit of magic, sent him flying, smacking force first into the stairs. The two of them stood up, and began walking up to him, Dust pulling out a pair of handcuffs. 

The two of them stopped when they saw a... a filly run out from some of the rubble. She was a dark red earth pony with a brown and blue-streaked mane. She wore an orange T-shirt under a denim jacket, a pair of jeans, and a grey field cap. She knelt down next to Pillar, saying in a seemingly average voice, "Mister Pillar! Mister Pillar!"

"Who the buck is that?", Umbra asked. 

Dust said, "Look like I know?"

She looked up at the two supernaturals, and Umbra saw her eyes, the only thing that didn't immediately scream 'Average'. They were spiral pools of purple, constantly swirling like a whirlpool. She said, "W-why did you hurt him? He's helped me!"

"Listen, young lady", Umbra said. "No matter what he's done, he is still a bad Cel-Pony. A bad pony. So, we'll just take him into custody, and I'll take you back to Ponyville to find your parents or whoever you're staying with. Give me the cuffs, Dust."

After being given the cuffs, she walked forward, trying to ignore the now crying filly. She said, "N-no! Please! Leave us alone!" And to both Umbra's and Dust's surprise, a loud *POOF* sounded around her, and Umbra fell two feet onto the steps.

She shook her head and looked up, only to have rainbow-colored bangs to fall in front of her face. Eyes wide behind her sunglasses, she looked down. Leather jacket; check. Pocket watch; check. Hooves..... Sure enough, instead of her fur covered hands, she was greeted with hooves like those on her legs. Looking back, she saw she still had rear hooves, but her body was no longer bipedal. Instead, it looked like a bulls, with flanks, a flat back, the whole nine yards. On her back were her old feathery wings, flapping erratically. 

Lightning Dust, like the good friend and former rival she was, burst out laughing. "Oh, dear Faust! You're so adorable! HA HA HA HA HA!"

Umbra, by contrast, was freaking out, "What in the Rings happened to me!?"

The filly was also freaking out, muttering over and over, "Oh Celestia, oh Celestia, oh Celestia." Another flash of magic, and Umbra was back to normal. Well, partially. Her hair didn't return to it's red and purple color, remaining her original full rainbow color. Everything else, however, was back to its previous state: Leathery bat wings, dull blue fur, fangs, and whatnot. She said, "Ok, what was that?"

"Ok, yeah. What in-AGHH!", Lightning said, being cut off by Pillar. He had recovered, thrusting up in a massive thrust, impaling her at full speed. She stumbled back a bit, looking down at the blade in her gut. She said, "Oh, buck you", before falling limp and fading into golden light. 

He was turning back to her before she could fully recover, swinging downward and hitting her arm. The jacket absorbed a small amount of the impact but didn't stop the cut, which bored through the leather and cut her skin, just below her left shoulder. She rolled away before he could recover, and took off to avoid the next attack. 

Turning around in the air, she saw the two of them fleeing deeper into the castle ruins, Pillar carrying the weird filly. She prepared to throw her knife, only to realize it fell out of her grip when she was turned into, whatever the heck that was. So, instead, she uttered, "Ubi non est absconditum a vobis peccata vestra." Unseen to them, a small pool of black mist formed around the filly's shoulder, before fading. 

Now, even as they ran around the corner and down some stairs, she could still see them. She decided to give them a bit of a lead, allowing her to stalk them a bit better. Besides, she needed her knife. So, she landed by where it fell when she was, transformed, or whatever. When she stooped down to pick it up, she heard a voice behind her. One she both hoped and longed to hear again.

"Rainbow Dash?", Twilight said, freezing Umbra on the spot. "Is that you?"