In the middle of a park, a lone figure stirred. It groaned before getting up and slowly standing up. “Damn. What happen…?” The figure asked, placing his right hand on his head. When he felt a gloved hand, he looked at his hand and saw that it was in a black glove that exposed his index finger and thumb, as well as his knuckles. He looked at his left hand and saw that it was in an identical glove.
“Since when did I get these?” He asked himself, before looking down and seeing that he was wearing a red, short sleeve trench coat and matching pants, as well as black boots, a black, zipped up undershirt with three clasps closed together with ornate, golden buckles, and a large belt around his waist, with the buckle being shaped like a skull. “What am I wearing?”
The man felt something on his back and, looking over his shoulder, saw a large sword attached to his back. He blinked before slowly grabbing the handle and pulling the sword out, revealing a large double edge blade, with the grip having a skeleton on both sides of it, with one side having a normal skull, and the other a skull with horns. The man widened his eyes as he recognized the sword.
“R-Rebellion?” He said, shocked. He shook his head before he noticed a white strand of hair in front of his left eye. “What the…” He looked around and saw a nearby river. He slowly put Rebellion back to the way it was and walked to the river. When he reached it, he looked at his reflection and did a double take. Staring right back at him was a man with pure white hair and blue eyes. A face he knew all too well.
“What the hell is going on?” He asked as looked at himself. “Why do I look like Dante?”
A female, monotone voice called out from behind the man. “So, you’ve already forgotten our arrangement.”
The man immediately turned around and saw a short girl in a maid dress with pink hair that covered her left eye, pink eyes, and a blank look on her face. “Noah? What's going on here? And what do you mean “arrangement”?”
“You and I made a deal. You’re in a new world, with a new, superior body. Aren’t you excited?” A small smile formed on her lips.
“What deal? And why do I look like...this?” He asked, spreading his arms out to show his new look completely.
“I offered you an adventure as any fictional character of your choice, remember?” Noah bent forward slightly. “You chose Dante. Decent choice, but I would have picked…well, that’s not the point, now is it, David?”
He blinked as he slowly began to remember the event she was talking about. “You were serious? I thought you were just joking.”
“I never joke when I’m serious.” The way she said that sounded off… but David got the feeling it was intentional.
“So, you somehow made me look like Dante and gave me a Rebellion replica, and dropped me off in the middle of some clearing?”
“Well… you’re partially right. That body of yours has the experiences of Dante via muscle memory and instincts. You have everything except his personality, even though you could mimic that.” Noah said, her smile having turned into a tiny frown. “It’ll be able to give you an edge, but you should make sure to exercise those skills if you want to commit to fighting. Demons or not. As for where we are, you could call it the Manehattan park. A fairly untouched location to drop you off, if I do say so myself.”
“Hold up,” David said, raising a hand up in a stop gesture. “Muscle memory? Manehattan? Demons? Noah, all I remember right now is you offering me to be a made up character and I accepted it. Mostly because I thought you were joking... So start explaining.”
“I offered to transform you into anyone you wanted, and send you to an alternate universe, on an alien planet. Here, demons are a fact instead of a theory, and exist in large numbers, even compared to the games Dante’s from.” Noah elaborated. “Manehattan is a parallel to Manhattan. But the locals are puny to the extreme.”
David blinked a couple of times before closing his raised hand until only his index finger was out. “Okay, I have several questions…”
“Ask away, I’m an open book.” Her smile returned, but seemed more childlike as she began pacing in David’s full view, never trying to leave his sight.
“Okay. First, if this is all true, how are you able to do that?”
“Do you really have to ask? Let’s just say I have magic and leave it at that.” She dodged.
“So...it’s magic, you don't have to explain it?”
“Nope.” Noah replied, grinning impishly. “I don’t have any reason to explain to you everything. My brother made that mistake and got killed three years later.”
“Okay… moving on, what did you mean I have to fight demons?”
Noah groaned. “What’s Dante without demons to kill?”
“How am I supposed to kill demons?”
Noah stared at David for a moment. “Because you’re Dante? I won’t bother you with the details, just know that you have everything you need and the body to do it. The mind is something you have to exercise.” She winked playfully.
“Okay. I hope you're right about that…” David then took a deep breath. “One more thing. Can you tell me any more about this place besides demons being a normal thing? Also, if this is a park, where is everyone?”
“Well… I guess friendship is considered magic in this world.”
David blinked. “What?”
“It’s a colorful world. I’m sure the natives will help a lot more than me. I just plopped you down in the most demon infested universe I saw.” Noah shrugged. “It’s nearly on the brink, I think.”
David did a double take on that. “Why would you send me here then?”
“What’s a demon hunter without demons~?” Noah asked in a teasing manner, grinning.
David gave her a deadpan expression at that. “While I understand your… logic, let's call it. You could have at least sent me to a less dangerous world.”
“Where’s the fun in that!?” Noah giggled, twirling in place like a four year old, nearly toppling over every spin.
“You're enjoying the fact I might die a horrible death?”
“No, because I doubt you’ll die- well…” Noah sounded confident before slowing down. “More like I’m excited to see the potential.”
“What potential?”
“Yours.” Then, Noah vanished out of reality without applaud, silently and instantly.
David looked around for her, failing to do so. He then sighed and said, “Potential. Yeah sure. Never even said why nobody is around.” He then decided to leave himself and ask someone for some info.
In a nearby apartment, a gray mare with a black mane and tail was sitting down, playing her cello. She was in the middle of playing when she heard her phone ring. She sighed and stopped playing before she got up and picked up her phone.
When she answered, she sighed and said, “Yes?”
The caller replied with much more enthusiasm. “Hey Tavi. How are ya?”
The mare rolled her eyes. “What do you want Vinyl?”
“What? A girl can't check up on her best friend?”
Octavia's expression dropped to a deadpan one, even if nobody saw it. After a minute, Vinyl let out a sigh.
“All right, fine. I called because I heard some trouble was going down around where you're at.”
Octavia's eyes widened slightly before she recomposed herself. “The usual?”
“Yup.”
“What kind?”
“Scarecrows, according to the description,” Vinyl replied. “Want some help?”
Octavia shook her head. “No, I'll be fine. Scarecrows are no problem. Thanks for the heads up.”
“Yeah, well not like I'd leave you hanging. Just call me when you're done.”
“Okay. Bye.” With that, Octavia hung up. “So much for a peaceful night.” She then approached her cello case and opened a secret compartment inside it before pulling out a pair of bayonets.
“What happened?” David asked, looking at the scene in front of him.
He saw a couple cars torn apart with bits of blood splattered around the street. Feeling uneasy, he reached behind his back and grabbed ahold of something metal. Pulling it out, he saw a pair of guns, one black and one white. On one side of each gun, it said “Ebony & Ivory” with a design of piano keys next to it. On the other sides, another note said “For Tony Redgrave, By .45 Art Works”.
“Good. I have these. At least I already know how to use them.” David muttered to himself, gripping the guns firmly in case anything attacked him.
Feeling a little more secure, he continued walking, following the carnage.
‘Sure, follow the clearly dangerous trail. That’s the smart thing to do!’ David thought to himself sarcastically.
He sighed, annoyed that he made such a stupid decision, but refused to stop. He continued walking for a few minutes until he heard a small noise. When he stopped and focused on it, he discovered that it sounded like crying. After a moment of hesitation, he started walking towards the noise, until he approached a car with a smashed window. He looked into the car, and saw a small figure with red hair, curled up and crying.
“You okay?” David asked.
The small figure stopped and looked up at him which shocked David. Its face looked somewhat like a cartoon horse, including ears on the upper part of its head, along with fur that looked like a mix between orange and brown, and finally green eyes.
Before he can properly process all that however, the creature screamed and crawled away until its back hit the other side of the car.
“S-stay back!” It shouted, with a thick Manhatten accent, and youthful tomboyish yet feminine voice.
David blinked before shaking his head, “Calm down, I’m not gonna hurt you.”
“And how do I know you ain’t lying?” she asked, with a tone laced in suspicion.
David shrugged in a casual manner. “Would I even bother talking to you if I just wanted to kill you?” The girl remained silent for a moment, thinking it over.
After almost a minute of silence, David asked, “What’s your name?”
“Babs. Babs Seed,” she answered.
“David,” He greeted her, then his expression changed to one of confusion. “Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you?”
Babs then gave him a look matching his own, “Really? You don’t know?”
“Well in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not from around here. Heck, I only showed up here a few minutes ago.”
“Imma pony,” Babs said. “What’re you?”
“I’m a…” David paused, before looking himself over, remembering his situation. “I’m half human.”
“Hoo-man?” Babs asked, with an unsure expression, “Whadat?”
David rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Human. As for what those are, it’s kinda hard to explain, besides the fact that a lot of people say we’re just highly evolved apes.”
“Like gorillas?”
“Kinda. Except smarter and sapient,” David then shook his head again. “I’m getting off track. Do you know where is everyone?”
Babs’ ears dropped and she looked away. “Those things attacked.”
“What things?” David asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.
“Demons,” She stated, her expression turning sad, “They showed up and killed a few ponies. Everypony ran, and I got separated from my aunt. So, I hid in here, and you found me.”
David sighed. ‘Great. Not only does Noah send me to some world that gets demon attacks regularly, but she sends me somewhere during one such attack. Some friend.’ He shook the thought away from his head and looked back at Babs. “Can you tell me what these demons looked like?”
“They looked like they had burlap sacks over their heads. Actually, they look like their whole bodies were covered in sacks, and they all had blades for one of their limbs, either as an arm or a leg.”
David recognized that description instantly and pushed for more details, “Did they look like demented scarecrows?”
“Kinda...” Babs eyes then widened. “Wait, you know about those?”
David nodded. “Scarecrows. A basic demon, but still quite dangerous to people who aren’t prepared.”
“Basic?” she asked as her eyes seemed to widen further. “You mean ta tell me that there are worse demons out there?”
David looked down at his guns. “If there are demons like the ones I know about, much worse.” He then tightened his grip. “Well, I guess I’m going hunting,” he states as he turns around.
“Wait, what do you mean by that?” She asked, looking at him with worry.
“I was put in this world to kill demons,” David said, not turning around. “And as much as I don't want to, I might as well try to help deal with these things.”
“What? Are you nuts?!” Babs asked in shock.
David shrugged before looking over his shoulder at her. “Probably. To be honest, I'm still debating on whether or not Noah spiked my dinner last night and this is all some sorta drug induced hallucination. But on the possibility it isn't, I might as well be useful.”
Before she replied, Babs saw something ahead of him and gasped. When David looked forward, he saw a few scarecrows sauntering towards him from the distance.
“Babs, stay in the car,” David said, then thought to himself. ‘Let's see if that thing Noah said about this body is true…’
As the scarecrows came closer, David directed Ebony and Ivory forwards and fired several times, all the bullets hitting the closest scarecrow in the chest which caused it to spill out a liquid substance, with the last bullet killing it. The demon disappeared without a trace. David couldn’t focus on that for much longer, due to the other three having reached and surrounded him.
One of them lunged toward David, swinging its blade at him randomly, not focusing on accuracy, simply wanting to attack him. David quickly jumped back, narrowing dodging the blade. He then immediately pointed his guns at the scarecrow and fired a few times, killing it as well. The other two then attacked him in unison and he quickly rolled under their swings to evade. After he stood back up, he turned around and killed the scarecrow to his left.
Before he can react however, the last scarecrow attacked again and landed a hit on him across his chest, causing him to be knocked back a couple a feet. He ran two fingers to the affected area and saw his blood, but the wound was healing fairly quickly, both on his skin and his clothes, the latter to his surprise.
‘Well, glad that's in effect,’ he thought to himself. ‘Still hurt though.’
Pushing the thought away, he looked at the scarecrow as it slumped towards him. As it leaped to perform another attack, he aimed Ebony right next to where the blade met the arm and shot at it, causing the scarecrow to become unbalanced during the jump. David quickly ducked as it sailed over him. After it landed, David immediately shot at it a few times, killing it.
“Nice work, Davy-boy~!” A singsong voice cooed. The owner, Noah, appeared sitting on a toppled car, munching on popcorn casually. “You’re a natural! Or was that my doing…?”
“You know, it's one thing to send me here,” David said, not bothering to ask where she came from. “But did you have to send me here during a demon attack?”
“There’s almost always a demon attack… I can’t see the future, you overestimate my powers.” Noah said in a teasing manner. “I mean, would you rather I send you after the kid died?”
David stood silent for a bit, before saying, “Could've at least given me a heads up. I'm just lucky that scarecrows are weak demons. Otherwise, it would've been much more difficult.” He then touched the spot that the last scarecrow landed its hit. “Well that, and this body's healing.”
“What does that have to do with me? Besides, demons aren’t the only things you have to deal with.” Noah hopped off the car she was sitting on and began pacing. While she was doing this, a purple sword flew passed David's head, only missing him by a couple of inches.
Turning towards the direction the sword came from, David saw a female standing a few yards away from him, wearing a long purple trench coat, with a scarf covering the lower half of her face, the only things unobscured were her grey face, black hair, and purple eyes that glared at him. The final part he noticed was that she held a pair of silver bayonets.
She then took a single step forward before swinging one of her bayonets and pointing it at him with the other resting on her shoulder. As she did that, she said, “A new demon, hmm? Well this should be interesting.” She then lowered both bayonets and took a fighting stance. “Nevertheless, you're gonna pay for the destruction you and your friends have caused.”
As David processed that, he only had a single thought come to mind.
'This is gonna suck…’
Noah spoke up in an overly excited tone, “This is gonna be good~!”
The mare immediately lunged at David, swinging her bayonets when she was was just a foot away. David quickly jumped back, missing the blades by an inch. As he landed, she simply continued swinging at him, with David only able to roll to the side to evade.
“What is your problem, lady?!” David yelled as he quickly holstered his guns and pulled out Rebellion as she swung again, his sword blocking her blades.
“A demon that can talk?” She said as she jumped back. “Well it’s rare that I see one, if at all.” She then narrowed her eyes. “And that just mean you’re more dangerous than I believed.”
Her next action surprised David. She closed her eyes, lowered her bayonets and a trio of purple swords, identical to the one she had thrown at him earlier, suddenly appeared, hovering above the ground and orbiting around her. A moment later, they suddenly disappeared and reappeared around her, all pointing at David as she opened her eyes to glare at him again.
“Oh you gotta be kidding me,” David muttered as he recognized that move, though a different color than he’s used to. A moment after they reappeared, they flew towards him. He dodge to the side for one and knocked another one away with a swing from Rebellion, but was too slow to avoid the third one, with it flying straight through his chest. David staggered back for a bit from the impact and pain from the attack, but still stood up, his body having already healed the wound.
The mare’s eyes widened slightly as his body healed so fast that she almost thought he was unaffected by her action, but she narrowed them again a moment later. “You’re more resilient than I anticipated, I’ll give you that.” She closed her eyes and chuckled. “Vinyl might actually have fun with you if she were here.” She opened her eyes again with a glare that David was starting to think was her default look. “I, on the other hand, won’t play around with a demon like you when innocents are in danger. Especially after the damage you and your friends caused.”
“My “friends”?” David asked, confused.
“The scarecrows,” she replied as she gripped her bayonets more.
“Okay, listen lady-” David started, but before he can continue, they both heard a scream.
When they looked to the source, they saw a yellow mare with an orange mane crawling away from another scarecrow a few feet in front of her. This scarecrow was at least twice the size of the previous ones, with a large blade running down its back and 3 blades for each of its arms. The demon just walked slowly to her until it crouched down and started rolling to her.
Before the hunter can react, David immediately ran to the Mega Scarecrow so fast that he became a blur. Before it reached the yellow mare, David stood in front of her and used Rebellion to block its attack. After a couple of seconds of it spinning at him, David pushed it off, sending the scarecrow back a few feet.
David then looked at the yellow mare with concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?” The mare stood silent as she processed what happened before she nodded to him. David then looked back at the Mega Scarecrow and told her, “Go and hide. I'll handle this.”
As she quickly got up and ran off to a nearby building, the scarecrow got back up and stared at David as he gripped Rebellion more and glared at the demon. The scarecrow then started rolling to him again, but he jumped to the side to dodge. After it stopped and started turning towards him, David ran to it and swung Rebellion, landing a few hits. It then shook its head and then jumped at David with its arms out. He quickly rolled away before it landed, and gave a few more slashes at it.
As he was stepping back however, it swung one of its arms at him and hit him, sending him to a wall. As he stood back up, the scarecrow lunged at him, swinging its arms at him. David only had enough time to lift Rebellion to block the attack, but the sword was knocked off his hands. He quickly pulled out Ebony & Ivory and shot at it, with it barely seeming affected and simply swiped at David again and sent him flying again down the street, landing on his chest.
David pushed himself up, feeling drained as the damage he has taken during the day was taking its toll with his energy running low. Despite that fact, he still faced the Mega Scarecrow and aimed his guns at it before firing. The scarecrow simply started rolling to him again, with him rolling away to evade. As it stood back up and turned back to David, a few purple blades ended up impaling its torso, causing it to stagger backwards. At the next moment, the gray mare immediately jumped at it and stabbed the scarecrow’s face with her twin bayonets. The demon fell backwards, dying from the latest blows, with its body disappearing after it hit the ground.
As she got up, she turned around and approached David. He simply sighed and tighten his grip on his guns before lifting them at her. At that action, she stopped and said, “You really want to continue fighting me when you're in a worse condition than me?”
“If you're gonna keep attacking me, I'm not gonna stop fighting back,” David said.
She shook her head and sighed. “You demons are just so stubborn.”
“I'm not a demon,” David said, starting to have enough of the madness of the day.
The mare rose an eyebrow. “Oh really? Not only do you heal in an exceptional rate that no normal creature can hope to achieve, but I can sense the demon blood in you.”
'How can she know that part?’ David asked himself. He shook his head. “I'd explain the reason for that, but I have one question for you.”
“Very well.”
David took a deep breath as he lowered his guns. His energy was coming back, slowly but surely. “As far as you're concerned, I'm a heartless demon with no regard for others, right?”
“Yes. Why?”
“If I was so bad, why would I bother saving the woman from the scarecrow? And why would I not try to kill you despite you attacking me with the intent to kill me?” The mare was actually surprised by that and blinked as she tried to figure out the reason. “Seriously, I never shot you, and all I did with my sword against you was block your attacks. Or tried to, regarding some…”
The mare shook her head. “Don't try to confuse me, demon. Even if you weren't in league with the scarecrows, that doesn't mean you are good.”
David groaned at that response. “Look, I did nothing wrong. I just came here and noticed the carnage and some scarecrows attacked while I was talking to…” David widened his eyes. “Babs!”
David immediately ran passed the mare in a speed that shocked her. When she turned back to see him, he was already a few meters away and was approaching a car. When he reached it, he looked inside the vehicle. Despite her confusion, she walked towards him with her bayonets ready, wondering on why he did do those things and what was so important about the car. When she was close enough, she saw his guns were in holsters on his back and heard two voices.
“-somewhere else,” he seem to finish.
“Ya sure?” She heard a younger voice, one of a filly's, say.
David nodded. “I'm sure. It isn't safe here.”
“And who are you talking to?” The mare asked, getting his attention. David turned around and frowned at her while she saw a small filly poke her head out a broken window.
“What do you want?” David asked.
“What's going on here?” she asked him.
David rolled her eyes. “If you must know, I'm gonna try to help Babs here find somewhere else to stay until things calm down,” he said, gesturing to the filly behind him.
“And why would a demon like you do that?” The mare asked.
“Demon?” Babe asked, shocked. “I thought you said you was a human.”
“Half human,” David corrected before sighing. “The other half is demon.”
The two ponies stared at him with confusion. “Half demon?” the mare asked. “Who in the world would be insane enough to even want to mate with a demon, let alone achieve it?”
“You'd be surprised…” David muttered, knowing how crazy people can be. With a shake of his head, he said, “The point is, I'm not some heartless monster. I actually care about others.”
“Oh really?” The mare asked, her tone thick in sarcasm.
David's eyes narrowed. “Okay, if you don't believe me, then you can come along and “keep an eye on me”.” David walked to his sword before returning it to his back, confusing the ponies due to not seeing any way the sword could stay on his back. After looking around to make sure there wasn’t anymore demons around, he turned back to the ponies. “Are you coming or not?”
After shaking away her surprise of what she learned, Babs exited the car and walked to him and the two started walking down the street. The hunter hesitated for a few moments before sighing and following them, her bayonets at the ready in case anymore trouble happened.
The trio walked down the street, Babs staying close to David in case any demons showed up and the hunter stayed in the back, watching David. After a few minutes of silence, David, without looking at either of them, said, “Let me guess. You two have a lot of questions about me?”
“You could say that,” the hunter confirmed.
“Are there any that doesn’t regard to me being half demon?”
“Where did you come from?” Babs asked.
David briefly stopped walking, shocked by the question, before he continued. “Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.”
“Hasn't stopped you so far,” the hunter commented.
“Can't be any crazier than you being half demon and half of some evolved gorilla,” Babs told him.
The hunter looked at her with wide eyes before looking at David. “I'm sorry, what?”
David sighed. “I'm from a world where humans are the dominant species. And some brainiacs believe that we are just highly evolved apes. Personally I find that more ridiculous than the idea that some all powerful being made us.”
“So not only are you part demon, but you're an alien?” The hunter asked, sounding skeptical.
David shrugged. “Pretty much.”
“And where does your demonic heritage play in?”
David shook his head. “Would you believe me if I told you that yesterday I was just an average human with a dead end job and love for video games?”
“How did you become half demon then?” Babs asked curiously.
“A friend of mine I knew for a while made me an offer last night,” David explained, remembering the events that led to him showing up in the park. “She offered to turn me into any fictional character I wanted and send me somewhere to have an adventure, in exchange to leaving my old life behind.”
“And you accepted?” The hunter asked in shocked disbelief.
“I thought she was kidding,” David calmly stated. “So I decided to play along.”
“And who did you become?” Babs asked.
David smiled softly. “One of the best characters in games in my opinion. Dante, the son of legendary dark knight Sparda. After I made my choice, we shook hands and the next thing I know, I wake up in a park a few blocks away from here in this body. My friend showed up and explained the fact that the deal was serious. So, now I have the body and some weapons of Dante, in a world that she said gets so many demon attacks that it's on the brink of destruction.”
The hunter blinked. “Well that's quite an exaggeration.”
David turned back to her with a frown. “What?”
“While demon attacks do happen rather frequently, it's not so much that the world is almost at an end. If it truly was, nopony will ever have moments of peace or happiness.”
'So Noah was wrong about that bit of info.’ David thought as he continued walking. ‘Well she did say she doesn't know everything about this world.’
A moment later, he realized something. “You know, you're taking this rather well,” he told the hunter with a quick glance over his shoulder.
The mare shrugged. “Personally I'm starting to think you've gone insane and just humoring you, since I can't imagine anyone being able to come up with a lie this absurd.”
“So you don't believe me?”
“I've seen and heard many things in my life,” she told him. “But someone being able to turn another into a fictional character, abilities and all, and sending them to another world simply to give them excitement? That just cannot be possible.”
“How do you think I feel about all this? Not to mention the fact that I'm talking to a humanoid horse.” When David said that last word, both ponies gasped, much to his confusion. When he turned around to ask, he was met with the hunter pointing one of her bayonets at him, merely an inch away from his face, the mare glaring at him with more rage in her eyes than while they were fighting. David instinctively stepped back in surprise and said, “Woah, what happened?”
“What did you call me?” The mare asked, with so much venom in her voice that David could've sworn he could feel it.
“Um, a horse?” David repeated, unsure of the issue.
The hunter immediately growled before she impaled both her bayonets through David's torso and kicked the hilts, sending him back a few feet, landing on his side. As he was getting up, David saw that she had more of the purple swords hovering around her, all pointed at him. Before she can send them however, Babs immediately stepped between the two of them.
The hunter blinked in surprise, the swords disappearing due to her losing her concentration. She then shook her head before saying, “Step aside.”
“No,” Babs said, her voice laced in fear.
“This doesn't concern you, young filly. This is between me and the demon.”
“Okay, can someone tell me what's going on?” David asked with the bayonets still stuck to his chest. After getting back up, he walked towards them and stepped in front of Babs so the hunter wouldn't hurt her to get to him.
“Like you don't know,” the mare replied, still angry.
“A-actually, I think he doesn't,” Babs muttered.
“Don't know what?” David asked the filly.
“Um, that word isn't something that you just call a mare…” Babs said, avoiding his eyes.
“Why?”
“It's a word used to insult a mare, basically calling her a harlot,” the hunter angrily growled at David.
David blinked in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened as he realized what they meant, to which he quickly shook his head and waved his hands. “Nope. Nope. No. That is not what I meant when I said that.”
The hunter rose an eyebrow. “You’re serious?”
“Despite you being rude and hostile to me since we met, I’m not the kind of guy who would just call someone that. Especially not with a kid present,” he finished, gesturing to Babs.
Babs frown. “I’m not a goat.”
David sighed. “Okay, so some words mean different things here. Guess that makes sense, alien world and all. To be honest, it’s a miracle we speak the same language.” He then gripped the hilts of the bayonets and pulled them out of his chest, his wounds healing immediately. ‘Damn that hurts. How can he deal with this all the time? Did he just get used to it?’
After he was done with that, he tossed the bayonets to the hunter’s feet. As she picked them up, David turned to Babs. “How much further?”
Babs looked around before saying, “Should only be a few blocks away.”
“Okay then,” David said as the two of them continued walking.
The hunter simply looked at her bayonets for moment before looking at the pair walking ahead of her. After a sigh, she muttered, “This is insane…” With that said, she started walking to them again. When she was close enough, she asked, “Exactly where are we heading?”
“First off, Babs and I are heading to her place to find her aunt,” David said. “If she survived the scarecrows, hopefully she's there. You are just following us because you don't trust me.”
“And yet you're the one who suggested it,” she pointed out.
David shrugged. “I honestly thought that'd be the first thing on your mind. As a way to protect Babs from the oh so dangerous half demon,” he said.
Before the mare can reply, they both heard a shout. “Babs?!”
Looking to the source, the trio saw it was the mare David saved from the Mega Scarecrow a few yards away. Babs widened her eyes before running to the mare and hugging her, to which the mare returned.
David blinked for a moment before walking to the pair. “Glad to see you're okay,” he told the mare.
When the mare noticed him, her eyes widened. “Y-you're the one that saved me from that monster.”
David blinked before rubbing the back of his head and chuckling nervously. “Yeah, I guess I am. So I guess your Babs’ aunt?”
The mare nodded. “Yes. I am. Thank you for bringing her back to me safely.”
“It was nothing.” He then looked at Babs. “You gonna be okay?”
Babs nodded at him with a smile. “Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks David.”
“Are there anymore demons?” David asked Babs’ aunt.
The mare shook her head. “No. I just heard that the hunters took care of all of them.”
“Okay then. Well, see ya Babs. And stay safe, okay?”
Babs chuckled. “See ya David.”
With that said, David waved to them before turning around and walking away.
When he passed the hunter, she said, “And where are you going?”
David turned to her and shrugged. “Honestly? I have no idea. I was thinking of wandering around, maybe find a place I can spend the night.”
The mare shook her head. “Oh no you don't. You're coming with me.”
“Why?”
“So I can figure out what to do with you.” With that, she started walking ahead of him, not even waiting for a response.
David sighed before following her. ‘Not like I have anything better to do,’ he thought to himself.
David and the hunter walked for an unknown amount of time. Only thing David knew was that the sun was starting to set, so he figured It's been at least an hour or two since he woke up in the park.
Deciding to finally break the silence, David asked, “So where are we going?”
“To see my sister,” the hunter replied, not looking back.
“Your sister? Is she anything...like you?”
“In many aspects, no. Not at all. But she and I are a team and I'd want to hear her opinion on what to do with you.”
David sighed, deciding to stay silent for the rest of the walk. After another few minutes, the pair reached a large building. The building was three stories high and made of brick, the color of the bricks had long since worn out, giving the building an almost grey color. Few windows of the building were cracked or broken, the front door of the building was a pale orange color, most of the paint had already faded away.
“This place looks like it’s seen better days.” David stated as he looked the building over.
“Probably,” the mare said before entering, David following behind.
Upon entering the first floor, it was almost immediately noticeable that the area needed some time and love to be fixed up. The carpeted floor had chunks of the carpet missing in several places, and the walls had wallpaper peeling from them and some of the ceiling tiles were either missing entirely or had missing pieces that had broken off at some point. There was also a surprisingly intact pillar in the middle of the room (whether for aesthetic purposes or actual structural integrity is not obvious at the moment).
“So why's your sister here?” David asked as he started leaning on the nearest wall.
Before the mare can reply, they both heard a new voice. “Hey Tavi!”
Looking to the source, the pair saw a white unicorn exiting a room with a few boxes levitating by her, her horn alight beneath her wild blue hair. The most notable thing about her appearance that David noticed being a pair of purple sunglasses that completely covered her eyes.
“So I take it you're done with those demons?” She asked as she put the boxes down by the wall. She then looked to David before pausing. “Who's your friend?”
David gave a small wave. “Hey. Name's David.” He then approached her and offered his hand, though mentally prepared himself in case she attacked him.
After a second, the white mare took his hand with a smile. “Vinyl Scratch. So how did you meet Tavi?”
David rose an eyebrow in confusion. “Tavi?”
The hunter sighed behind him before facepalming. “Vinyl, must you really call me that right now?”
David stared between the two of them before looking at the hunter. “Wait, your name is Tavi?”
The gray mare glared at him. “If you must know, my name is Octavia Melody. And don't call me Tavi. Bad enough Vinyl does.”
David stepped back, worried she'll start impaling him again. “Duly noted.”
“So...how do you two know each other?” Vinyl asked again.
“I found this demon here in the streets during the attacks,” Octavia explained.
“Half demon,” David corrected. “And don't go acting like I played a part in it. Hell, I killed a few of the Scarecrows myself.”
“Okay hold on,” Vinyl said. “How are you half demon?”
Octavia answered. “According to him, he was some evolved ape from another world last night before making a deal with a powerful being he knew, became a video game character, and ended up here.”
“Okay that just makes it sound insane,” David said.
“Well that's what you said,” Octavia said with a shrug.
Vinyl blinked under her glasses before sighing. “Okay, this won't get us anywhere…”
“How about we talk in private?” Octavia suggested.
Vinyl shrugged. “Sure,” she said before returning to the room she came from.
Octavia then narrowed her eyes to David. “Don't cause any trouble,” she silently told him before following Vinyl. David wanted to respond but stopped himself, simply sighing to himself instead.
After Octavia closed the door behind her, she looked over to Vinyl. “So what happened?” The unicorn asked.
Octavia lowered her scarf before saying, “After I left, I ran into a few scarecrows and dealt with them easily. A few minutes later I spotted him,” she gestured to the door, “in the middle of the street with a pair of guns in hand.”
“Guns? Okay. Then what happen?”
“I started fighting him.” Vinyl then stared at Octavia in silence for a few moments. “What?”
“He attack first?” Vinyl asked.
Octavia shook her head slowly. “No. I did. Tartarus, he didn't even attack at all to be honest. Just pulled out that sword of his and blocked most of my attacks.” When Vinyl rose an eyebrow at her, Octavia glared back. “Well what do you expect me to do? He is a demon!”
Vinyl sighed. “So, you attacked the guy and he did nothing but defend himself?” When Octavia didn't answer, Vinyl said, “Okay, then what happened?”
“A Mega Scarecrow showed up and attacked a mare. Before I can do anything, he moved with incredible speed and blocked it. He tried attacking the scarecrow but it didn't go well so I finished it off. I was about to continue our fight when he pointed his guns at me despite clearly being worn out. After that, he ran to a nearby car. When I got there, I saw a filly that he was talking to. They were apparently planning to go out and look for the filly's aunt. Since I didn't trust him to be alone with a helpless filly, he suggested that I join them. And during that, he told us his ridiculous story.”
“About becoming a video game character and being sent here from another world? And what's this about apes?”
“Apparently he was something called a human and said some believed they were highly evolved apes.”
Vinyl blinked. “Okay… so what happened next?”
“We found the filly's aunt and turned out it was the mare from before. She told us that other hunters have dealt with the remaining demons and the area was now safe. After that I took him here to discuss with you what we'll do with him.”
Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
Octavia did a double take. “Why? Because we can't leave a demon roaming around causing trouble!”
Vinyl shrugged. “From what I've seen so far and what you told me, he doesn't seem so bad.”
“Vinyl, I know for a fact that you can sense the demonic blood inside him. It's only a matter of before he drops the act and starts killing everypony.”
Vinyl frowned. “So, let me get this straight. Just because he's part demon, you think that he will end up attacking everyone despite doing the exact opposite all day?”
“Yes…” Octavia said, unsure where this was going.
“Gee, doesn't that sound familiar?”
“What are you talking abo-” Octavia started before Vinyl took off her sunglasses, revealing her dark, blood red eyes. “Oh…” Octavia muttered in surprise as she found out what her sister was talking about.
“Yeah. Funny isn't it?”
Octavia shook her head. “It's not like that.”
“Really? From what you're saying, we might as well kill him right now when he did nothing wrong, just because he has demon blood in him.” Vinyl sighed again, looking down. “Something I get enough of from the others...” She then put her glasses back on and looked at Octavia. “Here's an idea. How about we actually give him a chance?”
“Vinyl-”
“I'm not asking you to make friends with him. Knowing you, it might take a while for that. I'm just suggesting we give him a chance to see if he's actually a good guy.”
“And how would we do that?”
Vinyl shrugged. “Stick with him? If he really is some alien thing, doubt he'll know his way around. So we might as well be his guides.”
“This is ridiculous. If you're wrong, who knows how many deaths we'll be responsible for.”
“And what if I'm right?” Vinyl countered. “If he really is a good guy, he can be great help with the rest of the demons.” When Octavia hesitated, Vinyl said, “Look, if things really go bad, I'll take full responsibility for it. Pretty sure the others would be more than happy to have an excuse to off me and at least you can continue the family business without being thought a traitor.”
Octavia pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fine. We'll do it your way.” She then lowered her hand and took a deep breath. “But if he proves he's as horrible as every other demon, we're ending him immediately. The last thing I need is you taking the blame for everything and-” She was interrupted again by Vinyl hugging her.
“Thanks Tavi.”
Octavia rolled her eyes but a small smile appeared on her face as she returned the embrace. The next moment, they both jumped due to hearing a loud noise coming from the other room.
“What was that?” Octavia asked.
Vinyl's eyes widened in realization. “Uh oh…”
“What?”
“I forgot I asked Spits to help out with the boxes. And I'm guessing she just met David.”
Octavia's eyes widened as she started to smell the very familiar scent of fire and the mares both immediately ran into the other room.
