Demon Slayer: The Strange Demon

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: Interrupted Celebration

Following Muzan's defeat Pinkamena pulled them back into the real world, allowing everyone to see the sun rise on a world without the King of Demons threatening everyone that they loved or cared about, and she found that many of them had smiles on their faces. She was sure that even the likes of Obanai and Sanemi, who hated her because of what she was, had to be enjoying the new day that they had brought about, as while they hadn't fought with Muzan, in fact many were happy to avoid fighting him after seeing how he fought Pinkamena earlier, everyone was pleased with the results. At the same time she found that Tanjiro was reunited with Nezuko, who had broken out of her demonic haze thanks to the medicine she had been given earlier, though with their foe defeated there were only two Demons left in his world, though to everyone there was one and Pinkamena preferred to keep it that way. Her plan was to go down as the last existing Demon in the world, all while Yushiro, the only other remaining Demon in existence, faded into the background now that Muzan had been bested by her power, and right now the only ones who knew about Yushiro were Tanjiro and Kiriya, Kagaya's only son.

Pinkamena smiled as she found that many were embracing each other, excited that they had survived the night and that none of them had fallen to the false Lower Moons that Muzan had created to tear everyone down, likely a result of what she put everyone through with her training, but she was just happy to have saved as many as she could.

After that it wasn't long before they gathered in a large area to celebrate their victory over the Demons, where the Slayers cheered once more as food and drinks were provided to everyone, showing them that Kagaya knew they would succeed and that he had likely prepared this ahead of time, though no one complained as they dug into the food. It still amused her when she thought about Kagaya, who had been one of the best leaders the Slayers could have asked for in their pursuit to bring down their foe, and everything he had gone before he set the trap to weaken Muzan enough for Tamayo to do what she did to him. There was no speech to give, rather it was just a celebration to their achievements and the fact that Humans didn't stand down when Demons threatened to overtake the land, though to be honest Pinkamena knew if any of the Hashira were asked to say something they would likely turn it down in favor of partying, before she changed her mind as she realized that Tengen might do it if he was asked. The retired Hashira, however, was in the middle of hugging his wives and celebrating their victory over their ancient enemy, honoring the sacrifices of the fallen so the normal people of this land could live their lives without Demons killing them, even if many of the people didn't believe that they existed in the first place.

"When were you going to tell me that you were delving into all of my older inherited memories?" Tanjiro asked, as while he wanted to celebrate, in fact he had started to do so with Zenitsu and Inosuke, he wanted to confirm something with her before he got too involved with what was going on right now, all while noticing that his wounds from the fight with Azaka had been healed while they were in Pinkamena's world.

"I figured it was enough to show you what I had learned... plus, at the rate you were moving, I'm not sure you would have been able to use them effectively." Pinkamena replied, where she didn't mean to sound like she was beating Tanjiro down or anything, in fact he understood that his training, even what she put him through, hadn't allowed him to match the level of Yoriichi and meant he could be found lacking to some degree, "However, had we spent a few years training, drilling all twelve moves and their movements into your body, I'm sure that you and the others would have done a lot better against the remaining Upper Moons and Muzan... who knows, maybe at that point you wouldn't need me to lend a hand."

"To be honest, while I trust our Slayers to get the job done, I'm not sure we would have been able to beat Muzan without you," Kiriya said, walking up to where she and Tanjiro were standing, as many had been pulled into her world to see the final battle with the Demon King, where both of them found that he was wearing the same attire that his father had, as in he had assumed his position as the head of his family and the leader of the Slayer Corps, "at least, not without significant loss of life and the utter destruction of the surrounding area that we eventually pulled him into so he could be burned to death by the sun. I know you were playing around with him, to test Muzan's power out and see what sort of attacks he had to throw at you... in fact those whips terrified me since they hacked apart the surrounding area... but that just showed me how lucky we were that you were there to help us out, and I'm sure that all of the other Hashira are happy that you were the one to fight Muzan, especially after that display."

"I, for one, am grateful that we recruited you into the Demon Slayer Corps." a voice said, where they found that Sakonji, who had been watching over Nezuko during the start of their assault, and had let her go once she started to outrun him earlier, though while he still wore his mask, something he didn't seem interested in removing at all, she could tell that he was overjoyed of what they had accomplished, "So, I have to ask: when will you put down your power?"

"Honestly, I have no idea... don't worry, I won't be making any new Demons." Pinkamena replied, as she knew that he, and all of the others for that matter, were interested in hearing when she would take Tamayo's medicine and become Human again, even though there was an error in their thought process, which she needed to clear up soon, "Let's just say I have a feeling that I might need my power at some point in the future and losing it now would be a bad thing... that's the best way I can describe my reasoning."

Kiriya figured that she wouldn't make new Demons to keep them busy, to keep the organization intact, and knew that she would revert back to her Human form once she was good and ready to do so, to which he and the others moved off to the side and started chatting with the others. Pinkamena spoke to several of the Hashira, as many were interested in her fight with Kokushibo earlier, since he had been a Slayer before being transformed into a Demon by Muzan, and she described his Breathing Style to them, another unique one that no one would be able to replicate. Of course they knew that she had access to his echo, what was left of him since his physical body was no more, and Tengen even said that she seemed to be collecting unique and powerful Breathing Styles, as she had Chaos and Sun right now and, with due time, Moon would be part of it. She couldn't disagree with him, especially since it gave her more options while she was in the middle of battle, in the off chance that someone countered some of her moves, but she didn't dwell on that for long, mostly so she could take some time off and enjoy the celebration that was going on.

As the minutes went by, however, Pinkamena became aware that someone was watching them and set down her drink for a moment, where she felt the air around them and knew it wasn't like anyone she had met in the past, something that caused the Hashira and Tanjiro to pause as she did so. She knew it wasn't a Demon, because she knew that Yushiro was already in hiding, away from the rest of the Slayers so he could run when the sun went down, and it certainly wasn't one of the Humans, since they were nowhere near all of the cities and settlements that dotted the land. Such a thing made her wonder what in the world was going on, since it seemed darker than anything she had felt in the past, where she walked over to the edge of where the Slayers were celebrating and glanced out at the surrounding area for a time. She also knew, from her memories of being in Pinkie's Mindscape, that it couldn't be anyone from Equus, meaning someone else had to be watching her right now and that worried her more than she was willing to admit, especially since she was in the dark as to who might be silently observing them.

A few moments later she found what she was looking for, as a portal made of darkness, in the shape of an oval, tore open some distance away from where they happened to be celebrating, where a figure wearing a black robe with silver pieces near the neck stepped out of it a few seconds later.

"Whose that?" Zenitsu asked, though he knew this was the last thing anyone wanted right now, as they were tired from all of their fights in the Infinite Castle, or whatever that place had been called, and even if Pinkamena could fix them up with her powers, which he knew she was capable of, most of them didn't want to get into another fight, so soon after seeing the battle with Muzan.

In the following instant Pinkamena threw her hand back, knocking Zenitsu and the others back as a barrier surrounded all of them, protecting them as she quickly drew both of her blades and swung them, parrying an attack from the figure, who was holding onto a katana, before shifting her stance to knock her foe back.

"I have no idea, but they mean business." Pinkamena remarked, though what was interesting was that the blade her foe carried seemed to be of a similar construction to the blades she and the other Slayers used in battle, before she glanced off to the side and found a second robed figure standing on some rocks, looking more like an observer than a fighter, but she kept her guard up anyway, just in case it was a trap, "Tell me, stranger, what brings you and your friend here?"

The figure said nothing as they rushed forward, swinging at Pinkamena as if they were trying to take her head clean off, a useful idea since she knew that most of the powerful Demons had survived without their heads, at least she figured the fallen King of Demons had eliminated that weakness, though she parried the blow. Such a thing caused the air to shake, as if two great energies were clashing with each other as they fought for supremacy, though she pushed her foe backwards and knocked them away from the barrier, as she had a feeling this was beyond what a normal Slayer could deal with, and that included the other Hashira. She quickly realized that there might be a problem, if the figures had been watching them for some time, which she was only now aware of thanks to adding Muzan's power to her own, that meant they knew all of her moves and techniques, meaning her forms would be ineffective to them, but she was hoping she was wrong and that it was just her overthinking things. In the next moment she shifted her stance a little more, where Tanjiro noticed that one of her tails was gathering power, before a massive dome formed around Pinkamena, the surrounding area on the other side of the small shield, and the pair of figures who seemed to be new troublemakers, before energy started to surge into the area that Pinkamena was currently standing in.

A second later she disappeared and reappeared behind her foe, where she swung her blades as Tanjiro found that she had summoned her Lunar Fang, a rippling force of energy that would wreck her foe, before the figure turned and used a wave of darkness, identical to Pinkamena's own attack, to quickly counter it... causing a massive explosion to rock the area and kick up some smoke, though he wasn't surprised to find his friend unharmed while finding a cut on the right sleeve of the stranger's arm.

"I knew it, you've been spying on us." Pinkamena remarked, though she was fortunate to have made the barrier, as while she had been willing to test the stranger out, to see if she was right or not, she wasn't expecting to have the figure copy and use the Lunar Fang against her, meaning fighting the figure was going to be a pain.

"I wouldn't call it 'spying', rather I'd call it seeing what you and the others are capable of, and you pass," the figure replied, where Pinkamena realized that the speaker was female, letting her know the gender of her foe, before she pulled back her hood and revealed that it happened to be a wolf person with gray fur, who had red eyes, while the other figure kept theirs up and made no movements to lower it, "It would seem that you Equestrians have some phenomenal warriors, ready to tackle whatever dangers are thrown your way... which is good, since Dymalis and his demonic empire will be setting their sights on your world in the near future."

"Excuse me?" Pinkamena inquired, as while many would assume that the wolf figure was speaking about this world, since all of her friends and comrades assumed she was from this world, she understood that her home planet was now in danger, not to mention the fact that these two didn't seem interested in fighting the demons themselves, all while noticing that the figure had long light gray hair, "If you know about them, why don't you do something about it? Sounds like things would be better for all of us, since they might be a threat to you as well."

"Sorry dear, but we're observers, interested in how the powers of this universe are shifting due to your interference." the wolf figure answered, no doubt referring to Pinkie and everyone else that seemed to go missing, before they visited where the Tree of Harmony was located, though in that moment she glanced up at the sky for a few seconds, as if she was seeing something, before chuckling as she pulled her hood up and a portal opened behind her, "Especially since two of your kind brought down one of the other great demonic forces not all that long ago, not to mention that you just beat someone who would have done some serious damage had he learned how to get off this planet... things are changing, and we're eager to see what else your kind is capable of."

As Pinkamena opened her mouth to stop them, to keep them here and learn more from them, a crack in reality appeared nearby and Discord, a figure with a noodle shaped body with body parts from different species, stepped out of it, though as soon as he locked eyes on the two strange figures the strangers used their oval portals to leave.

"Great, now there's more than one of them." Discord commented, though at the same time Pinkamena sheathed her blades and withdrew her barriers, allowing the land to revert back to it's original form and the crater disappeared, causing the odd figure to turn towards her for a moment as he eyed her form, "Let me guess... Pinkamena?"

"Correct. I'm the one that was separated from Pinkie a long time ago, for me anyway." Pinkamena answered, though all this told her that her adventure in this world was at an end, which she was fine with since Muzan was no more and there were no more Demons for her to worry about, before she considered the information that she had been given by the strangers, who Discord knew about, "So what's this about a demonic army baring down on Equus?"

"Oh good, you already know about them... long story, but we're gathering warriors and soldiers to save our world, and we have a number of displaced that are on adventures right now." Discord replied, confirming her thoughts on the matter, she wasn't the only one out there, she had figured such a thing after seeing Pinkie's memories and being separated from her all those years ago, though he turned his head for a moment and opened a portal back to what looked like Ponyville, "Would you care to join me?"

"Sure, but let me break the news to the others. Some of the Hashira look like they're getting their blades." Pinkamena said, as while she was more than willing to go back home, and figure out everything that was going on, where Discord glanced at the area behind them and found that many of the Slayers were gripping their weapons, fearing that he might be the same as whatever enemies they were used to fighting.

Discord said nothing as he nodded his head and sealed the portal for a time, where Pinkamena flashed through the air for a second and landed near the edge of the area she had set up when the strangers showed up, though she wasn't even a tad bit surprised to find Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke standing nearby, with the other Hashira starting to gather.

"What's going on? Are we under attack?" Inosuke asked, readying his blades for the potential battle that might unfold in the near future, especially after everything he and the others had seen so far, while Pinkamena could see that Tanjiro and everyone else seemed at ease, because if they were under attack she would have said something by now.

"No, you aren't. However, it would appear that my home world is going to be attacked by demons in the near future, or at least Discord and the strangers claimed it will happen." Pinkamena answered, as if it was perfectly normal to talk about such a thing, which it kind of was since they had been fighting Demons for a long period of time, but she could tell that her words had surprised those she fought beside since joining the Corps, "Right, that reminds me, you've been calling me a 'Human' the entire time I've been apart of the organization, but it's about time I corrected that... I'm not Human, rather I'm an Equestrian, from the planet of Equus... to be more precise I didn't even have a body until I came to this world over two years ago, as I was just a part of Pinkie until we separated from each other."

"How does that even work?" Tanjiro asked, though he had a feeling that it was more like her Chaos World, where she had all of the Echoes of the Demons she had taken the parts of during their quest, and given how she started he had a feeling this 'Pinkie' was more of a pacifist, or at least had no experience fighting enemies.

"Don't know, just blame it on magic and call it a day." Discord said, where Pinkamena knew he had some experience with this sort of thing, given how he discorded Pinkie and her friends when he was first freed from his statue, but she figured he wanted to speed things along so they could get back home, especially since there was more information for her to get on the current ongoing situation, "Oh, that reminds me, I still haven't located Pinkie yet... she's good at hiding, I'll give her that much, even if it means giving me a headache in the process."

"Of course she is." Pinkamena commented, as she wasn't even remotely surprised by the fact that her other self was just a pain in Discord's backside, where it seemed like the Spirit was responsible for hunting her and the other missing down, or whatever they were called back home, causing her to turn not a few seconds later, "Tanjiro, you, Zenitsu, and Inosuke can come along... wouldn't want to freak the others out if we arrive with a large force, as they might assume their under attack if everyone shows up at the same time."

"I wouldn't worry about that, the other displaced beat you too it." Discord stated, though as the trio mentioned gathered near him and Pinkamena, even if one girl wanted to come with and the boy with the scar told her he'd be right back, he used a bit of his power to open a new portal back to Equus.

Pinkamena braced herself for what was on the other side of the tear in front of them, as this would be her first time doing anything on her home world without having to worry about being sucked back up into Pinkie's Mindscape, though she was looking forward to whatever might happen next.

Comments

[Mr Player]

So now that the slayers know about emo pinkie being a horse how will they see equus when they follow her there

[badninja]

Should I feel sorry for them going to Equestria? Will they be ready for all that it will bring and how many ponies will be signing up for the training I wonder?

[Booster Spice]

Pinkie is hiding in Discords tail tuft?

[Lucasnike123]

When I read this chapter, this question came to my mind:

Is the story over or are you planning to do a new original arc, where Tanjiro's group travels to Equestria to help Pinkademia?

[Blackdrag-rose]

11318443 Story's not over yet, as we have one small arc left, detailing Pinkamena's return to Equus... once that arc is over, the story will be over.

11318325 I know a certain group of dragons would be interested in learning the sword techniques of the Demon Slayer Corps.