//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 : The one where the gang interregates a goat 
// Story: Shout At The Devil : Welcome to Equestria 
// by Bucket of Skies 
//------------------------------//

The majority of the royal guard were busy repairing most of the damage that the Hellfree goats had done in their attack. A few of them were escorting us back to the castle to show us what they had found.
“Was anypony seriously hurt in this attack?”, Sunset asked the guard.
“Unfortunately, quite a few. Including a lot of our stallions. We’ve rushed them to the nearest hospital. Hopefully they can recover. But on the positive side, there were no ponies found dead.”, The guard said.
Him saying that reminded me of the travesty I had made earlier. I shuddered at that image, but I was doing my best to tuck it deep deep down where I wouldn’t ever find it again.
“Spike requested you came as soon as possible. When the guards found something, Spike was frantic to get into contact with you all.”, the guard said.
“What did they find?”, I asked.
“I’m not sure. All I know is that it is related to this attack.”, he explained.
“It better be a portal to the Hellfree forest so we can get this over with. That way I can go home.”, Brim said.






We arrived at the castle only a few minutes later. While it wasn’t the main target for the attack, it still sustained a lot of damage from some of the stragglers as the guard had explained.
Upon walking through the main entrance to the castle, Spike had greeted us with a not so positive attitude.
“Oh jeez. Twilight is not going to be happy about this when she gets back.”, Spike said examining a fallen pillar.
“What have you got Spike?”, I asked him.
“Well, he managed to fall so far behind that the guards had caught him.”, Spike explained.
“I’m sorry, him?”, Sunset asked.
“Yes. In the midst of this attack one of our finest guards managed to capture one of the goats that took part in this attack. He is in a cell in the castle.”, he explained.
“Wow. One of your guards actually achieved something. It’s only a matter of time before they can solve problems without help from a magical group of friends.”, Brim said sarcastically.
We followed Spike downstairs to a dark room filled with some cells. At the very end was one lit cell guarded by two guards.
“We’ve been trying to get him to talk, but he’s been very reluctant to answer any of our questions.”, Spike explained.
“Is he not talking to anypony?”, Sunset asked.
“Fuck yous all! This would technically be a war crime for injuring a goat and then holding him a cell without medical treatment.”, a voice from inside the cell screamed out.
“Not exactly in the nicest ways. I figured since Brim was a goat he could get something out of him about where the Hellfree forest is.”, Spike explained.
“You expect Brim to be the voice of reason to get this goat to talk?”, Sunset asked him.
“Yes.”
“The one who accidentally caused the attack to happen.”, I reminded Spike.
“And also the one who could care less about the place that made me have an existential realization of what I ate back in the real world.”, Brim chipped in.
“Look, our town was just attacked. I have no idea what to do without Twilight and I’m desperate to get her back to stop this mess.”, Spike defensively said.
“Well, considering what’s happened anything could be worth the information at this point. We can try something with this goat.”, Sunset said.
“Whatever you can get out, get it out fast. I have a bad feeling about the times ahead with the message Lucynious gave us earlier.”, Spike said before walking away.
“Looks like we got ourselves an interrogation on our hooves. How do you want to go about it with this goat?”, Brim asked.
“What do you mean, how do we go about it? I think we just go in there and ask the goat where the forest is and we go from there.”, I said.
“You obviously don’t know devils, or in this case goats. They won’t give up something just because you ask them to. You need to beat it out of them. Or torture them to the point of wanting to die again.”, Brim explained.
“We are not going to do that.”, Sunset said.
“I’m just saying if you want to get answers to what we want, we need to do this like good cop and bad cop. Only the bad cop also happens to know how to use torture devices to get ponies to confess.”, Brim said.
Sunset and I both ignored Brim’s advice and decided it would be best to try and make it easy on this goat by healing him just a little bit, but not enough to fight back. We figured if we made him feel just a little bit of comfort, he might give up the location. Seemed like a good idea.
We walked over to the cell and told the guards to leave us for the moment as we tried to talk with this goat. As soon as they left, we walked up to see the goat. He was a little bit smaller than Brim, but a lot more gruffed up. His horn and front hoof were damaged. As well as a scar on his right eye. Whoever he was, he has seen a thing or two.
“Who the fuck are you? ”, he said to Sunset and I before noticing Brim,” Lord Brimstone?”
“That doesn’t matter who we are. Tell us who you are and wher-”, Sunset said before the goat interrupted.
“Why aren’t you killing them, Lord Brimstone? You have always told us that goats are going to be the superior species by any means necessary.”, the goat said to Brim.
“I hate to break it to you kid, but I’m not the Lord Brimstone you are describing. I mean, yes I am Brim but not really. Look, this shit is really confusing.  Lets just say I’m the Brim helping these guys to save this place.”, Brim had explained.
“No, that can’t be true. You were there when you ordered the attack.”, the goat explained.
“Lord Brim was the one who did the attack?”, Sunset asked him.
“What's it to you bacon hair? You fucks lock me in a cage, injure my horns and legs, and expect me to give you answers for everything just because you have some clone?”, the goat said.
“Look why don’t we start from the beginning. Can you at least tell us your name?”, I intervened.
“Well at least you have some decency to ask my name before you treat me like shit. My name’s Anthrax.”, he said.
“So wait, you’re saying that ‘I’ did the attack?”, Brim asked him.
“Yes, you were planning the attack just before the day of wreckoning.”, Anthrax explained.
“Wow! Talk about an unlucky coincidence of doing the spell at the same time as my other clone doing it as well. Almost as unlucky as a coincidence with Rocky’s clone.”, Brim said.
“Wait what?”, Sunset asked Brim.
“That’s not important Sunset.”, I told her, trying to change the subject.
“Let’s get this back on track. Where is it?”, Brim asked Anthrax.
“Where is what?”, he asked.
“You know what we’re asking about. You’re going to tell us before-”, Brim said in a threatening voice before Sunset interrupted.
“What Brim is trying to say is that if you want to be healed from your injuries, you need to give us something we need.”, she explained.
“Are you kidding me? And you guys are apparently the ones  who claim to be the friendliest of the bunch.”, Anthrax said, clearly annoyed by the situation.
“Look, we can make this better if you-”
“No! You entitled fucks claim to welcome every creature of the land, yet you left us in the dark for years upon years. Even now, you could easily heal me. But no, you instead want to hold me hostage so I give up my hideout for me to get healed.”, Anthrax scolded us.
“You attacked us!”, Sunset fired back.
“Well maybe you needed to be attacked to show how you aren’t the superior species you claim to be.”, Anthrax said.
“Look, how about we calm down and just talk it out.”, I said trying to diffuse the tension.
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore. You can all burn for tomorrow when Lucynious uses your pathetic princess’s magic to set fire to those who oppose her.”, Anthrax said before sitting back in the darkness of the cell.
We all took a small huddle outside the cell to discuss the situation we were in. 
“Well that could’ve gone smoother. Good grief I never expected that much hostility for a goat.”, I said.
“I did. No one in Hell is a nice devil. When are you ever gonna listen to the one who knows devils well enough?”, Brim told us.
“Well at least we now know what Lucy’s plan is with Twilight and the elements of harmony. But not where to look to try and stop her.”, Sunset said.
“Are y'all ready to finally listen to me and my tactic of the bad cop off the chains?”, Brim asked us.
“What choice do we have?”, I asked Sunset for her opinion.
“Not much. Whatever you gotta do, do it. Just don’t get violent with it.”, Sunset told Brim.
“Oh goody. This won’t be violent at all. I just need you to get a hold of some things Sunset.”, Brim said before leaning in to whisper some things into her ear.
She looked confused with what Brim had been telling her to get.
“Are you really sure that will be it to get what we need?”, she asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Absolutely. Devils hate it, so goats shouldn’t be that much different.”, Brim said.
“If you say so”.
Sunset had walked out of the cell room.
“What are you up to Brim?”, I asked skeptically.
“Oh nothing. Just something so torturous and painful that Anthrax here will give up anything in order for it to stop.”, he explained.
“You’re sure of it?”
“Rocky, I have been a demon for hundreds of years. This will make this goat want death to make it stop. I am more than sure of it.”, he said.
“It better work. No telling what’s in store for the days to come.”, I said.






Sunset had come back with a cart covered with a large table cloth over it after fifteen minutes of being away. It looked like whatever she was pushing on the cart must’ve been a hassle to push.
    “Your plan better work Brim. You have no idea how hard it was to find specifically what you asked for.”, Sunset said after pushing the cart towards Brim.
“It will. Your ‘agonizing work’ won’t have been done in vain.”, Brim said before turning the cell,”Let's get this son of a bitch to talk”.
All three of us walked back to Anthrax’s cell. He was quick to try and dismiss us from getting information out of him.
“I already told you all to fuck off!”, Anthrax scolded us.
“We aren’t finished with you yet.”, Sunset said sternly.
“I already told you that I’m not gonna give anything up.”, he said again.
“We’re asking you nicely before we have to use whatever Brim has in mind to get that location out of you.”, Sunset warned him.
“Ah bite me.”, Anthrax responded angrily.
“Okay I’ve heard enough. Time for the bad cop to come in.”, Brim said, pulling the cloth off of the cart.
On it was a large record player with a set of earmuffs and one shiny looking record. Brim had then pushed the cart forward towards the cell. Anthrax took one look at the cart and then back at Brim with a confused look.
“You plan on serenading me to death?”, Anthrax said sarcastically.
“I’m gonna ask you one more time, goat to goat, to give up the Hellfree forest before it gets six hundred and sixty six times worse for you.”, Brim told him using his magic to put the record spinning on the player.
“Worse? How could my situation possibly get worse than it already is?”, Anthrax said.
“Alright. You could’ve made it easier. This is going to hurt me a lot more than it is going to hurt you.”, Brim said as he dropped the needle on the spinning record.
The music began playing some wild opening lyrics that were heavily harmonized with multiple singers. Soon afterwards, some vibrant synthesizers began playing as some drum beats began. But that's when I noticed Brim started to put on the pair of earmuffs. As that happened, Anthrax began to uncomfortably sweat. Brim was wincing slightly while letting off an entertained grin.
Shortly after the song’s chorus began, Anthrax began screaming bloody murder as he tried to cover his ears with his hooves.
“Dear god it’s so terrible! Please make it stop!”, Anthrax pleaded.
“This won’t end until you give us what we want!”, Brim shouted over the music.
Anthrax let out screams of agony for the next few minutes until the song had finally had stopped.
“Please, I beg you to stop this torture. These lyrics are horrible!”, Anthrax begged Brim.
“Nah. In fact, how about we loop these lyrics over and over again until you eventually squeal the location out.”, Brim said as he used his magic to place the record player needle near the halfway point of the record.
“NO!”
The chorus began playing over and over again until Anthrax began sobbing from the amount of torture he was being put through. I could now understand how messed up torture with music really was.
“Okay I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Just make it stop!”, Anthrax screamed out.
“And that was the magical phrase that needed to be said.”, Brim said before lifting the needle off of the record,” Now where the fuck is the Hellfree Forest?”
“It’s...it’s in the old pet cemetery. Near Timber Wolf Forest.”, Anthrax said while still in traumatic shock.
“You expect them to let us in if we knock? Tell us how we get in there!”, Brim demanded.
“You need....the magic spell to get through the barrier by the catacombs. Uver Alix. Then you’ll be able to walk right in.”, he said, sounding weak.
“Great. Thank you for your cooperation.”, Brim said before taking off his earmuffs.
“So that's it? I won’t have to be subjected to this torturous song?”, Anthrax asked desperately. 
“Sure kid. I’ll stop playing the song. I’ve seen enough torture for one day.”, Brim said before walking towards the guards,” I feel he has hurt both your feelings with all of his toxic behaviours. So play the record as many times as you like”.
With my eyes wide open from the visual of the goat screaming in agony, I looked over at Sunset who was equally as horrified as I was
“Hey Sunset, can you make a reminder with me when we get back home?”, I asked Sunset.
“Go ahead.”, She said.
“Remind me to never piss off Brim ever with his goat experience.”, I told her.
“Noted”.





“So where do we stand?”, Spike had asked us.
“It looks like they have their hideout near the Timber Wolf forest. They are hidden with a magic spell that can only be used by goats.”, Sunset told him.
“Of course! It had to be the location where it is most dangerous to venture. I’ll get the guard to prepare an attack right aw-”, Spike said before Brim interrupted.
“I hate to interrupt you, but have you seen what they did to this place and the guards defending it? You stand no chance against Lucy.”, Brim told him.
“Well then what do you suppose we do? Lucynious is planning to attack Equestria tomorrow. We need to come up with an attack plan.”, Spike asked him.
“Brim is right. Lucy is a powerful goat. She could easily use her army and her powers to wipe us all out if we attack her head on.”, I told Spike.
“She can’t be invincible can she? Didn’t you have something that angered Lucy when you were with her before?”, Sunset asked Brim.
“Are you asking if I had a kryptonite for Lucy?”, Brim asked her.
“Well surely you had to have something to make her go away.”, Sunset said.
“Uh, no. Lucy stayed away from me because she thought that I was a pig for wanting sex more often than she did. But I will say this, she was allergic to honey.”, Brim explained.
“Honey? Why that of all things to be allergic to?”, I asked him.
“Something to do with it being a holy food that lasts forever. Ironic since she technically couldn’t die in our world because she was already dead.”, Brim explained.
“Well that’s great that you probably have a weakness for Lucy, but that still doesn’t solve our plan of attack!”,Spike exclaimed.
“What if we didn’t have a plan of attack and instead we do some sneaking into the place?”, Sunset suggested.
“There’s no way that would work, would it?”, Spike asked.
“Well us demons are smart, but not smart enough to suspect a sneak attack since the gateway to Hell can only be accessed by demons. It is a possibility that it could work.”, Brim concluded.
“But how would we manage to pull something like that off? Surely they wouldn’t have to leave Hellfree forest if they have stayed hidden for so long.”, I asked.
“Not unless they needed to come out for food. If what Anthrax said was true, the Hellfree forest is in a magical barrier. That means that there would be no way for them to get food because they don’t have access to sunlight or water inside a magical barrier of that magnitude.”, Sunset explained.
“And if I know me like I already know me…..AHA! I think I have a plan to blow the roof off this place.”, Brim exclaimed.
Brim used his magic to spawn some small figurines of goats and ponies, as well as a cart and a bush.
“Knowing from my experience in Hell, we eat a lot. So much so that we always have a demon deliver food to us from the outside world everyday. Sort of like a pizza boy stuck in the same job forever.”, Brim explained.
“What does this have to do with your plan?”, I asked him.
“I’m saying that it shouldn’t be too different from Hell. So the plan is we hideout near that cemetery, wait for the goat to come out of the barrier, we take him out once he manages to gather enough food to head back, and then we can take his clothes and pose as him to get in.”, Brim proposed while demonstrating it with the figures.
“But what if they recognize you as Lord Brimstone?”, I asked.
“They won’t because I have this!”, Brim said holding up the Capra Vestra.
“What makes you think that that book even has a disguise spell?”, Sunset asked him.
“It’s a book about dark magic and how to use it. It’s going to have a spell to pose as someone else. I’ll find it in the time we wait for that delivery goat to come out of his hole.”, Brim explained.
“As for taking on Lucy?”, Sunset asked him.
“Hmmm. That’s gonna be tricky, but…”, Brim said before turning to Spike,”How quickly can you have the royal guard collect honey?”
“Uh, I mean it might be a stretch but we can get some honey within a few hours if we can talk with Fluttershy. Why?”, Spike asked.
“We’re going to need a lot of honey. Like a lot to drown a pony in.”, Brim said.
“I’ll get the guard on it as soon as possible.”, Spike said before rushing to the end of the hall to alert the guard captain.
“I never would’ve expected that from you.”, I told Brim.
“Expected what?”, he asked.
“That you would even have a plan to save Equestria. I thought you hated this place.”, I said with a smug smile.
“Oh please! This place could suck a fat one for all I care. I’m just making it more interesting with high stakes on the line.”, Brim said dismissively.
Sunset let out a small chuckle as she walked up next to me.
“Sure you don’t care about this place.”, she said sarcastically.
“I’m only doing this because your friend that got captured is kinda sorta hot. Not like that statue of the bug lady I made out with earlier. So many sexy holes.”, Brim jokingly said.
Spike had come back from talking with the guard.
“It’s all set up now. The honey will be held at the apple farm for now.”, Spike told us.
“It doesn’t matter, as long as one of us can teleport the honey to our location when we get there for the fight against Lucy.”, Brim said.
“I can manage that.”, Sunset said.
“Perfect. Now that leaves you Rocky. Just eh….. don’t die.”, Brim told me.
“Sounds easy enough.”, I told him.
“Great! Princess Twilight! We are coming to the rescue!”, Brim exclaimed aloud.