The oldest and most powerful demon that ever existed in the world returns from the legends of an age long forgotten, but now, the Demon King has made some changes in his plans...
The oldest and most powerful demon that ever existed in the world returns from the legends of an age long forgotten, but now, the Demon King has made some changes in his plans...
Demise, Demon King, Source of all that is Evil and the one most suitable to oppose Gods. Returns from an unbelievably old imprisonment, an imprisonment so old in fact that the world is no longer filled with the mortals he once knew, but with ponies in their places.
Such drastic changes would require him a little change in his plans… and so, the forgotten Demon King walks once more onto the mortal world, maybe with a little change in his thoughts now that he is surrounded by… interesting personalities…
Covert Art by : Igris Crow (Me) Rated Teen because I’m uncertain of whether the content is good for everyone or not. Tags may change in the future until the story is complete
[CANCELED] : That moment I realized I didn’t know how to continue the story
It was late at night, aside from the night guard and many overworking business ponies, everypony was sleeping under the gaze of the mare on the moon.
Though there was one exception to this, a young mare in particular found herself in Canterlot’s Library, not really surprising considering the mare in question.
It was Twilight Sparkle, a prodigy who attends Princess Celestia’s own personal classes, she may as well be the monarch’s favourite student too. She was currently reading a unique book of history that she ‘borrowed’ from her own mentor, which she of course intended to return, but not without reading its content first.
‘Monsters, beings seen as pure evil bearing the heart and spirit of destruction. Monsters exist everywhere, taking multiple forms throughout multiple points in history. Whether they are shadow kings with boiling hatred for all that don’t submit to them, or deformed all-powerful entities so bored they’d sacrifice everything for entertainment.
In the end, monsters are always countered by similar yet opposite forces. Heroes, Benevolent Kings or Queens, Princesses of Celestial Bodies or even…
Gods
Indeed, one monster in particular could oppose beings that could be defined as Gods. One monster so cruel and evil it was simply named from the deeds it has done on the world in a time long forgotten.
Demise
He was known as the source of all monsters, the First Evil and embodiment of destruction. Surpassing even time to make monsters a permanent curse on all creation. He may as well be the opposite equivalent of the Gods or God who created the world.
Unfortunately, his existence as previously stated surpasses time itself so there is no real beginning to it, nor any apparent end either. He simply became a fundamental part of the world, where his complete destruction, if even possible, would end all creation due to the lack of balance.
Incidentally, records of his appearance vary each epoch, ranging from a gigantic bipedal being covered in black, seemingly indestructible scales and wielding a sword made of unknown materials. To even a titan that could level mountains with ease, covered with these same indestructible black scales.
But all those speculations could only be made from the ancient scriptures found around Equus, the oldest’s apparent date of creation seemed to go as far as millions of years before the very foundation of Equestria. These estimates could be made due to the scarcity of the scriptures, showing clear signs that the landmarks changed from when they were created, which is only possible in the span of multiple thousands if not millions of years.
The information about this great evil is also to be taken with a grain of salt due to their sources, which are from mainly demonic cults that were arrested or secluded tribes that were recently discovered-‘
“Twilight…. What are you doing? It’s already so late….” Mumbled a small dragon coming from the shadows of the library.
“Spike! Don’t scare me like that!” Twilight shouted silently, startled by the sudden appearance of her little friend.
The small dragon, named Spike, simply yawned in response while walking towards her.
“Yeah yeah… so, what’re you reading?” He asked, completely ignoring her glare.
“It’s a book I borrowed-” “Stole?” “Spike!” “Yeah yeah”
“It’s a book about an ancient being that is said to be the source of all monsters. Isn’t that interesting?!” Twilight said, prancing around the small tired dragon.
“But isn’t that just an old excuse to blame all the problems in the world on one entity?” Spike said in a surprising wise manner, something that even startled Twilight who was usually the one to say such things.
“Uh… yeah… But this says there are inscriptions scattered around all of Equus depicting that same being!” Twilight argued, being more childish than usual.
She ran back towards the book, ignoring Spike’s complaints and continued to read its content, but this time she read out loud so Spike could hear.
‘-or secluded tribes that were recently discovered. These tribes all told of prophecies about this Great Evil, all saying that it will one day awaken in the forest it once cursed. That forest, as you most likely guessed it, being the Everfree Forest, known for being infested with all kinds of hostile lifeforms as well as containing the Castle of the Two Sisters, where our current ruler Princess Celestia lived a thousand years ago.
It is said from these prophecies that this monster would appear exactly a thousand years from when the mare in the moon first appeared. Coincidentally, that event happened one thousand years ago.
Many ponies, mostly those skeptical of that prophecy personally went in the Everfree Forest, but this only enforced the forest’s reputation of taking the lives of all who dare enter it and none of those that entered, returned making it impossible to prove whether or not that prophecy is true-‘
“So I guess it’s all fake then? I don’t see the world ending” Remarked Spike, interrupting Twilight once again.
Twilight simply closed the book as it didn’t give more information other than speculations and insight from the author, those being not so different from hers. She sighed.
“Let’s go to sleep, the Summer Sun celebration is in two days.” She said, yawning as she walked to her room with Spike following behind.
Little did the young mare know that in the Everfree Forest, nature itself became agitated. Contrary to the usually calm nights, the forest’s critters moved. From the small insects to Timberwolves and even Hydras.
Each and every living being moved as far away from the center of the forest as they can, going as far as the edges of the forest. There, at the very heart of the cursed forest, the earth shook as a malicious presence made itself known.
A dark aura could be seen rising above the trees, but it blended quite well with the darkness of the night.
Suddenly, a gigantic mouth opened from below the trees, rows and rows of sharp teeths threatened to devour the trees around it. A beast, taller than the trees, covered with black scales, rose from within the dark aura, an aura that was revealed to be the beast’s raw energy leaking.
It roared, shaking the ground as the roar echoed throughout the entire forest, yet it didn’t go beyond the forest itself, as if imprisoned within it. It looked around, asserting its surroundings and as it looked at the distance, it saw an ethereal barrier.
The beast, realizing it’s imprisoned state, roared once again this time much louder and towards the night sky, threatening the heavens themselves for its unfortunate state.
It wandered the forest, its steps making the earth tremble. No matter how far it wandered, it would always find itself back to where it appeared, which was next to a dark bottomless hole as wide as the beast, this clearly being the hole it rose from.
The barrier which seemed to be at the edge of the forest, which was actually not the edge as the Everfree Forest extended much farther than the barrier made it seem.
Yet even if the beast was imprisoned inside a part of the forest, it didn’t mean its roars couldn’t be heard from outside.
Outside the barrier, the small animals of the forest simply trembled in fear as they heard the beast’s monstrous roars. The predators, mostly the Timberwolves, saw this as a challenge after their primal fear subsided.
A pack of Timberwolves approached the barrier, inspecting it. One of them was brave enough to cross the barrier, and when it did, none of its other pack members ever saw it again.
Back inside the barrier, the brave Timberwolf wandered around the sealed part of the forest. It could hear something stomp around the forest and occasionally roar too.
After some time, it found itself looking at a crack in the earth. But, it could hear that something was approaching from within the dark forest. It readied itself, growling, its green eyes flaring as they glared towards the shadow of the forest.
But, as soon as the beast emerged, all sense of bravery the wooden wolf once had was swept away with a feeling it didn’t even know it had. Terror.
The beast simply stared towards the wolf. Even without eyes, it sensed that something was there, and it could sense that the entity was imbued with a strange energy, an energy that, if inspected closer, felt similar to its own energy.
Sensing its own energy within the small entity, even if its amount was insignificant, it charged forward in hunger. It opened its mouth and roared towards the small entity, showing its multiple rows of sharp teeths.
The wooden wolf on the other hand could only stare in fear at the gigantic beast that reeked of killing intent and malicious aura. When it saw the beast open its monstrous mouth, it felt itself become weaker and weaker as a green aura leaked from its body towards the opened mouth of the beast.
Then, it fell limply on the ground, its eyes dark and devoid of the green flare it once had.
The beast on the other hand simply savoured the soul it just ate, although not much, it still enjoyed the feast making it grow in power as it absorbed the insignificant amount of demonic energy the wooden wolf once had. Thanks to that, the beast regained some form of intelligence, even though nowhere from what it once had long ago, but enough to at least have some semblance of sentience.
‘Not enough…. Need…. More…’ Were its first thoughts.
It continued to wander and it soon met with other lesser beings bearing an insignificant amount of its energy. And much like the wooden wolf, it ate their souls as they stood there in fear.
It met many of those creatures, wooden wolves, lions with wings, even what looked like a big lizard with multiple heads. But it didn’t matter, they were all mortal lesser beings to him, nothing but food. They were not even worth being called demons with how insignificant their demonic aura were.
‘Weak….’ It thought with more clarity.
Demise regained most of his sentience after the many souls he ate, as well as enough power to give himself arms and a tail with some semblance of magic skills.
‘Weak.’ He thought again, but it was not towards the creatures he met but towards the world itself.
Indeed, even if most of his powers were sealed, he still had enough power to threaten the entire world. Though that is only after he broke out of this prison of a forest.
Using the powers he had, he flew around the sealed forest with a giant black halo floating above his beast’s form, inspecting the forest and searching for some form of weakness in the barrier containing him. Of course, he continued to feast on the souls of those unfortunate creatures he met during his investigation.
And soon enough…
‘Ha!’ He exclaimed in his mind, coming out as a growl as he saw a crack mid-air.
‘Typical of dimensional barriers.’ He mocked as he flew towards the crack in the illusion.
Once he was in front of it, purple energy concentrated on the crack making the air itself tremble. After some time, the crack grew and became bigger and bigger and then…
Finally! He was free at last! And how ironic it was for him to be sealed in the very forest he himself corrupted.
He opened his bestial jaw and roared in glee.
ROAAAAAAARRRR
A roar so powerful it shook the earth, asserting his presence and dominance in the world once again.
He shook his monstrous head, which in turn shook his entire body as he did not have a neck in his current form. Afterwards, he looked around, feeling the air around him succumbing to his mere presence.
As he looked around, he saw a ruined castle in front of him, a castle that he didn’t remember existed in the past. Meaning he was far in the future if a castle he didn’t even know existed, and was even in ruins.
Then, something piqued his attention. In the ruined Castle, he could feel demonic energy, but unlike the insignificant beasts he met before, this one was much more present and was powerful enough to be above an ant’s.
He growled in amusement and excitement, the demonic aura he could feel coming from the castle already told him enough. It was not on the level of a divine soul, but it would do to at least give him the power to change forms. Not like he didn’t like his current form, but it makes movement a little difficult.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he slowly but surely walked towards the ruined castle. He couldn’t wait to absorb that energy and finally assume a more practical form.
“It wasn’t supposed to go this way….” Said Nightmare Moon as she looked at the not very discreet giant monster coming her way.
Indeed, her plan was to put obstacles in front of the six mares that were coming here, hoping they would flee the cursed forest and lose all hopes of having anypony but her as their ruler. Of course, she didn’t want to outright kill them, she may be evil but she had standards, and murder was not very ethical in her opinion.
But as she was preparing to intercept the foolish little ponies, something happened in the forest, an explosion of unknown magnitude followed by a roar so powerful it nearly bursted her eardrums suddenly appeared. Not only that but an unimaginable beast appeared from deep within the forest, covered with black scales and an unbelievably dark aura.
She, who lived more than a thousand years, didn’t even know such a beast existed. Yet even if the monster was unknown to her, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity with it, as if she was seeing an old relative after who knows how long. And as soon as that feeling came, she knew that whatever she was looking at was no ordinary monster, no. It was the Origin of All monsters.
How did she know? She didn’t know, but she could feel the presence of the Origin. Not many knew this but Nightmare Moon was originally just a simple curse without sentience, but it grew within the small alicorn that was Princess Luna. And now that she manifested into the physical world, she was ready to fulfill the most dark desires of her host.
But now, as she stared at the incoming monstrosity, she didn’t desire that anymore. Instead, all she felt right now was happiness, but unlike the glee she’d feel from seeing all living things suffer, it was the joy of seeing a long lost parent. Like a child who lost her parents a very long time ago, seeing it… Him again brought tears to her eyes.
As a full fledged demon who was once but a mere curse without even a mind to think, to see her Lord and Master once again…
The gigantic beast was now in front of her, looking straight at her who stood on top of a tower. The monster seemed to wait for something, and she suddenly knew what it was.
“Oh…. My Lord…” she kneeled from where she was, awaiting her fate in front of her Lord.
Her master opened his majestic jaw, allowing her to look upon his sharp and pristine fangs. Then, she felt herself leave her host, returning the alicorn to her former self. She could feel herself fly towards her Master, she could feel herself become one with him. It filled her with unparalleled joy and if she was still in her host’s body, she might’ve had some… unsightly reaction.
She could feel herself slowly lose consciousness, lose her senses, lose her sentience. But she didn’t mind, in fact, she welcomed her change in state from a demon to energy, after all it was what her master wanted of her and in all honesty, to her it felt like a parent putting his child into a deep and peaceful slumber.
And then… Nightmare Moon was no more.
He was quite surprised when he saw the source of that demonic aura, he didn’t expect to see what looked like a black horse wearing ornaments and a mane and tail that was flowing with an invisible wind and looked like a starry night sky.
Fortunately, the equine demon had the knowledge to explain the overall situation of the world. It’s quite obvious that he could take the memories and knowledge of all the souls he ate as it would be required to assess the soul itself in its entirety before turning it into energy.
From the knowledge he acquired, his existence seemed to be forgotten and more than a thousand years passed since this demon was born. Apparently, it was once a curse he placed on a family of royal humans, but that bloodline ran even in the veins of a pony? How strange. But it didn’t matter to him because now, he had enough power to change forms.
According to what he now knew, the most common mortal species to inhabit this world were ponies, some sort of intelligent race of small horses composed of pegasus, unicorns, earth ponies and very rarely, Alicorns which is a species Nightmare Moon belonged to.
Using his powers, he turned himself into an earth pony. Becoming a pegasus would be useless as wings weren’t required for flight, and a horn was not necessary for him to wield magic, much less both of those.
Blinding light was emitted from his body as he morphed into a much smaller form than what he was before. It was impossible to turn into a normal pony, or a normal anything for that matter since their usual bodies would collapse under his immense power. Of course, this wouldn’t bother him much due to him being immortal, but it was still troublesome to create a new body from nothing instead of what he already had.
As a result of this, his new forms would always carry his characteristic black scales, which were in fact impossible to break unless he wanted it. If the new body had hairs, they would always become flames that were not actually flames but special hairs filled with magic power, a reason why they appear like they do. The body would also become unnaturally large to better encase his powers.
That is what exactly happened with his new body. And it was genderless, much like every of his other bodies even if he preferred being referred as male.
He didn’t have time to look at his new body as another presence made itself known, and it didn’t bother to be discreet as it literally appeared from the window, right as the sun rose making it unnecessarily dramatic.
In front of him appeared a white Alicorn that reeked of Light, quite the opposite of the alicorn that was the host of Nightmare Moon who wielded Darkness. It didn’t bother him much as even if he was more proficient in Dark Magic, it didn’t mean he couldn’t wield Light Magic.
But, he also felt another entity inside the white Alicorn, an entity not much different than Nightmare Moon. And from the brief observation he took of the mare in front of him, he could guess that she was a ruler, a benevolent one at that.
He smiled as he thought about a new way to approach his goals.
“Alright! Looks like we’ll have to go into the Everfree Forest!” Exclaimed Twilight as she walked out of the library, followed by unsure mares.
“A-are you sure? The Everfree Forest is s-scary.” Said a shy yellow pegasus named Fluttershy.
“Don’t worry Fluttershy!” A loud rainbow maned pegasus shouted next to the shy mare, making her squeak in fear. It was Rainbow Dash
The 3 others quietly followed the purple unicorn, except one who joyfully and literally bounced behind.
The trip to the Everfree Forest was quiet with the occasional small talks between the mares, and as they got close to the edge of the forest…
BOOM
ROOAAAAARR
An unbelievably loud and powerful roar made its way to their eardrums, nearly destroying them from the sheer force of the sound, so powerful in fact that it shook the ground.
The 6 mares covered their ears, trying in vain to block the painful roar. Even when it stopped, the echo of the roar rang in their heads.
They were paralyzed in place for nearly ten minutes afterwards, and the one who broke out of the paralysis was Rainbow Dash.
“What in the heck was THAT!” She yelled in a mix of terror and anger while flying around in panic.
The others snapped back thanks to her yelling, but weren’t doing better than her as they all either tried to find somewhere to hide, or panic.
“T-Twilight… I don’t think we neeta’ go into the forest anymore…” The orange mare wearing a cow-stallion hat, Applejack, said in fear.
“No, we have to, we need to save Princess Celestia!” Twilight answered with conviction, yet it was clear to everypony present that she herself was filled with fear.
Even so, they pushed forward by a sense of duty, even if reluctantly.
As they walked through the dark forest, they all noticed how the surroundings were eerily silent. They even met with the paralyzed bodies of a family of bunnies. Fluttershy, who herself owned a bunny, became heartbroken at the sight.
“O-oh… the poor little bunnies….” She said, sobbing as she desperately tried to shake the family out of their terror, going as far as shaking them around in hopes of receiving a response. But when all her attempts failed, she cried as she felt powerless in front of the frozen bodies of the bunnies.
They continued after Fluttershy calmed down, at least enough to be able to move again.
Aside from the frozen animals they met on their way, which further broke the heart of the butter colored pegasus, nothing else in particular happened to the courageous mares.
They then came in front of a ruined Castle, they instantly felt a chill run down their spine and they could practically see an ominous and dark aura coming from it. They all gulped at the same time and marched forward to the dark castle. But as soon as they made the first step…
ROAAAAR
Another ear piercing roar shook the earth, this time on a much larger scale as the trees next to the castle nearly fell over with the force of the sound.
Ponies would call these six mares crazy, foolish or even suicidal. But even faced against an invisible and seemingly invincible enemy, they would continue forward as it is how they are.
“T-Twilight…” They all looked towards the only mare that might know what’s happening.
“L-let’s go… we need to save the princess…” She said but with less confidence than when she first said it.
They all continued with difficulty. The pink pony, Pinkie Pie, no longer bounced and for the first time in a while, she walked without really smiling. AppleJack and Rainbow Dash no longer walked or flew forward with pride but with hidden fear that was uncharacteristic of them both. Rarity, the white posh pony, had to help Fluttershy walk forward as she was struck with both despair and terror.
“T-thank you, Rarity” The traumatized yellow pony said, holding tightly the generous pony.
“Oh don’t worry Fluttershy, but I do hope we find the Princess so we can get out of this ghastly forest.” The fashionista said.
They all could feel a sickly and ominous aura as they walked through the ruined castle’s hallways. Then, from one of the cracks in the castle walls, they could see light coming from one of the towers with a dark aura behind it, an aura so big it dwarfed over the tower. Rainbow Dash, one of the ponies who had the best eyesight in the group, could swear she saw a monster inside that thick black aura.
Seeing that something was happening at the top of the tower, the six ponies rushed to it. But once they arrived at the top,they were met with a confusing scene.
There, on the floor, was an unconscious little blue mare who, by the horn and wings was an alicorn. Right in front of the unconscious blue mare was another pony, this one being taller and bigger than any pony they ever saw, even Princess Celestia herself.
Twilight, being in front of the group, inspected the humongous pony in question. First, the most obvious traits this pony had were its mane and tail, which seemed like an ever burning flame. Also, it seems like the pony didn’t have fur but black scales covering its body. The pony looked like a male judging from the muscles he had, she couldn’t see his face due to him facing towards the window.
She slowly walked closer to the intimidating pony, trying to see his face, and once she got close enough to see it, she gasped. The tall pony had scars across its entire face, one in particular practically glowed on his forehead, but this was not the only thing that shocked her, no. It was his eyes, his eyes were, much like his mane and tail, burning with hatred for the world.
She was too shocked to realize that the sun was rising, and from it came Princess Celestia, who appeared right in front of the window.
Celestia, expecting to see her dearest student in front of her, was startled to see a tall and muscular pony covered in black scales instead. She nearly fainted at the sight, not because of how tall or muscular the pony was, not even how he glared in front of him, so at her, with intense hatred. No, it was because of the overwhelming aura the pony had, it felt so much like dark energy, but infinitely more potent, and as a ruler who lived over a thousand years, she grew sensitive to these energies.
But she had to keep her composure, and the pony in front of her didn’t seem hostile, aside from those eyes but she guessed it was just how he looked. Talking about looks, now that she looked at his face, she was quite surprised to see scars on it, especially one that glowed on his forehead.
“You, you are the same as her.” The tall pony suddenly said in a deep and intimidating voice while pointing at the unconscious body of her little sister, widening her eyes.
“Luna!” Celestia shouted as she ran towards the unconscious form of her little sister. She searched for a pulse and thankfully, there was still one. She turned back and glared at the dark pony.
“What did you do to her?!” She yelled, not even noticing her scared student standing right next to her.
“I took back what was once mine” The pony answered mysteriously. Celestia looked back at her sister and tried to find what was missing. Then she sensed something, or more like the lack of there being something. It was Nightmare Moon. She stared back at the tall pony.
‘How?’ She wondered, and as if the pony could read her mind, he responded.
“Soul Drain. You, whose lifeforce spans over a millenia, must surely know of this.” The giant pony said with dignity so characteristic of great rulers.
What he just told her shocked her. Of course she knows of that cursed art, an art she swore to destroy all traces from the world, meaning that whoever, or whatever stood in front of her was either as old as her to know of Soul Drain’s existence, or even older. Not only that but another thing he mentioned confused her.
”What do you mean I’m the same as her?” She warily asked, still holding onto her little sister.
“You share the same blood, the same fates, the same curse. You possess in your soul a parasite similar to what that little one had inside hers.” The intimidating pony said.
With this, her jaw dropped as she took in the fact that her darkest secret was so easily discovered. Indeed, much like Luna had Nightmare Moon, she had Day Breaker. Even she, who was revered to be the kindest and most benevolent ruler Equestria ever had, was not immune to dark desires. Dark desires that first manifested into disembodied voices, to the demon known as Day Breaker. But before she could say anything, the pony talked.
“Do you wish for it to be removed?” He asked, bewildering her even more as she stared wide-eyed at him. The answer should be obvious, yet many things came with that answer, things she wasn’t sure she’d be ready to accept.
First of all, she would be indebted to this individual who reeked of malicious energy. Secondly, that debt she would owe would decide the fate of her little ponies. Of course, she could refuse to be indebted, but she wasn’t so sure she could fight against him, even with the Elements of Harmony.
But that is what is expected of those with the role of rulers, so she took the responsibility with her hooves and…
“Can you really do it?” She asked, still unsure whether the cursed art truly worked against Nightmare Moon, a being she was forced to use the Elements of Harmony against.
“Childsplay.” He simply answered while showing his arcane might with his right hoof, a swirling purple aura covering an ancient and eldritch magic circle appearing on it. Celestia was now certain of it, that being’s magical mastery surpassed even her own teacher’s, Starswirl the Bearded, who could not even control the power of the ancient spell Soul Drain, a spell that required more than 10 unicorns to cast in the past, a spell she is currently seeing being played with right in the hooves of a giant pony covered in scales.
Honestly, now that she looked at it, it’s quite the crazy predicament she found herself in. She sighed, normally, she’d never trust anypony to access something as sensitive as her own soul, much less using an ancient and forbidden spell on it. But the facts remain that her sister, albeit unconscious, had no major injuries and her soul remained intact even after the supposed use of Soul Drain. But she still had one last question.
“What will you do afterwards?” She asked, not with caution but with curiosity this time.
“I wish to remain with you, as you seem to be the ruler of this present world, I am quite curious as to what changed after my… absence.” The being said as he continued to play with the dangerous spell on his right hoof.
Celestia was taken aback by the request, she certainly expected something much more… drastic, but it’s still better than anything she expected. Not only that but she might be able to know more about the entity in front of her, and know why he feels so familiar to her.
“Is that so?” She said.
“Yes. Now, are you ready?” He asked and she could practically feel the spell on his hoof screaming for something to eat.
After hesitantly looking at the terrifying spell, she nodded.
She didn’t know what to think, she didn’t even know what she was looking at. One moment a dangerous and gigantic pony stood there, then her mentor suddenly appeared and now she just learned that her mentor had something akin to Nightmare Moon inside her? Not only that but… that gigantic earth pony was able to use magic without a horn?! And it looked like he could wield unknown and impossibly powerful magic at that?!
Honestly, all she expected after coming here was for her to use the Elements of Harmony, if she ever found them, against Nightmare Moon and then save the Princess, that’s all. Not to suddenly have her mind played around with piles and piles of world shattering information. And her scholar mind barely kept itself together at the sight of unknown magic being displayed in front of her.
But that also made her cautious around this… entity. Whatever it was could take the form of a pony, wield magic like unicorns without horns and exuded the authority and pressure of a ruler as well as being an extremely dangerous individual.
Even now as she stared at the workings of that unknown spell, which was apparently named Soul Drain judging from the interaction this being had with her mentor, she couldn’t help but watch in wonder and awe at the amazing display of magic.
At first, the Princess looked to be in pain as a dark and purple aura covered her body, she was even ready to jump at the titan of a pony the moment she saw her mentor’s body suddenly burn. Until she found out it was her mane and tail that turned into fire. Then, something confusing happened, the Princess Celestia that stood in front of her was not her mentor, that much she could tell from those evil eyes. But this wasn’t what confused her, no, it was the fact that this ‘burning Celestia’ was kneeling in front of the giant pony.
And then, her mentor came back, as if nothing happened. Not only that but she noticed that the giant pony seemed to munch on something before swallowing whatever he was eating.
Afterwards, she nearly collapsed as a spike of power suddenly appeared from within the giant pony, as if he didn’t already wield enough power, it seemed he became even more powerful. This power that radiated from him nearly crushed her, pressuring her mind and body onto the ground.
The noises from behind her reminded her that she was accompanied by five other mares she barely knew, and she could see after looking behind her that they all collapsed on the cold broken floor, barely keeping their consciousness.
The only reason she was still standing was due to her proficiency in magic, something she pride herself in very much. And as fast as it came, the pressure was gone.
It wasn’t much but it was enough for him to regain at least half of his powers. From what he understood, the two demons he just absorbed were two of the most powerful beings this world currently had and their knowledge helped a lot to understand this world.
But it doesn’t change what he said about staying with the two Princesses. Though his pride may be hurt from laying low, he was not foolish enough to overthrow a kingdom he didn’t even know or understand yet. His last battle was proof enough of his past foolishness, if it wasn’t for it he wouldn’t be imprisoned for so long.
Even if, from what he gained of the two most powerful entities this world currently has, the world had no way of stopping him. There is no doubt that going head on on unknown battles may bring him down once again. So, staying close to the rulers may be the most appropriate way of getting accustomed to this world and see its overall ability to resist him.
Time was on his side after all, he could wait all he wanted for these seeds of trust he planted by helping this alicorn to grow to the point of her handing her Kingdom to him by her own free will. He could wait as his immeasurable power was enough to sustain him for eternity.
But for now, he’ll have to build his reputation once again as his existence seems to be forgotten to the world. This time, he will surely have the world kneel before him, but it will do it on its own free will.
He smiled as he thought of the future, a smile that didn’t go unnoticed by the purple unicorn who shivered at the sight.
He looked at the unconscious forms of the two alicorns, then the five little ponies and finally at the only one beside him to be conscious.
“Girl” He spoke with authority. Twilight stood straight as if she was spoken to by her own mentor.
“Y-yes?” She answered weakly, still under the shock of the pressure exuded by his display of power.
“Do you know the location of your ruler’s Castle? I don’t believe this one to be hers.” He asked in a polite tone that was so unlike his usual murderous threats.
“I-I do!” She responded, sweating a little as she realized that she was speaking to someone who may as well be a King.
“Guide me to it, those two and your comrades need a place to rest, and these ruins are inappropriate for this.” He said while levitating the unconscious mares and alicorns, enveloping them in a purple and ominous aura.
”U-um…” Twilight tried to say something but was too shy and tired to say it. But this didn’t go unnoticed by the Demon King.
“Speak your mind, child.” He said as he slowly walked towards her. She couldn’t help but take a step back, yet she still had enough courage to answer.
”C-Canterlot Castle may be too far…. B-but we can stop at the closest town, Ponyville” She managed to say, stopping the giant pony in his tracks.
“Hm… I see. Then I trust you to guide me to this… Ponyville.” He said as he carefully levitated the 6 unconscious ponies around him. Twilight stared in awe at the display, she could barely levitate 3 ponies, much less the double of that since she’d have to be extremely focused. But this tall peculiar pony was able to do it effortlessly and without even having a horn!
“Well?” The Demon King said, bringing her back to reality and making her blush at the embarrassing display.
“O-oh, sorry! This way.” She said sheepishly while turning back and descending down the ruined stairs of the tower.
The Demon King smiled, showing his sharp fangs as he looked at the exposed back of the small unicorn, amused at her inexperience to turn her back at a demonic being like him. But he let it pass as her being too young, or as her living in a world rid of the horrors of war judging by the millenia long peace this world went through.
Although he was still curious as to how much this world changed in his absence.
The trip towards the town named ‘Ponyville’ was slow, but it didn’t matter. Quite the odd name but considering the current dominant species in this world, or at least this region, it’s no surprise.
The most intriguing part is this little purple unicorn I’ve come to know is named ‘Twilight Sparkle’. This one, while obviously still afraid and tired, did not fall under his Authority, a Demon King’s Authority. A simple spell really that submits all those weak enough to him, but it seems to work differently with ponies as they simply fall unconscious. Except this unicorn did not fall, she has the courage to stand against a Demon King, quite intriguing and amusing.
Although the trip was silent and slow, this allows me to be accustomed to this new body. I’m not unfamiliar with quadrupedal bodies, but never did I ever try one that resembles a horse. It’s also a good way to try and see what I can do with the little powers I gained through Soul Drain. I admit that the two demons were powerful, but not enough for me to regain all my powers. The most effective way to regain all my powers would be to absorb a God’s soul as they are incredibly powerful, as expected of those with that hateful title.
“U-um…” Ah, it seems that the small unicorn has grown tired of the silence, if only she knew that we are being observed right now.
“Speak.” I ordered. I do know that this approach may seem tyrannical but we won’t go anywhere if I don’t do it, mortals are usually impossibly annoying when it comes to conversations.
“W-what are you?” The unicorn asked. Simple enough.
“I’m a Demon, child.” I answered. The mortal seemed shocked and suddenly stopped in her tracks. Then, she suddenly turned around and faced me, her horn glowing with magical energy. ‘Adorable’.
“Y-you! You’re a Demon?! How is that possible?!” The unicorn shouted, her horn glowing brighter and brighter.
“Child, Demons always existed in the world. Do you not feel the energy surrounding us?” I asked, stopping her from whatever she was going to do with her small horn. She then looked around, staring at the darkness of the forest around us. Green eyes flared from the shadows and growls could be heard.
“Y-you tricked me!” The small pony shouted while backing away from me. She came to a stop as she met with the trunk of a dark tree. I slowly approached her, still holding her comrades and her ruler in my magical grasp.
“S-stay back!” She yelled in desperation, her horn glowing before a beam came from it. The magical beam itself was weak, incredibly so, leaving no marks on my body, further shocking the small unicorn.
“I-impossible…” she muttered. The demons hiding in the shadows seemed eager to jump at us. The fools, they don’t seem to know their places in front of their King.
“Child, if I wanted to get rid of you, your existence would’ve ceased the moment we met.” I said, turning around before hitting the ground.
“COME OUT AND SUBMIT BEFORE YOUR KING!” I shouted, using the Demon King’s Authority and making sure it doesn’t hit the mortals behind me.
It took some time but soon enough, wooden wolves came out of the shadows of the forest. One by one, they all kneeled before me.
“Warn your kin that your King has returned and do not leave this forest, if I see you outside or harm any of these mortals, you can expect a fate worse than death.” I said before sending them away. I turned back again, facing the terrified unicorn.
“Stand.” I ordered. The unicorn seemed confused.
“W-wha-” “We do not have time for pleasantries, do you not wish to see your comrades recover?” I said. The small unicorn seemed to contemplate before weakly standing up. She stared at me for sometime before turning around, reluctantly walking forward in silence.
This mortal is amusing in the way she acts, her mind must be quite the mess after this. She undoubtedly is confused as to why a Demon is helping her, much less one that has the power to submit these wooden wolves, which are, from what I saw, quite a threat to her. Disappointing but amusing nonetheless.
‘But she is quite foolish to show her back to me, even after knowing my origins. Perhaps she is a fool by nature? Intriguing.’ He thought, before smiling as a wicked thought came to his mind.
‘W-what was that! What is he? He’s a Demon! So why is he helping us?
No, he must have ulterior motives. He might stab us in the back if we don’t do something about him! But what can I do? My spell didn’t work, and it was supposed to be a lethal spell! It must be those black scales-. Wait… black scales?’
Twilight looked back at the giant Demon disguised as a pony, and he was indeed covered in black, nearly shiny, scales. Seeing this, she shook in fear as she thought of the worst possibilities. Indeed, she suspected this Demon to be the Demon King Demise himself, but it couldn’t be possible since all that was written of him were myths and legends. Then again, Nightmare Moon was a myth too until not long ago.
She tried with everything she had to deny this, but the facts remained. He suddenly appeared in the Castle of the Two Sisters, which is located inside the Everfree Forest, a forest he, from the legends, cursed. His form is that of a giant earth pony yet it is covered with black scales, characteristic of the Demon King. The powers he showed were unimaginable to her, who excels at the arcane art… and to top it all, he declared himself to be the King of the Timberwolves, who were apparently Demons all along…
‘If he really is the Demon King I read about… then we’re all doomed…’
Twilight then simply continued forward mindlessly, mind blank in despair as she drowned in dark thought, forgetting that the cause of her current state was right behind her, smirking as he felt the darkness grow within her soul.
‘She’s quite resilient, but a mortal is still a mortal.’ The fiend thought as he toyed with the poor little mare’s mind. But it didn’t continue long as soon enough, they reached the edge of the forest.
There, he stopped toying with the mind of the little mare who suddenly had her eyes brighten up when the dark magic influence dissipated. The mare simply looked confused before she looked at him suspiciously, the fire of courage burning in her eyes once again.
The Demon King simply stared at the clear sky, the sun showering the world with its rays. To him, the air felt different, maybe even alien. He knew the reason soon enough, the atmosphere did not have the scent of blood. It made him feel nostalgic as each time he returned to the world, the air would be similar in a way that it lacked the scent of blood.
He smiled, for now the air would stay this way as he had no intention to wreak havoc… for now. At least, he might be able to taste the unknown and seemingly unpleasant flavor of peace for once in his eternal life.
He lowered his gaze and he could see a small town in front of him.
“Is this the small town named Ponyville?” He asked the cautious mare who simply stayed silent as she glared at him. He smirked, amused that the mare would defy him. But before she could say anything, he marched forward, passing right by her.
“No matter, if there is a town, there is shelter and these mortals desperately need one.” He stated while continuing towards the small town.
Twilight panicked as she thought of the worst scenario possible, it being the Demon suddenly destroying the town that was filled with innocent ponies. She gathered her courage and charged up another spell, this one much more powerful than the one she used before. But before she could finish it, the Demon King spoke.
“Stop your foolishness. Your magic is useless against me, it would do more damage to your comrades than to me.” He said as he levitated the two alicorns as well as the 5 other mares that followed her behind him, right in the trajectory of her spell. She widened her eyes and suddenly stopped her spell before glaring at the Demon.
“You monster…” She murmured, but it didn’t escape Demise’s ears.
“If you have enough energy to curse me, then lead me to a place to lay these mortals.” He said, turning his head to the right to look at the purple unicorn. Twilight, after some time, reluctantly walked forward, passing the Demon in the body of a giant pony.
The walk was silent, but one could feel the tension. Twilight made sure to put some distance between them but she still looked behind her from time to time, further amusing the Demon King who couldn’t get enough of the unicorn’s actions towards him.
As they walked, he suddenly remembered his sword, Ghirahim. The only demonic spirit worthy enough to stand beside him, as well as be his very own personal weapon. He wondered what happened to him as it must’ve been an incredibly long time since he was sealed away. Knowing the demon spirit, he probably tried to free him but with the lack of Gods, he probably couldn’t and went into seclusion. Quite a troublesome servant but he could do without him for now.
They finally arrived inside the town, yet it was eerily silent even in daylight. The only sounds they could hear were their own hoofsteps. Then, as they walked right past the town hall, a pony suddenly came bursting through its doors, running straight towards them. It was Mayor Mare. She stopped right in front of Twilight.
“Thank goodness Twilight! The sun is out so you must’ve succeeded! So? Where’s the Princess?” She asked in rapid succession all the while panting before looking around Twilight. Then, she saw not far behind the purple unicorn, a tall and muscular pony that seemed to be covered in scales. And right behind him, she saw 7 unconscious mares levitating.
She ran towards the giant pony, who only stared in silence as the mare inspected the unconscious ponies. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth before she walked right in front of him.
Mayor Mare didn’t expect the pony to be this tall, she nearly had to look straight up just to look at the pony’s face. But once she did so, her face paled as she stared at the burning eyes of the giant… being.
“U-um, did you perhaps help rescuing the Princess?” The small mare asked, using all the energy she had to not falter in front of the intimidating entity.
“Indeed, do you have a place where I could lay these… ponies?” He said, nearly referring to the unconscious ponies as mortals. Mayor Mare, hearing this, breathed a sigh of relief once again now that she knew that the giant and undoubtedly powerful pony-like being helped in the rescue of their ruler.
“Y-yes, of course! Follow me!” She said while hurriedly walking towards the town hall. Twilight simply stared at them before following right behind the Demon, keeping a close eye to the suspicious being who acted too nicely for a Demon. She couldn’t do anything to him, but she could still gain time for the others to flee and prepare in case he ever did anything.
She may be paranoid, but he was a Demon, and it couldn’t possibly be a lie considering the energy he gave off as well as how he acted in front of the Timberwolves. All she has to do is wait for him to slip up and he’s done for… well, somewhat.
Meanwhile, the Demon King simply followed close behind Mayor Mare, smiling again as he felt the purple unicorn’s glare towards him. Even after all she saw, she was still defying him, something that amused him to no end. If her comrades were the same, he couldn’t wait for them to wake up so he could battle once again.
Somewhere in the wasteland far from the lands of Equestria. Evil schemed.
“?!%@#”
“I see…”
“…%&&€”
“A new foe?”
“(!)#&”
“No need to worry, after all he is just a pony. Ponies are full of love and that is their weakness.”
“%#&”
“Yes, it seems we will have to start earlier than expected.”
“%@#&”
“It doesn’t matter, Nightmare Moon’s return weakened the land. And I did hear winds that the Princess was unconscious.”
“?!%”
“Yes, we will have to attack now, soon, we won’t need to suffer from starvation. HAHAHAHAHA”
“…and that’s what happened.” Explained Twilight to Mayor Mare.
They were back at Ponyville and laid down the unconscious mares in the Town Hall instead of the local Health Center, due to the lack of space to fit the seven ponies.
There, while the ponies were treated by the local doctor, Twilight explained what happened to the Mayor. Mayor Mare herself kept warily glancing at the giant pony covered in black scales who was simply staring at the blue sky in contemplation from the windows. The sight itself was quite spectacular, dramatic even. It looked like a painting one would see in a museum where a large pony with a flowing mane and tail would stare at the horizon, as if waiting for something, or somepony. She shook herself from her thoughts.
“I see… and who might that be?” Mayor Mare said while pointing at the still form of the Demon King.
“That… I actually never got his name.” She answered before slowly walking towards the demon.
“Um…” She got nervous.
“Yes?” The Demon asked, not even turning back to look at the small unicorn.
“What’s your name? I never got it.” She asked, still on guard as she faced the back of the large pony.
“My name? Hm… my name. I do not have a name, but the mortals of the past called me Demise.” Twilight gasped, her suspicion proved to be true.
“So it’s true… you really are the Demon King Demise…” Twilight mumbled.
“Oh? You know me? I thought my existence was erased from the world.” The Demon King said, glancing back at the small form of the purple unicorn.
“No… the ponies may have forgotten but the world did not.” She said firmly, staring straight up towards the burning eyes of the Demon King.
“I see, and what will you do with that knowledge? Are you saying that you have enough power to oppose me?” The Demon asked, amused at the reactions of the small unicorn.
“I….” Twilight looked at the ground. Indeed, what could she do? She already saw what he was capable of, and even then she was sure he wasn’t even trying. Soul Drain, Levitation, even power of the monsters of the Everfree Forest.
“That is right, you do not. Those who could oppose me left this world, and the closest thing to them had their souls absorbed by me. But don’t worry, if I wanted this world to burn, I would’ve already done so long ago.” He said, looking back to the bright blue sky.
“Then… why?” Twilight asked, obviously in fear but also with curiosity. She was curious as to why this mighty entity did not end her or any of the others that were there. In fact, all he did was help them.
“Hm… something I craved no longer exists. And ruling a ruined world would be useless. That is all that I will say for now.” He explained, confusing Twilight. Something the Demon King craved? What was it? She understood the ruling of a ruined world, but what did THE Demon King want that no longer exists?
Suddenly, Princess Celestia woke up. She held her head as she felt a headache, but still stood up nonetheless. She stared at the Demon King.
“D… do you intend on hurting my little ponies?” She asked. It was clear that she heard their conversation. It took a moment but the Demon King answered.
“No, as long as none of them oppose me, no.” He simply answered. The Princess still had doubts, but it will do for now.
“Princess! The Summer Sun Celebration!” Exclaimed Mayor Mare, just remembering the celebration after seeing Celestia wake up. Celestia widened her eyes and made a sad smile. Indeed, she had the celebration to… well, celebrate, even if the origins of the celebration made her bitter, she still needed to do it for her little ponies. She will also allow herself to drift away from her duties this one single time.
It was night time and the ponies of Ponyville finally came out of their home. Relieved at their Princess’s return. Since no one touched anything after Nightmare Moon appeared, all the preparations for the celebration were still intact so they could still do the Summer Sun Celebration.
‘The Summer Sun Celebration…. Interesting.’ Demise thought as he stood behind the crowd of ponies excited for the start of the celebration. Even if the event was delayed for a day, they still had to celebrate it.
Of course, the giant of a pony was noticed by most ponies, some were wary and others were scared. But as soon as Twilight announced that he was a major asset in defeating Nightmare Moon, their attitude towards him made a full 180 degree. Although some were still suspicious of him, most were grateful and even went to him to thank him for saving their beloved Princess. Of course, he would simply nod at the gratitude, not saying anything since well… Why would you try speaking with ants? He simply acknowledged their existence.
Although he didn’t particularly hate the ponies, he hated their weakness. To him, they were so unbelievably weak that he thought they’d break if he simply touched them. But he let it slide as an evolution, or more like devolution caused by never having to battle in war for over a thousand years. He sighed in disappointment.
Afterwards, the pony named Mayor Mare made an announcement. He wasn’t really paying attention since it was basically a speech explaining why they even celebrate this day and how she was overall happy for the Princess’s return.
‘The Princess…’ He thought as he blankly stared at the tall white pony behind the still talking Mayor Mare.
An Alicorn, the highest ranking member of the pony society considered as royals. He understood the reason, the Alicorn in front of him had quite the magic aura. A flaming light, shining brightly for all to see. Compared to the thin layer of magic aura that all the other ponies had, it was quite impressive. Of course, it was still insignificant to his own, whose darkness would cover the entire continent if he let it all loose, but it was still noticeable.
Then, the speech ended and the Princess came upfront. She expressed her happiness for this day and especially for the return of her little sister, who was sent to Canterlot Castle to rest. And then…
‘I see… so Her blood still runs even to this day…’ He thought as he stared at the Alicorn rising to the air, as well as the Sun rising above the horizon behind her. Movement of Celestial Bodies, something only possible with either large amount of magic power… Or Divine Powers.
Demise smiled, pleased to see that his eternal nemesis still exists to this day. Although not in all her glory, that Goddess who earned the respect of the Demon King still exists in the blood of that Alicorn.
Celestia flew back to the ground, her heart warming up at seeing the smiles of her little ponies. And to her surprise, she caught on the face of the black giant at the back, a small smile too. She was confused, that smile, to her surprise, was a genuine one. She could not begin to think why a Demon of all thing would smile at such a happy time.
Then she had a thought. Maybe this one was actually good inside compared to the demons she knew? It was impossible as she clearly heard the being refer to himself as The Demon King… well she heard it from Twilight who briefed her on what happened before starting the ceremony. She honestly forgot she even had a book about him, her mind taken by the return of her dear sister at the time.
Of course, when she heard the title of the book, she instantly remembered the Demon. Who wouldn’t? Especially those from the Royal Family? Honestly she was quite ashamed of forgetting such a tale. A tale of a Demon King, if not Demon God. Immortal and near omnipotent who threatened the world countless times with his armies of demons and whose origins transcended time itself.
But now that she looked at the genuine smile on the Demon King, who seemed to stare at the ponies laughing and being happy, made her wonder. Were those stories really true? Maybe the entity was misunderstood and the only reason why only his bad deeds were recorded was because he was oppressed by those of the ancient time, and he finally snapped.
She frowned a little, unnoticed by all. Of course that would be the case since she of all ponies would know how the old civilization viewed all who were different from them.
She shook her head, making sure to not touch such sensitive memories again. She looked at the possibly misunderstood Demon, whose Kingdom probably no longer exists anymore. She felt bad, if her guess was right, his people were probably all annihilated in front of him before he was sealed away. It would explain his appearance and his eyes so full of hatred.
Demise shook himself out of his reminiscence of the past, just in time to notice an intriguing sight. The Princess, who was previously so cautious of him, was currently sending him a gentle and sympathetic smile. It was quite a peculiar sight, but an expected thing considering the origin of her blood. He never understood that Goddess, even through countless battles. Was it maybe that thing his demons said? About a female’s confusing nature? He didn’t really care anyways, and so he turned back. Walking towards the forest.
As he walked, he thought about what had happened since his awakening. Compared to his countless others, this one was quite… peaceful. For his entire life, he only knew the flames of war, ever since the start of his existence in a world that no longer exists. He only knew the sight of blood.
For once in his life, he was feeling at peace. Those who drove his unimaginable hatred no longer exist in this world, some are just simple fragments of what they once were. The same happened to the supreme power he sought, gone from the world.
He was lost in his thoughts once again, not noticing the white alicorn following him from behind.
Celestia chuckled, but she still had a sad smile on her face. She thought the undoubtedly powerful entity would notice her when she started following him. But once she looked at the face of the giant pony-like being, in her misunderstanding, she thought he was reminiscing about the past, more particularly, his own kingdom. Seeing her little ponies happy faces probably reminded him of his own people, she thought.
“What is it that you want from me?” The tall pony said, stopping in his tracks. She was shaken out of her thoughts with how sudden it was. She coughed and regained her composure.
“I just wanted to know where you are going, you are somewhat my savior after all.” She said while smiling.
“I see. I simply wish to return to the only thing I possess.” He said while looking at the dark forest. Celestia understood, the Everfree Forest is said to be cursed by the Demon King himself long ago.
‘It is probably the only remnant of his fallen kingdom.’ Celestia thought, deeper in her misunderstanding. She was about to say something, but she was interrupted by the ground shaking, caused by Demise stomping his front legs on it. He did it 3 times, it confused the Princess as she didn’t know what he was doing.
Then, she heard howls from the forest, countless howls as well as rustling could be heard from within the shadows of the forest. Then, one by one, hundreds if not thousands of the forest dwellers came out of the forest, right in front of her. She was on guard, charging up spells as her horn lit with a yellow aura. She doubted she could handle all of them, but Ponyville was right behind her.
“Stand down, Celestia.” She was surprised to be addressed directly by her name. She looked at the Demon King, then back at the horde of monsters which was composed of Timberwolves, Manticores and even Hydras. All feared monsters from within the forest.
“HEAR ME!” The Demon King suddenly shouted, a shout so loud it might as well shake the ground with the force.
“THIS IS AN ORDER FROM YOUR KING. DEFEND THE PONIES OF THIS TOWN EVEN IF IT COSTS YOU YOUR LIVES. I WILL TREAT ALL THOSE WHO DISOBEY ME AS DEFIANCE AGAINST ME, AND YOUR EXISTENCE WILL BE BROUGHT TO AN END.” The King decreed, and all of the monsters bowed to him. Celestia had her eyes as wide as dinner plates during the entire interaction. Never before has she seen such loyalty, to carry the order of their King without hesitation. Even if they were all monsters, she could tell from them kneeling that their faith in him was unbreakable. She also couldn’t help but smile as she heard the order of the Demon King. Protection over her little ponies, especially the ones she wasn’t sure she could protect the instant something happened here.
“Thank you…” She couldn’t help but say. The Demon turned around and stared directly at her as the monsters retreated back into the forest. She was still not used to this hateful stare, but unlike before, seeing such fury made her sad.
‘One day, I will make sure those flames are extinguished…’ She promised to herself.
“Now then, I do believe I requested to be by your side once you recovered. Is that castle perhaps yours?” The tall pony asked as he pointed at the majestic castle hanging by the mountain side.
“Y-yes.” She answered, a little flustered by how he worded his request.
“Lead the way then Celestia.” He said, the mention of her name without title made her more flustered. She nodded before walking forward, shaking herself out of those embarrassing thoughts. She did owe him that much for not only saving her, but also getting rid of Nightmare Moon and Day Breaker.
Meanwhile, the Demon King simply hummed in silence. Intrigued by the strange act of the pony princess, although this might be due to her blood since after all, Hylia herself was quite strange. He simply smiled, after all, it wasn’t always that the Demon King spent this much time clean of blood. Though it might change in the near future…
It has been a few weeks since Demise awakened. Wandering aimlessly the mountain castle halls.
There was nothing, not a single significant thing happening during those weeks. There were simply mortals being mortals, all trying to survive in this world where Death is a threat to all… but not to him. Death would not claim the soul of the Demon King for he could not take from what is equal or even higher than himself.
Demise would be often seen standing on one of the castle tower’s balconies, staring in contemplation at the sky. Nopony knew what went through his mind, not even the Princesses who would often interact with him.
At first it was only Princess Celestia who, in her misunderstanding, tried to befriend the ancient being. She thought that his behavior was due to him being lost in the past, a past where he was a King with a Kingdom. Oh how wrong she was…
The Demon King would sometimes think of the past, true, but he was simply meditating. Gathering his strength and absorbing, little by little, the energy saturating the atmosphere. Since there was nothing else to do besides that, aside from the usual slaughter he’d normally do but won’t to keep his reputation as a mysterious savior of the Princess of the Sun.
He did learn some things from his stay at the Castle of course, like how these “nobles” would sometimes gossip about him, saying that he was either a malicious entity who manipulated the Princess, or a benevolent being in the body of a monster. Some of these families even went as far as giving one of their daughters to him in hopes of acquiring his power over the Princess. Foolish mortals indeed.
Then there was this one pony, Blueblood who is apparently a distant relative of the Princess and a resident of the Castle. He would always complain about his presence in the Castle, saying that a plebeian like him shouldn’t live with someone like him. The Demon King let it pass each times as he, to his pleasant surprise, gained a lot of patience since his return.
Talking about the arrogant unicorn, he was currently on his way to meet with the gigantic pony, who was currently having his usual stroll around the Castle.
“You! I challenge you to a duel!” Blueblood suddenly shouted. Some of the guards stationed here turned their heads towards the unicorn, wondering if he had lost his mind. The castle guards were well trained after all and they would not dare take up arms against the giant pony, partly because of direct royal orders but mostly because of their instincts, screaming at them to run away from the monstrous pony.
Demise simply looked at him, amused and honestly relieved. It’s been a few weeks since he’s done nothing after all, he just wandered around the castle without even once doing mischief. If he was being honest, he practically wished for something to happen.
“I see. Very well, due to the fact that I’m in a good mood, I will let you choose the rules of this duel.” Demise said, honestly curious of how the unicorn will undoubtedly make the duel disadvantageous to him. Blueblood smirked.
“Ha! It’s to be expected that it goes by MY rules, I don’t see you plebeian knowing how a noble’s duel works. Meet me at the city’s plaza tomorrow morning. It’ll be a public execution of your credibility as my aunt’s savior! And don’t you dare be absent as it will prove your unworthiness of the title of savior!” The arrogant pony said before turning around and walking away.
The Demon King frowned, disappointed at the unicorn as he now knew that his defiance was not due to courage but foolishness as the pony did not once show the instinctual fear all living beings have of him. But it didn’t matter, he was after all quite tame these past few weeks and he wasn’t ignorant of the ponies doubts of him. He will show them, show them the power of a True Demon.
She didn’t like this one bit. Her foolish nephew will get himself killed, and the duel was so sudden she didn’t have time to stop it. And now she was at Canterlot’s plaza, the very center of the city in which she resides with all the other “noble” ponies, sitting on a golden throne the ponies prepared before the start of the duel. She still wondered how they managed to make it in such a short time. And next to her was her sister who was sitting on an obsidian throne. Although she knew that the ponies were uncertain of her, she was still happy that they showed her the respect she deserves, if only they could start loving her too.
Then, there were the royal guards around them, keeping the ponies from disturbing the two alicorns. And finally there was the ponies themselves, all around the center of the city, merchants used this to gain more customers who wouldn’t resist buying snacks to watch the duel. Some ponies even made flags with either Blueblood or Demise’s face on them, waving them around to support their idols. And there were of course those who were betting on who would win.
Honestly, she still wondered how the ponies were able to prepare this in such a short time. She was certain her nephew challenged the Demon King yesterday, unless he prepared it beforehand which would be incredibly suspicious.
At the center, where the contestants would duel, stood Blueblood. Smirking proudly as he waved at the ponies. But, there was no Demon King to be seen. Blueblood scoffed.
“Ha! The coward actually did not come!” Blueblood shouted in arrogance. Celestia sighed, she really wondered where he got that arrogance from, certainly not from her. The ponies booed and laughed as they all assumed the supposed savior chickened out. But then, all felt it, even her. The sky became darker and darker as black clouds gathered in the sky, blocking the sunlight. Then they all heard a voice coming from every direction.
“Tell me. Who did you refer to as a coward?” The voice said, she instantly knew that it was Demise as she recognized the voice, but those who did not know him were trembling in fear, all of them turning to their Princesses for protection. She told them to not panic as it was the other fighter. Of course, this did not calm them in any ways, but they did become curious as to how an, from what they saw, earth pony managed to do such feats which could only be done by either powerful unicorns or even alicorns.
Then, a dark pillar of energy descended upon the temporary arena, sending out a dark shockwave that knocked some ponies on the ground. The dark clouds gathered at the dark pillar, using it to descend to the mortal world below. Even though the clouds were no longer here to cover the sun, the sky was still somehow darker than what a sunny sky would usually be like.
Some of the ponies couldn’t see past the curtains of the dark energy, but those who could, like the pegasus who had better eyesight, saw the dark clouds twisting and morphing inside the pillar before taking the form of the pony covered in scales they were all familiar with. Once the pillar of dark energy dissipated, they could all finally see the Demon King in his full glory, it impressed them all, except one.
“Hmph, I commend your mastery in illusions but they won’t work on me. There’s no way a plebeian like you to hold the power you displayed with your illusions.” Blueblood said, completely certain that what he saw was mere illusion, but oh how wrong he was.
All the unicorns here felt it. The darkened sky, the pillar of pure energy and even the being himself. Impossible amount of magic power, or at least something similar to it, was used to make all those events. It was as if the giant pony was the embodiment of dark energy.
“So? You spoke of rules in this duel, what are they?” Demise asked while assessing the magical capabilities of his foe, which was as expected infinitely small.
“No one will interrupt us and we can use all the tricks we want, a show of pity to you who can do nothing but use petty tricks. And it is not a duel to death in respect to my aunt who finds disgust in blood.” Blueblood smirked as he charged his horn.
Everypony waited in anticipation, they all waited for the Princesses to start the duel with a spell. Celestia nodded to her sister, they both shot a bright beam to the sky, and all hell broke loose.
The earth shook and trembled, the ponies were confused, the unicorns nearly passed out, and the alicorns frowned as they stared at the display of power. Blueblood didn’t even have time to unleash the spell he was charging. Much like how he appeared, a dark pillar rose but it was bigger and far more powerful.
Elsewhere, monsters became agitated. Deep in the forests, spirits and ghosts woke as they felt the power of their ancestors. Deep below the earth, where the remains of all who lived, woke back again into the world of mortals, the souls stolen from heaven and corrupted by this evil power now possessed the undead.
Back in the arena, the Demon King simply observed as he let his powers influence the world. He could feel it, the demon’s who were sealed were released, those who slept awoke and the mortals weak to temptation succumbed to his power. The ecstasy he was feeling from the liberation of his power was not unknown to him, and not unpleasant either. But he couldn’t let himself be drunk with power, so he focused on the foolish mortal that dared defy him.
“Foolish pony, to raise your magic against me. Know despair.” Soon after the Demon King said those words, a black mist blasted its way towards the paralyzed unicorn. Then, he fell unconscious while a dark aura could be seen enveloping his horn, effectively draining all the magic that was used to charge the spell Blueblood was about to use, turning the once white horn into a completely rotten and dark horn that looked like it would fall apart at any moment.
Celestia, seeing all of this happening, feared the worst. As she was about to run to see how his nephew was doing, she was abruptly stopped by Demise himself. She looked at him, ready to scold him but found herself confused instead as she stared at the unusually angry face of the Demon King, well, more angry than usual. She looked at where he was staring, and saw her little ponies yet they acted strange.
Then, countless ponies from within the crowd that gathered to see the duel were enveloped in a green flame before turning into black insect-like ponies with green transparent wings. Changelings. The guards that accompanied her and her sister here went into a battle stance, already surrounding the Princesses and the Demon King like a shield to protect them from the impostors.
“Interesting.” Celestia heard Demise say behind her, she didn’t really know why he’d say that and she didn’t have time to think about it. Her little ponies were probably captured by the changelings right under her nose for who knows how long.
“These fiends!” She snarled as she flew up to charge a power spell filled with her anger. But she didn’t notice the green object flying straight at her from above.
“Sister!” Screamed Luna in her royal voice.
“Argh!” Celestia was hit by the object and fell back to the ground, nearly falling into unconsciousness. The object that hit her was revealed to be none other than the changeling Queen herself.
“HAHAHA! Stupid little princess, to be so blind as to not notice than none of your subjects were ever here to begin with!” Chrysalis said as she flew above the surrounded ponies and Demon.
“Insect, do you truly believe you can defeat me?” Said the Demon King as he glared at the changeling queen. Chrysalis stared at him and laughed.
“It’s useless Demon! No matter how much power you may wield, you are surrounded by thousands of my children! I admit that your display of power was quite impressive but it’s nothing against the might of the Changeling Hive powered by weeks of absorbed love!” She said as thousands upon thousands of changelings flew in the air, filling the sky with countless flying changelings.
The guards that were still themselves trembled in fear, losing their hope as they stared at the army of changelings who definitely looked taller and more ferocious than they were supposed to be. Luna glared at the changeling queen, not wanting to fall without a fight, her sister next to her.
Demise though, didn’t seem to be bothered by the situation. And then, he laughed, a laugh that sounded deep and ominous. All those present here listened as the laugh echoed, the Princesses looked at him like he had gone mad or something.
“Foolish mortal, it is YOU who are surrounded.” He said, then the ground shook and the sky darkened. Chrysalis, confused, looked at the horizon and the plains down below.
She saw, as the sky became darker and darker, the vast green space split apart. From the cracks on the ground came hundreds… thousands… millions of unknown creatures. Some looked like the reanimated fossils of monsters from ages long forgotten, others looked like undead ponies and the rest did not even look like the living or the unliving, simply animated rocks or moving lava.
She looked up and saw dark clouds appear, much like earlier, they covered the sun yet they also swirled in a way that it looked like a typhoon. And, from the eye of the storm came dark lightning and abominations. What looked like miniature dragons as well as dragons themselves descended. On them were monsters that wielded swords and bows as well as wands that seemed to store lighting inside of them.
The mountain top cracked and exploded, the rocks that fell somehow did not fall on the city’s buildings, always landing either on the changelings or on the streets. To her horror, the rocks came to life, moving like living beings and marching towards her and her little children.
“Behold the might of the Demons, and fall into the pits of the underworld where you will all feed my people with your souls!” The Demon King declared as purple and dark smoke exploded from his body. And from it rose a giant monster made of this dark smoke, two glowing red eyes shone from within the amorphous body of darkness, and then…
Twilight ran as fast as she could towards Canterlot, due to the current crisis the train was unable to do its duty so all she could do was run towards the city on the mountain.
“Twilight! Wait!” shouted the ponies that were running or flying after her. A rainbow mare easily catched up to her.
“Twilight! What’s happening?!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she flew next to the purple unicorn.
“Canterlot is under attack! I received a letter from Princess Celestia!” She replied. But she suddenly came to a stop, making the ponies following her stop themselves.
“Why did you st-” Pinkie Pie started to say but was interrupted when a hoof came in front of her mouth, telling her to quiet down.
“Wait… look.” Twilight said as she pointed at the green plains in front of them. All of them squinted their eyes and were shocked. There, on the road that led directly towards the city’s gates, marched an army of monsters.
“What entire nation!” Yelled AppleJack as they stared at the marching army of monsters heading straight towards Canterlot.
“My goodness! What in equestria are those things?!” Exclaimed Rarity as she fell dramatically backwards onto a couch that appeared out of nowhere.
“They’re probably the ones attacking Canterlot city! Come on girls! We have to stop them!” Said Twilight. She was suddenly held back as she started to charge into the frey of monsters.
“Wait! Look!” Said Fluttershy who was the one stopping Twilight from potentially killing herself as she pointed inside the crowd of monsters.
Twilight looked and was shocked once again from what she was seeing. There, right in the middle of the armed monsters walked ghost like monsters carrying what looked like injured ponies. She stared at where they were going and her eyes widened when she saw what looked like a dark hospital-like building surrounded by… moving boulders? She honestly didn’t know. Then it clicked in her mind.
“This is Demise’s army…” She mumbled under her breath but it was still heard by the ponies around her.
“Who?” Asked Rainbow Dash who was honestly not feeling the ominous name Demise.
“Demise, the large pony that saved us and the Princess when Nightmare Moon came back.” Twilight explained getting gasped from everypony who heard her, which were the main six.
“You mean THAT big guy?!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash who couldn’t really remember much before she fainted, but she still remembered the cool looking giant pony that, at the time, looked like he defeated Nightmare Moon all alone.
“OH! WE HAVE TO THROW A BIG ‘THANK YOU FOR SAVING US AND THE PRINCESS’ PARTY WHEN WE SEE HIM!” Yelled Pinkie Pie as she popped right in front of Twilight with confetti exploding outwards, effectively startling the purple unicorn.
“So… Does that mean that we won’t have to do anything? ‘Cause it looks like these folks are handling everything just fine.” Said AppleJack.
“They’re probably kidnapping those injured ponies as hostages.” Said Rarity as she stared in disgust at the dark hospital. Twilight frowned as she heard her say that.
“Let’s go see what they’re doing to the ponies.” Twilight said as she walked towards the dark building, the others following close behind her.
They started to be a little scared once they got closer to the seemingly endless amount of monsters coming from the cracks on the ground right behind the dark hospital, they questioned where such a building came from in the first place. The long line of monsters didn’t seem to acknowledge them once they got closer to it, so they used that to inspect the monsters themselves.
There were all kinds of monsters there, some small red demons with what looked like machetes or bows and even some carried bombs. Then, there would be those big red demons that looked like a big and fat version of the small red ones, they would either wield a wooden shield or an iron shield with a lance on the other hand. They’d also see what looked like skeletons of bipedal beings they didn’t know of, some wielded 2 swords in each hand or even 4 swords for those that had 4 arms. Not only that but in the sky where the portal like typhoon was, countless draconic looking monsters came from the portal or even dragons themselves, though those dragons didn’t look like any of those they knew. And all of those monsters were heading towards Canterlot.
“Wow, these guys look tough.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew around some of the monsters who completely ignored her.
“And they also don’t seem to see us.” Twilight said. She was tempted to interrupt one of the demons, and she did as she levitated one of the small red demons. The demon started to squirm around but stopped once it was facing Twilight.
“What do you want?” The demon creepily said with a deep and familiar voice as well as its eyes glowing a bright fiery red. Twilight jumped back and lost focus on the levitation spell she was using. The demon fell on the ground unharmed, then it stood back up and stared directly at Twilight and the others. They were all quiet as they didn’t know what was happening.
“So? I assume you want to know what is happening?” Said the demon and Twilight suddenly knew which voice it belonged to.
“D-Demise?” She asked the demon who simply nodded.
“Yes it is me, I’m speaking to you directly through this little minion.” The demon now known as the Demon King speaking through the small demon said, shocking the 6 ponies even more.
“How in equestria?!” Exclaimed Twilight as she started to furiously examine the small red demon while the others simply stared at her.
“A simple spell, but explanation will have to wait. I have some pests to take care of so quickly and say what you wanted to say.” Demise said a little irritated. Twilight was still trying to understand how it was possible for the Demon King to speak through another being entirely so Rainbow Dash started the questioning.
“What in the hay is happening in Canterlot!” She demanded, annoying Demise a little.
“An army of what is apparently known as changelings rudely interrupted my duel against a foolish pony.” Said Demise and there were already more questions plaguing the minds of the girls minus one who was still too focused on the demonic spell. As none of them knew what a changeling was, Applejack continued.
“Wha’ are these changelings fellas?” She asked.
“Pests that take the form of whatever they want. It looks like they took the form of ponies and infiltrated the city, kidnapping ponies for whatever things they planned to do with them. The ponies that were found are currently being carried by some of my minions back to a more appropriate place to rest.” Demise explained.
“Um… what are those monsters?” Fluttershy surprisingly said before hiding behind Rarity as the demon stared at her.
“My demons, My army and My subjects. All of those that were sealed or in deep slumber now awoke to my call as their King and are fighting for me against those insects.” Demise said with the charisma of a true ruler. The 6 mares could barely register that all of those monsters were basically what they as ponies would be to Celestia but with Demise. They were in awe at how loyal and fierce they looked like with some traces of fear in it.
“They’re…. your people?” Twilight asked, confused as she really thought he lost his kingdom, from the letters the Princess sent at least.
“They’re not just my people, they’re my descendants, my blood, my essence and in a way… me.” Demise stated as the entire army stopped in their tracks to look at the 6 ponies, all with the same look the little red demon gave them, eyes that glowed as brightly as the one the giant pony had. This creeped them all out to no end, but it thankfully didn’t last long as the demons continued their way with the small red demon they were talking to following back in the line. The 6 ponies were left behind, dumbfounded by what they learned. Especially Twilight who understood how the Demon King could communicate with them through that small red demon, because that demon was, in a way, him. To have all your subjects be themselves and also you… it’s honestly unbelievable.
“So… what do we do now?” Asked AppleJack as they all clearly understood that everything would be dealt with by Demise.
“Let’s go check on the injured ponies, they would probably need somepony familiar to calm down as I’m not sure they’d feel quite safe around… those.” Twilight said as she stared at the ghosts carrying the unconscious ponies back to the dark building.
“You’re right, I don’t know what I’d do if I ended up in a place filled with these demons…” Said Fluttershy. Making up their minds, they all walked towards the dark building, the demons actually let them through as they got in front of the doors of the building, which was made of unknown material to all of them.
“What is this you monster!” Exclaimed a very distressed Chrysalis as she looked at her children either getting sliced like butter or crushed like insects, green blood spreading across the entire city as the carnage continued.
“Your End.” Demise simply said as he sent a shockwave of dark winds towards the flying pest, knocking her down onto the ground. There, she lay defenseless and somehow out of energy. She heard hoofsteps, they became louder and louder and then, right in front of her casting a shadow over her entire being stood the monstrous Demon she thought was but a single and lonely entity.
“Foolish mortal who dare aim your fangs at me, observe as I crush you and your pitiful excuse of an army.” The Demon said as he levitated the paralysed queen to make her look at the horrors his army was doing to her children.
Stalfos and StalMasters beheaded some of the changelings, making sure to make it as painful as possible before ending their miserable lives. Moblins would pierce and impale those foolish enough to fly towards them, they bashed the changelings that flew to them with their towering shields stunning them in the process before piercing their bodies with their mighty spears. The bokoblins, depending on what they were wielding, would shoot, bomb or slash easily through the weak carapace of the changelings. What was worse was that they couldn’t flee to the sky as even there, monsters with draconic features waited for them. Those that were big enough like the dragons ate the changelings whole while the smaller aeralfos flew straight towards the flying insects, swords pointed right to where their hearts would be before slashing cleanly through them, letting green blood rain down the city. Even if some managed to avoid the dragons and the aeralfos, they would be shot down by the boblins riding on the dragons who had wands that shot lightning.
And Chrysalis watched all of this, forced by the impossibly strong magical grasp of the Demon King to never blink and to take the massacre straight to her memory. So she cried, she wept at the carnage and felt remorse and regret at her decision. She may have used her soldiers like pawns, but they were still childs she birthed herself and no matter how cruel a mother was, none of them would bear the sight of all her children being massacred right in front of her eyes.
“Demise! What’s going on!” Celestia said as she came through the bloody mess that was the current streets of Canterlot, years of being alive barely kept her from throwing up at the sight.
“A minute please, I’m currently teaching this insect the consequences of defying me.” Demise said not even turning around. Celestia couldn’t really see what he was doing, but she could clearly hear the cries of the changeling queen, begging him to stop and spare her children. It honestly broke her heart so she held her head up high.
“Stop Demise, you don’t need to go so far.” She said sternly, but her courage nearly faded away once the Demon King turned around with the changeling queen in his magical grasp. She was horrified to see the bloodshot eyes of Chrysalis with a fountain of tears coming out of them, and next to her was the being she once thought to be a lonely sorrowful king without a kingdom, now looking more like a mad entity filled with bloodlust. His overall face didn’t change but his smile sent shivers down her spine, sharp fangs tainted with green blood entered her sight. She wondered where he could’ve drunk that blood but nearly threw up once she saw the wounds on the changeling queen’s body. He slowly ate her like a predator hungrily tearing apart its prey.
“Stop!” Celestia said as she ran straight at the levitating body of the changeling queen, but couldn’t reach her as she was pulled back behind the giant black pony.
“Why?” The Demon King said in perfect sanity, as if the madness he was doing was completely normal.
“Because it’s wrong!” She yelled at him, opening her wings wide open as she glared at the giant pony.
“They need to be judged for taking your subjects no?” He said as he still held the now unconscious bleeding body of the changeling queen.
“They will be judged but not by you!” She said before flaring her horn and trying to take over Demise’s grasp on Chrysalis.
Demise on the other hand was quite perplexed, in his mind this was the fastest and most effective way to make sure the enemy stopped attacking in the future. By crushing their hope and ability to ever retaliate in the future. Honestly he never really tried that before since he would simply crush the entirety of the opposing kingdom without leaving a single trace of survivors. Right now it was the first time he let an enemy alive, even though they’d end up all alone without an army, it still made more sense than whatever this foolish princess was thinking.
But he will let it pass as he felt quite refreshed after his battle. The ponies he rescued would soon be awake anyways and from the thousands upon thousands of changelings that initially attacked, less than a hundred survived including their queen.
“Very well.” He said as he let go of Chrysalis, healing all her wounds in the process. Unfortunately she would still have the injuries casted on her mind, unforgettable memories of this torture. He simply turned around and let out a powerful wave of magic that cleaned the entire city of the mess he made.
“You know where to find me, I leave the rest to you.” The Demon King said before evaporating into that dark ghostly form and flying to the Castle.
Celestia continued to glare at the retreating dark mist before looking at the army of demons, those in the sky retreated back into the wormhole in the sky and those on the ground returned to the ground, all taking their hunted prey with them in glee. Soon, everything returned back to normal, albeit with a silent city and the unconscious body of the changeling queen.
Celestia sighed as she wondered when all of this went so down the hill. She then walked towards the Castle where Luna awaited there due to her returning to the Castle right when the battle started to defend the Castle.
Celestia felt exhausted due to all the recent events. Thanks to Demise’s spell she didn’t have to deal with planning the cleaning of the entire city. The bloody scene was still fresh in her mind.
She shook her head before looking back at the document she held with her magic. All the information concerning the recent invasion was compiled in this one document. Casualties, collateral damage, events and activities canceled or reported at a later date, etc.
Although the ancient demon’s way of things wasn’t to her liking, actually scratch that, she hated how the demon dealt with the ordeal. Equestria hasn’t seen a single drop of blood on its soil for over a thousand years, and she really believed it would stay this way for the rest of its time on Equus.
She could understand why the entity would go to such extreme measures, at least she assumed she understood. Such an ancient being whose entire species was centered around blood and war. She saw first hoof after all, how the fallen armies of demons rose against the changelings.
The memory was like a nightmare, yet she couldn’t help but be at awe at such display of power. Necromancy, Elemental Manipulation, Transformation. All simple areas of magic, with Necromancy being banned for millennia, yet the Demon King showed overwhelming mastery in but a single day. Manipulating the weather, the entire atmosphere changed, raising an army of millions from beneath the earth as well as completely transforming oneself into an amorphous form like mist.
The event itself was like a fairytale of old, where Arcane Masters wielded the very fabric of reality, much like an old foe of hers who remained sealed in a prison of stone.
She sighed, there was no reason to think of the past, much less now since she has to deal with the aftermath of the event. Thankfully, there were no casualties aside from the opposite force, who was completely annihilated with only a few hundred survivors from the thousands that invaded the city.
There was a knock on her door.
“’Tis I, Sister.” A powerful voice said from the other side of the door. She smiled, maybe it wasn’t so bad now that she had her sister back.
“Come in.” She said warmly, unable to stop the smile from forming on her face once she saw the azure alicorn enter.
“Luna! It’s good to see you.” She said as she calmly walked towards her sister before hugging the small alicorn.
“The dialect of this current age still bewilders me.” The lunar princess answered while hugging back.
“You will have to get used to it, now, what can I do to help you?” The solar princess asked.
“The fiend, surely thou sees the danger it poses? I cannot bear to live under the same abode as that sister.” The lunar Princess said as she glared at the shadowy silhouette of the Demon King turned pony on the balcony of the other tower.
“I understand, but I also cannot allow him to leave the castle, who knows what may happen to whoever tries to provoke him.” Celestia said with a tinge of fear in her voice, which didn’t go unnoticed by Luna.
“Is it truly a power that requires such fear and caution?” Luna asked, which was answered by an exhausted nod.
Indeed, although they made a deal that the Demon would reside in the castle until something happens that may change their mind, she still felt uneasy around the dangerous entity. It wasn’t everyday that she let a being who exudes this much pressure by just existing near where she sleeps. Actually now that she thought about it, the deal was done quite hastily, and there’s no reason for either party to even follow the deal itself.
The confused expression on the solar princess was soon noticed by the lunar princess.
“What troubles you sister?” Luna asked as she stared worryingly at her sister.
“It’s nothing, I just thought it was odd that we accepted a being like him so fast and so easily.” Celestia said. Luna’s eyes widened as she too, realized the odd occurrence.
“Thou speaks the truth sister, never before have I let my guard down with outsiders, much less a demonkin of all things. Mayhaps a spell of some sort?”
“It’s possible, even now as I look at his form, I cannot feel a single amount of danger. At least towards me or the ponies. Strange, yet when his gaze turns towards me, I cannot help but feel under the pressure of a predator, even if death never comes.” Celestia answered, intrigued by the bizarre situation.
Now that she thought about it, it was definitely thoughtless of her. Back at her old castle, her mind was clouded with worry over the unconscious form of her sister, even when the being clearly exuded this much bloodlust, she still struck up a conversation with the being.
“In any case, we cannot simply leave him unchecked, much less wander aimlessly in the world. The power he displayed showed that he has enough power to overthrow every nation on Equus, I might even say he’s on par with Discord, if not more powerful.” Celestia said as she returned to her desk.
“Truly? What of the Elements of Harmony?” Luna asked as she started getting more worried of their ability to contain Demise, which she now realized was nonexistent since the beginning.
“The six mares that were present at the old castle all have the potential to wield them, yet the situation was resolved too quickly and thus they didn’t have the time to awaken. They all currently reside in Ponyville, and from the letters I received during the weeks before the invasion, they all seem to be getting along well.” Celestia explained as she tidied her desk, leaving the paperwork for a later date.
“Hm, ‘tis truly a shame then. I shall return to my chambers for my duties will soon begin.” Luna said. Celestia looked at her personal clock and it was indeed time for her to lower the sun.
“Well then, I’ll go and lower the sun, goodnight sister.”
“Rest well Tia.” Luna replied while smiling, which also put a smile on the sun princess.
“So they finally noticed the little parasite I implanted…” Demise said as he watched from the balcony of his room. It was quite the cozy room too, not that he needed it anyways.
The Resurrected demon took a glance at the retreating blue alicorn, before laying his eyes on the sun princess who was readying herself to sleep.
‘Cursed goddess, forever doomed to face me.’ The demon thought before turning into his phantom form. A humongous mass of dark clouds forming above the city of Canterlot.
He gazed at the city bathing in moonlight. Bat ponies patrolling the streets, and house lights turning off one by one.
‘Peace…’ The demon turned mist mused before the mass of darkness slowly expanded outwards, making sure not to block the moonlight.
He stretched his misty body to the four corners of the world, countless eyes forming in the clouds invisible to the mortals below. Unaware that the abyss was watching them from above.
The Demon King searched for something, or someone. His call only reached a few kilometers around Canterlot during the changelings invasion, yet somehow it was enough to resurrect millions of dark spirits. The sun princess may not be as innocent as he thought. But his call only reached so far, and it didn’t reach the one thing he wanted to call for.
‘Where are you, Ghirahim…’ For that was the one he searched with his countless eyes. His sword. He could still feel him in this world, they were linked down to their souls after all, yet he could not find him. All he found were remnants.
Up north he found traces of a demon of shadows. East he could see the volcanos and hear the roars of a fire demon. West he could hear the wailing of a Storm, possibly a demon of the skies. And south he could feel the rumbling of a sleeping desert worm.
So many demonic entities sealed or deep in slumber, but no traces of his sword.
The clouds returned, reforming back on the balcony of the demon’s bedroom. And there stood once again the demon king in the form of an equine.
