//------------------------------// // Just A Normal Day // Story: Fight the Fear: Angel Runes Story // by BL00DM00N //------------------------------// Bloodmoon rested in the shadows of her cloud home. The pale gray pegasus was dozing off when a flash of movement caught her eye. From her vantage point Bloodmoon could see the newly made Alicorn, Princess Twilight, and her constant companion, Spike coming out of the Everfree forest. "She must've been visiting Zecora", Bloodmoon said to herself. She stood and shook out her purple and red mane. As she watched the princess and her dragon friend head home, she noticed something odd at the edge of the forest. Spike must have seen it too, because he called out to Twilight and went back into the forest. The princess watched him go, but didn't wait for him to return. Instead she continued on towards home. "Help! Twilight help!" Spikes cries were not loud enough to reach Princess Twilight, but they did reach the blue eyed pegasus. Bloodmoon flew down from her perch and into the forest, looking for him. He hadn't made it far. When she found him, Spike was in the grip of something seemingly made from darkness itself. Bloodmoon noticed the way anything the creature touched shriveled up and died. Like the blackness was draining the life from the plants around it. She recognized that effect and with dawning realization she knew what she was looking at. "Demon", she whispered with fear. Spike disappeared into the darkness and Bloodmoon wasted no time. She turned tail and fled. She wasn't equipped to handle this. "Manticores, I can handle. Cockatrices, I can handle. Demons? Nope!" Bloodmoon sped over the Everfree forest to the far side. She was in search of a unicorn stallion who could get a message to the Shadowhunters. ● ● ● Back in the Everfree forest the darkness had swallowed Spike and muffled his cries for help. Suffocated, he soon began to slip from consciousness. As he faded out he saw Princess Twilight coming back to look for him. "No! Stay away! It's not safe!" He tried to warn her, but all that came out was a croak. "Spike? Spike, where are you?" Twilight called out for her faithful assistant. "Oh, there you are Spike! Princess Luna and Princess Celestia will be waiting." The last thing Spike saw before he completely lost consciousness was a perfect duplicate of himself leaving with Princess Twilight. ★ ★ ★ Angel Rune awoke to the pale light of dawn. She stood up slowly and shook out her silver and black mane. As she stretched out each light tan leg in turn, she yawned. Sleeping on the hard ground of the Everfree forest was a bad idea. But she had no choice. This is where the demon fled. This is where she needed to be. She got to work packing her saddle bags immediately, mentally checking the items off her list. Seraph baldes, steele, Codex, bandages, rations and lastly, her sword. As she shrugged on her leather jacket, Angel let out a shrill whistle. With an answering hoot, a multishaded gray owl flew down from a nearby tree and landed on her back. The owl was every color from silvery white to almost black. "Morning Clair", Angel greeted her beloved companion. Clair, or Clairvoyant, hasn't left Angel Runes side since the day the mare rescued her. She let out an answering gretting. "It's best we get a move on. Breakfast will have to be eaten on the go", Angel stated. At this the owl grumbled and ruffled her feathers. "Oh don't give me that Clair. You know very well that we're after an Eidolon demon. He's injured. We have to catch up to him before he heals. If he heals he can change shape and we'll loose him. I have to finish him off before then." Clair let out a huff and clacked her beak in annoyance. She knew this. But she wanted food. "Well too bad", Angel retorted. She set off deeper into the forest at a brisk trot. As she trotted on Angel kept a look out for signs that a passing demon would have left. She saw the steaming burnt places on the ground where his black ichor had fallen. Before he made it into the forest Angel had been able to slice of his clawed hand. Judging from freshness of the ichor he couldn't be far ahead. Soon she began to notice the thickening shadows. There was an eerie silence. Nothing stirred in the normally noisy forest. It was as if the forest itself was holding its breath. Clair shifted nervously on Angels back. "You feel it too, don't you girl", Angel asked. Clair clacked her beak softly in agreement. Angel Rune glanced down. The ruby necklace at her throat was glowing and growing warm. "We're not alone", she whispered. Angel quickly craned her neck around to pull a seraph blade out of her bag. "Nakir." She named the weapon and like all seraph blades did, it sprang to life with a brilliant white light. Invoking the name of a heavenly being on a seraph blade gave it angelic properties. Seraph blades were the best defense against the vile beings of Tartarus. Angel Rune slowly turned in a circle, using the light of the blade to illuminate the darkness around her. What she saw didn't surprise her. Huddled up against a stand of trees was the Eidolon demon. Still in the form of the small purple dragon he was impersonating, he actually managed to look pitiful. He had his left arm clutched against his chest. As she stepped closer Angel saw why. It was just a bloody stump. Angel smirked. "Well well. Look Clair. We've got ourselves an imposter." The demon hissed and pushed himself off the tree. The thick black demon blood had run down his arm and covered most of his lower body. It pooled at his feet and still oozed from the wound. He looked at Angel and Clair with eyes filled with pure hatred that twisted the face he had stolen. Angel tensed, ready for a fight. "You may defeat me", the demon rasped. "But the others will succeed where I have failed." "Others?" Angel dug at the ground angrily with her hoof. "What others? There are more of you? What was your job? Why were you trying to get close to Princess Twilight?!" Angel stepped towards the demon threateningly. Clair took flight and hovered above Angel protectively. She would assist the tan colored pony if things got violent. "As if I would tell you!" The demon took a shuddering breath. He wasn't afraid. He stood his ground with malice burning in his gaze. Angel looked down and noticed just how large the pool of ichor was at the dragons feet. She realized then, that he was going to die soon, and she needed to get the information from him before then. Angel quickly closed the distance between them and was nose to nose with the demon when she growled, "Tell me where the others are." Anger and spite glowed in the the demons eyes, shattering the image of an innocent baby dragon. He didn't speak but his breathing became shallow. He had lost a lot of blood. And he was fading fast. "Why were you in the princess's castle", Angel questioned the demon. He coughed and spat in her face as a last act of defiance. "You are not the one I answer to, Shadowhunter. I won't be the one to reveal His plans." Angel watched as he weakened with growing desperation. She needed to keep him talking. "He? Who is He? Who do you serve?!" Angel Rune was nearly screaming now. Clair was perched on a low hanging branch watching anxiously. The demon managed an evil, knowing sneer. "You know of Him. You fear Him. All fear Him. And He knows of you, Shadowhunter. Oh, He knows of you." Angel shivered as she felt chills travel down her spine. "...You don't mean..." The demon let out a breath of laughter and Angel Rune watched as the light faded from his eyes. The lifeless body fell into the pool of black ichor at her hooves. Just an empty husk now. She screamed in frustration and in a fit of rage brought the seraph blade slashing down, ripping into the purple dragon skin. The angelic power of the blade consumed the body in flames and soon turned the demonic husk to ash. Angel sat back and looked down at her hooves, trying to process what she had just learned. What did the Eidolon demon mean when he said others? Other shape shifting demons? Or other demons in general? And Him. The way the demon spoke... He could have only been speaking of one Greater Demon. The Demon of Fear. "Agramon."