• Published 12th Aug 2015
  • 919 Views, 37 Comments

Demons Are Forever - Metool Bard



Bon-Bon's past has come back to haunt her. No, it's not the bugbear. It's a former colleague trying to tie up loose ends. And in some ways, that's far, far worse.

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The Hunters' Last Hurrah

There was a loud clang as Snatcher's sword swatted Bon-Bon's grappling hook right back at her. Before it made contact, a temporal field formed around the hook, stopping it in its tracks. Bon-Bon quickly readjusted herself and regained control of her weapon while Lyra pelted Snatcher with a barrage of snowballs.

As this was going on, Fleur and White Lie flanked Snatcher from the left, firing their spells at the demonic changeling. Snatcher held out the palm of its webbed frog hand, creating a pulsating disk of energy that absorbed the attack. It then clenched its hand into a fist, and the spells were reflected back at their casters. Almost instantaneously, the reflected spells was blocked by Fleur and Moondancer's overlapping barriers.

"There's more than one mind inhabiting this body, you pitiful troglodytes," Snatcher said with a sneer. "Your attempts to occupy my attention will not work. Especially since you have your own problems to worry about." It then reared its head back and let out a powerful cry. "Soldiers! Return to your masters and purge these intellectually dishonest organisms from existence! Death to the ignorant!"

In a matter of moments, the sky was blackened by the swarm of changelings emerging from their hiding places and rushing in for the attack. Minuette groaned and smacked her forehead.

"Oh, c'mon! Really?!" she shouted. "I just dealt with these guys! I call shenanigans! Foul on the play!"

"I can't say I'm all that surprised myself," White Lie sighed, shaking its head. "It's typically not in a changeling's best interest to engage an opponent in a fair fight."

Fleur looked up and snorted. "Case in point. Snatcher's trying to run away! Come back here, you coward!"

All eyes turned to Snatcher. Sure enough, it appeared to be moving away, although it was still facing its opponents. Snatcher let out a hollow laugh.

"Now why would I flee when my goal is to destroy you?" it asked rhetorically. "Oh, our goal, rather. My apologies, Marquis Naberius. Slip of the tongue."

The changelings soon descended upon the heroes, taking on different shapes as they landed before them. Some wore the disguise of their opponents, while others took the shape of yetis, bugbears, and other fearsome creatures. Bon-Bon swallowed and hefted up her grappling hook.

"W-we need to carve a path through these guys," she said, her eyes fixated on the many bugbears.

Minuette smirked. "No worries. Moondancer and I have got you covered."

In the blink of an eye, Minuette disappeared, only to be replaced by a changeling impersonating a yeti. Before any of them could react, several beams of gold erupted from the center of the swarm, blowing away changelings left and right. Moondancer quickly teleported herself alongside Minuette and attacked the swarm from within as well, adding to the confusion.

"There's our opening!" Fleur proclaimed. "White Lie, let's move!"

"Right behind you," White Lie said with a nod.

The two of them flanked left and fought through the confused changelings. Bon-Bon, meanwhile, was still focused on the bugbear doppelgängers within the enemy ranks. Lyra sighed and gently tapped Bon-Bon's rump with her own.

"Hey, it's okay, Bons," Lyra assured her. "I'm right here with you."

Bon-Bon shook herself and nodded. "Th-thanks, Lyra. Now, stay close."

The two of them flanked right and barreled through the changeling hoard. Bon-Bon took her grappling hook in her teeth and swung it about wildly. There was a panicked cry as it managed to snag itself through the holes in a changeling's hoof. With the exception of the extra weight, Bon-Bon paid it no mind as she continued to swing her grappling hook. She effectively used the changeling's body as a flail, smacking away any other drones unfortunate enough to stand in her way. As soon as she emerged on the other side of the hoard, the changeling was freed from the hook and flew straight at Snatcher. Snatcher simply scoffed and smacked the drone away with one slap of its frog hand.

"Heh. Futile," it said with a sneer. It then raised its sword to the sky and illuminated its unicorn horn. Suddenly, there was a terrific peal of thunder as the sky darkened. A powerful blizzard whipped up, and lightning rained down alongside the heavy snow. Moondancer and Fleur put up their magic barriers to protect themselves from the onslaught while Bon-Bon weaved around the thunderbolts the best she could. This proved to be even more difficult when pillars of wind erupted from the ground beneath her hooves.

"Jeeze laweeze! This guy's really pulling out all the stops!" Lyra hollered, straining her voice over the fierce wind.

"That just means we have to do the same, Lyra!" Bon-Bon yelled back. Suddenly, she heard an all-too-familiar roar to her left. She turned to see one of the changelings disguised as a bugbear descending upon her, its stinger poised to strike. She froze dead in her tracks; her pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks; her mind went blank. But the wave of terror that washed over her body didn't last long.

"I gotcha, Bons!"

Bon-Bon grunted as Lyra tackled her to the ground, out of the bugbear's reach. As she did so, the strap on Bon-Bon's quiver came loose, and her sleep bolts spilled out all over the snow. As Bon-Bon stood to collect herself, Lyra folded her ears back and sighed.

"Whoops. Sorry 'bout that," she muttered.

Bon-Bon took a moment to catch her breath before smiling at Lyra. "You just saved my life, Lyra. That's nothing to be sorry about," she said. "Now c'mon! Let's keep going!"

With that, the two continued their advance towards Snatcher, dodging every attack it threw their way to the best of their ability.

***

"This isn't looking good," White Lie growled. "No matter how many we defeat, several more take their place."

"There's simply no end to them," Fleur spat. "Grr, blasted cockroaches." She suddenly flinched when she realized who was right next to her. "Um, no offense."

"None taken," White Lie assured her.

"I could try and overwhelm them with my quantum projection, but something tells me they'll be expecting that!" said Minuette, blasting a Lyra impostor away with her horn.

"Well, what about that trick you did with Ms. Moondancer?" Fleur suggested.

"I'm too focused on my barrier spell!" Moondancer said in a strained tone. "If I drop it now, Snatcher's spells will hit us unencumbered!"

White Lie knitted its brow as its good eye narrowed. "Well, perhaps we should do something they aren't expecting."

"Do you have something in mind?" inquired Fleur.

White Lie's lips curled into a thin smile. "Let's just say that for all the tabs the Mad Queen kept on me, I doubt she can name even one of the beasts I've sent to Tartarus."

With that, it shifted its form. In its place stood a large orange salamander. The snow around it immediately turned to steam, and a ripple of heat emanated from its body. Moondancer gasped.

"Th-that's an Inferno Salamander!" she exclaimed. "I thought they went extinct during the pre-unification era!"

"And this is why covert operations and scientific discoveries don't mix," Minuette sighed. "Take it from me, Moondancer. Not all of life's answers can be found in books."

White Lie let out a squeaky rasp as it breathed on the changelings surrounding it. Though nothing appeared to come from its mouth except a few tiny embers, the changelings withered from the unrelenting heat washing over their bodies. Their movements became slow and sluggish, and some of them even collapsed from exhaustion. One changeling tried to strike White Lie from above, but when its hoof touched the salamander's skin, it was set alight. The unfortunate changeling screamed and flew about, waving its hoof and blowing on it. The remaining changelings scattered, diverting their attention to Lyra and Bon-Bon. White Lie then reverted back to its original form and wiped some sweat from its brow.

"Th-that should keep them off of us for a while," it panted. "Now, it's time we settled this."

"Agreed," said Fleur, arching her back. "Stand behind me; I'll clear a path and get us in range."

She then took off at full gallop, forming a magic barrier in front of her as she ran. After taking a moment to catch its breath, White Lie flew right after her.

"So, what should we do in the meantime?" Moondancer asked Minuette.

"Just keep your eyes open and be ready for anything," said Minuette, watching the battle unfold before her. "Because just between you and me, I don't need to check the time stream to know that this is about to get ugly."

Moondancer arched an eyebrow. "Are things not ugly already?"

Minuette shrugged. "Well, uglier. Look, you know what I mean."

***

After weaving their way around several bolts of lightning and pillars of wind, Lyra and Bon-Bon found themselves staring at Snatcher's back. Snatcher itself appeared to be preoccupied, blocking and deflecting the spells White Lie and Fleur launched at it.

"Okay, now what?" asked Lyra.

Bon-Bon's brow crinkled. "Well, I would say that a well-placed sleep bolt might shake its concentration, but we don't have any of those."

"Again, I'm really sorry about that," said Lyra, hanging her head.

Bon-Bon sighed. "It's not your fault, Lyra. We just need to think of something else, that's a—"

She suddenly trailed off as an epiphany hit her. She looked down at her ankle brace and noticed a button on the bottom that she had yet to press. When she tapped it, a small hypodermic needle sprang from the base. She breathed out a small laugh.

"Always pays to be prepared," she quipped. "Looks like Minuette's little addition is going to be useful after all."

She then slung the grappling hoof from her shoulder and swung it around. "Lyra, cover me! This is gonna be tricky!"

Before Lyra could ask what was going on, Bon-Bon let her hook fly. It managed to latch onto Snatcher's sea pony fin, tearing through the skin like tissue paper. Snatcher let out a pained gasp and turned to see what caused it. Bon-Bon pulled on the hook with all her might, trying to drag Snatcher down. Snatcher laughed.

"Marquis Andras was right! You are clever for a brute!" it chortled. "But as long as you close your mind to the logic of the Ars Goetia, you will never triumph!"

It then flapped its wings and rose into the sky, dragging Bon-Bon with it. While Bon-Bon dangled from the rope, Snatcher turned its attention back to White Lie and Fleur, its magic barrier still protecting it from their spells. Bon-Bon quickly shook herself and began climbing up the rope. As she did this, several changelings taking the shape of bugbears flew towards her. Lyra scowled.

"Oh no, you don't," she said. She took a moment to muss up her mane and coat, making it appear that she was wounded. She then galloped towards the changelings, waving her hooves.

"Guys, guys!" she screamed. "I've got bad news!"

The changelings looked down at Lyra with curious eyes. Lyra swallowed and cleared her throat.

"Sorry I'm late, fellas. But, this is an emergency!" she said. "Remember that ambush the archdrone set up a few hours ago?"

The changelings nodded and shrugged.

"W-well, I was part of that," Lyra said. "And when I came to, I saw an entire patrol of Stalliongrad police scaling the mountain! These ponies are getting reinforcements! You need to go head them off before they reach the Ars Goetia!"

The changelings took a moment to discuss this amongst themselves. Lyra's heart pounded a mile a minute, and she wiped some sweat from her brow. Finally, the changelings shed their disguises and flew away. Lyra breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled.

"You'd think changelings would know a bluff when they saw one," she said smugly.

This action did not go unnoticed by Snatcher nor Bon-Bon. As Snatcher continued to block White Lie and Fleur's attacks, it bent its tail and pointed it at Lyra. The peacock feathers fanned out and began to spark. The sparks converged on the stingray tail, gathering up magical energy. Bon-Bon's eyes went wide.

"Lyra! Look out!" she shrieked.

Lyra looked up, but it was too late. A blast of purple erupted from Snatcher's stingray tail and soared right at her. But just as it was about to hit, Lyra disappeared. In her place, Minuette took the full brunt of the attack, flying several feet before skidding to a stop.

"Minuette!" Moondancer cried, teleporting over to her. "A-are you hurt?"

"N-nah. I'm not hurt," Minuette grunted. "Because that requires me to feel something. As it stands, I'm completely numb. That blast must've been some sort of paralysis spell."

Moondancer sighed and shook her head. "You know, for a theoretical physicist, you can be quite reckless."

Minuette sniggered. "Yeah, well. Conducting temporal research and protecting my friends are two entirely different things."

Moondancer smiled back and readied her healing spell. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a shadow sneaking up on her. Before she could react, the shadow was taken out by a blur of green. When she turned her head, there was Lyra, standing over an unconscious changeling. Lyra turned to Minuette and winked.

"Now we're even," she said.

"I suppose we are," said Minuette with a weak laugh. "So, um, does Bon-Bon have a plan?"

"Sure looks like it," said Lyra, looking up at Bon-Bon. "This is all in her hooves now."

She then waved at Bon-Bon, who waved back. Bon-Bon took a deep breath and continued climbing up the rope. Inch by inch, she got closer to Snatcher, who was still fending off Fleur and White Lie's attacks.

"Heh heh heh. Is that all you've got?" Snatcher taunted. "I can keep this up all day! Oh, and so can the council. I would never neglect my masters intentionally. You of all demons should know that, Duke Berith. Anyway, this is a fight you can't win! Surrender now and bend the knee to the Ars Goetia! They are the way to the truth!"

Bon-Bon panted heavily as she clamored up the rope as fast as she could. Soon enough, she was inches away from Snatcher's body. She let out a sharp puff of air and readied her hypodermic bayonet.

"Consider your so-called 'truth' debunked, motherbucker!" she bellowed.

Before Snatcher could react, Bon-Bon plunged the hypodermic needle into its side. Snatcher let out a pained rasp.

"You little bitch!" it snapped, raising its sword. "Y-you'll pay for, um, uhhh..."

A sudden drowsiness overtook it as the sleep toxin did its job. Even with some of the Ars Goetia screaming orders in its brain, its body simply couldn't respond.

"Now's our chance!" Fleur proclaimed. "Let's put an end to this!"

"Agreed!" White Lie concurred.

The two of them fired their spells one last time, and both of them connected. Snatcher didn't react to the blast due to its dulled senses, but the Ars Goetia's ethereal screams filled the skies. Myriad streams of letters floated over to the Lesser Key lying in the snow. One by one, Snatcher's body parts reverted to their original state. When its sea pony fin disappeared, Bon-Bon dropped like a stone.

"Hang on, Bons!"

Lyra immediately sprang into action, galloping towards Bon-Bon at top speed. She stopped in her tracks when Bon-Bon curled herself into a ball and did several somersaults in midair. She then stuck a perfect landing, although her legs shook slightly. Lyra quickly rushed to her side and used her magic to steady her.

"H-hey. Easy there," she said. "Y-you really didn't have to show off like that. I would've caught you."

Bon-Bon looked up at Lyra and giggled. "I was just following my training, Lyra. I didn't usually have a spotter during my time at the HUB."

Lyra let out a laugh of her own. "Well, that's all in the past, Bons. Now, we've got each other."

The two of them shared a big hug. White Lie's good eye twitched.

"C-counfound it. Must, resist, feeding off of love," it grumbled. "Wh-where are my candies?"

"Ugh. Th-that was, odd. What do you make of this, gentlemen?"

All eyes turned to Snatcher, who had returned to its original state. It staggered about with reckless abandon, its eyes darting every which way.

"G-gentlemen? Wh-why are you silent?" it asked drowsily. It then let out a yawn. "Mmm. Perhaps you all decided to retire for the evening. Fair enough, we'll continue this tomorrow. Meeting, adjourned."

With that, it collapsed into the snow. Fleur scoffed.

"I'm afraid your council will be heading back to the Royal Canterlot Library where they belong," she huffed.

"Indeed," said Moondancer. She trotted over to the Lesser Key and scooped it up with her magic. She stared at the book for a moment before swallowing. "Um, one of you should have this. I-I'm very tempted to read it."

Minuette snickered as she picked herself up. "Some things never change, do they, Moondancer?" she said. "Here, I've got this."

She took the Lesser Key with her own magic, and Moondancer let out a relieved sigh.

"Th-thank you, Minuette," she said, adjusting her glasses. "I-I mean, I know the dark power the Ars Goetia have, but their wealth of knowledge is still, intriguing."

"Knowledge is only good if you know how to use it properly," said Minuette. "Granted, there's no way to know the Ars Goetia's true intentions. Maybe they really did want to make the world a better place by spreading knowledge, and they were just misguided by their own hubris."

"Or perhaps they were nothing more than a bunch of pretentious schmucks," White Lie muttered bitterly.

"Yeah, that too," said Minuette, clearing her throat. "Whatever the case may be, it's obvious that no one can wield their power without paying a price."

"Ah, the Karma Constant. A vital aspect of dark magic," Moondancer mused. "It seems that poor fool Snatcher didn't realize that until it was too late."

Fleur furrowed her brow. "I do have to wonder what'll become of the changeling drones Snatcher managed to convert into its henchmen."

"I wouldn't worry about them too much, Lady de Lis," said White Lie. "The Mad Queen obviously has a vested interest in keeping her subjects in line. They'll be rounded up and be returned to the hive in due time, assuming they don't flee to Stalliongrad first."

"That's assuming they can find their way through these mountains," said Bon-Bon. "It's very easy to get lost up here."

Lyra's eyes went wide. "Oh, crap baskets. H-how are we gonna get home?"

"Oy! You there!"

A gruff voice echoed from below. Everyone turned to see a group of stallions in uniform hiking up the mountain. The stallion at the head cleared his throat.

"We're with the Stalliongrad Rescue Patrol," said he. "Several villagers said they saw some unusual activity going on in this region. Are you all alright?"

Minuette smiled. "Yeah, we're fine. Just retrieving an overdue book and dishing out some late fees."

The patrol pony raised an eyebrow. "I, beg your pardon?"

"Inside joke," Bon-Bon explained. "For now, we should probably focus on getting back to civilization." She then looked over at Snatcher. "Oh, and be sure to restrain that changeling over there. I'm afraid its time wandering these mountains have drove it insane."

"Um, sure. Of course," said the patrol pony, completely bewildered. He then noticed White Lie. "And, what of—?"

"It's with us," Fleur interrupted. "I promise you, it's very friendly."

"Indeed," said White Lie with a bow. "Um, incidentally, you wouldn't happen to have any sweets on your person, would you?"

The patrol pony blinked. "Uh, not at present, but I'm sure we can find something once we get back to the village. Come, this way."

With that, the patrol ponies tied up Snatcher and marched down the mountain with Bon-Bon and the others at their heels. Bon-Bon leaned against Lyra's shoulder for support, huddling close to her as the wind picked up. Lyra frowned.

"Hey, uh, you're not gonna zone out on us again, are you?" she inquired.

Bon-Bon looked over at Lyra and gave her a weak smile. "I-I think I'll be alright as long as I'm with you. Th-thanks for asking."

Lyra smiled back. "Just looking out for my best friend."