//------------------------------// // "Ever had that feeling..." // Story: Devil May Cry: A New Battlefield // by Lazy_ //------------------------------// *Knock-knock-Knock* Nero gave the door to the cottage a short burst of 'knocks' in order to try and get whoever may be inside to let him. The rest of the gang stood behind him in absolute silence with nervous expressions on their faces. They felt on for two main reasons, each one being relatively reasonable in their own right. The first reason was that they may all be about to make second contact with possibly the universes most weird sounding race. Anyone being one of the first people to travel across universes would be fairly excited about it, even if it was to meet with a bunch of colourful mini-horses with magic. The second reason was that the situation was currently very tense. A slightly beat up Dante stood at the back of the group with a rather distasteful expression. It's not everyday he get's into fights with other half demons, less often ones that actually hurt him. Even worse for him though, was that Nero had effortlessly 'cheated' with his buster arm, grabbing him and smashing him into the ground. So as they stood waiting at the door all was understandably quite tense. Speaking of standing at the door, anypony observing would likely freak out completely seeing four huge bipedal creatures with huge swords and ballistic weapons idly hanging around some random cottage. It didn't help the demon hunters situation that there didn't seem to be anyone in, so they were just sort of sat there awkwardly. Nero knocked a few more times in succession on the door to let loose another outbreak of silence. Lady sighed behind him and let rubbed her temples with her hands, which was again followed by a short period of quiet that was quickly broken when Trish spoke up to suggest another idea. "Why don't we just look to find another way in?" Nero glanced over his shoulder without saying a word. "*Sigh* Look, maybe there's another way in round the back or something." After Trish had made the mistake of saying an innuendo, Dante took the chance to lighten the mood. "Oh, I bet Nero likes-" "Zip it!" Nero snapped at him. "You're still not forgiven." "Seriously?" Dante shrugged. "You crushed me into the ground! That surely makes us even, right?" There was a moment where nothing happened and Nero grumbled something inaudible underneath his breath. Dante didn't bother asking what he'd said, Nero was already pretty pissed off at him. And angering a guy who can crush 50 feet of stone with his right hand might not be the best idea. Nero just stared at the front door for a moment, bringing the buster arm to his chin as to allow his head to rest while he thought. "If they're not in, they're not in. We shouldn't go breaking and entering unless we have a good reason to do so." Nero explained. "Whatever you say, kid." Trish agreed walking up to his side. "So what should we do now?" "Didn't you say there was a town somewhere near here? Maybe we'll find who you're looking for there." Lady said, leaning her body onto one hip and adjusting Kalina Ann on her back. "Yeah. That's probably our best bet. Come on, lets get going." Nero side stepped past the girls and began to walk down the path, stopping as he reached Dante. He leaned into the devil hunter's ear and in a hushed voice he said, "If you don't pick up you're act by the time we get to town, I'm gonna smash you into pieces." Dante leaned away from the temper tested and angry young man, slightly taken aback by his sadistic comment. After processing the thoughts of being repeatedly smashed into objects by a furious devil triggered Nero, Dante let out a nervous chuckle. "Hey, I can be serious when I need to be." He defended with a shrug. "'When he wants to be.'" Lady corrected. "Even after stopping me from falling to my death at the Temen-Ni-Gru he still couldn't help but flirting with me. All of this while I was dangling over the edge of a two hundred foot drop." "Hey! You were super moody back then, you shot me in the face when I called you pretty!" *Click, BANG* A pistol was raised and fired by the white dressed young lady, the bullet landing on Dante's forehead and sending him reeling back a bit. "What the Hell!?" He yelled, covering the wound with his hand while Trish and Nero slowly grew satisfied grins. "I believe you're exact words were, 'Let you go? But it would be a shame if you ended up as just a pretty stain.'" Lady imitated Dante a little poorly, but it was enough for Trish to start a chuckle. "Oooh..." Trish emphasised the bad choice of words through her laugh. "Seems you just can't get it quite right, can you Dante?" She finished. "No.. I can't." Dante said in low harsh voice, almost a grumble. Nero responded by giving him a hard pat on the back and walking past him. "Don't worry, we'll find you a date someday old man." "I'm not even gonna' try and defend against that." Dante sighed, admitting defeat. He spun around taking one foot off the ground to push himself into a pivot on the spot. He let the foot fall back to the ground with a loud thud. "Let's just get going and find Nero's friends." "Thank you." Nero said dully as Dante and the girls began to walk after the young demon. Forming into a group, their usual walking formation slowly coalesced as they went. Nero was usually at the front as he tried to get everything done as quickly as possible in the most efficient way possible. In a way he reminded him of his brother... cold, calculating and strong willed. If a bit stubborn as well. The thoughts took him all the way back to their battles in the Temen-Ni-Gru. Their meeting at the top of the tower, their confrontation in the hall of judgement, and their final fight at the gates of Hell. Truth was he'd do anything to see his brother alive and well again. Such a shame he was corrupted by Mundus, all of that cold character lost to time. However Dante would rather see his brother dead than in the manipulative hands of the demon prince of darkness himself. The feelings of nostalgia were strangely interrupted as a dry coolness swept over him, like he was passing through a shadow. The sensation drove a small amount of deja-vu into his mind and he stopped dead, something about the Temen-Ni-Gru had seeped into his being. Glancing to his sides and behind him he could see no shadow present, not even one. It took a second for it to hit him but for a moment he didn't realise that his own shadow was missing. The fact hit him with confusion as he cocked his head to where his shadow should have been. Instead of his shape being painted onto the floor with a dark silhouette there was lighted ground instead. "Dante?" Lady called his name from behind him. He turned to look at the human huntress to see the group looking at him strangely. At least Lady and Trish were, Nero just looked a little tested and short fused. He glanced back to the ground to see his shadow had now re-appeared, like it should normally be. "Huh." He harrumphed loudly and turned back to face the group. He quickly began to catch back up again as four pairs of eyes followed him closely, making his way back to him. "What's wrong?" Trish asked, curious to see what had stopped her friend. "Nothing." Dante dismissed her worry with a single word. "Just thought I saw something, that's all." And with that they began their walk to Ponyville. However unknown to them, a pair of burning red orbs observed them from the darkest shadows. The trees providing the blackest cover as a predator stalked his prey. He had been reborn for a purpose, and that purpose... was revenge. "I say we find these demon hunter guys and get them on our side! Then if any demons come around again we can kick their flanks back to Tartarus!" Rainbow Dash Brought her hoof smashing down on the large crystal table with a loud *Thunk*. Everypony looked her way with the sudden noise and action. "What's everypony else say?" "I don't know Rainbow Dash, we're still waiting on a response from Princess Celestia on that. I'd rather we get in some knowledge from an experienced source before we do anything brash." Twilight explained from her seat. "Besides, we don't know who the rest of these demon hunters are, and if Nero was anything to go on they might be difficult to work with. Not to mention gruesome." "Those poor, poor Timberwolves..." Fluttershy lamented, looking sadly down into her hooves that were resting gently on the table. "Hey, 'Shy. When we meet this 'Dante' then maybe you can tell him off for being so... inconsiderate." Rainbow Dash said in as soft a tone as she could to try and comfort her friend. Fluttershy smiled weakly and gave a light nod. "An' anyways, about tha'..." Apple Jack started. "If we're gonna' be workin' with those demon hunters then were gonna' hafta be careful o' them. We've seen wha' they can do, lookin' at Nero." There were nods and agreements all around. "I just can't wait to design them a party!" Pinkie exclaimed, her voice echoing off' the walls. Rarity was next to give her input. "On the topic of greeting them, we do need to make sure they know we're their allies. Wouldn't want them thinking we're a group of uncultured animals, now. Would we?" "Party!" Pinkie jumped up into the air, confetti and streamers somehow bursting up from behind her. "I'm thinking more of a meeting between us, darling." Rarity said, providing a more sensible route to take. "Aww..." "We could have an after-party though." "Yay!" *BLURGH* *Thunk* A door at the back of the room swung open and a small green and purple blur shot through, green smoke bellowing out of it. Spike hit the floor as soon as he was airborne, the impact winding him and he opened his mouth to gasp for air. His inhalation was denied however by a belch of green fire sprouting from his maw. The swirling flames burst forwards until a scroll materialised itself within the fire. The flames crackled away, dispersing into sparks and embers which died away quickly. The scroll fell onto Spike open palm as he gasped for air. "Letter... from Princess... Celestia." He breathed heavily through his speech. "Thank you Spike." Twilight took the scroll in her magic and levitated it over to where she was sitting. While she undid the seal her number one assistant pulled himself to his paws and scuttled his way over to where she was sitting, in her throne. Twilight placed the seal to one side and and unraveled the scroll to read it. "Ahem." She cleared her throat. "Dearest Twilight, I am terribly sorry if this letter was slow to write, I am tired from fighting the gargantuan beast we now know to have been called Berial. Do not worry about me and my sister, we are perfectly fine. It appears we have both been pondering the same questions over the time we have both arrived back home. The archmage, Geryon, has provided sufficient enlightenment for us to understand our current situation. It seems that something is letting demons from the realms of Tartarus and some demonic realm named 'Hell' loose in Equestria. The disturbing thing is that some of these demons are supposed to have already been slain. Which means there is an entity in existence powerful enough to resurrect demons in their power. Geryon has informed me of multiple demons, by name, that Equestria may be exposed to in the future. And the list is frighteningly long. I'm afraid if all of these were to roam free in our kingdom, we may not survive. Therefor I think it is important we hold Equestria's first war summit for over one thousand years. We must discuss our next move, and the involvement of the demon hunters who you say are in our kingdom. Do not bother coming to Canterlot, for I have arranged this meeting to be held in your castle, if that is okay with you. I fell it would do well for the members of the war council to get used to a new setting, besides, you have working map of Equestria within your home. This would prove useful in planning, yes? Please get back to me soon. Celestia." "Jeez." Rainbow leaned back into her seat. "This is bad." "It might just be the worst we've ever seen an event like this. Tirek was bad and all, but wow. This sounds awful." Spike added. "Spike?" Twilight leaned down to her assistant. "Yeah?" "Send another letter, accept Celestia's offer to hold the summit here." "You got it!" Spike answered, pulling out his quill and parchment before getting to work, writing down everything Twilight told him to. All eyes were set on other places, and because of this they all failed to notice the creeping shadows, moving slowly, towards the rainbow pegasus sat in her chair. The shadow moved into the shade created by the pony's body blocking the sunlight through the windows. Once the blackness connected with Rainbow's shadow, they merged, the creeping darkness becoming one Dash's shadow. Rainbow felt a tug on her very being and stopped everything she was doing and sat up, her irises shrinking to pin-pricks against the white of her eyes. For a brief second she went freezing cold and a shiver passed over her, a rather violent one at that, catching the attention of Rarity across the room. "Rainbow Dash? Are you feeling okay?" She asked her brightly coloured friend from across the table. Fluttershy also glanced over at her blank looking friend, immediately noticing something was wrong. "Rainbow? You look awful, is something wrong?" Rainbow Dash, hearing the soothing sound of an old friend snapped out of her blank moment and shiver dissipated into nothingness. All of a sudden she felt warm again, like the ice cold feeling that just passed over her was nothing at all. She took a deep breath and composed herself, looking to her friends who were all staring at her very worriedly. Even Twilight and Spike had stopped writing their response to see what had happened. "I'm fine. Just a passing shiver, that's all." She waved a hoof to dismiss the matter. Fluttershy however wanted to dig further, she knew shivers that intense rarely come about just randomly. "Are you sure, Dash? You haven't had any fevers lately have you?" Fluttershy's calm but timid voice asked. "Fluttershy I'm definitely sure." "Definitely?" "Definitely." "Okay, but if you begin to feel sick or like you have a temperature, please say so. Shivers like that aren't normal." "She's right, Dash." Twilight said as she and Spike finished their letter. Spike rose it into the air and breathed a small column of green fire onto the scroll, burning it and carrying it away to the princess. "It's okay girls, I'm totally fine!" Rainbow said, laughing of the issue light heartedly. "Look, if I feel ill I'll tell you. Just like Flutters' said, that way we're safe okay?" "If you say so." Twilight said cautiously, narrowing her eyes at the stubborn pegasus who was blushing slightly, under everypony's gaze. A shadow behind said pegasus shifted in anticipation of what was to come. Oh, how he was going to enjoy the sweet sensations of revenge. All he needed, was a strong, capable form. A form his new mare was going to provide.