//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 : Battle against insects // Story: Source of all Evils // by Igris Crow //------------------------------// Twilight ran as fast as she could towards Canterlot, due to the current crisis the train was unable to do its duty so all she could do was run towards the city on the mountain. “Twilight! Wait!” shouted the ponies that were running or flying after her. A rainbow mare easily catched up to her. “Twilight! What’s happening?!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she flew next to the purple unicorn. “Canterlot is under attack! I received a letter from Princess Celestia!” She replied. But she suddenly came to a stop, making the ponies following her stop themselves. “Why did you st-” Pinkie Pie started to say but was interrupted when a hoof came in front of her mouth, telling her to quiet down. “Wait… look.” Twilight said as she pointed at the green plains in front of them. All of them squinted their eyes and were shocked. There, on the road that led directly towards the city’s gates, marched an army of monsters. “What entire nation!” Yelled AppleJack as they stared at the marching army of monsters heading straight towards Canterlot. “My goodness! What in equestria are those things?!” Exclaimed Rarity as she fell dramatically backwards onto a couch that appeared out of nowhere. “They’re probably the ones attacking Canterlot city! Come on girls! We have to stop them!” Said Twilight. She was suddenly held back as she started to charge into the frey of monsters. “Wait! Look!” Said Fluttershy who was the one stopping Twilight from potentially killing herself as she pointed inside the crowd of monsters. Twilight looked and was shocked once again from what she was seeing. There, right in the middle of the armed monsters walked ghost like monsters carrying what looked like injured ponies. She stared at where they were going and her eyes widened when she saw what looked like a dark hospital-like building surrounded by… moving boulders? She honestly didn’t know. Then it clicked in her mind. “This is Demise’s army…” She mumbled under her breath but it was still heard by the ponies around her. “Who?” Asked Rainbow Dash who was honestly not feeling the ominous name Demise. “Demise, the large pony that saved us and the Princess when Nightmare Moon came back.” Twilight explained getting gasped from everypony who heard her, which were the main six. “You mean THAT big guy?!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash who couldn’t really remember much before she fainted, but she still remembered the cool looking giant pony that, at the time, looked like he defeated Nightmare Moon all alone. “OH! WE HAVE TO THROW A BIG ‘THANK YOU FOR SAVING US AND THE PRINCESS’ PARTY WHEN WE SEE HIM!” Yelled Pinkie Pie as she popped right in front of Twilight with confetti exploding outwards, effectively startling the purple unicorn. “So… Does that mean that we won’t have to do anything? ‘Cause it looks like these folks are handling everything just fine.” Said AppleJack. “They’re probably kidnapping those injured ponies as hostages.” Said Rarity as she stared in disgust at the dark hospital. Twilight frowned as she heard her say that. “Let’s go see what they’re doing to the ponies.” Twilight said as she walked towards the dark building, the others following close behind her. They started to be a little scared once they got closer to the seemingly endless amount of monsters coming from the cracks on the ground right behind the dark hospital, they questioned where such a building came from in the first place. The long line of monsters didn’t seem to acknowledge them once they got closer to it, so they used that to inspect the monsters themselves. There were all kinds of monsters there, some small red demons with what looked like machetes or bows and even some carried bombs. Then, there would be those big red demons that looked like a big and fat version of the small red ones, they would either wield a wooden shield or an iron shield with a lance on the other hand. They’d also see what looked like skeletons of bipedal beings they didn’t know of, some wielded 2 swords in each hand or even 4 swords for those that had 4 arms. Not only that but in the sky where the portal like typhoon was, countless draconic looking monsters came from the portal or even dragons themselves, though those dragons didn’t look like any of those they knew. And all of those monsters were heading towards Canterlot. “Wow, these guys look tough.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew around some of the monsters who completely ignored her. “And they also don’t seem to see us.” Twilight said. She was tempted to interrupt one of the demons, and she did as she levitated one of the small red demons. The demon started to squirm around but stopped once it was facing Twilight. “What do you want?” The demon creepily said with a deep and familiar voice as well as its eyes glowing a bright fiery red. Twilight jumped back and lost focus on the levitation spell she was using. The demon fell on the ground unharmed, then it stood back up and stared directly at Twilight and the others. They were all quiet as they didn’t know what was happening. “So? I assume you want to know what is happening?” Said the demon and Twilight suddenly knew which voice it belonged to. “D-Demise?” She asked the demon who simply nodded. “Yes it is me, I’m speaking to you directly through this little minion.” The demon now known as the Demon King speaking through the small demon said, shocking the 6 ponies even more. “How in equestria?!” Exclaimed Twilight as she started to furiously examine the small red demon while the others simply stared at her. “A simple spell, but explanation will have to wait. I have some pests to take care of so quickly and say what you wanted to say.” Demise said a little irritated. Twilight was still trying to understand how it was possible for the Demon King to speak through another being entirely so Rainbow Dash started the questioning. “What in the hay is happening in Canterlot!” She demanded, annoying Demise a little. “An army of what is apparently known as changelings rudely interrupted my duel against a foolish pony.” Said Demise and there were already more questions plaguing the minds of the girls minus one who was still too focused on the demonic spell. As none of them knew what a changeling was, Applejack continued. “Wha’ are these changelings fellas?” She asked. “Pests that take the form of whatever they want. It looks like they took the form of ponies and infiltrated the city, kidnapping ponies for whatever things they planned to do with them. The ponies that were found are currently being carried by some of my minions back to a more appropriate place to rest.” Demise explained. “Um… what are those monsters?” Fluttershy surprisingly said before hiding behind Rarity as the demon stared at her. “My demons, My army and My subjects. All of those that were sealed or in deep slumber now awoke to my call as their King and are fighting for me against those insects.” Demise said with the charisma of a true ruler. The 6 mares could barely register that all of those monsters were basically what they as ponies would be to Celestia but with Demise. They were in awe at how loyal and fierce they looked like with some traces of fear in it. “They’re…. your people?” Twilight asked, confused as she really thought he lost his kingdom, from the letters the Princess sent at least. “They’re not just my people, they’re my descendants, my blood, my essence and in a way… me.” Demise stated as the entire army stopped in their tracks to look at the 6 ponies, all with the same look the little red demon gave them, eyes that glowed as brightly as the one the giant pony had. This creeped them all out to no end, but it thankfully didn’t last long as the demons continued their way with the small red demon they were talking to following back in the line. The 6 ponies were left behind, dumbfounded by what they learned. Especially Twilight who understood how the Demon King could communicate with them through that small red demon, because that demon was, in a way, him. To have all your subjects be themselves and also you… it’s honestly unbelievable. “So… what do we do now?” Asked AppleJack as they all clearly understood that everything would be dealt with by Demise. “Let’s go check on the injured ponies, they would probably need somepony familiar to calm down as I’m not sure they’d feel quite safe around… those.” Twilight said as she stared at the ghosts carrying the unconscious ponies back to the dark building. “You’re right, I don’t know what I’d do if I ended up in a place filled with these demons…” Said Fluttershy. Making up their minds, they all walked towards the dark building, the demons actually let them through as they got in front of the doors of the building, which was made of unknown material to all of them. “What is this you monster!” Exclaimed a very distressed Chrysalis as she looked at her children either getting sliced like butter or crushed like insects, green blood spreading across the entire city as the carnage continued. “Your End.” Demise simply said as he sent a shockwave of dark winds towards the flying pest, knocking her down onto the ground. There, she lay defenseless and somehow out of energy. She heard hoofsteps, they became louder and louder and then, right in front of her casting a shadow over her entire being stood the monstrous Demon she thought was but a single and lonely entity. “Foolish mortal who dare aim your fangs at me, observe as I crush you and your pitiful excuse of an army.” The Demon said as he levitated the paralysed queen to make her look at the horrors his army was doing to her children. Stalfos and StalMasters beheaded some of the changelings, making sure to make it as painful as possible before ending their miserable lives. Moblins would pierce and impale those foolish enough to fly towards them, they bashed the changelings that flew to them with their towering shields stunning them in the process before piercing their bodies with their mighty spears. The bokoblins, depending on what they were wielding, would shoot, bomb or slash easily through the weak carapace of the changelings. What was worse was that they couldn’t flee to the sky as even there, monsters with draconic features waited for them. Those that were big enough like the dragons ate the changelings whole while the smaller aeralfos flew straight towards the flying insects, swords pointed right to where their hearts would be before slashing cleanly through them, letting green blood rain down the city. Even if some managed to avoid the dragons and the aeralfos, they would be shot down by the boblins riding on the dragons who had wands that shot lightning. And Chrysalis watched all of this, forced by the impossibly strong magical grasp of the Demon King to never blink and to take the massacre straight to her memory. So she cried, she wept at the carnage and felt remorse and regret at her decision. She may have used her soldiers like pawns, but they were still childs she birthed herself and no matter how cruel a mother was, none of them would bear the sight of all her children being massacred right in front of her eyes. “Demise! What’s going on!” Celestia said as she came through the bloody mess that was the current streets of Canterlot, years of being alive barely kept her from throwing up at the sight. “A minute please, I’m currently teaching this insect the consequences of defying me.” Demise said not even turning around. Celestia couldn’t really see what he was doing, but she could clearly hear the cries of the changeling queen, begging him to stop and spare her children. It honestly broke her heart so she held her head up high. “Stop Demise, you don’t need to go so far.” She said sternly, but her courage nearly faded away once the Demon King turned around with the changeling queen in his magical grasp. She was horrified to see the bloodshot eyes of Chrysalis with a fountain of tears coming out of them, and next to her was the being she once thought to be a lonely sorrowful king without a kingdom, now looking more like a mad entity filled with bloodlust. His overall face didn’t change but his smile sent shivers down her spine, sharp fangs tainted with green blood entered her sight. She wondered where he could’ve drunk that blood but nearly threw up once she saw the wounds on the changeling queen’s body. He slowly ate her like a predator hungrily tearing apart its prey. “Stop!” Celestia said as she ran straight at the levitating body of the changeling queen, but couldn’t reach her as she was pulled back behind the giant black pony. “Why?” The Demon King said in perfect sanity, as if the madness he was doing was completely normal. “Because it’s wrong!” She yelled at him, opening her wings wide open as she glared at the giant pony. “They need to be judged for taking your subjects no?” He said as he still held the now unconscious bleeding body of the changeling queen. “They will be judged but not by you!” She said before flaring her horn and trying to take over Demise’s grasp on Chrysalis. Demise on the other hand was quite perplexed, in his mind this was the fastest and most effective way to make sure the enemy stopped attacking in the future. By crushing their hope and ability to ever retaliate in the future. Honestly he never really tried that before since he would simply crush the entirety of the opposing kingdom without leaving a single trace of survivors. Right now it was the first time he let an enemy alive, even though they’d end up all alone without an army, it still made more sense than whatever this foolish princess was thinking. But he will let it pass as he felt quite refreshed after his battle. The ponies he rescued would soon be awake anyways and from the thousands upon thousands of changelings that initially attacked, less than a hundred survived including their queen. “Very well.” He said as he let go of Chrysalis, healing all her wounds in the process. Unfortunately she would still have the injuries casted on her mind, unforgettable memories of this torture. He simply turned around and let out a powerful wave of magic that cleaned the entire city of the mess he made. “You know where to find me, I leave the rest to you.” The Demon King said before evaporating into that dark ghostly form and flying to the Castle. Celestia continued to glare at the retreating dark mist before looking at the army of demons, those in the sky retreated back into the wormhole in the sky and those on the ground returned to the ground, all taking their hunted prey with them in glee. Soon, everything returned back to normal, albeit with a silent city and the unconscious body of the changeling queen. Celestia sighed as she wondered when all of this went so down the hill. She then walked towards the Castle where Luna awaited there due to her returning to the Castle right when the battle started to defend the Castle.