> Disgaea: A Promise Mared
>  by Tyrant Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: the Tyrant and the Princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


the Tyrant and the Princess



Hades, the prison of the Netherworld.

It was founded by the first Netherworld president and built on the top of an active volcano to hold any demons who ran against him in the first evilection and survived. Over the centuries Hades has housed many different criminals ranging from pranksters who went too far in their mischief to fallen angels, overlords, and even world-ending megalomaniacs. Hades was also tasked with creating and training the prinnies who would be sent across the Netherworlds -and even to Celestia the realm of the angels- to work off their sins. This was how the prison was run for millennia after it was founded.

But, even in the Netherworld, change is inevitable. 

A few short weeks after the 62nd presidential evilection and the 'Fear the Great' incident that happened in its aftermath a notice was sent to the top prinny instructor at Hades, from the newly elected president himself. A backroom deal had been struck to allow the souls from other dimensions to become prinnies and earn a chance to be reincarnated in their own world. While participation was strictly voluntary there were many worlds, many hells as it were, that had agreed and sent either the soul or the remains of who they each considered as some of their worst criminals to be reformed. One world in particular -with the approval of their diarchy and through their own prison, named Tartarus- sent as many of their deceased criminals as possible a second chance. But the unfortunate truth is, even if the chance is offered, there are still people, or should I say ponies, that would abuse it to revive their ambition. 

It is one of these very souls that will give rise to tyranny not seen in centuries.






Acrid smoke filled Fenrichs nose as he gazed upon the chaos unfolding before him. Scraps of metal were scattered all across the floor, some still glowing with heat. Fires were burning uncontrollably in every corner of the room as demons of every shape and type were running around with small tubs of water trying to put out their respective possessions and in some cases each other. With the amount of manpower present and how little was getting done, it was obvious someone had to take charge. With a long sigh to clear his lungs he turned towards a group of penguin-like demons running around like chickens with their heads cut off and begun reigning in the situation, delicately. 

"You, prinnies! put those fires out before they cause any more damage! We don't need another skin shortage now of all times." his low gruff voice commanded.

"A-aye aye dood." the group chorused with their high squeaky voices as they split up, half to fetch water half to move the aforementioned skin supply.

"You three! start collecting the furnace parts, get any replacement parts from storage if you must but we need this assembly line up and running before Lord Valvatorez gets back with the culprit!"

"Yes sir, Fenrich sir!"

'This month could not possibly get worse' the werewolf steward thought as he surveyed the destruction all around him. The main generator has been perforated so many times that it's a miracle in itself that it could still be identified as such, the furnace in question on the other hand looks like someone accidentally threw a prinny or ten of into it, and with the number of sporadic fires and still molten shrapnel scattered every direction possible, that could quite possibly be what happened. And if it weren't for two facts he knew he might have bought that. One: this was not the only incident today. In addition to this prinny production line three other lines were hit in a similar fashion before this one. From what he heard the Hades armory was also hit hard damaging most of the equipment inside, if not outright destroying it, Lord Valvatorez went to investigate while he inspected this most recent incident. And as for the second reason, when the explosion was heard, a black prinny was spotted fleeing from the scene by a guard responding to the noise.

No matter how you look at it this was intentional, and that prinny is the prime suspect.

'Speaking of prinnies thanks to that idiot president and his proclamation more souls from across dimensions are coming to Hades. The first few batches are just finally settling in and the next batch is expected to arrive next week. While lord Valvatorez is ecstatic at the prospect of instructing more prinnies it is distracting him from our-'

"S-Sir Fenrich! we've got another problem dood!" a prinny blurted out rushing up to Fenrich, eyes wider than they should be and sweat coming off every part of its blue penguin-like body except for his dripping red flippers.

"What is it now." Fenrich answered calmly but with enough emphasis to the unfortunate speaker to not waste any of his time.

"M-M-Meaver's been found stabbed near the dimensional gate dood!"

"What," Fenrich stood with eyes widened 'If Meaver -the dimensional guide of Hades- was attacked that means the dimensional gate will be out of commission until she recovers, or we find a replacement' . The implications beyond that however were a bit more worrisome. Regardless of how dangerous this situation suddenly became he still needs information on Meaver's condition. Taking a moment to compose himself he began "How bad are her injuries?"

"Bad dood. she was stabbed through the chest and her heart and left lung look like they've been cut in half dood," the prinny stated, obvious discomfort in its voice. "She lost a lot of blood before we could get her to the medic dood." 

"Do you know if she's going to survive?" 

"I-I don't know dood! I came to find you right after I dropped her off at the nurse's office dood!" the prinny explained waving its flippers towards Fenrich showering the still dripping blood on parts of Fenrich's clothes and face. The blood gained from carrying Meaver.

"I see," Fenrich said, his ire slowly growing as he wiped the blood off with his hand "what about the dimensional gate itself? where is it connected to now? was it used? and if it was who used it last and when?"

"I don't know any that either dood! I only got here a few weeks ago dood! and there was nothing like that in my old world dood." the prinny concluded now watching Fenrich's gaze change from irate to furious and finally closing his eyes altogether.

"I see," Fenrich said in a cold and malicious tone, his amber eyes slowly opening again revealing the tempest of rage he felt towards the incompetent prinny "then here are your orders; I am going to check on Meaver and then be rendezvousing with Lord Val, together we will head to the dimensional gates for our next course of action. YOU will find answers for all of the remaining questions I just asked as well as some useful information regarding Meaver's assailant and meet us in front of the gate. If you fail then I will be using your skin to write up my next report. Do I make myself clear. "

"Y-Y-Y-YESSIR, CLEAR AS CRYSTAL DOOD!" the prinny blubbered out before turning directly around and running as fast as it possibly could in order to literally save it's hide.  

'The armory, the prinny production lines, and now Meaver...' Fenrich mused. While attacking the armory is rather obvious, especially taking into consideration this recent development, there was still something gnawing at the back of his head 'it's safe to say whoever is responsible for this is trying to make pursuit as difficult for us as possible. So why destroy the production machines?' with his mind still racing he began making his way to the dimensional gate, leaving the relief effort behind him. That was something Fenrich didn't need to deal with right now. "you! prinnies! go to the armory and assist Lord Valvatorez cataloging all the weapons, armor, foodstuffs, and relics that were lost or destroyed during the attack and give me the report once I reach the dimensional gates; you have one hour."

"Aye-aye dood" the group of prinnies answered in chorus and set off to work.





Valvatorez looked upon the armory, eyes widened as far as they could go, his crimson pupils shrunk down to mere pinpricks as he surveyed the scene before him.

The gigantic metal doors of the Hades armory had been melted through, leaving a hole big enough for a full grown human to pass through making the steel chains barring the door moot for most demons. The gargoyle guards stationed there were reduced to barely recognizable piles of rubble. Inside was far worse; every spear, bow, and magic staff seen in there was snapped in two, swords and axes were lying everywhere in shattered heaps and everything looked as if it was put to the torch. Smoldering bodies of prinnies were scattered here and there all with blank eyes, some moaning in agony or twitching randomly, others not making a sound or moving a muscle. But the worst part -and what currently held Valvatorez's attention- was the many foodstuffs he and his allies used in their many battles from somas and snake kidneys to chocolate and sodas-

"No...not the SARDINES!"

-and even the prinnies sardine rations were spilt all over the floor and charred nearly beyond recognition.

"Who...who could've done all of this!?" he yelled to no one in particular, his voice a mix of disbelief, curiosity, and anger, mostly anger.

"I-it was a...black...prinny...d-dood" wheezed a nearby prinny struggling to stand in attention but only able to push its body up off its belly with one flipper the other raised over its half-open eyes.

"What! a prinny did all this? tell me what happened." Valvatorez ordered kneeling down to be closer to that prinny's level, his curiosity tempering his anger...for the moment.

The prinny  took a moment to catch its breath and get off its belly, now sitting and eye level with Vavatorez it began its recount of events through still ragged breaths "H-he blew through...the door...using pringer beam dood. He started...destroying the...weapons and...setting everything on fire, dood. Any prinny who...got close or...tried to stop him started...floating, dood. He threw us...into the fires and," the prinny taking a deep breath to prepare for what came next, both mentally and physically "said 'nothing will stop me this time dood once I return as king.' before...leaving us here...to die dood."

Once the prinny was done speaking Valvatorez got back up and reached into his pockets'This prinny survived being thrown and  immolated, he's quite the resilient one even by prinny standards'. "What's your name prinny."

"Amon, dood"

"Well then, Amon," he pulled out his hands revealing a 1HL coin in one of them "Take this and go to the nurses office, get yourself patched up," he said, his tone, while regal and imposing, was not that of a lord addressing a peasant but a commander encouraging a soldier "After that gather every profile we have on any prinny that would fit the description of the one you saw and meet me in front of the dimensional gate. I'm counting on you."

Amon could only sit there wide-eyed. THE Tyrant Valvatorez, who was feared a millennia ago for his power, who faced off against and even injured the former netherworld president Death King Hugo was counting on him, a prinny, the lowest of the low on the demon totem pole. In that moment all the pain he was feeling went numb and through sheer will he got up and gave the salute he was trying for at the start "Aye-aye dood, I won't let you down lord Valvatorez!" Amon said with renewed vigor as he took the coin like it was a "free reincarnation" ticket and ran out of the armory, each step was agony but he didn't care. He was headed to the medic anyway and even though thousands of prinnies are made daily, only prinny gods were black 'and why would a god lower himself to only a king dood' and that narrowed down the possible canidates immensely already. He will find this guy and get Lord Valvatorez his file, even if it's the last thing he does.

"He must have taken what happened here personally, I haven't seen such a spirited prinny since the lass, it's rather refreshing actually." Valvatorez noted, a faint smile on his lips. The smile vanished the next moment however, being replaced by a scowl "but, for everything he's done here," his voice now seething behind the faux composure "I'm going to beat that damn black prinny to within an inch of his life and bring him back to Hades for a proper re-education, This I promise."





Twilight reveled in the feeling of flying she had now that she had finally mastered using her new appendages as she soared over the thick canopy of the Everfree forest, being able to move unhindered and in relative safety over the dangerous forest. The wind blowing through her mane and the occasional flap of her wings to keep her aloft. At least she would have if her attention wasn't focused on scanning the dense underbrush and the occasional clearings she flew over searching for anything that should not be there.

"Twilight, tell me again why we're up here." the small scaly passenger hanging onto her back asked, his claws holding on to her neck 

"We've been over this before Spike," Twilight said " Fluttershy mentioned her animals have been very restless lately and that whatever is scaring them is in the Everfree Forest."

"But we've been out here for hours and haven't seen anything." Spike moaned

"It's only been forty minutes Spike, Twilight retorted "although the fact that we haven't seen anything from up here is starting to make me worry. With all the clearings we've flown over we should have seen a manticore or some timber wolves or...something by now but, nothing."

"Maybe an ursa major is down there eating everything." Spike replied sarcastically .

"That's impossible, all of Ponyville would have noticed it by now if that were the case not just Fluttershy's animals." Twilight said, missing one of Spike's claws letting go of her for a moment to meet up with his face. 

After another sweep across the forest, and another fifteen minutes of fruitless searching not only for anything suspicious in the forest but anything at all Twilight finally spotted something, an unnatural color among the shades of green and brown, in a clearing near the ruins of the castle of the two sisters. From her birds-eye view the thing looked to be slightly taller than the average filly, if they were standing on their hind legs like that thing was, and definitely more rotund. It also had a long yellow nose of some sort but its dark fur was obstructing any more defined features of the creature. "look down there Spike," Twilight motioning to the clearing and the mysterious creature "I think we found our suspicious somepony."

"Are you sure?" Spike responded in disbelief, arcing an eyebrow at the small black splotch on the forest floor "That thing down there doesn't look very menacing."

"Then lets go check it out," Twilight descended aiming to land near the middle of the clearing "If it's hostile we can simply teleport back to the lib-er...the castle," she winced at the last part, remembering her battle with Tirek and the home she had lost in the crossfire "If not then maybe we can find what's really causing the animals to panic". As her hooves touched ground Twilight was finally able to get a better look at the creature while it noticed her presence as well. It looked vaguely like the penguins Fluttershy had, only this one was slightly taller and definitely fatter, as well as some other differences. For starters where webbed feet should have been peg-legs were in there place, the eyes were merely black irises surrounded by the white of the sclera. The black skin she thought was fur was smooth and ran down its sides curving up over its belly, contrasting the white hide of its lower body with large white stiches at the top of the stomach seemingly sewing the two monotone colored hides together. around its waist was a large belt with a saddlebag with a small skull shaped button attached to it on the front, covering most of the belly. Purple bat-like wings could be seen protruding from its back and the big yellow beak was currently directed at her, hanging open. 'well this creature certainly looks like it's not from around here, perhaps I can get it to Fluttershy and see if it knows what could be scaring her animals' she decided, now that her visual analysis finished "um...he-"

"HELP ME I'M BEING CHASED BY DEMONS!" a loud an rather squeaky voice bellowed.

'So much for that...wait...did that penguin just talk?!' Twilight's eyes widened and she looked back at Spike to make sure she wasn't hearing things. Sure enough, his expression was the same as hers as he pointed a claw at the strange creature. It was a only a moment after the shock of who said it that what was said sank in "wait, demons!?". 

"Yes! real-life demons! they're trying to capture me so they can invade this world using me as-"

"A soldier?" Spike questioned.

"A spy?" added Twilight.

"AMMUNITION." the penguin cried, rivers of tears coming out of it's eyes.

"That's horrible!" Twilight could only stand in shock at the thought of demons using these weird -sentient- penguins as ammunition and a slight morbid curiosity as to how they could be used. But those thoughts were pushed aside for the more pressing issues at hoof and after performing her breathing exercises, helping her calm down slightly and think. With a plan in mind and her right hoof pointing to the edge of the clearing, she spoke "The town of Ponyville is just outside this forest, follow the path over there and you'll be able to leave here safely, once your there head to the castle, it's...pretty hard to miss actually," Twilight smiling sheepishly at the last part but quickly regaining her composure before continuing "I'll fly ahead and-"

"No, wait!" the penguin interrupted, making both Twilight and Spike flinch "If you leave me here those demons will catch me, but if you can slow them down that'll buy me enough time to reach the town, maybe even stop them from invading altogether. I even know where they'll be," the penguin pointed a flipper behind it to where the castle ruins would be "I'm sure they'll be in those ruins I passed back there." 

"Twilight, do you think the penguin's plan is a good idea?" Spike asked, hopping off Twilight's back pulling her away and so their third guest doesn't overhear them. 

"Honestly, no, I don't want to go looking for a fight and I wanted to send a letter to the princesses about the 'demon invasion' it mentioned," Twilight replied "but if time is not on our side then it's idea for stall tactics would be the best one, for now at least."

"What about teleporting?"

"I could teleport us to Ponyville sure, but..." Twilight hesitated, making sure she wanted to voice her doubts before continuing "those wings on its back and the stiches on it's belly seem...demon-y"

"demon-y" Spike chided.

"You know what I mean Spike," Twilight huffed "I'm not sure if its lying, I just don't think we're hearing the whole story."

"Then why not call him out on it?"

"Because that penguin will-"

"Can you two hurry, we don't have much time!" the familiar squeaky voice added in with obvious impatience in it's voice.

"-probably do that." Twilight huffed, turning back to their interrupter "Alright we'll do things your way, but you better be ready to answer some questions when we get back to the castle."

"Of course, anything to get moving."

"Well Spike, let's go," when Spike was once again on her back Twilight began her ascent, keeping an eye in the direction that would be where her destination would be while Spike simply watched the penguin. Once Twilight was clear of the trees, and with one powerful flap of her wings she flew towards what remained of the castle of the two sisters.

Once the Twilight and Spike where out of sight, the prinny's panicked eyes turned cold and his beak contorted to a slight sowl 'finally, that foal of an alicorn and that dragon whelp are gone,' the prinny then began to walk towards the edge of the clearing, deeper into the Everfree forest. 'I should thank them for being decoys in case those wardens manage to find a way to follow me,' the scowl twisting into a small, sick smile ' And once I reclaim my body and my empire perhaps I will, by making this country the first to fall under my new rule!'





Valvatorez entered the large room that served as his base during the evilection, the magma that was commonplace for the Netherworld prison flowing freely around the edges of the room and into the lower levels of the prison lighted the area. Surveying the damage as he walked towards the dimensional gate taking the time to stop at any notable damage. Immediately two things were caught his attention; the statue of the current netherworld president was reduced to rubble, an improvement in his opinion, and the Rosenqueen stalls were also reduced to piles of splintered wood and torn canvas in the attack and their respective owners could be seen sorting through the wreckage trying to salvage their wares 'hm, I guess what we have on us is all we've got this time,' Valvatorez mused, reaching his right hand back to his cape feeling the demonic energy still emanating from it as he continued towards his original destination 'we won't be replacing any of our weapons or armor anytime soon'. 

Turning the corner and refocusing his attention Valvatorez could finally see the three gates leading to the different worlds located in Hades. But while the gates themselves were still shining in all their glory, offsetting the natural glow of the magma with their own pure white light, the gatekeepers weren't where they should have been. Instead of seeing the three guides in front of their respective gates, a small group had gathered in front of the dimensional gate, the main gate for entering and exiting Hades with Meaver in charge of its happenings and upkeep. Of the people in the group Valvatorez could identify the two other gatekeepers chatting with Fenrich with numerous reports in his hands and six prinnies at his side, one prinny with large blank eyes and drops of sweat the size of bullets dripping off his body as he faced the werewolf steward, another pinny bandaged from top to bottom leaving only his eyes, beak, wings exposed.  

Strangely Meaver was absent from this group.

Fenrich's attention shifted as his master Valvatorez approached the group "my lord, I was just about to go find you," his even and composed tone greeting the prinny instructor "I'm afraid there have been some developments since we parted ways."

"Is that so Fenrich, does it involve why Meaver is not present?"

"It does, my lord" Fenrich pulled out one of the reports and handed it to his lord who took it immediately and began perusing the information as he continued "Meaver was stabbed through the heart with a standard issue prinny machete resulting in massive blood loss and numerous organs failing. I'd say it's safe to conclude that our black prinny was the one responsible for this and that he wanted enough time to use the dimensional gate himself but not allow us a chance to pursue him with Meaver being able to essentially warp us right on top of him. It was only through dumb luck that she made it to the nurses office for treatment."

"So she'll be fine." 

"Yes, although the nurses had to resort to giga-class healing magic to stabilize her. Also she will not be able to perform her duties as the dimensional guide for quite some time. For all intents and purposes the rouge succeeded in his endeavor."

"Then how are we going to leave Hades, how are we going to catch that black prinny." Valvatorez's frustration growing with each word his steward said and the thought of their culprit getting an indefinite head start.

"Relax my lord, I already have a plan regarding our situation on that matter but I'll elaborate more on that in a moment," Fenrich confidently stated allowing himself a smirk before pointing toward the mummified prinny "this prinny here says he has something for you."

The prinny in question gave a determined salute before reaching into his now patchwork fanny pack and pulling out a small stack of papers and giving them to Valvatorez "Here's the profile on the black prinny dood, I gathered up all the information we have on him and I'm certain this is the soul responsible for this dood."

"So you were able to finish your job, good work. With drive like that you'll pay off your sins in no time Amon," the mummified prinny jumped slightly and gave a renewed salute before turning towards the other five prinnies to start boasting as Valvatorez started to read the new report.

"So our black prinny's name is 'Sombra' is it." 

"Sombra huh, well now we won't have to refer to him as 'the black prinny' at least," Fenrich mused "so, what was this Sombra person like in his life?"

"Well for starters he wasn't a person but a unicorn," Valvatorez corrected "As for what he was in life, it seems he was a king of his own empire, at least until he was removed from power a thousand years ago give-or-take a decade." 

The only reaction Fenrich gave to the correction was a raised eyebrow. While a sentient unicorn was definitely outside the norm for prinny souls, stranger things in the Netherworld were capable of sentience and stupider things could become prinnies, the slime party and the lass being prime examples. "That would make him one of the 'new recruits' from another world then," mentally adding the information to what he already held in his reports "I take it he was not popular with his subjects." 

"Judging by the list of sins he committed he ruled through subjugation and fear, and used that fear to further empower himself and his rule, he was truly a vile soul. He even specialized in corruption and fear magic, not easy arts to learn by most demons even. If he were born a demon he might even be praised for some of his work instilling fear into his kind. But alas wherever he came from he was merely a mortal soul who was blown to bits in his last moments." Valvatorez, now finished with the report handed it to Fenrich who began to review the report for himself "but this just makes finding him and bringing him back to Hades all the more important, so tell me Fenrich; what is your plan for chasing Sombra?"

"It's simple really, my plan is-"

"Here's the armory report you asked for dood." one of two new prinnies answered, waving his report in front of Fenrich's face unaware of the situation and that he interrupted the one demon who should never be interrupted when talking to Valvatorez. Being late doesn't help either.

"Your thirty-five minutes late," Fenrich chided, returning the new report back to the prinny "as punishment your going to share your deepest darkest secrets over the intercom as well as read the report to us, in full detail, starting now."

"Yes dood..." the unfortunate prinny replied dejectedly and began his report "ninety percent of the weapons in the armory have been rendered useless...dood, ninety-five percent of the armor and all of the snacks are ruined," Valvatorez flinched as that last part "it can also be confirmed that two royal orbs and one of Valvatorez's testaments have been stolen too dood, as well as the experimental monster weapon the Nether-researchers have been working on codenamed 'Devil Matrix', the only items unaccounted for are the crystal swords, crystal bows, and the dainsleif...dood." 

"The main prinny production line is also operational and the other three will be back online by the days end dood. I was also told to tell you that numerous parts had to be taken from storage including the soul-binding crystals and gehenna fire starters dood." the prinny concluded still in the same monotone voice he started with "that's everything dood."

With the report done and the prinny relaxing a little bit though still in his slump from breaking rule number six, Fenrich decided it was time to move on "an interesting report, something Lord Val and I will have to discuss when we aren't as pressed for time, but right now there is something else more important; you also broke prinny rule number five: never interrupt your superiors," at this any relaxation the prinny felt was replaced by twice as much tension "because of this you'll have to start at level one, again".


(Revised) level one prinny task: spongebathing the zombies.


"NOOO DOOD! NOT AGAIN!" the wails went on deaf ears as two of the prinnies present picked up the poor unfortunate soul and was then hauled off to parts better left unmentioned.

"Hmm, that prinny seems to have a hard time grasping even the basics," Valvatorez mused "perhaps I should enroll him in my 
re-education course, the Zettai Prinny Project."

"Maybe later my lord," Fenrich stated, before anyone else could go off on another tangent "as I was saying my plan is to have the other two gatekeepers stabilize the dimensional gate long enough for a small group to pass through and recapture Sombra. we could then wait at our entry point for pickup, if Meaver hasn't recovered by the time we were done. It was Fortunate for us Sombra was not too knowledgeable on how the gates work, so long as no one used the gate after him and that there is currently no dimensional guide to reset the gate then the last used destination, being his, will be our destination as well, in fact the preparations are already being made for us to depart now."

"Excellent, then let's ready our equipment and get going. Perhaps we should leave a note for the others, just in case we're gone long."

"Allow me, my lord." at this one of the prinnies who was catatonic throughout all of this tensed up.





Valvatorez carefully looked over his sword, searching tip to hilt for any signs of damage or wear. The blade in question was a simple double-edged longsword with the hilt and guard reinforced to the point of becoming circular in order to withstand more advanced sword techniques, the blade itself was tempered to the point where while one edge of the blade would always shine in the light while the other would be pitch-black. His weapon of choice after his fall as a tyrant the 'Regal Darkness' lived up to its name in both appearance and power. Satisfied with the condition of his sword he drew it back into his cape where it promptly disappeared into it as if returning it to its sheath. With his weapon taken care of he then turned his attention to the suit and ring he was wearing, again checking both for any signs of damage. 'It's not my testament but it will have to do' Valvatorez noted referring to the enchanted ring taking the place of his stolen artifact "I'm ready whenever you are Fenrich."

While Valvatorez was inspecting his equipment Fenrich was making preparations as well. He was carefully adjusting the stained fingerless gloves on his hands so they would fit perfectly should the need to fight arise. Next he strapped a small watch shaped device on to his wrist, turning it on to calibrate it. With a slight hum he threw a few jabs and a quick three punch combo to gauge if anything needed to be fixed, the punches were accelerated to only just being visible. Satisfied with his results he turned the machine off and reached for a satchel, enchanted like the prinny fanny packs to hold more than it should, that contained each of the reports shold the need to review them arise, basic provisions such as charred newts, a tent, and prinny-sized shackles, as well as a labrys and swung it over his shoulder "All set my lord."

"We're ready too dood." the four remaining prinnies responded at once. Each prinny had their fanny pack outfitted with two basic machetes, one enchanted demon skull, a tub large enough to drown a prinny -or do laundry- should the need arise, and one hundred prinny bombs, standard issue for all prinnies. Included in the standard issue gear was a medical kit in case of an emergency at their destination, a portable B.A.S.E panel to make the return trip easier, and an energy scanner to help detect and determine the types of magical energies located at their destination as well as the overall strength and density.

"The gate has been prepared and is currently stable my lord." one of the remaining gatekeepers announced, the Item world gatekeeper if Valvatorez remembered correctly.

The group of six stood in front of the Dimensional gate Valvatorez and Fenrich stood at the front while the four prinnies stood behind them. The two remaining gatekeepers stood at the edge of the swirling cosmos of spatial energy channeling their magic into keeping the portal stable for as long as possible. "Then lets go, off to find our rouge prinny." Valvatorez said as one by one they stepped into the spiraling white abyss.

And found themselves in the ruins of an old castle.

As Valvatorez, Fenrich, and the four prinnies appeared one by one they began to look around indifferent directions, each taking their time to adjust to their new surroundings while the midday sun beat down upon them thanks to their rooms missing roof. While the prinnies looked in random directions mainly at the many different passageways on the sides of the hall they were now in, Valvatorez and Fenrich had their focus directed at opposite ends of the room. The vampire instructor looked at the far end, and the risen platform occupying it. The high-rise in question had two sets of ruined stairs with debris laying at the base and top leading up to it meeting two identically designed yet slightly damaged thrones under a pair of torn tapestries hanging overhead with a podium broken in half at the front between the twin thrones. The throne on the left was colored varying shades of blue ranging from a light cyan to deep indigo while the throne on the right was different shades of yellow. Above each throne were large tapestries with winged unicorns facing inward, eyes open and rearing back on their hind legs. above the creatures were a depiction of an azure crescent moon and a golden sun respectively. With Valvatorez examining the thrones at the back of the hall Fenrich chose to walk over and check what appeared to be the main entrance to the room, as well as the general stability of the ruins. On the way to the entrance he noticed a distinct lack of rubble, considering that the roof of their current room had collapsed, giving the midday sun that was overhead a prime spot to shine in unhindered. With a hypothesis forming in his mind Fenrich knelt down and swept one of his hand across a portion of the stone floor and his other hand on the doorframe of the main entrance. comparing the two, there was a distinct lack of dust compared to how old the ruins appeared at first glance. 

With the cursory observations finished the two demons reconvened at the center of the room while the prinnies stood to the side awaiting their orders "So this is the world where that rouge prinny Sombra ran off to huh, I have to say the air quality is better than the human world." Vavatorez commented, closing his eyes to better take in the tranquility and fresh air of the foreign world.

"Can't argue with you there my lord," Fenrich said "although perhaps we could get back to why we're here in the first place"

"You're right Fenrich," Valvatorez sighed "so what can you tell us about these ruins."

"From what I've seen in this room the ruins themselves could be over one thousand years old, perhaps significantly more depending on the status of the rest of the ruins, what really interests me about these ruins though is that while thousands of years old there is hardly a week or twos worth of dust on the floor or walls." Fenrich stated with a hint of intrigue in the tone of his voice "Combined with the distinct lack of rubble, especially when there should be" pointing upwards towards the nonexistent roof and to emphasize his point "it's safe to say that these ruins were inhabited recently and were in the process of being restored." 

"Does that mean these ruins are Sombra's old castle?" his lord inquired.

"Unlikely, a solitary king doesn't need two thrones in one room, most likely he chose this spot to avoid causing a panic with his return, I'm sure you've noticed why by now."

"Yes, while it's still present there is very little fear energy in the area." Valvatorez noted, his voice losing some of the gusto it normally carries.

"Exactly, right now he's weak and couldn't have gone too far, if we hurry we can find him by the end of the day."

"Alright then let's go," Valvatorez flared one side of his cape, regaining some of his lost enthusiasm in the process. Once his cape returned to it's normal state he singled out three of the awaiting prinnies, orders already in mind "you three prinnies, secure this castle, this will be our base of operation until Meaver has recovered or something better presents itself." 

"Aye-aye dood." the three prinnies responded as they split up to wander around the ruins and evict any would-be settlers.

"You will be in charge of setting up the B.A.S.E. panel, set it up here at the steps of the stairs." Valvatorez directed to the last remaining prinny. 

"You got it dood." the prinny said as he reached into his fanny pack pulling out the device in question and starting to head towards the twin thrones.

Satisfied that the prinnies will accomplish their tasks Valvatorez turned toward his steward, giving a slight nod. With the gesture returned the two of them made their way into the depths of the castle to find their rouge prinny Sombra.

"Where is that damn prinny?" Valvatorez remarked, completely annoyed that their target has not yet been found. Currently the pair had searched each of the towers, the garden in the back of the castle, and the various passageways lading to and from the ruined foyer currently placing the two at the main gate. "we've searched this castle top to bottom and there's been no sign of him." 

"That just leaves the forest over there," Fenrich answered as he pointed towards the sea of green connected to the castle ruins by a single path and a rickety rope bridge spanning a rather large ravine at the bottom of the mountainside "with no other paths on this side of the canyon he must have gone in there, lets hurry before he gets an even bigger lead". With only a nod in agreement from his lord the two sprinted down the path to try and make up lost time. Shame they didn't get very far.

"Hey! Wait! You shouldn't go in there. That forest is dangerous, especially for humans like you." a feminine voice hollered

Both Fenrich and Valvatorez skidded to a halt at the sound of this new voice and answered each other in perfect synchronization "Humans?" with verbal confirmation of what they heard they turned their attention towards the source of the third non-prinny voice which was...skyward? Hovering in the air not fifty feet up was what appeared to be a winged unicorn, or perhaps a horned Pegasus -Fenrich decided to go with the latter- staring down at them with apparent concern. The creature, apparently female if the voice was anything to go by, had a light purple fur and feathers matching the color on wings that seemed too small to support her size unaided. Her mane was overall a very dark blue with two lines of stronger shades of purple running through it with the tail matching in color 'so this horned pegasus knows about humans, this will save quite some time, but she seems quite ignorant about demons, perhaps we can use this -and her- to our advantage.' Fenrich schemed, his eyes narrowing and face subtly darkening unknown to the others present.

"Excuse me, did you just call us humans?" a certain other demon asked a little too politely, one hand clutching his side while the other covered his face as one of his legs started tapping the ground.

"Um, yeah, you are humans...right?" 

"Of course not!" Valvatorez exclaimed, eyes gone completely red as he once again flared his cape, this time in unbridled fury at the insult that was said to him."While we may have the same number of arms and legs as humans, we are nothing alike!" his eyes returning to their normal crimson daggers as he continued his tirade "We are demons! It is our duty to instill fear into the humans so that they will live conservatively and keep them in line, and as a proud and noble demon I will not stand for being considered anything else! besides look at him," suddenly pointing at Fenrich, specifically his ass "notice the tail, humans don't have tails!" moving his finger from the rear to the face "And the ears! Human ears are not that pointy! You had better take back what you said or I will show you what it truly means to be a demon." Valvatorez entered his fighting stance, his hand just in front of his cape which was now billowing in a nonexistent wind.

"Wait, your demons!?" the horned pegasus exclaimed, shock plainly visible on her face. The shock did not last long however as it soon turned to anger "your the ones chasing that penguin thing, aren't you." her horn now glowing a faint violet light "I won't let you use it as ammunition, and I certainly won't let you invade Equestria." 

'or not.'Fenrich sighed. The first living being they meet that could possibly have all the information they could ever need about this world and more is about to be cut to ribbons for an insult while their quarry gets farther and farther away. While being called human was half true in his case it was just as insulting as his lord explained. Still if this horse were to escape or be killed then any information she knew would be gone with her. this was something that he could not let happen. as such he quickly started formulating a plan. 'this month couldn't get any worse' 

> Chapter 2: Conflct
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Conflict



The Everfree forest was may things; dark, dangerous, mysterious, and untamed just to name a few. 

But it was never silent.

Throughout the ages, in peaceful times and in war, the creatures dwelling in the dark forest had always made their presence known, whether it was the growls of timberwolves fighting over prey or an ursa minor leaving the forest to find new territory in the mountains, there was always noise. The locals even used the noise to determine when exotic foods were in season and when it was safe to cross through the forest or, more importantly, not. But now the entire forest had gone quiet, the creatures all hid, scared of the intruder that now lurked in the dark thickets. Any living thing that even felt the presence of the intruder ran and hid, watching as it passed them by, letting them live. The silence was finally broken as a low growl echoed throughout one particular clearing nestled deep within the forest, where not even the light of Celestia's sun pierced through the dense canopy. One solo growl became a quartet as glowing green eyes glared at the intruder. 

The intruder turned towards the noise and was met with pairs of glowing green eyes glaring towards him "foolish beasts," could be heard coming from the intruder, as he held up a spherical object with curved horns jutting out of the sides "do you not realize who you stand before?" at this the feral growls changed to pained yelps and distorted wails "You serve me now," the intruder smiled, knowing what to do with his new slaves "there is a dragon whelp in this forest, find him and bring me his head, do what you wish with the rest of him." he commanded to the writhing forest all around him.

And then once again there was silence.






Twilight couldn't believe it.

Before her stood two human-like beings that one of which protested were not human. The being in question had spiky black hair, pointed ears, and red dagger shaped irises surrounded by the white sclera were locked squarely on her in an unflinching gaze. He was clothed in what appeared to be a white dress shirt under an unbuttoned black tuxedo coat, both of which curved in a vague heart shape on the upper half of the suit revealing a part of his chest and...'is that a giant button in his chest!?' button aside (for now) he appeared to be wearing white dress gloves on each hand. He also wore a tattered and torn cape which was black on the outside and a deep crimson on the inside. What struck her as odd about the cape was when he flared it during his speech it changed shape, becoming twice as long and removing any trace of wear leaving the cape looking more like a pointed wing until it reverted back to its ragged self. Even now, as it's bearer looks poised to strike, the cape is flowing in a non-existent wind with pieces flying off and disintegrating into the air but not diminishing even slightly. 

Moving on, while the sorter of the two looked at her with barely controlled fury, his slightly taller accomplice simply stared at the unfolding scene with a cold, calculating glare. His skin was noticeably more tan compared to the pale skin of the other and his eyes were a deep amber and compared to what she saw on the other side of the portal looked like normal human eyes. His silvery hair was a wild and unkempt mess, reaching down well past his shoulders and even looking like it went down past his legs, it wasn't until his irate partner pointed out that it was a very bushy tail that she thought it was that long. Speaking of, this one also wore gloves on his hands but unlike the white dress gloves, these were black, fingerless, and made out of something she really hoped she was wrong about. Along with the gloves he had on an open red and black jacket revealing the center of his chest, with black pants and a metal plated belt, all of which looked to be made of similar materials as the gloves. the bandages wrapped around his neck and a bag slung across his body were some of the lest things about his appearance Twilight noticed.  

'That penguin was right, they are demons.' Twilight thought, and almost instantly everything else the penguin said about them came rushing back. 'They probably are after him, and they really could be planning to invade Equestria.' her magic was already gathering, ready to blast either of the demons if they make any hostile actions 'I can't let that happen, I...I have to stop them here, or at least push them back to wherever they came from long enough to warn the princess'. 

"Um...Twilight?" a small voice coming from behind twilight asked tentatively, breaking her out of her thoughts and even making her tense up at how something snuck up behind her...at least until her brain had been able to process whose voice that was. 

Her response to the potential distraction was a simple, albeit very annoyed "What is it Spike." 

"I know we agreed to listen to that penguins plan to stall the demons but does that mean we have to fight them?" Spike asked as he cautiously eyed the demons down below. And while Twilight looked like she was ready for a battle she didn't want to fight, Spike looked at the demons expressions and was instantly unnerved at what he saw. The taller silver one looked calm but there was this malicious vibe he was giving off that suggested he had no problem ending their lives should he need to. The shorter black clothed demon was worse. He was already angry and there was something that reminded Spike of Rainbow Dash with how he spoke earlier, an unsettling thought should he decide to fight Twilight and him "I don't know what it is about those two, but they scare me, I don't think fighting them is a good idea."

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Twilight huffed. If they were serious about invading then fighting them would be impossible to avoid. "We still need to buy time and I don't think just staring them down is going to work."

"First off: calm down, you're starting to have one of your panic attacks," Spike said. Despite being scared of the two in front of them he was trying to be both supportive and firm to Twilight...even if he was secretly telling himself the same thing  "Do your breathing exercises, I'll keep an eye on them in case they try anything funny."

"Ok...ok," with Spikes reassurances Twilight closed her eyes and took multiple deep breaths as one of her hooves mirrored the in an out flow of her breathing. With the rapid drumming of her heart calming down to a more normal pulse, Twilight opened her eyes and dispelled the magic gathering in her horn. While her guard wasn't down by any stretch of the imagination, she felt that she was not going to attack at the slightest noise and after returning her attention to the two demons noticing that the taller, more feral looking one had a surprised look on his face. While curious, Twilight decided to ignore that train of thought in favor of Spikes idea "alright what did you have in mind?"

"Well let's try and get some information from them, you said that penguin might not be telling the whole truth so maybe these guys will know something." he suggested.

Twilight thought about it for a moment 'play twenty questions with them huh...that could work. Still...' "it's a good idea Spike but, do you really think they'll tell us anything?"

Spike replied confidently "hey it's worth a shot right? We're stalling for time remember, even if they're lying to us we're still keeping them here." 

'Should they try to attack I can simply teleport us out of danger, but if they decide to talk then we might get some really valuable information...' weighing her options, Twilight thought of what each possible scenario could be as well as the possible countermeasures she could take to, at the very least, warn Celestia of the impending attack. "Alright Spike, but if things get dangerous we're teleporting out of here, ok." Twilight responded, giving her assistant a quick smirk. Finally with a plan in mind, she took on more deep breath and carefully started her descent to the ground a fair distance away to hopefully give her some time in case either of them decided to try a surprise attack.   






Fenrich just stood there dumbfounded.

In the air above him was the horned pegasus still watching him and his lord, and on her back was a tiny purple dragon riding her like humans would...minus the saddle or reins. How he missed noticing the young dragon until now or even that this world had dragons was somewhat surprising but not entirely relevant to what was going on. He even decided that it was simply because of it's small size and purple scale coloring acting as a makeshift camouflage that he missed noticing the young reptile. What did turn him speechless was not only could this dragon talk, made apparent by the horned pegasus turning her attention towards it multiple times and even responded to whatever had been said, but that it was able to wrest said pegasus out of her rather sudden hysteria. 'Perhaps there is a way out of this where we get some useful information,' he mused 'I'd better take the initiative before my lord decides to make the first move.'  regaining his stoic composure as he watched the now two beast welcoming committee land. With one last quick breath Fenrich stepped forward and placed a hand between his lord and the gems of information standing before them "My lord, a moment if you please."

"What is it Fenrich," Valvatorez replied, still focusing on the horned pegasus even with his servant's hand obstructing his view ever so slightly "If this is about ignoring what she said then I don't want to hear it." 

"Perish the thought my lord," Fenrich defended ' in fact I feel the same way, my lord'. Lowering his voice so that only lord Valvatorez could hear what he said and even turning his head away in the off-chance their guest could read lips Fenrich whispered "I merely wanted to ask the horned pegasus over there some questions, and gather some information beforehand. It seems like she came into contact with Sombra, and perhaps would be willing to tell us where he's going if I can properly persuade her."

With a quick glance to Fenrich, Valvatorez relaxed from his fighting stance to contemplate what was just said to him. Getting a lead on where the rouge prinny went was a very tempting thought. If all went well, the locals could even deliver Sombra on a silver platter with a bow on his head and be back in Hades before the deaths caught wind of this fiasco. But being called human, even by something ignorant about demons made his blood boil, no doubt Fenrich felt the same way. Being part of the werewolf clan he resented his diluted human blood more than any demon Valvatorez had ever met, and yet... 

"Alright Fenrich, go ahead and ask your questions until you are satisfied," the vampire lord answered simply "I will let what has already been said slide...for now anyway." at the last part his voice darkened and his eyes narrowed to a subtle glare that all but said what would happen should these questions prove fruitless, if not outright rectifying the insult. 

And with a simple bow Fenrich replied "I assure you I will get some useful information from this, simply be patient for just a little while."

"Very well" Valvatorez sighed deciding to simply cross his arms, stand there, and watch what was about to happen transpire.

"Thank you, all is for my lord." With those final words to his master Fenrich began waking towards the two who, were waiting rather patiently away from the castle ruins. Satisfied he was within earshot of both the dragon and the beast it was riding on Fenrich started his delicate search for information "Hey horse! There's something about what you said I want to ask about."

"I'm not a horse you know, I'm a pony."

"Sorry, did you say something pot."

The now-proclaimed pony currently wore a look of surprise, courtesy of Fenrichs thinly veiled insult. And while the surprise was quickly replaced with a glowered look of frustration and embarrassment, the meaning wasn't lost. Reluctantly, and with frustration clearly evident in her voice, she answered "what is it."

Satisfied with his verbal knife twist Fenrich decided it was time to do what he does best regarding misinformed fools standing in his and his lords way; tear apart their misguided conviction and make them lose the will to fight. Standing tall he rested both of his hands on his belt to try and intimidate his audience "There is no point in denying that we indeed are demons and we are in fact after that prinny, the 'penguin thing' you mentioned, nor is there a point in denying that you met with him," he stated in an even growl "but what I don't understand is what possessed you to think that we would invade this 'Equestria' you mentioned when this is the first time we even heard of that place," at this Fenrich lowered his stance nearly to the point of being eye level with the pony, which made the now malicious glare and venomous tone in his voice have all the more impact "so tell me; assuming that where we are right now is Equestria, why do you think we would want to invade here?" already he could see a response forming in the pony's mind, and with a good idea of what it was going to be he decided to beat her to it "And before you answer know this: that prinny you met was also a demon, so anything you say about us as a species will include him as well." it seemed to be effective at stopping her train of thought, although the smirk she gave for a moment was unexpected even if it didn't really matter. 

After a moment of thinking and even consulting the dragon on her back the pony finally replied "I don't know why exactly you would be invading, but that doesn't mean you don't have a reason, it simply means that I didn't hear about it from the prinny when I had the chance."

"And what exactly did you hear?"

"Why should I tell you?" the pony replied, trying to give Fenrich her most intimidating glare she could muster. It wasn't much really. In fact were the situation were different Fenrich would have found the sight of a purple winged pegasus half his size with a star themed tattoo on her flank trying to look imposing with a dragon whelp on her withers amusing, and would have even shown her what a truly intimidating gaze was. Instead the only reaction he gave, whether it was noticed or not, was a slight eye twitch as the pony continued "I know your just fishing for clues about where that prinny is, so unless you give me some information as well I'm not going to say another word."

While Fenrich had expected some resistance to his questioning, he didn't expect it to be so soon. His defense being his opponent looking like she was meant to entertain children rather than hold a serious discussion about anything other than friendship and rainbows. Gently shaking his head, deciding not to think anymore on the subject "alright, then how about this; a question for a question, an answer for an answer," he replied in a calm, even tone. In his mind he was already making subtle changes to his plan 'let's see if her naïveté earlier was just for show' he thought. It was time to throw her a bone "and since you answered one of my questions already, I'll answer one of yours now, deal?"

"Deal," the pony replied. "first off; how many of you are here searching for that prinny?"

'A number count? Perhaps my previous assumption was correct.' Fenrich mused. He considered a head count a rather unreliable piece of information coming from an enemy, especially when it involved covert operations. Any two-bit con artist could say they have ten men and show they have ten men but really have hundreds waiting in the shadows, ready to strike. Still, he had to put some stock into his words which meant telling the truth, part it anyways "there are a total of six demons in our party searching for that prinny, the two that stand before you and four other prinnies inside the ruins."

"Hey, how do we know your not lying to us by giving us a wrong count?" the dragon interjected.

'Speaking of con artists...' Fenrich thought, already knowing what he was going to say next "how do you know the prinny you already met wasn't lying to you either?" at this the dragon merely shrunk back behind his rides neck "In any case blindly believing a demon's words is not a wise course of action. That's why I believe showing you would be better than telling," at this he turned around towards the castle ruins, took a deep breath, and yelled at the top of his lungs "ALL PRINNIES FRONT AND CENTER!" 

It took less than a minute for four small blue penguins half the size of the werewolf who called them to come running through the entrance of the ruins. One by one the prinnies lined up in front of Fenrich raising a flipper in salute. And once all four were standing at attention they answered with their squeaky voice in unison "prinny squad reporting for duty dood."

Fenrich smirked at the response time of the prinnies, noting the look of exhaustion and heavy breathing done by three of them even while standing at attention, it meant that they were working. "Prinnies are trained as sevants, disobeying orders has serious repercussions. If their master gives them an order no matter how impossible it sounds, they follow it, no questions asked." he stated to the pony, who looked rather surprised seeing the four identical demons. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order," Fenrich said, breaking the pony out of whatever trance she caught herself up in and refocusing it on the matter at hand "prinnies! pirouette while reciting the alphabet backwards," they did "juggle knives while standing on a lit bomb," they did...until the bomb exploded anyways "now turn that tree over there into a life-sized replica of my lord in three minutes." at this all of the prinnies eyes gleamed as they held up the knives they had been juggling and ran towards the tree in question wildly swinging away at the poor sapling for three straight minutes. Once the sawdust had cleared the tree was gone and in its place was a wooden facsimile of Valvatorez standing with one of his arms outstretched and the other rested at his hip. While the quality wasn't the greatest, there was no doubt to who it was modeled after "If anymore prinnies under our service had heard that call they too would come running regardless of what situation they found themselves in." With his show and tell over, Fenrich dismissed the four prinnies, who went back into the castle to continue their previous orders "Satisfied? Good now about my latest question."

"I'm curious about what that prinny said as well," Valvatorez added. "can you repeat what he said, word for word if possible?"

The sudden outburst from the former tyrant surprised everyone there, more the pony and dragon but not even Fenrich was unaffected. Still the two seemed to lighten up, even just a little. Picking her words carefully the pony started "well it, he signaled us down by screaming 'help, I'm being chases by demons'..." as her explanation carried on, and with the dragon adding remarks every so often Fenrich had concluded that wherever Sombra was now, even if he was hearing everything, the two in front of him didn't know. Valvatorez on the other hand simply listened, his  expression changing from initial curiosity to apprehension and finally, as she finished her recount of events, frustration "aside from that he said where you would be and that you were intent on invading Equestria using him as ammunition."

"Are you certain that's what he said?" he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice "you're not paraphrasing anywhere? Not once did you hear the word 'dood' come out of his mouth?" the pony and dragon shared a confused look before shaking their head in unison "I can't believe this." Valvatorez said, clutching his forehead as ire once again welled up inside him ready to explode. 

"What? was it something we said?" the dragon asked.

"More like something you didn't say, and I would step back a little if I were you." Fenrich replied quickly, following his own advice as he watched the horned pegasus comply with his suggestion before his masters tirade had a chance to scare them away. 

And with the ferocity of a volcano, Valvatorez began "Even after everything he's done he still insists on piling more charges against himself!" as he said each word to no one in particular he eventually turned towards the group of three stomping on the ground hard enough to make it shake, pointing a raised index finger at the group as he yelled "Prinny Rule number one: You shall always include the word 'dood' in every line you say!" with enough conviction to move nations.

Recovering from his lords ultimatum and now knowing that these two may not even know where Sombra is headed, Fenrich had decided that this back and forth routine had gone on for long enough "yes well, lengthening rap sheet aside it is clear that there was nothing in what he said that would even remotely suggest us demons would be attempting to invade this land," he said in his calm low tone "furthermore it seems as if you two were tricked into aiding in the escape of a dangerous criminal."

"Wait, that penguin was a criminal!?" the two replied in unison, both now having matching pairs of wide eyes and slack jawed looks on their face. After roughly thirty seconds, which felt more like minutes to the astonished locals, they tried to shake back their composure before pressing for more information...with mixed success "b-but how...what-" the pony was able to eventually say.

"Allow me," Fenrich interrupted as he reached into the satchel that hung to his side, pulling out one of the small stacks of papers and showing them to the pony and dragon duo "here is a report on the damage caused by our target, I'll even give you the honor and read what it says aloud to you." he stated, clearing his throat to begin reading. As he looked down at the report he noticed that it was glowing a faint translucent purple, raising an eyebrow he looked towards the first possible explanation. 

"I'll read it myself, thank you." the pony said regaining more of her composure as she did some sort of breathing exercise. With her horn glowing the same color as before she and Fenrich watched as the report floated towards her at a leisurely pace stopping at face level and remaining in mid air wrapped in the purple aura. As she read the report Fenrich took mental notes of the glowing horn on her forehead, the paper that was magically floating in the air, and that her horn glowed the same way when she was more...aggressive. With something to inquire about later he merely waited for the magical horned Pegasus to finish reading his report and watched as her expression changed from curiosity, to satisfaction, then concern, and finally absolute seriousness.

While it was good that she understood at least part of what that infernal prinny was responsible for, it was imperative for Fenrich to make sure she knew the full extent of his crimes. With one last sigh, Fenrich started walking slowly, with his hands holding his metal plated belt, towards the pony and his report, to figuratively hold her hand-er...hoof one more time, before tossing her into the wolves' den "perhaps I should give you a brief summary since you seem unfamiliar with some of our terminology," he said in a demeanor, drawing the attention of both pony and dragon as he continued on, his voice becoming more aggressive, more feral "he has destroyed billions worth in important machinery the we require on a day-to-day basis, ruined hundreds of pieces of weapons, armor, and foodstuffs we need to survive," now standing within arms length, grasping at his report "he is also responsible for critically wounding important members of our staff including guards, convicts, merchants, and even one of our gatekeepers!" holding his report and looking down at the two like a wolf glaring at an unruly pup, with a snarl to match "I have no more time to waste on this so here is my final question; Do you know where he is headed or not?" 

The pony's response was not immediate nor was it without breaks "I-I can't answer that! I'd just be giving you what you want!"

"That's exactly the point," Fenrich replied mercilessly, not letting either of them regain their composure. The fact that they hesitated about answering his latest question and not even outright denying him in the end proved they were on the fence. The pony and dragon now looking equally rattled now, and he intended to keep it that way. His strategy was coming to an end and now it was time for the coup dé grace "the longer he's here in your world the greater the chance of all hell breaking loose, because we didn't catch him in time, because you let him get away and made his trail grow cold."

The pony's legs were shaking. Her head swiveled rapidly seemingly trying to look at everything while taking nothing in. Fenrich could easily tell she was mentally weighing her options. Should the fugitive Sombra's story be true, she would be condemning an innocent soul to a horrific death and ushering in a demonic invasion whereas if she believed the demons standing in front of her, a dangerous criminal had escaped into this world and she is stopping the group trying to catch him. Fenrich knew that the pony was trying desperately to find some counter-point she could present against him, he had seen this many times before and knew that one of two conclusions were about to happen. Either the pony and dragon would abandon this farce of an interrogation and outright attack them where he and his lord would easily subdue the two or she would relent and lead them straight to where Sombra should've been. 

Either way Fenrich had won, and whether or not everyone here accepted it yet, they knew it. 

His answer came when the pony fell to her haunches, hung her head down, and with her eyes closed weakly muttered "alright...I do." 






"Twilight..." was all Spike could say as he tried to comfort his friend, although his attempts were in vain. Her world had shrunk down to everything below her, her dragon assistant, the two demons, where she was, none of that registered. Twilight was beaten, no matter what she tried the silver-haired demon always had a response and still managed to keep her from getting any concrete information aside from the fact that the penguin creature was called a prinny and that it was, in fact, a demon. 

"Can you at least promise that once we get there you won't hurt anypony...and that when we meet him you'll let me talk to him before taking him away?" Twilight asked meekly, her stance not changing from the despondent slouch she had when she uttered that singular word of defeat. She simply stood where she was with half-open eyes staring at the ground in front of her as she waited for an answer, even if she knew what that answer would be. They were demons after all, something like sentimentality was probably a dumb joke to them anyway. She soon had her answer when the silver-haired demon replied in the same harsh tone as before.  

"Of course not, why would you even thin-"

"Sure, I don't see why not."

"...Huh...?" was she hearing things? Did...did the demon she managed to inadvertently offend actually agree to let her speak with the prinny and also to not hurt anypony in ponyville? Or was this just some sort of cruel trick he was playing on her as payback? She chanced a glance up to see the red-caped demon standing beside his comrade, who had a face of what could only be described as utter shock, staring at her not with an evil smirk on his face, but instead a serious gaze 'is that...understanding in his eyes?' 

"My lord, you can't be serious!"

"I don't see why your making such a big deal about this Fenrich," he replied, keeping that calm gaze as he turned to face the other demon before returning to Twilight "we both know who is in the right in this scenario and once we have him we will be leaving soon after correct? any questions unanswered would just come back to haunt her, and us."

Twilight could hear the one who was called 'Fenrich' let out a low growl before finishing with a long sigh "if that is what you decided then there is no point in trying to change your mind, all is for my lord."

"Good," at this the red-caped demon walked up to Twilight, putting both her and Spike on guard as he knelt down and... outstretched his hand? "now then pony, what is your name?"

Caught off guard by the sudden question. unlike the ones she had been previously answering this one was focused on her instead of the prinny Twilight had to take a moment before she could answer but was able to muster up the courage to do so as she tentatively grabbed the offered hand "it's Twilight, Twilight Sparkle."

"Very well Twilight Sparkle," the demon said, helping her up before taking a few steps back. And with the same cape flare he did when they had first met, the demon made what could only be described as a declaration to the world "I promise you that before we apprehend our prinny you may ask him any and all questions that you have until you are satisfied AND that nobody here will be hurt by any demon under my command!"

"But...how do I know you're not lying?" it was a valid question she thought. There was really no physical evidence to support the demons words, no previous encounters with him, no actions to compare with, nothing.

The demon responded to the question by pinching the bridge of his nose and with an exasperated sigh replied "if I've said this once I've said it a thousand times, I am a proud and noble demon and as such I shall NEVER go back on my word!"

And that's when it clicked. Throughout this entire confrontation, whenever he spoke, there was always this something in his words, something that she had seen in Rainbow Dash and Applejack; pride. Whenever this demon got angry it was because she had inadvertently insulted him or when he found out the prinny wasn't following a rule. When his friend and her were speaking he interrupted only once to make sure the prinny was following the rules, and was infuriated when he found out he wasn't. Twilight could now see the demon was straightforward and proud of that fact. With a faint smile Twilight quietly responded "thank you..."

With a smirk the demon started moving towards the Everfree forest, signaling to the rest of the group to follow him "well then, let's get moving!" 






The trek through the Everfree forest was proving to be one of the more unnerving experiences Twilight and Spike have ever gone through. Beside the duo was the black caped demon matching their pace, casually looking around taking in the scenery and a few steps behind them was 'Fenrich', keeping a steady gaze on Twilight and the aforementioned demon. And while traveling with demons through the Everfree as well as the why behind it kept her on edge it was the absolute lack of noise coming from the forest that worried her the most. It had been like this for the last hour, and with still no clue as to what was causing the forest creatures to act so timidly, there was little she could do about it. Unable to stand the deafening silence anymore Twilight turned to the black caped demon "can I ask you something mister...um..."

The demon looked towards Twilight with a stare of patient curiosity trying to figure out what she was trying to say, or what was stopping her from saying it. Realization dawned on him as he slapped his forehead with his gloved hand "that's right, we haven't introduced ourselves," the demon chuckled behind his facepalm. He then removed his hand from his face and gestured to himself "my name is Valvatorez, prinny instructor of Hades..." after his brief introduction Valvatorez then shifted his hand away "and he is my loyal servant Fenrich." who only replied with a quick bow before returning to his duty of keeping an eye on his lord.

"Valvatorez and Fenrich..." Twilight muttered, getting used to the foreign names "Valvatorez what exactly is a prinny? I mean they must be really important if they have their own teachers and can do...that," grimacing at the thought of the report she looked over. While the weapons lost was more of a positive in her mind, innocents being hurt and food being wasted on that massive a scale made her stomach turn. Deciding to get back on topic she continued "but can you tell me what makes them special, compared to other demons anyway?"

Valvatorez pondered the request for a moment before returning Twilights gaze "very well then," he decided. In truth he was getting tired of the silence as well, greatly preferring the camaraderie of allies traveling to the silence of an army on the march. Clearing his throat he began his explanation "prinnies are the dead souls of humans that have lived sinful or worthless lives...although that will probably need to be updated thanks to recent events..." he made a mental note to check up on that when he returned to the netherworld "anyway, they are considered the lowest and weakest of demons in the netherworld being employed by other demon lords and even the angels as servants. And while netherresearchers have yet to discover an exact reason, prinnies will explode violently when thrown. Furthermore almost all new souls will start out as a private prinny, the blue ones you saw with us." 

Twilight took in all the info that was being presented to her. Prinnies were human sinners souls, they are employed as servants, they explode when thrown, and that they were the weakest of demons. While most of it seemed unbelievable, hearing it from the mouth of a demon gave it a little more credibility. Still there was one hole in explanation so far "what about the black one?"

"The black one is most likely a special case. If a soul is powerful enough, a prinny will be created with a different colored hide or some sort of other slight mutation. I only know of a few other cases of this happening," starting to count the other times on his hand, he continued "lets see...there was a witch that took her own life, scarring her son in the process, a defender of earth who committed many atrocities in the name of justice, and one rather persistent judge who held the most malice toward humans in the entire world." he chuckled as nostalgia flooded him at the thought of the last case. "As a prinny their goal in their new life is to work hard to pay off their sins and be reincarnated."

"Reincarnated? How?"

"The Red Moon."

"The red moon? What's that?" Spike added.

"Exactly what it sounds like young dragon," Valvatorez answered, now matching his pace to the dragon riding on Twilights back "every couple of years the moon in the Netherworld changes color to that of deep red, and the light it gives off is very special to prinnies." after seeing the confused looks exchanged by Twilight and the dragon Valvatorez surmised that they probably never even seen the aptly named 'blood moon' "Once a prinny has paid off its sins they learn when and where the next red moon will take place, once they arrive at the site, the light from the moon cleanses their souls of the sins they committed and the memories they had in their previous life, and death shepherds the souls back to the human world, where they may once again be born into the world.

"Like a second chance..." Twilight murmured, her mind thinking back to Princess Luna, Discord, Sunset Shimmer, and even Trixie. Her reminiscing was cut short when a loud, aggravated growl snapped her back to reality and essentially killing the mood. With an irritated huff, Twilight turned her head back to glare at the culprit who was returning her glare with a look more of curiosity 'sorry, Fenrich, it's not my fault so many ponies I met wanted to turn their...life...around?' 

Fenrich wasn't the one growling.

As the growling seemed to intensify, four pairs of green eyes started to glow in the forest surrounding them. One by one the lupine creatures that seemed to be made of the forest itself started emerging from the thick underbrush and converged on the path in front of them, effectively barring their way.

"Timberwolves!" Spike screamed.

"Timberwolves? not exactly an original name." Fenrich chided.

"I take it they're not friendly?"

"Definitely not!" Twilight replied hastily "We need to get out of here now." she said, now looking for an alternate route the four of them could take.

"That won't be necessary." Valvatorez stated calmly, walking to the front of the group transitioning into his fighting stance.

"We'll handle this," Fenrich added as he casually walked to the side of his lord, stretching his arms before messing with the device on his wrist "I've been wanting to get some exercise since we got here." he said as he too entered a combat stance similar to his lord.

"But it would be two against one, you're at a disadvantage." Twilight pointed out.

"And with you and the dragon we'd be even, but that's not the point." Valvatorez countered "The point is, as our guide we cannot risk you getting hurt or worse and forcing us to wander around this jungle unaided. Besides we're used to far worse odds back in the-" Valvatorez was cut off when one of the timberwolves decided to pounce and make quick work of the unsuspecting demon.

It was at the apex of the jump that it discovered that was a very bad idea. At that moment a sharpened set of nails dug into the left side of its face and effortlessly sent it flying into some rocks submerged in a nearby bog "how dare you interrupt my lord!" Fenrich seethed, now falling back towards the ground "I hope your ready to be turned into kindling." the moment his feet touched the ground he dashed towards the lupine shaped target and before it could even react Fenrich delivered a swift right jab followed by a left uppercut and finished by clutching his hands together and delivering a devastating hammer blow, shattering the timberwolf into splinters against the submerged rocks.

Valvatorez only smirked as he watched Fenrich utterly destroy one of the timberwolves, and turned that smirk towards Twilight who had her mouth hanging open from watching the spectacle unfold. Turning his attention back to the three remaining timberwolves he started closing the gap between them. And using his right hand he reached into the red part of his cape and pulled out the Regal Darkness. Brandishing his weapon he called out to the wolves in equal parts excitement and haughtiness "I'll be your opponent!" and with his free hand gestured to the wolves to attack any time now. The timberwolves didn't hesitate as all three started charging towards Valvatorez. 

And in unison leapt over him.

Realizing he was not the target they were after, Valvatorez pivoted around and bolted towards the intended target: Twilight. With no time retaliate before the timberwolves plunged their fangs into the distracted mare he did the only thing he could, put himself in the way. Using the blade his sword for the middle wolf and the rest of his body for the other two, Valvatorez caught the three attacks. Suppressing the pain from having a set of wooden fangs in his left leg and right arm he glanced back at Twilight and the dragon, making sure they were ok, and while shocked at what was happening in front of them they seemed fine. Turning back towards the wolves barring down on him he stared into the middle ones glowing green eyes with a look of pure malice "I said I'll be your opponent." he seethed as he pushed back the one chewing on his sword, threw off the wolf on his arm into the first and kicking the third off him and into the newly formed wood pile.

While his clothes were now torn and being stained with his blood from the wounds he didn't care, clothes could be repaired and he knew a trick or two to heal his injuries. Seeing the timberwolves standing again and once again glaring at not him but the pony standing behind him, Valvatorez decided it was time to end this. Jamming the tip of his sword into the ground, he drew his cape around him enveloping himself in thick purple haze. As the haze thickened the form of Valvatorez melted into it and from the haze came legions of bats that all flew towards the three timberwolves, biting and clawing at them relentlessly even lifting them into the air through the sheer number of blows being dealt. The myriad bats then flew into small groups scattered above and below the three airborne wolves reforming the purple haze, only this time large fangs appeared from the fog, impaling the wolves within it's 'bite'. As the timberwolves fell to the ground in wooden heaps the purple haze appeared once again coalescing into one cloud by the Regal Darkness before dissipating to reveal Valvatorez, still in torn and bloodstained clothes but otherwise unharmed. Dusting off his hands and returning his sword into his cape as if it were a sheath, Valvatorez turned towards his onlookers smiling triumphantly "well, that takes care of that."

"It's not over yet! Look out!" Spike yelled.

Before he could respond Valvatorez was swatted away by a giant wooden paw, knocking him back behind Twilight and Spike and giving him a good taste of the dirt they were only recently walking on. 

Fenrich watched as the once three now one giant timberwolf landed a back attack on his master "my lord!" as he moved to intervene he was stopped when a giant pair of jaws clamped down at the spot he would have been a second later "Dammit, what now!" following the jaws to whatever they were attached to he saw what appeared to be a crocodile that was roughly three time his size with stones attached seemingly at random across its body. Its hide was a dark green and protruding along its spine were rows of jagged rocks forming a rough line from headto tail. The hulking cragadile lumbered out from the murky water of the bog placing itself between the path and Fenrich, it's reptilian eye focused directly on the demon it had missed. Fenrich returned the glare with is own and prepared to unleash another triple strike "I don't have time for you, lizard!" to his surprise when he landed the first strike to the beasts jaw, the impact hurt him more than it hurt the his target. He had to back off when the cragdile snapped at him with its massive jaws in retaliation to his attack. Furious, Fenrich let out a howl and started dashing around the focus of his ire on his hands and feet, dealing light blows with every pass he made, becoming ever faster with each run. Time after time the cragadile turned to snap at the demon an each time all he ate was air as Fenrich continued attacking in his set pattern. Predicting where the demon was going to attack it hastily turned to face the next assault, ready to finally catch its opponent off guard.

But the demon was slightly faster.

By the time the cragadile had turned toward where Fenrich would attack form next, the demon in question was already in the air with a fist clenched tightly, magically infused with the wind he had generated running around and condensed into a violet ball radiating from his had. In one swift shot Fenrich brought his fist down between the cragadiles eyes, bone being shattered from the impact. Whose bones weren't made apparent until a moment later when the lumbering beast hit the earth out cold. Scoffing at the unconscious(or possibly dead) beast, Fenrich cracked his knuckles and began making his way back to the group.

Meanwhile, Valvatorez got up off the ground, spitting the dirt out of his mouth in the process and was turning back towards the giant timberwolf that was now barring down on Twilight and Spike "so they're able to fuse together after they're defeated, interesting..." the vampire once again drawing his sword from his cape and charging forward "but a cheap shot like that is nowhere near enough to beat me". 

While Twilight was holding her own by blasting the giant timberwolf with beam after beam of magic, even if most of the shots were glancing blows, Valvatorez could see the wolf was gaining ground. Wasting no time he jumped over Twilight and Spike in between her barrages landing in front of them with the Regal Darkness ready to strike. Moments later, Valvatorez rushed forward unleashing a flurry of lightning fast swings across the giant timberwolfs body, finishing his onslaught directly behind the target. To Twilight and Spike it looked as if he had simply made one horizontal slice, but how the wolf was convulsing suggested there was more going on. They were proven right when the timberwolf tried to turn and meet the demon for another back attack only to find each of his legs were sliced cleanly in two toppling the massive beast under it's own weight causing vertical splits to appear across the length of it, including right behind the eyes. The timberwolf fell to the ground in now segmented pieces of lumber starting from the torso and head and quickly heading outward the green glow of the eyes fading from the 'face' piece, never coming back.






Valvatorez watched from the corner of his eye the effect his attack had caused. Acknowledging that the forest was silent once again meaning that the last of the debris has hit the ground, he turned and walked towards the opposite side of the pile of wood, ending up between it and Twilight. When he found what appeared to be the timberwolfs face piece, he casually walked up to it and drew his sword back, ready for another strike "so, are we done here?" when no response was given from the now inert pile sticks and leaves, he once again returned the Regal Darkness to his sheath-like cape "Good." he said now turning his attention to his approaching werewolf servant.

"My lord are you alright?"

"I'm fine Fenrich, it was just a sneak attack, no harm done." Valvatorez reassured, as he continued dusting himself off. As he did so the damage to his clothes became more apparent. The right sleeve of his suit was torn apart at the elbow, revealing it and most of his arm, his left pant leg had a hole in it just under the white belt, he could also feel a draft on his back so there was probably some damage there too "Although I could use some new clothes."

"My sincerest apologies my lord...but I didn't pack a spare outfit, I assumed our stay here would be so quick that I didn't think it would be necessary." Fenrich replied with genuine anguish in his voice. He always hated feeling useless when it came to his lord Valvatorez despite being forgiven or reassured by his master for his failings.

"Is that so," Valvatorez said as he looked at the damaged parts of his clothing, thinking of a way to use what he had to repair the tears "well then we'll just have to hope wherever we're going has a means to fix my clothes. Perhaps we could ask Twilight if she knows a good tailor." at this the demons turned their attention to the sound of hoof steps quickly approaching them.

"Ah, speak of the devil." 

Twilight stood before the two catching her breath due to everything she had experienced over the past few hours being expanded upon rather than any physical exhaustion. Eventually she was able to speak again, starting with sounding out letters and saying half words and quickly working her way up "you...wha...how did you do all of that!?" she finally managed to get out as she pointed her hoof at Fenrich "You channeled magic!" she stated to the werewolf, only to swivel her hoof to the other demon "And you transformed into a swarm of bats! And you BOTH moved faster than I could see at one point, and where did that sword come from!? How is what you just did even possible!?" 

With a rather frustrated sigh Valvatorez decided he would be the one to address her questions "one of these days you WILL understand that we're demons, your worlds natural laws don't necessarily apply to us, that being said, as a vampire lord being able to transform into bats is the equivalent to being able to breathe, a natural instinct. As for my sword, I just store it in a pocket dimension connected through my cape, no big deal. Now then as for Fenrich channeling magic, all I can say is that every demon is capable of channeling magic through their bodies, in however manner they see fit should they train to do so, while some are better at it than others. As for how fast we are able to move; hardwork, determination, and TONS of experience."

"So...all demons can use magic, you're a vampire Valvatorez, and anyone could move that fast where you're from?" Spike innocently asked. 

"To put it simply: yes." Fenrich replied deciding to keep things short and sweet "In fact we're at somewhat of a handicap in this world."

"Woah you guys are awesome!"

"Spike!" Twilight scolded earning a sheepish smile from her number one assistant "Still this does bring up some more questions I want to ask you."

"Might I suggest holding off on asking them until later," Fenrich said, his tone implying this was more of an order than a suggestion "I think it's become quite clear that this forest is not the ideal place for expository banter." 

"Heheh...good point," Twilight sheepishly admitted. Deciding to see how much of the forest was left to walk through until they reach the tree line and the safe open road to Ponyville that follows, she flew straight up over the canopy until she could see their destination. Pleasantly surprised as well as slightly apprehensive about what she saw, Twilight returned to the group to share the news "Ponyville's just up ahead, let's hurry."

"Ponyville? You must be joking." Fenrich chided wincing at the thought 'there's no way a town would have a stupid name as Ponyville'.  

"No...why?"

"Grr...it's nothing," the werewolf quickly replied 'apparently it is possible.' "let's just get to town and get this over with."






'So...those beasts failed,' the malicious voice coming from the small black peguin mused. Hidden deep in the Everfree forest the former king Sombra watched through an orb pulled from one of the many staves he took from the prison. Converting it into a scrying orb was a simple task and thanks to the crystal shards implanted into the timberwolves, controlling them was foals play 'no matter, with these...' reaching into the fanny pack first for the skull that radiated magic power, then for ten identical staves each with a jagged purple gem resting at the end as a centerpiece. With his warped dark magic Sombra tore the gems out of their sockets holding the gems in an aura that undulated and occasionally popped a sickly green and pitch black 'my reign will be absolute, but first...' tossing the staves themselves aside to focus on the gems, watching as the purple of the gems was slowly dyed a mixture of blacks, greens, and much darker purples 'I must take precautions against the demons, as well as that young alicorn.' at that an idea struck him, grinning at the prospect he went to work twisting the magic in the crystals until each of them radiated a sickly green and purple mist and sparked with black lightning  'Perhaps I should test out what these are truly capable of' he gleefully thought as he watched the corrupted gems blink out of his sight.






> Chapter 3: An Unforeseen Turnabout
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3: An Unforeseen Turnabout 




"...'Just up ahead' right."

When Twilight had said that back on that road in the Everfree, Fenrich assumed it would be another fifteen, maybe thirty minutes before they reached the timberline and perhaps half as long before they were at the town proper.

That had been two hours ago. 

By now, the group had left the forest but only just, and were now making good time towards what could only be Ponyville. But while the town was what he considered five minutes away, the damage had already been done. The sun was no longer at its apex in the sky and was already halfway towards the horizon's edge. Considering how long it took for the celestial sphere to get to that point Fenrich had estimated that there was roughly five more hours of daylight left. And while he preferred moving around during the dark, it also meant he had five hours before Sombra could also use the cover of night to escape from whatever hole he was really hiding under. Thanks to all this he was now trying very hard to see if he could use the legendary skill, the 'Zetta Beam', on the back of Twilight's head. No luck yet though, she was still there.

"Ok, so I'm bad at judging distances from the skies," Twilight huffed, averting Fenrich's death glare by eyeing her own wings "my wings are still relatively new."

"Relatively new?" Valvatorez parroted, raising a disbelieving eyebrow at the alicorn mare, and the limbs in question "What, did they just appear out of thin air one day when you weren't looking?"

"Well, kind of..." Twilight answered sheepishly "it's...a long story ok."

"And what's the short one?" Fenrich venomously stated.

"A...magic spell?"

A magic spell? He had asked for the short story but surmising everything that happened to her was because of a spell gone awry was a bit pathetic, or perhaps it was intentional. He decided that if his lord was curious he would pursue the matter, with this in mind Fenrich looked over to his lord in an attempt to gauge his expression.

Distress over his suit...of course.

With the exchange of glances changing from his lord to Twilight, the demon decided to shrug it off and accept the simple explanation, it didn't really matter anyway. Humans from their dimension were able to create artificial demons through science, who's to say a pony couldn't grow a pair of wings thanks to a magic incantation. With the matter dropped the four continued on their way to the small town in the distance. Once they were closer to town Valvatorez and Fenrich were finally able to make out the inhabitants they would be dealing with.

Ponies, and lots of them. 

That was just the tip of the iceberg though. The ponies were all some unnaturally bright shade of anything-but-normal colors, some could be seen flying around just over the roofs of wood and straw houses while others stood near stalls on the streets with random commodities floating close to them. Above the skies was what appeared to be a living rainbow flying around wildly through clouds, dissipating them in the process, before flying off to the skies outside of town. Taking a deep breath, the demons steeled their nerves as they reached the outskirts of the town proper and the first of the locals noticed them.








The stroll through Ponyville had become one of the most uncomfortable moments in the entire groups life. Twilight and Spike were walking at the front of the group leading two demons towards the castle to apprehend a penguin-esque demon she met, who they considered to be a dangerous criminal. Fenrich, who was walking next to his lord, trying to act as a barrier for his exposed leg, couldn't help but wince at the archaic architecture of the buildings or the brightly colored equines that inhabited them as well as the lack of fear energy in the air ever since they left the forest, it would not be advantageous if things went south. Valvatorez was trying to cover up his arm by draping his cape over it, thus leaving the now apparent tears in his back visible. The only constant between the four was the wary looks they were all getting from the townsponies as they passed through. While Twilight and Spike were friends to either one pony or the next, the same could not be said about the taller and vastly more intimidating duo walking not three steps behind her towards the castle. Mercifully the discomfort subsided briefly when they reached the castle of the friendship princess. 

"Well, here we are, my castle..." Twilight said despondently, the last part being no louder than a whisper.

"your castle?" Fenrich replied as he took in the structure before him. Calling it a structure though was a bit generous, it appeared to be a massive crystalline tree that towered over the other buildings here. At what would have been the canopy was arguably the 'castle' comprised entirely of amethyst crystal with golden balconies and roofing. Atop the crystalline structure was what appeared to be a rendition of a starburst, much like what appeared on the banners, and looking vaguely familiar "Does that make you royalty or something?"

"Eheheh..." Twilight replied sheepishly. 

'she's not denying it...'

With Fenrich giving her a scrutinizing gaze (or more scrutinizing than before) she reached out with her magic to open the massive doors, hoping to end this ever increasing awkward situation. With the doors fully opened, Twilight motioned to the two with her hoof to follow as she strode into the crystalline foyer, closing the doors magically behind them.

before anything else Twilight noticed that the black prinny was not waiting for her in the foyer, which was good...or bad...or'-gah! That wolf demon's got me second guessing my self!' she sighed, raising a hoof to her forehead. With the stress ebbing as she did her breathing exercise, one thing was still clear, she had to find him but leaving those two alone was just asking for something to go wrong. With that in mind she turned to the one and currently only living thing in the castle she trusted and whispered "Spike keep an eye on them until I get back, I'm going to go find the black prinny."

"You got it Twilight." Spike responded in a mock salute.

Now that Spike was dutifully watching the demons from a safe distance away Twilight took to the air and turned toward the two with the most regal look she could muster "wait here and I'll go get him." and with those words she took off through one of the hallways, leaving the three in an almost awkward silence. After a few minutes Twilight returned to the foyer wearing a discontent look on her face as she flew towards another hallway mirroring the previous one, only to fly back with a completely disheveled look.

"He's not here!"

Valvatorez trembled where he stood, in utter disbelief of what Twilight had just said "what do you mean 'he's not here', this is where you said to meet him wasn't it!?"

"Can't say I'm surprised really," Fenrich replied calmly "it's what I would have done in his situation, though with a little less shoddy acting and a few more half-truths to make it sound more convincing." 

Twlight froze, which being in the air still meant she nearly fell to the floor. And while she was able to recover and land on her hooves, her mind was still racing as realization after realization dawned on her "b-but if he's not here then does that mean you-"

"Were telling the truth him about him being a criminal?" Fenrich said in a haughty and condescending tone "I believe at this point it should be obvious."

With the compounding evidence against him, the suspicious behavior he engaged, and now not being present like he said he would made Twilight reach the same conclusion about the black prinny "oh this is bad, this is very, very bad," she said, starting to pace trying to think about what to do next. after a deep breath she turned to her assistant and in a calm but still commanding tone said "Spike, we have to send a letter to Celestia."

Both demons were taken aback at this out of nowhere decision, or rather the fact that this presumed pony princess had connections to the angels. unconvinced from what he heard, Valvatorez was fist to speak up about Twilight's claim "Celestia? You have connections with Celestia?"

Now it was Twilight and Spike's turn to be surprised. Neither of them expected the demons to know the sun princess "well...yeah, of course I do but, how do you know the princess?" 

"Princess?"

After about a minute or two of awkward silence it was thankfully broken by a familiar exasperated sigh "it seems we have a bit of miscommunication." Fenrich said in a stately manner "You see where we're from there is a place called Celestia, but you're talking about a person aren't you."

"Well...technically an alicorn like me, I was her personal student until recently," Twilight responded, motioning towards her wings and horn "she's one of the ruling diarchs of Equestria and is even responsible for raising and lowering the sun, and has done so for more than a thousand years. I was also her personal student, chronicling the magic of friendship until recently." she continued on, praising her mentor in an almost giddy fashion and loosing Fenrich's interest with every word spoken. Once her nostalgic rant was over she regained her serious demeanor and returned her attention to Spike "Spike send her a letter detailing the situation. Give a summary of everything that's happened since we entered the Everfree."

"You got it Twilight." at this Spike rushed off into the castle with surprising speed, only to return a moment later with a piece of parchment and quill in hand. Twilight then started helping in Spike's recounting of the past hours events, including their first encounter with the prinny, the run-in with Valvatorez and Fenrich, and even the two saving them from a pack of timberwolves, as well as the speculation from Twilight that the now missing demon could be a dangerous threat to Equestria, with Spike deftly writing them down on the parchment paper. Once the note was finished Spike rolled it up, raised it in front of his mouth, and let loose a stream of green flames that engulfed and ultimately incinerated the letter, watching the ashes fly away on some unseen wind.

Fenrich watched as the letter the small dragon had just finished writing went up in flames. But instead of discontent or aggravation, the dragon and horned pe-...alicorn watched in satisfaction as the ashes blew away, implying what just happened was supposed to happen "an odd delivery system," he mused, eying where the smoke lingered from the flames "I take it his flames are enchanted?"

"That's right," Twilight confirmed "anything burned by that green flame will be sent to the princess."

"Interesting," Fenrich said, already wondering what the limitations are, or even if there were any to begin with. Still, before he tried using it on something a little more sentient, there was a more immediate matter that needed addressing "and how long before we get a response?"

"I don't expect it to be very long," Twilight said, she was confident that Celestia would consider this a matter of grave importance and respond accordingly with a plan to swiftly resolve it. that didn't help alleviate the still tense atmosphere that seemed to permeate the room. deciding that standing around doing nothing was something she couldn't stand watching Twilight offered the two demons a suggestion "why not take a look around the castle in the meantime, I'll let you know when I get a reply."

Before either of the demons could reply to Twilights offer their attention was turned towards a banging noise coming from the front doors. Curious at what was causing the noise, Fenrich calmly began walking towards the door, ready to see what foolish local would try and barge in and interrupt their princess and her guests. To his relief no pony stood at the doorstep, although a group was forming a safe distance away from the castle, wearily eying him and what was at the door. That being four familiar blue penguins fumbling together into a salute and all at once said "prinny squad reporting in dood."

Fenrich smiled at what was standing before him 'finally, we'll be able to get something done around here.' he thought before he turned his attention back towards the cannon fodder with beaks "perfect timing, I have new orders for you," he said in his calm but malicious tone. Now that the prinnies were focused, made evident by the beads of sweat falling off of them, Fenrich eyed each of them intently "I want to look at the energy radar, whichever of you has it can stay here in the castle..." the prinny on the far left did a silent cheer and waddled past Fenrich into the castle "the rest of you, go back to the ruins, retrieve the B.A.S.E. panel, and set it up here in the castle." 

"Aye aye, dood."

With the three remaining prinnies running off towards the Everfree Fenrich and the remaining prinny returned to the foyer where Valvatorez had returned to trying to cover up all the damage to his suit, resorting to simply covering his entire body with his cape, while Twilight and Spike watched inquisitively. Deciding that his lord couldn't get into any trouble at the moment, Fenrich turned his back to the group and instead faced the primy and extended an arm. After a moment of rummaging through it's fanny pack the prinny produced a rectangular metal object large enough to cover both of his hands if they were laid flat. There was a large display screen in the center of the device and numerous buttons and knobs of varying sizes on each side of the monitor. Pressing one of the buttons made the device hum to life displaying on the screen various shades of color, ranging from reds and oranges to greens, blues, and even some blacks, on a somewhat distorted topographic map of the room. With a twist of a knob the map expanded to show the entirety of the town with small dots of varying colors moving around amongst the shades of other static colors.

With Fenrich calibrating the energy radar, the prinny sitting nearby in case he was needed, and Twilight and Spike eyeing him with a look full of curiosity, Valvatorez was becoming well and truly bored waiting for Celestia's response. He was used to making things happen rather than waiting for them to happen, but what could he do with his clothes in tatters and no leads to go on. Exasperated that nothing was happening he turned toward his proprietors, giving them concerned looks that belied the still many questions they had "Twilight I want to ask you some things."

"uh...what is it?"

"why do all of the ponies here have some sort of tattoo on their flank? is it some sort of coming of age ritual?"

Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the question "they're called cutie marks and it's not really a coming of age ritual. A cutie mark represents what our individual special talent is," she answered, turning to reveal her own flank "for example mine is my specialty in magic."

"Fascinating..." Fenrich sarcastically added as he gave the knob another twist, watching the map expanded to include the ruins and losing the moving dots in the process.

"Anyway..." Twilight huffed "a cutie mark is unique for each pony, since everypony's special talent is different."

"So no two ponies will have the same mark correct?" Valvatorez asked, more out of clarification than anything.

Twilight thought about the question and tried to find a time where she had seen two identical cutie marks on different ponies "as far as I know yes. That's not to say it's impossible but the odd of it happening are incredibly slim." she concluded, both the initial question and her recollections "Now then, what else did you want to know?"

"Tell me about the other ruler of Equestria."

This caught Twilight off guard. She was expecting another simple question about the ponies themselves or perhaps a question about her or even about Ponyville in general, not on princess Luna, not yet anyway. Thinking fast Twilight tried to turn the conversation away from the sensitive matter "er...aren't you curious about the different types of ponies living in Equestria...? Or why I live in a castle? Or even why I have a baby dragon as an assistant?"

"No, not really." Valvatorez answered flatly "Pegasi are the ones that can fly and are the more agile, unicorns can use magic through their horns like our witches can through a wand, and the normal ponies are physically stronger thanks to having no extra appendages. Anything else that could be considered important will come up if the plot demands it." Valvatorez said, summarizing what he saw as they entered the town the previous hour. "As for you, your basicly an enhanced combination of the three types, as is this 'Celestia' you mentioned, isn't she." he seemed to be correct in his assumption as Twilight was wearing a rather nervous look "That being said, it is only logical to think the other diarch is an alicorn as well, one who is most likely capable of impressive feats in this world if they're anything like their counterpart. So I'll ask again: who are they?" 

The seriousness in Valvatorez's eyes proved that he would not be dropping this issue and trying to change the subject again would most likely end the same way. Out of options Twilight relented "alright, the other ruler of Equestria is Princess Celestia's sister Princess Luna. She's in charge of raising and lowering the moon every night as well as watching over the dreams of everypony sleeping and ridding them of nightmares, she's also responsible for weaving together the constellations in our night sky millennia ago and is beloved by the young fillies for what she does." she noticed that Valvatorez looked a bit surprised and even Fenrich was watching her intently (if only out of the corner of his eye), maybe this would be enough to satisfy his curiosity.

"I'm not convinced." well ponyfeathers. "Even to an outsider like me, one of those sisters is getting a better deal than the other and if they've been around for more than a thousand years like you claim then where is the animosity? There's still something your skipping isn't there. " Valvatorez pressed, more demanding an answer than asking for one.

"I-I have no idea no idea what you're talking about."

"Save lying to the professionals princess, you're embarrassing them." Fenrich interjected before returning his attention back to the radar, pushing another button and pressing on the black dot in the center of the map, one he knew represented himself and his energy signature.

'Could he have been anymore condescending?' Twilight thought, shooting a glare at the back of the werewolf's head only to once again sigh in defeat "a thousand years ago Princess Luna was overcome by jealousy towards her sister and became the corrupted fiend known as Nightmare Moon." she somberly said, recounting the legend of her fall as well as remembering her past experiences "As Nightmare Moon she tried to make the night last forever so that the ponies would appreciate her work as much as they did Celestia's and even tried to usurp the throne in the process. In the end...she was banished to the moon, giving her the nickname 'the mare in the moon'." she could once again see Fenrich watching her from the corner of his eye andValvatorez seemed to be deep in thought about what he just heard. Even Spike looked dispirited after hearing that and he knows how it ends. Not wanting to end on that note Twilight hastily added "But she returned a year ago and was happily reunited with her sister." thanks to her, her friends, and the Elements of Harmony but It's probably best to not mention that to them yet. 

"I'm not sure how I feel about one of you ponies having control over the moon, even if it isn't our moon," Fenrich said "so long as it isn't defiled with an alien civilization or any graffiti I suppose it's fine. Besides, an eternal night sounds like a paradise to us demons." he made a mental note to leave a prinny here in case such an event does happen in the future. With all the naïve locals to terrify and an endless night to do it in, it would make this place a decent vacation spot. Breaking out of his daydream he returned to the task at hand, pressing another few buttons causing the screen lost all of it's color and instead started letting off a pinging noise and lighting up at the center. Now that the radar was locked on to his specific fear energy signature Fenrich once more imputed another button command to locate any general fear energy sources in the map area and displaying them with a beacon and a ping. He watched as the radar picked up one...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...NINE readings?!

"My lord, we may have a problem..."

Before Valvatorez could inquire further, a loud burp was heard echoing through the room. First the demons turned to the prinny who only shook it's head, rapidly denying that the rude gesture was his doing. Moving on down the list they turned towards Twilight and Spike where they found a plume of smoke between them materializing into a sealed scroll in mid-air. Twilight quickly caught the scroll with her magic and carefully removing the seal and began excitedly read the letter. The excitement quickly faded the longer she looked at the parchment being replaced with confusion, concern, and most notably fear "what...? how? but... this doesn't make any sense," 

"And she wants me to do WHAT!"









The sun shined through the stained glass widows of Canterlot castle's throne room, reflecting the vibrant colors off the marble flooring. Any pony who saw such a spectacle would have been captivated by the sight of it all. Sadly, there was only one pony in the room and her attention was focused elsewhere, and had been for quite some time. Celestia sat in her throne, reading a letter that appeared from thin air, rematerializing itself from ashes.

"It seems like what you said was true."

"Naturally," a young male voice responded with a hint of confidence in his words "you know as well as I do that Equestria is nothing like the Netherworld, I wouldn't be here if the situation wasn't dire."

"Right..." Celestia replied somberly before putting on a smile and regaining her motherly tone "it is still nice to see you again, despite the circumstances." true it had been a while since the last time she met with her guest, she even cancelled the day court when news about a strange two-legged creature was demanding an audience with her, in hopes of being able to catch up and enjoy the day unhindered. Those hopes were dashed however when recent events in the Netherworld were brought to her attention. Donning her regal composure and tone, Celestia once again addressed her guest "My former student, Twilight Sparkle will want to know about this, about who escaped from Hades, it does involve her after all."

"How?" the guest asked.

"It was because of her and her assistant Spike's actions that Sombra was vanquished, and subsequently sent to Hades." 

"I see..."

"There's more," Celestia added, referring to the letter to help with pronunciation "according to Twilight, she has already met demons from Hades, they said there names were 'Valvatorez' and 'Fenrich'." 

Her guest was visibly taken aback by the added comment and the two very familiar names; who wouldn't recognize the leaders of the Rebels of Hades, the group that single-handedly overthrew the corrupterment, stopped a program created by God, and overall became the enemies of the entire universe. From his shock came small restrained chuckles, and the chuckling quickly grew to uncontrollable laughter "of course those two would be here!" finally reigning in his laughter and regaining some of his composure he closed his eyes, smiling whimsically "I wonder how they would react seeing me here as well?"

Celestia could tell that her guest wanted to find out the answer to that question desperately but felt like the opportunity wouldn't present itself, like a filly wanting to prove herself to her idol, but believed she could never measure up. And with not so much as a second thought Celestia decided to present that 'opportunity' to her guest "we can go and see them you know, it would let me tell Twilight what's going on face to face and-"

"Eh, don't bother," he said, waving his arm dismissively "Valvatorez especially won't stand still if one of his prinnies is on the loose, and no doubt Fenrich already has some scheme to catch him, besides..." the guest trailed off, instead focusing on his arm he had only a moment ago been waving "I...don't know how much longer I can stay here..."

"I see..." Celestia solemnly replied, derailing her chance to intervene, as she once again eyed her guest. He had started looking worse physically ever since they started talking, his legs were trembling and his eyes had become little more than an empty gaze, it was as if his body was suffering from severe exhaustion. And while the sudden tiredness had derailed Celestia's efforts it had not deterred her "you know, whenever the former netherworld president stayed here for more than a day, he always mentioned taking a power nap seemed to revitalize him." this caught her guest's attention, any sign of fatigue on his face was once again replaced with surprise only this time the surprise remained as Celestia continued "We have many guest rooms here in the castle, and it is will be dusk soon," to emphasize this point her horn began to glow a golden aura as she looked outside to watch the sun, her sun, slowly inch its way to the horizon "why not stay the night and we can go tomorrow."

"Didn't you hear me." the guest protested, even tightening both of his hands into fists in frustration "What makes you think that...that damn prinny instructor wouldn't move on before nightfall!?"

"Because," Celestia said smiling wryly, unperturbed by the sudden outburst, as she conjured up a quill and parchment "if he is with Twilight then I know exactly what I can do to keep him there. Besides..." Celestia continued, her smile fading and her tone becoming more serious "if they're as resourceful as you claim, Twilight will need them to overcome this". 









Valvatorez watched, still covering his damaged clothes with his cape as twilight once again looked over the note in a blank stare. Seeng that she was not going to recover anytime soon Valvatorez decided to break her out of her stupor "well, what is it? What does Celestia want you to do that's got you so terrified?"

With a slight flinch Twilight sighed and slowly walked over to Valvatorez  with the letter floating in front of her in her magic, heading towards the demons grasp "read for yourself..." she said in an quiet submissive tone.

Now curious about what was on the note as well, Valvatorez took the note from Twilights magic. Fenrich curious as well about the letter walked over and began reading over his lords shoulder, the prinny tried as well but was shooed away by a glare from Fenrich. In unison the two went wide eyed at what Twilight's mentor had proposed. "WHAT!"

'Dear Princess Twilight


First of all, thank you for letting me know about the potential danger to Equestria tis criminal from another world could pose. However while it may come as a surprise to you, I was already made aware of his presence an hour ago, from the successor of an old friend of mine. 
In fact, I had planned to come see you in Ponyville tomorrow to tell you personally about this very situation, and even introduce you to the visiting dignitary. 
And while my plans haven't changed, I did not know you have already come in contact with two demons already. 
My guest says they can be trusted, but having the opinion of somepony else would put my mind at ease. As such, I would ask that you to introduce Valvatorez and Fenrich to your friends and to also tell them that I will want to see them tomorrow when I arrive. 
You are going to need their help, as well as the demons to overcome this ordeal just as they will need yours and your friends, for I fear what you face now could very well be more dangerous than Lord Tirek himself.

And should the two in question read this, then I officially welcome you to Equestria and hope that you get along with my former pupil and her friends.



Sincerely, Princess Celestia'

Twilight watched as Valvatorez's and Fenrich's faces contorted from their inital shock to disbelief and anger respectively. Although the looks on their faces were probably good indicators, she still had to ask whether or not they would be willing to help. Tentatively she asked that all-important question "well...?"

After reading the letter, and reading it again just to make sure he wasn't missing something Fenrich closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and let out a long sigh as he walked up to Twilight "let me just point out the obvious flaws in your princess' reply;" he said in a calm, composed manner that belied his actual feelings as he raised a finger at each of his points "one: how could you, let alone your friends help us in hunting down a criminal other than becoming more victims?" Twilight began to respond but was cut off before she could get a word in edgewise "Two: what makes Celestia's guest trustworthy, he knows us but mentioned nothing about himself, how do we know he is not out to get us, most demons have lists of enemies longer than their bodies." instead of a verbal response, Twilight's expression changed to a look of concern as she pondered the latest statement "And three: what possible reason could we have to stay in this town, knowing that our target isn't here?" 

Twilight stammered trying to think of something, anything that could keep the werewolf steward here "um...well..." 

"There isn't a reason-"

"STOP!"

Everyone present in the castle turned to the source of the sudden voice, and to the surprise of everyone it was Valvatorez, pointing his index finger towards the demon servant "there IS a reason we cannot leave town yet," the sudden revelation caught Fenrich off guard. At this Valvatorez extended the arm that had been pointing at the two sideways, revealing the exposed pale skin and the torn cuff still somehow in place "my suit remember, we were going to ask Twilight if there was a decent tailor in town who could repair my suit." Valvatorez paused for a moment and brought his hand up to his forehead as a thought crossed his mind "In fact, repairing my suit is even more important now, someone in the Netherworld has learned about the prison break Fenrich."

Fenrich was amazed that his lord had picked up on something a subtle as that. If someone knew them, and Celestia knows about the situation already then that someone would have had to be from the Netherworld, or worse their Celestia. In either case he could not allow his lord to be seen wearing tattered clothes. How could he have forgotten that? Perhaps his disdain for working with these ponies had stalled his logical thinking momentarily "your right as always my lord, but that still leaves my other two points."

"And I can answer them," Twilight stated confidently "first off, my friends and I know Equestria far better than you guys, we live here after all. On top of that, we're no strangers to dangerous situations and when push comes to shove we can handle ourselves pretty well."

Fenrich merely scoffed at the response "That last part remains to be seen," while he would admit having locals to help coordinate searches in specific areas, the prinnies could do just as well and handle their own in a fight despite their lackluster appearance "and what about your princess' informant? Do you think you should blindly trust the word of a demon? Because your princess does not seem to think so."

"No, I don't." Twilight replied frankly "But that doesn't mean I should turn them away without even meting them either, besides Princess Celestia has enough faith to introduce whoever it is to me," Twilight's smiled at the prospect of meeting a friend of princess Celestia and her smile turned wry as she noticed the hole in Fenrichs theory "and the fact that he trusts you means he can't be all bad."

Another scoff, this one a little deeper than the last "you obviously don't know how the Netherworld works do you."

"Nor do you about Equestria," Twilight countered, earning a malicious glare for her efforts. Figuring that pursuing the issue more would not be a healthy thing to do she decided it was time to change topics "also, about your suit Valvatorez, one of my friends designs clothes for a lot of wealthy and influential ponies across Equestria, she even has clients come to her boutique here in Ponyville to place special orders, I guarantee there's nopony more qualified who can repair, or even remake, your damaged suit."

Valvatorez had gone wide-eyed at what Twilight had said, not entirely believing her but really hoping that she was right "are you serious? There's someone that talented here!? AND they're someone you know!" he said as he rushed up to Twilight and hoisted her up to his face. Realizing that the mare he was holding was very uncomfortable with being so close to his face 'I'll admit my breath has become a little fishy smelling from the sardines but it's not THAT bad right?' Valvatorez let go of her and with a cough, regained his composure and tied to continue speaking in a calm and dignified manner, his excitement and curiosity still shined through in his tone however "I must meet them, to see if their skills are truly capable of repairing my attire."

Despite being thoroughly disturbed at the fangs in Valvatorez's mouth, Twilight was excited at how enthusiastic he had become at her mention of Rarity's shop, it meant getting him there would be easy. Still...those fangs he had were bugging her. Deciding that thinking more about them would cause her to go on a wild tangent she made a mental note to watch him whenever they were at Sweet Apple Acres and resumed doing less thinking and more talking "then how about this, I'll take you to meet her and convince her to repair your suit," 'which shouldn't be too hard, considering how rare an opportunity this is for her.' Twilight thought "in exchange will you be willing to meet the rest of my friends afterward?"

A sudden chill ran up Fenrich's spine, a reflex he acquired after the few times his lord made dangerous promises. Knowing exactly what to do, he moved to prevent him from getting distracted by a trivial deal "my lord I really think you shouldn't-"

"Alright, if she can repair my suit then you've got yourself a deal." too late...

"Great," Twilight said, elated that he was so willing to go along with this "I promise you won't be disappointed."

"Hmhmhm...as a proud and noble demon, I will hold you to that Twilight." Valvatorez stated with a satisfied and challenging smirk on his face.

"About that..." Twilight started. Now that she was talking to the black-caped demon without fear of imminent fighting breaking out, now was probably the best time to mend some broken bridges between him and her. With that in mind she bowed her head low and said as sincerely as possible "I'm sorry if I insulted you when we first met."

"If?"

"That, that I insulted you when we first met," Twilight corrected "It really was my first time seeing demons that looked so much like humans in Equestria."

Valvatorez closed his eyes a he contemplated what he had just heard, not the apology itself, he had already decided whether or not to forgive her, but what she said afterwards. Being the first demons to be seen in public meant that incidents like this were going to happen again unless precautions are taken. Although, since he was in the presence of royalty in this land it meant knowledge could be spread relatively easily should it be provided. Satisfied with his answer to the information (or lack thereof) on demons in this land, the vampire instructor opened his eyes and stared back at Twilight, not with the rage it appeared she expected but instead with a calm acknowledgement "apology accepted Twilight. That being said, to prevent this from happening in the future you really should read up on demons. Might I suggest the 'Guide Book for the Forsaken' or 'Netherology 101' for a beginner like yourself, I'll even loan you a copy once we can return to Hades," he said, smiling at the prospect of another world learning about the proud and noble demons. The smile turned devilish as another idea entered his head "or if your feeling brave, you could have me educate you personally."

"Thank you Valvatorez," Twilight said, relaxing the moment she finished speaking. She then turned to her assistant who, up to this point, had been watching the three from a safe distance away in case negotiations broke down and with an upbeat tone asked him a favor "Spike, could you prepare some rooms for Valvatorez and Fenrich? It looks like they'll be staying the night."

"Sure thing Twilight, they'll be ready before you get back." Spike replied, smiling confidently as he waddled towards the stairs and up to the guest rooms "Say hi to Rarity for me."

With accommodations taken care of, Twilight opened the castle doors and started making her way outside, Valvatorez following suit, and Fenrich begrudgingly doing the same as Twilight motioned towards the two "follow me, Carousel Boutique is this way!" 

"um...aren't we forgetting someone dood?"






> Chapter 4: The Equestria Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4: The Equestria Party



Carousel Boutique was a mishmash of light blues and purples, along with yellow curtains in some frilly pattern or another. From the diamond patterned roof to the striped poles circling the building, everything on the outside was designed to look sophisticated or complex, perhaps too much so in the demon's opinion.

And yet despite their hopes that was the building Twilight was leading them to "well, here we are," being the first to reach the door(by a rather large margin) Twilight used her hoof to hold open the door while the other two caught up "after you."

In a quick scan the demons noticed the many curtains partitioning off parts of the building, the elevated stand with three full-body mirrors surrounding it, most likely used for VIP guests and their orders, as well as stairs leading up to the next floor. And everything mentioned had some sort high-society flourish to it, from frills to embroidery, everything had something to make it look more 'classy' to the patrons. And while the interior still looked to be designed with sophistication in mind, the fact that this place was supposed to be a business could still be seen with complex dresses on display near the front, intending to impress new clients.

"So, this is Carousel Boutique hm," Valvatorez mused as he took in the scenery "not a fan of the purple everywhere."

"My Lord, I think there is a bigger problem here than the décor." Fenrich said, noting the pony shaped mannequins dotted around the shop, some of which being bare while others had incomplete dresses on them.

There attention shifted when they heard hoofsteps coming down from the stairs as a snow white unicorn with a deep violet mane came trotting down the stairs "welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnif-WAAAH!" the white unicorn said in a refined tone, at least until that last part.

"Hey Rarity"

Rarity just stood there dismayed at what she saw, her compulsion as a fashionista trying to make sense of what was before her. After a few long moments she shook herself out of her stupor and cautiously walked over to the only pony here she considered a friend, as well as the only other pony in the room! Thankfully she was able regain some her composure before speaking "T-Twilight, care to introduce me to your...um...friends?" asked in a hushed tone.

"Sure," Twilight lightheartedly replied, hoping it would pit her friend more at ease "Rarity, this is Valvatorez and Fenrich, they're demons from another world" she said as she motioned towards each of them respectively before turning her hoof back towards her still unnerved friend "Valvatorez, Fenrich, this is my dear friend Rarity. She's the fashion designer I talked about." the demons and Rarity exchanged glances , Valvatorez and Fenrich staring at her with angered looks (even if one of them wasn't intentional) and Rarity staring back with a sheepish grin and beads of sweat trickling down her face "I was hoping that you'd be able to repair Valvatorez's...suit?" Twilight was distracted when she heard a high-pitched sound and a thud come from right beside her.

When she looked at what made the sound she found Rarity lying on the floor with a hoof pressed against her forehead passed out. Returning her attention back towards the demons she noticed they both were wearing the same surprised look...which quickly changed to a deadpan stare towards her "well...that could've gone better."

Rarity awoke to the smell of tea and found herself on her couch upstairs "huh?" she muttered, her senses still fuzzy from the lack of sleep she felt she needed. Eventually she noticed that she wasn't alone when a teacup floated in a lavender aura while it's caster stood nearby, smiling gently "Oh, hello Twilight I had just the most horrifying nightmare," Rarity said as she used her own magic to take the teacup from Twilight as she began to recount her dream. Unbeknownst to Rarity, Twilight was beginning to sweat and her smile was starting to look more unnatural "you came by with two guests you referred to as demons, one wearing ensemble that looks like it had been through a battlefield and the other" she gagged at the sudden mental image but was thankfully able to keep what ever was coming up from staying up "I don't even WANT to think about what his clothes are made of." 

All Twilight could do at first was smile and laugh sheepishly "Actually, that wasn't a dream, they're waiting downstairs." she was eventually able to say. Those few words were enough to make Rarity nearly pass out again but before she had the chance Twilight grabbed her, and the teacup, with her magic "Please Rarity, princess Celestia will be here by tomorrow and she's going to want the girls opinion on them," Twilight asked desperately "repairing his suit will give you a chance to get to know him, so...please?"

Rarity sighed "alright Twilight, I will see what I can do."

After hearing this Twilight finally let out the breath she'd been holding and smiled, earnestly this time "thanks Rarity." 

After finishing the tea Twilight had brought her, the two mares eventually made their way to the front of the boutique where Valvatorez and Fenrich were passing the time examining the display dresses while having some sort of conversation. While neither of the mares could hear everything being said, from the context they appeared to be considering a gift for someone in the hospital. Still it wasn't long before the demons noticed the other's presence and turned to meet them, with the same piercing gaze as before. 

This time however Rarity was undaunted.  "I'm sorry for that little episode earlier, as a lady it was not very becoming of me to act that way."

"It's quite alright miss...Rarity was it?" the mare in question nodded "If I took offense every time someone fainted in my presence then I wouldn't be much of a demon would I." Valvatorez said with a hint of pride in his voice

"Yes well..." Rarity trailed off by clearing her throat "Twilight mentioned  that you wanted your suit repaired is that correct?"

"Can you do it?"

"I won't know until I take a closer look, but first..." she said before shifting her attention towards Fenrich "there is...something I must ask you." Rarity took a deep breath preparing herself both physically and mentally for whatever answer she was about to get "Your clothes...what are they made of? Specifically."

"Why, leather of course." Fenrich answered evenly with a wry smile, watching as both mares grew much paler, which didn't seem entirely possible with the white one, still it was fun to watch. Now that he was finished getting his kicks from their reaction he decided it was time to elaborate "More specifically, leather made from the hide of garm, a type of mystic beast from our world and sewn together with enchanted thread to resist wind based attacks used against the wearer. In other words: it's made from demon skin, not pony skin. Got a problem with that?" he noticed the ponies complexion had slightly improved even if they still looked wearily towards him.

Rarity clearing her throat "right then, about your suit Mr. Valvatorez, may I see your left arm?"

"Of course." he answered as he extended his arm as per the designers request "And please, you don't need to call me Mr. Valvatorez, there's no need for such titles between a retailer and their customer. Valvatorez will do just fine."

"Very well Valvatorez, if you insist," Rarity commented as she put on her glasses and looked closely at the frayed edges of the sleeve "alright and now the legs," again Valvatorez complied, allowing Rarity to compare the two legs with each other "oh my" was all she could say as she finished her examinations.

To say the damage was bad would be an understatement. There were blood stains, a myriad of splinters, and a myriad of blood-stained splinters around the tears on top of what was left of the sleve, the stiching had been torn out of the leg and left more splinters and stains. With a somber look she faced her client "I'm afraid I have some bad news, I don't think I will be able to restore you suit Valvatorez-"

"Then it appears we've wasted more of our time My Lord." Fenrich interjected, clearly annoyed this wild goose chase has deterred them from catching Sombra but also from hearing more praise that couldn't be met.

"Now hold on, I wasn't finished yet." She interjected "As I was saying; I don't think I can restore your suit to it's former glory, any blemish on such a well crafted and well cared for tuxedo would be an insult to both what I am capable of and what you deserve. Instead I will simply have to remake the entire ensemble, it shouldn't take more than a day or two if I have the original here with me."

Fenrich was shocked at what he just heard "the original? As in My Lord's suit?"

"Why of course dear."

That did it. The audacity of this pony thinking that he would allow such a thing "you obviously don't know your place," barely able to contain his fury, he bent down to eye-level with the arrogant beast, his face radiating nothing but malice "There is no way in hell that I'd allow a marshmallow colored beast of burden handle My Lord's garbage, let alone his formal attire!" he seethed "Furthermore, you can be damn sure that My Lord wouldn't be caught dead wandering around in public without clothes."

"Mr. Fenrich watch your language!" she scolded, returning Fenrich's glare with one of her own "If my little sister had heard that I would have thrown you out on the spot! Thankfully she is out with her friends right now." while Rarity had more she could have said, instead her expression as well as her tone calmed down "However, I can understand your plight to not see you master in such an undignified state," She eyed Valvatorez top to bottom. He wasn't bigger than a minotaur so something she had should fit him "as such, I believe I can put something together that should suffice until I am finished." she walked over to one of the empty fitting rooms and pulled back the curtain "Valvatorez if I could have you step in here."

"Alright Rarity," Valvatorez complied, still using his cape to try and shield his exposed skin "now what?"

"Now we go about getting those clothes off you," Rarity said walking in after him levitating measuring tape, scissors, a pencil and notepad, as well as her glasses in her magic "and take some measurements while we're at it." once Rarity and her tools were inside, she closed the curtain behind her and set to work. "Oh, and be sure to hold still dearie, it will make taking your clothes off much easier."

Twilight and Fenrich watched and listened to the rustle and sounds coming from behind the curtain, neither of them brave enough to look past it and see what was happening on the other side. Twilight didn't want to interrupt her friend while she worked, she'd learned that lesson already and Fenrich did not wish to see his lord without his clothes on, it would scar him for eternity by seeing something he was unworthy of. From the sound of it though, Rarity had levitated Valvatorez in order to take off the ripped pants, while Valvatorez struggled to find his balance mid-air after unwillingly being raised into the air. The end result was various noises coming from Valvatorez while Rarity kept telling him, in one form or another to "hold still" with her voice losing more patience each time she repeated herself. Eventually the voices stopped giving Twilight and Fenrich the impression that the worst of it was over.

"There, that wasn't so bad was it?" Rarity said  "now on to the upper body."

"The cape. Stays."

"Well then how do you expect me to get your shir-oh, well, that works too I suppose."

Another moment later Rarity came through the curtain with folded black clothes along with all of her tools in the grasp of her magic and headed straight towards the back room "alright, just wait there Valvatorez and I'll be back with some new clothes for you."

"Sure, take your time," the demon replied from behind the curtain "it's not like I'm going anywhere."

Once Rarity reached her design table, she began reviewing the measurements of Valvatorez she had taken and comparing it with how much fabric she remembered having in storage the previous day 'let's see...with my latest order from Canterlot finished I should have at least three bolts of black silk left in storage, more than enough for Valvatorez's clothes.' reaching out with her magic Rarity brought out the three bolts of black cloth as well as one red bolt. 'now remember Rarity; function over form.' she reminded herself as she went to work deftly cutting out the dimensions for the replacement pants 'still, having an all black outfit wouldn't really be functional this time of year, nor is it in right now anyway, perhaps if I had some lighter colored dress shirts I could use...' she gasped at what she just thought "ideaaa!" following her bolt of inspiration Rarity once again used her magic to pull out a white long-sleeved shirt and a brown, button-up dress shirt from her storage room 'well, since he canceled his order anyway I don't think this client will mind if I use these now, instead of letting them just collect dust'. After checking their size and general design to make sure they would be compatible and taking care of any adjustments she hade to make, Rarity then moved onto cutting the cloth that would be used to make the new coat and then finally cutting a large strip out of the red bolt. Once all of the pieces were cut out the next thing she did was begin sewing together the three separate articles of clothing starting with the pants and working her way up. With a final exhale Rarity folded the finished products into a neat pile and turned towards her audience of two, absolutely beaming from the aesthetics of the end product and tired from all of the magic she used to get the suit completed.

With the clothes finished Rarity returned to the group and approached the curtain which still held Valvatorez on the other side. Levitating the clothes through to Valvatorez "here you go, try these on." Rarity gave Valvatorez a moment to put on the new clothes before opening the curtain to reveal the end result to Twilight and Fenrich "Well what do you think? I know it was a bit rushed but I really do hope that it's to your liking."

Valvatorez was eying his new clothes, making sure his movement wouldn't be too hindered while wearing them. The new clothes were the same color as his old suit. the pants fit loosely around his waist, being held in place by the red sash, and came together to a more form-fitting shape near his ankles, having crimson laces at the end in case he wanted to adjust the length. The brown dress shirt was worn over the white shirt while the black coat was worn over everything else, and with the addition to his gloves no piece of skin under his neck was left exposed. "It is a bit large..." he said as he rolled his shoulders "but I can see that Twilight was not exaggerating about your talent, speaking of..." now turning towards Twilight who was looking at him expectantly and smiling "Twilight, our deal was that your friend Rarity could repair my suit, but as you heard, she cannot. As such Fenrich and I are under no obligation to meet the rest of your friends." 

At this her smile vanished, being replaced with a despondent look as she turned her attention down towards the floor 'so...that's it then...'

"However!" Valvatorez added "You also promised that I would not be disappointed and in that regard you were right! With what she's provided as a replacement Miss Rarity has proven herself more than capable of recreating my clothes AND has even piqued my interest in the rest of your friends. That being said, I want to meet them NOT because of some obligation but instead of my own will, to see if they are as talented as she is."

Shock and awe, that's what Twilight's expression was once again, because once again the vampire had done something she didn't expect. Letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding Twilight looked up to the demon "Valvatorez...thank you."

"You're welcome Twilight." Valvatorez replied before being interrupted by a low growling coming from nearby "But first, do you know anywhere we can get something to eat?"

Twilight couldn't help but laugh. just a moment ago she had been worried about failing Celestia, now she had been asked where to go for lunch by a demon. How could anyone be this intimidating one moment and so casual the next. "I know just the place, in fact one of my friends live there." Twilight was finally able to say after suppressing her laughter.









Things were going so well when Twilight left Carousel Boutique. Valvatorez wanted to meet her friends, Fenrich seemed to be playing along, and they were on their way to visit Applejack and hopefully have some lunch.

That all changed when a familiar pink blur pulling a cart passed by, knocked Valvatorez into the air and onto said cart, and left taking the vampire with it.

There was no time to react. Fenrich, who punched a timberwolf mid-jump, did not seem to comprehend what just happened to his lord until he was long gone. Twilight on the other hoof knew exactly what, or more specifically who, just passed by and absconded with quite possibly their exact opposite.

Suffice to say, Twilight was panicking and Fenrich was irate.

By now the two were rushing to Sugarcube Corner, the most likely place to find both culprit and victim. Twilight was praying to Celestia that Valvatorez was alright and that Fenrich wouldn't go berserk when they got there. Fenrich on the other hand was swearing to God that if something happened to his Lord the town would be significantly more red and wet. Once they reached the bakery Twilight was the first to make it inside, sparring the door from being ripped from it's hinges by Fenrich, to see the black-caped demon facing the counter...

"Valvatorez!"

"Lord Val!"

...Eating a slice of chocolate cake 'of course...' Twilight thought 'what else would she have him do.', feeling relieved that nothing bad had happened. The last thing she needed was whatever Fenrich had in mind coming to fruition. But there was still somepony who was unaccounted for.

"Pinkie!"

"Hey Twilight!" came a cheery voice directly behind her.

Somehow the pink pony in question was able to appear directly behind Twilight without making a sound, when there was nowhere to hide. So it made sense that she jumped a little when Pinkie surprised her like that, right? Deciding it was best to leave it at that, she turned around to face the smiling pony with a face that was anything but "Pinkie, what were you thinking kidnapping Valvatorez like that?"

"Oh! Umm...I was thinking 'if all of our pets could play a game of poker who would win?'"

All Twilight could do is Facehoof, she did  just ask what Pinkie Pie of all ponies was thinking after all "ok, let's try that again; WHY did you kidnap Valvatorez over there?" 

"Well I was stocking up on supplies around town when I suddenly had a leg twitch followed by a itchy neck and a sneeze, A SNEEZE Twilight! Do you know what that means?!" Pinkie shouted as she shook Twilights shoulders. Twilight on the other hoof looked at her in a way that obviously said 'no' "It means that there was not somepony but something new in Ponyville and it was HUNGRY. So I left all my supplies with Gummy and brought Valzy here-"

"Valzy!? ugh, not again..." Fenrich groaned. Two annoyances calling him that was bad enough, now there was a third.

"-to Sugarcube Corner to get him something to eat but when I got here I realized that I had no idea what he liked or didn't like so I decided to make something made out of stuff everypony likes, chocolate, cake, and frosting..." for a moment Pinkie's eyes glazed over and she started drooling profusely but quickly shook herself out if it "but it turns out Mr. and Mrs. Cake HAD a recipe that already had chocolate, cake, and frosting in it called 'devils food cake' so I pulled out the recipe, made a test cake, ate it cuz it was too dry, made a second test cake, ate it cuz it was too sweet, made a THIRD test cake, ate IT cuz it was...just...too good to pass up," she said sheepishly, embarrassed at her own little mistake. After a moment of shaking off her embarrassment, she redoubled her efforts and as enthusiastically as possible finished her story "and so I made a FOURTH cake and gave a slice of that one to Valzy."

With her story finished, Pinkie waited for her friends response, smiling innocently the whole time. The part she failed to mention was that the time between when she abducted Valvatorez and when Twilight burst into Sugarcube Corner was only five minutes and forty-one seconds according to Fenrich "I may have to watch out for this one." he muttered. Making a mental note to keep an eye on this pink pony and to keep her as far away from Valvatorez as possible, Fenrich turned to Twilight, who still seemed to be trying to logically explain her friend's actions (and failing if the slack-jawed expression was anything to go by.) "alright princess, who is she." 

Twilight snapped out of her trance and turned to Fenrich, smiling "Fenrich, Valvatorez, I'd like to introduce you to one of my closest friends, Pinkie Pie: pa-"

"Shhh..." Pinkie whispered to Twilight, preventing her from saying any more by covering her mouth with a hoof "you'll ruin the surprise Twilight." with a small nod from Twilight, Pinkie slowly removed her hoof from Twilight's mouth and receded towards the ground. She appeared a moment later next to Fenrich with a plate and a slice of cake she pulled out of her mane. 

Fenrich eyed the dessert, and the pink pony through association, venomously "what is this?"

"it's a piece of cake silly!" Pinkie giggled, oblivious to Fenrich's contempt "Try it!"

Fenrich was apprehensive about taking the cake from Pinkie, that much Valvatorez could tell. Having just finished his piece of cake, Valvatorez knew what his servant would think of it "go on Fenrich," he said as he wiped off any crumbs left on his face using a napkin "it's actually quite good. I'm sure even you are a little hungry after the day we've had."

Fenrich was taken aback at his lord's remark 'as expected of My Lord, he can tell when I am not at my full potential even when I cannot.' he considered. Reluctantly, Fenrich took the offered piece of cake, waging a war with himself to determine what was the lesser of two evils, refusing his lord or eating something made by quite possibly the most garish creature here. With the choice clear he gave in and accepted his fate "very well, but only to see if it is worthy of being considered your food." With a fork provided, Fenrich cut off a piece of the cake and begrudgingly put it into his mouth. The sweetness of the cake was not overpowering despite appearing to have chocolate in every part. And for what it was worth, this was better then anything the chefs at Hades could make. But this wasn't for anyone at Hades nor was it for him. This was for Valvatorez, and he would only get the best if Fenrich could have his way, still... "...it will do," he surmised "but I suspect you are craving something more nutritious aren't you My Lord?" he asked in hope that it would take them away from this place. 

Valvatorez contemplated that for a moment "yes, Fenrich you're quite right. As good as this cake is, eating too much of it would affect my job as a Prinny Instructor, so I must decline anymore for the time being."

"Aww..." Pinkie moaned as her mane deflated slightly and she looked at Valvatorez with big watery eyes.

"Well I guess we should get going then," Twilight said as she opened the door for the two demons allowing them to leave "bye Pinkie, see you later?"

"Of course Twilight!" she replied, returning to normal. She then dashed next to her friend's ear while watching the two demons to make sure they didn't over hear her and whispered "The surprise is at sunset". Through with being 'sneaky' Pinkie Pie waved to her newest friends returning once again to her normal demeanor "Bye Valzy, bye Fenfen!"

Fenrich watched as Twilight lingered a moment longer with the pink pony, whom he had decided to somehow forcefully erase every part of from his memory "so, shall we get back on track, princess?" 

"Right..." Twilight responded half-heartedly. Right now she was staring in the direction of the sun, determining how long until Pinkie's surprise party started "we'd better hurry, there's not much time left."

"'Time left'?" Valvatorez caught "Time left before what?"

"N-nothing! c'mon let's go."










After their departure from Surgarcube Corner Twilight had led the group out of town and on to a dirt road lined on both sides with numerous apple trees and divided by a white picket fence. In the distance Valvatorez could see a large red barn with apple themed wind vane at the end of the main path with a road leading to an orange building with a carrot theme in the background.  

While Valvatorez was examining the surroundings, Fenrich was focused solely on their guide leading the two down the road "so princess, where are you taking us now?"

"Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight answered curtly. While she was slowly warming up to Valvatorez thanks to his straightforward and light-hearted demeanor, Fenrich was a different story. One example being right now with him glaring at her and an expression which seethed 'why...' "Applejack, one of my friends, runs the farm with her family. in fact, I think she's somepony that you would get along with Fenrich."

"Oh?" Fenrich mocked "And what makes you say that?"

"Well for one she's vey hard working and she's devoted to her apple farm, much like you are to Valvatorez." Twilight proudly explained, whereas Fenrich merely scoffed at the claim "She's also the most level-headed of all my friends here in Ponyville."

*crack**rumble**THUD*

"Rainbow Dash! That ain't how ah showed ya to buck an apple tree!"

"Hey! Your way wasn't working AJ! At least this way all the apples fell to the ground!"

"Yeah! an' so did the tree they were attached to!"

"I take it that was your level-headed friend you mentioned just now?" Fenrich smugly asked.

"That's her..." Twilight huffed. As she looked in the direction of her still audible friends her features relaxed and her tone evened out "and another one of my friends, Rainbow Dash." suddenly coming to Sweet Apple Acres was starting to seem like a bad idea. Still if those two were arguing again then somepony should step in as a mediary "Let's go see if there's anything we can do to help." with this Twilight flew over the fence towards her friends with the demons following suit.

When the group reached the edge of the clearing, the relatively new clearing considering the number of toppled trees there were, they saw five ponies crowding around a fallen tree, three fillies and two mares. While Twilight smiled as she recognized the five instantly, Valvatorez and Fenrich could only make out an orange 'normal' pony with a blond mane and a stetson in the face of a cyan colored pegasus hovering off the ground with literally a rainbow colored mane. A few feet away was an orange pegasus filly with a purple mane, a white unicorn filly with light purple/borderline pink hair, and a tan normal pony with a red mane and a large bow. Each of the fillies had a bucket next to them that was either overflowing with or devoid of apples. Before any more detailed observations could be made Fenrich noticed the alicorn mare nearly flying past the treeline. Acting quickly, he grabbed her tail and pulled her behind one of the nearby trees with Valvatorez waiting beside another. While Twilight was about to object Fenrich put his other hand over her mouth and went "shhh..." before returning his attention to the arguing mares who were now in hearing range without them shouting at each other. 

"Ah can't believe how ah let you talk me into this..." the stetson-wearing pony sighed. 

"Does this mean the competition's off?" the bow-wearing filly asked the two older mares.

"Of course it's not!" the rainbow maned pegasus nonchalantly replied.

"Of course it is! Do ya know how many other apple trees ya knocked down today!?"

"I dunno, two or three?"

"Try thirteen!"

As he suspected, the two were still fighting and simply running up to them would have most likely resulted in a fight breaking out. Two foreign creatures chasing their princess who was headed towards them wouldn't exactly give the best first impression 'regardless of the outcome, it would only end poorly for us diplomatically.' Fenrich noted. A low growl reminded him of his surroundings as he looked down to see the princess eying him angrily with her horn glowing. While not convinced she would fly off to her friends, it was probably better than whatever spell she was currently weaving. With his observation time cut short, Fenrich slowly released Twilight from his grip "well then, shall we introduce your friends to lord Valvatorez, princess?"

"Right..." Twilight snapped "let's hurry before things get worse." she said, once again making her way to the clearing and her friends, this time with Fenrich shadowing her. She looked back when she realized not everyone was following her "Valvatorez? Are you coming?"

Valvatorez was motionless, eyes closed and his hand covering his face in quiet contemplation as he so often did while he leaned back on his apple tree "Fenrich." he called in an even tone.

"Yes My Lord?"

"You do it."

Fenrich was unsure what his lord had meant with what he said, there were a lot of thing he wanted to do after all. It took a moment for the three words to sink in and in that moment the confusion he was feeling turned to shock, and then into pure horror "L-lord Val, please tell me you're not serious." he said, the desperation evident in his voice despite his best efforts to remain calm.

"Do what?" Twilight asked nervously.

"To put it simply Twilight;" Valvatorez started "I'd like to see if you're right about your presumption, as well as test you, Fenrich." now turning his attention to his servant "I want you to show me how much you've evolved since we first met all those years ago as well as see if you can trust others," it was no secret Fenrich put little faith in the abilities of the other Hades Party members, even after everything they've been through. Perhaps this will open him up a little "plus...you're more experienced with delicate negotiations than I am."

'That's because I usually have leverage against them!' Fenrich screamed in his head "but what happened to 'meeting all of Twilight's friends personally'?" he asked, trying to use his lord's words against him. Fenrich really didn't want to do this.

"Just because I'm not talking to them now doesn't mean I won't talk to them later Fenrich." Valvatorez answered dismissively "Besides I've already met two of her friends through coincidence, I'd say now is a perfect opportunity to make a first impression." he explained, thinking how they would've eventually met Rarity trying to fix his suit and Pinkie Pie literally ran into him "Also, I want you to go alone as there are some things I want to ask Twilight."

If Twilight had any doubts about Valvatorez's command they had just been doubled. Fenrich had caught on to Twilight's outer panic which actually reminded him of when he first met Valvatorez. As such Fenrich knew what she was going to do next "I know you're going to object, princess. Don't bother, his mind's made up and nothing will change it now." he sighed "...All right, if you insist..." he finally relented, he knew better than to argue with his lord. The best thing to do would be to simply go along with it "all is for My Lord..." he sighed before turning towards the five ponies.

Fenrich watched the group from a safe distance away being careful not to attract attention to himself too soon, he was thankful the two arguing ponies were holding the attention of the three fillies, it made getting close easier 'let's see...what are my options...' he thought 'I could beat the two of them up, then at least they'd be quiet...no, Lord Val wouldn't approve of an unprovoked attack,' Fenrich shook his head, removing 'the demon way' of settling an argument from his mind. Next he looked back at Twilight and Valvatorez who were watching him with concerned and expectant eyes respectively 'I could say the princess is our hostage...no that won't work either, plus then we'd be facing two fronts in this world' while that trick would have worked with the corrupternment, it would most likely backfire here thanks to the obvious hothead present 'I could try praising them-' he instantly disregarded that idea, anything even remotely close to something he would do was out of the question. 'There has to be some way I can make them revere me and My Lord without dragging my dignity through the mud...or disgracing Lord Val,' he thought as he continued observing them. As he considered his options the group had moved on to another tree a distance away from both him and the previous tree. Fenrich even watched as the stetson-wearing pony bucked the tree knocking most of the apples out of it. With this, the mental dots started connecting together in Fenrich's head 'and I think I just found it.' he thought, now moving towards the felled tree to double-check something before putting his scheme in motion. He crouched down, running his hand over the bark finding a large indent in the tree, the initial blow that toppled it. Smiling he stood up and made his way towards the still arguing group. 

"You hit the tree too low!" he said catching the attention of the group of ponies, still he was focused on the stetson-wearing mare "Your kick lost it's strength before it could reach the apples on the higher branches and dissipated into the ground too soon." this seemed to cause the cyan pegasus to burst out laughing in the air "And you! you weren't even close." Fenrich chided instantly quieting the mare "In fact I bet all you did was plow through the tree at full speed, aimed at some random point, and hoped for the best. The end result being too much speed, not nearly enough precision, and one felled tree."

The cyan pegasus took exception to that remark "oh yeah! let's see you do better Mr. know-it-all!"

"Hmhmhm...alright then." he answered. With the challenge issued, Fenrich took one of the buckets from one of the fillies earning a "hey" from one of them, he didn't know which one nor did he care, and walked towards the nearest tree that had apples in it. He knocked on the tree at seemingly random points around the trunk gauging the reaction of the branches and listening to the sound of the wood. After a few more knocks he found the sweet spot he had been looking for, marking it with a small scratch. With the bucket in his left hand Fenrich pulled back his right and punched the spot he had marked. Every fiber of the tree shook as every apple was dislodged one-by-one and fell towards the ground. Not one touched the ground though as Fenrich deftly danced around the tree catching each one in the borrowed bucket. When the last apple fell into Fenrich's hand he set the filled bucket down and smirked at the struck-dumb group of ponies "Satisfied?" he said rhetorically as he rejoined the group.

"Woah, yer strong, who are ya?" the stetson pony asked, being the first out of their stupor.

"Isn't it polite to introduce yourself first before asking others for their name?" he arrogantly countered. 

"Ah suppose it is." the stetson pony replied "The name's Applejack," she said, gesturing to herself with a hoof and shifting it to each pony in sequence "that there's Rainbow Dash, and my sister Apple Bloom, along with her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Now then, ah believe it's your turn."

"Of course..." Fenrich straightened his pose moving the apple from his right hand to his left. he then moved his left hand behind his back and his right over his chest "my name is Fenrich, loyal servant to Lord Valvatorez," he proudly proclaimed "and currently I am acting as a...diplomat of sorts for both him and the Netherworld."

"Ah ain't ever heard of the Netherworld before. What brings yer lord out here to Equestria?"

"That you will have to ask your precious princess over there," Fenrich pointed towards the spot in the treeline that his lord and Twilight were. The two in question were still talking but from his current distance Fenrich couldn't make out what. Regardless, now that his initial task was done he had no reason to stay with these ponies anymore "I'll be keeping this apple as compensation, should I need to work it off at a later date, simply tell me when and where the next time we meet." Fenrich said as he started walking back towards his lord 'not that I'd actually show up.'

"Hey hold on!" the cyan pegasus, 'Rainbow Dash' if Fenrich remembered correctly called out "I challenge you to a race; one lap around Ponyville."

"I refuse."

"What! why!?" the pegasus introduced as Scootaloo pressed "Afraid you'll lose to the fastest flyer in Equestria?" 

"And who would that be?" Fenrich replied, feigning ignorance. That didn't go over well as both pegasi present pointed to Rainbow Dash 'did she really have to point at herself?' Fenrich thought while the two gave him heated glares "Unless you can move faster than mach five then I couldn't care less about a race with you."

"Fine! But when I do go faster than mach five, you owe me a race!" Rainbow Dash declared.

"I'll look forward to that day." he said smiling wryly before continuing his walk back to his lord 'it'll be the day the sky burns green'. 

Fenrich returned to Valvatorez successful from his mission, presenting him with the apple he took during his endeavors "all finished My Lord, and perhaps this will hold you over."

"Good work Fenrich," Valvatorez complimented "and I see you brought me some food, how very considerate of you." he added before taking a bite out of the fruit.

"Of course, all is for My Lord." 

Twilight tentatively approached the two, her inquisitive eyes focused solely on Fenrich "so...what do you think of my friends?" she innocently asked, hope rising inside her. 

"I'm going to have get back to you regarding Rainbow Dash," Fenrich began 'nothing I have right now can accurately describe her lack of intelligence, haughty ego, and how much she annoys the hell out of me'"regarding Applejack however, she's too trusting, I could have easily lied to her face and she would have been none the wiser. As for her devotion to her farm; I'll know that by tomorrow, but considering how easy it was to obtain an apple from the apple farmer, my expectations are not high."

And just like that the hope vanished "oh...so you don't like her."

"Don't let it get to you Twilight," Valvatorez interjected between mouthfuls of apple "Fenrich warms up to people slowly, give it time and I'm sure you will see his opinions change...probably." he said as he finished eating the apple, including the core, and tossed the stem away before letting out a sigh "It's no use...no matter how many I eat, these apples won't satisfy my hunger." he noted dejectedly.

Twilight turned in shock towards Valvatorez as if he had just denounced Celestia as a tyrant "huh! But these are the best apples in all of Equestria, everypony likes these apples."

"Have you've forgotten that we're not from Equestria," Fenrich chastised "any preconceived notions you have won't apply to us."

"Oh no..." Twilight was starting to panic 'if there's nothing that will satisfy Valvatorez, then he'll go back to the Netherworld. If he does that, then that black prinny could destroy Equestria. And if that happens, Celestia will blame me for being a poor princess because I couldn't find anything he would eat!' she spiraled, completely unaware of the strange looks she was getting from the demons. Eventually the tangent reached it's peak as she flew up to Fenrich's face, violating any personal space bubbles there may have been as the two exchanged wide-eyed stares "there has to be something that will satisfy Valvatorez!"

"There is..." Fenrich venomously replied, pushing the distraught mare out of his face before his tone turned more sinister "and it's quite abundant here," he replied as he regained his composure while Twilight waited with bated breath.

"Blood."

"B-B-BLOOD!?" Twilight wasn't sure if all of Equestria heard her but right now that was the least of her concerns.

"That's right." Fenrich calmly acknowledged with his wry smile and piercing stare "Being a vampire, Lord Valvatorez can drink the blood of the living for sustenance and power, and it just so happens that you, as well as the town's inhabitance, qualify in that regard."

Suddenly every doubt, every concern, every fear she had since meeting these two came back in force. Twilight had gone pale, her legs were shaking, and she was having difficulty breathing. Valvatorez, who was so outgoing and carefree, was literally a blood-sucking monster! And she didn't even want to consider what Fenrich has done, something told her that it would mentally scar her if she asked. All she could feel right now was the cold ground on her flanks as her vision became blurry and she could feel her heart beating. What could she do! She couldn't have Valvatorez go around drinking all of the blood in Ponyville! Even if it was just her own blood, it wouldn't be long before she started suffering from anemia. But if it had to be anypony then it might as well be her-

"That isn't an option either Fenrich," Valvatorez sighed "drinking Twilight's blood would mean breaking my promise." 

"My Lord, these ponies don't qualify as humans so you won't be breaking your promise."

"Oh not that one, Fenrich," Valvatorez clarified "if I were to drink her...or any of the ponies in town's blood for that matter, it would undoubtedly cause harm to them."

Twilight was...well she wasn't sure anymore, she'd past her wit's end a long time ago dealing with these two and, once again, Valvatorez simply debunked her worst fears because of what she thought was a promise that no longer applied. But there was still a problem, in fact the original problem "then is there anything else you could eat, anything at all?" she asked desperately.

"Hmhmhm...there is one thing." Valvatorez smirked before flourishing his cape and extending his hands towards the air.

"Sardines!"

"Sar...dines?"

"That's right." he said matter-of-factly "Sardines are highly nutritious and can be preserved almost indefinitely with the right method." his mouth was already drooling at the thought of fresh sardines "Tell me Twilight, where is the closest place that's known to have sardines, in the wild or for sale?"

With her sanity slowly being restored, for the umpteenth time today, Twilight got back up onto her hooves and closed her eyes, thinking about the question "I believe...that would be Fluttersy's house, she keeps sardines to feed some of her animals..." in fact the more she talked her friend the more she felt like she forgot something... 

"FLUTTERSHY! with everything going on I completely forgot to let her know!"

"Let her know about what?" Valvatorez asked.

"Fluttershy takes care of a lot of different animals, earlier today she told me that they were really scared of something in the Everfree forest, that's why me and Spike were in there in the first place."

"Then there isn't a moment to waste, off to Fluttershy's house!" Valvatorez declared, striking a pose as he pointed toward the horizon in front of the group"...Where is it anyway?"

Twilight smiled sheepishly as her cheeks turned red and one of her forehooves found it's way to the back of her neck "it's...near the Everfree forest actually".

...

"YOU MEAN WE PASSED IT ON THE WAY HERE!?"

"Th-there were more important things going on, we were supposed to meet someone at the castle remember." Twilight defended, fighting off two irate glares pining for the grey matter behind her eyes and horn "let's just hurry." she said as she flew off towards Fluttershy's home and to stay a safe distance away from the grounded demons while said demons closely followed her on foot.

All three were unaware of the eyes monitoring them from the canopy of a nearby tree.









Twilight landed next to the bridge leading to Fluttershy's home "well...here we are." she said to Valvatorez and Fenrich who were catching their breath under a nearby tree. The two had managed to keep up with her despite having to run through the thick forest and cross over the rivers between here and Sweet Apple Acres while Twilight just flew over said obstacles. She found it odd that the two could move faster than her eyes could see but were winded just from trying to keep up with her. Perhaps they used some form of magic to augment their physical capabilities, or perhaps they were more used to 'sprinting' than 'running a marathon'. Seeing that neither of them were in any condition to speak to anypony, let alone Fluttershy, without terrifying them Twilight decided to try a delicate approach "You might want to let me talk to her first, Fluttershy is...very timid around new ponies," she suggested "I can only imagine how she would react if she just suddenly met you." when neither of them gave any objections, Twilight started across the bridge.

Fluttershy's cottage was silent, in fact it looked like nopony was even living there. All of the curtains that decorated the windows were closed and wherever wasn't covered, there was no light inside to see anything. None of her animals were out in the open, not even the bear that lived with her or any of the birds could be seen. What made the silence worse was that she was so close to the Everfree and yet the only thing she could hear was the occasional breeze and the two demons behind her.  

As Twilight approached the front door, she could see the shadow of something darting through one of the rays of light coming in through the window. She knew Fluttershy was home but whatever she saw was too small to be her and moved too fast. Steeling herself, Twilight knocked "Fluttershy, it's me, are you there?"

It took a minute but the door cracked open enough for a butter-colored pony to stick her head out "oh, hello Twilight ..." Fluttershy said with a look of relief "um...I'm sorry but...did you find anything in the Everfree?"

"Well kind of..." Twilight admitted, suddenly becoming very interested in the yellowing sky "but first, do you have some sardines I could have...as food?"

Fluttershy looked at her as if Twilight had just admitted to being a changeling, that look changed instead to if she had said she bucked a puppy "Twilight! How could you!" In her fury, Fluttershy stared down her friend, even flaring her wings, knocking the front door slightly more open in the process.

"What! no no no, it's not for me," she hastily clarified, trying to avoid eye contact with Fluttershy while she was using the stare. Her wandering eyes led her to the inside of her house, where numerous eyes were focused in her, all of them panicked "is...everything alright in there?"

This snapped Fluttershy out of her stare only to have her expression turn somber "everyone's scared..." she whispered trembling "they said the scary...thing...is spreading, and it even feels really close..." she looked behind her to the panicked eyes watching her and Twilight, the panicked eyes of all of her birds, rabbits, squirrels, and even the bear huddled together in large groups all around the inside "they're so scared they don't even want to go outside right now..."

'Maybe this has something to do with Valvatorez and Fenrich being outside. Perhaps their otherworldly magic is what's scaring the animals, and if that's the case... ' Twilight pondered, trying to make sense out of what was happening. Still, no matter how she thought about it, her best source of information right now was sitting behind her hungry "I think I have a lead on what's scaring your animals, but that's why I need some sardines; it's for someone I met in the forest, I think sardines are one of the only things he eats."

"Oh, um...I do have more than enough to feed my animal friends but...well...how many does he need?"

"Huh, I'm... not exactly sure," come to think of it, Valvatorez never did specify how many sardines he wanted. But that was a relatively simple fix, with Valvatorez behind her under a tree resting "why don't I introduce you to him, in fact he's right over...there?" 

He wasn't there, and neither was Fenrich.

"Oh no..."

Fortunately Twilight didn't have to worry long about where they were as a familiar squeaky voice was heard screaming it's lungs out near the chicken coop. With the demons most likely found, Twilight flew off towards the scream with Fluttershy reluctantly following, more to make sure her friend would be ok than anything. What they found was Valvatorez with his arms crossed and his head shaking and Fenrich standing in front of him holding a prinny up to eye-level by the skull. The prinny was flailing around helplessly in Fenrich's grip.

"I'll ask again: what do you think you were doing here?" Fenrich inquired, clenching his fist tighter around the prinny's cranium.

"I-I was just l-looking around town dood, a-and you just happened to find me when I just happened to fall over," the prinny blubbered trying to say anything that could make Fenrich believe him and thus spare his life. The cold unflinching glare Fenrich wore and the tightening of his grip suggested that he didn't believe him "I-I was c-certainly not taking a break at this pegasus' house dood." nope, still didn't believe him...

Fluttershy flew toward the werewolf with speed that was rarely ever seen from her stopping inches from his face, staring him down with equal ferocity "excuse me! Just who do you think you are tormenting that poor penguin!" this actually made both demons eyes widen, struck dumb at what was happening "You should be ashamed of yourself for picking on such a defenseless creature like that!"

Recovering from the initial surprise, Fenrich turned his glare to the pegasus "and who are you to talk about matters that don't concern you, horse, especially when this prinny is neither a penguin nor harmless."

Twilight watched as not only was Fluttershy using the stare on Fenrich but Fenrich was returning with his own, darker, more malicious version. While she never saw anything resist the stare before, if she let this continue anymore then things were probably going to get violent. As she approached the two, she used her magic to break them up "please calm down you two," Twilight said, snapping Fluttershy out of her stare while drawing the attention of Fenrich's "Fluttershy, I know it kind of looks like a cute harmless penguin but trust me, it's not as innocent as it looks," she said, recalling the Valvatorez statue in the Everfree forest "and Fenrich, I know the prinnies are yours and Valvatorez's responsibility but do you really have to punish him after he's been working so hard?" Fenrich only intensified his glare towards Twilight, obviously not wanting to back down "Especially to the pony Valvatorez wanted to talk to about 'you-know-what'?"

At this, Fenrich took a deep breath and relented "I suppose there are more important things to address right now..." he said as he carefully set the prinny down and released him from his grip "I'll decide on a more fitting punishment later, but for now make yourself useful around here; if Fluttershy-" Fenrich could feel his pride eroding away at the mention of her name "-needs something, you get it for her, if there is something she must do, you do it instead understand?"

"Y-yes sir, Fenrich dood." the prinny hastily said in salute, he just stared death in the face and lived, he was not about to mess this up.

Now that the situation was defused Twilight along with Fluttershy landed away from the demons "ok, lets try this again; Valvatorez, Fenrich, this is my good friend Fluttershy," she said as she motioned toward her friend. Fluttershy shrunk back, trying to hide herself behind her Twilight as the demons focused on her "as you can see she takes care of a lot of different animals, from mice an rabbits to bats, vultures, and even a bear."

Fenrich arched an eyebrow at the last part "and what's stopping the bear from eating her?"

"She's friends with it."

'Of course...'

"Anyway Valvatorez, Fluttershy does have sardines but, how many do you need anyway?"

"Ten sardines, one for each of the prinnies and six for myself." Valvatorez answered immediately "Also if she happens to know where I can catch more, that would be greatly appreciated as well."

"Oh um...I guess I can give you ten..." Fluttershy said behind her friend. She then pointed her hoof downstream "and the lake nearby has plenty of sardine schools in it, if you don't mind fishing I mean..."

Valvatorez walked over to Fluttershy smiling and merrily shook her hoof "Excellent! With a sustainable food supply found, we will be able to focus on our mission, you have my thanks Fluttershy."

"O-oh...um...you're welcome." Fluttershy smiled sheepishly, perturbed by the sudden attention she was getting from the vampire. Fluttershy kept smiling as she withdrew her hoof, with Valvatorez losing his own cheer in the process, and trotted off to collect his fish with the prinny following close by.

After Fluttershy had gone out of sight Fenrich shifted his attention towards Twilight "well then, now that My Lord's food is taken care of, who are we going to meet next, princess?" he asked, almost as if he cared what her answer would be.

Twilight smiled and laughed sheepishly "um...that's it actually."

That was something Fenrich was not expecting, in fact he actually cared about that answer, going so far as to let out a sigh of relief "oh finally! Once we have the sardines we're heading back to the castle. I've had enough of these distractions and would like to begin our search."

Before Twilight could retort on what Fenrich had said, Fluttershy returned with the prinny carrying a saddlebag filled to the brim with sardines. She and the prinny approached Valvatorez cautiously taking off the bag and presenting them to the demon. Valvatorez graciously accepted the bag and pulled out one of the sardines, eating it in two quick bites.

Thoroughly mortified at watching something she'd been talking to nonchalantly eat another living thing for the first time in her life, Twilight figured Fenrich's idea was not as bad as she thought "well, to the castle then."

Fenrich merely smirked as he and Twilight started to walk towards the path leading to town with Fluttershy waving the three good-bye, the prinny staying by her side staring blankly at the group.

Valvatorez on the other hand hadn't moved an inch "Hold on Twilight, there's something I want to check," he then marched over towards the object that caught his interest and in a calm but still very authorative tone gave a simple order.

"Fluttershy, open your mouth."

"H-huh?" Fluttershy had her mouth agape at the sudden question, but not nearly enough to satisfy the Valvatorez as he bent down and pried her mouth open. In retaliation, a violet aura surrounded him as Twilight was preparing to launch him into the nearest tree.

The imminent danger didn't bother him though as he was able to confirm his suspicions 'I thought so,' Valvatorez thought "hmhmhm...well I wasn't expecting this," he chuckled, relaxing his body to show he meant no harm to Twilight's friends and thus be released from Twilight's magical grip. Once the aura dissipated Valvatorez moved himself aside to show Fluttershy still with her mouth being held open "Twilight, did you know your friend is part vampire?"

"Huh?" Twilight wasn't sure what he was talking about until she took a closer look at Fluttershy's mouth, and that was when the realization hit her like an anvil "Huh!" Fluttershy had fangs "But I thought my spell got rid of all of the vampire fruit bat influence!"

"Being a vampire myself Twilight, I can tell what the signs are." Valvatorez retorted, finally letting go of Fluttershy's mouth. The pony in question looked terrified and was actively trying to make herself look as small as possible.

Fenrich on the other hand merely chuckled "magic spells you're involved with seem to cause mutations princess." he chided "Remind me to never let you cast anything on My Lord or I."

Twilight's eyes widened, completely oblivious to Fenrich's insult "oh no, does that man she'll turn back into Flutterbat? I have to get back to the castle and find a way to remove any traces left of the influence."

"Oh don't worry too much," Valvatorez said, waving his hand dismissively "I can easily teach her to control her latent vampirism. The only thing I need to know is what she hunted during her latest episode."

"Um...she sucked the juices out of the apples at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Well then! This'll be quite simple," Valvatorez said, clapping his hands together before turning his attention back to Fluttershy "once I have some time I'll drop by and teach you how to temper that other side of yours Fluttershy," she nodded emptily, still scared at what was being discussed around her. "until then, take care." he said, satisfied with her response. He turned to go rejoin the group waiting on the bridge when one more concern crossed his mind "And try not to eat too many apples until I visit next!"

Once again the trio found themselves on the path to Ponyville from the Everfree, and once again there was this awkward silence between the three. The only real differences this time were that there was nothing else to do that could distract the demons from their search and that the sky was now an orange hue. All Twilight could do to stall the demons now was drag her hooves as they headed towards the castle. At the very least she was convinced that Valvatorez wasn't going to disappear without saying a word, there was still so much she wanted to ask him about anyway, about demons, their magic, the Netherworld, and even Hades but...would she even get the chance?

Her thoughts were interrupted when the vampire in question walked up beside her with a serious look on his face "so, you said we were done meeting your friends?"

"Yeah..."

"Well then let's hurry up already! I'm rather curious to see what my accommodations are going to be tonight."

Twilight blinked at his response "does that mean you're actually staying?"

"Well I can't just leave until my new clothes are finished now can I," Valvatrez stated matter-of-factly "and I'm rather interested in that vampire friend of yours who desperately needs my guidance. Perhaps I should've said vampony..." he quizzically mentioned before shrugging off the tangent.

"Well it is getting late." Twilight noticed, seeing how close the sun was to fully setting "By the way, do demons even sleep? And if they do, would it be during the day or night?" 

Her response came as a scoff from behind the two of them "of course demons sleep, and we couldn't exactly scare humans if we slept during the night either."

"So...during the day?"

"Not quite," Valvatorez corrected "a demon can live for an exceptionally long time, say thousands of years, to a demon, sleeping for one or two years is the equivalent of an afternoon nap," Twilight fell into a slump at hearing this, and Valvatorez had a good idea why "still we can rest on a day-to-day basis just to conserve energy." he reassured.

"Oh good..." Twilight said, breathing a sigh of relief "I was kind of worried Spikes effort would be wasted." after a moment of thinking Twilight stopped, causing the others to do the same "Valvatorez?"

"Yes? What is it?"

"Thank you." Twilight said smiling, catching the demons off-guard before taking flight toward Ponyville "Come on, let's hurry back!" 









Twilight and the group made it outside the castle much quicker this time, partially due to the fact that there was hardly nopony on the streets but more because she actually wanted to go there and was no longer dragging her hooves in dread of what will happen next. In fact, thanks to that they managed to make it back before dark. Twilight took a moment to take in the sunset as Valvatorez and Fenrich opted to ignore it in favor of heading inside.

'Wait...sunset?'

"SURPRISE!"

With the peaceful moment all but shattered by the sudden yell, Twilight turned towards the castle doors to see Valvatorez and Fenrich holding the doors open covered in pieces of confetti. Beyond them was the castle foyer which had streamers and balloons everywhere as well as a large banner with the words WELCOME TO PONYVILLE written on it. Half of the town was circled around the decorated foyer all smiling towards the two demons and Twilight, a rather small turnout considering who planned this. Speaking of which, Pinkie, Spike, the prinnies and all of her friends were at the forefront of the group.

"Well? Did we get ya" Pinkie asked, appearing between the two demons.

Valvatorez was struck dumb "how did you put all of this together? How did you get Fluttershy here before us!?"

Pinkie merely giggled as Valvatorez tried to comprehend what was before him "oh that's easy, I'm Pinkie Pie: party-thrower extraordinaire!" she proudly proclaimed with confetti bursting out behind her from not-even-god-knows-where "As for Fluttershy, I just dropped by her house to pick her up a minute ago. We barely made it in time too!"  

Again, what Pinkie failed to mention was that it took seven minutes running just to reach town and another three to reach the castle. That and there was no other entrances other than the front doors which the demons were standing in front of and the windows at the top of the 'canopy'. "I definitely have to watch out for her." Fenrich muttered "so what is all this?"

"It's your 'welcome to Ponyville' party isn't it, Pinkie." Twilight interjected

"Yep that's right!" Pinkie replied as she pushed the guests of honor inside "so without further ado, LET'S PARTY!"

On cue the music started playing and the ponies dispersed to either one of the many games Pinkie set up or the refreshment table to mingle or to the dance floor to cut loose with friends. 

Pinkie Pie chose to drag away Valvatorez (again) towards a group playing pin the tail on the pony "c'mon c'mon! you've gotta try this!"

"Alright Pinkie! I'll play!" Valvatorez exasperated. After being released from pinkie's grip he was handed a blindfold and found himself surrounded by expectent partygoers. Taking a glance at the pinup he would be aiming for, Valvatorez memorized as much as he could before putting on the blindfold "alright I'm ready,"

Pinkie grinned as she pulled out a long scarf and wrapped it around Valvatorez's waist. Once Pinkie was satisfied with her wrapping she clutched the cloth with both of her forehooves and gave a strong yank. She watched as Valvatorez spun around faster than most ponies could manage without losing their lunch.

As Valvatorez stopped spinning, he was handed the tail and straightened up to align with the pinup but strangely he didn't move an inch but instead started chuckling, much to the confusion of the onlookers, Pinkie Pie included. Slowly he raised his hand currently holding the pin and using the needle as a point pointed towards the pinup "you'll need to try much harder than that to throw me off!" Valvatorez challenged. An observant partygoer would notice that the tip of the pin perfectly aligned with the flank of the pin-up.

Pinkie was shocked, nopony could stand after a thorough spinning from her. The surprise turned to determination as she realized that, not since Cheese Sandwich came by last, she had to step up her game "ookay you asked for it Valzy!" once again Pinkie wrapped Valvatorez in the sash only this time it was from neck to toe. before she grabbed the cloth this time she whistled to her audience motioning with a free hoof towards her "anypony wanna help!?"

"YEAH!" one of the pegasi in the crowd screamed, grabbing the cloth behind Pinkie as another two earth ponies joined them shortly after that, followed by a unicorn and earth pony pair taking a place at the rear.

"All right, LET'ER RIP!" Pinkie Pie yelled to her compatriots. Together, the six pulled with all of their might spinning Valvatorez so fast that he generated a small tornado inside the foyer. 

By the time the wind had died down Valvatorez had stopped spinning but was definitely staggering from the pull "well...alright...that's better..." he managed to say between dizziness spells. Carefully he stepped towards the pinup with the tail shakily pointed in the general direction it was supposed to. Eventually he felt the pin sink into the poster, and after noting the laughs he was getting he removed his blindfold to see where he hit. 

The pony was now sporting a rather long beard.

Valvatorez chuckled at his attempt.

Twilight wandered around, mingling with the town and getting their opinion of the demons. She even talked with one of the prinnies who had volunteered to provide snacks to the guests in exchange for free sweets from Pinkie Pie. Her meandering brought her to the punch bowl where she saw Fluttershy staring at it lost in thought. 'What Valvatorez did must still be bothering her.' Twilight thought, looking at her anguished friend.

After another moment she couldn't take anymore of seeing her like this Twilight started making her way towards her friend "hey Fluttershy."

Fluttershy jumped at the sudden sound of Twilight's voice, and when she landed she turned towards her with a terrified expression "T-T-Twilight! I-I-I didn't mean to-"

"It's ok Fluttershy, I'm not mad," Twilight comforted putting her friend more at ease. While she would have preferred to know that she still had fangs, it was hardly the most pressing issue as of late "I take it what Valvatorez said is still bothering you?"

Fluttershy meekly nodded "I think I'm...if it's ok with you I mean but-"

"Hey Fluttershy, hey Twi!"

"Hi Applejack" Twilight welcomed to her friend holding a mug of cider in her hoof and another mug balanced on her hat. She wasn't alone either as Rainbow Dash was walking beside her staring at the ground "Rainbow Dash? what's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh! N-nothing." Rainbow Dash quickly responded putting on a quick smile to prove her point.

"Uhhuh, sure," Applejack deadpanned "ya turned down a mug of cider ah offered."

"I told you I wasn't thirsty! I had a lot to drink before we got here!"

"We we're together all afternoon Rainbow, an ah didn't see you drink a drop. Speakin of..." Applejack paused, turning her attention to Twilight "did Rainbow ever ask you that question she had?"

"Question? What question?"

"Somethin' about how fast five macs are."

"What! No! That wasn't it!" Rainbow Dash interjected. She then shifted around uncomfortably and her cheeks were turning red "it was...er...how fast is mach five?"

Twilight chuckled at the strange question "Rainbow Dash, I always thought 'full-speed' was the only speed that mattered to you."

"It is! but this is for...somepony else." Rainbow answered, looking away as she said the last part.

"Ya mean Mr. Fenrich right."

"Yeah...him." Rainbow answered, giving the floor a dirty look.

"Well...to answer your question Rainbow," Twilight said considering how to put it a way Rainbow would understand "you go faster than that whenever you do a Sonic Rainboom."

"Oh, that's it? alright, thanks Twi." Rainbow Dash replied giving a half-hearted grin. Seeing that none of them were buying it she opted to do the only logical thing "I'm...gonna go enjoy the party, se ya later girls." and flew off.

Applejack sighed "well, whatever's botherin her, she won't keep quiet about it for long, anyway here," She set down her mug of cider on the table and grabbed the one on her head, offering it to Fluttershy "ya look like you could use this."

Fluttershy reached for the mug only to stop and pull her hoof away at the last moment "I'm sorry Applejack, but I already filled up on punch..."

Applejack sighed "and what about you Twi?" 

"I'll take it." Twilight replied eagerly using her magic to bring the offered beverage to her lips and downed half of it in a few gulps "Thanks Applejack I needed this."

"Sure thing Sugarcube, now if ya'll excuse me ah'm gonna go find Mr. Valvatorez and talk ta him about some things." Applejack said picking up her mug of cider and adjusting her stetson "See ya later Twi." and with one last wave, she turned and disappeared into the crowd of ponies.

Once Applejack was out of sight, Twilight turned back to Fluttershy with a sincere smile on her face "you were going to say you want to take up Valvatorez's offer earlier weren't  you."

Fluttershy turned beat red as the floor became very interesting to her "well...it would be good in case I change into Flutterbat again..."

"I see," Twilight mused. She then levitated her cider towards Fluttershy "well Valvatorez said to not eat any apples until he visits next." Fluttershy smiled and took the cider with her hoof as the two enjoyed the party.

The party went on long into the night, with everyone enjoying the games, refreshments, and camaraderie the party pony had planned. Eventually the party did wind down and slowly everypony bid their farewells and left for home, with Fluttershy and Rarity leaving early and Lyra and Rainbow Dash being some of the last. Surprisingly even Valvatorez was feeling tired after the party and though he would never admit it so was Fenrich. After tracking down Spike and having him escort them to their rooms, which were across the hall from each other, and for the first time in centuries they slept during the night.






> Chapter 5: Death and Pancakes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 5: Death and Pancakes





Fenrich awoke to sunlight shining onto his face, taking in the room prepared for him the previous evening. The bed, which was far too soft for his taste, stood directly in front of him as he sat against the wall next to the door while the morning sun streamed in through the glassless windows and reflecting off the amethyst floor. The room itself was relatively bare, with only a desk, an empty bookcase, and a lantern being the only other furniture in the room. While most demons would kill for the room he was currently in, the unnecessary opulence of it all only made him uncomfortable. He was a mercenary, he lived his life sleeping in either some crappy bed like in Hades or no bed at all. still, despite being in a foreign world devoid of any substantial fear energy, he felt surprisingly refreshed, especially after that party the pink one threw last night.

Somehow whenever he tried to escape from the party to gather information on Sombra, that mare always beat him to the exit. Even when he tried to jump from the balcony she was waiting there smiling with balloons tied to her barrel. What made it worse was that whenever he tried to physically throw her out of the way, he  was the one who was sent flying. Usually back into the castle! After several different attempts he finally resigned to the fact that he was not leaving and instead talked with Rarity about the status of His Lord's suit which, to both his relief and chagrin, would have been done by now if it weren't for the party.

With a long sigh ending his recount of last night and his mind fully awake, Fenrich stood up from the wall and stretched his limbs, noting the pops his joints made 'I should check on My Lord and see if there is anything I can get him,' he thought 'I can't recall the last time either of us were so exhausted at the end of a day we slept through the night...wait,' the moment he thought that, something in the back of his mind told him that he was missing something important 'everything we did yesterday should not have made us as tired as we were, regardless of the lack of fear energy.' all they did yesterday, from walking through the Everfree, fighting those wooden wolves, and even his display at the apple orchard, were trivial compared to what he did daily at Hades. And yet chasing Twilight had  winded him, Pinkie's party had left him dead tired 'what's going on?' while he wanted to pursue that tangent now, seeing to Valvatorez took precedence. So for now he made a mental note about the phenomena and left his room, only to find a prinny standing in front of the door leading to His Lord's. 

"Morning Fenrich dood!" the prinny in question said as he saluted Fenrich "Lord Valvatorez figured you'd check on him when you woke up and wanted me to tell you that he went fishing before dawn. Said he'd be back two hours after the sun rose, dood."

"And how long has it been since the sun rose?"

"One hour and forty-three minutes, dood. I've been counting the entire time."

"I see," Fenrich answered "in that case begin searching the area for any trace of Sombra, we've already wasted enough time here as is."

"Can't do that dood!" 

Fenrich eye twitched slightly as his voice turned cold "oh...and why not?"

To the prinny's credit; he stood his ground, even if he was sweating and shaking as he answered "well...Miss Twilight wants everyone present for breakfast, prinnies included, dood. Her friends Lady Rarity and Miss Pinkie Pie are already here, dood." hearing the low growl coming from Fenrich snuffed what little nerve he had as he made peace with the world. 

"Grh...last night wasn't enough? Now we're being stonewalled this morning too?" Fenrich hissed. All of these distractions were starting to get on his nerves, and with the anomalous fear energy readings from yesterday still unresolved, things were quickly getting out of hand. Regaining his composure, he started making his way to the dining hall, with the prinny trailing him, where he expected the mares were waiting 'I've been lenient with these ponies, too lenient.' he thought, increasing his pace 'No more, it's time to get results.' 







Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie sat at the golden table in the dining room chatting about Celestia's letter, specifically how she knew demons in the first place and what made her think that her friends would need their help, as well as the prinnies in general, two of which were standing together near the edge of the room giving them confused (albeit still blank) stares. 

During the party Pinkie Pie suggested that her friends have breakfast with the demons before the princess arrived, to try and show some hospitality after the mixed first impressions. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were hesitant at first, but some pleading from one of the prinnies and the promise of cider from Applejack eventually changed their minds. At present, Spike was in the kitchen making enough pancakes to feed the thirteen of them. Rarity had brought with her some imported tea as well as cups for everyone expected to be here, on top of Valvatorez's finished clothes currently sealed in a box that rested on the table. Pinkie Pie brought the syrup and butter as well as whipped cream, chocolate chips, and three different kinds of jelly, all of which were kept in her mane.

"Now that you mention it..." Rarity said to her friends "the prinnies act as if having breakfast like this is unheard of. It makes me wonder what they go through on a daily basis."

"Well why don't we ask them!" Pinkie suggested, grabbing one of the prinnies with her front hooves "I mean we got two prinnies right here. Let's see what they say!" she said, completely oblivious that the prinny she was holing on to was struggling for dear life to break free of the her grasp. 

"Help me dood! I don't wanna diiiie!"

Twilight carefully wrested the prinny away from her friend with her magic and carefully set him back down on the ground "Pinkie you have to be more careful with these prinnies," she scolded, noticing that the prinny was now kissing the ground "Valvatorez said that they explode when thrown and I don't want to find out if that's true or not."

"Hehe...sorry Twilight." Pinkie replied sheepishly.

"Pinkie does have a point, darling." Rarity added "Who would know better what that these prinnies go through each day than one of the prinnies themselves?"

"A prinny's job is to do whatever their master commands without question, they earn one sardine per twenty hour work day and have no benefits, sick days, paid time off, or healthcare." 

The three mares jumped at the new arrivals voice, and noticing the prinnies were staring at the door petrified. With their curiosity piqued they turned towards the door to get a better look at who said it, and their blood ran cold. Closing the door behind him, Fenrich slowly walked up to the group with another prinny following behind him "And that is merely a standard prinny contract, there are far worse ones available depending on the soul and the client." there was no snark in his words, no humor, everything he had said was cold and callous as he stared at the ponies in the room with disgust "And right now not only are they not working as they should, your preventing them from working with something they are by rights not entitled to." 

"That's horrible!" Twilight objected.

"That is more than what greedy, lazy, and corrupt souls deserve." Fenrich snapped before anyone else there could speak "And in case you've forgotten there's one such soul running rampant in this world right now, one willing to steal from, and kill other demons." Rarity's and Pinkie's eyes went wide at this revelation and if Fenrich were done talking, they would be bombarding Twilight with questions right now "We should have begun our search yesterday after Lord Valvatorez's suit was commissioned instead of wasting time meeting your friends, princess. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do, and so do the prinnies." with a quick glance to the two prinnies in front of him he snapped them out of their stupor and silently ordered them to follow. As he turned around his glare hardened as he found the door being blocked by one of the mares, currently standing on her hind legs and using her body as a barricade "Move."

"Nuh-uh no way!" Pinkie Pie said, determined to not give in to Fenrich's intimidation "If they're gonna be working all day...and...all night really..." she looked away, thinking about that tangent for a moment before returning her gaze to Fenrich "then they're gonna need a big breakfast!"

Fenrich couldn't believe what this pony was saying. Did she not hear him explain that prinnies don't get a breakfast normally? Or was she so caught up in throwing parties that the world could fall apart around her and she wouldn't mind? To him there was only one logical conclusion "...you're an imbecile aren't you?" Pinkie merely responded with a questioning glance while Fenrich suspected the glances from her friends were much less forgiving. Regardless the pink pony did not back down. With a heavy sigh Fenrich approached Pinkie, keeping a steady gaze on the mare as she began to shrink back and sweat a little "If you will not move on your own..." he said right before he grabbed her by the head, lifted her up to eye-level- "...then I shall make you move."

-And threw her passed the table.

Pinkie Pie rolled on the floor, dazed and disoriented but otherwise unharmed by Fenrich's throw. That didn't mean her friends took kindly to seeing her tossed across the table. Rarity rushed over to her dizzied friend while Twilight flared her wings and pointed her now-glowing horn at Fenrich, ready to unleash a few choice spells on the werewolf for harming her friend "what was that for!?"

"Wasn't it obvious, to get her out of my way." Fenrich replied calmly 'it's not like she's hurt or anything, My Lord would never forgive me for breaking one of his promises.' he thought before adopting his own fighting stance "And know this, if you attack first I'll have no choice but to resort to more...draconian measures to defend myself." Twilight didn't seem to understand what he just said, or perhaps she actually thought she could take him in a fight. Either way she was not backing down as magic continued to gather in that horn of hers and she kept her sights squarely on him. Fenrich did the same, looking for any indication of an incoming attack and the moment directly afterwards that he could use to counter and end this sorry excuse of a royal. He never got the chance though as the sound of footsteps from behind him drew his attention away "Tch, damn..." he muttered. Soon after he stood up straight and turned toward the door just in time for it to open and reveal the intruder "Welcome back My Lord." Fenrich said with a smile.

"Ah, good morning Fenrich. Do you by chance know where the kitchen is? I've caught quite a few sardines and wouldn't want them to go bad." Valvatorez said with a smile as he entered the room carrying over his shoulder a makeshift fishing pole made from a stick, some string, and a small jagged crystal shaped into a hook in one hand. In the other was a saddlebag with a six pointed star on the front filled to the brim with sardines (some of which were still twitching). Finally taking notice to the situation Valvatorez's looked towards his steward and Twilight curiously "um...am I interrupting something?"

"No not really," Fenrich replied nonchalantly "we merely had a difference of opinions-"

"You threw Pinkie across the room!" Twilight exclaimed.

"She's fine..." Fenrich replied dismissively.

To try and prove his point he shifted his attention to Pinkie opting the other two to do the same. Pinkie was standing on her hooves at least even if her head was spinning and she was swaying from side-to-side "yep I'm totally ok." Pinkie said with a smile, even though she was still wobbling back and forth "Why are there three Fenfens?"

While the disbelieving stares he got from Twilight and Valvatorez hurt, one more so than the other, Fenrich couldn't understand why Pinkie was acting like that 'odd, I didn't think I put that much force into it...' he thought but his musings were interrupted by one of the few things ha actually feared.

"Fenrich."

That being his lord's ire directed at him "yes, My Lord?" he replied tentatively.

"Care to explain why you tossed Pinkie Pie across the dining room?" Valvatorez asked sharply, setting down his fishing pole and sardines against the wall.

"Please understand My Lord, since we've been here all we have done is follow princess here, getting caught up in side trips and distractions along the way. For once since we've been here I'd like to get something done that actually relates to our mission." Fenrich pleaded, trying to save some face with His Lord "as such I came here to gather the prinnies and begin investigating, but the pink one-"

"Her name is Pinkie Pie, not the pink one. And we just wanted them to have pancakes with us!" Twilight interrupted, even having Rarity support her with a glare.

"...As I was saying," Fenrich continued unfazed "that mare blocked the way out, so I was forced to physically move her out of the way."

Valvatorez had closed his eyes and covered his face halfway through Fenrich's explanation, not out of boredom but instead to better absorb what was being told to him without distractions. Still, after everything had been said, his reason for covering his face had changed from focus to mirth "Fenrich, you should know full well how much I value the promises I make, as well as how I feel about you trying to deceive me." he scolded, glaring at him from behind his hand "However, while I am not fully convinced, Pinkie Pie has attested to being fine, and as such I've decided to be lenient...this time." Fenrich's eyes widened at what he just heard and was about to say something that Valvatorez could practically hear already "Do not mistake my actions, Fenrich. There will be consequences for your actions, but seeing that there are no chores the prinnies could not do themselves nor a legion of Overlord-class demons to face you will have to be punished for your actions later."

"Understood, My Lord..." Fenrich sighed.

Twilight gave Fenrich a victorious smirk while he reciprocated with a snarl which lasted up to the point where someone loudly cleared their throat, drawing attention back to them "you're not without fault either, Twilight." Valvatorez chided "While I'll admit Fenrich's actions were uncalled for, I cannot allow you to give the prinnies anymore food."

"What! why!?"

"Simple; they don't deserve it." he explained matter-of-factly "I know I've told you that a prinny is the soul of a sinful being working off their sins to be reincarnated." Twilight nodded in response whereas the other two ponies in the room gasped, looked at the three prinnies in disbelief (who nodded in confirmation), and retuned their attention to Valvatorez with their jaws still open "As such, they are not allowed any luxuries, such as more than one meal a day."

"But, Valvatorez, even if what you say is true, that just sounds barbaric." Rarity said as she helped Pinkie to the table.

"Then tell me; what would you do with your criminals?" Valvatorez countered and watched as both Rarity and Twilight were about to say something "And I'm not just referring to the pickpockets or litterers either. I mean all  of them, including the worst ones you have ever faced and ones even worse than that." he added, stifling whatever the two mares were going to say "I could continue on with this until the sun sets again but for the sake of time I will simply say this; the prinnies are allowed one basic meal per day in the form of one sardine that they may either eat or sell to pay off their sins." 

While Twilight didn't like admitting it, Valvatorez had a point. Equestria had Tartarus to lock up their criminals and they usually stayed locked up there. At least with the prinnies they're given a chance through hard work and reformation. But she still didn't like it "then how about a compromise?" she offered, watching as Valvatorez was about to object "Before you say anything at least hear me out. How about one pancake, split equally between them into fourths, in place of their usual sardine. Also they will not get anything to use as toppings, it will be just a regular, quarter slice of pancake, with nothing on it or with it."

"Nothing!?"Pinkie exclaimed, grasping onto Twilight's shoulders shocked after what she just said "Twilight, how could you!? I...I thought we were friends!" she cried, being as dramatic with her words as she could possibly be "At least butter, or syrup, or ANYTHING! But please have a heart!"

Twilight was unfazed by Pinkie's performance although she did sigh in relief knowing that she was in fact fine. "I'm sorry Pinkie, but this is the best I can do. I can tell Valvatorez is adamant about the prinnies get only the barest of meals," she said after prying her friend off her. At hearing this though Pinkie's eyes started getting bigger and more watery while her mane deflated into a slight curl "but I promise everything will be ok." Twilight reassured her 'besides, I never said  how big the one pancake was going to be...' 

"Pinkie Promise?"

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my-ouch!" Twilight said as she went through the motions up to her jamming her hoof into her eye 'one of these days I won't poke my eye out doing that.' she noted.

Valvatorez watched as Twilight went through the motions with barely restrained curiosity. Once he thought she was done he asked "Twilight, what was that you did just now?"

"It's called a Pinkie Promise," Twilight replied, still rubbing her eye "It's a promise between friends that you must keep, no matter what."

"And if you don't?"

"I'm...not entirely sure..." she admitted, she had never met anypony who broke a Pinkie Promise. The closest she could say was the Dodge Junction incident with Applejack "I heard that Rainbow Dash knows somepony who did but she wouldn't tell me anything about it." she added before returning to a more serious tone "And I'm not about to find out either."

Valvatorez was taken aback slightly at Twilight's declaration "you would risk breaking an unbreakable promise just so the prinnies can have some pancakes?"

"It was Pinkie's idea and I won't let down a friend." she replied staring down the demon.

Valvatorez could see the determination emanating off the princess in that steeled gaze of hers. And while he wants Twilight to keep her promise, his duties as a prinny instructor left him virtually obligated to decline. This back and forth thinking went on in his mind when at last he sighed "it seems I have no choice...very well, I shall agree to your terms." almost immediately Twilight and Pinkie brightened up, Pinkie especially looked ready to pounce on him. Their enthusiasm was curved slightly when he extended his hand so that he could continue speaking "However, there are two conditions that must be met. First: immediately after their meal the prinnies are to begin their individual tasks, and are expected to work twice as hard to compensate for this. And second: this will be a one-time deal for I will not allow any prinnies under my tutelage to be spoiled. These conditions are NOT negotiable, understand?" 

"Yes, I understand." she replied evenly.

"Good, now if you'll excuse me I simply must find the kitchen and put these sardines on ice before they start to go bad." Valvatorez stated cheerfully as he reached for his makeshift fishing gear. 

"Um, Valvatorez?" Twilight said as she grasped the saddlebag of sardines in her magic "I think Rarity has something for you so...I'll take these to the kitchen for you." she quickly stated before galloping out of the room with the bag of fish.

"Oh? Well...okay then." Valvatorez shrugged as he shifted his grasp to the fishing pole and stored it in his cape's pocket dimension. He turned around to see Rarity staring slack jawed at where the bag he used was with Pinkie standing beside her, giving the same spot a curious look. 

"Hey, Rarity?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes?" 

"Wasn't that Twilight's favorite saddle bag?"

"Yes..."

"...Do you think she'll ever get the fishy smell out?" the only reply she got was muffled crying as Rarity slumped onto the table "I'll...take that as a no." she said sheepishly. Seeing that Rarity was in no condition to present...well...anything, Pinkie grabbed the package with her hoof, holding it like a waiter would somepony's main course. With a quick shake of her mane, it became the same style as Rarity's and with clearing her throat she elegantly walked up to Valvatorez "Here you are sir Valzy, your order has been finished." she said in a mock high-society voice.

Valvatorez tried to suppress a chuckle as he watched Pinkie offer him the package "is that supposed to be Rarity?" he said as he relieved Pinkie of her parcel.

"Uh-huh!" she replied with her usual tone and gusto. Even her mane poofed back to normal after she broke character "What do ya think? Spot on? Not even close?" 

"Hmm...practice makes perfect." Valvatorez evaluated before turning his attention to the package in his hand. Carefully he untied the strings binding it and parted the paper to reveal the folded black clothes inside. He then grabbed the articles of clothing, letting them unfurl in his grasp and tossed aside the wrapping "So, this is my suit remade hm?" he stated, beginning his examination "Color scheme remains the same and the size looks right, as do the proportions...although I am curious about the ruby cufflinks and embroidery." he noted. The rubies in question were cut to the shape of a diamond and were slightly larger than his previous button cufflinks. The white leather leg straps were gone and in their place were three similarly cut rubies sewn onto the outside of each pant leg running down vertically towards the end. "Well nothing left to do now but try it on, it's been a while since I tried doing that."

"That My Lord?" Fenrich asked, unable to hide his surprise.

"Ooh ooh, are we gonna see something cool!?" Pinkie asked, bouncing in front of Fenrich.

"That's right, but I would step back if I were you." Fenrich replied cynically. 

Valvatorez raised his hand, conjuring dark energies from the ether into a shadowy ball above his head sucking up his new clothes into the expanding darkness. As the black sphere grew it eventually came into contact with Valvatorez himself slowly consuming him as well. When at last Valvatorez had disappeared into the ball of shadows it finally stopped growing and instead started pulsating. Moments passed and Pinkie and Rarity were becoming concerned that something went wrong, but one glance at Fenrich's face suggested that everything so far was meant to happen. Before they could worry any longer, an earth-shattering crack echoed throughout the room as white faults began to appear on the shadowy ball, and then another, and another and even a vertical band of green energy escaped, leaving a small gash in the crystal floor.   

When the sphere of darkness, now littered with cracks and gashes, could take no more it erupted outwards covering everything in a black smoke-like substance before dissipating harmlessly. Standing at the center of where the sphere had been was Valvatorez flaring his cape in his new clothes "muwahahahaha! It's perfect! The fabric is not the least bit irritating to the skin, the stitching holds no matter how I move my body and doesn't feel the least bit restrictive!" he proudly declared to the group, even going so far as to throw a few punches and an uppercut to prove his point "Excellent work Rarity! Your skills are truly unrivaled in this world!"  

"It was a pleasure working on such an order Valvatorez." Rarity said, looking up and wiping the tears from her eyes "I enchanted the gems to automatically repair any future damage done to the suit so you don't have to worry about tearing it again, or at least as long as there is magic in Equestria anyway."

"Wow Rarity! I didn't know you could do that!" Pinkie complimented.

"Twilight is not the only one striving to improve her magic." Rarity commented with a hint of pride in her tone "I too must improve if I am going to be known throughout Equestria."

"Well don't you have ambition!" Valvatorez exclaimed, giving Rarity an approving nod. He then turned toward his steward, who was merely standing with his head bowed, eyes closed, and a content smirk on his face "Fenrich, so long as you abide by the promises I've made you are free to do as you wish until Celestia arrives. I am going to stay here and keep an eye on the prinnies as well as talk with Rarity some more." he ordered.

"Understood, My Lord." Fenrich said before turning to leave the dining hall.

"Now then," Valvatorez continued as he took a seat at one of the cushions around the table making himself comfortable "why not tell me all about it while we wait for your friends and Celestia to show up. Besides I must think of a way to repay you for this."

"Oh don't worry about it in the slightest Valvatorez." Rarity said, waving her hoof dismissively and causing Valvatorez to frown slightly "As for my dreams and ambitions, well I would be more than happy to, although it will most definitely take some time to explain it all," Rarity answered as she poured herself a cup of tea. once her cup was full, she grabbed an empty cup towards her, on for each of the guests currently sitting at the table "care for some tea as well, Valvatorez? Pinkie?"

"Sure." they both replied.










For a while everything was peaceful. Valvatorez, while enjoying a cup of tea provided by Rarity and was listening contently to her desires for the future with Pinkie Pie chiming in whenever she felt like. 

Over the course of an hour Twilight had returned, along with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and the fourth prinny arriving shortly thereafter. Applejack had brought two kegs, presumably filled with cider strapped to her sides. Fluttershy had with her saddlebags bursting full of an assortment of small berries whereas the prinny had three large sacks lugged over his shoulder which, if how much he was sweating was any indication, were quite heavy. Rainbow Dash had brought...nothing. While it did strike Valvatorez as odd, whenever he asked or chided her about it her response was always... 

"It's not that I don't bring something I just...forgot about it this time."

...Or something similar never specifying what that something was. Even Fenrich had shown up offering the charred newts to everybody who all 'politely declined' the offer for one reason or another.

The meal itself occurred with little incident. Each pony there, save for Pinkie Pie who had triple the amount, had a respectable stack of five or six pancakes adorned with whipped cream and various combinations of toppings depending on the individual, from Applejack's strawberry and honeydew creation to Twilight's blueberry and chocolate chip masterpiece. 

Speaking of Twilight, Valvatorez (who had topped his three pancakes with sardines and pomegranates) had become irked when he saw the singular pancake meant for the prinnies turning out to be larger than five pancakes combined. However, when he confronted Twilight on this, her counter-argument was that he never specified the size the pancake had to be. This response, albeit a simple one, was enough to dissuade Valvatorez from pursuing the matter, much to Fenrich's chagrin(who had a plate of two pancakes and the aforementioned charred newts in front of him). This act would soon lead to the foundation of the Twilight Sparkle fan club in the Netherworld and shortly after the first Prinny Civil War.

But that is a story for another day.

For now, as Valvatorez looked towards the ceiling, the peaceful times the six ponies and baby dragon gathered here cherished would once again be placed in danger by forces they could not beat individually. Valvatorez was the first, Fenrich shortly after, and soon Twilight and her friends took notice of their staring and smiled. Be it through sensing their magic or watching the ones who did, everyone in the room had reached the same conclusion.

Celestia had arrived.










Everyone had assembled at the archway leading outside to the castle balcony, Twilight, her friends, and Spike stood to the side of the room in a line smiling at who had just arrived. Valvatorez and Fenrich stood side-by-side in front of them closer to the center of the room, each with their neutral glares staring down who was on the other side of the doorway while the prinnies fumbled about near a map of the local area. 

On the other side of the archway was a golden chariot with two white pegasi in golden armor ready to pull the chariot at a moments notice. and in front of them, walking towards the group was an alicorn. The first thing that Valvatorez noticed was that this one was twice as big as Twilight perhaps even taller than him, if you counted the horn that is. after that everything else registered almost at once. Her fur and feathers were pure white, the horseshoes, regalia, and crown she wore were made from gold with a diamond-shaped amethyst crystal in the crown and chestpiece. Her mane, which were a collection of light colors normally seen in an aurora, flowed in a non-existent breeze and covered one of her violet eyes. Yet despite her radiance she wore a gentle smile that obviously contradicted the immense power Valvatorez could feel emanating from her.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person Tyrant Valvatorez." the alicorn said in a regal tone...no, regal wasn't the right word for it. It was like a mother meeting her daughters friend for the first time, kind and gentle but with a subtle hint that one wrong move on his part would end with cleaning up their remains off the walls and floor. There was no doubt in Valvatorez's mind on who this was.

"Hmhmhm...so your Princess Celestia." Valvatorez surmised, returning her gentle gaze with a wry grin. In the moments where there eyes locked together the air in the room became heavy as a black fire seemed to emanate from Valvatorez while a white light appeared to radiate from Celestia clashing with the dark aura as the two sized each other up. Valvatorez could tell she was strong possibly as strong as an overlord-class demon, and right now she was holding back! Valvatorez had to grip his pant leg to stop his hand from shaking he was just so excited at the prospect of a strong opponent other than Hugo. "Just so you know; I haven't considered myself a Tyrant in a long time." Valvatorez added, not once breaking eye-contact with his mental opponent.

"So I've heard." Celestia replied with a chuckle as her aura receded causing Valvatorez to relax and do the same. She then turned her attention towards his steward and said in the same motherly tone: "It's also nice to meet you, Sir Fenrich."

Fenrich merely scoffed at her words earning some distasteful glares from the ponies behind him and even the guards pulling the chariot "enough pleasantries, say what you want so we can get to work capturing our escapee." 

"To the point I suppose..." Celestia sighed "very well, but there are two things I must address first." she said, her motherly tone becoming stoic near the end "Twilight, everypony, there is someone I would like to introduce to you." she declared, turning her attention to her side.

The ponies watched as from behind Celestia came a figure still taller than Twilight and the prinnies but not nearly as tall as Valvatorez. He had golden blonde hair and bright red eyes currently staring at the group with an annoyed expression and(presumably) had his hands inside his coats pockets which ended covered in black fur. The coat in question was green with white sections on the sides with a yellow stripe running down the sleeves, the hood was pulled over his hair showing the cartoony skull at it's top while hood extended into an unearthly blue flickering flame separated by a large gold ring. 

"This is Sir Death Emizel, son of the sixty-first president of the Netherworld Death King Hugo, an...old friend of mine." Celestia announced.

A hundred things were going through Valvatorez's mind right now. How did Celestia, this Celestia, know about Death King Hugo? And why did she refer to him as 'an old friend'? But for right now anyway there was something far more important that had to be addressed. "Fenrich?"

"Yes My Lord?"

"Would this count as a hat trick."

"I believe so My Lord, and a dissapointing one at that."

"Hey! I'm standing right here you know!" Emiel shouted.

Fenrich hung his head, rubbing his temples with his hand and groaned "and why are you here, whelp?"

"I'm here because my father caught wind of your little jailbreak at Hades." Emizel replied evenly, watching as one of Fenrich's eyes twitched "He wanted me to warn Celestia about it since the soul inside originally came from here. And once Celestia found out I knew you two she made arrangements so that we could meet."

"I take it these 'arrangements' are related to the lack of fear energy in this world?" Fenrich probed.

"You're half-right, Fenrich." Celestia responded "As you have figured out, there is little to no fear energy anywhere in Equestria. That is because for the past one thousand years there has been no reason for my ponies to be scared." she said with a hint of pride sneaking into her tone "However, Equestria is still a land full of magic, so much so in fact that pure mana seeps into everything. And while everything here has grown accustomed to it, your bodies would need time to get used to it."

"Having ones natural energy drained from them and replaced with an alternative source usually causes side-effects while the body adjusts, such as dizziness, vomiting, paralysis, blackouts, and..." Fenrich's eyes went wide as realization(and soon after his palm) hit him in the face " ...exhaustion. You wanted us to stay somewhere close, somewhere in your control in case we suffered any of the more serious side-effects."

"As I said: you're half-right. I meant what I said in my letter to Twilight,"

"Ok hold up! can somepony explain to me what's going on?" Rainbow Dash interrupted as she pointed at Emizel, Celestia, and Fenrich in succession "Your first name is Death, you knew THE KING of Death, and YOU lied about being a diplo-whatever you said-"

"I told you I was a diplomat of sorts," Fenrich stressed "I never said I was an official diplomat."

"And my first name isn't Death! I am Death." Emizel added.

"Ok, fine, whatever..." Rainbow Dash grumbled "my point remains the same! those two have been deceiving us this whole time! Those things are souls in penguins for crying out loud! He" pointing at Valvatorez "drinks blood and eats fish like it's nothing, what's stopping him from up to ponies?" Rainbow Dash asked rhetorically, yet before he could reply she continued on to Fenrich "And he just reeks of bad intentions. I bet he's done things that would make us sick to our stomachs with a smile on that face of his."

'That, and so much more, you multicolored waste of air.' Fenrich thought with a smirk.

"In fact, I'll bet you're the prisoners from the Netherworld that escaped." she added spitefully.

That tore it. Any patience Fenrich had left for the mare was just cast out the window by her off-handed comment. He could feel his hair bristling as fury slowly overtook him. His eyes reduced to pinpricks as in one fluid motion he turned toward Rainbow with a look of pure malice "say what you want about me but one more word against My Lord and I'll pluck out each and every one of those feathers you have and turn you into paste!" he threatened. 

"I'd like to see you try." Rainbow Dash snorted, taking a fighting stance and flaring her wings with Fenrich brandishing his claws and adopting his own stance. Before they could do anything though magical auras enveloped each of them, a purple one for Rainbow Dash and a golden one for Fenrich, with the addition of one vampire and alicorn coming between them.

"Rainbow! Fenrich! that's enough!" Twilight yelled being back-to-back with Valvatorez facing her friend "Seriously, what's gotten in to you Rainbow?" she asked, becoming genuinely worried about her friends behavior.

"With me!? what about you Twilight!?" 

"...Excuse me...?"

With a long sigh Rainbow relaxed her stance, as much as she could in Twilight's magic anyway, and stared into her eyes with a stoic face "yes, I heard what they said, Twilight. About blood and sardines being one of the only things he likes." she confessed, even motioning towards Valvatorez as best she could "How can you be ok with that!?" she pleaded.

"I'm not." Twilight replied with a firm voice before she softened it "Rainbow Dash, do you honestly think I would be ok with anything that drank blood for a living?" 

"Of course not, so why are you!?"

"As I said; I'm not. Valvatorez promised me to not to drink the blood of anypony in Ponyville."

"And you believe him?" 

Valvatorez glared at her through the corner of his eye "are you implying that I would go back on my word?" he asked Rainbow Dash rhetorically, almost daring her to answer the question "I would never break a promise, even if it cost me my life. though if you won't believe my words, then let my actions prove it to you." he said, now giving her his full attention while Fenrich cursed (mentally) that he could not stop what was about to happen "engrave these words into your heart and watch my actions Rainbow Dash as I make this promise to you; no pony, or dragon," he quickly added "will be harmed by me or any under my command." 

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but groan after hearing something like that, it was almost too corny. And the fact that a supposed demon said it made it sound worse. So much so that continuing to argue just didn't seem right to her. Reluctantly she let out a long sigh and relaxed her body as Twilight set her down on the ground and released her from her telekinetic hold while Celesta did the same for Fenrich "...I'm still not convinced, though." she murmured, sitting down on the floor and crossing her forehooves.

"I think we should move on now..." Emizel noted now that the two didn't look like they were about to kill each other. 

"I agree, time is of the essence after all." Celestia added, releasing Fenrich from her grasp "As I said there were two things I must address before I can continue. My little ponies I want you all to answer me honestly; what are your opinions of Valvatorez and Fenrich? Can you cooperate with them should the need arise?"

For a while each of them exchanged nervous glances, none of them wanting to be the first. After another minute one of them finally stepped forward "ah suppose ah'll start then." Applejack huffed, adjusting her stetson "Valvitor-, Valvetar-...grr, Mr. Val seems like a well enough...um...demon. An' Fenrich definitely knows how ta do hard work, but somethin about him keeps tellin me that he's not bein entirely honest with everypony."

"That's not surprising," Emizel stated nonchalantly "schemes and conspiracies are Fenrich's bread and butter. I think Valvatorez is the only sentient being that does completely trust him." 

"It's true." Fenrich added.

"I suppose I'll go next," Rarity said "when I first met Valvatorez and Fenrich, I thought I was having a nightmare, but after talking with Valvatorez some more I've come to realize that he is not as bad as I first thought. He has his own aesthetics on just about everything, even what it means to be, as he put it, a proud and noble demon. I must say there are a few nobles in Canterlot who could learn a thing or two from him." one in particular came into mind as she said that. "Fenrich on the other hoof..." she winced and to look away as she tried to find the right thing to say "I won't mince words; I do not like him. From his attitude, to what he did to poor Pinkie Pie, to his outfit for pony's sakes,"

"I said I was fine Rarity." Pinkie Pie whined.

"I know dear, but it's the fact that he did it is the point I'm trying to make. With everything I have seen so far I would not mind working with Valvatorez more...but I cannot say the same about Fenrich. I'm sorry princess." she concluded with a bow to Celestia.

"It's fine Rarity, I cannot fault you for speaking you mind, especially when I ask you to after all." Celestia reassured "Now then, who would like to go next?"

"Oh oh me! Me me me! Pick me!" Pinkie said bouncing around with her hoof in the air. With a nod from the Celestia she eagerly began "Valzy and Fenfen are great!" Pinkie started, pulling out props from her mane while continuing "We ate some cake together, had an awesome party, played a lot of fun party games, ahh I remember it like it was yesterday..."

"It was yesterday Pinkie." Rainbow Dash chided.

"Oh, right, hehe. felt like over a month ago for some reason." she replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof.

Everyone then turned their attention back to Rainbow Dash. being the next new pony to speak she inadvertently volunteered to go next. Realizing this she sat on her haunches and crossed her hooves staring at everyone with an adamant look "you all know how I feel. Whatever's coming this way we can take it without their help, like we always have!"

Celestia sighed at Rainbow's stubbornness. While she appreciated her drive and determination, she knew it would do her little good with what's to come unless she could work together with Valvatorez and his group. "And what about you, Fluttershy?" she asked, watching as, unlike Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy trembled under everyone's inquisitive gaze "Do you share your friends sentiments?"

"U-um...well...th-they scare me...a lot actually..." she managed to eke out "b-but Mr. Valvatorez promised to help me with something. And he doesn't seem very bad...even if he does eat fish..."

"And Fenrich?" judging by Fluttershy's action of staring down at the amethyst floor and hiding behind her mane Celestia figured she most likely had nothing else to say 'I suspect that sums it up.' she concluded before returning her attention to Fluttershy "it's ok Fluttershy, you don't have to say anymore, thank you for being so honest." after a simple nod, Fluttershy laid down on the floor and let out the breath she had been holding as Celesta moved on down the line of those who haven't spoke yet "and what about you, Spike? you've been surprisingly quiet throughout all of this."

Spike blinked at sudden attention, clearly not expecting to be called on "um...well...I don't really know what else I can add. I mean everypony knows Fenrich's strong already and I'll bet Valvatorez is even stronger so...working together should be fine as long as Valvatorez agrees as well, right Twilight?"

Twilight acknowledged Spike's question with an affectionate nod before pondering the question herself. While it was true the demons made no attempt to hide they took pleasure in terrifying humans from there dimension from her, Valvatorez didn't seem like the other megalomaniacal villains she faced this past year. If anything, he was more eccentric than anything. And Fenrich, while undoubtedly dangerous and definitely hiding something, was fiercely loyal to his master and followed his orders even if he didn't agree. It was like Spike said, so long as Valvatorez was on-board, Fenrich and the prinnies would most likely follow. 

After gathering all of her thoughts together Twilight confidently began "Valvatorez had plenty of chances to hurt me on my way back to Ponyville, but he didn't. In fact he protected me and Spike from a pack of timberwolves when he really didn't have to. From what I've seen he's straightforward and honest, always looking for some positive, loyal to his beliefs and never goes back on his word. and while he may be a demon he doesn't exactly strike me as 'evil'. Fenrich...well..." at this point the confidence in her voice wavered. Fenrich was someone she would consider being evil, what with being able to lie eloquently, fight ferociously, and demand respect from his subordinates, and loathes friendship of any kind but she still had to make a case "he's smart, pretty rude, and probably only sees Valvatorez as his equal, and has done who-knows-what before coming here." at this Valvatorez, Emizel, Fenrich, and the prinnies behind her all nodded in sync with each other "But he trusts Valvatorez, and Valvatorez trusts him, therefore I will trust him as well." 

"I see..." Celestia said as a wistful smile appeared on her face "it makes what I'm about to ask a little easier at least..." she whispered only loud enough that Twilight, Valvatorez, and Fenrich could hear it. The next moment her faint smile faded, being replaced with the stoic expression of a ruler "My little ponies, I'm afraid I have terrible news for you all. As you have all heard by now, yesterday, at around ten in the morning, a prisoner from Valvatorez's dimension escaped into Equestria. It is with great regret that I say the prisoner Valvatorez and Fenrich are pursuing is none other than King Sombra."

At first there was silence, simply six ponies and a dragon staring at the diarch with wide eyes and mouths agape. After a minute of silence the group yelled "WHAT! KING SOMBRA!?" in perfect unison to the demons surprise. Twilight was the first to recover from the revelation and stepped forward "but...how!? King Sombra was torn apart by the Crystal Heart! Spike saw it first-hoof!"

"I suppose that is my fault." Celestia replied dejectedly, her features falling into a slump as she stared at an empty part of the floor blankly "I had wanted to reform the souls trapped in Tartarus; to give them a second chance at a happy life. It was shortly after Discord was reformed that I was approached by the newest President of the Netherworld, President Axel-"

"Axel? You met that idiot too?" Fenrich interrupted. And when Celestia nodded he couldn't help but groan "And let me guess; he boasted about his new position, you made a deal with him that if you won at a game of some sort-"

"Hundred Blight Hold'em to be precise." Celestia clarified.

"-that he would do anything you said, you did and sent the souls of your dead criminals to Hades. Does that about sum it up?"

"More or less," Celestia replied with a sheepish grin before returning to her usual stoic expression "I am not foalish enough to send all of Equestria's criminals and tyrants to Hades, not without seeing the results of a few anyway. I also suggested other dimensions for the sake of anonymity." 

"You know, Sombra has caused quite a mess back in Hades." Valvatorez stated "As a ruler of Equestria and as the catalyst for the situation we're currently in, you are going to help us in some way, right?"

Celestia replied with a curt nod "of course, I am willing to provide any assistance I can as well as the greatest heroes of Equestria." she then turned towards Twilight and her friends "That is...should they be willing to help."

"Princess..." Twilight whispered.

But before anyone could respond to Celestia's reply one of the pegasi pulling her chariot barged in and immediately knelt down in front of the princess "Your Highness! There's a commotion in town! Ponies are being attacked by a strange statue." 

After acknowledging her guards report Celestia let out a small sigh as a faint smile appeared on her face "it seems we'll have to continue this later," she noted wistfully. The wistfulness didn't last long as she turned toward the balcony with her wings flared and her eyes set on the outside "whatever is happening in town is most likely connected to King Sombra and must be addressed before anypony is hurt. lets go, everyone." 

Fenrich looked at her, offended at her choice of words "you're including us in this?" 

"Of course," she replied "wouldn't you like to know what you're up against?"

And with that Celestia exited to the balcony, jumping down to ground level followed by Twilight and her friends, with her, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash carrying the others down. Valvatorez and Emizel followed suit, doing flips in the air on the way down. Even one of the prinnies hovered down with them. Uttering a few curses, Fenrich begrudgingly followed suit, simply dropping to the ground and landing with a hard thud. With everyone in attendance the group raced off toward the disturbance. 









Finding what was causing a commotion wasn't hard, just run in the opposite direction of everypony else. Comprehending what was causing the commotion was a different story. Everyone in the group had confused stares as they looked at what was currently stumbling past the town hall, attacking wildly at anything that got too close. All but four of them continued to stare while the remaining demons and one alicorn exchanged disbelieving glances. 

"Isn't that...the statue the prinnies carved in the Everfree forest?"

"The very same...but the weapon is new." Fenrich replied. From his point of view it was indeed the wooden Valvatorez statue wreaking havoc in front of them but unlike when they left it, the "eyes" of the statue were also emitting a purple fire out of it's corners, and the body seemed to have darkened since they last saw it and there were twigs sticking out of it in random places. The only thing that seemed intentional about the physical mutation was a growth protruding from it's chest, which took the place of Valvatorez's button. Growing out of its hand was a large blade made entirely of wood with chunks missing from its edge, giving it more hooked points than sharp edges, even the tip of the blade was forked "What a shoddy recreation of a Hero's Blade." he spat out.  

The fake Valvatorez struck at another nearby vegetable stand reducing it to splinters and destroying the produce. Yet none of the items were cut, at least not cleanly. Most of the damage was because of how physically strong the fake was, demonstrated by it tearing out a part town hall's wall in an attempt to hit a stray pony. And while the ponies looked on horrified at what damage the fake could do or what could have been, one of the demons, specifically the genuine article, was trying to suppress his excitement behind a toothy grin.

"Well now, I think we've found the perfect test to see how well 'Equestrias greatest heroes' can fight!"










> Chapter 6: Terror
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 6: Terror




Valvatorez stared back at Celestia and her subjects, completely oblivious to the destruction being wrought behind him, with a confident smirk countering their disbelieving stares "so what do ya say Twilight! Think 'Equestria's greatest heroes' can handle a wooden dummy of me?" he innocently goaded. 

The ponies remained dumbstruck as another portion of someponies house was scattered across the dirt road and a mares shriek could be heard in the distance. Another moment passed until one of them snapped out of their stupor "Valvatorez, I cannot let you do this." Celestia objected, donning her rulers presence "What happened to your promise to not bring harm to anypony in Ponyville." 

"I am well aware of the promises I've made Celestia," he said in a calm and even tone "and should they be in any mortal danger, Rascal here..." he reached over, grabbing the parka-wearing demon in question, much to his surprise "will be able to finish the job."

"M-me?" Emizel squeaked.

"You CAN light wood on fire can't you?"

"Oh, right..."

"But Valvatorez, if Emizel can handle this then why not let him?" Twilight asked as a vegetable stand was cleaved in two with its product splattering all over the surrounding area "I mean, that would be the most efficient way to end this...wouldn't it?"

"Because this is a test for you, Twilight." Valvatorez retorted, focusing his stern gaze on the confused look of the young princess "If you and your friends cannot handle a cheap knockoff of me created by Sombra then how will you be of ANY help when we inevitably face him?" 

While she didn't want to admit it, Valvatorez had a point. In the past King Sombra was able to hold his own against Princesses Celestia and Luna, his mere presence nearly brought The Crystal Empire to ruin, and if Spike wasn't with her when she looked for the Crystal Heart he would have! This could still count as an indirect confrontation since they weren't fighting Sombra himself but an 'indirect confrontation' nearly cost her, her friends, and the ponies of The Crystal Empire their lives. And that was before who-knows-what happened in the Netherworld. For all she knew, he was even stronger than before! 

She was scared. Scared of putting her friends in danger. Scared they would not be able to handle it. And scared they would get hurt, or worse. But the look Valvatorez was giving her showed that he would not take no for an answer, and that scared her even more. In her mind there were two options; either fight accursed figure and risk her friends safety or deny Valvatorez with everything she had and let them sort this out on their own. In her heart however, she knew what she had to say...she just didn't want to.

But somepony beat her to it "ahh let it go Twilight! We'll just kick that twig's flank and show how awesome we are. Nothing we haven't done before." Rainbow Dash said, nonchalantly waving a hoof before bolting past the group and towards the not-Valvatorez.

"Rainbow! Wait!" Twilight yelled to late. Before the rainbow colored blur faded from her sight, her friend had already landed a punch to the back of its head and was circling around for another attack. Seeing this she let out a small breath and mustered up all the courage she could and turned toward her friends "looks like we don't have a choice now, let's go everypony!" she said in a tone mixed with irritation and regret as she took to the air and led the charge with her remaining friends.

Meanwhile Rainbow Dash closed in for another strike to the face, but now that the possessed statue was focused on her it was able to clumsily dodge her dive, making her stomp the ground instead. Undeterred by her miss, she pivoted around and once again rushed at it in a rainbow colored blur. Only instead of another head on assault that the dummy predicted, if his air-cutting slash was any sign, Rainbow veered to the side and started circling it at blinding speeds, surrounding it in a rainbow tornado. The statue stared blankly at the wall of rainbows in surrounding it as the purple fire continued to seep out of the its sockets, trying to track the pegasus causing it. Slowly, like it was getting ready to swat a fly, it raised the jagged sword above its head while never taking its gaze off of one specific spot of the tornado. And in one swift motion he brought the greatsword down, cleaving apart the tornado and sundering the ground beneath the strike.

"Woah!" Rainbow Dash yelled mere centimeters from the blade currently stuck in the ground, her eyes wide and her hooves dug into the ground from the sudden stop she had to do in order to keep her head. The statue however wasn't done with its attack as the side of the still buried sword connected with Rainbow Dash's chest, sending her and any dirt holding it back high into the air.

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, watching her friend fly away from the statue in a rainbow streak surrounded by dirt and debris. She turned her attention back to the dummy that hurt her friend, unaware that Fluttershy had broken off and had already caught their friend. The fear from earlier had been quashed by anger as she launched a blazing beam of magic directly towards its face, charring the wood where her attack connected. She continued her volley, leaving more burns on the arms, chest, and even the sword itself as the statue began to deflect or dodge the beams.

This gave Applejack enough time to close the distance between her and the statue and plant her front hooves firmly into the ground. Noticing too late the pony right under it, the statue brought its sword between it and the mare turning around with her hind legs already primed for a powerful kick and braced for the impending blow. With a resounding crack, Applejacks buck had managed to split apart the statue's gnarled weapon. With a confident smirk she turned her head to see the damage she caused. and from the corner of her eye, she watched the large half of the blade threatening to fall off should the pressure she and the statue were putting on it dissipated, something she was more than happy to oblige. The smirk turned to shock as before her eyes purple bubbles and black tendrils leaked out of the destroyed weapon, tying together the broken halves and re-sealing the crack. "What in tarnation?" was all she could whisper as she watched the burned away wood slowly regenerate, leaving only the blackened marks where the wounds once were. Knowing that she was now at a disadvantage, Applejack sprung off the repaired weapon, avoiding the retaliatory strike from the statue, and landing a safe distance away from it. "Twi, that thing's fixin itself with magic!" she warned her friend.








"Regeneration through dark arts, not bad." Fenrich commented from the sidelines as he, Celestia, and the other demons watched with bated breath as the battle unfold. While Celestia was beside herself with worry, the demons were simply enjoying seeing teamwork used in a battle, an uncommon practice in the Netherworld. Plus every blow the ponies took made Fenrich a little happier on the inside for some reason. It was because of this that he reached for one of the snacks the prinnies brought and offered it to His Lord before he decided to help himself "Popcorn, My Lord?"

"No thank you." Valvatorez answered, dismissing the bucket of popcorn with a wave of his hand "The kernels always seem to get stuck between my teeth."

"I'll have some." Emizel said, holding out his hand.

"I don't recall asking you, whelp." Fenrich scolded, completely toning out the Death's cursing and complaining as he grabbed a handful of kernels and emptied them into his mouth. Immediately after the handful of popcorn entered his mouth he spat out the half chewed kernels and wiped away anything still left "Ugh...needs more salt..."








Twilight continued firing magical blasts during the openings Applejack and Rainbow Dash provided, leaving more charred parts to be stitched together again by the dark regeneration. Even Rarity was able to hit it with a beam of magic but being neither as strong as nor as specialized as Twilight all she could hope to do was try and bore a hole through it, only to have what progress she made be repaired seconds later. The only exception was when the wooden statue blocked the incoming beam with its left hand, tearing off four of the fingers in the process. And between Twilight's blasts, Applejack's bucks, and Rainbow Dash's dive bombs, the remains of the four fingers slowly floated back to the damage limb, reconnecting with the main body during a break in their attacks.

'Wait...why didn't it just regrow the fingers? It would have been a lot easier...right?' Twilight thought, remembering the seemingly failed attack. As her mind followed that train of thought her lips slowly began to curl upwards "Girls!" she called out, earning her friends attention and disengaging them from the fake Valvatorez "I have a plan." at this the curious looks they were all giving her changed to the same confident smile Twilight wore. In a matter of seconds the five former element-bearers grouped up around Twilight with Applejack and Rainbow Dash in front of her, blocking her from the golem's line of sight. Rarity and Pinkie stood by Twilights sides while Fluttershy stood in the back. "I'm going to create an opening. When I give the signal Pinkie, Applejack, try and knock of its limbs. Rarity and Fluttershy, grab any parts that falls of it and keep it from rejoining the main body. Rainbow? If you see a chance, hit it hard and fast." 

"Question!" one of the five ponies asked, even raising their hoof, but to Twilight's surprise it was Rainbow Dash. The battle loving mare looked back at her with an inquisitive glance "Does it matter where?" she innocently asked.

"Nope." she replied with a sly grin.

And in that moment the innocence disappeared from her face and in its place was a wicked grin of a pony ready to unleash havoc "perfect." Rainbow said, reveling in the answer she was given. The second later she was already halfway between Twilight and the dummy, specifically the dummy's head. The fake Valvatorez barely had a second more to prepare for the speeding pegasus intent on flying through its face but in that second it was able to twist its body out of Rainbow's flight path, sustaining only a grazing blow, and arced its warped sword into it instead. The exchange did not end in the statue's favor however as, in exchange for some long strands of multi-colored hair being caught on the blade, none of which were red, the 'grazing blow' Rainbow Dash had managed to land was powerful enough to twist its head past the shoulders, tearing apart some of the fibers of wood at the neck. The dummy's head twisted back to the front of its body as the neck repaired itself. With its latest repairs done the dummy focused its attention on the now flying pegasus, its back now facing the rest of the group.

An opportunity two earth ponies took advantage of.

While the doll was distracted Applejack delivered a pair of swift kicks to the back of the knees and Pinkie Pie, with a loud battlecry, brought her hoof down on the back of the fakes head. The combined blows brought the fake fully to the ground while the two earth ponies put some distance between them and it. A good thing too, as once the fake was back on its feet it turned towards the two and started assaulting them with a flurry of slashes. Each swing was carefully dodged by the two ponies with Applejack holding her stetson with one hoof and Pinkie making small jumps and slides out of the blades path. Every time the fake focused on one of the earth ponies the other took the opportunity to land more hits, causing his attention to shift once again. 

Because of this it had no idea its body was now emanating a soft violet aura.

Twilight carefully channeled her magic into the fake Valvatorez waiting for the best moment to unleash her spell. That moment happened when both sides relented in their attacks and instead engaged in a staredown with one side smirking at the other. In the next instant the dummy's body was engulfed by flames. Twilight and the rest of the onlookers watched at the wooden construct flailed its arms about in a vain attempt to put out the fire consuming its body faster than the dark magic coursing through it could repair. Igniting a wooden statue that was bigger than the average pony took more time and magic than lighting a candle but seeing that her attack was so effective made Twilight smile a little. 

Deciding enough was enough, the fake Valvatorez stopped moving and began glowing in a black aura. In one swift motion the aura bust out of its body, immediately blowing away the fire and sending dark ripples through the air, buffeting everyone present with the dark aura. With the fires extinguished the fake Valvatorez stood limply as its body slowly regenerated from the attack, its burning eyes were fixed solely on the young alicorn responsible for charring most of its body. Her wings were flared, her horn was glowing and she looked ready to go another round. But what struck the dummy, as odd was she still had the same confident expression on her face.

The answer came when a prismatic blur crashed through the fake's neck, which easily gave after being turned mostly into charcoal, and sent the severed wooden head high into the air. Rainbow Dash then circled around and caught the charred lifeless wooden head in her hooves. She then hovered high in the air over the still standing dummy tossing the wooden head into the air and catching it like a ball "Hey! Looking for something? Cuz I got it right here!" she shouted down to the construct which now only had a sickly green flame coming out of what remained of the neck. Yet despite no longer having ears the construct could still hear as in response to Rainbow Dash's taunt it turned to face her, (presumably) looking up into the sky where she was ready to leap after her and its stolen head.

It never got the chance as a loud "now!" echoed throughout the plaza, and another limb was forcibly removed. From behind, Applejack had loosed a strong buck comparable to the one that split the warped Hero's Blade to the back of the right elbow, the arm currently holding said twisted weapon.

Pinkie followed up with a karate chop aimed at the opposite leg, even screaming "Hiiiyah!" as she flew through the air and brought her hoof down. The attack was as if a blackbelt had done the deed as the pink pony's hoof cleaved through the left thigh, sundering the leg completely and forcing the main body to the ground.

"That's our cue, Fluttershy." Rarity said before using her magic to grab the severed arm and move it closer to her. likewise, Fluttershy quickly grabbed the leg that had come off and, with it still squirming in her hooves flew into the air away from the fallen construct. both limbs were trying to worm their way out of their respective predicaments but to the ponies credit Rarity's magic was holding and while Fluttershy was apologizing constantly, she too was keeping her body part in check. 

Above everyone else, Rainbow Dash watched the scene unfold as she continued to play with her head-shaped hoofball. She watched as Twilight's magic enveloped the other two torn off body parts along with the main body struggling in vain to stand. Seeing everything happening and nothing trying to hurt them, Rainbow Dash turned to the spectating demons and felt it was appropriate to calmly announce their victory.

"Hah! How's that you spiky haired bat! Are we awesome, or are. We. AWESOME!" she said raising the wooden head above her as if it were a trophy.

Valvatorez on the other hand continued to stand there with his eyes closed, his arms crossed, and his words quiet.








Celestia watched Rainbow Dash's display and while she wouldn't be as exuberant about it as she would, Celestia had to admit this looked like a decisive win. In another moment her former student would reduce the arm and leg to ash. and without a means to stand, let alone fight, the doll Sombra sent could only lay there and wait to be put to the torch. With that in mind she looked over to the three demons who had been watching with her "I believe they've proven themselves more than capable of handling anything Sombra could throw at them, wouldn't you say Valvatorez?" 

"That remains to be seen." Valvatorez responded, only opening one of his eyes a sliver "The battle's not over yet."








Applejack stood over the crumpled enemy watching as her friends cheered to their win, with Rainbow and Pinkie being the most boisterous. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight were still carrying out their part of the plan but if the heat she felt from the dummy's main body was any indication then it would not be much longer until it was disposed of. Smiling, she closed her eyes and adjusted her stetson waiting for the wave of warmth that signaled the wood bursting into flames. Everything went according to plan. 

So why was she feeling a chill run up her spine? 

When she opened her eyes her heart nearly stopped as the mannequin was beginning to glow in a black, clearly magical aura that was snuffing out Twilight's. Instinctively out of concern she looked over to her friend, now struggling against the unseen influence wresting control of the doll from her. 

But following her instincts was a mistake. 

The moment Applejack turned away, the mannequin dug its remaining hand into the ground and in one swift motion spin kicked Applejack into the wall of a building nearly stopping her heart, this time literally, as she slumped to the ground barely conscious. In the five seconds everypony was still in shock, the mannequin pulled its arm out of the ground and lunged toward Applejack with its one good leg and pinned her against the wall by the neck, leaning all of its weight against her to not only remain standing but to also either choke, crush, or outright kill the trapped mare. "Applejack!" Twilight screamed, completely forgetting about the spell she was so close to finishing. 

Another mistake. 

With the lavender aura no longer covering the removed limbs, they began radiating more dark energy, forming wispy tethers with the main body. Fluttershy tried holding onto the leg, but the appendage suddenly grew spikes all over it, stabbing her all over her front hooves and chest. Now free the leg flew back to the main body and seamlessly reattached itself, allowing the construct to stand normally again.  

"No..." Twilight muttered, still in shock at how everything was falling apart. She watched as the head Rainbow Dash was holding grew spikes, which were not enough to make her let go. The black lightning that coursed out of it moments later on the other hoof was, and the head was reattached moments later with the pegasus formerly holding it plummeting to the ground with blackened fur "No!". Another scream was heard as a marshmallow-white unicorn fell to the ground, the same black electricity sparking around her charred horn as the last appendage and the weapon it was holding reattached itself. Now staring blankly at the barely conscious Applejack with the same purple mist coming out of its eyes, the mannequin extended its sword arm out to where it was level with its captives neck.

And swung horizontally "NOOO!"

As the blade tore through the building on its path to Applejack, a red sigil appeared below the mannequin and from the sigil a large gout of flame erupted high into the air, swirling around in a controlled pillar. The inferno continued as the main body of the construct snapped and crackled in the midst of being reduced to ashes. When the blazing tornado finally did subside that was all that was left of the mannequin...ashes. Ashes and a black lustrous sphere vaguely hidden in the pile.

Applejack sat against the wall of the building breathing heavily, the remains of a wooden arm still loosely attached to her neck. Brushing the limb away with a hoof she looked above her to the wooden blade stuck in the buildings wall, charred black where the fire severed it from the body and with a slight red spot where the blade met the wall. With her left hoof she checked her neck to find an incision the rough size of the bloodstain on the sword, cutting deep into the muscle. When she saw her hoof covered in blood her breathing intensified, her vision started to blur, and she was feeling very nauseous. Not wanting to make a mess she focused on the pile of ash in front of her "th, that was...a little to close. Thanks Twi..." Applejack wheezed, not bothering to look at her friend. Instead opting to regain her breath and keep pressure on her neck wound. If she had looked though she would have seen the shocked...no...broken expression on her face and in her features.

"That...wasn't me..."

Mechanically, Twilight slowly scanned the area to try and find who conjured the conflagration. Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack were still down, Fluttershy was gingerly holding her front hooves close to her chest, and Pinkie was staring at the demons with her mouth agape. The demons on the other hoof had changed, one more than the others. In his hand was a staff almost as long as his body, still faintly glowing red from the fire spell. At its end was a crimson crystal sphere with two dark grey bat wings sticking out of it. The staff's wielder stood motionless as the residual magic dispersed, rustling his green parka and making the cold flame on the end of his hood flicker and writhe. When it finally registered to Twilight what had happened, the energy she didn't know she still had drained out of her and she collapsed onto her haunches and stared blankly at the ground before her.

'Emizel was forced to intervene...'

'Applejack was going to die...'

'We...we failed...' 

The sound of clapping forced Twilight out of her stupor, a slow patronizing clap that could only be made by one demon "well, that was entertaining." Fenrich commented with a wry smile. He, Valvatorez, and the others were approaching Twilight while Celestia used her magic to heal Rainbow Dash's, Rarity's and Fluttershy's more grievous wounds "Too bad you didn't win though. You almost had him too." Fenrich added with a tone that truly said he was slightly disappointed at the outcome. 

"Now now Fenrich, be nice. They did alright...all things considered..." Valvatorez defended, the last part not loud enough for anyone else to hear "They tried using brute force at first, and when that didn't work they changed tactics to exploiting weaknesses, something that I alluded to before they started fighting. All in all, they did what any demon would normally do during a first encounter." 

"But keep in mind, My Lord, they still would have suffered casualties had the whelp not intervened. On top of that the coward over there hardly did anything at all, and was still injured." Fenrich countered, making an off-handed gesture to Fluttershy.

"Perhaps, but our battles were not without flaws either. Remember Minotrose?" Valvatorez said with a hint of disgust in his voice. Fenrich too was repulsed at that demon's name. The fact that he made a fool out of the two of him and nearly pumped him full of silver bullets didn't help matters either. "What they lack in raw power they make up for in teamwork, and with a bit of experience even that can be fixed. As for Fluttershy..." Valvatorez chuckled, watching the mare in question and her friends Pinkie Pie and Rarity gather next to Twilight "I have a hunch there's more to these ponies than meets the eye." he said to Fenrich with a hint of finality before looking down to Twilight, adopting a stern smirk "Well Twilight, considering your opponent had the strength of a mid-boss level demon you and your friends did better than I expected."

The expression on Twilight's face was slowly turning from the heart-stopping shock to pure confusion at Valvatorez's words. But before she could ask anything about what he said a familiar rainbow blur with a bit of crimson and black mixed in zoomed by and into the face of the unsuspecting vampire "hey! Why'd you let shrimpy but in? We could've won back there!" Rainbow Dash snarled, face to muzzle with the Prinny instructor. 

Valvatorez kept his calm demeanor and gently pushed the livid pegasus away from his face, getting his white glove bloody in the process "Oh I don't doubt that," he said in a calm tone before adding the weight of a planet to his words "but had the battle continued another second Applejack would have died." the words struck the ponies gathered there worse than a lance through the heart and all they could do is sit there as Valvatorez continued his verbal assault. Even Rainbow Dash was on the ground, her wings refusing to flap after hearing those words, or because of the puncture wounds. " Had rascal not intervened you would be spending the rest of the day burying your friend or...whatever it is you do with your dead." as he said this, Valvatorez watched the tears form in each of their eyes. He even saw Pinkie's mane deflate and somehow begin straightening itself out. Knowing his point has been made, Valvatorez loosened his expression, becoming more comforting "In fact, I think she's taking the experience rather hard." he added somberly, looking over to Applejack who had remained hunched against the broken wall, the majority of her face obscured by her stetson "Get up Applejack! There is still a lot of work to be done before you can take a break!" Valvatorez ordered, tired of seeing the pitiful sight of the strong earth pony broken by a measly near-death experience. So when she remained quiet Valvatorez couldn't help but be a little curious "Applejack?" he repeated, still getting no response from the mare. Usually by now there would be something, a hollow response of his name, a grunt of some sort signifying they were listening, even simple eye contact! But so far...nothing. Now curiosity had taken over as he began taking steps toward the unresponsive mare, fully examining everything about her for an answer to why she was ignoring him.

Twilight too was curious as to why Applejack was still sitting there in her state of torpor as were the rest of her friends. Lowering her head for a better view, Twilight carefully approached her friend, warily eying her for anything suspicious, with Valvatorez a few paces in front of her and the rest of her friends a few behind. She could tell Applejack was still breathing from the short but swift beat of her chest. There was thankfully no new sources of blood other than her neck injury and even that was just a trickle. Slowly Applejack's face came into view and Immediately she knew what was wrong "Everypony! Get back!" Twilight yelled as she removed Applejack's hat to reveal her eyes. They weren't her natural green eyes but Twilight remembered seeing them before, in the Crystal Empire.

Valvatorez was about to step back as well but a glimmer beneath the ashes caught his eye first. Kneeling down to grab it the object suddenly started bubbling with purple and green magic, bathing Valvatorez's face in the ominous glow. Moments later the whites of his eyes started glowing bright green and his expression changed to pure and utter shock.

Twilight flew over to Valvatorez trying to shake him out of the waking nightmare he was experiencing, but to no avail. Changing her focus, she looked at the object hidden in the ash. Half-buried beneath it and obscured by the bubbles of black, green and purple was a crystal sphere nearly identical to the one at the end of Emizel's staff except for two things. The first was that there were no bat wings attached to the crystal in front of her, and the second was that it was pitch black. On instinct Twilight gathered what energy she could and fired it all in one powerful magic blast at the blackened crystal, shattering it completely and dispelling its enchantment.

The effects were instantaneous, the green glow in Valvatorez's and Applejack's eyes vanished and their pupils returned to normal "huff...huff...wha-, what happened?" Valvatorez gasped, tightly clenching his chest as he tried to calm down. 

"That crystal was cursed. King Sombra must've put an enchantment on it." Twilight answered, still staring at the remains of the crystal and the black smoke coming from it. When the smoke dissipated completely she turned her walked over to her friend and put a hoof on her shoulder "Applejack, are you ok? What did it show you?" Twilight asked in a soothing motherly tone.

Applejack though was still shaken, so much so in fact that she had removed her hoof from her neck wound enough to let blood run down her side "ah think...ah think ah need a little time before ah talk about it sugarcube." she gasped, her stare boring into the ground.

"Oh, I see." Twilight sighed, slightly dejected at her friends words. She couldn't blame her, not after what she and Spike experienced, but it still left her with an uncomfortable feeling in her chest. Shaking away the feeling she turned to the other one afflicted by the curse "What about you Valvatorez?"

Valvatorez had covered himself with his cape, hiding most of his face with it. Slowly and with a notable quiver in his words he spoke "it was terrible. Demons willingly subjugated by the humans, even you Fenrich. Hades lifeless and destroyed." he paused for a moment to catch his breath and let the words sink in, not for the ponies but for the demons, both of which wore similar shocked expressions. Ever so slightly he moved his cape away from his face, revealing the pained grimace and teary eyes he had been trying to hide up to this point "But that wasn't the worst of it. No...the truly terrifying part was...was..." he gagged as the words refused to leave his throat, he covered his mouth to make sure nothing came up and moved the same hand over his eyes to brace for the pain that would inevitably come as he yelled out words he thought he would never say: "Sardines were fished to extinction!"

"That's horrible!" Pinkie Pie screamed, being the only one there taking his plight seriously. everyone else simply looked at him with either a deadpan stare or a confused glance but they were all thinking the same thing 'Really? That's what he's afraid of most?'. Pinkie on the other hand embraced Valvatorez in a hug and gently patted his back "There there Valzy...it was just a bad dream, sardines are still swimming around all over Equestria."

"Thank you Pinkie, that was something I needed to hear." Valvatorez replied, wrapping one of his arms around her to return the hug.

Fenrich let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose, tired of seeing the scene before him and of the implications from the battle moments before. With a sense of finality and loud enough for everyone there to hear Fenrich said behind gritted teeth "I think we should return to the castle..."








Fenrich eyed the cork board in front of him with equal parts concentration and disgust. Ten minutes ago he and the rest of the group had made their way back to the room Celestia made her entrance in. The pegasi fastened to her chariot were still standing there even, despite all the noise the battle must have caused. Whether it was the knowledge they were outclassed or blind obedience Fenrich didn't care, the project in front of him demanded his full attention, even though he didn't want to give it.  

"That one goes there." he commanded, pointing to a specific part of a map pinned to the board, one that had in big bold letters the words 'Whitetail Woods' labeling it. 

"Aye aye dood!"

"And place that one there." pointing this time to an unmarked section at the top of the map. 

"On it dood!"

While Fenrich worked on the cork board Twilight and the other ponies were laying on the opposite side of the room with Celestia checking each of their wounds and administering any first-aid that was necessary. Fluttershy offered to help but Celestia insisted she rested to not reopen her wounds. The spikes she was impaled with had left slivers throughout her body, slivers that were charged with dark magic that prevented the wounds from healing completely. Celestia had to use her magic to close the wounds and dissipate the splinters of magic infecting them while her body broke down the physical counterpart. In the end they compromised and Fluttershy was allowed to help treat Rainbow Dash's wounds so long as she was careful.

Speaking of Rainbow Dash, her wounds were easily the worst of everypony there. While Fluttershy's coat was not her usual buttery tan color, Rainbow's was crimson all over with charred spots across her body and wings, and that was just what she looked like on the outside! On top of worse impalement wounds than Fluttershy the burns from where the lightning arced across her body wracked her with intense pain every time she tried to move. Celestia made sure that everypony was truly not in danger of dying before following Fenrich back to the castle (and quite possibly incinerating a certain lying vampire shortly thereafter) but seeing Rainbow's condition still made her worry. But  with some help from her wounded assistant, Celestia had been able to stitch together and bandage most of the holes caused by the spikes. Fluttershy meanwhile was tending to the burns with surprising grace despite being perforated herself and trying to not open her own wounds. The bandages, provided by Twilight, glowed a faint blue against the burned skin as the enchantments soothed the areas with a cooling breeze and carefully adjusted themselves to fit snugly in order to not hinder movement.

Everypony else's injuries were minor by comparison, in fact Pinkie somehow made it through all of this without a scratch. Rarity's magic would be less coordinated for a while but there would be no permanent damage or scars on her horn, to the fashionista's great relief. Applejack, despite being subjected to Sombra's illusion and nearly loosing her head, was physically fine. The cut on her neck went through the skin and part of the muscle but was stopped before it could tear through anything vital. Mentally on the other hoof was another matter. Whatever she saw in the illusion and nearly losing her head moments before that had reduced the typically strong-willed friend to a lethargic mare sulking behind her hat.  

Twilight was pulled from her observations when she heard the prinnies collapse to the floor "there, now that everything's ready I think it's time to begin." she heard Fenrich say. He then pulled out the metal device he was fiddling with yesterday and clearing his throat loudly got everyone's attention. 

Everyone gathered around Fenrich, either curious or tired of what the werewolf was about to say. Valvatorez and Emizel stood to the side with Valvatorez clearly mulling something over in his head if his crossed arms or closed eyes were any indication. Taking His Lord's silence as consent to begin, Fenrich raised the metal box into the air so that every pony there could see it "This is what's called a Netherworld Energy Scanner. It is commonly used by field commanders in the Netherworld for military operations and manhunts due to it's ability to thoroughly evaluate a nearby demon's fighting potential as well as track specific energy sources over a wide distance." he stated. He decided to leave out the part that this specific model was out of date or that he had made preparations to steal the latest prototype before they hit shelves next month. With the technical introductions out of the way he then shifted focus to the corkboard he had been working on "Now then, as you can see this is a map of...ugh...Ponyville as well as the surrounding areas. I've taken the liberty to mark everywhere the radar had detected a source of fear energy." he continued, only breaking his composure when he spat out the town's name. Across the map were pins scattered all over the map with the notable exception of seven being in the center where the town was portrayed "Tell me, how many of you can do basic math?"

"Very funny," Rainbow Dash deadpanned, countering snark with snark. With Celestia's help she floated carefully towards the map for a better look and was returned to her cushion after a minute "there's fifteen dots on the map, so?"

Fenrich slowly clapped his hands as his uninterested eyes scanned the crystal architecture "congratulations, you can do addition. Now...what about subtraction?" he said tersely, earning dirty looks from not only Rainbow Dash but a few of her friends as well  "And before you start protesting I can assure you that, Including Sombra and the whelp, there should only be eight demons in Equestria." 

"So that leaves seven sources unaccounted for." Twilight answered now pondering possible reasons for the additional sources on the radar "Does that mean King Sombra found a way to bring demons here from the Netherworld?"

"While that's not an impossible feat, I have a more plausible explanation." Fenrich stated, pulling something out of his pocket and showing his audience. The item turned out to be a small black shard of a jewel yet its mere presence made every pony there tense up "This is a shard of the crystal found inside the Valvatorez statue. I can tell you right now that it originated from our Netherworld, and yet for some reason this shard is radiating fear energy, albeit diluted by a foreign magic." he explained to the locals, hoping that would be enough of an explanation. unfortunately for him none of the ponies looked satisfied with what he said, in fact Twilight specifically looked ready to pounce on him and grill him for more information. With a long sigh Fenrich relented "Fear energy is emitted by any sentient form of life such as humans, or in this case ponies, that is then sent to the Netherworld as a kind sustenance. It is not produced by inanimate objects like rocks or clothing." he summarized, not bothering to go into too much detail to try and keep these ponies quiet. And with the exception of Celestia and Twilight who continued to look at him with caution and inquiry respectively, they seemed to be satisfied with the info. As for the other two...sucks for them he was moving on "It is most likely the same nightmare inducing curse that was on this crystal that is now causing our scanner to react."

"Are you saying there are more of these crystals scattered around Ponyville?" Celestia questioned while the other ponies let that selfsame question rattle around in their brains, and the implications that came with them.  

"That's right." Fenrich evenly answered "And as you can see from the map there are readings encircling the town. On top of that, the energy readings have not deteriorated since we returned to the castle meaning they're not going away if you were to try and wait them out. It's because of the fear energy emanating from them and the curse bound to them that I decided to name these 'Terror Crystals'."

"T-Terror Crystals? T-that makes them sound t-t-terrifying..." Fluttershy mumbled from behind Celestia.

"That's kind of the point." Fenrich sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. While his patience for these ponies had all but dried up, he accepted that these sad creatures were out of their league. He still couldn't care less about the ponies themselves but the information they might have could prove useful, he could assassinate them later after they were done with Sombra. Feeling better at that idea he straightened up and moved his hand to over his chest "Anything that can affect My Lord, who will one day be the symbol of fear itself throughout the Netherworld and human world must be taken seriously. Also it should deter any would-be heroes of this land from going after them, and cause more work for us in their inevitable rescue." he said with deadly seriousness "The name serves as a reminder that we must not underestimate Sombra, who ruled using the selfsame fear and illusions against his own subjects." 

"Ah gotta say, that seems like a pretty good name for 'em." Applejack added despondently, staring at her reflection in the crystalline ground and keeping her legs close "Ah don't ever want to see that happen ever again."

"Applejack..." Twilight whispered. She still hadn't told her what she had seen but it was obvious Sombra didn't hold back in frightening her. Deep down inside her she felt as if a fire had been lit, and it wouldn't go out until Sombra paid for everything he did. 

"There is another reason." Fenrich added, waiting until everyone's attention was on him before continuing. He then held out his hand with his palm facing upright. In the middle of his palm was the Terror Crystal fragment he had procured "It will serve to temper our resolve. To show your long-dead king that true demons are above his petty tricks and will strike TRUE fear into him when these crystals of his are ground to dust." he said, his voice having the force of a tornado as he clenched his fist onto the crystal shard and, by summoning forth his own power, crushed it out of existence. 

Everyone looked at the werewolf steward in awe, none of them knowing exactly what to say in response to his speech. "Did...did Fenrich just say something encouraging? I'm not dreaming am I?" Emizel finally asked to no one in particular.

"Dream or no rascal, Fenrich does have a point." Valvatorez replied from behind his gloved hand. while his face was partially hidden the fire in his voice made his intent deathly clear "Sombra caught me off guard with that little curse of his. I must eat more sardines and strengthen my fortitude before our rematch. I won't let this happen again."

"Well put My Lord." Fenrich praised "There is however one more concern. The Terror Crystals are masking Sombra's fear energy through false-positives and none of them are remaining static, specifically this reading right here." Fenrich then pointed to the marker at the highest point of the map "Unlike the others, which have moved in seemingly random directions, this one has been constantly moving northward-"

"To Canterlot!" Applejack interrupted.

"Or the Crystal Empire." added Twilight "We can't let King Sombra reach either of those places. If what I understand about fear energy is correct then the panic he could cause would make him stronger than ever, not to mention he would once again have his old seat of power back and the vast quantity of crystal he could corrupt."

"I agree...if that is indeed Sombra."

While Emizel and Valvatorez had looks of understanding and annoyance respectively the injured ponies stared at the werewolf clearly not getting it. "Uh...what do ya mean if?" Applejack warily asked.

"Ooh, Ooh, I know! You mean it's not Sombra but really Sombra from a parallel world who's not a bad pony! Or is it really Sombra's long long looooong lost grandson! OR, is it that they're ALL Sombra clones and all we have to do to get rid of them is hit'em really really hard!"

...

'...Maybe I did throw her too hard this morning...' Fenrich noted as he and the rest of Pinkie's friends looked at her with dumbfounded looks and sweat drops. Clearing his throat, Fenrich continued speaking, very slowly so the ponies would understand "I mean it is most likely a distraction to lure away a certain white alicorn." at this point he stopped coddling the servant ponies and turned specifically to the ruler herself "By now he knows we're hunting him and that you know he's here as well. So, instead of plotting his victory, he's making a mad dash for his enemy's capital? Does that really sound like the feared king of a thousand years ago to you?"

"No..." Celestia muttered. Silently, Twilight had her doubts as well. The tyrannical king who nearly conquered the Crystal Empire just by setting a hoof in it wouldn't leave his return up to chance, not without a failsafe or three. Unsure of what the right decision was Celestia asked "Then what would you suggest we do?" 

"Play along."

The silence in that room was deafening as everypony stared at him wide-eyed and mouths threatening to hit the floor while Valvatorez slipped Emizel a one thousand HL bill. 

Bravely, Rarity crept closer to the werewolf "excuse me Mr. Fenrich but you want us to fall for King Sombra's ruse?" she asked in a dignified tone, though to Fenrich's trained ears he could hear the panic she was trying to hide.

"Yeah, why would we do that again?" Rainbow Dash interjected from her cushion. Her voice was just as aggravating as it was the first time he heard it, even more so now that she was covered in bandages.

"Not we, just Celestia." Fenrich clarified "Regardless of whether that is Sombra or a Terror Crystal construct, whatever's causing that reading will still cause problems wherever it goes. Something you wouldn't want your little ponies to experience, right Princess? This way he'll think everything is going according to plan...right up until he steps into our trap." he added, his words becoming more malicious the more he spoke. His expression changed to fit his tone when he withdrew his hands into his pants pockets and a dark smile crept onto his face "After all, a puppet is easier to control when they think they're the one pulling the strings." this one sentence made all of the ponies, Celestia included, shiver. The twisted glee Fenrich emitted when he said that all but showed he had done something similar many times before, and reveled in it each time "This will also let you make preparations for when he does actually show up, and trust me; he will." Fenrich continued, the dark intent gone from his features but the haughtiness remaining. Inside was a different story as the sinister smile remained 'it will also keep you out of our hair as we tear this place apart searching for him.' he thought as he calmly asked Celestia something "The worst case scenario is that this reading is actually Sombra so you will have to hold him off until we can arrive. You can face him alone, can't you?"

"Yes. I faced King Sombra before as has my sister Luna, and I know enough about Netherworld demons from Hugo to not underestimate them." Celestia stated confidently "Whatever dark magic Sombra has used on the Terror Crystals or whatever tricks he's learned in the Netherworld will not affect me in the slightest. I can assure you of that."

"Good, meanwhile we will focus on flushing him out of whatever hole he's hiding in." Fenrich added. With a smirk he then turned away from the group and looked outside to the forests surrounding the town "With any luck he'll be nothing more than a paper tiger and we'll be back in the Netherworld by tomorrow night."

"And more realistically?" 

Fenrich's smirk faltered as Twilight spoke up, seemingly calling his bluff. He was starting to hate this one as well, not because she was a naïve idiot like the rest of them but because there might actually be a shred of competence in her, or she was paranoid. The calm unwavering gaze she was giving him however made him suspect it was the former. Relenting, Fenrich sighed "this is going to be a battle of attrition. One of these marks here is definitely Sombra. But as much as I would like to, we can't go after all of the signals at once."

"What!? why not!?" Rainbow Dash demanded, flaring her bandaged wings.

Twilight walked over to her friend and placed a hoof on her back, drawing her attention and calming her down slightly "think about it Rainbow, even if we add our numbers with Valvatorez's there are still only five here who have experienced Sombra's fear illusion, making them immune to it." she calmly answered. 

"Immune, darling?"

"That's right. When me and Spike searched for the Crystal Heart I was caught in an illusion of my worst nightmare at the time. After Spike shook me out of it, he was caught in the illusion when I was standing right beside him." Twilight explained as her cheeks became rosy from the memory "I don't think it was the wooden door I was hiding behind at the time that protected me, especially since I was still staring at it." she added sheepishly, taking a huge interest in the floor beside her hooves for a moment before regaining her momentum "So it must either be knowing about it or experiencing it that causes the immunity."

"I'm inclined to believe it is the latter, knowing about something terrifying and facing it are two entirely different things." Valvatorez interjected and all the demons present nodded. His time as a Tyrant was a prime example of this. There were not many demons who didn't know him, countless others tried to face him, but less then ten actually survived such encounters sane. "So...including me there are five who have both the knowledge and experience of what a Terror Crystal is capable of."

"And of those five, only two of them can fight, one of them well." Fenrich said, earning glares from the princesses and Rainbow Dash, glares he returned with his own that practically screamed 'try me'. With only Twilight conceding, Fenrich decided to beat them to the punch and answer the question one of them (his money was on the obnoxious pegasus) would inevitably ask "If we divided into teams and each went after one of the Terror Crystal signals, that would still leave two crystals at least without anyone immune to the curse AND incompetent teams to pursue them, and that's not even considering the possibility that a group meets Sombra. With no one left to protect the town, Sombra would be able to strike unopposed with the remaining crystals. Conversely if we only focus on defending the town then Sombra will be free to ravage the rest of Equestria as he pleases. Long story short, it would be a bloodbath any way you try and cut it."

Bloodbath. That singular word silenced the defiant gazes from Celestia and Rainbow Dash and made the mood of the room very somber. It then became obvious to Valvatorez that, despite being regarded as heroes, Twilight and her friends had never failed or lost a comrade before. Whether it was because of some miracle or Equestria being in little danger to begin with was irrelevant. The apparent truth was that before today none of them had seen death's door, none of them had experienced a real war, none of them has had to kill. It was surreal for him to be in a world so unlike the Human World, where the inhabitants lived in peace and  harmony instead of conservatively through fear. But now this peacefulness had become a liability, a liability Sombra would definitely take advantage of. "So, what do we do now?" Valvatorez heard Twilight ask. And as much as he would like to say something in response he wasn't sure what.

"Umm...I have an idea," Emizel spoke up from underneath his parka "what if small but capable groups of demons and ponies went out to destroy Terror Crystals one-by-one while the rest focused on training the others. This way we can have others become immune to the fear curse and become stronger without leaving the town unprotected."

Everyone looked toward Emizel who was trying to hide his red face in the fur of his hood. His suggestion seemed simple enough and both Valvatorez was technically an instructor so to the ponies it seemed entirely possible. In fact some of them thought the simple barbaric idea was exactly something a demon would come up with but sometimes a simple solution was the best solution. Besides, they could argue they were facing a demon themselves. But before anypony could speak up slow clapping echoed throughout the room "why, that's an excellent idea whelp!" Fenrich exclaimed, causing everyone, Emizel included, to look at him in utter surprise. The young demon's expression soured when he noticed the sinister smile and the general lack of sincerity in his eyes "Of course, to properly train them we're going to need more equipment and connections that we just don't have access to right now."

"Okay I see where this is going..." Emizel sighed, pulling out a cell-phone from his sweater pocket "yes, the Abbadon will be willing to procure weapons and armor from the Netherworld. I even have Rosenqueen on speed-dial." he deadpanned before, in one last act of defiance, he stomped his foot down and firmly pointed squarely at Fenrich's chest "However! You guys have to pay for it okay! I am not going to be spending Corrupternment money on your screw up."

"That's fine...so long as you cover shipping."

"...Fine..."

With a firm handshake the two demons ended negotiations. Emizel walked to the edge of the room to make some phone calls while Fenrich looked towards the alicorn currently tending to the group "Celestia, how long until their injuries are fully healed?"

"They will be fully healed by tomorrow, but I will have to stay with them until then." Celestia replied while changing Rainbow's bloodied bandages.

"That's fine." Fenrich said. According to his calculations the northbound reading wouldn't reach Canterlot for another three days, plenty of time to take it out. With their release date set he then turned toward His Lord and, with his hand over his chest, knelt down before him "My Lord, forgive me for not asking sooner but do you have any objections to our current course of action?"

"None Fenrich, so long as either you or I are with them during their training. As Prinny Instructors it is our duty to make sure it goes off without a hitch."

"Thank you for your understanding. All is for My Lord." he replied sincerely. With the technical matters taken care of and His Lords blessing he rose up once more, ideas and regiments for their 'training' already coalescing in his head. "Now then as for you six..." Fenrich said, looking at them from the corner of his eye with a sadistic grin plastered on his face "enjoy the peace and quiet while you can. Tomorrow you wake up in hell."