Twilight Sparkle, and her number one assistant Spike the Dragon, were just sitting down for a nice bit of lunch when the door to Golden Oak Library slammed open, “Twilight!” cried Rarity as she rushed in, “Somepony’s foalnapped Fluttershy!”
“What?!” the purple unicorn paled as she read the note her friend shoved into her hands, “Spike! Go get Pinkie Pie! Rarity, go and grab Rainbow! I’ll run to the farm and fetch AJ.”
“A’right, what’s all tha ruckus about? Twi’ only said somethin’ had happened ta Fluttershy?”
Rarity threw her hands up in despair (even in the most serious of moments, the fashionista’s instinct for drama remained strong) “Our dear, gentle friend has been abducted by vile ruffians!”
Twilight nodded to her shocked friends, “It’s true, I have their note right here.”
“To Rarity, Twilight Sparkle and Company.
I have taken your friend, Fluttershy, captive at the command of one Count Donut Steel of Canterlot, who believes that this will cripple your ability to interfere with his future plans.
While she is in good health at the time I write this, I cannot say how long she will remain so, as Donut has expressed an intent to use her as a blood sacrifice for a summoning ritual, and I do not know when he plans to perform said rite.
Included with this letter, you will find three maps, one shows the route between Donut Steel’s estate and the Canterlot train station, the second the route between the estate and Canterlot Palace, while the third shows the route from the estate’s front door to Donut’s concealed summoning chamber. I believe Fluttershy will be kept either within or close by that chamber until Donut is ready for his ceremony.
Donut says that you six are ‘Heroes of the Realm’, if that is true, then this warning and these maps are all that you will need to rescue Fluttershy from his designs.
HellCaller”
“Yeah, like this doesn’t just scream ‘trap’,” Rainbow growled, “And what kind of a name is ‘HellCaller’, anyway?”
“Well of course it’s a trap, Dashie,” Pinkie replied cheerfully, even if her hair and ears were lying flat, “But this mystery pony is trying to make it a trap for that meanie-pants Donut, even if snatching Fluttershy wasn’t a very nice thing to do.”
Twilight rubbed her chin in thought for a moment, “Either way, Fluttershy is missing, and this is currently our only lead,” she declared, “Fillies, go and get your equipment, we’ll catch the afternoon train to Canterlot.”
The five mares (and one dragon) soon regrouped at the train station, where their armor and weapons drew worried looks from the other ponies waiting on the platform, “Uh, Twi’, sugarcube, are ya sure Spike ought ta be goin' with us?” Applejack asked in concern as she looked at the little drake standing resolutely beside the academic.
Twilight sighed, “He refuses to stay in Ponyville where it’s safe.”
“You bet I refuse!” asserted Spike adamantly, “Fluttershy is my friend too! And what if you need to send another message to the Princesses or something?” the mares could only look at each other and shrug in reluctant agreement.
Rarity put a hand on the drake’s shoulder, “Alright Spikey-wikey, you can come with us, but you stay behind us and out of any fights, do you understand? You know Fluttershy would be just horrified if you got hurt trying to rescue her,” the fashionista gave Spike’s shoulder a comforting squeeze when he finally gave a grudging nod.
A detachment of eight Solar Guards and a Canterlot magistrate, who introduced himself as Forthright Verdict, met the group at the Canterlot platform and accompanied them to the Steel Estate, where a butler eventually answered their extended knocking, “What is …,” whatever sharp comment the mare had been about to make quickly died when she saw the band of armored ponies waiting impatiently on the porch, “Yes, can I help you?”
Forthright stepped forward, “A number of very serious charges have been made against Count Steel, and these ponies are here as representatives of the Crowns to search this estate and take the Count into custody while the veracity of the charges is investigated.”
“Very well, come in,” the butler escorted the group into the foyer, except for the four guards who remained outside to watch the building, “And what are the particulars of these allegations, so that I may inform his Lordship and his barrister?”
Forthright pulled a scroll from a case on his belt and began to read, “Count Donut Steel stands accused of the following crimes: assault, foalnapping, illegal imprisonment, intent to commit murder, intent to use a sentient being for a ritual sacrifice, intent to summon a demon (or demons), and treason against Equestria.”
The butler blanched at the charges and quickly disappeared deeper into the estate to find her employer, while Rainbow tossed her friends a smirk, “Five bits says this ‘Count’ Donut tries to run for it.”
“That is why the Guard has ponies stationed outside,” the magistrate observed, “Though it is more common for nobles to bluster and threaten, and then leave everything to their barristers to sort out.”
Several minutes later, the butler returned, alone, “His Lordship is outraged at these spurious accusations, but will relinquish himself into your custody, under protest of course, but first he asks for a few minutes to gather his things.”
Forthright started to reply, but a chorus of thin, wailing howls interrupted him as a pack of eight squat, blubbery beings surged out of the hall, drool dripping from their fanged mouths and clawed hands outstretched. Spike grabbed the startled butler and dragged her back as the guardsponies surged forward to meet the attackers, “Go find Steel!” the sergeant yelled at the five mares as her sword bit into one of the abominations, its rubbery hide blunting the blow.
“Spike! Stay with the guards!” Twilight ordered as she and her friends charged into the estate, Applejack using her heavy maul to clear one of the horrors from their path by the simple expedient of smashing it aside to sprawl on the floor, where one of the guards immediately fell upon the prone monstrosity, his blade hacking and stabbing.
‘Caller leaned idly against the wall, indifferent to the reproachful stare Fluttershy had fixed upon her from the pegasus’ position chained atop the sacrificial slab, “Oh, come on,” the demoness finally grumbled, “Yes, accommodations are lousy, but if your friends really are ‘Heroes of Realm’ that Donut thinks they are, you’ll be out of here and back home in a few days, tops.”
The gag in her mouth reduced Fluttershy’s reply to a barely audible series of “meeps”.
“Vhat can I say, I’m not a nice person, and it’s not like I vanted to go after you,” ‘Caller added, waving a hand at herself, “Bound demon here, I can twist or subvert my ‘masters’ orders, but I do have to follow them in end.”
The mare meeped some more.
“Yeah, okay, if asshole I’m bound to takes it into his pointy little head to have his ritual early I’ll have to think of something,” 'Caller admitted, pulling away from the wall to frown down at Fluttershy, “He already murdered a child to compel me to his vill, but I vill not let him profit from this anymore than I absolutely have to.”
“Meep.”
“You’re velcome.”
The odd conversation was interrupted by Donut bursting through the door and rushing for the warding circle, where he quickly chanted a few words while holding the Jewel aloft. As soon as the brief incantation ended, the sigils flared, and a vile reek filled the room, as a trio of massive, bipedal toads appeared within the circle, their taloned hands nearly scraping the floor as they towered over everyone else in the chamber. “Guard this room!” Donut ordered his demonic servants as he backed up to the far wall, “Those Grogar damned Bearers of Harmony are here! They figured out I took Fluttershy somehow! Don’t let them near me!”
“Try and stay out of our way, half-breed,” one of the toad-demons sneered at ‘Caller in the Abyssal tongue as it shuffled across the room.
‘Hezrou,’ the demoness rolled her eyes as she drew her sword and moved to join the others, ‘Lazy as day is long, and at least as arrogant.’
A few moments later, but long enough for the three hezrou to begin shifting restlessly, the door exploded open and five mares poured through.
Applejack waited with forced patience as Rarity checked the door for traps or wards, when the white unicorn finally indicated the door was safe, she kicked it open and dove through to confront a quartet of demons, three massive, toad-like ones and a smaller, more pony-looking female, while behind them Fluttershy lay bound to a stone slab, and a stallion that the farmer would bet a barrel of cider was Donut Steel stood near the back wall, shouting orders. A cloud of cloying, greasy, unspeakably cold darkness enveloped the mares as soon as they entered the chamber, while multicolored bolts of ricocheting energy leaped randomly between the five ponies.
The farmer gritted her teeth against the pain and forced her way forward, her maul beginning to glow as she breathed a quick prayer to the Princesses, only to be intercepted by the demoness, a heavy, black-bladed bastard sword gripped in her hands, “Back ta tha darkness with ya!” Applejack growled as she swung, her heavy hammer bursting into white flames as it neared the demon.
The armored demoness merely grinned brashly at Applejack as she deflected the farmer’s blow, and then flames exploded around the farmpony and her friends as the demon spoke, “Garmth di Ixen.”
Blinking the spots from her dazzled eyes, the blonde mare was heartened to see that her friends had joined the fray; Rainbow’s paired blades whirled around her as she engaged one of the toad-demons, and Pinkie cartwheeled around another, her rapier in one hand and a rubber chicken in the other, while Rarity waited with studied poise before the last demon, her own rapier ready to lash out in precise, viper-swift strikes, and Twilight stood behind her more martially capable friends, hurling bolts of magic at Donut, who hastily raised a mystical shield to fend off the librarian’s assault.
While Donut was quick to go on the offensive, Twilight countered ever spell he threw, from blasts of dark magic, to sheets of flame, to shadowy, grasping tendrils. Likewise, Rainbow made quick work of her own opponent, and then moved to help her friends – Pinkie’s adversary actually looked grateful to be outnumbered, if only for the distraction from the baker’s constant chatter.
As this was going on, Applejack and the demoness had continued exchanging blows, along with the occasional burst of fire or ice, always punctuated by the demoness with a few words in what sounded a lot like dragonish to the farmpony, leaving both badly battered; Applejack had cuts on her arms and legs, and a long gash, luckily not deep, along her side, while the demoness’s armor was cracked and scorched by the earth pony’s hammering blows and seeped blood.
As the last of the toad-demons fell, only to shimmer and fade away as its body hit the floor, and Twilight shattered the warlock’s shield with an arcane bolt, the demoness stepped back from Applejack, “Dos di Ixen,” she snarled, conjuring a wall of fire that separated the five ponies from the rest of the room.
“Surrender, Donut Steel!” Twilight called above the crackling flames, “You have nowhere to go, and resisting will just make the court’s judgement harsher!”
“Surrender?” the stallion sneered, “To a pack of Princess-adulating peasants and an aggrandized civil servant? To Tartarus with you, the courts and your precious alicorns! Arruya!” Donut snapped, turning to his remaining demon, “I command you to end this idiotic fracas! I don’t care how!”
Applejack saw the demoness’s eyes glow brighter for a moment as a faint smile curled her lips, and then she spun around and unleashed a blast of roiling green and purple arcane energy that ripped across the room, shattering and melting the very stones, to smash into Donut Steel while leaving Fluttershy untouched. Following after the wave of magic, the demoness reached the stallion’s shattered body in a single bound and plunged her sword into his heart as runes flared upon the blade and a metallic sounding cackle echoed through the chamber.
As the wall of fire vanished, the five mares rushed over to cluster eagerly around Fluttershy, the demon momentarily forgotten, as Rarity made quick work of the pegasus’ manacles.
A sudden curse, and the sound of metal skittering across stone, drew the ponies’ attention away from their reunion and back to the demoness as she glared at the necklace on the floor and cradled her hand as if it had been burned, “Fine!” she spat, glaring at the amulet, “Keep thrice-damned thing! But this is going vith me!” she added, ripping a heavy book from the dead warlock’s belt.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash surged forward, their weapons at the ready, only to stop in surprise as Fluttershy quickly pushed past them to face the glowering demon, “Thank you for stopping Donut, even though I wish you hadn’t killed him, HellCaller, and thank you for restraining yourself against my friends.”
“Wait, you’re HellCaller?” asked Twilight.
“Yes,” the demoness replied absently as she gazed at Fluttershy in confusion, “You must still be suffering from Charm I cast on you, even though spell should have broken vhen Donut had me chain you up.”
The pink-maned mare shook her head, “No, you were kind to me even when you didn’t need to be, and you held back against me friends, even when Donut ordered you to protect him, because you knew it was wrong. You’re a good pony,” she stated firmly.
“Didn’t ve already have this discussion?” ‘Caller asked archly, before she flashed the pegasus a small frown, “I guess you ponies are really veak against enchantments, not to worry, it vill fade quickly enough once I am gone.”
“I don’t think she’s under a spell, ‘Caller,” the ponies looked around in alarm as the odd, chiming, voice of a young mare came out of nowhere, “I think she really means it.”
“She’s trying to be honest friends vith demon that kidnapped her?” ‘Caller laughed, “That’d just be silly, Kragor,” glancing back at the mares, now gathered protectively around Fluttershy, the demoness continued, “Well, I guess I shall see you again, or, more likely, never again. Togofor Ossalur.”
And the demon was gone.
‘Caller hissed slightly as she poked at a bruised rib, ‘Damn paladins and their holy veapons, even best armor can’t keep out divine fire,’ she grumbled to herself, “Now, vhere did ve end up?” she added aloud, looking at the rolling plains that stretched out before her, ending in distant blue hills.
“‘Caller? You might vant to turn around.”
The demoness frowned at her sword’s hesitant tone, “Vhat is it, Kragor?” she asked as she turned, to see a lone mountain rising in the distance with a city climbing its flanks, and a very conspicuous palace perched precariously above, “Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!”