//------------------------------// // Mission 2: Royalties Folly // Story: Devil hunter among Ponies // by Dusk Stalker //------------------------------// Authors Notice: two missions down, alot to go lol, but I promise I will get back on track as fast as I can, for old readers If I miss any lines or paragraphs, let me know. For new readers I hope you enjoy the chapter. And I am sorry if it didn't appeal to some :(. Ponyville. Twilight and Celestia could only wonder as the pillars stopped, some of the pony folk around them were murmuring about what just happened in the Everfree Forest. Some went to their houses immediately, locking themselves in for safety, some went about their business like it was nothing but giving a weary glance towards the forest as if something was about to jump out of there, Twilight kept staring at the horizon at the forest wondering what caused the fight with the Ursa that made it stampede throughout the forest. Celestia could see it in Twilight's eyes, she knew something was in there, whatever it was, it was terrifying... Even for the Princess. She then suddenly saw an orange earth pony with a blonde mane and stenson running towards them. "Twi, I jus heard from Applebloom... A dangerous critter scared her, is that true?" The orange earth pony slid to a stop right in front of Twilight, she saw the Princess and immediately bowed. As soon as Twilight was about to speak, a white unicorn with a clean purple mane stopped right next to her, "What is going on? A mare needs her concentration for her next design without Ponyville shaking up, ugh and it even ruined my drawings for my next project." The white Unicorn scoffed this, whoever caused them basically didn't have an eye for fashion. A pink earth pony popped out from behind the bushes making everypony jump back a little as she giggled, "I came here as fast as I can, since I had a doozie of a doozie!" The rest of her friends rolled their eyes they never doubted her doozies at all, Twilight once doubted her Pinkie Sense as she tried to prove that it was just a coincidence, but since she couldn't prove that it was scientifically possible, she decided to accept it with the rest of her friends. They giggled at the notion of a Pinkie Sense, knowing all too well to never to doubt it as they all turned to the Princess. "Well, I see everypony is here." All of them drooped, it seemed the rest forgot about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were absent, all the ponies drooped further down knowing whatever their going into, whatever their facing their favorite cyan and yellow pegasus weren't going to be at their sides. Twilight took a few steps towards the Princess, "Well... Not everypony." She knew it was hard to say it, knowing they would face whatever caused that tremor, without them. "What do you mean not everypony?" Every single one of their heads turned towards the sky, there was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail hovering above them, behind her was canary yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. "RAINBOW DASH! FLUTTERSHY!" Every single one of the ponies were cheering, glad to see that they wouldn't have to go through it without them. Rainbow Dash landed right next to Twilight as Fluttershy meekly landed right next to Rarity and was shivering. "So, what's the prob?" Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight looked to the princess who nodded back. "Well Rainbow Dash, it seemed something inside the Everfree forest... Woke up an Ursa Major." "Wait, that was causing all that noise?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Yes, didn't you see the dirt pillars rising from the Everfree forest?" Twilight asked, Fluttershy spoke up, "Yes we did... Those poor animals." Fluttershy's maternal instincts for the animals kicked in as she looked towards the forest, her mind wondering what poor creatures could have been harmed. Rainbow Dash was flustered as jabbed her hooves a bit as she hovered for a bit, "When this monster sees me, it won't know what it got itself into!" Applejack managed to grab Rainbow Dash's tail before she flew off into the Everfree Forest. "Now hold on, we don't know what this critter is capable of." Applejack stated, putting caution ahead of action. Pinkie suddenly hopped up out of the brush and suddenly appeared behind Fluttershy, who gave a small eep. "Then we should throw it a party!" She was about to hop off, Twilight knowing Pinkie's speed suddenly lifted her up in the air, "We don't know what it is capable of, it could be a pony-eating monster!" "I agree with Twilight." Rarity added to Twilight's assumption, "We don't know if this is a friendly creature." Celestia nodded, she could sense one thing in Twilight, her thirst to find the knowledge on what this creature is, but at the same time the fear that her friends would be harmed was clouding her mind. Celestia took Twilight away from her friends as they were asking themselves what this creature was capable that it could take an Ursa Major. "Twilight is something the matter? You seem uneasy." Celestia asked, Twilight looked down at the ground, she had all this fear and excitement about what is going to happen to them once they find the creature. "Well it's just..." Celestia knew the answer before she could said it, she nuzzled Twilight's neck in a motherly way. Twilight's eyes met Celestia's as she felt something warm and comforting that swam through her whole body. "Twilight, I know you are worried about your friends and I can completely understand the predicament." She gave one of her warm grins to Twilight, "Being brave is one of the greatest virtues any living creature can have, pony or otherwise." She put a forehoof on Twilight's back, "And no matter what, bravery will never go away." This managed to calm Twilight down, assuring that no matter what, she would be brave to protect her friends and what surprised her more is what her mentor decided to add, "But you will not face this creature alone that is why I am coming with you." Celestia announced, her duty was to the well being of all ponies, that always came first when it came to her duty as Equestria's ruler, the one thing that always gave her joy was to see that all the ponies she leads were all safe and sound. As they were about to set off, Fluttershy asked one thing that managed to snap everypony attention. " Girls... Where's Rainbow Dash?" Dante was sitting on the edge of the forest, his back to a boulder which had the word 'Tom Dan' carved into it. The half-demon gave the boulder a pat as he relaxed a bit more. Dante then took out his amulet as the sun hit the blood red gem in the center, at that moment, a familiar pang entered his stomach, this pang to him was a gift and a curse as he remembered the day, he remembered it vividly. It was like someone looping that whole scene in his head remembering the last words of a fallen rival, "I am staying here... This place was our father's home." That sentence echoed throughout his whole being, he looked down at his hand where his brother made that last slash, the wound healed but it never healed Dante's feelings as the pang intensified. It kept looping, that one tear that fell for Vergil outside the Temen-ni-gru. Why did this come back to haunt him? Why didn't he do something when Vergil was about to fall? Dante could only remembered the what happened when was outside with Lady looking up at the dreary sky. "Are you crying?" "It's only the rain." "The rain already stopped." "Devil's never cry." "I see... Maybe somewhere out there, even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one, don't you think?" "Maybe." He missed the feeling of a greatsword meeting a katana in battle, the clang of each blade meeting each other as it echoed throughout his mind. "Damn you Vergil." He said as his hand grasped the amulet tighter, the last memento of a once happy family. He gave out a yawn, "This place can get to ya." He stretched his arms out and laid them down, "Honestly, I never had a decent nap." with that last yawn he slumped and gave out one mighty snore, and honesty he needed it. But little did he know, that the six ponies and an alicorn were on his trail and they were closing in fast. The forest was still dark and twisted, the eerie feeling of dread and danger around every turn, the only one unphased by this was Celestia, who was casually looking around. She could remember the moments when Luna and her would sneak out at night and play, the times when the forest was truly peaceful, where anypony could walk down this path to see the princesses, a truly peaceful balance before then. But now, all she could see were twisted branches and trees blocking the sun, making its true beauty nothing but a distant memory. "Princess, is everything alright?" Twilight asked, she had a tear trickling down her cheek and a warm grin on her face. "It is nothing." She smiled at those memories, "Just happy memories." Twilight smiled to her mentor, but at that moment the gang started to feel a bit... Shaky. "Woah nelly, why does it feel cold all of a sudden?" Applejack stopped, aa shiver was sent down her spine. Pinkie Pie was next as she backed a few steps her hair was on the verge of deflating. Rarity was shaking, checking the area on what was causing it, Fluttershy whimpered and hid behind Celestia and Twilight. Celestia shook it off but Twilight was reacting the same way as Rarity. "Princess." she said softly. "I know Twilight... I know." Celestia could feel it, they were close, very close, but the one thing she could feel from it was the immensity of it, it was dark and heavy, which caused all the ponies to feel a sense of dread. Celestia shook it off as they moved a brush to find a huge clearing. The princess and the others looked around to see an area void of trees or wildlife, there was no green in this area but it was all grey. What caught all their eye's was a figure on the edge of the forest as they moved in for a closer look. As they closed in on the sight, they could see a lone creature with white hair and a red coat , napping away peacefully . All were mystified at the sight of it as it snored quietly, judging by the noise they made getting close to it was that not only it was a heavy sleep but male. Rarity was looking at the amulet around his neck, a red ruby with a delicate silver frame holding it ever so gently. Rarity was mesmerized by it swaying side to side the few glints it let off in the sun, but when she looked up to see his sword, she took a few steps back from the skull. Celestia could only stare at him, the power radiating from him was almost unnatural and dark, she tilted her head to the side, "What are you?" " Uggghhh!" Rainbow Dash was flying over the Everfree forest, and she was starting to get bored, "How hard is it to find this thing?" Rainbow Dash looked down to see the clearing, and low behold, the whole gang gathered around a boulder. "Finally." Rainbow Dash came to a landing as the whole gang, including the princess, turned to see her walking up to the creature. "So, this is the creature that beat the Ursa Major?" She gesture to a sleeping Dante, in a few seconds she was on her back laughing her flank off, all the ponies looked confused while Rainbow Dash was laughing at this, something that looks like a monkey was able to beat an Ursa Major was a joke she would keep for her friends once she figured one out. "Dammit." Everypony in the area jumped at the new source of voice, they turned to see that the creature was not slumped up against the boulder, but it wasn't even there anymore, "I finally had a decent nap, that was rude of you to wake me up from it." "Up there!" Rarity pointed to a tree on the other side of the clearing, up on a branch, leaning against the trunk of the tree, was Dante with his trademark smirk never leaving his face, "Wow you found me, what other amazing perceptive powers do you have?" Princess Celestia walked up to the tree where Dante was perched on, "Greetings creature, may I ask who and what you are?" Dante sniggered, "Isn't it rude to not give your name first before you ask someone for their's?" Everypony gasped at this, but Celestia ignored it as she gave a warm smile to Dante, "My name is Princess Celestia, I am the Ruler of Equestria." "Really?" Dante gave a mock bow, "Well excuuuse me Princess, but with all due respect to your title, I don't give a crap." Everypony cringed at Dante swearing, except Princess Celestia kept her composure and gave a warm grin as she replied. "That was rude, but I can understand the situation your in." "Well," Dante jumped off the branch and landed a few feet from Princess Celestia, " Due to the fact that I am not a freaking lost and helpless puppy means you have reason to be here." Celestia nodded wondering if this creature lived in the Everfree, "An Ursa Major used to live here, and it seems to have left this particular ground, we just wanted to know what type of creature did it." "That giant purple cosmic bear?" Dante asked, "Yeah, I kicked it's ass out of here a while ago." Everypony gasped again and Celestia was now staring at Dante wide eyed at the fact he managed to kick it out and defeated it. In Equestria's history, no one has been able to defeat an Ursa Major, and what Celestia was looking at, was probably the first creature to do so. " You did?" "Mhmm." She cleared her throat despite the surprise that was presented to her as she resumed her motherly tone, "Well if you can come back to Canterlot with me, I wish to know how you defeated it." " Yeah...” He said scratching the back of his head “I think I'll pass." Invitations were somewhat sketchy to him since Arkham's little 'invitation'. "Please, I insist you come back with me to Canterlot." Celestia requested with a bit of force in her voice. "Too kind for a demon or she's really convincing, lets try and twist the nail in see if she is gonna act snap."Dante told himself he shrugged it off and gave a little narrow glance on the Princess of the Sun, "You know what I say to your offer." He stretched his arms and sheathed Rebellion. "Flock off." Dante stated, "And take your royal ass with you." Everypony was now stunned at the fact somepony had the audacity to speak to the princess like that. Celestia closed her eyes for a second and inhaled the fact that the Devil Hunter's aura seemed evil she couldn't take any chances anymore, "Very well, if you do not wish to come, then I cannot allow you to harm any of my little ponies." Dante sniggered and turned his back to her as she got into a defensive position. The demon hunter then turned to her one more time, his arms spread out, "Like I would." Honestly, from the sight of the six ponies behind her, they wouldn't harm a fly as he walked away from them heading towards the edge of the clearing and into the forest. Hoping for at least a way out of here without any incident whatsoever. Dante was almost to the edge of the clearing when he saw a white and black energy ball hit the back of him, he didn't feel it but could see the light from it, "So you wanna go round 2 with me?" Dante asked as he could see out of the corner of his eye that Celestia was still in a combat position her horn dimming down, he pulled out Ebony a glint in his eye followed suit, "Fine, let's see if you put up a better fight than what Smoky did." "Girls," Celestia was still facing Dante, her sight never leaving him, "Get to the edge of the clearing." They all nodded as they ran as far to the edge as they could. (Boss Battle 1- Celestia) Wind swept through the clearing waiting for the combatants to fight, as soon as the wind seceded Celestia sent a stun spell at him in which Dante shot down with Ebony, the princess sent another one, in which the demon hunter whipped out Ivory and shot the other one down, Celestia's horn glowed as below Dante's feet, an earthen pillar rose out from the ground, he leapt off it and held out Ebony and Ivory in front of him as he flipped over another one of Celestia's stun spells, as soon as she caught Dante in motion, she sent a chain to bind him as it wrapped around him not even budging an inch, Celestia thought she had him and knew this was over before it started. But Dante broke free of his chains and was diving down towards Celestia, she managed to dodge the bullets on by the skin of her teeth by sliding to the side, "He is impervious." She held out a charged electricity spell at the tip of her horn and launched it at Dante, he holstered Ebony and Ivory and put his hands in his pockets as the spell made contact, it sent a shockwave throughout the clearing but managed to not reach the mane six, who were watching with horrified looks. The smoke cleared and to Celestia's surprise, Dante was unharmed and brushing off his coat, "He seems to have a strong resistance to my spells too for whatever he is." "I thought I would never had to use this." Her hooves started to glow and so did her eyes, all of the sudden in a burst of light, her eyes leaked purple flames and her hooves matched and her wings even matched it to, the magic on her horn was now eighty percent brighter. Twilight was now astonished at this, " This... Is..." Twilight couldn't believe it. She had read of this before but never believed it. This was the Royal Fury, a trait only members of the royal family could do, a trait that amplified anyponies spell by leaps and bounds, she couldn't believe she was witnessing this moment. Celestia was now looking at Dante not with righteous fury, but with fear, "You’re treating this like a game! It's time to get serious! I will not let you harm any of my ponies!" Dante was smiling at this new found challenge, "Well, looks the royal flock has decided to make things interesting." He pulled out Rebellion and pointing it at Celestia, right as he did that, Celestia was in front of him with an amplified knockback spell heading straight at Dante's stomach. Suddenly, a massive shockwave rocked the clearing as a large explosion of dust left a crater where Dante was standing, but he was high above and falling down with Rebellion in the lead(Helm Breaker). It crashed where Celestia was as she dodged it, Dante then began using basic sword attacks to bring her down, he was barely putting effort into his swings as he saw Celestia start to get tired from his speed. Dante flipped right onto another tree branch and perched Rebellion on his back. "What is he...?" Celestia asked herself, panting from the dodging she did from Dante, whoever this was, was giving her a run for her money. She leapt back to in front of the Mane six, she charged a lightning storm spell, the sparks emanating from the ball were about the size of trees and they were jumping from the ball. "I hate using violence to get things done and I wish we could come to a peaceful agreement!" Celestia was still charging the spell, the mane six took a few steps back from her voice ringing so close in front of them, "But I will give you one more chance to cease this senseless quarrel so we can end this peacefully." "Fat chance." Dante said. Celestia sighed at this she really didn't want to continue, "Then you still give me no choice!" She sent the ball flying towards Dante, thinking it was over and they could find a peaceful way to deal with this, but she didn't know the demon hunter, he whipped out Ebony and Ivory and sent a charged blast at the lightning spell, making it disappear as she saw the sparks in the wind, Dante holstered Ebony and Ivory and shrugged, "Is that really all you got?" Celestia could only pant and still be surprised at the momentum and force this creature was putting out, she knew most of her spells were useless if he was this powerful, but she had a feeling that he was holding back. She knew of no way to put this creature down without harming anypony around her. But a thought immediately came to her, if he was immune to her spells then there was one thing she knew that was more powerful than her. But she knew there was no other choice, she actually thought it would really never come to this, their was only one thing that could stop any creature and they were the Elements of Harmony. But the one thing she needed was a distraction to get them here, so her horn glowed as the earth below started to swirl as the dust began to pick up speed as she threw it straight at Dante right as her horn started to glow again, the twister started picking up speed and heading towards the half-human. He managed to swipe the air with Rebellion as the force from the blade made the twister dissipate, but right as Dante swept the twister away, he could see a purple box right next to Celestia and a victorious grin adorning her face. She opened it up immediately, it flew over to Twilight as she looked down at the box and she could see five necklaces and a tiara, knowing what these were, she nodded, "Girls!" Her horn glowed and all the Elements appeared around each of their necks, "In position!" The elements glowed brightly, they all lifted off in the air surrounded in a white transparent bubble, white beams connecting with each element and Twilight's eyes were all white, the energy that the Elements of Harmony were giving off was being absorbed and mixed into another lightning spell that Celestia summoned, the spell at the end of her horn turned gold, they could hear a faint heartbeat as it was sent, Celestia could only grin in triumph, its over. But Dante was unphased, he pulled out Rebellion and was pointing at the sky as he got into a batter position. He was waiting as the energy ball sped up, he kept waiting for it as he said, "Here is the wind up." The combined energy sped up even more, "And the pitch!" The combined spell was about a foot away, almost to its goal, but the ball made contact with Rebellion and contorted as it flew off into the morning sky, Celestia immediately got out of her Royal Fury mode and stood their flabbergasted at this, the Mane six had their jaws literally dropped to the ground as they left the bubble. "And it's going, going, going!" Dante narrated as the ball was going out of sight, it was silent then, until, a giant light explosion rocked the sky and Dante sheathed Rebellion, "And it is outta here!" he bowed to Celestia and the Mane six as he pulled out Ebony, the Mane six were right behind her and they could see him walking towards Celestia. He suddenly felt a jerk around his waist; he turned his head to see Applejack with a lasso in her mouth, Dante gave out a massive sigh, "You know, " He broke his bonds as Applejack tumbled backwards a bit, "This is starting to get boring." He was bored, tired and hungry, he really didn't care what the outcome was. He kept heading in Celestia's direction, Rainbow Dash then charged at him at breakneck speed, she was about a few inches away, closer, closer, and closer, but right as she thought she would hit him, he moved to his left by two inches, Rainbow Dash immediately turned her head to see Dante unphased and still heading towards the princess. She turned and around and... BAM!!!! She ran into a tree and was suddenly knocked unconscious, sliding down the trunk slowly and the stars circling around her head were following suit. Dante shrugged and was now standing over Celestia, his gun about an inch from her head, she kept looking up, with courage in her heart, Twilight screamed for her mentor, for all she knew, Equestria was now in danger and soon without a leader and hope. Chapter proofreaded by LyonAzakura. Authors Notice: And Mission 2 done! For those new to the story I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, for the old readers let me know(If you know any) If i missed any lines. Again I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. ( Think it was a little shorter then he old one.) and for Music I had to pump out this theme: Devils never cry And I played a bit of DMC 4 to get the combat right as best as I can. Again don't be afraid to comment, I won't bite. P.S.= For those that don't know whose boss theme that is, its Nevan's.