//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Gone Very Wrong // Story: Flash's Demon // by Nicktendonick //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Gone very wrong Flash stared at the stone statue that was his ex-marefriend. June is dead. June is dead. You could have sav- -No! She's just petrified don’t think that way! Flash shook off those fatal thoughts. We just have to get her out of here and undo the spell. She'll be ok as long as she’s in one piece. Flash tried to get control over his breath. Get a hold of yourself. You’re a royal guard. You’ve prepared for this. He repeated his mantra. Do not let fear take over. You do and you’re dead. You can save June. You can get out of here. Just keep your head together. His breath began to slow. Rule one of crisis management, the first thing he was taught in the royal guard: Calm heads stay on their bodies, manic heads lose theirs. It seemed Castle had done the same as Flash. The earth pony was not showing any signs of panic. Flash and Castle had remembered this lesson well. The red mare, on the other hand did not. Her eyes were wide with fear as she hyperventilated. Castle Crest was quick to move and calm his ally down. “Hey, keep it together. Take a deep breath. She’s gonna be fine.” Castle said to her, his hoof on her shoulder Flash turned to Steel and saw a different emotion. Anger. Steel Wings’s wings, true to his name began to shine with a silver light. “Turn her back!” he shouted as the silver Pegasus took to the air. He slammed his front gauntlets together and a pair of steel claws emerged from them. The claws glowing the same color as his wings. “Now!” He demanded, pointing at the shadows. From the darkness, a voice responded. “Hmmm... let us think about that.... NO!” A gray beam pierced through the shadow terrain surrounding them. Steel gracefully dodged the beam. Flash would have dodged, but the beam was not in his direction. It was in Castle's. Castle didn't even have the time to notice as the gray beam struck him, grayness spreading like wildfire all over him transforming into stone right in front of the eyes of the red mare he was helping a moment ago. “Shit!” Steel shouted. The red mare screamed again, fell on her back and pushed herself away. Her eyes wide with terror and her brain started to shut down. It was Conduct who broke the silence of the newfound horror in the room.“Stop this!” He shouted to the darkness. The darkness scoffed at his plea. “We don’t take kindly to threats. You threaten us, we turn one of you into stone. We'd say we're even now.” The demon shouted back. What type of logic is that? Flash thought to himself. Steel on the other hand, had other words. “Like hell we are!” Steel shouted “Turn them back now before I personally sever your-” “Stand down!”Before Steel could continue his threat, Paladin Conduct bit down on Steel's tail and yanked him down to the ground. “Stopping getting angry and think!” Conduct said. Steel turned to the paladin with a fierce glare, but instead, he met a stare that surpassed his own. “Rush into this and you're going to die.” He told the silver pegasus as the two stared at eachother. Steel blinked first, then relented. “Yes, Sir.” The gleam of Steel’s wings ceased. Steel clacked his gauntlets together again, the claws retracted back. “Oooohhh...you thinking about what you're saying now?” Said the shadowy voice. A dark silhouette in the shape of a mare walked out of the shadows. “Good choice taking that advice, it's always smart to think about your actions. We suppose you've learned from Leeroy's mistakes after all.” She said, following up with a little sinister chuckle. “Oh, how your face lit up when we broke your brother in front of you, you really did take that lesson to heart huh?” Sterling Conduct stared at the sinister shadow of a mare. Glowing lights lit up where the shadowy mare's eyes should be, along with an illusion of teeth that grinned. “Demon.” Sterling Conduct said. “Condi...” The shadow mare said back. Wait what?! Flash thought, A demon! “Di-did, you just say demon?!” Flash exclaimed. “Yes! Haven't you seen one before?” She said as if she was asked her most favorite question in the world. Within a moment, the shadowy illusion jumped right into Flash's face, it's illusionary teeth smiling wide. “N-No.” Flash said, hesitant. “You're... really a demon?” “Like they say, if the horseshoe fits, nail it.” She chucked. The shadow mare placed a phantom hoof on his armor and floated around him like a dial. “I'm quite a sight aren't I?” She asked as she spun around him “All the darkest terror of the underworld... brought from the shadows to wreck havoc on you and all your kind, free of charge.” The demon mare dramatically said, as if she had rehearsed it many times before. The illusion broke into a shadow cloud and hopped to Steel Wings, it taking her equine form once again. Her hooves wrapped around his body before he could swat the black form away. “You know, death, destruction, mayhem, jaywalking... rape. You know, the fun stuff.” She said with a sinister smile. “To be in the presence of a demon...” The shadow demon glared at the remaining mare of the group. A small little trail of shadows stretched from the shadow mare heading towards the terrified red royal guard, who was now backed up against a bookshelf. With a toothy grin, the demon smiled at Steel as she put her a hoof on Steel's chest “...You should be....” The demon dashed thought the small shadow to the red mare, stretching wide her hooves for her. “-HAPPY!” “AHHH!” The red mare screamed, jumping up on her hindlegs pressed against her wall, her little heart barely keeping her going. The demon just laughed. “Ahahahahah! Now that is a scream, girl! ” exclaimed the shadow demon holding her sides, laughing her tail off at her own handiwork. She turned to ponies that surrounded her, floating back into the center of the room. “Oh, did you see that? That was Priceless! Ahahaha!”  She laughed as if someone would join in the laughter. None did. “Leave them alone, demon!” Paladin Conduct demanded. Immediately, The shadow demon shifted from joy to annoyance. Whatever fun she had, Conduct had cut in two with his tone. It was at this time, Flash went to the red mare, calming her down back from the edge of a heart attack. “Sheesh” she bemoaned, crossing her forehooves “You are such a spoilsport Condi. We're just trying to have some fun. You know what they say, you gotta make your own fun. This is the most fun we’ve had since we broke your brother.” Sterling Conduct stared at the demon mare. “Oh Condi, are you that mad that we forget to say hi? So nice to see you again by the way.” Conduct said nothing. “You smashed us up reeeaaal good last time. And that blade to the stomach, we were pretty sure that was gonna scar, bbuuut it didn't. We'd show you the real me to prove it but you'd kinda stab it again so that's out of the question. We're a very smart girl you know.” Moving like a cloud, the shadow mare swirled around Sterling Conduct, her eyes beating down on him, slowly getting closer. Sterling Conduct gave her no quarter. He did not move, sweat, or even blink at the demon's attempts to get a reaction out of him, not even when she flew into his face and locked eyes with him. The two stared at eachother for a full minute, but Sterling Conduct still gave nothing. Seventy seconds in she groaned like a little filly in frustration and broke off the staring contest. “God Damn you're boring. Can't even have fun with you,” She said, floating backwards away from him. “Fine fine, let's move on blah blah small talk blah blah whatever, blah blah you're our hostages now so blah blah you do what we want.” The demon just shrugged. “That better for ya, ya prick?” “Hostages?!” The red mare asked. The shadow demon jumped towards the reaction. “Yes! Yes you are!” She pointed to the red mare “You're in our domain, so you're... you're... ” The shadow demon pulled back, the shadow stroking it's chin “How'd he say it those prison novels...” She mumbled to herself until the answer came to her. “...Right!” She said under her breath, the shadow demon growing a wide grin. She floated into the face of the red royal guard. “You're my bitch now. So be a good little filly, or I’ll make you squeal like one,” She quoted, snickering and inching closer to the red mare's fear. Flash and Steel looked to Paladin Conduct for direction, yet all they found was him standing still, unmoving with his eyes closed. Steel spoke first “Sir, what do we do? You said stand down, what the hell do we-” Conduct's eyes smashed opened, he leaned back standing on his hind legs and tapped his right gauntlet with his left. From it, a small stick of sorts extended out of his right gauntlet. Conduct's eyes remain straight as he positioned his small stick behind him. A shining white blade magically formed, coming out of the hilt and extending right into the shadows. It then hit something. “AHHHHHHH!!!!!” The demon mare froze in place and screamed. But it did not come from the shadow mare. From the darkness beyond their vision they heard a young mare scream. It was infact the same voice as the demon’s, but without her demonic echo. A young mare screeched  in pain, followed by a hollow thud on the floor. “Did you hit her though the shadows?” Steel asked. “Of course. I weakened her. Now get ready to fight,” spoke Sterling Conduct. The Paladin’s words were confirmed when the shadows surrounding them began to lighten up and fade away. The demon’s darkening spell was beginning to fade. Paladin Conduct’s white ethereal blade pulled from the shadows and back into itself. When the tip emerged from the fading darkness it was stained red, dripping the demon’s blood all over her own carpet. The blade had shrunk to a fraction of what it used to be. With a swipe, the constructed blade was dispelled splattering the blood onto the carpet below. Enough light had entered to allow a faint, but undeniable silhouette of a pony to be seen. It moaned in pain, the figure struggling to get back on it’s hooves from the pool of blood it had collapsed in. Just as the figure began to become visible, The red light of a unicorn horn flashed as the silhouette became covered in shadows once again. “YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!” yelled the silhouetted pony. It was not a projected voice like before, but coming from the genuine article this time. From the shadows a massive dark imitation of an dragon's claw emerged to crush Sterling Conduct for his insolence. Still standing on his two hind legs, he swung his hilt and his sword reformed, cleaving the shadow claw in half with a blade as long as a pony’s body. More magic gathered into his claymore, and with another swing released a blast of white energy toward the darkness where the demon mare stood. Flash could see a silhouette of the demon mare reel back, rose to her hind legs and caught the blast of light tossing it upward, exploding with a thunderous bang. Flash looked, getting another brief glimmer of the demon's true form as streams of light streaked down onto the carpet. Paladin Conduct called to the remaining royal guards. “You three! Stand and fight!” “Are you crazy?! We don't stand a chance against that thing!” The red mare shouted Fighting... Flash thought. My weapon, I left it behind when... oh crap. “How do we beat her?” Steel Wings shouted, already airborne and claws drawn. “I’ve fought her before!” Paladin Conduct said. “Stay up close and keep pressure on her so she can't cast her high-level magic. She lacks physical strength but augments it with magic, so don’t let her hit you. Use her books as cover and shields, she'll hesitate if they're in the way!” “Not a chance in Tartarus!” The demon mare shouted from inside her shadows. "Winds of the world, to me thou attend!” As she began to speak, Flash felt the wind picking up between his wings “To the corners of  the earth, my enemies to send!" The wind picked up and doubled, Flash soon found himself struggling to stay on the ground. “WHIRLWIND!” The second she finished her speedy incantation a powerful gust of wind blew up to sweep each of the ponies off their hooves. Steel Wings jammed his gauntlet's claws into the upper walls of the library. Paladin Conduct embedded his blade into the ground to keep himself still. The red mare lit up her horn to try to use something to save herself. Both Flash and the red mare quickly lost their fights, along with their helms flying off their heads the two were swept up in the whirlwind created by the demon. The flying red mare quickly fell out of Flash's vision when the spell released a burst of green light, sending Flash flying across the dark library like a cannonball. “Ahhhhh!!!!” He shouted, flailing and trying to right himself. This wasn't the first time a strong wind had sent him astray. His father had made sure of that. It was just a matter of- “Oh crap! A Chandi-” The first thing Flash felt was his throbbing head. The pegasus slowly awoke, his vision returning to him as he regained consciousness. Raising his head from the ground he tried to take in his surroundings. Only a dim lantern nearby illuminated his world. He was surrounded by broken glass and metal. “I must have hit that damned chandelier head on. I need to take to the air. Find them.” Flash panted. He outstretched his- “-AHHH!” Flash Sentry screamed as his mind exploded in pain. “AHHHHH!!! FUCK!!!” Flash clenched his teeth. His left wing extended all the way out as far as it could, his limbs stretching out across a stained red carpet below him as an insane pain overloaded his thoughts. Shards of broken glass cut into him as he spasmed on the floor, all failing to get any attention. The agony slowly began to pass as the pain began to subside. And as the pain began to lessen, his thoughts slowly returned to him. Including the thought that he knew some part of him was hurt. Badly. Time was against him, he needed to identify what was wrong. One by one, he checked his limbs. Right forehoof, up. Left forehoof, up. Left hindleg, up. Right hindleg, up. With none of those hurting, he pushed himself on his hooves. “Ahhh. Shit...shit...” his face wincing in pain as his body movements triggered and told him the source of the massive pain. His right wing. Flash grimaced, and turned to see how bad it was. “...Oh Celestia, my wing...” His right wing was broken. Bent the other way at the carpal joint. The broken wing was covered in scratches from the broken glass, His orange feathers stained with reddish-brown dry blood as well. Flash could feel the broken bones in a wing that no longer responded to his mind's commands. It hung limp, like if it was a cheap stage prop glued onto him. While the throbbing pain in his right wing dominated most of his pain, Flash knew the rest of him hadn't gotten off the hook. He took a nasty hit into steel and glass and then crashed. He could feel the scrapes from the broken glass had cut him and the bruises from the metal had injured him. The carpet he stood on was stained brown with reddish-brown dry blood. Wait, dry blood? The blood on his coat and the floor was all dry. It had been there for a while. He had been there for a while. Flash wondered how long he had been there...for all he knew it might have been hours. Noone had come for him. “Why?” Flash asked himself. After a moment, the grim answer came. Whatever had happened after he was crashed did not end well. They lost. His friend, that red mare guard and the paladin had lost. That demon beat them all. And the only reason why Flash Sentry was still alive was because he got launched and knocked out. The moment he processed that thought he knew the demon might be… no, he knew she was coming for him next, coming for him right now. And then he felt something was behind him. In a panic Flash turned around to see nothing, ignoring the pain as his broken wing shook. He scanned and scanned the darkness looking for the predator hunting him in this alien library, but found nopony. “Don’t jump at shadows, you need to keep your head together,” he muttered to himself. Flash knew was alone. Because if the demon was in fact there he knew he’d be dead the very next second. He knew as soon as he processed the thought of her hunting him, his mind began to play tricks on him. His father taught him better than that. His father's mentorship and raising him, as a graduate of Cloudsdale's flight academy, and as a member of the royal guard, Flash Sentry was accustomed to working with an injured, beaten, and battered body. But he knew a broken wing changes everything. No more flight. No more evasion. No ability to stop the demon and no ability to defeat it. And worse, no allies left to fight with him. “Shit...” He said, “This is bad.” His right wing was broken. Badly. His stronger allies had failed in their attack. His own failing strength would lack any power to stop his enemy. And he was where no help would ever come to save him. Logic entered Flash's pained mind. What two royal guards and a holy paladin could not defeat in good condition, Flash knew he wouldn't stand a chance with a broken body and no wingpower. In summary, Flash thought to himself. Start writing your will. You're going to die. Fear began to take him. “No!” He said to himself. He immediately shook his head, he knew exactly where these thoughts lead. I'm going to die in here… “Calm heads keep their heads, manic heads lose theirs.” I'm going to leave mom and Firsty all alone… “Calm heads keep their heads, manic heads lose theirs.” You’re abandoning them, just like- “NO!” He shouted to himself. “Stay in control. Stay. In. Control.” He told himself against the dangerous thoughts of his mind. Flash continued speaking to himself, nearly growling at the comparison. “I will not die here.” He said. He began to gain control over his breathing. “I will not abandon my family.” He felt more in control, his breathing no longer in a panic. “I will save June!” The manic forces within had been quelled. “I will not wind up like him!” It was replaced with a wind of righteous indignation. “I am getting out of here.” He declared. Flash Sentry opened his eyes. “I will live.” Flash soon realized he was lost. In the darkness, he managed to find a wall covered in bookcases. The lights on the bookcase walls were much more dim than before, Flash could barely see a few feet ahead of him. As he kept on walking, he felt his stomach grumble. “Hungry...” Flash thought to himself. He was now noticing that he was getting hungry. What he didn't notice was a figure running into him. Flash and the figure noticed right at the same time, and the figure jammed on her hooves and averted collision at the last second. Flash double-blinked. It was the red mare. His eyes scanned his target. She was decked in an armor that barely fit her with a helmet a size too big, with a small streak of white in her mane and tail he failed to notice before. Her eyes were lavender. “It's you...” Flash said. “Oh thank the sun and stars,” she said. “I thought we lost you too...” Flash leaned in and started asking his questions. “What happened? Where is everyone?” The red mare sighed and turned a little down. “We got our flanks kicked. The other two...I don't know what happened to them, but I don't think they're... they're...” Her eyes darted away from Flash. Them too... Flash's mind told him. More than June and that earth pony, but them too. “I don't know what she did to them... but I managed to get away and she's looking for me." With the mare, he noticed she had something in a telekinetic glow. Something familiar to Flash. "I um...kinda got this as protection...I know, I know, but it's better than nothing, right?” “Hey, it's the guitar from before,” Flash said. The red mare was curious. “Ye-Wait we need to get out of here. Come on, follow me. If we make it to the gates maybe we can sneak out.” Flash grudgingly agreed “Well we’re gonna die if we stay here, so we don't really have any other good choices, do we?” “We'd say you do.”The red mare and the orange stallion looked at each other. “Oh crap!” He muttered. Shadows jumped from nowhere and Flash saw dark tendrils ensnare himself and the mare's back hooves, a magic telekinetic aura of red covering them both. Suddenly, they both felt themselves being dragged away into the darkness. The red mare screamed and Flash and the mare were consumed by darkness as a demonic force pulled them elsewhere. Eventually, the pair heard a set of double doors open with something launching them in the direction of the sounds. The sensation of telekinetic magic disappeared as Flash found himself tossed. Like passing through an illusion, he and the red mare popped out of the shadows and fell chest first onto the floor. The mare landed with a “oomph!” The guitar she was holding was tossed onto her backside landing unscathed. Flash, on the other hand, landed with a painful “Ahh!”, kicking up the bruises on his body and a short pain from his broken right wing. The red mare got up first and helped Flash up to his hooves and they both turned to face the direction they had been tossed from. In front of them was two open double doors, and behind that was nothing but darkness… a magical wall of shadows. The shadow wall was slowly encroaching on the rest of the room. Small tendrils of darkness stemmed from it, and from the shadows a pair of glowing demonic eyes emerged. The two royal guards readied themselves for a futile last stand. “Your choice? I'd say you stay a while...” They both heard a sinister voice say. “Consider yourself my guest.” “Guests, where we like it or not!” The red mare said. “Exactly my dear!” She chuckled before the demonic mare's voice broke out into wild laughter. Tendrils gripped the double doors and began to pull. The double doors slammed shut, then locked itself all on it's own. “The demon of Canterlot welcomes you to her library!” The shadows in the room receded, but a voice remained. “Enjoy your stay. AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!” Chapter 2 – Gone Very Wrong - End