//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 - Daemonium // Story: Fred Walsh's Adventures in Equestria // by Baguettedood //------------------------------// Chapter 19 “Well, one thing's nice. You have to admire Canterlot's structural integrity. Despite being situated on the side of a mountain, it holds together, even while under attack from a freaking demon. That's quality construction... Or magic... Probably both, actually. “Of course I'm not going to let Potens Daemonium take over Equestria. I'm here, I don't know how long I will be, or if I even can return home. I'm not just going to sit there and die. Damned if I don't do anything to help.” Flying was quite a different experience for Fred Walsh. His only previous experience of not being on the ground at all consisted of aeroplanes, jumping and of course, the wormhole that brought him to Equestria in the first place. It was an exhilarating feeling. Princess Celestia and Jenga Redheart flew side-by-side toward Potens Daemonium's ear, keeping out of sight, while the alicorn kept a telekinetic hold on Bullhorn and Fred. To the human, the pull felt light yet still strong, like he was swimming in air, though a tad windier. The demon was preoccupied with the royal guard, and didn't notice the spontaneous attack team coming toward him, and they managed to swoop in undetected. Before the group landed, Celestia a spell and seemed to channel another. Then, they set hoof/foot inside. Fred noticed they didn't make a sound on arrival. However, before he could contemplate the reason, a voice sounded in his mind. “Okay, my little ponies... and Fred. This should let us communicate silently. We don't want to be heard inside the demon's ear.” “Princess Celestia? This'll take some getting used to,” Fred attempted to reply to the psychic broadcast. “Agreed. Smart idea, though,” he recognised that as Jenga. “Let's move.” Straight to the point of the matter was Bullhorn. Without anything left to say for the time being, the Princess lit up the area ahead and they journeyed deeper into the ear. The team had to be careful to stay balanced due to the demon's mountain climbing, which caused the insides to sway back and forth. “Rather clean in here,” the pegasus broadcast a passing comment after some walking through the ear. “Well, I can add this to my list of things that I never expected to do, which I need to make.. You seem to know quite a lot of things about biology for an engineer,” the human pointed out. “I like to know how things work, including biology. It's not limited to mechanical contraptions.” she answered. “Fair enough, I guess,” he replied. After a short walk through Potens Daemonium's ear canal, free of obstructions, the four arrived at the being's eardrum and paused. “How are we going to get past here?” Fred broadcast. He watched as Bullhorn stepped in front of the group and charged his horn. The human plugged his ears as he realised that the unicorn was about to use his magical namesake. With a sonic blast, the demon's eardrum shattered. A pained roar could be heard from outside, then everything began to vibrate strongly. The team scrambled to find something to hold onto as Daemonium attempted to remove them from its ear. Celestia's guiding light temporarily went out from the unexpected development, causing everything to become a worrying pitch black. After around twenty seconds of non-stop shaking, it ceased. Princess Celestia stood up and recast her light spell to end the darkness. Everyone climbed out from various areas and regrouped at Celestia. The alicorn broadcast, “That was a close one, is everypo- everybody alright?” “Well, the demon definitely didn't like that,” Jenga responded. “Good. That means we're on the right path,” Bullhorn replied. “On the bright side of that, Bullhorn is one of the few I've known who can use caps lock so effectively.” “Let's continue, I'm sure we can't be far from ending this... nightmare.” Fred noticed the Princess paused briefly in that last sentence. Potens Daemonium was halfway up the path to Canterlot when its ear fell under intense pain. It didn't know the origin, though fortunately, in a frantic attempt to remove the cause, it stumbled a few steps down the mountain, buying the city and its inhabitants a little more time to evacuate, even if it did daze the impromptu strike team. Princess Celestia, Lieutenant Bullhorn, Jenga Redheart and Fred Walsh stood at the end of the demon's ear, near the shattered eardrum, looking out to its brain. “If we're going to destroy this monster, we have to sever a crucial connection in its brain.” Jenga, knowledgeable as ever, began to search for the proper section. “What's the best spot to cut? I brought the cultist's knife along.” Fred un-holstered and inspected the weapon before replacing it. “It's probably a dangerous option for us to go prancing around, damaging random brain matter. Give me a moment to find a good spot of tissue.” she distracted herself as she examined Potens Daemonium's brain. “This must be the oddest week I've ever had, from nerd to demon hunter in just a few days. What about you?” he gestured to the other three, though the pegasus was occupied. “The guard's primarily decorative. We've never had a threat this big before, at least in the history I've known. Then there's also your appearance.” Bullhorn was the first to reply. The Princess didn't broadcast anything, but the human expected she was thinking about Luna. He decided it best not to do some contemplation of his own at the moment, lest he arouse suspicion by accidentally sending his show knowledge out. “I think I see where we need to cut. Follow me,” Jenga finished her brain examination and led the others deeper within, navigating to the stem. Fred decided to check for signals with the neuro-receptor again. He could see lots of activity – He was inside Potens Daemonium's brain, after all. He logged it into a file so he could potentially research it later before deactivating the device. As it was a single receptor and not a complete headset as it originally was, he couldn't determine thoughts, only exceptionally strong brainwaves and/or emotions, such as Celestia's fear when the cultists showed their faces a few days ago. “Okay, we're here!” Jenga stopped at the brain stem. Fred walked up to it and stopped. “What happens after I cut this? It's not going to be especially stable.” “Good point, we'll have to leave in a hurry.” She looked slightly worried now that he had pointed that out. “I'll teleport us out once we're done.” the alicorn reassured the others. Potens Daemonium had finally climbed the mountain to Canterlot. Though the evacuation had been going for some time, it was not nearly long enough to extract the whole population of the metropolis. Ponies fled from the demon as it climbed over the city walls. Nothing alive was in range at the time, so it gripped the most destructible nearby object, which happened to be the clock tower. The building came out of the ground with some effort and the abomination hoisted it overhead, preparing to throw. Echoes could be heard from outside the head. Celestia gasped. “I think it's reached my city.” “We're out of time. It's now or never.” Fred sprinted to the brain stem and brandished the knife, pressing it against the tissue. “This universe is protected, you bastard.” He sliced through the brain. Everything began to spin as the demon fell. Everybody rushed to Celestia as she charged the teleport out. Once in range, she released the spell, and they all left the beast's head. The four re-materialised with a yellow flash on the balcony they departed from. They were just in time to witness Potens Daemonium's hellish red body be crushed by the clock tower it picked up. “Well, that was certainly well timed,” Fred managed to say after a few failed attempts at broadcasting through the now-inactive telepathic channel. “Indeed,” Bullhorn replied. A/N: Jenkins.