//------------------------------// // Secret Mission 3: A Personal Apocalypse // Story: Devil hunter among Ponies // by Dusk Stalker //------------------------------// Authors Notice: I said I would post a double Secret Mission this will be a short one parter, but since Dante is left behind to face what is coming and Vergil hasn't gotten enough face time, so expect Vergil to be in the story so far( I haven't forgot Dante don't worry:) ) MISSION START!!! Canterlot 15 minutes before The Mane Six returned The flames of destruction... A horror to many ponies... A beacon of pure victory to the enemy... A sight for ponies or demons was to see the world burn, death becoming a realization to the congregation in the city. But to Dreadwing, it was the start of something greater, he appeared in front of the castle, his red eyes looking up and a hood covering his face and a platoon of guards at the gate, willing to defend the castle and Equestria. But Dreadwing wasn't alone, as he slammed his foot on the ground, ripples appeared to reveal something the guards didn't expect. A tall demon that looked like if inside of it was a raging inferno and a flaming scythe gracing their hand. The guards laughed at this display, sure it was frightening and this thing and Dreadwing couldn't deal with a whole platoon of Royal Guards, but the sound of gurgling and flame eating away at flesh was the only thing one pony heard as he could see another demon perching on a wall with his scythe protruding a Royal Guard's stomach, but he wasn't alone as a legion of them appeared from the shadows appearing from the ripples from the ground and the walls. "Abyss demons... Truly magnificent." As Dreadwing's horn started to be silhouetted in a blood red and black aura, he summoned two shadowy hands from the ground and strangled the two guard ponies in front of him as he could feel the life leave their bodies, leaving the guards at the mercy of the Abyss demons. He teleported behind the guards as he calmly walked to the one location he knew would be ironic to set it off. Dreadwing met some resistance, but it seemed like time was slowing down as he was walking normally as he reached the main hall that lead to the main room of the Castle, the throne room, but honestly, that wasn't his main target. (Vergil Battle Theme 2) Dreadwing continued his trip down the hall and made his way to the hallway to the right, Dreadwing stopped and looked behind him to see Abyss demons flooding the hall and exiting to the outside, but as soon as that happened three blood red projectiles pierced three demons right to the wall. "Begone!" The swords exploded catching some of the Abyss demons in the blast, he could see white hair and a blue trench coat in front of the hoard of Abyss demons, the only one that fit the persona was Vergil, and the lucky thing for Dreadwing, Vergil couldn't see him, but that didn't mean he sensed him. Dreadwing realized he needed to hurry still calm as he transformed into a black mist and sailed to his destination. Vergil could see a wave of Abyss Demons in front of him as they charged, Vergil snapped his fingers and a circle of blue swords with the tips pointing down to the ground encircled him. To add to that he wasn't alone, the two princesses were right beside him, their Royal Fury active and more intense. They charged forward with Vergil's new ability leading the way in which he dubbed the Sword Armor, it seemed Akaro gave him a gift, rather two gifts, one being the Sword armor. His summoned swords were now blood red and were more volatile and dangerous, but he preferred his blue summoned swords which were weak but surgically precise. Luna and Celestia sent two white beams towards the oncoming demons, some of the Royal Guards were still alive and fighting, the Unicorn guards sent lightning spells towards the demons, Vergil kept charging forward with a Rushing Slash as he cut the demon horde in half almost effortlessly. Some of the Royal Guard were astonished at the sight of this as Vergil kept cutting his way through the horde, but they charged right behind Vergil to continue the fight. Vergil kept carving his way with Yamato and his scabbard, as he was carving one demon, one got the idea of attacking behind Vergil in hopes of gaining glory, but that idea was extremely unfortunate as Vergil could not only sense the demon but see its reflection in his blade as Vergil was sheathing his blade, as fast as the demon could react, his blood was spraying from his lower body and his blood raining down onto the field. Vergil could feel his hair fall down in the style of Dante, blood leaking down from the tips of his hair, which made Luna blush madly when she finished killing one Abyss demon and witnessed this, it wasn't much the way he killed as how his hair was. "I just wish you were a pony," She said to herself as she continued the push to reclaim the castle, "This would have made it so much easier to tell you." But that would have to wait, her country's safety was priority number one. Celestia teleported right next to Vergil who finished off another batch of demons. The princess of the sun was panting, blood gracing her majestic mane and drops of it sliding down her cheek, seeing Vergil pushed his hair back to its original look. "Do you have any clue where he would go?" Vergil asked. Celestia compiled a list of them in her head, he wasn't heading towards the throne room, she could have caught up to him before that happened. The statue garden would be another place, but he was already powerful enough with these demons, why would he need these when he has a demonic army at his command. Then there was the Elements Vault- The Elements Vault? Why would he go there? He corrupted the Elements of Harmony already, why- "Umm, sister." Luna could read Celestia's mind like a book and what she was thinking, "Vergil is gone... We need to go after Dreadwing right now if Vergil is going after him." Celestia rapidly shook her head and nodded in agreement with Luna as her horn was glowing in a golden hue with a bit of purple flames leaping off it. Lets just hope whatever Dreadwing could achieve, that it didn't happen... And once she got her hooves on him.... He would have favored banishment again then what Celestia had on her mind right now. Anger was always the poison of many in the pony world, and it was corrupting the pinnacle of ponykind like it was nothing, but it quelled down to nothing as Luna shook her head gently knowing what her sister would do to Dreadwing, she gave Luna a reassuring grin and patted her on her back as she pulled her into a hug. Celestia could feel a tear leaking down her cheek as Luna looked up to see Celestia crying with a grin on her face, they pulled away from the hug. "Luna...if..." Luna put her hoof to Celestia who giggled in return seeing Luna smile, "We will make it Sister, I know Vergil, he would not let this happen." "He won't let it happen." Luna with her sister galloped to the Element's Vault with a boundless amount of confidence bolstering them to its extreme. "And neither will we." The Element Vault. "We pluck the strings of fate and harmony as one in many." Dreadwing was inside the vault encountering no resistance, but it was better safe then sorry to add some insurance just in case some had the foolish idea to stop him by adding Abyss demons everywhere in the hallway. "This world has witnessed Harmony at its peak, and yet, they don't see the shadow that it cast upon them knowing there are two sides to the coin." Dreadwing stopped as he looked down at the pedestal that once held the elements, sweet irony was filling him up like honey, his horn started glowing as the top of the pedestal carved itself into a bowl. "We give that one side the chance to show where it originated, where it grew and fed, where it learned, where it is the one enemy of Harmony... Corruption." "Blood." He said as he poured the vial of his transfused blood into the bowl, not one drop leaping up from the bowl as it settled itself in the bowl. "Betrayal." Dreadwing pulled out the six corrupted Elements of Harmony as they landed in a circle around the pedestal that held the blood. "Hate." Dreadwing's horn glew a darker blood red color as the roof above blew off the building, he could see out of the corner of his eye bodies being cut down in the hallway and red and blue summoned swords killing every demon in the way. He needed to hurry as he raised his voice, the blood flowing along with the elements as a dome appeared around them swallowing Dreadwing in the process, "DEATH! CHAOS! CARNAGE AND DESPAIR! THIS SHELL THAT ONCE DELIVERED THIS CHAOS," A pillar of red suddenly shot out of the pool of blood and pierced through the heavens like a spear revealing a doorway above. Vergil was rushing forward with a bit more of his strength yelling at the top of his lungs as he killed every single demon reaching the archway to the Vault's as he was about to enter. "WILL NOW DELIVER THE CORRUPTION OF THIS LAND IN A NEW SHELL!!!" A mighty gust blew Vergil back, blowing up the whole building in the process as the blast signed the edges of Vergil's coat a bit as he recovered himself and slid to a halt to see an all too familiar sight in front of him. The ground below Dreadwing was veined in red as he was pulled off the ground and being lifted up to the heavens. The sight above what looked like a white world and it almost looked like stained glass above. What Vergil could see were the clouds above swirling around that source and he knew all too well what it was. But something was falling and to Vergil's surprise, the thing that was falling was Dreadwing's skin, his wings flapping as the wind was whistling through them and his horn clattered to the ground right next to his flesh. "NOW... CORRUPTION WILL SPREAD AND THIS WORLD AND ALL THAT IT HOLDS, WILL BE MINE!!!" Dreadwing's voice was now different as he was maniacally laughing up a storm, Vergil looked up to see the form of Dreadwing for a brief moment, but it wasn't enough to get a good description. Vergil slammed his fist onto the ground, if only he went after Dreadwing sooner and killed him when he first bumped into him, he should have cut his mangy head right where he stood, but it served a purpose to finally come up with an answer. Dreadwing sacrificed his pony form for a truer and more dangerous form; But Vergil knew too well what would happen in the end. But the only question was, when? "By my parent's name." He heard a unified voice behind him, he got up to see Luna and Celestia now mortified at the sight. Vergil looked up at the gaping maw in the sky and knew what had happened, something the sisters never expected to see in their lifetime or to witness, but honestly, could he blame them? "Vergil... Wha-." Celestia started, Luna was in the same boat with Celestia as she looked at Vergil's eyes for any answer and the answer he gave was immediate. "What you are witnessing... Is a portal to the Demon World." Celestia and Luna couldn't believe what they were hearing, they thought it wasn't true, but it was bellowing at them right in their faces. For the first time during their rule... They didn't know what to do. Canterlot. (Right during the end of Mission 16) Twilight and the others stumbled forward from the teleportation, they were a bit woozy and a bit green despite them being ready. As soon as their vision came into view, they noticed that Canterlot was nearly in ruins. Twilight was crying and so were the others, but not as hard as Twilight; buildings were destroyed, flames were crawling everywhere swallowing everything in its path. Buildings everywhere were literally gone some just gave way from the small breeze of the teleport, but what made everypony cry on the spot, where the abandoned bodies of the Royal Guard ponies. The bodies seemed peaceful with only slash marks ripping across their chest, while some were aggressive from the attack... And the rare few were beyond what they could imagine. Yes, there were some demons in the area that were dead, but the bodies of the Royal Guard were just enough to make them tear up even more. But that wasn't the icing on the cake as all of them looked up, their tears were gone, and fear had now spread towards the red sky. “No..." In the distance, she could see a giant hole in the sky and the others were not even expecting this either as tears started to leak down their faces and knowing one fact. The Demon World had finally come to Equestria. Chapter proofreaded by LyonAzakura. Authors Notice: Told you it was short lol but one more secret mission to go and your Blue orb will be yours lol:) and were getting close to the end and again I have not forgotten about Dante in the slightest you will see :). Don't be afraid to comment and I hope you have enjoyed the Mission:)