Nero rests in his stone slumber as time moves on. The hunter makes a deal sealed with magic. Now he wants to have a few words with a certain sun Princess.
Her betrayal pissed Nero off badly, but when you wake up and in less than an hour have to deal with timberwolves... Let's just say that it would be wise to keep your distance.
Equipped with a short temper and a TON of demonic power, nobody stands a chance against him really. Except maybe Celestia or Luna but even then it's not safe to risk it.
Extra Character tags: Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Discord, and Tirek.
This story will alternate between First and Second person at times.
Nero was brought to a little ravine 300 or some odd years ago by someone he called friend. In fact, it's because of her that he's in a stony prison.
This place, where it began all those years ago. Has stood unshaken by time as the years passed, until a lord of chaos; more commonly known as Discord flooded the forest with his twisted magic.
The forest was once known as Evergreen forest, it was home to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna until Discords chaotic nature wrapped its bony hands around the warm forest and turned it cold. Filled with sadness and entropy.
The royal sisters tried their best to contain the horrific magic that Discord imposed upon their home. Unfortunately their efforts were in vain because by the time they were ready to drive him back, their precious forest and castle were destroyed. And Discord flying away in the distance, giggling like a little girl while avoiding the waves of magic from the sisters. Magic that had no intentions on sparing your health, quite the opposite actually.
After his unflattering departure, both Princesses went to quick work with healing their beloved forest and home where they grew up.
The long agonizing hours of labor turned into days, and then weeks, months and lastly years. Despite their best efforts, the damage couldn't be undone; They stopped trying to fix the region and started looking elsewhere to call home as there was little point in trying to repair something that couldn't be fixed.
Both royal sisters; outraged and livid, gathered the elements of harmony and swore to each other that Discord will pay for his tyranny.
Discord roamed freely for a brief time and before long, he was cast to stone. Head held high and mouth wide open Guffawing to the heavens with a mismatch of limbs spread wide, as if welcoming any challenger that dared to challenge him.
History books were not too kind for the Chaotic Draconiquus. In fact, if you were to look for any information regarding Discord. All you would find is a general description of what he looked like, his mastery of chaos magic and what he's done to many ponies in regards of his cruel tomfoolery. What was left out however was his actions towards Greenwood forest.
In all honesty, there is no mortal alive today that knows about the historic forest and what the princesses sacrificed for it. The only beings that are aware are Celestia & Luna themselves, Discord and Nero (sorta).
Not much is known about the demonic hunter either other than that fact that he has a smartass mouth and he's really strong like REALLY strong, you really don't want to get on his bad side. According to legend, Nero had a nice side to him and he saved countless lives during the battle of the changelings.
Due to time passing, books and scrolls deteriorated; completely erasing any information about the already scarcely known young hunter. If a scholar truly wished to understand history from mere centuries ago, they would have to be a very powerful mage. Many scholars have tried various advanced magic techniques and nopony has ever managed to dig up any information about Nero, probably because there is no spell in existence that could rejuvenate dilapidated paper. Which would more often than not turn to ash even from the touch of a feather.
Lost in time and place, nopony would ever guess that the legendary Nero himself would be in the forest currently known as the Everfree.
Overlooking the small ravine filled with cracked stone, some broken glass and a funny smell. Nero stood tall, his sapphire orbs piercing the veil of moonlight shining upon his white haired head. Although you would never know due to the chalky white stone that he was imprisoned with, making it impossible to know for certain.
Nero being the impatient hunter that he is, was becoming increasingly desperate for freedom as time dragged its heavy boots. It was so bad that not even a year after his stony transformation, he went stir crazy after losing almost all patience that he had left. Even going as far as to pray to God despite not being a believer, the reply to his cries came in the form of bird droppings all over his chest and back. He didn't need a nose to know that he smelled appalling to say the least.
After year ten came and went; The only thing that could keep him even slightly sane, were the numerous thoughts of his best friend and lover; Kyrie.
This Auburn haired beauty was perfect to him in every way. Her personality, appearance, Hell; even the way she presented herself with decency was done gracefully. She could do the most mundane of tasks such as eating or sleeping but that didn't matter to Nero, it sent butterflies throughout his chest and made his heart skip a couple beats.
Because of the many years that have passed without smell, taste, touch or sleep. Nero has long forgotten the basic necessities of everyday life while screaming internal torment, wishing more than anything that he could eat once more; longing for that deep breath of crisp spring air to revitalize his dried out throat and lungs.
Out of all the things going through his head, there was one thing that he desired in his heart of hearts more than anything in the world. And that was Kyrie. Knowing that time has passed but never knowing quite how much time has passed, he pondered for many hours about things that could have happened. His marriage for instance, he pictured her in much vivid detail. From her face all the way to the dress she was wearing, including color and patterns. Nero personally fancied a simple white wedding gown with a ruby rose circlet resting atop her head. Why? because he saw no point to complicate things, his love for her was real and she didn't need to wear a specific outfit to be beautiful to him. He knew that the moment he first saw her, greeting him with that special smile of hers and waving.
And so, Nero awaited his freedom with a hopeful heart to see his beloved once again. Thinking of all the ways he could return back to the human world. Back to Kyrie.
Sadly this will never come to fruition for it is folly...
First Person POV
Drip
I don't care what anyone says, standing in one place for longer than five minutes sucks. Unfortunately for me I get to live the rock life...
Drip
Which means that I can't move, or smell, or sleep. Hell, I can't even move my damn eyes! Here's a suggestion, If you're going to turn somebody into a paralyzed vegetable. At least don't let him suffer! As much as I like nature, I would like to look at other things besides grass and the same tree that i've seen for the past 200 or more years. Lost count after year 204. Then the days went by much more faster after I stopped keeping track of time, not the greatest idea I know but at least I had Kyrie with me.
"Kyrie..."
Plink
I miss her so much...
If I think hard enough, I can still sorta feel her in my arms. Smell her sweet cherry scent. At least I think I do.
Honestly I wouldn't even BE in this situation right now if it weren't for that.... that bitch Celestia!
Deep within the pit of my stomach, a miasma of rage bursts throughout my mind. Clenching a subconscious fist, thoughts counting by the thousands of her death gave my demons plenty of fuel to carry on. Most of them ending with a sword to the throat or a bullet in the head.
"Celestia... you're gonna get what's coming to you, I swear!"
CRRAAAAAAACK!
During my self reflecting, I failed to notice that the weather changed drastically. Sunny and the occasional cloud or two turned into a full on thunderstorm. A storm which rage around me fiercely.
"Well at least I can get a shower now. It's been weeks since its rained anyway, might as well enjoy."
Two hours later
Second Person POV
As the storm raged onward, large pink clouds started swirling far in the sky before descending at a rapid unsteady pace towards the hunter. Who thought the clouds were weird enough, and now said clouds are spewing out chocolate milk.
Nero could swear that he heard the occasional laugh here and there during the rain, but he had no luck pinpointing its source. Thinking that he's losing it, he silenced his thoughts and chose to instead listen quietly with rapt attention. Training his ears to take in everything around him. The sounds of brittle leaves blowing in the wind, grass whipping back and forth and the loud booms of thunder that cast overhead were the only things he could hear for the longest time. At least until he heard that laughing again.
"I definitely heard that that time. Who the hell is crazy or stupid enough to mess around during a storm?"
Images of Dante; his uncle, holding a box of pizza in one hand and a strawberry milkshake in the other. Dancing while singing babyshark in the pouring rain, hair sticking to his face. Both food items getting drenched and becoming inedible.
"Heh heh heh, of course HE would. But that just makes him special. Damn Crazy bastard."
The boisterous laughter got much louder as a few clouds make their way to the ground. Nero could see it touching the ground, suddenly exploding and sending shards of pink fluff along the ground and even several feet around him.
What got his attention however was the Creature in front of him. He couldn't even tell what it was, just a mish mash of body parts varying from species to race.
Said creature continued laughing with its eyes closed, a large grin etched across his face.
"Yoohooo! I have returned my precious little ponies!" He sarcastically uttered. "Your new king is in need of a new throne stat! Celestias' fat behind has been sat there for far too long and unfortunately even a deep cleaning won't get that stain out!" Discord was used to the screams of terrified ponies, the squeals of little orphans and the shouts of angry soldiers so imagine his surprise when he found none of those things. Instead being met with silence and not a pony to be seen.
His mismatched red eyes looked around confused, not understanding why nopony was showering their new king with gifts, candy and virgin mares. Lifting his lion paw, he snaps his fingers. Summoning a tiny box full of infinite mysterious, otherwise known as Pandora's box.
"Hmm, why is nopony cheering for me? Actually, why isn't ANYPONY here?" His eagle talon and lion paw rummages through the box, idly pulling things out that should be possible. "No no no... this just wont do. Now where did I put that thing?" A squeaky doll gets pulled out and quickly tossed aside. Same thing with the rubber chicken after that.
After unloading dozens of random items, Including a blue whale (he had to use both hands and a leg for that). He took out a small device that beeped a couple times and inspected it with scrutiny.
"Well isn't that strange? I intended to make my entrance at ponyville but I guess I was a teeensy weeensy bit off, ah well; No matter!" his fingers snap and everything suddenly disappears, including the box and GPS.
"I shall make my appearance when they least expect it, might even teleport in some ponies house. Turn their candy into candy corn. Because who likes candy corn? Besides me of course bwahahaha!!!" He releases some magic into the sky, causing massive amounts of candy corn to rain down on them.
"Heh, what a jackass", Nero scoffed with annoyance and if he could he would roll his eyes. "Wonder what other surprises might come for me today?"
Nero fully expected this guy to go away and annoy somebody else, instead quite the opposite happened.
A furry brown ear twitches as if listening to something or someone and turned around, finally noticing the hunter in stone with a look of ire upon its face.
"Well well aren't YOU full of mirth today monkey boy. That wasn't very nice of you to say, I mean honestly. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth of yours you dirty ape?"
Nero was shocked immensely, how could this guy hear his thoughts word for word? He knew right then and there that he despised this creature greatly, his anger increasing the more this freak talked. Even more so when he flew up to the young mans face dressed like a 1950's soccer mom, red lipstick, eyelashes and everything.
"What's the matter hmm? Is the cat holding your tongue for ransom? Or are you over little ol' me?" The lord of chaos bats his long lashes at him, making a little kissy face. Much to the white haired demons annoyance.
"If you don't shut your goofy ass up, I'm going to take my fist and shove it up your ass and then i'll shoot you for good measure", Nero thought darkly before adding with a tone of ice; "Now get out of my face before you piss me off."
That should get his attention.
"Well I never!", Discord snaps his talon returning to his normal self with a poof of magic and turns around. Keeping his back to the hunter while crossing his arms with an indignant look upon his features. "And here I thought that even monkeys could be civil, but alas I was wrong! Oh that's such a shame... I would have liked to help you out of there but I guess not everypony likes freedom." He shook his head disappointedly, ear flicking slightly as he no doubt pushed the correct buttons.
Nero knew that the guy was most likely bullshitting him, however there was a small part of him that was curious.
"What are you talking about 'helping me out of here' for? It's not like you would be any help. Who are you anyway?" He inquired cautiously.
The Draconaquiis' eyes literally popped out of his head and rolled on the ground a few feet.
"Who? WHO AM I?! How could you not know who I am?!" he scooped up his eyes from the grass and polished them with his furry forearm before inserting the eyes back into their sockets with a loud POP.
Once his eyes realigned themselves, he continued.
"I am Discord the Lord and master of Chaos! God of War and son of Zue- Oh wait wrong franchise.", He shook his head before narrowing his eyes at the stony prisoner.
"And I'll have you know that I most CERTAINLY can help you out of there, but since you were just SO rude. I feel like you owe me an apology my dear boy."
Okay seriously, fuck this guy.
"How's this for an apology? Fuck yourself and choke on a meatstick at brokeback mountain. You cunt."
Being a lord of chaos and all, Discord anticipated an apology but instead got insulted again! And that is exactly why he's going to release the boy.
"You certainly do have a mouth on you, I have a little job to do and could use some shall we say.... assistance and it seems that YOU would be the perfect subject to help me with this riff raff." He explained with a teasing tone, mirth overflowing.
Betrayal and lies are what Nero knows best, especially since he's lived in the human world for a long time. Surrounded by thieves, rapists, murderers and just the worst kinds of people tend to make you a little bit more on guard compared to others. It's a good thing too because it's gotten Nero out of some shit that could have majorly screwed him over. He called it his personal sixth sense, while he's been able to get himself out of sticky situations before due to his sense. Never before has he been in a situation like this before, and never did he feel so off about such a thing. Unfortunately if he wanted his freedom then he would have to at least hear the guy out.
"Alright fine I'll bite, how can I help you out with YOUR problem? If you were this almighty God of Chaos then why would you ask for my sword? Couldn't you bother somebody else with your issues?" He asked with a hint of annoyance while crossing his metaphoric arms across his chest.
"I'm so glad you asked my boy!", Discord said ecstatically while flying up close to Nero. Talons clicking against the stone as he puts his arm around his shoulder. "You see, I have a certain...", He hums while searching for the correct word to use. Waving his paw around counterclockwise. "Hmmm complication I guess you could say that involves Princess Celestia and I dread to say it." He ends with an annoyed mutter. He leans in close to the mans ear and whispers. "The elements of Harmony." Just the sheer thought of those absurd elements gives him the willies.
"So... what you're saying is you want me to kill Celestia and the element bearers?" Nero questioned with slight annoyance.
Discord's eyes turn the size of dinner plates and his face turns pale. "O-oh dear heavens n-no!", He stammers and teleports back to the ground with a pop, and directly in the mans line of sight. "I simply want you to destroy the elements, not kill the ponies who hold them. After all I do have a reputation to uphold and I don't want an ape like you desecrating completely, I am the Lord of Chaos. Not the Lord of Death." He idly files his talons while speaking.
Ignoring the slight dig, Nero thinks for a moment before speaking. "Okay so let me get this straight, you want me to destroy the elements", he inquires only to be responded with a nod from the chaotic entity. "That I can do, but what does this have to do with the princess exactly?" The Draconiquus smiles gleefully at the question.
"That's just it, if you destroy the elements then Celestia will not be too happy about that. But what's even better is that she will never be able to turn anypony into stone ever again, and that includes you too my bipedal friend." Discord conjures up the elements and Celestia, promptly illustrating what would happen as he explains to the hunter. The magic show ends with the elements shattered and Celestia with steam coming out of her ears, her sister in a much similar state.
Nero thought about it over and over, he just couldn't believe what he was hearing. A second chance at being free, a chance to get back to her. Hell, a chance to crumble her world completely at the drop of a hat? To make her know the feeling of hopelessness and defeat? All this sounded too good to be true for the devil hunter. Usually Nero would ignore these types of offers because of how perfect they sounded but this? He absolutely HAD to be sure this wasn't a trick of some kind.
"Let's just say that I agree to this little deal, What exactly would that mean for me? A deal like this always comes with strings attached and I don't do well with strings included." Nero said with slight suspicion.
Discord just gave a hearty laugh.
"Ha! Oh don't you worry about strings..." He looked at the name engraved on the flat surface underneath the devils feet. "Nero", He continued. "I might be extremely chaotic and a bit nutty at times but I ALWAYS honor a deal despite what others may say." The Chaos lord ends with a humble little bow, eyes closed with his eagle talon behind his furry brown back.
Nero felt overwhelmingly suspicious about this but somewhere deep inside of his core, something was screaming for him to accept the offer. And he knew when to listen to himself and when NOT to. Plus he wanted more than anything to get back at Celestia for what she did, so it's a win-win.
"Alright Discord, I accept. But I'm going to say this first. If you do anything to screw me over or if you set me up, I WILL kill you. Nothing will ever stop me from pounding you into the ground until you're a puddle of your own paste. I will not stop hunting you down until you are dealt with, so don't fuck with me. Are we clear?" He says with an icy tone, even sounding similar to his father (although he doesn't know that).
Even the level headed Draconiquus swallowed the lump building in his throat after hearing that threat- no. That promise. He nodded fervently and clapped his hands together. "Wonderful! Now let me get that for you my boy, Oh and enjoy your freedom! Mwahahahah!!" Snapping his fingers, he disappears with two talons crossing over one another. Luckily the hunter didn't notice.
"Thank god I don't have to hear his voice anymore, that shits annoying."
After waiting a few minutes, Nero was quickly noticing that nothing was happening. And that irritated him greatly.
"I fucking knew it! I knew I shouldn't have trusted him, and here I thought that I could be out of he- wait, what?"
Sounds of rock breaking apart reached his ears, but what he couldn't understand was why his entire body started to heat up. It wasn't just an overheated type of hot either, it was fire melting your blood hot and it was only getting worse.
Being too caught up with the burning, Nero failed to notice that tiny sapphire blue flames were flickering through the cracks of stone. Also failing to realize that the moons rays of light were focusing evermore onto him with each passing second.
Night's silence and tranquility comes to a staggering halt as screams of pain resonate throughout the forest. The moon brightens tenfold and shoots a beam of energy down onto an individual, further increasing the pained cries.
Feeling his body start to move centimeter by centimeter, Nero could feel impatience building faster than before; And so he pushes against the stone harder and harder, building more and more tension. Letting out a growl of frustration, he clenches his muscles and gives it everything he has. Millions of pieces of rock shatter everywhere and the white moon beam turns into a light blue one made of fire that shoots up into the sky. Causing parts of the sky to chip and shatter like a mirror.
Nero's devil bringer burns bright blue, thirsty for power.
And so the hunter takes his first breath of freedom.
The alabaster alicorn stood atop her balcony, staring off into the distance with her magenta colored orbs. Her prismatic mane flowing gently, as if a soft breeze was constantly blowing it. Horn alight with her lemon colored aura, she levitated the fragile little teacup; pursing her lips slightly and bringing the cup up to her lips. She takes a long, shuttering sip in hopes to calm her nerves even slightly. Unfortunately it doesn't work.
Placing the cup back down upon its saucer with a small 'tink'. The white furred pony began pacing back and forth with a troubled look upon her face.
It isn't everyday that Celestia let down her wall of royal status, it is quite uncommon for her to let down her mask and to truly be herself. This is one of those times. Her sister was the only other pony who could see through her façade, and Celestia knew it.
The clip clop rhythm of her hooves tapping against the marble floors did nothing to help alleviate her worry, in fact it only made her more anxious.
Her thoughts began to carry her away into a world of her own while she paced.
"I wonder how Twilight is doing, she hasn't send me a letter in a little over a week."
"Was I too harsh earlier when I said I wanted Chocolate cake instead of Vanilla? Poor mare, I must have made her so scared after asking her where her bakery was. She must have thought I would destroy her business."
"Have I been putting on a few extra pounds lately? My hindquarters seem to be expanding slightly, am I losing my mind?"
During the Princess's anxiety ridden thoughts, she didn't notice her bedroom door opening and closing. Celestia was so distracted by her thoughts that she couldn't even hear her name being called.
It was only when she accidentally trotted into a cobalt alicorn mare, that she snapped out of her thoughts with a tiny yelp of surprise; Tumbling onto the floor on her back ungracefully.
The ivory mare lifted her head and met the gaze of her younger sibling staring at her with a look that practically said "Are you kidding me?", Luna raised an eyebrow while continuing her glare.
"Greetings to you too sister, we did not realize that you and the floor were close friends. Is this of a platonic sort or is there something you failed to mention to us?" She finally said with a ghost of a smile.
A bright pink blush materializes over her cheeks and she picks herself up, "it is nothing of the sort sister, you just startled me is all." Celestia coughs lightly into a dainty hoof and puffs out her chest trying to look dignified. She fails as her fur puffs out slightly.
Knowing this, Luna tries very hard not to laugh at her sisters hilarity; She puts a hoof to her lips as the lightest of chuckles worm their way out of her. After that moment of lighthearted humor passes, her face changes from one of laughter to one of care and concern.
"Are thee alright dear sister?" Her eye color turns into a slightly lighter blue.
The elder sister smiles warmly, "Yes I am doing fine little sister, thank you for your concern. Truly, it means so much but im okay." She nuzzles her cheek affectionately only to be met with air as Luna took a step backward.
"Celestia..." Luna deadpanned.
Celestia felt a shiver run down her spine as she heard her own name called, she knew that her sister would never call her by her own name unless it was it was something serious, she was mad or that she wasn't believing her shit.
She got her answer soon enough.
"We are sisters, thou may be three years older than I, but we are not stupid...", the night princess poked her chest a few times with an accusatory hoof. "So do not think for one minute that we will believe the hogwash you are spewing from your lying mouth, we will not hear it. Give us the truth and nothing but the truth or shut the buck up." She finishes with a powerful glare.
Celestia's mouth dropped as she couldn't believe her ears, she could not believe that her sister said that to her but it didn't make it any less true.
Making sure to pick her jaw up from the floor it was resting on, she at least made an effort to seem apologetic.
"I'm sorry Luna," Her ears fold down cutely. "I should not have lied, I just don't want to worry you over my petty issues. You have enough to deal with during your nightly duties, you shouldn't hear about nonsense such as this." She tilts her head down towards the floor and stares at her own reflection, not even batting an eye to her sibling.
Both sisters could hear the crickets in the background as they stayed silent, after some time however; Luna was the first to break the silence with a soft sigh.
"Look at us sister." Luna said calmly.
Celestia flinched slightly, refusing to look at her and continue looking at the shiny marble ground.
The lunar princess lets out another sigh and trots up to her elder sibling, places a hoof underneath her chin and slowly lifts her head up to stare into her eyes once again.
"We are friends are we not?" She asks much to the confusion of Celestia who nods a little.
"And we are sisters yes?" Another nod.
"Sisters are friends and friends tell eachother about their problems no matter how little or large they are yes?" Celestia's eyes trace back down only to be interrupted by a firm shake from her sisters hoof.
"Answer the question sister." The sun princess swallows the small lump in the back of her throat and gives a bigger nod as she stares back into her sisters caring eyes.
Luna removes her hoof from her chin and begins gently stroking the prismatic mare by her mane. "No matter what you say sister, we will always love you and will offer you advice however we can. Do not be discouraged by the issues, be they petty or serious, we support you nonetheless because that's what good sisters do for one another." A few tears of liquid love flow slowly down Celestia's face before being wiped away with an azure frog.
"Th-thank you Luna, you're a wonderful sister. How could I have been blessed with you growing up I will never know." She gives a few sniffles before ending her sentence with a heartfelt smile.
"We wear our title with pride Celly." The sky princess smiles warmly and wraps her hoof around her sister's haunches. "Now tell us what is wrong? Please? Don't make us turn sentimental once more, as much as we enjoy it we do have a reputation to uphold." Both deities shared a laugh that they could feel in their core, turning the atmosphere into a joyous one unlike the sad and cold one from mere moments ago.
They basked in this warmth for as long as they could until reality hit them both once again, turning things more serious.
Locking the door with her magic with a gentle click, Luna slowly pulls back and makes her way over to her sisters bed; the bedsheets were bright and yellow with a large sun placed perfectly in the middle. The princess of the night sits down, wrinkling the sheets as she does but she could care less as her attention is set upon her sibling.
The alabaster mare slowly makes her way towards the window placed at the opposite end of the room, back to her sister. She stares at the lit up buildings and the light poles shining brightly in the streets below as well as the ponies cantering and laughing with one another with morose eyes.
Taking a deep breath she begins, "Twilight hasn't sent me a letter in a little over a week and I can't help but feel concern sister, that isn't like her. I do hope that she is alright." Luna hangs onto every word and tilts her head slightly. "I'm sure that young Sparkle is doing alright sis, she is likely entranced in some book of hers and simply lost track of time."
Shaking her head, she places a hoof on the frame and her mane waves around at a slight quickened pace. "That's just it Luna, Twilight never does anything like this; I am aware that she gets sidetracked and busy but she never goes this long without even saying 'hello' to me. Sometimes I can't help but think that she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore." She hangs her head feeling depressed.
The small groan of annoyance coming from the moon princesses throat makes itself known as she shifts against the bedsheets.
"Do you hear yourself right now sister? You can't possibly even consider that", Sighing; Luna facehoofs and shakes her head causing her starry midnight mane to blow and wave along with her. "Did you even think of the possibility that young Twilight is simply TOO busy to run to you every minute to say hello? That young mare has a life of her own; she takes care of that dragon of hers, she has friends to converse and have fun with, AND she has a library to run. A very busy life indeed." She explains, "And she's busy flaunting around that juicy flank of hers like she's some kind of prize ." She mutters.
Celestia's ear twitches slightly and turns her head to her, "What was that Luna?" she inquires.
"Nothing Sister." Luna coughs awkwardly and looks all over the place to avoid contact and rubs her hoof against her neck.
The older alicorn just lets out a small sigh and looks oncemore towards the sky, the moon shining brightly in the night sky and stars twinkling as bright as diamonds. Constellations smearing across the cerulean/black background.
"I know that Luna, I just can't help it. I care for Twilight very much and have known her since she was a small filly. She's like a daughter to me and it would break my heart if anything happened to her or if she hated me. I honestly don't know how I could live knowing that my only daughter despised me." Tears began making their way down the solar princesses face slowly.
Celestia could hear shuffling and groaning come from the wood and sheets of the bed as well as hooves approaching her until they stopped just behind her. She could feel herself losing control and as soon as she felt her sibling pull her into a hug.
"It's okay dear just let it out~" Luna spoke with such soft words that she could have been mistaken by an angel. That is when Celestia began bawling into her chest, tears streaming down her face a mile a minute.
The younger sibling could feel her heart clench in pain as she held her loved one dearly, rubbing the white mare's back and in between her wings while whispering sweet words to her. Celestia could do nothing but cry and cry as the stresses and worries kept pouring out of her, and Luna was unfortunately the napkin to dry her eyes.
Internally Luna wanted nothing more than to wipe the disgusting snot and tears matting her vibrant coat fur off and take one hundred showers in hopes of being pure once again but she bit her tongue and allowed Celestia to continue crying against her.
"The things I do for love..." She thought to herself as she for her sister to calm down.
As the minutes dragged by, Celestia let all of her woes out until she couldn't produce anymore tears. Pulling back and sniffling she magicked a wad of tissues and blew hard, sending all the gunk out and throwing it into the trash bin sitting next to her desk filled with papers and quills.
"Feeling better?" Her sister bit back her venomous words and decided to stick to small talk for the sake of not strangling Celestia.
Celestia nodded and took a deep breath, smiling once she let's it out. "Yes I'm feeling better, thank you Luna." She looked at her and let out a little snort before laughing hard and falling to her hindquarters, kicking her hooves and holding her sides.
Luna's normal soft, pristine, and perfectly brushed coat turned into something out of a horror movie. Snot, tears and whatever else caused her entire front to look matted and dried up like a raison. Luna wasn't happy and she could tell by the look on her face. And she thought it was hilarious!
"Yes yes laugh it up why don't you? After all I'm just standing here like a concubine of mucus and other undesirable stains." Luna said dully while narrowing her eyes. Her mane stopped moving and her eyes turned a shade darker but nothing other than that.
"I'm hehe so-hehe-sorhehehhe-ry-hehehe! It's j-just too fu-hehe-unny!" After laughing for what felt like hours for Celestia and eternity for Luna, the solar princess finally came down from her bout of giggles.
"Are thou done laughing at my torment?"
Celestia nods and offers an apologetic smile. "Yes Luna I'm done, although you may want to wash that out. It's not good for your coat."
"Dully noted sister..." Luna mutters slightly while rolling her eyes, drawling another few giggles out of her sister.
Despite the overwhelming disgust that she felt, she didn't show it but Luna couldn't help but smile inside because she knew she did the right thing. The right thing might be extremely difficult but it's often the best choice to make. Even if the results in the end were her being repulsed, it was worth it for her because her sister is feeling better. "I would do anything to protect her and to make her happy" she thought. "Even if that ends with me being in less than fortunate instances." She ended with a slight shake of her head as she noticed Celestia picking herself off the floor and giving her cheek a nuzzle, she reciprocated the notion and enjoyed every single moment. Enjoyed every little touch and rub that her sister gave her and gave it in return.
The moment was short lived however when both sisters heard the unmistakable shout of pain come to their ears. It game as practically a whisper to their ears as the voice spread across their brains like spiderwebs. They looked at one another confused. Pulling away from each other as they gazed across the horizon looking for that pained cry only to be met with an even louder one echoing through the air. Luna could feel very uneasy as the screams continued.
"Sister, what.... who is screaming such pain? It sounds so far away... what poor creature could endure such horrors?" Luna could feel the hairs all over her body raise as they continued listening.
"I... I don't know Luna... But.... we must help them", Celestia's face turned hard. "We MUST help them! We CAN'T leave our subjects to deal with such torturous agony." She used her bright yellow magic to open her glass balcony doors wide, allowing the moonlight to shine against the floors.
Spreading her wings wide Celestia ran towards the outdoor balcony with every intention to leap off the edge and race across the country if she had to in order to save the poor soul. Luna went alongside her clearly sharing her sentiment until stopping dead in her tracks, her eyes bugging out of her skull and her mouth open wide.
"Okay, if we get there fast enough we- Luna what's wrong? Why are you looking like that?" Luna was speechless and couldn't put into words what she was seeing but the only sound that came out of her mouth was "Hngggg...", Luna could do nothing but raise a shaky hoof and point it towards the sky.
Celestia could do nothing but stare in horror at what she was witnessing. A bright blue beam of light what shooting into the sky and at the spot the beam was aimed at, there was a large tear in the sky. Like someone shattered a piece of the sky like a piece of glass and leaving behind a pitch black spot. Both of them could see the piece falling into the everfree forest which is where the strange light seems to originate from.
Both deities stood there dumbly for a moment but to them it felt like forever. The solar princess shook her head, snapping herself out of her stupefied state of mind and immediately started writing a letter to her pupil.
"This isn't something we can do by our lonesome Luna, we need the elements for this. We can't handle an invasion to this extent, if Sombra was bad enough...." Dark thoughts and pained cries came to her brain as she couldn't stop thinking about the slaves he tortured mentally, emotionally... and sometimes physically.
"Yes... yes we agree with this... a piece of the sky breaking and falling? This is the work of something far greater than we thought." Luna dumbly nodded and started writing a letter of her own.
Once both sisters were done, they sent their letters to the recipients. Luna ran out the room without time to spare, not even looking back at Celestia as her hooves slammed against the tiles.
The elder sister was about to follow her younger sibling but her ear caught something that made her face go pale.
CELESTIAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
"That, that voice...... please don't let it be true. Please be wrong for once Tia!" Absolute terror filled her chest as she sprinted out the room with images of burning blue eyes and flowing white air filling her brain. A scaly devil arm and a sword big enough to split rock with ease.
The last thing her brain tortured her with was a single name that she was all too familiar with, and one that filled her with intense trepidation.
The pains of searing blood came and went quickly as Nero stepped off his pedestal. His heavy boots crashed against the ground and he took a very wobbly step forward, legs buckling as he quickly started getting used to feeling sensations once again. The crisp cool air tickled his lungs and he felt a wave of joy wash over him. There was something that he had to do first and he wasn't going to let the opportunity pass by. He took a really deep breath and clenched his devil bringer into a tight fist.
"CELESTIIIIIAAAAAAA!" Nero screamed as loud as he could, his voice bounced off hundreds of trees and made several birds flee from their nests in fear and fly away fast.
"Whoo! That felt great!", Twisting his neck rewarded him with several crackles and pops causing him to let out a small groan of relief as his joints loosen up. "Now that that's out of the way, where to go next?" Unfortunately Nero had no idea which way to go due to his inner compass being out of commission for so many years.
Peering in several directions revealed several small pathways leading to many unknown places.
Nero began pacing back and forth, hair gently blowing in the light breeze. He inspected the many dirt paths with doubtful eyes. He didn't like the looks of many of them, which had dead trees, jagged rocks and vine traps ready to snatch you up at a moments notice.
While Nero was approaching a road, he was too lost in contemplation that he didn't notice his devil arm blinking bright blue.
Once his boots came up to the path, they stopped just before a thin wall of vines could grab onto his ankles.
"This way child..." A ghostly voice whispered in his ear.
"This way? You mean the way with the creepy ass vines looking to snatch any poor soul dumb enough to cross?" Nero muttered to himself and looked at his devil arm with the corner of his eye, noticing that it blinked twice in confirmation.
Nero sighed and shook his head as he put his left hand on the grip of his sword.
"I hope you're right about this, now you better not screw me over strange voice. I need to get out of this forest and get those elements that guy mentioned. You're with me on this right?" His arm didn't blink but somewhere deep within himself, Nero couldn't help but feel that this strange voice in his head was a part of him. Oh well, couldn't dwell on that now. He needs to get of out this forest.
And so he started walking, a few steps in something told him to duck and so he did. Good thing too because a vine swung above him hard enough to knock the wind out of somebody. Nero continued forward while keeping a close eye out.
After dodging more weird vines, Nero came across a rickety looking bridge. Wood rotting out and the rope holding the wood planks together were barely holding them in place. Stepping closer to the edge, the bridge gave a menacing creak as if it knew someone was about to cross.
Nero look to the other side and could see the dirt path continuing further into the forest through the trees and bushes. He gave a sigh and lightly tapped a wooden plank with a hard boot, this caused the wood to splinter and break into hundreds of wooden chips right before his very eyes just before they fell into the black abyss underneath him.
"Well this isn't going to work", The man shook his head and leaned back against the tree beside him. He could feel his irritation rising with each passing second. "How the hell do I cross this thing?!" Idea after idea went down the drain and after the tree he had been leaning against started cracking under his weight, Nero finally had enough.
"Fuck Celestia, fuck Equestria, fuck this world, fuck this FOREST AND FUCK THIS TREE!!!" He ended with a devastating right hook to the tree, completely uprooting it and smashing it into huge chunks and tiny pieces. The tree fell over the side and hit the ground with heavy thuds and light plaps. The young devil gave a shit eating grin.
"Nero you are a genius."
*Huff Huff*
"When did this get so heavy? Whew shit... I don't remember it being hard" Nero set down his DIY bridge down as carefully as he could so he wouldn't break it.
The bridge was made out of a combination of tree trunks, branches and vines all tied together to make one long continuous single person bridge.
"Now a little bit more to the left annnnnd..... got it!" He aligned it perfectly so both sides had several feet of tree left over, allowing for an easily crossing.
"And now for the easy part... crossing this thing...." Nero muttered to himself, trying to build himself the confidence to cross it.
He took a deep breath and placed one boot onto the makeshift bridge, he could hear the wood whine as his weight was placed upon it but other than that nothing happened. And so Nero took careful steps as he worked his way across the gap, taking extra steps to avoid the branches and other obstacles in his way.
Once Nero reached about the halfway mark he could tell something was amiss. He stood dead still and listened.
"Something isn't quite right about this." After a few more creaks and groans, nothing else happened. Nero began walking once more and the vines around him started snapping three at a time. He could feel his heart racing and his face dripping with sweat. Nero was never afraid of heights before but after spending so much time in stone, he forgot what it was like to truly FEEL; And he knew damn well that he wasn't going to die before he got his revenge.
"Ah shit! time to go!" Putting caution on the backburner, Nero began sprinting as fast as he could. Pushing his legs into overdrive as he could feel his balance being tested by the logs which were being pulled out from underneath him at a rapid pace.
Nero's legs began to burn with intensity as he pushed into the logs hard, he could see the cliff edge just ahead of him approaching fast.
15 feet away... 10... 5... and then he jumped.
The hunter landed on the grass, head downward and his arms spread out slightly. Suddenly he could feel a huge force pull him backwards and sending him skidding off the edge. His hands reach out desperately grabbing anything he could find. His fingers find purchase against a piece of vine.
Nero's breaths turn slightly panicked as he could hear the loud thuds of his bridge hitting the bottom of the canyon. He felt a large amount of pressure in his leg so he looked down and silently swore.
"Damnit..." Stuck to his leg was a wad of vine with a huge chunk of wood attached to it. It had to have been at least 400 pounds give or take.
He knew that he needed to get untangled soon or else he would be in big trouble.
Nero slowly released his arm from the vine and wrapped it around his demon arm multiple times so he could still support himself as he started working on freeing himself from his trap.
Gritting his teeth, Nero started to untangle multiple vines that clustered together around his leg but not quite being able to untie them all.
"Come on just get off me damnit!" Nero was almost able to get another knot untied but before he was able to, he heard a loud crack and could feel the vine in his devil hand start to give way.
"Not good, hurry up come on!" His fingers fiddled with the vines one last time before he felt himself start getting pulled down and quick.
Seeing that he had no time left as indicated by the vine in his hand becoming more loose and thin, "Screw this", Nero shoved his human hand into the right side of his trench coat. His fingers firmly grasped his gun and he pulled it out of its holster, quickly aimed it at the knot and squeezed the trigger.
Chuckling, Nero grit his teeth and pulled himself back up to the ground safely.
Rolling onto his back and with his gun still in his hand, Nero stared emotionlessly up at the stars.
The tickle of laughter in his belly overcame the hunter as he laid there, he began laughing quietly at first but then it turned into an uproar of bellows.
"That... of all things that could have happened... and I almost got taken out by a tree?? heheheheheh" He wiped the oncoming tears away from him eyes with the back of his hand before sitting up and lazily hugging his knees, gun hanging over his devil arm as he sat there.
Nero sat there for the longest time listening to the sounds of crickets and the hooting of owls and other various creatures of the night before getting himself together mentally and physically.
"Alright, party's over. Now it's time to get out of here and move on, find some water or something. I might even find a town if im lucky. Spend the night at an inn." He spoke aloud to himself.
Picking himself off the ground, Nero brushed the dirt and stray pieces of leaves off of his coat and hair; He then began walking alongside the path once again. Continuing his journey.
Slash
Nero had long since unsheathed his Sword (Which he had named Red Queen) and slashed his way through the endless maze of vines with a frown upon his brow.
"These... Ching Damn... Crunk Vines! Need to just FUCK... Crash OFF!" He swings his sword at a diagonal downword slash against a thick wall of vines.
"How long do I have to Fucking SMASH HIT THIS THING??!!" Nero takes several steps back and revs his sword up to level 1 exceed. Lunging forward, he let's out a little war cry and slashes his flaming blade at a perfect horizontal angle while spinning his body, sending a wall of huge flame across the vines. His sword tip lightly dragging across the ground afterwards.
Fire and wood don't mix well, and the once proud wall of vines turn into ash in a matter of seconds.
Since the start of his so called 'quest' Nero hadn't encountered any lights or any strange creatures so needless to say, He was surprised to discover a whole new area once the flames died down.
"Well no where else but forward I guess." And just like that, Nero felt as if he was looking at a new world around him. There was nothing but flowers of various colors, such as pink, blue, red, yellow and purple. Straight ahead of him was a small unimpressive round pond but Nero didn't mind.
Nero squinted his eyes and places his hand over his forehead trying to reduce the harsh glare of the sun.
"Arrrrgh, damn sun. Wait, is it daytime already? How in the world?" Nero asked totally confused before shaking his head. "No, you're in a pony world where the sun and moon are in control of ponies. Let's NOT question this or else I'll get a migraine." He shakes his head and walks over to the pond, staring at a pair of small green butterflies flying around and playing around the daisies.
Once he reached the edge of the grass, Nero slowly sank to his knees and stared deep into the water. His eyes traced across his own Face and Hair . Looking down at himself he saw the Outfit he wore on the day of his imprisonment. Nero noticed his Devil Bringer blinking softly. Clenching his fist tightly, he closed his eyes and his thoughts became clouded with one person.
"Kyrie... I miss you so much..." Nero could hear her voice deep within his heart.
"I love you Nero", Her auburn hair blew in the breeze as her brown eyes leeched onto his. Her smile turned infectious and Nero felt a smile spreading to his face.
"This is where I belong, with you Kyrie. I will get to you no matter how long it takes. I promise." The white dressed lady let out a little sad smile and held his devil hand with her own human hand, his normal blue coloring turns a light yellow.
She brought his hand to her chest and held it with both hands lovingly as she opened her mouth once more. "Nero, never forget to do the right thing. My heart will always be with you." And so she slowly started to disappear. Panic gripped him tightly in it's cold dead grasp.
"Kyrie please! Don't go..." Nero pathetically reached out for her even as his hand passed through her.
"Never forget who you are Nero, be the hero I fell in love with all those years ago. You will see me again when it is your time, but for now you must make a choice. And I know you will choose what's best for you Nero, Stay strong my love, I love you." Nero hardly registered her words before she left completely, leaving him alone in his thoughts once again. Tears of sadness poured out from him and fell into the water.
"Why... Why must you be taken from me? Again?" His breath quickened and he could feel his heart racing faster and faster.
"I can't do this, I can't do this without you Kyrie. You made my life worth living, you made me into the best version of myself that I could've been. How can I live without the one thing that made my life worth it? How can I live with myself? All alone?" He dug himself a deep hole for the depression and sadness and he laid in it wholeheartedly. The world around Nero was crumbling and at the moment he couldn't give a damn, He just wanted his fiancé back.
Nero sobbed hard and hugged his knees, at least he would have if he hadn't of noticed something poking his palm. Opening his eyes, he unclenched his fist and was met with a bittersweet sight. It was the Necklace that he had given her as a birthday gift. A gift that sent thoughts of a time long since past right into his brain.
I'm outta here, this church is putting me to sleep.
Credo, protect Kyrie... I got this. Credo's dead too...
Kyrie go! Get outta here! Don't leave...
You know God, I've always wondered why you gave me this arm. But now I know. Heh, who woulda thought? it's for the demons...
Who packs a sword like that if you're not even gonna use it?! Heh, Dante... I hope he's alright wherever he is...
*snap*
Nero's eyes burst open, he placed his hand on his sword and very slowly stood up. The hunters eyes swooped across the area, swiftly inspecting for any sudden movements or sounds.
*crack*
He tilted his head to the side and looked around behind himself as he could feel eyes on him.
Nero made is way over to an open grassy area, making sure to stay extra quiet just in case there was something that didn't like him closeby.
*growl* The blue devil stared at a nearby bush that was trembling, leaves falling to the ground as it thrashed about. He kept his hand on the grip of his sword as he got prepared for a fight.
To his surprise however, what came out of the bush wasn't a scary creature. Instead it was just a bunny rabbit.
He sighed and dropped his hand to his side. "Okay stranger things have happened but still, a freaking rabbit? Are you kidding me? I'm pretty sure that growl didn't come from it but it's gone away.... apparently. Weird." The hunter turned around and began to walk back to his original spot, but before he could take a single step; a loud snarling sound came closer and closer. The young devil hardly had any time to react but thanks to his sharp reflexes and skills, Nero was able to roll to the side as the creature leapt at him. Wind blowing against his hair as he quickly stood back up with his hand tightly gripping his sword.
Staring into the bright green eyes of this creature, the creature stared back with murderous intent as it began to slowly circle around him while leaning low to the ground. Growling viciously.
Nero tilted his head and his hand went back to his side.
"A wolf? And it's made out of... wood? What the hell is this mutt doing here? Eh, perhaps it just wants to find its owner." Deciding he has been silent long enough, the devil smirked.
"Well I wasn't expecting to meet any pets today, no autographs please. I'm already dirty and I don't want to smell like a wet dog ball sack on top of the other disgusting stuff." The wolf snarled loudly and exposed its teeth, which ironically were just very jagged and pointy pieces of wood. Definitely can give you the hurt if you aren't careful.
Nero saw this as an opportunity to push wolfs patience further.
He clicked his tongue mockingly. "Now that isn't very polite. What would your mother think if she knew how bad you were? You look like the retarded love child of Whitney Wisconsin and a wolf, but only if the wolf had third degree burns all over his body and likes to eat his own shit." And the response was exactly what he had hopes for.
The enraged wolf howled as his teeth glistened with thick and sticky yellow tree sap. The wolf lunged for the hunter again, fully intending on biting this humans throat out and turning him into lunch. It's efforts were in vain however as Nero was much faster.
Pulling his gun out in a flash, Nero aimed it at the wolves head and squeezed the trigger without hesitation.
*BANG BANG* two loud gunshots were heard throughout the forest, scaring off whatever little amount of furry friends that could have been hiding somewhere.
It never stood a chance as the gunshots pushed it's body away as it exploded into hundreds if not thousands of splinters and leaving behind an empty hollowed out wooden husk.
Nero held the barrel up to his lips and gently blew away the smoke coming out of it before spinning it around in his hand and putting it back in it's holster like a kickass gunslinger.
Turning to his right, he walked away feeling a small pit in his stomach growing weary.
"I got a bad feeling about this..." He took a couple dozen steps before stopping once again after hearing many growls.
Nero turned around and faced the noise, only to find himself surrounded by 10 or more of the same creatures. In the back, he could see the one he obliterated only seconds ago re build itself and crawled it's way over to the rest of the pack.
Heavy boots thumped against the ground softly as Nero began to back up, only stopping once his back impacted with a thick tree. His attackers slowly inching way toward their prey.
The hunter slowly reached for his sword hung over his left shoulder and firmly grasps it, gives it a few revs until it reaches exceed level 1.
His devil bringer starts thrumming with blue energy. "Hmmmft, well you know what they say about wood", Nero clenches his special arm into a tight fist. Power climbing steady. "You can't get rid of wood unless you beat it!" He spreads his fingers out wide, creating an orb of raw power that steadily flows across his arm like a burning flame.
Nero's gloved left hand groans as he tightens his grip around his sword. "Come and get it you mutts!"
Nero stood there waiting for one of them to make the first move. The wolf to his right leaped towards him, claws unsheathed and teeth bared.
"Wrong move fuckface!" Nero's lips curved into a dark smile as he waits for the perfect moment.
The wolf is almost on top of him when he decides to make his move.
Nero thrusts his sword upwards at a straight vertical angle, striking the wolf and sending it into the air. And he himself along with it, he does a sort of backflip leap as the fire sears into the wood before adding a few simple but powerful lower to upper diagonal sword swings. Revving the engine once again, Nero finishes the enemy off with a quick and strong Roulette spin. Pieces of the wolf hit the ground, or at least what was left of them and the hunter continued his carnage.
His devil arm glows and another more translucent ghostly arm appeared above his. The ghostly arm shoots out, grabbing the wolf in the back and pulling it close to the hunter. Nero revs his engine to exceed level 2, pulls his left foot back and swings Red Queen sideways before doubling the attack with a fiery upward vertical slash. "How's this?!" He yells as he splits the wolf into 4 uneven parts. His sword Causing a loud Clang as the metal smashes against the ground.
The wolves started to get smart and start attacking in groups.
Three wolves lunged at him, two high and one low. Nero had the solution to that. Revving his sword to level one, Nero threw himself forward and sliced horizontally while spinning with a complete 360. Sending deadly fire to the wolves. "Hyah!"
Just before the third wolf could bite him, Nero kicked it really hard, hard enough to tear off it's front limbs. It gave little whimpers of pain but not for long. Jumping up to the wooden freak, Nero took his devil bringer and grabbed onto it's torso with ease. "Slam dunk!" The hunter raised his arm as high as he could and threw the wolf so hard that it shattered a couple others around it. He took his sword and revved it to level 3 exceed and pointed the blade towards the ground, immediately Slamming into the remains of the corpse and sending a small explosion towards a couple others and burning them, "Burn!" Nero shouted.
He got so caught up in his slaughter that Nero didn't realize that the party was almost over until there were 4 wolves left. Not wanting to disappoint, Nero ran in the other direction; knowing that the wolves would follow. "heh heh, let's see how you like this." Opening up his revolver, Nero stylishly reloads his gun without stopping his sprint. He puts the gun back in its place and takes his sword off his shoulder; Revving it up to exceed level 2, Nero jumps high into the air and bends his body so that his feet are touching the metal of his sword like a surfboard, "Let's get airborne!" His left hand started glowing blue.
Nero's devil arm extends towards a thick branch and he throws himself toward it with wolves in tow. He throws his legs forward and does a full swing around the tree before landing on the branch with a flip. Nero could see the wolves snarling and growling as they leapt at him.
Time seemed to slow into a snails pace, colors turning dull gray and black as he was crouched upon the branch.
Confusion crept across his face as Nero looked perplexedly at them.
"What's going on?" He waves his flashing blue hand in front of his face a few times, noting that time didn't seem to affect him as it does the others. During his short moment of confusion, Nero looked down at his devil bringer only to see it blinking repeatedly as if it were on some sort of timer.
"Too slow..." The voice echoed softly.
The confusion was short lived for Nero as his eyes lit up with recognition.
"Oh I see", He smirked and tilted his head to the left and right, his neck gave several crackles and pops. "power to control time. Very useful." His arm started blinking faster now and time began moving just a teensy bit faster. The wooden canines getting closer and closer.
"Unfortunately won't last long though..." As soon as he said those words, the color came back and time started flowing normally once more. His left hand burst with a second wave of blue flame. "Figures" He scoffed.
Just when the wolves came into contact, He sprung into action.
Pulling his devil bringer back, Nero threw it forwards. Smashing his fist into the wolves face and sending it back to the ground in pieces in slow motion.
He then followed it with a powerful sword slash. Nero launched himself off the branch and into the air vertically. Because of his demonic blood or whatever, the rules of gravity don't exactly work the same with him as it does others. He learned that lesson when he was a child, Nero was bullied as a boy because he was different. The first few times really got to him and made him cry, he didn't know his real mother so of course it would hurt him if others talked about her. Eventually though Nero began to get stronger and with that strength came practice. That practice turned into discovery and mastery and because of that, he could now destroy these wolves as if they were nothing without even a second thought.
His body floated in the air for a moment before scooching backwards with hand on sword, "HA!" Nero thrusted himself forward and slashed horizontally. A huge streak of flame burst from the weapon as it made contact with the timberwolves, instantly incinerating them into ash.
A loud howl pierced through the chilly air and Nero could sense the presence of many more wolves, at least two dozen or more.
The short distraction gave a timberwolf some courage, and so he lept at the hunter. He was inches away from the jugular with teeth bared, desperate to take a bite out of his throat. Said wolf gave a yelp of surprise as it found itself stuck in place, a translucent blue wall didn't flicker in the slightest when the beast wiggled and thrashed, it couldn't do anything to get out of his grasp, even biting didn't do anything but that didn't stop it from trying.
A seal of blue magic appears underneath Nero as he jumped higher into the air with a front flip, taking the creature with him in his deadly grip with his devil bringer.
Nero and gravity didn't always get along so he decided to help out a little.
He began doing several frontflips as he started descending to the ground, each flip going faster and faster. His devil arm glowing increasingly more bright as he tightened his grip. The creature howled in agony as various parts of his wooden frame started splintering and splitting apart just from the sheer pressure of the arm.
"EeeeeeeeeYAAAAAAAAAAAA!", the ground was approaching at a rapid pace, Nero tucked his legs in to his chest. Gave a couple more flips, then spread his legs wide as he harnessed his demon power. He pulled his bringer back and gave an angry shout while the whimpers increased.
Nero did one final flip before smashing the beast into the dirt, HARD. Causing the dry dirt to explode into the air around him, concealing his form and giving him a fresh dirt coating.
"SLAM DUNK!!!" The beast gave one last yelp of terror before it couldn't make anymore sound. Shards of bark scattered throughout the area, even impaling many trees in its unpredictable path. The wolves of wood growled aggressively and they lowered themselves closer to the ground as they skulked forward slowly.
Once the dustcloud settled, a few wolves barked in confusion while most of them continued sniveling and growling as they scouted. This confusion sparked fear into some of the more rational minded wolves as they could see that their prey was missing, as if he had never been there.
While they started their search, a lone pup wondered away from the group. If they split up and searched for the human then maybe they would have a chance? Wrong.
*Whistle* "Over here boy!" The wolf didn't have enough time to attack or even lift a paw, his head moved ever so slightly to the left and a thick and long shard of wood came flying through the air searching for it's target. It was found once it came into contact with the beasts green eye and went straight through its brain, killing it instantly.
The body gave a dull thud as it hit the soft ground.
Nero stepped out from behind the tree and went over to the corpse before stopping next to it, knowing that no doubt the rest would arrive shortly. His theory was proven correct as he heard the pitter patter of paws against crushed grass, and could hear the growls getting closer. Soon enough, Nero saw pairs of green eyes peeking from all around him, faces becoming more defined as they approached.
Nero's devil bringer started glowing small but steady blue flames as he made a claw motion with his fingers. Placing his glowing glove onto his sword pommel, he gave a sharp smirk, showing some teeth as his eyes turn slightly brighter with a glint of insanity. He raised his arm and gave several back and forth gestures with his hand, "Come on!" he taunted. They took the bait hook-line and sinker.
Nero gave a small grunt while his boots were crunching against twigs and leaves with every step he took. During his little battle, one of the wolves must have been lucky because they chomped down on his arm pretty good, not enough to draw blood but enough to grab his attention. Another wolf tried that with his demonic arm but that didn't go so well as you might have assumed.
Step after step he took, wandering around aimlessly along a dirt path, looking for any sign out of the forest. He could feel himself growing increasingly irritated as he vaulted over another dead trunk.
"This is bullshit!" His face contorted with rage as he grit his teeth.
"I hate being rusty... Not good enough!!" He stopped as he heard some branches snapping behind him, placed his hand on his gun and jumped. Nero backflipped and performed a few spins before pulling his gun from the holster and firing double shots at the thing that tried attacking him, Turns out that it was just a lousy timberwolf trying to finish the job.
Both shots hit the pup in its neck and Nero landed back on his feet, spun his revolver before putting it back in it's holster and crossed his arms while staring at the wolf that was panting in pain.
He waited a few seconds before the beast stopped breathing and fell onto its side, deceased.
Nero raised his eyebrow and tilted his head slightly as he stared at the body, expecting something to happen. When nothing happened for a few moments however, he scoffed.
"Hmmpt, talk about anticlimactic. What a snore." He began his trek down the dirt path only to turn his head slightly as he heard an explosion ring.
Nero smirked, "Now that's more like it. Maybe that will make them think twice before crossing me." his face shifted from cockiness to deep thought as he pondered the idea.
He shrugged his arms and uncrossed them before shaking his head. "Nah, I don't think that's happening, they are too stupid to know any better. Dumbass dogs."
The demon hunter kept along the path, boots crunching rock and dirt alike as he kept one foot in front of the other. Now there were many things that he didn't expect to see today, signs were definitely one of them.
He approached the wooden board with unease, eyes inspecting the letters carved into the wood. It might have taken minute for him to read it due to his... condition. Reading cursive isn't as easy as it used to be for him but he was able to make out what the sign read.
"Ponyville?" He inquired as he saw the arrow pointing east.
"Huh, well that is....weird." Nero looked around with suspicion, as if something could come out and attack him at any moment. When nothing happened however, that made him feel even more weird.
"Hmm well I guess, this way then?" He pointed ahead of himself and shook his head, "why the fuck am I talking to myself again? Oh yeah! because I'm crazy and if I keep doing this then I'm going to need two therapists. One for me and one for my therapist...".
Nero sighed, "Just... shut the fuck up and let's keep moving yeah?" he willed himself to keep his mouth shut as he continued forward.
Nero must have been walking for at least 3 hours now, his legs were hurting. His arms were burning and his feet were killing him, but that didn't stop him.
The hunter was beyond famished, his throat felt like sandpaper and he could feel his organs squeezing and aching. "Gotta.... find... water..." He breathed out dryly and started dry heaving as the dust from the ground hit the back of his throat.
"Stupid f-ack!-ucking shit! I.... I have to be close by now right??" Nero questioned with what little sanity he had left as he trudged along. His question was short answered as he noticed a brightness patch up ahead, he slowly got closer and once he did, needless to say he was flabbergasted. It's as if the whole world just flipped upside down on top of him, everything was brighter, full of color. Birds were chirping, butterflies fluttering, clouds in the deep blue sky blowing in the breeze.
The sun beamed its harsh laser light on him, causing him to hold his hand up to his eyes so that he could adjust to everything without giving him a bigger migraine.
"Well I guess that answers that question then... damn it's bright out he- wait, is that? Is that what I think it is?" Nero's eyes brushed across the landscape, taking note of the town in the far distance and the castle hanging on the side of a mountain that was even further away.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at the castle with pure hatred, "Celestia...." He spat out with disdain.
Thoughts of extreme morbid and dark things soon swam over his brain, so much so that he didn't notice where he was until- SMACK. Something smacked him in the face!
"What the-? Hey! What the.... Hell?" Nero looked down and saw a rainbow trout wave its tail fin at him before blowing a raspberry and diving back down into the water with a small splash. Looking around, he could see that he was near a large body of what appeared to be clean, unfiltered water.
Nero's questioning ceased as soon as he saw that, his only concern now was getting as much of that deliciousness inside of him as soon as possible.
He sat on his knees bent over and scooping up water by the handful, he gave several long gulps each time he raised his cupped hands up to his mouth. The cold beverage soothing his dry throat and easing the stress on his organs.
After drinking to his hearts content and washing most of the various twigs, dirt and grime out of his hair; Nero stood back up and gave a deep breath of fresh air. He sighed contently as the wisp cool air tickled his lungs.
"Now THIS I like", The hunter said with a slight smile but that disappeared once his stomach decided to make itself known.
Grooooowl
"Of course....", Nero sighed. "I have to find food for you now you prick". He grumbled.
And so he began lazily walking down the dirt road on it's shoulder, shade from the large oak trees offered the hunter protection from the blaring sun.
Nero didn't have to walk very far, not 10 minutes since his recharge before he noticed something large and green. The hunter kept his pace without pause, and so he got closer. The smell of fresh lilies, daisy's and other sweet things filled his lungs with a peaceful warmth while his eyes were registering what exactly he was looking at.
There were birdhouses and nests everywhere with colors ranging from red, to yellow, blue and everything in between. Purples and pinks danced across his field of view, causing him to pause in place in front of the House
Said house seemed to be half house and half tree with a single story foundation. The architecture and everything seemed sturdy and warm at first glance.
Dozens of animals and all sorts of critters bounced, slithered, hopped and walked around joyously. Seemingly undeterred from the hunters presence, and so they ignored him. Birds chirping away, Cats jumping around in the semi-tall grass. Bees buzzed around the multitude of flowers surrounding the yard, some of them regarded Nero with curious looks. He must not have seemed interesting to them because they went back to their activities without sparing a second glance.
Nero just shrugged and pushed his strange feelings down with a shake of his head.
"It would appear that nobody is home..." The voice whispered.
The hunter looked down at his pulsing blue arm and made a tight fist.
"I guess, but who knows? A crazy sea serpent could be living there for all I know at this point, even as ridiculous as that sounds." His gaze went back to the cottage.
"Then perhaps you should go inside and look around." It said.
"What are you nuts? Hell no I'm not going in there! What do you think I am? An idiot?" Nero asked sarcastically with a scoff.
"Yes, because you know these pathetic worms don't stand a chance against you and you know that Nero." The voice responded with a colder and more controlled tone, much to the hunters ire.
"Hey! Just because I'm practically untouchable here doesn't mean that I can start going around being a dumbass, I'm trying to be smart here you know." He gave an irritated sigh as he started considering going inside, occupied or not.
There was silence for only a moment before it was broken by the voice again.
"Why don't you start doing that then?"
Nero's face turned red with anger and his eyes beamed murderously down at the arm. He opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted again.
He heard what sounded like a sigh but he couldn't really tell due to how pissed off he was.
"You can start by keeping your mouth closed, wouldn't want any unnecessary attention put upon ourselves do we? You may very likely find Sustenance within. "
Taking his advice, Nero didn't make a sound but he did however grit his teeth before slowly calming down.
"That's what I thought..." Nero could feel the arrogance radiating from the voice in droves.
Nero wasn't in the mood to deal with this jackass in his mind so he tuned him out as much as possible, which to be fair wasn't that difficult considering the voice never spoke many words in the first place. The hunter in blue took steady steps toward the small brown door, making sure to avoid the various holes and wet spots in the ground as he made his way to the entrance.
Putting his ear against the door, Nero was met with an eerie silence. He frowned.
"Nobody home? This is too good to be true." He then noticed the small lit up window to his right and quickly shuffled towards it before peeking in, his hands in the form of makeshift binoculars pressed up against the glass.
From this position, Nero could make out a small dining area, kitchen as well as a few chairs and rugs. He squinted his eyes slightly to help adjust to the brightly lit interior only to let a predatory grin spread across his face as he eyed his prize.
"Jackpot..." the window was in the perfect spot for him, he could see the fridge which no doubt had MANY goodies for him to snack on.
This thought prompted another beastly growl from his famished stomach.
Grooooowl
"Oh shut up you pansy, you'll get to eat soon." He grumbled as he pulled away from the window.
Nero crossed his arms and gave a little hum as he contemplated what to do. From what he knew, he had three options. 1: Walk away. Not happening. 2: Sneak in, grab the food and dip. Or 3: Smash the window and grab as much as he could carry. And since he wasn't one for walking away or being sneaky, I think it's pretty self explanatory what he was going to do.
"Hmm, now if only I had something to- Ah!" he spotted a medium sized rock that was almost the size of his hand and bent down to grab it.
Standing back up with rock in hand, Nero tested its weight by tossing it lightly into the air and catching it. The rock gave a good resistance and fell back into his hand pretty quickly, it also had a bit of weight to it so it was good enough for him.
"Oh yeah, this will do."
Wrapping his fingers around its tough exterior, he heard a nearby bird give a chirp in protest but he hardly paid it any mind as he drew his arm back. The chirping intensified the longer he didn't listen and just as he was about to hurl that rock through the window the bird went on the attack.
Said bird flew at him with it's bright red feathers and landed on his shoulder, its orange beak pecked him on his cheek a couple times before getting smacked off, the tweeting annoyance hit the dirt ground and was knocked unconscious. leaving a few feathers hovering in place before descending to the ground around it.
The hunter paused his destructive actions and instead looked at the unconscious Cardinal with a raised brow.
"what in the... really?" Nero blinked rapidly.
"Am I dreaming? Did that just happen?" He looked around and shook his head as he decided that no, he wasn't dreaming and that red cardinal really did just try stopping him from his home vandalism.
Getting back to the task at hand, Nero refocused his efforts on the window but he couldn't help but wonder why that avian tried to stop him. It's not like he could actually STOP the devil in blue, you would need to have a devil arm for that and even then it wasn't a guarantee. Not unless he was stabbed repeatedly in the face with the Rebellion or the Yamato and as far as Nero could tell, he didn't have either one.
During his internal contemplations, Nero almost failed to notice the increased sounds of laughter emitting from the road just outside the cottage.
Said laughter was accompanied by a scratchy yet happy reply, "Pinkie Pie, you are SOOOO random!" Nero's devil arm shot out towards one of the less than noticeable branches plastered on the roof and pulled himself towards it rapidly. The thick green shrubbery concealed him from any unwanted gazes while all he had to do was look in between the cracks without moving a muscle. Such feats were almost impossible for him, he had to stay perfectly still while the groaning branch sunk down and threatened to break under his weight. Luckily for him he was able to give himself the perfect ghillie suit as he waited for the voices to come near, and they did.
Nero waited as he heard and saw the ponies and dragon? Yep definitely dragon gather around the front door right beneath him.
"Well to be fair Rainbow Dash, if Pinkie Pie here wasn't as *ahem* random as you say. Then we would not have nearly as much laughter as we do now darling. Besides, she does tend to put smiles on our faces at the worst of times." An ivory white unicorn mare with sapphire blue eyes, perfectly curled amethyst mane & tail, and lastly three blue diamonds on her supple flank said with a posh accent. She gave this "Rainbow Dash" a smile too.
"Eh, she's kinda cute. The makeup doesn't bother me, it's not too much. " Nero silently voiced his opinion as he carefully inspected each one of them.
There were seven of them total, six of them were mares. Their races split between Pegasi, Earth Pony and Unicorn. The dragon was a male from what the devil hunter could tell, at least from his deeper voice.
The rainbow headed mare had messy uncombed hair and tail with Magenta colored eyes, cyan blue fur all over with a rainbow lightning bolt affixed a cloud on her flank. This mare was also a Pegasus because of her wings (duh).
Nero felt the cockiness in her and that made him feel... pissed. He was cocky himself but didn't like others who were. The hunter knew then and there that he wasn't a big fan of her at all.
Next in line was an avalanche of pink. Everywhere on her body had pink on it except for her blue and yellow balloon on her flank and baby blue eyes. She had curly and puffy hair, same with her tail and she had neither horn nor wings.
He didn't know what to think of her so he just pushed his thoughts of her into his "To be determined" section.
After her was a buttercream Pegasus with light pink hair that went down slightly passed her knees. Her hair curled similarly to the white one except it was curled on both sides and her tail was so thick and long that it dragged against the ground behind her. She had three pink butterflies attached to her rump and a pair of wings at her sides and a pair of Aqua green doe eyes.
Nero had to hold back the intense 'HNNNNG' that he was receiving from her.
The pony after that was a blonde earth pony mare with bright green eyes, like an emerald. She had on a dull brown Stetson rested atop her golden threads, which were tied at certain points with red scrunchies. Same with her thick brushy tail. Her style of choice was a ponytail (no pun intended). She had three bright and red succulent apples in the same place as the other mares and, is that rope? Yep.
There wasn't much else to say about her but he could tell that she wouldn't give him much cause for concern, she didn't seem the trouble maker type anyway from what he concluded.
The cycle of familiarity vanished when Nero set his sights on the dragon, his emerald green eyes coupled with green spines went from the top of his head to the tip of his spearheaded tail. His purple scales and hard green underbelly screamed "harmless". He had a set of sharp claws that could easily shred trees as if they were nothing. Normally this would give the hunter slight concern but in this case it didn't due to the dragons size. More specifically the lack thereof as he only came up to a mare's upper leg.
He would have to keep his eye on him...
And then there was her, the last mare. She was different from what Nero could tell, I mean how couldn't he? She had both wings AND a horn as well as the same colored fur and eyes. Which were both lavender. Her mane was a bit different however, it was a mixture of three different colors. Midnight blue with streaks of darker amethyst and bubblegum pink lines spread from the tip of her mane to the end of her tail in a single straight line. This mare had a pink star with an even smaller white star underneath, followed by several tiny white stars around them slapped onto her flank. Her style was simple and straight to the point, her mane and tail were brushed neatly with her bangs hanging from her forehead while it was brushed to one side at the back of her neck. The tail was just straight.
Nero might have been in stone for many hundreds of years and he might have gotten rusty, but he could not help but feel genuinely shocked at the power that was practically dripping from her. This mare had so much of it that the image of a dam cracking entered his mind, water dripping immensely. the thought made him shiver. He could practically hear the dripping
"If she has this much power NOW then she must have a whole lot more stored away in that.... horn of hers or something." He could see that she was sweet and innocent, but that she was also a very formidable foe. One that made him feel a little queasy to his stomach.
"She's the one I really need to keep my eye on, I can't have her split me apart from my atoms which to be fair would probably be accurate. This mare seems very booksmart and I'm not in the mood to deal with nerd right now." Nero placed these mental notes in the back of his head for safe keeping later as the mares and dragon were chatting amongst themselves.
"Yeah Rarity I know, you don't have to tell me something I already know." Rainbow rolled her eyes while putting some sunglasses on.
Rarities smile sours slightly at that and she gives a little "Hmmmpt" before turning away and crossing her hooves while sticking her nose up in the air, "Why I never... How rude". She mutters.
With her good hearing, Rainbow heard what she said and added fuel to the flame. "Pfft, whatever." She shrugged nonchalant.
Spike looked at his friends knowing that they clearly didn't appreciate Rainbows brash behavior and that they didn't like it. However as soon as he saw the look on Applejacks face, he knew that a fight may very well be a possibility and despite how he detested it, he could understand the reasoning behind it.
Instead, AJ let out a deep exhale through her nostrils and look Rainbow in the eyes right through the glasses. "Now now Rainbow, there's no need to be rash. Rarity was just trying to make a lighthearted conversation here, she didn't mean to make you upset for whatever reason you have. Now what I think you should do is apologize to her, it's the right thing to do." The orange mare ended with a southern twang and a warm smile.
The cyan coated mare rose into the air with a single flap of her wings and flew towards the orange mare, pressing her snout into hers while glaring daggers at her. "Oh yeah? Well what are you AJ huh? Her lover?! And what if I don't stop! You gonna make me redneck?"
"Girls..." a whisper soft voice squeaked out as she hid in her mane.
"Oho this is getting good! I wish I had my popcorn, Damn..."
Rarity visibly blanched at the thought of that, however there was a slight tinge of red on her cheeks that she couldn't shake off, "O-Oh dear..." Applejack however was a different story. Pushing her snout against the pegasus, she narrowed her eyes dangerously and spoke in a low tone. "I ain't her lover girlie but if you know what's good for you then I suggest you stop these shenanigans. And if you call me a redneck again, I'll whoop your sorry flank blue and purple all the way back to Appleoosa so don't you test me you hear?!" She practically growled, teeth bared and ready to rip her apart if need be.
"Girls? Pl-please don't fight.." the normally happy and bubbly Pinkie cried out.
Rainbow was itching for a fight and that was all invitation that she needed, "Ha! As if you could compete with ME Applejack! You're a riot if you think you can tango with this mare." She gives the other mare a few little jabs in the chest with her hoof. "Now I suggest you get out of my way and go back to your farm before I give you the taste of pain, real bad." Rainbow smirks.
Applejack wanted to hit her so badly it wasn't even funny. Thankfully she restrained herself just barely and took a step back away from the mare. Much to Rainbows mirth.
She chuckled, "Yeah that's right, walk back to your brother" turning around she tilted her head in mock thought. "Or is that your lover? I forgot which one it was~" and with a flick of her tail, the brown Stetson flipped off the country mare's head and onto the ground.
Everyone in the group stood frozen still with looks of horror on their faces at what was just said, even Nero himself felt a bit stunned.
"Holy shit... that was a bit too far there. I would NOT want to be Blondie right now."
An orange hoof tapped the cyan mare on the shoulder, prompting her to turn around. Which she did with an annoyed look on her face. "What do you want Ap-?!"
KRAAACK!
Hoof met face, bone met bone as AJ hit rainbow so hard that her jaw became dislocated and blood sprayed out from the corner of her mouth. she got knocked to the ground where AJ became a beast and tackled rainbow. She managed to get one or two more punches in before rainbow started giving her own. Soon enough both parties tumbled around on the ground. Cursing, punching, and even biting each other.
"Actually you know what? I take that back, that punch was EPIC!"
The fight barely lasted a minute in all reality but for them it felt like years. They could do nothing but shout at the two to stop, which they didn't. It was only until a magenta bubble formed around them and pulled them apart that they would stop tearing at each other's throats.
"Girls! That is ENOUGH!!!!!!" The lavender eyed mare hovered both of them in the air just a few feet away from where she was. She gave both of them reprimanding glares.
"I am only going to say this once so listen well the both of you", Twilight said while trying not to yell at them. "Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves for acting like little fillies. BOTH of you have little sisters and you wouldn't want them to learn of such barbaric things, Catch my drift?" Both mares nodded in shame before she continued her impromptu lecture.
"Now while we may not always get along, there is NO need to resort to violence towards ANYPONY", her eyes glared at Applejack, who gulped nervously. "We all have our off days, that is just a normal thing. But we do NOT call each other names or degrade one another REGARDLESS of the circumstances." Her eyes burned into Rainbows with smoldering fury, all RD could do was stare paralyzed by fear at her supposed best friends behavior.
"Now what I want you both to do is say you're sorry to one another and really mean it, then we can move on and not have to worry about something like this happen again. Applejack, you first." She turned to AJ who was still hanging shamefully in the air.
The farm mare closed her eyes and sighed deeply before opening them and turned towards the brash Pegasus not 2 feet from her. "Rainbow Dash, I am mighty sorry for hitting you. I should not have done that, you just made me so mad that I couldn't contain it. I still consider you a good friend despite what just went down. Will you forgive me partner?" She tittered softly.
Twilight seemed pleased with her choice of words as she gave a nod. She turned to the other culprit, her eyes burning a hole through the prismatic mare's skull. "And now you Rainbow Dash." Rainbows eyes zipped back and forth a few times and she began sweating nervously, but then she hung limp in the air and sighed loudly before looking back up at her earth pony friend.
"I'm sorry too Applejack, I shouldn't have ensta- insta?" She tried a few more times before being politely corrected by Twilight, "Thanks, Instigated. I should never have said any of those things to you or anypony else. I was just feeling so... angry! I went too far and... I-im sorry. I forgive you AJ." A few tears pooled in the corner of her eyes before slowly streaming down her fuzzy cheeks. "D-do you forgive m-m-me?" Rainbow inquired sadly with a sorrow look.
Applejack smiled and went to hug her but couldn't, so she looked at Twilight and gave a firm nod which she understood. She lowered them both back down and took away their bubbles.
AJ went over to rainbow and hugged her deeply, "Of course I do partner, you're mah friend Dashie, Always." Rainbow gasps in response and allows a wobbly smile to spread on her face as she returns the hug while gently crying against the farm mare.
sniff sniff
"Pinkie? Why are you crying?" Twilight asked with worry for her pink friend.
"I-It's just so BEAUTIFUL! BAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Pinkie bawled helplessly around the ponies (and dragon) that she cared for the most. This led to Rarity tearing up, then Fluttershy. And before you know it, everyone was crying and hugging eachother.
"Oh brother, please... Give me a freaking break honestly. This is too much for a man to take." Nero could practically FEEL his cringe radar going off at all the tears down below.
Out of the group of seven, Spike began gagging and dry heaving rapidly much to the groups dismay.
"Jeez Spike, it was only hugging. I know that I'm not sappy but SHEESH!" Rainbow shook her head.
"Honestly Darling, if you didn't want a hug then you should have just said so Spikey." Rarity tutted at him and shook her head even as he lifted a finger to protest.
Spikes cheeks were enlarged drastically as he kept trying to expulse the offending intruder.
"Well now ain't that just like a boy, can't take a lick of sentiment and- Woah!" The farm girl ducked as a magical scroll zoomed right past her and landing on a patch of grass, no doubt it would have hit her if she didn't move.
BEEEEELLLLCHH!
Spike gave a few low burps into his fist before settling down, "Ugh, whew! Sorry ladies, that always just happens out of nowhere. Would be nice if I was given a warning beforehoof though." He muttered that last part to himself under his breath before his attention was brought to Twilight, who was currently holding the scroll in her magic.
"What is it Twilight?" He asked curiously.
The lavender alicorn inhaled deeply through her nose and exhaled from her mouth. "It's from Princess Celestia." Is all she said before breaking the sun seal and unraveling the piece of parchment. Her amethyst orbs dragged across each letter and syllable on the page in front of her. The expression on her face went from joyful mirth, to worry, then to anger and determination. She reread the page over and over just to see if it was her mind playing tricks with her, but alas it was no game. Her eyebrows furrowed as she lowered the page, she was completely quiet as she took a minute or two to get her thoughts straight.
"Twilight? Are you alright dear? You're not catching a cold are you? You're not looking too well darling." The ivory mare queried with worry evidently spread across her features. Twilight noticed her friends looking at her similarly too and so she sighed while lowering her ears.
"I think it's best if you read this girls." Twilight cleared her throat and began to read aloud.
Dear Twilight Sparkle, I did not want to tell you this by letter. However I needed the other elements to read this as well. Make sure you are all in a private secluded area before you dare read the contents contained within this letter, for I trust nopony more than you, my Niece and my sister.
We are under attack Twilight, from whom I am unsure but there is something I do know for certain. This is something far greater than my sister or I could have imagined. Ponykind is in serious danger and if we do not stop it, everypony, griffon, changeling, and crystal pony alike are doomed. This attack; no, this WAR is coming and it won't stop until there is no life left on Equus.
I have my suspicions on a certain... creature that may be involved with this. And due to the severity of the situation, I think it is well within reason to assume that he has been freed from his stone prison. Before you ask, No it is not Discord Twilight. Although if I had to choose between both of them, I would free Discord in a heartbeat no hesitation. Please understand that I cannot write every detail down and that I, Princess Celestia of Equestria humbly request the elements and your presence here at Canterlot. Please make haste my dear friends, time is not on our side.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia Co-ruler of Equestria
And your friend.
Various expressions of shock, horror and fear was on everyponies face, including Spike. It was clear that nopony was expecting something like this to happen. Everything was silent for a few moments before the questions started spewing.
"Under attack?! Ugh, I just had my hooves polished!"
"War is coming? To ponykind? But that's crazy! Who could be crazy enough to do something like that? Even I'M not that cocky."
"She would rather free DISCORD over this thing whatever it is?! How do we know if this creature isn't some sort of brain eating monster!" The farm mare rolled her eyes around all crazy like.
"OOH OOH! What if the scary creature like parties?! EEEEEEE!~ WHAT ABOUT CAKE?!!! I HAVE PLENTY OF THOSE!!"
"PINKIE!!!!" the shouts of her friends snapped her out of it.
"Hehe, sorry~" The pink mare blushed cutely.
"W-well um... what i-if the creature was ni-nice?" The shy mare whispered while bashfully hiding her face in her mane.
"HNNNG!" Nero's heart skipped a couple beats.
"Ahem, now I don't want to be rude darling but I have to ask. What would make you think of something like that? Did you not read the letter as well Fluttershy dear? Whoever this creature is, is trouble. If Princess Celestia herself said that she would chose Discord over this being then clearly she must know what she is talking about when it comes to matters such as this." Rarity gracefully voiced her opinion while still curious to know the shy mare's reasoning.
"W-we-well um..." Said mare was bashfully rolling her hoof tip along the dirt while not saying another word.
"Oh god I think I'm having another HNNNG attack... please make it stop." Nero grabbed at his chest while clinching his teeth.
Rainbow groaned and facehoofed, "Look, I get that talking is important and all but right now we can't. You heard the princess, "Time is not on our side." Clearly we need get over there like 20 minutes ago!" She flew around in small figure 8's at high speed and showing her impatience.
"Whooowhee! Now that is something I can get behind! Let's head on over there and save Equestria like we've done plenty of times before, easy peasy apple squeezy!" AJ reared her hind legs back and gave a few quick bucks and a few jabs from her forehooves.
The prismatic mare landed next to the blonde mare with a grin. "See? This mare gets it! Now who's with us?!" Rainbow pumped her hoof upwards with a little flap of her healthy wings.
Twilight looked at her other friends and could see that despite the nervousness and slight hesitation. They had no objections whatsoever.
She adjusted her posture and set her steely gaze upon the city hung high to the side of the mountain. Giving a little flap of her wings and a little spark from her pointy horn, the princess of magic smirked.
"Okay girls, let's do this. For Equestria!!" the others gave their own cries in agreement as they galloped away from fluttershy's cottage.
Nero heard and saw them sprinting towards the little bustling town that was ahead.
"No doubt going to a train station." He thought as he leaped from his hiding place and into the air with devil arm at the ready.
"Well now this is a surprise. And one that I like!"
