Prologue: The Gods of the Left Hand Path...

Manehatten nights are always cold.

The dark dreary alleys and side streets are like magnets that attract icy winds. I pull my cloak tighter around my body, smashing my mane flat against my neck; normally I'd be more careful not to mess it up, but honestly I think it would be better if I looked scruffy. I've already done everything else to make myself look pitiful, lost, alone, helpless. Might as well add dirty and hungry to that list too, anything to attract the kind of pony I'm looking for.

Some say the city comes alive at night. Parties, clubs, dancing, drinking, swearing, and fucking. You can find all the sinful pleasures of the world at this time. Personally, I think the city dies when the sun goes down, or at least that's when the vultures come out. You'd have to be drunk, high, or stupid to be caught on the streets at night, especial in run down areas of the town like this. Ponies are killed every night in this city, whether they just disappear into thin air or die bleeding in the gutters is for the guards to decide. No one likes to step outside after dark, most ponies try to avoid that action at all costs, but I'm not most ponies.

I'm not even a pony at all.

I wander through the narrow alleyway, side stepping around muddy potholes as I go. I reach the end of the passage and stare up into tall brown buildings across the road. The street is dimly lit with flickering lamps that struggle to cut through the thin fog. There is an unnatural silence in the area, the kind you'd have in a church or a cemetery, where nopony would dare disturb the forces that work there. The peace is broken when I make out hooves hitting stone down the street.

I tilt my head to glance in the direction, pulling on my hood as if my face wasn't already hidden within it. The pony I see is a stallion, brown coat with a white mane. He wears nothing save a wool cap that covers his ears, which is unusual given how cold it is out here. He looks at me with wide eyes, probably shocked to see someone like me out here at night. I scan him covertly from within my hood, trying to measure up who he is, and if I should take him.

He comes to a stop right in front of me and fakes a smile before asking. “Hey there, what are you doing out so late little one?”

I stumble backward and turn my head, having prepared my act far in advance. “I...I don't know. I lost my parents hours ago, and I can't find them anywhere.”

I add that hint of fear in my voice and stutter my tone. The stallion's face twists with pity and kneels down to give me comforting words. “It's alright, we can find them. Do you know where they live, or work, or any other place they might be.”

Instead of answering him I step back, looking at him with mock distrust. “I-I-I'm not sure.....I mean....my mom always tells me not to talk to strangers.”

The stallion smiles a real smile this time. “And you're a very smart filly to take her advice. Listen, if you're uncomfortable with me then I could get a messenger to fly out and find her. There's a post office not too far down the road that's always open, and we could wait right outside for them to come find you.”

That's all I needed to hear. I know he's telling the truth. It's hard for me not to smile at him, knowing how rare it is to find someone who even cares about another pony's troubles in this city. I almost feel sorry for turning him away.

“Thank you, really. But, I think it would be better if I search for them on my own.”

He blinks, obviously not expecting the response. “I'm sorry, but I can't do that little girl. This city is dangerous at night, I couldn't leave you all by yourself.”

I, however, was expecting his response. Standing fully erect on my hooves I drop my scared little girl act and look at him dead in the eye. “Sir, I thank you for the offer and your kindness. But please, go home. Now.”

His face changes. He doesn't say a word, just looks at me for a second with a blank stare. Then he turns and walks off down the street. My smile is still stuck to my lips. I feel sorry for having to do that to him. When he gets home he'll probably hit himself for leaving a small girl alone on the streets of Manehatten. If he's really nice, like I think he is, then he might come looking for me or at the very least notify the guards. He won't suspect a thing, though, no one ever realizes what I'm truly capable of, and if they do, well, they never get the chance to talk about it.

With no other potential targets nearby I turn the corner and walk up the street the way the stallion came from. I wander the museum of dirty broken down apartments until I reach the red light district. Large neon lights shine high above bars and porn shops that blare loud thumping music into the night. Drunk vulgar ponies stumble about all over the place. Some of them give me a worried glance before continuing on their way, but most just ignore me altogether. To them, I'm just one little mouse among a nest of rats.

I stop at an intersection, looking around to get my barring and plan where I should head next. I could find all sorts of scum wandering around this part of the city, but it's usually too crowded for them to want to attempt anything. The alleys and side paths have always been good, if a little sparse on ponies, and there are other options. It turns out though that I probably won't need to keep looking, as a well-dressed stallion with a blond mane walks up beside me.

“You're out pretty late young lady. What brings you to this neck of the wood?”

The way he looks at me instantly brings my suspicion. “I... I'm looking for my parents sir.”

He grins at me with far too much cheer. “Poor thing, it's very scary to be alone out here at night. Why don't you come with me? We can look for them together, and I know quite a few fun places around town we can go too.”

He's so obvious that I probably shouldn't bother testing him any further, but I do just to be sure. “My... my mom says I shouldn't talk with strangers.”

His smile fades only momentarily, then he places a hoof on my shoulder and says, “Well did she ever tell you to find help when you're lost because that's exactly what you're supposed to do. Come on, I promise to help find your parents, and we'll have a swell time while we're at it.”

Dear fucking Celestia, is he even trying to hide it? A foal half my age could see through this guy. Well, whatever, I've certainly found my prey, limping and bleeding through the woods I might add.

I give him a mock smile and state in my timid voice. “Alright sir, lead the way.”

His smile broadens. “Splendid, stay right behind me, we'll find them in no time.” He proceeds to lead me down the street, and asks, almost as an afterthought, “By the way, what is your name young lady?”

“I-It's Sweetie Belle sir.”

“Sweetie Belle,” He rings, “What a lovely name.”

We continue down the street, heading out of the red light district and back into the more dangerous side of town. It makes me sick just thinking about it, but I can't help but wonder just how many fillies have actually been tricked by this stallion. His methods are anything but subtle, a smart foal would see right through him in an instant, but he is acting way too easy going for this to be the first time. No, there were others before me. Poor, naïve foals who were promised hope and had it crushed under hoof.

Anger boils in my veins, and suddenly I feel the cravings hit me hard. I look at the stallion I'm following and lick the edges of my teeth. It's been far too long since I've done this, and soon the moment I've been waiting weeks for is about to come.

Anticipation causes an audible growl to escape my lips, making the stallion look over at me. “Did you hear something, Sweetie Belle?”

I conjure up an excuse. “I-It's my tummy, I haven't eaten in awhile.”

The older pony smiles at me again. “Well, we might just have to fix that. You know, I have a few friends who live nearby here. If we go over to their house I'm sure they'd have lots of candy for you to munch on.”

Candy? Really? How old-fashioned can you get? I mentally shrug and then act in an equally cliché manner. “Candy! Really! Yes! Yes! Where is this place? Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go!”

The stallion's grin widens. “Whoa-ho, calm down there you little sugar junkie, you'll have all the candy you want as soon as we cross this street.”

“Yes! Thank you! Now lets go!”

The stallion chuckles and then leads me across the way. I have to fight not to chuckle myself. That's probably what I love most about being a kid, no one ever questions you, no one ever suspects you, they just shrug it off on you being young and stupid. It's times like these that make me realize why villains love to laugh so much. Being so underhanded and conniving just gives you the urge to cackle like a maniac.

I have to resist this urge the rest of the way there, while simultaneously continuing to act excited and jittery about my 'supposed' sugar coated treats. I continue this act until we reach a tall run down tenant building in an abandoned part of town. Graffiti makes up the majority of the wall space, and what remains of the windows are covered up with thick splintered boards from which the smell of mildew protrudes. I act completely oblivious to these clear red flags and skip merrily up the steps to the front door.

“Is this the place? Is this the place?” I excitedly shout.

“Indeed it is.”

I squeal in fake delight. The stallion rummages in his coat pocket for a moment before finally pulling out a key and unlocking the front door. Walking inside we're greeted by two other stallions of equally dressed stature. They both look at me with the eyes of predators.

Fucking Jackpot!

One of them, a red-maned pegasus looks at me with acted concern. “Oh dear me. Emerald Ruby, don't say you've found another poor young filly alone on the street.”

The blond-maned earth pony in question chuckles. “Sorry to say, it's truly sad I know. Poor dear got separated from her parents, I just had to help her.”

His accomplices grin. The last one, a green coated unicorn walks up to me, eyes glancing over my whole body. “So young too. Just how old are you missssssss?”

“Sweetie Belle sir and I'm ten.”

“My, my, and what a beautiful young filly too. Could I see your face?”

I pull down my hood allowing them to indulge. The unicorn touches a hoof to my face and I let him prod me with a smile. I begin contemplating how far I'll let them get before I spring my trap. It's been so long since I've last satisfied my cravings, but it might be over too quickly if I strike right away. No, I'll play with them a little. I won't have another moment like this for awhile, so I gotta make it last.

While these musings run through my head the unicorn moves on from my face, brushing the nape of my neck and eventually grazing the side of my posterior. I allow this as well, never losing my innocent smile. “So, didn't you say you had candy in here?”

The unicorn pauses his groping. There's a silence in the room before they all break into a dark chuckle. “Of course we do Sweetie. It's right upstairs.”

I say thank you, making my way to the steps.

“Make yourself at home young one,” says the earth pony. “We'll check up on you in a few minutes.”

I give a nod before childishly dashing upstairs and slamming the door behind me. I can finally allow myself to laugh, letting all the impatience and frustrations of the night drain out of me. Now all I have to do is wait.

Looking around the room I'm in, I'm surprised to find it in much better condition than the rest of the house. The walls are fully intact, the floor is moderately clean, and the whole place has been decorated with high-class furniture and a massive king sized bed. Next to which I spy an end table with a large silver bowl, full to the brim with sugary treats. I'm surprised to see that it's actually here. I can't help but chuckle. The stallions have used bait for a trout, but have yet to realize they've caught a shark.

Walking over I happily indulge myself with one or two of the candies, before continuing to observe my surroundings. It's such a beautiful room, to hide such dark secrets in. I shutter at thinking how many innocent ponies have been tricked into here. Who unlike me, had no chance of escape. Now I can't help but wonder if they left anything behind.

I give a depressed sigh and then close my eyes. I give complete focus to what I desire. I receive a vision in my mind, a bottom drawer opening in a large ornate dresser. I open my eyes and look around, finding the very same dresser tucked into the corner of the room. I trod over and notice the photos resting on top of it. There of the same stallions, I met downstairs, but they're with their families in these pictures. Smiling wives stand next to them, along with several happy children at their hooves. I look at these pictures, almost having second thoughts for a moment, before shifting my attention to the bottom drawer. It's locked, but I give it a hard jerk and snap the mechanism off. Inside are more pictures, only the foals in these are... not as happy.

I turn my head in disgust. Some of the kids are the same ones that are in the pictures on top. Their own children. It's not just suggestive poses either, this is full on rape I'm looking at. I see one foal with tears running down his eyes as he's forced to eat his, 'candy'. Whatever doubts that had just risen in my head are dead. I'm gonna make them beg for death.

With an angered snarl I shut the drawer and make my way onto the bed. I grab the silver candy bowl and overturn it onto the sheets. I take up a relaxed pose and casually begin to eat from the pile, throwing the empty wrappers around me wherever I please. By the time the three stallions show up I've amassed an impressive collection of empty candy wrappers and bite-sized boxes around me.

The unicorn chuckles at the sight. “Oh dear, you shouldn't eat so much little one, you'll get a tummy ache.”

I smile sheepishly as if he had just caught my hoof in the cookie jar. “I have a big appetite.”

They giggle along with me. “Good news by the way kid. We've gotten in contact with the city guards and they say they've seen your parents looking for you just outside the city. They'll probably be over here in a few minutes.”

You lying sack of shit. “That's great! Thank you so much for helping me out.”

“Anytime Sweetie, anytime.” He says, grinning from ear to ear. “Until they get here, though, how about we play a little game to pass the time.”

And here we go. “What kind of game sir?”

The unicorn's smile broadened. “You see my friend here?” He says pointing the pegasus, who I notice is holding a camera. “He's a very famed photographer for a big magazine down the road. He'd love to take some pictures of you if you don't mind?”

I give him a grin, I'm not sure if it comes off as cute or eerie. “That sounds awesome. How'd like me to pose?”

“Well first, stand up on the bed, turn around, and bend over.”

I obey, turning around and swishing my tail as I do so, giving them a full view of just about everything you can imagine. “Like thiiiis?”

My words gave them a little surprise, but they never stop to contemplate it. “Yes, that's perfect Sweetie Belle. Hold just like that.”

They snap a few pictures before having me change positions again. This time a sprawled pose that exposes my marehood. Before they take the pictures though I grab a pillow from behind me and stuff it between my legs in a sensual manner. The action shocks them, but they have no arguments. It continues this way for some time. In just a few minutes I've gone through almost every suggestive posture in the book, letting them see every curve and crevice of my body. Sometimes I drop a small innuendo, or even a suggestion for the next pose, just to completely fuck with their heads.

After a while, they get bored with taking pictures of just me and move on to the next level. “Okay, Sweetie Belle, now we'd like to get some pictures of you and us. You don't mind do you?”

“Of course not sir, come on, we'll get a group shot right on the bed. I'll even do that thing with my hoof you liked so much.”

The stallions look at each other a moment, before smiling. “I love the way this girl thinks.”

They laugh and then make their way to the bed. The earth pony comes up right in front of me and leans close to my face, while the unicorn comes up behind and wraps a hoof around my body. I smile towards the camera and then stick out my tongue, licking the tip of my hoof as the pegasus snaps the photo. They're all happy to see my continued compliance.

“Very good Sweetie Belle. I have to say, I think you're doing a better job than anyone else who's come in here before.” The earth pony smiles at me and then kisses me on the cheek. I feel the unicorn beginning to grope all around my body, to my lowest parts. He sniffs my mane and I feel him rub his hips against me. I giggle, deciding that I've waited long enough.

I look the earth pony in the eye with a cheerful smile. “Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

He kisses me again, on the lips, and then answers. “I don't see why not, go ahead.”

He leans in for another kiss, but before he gets there I ask. “What do you think Tartarus is going to be like?”

The earth pony stops what he was doing. Everypony stops what they were doing. The stallions stare at me dumbstruck by the question. “The mythical river of the dead?” The unicorn nervously chuckled. “Young lady, why would such an odd question be floating about in your head?”

He continues to press against me, and I give my reply. “Oh, no reason. It's just something I think about every now and then. I mean, think about it. I know most ponies try to be good, but nopony is perfect. You could wind up making one mistake in your life, go down a path you never thought you'd go near, and end up paying for it for all eternity. It's gotta suck don't you think?”

The three friends look at each other. Some unsaid signal is sent through their heads and their tone shifts to a much a darker nature. “Well, here's what I think.” The earth pony chides. “I think little fillies like you should learn not to think of such grim things, and more importantly to stay quiet while older ponies are working.”

He growls the warning in my ear and I laugh at it. “Oh sir, was that supposed to scare me?”

“It was supposed to get you to shut your fucking face!” He yells slamming his hoof into the wall. “Now you just sit there and be quiet while we take these pictures.”

I laugh harder. “Sir, do you even realize how many times I've heard threats like that? How many pedophiles and rapists I've heard take that same tone with me?”

The stallions go silent. Whether it be from my cool response or sudden directness I don't know. “You're not the first ponies to try this on me, and you probably won't be the last. Hell, the only reason your still breathing even now is because I like to play with my food before eating it.”

The earth pony's anger grows lived. He grabs my throat, squeezing tightly with growing rage. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

I smile at him, barely even feeling his grip on my throat. His attention is suddenly drawn to the fearful, stuttering pegasus with the camera. “Emerald!... these... these pictures!”

He glares at him. “What! What is wrong with the...”

His tongue suddenly goes limp. I was wondering when somepony was finally going to look at those. The pictures he holds up are the first ones they took, which just developed. I, however, am not there. In my place is a small black coated demon pony, with long goat horns and large demonic bat wings.

The earth pony's head shakes as he turns towards me. I look at him with eyes that start to glow blood red and a smile that has a dozen razor sharp teeth. “It means that I'm done letting you play with me, and now it's time for me to eat.”

My growl turns into a terrifying roar. The earth pony jumps back in horror, but I open my maw and chomp down on his shoulder before he can run. He screams out in pain, his eyes shut and squeeze out tears.

Blood; sweet, warm, and fresh; runs down my throat. The luscious flavor of lust, like ripe popping grapes, saturates his blood. I shiver at the taste and moan in satisfaction. I need to have more!

I go into a frenzy. With the slightest effort I bite clean through the bone, then I jerk my head and tear the hoof clean off his body. My victim falls back screaming. Blood sprays out of the wound drenching my face and the surrounding bed sheets. The earth pony hits the ground flailing in agony and praying to Celestia to make the pain stop.

Pray to Satan while you're at it, he's just as likely to help you, buddy. I snicker as I finish devouring the hoof.

I finish the last bit with a satisfying crunch when I suddenly notice the unicorn on top of me trying to push me down. No matter how he struggles, I keep my footing and hold up his full weight without breaking a sweat. I reach up to pull him off when I notice out of the corner of my eye the pegasus coming at me with a knife. I grin, and let him hit me. The blade breaks in half upon slamming into my chest. The two other ponies gawk at the broken blade a moment, before looking at me. I grin before lunging upward and body slamming the unicorn into the ceiling, cracking the wood with his spine, or maybe the other way around, I hope it was the other way around.

I land back on the bed. The pegasus screams and turns for the door, but I lung and tackle him to the ground before he gets far. He struggles and flaps his wings in a vain attempt to fight back. I simply grab the base of his wings and take a mouth full of his mane in my teeth. I jerk my head back and pull his wings for more strength. He screams his voice out. His wings break in my grip and I rip the skin off of his skull as his mane comes up.

I let him collapse on the ground and cry for a moment. I take the underside of his skin and give it a long lick. I push it against my face and sniff in, like a dirty stallion between a mare's legs. I throw the appetizer down and look at the real meal. I turn the pegasus on his back and hold him down with one hoof on his chest. He stares at me moist fear flooded eyes.

"No, no, no more! Don't do it! I'm sorry, I won't ever do it again, just let me live! Please!"

"Oh, what's wrong sir, I thought you just wanted a few good pictures for your magazine?" I give an innocent smile and then grip the skin around his collarbone. "Here, I've got an idea for a good one."

I rip the skin off his body piece by piece. I do it slowly, and take the time to enjoy the music of agonized screaming, the sweet taste as I pop each piece of skin in my mouth, no differently than I did the candy earlier. The stallion pleads with tears in his eyes to stop, but that just prompts me to go on. I'm down all the way to his waistline, he's lost too much blood to scream anymore. I lean down to start digging into the meaty organs of his body, then I'm blindsided by a blast of magic.

I'm shot across the room and slam into the opposing wall, a picture frame landing on my head. I stand up snarling, the burn marks on my ribs sizzle and disappear slowly. The unicorn is back on his hooves, shaking from a clear injury. His horn glows faintly with an aura of magic that he points straight at me. My gritted teeth instantly fold into a grin.

“I was hoping you'd do something like that.”

My eyes flash pure red as I latch onto his magical essence. I direct my own demonic magick through his horn and into his mind. The alien power quickly overwhelms his body. Steam rises off his skin and he collapses to the floor. He convulses, muscles spasming and limbs flailing around uncontrollably. He tries to scream but only manages gargled choking noises. I cackle and waltz over to him. I plant a hoof on his chest to hold him still, lick my bloodstained lips, and then bite into his chest. His body stiffens, flem flies from his throat along with a cracked moan. I dig into his rib cage, snapping the bones in my mouth, then I get a look at his rapidly beating heart. It calls to my stomach, tempting it like the rump of a beautiful mare. Licking my lips I take the vital organ in my mouth like a red apple and take a big juicy bite out of it. The unicorn utters one last pained cry and then goes limp.

I continue feasting on the still twitching corpse, ripping up bone and tearing off soft chunks of flesh. The salty taste of blood is almost a new sensation after having gone so long without it. My hunger is finally dying down, but I do have little room for dessert. I turn around and see to my amazement that the earth pony is still alive and conscious. He is stumbling over his skinned friend towards the door when he sees me looking at him. He cries out in terror and then fumbles to open the door. I grin maliciously and begin to approach, casually watching him struggle to stand on three hooves. He gets the door open but doesn't make it far. My hoof shoots forward and pushes him down the stairs, making him roll and tumble head over hoof.

He's so helpless he can't even stand up, just crawls in one last desperate attempt to reach the front door. He stretches his hoof up towards the door knob and almost has it in his grip. I lay my hoof down on his shoulder, his body goes stiff. He shudders, then whimpers, and cries. It finally hit him that he's gonna die.

I giggle in his ear and stroke the side of his mane. "There, there, I'm sorry if I roughhoused you a bit. I promise to start off slower next time."

His head twitches as he turns around. His eyes bleed tears like open wounds. Fear has consumed ever detail of his face. “What are you? What in the hell are you!”

I meet his gaze straight on, then smile innocently. "Who am I, sir? Hm, I'm just a sweet little filly, trying to make it in this cruel fucked up world we live in. I thank you for your help, but now, it's time to say goodnight."

My words break him. His eyelids flicker and then slam shut as breaks down sobbing.

Oh don't be sad sir, I enjoyed your company." I place a hoof on his cheek. He shudders against it. "Perhaps you'd like to kiss me again before we depart?"

I give him a smile filled with rows of teeth. He doesn't even try to fight against my grip as I slowly lean in and press my lips against his. I give three small pecks and then move on to a prolonged connected kiss. I wrap my hooves around his neck and gently rub my hips against his chest. The stallion whines and trembles through the whole process, his tears touch my cheeks.

My hoof moves to his jaw and pries it open so I can give him a more passionate kiss. My tongue invades his mouth and I taste his moist delicate tongue. His soft, salty, tongue. I moan before pulling his mouth open as wide as it can go, push my snout in and bite his tongue.

The stallion screams. It'll be a long night before he finally stops screaming.

Chapter 1: A Wolf in Lamb's Clothing

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“Rise and shine, Sweetie Belle. It's time to get up.”

I respond to my sister's cheery voice with a moan.

“Come now, Sweetie Belle. It's the last day of the week and you don't want to be late for school.” I hear more than see her throw open the blinds, letting bright shades of sun flood the room. I groan and then pull the sheets over my head, ready to curse Celestia in my mind.

“Not to mention, your breakfast will go cold if you wait too long.”

That gets me up. I poke my head out of the covers and stare at her with a wounded look. “I thought you said you'd let me help you with breakfast today?”

Rarity rolls her eyes at me. “I know, but today is your last day of school before the Nightmare Night break. So I thought I'd do something a little special for your final day.”

I cock my eye at her. “You just didn't want me to burn the juice again, didn't you?”

“That too.”

Despite my best attempts at giving her a scowl, my expression slips and I chuckle with her. My plans for staying in bed defeated, I climb out of the sheet and drop to the floor. My limbs creek as I stretch them out, each one giving me a small reminder of how they were used last night, bringing a smile to my face. It was a good night.

“Glad to see you’re coming around,” Rarity says. “I'll be waiting for you down stairs, don't take too long.”

I nod to her as she walks out. Now that I'm up it's time to begin the first of my morning rituals.

Number 1: Log in my dream diary.

I sit down at a small desk with a mirror hanging above it. I pull open a drawer and take out a large velvet lined book. The front cover had a silly face of a clown and read, A filly's diary above it. It even had a little blank spot beneath it to draw any design I'd like. I open it up, turning past the many other entries of past nights, and with a quill in hoof I begin writing.

Dear Diary, I had another wonderful dream last night. I was a princess who had three dashing stallions who wanted to marry me. They took me to a grand palace where they fed me lots of candy, and we played lots of fun games. However, I couldn't decide which one I liked the most. So I kissed one on the chest, one on the neck, and one right on the eyes. They agreed that I should marry all of them, and so I played with them a little longer, kissing them all over. It was such a nice dream, I really hope I can have these more often.

The last sentence gives me a sick joy. I place the quill back in the inkwell and close the book. Step one down, on to the next.

Number 2: Recharge the Sigil

I place the book right in front of me and then look at myself in the mirror. For somepony who just fell out of bed, I do look pretty good at the moment. Granted, right now the mirror is reflecting a vicious looking monster with glowing reptilian eyes and goat horns growing out of its head, but I still look ravishing for a sharp toothed demon. 'Ravishing', I'm beginning to sound like my sister, aren't I.

Shaking my head at the thought, I reach down to open a drawer and pull out a pair of sharp styling scissors. I hold out my hoof in front of me, put the blade of the cutters to my skin, and drag it across. There's a deep gash in my hoof now, a little smile comes to my face when I look at it. I moisten the tip of my other hoof in the blood, and then use it to draw a pentacle on the front cover of the diary. Then I slam my hoof down in the middle of the image and channel energy into it. The pages glow with an eerie light that vanishes just as quickly as it comes. I reopen the book, now flipping through a satanic encyclopedia.

The new leathery pages contain a plethora of dark images and sigils, every one of which contains its own form of powers and abilities. If I wanted to I could spend all day experimenting with these symbols, trying out their unique powers, but right now there's only one I'm interested in Lucifer, the demonic sigil for light. I trace the image with my hoof upon seeing it, making sure I've got the shape perfectly. I then take the scissors again, and poke the tip of the blade into my chest, causing a tiny dribble of blood to leak out. I inhale deeply, and then slide the blade slowly across my torso, doing my best to copy the symbol exactly. At first I grunt and cringe at the sharp piercing pain, but after a second or so passes that sick side of my brain kicks in and I begin to moan with pleasure. One down side about being a demon, there's not much that doesn't turn you on.

Once I finish the symbol I look at it in the mirror. It comes up almost to my neck and goes all the way down to the bottom edge of my stomach, with blood pouring out of it at every crevice. I double check it to make sure the image is exact with the page, and then I prepare myself. My mind goes blank, my attention strictly enforced. I conjure up dark energy from the depths of my soul. My whole figure darkens and my wounds begin to glow. Silent grunts run from my mouth, out of both pain and pleasure. There's a slight jolt in my lungs as the sigil begins to take effect. The design sinks into my frame, latching to my spirit and pumping me full of its ancient power.

When all is said and done, I look into the mirror and smile at the cute young filly who has taken the place of the demon. There's no scars on her body, no indication of a darker presence. She's pure and innocent. Not even Celestia could find a fault with her.

Moving on from the darkest business of the day, it was time for more mundane matters. Namely...

Number 3: Eat breakfast

I trod out of my room with a slight skip in my steps. Entering the kitchen, I see Rarity seated at the table starting on a large stack of flapjacks. She smiles at me as I take my seat, pulling up my own plate of pancakes as I do.

“Good of you to you to join me, now hurry and eat up or you'll be late.”

I have no arguments with that. I'm still a little annoyed at not being able to cook, but I can't deny the fact that my sister is an excellent chef. Sure, I technically don’t even need food to survive, but whatever. I enjoy it.

I finish the meal before my sister does and then spend the little free time I have to take a look in the paper. My sister takes notice of this. “Reading the comics dear?”

“Yeah, these Family Carnival shorts are always funny.”

Her gaze hardens. “You are reading the comics right?”

I make a noticeable fidget. “Well, yes. What else would I be reading?”

She scowls at me, right before lifting up another section of the paper, the entirety of the newspaper's comics. I make a shriveled smile and shrink down in my chair. She rips the paper out of my hooves and glares daggers at me. “Sweetie Belle, I thought I told you to stop reading those dreadful stories in the paper.”

“But they're not just stories, Rarity, they're news. Stuff that's happening in Equestria right now even as we speak.”

“Yes, and I both understand and admire your desire to be well informed dear. But there are simply some things that are printed in this paper that young fillies like you shouldn't hear about. Honestly Sweetie Belle, sometimes even I'm disturbed by what I see making headlines.”

My eyes shift from giving her an agitated glare to a devilish beam. “Yeah, I can understand that. There are some pretty nasty things that get published in here.”

“I'm glad you agree with me.”

“I mean seriously, did you see that one on the bottom there?” I jump out of my seat and slide in next to my sister. “'Three stallions found dead in Manehatten. Murder victims Emerald Ruby, Gold Cane, and Penny Pincher were found ripped shreds in their private apartment downtown'.”

She chuckled nervously. “Now see, this is the kind of story I don't want you reading. So I'm just going to put this away and-”

“'The victims fell prey to a currently unidentified assailant who attacked them in an animalistic manner. Flesh was stripped away and bones were removed. One victim died after having his tongue ripped out, and several internal organs were also missing from the bodies. 'There were barely even corpses left for us to find.' Guard Captain Stone Crusher commented'.”

Rarity's expression is beginning to twist in disgust, and she puts a hoof to her mouth. “Okay, Sweetie I think you've read enough.”

She gets up taking the paper out of my reach, but I continue to list off details. “There was more, too. Something about the murderer being young and crazed, oh and that reminds me. What does it mean if the killer is a possible cannibal and necrophiliac?”

My sister's body stiffens and comes to a halt. Her head starts to tilt in odd directions and her face turns a pale green. She struggles to hold it in for a few more seconds before realizing it's a lost cause. She races to the sink, and manages to thrust her head in just before she vomits.

I almost die laughing. Shortly after wiping the tears from my eyes, and Rarity finishes expelling her barely digested breakfast, she turns to me with a sickly voice. “Sweetie Belle, if I see you reading that paper again you are grounded!” She groans out again. Despite her best efforts she still got some on her, and shudders at the sight. “Ugh, now I'll have to take a shower to get this disgusting bile off me. Sweetie, do be a dear and clean up for me.”

“Sure thing sis.”

I hear her moan one last time before walking out of the room. I continue laughing long after she leaves. I'm still chuckling to myself by the time I finish cleaning. With the preparatory steps done it's now time for the final ritual of the morning.

Number 4: Go to school

I trod upstairs and back into my room. Grabbing my saddle bags from the corner, I load it up with all my books, pencils, and supplies. There's a slight bulge in the bags once I'm done, but I hardly feel the weight as I slide them on. Demonic strength has always been a favorite perk of mine. With vigor for the day I make my way to the door, when I stop at the sound of a familiar sound. Running water hitting tile, and an angelic voice humming a blissful tune. Rarity's shower voice can be heard clearly through the walls.

I look to the direction it comes from, and sigh. Come on Sweetie Belle, you promised yourself you weren't going to do that anymore. I clamp my hooves down over my ears, but the voice of my sister is stuck in my head like some annoying children's song. My resolve lasts for another few seconds, before I finally cave and give in to temptation.

My head hits the floor I droop it so low. Weakly taking off the saddle bags I trudge over to my bed and climb on top of the covers. I prop up several pillows and lay my head down to face the opposing wall. With a deeply anguished sigh, I pull up my demonic power once more. My bright filly eyes fade away, replaced by dark, lizard-like ones with slits for irises. The wall I look towards begins to go transparent, allowing me to see straight through it. My sister is standing up on two hooves in the shower, rubbing the soapy water all over herself.

I feel the blood run to my cheeks. I push my fore hoof down in between my legs and release a guilty moan. I'll admit, there are moments in my life when being a demon has its perks. Being able to lift heavy objects and manipulate the minds of others has always been sort of cool, but then there's moments like these that just make me ashamed.

I've always been able to limit my need for violence. Even when I do slip up I always try to seek out somepony deserving of such a fate. But try as I might, I've never been able to control my lust. If there's a situation that even remotely promises sexual release for me, I can't help but give in. It's truly like I'm a foal left alone with a jar of cookies, you can't expect me to behave.

Even now I only feel slightly guilty about getting off to my own sister. Well, okay, so technically she's my half-sister, but it's still pretty fucked up. My senses however know neither etiquette nor taboo.

Rarity runs a hoof full of shampoo through her long wet mane, the smooth strands of hair brushing against her well kempt coat. The sight numbs my sense of morality and drives me further into lust. I release short quiet breaths in rhythm with my stroking. My legs tense up and sweat forms on the rim of my forehead. Pressure builds up within me, like a balloon ready to burst. I shudder as the heat between my legs increases, and then moan as I get nearer to a climax. My voice squeaks a little when I cum. Pure liquid bliss runs down my thighs, and my body ascends into a temporary nirvana.

My breath is heavy when it's over. I relax for a moment, allowing myself time to recover while I wipe off the mess. While I dispose of the evidence, I notice a clock on the wall and realize a troubling fact.

“I'm late for school!”

Fuck me and my perverted habits! In a panicked frenzy I leap out of bed and grab my saddle bags. I'll never get there in time if I go on hoof; luckily I have a back plan for situations just like this.

I peek out my bedroom door and shout. “Rarity, I'm leaving for school! Running late, gotta run! Bye!”

If she replied I didn't hear her, because I'm now running for my closet. I enter and shut the door behind me, making sure no one is in my room. Then I turn to a ring of candles I have sprawled out on the floor. I stand in the center, and concentrating my energy I stomp my hoof on the ground. In a bright flash of red they blaze to life. I sit down, and without hesitation, put my hoof in my mouth and bite down hard. Droplets of blood fall to the floor, igniting the etching I inscribed into it long ago, which forms a perfect inverted pentagram within the candle circle. Then I close my eyes and rub my hooves against each other. My mind goes blank and I slip into a deep trance. I concentrate on the school house, picturing the building and the area around it too the best of my abilities. My soul falls loose. I feel a sensation like the room is spinning, and I'm moving at rapid speeds. It lasts for a few moments, and then it comes to a violent stop. I open my eyes again, blinking at the bright morning sunlight.

I stand up, now just a short walk away from the school house. I look around to make sure no one is watching, and then gather up the black candles that came with me, incase I need them again.

My mind jumps when I hear the school bell ring. I rush to get to class. When I enter in Cheerilee is already at the front, drawing math equations on the chalkboard.

I stutter an excuse. “Sorry I'm late Miss Cheerilee, I got...caught up in something else on my way here.”

Thankfully, she's been known to be lenient on late students, if they haven't made a habit out of it. “That's alright Sweetie Belle, we were just getting started anyway. Take your seat.”

I smile nervously and then walk to my desk, only to see my usual spot next to my friends taken by some nerdy looking earth pony with a frizzled red mane. Her eyes are magnified by her large round glasses when she looks at me. “Oh, I'm sorry, am I in your spot?”

I notice Applebloom giving me an apologetic face. Not wanting to be rude, I smile back at her friend in response. “That's okay, I can sit somewhere else.”

Of course it's only after I say this that I notice where the last open desk is. Right between Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Again, and I mean it this time, fuck me! My chest deflates and I trudge over to my seat, ignoring the two wolves leering at me on both sides.

Cheerilee starts drawing equations on the board again. The second she turns her back it begins. Diamond Tiara is at my ear, her voice hissing like a snake. “Welcome to the back row, blank flank. We're so happy to have you here.”

Her accomplice is quick to parrot her every action. “Yeah, we're so used to seeing cutie marks on everyone here that we sometimes forget what a blank flank even looks like.”

They snicker to themselves and I only give a disgruntled glance to validate the comment. “It's like an alien almost,” Tiara continues, “If it were any more blank I could probably see my face in it.”

Usually I try to be a good girl and ignore snide remarks like that, but the opportunity here is just too much. I snort out a laugh, trying my best not to be heard by Cheerilee.

“What are you laughing about, blank flank?” Diamond Tiara chides.

“Oh nothing,” I state. “It just seems odd to me how both of you are paying so much attention to my butt right now. Is there something down there you like?”

The blush that creeps on to their faces is priceless. I have to burry my face in the desk to muffle the laugh.

“I...we never-you-we didn't mean...” Diamond Tiara fumes for a few seconds before spitting out. “Only a dumb blank flank like you would ever think of something like that.”

“Hey, I'm not the one ogling another filly's bum.”

“We were just pointing out how far behind you are with everyone else. I almost feel sorry for you, having to walk around with nothing to show like a toddler. Well, almost anyway.” She grins maliciously at me.

“Now you see, comments like that is why it's so easy for me to turn your words into something perverted. Don't get me wrong though, I actually do like your cutie mark, all three of them.”

“Three? What?”

“Oh I'm sorry, are those two marks on your face a bruise?” Diamond Tiara gingerly reaches her hoof to the two spots beneath her eyes that were drowning in make-up. Anypony else might have been fooled, but not me.

Enhanced vision. Yet another perk of being a demon.

“Don't be so embarrassed Tiara. It's not like your daddy got angry and slapped you upside the head is it?”

Her faces freezes like a pale statue, and her entire body goes stiff. She looks at me as if I had just made a cutie mark pop up on me out of thin air. I smile and raise my eyebrows mockingly; I love doing that to ponies.

Her shock quickly melts into anger. “You...you shut up about my dad you stupid blank flank. I should slug you for saying something like that.”

Our eyes lock: mine filled with smugness, hers burning with hatred. I stand my ground in this mental battle for almost a minute, completely oblivious to what's happening around me.

“Girls!” Cheerilee's sharp voice snaps me from my trance. “Do I need to have the three of you stay after class?”

“No, Miss Cheerilee,” I say in unison with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

“Then pay attention.”

She returns to the chalkboard and the rest of the class goes by uneventful. Unlike many foals my age, I actually sort of enjoy school. Each subject we study manages to keep my interest in some way or another. Math is hard, but it's the kind of challenge I like. Science is more my style and I breeze through that. Language is a stumbling block, but I can get over it. Then there's history, my favorite subject, which I eat up like reading a good book. Once we finish everything though, it feels like class had gone by quicker for some reason.

Cheerilee steps in front of us. “Okay kids, now we still have about fifteen minutes before school is out, and I have something special planned for today. As you know, this is our last day before Nightmare Night. So I thought it would be fun to have a spooky subject matter for me to give a lesson on. It could be anything any of you want to hear about, as long as it's dark, creepy, or just plain scary. Don't be shy now, give me any suggestions you have.”

“Oh, oh, werewolves, werewolves!” I hear one student blurt. “Werewolves are always awesome!”

“But I wanted to hear about those cockatrices we had in the forest!”

Applebloom laughs. “If you want to hear about that then me and my friends could tell you a mouth full. Besides I've always wanted to hear about dragons.”

“Dragons are stupid, we should have one on Cyclopses instead!”

Cheerilee looks up at the clock. “Foals, we only have a little time for me to give this lesson.”

“Hey, hey, I've got one!” Scootaloo proclaims. “How about a lesson on Tartarus.”

That gets everyone's attention, mine especially. “Yeah, that sounds awesome!”

“It'll totally fit the Nightmare Night spirit. Lets go with that one, Miss Cheerilee.”

I hold my breath to keep myself from laughing. Our teacher is clearly not comfortable talking about that subject matter. “Um, I know I said we were going to do something dark, but maybe Tartarus is a bit too much class.”

Groans of disappointment flood the air. “Oh, come on, Miss Cheerilee! This might be the only one all of us will agree on.”

“Yeah, and it's not like some of us weren't already going to dress as demons for Nightmare Night.”

I view all my classmates egging the teacher on and decide that all that's needed is a little nudge to get her to break. I start it at first, but I'm soon joined by the entire class in my chant “Tartarus! Tartarus! Tartarus! Tartarus! Tartarus! Tartarus! Tartarus!”

“Okay, okay!” Cheerilee decrees, attempting to remain calm. “Just settle down and I'll give the lecture.”

Cheers erupt in the classroom, and I see Cheerilee move to a bookshelf in the back. She scans the contents for one moment and then smiles as she pulls out the correct book, 'A Reference Guide to Monsters, Demons, and Other Terrors.' She places the book down on her desk and flips through the pages until she finds the right spot. “Now, not too much is known for certain about the Tartarus, but we do have a rough history and the names of the most powerful demons who run the underworld. How about we all gather in closer so you can all see the pictures in this book.”

No one argues with that. We all get up from our desks and form a group around Cheerilee at the front of the class. She pulls up a stool to sit on and begins to read.

“Now as you know, Tartarus has been here for a long, long time. It was here before ponies or even the princesses existed. The majority of the tales we have on its creation and purpose, have to do with its involvement in a war waged on an ancient race, countless ages ago.”

“What was the ancient race?” one student asks.

“Not much is known about them. Just the fact that for some reason these creatures angered the forces of Tartarus enough that they would fight a war just to try and destroy them entirely. However, the stories of this war say that there was another force of equal power fighting to protect this race, simply called the forces of Paradise. So for thousands of years these two groups fought over this race, fighting in endless battle to secure their fates.”

Cheerilee turns the book towards us, showing us a painting of a full force of creatures -Some feathered winged and beautiful, some bat winged and monstrous- battling each other to the death. My eyes are drawn to the demonic figures in particular, a possible ancestor?

“So what happened with this war?” somepony asks.

“Again no one is sure exactly, but it's believed that Tartarus wound up losing. The nightmarish forces were fended off, and the remaining members of the race were able to escape into the Paradise realm. Some believe the race still exists, living on in that mythical realm to this day.”

She shows us another picture, This one of an army of hellish legions being driven back by some divine white light. I fiddle with my hooves and can't help but wonder if I'm the only one in the class who's cringing at the image.

“After the war was over the inhabitants of Paradise seemed to lose interest in the affairs of Tartarus, and neither did they care about the world which they had spent so long fighting in. The land was left devoid of its former inhabitants, the ancient race's towns and cities were left to fade away, and Tartarus was left to rage against their victorious enemies.”

“But the land didn't stay empty forever, right?”

“Yes, that's true. Because after the lost race was gone there were still many animals and other creatures that were left behind to continue living and evolving, and it was these animals who became our ancestors.”

“Of course, while Paradise was fine with never coming back to this world again, Tartarus remains fairly active within it. While believed to be no where near as dangerous as it was during the war, there are still times when the demons of the underworld crawl out to wreck havoc on Equestria.”

Cheerilee shows another picture of a legion of monstrous figures emerging from a maelstrom of flames and brimstone. I witness every foal in the room shudder, all I want to do is laugh. While I can't say that I've ever broken out of hell, from what I've heard, it's no where near that easy.

“These violent creatures are known as some of the most evil beings in existence, and are thought to be completely incapable of any good.” Fuck you, too, Cheerilee. “They range from their weakest versions, such as the Harpies and Gargoyles, to the more feared Doppelgangers and Soul Eaters. The most famous demons of course, are the ones who rule Tartarus, known as the Seven Crown Princess of Hell.”

“Wait, I thought Satan was the one who ruled hell.”

“That's a common misconception.” Cheerilee explains. “Satan is not an individual like some believe, rather a title that is given to the rulers of hell. In some texts it's believed to mean 'adversary' or 'enemy', which is why it's still commonly used to refer to the rulers today. In fact, they are sometimes referred to as the Seven Satans."

She flips through the pages again, finding images of each one of the rulers. "These seven rulers are known as Lucifer, The Prince of Pride. Mammon, The Prince of Greed. Leviathan, The Prince of Envy. Beelzebub, The Prince of Gluttony. Astaroth, The Prince of Sloth. And then finally Abaddon, the Prince of wrath, and who is believed to be the most powerful of all the rulers. These seven devils are basically the same thing to the demons of Tartarus, that the Princesses are to the citizens of Equestria. Unlike our Princesses though, they rule to bring absolute chaos and misery to the world. And so that is what we know on Tartarus young foals. Now, we do have a bit of time left, so are there any questions anypony has to ask?"

I raise my hoof.

"Yes, Sweetie Belle?"

"You missed one."

"Pardon?"

"One of the Princes. You said there were seven right? I only counted six."

Her face twists with discomfort. "Um, yes, good of you for noticing Sweetie Belle," she flips through the book again until she finds the page. "Here he is, Asmodeus, the final Prince of Hell. Now any other questions?"

"Wait, what's he the prince of? Every other demon was the prince of some sin or evil, what does he rule over?"

Miss Cheerilee laughs nervously. "He is the Prince of...Deceit. Lies, falsehoods, and things like that. Anything else?"

My jaw is hanging wide open. If Asmodeus is the Prince of Deceit then Miss Cheerilee should be his right hand mare. In all honesty, I wouldn't even care that she's lying if it wasn't for the fact that she was lying about this demon. Out of all the demons she could've neglected, why Asmodeus? My head is filling with steam and I can only barely stop it from whistling out my mouth. I'm tempted to throw it in her face, tempted to rat her out in front of everypony. There's nothing I'd want more than to shout out-

"Actually, he is the Crown Prince of Lust."

I fall into a stupor when I trace those words to the speaker. It's that same pony who took my seat earlier. She's raising her hoof up and smiling innocently at Cheerilee. "Asmodeus is the Prince of Lust Miss Cheerilee, not deceit. I don't even think there is a Crown Prince of deceit."

Is it bad that I'm enjoying watching my teacher squirm? Probably, but I don't care.

"Is he now? Well, I'm sorry, that was my mistake. Somepony must have told me...well, it doesn't matter. Any other questions?" Instantly another hoof goes into the air. "Yes, Button Mash?"

"What's lust exactly?"

Now I feel bad for her. She's backed into a corner and almost trembling as she tries to find a way to explain it. “Um, well, lust...lust is...well...”

“It's a twisted form of love.” All eyes turn to me. I sweat up a bit under their gaze. “I-It's basically love that only focuses on outward appearance. You know how special someponies are supposed to love each other for who they are? Well lust is just loving somepony for what they look like. Not caring for what they are inside.”

Cheerilee's face is slack jawed to say the least. “That's...that's actually a very good way to describe it, Sweetie Belle.”

“But I don't get it, what's so bad about liking somepony who's beautiful. Isn't that what most ponies do when they first meet someone?”

“Yes, but it goes beyond that,” I continue. “Unlike love, lust doesn't last. So if somepony starts seeing someone when they're in lust with them, the other pony could fall in love with them. And then when the lust leaves that pony they basically just lose interest in their partner, and that other pony is left heartbroken. It's how a lot of bad relationships get started.”

Cheerilee is again surprised, but I think I'm impressing her. “That is one way lust can be bad, very good example Swee-”

“One way? So there's others?”

“Yeah, sometimes the same situation can be done in reverse. Have you ever heard of those demons who lure stallions away with their beauty and charm, before ripping them apart? Lust is a major factor in that, as well.”

“That's pretty stupid,” Diamond Tiara chided. “Being led to your own death just because you like a mare. How dumb can some stallions be anyway?”

“Well there's a lot more to lust than that...it's just...” I rub my hoof against the back of my neck. “Well...how many here know where babies actually come from?”

“And would you look at that, we're out of time!” Cheerilee interrupted, slamming the book shut. “I hope you all enjoyed that special lesson today, fillies and colts! And remember, have a safe and fun Nightmare Night.”

She's practically forcing us all out the door by the time we gather up our things. I can see a scolding glare in her eyes when she looks at me, I just shoot back a sheepish smile. Once I leave the school house I catch up with my friends who are waving me on from the path.

“Sorry about givin' your seat away like that, Sweetie Belle. It's just… you weren't there and Twist is an old friend of mine. I couldn't say no to her.”

“It's all right Applebloom, it's just a seat. So what if I had to sit between Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?” They both cringe at that reminder, but they seem to calm down when I giggle it off, “Don't worry, if anything I think I did more damage to them than they did to me.”

That gets them to smile, Applebloom especially. “Good, I hope you showed those meanies that we Cutie Mark Crusaders don't get hurt easily.”

I chuckle at the memory. “Believe me, I did.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Scootaloo says. “How about less focusing on dumb bratty ponies and more focusing on getting our cutie marks!”

“Yeah! I have a great idea that's sure to get us our Cutie Marks! Come on, there's a place just outside the town we can do it at.”

“Alright lets go! Coming Sweetie Belle?”

“Uh, yeah, coming,” I mumble.

I keep pace with my friends if at a downtrodden beat. We arrive at the edge of town, just a few trots away from the Apple farm. “Alright Applebloom, so what's this idea you have for getting our cutie marks?”

“Well, look around you! Isn't it obvious?”

Scootaloo and I scan the area: we're in a wide open field outside of Ponyville, almost empty and devoid of any landmarks, with tall grass swaying in the wind. “Um, Cutie Mark Crusaders... Lawn Mowers?”

“What? No, Cutie Mark Crusader Cartographers!” she proclaims, yanking out several pens and sheets of paper from her saddle bag.

Scootaloo looks at her with cocked eyes. “Cartodo... cartogro... car, what?”

“Twilight told me about it a little while ago. Cartographers are ponies who draw maps of mysterious and unexplored places. It's perfect for us.”

This time I join Scootaloo in giving her a half-baked look. “It's a good idea, except for the fact that there's no where in Ponyville that's ‘mysterious and unexplored’.”

“True, but there are places that don't have maps, including these here fields. I checked it out, there's not a single map of these plains no where in the library. We've just got to scout around and draw what we see.”

Scootaloo rolls her eyes. “Honestly Applebloom, this sounds kind of boring.”

Applebloom narrows her eyes. “Oh? and what ideas do you have, Miss Smarty Pony?”

“Well, I thought we could-”

“And don't say nothing about that bungee jumping business either. We tried that, it didn't work.”

“I wasn't going to say anything about that!”

“Then what were you going to say?”

Silence rings out like an off-key note. Scootaloo stares blankly at us for a moment, and then responds. “Okay look, if we just shorten the rope this time around I'm sure things will go off much-”

“We're doing my idea!”

“Who put you in charge anyway?”

“Uh, girls?” My meek attempt at calming them down goes unheard. They continue to argue loudly and I'm left out and alone. I sigh, the weight in my lungs forcing the breath out of me. With nothing to do I sit on my haunches and listen to the immature dialogue. My friends don't fight often, but when they do, they can say some pretty nasty things. Well, nasty by kid's standards anyway. Don't get me wrong though, I love my friends. Not in the love love demonic pervert sort of way; but in the close, tight-knit, best friends I've ever had sort of way. That said, Luna fucking damnit they can be annoying sometimes.

I'm almost ready to just fall asleep listening to this, when suddenly something else catches my attention: it's an old sense, one I had almost forgotten I even had. Something all demons share, an inborn ability to detect another demon wherever they may be, and right now, there's one closing in right behind us.

I turn around and look to the skies in bewilderment. How could there be a demon in Ponyville? This place is way too far away from Tartarus to be in immediate danger, and its small population keeps it from being of any interest to demons who feed off of the sins of others.

Yet as the creature gets closer, not only do I realize that it's a full blooded demon, but a very powerful one, too. I've never felt this kind of energy before, it's unreal.

I suddenly remember I need to breath, taking deep, gulping breaths into my sweating jaw line.

“You just can't admit that I have a good idea and you don't!” Applebloom shouted.

Scootaloo shouts back, “I could've thought this up in my sleep if I wanted to!”

“Girls,” I call quietly.

“You know, it's this kind of attitude that's probably keeping us from getting our cutie marks in the first place. If we spent half as much time crusading as we did arguing we'd be sporting cutie marks yesterday!”

“Girls!” I say more urgently. My breath is becoming short, and my knees are starting wobble.

“Oh please, like that stupid gardening idea was gonna get us anything. This is exactly why we should go with my-”

“Girls!!!”

The two throw dirty looks my way. “What!”

I point a hoof to the sky and there it is. Some massive creature speeding across the skyline on wings of pure hellfire. The anger instantly fades from Applebloom and Scootaloo's faces, replaced by dawning horror. It flies up high, not to far away from us, and floats in mid air. We stare, trying to figure out what it's doing, when it suddenly shrieks out an ungodly wail. It's like every tortured soul in Tartarus has risen from the grave to scream in agony. I clamp my hooves to my ears and I see my friends do the same. I can literally feel the vibration in my eardrums.

When the scream subsides, I see the monster glow with demonic force, until it's shining like a bright day time star. Then it outstretches its wings, and rockets off into the distance with a single flap, causing an explosion of energy to ripple out behind it.

We can only stare petrified at the approaching shockwave of demonic power, and we scream when it makes contact, sweeping us away in a torrent of energy and force.

Chapter 2: Blood Rage

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My lungs are on fire.

Each time I cough a jolt of pain shoots through my chest, and a puff of dust soars out of my throat. My sight is hazy, and my ears are ringing. I can barely even recognize the two blurred figures of my friends in front of me. Standing up feels like trying to press a weight off my back, and staying up is another challenge entirely. Weakly, I open my mouth and shout something that sounds like screeching mice to my ears. My friend's reply comes back in much the same manner, but quickly starts to even out into something manageably coherent.

“...okay... I'm alright... Sweetie Belle? Where are you? I can barely see anything. Are you there?”

“Yeah, I'm over here!” I call out.

The fog of dust begins to dissipate, and I can see clearly again. My legs are still a little wobbly, but other than that, most of my symptoms begin to fade.

“Where's Scootaloo?” Applebloom asks.

“Right here!” She comes stumbling out of the now uprooted grass fields, shaking flaky plant bits out of her wings. “Dear Celestia, what was that thing?”

Applebloom collects her breath before answering. “No idea. I never saw anythin' like it before in mah' life. It was scary look'n though. Where do you think it went?”

“Beats me. Though from the looks of things, I doubt it was to anything good.” Scootaloo looks off into the landscape, where much of the plant life has been blown away, and the very earth beneath it torn up and ripped apart by sheer force.

While my friends worry over the landscape, I stay focused on my own wounds. There's not much in this world that can harm me, and believe me that's saying something. Not even a full blooded demon would be able to weaken me that easily, a normal full blooded demon should not have caused me all that sickness just by flying over me. Which means whatever did just pass by us went well beyond any normal demon, possibly into the ranks of a demigod.

Thankfully any ill effects it may have caused don't seem to be permanent. I can already feel the weariness drain from my body. My senses make a full recovery, and my energy returns. In fact, I feel even more energized all of sudden. I'm practically glowing with vigor, my skin is buzzing with it. I feel as if I could take on the world, I feel as if...

Something is wrong.

Something is very, very, wrong.

“Do you think we should tell someone? That thing might try to hurt somepony,” says Apple Bloom.

“You're probably right. We should head into town and find Rainbow Dash, or one of her friends. Sweetie Belle, do you know if... Sweetie Belle?” I'm hunched over on my knees, breathing in deep, panicked breaths. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, yeah, I'm fine.”

No, no, I'm not fine. I don't know what that thing did to me, but all of a sudden my demonic urges have returned. This hunger... I've never felt a thirst for blood this strong before in my life. It's like a wild animal has hatched in my stomach, and is now violently clawing its way out. I can't stay here, I need to go, I need to move, I... I need to kill... I... need... to kill something!

“Are you sure you're alright? You don't look so good.”

I stare up at Apple Bloom, my mind involuntarily begins to think of the most grizzly means of death for her. Impulses comes over me, I want to jump her, rip the jaw out of her skull and use it to club in her neck. I lurch back in horror, my stomach churning at what my mind is conjuring up, my body trembling and sweating with fear.

“Sweetie Belle?”

“I've got to go!”

My friends are startled by the words. Scootaloo stutters out, “You're leaving? Why?”

“I-I just have to go now. I'll catch you girls later, bye!”

“Wait!”

Their calls fall on def ears. I turn around, and run. Where too, I have no idea, but anywhere is better than around them, or anypony for that matter. I use a little demonic energy to increase the speed of my sprint. It's a reckless tactic, one that could draw suspicion to me, but I don't have time to be concerned.

In the corner of my eye, I see the schoolhouse, and several small foals still playing right outside. My mouth goes wet and my hunger rampant upon seeing them, my tongue faintly recals the taste of blood.

I shake my head, hoping to dislodge the thoughts inside it. With new found urgency, I change paths and blindly charge forward. Try as I may, I know I can't just keep running forever. I need a plan, some way to calm myself down, but I've got nothing. I might be able to restrain myself for a little while, but unless I taste some form of blood soon, I will break, and the Princesses only know what harm I'll do then.

With led in my chest, I think hard for some figure in Ponyville, anypony who would deserve to die. This proves to be a mistake. I'm suddenly assaulted by visions of me devouring Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, I can almost taste the gore that I tear out of their chests. I yell at my mind to shut up, but like a stubborn child, it doesn't listen.

More visions assault my senses, tricking my mind, and deceiving my sight. I'm running through a red, hellish field of death. The corpses of dozens of ponies are littered everywhere, tossed about on the ground in large red smears, and impaled on massive ten foot spikes for all to see. Crows swarm down to peck at the bodies, avidly enjoying the soft tender flesh that they strip effortlessly off the bone.

I burry my head into the ground, muffling a scream. I concentrate hard, and focus all my energy in getting back in control. I empty my head, purging it of all violent thoughts, but I'm still blighted with the urge in my stomach. When I feel like I'm somewhat sated, I lift my head up, smile upon seeing the visions are gone, and...

Fuck me with an iron pole! I ran right into the center of town!

Now everywhere I look I see ponies, ponies, and more meals with legs. They walk obliviously about their business, completely unaware of the child-sized demon who is horny for blood. I try to run, but there's no escaping from them. Some wave to me, smiling and giving friendly greetings, unwittingly painting a target on their foreheads. I can no longer control my imagination. I see a mare jogging down the street, and I want to rip the bones out of her legs and suck out the marrow. I spy a pair of starry-eyed lovers, and I want to smash their heads into each other and have a nice bloody salad. I notice a mother nurturing an infant, and I want to crack open the baby's skull and eat its brains like an egg yolk.

My panic slowly rises with each new temptation, and I fear it's going to pop my body like a balloon. The urges are growing, pounding on the wall of my chest. I'm at my wits end. If I don't get some blood in my mouth right now, I might snap.

I come to a stand still in the middle of the road, my body is shaking, thin lines of drool and sweat are sliding down my chin. My bloodshot eyes stare off into the distance, suddenly noticing the large collection of trees outside of town. Everfree Forest.

Everfree Forest!

That's it! That's my salvation! If I can just get to Everfree there'll be tons of creatures I can feast on. With a burst of energy, I sprint across the way, ignoring the weird looks I get from others, and charge into the density of trees.

Once I'm inside I go into full predator mode. My ears twitch and I quickly detect birds chirping above me. I see the prey, perched on a branch a little ways over my head. With a beastly snarl I lunge up fifteen feet, and chomp down one of the birds. The flock squawks and scatters, but they're practically bite-sized meals that don't take me long to ingest. I'm able to get three more before they're all out of my reach. The small snack has lessened my hunger, but no where near satiated it.

For the next several minutes I rampage through the forest, killing anything and everything that can eat, breath, and shit in the bush. I'm eating the organs of a large raccoon, when I feel my mortal guise begin to rupture. My teeth grow as sharp as daggers, and a pair of horns sprout from my head. It's not working. No matter how many animals I feast on, it doesn't do it for me. Now I realize that I need something big, something whose blood will actually make a dent in my appetite. Perhaps if I look hard enough I'll find a Manticore, or a Hydra, or-

“Sweetie Belle!”

My whole being freezes. I'd recognize those high pitched voices anywhere. No! Not them, not now! Why, why couldn't they just leave well enough alone? I want to close my eyes and pretend this is dream, tell myself I'll wake up any minute, but I'm well beyond such fantasies. I'm awake, this is really happening, my friends have followed me into the forest.

I flood my lungs with breath, slowly growing colder the more I inhale. I've gotta head further into the woods, throw them off track, I need to... I need to...

“Sweetie Belle!”

I scream.

They're standing right behind me.

“There you are. We were looking all over for you.” Apple Bloom states.

“Yeah, what was the deal with...” Scootaloo stops in mid sentence. I'd imagine by now they've noticed the blood that's practically dripping off my mane and coat, not mention the eviscerated raccoon corpse. “... Dear... holy... Celestia!”

“Sweetie Belle... what happened here? What did this?” Applebloom asks in a perturbed voice. “Are-are you okay?”

I don't turn to face them. Not because I'm afraid they might notice my demonic features, but because I know that if I look at them, I probably wont be able to control myself. With a shuddering voice I grunt. “Go... away!”

Scootaloo's voice goes to shock. “What? First you run off out of nowhere, and then we find you alone in Everfree covered in blood? Sorry, that's not going to happen, you're gonna tell us what happened right now!”

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shouts. “Forget what happened, Sweetie Belle is hurt right now!”

“I'm fine!” I yell out. “I just need to be alone right now! So get out of here, now!”

I grind my hooves into the dirt, sending small electric sparks through the grass. Don't come near me, don't come near me, please don't come near me!

“Sweetie Belle.” Apple Bloom's calm voice only makes me cringe. “We just want to help you. Come on, we're your friends. Friends can help each other out.”

I can sense her approaching. Each of her steps forces a heavier weight down in my chest, eventually squeezing tears out my eyes. I fall to the ground, and plead. “Please. I know we're friends, so now I am begging you to trust me on this. Leave, me, alone. Get out of here and don't come back. I'll be fine, but you need to go. Please, please, go.”

I degrade into tears, weeping and whimpering as I pray to whatever god or divine being that would possibly watch over me, to make my friends listen to me.

I go unanswered.

Apple Bloom's hoof comes down on my shoulder. Her small, soft, succulent leg is on my shoulder. My head twitches and I slowly turn to look at her. If the fact that I have sharp teeth and horns doesn't freak her out, my psychotic look certainly does.

“What in tar-”

I shove her with all my force and she goes flying back, sliding across the dirt when she lands.

“Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo shouts. “Sweetie Belle, what are you-”

The moment she looks at me her entire body turns pale. I'm trembling violently, and the effort it takes to restrain myself is painful. “Run! Get away from me... rargh... mother fucker!” My voice is becoming increasingly more monstrous, almost like multiple ponies are speaking at once. “I can't control this, your only chance is to run! You need to go, you have to get away!”

They stare in pure dumbfounded horror. “Sweetie Belle?”

My rage peaks, my inner demon takes over. “Get... a...way from me!!!”

I roar in pain and anger, the sudden surge of demonic energy I release causes several of the plants around me to burst into flames. My mortal shell cracks open and I feel the rest of my true appearance take form. Demonic bat wings sprout from my back, my hoof tips become pointed and sharp, my mane turns deathly white, and my eyes glow an evil red. By the time my transformation is complete, my friends are already running for their lives.

I grin and give chase.

My vision is pulsing red everywhere I look, and I catch up to them without much effort. Whatever affection I once had for these tasty little treats is numbed away by pure instincts, the need to kill. With a wicked mindset I decide to play with my food a little.

I run ahead of them and throw myself into a tree, knocking it down right into their path. They skid to a stop, glancing at me in horror, before changing directions. I laugh and proceed to repeat the gag several times. Sometimes knocking trees down, scaring them from the side of the path, or even jumping down right in front of them. I can almost taste the fear in their hearts as they desperately try to outrun me, eventually though, they run out of places to go.

They charge through a small cleared section of the woods, and come to a sliding halt in front of a large cave entrance. Their faces go white upon seeing it, but I shout a wild roar behind them and kill any anxieties they had about entering. The chase continues into the tunnels. The deeper we go the more light we loose. Soon my prey is running in pitch darkness, but my enhanced senses allow me to see perfectly. Not that it would matter. Their conversation is so loud, and the echo of the cave so large, that I probably don't even need night vision to find them.

“What was that! What in all of Tartarus was that!” one of them shouts.

“I don't know? Just be quiet!” It sounds like she's crying. I chance a pleasured moan when I imagine her tear stricken face. “Do you... do you think that thing could've eaten Sweetie Belle? Do you think she's... that she's...”

The cave is silent for a moment, the voice of my prey comes as a whisper. “I don't know, all I do know is that we can't let that thing find us.” She grunts in frustration. “Stupid darkness, I can't even see my own hoof in here. Maybe we should... wait, Apple Bloom, do you see that?”

“Yeah, there's light comin' up ahead. Come on, lets get over there, fast!”

They come into my field of sight, scampering across the cave floor towards a dimly lit tunnel. My predator instincts kick in again, and I follow stealthily behind them. They rush down the stone tunnel, which becomes increasingly bright the deeper they go. It opens up into a large, brightly lit room, in which my prey come to a dead halt upon entering. It doesn't take me long to see why. Mountains of jewels, gold, and silver lay scattered everywhere throughout the room. Their glinting exterior casts an aura of light that illuminates the whole cave, as if a star had fallen from the sky and taken shelter within these tunnels.

My prey stands gawking at the fortune. They give me more than enough time to end this hunt. I creep up slowly out of darkness, trying to decide which one to eat, and which one to save for fun. The orange one definitely has more muscle on her, and probably more blood, but I always liked the sound of her voice. I'd bet anything she's a screamer when it comes down to it. The yellow one also has a bit of meat on her, but her body is definitely more appealing to me than her cohort. My mind continues to argue with itself, until I get the idea to chance it on a little game. I'll growl, and whoever looks at me first gets eaten.

Grinning at this plan I proceed in a little closer. Once I'm well within eye-sight, I stretch out my hooves to stand as tall as I can. I inhale my breath, and open my mouth to release a terrifying roar. Vicious howls reverberate throughout the entire cave, but I'm left standing confused, having not uttered the sound myself.

My prey is also confused, looking around to see where the roar came from, just as the ground begins to shake. Slowly, the mound of diamonds and rubies begins to move. Small bits of priceless treasure crumbles off the mass and clatters to the floor. Out from the rising tower of jewels, two glaring yellow eyes appear, staring threateningly at my victims. They rise up higher and higher, the veil of gems growing increasingly thin, until finally they fall away to reveal the massive green dragon underneath.

My red eyes burst open. A dragon! A fuck mothering dragon! I've always heard about them, how their meat is the most succulent and juicy food a demon can hope to taste, how their blood is like fine wine compared to other races. Already a thin layer of drool drips down my chin.

I'm so caught up in fantasies of dragon meat, that I barely even realize that the beast is talking. “More pests come to my cave, come to steal from my hoard! Answer for you're crimes insects! What makes you think you can steal from a dragon and live to tell about it!”

My prey is not as excited as I am to see the dragon. The yellow one finds her voice first. “We... we weren't trying to steal from you, m-mr. Dragon sir. W-we were being chased. Some monster was after us, we just needed a place to hide that's all.”

“Lies!” He slams his fist into the ground, the force sending several precious stones into the air. “I have dealt with creatures of your nature before. Nothing but mooches and thieves they are. You will die here.”

“N-no, no! You don't need to do that! We don't mean any harm, we just... we just...” The yellow one's voice dies away as the dragon begins to rise and stand on its hind legs. Smoke trails out from its nostrils and its eyes narrow as if trying to aim. My prey begins to cower, embracing each other and crying as their final moments arrive. The dragon's maw opens wide, but with its attention focused on my former victims, I see my opportunity to strike.

I charge from the tunnel entrance like a bolt of lightning, ramming through the two sobbing fillies in my way, and lurch at the beast. I tackle him around the neck, forcing him to fall backward and slam his head against the cave wall. I try to go for a bite at his throat, but his claws are swift to grab me, and I only cause a cut skin deep.

The dragon growls and glares at me within his grip. I have a smile plastered across my face, even when he holds me over his mouth intending to drop me inside, I simply unfurl my wings, and glide into his face. I jump at his eye socket, taking a massive bite into his gigantic pupil.

The beast screams in pain and anger, jumping about wildly and shaking the whole foundation of the cave. I hear cracking noises, and massive rocks hitting the ground, probably the result of a cave in. I'm much too busy tasting of the rich sweet blood that I've heard so much about to care.

It's true what they said, it's like liquidized fire. Spicy on the tongue, but also sweet like ripe fruit. It's like my first taste of alcohol. I love the substance, and now I only want more.

I dig my jaws further into his eyeballs, scooping out mouth-fulls of soft tender flesh. I keep going in further, squirming my body into the hole, intent on burrowing through into the brain. I almost have my entire body inside, when I feel the dragon's claws grab the end of my tail, and yank me out of the wound. He sends me flying across the room and crashing into the wall on the other end.

It's hard to tell -since my entire body is soaked in dragon blood- but I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding. I stand up, and flinch when piercing pain shoots through my leg. Yeah, I'm definitely bleeding. My tired pain however, quickly turns to sick pleasure. I move my hoof to the wounded spot, and press down hard. A twisted moan comes from my lips and a thrill shoots up my spine, pumping me full of energy.

“Yes, yes, yes!” I scream loudly. “That's what I've been missing, that's what I needed for so long. You dragon, are the first creature to have hurt me in a very long time, and I love it!” I laugh psychotically.

The beast stares at me in utter shock, holding a claw to its wounded eye. “You... you're no mere pony are you! What are you? What monster has entered my cave!”

“A monster who's gonna use those nice horns of yours as its personal sex toys when I'm through with you. Don't worry, I promise to wash them off after I'm done. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, HA!”

The dragon snorts with rage, and send an explosion of fire my way. Flames consume my body, spreading across my skin, and lighting up my mane. Their warm, energetic embrace, excites my heart. I look up through fire and smoke, grinning at my feast. “You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that lizard.”

I growl and fly up at him, tearing off a bit of his snout when I zoom by. He screams with pain and starts swinging at me with claws and a spiked tail. I move nimbly through the air, dodging his attacks with ease and occasionally moving in to bite off a piece of dragon flesh. Unlike my enraged opponent, I am having the time of my fucking life. I laugh and shriek with joy as I make each attack. It's like a game on the playground to me, a game that I am so winning.

I give off a shrill laugh and then dive in for another attack. This time he just misses me with his jaws and I tear a piece out of his cheek. Before I can fly back up though, he suddenly swings around, and swats me in the chest with his tail. All the air is ejected from lungs, and I give a wheezing cough when my back hits the wall. I fall to the ground, catching myself on my hooves and knees, and weakly try to stand up. My face is slammed into the floor, the dragon's claw hammering me into the ground. His grip nearly crushes my rib cage when he picks me, just to crush me against the wall.

Now I'll admit, though with shame, that pain comes with a little pleasure to me, but even I have a point were things can be taken too far. This dragon, has pushed me well beyond that point. My head throbs, my senses dim, and my voice cracks as I'm slammed into the stone wall again, and again, and again. When he finally stops this relentless assault I'm nearly choking on my own blood, and my body is a scared mess. Everything hurts.

Through half lidded eyes I can just barely make out the fuzzy image of the dragon's open maw, somehow growing bigger with each passing second. Wait, no, it's not getting bigger, I'm just getting closer to it.

My eyes go wide, "Oh shit!"

I don't have time to think, I barely have enough time to react. The dragon throws me into his mouth, and I outstretch my arms to stop the jaws from snapping shut on me. My muscles grunt under the pressure, my sore lungs emit choking groans. The slippery tongue I'm standing on causes me to slip, but I dig the tips of my demonically sharpened hooves into it, spearing through the tender muscle. The dragon howls at the action, then begins to violently shake its head around, going so far as to smash it into the wall to dislodge me. I'm almost ready to scream. My arms feel like they're gonna snap off any minute. I don't know if I can hold out for much longer.

Then, as if someone threw a rock at my head, I realize I probably don't need to hold out.

I grin maliciously, and stare down the throat of the beast. “You just made a grave mistake dragon!”

I throw myself into the back of its mouth, just avoiding the razor like teeth of the beast. I slide down the thin esophagus, slicing up the sides of the throat as I go. The beast shrieks and tries to cough me up, but I flap my wings and force myself down. I make my way into the stomach, diving into green acidic liquid, with bubbling flammable gasses rising up to the top. My wounds scream while swimming through this grotesque substance, but I ignore all pain and shoot for the stomach wall. I punch straight through the lining, making a wonderful squelching sound. I rip a gaping whole in the organ, and push myself through it. Gallons of acidic fluid spills out like a waterfall into the body, carrying me out with it.

I stop to catch my breath for a moment, while everything around me thrashes about in wild jiggling movements. The damage is clearly being felt. Grinning, I look around at the feast of organs, muscles, and bones that nearly suffocate me. Licking my lips I push into a large mass of muscles fibbers and start chowing down. Each bite I take makes a frenzied shriek come from outside, which only prompts me to eat more.

I don't think there's a word in the dictionary that could accurately describe the amount of bliss I'm in right now. Not only am I surrounded by enough bloody temptations to satisfy me for months on end, but I think I've also set a new record for having rolled the most sexual fetishes into a single situation. I've been eaten alive, every movement I make sends a slight jolt of pain through me, and I'm brutally torturing a dominant beast whose screaming for mercy as I cannibalizing its still living body. It's official, if demons went to heaven, this is what it would be like.

When I'm done with the first course, I move on to the soft meat of the intestines. Then the sweet sticky bone marrow. The greasy liver, sour kidneys, and salty blood veins. It's a lavish buffet and I'm sampling everything at it, much to agonizing displeasure of my host. Judging from the movements, I'd say he's currently convulsing on the ground screaming in unbearable pain. I think the poor thing is actually crying, at least that's what I can tell when its voice is heard.

“Please, please stop! I can't take it anymore! Take my hoard, take it all if you want, just please, make the pain stop!”

The agony in his voice is making me go wet between my legs. I shudder with excitement. He wants it to end so badly, fine, I'll end off with a bang.

I squirm my way through his body, tearing out chunks of meat as I go and sliding my nether-regions against whatever I brush up against. After a brief search, I find what I'm looking for. The massive thumping organ beats rapidly in its wounded state.

The heart of a dragon is a rare delicacy of its own league. I admire it with hungry eyes, taking a moment soak in its beauty. Then I open my jaws wide, and sink them into the tender organ. The dragon's body jolts, and a claw like imprint becomes visible in the flesh. Now that I see which way is up, I wrap my hooves around the heart, and flap my wings as hard as I can. The veins and arteries connected to the organ snap loose, and spray blood everywhere. I collide with inner chest walls, burst through the rib cage, and sprout out of its chest.

I arrive back in the land of the living, just in time to see the beast's body clench up in one last pained gesture, before it falls limp across its massive pile of gems.

I touch down on the corpse, dragon heart still in my mouth, and then noisily devour my prize. I have to say, if dragon blood is like fine wine, then a dragon's heart is like a baked sweet. The freshest pie, nor the most sugar saturated punch could compare to this glory. I'm so addicted to the taste that I scarf the whole thing down in less than a minute, despite it being nearly three times my size.

I lick my lips, then my hooves, and shoulders. I'm absolutely drenched in dragon blood, and I want to keep the taste in my mouth for as long as possible. The feast seems to have calmed me down, but even though I'm exhausted, I still feel unsatisfied. There's still an urge in me, and I still can't control it. Only one thing is gonna truly satisfy me, and I know what it is.

I turn my head towards the cave entrance, which appears to have collapsed during the fight, and prevented my two friends from leaving. They sit, staring up at me, a mixture of shock and horror on their faces. I grin, then stretch out my wings to weakly glide down to them. I almost collapse upon landing, but manage to stay on my trembling legs.

Apple Bloom screams when I start to limp over to them. Scootaloo adopts a more aggressive strategy, if you can call standing in front of your friend with trembling knees and a look like your about to piss yourself aggressive.

She raises her fore-hooves and mumbles out warnings. “St-st-stop! Don't come any closer! I mean it!” Her voice cracks when she speaks, panic just on the tip of her tongue. “I... I'm warning you! I can fight! Don't think I can't, I can take you! I... I...”

Her quivering voice hangs in the air, until I'm inches away from her face. She looks into my blood red eyes for only a minute, before closing her own, whimpering as she waits for my next move. With slow, but excited movements, I grab Scootaloo by the shoulders, and pull her into a passionate kiss on the lips.

It takes a moment for her to realize what I'm doing, and when she does, her whole body goes tense. She stands as stiff as a board while I make out with her, either too scared or dazed to have a reaction. Apple Bloom just stares dumbfounded at the scene, and I'm enjoying it far too much to feel anything other than pleasure. A moment or two passes and the heated pressure between my legs finally gives way to sweet, sweet relief.

My orgasm makes me moan and break the kiss. My legs give out from under me and I collapse to the floor. I lay panting for moment, before weakly looking up into my friend's confused frozen face. “Has anyone... ever told you... that your voice... is kinda sexy?”

That's all I can mumble out, before hunching my head back, and completely blacking out.

Chapter 3: Explanations

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I've been drunk before.

I once got so plastered I couldn't feel my hooves on my face, and ended up tricking several handsome stallions into sleeping with me. To this day I still have no idea if that would be considered rape or not, or who raped who for that matter. I don't remember much from that night, except of course for what I felt like in the morning. Save for a pleasant ache in my rump, I felt exactly how I feel right now.

Pounding headache, non-existent energy, and blurred vision as I wake up in a strange place that I don't remember going to. Oh, Luna fucking damnit, I have such a bad case of deja-vu right now.

I weakly move my head, and carefully begin to stand up. What in the seven names of Satan was I thinking going near alcohol again?

“Oh, crap! It's waking up! Scootaloo, get over here!”

Then again, I don't think hangovers are supposed to vanish into thin air. Nor should they restrain you from moving your legs. I look down and see several thick strands of rope bound tightly around my ankles. Before I can recover from this shock, I feel a pointed edge jab at my shoulder. I flinch, look up, and am greeted by my two best friends glaring at me with an unnerving mix of fear and anger in their eyes. Scootaloo is holding a sword at my shoulder, and Applebloom is gripping a lance in her hooves.

“Not so tough when you can't chase us anymore, huh?” Scootaloo spits.

“What are you girls doing? Why did you tie me up, and... and where did you get those weapons anyway?”

Scootaloo's face makes a slightly discomforted twist; Applebloom's shudder is much more noticeable. I remain confused, until I suddenly remember we're trapped in a cave with a dragon horde. I look around, scanning the area a bit until... yep, there it is: a large pile of skeletons, decaying away with several tattered weapons at their sides. I cringe as the image of my friends looting those corpses slithers into my brain.

“It doesn't matter!” Scootaloo proclaims, “And I'll be the one asking questions! Now be truthful with me, monster! What did you do with Sweetie Belle?”

My head snaps up at her. “What do you mean? I'm right here?”

“Oh, no! We're not falling for that again!” Applebloom states. “We saw what you did in the forest, if you think this... disguise, or trick, or fancy magic, or whatever it is, is gonna fool us, you are dead wrong, miss.”

I let my head fall limp to the floor, smacking my horn against the stone. With a half dead expression, I look up at them. “No, you don't understand. I am Sweetie Belle.”

“Quit your lying! If my sister were here right now, she'd beat you to a bloody pulp!”

“Look, just let me explain, and it'll all—”

“The only thing we want ‘explained’ is where you took Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo shouts.

“Well, if you'd just let me—”

“Did you hurt her? Is she safe? Answer me jerk face!”

It’s one of those moments where I briefly contemplate suicide. “I didn't do anything to her, because I am her! Seriously, does it look like I'm lying to you?”

“You're a monster,” Scootaloo says. “Monsters lie all the time... right?”

“Well, yeah,” Applebloom answers. “Queen Chrysalis is a monster, and look at what she did at that wedding.”

“Yeah, you're not gonna fool us that easily! We know you're lying, so tell us what you did to Sweetie Belle! Did you hurt her? Kill her? Eat her?”

I growl so loudly my throat gets a little sore. “So, just because you think I'm lying, that automatically means I ate your best friend?”

“You ate Sweetie Belle!”

“What? No, I didn't say—”

“You monster! You evil, evil, monster!” Tears leak out Applebloom's eyes and she degrades into weeping husk on the ground.

Scootaloo has a much more intense expression on her face. “I should've known! Monsters are always born killers, why did I expect anything else?”

“Uh... girls?”

“She never even got her cutie mark. We were supposed to find them together!” Apple Bloom sobs.

“Girls?”

“I should gut you! Sweetie Belle deserves a better grave than your smelly stomach!”

“Girls!”

“Say your prayers monster!”

Scootaloo swings down with the sword. The blade hits me in the chest, and promptly snaps in half like a twig against a stone. My face is twisted with so much anger I think I'm about to pop a blood vessel.

“Right! That's it! I'm done!” Without so much as trying, I snap the bonds off my legs and jump up to meet a confused—and now terrified—Scootaloo. “For future reference, it takes a lot more than a rusty iron sword to hurt me.”

I don't think my words get through to her. At least, that's what I take away from her screaming at the top of her lungs and rushing to hide behind a trembling Apple Bloom.

“St-stay back! I'm warning you, I'll use this thing!”

“Apple Bloom,” I say, my tone matching the deadpan look on my face, “if getting lit on fire, having my face smashed in a dozen times against solid stone, and being eaten alive by a dragon didn't kill me, then what makes you think poking me in the eye with a stick will?”

Apple Bloom freezes up. I can almost see her mind through her face, calculating the math like some chugging machine. She raises her hooves up, letting the lance clatter to the floor. “Okay, maybe we can't fight you, but come on? You don't need to eat us. We're too young to get eaten.”

“Yeah, w-w-we don't even taste that good.”

“That's the truth.” Apple Bloom licks her hoof. “Yuk, it's like rotten apple cores! And I'd imagine Scootaloo's nothing but a week old, dried up, half eaten chi—”

“You finish that sentence, and I swear to Celestia, I'll shove you forward.”

“Would you two just shut up for three fucking seconds?!”

I feel like my head is about to burst open. I need to breathe out, to release the pressure inside it. I rub my temples to get my temper adequately controlled, then speak to my frightened friends as calmly as I can. “Look, I know this is a lot to take in right now, but I am Sweetie Belle. I am the same filly you girls have hung out with for years now.”

Scootaloo manages to mutter out. “Yeah, right. Why should we believe you?”

“Don't you remember everything we did together? The... the day we formed the crusaders, after we showed up Diamond Tiara? Or when we put together that stage show that totally bombed, but we got awards anyway? Or the Hearts-and-Hooves Day fiasco? The cockatrice in the forest? The camp out with our sisters? Don't you remember any of that?”

Their fear retreats, forced back by my knowledge. It looks like I'm starting to make a break through with Apple Bloom, but Scootaloo...

“No, you're lying! Sweetie Belle isn't a monster, Sweetie Belle would never attack us like you did!”

My anger flares up again. “Damnit, I didn't have any control over that! That thing that flew over us earlier, that's what you should blame! It messed with my mind! I didn't want to come after you like that, I didn't mean to...”

Whatever was about to come out of my mouth just then falls flat on my tongue. It didn't fully hit me until right now: I attacked my friends. No, worse, I tried to kill them! Two of the best fillies I had ever met, the greatest friends I could ask for, and I just tried to rip them apart.

I feel numb, like part of my soul has been taken away. My legs give out from under me, and I collapse to the ground. I lower my face to the floor, incapable of looking them in the eye. My breath shudders with each intake, and I shiver from a sudden coldness. The dams in my eyes strain to contain the flood waters, but eventually burst under the force of the storm. I cry. I bury my face in the hard stone floor, and cry.

Idiot! I'm such a fucking idiot! All this time, I had been so careful, so cautious, to make sure that my urges never got the best of me. Then just when I begin to think I've got them under control, I go on a rampage through Everfree, and almost kill my best friends! Who the hell was I fooling to begin with? I'll never control these cravings. My friends are right, I'm a monster. I was born one, and I'll die one. There's no use trying to deny it.

I continue to inject my despair into the ground. Through the tears, and sobbing, I hear a muffled argument in front of me. I never look up, though; I'm too lost in my own sorrow to notice anything else. It's not until I feel a trembling hoof on my shoulder, that I'm pulled from my shattered state. I look up, and see Apple Bloom standing above me.

Her lips tremble with terror, but her eyes are full of sympathy. “S-S-Sweetie Belle?”

That look, that one bit of compassion, is too much. I burry my face at her hooves. “I'm sorry! I am so, so, sorry.” My voice can barely formulate the words. “I didn't mean for this to happen! I didn't mean to attack you! I just... I just... Oh, dear Celestia.”

I descend into tears again, my voice cracking with each wail. At some point I wish that my friends would just go, leave the monster alone to her own grief, and never look back. They remain though, and it looks like they have no intention of leaving.

“Hey... come on, it's alright.”

“No, it's not alright!” She jumps back when I look at her, moisture burning in my eyeballs. “I tried to kill you! You're my best friends, and I just tried to kill you! How is that, in any way, alright?”

Apple Bloom recovers from her fear, and looks sheepishly around the room, as if the answer to my question was hidden somewhere within it. “I... I... Look, we'll get over it.”

“Oh come on, you're seriously buying this?” Scootaloo interjects. “You saw what she did in the forest! For all we know she could turn and eat us up right now!”

My heart cringes, the words are lethal to my ears; but nowhere near as lethal as the gaze that Applebloom shoots at her. “Scootaloo, if she really wanted to eat us, I think she would've done that already. At the very worst, she'll probably just try to stick her tongue in your mouth again.”

Scootaloo's face goes a deep shade of red. “Sh-shut up. Look, if she is Sweetie Belle, then can she tell us what the hay just happened? And how she managed to make it happen for that matter?”

The question barely registers in my head, and as it slowly processes, my crying degrades into a gentle whimper. My tears refuse to dry up, however. I manage to look at them, only to turn away in shame ridden guilt. “You're gonna be scared if I answer that question.”

Apple Bloom scoffs at the remark. “Come on, I doubt we could be any more scared than we are already. Just tell us.”

I remain on the ground a while longer, then I slowly put energy back into my hooves and sit up, facing my friends with sunken, tear stained eyes. “Okay... so you know that Rarity is my sister, right?” They nod their heads. “Well, technically, that's only half true. You see, Rarity's mom is my mom, but her dad... isn't my dad.”

I'm silent. My words meet a wall in my throat that they can't break through, only freed by the prodding of my friends.

“Well, if he's not your dad, then who is?”

Sweat pours out my skin, and I have to mentally kick myself to get the words out.

“My father is a demon.”

It's one of those rare silences that seem louder and more noticeable than any noise could ever be. My friends stare blankly at me, their faces shifting and moving as if their brains are having difficulty deciding what expression to put on them.

Apple Bloom is the first to speak. “Okay, that is pretty scary.”

Scootaloo keeps her gaze trained on me. “So, does that make you like, some sort of hell spawn, or devil's daughter, or something?”

“The proper term is half-demon, and yes, that's exactly what I am.” There’s a fluster in my chest with each word I speak. “I've been hiding it ever since I showed up in Ponyville. I couldn't risk the others finding out about me. That doesn't mean I like hiding it though. Hell, I hate hiding it! It's just that I was so scared of how everyone would react, and I was terrified of how you girls would take it.”

I lower my head, shaking it as I stare at the ground. “I'm sorry, I should've trusted you more.”

It looks like Scootaloo's eyes soften for just a moment, but she quickly regains her defensive stature. “If you're a demon, then what are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be out... I don't know, eating newborn babies, or plotting the downfall of Equestria?”

Anger bores into my head like a parasite. “It's not like that Scootaloo! Just because I'm demon, doesn't mean I'm pure evil!” I breath in a few deep breaths to regain my composure. “But if you must know, I came to here to hide out, away from any guards or demon hunters. Demons are usually attracted to big places with lots of horrible ponies to blend in with, so a small town like Ponyville is probably the last place you'd expect to find one.”

“But I thought demons were like, the most evil beings in existence,” Applebloom states. “I mean, hay, they practically invented evil, didn't they?”

“That's what I heard.” Scootaloo adds.

“Well, technically yes, they were the world's first trouble makers, but that doesn't mean we can't try to be good.”

Scootaloo narrows her eyes. “Then what was up with that stuff back in the forest? Why did you just jump on us all of a sudden?”

“You remember that creature that flew over us earlier?” They both nod. “I'm not sure what it was, but it did something to me. It released some sort of... weird energy that messed with my head. The second that thing passed by, I lost control. My demonic energy just went wild, and I had to kill something. Thankfully, this dragon was here satisfy me, or else... well, lets not think about what might have happened.”

They both seem content to skip over that subject. Applebloom in particular seems a little anxious to get away from it. “You don't sound like you're very safe to be around. Does stuff like this happen all the time?”

“What happened just now was a special circumstance. Usually I can control my appetite. Hell, I've lived in Ponyville for two years and nopony has seemed notice.”

Applebloom seems content with the answer, unlike Scootaloo. “What do you mean by appetite? What does food have anything to do with this?”

Fuck! Why did I word it like that! “Well… basically… demons need the blood of other living creatures to stay healthy. We don't need it to survive, per se, but it does keep us in control of our powers. And lets us keep our sanity.”

“Wait, so you mean you actually... kill, other—”

“I never hurt any innocent ponies!” I shout desperately. “You-you know how our parents and sisters always tell us about those bad ponies out there, who try to act all nice to you, just so they can take you away and hurt you? Those are the kinds of ponies I hunt, those are always the kinds of ponies I go after. I've never harmed anypony who didn't deserve it, I swear!”

I can feel the breath rattle in my chest. The temperature of my body has dropped several degrees. My heart is a constant drum beat when Scootaloo, eye wide with fear and... something else, finally replies. “But, you still... kill them, right?”

I swallow my breath like a vile medicine. I close my eyes and lower my head, unable to look at them when I give my answer.

“Yes, I kill ponies.”

The words hang in the air, swaying back and forth through the room like a vessel caught in a storm. I still can't look at them, so I can only imagine their expressions. Shock? Horror? Repulsion? A mixture of all three? I'm too terrified to look.

After the longest few seconds of my life, Scootaloo finally breaks the silence. “So, just to make sure I've got this straight. You're a demon from Hell, who hides out in Ponyville, and occasionally travels out to find bad ponies and criminals, so you can murder them and drink their blood?”

Words get stuck in my throat, but I manage to give a stiff nod in reply.

Silence reigns like a tyrant yet again, but is quickly dethroned by Scootaloo's swift response.

“That... is... awesome!”

My eyes fly open. The tears I just threatened to produce dry up. I look up at my orange-coated friend, who is grinning from ear-to-ear. “So, you're like a superhero then, a totally wicked, badass, superhero! That is so cool!”

I'm in such shock, it’s a miracle I can even formulate a response. “I... don't think heroes are supposed to brutally tor... wha—wait, so you're telling me you're... okay with me killing ponies? Killing ponies, and drinking their blood?”

“Are you kidding? Hay yeah! What do I care if a bunch of kidnappers, and murders, die every now and then. Dear sweet Celestia, why did you not tell us this earlier! You should be famous, you should be big, holy crap I am best friends with a superhero!”

“I'm not sure you should be so proud of this, Scootaloo,” Applebloom states. “Even if she does only attack bad ponies, I've heard a lot of spook stories about what demons do to their victims.”

“Wait, you have? From where?!”

“My second cousin Apple Tart has been into the occult for a long while now. She told me, at the last Apple family reunion, it'd better to just kill yourself than let a demon get its hooves on you.”

I shrivel back again, but thankfully Scootaloo comes to my rescue. “Oh, come on Applebloom! If the ponies she goes after are evil, then who cares what she does to them? Hay, it's probably better she killed them so they don't go on to hurt anypony else.”

Applebloom takes a deep breath. “Point taken, but I'm still a little uncomfortable with this. I mean, if what she's saying is true then she's basically been lying to us since the day we met her. What's there to say she's telling the truth this time?”

Scootaloo opens her mouth, but nothing comes out. She's stuck with an argument she can't answer.

“Because you're my friends.” They both look back at me as I speak. “I know I've lied a lot since we first met. But it's not like I liked lying to you girls, I just didn't know you'd be okay with this... I just...” I'm not sure what to say. “Look, I'm sorry, and I promise, no more. Just give me one more chance, you can ask me anything, and I promise you'll get nothing but the truth from me.”

Apple Bloom stares at me with slanted eyes. “You swear you'll be truthful?”

“Completely.”

“Then I just have one question for you right now.” She looks me dead in the eyes, the seriousness of her glare intimidates me, and I feel like finding someplace to hide when she speaks in a blank emotionless tone. “If you're a demon, does that mean your cutie mark will be of you eating somepony?”

The weight in my stomach vanishes. She smiles devilishly at me, and I grin back. “Nah, I'm pretty sure a pentagram cutie mark would be more my style.”

Applebloom is the first to laugh, Scootaloo follows behind, and I come in shortly after. Soon we're on the floor of the cave, using our laughter to poison the last bit of tension left in the air. I stand up, wiping the tears out of my eyes, and smile at my friends.

“Thanks girls, I promise you, you wont regret this.” I pull Applebloom into a tight hug, and she's all too eager to share it, at least until she notices something.

“Uh, Sweetie Belle, as nice as this moment is, you're sorta, still... a mess.”

“Huh?” I break away from her, my face warped with confusion, until I see the blood I've smeared across her coat. With all the excitement happening after I woke up, it's only now that I realize that I'm still drenched, head-to-hoof, in dragon blood.

“Oh.” I chuckle nervously. “I guess I should wash up before we go back home.”

“I think we're all going to need a bath.” Scootaloo chides, who is also covered in blood. “And in case anything like this happens again, try not to get it in my mouth next time.”

I rub the back of my head in embarrassment. Applebloom brushes some of the blood off her coat and walks forward. “Right now, I think we should be more concerned about getting out of here before we think of anything else. The cave collapsed in during that fight, and that was our only way in.”

“No need to worry,” I state coolly, “I happen to be a wiz at tunneling.”

I face towards the blocked exit, stretch out my hind legs, and charge straight forward. I collide with the mound of stone, smashing straight through it into the darkness within. I look over my shoulder, at the newly formed cave entrance, and see my friend's stupefied faces peeking out behind the dust and crumbled rocks.

Scootaloo's slack jawed appearance quickly shapes up into a broad smile, topped with a shrill laugh. “Oh, dear sweet Luna, I can just tell this is gonna be awesome!”

Chapter 4: Cover up

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There's no much in this world that can harm me. Hell, I just took down an ancient elder dragon with my bare hooves and teeth, that should say something about what level I'm on. I've slaughtered killers by the dozens, massacred entire cults, and even gone toe-to-toe with a couple other demons in the past. I don't have much to be afraid of.

So why am I so scared now!

My friends haven't take their eyes off me since we left the cave: Scootaloo's bugged out in what I can only assume is a kind of worship normally reserved for Rainbow Dash, and Apple Bloom' filled with nervous energy. I know they've already agreed not to dump me as their friend, but I can't help but feel anxiety over what comes next. This is the first time I've ever been found out. I know they're my friends, but can they really keep this secret? My mind shrivels more and more the longer I ponder that thought. I am so fucked, aren't I?

The only thing I know for certain is that things are never going to be the same again. Not after I chased them, not after what I did to that dragon. There's just some things innocence can't survive. I feel like a should say something to them, something to ease the mood, something to reassure them. Anything other than this damn oppressive silence, but I've got nothing.

We trudge on through the Everfree forest, not saying a word to each other. When the silence is finally broken, it's from Scootaloo's curious tone. “Soooo... If you're a demon, does that mean you have like, all these cool demonic powers?”

I look over at her with a blank face, then quickly grow a smile. “Well, yeah there are quite a few perks that come with being a demon.”

“Like?”

I rub the bottom of my chin. “Well, you already saw my strength and speed back in the fight, and I also displayed my toughness, my healing abilities, and that thing where I can get lit on fire.”

“Yeah, that was pretty cool!” Scootaloo beams.

“Really, because if I didn't know any better, I'd have said you were scared of it at the time," chides Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo glares at her for a second before switching back to flank worshipping. “So, is that all you can do?”

“Well, there are some newer ones I've been working on."

“New abilities? Wait, so there's other powers you can learn?"

"Sorta. To be honest, not even I know how it really works. I just discover new abilities sometimes."

The look on Scootaloo's face was creepy, even to me. I never knew it was possible to have that wide a grin, and I've seen Pinkie Pie. "That is so cool! What's your newest power? Is it awesome, or is it super awesome!"

“Well, the newest one lets me put ponies into a trance so I can manipulate them a bit.”

"Wait, you mean like hypnosis?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

My newest fan inhales sharply. “Oh, oh, oh, do me! Hypnotize me right now!”

“Well, okay, if you say so.”

I close my eyes and calm myself with a deep breath. I open them again and stare directly into Scootaloo's wide excited opals. I summon demonic energy into my head, causing a tiny red glow in my irises. Then I say in a soothing tone, “Scootaloo, you are getting sleepy, very, very, sleepy.”

I sway my head back and forth, causing Scootaloo's head to mimic my movements “When you wake up, you will devour Rainbow Dash's corpse, and surrender your soul to me.”

“Wait, what!”

It feels like my chest is going to explode and I can't contain it if I tried. Laughter blasts out of my mouth like a cannon ball. I fall to the ground and roll over, clutching my sides. Even Applebloom starts laughing, after she gets over her initial shock.

Scootaloo doesn't find it as humorous. “Oh wow, that was so funny I forgot to laugh.”

I wipe the tears out of my eyes and stand up. “Sorry, I couldn't resist. In all seriousness though, it won't work if you know I'm trying to hypnotize you, so I can't really demonstrate it.”

Scootaloo snorts out an annoyed breath. “Well then, is there anything else you can do?”

I think for a moment. “Well, I've also been toying with some basic clairvoyance.”

“Clair-what now?”

“It means if I want to find or do something, I'll know where it is, or how to do it.”

The remaining curiosity that Scootaloo has dies within her. “That... doesn't sound as cool, compared with your other powers.”

“Maybe, but it is very useful. For instance, just a few minutes ago, I wanted to find a nice secluded place to wash all this blood off ourselves.” I trod over to some shrubs next to us and pull back the branches. “So I used the clairvoyance to find this nice little pond in the middle of the forest.”

The clearing opens up into, well, exactly what I just said. There's a small pool of water, clean and clear in the open sunlight. Apple Bloom's entire body seems to deflate in relief. “Thank Celestia! I wasn't sure I'd last another minute with all this blood on my coat.”

“Wait, you're complaining about being dirty?” Scootaloo says. “You live on a farm! How can a little blood bother you so much?”

“Really, you call this a little?” Applebloom twirls around to give her a full view of her stained body. “I've got no problem getting my hooves dirty every now and then, but animal blood is just gross.”

“Oh, come on, you barely got anything on you! She pretty much smeared it all over me.”

“Yep, and gave you a mouth full, too, as I remember.”

Scootaloo glares at her when she laughs, but her expression quickly changes into a scheming grin. “You know Applebloom, have I ever told you how good of a friend you are to me?”

“Um, I think so, why do you ask?” She replies, giving her a weird glance.

“Oh, no reason, I was just thinking I should express it more often. In fact, come here, I want to give you a great big hug.”

Applebloom's eyes go wide. “Whoa, hold on a minute, Scootaloo, don't even think about—”

“Come here!”

“No!”

I roll my eyes, yet can't help but chuckle as Scootaloo chases Apple Bloom around with dripping red hooves. Shaking my head I stroll past the scene and make my way to the pond. I dive in without much ceremony, letting the cold water run through my mane. I break the surface of the water and begin scrubbing myself.

It's been quite awhile since my bout with the dragon, so some of the blood has dried in place and fights to stay on. This isn't the first time I've had to wash up blood stains though;in my experience, circular motions will eventually get it off. It's a little difficult since I have nothing but my hooves at the moment, but I make do.

After a few minutes I've successfully washed a good portion of the blood of my body, save a few rough patches in my mane and a light red tinge in my coat. I'm gonna need more than my hooves to get everything out.

I look over my shoulder. It's more annoying than it is amusing this time, to see my friends are still messing around. Doesn't Apple Bloom realize she can just jump in here and all the blood will wash off anyway? I shake my head. I raise a hoof to call them, but hesitate when I see something in the water.

Through the now murky red waters, I see something like a shadow moving close by me. I run my hooves through the distorted water to get a clearer image of it, until finally I see...

“Oh, shit!”

My cry attracts the attention of my companions. “What's wrong, Sweetie Belle?”

I don't respond immediately, I almost don't want to believe what I'm looking at. “Girls, we've got a bit of a situation here. Oh, Luna, this is bad, this is really bad!”

“Why, what's going on?” Applebloom asks. “Are you hurt? Did something happen again, or— oh, dear sweet Celestia!”

“What! What's wrong? Is there someth—holy crap!”

If an explosion had gone off behind us I don't think any of us would noticed it right now, we're too absorbed by my reflection shining through the water... only it's the reflection of a red eyed demon, with jet black fur and goat horns stretching out from its head.

My companions hide behind me, Applebloom timidly peeking out. “Sweetie Belle, what is that thing?”

“It's... it's me.”

“It's you?” She looks down at the reflection, scanning it over again for recognition. “Holy crap, it is! But it's the demon you! I mean...the other you, like what you were when you went crazy, you know what I mean?”

“But why?” Scootaloo asks. “You look perfectly normal right now, like every other time I've seen you.”

“I don't know! Something must have happened to my ward.”

“Your what?”

I groan and then explain in a rush. “You both saw what I looked like during that fight, right? That was my true appearance, what I really look like. The reason why you've never seen it until now is because demons have a natural ability to hide their appearance and appear as somepony else. But even then, there's still a few signs that can tip ponies off if they're not careful. One of them is that," I said as I pointed down at the hellish figure in the water. "Reflections always reveal the true self.”

Scootaloo blinks a few times. “So all this time you've been here, no pony has ever seen you in a mirror?”

“No, there's ways we can cover it up. I have a special kind of demonic magick I use to hide this, but for some reason it stopped working.”

“Why?”

“I don't know! The only thing I can think of is maybe that creature from earlier messed with the spell.”

“Well can't you just recast it or something?” says Apple Bloom.

“Yes, but I'll need a book back at my house to do it.”

“Then problem solved, we just head back there and get the book,” says Scootaloo.

I shake my head. “It's not that simple. We'll have to walk straight across town to get there, and reflections aren't the only thing that the spell protected me from. There's several other signs that could give away that I'm a demon, and if even one pony notices any of them, it'll be bad news. They could get angry, they could attack me. They might try to kill me!” My breath runs more rampant with each syllable. “I'd have to leave Ponyville if they see this.”

“Whoa, Sweetie Belle, calm down.” Scootaloo assures. “It'll be alright, we just have to be careful. We'll get you to your house without anyone noticing a thing. We're Cutie Mark Crusaders! We can do that with our eyes closed.”

“Actually, I've got a better idea," Applebloom states. “Why don't me and Scootaloo just run in there and grab the book for you. I don't see any reason why we can't—”

“There you are!”

We all jump at the familiar, unusually loud voice. Fluttershy descends from the canopy with a relieved look in her eyes. I slip into a mini-panic and then lurch out of the pool, praying to whatever demonic force watching over me that she didn't see my reflection.

“Thank goodness I found you. I was so worried that...” She stops in mid sentence, suddenly noticing the blood that's dripping off of our coats. Several strands of her mane pop out of place and she gets an empty look in her eye. “Oh my gosh, girls! What happened? Are you hurt? Did something attack you? Please tell me you three are alright!”

She flies up to us and examines our bodies for any signs of wounds. I stop her before she passes out.

“It's okay Fluttershy, we just had a bad run in with a dragon.” She gasps in horror. “It didn't hurt us! This isn't our blood! It's-it's the dragon's.”

Her breath floods out of her mouth, and she puts a hoof to her chest. “Wait, the dragon's? Then, what... caused the dragon to... um...”

“Bleed all over us?”

“Yes.”

My friends and I pass a glance between each other. “Well, there was this... creature, that came out of nowhere and attacked it.”

“Yeah, I never saw anything like it before in my life,” Applebloom added. “I reckon it could've devoured all of Ponyville if it wanted to.”

Fluttershy makes a startled squeak at that. “Oh dear! Was it that creature that flew over town a little while ago?”

“Yes," I all but shriek, "that was it, that was exactly what it was!” I speak rapidly, not wanting to let that scape goat go by.

Fluttershy seemed content enough. “Well, I'm just glad that none of you were hurt. But what were you girls doing out here to begin with?"

My mind races and I conjure up an excuse. “Um, we were, trying to get our cutie marks. We thought we'd have luck as... uh... Cutie Mark Crusader Foragers!”

I put on a large smile and even larger eyes to make it sound more believable. Fluttershy looks less then amused. “Honestly girls, coming in here to get your cutie marks? I thought you learned your lesson after that incident with the cockatrice.”

We hang our heads low and pretend to look up at her in shame, at least that's what I trie to do, even if I'm doing a shitty job of it. I'm so close to laughing right now it's painful. I do remember the lessons we learned the last time we were in Everfree, I distinctly remember learning how much cockatrices taste like sautéed duck afterwords. Revenge is actually a dish best served hot.

While I muse over fond memories, Applebloom steps up to the plate to convince Fluttershy. She looks up at her with glossy eyes, and wavered lips, and says, “We're awfully sorry, Fluttershy. We were just so anxious to get our cutie marks now, we sorta up and forgot about the danger.”

“Well, I guess all that matters is that your safe. It'll be up to your sisters to decide what to do about this.” We all cringe at that. Hell hath no fury like Rarity when she's angry. “But for right now you can come back with me to the cottage. I'll get you washed up and then bring you home.”

My heart skips a beat. “There's no need to do that Fluttershy, we can just head home right now. I'm pretty sure our sisters would really like to know about this as soon as possible.”

“I know, but I can't bring the three of you through town like this,” she says, grabbing ahold of Applebloom's blood soaked hoof. “You'd give everypony a heart attack if they saw you.”

Fluttershy, if only you knew...

I hang my head and sigh in defeat. “Alright, lead the way.”

She smiles in reply and then hovers a short distance off the ground to lead us. We break into trot a few feat behind her, huddling close to not be heard.

“Don't worry,” Applebloom says. “We just need to keep her distracted long enough for you to wash up, that shouldn't be too hard.”

“Yeah, it's not like we're rookies at causing trouble anyway,” Scootaloo adds.

“Thanks girls, but there's one big problem we've got by going to Fluttershy's cottage.”

“What's that?” They both ask

I gulp down air. “Second big give away of a demon, animals tend to freak out around them.”

My friends give each other a horrified glance, before Scootaloo squeaks out, “Oh, boy.”

“Girls, come on, I don't want you three falling behind in here.”

We break into a gallop at Fluttershy's call, and begin a long, worried trek up to the cottage. The moment we get within eyesight of the place, it's clear that my warning was true. Every living creature with a ten mile radius of the house goes ape shit crazy. They shriek, flee, tunnel into the ground, jump into the lake, anything to get something between them and me.

Fluttershy blinks a few times at the sight. “That's... odd, the animals are behaving strangely for some reason.”

The three of us share a glance. I chuckle nervously. “Weird. Can't imagine why.”

Fluttershy simply nods to the comment before taking us inside. There's a few birds that are trembling in their nest, or mice that scramble into their holes, but other than that, the interior is completely devoid of any animal life. Our guide casts a worried glance over the room, but eventually continues upstairs to the bathroom.

She begins filling a tub for us and gathering together some spare soap and shampoo from the cabinet, which has a very large mirror plastered on the front of it.

Fuck.

“Okay girls, I've made sure the water is warm, and I've also...” She stops, taking notice of me backed into the corner and my two friends forming a wall in front of the mirror. “Um, girls, why are you—”

“Thanks for doing this, Fluttershy,” I cut in. “But I think we can handle it from here. We'll get washed up by ourselves.”

She gives me a weird look. “Are you sure girls? I mean, don't your sisters usually give you baths?”

“We're not babies, Fluttershy," I say, irritation seeping into my voice. "We'll be fine on our own. Go check on your animals. There's no reason to worry about us.”

She gets a vague look in here eyes, and her entire expression changes, as if her mind had just reset itself. She nods her head slowly. “Alright, if you say so.”

She turns off the water to the tub and then walks out of the room. My friends breath in the relief, and I just chuckle loudly. “And that, Scootaloo, is how you hypnotize somepony.”

Her head shoots up to attention. “Wait, you mean you just...” Her mouth hangs open until she's able to form a grin. “Oh, that is so cool.”

“Yeah, all well and good. Now, could we please get in here and clean up?” Applebloom says. “I don't want to have to stall again if she comes back in here.”

We all agree, and then jump into the tub, turning the clear water red. I grab the soap, and begin where I left off at the pond.

“Okay, the spell I put her under will keep her busy for now, but it'll wear off after awhile, so lets hurry. The blood has probably dried by now, so try to—” My breath vanishes as I feel the warm presence of hooves pressed against my back. I look over, and find Applebloom rubbing soapy hooves up my spine. “Applebloom, what are you—”

“It's probably more important that we get you out of this room before anypony else. If we help you out, we can get that done even faster.”

“Good idea,” Scootaloo states. “Here, get your chest, I'll focus on the mane.”

“W-w-wait a second, girls. I'm a little uncomfortable with this.”

“Oh, pipe down, we'll be done in a second.”

“But...”

My voice is drowned out once Scootaloo starts to run her hooves through my mane. My face becomes heated and my body starts to quiver. I struggle to stay focused and not give any indication of my enjoyment.

Oh hormones, you sadistic bastards you. You are my best friends, and my worst enemies. You don't realize that these are the closest friends I've ever had. All you know is that there are two beautiful young fillies scrubbing me down with soft warm hooves. You don't care that they don't even understand the concept of sex. All you see are two hunks of meat to satisfy my desires. Honestly, fuck you and your mind numbing pleasure.

I try to distract myself from what's going on, which is like trying to climb a mountain without using my hooves. I look down, close my eyes, and try to imagine it away. Yeah, think about something else. The time we tried to get our cutie marks in hang gliding. Going to Manehatten with Rarity. There we go. Don't think about the soft hooves massaging your back. Don't think about the two sexy, innocent fillies rubbing you down, their hooves exploring your body. Applebloom washing lower and lower, workin at my flanks. Turning around and locking lips with her, tasting her. Scootaloo burying her tongue inside my cunt, lapping at my clit. Diving into Bloom's snatch, drinking up her sweet nectar until she screams my name as I drive her to her first dripping orgasm while Scootaloo shoves her tongue up my ass and nibbling on my lips and—

Oh, who the fuck am I kidding?! I can't imagine this away!

I jump away from their hooves, and shove them both away from me. “Okay girls, seriously, stop! Just let me do this on my own!”

They both give me odd, naive looks. Scootaloo looks irritated. “Well, sorry for trying to be helpful.”

Ignoring the comment I race on to wash the blood off. My brain chugs to find a subject to get my mind out of the gutter. I look at my winged friend and say the first thing that comes to mind. “So... uh, Scootaloo, you probably still have a few questions right? Maybe now is a good time to ask.”

She gives me a weird look. "Really? Now? Isn't this sort of a serious situation?"

"Are you complaining?

"We'll, no but—"

"Then ask away."

She pauses a moment and puts a hoof to her chin. Then she looks at me and says. “What was your dad like?”

My arm locks up and I cease all movement entirely. Well, that certainly kicked the perversion out of my mind. I glance over my shoulder, and see my orange friend staring at me. “What? I was just wondering? Was he like you, or was he... you know... evil?”

“Scootaloo!” Applebloom spits.

“What? I'm just curious.”

I turn away from them, looking at nothing in particular. I shut my eyes and release a sigh. “I honestly wouldn't know. I've never knew him.”

Apple Bloom goes wide eyed. “You never knew him?”

“Never knew him, never seen him, never met him. He could be the devil himself for all I know.”

Scootaloo extends her hoof as if to hold me. “I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—”

“It's okay, you didn't know,” I state. “It's just...”

I release a deep breath, and sink in my sorrow. I look down at the murky red liquid, and see the demonic face staring back at me. I place my hoof gently on the surface of the water. My pure untainted pony hoof could almost connect with the corrupted demonic black one, as if we could reach across and meet each other. Only I push down, and see that nothings really there.

“It's just that I never really like to think about him. I don't know who my father was, and honestly... I'm not sure if I want to know.”

An uneasy silence fills the room, broken only by the occasional drip-drip-drip of the faucet. I can literally hear my own heartbeat in the absence of sound. We continue washing up without saying a word to each other. Our coats are now free of any noticeable blood, and our manes shine in the bright morning light. Then Fluttershy comes waltzing in.

“Hi girls! How's it going in here?”

We all shriek, and my friends scuttle to hide me behind them. “Oh, we're doing just peachy in here Fluttershy.” Applebloom chuckles nervously. “Why don't you wait outside? We're about to get dried off.”

“Oh, but I think I see a little bit left in your manes. Here, let me help you.”

My friends push me and we press ourselves against the back of the tub.

This is bad, this is really bad! I'm tempted to duck my head underwater, but that's a very small and short sighted hiding spot. Fluttershy is getting closer to the tub. Never before have I ever thought such a kind face could be so intimidating. Her large beaming eyes threaten to cut into my soul, her gentle caring hooves are like deadly weapons, and her smile... her smile...

What the fuck is up with that smile?

It's like a bad smear on an otherwise elegant painting. It's big, sharp, creepy I might say; it just doesn't look like Fluttershy. If anything it looks like what one of the pedophiles I hunt for on the streets would have. Sick excitement.

“Um, Fluttershy, are you feeling okay?”

“Never better,” she chuckles. “Now come her, let me get all that filthy blood off you.”

She grabs Applebloom by the arm, and starts scrubbing her back down with a bar of soap, reaching to disturbingly low lengths of her body. Applebloom utters a startled meep in reaction to this.

I feel the clank in my cheeks as my jaw lowers to its widest extant. Scootaloo has much the same reaction. “Fluttershy, thanks, but do we look like babies to you? We can handle ourselves in here, just fine... without you. So, if you wouldn't mind now.” She waves her hoof as if to scoot her out of the room.

“Oh, Scootaloo,” she says as she fondles her mane. “I know you're all big girls, but you also made a very big mess, so I want to make sure you get every nook, and... cranny.” She full on gropes Scootaloo on that last word, making her shriek in a high voice.

My mind splits itself in half, and I pull Scootaloo out of her reach. “Fluttershy! What the fuck are you doing!”

“Uh-oh, Sweetie used a bad word. Mama's gonna have to spank you now.”

Okay, enough bullshit.

“No!”My voice echos with demonic power. “What's gotten into you?! You're acting like some sort of sick freak! Either stop right now, or I'll stop you myself!”

Her smile does not fade. Her eyes retain her luster. She laughs at my threat, a high pitched cackle that makes my skin crawl.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle,” she says, giving me a creepy stare. “You of all ponies should know what's gotten into me. Isn't that right, my little demoness?”

I choke on my own breath. “Wha-what, did you just call me?”

She giggles, then lifts me up under the shoulders.

“Come on, just give up, stop resisting. You know what your true nature is.” She purrs like a kitten, and as it turns out my cheek is her milk bowl.

Luna-fucking-damnit, not again.

While I squirm to get away from her tongue, and from my hormones, my mind is racing a million miles a minute. What the hell is she doing? How does she know I'm a demon? Why is she acting this way? What the fuck is going on?!

I try to push my way out of her grip, but she tugs me into a tight hug. She nibbles on my ear, and I can't stop a soft moan from leaking out my mouth. I begin to feel the moisture between my legs, and through the increasing pleasure I hear the soft voice of Apple Bloom.

“The mirror... Sweetie, the mirror," she whispers furiously.

The mirror? She already knows I'm a demon, what's so important about the...

Well, Luna fuck me on the moon.

There's two things I see in the mirror. One is me, in all my demonic glory. The other is a sickly grey unicorn, with deathly black eyes and razor sharp teeth that are currently nibbling on my ear. I can also see that it's a stallion; at least, I hope it's a stallion, what with that throbbing erection sprouting out of its undercarriage.

I look back at Fluttershy, locking my shocked wide eyes, with her sly lustful ones as she coos in my ear, “Come, why don't we educate your friends in the ways of true demonic fun?”

My face is stuck in a blank stare for a minute, and then I pull together a fake grin. “Oh yeah, sure. Lets do the whole deal. We can break out some wine, have a little fun, and to top it off, you can get out of my friend you perverted piece of shit!”

My demonic bat wings unfurl in a flash of hellfire. I give them a flap that sends us flying into the wall and crashing to the floor. The demon controlling Fluttershy snarls and roars in anger, but I'm far stronger than it. I pin her shoulders to the wall and glare at her while the beast spits out every obscene curse it can think of.

“Release me you bitch! Get your fucking hooves off me, I'll rip your eyes out and feed them to the wolves!”

I remain unintimidated. “Get out of my friend, you monster!”

“Go shove a cactus up your cunt!”

I conjure my demonic energy and latch onto his essence. “I said, get, out!”

My eyes flash red and I blast the spirit full of volatile energy. The beast screams and begins to convulse and spasm, flailing its head against the wall.

“Get out, or I'll send you back to hell where you belong!”

With that final threat the beast finally relents and leaves her body. I take no chances. I use my dark senses and watch the spirit flee, muttering angry curses as it does. Once I'm sure it won't come back, I lower my demonic power and turn to my friends, who both huddle together in the tub, watching me with huge shocked eyes.

Apple Bloom's mouth quivers like she's having trouble speaking. “What-what in the Sam living hay was that?”

“Spirit Demon,” I answer. “Some of the lowest ranking demons of hell, most famous for the ability to possess ponies and control their minds, as you just saw.”

Scootaloo observes from the tub for a few more second, before jumping out and walking up to Fluttershy. She lifts her head finding it completely limp, the gentle breathing in her nostrils being the only hint that she was alive.

“Dear Celestia, what did you do to her?”

“I didn't do anything to her, just the spirit that was controlling her.”

“Will she be alright?”

“Probably. She might be a little nauseous when she comes to, but other than that she should be fine.”

Applebloom joins us, eyeing the mirror just to make sure it was really Fluttershy this time. “That spirit you kicked out of her, what happened to it? Is it still around?”

“No, it flew off. We probably won't be seeing it again any time soon.”

“You let it go! But...” Applebloom looks around timidly, soft beads of sweat forming on her neck. “What if it tries to possess somepony else? You saw the way it was making Fluttershy act, someone could get hurt with that thing on the loose.”

“Doubtful,” I reply. “Usually the way possession works is that the victim needs to let the demon in, either willingly or through certain occult rituals. Without that there's usually some pretty strong defenses in their minds that stop demons from interfering too much.”

“Then how did Fluttershy get possessed?”

I feel my cheeks flare up, and I rub the back of my head. “Well... I'm guessing this is a bad time to mention,'but by hypnotizing her, I may have lowered some of those defenses in her head.”

I spread eagle my lips in a large grin... that fails to wipe the glaring looks off their faces. “Hey, I didn't know there was a demon near by! Hell, this is the first time I've even seen another demon so close to Ponyville! They never come to small towns like this.”

“You did.”

“Well... yeah, but that's different. I'm not looking to cause trouble.” I turn from them and glance out the window to the distant sky. First the big winged fucker that flies over Ponyville, and now a spirit possession. Something odd is happening around here. I may need to visit some friends in Manehatten or Los Pegasus to find out what's going on.

I can't get bogged down with that right now. There's still plenty of other things for me to worry about right now. Namely, the fact that Fluttershy is starting to wake up.

She groans out a low, pained sigh, then starts to press herself up on wobbly hooves. I'm at her side in an instant. “Easy, Fluttershy. Don't strain yourself.”

“What happened?” She moans.

It's times like these I'm thankful that I'm pretty quick with my tongue. “I'm not sure. You got pretty dizzy and then you just passed out on the bathroom floor. We didn't want to move because we were worried you might be hurt. Can you walk?”

“I... I think I can... Oh, my.”

Her head bobbles back and forth and then she stumbles for the toilet. Scootaloo turns her head in disgust; for once, Fluttershy is too wrapped up in her own affairs too care. I place a hoof on her shoulder as she finishes vomiting. “That's it," I coo. "Just get it all out.”

Applebloom comes to my side with equal concern. “She might be like this for awhile. Scootaloo, go get her some water. Sweetie Belle, see if you can find a bucket or something.”

The look she gives me is an unspoken message, and it says, 'get out of the bathroom, now!' Frankly, I couldn't agree more. Still damp from the tub, I step outside and shake out my coat the best I can. It's not hard to find a bucket on Fluttershy's cottage; you need something to carry all that hay and feed, after all.

When I return inside, Applebloom has Fluttershy sprawled out on the couch. She urgently motions me over with her hoof and I can see why. I run over and hand Fluttershy the bucket just in time. I think I see a little chunk of bile fly out of the side.

Scootaloo comes in carrying a glass of water, which Fluttershy graciously accepts. “Thanks girls. I-I think I'll be alright now.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure.”

“Good,” I say with a large grin. “Because, we should probably head home right now. I'm pretty sure my sister is worried sick that I've been gone so long, after that de—uh, thing, flew over town. We'll see you later.”

We hear more sickening gags as we step outside. I feel a tinge of guilt for leaving her like that, but there's only so much shit I can deal with in the same day, and I'm well beyond my breaking point. I sigh and wave my friends onward. “Come on, we still need to get to my house so I can recharge that spell.”

They both nod and follow behind me. I might be acting a little paranoid, but I keep my demonic senses heightened as we walk. After all the surprises I've had today, I'm in no mood for any other unexpected occurrences. Thankfully, the rest of the trip there is not as tense.

We cautiously make our way across town, nervously avoiding any reflective objects or stray animals. Other than a few terrifying moments when we flee from a friendly wave or a smiling 'hello', we make it to the boutique without much trouble.

We scramble to get inside and lock the door behind us. The cozy violet walls shelters us from the world. I lean my head against the door, and breath out my stress. “Too... fucking... close.”

Applebloom gives me a weird look. “Sweetie Belle, what exactly does 'fucking' mean?”

I cringe. Fuck me, that's what it means. “I'll explain it later. Right now lets get upstairs so I can recast the spell.”

They nod in agreement, and we trot up the steps to my room. A ballad of screeching and hissing greats us upon entering.

"Yeah, yeah Opal, nice to see you, too," I reply venomously.

My sister's 'pet', takes cover under my bed where she casts threatening glares at us. She's always been a lot more courageous than most animals in my presence, if not stupider. I'm almost tempted to unfurl my jagged teeth and poke a grin under the bed. That one never gets old.

Instead, I keep my focus on the task at hand. I trot over to my desk and sort through the books. I notice my friends' eyes locked on the mirror in front of me, and the triple horned demon within.

"I'm sorry, but that's just plain freaky. I don't think I could ever get use to that," Apple Bloom states.

"Well thankfully, you won't have to, with a little help from this." I lift up my diary book proudly.

My friends take one look at the cover, gleefully giggling clown pony and all, then share a look. "Uh, Sweetie, this is your demonic book of evil?"

I chuckle while I reach for the drawer and pull out the scissors. "Girls, I live with Rarity, remember? Nosiest pony in town? I have to take a lot of measures to make sure she doesn't see this."

With that I put the scissor blade to my hoof, and drag it across. I can hear the air escaping from my friends' lungs.

"What are you doing?" Scootaloo shouts.

"Relax,” I state calmly. "I'm a demon, cuts like these are just baby pinches to me."

My words quiet them, but don't calm them down, and it doesn't help when I dig my other hoof into the wound. For once, even Scootaloo looks queazy. I take my moistened hoof tip and draw the pentacle on the front cover, then slam my demonically charged hoof down to open the seal. Red, glowing light leaks out the sides of the binding, and vanishes as quickly as it comes.

I open the book, and flip through the pages. "Okay, Lucifer, Lucifer, Lucifer, Lucifer, where are you?"

I scan each page for the right sigil, but don't fail to notice my friends hovering over my shoulder. They stare down in avid fascination.

"So, this is all demonic magick, right?" Applebloom asks.

"Indeed it is."

"Where'd you get this thing?"

I look back at them with pride. “I made it actually. I started several years ago with only a handful of spells, and I've been adding to it ever since.”

“And the clown cover?” Scootaloo asks.

I roll my eyes. “I was four years old back then! It was the only thing I had to write with. You never know though, maybe one day I'll have made a legendary tome that every psycho cultist will want to get their hooves on.”

Scootaloo snickers. “Yeah, the book of the circus clown, how terrifyingly evil!”

I have to support myself on the dresser I'm laughing so hard, despite my best efforts to glare at her. “Okay, I'll admit it's not the best cover, but I actually think that's a good thing. There's some spells in here that could cause a second Armageddon if they fell into the wrong hooves, so it's probably better that the cover be as misleading as possible.”

It takes me awhile to notice the ominous silence in the room. My friends give me wide eyed gazes, their dumbfounded expressions carved in stone. “Beg your pardon, but, what kind of spells do you have in that book, exactly?” Apple Bloom asks.

“All sorts. Some I use more than others, and then there's special ones I save for emergencies.”

“And, are they dangerous?”

“Some of them are, if you're not careful,” I state bluntly. “As I said though, I usually avoid the risky ones unless I seriously need them. Even then I usually put up so many defenses there's very little chance any real harm could happen.”

“Wait, does that mean you have used the dangerous ones before?”

“On a few occasions, yes.”

I try to move on. I flip through the pages of the book, ignoring the looks they give me, but I know their not gonna let me leave it at that. I grunt a sigh and answer before they press me.

“Some years ago, I was being tracked down by a pretty nasty group of demon hunters. I worked with a large clan of demons to fight them, but it was barely enough. They ended up destroying the whole coven, and they almost killed me. It wasn't until I discovered a very powerful ritual that I was able to fend them off.”

“What did the ritual do?” Scootaloo asks.

Thousands of horrible images assault my vision. I close my eyes and struggle to maintain composure while I shut out a months worth of nightmares and bad memories. “It doesn't matter. All you need to know is that it's the most dangerous ability at my disposal and I never plan on using it again.”

Again, they give me that accusing look that demands more information, but they can go to hell this time. There are some things in this world that even I'm disturbed by, which is truly a testament to how sick this world is.

I continue the search for the sigil mark, paying no attention to the two scowling fillies behind me. After a valiant search, I finally find the right one. I smile at the familiar lines, then prepare the to make the incision.

"Just to warn you girls, if that little paper cut earlier freaked you out, then you may want to leave the room now."

Once they connect the dots in their heads I can see a small tinge of shock in their eyes. "Doesn't it hurt doing that?" Apple Bloom asks. "Demons can feel pain, right?"

"We can, it just doesn't bother us as much." Not to mention it's major turn on for us. I push the point of the blade into my chest and start the incision. My companions noticably cringe as I drag it across my chest. We have a moment of silence while I concentrate on copying the exact design. Apple Bloom makes an awkward cough before asking, "So, uh... how many ponies know about this? You know, the whole... demon thing?"

I answer without stopping my cutting. "Other than you girls, just my mom and dad, or, well, Rarity's father, that is."

"Does Rarity know?"

"No, I've thought of telling her before, but I think it's best that she's just left out of it."

Applebloom's gaze widens. "You don't even trust your own sister with this?"

“It's not that I don't trust her," I clarify, trying to stifle the sick pleasure in my voice. "It's just that Rarity is a bit of a gossip and can run her mouth sometimes. I doubt she'd ever give away my secret, but I'd rather not gamble with it." Not to mention that Rarity and Demonic rituals would go together just as well as a conductor in a heavy metal concert.

“And what about those demons you mentioned? Didn't they see you like this?” Scootaloo asks.

“True, but very few of them ever discovered what I normally look like. Besides, most of them died at the hooves of demon hunters years ago.”

The words are blunt and they hit hard enough to cause harm. Scootaloo makes a noticeable gawk, and Applebloom shoots her hooves to her mouth. “I'm so sorry.”

“Don't be, you never knew them.” If you did, you'd be happy that they're dead.

I take up the cutters again and start where I left off. I don't get why they don't just leave the room. They clearly aren't comfortable watching me do this, and honestly, I'm not that comfortable doing it in front of them. With all the feelings this process brings out in me, it's sorta like they're watching me masturbate.

Just power through and get it over with, your almost done. I follow my own advice, and finish quickly, if a little unsatisfied. The mirror shows my demonic counter part, blood dripping from the massive rune that's mapped across her chest. My friend's are at my shoulders, looking curiously at my finished work.

“So, that's supposed keep all those signs from showing up right?" Scootaloo peers in the mirror. "Because It doesn't seem to be working."

"That's why I need to add the finishing touch," I state, before pressing my hooves together and clearing my mind. I summon the demonic energy from the abyss of my soul and concentrate it on the sigil mark. My wounds begin to glow a hellish red color, much to my friends' horror. I moan out in pain and pleasure, as the sigil sinks into my skin and latches onto my soul. There's a brief burst of light from my eyes as the process is completed, and the dark energy vanishes. Once everything settles down, me and my friends look into the mirror, and see my old cute reflection, just the way it should be.

I smile at the reflection, giving my mane a little twirl. "Good to see you again, gorgeous."

"Wow, I can't even see the wound anymore," Scootaloo notes.

"Yeah, it works pretty fast. There should be no evidence of anything as long as this sigil in place."

"Will this stay forever?" Applebloom asks.

"No, it'll last for about a week, and then I'll need to redo it again. Still, it works pretty well. No way anyone will—"

We all jolt when the door to my room suddenly flies open and bangs against the opposing wall. My sister comes rushing into the room.

"Rarity!" I shriek. I quickly slam the sigil book shut and place it face down to hide the bloody pentacle. "You're back."

For a moment I'm frozen with terror that she overheard us, but when I turn around, I see she's not even focused on us. She's currently rummaging through my things in a frantic search. "Um, can I help you, Rarity?"

She turns to us as if she just noticed we were there. "Sweetie Belle, where did you put my suitcase last week?"

My brain locks for a moment. "Oh, yeah, I borrowed it for that sleep over last week. Uh, I think it's under my bed somewhere."

She practically dives under there, as if in search of buried treasure. I use the moment to wipe the blood off the front of the book, and to put the dripping red scissors back in the drawer.

"Ugh! I can't find it anywhere? Why is it such a mess under here, Sweetie Belle!"

"Oh, actually, I think I may have put it back in your room under your bed."

Once again she charges out of the room. I share a glance with my friends before following her into the opposing master bedroom. We find her slamming her suitcase onto the elegant mattress, and rushing to fill it with all manner of clothes, brushes, and other essentials... along with about several dozen not so essentials.

She's currently sorting through her collections of perfume when I finally ask, "Why do you need to pack so much?"

"Can't talk now Sweetie Belle, I only have a little time," she says without turning around. "Hm, should it be 'Diamond Blue', or 'Mystic Essence'? Damnit, I'm taking both."

Now I'm really worried. It's unlike her to use, as she'd put it, 'such unlady like language.' She struggles to close the suitcase and then gets to work filling another bag. I jump up on the bed to get her attention. "Rarity, you're starting to scare me, what's going on?"

She still doesn't stop packing, but I do get answer out of her this time. "I'm heading up to Canterlot. Princess Twilight and Luna have summoned me and the other Elements of Harmony to an urgent security council. I don't know how long we'll be staying there, so I don't know when I'll be back." It suddenly clicks into her brain. "I don't know when I'll be back! Dear Celestia, I'll need to find a baby sitter for you girls."

Ignoring that loathsome statement, I continue pressing Rarity. "An urgent security council? What's going on? Why do they want you up there and..." I suddenly realize something in my sister's words. "And why isn't Princess Celestia summoning you, too? Doesn't she usually handle stuff like this?"

Rarity bites her lips and passes and awkward look between the three of us. "Listen, what's happening right now isn't anything you girls need to concern yourselves with. You can rest assured, everything is—"

"Rarity!" I blurt out. "If this is so big that two Princesses saw fit to gather all the Elements of Harmony together, I'm pretty sure the whole town is going to be talking about it. We're gonna hear about it eventually, so just tell us."

Her shifting eyes turn nervous, and she gulps down air. "Did you girls see the monster that flew over town a few hours ago?"

Scootaloo rolls her eyes. "We didn't so much as see it as go painfully deaf from hearing it. Why do you ask?"

"Well, that monster..." Her eyes flutter nervously one last time. Then she takes a deep breath and spits it out. "It attacked Canterlot, and from what I've just heard, Princess Celestia was almost killed."

Author's Notes:

Hi everyone, bit of news this time around.

Starting about, I don't really know when, I'll be writing a sister fic to go along with this one. Basically, it'll be a story that takes place in the same world, and timeline as this one, but with a focus more on Twilight and her friends hunting down demons. So, basically a view on the other side of the spectrum.

Also, let me make this clear right at the start. It is not necessary for you to read this fic in order to understand what's going on in the other one, or the other way around. The story and world information will be completely explained in both of them, and there will be no need to jump between fics to understand what's going on. At the most, there will be segments in which the two stories overlap, but that's it.

In any case, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and a late happy holidays to all of you. :)

Chapter 5: Departures

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"You know, demons were at one time angels. That's how they started out, guardians of a holy power. Have you ever thought of it that way?"

The stallion doesn't answer me, he simply growls out angered moans before collapsing back on the floor in a gory, bloodstained heap. I frown as he crawls weakly over to me, a silver dagger in his hoof and murder in his eyes.

"There was a time, long ago, when we were the protectors. Demons lived among paradise and served a good cause. Then one day, because of the pride of one being, our entire race would forever live in infamy. Doomed to be viewed as monsters." The words have a weight to them; they drag my spirits down into the pit of my stomach. "It's unfair when you think about it. I was born a creature that was cursed to be shunned and hated by everyone, all because of a fight that ended eons before I was even born. I did nothing to deserve that curse, it was simply my birthright."

I look up from the windowsill, staring off into the vast void of the Manehatten night sky. "I've always had lingering fantasy, to try and recapture that glory. Ascend back into that sacred realm, see for myself exactly what my kind gave up. Redeem just a small part of us."

The enraged snarling grows rampant. "You are far beyond redemption, monster!"

I turn back to stallion. He's standing up, though barely. His whole body trembles in effort, and clutching the knife makes him struggle for balance. The look in his eye drives me further into depression. "Maybe from paradise, yes, but how about from you? Can't you find it in you to have a little sympathy for me?"

"I find it difficult to sympathize with murderers!" He lunges at me, and I simply move to the side. He lodges his blade into the splintered wooden wall, roaring in agony as it connects.

My eyes shift to a more vexed, defensive state of mind. "Yes, I'm a murderer. I'm a murderer of rapists, kidnappers, child molesters, and, of course, other murderers. Isn't that what demons are supposed to do? Punish the wicked for the sins they commit?"

The stallion's only response is to rip the dagger out of the windowsill and to limp back towards me. I release and anguished sigh. "If it makes it any easier, I sympathize with you, in a way. I know how bad my race can get at times, I've seen the way they rape, torture, and kill however they please. Some of them are no better than animals. You're just doing your job getting rid of them, and for the most part I'd say that's a noble goal, but just because I'm one of them doesn't mean I'm loyal to them you know. I've never—"

"Don't try to make yourself look innocent!" The stallion has an insane crack in his voice. "Don't you dare! You're whole kind was made to lie, your whole kind was made to deceive, your whole kind has no other purpose than to feed off of the pain and misery of others! Any kind of sympathy from you is nothing more than bullshit, meant to use my own emotions for your own twisted desires; but I know better! I know better."

I close my eyes to shut out the painful look. "Sir, are sure you want to do this? I mean look at yourself. Your chances would be slim in perfect health, but now you're just signing a death warrant with a bloody knife."

He cackles, almost hysterically. "I will gladly greet death, if it means I send one more of your kind back to hell where they belong!"

He roars with fury and swings the knife down again. I grab it in mid swing, stopping the point inches away from my head. "Funny. If I were you, I'd be more scared about going there myself."

With one twist of my hoof I break his arm, forcing the dagger out of his grip, then with another I rip the arm off entirely. The stallion screams and blood splatters everywhere, painting the drab apartment into a gory work of art. I hold the severed arm in my hoof for a moment, eyeing the dripping blood with an increasing appetite. I take a guilty lick, before turning my focus to the demon-hunter writhing on the floor. He clutches the stump of his hoof in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. I move to stand over him, and he turns his head, shooting pure hatred through tear stained eyes.

"Truthfully, I do sympathize with you," I state, pushing a hoof into his chest. "I hate killing ponies who don't deserve it, but you didn't give me that many options. I almost feel bad doing this."

He spits in my face. "Fuck you!"

I look at him a moment, wiping the bloody saliva out of my eye. "Then again, maybe I shouldn't."

I put my hoof on his face and start pressing down. Muffled screams fill the room, until finally his head pops like a grape.

"Sweetie Belle?" My head jolts upon coming back to reality. "Sweetie are you alright? You've been starin' off into space fer' ten minutes now."

Beads of sweat drip down my forehead. I inhale three strong breaths before I turn to Apple Bloom. "I'm... I'm fine. It's just that demon-hunters, or even the subject of demon-hunting, makes me a little edgy. I-I don't really know how I'm going to handle my sister going out to fight like this."

"Could you two keep it down? I'm trying to listen to this." Scootaloo whispers harshly. She turns back to the outer library window and puts her ear to the glass. Inside, six mares and one baby dragon rant on about plans and strategies. Hearing the conversation may be difficult for my friends, but it would need to be happening thirty feet underground inside a concrete bunker for me to have difficulty. With a little concentration I can make out each word as if they were being said right next to me.

"So, does that mean Princess Luna will be running things now?" Rarity asks.

"For the time being, yes, until Celestia is able to recover."

"But what about raising the sun?" Pinkie asks.

"Celestia took up both stations during her sister's banishment, I'm sure Luna can handle both as well." Twilight inhales a deep sigh. "What I'm more concerned of is this monster that attacked her. It just charged straight into Canterlot, killed over thirty guards, and wounded Celestia. It might have even killed her if me, Luna, and Cadence hadn’t been there."

"So it's strong, and very dangerous," says Applejack. "Do we know anything else about it? Where it went, what it's going to do?"

Twilight shakes her head. "I asked Luna and a few other officials, but it sounds like Celestia was the only one who knew anything about it, or at least that's what we think. She seemed to recognize it when it stormed the throne room."

"But she's out of it right now," Spike states. "And it sounds like no one else in Equestria has even heard of this type of thing before. Seriously, the closest thing that even comes to it is a dragon, but that... thing doesn’t sound like any dragon."

There's slight movements I can pick up with demonic perception that tell me someone is nervous. Small hoof steps, swaying tail, and slight facial cringes that would fly right past the untrained eye; all of which Twilight is making right now. I get the sense that she knows more than she's telling, but I'll need to catch her in an outright lie to be sure.

"Do we even know how to stop this thing?" Applejack asks.

"Well, we do have these babies right here." Rainbow knocks on the glass case displaying the Elements of Harmony. "All we got to do is track down that monster and blast him to next century."

"That would be good, if we even knew where it was, or how to find it," Rarity states bluntly.

Twilight's eyes shift suspiciously between her friends. She gulps down air, then says in a nervous tone, "There is one option we might have, to find the monster. It's just we'd have to work with some... less than reputable ponies."

She looks at the floor, to avoid their gaze

"What kind of less than reputable ponies?" Pinkie asks with rapid speech. "Discord? Chrysalis? Benny, that one really scary looking stallion who orders a bran muffin every day at Sugar Cube Corner and never says hello despite all the ultra funny jokes I tell him?"

I can tell Twilight's brain needs a second to process that one. "No, nothing like that. You see, there's this organization, that was founded by Princess Luna many centuries ago."

My eyes sink into the back of my skull at that description. Oh Celestia no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, please no.

"Her idea was to bring together the best fighters and soldiers in Equestria, and train them even further to handle special targets."

This can't be real, I'm dreaming, or imagining things, or suffering under some really fucked up kind of drug trip. Fate can't be this cruel, it just can't be.

"They've always been known for being brutal, almost bloodthirsty in a fight, and very rarely spare their enemies."

Oh mighty Lord Satan, I know I've never been that loyal of a servant, but I promise to sacrifice six new born lambs in your name if you just use your power and make Twilight say anything, and I mean anything, other than—

"And their called The Order of the Alicorn."

"Mother fu—" I slap a hoof to my mouth before I can scream. I turn from the window and bow my head in the grass, chanting the word 'fuck' like a personal mantra.

"Sweetie, what's going on?"

I look back at Apple Bloom, an insane smile on my lips and slight twitch in my eye. "Oh nothing! Nothing other than the fact that I just heard my sister might be teaming up with the largest and most dangerous group of demon-hunters in existence. Other than that, everything's hunky-fucking-dory."

I have an urge to cry right now.

"Demon-hunters? Whoa, that sounds friggin’ awesome!" It takes Scootaloo less than a second to realizes what she just said. "Uh, I what I mean is... uh, that hunting bad demons, sounds cool. Eh-heh-heh, cause if there's any chance these guys might come after you, then.. well, that would obviously be bad, and I don't have anything against you or any other demons in general, it's just—"

"Scootaloo."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

Apple Bloom wipes the scowl off her face and then turns back to me. "It's going to be fine, Sweetie Belle. They want that monster not you, and besides, didn't you tell us that you've dealt with demon-hunters before?"

"Yeah, but not The Alicorn Order. They're the most powerful hunter clan in the world. If you've got those guys on your trail, there's not a place in Equestria you can hide from them. They'll find you, catch you, torture you, and kill you, end of story." I burry my face in the ground. "And now it sounds like my sister is going to work with them, as if I didn't have enough to worry about."

"Well, it's not really official if they're going to work with them," Scootaloo states, now peeking through the window again. "It sounds like Twilight is the only one who's open to the idea."

"What! Let me see."

I rush to the window and peek over the edge. Sure enough, all the mares are arguing over their newly named partners.

"Call it whatever you want Twilight, to me it sounds like we're teaming up with a bunch of killers," Applejack states.

The princess's expression remains rigid and uncomfortable. "Keep in mind I don't know that much about these ponies myself. I only know what Princess Luna told me."

"And she told you that these are soldiers they send out specifically to kill ponies?" Spike points out.

She doesn't answer that question, only glares at him a second before changing subject. "Look, I know none of you like the idea of working with a group like this, and honestly, neither do I. But Princess Luna insisted that we get their aid. She refused to let us go anywhere near this mission without it. Besides, if what she told me is true, then this group may know more about this monster than anypony else in Equestria."

So she's telling them about the order, but not the fact that they're demon-hunters? That means either she or Princess Luna is lying. I can hear my teeth grinding; it’s really aggravating to be supremely pissed off and not even know who you’re pissed off at.

"I don't see the point though," Rainbow Dash says. "We've taken on all sorts of bad guys by ourselves and we never needed any murder organization to help us. Heck, we faced down an entire army of changelings once, and we barely broke a sweat."

"Uh, weren't you all captured after that?" Spike states.

"Well, yeah, but—"

“And wasn’t it Cadance and Shining Armor who—”

“Okay, okay! I get it. The point is, we’ve beaten the crap out of some crazy-strong bad guys before. We don’t need these spy ponies or whatever.”

"Yeah, and besides there's no baddie in Equestria we can't take down by shooting rainbows at it!" Pinkie Pie proceeds to imitate the sound of the Elements going off. The whole room is one awkward stare.

"Um, yeah. Still, I think Pinkie does have a point there, Twi," Applejack states. "As long as we've got the Elements of Harmony with us I don't see why we need the help."

Twilight's releases an anguished sigh. I scoff at her; you were the one who decided not to tell them about demons, Princess Sparkle-Butt.

She looks down at the floor, and mutters. "It can kill pretty fast."

Confusion spreads to everypony. "Wha-what's that Sugar-cube?"

"It doesn't even hesitate, that monster." Twilight walks slowly around the room, avoiding eye contact with her friends. "When it first entered the throne room, seven guards were on it in an instant, and it... killed every last one of them. Nothing could protect them! Their armor was useless. Spears bounced off its skin, and magick... the thing was immune to magick. It ripped half of them to shreds and devoured all the rest."

The room is taken by unsettling silence. Her words are so grim and bleak it's like she's reading a suicide note. Applejack and Rainbow look a little disturbed, Spike and Pinkie turn pale faced, and Fluttershy is visibly trembling, seeking Rarity for comfort. Even my friends seem to have been affected, both shivering next to me in fear.

Rainbow Dash shakes her head as if to get rid unwanted thoughts. "Twilight, you already told us this thing is dangerous, but so was everything we faced before. Why are you so—”

"Because it nearly killed Celestia!" she blurts. Tears well up in her eyes, and she backs up against the wall. It seems the pressure has finally caught up with her.

"She's in a coma right now girls! She can't move, can't even speak! The doctors aren't sure if she'll ever wake up, but they said she's lucky to even be alive as she is. We almost lost Celestia today... I almost lost Celestia. That... that monster nearly took her from me, and now..." Her voice quivers, her body trembles. She falls down on her haunches and slumps in despair. "And now I'm scared to death that it might take one of you."

I've never heard a room that silent before. Twilight's friends stare at her in pure shock, some with fear.

"Gosh, didn't realize you had all that going through your head," Applejack says. She walks up to Twilight and lays a gentle hoof on her shoulder. "Look, I understand why you're scared Twilight. I think we're all a little on edge knowing that Princess Celestia isn't here. But yah said it yourself earlier, we need to deal with this without her."

Twilight wipes the tears from her eyes. "I know, and that's why I think we should work with this group. Princess Celestia is the most powerful pony in Equestria, and even she looked scared when that thing entered the throne room. If we're going to go after a creature like that, then we should take all the help we can get. I don't want to take any chances on this one, girls."

The unsure look is passed around the room, from one pony to another. Rainbow Dash lands next to Twilight. "Are you sure these ponies can be trusted?"

"Celestia and Luna had a hoof in founding their order. I doubt they'd give so much power and authority to a group they thought would abuse it."

Rainbow spends another moment in contemplative silence, then flashes a confident smirk. "Well, if you and the Princesses trust these guys, then I guess I can, too."

"Same here," Rarity chimes in. "Besides, if they're as bad as you say then someone will have to come along to keep those ruffians in line."

"And you think they'll listen to you?" Applejack chides.

"Style and grace have more bite then you'd think, darling."

Ain't that the fucking truth.

Fluttershy comes skulking up to the group, casting a timid glance at Twilight. "Um... I'll try to be trusting, too... as much as I can, at least."

She doesn't sound too enthusiastic, and I'm not surprised. Fluttershy hanging out with demon hunters? I have to muffle a laugh.

"This sounds like it's going to be big! Like our biggest adventure yet!" Pinkie blurts, jumping about like she's got pogo-sticks for legs.

"So I'm guessing that means you're in, too?"

Pinkie comes to a dead halt in mid-air. "Are you kidding?" She sticks a landing, and then puts her arms around her friends. "Of course I'm in! No amount of killer meanies in the world is going to keep from helping my friends."

Pinkie proceeds to pull them in for a group hug, earning a round of giggles from the other mares. Only one pony is missing from the group, who now has the eyes of everyone on her. Applejack stand looking at them for a short second, before rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Oh, what the hay, you know I'm in, too."

They all cheer and complete their circle of friends. Scootaloo groans at the display. Apple Bloom makes an affectionate coo, and I share the sentiment... at least, until I remember that they just decided to work with a group of ponies who would love nothing more than to rip my soul out and send it screaming to the pits of Hell.

The six mares break from their hug. The Princess is smiling now, though her eyes are still damp.

"Thank you girls. I'll feel a lot safer knowing we're going in prepared."

There's a knock on the door, and a voice shouts out, "Princess Twilight, Lucius will be arriving shortly with your carriages."

"Thank you Captain, we're coming out now," Twilight states. She nods to them before moving to the door.

That's my signal to go. "Girls come on, I want to talk to them before they leave."

We agree with a quick nod and then rush to the front of the library. Several guards wait outside for the Princess, but for the most part ignore us as we gallop to the front door. I come to a sliding halt out front, just as they exit the building. Twilight has a slight surprise upon seeing me. "Oh, hello, Sweetie Belle."

"Where's Rarity?"

"Right here." My sister skirts around the Princess and greets me with a smile. "Sorry if I seemed in a rush earlier dear, important national business and all. Now, was there something you wanted to discus?"

Where to even fucking begin. I've been thinking about this conversation since she told me she was leaving, and I'm still not sure what to say. She's about to go off and fight the most evil creatures to ever walk the face of Equestria. There's so much help I could give her, so much information she could use, things that could potentially save her life. But giving it to her would mean giving away my secret, and after hearing that conversation... The Order of the fucking Alicorn, Satan damn it all to fucking Hell! No, I can't risk anything getting back to them. Demon hunters I can deal with, but I'm not about to bring down the wrath of Celestia on my head.

"Sweetie, is everything alright?" my sister asks, after a long period of silence.

I look up at her, my breath heavy, my eyes quivering with fear.

"Sweetie—"

I hug her. It's the only thing I can do in the situation. Her body stiffens in surprise, but quickly eases when I look up at her with sad eyes. "Please be careful out there."

She stares down at me, then gives me a smile and wraps her hoof around my back. "There's no reason to worry, Sweetie Belle. We'll be fine out there. This whole dreadful business will be over before you know it. I'll be back soon, and we might even be able to work on your Nightmare Night costume."

As if that were all I was worried about. "Just please, Rarity, something really scares me about this monster. I don't want anything bad to happen to you out there."

Her lighthearted expression dies, and grim realization follows. She opens her mouth, shuts it, then repeats the action again, but she's never able to formulate a response.

"Don't ya' worry none about yer sister, Sugar Cube." Applejack comes along side her with a smirk. "She's a lot tougher than she looks, underneath that prissy skin of hers."

"I know that," Rainbow Dash adds. "And besides, we'll be right there with her the whole time. No way some dumb monster is gonna get her while we're around."

"You're gonna be careful out there yourselves, right?" Apple Bloom asks, looking up at her big sister.

Applejack smiles down at her. "Course' I will, somepony needs to be here when ya' get yer' cutie marks."

Apple Bloom outmatches her sister's grin by a landslide. "And I'll be sure to work twice as hard to get it! Better yet, three times as hard!" She jumps up and down in excitement. Applejack rolls her eyes, and brings her down for a hug.

"Alright squirt, remember, just because I'm gone, doesn't mean you get go hog wild crazy." Rainbow Dash states, inspecting her hooves as she speaks. "Keep in mind I won't be here to bail you out if you get into to much trouble, so try to tone it down a bit."

"Me? Cause trouble?" Scootaloo chides. "You're the one going after a big ugly monster out in goddesses no where. How much trouble do you intend to cause?"

Rainbow chuckles devilishly. "Only as much as I need to squirt... and maybe a little more for the hell of it."

Scootaloo bellows laughter. I smile at the scene, and notice Rarity is also smiling. She looks at me with sincere eyes, and whispers. "I will come back, Sweetie Belle, I promise you."

Is it considered lying when you have no idea what you say is true? Fuck it, I know death well enough to realize how fast life can end. When someone this close to you goes off to risk her life, you don't worry about losing all the time you have ahead with her, you soak in all the time you still have left. I hug her again, and she holds me close. My eyes burn with moisture, that I rub out before it can run down my face.

"Now then, while I'm away make sure you behave yourself, and wash up each day. Remember to keep the boutique sign on closed until I get back. Try to go to bed on time, and always make sure—"

Leave it to Rarity to ruin a moment. She rattles on about the chores, and the duties, and the responsibilities she always expects of me when I'm left on my own. Which is weird, actually, because I swear I remember her saying—

"Of course, I'll also have a part-time sitter to look after you as well."

Damnit!

"Which reminds me, Applejack." The orange mare in question turns to us from her sibling. "You said that Granny Smith would be able to watch over the girls, didn't you?"

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't remember saying anything like that," she answers with annoyance. "In all honesty, this trip couldn't a' come at worse time. Harvest is in full swing at the farm, and now Big Mac' and Granny will have to carry the whole thing without me. I was just tellin' Applebloom here to help out wherever she can."

Rarity releases a pained groan, before turning to another friend. "Pinkie? Do you know anyone who'll be able to watch the girls while we're gone?"

"Nope!" she declares without losing her cheery demeanor. "Sorry Rarity, but all the ponies in town are busy getting ready for the party in two weeks."

"Party?"

"The Nightmare Night Festival, duh!" She grins widely. "Last year's festival was so awesome, I don't know how they could even begin to top it! I just really, really, really, hope that Princess Luna joins the party again. No way the place well be the same without her."

Doubtful, considering she's now running the nation.

"Well, this is just not good then!" Rarity moaned. "We're supposed to leave in the next few minutes. Where will I ever find a sitter now?!"

I have a very pleasant grin on my face. "I guess you'll have no choice but just leave us completely on our own, and finally trust us with—"

"Wait, Spike!"

God. Fucking. Damnit.

Almost on cue, the baby dragon appears out of nowhere. "You called my name, Rarity?"

"Indeed I did, you were already going to stay behind to watch our pets like last time, weren't you?"

I muffle a laugh, and earn a glare from Spike. "Yes, I am. Was there something else you needed to say about Opal? Anything that you need done while you're gone?"

The way he bows to her reminds me of an orderly knight, paying respect to his queen. I sometimes wonder if it just runs in the family for mares to use stallions as their personal play toys. Not to be hypocritical or anything. At least Rarity isn’t planning on fucking the life out of him and devouring his flesh.

"I'm glad you asked," my sister continues. "I need a babysitter for Sweetie Belle and her friends while we're away, so would you be a dear and watch them as well while we're gone?"

His beaming face deflates at the request. "Um... I'm not... so... sure, Rarity. I mean watching pets is one thing, but I'm not so good with children."

My eyes fly open in surprise. Well, what do you know? Spike actually does have the ability to say no to my sister.

"Oh, but we won't be gone for long, and besides, you don't need to do everything for them, just make sure they stay out of trouble until we get back."

I can almost see the cringe he fights back at that statement. "Well... I don't know..."

"Please, Spikey Wikey?" She bats her eyelashes, and leans her face in so close to him I'd swear she's trying to bribe him with a kiss.

"Well, um..." Spike's face is tinted red, and he has trouble meeting her eye-to-eye. He chances another peek at her face, and is lost in the stare of a siren. "I guess I can keep an eye on them if you want."

"Oh, thank you Spikey, you have no idea how much of a life-saver you're being right now!" She plants a kiss on his cheek, and just like that he melts in her hooves. I wonder if seduction skills run in the family, too?

My musings are cut short when several shadows zoom over my head. I look up and find three golden chariots descending from the clouds. I note with some confusion that they're being pulled by Luna's night guards, yet the moon princess is nowhere in site. In fact, the only passenger in all the chariots is a tall white earth pony with a bald head, and a cutie mark of an olive branch crossing a sword. He's wearing clothes, so he's clearly a Canterlot pony, and the over confident grin and snooty eyes only confirms that suspicion. He lands just in front of the library, and greets Twilight with a bow.

"Your majesty, we are ready for you. I hope you are prepared."

"We are. Ready girls?" Her six friends reply with confident nods. "Then we're off."

They board the carriages, upon which the Canterlot Pony nods to the guards around Twilight's home. They salute their Princess before marching off to some other station. My sister and her friends begin to wave goodbye, causing guilt to tower up in my chest every second I don't do something. I reach down and feel the small trinket I took from home earlier: a silver owl necklace with large sapphire eyes, and wings that cloak the whole front half of its body. I squeeze the necklace tight in my hoof. Don't be stupid, Sweetie Belle, just don't. It's too risky to give this too her, and it probably wouldn't be much help anyway.

I fight the temptation for a seeming eternity, forcing my legs to remain rooted to the ground. The carriages begin to pull, and as they lift off the ground so do my hooves.

Fuck it, I can't let her go empty handed.

I chase after her with urgent energy. They rise higher into the sky, growing farther and farther out of reach.

"Rarity!" I scream out. I get her attention, and don't let it go to waste. "Catch!"

I chuck the necklace with a small boost of demonic strength. It still falls short of the carriage, but that doesn't stop Rarity from catching it with her magick. The trinket floats up to the ascending carriage and into my sister's pearly white hoof.

"Sweetie, what is this?" she calls back.

"It's a good luck charm that Mom gave me! I want you to have it now!"

My increased perception allows me to make out a faint smile on Rarity's face. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle. I'll keep it close!"

She waves at me one final time, as she disappears into the skyline. No matter how much I try to fight it, I have this feeling like I just let her ride off to the gallows. She seemed somewhat aware of the danger, but anyone can know a battlefield is dangerous; the perspective tends to change when you're actually there. I slump my head until my horn taps the ground. I should've said something, even just a hint or a suggestion would've been good, anything would've been better than letting her go off completely unprepared. Then again, maybe I shouldn't worry too much. She will have the experts to consult, I'm sure they have plenty of information at... The Order of the Alicorn. Cocksuckers.

"Alright girls, I might not know too much about babysitting, but I intend to make Rarity happy," Spike states in the most authoritative tone his baby dragon voice will allow. "I'll be keeping a close eye on all three of you. Don't try to slip anything by me or cause trouble, because I will catch you. I'll be looking both ways at all times so don't even think you can—"

"Spike!" I look at him dead in the eye, pouring so much energy into my hypnosis abilities I'm risking turning him into a mindless zombie. "Why don't you go inside, and watch the pets for a little while."

Thankfully, the effect is less like an undead corpse, and more like a child severely scorned by their mother. He backs away slowly from my fierce gaze, before sprinting into the library in terror.

The anger sticks on my face for sometime, even when my friend's stare at me with unsure looks, it still refuses to leave.

Scootaloo clears her throat. "Sweetie Belle, as much as I admire those awesome powers of yours, don't you think that was a little... harsh?"

I don't feel like I can answer that question without yelling, so I turn from them and start up the road out of Ponyville. My friends verbally question where I'm going, but eventually fall in behind me after several unanswered inquiries. I sprint across the bridge that leads out of town and run the rugged dirt road through a shrouded wood. I don't really have any particular place in mind to run for, just that I need to get away from the eyes of others. Luckily, I hit a perfect spot for just such an occasion: the Ponyville cemetery.

I trod through rows of tombstones, feeling as though my head were about to burst open. I spy a large statue of Celestia in the center of the place, wings outstretched and a smile on her face. The sun shines down upon her, as though to make her appear the most pure and beautiful image in all of Ponyville. Fuck that statue!

I grit my teeth and glare murder at the stone image. My mouth opens, I roar out in anger, and charge forward to pummel the statue. I smash its legs causing it to topple over and break in half on the ground, and then I proceed to unleash all my remaining anger on its face, watching the smiling lips disappear into dust underneath my hooves.

"Whoa, whoa, Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo has to pull me away from the desecrated statue. "Calm down, everything's going to be fine."

"No, everything is not going to be fine! In fact, I don't know if this could be worse!" I stumble back, still pissed and unable to fully vent the emotion. "Order of the mother fucking Alicorn! I should've known they'd be involved with this! Why wouldn't they be?! They were already involved in every, single, mother, fucking catastrophe before this point, why not now!"

I'm having trouble standing up I'm trembling so much. My bloodshot eyes have a pulse, and I can't hear anything other than my own heavy breathing. I almost jerk when Applebloom lays a hoof on me.

"Okay, Sweetie Belle, yer' scared, we know and we understand, but you can't go off punchin' statues in the face like this. Somepony is gonna notice."

I realize that she does have a point. Chances are ponies aren't going to like seeing a statue of their recently wounded Princess desecrated like this. "Sorry. I usually can't stand demon-hunters in general, but The Alicorn Order is in a league of its own."

"Yeah, I think we got that impression." Scootaloo rubs a part of the broken statue, only to snap part of its horn off. "Why exactly are you so scared of them again?"

"I told you, they're the largest and most powerful demon-hunter clan in Equestria, most likely the whole world. It's run by by Princess Celestia, or at least it was until Luna came back. More to the point, our sisters just signed up to work alongside the most dangerous and ruthless team of killers ever put together in recorded history. Expert assassins, skilled trackers, and a wealth of knowledge on demonic activity and behavior, all for the sole purpose of hunting down and killing demons."

"So, I'm guessin' that if these ponies find you it'll be bad news, right?" Applebloom asks.

"In the sense that waking up a sleeping Hydra might mean you're in a bit of trouble, yes."

"Well, I guess it's good that they're just after that demon that attacked Canterlot. It sounds like if ya' just stay quiet enough, there shouldn't be any problems."

"Yeah, except..." I stutter a moment, wondering how the hell I can explain this to them. "Let me ask you something girls, why would a demon want to kill Celestia?"

Their expressions tell a story, and it goes, 'fuck if I know'. "Beats me, why does you... uh, why do demons do anything like that? I thought they were just against goodness in general?"

"It may have been like that a long time ago, back when they had an enemy they hated enough to kill themselves over, but things are little different now. Most of the demons you see in Equestria are of lower ranks in Tartarus; grunts who can only cause all the trouble their power will allow. Sure they can do a few random murders and other crimes they can get away with, but assassinating a Princess is a little beyond them. Meanwhile, most of the demons that actually have that kind of power spend their time in Hell, either taking their frustrations out on the lost souls trapped down there or brooding about a fight they lost millennia ago. I don't even think they care about what happens up here anymore."

They drink in the information with no shortage of surprise. I guess hearing that all evil legends you were told wanted to feast on your bones actually no longer give a fuck about what you do sorta has that effect. Applebloom clears her throat. "That's interestin' and all, but what's it got to do with the Order finding you?"

"Think about it a moment. For the longest time all those powerful legendary demons just stayed down their, minding their business and ignoring everything that goes on up here. Then all of a sudden, this massive beast of a demon more powerful than anything I've ever seen before or ever heard of for that matter, shoots across the sky like nobody’s business, and tries to kill the most powerful pony in Equestria." My head turns all directions. "It makes no sense. Why would a demon that powerful just suddenly come flying out of nowhere and attack like that? And then there was that Spirit that possessed Fluttershy earlier. That was first demon I've seen in Ponyville the entire time I've been here, other than our failed Princess killer, of course."

"Okay, so a few demons have popped up, and they did what most demons do, which is raise hell wherever they go," Scootaloo states. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm saying that I think these two events are related." I look them straight in the eye, hoping I can glare understanding into them. "Don't you see? This is the first time in who knows how long that a demon of that power has set foot in Equestria, and what's its first course of action? Attempt to assassinate Princess Celestia. I don't think that was a single event, I think that was a declaration of war, and that Spirit demon we encountered was only the first foot soldier."

Realization dawns in their eyes, and is quickly followed by the horror of the situation. Scootaloo face is visibly losing color. "So you're saying there could be a whole army of demons invading Equestria?"

"Maybe," I state cautiously. "I know something big is happening, I just don't know how big. It's clearly large enough to get demons coming through a small town like Ponyville, and the more activity we have here, the more of a chance that we might get the Order's attention."

"Which means more of a chance they'll find you," Scootaloo finishes. "So then what do we do? If there is an army out there, how would we even know about it, or fight it for that matter?"

I scratch my chin and think for a moment. "Well, the demon that attacked Canterlot was one of the most powerful demons I've ever seen. Something of that caliber would probably be well known in Tartarus, so if I could just find out who he is, then we might know more about what we're dealing with."

"And yer' sure we're dealing with somethin' serious?" Applebloom asks. "Don't get me wrong, I know yer' the expert and all, but don't ya' think that jumping from one little possession to full fledged invasion is a little much?"

"The timing was too perfect. I might be less suspicious if this had happened on any normal day, but Princess Celestia was almost assassinated by a demon earlier. I don't think it's a coincidence Fluttershy was possessed today, and I don't intend to..." I look over shoulder at the rows of gravestones, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. "Girls, do you hear something?"

They listen attentively for a few seconds, but eventually shoot me strange looks after a moment of silence. "What exactly do ya' think you hear?"

"Shhh! Listen." The cemetery may be peaceful to them, but I know I hear something. It's faint, very far off probably, but the noise is unmistakable. It sounds like a voice, I think sounds urgent, like whoever it is is in trouble, almost like—

"Graaaahhh!"

Screaming, so much screaming! It fills the graveyard like some hideous choir, singing death and pain in our ears. If my friends didn't hear it before they definitely hear it now. I flatten my ears against my head and shout to be heard over the horrid opera of cries. "Where's it coming from?!"

"I don't know, just get it to shut up!" Scootaloo shrieks, folding her ears down against her skull.

"Sweetie Belle!" Applebloom points a hoof to one of the graves, where the dirt in front of it moves like squirming insects. We watch transfixed as the earth becomes more and more loose, until finally it bursts apart, and a disfigured hoof juts out of the ground.

Scootaloo's pupils shrink into the back of her skull. "Zombie!"

She and Applebloom rush behind me for use as an Equine shield. I stare unblinking at the creature in front of me. It's a gruesome sight to behold, with cracked grey flesh peeling off its bones and a putrid smell of decay swarming around it. Its eyes are white, but I notice that there are tears streaking down them. The creature opens its mouth and continues to scream: it's the most awful sound a pony's voice is capable of making, like he's being mauled by a hungry bear.

It scrambles to pull itself from the dirt, and runs towards us upon freedom. I'm ready to cave in its skull, only for the creature to turn from us, and run screaming at the top of its lungs into the forest. We watch it go for a moment, and before any of us can question what the fuck we just saw, another ugly bastard pops out of the dirt. Then another, and another, until the whole graveyard is full of screaming zombie ponies who flail themselves about in any direction that isn't here. It's anarchy, and even I'm having trouble finding something to make of it.

"Sweetie, what the sam hay is going on?" Applebloom shouts.

"I don't—"

My voice is drowned out by a monstrous roar. Something low pitched and ravenous that no natural creature could've produced. For a moment there is silence, I never knew silence could be so satisfying. Then all hell breaks loose. Something rushes out of the forest at speeds even I have trouble following. It tackles one of the undead ponies to the ground and traps it underneath its large heavy paw.

My heart skips a few beats upon seeing it. It's a wolf, but nothing like what lives in Everfree. This thing is at least twice as big as any timber wolf, and it has four blood red eyes, arranged in a block pattern. Its fur is gnarled and black, with a ghostly essence rising off of it. It stares hungrily down at its squirming prey, with disgusting black drool running down its jaws.

The zombie pony has a look as though it just lost all the remaining sanity it had. "No! Please don't, No!"

Flames suddenly sprout up from ground, forming a neat circle around the victim.

"No! Oh God please, I can't go back, I can't!" Tears stream down his eyes, and he sobs between shouts for mercy. "Please, anything but this please!"

The wolf opens its jaws wide—

"Nooooooooo!"

—then snaps them shut on the pony's neck. Evil red lights flashes from the ground underneath. Screams of agony emanate from within that make my very soul convulse in terror. The pony lets out one more pleading cry before the wolf drags him through the hellish portal, and vanishes forever.

Me and my friends stand like frozen statues, the ability to move has been ripped out of us by the sheer horror of what we just saw. All around us more undead ponies scream and continue to crawl out of the ground, but it's not until we hear more of those blood chilling roars that we're snapped from our trance. Dozens more wolves come charging out the forest at demonic speeds, and all look at the recently resurrected ponies with starving eyes.

"S-S-Sweetie Belle, what are those things?" Apple Bloom's voice is frail, as if she's on the edge of insanity.

I'm having trouble maintaining my own mind as well, and I speak more to tell myself this is true more anything. "Hellhounds, those are fucking hellhounds!"

Chapter 6: Of Wolf and Demon

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“Applebloom, Scootaloo, I want you both to listen to me very carefully and do exactly what I say.” My words are quiet, but firm and clipped like a military captain. “If we don’t take care of this quickly, there’s a very big chance that these Hellhounds could wind up chasing these ponies through town, and cause a whole national crisis. Applebloom, I need you to run back to my house and get my spell book and saddle bags, I’m gonna need them afterward.”

Applebloom nods with no small measure of relief, I’d imagine she’d like to be as far away from here as possible.

“Scootaloo, I need you to watch the road. If you see anypony coming this way for any reason, do whatever it takes to stall them. Turn them back if you can, but make sure they don’t reach the graveyard. I don’t care if you have to break their legs, they do not make it here, got it?”

She raises a hoof in salute and sprints off to follow my orders. Applebloom’s response is less immediate, hesitating just a moment to ask, “And what are you going to do?”

I stare back at her, my pupils narrowing into lizard like slits, and fangs slithering down from the top of my lips. “What do you think I’m gonna do?”

Her eyes widen another inch or two. She gulps down air, before nodding and running off towards town.

I turn back to the chaos in the cemetery. Condemned ponies scream and wail hysterically as the four eyed mutts descend upon them. I watch another pony crawl out of the dirt, only to be met by one of the Underworld guardians which promptly grabs him in its jaws and drags him screaming through the fiery portal. The sight unnerves me, and I chastise myself for it.

Come on, stay focused, you can’t let any of this shit get to you. Gotta make sure none of these guys leave the cemetery, or worse, run through Ponyville. Better start with the ones near the road.

I scan the area, and almost immediately see one of the brutes chasing a victim into the forest. The wind whistles around me as I charge forward, smashing into my target with the force a train engine. I burry my jaws deep into its throat and nearly tear its whole head off as I rip it out. The hound dies with a high pitched yelp, which garners the attention of the rest of the pack.

Here comes the horde.

The sting of hellfire spreads across my back as my jet black wings appear. These creatures are known for speed and cunning pack strategies, so I won’t last long on the ground. Dozens of hounds charge at me like blurred black lines. I give my wings a powerful flap and shoot up into the air like a rocket. I twist myself to line up my trajectory, and then dive full speed into the mob. I fly through the small army, slicing up two hounds on my way, and then arch back upward to the sky before they can jump on me.

I continue this strategy for some time, diving in and out of the pool of demonic dogs, always exiting with a fresh coat of blood smear across my face. It seems like it’s the only strategy I’ll need, but that’s the thing about demons: even the lesser ones are smart as hell in a fight.

I start to make another dive, when out of the corner of my eye I catch one hellhound leaping into the path of my flight. There’s only enough time to put up my hoof, which the dog promptly clamps its jaws down on. I’m screaming the whole way back up, dragging the vicious hound with me. It’s claws cut into my back, and I feel its teeth scrape against bone. It attempts to pull me in, to get my whole body in its mouth, but I spear its bottom jaw with my free hoof and rip it off of its face. The beast shrieks and whinnies in pain, drooling blood all over me. I follow up by plunging my hoof into its chest and ripping downward to split its whole body open. Several black organs and shattered bones spill out, splattering onto the ground below for the rest of the pack to fight over. Life keeps its residence in the hound I’m holding for another brief moment, before its eyes shut and I let the empty husk fall to the ground.

My wounds heal quickly and I’m given time to think. Okay, plan B! What the hell is plan B? Lets see, there’s still too many to risk facing head on, and fire won’t be too useful against creatures that drink lava and eat charred corpses. Come on Sweetie, think damnit!

I pound my hoof into my head, as if that could somehow kick start it into operation. I look around in some hopeful notion that something on this mortal realm could vanquish an eternal creature, and that's when I realize that not everything around me is of this plane. The dogs below me are still hungrily devouring their fallen companion, lapping at the pools of acidic blood and fighting each other over some of the intestines.

That's right! Hellhounds are complete savages when it comes to food, they'll kill each other over a meal.

My face is plagued with a gleeful grin. It takes me no less than five seconds to scoop up an unwary Hellhound that's busy gnawing on raw organs. I snap it's neck in mid flight, and then start ripping off its limbs.

"Chow time, bitches!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

I throw each of the limbs in separate directions, and they react exactly how I expected. The pack breaks off into several smaller, much less dangerous groups. My sadistic laugh echoes as I dive in for a bloodbath. First I take the smallest group, decapitating two of the savage mutts in one swing, then move on to a larger group of five. Three fall to several quick swipes from my hooves, another gets its head ripped in half before it can counter, but the last one is a bit trickier. He gets in a lucky shot to my face, nearly gouging my eye out with its long claws. The blow stuns me for a moment, which it uses to jump at me, jaws open wide, but I manage to recover in time roll underneath it and sink my teeth deep into its chest. Its shrieks of pain turn to horrid cries as I shoot upward into the sky. Once airborne, a plunge both hooves into the already heavily bleeding wound, and tear the beast in half right down the middle.

Never having been one to waste good material I fly across the graveyard, allowing the bloody intestines to spill out everywhere below me in a grotesque red shower. It's like ringing a dinner bell.

Hellhounds flock to the line of spilled gore and begin viciously devouring what's left. They're so focused on the food that they don't even notice me swing in for the kill. I extend my wings out as far as I can and arc my flight for a strafing run. My hooves are swift and cut through heads, necks, and skulls left and right, leaving no shortage of sticky red mess wherever I go. Their numbers decrease, enough to the point where I can relax and take more enjoyment out of each kill. I lick the blood at my lips; Hellhounds sure know how to bleed.

I snap my jaws shut on the neck of another hound, tearing its head off with a violent jerk, then swerve around for my next target. I spot him eating from the corpse of one my newest victims. I charge at him, hooves raised and dark excitement on my face, when he spins around, taking the massive body in his jaws, and throwing it at me.

It collides head first with me, and I’m thrown off course. The ground is strict and unforgiving when I land, digging a new grave with my face. My vision spins and tilts every which-way as I stagger to my feet, only to be forcefully reintroduced with the ground as a Hellhound jumps on me. Slobbering wet jaws take hold of my wing, and bite down with enough force to bend steel.

Pain! Seven names of Satan, so much pain! Tears come to my eyes and cry out loudly enough to wreck my voice. The dog yanks upward, and I feel both bone and skin come loose. Screaming with agony, I force myself up and punch the Hellhound in the jaw. It allows me to escape, but I quickly learn the extent of the damage. My left wing hangs from the jaws of the Hellhound, before being scarfed up and swallowed down whole.

Shit this is bad! I could heal a broken bone in an instant, but a severed limb is gonna take time, the one thing I don’t have at this moment. There are only five Hellhounds left, but without any more distractions or my flight... it seems like the pooch is gonna be screwing me this time.

The remaining hounds surround me, circling like vultures to a corpse. They stare me down, snarling and drooling foul black saliva. I’m stuck to the dirt, baring my teeth while trying to keep all the hounds in my line of vision; a task that I fail miserably at. Somewhere in my mind, I realize that this must be a hilarious sight: five giant beasts from the depths of Hell itself circling around a tiny filly who is trying desperately to intimidate them. I barely manage to catch a glimpse of the Hellhound before he blindsides me.

Somehow, I manage to get my hooves inside its jaws before he can close them around my neck, and I separate the top part of its skull from its body, creating a fountain of blood from the neck stump. Two more hounds jump me from the side. I decapitate one, roll under the other, and run for it.

There are still three more hounds to deal with, and I’m quickly getting a sense of their infamous speed. Running soon becomes less about getting away and more about keeping the momentum to dodge their attacks. Every time I look another direction there’s a pair of claws or a gaping maw ready to tear my head off. There’s never an opening for me to counter, never an opportunity to get away, it’s either keep moving or die.

This is ridiculous, I’m getting my ass kicked by a bunch of dogs, for fucks sake! Growling with anger I take a swing at the next Hellhound that comes near me. My hoof smashes clean through his head, but I fail to withdraw it before another hound jumps on me.

Claws dig into my chest and pin me to the ground. I grab ahold of the dog’s jaws, fighting through screaming pain to keep it away from my head. I’m making progress forcing it back, but I can’t help but be distracted by the sight of the final Hellhound closing in on me. It strides its way over to me, displaying rows of crooked sharp teeth, and breath that smells of decaying fecal matter.

Well, Hell probably won’t be all that bad. Who knows, I might even make some new friends down there.

I laugh nervously. Still struggling with hound on my chest I grin up at the approaching one. “Come on, you stupid bitch! I’m waiting!"

It seems all too eager to comply. Its jaws open wide, its tongue is close enough to drool saliva on me, when somepony clonks it in the head with a stone. The beast flinches at the assault before shooting a glare and snarling at its attacker.

“Hey there, you stupid mutt! Like filly food, do yah? Well, I’ve gotta a fine sample right here for you!”

I clench my eyes shut at that voice. Please don’t tell me. But sure enough, I turn and there Scootaloo is, shaking her ass for the slobbering bitch. “Damnit to hell, Scootaloo!”

I barely have time to react. I twist my hooves as hard as I can, snapping the Hellhound’s neck so violently that I nearly tear its head off. With less than a second to spare I take the now limp corpse and throw it at the last Hellhound just as it lunges for Scootaloo. The two bodies collide in midair and crash literally inches away from my dumbass friend. It buys me just enough time to rush in and jump on top of the still living Hellhound as it reaches for Scootaloo.

I wrap one hoof around its neck and gouge its eyes out with the other. The beast thrashes around and howls in agony, but with no one left to help it there’s no way its getting away now. I grab the ears and tear the skin off its head, then proceed to crack the skull open like an egg until I can finally break off a sizable chunk, then finish it by taking a big bite out of its brain. The hound twitches and stutters for a moment before collapsing in bloody heap on the ground.

I swallow the large chunks of brain, then check to make sure the thing is dead. Once I’m satisfied with its current state I look up at Scootaloo. She sits back on her haunches, blood sprayed on her face, and a look in her eye somewhere between traumatized and… I’m not sure, amazement? I really don’t like it.

Ignoring her fucked up mental state for minute I turn my attention to more pressing concerns, growling as I do. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You were supposed to be watching the road!”

She looks at me, but doesn’t answer.

“Hello! Equestria to Scootaloo, do you read me? Mind explaining what the fuck was going through your head right now!”

She jolts as if suddenly waking from a nap. “Wha-what?”

“Head! What was going through yours?! Do you understand me?! What the hell made you think attacking demon of hellspawn could in anyway be a good idea?!”

“You… you were in trouble, I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.”

“Scootaloo, do you have any idea what that Hellhound would’ve done to you if I hadn’t gotten to it in time? Don’t even ask, because you probably wouldn’t sleep for several weeks.”

The timid expression on her face is thrown off and replaced with one of anger. “Oh, and like you wouldn’t have done the exact same thing!”

“You threw a stone at its head! I would’ve skinned the thing alive. There’s a pretty big difference in how we approach our problems there, don’t you think!”

“What does that mean?!” she demands. “You think just because you’ve got powers means you gotta do all this yourself! That just because I’m not a demon means I can't help, can’t even save my best friend when she’s in trouble!”

“This isn’t a game Scootaloo! It’s not like one of our crusades where if you fuck up you can just move on and try harder next time! You get one chance to do it right or you dead, end of story!”

“Exactly, so why are you so pissed that I stepped in when you were obviously losing? I don’t care how well you say you were handling yourself, it looked like you were about to get eaten!”

“I don’t need you risking your life to save mine!”

“And I don’t need you treating me like I’m fucking useless!”

The words echo into the distance. We stand like two statues glaring into each other’s eyes, so close together we can feel the breath of the other slide across our faces. The whole world is shut out around us; all that exists is me and her, glaring defiance at each other. Time has come to a dead halt, or so we’d like to believe.

“Sweetie Belle, I’m back!” I look up the road and see Apple Bloom coming with my spell book under hoof and saddlebags in tow. “Sorry I’m late. I had a bit a’ trouble finding yer’ saddlebags, I guess you dropped ‘em somewhere when yah’ ran off after schoo—”

She pauses in mid sentence upon seeing the carnage. She looks down at us, back at the carnage, then back at our panting expressions, which are dripping with sweat and blood. “Is this gonna’ be a regular thing with the two of you? I’m just gonna’ come in after these gruesome battles and find yah' makin’ out in pools of blood?”

My hoof comes to my face so hard I’ll probably find a mark there later on. She’s picking up my sense of humor. I don’t know whether to be worried or relieved.

I sigh and walk passed a crimson faced Scootaloo on my way to Apple Bloom. “Lets try to stay focused, I’d rather not spend anymore time here than I have to.”

I take the saddlebags and spell book from her, then turn back to the bloody scene of the cemetery. I sit down right where the blood spill begins, then bite my hoof hard enough to make it bleed. After going through the process of drawing the pentacle and unlocking the book, I flip through to the back of the book where the more advanced rituals are stored.

"Sweetie Belle, your wing!" Apple Bloom gasps.

The twitching stump that was once my wing is still visible on my body. "Don't worry, it'll grow back with time. We've got other things to worry about until then."

Apple Bloom looks unsure, but doesn't question me. Instead, she takes my advice and looks over the bloody mess of the graveyard. "This is terrible. What happened to those zombie ponies that were around earlier?” Apple Bloom asks.

“More than likely they fled the instant they got the chance. Can’t say I blame them. Any amount of time spent in hell is probably enough to make you go insane.”

“Hell? What do you mean by that? Are you saying everypony we saw just now broke out of Tartarus?”

“Pretty much.”

“So everypony in this graveyard went Hell?”

“I said they broke out of Tartarus. I never said they went back to their original bodies.”

Silence ensues for a moment while my friends wrap their minds around the full horror of that information. “That’s awful. Sweet Celestia, now I feel sorry for those poor ponies. Is there anything you can do to help them at all?”

“I’ve already done all I can by slaughtering these Hellhounds. I can’t get involved any further without attracting more attention to myself, and that’ll be bad for everyone. Sorry Applebloom, but those ponies are gonna have to fend for themselves now.”

“Do you think they’ll make it?”

My eyes close reflexively. Will they make it? Doubtful. I may have killed the Hellhounds that were waiting for them, but one of the biggest differences between these creatures and other demons is they’re one of the few that can just walk right out the gates of Hell as they please. Chances are this whole pack will be back on their trail within a few short hours. Honestly though, as long as they stay out of Ponyville I couldn’t care less. Hell, it was no accident that I started the fight so close to the road; it was a small incentive I gave them to run the opposite direction. Maybe it’s a little harsh, but those ponies wound up in Hell for a reason, and I can’t risk bringing anymore attention to this town than there already is. Though I doubt Apple Bloom will understand that.

I look back at my friend, an expectant look in her eye as she continues to wait for my answer. I breath out softly and turn my head back to the spell book. “If anypony noticed something up here then they’ll be coming soon. We need to be out of here by then.”

It’s rude and not very subtle, but it’s all I’ve got, and thankfully it’s enough to subdue her worry. She gives me a leary look for a moment, but eventually drops the matter.

Finally I can get back to what’s important. I find the sigil I’m looking for, the mark of Beelzebub. I dig through my saddlebags and pull out one of the few things in there that actually looks like something a sweet innocent filly like me probably shouldn’t have in her possession. The old ceremonial atheme gleams in the sunlight. It’s made of silver, but lacks any sign of demonic influence like so many others do. I run it through the still open wound on my hoof, moistening the blade with blood. Usually I like to use the less conspicuous scissors for rituals, but the heavy duty blade is definitely called for here. I stab the dagger into the earth, and carve the sigil deep into the soiled dirt. I check the book repeatedly to make sure I’m copying the sign exactly. Once I’m done, I sheath the blade and then place the book right in front of me.

I extend my hooves out over the sigil and shout with a voice echoing demonic energy, “In nomine Domini Beelzebub, principe Gula, Dominus interiturum. Lubeo naturalis virtutis. Adsis praenuntiae mortis! Vorabit carnem mortuorum conchis reddituros quibus venerant ad terram! Sic erit!”

The air turns stale and dark chills run down my spine. There's a faint glow that emits from the sigil I've carved, the energy making it shift and turn as though it were an actual living entity. The corpses of the Hellhounds suddenly begin to vibrate. Their limbs move, but not in any natural way, even for a demon. Their skin crawls in unsettling manners, and when the source of the disturbance finally reveals itself, my friends scream.

Maggots, hundreds and hundreds of maggots squirm underneath the dead hounds' skin. They burrow out of their flesh, crawl out of their mouths, and dig into their eyeballs. There's so many of them that within a few short minutes most of the corpses collapse into nothing, and I mean nothing. Not even the bones survive this treatment, and the blood that once made a sea of red is quickly suck dry out of the dirt. When all signs of death wither away, so do the maggots. The entire army of disgusting creatures quickly vanishes, slithering into the dirt, never to be seen again.

The only signs of death now are the tombstones that decorate the landscape. Some might think the disturbed earth is suspicious, but it’ll take a lot more than that to attract the Order's attention. Satisfied with my work I turn to my slightly traumatized friends, cracking a smile to my face.

“Okay, all done here. Let’s go.”

Their heads jolt back into reality. Scootaloo is pretty quick to shake the disturbed look off her face, Applebloom is a little slower. She stares at me with huge unsettled eyes. “Um… what other kinds of spells do you have in there again?”

“Anything that can be useful really." That doesn't ease her horrified expression one bit. "They're demonic rituals Applebloom, were you expecting sunshine and butterflies?"

"No, it's just..." Her face twists in disgust. "Never mind, lets just go."

"Um, yeah, about that, I'm not too sure about this, but I have a sneaking suspicion that somepony might think something is a little out of place with us if we walk through town." Scootaloo states, rubbing her blood soaked face as she does.

"No worries, just requires a remedy from my magick bag," I state, digging into my saddle bags. I pull out thirteen black candles, and set them out in a large ring. “Care to join me?”

I almost swear that Scootaloo can teleport, she's by my side that quickly, smiling like a maniac. Funny, she acts all pissy earlier, but then I wave a little demonic magick in front of her... actually that might be more cause to worry than laugh.

Apple Bloom however is far less open to the idea. She stares at the candle ring the same way she'd stare at a bubbling tar pit. "Is this really necessary?"

"Does it look like we can just walk back through town?" I retort, shrugging my blood drenched shoulders.

"Come on, Applebloom, this'll be so cool!"

The farm filly makes an audible gulp. She continues looking at the circle ring, curiosity mixed with apprehension swimming in her eyes. Finally, she moves slowly into the ring, and joins us on our haunches.

"Glad to have you aboard." I clap my hooves together, sending a wave of demonic energy to light all the candles at once. "Now, normally this ritual is supposed to be performed by one pony, but it's pretty easy to adapt it to three. I want you to close your eyes, and keep your minds clear. No matter what you hear or feel, don't open your eyes and don't think of anything. Keep your minds completely blank no matter what."

They nod their heads, and close their eyes. I give them a little time to adjust to this state, then begin the ritual. I bite down into my hoof once more and squeeze the blood into the center of the circle. The old power is ignited and a glowing inverted pentagram appears beneath us. I join my friends in their meditation, taking a deep breath and emptying my head. I fall into a trance, then picture the bathroom of Carousel Boutique. I rub my hooves together and exhale a large breath. Demonic energy rises and a sensation encompasses me like I'm being lifted out of my own body.

"S-Sweetie Belle?"

The sensation begins to wither. "Ignore it girls, don't think of anything."

Apple Bloom shuts up and I'm able to concentrate again. The feeling rises up again and it's like we're spinning. Whirring motion and blinding speed takes hold, and were lost in space. For a moment I'm not sure if it'll work due to my friends interference, but then the movement dies down and we come to a jarring halt. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo open their eyes, blinking at the sight of my bathroom walls.

"This is officially way past awesome! What other spells do you have in there? Is there like some sort of invisibility ritual, or mind reading spell, or maybe..." My grin gets bigger and bigger as Scootaloo goes on. She eventually notices, does the math in her head, and resumes being angry at me.

She can be so cute sometimes.

“I’ll admit, that was somethin’,” Apple Bloom states. “Although, was there any particular reason you jumped us into the bathroom?”

“Oh yes, and an extremely important reason, too!” I look at her big wide eyes, and intense seriousness. “Blood stains are nearly impossible to get out of carpet, and I don’t need Rarity throttling me for disrupting the sanctity of her home when she gets back."

They both chuckle. "Yeah, I guess you and I could do with another bath."

"Shower! Uh, yeah how about we shower this time, separately." No way in hell am I going through that awkwardness again.

"Um, alright, sure whatever." Scootaloo shrugs. She trots up to the shower and turns the knob for the warm water. She looks beyond relieved to rid herself of the red substance.

"So what do we do now?" Apple Bloom asks. "I'm not gonna question that somethin' weird is happenin' after seein' that stuff in the graveyard. So what do we do to stop this stuff?"

The sigh comes out of my lips with weight. "Again, it would help if I knew more about what we're up against. There’s a few places around Equestria I can go to for info, can’t be too hard to find out. Attempting to assassinate Alicorns tends to make you famous.”

Silence stretches on after that. Nothing to hear other than the soft splatter of shower water.

“Say that this demon that attacked Celestia came here. Do you think you’d be able to take it?” Scootaloo looks over her shoulder, red tinged liquid running down her back. “I know you’re powerful and all but, how powerful are you exactly?”

The question makes me think for a moment. “I’m pretty high up there by normal standards, which is actually amazing considering I’m only half demon. But if I’m right, and that thing that attacked Celestia is one of the nobles of Hell…” My breath shivers just thinking about that outcome. “Yeah, I don’t think taking it in a head-on fight will be such a good idea.”

“Then how would we fight something like that?”

I put a hoof to my chin, rubbing blood together in the process. “Honestly, the best I think we can do is try to keep this place on low profile and hope that our sisters can find it and blast it with the Elements of Harmony.”

“And you think that’ll stop it? I mean this is a demon of Tartarus we’re talkin’ about,” Apple Bloom says. “What if... the Elements don’t work?”

Blood flies of my coat as I laugh. “Oh, trust me, if they get those things off it’ll work. There was a lot of talk going on in the demonic circles when the Elements were discovered again, and the demons were not happy. Apparently, those things are the last heavenly power left on the planet, and possibly the most powerful weapon anypony can use against a demon. If you've got those things, no demon in the world will go near you."

"So it's just a matter of time," Scootaloo says with a smile. "When Rainbow Dash and her friends find that thing it won't even stand a chance."

"Yeah, if they can find it," I state grimly. "The lesser demons hide themselves in Equestria well enough, but something this powerful is gonna be damn near impossible to find."

"Oh, they'll find it," Scootaloo chuckles. "Between Rainbow Dash, Princess Twilight, and that Order thing they're working with, I doubt they'll come back empty hoofed."

"I hope they don't at least. I really do." But Celestia knows, they never found me, after all.

We don't talk much after that, simply sit in silence, left to our own thoughts. Scootaloo eventually finishes, and steps out of the shower grabbing a towel off the rack. I enter after her, sighing delightfully as the cool water runs down my skin.

Such a long day, so much excitement. This is probably the first time I've gotten to relax in hours. I lift up my hoof and watch the blood come sliding off of it, falling in big red drops to the tiled floor. I'm tempted to give it a lick, but that'll probably creep my friends out. Instead I just settle for watching it run down my body and go spiraling down the drain. Sometimes I think I have an obsession with blood, which may not sound odd for a demon, but with me it's a really big obsession.

I love blood.

I love the way it looks, the ways it smells, the way it tastes, the way it feels spread across my body, being pushed in between my legs. There's nothing in this world that wouldn't be more appealing to me with blood smeared all over it. The most delicious meal, the most lavish painting, the sexiest of mares. Just thinking about Scootaloo earlier makes me a little horny.

No! No! Bad Sweetie! Very bad Sweetie!

I give my head a rough shake, jarring any unwanted thoughts out of it. The last thing I need is a libido going on right in front of my friends. Deciding against spending anymore time in the shower than I have to, I quickly finish up and dry myself off.

“Do you think we could ever get our cutie marks in demonic rituals?”

The towel falls out of my hoof at the question. Me and Applebloom give Scootaloo a berating look. “What? We've gotta exhaust all our options don't we?”

Apple Bloom seems to be getting more pale the longer she thinks about it. “Please tell me yah’ wouldn’t consider...”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Oh come on, can’t we try a small one just to see if it’s possible?”

I hear the front door open and Spike’s voice rings through the shop. “Girls! Are you in here? Come on, I'm supposed to be watching you three!”

“Maybe one to make our quote-on-quote ‘babysitter’ disappear.”

“Tempting, but then we’d have to come up with a whole story for where he went,” I joke. Still shaking my head I exit the bathroom to greet the baby dragon. “Hey Spike, we’re here. Uh, sorry about running off earlier. I just... had to be alone after they all left.”

Anxiety seems to melt off his face upon seeing us. “That’s alright, I’m just glad I finally found you three. You wouldn’t believe how long I’ve been looking around for you.”

“It hasn’t been that long since we left.”

“Yes, but it has started to get dark outside.”

“What are you talking about, it’s only…” My eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets when I look at the clock. “Nine-thirty at night?”

“Oh horse apples! Big Mac’ and Granny Smith were expectin’ me back at nine!” Apple Bloom dashes past me for the door. “I gotta go Sweetie Belle, see yah’ later!”

“I should probably go, too,” Scootaloo states, awkwardly walking past me. “What can I say though? I mean, it’s been a heck of a day. We really should do stuff like this more often.”

Fuck. You. Too. “Yeah, we really should. Good night, Scootaloo.”

“Bye.”

She leaves quickly, leaving just me and Spike. The young dragon continues looking at me with a weird stare. “So uh, was there something else you wanted Spike?”

“No, it’s just that I sorta realized that, Applebloom’s got her brother and grandma watching her, Scootaloo has… whoever she lives with, but you’re pretty much here all by yourself.”

I roll my eyes, knowing all too well where he’s going with this. “Thank you Spike, but I’ll do fine here alone. I’m sure you’ve already got your claws full making sure none of those pets tear the library apart, or hop town on any trains.”

He gives me a stiff glare, and only makes me laugh harder. “That was just a bad moment for me alright, and don’t change the subject. Rarity asked me to watch you while she was gone, and I’m gonna make sure she’s happy when she gets back, no matter how hard of a time you give me."

“Yeah, anything for a lay right?"

"What!"

"Nothing," I chirp, smiling fiendishly.

Spike blushes furiously, before shaking his head. "Look, let's just make this easier on both of us alright. You can sleep over at the library, or I can come over here if you want, your pick."

Damn, he's gonna stick to his guns on this one. Well, I didn't want to do this, but he's left me no choice. It's time to pull out my darkest ability, a demonic power that's so cruel, so horrible, so unbelievable terrifying that I still feel a little tinge of guilt every time I use it. I hope he's proud of himself.

Taking a deep breath to prepare myself I clear my mind to focus on all the details of what I'm about to do. Then I turn to him, strut right up in front of him, lower myself down on my two front hooves, and look up at him with the biggest most adorable puppy dog eyes I can possibly muster. Quivering my lip, sparkling rises, and all.

"Come on Spike, won't you pweaze let me stay here alone. I pwomise to behave myself and not cause any trouble."

He never stood a chance. "Hey... come on... stop doing that."

He tries to back away from my face, but that only delays the inevitable. "Come on Spiky, I thought you wanted to make Rarity happy. No better way to do that than to make her sister happy. I might even nudge her in your direction if you want me to."

His head goes for a spin. "You'll... really?!"

"Please Spike?" I say it again and accent it with a high pitched squeak. "Pleeeeeaase!"

I make my smile ten feet long, and give eye that sparkle like diamonds. He struggles for a few more moments, before finally breaking. "Alright, fine! If you want to be alone that badly then... you can stay here for tonight."

"Oh, thank you so much Spike!" I wrap my hooves around and squeeze tightly for good measure. Sucker!

His face turns a light shade of red and he rubs the back of his head. "Yeah, you're welcome. Just, please don't do anything to make me regret this."

"Don't worry, I'll be good." For the most part. "You just relax back at the library, and make sure Angel doesn't burn it down."

He rolls his eyes. "Believe me, I'll make double sure of that. Good night, Sweetie Belle."

I smile and wave as he leaves the house, and feel like a deflated balloon once I'm alone. This has officially been the longest twenty-four hours of my life. The walk to my room is short but lasts for eternity. I drag myself into bed, desiring nothing more than to pass out and finally get some peace. It just can’t be that easy though, can it? My body may all but shut down, but my mind demands to remain active and operating. Rest slips further from my grasp until it’s out of my reach forever. I decide to indulge my pushy brain, knowing it’s pointless to keep fighting it.

Demons have a perfect memory, and most can recall any point in their lives with near flawless detail. I’ve heard this can be a little weird after you’ve got a few thousand years in your lifetime, but I’m a long ways away from confirming that. Right now the particular memory I’m focusing on is when the demon flew over Ponyville.

It really did look like something that was pulled out of a fantasy book, or mythology story. From where I was standing, it looks like the thing was pretty high in the air so it would be a lot bigger close up, about ten times the size of a regular pony if I took a rough guess. There’s a few smaller details I can make out as well. Strange sigils on the forehead, eyes that resemble burning stars, but beyond that there’s not much I’m going to learn from the image alone. By all appearances it just looks like any other demon. A very powerful and intimidating demon to be sure, but still nothing that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.

The feeling I got when I was in that beast’s presence still gives me shivers. Power beyond all measure, unbelievable energy straight from the depths of Tartarus itself. It scares me to think of the worst case scenario, and that thing does come to Ponyville. It’s true that I wouldn’t last long in a head-to-head fight, but still, there are other ways I can fight. My spell book has many rituals and incantations in it, some I’m actually afraid to use lest I unleash an otherworldly monstrosity into Equestria. If all else fails I have a few rituals I can fall back on, but that’ll only happen after everything else has gone wrong. If I’m not careful I might end up being a worse threat to Equestria than whatever this demon has planned?

Great, now I’m stressed.

I make a gentle sigh and stare up at my ceiling. I think back to when I was inside the dragon’s body. The smell of blood, the taste of organs, the shrieks of the creature. I go wet down below. I shudder a bit, and turn my thoughts to the image of Scootaloo I had earlier. The blood soaked mane, the sexy filly voice, and, Luna damnit the way she shook her ass at the Hellhound. I lower my hooves down beneath the sheets, past my stomach, and between my legs. I release a guilty sigh as pleasure flows through me.

“I see you haven’t changed a bit.”

I shriek in surprise and leap ten feet into the air. I crash back onto my bed with the covers falling over me. The sheets wrestle me for a bit before I can poke my head out, panting and sweating with fear. My eyes turn a glare to the direction of the voice, only to go as wide as dinner plates the moment I see it’s owner.

“Virgil?”

For a moment I have trouble believing the black scaled dragon is really there. He grins at me with a toothy smile, and marble eyes of pure white, the pupils and irises absent from view. He’s a little taller than I remembered, maybe in his early teen years now, but there’s no way I’d ever mistake those sweeping horns or mischievous stance.

“So I hear you had a little visitor fly above your town. Figured you might like to know what everyone’s been talking about.”

Chapter 7: Still of the Night

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“Damnit Virgil, what the hell are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was feeling a little lonely so I decided to drop in on an old friend. Lucky for me it seems you were feeling the same way.”

“You do remember what I said would happen if I ever caught you or any of your little friends around here, right?”

“Yes, yes. ‘Rip out one of my ribs, sharpen it up, and refashion it as a strap-on for vicious anal penetration’,” he recites in a bored tone. “I still say you need work on your threats. You’d do well to add some intestinal fucking. Or maybe testicular torture is more your style.”

Hellfire burns in my groan. “What do you want Virgil? If it has anything to do with gems or bits then I just might take you up on that testicular torture suggestion.”

His grin turns sharp. “Well, I was just strolling the streets of the city, admiring the pockets of some wealthy pricks, when suddenly I overhear them talking about a certain 'monster' attacking a certain 'Princess'.” He leans in closer to me, being as dramatic as possible. “Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you may have had a visitor to this town of a similar nature?”

My gaze hardens. “Do you know something about that?”

“I could... maybe... who knows really?” He shrugs and move towards my bedroom window. “Would you care to join me for a walk? I'm still wary of Luna's new headship, but her night is just as beautiful as ever.”

I roll my eyes and unfurl my demonic wings in reply, or at least what’s left of them.

“Um, yeah about that. I had a bit of a run in with some Hellhounds earlier today, so I'm not really in any condition to fly," I state, flapping my stump of a wing.

He shakes his head and chuckles. “Will there ever be a time I can turn my back on you and not have a catastrophe occur behind me?”

“Probably sometime after the world ends.”

He gets a big toothy smirk as he climbs out my window, scaling up to the roof. I shake off what little sleepiness I had in me and make my way to the window. Long sharp claws extend an inviting hand towards me, and I accept it cordially. I’m hoisted up into the air and placed onto a rigid scaly back. Virgil’s massive wings unfold into a canopy of darkness that shades the moonlit ground.

I wrap my hooves around his neck and peek over his head, staring out over the expanse of the town. “Brings back old memories.”

“Yes, I distinctly remember you vomiting all over me several minutes after take off.”

“We all had to start somewhere, Virgil,” I counter.

He chuckles in that deep scratchy voice of his, before flapping his wings with demonic strength and ascending high above the clouds. We glide over a sea of soft winds and clouds that reflect moonlight. I’ve always loved being in the night sky. Feeling the cool, thin air blow through my mane, the empty kiss of clouds on my cheeks, and the faint light of stars dancing on my skin. It's like I'm right at home.

We sail through the clouds for a few seamless minutes, when Virgil tucks in his wings and we drop from the sky like a stone sinking into the ocean. The fall lasts several moments, until we shoot out from beneath the clouds and Virgil stretches his wings out to slow us into a soft glide.

Below us I see the trees of Everfree, passing us by like a moving colony of ants, and ahead of us...The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters? Yes, that's it, Virgil is taking me to Celestia and Luna's old home. I guess it's no surprise; Virgil was always one for history. I wonder what he has planned?

We glide over the ruined structures and leaning towers before Virgil swoops downward and lands on the spire of the keep, perching himself on the edge like a grinning gargoyle. I slide down his back and join him at the edge of the tower, looking down on the crumbling stone walls and shadow covered grass.

He takes in a deep, content breath and asks, “Do you come here often?”

“I’ve visited before, but I can’t say I’m too familiar with the place.”

“Pity, if I lived out here I’d probably walk through every night,” he states with a chuckle. “To think: a millennium ago, this is the spot where Nightmare Moon came into being.”

I roll my eyes. “I never did truly understand why demons have such high respect for Nightmare Moon. I know she rebelled against Celestia and all, but there’s dozens of other baddies who did exactly the same, with equally as much success. Why does she get so much attention?”

Virgil grins before standing up and walking across the roof of the building. “‘Respect’ is probably the wrong word to use. It’s much more of sympathy that we hold for dear Nightmare Moon, and if you think about it for a second then it shouldn’t seem all that surprising. A highly respected being, second in command to a powerful entity that rules sovereignly over all the land, who in a jealous fit of anger rebels and fights against her former master, and then ends up casted out of her home and takes on a name feared by all creatures. Does that tale not sound familiar to you?”

It strikes me pretty hard. “Now that I think about it I guess Luna and Lucifer would have a lot to talk about, although I don’t see why demons would sympathize with her like that, or at least I don’t see how most demons would give sympathy in general.”

“Given a worthy cause, even the most vile of monsters can feel like regular creatures. I’d have thought you would know that better than anyone.”

“I do, but I also know how twisted some demons can get.”

“True enough, but there are other reasons why Nightmare Moon is given so much love.” Virgil approaches the far edge of the tower, and then leans forward and digs his claws into the stone beneath him, sliding down onto a balcony below. “Did you ever hear of what they found in the catacombs of this castle after that little event?”

“I’ve heard rumors,” I call down from the roof. “Apparently Luna had a thing for blood rituals, right?”

Virgil grins. “Long ago you could still see scorch marks burned into the ground down there, where so much demonic energy had been summoned up. In my younger years, I actually stumbled upon a corpse buried underneath one of the floor tiles.”

I jump from the rooftop, landing next to him on the balcony with the grace of a swan. “I never knew you were old enough to have actually witnessed the fall of Nightmare Moon.”

“Heh, I wish. I’m not that old. If I had three hundred more years on me than I would’ve been that old. No, I was cursed into having to sort through the remnants of the event, sifting through the sands of time to find whatever weathered artifacts that wash up on its shore.” He tops off the melodrama by putting a hand to his forehead, before turning to me with a great big smile. “But tonight, we get to reenact those long forgotten rituals. Tonight this castle will come alive once more with the fury of Hell's voice.”

I shoot him a wry glance. “What do you mean?”

“Why don’t you come inside and find out.” He walks to the large double door of the balcony, leading inside the tower. “I’ve taken the liberty to set up a little surprise for you before hand. Care to take a look?”

He gestures me inside like a friendly doorman. I smile playfully at him, and trot my way in. It’s dark when I enter and hard to see, but before I can use my enhanced senses to see clearly, Virgil lights a row of candles with a single breath of fire. I must admit I can’t help but smile at his surprise.

In the center of the room lies a wide eyed grey colored stallion with a wild black mane, bound with rope and whimpering pathetically through a ball gag in his mouth. He sits in the middle of an inverted pentacle that’s been drawn with what smells like goat blood. Black candles rest on each point of the star, and demonic runes dot the areas outside the circle.

I glance back at Vigil with a huge grin on my face. “Oh Virgil, I fucking love you sometimes. What did you get me this time? Actually wait, let me see for myself.”

I walk up to the entrapped stallion, who looks at me with a mixture of confusion and terror in his eyes. I stare at him for a second, before taking my sharpened hoof and dragging it across the side of his cheek. He yelps sharply, and I bring the bloody tip of my hoof to my lips and softly lap at it like an ice cream cone.

“Lets see here, ah, murder. Lots and lots of murder. Oh and he’s got a few rapes, some theft, a little deceit, some fraud, and… is that necrophilia I taste?” I look at him with a cocked eye, but then shrug my shoulders. “Eh, whatever, not like I haven’t appreciated the beauty of death before.”

“All to your liking then, Sweetie?” Virgil asks.

“Oh, all to my liking and more.”

“Good, because it gets even better.”

He reaches behind some old furniture in the corner and pulls out a large metal suitcase. He lays it down on a table against the wall and neatly opens it up. I take a look at the contents inside and feel my wings flare upward.

“Aww, you remembered my favorite means of rape,” I say with a squeak in my voice.

I look again at the vicious strap-ons inside. The insertion end of each one is made of steel, with jagged spikes and razors jutting out of them. I put a hoof to my chin as I look over my selection. “There’s so many I can barely think of what to choose.”

“Well that depends on what sort of damage you want to do,” Virgil states, reaching in and pulling out one of the torture toys. “This one here was modeled after a tool the Gryphons use to gut fish. Notice how the spikes are curved back so when you pull out you’re actually going to rip chunks of flesh out of there. Of course if you want something more slow and painful then you can always go with the cheese grater, guaranteed to slice any rectum to slithers in a matter of seconds.”

“What about that weird looking one near the top?”

“Ah, you have a good eye. This one’s known as ‘The Corkscrew.’ You’ll notice that it's extra long and the little groves here are edged with razors, designed to drill in there as deep as possible. Plus, it comes with a special feature.”

Virgil jiggles the rubber end of the toy, and suddenly the metal end begins to spin rapidly. Our captive has apparently been paying attention, because it’s at this moment that he lets out a muffled scream. He thrashes around trying to get free, but Virgil always knows how to make good bindings. No way in hell he’s gonna break loose from there.

“I think our guest quite likes this one Virgil,” I taunt.

“Yes, I believe he does. How about it sir, would like to be violated repeatedly and violently with this thing?” The stallion shrieks hysterically, shaking his head in protest. “Very well, corkscrew it is. Have at it, Sweetie.”

I take the sinister tool in hoof and slip it around my legs. The rubber end slides into my privates with ease, inciting a pleasured moan in response. I stroll up to our captive, staring him down with lustful bedroom eyes. He’s not as excited as I am to begin. His body shakes like a frightened little foal. I chuckle at his plight, and run my hoof along his sweating body as I make my way to his rear. I brush his tense tail out of the way, and then position the toy against his entrance.

My gift stallion whimpers silently, and I hear the faint sound of tears hitting the floor. I lean my self against his back and whisper, “Not to worry sir, I’ll go easy the first round.”

I then proceed to ram the metal dick up his ass so hard I think that I actually break something. Well, he’s certainly screaming like I did, anyway. The spinning of the steel end gyrates my vagina, mixed in with the agonized cries of the stallion and the feeling of warm blood running down my thighs, and the sensation drives me wild.

“Ooooooh, yeeeeaaaah.” I melt against him, releasing a blissful sigh as I fall into the motions of pumping in and out of him, forcing a pained shriek out of him each time.

“I see you rather like my present.” Virgil grins at me with that toothy smile of his.

My breath quivers as I attempt to formulate a reply. “Oh Virgil, you may drop in at the worst of times... ungh, but damn do you know how to make a girl happy. You know what would make this moment just perfect though, is if you shared with me that little tidbit about the recent demon infestation you mentioned earlier.” The casual tone of our conversation is quite a contrast to the muffled wails of agony beneath me. The poor stallion is flopping around like a gutted fish, which probably isn’t too odd an analogy, judging by the amount of blood squishing on my thighs at every thrust. Grinning, I give his rump a firm slap. “Come on sir, get with it. I’m only getting started.”

Virgil’s eyes close but his grin remains as sharp as ever. “Always so eager to get down to business. Very well, but first you need to guess his name. The guy is actually a little famous. You might be surprised to hear who he is.”

I roll my eyes as I wipe the sweat out of them. “You know I’m not that familiar with famous demons Virgil.”

“Oh, but you should know this one. Hell, I’m sure even the mortals would be familiar with his name, he’s a bit of a big shot in Tartarus.”

“That famous, huh?” I respond with grunt, the pressure in my loins growing intense. Damn, I’m already getting close. “Well, forgive me if... oh, f-fuck yeah... if I’m unable to come up with anything.”

“Come on, you’re not even gonna try to play along?”

“Fine, Mephistopheles? Legion? Dagoth Ur? Come on, that’s practically half the celebrities I know of.”

“Maybe you’re right, maybe I shouldn’t have expected you to know his name,” he states in a bored tone. “I mean, really thinking about it he isn’t all that famous, just some little guy who goes by the name of Asmodeus.”

My body freezes in mid hump, mere seconds away from climax. My neck moves like paste as I look up at Virgil, staring at him with wide disbelieving eyes. “A...Asmodeus? You mean the Asmodeus? Crown Prince of Lust Asmodeus?”

“The very one.”

I stare at him motionless for a time, my brain sluggishly processing the information, letting it settle deep in my mind, and still not believing it.

“You’re bullshitting me. Seriously, do not bullshit me Virgil. Getting played with makes me fucking angry, and you know what I don’t handle anger well!” I resume thrusting into the captive again, causing blood to squirt up between my legs and forcing out more sobbing cries of pain.

“Oh, but I’m not bullshitting you Sweetie, I speak the truth. Every demon from here to Saddle Arabia is talking about it. Asmodeus just broke out of Tartarus, and then immediately up and flew to Canterlot to assault the Sun Princess. It’s got everyone in a stupor.”

“But why? Ah- it makes no sense.” The pressure builds up again, and it becomes obvious in my voice. I’m gonna cum in a second. “From what I heard- uh, Asmodeus just lounged around in hell, indulging in his own sin, oh yes!” I speed up my thrusting, my lower half now drenched in blood.

“He was at the very least. I saw him once.” Virgil leans against the wall as he recalls. “Lucky bastard! Had a temple set up in hell made of solid gold, the whole fucking temple! He sat up there all day, hosting orgies of all sorts, every kind of sexual depravity you can possibly imagine was present. It was the biggest sex party I’ve ever seen in my life, probably the biggest one I’ll ever see.”

“And now you’re telling me-oh-that he left all of that just to... nrgh, just to bitch slap Celestia a few timesssssss, oh fuck yeah!” My orgasm hits hard. My hips spasm as waves of heavenly pleasure course through me. I grind myself hard against my captive’s ass, driving the drilling dildo further into his violated body. and my voice is lost in a sea of bliss. My time in paradise lasts a short while, then I collapse on my victims back, breathing a content sigh as the strap-on continues to turn inside my victim's anus.

Virgil chuckles, “Do you know that you squeak when you orgasim? It’s kinda cute actually.” I’m too lost to give even a proper eye roll. “To answer your question though, yes, and no one really knows why he left all of a sudden. Only thing I can tell is that he didn’t really care much for our good Sun princess’s headship.”

“Is there any demon out there who does?” I reply dryly. Once I’ve gathered my breath I pull out from my victim, the drill still spinning and splattering blood everywhere. My gift sobs out his anguish, his tears and saliva mixing on the floor in front of him. I lean down to examine the damage I’ve caused. It’s like a bleeding rose, cuts spiral deep into grayish-red skin, forming fleshy petals wrapped intricately together to form a lovely flower.

I find its look so pleasing that I can’t help but lean closer, sniffing, and even licking the sensitive plant. Blood runs across my tongue, like some sweet nectar. The whimpers he makes brings a smile to my face. I can’t help but notice however, one little detail that irks my mind.

“My, my, I sure did make a mess in all that excitement. This new toy of mine must have gotten two coats of blood. This just won’t do. Somepony is gonna have to clean this up, wouldn’t you say so, Virgil?”

“Oh, I do believe so, my dear,” he says with a grin. “What’s that? Why yes, that would be wonderful. Sweetie Belle, I believe our new friend here just volunteered to help you with this problem.”

“Is that true, my little pet?” I walk around to the stallion’s petrified face. He shakes his head desperately and screams through his gag, moving his jaw like he’s trying to chew through it. I only chuckles, before taking his face in my hoof, and forcing his sobbing eyes to meet mine.

“Now here’s how it’s going to work; I’m going to take this gag off, and you’re going to put this in it’s place.” I push myself up on his shoulders to level the metal dildo to his face. “Say one word, and I’ll jam this down your throat. Leave any blood on this, and I’ll jam it down your throat. Do anything that agitates me or just puts me in a bad mood, and I’ll jam it down your throat. Do we understand each other?”

I glare down into his eyes with so much malice in mine. Horror floods his pupils, dark voids of awful understanding, the vain urge of survival. He takes a moment to calm his whimpering, and then nods his head.

I’m content enough with the response, and proceed to undo the tightened straps on his neck. The ball gag clatters to the floor, allowing him a few blessed moments of easy breath. It’s a brief comfort that dies the instant he turns his attention to the demand I’ve given him.

“Brief reminder, you may want to be gentle with this baby, after all…” I push down briefly on the dick, causing the drill to spin rapidly and spray blood everywhere. “It’ll probably bite back if you’re too rough with it.”

The grimace he makes causes me to laugh. He looks like he’s going to break down again, but just when I think I’ll have to force the deed he composes himself, and turns back to the metal prick with pale eyes. He lowers his head the same way a worm would come up from a tunnel: slowly, and in constant fear of being devoured. I’m guessing the smell of blood mixed with ass has finally reached his nose; it would certainly explain the expression on his face. He turns his his head and gags, but after a moment turns back again. His bottom lip trembles when he opens his mouth. He hesitates just inches away from the goal, drops of blood falling inches away from his tongue. It looks like he might be having second thoughts, but after he takes a look up into my sadistic eyes, he sucks in his courage and slides his lips gently around the metal cock.

The soft sucking motions barely register in my senses, but it’s the show that I’m really enjoying. The blood acts like a lubricant that makes the metal slippery, and easy to cut himself on. Tears fall down his eyes again, tortured emotion, further tainted in blood and other fluids. I’m surprised that he manages to keep the drill so still, and prevents it from performing the sexiest root canal in recorded history. It’s a bit of a disappointment, but by no means degrades my amazement when he pulls his lips off a sparkling clean dick.

I see him hunch his head down, but my hoof goes around his throat before he gets too far. “What do you think you’re doing? You don’t seriously think I’m gonna let you spit that out, do you?”

My voice has that ring of demonic presence that can make anyone do what I say. It’s no exception here. The stallion looks at me silently begging mercy, my tightening grip is all the answer he needs. With tearful eyes he forces down the vile concoction of bodily fluids. He gags as it goes down, but manages to hold it in.

He breathes out several quivering breaths, before finally stating in a raspy voice, “Why are you doing this?”

My lips form a grin, but my eyes are full of wrath and anger. “Now isn’t this just the definition of irony. I wonder how many mares asked you that same question as you stood over them the same way, smiling down on them the same way I am. Tell me, do you remember just how many woman you’ve raped in the past year alone?”

His lips are motionless, his face frozen in a single expression of terror. He turns his head, refusing me eye contact. Words tremble in his mouth. “I-I-I d-d-d-d-don’t even know what you’re t-t-talking about.”

“Did you just lie to me? You really shouldn’t lie to me sir. Liars tend to lose their ability to lie around me.” Our mouths grow closer to each other. I smile tenderly at him, displaying my razor sharp teeth in the process. “Slowly.”

His scream allows me to put my mouth on his. I bite down on several teeth and bend them back, tearing them out by the roots and causing blood to gush up from the gums. The echoing rip of his teeth harmonizes sweetly with his pained shrieks. I roll the teeth around in my mouth a bit like three balls of gum, before I spit them out before the whaling stallion.

“Don’t even bother trying to hide anything sir, because I already know it all. Your blood tells me everything about you, both the good and bad. I know all your sick secrets, I know that you love death, and I mean love death. You see a corpse, and can’t help but get excited can you. You love the feeling of blood on your skin, and the screams of innocent mares drives you wild, doesn’t it?”

“But why all this? If you hate me so much then just kill me! How could I deserve all this?"

My mock kindness turns to righteous anger. "How could you deserve this? Tell me, what made you think that those mares you killed deserved their fate? What made you think all of their children deserved to be made orphans?"

He goes silent. His lips tremble in some attempt to answer, but words never leave them.

"Well? Answer me damnit! I want to know what the fuck you were thinking when you killed those mares? Did you just not care, did you try to justify it to yourself? What was going through your head?"

He shuts his eyes and answers in a whimper. "Th-they were-they were prostitutes. I just thought...

"Oh that's it then." I spit in his face, right in his bleeding gums. "You think just because their whores that makes them any less of ponies? You think you can just use them to whatever you please. Well if that's the case then maybe I should use you to whatever I please. After all you're nothing but a stupid arrogant mortal. Thousands of you die every day. What's one more gonna do?"

"You see there's only one difference between you and me. When you kill the only satisfaction you get is what comes from watching a helpless mare choke to death on her own blood, and while I won't deny just how much a love making creatures like you suffer, there's also another satisfaction I get from killing you, and you know what it is?" I lean in next to his ear, feeling the tense vibration of fear, and whisper sternly, "It's that in making you suffer, I've stopped so much worse."

I turn my head down and look right into his eyes, glaring into two pits of sorrow and pain. "When you die, there'll never be another mare that'll suffer under your hooves. There'll never be another foal who'll lose a parent because of you. All the damage you would've caused will never happen. You'll just fade from existence all together, like a vapor a smoke. That is a thought that brings me more joy than you could imagine."

He doesn't respond, not one words comes from his mouth. He simply lowers his head and begins to cry. I finally feel my smile coming back. "If it's any consolation, I'm not entirely without empathy. In a way, I can understand what you deal with. Having that urge, that constant need to feed off other's misery, to gain pleasure from their pain, it's torture I know. And for that you're condemned to hell for all eternity. In a way, I almost feel sorry for you."

“Perhaps you should accompany him to hell then, if you pity the murderer so much.”

The weight of my annoyance could crush mountains. “Really Virgil, you’re gonna start this shit up now?”

My dragon friend shrugs himself off the wall and towers over me. “I’ll stop bitching about it when you finally learn it. Sinners are nothing to pity. Remember what demons were made to do, Sweetie. We are tormentors, and so long as we remain on this mortal plain we are the gateways to hell. Through us runs the way of the lost, through us runs eternal pain, through us runs the path of the suffering city. There is no higher wisdom or primal love that guides our actions. We only exist to end all hope of those who pass through us.”

He stares down at my victim, not just with anger, but genuine hatred. He kneels down to him and stares him in the face. “Do you know what truly separates us from you? It’s not that you’re somehow just a little less moral than us, oh no. It’s because unlike you we never chose to be like this. Our father’s made that choice millennia ago, and we inherited their curse. You, on the other hand, made a conscious decision to do this. You took the inheritance of your kind and squandered it away on whatever sick desire you wanted.”

The stallion is twice as scared of Virgil then he is of me. He pushes against the restraints as if to back away from him and begins hyperventilating. Virgil grabs the back of his neck and brings his head closer until it presses against his own, and they stare at each other eye-to-eye. “Do you have any idea what you’ve thrown away, what you’re about to face because of it? If you did you’d be praying for this moment to last forever. You’d sell your soul just to become our personal sex slave and have us violate you like this every night. You can’t even imagine what those first few seconds in hell are like, much less every day, every moment from then on out. Endless pain, endless suffering, with no reprieve, no rest at all. Every waking moment of your life will be misery and agony, on and on, forever and ever. There will be no end for your pain!”

The stallion broke down half way through this tirade, and by the end of it he’s sobbing in loud convulsive bursts. Virgil is without pity. “Tragic, how everyone always waits until death is staring them in the face, to think of what comes next.”

“That’s enough Virgil!” I shout.

He turns to me with bared teeth, “Enough of what? Showing him how much of a fool he has been, that he’s going to endure more than he can even conceive of because of it? Give me one reason why I should stop.”

“Because,” I state getting right in his face. “You gave this stallion to me. That means I get to decide what to do with him! And right now, I think that I’m so impressed by how much pain he’s been able to endure so far, that I might just grant him one last request.”

Virgil roars in my face and I release a demonic scream in return. Glass windows shatter, and the room vibrates from the sound waves. We stand for a minute in defensive pose, staring each other down like two wolves fighting for control of the pack. Seconds pass, and eventually Virgil sees that my minds made up, and that it’s not worth fighting over. With disgruntled growl, he relaxes his stance and spits at the stallion, who has just been staring in horror this whole time.

“You’d better enjoy this mortal, because it’ll be the last form of pleasure you’ll ever receive.” He skulks to the back of the room and leans against the wall.

I simply grunt at his behavior and turn back to the stallion. “You’ll have to excuse him, he can get a bit short with these rituals. Have I introduced myself to you? How rude of me. My name is Sweetie Belle, and as you’ve probably guessed by now I’m a demon, a succubus to be precise. You do know what that is, don’t you?”

The stallion whimpers in pain, just managing to shake his head.

“Well basically, it’s a female sex demon, who lures men away with her charming good looks, and murders them after what can only be called the best intercourse they’ll ever experience in their life. Now normally with ponies like you, I try not allow too much pleasure on the receiving end, but tonight you’ll be getting a special treat. Name one sexual act, any lustful desire you may have, and I’ll grant it for you.”

He doesn’t seem too quick to take me up on my offer. I roll my eyes. “And I promise you, this isn’t a trick. There’ll be no rape or torture involved, just you, me, and the best sex you’ll ever have. Hell, if you’re so keen on necrophilia just ask. You wouldn’t believe the things you could do with a Manticore head.”

He becomes a little more comfortable, or at least as comfortable as one can get while their tied down with multiple open wounds, knowing full well they’re about to die and that things are probably not going to get any better after that. It doesn’t stop him from taking my offer however, guess if you’re gonna die then you should live up all the life you have left.

He inhales a deep breath and says in a raspy voice, “A blowjob, would be nice.”

I smile at him, and begin to hide my demonic features. My eyes go back to normal, my teeth flatten out, and my horns and wings vanish in a flash of fire. I look like a regular, cute little filly.

“Blowjob it is. Fair warning though, just because I need to untie you to do this doesn’t mean you should run. We can both move pretty fast, so I’d advise against doing anything to ruin the moment.”

One look in his eye is enough to see he gets the message. I circle around him, cutting the bonds that hold him to the floor. His limbs move like rusty gears, spreading out over the floor. He sighs for a moment, then I turn him over on his back and smile at him between his legs. His cheeks turn red, and he stutters. “Wait, I don’t… I mean… well…”

I give him a weird glance, before realizing the problem. “I see, bad enough to make love to a corpse but too good to fuck a filly. Well don’t worry about it. If I was a child then you might have something to worry about.” I run my hooves through my mane, conjuring the long black goat horns to my head. “But as you’ve seen, I’m quite clearly a monster.”

Without saying another word a lean down and place a gentle kiss on his genitals. It coaxes the organ to arousal and sends a soft moan from his mouth. I continue teasing him, pecking his dick with soft wet lips until it stands straight up like a saluting soldier. I give it a few slow licks that run the entire length of the shaft. This elicits more pleasured noises from the stallion who now closes his eyes and rests his head against the floor, simply relaxing as I do my work. With his organ about as hard as it can get I open my mouth wide and take it into my mouth.

He gasps loudly and his whole body shivers. Glad to see he’s enjoying it, yet the moment feels a little marred by the set of dragon eyes constantly glaring at me from the opposing wall. Honestly, fuck Virgil. He’s known me for five years now, he should’ve fucking learned how I feel about hell. I’m no stranger to the subject. Hell, I’ve even joked about it at times, but even then it’s usually just a short quip about how I sympathize for the poor bastards down there. Whenever I stop and really think about it though, contemplate the concept that there are literally millions of ponies suffering in agony below my hooves at this very moment… I get a really sick feeling in my stomach. I can deal with rape, torture, and cannibalism, almost everything you’d find in hell, but add forever and ever to it and it’s just too much. No pony deserves that, no matter what they’ve done. It’s probably the only thing left that can truly disturb me.

Not that I’ve ever been to hell mind you, but I’ve heard enough stories to make my blood run cold, more than half of which were told to me by a certain dragon demon standing right across from me. Yet, having witnessed all of it first hand he still chooses to mock his victims about it.

This is why I kind of hate my own species.

The stallion’s breathing becomes heavy and his moans grow in intensity. I can tell he’s getting close. I swirl my tongue all along his member and then take in the entire length of it until my chin is touching his balls. This sets him over the edge, and he cums into my mouth. Splashes of dense liquid pelt the back of my throat, and I swallow it all, ingesting it with one hard gulp.

The stallion sees this and moans softly. He sets his head against the floor, and lies limp with a large smile across his face. He chuckles a little, only to open in his eyes and see Virgil standing over him. It takes him less than a second to remember his predicament, then he flips.

He screams and tries to flee for the door, but Virgil’s hand is swift and more than strong enough to hold him. He grabs him by the throat and pins him to the ground, holding him as he flails about. “Please! Please don’t do this! I’ll be good, I promise, I’ll never go near another mare again!”

He’s sobbing again, his eyes pleading for mercy, but Virgil has none. “You’re opportunity for repentance ended the moment you fell into our hands. Sweetie Belle, are you ready to end this?”

I stare at the floundering stallion a minute, scorning my own mind against thinking of what awaits him after death. I always have trouble killing when I have that thought stuck in my head. If I keep it down and drown it out I’ll do just fine, but if it’s the forefront of my mind the whole experience will be ruined for me. Damnit Virgil, why did you have bring it up?

“Sweetie Belle?”

I breath in a deep sigh and tell my moral qualms to fuck off. “Yeah, I’m ready Virgil. Let’s eat this bitch.”

The stallion shrieks loudly at this, but words are choked by Virgil’s claws. I hold his back legs down, while Virgil pins his throat with one hand and begins carving an inverted pentacle into his chest with the other.

Virgil smirks at me upon it’s completion. “Shall we say a prayer, before dinner?”

“Oh by all means, be my guest,” I reply.

He chuckles evilly before pushing his claw deep into the stallion's chest, right in the center of the pentacle. Over the victim’s choked scream, Virgil whispers, “Oh great and powerful Lords of the abyss, bless this meal which we are about to consume. May the blood of this lost child nourish us, and may the fires of hell burn till the gates of heaven come crashing down.”

“Amen,” I finish.

Upon finishing this dark grace our power goes wild. Our minds are thrown into a frenzy that gives us an unstoppable libedo for blood. The stallion can only manage a panicked scream, before me and Virgil tear into his chest, ripping the rib cage open and eating the meaty organs within. The stallion squirms and writhes a moment in agony to great to be expressed. Blood flies everywhere, splattering my face, hooves, and the area around us. His desperate struggles only last a few moments, until his movements become weak and his cries less often. Finally the back of his head hits the floor and he stops all movement completely.

Our victim is dead, but our feast doesn’t slow down. Me and Virgil devour the carcase, drinking the blood, snapping bones, and scarfing whole limbs down. The smell of death and blood fills my nostrils, tainting them with it’s pleasingly vile scent. I’m getting aroused. With each taste of the salty red liquid, with every splash of it against my skin, my desires intensify. I look up Virgil, but he’s three steps ahead of me. He crawls over the body to me, giving me only time to open my mouth as he place his forked tongue inside, a meaty chunk of flesh still in his teeth. It’s less of a make out session and more of a violent wrestling match. We rip at each other’s skin adding our own blood to the mix on the floor, and our jaws battle for dominance. I put up a valiant fight, but demonic blood mixed with a dragon is just too strong a combination to beat. He pins me beneath him, but I still smile as he enters into me.

From there the night continues in a blinding whirl of sinful delight. We get drunk on the spilt blood, and fuck each other until our privates are sore. By the time we’re finished the decimated squishy mass of red that was once the body of a stallion is completely unrecognizable. Bones have been snapped and the marrow sucked out. What organs we didn’t eat are sprawled out on the floor, small floods of white liquid leaking out of them. The head has been completely severed and skinned, now nothing but a bloody skull with a pair of eyeballs that stare at me in horror, like he could still witness everything we had done to him even after death. Poor bastards probably seeing far worse things by now.

No, Sweetie Belle, don’t think about that now. You’re just going to spoil the mood again.

Taking my own advice I simply relax face down in the pool of blood and semen, shivering as Virgil continues to thrust into me. I cum once again and breath out a content sigh. Virgil finishes shortly after, moaning with pleasure before pulling out and falling to the ground behind me.

We lay a moment catching our breaths. I stretch out my back and turn over to look at him. “All in all, this was a good night.”

“Glad you enjoyed it,” Virgil states with a grin.

I smile back at him before looking down in the waves of blood. The dark liquid reflects a darker image, the still visible horns on my head, dripping red into my mane. I sigh as I place a jet black hoof to the reflection, sending ripples through the blood.

“Asmodeus, huh? Never thought I’d see the day when a Prince of Hell stepped back onto mortal soil.”

“You and me both, and I’ve actually seen the bastard. Didn’t think anything would drag him out of that temple.”

“Why Asmodeus of all demons though?”

Virgil looks at me with a cocked eye. “You always did have a certain fascination with Asmodeus, didn’t you. I know you’re a lust demon, after all, but I still don’t get the interest.”

“Aren’t you curious what it’d be like if you were born a few thousand years earlier? What you’d be doing if we were still at war?”

Virgil scoffs at this. “Maybe back when I was young, but give it a few hundred years and curiosity will wear thin. All I know is that this is the time that I live in, and all that matters is the now. I hold no interest in Mammon because in this time he has no authority over the greed demons, so why should I care?”

“I guess it really doesn’t matter today,” I admit with a sigh. “Still, it’s a weird knowing my patron demon was the one who attacked Celestia. It’s even stranger that his forces are scouting Ponyville of all places.”

“What do you mean ‘scouting Ponyville’?”

“There’s been a lot of demonic activity since he came through. Spirit demons passing through, dead rising from their graves to be chased down by hellhounds. I know it sounds weird, but for some reason it looks like Asmodeus is searching around Ponyville for some reason.”

“I highly doubt that.”

I look at him with crooked eyes. “What else could it be? One of the Demonic Princes nearly assassinated Princess Celestia. If that’s not a declaration of war I don’t know what is.”

“True, but there’s something else about Asmodeus’s return that I came to tell you.” My heart freezes at the look he gives me. There’s not a hint of humor in it, he’s completely serious, one of the rarest looks he ever puts on. “You see, when Asmodeus broke out of hell, he didn’t just slip by the underworld’s defenses. He completely destroyed them. He pretty much just blew through everything in his path until he was out. Not even Cerberus was spared in the massacre.”

I'm silent. The whole room is silent. I can hear the swishing of blood as I turn to face Virgil that's how silent it is. I stare at him with a frozen face for a moment, before I can find words to speak. "He... He destroyed the defenses of hell?"

"Every gate, every sentry, every guardian. From the seventh circle on up everything is gone."

"Bu-But how? That shouldn't even be possible, even for a Crown Prince of Hell. Lucifer himself always had problems getting by those defenses."

"That's why everyone is talking about it," Virgil responds. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, not once since the beginning of creation. Entire armies of demons have tried but never accomplished anything on this scale before. Now, it appears Asmodeus suddenly decided to single handedly storm hell's defenses and succeeded where countless others have failed. No one knows how he did it either, that's what has everyone in a frenzy."

“Wait a minute, wait a minute," I say rapidly. "So what you're telling me… is that hell's defenses are down, and now there is nothing keeping all those creatures inside of hades from escaping?”

“Well, like I said, everything from the seventh circle on up has been decimated. But yeah, the entrance to hell might as well be a revolving glass door at this moment."

My mind slowly shuts down as this information sinks in. Everything from the seventh circle on up? That means murderers, rapists, even cannibals could be getting loose right now, along with all the demons who’ve been tormenting them. In other words, Hell has quite literally broken loose, and there’s nothing to stop even more from coming out.

I look back at Virgil my mouth hanging open. “How long do think it’ll be before the defenses get back up?”

“It’s really for anyone to say. I know Cerberus will probably be kicking again within a few days, once he’s made the journey from the seventh circle up to the entrance. As for the gates, and the guardians set to protect them, that’ll be a few weeks.”

Which means anything with a working pair of hooves could walk out of Hell and into Equestria. Fuck, this is bad. Depending on how many are loose, it could be total anarchy in Equestria, or a second Armageddon. And with a Prince of Hell running around, planning Luna knows what, it's only a matter of time before all of Equestria collapses.

“I’m gonna really need to prepare, if I have any chance of survival,” I state, rubbing my temples.

“You know you could always come with me back to Los Pegasus,” Virgil offers. “It may have been awhile, but there’s still a few guys down there who remember you, remember what you did. I’m sure they’d be glad to house a celebrity.”

I crack a smile in his direction. “Thanks, but I live here now. It may be a little quiet, but I have friends here, friends that won’t stab me in the back at the drop of a hat.”

“Perhaps, but that’s the thing about lies. They say they’re like masks, but really they’re more like makeup: paper thin and degrades over time. How long do you think it’ll be before they find out that you’re much more than an innocent little filly?”

“Whenever I’m drenched in more blood than I can wash off,” I state bleakly. “Until then though I’m staying put. Even if they won’t accept what I am, I can at least know without a doubt they’ll accept me, unlike how it was in Los Pegasus.”

“You really believe it’s that different out here?” Virgil shoots an chastising glance. “Come now Sweetie Belle, you’ve seen far too much in your short life to believe there isn’t a demon in all of us.”

“Maybe, but at least here it’s not all they are.”

“That’ll change the moment hellspawn starts to infiltrate.”

“Yes, it will. Which is why tomorrow morning I’m gathering every resource I have available to defend Ponyville. Any demons who enter that town are gonna answer to me first.” I stand up from the liquid remains of our carnage and walk out onto the balcony. I look down over the railing, observing the vast landscape that surrounds Ponyville. The pale light of the night sky casts threatening shadows over the area. Dark figures that twist and slump along the ground, move slowly out of the castle like an advancing army. I stand atop this fortress of shadows, observing them like their queen, eyes locked on their destination.

There are some powerful demons within the first seven circles of hell, some that would cause an ordinary mortal to drop dead out of pure fright, some that would do me in within a few seconds. If Ponyville has any chance of survival though, I’m gonna have to fight them, and fight them with everything I have. For my friend’s sake, and my sister’s, I’ll fight like hell

Tonight Ponyville gains a new protector, and her name is Sweetie Belle.

Chapter 8: The Devil's Favorite Sin

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“Shut your fucking mouth.”

I say the words casually through an irritated smirk, never once taking my gaze off the chalkboard in front of me, or the words I’m writing.

“Shut your fucking mouth,” I chuckle again. “I’ve got to admit, when I first heard that lovely word I did not take to it as quickly as you did. You should be really proud of yourself.”

Scootaloo doesn't say anything. She just concentrates on her side of the chalkboard with a scowl on her face, writing the same words over and over again: I will not use foul language or act inappropriately towards my classmates. I have some similar lines on my side, only the last part says, or set a bad example for my friends. Ha!

The classroom is eerily quiet, just as it always is when no one else is in it. The kind of solitude you expect to find in purgatory or some other place of punishment, it just unsettles you for some reason.

Being the mischievous little bitch I am though, I do all I can to disturb this silence, and the best way to do that is to torture my young friend here with all the snarky quips I can think of.

“I do believe there was room for improvement though. Maybe next time you can tell her to go fuck herself with a cheese grater and die. I’m sure Miss Cheerilee would love to hear that one.”

“Would you shut up?!” Scootaloo snaps. “I would’ve never even known about that word if I hadn’t heard it from you first, and it’s not like you haven’t been shouting it left and right for the past three days now.”

“True, but incase you haven’t noticed, I said that word when we were alone, in seclusion, with no one else around, not in a crowded street in front of dozens of other ponies. There’s a time and a place for everything Scootaloo, and you used the wrong words, at the wrong time, at the wrong place.”

She growls out fury. “You would’ve said the exact same thing in my situation, if not worse.”

I scoff with a laugh. “Believe me, there’s a lot of things I’d love to say to Diamond Tiara, but I don’t. Not just because someone else may hear me, but also because she’s a manipulative little bitch who’ll try to use whatever she can get her grubby little hooves on as leverage over us. You’ve gotta be careful what you say around her Scootaloo, no matter how much of an annoying jerk she’s being.”

Scootaloo pauses her writing a moment and looks at me with a deadly gaze. “She made fun of my wings.”

I stop my writing, too. I don’t turn to her, I just stare threateningly at the chalkboard. “Come again?”

“She made fun of my wings,” Scootaloo repeats. “Said that if they hadn’t started working by now that they never would, and that I should just throw myself off a cliff, that even if I didn’t fly and splatter myself against the ground at least then I’d be just as much good then as I ever would be.” Her glare turns darker with each word she states. “And you’re telling me you wouldn’t have told her off like I did?”

There’s a snap that rings through the room, the only thing that alerts me to the fact that I’ve crushed the chalk stick in my hoof. I suck in a deep breath, before picking up a clean piece and resuming where I left off. “That depends. If I was a demon I would’ve told her to fuck off and maybe even punched her in the face and knocked a few teeth out, but say that I was a good girl, someone who everyone expects to behave herself and do what’s right, I guess I couldn’t do anything then. I’d just have to simply ignore her and walk away, like the conversation never even occurred.”

I feel more than see Scootaloo’s cutting glare. “But you’re not a good girl.”

“No, but I need to act like I am, especially right now when the shi—er, crud could hit the fan at any moment. For all I know the Order might already be spying this town and I don’t need a bad reputation attracting attention to me if they do decide to come searching.”

“So you’d just do nothing? You’d just stand there at let her talk to you like you’re shit?”

I pause in my writing, and look at her out the corner of my eye, wearing a long smirk on my face. “Scootaloo, do you know what the devil’s favorite sin is?”

She gives me a weird look, before shaking her head.

“Lying, Scootaloo. The devil loves to lie. He may be the most famous liar on the planet. Hell, he’s certainly the best. With but a few words he can make you believe that Celestia is the most evil being in Equestria, that up is down and left is right, that it’s better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. But what makes him so much worse than other liars, is that he always knows exactly what to make you believe. He’ll get you to put so much faith in that lie that when it inevitably falls apart, you will, too.

Scootaloo blinks a few times. “That’s… interesting and all, but what does it have to do with standing up to Diamond Tiara?”

“It’s important because I’ve been feeding her this very kind of lie. She believes that I’m harmless and that I couldn’t do anything to hurt her. She had no idea that I was capable of stealing scandalous photos of us from her desk, and replacing them with ones of her nasty bits. She would’ve never guessed that I’d be the type to stalk her as she went home at night, just for the sheer pleasure of scaring the living hell out of her. And she definitely doesn’t know that I could conjure up demons from Hell to possess her and torment her for the rest of her life.”

Scootaloo drops her chalk piece and gives me a terrified look. “You… you wouldn’t actually-”

“No, not at this point at least. That’s another perk about being in this position, so many options available to me at any given circumstance. You never know, maybe she’ll just stay the regular stuck up bitch she is, and I’ll continue to only give her glimpses of what lies underneath this cute little girl mask of mine. Or maybe one day she’ll really fuck up, cross a line that goes beyond simple bullying, and do something even she’ll admit was despicable. If that happens, I’ll rip the mask off completely, and show her just how ‘harmless’ I truly am. There’s so many things I could do to her, and all I have to do is keep in character, and smile every time she taunts me. It doesn’t matter how on top she thinks she is, I’ll have the last laugh in the end.”

The silence that follows is unsettling. Scootaloo looks at me with strange eyes, a mixture of shock, fear, and a hint of respect. Her jaw still hangs open as she looks back at the chalkboard. “Sweetie Belle, that's... that's pure evil.”

“I know it is.”

She stutters again, and it takes her a minute to form a coherent response. “Sweetie Belle, aren’t you a little worried that you might get found out doing something like this? I mean, Tiara is a lot of things but she’s not stupid. Don’t you think she might discover who you truly are, or at least, your true personality?”

I look at her a moment, my grin growing the longer I do. “And if she does, why would it matter? All that would come of it is that she would discover the sad little girl isn’t as helpless as she thought she was. If anything it’ll intimidate her. Not even she’s on level with this kind of deception, after all.”

“But what if she decided to tell somepony, tell the whole town what you’re really like?”

I chuckle, and proceed to writing on the chalkboard as I speak. “I’d be surprised, because Diamond Tiara of all ponies should know how powerful a lie is. There sort of like plants, the older and more firmly rooted they are, the harder it is to pull them out. No one would take her word for it, and even if she did somehow manage to convince a few ponies, all it would take is one simple argument, or at worst one more good lie to throw them off again.”

“It can’t be that simple.”

“Oh but it is Scootaloo, trust me, it’s worked so many times before. It doesn’t matter how untrue or ridiculous the lie is, as long as you tell it, and keep repeating it over and over again-” I finish the last sentence on the board, filling the entire thing with rows and rows of sincere apologies. “-you will be believed.”

The door of the school house opens, sending Scootaloo into frenzied rush to scrawl out the remaining few lines she has on the board. She finishes with just enough time to greet our teacher with a sheepish grin. “Oh, hi Miss Cheerilee! We got all the sentences finished before you got back, just like you asked.”

Our teacher gives a blank stare to the sloppily written lines at the bottom, before shooting an equally unimpressed look at the nervous orange pegasus who wrote them. “So I can see. I guess this will do for now, but I don’t want to hear anymore of this foul language business. It shocks me that you two even know such words at your ages. In fact, where did you learn that word anyway, Sweetie Belle? I never pictured you as one to talk like that.”

You probably couldn’t picture me as a cannibalistic serial killer either, or a rapist, or demon of hellspawn. Probably a lot of things you couldn’t see me as.

“Well Miss Cheerilee, do you remember when I told you that I used to live with my mom in Los Pegasus before I came here?” She nods her head. “Well, tell me, have you ever walked down the streets of that city for about… oh, I’d say five point three seconds?”

Confusion takes her face for a moment, before her eyes widen in realization. “Oooooooooh.”

“Yeah, you could say that part of the reason my mom sent me to live out here was because I was picking up an accent.”

Miss Cheerilee bites her lip to stop the snicker, much to Scootaloo’s confusion. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing important. Regardless, are we clear that you two are never to use that word again?”

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee,” we say in unison.

“Good, so now there is just one last thing you need to take care of.”

She moves to the side to allow a small filly to walk in. Oh, I’m sorry, did I say filly? I meant puke stain out of the gut of the most grotesque demon in the underworld.

“I’ve asked Diamond Tiara to come along with me. You two did have something to say to her, right?” Cheerilee hisses.

“Um, yeah we did,” Scootaloo says. She looks back at Tiara, who’s smiling so innocently it just makes me want to eat her up, quite literally.

Scootaloo tries to escape having to look her in the eye as she says it, but one stiff grunt from Cheerilee is enough to set her straight. Her face is scrunched up when she speaks the words. “I’m… sorry, for talking to you like that.”

She tries to stop there, but Cheerilee glares the fear of God into her before she can leave. “And, I’m sorry for being so rude to you and for using that bad word. I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way. I’m sorry.”

Cheerilee finally seems content, but by the time she turns her gaze to me I’m about three steps ahead. “And I guess I need to apologize too. I’m sorry for causing this whole thing Scootaloo, I didn’t mean to say that word in front of you. It just sort of slipped out. I promise I’ll never use such language with you again.”

I then turn to Diamond Tiara, a shameful look on my face and sorrowful looking eyes. “And I’m also sorry for causing this whole mess Tiara, I hope this didn’t put a gap between us in any way. Can you ever forgive me?”

She doesn't even hesitate, just puts on a big smile and says, “Oh, it’s okay, Sweetie Belle. I mean, it’s not like you meant to cause it or anything, and besides you weren’t the one who said those words to me anyway. I hold nothing against you.”

It’s like two wolves snarling and fighting for the territory. Whether or not this heated battle for dominance is noticed by our teacher is uncertain, but in any case she acts like she doesn’t notice.

“I’m glad we could put this whole matter behind us. I think that just about wraps up our business here. Thank you for coming with me Diamond Tiara, you may go now.”

“Don’t mention it, Miss Cheerilee,” she says as she waltzes out of the school house.

“You two can go now as well, but please behave yourselves from now on. You know I don’t like having to come in when we’re supposed to be on break.”

“Yes, we know Miss Cheerilee, we’re sorry about this again. Hope to see you at the Nightmare Night festival.”

She smiles in reply before saying goodbye and going on her way. Scootaloo follows me away from the school house, eyeing me the whole time. “I will admit, you are a pretty good liar. But why were you telling me all that back at the school?”

I answer her with a friendly smile. “I don’t hold many morals, Scootaloo, but one I do keep is that I never break a promise. I told you that I’d give you nothing but the truth, and I’m doing exactly that.”

She continues looking at me a moment, a cheerful smile slowly grows on her face the longer she does. She chuckles a bit, as if to say thanks, and I nod back in return.

The rest of our walk goes by in silence. We follow the road for awhile before breaking off into the thick orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom is waiting right outside our club house, a scowl on her face that turns to annoyance the second she sees us.

“Finally! I was beginnin’ to wonder if you two were ever gonna’ show up.”

“Sorry, we only had a thousand a words and a certain pink bitch to deal with,” I quip.

“Yeah, well as long as yah’ weren’t gettin’ side tracked with another make out session-”

“Would you shut up about that already?!” Scootaloo blurts. “It was one time, one fucking time, and she wasn’t even all there when it happened.”

Apple Bloom snorts all the same. I completely ignore the comments, dismissing the conversation with an eyeroll. “In any case, what did we have planned for today anyway?”

The two of them give me an odd look. “Um, shouldn’t you be planning out the day?”

It’s like they physically transferred their confusion to me. “Well, I don’t know, usually you two think up of the ideas to get our cutie marks, and I usually just-”

“Cutie Marks!” Scootaloo blurts. “The forces of Hell are quite literally breaking loose and invading Equestria, and you’re still thinking about how to get some stupid butt mark?”

Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear come out of Scootaloo’s mouth. I give her a wry smile and say, “Uuuuumm… yes.”

I get the impression that my friends weren’t expecting to continue our normal adventures. “Sweetie, as much as I’d love to get my cutie mark today, I think Scootaloo has a point,” Apple Bloom says. “Shouldn’t we be, I don’t know, settin’ up defenses? Patrollin’ the town? Be on the look out for any kind a’ demons or devils or whatever comin’ through?”

“Why do you think you haven’t seen me in the past three days? I’ve been working my little white butt off protecting the town. Aside from performing numerous demonic rituals and defensive spells, I’ve had to run off at least a dozen times already to stop any demons from coming into town. I’ve already slaughtered three doppelgangers, five spirit demons, at least a dozen harpies, and don’t even get me started on the gluttony demons. Seriously, I will commit genocide if I ever visit the third circle of hell.”

“Wait, so you’ve actually been fighting demons this whole time?”

“Non-stop for the past three days, which is why I’d like to take a break and get back to crusading for a bit. So come on, didn’t you have a great idea that had to do with chiropractics we could try?” My wide smile is met with grated stares from my friends.

“Actually, I have a better idea for earning our cutie marks,” Scootaloo says.

“Okay, what is it?”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Demon-Hunters!” she blurts.

My face meets the ground in record time. It just can’t be simple, can it? “Look, I know you two are still getting used to the whole demon thing, but really, you don’t have to come with me on every ‘outing’ that I go on. I can handle myself, and… well… it is the forces of hell we’re talking about. I’m more than a little worried that what you see might scar you for life, in more than one ways.”

Apple Bloom gives me a deadpan look. “I think that there worry came true the moment we saw you squirmin’ around inside a dead dragon.”

Okay Apple Bloom, if that was meant to hurt me, it worked. “Yes, but that’s no reason to give you two more nightmares, is it?”

“Okay, truth be told, I was a little freaked out at first,” Scootaloo says. “But I can get by all the blood and guts if means helping you.”

So I’m desensitizing my twelve year old friend to violence and torture. Yay! That’s always good to hear. After prying my hoof off of my face, I resume a soft voice. “Okay, if you want to help out, I guess I could use a few hooves in getting certain supplies for rituals. But I don’t need anything done right now, and this is one of the few moments I’ve gotten where there’s been no demonic activity for awhile. So if it’s okay with you, I’d rather just use the time for normal things, stuff that usually do, so we can, oh you motherfucking son of a shitwad!”

My friends flinch at this tirade, to say the least. “What!? What’s wrong? What happened?”

I suck in a sharp breath and steady my violent hoof. “Well, you know how I said I’ve been performing rituals to protect the town?” They nod. “Yeah, one of them is this telepathic alarm system that alerts me whenever any demonic forces get within two hundred miles of the town, and it just went off.”

Scootaloo gets a wide open mouthed grin at that. “Awesome, so we can come help you kill these guys right?”

“Actually, it just seems like there’s two greed demons who aren’t approaching all that fast. I can probably take care of this in a few minutes. Why don’t you two just start the crusading without me and I’ll catch up with you shortly.”

“What?! No way, we’re coming with you on this,” Scootaloo protests, stamping her hoof.

“I’m just gonna skin them alive and come right back. I appreciate you wanting to help, but there’s really-”

“We’re following you and that’s that!” Scootaloo shouts.

It takes all of my willpower not to lose my smile. I look at her with half-lidded eyes, and pour my hypnotic power into my words. “Scootaloo, you’re going to stay here with Apple Bloom, okay?”

She gets a vague look in her eye, and her voice loses all passion. “Alright Sweetie Belle, I’ll stay here with Apple Bloom.”

“Good.” I smile fiendishly at her and then turn off towards the road. “I’ll be back before you know it. See you in a bit.”

Scootaloo waves at me with a blank expression on her face, and Apple Bloom mimics the motion while giving her a concerned stare. Does it make me a horrible pony that I abused my power to subdue my own friend? Probably, but I still don’t give a shit. Scootaloo has been showing an unhealthy interest in demons ever since she found out about them. I’m kind of flattered to have an admirer, but she’s forgetting what most demons are capable of, and blinded to the fact that I’m not that much better. If she doesn’t start seeing that soon she could end up doing something she’ll regret.

I don’t have time to be worried though, so I focus my attention to the strong demonic sense that’s telling me where to go. I reach a path a few miles outside the orchard and follow it away from the town. I gallop for a short time, gaining more distance between me and the village until I’m on the very edge of the town limits. There, just a few paces away from my little alert system, is a large cart being pulled along by one earth pony and a unicorn. I can already sense the hellish energy rising off of them.

They make slow progress, obviously not in a hurry to be getting anywhere, until they notice me standing in the center of the road. They look at each other a moment, before smiling fiendishly and approaching me with a pathetic excuse for a fake friendliness.

The unicorn addresses me first. “Well, hello there, little one. My name is Ruby Charge and this here is Dark Topaz. We’re merchants, come to do a bit of trading in your town. Would you like a ride there?”

I smile back with a much more convincing grin. “Hi there, my name is Sweetie Belle. I’m succubus demon from Hell who has come out to tell you to fuck off before I rip your damn heads off. Would like me to point you in the nearest direction back to Hades?”

They react to this just about as well as can be imagined. They gawk for a moment, then turn to glares as they start to measure me up. “Is she for real?”

“I’m not sensing any demonic energy from her.”

“It’s called a cover up spell, boys. look it up sometime. Makes it a lot harder for demon hunters, or somepony like me, to find you so easily.”

They continue to glare, but oddly turn their eyes somewhere off behind me as well. “And are those two friends of yours also demons, then? Because they certainly aren’t hiding themselves as well as they hide their power.”

“Wait, what?”

I turn around, heighten my demonic senses, and sure enough…

“Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, what the hell are you two doing here?!”

The pair comes tumbling out of a nearby bush, scrambling to stand up and give sheepish smiles in my direction. “Hey there, Sweetie Belle, just thought we’d tag along like we said.”

“No, I mean how are you even here to begin with? I told you not to come, I fucking hypnotized you and everything.”

“And weren’t you the one who told me that hypnotizing doesn’t work if you know you’re being hypnotized?”

I try to respond but only manage to stutter out several angry incoherent grunts, topped with an exasperated groan. “Look, I already explained this to you. I don’t really need help with this. I appreciate you offering, but I don’t need it.”

“Well then, can’t we just watch?”

“Why would you want to watch this?!”

“Why not?”

“Um… girls?” one of the merchants says.

“No, no, no, let me explain to you how this usually goes down. I show up, and ask oh so politely for these assholes to leave, then they get all pissy and wave their dicks around for a minute before I promptly rip them off and force feed it to them. Now tell me, do you really want to stick around to watch that?”

“Maybe we should go,” Apple Bloom states.

“Fine then, you go, I’m staying here.”

“For the love of Luna, Scootaloo, why are you so…”

“Right, that’s it!” The merchants’ bodies suddenly warp in appearance. They grow in size and their fur turns a pale black. Wings appear on their back with no feathers, only bone outlined by a thin layer of flesh. Their ribs are visible on the outside of their bodies, and they grow long, sharp teeth and massive crazed eyes that look like they’re seconds away from falling out of their skulls.

They stomp towards us slowly, with heavy pounding foot steps, and drooling acidic liquid from their maws. My friends hide behind me, and I look at them with a blank expression as they proceed with the dick waving. “I don’t know what your girl's deal is, but we’re through waiting around. Since you seem to know so much of demons already, it seems only fitting that we sell you to them. You’ll be their sex toys, their torture captives. Any desire they have you’ll be their bitch for it. Where’s your snide reply for that, you little cunt!”

So after I snidely reply by skinning them alive and choking them with their own disembodied dicks, I cannibalize their bodies and begin hauling their overweight cart off the road and into an abandoned field where no one will see it. My friends still follow me, despite all my protests. Scootaloo grinning, Apple Bloom scowling the whole way.

“Did you really have to eat em’ like that?” she says.

“Well how else would you expect me to hide the bodies?” I respond. “I warned you the second you showed up what was going to happen, but apparently Scoots here just likes watching ponies die horribly.”

“No, I just like watching badass demons in action, even if it does get a little gory at times.”

I look to the sky and shake my head.

“Why do you make them die that way though? Isn’t it enough to just kill them, instead of doing… well, that to them?” Apple Bloom asks.

“Maybe if I was a soldier or a demon hunter who simply wanted to rid the world of evil. Demons though, they’re not just supposed to rid the world of evil, they’re supposed to punish it as well. That’s what they’re meant to do at least. They don’t always perform it like that, but it is their main purpose, and all of our power is geared towards carrying out that purpose. Demonic power, by its very nature, is energy meant to kill and torment. It’s literally hardwired to cause as much pain and suffering as possible, and if you don’t satisfy it by tormenting others, it’ll begin to torment you. It’ll make you see things, give you nightmares, make it impossible for you to think properly, and if you continue to go without tormenting others, it’ll eventually drive you insane.”

Silence ensues for a moment after that. Apple Bloom isn’t sure how to properly reply to that disturbing information. “That is pretty messed up, Sweetie.”

“Everything about demons is messed up. Why do you think I’m so against her unhealthy interest in them?”

I glare at Scootaloo as I say this. She shrinks under my gaze, but doesn’t say a word. No one says a word again, until we reach our destination. I come to a stop once I think we’re far enough outside town to not be seen. I unhinge the cart’s yoke from my neck and climb into the back.

“What were these guys trying to sell anyway?” Apple Bloom asks.

“Looks like some normal stuff. Old furniture, rare antiquities, fine china, satanic spell books, and scented candles.”

“Wait, what was that last one ya’ said?” Apple Bloom asks.

“Scented candles?”

“Yeah, Big Macintosh has actually been wantin’ some a’ those for awhile.”

“Hey, don’t let me stop you, take your pick.”

Apple Bloom begins to sort through the multicolored candle sticks, while Scootaloo exploring the more obscene items in the cart. “So, are these spell books like, even safe to look at?”

“And you would want to look at them… why?”

“I’m curious, is that a crime?”

“No, but it’s a vice, one that could get you killed, or worse.”

“Oh, come on, there can’t be anything that bad in here.” She takes one of the dusty tomes in hoof, opens the front cover, which contains a fiery portal to the depths of Tartarus from which dozens of screaming tortured souls fly out of with looks of indescribable pain and horror scrawled on their faces. Scootaloo slams the book shut, breaths out one of the deranged souls that flew into her mouth, and wipes the eternally scared look off her face. “Though just to be on the safe side, maybe you should gather all these books together in one big pile, and burn them.”

I swipe the tome out of her hoof with a glaring look. “Oh, trust me, I intend to light this whole cart on fire, once I make sure there’s nothing in here that’ll explode, or release an ancient evil if destroyed. You can never be too cautious with demonic objects, after all.”

I continue searching the cart, which to its credit, has an impressive number of evil devices stored away on it. Much more than I would’ve expected at a glance. Among the growing pile of firewood is about a dozen spell tomes, three jars of goat blood, several pieces of demonic jewelry, and some kinky sex toys that at first I’m tempted to keep, but upon further thought it would probably be more trouble than it’s worth. Just when I think I’ve cleaned out the stash though, I notice something odd in the floor of the cart. I look closer, and sure enough I find a hidden compartment in the floorboards that contains a single container.

“Wow, girls. I’m not sure about this, but I think I might have found something big.”

They both climb up and take a look at the massive steel briefcase that’s wrapped all around with chains and has a massive red pentagram on the front meant to ward off holy forces.

“I don’t know. Are you sure it’s not just their special lunch box?” Scootaloo chides.

I smirk and then pull the heavy case out of the hole. I break off the lock, and notice my friends taking a few steps back as I unlatch the case. I raise my demonic energy for whatever may be inside. I slowly open it up, glance inside, and cock my eye at the contents.

Seven glass vials, filled with a clear liquid lay on black velvet within. I blink my eyes, unsure what to make of this. I carefully take one of the vials out and hold it up to the light.

“What is it, Sweetie Belle?”

“I honestly have no idea.” Deciding to try my luck, I cautiously unscrew the container and hold it my nose. Only then do I realize what a stupid idea that was. “Oh, fuck.”

My head lurches forward, barely allowing me time to contain it. I throw the vial off in one direction, and then lean over the side of the wagon and vomit in the other. My friends’ hooves are on my shoulders within seconds, worryingly comforting me as I spew out the remains of half digested greed demon.

“Dear Celestia, Sweetie, what is that stuff?” Apple Bloom asks.

“Holy water… oh, shit, I’m gonna have that smell in my nostrils for wee-” I can’t even finish my sentence before having to puke again. This time I don’t speak again until I’m sure I’ve ejected everything in my stomach, and then I collapse into an exhausted heap on the floor of the cart.

“Gosh, it sure seems like whatever this stuff is it doesn’t really like you that much.”

“You’re actually… closer… than you realize,” I pant out. “It’s special water… blessed by… the creator of paradise… himself. Specifically… made… to kill… demons. I’m actually really surprised… these guys even have it. It’s damn near impossible… to find in this day and age… what with the angels seemingly disappearing and all.”

I’m guessing I look a lot worse than I think, which is saying something, because my friends are looking at me like I’m on my death bed. Apple Bloom in particular looks pale faced. “Gosh, whatever this stuff is it looks mighty dangerous.”

“Only if you’re a demon.” I finally regain my breath and slowly rise to my hooves. “In fact, you should probably hang on to those. It’s pretty much harmless to mortals and it’s a pretty good weapon against demons, probably the best one you could hope for. Just… make sure you keep it the hell away from me.”'

Apple Bloom continues looking at me a moment longer. “Well, if yer’ sure it’s harmless, I guess it’ll be okay.”

“Oh yeah, definitely.” Scootaloo already has about three of the vials in her hooves. “So say a demon does come at us, how do we use this stuff?”

“Sprinkle a little bit on yourself and it’ll keep them away, splash a bit on them and it’ll make them sick, and if all else fails then just smash the whole thing in their face and watch them die a slow, painful death as they angrily cuss you out on the ground.”

“Sounds awesome!”

“Depending on what side you’re on at least. In any case, I think that’s everything on the cart. Time for a bonfire!”

I gather everything in the cart close together and then focus my demonic energy on a small area of the cart. It’s enough to start a small blaze, which quickly spreads to the rest of the wagon. I’m a little worried that the smoke might attract attention, but at the rate it’s burning I doubt anypony will get here in time to even recognize the smoldering mess. We watch silently as the blaze eats up the cart and everything in it.

“So, how often do these demons come through any how?” Apple Bloom asks.

“To put it bluntly, I’ve been getting drenched in so much blood lately that I’m shocked my coat hasn’t been permanently dyed red. I’ve been making sure to always keep a bar of soap on me and always know where any nearby ponds are, so if you happen to come across a lake that looks like it’s in a menstrual cycle you’ll know why.”

“Okay, first thing, that’s disgustin’,” Apple Bloom says. “Second thing, are you just gonna slaughter every demon that gets even remotely close to town.”

“No, I plan to slaughter every demon who even glances in this towns direction.”

Apple Bloom gives me a squeamish gesture and avoids eye contact. “Sweetie Belle, I know yer’ set on protectin’ Ponyville and all, and that’s a good thing! I’m actually glad yer’ doin’ it. But, don’t yah’ think that yah’ might be takin’ things… a tad bit too far?”

“I never do anything half-way,” I respond.

“Yes, but I mean shouldn’t you at least try to talk things out with these demons before yah’ just jump em’ like you do?”

Both me and Scootaloo give her odd looks. “Apple Bloom, you’re asking me to sit down and have a reasonable chat with the most vile creatures of the abyss, you know that right?”

“Yeah, but what if some of them don’t have bad intentions for this town. I mean, yer’ here and you’ve saved this place a couple of times. Who’s to say that aren’t other demons out there who’d want to help you with it.”

I take a long sigh and look at her with a serious eye. “It’s not that simple Apple Bloom. When it comes to demons I’m a very rare example. Most others out there don’t have any desire, much less any patience to do what I do. They tend to just let their demonic natures run wild and do whatever they please to whoever they want, regardless of whether they’re innocent or not. Hell, the only reason I’m not like that is because I was raised up to know better.”

“But aren’t there any demons out there who are like you?”

“I’ve met a few, but as I said they’re not common, and even then I don’t really consider any of them trustworthy. I told Scootaloo earlier, and I might as well tell you, too. Demons are liars, and you can’t trust them any farther than you can throw them.”

“What sad irony then, that you yourself are one.”

The three of us jump at the new voice. We look behind us to see a pegasus, too young to be a mare but not exactly a filly either, standing behind us. Her mane is a light violet color with one or two lines of white running through it. It forms a short, open curtain around her face through which she smiles at us with a rat like mouth, and innocent angelic eyes. By her side is what looks like a little cage housing some unknown animal, something that stares at us from the back and something else moving up front.

“By that logic, your two friends here really shouldn’t even take anything you say as fact. Probably shouldn’t even be standing that close to you. For all they know, you could just snap and eat them up at any time, couldn’t you?”

I grind my teeth attempting to keep a calm tone. “I’m sorry, but do you belong in this conversation?”

“Oh of course, where are my manners,” she states with mock shame. “My name is Esmeralda, though most ponies just call me Alda. And you three are?”

“My name is Sweetie Belle, and that’s about as much information as I’d like you to have.” I glare at her, but it does little to wipe the pleasant look off her face. “In case you missed that part of our conversation, demons of any kind are not welcome here.”

She chuckles, daintily with her hoof to her mouth. “That’s certainly a bold policy. Luckily I can assure you that I am no demon, just a innocent young girl with an avid fascination with the occult.”

“Oh, well, that’s just so much more reassuring,” I state. “Why do you think I’d be any more open to cultists entering this town?”

“Because I’m a young, beautiful, sweet young mare who’ll be sure to behave herself while in your town.”

“You’re also an excellent bullshiter.”

“Oh, you noticed. I’m flattered.”

“Yeah, well I’m sure you’re lovely skills will be much more appreciated about one hundred and eighty degrees behind you and then a thousand miles forward.”

“Aren’t you just witty,” she states with an eyeroll. “Perhaps you should hear me out before you turn me away.”

“Nah, you see, I have this strict ‘no shit’ policy here, and I like to enforce it very well.”

“Hey, come on now Sweetie. Maybe you should give her a chance,” Apple Bloom states. “I mean she’s not even a demon, and It’s not like you’re not dabbling in the occult yourself.”

“Apple Bloom, I use a knife to carve cute little doodles into my skin. For all we know this mare might be planning to sacrifice an innocent young pony to her demon god.”

“Oh please, pointless blood sacrifice? How amateurish can you get?” Alda states. “Besides, Lord Asmodeus has a rather nasty history of backstabbing worshippers who do that.”

“See, I told you, she’s worshipping a demon lord who’s probably going to-” It doesn’t sink in until then. “-Wait, what was the name of your lord again?”

“Asmodeus, Crown Prince of Lust, Lord over the first two circles of Hell, and one of the head generals among the armies of Hades. Why do you ask?”

The silence that ensues is unnerving. Alda just stands there smiling like naive child who just said a bad word, complete ignorance of what she just said. I look back at my friends, who in turn give shocked glances to each other, then resume gawking at the mare in front of me.

“That’s… rather interesting.” My eyes flash hellish red.

“Interesting… how?” Alda asks.

“Well it’s just that there’s so many rumors going around about him recently. Things like him breaking out of Hell, assaulting canterlot, and almost killing Princess Celestia. The Crown Prince of Lust has been pretty busy recently, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah, he sure has been,” Alda responds. “He’s not stopping either. Currently he’s recruiting demons into a personal army, I imagine he’ll be storming Canterlot again pretty soon. Perhaps you’d like to join up with him?”

I put a hoof to my chin and pretend to consider it. “Hm, yeah I guess I could join up with him. I could also stick a razor blade in my cunt and fuck it until I cum blood."

“Seriously, Sweetie Belle?!”

I stare back at a nauseous looking Apple Bloom who's holding a hoof to her mouth. Even Scootaloo seems to be holding her legs tighter together. I rub the back of my neck and smile sheepishly. “Sorry, that one was pretty bad, wasn't it.”

“You have rather squeamish friends for a demon, don't you?”

My ire is quickly turned back to the mare in front of me. “My friends are none of your damn business, and lets stay on subject, shall we? You're gonna tell me everything you know about Asmodeus. What he's planning, where he is, why he's interested in Ponyville. The more you talk the more flesh I'll let you keep. Sound good to you, pumpkin?”

“Sounds lovely, actually,” Alda responds, completely unfazed. “Unfortunately, I'm running behind schedule as it is, so maybe we can catch up later sometime.”

“Oh, but we'll just make this quick and then you'll be on your way, whether that's back the other direction or straight to Hell is for you to decide. I don't need much time to rip your spine out.”

“I don't doubt that you do.” She retains her dainty chuckle and innocent smile, but her eyes narrow to dark slits of menace, like a wolf eyeing a rabbit. “What I wonder though, is if you fully understand that I could do the same thing to you. Asmodeus grants quite a bit of power to his faithful followers. Do you think you have what it takes to stand against the power of a Crown Prince of Hell?”

The words make me pause. I wasn’t thinking much of this mare at first, since I haven’t sensed any demonic energy on her. The way she’s been talking to me though? She clearly knows that I’m a demon, yet she remains calm and collected, now even a little threatening. There aren’t many mortals who can do that, not unless they’re either monumentally retarded or they have something that gives them an edge over demons. I’m not getting the former impression from her, and if it’s true that’s she’s working for Asmodeus then she could have a personal army of demons for all I know.

But I’m not about to let that intimidate me now. This mare is working for a demon that’s waging war on all Equestria; I doubt she has any good intentions in coming here.

Smoke fumes from my nostrils as my darker features begin to manifest on my body. I snarl at her through dagger like teeth, my eyes glowing pure malice. “Facing a Crown Prince I’m leary about, but I have more than enough strength to deal with a stupid mortal like you!”

I charge forward at mach two speeds. I’m on her in less than a second, I lunge forward ready to rip that smug grin right off her face, and then I’m hit. Some unseen force strikes my chest, it feels like a just ran full speed into a charging bull. Both breath and blood is forced out of my lungs as I go flying back. I hit the ground gasping for air, but I can only get half a breath in before something wraps itself around my body and squeezes the life out of me.

I can’t breath, can’t move, only struggle fruitlessly against my invisible attacker, and watch with growing anger at its giggling master.

“Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom screams out in horror.

“What’s happening to her?! What did you do?!” Scootaloo shouts.

The cultist answers after another innocent chuckle. “Me? Why, I’m not doing anything. You’re friend here just failed to notice the Shadow Demons I had at my side. Not an uncommon mistake, mind you. Shadow Demons are already pretty hard to see in the first place, being able to change into any form they want, even one that’s completely transparent. These however are a special breed, one that can mask its demonic power, making it damn near impossible to detect even for the most skilled of demons. Your poor friend here should’ve known better than to fight the power of a demon lord. Compared to that she really is just as harmless as she looks, isn’t that right Sweetie?”

I am going to feed that bitch her own eyeballs.

With a growl of anger I summon up my demonic energy and focus it around my entire body. Sparks crawl over my skin, and then a burst of fire envelopes me. The demons restraining me shriek and fall away. I don’t waste time. I stand to my hooves and lunge at the shocked cultist. I swipe my hoof at her, but only manage to nick her face as she jumps away.

I continue attacking her, but she keeps dodging. Her movements are strange, as though not her own. It’s like each time she’s in my reach some unseen force yanks her away from harm. Perhaps more Shadow demons? Whatever it is, though, it’s obviously not perfect at its job. I manage to land a few small hits and shallow cuts, and at one point I catch her completely unprepared and slice a deep gash into her chest.

Blood flies through the air and she gasps out a raspy breath. I grin and lunge in for a killing blow, when something yanks me by the tail and throws me back several feet. Huge chunks of flesh peel off me as I fly back and blood sprays out of me like a garden hose, as though my body were sliding through a cheese grater.

Everything is burning when I land, each movement I make sends a fire through my open wounds. Despite this, I chuckle as I get up, because now I can watch that smug grin of hers melt off her face as my wounds heal, and hers continue to bleed.

The shock soon fades away to raw hatred. Alda breaths heavily while trying to stop her chest from giving up too much blood. Her malicious glare bounces off my smirking face, but then anger leaves her, and an odd smile cracks across her lips.

She takes a few steps back and throws her hooves up. “Alright, you win.”

I’m thrown off balance for a moment. “What-what do you mean?”

“I mean that you win, I’m done.” She walks back to her little cage and grabs it with her free hoof. “I know when I’m out matched, I’m not going to fight a demon of your power.”

I look at her in shock, as do my friends. Then I shake my head and regain some amount of composure. “Well, I guess you’re a lot smarter than you look. So if you’ll just be so kind as to answer a few questions for me, I’ll let you return back home unmolested.”

“Ah, well you see that’s just the thing,” she states with an almost childlike grin. Her wings then shoot up from her back, and she gives a powerful flap to pull herself up into the air. “You heal pretty fast, but I noticed that even you are still bound to the ancient hurdle of slow regenerating limbs.”

I make an irked noise and stare back dumbly at my stumpy wing. I glare back at her and shout, “I wouldn’t be getting too smug, lady. I might not be able to fly, but I’ve got a whole mess of traps rigged up for just this reason. They’ll shoot down any flying targets the moment any demonic energy crosses them.”

“Really? So you’re saying that someone like me who has no demonic energy and a few demons who can hide their presence so well not even a demon lord would be able sense them could pass by completely unharmed?”

Dead silence, that’s all I can respond to that with. My hoof is stuck pointing at her in the air, and my enraged face collapses in on itself, leaving me with only dread and shattered pride.

“I guess I can take that as yes. Probably should’ve factored in the possibility of cultists paying you a visit, but oh well, that’s your mistake not mine. In any case I’ll see in town. Bye-bye.”

And then she blows me a kiss and flies off, leaving me to wallow in my own wounded pride. Behind me I hear a certain orange pegasus burst out laughing.

“Oooh… ooohoho, dear Luna. Sweetie Belle, I’m sorry I don’t mean to laugh, it’s just that…” She explodes into laughter again. “Oooh, you got burned sooooo badly.”

She falls on her back and continues laughing.

Apple Bloom is less amused. “Sweetie Belle, how common are cultists and demon worshippers exactly? Did you just not think they'd come here, or was this a really bad mistake on your part?”

I don't say a word, don't even move, I don't give any response at all.

“I'm gonna' take that as the second one. So what do we do?”

“Well, for right now,” I say in a voice bordering the edge of insanity. “I'd like you two to start running. I don't care where too or what direction, just start running and don't stop.”

“Uh, why exactly?”

I twist my head around to them, my lips cracked up into a deranged smile, my eyes twitching and showing hints of mad rage that I can barely control. Whatever expressions my friends had on their faces disappear and are replaced by pure fear.

“Apple Bloom, I think we should listen to her,” says Scootaloo.

“Right behind ya',” Apple Bloom replies.

They dash off into the forest at top speed. By the time they leave I start growling. Pure uncontained rage fills my being like steam, building up pressure with no where to go. My breath turns heated, my muscles go tense, and then I finally snap. I scream out an enraged roar to heavens and slam my hooves into the ground.

I might want to get out of here before somepony notices the mushroom cloud of demonic energy.

Chapter 9: Games, Dolls, and the Mares that Play them

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“Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Okay Sweetie Belle, we get it, ya' screwed up. Now would ya' kindly stop repeatin' that word like a broken record?"

Apple Bloom's chastisement does little to sway me. "No, you don't understand. Stupidity is like the cardinal sin for demons! You don't fuck up this badly, you just don't."

"Come on Sweetie Belle, it wasn't that bad of a mistake," says Scootaloo.

"Yes, it fucking was! I should've known there'd be cultists dumb enough to follow Asmodeus, I should've known there was a good chance cultists could come to Ponyville!" I slap a hoof to my head and call myself an idiot for the thousandth time since we started walking back. “And now because of my stupidity, we've got this peachy little bitch wandering around town doing Satan knows what."

“Well, at least it’s not a full fledged demon that got through,” Scootaloo states. “I mean, it can’t be that bad if she’s just a regular pony, right?”

“Maybe, if this had been your everyday, average, run of the mill cultist, but no. This girl is in contact with Asmodeus, a literal Prince of Hell. Mortals who contact Princes of Hell, are not average by any standard. You both saw what she did back there with those demons, who knows what else she could be capable of. Cultists thrive off of summoning demons and making deals for power. She could be capable of leveling all of Ponyville to the ground for all I know."

“So I guess we better find her before she can do anything like that," Scootaloo states. “Say, do you think you could use that clarbuoyancy, thing or, whatever it’s called.”

“Clairvoyance Scootaloo,” I state. “And that’s not a bad idea.”

I clear my mind and visualize Alda’s face, trying not to do so without picturing her bound, gagged, and helpless before me. Several moments go by and then my mind suddenly goes blank, and I receive a vision, a vision of…

“The library.”

“What?”

“She’s in the goddamn library!” I blurt throwing a hoof to the sky. “Just our luck really. Come on, hopefully we can drag out of there before Spike asks too many questions.”

We trudge on through the town ignoring any conversation, and march up to the chestnut oak door of the library. Just as we enter we hear giggling from inside.

“You’re pretty handy for such a small guy.”

We stare at each other a moment, before turning the handle on the front door and entering inside. There, sitting on a stool dead center in the tree, is the pink coated pegasus from earlier, getting her wounds dressed up by a certain baby dragon.

“You sure know your way around a first-aid kit. Where’d you learn to do this anyway?”

Spike smirks as he finishes wrapping the bandages around her chest. “Oh, I have a friend who works with animals nearby. Sorta have to know a thing or two about this kind of stuff in that line of work, and she was kind enough to show me the basics as well. It’s been more useful than you would believe.”

“Such a cute smile, too,” she says with flirtatious eyes. “You must have a mare friend with that kind of face.”

Spike stutters and his face turns shades of red. “Well, I, uh-”

“I’m sorry, are we interrupting something?” I state.

They both turn to me, Spike with a shocked blush, and Alda with a cutting grin. “Ah, Sweetie Belle, how nice to see you again.”

My eyes turn a faint tint of red as I stare at her, beaming so much hatred into one glance. How I wish looks could kill at this moment.

“You… you two know each other?” Spike asks with a shaky voice.

“Why yes! These are the young fillies who warned me about that manticore that came out of the forest.”

“Manticore?” I ask.

“Yes, the horrid beast,” she says. “Left me rather scratched up, but I would’ve been it’s dinner had you three not warned me in time. Of course, I guess it’s a good thing I was there to lead it off you as well. I’d hate to think of what would’ve happened had we not bumped into each other.”

Her lighthearted grin is a mocking gesture. What the hell is she playing at? Why would she come here of all places? She had to have known I’d find her here, so why?

“That is pretty lucky for you to run across them out there,” Spike states, glaring at us with squinted eyes. “Could I ask exactly what you three were doing out there to begin with?”

“Good question, Spike, but here’s a better one. How are you going to explain to Rarity how you almost let her defenseless younger sister get eaten by a Manticore?”

Spike holds a finger up in the air, but only manages to weakly stutter out, “I’m… just going to shut up now.”

“And I’d rather put the whole incident behind me,” Alda states. “As far as I’m concerned you three are nothing but a pair of angels anyway.”

Pair? But there's three of- Oh you smug bitch.

I growl softly and look at Spike with hypnotic eyes. “Spike, give me and Alda some privacy? Don't come back in until we're done.”

He gets that blank look that all my victims do under the spell. “Well, if you need to talk… I guess I could step out for a moment.”

“Oh, but I don’t think there’s any need for that,” Alda states. “If there’s anything Sweetie Belle needs to say to me, she can say it in front of you. From the sound of things you’d do well to keep a close watch on her. Besides, why would she want to keep secrets from someone as cute as you?”

She rubs him underneath the chin and gives him a come hither look. Whatever affects my hypnosis may have had wares off under her lustful charms. “On second thought, I guess I should probably stick around after what just happened. Not like there’s anything Sweetie wouldn’t want me to hear, right?”

Once again cheated by that adulterous bitch known as hormones, god damn her to hell!

I swear internally but smile widely and answer with a calm voice. “Of course Spike, nothing at all. It’s just that it seems a little strange for someone to be traveling alone towards Ponyville. I’d imagine everypony is a little freaked out, what with the recent attack in Canterlot, not to mention the crime rates suddenly skyrocketing all over Equestria. I just wanted to ask our guest here what she was doing in Ponyville to begin with.”

Granted, I probably would’ve worded it differently. Like somewhere along the lines of, ‘What the fuck are you doing here, you little cunt, and tell me why I shouldn’t yank your lungs out through your vagina.’ Or something similar.

Alda looks at me sweetly and answers, “Well, to tell the truth, I was actually interested in this town’s recently ascended princess.”

Spike blinks at her. “You mean Twilight?”

“Indeed I do. Do you realize that we’ve lived to see a once in a lifetime event? The last time somepony ascended to an Alicorn was over a thousand years ago, and no pony has been able to do it since. Well, until now that is. It’s so amazing I just had to know more about this mare.”

“So, you came all the way out here, out of pure curiosity?” I ask.

Her eyes roll upward and she makes a guilty smile. “Well, that, and maybe to be the first to write a book on the subject and clean up in the marketplace.”

“Ah, so you’re an author then?” I ask. “Strange, I would’ve never guessed by your cutie mark.”

Then again, I never would’ve guessed what she is by her cutie mark. It’s a rather strange one, a large red apple with a white infinity symbol in the center of it, and rays of light coming off it in all directions.

Alda looks down at the image, never losing her smile. “You wouldn’t believe how much I get that. It's a special one that means that I seek after hidden knowledge, wisdom that’s hard to get ahold of, and share it with the rest of the world.”

So she literally got her cutie mark in occultism? I wish I could say that I was surprised, but then I’d be lying.

"I've always been interested in such knowledge, and your local princess is easily the most fascinating subject I can think of.” She sighs like a teenage girl fantasizing over a school crush. “I’d do anything just to meet with her.”

I’m guessing Asmodeus wouldn’t mind a meeting with the newest Princess as well. From what I’ve heard Twilight really gave the Demon Lord hell when he attacked Canterlot, and if word is true she’s largely why Princess Celestia is still alive. On top of that, it has barely been a week since she was coronated, so it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that not even the Crown Prince of Lust knows that much about her. First rule of any battle is to know your enemy, so maybe it isn’t so shocking that Alda turned up at our good Princess’s home.

Still, it was a careless move on her part. Even without a sixth sense guiding me she should’ve known I’d find her in such a public place, so why did she come here?

My acute hearing picks up a strange hissing sound in the room. I look over at Alda’s luggage, the cage she had earlier, and notice the beady yellow eyes staring unblinking at me.

I take a step back from those eyes, somehow feeling like there’s a danger in them. “What creature do you have in there?”

Alda breaks from her fantasies and looks vaguely at the cage. “Oh, just my one and only traveling companion, Aka. Such a cute little thing. Kept me company on all my travels across the nation.”

“Aka’s yer’ pet?” Apple Bloom asks.

“Why, yes he is.”

“And yah’ keep yer’ pet all locked up inside a cage?”

Alda puts an embarrassed hoof to her mouth. “Well, unfortunately to say, I sorta have to. Aka is a good boy, bless his heart, but he does have a little trouble getting along with others.”

We hear a loud hiss echo through the room, followed by a scared squeak. It appears Angel Bunny got a little too curious and wandered towards the cage, earning snap of fangs for its efforts.

“See, he acts that way with everyone.” Alda unlatches the cage door, and coaxes the creature out. “Oh, but you’d never harm me now wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you?!”

The hissing goes softer as the creature slithers out from box. Whatever that cage is made of can not be of ordinary material, because the moment the thing comes out I immediately sense demonic energy. The demon takes the shape of a serpent, a big one. It’s about half as thick as Alda’s neck and nearly as long as she is. It has a jet black skin color with stripes of yellow, save its tail which is bright yellow and has a strange rubbery appearance to it.

Alda lowers her hoof to the ground and it begins crawling up her arm, slithering and wrapping itself around her neck. It laps at her cheek and elicits a giggle from her. Her joy doesn’t seem to be shared with everyone. Spike and my friends shudder at the sight of the creature, and all the pets run behind us shivering with their tails between their legs.

Fluttershy’s rabbit hides behind my leg, clutching to me like a scared child. Seeing an opportunity I look down at the rabbit with a loving smile. “Don’t worry little guy, I’ll be here to protect you.”

I then lower the ward suppressing my own demonic energy for a moment.

The effects are immediate.

The rabbit, along with all of the other pets, shriek and scatter across the whole library. Rainbow Dash’s tortoise smashes through the library window and all the others soon follow behind him, Opalescence stopping to give me one last hiss before leaving.

The others stare at the library’s new exit for a moment with dumbfounded expressions. Spike eventually realizes the direness of what just happened and goes running after them. “Damnit, not again!”

Watching him leave is so blissfully sweet, though it is somewhat mard by Alda’s dagger sharp grin. “I must admit Sweetie, that was well played. I knew there were wards that could hide a demon’s presence, but I never knew there were ones that could be turned on and off like that.”

“It’s a special variation that I made myself. As you can see, it comes in handy at times.”

Her eyes light up with, disturbingly, what I can only call respect. “And she’s inventive, too. I almost envy you. You don’t want to know how much I wish mortals could use those sigils as well.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘wish mortals could them as well’?” Scootaloo asks.

“Well, you need some sort of fuel to power those sigils. In young Sweetie’s case, it’s her demonic energy, but regular ponies like you and me don’t have anything of the sort. So those sigils would pretty much be nothing but a nifty looking tattoo on us.”

Scootaloo’s ears flatten out and her eye twitches a little. Oh for the love of Luna, was she actually thinking I’d let her-

“Damnit!”

Yeah, apparently she was. I’d chastise her, but honestly I think she’s too busy grinding her teeth to pay it any heed.

“Your friends have interest in demonic magick? That’s rather interesting to know.”

Alda’s words light a spark of anger in my chest, and her conniving grin only pours fuel on the fire. “Don’t even start with me. I’ve already planned out twelve different ways to kill you and none of them are pleasant, or quick. The only reason you’re still standing right now, is because I don’t have the time to wipe up the mess after word. So I’m going to give you one last chance to back out. Leave Ponyville by the end of the day, or you’ll dead by morning.”

She closes her eyes and gives me an innocent smile. “You sure are persistent aren’t you. Did you really forget about my little friends watching over me?”

“Yes, because they did such a good job for you last time,” I say moving my eyes up and down her thick coat of bandages. “Besides, I’m a resourceful girl, you’ve seen that. I could shatter your sanity six times over if I wanted to.”

“Aw, now that’s just adorable.” She tussles my mane. My whole body freezes up. She actually has the nerve to tussle my mane! “Are you sure you don’t want to join up with my master? We’d get along so well if we were only on the same side.”

My eye twitches, and my hoof shakes. I need to physically restrain myself from punching it straight through her face. With gritted teeth I ask her, “Would you like to die by evisceration or decapitation?”

She sighs regretfully, before turning from me and walking over to the bookshelves. “Surprise me. I never believed we should know how or when death greets us.”

“Have it your way,” I state with a grunt. “Come on girls, I’ve got a mess to plan out.”

“You do that,” Alda states, grabbing a book off the shelf. “Oh, but I would prefer my body to be cremated after you kill me. So if it’s not too much you could at least light the corpse on fire, as long as, well you know, the Order isn’t chasing your ass down at that point.”

My legs lock up and all the air is ejected from my lungs. I arc my head over my shoulder and stare at the pegasus. “What did you say?”

“You have ears don’t you? I believe you heard what I said.” She tucks her book underneath her hoof, and turns to me with eyes narrowed to taunting slits, and lips curved into a smile resembling devil horns. “You’re not that hard to figure out. Tell me, why would a lone, demonic, little girl be living in a small town like Ponyville? Furthermore, why would she be trying to keep all other demons out? It’s a little strange, don’t you think? Unless of course…”

She begins moving, waltzing around me with a spring in her step. “You’re hiding from someone, and it has to be the Order or some other demon hunting group. Why else would you be trying to keep other demons out of town, other than to keep away the attention that comes with them?”

Beads of sweat begin forming on my face. She’s a lot smarter than I thought she was. With her airy demeanor I never would’ve guessed she was that sharp, but then again, I should know better than anyone that looks can be deceiving.

Alda passes in front of me again, her devilish smile prompting me to regain my composure. “Okay, I’ll admit, that was pretty astute of you. But what exactly are you getting at?”

“Oh come now Sweetie Belle. I know you’re smarter than this, you wouldn’t have made it in this town if you weren’t. Use that noggin of yours,” She states giving me two knocks on my forehead. “What I’m getting at is that you’re in no position to be threatening me, because if you even try to make good on those threats, I’ll cause enough havoc in this town to warrant a small army of the Order’s soldiers to be sent out here.”

“But… but they’ll find you, too!” Scootaloo shouts.

“Somehow I don’t think that’ll mean much to me if I’m dead,” Alda states.

The way she says it is so calm and casual it’s almost like she’s reading the evening paper. I growl and begin to respond.

“And just so we’re clear,” Alda says, stopping in front of me. “Don’t try anything sneaky either. I might not be able to watch myself twenty-four seven, but my friends sure can. Even now they’re hiding in this room, just waiting for you to throw the first strike. And even if by some luck you do managed to kill me-”

She leans her face in, her evil grin coming closer and closer until it can practically taste the sweat on my face. “I promise you that my demons will get the Order’s attention. How long do you think it’ll take them to get here when ponies start dropping dead in the streets, or when the blood of infants is used to write demonic sigils on the walls of their homes? If you lay one hoof on me the Order will be all over this town in a heartbeat, and I’ll be sure that my friends leave a trail straight to you.”

Her face, and her grin, lean away and I suddenly have space to breath. It feels like I’ve been holding my breath for a decade. My eyes stay locked on Alda even as she circles back to her bookshelves, a happy sway in her hips. “It was so nice of you to drop by to see me, by the way. Maybe you can visit again soon. I’d love to have your company.”

And just like that it hits me. I have nothing to say back to that. She has me. She has me by the throat, and there’s nothing I can do. I have enough demonic power in me to level a whole city, enough spells to wage a one pony war on Equestria, and yet to this one damn mortal... I’m powerless.

Every one of my legs trembles as I turn around, vibrating with rage. With something between a growl and sigh I walk towards the door, being careful not to stomp my hooves into the floor as I do.

I feel the eyes of my friends follow me as I walk. “Sweetie Belle?”

I don’t say a word, just continue to move towards the door. Spike is on the other side when I open it, dragging half a dozen whining pets into the library. I continue past him, gaining his ire in return.

“Oh no, don’t worry about me. I’ve got this all by myself, not like a could use an extra set of hooves or anything!”

I stop in place and glare back at the animals with a small spike of demonic energy. They all shriek and flee back into the library. Spike stares bewildered for a second before running after them. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom come out shortly after him.

“Sweetie Belle, are you feeling alright?”

Am I feeling alright? Does she really think I’m feeling alright? No, I’m not fucking feeling alright! In fact, I’m so frustrated right now I’ll probably explode if I don’t get it out of my system!

I stomp on through town without saying a word. I don’t stop for anyone, I don’t even make eye contact with anyone. I just keep moving on through Sweet Apple Acres and up to our clubhouse. I enter in, and shut the door behind me, answering my friend’s concerned objections with the click of the lock.

For the first few moments I can’t even speak straight, so I just pace around the clubhouse stuttering and grinding my hooves against the floor. When I finally do speak, it’s like a leak slowly bursting through a dam.

“Damnit… damnit… damnit… damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit, god mother fucking god damnit! Shit!” I take my frustrations out on some poor end table we had in the clubhouse, smashing to pieces on the floor.

“You just love doing this to me don’t You!” I scream to the heavens. “Oh, yeah, I know, of course You do! You’re not on my side, why would You be! I’m a demon, my whole life is just a big fucking show for You, isn’t it?! I can honestly see why my fathers tried to kill You in the first place! You’re a dick, a douchebag, an asshole! You created Your own fucking world just to have us line up one by one and kiss Your sorry fucking ass! Well fuck You! Fuck You and Your fucking asshole creations! Fuck!”

I bang my head against the wall, unsure if I’m trying to hurt it or myself at this point. Regardless, I end up sliding down it and falling on my haunches, continuing to cuss into my hooves.

There’s a gentle knock on the door, Apple Blooms voice breaks the silence. “Are yah’ done fussin’ in there?”

I breath out a sigh heavy enough to collapse the floor beneath me. “Yeah, I am, let me unlock the door.”

I do so and my friends come in, giving only a moments glance to the splintered mess of wood that used to be an end table. They sit in the center of clubhouse while I slouch against the wall, my mane buried in my forehooves. We sit like this for several awkward moments in silence.

Finally, Apple Bloom speaks. “So, what are we gonna’ do now?”

“What can we do? She’s got me in a noose here girls, and damn tight one at that.”

“Come on Sweetie Belle, you’ve gotta at least try,” Scootaloo states. “You have that spell book don’t you? Isn’t there something in there that can help you kill the demons?”

“Anything that could help me in there would be too noticeable to use in town, and even then as long as they can hide their energy there’d be no way to be sure that I got all the demons with her.”

“Then get her outta town,” Apple Bloom suggests. “You can hypnotize ponies, can’t yah’? Just walk up to her and ask her to ‘kindly follow you’ into Everfree forest.”

“That won’t work!” I spit. “Didn’t you see how she reacted when I tried to hypnotize Spike? She was on him in instant, and snapped him out of the trance. She knows I can hypnotize. I don’t know how she knows, but she does. And she’s obviously not dumb enough to leave town on her own, she’s too well protected there.”

“Well… what about the holy water? Can’t that help us at all, what if we drench her and everything around her in it?”

I glare at her, making her already sheepish smile bigger. “Do I even need to point out how many flaws that plan has? The fact that none of it will take effect unless we get the stuff on her demons? Or the fact that if we miss even one they’ll almost certainly go on a rampage through town? Or the fact that we’d have to waste our entire supply of holy water to do it? No Scootaloo, that won’t work either, it wouldn’t even come close to working!”

“Whoa, Sweetie, settle down there,” says Apple Bloom. “She’s only tryin’ to help. That’s all we’re tryin’ to do.”

“And as much as I appreciate the thought, I’d by lying if I said it wasn’t pointless.” I hit my hoof against the wall as I say it. “Don’t you see it girls, I can’t do anything to her without bringing the Order in, or revealing my identity. There’s nothing I can do.”

I hang my head low and grip at the sides of my mane. I’ve never felt this helpless before. Even when I’ve been in trouble before there was always something I could do, some clear course of action for me to take even if it was difficult. Here, there’s nothing, any move I make will get me killed. Stalemate.

“But you have to do somethin’.”

I give Apple Bloom a blank stare. “Did you black out for last minute or so?”

“No, you don’t you get it?” she says throwing her hooves up in the air. “That girl is here to spy, on Princess Twilight. If we don’t stop her there’s no telling what she could find. She could end up killing her, Sweetie Belle.”

I groan and shake my head as I respond. “I’m sorry Apple Bloom, but I can’t risk getting caught. Twilight will just have to fend for herself.”

“And suppose she doesn’t stop at Twilight? Suppose that she’s here to study up on everyone? Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, my sister.” She narrows her eyes at me and straightens up as she continues. “What if she goes after your sister Sweetie? What if one night, yah’ wake up, and find her downstairs in yer’ living room? Are yah’ just gonna lay around and do nothin’ then?”

The truth can be a real bitch sometimes, other times it can be a sucker punch to the gut that leaves you in pain after word. “She wouldn’t do that, she’s too smart to do that. If she is here to spy on Rarity she’ll use indirect means or get her demons to do the dirty work, but she’d never risk breaking into a house herself.”

“Fine, then suppose one a’ her demons breaks into your house, are yah’ just gonna sit on yer’ ass then?”

I bite my lip and growl my answer. “Yes Apple Bloom, that’s exactly what I’d do. That’s all I can do, whether I like it or not.”

They both gape at me, edging back like my words are physical blows.

“Are you serious?! What’s wrong with you?! Don’t you care about your sister?” Scootaloo asks.

“Of course I care about her!” I blurt. “But she has the Order on her side, along with the Elements of Harmony. Whatever Alda finds won’t change the fact that Rarity has the two greatest threats Tartarus has ever known on her side. Where as if I put one hoof out of line Alda will destroy me. The Order will come, they’ll find me, and I’ll be either dead or on the run. End of story.”

Scootaloo grips at her mane and growls. “Come on Sweetie Belle, you know this isn’t right. You’re the hero for Luna’s sake, you’re supposed to-”

“No! Scootaloo, I am no hero.” I throw my hoof at her accusingly. “You said I was a hero, but I never used the term for myself. If you think I kill ponies out of some twisted sense justice you’re wrong. I kill ponies because I. don’t. have. a choice! I kill them because there is something inside me that will drive me fucking insane if I don’t. I kill, so I can survive. I hide, so I can survive. Everything I have ever done, is just so that I can survive! Nothing more, nothing less. So don’t you dare try to make out what I do as heroic! Because it is anything but!”

Silence comes over the clubhouse. I find myself short of breath after my rant, and sweat pours down my neck along with my stress. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stare at me, the former with a hurt look, and the later with a cutting glare. Apple Bloom maintains eye contact with me for an oppressive eternity, until she finally ends it with a single word.

“Bullshit.”

Now I’m glaring at her. “Come again?”

“That’s bullshit an’ you know it! If all you were tryin’ to do was survive then what’s the point a’ goin’ after criminals? What’s the point a’ comin’ out here where it’s so much harder to blend in? I might not be an expert in this kinda stuff, but it seems to me like everything would be a lot easier if you weren’t doin’ any a that stuff!”

She walks up to me, until she’s standing right in my face. “You know what I reckon? I reckon this don’t have anythin’ to do with you ‘survivin’. Nuh-uh, I reckon that yer’ just scared! Alda won the battle and now yer’ too chicken to finish the war! Is that it? I’m right, aren’t I, Sweetie Belle!”

“Shut up, just shut up!” I scream at her. “You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about! There’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity, Apple Bloom, and I can not afford to cross it, no matter what!”

“Our sisters an’ their friends crossed that line before.” She spits. “Hell, we might not even be alive if they hadn’t a’ crossed that line! Do you remember the cockatrice Fluttershy stared down? Or how about Rainbow bucking a dragon in the face? Or the whole lot a’ them taking on an army a’ changelings? Call it stupid if you want Sweetie Belle, but what they did saved lives, and if we don’t do somethin’ similar it might end up costing them their lives!”

“And so we’ll throw away our own lives in the process. Hell, we might even throw away more lives if Alda decides to act on her threat. We don’t need heroics now, Apple Bloom! We need to be smart. The smart live, and the heroes die. It’s not pleasant, but it’s the truth, Apple Bloom.”

“Our sisters our heroes, and they haven’t died!”

“Well maybe this time they will! Have you ever thought of that?!”

Silence comes so quickly it’s disturbing. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stare at me with open mouths and plate sized eyes. Several heated breaths are taken before I realize what I just said, but by then it’s too late.

Scootaloo turns to the door first, Apple Bloom stays long enough to give me rabbid glare before following her.

“Wait, girls, wait! You know I don’t think they’ll… I didn’t mean-”

They slam the door in my face, and then I’m all alone. I remain transfixed on the door for a moment or two, and then hit my forehead on the floor. I want to scream at myself. I almost do.

God fucking damnit, why did I say that! Did I suddenly confuse them with someone like Virgil who doesn’t have anyone he cares about? Have I just spent so much time only discussing matters like this with other demons that their standpoint has rubbed off on me? Or am I just fucking idiot?

I keep asking myself these questions for some time, each one sinking me further into depression. One down side to asking yourself questions, there’s no quicker way to realize how alone you are. My hooves fall limp to the floor and echo through the empty clubhouse. It’s ghostly silent, only the soft whistle of wind can be heard, tickling the drapes and chilling me with its icy kiss. It feels like a morgue in here.

Eventually I can’t stand the silence anymore and stand to my hooves. There aren’t many things I’m uncomfortable doing, but staying idle is one of them. Alda may be off limits to me at the moment, but that doesn’t mean I can let my guard down. There’s still plenty of other demons that could wander into Ponyville… in fact, speak of the devil, I’m sensing a few heading towards town right now.

Is it sad that even the thought of torture, rape, and necrophilia doesn’t cheer me up?

Well, who knows, maybe my mood will lighten when I actually get there. It seems like they’re demons of deceit after all. They’ve always been known to be excellent screamers.

With a sigh I leave the clubhouse, shutting the door behind me.

The rest of my day is spent fighting demons, and I’m thankful to say that my mood does cheer up once I’m out there. No better way to cut down some stress than to cut into someone’s throat, or crush their lungs, or choke them with their own severed limbs, or tie them to bottom of a river bed with their own entrails. Have I ever mentioned that asphyxiation tends to lift my spirits?

By the time night comes I’ve amassed a pretty impressive body count. Three gluttony demons, two spirit demons, a group of harpies, and even some anger demons. Though my favorite group had to be the lust demons that took me for an ‘oh so helpless little filly’. Nothing quite like the look on a pedophile’s face when you show off a set of razor sharp teeth, while his cock is still in your mouth. I laugh at the memory.

Once my day of patrol is finished, I set the teleportation ritual and go back to Carousel Boutique. I enter in the bathroom again to wash off enough blood to stock three hospitals for weeks. When that’s done, I dry off and head to my room, though not with any amount of enthusiasm.

I’m alone now, and alone means I can think. I don’t want to think, because I know all I can think about is Alda and what happened with my friends. It’s not like I can avoid the subject forever, though. Wounds have to be stitched up eventually, it’s best to just get it over with before it gets worse.

I lie down with my hooves spread out over the bed, and stare up at the ceiling. I rub my head as if trying squeeze any distracting thoughts out of it. Finally, I breathe a loud sigh to tell myself it’s time to start.

I try to review the facts and see if there's anything I might have missed. Pondering the matter though only serves to nurture my frustration. Every solution is either too risky to pull in town, or leaves a big chance for escape. Each plan I think of only enforces the notion that Alda has me trapped, and trapped good.

Honestly, fuck Alda, fuck her and her stupid cunt faced demons. God, just thinking of that bitch is getting me pissed.

At some point I decide that my brain cells would be better saved if I just rub one off and then go to bed. So that’s what I do. I let my imagination run wild with the concept of killing Alda, torturing her and raping in every way I know how. When my orgasm hits me I have a big content smile on my face.

Despite everything that’s happened, I have no trouble sleeping tonight.

“You seem to have lost your edge since we last played.”

I can’t even summon the enthusiasm to respond. I rest my hoof on the edge of the table and use it to prop my head up. “Sorry, I’m just a little distracted at the moment.”

My opponent tilts her head to the side and grins at me. “Perhaps you should take your mind off this Alda girl. Heaven knows so many of the worlds problems can be solved simply by looking at our surroundings.”

With a roll of my eyes I look down at the board with a tired glance. My king is pinned into the corner of the board by the queen. There’s no places to move, and a knight hides off to the side preventing me from simply taking the queen. Checkmate.

I shake my head and breath a heavy sigh. “Chess motifs, how very original of you. Forgive me if I don’t seem so interested, but I hardly find games to give good advice for reality.”

My opponent chuckles in her grim voice. “And there is why Alda beat you, Sweetie. You fail to realize that life is a game, and the secret to winning, is to simply know that it is a game.”

I give my opponent a sharp glance. “What does that mean?”

Her smile grows. She reaches across the board and picks up one of my bishops. “In a game, you rarely ever consider the tragedy behind losing a piece. You move and control them like a god, you never care of what they think, what they believe, what they feel. They’re just pieces of wood that you’d sacrifice in an instant.”

She holds the piece on the flat of her hoof, then waves her free hoof in front of it. Inky mist shrouds the piece, and then lifts to reveal a tiny figure of Apple Bloom.

“But give the pawn a name, a face, tell the player that it is her friend and cares for her. Suddenly, the pawn becomes a lot harder to sacrifice. You’ll be so concerned about protecting one piece that you’ll lose the game.”

She places the figure back down on the board, right next to her queen, where it transforms back into its original state.

“Truth is, you could’ve easily broken my defense. Just take my queen and leave your piece to contend with the knight by itself. What’s the loss of another pawn to you?”

My eyes narrow, my lips go straight. I sit up right in my seat and glare at my opponent. “So says the logic of all great mares. But you know that great and good are not the same thing, and you also know which one of the two I want to be.”

“Ah yes, how silly of me,” my opponent gloats. “You still cling to those cute little fantasies that you can somehow be an angel, while at the same time masturbating to the thought of bathing in the blood of your enemies. When will you wake up and realize just how stupid and childish those notions are?”

I give her half a glare, too lost in thought to give her a full reprimand. “Who knows? Maybe it is childish, but then again I am a child. I am a child who will cling to her childish ways because they’re the only thing that keeps me from hating myself. The last thing keeping me from becoming a complete monster.”

My opponent’s smile falls from her lips. It’s replaced by a dark scowl that shows barred teeth and a vicious snarl. It remains only for a moment, and then folds back into a composed smirk. She chuckles, and then taps the edge of the board twice. My pieces transform into tiny figurines of my friends, my sister and her friends, along with several other residents of Ponyville. I grab the edge of the table when I see this.

“Well, I applaud you for having such pure minded goals. Live your life with the friends you endanger. Be proud of the sister you leave for dead. Truly you are the most innocent child in Equestria; no, of all time.”

The table shakes under my tightened grip. “I can protect my friends, and my sister can protect herself!”

She taunts me with her laugh. “Well, you’ve done a marvelous job protecting them so far. Three days in and you’ve already managed to let a follower of one of the most dangerous demon lords in existence to waltz into town. It’s an amusing situation, but honestly I’m much more interested in what will become of your dear sister.”

She taps on the table again, and then her pieces take the shape of hideous demons and devils, all facing towards the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. “Oh, how I wonder what fate she will have. I can imagine so many grisly deaths in her future, but then again maybe it won’t be death that awaits her. No, maybe it’ll be something far worse.”

Her eyes wander up from the board, and stare straight into mine. “What do you think will become of that dear sister you abandoned? Do think she’ll be raped? Or tortured? Or maybe both at the same time?”

The thought seems to make her giggle. Her laughter is quickly becoming more infuriating by the second. “Then again, it is a Crown Prince she’s facing after all. The literal masters of corruption and temptation. Who knows, maybe Asmodeus will sway her with the promise of some rich, handsome stallion. It wouldn’t surprise me, to say the least.”

“That’s enough!” My chair goes flying backward when I stand up. “You talk about my sister like that again and I’ll punch you in the damn face. I would’ve loved to help her if I could, I would’ve done anything, but it was too, damn, risky. The Order would’ve found out for sure if I told her anything.”

My opponent grins like a madmare, then leans across the table like a leering pervert. “So then you sacrificed her, took the queen and left her to face the knight herself then huh?”

Air escapes my lungs, like blood from an open wound. I stand in stunned silence, stuttering and staring dumbfounded at the mare across from me.

She begins her abusive chuckle. “You see the sad truth now, don’t you? You are correct in saying you’re a child, in more ways than you imagined. You’re not playing a game. Hell, these aren’t even game pieces to you. They’re dolls, and you’re playing pretend. You’re pretending to have a life that you can’t have, a perfect life. Your friends and family are all good for a laugh, and a hug, and a shoulder to cry on, but the moment any actual danger crops up you'll toss them aside like the toys they are. You’d kill your own mother in her sleep if it would help you survive.”

“Shut up… just, shut the fuck up! That’s not true, you’re lying! I know your lying!”

The longer she stares at me the wider her grin gets. “I’m lying to you?”

Somehow her silence is more unnerving than her laughter. My grip tightens when she stands up, and my heart pulses as she strolls calmly over to me. I do my best to stand my ground, remain strong and unmoving against her dark demeanor, which is like trying to stop a steamroller with my bare hooves. She’s just inches away when I finally bend and turn my head from her direction.

“No! You look at me, Sweetie Belle,” she demands.

Honestly, I want to. I want to look her straight in the face without any fear for once, but just seeing her… looking at her… and this close up…

“Look at me, Sweetie!”

My breath quivers from my lips in icy puffs. When did it get so cold so suddenly? With twisting fear in my gut and sweat burning my vision, I turn my stiff neck in her direction. My whole body is shaking, and then we make eye contact, and I go completely stiff.

I’m staring into her eyes. I’m staring into my eyes, the eyes of my demon self. They bore into my own gaze like drills. They’re lizard-like with a faint red glow, which illuminates my night black fur and deathly white mane. My sharp crooked teeth have a gaze of their own, a look of crazed malice. My wound is still visible, a stumpy wing that twitches behind my long curved horns. For the longest time I stare into my face, the face of madness. The face that was the very last thing so many ponies saw in this world.

When my demon self speaks I can literally feel the breath on my face. “The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves, Sweetie Belle. You said it yourself, remember? Say one long enough and eventually you’ll come to believe it. Any blind fool could see just how much you truly care for these dolls of yours. You’d throw them all into a fire to save yourself. Why keep up the act? Why continue to lie to yourself? They’ll all find out about your true heritage eventually. Why not just embrace it? Turn your greatest weakness into your greatest weapon.”

There’s an aura of darkness that surrounds her words, a pleasing aura, like wine to a recovering alcoholic. Just listening to her gives me urges; the faint taste of blood on my lips, a sexual lust for pained screams, the sadistic excitement of taking another’s life. My darkest desires have been brought to life so that they may tease and tempt me ten times over what they usually do.

I can almost see it in my head. Alda at my hooves, crying into a pools of her own blood, begging me to end her pain. I take her head off and make love to her dead corpse, then I hang her from town hall for everyone to see. From there I travel all throughout Equestria, doing whatever I please to who ever I please. I fuck or rape any stallion or mare, for the first time I taste of virgin blood, and I become feared throughout all the nation. I could do it all. I could become the greatest demon to ever walk Equestria, I could do what Discord and Nightmare Moon failed to do, I could-

“No!” I punch my demon self in the face and back away from her, drenched in sweat. She touches the spot where I hit her. There’s not even a mark on her face. She shoots a glare at me, which I’m all too happy to return. “If you honestly believe you can pull that temptation crap on me, then I have trouble believing you’re actually me. I know the tricks of the devil better than anyone, so they can’t be used against me! Don’t try to spit in my face by telling me I’m a monster. I know I’m a monster, it’s my very nature, and I’m fighting like hell against it! I may not be an angel now, I may never be an angel, but damnit I will try even if I spend all eternity doing it!”

I slam my hoof against the table and pull it over, sending the pieces flying across the floor. “So take this damn game of yours and shove it up your ass! You can mock and insult me all you want, but I will never give in to you! I will throw myself into the pit of hell before I let that happen!”

I feel the slightest edge of a smile on my lips, which my demon self does not share. She stares at me, eyes narrowed and a frown cut deep on her face. She doesn’t say anything, but looks down at the game pieces, and sees my king. She lifts up her hoof, puts it down on the piece, and presses down with enough force to crack it.

I gasp out shock and fall to the ground in pain. I open my mouth to scream but all that comes out is a wet, gargled sound in my throat. Everything is pain, the slightest movement I make sends electric jolts of agony rippling through body. Moving my neck is pure torture, but I need to see what’s happening to me, and then I wish I hadn’t.

My limbs are crushed and bent in ways that they shouldn’t go. Ribs are snapped and stick out from chest, opening gaping wounds for blood to come oozing out of my body. I hear another crack and a whole new wave of pain comes over me. Guts squeeze out of my wounds like paste and blood flies up from my throat. It’s several agonizing seconds before I can physically force my head back to the demon.

Her face remains completely unchanged, and she stares straight into my eyes. The king is cracked all over, and breaking even more under her hoof.

“Knowing you, and the position you’re in… I have a feeling we’ll be seeing Hell before you even know it.”

She crushes the king completely, and my eyes pop out of my skull.

It’s truly sad how accustomed I’ve gotten to nightmares. I’m not even scared when I wake up anymore. I just shrug it off like a scrape or bruise. I sit up in my bed and rub the sides of head. It feels so empty, being here all alone. No family, or friends to go to, I’m completely isolated.

God damnit, I really fucked up today, and all because that stupid little cunt Alda got the better of me. Maybe Apple Bloom is right. Maybe I am just scared; but Celestia damnit don’t I have reason to be now?

Wasn’t that the whole reason I moved out here? So I wouldn’t have to be scared of cultists and demons attacking me, or hunter clans finding me? That’s how it was supposed to be, and Luna knows it was going fine for first few years. Now a Demon Lord is on the loose, and his little follower is strolling through Ponyville.

Life just loves to bite me in the ass, doesn’t it?

I take a deep sigh and fall back on my bed. For moment I’m unsure whether to stay awake and think or let sleep take over me again. I’m soon answered by a soft ‘tink’ sound that comes from my window.

I turn on my sheets to look outside. The sound comes again, and repeats every so often. I focus my senses and pick up a small object striking the glass each time it comes. I push the blankets off of me and get out of bed. The floorboards creak as I approach the window and stare outside. I can make out a tiny foalish figure standing in front of my house. My special vision allows me to cut through night’s darkness with ease, but even then it would still be pretty hard to mistake that oversized bow Apple Bloom always wears.

I push open the window and stare down at her. “Shouldn’t your family be expecting you back by nine?”

“Jus’ shut up and get down here,” she responds blankly.

With a pained breath I jump out the window touching the ground without so much as disturbing the dust.

There’s a long silence, one of the strangest I’ve ever felt. For an uncounted eternity we just stand there looking at each other as though it were the first time we’ve met in months.

Finally I break the silence. “Look, about what I said earlier-”

“Forget it,” Apple Bloom interrupts. “You were angry and weren’t thinkin’ straight, I’m not that mad at you.”

“I at least owe you an apology.”

Apple Bloom gives a faint smile. “Well, you can give it to me after yah' hear what a' have to say. Do you remember what yah' said earlier, about 'Alda bein' too smart to leave town? No way in hell we'll ever lure her out?'”

The words nearly knock the air out of my lungs. “What? She left town? Are you sure?”

Her grin extends another ten feet at least. “She's in the Everfree forest right now, conjurin' up some black magick ritual even as we speak.”

My jaw hangs loose and suddenly I want to break down into a crying fit of laughter. “Oh my God, Apple Bloom, this is great! We still have a lot to deal with, but it's still great and... and... wait, how do you know she's in there performing black magick? You-you didn't follow her did you?”

She shrivels back at this, and rubs the side of her hoof. “Well, no, actually. I know what she's doin' because... well... she dun' told me she was doin' it.”

The temperature drops a couple degrees, my eyes go wide. “She told you?”

Apple Bloom meets my gaze with serious eyes. “After we left the clubhouse me and Scootaloo wandered around town, don’t really know what we were doin’. Alda caught up with us and started askin’ a lot a’ questions; how long you lived here, how well we knew you, how we found out you were a demon… and then she started talking about how dangerous you were. She tried to convince us that we couldn’t trust you, and that you were only working to kill us or something.”

I turn away from Apple Bloom, burning anger in my eyes. So that’s her next move. She’s got me trapped in with her demons and now she’s trying to turn my friends against me. Perfect. What’s this bitch’s deal anyway? She already proved she’s smart and powerful enough to keep me subdued, why take a risk and go this extra mile?

“There was one other thing she mentioned, too,” Apple Bloom continues. “She… she offered to show us one of her rituals, even said we could name somethin’ we wanted and she would do it.”

Cold fear rushes through me. Did it truly take me this long to notice that Scootaloo is no where in sight? “Apple Bloom, where is Scootaloo?”

She stutter for a moment. “She left right after Alda had her talk with us, I haven’t seen her since.”

The weight in my chest grows, my lungs fill with lead. It can’t be any warmer than fifty degrees out here, and I’m sweating. “You… you don’t think she’d… No, no! She’s not that stupid. Is she?”

Apple Bloom hesitates for the longest time. “She always does seem to be… creepily interested in your demon stuff.”

Once again, truth is a bitch. I really want to give my friend the benefit of the doubt, but Alda knew she had that interest, and if she pressed her on it...

“We need to find Alda, right now,” I state with authority. “You said she in Everfree forest right. Between that and my clairvoyance we shouldn’t have any trouble finding them.”

“I’m right behind yah’, Sweetie Belle.” Apple Bloom states.

I can’t hold back the smile. “Glad to have there, Apple Bloom.”

Chapter 10: A Touch of Evil

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Know your enemy.

I should've remembered that the moment I learned she was spying on Princess Twilight. I only know two things about her; she's very smart and very well guarded. I let those two facts sit at the forefront of my mind and blind me to the fact that she is still, very, vulnerable. I just need to follow Alda's example, and study up on my enemy.

First thing I should learn is what she seeks to gain by coming to Everfree? The forest doesn’t hold much of interest beside the castle of the Two Sister’s, and that’s in the opposite direction. In fact my senses are leading me into the boondocks, the very bowels of the forest known to house its most lethal predators. Not even Zecora treads this part of the woods.

“Sw-Sw-Sweetie B-B-Belle,” Apple Bloom says in a tone more shaky than her trembling hooves. “M-Maybe I-I ought’a g-g-go back. I m-m-m-mean, y-you don’t need me f-for this r-r-right? I might j-j-just, sl-l-low you down.”

I stop walking for a moment and stand stone still. Somewhere far off in the dense forest I can hear the rustling leaves, the stomping of paws, and the heavy breathing of predators.

“Normally I’d agree with you, but at this point it might be more dangerous to send you back, at least on your own.”

“S-so then, you’ll f-follow me back?” she asks sheepishly.

“If Alda did talk Scootaloo into coming with her then it’s only a matter of time before she convinces her to do something she’ll regret. Sorry Apple Bloom, but I’d rather not find out that one of my best friends sold her soul or got demon possessed because I walked you home tonight.”

Apple Bloom loses the blood in her face, “Well… that’s… understandable.”

I look back at her with a smile. “Ah, don’t worry too much. Just stick close to me, I won’t let anything hurt you. Besides, didn’t you want to help me out before?”

She makes an ‘erk’ sound and turns her head away from me. “Well, to be perfectly honest with you, that was mostly Scootaloo’s idea. You seem ta’ know what yer’ doin’, and… and I get really uncomfortable whenever you do yer’ demonic stuff. Y-you’re… you’re not mad are yah’?”

I look her in the eye, and chuckle. “Not at all. If anything I’m a little happy to hear you say that.”

She jumps back an inch and stares at me wide eyed. “Wha-Why?”

I don’t lose my smile, but I don’t say a word. The question sits like a corpse slowly decomposing into dust; I almost feel like a corpse myself. Why she asks? “Because I don’t want you to throw away what I don’t have.”

My answer only serves to plaster confusion across her face. “What?”

“We should keep moving. Alda won’t hesitate to spring whatever it is she’s planning for Scootaloo.”

I move forward without waiting a response. She doesn’t take too long to fall back in line behind me, and stays there until we reach Alda’s location.

We come to a clearing in the forest, a circle of tall grass drenched in lunar rays. Alda sits in the center of this circle, lying on her back with her hooves to the sky. My enhanced sight picks up on disturbed earth, and I can smell a strange substance, some weird powder. She’s clearly preparing for some sort of ritual, but it’s hard for me to decipher what sort. She moves and wriggles on the ground in odd movements and occasionally releases soft moans, almost as if she’s being fu-oh, by, the seven names of Satan that’s actually what’s happening, isn’t it?

Now that my mind is on the subject, Alda did say those demons of hers could shapeshift into any number of forms, didn’t she; probably into great big tentacle monsters or massive snakes. Just imagining what those dirty little things are doing to her right now is making me a little heated. I can just picture them tunneling deep inside of her, creating every sigh and pleasured grunt with intense energy, wrapping their limbs tight around her body, rubbing every crevice of her skin, before sliding their way down to her backside and thrusting straight up into her-

“Sweetie Belle, why are you smilin’ like that?”

My face is pulsing red when Apple Bloom snaps me out of my trance. “Uh...um, no reason.”

“Hu, and uh, why is your wing out all of a sudden?”

I look over my shoulder to see my one good wing out and sticking straight up in the air. I force the wing back into hiding with a flash of hellfire, and give a nervous grin to Apple Bloom.

“We should uh, focus more on taking care of Alda right now, shouldn’t we.” I say it to remind myself just as much as Apple Bloom. Honestly Sweetie, Alda is the fucking enemy. Take care of her demons, save Ponyville, make sure Scootaloo isn’t dead, and then you can rape her.

With my priorities in check I hone my senses one more time to check for any other signs of life, namely Scootaloo. I hear strange slithering noises from the demons, Alda’s pleasured grunts, and even some wildlife off deeper in the forest, but nothing that sounds like another pony.

Fear’s cold hand grips at chest. If something already happened to Scootaloo I’m not sure I’ll be able to forgive myself. I know for damn sure I won’t be able to control myself. Alda I swear to Luna if you hurt her, I’ll make death seem like a mercy after I’m through with you.

“Well Sweetie, what are we doing?” Apple Bloom whispers.

I think for several more moments, before making a decision. “I’m going out there Apple Bloom, I want you to stay… actually, I want you to stay right next to me. If Alda’s demons are anything like me then they might already know we’re here.”

She makes an audible gulp at that. “Stayin’ right next to you then, Sweetie.”

I give a nod in response, and then we slowly walk out into the open. I notice white lines drawn in the grass when we get closer. They form a perfect circle in front of Alda with demonic sigils spread around it. It seems like she’s preparing for something and I can only guess what, though it’s hard to think with those increasingly loud moans ahead of us. Alda’s fuck session doesn’t slow down as we approach. She doesn’t even notice us when we stand just a few feet away from her. I clear my throat to get a response.

Alda opens her eyes and looks up at us with a smirk. “Oh, hello there Sweetie, what a pleasant surprise to see you here.”

“Where is she?” I demand.

“Yes, one second please, I’ll be with you in a minute.” The weird movements of her body continue and she sighs in ecstasy. I roll my eyes and glare at her through the whole session.

It occurs to me that she's in a pretty vulnerable position right now, especially if Apple Bloom was smart enough to bring holy water with her; but if Alda was smart enough to blackmail me like she did then I doubt she's dumb enough to group all of her demons in one place. That, and I'm pretty sure Apple Bloom is too distressed to be of much use right now.

She stares wide eyed at the scene, a look between confused and traumatized. I’m just glad those demons are invisible right now. Well, for the most part, anyway. I try and fail not to get aroused. By the time Alda orgasms I’m already wondering just how big those shadow demons can make themselves.

Alda pants on the ground for awhile and then sits up on her haunches. Apple Bloom finds a faint voice behind her hooves. “Are… are yer’ demons… hurtin’ you?”

She gives a mischievous smirk and replies. “Why yes, yes they are. In ways you couldn’t even imagine.”

“Alright enough!” I blurt, partly to shut her up and partly to stop any more fantasies from entering my head. “Cut the bullshit Alda, you know why we’re here. Where is Scootaloo?”

“Scootawho?”

I growl through my teeth. “Don’t you dare play dumb now, Alda. I know you talked Scootaloo into coming out here to perform one of your rituals. Now where do you have her?”

Alda gives me a confused stare, before her eyes drift upward and she has a revelation. “Oh yes, now I remember, the little orange pegasus with the attitude. Yes, I remember that friend of yours.”

I stomp my hoof into the ground. “Well, where is she?”

“Sorry to say, but she’s not here Sweetie. She never was.”

My eyes flash red with anger. “Where did you take her then? If you hurt her I swear to every demon in hell-”

“I did nothing to her Sweetie,” she replies coolly. “She never trusted me for an instant.”

Wrath leaves me, and shock replaces it. I stare at Alda for the longest time, scanning her face for even a hint of dishonesty.

“What are you talkin’ about?” Apple Bloom states. “I saw Scootaloo walk off right after you made us that offer. I haven’t heard from her all day!”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, but she certainly didn’t come with me. I talked with her again after our little chat, she did seem to hold the greatest interest in what I do after all.” She gives a faint chuckle. “But, as it turned out, she practically snarled at me when I offered to teach her occult magick. It seems that you hold quite a strong influence over these girls, Sweetie.”

“She… turned you down?” I ask blankly.

“Her exact words were, ‘go fuck yourself with a rusty cheese grater and die you demon worshipping piece of shit.’ If that gives you an idea.”

I’m silent for several long moments. All that tension, and all the stress for a problem that didn’t even exist. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I have to say, I never knew it was possible to brainwash ponies to such an extent. You must really give those 'friends' of yours some enticing payment. What's your secret, Sweetie Belle?"

I bare my teeth and snarl at her. “Shut the hell up, Alda. What are you even doing out here anyway?”

She laughs that dainty laugh of hers. “What does it look like I’m doing?” She motions a hoof to the white lines all around her. “I assure it’s exactly what it looks like. I’m an honest devil worshipper, after all.”

“I meant specifically. What ritual are you trying to perform?”

Alda stares at me, her smile still stuck on her lips. “Contacting the dead.”

I raise an eyebrow at this. “Why?”

“Because I feel like it, do I need any other reason?”

“The only use in contacting the dead is getting information. Didn’t you get enough of that in Ponyville, you greedy bitch?"

The daintiness slips, and her laughter comes out like that a snorting pig. "Oh my, you really have some nerve taking that tone of voice with me. Are you forgetting exactly who has an ax over your head right now?"

"I always make good on threats, Alda. I'm still going to kill you, and kill you slowly. All I have to do is deal with your little friends first."

Her smile comes with a raised eyebrow this time. "You're persistent, I'll give you that much, but persistence doesn't always mean victory. You really need to stop being such an idealist, Sweetie Belle."

"And you need to stop being such a fucking politician. I'm still waiting for an answer, why are you contacting the dead?"

She closes her eyes and breathes a sigh. "Well, how about this? If you need to know so badly then why don't you stick around and see for yourself?"

The conversation comes to a halt. The faint tingle of wind is the only thing I can hear. Does she actually want me to stay? To see what she’s going to do? That’s the only reason I could see for her making me that offer, but, why? Unless, she has something planned. She could’ve laid down a trap ritual for all I know. Yet, I didn’t see any signs of dishonesty when she told me she was contacting the dead, not even a curved lip or a swish of the tail. If she’s lying, she must be the best damn liar on the face of the planet for me not to pick up on it.

Something really doesn’t feel right about this, but I didn’t come out here just to turn back with nothing. I’ll have to stay, just to see what she’s up to. Still, never hurts to be extra cautious.

“I want to look at the ritual markings you’ve set up, every last one of them. Then I’ll sit down and watch.”

Alda chuckles and shakes her head. “Not one to take anything on word alone, are you? Very well, check if you must, just don’t mess anything up. It took me awhile to get the symbols right.”

I let out a grunt. I take Apple Bloom by the shoulder and lead her with me. “Stay right next to me.”

She nods in answer.

I spend several minutes examining each of the sigils and ritual markings she laid down. They don’t look any different from any other necromantic spells I’ve seen, though I do note that there is an obscene amount. The entire clearing from the center to the forest is covered in these symbols.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Apple Bloom says.

“Not really, but we can’t turn back now.”

She gives a worried moan, and looks towards Alda with conflicted eyes. “I don’t know, Sweetie Belle, Alda’s tricky. What if she did somethin’ with this ritual that not even you can notice? She already got yah’ good with those shadow demons a’ hers.”

“Yeah, no need to tell me twice,” I state. “But I think we’re gonna need to take a risk on this, Apple Bloom. If we don’t find someway to fight her soon she might leave town before we even have the chance. You still want to help our sisters right?”

She stares at me with narrowed eyes and a scowl. “What do you mean? Of course I do! I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Alda’s dirty hooves out their business… it’s just, well, do yah’ have a plan, or at least know what yer’ about to do?”

I’m silent for a moment as I gaze over the final ritual marking. “I have one thing in mind. I just need to figure out exactly how I’m gonna go about pulling it off. Don’t worry though Apple Bloom, if anything happens I’ll make sure you stay safe.”

“I’m not the one who Alda’s tryin’ to kill here.”

“I’ll make sure everyone’s safe Apple Bloom, I promise.”

There I go again, making promises I really have no idea if I can keep. Apple Bloom looks at my assuring face a moment before eventually catching it herself. We smile at each other before heading back to the center of the area where Alda waits patiently for us.

“All to your liking then, Sweetie Belle?” she says with a teasing smirk.

I scowl back at her. “As much as it’ll ever be.”

“Then let us begin.” She stands to her hooves, stretching out her wings with a flap. “Please, take a seat right where you are.”

We look at her suspiciously a moment, before slowly lowering onto our haunches and sitting in the grass.

Alda reaches behind her and pulls out a long silver knife and a strange cone shaped hat. She places the hat in the center of the circle, then takes the knife and sticks it into the bottom of her hoof. She twists and skewers the most sensitive flesh, hiding the pain in her face. She grunts and pulls the knife out, then drips just a few drops onto the hat. She steps outside the circle, then lowers her head and places her two front hooves together. The runes around us begin to emit a faint glow, and I can sense a spike of Demonic energy. Alda inhales deeply, and breathes a long drawn out sigh. “Samael, Deus mortis, custos et inferni, custos portae. Invocemus nomen tuum, et invoco potestas in hac nocte. Aperite portas mortis, transitum animarum perditam inquam, et non sinebat ea loqui quia morientur. Hoc cum factum est, ut omnes animæ tuæ revertemini ad amplexibus. Benedictus angelus mortis!”

Smoke rises from the circle on the ground. Sparks surge through the lines and then burst into flames creating a huge ring of fire. In the center of the inferno, a faint green flame flickers ominously.

“Exorior! Exorior, Harvest Sapling! Exorior!”
Apple Bloom is shaking and utters trembling words. “S-Sweetie, what is she saying?”

“It’s an old language Apple Bloom, one that was long dead even at the time the first race roamed the planet.”

“N-N-No, I mean… why is she-”

There’s a sudden gust of wind. The flames rise and the green one in the center floats into the air.

“Exorior, Harvest Sapling! Exorior, Harvest Sapling! Exorior!”

The green flame explodes into a blinding light. There’s a voice that groans as the light dissipates, a voice rife with exhaustion. Silence follows, only the crackling of flame is heard and a cold atmosphere settles in. I rub my adjusting eyes and look up to see the green flame has taken the form of a large muscular stallion with ragged old clothing, a cone shaped cap, and a plain wooden staff in his hoof.

Alda smiles and says. “Hello, are you the one named Harvest Sapling?”

The stallion looks down at her. “Aye, that wast mine name, once many ages ago.”

“Wait a minute!” Apple Bloom jumps to her hooves and stares at the apparition with large eyes. “Harvest Sapling? That’s yer’ name? The one who lived outside Equestria before it was even called Equestria?”

The stallion turns to her. There’s a tired look in his eyes, and he has weak trembling lips. “Yes, I lived outside this nation before it came about.”

“Apple Bloom, you know this guy?” I gape.

Her face is a mix of fear and amazement. She points a hoof up to the ghost. “Sweetie Belle… this is my ancestor. My oldest ancestor, the patriarch of my whole family. He was the very first Apple.”

Breath escapes me. My eyes dart back and forth between the spirit and Apple Bloom, trying to make the connection. “But-but-but, he doesn’t even have the same name as Apple.”

“It was changed later after he perfected the farmin’ tricks we still use today.”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” I say rapidly. “Why did you summon this guy Alda? What could you possibly want to ask him?”

“I’ll have you know that I have an extremely important question to ask this individual,” she states calmly. “Mr. Sapling, is it true that eating your apples can give enhanced male performance and sex drive?”

There is silence for such a long time after that question, even the spirit seems to be looking at her funny. “N… Nay.”

“Ah well damnit to hell then, it was worth a shot. We have no more questions for you, well, unless of course, my friends here would like to ask you something?”

That fucking, anal, cunt! I feel Apple Bloom's gaze stare upon me, vibrant curiosity burning in her eyes. "Apple Bloom, please tell me you see what she's trying to do."

"I do, I do… but…” She turns and looks up at the spirit again, a city of questions living in her eyes. “This is my ancestor Sweetie Belle. When will I ever get another chance like this?”

“I… I could set up a ritual just like this. One that Alda has no part of, you could ask all the questions you want.”

“Are you so sure about that Sweetie?” Alda asks. “You know that the older a spirit is the harder it is to summon. Look at all the effort I had to put into setting up this one ritual. It took up the entirety of the field and several hours of my time. Do think you’ll have either? If you’re so set on fighting every demon that comes through here that is.”

I grit my teeth, unable to deny the hint of truth in Alda’s words. Apple Bloom is back in contemplative thought, staring up at the ghost with wide wondering eyes.

"Apple Bloom she wouldn’t be doing this unless she had a reason,” I say. “She’s up to something and we should-"

"Is it safe?"

"What?"

"Is it safe?” She turns to look straight at me. “Is there anythin' about this ritual that could be dangerous at all? You told me you were gonna be truthful from now on, didn't you?"

The last question chokes me. She stares at me like a judge in a courtroom and I have no defense. I struggle to answer her. “Well… yes, it looks pretty safe. She did everything right and put up several safety runes. As long as you stay out of the summoning circle you should be fine.”

Her stern eyes go lax, a smile grows on her face. “So there’s no harm in askin’ him a few questions.”

“Apple Bloom, you can’t trust her.”

“I think that’s a decision that she needs to make on her own, don’t you?” Alda chimes in. “Without your impeding influence to guide her.”

There’s enough venom in my glare to melt Alda’s skin. Shit, this is bad. Can’t Apple Bloom see that she’s up to something here, or maybe she just doesn’t care? Either way, it appears that Apple Bloom is gonna play right into her trap. She looks up at the spirit with a lump in her throat and awe struck eyes. “So… so yer’ the first Apple then?”

The spirit nods its head.

“So… so what did our family do before they took up farmin’?”

The spirit looks at her a moment, a tiny smirk curves in his lip. “Before we tended thy land, we wast nomads of differing trades. We wast merchants, gypsies, thieves, and dancers. We had little more than the clothes on our backs and the rubbish we stole, but we were united as a family, that hath never changed.”

Apple Bloom hangs on every word, enamored in the same way she is when her grandmother talks about old memories. “So we were travelers back then. This is amazin’! I’ve never been able to find that out, not even Granny Smith or any of her old relatives knew what we did before farmin’.”

I give her a smile. “Well, I’m glad you were able to find the answer. So, if you’re done asking questions-”

“Are you kiddin’, I’m just gettin’ started. I’ve got tons more questions to ask; uh, if that’s okay with you, Mr. Sapplin’.”

The spirit gets a blank face. “I’m dead. Tis’ not like I have anything better to do.”

“R-right, of course,” Apple Bloom stutters.

“And I’m guessing you have no protest to this either?” I say to Alda.

She shrugs. “I’ve got all night.”

I growl, but it does little to stop Apple Bloom from proceeding. “So, what made you decide to take up farmin’ then?”

The Spirit grins once more. “Long ago there wast a horrid drought that plagued the land. The soil dried, the crops withered, and food was scarce through all the land. Then one day, after much pondering and isolation, I wast able to grow a crop that survived this drought.”

It continues like this for sometime. Apple Bloom asks a slew of questions which the spirit is all too happy to answer. Alda sits quietly through all of it, only occasionally giving me a sly glance from time to time. What is she planning with this? Does she actually think she can get Apple Bloom to trust her, when she admitted to working for someone who is trying to kill her sister at this very moment?

The thought hits me like a steam train when it comes.

What if she’s just trying to capture Apple Bloom? It didn’t even cross my mind earlier because I figured Alda viewed me as just another demon who sees everyone around them as expendable, but what if she’s not even thinking about me? If she had Apple Bloom, or Scootaloo, or even me for that matter, she’d have the perfect leverage over the Elements. None of them would raise a hoof against Asmodeus if it meant risking our lives.

Damnit, I should’ve thought of this sooner. My friends and I are in real danger if that’s the case, Alda could be looking for any opportunity to nab one of us, hell that could’ve been the only reason she came to Ponyville. I need to get Apple Bloom out of here, but, what about Alda? If I don’t find a way to punch through her defenses soon she might end up slipping away before I get the opportunity. Seven names of Satan, what do I do?”

Time marches on in my indecision, and eventually Apple Bloom runs out of questions to ask. She sits in awed satisfaction. “Wow, no wonder Big Mac’ is so smart, I never would’a believed we were distant relatives to that Star Swirl character. Thank yah so much Mr. Sapplin’, I don’t have anymore questions for yah’.”

The spirit tips its hat to her but doesn’t smile, in fact it lets out a depressed sigh. “Don’t mention it.”

Alda claps her hooves together and the apparition dissipates instantly. She gives Apple Bloom a friendly smile. “I hope everything was to your satisfaction.”

“Yeah, I never seen anythin’ like it before in my life.” Apple Bloom smiles for a moment, but then it fades, giving way to a sad frown. “But, I have to ask, can this ritual summon anyone from the dead?”

“Pretty much. Why, do you have a special request?” Alda asks.

Apple Bloom looks at the ground and rubs the side of her hoof. “Could… could yah’ summon up ma’ mother?”

My heart jumps into my throat. “No!”

I look at Apple Bloom with intense fear. “You can’t do that, Apple Bloom. It’s a very bad idea to summon up close relatives or friends. It never ends well!”

“I’m actually gonna have to agree with her on this one,” Alda says. “Dead friends and relatives have a habit of becoming… well, emotional around living loved ones.”

Apple Bloom is quiet for a moment. She looks at the ground with blank eyes, then whispers, “She died when ah’ was just a baby. Both my parents died before I could even speak to em’, before I could even recognize their faces.”

Her voice is drowning in despair, her eyes close tight, strangling tears before they can escape. “Please, this could be the only chance I’ll ever have to meet her. You have to at least try. I’d give nearly anythin’ to see my mom at least once.”

My heart is torn between pain and sympathy. Apple Bloom has no idea how much weight those words carry among the demonic realm. I can only pray Alda doesn’t have the power to take advantage of that statement in its fullest.

“I still wouldn’t recommend it,” Alda says. “But, if it’s truly what you want, then I won’t deny you. However, there is another hurdle we must jump before we can summon your mother. You see, in order to summon a spirit you need one of two things. A personal object that belonged to the spirit in question, such as the hat I placed in the circle; or…”

Apple Bloom stares unblinking. “Or what?”

“Or the blood of one of the spirit’s descendants,” I finish.

Apple Bloom’s eyes go wide. She looks down at her hoof, I can almost see her mentally picturing the knife going into it. We share the same expression; pale faced fear. Apple Bloom turns her gaze up to Alda who twirls the gleaming knife in her hoof, still damp with her own blood. She struts around the circle over to Apple Bloom, her ever so confident smile scarred into her face.

“The only other thing you’ll need is a name and a face. I can give the chant and the name, all you have to do is give the blood and picture the face.” She grabs the blade of the knife and presents the hilt inches away from Apple Bloom’s face. “Of course, it’s still entirely up to you. I’m just presenting you with the opportunity.”

Her sycil smile could cut a mare’s head off. Apple Bloom stutters a moment, sweat dripping down her chest in large heavy drops. She lifts a trembling hoof to the hilt of the knife and takes it from Alda. Her reflection shines in the silver of the knife, and the red of the blood.

Now is my chance.

“Apple Bloom.” I grab the blade of the knife with one hoof and place the other on her shoulder. “Please think about this. This isn’t going to bring her back. You won’t be able to see her again after this. It’s only going to cause more pain.”

She trembles in fear, her eyes are flooded with desperate sorrow. “And if I don’t go through with it, I’ll spend my whole life knowin’ I wasted the one chance I had to speak with her. Don’t yah’ see it, Sweetie? I need to try, I at least need to try. If I don’t I’m gonna be kickin’ myself about it for the rest a’ mah’ life.”

I choke down my own sympathy. “Apple Bloom… you’re not gonna like what she has to say to you.”

Her eyes widen, then turn to anger. “And what the hell makes you the judge of that?! Yah’ never met her, yah’ don’t even know her name! Yah’ have no right to make that assumption!”

“It’s nothing like that, Apple Bloom.”

“Then what is it then!” she spits. “Why are you so against me seein’ my own mother for the first time?”

I stutter, answering her only with silence. When that remains the only answer I give to her for some time she turns to the ritual circle without fear. She lifts the clean gleaming knife to her hoof. She hesitates a moment, trembling and breathing heavily. She closes her eyes tight, bites her lip, and then slides the blade across her hoof.

She shrieks and falls to the ground gripping her bleeding hoof. I stand over her for aid, she looks up to me with gritted teeth. “How do yah’ do that so often?”

She grunts and climbs to her hooves. Alda smirks at her and motions to the circle. Apple Bloom nods and then shakes the knife in front of it, flicking drops of blood into the center.

Alda watches the blood land, sitting with crossed hooves and a mocking smile. “Now then, what is the name of the young mare we’re calling up?”

Apple Bloom takes in a long breath. “Apple Amber.”

“Very well then.” She claps her hooves together and the flames of the circle rise again. “Now, I’d like you to picture the face of your mother as I say the chant. Don’t take your mind off it until the ritual is done, or it won’t work.”

Apple Bloom nods and closes her eyes. Alda presses her hooves together again. “Exorior! Exorior, Apple Amber! Exorior!”

My gut tightens with each word. The green flame appears in the center of the circle and slowly rises into the air.

“Exorior, Apple Amber! Exorior, Apple Amber! Exorior!”

The flames rises higher and higher with each chant. I bite the edge of my hoof as the ritual nears its crescendo. The flames flickers shakes in the air, becoming more violent every second. It continues to grow more intense until it finally explodes into blinding light.

The disorientation doesn’t last as long this time. My eyes readjust to the lower light levels. My breath becomes icy cold as my gaze travels into the center of the summoning circle to see… nothing.

Apple Bloom gawks at the empty space with a limp jaw. “What-what happened? Why didn’t it work?”

“Yes, that’s another thing I should’ve mentioned,” Alda says. “Only certain souls can be called up through this ritual, or through any ritual for that matter. Some souls come up easy as day, others will never come forth no matter how much you call them.”

Apple Bloom’s whole demeanor changes. Breath quivers from her lips, her ears fall flat against her skull. Her face is painful for me to look at. So much disappointment, so much crushed hope. Her expression is a graveyard for dead dreams. She clenches her eyes shut and speaks in a choked voice. “Try again.”

I extend a concerned hoof. “Apple Bloom.”

“Try it again!”

She grabs the knife and starts gouging at her hoof. She cries out with every swing of the knife, groaning and screaming in pain, but continues to repeatedly gash her own flesh.

“Apple Bloom, Apple Bloom!” I grab her arm before she can flay herself and hold her still as she struggles in my hooves. “Apple Bloom stop! It’s not going to work, there’s no point to mutilating yourself!”

“No, no, it has to! It has to work! It ain’t fair! I should be able to see her again, it has to work!” She pulls against my hooves one last time before falling limp in my arms. She whimpers, tears falling from her face into her open wounds. I clench my eyes shut and gently set her down. She sobs in the dirt while I undo the bow in her mane and tend to the heavily bleeding wounds. I don’t know how she’s going to explain this to her family.

I never stop looking at her, even as I take her hoof in mine and begin wrapping. She cries into the ground and claws at the earth with her free hoof. I breath a shivering sigh. “It just means the ritual didn’t work, Apple Bloom, nothing else. I’m sure your mother would love to see you again just as much as you want to see her, but… this wasn’t the way to go about it. It’s probably for the best that it ended this way.”

I tug the wrapping one final time. It’s a crude job, and she’ll probably need to replace it later on, but it’ll do for now. She sits up on her haunches, her face stained with tears, her eyes like a wounded animal. Sympathy tugs at my stomach. I wrap my hooves around her chest and hug her tightly. “I’m sorry.”

I hold her close for a moment, gently swaying back and forth and closing my eyes to tune out the world. She breaths silently in my ear, her tears fall against my shoulder. Her voice shudders and comes as a whisper.

“Ma’ father.”

I blink twice and break our embrace. Apple Bloom looks straight past me and right at Alda.

“Apple Bloom.”

“Summon ma’ father!” She pushes me aside and struggles to raise the blood drenched knife. “His name is Apple Marley! Summon him up! Do it, please!”

She flicks the blood into the circle, nearly collapsing on the ground in doing so, and begs Alda with pleading eyes. Alda’s expression hasn’t changed an inch the whole time, her serpent smirk is just as mocking as ever. She sits up and claps her hooves together again.

“Exorior, Apple Marley! Exorior! Exorior! Exorior, Apple Marley!”

The response is instantaneous. Flames rise, the green fire rises, and Apple Bloom clenches the dirt beneath her as she watches. I make sure to cover my eyes this time as the flash of light comes. When it’s safe to look again I see a spirit hovering over the circle, its back turned to us.

Apple Bloom stares up with wide hopeful eyes. “D-Dad, is that you? It’s me Apple Bloom? Yer’ daughter.”

The spirit’s form freezes and doesn’t move an inch. It slowly turns to face us. Apple Bloom’s expectant face shatters like glass in a hurricane and she screams. I have to fight an urge to vomit myself.

The spirit’s face looks nothing like a stallion’s. It doesn’t like anything that should naturally come from this planet. It’s a bloated mess of shredded flesh and boils pushed together to make some semblance of a face. Muscle fibers hang loosely down from its skinned jaw, one eyeball is hidden underneath slumping mound of flesh, and other juts from his head like it could fall out of his skull at any second.

This monstrosity stares down at us with an unreadable expression, it’s lone eye trained on my friend.

“Apple Bloom? Apple Bloom, is that you?” It speaks normally in a clear voice, and a sad tone. “It is you, it must be you. W-Why? Why would you summon me like this? Why would you ever wish to see yer’ father in such a state?”

Apple Bloom shivers and trembles in place. She continues staring at the apparition even as the blood drains from her face. “N-No, no, yer’ not mah’ dad, you can’t be. The last ghost appeared so perfectly! What in Equestria happened to make you look like this?”

Her father looks at her a moment before answering. “More than likely the former spirits yah’ called up were from a higher circle; Limbo, or maybe even Lust. I, however, was sentenced to a more extreme fate. Greater punishment for greater sin, that is rule here in hell.”

Her gasp sounds more like a gunshot. Her hooves come up to her mouth and her eyes are lit with horror. “H… H… Hell? Why would you… no, you can’t be. That can’t be true!”

“The Creator does not allow his own flock to be tampered with,” the spirit explains. “He protects them closely, and ensures none of them ever leave the gates a’ heaven. For this reason, demonic rituals such as these can only contact spirits within hell. Didn’t you know that Apple Bloom?”

“Oops,” Alda chirps tapping her hooves. “I guess I forgot to mention that.”

Go choke on the devil's thorny dick Alda.

Tears come to Apple Bloom’s eyes again and she clenches them shut to smother the moisture. “My dad was a good pony! Applejack loved him, Big Mac loved, Granny loved them, my mom loved him! I never heard a single bad thing about him, he can’t be in hell, he can’t be!”

The spirit is silent only a moment, then speaks in a slow voice. “Among my family, among my friends, yes, I was very good. I always wanted to be honest and kind among them, I loved them. But that was just one part of my life Apple Bloom. My business, my personal pursuits, could not have been any more deplorable.”

He looks up from his daughter, off into the distance. There’s pain in his voice. “I can’t even count the number of ponies I cheated, lied, and stolen from in mah’ life. Everyday I swindled ponies into paying more than they should have, I used fraudulent deeds to expand the farm, and with the help a violent pardner I drove any competition we had out a’ Ponyville.”

He hangs his head in despair and sighs. “My shady practices caught up with me though. That pardner a’ mine started demandin’ more pay, and when I threatened to end our dealin’s she went after me… and yer’ mother. She killed yer’ mom right in front of me. Her last breath was used to ask me ‘why?’”

His voice cracks, tears form in his lone eyes but he doesn’t have any eyelids to calm the moisture. “I’ve been askin’ myself that same question for so long now, over and over again, ever since that day. But now, I have to ask you the same thing. Why? Why would you do this, Apple Bloom? Could you truly believe that any good could come of this evil?”

Apple Bloom shrinks under his gaze. “I-I just wanted to see you, just one time, that’s all I wanted, Dad!”

“So you performed a demonic ritual!”

“I-I-I… It was her, that cultist! She’s the one who talked me into it, she’s the one who did the ritual!”

“Oh, you give me too much credit Apple Bloom,” Alda chides. “You were so eager to rip yourself to slithers for this ritual. You gave so much blood it’s a miracle you didn’t pass out from the loss of it.”

Apple Bloom shudders back, touching the damp wrapping on her arm. I step in front of her. “Alda, shut the hell up.”

“Why? I’m just telling him the truth,” she giggles. “She has accomplished much for such a young filly. She could be a well practiced cultist in no time. She has, after all, just performed her first ritual, to say nothing of the fact that she already befriended an immensely powerful succubus demon from the pit of hell.

“What!”

The spirit glares down at his daughter, snarling like a savage dog. “You’re in contact with a demon?”

Apple Bloom is shaking so much she can barely formulate a response. “She’s… she’s… she’s my friend, Dad, I’ve known her for years. I didn’t know she was a demon until a few days ago and then-”

“So she lied to you! You know she lied to you and you still trust her!”

“Dad, please.”

“Do yah’ even realize what yer’ gettin’ involved with? Demons are the most deceptive creatures in the world, Apple Bloom! They’re liars whole say anythin’ to get yah’ into hell! Anythin’ to make sure yah’ don’t see the light a’ heaven!”

“She tries to be good!”

“She’s a monster who feeds off pain of others! How can that ever be good?!”

“Enough!” I glare up at the spirit ready to boil. “If you want to scold someone then scold me. I led your daughter into this. It’s my fault she’s out here performing this ritual to begin with!”

“Don’t you speak to me, monster!” he spits.

I slam my hoof into the ground emitting demonic energy. “One word! That’s all I need to say to cut this ritual short, and send you back to hell! And please, feel free to call me a monster, because I admit to being as such, as I do to leading your daughter into this. But don’t you dare try to accuse me of intending anything ill for her. I was against her being involved in this ritual from the very beginning, and I admit that it was a big mistake bringing her out here to begin with. Point your hoof at me if you want, but know that I never once wanted any harm to come to her, ever!”

The spirit stares at me in silence for the longest time. Only the thin trails of smoke that rise up from the fire have the courage to move in the time. The spirit leans its head down close to me, and says in a growling tone, “If that’s the case, then why was it that I had to be the one who to tell her she was raisin’ up spirits out a’ hell? Did yah’ never think that might be important to bring up at some point?”

I grit my teeth and make a choked sound in the back of my throat. Alda peeks at me with half lidded eyes and a mocking smile. Even Apple Bloom is giving me a weird look after that statement. Her father aims that scowl of his at me once more, before turning towards Apple Bloom.

“Yah’ see now darlin’, she can’t be trusted, none a’ them can. Follow creatures like these and you’ll end up like me; rotting away, forced into endless toil, endless work, with no rest or peace for the remainder a yer’ existence. It’s too late for me Apple Bloom, but you still have a chance, and I’d trade away any chance a’ redemption I have left if it ensures that you don’t join me here.”

The spirit tears up again, fighting a losing battle against his emotions. “Run, Apple Bloom! Get away from here! Stay away from this demon, and don’t ever do somethin’ so reckless again! Please, as much as I miss yah’, I don’t ever want to see yah’ again! I couldn’t bare to see you again!”

Apple Bloom doesn’t respond, doesn’t say anything for the longest time. She just stares up at her father in silence. My heart sinks lower every second this goes on.

“Apple Bloom-”

“No! Don’t let her anywhere near you, Apple Bloom, just run!” her father screams. “She’ll betray you, she’ll manipulate you, she’ll do anythin’ she wants and when yer’ no more use to her she’ll drag yer’ soul into the pit of hell! Don’t let it happen, Apple Bloom! Don’t believe her lies, don’t let them damn you like they damned me!”

I whip around to the spirit with a burst of anger. I raise my hoof up towards and shout in a voice echoing demonic energy, “Peractio!”

In less than a second the flames encompassing the circle dissipates, and the spirit shouts wildly before vanishing from sight. Silence reigns again.

I lower my hoof and turn back to Apple Bloom. Tears stream down from her eyes. I start to say something, but then she stutters out, her voice cracks, and she screams towards the sky. She turn from me and limps off into Everfree.

“Apple Bloom, wait!”

“You’re welcome, by the way.” Alda’s voice stops my pursuit. I shoot venomous eyes in her direction and she smiles back, casually rolling a flower in her hoof picked fresh from the grass. “It’s really just what you told her earlier, remember? ‘Demons just do whatever they please. Can’t trust them any farther than you can throw them.’ All I did was teach her what you’ve been trying to this whole time.”

Her tone is calm and pitiless. She picks apart the petals on the flower, smiling with such angelic innocence. “It was a lesson I learned myself, very early on in my years in the occult. Demons can’t be trusted, only controlled; and if you can’t control them…”

She crushed the flower in her hoof, squeezing tightly for a moment before letting the crumpled plant drop to the ground. “Well, then you better make sure you can destroy them. Truly it was very noble of you to give this lesson to your friend, I’m sure she’ll benefit from it.”

She gives me that insufferable grin that’s more of a middle finger at this point. She remains gazing at me until her attention is pulled to a hissing sound from the forest.

“Oh would you look at that, it appears Aka got a late night snack for the road.” Her massive demonic snake comes slivering in from the forest, the remains of a bloody deer hoof disappear down its throat. “Good thing too, he can be so grumpy when he hasn’t eaten, but I’m sure you have more important things to be doing then listen to me. I’ll just say goodnight Sweetie Belle. I hope you have pleasant dreams.”

Rage comes rips into me like savage animal. I remain in place, frozen in anger. My teeth could shatter I’m clenching them so hard, faint whiffs of hellfire snort out my nose. I’m about ready to wrap that snake of hers around her neck and dig its fangs into her eye sockets, but I restrain myself, knowing all too well this isn’t the time or place.

I shut my eyes, grunt a breath, and turn my back to her. “Alda, the next time you leave town, consider yourself already dead.”

She chuckles daintly. “Oh, I’m sure of it.”

“I mean it. I don’t know what you have planned with this, or what the hell you’re doing outside town, but I promise you. Next time you better make whatever peace you can, because I’m going to tear your wings off and rape you with them.”

“Hooves crossed, I’ll be waiting,” she states. “Now don’t you have a scared young filly to console?”

I growl with anger one last time, before dashing off after Apple Bloom.

She couldn’t have gotten too far with that wound, but the way she was crying was like holding a big neon sign over her head that says ‘come eat me.’ It’s only a matter of time before something tries to cash in on that advertisement. I need to find her before then; not that tracking her down is difficult. My keen senses can pick up her screaming miles away, but I can also smell the stench of some particularly rank smelling predators close by. I don’t have a second to lose.

I charge through the forest at high speed, leaping over fallen trees and shrubs in my way. I catch up to Apple Bloom who’s still limping away with tears in her eyes. She sees me, and suddenly raises the silver dagger Alda gave her. “Sweetie, stay back, I’m warnin’ you!”

“Apple Bloom, get down!”

I lunge over her head and tackle the timber wolf in mid pounce. I stomp on its chest upon landing, shattering the beast into a shower of tiny pieces. The rest of the pack descends upon me, growling and raising claws, but these creatures are way out of their league.

I move in a blur of speed between each wolf, kicking, bucking, and slamming them into the ground. One hit each and they’re in pieces. I don’t even give them time to attack; by the time they can see me either I’m already gone, or they’re already dead.

I grab the last one by the tail and fling it into a nearby tree. I brush the proceeding rain of lumber and splinters out of my mane, then turn back to Apple Bloom who’s a few clicks away, leaning against a tall oak tree for support.

I wait only to catch my breath and then walk up to her. “Apple Bloom, I’m sorry that happened, but please don’t go running off like that. You could’ve been killed if I didn’t-”

She cuts me.

There’s no hesitation, no warning, she just lifts the knife and slashes me across the chest. I’m too stunned to react at first, too in shock to say anything. The wound heals quicker than it can bleed, but I can still feel it there, burning like spreading disease. I touch a hoof to the spot it was in, and turn my shocked gaze up to Apple Bloom. She points the knife inches away from my throat, glaring at me with a mix of pain and anger.

“Get back!” she snarls.

I inch away from her. I’m still too dazed to breath properly, but somehow words make it to my mouth. “A… A-Apple Bloom… you, you can’t… don’t tell me you actually believe what he said about me.”

Her breath is shaky and she pants heavier every passing second. “I don’t know… I don’t know, god damnit!”

She slams the butt of the knife into the tree at her back. She whimpers and hangs her head to let the tears water the ground. “You’ve been honest with me through this entire thing, I have no reason to doubt you, but…”

She lifts her head and glares at me once again. “You knew it, you knew the whole time where those spirits were comin’ from, but you still let me go through with it! Why didn’t cha’ say somethin’, Sweetie Belle?”

Her words are almost as painful as the knife. I desperately search for a response. “Wha-What was I supposed to do Apple Bloom? I didn’t know what Alda was planning until she summoned up that first spirit, and by then it was too late!”

“Yah’ had plenty a time to tell me where those spirits were comin’ from. Yah’ could ‘a done it right when Harvest Sappling showed up and that would a’ ended it!”

“Alda would’ve goaded you into anyway, and you know she would have!” I state. “She was completely focused on getting you to contact your ancestors. She never used the ritual for anything else. It was a trap, Apple Bloom! We knew we were walking into it, we just didn’t realize who it was set for! I never would’ve led you into that if I thought Alda was gonna pull something like that, but once I did I just…”

Words get stuck in my throat, my true intentions fight against coming out. I close my eyes and rub my hoof across my face. “Apple Bloom, I’m sorry… when I realized what Alda was gonna do… I made a snap decision and I’m still not sure it was the right one. Please though, don’t believe what your father said about me. I meant every word I said to him. I didn’t mean for you to see this tonight, I never meant for you to be hurt in anyway. I wish Alda set a trap for me, I really do!”

She clenches her eyes shut and turns away from me. I reach out to her. “Apple Bloom, please don’t believe Alda, please don’t-”

“It’s not just about what Alda or my father said!” She look back to me again with pained eyes. “It’s this whole damn situation! I’ve been trying Sweetie Belle, honest to Luna, hoof on heart, trying to get use to you being a demon. I listened to yer’ logic, I watched you do those spells, I even stood by yer’ side when you butchered those demons that came into town! I tried damnit, but I can’t do it! I can’t! I just… can’t.”

Her hoof trembles in front of me, the knife falls from it. She slumps against the the tree, and slides down until she’s sprawled out across the ground.

“Apple Bloom?” I ask worried

“We can’t be friends anymore.” My chest goes tight, air is evicted from my lungs. “I’m sorry… but… way… has to be.”

Her voice goes quiet, she lays perfectly still. Her words continue to ring in my head and my whole body, until I can bring myself to reply. “Apple Bloom.”

She doesn’t respond.

I prod her a bit to no avail. “Apple Bloom, what’s wrong, why aren’t you-”

It suddenly strikes me. Still body, pale face, trembling voice.

I touch her wounded hoof. The wrapping is soaked and my hoof is dripping red when I pull away.

“Shit,” I breath.

Panic sets in a moment later and adrenaline soon follows. “No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Stay with me Apple Bloom! Don’t fucking die on me yet!”

I hoist her up over my back and speed off. She’s still breathing, but that won’t last long unless I get her to a hospital. I run at full speed, reserving none of my demonic energy. I break the sound barrier upon exiting the forest and slow down only upon reaching the clinic door.

God damn you, Apple Bloom, why can't you ever think these things through?

Chapter 11: I'll be There For You

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“What happened?”

It’s strange how hindsight can leave its wounds so deep. You think you’re doing everything right, that you have it all under control. Then you look back and see the full scope of what you’ve done and realize you couldn’t have been more wrong. It hurts more than any knife wound. It's the cold, jagged clamp of reality crashing down on your chest.

“Sweetie Belle, what, happened?”

I could’ve sent Apple Bloom back at any time, kept her away from Alda, but no. For some God forsaken reason I didn’t have the foresight to see she might try to hurt or manipulate her. I shouldn't have taken her out there in the first place.

“Sweetie Belle!” Big Mac grabs my shoulders. “What, happened?”

I tilt my head up, glance straight into his desperate, quivering eyes. I scramble words and reconstruct the lie I gave to the nurses earlier. “We-We went into Everfree forest. Apple Bloom and I got separated. I heard her scream, and then… found her running from a pack of timber wolves. We managed to outrun them somehow, but Apple Bloom was hurt. One of them bit her hoof, and her arm got all ripped up when she pulled it out. She passed out once we got away, and I carried her all the way over here to the hospital.”

Big Mac stares at me for the longest time. His face is writhe with worry, his lip curves with the slightest bit of anger. “What were yah’ doin’ in Everfree so late at night to begin with?”

Images of the ritual and Alda’s smug face flashes in my mind. My head wilts, I cover my face with my hooves; partly to strangle the tears, partly to hide my frustrated expression.

“Sweetie Belle, what were you doin'? Answer me!” His voice comes like a wild fire. It’s frightening to see the usually so quiet farm pony turn to anger like this. I search for a valid response, I garner more of his ire with every second of silence.

“They were looking for me.”

Scootaloo walks in behind us, breathing heavily and taking off her helmet. “I-I had gone into Everfree earlier today, to uh… practice flying, see if I could get off the ground yet. I never told anypony I got back though, so I guess when they never saw me come out of Everfree. I guess they got… well, worried.”

Scootaloo gives a big sheepish smile which fails to quell Big Mac’s earth shattering scowl. “You should’ve told someone! Both of you should’ve told someone, you should’ve… Urgh!”

He whips away from us in disdain and walks over by Granny Smith who’s been solemnly quiet ever since she arrived. We watch him take a seat and droop his head before turning our perturbed eyes towards each other.

“So how is she?” Scootaloo asks.

I grip the back of my head, grabbing my mane like it’s the last bit of sanity I have left. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. She’s been in there for almost an hour now. Nurses are going in and out like clockwork. The doctor went in the moment she arrived, but there’s been no sign of him since.”

Dark shadows crawl across Scootaloo’s face. She glances over at Big Mac’ and Granny once again, then whispers, “What happened out there? How did she get hurt?”

My sigh is painful. I look at Scootaloo with sad eyes. I proceed to give a hushed explanation of the events in the forest, occasionally glancing over at the Apple family to make sure they’re still out of hearing distance. Every time I think Scootaloo’s eyes can’t grow another inch she proves me wrong. Her jaw is unhinged like a snake when I’m done filling her in, and anger boils in her pupils.

“Damn Alda,” she grunts under her breath. “Damn spirits, damn everything.”

She takes a few heavy breaths before glaring at me. “Well Sweetie Belle, now are you going to do something, or do think we should just wait and see how this plays out?”

“I was already doing something while I was out there with Apple Bloom.”

Her anger vanishes, her front hoof pulls away in surprise. “You… you were?”

“Not only that, but after seeing Alda tonight, I’m pretty sure I can deal with her without anypony knowing about it.”

Scootaloo’s shocked face gives way to excited joy. “That’s probably the best thing I’ve heard all day. What do you have planned?”

I pause a moment, turn to look at Apple Bloom’s hospital room door, and her family waiting outside. “I don’t think we’ll have time for me to explain everything here. Right now we need to wait for Alda to leave town again before we make our move.”

Realization hits me like a lightening bolt. “Which means Alda may have time to do something else while we wait. Listen Scootaloo, there’s a good chance she might be looking to take one of us and use us as leverage against our sisters, so we need to be on our guards. Do you still have the holy water we got from the cart?”

She smirks, lifts up a wing, and shows me the glass vial tucked underneath it. “Carry it with me wherever I go.”

“Good. When you go to sleep tonight get a glass, pour the holy water into it, and set it by your bed. That should be enough to keep most demons away from you. When you go out in the morning stay alert, watch for anything suspicious, and try to get over to me as soon as you can. We’ll need to be cautious until we get an opportunity to strike.”

Scootaloo nods in understanding and I give her an affirming grin.

“Get out! Right now!”

We flinch in unison. Big Macintosh is glaring murder at a cowering Spike. Poor guy must have just gotten the news.

“I-I-I-I was w-w-worried, I d-didn’t want Apple-”

“You were supposed to be watchin’ her tonight! It was yer’ fault she was out there to begin with!”

“She-she told me she was going home to your house. I thought—”

“You thought wrong! Get out of here, I don’t—”

“Big Macintosh!”

Granny Smith holds eyes of fire underneath her wrinkly face. Never before would I have believed that the kind frail old mare was capable of giving such a cold blooded stare.

“Big Mac, this was not his fault, and even if it was then you an’ I er’ just as guilty as he is!”

“But—”

“No buts!” she screams, sticking her hoof into his chest. “Yer’ little sister is in there right now fightin’ for her life, and the last thing she needs to see when she gets out a there is her friends and family bickerin’ and squabblin’ like a bunch of chicks! We need to be strong, we need to come together, and we need to do whatever it takes ta’ help her through this; you goin’ around pointin’ hooves at everypony isn’t helpin’ matters a lick! Yer’ smarter than this Big Mac, so start actin’ like it!”

Big Mac stands back in stunned silence. He keeps an angered expression on his face for a few sluggish second, before it falls with a burden-laced sigh. “Yer’... yer’ right Granny, yah’ couldn’t be anymore right if yah tried.”

He turns back to Spike, who's still shaking after Big Mac's outburst. “Ah’m… ah’m sorry about that. Yah’ didn’t deserve that. I-I’m just so…”

He shakes his head and pushes trembling hooves through his mane. Spike’s tense posture goes lax, and he gives Big Mac’ sympathetic eyes. “I know Big Mac’, I know. You’re worried sick for her and you’re scared because there’s nothing you can do. Trust me, I know the feeling a little too well at this point.”

Big Mac’ clenches his eyes together, and wrestles with tears. He sits on his haunches and shakes his head. “I… I… I just can’t. If something happens to her… I don’t know what I'll do, how I'll be able to take it.”

"She'll be alright Big Mac'," Spike states. "She's just like her sister, strong, tough, she'll pull through this."

Big Mac's glances at him with a smirk; a small thank you written on his lips.

The door to Apple Bloom’s room opens, a lone doctor comes trudging out. Conversation drops dead, all eyes turn to him. Big Mac’ stands straight as flagpole and stares at the harbinger of news with fearful anxiety. I creep up beside him, my heart beating three times for every step I take. I bite the tip of my hoof, feeling it shake against my teeth as I do.

“Doctor, is mah’ little sister gonna be okay?”

The doctor looks at Big Mac for a moment, and then all of us. His gaze survives everyone present, and then he closes his eyes and gives the verdict.

“She didn’t make it.”

No one speaks, no one moves, no one believes the words they just heard. My brain shuts down and my whole body goes with it. My lungs fail to pull in air, my spine goes stiff as plywood, my legs don’t respond to anything I tell them. I barely know how to turn my head, just to make sure the others heard the same thing I did.

Their faces are a collection of open mouths and gawking eyes. Big Mac’s jaw trembles like a freezing child in the snow, his hooves struggle to sustain balance, and his voice is shaken and flimsy like cardboard. “D-D-D-Don’t… don’t do that to us… doctor. Apple Bloom, she’s mah’ baby sister, she… she means more ta’ me then ya’ could imagine.”

The doctor hangs his head and closes his eyes. “I’m deeply sorry.”

“Don’t joke like this doctor!” He lunges at the physician and holds him up against the wall. “This is m’ah family yer’ talkin’ about here, and it ain’t funny! I swear if you think—”

“It’s not a fucking joke, sir!” The doctor glares at him. Tears stream down his eyes, tears that halt Big Mac’s wrath. “We did everything we could sir, everything. We worked quick as lightning to save her, but we just didn’t have enough time. She was doomed before she even made it into the hospital.”

Big Mac blinks disbelievingly and lets him go without moving his head. The doctor slides down the wall onto his haunches and droops his head into his forehooves. “I’m sorry sir, but young Apple Bloom is dead.”

It’s like a lightning bolt. My head short circuits, I move in a dizzy stupor. This can’t actually happen. This must be a dream. Alda must have cast some hallucinatory spell on me that’s making my nightmares come to life. I can wake up any time and pretend this never even happened. Right? This isn't real. She's not dead.

Big Mac stands agape for a few seconds then turns from the doctor and marches into Apple Bloom’s room. He’s followed shortly by Granny Smith, then Spike, and finally Scootaloo. I stand alone outside, numb to any sense of time. My body has turned to concrete; stiff, hard, and motionless. I hauled Apple Bloom over here as fast as I could, she couldn’t have been out for any longer than a minute before I arrived. How could she have died?

Sinking distress intrudes in my heart, the door to Apple Bloom’s room is veiled in an air of doom. My whole body goes cold, but I have to see this with my own eyes. I need to confirm this isn’t just a bad dream.

My hooves move like they’re mired in tar. I have this horrid feeling like I’m being crushed beneath the entire planet. I’m at the rim of the door, when I first hear it.

Crying. Soft and silent at first, but soon devolves into a loud pained wail.

Big Mac’s sobs are soon joined by that of an elderly mare, and then two young kids. Everyone is crying in there, everyone is heartbroken.

Air enters my lungs like fire, the steam rises in my throat and burns my eyes. Choking back the tears is like swallowing a knife. I can’t do this. I can’t, I just fucking can’t!

I turn from the room and flee the hospital. Cold night air stings like wasps in my face. I run all the way to the keep of Carousel Boutique. I lock the door behind me, and hide myself in the sanctuary of my room.

I lay in a forest of decay, bathing in a pond of blood. The barren pale trees that surround me hold live ponies within their bark. Their twisted, pain-filled expressions can be seen through the wood as if it were latex. Bugs circle the area, giant ones with eerie red eyes and long needle like mouths which they use to pierce the bark of the trees and suck out the marrow. Muffled screams emanate inside the wood as the faces deflate.

I sniff in blood and tears. I float along the pool of gore and stare up at the ash colored sky. My hoof is pressed between my legs, rubbing and pumping in and out of me; I whimper with each push. I try to think of something dirty, but any time I think at all it’s always something too painful to dwell on, so I just mechanically stroke myself with empty passion.

I don’t want to think, I don’t want to be conscious, I’m not sure I want to be alive right now, but living is my curse. Demons never truly die, after all. They can be sealed away, locked up within the deepest recesses of Hell and left to suffer, but they can always break free, always come back. There is no true death for demons.

“Still lying to yourself, Sweetie?”

I cringe, squeeze my eyes shut, and tense up my hooves. “Go… away.”

My demonic side laughs. “Oh, I’m sorry, were you about to cum?”

My breath breaks into shuddering cold bursts, my throat burns with the salt of swallowed tears. I sit up in the shallow part of the blood pond and stare down at my reflection. The evil, demonic face grins at me like a rapist running an orphanage.

“I can give you a minute, if you’d like. Take your time and rub the stress out.”

The reflection turns pure black and rises out of the pool in an inky black mist. It forms the silhouetted shape of a pony in front of me, and then turns to color. It takes the appearance of Apple Bloom.

Acid fills my chest and I breath in knives. My demonic counterpart grins like a snake. “Unless of course you’d rather me join you. I know you always feared you might develop some sick obsession with these toys of yours if you think of them in such a way, but... well, I guess you have no reason to be worried now do you.”

Blood turns to steam in my veins. I clench my teeth and turn away from myself. “Shut up, just shut up! You’re not gonna get to me like that. I won’t allow it.”

“‘Get to you’?” my demonic counterpart repeats. “Oh, my poor, dear Sweetie, I don’t want to ‘get to you’. No, I want to celebrate with you, on such a well played move.”

My breath goes short as I feel hers on my neck. I twist my head around to see my demonic counterpart back in her normal form and staring inches away from me with those blood red eyes. They narrow and inch closer to my own. She blows a party horn in my ear. My heart leaps. She spins a noisemaker and cackles with fiendish delight.

“Congratulations Sweetie, on securing your victory over Alda. Such a cunning display, swiping the answer right underneath her nose! And oh, the way you manipulated that pawn of yours to do it, hehehehahahahahaha!” She raises a hoof to her cheek and pretends to wipe a tear from her eye. “Oh, that was a thing of beauty.”

I choke back tears and glare at her with shrunken pupils. “She wasn’t a pawn you monster! She was my friend!”

I retain composure for another moment, then the dam in my eyes breaks. “A friend that I just let die without saying a word.”

I fall on my side and submerge half my face in blood. Tears come through like fat worms burrowing through my eyelids, and a black hole fills my stomach, draining all feeling from me and leaving nothing but a giant sucking void of pain and emptiness.

I wish I was dead. I wish it was me and not Apple Bloom. If anyone deserved to die it was me, not her.

“Oh, stop being so melodramatic, unless you’re adamant about joining your friend,” my demon self declares. “You still have that knife from Alda’s ritual don’t you? Just take it and slit your own hoof a couple of times, just like that little apple fuck did. You’ll be seeing her again in no time with that attitude.”

She laughs like a crass, drunken mare; a high pitched cackle that rakes my ear drums. I don’t care if she is me, I hate her. I hate her with every ounce of my being, I hate her so much. I press my hooves into my eyes and grit my teeth. I’m ready to snarl, when something in her words occurs to me.

I stand to my hooves, droplets of blood running off my face and turn to her with frozen anger. “What do you mean by that last part? That I’ll be seeing her again?”

She looks at me and snickers. “Well, that’s what I find most delicious about this whole show. This ‘friend’ of yours, this ‘pal’ who was closer to you than your own father; she dies, partly because of your own actions, and, remind me, what was the very last thing she did before she died? Other than stab you and run screaming through the forest that is?”

Her smile grows in direct proportion to my horror.

“No. No. No! You shut up! Shut the fuck up!” I scream. “Don’t even go there! Apple Bloom made a mistake! She didn’t know what she was doing, you son of a bitch!”

She chuckles once more, and places a hoof to her chest like she’s stopping herself from completely breaking out into hysteria again. “If you have to say that to yourself, then can you really be sure? For a demon, you don’t know that much about Hell. You have the stories and the circles and all that jazz, but you don’t know what it takes to get sent there. Hehe, you don’t even know what it takes to get into heaven. You might have just gambled away your best friend’s soul and you wouldn’t even know it.”

Pressure builds in my stomach, molten pools of magma rise in my chest. My counterpart’s cruel snickering only exacerbates the process. “I wonder what circle of Hell she wound up in? What was the punishment for witchcraft again? Having your head twisted backwards and being forced to traverse the inner circles of Hell for all time or something like that? Then again, she did technically end her own life, maybe she’ll wind up in the Forest of Suicide and be chased down by the hellhounds for all eternity."

My teeth clamp shut. Liquid boils in my head and steam fills my skull with no where to go.

“No, wait! Do you know what would truly be the most ironic punishment for her?” she blurts, cackling between words. “She wanted to see her father so badly, so they should throw her into the same circle with him, and force him to torture her for all eternity! They’ll have all the time in the world to spend together! It would be perfect, wouldn’t you agree? Bha ha ha ha ha haa!”

Restraint breaks, my head explodes. I scream with rage and charge at my darker self. I tackle her to the ground and punch her in the face.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut your fucking goddamn mouth, you fucking evil bastard!”

She never stops laughing, even as I stand over her, even as I beat her stupid grinning face in. She just laughs, and laughs, and laughs like she’s overdosing on a bad drug. Blood smears across my face with each punch I throw. I feel her skull crack under my hoof, her face pushes in like a deflated balloon and still she laughs. Her jaw vibrates and makes popping sounds as it moves. I scream as I deliver one last blow, crushing her head completely.

The laughter finally stops.

I growl the remaining anger out of my system. Gore sticks to the bottom of my hoof and I need to yank it free; what I hear is less of an agonized scream and more of shriveled gasp of broken moans. Apple Bloom is beneath my hoof, her body trapped within log-like wood with veiny roots running through her body.

I recoil back with spikes in my chest, my head shakes in disbelief. Her body squirms in the bark like thick paste and I hear a pained raspy voice. “Why… Sweetie… why?”

My body turns to stone, my brain cracks and tears itself apart. One of the giant bugs that were flying around lands on Apple Bloom and pierces her body. She moans in pain as the insect drinks her up through a straw.

I snap and lunge forward, swatting the bug off her. “No, get away! Get away!”

Another bug lands on her and I swat it away. The next one lands on me and sticks its needle into my thigh. Seering pain shoots through my leg like liquid fire. I scream and buck the insect away with my free leg, but almost fall down doing so. It feels like the leg it bit has been replaced with jello. I can’t stand on it.

Apple Bloom screams again, two more insects pierce her through the face. “Help!... Sweetie!... Please, help!”

I roar through tears and crush the insects’ heads against each other. More land and stick me in the ribs and I collapse in writhing agony.

“It hurts… Sweetie… It hurts! Oh, God!”

Tears blur my vision, my head pounds. I scream out again as I reach out towards Apple Bloom. She has an entire swarm of bugs on her, each piercing her body and making her scream. I almost have one of the bugs in my grip, when another one stabs my front hoof. My voice goes out from screaming.

It’s too painful to move, every fiber of my body vibrates pain. I can do nothing but cry and watch my body melt as the swarm sucks out my innards.

“Make it stop… make it stop!... Please!” One of the bugs sticks Apple Bloom’s eyeball. I hear my demonic counterpart laughing. I cry liquid fire that seers my cheeks and boils the ground.

“Apple Bloom!”

The insect penetrates my skull. It’s venomous saliva melts my brain, and then sucks it out it out the back of my head.

I wake up with my face pressed against a moist pillow. My cheeks are still damp, my heart is still buried. Now the fire of anger is added to the bubbling pot of emotions that stews in my stomach. I whimper and sit up in bed, giving my head a few rough smacks.

Come on Sweetie, don’t let that get to you. It just wants to make everyone miserable, yourself included, and it’ll say or do anything to make that happen. Know the tricks of the Devil, and they can not be used against you. Apple Bloom is fine, Sweetie. She’s not in hades, she’s not Hell, she’s not anywhere in the underworld, all you know for sure is that she’s... dead.

“She’s dead.”

The words are heavy in my mind, but grow spikes and barbed wire as they pass through my lips. I sit still for the longest time, vaguely staring at the blank wall in front of me. My head spends all of its focus trying to understand, trying to realize that Apple Bloom is actually gone; that if I walk down to Sweet Apple Acres right now she won’t be there, that it’ll only be me and Scootaloo on the crusades from now on, that last night was the final time I would ever see her.

My lungs and stomach are crushed under an intense weight, pressure pushes against the back of my eyes. I suck in a shaky breath and fight back tears. I’m sick of crying. I’m done with crying.

I take a long breath then sit up on the edge of the bed and get up. I walk out of my room and down the hall to the bathroom, a wound the size of Trottingham in my stomach. I turn on the shower and sit on the tile floor as the hot water rushes over me. The water is steaming, but it fails to thaw my numb brain. I don’t know how long I spend in the shower. I’m not even sure I washed up at all, just that I eventually turned the water off at some point and dried off.

I go to brush my mane, and find myself looking in the mirror. My eyes have red canyons running through them, dark circles hide underneath. My face has turned to stone, my expression chiseled into a weary broken filly who’s lost all sense in life. I press the center of my chest and feel the warm pulse of the demonic rune that hides my true appearance. It still has a few days before it needs to be redone again, but I’m sort of tempted to do it right now. The sight of my own blood sounds almost whimsical.

I laugh and cry at the same time, realizing just how pathetic that desire truly is.

I run a brush through my mane and head downstairs. I decide to go outside so I can… I don’t know, do anything other than think.

I open the front door and nearly trip over what’s lying on the step. Scootaloo lays curled up in a ball right on the welcome mat, silently snoring. I gape at her for what feels like hours, and briefly wonder if I’m still dreaming.

I nudge her, she fusses about in her sleep before her eyes creep open. She rolls on her back and stares up at me with tired red eyes. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I reply.

There’s a brief silence.

“You slept on my front porch?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t you remember what I said about Alda hunting us?”

“Yeah.”

“And you still thought sleeping here was a smart idea?”

“I poured some of the holy water on me before I went to sleep.”

“That wears off as soon as the water dries Scootaloo, you got lucky.”

Silence comes again, this time Scootaloo doesn’t keep eye contact, her face remains drained and emotionless. “Sorry I didn’t listen to you. That was stupid.”

Guilt weighs in my chest, my lungs lower into my stomach. “Sorry I ran off like that. I just… I couldn’t…”

I search for the right words, hard to find in the monsoon of my mind. Scootaloo climbs to her hooves and looks at me with sad eyes. “I know, I know, trust me… I know.”

Her eyes trail down, her wings slump from her sides. I feel a rock in my chest, my own guilt welling up for avoiding the subject, but what can I say? What is there to say? Words are such small patches for the wounds of reality.

Scootaloo rubs her sagging eyes and breathes a loud sigh. “Were you going somewhere?”

It’s like a I just woke up from a dream when she speaks. “Y-yeah, I guess I was.”

We walk outside into the cloudy, haze swarmed streets of Ponyville. The town is fairly active mid-morning. Ponies chatter, trade at stalls, and shiver misty breaths into the grey atmosphere. Most of them glance when they see us, fully aware that someone is missing from our party, but none say a word.

Apple Bloom’s spirit is following us. She’s walking right along side us, haunting us with her ghostly presence. I try my best to ignore the anomaly, pretend that nothing is wrong, like I could pretend gravity isn’t real and jump off a building.

This thin veil of denial lasts until we stop at our undetermined destination; by some sick jest of fate, or maybe the guiding hoof of Apple Bloom’s spirit, we end up right outside Sugar Cube Corner.

Words are washed away by a torrent of memories. I can see the moment I met Apple Bloom perfectly, I can hear the exact words we said when forming the group. It was her idea to name us the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The past is a sickle and we are the chaff. Scootaloo breaths in weak shaky intervals, the walls in her throat strain to hold it in. She keeps her eyes on the bakery and stutters, “M-May-Maybe… maybe we should go in.”

The building is pressing a knife to my throat, and now she wants me to walk forward. “N-No, no, I think it’ll be crowded today,” I whisper. “Besides, don’t you think you’re parents might be worried about you? You’ve been out all night.”

She shakes her head without breaking gaze from Sugar Cube Corner. “I doubt it. My mom is off on some business trip in Los Pegasus, and my dad never really… really…”

Her head wilts, her voice fails. She squeezes her eyes in some futile attempt to smother her tears. Her legs give out from under her. She covers her head with her hooves and she buries her face in the dirt. My chest burns as she cries. It starts as a small whimper at first, a few stray soldiers that broke through the barricade, and then a whole new battalion comes charging in.

Hot tears burn my face, holding back the sob is like taking a punch to the chest. I suck it in and look down at Scootaloo. “Stop, stop, Scootaloo. Don’t do this, stop.”

She continues to sob unheeded. It’s a low torture watching her cry; every tear is a blade that slices my chest, every anguished cry a tremor that jolts my skeleton. Her words come in choked sobs. “I should’ve went straight to you. I should’ve ran and got you the moment Alda offered me that deal. If I had, you would’ve never gone into Everfree and Apple Bloom would still be alive, she’d still be-”

“Shut up!”

I swing a broadsword with my tongue. Scootaloo flinches and looks up at me. My eyes wrestle with tears, my teeth clench like I’m enduring torture. I swallow the rising breakdown in my throat, and then kneel down and wrap my hooves around her.

“This was not your fault,” I cry. “We would’ve went after Alda regardless of whether you were with her or not. I shouldn’t have brought Apple Bloom along in the first place. This was not your fault, Scootaloo. This was not your fault.”

I hold her a little tighter every time I say it. I open my clenched eyes, free the tears to run down my cheeks, and look off towards the gloomy forest. “This was not your fault.”

She’s freezes for a moment, her bones cemented in ice. She gradually thaws out and cries into my shoulder. I continue to hold her and she returns the embrace. We say nothing, just share each others pain; two bleeding souls with only empathy to comfort them.

We suffer these eternal wounds until the sun breaks through the oppressing overcast. Hoofsteps approach us, small pattering hooves that walk without a care in the world. I open my watering eyes and sigh. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon give us fox like grins.

“Oh, isn’t this just the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen Silver Spoon? Two blank flanks huddling together in an open street. Makes you want to gag doesn’t it.”

They cackle like hyenas, I growl like a leopard.

“What are you two doing anyway? Trying to get your cutie marks in snuggling?” Tiara continues.

“Wouldn’t surprise me to hear it,” says Silver Spoon. “Also wouldn’t surprise me to hear you failed just as miserably at that as everything else.”

They laugh again. Scootaloo snarls and stands up. “Just shut up, both of you! We’re in no mood to deal with this today!”

“Oh, and what are you gonna do about it Blank Flank? Swear at me again?” Diamond grins. “You don’t want to bother Miss Cheerilee today, do you? You know she has better things to do than waste her time on a flightless bird, a runty little unicorn, and… say, where is that dirty farm friend of yours anyway? Did she finally ditch you losers for the hopeless cause you are?”

Her smile is a million miles long. Scootaloo stands stiff and motionless, her face frozen in a silent rage. “She’s dead, Diamond Tiara.”

Her head whips back like she’s been slapped in the face. They look at Scootaloo in a stupor, then their expressions turn to annoyance. “Yeah, good one blank flank. I’d say acting might be your special talent, but after that little talent show incident I’d say it should be illegal for any of you get within thirty feet of a stage.”

They cackle again. Scootaloo flares her wings.

“It’s not a joke Tiara!” she screams, stomping her hooves down in front of her. “She was attacked in Everfree Forest last night, and died in the hospital. We were right outside her room when it happened!”

I’ve never seen smugness die so violently before. Their grins turn to open mouths, their haughty eyes to wide shocked haze. Silver Spoon’s lips tremble. “You-You’re… You’re being serious?”

Scootaloo answers her with a steel cutting glare, a look that could light dragon scales on fire.

Silver Spoon loses the blood in her face. “We’re… We’re sorry, we didn’t know… we didn’t...”

She looks away. She holds a hoof to her lips and closes her eyes

“Don’t be sorry, just leave us alone,” Scootaloo growls. “The last thing we want to see at this point is you.”

She turns away from them and sits back down. Silver Spoon hides the tears in her eyes, and begins to walk away; Diamond Tiara does not follow her.

She goes motionless, staring at us with wide eyes and an open mouth. Enough time passes for her presence to become uncomfortable. We look over our shoulders at her, her expression is unchanged by our heated glares.

“What do you mean she was attacked in the Everfree?”

Fear flashes across Scootaloo’s face. I jump in before she says anything contradictory. “She was mauled by a timber wolf, it tore her arm up real bad. I didn’t get her to the hospital in time.”

She pauses a moment. “And what was she doing in Everfree to begin with?”

Scootaloo bares her teeth. “What does it matter to you? She’s dead now, didn’t you torment her enough when she was still breathing?”

Tiara turns to anger. “I just wanted to make sure she didn’t die trying to get her cutie mark or something stupid like that.”

“Oh, so now you’re concerned for her, now that she’s dead?” Scootaloo hisses. “Well, as much as we appreciate it, I’m afraid to say that you’re a little late to apologize; so take it somewhere it’s actually wanted!”

Diamond Tiara grinds her teeth together and then sticks her nose up in the air. “Honestly, I don’t know why I bother wasting my breath on you. You’re just a gang of idiots whose only attainable goal is holding a world record in failure. Apple Bloom’s grave should read ‘here lies the loser who died a blank flank!’”

“You take that back right now!”

“Why should I? She was always doing something stupid to get her cutie mark.” Diamond Tiara turns away from her. Her eyes look distant, like there’s some invisible filly she’s talking too. “She was obsessed with getting one. If she wasn’t jumping off bridges with you three, then she was competing in some dumb skating competition or drinking strange potions from that weirdo zebra’s shack. She was… desperate to find a cutie mark… and she never got it.”

She looks at the ground, tilting her head to hide her eyes. Guilt cuts into my stomach like a blade; Tiara’s comment holds an uncomfortable amount of truth, and digs up sentiments I thought were buried long ago. I glance at her from the corner of my eye, knowing what she’s thinking.

“She didn’t go in to get her cutie mark, just so you know.” I wipe the tears from my eyes and stand up. “Scootaloo went in there earlier, and me and Apple Bloom went in looking for her.”

Tiara looks at us. Her plate sized eyes shrink into needle thin slits. She stands up and snarls at Scootaloo. “So she went in there because of you. She went in there and got herself killed all because you ran off and couldn’t be bothered to tell anyone where you went!”

Scootaloo backs away from her accusation. Her teeth show anger, but her show guilt. “I-I wasn’t… even, there… for longer than a few minutes. I never thought anypony would come looking for me.”

“Well somepony did, didn’t they? And look what happened because of it,” she throws her hooves in the air. “Does it feel good for you, knowing you’re reason you’re best friend is dead?”

“I should also mention,” I state, interrupting Tiara’s tirade, “that Scootaloo went in there to practice her flying, away from anyone who might see her.”

Tiara makes a strange cracking sound in her throat, and backs away from my burning glare. Her pupils shift and search around before she regains composure and starts pointing hooves again. “Well… it’s still her fault. Who cares if someone sees a flightless bird in motion? She should know better than to go into Everfree.”

“That’s really how you’re gonna handle this? Fall back on name calling and blaming others? Do you ever change?”

“I… I… I-I-I-I-I…” Moisture forms in the crevices of her eyes, she clenches them shut to bar the tears. Her head whips back to me with the fury of a boar. “I don’t need to listen to you! You’re no one, blank flanks who have no purpose to live here or even exist at all! You could disappear tomorrow and the world wouldn’t be any different! No one cares about you, no one cares about your stupid dead friend, no one cares about a whiny runt pegasus who can’t fly or a dumb whimp unicorn who’s too naive to realize her parents dumped her on her sister because they didn’t want her!”

She scoffs and walks away from us, flicking her tail as she turns. I watch her leave with slanted eyes. “Maybe I should’ve just spread those pictures of your vag around town.”

Tiara freezes. She stands like a rabbit viewing the approaching jaws of a wolf. Her head creeks around until her terrified eyes meet mine. “W-Wha-What does that mean?”

“You know exactly what it means.” I lurk forward, giving her a venomous glare. “There was a bit of confusion in our group, after that whole ‘Gabby Gums’ incident. We thought for sure you were gonna run those pictures of us in the paper, but time marched on and it never happened. We never figured out why you didn’t run them, or at least, my friends never knew.”

There’s enough shock on her face to power all of Manehatten for a year. She steps back as I approach, shaking her head in disbelief. “No… No, no, no, you’re full of manure. You didn’t do that, you couldn’t have done that.”

“Oh, but I did.” Malice oozes from my voice. “I snapped the photos right in your bedroom as you slept, and then I replaced them with the ones you had on us. I even destroyed the camera afterwards so there’d be no evidence on the off chance you did do something stupid.”

“You… you couldn’t. That’s not you, you don’t do things like that!”

I stop my march. I look at her for a moment, then my flat lips curve into an evil grin. I chuckle fiendishly. “Do I? I remember back when we first met I said that ‘Blank Flanks’ are also ‘Blank Slates’; that they’re full of potential and could become great scientists, or amazing artists, or famous writers, or even the mayor Ponyville. You don’t know what they’re capable of, what they’ll become. They could be the greatest ponies ever known in all Equestria, or maybe… they could be the devil himself.”

I hold my grin at her throat like a dagger. She looks at me with broken eyes, and a broken mind. Tears stream down her face and she looks at the ground. “Get away from me.”

I chuckle once more. “Oh, what’s wrong? Is the little bully having a hard time swallowing her own medicine?”

“I said, get, away from me, you fucking monster.”

“And look who’s using the foul language now. Don’t you think your mother would be disappointed? Oh that’s right, she’s not here.” I taunt, breathing inches away from her face. “And to think you had the gall to say my parents don’t care, at least I have a mother who has the common courtesy to drop in and say hello once in awhile. Unlike your’s, who ran off to Manehatten the moment she found a stallion as rich as your father without of the con of being so ugly he could-"

“Go to hell, Sweetie Belle!”

She punches me in the face.

It doesn’t hurt at all, but I make it look like it does. I spin my head back and stumble to the ground, holding my cheek to cover a none existent scar. Tiara snarls like animal and glares hatred at me. It takes a her a few seconds to fully comprehend what she just did, but it’s already been done. Horror dawns on her as town ponies look at us with shocked, angered expressions. Tiara looks down at me. I shoot her a wicked grin, turn away from her, and cry.

I ball into the ground, watering the dry soil with my fake tears. It’s seconds before I hear more hooves surrounding us, a few more before the murmuring starts, and then the sweet sound of Filthy Rich’s voice.

“Diamond Tiara!” he shouts.

“W-w-wait! Dad, you don’t understand! You don’t know what she said to me, what she was doing. You don’t—no! Get your hooves off me! Let me go!”

I smirk as I hear him drag Tiara off. I wonder what’ll happen when they get back home? Not that I’m worried of Tiara spilling anything. She’s smart enough to know who has the reigns in this situation.

I feel the caress of a hoof against my back, and I revert back to crying. I push myself up and sit on my haunches. Mrs. Cake holds my chin as she examines my face. “Oh dear, are you okay?”

I sniff in. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

She turns my face to both sides, and gives me a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t look that serious. Not even a mark to show for it.”

“I know, I know, I’ll be fine, it’s just…” I quiver my lip. “I don’t understand why she’s so mean to us all the time. She can’t even be a little caring when Apple Bloom… when Apple Bloom…”

I cry into her chest, and she responds like a mother. “Oh Sweetie, there, there.”

She holds me close and pats a hoof on my back. I manage to shed real tears and use them to my advantage. I burry my face in Mrs. Cake’s chest and let her feel the moisture in my eyes. She rubs my back, I smile at the effectiveness of my act.

I shift my head against her, and notice Scootaloo standing off to the side. She looks at me with a mix of anger and disgust. She doesn’t say anything, just turns around and walks off.

I’m alone now with a crowd of strangers. I wait until most of them have dispersed and Cup Cake has said her comforts, then I follow Scootaloo. I use my clairvoyance and see her sitting in the clubhouse, then I trot my way there.

Blades of pain cut up my stomach when I enter Sweet Apple Acres. I’m fighting back tears before I even reach the clubhouse, and when I finally arrive I almost croak. Why did she have to come here? How can she even bare it?

I think back to the day when Applejack gave us this clubhouse, and we spent all day sprucing it up. Me and Scootaloo found all this cool stuff for the inside, and made all the plans for what we’d do in it, but it was Apple Bloom that rebuilt the house. She fixed every step, sanded off every splinter, replaced the entire roof. It was her work we had been using this whole time.

Every step I climb adds weight to my hooves. I feel like some large creature is trying crush me under its hoof. I stand in front of the door; the door Apple Bloom painted, varnished, and rehinged herself. I avoid turning the handle for as long as I can, then take a pained breath and push forward into hedge of thorns.

The clubhouse is dark inside, just a faint glow of sun leaking in from the window. Scootaloo stands at the right side of the room, staring at the wall with her hoof pressed against it. Three red capes hang in front of her, waiting patiently for their owners to come, one of which will be waiting forever.

Her head tilts down and tears drop to the floor. I feel my own well of sorrow overflowing again. Water leaks through the cracks in my eyes, I close them tight to shield my face. I draw a quivering breath and step towards Scootaloo. I let her cry for a few moments, not knowing what to say. I reach a hoof out for her shoulder.

“I can see why Alda keeps asking you to join her.”

My hoof halts, my eyes go wide and my lips go flat.

“You two would be a match made in Hell. You’re both already masters of lying, blackmail, and just being a straight up jerk. What you two could do by joining forces, that is a scary thought. I could have nightmares about that.”

I stare at her quietly a moment, my eyes get more narrow by the second. I speak with a low grating voice. “You were perfectly content when I tortured and killed demons coming into this town, but sticking it to Diamond Tiara is somehow crossing a line?”

“Diamond Tiara wasn’t planning to kill or hurt anyone. She shot a couple pictures of us covered in mud and dressed in frilly costumes, and in return you snuck into her house and shot pictures of her dirty bits. Did you really consider that even?”

“I told you exactly what I was planning back at the schoolhouse, and you didn’t say a word! She has been lying about us and making fun of us for years now, ever since the day we met her. You’d think she’d know when to give it a break already, but no, even when Apple Bloom is dead—”

“No, don’t even go there. Don’t even try to justify this using Apple Bloom!” She jumps to her feet in the heat of her tirade. “You’re right, I didn’t care about Tiara back at the schoolhouse, and even now I can’t find too much sympathy for her, but the fact that you used Apple Bloom’s death to keep yourself out of trouble… that is low, Sweetie Belle, even by your standards!”

I go silent, and lose the anger on my face. I turn away from her accusing eyes and look out the window. “I… I just… it felt like the right thing to say at the time. I was… looking for something to say to Mrs. Cake and that was the first thing that came to mind.”

Scootaloo glares at me, her body stiff and motionless. “Do you even care that she’s dead?”

I choke on my own heartbeat. “Of course I care! She was our best friend, god damnit!”

“Then how could you use her like that?! Throw her name in with those lies! How can you do that?”

I go silent, my tongue is limp.

“How? How can you do it. Sweetie?”

I say nothing.

“How?!”

“How!”

“Because I’m a fucking monster, Scootaloo!” I glare at her with burning anger and boiling tears. “Look at me, look at my life. Everything I am is either a vicious display of murder or a fat fucking lie. I don’t even need to think of hurting someone to do it, it’s second nature to me. I can sing lies as easily as I do songs. Blood is a second skin that feels more comfortable than my own. Even when I try to behave, it’s so no one will see what I truly am.”

I swallow a sob, and smother my tears with my hooves. “It’s pointless for me to even try. I am a monster. I was born one and I’ll die one. There’s no use trying to deny it.”

My head lowers down, my hooves come to my mane. I whimper and embrace the cold wood floor. Sound is dead, my skin is numb, firey liquid runs down my eyes. My gut is filled with despair, a sucking void of hopelessness that swallows me alive.

I want nothing more than to fade into nothing, but Scootaloo won’t give me the pleasure. Her shadow stands over me like a looming gallows platform. "Sweetie Belle.”

I sniff in. “What?”

She lifts up my chin so that I face her. She stares at me with teary eyes, then slaps me in the face.

“Don’t even think like that!”

I’m shocked; not hurt, just shocked. My face doesn’t even sting, yet I touch the place she struck me anyway. I look at her, and find her glaring at me with watery wounded eyes.

“If you don’t want to be called a hero, fine, but you are not a monster, Sweetie Belle! Alda is a monster, her demons are monsters, Azmodeus is a fucking monster! They’re the ones deceiving and killing hundreds of innocent ponies to for themselves, and you’re risking everything to stand against them!”

My wide eyes shrink to teary slits. “Scootaloo, I told you before the only pony I’m trying to save by fighting is mys—”

“No, you’re fucking not!” she shouts in my face. “If that’s true then you’d have no reason to stay here, no reason to fight Alda at all. You could just pack up your things, walk right out of town, and found another small village to live in; one that didn’t have homicidal hunters or escaped demon lords charging through it. If all you care about is yourself, then why are you still here?”

I go silent. My hoof raises and comes back down several times, but I can’t bring myself to tell her.

“You’re not being selfish, Sweetie, you’re protecting the town,” Scootaloo continues. “The only reason Ponyville hasn’t been overrun by an army of demons is because of you, because you’re fighting them. The fact that you’re even here at all says you’re not a monster.”

I stare at her silently. “And you see nothing wrong with how I’m fighting them?”

“They’re planning on doing the exact same thing to innocent ponies. Why does ‘how you fight them’ matter?”

I’m silent again. Words slice up my throat like razor blades. “Apple Bloom thought it mattered. She could barely stomach seeing what I did.”

Scootaloo’s expression wilts, her eyes go dark.

“You know what the last thing she said to me was, before she died? She said that she couldn’t get use to me being a demon, that she couldn’t stand seeing what I do, and that we couldn’t be friends anymore. She passed out right after she said that. That was the last thing I ever heard her say.”

My breath shakes, my blood freezes. “My best friend used her last breath to tell me to fuck off. How could she have seen me as anything less than a monster?”

Nothing is said for the longest time. Scootaloo’s stares at me like she just seen the gates of Hades open up. Her jaw trembles, her wings hang limp from her sides. “I… I… I…”

She shakes her head and turns away from me. She runs a hoof down her face and looks at the floor shaking her head. Her eyes drift up towards our capes, and then shift to the side window. She stares out for a some time before breaking the smothering silence.

“I think you should go see her.”

I squint my eyes at her. “What do you mean?”

“Apple Bloom.” She stands away from the window, allowing me a view of the farm house in the distance. “They took her back to the farm after she… well… she’s at the farmhouse basically, in her room. You can still see her, if you want.”

The air in the room compresses around me, icy rain fills my bones. “Sc-Scootaloo I can’t, there’s no way I’d be able to. I… I couldn’t even contain myself in the hospital, I don’t know how I could bring myself to see her now.”

Scootaloo’s eyelids squeeze together. “I know Sweetie Belle, but I still think you should.”

She walks towards me, her voice quivers. “I don’t know how you’re going to deal with what she said, I can’t even imagine. But... maybe you can start by saying goodbye.”

My heart stabs my chest with every beat. Cold sweat runs down my head. My hind legs give out and slump to the ground. Scootaloo sighs and turns to our three red capes hanging on the wall. She takes her own which embraces her warmly as she wraps it around her neck, and then takes down the other two as well.

She drapes me with my own cape and then sets the last one down in front of me. “Even if she was afraid of you as a demon, that doesn’t make you a monster.”

Her joyless, tear-streaked face is somehow convincing. I place a hoof on the red velvet cape. The smiling gold filly emblem seems so naive, so blissfully unaware of its owner’s fate, like a old dog awaiting the return of its master.

Tears claw at the back of my eyes like caged lions. I look up at Scootaloo and then nod my head.

I tie the knot on my cape and carry Apple Bloom’s over my shoulder. Scootaloo gives me a hoof to pull me up and then we leave the clubhouse.

The road to Sweet Apple Acres is littered with brown and gold leaves that are carried by the wind. The orchard is in a somber mood today. Sound is absent save for the crunching of leaves under our hooves. We don’t say a word as we walk, we barely even look at each other. We only stop once we reach our destination.

The farm has become a ghost town. The trees, which Big Mac would normally be hard at work bucking, stand lonely and unattended. Baskets of apples sit forgotten and neglected with no one to carry them into the barn. It’s unnatural to see this place so dull, so quiet.

So lifeless.

Lead fills my hooves when we walk through, spears press against my chest as we draw closer to the house. It wouldn’t surprise me to see red hellish energy leaking out the cracks of the front door as if the house had become a riverway to the underworld. I can almost sense the Ferryman approaching from the other side. In fact, I actually do sense something approaching.

I can hear the heavy breathing of a stallion with labored lungs, and I can feel the strong vibrations of hooves with lighter ones following behind. They’re approaching the door. My heart jolts and my head swerves looking for a place to hide. Scootaloo yelps as I pull her behind the side of the house and put a hoof to her mouth.

Big Mac trudges out of the house, his eyes closed to capture moisture, his bangs scraping the ground as he walks. Granny Smith comes out after him, but stops at the front porch. She stares at Big Mac with heavy eyes, which she closes and turns to the ground. “We ain’t gonna say a word of this to Applejack.”

Big Mac’s halts his pace, and sighs into the dirt. “I understand Granny.”

Her eyes quiver when she looks back at him. “Big Mac—”

“You don’t need to explain nothin’,” he states. “Applejack has her own problems to deal with tryin’ save Equestria. This can wait until she comes home safe.”

They stand like stone maidens for a moment. Waterfalls trail down Big Mac’s face, his frown is cut like a deep scar. He croaks, gritting his teeth like he’s in physical pain. Granny Smith approaches him, her shadow dries his tears.

“I’m sorry Granny, it’s just… ever since ma’ and pa’ died, I always had this fear that I’d lose someone else. I can’t tell you how scared I was when Applejack started using those elements. I kept having this nightmare that she’d go off with her friends one day and never come back. I was always worried she might be hurt one day, and now…”

He can’t hold it in any longer. His eyes shut, he buries his head in his hooves and cries. Granny Smith embraces him. She doesn’t say a word, just holds him close as he bleats into the ground.

Me and Scootaloo watch the scene with knives in our hearts. Big Mac’s tears might as well be our own blood. Scootaloo tears her gaze away from the sight and asks, “Why are we hiding?”

I’m unsure of the reason myself. Emotion and logic are poor bedfellows. “Because… because this is my last chance to see her… and I don’t want to waste it having to keep up my act in front of her family. I can’t be truthful if they’re watching me.”

She looks me a moment, then nods her head. “I understand.”

She peeks around the corner and looks at the mourning family. “Come on, we’ll climb in through the window.”

I nod and follow her in. We come in through the kitchen and tip-toe our way upstairs. The floorboards moan under our hooves, beyond that the hallway is silent. We stop in front of Apple Bloom’s door, an icy atmosphere wafts through the door. We pass each other nervous stares. I inhale a deep breath, then slowly lift up my hoof for the handle. I turn the knob, and we walk in.

Thousands of foot long daggers stab my body as I enter. One sight wounds me more than I’ve ever been in my ten years on this plane: Apple Bloom rests motionless in her bed. the covers are pulled up to her chest, her arms poke out on top and lay against her sides. The wound on her hoof has been cleaned and wrapped up; a life saving effort made too late. She looks peaceful, almost like she’s sleeping, but breath does not move in her chest, the aura of life does not surround her. Death has left nothing but a tranquil shell.

The dam in my chest cracks but holds against the flood of sorrow. I want to cry, but I want to say what I have to first. I look back at Scootaloo, who’s visibly shaken as well. She looks at me with bleeding eyes and nods at me to continue.

I swallow steel and breath deep. There’s a ten pound weight on my hoof that I carry with each step. The closer I get to Apple Bloom the more my heart bleeds. Every impulse is telling me to stop, to turn away from this bed of razors, run, and never looking back. Yet, I continue to move forward, drawn by some unseen hook, until I’m standing right in front of her.

My blood chills to an icy substance, my breath turns to crystal. Apple Bloom’s face is as white as marble. She looks more like a clay sculpture of herself, fast asleep in a dream. Tears leak from my eyes; seeing her this close squeezes them out of me. It was only a few cuts that did this, a few gashes in her flesh that left deeper scars than she could’ve imagined; and now they’re my scars.

My throat bursts and I sob into her sheet.

I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t. How can I even begin to say goodbye when she can’t even hear that I’m sorry? She didn’t even want to see me again after last night. My presence here can’t be anything less than a disturbance. Her spirit will haunt me for the rest of my life for being here.

I douse the mattress with my tears, further angering the deceased that lays upon it. Scootaloo’s shaking hoof grasps my shoulder. Rivers flow down her cheeks, attempting to reach across and link with my own. She speaks in a raspy voice. “She was your friend, Sweetie Belle. It doesn’t matter what she said, she was still your friend.”

Yeah, she was, until she denied it with her last breath. Maybe Apple Bloom was right, maybe we couldn’t have been friends after that night. Maybe she couldn’t have accepted me as a demon. Maybe we would’ve gone our separate ways.

My head rises off the bedsheets. There’s a black hole in my stomach, a sucking void of anguish that has consumed my entire body, and yet I laugh. I have to laugh when I realize it. This entire time I've been trying to keep them away from anything demonic, and with her final moments she pushed herself as far away from it as she could. She did exactly what I wanted.

“Sw-Sweetie Belle?”.

“I am beyond redemption.”

Scootaloo winces back, cold silence fills the room. I stand to my hooves, and look down at Apple Bloom. “I never told you that did I, at least not flat out, but maybe you already sort of knew. There is no chance for me to ever see Paradise. Demons are condemned to Hell. That’s a simple fact, and there’s nothing I can do to change it.”

Tremors shake in my lungs, coaxing tears like fruit from a tree. “I promised that I’d give you nothing but the truth, and while I have upheld that promise there’s still some things I haven’t told you. It’s true, that I only hunt ponies who harm others. It’s true that I’ve never harmed anyone who was innocent, but it’s also true that I’m not doing it out of any sense of justice. No, I’m doing it because… because the thought of anypony throwing away their chance to go to Heaven when I don’t have one makes me sick!”

I yell and slam my hooves into the end of the mattress. “I hate ponies who are so careless with their fate, I hate them so much! I can pity them for their end, but I can never forgive them for getting there.”

I inject tears into the bed. I turn my head to speak. “I have been haunted by that fate my entire life. I’ve lashed out at those who choose such an end, I’ve killed those who would lead anyone to that end… and I’ve spent my entire life in denial of the fact that that is my end.”

I force back more sobs, and stare at Apple Bloom with my chin against the bed. “You were more innocent, more caring, more pure than I’ll ever be. When I was with you, I could forget everything about myself, and for a moment it was like Paradise was actually within my grasp.”

I form a wall with my teeth to hold it back. “Now you’re gone, and that fantasy has died with you. I’ll never get the chance to see you again, not like your friends or family. They’ll be with you, or at least have a chance to be with you; but for me, I don’t have that. The only thing I have in store is… is…”

I grip the hem of the sheets and sob loudly. “I’m scared Apple Bloom. I can’t describe how scared I am! There’s no hope for me. I am damned no matter what I do. I’ve always tried to distance myself from that fact. I’ve practically tried to forget I’m a demon, but now that you’re gone… now that you’re gone…”

The sheets rip in my grip. I can’t hold it in any longer. I grab the lifeless hoof in front of me and explode like a grenade. “Please don’t leave me, Apple Bloom! Please! I don’t care if you can’t accept me as a demon, I don’t care if you never trust me again! I just want you here, I just want you back again, please! I want you here.”

I burry my face next to her body, and continue to implore the corpse to rise. This void of despair eats me alive, it breaks me down until I’m nothing but a jibbering sobbing mess.

Scootaloo lays a maternal hoof on my shoulder. I look at her and see tears shooting down her cheeks like stars, illuminating the pain and sadness beneath. I gaze for three seconds, then I break. I release all of my anguish and despair in one loud, guttural scream.

Scootaloo embraces me and we collapse on the floor. My face presses against hers and we bear each other’s sorrow. “I’ll be there for you, Sweetie.”

She cries the words, and repeats them again and again in my ear. “No matter what, I’ll be there for you. I’ll be there for you. I’ll be there for you.”

Chapter 12: Bruised Heel...

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It’s been a few hours. Granny Smith found us huddled together at the base of Apple Bloom’s bed, crying in each other’s embrace. She let us cry it all out then took us downstairs and kept us company for awhile, gave us some warm cider to drink, did her best to comfort us any way she could. We left some time later. Scootaloo hovered over me like a shadow as I walked back home. I never asked her if she had somewhere to be. I never said a word. I walked into my house, crawled into my bed, and buried myself in a mountain of pillows. She's still here with me, curled up next to me in a sympathetic embrace.

My mind races with facts I’ve kept buried as deep as I could for four years. There’s no such thing as a redeemed demon. Hell was molded for us, hell is where we’ll go. You can not argue with death. You can not argue with God.

I break into tears again. Scootaloo holds me tight, her stomach against my back, with the covers of my bed wrapped around us like a protective shell. She holds me close and strokes my mane as I whimper into the mattress.

I feel so alone. My whole world has eroded beneath me. It took one final crash from the sea to drag me down from my painted castle, and now I can’t find the surface.

I wipe a tear from my eye and ask in a raspy voice. "Scootaloo... is it pointless for me to pretend? Should I just give up on the illusion of hope so I don’t get hurt anymore?"

Her hooves tense, her voice stutters like a child learning to speak. “I… I-I don’t know. I have no idea what you should do. It never occurred to me that you’d… be dealing with something like this, even if you are a demon.”

“It is the curse of my species. We are the eternal enemies of God, no one ever came to save us. We are doomed to perdition the moment we're born. If we're lucky we may be able to escape our fate for brief interludes, but our presence here will always cause chaos, be it our intention or not. We will never be free from our fates completely. For us, it is an endless cycle of death and damnation.”

I sigh until I feel pain in my lungs. “I guess I’m gonna have to come to terms with that. Lies can only hold for so long, even when you’re trying to believe them.”

There’s a mournful hum from a spinning fan above us. Curtains dance half-heartedly to its tune. Scootaloo squeezes my shoulder and whispers in my ear. “Sweetie, how do you know that all demons go to hell?”

“It’s common knowledge. Every demon I’ve ever met, friend and foe alike, all knew that there’s no such thing as a redeemed demon. Never once in the history of creation has a demon died and not gone to hell.”

Scootaloo’s breath burns my neck, the tip of her mane brushes my cheek as she shakes her head. “I just can’t believe that. If you’re good you go to heaven, if you’re bad you go to hell. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.”

“Yeah, well I guess no one thought to apply that to demons.”

She’s silent for a moment. Her hooves wrap tighter around me and she rests her head against the back of mine. My ear twitches as she whimpers against it. I look over my shoulder and see tears leaking through the tightened corners of her eyes.

“Scootaloo.”

“It’s not right. You should be able to go heaven just like anyone else,” she sobs. “Sweetie, if you can’t go to heaven then I don’t want to go there either.”

I swerve around, nearly tearing the sheets in half, and stand over her with inflamed eyes. “Scootaloo, don’t you ever say something like that again! I would sacrifice everything I have a thousand times over to have a chance of salvation, and if you throw yours away I will never forgive you!”

Her tear stained face reels away from my own. I see her tremble and shrivel up beneath me and instantly reign in my anger. “Don’t burden yourself with a curse you weren’t born with Scootaloo, there’s no point. The thought of what I’m going to face is hard enough to bare without knowing my best friend will suffer the same thing. If you want to make me feel better than I need you to do two things.”

“What? Anything!” she responds.

“One, never do anything that’ll jeopardize your way into heaven. I couldn’t bear that.”

“And the second?”

I clench my eyes shut, and lower my head to her chest. “Keep being my friend; as long as you still live, keep being my friend.”

I degrade into sobbing again. She takes my hoof in hers and squeezes it tight. “I promise you, no matter what happens I’ll always be your friend. Even if we have heaven and hell to separate us I will always be your friend.”

It’s like an arrow was pushed in and pulled out of my chest at the same time. I hold her close and pray that all time would stop here. This is all I have now. No, all I ever had. Friends who pass away, lies that provided fragile comfort, and a life that inches ever closer to the precipice of damnation. Everything around me will burn to ash in the flames of time and I will stand as a rock in the center; being scorched but never destroyed. I can only drink myself away on this life, so I can forget about the next.

Scootaloo strokes my back softly, sending a warm feeling down my spine. I sniff in my snotty nose and rub my face against her fur. I can feel her heart beat against my cheek. We lay like this for a moment, then I push myself up onto my hooves and stare down into her eyes. She barely blinks, and her mouth is slightly open like she’s wondering what to say. I press my lips to hers.

She goes stiff as sandpaper and her eyes fly open in shock. My hooves shake, my tongue circles the border of her mouth, and there’s a stormy ocean in my stomach. The kiss lasts for several moments and the whole time I have but one thought screaming in my brain: What the fuck am I doing?!

My lips peel away from hers like a scab. I clutch my trembling hooves to my chest, roll off the side of the bed, and hit the floor like a trampled half-dead rodent. It’s like my skin is made of ants, I want to tear it from my body.

Scootaloo pokes her head over the edge. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

I meet her worried gaze in shame. “I need to be alone.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, I just need to go.” I run for the open bedroom window bleeding fresh tears and dive head first outside. I land on my hooves and start running, letting the accompanying sonic boom block out Scootaloo’s concerned cry.

I run through the night like a howling wind. I run fast enough to smear the tears across my face and tear up the road beneath my hooves. I can’t run fast enough to escape my guilt.

Is this what I’ve become; so empty and desperate that I’d actually hurt the only friend I have left for a little titillation? What the hell is wrong with me?

I stop several miles outside of ponyville, surrounded by dark forests on the road to Fillydelphia. I kneel in the loose dirt and gravel and sob loudly like a cub separated from its mother.

I’m tempted to leave, maybe I should leave after what I almost did. Scootaloo is the only close friend I have left now, the last shard of truth in my house of lies. If I myself am becoming dangerous to her then maybe it's best that I leave and preserve whatever good she still thinks of me.

I contemplate it for several minutes. Rain clouds roll in during the time I think. I’m soon coated in a layer of sleet. Strands of my mane wilt and blow across my face, scooping up tears to mix with the rain water. My sensitive ears pick slushing moist hoofsteps and an all too familiar chuckle. I clench my teeth as I turn to meet Alda’s smug grin.

“Wonderful night, isn’t it?” She holds out her hoof to catch the rain. “I’ve always loved this kind of weather. It takes me back to my days as a filly when I’d fly through the air and chase others with those rain clouds.”

I say nothing. I stare death at her through the freezing rain and say nothing.

“What? No sarcastic quip, no grotesque threat of violence, not even a simple hello? Come now, Sweetie, I thought you were more civilized than that.”

I blink for the first time since seeing her and say with a prick in my gut, “Hello, dead mare.”

“So much better. Now to begin I’d first like to apologize to you.”

“For what you did last night?”

“For misunderstanding your situation,” she says. “I bumped into you outside of town and just assumed you’d join my master with a skip in your step. Never once did I consider what it was like to live in hiding of the Order, at least not like how you were. I can keep myself safe pretty simply, so long as I’m not seen in the presence of demonic creatures or leave anything incriminating out in the open, but you had to work much harder at it. Suppressing your power, keeping your hunger in check. You even went as far as to isolate yourself from other demons. I have to admire the sheer effort you went through to keep yourself hidden.”

The bullshit couldn’t be any more blatant if it came packaged as fertilizer. “I’m flattered, truly.”

“I know you might still feel uncomfortable being so openly opposed to the Order, but you don’t have to be, not anymore. Asmodeus recently made a rather devastating blow to them, and now just needs a little extra leverage to finish them off.”

I don’t respond, only stare at her.

“Right, well I’ll just skip to the point. You know that young dragon boy who lives in the library? I want to blackmail him, and I need you to help me with the scheme.”

I still don’t say anything.

Alda rolls her eyes and groans. “Look, it’ll be very simple. Just use your hypnosis to trick him into sleeping with you. Once he wakes up, act in a way that’ll make him think he raped you. Then I’ll come in and take the situation from there. You barely have to do any work and there’s little to no risk involv-”

“You remember I promised to kill you?” I interrupt. “Right after Apple Bloom’s ritual? I made it very clear that I’d kill you the next time we met.”

Alda looks at me like I’m an alien from another planet. It takes her a good few seconds of observation before she’s sure that I’m serious, and then she gets cocky. “Sweetie please, you know I still have my shadow demons nearby. Even if you do somehow manage to get by them and hurt me, they’ll just run off immediately and set fire to that little town of yours. Now can we focus on the matter hoof? I’m offering you a blank check as far as rewards go. Just fuck the boy, cry a bit afterward, then I’ll give you anything you want."

I stare at her in silence for another moment, then I close my eyes. I stay still, breath deep, and empty my thoughts. I don’t think of killing her for a few seconds, I don’t think Apple Bloom for a few seconds. I don’t think of Ponyville, the Order, Scootaloo, the freezing rain, or even the sheer utter insanity of what I’m about to do. Then behind the screen of my closed eyes I receive a vision. I see Alda, standing in front of me all smug and superior looking, along with thirteen black gelatinous creatures with many variations of claws, teeth, eyes, tentacles, and other such lovely extremities. My clairvoyance allows me to see her demons, where they are, what they look like, what they’re doing, and how to fight them.

A faint smile curves the corner of my lip. I open my eyes and charge straight at Alda. I’m a few feet away from her, then I duck my head and jab my front hoof up. My hoof connects, there’s a wonderful squelch, and a gush of warm blood down my arms. The demon screeches in pain. I move while they’re all still in shock, and dive towards Alda. My jaws clamp down on the bone of her wing. There’s a crunch in my teeth like I just bit through an unlicked lollipop.

Alda screams like a mare in labor, her agony echoes through the night sky. I yank my head back, ripping flesh and feathers away from the body, and drag her severed wing a safe distance away.

Alda falls to the ground screaming. She writhes like an ant under the lense of a sadistic foal. She rolls on her side, her voice in a wreck, and carefully lifts a shaking hoof to the stump of her wing. She flinches in pain at its touch and screams once more. She looks at me with tears in her eyes, just in time to see me scarf down the last remainder of her wing.

I spit up one bloody feather and use the stem to pick my teeth. “So this thing where you want to blackmail Spike. What exactly do you intend to get out of it?”

“How? How did you do that? There’s no possible way-”

“Oh, I had something to deal with your demons from the moment we met. I just never got a chance to use it until now.” That, and because using clairvoyance in combat is really fucking risky. I knew there was no way her demons would be able to hide from that ability; they may be invisible but they can’t change the fabric of reality. However, using clairvoyance requires a little time and a lot of concentration, the two things that mean the difference between life and death.

“Back on topic,” I say. “Could you elaborate on what you plan to do when you blackmail Spike? While you’re at it why don’t you just spill everything you’ve been sent here to do. That’s literally the only thing keeping you alive.”

I think for a moment. “Well, maybe not keeping you alive per say, more like stopping me from nailing you to a burning slab of iron and peeling your skin off with a rusty shaving razor over the course of several hours. If you’re cooperative then I might just settle for gouging your eyes out and forcing you to perform cunnilingus on me before I snap your pretty little head off.”

Fear surfaces above her hate filled eyes. She clamps her teeth together and she snarls, “Don’t be stupid. I can still have my demons attack this town and lead the Order straight to you. You make one more move against me and you’re dea-”

I leap forward and slice off the head of another demon. Blood sprays across Alda’s face. She shrieks and backs away from me.

“I am far past the point of caring anymore Alda. I don’t give a fuck if I’m running from the Order for the rest of my life. There’s only two things I want: you in as much pain and agony that is within my capability of giving, and Asmodeus back in hell. Help me complete the later of those two, and we can negotiate the former.”

Her weak attempt to maintain composure falls flat. She is trembling. She takes her panicking eyes off me and looks around her, “What are you idiots doing? Kill her! Kill her now!”

Here we go. I jump back as far away from her as I can, then clear my mind and do my best to focus. It takes a second but I eventually see visions of the demons. Alda wasn’t exaggerating about their shapeshifting abilities. There’s a little less than a dozen charging at me, all black shadowy skin with furious red eyes, but no two have the same form. One has six sets of claws that reach out toward me, another slithers along the ground like some hybrid of snake and lightning, and another falls from the sky as nothing but a fleshy ball of jaws and teeth. They’re all closing in on me, and I don’t have enough time to attack.

I jump from the road and up into the trees. I’m gonna have to put more distance between me and them to make this work. I climb high and far until I’m just a few feet below the canopy of leaves. I close my eyes and empty my thoughts. Rain water freezes my skin and it feels like I’m breathing stone. Every second is a pinprick. Finally, I get a vision. Black shadowy skin, long slender limbs, nails like knife points, and a face like a mad hound. It’s quickly ascending the tree next to me.

Without hesitating I leap from the tree branch and shoot down like a diving pegasus. Raindrops form a cone around my face and wind shrieks in my ear. I point my head towards the neighboring tree, scream out, and thrust my hoof forward. The feeling of my elbow inside someone else’s chest cavity has never felt so glorious. Blood splashes across my body and I laugh victoriously. This could fucking work!

I land on the ground and speed off through the trees. The earth shakes seconds after I move. I look behind me and see crater where the spot I landed once was, and big stone shattering hoof steps coming towards me. Taking this as a sign that says ‘don’t get cocky’, I speed up and put a massive distance between me and the demon. I rest with my back against the trunk of a tree and immediately clear my mind. I only need to wait a few seconds before a vision comes to me.

“You just made a huge mistake, I hope you know that!” Alda shouts.

God dammit, she’s gonna ruin my concentration! I snarl in frustration and run while I have the chance. The tree behind me explodes into splinters seconds after I take off.

“You could’ve been on good terms with Asmodeus. You would’ve had anything you wanted! Now you’ll die like an unwanted child!”

“Oh, what does it matter,” I yell as I run. “It feels like no matter what I do I’ll end up getting fucked by someone. If it’s not you then it’s the Order, if it’s not the Order then it’s Asmodeus. If all else fails God himself will come down and fuck me. It’s just the way the universe works!”

I leap high and cling to the side of a fat oak. I shut my eyes and swallow my anger like a block of lead. I force out all thoughts long enough to see a vision. Two demons, one with wings, the other leaping between trees like a frog between lily pads. I rocket off the tree, punch through the face of the winged demon, but get tackled by the leaping one. I feel teeth rip into my shoulder and claws tear across my stomach. I scream through clamped teeth and punch at the spot over my shoulder. Blood spurts from a cracked skull, the demon releases me, I spin around and slice its chest in half. I land on the forest floor, and limp away as fast as I can with my still healing wounds.

“Asmodeus would have shielded you, would have given you protection. If you had just taken his offer you could’ve destroyed everyone who attempted to harm you, not even the forces of heaven could stop us.”

I try to concentrate and see the demons again, but end up laughing instead. “You actually believe that?”

Something rams me in the chest. I’m flung back several feet and slam into the trunk of a tree, which I remain splattered against as it topples to the ground.

“If the gates of Hell itself couldn’t stop Asmodeus than what makes you think anything in this world can? The guardians of Hell were all destroyed by Asmodeus’s power, the guardians placed there by God himself to keep you demons in.”

I push myself up when another demon crashes down on my stomach. I spit up blood. Two boney hands slam into both sides of my head and try to rip it off. I stab my hooves through both unseen hands, but as soon as they’re off something wraps around my neck and strangles me. Spears are driven through the bottoms of my hooves, a knife into my abdomen, and the flesh around my ribs is slowly peeled away from the bone. I’m in too much pain to scream.

“To think you thought you could stand against that power when you can’t even stand against me. I almost regret having to kill you here tonight. I want to see the look on your face when Asmodeus burns this pathetic world to the ground and then marches his army to the gates of Heaven itself.”

I feel the flesh being stripped off my back. I can’t even feel the pain anymore, my vision darkens, and my legs are getting weak. I bite my lip and summon up every last bit of demonic energy I can. Fire envelops my body. Demons shriek but their grip still holds. My wounds scream through my exhausted body. I can’t keep going for much long, but I don’t stop. I keep gathering up more demonic energy, storing it in my chest like steam in a pipe. Then I release it all at once in a devastating explosion.

Everything around me is blown away. Trees are uprooted, rocks shatter to pieces, and demons screech as they sail through the air. I stand alone in the crater, panting like I just pushed a whale off my chest. Tears trail down my cheek. No, I don’t have time to be crying. I’m still trembling, but it looks like there was no damage done that can’t be quickly healed. I look through the settling dust to Alda sitting stunned and immobile on the ground several yards away.

My eyes flare. “You know, for someone who says to never trust demons you sure do trust them.”

I take a moment to use clairvoyance again. Two demons were killed in the blast. Six survivors scrape off their wounds and start charging again.

“I don’t know what Asmodeus hopes to accomplish with this little invasion of his, but he sure as hell isn’t trying to reignite the war with Heaven!”

I slam my hooves into the ground, cracking the earth and causing a tremor. Most of the demons are knocked off balance. I run forward, clasp my hooves over my head, and dive straight through the chest of one of the eight armed monstrosities. I pop out the other side, blood streaming all over my face, and then continue running before the rest have a chance to do anything.

“That whole ordeal is universally recognized as the single stupidest thing my race has ever done. Honestly, how can you fight an enemy that knows every move you will ever make and can successfully counter every problem He has by sticking it between His ass cheeks and clenching? We didn’t wage war, we tried to headbutt a hurricane!”

I jump over a fallen oak and buck it with my hind legs. It goes flying behind me and breaks in half against an invisible demon’s face. It’s not harmed, but slowed down enough so I can use clairvoyance. Several pairs of teeth stretch towards me on elongated shadowy necks, all protruding from a single black blob of slippery flesh. I charge through an opening in the middle of the horde of teeth and bury my hoof deep into the body. There’s a brief howl before I rip out an organ and the demon goes limp. I jump a fair distance to safety and keep running.

“If Asmodeus really was trying to restart that catastrophe then no demon in the world of the living or the damned would support him. Hell, there’d be demons rising up against him. If that’s what Asmodeus has been telling you then I’m sorry to say that you’ve been fed more bullshit than a minotaur with a scat fetish.”

“You’re the one spouting bullshit!” Alda screams. “You demons threw yourselves into the fires of hell just to fight God, and you haven’t stopped fighting Him since. Countless centuries after the battle of Armageddon and you still torment His creations, make their lives miserable, and try to steer them away from their precious God. You demons will keep fighting heaven any way you can, consequences be damned.”

“You think we’re fighting,” I yell back at her. “We thought we were fighting once, that lasted about the same time it took to be struck down from paradise. Ever since then our history has been one long slog of looking for a reason to exist without hope. That is what we are Alda, a species that is damned from the outset. The only choice we have is whether to accept it and find someway to cope, or to grasp at air for some delusional way to change it.”

I see another demon through clairvoyance. Seven mad eyes with a mouth wider than an alligator’s come towards me, gliding on two massive wings that shake the trees as they flap. I springboard off a branch and ricochet off the trunk of a tree to tackle the demon in mid-air and stab my hoof through its jaw. It wriggles and snarls as we crash to the ground, but I keep stabbing it until the mess of blood and bone stops moving. I continue to run.

“Oh, and I also love how you equate harming creation to harming God. Do you think He’s any less powerful when mortals drop into hell? Does fighting Him become any less impossible when we ruin their lives or butcher their children? Even if He does supposedly care about you, He loses nothing regardless of how much you suffer. Don’t you get it? There’s no way to harm Him!”

I run behind another tree and use clairvoyance. I see more fearsome black shapes with teeth and claws, except none of them are coming towards me. None of them are even near me. I open my eyes and peek around the bend of the trunk. My chest is clenched up like a fist. I half expect to get my face gnawed off any second.

“He really screwed you over, hasn’t He?”

Alda’s voice is soft but shaky. I walk through the line of trees until I have her in my line of sight. I use clairvoyance again. There’s only three demons left now, but they all stick by her side. What’s going on? “Doesn’t that mean you have nothing to lose by fighting Him? Your situation can’t possibly get any worse.”

“I can lose my life, and then face hell early.”

“So could I, but here I am fighting a battle you’re too chickenshit to fight yourself. You see I actually sympathize with you concerning God and your inevitable damnation, truly I do. Unlike you, however, I’m willing to fight the God who unjustly damns you to Hell, even if it means risking damnation myself.”

“Are you insane? You can’t win! You know you can’t win!”

“Yeah, but at least I’ll burn in hell with a clear conscience.”

My body tenses up. I can’t even feel the cold rain water pelting my head. Her words. How can anyone be that stupid? How can anyone be that blind? Does she not realize the gravity of the situation she’s in? No, she just doesn’t care. She doesn’t give a damn in the slightest. I’m gonna kill her. I’m gonna kill her.

“I’m going to fucking murder you!”

I sprint forward, creating a shock wave behind me that blasts rainwater everywhere. I close the distance between me and her in seconds. I roar. She grins. Realization hits me at the last moment, by then I’ve already jump straight into the jaws of her shadow demon.

A hundred jagged teeth dig into my chest. My lungs are pierced, my ribs break, and I can’t feel anything below my waist. With the last ounce of strength, I punch upward through the roof of the demon's mouth. It must have done the trick because the demon keels over and I slump out of its jaws.

I lay still on the ground. Breathing is painful. Streams of blood pour from my chest and form a pool by my side, and a small trickle leaks out my mouth. I try to stand but my hind legs don’t respond, and there’s an ungodly pain in my back. I roll on my belly and crawl with my front hooves. Alda walks up a few inches in front of me, looking down with an arrogant smile on her face. I bare my teeth and snarl at her.

“I guess you’re gonna be damned to hell early anyway,” she says. “Tear her in half.”

I’m pulled up by my back legs and hang upside down in the air. My legs are violently yanked in opposite direction. Feeling returns to my lower body, and fucking hell I wish I didn’t. I scream at the top of my lungs and thrash about trying to break free, to punch a demon, anything to make the pain stop.

I’m ready to resign myself to death when one of the demons screeches out horribly and lets me go. The other demon loses its balance from the sudden release and we both fall to the ground. I look over and see thick clouds of steam rising from an invisible source; a source that thrashes around howling in agony and clawing at the dirt, until it slowly dies.

For a moment I stare confused, stupidly wondering if God struck down my attacker. Then I see her. Scootaloo skidding to a stop on her scooter, an empty glass vial in her hoof.

“Sweetie are you okay?”

My back has healed enough so I can stand up, though not without an immense amount of pain. I try to respond to her when I see a tree uprooted from the ground behind her, and swung at her like a club.

My heart stops. “No!”

I lunge forward, and by some miracle, my hit connects and slices through the demon’s skull, but I’m two seconds too late. The trunk slams into Scootaloo’s side and she’s flung through the woods. She ricochets off the ground several times like a stone skipping across water until she comes to a sudden halt.

Everything goes cold. I’m frozen with fear for a solid second, then I rush toward her. I slide through the dirt as I stop and kneel down before her. There’s a bone sticking out of her front left hoof and a trail of blood trickling down her forehead. There’s no movement.

“Scootaloo. Scootaloo, say something. Say something! Please tell me you’re okay!”

There’s no response. I plead several more times with my face bowed to the ground like I’m kneeling before the altar of God. My hooves shamble towards her, but they don’t come far before I feel the burning of holy water. It protects her still, even as she lays there, even as she’s unconscious, even when she’s not breathing.

I’m knocked back on my haunches and stare at her body with damp broken eyes. My head shakes unconsciously. Tears mix with raindrops as the wall in my chest burst open. My augmented hearing picks up the faint patter of hooves moving far away. I tilt my head and see Alda slowly backing away from the forest.

I look at her. I stare at her. I know hate. I know what it feels like, to desire harm and death upon another living creature. What I feel right now is so far beyond that.

Alda keeps backing away. Her mouth moves, probably in some attempt to reason or beg for her life, but I don’t hear it, not a damn word she says. I stand up and begin walking towards her. She backs up further and starts speaking faster with her hoof stretched out. I charge, cross the distance between us in a second, and punch her right on that big dumb grin of hers.

Teeth shoot from her mouth like bloody kernels and the mandible hangs by the skin. She reels back and hits the ground moaning. Her shaking hoof comes up to her mouth and she instantly recoils in pain. I watch her writhe and cry with the sternest face.

Her remaining wing is extended out in front of me, I grab it by the bone. Alda looks over her shoulder. Tears stream from her eyes. The loose flap of her jaw swings as she shakes her head. My teeth clench. I slowly tighten my grip on her wing. She fidgets, then cries, then screams, and then the bone cracks. The wing bends at an unnatural angle, to where the feather are draped over her back.

Her broken jaw makes the saliva run to the back of her throat, producing a wet scream like she’s drowning in a lake. I hold the loose part of her wing in one hoof and put my other on her side, then slowly push them apart. Alda screams louder. The skin rips first, then come the muscle fibers one by one like strands in a rope. The wing comes off with a moist tearing sound. The stump twitches and squirts blood for several moments. Alda hits her forehead against the ground and weeps.

I grab her by the hind leg and turn over onto her back. I touch the bloody end of her severed wing to her chest, and trace it down past her stomach, below her waist, and rest it on her clitoris. She looks at me, broken and terrified. She urinates on the severed limb and then slumps her head back sobbing in a gargled fit.

I hold the wing tip firmly and twist it like a screwdriver. I hate this mare. No words in the mortal or angelic language can articulate how much I hate this mare. I’ve wanted to end her since our first confrontation, yet here it is and I find myself a victim to the age-old plight of all revenge seekers. Her suffering brings me nothing, not even the satisfaction of payback.

Even if I couldn’t live peacefully in Ponyville, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo deserved to. So why did they die, and why am I still alive? Those questions boil beneath my skull until my brain burns with anger. Rage consumes me like a wildfire and I take it out on the only thing I still have control over.

I drive the bone through Alda’s cunt so hard it spears through her stomach. I ram it in and out several times puncturing a new hole with each thrust. When the bone snaps off in her ribs I jam the feathered remains down her throat. When it won’t go in any farther I beat my hooves against her face until her skull shatters into a thousand tiny shards. I keep hitting her long after that. I keep punching until her flesh has dissolved into a red smear, her bones have been broken up into dust, and all that’s left is a slippery saturated patch of dirt which I pound on like a wailing infant. After a while, my arm gets tired.

I pant out several more furious grunts and hit my head against the ground. Tears break through my steely eyes, my barred teeth burst open like a dam and my sobbing floods the air. I cry with my face in the moist red dirt, wishing for the sun to implode and the universe to end.

Why did it have to end like this? Why couldn’t I have died there with my legs ripped apart, and she have been allowed to live? If I were under any illusion that death would end my pain I’d slit my throat and watch the life drain out of me. But I won’t. What I want is complete oblivion, and death will not grant me that.

I curl up in a ball like a cowering insect and sob loudly. I hold the cold red dirt to my chest like a blanket to wrap around myself and pray that I’m washed away in the fury of the rain.

My body goes numb, all I can feel is anguish. I can’t even hear the rain or feel it against my skin. Nothing but cold crushing despair.

“Sweetie…”

The voice is shakey, quiet, and wheezing, but I recognize it as Scootaloo’s. I roll over slowly and wipe tears from my blurry vision. She’s awake, dragging herself through the dirt with one hoof, pulling herself slowly towards me.

For a moment I don’t even believe it. I write it off as some grief-induced hallucination or another spirit rising from hell and possessing her body. The more I look however the more my skepticism fades. She stops, heaves another wheezing gasp and calls my name again, “Sweetie Belle... ”

My disbelief shatters. She’s still alive.

“Scootaloo!”

My body shakes and prickles as I stand. I’m so drained I can only limp at first, but as blood returns to my dead limbs and elation sings in my soul I begin to run. Tears roll down my cheeks and emotion overwhelms my heart. I almost dive for her, but control myself before I tackle a wounded foal. I slide along the ground throwing my face down in front of her. “Scootaloo, seven names of Satan, Scootaloo! I thought you were dead, I thought I had lost you!”

She manages a weak smile, one with blood stained lips.

I'm wiping tears of joy from my eyes, barely keeping it together. “Hold on, just hold on. I’m gonna get you back to Ponyville. You’re gonna be okay.”

I stand up and take her undamaged hoof in my own, and get a searing burn and a sick feeling in my stomach. Scootaloo apologizes and rubs off the holy water, and then I can help her. I sling her good hoof over my shoulder and hoist her onto my back. I blast off towards Ponyville at supersonic speeds.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,” Scootaloo says with every step.

I slow down to a regular sprint and the pain becomes slightly more bearable. We walk through the rain, she breaths heavily against my neck, then she moans out, “Is… is she dead?”

My face beams with pride. “Yeah, I killed her.”

“Thank Celestia,” she says as though she pushed a humpback whale off her face.

We walk a short distance and then she asks, “How did you do it? I thought you said there was no way without getting a knock on your door by the Order.”

“That’s what I thought too. But as Alda kept operating in Ponyville I discovered something about her I didn’t see at first.”

“And that is?”

“She was a coward.”

Scootaloo doesn’t speak for a moment. “The demon worshipping, homicidal, psychopath was a coward. If you say so, Sweetie Belle.”

“I know it’s far-fetched but it’s true. She pretended to be all calm and cool no matter the situation, but deep down she would’ve murdered her own mother to save her own life. It’s why she surrounded herself with so many powerful demons in the first place.”

“How did you find that out about her?”

“I tasted her blood,” I respond. “During that ritual last night Alda cut herself with a knife and gave it to Apple Bloom. I only managed to get a small taste, but it was enough to taste the sins in her blood. I tasted all the sin she had committed throughout her life; the violence, the lies, the betrayal, and most importantly her cowardice.”

“You can do that?”

“If I concentrate I can. Hell, just a few days ago me and a friend had a lavish party in which I tasted all kinds of sin.”

I breathe in a content sigh at the memory. My stomach dances with a lustful spark. I’m quick to shake the thoughts out of my head and return to the present. “Once I found out about her cowardice everything became simple. All I had to do was wait until the right moment, and then bluff. I made her think that even if she did follow through on her threat I’d still kill her, at which point she put all of her resources into protecting herself. Easy as that.”

There’s a subtle chuckle above my shoulder. “And here I thought you were gonna use some doomsday ritual or summon something out of hell.”

“Nah, the demons themselves I could’ve dealt with from the beginning.”

“They still gave you a lot of trouble, though, during the fight.”

“Admittedly I didn’t go in as prepared as I wanted to be, but it still worked out fine, in the end, thanks to you. Why did you come find me anyway?”

“My best friend goes running out of Ponyville in tears after tonguing me, again, and you think I’m not going to be worried?”

My eyes slam shut and I wince in pain at the reminder. “Yeeeaaah, Scootaloo, about that...”

“Forget about it,” she says. “I’d rather pretend that never happened, and judging from the way you acted I can tell you certainly do as well.”

She leans her head over so she can look me in the eye. “We can still be friends if you want.”

I laugh uncomfortably along with her. She laughs until she starts coughing violently, whipping blood from her head. Things go silent for a moment as we walk in the rain. Scootaloo lays like a rag doll on top of me for the most part, but she occasionally looks over at my face, like she wants to ask something. Eventually she does.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, I know you’re doing a lot to protect Ponyville and keep everyone safe and all, but now that I know about… you going to Hell, I’ve started to wonder. Is it a good idea for you to keep risking your life when you know what’ll happen if you lose it?”

I stop walking without realizing it. We stand drenched in the rain for a few seconds before I can respond. “This life is all I have Scootaloo. I’ve been trying to be as cautious as I can for the most part, but it’s gotten difficult recently.”

“Yeah, but if things are getting more dangerous wouldn’t it make sense to just run. Doesn’t it make sense to go find someplace safe to bog down in until this all blows over?”

“And leave you and all of Ponyville at the mercy of Asmodeus?”

Scootaloo’s head bends down low, and her words come almost as a mumble. “I’ll be honest, I’d rather me and the rest of Ponyville die than you spend eternity in Hell.”

I stare blankly, not sure whether to be touched or concerned. I look away from her and stare ahead. “It is tempting, and it would be a hell of a lot easier, but no. I’m going to stay and protect Ponyville. You mean too much to me.”

“But, but why? Sweetie… hell, damnation, on and on, forever and ever. Why would you risk that, even for me?”

I stare blinking ahead of me. My legs feel as though they’re rooted to the ground like tree trunks. I labor to lift one of these firmly planted limbs up to Scootaloo’s hoof, wrapped around my neck for support. I feel her weight against my back. I feel her breath. I feel the body that just a short while ago I lusted after and almost violated beyond repair. It feels heavier as dwell on that thought until it weighs six hundred pounds.

I clench my eyes and lower my head in shame. Then I lift my head up to the sky, letting a volley of raindrops assault my face. The sky is so dark, blotted out by a million angry storm clouds, swarming and marching above the world. Off in the distance, I can hear thunder, long before the shockwave rattles through our bones.

I think back to Scootaloo’s question and then mumble, “Because I’m still childish.”

“Wha… what does that mean?”

I look over my shoulder and see her heavy brow, her sunken face, and her glazed eyes. I turn back to the road, just now realizing we’ve stopped. “Never mind, we still need to get you to the hospital.”

I start off at a brisk pace again. Scootaloo tries to restart the conversation but I deflect every question with some anxious worry or determined remark. After many failed attempts she drops the matter and just hangs loosely on my back, huffing and wheezing gently. Ponyville is almost in sight, but before I even see it I can tell something is wrong.

Off in the distance, I hear voices, people yelling and screaming in a frantic fearful manner. I can feel constant vibrations in the ground, a million ponies rushing all over the place. The most worrying sign, however, is the increasingly sharp scent of smoke.

When the town comes into view the first thing we see is a massive column of smoke and ash rising into the sky, emanating from an incandescent orange.

Scootaloo’s heart races against my back. “What happened? What the hell happened? Sweetie please tell me this is a coincidence.”

It’s wishful hope on Scootaloo’s part, but inevitably in vain. I can sense it, even all the way out here. Demonic energy radiates from the town. But how? I killed all of Alda’s demons, I made sure of it. She called up every demon she had in order to defend herself, there was nothing more, nothing I could’ve mi…

My eyes shoot open like arrow wounds. My glass heart shatters at the realization. “Alda didn’t bring her snake with her.”

That fucking serpent. The one she hauled around in that tiny cage wherever she went. The one I knew was demonic.

My chest tightens up like a rubber band, and my teeth clamp together like a nutcracker. “Scootaloo, hold tight, we’re going in fast.”

I rush off at mach two speeds, praying all the way that I can somehow salvage the situation. Deep down, however, I know the damage has already been done. There’s no way the Order won’t notice this.

Chapter 13: ...Crushed Head

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The pungent scent of smoke burns my nostrils, a layer of ash coats my face. I choke on the stale air as I run through the center of Ponyville. The town hall has been burnt to the ground and the surrounding buildings are in the process of joining it. Ponies scramble out of burning buildings, lugging crying foals, expensive jewelry, and their own hides. Pegasi frantically drag rain clouds over the fires. Paramedics rush among the gore laden streets, searching among burned bodies, desperately trying to resuscitate the few living souls they find.

I weave my way through the chaos, dodging hysterical ponies and stepping through blood saturated roads, all while holding Scootaloo steady on my back. I need to get her to the hospital before I do anything; though it appears I’m not the only one with that priority. There’s a stampede of limping mares, seared stallions, and healthy ponies carrying less able neighbors. The front door of the hospital is surrounded by a small crowd of wounded, and I need to fight my way in.

The hospital lobby is in even more chaos than the town square. Doctors and nurses work as fast as they can to process the incoming flood of patients. Fleets of gurneys are brought in to sail wounded ponies off to operating rooms, those who can stand help carry more in by hoof, but there’s still not enough. Patients continue to pour in, some about to keel over from blood loss, some hurt but keeping strong. Some cling tight to loved ones, some hold themselves alone.

There’s a great shriek from the entrance, louder even than the crying and moaning of the others. All heads turn to three earth ponies struggling to bring in one larger earth pony who’s kicking and bucking like a mad bull while screaming at the top of his lungs. It takes me a few seconds before a realize that shrieking pony is Big Mac.

Two more strong stallions come to help restrain him, and still, they struggle. He screams and punches one in the face. He drags the whole lot closer to the door, flailing his forehooves wildly like he’s trying to escape a ravenous animal.

One of the doctors comes in and gapes at the scene. “Get me a sedative! Get me a sedative damnit!”

There’s a jump from a nearby nurse who dashes off into the hallway and zips back a second later with an inch tall glass bottle and a syringe. The doctor wastes no time in preparing the needle and then cautiously moving in to try and get an opening. He eventually finds it and sticks the needle in his thigh.

Big Mac keeps resisting for a few moments, then slowly his strength begins to fade and his movements die down. He slumps to the floor, his hooves and body shaking. He keeps screaming, but soon those too fade to soft moans. What doesn’t change is his expression. Even with the sedatives coursing through his veins his face remains locked in bewildered horror. His cheeks are gravestone pale and his eyes bulge forward as if they were being ejected from his skull. It’s not the look of someone who merely saw the dead outside, no, he saw something far worse than death.

Once he stops moving the stallions that brought him in relax. One sits back on the floor right there and breathes a heavy sigh. The doctor gives him a worried look. “What the hell happened to him?”

The stallion shakes his head. “I don’t know. He was charging through the streets when we saw him, literally shoving mothers out of the way as he ran. We tried to calm him down, but he was completely incoherent. He just kept screaming, and screaming, and screaming. Couldn’t get a word out of him.”

The stallion runs a hoof through his mane. He freezes up, pulls his hoof off his head, and finds it covered in blood. “Is that mine?”

The doctor looks at him. “No, it’s not.”

The stallion stares at it for a second. “Ugh, I’m getting a goddamn drink.”

“The whole town’s on fire.”

“Don’t care, I’m getting a goddamn drink.”

The stallion picks himself up and leaves. The doctor only shakes his head, then looks down at Big Mac. “Nurse, bring this guy into a room and tie him up. Make sure whatever you use is thick as well.”

He turns to head back into the operating rooms. I take the chance to approach him. “Doctor, my friend is hurt! She needs help!”

“Set her down with the others and we’ll get to her.”

“There’s a bone sticking out of her hoof and she’s bleeding from the head! She needs your help now!”

He looks down and scowls at me. “Everyone needs help now! Everyone’s dying now, and they’re all looking at me like I’m the new princesses. Set her down over there! We’ll do our best!”

Scootaloo paws at my chest. “Hey, it’s okay Sweetie. I’ve lasted this long I can last a little longer. Leave me here and go do your thing. I’ll get help eventually.”

No, you’ll sit here and bleed to death because you didn’t get help in time. I grab the doctor’s sleeve just as he’s about to leave. This time he looks at me with a flash of lightning in his eye. I look straight back with red glowing irises. “Doctor, you are not going to let my friend die. No matter what circumstances you are going to ensure she lives through this. Do you understand?”

His anger fades into blank acceptance. He nods his head and quietly says, “yes.”

“Good. I’ll be back Scootaloo.”

“W-wait, Sweetie, did you just…”

I set her down gently and the doctor immediately goes to work helping her.

“Stay here and do what the doctors tell you. I’ll be back soon.”

I give her a reassuring smile then fly out the door. I follow the sharp pang in my head which becomes a pulsing heartbeat as I draw closer to the demonic energy. Smoke and screams become more common the closer I get. I start to notice a trail of carnage which I seem to be following. Houses are ripped into slithers of wood, pipe, broken glass, and the odd body part sticking out of the rubble. Fires climb up the trunks of trees and across rooftops. Gore is splattered across the main path, severed limbs with the imprints of teeth in the flesh, bodies that have been sliced in half at the waist with intestines spilling out on the ground. The few survivors left are traumatized, shambling about like walking corpses or screaming hysterically as they run for their lives.

I stop upon seeing a survivor no older than five. She’s a yellow unicorn tearfully trying to pull her hind legs out from under a collapsed chimney. She sees me staring. “Help! Help! Help Me! Please!”

I pause for a moment. Every second means more lives lost, but I’m too pained with sympathy to ignore this. I run over to the trapped foal and lift up the heavy portions of brick and mortar burying her.

“I’ll get you out of here. Don’t worry.”

“It hurts,” she cries in a cracking voice. “It hur-ur-urts.”

I swallow the prick in my throat and throw the last hunk of brick off. Her legs have been literally smashed flat. The flesh along her thighs popped open under such weight and blood is splattered about like a paintball. I try to pick her up, her legs stick to the ground and she screams. I hesitate for a second, then swallow my breath.

“I’m sorry.”

I pull her back fast and rip her legs from the ground. She screams and cries horribly and flails to get away from my grip. I carry her carefully away and lay her down gently, trying not to cause further damage.

Now I need to find someone to help her, quickly.

“Mommy!” She screams.

Her pained face gains shades of hope as a gaunt blue unicorn approaches us. She nearly leaps up from the ground, but I hold her firm lest she does further damage to her legs.

“Is that your mom coming toward us?”

“Yes, it is! Mommy, mommy, I want to go home, mommy!”

The mare walks slowly as if she were uprooting her hooves with every step. I tell the wounded filly not to move, then walk towards the mother. “Ma’am you need to get your daughter to the hospital. I’d try to help, but I need to go some…”

She walks past me staring straight at her daughter. The filly looks up at her mother through tearful grimacing red eyes. She pulls herself with her good hooves, dragging her body through the ash stained dirt. The gaunt mare stops a hair’s length away from her. The foal wraps her arms around her mother’s leg and weeps loudly against her shin.

“Please take me home mommy,” she sobs. “Please take me home.”

The mare looks down at her. The mystic chime of magic flares up and a soft aura of light surrounds the filly. She’s lifted up into the air until she’s at face level with her mom. She sniffles and grimaces then reaches out her arms for an embrace. The mother lifts her hoof up; in it is a jagged piece of glass which she slides across her daughter’s throat, cutting deep through the entire length of her neck.

“Holy shit!” I scream.

The filly’s hooves shoot up to her neck. She croaks, and sputters, and wriggles in the air. The mother releases her telekinetic grip and drops her to the ground. Her body jerks upon landing with blood gushing out of her severed artery. Her head twitches. Her desperate attempts to breathe produce only wet gurgling noises. She reaches up for her mother, her eyes drowning in pools of fear. Her hooves paw against her knees once, twice, a weak third time, and then her waning strength fails. Her eyes remain open, but unmoving. The only signs of life are the rivulets of blood gushing up from her still beating heart, and then there’s not even that.

My heart descends from its steam engine pace. I take in several heavy gasps; I didn’t know I was holding my breath. Before I’m even recovered I march up to the mother, my flat teeth turning to jagged sets of daggers. I look up at her face ready to tear it off. Her expression stops me.

She has the face of a specter. She looks more dead than the daughter she just murdered. Her cheeks are white, like every cell of blood was drained from her face. Her eyes are discolored, her irises a sickly pale yellow. Her mane is tinged with grey at the base, making her look twenty years older than she is. It’s the face of the indescribable, a mortal who has seen something her mind was not equipped to see. Horrors only conceivable to those doomed to experience them.

She never takes her eyes off her daughter, even after the blood stops coming. She keeps staring at her corpse as she raises the bloody shard of glass to her own throat, and pushes it in till the tip scrapes against her spine and pokes out the back of her neck.

She chokes, but beyond that there is no reaction. She doesn’t flinch, she doesn’t move, she doesn’t give any sign of pain. She just stands there with the glass in her throat, and blood spraying out her neck. She stands there for thirty seconds, then her head starts spinning, and her legs get weak. She buckles under her own weight and collapses face down on top of her daughter.

For several moments I sit stunned. I stare at the bodies in disbelief, stare at the once breathing living mares, stare at the blood still gushing out of the mother’s throat. Then as I’m staring at them a vehement anger sinks into my chest. It builds up slowly, slowly, until my teeth hurt from biting so hard.

I whip my head around and glare in the direction of the demonic energy. I race through the rest of town holding back a scream as I get closer to the source. When I hit the end of the trail, and arrive outside of Twilight’s library, I release that scream. I cry with rage and nearly blow the door off as I charge in.

The room is dimly lit by the fires outside. Shelves have been toppled over, books are scattered everywhere. The wooden bust that made up the centerpiece of the room has been thrown against the wall, cracked to slithers with a light coating of blood dripping from the pieces. It takes me a moment to figure out whose blood it is. Then I see it.

Opel lays limp by the side of the shattered bust. Her head is caved in, the skin of her forehead pressed like a soft grape. Streams of blood seep into the floor boards around her, and a trail of tiny red paw marks follow behind her.

I stare in shock. I never liked that cat as much as my sister did, but, still...

There’s a loud bang upstairs, followed by a scuffle and a whine. I scramble out of my haze and sprint up the steps. I throw open the door to Twilight’s room. To my utter horror I see what became of the other pets. Their bodies lay strewn about the room in pieces. Blood taints every crevice and every floorboard. Tank’s shell lays in the middle of the room, split in half down the middle with gore and crushed limbs poking out from the inside. There’s a shredded pile of feathers and flesh which I can only assume is Owlowiscious. Angel is nailed to the wall by a long sharp splinter with his guts wrapped around the outside. I can’t find all of gummy, but I continually step on bloody green scales spread all over the place. There’s no sign of that snake. Then I hear movement in the loft. There’s a figure with scaly skin. It’s bent over, facing the ground and making strange noises. At first I think it’s Alda’s serpent, then I realize. “Spike?”

He goes completely still. He stands to his feet. Winona hangs half devoured in his jaws.

I gasp and step back upon seeing it. Everything from the chest down has been eaten save for a chewed intestine swaying from the rib cage. One of the front legs is missing and the flesh around the right side of her face has been peeled off. Spike is completely drenched in blood, and he looks at me with crazed vicious red eyes. He bites into Winona’s throat, blood squirting out between his teeth. Her neck cracks. Spike grabs her by the snout and pulls. The flesh rips open and I can see the individual fibers in her neck break one by one until her head comes clean off. He tosses the severed head to the floor, it lands with a wet smack at my feet. He puts the bleeding neck stump to his lips, tilts his head back, and raises the body above him. I watch in horror as he drinks for over a minute. There are audible gulps and tiny rivers of blood running down his chin.

He lowers the headless corpse and slaps his tongue along his dripping red lips. He turns his eye to me for the first time and bellows a hearty laugh. “You finally arrived. Come, come, I was just finishing some appetizers while we await the main course.”

The voice is still Spike’s but there’s a satanic echo behind it; rough, low, yet mockingly cheerful. “You… you’re Alda’s snake, aren’t you? The one she took with her everywhere?”

“That would be me. Speaking of that little cunt, I admire your enthusiasm in killing her, but I’m still a tad pissed that you did so. I really wanted to feel her wiggling around as she slowly dissolved in my digestive tract.”

“Well, don’t be too angry. You’ll still get a chance to experience just that when you see her in hell.” My horns shoot out in a flash of fire, my coat sizzles and turn coal black. My teeth sharpen into daggers, and my eyes glow blood red.

I march a few steps and glare defiantly at the demon. His humored expression is cracked by large eyes and a flat lip. “You still insist on being a pain in the arse? Even now with Order surely barreling down on your tail?”

“You’re the one who’s bringing their attention!”

“Well, we wouldn’t have had to make such a big deal out of it if you had just been more cooperative. At the damned least you coulda stayed out of our business instead of disrupting our mission, aiding our enemies, and killing one of our most loyal cultists.”

There’s a slight edge in his tone, which instantly vanishes with the next sentence. “Yet, despite all that, you’ve yet to do anything that can’t be forgiven. Right now, you no longer have a reason to resist us. So go on, eat, mutilate, smear yourself with the blood of these frail animals. Soon we’ll take to the town and fuck every mortal in alphabetical order. We shall slit their throats as we devour their children and dance around their burning homes.”

My mind breaks.

He’s… he’s fucking shitting me right now, isn’t he? There’s no way… he can’t be that… fucking, God damn, mother, Ah!

While my brain starts to mold itself back together, I try to form the most coherent and sound response I can muster. “Fuck you!”

I leap into the air and swing at his head. He ducks and maneuvers around to put distance between us. “Whoa, easy there my blood thirsty little foal. Think about what you’re doing for five seconds.”

He rips off the last leg from Winona’s corpse and scarfs it down whole, bone and all. He then tosses what’s left of the body and talks with a full mouth. “You’re alone, without help, and the Order is surely coming to secure this town even as we speak. And while I may have been the one to bring them here I also work for one of the few who could drive them out. Their presence here will only be temporary, but they’ll be gone even quicker with your help. And once they're gone you’ll be free to do what you want without ever fearing them again.”

He swallows and then licks the blood and flesh chunks off his hands. He walks towards me, slowly, with a confident smile. “Alternatively, you could keep fighting us. Cross the Rubicon and start a battle you know you can’t win. You might be able to kill me, and maybe even a few more of our soldiers, but ultimately Asmodeus will crush you without lifting a finger. Which way would you rather have it?”

He stops right in front of me and I glare into his over confident eyes. He slips his hands on my shoulders. My glare is broken as I feel his sharp fingers run down my back and his warm chest pressed against mine.

“Come now, forget this silly feud and let's create a world where you can live in the open instead of hiding in the shadows.”

His clawed thumb grazes the base of my tail, my rump receives a firm squeeze. I moan softly, allowing him a small opening to slip his other thumb in my mouth and hold my gaze in his eyes. Aka’s lustful expression shows through Spike’s eyes. I shut my own eyes. I turn my head. I take a step back. I clench my hind legs together as I hold back my strongest impulse.

His thumb moves around inside my mouth, pressing down on my tongue. I feel his breath on my lips, his other claw slips below my rump and teases the folds of my marehood. My breath quivers and I get a dumb smirk on my face. Lust leaps and howls in my stomach, and rages in my lions. I feel him push a claw inside of me. I grab both his arms, force him on his back and aggressively lock lips with him.

He chuckles victoriously then wraps his arms around my back. I straddle him as he continues groping me. I feel his stiff rigid lance rub against my entrance. Our lips pull away with a sigh and I position myself over his tip. Aka guides my hips down in a show of subtle dominance. Spike’s prick enters me.

We both moan. Aka tightens his grip. Our breaths heave for a few moments. I shiver with pleasure and smile down at him. “Aka.”

He returns the smile, puts his hand on the back of my neck, and pulls me closer. He pushes his hips upward, driving his cock deeper into me. I touch my forehead to his and breath deeply. “What the hell made you think you could pull this trick on a succubus?”

His hands go stiff. My eyes burst red and I wrap my arms around Spike’s body, holding him down. Aka thrashes about and snarls in a distorted voice. He’s strong, but I remain in control. I latch on to Aka’s spirit and funnel demonic energy into him. His snarls turns to shrieks and cursing. I keep my grip tight, even when he starts clawing my back and biting my shoulder.

I speak in a distorted demonic voice. “You have two options at this point. A, you exit this dragon’s body and fuck right the hell off out of Ponyville, or B, I continue pumping you full of demonic energy until your spirit implodes from the pressure and is sent spiraling down into the furthest reaches of hell!”

He groans in pain, trembling and shaking underneath me. He looks up at me choking back tears but then gets a confident grin. “Or maybe, you can take this kid’s scrawny scaled lizard dick, and choke yourself on his cum you stupid cunt!”

I feel his grip on my side, followed by Aka’s energy pouring inside me. The burning starts in my chest but soon spreads through my entire body, through every muscle, through every organ, until it’s burrowing through the marrow of my bones. My teeth clench together forming a dam for my scream. The moisture on my eyeballs starts to boil. My hoof instinctively weakens my grip on Aka, but I force myself to hold on and stop holding back. I snarl a distorted battle cry and fire every ounce of demonic energy I have into Aka. He screams again, but doesn’t relent.

We continue this tug of war for fifteen minutes. Windows blow out and books burst into flames because of our overflowing power. We could’ve stayed locked in this stalemate forever if I hadn’t notice Spike’s nose starting to bleed. It’s the first sign of a meltdown; if I continue any farther I’ll end up harming Spike as well as Aka.

I lower my head and clench my eyes. With a pained cry, I let go of Aka, throw myself away from him, and collapse on the floor. I collect my breath and roll onto my side while my seared flesh begins to heal. Aka is already on his feet, scowling.

“You made a bad decision today you little cunt. Now I’m gonna have to skin you, then rape you, then roast you, then eat you, then shit you out and rape you agai-”

I punch him in the face. Not hard, just strong enough to make his head turn. His expression goes blank, his arms go limp, and he slowly topples over like a mighty castle spire succumbing to age. He falls off the side of the loft and bounces slightly off the hardwood floor. He moans weakly before falling unconscious.

This serpent is pretty strong, but definitely not the brightest bulb in the horde. Demonic possession 101: While all of your powers and abilities carry over into your host body, the mortal shell you inhabit remains just as fragile and finite as ever.

I sit up rub my temples with the rims of my hooves. Okay Sweetie, you’ve got a demon possessed baby dragon who could wake up at any minute, who’s far too strong for you to exercise the easy way. Which means the only option now is ritual exorcism, but for that, you’d need-

I look over at Winona’s body, or should I say the headless stump leaking rivers of red from the loft. “Blood.”

My head turns to the room and the mess of mangled animal corpses scattered about. “Lots, and lots of blood.”

My mind holds me still and begs for some ethical dignity for once in my life. Then I look again at Spike and sense the subtle pulse of demonic energy slowly coaxing him from his slumber.

I growl in frustration. “I am too fucking horny for this shit!”

I grab Winona’s carcass, then jump from the loft to get the others and what I can find of gummy. I lay their remains in one pile. I drag Spike to the center of the room and lay him out flat. I take Tank’s body, the bloodiest of the group, and lather my hooves in his blood. I smear it all over Spike’s body. He was already stained with a little blood, but I drench every scale. I soak his chest, his face, his fins, his eye-lids, his tail, his claws, his toes, his penis, and then stick a chunk of gore up his ass.

Once he’s slavered red I take the other corpses and start scrawling sigils on the floor, starting with a large inverted pentagram around Spike. I draw rings around the pentagram, and in between the rings I hastily draw the sigil of hellfire, over and over again. I make eight of these rings, then draw a line starting from the outermost ring and extending a few feet out. I draw a small circle at the end of the line with a single large dot in the center.

With my preparations complete I sit down in front of the small circle and conjure my demonic energy. Fire rushes through my charcoal hooves. Smoke trails from my mouth and nostrils, filling the room and heating the air.

I extend my arms out and say with authority. “In nomine Domini nostri Satanas, praecipio gehennae ignibus mancipatur. Sta in planis atque aeternitatis mortalis huius saeculi. Ejice spiritum inimicum. Incendent transgrediatur anima in aeternum donec veniat gustavi gutta voluntati submittit. Sic, inquam, sic erit!”

I slam my hoof down on the circle at the climax of the chant. Demonic energy surges through the lines of blood. They glow white, like melted iron. Flames rise high from the blood lines, then spread to the outermost ring. The fire slowly jumps from circle to circle, moving inward to Spike. The smoke must have roused something in his head as it’s only now that he decides to wake up.

He moans and slides up on his knees. He rubs his hands down his face before noticing the room is on fire. Shock flashes on his face, and then he sees me through the flames.

“Sweetie Belle, do something quick! Get the fire out!”

He speaks in his normal voice. The fire has spread to the fifth circle. I smile at him. “I’m not falling for it Aka.”

“Wha-What are you talking about? Stop standing around and help me! Please!”

“Seriously, you’re just wasting your breath trying to fool me.”

Spike shakes and coughs on the smoke. The fire is at the third circle now and has left a tight space for him to move. He gets down on his knees and begs me with folded claws. “Sweetie please if I did anything to make you do this just tell me. I’m sure we can work this out.”

I tilt my head and give him a smug look. “That’s really you then? You’re the real Spike?”

“Y-Y-Yes of course! I’m Spike. I’m Twilight’s assistant, I read comic books, I’ve got a crush on your sister.”

“Not being controlled by anypony, or anything?”

“No, not that I know of. Completely in control.”

“Question. Why would a young dragon, who could literally take a bath in molten magma, be scared of a little fire?”

Spike goes silent. The fire spreads to the second ring and now laps at his heels.

“Well, any answer for that Spike? I’m waiting for an explanation, Spike.” I edge closer, my face stuck out like a peacock. “You would know why Spike. After all, you are really Spike. Right, Spike?”

“I will rip that prissy little horn off your head and skullfuck you with it!”

The flames reach the final circle and ignite the pentagram. The fire continues to burn, but the room gets dark. There’s a brief silence. Then an explosion. Spike’s body is wrapped in flames. The demon controlling him snarls and claws wildly at his skin. The flames grow. He’s lifted off the ground, his back arched, his limbs stretched in the five points of the star. Aka screams out curses to me and to God. Then out of Spike’s mouth and eyes a hellish green energy shoots, blasting through the roof of the library. I shield myself from falling branches and bark, then look to see Spike’s limp body fall to the ground.

I walk over to him. The flames are slowly dissipating, leaving only scorch marks on the floor. I look up through the gaping hole in the roof, to the cloudy night sky above. Aka will be back any second, I’m half expecting him to fall right back through the ceiling.

Spike groans and makes trembling weak movements off the floor. He opens his dry glazed red eyes. His green fins wilt along his face. He squints his eyes shut like it hurts just to look.

I remain partly suspicious. “Feeling okay there Spike.”

His head perks up at my voice.

“Sw-Sweetie… is is that yo-”. That’s all he gets out before he lurches forward and vomits on the floor. Oh yeah, Aka’s out this time.

He hunches over on his hands and knees, struggling to support his own weight. His head trembles just trying to maintain eye contact. “Sweetie?”

“It’s me, Spike, I’m here.”

“What happened?” He winces and clutches his stomach with a pained look. “The last thing I remember I was trying to get that stupid rabbit’s food right when Alda’s snake jumped on me and…”

He vomits again. My face twists and I step away from the spreading puddle of bile. “It’s… a really long story. The whole town is in chaos. Do you think you can come with me out of the library? I don’t know how safe it is here.”

He coughs up the last chunks. He groans and wipes his mouth. “I… I guess, but why isn’t it sa-”

Spike’s eyes spread wide open when he looks at me. He stumbles back and sidles away from me on his hands and feet, hyperventilating and trembling like the tail of a rattlesnake. “What, what, what the hell! What hell are you!”

“Whoa Spike what’s wrong?” I extend my hoof out. My razor sharp black hoof. Oh right, I’m still in hell spawn mode… Fuck!

Spike backs himself against the wall and holds out his hands like he’s trying to push me away from across the room. “Stay back! I’m warning you! I’m friends with Princess Twi-”

His eyes shift to his arms, still covered claw to shoulder in blood. His mouth opens and he makes a protracted horrified squeal.

“Spike, I know this may look bad, but I need you to listen to me. You’ve gotta stay calm, take a deep breath, and for the love of Luna don’t-”

Spike yanks the fins on the sides of his head and screams like someone cut his tail off. He curls up with his knees to his chest and claws at his scales trying to get the blood off. I clench my eyes and look away.

Great, he’s completely lost it. Could this get any wor- I should fucking know better by now!

I turn to face the charging mountain of demonic energy approaching from outside the library. The ceiling comes crashing in. I react fast to shield Spike from the tidal wave of debris. I then grab him around the waist and lunge through the nearest wall just before a massive claw shreds it to slithers.

My hooves touch down on soot-drenched cobble stone. Shredded bark and paper rains down around us and I put my hoof up to cover my face. Spike whimpers as he looks upon the wreckage of the library. My gaze is focused on the figure floating in the middle of it.

Long tendrils of arms move about like nodding serpents, each ending in a bush of thin curved claws. It approaches us, crushing the remnants of the library under its massive muscular legs. It's skin is a scaly oil black which glistens in the red glow of the fires. Aka hisses and darts his forked tongue between his curved venom slicked fangs.

“Just had to keep pushing me didn’t you, cunt.”

He stares right at me. His eyes go on for eternity. His pupils are jaws that eat away at the fabric of this realm and reveal to me the relentless agony of the trillion sins I have committed. The crushing weight of forever is in his gaze, the unavoidable assurance of eternal torment and indescribable pain. Horrors beyond horrors glimpsed forever in an instant.

My whole body goes cold, and I get a headache. I understand now the haunted expressions of the ponies I saw earlier. No mortal being could look into those eyes and turn away sane. If I weren’t part demon I’d probably be babbling on the ground right now. Any mortal who looked into those eyes is lucky to be alive.

Realization hits me like a flood. I turn to Spike, he lifts up his head, I throw both hooves on the back of his head and force his face to the ground. “Don’t look at him, Spike. No matter what happens. Don’t. Look!”

I feel the vibrations of the charge before I see him coming. Aka drags his claws along the ground in a low swipe. I hold Spike’s face against my chest and leap away. Aka swings several more times while I zip and dodge each attempt. He backs me against the wall of a house but I jump high and land on the roof. His next swing blows through the whole front half of the building and sends the rest collapsing in.

We’re launched off the side of the roof amid shredded shingles and bits of drywall. Spike yells and clings tight to my neck. Aka’s next swing comes sailing through the debris, but I extend my good wing so that the pointed tip stabs Aka’s palm. He has only the time to shriek before I twist my wing, swing myself around, and drop kick him in the chest.

He stumbles back, tripping against small houses, and then falling over, crushing the building underneath him. I land, still holding Spike, and run through the streets. I put a good distance between us and Aka before I have the nerve to stop and throw Spike down.

“Get out of here Spike! Get as far away as you possibly can!”

He curls up in the fetal position and whimpers softly. “What is going on? What the hell is going oh-o-ooon?”

He begins balling into the ground. I press my hooves into my forehead and groan. “I don’t have time for this Spike. You need to leave!”

There’s a loud crash followed by a chorus of horrid screams. The ground vibrates like a drum. I violently shake Spike’s shoulder, urged on by fear. “Come on, you can’t do this now! Get it together!”

He responds with a loud sob and tightening further into his cradled position. Several ponies run by us, screaming hysterically like they’ve seen death. I hear a loud crash behind me and see the frame of a house collapsing, followed by more screaming. Aka’s thunderous footsteps get closer and closer.

I’m out of options. I pick up Spike. He kicks and yells and pulls my hair, begging me to let him go. I slap him in the face. He stops struggling. I pull him by the chin and force him to look into my eyes. I summon up demonic energy.

“Spike, go to the hospital. Go there as fast as you can and don’t say a word to anypony. Go. Now.”

His face goes blank. The fear that was once there vanishes to faint wrinkles. Spike slowly nods his head, then turns and runs off as fast as he can. With him, in relative safety, I take a deep breath and brace myself for a fight.

Aka’s footsteps are only a few clicks away from me now. I can hear his hissing breath. I turn and see Aka approaching at a casual pace. He holds up his long thin hand, on it two mares and a stallion are impaled through their genitals on his curved saber claws. They’ve only been pressed part of the way through, enough to cause extreme pain without damaging their internal organs. They cry and wail helplessly, trembling in agony. Aka holds a fourth victim in his free hand; a stallion who screams hysterically and flails his legs in vain to get free. Aka looks at me, his never ending eyes causing me to back away. He grins as he brings the stallion down on his pinky claw. The stallion screams to God on high. My own privates shrivel with every inch he goes down.

“You’re missing out on a lot girl.” He bites one of the mares’ heads off causing the other’s to scream. “They’re more delicious when they’re in pain.”

He scarfs the body down like a shish kabob. It’s one of those rare moments where the horror of the scene gets to me. I’m a little scared, though the fear is overshadowed by a world of rage. “Let them go right now!”

His lip curls up like a fish hook. “Anxious for the main event are you? No worries. I can respect that.”

He lifts them over his open mouth and with his free hand scrapes them off his claws, sending them screaming and crying down his throat. I can still hear them beg after they’ve been swallowed. Aka moans delighted and pats his stomach. “I love feeling them squirm in there. It makes me a little hard picturing them, slowly dissolving and dying in agony. Puts me in the mood to fuck something, be it living or a corpse. Which do you want to be?”

I snarl like a rabid animal and charge straight at him, leaving fiery hoof prints behind me.

“Oh, I love an eager filly.” He drags his claws along the ground, raking them into my path. I dodge left of the swing, duck under another and strike at his leg. My hoof scrapes against his scales. I push his leg back, but there’s not a mark on his skin.

He lifts his opposing leg to step on me. I shoot between his legs to dodge, only to get whipped in the face by his tail. I fly like a cannon ball, straight through some poor mare’s house. I crash into the opposing street, ricocheting off the the hard dirt like a stone across water.

I groan, shaking bits of drywall and earth from my mane. Aka bulldozes through the house I just flew through, and pounces at me with claws drawn. I panic and leap out of the way, just before he buries his claws three feet deep into the spot I was just at. He yanks his buried hand through the earth, shooting stones the size of small cows in my direction.

I jump straight into the wave of oncoming earth, kick off one of the larger missiles, and launch myself at Aka while I’m hidden in the dust.

I clasp my forehooves together and ram the points of them into his abdomen. The result is him coughing up a mound of saliva and staggering backward, but still no penetration. I growl and jump up to his shoulder. I throw myself over and onto his back just as his claws swipe at his shoulder. He swings his whole body around, shaking and jumping to get me off, while raking his long claws across his back hoping to swipe me. I manage to hold on dodge his claws for several moment, then once I see an opening I jump up to his shoulder again. His claws shoot up once more, but I jump over them, extend out the tip of my wing, and thrust it into his eye.

Windows shatter and the air ripples when Aka screams. Shocks of lightning shoot up my limbs and freezing terror grips me. I feel like I just touched insanity.

I fall, almost petrified, to the ground. The point of my wing drags down as I fall, leaving a deep gouge in the howling void that is his retina. Aka clutches his wounded eye in agony. I land, force my frozen limbs to move, and then immediately charge at his leg. My shoulder slams into his ankle and I pull his leg out from under him.

Aka topples over like a towering tree and shakes the whole town as he lands. I zip around to his head and punch him on top of his skull. There’s not a scratch. I throw out five more punches in rapid succession. My effort results in sore arms and a dense drum beat.

I see Aka’s claw in the corner of my eye and leap back out the path if his swipe. He staggers to his feet, still holding his bleeding eye. His hand slowly lowers to reveal a snarling scowl and a horrific wound that emits steam as it begins to heal. He looks at me with his other eye, filling me with endless dread and the overwhelming sensation of imminent damnation.

I break eye contact and stop myself from backpedaling out of the town. I take two deep breaths and stomp my hooves out wide.

Aka looks like he’s about to peel my skin off like a potato, then his anger recedes. A smug grin fills his face and he claps mockingly. “I’ll give it to you slut, you pack a pretty mean wallop in such a tiny sexy space. But these scales of mine are still way too thick to give, and whatever damage you may have done can be fixed before I’m done speaking. And to top it off, while I’ll be the first to admit how ungodly painful that was, gotta say, I’ve been hurt worse.”

“You shouldn’t be so smug considering you’ve barely laid a claw on me so far.”

“Ha! That filly sized crater over there says otherwise..” He creeps toward me, scraping his claws together and giving me a hungry stare. “Face it kid, you couldn’t make a dent in me if you tried. Try as you might, you can’t dodge forever. I’ll get you soon enough. I’ll slice you in half, stick my cock up your torso, and fuck it until your skull pops off. Maybe I’ll even wear your face as a codpiece and flaunt it in front of that pretty sister of yours.”

“She’ll be making me a snakeskin purse when I’m through with you shitbag!”

I lunge twelve feet forward and pound my hoof into his chest. It bounces off like rubber against stone. Aka swings his claws at me as I land. I jump towards his palm, swing myself over his thumb, and bite his knuckle. I clamp my jaw down so hard it feels like my teeth are going to shatter, yet I don’t even crack the skin.

Aka’s fangs flash in my peripheral vision. I kick off his hand at the last second, before he bites his own hand. The fangs pierce the skin easily. He winces and there’s trails of blood leaking down his hand, but he largely shrugs it off. He pulls his hand out of his mouth and shakes his wrist a few times.

“Hm, did I strike a nerve with your sister?”

I try to keep myself restrained, but I can only rest my face in a glare.

“Oh, ho, ho, I certainly did didn’t I.” He wears a sadistic grin and begins to prowl around me. “What is your fling with her anyway? Can’t be just be a way to get in with the elements? Does she know what you are? Is she dabbling in the occult herself?”

He snickers and leans in, feigning a slight shred of decency. “Is there some sexy incest thing going on here?”

“Shut the fuck up! If you’re trying to goad me into blindly assaulting you it isn’t working. I don’t give a shit about what happens to my sister, or any of the elements for that matter! All I want is to be left alone and not be harassed by vulchers like you!”

His mouth rips open like a wound and he bellows laughter, pressing his stomach and stepping back like he’s going to fall over. “Come on filly, I’ve seen you lie better than that. What happened to the sharp tongued foal that went on about being chased by Manticores?”

“I don’t give a fuck about the elements!”

Aka’s smile turns wry. “Is that so? Well, I guess it wouldn’t matter to you in least if I told you, we captured one of them.”

Everything melts off my face. I’m a cold pillar of hopeless fear. “You’re bluffing.”

“Ha! I knew you had gotten attached to them,” He declares triumphantly. “Not to worry though kid, we got her tucked away all nice and safe. Lord Asmodeus isn’t done with her just yet. He’ll keep her nice and healthy until the time comes. Although who knows, he might allow for some light torture and a bit of rape here and there. I’d be a tad pissed if I was denied the chance to fire a load into any of those mares that’s for sure.”

I growl and stomp the ground. “Well now I know you’re lying. The elements are the biggest threat Asmodeus has on this plane. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill any one of them if he had the chance.”

He lowers head and stares at me with those horrific indescribable eyes. I still can’t look at them directly for any longer than a second. My head pounds and my body sweats just from that brief exposure.

“You assume a lot about someone you know next to nothing about. Asmodeus has big plans for the elements; plans that involve keeping them very much alive.”

“What could he possibly gain by that? What’s worth risking his entire operation for?”

Aka flicks his forked tongue between his fangs. “You’re very curious, does that mean you’re finally gonna pull head out of your ass and join the winning team?”

“It means I have one more reason to pull your intestines out of your urethra.”

He shakes his head. “Well then, I see no reason to tell you his plan. Disappointing really, you would’ve made a valuable ally. Tough business capturing an enemy, but so much easier to betray a friend.”

I reflexively glare from the corner of my eye, but even this is too much exposure to those never ending irises.

“Still, we managed the former well enough. With them separated and no longer such a nuisance, we can focus all of energy into trapping the rest. Well, that, and killing bratty little cunts like yourself.”

He lunges at me, claws pointed forward like spears. I jump to the side to dodge, but trip upon landing and fall to my stomach. Aka drags his claws my way. I push myself up and jump back as fast as I can. As I’m in the air the tips of Aka’s claws graze the side of my cheek, slice up my face, and cut through my eyeball.

I go screaming back in the air. My hooves come up to my bleeding eye socket, nursing the stabbing unbearable pain. I hit the ground and a jolt of lightning goes through my spine. I’m literally paralyzed in agony.

Aka’s cackle echoes through the night sky. “Yeah, not so good when someone else does it to you ain’t it.”

He punts me across the town like a soccer ball. I crash into town hall, my back cracks against the ground,and the whole building collapses on top of me. I sit taking raspy pain laden breaths and choke on the crumbling debris. I push several layers of broken drywall off me and drag myself out of a crater. My legs buckle each time I put my weight down.

Aka’s booming footsteps draw closer at a casual pace. Horrified ponies scatter as he comes, many more glance at his eyes and instantly scream as the thin thread of their sanity snaps. “Get comfortable filly, cause I’m gonna take my time killing you. I’m going to masterbate over every agonized scream and plea for mercy. Hell, I could crush you with my cock and there’d still be nothing you could do to stop me.”

I prop myself up on my forearm and spit up blood. My left eye burns as it begins to heal. I clamp my hoof around the sliced organ and glare at Aka through the my good pupil.

“Hell, maybe I’ll just keep playing with you until you beg me to put you out of your misery. Maybe I’ll pluck off all your limbs and fuck your torso like a sock puppet. Not like you can get any more helpless than you are now.”

He slaps his knee and laughs like a drunkard. He howls with his head held high and his mouth open wide. I spring to my feet and jump at his head. I dive between his fangs, into his jaws, and uppercut the roof of his mouth.

Aka’s screams, the force of his voice nearly blowing me out of his mouth. My punch fails to puncture his skull, but it does pierce the skin.

I have an idea.

I leap back to one of Aka’s fangs and stab my hoof into the gums around it. Aka reals back in pain and slams his jaws shut. I jump back onto his tongue to avoid getting chomped, then leap back up when he sticks his claws in his mouth. The razor sharp nails slice and tear up his mouth, causing more problems than they solve. Aka screeches as he takes his hand out, distracting him as I hammer away at his gums. He clamps his jaws shut repeatedly, but I dig my hooves into his gums and hold myself flat against the top of his mouth. I continue digging and slicing up his gums until the fang begins to wiggle and move freely.

I jab my front hooves into the gums just next to the fang, then lift my back legs and push against it until the roots begin to snap. Aka’s lips seal shut and he smothers a horrific scream. I buck the fang several times until it's knocked loose with a pop and hangs by a thread.

Aka opens his mouth screaming and jabs his claws in again. With less than a moment to react I swing my hind legs up, yank my front hooves out of his flesh, and kick off the roof of his mouth diving straight at the fang. I tackle it with my shoulder and snap the last root connecting it to Aka’s mouth.

The hard fang provides a buffer against his claws, but my legs still get sliced up upon leaving. I crash into the street, the pain in my leg exploding from the impact. I groan, but turn to see Aka curling over in pain. His hands are pressed to his mouth, his distorted voice echoes through the town.

I need to act now. I drag myself up until I can hobble towards the severed fang. I rest the back end on my shoulder and stand on my hind legs, lifting the point up off the ground. I stumble back and struggle to maintain balance, an effort made all the more difficult by shaking weak knees and the incredible length of this thing.

“Now you’ve gone and done it cunt!” Aka snarls. He wipes his bleeding lip and marches towards me threatening all but a stern scolding. “I’m gonna peel your skin off and dip you in salt for that. You hear me, I’ll rape you with a fucking branding iro-”

I pivot and throw the fang like a javelin. It hits him dead center in the left pectoral, punctures his armored scales, and sticks ten inches in. Aka halts his approach and looks down at the wound, more in shock than in pain.

I run forward, jump into the air, and ram my full weight into the back of the fang. The tooth slides in two feet deeper. Aka scrunches up and topples backwards. He slams against the ground, me on top of him. He lifts a shaky claw towards the fang, but I’m quick to capitalize. I clasp both hooves together and slam them down on the fang, pounding it further into his chest like a nail. I hit with my hooves five more times, then climb up on top of it and jump up and down, stomping my hooves and grunting like an enraged gorilla. I stomp the fang one last time. Aka wretches. His fingers twitch, and he gargles on his own blood. He lifts his arm in slow stiff movements, reaching to stab me on the ends of his finger tips. His claws slow more with every inch they cover. When they finally do reach me, Aka no longer has the strength to push them through my skin. His palm collapses and slides off his chest. The gurgling in his throat quiets, and there is no more movement.

I exhale several heavy breaths. My shoulders sag forward and my head feels like it weighs seven hundred pounds. I hop down from Aka’s body, almost collapsing when I hit the ground. I drag my feet through the dirt, blinking a few times as my wounded eye finishes healing.

I come around to Aka’s head. It lies still, facing the sky, eyes open. Even in death, the act of looking into those eyes makes me feel like the cold hand of hell is seconds away from pulling me under. I close my eyes and turn away. Cold shivers molest my body, and for moment I’m left shaking.

Then I swallow my fear and approach the head, careful not to make direct eye contact. I pull on his freezing cold cheek, sliding his face down until he’s staring me dead on. I tense up and turn away again, hyperventilating and suppressing my near instinctual urge to run. I clack my teeth, close my eyes, then face eye and thrust my hoof forward.

Decaying blood splashes against me. My eyes flash open and suddenly I’m very cold. I shiver and sweat. Clamp my teeth and bite my tongue. The pain needs to end. Oh God why won’t the pain end? I pray through boiling tears and a sizzling tongue, begging, pleading ceaselessly to make it end. It courses through my entire body, from the tips of my hooves to the fringes of my mane. It never stops, every night, every day. It never stops. I wish I was never born! No life is better than experiencing one second of this! Oh God, please make it stop! It hurts! I can’t take it! Please anyone, make it end! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!

I snap to consciousness. I lay in a puddle of black slimy blood, oozing forth from Aka’s hollow eye socket. I push myself up and sit still. I listen to screaming and sobbing of frightened mares, I smell the smoke and ashes of homes and bodies, I taste the blood of the one that caused it all, and I feel as numb as a brick. I sit staring forward for a long time, then I get up.

I walk back through the ruins of town, towards the sanctuary of the hospital. I still need to make sure Scootaloo is okay. I need to tell her that I took care of the demon and that everything’s going to be fine. That I’m going to keep protecting Ponyville and fight every demon that comes our way. That Aka’s a big fucking liar and our sister’s are gonna end Azmodeus any day now.

I better stop crying before I tell her that.

Chapter 14: Heaven or Hell?

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My tears have finally started to dry up. I peel my head away from the underside of the cobblestone bridge I've been sitting under, wipe my eyes and sniff in violently. The smoke saturated sky is several shades lighter. Luna has begun raising the sun. I stand up and climb out of the small tunnel I've been weeping in. Ash and soot fall from my mane every step.

The wounded ponies have mostly been carried off at this point. Those who wander the streets now concern themselves with burying the dead, stomping out the remaining fires, or just grieving.

I see one mother holding the limp body of her son to her chest, her broken tears running across his lifeless eyes. I see a son crying in joy, after finding his elderly father limping through the streets. I see a family huddle together like birds in a nest, staring at the disintegrated remains of their house. I see a young filly in tears, wailing in the streets for her mother, who is nowhere in sight. I keep on trudging to the hospital.

The looming country style sanctuary is one of the few buildings left untouched. If I had to guess Aka was probably saving this for last, knowing there'd be more ponies here looking for medical aid during his rampage. There’s a large crowed out in front of the building. Dozens if not hundreds of ponies sit on the lawn outside with grave anxious faces. Some of them cry, some of them sit still, some glance as I pass by.

I rinsed myself in the river while I was still sobbing; Aka had a lot of blood. Can’t imagine I look the pristine filly I pretend to be, though. Can’t imagine I’ll be pretending for much longer.

I push my way through the front entrance. The dying and gravely injured ponies that were pouring in here earlier have all been taken away, now it's just worried relatives and friends waiting terrified for a verdict they have no control over. I step over a worried couple and bump past a lonely older stallion sitting with his head craned down. I notice Mr. Cake in the corner of the room with a distraught look on his face. He nestles both his sleeping infants wrapped in blankets in his arms. Mrs. Cake is nowhere in sight.

I walk down the hall. Nurse Red Heart calls and tells me to wait in the lobby. I look at her with a dim fizzle of demonic energy. She doesn’t say another word. I look for the room Scootaloo is in, keeping my senses open for any sign of her. The rooms are full of many voices, doctors calmly asking nurses for supplies, patients moaning in pain, and constant weeping. In the midst of this, I hear Scootaloo’s voice. She’s chatting with someone whom I soon identify as Spike.

“You weren’t there, you don’t know anything that happened!”

“Neither were you, but you still trust her.”

Scootaloo growls. “No, but I was with her afterword. I saw what she was like yesterday. She stepped out of her house eyes red with tears and was sobbing throughout the entire day. We both were.”

“After everything, you just told me, and everything that’s happened, that's nowhere near enough.”

“Sweetie did not kill Apple Bloom!”

My head pops up like a jack in the box. I stop my hoof from turning the doorknob and press my ear against the wall.

“Celestia damnit Spike, she was her best friend! She was torn apart when she died! She risked her life to protect her, she risked her life to protect you! Hell, she’s out there right now, fighting to stop whatever monster has been destroying town! She’s done nothing but protect us, and now you’re criticizing her for it!”

There’s a long silence. If Scootaloo's livid rant has effected Spike at all, he doesn't show it in his voice. “I’m not criticizing her for that Scootaloo, I’m glad she’s fighting for us. All I’m saying is that given the recent demon attacks, maybe we should be just a little suspicious of the friend we just found out is a demon, and was the last one to see Apple Bloom conscious.”

“Go to hell Spike, she’s done nothing but save us since she revealed herself.”

“You mean since you discovered her secret?”

“Whatever, my point still stands.”

Spike groans. “Don’t you think it’s at least a little strange that she’s outright refusing to tell the elements? Princess Luna? Her sister, at the very least?”

There’s another long silence. Scootaloo stutters several times before she can give an answer. “She’s… She’s just scared, that’s all. You would be too in her situation.”

“Yeah, I would. But I’d also trust Twilight and Luna enough to come clean about everything. At the very least, I would’ve asked them for help if I knew there was an insane cultist sneaking around with a gaggle of demons, threatening to turn the town into a bonfire. Think about that Scootaloo. The elements could’ve taken care of Alda in a heartbeat, but Sweetie was so scared of having the Order come after her she never even considered reaching out to them for help. She was so terrified of Equestria's soldiers, she forgot their greatest heroes were her best friends. Now, look what happened because of that.”

I can only imagine him pointing out the window, to the ash clouded sky and the blood caked streets. “I want to believe that Sweetie was just worried about herself, I really do. But you’ve gotta admit, the timing and the circumstances just scream suspicious. What’s to say, Sweetie, herself isn’t part of this invasion?”

“Fuck you! Sweetie would never betray us!”

There's another pause, then Spike sighs. “How can you be so sure! She lied for two straight years about what she was, and the moment she’s found out all hell literally breaks loose? Face it Scootaloo something isn’t right about this!”

“Something isn’t right with your head, that’s what’s-”

I twist the knob and throw open the door, letting it bang against the wall. Spike and Scootaloo jump at the sudden entrance. I stand in the doorway looking at them with heavy sagging eyes.

“Sweetie Belle, you’re back,” Scootaloo says.

I nod my head and lumber into the room. I trudge to a small stool in the corner and climb up on it. The legs creak and moan as I adjust myself to sit forward. I stare straight ahead in silence.

The room is as quiet as a graveyard for a moment, but it doesn’t take long for Scootaloo to start asking, “Is Alda’s snake dead?”

I turn to her slightly and nod my head.

“Thank Celestia,” she breaths.

There’s another long silence. I try to turn my head, to look them in the eyes, to smile, to move, to do anything. All I can do is stare at the floor like there’s a drain there with my intestines spiraling down it.

“Um, the doctor says I’m going to be fine by the way,” Scootaloo says. I finally manage to tear my gaze away from the checkerboard tile and look at her. She’s propped up in bed on several layers of pillows, her arm is suspended in a cast and fresh bandages are wrapped around her head. There’s a drip bag hanging next to her bed, her contracted pupils showing they’ve got her on painkillers. Guess that explains the slightly dopey smile on her face.

“I’ll have to stay in bed a few days, and I’ll probably still be wearing a cast long after that, but yeah, I should be good.”

I can’t bring myself to return the grin, but I do push out a small admission of relief. “Th-that’s, good to hear Scootaloo. That’s really good to hear.”

She smiles and nods her head; there’s a twitch in her face like that small movement caused her pain.

Silence comes back yet again, this time like a heavy snowfall that won’t let up. I look towards Spike, who winces at my gaze. His eyes are wide open and his claws fidget together like he’s trying to peel a layer of paint off them. I decide to look back at the floor tiles before I give him a heart attack. His breath is labored for several moments, then he takes a long deep breath and speaks.

“Are you… are you okay Sweetie Belle?”

I glance in his direction. His fist is clenched up near his teeth like he’s about to bite his claws off. “You look like something's bothering you. You’re not hurt are you?”

Hurt, broken, suicidally depressed; take your pick.

“I’m fine Spike,” I say quietly.

He gives a sheepish smile and nods his head, before looking away.

“How are you holding up?” I ask.

“Uh, me?” Spike stutters. “Um, well, I’m doing pretty good for someone who was drenched in blood a few minutes ago, and just found out a friend of theirs is a flesh eating demon who rips apart monsters with her bare hooves.”

Scootaloo chuckles sheepishly. Her eyes are wide with anxiety, yet she can’t wipe the drug induced smile off her face. “Yeah, hope you’re not mad Sweetie, but I sorta spilled the beans. He was pretty hysterical when he got in here and from the sound of things he had already seen you in… all your demonic glory.”

“It’s okay Scootaloo. I was planning to explain everything to him when I got back anyway.”

She takes a deep sigh and eases her head back into her pillow. If I didn’t know better I’d say she was more relieved to hear that than she was when I told her Aka was dead.

The silence is shorter and less intrusive this time, broken as soon as Scootaloo recovers her breath. “So, what are we gonna do now?”

I slouch my head back and breath nails out my lungs. “Well, the first thing I need to do is lay low. The Order is sure as hell going notice this, if they’re not sending agents out already they will soon enough. Whatever defensive rituals I’ve got set up will have to come down. Thankfully those very same agents should keep any other demons or cultists from coming into Ponyville. If they clamp down too much, however, I may have to leave town for awhile.”

Maybe I could go back with my parents. With all the chaos Asmodeus is stirring up things might have calmed down, or gotten worse.

I sigh aloud and lower my face into the cups of my hooves, resisting the urge to spear them through my eyes.

“Hey, come on Sweetie, it’s not all bad,” Scootaloo says. “You stopped Alda, saved the town, saved me. We’re still here for you.”

“Uh, yeah, of course, we are,” Spike mumbles, looking away and gripping his tail like he’s wringing a damp rag.

Scootaloo scoffs at him. “What I mean is we have your back. Whatever you have to do to stay safe, we’ll be ready for it.”

Tied to a bed and doped up on meds, yet she still remains the optimist. She’s either very resilient or very high, maybe both. I try to take whatever comfort I can away from her words and find just a tiny bit sinking in. “Thanks, Scootaloo.”

She beams, “You know I'm always here for you.”

Her optimism flows over me, and for one brief moment, I find myself smiling. It’s less than a second, ends quicker than a flash of lightning, but that short subtle curve of the lip is all Scootaloo needs to be assured that I’m alright. She closes her eyes and rests her head back on the pillows, allowing her doped up smile to usurp her entire face.

For me however, the moment of joy is all too fleeting. My gaze returns to nothing in particular, and my thoughts drift back to the depressing void that is my future. My imagination runs loose with images of hooded ponies infesting the town, turning over every stone for signs of demonic activity, ready with hidden blades and flesh melting potions at the slightest provocation. Then there’s Asmodeus, supposedly trying to capture the elements alive, and having already captured one of them. I’m still a little skeptical of Aka’s story, but if it is true… I have no idea how to respond to it. Equestria is fucked without the elements, and even if the other elements could mount a rescue, the captive has probably already been subjected to horrors beyond mortal comprehension. She’d be a frail shell, crying out for death at every moment. I really don’t want to believe it’s true, but the mere fact that Asmodeus is still running around after these past few days probably means Rarity and her friends are having some trouble.

A thought suddenly strikes me. I look over at Spike, who has still yet to break eye contact with me or blink more than once every thirty seconds. “Spike, do you mind if I have a word with you?”

He snaps straight up. He looks at Scootaloo for aid, but receives only goofy smile and a weak wave with her good arm. He gulps loudly and follows me out the door, tapping the ends of his claws together in disjointed rhythm. We walk down the hallway past the depressing waiting room, to the opposite wing. We walk to the far end and enter the very last room which opens up to a large office decorated with rewards and certificates from prestigious medical colleges. There’s no one else in the room, not surprising given the sheer number of patients flooding in. I usher Spike in and lock the door behind us. There’s a moment of silence. I look at Spike, his head bowed low, looking at his own claws. I stare him dead on, contorting my face into an expressionless mask.

“I realize you have a great deal of trust in Luna, and I have no doubt that she’d do everything in her power to keep Equestria and its citizens safe, but you can’t let that trust lead you to do something stupid.”

His surprised look is like a firework, there for a moment, then the darkness of fear creeps back in. “And… what exactly are we talking about when you say ‘something stupid’?”

“Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind that you could send a letter to Twilight or Luna. You probably think it’s a good idea, but I’m telling you right now—” I walk forward slowly, glaring him down in such a way that he starts to move back, keeping pace with my own steps. “—If Luna discovers what I am. She. Will. Kill me. That’s not an exaggeration, that’s not an unlikely turn of events, that’s a fact. You will get me killed if you send a message.”

I can see the beads of sweat starting to pour through the microscopic slits in his scales. His heart-beat hastens and so does his breathing. He bumps against the large mahogany desk near the back and almost jumps in fear. He watches me approach, trembling and shaking like an abandoned newborn foal. “M-M-Maybe, y-you shouldn’t… j-j-jump t-t-t-to c-c-conc-clusions, like that. L-Lun-na is a v-v-very, eh, understanding. Sh-she, she might make an exception, for you.”

He continually hunches inward like a deflating balloon, holding one set of claws in the other, his eyes wandering to whatever fixtures that can take him away from my threatening eyeballs.

“You have seen one side of her Spike. The side that’s awkwardly adjusting to a thousand years of lost time and finds amusement in scaring fillies. You haven’t seen the side that founded the Order, that would kill me without asking questions, just as she and her soldiers have done with every demon since they were first founded. They have never spared one of my kind Spike, they won’t start with me.”

I halt my advance and make labored sigh. “Especially when I'm so close to the Elements, and a cavalcade of shit has hit the fan.”

I turn my head halfway towards the door, towards the outside, and the catastrophe that just occurred. I remind myself I did everything I could, that there was nothing more I could do. I remind myself that ponies still died.

“And what reason do I have to trust you?”

Spike says it in a whisper, clearly not meaning for me to hear it. He doesn’t know about my acute senses yet. There’s a pounding urge to lash out at him, to spit back everything I’ve done to keep him and everyone else safe, to scream he has no right to judge me for being scared. An urge, strongest of all, to call him a dick. But I bite that urge. I bite hard and swallow it down with all the pointless guilt and tears I’ve buried in my stomach. Yelling at him won’t do me any favors.

I breathe deeply through my nostrils, my lips scrunched too tightly to allow in air, and snort like an angry bull. I take great care to keep even the slightest hint of malice out of my voice. “Spike, how much did Scootaloo tell you about Alda and her snake?”

He gives me the thinnest slither of eye contact. “She told me she was a cultist, working for this… Auzmandayus guy. Said she threatened to kill everyone in town, and that was her snake out there carrying out her threat.”

“Did she tell you that she repeatedly tried to coax me, her, and Apple Bloom into joining Asmodeus? That on top of being responsible for Apple Bloom’s death she was also the reason Scootaloo is currently injured, and that the whole reason she came here was so that she could gather information on Twilight and her friends so that her boss could have a fighting chance in killing them?”

Horror sinks deeper into Spike’s face with every fact I reveal. He shakes his head, slowly, like the point where his neck and skull meet is rusty.

“Well it’s all true, and Scootaloo could back me up on all of it,” I say. “You can ask her yourself if you want proof. She could also tell you that I killed her and her pet serpent, as well as dozens of other demons that have been trying to enter Ponyville ever since the elements left.”

“And why are you telling me this?”

“Look, I lied to you and so many others from the first moment I started living here. You have every right to be suspicious of me, I understand that. But I’m not your enemy. I’ve been defending Ponyville from these demons ever since they started showing up, and I’ll continue to do so in the future.”

Spike’s meek face suddenly gets a shade of aggression. “You lied for years Sweetie, you’re not gonna earn back that trust in a day.”

“I know, all I’m asking is that don’t get me killed in the meantime.”

Spike stutters. He looks away from me and cups his chin, rubbing his middle finger against the side of his jaw. Then he turns back to me. “If you really understand why I don’t trust you, then you’ll let me message Twilight and Luna. They’re the only ones I can rely on right now, the only ones I can trust.”

I inhale deeply, biting down hard to keep my lips from contorting into a scowl. It takes every ounce of control to keep my voice down, and even then there’s a blade in my tone. “Think. This. Through. If you don’t give me the benefit of the doubt, what makes you think a sect of demon hunters will?”

“You’re a sibling of one of the elements.”

“Doesn’t count for shit. For all, they know I could be a changeling that just took Sweetie Belle’s place.”

“But if you explain what you’re doing–”

“Spike, I don’t know how I can make this any clearer, so try to get this through your thick scaled head.” I march up to him and hiss in his ear. “The last pony who would ever trust me at this point is Luna.”

I back off and glare in his eyes. “Do you really want to risk killing me, just so you can feel a little safer? Imagine for one second, you send a letter to Luna, and wake up the next morning to find that I have disappeared, never to be heard from again.”

The thought takes seed in his brain and sprouts a horrific expression on his face. I lean in and continue to feed the nightmare. “Could you live with yourself, if that happened? After I warned you, it would happen? What would Twilight think, if she found out? How do you think Rarity would react, if she knew her sister was killed, because of you? Would she even look at you again? Hell, you can barely look me in the eye right now. How could you face Rarity, knowing you were partly to blame for my death?”

His teeth bite hard, and his eyes squeeze together like he’s in pain. “Alright, I won’t send a message. I won’t tell Luna.”

“Good. Now come on, we’ve kept Scootaloo long enough.” I turn back towards the door.

“But I still want you to tell the Elements.”

I freeze up just as I’m reaching for the knob. I twist around back towards Spike, my eyes sunk deep with haggard vexation. “What parts of this conversation did you hear, and at what parts were you too busy jacking off to listen?”

Spike gets a light blush and his face twists in discomfort. “Look, if you really think telling Luna will put you in danger I won’t say a word, but I see no excuse for why you can’t trust the Elements.”

“It’s got nothing to do with trust. They’re working side by side with the Order, master spies as well as hunters, it’d slip out to them eventually.”

“And what if it did? The elements wouldn’t let the Order touch you.”

“Luna would demand my death.”

“And they’d all stand by you, wouldn’t let Luna or her soldiers lay a hoof on you.”

“She’d be sneaky. You’d wake up one morning and find that I’ve ‘disappeared’ or ‘ran away’.”

“Do you think Twilight and her friends are idiots? They’d know right away what happened, especially if you warned them about your suspicions ahead of time. Luna isn’t stupid enough to risk turning Equestria’s greatest soldiers against herself, definitely not now when the kingdom is being invaded, by the literal forces of hell!”

I stare at him for a moment, thinking. “If I tell them now, after the demon attack, it’ll make me appear suspicious.”

“And if you wait, and let them find out on their own, it’ll seem even more suspicious.” He folds his arms against his chest. “Any other excuses you’d like me to burn up?”

I don’t answer.

“Well?”

“Do you think they’ll trust me? No bullshit, just tell me straight up. Do you honestly think that?”

The question startles him. He turns a little and rubs his chin with his thumb and index claw. “Well, like I said, trust isn’t gained in a day.”

“Okay, but will they protect me? If Luna does find out and tries to come after me, do you really think they’d have my back?”

He eases up a bit and nods his head. “If you came out, and were completely honest with them, then yeah, I think they’d be on your side.”

I think for a long moment. I meet Spike’s eyes momentarily. “Let me think it over a bit.”

Spike groans. “Oh come on Sweetie, you know you can’t keep it hidden forever.”

“I said let me think it over!” I shout. “I’m playing with life and death here Spike, I can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

Spike’s lips peel up to show bared teeth. “Fine, but I’m not dropping this. I want a straight answer, soon.”

I grunt and turn around towards the door. “Tell Scootaloo I need to be alone for awhile, and, that I’m sorry I wasn’t quick enough to save her.”

Spike closes his eyes for a moment, then nods his head. I exit the room and shut the door gently behind me, and grip the doorknob hard enough to bend it off its screws.

Goddamn, that dragon!

I march down the hall as I barricade mumbled expletives inside my mouth.

I’ve got enough to worry about concerning the Order without adding the possibility of getting blasted into the underworld by the elements… Oh, what am I thinking, even I can see it would never come down to that.

I sigh and keep my head low as I walk through the lobby and out the front door.

Rarity would have my back at least after she was done shrieking and fainting from shock. Fluttershy and Pinkie might also give me the benefit of the doubt. Rainbow Dash would be a little more hostile, but she might listen to Scootaloo. Twilight would take a little convincing, but I could probably get her to come around. And Applejack… Would she even give me a chance, after what happened with Apple Bloom?

Even if she doesn’t suspect me of murdering her like Spike, I was the reason she was out there that night, I was the reason she walked into that trap, that she even considered slashing her hoof in the first place. Now add the fact that Big Mac has gone insane, the town is on fire, and Granny Smith is alone, I would be surprised if she didn’t want to buck my fucking skull in like one of her apple trees. And that’s assuming she isn’t currently being held captive by some sadistic hell spawn cumming acid into her ass.

I stop in the middle of the road and bite my lip. Aka had to be lying about that. There’s no way Asmodeus would allow any of the elements to live if he had one in his jaws. It would be insane of him, right?

I take a deep breath in and breathe out as I sit down in the dirt. I empty my mind of all thoughts. Where are the elements? I focus on that one thought for a few seconds, giving it complete and total attention. Images begin to form behind my eyelids. Then a blinding flash and a sharp pain in my head.

I grunt and fall on my back, both hooves pressing against my head. It feels like somepony is running a shaving razor across my brain. I lay in agony for several moments until the pain recedes enough for my mind to wade through other thoughts.

Someone blocked my clairvoyance. That’s a very bad sign. Only powerful demonic magicks could do that.

I sit up and try again, squeezing my skull trying to wring the last drops of pain from my head. I need to try something different. Aka said they only captured one element, so if I check on each one individually I should be fine, or I’ll get a minor concussion from the otherworldly backlash.

I clear my mind and focus on an image of Rarity. What is she doing right at this moment? I focus for a few seconds, and then I get a vision. I see my sister, sitting in a dumpy room I don’t recognize. Fluttershy is beside her, eyes red from tears. Rarity is forcing a smile and helping her groom a little white mouse with a tiny comb.

Mountains of anxiety collapse in my chest. Thank Celestia she’s alright. My worries return however as I realize what this means. It isn’t the Order blocking my clairvoyance, so Aka probably wasn’t bluffing about capturing one of the elements.

I slide my front hooves forward so I’m sitting with my stomach flat on the ground. I groan and lay limp as I clear my mind again. This time I focus on Twilight, and where she is at the current moment. I give all my concentration to that one thought, and then another vision forms. I see Princess Twilight standing outside in what I think is Los Pegasus, talking with Applejack, no, arguing with her. My clairvoyance doesn’t pick up any of what they’re saying, but Applejack looks pissed, and Twilight seems desperate to try and convince her of something.

I blink my eyes and come back to the real world once more. So the Princess is still safe. Spike will be happy to hear that. Though judging by their behavior so far it looks as though their encounters with demons have been just as traumatic as I thought it would.

I close my eyes again and blank my mind. This time I focus on Rainbow Dash. I concentrate on her for several moments, then there’s a quick bang in my brain.

My hooves shoot up to clamp my head and the ringing pain but then slide to cover my eyes, and the tears that leak out. I fall forward and bury my face in the ground.

That confirms it. It’s over. Asmodeus has Rainbow Dash, and now there’s no way he can be stopped. Everything I’ve been fighting against, every trial I’ve endured, all for nothing. Even if they somehow manage to rescue her, by the time they do so, she’ll probably be too broken to go on once Asmodeus’s followers get through with her.

I can only imagine what they're doing to her right now. Rape and torture occurring simultaneously, her agonized cries egged on by the demons who get off on her screams. They’ll eventually cut off her wings, probably after allowing her some faux freedom to fly, or taunting her with sights of others flying. They’d remove them slowly, over countless agonizing hours, digging through her flesh and bone with a scalpel and tweezers. Then when they finally remove the wings completely they’d lay the severed limbs in front of her as they fucked the stumps in her back. They’ll literally use her as a toilet, smear excrement and piss in her face until she vomits, then force her to lick everything up. She’ll be abused and tortured until she’s nothing but a jigsaw of blood and bone, held together only by her captor’s cruel desire to see her suffer.

Tears roll down my face and splatter on the ground. I strike the dirt where the tears land, stand up and walk off.

I wind up wandering through Ponyville, the strange ruined town that I saved with my own two hooves; what a hollow victory that seems now. Everywhere I look I see doomed survivors sifting through the remnants of their lives, taking solace in what they have left, weeping for dead loved ones they’ll soon be joining. Asmodeus will roll over this town. He’ll bury all of Equestria. There’s nothing stopping him now. He’ll torment the citizens until death is sought after as salvation, and preserving life becomes the ultimate cruelty. He’ll drag me into the twisting depths of hell, and make me suffer the most agonizing torture he can place me under, day in, day out, forever and ever.

My legs go weak and my knees buckle out from under me. I hit the ground face first and lay there with my tear speckled cheeks in the dirt. I knew this day would come; the day of my damnation, the day I’d forever regret being born and spend every waking moment praying for oblivion. All good things come to an end, and I will never again know anything good. Good will become a distant memory, a thought that taunts me through every moment of ceaseless agony and unbearable pain. I lament my existence already.

I rub my face in the dirt and let it soak up my tears. It takes me a minute to notice, in my sorrow and terror, that I’m lying a few feet away from the body of Filthy Rich.

I perk my head up when I see him, splayed out next to a partially collapsed brick building. I crawl towards him with my chest against the ground, weeping and trembling still. His face is the same as Big Mac’s and that mare who killed her kid, sheer horror on a level mortals can’t comprehend. There’s a large indent in his head and blood leaking down his whole face. My eye is then drawn to the splats of blood on the brick wall in front of him. It seems like he was thrown into it hard enough to shatter his skull, or maybe, he ran into it himself, after seeing something terrible.

“Daddy!”

Diamond Tiara shrieks her whole way over to her father and kneels in the tiny pond of blood flowing forth like shadows from the dimming fires. Her faded unblinking eyes quiver and moisten until she crumbles on top of his body. She wails, begging her father to wake up, to stand, to take her home. She throws her face down next to his head, pleading with Celestia to wake her from this nightmare.

I stand on the sidelines with a needle in my heart. I know full well there’s nothing I could do to comfort her in this situation, but I'd feel like shit just leaving her there alone.

I take tentative steps towards the sobbing mop of mane draped over her father’s corpse. I pause a nail’s length away, at a loss for words. I rest my hoof gently on the point of her shoulder. She doesn’t move, doesn’t react. For a moment I mourn with her, allowing more sorrow laden tears to water the ash covered ground.

“Are you happy now?”

I look up from the black splotches on the ground and see Diamond glaring over her shoulder, her eyes fountains of hate.

“Are you happy now!” she shouts. “Happy that this happened?”

“No. No, I’m not.”

“Don’t lie!” She swats my hoof off her shoulder and bars her teeth like an animal. “This is exactly what you wanted. To have me lose someone close, like you with that little Apple buck.”

“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, much less a conceited little bitch like you.”

“Yeah right! You’d do anything to make me miserable. Take pictures of my vag while I’m asleep, play the victim to turn the town against me…” She looks down at her father’s body, her fury filled eyes going wide in some horrid realization. “You could’ve murdered him yourself.”

She stares at her father’s dented bloody head and her breath goes short. She turns towards me in one slow jerky movement. “You killed my dad, didn’t you.”

I stare at her furious for a moment, then whip myself around and walk off.

“You did it. You did it you, evil murderer!”

“Keep treating everyone who gives you sympathy like that Tiara, sees how many of them want you miserable then!” I shout over my shoulder.

“So you admit it, you love seeing me suffer!” she screams back. “Well drink it all in you heartless monster! I hope you’re happy, and I hope that dirt farming friend of yours is plowing mud in hell! I hope everyone close to you dies and you spend the rest of your miserable life sobbing alone and cold like I am now!”

My legs clamp up like there are a thousand ton weights in each of them. Rage. Pure, fucking, rage. I swerve on my back hooves and march toward her. Diamond grinds her hooves into the ground and howls.

“Go ahead, do your worst, monster! I'm not going to stand here and be intimidated any mo-”

Full force, demonic strength, the back of my hoof slams against her right temple. Her head goes flying off into the air and her body somersaults a short distance before sliding across the dirt.

My ridged muscles go lax, my breathing slows. I feel like I’m coming down from an orgasm. My eyes anchor to ground, trying to stop me from turning to the headless corpse off to the side. It suddenly hits me what I’ve done. I look around flustered, checking every road, cloud, and burned building with a keen eye. Miraculously, no one saw me.

I look at Tiara’s bloody neck stump and edge away from the evidence as a verdict is reached in my brain

I killed a pony. I killed an innocent pony. Not a rapist, not a murderer, just a cunt.

I crossed a line with this one. I shouldn’t have done that. It was wrong.

That’s what I tell myself; over and over in my head, but I don’t feel that way. There’s this swelling joy in my chest, an insane happiness that climbs and soars in my throat. I feel an urge to laugh. I laugh at the horrible thing I did.

I tilt my head to the sky, tears cutting down my open eyes.

“God. Is this what You want me to be like?”

I stare at the cloudy soot-filled sky, awaiting a lightning bolt to affirm my question. “I can do that if You want me to. I’ll be a good little succubus, kill anyone I find offensive, rape anything I find moderately arousing. Fuck, I will grind my cunt against Tiara’s severed lifeless face and literally fuck her brains out. Let those who can actually gain salvation work for it.”

I chuckle and cry at the same time. “Or maybe that’s not what you want at all. Maybe, you’re just a fucking sadist, who uses everyone with good intentions as a cum rag!”

I swing my hoof as if to throw a bomb at the sky. I grind my teeth and stomp around as I shout. “I know I’m no angel. I literally touch myself, while snapping the joints off my enemies as they scream in pain for mercy, but at least I have self-control. I don’t harm innocents, I don’t kill anyone unless they’ve hurt others first, in most cases unless they’ve tried to hurt me or my friends. Why am I getting all this shit, while Asmodeus and his army of psychopaths are free to detonate the continent? How can You let them continue on, as they drive mortals insane from sheer brutality, ring their bodies until they plead for death, set fire to their homes, families, and children, then laugh as they watch their lives turn to ash. Why are You letting them win!”

Another moment goes by without a response. I lose a tug-of-war match with my eyelids, fall to the ground, folding in my knees. “I want to believe, so badly, that You are good. If You’re not good then there’s no such thing as good, but even in my most twisted fucked sense of morality I can see nothing good about You.”

I throw my hooves up to the sky. “What’s the game plan here? Sit back on Your fat flabby ass as Asmodeus flays all of Equestria! Watch his cunt head demons run howling through the streets, raping the infants they tear out of their mother’s wombs? Laugh Your fucking lungs out as I’m made to watch Rarity, Scootaloo, and all of my friends suffer and die before my eyes, or no, maybe I’ll die and You’ll damn me to hell before that happens. Fuck, You’re gonna do it at some point, might as well quite teasing and stick in already!”

I slam my hooves to the ground and rip up the very earth He placed beneath me. “Come on! Violate Me! Rape me! Turn my greatest pleasure into the most unbearable pain. Tear my flesh off, lite my eyes on fire, rend my soul into a thousand pieces then put it back together again so can repeat the whole process. You’ll never be satisfied until I’m suffering under the full extent of Your powers. You’ll probably do the same to Apple Bloom, just to spite me!”

My breath comes out like molten boulders, almost painful to exhale. I scowl at the sky, expecting the tar black clouds to split, and angels to descend down on rivers of light, ready to give me all the answers. Isn’t that the least I can ask for, some fucking clarity? I don’t get a response of course, why would I? I might as well have spent the last minute yelling at Diamond Tiara’s shattered skull.

I tear my gaze away from the heavens with a scornful groan. I’m left wading through my angry thoughts: thoughts of setting paradise on fire and raping every angel in it, of standing before an uncaring God and telling Him how much of gaping shitting asshole He is, of cursing His name right up to the very moment He slams my ass into the furthest most unbearable parts of hell, of the ceaseless inconceivable agony I’ll be facing while Asmodeus and his army indiscriminately rape, torture, and cannibalize every pony in Equestria, of Rarity, my mom, Scootaloo, and every friend I may not see again in a few days, who I’ll hopefully never see again.

Then I think of Apple Bloom. I can still see the burrowing fault lines in her face, twisted so deeply in hatred. I can hear the anger in her voice, even as her strength receded and she faded into unconsciousness. I still feel her last words, the barb of a scorpion embedded in my heart, “We can’t be friends anymore.”

Was there any way she could’ve known those would be her final words? Would she have said something different if she did? Would her different words be even more painful?

For several moments I stand there pondering that last question, like a complicated emotional puzzle that kills my soul every time I touch it. I walk back home, tuning out the depressing anguish wafting over the town. I lock myself in my bedroom, switch off the lights, and pull back the curtains so not even the faintest slither of light can enter. I pull out my spell book from the dresser, undo the seal, and flip through the pages until I find a necromantic ritual. It’s basic, simple, very similar to the one Alda performed in the forest, only smaller.

I draw a summoning circle using some flour I brought up from the kitchen, then set up six black candles on the outer rim of the circle and light them all with a flash of demonic energy. I stare into the light of the candles, glowing like hungry eyes in the darkness. Then I scrounge under my bed and grab the final two components; a pair of silver edged trimming scissors and Apple Bloom’s crusader cape.

I press the soft cotton fabric to my cheek. It’s so similar to my own cape, but smells of grass and zap apples. I had planned to leave this with her the night I visited her body. I wanted to fasten it around her neck, leave it as a final goodbye, but then I broke down, and for whatever reason, I brought it back home with me. Perhaps I had subconsciously known I was going to do this.

I place the cape in the center of the summoning circle, then stand back and look at for a moment. The child sized cape seems intimidated by the sinister flames and the oil black candles, like they’re surrounding it, about to tear it to pieces like a pack of wolves. Somehow, this thought scares me.

I feel as though my body were turned to dry clay, like some instinctual part of me is stopping me from proceeding. I don’t want to know if I’m wrong. If Apple Bloom isn’t where I hope she is, I don’t want to find out, I want to stay in ignorance forever. At the same time, I need to do this. I need to know. This isn't about discovering Apple Bloom’s fate or securing my own peace of mind, this is finding out whether God is good, or not.

I inhale a deep breath that rattles my chest like the tail of a snake. I clench my eyes shut, bite my lip until the flesh is numb, then lift up my rigid arm and place the open blade of the scissors on the soft part of my hoof. My whole body clenches up. Tears leak out. I jerk my arm down and cast my hoof out, staining the insignia of the crusader cape forever in blood.

Chapter 15: New Friends and Old Ones

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“I’m telling the elements that I’m a demon.”

I think I’m more shocked than anypony to hear those words coming out of my mouth. Scootaloo and Spike are both surprised, but not devastated. They’re not coping with the fact that a huge undertaking of their lives is about to crash and burn before them and their very lives and souls could be at risk. Scootaloo leans up in her hospital bed, mouth open in disbelief. Spike is visibly ecstatic, and looks at me for the first time with something akin to friendliness.

“That’s– That’s great Sweetie. I’m so happy you came around on this.”

“Sweetie, you sure about this?” asks Scootaloo. “You said if anyone finds out you’re a demon there’s a good chance you’ll be killed.”

“There is a good chance I’ll be killed, but at this point, It'll be more risky to stay hidden than come out.”

“Why, just because Spike told you?”

“Because Rainbow Dash got kidnapped.”

Scootaloo winces back against her stack of pillows. I think she’s still somewhat in denial. She thought I was kidding when I initially broke the news. It took fifteen minutes of back and forth arguing before she accepted I was serious. Now she’s just in a slump.

I breathe a deep sigh. “Before that happened I was so sure that Twilight and the others would have no trouble dealing with Asmodeus. I thought all I had to do was stay under the radar until they sorted it out, and everything would go back to normal. Now half of Ponyville is in ruins, and Rainbow Dash has been captured. Asmodeus has a genuine chance of winning, and if he does I won’t be the only pony who is completely fucked. I’d rather take the risk of the Order knowing what I am than do nothing and risk all of Equestria being destroyed.”

“Glad we see eye to eye now,” Spike says.

He runs over to a satchel he brought over from the ruined remains of the library and pulls out some blank parchment and an owl feather quill.

“So how do you want me to word this?” he asks. "Just break it to them right away, put some context or explanations first, or maybe you’d like to write this yoursel–”

I swipe the paper from him. “No, if I’m doing this, then I’m doing it in a way that guarantees the Order doesn’t find out, or at the very least buys me enough time to explain myself fully to the elements before the Order has a chance to stick a knife in my throat. That means no rushing and no sending them messages that any Buck, Oat, or Cherry can pick up and read.”

Spike looks at me clicking his claws together. “Well, okay then, how do you want to go about doing this?”

“I’m going to meet with them directly.”

“That will be difficult, considering that not even I know where they are.”

“Finding them is the easy part. It’s getting to meet with them alone, without anyone from the Order noticing, that’ll be the challenge. If I just show up on their doorstep unannounced, the Order will definitely think something is up and I’ll be found out and cut down before I even get a chance to confess.”

“Uh, do you have any spells that can help?” Scootaloo asks. “Something that could stop the Order from detecting you?”

“Nothing that wouldn’t instantly fail under intense scrutiny, which I would certainly be under in this circumstance.”

“So, how are you going to make this happen then?” Spike asks tapping his foot.

“I can’t meet with them, but I think there’s a good chance that you can get them to meet with me.”

Spike’s eyes open wide. “Me? What can I do?”

“If I go anywhere near their hideout I’ll be discovered and gutted before I get a single word in, I doubt they’d even believe I was really Sweetie Belle. If you were to go there, however, they’d be suspicious at first but you’ve got nothing to hide. They’ll have to believe you’re the real deal. Once there you can talk with Twilight and the others and convince them to go somewhere private where I can meet with them.”

Spike is speechless for a moment, then he clicks his claws together. “Couldn’t— Couldn’t we just send a letter asking Twilight to hold them off until you can prove you’re Sweetie Belle?”

“That's not how this'll play out Spike. When the elements find out I'm a demon they'll doubt me and question me before they even think about offering protection. When the Order finds out I’m a demon there'll be no questioning. They'll try to kill me, and the elements need to be behind me one-hundred percent at that point or I'll die.”

“But Twilight—”

“I’m sure wouldn’t let them cut the hair on the ends of my mane if she knew for certain I was Sweetie Belle and had no ill intentions for her friends or Equestria, but she won’t be certain when I first tell her and she won’t be convinced by one letter no matter how well written it is. So I need to make sure the Order doesn’t know about me until we’re sure they’re all in agreement that I’m no threat. You don’t want to risk getting me killed do you?”

Spike looks at me for a second then gives a defeated sigh. “Okay, but how would I even convince them to go out alone, when there are demons looking for them?”

“I’m sure if you make it sound urgent enough Twilight will listen to you.”

“Alright, but you still don’t know where they are.”

“One second.”

I close my eyes, clear my mind, and focus on the element’s location; or more specifically Twilight’s location. I don't want another migraine like what happened when I tried looking for Rainbow Dash. Images come into my head of an old three story building in downtown Los Pegasus. I focus harder and get more specific details.

“They’re hiding in an old picture shop called Fast Flash, which is actually a front for an Order hideout. The address is 24819 Lucky Lane, in downtown Los Pegasus. That good enough for you?”

Spike opens his mouth. “How–”

“Clairvoyance,” Scootaloo answers. “Forgot to mention, she has that too.”

Spike looks at her a minute then shakes his head. “Won’t the Order have questions for me? I mean why would I go there in the first place? How would I find them? I can’t just say you did it, then you’ll be under suspicion.”

“Why you’d go there? Well, let's see, Ponyville was attacked, half the town is dead, Apple Bloom is dead, Scootaloo is hospitalized, you’re homeless, and all their pets were sacrificed in a satanic ritual. Anyone of those would be a valid reason for you to go looking for them. And as for how you’d find them.”

I hand him back the parchment I took earlier. “I want you to write a letter to Twilight. Tell her about the attack, be as detailed as you can, but don’t mention anything about me being a demon or you coming to find them. I want you to send a few of these letters, and then once we set out, you can just say you ‘tracked them’ using some special magick.”

“You want to me to lie to them?”

I roll my eyes. “You won’t have to lie. You will be sending a message, and I did just track them using 'special magick’. They just don’t need to know the details.”

He bites the ends of his claws and looks between me and Scootaloo. “But, if I show up alone it’ll look like I left you alone. Rarity would be mad at me, they’d all be mad at me.”

“I’ll just disappear then.”

“Disappear?”

“Yes, granted I’ll be back in a day or two so we can go over to Los Pegasus and give the confession, but for that time I’ll be gone and you won’t know where I am, and that’s exactly what you’ll tell the elements. Hell, mention it in the letter that’ll be even better.”

“What are you going to do when you’re gone.”

“There are a number of things I can do to help the elements once they know what I am. I intend to show them at least one example during our talk, one that I’m sure they’ll greatly appreciate, but also one that’ll need a little time to get ready.”

“And that is?”

“I'm going to find out where Rainbow Dash is.”

They both stare at me. Scootaloo sits up with a hopeful look on her face.

"How are you going to manage that?" asks Spike.

"If I got into the specifics there'd be no way you could say I disappeared without lying to them. Hell, knowing I'm looking for Rainbow Dash might already be too much."

Spike stares at me a moment, skeptical as to whether he should accept that answer.

"But aren't the elements and the Order already looking for her?" asks Spike. "What can you do that they won't be able to?"

"I can contact demons directly for one thing. I may be a filly, but I'm familiar enough with Equestria's demonic underbelly to know where things are hidden. If anypony knows anything about where Rainbow Dash might be, I'll find out."

Spike looks at me another moment with conflicting emotions on his face. Whatever side of his mind decided telling the elements needed to happen wins out in the end, and he nods his head slowly.

"Alright, if this is what it takes to get you to tell the elements then I guess I'll go along with it."

“Excellent. You get to writing that letter, and I’ll just slip out, for a day or two of course.”

“Don’t do anything too crazy out there,” says Scootaloo.

I smirk at her. “Nothing crazier than shaking my ass in front of an on charging hellhound, I promise.”

Scootaloo rolls her eyes. “One time.”

I laugh. Spike looks between us bemused. I walk past him to the window and climb through it. The main hall has calmed down since the initial attack, mostly due to an ever climbing mortality rate, but it’s still quicker to leave this way. I don’t get three steps before I hear a thump and turn to see Spike getting up after me.

“I thought I asked you to write that letter?”

“I will, just as soon as I see you ‘disappear’,” he says. “I don’t want to tell them anything that isn’t true.”

I look at him with slanted eyes. I understand now why he’s so hesitant to lie even about the smallest of things, he is fucking terrible at it. Whatever, I’m sure I’ll learn what he actually wants as we go.

We walk down the winding road into town, or what’s left of it. The place is almost a ghost town now, save for a few stragglers. Some sift through remains of burned out homes, pulling out money and food, in some cases an old wedding dress or some foals’ toys. Others are still desperately searching for lost loved ones. I notice Silver Spoon among that group, calling out Diamond Tiara’s name.

I turn away and walk just a tiny bit faster.

“So, you said you’re leaving to try and find Rainbow Dash?” Spike asks.

I turn to him and nod my head. “Yep, that’s what I plan to do.”

“How exactly?”

“I told you, if I say any more than I have, you’ll need to lie.”

“Okay, but try to understand how this looks to me,” he says getting in front of me and walking backward to face me. “I just found out what you are, and that you’ve been hiding it for years. Is it wrong of me to be just a tiny bit suspicious of you just up and leaving Ponyville immediately after, when you don't really have a plan for what you're doing?”

I look up for a moment. “Guess I can’t blame you for it, after everything that’s happened. Plus, it would be a tad hypocritical of me to say you should trust a demon.”

“Exactly, so can you at least give me a little info on the how?”

“Only if you feel comfortable telling Twilight and Rarity something that isn’t true.”

Spike stops walking and bites the tips of his claws, then rushes to catch up to me. “Is there anything you can tell me where I can like, tell a half-truth, or just leave something out?”

I tilt my head and think for a moment. “I am going to meet with an old friend, someone who might, keyword might know something about it.”

Spike looks down and holds his chin. “Okay, that’s a little more I can work with. Is there anything el—”

“I tell you any more than that and you will have to tell a bold face lie in order to not to give away too much.”

Spike gulps. “Alright, but I’m still not entirely comfortable with this.”

“You’re not in danger of having your guts ripped out. I’d say you have very little to complain about.”

We reach Carousel Boutique and walk inside. We walk the stairs up to my room, where I hear something moving around inside.

Oh mother fucker, I forgot about that.

I stop and raise my hoof in front of Spike. “Uh, could you wait out here for just a second. There’s uh, a bit of personal business I forgot to take care of.”

“Personal business? Wait, were you doing something demonic in there?”

“No, no, more of something, uh, girly.”

He gives me the biggest bullshit look I've ever seen from him, then charges the door. I grab him by the ankles and take him to the floor right before he grabs the knob

“Spike no!”

“What the hell did you do?”

“I swear, it’s nothing like that!”

“Then let me see!”

He struggles pointlessly against me as I effortlessly keep him pinned. He makes a lot of noise, however, and I soon realize why that’s a problem when my bedroom door opens behind us.

“Fucking hell! Can a stallion sleep off a fucking hangover in peace!”

I clench my eyes shut while Spike doubtlessly gawks at the beleaguered earth pony stallion who stumbles out of my room.

“Who the hay is– Wait, Caramel?”

“Spike? Oh, shit. Uh, I’m sorry, don’t tell Twilight you heard any of that.”

“What the hay is going on?”

I step off of Spike and stand to face the stallion. “Yes, hi Caramel. Did you just wake up?”

“Yeah, it was sort of hard not to with all that noise you were making. What exactly were–”

He looks at me a second, and I think he starts remembering everything we did last night, as he makes a face like he just dropped someone’s baby on the floor right in front of them.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuucck!”

He stumbles back into my room sounding like he’s on the verge of crying. Spike looks straight at me.

“Sweetie, what’s going on? Is he, you know, like you?”

“No, nothing like that Spike,” I say covering my face. “Basically, I was very stressed after all the shit that’s been happening lately, so I found him and brought him over to, help me relieve it.”

“Okay,” he says slowly. “But why is he freaking out, and why were you so nervous about–”

“Oh for fuck sake, I fucked him, alright. I fucked him.”

He looks at me with eyes the size of bowling balls. “Wait, you mean, you and him…”

He makes a ring with his fingers and moves a claw through it.

“Yes! I. Fucked. Him. We had sex, made whoopee, bumped uglies, got busy, danced dirty, did the nasty, shagged silly, passed the gravy, buttered the bis–”

My mouth is stuffed with a large brownish hoof that sneaks up behind me. “Please, stop, talking!”

Caramel turns and smiles at Spike. “Kids say the darndest of things these days don’t they, and so often without actually knowing what they mean.”

“She seemed to know what she was talking about,” Spike says.

“Well, I guess there’s nothing to be freaked out over, am I right?”

“She’s ten!”

“Hey, she came on to me, and on top of that, I was drunk. She got me drunk in fact. If anything I’m the victim of assault here.”

“You’re seriously trying to justify this?”

“I never gave consent.”

“Would you shut the fuck up both of you!” I scream.

They both keel away from me in fear. I take three heaving breaths then turn to Spike. “You, are not to breathe a word of this to anyone! Nothing about me, nothing about him!”

I turn to Caramel. “You, can fuck right on out of here and never come back again. I doubt I need to tell you why you should never speak of this.”

“So you can dodge the rape charge?”

“I should’ve booted your ass out of here the first time you came before I did, get out!” I yank him down the hall and kick him down the stairs. “If I hear even the wisp of a rumor of something between you and me I’ll bite your cock off! Fuckin prick!”

I shake my head and turn back to my room. Spike is staring dead at me his face frozen and unblinking.

“So, you have sex?”

“Yes, I have sex.”

“Is it some sort of, messed up demon thing, where even the kids have sex?”

“Believe it or not, yes, it is. Demons become sexually active at an incredibly young age, and succubus demons like me don’t even go through puberty at all. We can fuck, cum, and give birth the second we pop out the womb.”

“Alright, that’s as much as I want to know,” he says putting his hands up.

He marches into my bedroom. His whole frame tensed up and he turns back to me.

“Give birth, how does that work when—”

“Most of them die if it happens obscenely young.”

“And you still—”

“Younger than me. Not that it would even matter in this case; only another demon could get me pregnant. Mortal sperm literally burns up in my system.”

“Okay, now I mean it. Don’t want to know anymore.”

I shake my head and follow him into my bedroom. I ignore him gagging at the sight of the stained ball of sheets that is my mattress. I grab my saddlebags from underneath my bed and begin packing the essentials. Two sets of hoodies, some white flour for drawing ritual lines, my silver cutting scissors, my spellbook, and my favorite Maredonna records when I get a break. I strap my saddlebags on, then fetch the circle of black candles out of my closet. I place them down one by one in front of Spike, careful to space them in a perfect ring.

“This is how I’ll be leaving. It's a special ritual that lets me teleport to any place I can picture in my head.”

Spike faces away from the forming circle, but can’t help but peek out of the corner of his eye. “So this is the kind of stuff you do on a regular basis?”

“Yep.”

“Can the Order find you if you use that? You keep saying they’ll show up in Ponyville.”

“If they’re not already here they will be before the day is over. I’m honestly not sure if they can track me through rituals like this or not. What I know for sure is that if I come under direct suspicion I am all the way fucked up the butt. It’s actually just one more reason why getting out Ponyville, even if only temporarily, is a good idea.”

“Do you think there’ll be less members of the Order where you’re going?”

I stop and think for a moment. “I have no idea. The place I'm going got hit hard by Asmodeus's invasion, but the Order has been fighting the demons back as well. I could pop up in an area infested with demons, or in a tightly controlled Order checkpoint. I'll just have to see.”

I place the last candle down and sit down inside the ring. I clap my hooves together and light them all with a short burst of demonic energy.

“Sweetie, you will be safe wherever you’re going right?”

“I’m not safe anywhere, but thanks for being so concerned for yourself.”

I clear my mind and focus on a single image.

“I’m concerned with Rarity and Twilight.”

My smile is forced and painfully wide. “That’s still being concerned with yourself. Do you mind? I need to concentrate to make this work.”

Spike opens his mouth like he wants to keep arguing, but decides against it.

I close my eyes once more and expel all thoughts from my mind. I focus my concentration on imagining an old broken down apartment room in Manehatten. I picture it in as much detail as I can; the faded peeling paint on the walls, the cracked floorboards with several hoof sized holes in them, windows so dusty you can’t see out of them, the collapsed frame of a bed with a missing mattress, the neglected ursa teddy ripped along the neck where a young colt clutched it too tight.

I hold that image in my mind and don’t let it go, not even as I feel light, not when I start feeling like I’m spinning and flipping in every direction. I keep thinking of the poor ursa teddy as my body is flung through space at speeds too fast to see. Then it all stops.

I open my eyes to the smell of damp wood and mildew. My nostrils are plugged from all the dust and I give a violent sneeze. I extinguish the candles then get up and tiptoe my way to the window, dancing around the holes in the floorboards and stepping lightly not to make new ones. I rub my hoof against the dust-caked glass and peer outside, squinting against the blaring Manehatten sun.

The streets below look like a horror film. Blood splatters the roads and I can spot several corpses mutilated and dumped off on the sidewalks. There are no signs of life save for the occasional sounds of piercing howls and hysterical shrieks from other buildings. I’m definitely in one of the areas still overrun with demons.

Down the road I notice a barricade with guards standing behind it clutching swords, pegasi hovering above holding spears, and in front of it, I see more ponies wearing…

I go short of breath and my knees buckle out beneath me. Those were undoubtedly the black hooded robes of Order agents. I’ve heard tons of stories of course, but seeing them in person still jars me.

Calm down. Breath deep. Stay focused.

I hold a deep breath and peek my eyes above the windowsill. There’s a line of other mortal ponies, civilians who are searched and magically tested for any signs of demonic energy. When each one passes the barricades open up and they’re quickly rushed inside. This could be good. They might be too preoccupied with rescuing civilians than patrolling for demons. I can just blend in, keep my distance, and pray they don’t decide to push in. Plus, if my old friend is anything like she used to be, she’ll probably be in the demon controlled area of the city.

I use my clairvoyance to briefly check this, and smile when I get a vision of a little corner bar not too far away. Looks like I’ve finally caught a break for once.

I transform into my demon self, deciding it’s more important to hide my filly face as long as I’m in this part of town. I gather up the circle of black candles and place them in my saddlebags. I give my wings a hard flap. My wounded wing is still a little stubby, but I can probably glide on it so long as I don’t need to gun it.

With a deep breath, I push open the glass panel and perch myself on the windowsill. I extend my wings to get them use to flying again then push myself into the air. I float for a bit, using just enough force to keep myself elevated. I glide over the burned out section of the city towards the bar I saw in my vision.

I get a moving tour of this section of the city. It’s mostly a ghost town with only blood-drenched streets to indicate recent life, but every now and then I see something that brings a bad taste in my mouth.

First, I come across a tall gothic skyscraper with a whole swarm of scaly skinned demon ponies swarming around it. There are alcoves near the roof where gargoyles should sit, but in their place are tied up mares, each with a demon mounting and thrusting into them. They scream and sob loudly, pleading for mercy as the demons howl like hyenas. Whenever one finishes another swoops in to fill its place. One of the mares looks right at me as I fly by.

Second, I witness a stallion carrying a young colt, fleeing from a pack of horn bedecked earth ponies that chase them like a pack of wolves. They exit the alley and get onto the main street, where they’re quickly ambushed and surrounded. The stallion throws the colt down and tries to stab him with a knife, but one of the demons grabs him and yanks him back. They crush the stallion’s eyeballs inside of his skull, so he can only hear his son screaming as they castrate and devour him. Their agonized sobbing echo behind me.

Third, and most disgusting of all, I see a whole crowd of mortals gathered around a raised wooden platform with several demons up front and around them. The mortals bow towards these demons, and some come up on stage to take turns offering sacrifices to them. Some give their bodies, some give them money, one mare carries her six-month-old colt up and kneels offering it to a demon on extended hooves. I stop and hover in place as the demon eats the mare’s child right out of the cups of her hooves, its blood spilling down her arms. The demon smear that blood across the mare’s face, then kisses her with her own child’s blood on its tongue. She falls back and allows the demon to fuck her on stage to the excited cries of the crowd.

I’m half tempted to jump down there, crush that mare’s head, and eviscerate the rest of the crowd, but that’ll draw attention and I only have so much time.

Swallowing my anger I turn and continue flying. Thankfully I don’t encounter anything more. I touch down outside the bar I saw earlier. It’s a dingy old place on the corner of the street, with black painted brick walls and a blazing red neon sign in the image of a pegasus mare with her hooves between her legs, and a sign that reads “Angel’s Dive”. The muffled sound of blasting drums and rapid-fire guitars bleed out of the walls, which I can already tell is going to annoy the shit out of me. There’s a large sign on the front of the door that reads in big red letters, “No Fighting or Fucking Inside.”

I cock an eye at the sign as push open the door and enter into the dark smoke filled room. The static-infused ‘music’ blasts me in the face and I hold in a groan. For a moment I can’t tell if I stepped into a bar or a sex shop. The walls are fucking plastered with posters and photos of young, lusty mares striking seductive poses and wearing lingerie, to the point where in most places I see more ass than walls. If it’s not pictures than it’s glass casings with vintage Mare Toy magazines, lewd collectible cards with signatures of the mares, and even a very realistic figurine of a red-maned pegasus mare with her hooves between her legs like the mare on the sign out front.

The only thing indicating that this place is, in fact, a bar and not a porn shoot is the lit up counter at the back, displaying the hard liquor stacked in rows. There’s a rather grizzly looking stallion behind the counter tending a single customer, the mare I’m looking for.

She hasn’t changed a day since I last saw her. Still has that wild mess of blue mane standing in contrast to her simple white coat. Still wears that red leather jacket with the chains wrapped around her front hooves. She wears a pair violet tinted sunglasses and holds a shot of tequila, or what I assume is tequila if old habits haven’t died.

I inhale a deep breath and approach with a knot in my chest. Even with the quote on quote ‘music’ blaring, I can still hear Vinyl’s excited voice gabbing away.

“—And I tell him, ‘Hey retard! I don’t know how your sister taught you to treat a mare in bed, but you’re supposed to make her cum at least once before you fuck her in the ass.’ And then this dipshit, actually leans down on top of me, with his cock in my ass, and whispers in my ear like he’s being all romantic and shit. ‘Not to worry babe. Give me five minutes and I’ll make you cum harder than ever before in your life’.”

“And I’m guessing you took him for a ride after that,” says the bartender with a smirk.

“Oh trust me, this dumbass had a broken pelvic bone by the time I was done with him. But no, before that happened I got this evil idea. Basically, I let him keep nailing me from behind, but as he did I started to clench.”

“Uh, doesn’t that make it better for him?”

“You’ve clearly never gotten anal from a succubus before.” She chugs back another shot before continuing. “No, it was less like wrapping up a cucumber and more like crushing it in a vice. The dude was crying when he pulled out, hooves pressed against his crotch and praying to God, but you want to know the best part? He fucking came from it.”

“No way.”

“I swear to you, hoof on my heart, the guy was screaming in agony, but I felt him shoot off inside of me and I saw it dribbling on the floor. I could not stop laughing after that. It was the funniest shit I’ve seen all year.”

“Sounds like a pretty neat trick,” I say climbing up on the bar stool next to her. “I could’ve used it last night actually.”

Vinyl turns to me smiling. Her grin fades the moment she sees me and her dark shades fall a tiny bit down her nose.

“Hey DJ, it’s been awhile,” I say. “What have you been up to since we last met?”

“I’m sorry, is this filly a friend of yours?” asks the bartender. “Cause she needs to get out of her demon form, and switch to a more adult looking appearance if she’s going to stay here.”

“Um, I’m actually ten.”

“Oh, then you can fuck off indefinitely then.”

I give him a slanted look. “You know I could crush your skull like a grape if I wanted to right?”

“Point being?”

I sense around for any demonic power but there’s nothing around him. I use clairvoyance quickly just to make sure it’s not another situation like Alda, but there’s nothing. The stallion is just a normal earth pony, completely unfazed by my threats.

“You serve demons often?”

“They've been my only customers recently.”

“How have they not eviscerated you?”

“I serve them drinks, but I don’t serve minors. Now fuck off.”

I gawk at him. The very least I can see why Vinyl is hanging out with him.

I look over at her and see she’s staring steak knives at my heart. I smile humoring her. “Whatever, we can catch up outside. See you out there DJ.”

I push myself up off the bar stool and walk to the door. I can feel Vinyl’s gaze on my neck the entire way. I exit the bar and lean against a street lamp outside for a bit, watching harpies fly above me fighting for severed flesh. Two minutes pass before Vinyl comes marching out of the bar herself. She’s holding a handle of vodka, which she proceeds to break off the seal, and down right in front of me. She chugs for about fifteen seconds, the chains on her arms jingling. She finishes the bottle and throws it down, smashing it against the concrete, then walks towards me.

I breathe out a hard sigh. “Okay look, I know we didn’t exactly leave on the best note. I also knew that you’d be no fan of Asmodeus, which basically makes you the only one I can somewhat trust. So I was hoping you might know something about—”

She slugs me in the face. I go down hard, breaking up bits of the asphalt as I go sliding across the street.

“Don’t you talk to me about trust.”

I groan shaking my woozy head and fidgeting my jaw. She thrusts her arm forward and her chains unravel, shooting towards me and wrapping around my neck. I clutch at the narrow line of metal at my throat, attempting to make room to breathe, when she suddenly yanks on the chain, hoists me up into the air, and slams me back down to earth.

“I have one regret in my life, and that’s not caving your stupid fucking face in with my own bare hooves when I had the chance. Time to fix that.”

The chains retract, wrapping themselves back around her hoof and pulling me in closer. I’m dragged along the ground, but manage to shake my head around and clamp the chains in my teeth. I stand to my hooves and we have a brief tug of war before I whip my head back and swing her into a lamppost, snapping it straight off its base on impact and slamming it and her into the ground.

I rip the chains off my neck and cough as air rushes back into my lungs. “Right, so you’re still pissed. While I’d love to bicker about the past I’m sort of here on a more important task.”

“Fuck you traitor!” She stands to her hooves and swings her chains hard enough to carve the concrete like a cake. I shoot up into the air to dodge and land on the roof of the bar, where I hope she’ll be less apt to swing at.

“You think you can show your face to me for the first time in two years after what you did, and it’ll be just like nothing fucking happened! No, I’m not letting you slip away this time! You’ll eat that lying little tongue of yours when I’m through with you.”

She shoots her chains at me again, but I swipe them all up with a single hoof. “If I remember correctly, the whole reason you let me slip away the first time was that I fought a demon that you had been trying to kill for half a decade and ripped him in half in two minutes. You can’t fight me Vinyl. You’re like a fly buzzing around the ass of a donkey. You should stop pestering me before I swat you down.”

She bares her teeth at me like a dog. “Yeah, but can you remember how many you slaughtered and stabbed in the back to get that powerful?”

I glare at her. Her horn suddenly flashes with magic and she disappears in a flash of light. The chains I was just holding also vanish from my hooves. I’m taken off guard by this and don’t notice her charging up behind me until she rams me like a mountain goat, goring me in the chest with her horn. I’m launched off the side of the roof and while I’m in the air her chains extend out and wrap around my body. She spins in the air and then jerks her ends of the chains and sends me rocketing into the street with such force I punch a hole in the asphalt and land in an open sewer canal.

I spit up blood and hold my gushing chest wound as it begins to heal. I stand up, pushing a hill of rubble off my back. Vinyl jumps down into the canal and runs at me spinning her chains above her head. I stare her down like a charging bull and when she’s about to swing her chains I lunge forward and slap her into the canal wall, burying her in stone and mortar.

“I’m fighting against Asmodeus,” I say. “I need information to do it.”

She busts out of the wall collapsed on her knees, coughing up two teeth on the floor. She growls and glares up at me. “What makes you think I’ll give you shit?”

“Because I know you’re one of the few demons in Equestria who doesn’t want Asmodeus to win. You’re the only other demon I know who actually has somewhat of a problem with being completely fucking evil. You have a ponies you want to protect, you have a sister you want to protect. You don’t want them to fall under the rule of demons. So help me make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“And what can you do to fight a fucking demon prince? You’re a bastard, but not nearly as big a bastard to take on that.”

“I heard that Asmodeus recently captured an important prisoner. One of the elements of harmony.”

She stops pulling against the chains and looks up at me in shock. “How the hell do you know that?”

I throw the chain down, letting them clatter against the shredded sidewalk. “One of Asmodeus’s goons told me, right before I ripped out one of his fangs and drove it through his heart. I also confirmed with a special power of mine that said element is one self-professed best flyer in Equestria, Rainbow Dash.”

“Special power?”

“Clairvoyance to be specific.”

Her eyes widen to the size of light bulbs and then she buries her face, right in the sewage. “Are you fucking me in the ass right now?”

“Like I said, fly on the ass of a donkey.”

She makes a snarling sound in the back of her throat, making her seem rabid.

“On to the point, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about where she might be would you?”

She glares up at me and wraps the chains around her hooves again.

“Come on, you and I both know Asmodeus will eventually win if the elements can’t fight him.”

“How do you know she’s not dead?”

“Again, clairvoyance, though actually finding her with it is a little more complicated. Wherever she is, Asmodeus has set up some powerful magick to block me from finding her using it.”

“And he probably wouldn’t go through the effort of doing that for a corpse,” Vinyl says defeated.

“See, now you’re starting to get it. So, how about we help each other out?”

Vinyl stands up and looks at me for a long time. She doesn’t say a word, then she turns and jumps out back into the street. “I can dig through some contacts I have around Equestria. I’ll see if any of them know anything about Asmodeus and where he might take a high-value prisoner.”

She looks back at me. “You’re still a cunt by the way.”

I sigh and jump out of the hole with her. “You’ve gotten a lot more serious since I last saw you.”

“Yeah, it’s strange, there’s just something about seeing your face, breathing and alive that just kills any sense of humor I have.”

“Shame, I like to think I got a large part of my wit from you.”

“Remind me never to become a teacher then.”

I shake my head.

“While you’re hitting up your contacts I’ll be searching around for any of Asmodeus’s soldiers. If I’m lucky one of them might know something.”

“Try not to get raped out there, last thing I’d want is for something horrible to happen like there be more ponies like you running around.”

“Oh come on, that was low even for you.”

“Forgive me, let me try that again and make it less offensive.”

“Really? Now that’s completely out of character for you. Okay, go for it.”

She stares me dead in the eye and says plainly, “Go to hell.”

I stare back for a second, smiling to mask the rage. “I’ll see you there you shitfaced shitstain.”

“Least I’ve got something to look forward to.”

We storm off in separate directions. I fly off into the air after several steps to get away from her faster. I fly over burned out buildings and pockets of demonic atrocities, too filled with anger to take stock of it.

I wasn’t looking forward to meeting her again, but I wasn’t expecting her to get under my skin so easily. I use to look up to that mare, want to be like her, want to be as strong as her. She encouraged me too, said I could do it if I tried. Then I not only equaled her, I surpassed her, and she hates me because of it.

I fly stubbornly for a bit longer until finally admit to myself how fucking stupid that explanation is. No, if I’m being one-hundred percent honest with myself I know exactly how she got under my skin and exactly why she’s so angry.

Because everything she said about me is true, and she has every right to be angry.

Sweetie Devil

by Illumipony

Prologue: The Gods of the Left Hand Path...

Chapter 1: A Wolf in Lamb's Clothing

Chapter 2: Blood Rage

Chapter 3: Explanations

Chapter 4: Cover up

Chapter 5: Departures

Chapter 6: Of Wolf and Demon

Chapter 7: Still of the Night

Chapter 8: The Devil's Favorite Sin

Chapter 9: Games, Dolls, and the Mares that Play them

Chapter 10: A Touch of Evil

Chapter 11: I'll be There For You

Chapter 12: Bruised Heel...

Chapter 13: ...Crushed Head

Chapter 14: Heaven or Hell?

Chapter 15: New Friends and Old Ones