His hooves crashed against the side of the ice barrier, a thump coming in reply. Applejack had done her part, from the inside. "Time it." Dry resisted the urge to keep flailing and instead waited, listening to Applejack's beating to time his own attack. "And..."
Braced and as ready as he was going to get, he unleashed the tight coils of his back legs against the shell, smashing at the same instant that Applejack's hooves came into contact. A loud crack sounded as fine lines spread from the point of impact. They could do it! They were doing it! He looked up at the others as he braced to finish the job.
Scootaloo had rejoined the fray, all three crusaders doing their part against the demon. Spells had proven unreliable, at best, against the strange creature, which left them with physical means of attacking. It was a pity the thing's bones were just as hard to get through. "Git back where ya came from, demon!" Apple Bloom's kick was caught and thrown to the side.
"Demon? Insulting." The creature swatted at Scootaloo with its tail, slowing her approach but not scoring a hit. "I am a devil. There is a difference, unknowing mortal."
A clear note rang out as Sweetie's song shifted. Her magic flooded into Apple Bloom, stirring her to greatness. Fueled with her friend's might, Apple Bloom brought down the sword as if it weighed nothing at all, screaming into its hilt as she did it.
The devil angled their arm to deflect the weapon, but it bit into it with a grunt of pain as it sank into the bone, leaving a sizable nick, already gone. Even as he staggered back, Apple Bloom was already twirling the blade to another open position, driving it against the side of the beast, her own shout unending in the moment of that savage attack.
"Faster!" Scootaloo gestured at Apple Bloom, thrusting a bright rune through the air that exploded brilliantly against her earth pony friend, causing her to speed up enough to get a third swing in, even if the devil was able to dodge back away from that one.
"Enough of this circus," the devil roared in obvious fury. "Questions can wait."
Dry waited for the right moment, tears brimming in his eyes. His friends needed help, badly. He tried to capture the image of a great and tall apple tree behind him. He'd knock all the apples free, even an Apple, with any luck. With a battle cry of his own, he drove his hooves back and could feel Applejack's touching from the other side of the ice. The cracking became a shattering as he drove through it, his hooves actually making contact with hers.
In a contest of pure strength, Dry was outmatched by a magnitude or three. Applejack's hooves kept moving. Dry was launched up and away from the bubble, hitting the ground with a surprised oof as breath was knocked free of him in an intense moment of motion. "Help them," he croaked out, struggling to regain his balance.
"Don't need to ask me twice." Applejack coiled around and jumped through the hole they'd made. "Think ya can come onto mah land and cause a ruckus? Ain't happenin'!"
"There you are," greeted the Devil as if welcoming a dear old friend, instead of a combatant it had locked out of the battle at the start. "I was just getting serious." And it was not lying, striking with claws and stinger and even lashing with its razor teeth that posed a threat to any foolish enough to be near it.
Fortunately or not, that group of ponies was not that well known for not being fools when it came to such things. Only Apple Bloom backed off a bit, and even that just so she could quickly chug down one of her potions, her injuries fading from ghastly to mildly painful as her alchemical mastery was shown to be effective. "We wore him down, sis. Finish him off!"
"Wit' pleasure." She crashed into the thing bodily, throwing hooves in a rain of thumps.
But it was not Applejack's battle to finish. With a rainbow streak, a pegasus bombed the battle. Dry looked in the direction the new fighter had arrived from and could see two other pegasi flying towards them. One of them was Fluttershy! Very brave of her; very foolish. Backup was on the way! Dry clopped his hooves with naked joy, the terror of the encounter ebbing a little. With superior numbers, even great foes seemed more manageable.
"Stop right there," boomed a large voice from the not-Fluttershy. "Put your hands up and cease immediately. You will be returned to your plane of origin without harm if you comply."
Dry could but blink in confusion. Not that the devil was much less surprised. "Who is that?" the devil insisted, still battling with Rainbow and Applejack. The crusaders had backed away, leaving the battle to the grownups that were showing up. "Someone of importance?"
Rainbow darted past the creature, kicking it along the way without a pause. "That's Princess Twilight Sparkle, and if you think we're annoying, she'll blow you apart without even sweating!"
Applejack laughed as she twirled around, pointing her rump at the devil in a promise of discomfort. "Now'd be a fine time to give up, pardner. She can do it, but she keeps her promises."
"Oh, a princess... How delightful." And he stopped attacking. The fight was, without fanfare, aborted. His eyes were locked on Twilight as she came closer.
Twilight's ears danced. As she came within a hundred feet of the thing, its voice entered her mind despite its mouth not moving. "Princess Twilight," it greeted with an audible sneer. "A pleasure to meet you. What interesting warriors you have, valiant, perhaps to a fault. We should talk."
Fluttershy landed a short distance away, peering fearfully at the devil before she noticed Dry and hurried towards him instead. "Are you alright?!"
Dry was not alone, the crusaders arriving at about the same time. Apple Bloom was passing her restorative potions out to her friends to mend their injuries. Dry declined one offered his way. "I am alright." Other than his one fall, he had not felt the claws or teeth or stinger of that creature. Instead he pointed at Scootaloo. "You look bad."
Scootaloo laughed in a strained way, wobbling. "Just feel... tired."
Fluttershy pushed Scootaloo over, which was unusually easy to do. "You just lay down and let me have a look at you." She began diagnosing Scootaloo as she would any ill animal. "Oh my..." She found where the stinger had punctured Scootaloo's side. "You were poisoned... It doesn't look... like you'll be hurt too bad, but you will be sick for a while." She patted Scootaloo's cheek gently. "Just lay there and let us take you home. You did quite enough today."
"You did!" burst Apple Bloom with a huge grin. "You were so brave! Ah wasn't sure we could pull it off. That thing was super tough, but we stuck together-like and we did it!" She thrust out a hoof. Sweetie met the hoof. Scootaloo was a little late to that action, but she got a hoof in their to form their standard trio. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, adventurers!"
Sweetie burst into giggles, but it died quickly. "Does it hurt?" She was looking at Scootaloo with concern. "Did the potions help at all?"
"They were good." She forced herself up, rolling to a limp upright on her haunches. "Doesn't hurt, just... tired."
"I heard of this." Eyes went to Dry. "The poison hurt your muscles." Dry could do little more than share that knowledge. "Time will fix it."
Fluttershy nodded firmly. "Yes, time and rest. Come along, all of you. Time to get you all... Apple Bloom, where did you get that?" She was looking at the sword clutched in Apple Bloom's mouth.
"Wha? This thin'?" She spat it out and nudged it aside with a back hoof as if to pretend she never even saw it. "What thin'?" But Fluttershy was giving her the look, threatening to increase into The Stare. "Alright alright! Ah kept it around, jus' in case." She picked the sword back up. "Glad ah did. Ain't usin' it irresponsible like!"
Scootaloo gave a tired laugh. "She was amazing with it. Why are yer... You look just as strong as I don't feel right now. It's not fair."
Apple Bloom patted one of her potions, a different color than the healing ones. "This special brew is just fer this kinda emergency."
"Well, share! Don't leave me hangin' here." Scootaloo reached weakly for the bottle, just to be swatted away, Apple Bloom Guarding her stash easily. "Aw, why not?"
"Mah healin' potions are safe for anypony." Apple Bloom gestured down the line of them. "But this one--" back to the one different one. "It's made just fer me. It'd just make ya sick."
Twilight was facing the devil, her allies circling it. They had all arrived, minus Fluttershy dealing with the foals. "Thank you for listening to reason. As I promised, I can send you home." Her horn glowed with the promise of magic.
"Not so hastily," the devil spoke silently to just her ears. "You are a ruler. You have needs, and I have means to fulfill them. No reason to be so hasty in getting rid of possibilities." It glanced at the others. The two warriors, Rainbow horse and Angry Farmer. Some kind of over-energetic earth mare, and a unicorn that looked like she was overdressed for the occasion even in just her hairstyle. "Go ahead, cast a spell. Hide me from sight, so we can discuss things, privately." His smile grew. "If you don't like the offer, well, you can always banish me later. What's the hurry?"
Twilight frowned faintly, but responded silently, "Must you whisper like that? I trust my friends completely. There isn't much you could tell me that I wouldn't want them to hear."
"Bold." The devil seemed only pleased by Twilight's reply. It rose to its full height, displaying its unnerving features. It stood over nine feet tall, already a giant by human measurement. For a four legged pony, it was a titan of threat. "But what I speak of has no value to their ears. What do they know of royal needs and wants?"
Twilight glanced left and right at her friends. "Very little." Their conversation remained unspoken, the others looking nervous at the silence. "But that hardly matters. Speak, out loud."
"If you insist," it spoke. "It was fortune that brought me here."
Applejack raised a brow. "More like misfortune."
Pinkie giggled at the turn of words. "Hiya!" She waved at the devil, seemingly unafraid of it. "I'm Pinkie. Pinkie Pie. What's your name?"
Dry peered across the distance. "Are they talking with it?"
Fluttershy looked to see. "That is not unusual..." Many were the fights the girls ended with a conversation. "But for now, you all should get home. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, can you get Scootaloo there?" Both fillies snapped sharp salutes and got to work carrying Scootaloo away. "Now, Dry, I hate to ask, and it's alright if something happened in the middle of all.. this... but where's the camera?"
Dry blinked, struck dumb a moment. "Oh!" And off he galloped on his little legs for the bush he had started in. He frantically gathered the pictures he had taken and the camera, awkwardly returning with them all just to half drop it all in front of Fluttershy. The camera was spared, strapped to his neck as it was.
Fluttershy inclined her head at the scattering of a few pictures. "Oh... Oh...." With a trembling hoof she touched the picture that showed the devil hurting the poor strawberry farmer. "Oh..." Tears had begun spilling from her eyes as memories of the time she had suffered at the hands of an extraplanar visitor. "Y-you... just leave those there." She turned away from those pictures.