Rarity and the Devil

by The_Last_Centurion

The Gate Keeper

This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.

The Gate Keeper

His cutie mark was strange. That was the first thing that everypony noticed about him as he strode by, no matter his rank, no matter what time it was in his life. He too, thought it was strange. Not only did it make no sense, being just a bunch of incomprehensible squiggles, but he had also been born with it -a mystery among all ponykind. Very few, almost none actually, were ever born with a cutie mark. But this usually happened in families that had their lineage kept so pure that it was almost impossible for the baby filly or colt to be anything other than what their parents wanted them to be…a shame really.

Yet, his family was not one of those olden, xenophobic-racist types. His father was a unicorn from Stalliongrad and his mother an earth pony from Neighvada. They said that the other’s home temperature was what attracted them close to one another. He was born in the rarely-visited Hollow Shades while his mother and father were traveling the country. Perhaps that was why he was always so quiet. Perhaps that was why he was born with the cutie mark. Many have said that other creatures make Hollow Shades their home. Many of the spirit variety…

He spent most of his childhood in Hollow Shades, but then began to move around the country as he became older and his parents told him to continue on with their travels. Eventually, he joined the Lunar Battalion to go even further than Equestria, to see even more than what his parents had. Eventually, he moved himself out of the Battalion and into the Equestrian Navy, seeing things that nopony would believe beneath the great blue waves of Oatlantic Sea. He made his way up through the Navy, becoming the best out of sheer will and wanderlust. But as he became better and better, he was stuck to internal affairs and became part of Princess Luna’s closest guards. Not the ones that kept eyes on her, but those that she knew would keep eyes on the country as a whole.

He performed without failure. He would accept nothing less.

But this affair with Tartarus was a blemish on his record.

Yet, he felt no anger. Only curiosity.

“What could have caused it?” “Why did this happen now?” “Did anything escape?” “What did escape, assuming something did?” “How many?” “How dangerous?” were the questions that raced through his mind as he flew towards the sight of the second burst of dark energy. He had ditched his overcoat covered in his badges and ranking marks so he could fly easier and travel with more secrecy. It was rare anypony knew of their Fleet Admiral, let alone could tell him apart from any other pegasi in a crowd. Even few ponies of the armed forces knew who he was, for good reason. This helped keep assassination attempts low and secrecy high. It might sound dastardly, but it was hard to survive in a world where you could be killed just because you wore a jacket full of cheap metal.

However, he was not alone as he flew through the skies of the warm mid-spring day in Equestria. He was flanked by six of Princess Celestia’s best Wonderbolts. They flew in a perfect formation above the clouds, ready for anything.

Soon, they came to the location of the second blast and they descended. Before he could see it, he felt it. A wave of raw hatred and anger swept through him and the Wonderbolts as the descended from the atmosphere towards the forests that the second blast had gone off in. After the initial waver he felt nothing of the dark energy, but he could tell the amount of it was negatively affecting his wingponies. He quickly signaled for a sudden landing near the designated landing zone. As they landed, Solar Guards jumped out of the woods, each with their weapons held high.

“Authorization: Foxtrot Alpha. Code: Uniform, Romeo, India, Echo, Lima.” The pegasi said to the angry Solar Guards, quelling their aggressiveness with just a few words. Their captain came forward after he had uttered the words.

“It’s good to meet you, Fleet Admiral, Sir.” The solar guard, a unicorn, said with a salute. “I am Captain Autumn Gale of the 12th Solar Echelon.”

The Fleet Admiral returned the salute. “It is good to meet you as well Captain Gale. I can see Princess Celestia has blessed all of your armor.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Good, you’ll accompany me into the blast zone. The rest of your soldiers will stay guard on the perimeter. Wonderbolts, guard the air space. Let’s hustle, Captain.”

“You heard it ponies! Get to it!” the Captain shouted before following the Fleet Admiral into the forest, towards the center of the dark energy.

The first thing the Fleet Admiral noticed as he entered the clearing was that there was no life within a circle of twenty fee across. Everything that had been in it, trees, grasses, plant life of any kind, animal life of any kind, was gone. All had turned to black ash and had blown away on the winds. The only thing that kept the same from happening to the Solar Guards was the protective blessings Celestia had put on their armors.
Next, the Fleet Admiral sniffed the air. It smelt of brimstone, flames, and of dark magic. He felt it course around him, yet other than knowing it was there as a palpable thing, it did not affect him. He knew it was coming out of the circle, especially the center, in waves of intense magic that could kill almost any pony who was not protected. But he was different.

His thoughts were disturbed as he heard chocking from behind him. He turned around quickly to see Captain Gale on the ground, hooves to his throat, foam dripping from his mouth, the whites of his eyes showing. The Fleet Admiral strode over to him, knowing it must have been a reaction to the dark magic, despite the blessing on his armor. However, his horn started to glow before he could reach the unicorn and he stood up. The Fleet Admiral stood ready as the Captain howled and lunged at him.

The Fleet Admiral quickly dodged the attack, putting his forehooves around the charging unicorn and throwing a knee into his ribs. The unicorn did not howl out in pain, but laughed, making the Fleet Admiral look down. He saw the unicorn’s eyes were still rolled back in his skull, but he could see many ghostly pupils looking out at him smugly.

“He has escaped…and despite all of your power, you will not stop him.” Said a dark voice that came out of the possessed Captain’s throat.

“Are you sure of that?” said the Fleet Admiral, his cutie mark-nothing but squiggles to the ignorant, but letters to those that knew-started to glow. Like his hair, the cutie mark was pure white, but gave off a silvery sheen. Now they glowed like the full moon and the possessed pony saw and screamed. He knew it was his end.

After a bright flash and a daemonic scream, it was all over.

The Fleet Admiral came out of the forest, carrying the sleeping Captain on his back. When he approached the Solar Guards near the perimeter, he whistled for one. A soldier rushed to the Fleet Admiral’s side, pulling the Captain off of him and running a quick vitals check.

“He’s alright. Just out cold.” The Fleet Admiral notified her.

“What…what happened?” the soldier asked.

“All that needed to.” The Fleet Admiral replied, making the soldier notice that he heard birds chirping once again. For the last three days, the area had been silent. But now, life was returning. The air felt easier to breathe. The soldier didn’t feel on edge.

“Did you dissipate the dark energy, sir?” the soldier asked as the Fleet Admiral flared his wings to take off.

“Yes soldier.”

The soldier saluted him and stood at attention. “Private River Song of the 12th Solar Echelon thanks you on behalf of my Captain, Equestria, and this land. You have cured this land of a plague, sir. One that I doubt would have been cured unless the Princesses themselves decided to act.”

The Fleet Admiral paused and then closed his wings. He turned around and saluted the Private in similar respect. “Fleet Admiral Uriel, Fleet Admiral of the Equestrian Navy and Head of the Equestrian Internal Protection Agency, thanks you for your service and kindness. However, I would request that you do not tell my Wonderbolt accompaniment that I have left.”

Private Song puffed up with pride. “Understood, sir.” She said happily, finishing the salute. Fleet Admiral Uriel did the same, only to turn around and walk in the opposite direction, deeper into the forest, following a trail only he could sense. About ten miles away, he would break through the canopy and fly away, out of sight of the Wonderbolts. Then, he would find civilization. After that, he would catch this evil and put it back from where it came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucifer was dragged along, not altogether against his will, to the newest Neighponese restaurant that Rarity, the gracious host and friend that she was, insisted on taking him to. While he could hold off hunger for eternities, he knew Rarity could not, so he let himself get dragged along. The door of the stored opened with a jingle of exotic sounding bells and Lucifer was quickly assailed by a variety of smells, oriental-looking furniture, and a strangely familiar aura. Yet this strange deja-vu feeling was lost as Rarity went to the large bar in the middle of the restaurant, sat down, and started speaking to the two ponies behind the counter animatedly.

“Amy, Rice Wine, meet my friend Luc…”

“Light Bearer.” Lucifer cut her off, using his “misnomer” and introducing himself. One of the ponies was an earth pony stallion with an earthen coat, a tan mane, and sharp, golden eyes. His mane was sheared close to his scalp while his pegasi companion had a pale white coat, a dark black mane that trailed behind her head and onto her back, ending in an intricate knot, and the same sharp, golden, eyes; if not a little sharper.

“We are the owners of this humble restaurant.” Rice Wine said with a smile, motioning for them to sit down at the bar. “Since it is your first time here, Light Bearer, I will provide some background. My wife and I,” he said, throwing a leg over his companion who was staring coldly at Light Bearer, “move here from Neighpon about three months ago. We were new like you at one point, but do not fret: the ponies here are all kind and caring. But, to get back on topic, our restaurant serves the best traditional Neighponese cuisine in Ponyville. Here is a menu. Feel free to ask us anything about the food. Since you’re a new pony in town, your meal will be on the house.” He finished with a wide smile, one that was not only friendly, but also seemed to hold an air of presumption, like it knew something Lucifer didn’t.

Lucifer didn’t like the smile and had the strange urge to punch the pony in the face, but put on his best façade of being beside himself with their generosity. “Oh, thank you! Thank you! You two are so nice and I just know the food will be delicious! Rarity has told me so much about how she loves the restaurant!” he lied.

“Let’s start off with a few veggie rolls, please.” Rarity said to Rice Wine. The Neighponese pony nodded with a smile and headed off into the kitchen with his wife, who was still glaring at Lucifer.

“What was that?” Rarity deadpanned when the two ponies were out of earshot.

“Lies, especially in the food making business, flow quicker and more voluminous than wine. A few well-placed ones and you can be on the top in a matter of seconds.”

Rarity snorted. “Don’t be so sullen. They’re nice ponies.”

“Well, that ‘Amy’ was glaring at me the whole time, while Rice Wine was acting about as much as I was.”

“What do you mean?” she said, turning to him with confusion on her face.

“It takes a liar to know a liar, dear. His smile was faker than Celestia’s crown.” He replied nonchalantly.

Then Amy came out of the kitchen, carrying two glasses of water. She placed one in front of Rarity and then almost slammed the other one in front of Lucifer, causing his eyes to go wide in momentary surprise. Then they settled into his iconic knowledgeable, yet cocky, stare. His grin grew wide and he started to chuckle softly as Amy started back into the kitchen.

“It’s been a while Amaterasu.” Lucifer said, making Amy stop in her tracks. She cast a deadly glare over her shoulder. Lucifer laughed, but then swore as he dove off of the bar stool. Why? To avoid an angry god charging at him with an ancient and long Neighponese broadsword. Rarity screamed as the pegasi landed across from Lucifer, her eyes shining like the sun and bright flames dancing around her hooves. Lucifer had instinctively accessed his power too, his eyes flaring and his coat looking like seething lava. His hooves burned into the wooden floor of the restaurant and his snake tongue flicked out in excitement. Amaterasu raised her sword and charged, uttering a battle cry that would have frozen normal ponies in fear. Lucifer just laughed evilly and felt his powers of sin and darkness gather around him as he charged back at her.

“Cut it out!” yelled Rice Wine, dousing the pair in the waters from the counter. The fight was done before it was even started, with a pleasantly irritated Rice Wine standing next to a frightened Rarity. “There’s a mortal here.” Amaterasu suppressed her powers, leaving herself wide open. Lucifer would have taken that time to attack, but as he looked at the terrified face of the unicorn who was housing him, he decided against it, feeling something he had not felt in an eternity: shame.

However, Rice Wine laughed as his wife started to yell at him in Neighponese and waved the sword around, pointing to Lucifer.

“Love, don’t you get it?”

“NO, BAKA!” she yelled at him, switching to Equestrian. “HE’S COVERED IN EVIL! HE MUST BE A DAEMON!”

“He’s not just any daemon. That’s Lucifer.” Rice Wine replied with a sly grin while his wife shut up with comprehension.

“Inari?” Lucifer asked, a similar grin growing across his face. “You sly old fox.”

“You should be talking, snake in the grass.” He replied, jumping over the counter and walking over to Lucifer. Lucifer sat down on his haunches and laughed as Inari summoned a large earthen vase out of nowhere. It smelled strongly of alcohol.

“Do you have a little time?” Inari asked.

“All in the world…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“…And so she’s angry, setting everything ablaze. Of course, that devious Uzume just smiles at me and ‘accidentally’ throws some of my best sake on her, making the flames shoot all over the place and really livening up the party. But that doesn’t matter, because now Amy is looking around for whoever threw the bucking sake on her. She sees me first and I see the fire in her eyes and think ‘Oh sweet Izanagi, she’s going to kill me.’ Now, I had seen her ravage her fair share of rice fields, so I was pretty scared.”

“And then I started walking towards you…”

“Walking? More like stalking your prey. But anyways, I bolt out of the party and she comes out, barreling after me. I can feel the heat coming off of her even at a distance, so I knew she was really pissed, but I you know me. I was able to evader her for quite some time before she’s in the middle of one of my fields, tired as all heck, and still swearing at me to come out.”

“But of course he doesn’t.”

“Well, not right away anyways. First, I send a few Kitsunes to scope her out, y’know? Just to make sure she has calmed down mostly. Then I went out and talked to her. I expected her to lash out and set everything around me on fire-which means I’d have to put it out and clean up quite a lot, including myself-but she was so tired she just panted when she saw me. I expected the worst, but then she asked for some sake. It was so surprising that I laughed like a madman for a while.

“Then he cracked a smile like a wicked Tanuki and summoned a sake urn. We drank, talked, and came to an understanding. Then after a while, nature took its course and, well… ” Amaterasu blushed as she sat in the embrace of her husband across from Rarity and Lucifer in a booth.

“Awwww. That’s…” Rarity started.

“Cute, adorable, yes, yes, and all that crap. Now pour me another glass, you fox.” Lucifer cut of Rarity, shoving his sake cup towards Inari. Inari sighed and the same urn popped out of nowhere and floated above the glass, pouring a thin stream of sake into the glass. After it filled, Lucifer downed it quickly, laughing erstwhile. It had been quite long since he had any alcoholic beverage, especially that of the god of rice.

Rarity fawned at the pair and their story, hoping she would be lucky enough to have a romance like that in the future. Unconsciously, she slyly glanced to her right, to see the stallion of darkness and her cheeks blushed a little. But then Lucifer downed yet another glass of sake and inhaled deeply. Then he let out a breath of black flame that curled around in the air and grabbed the sake urn before it disappeared.

“It has been fun, Inari, Amaterasu, but it would be best if we move on. However,” he said as the urn disappeared in his magical flames and he stood up from the booth, “I will be taking this party favor.”

“Well, it has been good seeing you yet again. Yet, I wanted to ask how did they let you out?” Inari asked.

As Lucifer reached the door, Rarity following close behind, he cast a glance over his shoulder to his fellow god. A smile split his face and his eyes glowed sharply, their emerald blaze like that of the rare green flash over the Oatlantic Ocean. “Who said they let me out?”

Inari roared with laughter as they left while Amaterasu scowled at the daemon’s actions.

“Should we do something?” Amaterasu asked her husband seriously as he stopped laughing and the others had left.

Inari rubbed the tears from his eyes. “Turn him in? No, he’s seems…different.”

“I noticed.” She nodded. “I expected him to attack me when I suppressed my godliness.”

“But he didn’t. I want to see what happens next.” The rice god said like a playful fox.

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t fall back into his old tendencies.” The sun goddess said, angry flames licking at the corners of her grim-set mouth.

Inari gave her a kiss and smothered the flames. “Don’t worry. Only the future can tell what will happen to him next. Either way, let’s watch. It could be good.”

Comments

[Dragoonman10]

I like this, let's hope that none of these old folktale ponies might think Rarity is a good snack :s

[The_Last_Centurion]

2810232
Now why would they think that?
+2 internet points for some prediction...

[moonlightmare]

Wow! More please!

[The_Last_Centurion]

2811453
Right away, fair mare!
Give me a little to edit and then, BAM! (Bear with me, I'm weird.)

[Nuanced]

Okay so why are there deities working a resteraunt? That's one hell of a coincidence. And if this is the same Ammy I know, isn't she a sun goddess? How does she fit in a world with Celestia?