Chapter 8
As everyone tried to get their thoughts straight, I rush up to twilight. “Lead us to the pod as fast as possible.”
As she nods, I hear the flare of energy as the demon prepares to throw a fire ball at us. “MOVE!”
Pushing the pony away, I spin to find a ball of fire floating in front of me. What?
“Cloe,” I hear Sam say, “what are you doing.”
I look at Cloe to find her hand outstretched, glowing a bright red colour. Is she manipulating the fire ball?
“I don’t know,” She answers him. The demon screamed in anger, its attack being stopped by Cloe.
“Well lets run,” I shout, catching their attention, “the ponies are a mile ahead of us.”
We all run after the ponies, slowly catching up. Small explosions of energy where the demons attacks miss could be heard behind us, slowly getting closer. It’s gonna hit one of us soon. There’s only one way to prevent that. “Serpentine!”
“What?” Tim shouted.
Wow, really. “Zigzag!”
“Oh,” I hear my friends say collectively.
We began to zigzag around, manoeuvring out of the way of the demons fiery attacks. The drop pod came into view, its panels still open. Oh I hope no one stole anything. The ponies are standing around the pod, curiously looking at it.
I turn to see how close the imp is. The demon was only two dozen metre behind us, chasing us with the intent to kill in its eyes. I need to get to the pod faster or we’re doomed.
I pushed myself to go faster, feeling my legs work harder than ever. Not that they ever worked like this anyway. The pod got closer faster and the impacts of the fire balls sounded further away.
I look back, only to find my friends trailing too far behind me. The imp was catching up. Tony, for some reason decided stopping and facing down the creature was an awesome idea. “Tony,” I shout out, slowly coming to a stop to help them out.
Tony raised his hands and did a fairly powerful pushing motion in the imp’s general direction. Suddenly, a pulse of energy flew out of his body and sent the demon flying back, buying time for everyone. How did he do that?
Enough thinking, more running. I raced towards the pod and looked for the correct slot. There. Diving in, I try to find the best solution to this problem as fast as possible.
“Andrew,” Tim yelled distantly. They’re not here yet. This’ll have to do.
Climbing out, I rack the shotgun in my hands and run after my friends, the imp trailing mere metres behind them. No time to get closer.
“Get down.”
As my friend realised my intent and dropped to the ground, time slowed down once again. There’s that brain stimulation thing. As the creature came into view, I took aim and aligned the sights of my weapon, before pulling the trigger.
The resounding bang of the shotgun blasted out as pure bolts of energy left the barrel simultaneously, ripping and tearing through the body of the demon. Its slowed screech of pain could be heard as it fell backwards to the ground.
Time returned to normal after that, making everything sound normal in the process. My friends returned to their feet, looking back at the creature that was chasing them just before.
“Is it dead?” Tim asked, worry evident in his voice.
I stare at the creature for a moment before I answered him. “No.”
Ignoring Tim’s following comment, I stepped over to the creature. It’s brown skin riddled with deep wounds that any human would have died from. I rack my shotgun, discharging the spent energy from the weapon before pointing at its head.
As I pull the trigger, its head explodes with the impact of the round punching through it. A second later, its body begins to turn to ash. Now it’s dead. By the time I turn to my friends, the body is gone.
“Is everyone alright,” I ask them, hoping the spread didn’t get them.
“Yeah,” they collectively say before walking towards the drop pod.
I turn to check on the ponies, only to find Fluttershy missing and everyone else slack jawed, except for Celestia. Oh yeah, I forgot there were ponies nearby. “Don’t worry, its safe now,” I say to them as reassuringly as I can.
Soon, Fluttershy peeks out of a nearby bush, her fears slowly vanishing. Every human crowded around me.
“What was that thing?” Sam asks.
“How did it get here?” Tony asks.
“Why so brutal?” Anala asks.
“How did you know it wasn’t dead?” Tim asks.
“That was pretty awesome,” Cloe said.
Everyone turned to Cloe, questioning looks on their faces. “What, it was actually pretty cool.”
“Anyway,” I say, breaking the awkwardness, “Sam, it’s a demon, imp variant. Tony, remember when the guardian said the rift spread to other worlds. Anala, because brutal isn’t enough to kill it. Tim, it didn’t turn to ash.”
“There, that all the answers you need?” I ask, receiving a nod from them.
“Ok then,” I turn to address the ponies. “Sorry about that, hopefully the blood doesn’t stain.”
Their slack jawed trance was broken. They looked at me, fear in their eyes. Damn I better reassure them that I won’t hurt them.
“Ok, I promise, wait, I Pinkie promise not to hurt anypony with this, ok.” I lower my gun and place it on the ground, seeing their fear fade slightly. “Cross my heart, hope to fly,” I promise while doing all the actions, “Stick a cupcake in my eye.”
Their fear never leaving their eyes, they understood that I meant it. Well Pinkie would.
“Why,” I hear Twilight ask softly, almost inaudible.
“Sorry?”
“Why did you kill it,” she said loudly, looking like she was on the brink of tears, “Why did it have to die?”
Ah damn it…