The Paladin of Prismatic Light

by Keeper of time RD

Chapter 9: The Bloodsmith

You might think that somepony sneaking around in a silver vest and silver-clad wings would be easy to spot in the middle of the afternoon. And yet Rainbow Dash peeked out from behind a crate in an alleyway, in the middle of Ponyton and she had yet to be seen on her way there.

It probably didn’t hurt that actual ponies only seemed to grace the streets of Ponyton maybe once a minute, if that. Needless to say, finding gaps that she could move unseen in was much easier out here than it ever had been during the exercises at Liberty Castle.

Even when she did make a move her speed allowed her to blitz across open spaces as little more than a glint before she was once again hidden from sight. Like right now, as she darted to the alleyway on the other side of the street. Moving in short bursts, slipping from behind one garbage can to the next, she made it to a hiding spot by a large wooden box and looked out at her target.

The space before her had a dried up riverbed, a bridge that currently served no purpose, and beyond those was the Ponyton’s blacksmith’s shop that stood where Ponyville’s Carousel Boutique would’ve been.

The first part of the blacksmith shop was an earthen dome with a chimney and a wide wooden door, which was clearly the actual smithy part. Attached to the side of that was a square, wooden structure that looked more like it was the house part. Both parts were decorated with gemstones, (mostly rubies,) and ribbons.

Somewhere in the back of Dash’s mind a part of the briefing she’d received that morning played out.

* * * * * * *

“From what I can tell, when she’s vulnerable, the Bloodsmith is the weakest of the overlords,” Cloud Sword had said.

“When she’s vulnerable?”

“She crafts the enchanted weapons used by the Summoner’s non-shadow servants. But she also sticks to a predictable schedule. Once a week she sends off the shipment of weapons. As you can probably imagine, attacking a unicorn that’s surrounded by a cart’s worth of swords and spears isn’t terribly wise. But once the shipment heads out she’ll only have a few things to throw at you. Although I know for a fact that she keeps at least one sword with her at all times.”

“So what about you? What are you going to be doing?”

“I will be waiting at the edge of the forest with a team of sky knights. Should your battle gain the attention of the shadows we will keep them off of you as long as we can. That and do our best to ensure you have a means of escape should it become wiser to cut and run rather than stand and die…”

“…Oh one more thing. Watch out for the couch.”

“Couch?”

“Yeah, she has a large couch that she doesn’t seem to mind swinging around along with her weapons. Not sure why she uses that rather than something without cushions, but watch out for the frame, it has spikes.”

* * * * * * *

Refocusing her eyes, Rainbow Dash brought her mind back to the blacksmith shop just across the way. Content that no pony was watching, she became that silver and prismatic blur once again, and in the blink of an eye she was slinking along the side of the house.

There was no way that she was going to go in using the front door, or the door on the work area, or the second level windows or roof access door for that matter. The obvious doors were avoided for the obvious reasons, the high up stuff because the enemy knew that a paladin of the sacred wing blades had to be a pegasus pony.

Crouched low to the ground, Rainbow Dash made her way to the back door, where she held her ear to the door and waited. Hearing nothing, she reached up and opened the door… Or she would have if the door wasn’t locked. A nearby window became the next target of her attention. Bongo! It was open.

Slipping inside she found an almost average looking dinning room. Yet something about the room felt off. The dust was a fine layer, maybe a few days worth since the last dusting, so well within what even Rarity would have accepted. The tablecloth was clean enough, chairs placed exactly were they should be, even a small decorative vase graced the table. Unable to pin down what felt wrong with the room Dash shook off the feeling and moved on leaving her hoofprints as the first, and only set, to disturb the dust.

A short hall separated her from the main room of the house. And from her vantage point she could see that gems and ribbons were the preferred style for the décor. And just like outside rubies seemed to be the preferred gemstone. Aside from the pointless pretty looking stuff there were racks along the edges of the room, weapon racks to be more exact. And from the looks of it they were built mainly to hold swords and spears with their gem studded prongs. Almost as if the front room of the house was a showroom just like Rarity’s home, only this one was for weapons instead of dresses.

The room was, however, currently devoid of ponies. Although Rainbow Dash had never seen the overlord that was her target, or even a picture of her, if the patterns of this world’s similarities were any guide she was looking for a unicorn with an odd resemblance to her world’s Rarity. Regardless, an empty room clearly didn’t contain who she was looking for.

That left the question where to look now? Try the door opposite the hallway, which probably led to the forge area? Or go up the stairs to the second floor of the home portion of the house?

Either way she needed to cross the room, in part or in full. And it was when she was halfway across the room that Rarity’s voice came from the top of the stairs.

“You know, darling, it is rather impolite to sneak into somepony else’s home unannounced.”

Despite having her friend’s voice, the dark-gray unicorn coming down the stairs was clearly not Rarity. From the mare’s crimson mane, or deep-red eyes, every color was wrong. Yet much like Storm Gale and Tempest Wind, the form was the same. This unicorn, whoever she was, carried her red main and tail with the same lavish curls as Rarity’s.

“And yet, you don’t seem bothered,” Dash said, taking note of the mare’s grin. “Why is that?”

“I have my reasons.” The dark unicorn descending the stairs said. Then adding, “Although I am curious as to why you haven’t attacked me yet? Most of your precursors have favored attempting a surprise attack.”

“Because I want to know why! Why are you and your master hunting down innocent pegasus ponies, not only of this world but of mine!?”

“Isn’t it obvious, darling? The pegasi hold the light that can pierce the master’s darkness. Once we eradicate them nothing can stop the master from conquering this world. As for the pegasi of your world? The pegasi of this world have become rather… elusive. So it’s become easier to take them from yours to make more shadow pegasi.” With a bit of a cackle the unicorn added, “Life is rather ironic, isn’t it? The one thing that can defeat the master’s plans is also the fuel needed to make them work in the first place.”

A red flag flashed in Rainbow Dash’s mind, triggering the suspicious side of her nature.

“If you really consider pegasus ponies like me to be your mortal enemy, why are you telling me all of this?”

“Because I earned the title Bloodsmith.”

The Bloodsmith’s answer was accompanied by her horn lighting up with a red glow.

Had Rainbow Dash entered the house through the front door she might have noticed the arch behind her had five swords mounted on it sooner. Or the five sets of severed pegasus wings. Each set adorning one of the blades’ display mounts. Now wrapped in the crimson glow of the Bloodsmith’s magic the five swords with blood-red blades came down into full view.

“If it’s any consolation, darling, thanks to your impending death I’ll finally have my sixth blood-steel sword made from the blood of paladins. And I must say sky-blue is a lovely color for the wings that will frame the mount.”

Once the oddly pleasant threat on Rainbow Dash’s life was delivered, the unicorn sent four of the blades after the paladin, while drawing one of them back to a more defensive position beside herself.

For her part Dash leaped into the air and put her athletic wings to work. However, two quick laps around the room proved that she wasn’t going to be shaking the blades chasing her any time soon. On her next pass, she aimed herself for a flyby of the Bloodsmith.

The sword hovering by the unicorn’s side readied itself, preparing to strike at the incoming pegasus. As the pegasus paladin drew near, the magics holding the sword swung it wide and high, a perfect counterattack to any airborne target.

The unicorn’s defense held only one flaw. Rainbow Dash had stopped flying, tucked herself into a ball and rolled under the blade, only to immediately bounce back up and lash out with her wing blade as she passed by.

A last second sideways jump allowed the Bloodsmith to avoid a mortal wound. But it wasn’t enough to stop the wing blades from drawing blood. A gash opened on her side, black blood spurted out and the instant it touched the air it burst into eerie black flames.

As suddenly as the flurry of action had begun, it paused. Dash came to a hover, dumbstruck at what she was seeing. The swords fell to the ground as the Bloodsmith forgot to continue using her magic to levitate them. And for a brief second both ponies just looked at the wound on the unicorn’s side and the splattering of burning blood on the carpet beside her.

Dark blood continued to ooze from the Bloodsmith’s side. It too burst into dark flames the instant it came into contact with the open air, although her coat seemed to be immune to the black flames licking at it. The carpet wasn’t so lucky. The spilled blood burned black and the flames spread to the fabric, becoming a more natural orange color as it grew around the core of black flames.

“How dare you!” The Bloodsmith yelled, her voice burning with a rage that was matched by the bloodlust in her eyes. “How dare you scar my beautiful image! I swear I’ll gut you alive for that!”

Red light flared up around the Bloodsmith’s horn and the five swords sprang back to life. Along with every thing else in the room that wasn’t nailed down, mostly chairs, a coffee table, and half of the empty weapon rakes. And a sofa that looked oddly like a spiked version of Rarity’s drama couch came flying down the stairs too.

With a powerful flap of her wings, Dash barely cleared the spiked armrest of the weaponized sofa, and kicking down on the cushions she rebounded back into motion with only one thought passing through her mind. Get out!

Glass exploded outward as Rainbow Dash shot out of the nearest window she could find, into the open air.

Five swords followed her out. The drama couch made a valiant attempt but failed to fit through the window frame and subsequently blocked the way for anything else the unicorn might have thought to throw at the escaping pegasus.

On instinct, the ace flyer headed upwards, putting as much distance as possible between herself and her ground-bound adversary. For a moment, the five crimson swords began to lose their way. Then they started to home in on her again.

A faint slam was caught in Rainbow Dash’s ears. A quick glance down revealed that the unicorn with the burning blood had emerged onto the roof of her abode, and was now guiding her bladed projectiles by sight again.

Through loop-d-loops, spirals, spins, and maybe even a filly flash the crimson swords followed the pegasus with the rainbow tail. And if anything, they were gaining on her.

Then a revelation occurred to Rainbow Dash. It was a simple one, born of an observation that had been lost in the panic of the last few seconds, that only now managed to find it’s way to the front of her mind. And with that understanding she did a U-turn so sharp it would have been better described as a V-turn, sending herself into a steep dive.

Now being pulled down by both gravity and rage-fueled magic the blood-steel blades gained on their target even faster. But not fast enough.

Perhaps, in the last tenth of a second the unicorn realized that at those speeds the pegasus would slam into the ground before the blades reached her. Perhaps, she realized that no pegasus would slam into the ground at those speeds. Perhaps, she realized that with all five swords chasing the pegasus she had nothing left to parry with should that pegasus pull out of that dive.

If any of those revelations crossed the Bloodsmith’s mind they failed to register on her eyes before Rainbow Dash had shot past her in a prismatic blur.

It was Dash who gave a pained grunt from the sharp tug on her wing as it passed through the same space as the Bloodsmith. One thing was for sure, whatever that… thing was it was more than just shadow magic, for the wing blades cut through the shadow pegasi with ease, but not this… thing masquerading as a unicorn. Whatever it was, it had substance to it.

Having failed to pull out of their dive, five crimson swords planted their blades into the roof mere feet in front of the dark-gray unicorn. A horizontal ring of dark blood appeared around her body, halfway between the top and bottom of her torso, and even began to catch fire for a second as the top half began to slide off center from the bottom half. Then her entire body exploded in a massive eruption of the mysterious black flames, consuming the building she was standing on, and a nearby tree to boot.

Rainbow Dash was still pulling up from her dive attack when the flames of the sudden and inexplicable funeral pyre began licking at her hindquarters. With a second more of hard wing flapping, she stayed just ahead of the flames long enough for them to start slowing down. And with that she was home free.

For a moment Dash fell into a hover, looking back at the burning blacksmith’s shop, with a million questions running through her mind. Why was its blood black? Why did its blood catch fire? Ponies don’t explode for no reason when they die, so what was that thing anyway?

With no answers, sore wings and a slightly singed rump she abandon her pondering and began to fly off toward the forest castle. And as she left the town behind her, she heard the clock tower strike three in the afternoon.

* * * * * * *

A pencil hung in the air just above a mostly blank drawing board, wrapped in the blue glow of a unicorn’s magic. And there it stayed, leaving the outline of a tailless pony unchanged.

Rarity gave a deep sigh as she withdrew the pencil yet again.

“Come now, I must create! I can’t put my work off any longer. Isn’t that right, Opal?”

Rarity’s pet cat looked up at the sound of her name, but otherwise paid no mind to her owner. Quickly the long-haired, white cat returned her head to the soft caution that was her owner’s bed and curled back up.

The small-town dressmaker returned her gaze to the drawing board.

“Oh… every time I try to think of a new design, all I can see is Rainbow Dash!” she moaned.

Truth be told most of Rainbow Dash’s friends had fallen in to a depression of sorts once the search for her had been called off. And for Rarity it had mostly taken the form of art block.

“I can’t let my life fall apart just because Rainbow is missing. That’s the last thing she would want for her friends.”

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes she once more tried to focus on the job at hoof. And once more failed as the image of the blue flyer with the rainbow mane popped into Rarity’s mind. With a slight grown she tried to work with that anyway. If she couldn’t get her pegasus friend out of her mind then she’d just have to make a pegasus dress.

There was only one rather huge problem with that plan. Rainbow wasn’t exactly a color scheme that played well with other color schemes. Thus everything she imagined on Rainbow Dash would only look good on Rainbow Dash. Not exactly something she could make for some random pegasus pony around town.

What she needed was something more general, something that would look elegant on it’s own, something that could sit in her shop waiting for that first unknown pony who would walk in and see that it was a perfect match for them, something with a customer base bigger than one.

“Oh Opal, it’s not working! What am I going to do!”

The cat gave a sympathetic meow for its master. Or maybe just for itself, knowing that peace and quiet would be a thing of the past for the foreseeable future.

Finally setting down the pencil, Rarity stepped over to the window to gaze out, hoping against hope that some form of inspiration would find her.

The shadows of the world beyond the window crawled along as Rarity lost track of how long she’d been staring out at it.

Then suddenly in her mind’s eye inspiration flashed in a radiant burst. Although the image was once more of Rainbow Dash, this time she imagined her winged friend in a simple, yet shiny silver vest, with matching, sparkling silver wing sleeves. It was the very incarnation of simple elegance. Not really Rarity’s style, but it was something that could work on a pony beside Rainbow Dash. And who knows? Maybe with the right clasp and gemstone embroidery, Rarity could make it more her own.

“Idea!” Rarity chimed, returning to the drawing board and finally putting lines to it.

As she did so, the town clock tower chimed off three in the afternoon.

* * * * * * *

Even the dusk shadow pegasus attack couldn’t stop the inhabitance of Liberty Castle from throwing a dinner party the likes of which had never graced its halls before. Or at lease since the Sky Knights had restored it to working order.

The dinning hall was alive with singing and dancing. A few that knew how played instruments, mostly trumpets and the like, with one pony playing a piano.

Off to one corner Mister Weatherright was laughing heartily with a few others thanks to the bottle of wine he’d found. As tempting as it was to join those ponies, Rainbow Dash was athlete enough to know to avoid alcohol.

Alcohol thins the blood and that reduces the rate that it can deliver oxygen to the body, weakening and slowing you ever so slightly. And the worst part was that it took three days to fully burn it out of your system and get back to peak performance. And that was totally unacceptable for an athlete of her caliber. And apparently the Sky Knights too, as they also seemed keen on avoiding that corner of the room.

In the opposite corner of the room seemed to be the kiddy table. So far Rainbow Dash had yet to see a school age pony sitting anywhere but at that corner table. Although she didn’t truly know any of them, she had caught sight of the blue pegasus filly that she suspected was this world’s Scootaloo. Also catching her eye was a light green unicorn filly with a curly, two-toned green mane and tail, who looked like a minty green version of Sweetie Belle.

The fact that the two fillies looked like friends only furthered Dash’s theory as to the nature of the Scootaloo-like filly. In fact the blue Scootaloo seemed to be the only young pony willing to socialize with Minty Belle, or whatever her name was in this world.

She might have even gone over and learned the names of the two fillies if she didn’t have slightly more important questions she wanted answered. Questions that would likely find their answers from Cloud Sword, and while he was sitting next to her, the moment had yet to feel right to ask.

Returning her attention to her plate. Surprise, surprise, the hero of the day had been given a rather generous helping. Everything from broccoli to grilled carrot slices and potatoes adorned her plate. And to be perfectly honest Rainbow Dash was starting to miss the little things, like seasoning and butter. You know, the things that made the vegetarian diet actually taste good, rather than just… meh. But still, food was food so she shoved another carrot slice in her mouth and kept waiting for the right moment to talk to Cloud.

Finally the moment came when he seemed more interested in what was around him than his dinner. “You know,” he said. “What you’ve accomplished is the first real blow to the Dark Summoner since she came to power. You’ve proven that her lieutenants can be defeated.”

Dash gave a small nod before asking the question that had been plaguing her mind all evening. “What was that thing?”

“What do you mean?” Cloud could only ask in return, with a raised eyebrow.

“When I cut it, it’s blood burst into flames, black flames. When it died, it exploded in the same dark fire. Ponies don’t do that, so what was it?”

Cloud lowered his voice slightly, in the hope that this conversation wouldn’t be heard beyond the Sky Knight’s table. “I see. So the rumors are true then.”

“Rumors?”

“Yes. Ever since they took control of the town in the name of the Dark Summoner there have been rumors that the overlords were more than just ponies using dark magic. Rumors that their endless cruelty was because they were in fact actual demons in pony form. Demons who had taken the place of the ponies who had once lived among us.” Cloud shook his head slightly. “Until now, they were just rumors. But if what you say is true, then that gives us some strong evidence that they are true.”

A short pause follow as Cloud Sword’s eyes turned inward for a moment. Then he nodded and said, “Yes, that would explain the sudden change of behavior.” Seeing a questioning look from the paladin, he added, “I didn’t know them personally before. But, I’ve been told that before they were summoned to meet with the Dark Summoner, before they returned as her overlords, they used to be good ponies. I’ve only known them as the overlords who spark stories or torture, murder and dark magic.”

With a slight nod toward the kiddy table Cloud said, “See that unicorn filly?” Seeing as there was only the one unicorn filly at that table, the one she’d noticed earlier, Rainbow Dash nodded. “She was the little sister of the Bloodsmith. I think that’s why most of the other foals avoid her. But, she was also the first to insist that the pony who came back that day wasn’t her sister, but a demon who had killed her sister and stolen her skin.” After pausing for a moment’s thought he added, “You might want to talk to her. I’m sure she’d be happy to meet the paladin who finally avenged her sister.”

“Isn’t that a bit morbid?” Dash asked. “I mean, ‘Hi I just killed your big sister and it turns out you were right. She was a demon who killed you real big sister all along!’ That doesn’t strike me as something I should be saying to a youngster like that.”

Cloud Sword blinked. Then he blinked again, as if processing a foreign concept.

When he finally spoke he said, “Perhaps in your world. But you do realize that everypony in this castle knows that they live under the specter of death? Everypony here knows that we face a ruthless enemy that will be the doom of them if given the chance. Even the children. I assure you that letting that filly know that she was right will be a net boon to her. Although if your not up to it, I’m sure the gossip will spread quickly enough that she’ll know within a day or two regardless of if you tell her.”

“Fine. I’ll talk to her,” Rainbow Dash said, as she got up from her place at the table.

When she’d agreed it had all been so easy in her mind. Kids liked getting attention from the big important adults, whether it was the local daredevil or the paladin hero who was the reason for the party. All she’d have to do was go over, say ‘hey’, look cool, pass along the news, indulge her curiosity as to the names of the two who reminded her of the crusaders back home, and coolly walk away. Easy as pie.

So why were her muscles tensing up the closer she got to the two fillies that looked like Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle that had gotten into a fight with a vat of dye?

It probably didn’t help that the kiddy table was in the corner, so you had to be going there to get there. Needless to say several of the foals at that table had already begun to stare once it became clear she was coming to their table.

Rainbow Dash did her best to smile in a way that hid her nervousness. No pony who knew her would have bought it, but these fillies and colts didn’t know her.

“Hey,” she said, once she’d approached the green unicorn filly.

“Um… hello, Paladin Rainbow Dash.”

Following the greetings there was a short silence. Maybe she’d hoped for something more, like a question from the filly that she could use to lead into her intended topic. Ultimately Dash had to break the silence herself.

“So… I guess you’ve heard what happened to the Bloodsmith by now, huh?”

The green Sweetie Belle nodded her head. Although the blue Scootaloo jumped in and said, “That’s kinda why they’re throwing this party.” To which the green Sweetie also nodded in agreement.

“Right. Anyway, I just thought you should know, when I fought her I found out that you were right. So yeah…” Rainbow allowed herself to trail off, not knowing how she’d react to being told ‘you were right, your family member had been dead all along and a demon has been impersonating them.’

However, Cloud’s words proved to be true. The green filly looked about the table with a smile that had ‘I told you so!’ written all over it. Most of the other fillies and colts at the table suddenly wore a blush on their cheeks as that gaze found it’s way to them. But when the young unicorn did speak it was directed only to the blue Scootaloo filly next to her.

“Thank you for always believing me.”

By now Rainbow Dash had sit down on the floor right behind the bench, between the two of this world’s crusaders. The two fillies twisted in their seats slightly, to face the adult.

“And thank you,” the unicorn added, with a smile of genuine gratitude.

“So… I take it you two are friends?” Dash asked, placing a hoof on each of the two semi-familiar fillies.

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, you two remind of a couple of fillies from my world.”

“Really?”

With a nod Dash confirmed, “Yeah, their voices even sound the same as you two. Only their colors are different. I’ve actually run into several ponies around here like that.”

“Cool!”

“Weird.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but smile at seeing that the young pegasus was the bolder of two. “I guess you’ve already heard my name, but what are yours?”

“I’m Sweet Chime!” the unicorn filly answered pleasantly.

“Scooter,” the blue pegasus filly said, giving a shrug with her answer.

“Scooter, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked, curious as to how a filly wound up with the male version of the name. Apparently that curiosity showed on her face enough to cause the young pegasus to answer.

“I don’t know my real name…” she said, looking down slightly. “Or if I ever had one. All I know is I was always zipping around on an old scooter I fixed up. And the ponies would call me ‘that scooter filly.’ And somewhere along the line they drop the filly part and just called me ‘Scooter’ instead. That’s what ponies call me, so I guess that’s my name.”

“Well, I think it fits you.” With her praise, Dash ruffled Scooter’s mane. Turning her attention back to both fillies, she asked, “Say, do you two have a third friend around here some place? An earth pony who wares a bow by chance?”

A haunted look entered the two fillies’ eyes as they glanced at each other.

“You knew who Gloom Bloom was?”

“No. Wait, what do you mean ‘was’?”

This time it was Sweet’s eyes to feel the weight of the past, and shift downward. “I tried to warn her that something was wrong with our big sisters… But… she didn’t listen…”

Offering a supportive hoof, Scooter took over the story. “Gloom Bloom’s family used to live at that big graveyard south west of town. Their family has run the mortuary there for generations or something. Being in a family of grave keepers she was a little weird, but she was a good pony. She always had this big black bow in her mane. But more importantly she was willing to talk to us despite… uh… not being the most popular kids in town. So we became friends.”

At those words, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but look at the two’s flanks. Much to her surprise both had cutie marks.

Sweet Chime’s cutie mark was a musical note in the middle of a cross-like four-pointed star, with smaller stars filing in the corners, much like they way hearts filled in the corners of medical crosses back in Equestria.

Scooter’s mark was a lightning bolt, with a four-pointed star at the tip of the lightning bolt.

Taking advantage of the lull in talking, Sweet Chime gave her friend a look that seemed to say ‘I’m ready to finish the story.’ Her friend nodded and closed her mouth instead of continuing on the unicorn’s behalf.

“When the overlords took over the town for the Summoner they killed a lot of ponies,” Sweet Chime said. “But the first to go were their families. I just know that the Bloodsmith would have killed me along with mom and dad if I hadn’t already run away and come here by then.” With the slow shake of her head she added, “But Gloomy didn’t listen, she stayed with her family and trusted her sister… or what she thought was her sister anyway. So when those demons took over they-they…”

Chime’s voice began to choke up and tears began to trickle down her face. And although her eyes were also beginning to fill with tears, Scooter once again finished where her friend left off.

“Gloomy was too good of a pony, so there’s no way she’d stay there after the overlords took over the town and proved they were evil. But she’s not here either. So… she has to be dead by now.”

By the time the two had finished their story Rainbow Dash had wrapped her front legs around them, pulling them close. Whether she did it to comfort them or herself she wasn’t entirely sure. Not that the two were exclusive.

“I’m sorry. I promise, if she’s alive, I’ll rescue her. And if she’s dead, I’ll avenge her.”

No pony said anything more after Dash’s promise. But the two younger ponies did give weak smiles and nod, as if to signal it was okay for the paladin to release them from the one-armed hug and be on her way.

Author's Note:

Enter the demon ponies, and the reason I felt the story needed some kind of violence warning.

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Okay this Twilight is really messed up to make demons of those ponies and poor Bloom. i serious hope they are all alive.

and again more confirmation the Summoner is Twilight's counterpart.

[Teraunce]

“…Oh one more thing. Watch out for the couch.”

Oh great. Evil Rarity Time!

“When the overlords took over the town for the Summoner they killed a lot of ponies,” Sweet Chime said. “But the first to go were their families. I just know that the Bloodsmith would have killed me along with mom and dad if I hadn’t already run away and come here by then.” With the slow shake of her head she added, “But Gloomy didn’t listen, she stayed with her family and trusted her sister… or what she thought was her sister anyway. So when those demons took over they-they…”

well all the more reason to kill the Demon 5(6?)!