//------------------------------//
// Countdown to Death 
// Story: Doom: Hell in Equestria 
// by The card holder 
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As Grimm and Dash cleaned up the library, he told both her and Spike an abridged version of what he went through, leaving out the bloodier details. Both of them brought up occasional questions, but otherwise they stayed silent. Soon, the mess was cleaned up, and Dash went ahead and flew off. Grimm went back to reading, before he realized that he was actually pretty bored. For the last few days, he hadn't gone a moment without either something trying to kill him or him killing something. As strange as it was, he quite enjoyed that constant sense of danger, the feeling of a demon's vertebrae in his fist...

But he was getting off track.  He was bored, and he needed to find something to do. At that moment, Twilight walked into the room. "I'm sorry about what happened with Rainbow Dash, Grimm. She can be a bit... hasty... in her decision making."

"No worries, I honestly don't blame her. By the way, is there anything I could do around town or anything? I'm not used to nothing trying to kill me for more than a few minutes, and I'm getting kinda antsy."

"Umm... well..." She tapped her hoof on her chin, trying to think. "I think... Honestly, I don't know if there's anything you could do."

"In that case, I'll just take a walk, maybe see if Rarity's finished with that outfit." He loaded all the syringes back into his QSU, along with his helmet, then walked to the door.

"Wait! The town's not used to you! They might-"

"Overreact? Let 'em." With that, he exited the library. Outside, more ponies were milling about, and they reacted predictably to seeing the armor-clad human. Shrugging, Grimm headed towards Rarity's boutique. On the way there, he was sure he heard one of them yell "I told you they were real!" 

'Probably nothing,' he thought to himself. Now at the boutique, he headed inside, not seeing Rarity- or anybody ('Anypony?') else. "Rarity?" he called out. He heard hooves heading his way, but instead of Rarity, it was a small filly that looked a bit similar to the white unicorn he was looking for. Upon seeing him, she stopped and stared.

"Umm... hi," Grimm started. "Is Rarity here? I want to see if she's finished with my outfit yet."

Without saying anything, the small unicorn pointed a hoof towards a door. Grimm thanked her before going up to the door and knocking. 

"Not now! I am busy!"

"Rarity? It's me, Grimm."

There was silence on the other side for a few seconds, followed by the door opening, showing Rarity. "What do you need, Mr. Grimm?"

"I was going to see if my outfit was finished yet."

Her jaw dropped. "But it's only been a few hours! I haven't even started putting the gems in yet-"

"Gems? I thought I said I didn't want it to be gaudy."

"I know, but I can't stand to make something so... simple!"

"Just let me see it." Despite Rarity's protests, Grimm forced his way into the door. Inside, he saw the beginnings of a tuxedo on a stand. "This is still a bit too high-class."

"Well what do you want me to do? I make outfits for high-class ponies!"

"Just let me modify it to my tastes." He began ripping parts of the outfit away, much to Rarity's horror, until all that was left was a basic undershirt and trousers.

While Rarity was panicking, wondering why anypony would dare defile one of her works before it was even done, Grimm managed to get changed quickly, placing his armor on the ground. "This'll work." Suddenly, something else came to mind. "Say, how am I gonna pay for this?"

"I... But... J-Just take it." The unicorn slumped to the ground, still in despair over the loss of one of her outfits. Grimm put his armor in the QSU, then left the boutique. Outside, he still got plenty of curious looks and ponies running away in terror, but there seemed to be less of those reactions now. Now outfitted for causal life, he continued on his walk.



Sweetie Belle ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the CMC clubhouse. The thing not only paid a visit to her sister's boutique, but he asked for clothes from her! This could be a breakthrough for the Crusaders to find their cutie marks!

Stumbling into the clubhouse, she found Applebloom and Scootaloo lounging around, doing nothing. 

"Girls.. I... that... thing... Rarity... clothes..." Sweetie Belle was completely out of breath from her run here.

"Spit it out!" Scootaloo was impatient to hear whatever it was Sweetie had to say.

"Did that thing visit your sister's place?"

Sweetie nodded. "He... even asked for... an outfit from... her!" The young unicorn collapsed on the ground, catching her breath.

The other two didn't react much. "So?"

"So? It means we could get our cutie marks from this!" 

Applebloom shrugged. "Can't hurt t' try."

The three fillies filed out of the clubhouse, planning yet another hair-brained scheme.



This new world would be perfect. It was so... pure. So... untouched. It would make it all the more satisfying when they took it over. And best of all, he wasn't here. They lost him back in Hell, but they figured he had went back to his own world. Taking this place would be too easy.

The pink minotaur headed back to the gates of Tartarus, leaving the corpses of many woodland creatures in its wake. Even if this world was defenseless, there was still planning to do...