//------------------------------//
// Burning bridges 
// Story: The Demon lord of Equestria 
// by Ninetails 
//------------------------------//

I sat in the courtyard near the main gate with the guards who were going to dispatched to deal with the threat that was recently revealed. I sat to the rear of the group simply because I was taller and wanted a bit of space for my tails. I could see the guards around me were concerned about having me acompany them. It irked me but I did understand where they were coming from. The the captain of the operation arrived and stood upon the little makeshift stand that had been made for the briefing.


“Alright listen up. We are going to be deployed to Ponyville in order to protect them from the Ursa Major threat. I know many of you have never seen an Ursa let alone faced one in battle but take heart. They may bigger than us and stronger than us but we are smarter than them. They cannot plan.” He gave his speech as he pace back and forth. I could see it was having the desired effect on the gathered bodies present. Even I had to admit it was a little inspirational. After the briefing the captain took me aside to ask a question.


“Look I personally don't care who or what you are, however my soldiers are a little antsy about your coming with us, I was wondering if you could do something about that. I don't like my soldiers nervous.” I placed a paw on my chin in thought. 'What he says is true, and I don't want to cause problems. What can I do?' Change your form. 'What? Who keeps saying that? Also how do I do that?' Simply focus on your desired form and you will change into it. It was getting kinda creepy how this strange voice had all these answers. The only reason I wasn't completely freaking out over it was that it didn't seem to try to influence my decisions. It only seemed to give me advice on my abilities. Like an instinct given a voice. 'Maybe its a piece of my past that is still with me'.


After musing on that for a few seconds I decided to try shifting my form into something less obtrusive. I thought about becoming a smaller one tailed fox. As I concentrated I felt myself shrink. I opened my eyes to the captain looking at me his jaw on the floor.


“Wow.” Was the extent of his vocabulary at that moment. I let out a small chuckle.


“I do hope this will be satisfactory captain. I don't really know what else I can do.” 'Maybe shape shift into one of the guard. But then they would notice I'm not there. No that wouldn't work'.


“Y-yes I believe that will work.” He stammered as surprised as I was with my new found ability.


A few hours later me and the guards arrived at Ponyville without incident. We went into the town and greeted the various ponies that called it home. A few questions about me arose but the captain dismissed them by calling me an “adviser”. I almost laughed at that. Me a demon that has no memory before I awoke in a clearing an “adviser”. Still it made sense to say. I sighed inwardly. Why am I even here? Not being able to answer that question I simply let it slide.


Hours later night had fallen upon us. I had hoped for a quiet uneventful night. Alas it seems fate said “fuck you”. This particular fuck you came in the form of a massive purple star bear tearing out of the forest and smashing directly into the town. I ran from my post to see it. This thing was big...no it was beyond huge. The guards were trying and failing to contain it. I decided to try my luck and delivered a slash to the creatures eye. It responded by roaring and charging me. Aw crap. I attempted to dodge however the massive bear was simply too big. The resulting slap sent me through an entire building.


Anger filled me as I rose. HOW DARE YOU! How dare you attack me you pathetic creature! I charged the beast summoning a ball of flame by drawing a infinity symbol. I followed this up with a spiral that summoned a gust of wind pushing the ball of flame at the massive bear. It collided but didn't have the desired effect at all. My attack only served to enrage the creature further. It rampaged at me once again however this time I was ready.


Darkness swirled around me as I released my disguise and revealed my true form. My tails lashed around in anticipation of the pain I was going to inflict upon my foe. I heard some unintelligible screams off to my sides. I paid them no mind as I was far too focused on my prey. The world turned gray and my tails began to draw furiously. When I had finished a torrent of the elements was unleashed. Lightning danced from the sky. Fire danced and burned. Ice pierced and melted. Rain attempted to douse the flames but was fought by the wind which only served to fan them. The ursa roared in pain as nature itself heeded my call to kill it. After what felt like an eternity it finally fell.


As tiring as it was to go all out like that I one more thing I needed to do. I readied nine-strike as I approached the beast. It looked up at me with a look. I guess it was trying to beg for its life. It was short lived as I brought my blade down and removed its head. The beasts blood went everywhere. After the thing was felled I took stock of the surrounding area. The village was gone. My fury and power had leveled the whole thing. A few small fires danced. I called forth a rainstorm to put out the fire. 


After dousing the flames I began to look around. The village was reduced to little more than rubble.	I couldn’t see a single survivor. Making my way through the rubble and carnage I came upon many bodies. Some mangled by fire and debris that you wouldn’t recognize them. Others looked like they had simply fallen asleep. I wandered through the carnage thinking about the loss of life. It was all my fault. Yet I felt no guilt. I was saddened by the loss of life. Yet I did not feel the guilt I would have associated with such an action. Before I could think upon this any further a voice I had hoped to not hear spoke up from behind me. 

“What happened here?” It almost cracked and lost its regal sound but in the end it held firm.