//------------------------------//
// Friendship is Magic (Part 2) 
// Story: Devil May Cry: Demons in Equestria 
// by GeekMaster101 
//------------------------------//

Nero ran out through the front doors of the town hall and scanned the street for Twilight. Amidst the panic of the crowd, he had seen the purple unicorn run out of the building with a sleeping Spike in tow. She clearly knew something, and if Nero was going to take Nightmare Moon down a few notches, he would like to know everything he could about her. While she may not have been a demon, this still counted as part of the job the devil hunter had been hired for.

If the sun and moon worked the way Discord said they did, then this was an even bigger problem than it would first appear to be. Without sunlight, things like plants and crops can't get the nutrients they need to grow. Without crops, the ponies of this world would no longer be able to make food. If they were omnivores, they could at least rely on meat, but even then, it wouldn't be a permanent solution. The fact that they were herbivores made it even worse.

Basically, if the sun never came up again, the entire world would slowly starve and die out.

Even if Nero wasn't currently being paid to do this, he couldn't just sit idly by while this world was killed by some crazy horse. He had the power to do something, and by God he was going to use it.

Nero quickly spotted Twilight running back to that tree library, and he chased after her.

Time to get some answers.



Nero reached the library and opened the door a crack, peeking inside.

"Elements, Elements, Elements... ugh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony!?" Twilight was currently tossing the library inside out, searching book after book. Considering how fast she was flipping through the pages, he assumed she was quite the speed reader.

The Elements of Harmony? Those sound important. Time to ask her-

Before he could open the door further, a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus did it for him, bursting into the library and getting right up in Twilight's face. He hadn't even realized she had been right behind him, listening in as well. He looked back to see the other four ponies he'd met that day standing behind him as well. Guess they had the same idea.

How the hell did they sneak up without me noticing?

"And just what are the Elements of Harmony!? And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh!? Are you a spy!?" Rainbow Dash kept interrogating Twilight, who tried to back up and get some breathing room, but the cyan pegasus wasn't letting up. Applejack ran in and grabbed Rainbow by the tail, pulling her back.

"Simmer down, Sally. She ain't no spy. But she sure knows what's goin' on, don't ya, Twilight?" After saying that, the rest of the girls filed into the library, looking expectantly at Twilight. Nero figured he might as well go in too, since they pretty much just stole his idea. Twilight looked between all of them before finally explaining herself.

"I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them, I don't even know what they do!" The ponies around her listened intently to Twilight's explanation until Nero scoffed.

"It's fine, I'm sure we won't need 'em. I can take care of her just fine on my own." The devil hunter boasted.

"Uh, beg yer pardon, Nero, you seem like a strong feller, but yer talkin' 'bout takin' on an alicorn, here. Ah'm not so sure you can just fight her mono-a-mono." Applejack tried to reason with the half-demon.

Unfortunately for her, he wasn't listening.

"Oh c'mon, you haven't even seen me in action, yet! Trust me, I've taken on worse than her."

...And what the hell's an alicorn?

"'The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide'." Everyone turned to Pinkie to find her staring at a bookshelf, one book in particular. Twilight quickly bumped her aside and examined the spine of the book herself.

"How did you find that!?"

"It was under 'E'~!" The pink pony sang as she hopped by.

"...Oh." Twilight was most likely realizing how stupid she was for not checking there to begin with. She levitated the book off the shelf and opened it up, flipping through the pages. It was then that Nero noticed the absence of a certain baby dragon.

"Where's Spike?" He asked.

"He was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, so I put him to bed already." She found the page she was looking for, then began reading aloud. "There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty."

Six elements, six ponies. Discord did say they were important, so either this is just a coincidence, or...

"The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters."

Nero noticed something out of the corner of his eye and looked to a window near the ceiling. With speed only a demon would be capable of, he whipped out Blue Rose and fired at the window, breaking the glass and causing the other girls to jump. The cloud of blue smoke that had been hovering outside the window flew away to avoid being shot at once more.

"Guess she'll be hunting for the Elements, too. Looks like it's a race, then. Where's this castle you mentioned?" He turned back to Twilight. She continued reading, this time with much more haste than before.

"It is located in what is now..."



"The Everfree Forest!?" The five ponies local to Ponyville all exclaimed. Nero wasn't sure why they waited until they walked all the way to the forest itself just to say that, but it didn't seem like a big deal, so he let it go.

The group stared anxiously at the dark, dreary, mysterious forest. A sense of foreboding spread amongst all the ponies currently present.

...Well, all except Nero. He just yawned. It was pretty late, after all.

"...Welp, thanks for leading me here, girls. I'll see you all after I'm done." Nero didn't hesitate as he began trotting into the forest.

"Y-You're going in there a-alone!?" Fluttershy stammered, looking the most terrified out of all of them.

"Uh, yeah, it's kinda my job. Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." He tried to reassure her.

"Your job? I thought you said you were an exterminator?" Twilight spoke up this time.

"Yeah, of a sort. I'm used to this kinda thing. I'll have this wrapped up in an hour, two tops." Nero resumed his trek into the forest before being stopped again. This time it was his tail being pulled.

Now, normally, he could most likely overpower whoever decided to try and pull his tail and would just keep walking. This was his first time being pulled by the tail, however, so he never knew beforehand what it felt like. Now that he knew?

It felt like someone was ripping his anus out of his asshole, and it hurt.

"OW! What the hell!? Was that really necessary!?" He turned to see that it had been Rarity who pulled on his tail with her magic.

"Language, and of course it was, darling! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is in there!? Used to it or not, we simply cannot let you go by yourself!" She insisted.

Again with this 'language' bullshit. What are they, five?

"Girls, really, I'll be fine-"

"No can do, sugar cube. Rarity's right. We sure ain't lettin' any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone." Applejack cut him off, and the five ponies walked past him and proceeded into the forest. "We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple!"

"Especially if there's candy apples in there!" Pinkie agreed, and Nero just stared at her blankly.

"...What? Those things are good!" She then followed the others into the forest. Nero just kept staring after them before realizing Twilight was still next to him.

"I was planning to go in alone myself, but it doesn't seem like that's happening for either of us." She sighed.

"Yeah..." The devil hunter simply agreed before the two of them followed the others into the infamous Everfree Forest.



"So, none of you have been in here before?" Twilight asked the others, her voice giving away how nervous she was.

The group had been walking through the forest for a few minutes now, and Nero still had yet to be impressed. For all the buildup that the girls gave this forest, he didn't even find it the slightest bit creepy. Then again, he'd been to places like Agnus' lab and the Qliphoth, so maybe he was just used to it.

"Oh, h-heavens no. Just look at it, it's dreadful!" Rarity was the first to respond.

"And it ain't natural! Folks say it don't work the same as Equestria." The farm pony added.

"Doesn't work the same? How so?" Nero decided to butt in as they were coming up on a cliffside. As soon as he did, Rainbow Dash flew up and began speaking in a spooky voice.

"No pony knooows~! You know why?" She began stalking towards Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

"Rainbow, quit it!" Applejack tried to get her to stop, but the rainbow pegasus ignored her and continued.

"'Cause everypony who's ever come in, has never... come... OUT!" As soon as Rainbow yelled that, the ground beneath them cracked and the cliffside began to fall, taking all the ponies, minus the two pegasi, with it. As they did, Nero spotted a cloud of blue smoke seeping out of the cracks between the ground.

That Black Snooty Bitch!

"Fluttershy, quick!" He heard Rainbow call out as they began sliding down the mountainside. The devil hunter tried to regain his footing (or is it hoofing?), but to no avail. He knew if he fell, he'd be fine. He was a half-demon after all. He couldn't say the same about the others, though.

Rainbow managed to grab Pinkie, and Fluttershy grabbed Rarity. Applejack managed to grab on to a root sticking out of the ground with her mouth and stop herself. Just as he reached the edge, Nero managed to grab on to a rock jutting out of the ground. Twilight was the only one without anything to save her from falling as she slid further and further down.

Shit! She's too far for me to reach!

He didn't have to worry, though, as Applejack let go of the root and slid down to help her. "Hold on, I'm a-comin'!" She managed to grab Twilight's hooves just before she went over the edge.

"Applejack, what do I do!?" Twilight cried, and a few seconds passed before the farm pony responded.

"Let go."

"Are you crazy!?" Twilight understandably responded. However, Nero noticed that Rainbow and Fluttershy had brought Pinkie and Rarity to safety already, and were now waiting to catch Twilight below her.

"No I ain't. Ah promise you'll be safe."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" The purple unicorn yelled.

Can't she just tell her Rainbow and Fluttershy are waiting to catch her?

"Now listen here, what I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, an' you'll be safe."

Honest... wasn't that one of the elements?

A moment passed as Twilight hesitated, but after a bit, she trusted Applejack and let go. She began screaming as she fell, only for them to be cut short once Rainbow and Fluttershy caught her. Applejack spotted some larger rocks jutting out of the side of the cliff, and began hopping down each to safety.

Alright, now I just need to-

The devil hunter's thought was cut off when he felt the small rock he'd grabbed onto start to give way. It came loose from the ground, he began to fall.

Ah, whoops.

"NERO!!!" The other girls all yelled out, panic spreading across their faces. Nero himself, however, didn't look too concerned about his current predicament. The pegasi wanted to rush to save him, but they had to set Twilight down first. They tried to move faster, but they knew they wouldn't be able to make it in time. The six ponies watched in horror as their friend was about to become a red stain on the ground...

...Only for him to land on all four hooves like it was nothing.

"Huh, guess I'm heavier than I thought. I gotta lose some weight." He looked back up at the cliff as he spoke. He then turned his attention to the six ponies staring at him, their eyes wide and jaws dropped. "...What? There somethin' on my face?" He wiped his face just to check, but found nothing.

"H-... How did you...?"

"Hey, I said you haven't seen me in action yet. I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve." He turned and continued into the forest. "C'mon, were burning moonlight, here!"

That snapped the ponies out of it, and they followed Nero deeper into the forest, still shocked at what they had just witnessed.



"And once Pinkie and Rarity were safe, me and Fluttershy loop-de-looped around and wham! Caught you right in the nick of time!" The rainbow pegasus boasted, to Twilight's annoyance.

"Yes, Rainbow, I was there, and I'm very grateful, but we gotta-" Twilight was cut off when something stomped in front of the group. Nero saw what looked like a lion, but had bat wings and a scorpion tail. The creature let out a loud roar. "A manticore!"

Manticore, huh? He doesn't look very tough. Could probably take him with only one swing from Red Queen.

"We've got to get past him!" Twilight said, determination in her voice.

"Here, I'll take care of this. You girls step back." Nero levitated Red Queen off his back, and the other girls did as he said.

"C'mon then, kitty! Time for you to get wet!" Nero charged at the beast, sword at the ready. He raised it above his head-

"WAIT!!!"

...Only to quickly stumble to a stop when Fluttershy stood right in his path.

"Wh- Fluttershy!? What the hell are you doing!? I could have taken your head off!"

"Language, and if you would please give me just a moment." The quiet pony turned to the manticore and calmly approached it. "Shh, it's okay..." She nuzzled the beast's paw, much to everyone's surprise. Even the manticore looked stunned.

After a second, the manticore showed his paw to Fluttershy, which had a giant splinter in the palm of it. "Oh, you poor, poor, little baby." Fluttershy gave the manticore a look of empathy.

"Little?" Nero heard Rainbow say from beside him.

"Now, this might hurt for juuust a second." Fluttershy bit down on the splinter and pulled it out. The manticore roared and lifted Fluttershy in its grasp. Blue Rose was out in a split second, aimed at the beast and ready to shoot.

...But Nero didn't need to.

The manticore began purring and licking Fluttershy appreciatively. "He he he! Oh, you're just a little old baby kitty, aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are!" The rest of the group, seeing that it was now safe to pass, walked around the manticore and continued forward. Nero could scarcely believe what he'd just seen. Did Fluttershy seriously just tame that thing?

"How did you know about the thorn?" Twilight asked her.

"I didn't. Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness." She said as she walked by.

First Applejack with honesty, now Fluttershy with kindness. Gee, I wonder what the pattern could be?

Nero looked back for just a second and saw the thorn on the ground transform into a blue smoke cloud before taking off.

That's 2-0, our favor, lady. If I were you, I'd just accept you're gonna lose.



"Ugh, my eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." Rarity complained as they trudged further into the forest. They entered a part of the forest that was much thicker with trees, so much so that they blocked out any moonlight from shining through, submerging the group in darkness. "Well, I didn't mean that literally."

"That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces, and we wouldn't even know it!" Twilight added. The others seemed to keep bumping into each other, trying to find out where they were. Nero, however, had no such trouble. His demon blood provided him with enhanced vision, allowing him to see just fine, even in this darkness. He did notice the trees looked like they had creepy faces on them, but it didn't really bother him.

"Oh, wait, I think I stepped in something." Applejack said, followed by the sound of squishy mud. Just then, Fluttershy let out a scream. "It's just mud." Right after the farm pony said that, she turned her head to see the source of Fluttershy's fear, one of the trees with the faces on it. Applejack screamed, and was soon joined by the rest of the girls as they noticed all of the trees surrounding them.

Great, now my ears hurt.

"Could you stop screaming!? It's not even that scary! There just trees!" The girls didn't hear Nero and continued to scream.

That is, until giggling could be heard.

Everyone turned to see Pinkie laughing at one of the trees, then making a bunch of silly faces at it.

Well, it's more merciful than the screaming, anyway.

"Pinkie, what are you doing? Run!" Twilight called to her, but Pinkie just continued to laugh.

"Oh, girls, don't you see?" The pink pony giggled as Nero started hearing something playing in the air around them.

Is that... music?

Now, Nero wasn't a stranger to hearing music playing out of thin air. Whenever he fought demons, some music would always start to play in the background. The devil hunter had no idea where it came from, but it pumped him up and made him feel even cooler than he already was. This music, however, was different. It sounded a lot more... cheerful?

Pinkie started stepping to the beat of the song, then did something Nero would never forget in his entire life.

"When I was a little filly, and the sun was going dooooooown~!"

Nero blinked and cleaned some of the wax out of his ear to make sure he was hearing right.

"Tell me she's not-" Twilight was clearly just as surprised before Pinkie continued.

"The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frooooooown~!"

"She is." Rarity confirmed their suspicions.

"I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw..."

No.

Fucking.

Way.

"But Granny pie said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at aaaaaall~!"

She was singing.

"Then what is?" Rainbow asked.

"She said, 'Pinkie, you got to stand up tall, learn to face your fears! You'll see, that they can't hurt you just laugh and make them disappeeeaar~!'"

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Pinkie laughed at the tree, and the face on it disappeared, making the girls gasp. Nero was still busy trying to process the fact that Pinkie had just broken out into song.

"Sooooo! Giggle at the ghostie~!" Fluttershy was the first to start laughing at the trees.

"Guffaw at the grossly~!" Next was Rainbow Dash.

"Crack up a the creepy~!" After her, Rarity started laughing too.

"Whoop it up with the weepy~!" Applejack joined in next.

"Chortle at the kooky~!" Pinkie pushed Twilight in front of a tree, and she also started laughing.

"Snortle at the spooky~!" Pinkie pushed Nero in front of a tree as well. He just rolled his eyes, took out Red Queen, and swung horizontally at the tree's base, bisecting it and causing it to fall over. This didn't stop the song, nor the laughing.

"And tell that big, dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and ifhethinkshecanscareyouthenhe'sgotanotherthingcomingandtheveryideaofsuchathingjustmakesyouwanna HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Yeah, I didn't catch a word of that.

"LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH~!!!"

The faces on all of the trees disappeared, and the girls all fell in a circle, laughing and giggling with each other once the song ended. Nero was still processing.

...Did I just have a stroke or was that real?



The girls continued their laughter, even as they made their way out of the dense part of the forest, with Pinkie in the lead. Nero was lagging behind a bit, trying to recover from the shock of what had just occurred.

Still can't believe that just happened...

After a bit, the devil hunter finally recollected himself and delved into thought.

Well, Pinkie is clearly connected to the Laughter Element. That just leaves Loyalty, Generosity, and whatever the sixth one is. I wonder who's who?

Nero was stopped in his tracks when he bumped into the rear of the group, who had also stopped. He peered around them and that's when he saw it.

They had walked into a clearing in the forest with an open field. The girls looked in shock and confusion as a wall of red veins circled around the clearing, trapping them inside.

It was a wall Nero was all too familiar with.

"W-What in tarnation!?" Applejack spoke up first.

"Freaky deeky!" Pinkie looked at the veins curiously. Before anyone could say anything else, three puddles of blood appeared on the ground in front of them. Fluttershy let out a scream as horrifying, insectoid creatures sprouted from each of them, twitching and clawing at the dirt as they climbed out.

"W-WHAT IN EQUESTRIA ARE THOSE!?" Rarity exclaimed, recoiling at the sight of something so disgusting.

"Demons..." Nero muttered. They were Empusas to be specific.

"I... I've heard about these!" Twilight said as Nero got closer.

Wait... she what?

"They've been showing up in certain parts of Equestria. No pony knows what they are, or how to stop them!"

...

Nero let out a long groan.

So the entire time I was looking for leads on demons in Ponyville... I could have just asked Twilight about them.

"...Oh well, no sense in complaining about it now. Guess it's my time to shine!" Nero got in front of the other girls and levitated Red Queen in front of him. "You might wanna take a step back."

"Nero!? What are you doing!?" Twilight asked, and he just smirked.

"Relax, Twilight..." He looked back at her, "...I got this."

Nero walked forward as he heard his favorite song start playing in the air.

"So, who here brought the marshmallows?" He twirled Red Queen then stabbed it into the ground. "'Cause I'm bringin' the fire!"

He revved up Red Queen just as the music picked up. With a single Exceed charge now ready, He dashed towards the demons, performing a Ex Streak. The attack sent all three Empusas flying, so Nero snatched one back towards him with his Devil Bringer and swung his sword four times, slamming the sword down for his final strike and killing the demon.

One of the other Empusas got up and went to attack Nero. Before it could, however, Nero grabbed it with his Devil Bringer and slammed it into the ground, killing it instantly. Before he could move on to the final Empusa, two more blood puddles appeared up above. Two fly-like demons, Green Empusas, crawled out and started flying around, spitting poison juice at Nero.

The devil hunter rolled to avoid the juice and leapt up towards one of the flying bugs, swinging his sword mid-air three times and knocking the Green Empusa to the ground. He then fired at it with Blue Rose until the bug exploded in bits of demon gore. He leapt back up to the other Green Empusa and did the same thing, only this time he waited a bit after the second strike to perform a Roulette Spin, spinning both himself and his sword in a cyclone. After that, he grabbed the bug with a spectral arm while still in the air and threw it down into the ground to finish it.

Landing on his feet, he turned back to the normal Empusa. The half-demon inserted a round into Blue Rose and aimed at the demon as the gun began to glow. He released the charge shot and it fired directly into the empusa, ending its existence.

Another two puddles of blood appeared on the ground and a couple of Hell Cainas climbed out of them. Nero ran up to the first one and swung Red Queen twice, waited a second, then began swinging it around several times over, the final swing knocking the demon back a few feet. The other Hell Caina brought its scythe down on him, and he dodged it easily with a table hopper. He reared back, then shot forward and swung his sword upwards, executing a Shuffle and sending the demon flying.

With both demons stunned, Nero decided to have some fun. With his magic, he summoned a hologram of an old hand-crank movie camera. He didn't know how he'd done so, he just thought of it, and it appeared. He was too caught up in the moment to really care. "Oh, yeah! Lookin' good, baby! Make love to the camera! WOO! Work it! Yeah!" He aimed the holographic camera at the demons, as if filming them.

One of the Hell Caina got back up and charged him. Nero dodged with yet another table hopper then flung the Hell Caina into the air with a High Roller, following it into the air. He swung his sword twice, then swung both it and himself downwards, slamming the demon into the ground with a Split. He swung Red Queen four more times and slammed it down on the fourth strike, only this time with much more force than before. With that attack, he ended its short life.

The other Hell Caina charged Nero, but he stopped it in its tracks with two swings from his sword. On the second strike, Nero had revved Red Queen at just the right time to activate Max Act, which filled all three Exceed charges instantly.

He backflipped to avoid another swing from the demon's scythe, then launched the demon and himself so high into the air with an Ex High Roller that the ponies spectating had to crane their necks upwards just to see them. As they ascended, Nero swung his sword in a fiery cyclone, cutting and burning the Hell Caina at the same time. Once they reached the peak of their launch, Nero struck the demon three times and sent it flying back down to the ground.

Nero held a smirk as he landed safely on the ground and turned to the six ponies, who had all been watching the display with both shock and awe. The final Hell Caina stood back up and ran at Nero while his back was turned. Without even looking back, the devil hunter aimed Blue Rose and shot the demon in the head. It stumbled a bit before dropping its scythe and falling backwards, its body dissolving.

Nero holstered Blue Rose as the music ended and the wall of red veins turned white before fading away. "Aww, it's over already? I was just gettin' warmed up! That wasn't even a challenge." Nero looked back at the girls to see their shocked expressions were still present. Not one of them moved.

"...That... was... AWESOME!!!" Rainbow Dash was the first to finally say something. "You were all like, Bam! Pow! Swoosh! And you had that super cool arm that came from your hoof, and that one-liner, 'Who here brought the marshmallows, 'cause I'm bringin' the fire!' It was just so cool!" The rainbow pegasus flew around in the air, trying to recreate what the devil hunter had done.

"I-...I ain't never seen anythin' like it!" Applejack tried to find the words.

"That was super-duper amazing, Nero!" Pinkie bounced with excitement.

"Glad to know you girls enjoyed the show. Anyway, that seems to be all of them for now. Let's keep moving." As the group continued their journey, the six girls all stared at the half-demon, wondering what other surprises he might have in store for them. Twilight had to be the most curious out of all of them. What kind of exterminator is able to do all that? And what did he call them again? Demons?

"Man, I'd like to see anything else try to stop us now!" Rainbow cheered as she flew next to Nero.

"I agree. Doubt there's anything that can get in our way." He nodded as they proceeded forward.



Nightmare Moon watched as the group of seven ponies continued on into the forest. Every attempt she had made so far to foil their progress had been unsuccessful. Destroying the cliff, angering the manticore, even trying to scare them away. She wasn't about to give up, however. She still had plenty of opportunities, and she expected that one of them would work.

What she hadn't expected, however, was an outside source to take care of them for her.

She had learned about these new creatures when she first entered the Everfree forest. They hadn't been around before her banishment 1,000 years ago, so it had been her first time seeing this new species. After studying them, she could tell that they were stronger and more bloodthirsty than any other creature in Equestria. As soon as she saw them trap the naive ponies and move in for the kill, she was certain that victory would be hers, even if it wouldn't be by her own hoof.

Then the stallion, Nero, took action.

Not only had he dealt with all the creatures, but he did so with ease. They hadn't even managed to land a single hit on him. What shocked her even more was that despite being outnumbered, he didn't seem to be treating it as if it were a life-or-death battle. If anything, he seemed to be having fun with it. Seeing him in action confirmed her suspicions that he was, indeed, not a normal pony. His power may even be on par with that of Celestia.

That did not concern her, however.

While her sister had indeed been strong, she had been no match for Nightmare Moon. The princess of the sun simply cheated when she used the Elements of Harmony to banish her. That is why she must get rid of them, to ensure it would never happen again. She would destroy the elements, then dispose of those who rebelled against her, starting with this stallion.

"...Please...stop..."

A voice called out from within Nightmare Moon. It was her other side.

Her weaker side.

"... Don't...hurt anypony..."

She ignored the voice and continued on her way. There were some ants that needed to be crushed.



Me and my big mouth.

After having moved on from the clearing, the group now found themselves at a river, and the current was too strong for them too cross. "What was that about there being nothing that could get in our way?" Twilight snarked.

"Yeah, yeah..." He shrugged her off.

Actually, we might be able to have Rainbow and Fluttershy fly us across one by one-

His thought was cut off by the sound of someone sobbing. The ponies all looked at each other before peeking through some nearby bushes to see what the source of the noise was. What they saw was a giant purple sea dragon with orange, slicked back hair and an uneven mustache. He appeared to be crying and splashing around in the river, most likely the cause of the rushing current.

"Excuse me, sir. Why are you crying?" Twilight asked it.

Oh, ok, I guess we're just gonna talk to the giant friggin' sea dragon like it's totally normal. Why not? We already did a musical number, we can only go uphill from here!

"Well, I don't know! I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me, and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off!"

I'm guessing he's talking about Nightmare Moon, but I think it's more of a blue cloud than a purple one. Oh well, not a big deal.

"And now I look simply horrid! OH HO HO!!!" The sea serpent flung back into the water and caused a wave of water to splash onto the seven ponies, drenching them.

"Oh, give me a break." Rainbow groaned.

"That's what all the fuss is about?" Applejack was equally as annoyed.

"C'mon, man, it's just a mustache. It's nothing to cry over." Nero agreed with them. He noticed Nightmare Moon's plans to stop them seemed to be getting more and more ridiculous. With the first two, she tried to kill them. Those seemed reasonable. Then, she tried scaring them away with trees of all things (Which Nero was still surprised had been so effective on the girls at first). Now her plan was to cut off some guy's mustache? Sure, it kept them from crossing the river, but it just seemed petty and childish.

Actually, no, we can still cross if Rainbow and Fluttershy just fly us over-

"Why, of course it's worth crying over! How can you be so insensitive?" Rarity objected before strutting over to the sea dragon. "Oh, just look at him, such lovely, luminescent scales!"

The sea dragon sniffed, "I know."

"And your expertly coiffed mane!" Rarity continued.

The sea dragon swept back his hair, "Oh, I know, I know!"

"Your fabulous manicure!" The white unicorn kept going.

The sea dragon gasped, "It's so true!"

"All ruined without your beautiful moustache." She finished.

"IT'S TRUE! I'M HIDEOUS!!!"

Wow, built him up only to knock him down in one fell swoop. Savage, Rarity.

"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" After that declaration, Rarity bit down on one of the sea serpent's scales and ripped it off.

"OW! What did you do that for!?" He cried, literally shedding a tear. Instead of giving an answer, Rarity raised the sharp scale over her head and brought it down.

"Rarity, what are you-?" Twilight didn't finish her question, having gotten her answer the second the scale made contact with its target.

The sea serpent let out a long wail before collapsing. Out of context, one would have thought Rarity had just straight up killed the guy for crimes against fashion.

What she actually did was much more shocking.

Nero stared at where Rarity's tail had previously been, now having been severed by the scale she cut it off with. He'll be honest, he never would have expected that from her.

Rarity lifted the tail off the ground with her magic and levitated it over to the serpent's mustache, replacing the missing half with the tail in question. The sea dragon stared at his new mustache before cheering.

"OH-HO-HO-HO-HO! My moustache! How wonderful!"

"You look smashing!" Rarity complimented him.

"Oh Rarity, your beautiful tail!" Twilight looked at what remained of the fashion designer's tail. It was now just as short and stubby as Nero's.

"Oh, it's fine, my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides, it'll grow back." She waggled it a bit.

So would the mustache.

"So would the mustache." Rainbow mumbled, echoing Nero's thoughts. They all then noticed that the sound of rushing water was no longer present. They looked to the river and saw that there was no longer any current.

"We can cross now! Let's go!" Twilight took the lead as she walked into the water, only to stop once she found herself being elevated above the river. The sea dragon was using his long body to create a bridge, letting them cross without having to get wet.

"Allow me!" He bowed. The seven ponies all hopped across his body and onto the other side of the river. Once they all made it to the other side, Rarity turned back to look at the serpent.

"Excuse me? If you don't mind me asking, could you perhaps tell us your name?" She asked him.

"Ah, of course! I'm Steven Magnet! It was a pleasure to meet you!" The sea dragon introduced himself.

"And you as well, Mr. Magnet!" With that, they all turned and pressed on into the forest.

So much for Rainbow and Fluttershy flying us over. I suppose it worked out in the end. That was rather generous of Rarity. Doesn't take a genius to know which Element she has a connection to. That just leaves Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Wonder which one is going to be loyalty?...Say, that gives me an idea.

Nero dug through one of his coat pockets and fished out a quarter. He made sure he was a short distance behind the other girls beforehand. He didn't wanna have to explain why he was in possession of currency from another world. He figured he might as well flip a coin to guess which of the two ponies would be the next Element.

Then he remembered he didn't have opposable thumbs to flip it with anymore.

Damn. So much for that...

"Watcha got there?"

"AH!" The devil hunter let out a yelp when he heard a voice over his shoulder and nearly dropped the quarter.

"AH!" Pinkie Pie also let out a yelp, but going by the smile present on her face, she hadn't really been startled.

"I-It's nothing!" Nero stumbled, trying to think of an excuse. "I-It's just a... personal memento. I, uh, had this coin custom made."

"Oooooooh! Who's that funny looking guy on it with the wig?" She asked out of innocent curiosity.

"N-No one." He clammed up. Why was he getting so nervous? He doesn't normally get this nervous about anything. Something about Pinkie was putting him on edge. Maybe it was because he knew she could overpower him?

"Why were you about to flip it?"

"Huh?"

"You looked like you wanted to flip it!" She pointed to the coin as she pranced next to him, her smile still present.

How the hell did she know that!?

"Well, uh... I've been noticing that so far, each of you girls have been... uh... solving each problem we come across. I was wondering if either Rainbow or Twilight would solve one next." He explained. That was still technically the truth. He just... left out a few details.

"Ooh! Ooh! I say heads it's Dashie, tails it's Twilight!" Before Nero could protest, Pinkie snatched the coin from his hoof with her tail and chucked it into the air, flipping it. It came back down and landed in Pinkie's tail once more.

"Heads! Dashie's next! HEY, DASHIE! YOU'RE GOING TO SOLVE THE NEX-!!!" Before Pinkie could say anything else incriminating, Nero clamped a hoof over her mouth.

"Huh? What'd you say, Pinkie?" Rainbow called back to her.

"NOTHING! She said nothing!" Nero yelled back a bit louder than he meant to. The other five ponies ahead of them stared for a second before shrugging and going back to walking. Twilight seemed to stare for a second longer than the others, but she eventually resumed walking as well. Nero removed his hoof from Pinkie's mouth.

"Look, just keep this between us, okay?" The half-demon asked her. Once he did, she turned to fully face him and started performing some sort of ritual.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye~!" She rhymed. Nero blinked.

"...What was that?" He couldn't help but ask.

"That was a Pinkie promise! You never break a Pinkie promise!" The pink pony flashed a smile.

"If you say so." He was about to continue walking when Pinkie grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him an oddly serious look.

"Nero, I mean it. You never break a Pinkie promise. Understood?" She spoke in a serious tone that was very unlike her. That, combined with the look she was giving him...

It actually managed to make the devil hunter shudder, just a bit.

"Y-Yeah, understood."

"Okey-dokey-lokie!" Her smile returned almost instantly, and she hopped away, going to catch up with the others. Nero just stared at the pink pony as she left.

...What the hell is she?



"There it is!" As they reached another clearing in the forest, Twilight pointed to a torn down castle that had definitely seen better days. "The ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony. We made it!" She rushed ahead in the direction of the ruins.

"Twilight! Wait for us!" Applejack called out happily as the rest of the group followed her.

"We're almost ther- WHOA!" Twilight had been so excited to reach the castle that she didn't see the cliff right in front of her. Rainbow grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back to safety.

Considering how much that hurt when they did it to me, I'm surprised they keep doing it all the time. Maybe they're just more used to it than I am.

"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" Rainbow joked. They all looked at the large gap between them and the castle. It looked like there had been a rope bridge here once, but it seemed to break and was now hanging off of one side.

"Now what?" Pinkie wondered.

"Duh." Rainbow said with a flutter of her wings. She took to the sky and flew down to grab the other end of the rope bridge, hoping to retie it to the other side.

"Oh yeah." Pinkie said. They all watched as she flew to the other side, carrying the rope in her mouth. She landed near the other side near the post and was about to tie it, but something seemed to stop her. It was only there for a second, but Nero noticed a familiar blue cloud of smoke fly past.

Crap, that can't be good.

It was too far for them to hear, but it sounded like a voice was calling to Rainbow Dash. The rainbow pegasus seemed to start talking to whomever the voice was coming from. After about a minute passed, Nero decided to get her attention.

"Hey, Rainbow! What's going on over there?" He called out to her, though he already had a feeling what it might be. The group looked closer and spotted three pegasi dressed in dark uniforms, similar to the Wonderbolts Nero had seen on that poster in Ponyville.

"Oh no! RAINBOW!" Twilight yelled to the pegasus, but one of the dark uniformed ponies glared at them. Her eyes flashed, and a thick cloud of fog blocked their view. "Don't listen to them!" Twilight continued to call out to Rainbow Dash, but Nero had a feeling she couldn't hear them anymore.

Damn, she might've actually got us with this one. Guess I'll just have to find another way around. Once I'm over, I find Rainbow, save her if necessary, then kick Black Snooty's ass. Shouldn't be too hard.

Nero was about to turn around and find an alternate route, only for a certain rainbow pegasus to fly through the fog and land near them. The girls all cheered at her return and started crossing the bridge. "See? I'd never leave my friends hanging!"

"What the heck happened over there?" Nero questioned her.

"Oh, these guys called the Shadowbolts wanted to recruit me. They said they were the best flyers in the Everfree forest and wanted me to help them be the best in Equestria! Problem was, they would only let me join them if I ditched you guys, so I had to turn 'em down." She explained.

"Yeah, I think that was actually Nightmare Moon." He concluded.

"Wait, what!? What makes you think that!?" The pegasus was taken aback.

"I saw a cloud of blue smoke flying around just as you reached the other side. Also, did them saying they're the best flyers in the Everfree forest not make you suspicious? This place ain't exactly known for being populated." He explained.

"O-Oh... yeah that, uh, probably should have tipped me off, huh?" She chuckled and scratched the back of her head. Nero just sighed in response. At least she was safe. This also most likely meant that she was connected to the Loyalty Element.

As they continued to cross the bridge, Pinkie nudged Nero to get his attention, then whispered to him, "Nero! Nero! My coin flip was right! What do I win!? What do I win!?"

"I, uh, didn't exactly have a reward in mind."

"Oh, well that's okay! It was fun anyway!" She gleefully continued crossing the bridge. Nero sighed in relief, seeing the pink pony was actually keeping her promise and being subtle about the coin. They finished crossing the bridge and approached the castle ruins.



The seven ponies entered the castle, and the first thing they saw was some sort of stone pedestal with five spherical rocks on display. Each sphere had a gem-shaped carving on it.

"Whoa...!"

"C'mon, Twilight, isn't this what you've been waitin' for?" Applejack turned to the purple unicorn.

"The Elements of Harmony! We found them!" The two pegasi in the group flew up and started lifting the stone spheres off of the pedestal and brought them down in front of Twilight. "Careful...careful..."

"One, two, three, four, uh, there's only five." Pinkie counted.

"Didn't that book say something about it appearing when we found the other five?" Nero asked Twilight.

"Yes, the book said, 'When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.'"

"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack asked the next question on everyone's mind.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back, I don't know what will happen." Twilight lowered her horn towards the spheres, and everyone present did as she said.

"Come on, now, y'all. She needs to concentrate." Everyone except Twilight followed Applejack back outside.

They were only out there a second before they heard Twilight yelp.

"Twilight!" They all ran back in to see a cloud of blue smoke had started flying around the Elements in a small tornado.

"The Elements!" Without hesitation, Twilight leapt into the tornado just as it teleported away, taking her with them. The girls all looked around for her in a panic. Nero, remaining levelheaded, looked out the window and spotted many flashing lights in another part of the castle.

"There!" He pointed to the flashing lights before taking off deeper into the castle. The other girls tried to follow him, but his demon heritage allowed him to run much faster than others without getting tired. The girls called after him to wait for them, but he didn't listen.

Sorry girls, but this is getting too dangerous. Gonna have to bench you for this one.

For a second, a memory flashed in Nero's mind.

"Nero, Go! You're just dead weight!"

Suddenly the devil hunter felt a little guilty for leaving them on the sidelines. The same thing had been done to him once. Still, he pressed forward. Twilight's life could be in danger, and he wasn't going to risk that to let the others catch up.

I am not dead weight.



Nero raced through corridor after corridor until he reached a staircase. He quickly reached the top...

... Just in time to see the Elements be shattered to pieces by Nightmare Moon, with Twilight watching in horror.

Welp, looks like that plan failed. Good thing I'm here to act as a plan B.

"You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess or your sun! The night... will last... FOREV-!"

*BANG!*

*CLANG!*

Nightmare moon groaned in annoyance as she was interrupted again by something impacting her helmet.

"Aww, what? Don't tell me you forgot about me already, Black Snooty. I gotta say, I'm a little hurt." Nero quipped, lowering Blue Rose.

"Not you again..." She grumbled.

"'Fraid so. You're still gonna have to deal with me first. Now that I'm here..." The devil hunter cracked his neck then levitated Red Queen out beside him. "Whaddya say we get down to busine-" He was cut off when he heard voices coming from the staircase he just entered from.

"Twilight!? Nero!? Don't worry, we'll be there!" They could hear the voices of the other five ponies getting closer as they made their way up the stairs.

Huh, they sure got here quick, even with me leaving them in the dust.

Nero turned to look at Twilight, who's eyes had gone wide. A spark seemed to shine in her eyes. She then turned to Nightmare Moon, seeming much more confident than before. "You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong!"

Uh, no Twilight, she's not. She can and did destroy the Elements. They're currently in pieces right over there.

"Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony..." Twilight continued just as the other five ponies reached the top of the stairs, "...Are right here!"

Huh?...oh...oh! I get it now! So that's what Discord meant.

The shards that had once been the Elements began to shake and were lifted into the air by a glow that surrounded each. Twilight continued her speech. "Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of Honesty!" The shards that were glowing orange hovered around the farm pony.

"Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of Kindness!" The shards that were glowing pink hovered around the shy pegasus.

"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of Laughter!" The shards that were glowing light blue hovered around the energetic pony.

"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of Generosity!" The shards were glowing purple hovered around the fashion designer.

"And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the spirit of Loyalty!" The shards that were glowing red hovered around the rainbow pegasus. "The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!"

Well, I was the one who took care of the demons, but I guess we're just glossing over that.

"You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!" Nightmare Moon sounded like she was getting nervous. It made Nero chuckle.

"But it did, a different kind of spark!" Twilight turned to face the group. "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you!"

Well, that's a 180 from how she felt earlier. Just a few hours ago, she wanted nothing to do with these ponies. Well, people do tend to grow bonds faster during times of crisis.

"The spark ignited inside me, when I realized that you all..." Twilight continued, turning to face Nightmare Moon once more. "...Are my friends!"

Oh my god, this is the cheesiest, hammiest thing I've ever witnessed.

Above them, a light flashed, and a new stone sphere appeared before them, floating just above Twilight. Coincidentally, the carving on the sphere looked just like her cutie mark. "You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the hearts of us all, it creates the sixth Element, the Element of... Magic!"

The shards surrounding the girls all came together and turned into necklaces that each of the girls wore. The only exception was Twilight, who's Element turned into a crown.

"Yeah, yeah, 'The Power of Friendship' and all that cliche stuff. You gonna blast her ass back to the moon now?" Nero added sarcastically. Twilight gave him a nod and the girls were enveloped in a ball of white light. A spiral of rainbows shot out of the bright light and to the ceiling, then came back down at full force, aiming directly for Nightmare Moon.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Nightmare Moon cried out as she became surrounded by a rainbow-colored tornado. Twilight opened her eyes, which were now glowing so bright that he had to shield his eyes. When he opened them again, all the girls were lying on the ground.

Wow... they didn't even need me. Well, except for the part with the demons, but other than that, they seemed to have it handled.

"Oh, my head..." Rainbow groaned.

"Everypony okay?" Applejack checked on everyone.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Everyone turned to look at Rarity once she spoke. It seemed that during their rainbow smiting of Nightmare Moon, her tail had instantly grown back. Nero would have been shocked to see this, but he grew an arm back, so it wasn't too much of a stretch.

"Why Rarity, it's so lovely!" Fluttershy complimented.

"I know! I'll never part with it again!" She waved her tail around, good as new.

"No, your necklace!" Fluttershy pointed to the piece of jewelry around Rarity's neck. The necklace was made of gold, and it held a purple diamond shaped gem in the center. "It looks just like your cutie mark!"

"Wha-? Oh! So does yours!" Rarity pointed out and Fluttershy looked down with a gasp, noticing a pink butterfly gem dangling from her necklace.

"Look at mine! Look at mine!" Pinkie bounced around, looking down at her necklace, which had a light blue gem shaped like a balloon.

"Aw, yeah!" Rainbow admired hers, which had a red lightning bolt for its gem. Nero also noticed that Applejack's was an orange-colored apple, and Twilight's was the same magenta, six-pointed star that she had for a cutie mark.

"Gee, Twilight, I thought you were just spoutin' a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the Elements of Friendship!" Applejack said to her.

God, could this get any cornier?

"Indeed you do." A calming voice echoed, and the group all turned in the direction it came from. Outside the window, Nero could see that the sun was rising in a matter of seconds before stopping in the sky. Another white ball of light shone from it and flew through the window and into the room. The light dissipated to reveal a very large pony. She had white fur and a multi-colored mane that blew in the wind. She also had both a horn and wings, just like Nightmare Moon had.

The fact that all the girls around him bowed before her made the half-demon assume that this was the princess.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight, instead of bowing, strode over to the princess.

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student!" She embraced Twilight in a hug. "I knew you could do it."

Wait... faithful student? She's a direct subordinate of the princess!?

"But you told me it was all an old pony tale!" Twilight looked up at the taller pony.

"I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more." The princess clarified. "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Now if only another will, as well..." Celestia turned to where Nightmare Moon had been.

Nightmare Moon's armor lay scattered on the ground, cracked and damaged. The pony herself, however, still remained, to Nero's surprise. What stuck out to him though, was that she had... changed.

The jet-black pony with fangs was gone. The pony that was laying there now had navy blue fur like Nero. Her mane was blue, and still looked like it was made out of the night sky, but it was much more solid and less like smoke than it had been earlier. While she was taller than most ponies, she appeared to be slightly shorter than Celestia.

The hell...?

"Princess Luna." Celestia approached Nightmare Moon, or rather, 'Luna'. The new pony opened her eyes and gasped when she saw the princess. "It has been 1,000 years since I have seen you like this. It's time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone! Did I hear that right!?

"Sister!?" The other ponies in the room all gasped, confirming that Nero had heard correctly.

Discord had slipped earlier and said there was more than one princess... That son of a bitch knew about this all along, didn't he?

"Will you accept my friendship?" The princess asked her sister. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation, awaiting an answer. Pinkie had leaned so far that she accidentally fell forward. After a few seconds, the princess' sister leapt into her embrace, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!" She cried, and the princess began to do the same.

"I've missed you, too." She looked down and smiled at her sister. Staring at the two brought back memories for the descendant of Sparda.

Memories of two brothers, ready to kill each other over a stupid sibling rivalry.

...Y'know, I'm actually glad I didn't get to fight Black Snooty. If I had, this may not have turned out to be such a happy ending.

From beside him, Nero saw Pinkie crying and blowing her nose into a tissue. Where she got it from, he had no idea. She continued to cry until, like flicking a light switch, her mood instantly changed back to happy. "Hey! You know what this calls for?"



"A Party!" Pinkie threw confetti into the air. They were now back in Ponyville, the townspeople celebrating the defeat of Nightmare Moon. As soon as they got back, Spike had run out from the crowd and leapt into Twilight's hooves. Four pegasi in armor, who Nero learned were Celestia's Royal guard (Not to be confused with Dante's Royalguard Style), had flown the two princesses into town in a carriage. Luna had clearly been nervous when first entering the town, but the ponies seemed to welcome her. A couple kids even gave her a flower necklace.

"So, how's it feel to save the world?" Nero turned back to Twilight, only to see her looking downtrodden about something.

"Why so glum, my faithful student? Are you not happy that your quest is complete, and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?" Princess Celestia approached her.

"That's just it. Just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them." The purple unicorn looked back at the other girls as she spoke. After hearing that, Celestia seemed to come to a decision.

"Spike, take a note, please." The baby dragon in question pulled out a quill and paper at the request. "I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship, and she must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville."

The other girls gathered around Twilight and cheered now that their new friend would be able to stay with them. "Oh, thank you, Princess Celestia! I'll study harder than ever before!" Around them, the townspeople seemed to cheer as well, glad to have a happy ending.

Well, this seemed to have wrapped up nicely. Seems like my work here is done. That just leaves one question...

...What now?

Discord had hired him to take care of the demons in all of Equestria, so that clearly meant there was more than just the few they encountered in the forest. There had to be a reason these demons were in this world. Maybe he could find the source of whatever's bringing them here and get rid of it? If that's the case, how on Earth is he supposed to find it? Where would he start?

"Excuse me, Nero, was it?" The devil hunter was stirred from his thoughts when he saw Princess Celestia approach him. "Would you mind if I speak with you in private?"

The princess wants to talk to me? In private?...Okay, let's see what this is about.

"Alright, sure." Nero followed her as they were flanked by two of her royal guards. Eventually, she led him into a secluded alleyway, away from anyone that might overhear. The guards kept watch by the entrance, though remaining out of earshot while they had their conversation.

Yeah, this isn't sketchy at all.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did today. From what I heard, you were able to stand up to Nightmare Moon. Twilight and the others may not have succeeded if not for you." She thanked him, but he only scoffed.

"Trust me, you shouldn't be thanking me. If it hadn't been for them, I may have ended up killing her. They're the ones you should be thanking. Anyway, I doubt you brought me somewhere this secluded just to thank me. What did you really want to talk about?" He asked her, rather relaxed despite the current setting.

"Straight to the point I see. Alright then..." The princess of the sun chuckled before asking the question she had brought him here for.

"...You're from another world, aren't you?"

The half-demon's relaxed expression was traded out for one of panic.

HOW THE FUCK DID SHE KNOW THAT!?!

"Pfffft, whaaaaat? Where the heck is this coming from?" Nero chuckled nervously.

"We haven't disclosed this to the public yet to avoid any panic, but we've discovered that the new creatures that have been appearing all over Equestria originated from a world beyond our own. Despite that, you seem to be quite familiar with them." She explained.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. What makes you think I'm familiar with them?"

"Twilight told me you had called them 'demons'. That's rather odd, don't you think? Nobody in Equestria knows what these creatures are called except for you." The princess currently had the biggest shit-eating grin on her face.

...Oh, shit.

The princess didn't stop there, however, and kept going. "Let's not forget your rather odd behavior. You call yourself an exterminator, yet whenever somepony asks you to elaborate further, you evade the question. You also referred to pegasi as 'pegasuses'. On top of that, you've never once used terms such as 'somepony' or 'anypony', only using someone or anyone. While the latter terms aren't unheard of here, we still use the former much more often."

Nero thought that had been the end of it, but she still had more. "Your unique talents also come to mind. How you fought off these 'demons' with ease, survived a fall that would normally kill any other pony, and run faster than would normally be possible for anypony else. Your weapons are rather unique as well. I don't believe there are any exterminators that require swords, especially one as special as yours. As for the other weapon, I don't think anything like that even exists in Equestria. The closest we may have to it are cannons."

...I wonder if I would become a fugitive if I just ran for it right now.

"Do not get the wrong impression, Nero. I can tell your intentions are good, and I hope we can work together to stop these creatures that have begun to invade Equestria." The princess reassured the devil hunter, having noticed how fidgety he was getting. "I simply ask that you please tell me the truth. Do not feel the need to pressure yourself."

Seeing that he was pretty much cornered, Nero sighed.

...I guess she seems trustworthy. I just hope I don't regret this.

"...Alright, you got me... I'm from another world. Those demons are from my world, but I have no idea how they got here. I'm here to get rid of all of them. I'm also not actually a pony, I'm what's called a human. They don't seem to exist here in Equestria, so I had to turn into something more local." After Nero confessed, Celestia hummed in thought, taking everything in.

"I see... so, then how did you come to this world? And how did you become a pony?" She asked.

"That would be thanks to me." Nero and Celestia searched for the source of the voice, both of them very familiar with it. Discord appeared before them in a flash, his usual smug grin plastered on his face.

"Discord!? How are you-!?" Celestia was taken aback. How had he gotten free!?

"Wait, you know him?" Nero asked, surprised.

"Now, now, Celestia, I can assure you I come in peace. I come from the future, though I'm afraid I cannot say much more than that." The princess of the sun kept her guard up, still not trusting the draconequus. "Oh, for heaven's sake. If you don't believe me, then you can check the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. You'll find my statue still there."

His statue? What nut job made a statue in this guy's honor? And how would that prove he comes in peace?

"Hold on, how do you know Discord?" The half-demon got the feeling this was something he should know.

"Before Luna had become Nightmare Moon, Discord brought Equestria into a state of chaos and unrest. To stop him, we had sealed him in stone using the Elements of Harmony." She explained.

"Wait, you're saying Discord was evil!?" Nero turned to the master of chaos. "Seems he failed to mention that when he introduced himself."

"Oh, you were going to find out anyway, so I figured, why bother telling you when I could let it be a surprise?" He laughed. "Anyway, it seems you've started making progress with your demon hunting, and now you have the aid of Equestria's ruler! Quite a good start, indeed!"

"Are these demons your doing, Discord?" She eyed the draconequus with suspicion.

"Wha-!? Oh heavens, no! I hired Nero here specifically to get rid of the demons! I can't believe you don't trust me. Why, I'm an absolute angel!" A halo appeared above Discord's head as he said that. Celestia looked to Nero for conformation, and the devil hunter nodded.

"It's true, he's the one that hired me." He answered, and Celestia looked back at Discord. What in Equestria was he planning?

"Why choose to reveal yourself to me?" The princess pressed him further.

"Well, I wasn't originally planning to, but somepony clearly failed to keep it a secret that they were from another world." Discord gave Nero the side eye before continuing. "I never told Nero not to mention me, so there wasn't anything I could do to stop him from spilling the beans. I figured I might as well give you an explanation before you go accusing me of anything. I can assure you, I'm here to help, and so is Nero."

"He's right about one thing." The demon hunter addressed Celestia. "Even if I wasn't getting paid for this, I'd still help. I'm not gonna stand by while others are in danger."

"Paid? I don't recall discussing any payment." The draconequus put a claw on his chin in thought.

Wait...what?

"H-Hold on, I stand by what I said, but I still wanna get paid for this. You are paying me, right?"

Discord shrugged in response. "Even if I wanted to, I'm afraid I don't have any money to give you. Anyways, now that that's all taken care of, I'll be off now. Oh, and one last thing. Keep my presence a secret from Twilight and the others. if they find out about me early, it may cause problems. Ta ta!"

"Hey wait a sec-!" Before Nero could argue, Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared.

That son of a bitch conned me!

Nero seethed, angered at being unable to force payment out of the lord of chaos. Celestia sighed, unsure of what to make of this new development.

"...Twilight and her friends had been curious about you earlier. That's why she told me about what she knew. I told her I would talk to you and report back to her. Do you wish to tell them about your origins?" Celestia asked, trying to get back onto their original topic. Nero thought about his answer. It was clear the girls were curious about him, Twilight especially. Not telling them might just make them suspicious of him.

"...Yeah, I guess it would be for the best. Though, we will need to leave out the part about Discord hiring me. We'll need to come up with another excuse for how I got here."

The princess smiled. "I think I know a solution for that."



Nero stood in the Golden Oaks Library in front of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, plus a baby dragon. They were all slack jawed after hearing that the devil hunter was from another world. The fact that Princess Celestia herself confirmed it to be true was also mind boggling to them. The story they told them was that Celestia had been the one to summon Nero to help deal with the creatures.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Twilight, but we didn't want ponies to panic, and hearing that these creatures had come from another world might cause that." The princess explained to her faithful student. Twilight herself struggled to find the words.

"I... I have so many questions..." She eventually settled on.

"...So... all that stuff you did in the Everfree forest... that's because you're not a pony? You're actually a... what did you say it was? A human?" Rainbow Dash spoke next.

"Well, not exactly." He answered. He figured if he was telling them everything, he might as well share that bit of information as well. "I am half human, sure... but I could do all that stuff because of my other half. I'm actually half demon."

The girls all gasped, recognizing the name. Even Celestia was surprised. They didn't need to tell Nero to explain, as he began doing so immediately. "A long time ago, demons had gone to war against humans. They did nothing more than kill and maim others. The demons were all led by a demon emperor named Mundus. Now, Mundus had a right-hand man known as the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, who was known as one of the greatest swordsmen among demon kind."

Nero paused to make sure the girls were all following along. When he saw that they were, he continued. "One day, Sparda 'awoke to justice'. Don't ask me what that means, 'cause I don't know either. He single-handedly defeated Mundus and his army, then sealed them away in Hell, which is basically the demon world. Several years later, he ended up falling in love with a human, and the two of them had twin sons, both half-demons." A look of understanding spread amongst the girls.

"So, you're one of those twins?" Twilight asked.

"Close. One of those twins is my father. Either way, I'm a descendant of Sparda. That's why I've got demon blood in me." He clarified.

After that, the girls continued to ask him many other questions. After about half an hour, they said their goodbyes and parted ways. Nero now stood with the princess of the sun outside the library.

"I suppose if that is all, then I shall head back to Canterlot. While we are keeping the fact that these demons come from another world a secret, I believe it would be best if ponies at least knew there was someone working to get rid of them. Having such good news could be beneficial. If you ever need anything, do not be afraid to ask." Celestia turned to leave, heading towards the carriage waiting to take her to Canterlot. It was then that an idea popped into Nero's head.

"Hey, Princess!" He trotted up to her and she turned back to face him. "Actually, if you're gonna be telling people about me, then there is something you could help me with."



Some time had passed, and the sun was beginning to set. Nero stepped back to admire the building in Ponyville he now had ownership of. He had to admit, the ponies in charge of real estate worked fast. He looked above the double doors to stare at what was hanging there.

A blue neon sign that read 'Devil May Cry'.

Nero pushed open the doors and took a look around. The interior was eerily similar to Dante's shop. He had no idea how they got it so close, but he wasn't complaining. He strode over to the desk, sat in the chair, then kicked his hind legs up onto the desk, crossing one over the other.

So, this is what it feels like.

As he let his eyes wander around the shop, his gaze fell on the vintage mailbox next to the desk, as well as the telephone sitting on the desk itself. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a letter that he had already received earlier. He found himself rereading it once more.

Hello again, Nero! To congratulate you on your new shop, I decided to give you a present. Well, two presents to be exact. The first is the mailbox you'll be receiving this letter from. If ponies have a request for a job, or want to report any demon sightings, they can mail them to you with this. If you want, you can leave it outside for the mail pony. The second present is the telephone, which I can assure you is no ordinary telephone. Due to telephones not existing here, Unicorns can instead call you by casting a specific spell. You should be able to hear them with the phone's receiver. This can also be used to receive job offers, as well as hear of any demon sightings. The difference is that the telephone is much more instantaneous than waiting for mail. Hope you put them to good use!

- D

Nero assumed that "D" was Discord. Who else in Equestria would know about telephones? He had shared the letter with Celestia already so that she would let people know to contact him using these. He opened one of the desk's drawers and threw the letter inside before shutting it again. He leaned back into the chair, contemplating everything. He was probably going to be in this world for a while. If Discord kept his promise, he would be returned to the exact point in time that he left once the job was done. Still, that didn't mean it wouldn't be a long time before he saw his friends again...

...Before he saw Kyrie again.

Wait for me Kyrie...

He was stirred from his thoughts when the phone rang.

That was quick. Guess it's time to get to work.

He picked up the receiver and put it to his ear, answering the caller with only three words...

"Devil May Cry."