Prologue

"C'mon... almost got it..." Nero grunted as he tried to reach for his toolbox.

He was currently in his garage, lying on a mechanic's creeper underneath the Devil May Cry van. Kyrie was out shopping for groceries and Nico said she was going to buy some tools to work on his devil breakers, leaving Nero all by his lonesome. The van had been due for a tune up, so Nero decided to spend the afternoon working on it. He was almost finished, and just needed to make some final adjustments. Unfortunately, the spanner wrench he needed was just out of his reach.

He could've just used his devil bringer, but then he would risk flipping the van over.

For a second, Nero stopped reaching and stared at his right arm. A whole month had passed since the Qliphoth incident, yet Nero still wasn't entirely used to having a normal arm again. He first got his demon arm after protecting Kyrie from a demon years ago. His arm had been injured, and it transformed soon after. For a while, he believed he was cursed, until Dante came along and showed him otherwise.

After that, his arm had been ripped off by his father so he could take Yamato back. That's when it was replaced with Nico's many Devil Breakers. He still uses them from time to time for taking care of demons. However, never in a million years would Nero have expected to grow his human arm back.

At the time it happened, he hadn't cared much. He had been too focused on keeping Dante and his father from killing each other. Once he had time to actually process it though, he had to pinch himself just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He had just gotten so used to his arm being different that seeing it look normal was actually weird to him.

He shook the thoughts out of his head and went back to reaching for the wrench. The van wasn't gonna fix itself.

"Just a bit further..."

He stopped reaching when he felt the wrench being placed in his hand. Guess Nico must be back with her tools.

"Ah, thanks Nico."

"My pleasure, but I would prefer you get my name right." Nero froze when an unfamiliar voice responded. He swiftly slid out from under the van and was greeted with... he wasn't even sure what he was looking at, to be honest.

The creature was long and thin, and its body was a mismatched jumble of different animal parts. He had a lion's paw for his right arm, an eagle's claw for his left arm, a lizard's foot for his right leg, and a goat hoof for his left leg. On his head was a deer antler and a goat horn, and he had a reptilian looking tail. On top of that, he had a pair of wings. One was a that of a bat's while the other looked like an eagle's, only it was blue. A single fang hung from its mouth.

Nero had a feeling symmetry wasn't in this guy's vocabulary.

The devil hunter was quick to get to his feet. He stared down the strange creature, eyeing him with suspicion.

"So, just what the hell are you? You a demon?" He asked. The creature scoffed in disbelief.

"A demon!? You would compare me to those beasts!? I must say, I am feeling very insulted right now." The creature crossed his arms.

"Ok then, if you're not a demon, care to tell me what you are and why you're here?" Nero didn't lower his guard for a second.

"Ah, of course. Where are my manners? I am Discord, the master of chaos! As for what I am, I am a draconequus, though I doubt you would know what that is. As for why I'm here, I just so happen to require the services of a devil hunter such as yourself, Nero." He gestured to him. The young devil hunter raised an eyebrow.

So, he knows my name...

"Master of chaos, huh? And just what do you need my help with?" Nero's eyes flicked to his sword, Red Queen, which was propped up against the wall. He still couldn't make heads or tails of this thing, so it was best to be prepared in case it tried anything.

"Well, I would think that was obvious. You do hunt demons for a living, am I wrong?" Discord replied sarcastically and Nero chuckled.

"I'm gonna need more info than just 'Go kill some demons'. Where is this job? How big is it?"

"Hmm, yes, I suppose that's fair." The chaotic being said before beginning his explanation. "I'm sure you've guessed by now, but I come from another world beyond Earth. Things had been normal up until a little while ago. I had been lounging in my humble abode enjoying some tea when I noticed something was amiss with the space-time continuum."

"Wait... what?" Nero's brain halted.

The space-time continuum? When the hell did time travel get involved?

"I'm sure it sounds confusing, so I'll give you the basic gist of it. Not only have demons started appearing in a world they shouldn't exist in, but they've appeared during a time period they should never have been around for. What I'm getting at is that if these demons aren't dealt with, it could cause a serious time paradox." Discord finished.

Nero took a few seconds to process what he'd just heard. Other worlds? Time paradoxes? Was this guy serious?

"Now, normally, I could have just snapped my fingers and put everything back to the way it was, but something is preventing me from doing so." He explained. "That is why I decided to call upon one of the most legendary devil hunters in the multiverse!"

Nero couldn't help but smirk at that. It felt good to know he was considered such a legendary devil hunter, even across the multiver-

"Unfortunately, it turns out Dante is trapped in Hell, so I suppose you'll have to do for now."

The smirk quickly faded from Nero's face and was replaced with a deadpan glare.

Does this thing want my help or not?

"So, what do you say? Will you accept the job?" The draconequus asked. Nero thought about his answer. He didn't want to abandon this other world to its fate, but he couldn't leave Earth unattended, either. Dante and Vergil had entrusted him with keeping things safe here while they were in Hell.

As if reading Nero's thoughts, Discord provided a solution. "Oh, and no need to worry about missing anything that happens here on Earth. Once the job is done, I'll take you right back to this point in time. It'll seem as though you've only been gone a few seconds!"

"... If you're telling the truth... then alright. I'll take the job." Nero finally gave in.

"Oh, splendid! This will only take a moment!" Discord cheered. Nero went over to the wall and placed Red Queen on his back. He made sure his revolver, Blue Rose, was fastened in its holster, then prepared for whatever Discord was about to do. The draconequus snapped his fingers, and a bright light encompassed the descendant of Sparda.

Before he knew it, a huge surge of pain ran through his body, and he let out a scream. It felt like his body was being turned inside out and all his organs were being jumbled around.

What the hell did that thing just do to me!?

Before he could demand answers from the master of chaos, Nero's vision went white, and he felt like he was floating in the air. Then, he lost consciousness.

Nero woke with a gasp. He looked around frantically, trying to find out where he was. He was lying in a field of grass right next to a dirt road. There were a few trees nearby, as well as a pond, but other than that, he couldn't see any landmarks. He tried to sit up but struggled to do so. His body felt... wrong.

Where the heck am I? Why do I feel so-

Nero tensed up the second he looked down at his hands.

Or rather, his hooves.

"W-What the hell!?" He recoiled. He moved the hooves about and confirmed his fears that they did, in fact, belong to him. He looked down at the rest of his body to see that everything about him had changed. Four hooves had replaced his arms and legs, and his whole body was covered in navy blue fur. He still wore his tattered shirt, blue jacket, and silver necklace, but they had been altered to fit his new body.

Why the fuck do I look like a horse!?

"I would get used to that new body, if I were you." Nero turned his head in the direction of Discord's voice. The draconequus was floating in the air, looking on in amusement.

"What did you do to me!?" Nero attempted to stand only to stumble and fall, no longer being bipedal.

"I'm afraid humans don't exist in Equestria, so having a strange new creature appear out of nowhere on top of the demons might cause a panic." Discord explained.

"Ok, but why turn me into a horse of all things!?"

"Pony, not a horse," He corrected, "And you'll see why soon enough."

"Pony, horse, same difference!" The devil hunter grunted. He tried to stand up again and make his way over to the pond. Unfortunately, he fell again, so he just resorted to crawling. Once he made it, he gazed into the water, looking at his reflection. He still had blue eyes and white hair, which was still styled in a faux hawk. Those were the only resemblances to his human self, however. The rest of his face looked like that of a hors- er, pony. He even had longer ears.

He lifted up the back of his coat to reveal a short tail that was the same color as his hair. That was when he noticed something else on his rump that he hadn't expected to find.

"...Is that a tattoo on my ass?"

Discord got a closer look. "Ah, I see you've found your cutie mark!"

"My what?" Did Nero hear that right?

"Your cutie mark. It represents whatever your talent may be. You should have another one on the other side." Discord explained, and Nero checked the opposite side. Sure enough, there was a matching tattoo. The tattoo itself looked like the spectral arm that appears when he uses his Devil Bringer.

"A cutie mark... that's gotta be one of the most cutesy, flowery names for something I've ever heard." He sighed.

"Oh, trust me, it only gets worse from here." The draconequus informed him, "Now, the town you need to go to first is just a short walk from here." He pointed to the dirt road.

"I suggest you get started. You'll need the practice if you want to blend in. As for me..." The master of chaos snapped his fingers and a box of popcorn appeared in his hand. "I'll be enjoying the show from elsewhere. I can't wait to see how things play out! Good luck, and ta ta for now!" With that, Discord snapped his fingers again and teleported away, leaving Nero alone once again.

With a sigh, Nero made his third attempt to stand up. While it did take some effort, he managed to stand up straight on all four hooves this time. He looked down the path to see if he could tell how far he would have to walk, to no avail.

Nero decided to quickly double check his gear before starting. He still had Red Queen on his back, and he could feel Blue Rose in his holster. Unfortunately, he didn't have any Devil Breakers with him. That did give him an idea, though.

Nero stuck his right forehoof out and focused.

Please work, please work, please work!

FWOOM!

A spectral arm shot out from his hoof before retracting right back into it. "Hell yeah! Still got it!" Nero exclaimed as he admired his right hoof. He then returned his focus to the dirt road.

Well, no sense in standing around. Better get started.

Slowly and carefully, Nero began taking his first steps down the path.

A new world, huh? Maybe this'll be interesting...

Friendship is Magic (Part 1)

View Online

As Nero stared out amongst the many partygoers in the library, he recalled the day's events, and only one, simple question went through his mind.

...How the hell did I get here?

Earlier that day...

Nero had been walking for about half an hour now. He imagined he would have been at the town by now if he didn't keep tripping and falling. He let out a sigh after having fallen for the umpteenth time. He could imagine the others would be laughing their asses off if they saw him right now, especially Nico or Dante.

This is getting stupid. The hell was that walking, talking, petting zoo thinking when he turned me into this? How am I supposed to fight anything if I can't even stand up straight!?

Technically, Nero could just use his Devil Bringer, but there are some demons that can't be grabbed until he's either stunned them or broken their guard. Besides, even if he could grab them, it would get boring using the same move over and over again. If he wanted to be stylish, he would need to be able to use Red Queen and Blue Rose. Without hands, doing so would be rather difficult.

Nero thought about a possible solution until he got an idea. Discord had said he would be watching him, so maybe...

"Hey, Discord! Are you there!?" The devil hunter yelled out. It didn't take long for the master of chaos to appear before him.

"You called?" Discord looked down at the devil hunter, amused. Nero pushed himself off the ground and stood back up, facing him.

"How do you expect me to take care of your demon problem if I can't even walk!? Is there anything you can do to fix this?" He asked.

"Complaining about it isn't going to help solve the problem, you know. Maybe if you try asking nicely?" Discord snarked. Nero simply glared at him. This guy was really getting on his nerves. "Fine, fine." Discord gave in and snapped his fingers. There was a flash, then Nero felt something new on top of his head. He got a feel for it with his hooves and realized that it was a horn. "There. Now you're a unicorn. Happy?"

"Wh- how is a horn supposed to help me!?"

"It should allow you to use your weapons more easily and efficiently." The draconequus explained.

"Again, how!?"

Discord simply sighed and said, "You can't expect me to hold your hand through everything, Nero. You're a big boy, I'm sure you'll figure it out yourself." he then went to snap his fingers and teleport away again.

"No wait! Come ba- and he's gone." Nero sighed as the draconequus vanished. He turned and began carefully making his way down the path once more. "Asshole." He muttered.

By the time Nero reached a clearing in the trees and spotted the town, he had started to get the hang of walking. He would occasionally stumble every now and then, but he wasn't falling over every few steps, so it was an improvement. He spotted a sign to his left with words that looked... kind of like English.

The letters were all shaped weirdly, some of them even looked like horseshoes. Fortunately, it resembled English just enough that Nero was able to decipher that the sign said, "Welcome to Ponyville".

Ponyville? What kind of name for a town is that?

Nero stared at the town from afar and quickly realized the reason for the name.

The town was full of ponies.

He could see ponies walking along the streets, entering and exiting the houses, browsing shops, and going about their everyday lives. He even saw what looked like ponies having a conversation. Considering Nero could talk while he was a pony, it seemed to make sense that they could talk too. It was still bizarre to see, though.

Guess that explains why Discord turned me into a pony. This'll make one hell of a story to tell Kyrie and Nico when I get back... if they'll even believe me.

That's when it clicked with Nero. He remembered what Discord had called this world, Equestria...

It was a pun.

"Oh, God, that's terrible." He groaned at the corniness of it. He hoped this would be the only pony related pun he would come across during his time here. Part of him knew it most likely wouldn't be.

Rather than waste time gawking, Nero continued on his way towards the town.

I should look for an authority figure of some sort and ask about any demon sightings. Maybe a sheriff or town mayor or something. Shouldn't be too hard to blend in, now that I'm a pony myself.

It was after that thought that Nero considered a rather scary possibility. He was a pony, and ponies were herbivores, so did that mean...

...I'm not a vegetarian now, am I?

Once he reached Ponyville, Nero started exploring the town, which looked like something out of a children's coloring book. As he did, he noticed quite the lack of modern technology. The devil hunter wondered if that was only the case for this town, or if it was the same for the rest of Equestria. Also, now that he was closer to the ponies, he could hear that they were, in fact, talking. Even then, he was finding it a little hard to believe. He was also one of the few ponies actually wearing clothes, so he assumed nudity was just normal here.

Speaking of the ponies, he noticed that while some of the ponies looked normal (not counting the vibrant colors and butt tattoos), some of them had wings, while others had horns like himself. Discord already mentioned that the horned ones were unicorns so what about the ones with wings?

I think there was something like that in Greek mythology. They were called pegasuses if I remember correctly... or was it pegasi?

He was pulled from his thoughts when a shadow passed over him. He looked up to see a rather ornate looking carriage being pulled by two of those pegasuses in gold armor.

Now there's something you don't see every day.

He watched as the carriage landed in town and a purple unicorn hopped out, followed by some sort of lizard thing with purple and green scales. The unicorn thanked the pegasuses and they flew away. Nero couldn't help but listen in on their conversation.

"Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about!" The lizard said, gesturing to a very pink pony that was approaching them. "C'mon, Twilight, just try!"

The pink pony stopped in front of them, looking between the lizard, the unicorn, and Nero. The unicorn looked at the pink one hesitantly before speaking. "Uh...hello?"

As soon as she said that, the pink pony leaped into the air and let out the longest, most dramatic gasp Nero had ever heard before taking off at the speed of sound.

...The fuck was that?

"...Well, that was interesting, alright." The unicorn said sarcastically.

"You got that right..." Nero mumbled, still looking in the direction the pink pony had run off in. While he hadn't meant for them to hear, he spoke loud enough to get the unicorn and lizard's attention.

"Oh, hey there! Are you new in town as well?" The lizard greeted him.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I just got here." He addressed the pair.

"There you go, Twilight! You can be friends with him! The two of you can bond over being new in town!" The lizard said happily.

Huh?

The purple unicorn groaned and turned to face Nero with a smile that looked a tad forced. Now that she was directly in front of him, he was able to get a better look at the unicorn. Her hair and tail were a much darker shade of purple than her fur, and they each had a magenta streak running through them. Her cutie mark appeared to be a magenta six-pointed star with sparkles around it. "Hello, my name's Twilight Sparkle. And you are...?"

Twilight Sparkle? Are weird names like that common here?

"Name's Nero. You said you were new in town as well?"

"Yes, we're here to check on preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration around Ponyville." She answered.

Another thing I know nothing about. Sounds like some sort of event.

Nero thought about it for a second.

...If this Summer Sun Celebration is a big event, then there's probably going to be someone important running it, like the mayor or something. If she's checking up on preparations, she's probably going to meet with someone like that. Even if she isn't, it'd be a good way to get to know my way around town.

"Uh, hello?" Twilight waved a hoof in front of Nero's face and stirred the half-demon from his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry. I was wondering, you said you were checking up on preparations. Think I can tag along? Might be a good way to get to know the town." He asked. Before Twilight could give an answer, the lizard did it for her.

"That'd be great! We could use more company!" Twilight shot him a glare before turning back to Nero.

"...I guess so. I suppose there's no harm in it, anyway." She then turned to the lizard. "C'mon, Spike. Let's get going."

The three of them began walking to their first stop. As they did, the lizard turned to Nero. "Nice to meet you, Nero! My name's Spike! Spike the dragon!"

Nero gave Spike a smile and a nod and they continued to follow Twilight.

...

...Wait...

...Did he just say he's a dragon?

The trio were following a road out of town. Apparently, the first stop on the list was a farm not too far from Ponyville. It was then that Spike started to make some conversation.

"That's a pretty cool sword you got there!" The lizard- er, dragon, pointed to the sword on Nero's back.

"You mean Red Queen? Yeah, she's something special. I've had this baby with me for years, now." He replied.

"Woah..." Spike stared at Red Queen with awe and wonder. Seeing this, Nero decided to give the kid a show.

"It's not just a normal sword, you know. It's got an extra little trick up its sleeve. Check this out!" He grabbed Red Queen's handle with his hoof, albeit a little awkwardly, then revved it. Spike went wide-eyed seeing the flames spurt from the sword. It even got Twilight's attention.

"That's AWESOME!" Spike had the biggest grin on his face. Nero couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's quite a weapon. What do you use it for?" Twilight decided to join in on the conversation. Nero thought about the best way to word his response.

"I'm an... exterminator of sorts. I need it to help deal with pests. That's actually why I'm here." He explained. That was... technically the truth.

"What kind of pests require a sword like that?" She asked, now very curious.

"Big ones. Damn big ones." Nero simply responded, and Twilight gasped.

"Nero! Language!" She said, trying to cover Spike's ears.

"O-Oh, right, sorry!" He apologized.

Gotta watch my swearing around the kid.

The three of them were coming up on the farm when Spike pulled out a checklist and began reading. "Summer Sun Celebration Official Overseer's Checklist! Number 1: Banquet preparations, Sweet Apple Acres." Nero scanned the farm, seeing a large barn, a chicken coop, a well, some sort of tower with carrots all over it, and hills filled with apple trees as far as the eye can see.

Sweet Apple Acres, huh? Guess this is some sort of apple orchard.

"YEEEEEEEEHAAAWW!!!"

The group turned to the source of the voice, an orange pony with a blonde mane and Stetson hat running towards an apple tree surrounded by baskets. Nero also noticed the pony's cutie mark, which appeared to be three red apples. She pivoted on her hoof and bucked her hind legs into the tree. This caused every last apple in the tree to fall and land in the baskets. The orange pony then crossed her right hoof over her left, striking a pose.

Well, that's one way to pick an apple tree.

"Let's get this over with," Twilight sighed before approaching the pony. "Good afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle."

The second she finished her sentence, the farm pony latched onto Twilight's hoof and started shaking it violently.

"Well, howdy doo, Miss Twilight! A pleasure makin' yer acquaintance!" Without stopping her rapid hoof-shaking, the farm pony turned her gaze to Nero. "And who might y'all be?"

"U-Uh, Nero." He answered, surprised at how fast she was shaking Twilight's hoof. He was half demon, and even he didn't think he could shake a hand that fast.

"Pleasure makin' yer acquaintance as well, Mister Nero!" She then turned her focus back to Twilight, still shaking her hoof. "I'm Applejack! We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!"

My God, her Southern accent is thicker than Kyrie's as- ok just gonna stop that thought right there.

"F-Friends!? Actually-y-y-y, I-I, uh...!" Twilight could barely get the words out from being shaken up so much. Even after Applejack let go, Twilight continued to shake.

"So! What can I do ya for?" Applejack winked. Spike grabbed Twilight to stop her constant shaking. Once she was stable, Spike snickered, trying not to laugh. After paying him a glance, Twilight cleared her throat.

"Well, I am, in fact, here to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food?" She asked.

"We sure as sugar are! Would ya care to sample some?" Twilight thought about her answer before Nero spoke up.

"Now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit hungry. I wouldn't mind trying some." Nero replied. He wondered if this would make him the first person to try alien food.

"Well, as long as it doesn't take too long." Twilight finally decided. At that, Applejack zoomed off and rang a nearby triangle.

"SOUP'S ON, EVERYPONY!!!" She yelled. as soon as she did, Nero felt the ground shake, and he heard a rumbling from behind him getting louder and louder. Both he and Twilight turned to see a small army of ponies charging right for them.

Holy shit!

Normally, Nero could have dodged the crowd easily. Unfortunately, he didn't have much practice with his new body outside of learning to walk and wasn't able to move properly. He ended up getting tackled alongside Twilight and Spike, and the three of them were carried all the way over to a table nearby. Just as they were regaining their senses, Applejack popped up next to them.

"Now, why don't I introduce y'all to the Apple family?" She gestured to the dozens upon dozens of ponies surrounding them.

Jeez, I thought it was rabbits who were infamous for frequent breeding, not ponies!

"...Thanks, but we really need to hurry-" Before Twilight could finish her sentence, a pony shoved a plate of food in front of her and Applejack began introducing relative after relative, each one bringing more food to the table.

"This here's Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp," The farm pony inhaled, taking a deep breath before continuing. By this point, a mountain of food sat on the table. "...Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, aaaaaaand... Granny Smith." She gestured to a large red pony wearing a work horse collar, a small yellow pony with a bow, and a green elderly pony sleeping in a rocking chair respectively.

"Up an' at 'em, Granny Smith! We got guests!" Applejack called to the old pony, who stirred from her slumber.

"Egh, wha...? Soup's on?" Granny Smith got out of her chair and slowly but surely made her way over. "I'm, uh, I'm comin', I'm comin'."

I can hear the poor lady's bones cracking from here. How ancient is she?

Applejack wrapped a hoof around Twilight, who Nero hadn't even noticed had food stuffed in her mouth. "Why, I'd say they're already part of the family!"

Twilight quickly spit the food out of her mouth. He was sure she hadn't intended for it, but some of the food got on Nero. He promptly wiped it off. "Okay, well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way." She chuckled nervously. While Nero didn't want to be rude, he needed to find a lead on the demons as soon as possible, so he agreed with Twilight on that sentiment.

"Aren't ya gonna stay for brunch?"

The two of them looked down to see the tiny yellow pony with the bow from earlier, Apple Bloom, giving sad, puppy dog eyes. Very adorable puppy dog eyes, he might add.

"Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do." Twilight apologized, now seeming genuinely sorry. All the ponies around them let out a depressed "aww" as they looked down in sadness. Nero turned back to Apple Bloom, who was still giving those puppy dog eyes.

You're stronger than this, Nero. You can resist that face. You're better than-

"Fine..." Both he and Twilight groaned at the same time. The entire Apple family lit up and cheered now that their guests had agreed to stay.

Welp, hope my stomach is ready for this.

Nero's stomach was, in fact, not ready for it.

He winced as his stomach gurgled in pain. He felt like was gonna puke.

"Food's all taken care of, next is weather." Spike marked food off the checklist. He turned back to look at Nero and Twilight, both of which were lagging behind.

"I ate too much pie..." Twilight groaned.

"No more apples... please..." Nero also groaned. Though, he did have to admit, they were damn good apples. He'd never had any that good before. He saw Spike scanning the sky and followed his gaze, wondering what he was looking for. All he saw were clouds.

"There's supposed to be a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds."

Oh yeah, there are flying ponies. I forgot about that.

...Wait, 'clearing the clouds'? How do you clear clouds?

"Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?" Twilight commented, looking up at the cloudy sky.

"Hold on, how do you-" before Nero could finish his sentence, something crashed into him and Twilight from behind. Going by how far it sent them flying, he would have thought it was a demon that had planned a sneak attack, if it wasn't for the "OOF!" that came from their assailant. Next thing he knew, they were face first in a watery puddle of mud.

Oh, you've gotta be shitting me.

He felt whoever had collided with them get up off of their backs, then he heard the stranger start chuckling.

"Uh, excuse me?" A raspy, tomboyish voice spoke, followed by more chuckling.

"Little late for that, don't you think?" Nero grumbled. When he turned his head to see the source of the voice, he was met with a cyan pegasus with rainbow colored hair, or a mane, as he'd learned they're called here. Her cutie mark appeared to be a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt underneath it.

He assumed this was 'Rainbow Dash'.

"Heh, let me help you." The rainbow-maned pony chuckled before zooming away. Nero sat up and examined himself. He was covered head to toe- er, hoof, in mud. He really needed to get used to the horse lingo.

He spotted the pegasus that would owe him dry cleaning finally returning. To his surprise, she was pushing a cloud. Last time he checked, that wasn't physically possible. The devil hunter's brain struggled to process the defiance of physics occurring right before his eyes.

Wha-...but-...how-...?

Before he knew it, the pegasus pushed the cloud right over their heads. She then got on top of it and hopped up and down, causing a torrent of rain to fall on them. While they were no longer covered in mud, the half-demon and the unicorn were now dripping wet. He could hear the pegasus snickering above them.

"Oops! I guess I overdid it. Um, uh, how 'bout this?" The rainbow-maned pegasus flew around them at a speed much greater than anything he'd ever seen. There wasn't even a demon in existence that was this fast. Well, not counting Dante and his father. He felt himself being lifted off the ground.

"My very own patented..." She flew up above them once she'd finished, "Rainblow Dry! No, no, don't thank me. You're quite welcome!" She slowly descended to the ground.

"Good. I wasn't planning to." Nero said, getting the pegasus' attention.

Nero didn't need a mirror to know his hair, despite being short, was now a mess. Though looking at Twilight's mane, she probably got it worse.

As soon as the pegasus saw them, she tried to stifle a laugh, but it quickly won over, and she did so hysterically as she collapsed to the ground. Hell, even Spike joined in. If Nero was being honest, he may have joined in too, if he wasn't one of the victims here.

"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, why don't you?" Nero ruffled his hair until it was back to normal. He had a feeling Twilight's mane was going to require more grooming than that.

"Let me guess; You're Rainbow Dash." Twilight said it as more of a statement than a question. Hearing her, the pegasus sprung up from the ground.

"The one and only!" She answered, confirming Nero's suspicion. Rainbow Dash flew into the air and got up close to them. "Why? You heard of me?"

"I heard you're supposed to be keeping the sky clear." Twilight told her matter-of-factly.

Still not clear on how that works.

Twilight sighed before properly introducing them. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Nero. The princess sent me to check on the weather."

Princess? Now there's a monarchy system?

"Yeah, yeah. That'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy, just as soon as I'm done practicing." Rainbow responded, kicking back and somehow laying down on top of a cloud.

Still really not clear on how that works.

"Practicing for what?" The purple unicorn questioned her.

"The Wonderbolts!" Rainbow exclaimed, then pointed to a poster on a building. On the poster were three pegasuses wearing some kind of matching jumpsuits. Above them were the silhouettes of four more pegasuses soaring through the air. "Their gonna perform at the celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show them my stuff!" She did a couple flips before landing on another cloud.

The Wonder-who-now?

"The Wonderbolts?" Twilight asked.

"Yup." Rainbow curtly responded.

"The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?" Twilight continued, proving that at least she knew who they were.

"That's them." Rainbow once again responded curtly.

"Pffft, please. They'd never accept a pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day." Twilight scoffed. Rainbow sat up and looked down at her.

"Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat!" She retorted. The smirk on Twilight's face grew even wider.

"Prove it."

Oh, I see what she's doing. Clever.

Not wasting a second, the rainbow pegasus took off into the sky at the speed of light, leaving a rainbow trail behind. Now, Nero could tell she was fast, like, really fast, but there was no way she could actually clear the entire sky in only ten seconds. A feat that great would be-

Rainbow bucked the final cloud out of the sky before landing on the ground. "What'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging."

...impossible.

Nero looked at Twilight. Her eyes seemed to be mesmerized by the now clear sky. For a second, Nero had been, too. That was an impressive display.

"Ha ha! You should see the look on your faces!" She chuckled as she hovered by them. "Ha! You guys are a laugh! I can't wait to hang out some more!"

That seemed to snap Twilight out of her hypnotic state. After that, Rainbow Dash zoomed away, and they were left to their thoughts.

"Wow... she's amazing!" Spike was the first to speak. His eyes then drifted to Twilight's mane, which still looked like she had an accident with a hair dryer. He couldn't stop himself from snickering. Twilight just groaned as she walked off. "Wait! It's kinda pretty once you get used to it!" He called after her. Nero just chuckled, shook his head, and followed after them.

"I wonder if all the pegasuses in the Wonderbolts are like her." Nero said as soon as he caught up with them. The two of them gave him an odd look.

...Did I say something weird?

"...You mean pegasi?" Twilight corrected him.

Shit! Have I been saying it wrong the whole time?

"Ah, yeah, sorry. Slip of the tongue." The devil hunter played it off. Twilight seemed to accept that answer as she continued forward.

Phew, disaster averted... and still no authority figure. Well, maybe we'll find something at the next stop.

"Decorations!" Spike checked another mark on the checklist.

Nero looked around the large room they were in, an auditorium of sorts that was most likely used for public gatherings. It was currently decorated with banners, streamers, bouquets of flowers, and other decorations he didn't know the names of. This was supposed to be the town hall, so one would normally expect to find the mayor here, or at least someone of higher standing. Yet here Nero was, unable to find a single one.

Ugh, come on. Not one important person in the entire building? This is getting ridiculous.

"Beautiful~!" Spike commented.

"Yes, the decor is coming along nicely. This ought to be quick! I'll be at the library in no time. Beautiful indeed!" Twilight agreed.

When were we planning on going to the library? She got an overdue book or something?

"Not the decor... her~!" Spike corrected her and pointed to a white unicorn with an elegantly styled indigo mane and tail. Her cutie mark appeared to consist of three diamonds. The pony that caught Spike's eye was looking at many different colored ribbons, tossing each one aside that she didn't like.

"No... no... no... oh! Goodness, no." The mare spoke with a rather fancy accent, kind of like a rich socialite. As the mare went through them, Nero noticed something quite peculiar.

Each ribbon she looked at was floating in mid-air.

How the hell...?

It was then that Nero saw the light blue hue surrounding each ribbon as they went by. A similar hue was surrounding the unicorn's horn. Discord's words replayed in his head, about how being a unicorn could help him use his weapons more efficiently.

Can I levitate things, too? Definitely something to test out later...

"How are my spines? Are they straight?" Spike seemed to be checking his tail. Nero looked at Spike, then at the unicorn, then at Spike, then at the unicorn, then back to Spike.

"Yeah, sorry, but I think your chances are slim there, Romeo."

"What!? Why!?" Spike asked Nero.

"The age gap, first of all. Didn't you say you're a baby dragon?" He chuckled.

"Good afternoon." Twilight greeted the unicorn as she approached her.

"Just a moment, please. I'm 'in the zone', as it were." She then went back to focusing on the ribbons. "Oh, yes! Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent! Now, um, how can I help you- WAA-HA-HA!!!" The unicorn screamed in horror as soon as she laid eyes on them. The sight she saw was absolutely horrid! "Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure!? She asked with concern.

"Uh, gesundheit." Nero responded.

The hell did she just say?

"Oh, you mean my mane? Well, it's a long story. We're just here to check on the decorations, and then we'll be out of your hair." Twilight assured her.

"Out of my hair? What about your hair!?" She then turned to Nero and gave him a once over, the same concerned expression spread across her face. "And, oh my, what in Equestria happened to your outfit, darling!? It looks like it's been put through a shredder!"

"What's wrong with the way I dress?" The devil hunter questioned, but the unicorn seemed to be too focused on his clothes to listen to him.

"The coat is absolutely filthy, and your shirt has several rips in it! Who would ever want to ruin an outfit like this?" She examined the clothing like she was a doctor examining a patient's injuries.

"... I always wear it like this." Nero finally answered, and the unicorn let out a long, dramatic gasp. She looked like she was about to faint.

"This simply will not do!" The mare stomped a hoof down. "Come, I shall fix both your mane and your outfit straight away!" She got behind both Nero and Twilight and began pushing them towards the exit.

"Wait! Where are we going!? Help!" Twilight cried out. Nero just let it happen. At this point, he started to realize that all the ponies in this town seem crazy. He looked back at Spike, who had hearts in his eyes and was floating by his tail, which was spinning like a helicopter propeller.

Today just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

After the unicorn, who they learned was named Rarity, pushed them out of the town hall, she took them to her shop, Carousel Boutique. Apparently, she was a fashion designer. It wasn't until a couple minutes after Nero heard the name of the shop that he realized it was another horse pun.

After fixing Twilight's mane, Rarity had the two of them try on several outfits, all of which Nero hated.

"Too Green... too yellow... too poofy... not poofy enough... too frilly... too shiny..." She went through each outfit rather quickly. Nero considered telling her this was a violation of his rights, but then he realized he wasn't sure if this world even had rights.

"Hey, I'm fine with my old clothes, y'know. Think I could get those back?" He asked, and the invasive pony simply scoffed.

"You want to put those rags back on? I'll admit, the coat was nice, it's simply in dire need of a wash." She placed the coat on a hanger and hung it on a rack. "I'm afraid the shirt is a lost cause though, darling." She then chucked his shirt in a nearby trash can.

I'm getting that shirt back, one way or another.

Eventually, Rarity found an outfit for Twilight. As she dressed her, Rarity decided to continue their conversation from before. "Now go on, my dear. You were telling me where you're from." She pulled hard on the outfit's straps, making it tighter around Twilight's waste. The purple unicorn in question was clearly in pain, even shedding a tear.

"I've... been sent... from canterlot... to-" That was all she managed to squeak out before Rarity released the straps and sent them both flying in opposite directions.

"CANTERLOT!?" Rarity quickly got up in Twilight's face. "Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication, I've always dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it! We are going to be the best of friends, you and I!" Nero could see the look of horror spread across Twilight's face before Rarity's eyes fell back on her outfit. "Emeralds!? What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!"

As soon as the crazy pony took off, Twilight took action. "Quick! Before she decides to dye our fur a new color!" She sprinted out the door, and Nero took the opportunity to grab his coat from the hanger and his shirt from the trash can. He grabbed Spike, who was still fantasizing about Rarity, and followed Twilight out the door.

"Wasn't she wonderful~?" Spike sat on Twilight's back, still daydreaming. They were now far from the boutique, and had ditched the crazy outfits. Nero had slipped on his own clothes as they walked to their next destination.

"If by wonderful, you mean crazy, then yes." Nero said sarcastically.

"Focus, Casanova. What's next on the list?" Twilight stirred Spike from his reverie, and he looked down at the checklist.

"Oh! Uh, music! It's the last one!" He read.

I doubt a sheriff or mayor is gonna be conducting a band, so it seems this was a dead end. At least I got to know the town, along with its crazy residents. Might as well stick around for this last one.

They stopped in their tracks when they heard the sound of birds chirping. The odd thing was, they were all chirping in rhythm to a beat, as if singing a song. Nero was fairly certain birds normally don’t do that. Peering over some bushes, the trio saw a pale yellow pegasus with a long, pink mane and a cutie mark of three pink butterflies conducting an orchestra of birds. It actually sounded pretty nice until one of the birds started singing out of rhythm.

"Oh my, um, stop please, everyone." The pegasus spoke meekly. She gently flew up to the bird that was out of tune and spoke to it. "Um... excuse me, sir, I mean no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny, tiny bit off."

It was a lot more off than that, but I guess she didn't want to be rude. Also, is she talking to a bird?

"Now follow me, please." She flew back to her original place to continue with her conducting. "A-one, a-two, a-one, two, three-"

"Hello!"

"AH!" Twilight had greeted the quiet pony, only to scare both her and her birds. The birds took off and the pegasus turned to the three of them.

"Nice one, Twilight." Nero turned to the purple unicorn.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to frighten your birds." Twilight apologized to the poor girl. "We're just here to check up on the music, and it's sounding beautiful!" The pegasus landed on the ground and twiddled with the dirt, averting her gaze.

Guess she's the quiet type. Reminds me of Kyrie when we first met.

Twilight flashed a nervous, awkward smile, unsure how to respond to her silence.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle."

The pegasus gave no response.

"What's your name?" The unicorn tried to push the conversation along, if you could even call it a conversation.

"Um... I'm Fluttershy..." She mumbled, and neither Twilight nor Nero heard what she said.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Twilight asked her to repeat.

"Um... my name is Fluttershy..." She mumbled once again.

"Didn't quite catch that." Twilight asked her to repeat once again.

"...Fluttershy..." This time the pegasus whimpered.

...Okay, nevermind. Even Kyrie wasn't this shy. Poor thing sounds like she's about to cry.

Eventually, the birds fluttered back to their perch on the tree. Another awkward silence sat amongst them.

"...Well, um, it looks like your birds are back, so I guess everything's in order. Keep up the good work!" Twilight finished, and the shy pony whimpered once more. "Ooookay..." She turned and went back the way they came.

Well, if that's all of them, I guess I'd better look elsewhere.

"Well, that was easy." Twilight said to Spike as he emerged from the bushes.

"A BABY DRAGON!"

Huh?

Nero looked up in time to see the previously quiet pony bump Twilight out of the way to admire Spike. Her personality had done a complete 180 as soon as she laid eyes on him.

"Oh, I've never seen a baby dragon before! He's so cute!" She gushed.

"Well, well, well!" Spike, enjoying the attention, gave Twilight a cocky smirk. Twilight herself was still dizzy after the pegasus sent her flying.

"Oh my, he talks! I didn't know dragons could talk! That's just so incredibly wonderful! I-I just don't even know what to say!" The pegasus hovered above the ground, a bright smile on her face. Before anyone could say anything else, however, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back. Nero once again noticed a hue surrounding both Spike and Twilight's horn, only this time it was magenta.

That pretty much confirms it's a unicorn thing. Still need to find out how to do that.

"Well, in that case, we better be going." Twilight said quickly as she started to walk away.

"Wait, wait! What's his name?" The yellow pony simply followed them.

"I'm Spike!" The baby dragon made no attempts to disengage the conversation.

"Hi, Spike. I'm Fluttershy. Wow, a talking dragon! And what do dragons talk about?"

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Absolutely everything!" This caused Twilight to groan, foreseeing just how long this conversation would be.

"I'll take that as my cue to leave." Nero said, turning on his hoof.

"What!? No, wait! Don't leave me!" Twilight called to him desperately.

"Sorry, Twilight, but I told you I've got business to take care of. This was the last stop on the list, and I've wasted enough time already. See ya." With that, the devil hunter gave a final wave back as he left the purple unicorn to her fate. He could hear Spike beginning his long rant as he left.

"Well, I started out as a cute little purple and green egg…"

It was getting dark, and Nero still had no leads.

Where the hell is this damn mayor!? If I didn't know better, I'd say they were hiding from me or something!

He kept looking all around until, out of nowhere, he found himself face to face with a smiling, pink face.

"GAH!"

"GAH! to you too!" The pink pony said. Nero took the time to process the pony that had appeared out of thin air. She was a bright pink pony with a mane and tail of the same color, only a darker hue. The mane and tail themselves were frizzy and poofy, resembling cotton candy. On her flank, he could see her cutie mark was of three balloons, two of which were light blue while the last one was a pale yellow. Her blue eyes bore straight into his own. It didn't take him long to recognize her.

"Hey, aren't you the pony from earlier? The one that freaked out when Twilight said hello?"

Nero would quickly regret asking that question when she began hopping around spastically and spouting words like a runaway machine gun.

"Yup! That's me! I'm Pinkie Pie! You see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? I saw you with that one pony that was all 'Hello?' and then I was all *GASP*, remember? You see, I never saw you before, and if I never saw you before, then that means you’re new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony, in Ponyville! And if you're new, then you haven't met anypony yet, and if you haven't met anypony yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends, then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, and I had an idea! And that's why I went *GASP* I should throw a great, big, ginormous, super-duper, spectacular welcome party and invite everypony in Ponyville! Oh! But you're not supposed to know about that yet, so pretend you didn't hear that, okey-dokey?"

Dear God, where's the off button?

"Oh! Speaking of which..." The pink pony grabbed Nero by the hoof and sprinted faster than Nero could blink. Before he knew it, they were standing in a different part of town, specifically in front of a tree with a door and windows on it.

"Wha- How did-!?" The half-demon didn't even get to ask before the pink pony interrupted him.

"Just wait here until the other new pony gets here, then you can come inside!" She then ran inside, slamming the door behind her. The devil hunter blinked.

...What just happened?

"...And that's the story of my whole entire life! Well, up until today..." Nero turned around when he heard a familiar voice. He saw Twilight and Spike, both still being followed by the yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, if he remembered her name right. It seemed that Spike had just finished regaling Fluttershy with the tale of his life story. "Do you want to hear about today?" The dragon asked.

"Oh, yes, please!" The meek pony responded, but Twilight quickly turned around to face her, breaking up their little chat.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. How did we get here so fast? This is where I'm staying while in Ponyville, and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep." She told the pegasus.

Wait, so this tree is where Twilight's staying? ...Something tells me she doesn't know about the crazy pony waiting inside.

"No I don't- WAH!" Twilight subtly knocked Spike off her back before he could protest.

"Aww, wook at that. He's so sweepy, he can't even keep his wittle bawance!" Twilight put on a babyish voice before flashing a smile to Fluttershy, who promptly swept up the baby dragon in her hooves.

"Poor thing, you simply must get him to bed!" The shy pony flew him inside, only to quickly be pushed out by Twilight.

"Yes, yes, we'll get right on that. Well, good night!" As soon as she finished her sentence, the purple unicorn slammed the door in her face.

Jeez, Twilight must be exhausted by now. Little does she know, a certain pink pony is waiting for her in there.

"O-Oh, hello, Nero." Fluttershy greeted the devil hunter, having finally taken notice of him.

"Hey, Fluttershy. Say, you wouldn't happen to know the name of that pink pony, would you? Y'know, the really energetic one?"

"Who, Pinkie Pie?" She asked.

So that's her name, huh? Pretty fitting. I think she told me her name already, but she was talking so fast, I barely understood a word she said.

"Yeah, I think that's her. Do you know what she-?" The sound of party poppers and noise makers coming from inside the library cut Nero off and startled the both of them.

"What the hell's happening in there?" Nero wondered aloud.

"L-Language..."

"Hm? Sorry, what'd you say?" He asked her.

"Oh, n-nothing." She replied meekly.

The door to the tree burst open and the pink pony in question popped out and was in front of Nero in a second. "You were supposed to come inside, silly!" She giggled, then turned to Fluttershy. "You too, Fluttershy! You don't wanna miss the party!" Pinkie Pie grabbed both of them by the hoof and pulled them inside.

"Whoa, hey!" Nero tried to protest, but the pink pony managed to pull him inside with little effort. This made him put his guard up almost immediately. The fact that this pony managed to overpower a half-demon with ease spoke volumes to her strength.

First the speed, now the strength. Could she secretly be a demon? I don't feel any demonic presence coming from her...

Nero finally took a look at his surroundings to see the inside of the tree was lined with shelves of books. It was also decorated with streamers, balloons, and confetti.

Twilight did mention going to a library earlier. Is that this place?

Nero turned to Pinkie pie, only to find that the pink pony had disappeared. He looked around before spotting her giving Twilight the same rant she had given to him. Twilight just looked absolutely done with today. She walked over to the punch bowl and started pouring herself a drink, only it wasn't punch.

It was hot sauce.

I could say something... but I kinda wanna see how this plays out.

"See!? And now you have lots and lots of friends!" The other four ponies they met today, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy all gathered around her. While Twilight was sipping from her drink, her face scrunched up, and she seemed to be turning a shade of red as both sweat and tears poured down her face.

"Are you all right, sugar cube?" Applejack asked out of concern. Nero swore he saw steam come out of Twilight's ears, and her mane and tail became engulfed in flames before she bolted upstairs.

Wow, that looked like something out of a cartoon.

"Aww! She's so happy, she's crying!" Pinkie said with a smile.

"Actually, I think it was because of this." Nero picked up the bottle of hot sauce and showed it to the others. Pinkie promptly swiped the bottle from his hoof and started... pouring it on a cupcake? Then ate it!?

"Whuh? Ish good!" Pinkie spoke with her mouth full. Rolling his eyes, Nero poured himself a drink, making sure he didn't grab the hot sauce by mistake. He then made his way over to a corner of the room and propped himself against the wall, taking a sip from his drink.

As Nero stared out amongst the many partygoers in the library, he recalled the day's events, and only one, simple question went through his mind.

...How the hell did I get here?

Oh yeah, that's how.

He took another sip from his drink before he was approached by five familiar ponies and a baby dragon.

"Why hello again, Nero." Rarity was the first to greet him before she looked down at his clothes. "Please excuse me for being so rude, but I simply cannot believe you insisted on wearing those dirty old things!"

"Sorry, Rarity, but this is just my style. Besides, they have some sentimental value." The devil hunter smirked before taking another sip from his drink.

"Hey, Spike was just telling me about that cool sword on your back. Think you can show me that trick he mentioned?" Rainbow asked eagerly, still flying even indoors.

"Eh, I'm not sure it's a good idea to do it in here. There's a lot of people, and I'm pretty sure trees are known to be flammable. Maybe later." He offered.

"Speakin' of yer sword, what exactly do ya use it for?" Applejack prodded.

"I'm an exterminator of sorts. Use it to deal with some pests." He took another sip.

"E-Exterminator!?" Fluttershy gasped. It took Nero a second to realize what about that freaked her out.

"N-No, not animals, or anything like that! These pests are... different."

"Different how?" Rainbow asked.

"It's... complicated. Anyway, speaking of my sword, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to leave the party early, ladies." Nero informed them, placing his drink on a nearby bookshelf.

"Aww, really? But you're gonna miss 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'!" Pinkie tried to convince him to stay.

"Sorry, but I've got some business to attend to. You can save me a slice a cake, though, okay?" That seemed to raise the pink pony's spirits.

"Okey-dokey-lokie!" She sang as Nero began to leave. He was stopped when Pinkie Pie called to him once more. "Ooh! Don't forget to stay up for the Summer Sun Celebration! Everypony will be going to town hall to watch the sunrise! Princess Celestia will be there!"

Celestia? So that's the name of their princess? Hmm...

Nero wasn't sure he would have time for the celebration, since he'd be busy looking for demons. That is until a thought occurred to him. If anyone's heard about demon sightings, the princess would have to be at the top of the list, right?

Maybe that elusive mayor will be there, too. Then again, going by my luck with them so far, the chances of that seem pretty slim.

"Sure, I'll be there." He called back, and he could hear the pink pony's cheers as he waded through the crowd and made his way towards the exit.

"Come on... focus..." Nero grunted.

He was currently standing in an alleyway between two buildings, hidden away from prying eyes. He stared down at Red Queen, attempting to make it float in the air with his mind. If he was going to fight demons, he needed to get some practice with his new body.

He had started with some stretches, getting himself more limber. Then, he practiced jumping and dodging. He knew it was smarter to start with those rather than fighting. He wouldn't be able to hit anything if he was already being hit, so being able to avoid attacks was important. Plus, it lowered his chances of dying. After a bit of training, he was performing air hikes and table hoppers like it was second nature, finally getting used to his new body.

Next was getting some practice with Red Queen. Honestly, it should be pretty easy thanks to levitation. He should be able to just think where he wants the sword to swing, and it will swing in that direction. Blue Rose would be even easier; just point and shoot, no skill required.

The hard part was actually learning how to levitate them.

"C'mon...hrrrrrghh!"

*Toot!*

...

The devil hunter sighed as he let the tension leave his body. There had to be a better way to do this.

"I must say, this is rather sad to watch."

Nero blinked upon hearing a familiar voice. He scanned the alleyway for the draconequus, but found no one. When he looked down at Red Queen, however, he saw a familiar pair of mismatched eyes and a one-fanged mouth on it.

"What the...!?" Nero recoiled upon seeing Discord's face morphed into his sword. In a flash, the face disappeared and the draconequus appeared next to him, this time with his full body.

"How did you-? You know what, nevermind. What are you doing here?" The half-demon asked.

"Why, I came to congratulate you, my dear boy! You've learned quite a bit about this world in such a short span off time! You even figured out that you can use levitation!"

"Yeah, no thanks to you." He scoffed.

"How rude! Here I am, taking the time out of my day to give you praise, and all you have are more complaints! I suppose if you don't want a small tip on levitation, then I'll just take my leave-"

"No! Wait! Please!" Nero begged and Discord stopped mid-snap.

"Oh, now you want my help?"

"I've wanted your help since the beginning!"

The draconequus sighed before giving his full attention to Nero. "You've been trying to move your sword with your mind this entire time. You need to focus with your horn, not your head."

Nero took his words into consideration as he looked back to his sword before another question popped into his head. "What time is it?" He looked up towards the moon. "It doesn't look like the moon has moved at all..."

Now that he looks at it closer, he can see a shadow on the moon that looks kind of like a pony. The hell...?

"That's because it hasn't moved."

Wait, what?

Nero broke his focus with the moon and faced the draconequus. "The sun and the moon work a bit differently here than they do on Earth. You already heard about Princess Celestia, correct?" The devil hunter nodded. "Well, unlike on Earth, the sun and the moon are raised manually by the princesses. When morning comes, they raise the sun and lower the moon, and when night falls, they raise the moon and lower the sun."

How the hell does that work? ...Wait...

"Princesses? I thought there was only one?" Nero questioned.

"Oh, whoopsies! That's a bit of a spoiler! Pay it no mind, as I'm sure you'll find out what it means soon enough." Discord reassured him. "Changing topics, you've had quite the interesting day, haven't you?"

"Yeah, you could say that..." Nero once again recalled the day's events.

"...And you met six rather interesting ponies, didn't you?"

The descendant of Sparda paused at those words. "...What about them?"

"Oh, nothing. I just figured I should let you know, those six are a lot more important than you realize. Even if they do not yet know it themselves. With that, I bid you adieu." Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared once again, leaving Nero to his thoughts.

He listed off each of the six ponies in his head: A farmer, a tomboy, a fashion designer, two anti-social people, one extremely shy and the other just hates people, and finally... whatever the hell Pinkie Pie was. They were all certainly... unique individuals, but he wasn't sure how any of them could be important enough to warrant keeping an eye on.

...Focus with my horn, huh?

Just as Discord told him, Nero poured all his focus into his horn. Once he did, he was welcomed with a feeling that he couldn't even try to explain. He held on to that feeling, then put his focus back on Red Queen. Before he knew it, the sword was floating in the air right before his eyes, surrounded by a deep sky-blue hue. He gave the sword a few swings, and even revved it a couple times, staring in awe at his new power. He focused on Blue Rose next, levitating it out of its holster. He twirled it around a bit and looked down the sight, aiming it at empty air.

Nero took note that despite the fact that the weapons were floating in mid-air, gravity was still in effect. He could somehow feel the weight of the sword and gun in his magical grip. After a few seconds, he was swinging Red Queen around just like he always did. He couldn't stop the wide grin that spread across his face. He was finally back in action!

His attention snapped to the alleyway's exit when he heard the clopping of hooves. He peered around the corner to see ponies gathering around the town hall.

Must be time. Let's go meet this princess.

Nero entered the town hall and found a crowd of ponies, all standing in the large room where they first met Rarity. Everyone was talking amongst themselves in hushed tones.

Well, everyone except a certain pink pony, who was speaking at a volume much louder than an inside voice.

"Isn't this exciting!? Are you excited? 'Cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited! Well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went *GASP* but I mean really, who can top that?" She appeared to be chatting up Twilight.

Jeez, does that girl ever stop to take a breath?

He walked up next to them and gave them a nod.

"Hey, you made it! I'm so glad you were able to make it! Did you take care of that business you said you needed to take care of?" Pinkie Pie had invaded his personal space in less than a second.

"Yeah, I'm good to go, now. When this is over, I'll need to talk to the princess." He told her.

"Princess Celestia? What do you need to talk to her for?" Twilight spoke up.

"I need to ask her if anyone's seen any of the pests I'm looking for. I was planning to ask the mayor, but I can't seem to find her anywhere." He responded just as Fluttershy's birds started to sing, notifying everyone that the celebration was about to start.

"Hey! Isn't that her on the stage?" Pinkie pointed to the stage as a spotlight shown down on a light brown, older looking pony wearing glasses and a cravat.

"Fillies and gentlecolts! As mayor of Ponyville,-"

And just where the hell have you been!?

"-It is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" the entire audience cheered at the declaration. "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Nero saw Twilight looking up at the night sky, clearly worried about something. He followed her gaze towards the moon and was shocked to see four of the stars moving behind the moon, then the shadow that looked like a pony vanishing in a flash. This seemed to make Twilight even more worried.

I'm guessing whatever that is isn't a good thing. Seeing how Twilight reacted to it, I'd wager she knows something about it.

"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..." The mayor continued, and the crowd kept getting more and more excited. "...Princess Celestia!"

On the balcony above, Fluttershy's birds sang as Rarity pulled down on a rope, drawing the curtains back to reveal...

...Nothing.

Everyone in the crowd began murmuring in a mix of shock and confusion. "This can't be good..." Nero heard Twilight say from beside him.

"Remain calm, everypony. There must be a reasonable explanation!" The mayor tried to keep things under control.

Pinkie Pie, either out of innocence or just plain ignorance, began hopping up and down with glee. "Ooh! Ooh! I LOVE guessing games! Is she hiding?" She began scanning every inch of the room, even the ceiling.

My guess is she either she got backed up on the toilet or something and missed her cue, or something really bad is about to go down.

"She's gone!" Rarity called from atop the balcony, and the entire crowd gasped.

"Ooh, she's good!" Pinkie praised before letting out a yelp as a cloud of blue smoke formed on the balcony.

I'm gonna assume it's the latter.

"Oh no!" Twilight whispered next to him. The smoke cloud grew bigger before transforming into a large, black pony in armor. Her mane and tail looked like they were made out of the night sky, and her pupils were formed into slits. Probably the most striking thing about her was that she had both a horn and wings. "Nightmare Moon!" Twilight finished.

Nightmare who?

Spike fainted and fell off of Twilight's back. The purple unicorn didn't seem to notice, too busy staring at the strange pony that had crashed the party.

I don't feel any demonic energy coming from her, so she's not a demon... but I feel something else... something sinister...

"Oh, my beloved subjects, it's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces." She addressed the whole audience.

"What did you do with our princess!?" Rainbow demanded, and was about to charge the new pony if Applejack hadn't grabbed her tail with her mouth.

"Slow down, nelly!" She spoke through grit teeth. The dark pony simply laughed.

"Why? Am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" She glared.

"Ooh, ooh! More guessing games! Umm, Hokey Smokes! How 'bout, Queen Meanie? No... Black Snooty, Black Snooty-!" Pinkie was cut off when Applejack shoved an apple in her mouth, and 'Black Snooty' continued her speech.

"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for 1,000 years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

"I did!" Everyone turned to Twilight once she spoke up. "And I know who you are! You're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon!" The crowd collectively gasped, and 'Nightmare Moon' looked amused. Personally, Nero preferred Black Snooty.

"Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here?" She challenged.

"You're here to... to..." Twilight stammered before gulping. Black Snooty laughed once again.

Alright, enough of this.

"Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last! From this moment forth, the night... will last... FOREV-!"

*BANG!*

*CLANG!*

Nightmare Moon was cut off when something collided with her helmet, stunning her. It took her a second to process that something, or someone, had just hit her.

"WHO DARES TO STRIKE ME!?" Her voice boomed across the entire hall. Everyone turned to the source of the loud bang and saw Nero levitating Blue Rose, smoke pouring out of the barrel.

"C'mon, lady, haven't you heard? No one likes a party crasher." He smirked, not even a hint of fear in his eyes.

"WHO. ARE. YOU!?" She seethed.

"I'm an exterminator. While you may not be like the usual pests I deal with, I'd say you qualify enough for me to get involved." He holstered Blue Rose.

Nightmare Moon blanched. This puny mortal, a mere child, just called her a pest!? And without batting an eye!?

"Insolent child! You shall pay for your words!" She promised him.

"Yeah, yeah, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that. Is that supposed to be intimidating... Black Snooty?"

The pure rage Nightmare Moon felt in that moment was indescribable. This little worm continued to humiliate her in front of her subjects! Even so, she could tell he was not to be underestimated. She could sense the power coursing through his veins from where she stood.

This was no ordinary pony.

"Hope you're ready..." The devil hunter levitated Red Queen off his back, spun it around a couple times, then stabbed it into the ground, revving its engine. "... 'Cause I'm taking you down, bitch!"

"Language!" Some kiss-ass called out from the crowd.

"Hmph. I'd like to see you try, for I promise you..." Nightmare moon addressed the crowd once again. "... From this moment forth, the night... will last... FOREVER!" She let out another evil laugh as lightning crashed around her. Nero launched himself into the air towards her, Red Queen at the ready. By the time he reached her, however, he swung at nothing but air. Nightmare Moon had turned into a cloud of blue smoke once again and flew out through the main entrance, escaping into the night.

Nero stood on the balcony, looking at where Nightmare Moon had once been standing.

This job just got a whole lot more interesting.

Author's Notes:

Holy crap, this story got a lot of attention in no time. All I wrote was a prologue, and a couple days later, its already got 100 views. It took the other story I've been writing months before it had that many.

Also, I know I wrote this 10,000-word chapter rather quickly, and I'm sure you're thinking I had just pre-written it already. In truth, I started writing this chapter just a few hours after I submitted this story. I would have started immediately after if it hadn't been past midnight and I wanted to sleep.

I don't know why, but I've been a writing machine when it came to this story. Probably helps that I have the actual show as a sort of guide on what to write next, rather than doing it from scratch. I'm surprised with myself though. counting my other story, this is both the longest and fastest chapter I've written.

I'll focus on writing the second part of the premiere for this story, but then I'm returning my focus to my Fallout Equestria story, since I'd actually had that story in my head for much longer. That doesn't mean I'll be abandoning this story, though. I've got several ideas for future episodes, including when Dante and Vergil show up. As for the next chapter, expect to be headbanging to Devil Trigger as we finally get to see some demon-killing action!

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!

Edit: I added a bit more to the descriptions for the mane six when they're introduced since I hadn't given much detail the first time around, as well as made a few other minor tweaks here and there. Hope it looks better now!

Friendship is Magic (Part 2)

View Online

Nero ran out through the front doors of the town hall and scanned the street for Twilight. Amidst the panic of the crowd, he had seen the purple unicorn run out of the building with a sleeping Spike in tow. She clearly knew something, and if Nero was going to take Nightmare Moon down a few notches, he would like to know everything he could about her. While she may not have been a demon, this still counted as part of the job the devil hunter had been hired for.

If the sun and moon worked the way Discord said they did, then this was an even bigger problem than it would first appear to be. Without sunlight, things like plants and crops can't get the nutrients they need to grow. Without crops, the ponies of this world would no longer be able to make food. If they were omnivores, they could at least rely on meat, but even then, it wouldn't be a permanent solution. The fact that they were herbivores made it even worse.

Basically, if the sun never came up again, the entire world would slowly starve and die out.

Even if Nero wasn't currently being paid to do this, he couldn't just sit idly by while this world was killed by some crazy horse. He had the power to do something, and by God he was going to use it.

Nero quickly spotted Twilight running back to that tree library, and he chased after her.

Time to get some answers.

Nero reached the library and opened the door a crack, peeking inside.

"Elements, Elements, Elements... ugh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony!?" Twilight was currently tossing the library inside out, searching book after book. Considering how fast she was flipping through the pages, he assumed she was quite the speed reader.

The Elements of Harmony? Those sound important. Time to ask her-

Before he could open the door further, a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus did it for him, bursting into the library and getting right up in Twilight's face. He hadn't even realized she had been right behind him, listening in as well. He looked back to see the other four ponies he'd met that day standing behind him as well. Guess they had the same idea.

How the hell did they sneak up without me noticing?

"And just what are the Elements of Harmony!? And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh!? Are you a spy!?" Rainbow Dash kept interrogating Twilight, who tried to back up and get some breathing room, but the cyan pegasus wasn't letting up. Applejack ran in and grabbed Rainbow by the tail, pulling her back.

"Simmer down, Sally. She ain't no spy. But she sure knows what's goin' on, don't ya, Twilight?" After saying that, the rest of the girls filed into the library, looking expectantly at Twilight. Nero figured he might as well go in too, since they pretty much just stole his idea. Twilight looked between all of them before finally explaining herself.

"I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them, I don't even know what they do!" The ponies around her listened intently to Twilight's explanation until Nero scoffed.

"It's fine, I'm sure we won't need 'em. I can take care of her just fine on my own." The devil hunter boasted.

"Uh, beg yer pardon, Nero, you seem like a strong feller, but yer talkin' 'bout takin' on an alicorn, here. Ah'm not so sure you can just fight her mono-a-mono." Applejack tried to reason with the half-demon.

Unfortunately for her, he wasn't listening.

"Oh c'mon, you haven't even seen me in action, yet! Trust me, I've taken on worse than her."

...And what the hell's an alicorn?

"'The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide'." Everyone turned to Pinkie to find her staring at a bookshelf, one book in particular. Twilight quickly bumped her aside and examined the spine of the book herself.

"How did you find that!?"

"It was under 'E'~!" The pink pony sang as she hopped by.

"...Oh." Twilight was most likely realizing how stupid she was for not checking there to begin with. She levitated the book off the shelf and opened it up, flipping through the pages. It was then that Nero noticed the absence of a certain baby dragon.

"Where's Spike?" He asked.

"He was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, so I put him to bed already." She found the page she was looking for, then began reading aloud. "There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty."

Six elements, six ponies. Discord did say they were important, so either this is just a coincidence, or...

"The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters."

Nero noticed something out of the corner of his eye and looked to a window near the ceiling. With speed only a demon would be capable of, he whipped out Blue Rose and fired at the window, breaking the glass and causing the other girls to jump. The cloud of blue smoke that had been hovering outside the window flew away to avoid being shot at once more.

"Guess she'll be hunting for the Elements, too. Looks like it's a race, then. Where's this castle you mentioned?" He turned back to Twilight. She continued reading, this time with much more haste than before.

"It is located in what is now..."

"The Everfree Forest!?" The five ponies local to Ponyville all exclaimed. Nero wasn't sure why they waited until they walked all the way to the forest itself just to say that, but it didn't seem like a big deal, so he let it go.

The group stared anxiously at the dark, dreary, mysterious forest. A sense of foreboding spread amongst all the ponies currently present.

...Well, all except Nero. He just yawned. It was pretty late, after all.

"...Welp, thanks for leading me here, girls. I'll see you all after I'm done." Nero didn't hesitate as he began trotting into the forest.

"Y-You're going in there a-alone!?" Fluttershy stammered, looking the most terrified out of all of them.

"Uh, yeah, it's kinda my job. Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." He tried to reassure her.

"Your job? I thought you said you were an exterminator?" Twilight spoke up this time.

"Yeah, of a sort. I'm used to this kinda thing. I'll have this wrapped up in an hour, two tops." Nero resumed his trek into the forest before being stopped again. This time it was his tail being pulled.

Now, normally, he could most likely overpower whoever decided to try and pull his tail and would just keep walking. This was his first time being pulled by the tail, however, so he never knew beforehand what it felt like. Now that he knew?

It felt like someone was ripping his anus out of his asshole, and it hurt.

"OW! What the hell!? Was that really necessary!?" He turned to see that it had been Rarity who pulled on his tail with her magic.

"Language, and of course it was, darling! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is in there!? Used to it or not, we simply cannot let you go by yourself!" She insisted.

Again with this 'language' bullshit. What are they, five?

"Girls, really, I'll be fine-"

"No can do, sugar cube. Rarity's right. We sure ain't lettin' any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone." Applejack cut him off, and the five ponies walked past him and proceeded into the forest. "We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple!"

"Especially if there's candy apples in there!" Pinkie agreed, and Nero just stared at her blankly.

"...What? Those things are good!" She then followed the others into the forest. Nero just kept staring after them before realizing Twilight was still next to him.

"I was planning to go in alone myself, but it doesn't seem like that's happening for either of us." She sighed.

"Yeah..." The devil hunter simply agreed before the two of them followed the others into the infamous Everfree Forest.

"So, none of you have been in here before?" Twilight asked the others, her voice giving away how nervous she was.

The group had been walking through the forest for a few minutes now, and Nero still had yet to be impressed. For all the buildup that the girls gave this forest, he didn't even find it the slightest bit creepy. Then again, he'd been to places like Agnus' lab and the Qliphoth, so maybe he was just used to it.

"Oh, h-heavens no. Just look at it, it's dreadful!" Rarity was the first to respond.

"And it ain't natural! Folks say it don't work the same as Equestria." The farm pony added.

"Doesn't work the same? How so?" Nero decided to butt in as they were coming up on a cliffside. As soon as he did, Rainbow Dash flew up and began speaking in a spooky voice.

"No pony knooows~! You know why?" She began stalking towards Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

"Rainbow, quit it!" Applejack tried to get her to stop, but the rainbow pegasus ignored her and continued.

"'Cause everypony who's ever come in, has never... come... OUT!" As soon as Rainbow yelled that, the ground beneath them cracked and the cliffside began to fall, taking all the ponies, minus the two pegasi, with it. As they did, Nero spotted a cloud of blue smoke seeping out of the cracks between the ground.

That Black Snooty Bitch!

"Fluttershy, quick!" He heard Rainbow call out as they began sliding down the mountainside. The devil hunter tried to regain his footing (or is it hoofing?), but to no avail. He knew if he fell, he'd be fine. He was a half-demon after all. He couldn't say the same about the others, though.

Rainbow managed to grab Pinkie, and Fluttershy grabbed Rarity. Applejack managed to grab on to a root sticking out of the ground with her mouth and stop herself. Just as he reached the edge, Nero managed to grab on to a rock jutting out of the ground. Twilight was the only one without anything to save her from falling as she slid further and further down.

Shit! She's too far for me to reach!

He didn't have to worry, though, as Applejack let go of the root and slid down to help her. "Hold on, I'm a-comin'!" She managed to grab Twilight's hooves just before she went over the edge.

"Applejack, what do I do!?" Twilight cried, and a few seconds passed before the farm pony responded.

"Let go."

"Are you crazy!?" Twilight understandably responded. However, Nero noticed that Rainbow and Fluttershy had brought Pinkie and Rarity to safety already, and were now waiting to catch Twilight below her.

"No I ain't. Ah promise you'll be safe."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" The purple unicorn yelled.

Can't she just tell her Rainbow and Fluttershy are waiting to catch her?

"Now listen here, what I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, an' you'll be safe."

Honest... wasn't that one of the elements?

A moment passed as Twilight hesitated, but after a bit, she trusted Applejack and let go. She began screaming as she fell, only for them to be cut short once Rainbow and Fluttershy caught her. Applejack spotted some larger rocks jutting out of the side of the cliff, and began hopping down each to safety.

Alright, now I just need to-

The devil hunter's thought was cut off when he felt the small rock he'd grabbed onto start to give way. It came loose from the ground, he began to fall.

Ah, whoops.

"NERO!!!" The other girls all yelled out, panic spreading across their faces. Nero himself, however, didn't look too concerned about his current predicament. The pegasi wanted to rush to save him, but they had to set Twilight down first. They tried to move faster, but they knew they wouldn't be able to make it in time. The six ponies watched in horror as their friend was about to become a red stain on the ground...

...Only for him to land on all four hooves like it was nothing.

"Huh, guess I'm heavier than I thought. I gotta lose some weight." He looked back up at the cliff as he spoke. He then turned his attention to the six ponies staring at him, their eyes wide and jaws dropped. "...What? There somethin' on my face?" He wiped his face just to check, but found nothing.

"H-... How did you...?"

"Hey, I said you haven't seen me in action yet. I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve." He turned and continued into the forest. "C'mon, were burning moonlight, here!"

That snapped the ponies out of it, and they followed Nero deeper into the forest, still shocked at what they had just witnessed.

"And once Pinkie and Rarity were safe, me and Fluttershy loop-de-looped around and wham! Caught you right in the nick of time!" The rainbow pegasus boasted, to Twilight's annoyance.

"Yes, Rainbow, I was there, and I'm very grateful, but we gotta-" Twilight was cut off when something stomped in front of the group. Nero saw what looked like a lion, but had bat wings and a scorpion tail. The creature let out a loud roar. "A manticore!"

Manticore, huh? He doesn't look very tough. Could probably take him with only one swing from Red Queen.

"We've got to get past him!" Twilight said, determination in her voice.

"Here, I'll take care of this. You girls step back." Nero levitated Red Queen off his back, and the other girls did as he said.

"C'mon then, kitty! Time for you to get wet!" Nero charged at the beast, sword at the ready. He raised it above his head-

"WAIT!!!"

...Only to quickly stumble to a stop when Fluttershy stood right in his path.

"Wh- Fluttershy!? What the hell are you doing!? I could have taken your head off!"

"Language, and if you would please give me just a moment." The quiet pony turned to the manticore and calmly approached it. "Shh, it's okay..." She nuzzled the beast's paw, much to everyone's surprise. Even the manticore looked stunned.

After a second, the manticore showed his paw to Fluttershy, which had a giant splinter in the palm of it. "Oh, you poor, poor, little baby." Fluttershy gave the manticore a look of empathy.

"Little?" Nero heard Rainbow say from beside him.

"Now, this might hurt for juuust a second." Fluttershy bit down on the splinter and pulled it out. The manticore roared and lifted Fluttershy in its grasp. Blue Rose was out in a split second, aimed at the beast and ready to shoot.

...But Nero didn't need to.

The manticore began purring and licking Fluttershy appreciatively. "He he he! Oh, you're just a little old baby kitty, aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are!" The rest of the group, seeing that it was now safe to pass, walked around the manticore and continued forward. Nero could scarcely believe what he'd just seen. Did Fluttershy seriously just tame that thing?

"How did you know about the thorn?" Twilight asked her.

"I didn't. Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness." She said as she walked by.

First Applejack with honesty, now Fluttershy with kindness. Gee, I wonder what the pattern could be?

Nero looked back for just a second and saw the thorn on the ground transform into a blue smoke cloud before taking off.

That's 2-0, our favor, lady. If I were you, I'd just accept you're gonna lose.

"Ugh, my eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." Rarity complained as they trudged further into the forest. They entered a part of the forest that was much thicker with trees, so much so that they blocked out any moonlight from shining through, submerging the group in darkness. "Well, I didn't mean that literally."

"That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces, and we wouldn't even know it!" Twilight added. The others seemed to keep bumping into each other, trying to find out where they were. Nero, however, had no such trouble. His demon blood provided him with enhanced vision, allowing him to see just fine, even in this darkness. He did notice the trees looked like they had creepy faces on them, but it didn't really bother him.

"Oh, wait, I think I stepped in something." Applejack said, followed by the sound of squishy mud. Just then, Fluttershy let out a scream. "It's just mud." Right after the farm pony said that, she turned her head to see the source of Fluttershy's fear, one of the trees with the faces on it. Applejack screamed, and was soon joined by the rest of the girls as they noticed all of the trees surrounding them.

Great, now my ears hurt.

"Could you stop screaming!? It's not even that scary! There just trees!" The girls didn't hear Nero and continued to scream.

That is, until giggling could be heard.

Everyone turned to see Pinkie laughing at one of the trees, then making a bunch of silly faces at it.

Well, it's more merciful than the screaming, anyway.

"Pinkie, what are you doing? Run!" Twilight called to her, but Pinkie just continued to laugh.

"Oh, girls, don't you see?" The pink pony giggled as Nero started hearing something playing in the air around them.

Is that... music?

Now, Nero wasn't a stranger to hearing music playing out of thin air. Whenever he fought demons, some music would always start to play in the background. The devil hunter had no idea where it came from, but it pumped him up and made him feel even cooler than he already was. This music, however, was different. It sounded a lot more... cheerful?

Pinkie started stepping to the beat of the song, then did something Nero would never forget in his entire life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGuZLr3ZgBc

"When I was a little filly, and the sun was going dooooooown~!"

Nero blinked and cleaned some of the wax out of his ear to make sure he was hearing right.

"Tell me she's not-" Twilight was clearly just as surprised before Pinkie continued.

"The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frooooooown~!"

"She is." Rarity confirmed their suspicions.

"I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw..."

No.

Fucking.

Way.

"But Granny pie said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at aaaaaall~!"

She was singing.

"Then what is?" Rainbow asked.

"She said, 'Pinkie, you got to stand up tall, learn to face your fears! You'll see, that they can't hurt you just laugh and make them disappeeeaar~!'"

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Pinkie laughed at the tree, and the face on it disappeared, making the girls gasp. Nero was still busy trying to process the fact that Pinkie had just broken out into song.

"Sooooo! Giggle at the ghostie~!" Fluttershy was the first to start laughing at the trees.

"Guffaw at the grossly~!" Next was Rainbow Dash.

"Crack up a the creepy~!" After her, Rarity started laughing too.

"Whoop it up with the weepy~!" Applejack joined in next.

"Chortle at the kooky~!" Pinkie pushed Twilight in front of a tree, and she also started laughing.

"Snortle at the spooky~!" Pinkie pushed Nero in front of a tree as well. He just rolled his eyes, took out Red Queen, and swung horizontally at the tree's base, bisecting it and causing it to fall over. This didn't stop the song, nor the laughing.

"And tell that big, dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and ifhethinkshecanscareyouthenhe'sgotanotherthingcomingandtheveryideaofsuchathingjustmakesyouwanna HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Yeah, I didn't catch a word of that.

"LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH~!!!"

The faces on all of the trees disappeared, and the girls all fell in a circle, laughing and giggling with each other once the song ended. Nero was still processing.

...Did I just have a stroke or was that real?

The girls continued their laughter, even as they made their way out of the dense part of the forest, with Pinkie in the lead. Nero was lagging behind a bit, trying to recover from the shock of what had just occurred.

Still can't believe that just happened...

After a bit, the devil hunter finally recollected himself and delved into thought.

Well, Pinkie is clearly connected to the Laughter Element. That just leaves Loyalty, Generosity, and whatever the sixth one is. I wonder who's who?

Nero was stopped in his tracks when he bumped into the rear of the group, who had also stopped. He peered around them and that's when he saw it.

They had walked into a clearing in the forest with an open field. The girls looked in shock and confusion as a wall of red veins circled around the clearing, trapping them inside.

It was a wall Nero was all too familiar with.

"W-What in tarnation!?" Applejack spoke up first.

"Freaky deeky!" Pinkie looked at the veins curiously. Before anyone could say anything else, three puddles of blood appeared on the ground in front of them. Fluttershy let out a scream as horrifying, insectoid creatures sprouted from each of them, twitching and clawing at the dirt as they climbed out.

"W-WHAT IN EQUESTRIA ARE THOSE!?" Rarity exclaimed, recoiling at the sight of something so disgusting.

"Demons..." Nero muttered. They were Empusas to be specific.

"I... I've heard about these!" Twilight said as Nero got closer.

Wait... she what?

"They've been showing up in certain parts of Equestria. No pony knows what they are, or how to stop them!"

...

Nero let out a long groan.

So the entire time I was looking for leads on demons in Ponyville... I could have just asked Twilight about them.

"...Oh well, no sense in complaining about it now. Guess it's my time to shine!" Nero got in front of the other girls and levitated Red Queen in front of him. "You might wanna take a step back."

"Nero!? What are you doing!?" Twilight asked, and he just smirked.

"Relax, Twilight..." He looked back at her, "...I got this."

Nero walked forward as he heard his favorite song start playing in the air.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxyJyTEgLzU

"So, who here brought the marshmallows?" He twirled Red Queen then stabbed it into the ground. "'Cause I'm bringin' the fire!"

He revved up Red Queen just as the music picked up. With a single Exceed charge now ready, He dashed towards the demons, performing a Ex Streak. The attack sent all three Empusas flying, so Nero snatched one back towards him with his Devil Bringer and swung his sword four times, slamming the sword down for his final strike and killing the demon.

One of the other Empusas got up and went to attack Nero. Before it could, however, Nero grabbed it with his Devil Bringer and slammed it into the ground, killing it instantly. Before he could move on to the final Empusa, two more blood puddles appeared up above. Two fly-like demons, Green Empusas, crawled out and started flying around, spitting poison juice at Nero.

The devil hunter rolled to avoid the juice and leapt up towards one of the flying bugs, swinging his sword mid-air three times and knocking the Green Empusa to the ground. He then fired at it with Blue Rose until the bug exploded in bits of demon gore. He leapt back up to the other Green Empusa and did the same thing, only this time he waited a bit after the second strike to perform a Roulette Spin, spinning both himself and his sword in a cyclone. After that, he grabbed the bug with a spectral arm while still in the air and threw it down into the ground to finish it.

Landing on his feet, he turned back to the normal Empusa. The half-demon inserted a round into Blue Rose and aimed at the demon as the gun began to glow. He released the charge shot and it fired directly into the empusa, ending its existence.

Another two puddles of blood appeared on the ground and a couple of Hell Cainas climbed out of them. Nero ran up to the first one and swung Red Queen twice, waited a second, then began swinging it around several times over, the final swing knocking the demon back a few feet. The other Hell Caina brought its scythe down on him, and he dodged it easily with a table hopper. He reared back, then shot forward and swung his sword upwards, executing a Shuffle and sending the demon flying.

With both demons stunned, Nero decided to have some fun. With his magic, he summoned a hologram of an old hand-crank movie camera. He didn't know how he'd done so, he just thought of it, and it appeared. He was too caught up in the moment to really care. "Oh, yeah! Lookin' good, baby! Make love to the camera! WOO! Work it! Yeah!" He aimed the holographic camera at the demons, as if filming them.

One of the Hell Caina got back up and charged him. Nero dodged with yet another table hopper then flung the Hell Caina into the air with a High Roller, following it into the air. He swung his sword twice, then swung both it and himself downwards, slamming the demon into the ground with a Split. He swung Red Queen four more times and slammed it down on the fourth strike, only this time with much more force than before. With that attack, he ended its short life.

The other Hell Caina charged Nero, but he stopped it in its tracks with two swings from his sword. On the second strike, Nero had revved Red Queen at just the right time to activate Max Act, which filled all three Exceed charges instantly.

He backflipped to avoid another swing from the demon's scythe, then launched the demon and himself so high into the air with an Ex High Roller that the ponies spectating had to crane their necks upwards just to see them. As they ascended, Nero swung his sword in a fiery cyclone, cutting and burning the Hell Caina at the same time. Once they reached the peak of their launch, Nero struck the demon three times and sent it flying back down to the ground.

Nero held a smirk as he landed safely on the ground and turned to the six ponies, who had all been watching the display with both shock and awe. The final Hell Caina stood back up and ran at Nero while his back was turned. Without even looking back, the devil hunter aimed Blue Rose and shot the demon in the head. It stumbled a bit before dropping its scythe and falling backwards, its body dissolving.

Nero holstered Blue Rose as the music ended and the wall of red veins turned white before fading away. "Aww, it's over already? I was just gettin' warmed up! That wasn't even a challenge." Nero looked back at the girls to see their shocked expressions were still present. Not one of them moved.

"...That... was... AWESOME!!!" Rainbow Dash was the first to finally say something. "You were all like, Bam! Pow! Swoosh! And you had that super cool arm that came from your hoof, and that one-liner, 'Who here brought the marshmallows, 'cause I'm bringin' the fire!' It was just so cool!" The rainbow pegasus flew around in the air, trying to recreate what the devil hunter had done.

"I-...I ain't never seen anythin' like it!" Applejack tried to find the words.

"That was super-duper amazing, Nero!" Pinkie bounced with excitement.

"Glad to know you girls enjoyed the show. Anyway, that seems to be all of them for now. Let's keep moving." As the group continued their journey, the six girls all stared at the half-demon, wondering what other surprises he might have in store for them. Twilight had to be the most curious out of all of them. What kind of exterminator is able to do all that? And what did he call them again? Demons?

"Man, I'd like to see anything else try to stop us now!" Rainbow cheered as she flew next to Nero.

"I agree. Doubt there's anything that can get in our way." He nodded as they proceeded forward.

Nightmare Moon watched as the group of seven ponies continued on into the forest. Every attempt she had made so far to foil their progress had been unsuccessful. Destroying the cliff, angering the manticore, even trying to scare them away. She wasn't about to give up, however. She still had plenty of opportunities, and she expected that one of them would work.

What she hadn't expected, however, was an outside source to take care of them for her.

She had learned about these new creatures when she first entered the Everfree forest. They hadn't been around before her banishment 1,000 years ago, so it had been her first time seeing this new species. After studying them, she could tell that they were stronger and more bloodthirsty than any other creature in Equestria. As soon as she saw them trap the naive ponies and move in for the kill, she was certain that victory would be hers, even if it wouldn't be by her own hoof.

Then the stallion, Nero, took action.

Not only had he dealt with all the creatures, but he did so with ease. They hadn't even managed to land a single hit on him. What shocked her even more was that despite being outnumbered, he didn't seem to be treating it as if it were a life-or-death battle. If anything, he seemed to be having fun with it. Seeing him in action confirmed her suspicions that he was, indeed, not a normal pony. His power may even be on par with that of Celestia.

That did not concern her, however.

While her sister had indeed been strong, she had been no match for Nightmare Moon. The princess of the sun simply cheated when she used the Elements of Harmony to banish her. That is why she must get rid of them, to ensure it would never happen again. She would destroy the elements, then dispose of those who rebelled against her, starting with this stallion.

"...Please...stop..."

A voice called out from within Nightmare Moon. It was her other side.

Her weaker side.

"... Don't...hurt anypony..."

She ignored the voice and continued on her way. There were some ants that needed to be crushed.

Me and my big mouth.

After having moved on from the clearing, the group now found themselves at a river, and the current was too strong for them too cross. "What was that about there being nothing that could get in our way?" Twilight snarked.

"Yeah, yeah..." He shrugged her off.

Actually, we might be able to have Rainbow and Fluttershy fly us across one by one-

His thought was cut off by the sound of someone sobbing. The ponies all looked at each other before peeking through some nearby bushes to see what the source of the noise was. What they saw was a giant purple sea dragon with orange, slicked back hair and an uneven mustache. He appeared to be crying and splashing around in the river, most likely the cause of the rushing current.

"Excuse me, sir. Why are you crying?" Twilight asked it.

Oh, ok, I guess we're just gonna talk to the giant friggin' sea dragon like it's totally normal. Why not? We already did a musical number, we can only go uphill from here!

"Well, I don't know! I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me, and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off!"

I'm guessing he's talking about Nightmare Moon, but I think it's more of a blue cloud than a purple one. Oh well, not a big deal.

"And now I look simply horrid! OH HO HO!!!" The sea serpent flung back into the water and caused a wave of water to splash onto the seven ponies, drenching them.

"Oh, give me a break." Rainbow groaned.

"That's what all the fuss is about?" Applejack was equally as annoyed.

"C'mon, man, it's just a mustache. It's nothing to cry over." Nero agreed with them. He noticed Nightmare Moon's plans to stop them seemed to be getting more and more ridiculous. With the first two, she tried to kill them. Those seemed reasonable. Then, she tried scaring them away with trees of all things (Which Nero was still surprised had been so effective on the girls at first). Now her plan was to cut off some guy's mustache? Sure, it kept them from crossing the river, but it just seemed petty and childish.

Actually, no, we can still cross if Rainbow and Fluttershy just fly us over-

"Why, of course it's worth crying over! How can you be so insensitive?" Rarity objected before strutting over to the sea dragon. "Oh, just look at him, such lovely, luminescent scales!"

The sea dragon sniffed, "I know."

"And your expertly coiffed mane!" Rarity continued.

The sea dragon swept back his hair, "Oh, I know, I know!"

"Your fabulous manicure!" The white unicorn kept going.

The sea dragon gasped, "It's so true!"

"All ruined without your beautiful moustache." She finished.

"IT'S TRUE! I'M HIDEOUS!!!"

Wow, built him up only to knock him down in one fell swoop. Savage, Rarity.

"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" After that declaration, Rarity bit down on one of the sea serpent's scales and ripped it off.

"OW! What did you do that for!?" He cried, literally shedding a tear. Instead of giving an answer, Rarity raised the sharp scale over her head and brought it down.

"Rarity, what are you-?" Twilight didn't finish her question, having gotten her answer the second the scale made contact with its target.

The sea serpent let out a long wail before collapsing. Out of context, one would have thought Rarity had just straight up killed the guy for crimes against fashion.

What she actually did was much more shocking.

Nero stared at where Rarity's tail had previously been, now having been severed by the scale she cut it off with. He'll be honest, he never would have expected that from her.

Rarity lifted the tail off the ground with her magic and levitated it over to the serpent's mustache, replacing the missing half with the tail in question. The sea dragon stared at his new mustache before cheering.

"OH-HO-HO-HO-HO! My moustache! How wonderful!"

"You look smashing!" Rarity complimented him.

"Oh Rarity, your beautiful tail!" Twilight looked at what remained of the fashion designer's tail. It was now just as short and stubby as Nero's.

"Oh, it's fine, my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides, it'll grow back." She waggled it a bit.

So would the mustache.

"So would the mustache." Rainbow mumbled, echoing Nero's thoughts. They all then noticed that the sound of rushing water was no longer present. They looked to the river and saw that there was no longer any current.

"We can cross now! Let's go!" Twilight took the lead as she walked into the water, only to stop once she found herself being elevated above the river. The sea dragon was using his long body to create a bridge, letting them cross without having to get wet.

"Allow me!" He bowed. The seven ponies all hopped across his body and onto the other side of the river. Once they all made it to the other side, Rarity turned back to look at the serpent.

"Excuse me? If you don't mind me asking, could you perhaps tell us your name?" She asked him.

"Ah, of course! I'm Steven Magnet! It was a pleasure to meet you!" The sea dragon introduced himself.

"And you as well, Mr. Magnet!" With that, they all turned and pressed on into the forest.

So much for Rainbow and Fluttershy flying us over. I suppose it worked out in the end. That was rather generous of Rarity. Doesn't take a genius to know which Element she has a connection to. That just leaves Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Wonder which one is going to be loyalty?...Say, that gives me an idea.

Nero dug through one of his coat pockets and fished out a quarter. He made sure he was a short distance behind the other girls beforehand. He didn't wanna have to explain why he was in possession of currency from another world. He figured he might as well flip a coin to guess which of the two ponies would be the next Element.

Then he remembered he didn't have opposable thumbs to flip it with anymore.

Damn. So much for that...

"Watcha got there?"

"AH!" The devil hunter let out a yelp when he heard a voice over his shoulder and nearly dropped the quarter.

"AH!" Pinkie Pie also let out a yelp, but going by the smile present on her face, she hadn't really been startled.

"I-It's nothing!" Nero stumbled, trying to think of an excuse. "I-It's just a... personal memento. I, uh, had this coin custom made."

"Oooooooh! Who's that funny looking guy on it with the wig?" She asked out of innocent curiosity.

"N-No one." He clammed up. Why was he getting so nervous? He doesn't normally get this nervous about anything. Something about Pinkie was putting him on edge. Maybe it was because he knew she could overpower him?

"Why were you about to flip it?"

"Huh?"

"You looked like you wanted to flip it!" She pointed to the coin as she pranced next to him, her smile still present.

How the hell did she know that!?

"Well, uh... I've been noticing that so far, each of you girls have been... uh... solving each problem we come across. I was wondering if either Rainbow or Twilight would solve one next." He explained. That was still technically the truth. He just... left out a few details.

"Ooh! Ooh! I say heads it's Dashie, tails it's Twilight!" Before Nero could protest, Pinkie snatched the coin from his hoof with her tail and chucked it into the air, flipping it. It came back down and landed in Pinkie's tail once more.

"Heads! Dashie's next! HEY, DASHIE! YOU'RE GOING TO SOLVE THE NEX-!!!" Before Pinkie could say anything else incriminating, Nero clamped a hoof over her mouth.

"Huh? What'd you say, Pinkie?" Rainbow called back to her.

"NOTHING! She said nothing!" Nero yelled back a bit louder than he meant to. The other five ponies ahead of them stared for a second before shrugging and going back to walking. Twilight seemed to stare for a second longer than the others, but she eventually resumed walking as well. Nero removed his hoof from Pinkie's mouth.

"Look, just keep this between us, okay?" The half-demon asked her. Once he did, she turned to fully face him and started performing some sort of ritual.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye~!" She rhymed. Nero blinked.

"...What was that?" He couldn't help but ask.

"That was a Pinkie promise! You never break a Pinkie promise!" The pink pony flashed a smile.

"If you say so." He was about to continue walking when Pinkie grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him an oddly serious look.

"Nero, I mean it. You never break a Pinkie promise. Understood?" She spoke in a serious tone that was very unlike her. That, combined with the look she was giving him...

It actually managed to make the devil hunter shudder, just a bit.

"Y-Yeah, understood."

"Okey-dokey-lokie!" Her smile returned almost instantly, and she hopped away, going to catch up with the others. Nero just stared at the pink pony as she left.

...What the hell is she?

"There it is!" As they reached another clearing in the forest, Twilight pointed to a torn down castle that had definitely seen better days. "The ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony. We made it!" She rushed ahead in the direction of the ruins.

"Twilight! Wait for us!" Applejack called out happily as the rest of the group followed her.

"We're almost ther- WHOA!" Twilight had been so excited to reach the castle that she didn't see the cliff right in front of her. Rainbow grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back to safety.

Considering how much that hurt when they did it to me, I'm surprised they keep doing it all the time. Maybe they're just more used to it than I am.

"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" Rainbow joked. They all looked at the large gap between them and the castle. It looked like there had been a rope bridge here once, but it seemed to break and was now hanging off of one side.

"Now what?" Pinkie wondered.

"Duh." Rainbow said with a flutter of her wings. She took to the sky and flew down to grab the other end of the rope bridge, hoping to retie it to the other side.

"Oh yeah." Pinkie said. They all watched as she flew to the other side, carrying the rope in her mouth. She landed near the other side near the post and was about to tie it, but something seemed to stop her. It was only there for a second, but Nero noticed a familiar blue cloud of smoke fly past.

Crap, that can't be good.

It was too far for them to hear, but it sounded like a voice was calling to Rainbow Dash. The rainbow pegasus seemed to start talking to whomever the voice was coming from. After about a minute passed, Nero decided to get her attention.

"Hey, Rainbow! What's going on over there?" He called out to her, though he already had a feeling what it might be. The group looked closer and spotted three pegasi dressed in dark uniforms, similar to the Wonderbolts Nero had seen on that poster in Ponyville.

"Oh no! RAINBOW!" Twilight yelled to the pegasus, but one of the dark uniformed ponies glared at them. Her eyes flashed, and a thick cloud of fog blocked their view. "Don't listen to them!" Twilight continued to call out to Rainbow Dash, but Nero had a feeling she couldn't hear them anymore.

Damn, she might've actually got us with this one. Guess I'll just have to find another way around. Once I'm over, I find Rainbow, save her if necessary, then kick Black Snooty's ass. Shouldn't be too hard.

Nero was about to turn around and find an alternate route, only for a certain rainbow pegasus to fly through the fog and land near them. The girls all cheered at her return and started crossing the bridge. "See? I'd never leave my friends hanging!"

"What the heck happened over there?" Nero questioned her.

"Oh, these guys called the Shadowbolts wanted to recruit me. They said they were the best flyers in the Everfree forest and wanted me to help them be the best in Equestria! Problem was, they would only let me join them if I ditched you guys, so I had to turn 'em down." She explained.

"Yeah, I think that was actually Nightmare Moon." He concluded.

"Wait, what!? What makes you think that!?" The pegasus was taken aback.

"I saw a cloud of blue smoke flying around just as you reached the other side. Also, did them saying they're the best flyers in the Everfree forest not make you suspicious? This place ain't exactly known for being populated." He explained.

"O-Oh... yeah that, uh, probably should have tipped me off, huh?" She chuckled and scratched the back of her head. Nero just sighed in response. At least she was safe. This also most likely meant that she was connected to the Loyalty Element.

As they continued to cross the bridge, Pinkie nudged Nero to get his attention, then whispered to him, "Nero! Nero! My coin flip was right! What do I win!? What do I win!?"

"I, uh, didn't exactly have a reward in mind."

"Oh, well that's okay! It was fun anyway!" She gleefully continued crossing the bridge. Nero sighed in relief, seeing the pink pony was actually keeping her promise and being subtle about the coin. They finished crossing the bridge and approached the castle ruins.

The seven ponies entered the castle, and the first thing they saw was some sort of stone pedestal with five spherical rocks on display. Each sphere had a gem-shaped carving on it.

"Whoa...!"

"C'mon, Twilight, isn't this what you've been waitin' for?" Applejack turned to the purple unicorn.

"The Elements of Harmony! We found them!" The two pegasi in the group flew up and started lifting the stone spheres off of the pedestal and brought them down in front of Twilight. "Careful...careful..."

"One, two, three, four, uh, there's only five." Pinkie counted.

"Didn't that book say something about it appearing when we found the other five?" Nero asked Twilight.

"Yes, the book said, 'When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.'"

"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack asked the next question on everyone's mind.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back, I don't know what will happen." Twilight lowered her horn towards the spheres, and everyone present did as she said.

"Come on, now, y'all. She needs to concentrate." Everyone except Twilight followed Applejack back outside.

They were only out there a second before they heard Twilight yelp.

"Twilight!" They all ran back in to see a cloud of blue smoke had started flying around the Elements in a small tornado.

"The Elements!" Without hesitation, Twilight leapt into the tornado just as it teleported away, taking her with them. The girls all looked around for her in a panic. Nero, remaining levelheaded, looked out the window and spotted many flashing lights in another part of the castle.

"There!" He pointed to the flashing lights before taking off deeper into the castle. The other girls tried to follow him, but his demon heritage allowed him to run much faster than others without getting tired. The girls called after him to wait for them, but he didn't listen.

Sorry girls, but this is getting too dangerous. Gonna have to bench you for this one.

For a second, a memory flashed in Nero's mind.

"Nero, Go! You're just dead weight!"

Suddenly the devil hunter felt a little guilty for leaving them on the sidelines. The same thing had been done to him once. Still, he pressed forward. Twilight's life could be in danger, and he wasn't going to risk that to let the others catch up.

I am not dead weight.

Nero raced through corridor after corridor until he reached a staircase. He quickly reached the top...

... Just in time to see the Elements be shattered to pieces by Nightmare Moon, with Twilight watching in horror.

Welp, looks like that plan failed. Good thing I'm here to act as a plan B.

"You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess or your sun! The night... will last... FOREV-!"

*BANG!*

*CLANG!*

Nightmare moon groaned in annoyance as she was interrupted again by something impacting her helmet.

"Aww, what? Don't tell me you forgot about me already, Black Snooty. I gotta say, I'm a little hurt." Nero quipped, lowering Blue Rose.

"Not you again..." She grumbled.

"'Fraid so. You're still gonna have to deal with me first. Now that I'm here..." The devil hunter cracked his neck then levitated Red Queen out beside him. "Whaddya say we get down to busine-" He was cut off when he heard voices coming from the staircase he just entered from.

"Twilight!? Nero!? Don't worry, we'll be there!" They could hear the voices of the other five ponies getting closer as they made their way up the stairs.

Huh, they sure got here quick, even with me leaving them in the dust.

Nero turned to look at Twilight, who's eyes had gone wide. A spark seemed to shine in her eyes. She then turned to Nightmare Moon, seeming much more confident than before. "You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong!"

Uh, no Twilight, she's not. She can and did destroy the Elements. They're currently in pieces right over there.

"Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony..." Twilight continued just as the other five ponies reached the top of the stairs, "...Are right here!"

Huh?...oh...oh! I get it now! So that's what Discord meant.

The shards that had once been the Elements began to shake and were lifted into the air by a glow that surrounded each. Twilight continued her speech. "Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of Honesty!" The shards that were glowing orange hovered around the farm pony.

"Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of Kindness!" The shards that were glowing pink hovered around the shy pegasus.

"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of Laughter!" The shards that were glowing light blue hovered around the energetic pony.

"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of Generosity!" The shards were glowing purple hovered around the fashion designer.

"And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the spirit of Loyalty!" The shards that were glowing red hovered around the rainbow pegasus. "The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!"

Well, I was the one who took care of the demons, but I guess we're just glossing over that.

"You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!" Nightmare Moon sounded like she was getting nervous. It made Nero chuckle.

"But it did, a different kind of spark!" Twilight turned to face the group. "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you!"

Well, that's a 180 from how she felt earlier. Just a few hours ago, she wanted nothing to do with these ponies. Well, people do tend to grow bonds faster during times of crisis.

"The spark ignited inside me, when I realized that you all..." Twilight continued, turning to face Nightmare Moon once more. "...Are my friends!"

Oh my god, this is the cheesiest, hammiest thing I've ever witnessed.

Above them, a light flashed, and a new stone sphere appeared before them, floating just above Twilight. Coincidentally, the carving on the sphere looked just like her cutie mark. "You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the hearts of us all, it creates the sixth Element, the Element of... Magic!"

The shards surrounding the girls all came together and turned into necklaces that each of the girls wore. The only exception was Twilight, who's Element turned into a crown.

"Yeah, yeah, 'The Power of Friendship' and all that cliche stuff. You gonna blast her ass back to the moon now?" Nero added sarcastically. Twilight gave him a nod and the girls were enveloped in a ball of white light. A spiral of rainbows shot out of the bright light and to the ceiling, then came back down at full force, aiming directly for Nightmare Moon.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Nightmare Moon cried out as she became surrounded by a rainbow-colored tornado. Twilight opened her eyes, which were now glowing so bright that he had to shield his eyes. When he opened them again, all the girls were lying on the ground.

Wow... they didn't even need me. Well, except for the part with the demons, but other than that, they seemed to have it handled.

"Oh, my head..." Rainbow groaned.

"Everypony okay?" Applejack checked on everyone.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Everyone turned to look at Rarity once she spoke. It seemed that during their rainbow smiting of Nightmare Moon, her tail had instantly grown back. Nero would have been shocked to see this, but he grew an arm back, so it wasn't too much of a stretch.

"Why Rarity, it's so lovely!" Fluttershy complimented.

"I know! I'll never part with it again!" She waved her tail around, good as new.

"No, your necklace!" Fluttershy pointed to the piece of jewelry around Rarity's neck. The necklace was made of gold, and it held a purple diamond shaped gem in the center. "It looks just like your cutie mark!"

"Wha-? Oh! So does yours!" Rarity pointed out and Fluttershy looked down with a gasp, noticing a pink butterfly gem dangling from her necklace.

"Look at mine! Look at mine!" Pinkie bounced around, looking down at her necklace, which had a light blue gem shaped like a balloon.

"Aw, yeah!" Rainbow admired hers, which had a red lightning bolt for its gem. Nero also noticed that Applejack's was an orange-colored apple, and Twilight's was the same magenta, six-pointed star that she had for a cutie mark.

"Gee, Twilight, I thought you were just spoutin' a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the Elements of Friendship!" Applejack said to her.

God, could this get any cornier?

"Indeed you do." A calming voice echoed, and the group all turned in the direction it came from. Outside the window, Nero could see that the sun was rising in a matter of seconds before stopping in the sky. Another white ball of light shone from it and flew through the window and into the room. The light dissipated to reveal a very large pony. She had white fur and a multi-colored mane that blew in the wind. She also had both a horn and wings, just like Nightmare Moon had.

The fact that all the girls around him bowed before her made the half-demon assume that this was the princess.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight, instead of bowing, strode over to the princess.

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student!" She embraced Twilight in a hug. "I knew you could do it."

Wait... faithful student? She's a direct subordinate of the princess!?

"But you told me it was all an old pony tale!" Twilight looked up at the taller pony.

"I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more." The princess clarified. "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Now if only another will, as well..." Celestia turned to where Nightmare Moon had been.

Nightmare Moon's armor lay scattered on the ground, cracked and damaged. The pony herself, however, still remained, to Nero's surprise. What stuck out to him though, was that she had... changed.

The jet-black pony with fangs was gone. The pony that was laying there now had navy blue fur like Nero. Her mane was blue, and still looked like it was made out of the night sky, but it was much more solid and less like smoke than it had been earlier. While she was taller than most ponies, she appeared to be slightly shorter than Celestia.

The hell...?

"Princess Luna." Celestia approached Nightmare Moon, or rather, 'Luna'. The new pony opened her eyes and gasped when she saw the princess. "It has been 1,000 years since I have seen you like this. It's time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone! Did I hear that right!?

"Sister!?" The other ponies in the room all gasped, confirming that Nero had heard correctly.

Discord had slipped earlier and said there was more than one princess... That son of a bitch knew about this all along, didn't he?

"Will you accept my friendship?" The princess asked her sister. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation, awaiting an answer. Pinkie had leaned so far that she accidentally fell forward. After a few seconds, the princess' sister leapt into her embrace, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!" She cried, and the princess began to do the same.

"I've missed you, too." She looked down and smiled at her sister. Staring at the two brought back memories for the descendant of Sparda.

Memories of two brothers, ready to kill each other over a stupid sibling rivalry.

...Y'know, I'm actually glad I didn't get to fight Black Snooty. If I had, this may not have turned out to be such a happy ending.

From beside him, Nero saw Pinkie crying and blowing her nose into a tissue. Where she got it from, he had no idea. She continued to cry until, like flicking a light switch, her mood instantly changed back to happy. "Hey! You know what this calls for?"

"A Party!" Pinkie threw confetti into the air. They were now back in Ponyville, the townspeople celebrating the defeat of Nightmare Moon. As soon as they got back, Spike had run out from the crowd and leapt into Twilight's hooves. Four pegasi in armor, who Nero learned were Celestia's Royal guard (Not to be confused with Dante's Royalguard Style), had flown the two princesses into town in a carriage. Luna had clearly been nervous when first entering the town, but the ponies seemed to welcome her. A couple kids even gave her a flower necklace.

"So, how's it feel to save the world?" Nero turned back to Twilight, only to see her looking downtrodden about something.

"Why so glum, my faithful student? Are you not happy that your quest is complete, and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?" Princess Celestia approached her.

"That's just it. Just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them." The purple unicorn looked back at the other girls as she spoke. After hearing that, Celestia seemed to come to a decision.

"Spike, take a note, please." The baby dragon in question pulled out a quill and paper at the request. "I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship, and she must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville."

The other girls gathered around Twilight and cheered now that their new friend would be able to stay with them. "Oh, thank you, Princess Celestia! I'll study harder than ever before!" Around them, the townspeople seemed to cheer as well, glad to have a happy ending.

Well, this seemed to have wrapped up nicely. Seems like my work here is done. That just leaves one question...

...What now?

Discord had hired him to take care of the demons in all of Equestria, so that clearly meant there was more than just the few they encountered in the forest. There had to be a reason these demons were in this world. Maybe he could find the source of whatever's bringing them here and get rid of it? If that's the case, how on Earth is he supposed to find it? Where would he start?

"Excuse me, Nero, was it?" The devil hunter was stirred from his thoughts when he saw Princess Celestia approach him. "Would you mind if I speak with you in private?"

The princess wants to talk to me? In private?...Okay, let's see what this is about.

"Alright, sure." Nero followed her as they were flanked by two of her royal guards. Eventually, she led him into a secluded alleyway, away from anyone that might overhear. The guards kept watch by the entrance, though remaining out of earshot while they had their conversation.

Yeah, this isn't sketchy at all.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did today. From what I heard, you were able to stand up to Nightmare Moon. Twilight and the others may not have succeeded if not for you." She thanked him, but he only scoffed.

"Trust me, you shouldn't be thanking me. If it hadn't been for them, I may have ended up killing her. They're the ones you should be thanking. Anyway, I doubt you brought me somewhere this secluded just to thank me. What did you really want to talk about?" He asked her, rather relaxed despite the current setting.

"Straight to the point I see. Alright then..." The princess of the sun chuckled before asking the question she had brought him here for.

"...You're from another world, aren't you?"

The half-demon's relaxed expression was traded out for one of panic.

HOW THE FUCK DID SHE KNOW THAT!?!

"Pfffft, whaaaaat? Where the heck is this coming from?" Nero chuckled nervously.

"We haven't disclosed this to the public yet to avoid any panic, but we've discovered that the new creatures that have been appearing all over Equestria originated from a world beyond our own. Despite that, you seem to be quite familiar with them." She explained.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. What makes you think I'm familiar with them?"

"Twilight told me you had called them 'demons'. That's rather odd, don't you think? Nobody in Equestria knows what these creatures are called except for you." The princess currently had the biggest shit-eating grin on her face.

...Oh, shit.

The princess didn't stop there, however, and kept going. "Let's not forget your rather odd behavior. You call yourself an exterminator, yet whenever somepony asks you to elaborate further, you evade the question. You also referred to pegasi as 'pegasuses'. On top of that, you've never once used terms such as 'somepony' or 'anypony', only using someone or anyone. While the latter terms aren't unheard of here, we still use the former much more often."

Nero thought that had been the end of it, but she still had more. "Your unique talents also come to mind. How you fought off these 'demons' with ease, survived a fall that would normally kill any other pony, and run faster than would normally be possible for anypony else. Your weapons are rather unique as well. I don't believe there are any exterminators that require swords, especially one as special as yours. As for the other weapon, I don't think anything like that even exists in Equestria. The closest we may have to it are cannons."

...I wonder if I would become a fugitive if I just ran for it right now.

"Do not get the wrong impression, Nero. I can tell your intentions are good, and I hope we can work together to stop these creatures that have begun to invade Equestria." The princess reassured the devil hunter, having noticed how fidgety he was getting. "I simply ask that you please tell me the truth. Do not feel the need to pressure yourself."

Seeing that he was pretty much cornered, Nero sighed.

...I guess she seems trustworthy. I just hope I don't regret this.

"...Alright, you got me... I'm from another world. Those demons are from my world, but I have no idea how they got here. I'm here to get rid of all of them. I'm also not actually a pony, I'm what's called a human. They don't seem to exist here in Equestria, so I had to turn into something more local." After Nero confessed, Celestia hummed in thought, taking everything in.

"I see... so, then how did you come to this world? And how did you become a pony?" She asked.

"That would be thanks to me." Nero and Celestia searched for the source of the voice, both of them very familiar with it. Discord appeared before them in a flash, his usual smug grin plastered on his face.

"Discord!? How are you-!?" Celestia was taken aback. How had he gotten free!?

"Wait, you know him?" Nero asked, surprised.

"Now, now, Celestia, I can assure you I come in peace. I come from the future, though I'm afraid I cannot say much more than that." The princess of the sun kept her guard up, still not trusting the draconequus. "Oh, for heaven's sake. If you don't believe me, then you can check the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. You'll find my statue still there."

His statue? What nut job made a statue in this guy's honor? And how would that prove he comes in peace?

"Hold on, how do you know Discord?" The half-demon got the feeling this was something he should know.

"Before Luna had become Nightmare Moon, Discord brought Equestria into a state of chaos and unrest. To stop him, we had sealed him in stone using the Elements of Harmony." She explained.

"Wait, you're saying Discord was evil!?" Nero turned to the master of chaos. "Seems he failed to mention that when he introduced himself."

"Oh, you were going to find out anyway, so I figured, why bother telling you when I could let it be a surprise?" He laughed. "Anyway, it seems you've started making progress with your demon hunting, and now you have the aid of Equestria's ruler! Quite a good start, indeed!"

"Are these demons your doing, Discord?" She eyed the draconequus with suspicion.

"Wha-!? Oh heavens, no! I hired Nero here specifically to get rid of the demons! I can't believe you don't trust me. Why, I'm an absolute angel!" A halo appeared above Discord's head as he said that. Celestia looked to Nero for conformation, and the devil hunter nodded.

"It's true, he's the one that hired me." He answered, and Celestia looked back at Discord. What in Equestria was he planning?

"Why choose to reveal yourself to me?" The princess pressed him further.

"Well, I wasn't originally planning to, but somepony clearly failed to keep it a secret that they were from another world." Discord gave Nero the side eye before continuing. "I never told Nero not to mention me, so there wasn't anything I could do to stop him from spilling the beans. I figured I might as well give you an explanation before you go accusing me of anything. I can assure you, I'm here to help, and so is Nero."

"He's right about one thing." The demon hunter addressed Celestia. "Even if I wasn't getting paid for this, I'd still help. I'm not gonna stand by while others are in danger."

"Paid? I don't recall discussing any payment." The draconequus put a claw on his chin in thought.

Wait...what?

"H-Hold on, I stand by what I said, but I still wanna get paid for this. You are paying me, right?"

Discord shrugged in response. "Even if I wanted to, I'm afraid I don't have any money to give you. Anyways, now that that's all taken care of, I'll be off now. Oh, and one last thing. Keep my presence a secret from Twilight and the others. if they find out about me early, it may cause problems. Ta ta!"

"Hey wait a sec-!" Before Nero could argue, Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared.

That son of a bitch conned me!

Nero seethed, angered at being unable to force payment out of the lord of chaos. Celestia sighed, unsure of what to make of this new development.

"...Twilight and her friends had been curious about you earlier. That's why she told me about what she knew. I told her I would talk to you and report back to her. Do you wish to tell them about your origins?" Celestia asked, trying to get back onto their original topic. Nero thought about his answer. It was clear the girls were curious about him, Twilight especially. Not telling them might just make them suspicious of him.

"...Yeah, I guess it would be for the best. Though, we will need to leave out the part about Discord hiring me. We'll need to come up with another excuse for how I got here."

The princess smiled. "I think I know a solution for that."

Nero stood in the Golden Oaks Library in front of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, plus a baby dragon. They were all slack jawed after hearing that the devil hunter was from another world. The fact that Princess Celestia herself confirmed it to be true was also mind boggling to them. The story they told them was that Celestia had been the one to summon Nero to help deal with the creatures.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Twilight, but we didn't want ponies to panic, and hearing that these creatures had come from another world might cause that." The princess explained to her faithful student. Twilight herself struggled to find the words.

"I... I have so many questions..." She eventually settled on.

"...So... all that stuff you did in the Everfree forest... that's because you're not a pony? You're actually a... what did you say it was? A human?" Rainbow Dash spoke next.

"Well, not exactly." He answered. He figured if he was telling them everything, he might as well share that bit of information as well. "I am half human, sure... but I could do all that stuff because of my other half. I'm actually half demon."

The girls all gasped, recognizing the name. Even Celestia was surprised. They didn't need to tell Nero to explain, as he began doing so immediately. "A long time ago, demons had gone to war against humans. They did nothing more than kill and maim others. The demons were all led by a demon emperor named Mundus. Now, Mundus had a right-hand man known as the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, who was known as one of the greatest swordsmen among demon kind."

Nero paused to make sure the girls were all following along. When he saw that they were, he continued. "One day, Sparda 'awoke to justice'. Don't ask me what that means, 'cause I don't know either. He single-handedly defeated Mundus and his army, then sealed them away in Hell, which is basically the demon world. Several years later, he ended up falling in love with a human, and the two of them had twin sons, both half-demons." A look of understanding spread amongst the girls.

"So, you're one of those twins?" Twilight asked.

"Close. One of those twins is my father. Either way, I'm a descendant of Sparda. That's why I've got demon blood in me." He clarified.

After that, the girls continued to ask him many other questions. After about half an hour, they said their goodbyes and parted ways. Nero now stood with the princess of the sun outside the library.

"I suppose if that is all, then I shall head back to Canterlot. While we are keeping the fact that these demons come from another world a secret, I believe it would be best if ponies at least knew there was someone working to get rid of them. Having such good news could be beneficial. If you ever need anything, do not be afraid to ask." Celestia turned to leave, heading towards the carriage waiting to take her to Canterlot. It was then that an idea popped into Nero's head.

"Hey, Princess!" He trotted up to her and she turned back to face him. "Actually, if you're gonna be telling people about me, then there is something you could help me with."

Some time had passed, and the sun was beginning to set. Nero stepped back to admire the building in Ponyville he now had ownership of. He had to admit, the ponies in charge of real estate worked fast. He looked above the double doors to stare at what was hanging there.

A blue neon sign that read 'Devil May Cry'.

Nero pushed open the doors and took a look around. The interior was eerily similar to Dante's shop. He had no idea how they got it so close, but he wasn't complaining. He strode over to the desk, sat in the chair, then kicked his hind legs up onto the desk, crossing one over the other.

So, this is what it feels like.

As he let his eyes wander around the shop, his gaze fell on the vintage mailbox next to the desk, as well as the telephone sitting on the desk itself. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a letter that he had already received earlier. He found himself rereading it once more.

Hello again, Nero! To congratulate you on your new shop, I decided to give you a present. Well, two presents to be exact. The first is the mailbox you'll be receiving this letter from. If ponies have a request for a job, or want to report any demon sightings, they can mail them to you with this. If you want, you can leave it outside for the mail pony. The second present is the telephone, which I can assure you is no ordinary telephone. Due to telephones not existing here, Unicorns can instead call you by casting a specific spell. You should be able to hear them with the phone's receiver. This can also be used to receive job offers, as well as hear of any demon sightings. The difference is that the telephone is much more instantaneous than waiting for mail. Hope you put them to good use!

- D

Nero assumed that "D" was Discord. Who else in Equestria would know about telephones? He had shared the letter with Celestia already so that she would let people know to contact him using these. He opened one of the desk's drawers and threw the letter inside before shutting it again. He leaned back into the chair, contemplating everything. He was probably going to be in this world for a while. If Discord kept his promise, he would be returned to the exact point in time that he left once the job was done. Still, that didn't mean it wouldn't be a long time before he saw his friends again...

...Before he saw Kyrie again.

Wait for me Kyrie...

He was stirred from his thoughts when the phone rang.

That was quick. Guess it's time to get to work.

He picked up the receiver and put it to his ear, answering the caller with only three words...

"Devil May Cry."

The Ticket Master

View Online

Almost a week had passed since Nero opened up shop in Ponyville. How was it going, you ask?

To be frank, it was boring.

The devil hunter only received calls for two jobs so far, and neither of them were challenging. The first job was just dealing with a couple empusas that showed up just outside of town, which took him less than ten seconds to handle. The second job had him dealing with a few scarecrows in the Everfree forest. While this did tell him that the demons invading Equestria weren't limited to the ones in the Qliphoth, dealing with the demons themselves had still been super easy.

Other than those, he hadn't received any other work. He wasn't even getting any letters despite bringing the mailbox outside for others. Not only did this mean he wasn't earning much money, but it was leaving him bored out of his mind with nothing to do. Now, he sat in his new shop, trying to come up with something to entertain himself.

Why can't any big demons show up? Maybe then I'd be fighting something actually worth fighting.

He looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was lunch time. He figured he might as well try one of the restaurants in Ponyville. Since he didn't have any money to pay for food when he first showed up, Applejack had been nice enough to give him some food from the farm. As good as it was, he didn't want to keep eating apple-related foods every day. He gathered the few bits that he earned from work and set out. As he walked through town, he counted the bits that he had.

I... think this is enough to pay for lunch. I have no idea what the currency is worth here, so I'm just gonna have to wing it.

Eventually, he found a restaurant with ponies eating outside at tables shaped like mushrooms. A rather fancy looking waiter was serving the customers their food. He found a free table and sat down, taking a menu and looking over its contents. He was surprised to see what kind of food they had, but thinking about it, he realized that he shouldn't have been.

Daffodil-and-Daisy Sandwich? Hay Fries? Well, they are herbivores, so I guess I should've expected this. No way am I eating flowers for lunch. Maybe there's something else on here I can enjoy?

While he read the menu, he overheard some of the other patrons gossiping. They talked about how the new creatures that have been popping up have been identified as demons, and that there was a pony right here in Ponyville that hunts them for a living. They also talked about how the demon hunter stood up to Nightmare Moon without any fear. He couldn't help but chuckle, knowing he at least earned a reputation.

"I CAN'T DECIDE!" A familiar voice yelled out from one of the other tables. All of the patrons, including Nero, turned to source of the noise. The devil hunter spotted Twilight and Spike sitting at one of the tables.

What's got her all riled up?

"Twilight, he just wants to take your order." Spike pointed to the menu in his claws.

"...Oh." Twilight looked around, realizing everyone heard her outburst. She then calmly gave the waiter her order as if it never happened.

Welp, that was weird. Anyways, back to lunch.

As Nero continued to look over the menu, he felt something cold and wet drip onto his snout.

What the...?

As soon as the half-demon looked up, a torrent of rain came pouring down from the sky. All the other ponies that had been eating outside ran into the restaurant, desperate to avoid getting drenched.

Oh, you've gotta be kidding me.

Nero quickly followed the crowd inside. He stopped at the doorway, however, when he noticed that neither Twilight nor Spike had moved from their seats. In fact, it didn't look like the rain had been affecting them at all. Nero noticed a gap in the clouds directly above the two that was letting nothing but sunlight shine down on them.

"Uh, Madam? Are you going to eat your food in ze rain?" The waiter, who had a very thick French accent, asked Twilight from beside Nero.

"Huh? It's not raining." The purple unicorn looked around and only now seemed to notice the downpour around her. "What's going on?"

As the waiter retreated into the restaurant, Twilight, Spike, and Nero all looked up at the opening in the clouds to find none other than Rainbow Dash peering through it. "Hi there, best friend forever I've ever, ever had! Enjoying the sunny weather?" The rainbow pegasus asked.

Yeah, that totally sounded like something Rainbow would normally say.

"Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, not unlike a parent would ask their child when they're acting suspicious.

"Whaddya mean? I just saw the smartest, most generous pony about to get rained on, so I thought I'd kick a hole in the clouds to keep her dry so she could dine in peace, that's all." Rainbow said, clearly trying to butter up Twilight for some reason.

"Rainbow, you're not trying to get extra consideration for the extra ticket by doing me extra-special favors, are you?" Twilight interrogated her.

"Me? No, no, no, of course not!" Rainbow gave a smile while sun shone down on her, looking almost like a halo on an angel.

"Uh-huh." Twilight wasn't buying it.

"Seriously, I'd do it for anypony!" After Rainbow said that, Nero glanced around at all the other ponies desperately trying to find cover from the rain, as well as his own wet clothes.

"Yeah, clearly." Nero called up to Rainbow, getting her attention.

"Oh, hey Nero!" The pegasus waved.

"If you'd really do it for anyone, then how come I'm standing here completely drenched right now?" The devil hunter called her out, and Rainbow gulped, giving a nervous chuckle.

"Rainbow, I am not comfortable accepting unwanted favors, so I'd appreciate it if you'd close up that rain cloud right now." Twilight chastised the tomboyish mare.

"Ugh, fine." Rainbow groaned before shutting the clouds like a zipper.

"That's better." Twilight went to take a bite of her food, only for the rain to start pouring on her now that the clouds were closed. Her mane, as well as her sandwich, were completely soaked. Nero could see Spike trying to contain his laughter. At the same time, Nero spotted Rarity approaching, carrying the gaudiest umbrella he'd ever seen.

"Twilight! It's raining!" She spoke as she got closer.

"No...really?" Twilight deadpanned before Rarity grabbed her and dragged her off.

"Come with me before you catch a cold!" They began trotting in the direction of Carousel boutique. Nero watched as they left, wondering what that whole fiasco with Rainbow was about.

...I suppose I was looking for something to do, and I am kinda curious now. Maybe I'll go ask Twilight what's up after the rain's stopped.

With that, Nero turned and entered the restaurant. If he was lucky, he could find something to eat that wasn't plants.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find any food that wasn't some type of grass or plant. He didn't expect to find any meat obviously, but he was hoping to find a salad at the very least. It seemed he would have to look elsewhere for lunch. After the rain finally let up, Nero made his way to the Golden Oaks Library, hoping to find Twilight. When he got there, he saw a small crowd of ponies waiting outside, with Pinkie in front of them.

Ok, there is definitely something going on. What the heck are they all doing here?

The door to the library opened, and Nero could see Twilight asking whoever was inside to leave. As if on cue, the crowd all yelled "Surprise!" and dragged Twilight outside. They then began throwing Twilight into the air over and over again as Pinkie started singing, much to Nero's annoyance.

"Twilight is my bestest friend, whoopee, whoopee!"

"Pinkie-" Twilight tried to interrupt, only to get interrupted herself by more singing.

"She's the cutest, smartest, all-around best pony, pony!"

"Pinkie-" Twilight tried to interject once again, but was ignored once more.

"I bet if I throw a super-duper fun party, party!"

"Pinkie-" Twilight was clearly starting to get annoyed now.

"She'll give her extra ticket to the Gala to me~!"

"PIIIIIIINKIIIIIEEEE!!!" Twilight finally yelled, and the crowd backed up, letting Twilight fall to the ground.

"Yes, Twilight?" Pinkie stood over her friend, blinking and smiling as if she'd done nothing wrong. Twilight sat up, and Pinkie bounced back to give her some space.

"At least the other ponies tried to be subtle about the ticket!" Twilight glared at the pink pony.

"Wait, what ticket?" One of the ponies in the crowd asked, and several more ponies seemed to have joined in to witness the commotion.

"Oh, you didn't know? Twilight has an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!" Pinkie explained to them.

The Gland Garroting who now?

"THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA!?" The crowd seemed to recognize the name, as they all repeated it in shock and disbelief. Suddenly, it seemed like the entire town was trying to suck up to Twilight. Spike ran in to try and help her get away, but everywhere they turned, they were cut off by more ponies offering her favors.

"What are we gonna do!?" Spike stayed close to Twilight, looking frantically between all the ponies currently overwhelming them. Nero decided now was a good time to step in.

"Alright, alright, break it up, people!" Nero got the whole crowd's attention, including Twilight and Spike. The devil hunter waded through the crowd until he was between them and Twilight. "Everyone just calm down. I'm not a hundred percent sure what's going on, but at least give the girl some space. Now, what's the proble-?"

Nero had turned to face Twilight to ask her what was going on, only to see that she and Spike had taken off running. Seeing this, the crowd pushed passed Nero and chased after her. He even had to perform a couple Table Hoppers just to avoid getting trampled. He watched as the crowd got smaller and smaller as they got further away until they were out of sight.

After a few seconds, Nero simply shrugged and stood by the library's entrance, waiting for Twilight to return. He figured even if he chased the purple unicorn, she would be too busy running from the crowd to answer his questions, so there was no point in doing so.

I'm sure she'll find her way back...probably.

Once it started getting dark, Nero began to think it may have been a mistake to wait. Just as he was about to leave, he saw a flash of light in one of the library's windows. When he peeked inside, he saw that Twilight had teleported Spike and herself into the library.

Ah, here we go.

Nero pushed open the front door, and Twilight turned to him with a gasp. She sighed in relief when she saw who it was that had walked in.

"Oh, Nero! Thank goodness it's just you! Help us lock everything up!" She ran past him and slammed the door shut, then locked it. Both her and Spike ran across the library, locking all the windows and turning off all the lights. Nero did so as well, even though he was still confused. When they finished, Nero knew it was time to stop beating around the bush.

"Ok, you need to explain what the heck is going on, right now. Why is every single pony in town trying to suck up to you?" He asked the purple unicorn.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything. I need your hel-" Before she could start explaining, the lights flicked on, and they all turned to see five familiar ponies standing in the corner with giant smiles on their faces. Considering Nero never saw them come in through the entrance while he was waiting outside, he figured they used less than legal means of entering the library. Twilight seemed to snap and just flat out screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I can't decide! I just can't decide! It's important to all of you and I just can't stand to disappoint any of you and giving me gifts and doing me favors won't make any difference because you're all my friends and I want to make you all happy but I can't! I just can't!" Twilight curled into a ball on the floor, hiding underneath her hooves. The other five girls looked between each other, looking a little guilty. After a few seconds, Applejack approached Twilight first.

"Twilight, sugar, I-I didn't mean to put so much pressure on you. And if it helps, I don't want the ticket anymore. You can give it to somepony else. I won't feel bad, I promise." After she finished, Fluttershy flew over next.

"Me too. I feel just awful that I made you feel so awful." The yellow pegasus apologized.

"And me too. It's no fun upsetting your friends!" Pinkie was the next to apologize, followed by Rarity.

"Twilight, it was unfair of me to try to force you as I did." She spoke.

"Yes! That means the ticket is mine! Ha ha ha!" Rainbow flew around in the air, doing a victory dance. "I've got the ticket~! I've got the ticket~!"

Rainbow Dash, the Element of Humility, everyone.

Everyone that had apologized glared at the rainbow-maned pegasus, and she got the message. "Uh, y'know what, I haven't perfected my signature moves for the Wonderbolts anyway. I don't need that ticket either."

Applejack once again addressed Twilight. "We all got so gung-ho 'bout going to the Gala that we couldn't see how un-gung-ho we were makin' you." They all apologized at the same time, and the purple unicorn smiled up at them.

"I'm glad you girls patched everything up and all, but I'm still confused on what exactly it was you patched up. I get Twilight has an extra ticket for this 'Gland Garroting Gala' thing, but why is it so important to everyone?" Nero finally asked, and they all gasped.

"Nero! Are you saying you've never heard of the Grand Galloping Gala!? Why, it's only one of the biggest formal events in all of Equestria! How could you possibly not know about it!?" Rarity was the one to answer him. Rather than answer her question to him, Nero stayed silent and let the fashion designer think about what she just said. "...O-Oh. Right. You're from another world." She chuckled sheepishly.

"So, this thing is a formal event... and it's really that popular?" He asked.

"Yes, it is. Celestia holds the event in Canterlot castle every year." Twilight responded. "Speaking of, I've made my decision. Spike, take a note."

The baby dragon pulled out a quill and paper and began writing as Twilight spoke. "Dear Princess Celestia, I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings. But when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala."

"WHAT!?" All the girls exclaimed in unison.

"If my friends can't all go, I don't want to go either." She levitated the tickets into a rolled-up part of the letter before facing her friends.

"Twilight, you don't have to do that!" Applejack tried to tell her, but the princess' pupil insisted.

"Nope. I've made up my mind. Spike, you can send the letter now." Following the order, Spike opened up the window and blew green flames onto the letter, sending its ashes out the window as they flew in the direction of Canterlot.

Uh, I'm pretty sure that's not how mail works. Those tickets are gone for good.

"Now you won't get to go to the Gala either." Fluttershy commented.

"It's okay, girls. I couldn't possibly enjoy myself without my best friends there with me, So I would rather not go at all." The six ponies all joined in a group hug after that. Spike stuck his tongue out, thinking the whole thing was sappy. Nero shared his sentiment. It was then that something occurred to the descendant of Sparda.

"Wait, Twilight, aren't you buddy-buddy with Celestia?" He asked her.

"Well, that's not the term I'd use, but I am indeed her student." She gave a confident smile.

"Then... couldn't you have just asked her for more tickets?"

The smile slowly faded from her face and was replaced by wide eyes as the realization of how easily this whole situation could have been solved dawned on her. She let out an exhausted groan. "...Yes... yes I could have."

Just then, Spike clutched his stomach, looking like he was about to vomit.

"Y'alright there, Godzilla?" Nero gave the baby dragon a pat on the back, causing him to burp. A burst of green flames erupted from his mouth, which then transformed into a letter.

"A letter from the princess? That was fast." Twilight watched as the letter floated down into Spike's claws.

Huh, guess mail does work like that here.

Spike opened up the letter and began reading. "My faithful student Twilight, why didn't you just say so in the first place?" The baby dragon then revealed six golden tickets that had been sent with the letter. "Six tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!"

"Now we can all go!" The girls all cheered together before being interrupted by the sound of two rumbling stomachs. The source came from both Twilight and Nero.

Ah, that's right. I still haven't had anything to eat yet.

"Allow us to treat you to dinner." Rarity said to the both of them. The girls all collected their tickets as they left the library to eat.

"Sounds great, as long as we can find something that isn't plants." Nero followed them out, but stopped short when he noticed Spike moping about something.

"How come I don't get a ticket to the Gala?" He moped before his cheeks puffed up again. He burped out another letter before reading it. "And one for you, Spike. The other one is for Nero. Some of the ponies going to the Gala are eager to meet Equestria's new devil hunter."

Rubbing shoulders with rich, high society people? Not really my thing.

Spike got the biggest smile on his face, giggling and running after the others with his ticket. He bumped into Nero and Applejack, who gave him a snarky smile.

"Uh, I mean, gross! I have to go too?" He tried and failed to play it off. "Oh, and this one's for you, Nero." He handed the other ticket to the devil hunter.

"Eh, you can keep it. Formal stuff isn't really my style." He shrugged.

"Princess Celestia seemed pretty insistent. She said that some of the high-class ponies that are going wanted to meet you." The dragon informed him.

"Aw, why not, Sugarcube? Ya never know, it could be fun!" Applejack gave her own input. Nero eyed the ticket for a second longer before reluctantly taking it.

"Guess I don't have much of a choice." He stuffed the ticket into his pocket as the three of them went to join the others.

Looks like Celestia roped me into going to this Gala. I wonder what she's doing right now, anyway.

Celestia stood in the Canterlot Sculpture Garden, staring at one statue in particular.

The statue of Discord remained untouched.

She had performed several spells on it to see if it may have been an illusion or a fake, but she found no such tampering. Discord was indeed still sealed away... yet she had just talked to him the other day. She hoped that he was telling the truth about his intentions. The demons invading Equestria were trouble enough.

Celestia scrutinized the statue, lost in thought.

"What are you planning, Discord?"

Applebuck Season

View Online

"Almost there... Just one last step..."

Nero was currently in front of his desk in Ponyville's Devil May Cry office. He was in the process of a very important task, one that required the ultimate concentration, skill, and patience to persevere.

"Aaaaaaaaaand...done!" Nero took a step back to admire his handiwork.

He had just placed the final piece on his house of cards, which stood on top of the desk at around 5 feet tall. He felt a huge surge of pride and accomplishment as he admired the finished product. It had taken him several tries, always coming so close to finishing, only for the house of cards to keep crashing down. This time, though, he had done it. After three hours of failed attempts, he finally succeeded through sheer force of will.

If you ask him, he'd say it was three hours well spent.

...At least until the whole building began to shake.

Nero was barely able to keep his balance as the ground beneath him rumbled violently. He looked up and watched in both horror and disbelief as three long, painstaking hours of progress crumbled to the ground. He stared at the pile of cards, and the only move he made was the twitching of his eye.

The devil hunter felt a spark of vengeance burning inside him. His sight became blinded by a curtain of red, and his frustration was getting bigger.

He would find whoever was responsible for this earthquake and avenge his fallen house of cards.

He stormed over to the entrance and bucked the door open. Stepping outside, he could feel that it wasn't just his office that was shaking, but the entire town as well. He looked around for the culprit before spotting a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus hovering above, scanning the hills outside of Ponyville to find the source of all the rumbling. She seemed to spot the cause, as Nero saw her eyes widen.

"STAMPEEEEEEEDE!!!" She yelled out.

Nero looked in the same direction and squinted until he was able to make out a pack of cows charging straight for the town, and they didn't look like they had any intention of stopping. Ponies all around town, some of which Nero recognized, began running around in a panic, screaming and hiding in their homes.

Well, except for Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be enjoying the constant shaking of the ground.

"HeY, tHiS mAkEs My VoIcE sOuNd SiLlY!" The party pony's voice vibrated as the earthquake caused her to shake up and down.

"Pinkie Pie, are you crazy!? Run!" Twilight yelled to her as she ran by, looking for cover.

Nero could see the mayor attempting to calm everyone down, to no avail. "Everypony calm down, there is no need to panic!"

"But mayor, whatever shall we do!?" Rarity cried as she raised a hoof over her head dramatically.

"Look there!" Rainbow pointed to just beyond the stampede of cattle.

Everyone turned to see Applejack running alongside the stampede, letting out a "YEEHAW!". A small, brown and white dog followed close behind. Everyone cheered as they watched the duo prepare to corral the stampede and draw them away from the town.

Everyone except Nero, that is.

Like hell I'm letting AJ take all the credit! Those damn cows just made three hours of my life a waste! I'm getting in on this!

With demon-like speed, Nero sprinted across the bridge leading out of town and towards the charging crowd of cattle. It didn't take him long to reach them, and he ran to Applejack's side just as the dog reached the opposite side of the stampede.

"How can I help!?" He called out to the farm pony.

"Head t' the other side with Winona! I'll lasso the leader an' steer 'em to the right an' away from Ponyville! Y'all need t' keep leadin' em' in that direction an' make sure there ain't any stragglers!" The farm pony relayed the plan to Nero, and he gave her a nod. He leapt over the mass of cows, doing an air hike halfway to give himself an extra boost, then landed next to the loyal hound.

The half-demon watched as Applejack hopped onto a cow's back and threw her lasso around the lead cow. She hopped off and landed on the leader's right side, then pulled on the lasso, forcing the lead cow in that direction. The rest of the stampede followed, encouraged further by Nero and Winona keeping them moving in that direction. They managed to steer the herd away just in time, barely missing the edge of town. Nero could hear the townsfolk cheering for them in the distance.

Applejack dug her hooves into the ground, screeching to a stop and halting the herd. "Hoo-wee! Now what was that all about!?" She asked one of the cows. the cow in question mooed before ...clearing its throat?

"Oh, my! Begging your pardon, Applejack, but Mooriella here saw one of those nasty snakes!" The cow gestured to the one next to her, and all the other cows gasped at the thought of the snake. "And it just gave us all the willies, don't ya know?"

"...Ah, yes, of course. The cows can talk. I mean, if the horses can talk, then why not the cows!? Let me guess, the dog is gonna start talking next?" Nero pointed to Winona.

"Oh, don't be silly, Nero. Winona can't talk, even if she is a sweet girl." Applejack gave the dog a scratch behind the ears before turning back to the cow. "I completely understand. Just, next time, try an' steer clear of Ponyville."

"We certainly will, Applejack. So long, Winona!" The cows began to leave, and Winona gave a happy bark in response to their goodbye.

My beloved house of cards may not have been avenged, but at least I was able to prevent any more losses. May you rest in peace, o' great tower of playing cards.

The three reached the top of a hill, where they could see the townsponies all cheering for them. Applejack reared on her hind legs and let out one final "YEEHAW!" before she and Winona ran off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Nero himself made his way back to town, passing by the crowd as he did.

"YEEHAW! RIDE 'EM, COWPONY!" Pinkie was hopping around, mimicking Applejack's actions. As Nero walked back to the shop, he could hear the other ponies talking about how amazing he and Applejack had been just now, even saying they should do something to thank them for saving the town. Nero smiled, wondering if he would get some reward money for this. He sure as hell needed it. The bills aren't gonna pay themselves.

He finally reached his shop and entered. Upon seeing the fallen cards yet again, he let out a sigh.

Guess I'm playing 52 pickup.

About a week passed since they saved the town from the stampede. Apparently, the town had decided to give Applejack a trophy as thanks, even preparing a speech for her. They were going to do the same for Nero, but he made a request to exchange his trophy and speech for reward money instead. They gave him a check for 100 bits. Now, he was standing among the crowd of ponies that had gathered outside the town hall to congratulate the farm pony. Pretty much the entire town had shown up.

The devil hunter stood at the front of the crowd with the girls, save for Twilight, who was stepping up to a podium overlooking the crowd and preparing some cue cards for a speech. Next to the podium was a large gold trophy with a blue ribbon attached to it. Once she had them in order, she began reading them aloud.

"Welcome, everypony! Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small." She flipped to the next cue card. "A pony who's contributions to-"

"Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there!? What an athlete!" Rainbow had quickly flown in and pushed Twilight aside, giving her own speech about the farm pony. "This week, she's gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's gonna be so awesome!" Rainbow Dash gushed before being shoved back by an annoyed Twilight.

"Exactly...and-" Before the unicorn could continue her speech, she was cut off once again when Pinkie Pie sprang up in front of her.

"This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time!" The pink pony exclaimed.

"What does that have to do with Applejack?" Twilight asked, peering over Pinkie's shoulder. Pinkie herself blinked a couple times in confusion before it came to her.

"Oh! Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me! Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for EVERYPONY!" A round of cheers came from the crowd in response to Pinkie's declaration before she was shoved aside by Twilight.

"Okay, that's great, now if I could just make a point without being inter-"

"Twilight?"

"-rupted!" Twilight groaned, stepping aside for Fluttershy to take the stand next.

"Twilight, I'm so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills!" As Fluttershy finished, she noticed the annoyed glare that Twilight was sending her way, and stepped away from the podium.

"Anyone else? Anyone?" She looked amongst the crowd to see if there were any other interrupters, but everyone remained silent, save for a couple awkward coughs. Nero felt tempted to interrupt her with an armpit fart right there and then, but decided against it. Twilight was clearly pissed enough as it was.

"No? ...Well then, as I was trying to say-" She paid a glance to her left and noticed the mayor standing there, smiling. "UGH! Never mind!" The princess' student grumbled and stormed off the stage, throwing her cue cards in the air out of frustration. The mayor took her place at the podium and cleared her throat.

"And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the Prize Pony of Ponyville award to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity, Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend, Applejack!" The mayor gestured to a pair of curtains that Nero could've sworn weren't there before, and the crowd cheered once again. The curtains were pulled aside...

...And the crowd gasped when they saw nopony on the other side.

Oh God, not again.

Spike was the only one who kept cheering, seeming to have not noticed yet.

"Way to go, Applejack! That was awesome, I mean-!" The baby dragon finally noticed the silence around him and opened his eyes. He then started to blush as all eyes were on him. Everyone looked around for Applejack in awkward silence, wondering if the farm pony had missed her cue or something.

"I'M HERE! I'm here!" Everyone turned towards the voice, seeing Applejack making her way through the crowd. For some reason, she was carrying baskets of apples on her back. She didn't seem to notice that some of the apples were falling out and landing in the dirt. She yawned and apologized to every pony that she bumped into as she waded through them. Nero managed to get a good look at the farm pony, and she looked like she hadn't slept in days. Her mane was all frazzled and unkempt, and heavy bags drooped under her eyes.

She eventually reached the podium and shoved the mayor aside. "Miss Mayor... thank you kindly for this here, uh, award...thingy." With another yawn, Applejack stepped over to the award itself, giving it a once over. "It's so bright an' shiny an'... heh...heh heh, I sure do look funny." She stared into her reflection on the polished trophy, seeing how the angle made her head look bloated.

She then started bobbing her head back and forth, moving closer and farther from the trophy to mess around with her reflection. "Whoo!...Whoo!...Whoo!" She chanted.

Uh...is she okay?

Soon enough, Pinkie had joined Applejack in bobbing her head back and forth, giggling the whole time. Everyone stared at them, unsure of what to make of this.

"Ooookay...Well thank you, Applejack, for saving us from that scary stampede, and always being there for everypony." Twilight spoke up as she approached.

Hey, I helped too. I know I said I didn't need a speech, but I still want credit.

Applejack yawned before responding. "Yeah, I like helpin' the pony folk and...*yawn*... and stuff..." The farm pony then proceeded to nod off and began snoring. After a couple seconds, she shook herself awake. "Oh! Uh, yeah! Uh, thanks!"

Applejack bit down on one of the trophy's handles and dragged it across the ground as she left. The trophy made a loud scraping noise as the farm pony dragged it off the stage and backed up through the crowd. Soon enough, she was gone once again.

"...Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little..." Twilight began before the other girls finished her sentence.

"Tired?" Rainbow suggested.

"Dizzy?" Fluttershy went next.

"Worn out?" Nero added.

"Messy?" Everyone turned to look at Rarity. Seeing the looks she was getting, she scoffed. "Well, did you see her mane?"

"She seemed fine to me. Whoo! Whoo!" Pinkie continued the chant as Twilight stared in the direction Applejack had gone, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm gonna go talk to her and see what that was all about. Do you wanna come, Nero?" The purple unicorn had noticed that the devil hunter had been watching Applejack with the same expression.

"Yeah, I'm kinda curious now. It should give me something to do, anyway." Walking side by side, the two of them headed to Sweet Apple Acres to confront Applejack.

When they arrived at the farm, they found Applejack bucking apples out of the trees in the orchard. Nero watched as AJ reared back to buck a tree, only to miss it entirely. As if that wasn't odd enough, the tree she was trying to buck no longer had any apples in it. Going by the baskets of apples sitting around the tree, she'd already bucked this one earlier.

"What in Equestria is that pony doing?" Twilight mumbled as they watched the farm pony. Said farm pony took a few steps to her right to try and line herself up with the tree, only to buck one of the apple baskets instead, knocking all of the apples over.

"Whoops..." Applejack moped once she'd realized what she did. Twilight called out to her, but Applejack had fallen asleep standing up. Twilight tried calling her name again and was met with the same result. A third time, and the farm pony still refused to wake up. Rather than keep trying from where she was standing, Twilight's horn glowed before teleporting both Nero and herself in front of AJ. Needless to say, the experience left the devil hunter disoriented.

"Twilight, please never do that again." The purple unicorn ignored his request and focused on Applejack.

"APPLEJACK!" Twilight yelled in front of her, finally stirring the farm pony from her sleep.

"Oh! Uh, h-howdy, Twilight. Howdy, Nero." After greeting them, Applejack proceeded to the next tree.

"What is all this?" Twilight asked.

"It's Applebuck Season." AJ simply responded.

Once again, Twilight teleported the two of them in front of AJ, throwing both the devil hunter and the farm pony off. "Apple-what season?"

Applejack gave an annoyed grunt and walked around the pair before explaining. "It's what the Apple family calls harvestin' time." Twilight teleported them again, to Nero's annoyance. "We gather all the apples from the trees so we can sell 'em."

"And you're doing it alone because...?" Nero decided to chime in.

"Cuz Big Macintosh hurt himself." After that response, Twilight teleported them again, and Nero was starting to feel a bit queasy.

"What about all those relatives we met when we first came to Ponyville? Can't they help?"

"They were just here for the Apple Family Reunion. They actually live all over Equestria, an' are busy harvestin' their own orchards. So, uh, I'm on my own." Twilight teleported them in front of Applejack once more, only this time she didn't seem to be letting the farm pony walk past. Nero prayed that this meant no more teleporting. Just in case, he took a few steps away so that he was out of her teleporting range.

"...Which means I should really get back to work." Despite AJ's statement, Twilight didn't budge. "*Ahem!*...Hint, hint? Get back to work?"

"...Fine." Twilight scrutinized the mare in front of her before stepping out of the way next to Nero.

"Uh, could you step aside, Twilight?" Applejack insisted, not having noticed that she had, in fact, already stepped aside. The farm pony swayed back and forth like she was about to fall over.

"I... just did." The farm pony turned in the direction of Twilight's voice, finally noticing that she had moved. "Applejack, you don't look so good."

"Yeah, how about you take a breather for a bit. At least give yourself a few minutes." Nero suggested.

"Uh...uh...don't none of you six worry none, I'm just fine an' dandy." Applejack continued on to the next tree and reared back to buck it.

Yeah, unless there are four demons sneaking up on us, I'm pretty sure she's seeing things.

...

Just in case, the devil hunter looked over his shoulder and spotted nothing, as he had expected.

Applejack missed the tree again, nearly falling over in the process. Twilight appeared in front of AJ once again, thankfully not teleporting Nero with her this time.

"Do you...want some help?"

Applejack scoffed in reply. "Help? No way, no how!"

"But there's no way you can do it all on your own." Twilight inisted, but this just seemed to anger the farm pony further.

"Is that a challenge?" She eyed the unicorn.

"Um...no?" She said, backing away slightly.

"Well, I'm gonna prove to you that I can do it! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got apples to buck!" Applejack stormed off, and Twilight couldn't help but wince.

"...Well, that went well." Nero commented as he approached the purple unicorn. Twilight simply sighed in response.

"It doesn't look like there's anything we can say to convince her right now. I'll try and think of something and try again later. What about you?" She turned to face him.

"Unfortunately, there are some bills that require my attention, so you're gonna have to handle this one. Let me know what happens." He turned and left, pulling the check he got as a reward out of his pocket and observing it.

I hope this is enough to cover everything.

Looking over the papers spread across his desk, Nero was happy to confirm that, when pooled with the money he already has, he had just enough money to pay off his bills. Still, it would leave him with barely anything afterwards.

If this is what it's like just barely scraping by, I can't imagine how it feels to be drowning in debt. I sure don't envy you, Dante.

It was the next day, and Nero had been looking over his bills when he received a call. He lifted the receiver to his ear and answered like he always did, "Devil May Cry."

"Hello again, Nero. It's me, Twilight, and... I need your help with something." Came the voice on the other end.

"Hey, Twilight. Let me guess, this is about Applejack?" The half-demon guessed.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Rainbow Dash dropped by the library this morning, and by dropped in, I mean she crashed onto the balcony."

"That... sounds painful. What does that have to do with Applejack?" He asked.

"According to Rainbow Dash, Applejack was supposed to be helping her with a new flying trick. Instead, she sent Rainbow flying all the way across town." The unicorn clarified.

"Ah, I see. So, why do you need my help?"

"I tried talking to Applejack again, but she still refuses to accept help. As she left, she told me that she had to go help Pinkie Pie. That's when I remembered what Pinkie and Fluttershy had said at the award ceremony yesterday."

"You mean when they interrupted your little speech? Yeah, that was funny." While Nero couldn't see Twilight, he had a feeling she was scowling on the other end.

"...Yes, when they interrupted me, Pinkie had mentioned Applejack was going to help her run Sugarcube Corner, and Fluttershy said that she was also going to help gather bunnies for the official bunny census. If what happened with Rainbow is anything to go by..."

"Then she's in no condition to be helping out." Nero finished her sentence.

"Exactly. That's where you come in. I need you to go to Sugarcube Corner and make sure Applejack doesn't... y'know..."

"Screw anything up?" He finished for her once again.

"I didn't want to put it so bluntly, but yes. I would go myself, but she might get suspicious since I talked to her twice already about needing help. She might be a little less suspicious of you, since you didn't press her on it as much. Just try to make sure things go smoothly without letting Applejack catch on to what you're doing. Do you think you could do that for me?" Twilight asked, awaiting a response.

"... Am I getting paid for this?"

Nero could hear Twilight groan on the other end. "Fine, I'll pay you. Just please don't let her know you're helping."

"Alright, consider it done. Talk to you later." He hung up the phone and got up from his seat. Looks like he would be paying Sugarcube Corner a visit.

Thanks to his demonic speed, Nero had arrived at Sugarcube Corner before Applejack. As he had been making his way there, he had come up with a plan to avoid drawing attention. all he had to do was buy some treats and sit at one of the few tables they had inside. If it looked like he was just there as a customer, then Applejack wouldn't find his presence odd.

Of course, he didn't have much money to actually pay for the sweets since he needed to save it for his bills, so he decided he would just call it a job expense and charge Twilight for it.

It didn't take long for AJ and Pinkie Pie to show up. When they did, Pinkie was the first to take notice of him.

"Oh, hey Nero! Did you hear? I'm gonna be running Sugarcube Corner today! Applejack's gonna help me bake some muffins for everypony, too!" She greeted the half-demon.

"Yeah, I remember you saying that at the award ceremony yesterday. Speaking of, how you are holding up, AJ?" He waved to the farm pony, and she shook her head to wake herself up.

"H-Huh? Oh, howdy Nero. Surprised to see ya here. You never...*yawn*...struck me as somepony with a sweet tooth." She yawned. As planned, Applejack noticed the cupcake in his hoof and put together what he was doing here. Well, what he wanted her to think he was doing here, anyway.

"Eh, figured I'd try out some Equestrian delicacies. these cupcakes are delicious, by the way." He munched on his cupcake as Mr. and Mrs. Cake came in to prepare to leave.

"Now Pinkie Pie, are you sure you're up for baking the muffins and running the store this afternoon?" Mrs. Cake asked the pink pony from behind the counter.

"Yessiree Bob, Mrs. Cake! Plus, I have Ponyville's prize pony to help me out! Why, she's the best baker ever! Right, Applejack?" Pinkie turned to the farm pony, who stared blankly before rapidly shaking her head.

"No? You're not the best baker ever?" Mr. Cake asked, confused.

"WHAT? OH, NO! I mean, don't you fret. I can bake anything from fritters to pies in the blink of an eye." Applejack reassured them.

What was with the yelling? Is she having trouble hearing or something?

Mrs. Cake gave a relieved chuckle as the married couple started to leave. "Oh, alright. Well, see you later girls." With that, the Cakes left the building. Applejack started shaking her head a bunch more, only to be stopped when Pinkie grabbed her.

"Stop with the shakin'! It's time to get bakin'!" Pinkie led Applejack into the kitchen, and Nero saw an opportunity. Before they pushed the kitchen door open, Nero called out to them.

"Hey, mind if I watch? I'm, uh, kinda curious on how this stuff gets made. Kyrie usually does all the cooking, since I don't have any experience." Hearing his request, the two stopped and looked back to him.

"Huh? Who's Kyrie?" Pinkie cocked her head to the side.

"Oh, right. I never told you about her, did I? She's my girlfriend back in my world. We grew up together and-" Before the half-demon could finish, Pinkie's eyes went wide and she let out a loud gasp. In an instant, the party pony had gotten right up in his face.

"YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!? WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO EARLIER!?!" She began violently shaking Nero back and forth.

"I-It, uh, never came up in a conversation!" The devil hunter quickly answered, doing his best to endure the lively mare's shaking.

"C'mon, we'll show you how to bake them! That way, when you go back to your world, you'll know how to make her a bunch of super-duper delicious muffins!" Pinkie hopped around excitedly before dashing into the kitchen with Applejack.

...Huh. This... turned out better than I thought it would. Now I actually have a valid reason to join them in the kitchen. I'm definitely not looking this gift horse in the mouth!

Nero quickly joined them in the kitchen, and the two ponies started prepping what they needed. Well, Pinkie did at least. Applejack fell asleep on the counter. After placing a large bowl on the counter, Pinkie propped a cookbook on a little stand and looked over the necessary ingredients. As she did so, Nero started familiarizing himself with the kitchen, just in case. He checked cabinets, drawers, shelves, and containers, memorizing where all the different utensils and ingredients were.

"Alrighty! Be sure to pay close attention, Nero! This is a very delicate process, so you don't wanna miss any steps. If you do, you might end up making baked bads instead of baked goods!" Nero stopped searching and turned to Pinkie when she called him. Thankfully, she didn't seem to question why it looked like he was ransacking the entire kitchen. "I'll get the sugar and the eggs. Can you get me some chocolate chips, Applejack?"

"Eh...uh...what was that?" The farm pony stirred from her sleep and asked Pinkie to repeat what she said.

"Chocolate chips." Pinkie repeated.

"Chips... got it!" Applejack gave a nod and went to get the requested ingredient. Nero remembered seeing the chocolate chips in one of the cabinets. Specifically, a cabinet in the direction opposite to where AJ was going. She grabbed a bag of potato chips off one of the shelves and poured it into the bowl.

Ok, that's definitely not what she asked for. If AJ does have a hearing problem like I thought, then I can see where this is going.

Thinking fast, Nero searched the cabinet he saw Pinkie grab the bowl from and pulled out a bowl that looked identical to the one they were currently using. He hid it under one of the counters so the others wouldn't notice, then went to grab the proper ingredients. Fortunately, Pinkie seemed too focused on the cookbook to notice him running around, and Applejack was too tired to do the same.

Ok, sugar, eggs, and chocolate chips. I can get those.

"What next?" Applejack asked Pinkie as just as Nero grabbed the chocolate chips.

"Baking soda." Pinkie read the next ingredient out loud.

Alright then, add baking soda to the list, I guess.

"Soda, perfect! That'll get the tater chips nice an' wet." Applejack went to the fridge to fetch a bottle of soda. Meanwhile, Nero cringed at the thought of soggy potato chips as he finally found the sugar and eggs.

"NOW WHAT!?" Applejack yelled after she poured the soda into the bowl.

"A cup of flour." Pinkie answered, much to Nero's chagrin. He was beginning to fall behind. He was still looking for the baking soda, and had yet to actually add his ingredients to his own bowl. Now they were adding another ingredient for him to find!?

Damnit, slow down!

"A cup of sour?" As Applejack wondered where she would find a cup of sour, Nero added the ingredients he already had to his own bowl, then started searching for the baking soda and flour. "Well, lemons are sure sour. One cup of sour comin' up."

As Applejack grabbed a bowl of lemons, Nero managed to find the baking soda and add it to his bowl. Applejack needed to fill one of the measuring cups with lemon juice before pouring it in, so it gave him an extra window of time to catch up. He found the flour, as well as an extra measuring cup to pour it. He rushed back to his own bowl just as AJ asked for the next ingredient.

"Anythin' else, Pinkie?"

"One last thing: wheat germ." Pinkie read.

Oh thank God there's no more after this. I'm not sure I would've been able to keep up.

...Wait...What the hell is a wheat germ!?

"Egh, wheat worms? ...Oh! That must be fancy talk for earthworms!" Applejack walked out the back door and began digging through the dirt outside, searching for worms.

Is she seriously not questioning any of these ingredients!?

Nero finished adding the flour, he started tossing the place in an attempt to find the wheat germ, whatever it was. Eventually, Nero found a bottle that had the words 'Wheat Germ' written on it in that weird Equestrian version of English. It contained a dry floury substance that Nero assumed was the wheat germ.

Hope this is actually what I'm looking for, and that no one switched the labels.

Nero ran back to his bowl and added the wheat germ just as Applejack came back with the worms.

"Now that's gonna be delicious!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"If you say so..." Applejack grimaced at the sludge that sat in their bowl.

After all the trouble I went through to prepare this, it better be delicious.

"So, you get all that, Nero?" Pinkie finally turned to the devil hunter.

"Yup, sure did. Hey, what's that?" He pointed in a direction opposite of the bowl with the sludge, and both ponies turned to see what had gotten his attention. With great speed, Nero swapped the bowls, then chucked the grotesque concoction out the window. Having not seen anything, the girls turned back to him, confused. "Ah, looks like you just missed it."

"Aw, phooey! I really wanted to see it... Oh well! Time for the next step!" Pinkie pulled out a bunch of muffin trays and began pouring an even amount of Nero's mixture into each slot. Once she was done, she took the trays, put them in the oven, and set the timer. "And now... we wait!"

Nero let out a sigh of relief as he watched the muffins bake.

Crisis averted, all thanks to moi.

Thanks to Nero, the muffin sale went off without a hitch. Everyone that lined up enjoyed the free samples and quickly bought more for later. One cross-eyed pegasus in particular with bubbles for a cutie mark seemed to be in love with them. While the devil hunter had never met her before, he couldn't help but think she was absolutely adorable.

Looks like I'm a natural at baking. Maybe I should help Kyrie out in the kitchen more often. Could be fun for the both of us.

After the sale ended, Nero stopped by the library to let Twilight know what happened, and she said she would try talking to Applejack again tomorrow. With that, Nero returned to Devil May Cry, checked his mailbox to find that he had no new job offers, then turned in for the day.

The next day, Twilight called Nero once again to inform him that she was unsuccessful. This meant he was going to have to make sure Fluttershy's bunny census went smoothly as well, which was why he was currently hiding in a bush watching a bunch of bunnies hop around. There wasn't any good way to hide in plain sight this time around, so he was just going to have to be more covert about it, even if it was uncomfortable.

These branches keep poking me. How long are they gonna take to get here?

"Oh, Applejack, thank you so much for offering your herding skills for the annual rabbit roundup." As if on cue, Nero turned his gaze when he heard Fluttershy's voice. He could see her walking beside a rather grumpy looking Applejack.

"Why are we doin' this?" Applejack groaned.

"Well, lots of new baby bunnies have been born, so it's my job to get a count of all the new families." She answered, seemingly oblivious of Applejack's bad mood.

"Fine. Can we just get on with it?" She stomped ahead.

What's got her in such a pissy mood?

"Certainly, but remember, these are bunnies we're dealing with, not cows. They're a timid bunch and need to be treated gently." The shy pegasus reminded her.

"I do not need any direction on corrallin' critters! Right, Winona!?" Nero was shocked when Applejack turned to her left and addressed the dog walking beside them. The devil hunter may not have been an expert on animals, but even he knew it was a bad idea to bring a dog to corral baby bunnies. The dog barked in response to Applejack, and the bunnies all seemed to perk up.

Fluttershy, as expected, approached the critters carefully and calmly. "Okay, little bunnies, I need you to all gather here in the middle."

Applejack, on the other hand, was not so gentle.

"That's right! Let's go, bunnies! In the center! Hop to it!" Applejack ordered, firmly stomping a hoof into the ground. Fearing for their lives, the bunnies quickly took off. Applejack seethed as she watched the critters hop away. "Swell. Just Swell."

Applejack galloped after the bunnies, calling to Winona as she did. The two of them chased the bunnies all around, running this way and that. It was complete chaos. Nero spotted a few of the bunnies running in his direction, and neither AJ nor Winona had noticed them.

Welp, this is going about as well as I expected. Time to step in.

Nero crawled out of the bush he was hiding in and stretched his hoof forward, summoning a spectral arm. The arm shot out in front of the bunnies, blocking their path. "Alright, little guys, let's calm down and-" Nero attempted to soothe the bunnies, but they let out a screech at the sight of the spectral arm and bolted in the opposite direction.

"...On second thought, maybe using a giant, scary demon arm wasn't the best way to calm them down." He sighed.

"Applejack! Winona! Stop! You're scaring them!" Hearing Fluttershy's voice, Nero turned his gaze back to the commotion to see that the two corrallers weren't letting up.

"We know what we're doin'! Get along, little bunnies!" The farm pony and her loyal hound seemed to have the poor bunnies cornered, only for the critters to all screech and burst past them. Nero did his best to stop them without hurting them, but they all managed to hop around him with great agility. He mumbled a curse under his breath as they all took off in the direction of town.

"Nero? What in the hay are you doin' here?" Nero spun around to find Applejack eyeing him.

Oh crap.

"Who, me? Oh nothing, I'm just... hangin' around." Nero's eyes darted around the place, looking for an excuse to get him out of this.

"In the middle of the forest?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, y'know, I just thought I'd... go for a walk! Yeah, that's it..." The devil hunter started to sweat, the girls staring at him with confusion. Nero could see the suspicion on Applejack's face. It made sense that she was onto him, he had also been at Sugarcube Corner. If Nero gave her enough time to think, she might start to put two and two together.

"Never mind that now, we need to stop the bunnies before they reach town!" Thankfully, Fluttershy changed the subject back to the bunnies as she took off after the herd of critters. Nero followed her, but not as frantically.

"Is it really that big of a concern? Sure, they might stampede through town, but they aren't as big or strong as the cows. They couldn't possibly hurt anyone."

"Yes, but they might try to eat all the plants, flowers, and gardens around Ponyville!" Nero was about to respond by saying that still didn't seem like a big deal, but then he realized that if they did eat all those things, it would technically qualify as destruction of public property. He imagined paying to replace all of it might be rather expensive.

Not wanting to damage his wallet further, he picked up the pace.

Unfortunately, they didn't make it in time. Nero could see several bunny footprints covering the streets, the bunnies themselves snacking on gardens and flower bushes. Everypony was hiding in their homes, save for three mares lying on the ground. For a second, he thought they might've been dead, only to realize they had just feinted. Nero heard a gasp from a few feet away and spotted Twilight, who saw the mares on the ground as well.

"The horror, the horror!"

"It was awful!"

"A disaster! A horrible, horrible disaster!"

Nero and Twilight scanned the town for the 'disaster'. Other than the ruined gardens, everything seemed pretty normal.

"...I don't get it." Twilight said.

"Our gardens, destroyed!"

"Every last flower devoured!"

"By...by...THEM!" The final mare cried and pointed to the bunnies nibbling on tulips and daisies alike. The half-demon and the purple unicorn could see Fluttershy attempting to talk the critters out of it.

"Oh my! Oh, please stop, little bunnies! Oh no! Please, let's go home! No! Oh my goodness!" The shy pegasus cried. Twilight turned to Nero, clearly expecting an explanation.

"So, uh... things didn't exactly go according to plan..." The devil hunter chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"...All right, enough is enough!" Twilight put her hoof down. "We are going straight to Sweet Apple Acres and we are going to tell Applejack that she needs help, whether she likes it or not! I'm not taking no for an answer this time!"

Nero quickly started to leave. "Good luck with that. From what I've seen and heard, the chances of you getting AJ to listen are slim to-" before Nero could finish, Twilight's horn lit up and she teleported the both of them in the blink of an eye.

"-none, and where the hell are we now?" Nero took in his surroundings and recognized the familiar apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres' Orchard. He turned to face the purple unicorn. "Seriously?"

"You've seen what this is doing to her. You know just as well as I do that Applejack needs help, and we have a better chance of convincing her if we do it together." Nero wanted to retort, but he knew Twilight was right. This needed to stop, or else Applejack was gonna work herself to death. The thing was, he wasn't the persuasive type, so he wasn't sure how he could help change the farm pony's mind when even Twilight couldn't do it.

"...Alright, I'll try to help, but I'm not sure there's much I can do." Despite his reluctance, Nero conceding was enough to put a smile on Twilight's face.

"Thank you, Nero. Now, let's go find that stubborn pony!" With that, the two began searching the orchard for Applejack. As they walked, Nero remembered something.

"Oh, by the way, I had a box of cupcakes while I was at Sugarcube Corner that I'll be charging you for."

"What!? Why!?"

"It was a job expense."

The demon had been wandering across the land, searching for new prey. It hadn't taken long for it to find some. A single pony stood atop a hill, bucking at a tree. She was clearly weak and exhausted. The demon could not have asked for a better opportunity.

It remained hidden amongst the trees as it watched, preparing to ambush the pony. Just as it was about to, two more ponies approached her. One of them seemed ordinary, so the demon paid it no mind. It could kill her just as easily as the first pony. The more blood it could gather, the better.

The other pony, however, stood out to the demon. For some reason, this third pony carried a unique scent. Something was different about him. The scent was oddly... familiar...

...Wait...no...it couldn't be...

This pony... he carries the blood of Sparda!?

The demon wanted to attack right there and then, to slay the blood of Sparda for their betrayal, but it knew it would not stand a chance against Sparda's kin by itself. Still, the fact that a descendant of Sparda was in this world was concerning. With this knowledge, the demon retreated for now.

His master must be informed of this new development.

Nero and Twilight finally found Applejack on top of a hill with a single apple tree on it. The farm pony looked like she was at her limit. Twilight wasted no time in getting to the point.

"Alright, Applejack, your apple bucking hasn't just caused you problems. It's over propelled a pegasus, nearly poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies. I don't care what you say. You. Need. Help!" She spoke sternly.

In response, AJ paused her bucking and looked up at them. "Nearly poisoned ponies?"

"I asked Nero to discreetly help you with Pinkie's muffin sale and Fluttershy's bunny census. Considering that you did cause problems, I'd say it was warranted." She explained.

"So I was right. You weren't just goin' on a walk in the forest." Applejack pointed to Nero.

"Sorry, AJ, but Twilight's right. You can't do this alone, you need help." Instead of responding to the devil hunter, Applejack delivered one final buck to the tree behind her, and all the apples fell into her baskets.

"Ha! No, I don't! Look, I did it!" Nero and Twilight looked to where the farm pony had pointed to see that all the trees were completely barren of apples. "I harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres Orchard without your help! How do you like them apples?" She gave a smirk of accomplishment.

"Um, how do you like them apples?" A large red pony, who Nero remembered as Big Macintosh, came from seemingly nowhere and gestured to the other half of the orchard. There were apples as far as the eye could see. Applejack stared in disbelief, mumbling incoherently before collapsing.

"Applejack? Applejack!" Twilight shook the farm pony awake, and she slowly opened her eyes. "Oh good, you're okay. Now Applejack, I completely respect the apple family ways. You're always there to help anypony in need, so maybe you can put a little of your stubborn pride aside and allow your friends to help you." Despite Twilight's words, Applejack seemed a bit hesitant.

"...I think I can relate, actually."

The girls turned at Nero's voice. "There have been times where I tried to do something all on my own, only to fall short. It's not easy, throwing your pride aside, but sometimes it's necessary. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I keep having to relearn that lesson. Still, I know deep down that it's true, and I'm sure you do too. So, what do you say?"

Applejack thought about Nero's words before giving her answer. "...Okay."

"I am not taking no for an answer- what?" Twilight's eyes widened.

"Yes, Twilight. Yes, please! I could really use your help." Applejack put her hooves together, begging to Twilight. The purple unicorn herself let out a sigh of relief. Nero couldn't help but chuckle.

Power can come in many different forms. Sometimes, working together with others can make you stronger, acting as a team. You can't do everything by yourself.

Later that day, Nero, Twilight, and the rest of the girls all pitched in to help harvest the apples from the trees while Applejack got some much-needed rest. They had been working for a while, and could see that the sun was starting to go down. At one point, Nero had managed to carry six baskets of Apples at once and was feeling pretty smug about it.

Then he saw Twilight levitate about 30 trees worth of apples into baskets with almost no effort.

Show off.

"How 'bout y'all take a little break?" Everyone turned towards the voice of Applejack and saw her pushing a cart of drinks towards them. "I got some fine apple juice waitin' for ya!"

Everyone gathered around and took a bottle of apple juice. As Nero took a sip, he wondered how the Apple family manages to make all of their apple related foods and drinks so delicious.

"I can't thank y'all enough for this help. I was actin' a bit stubborn." AJ thanked the group.

"A bit?" Twilight teased.

"Okay, a might stubborn. And I'm awful sorry. Now, I know the town gave me the prize pony award, but the real award is havin' you six as my friends." AJ continued to speak as everyone enjoyed their drinks.

Eugh, these girls always know how to make things sappy and cliche.

"Pardon me, but is the devil hunter Nero here?" The group all turned to see a white pony with a dark brown mane wearing glasses and a red cravat. She had a pen and inkwell for a cutie mark, and was holding a clipboard.

"Uh, yeah, that's me. What's up?" Nero approached the mare, wondering what she wanted with him. In fact, how did she know to find him here at Sweet Apple Acres?

"My name is Raven Inkwell, and I'm the mayor's assistant. I was told you would be paying for the damage done to the flower ponies' gardens." She stated, and Nero blanched.

"W-What!? Who told you that!? I never agreed to pay anything!"

"Ms. Sparkle informed us that you had been hired to ensure the official bunny census wouldn't run into any problems, but as was made evident by the destruction of flowers, you failed to do so. This means that responsibility falls upon you." After Raven's explanation, Nero turned to see Twilight holding in a laugh. This must have been payback for making her pay for the cupcakes.

Before Nero could respond, Raven wrote something down on her clipboard, then handed the paper to Nero. "This lists the damage caused and how much you owe. Have a good day." With that, the mayor's secretary turned and left. Nero's jaw dropped as he stared down at the paper.

There were a lot more zeroes than he was comfortable with.

"W-Wait, hold on a sec! I can't afford this! HEY! WAIT UP! PLEASE!" The devil hunter ran off into the sunset, chasing the secretary.

CURSE YOU ADORABLE BUNNIES!!!

Griffon The Brush-off

View Online

The sun began to set on the horizon, and Nero sighed as he made his way back to Devil May Cry. He had just finished another job dealing with demons, and while it paid well, it wasn't nearly enough to cover the debt he now found himself in. This time, a few Basilisks had been sighted in the meadows outside of Ponyville. It was a little bit more of a challenge than what he had dealt with previously, but the fight still seemed to be over quicker than he would have liked.

I'm not getting enough jobs. While it is a good sign that there aren't too many demons roaming around, it isn't doing my wallet any favors.

The devil hunter pushed the doors open and made his way over to his desk. At the very least, he can now sit down and relax for the day. He levitated Red Queen off his back and leaned it up against the wall, then he took a seat in the chair behind the desk.

*THPPTPHTPHPHHPHPH!!!*

As soon as he sat down, a loud, gassy fart could be heard from underneath him.

...It wasn't me, I swear.

He got up and looked at the chair to find the source of the fart. There, he saw a deflated whoopie cushion sitting right in the middle of it. As he wondered how he'd missed that when he first approached the chair, Nero heard a faint snickering from outside his window. He turned his gaze to see Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash peeking in from the outside. As soon as he laid eyes on them, they burst out into laughter.

"Oh hardy har. Very funny, you two." He deadpanned before chucking the whoopie cushion out the window at them. The pair continued to laugh as they ran away from the scene of the crime, despite already being caught. The devil hunter couldn't help but chuckle. From what he'd heard on his way back, Pinkie and Rainbow had been pulling pranks on everybody today. He didn't mind being the victim of one as long as it was harmless.

With the threat of the whoopie cushion no longer present, Nero sat down in the chair, kicked his hind legs up onto the desk, then closed his eyes, preparing to take a well deserved nap.

...Until the phone rang, that is.

With a groan, he picked up the receiver and greeted the caller with the usual "Devil May Cry." before they told him of the next demon sighting. According to their description, it sounded like there were a couple of Hell Vanguards a little ways past White Tail Woods, so there was a chance it might be challenging enough to be fun.

"I'll be right over." He said before hanging up. Soon, he was out the door once again.

Guess it's back to work.

So it turned out there was more than just the two Hell Vanguards. Like, a lot more. After Nero had dealt with the pair of demons, several pools of blood appeared and four Hell Antenoras, along with three Death Scissors, sprouted from them. After dealing with them, even more demons appeared, this time two Behemoths and two Hell Judeccas. Then after that- ...well, you get the idea. The demons just didn't seem to stop coming.

On top of that, he had to walk back to Ponyville, so by the time he got back to the shop, it was 5 in the morning. While he did have a blast dealing with the demons, he was exhausted, and immediately went straight to bed. He figured he could sleep in tomorrow, he deserved it after all.

So when a certain pink party pony jumped on him to wake him up the next day, then dragged him to Sugarcube Corner for a party, he was a bit grumpy.

On the way, she explained what the party was for, but the devil hunter was too tired to pay much attention. Something about a griffon and turning their frown upside down. For a second, he thought she might have been talking about the bird brain that followed V around, but the likelihood of that was slim to none, considering he'd never been to this world. Nero just chalked it up to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. So here he was, standing in Sugarcube Corner, bags under his eyes and trying not to pass out.

The interior was decorated with balloons and streamers, and refreshments had been set up everywhere. A pile of presents sat on one table, while a large cake sat on another. Pinkie was greeting ponies as they entered while everyone else enjoyed the party. Nero grabbed a glass of punch and listened in on the other partygoers. he figured if he focused on something, he wouldn't drift off to sleep.

"Who's this Gilda I've heard nothin' about?" He overheard Applejack chatting with Rarity.

"I hear she's an old friend of Rainbow Dash. A griffon, so rare!" The dress maker responded.

Wait, Pinkie was being serious about the griffon thing? Griffons actually exist in this world? Man, I've still got a lot to learn about Equestria.

Nero's attention was then drawn to another conversation, this time between Twilight and Fluttershy. "You've met Gilda, right? What's she like?" Twilight asked the shy pegasus.

"Oh, um, well... I'll tell you later, Twilight." She replied meekly.

I'm kinda curious about this 'Gilda' now. Is she really a griffon?

Nero eavesdropped on a few other conversations that didn't really pique his interest until a new guest entered Sugarcube Corner. Instead of a pony, this guest looked like a hybrid between an eagle and a lion. There was no doubt about it, it was an honest-to-God griffon.

"GILDA!" Pinkie hopped over to the griffon and greeted her. "I'm so honored to throw you one of my signature Pinkie Pie parties, and I really, truly, sincerely hope you feel welcome here amongst all us pony folk!" The pink pony raised a hoof to shake the griffon's hand- er, rather, claw. Gilda seemed to eye Pinkie with suspicion before hesitantly raising her claw to meet the hoof shake.

She was rewarded with an electric shock.

Pinkie turned her hoof over to reveal the buzzer strapped to it, giggling. Gilda, on the other hand, did not look pleased by the prank. At least until Rainbow Dash came over to them, laughing.

"Oh, Pinkie Pie, the old hoof-shake buzzer! You are a scream!" The rainbow-maned pegasus complimented.

"Yeah, uh, good one, Pinkie Pie." Gilda chuckled nervously. Her voice was tomboyish like Rainbow Dash, only somehow even raspier.

After she finished chuckling, Rainbow turned to face the griffon. "C'mon, G, I'll introduce you to some of my other friends!"

"Right behind you, Dash!" The griffon called out to her friend before leaning closer to Pinkie. She whispered something to the pink pony, but Nero wasn't able to hear what she said. Still, he was able to see the glare Gilda was giving to Pinkie.

The pink pony in question didn't seem to pay it any mind, however, simply responding to the griffon with a "Great!" Gilda groaned then whispered something else to Pinkie. The party pony snorted and laughed in response. "Well, I hope so! This wasn't supposed to be a surprise party!"

Gilda whispered to her once more, and Pinkie got up in her face, though not out of malice, as was evident by the innocent smile she was wearing. "And I..." Pinkie's eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets as they zoomed in on Gilda. "...Got my eye on you!" After that, Pinkie began to address the crowd of party guests.

The heck was that about?

"Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville!" Pinkie gave the griffon a hug before stepping away, letting everyone greet and cheer for Gilda. Once they were done, Pinkie offered some refreshments to the guest of honor.

"Vanilla lemon drops. Don't mind if I do." Gilda plucked a lemon drop from the bowl and ate it. She made a contorted face that Nero couldn't quite describe before belching out a spurt of flames. Seeing an opportunity, Pinkie raised a marshmallow on a stick up to the flame, letting it roast. "HOT! HOT!!!"

"G, the punch!" Rainbow pointed to a glass of punch that for some reason wasn't anywhere near the punch bowl. Gilda sped over to the glass, desperate to wash down the burning taste in her mouth. She grasped the glass and attempted to greedily gulp it down. When she tried to pour the drink down her throat, Nero realized why the glass hadn't been anywhere near the punch bowl.

Gilda was befuddled to see the punch pouring through a small hole in the side of the glass rather than into her beak. It seemed someone had filled a dribble glass with punch as another prank, most likely the same person who made the lemon drops spicy.

"Well, whaddya know? Pepper in the vanilla lemon drops, and the punch served in a dribble glass!" Pinkie giggled.

"Ha! Priceless! Priceless!" Rainbow nearly fell over laughing. Gilda zoomed over to the punch bowl and grabbed an actual glass of punch this time, downing it in one gulp.

"Yeah, hilarious." The griffon rolled her eyes. Her attention was drawn once again by the sound of Rainbow Dash's voice.

"Hey, G, look! Presents!" Rainbow pointed to the table covered in presents. Hearing the rainbow speedster's words, Gilda raced over to the gifts in the blink of an eye. She opened one up and was met with an explosion of rubber snakes in her face. Everyone watching burst into laughter.

"Spittin' snakes! Somepony pulled that prank on me last month!" AJ chuckled.

"Ha ha. I bet I know who that was." Gilda deadpanned angrily, glancing over to Pinkie Pie.

"You do?" The pink pony herself just blinked, clearly oblivious to Gilda's annoyance.

Seriously, am I the only one noticing Gilda has some sort of beef with Pinkie? What's going on between them?

The party continued on as normal after that, everyone having a good time. Eventually, Pinkie wheeled the cake over on a cart. "Cake time, everypony!"

"Hey, can I blow out the candles?" Spike asked as everyone gathered around the cake.

"Why don't we let Gilda blow out the candles, Spike? She is the guest of honor, after all." Twilight suggested. Spike was about to reply, only to get knocked to the side by Gilda, who slammed into him with her elbow.

"Exactly." The griffon sneered before taking a deep breath. She exhaled, blowing all of the candles out in one go.

...Only for them to relight themselves almost immediately.

She tried again, and the candles reignited once again. The ponies around her began to laugh, and the griffon refused to give up. She continued to blow out the candles, and they continued to relight themselves each time.

"Relighting birthday candles, I love that prank! What a classic!" Spike chortled.

"Now I wonder who could have done that?" Pinkie put a hoof on her chin, lost in thought.

"Yeah. I wonder." Gilda continued to give the party pony the stink eye.

Seriously, how is no one else seeing this!?

Spike didn't hesitate to dig into the cake, as in literally dig through the cake then sprout out from the top layer. Twilight scolded him, but the baby dragon didn't seem to get the hint. Gilda's seething was much more obvious now, seeing the giant hole in the cake.

"Hey G, you're not upset about some silly candles, are you?" Rainbow asked the griffon, who dropped the scowl immediately.

"No way, Dash. Like I said, I'm down with a good prank." Gilda reassured her old friend. It seemed to do the trick, as a smile returned to the pegasus' face.

"Come on, then. Let's have some cake." She joined the other guests in grabbing a slice. Nero grabbed a slice as well, not failing to notice that the glare had returned to Gilda's face. Nero recalled hearing Twilight say something about Fluttershy meeting Gilda already, so he decided now was a good time to ask her what she knew about the griffon. He spotted the shy pegasus amongst the party goers and made his way over, careful not to drop his slice of cake.

"Hey Fluttershy, can we talk?" The devil hunter grabbed her attention.

"Oh, hello Nero. What did you want to talk about?"

"I heard you met Gilda before and got to know what she was like. I can't be the only one noticing she's been acting... how do I put this...?" Nero scratched the back of his head.

"...Mean?" Fluttershy finished his sentence.

"Yeah, that works. Do you know what's up with her? What was she like when you met her?" He asked, and Fluttershy seemed to get a bit apprehensive, rubbing her hoof nervously.

"She... well, she was..." Fluttershy struggled to find the words, hiding beneath her hair.

"Hey, it's ok. You can tell me." Nero gave her a calming smile. After a few seconds, Fluttershy took a deep breath to relax and faced the half-demon.

"Earlier today, I was leading a mama duck and her babies through town to make sure they didn't get hurt. I wasn't looking where I was going and accidentally bumped into Gilda. I tried to apologize, but she kept yelling at me, then she called me a doofus, and then she r-roared at me. I-It was really scary." The poor girl began to tremble, simply recalling the memory was enough to make her uncomfortable.

Nero's lips curved into a frown. Gilda seemed like a bit of a jerk from the impression he got so far, but she was clearly worse than he realized. She went out of her way to antagonize Fluttershy of all ponies!? That was crossing a line.

The devil hunter's attention was drawn to a commotion from behind him. Apparently, they were about to start playing pin the tail on the pony. Rarity asked to go first, and if she could have the purple tail, only for it to be snatched away by Gilda. "Well, I am the guest of honor, and I'll have the purple tail."

"Yeah, Gilda should definitely go first. Let's get you blindfolded!" Pinkie agreed, somehow still oblivious to Gilda's behavior. Spike approached the griffon with the blindfold and tied it around her head, blocking her sight.

"Hey, wh-what are you doing!?" Gilda grunted angrily before being spun around several times by the pink party pony.

"We're spinning you around and around, and then you can pin the tail on the pony!" Pinkie led Gilda over to the poster with the tailless pony on it. "Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail!"

"'Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail!' Hmph! Yeah, right. This is another prank, isn't it? I'm goin' this way!" Gilda said, turning to walk in the direction opposite of the poster. Pinkie tried to stop her, but the griffon slipped on a mushy piece of cake from when Spike had dug into it. She slid all the way through the doors leading to the kitchen, followed by a loud crash. When she returned, she was covered in bits of cake. As for the purple tail, it sat on her beak, looking like a mustache.

"Uh, Gilda? You pinned the tail on the wrong end." At Pinkie's comment, Gilda finally noticed the tail on her beak as everyone else started laughing.

Well, hey, that's what you get for-

The griffon let out a monstrous, rage-induced roar.

Uh oh, now she's pissed.

Gilda flapped her wings and hovered above the crowd, glaring down at them. "This is your idea of a good time!? I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life! And Pinkie Pie..." She pointed a claw in the party pony's direction, "YOU! You are queen lame-o with your weak little party pranks! Did you really think you could make me lose my cool?!"

"Seems like she did just that, actually." Nero finally stepped in.

"What did you say!?" Gilda turned her attention to the devil hunter.

"You said she didn't make you lose your cool, yet here you are, blowing up at everyone and complaining like a child just because you couldn't take a joke. Lemme guess, Had you been the one to pull those pranks on someone else, you would've found them hilarious. But because you were on the receiving end, that automatically makes it 'lame'. How 'bout you grow up and start acting your age, 'cause right now, your acting like some schoolyard bully."

"Zip it, mohawk!!!" She yelled at him.

"Actually, it's a faux hawk-"

"I DON'T CARE! You think you're cool!? You're just as lame as everyone else here!" Gilda landed at Rainbow Dash's side, wrapping an arm around her. "Dash and I have 10 times as much cool as the rest of you put together! Come on, Dash, we're bailin' on this pathetic scene!"

Gilda started marching her way out of Sugarcube corner, but she stopped when she realized Rainbow Dash wasn't following her. Instead, the rainbow pegasus just glared at the griffon. "Come on, Rainbow Dash! I said we're leaving!" Gilda growled.

Rainbow glared at her old friend for a couple more seconds before responding. "You know, Gilda... I was the one who set up all those 'weak pranks' at this party."

"What!?" Gilda's beak dropped and her eyes widened. Nero was pretty surprised himself. He thought Pinkie had been the one to set those up. Clearly, the pink pony was also surprised, letting out an 'Ooh'.

"So I guess I'm queen lame-o!" Dash stepped in front of Pinkie defensively.

"Come on, Dash, you're joshing me." Gilda chuckled in denial, but Rainbow didn't waver.

"They weren't all meant for you specifically. It was just dumb luck that you set them all off." She continued.

"I should've known. That dribble cup had Rainbow Dash written all over it!" Pinkie commented from behind the pegasus.

Gilda still seemed to be in denial. She shook her head, not willing to believe it. "No way! I-It was Pinkie Pie! She set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me!"

"Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down!" To emphasize, Pinkie somehow defied physics and turned her neck so that her head was upside down.

That's admirable, Pinkie, it really was, but the chances of that happening were slim to none. Also, shouldn't her neck be broken like that?

"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself!" Rainbow resumed standing up to Gilda. "You know, this is not how I thought my old friends would treat my new friends. If being cool is all you care about, maybe you should go find some new 'cool' friends someplace else."

Gilda grinded her teeth in anger as she struggled to come up with a response. "Yeah? Well, you-... you-... you are such a, uh, flip-flop! Cool one minute and lame the next! When you decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call." She stormed out of the building, slamming the door on her way out.

"Not. Cool." Rainbow finished.

"Wow... talk about a party pooper." Spike said, and the rest of the guests seem to agree as they murmured amongst each other.

"I'm sorry everypony, for bringing Gilda here. I didn't know how rude she was." Rainbow looked to the ground sadly. "And Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she ruined that awesome party you put on for her."

"Hey, if you wanna hang out with party poopers, that's your business." Pinkie brushed it off.

"I'd rather hang out with you. No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings!" The two ponies went to hoof shake each other.

...Only for them both to get zapped.

They turned their hooves over to reveal that they were both wearing hoof-shake buzzers, and everyone laughed at their antics. Twilight then approached Pinkie, looking a bit guilty. She apologized to Pinkie for accusing her of misjudging Gilda, and the pink pony accepted her apology no problem. Things were starting to get a bit too sappy for Nero's tastes, but it thankfully didn't last long as Pinkie got the party going again. Things resumed like normal after that.

Well, that was an episode. Hopefully, once the party is over, I can finally get some rest-

Nero was stirred from his thoughts by the sound of a loud burp. He turned to see Spike had received a letter from Princess Celestia. The baby dragon gave the letter a glance, then ran over to the devil hunter. "Nero! Princess Celestia says that a large group of demons had been spotted outside of Canterlot! She needs you to go take care of them ASAP!"

...

"Uh, Nero?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll go take care of it." The half-demon groaned. On his way out, he told Pinkie he would take a raincheck on the party, then left to get his sword before heading to Canterlot.

At least I'm getting paid for this. Happy thoughts, Nero, happy thoughts.

Boast Busters

View Online

Never a dull day in Ponyville, is it?

Nero was currently standing outside the town hall, where a crowd had gathered around some sort of large wagon that had been parked in front of it. He had been lounging in the Devil May Cry shop, waiting for some new jobs, when he heard a commotion outside. With nothing better to do, he had decided to check it out for himself. He saw that ponies from all over town were heading to the town hall and overheard them say something about a powerful unicorn that had just shown up in town. his curiosity piqued, he set out for town hall himself, which led to where he was now.

"NERO! OVER HERE!" A familiar, energetic voice called out to the devil hunter, and he spotted Pinkie Pie waving him over. Standing next to her were the other girls, minus Twilight. Spike wasn't with them either, most likely in the same place as Twilight. He squeezed his way through the crowd and joined them.

"Any of you know who this 'powerful unicorn' is supposed to be?" He asked them, but unfortunately, they all knew just as much as he did. It seemed he was going to have to wait to find out.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Ladies and gentlecolts! Come one! Come all!" A voice echoed from the wagon. It was around then that Twilight and Spike had shown up, worming their way through the crowd to join the rest of them. The voice from the wagon continued, "Come and witness the amazing magic of the great and powerful... TRIXIE!!!"

The wagon unfolded itself, transforming into an entire stage with a curtain backdrop and everything. Though it may have been difficult for normal eyes to see, Nero's demonic senses allowed him to spot a tiny smoke bomb get thrown onto the stage from behind the curtain. As expected, the bomb erupted into a cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared to reveal a brand-new pony now standing on stage.

The pony herself was a light blue unicorn with a white mane and a magic wand for a cutie mark. What stuck out the most was the outfit she wore; a purple cape and wizard hat, both speckled with stars. The crowd ooh-ed and aah-ed at her 'magical' appearance.

Come on, she didn't even teleport! She just used a smoke bomb! Besides, I've seen Twilight actually teleport several times like it was nothing, so would doing it once really be all that special?

Speaking of teleporting, he remembered that he had seen Dante teleport plenty of times during combat as well. Heck, he'd even seen his own father do it in the short time that they fought. Recalling how disorienting it had been when Twilight teleported him, he couldn't help but wonder how on earth they were able to get used to that.

"Watch in awe as the great and powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" The magician, Trixie, stood on her hind legs and posed for the audience as fireworks burst from the sides of the stage and into the sky. The stage was illuminated by the many colorful explosions.

"My, my, my. What boasting." Rarity eyed the magician with skepticism.

"Come on! No pony's as magical as Twi-... Twi-... Twi-..." Spike had begun to call the magician on the stage out, only to notice Rarity was standing next to him. "Oh! *Ahem!* H-Hey, Rarity, I, uh-... MUSTACHE!" With that... odd choice of words, Spike took off, leaving Twilight to take his place next to Rarity.

"There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?" She asked.

"Nothin' at all, 'cept when someone goes around showin' it off like a school filly with fancy new ribbons." Applejack responded, glaring in Trixie's direction.

Does being stylish count as showing off? If so, I might be a little guilty here.

"Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us." Rarity added, which seemed to make Twilight slump a bit more.

"Especially when you got me around being better than the rest of us!" Rainbow chimed in, only for Applejack to shift her glare in the pegasus' direction. "Uh- I mean, yeah! Magic schmagic! Boo!"

The commotion seemed to have gotten the attention of Trixie, who was quick to address them. "Well, well, well. It seems we have some neighysayers in the audience! Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the great and powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria!?"

Rarity simply scoffed. "Just who does she think she is?"

"Yeah! Since we all know that Twilight here is-!" Spike had returned from wherever he had run off to and was about to put Twilight in the spotlight, only to be shushed by the purple unicorn in question. She dragged Spike away from the crowd and began whispering to him. While it was clear Twilight wanted it to be private, Nero was still able to hear her with his enhanced hearing.

"You see the way they reacted to Trixie? I don't want anypony thinking I'm a show-off!" She explained to the baby dragon.

Twilight a show-off? Yeah, no. She definitely isn't the type, and I doubt anyone would think she is.

Nero watched as more fireworks came sprouting out of the stage as Trixie posed once again. She was interrupted, however, when Rainbow zoomed up to the stage and got in the performer's face. "So, 'great and powerful' Trixie, what makes you think you're so awesome, anyway?"

Trixie merely chuckled at the rainbow pegasus flying before her. "Why, only the great and powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish... the dreaded Ursa Major!" As if on cue, More fireworks erupted, this time creating an outline of a bear with an eight-sided star on its forehead. The crowd of ponies gasped at the image, staring at it in awe.

"The Ursa what-now?" Nero whispered to Twilight, who gave him a description of the beast.

"It's a creature that lives in the Everfree Forest. It has the anatomy of a bear, but there are many things that differentiate them. It has oversized teeth and claws, it's made entirely out of the night sky, and in terms of size, it's absolutely massive! Other than the princesses, I can't imagine anypony actually defeating one!"

"Huh, sounds fun. Hope I run into one someday." Nero pictured the creature in his head, fantasizing a battle between himself and the beast. It might not be a demon, but maybe it could put up a fight against him. Meanwhile, Trixie continued to boast about her supposed 'vanquishing'.

"When all hope was lost, the ponies of Puffington had no one to turn to! But the great and powerful Trixie stepped in and, with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major, and sent it back to its cave, deep within the Everfree Forest!" The image of the Ursa Major turned into one of Trixie battling the beast by waving a wand at it. The crowd watched in amazement, completely captivated by the magician's tale.

"That settles it!" Nero looked to see two boys, or 'colts' as they're referred to in Equestria, had spoken up. One was short and rather plump with a pair of scissors for a cutie mark, while the other was a bit lankier and had a snail for his cutie mark.

"Trixie truly is the most talented, most magical, most awesome pony in Ponyville!" The lanky one declared.

"No! In all of Equestria!" The plump one added.

And who exactly are these two?

"How do you know!? You didn't see it!" Spike began to argue. "And besides, Twil-!" The dragon was cut off by Twilight, who magically zipped his mouth shut with her horn. Trixie didn't seem to notice as she addressed the two colts that praised her.

"It's true, my enthusiastic little admirers! Trixie is most certainly the best in Ponyville!" The show pony was met with naught but silence. Nero could have sworn he heard a cricket chirping in the distance. "Don't believe the great and powerful Trixie? Hmph! Well then, I hereby challenge you, Ponyvillians. Anything you can do, I can do better! Any takers? Anypony? Hmm? Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived!?" Once again, more fireworks blasted into the sky.

Jeez, does she ever run out of those?

Spike finally managed to unzip his mouth and started begging Twilight to stand up to the narcissistic showboat. PLE-HE-HEASE! She's unbearable! You gotta show her, you just gotta!"

"I'm with Spike on this one. I've seen you do some crazy stuff before; you could totally put her in her place." The devil Hunter agreed.

"There's no way I'm gonna use my magic now! Especially since-"

"How about...you!" Trixie pointed directly at Twilight. "Well how about it, hmm? Is there anything you can do that the great and powerful Trixie can't?"

"I...I..." Twilight struggled with how to respond, unable to find the words. Fortunately, she didn't have to.

"That's it! I can't stand fer no more of this!" Applejack was the first to accept her challenge, and made her way up onto the stage. As she approached Trixie, the farm pony pulled out a lasso. As for where she had been keeping it, Nero could only guess.

"You show her, AJ!" Spike cheered her on from the sidelines. While Twilight was relieved that she didn't have to go up, she still looked dejected.

"Can your magical powers do this?" Applejack proceeded to do several flashy tricks with the lasso using only her tail. She twirled the lasso in both in the air and around herself, even hopping through it a couple times. She finished by lassoing an apple from a nearby tree and catching it in her mouth, eating it whole. The crowd cheered as AJ crossed her left hoof over her right in a pose. "Top that, missy!"

"Oh ye of little talent, watch and be amazed at the magic of Trixie." The magician's horn began to glow as she levitated the lasso in front of Applejack, making it move like a cobra. Somehow, this actually managed to mesmerize Applejack, and she became hypnotized by the rope's movements. Using the other end of the lasso, Trixie grabbed another apple from the same tree and levitated it over. In one quick motion, Trixie used her magic to tie AJ's hooves together with the rope and shove the apple into her mouth, only this time to keep her quiet rather than to eat it. For some reason, the crowd actually cheered at this despite most of the ponies being acquainted with Applejack.

"Once again, the great and powerful Trixie prevails."

God, she is annoying. Does she ever stop talking in the third person?

Applejack hopped her way off the stage and back to the group. With a swipe of Red Queen, Nero cut through the ropes, freeing the farm pony. With her hooves now free, she pulled the apple out of her mouth. "Thank ya kindly, Nero."

"Don't mention it." He gave her a nod as Rainbow flew up onto the stage, being the next to challenge the great and insufferable Trixie.

"There's no need to go strutting around and showing off like that! That's my job!" With that, Rainbow took off into the sky. She flew through town at tremendous speed before looping on the windmill to not only give herself more momentum, but launch herself into the sky. She burst through several clouds before stopping in front of the sun to pose.

She zoomed back down at the speed of sound, bursting through several more clouds as she did. She did another loop around the windmill before speeding back to the stage, coming to a stop in front of Trixie. Several rain drops from the clouds Rainbow broke through splashed her from behind and created an actual rainbow above her head. "They don't call me 'Rainbow' and 'Dash' for nothing!"

The crowd gave a roar of applause and cheered for the rainbow speedster. This, however, did not cause Trixie to waver. "When Trixie is through, the only thing they'll call you is 'loser'." Trixie aimed her horn and fired a blast of magic at the rainbow above RD's head. The rainbow warped around the pegasus into a tornado, spinning her around and around as it carried her off the stage. When it finished, Rainbow lay on the ground, to dizzy to even stand.

"I think I'm... gonna be sick." She managed to say.

"Seems like anypony with a 'dash' of good sense would think twice before tussling with the great Trixie." Trixie used her magic to summon a storm cloud above Rainbow. A lightning bolt shocked her just as Applejack had been helping her back to her feet. Once again, the crowd of ponies laughed at their friend being tormented.

Why is everyone cheering anyway? Dash challenged her to prove she was faster, but Trixie just bullied her. How is this proving she's better?

"What we need is another unicorn to challenge her. Somepony with some magic of her own?" Spike nudged Twilight with his elbow.

"Yeah! A unicorn to show this unicorn who's boss!" Rainbow agreed.

"A real unicorn-to-unicorn tussle!" Applejack also agreed.

It took Nero a second to realize they were looking at him. "Sorry girls, but this ain't a job for me. I don't know any spells, and if I challenged her to a sword duel, I can guarantee I'd end up killing her, even if I tried to avoid it."

"What about that spell you used when we were searching for the Elements of Harmony? Didn't you summon a hologram while you were fighting those demons?" Twilight asked, and it gave the devil hunter pause. He remembered what Twilight was talking about, when he summoned that holographic camera to taunt the demons.

When he was still human, he would sometimes taunt demons by pretending to record them with an imaginary camera. He didn't have hands anymore, though, so he just pictured a movie camera in his head, and it appeared. He hadn't really questioned it at the time, but now that he thought about it, it was rather odd. Definitely something to ask Discord about the next time he saw the draconequus.

"I... honestly have no idea how I did that. It was kinda just a spur of the moment thing. I don't think I could recreate it if I wanted to. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Remember, I'm not the only unicorn in our group." Nero made a subtle nod towards Twilight, who tried to make herself smaller to avoid being the next challenger.

"Enough! Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense." Rarity stepped in between them.

No, Rarity. Clearly, you did not get the hint.

"Rainbow Dash and Applejack may behave like ruffians, but Rarity conducts herself with beauty and grace." Rarity finished with a swish of her mane.

"Ohh! What's the matter? Afraid you'll get a hair out of place in that rat's nest you call a mane?" Trixie taunted from the stage.

"...Oh, it. Is. On!" Rarity marched herself up onto the stage, prepared to make Trixie eat her words. "You may think you're tough with all of your so-called powers, but there is more to magic than your brutish ways. A unicorn needs to be more than just muscle. A unicorn needs to have style."

Rarity's horn glowed, and she levitated one of the stage's curtains and draped them over herself, hiding her from view. When she removed them, she was adorned in a fancy dress and had her mane in an updo. "A unicorn's not a unicorn without grace and beauty."

...I'm not even gonna bother asking where she got that dress from or how she did her mane up like that so quickly.

"Rarity won't let Trixie get the best of her! She's strong, she's beautiful, she's-" Before Spike could finish, Trixie's horn glowed, and with a flash, Rarity's mane was transformed into...well...

"QUICK! I NEED A MIRROR! GET ME A MIRROR! WHAT DID SHE DO TO MY HAIR!? I KNOW SHE DID SOMETHING TERRIBLE TO MY HAIR!" Rarity cried out, having noticed the obvious gasps of horror coming from the audience.

"N-Nothing!" Twilight stuttered.

"I-It's fine!" Rainbow said quickly.

"It's gorgeous!" Applejack betrayed her element of honesty.

"It's green." Spike answered, staring at the hair in shock.

"It looks like it's made of grass." Nero also looked at the hair with bewilderment.

Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all glared at Spike and Nero.

Rarity looked up at her mane, tears beginning to fill her eyes. "No... GREEN HAIR!? NOT GREEN HAIR!!! SUCH AN AWFUL, AWFUL COLOR!!!" Rarity took off, bawling her eyes out. Coincidentally, she passed a pony with green hair who seemed rather offended by her opinions on green hair.

"Well, Twilight, guess it's up to you. Come on, show her what you're made of!" Spike pointed to the mare on stage.

"What do you mean? I-I'm nothing special." Twilight shook her head nervously.

"Yes, you are! You're better than her!" The baby dragon insisted.

"I'm not better than anyone!" Her gaze shifted around as she noticed that all eyes were on her. Unfortunately, this included Trixie.

"Ha! You think you're better than the great and powerful Trixie? You think you have more magical talent?" Trixie sauntered to the edge of the stage as she spoke. "Well, come on! Show Trixie what you've got! Show us all!"

Twilight was practically sweating bullets at this point. "Who, me? I'm just your run-of-the-mill citizen of Ponyville! No powerful magic here. I, uh, I think I hear my laundry calling. Sorry, gotta go!" The unicorn sprinted in the opposite direction, desperate to get out of the situation. Spike watched her run off, looking both shocked and downcast.

"Once again, the great and powerful Trixie has proven herself to be the most amazing unicorn in all of Equestria! Was there ever any doubt?" With that, Trixie strode back behind the curtains, the show having finished. Everyone else took that as their cue to leave, and the crowd had dispersed, save for Nero and the gang.

"That Trixie is super-duper mean! She's so mean, she's just one big meanie-mean pants!" Pinkie stomped a hoof on the ground.

"Yeah, who does she think she is?" Rainbow agreed, hovering nearby.

"Every town or city has at least one douchebag, I guess." Nero added.

"Is there anything we can do to stand up to her?" Fluttershy spoke up for the first time since Trixie's appearance. Nero just shook his head.

"We saw how it turned out with AJ, Rainbow, and Rarity. Anything I can do would be overboard. Unless Twilight changes her mind, we're just gonna have to put up with her." The devil hunter shrugged. The others sighed in defeat at his words before they all exchanged their goodbyes. The group parted ways, though Nero noticed Spike still staring at the stage, a scowl present on his face.

"Hey, Spike." Nero called out to the baby dragon. "Maybe you can talk some sense into Twilight. You two are pretty close, after all."

"Trust me, I was already planning to. Twilight's way better than Trixie will ever be! She just has to prove it!" Spike proclaimed, much to the devil hunter's satisfaction. They parted ways once more, and Nero returned to Devil May Cry, a new objective in his mind.

Time to ask Discord a few questions.

When Nero arrived at Devil May Cry, he expected to have to call out to Discord for him to appear. Instead, he found Discord sitting behind the desk wearing 3-D glasses and holding a box of popcorn. "My, what a show that was! How did you enjoy meeting Trixie for the first time? Quite the showboat, wouldn't you say? Certainly, something you can relate to."

"Hey, I'll admit I like to show off, but even I'm not that bad. Hell, I don't think even Dante is as bad as her. We don't show off for attention, we just do it to have fun." The devil hunter argued. "Anyway, I have a question for you. Think you can answer it?"

"Well, I had another reason for coming here, but I suppose I can answer your question first." The master of chaos leaned back in the chair, kicking his legs up onto the desk. "This is about that little spell you used in the Everfree Forest, correct?"

"Got it in one. What exactly was that? Do you think I can do something like that again?" Nero asked as he approached the desk.

"I'd say it's possible. If I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with your cutie mark." Discord pointed to Nero's flank, and the devil hunter lifted his coat in response. The image of a spectral arm was still present on his rump. "The devil bringer allows you to summon spectral arms, so perhaps now that you have a horn, you can summon spectral... other things."

"So basically, you think I can summon a spectral version of any object that comes to mind?"

"That's my theory, anyway. Now, as for why I'm actually here, I've decided upon a new rule that you must follow during your time here in Equestria." The draconequus removed his glasses as he took on a more serious tone. "No. Killing."

"No killing? And just how do you expect me to do my job if I can't kill any demons?" The half-demon replied sarcastically.

"Well, no killing anything other than demons, to be specific. As for anything that may have harnessed or been possessed by demonic power, you may fight them to banish the demonic energy, but nothing beyond that. There will be a few exceptions here and there, but for the most part, that rule will apply. Understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, loud and clear. Why are you telling me this now?" Nero pressed.

"It occurred to me that, had the girls not intervened during the Nightmare Moon incident, you may have ended up killing her in a fight, which would have also meant killing Princess Luna. I simply wanted to ensure something like that doesn't happen again." Discord explained, and Nero knew he was right. The devil hunter had come to the same conclusion himself and was glad things hadn't gone differently.

"As for why I'm informing you now of all times...well, I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say you will need to remember that rule very soon." Before Nero could ask Discord to elaborate further, he snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving the devil hunter to his thoughts.

No killing, huh? Alright, if it means avoiding another close call like with Princess Luna, then I'm all for it.

Thinking back to what Discord said about his cutie mark, an idea popped in his head.

I wonder if I can summon a spectral motorcycle...

Night had begun to consume the sky as the green empusa floated through the Everfree Forest, except it wasn't carrying the normal green liquid it usually held in its sac. Instead, a bright red liquid glowed from within.

Demon blood.

The demon's master was not happy to find out a pony carrying the blood of Sparda was here in this new world, so he gave the little green empusa a task to carry out. Find a suitable candidate to inject the demon blood into, then let it go on a rampage. It would only be a matter of time before it and Sparda's kin cross paths. The green empusa's master did not believe this would be enough to stop the descendant of Sparda, but it would certainly send a message.

The green empusa wandered into a cave, drawn by the low grumble of snoring coming from within. When the demon laid eyes on the large, slumbering beast, it knew this would be the perfect candidate. The empusa flapped its wings and got close to the beast before plunging its stinger into the creature's hide. The beast let out a roar of pain as the empusa drained the demon blood into it.

The beast swat its paws at the air until it hit the empusa, sending it careening into the cave's wall. The demon could tell that the strike had been strong enough to kill it, and that it was slowly dying.

It didn't care.

It had carried out its master's wishes.

Nero had spent the next few hours trying to get his spell to work. He was able to create spectral versions of some smaller objects like a baseball, a clock, and the same camera he had summoned before. Sadly, he found himself unable to summon a spectral motorcycle.

Damn, and I had a good feeling about it, too.

Nero was stirred from his thoughts when he felt the ground shake. As soon as he heard ponies screaming, he dashed outside, grabbing Red Queen on his way out. He saw a crowd of ponies running away from something, panic and fear spread across all of their faces. He ran past them, deducing that the source of their panic must have been that way. It didn't take him long to find the trouble.

After turning left onto another street, he saw it. A giant, bear-like creature was rampaging through town. Its body was blue and transparent, speckled with stars and constellations. Every step it took cracked the earth beneath it. It let out a monstrous roar as it began chewing on the roof of one of the houses.

That must be an Ursa Major.

What Nero found odd, however, was that the stars and constellations on its body were all glowing red. When Twilight described the beast, she said that it was made entirely out of the night sky. If that was the case, wouldn't the stars be white? What could have caused them to be red?

Nero got his answer as he got closer to the Ursa. He could feel its familiar presence.

Demonic power.

"I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say you will need to remember that rule very soon."

Nero rolled his eyes as Discord's words replayed in his head. Couldn't the draconequus just give him a normal heads up instead of being vague about it?

Nero turned his attention away from the Ursa when he spotted movement in the corner of his eye. He saw Twilight carrying Spike on her back, running in the direction of the commotion. He caught up with her as she approached two colts, who he recognized from Trixie's performance earlier that day. "What's going on!?" She asked them.

"We brought an Ursa to town!" The chubby one replied.

"You WHAT!?!" Twilight reacted appropriately.

"Don't worry, the great and powerful Trixie will vanquish it!" The lanky one reassured her, gesturing to the magician who Nero now noticed was standing a few feet away from them.

"...I can't." Trixie reluctantly admitted.

"WHAT!?" The colts were taken aback.

"I can't! I never have! No pony can vanquish an Ursa Major! I just made the whole story up to make me look better!"

"MADE IT UP!?!"

Gee, what a shocker.

Trixie's confession was interrupted when the ground shook again. Everyone turned to see the Ursa was getting closer.

"Wait... there's something wrong with it. Why are the stars on it red? That's not normal!" Twilight's observation confirmed Nero's theory. Now he was certain he was the only one who could handle this.

"Stand back. I'm sensing a lot of demonic energy coming from it. This could get hairy." Twilight looked at Nero with concern, but gave him a nod before leading everyone away. The devil hunter looked back at the Ursa.

Gotta remember, no killing. Just deal enough damage to get rid of whatever demonic energy is controlling it. Even so, I can tell this'll be fun.

Nero smirked as he casually strolled over to the Ursa, which towered over him. Despite that, he wasn't worried in the slightest. "Hey there, big fella! What brings you around here? Lookin' for some picnic baskets to steal?"

The Ursa looked down at the devil hunter, growling. It roared before slamming its paw down on top of him. When the Ursa lifted its paw, however, there was no sign of the half-demon. "So, you wanna explain why I'm picking up a ton of demon energy coming from you?" The Ursa turned to find its target a few feet away from where he previously stood, leaning against one of the houses and seeming quite relaxed despite the situation. "I'm guessing you either snacked on one too many demons, or there's something else I'm missing here."

The Ursa took a swing at him, and Nero leapt out of the way, levitating Red Queen as he did. He landed on the Ursa's paw, stabbing his sword deep into it and giving it a few revs. The Ursa howled in pain as the flames burned its transparent flesh. Nero did a backflip off the Ursa's paw and landed on the ground. The Ursa glared at the pony, its eyes filled with pure rage.

"Oh? What's that? 'My sword is a serious fire hazard' you say? Listen, I know how you feel about forest fires, but you can relax! I'll be careful with it, I promise." He slipped Red Queen onto his back again as he took out Blue Rose, along with a few Color Up bullets.

"Y'know, I was already looking forward to duking it out with one of you guys. The fact that you're amped up on demon blood makes it even better. I'm expecting you to put up a good fight..." Nero chucked the Color Up bullets into the air. As they started falling back down, Nero flicked open Blue Rose's chamber then spun around. In one smooth motion, the bullets slid into the chamber and Nero aimed his gun at the Ursa, the chamber clicking shut once more. "So try not to disappoint me!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F35W3NB6iMk

The Ursa let out a mighty roar as it charged Nero, and the devil hunter air hiked out of the way, two spectral wings appearing on his back to give him an extra boost. The wings dissipated and Nero's hoof began to glow as he prepared a charge shot. He landed and began his assault with a Streak, closing the distance between himself and the Ursa. He swung his sword three times before avoiding a swing from the beast with another air hike. While in the air, he sliced into the Ursa with three more swings, then speared downward into it, performing a Payline.

The monster roared as it swung at the half-demon two more times, both attacks easily avoided with a couple Table Hoppers. With the charge shot ready, Nero unloaded into the Ursa, firing all three charged Color Up shots into the Ursa's face. The bullets drilled into the Ursa before one final explosion blew up in its face.

Nero swung both his sword and himself upwards with a High Roller, then swung his sword two more times. He waited a second before the third strike to execute a Roulette Spin, shredding into the Ursa. He shot himself forward with a Calibur, then slammed his sword back down to the ground with a Split.

As Nero rolled to avoid another swipe from the Ursa's paw, he noticed that it was bleeding from his previous attacks. As the blood oozed from the Ursa's wounds, the red glow from the stars on its body seemed to flicker.

Good. The demon blood's starting to drain from him. Just need to keep this up.

Nero shot forward with a Streak once more. He swung his sword twice, waited a second, then delivered several more swings with Red Queen's Combo C. He leapt out of the way of another attack, then performed another High Roller, this time revving Red Queen at the right time to activate Max Act. With Exceed now fully charged, Nero stabbed his sword directly into the ground with Double Down, creating a fiery explosion around him.

After dodging another swing with a Table Hopper, Nero loaded more Color Up shots into Blue Rose and began to charge it up. "Ugh, come on. Is that really the best you've got?" Nero groaned as he pulled his hood over his head. The Ursa let out another roar, furious at not being able to land a single hit. It reared back on its hind legs then slammed both paws down into the ground. The Ursa had been sure that had done the trick, only to see Nero had avoided harm once again, refusing to stay still.

Nero performed Red Queen's Combo D by swinging his sword three times before bringing it down with extra force, Max-Acting on the final hit. With Blue Rose charged up once again, Nero jumped over another strike, leapt off the Ursa's back with an Enemy Step, then fired the charged Color Up rounds while in mid-air. Just as before, the bullets drilled into the beast before one final explosion went off. With Exceed fully charged, Nero shot forward with an Ex Streak, his flaming sword cutting deep into the Ursa.

The Ursa howled in pain as it stumbled and fell to the ground. It wasn't done just yet, but it was stunned, and Nero saw an opportunity.

Alright, time to hit it with full force!

"WATCH THIS!" Nero's voice echoed. His horn glowed as he summoned a hologram of a middle finger before his body began to change. His skin turned to greenish blue and his eyes glowed red, the pupils becoming slits. His white hair grew much longer than it had previously been, and curved devil horns jutted out of his head. The spectral wings returned, spreading out to reveal claws on the ends.

With Nero's Devil Trigger now active, he held nothing back. Swing after swing, blow after blow, Nero relentlessly attacked the downed Ursa, his spectral wings clawing at it to deal extra damage. After the barrage of attacks, a spectral version of the Yamato appeared at Nero's side. He got into a stance as he prepared himself. "Tide's turning..." He said before unsheathing the sword. "SHOWDOWN!!!" Nero unleashed countless slashes upon the Ursa in rapid motion, blood gushing from each slice. For the final cut, Nero brought out Red Queen and swung both swords in an X formation.

Nero's Devil Trigger was about to wear off, and the Ursa looked like it was getting back up. Before either could happen, though, Nero grabbed the Ursa with his Devil Bringer. The half-demon delivered a flurry of punches with his spectral arms and wings, pummeling the Ursa's face. "I may not have any picnic baskets to give you..." Nero reared back, summoning a spectral arm much larger than the previous ones. "But how about a knuckle sandwich instead!?"

With the large spectral arm, Nero threw an uppercut straight into the Ursa's jaw and sent it flying. The Ursa crashed into the ground; the impact large enough to cause a small earthquake. Nero's Devil Trigger wore off and his body returned to normal. At the same time, Nero saw the red from the Ursa's stars fading out and returning to a normal white. As for the Ursa itself, it thankfully appeared to still be breathing.

Guess that's that, then.

Nero slipped Red Queen on his back as he spotted Twilight and Spike approaching. Several other townsponies had come out of hiding after the dust had settled.

"That was amazing, Nero!" Spike praised the devil hunter.

"Eh, it wasn't anything special. It was actually easier than I thought it would've been. Besides, it's not over just yet." He said as he turned back to the Ursa. While it was no longer possessed by demon blood, it was still dangerous. The Ursa started to get back up, growling as it did. The fear returned to all the ponies (except Nero) watching. "Alright, Twilight. You're up."

"Me!?" She blanched.

"I know it's dangerous, but it's just an animal, so I don't wanna kill it. You, on the other hand, can handle it without violence. I'm sure you've got some spells for this, right?"

"Come on, Twilight! You can do it! I know you can!" Spike added, supporting Nero. Twilight looked nervously at the Ursa, who was starting to slowly stomp towards them. She gulped before a look of resolve settled on her face. She marched forward until she was right in front of the giant.

The purple unicorn put all of her focus into her horn as it began to glow. Nero felt a breeze begin to pick up around them. From the breeze, soft music began to play. The devil hunter watched as the wind carried some purple musical notes, most likely from Twilight's magic, towards the Ursa. It seemed to enjoy the sound of the music as it started to calm down. In fact, it looked like it was getting sleepy.

"Nice use of number 16!" Spike whispered from beside him.

Twilight's horn flared up marginally as she put every inch of her focus into her magic. Off in the distance, a water tower became surrounded in a magenta hue. The water tank was levitated from the tower, tipped over to drain the water out, then carried over to a nearby barn. From within the barn, several "moos" could be heard from cows that were most likely inside, followed by a "Golly, don't ya know?" before the water tank came out the other end.

That had to be the fastest milking of cows I've ever seen, or heard in this case.

"That's new." Spike commented from the side.

Twilight dug her hooves into the ground, the glow from her horn becoming as big as Twilight herself. She managed to levitate the Ursa itself just as it passed out. She brought the water tank filled with milk over to the beast and placed it in its paws. The Ursa began sucking on it like it was a baby's bottle.

Not the method I expected, but effective all the same.

The townsponies all watched in awe at Twilight's magical abilities. It was incredibly rare to see a unicorn pull off feats as great as this. Finally, Twilight lifted the Ursa all the way back towards the Everfree Forest until it was out of sight. She released her magic, sweating and panting from the strain. The crowd of ponies that had been watching all cheered, singing the purple unicorn's praises.

"Heavens to Betsy! We knew ya had ability, but not that much!" Applejack commended her.

"I'm sorry. Please, please don't hate me!" Twilight begged, much to everyone's shock.

"Hate you!?" The girls all vocalized Nero's thoughts. Why the heck would she think that? "Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" Rarity was the first to ask for clarification.

"Well, I know how much you all hated Trixie's showing off with her magic tricks, and I just thought-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Magic's got nothing to do with it!" Rainbow Dash interrupted Twilight before she could finish. "Trixie's just a loudmouth."

"Most unpleasant." Rarity agreed.

"All hat an' no cattle." AJ added.

"So... you don't mind my magic tricks?"

"Your magic is a part o' who you are, sugar cube. And we like who you are. We're proud to have such a powerful, talented unicorn as our friend." The farm pony said.

"And after whupping that Ursa's hindquarters, we're even prouder!" Rainbow declared.

Technically I whupped its hindquarters, but I guess we're just gonna gloss over that.

"You are?" A hopeful smile formed on Twilight's face, and the group all gave nods of confirmation. It seemed as though things were starting to wrap up nicely.

"Wow, Twilight! How'd you know what to do with that Ursa Major?" Spike asked, curious.

"That's what I was doing when you came looking for me. I was so intrigued by Trixie's bragging that I was compelled to do a little reading up on them."

"So it is possible to vanquish an Ursa Major all by yourself?" The dragon continued his question.

"That wasn't an Ursa Major. It was a baby, an Ursa Minor." She explained.

"That was just a baby!? Aw damnit! You're telling me I didn't even get to fight the real thing!?" Nero cursed, followed by someone from the crowd of ponies shouting "Language!" at him.

I'm getting real sick of people calling me out for swearing.

"I'm guessing it was only rampaging because, like Nero said, it was possessed with demonic energy. Though, I don't think it would have come to town if somepony hadn't woken it up." Twilight glared at the two colts that brought the Ursa to town, and soon so did everybody else.

"Well, if that was an Ursa Minor, then... what's an Ursa Major like!?" The fear in Spike's voice was evident. Twilight took a few seconds to think of her response.

"...You don't wanna know." She eventually settled with.

No, actually, I really wanna know now.

Nero's attention was drawn away from Twilight when he heard the sound of someone chuckling. It was then he saw Trixie emerging from the crowd. "Ha! You may have vanquished an Ursa Minor, but you will never have the amazing, showstopping ability of the great and powerful TRIXIE!" The showboat threw down a smoke bomb to make herself disappear... only to be seen running away in the distance, not having teleported at all.

"Why that little...!" Rainbow Dash was about to fly after Trixie, only to be stopped by Twilight.

"Just let her go. Maybe someday she'll learn her lesson." She sighed.

Yeah, I won't hold my breath.

"Now, about you two." Twilight addressed the two colts, who were in the process of trying to sneak away. They chuckled nervously when they saw that they had been caught.

"W-We're sorry that we woke up the Ursa Minor." the smaller apologized.

"We just wanted to see some awesome magic!" The skinny one added.

"Yeah! And the way you vanquished that Ursa Minor was awesome!"

These two seem a bit too happy about almost getting the entire town killed for some entertainment.

Twilight, feeling the same way as the devil hunter, did not let up with her glaring. Noticing this, the two kids lost their smiles. "We deserve whatever punishment you give us."

"For starters, you can clean up this mess." Twilight gestured to some of the wreckage caused by the Ursa Minor. "And... what do you think, Spike? Should I give them number 25?"

The two kids shared a look of horror as Spike grew a devilish smile. "Oh, 25? Yes! And I think I deserve it, too."

Huh?

"Huh?" The colts echoed Nero's thoughts.

"I think you're right." Twilight's horn glowed, and the two colts flinched in preparation for whatever the unicorn was about to do. Spike, who was about to receive the same treatment, actually looked excited. With a flash, Twilight cast the spell on Spike and the colts. As for what the spell did....

...It gave the three of them mustaches.

"Sweet~!" The three of them all said together. Seeing them all wearing the facial hair proudly, it gave the half-demon a thought.

...I wonder if I would look good with a mustache.

After the whole incident was resolved, the townsponies all returned to their homes, including Nero. It was now the next day, and the devil hunter sat at his desk. He couldn't help but ponder over the events of last night. Particularly how the Ursa had demon blood coursing through it. How did that happen, exactly? Did the Ursa really just eat some weaker demons and absorb their power? It may have been, but Nero couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it.

He had tried asking Discord about it, though he wouldn't have been surprised if the draconequus told him that it would have been a 'spoiler'. This did not end up being the answer, though, and the descendant of Sparda was truly shocked when the lord of chaos said that he didn't know who was behind it. Just like how there was something preventing him from snapping the demons out of existence, there was something keeping him from learning who or what was behind all of this.

Nero took a bite out of the apple that served as his breakfast.

This job just keeps getting more and more complicated...

Whatever was going on, the devil hunter needed to find out soon. He had a feeling that if there was some sort of mastermind behind everything, they weren't just going to sit around and let him put a stop to it. The longer this went on, the more chance there was of things going from bad to worse.

You can throw whatever challenge you want at me, but I swear...

I will never surrender.

Dragonshy

View Online

Nero first noticed the cloud of smoke on his way back from a job.

He had just made it back to Ponyville when he saw a large, black cloud of smoke that was spreading all across the sky. The cloud appeared to be originating from a high mountain off in the distance. Obviously, this seemed like something to be concerned about, so he started asking around town. From what they all said, the source of the smoke was, thankfully, not a raging fire.

The smoke was, in actuality, coming from a full-grown dragon.

According to the townsponies, Twilight had received a letter from the princess informing her of this. Seeing an opportunity to possibly fight an actual, fully mature, real-life dragon, Nero went looking for Twilight immediately to ask for details. He found her, as well as the other girls, at the Golden Oaks Library. Twilight had been packing her saddlebags while everyone else was crowded around her. When Nero entered, all eyes turned to him.

"Nero! Where were you? I tried to get in contact with you, but you weren't answering your phone. I checked your shop, but you weren't there." Twilight spoke up first.

"Sorry, I was out on a job. I'm guessing you wanted to tell me about the dragon?" He asked.

"Yes, we might need your help dealing with it. If we don't, it could cover all of Equestria in smoke!" She stuffed a rolled-up parchment into her bag as she spoke.

"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirl is a full-grown dragon doin' here in Equestria, anyway?" Applejack butted in, asking the question on everypony's mind.

"Sleeping." Twilight stated simply, her answer catching everyone present off guard. "According to Princess Celestia, he's taking a nap. His snoring is what's causing all this smoke." She explained as she placed a stack of books in her bag.

"He should really see a doctor. That doesn't sound healthy at all!" Pinkie commented.

"Well, at least he's not snoring fire! What are we meant to do about it?" Rarity added.

"I'll tell you what we're meant to do; Give him the boot!" Everyone looked to Rainbow Dash, who was flying above them even indoors. To emphasize her point, she bucked a wooden statue of a horse's head. Twilight stopped it from falling over with her magic, then lifted it out of the way just as Rainbow dive bombed towards it for a second strike. This caused the rainbow speedster to crash into a bookshelf, knocking a few books off of it.

"We need to encourage him to take a nap somewhere else." Twilight corrected her. "Princess Celestia has given us this mission and we must not fail. If we do, Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next 100 years!" Nero heard Fluttershy gasp in horror at those words.

Wouldn't be the first time I've had to work with a time limit. Shouldn't be too hard.

"Talk about getting your beauty sleep." Rarity remarked.

Twilight finished packing her saddlebags and levitated them onto her back. "All right, everypony, I need you to gather supplies quickly. We've got a long journey ahead of us. Let's meet back here in less than an hour."

"Okay girls (and guy), you heard her! The fate of Equestria is in our hooves! Do we have what it takes!?" Rainbow pumped the group up, and they all cheered as they exited the library.

All except for Fluttershy, Nero noted.

"Um...actually..." The shy pegasus seemed hesitant, but followed the others out of the library anyway.

Wonder what that was about. Maybe she's afraid of the dragon? This is Fluttershy we're talking about.

Not dwelling on it further, Nero followed the rest out of the library. He didn't really need to pack much since he already had everything he needed with him, having just come back from a job. Still, it wouldn't hurt to double check. He stopped, however, when something occurred to him. He turned back around and poked his head into the library. "Oh, Twilight? Quick question."

"Oh? How can I help, Nero?" Twilight smiled, happy to answer any questions her friend might have.

"I'm getting paid for this, right?"

"..." Twilight's smile dropped and was replaced with a deadpan glare. "...We'll discuss payment after we persuade the dragon to sleep elsewhere."

"Cool, thanks." With that, the devil hunter left to double check if there was anything left he needed to pack.

When Nero entered Devil May Cry, he expected everything to be normal, just as he left it.

Instead, he found the shop had been turned upside down.

The desk, couch, and jukebox were hanging upside down from the ceiling, somehow defying gravity. Meanwhile, the ceiling fan and lights were all on the floor. The whole interior of the shop had somehow been flipped.

"Like what I've done with the place?" Nero spotted a familiar draconequus on the ceiling, sitting in the chair in front of the desk. He should've known Discord was behind this.

"No, actually, I can't say I'm a fan of it. I kinda liked it the way it was." He sent an annoyed glare in Discord's direction. The draconequus rolled his eyes and reluctantly snapped his fingers, returning the shop to the way it was.

"You're no fun, you know that?"

"So, is this just a friendly house call, or are you here for a reason?" Nero asked.

"Actually, I do have a reason for being here, and it's concerning your arsenal." Discord answered.

Nero raised an eyebrow. "My arsenal? What do you mean?"

"While you did well against the Ursa Minor, I can assure you that won't be the toughest foe that you face. Because of this, I decided to provide you with an addition to your arsenal, one you're very familiar with." Discord snapped his fingers, and a rack filled with metal hooves appeared next to him. While they looked different, being shaped like hooves instead of arms, Nero could tell what they were immediately.

"Devil Breakers." He grabbed one off the rack and inspected it. He recognized the one he grabbed as Overture. His right hoof dissipated, and he slipped the devil breaker on in its place. It fit perfectly, and after testing out a bit, he found that it worked exactly like the original.

"Made them myself, using Ms. Goldstein's design as a reference, of course. I simply modified it to fit your new body." Discord didn't seem like the type who knew how to build a weaponize prosthetic, so the devil hunter was about to ask how the master of chaos managed to do so, only for him to snap another hoof-shaped devil breaker into existence. "I know what you're thinking, and no, I didn't build them from scratch. All I have to do is snap my fingers and viola! That's not all though. I added a new feature that should prove useful."

Taking another devil breaker, this one a Tomboy, Nero slipped it on in Overture's place. Just by the feel of the devil breaker, he could tell what the new feature was. Nero swapped back and forth between Overture and Tomboy, no longer needing to blow one up to use the other. He remembered Nico had been working on something similar, but it seems Discord beat her to it.

"This is perfect! It'll definitely come in handy." The half-demon put the devil breakers away, his normal hoof reappearing.

heh, "handy"... actually, I guess that joke doesn't work since they're hooves, not hands.

"Just remember that if you ever need any extras or replacements, you need only to ask." With that, Discord teleported away with another snap of his fingers, leaving the devil breakers behind. Nero looked over each of the devil breakers, seeing that every single one he'd used in the past was on the rack, only now they were in the shape of a hoof.

Looks like I'll have some packing to do after all.

Normally, Nero could only carry up to eight devil breakers at a time, but thanks to a new pair of saddlebags Twilight had given him, he was able to carry way more than that. He had one of each type of devil breaker packed in his bags, and even some spares.

On his way to the meeting point, it occurred to Nero that the girls might wonder where he got the devil breakers from. They had to have come from somewhere, and he couldn't tell them about Discord. Instead, he came up with a simple but effective cover story for when they inevitably ask. Currently, he and the other girls were lined up side by side in front of Twilight, listening to her give a briefing on their mission. Nero stood on the far left of the line up, and next to him was Fluttershy. After her was Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and finally Rainbow Dash.

"Alright everypony, listen up. I'm mapping out the fastest route, but we've all got to keep a good pace if we expect to make it up the mountain by nightfall." The purple unicorn paced back and forth in front of the group as she spoke.

"M-M-Mountain?" Nero heard Fluttershy whimper from beside him.

"The dragon is in that cave at the very top." Twilight continued, pointing to the mountain in question.

"Looks pretty cold up there." AJ commented.

"You bet it is! The higher you go, the chillier it gets!" Rainbow added.

"Good thing I brought my scarf." Rarity pulled out a pink scarf from her saddlebag and wrapped it around her neck, striking a pose.

"Oh yeah, that'll keep you nice and cozy." Rainbow chuckled sarcastically.

As Twilight began scanning the map for the best route, Fluttershy approached her looking rather nervous. More nervous than usual, anyway. "Um, e-excuse me, Twilight? I know you're busy, but-"

"Uh-huh... well, we could go this way." Twilight mumbled to herself, only paying half-attention to the shy pegasus.

"But if I could just have a second-"

"Uh-huh... No, we want to avoid that."

"So, um, I-I was thinking that, um... maybe I should just stay here in Ponyville."

"Uh-huh."

"Oh, good! I'll stay here and-" As Fluttershy had just begun to walk away, Twilight finally seemed to process what the pegasus had been saying and snapped out of her reverie.

"Wait! You have to come! Your way with wild animals will surely come in handy." She stopped Fluttershy in her tracks.

"I-I don't think I-"

"Oh, and don't worry about your little friends in the meadow. Spike's got it covered while you're gone." As if on cue, Spike appeared next to Fluttershy, surrounded by several little critters.

"You can count on me!" The baby dragon flashed a smile. The bunny sitting on top of him then proceeded to stomp on his head repeatedly, both hurting Spike and causing the critters to scatter. Spike fruitlessly yelled for them to come back as he chased after them, showing that he was clearly the best candidate to watch over Fluttershy's pets.

"I don't really think he's up to the task. Maybe-" Before Fluttershy could argue further, Twilight had already rolled up the map and started approaching the others. "But-... But-..." Fluttershy squeaked as she curled up into a ball.

"Are you sure you want Fluttershy to come along?" Rainbow asked, clearly skeptical. "I mean, that pony's afraid of her own shadow. She's just gonna slow us down."

"It's fine if she doesn't want to go. I can handle that dragon on my own, easy." Nero gave his own input.

"Like I said before, we just need to ask him to sleep somewhere else. I'd prefer that we resolve this as peacefully as possible. Besides, Fluttershy's just a little nervous. Once we get going, I'm sure she'll be fine." The second Twilight finished her sentence, Fluttershy let out a yelp, drawing their attention. Apparently, Fluttershy had literally gotten scared by her own shadow, leaping into the bushes to hide from it.

Wow, I thought Rainbow was just exaggerating. That's some next level fear.

Twilight turned to face the rest of the group once more. "All right everypony, move out!"

At Twilight's command, everyone started running in the direction of the mountain, even forcibly carrying Fluttershy with them.

Man, I was really looking forward to fighting that dragon. Oh well, it'll still be cool to meet a real dragon. Er, not counting Spike, that is.

The group of seven ponies had just about reached the base of the mountain when a loud roar echoed from the top. Fluttershy let out a fearful gasp as she leapt behind Nero for cover.

"Woah! What was that?" Rainbow asked, staring wide-eyed at the top of the mountain.

"That is what it sounds like when a dragon snores." Twilight explained.

"It's- It's so... high." Fluttershy whimpered as she stared dreadfully at the mountain itself from behind the devil hunter.

"Well, it is a mountain. I'm gonna fly up there and check it out!" Rainbow was about to take off, only for Applejack to bite down on her tail and pull her back. At this point, Nero was starting to wonder if biting Rainbow's tail was a hobby for the farm pony.

"Hold on now. I think we should all go up together. Safety in numbers an' all." The others seemed to agree with Applejack, giving their own nods of approval.

"...Oh, alright." Rainbow crossed her hooves grumpily. The group started to follow the path up the mountain, beginning their long trek. About a minute had passed before Rarity decided to strike up a conversation.

"Pardon me, Nero, but what exactly are you carrying in those saddlebags? I don't recall seeing you carry much whenever you go out on a job." To answer her question, Nero pulled a devil breaker from the bag, a Punch Line to be specific.

"These are what I call devil breakers. They're prosthetic arms I use to fight demons." His right hoof disappeared, and he slipped Punch Line on in its place.

"Oooooooh! What's it do!? What's it do!?" Pinkie bounced around, joining the conversation.

"Well, I've got a bunch, and they each have different functions. This one is called Punch Line, and as for what it does..." Nero aimed his right hoof into the air and fired Punch Line. The metal hoof rocketed into the sky, zipping around at high speed before returning to Nero's hoof. Everyone present stared at the devil breaker in shock.

"Whoa... that's so cool!" Rainbow said, hovering above them.

"Where did you get those from?" Twilight eyed the devil breaker curiously.

"I put in a request to Celestia to have them built. I have something similar back home, only they're shaped like human arms rather than pony hooves, so I was able to give them the plans to build them." Nero lied, using the cover story he had come up with earlier.

"So these devil breakers are basically weaponized prosthetics? Fascinating!" The purple unicorn couldn't help but stare at the marvel of technology in wonder. "But wait... why a prosthetic?"

"What do you mean?"

"Prosthetics are used to replace missing limbs, right? I saw that your hoof disappears when you put on a devil breaker, but why not just make it a glove or something?"

"Ah, that's... a bit of a long story. I didn't have a right arm when the devil breaker was first created."

"WHAT!?!" All the girls present shouted in unison. Twilight was the first to ask for clarification. "B-But, that doesn't make any sense! If you didn't have a hoof before, how come you have a hoof now!?"

"It grew back."

The girls all stared at him in silent shock.

"...Oh come on, is it really that surprising? Rarity grew her tail back, how is my growing an arm back any different?" The half-demon pointed to Rarity. "Listen, it's not a big deal, so let's keep moving. We're on a time limit, remember?"

While it was obvious the girls wanted to ask more questions, they knew Nero was right. They didn't have time to stand around. They needed to reach the dragon as soon as possible. Reluctantly, they all turned around and continued their journey.

Phew, close one. I'd rather not have to explain the reason why my arm was missing in the first place. That would be an awkward conversation.

The group had continued walking along the path for a bit longer. According to the map, the path was supposed to continue on for a while, but Twilight said their was a shortcut they could take to save them some time. When Nero saw the shortcut though, he became confused.

The "shortcut" was a steep slope that led up to a cliffside.

Nero was about to comment on how walking up something that steep would be physically impossible, only for the girls to start trotting on the incline like it was nothing. It took him a second to remember that they had hooves and could walk up mountains like this easily. Realizing this, he followed them up the slope.

This feels pretty weird, not gonna lie. It almost feels like I'm walking up a wall and giving gravity the middle finger.

"I hear the only thing that sparkles more than a dragon's scales are the jewels they use to build their nests. Ooh! If I play my cards right, I might be able to convince him to part with a few." Rarity gushed at the thought. Despite the long hike, everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Well, all except Rainbow Dash, who seemed grumpy that she had to stick with the group instead of flying ahead. She hovered above the rest with her hooves crossed, clearly bored.

"Welcome to my cave, Rarity! Care for a diamond? RAARRR!!" Pinkie did her best dragon impression, which got both Rarity and Applejack to giggle.

"Girls! This is no laughing matter!" Twilight broke up their laughter just as they reached the top of the slope, stepping onto the cliff.

"Oh, lighten up, Twilight. They're just having some fun. I crack jokes about life-threatening events all the time." Nero defended them.

"We can't afford any distractions. The fate of Equestria depends on us. Fluttershy, you're the expert on wild creatures. What do you think the dragon will be like?" Twilight waited for a response, only to get silence as an answer. Everyone looked around in confusion, not seeing Fluttershy among the group. Rainbow spotted her further back down the mountain, hiding in some bushes.

"Hey, what are you waiting for? An invitation?" The rainbow speedster called out to her.

"Ooh! I think I have one in my bag!" Pinkie pulled out said invitation from her saddlebags, triggering an explosion of confetti. To Nero's chagrin, he ended up covered in the bits of confetti alongside Rainbow and Rarity.

"I-It's so... so... steep." Fluttershy cowered behind the bush.

"Well, it is a cliff. You could just, oh I don't know, fly up here!" Rainbow Dash suggested, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Come on, Fluttershy, you can do it! Flap those wings!" Pinkie cheered supportively.

"Uh... okay..." Fluttershy did as told and began flapping her wings. She lifted herself off the ground and managed to reach the same elevation as the rest of the group. Unfortunately, that was when the dragon snored once again. The low, booming growl echoed through the air.

The second Fluttershy heard it, it took only a second for the fear to spread across her face. She was so scared that her wings locked up and she began to plummet back to the ground. Thankfully, she landed safely in a bush, remaining unharmed. Fluttershy climbed out of the bush and attempted to open her wings again, but it didn't seem like they were budging.

"Ugh, we don't have time for this!" Twilight groaned. Hearing this, Applejack snagged the map from Twilight's bag. "What are you doing?"

"I'll need this if I'm gonna take her 'round the mountain another way." The farm pony explained as she searched the map for an alternate route.

"Around the mountain? That's gonna take them forever!" Rainbow also let out an annoyed groan. Applejack slid back down the slope to join Fluttershy. Once she reached the bottom, she looked back up at Twilight.

"Don't worry, Twi. We'll be there lickety-split." Applejack reassured her as she led Fluttershy down a different path.

"Guess we're waiting on them, then." Nero sighed. The group made themselves comfortable while they waited for Fluttershy and Applejack to catch up. In the meantime, Pinkie had convinced Rarity to play tic-tac-toe with her. Nero spectated their game for what little entertainment it provided.

Some time passed, and the pink pony had the fashionista beat 9-0. Rarity still had yet to accept defeat as they began another round. Nero let out a yawn as the spectating started to grow boring.

Man, if those two don't hurry up, I might just die of boredom. I kinda wish something exciting would happen, like-

Nero's thought was cut off when he heard a familiar sound. Walls of red veins trapped the group of five ponies on the cliffside, and pools of blood sprouted from the ground.

Ask and ye shall receive.

The girls all gasped at the sight, and Nero brought Red Queen out, ready for action. "Nero, it's-!"

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I'll take care of them. You girls just stay back." He cut Twilight off as he approached the pools of blood. Three Hell Prides carrying scythes climbed out of the pools and limbered towards him as music began to fill his ears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxyJyTEgLzU

"Now that I think about it, this is a good opportunity to test out the new devil breakers." Nero muttered to himself. He pulled out an Overture from his bag and slipped it on before addressing the demons. "Hey, you guys don't mind helping me test out this new toy, right?" The demons all growled at him in response.

With a smirk, Nero extended Overture into its weaponized form, the metal hoof emitting sparks of electricity. The closest Hell Pride swung its scythe at him, but it was too slow. Nero triggered Overture, and a giant hand made of pure electricity shot out of it, an attack he called Battery. The shock knocked all three demons back, dealing a significant amount of damage to each. Nero lunged at the closest demon with a Hard Way, slamming his sword down and killing it.

Before the other two could get up, Nero launched one of them into the air with a High Roller, then performing an aerial combo to end its life. Before falling back to the ground, Nero Snatched the third Hell Pride up with a spectral arm. Grabbing it with the spectral arm once again, he power bombed the demon back down to the ground, the impact being more than enough to kill it.

Nero turned to find six more pools of blood appearing on the ground, demons crawling out of them. The first three were Scarecrows, and the two after them were Hell Lusts. What caught his eye was the sixth and final one, a Hell Wrath. The devil hunter whipped out Blue Rose and focused his fire on the Hell Wrath's explosive sack. Thanks to their speed, the Hell Lusts had leapt out of the blast range before the Hell Wrath exploded. The Scarecrows, however, were not so lucky, and got caught in the blast, dying instantly.

The first Hell Lust dashed towards Nero with its scythe, but the half-demon avoided the attack with a Table Hopper, then swung his sword four times, performing Red Queen Combo A. While the first Hell Lust was stunned, the second one dashed forward, only for its attack to also be avoided with another Table Hopper. Nero swapped Overture out for Rawhide, then attacked the second Hell Lust with the devil breaker's basic combo, Side Winder, before slamming it into the ground with the Devil Bringer to finish it off.

He swung Red Queen twice at the first Hell Lust, only for it to sidestep his attacks. It flipped backwards and was about to lunge at him again, only for Nero to bring it towards him with a Wire Snatch. Thanks to having Rawhide equipped, the Wire Snatch dealt extra damage to the demon. For his final blow, Nero swapped back to Overture and blasted the Hell Lust with a Battery attack, ending its existence.

The music faded away as the walls of veins did the same. Nero admired the devil breaker with satisfaction. It worked like a charm, and swapping between devil breakers felt seamless.

"That was AWESOME!!! You've gotta show us what else that hoof can do!" With the dust having settled, Rainbow Dash flew over to Nero, getting an up-close look at the devil breaker.

"Heh, maybe some other time. Don't wanna spoil the surprise." Nero replied, and the rainbow speedster pouted. Ignoring her pout, Nero went back to where he was sitting to continue watching Pinkie and Rarity's ongoing battle of tic-tac-toe.

Back to this, I guess. Who knows, maybe it'll start getting interesting again.

Spoiler alert: It did not get interesting again.

"WOOHOO! I win again!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Ugh, that's 35 games in a row. Best of 71?" Rarity challenged.

Nero was just about at his limit. If this went on any longer, he'd just charge up the mountain and kick that dragon out of the cave himself. Twilight and Rainbow seemed to be growing impatient as well. Twilight was pacing back and forth, while Rainbow did the same, only by flying instead of trotting.

Their attention was drawn to the sound of hoof steps approaching and someone grunting in effort. They all turned to see Applejack approaching from the alternate route, carrying Fluttershy by the tail. The shy pegasus herself seemed to be frozen stiff from fear.

"We...made...it..." Applejack managed to wheeze out before flopping on the ground, panting heavily.

"Told you it was gonna take them forever." Rainbow muttered to Twilight.

After letting Applejack catch her breath, the group finally continued forward up the path. They continued on for a bit longer before running into a small gap in the path. Both Nero and Rainbow Dash leapt over it first, not even a second of hesitation from either of them. Everyone else promptly followed their lead, hopping over the gap with little effort.

Everyone except for Fluttershy, that is.

"Your turn, Fluttershy." Twilight called out to her.

"But it's so... wide." Fluttershy took a few steps back from the gap.

Oh, come on, it's only like 2 feet! Not even!

"Come on Fluttershy, we should be much farther along by now!" Twilight insisted.

"You could just leap on over." AJ added. Fluttershy took a glance at the gap, looking down at the far drop below.

"...I-" Fluttershy was cut off by another roar from the dragon's snoring. "...I don't know."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_lJFoyujrA

"There's nothing to be afraid of! It's just a hop, skip, and a jump!" Pinkie Pie cut in, then proceeded to leap back across the gap. "See?"

It was at that moment that Nero heard music beginning to play.

Oh God, not again-

"It's not very far, just move your little rump~! You can make it if you try with a hop, skip, and a jump~!" Pinkie began to sing to the music as she leapt back and forth over the gap, and Nero resisted the urge to rip his ears off.

"We don't have time for this." Twilight said, though made no effort to stop it.

"A hop, skip, and a jump~! Just move your little rump~! A hop, skip, and a jump! A hop, skip, and a jump! A hop, skip, and a jump! A hop, skip, and a jump! A hop, skip, and a JUMP!" Pinkie mercifully finished the song by landing on the side opposite of Fluttershy. The shy pegasus took another nervous look at the gap before readying herself to mimic what Pinkie did. "Okay... here I go."

"A hop..." She hopped.

"A skip..." She skipped.

"Just don't look down!" Twilight encouraged her, though it would prove to have backfired in a second.

Fluttershy heard Twilight's words just as she reached the jump portion of the mantra. Fluttershy looked down mid-leap, and terror entered her eyes in less than a second. She let out a quiet yelp as she fell forward...

Her front hooves landed on the other side safely, while her hind legs remained on the side they had come from. The gap was so small, that it was almost impossible to fall through without trying. Like Nero said, the gap wasn't even 2 feet, and could have been stepped over if you stretched your hooves out far enough.

Still, Fluttershy found herself wedged between the gap. Rainbow groaned as she flew behind Fluttershy and gave her a little push, putting her safely on the other side.

"I guess I forgot to jump." Fluttershy said sheepishly, flashing an embarrassed smile.

"Let's keep it down. According to my map, we're entering an avalanche zone. The smallest peep could cause a huge rockslide." Twilight whispered.

They were well past the gap now, and had continued further on up the mountain. Just as Twilight said, Nero could tell that the whole area was very unstable. He made sure to keep his footsteps light in order to avoid making any noise.

"An ava-... ava-!"

"SHH!" Fluttershy's nervous stammering was cut off when Twilight shushed her. The group resumed their pace, though with much more caution. Everyone treaded lightly, not daring to make a peep. The only sound that could be heard was the light clopping of hooves.

Everything was completely silent.

...

...If demons decided to ambush us now, we'd all be screwed.

Nero caught Rainbow Dash in the corner of his eye, her wing having brushed past the branch of a nearby tree. Though her wing had barely touched it, it had been enough to knock a single leaf from the branch. Normally, this wouldn't have concerned Nero. There was, however, one problem.

The leaf was about to fall on Fluttershy.

Considering how on edge she had been this entire time, even the lightest touch from that leaf would most likely freak her out.

CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP!!!

Nero took action almost immediately, dashing forward with speed only a demon would be capable of. He managed to grab the leaf with his teeth just an inch away from landing on Fluttershy. The pegasus herself didn't seem to have noticed, continuing on as if nothing happened.

"Oh, thank God." Nero gave a relieved sigh, only realizing his mistake a second too late as the girls all turned to him with wide eyes. Everyone remained frozen in place, waiting to see if Nero's voice had been loud enough to trigger an avalanche.

A second passed.

Then another.

...

Nothing but dead silence.

Twilight sent a hard glare his way, making a zipper motion over her mouth with her hoof as if to say 'Keep your mouth zipped shut.'

She didn't have to tell the devil hunter twice.

The group carried on, not making a single peep. Eventually, they made it through the avalanche zone with no further incidents. Once they made it, Twilight gave the all clear, and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"What was that about!? You almost triggered an avalanche!" Rainbow Dash flew up in Nero's face.

"Look, it was an accident, ok? A leaf was about to fall on Fluttershy, and I was worried it would freak her out, so I stopped it. Can you blame me for feeling a little relieved?" The half-demon explained himself.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't notice it." Fluttershy apologized from the side.

"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault. Look, let's just be glad we got through that safely, ok?"

"Nero's right. We don't have time to stand around and argue about it." Twilight cut in. "According to the map, we should be at the final stretch. We'll have time for chit-chat after we've convinced the dragon to leave."

Everyone gave a round of determined nods in agreement. They all followed Twilight as she pressed on, ready to finish their quest.

Looks like it's finally time to meet my first dragon... well, not counting Spike, anyway.

"We're here." Twilight stated as she gazed upon the massive opening to the dragon's cave. Smoke poured out of the entrance, and the low rumble of the Dragon's breathing could be heard even from outside the cave. If Nero had to describe the size of the entrance, he would say it was about as large as the Ursa Minor had been, if not larger.

"Rainbow Dash, you'll use your wings to clear the smoke. Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you'll create a diversion to distract the dragon if things get a little hairy in there. Nero, you'll keep the dragon at bay in case he decides to attack. Applejack, you're ready with the apples to provide assistance to Nero if he needs it." Twilight listed off everyone's tasks, and they all prepared to carry out their part of the plan.

"Hopefully, it shouldn't come to that, because Fluttershy will do what she needs to do to wake him up. Between the two of us, we should be able to get him to understand why he needs to go. Is everypony ready?" Everyone, save Fluttershy, gave their own affirmation in response. "Okay, then. We're going in!"

Twilight did as she said she would and marched straight into the dragon's cave. She didn't seem to notice that Fluttershy hadn't followed her. Instead, the shy pegasus had her head buried in the dirt in a feeble attempt to hide. A few seconds later, Twilight came back out, a deadpan expression on her face.

"Come on!" She bit down on Fluttershy's wings and gave them a tug, pulling her out of the dirt. "We have to do this!" She gave Fluttershy a push, but the shy pegasus did not budge. "Now!"

As Twilight continued to push, Rainbow Dash joined in to help, who was followed by Rarity. After her, AJ joined in, and Nero figured he might as well pitch in, too. He wished he had waited a second longer before helping when Pinkie smacked into him from behind, also aiding in the group push. "Every second longer that dragon sleeps is another acre of Equestria that is covered in smoke!" Twilight grunted with effort between her words. Surprisingly, even with Nero's demonic strength, Fluttershy managed to keep herself dug firmly into the dirt.

"I...I... I can't go in the cave." Fluttershy finally answered. Everyone groaned as they stopped trying to push her.

"Oh great. She's scared of caves now, too." Rainbow complained.

"I'm not scared of caves. I'm scared of dr..."

"What's that, sugar cube?" Applejack asked, unable to make out what she said.

"I'm scared of drag..."

"What?" Twilight also asked, still not able to hear her.

"I'm scared of dragons!" Fluttershy admitted.

Wow, what a twist. Never saw that coming. Who could have possibly guessed?

The dragon snored once more, causing a huge puff of smoke to emerge from the cave. It clouded around the group of ponies, causing them all to start coughing. After the smoke had cleared, Nero found Fluttershy huddling behind him once again.

"But Fluttershy, you have such a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals!" Twilight said, somehow surprised by this new revelation.

"Yes, because they're not dragons." Fluttershy emphasized, still hiding behind the devil hunter.

"Oh, come on! We've seen you walk right up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing!" The rainbow pegasus reminded her.

"Yes, because he wasn't a dragon." She repeated.

"Spike is a dragon, and you're not scared of him." Pinkie added.

"Yes, because he's not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, shark-scale-having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could-eat-a-pony-in-one-bite, totally all-grown-up dragon." The dragon snored once more after Fluttershy's rant, which provoked her to whimper in fear.

"But if you're so afraid of dragons, why didn't you say something before we came all the way up here!?" Twilight questioned.

"Because I was afraid to."

Oh, for Christ's sake, is there anything she's not afraid of!?

"All of us are scared of that dragon-"

"I'm not." Both Nero and Rainbow Dash objected simultaneously, cutting Applejack off.

"... Almost all of us are scared of that dragon, but we've got a job t' do. So get in there with Twilight an' show 'er what yer made of." After AJ finished, all eyes were on Fluttershy, waiting for her answer.

"I...I..."

Everyone leaned in.

"...I just...can't." Fluttershy hung her head low, completely downtrodden. She moved behind a large rock that was portruding out of the ground to hide herself. Whether it was to hide from the dragon or her shame, Nero wasn't sure.

Poor Fluttershy. I actually feel kinda bad for her now.

Everyone else present felt the same way as Nero, but they couldn't dwell on it for too long. They still had a job to do, and their target was right in front of them. All that was left was to get the dragon out of the cave. Considering Fluttershy was no longer taking part, Twilight had to enter the cave alone.

"I'm going in. He... probably just doesn't realize what he's doing... right?" Twilight, who was now a few feet into the cave, looked back at her friends for encouragement. All of them, save for Nero, were hiding just around the corner of the cave's entrance.

"O-Oh, yeah, of course." Ranbow scratched the back of her head.

"S-Sure, if you say so." Applejack gave a forced smile.

"O-Of course, heh heh..." Rarity chuckled nervously.

"Easy-peasy!" Pinkie seemed to be the most genuine of them.

"Try not to die." Nero deadpanned.

While Twilight was clearly skeptical of their encouragement, she trudged forward through the cave anyway. A couple minutes passed as they waited for Twilight before a loud roar could be heard from within the cave. Twilight came trotting out, coughing and hacking through a cloud of smoke.

"No dice, huh?" Nero said, unsurprised by the result.

"So much for persuading him." Rainbow coughed as some of the smoke got in her lungs.

"So, anyone else got any ideas, or can I finally do my thing?" Nero looked between each of the girls, waiting for an answer.

"Obviously, this situation just calls for a little... pony charm." Rarity stepped up and strutted into the cave, carrying the confidence of a lady. Judging by the look on her face, she had no doubt she would succeed.

She came sprinting out of the cave about a minute later.

"So much for that 'pony charm'." Nero chuckled as Rarity leaned on a rock, pouting.

"I was this close to getting that diamond!" The fashionista complained.

"You mean, 'Getting rid of that dragon'?" Twilight sent a look Rarity's way.

"Oh, yeah, sure." She corrected herself. Their attention was drawn away by the sound of a party noise maker. Nero turned to see-

What in the fresh hell...?

Pinkie Pie was wearing the weirdest getup Nero had ever seen in his entire life. Her torso was hidden inside a wrapped present, bow and all, while she wore swimming flippers on each of her hooves. A few balloons floated behind her, their strings tied to her tail. She wore balloon animals on her head and a pair of cartoonishly large fashionable glasses over her eyes. The final addition was the party noise maker she held in her mouth.

...I don't even wanna know where she got that outfit.

"Darling, you look ridiculous!" Rarity looked appalled by the insult to fashion that Pinkie was wearing.

"Exactly! Sharing a laugh is a surefire way to get someone on your side!" The pink pony waddled into the cave with a bright smile on her face. From outside, they heard Pinkie greet the dragon with a "Hi!". This was immediately followed by the sound of crashing and balloons popping. Pinkie limped out not two seconds later, her balloons having been popped and deflated, while her present-torso thing had been ruffled and beat up. "Apparently he doesn't like laughing... or sharing."

At this point, Rainbow Dash had reached her limit and was ready to take matters into her own hooves. "All right, that's it! We've tried persuasion, charm, and... whatever it is Pinkie Pie does. It's time to stop wasting time! I'm going in! C'mon, Nero, let's kick this dragon's butt!" The rainbow pegasus zoomed into the cave gesturing for the devil hunter to follow.

"I thought you'd never ask." Nero followed the rainbow speedster into the cave, ignoring Twilight's protests. Thanks to his demonic speed, Nero was able to keep up with RD, and they quickly found themselves in front of the dragon. The dragon itself was huge. It looked to be twice as big as something like Goliath or the Ursa Minor, if not bigger. The half-demon could tell that the dragon was nowhere near as powerful as a demon, but it could probably put up a bit of a fight.

Nero remembered Discord's no killing rule and made a mental note to hold back, sticking to non-lethal attacks. As the dragon finally took notice of them, Rainbow flew up to its face, rearing her hind legs. Nero leapt up next to her, summoning his spectral wings for the extra boost.

"GET OUT!!!" They both shouted in unison before delivering a hard buck to the dragon's snout. Nero's wings disappeared as he landed back on the ground, while Rainbow continued to fly in place. The dragon recoiled from the strike, clutching its snout in pain before sending a vicious glare at them, snarling. Though Nero remained unphased, Rainbow seemed to realize she bit off more than she could chew. "Heh, uh, sorry?" She chuckled nervously.

The dragon let out a mighty roar, its breath creating a large gust of wind. Nero managed to keep his hooves planted firmly in the ground as the tail of his coat blew around wildly. Rainbow, unfortunately, was unable to do so, and the roar sent her flying out of the cave, crashing into the other girls.

"Shit, Rainbow!" Nero called out to her. He turned back to the dragon, a scowl present on his face. "Hey jackass! You wanna pick on someone, why don't you try me on for size?" In response, the dragon let out another roar, smoke pouring out of its mouth. Nero coughed as he wafted it away. "Jeez, and I thought Nico was bad. Your breath reeks! Didn't your mother ever teach you smoking's bad for you?"

This time, the dragon inhaled, taking in a large gulp of air before letting out a roar that was even more powerful than the previous two. This one had been strong enough to send Nero flying out of the cave as well, sending him crashing into the rock that Fluttershy had been hiding behind, though the impact hadn't been enough to hurt him. The rock crumbled as Nero stood back up, and the dragon finally emerged from its cave, angered by the annoying intruders. "Alright smokey, you asked for it! You want a fight? I'll give you a fi-!"

"How dare you..." A familiar voice spoke up from behind him.

...Or not.

Nero turned his head to see that Fluttershy had come out of hiding and was now glaring up at the dragon. "HOW DARE YOU!?" Fluttershy yelled. Nero wasn't sure if he heard that right. Did the Fluttershy actually just yell at someone?

The half demon's eyes widened as he watched Fluttershy fly up to the dragon and land on its snout, glaring daggers into its eyes. Everyone present watched in complete shock as Fluttershy began to chastise the dragon. Even the dragon himself looked surprised. "Listen here, mister! Just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully! You may have huge teeth and sharp scales and snore smoke and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat, you do NOT! HURT! MY! FRIENDS! You got that?"

...Holy shit.

Everything was silent for a few seconds before the dragon started whimpering. "...But that rainbow one and the one with the sword kicked me, and then the sword one started making fun of me and calling me names." The dragon pointed to Rainbow Dash and Nero respectively.

"You deserved it if you ask me-"

"NERO!" The descendant of Sparda recoiled and clamped his mouth shut under the harsh gaze of Fluttershy. After she finished scowling at him, Fluttershy turned back to the dragon. "And I am very sorry about that, but you're bigger than they are, and you should know better. You should also know better than to take a nap where your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures."

"...But I-"

"Don't you 'but I' me, mister. Now what do you have to say for yourself?" Fluttershy asked, and the dragon remained silent. "I said, what do you have to say for yourself?" She repeated, this time more firmly.

The dragon winced before crying his eyes out, giant tears streaming down his face and splashing onto the ground. Some of them got on Nero, soaking him.

Well, isn't that just wonderful.

"There, there. No need to cry." Fluttershy stroked the dragon's snout, comforting it. "You're not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things. you just need to find a new place to sleep, that's all." As Fluttershy flew back down to the ground, the rest of the group cheered for her.

"You did it! I knew you could do it!" Twilight congratulated her. Nero couldn't help but smile as the other girls continued to praise the shy pegasus. It seemed things were wrapping up with another happy ending.

...At least it did, until he felt a familiar presence.

He levitated Red Queen off his back and prepared a charge shot, his hoof starting to glow blue. The others noticed this and gave him worried looks. "Nero? What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Demons." He simply replied, putting everyone on edge.

"What!? Where!?"

"Not sure yet. I can feel their presence nearby, but I have no idea where it's coming from." His eyes scanned around the area, trying to pinpoint the demon's location. His search was stopped when he heard the dragon roar in pain from behind him. He turned and spotted a Green Empusa injecting its stinger into the dragon's side. The Green Empusa itself was different than usual, its sack carrying a glowing red liquid instead of the usual green kind.

He didn't need to think hard to realize it was demon blood.

He whipped out Blue Rose and fired a charge shot into the demon, obliterating it. Unfortunately, he was too late, and the demon blood began to take its effect on the dragon. A red aura began to surround it, and its eyes became more primal than they were before, his irises turning black and his pupils turning red. The dragon's claws and teeth began to grow sharper and it let out a roar far more demonic than it had previously.

"Shit! Everyone get back!" He yelled to the others, and they did just that. Once he was sure they were at a safe distance, he turned back to the dragon to find it glaring down at him, it's claw reaching straight for him.

OH SHIT-

Before Nero could react, the dragon grabbed him and lifted him up in his clutches. It spread its wings and took off into the air, flying to God knows where. Nero struggled in the dragons grip before managing to get Red Queen free.

"HEY SMOKEY! HANDS OFF!" He yelled at the dragon before stabbing his sword into its claw. He gave the sword a few revs and pain shot up the dragon's arm, forcing it to release the devil hunter. Nero fell out of the sky, the wind blowing at his hair. He crashed into the ground and landed on his hooves, the impact creating a small crater beneath him.

After taking in his surroundings, he found himself in a clearing in the middle of a forest. Judging by the mountain's location and how far the dragon flew, Nero assumed he was in White Tail Woods. The clearing he was in was just big enough for a fight with a dragon. The devil hunter looked back up to the sky and saw the dragon circling around. It landed in the clearing on all fours with a thud, glaring down at Nero with bloodlust in its eyes.

"Looks like I'll be getting my dragon fight after all. Whaddya say, big guy? Ready to throw down?" Nero hopped in place a few times to warm himself up. The dragon roared menacingly in response. "Alright then, gimme your best shot!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi7kt__FX2o

The dragon inhaled before belching out a large spurt of fire. Nero just barely rolled out of the way and began firing shots from Blue Rose at the scaly beast. While the bullets were doing damage, it was very little. Once the dragon finished spouting flames, Nero latched onto the dragon with a spectral arm, pulling himself closer. Once in range, he shocked the dragon with a Battery attack from Overture before hacking away at it with Red Queen, revving the sword with each strike to trigger Ex Act. Meanwhile, his hoof glowed as he readied a charge shot.

Enraged, the dragon took a swing at Nero, and the devil hunter leapt out of the way with an Air Hike, shooting the dragon a couple more times while mid-air before slamming his sword down on it with a Split. He managed to get two more swings in before having to dodge another swing from the dragon's claws. The dragon continued to unleash a barrage of swings, forcing Nero to put some distance between them. Another stream of flames erupted from the dragon's mouth, and Nero just barely flipped out of the way with a Table Hopper.

He swapped from Overture to Punch Line, then sent the devil breaker rocketing straight into the dragon. As the metal hoof continued to punch the dragon over and over, the charge shot reached its maximum charge. He pulled Blue Rose's trigger and released the shot onto the dragon, making it howl in pain. Punch Line returned to him, and he closed the distance between himself and the dragon once again with a Streak, then attacked the dragon with Red Queen's Combo C. The dragon slammed its claw down on the devil hunter, but he managed to roll out of the way just in time.

Nero swapped out Punch Line for Tomboy, then hooked it up to Red Queen, charging up the sword. He delivered six powerful, flame-fueled swings to the dragon, burning and cutting through its scales before slamming down his sword for a seventh final strike, finishing Red Queen Combo EX.

Having had enough, the dragon flapped its wings, creating a gust of wind that knocked Nero back. The dragon flew into the air and began circling the clearing in the forest. The dragon started to pick up speed, flying around faster and faster.

He's getting ready for something big. Here it comes!

The dragon stopped circling the clearing and dive bombed straight towards Nero, intent on crushing him. Just as the dragon reached Nero, however, it did not get the chance.

Having waited for just the right time, Nero grabbed the dragon by the snout with a spectral arm just as it reached him, stopping it in its tracks. It clearly took some effort to do so on the half-demon's part, his hooves skidding across the ground as he tried to keep the dragon in his grasp. Still, he managed to hold his ground, and wrapped a second spectral arm around the dragon's neck. He pushed himself into a backflip, bringing the dragon with him, and suplexed it into the ground.

With the dragon now sprawled out on the ground, completely stunned, Nero saw an opportunity. "POWER! MY POWER!!!" His voice echoed as he activated his Devil Trigger, his body changing just like it had during his fight with the Ursa Minor. He assaulted the dragon with several attacks from Red Queen, his spectral wings clawing at the dragon at the same time.

"Place your bets..." Nero readied Red Queen behind him as a blue aura surrounded the sword. Once his attack was fully charged, he dragged his sword across the ground as he spun around before unleashing Maximum Bet, a large, blue, glowing, X-shaped projectile that sliced into the dragon. "ALL IN!!!"

For his final attack, Nero switched from Tomboy to his Buster Arm devil breaker, then grabbed the dragon by the tail. He lifted the scaly beast over his shoulder, then slammed it down into the dirt. He didn't stop there, though, and proceeded to slam the dragon again.

And again.

After the fifth slam, Nero spun the dragon around and around, still clutching onto the tail. Having built up enough momentum, he threw the dragon straight up into the air. After reaching the height of the launch, it came falling back down to the ground. Just before it could crash into the dirt, Nero summoned a spectral arm much larger than the others, then punched the dragon straight in the face, sending soaring before it smashed into the ground, causing a small tremor.

The effects of the demon blood began to wear off, and so did Nero's Devil Trigger. He approached the dragon as it started to get back up, returning to its senses.

"W-What... happened?" The dragon moaned, clutching its head in pain.

"A demon injected you with some demonic blood, and it took over your body. I had to kick the crap out of you to get rid of it, so that's probably why you have a headache now. No hard feelings?"

The dragon groaned, still holding its head. "I'd rather have a headache than be possessed. Thank you."

"Oh, and, uh, sorry for kicking you... and for calling you a jackass... and for saying your breath stinks... and for calling you 'smokey'." Nero apologized, and the dragon gave a nod of acknowledgement. The two sat in an awkward silence fell over them for a few seconds before Nero decided to speak up again.

"I'm pretty sure the others are on their way now, but they're probably gonna be a while... you know any good stories to pass the time?"

Turned out that dragon was quite the conversationalist once you get to know him. Both the dragon and the devil hunter had been getting along for quite a while. They were pretty deep in conversation by the time the girls had arrived. After reassuring them that both parties were unharmed (for the most part), they said their goodbyes as the dragon took off, flying away to find a better place to take his nap.

After returning to Ponyville, Nero couldn't get that Green Empusa carrying demon blood off of his mind. He figured what that demon did to the dragon was the same thing that happened to the Ursa Minor. Whether they were doing it under a leader's orders or just doing it to spread havoc, Nero wasn't sure. If someone was in control of this, then who?

Something else he noticed from both fights was that it didn't take much to defeat something possessed by demon blood. They were definitely tougher than the average lesser demon, but they didn't take as much punishment as larger demons like Goliath or Gilgamesh. He imagined this would differ depending on what kind of creature gets possessed. If something much stronger than either the dragon or the Ursa Minor were to be injected with demon blood, it would probably be much harder to deal with than the first two. Thinking about the devastation things like that could cause was pretty concerning.

He shook the thoughts out of his head. He'd burn those bridges when he got to them. Right now, he switched his focus to the present. The group, save for Twilight, stood outside of the Golden Oaks Library. Rainbow Dash was bouncing a ball covered in a star pattern on top of her head. Apparently, she was trying to break Equestria's ball-bouncing record.

"342, 343, 344, 345..." Rainbow Dash continued to count each bounce.

"Twilight! Ya gotta come see this!" Applejack called the purple unicorn's name. Hearing it, Twilight stepped out onto the library's balcony to see what the commotion was about. "She's just five away from a new pony record!"

"...347, 348-"

"RRAARRR!!!"

"DRAGON!" Rainbow's counting was cut off by a loud roar, and she quickly played dead on the floor. Everyone laughed at her reaction, even Nero got a chuckle out of it. "W-Why are you laughing!? That awful dragon is back!"

Rainbow's fearful expression faded once she saw that it was Pinkie who had been responsible for the roaring, the pink pony continuing to do so again. Instead, her fear was replaced with aggravation. "Pinkie Pie, you scared me!"

"Oh, did she now?" Nero caught the rainbow pegasus' slip-up.

"I-I mean, uh... you broke my concentration." She corrected herself.

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy flew down beside her, a smug grin on her face. "Not everypony can be as brave as me."

A stray leaf flew down from the library's branches, and Rainbow blew it away with a breath. The breeze carried the leaf until it landed on Fluttershy's back, causing the shy pony to yelp and play dead just as Rainbow had done a few seconds ago. Just like before, everyone couldn't help but laugh.

Well, even if more demons show up, I get the feeling things will work out fine.

Bridle Gossip

View Online

Nero had just stepped out of the Devil May Cry shop to go grab some brunch. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and a perfect day for a stroll through town. The nice weather was a little surprising, considering there had been a huge thunderstorm the day before yesterday. It had been so rough that a tree had been knocked over and crashed right on top of Devil May Cry, creating a large hole in the roof.

Thankfully, Celestia had provided him with insurance, so his wallet was spared.

Twilight had informed him that Applejack and Rarity had stayed with her in Golden Oaks Library that night to take shelter from the storm. Apparently, it had been Twilight's first slumber party, and according to her, it was a success. She did mention that a tree had crashed through her window, but no actual damage was done to the library itself. Lucky.

The sunny weather was certainly a welcome change of pace, especially after the storm. The devil hunter wouldn't have been surprised if he had seen the many residents of Ponyville outside enjoying the sunshine.

That was why he was very perplexed when he saw the streets were completely barren.

What, did a pack of demons charge through town while I was asleep and gobble everyone up? Where the heck is everyone?

Nero wandered the streets for a few minutes, searching for any signs of life, only to turn up nothing. He eventually found himself outside of Sugarcube Corner, and there still wasn't a single pony in sight. At least there hadn't been, until he spotted a familiar purple unicorn with a baby dragon on her back. Judging by the looks on their faces, they were also wondering why the town was so empty.

"Yo, Twilight! Over here!" Nero waved to them to get their attention. As soon as Twilight saw him, she trotted over, looking quite relieved to have finally found someone.

"Nero, Am I glad to see you! Where is everypony? Do you know what happened?" She asked him.

"Afraid not. I know about as much as you do. Is there some sort of event going on that I didn't hear about?"

"Not that I'm aware of. How strange, Ponyville may not be a bustling city, but it's usually a lot more lively than this..." Twilight put a hoof on her chin in thought. It was then that a faint noise coming from Sugarcube Corner drew their attention. They turned to see a familiar pink pony peeking her head out of the door.

"Psst! Twilight! Nero! Spike! Come here!" Pinkie Pie whispered as she waved her hoof, gesturing for them to come to her. Nero, Twilight, and Spike did not move, staring at the party pony in bewilderment. "Come! Here! Hurry! Before she gets you!"

"Before who-?"

"Shhh! She'll hear you!" Pinkie shushed Nero before he could finish his question and continued to beckon them into the building. The devil hunter shared a glance with Twilight before they followed Pinkie into the store. The inside of the store was pitch dark until Pinkie turned on a flashlight, blinding Twilight and Spike while leaving Nero unaffected.

Nero's demonic vision allowed him to see that Pinkie wasn't the only one in the pastry shop. Around them, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were also in the store. There was one more pony, a child, standing next to Applejack. Nero remembered her from when AJ introduced them to the Apple family on his first day here. Her name was Apple Bloom, if he remembered correctly.

"Who'll get us!? The zombie pony!?" Spike asked fearfully as he clutched onto Twilight for dear life.

"Z-Z-Z-Zombie pony!?" Pinkie shivered nervously at the mention of a zombie pony.

"Spike, there are no zombie ponies! Pinkie, what are you doing here alone in the dark?" Twilight asked, unable to see the group of ponies surrounding them.

"I'm not alone in the dark." Pinkie corrected before pulling the window curtains open a crack, letting some sunlight in to reveal the other ponies in the room. Twilight let out a gasp once she saw them, shocked by their sudden presence.

"Okay, then, what are you all doing here in the dark?"

"I've been wondering that myself. Care to fill us in on why Ponyville is suddenly a ghost town?" Nero seconded.

"We're hidin' from her!" Applejack pointed to the window before drawing the curtains further, allowing everyone to peek through. Nero saw a cloaked figure in the middle of the road digging at the dirt. Though the cloak hid most of it, the stranger's shape was similar to a pony's, and they clearly had hooves, so it most likely wasn't a demon. The stranger seemed to realize they were being watched and looked directly at the window the group was peeking through. Everyone, save for Nero and Twilight, backed away to hide from the stranger's gaze.

That's what everyone is so afraid of? It's just some random pony, what's the problem?

Apple Bloom used Spike as a stepping stool to be at eye level with Twilight before whispering, "Did ya see her, Twilight? Did ya see... Zecora?"

"Apple Bloom! I told you never to say that name!" AJ chastised her little sister.

"Well, I saw her glance this way-"

"Glance eeevily this way!" Pinkie interrupted Twilight, getting up in her face. Twilight promptly pushed the pink pony aside.

"...And then a bunch of you flipped out for no good reason."

"No good reason!? Ya call protectin' yer kin no good reason!?" Applejack hugged Apple Bloom tighter as she spoke, much to the filly's annoyance. "Why, as soon as my sister saw Zecora ridin' into town, she started shakin' in her little horseshoes." She then began shaking Apple Bloom back and forth to emphasize her point.

"D-d-i-i-d-d n-n-o-o-t-t!" Apple Bloom's did her best to speak through her sister's constant shaking.

"So I swept her up and brought her here." To emphasize once again, Applejack lifted her sister up onto her back.

"I walked here myself!"

"For safekeeping!"

"Applejack, I'm not a baby! I can take care of myself!" Apple Bloom climbed back off her sister's back as they argued.

"Not from that creepy Zecora." The farm pony argued back.

"Ok, hold on a sec. Can someone please explain to me what's so creepy about this 'Zecora'?" Nero broke up the bout between siblings with a question.

"She's mysterious..." Fluttershy answered first.

"Sinister..." Rainbow added.

"And Spooooky~!" Pinkie dramatically ended their list of adjectives.

"That still doesn't really answer my question..." Nero rolled his eyes as he turned back to the window with Twilight. The rest of the group peeked out from behind them, forcing the two of them to hunch over uncomfortably. They watched as 'Zecora' continued to dig at the ground for a bit before she took off the hood of her cloak. Nero was surprised to see the black and white stripes that covered the mysterious pony. It turned out she wasn't a pony at all, but was actually a zebra.

Of course, everyone but Twilight and Nero gasped in horror in response to Zecora removing her hood.

"Will you cut that out?" Twilight's voice gave away her irritation.

"Just look at those stripes. So garish!" Rarity pointed out.

"She's a zebra." Both Twilight and and Nero responded in sync.

"A WHAT!?" Everyone shared the same level of surprise, apparently never having heard of zebras before.

"A zebra, and her stripes aren't a fashion choice, Rarity. They're what she was born with." Twilight explained. Shocked by this revelation, Rarity brought a hoof up to her head as she fainted on the spot.

What's with that reaction?...Hold on, is Rarity racist?

"You have zebras in your world, Nero?" Twilight asked the devil hunter.

"Yeah, they aren't native to my country, but their existence is still pretty common knowledge. I'm surprised the rest of you haven't heard of them." He replied.

"Ya said she was born with those stripes, but born where? I never seen a pony like that in these parts, except...her!" Applejack shivered at the mere thought of Zecora.

"Well, she's probably not from here, and she's not a pony. My books say that zebras come from a faraway land, but I've never seen her in Ponyville. Where does she live?" During Twilight's explanation, Nero caught Spike in the corner of his eye sneaking into the kitchen, most likely getting something to eat.

"That's just it. She lives in... the Everfree Forest!" The second after Applejack answered, a loud crash echoed throughout Sugarcube Corner, startling the girls.

"SPIKE!" Twilight scolded the baby dragon from outside the kitchen. Apparently, the source of the noise came from a few pots and pans that he had knocked over.

"Uh, sorry." Spike winced as he apologized, a cupcake and a candy cane held in his claws.

Applejack continued despite Spike's interruption. "The Everfree Forest just ain't natural! The plants grow..."

"Animals care for themselves..." Fluttershy added.

"And the clouds move..." Rainbow contributed.

"All on their own!!!" The three of them cried out in unison. In the background, Rarity fainted once again.

"Wait, what? What are you three talking about? Everything you just described is completely normal." Nero scratched his head, trying to wrap his head around the situation.

"Normal!? How can any of that seem normal to you!?" Rainbow Dash flew right up to Nero, inches from his face. "You've seen it for yourself! Applejack and the rest of the Apple family plant crops, Fluttershy takes care of the animals, and I keep the clouds in check around Ponyville. Heck, just the other day you saw everypony prepping for the storm that the pegasi had scheduled. You even helped out a bit! Ponies have been in charge of this stuff for generations! Don't you take care of this stuff back in your world?"

"Nope, all that stuff happens naturally where I'm from, no assistance from humans required." Nero stated as he took a few steps back from the rainbow speedster, giving himself some space.

"WHAT!?!" All the girls, even Twilight this time, shouted.

"I mean, why would it be called nature if it wasn't natural? From my perspective, Equestria is the one that's unnatural, not the Everfree Forest." He continued.

"Wha-!? But...how!? That doesn't make any sense!" Rainbow struggled to comprehend an entire world where clouds moved on their own.

"It just kinda... happens. Look, I'm not an expert on it, so I can't really explain it. That's just how my world works."

"W-Well, bottom line is that by Equestria's standards, the Everfree Forest is just... weird!" Rainbow concluded.

"And that wicked enchantress Zecora lives there doing her evil...uh... stuff! Why, she's so evil, I even wrote a song about her!" Pinkie chimed in.

Oh please no, in the name of Sparda, not another song...

"Here we go..." Rainbow groaned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUx6Cfx1VKg

"SHE'S AN EVIL ENCHANTRESS~! SHE DOES EVIL DANCES~! AND IF YOU LOOK DEEP IN HER EYES, SHE'LL PUT YOU IN TRANCES~!"

At this point, a trembling Applejack had latched onto Apple Bloom for dear life. Apple Bloom pushed herself out of her sister's grasp, and the apple farmer continued to shake in fear.

"THEN WHAT WILL SHE DO~? SHE'LL MIX UP AN EVIL BREW, THEN SHE'LL GOBBLE YOU UP IN A BIG TASTY STEW SOOOO WATCH OUT!!!" Pinkie finished the song by posing on top of a table, panting heavily. Everyone stared at her in stunned silence.

"...Wow. Catchy." Twilight was the first to break the silence.

"It's a work in progress." Pinkie smiled confidently, having regained her breath.

"This is all just a lot of gossip and rumors. Now tell me, what exactly have you actually seen Zecora do?" Twilight questioned, still skeptical about their claims.

"Well... once a month, she comes into Ponyville." Rainbow pointed out.

"Then... she lurks by the stores." Rarity added.

"And then... she digs at the ground." Fluttershy finished.

Nero and Twilight looked at all of them like they were idiots.

"...Y-...You girls aren't serious, right? That's why you think she's creepy? She just visits Ponyville and stops by the stores and suddenly she's considered 'evil'?" Nero uttered in disbelief. They couldn't possibly be this paranoid.

"I'm with Nero, how is any of this bad? How do you know she's not just coming to town to visit?" Twilight supported.

"Yeah! Maybe she's just tryin' to be neighborly!" Even Apple Bloom sided with them.

"And maybe she's not lurking by the stores, maybe she's going to them. Lurk-free. To do some shopping."

"Yeah, everypony likes to shop! Ya know what I think-?"

"Apple Bloom! Hush and let the big ponies talk!" Applejack cut her sister off before she could finish, brushing her aside.

"I am a big pony." Apple Bloom grumbled to herself as she sulked over to the corner of the room.

"What about digging at the ground? You've gotta admit that's weird." Rainbow argued.

"What if she's digging for innocent creatures?" Fluttershy assumed. Meanwhile, in the background, Pinkie continued to sing that song about Zecora she came up with.

"I am sure there's an explanation for everything Zecora does, and if anypony here were actually brave enough to approach her, they would find out the truth!" Twilight insisted.

The girls continued arguing about it as Nero tuned them out. He went back over to the window to peek at Zecora, who was still digging at the ground. He couldn't help but find this whole thing ridiculous. Not one pony in all of Ponyville bothered to ask, 'Hey, maybe we should grow a pair and just ask her what she's doing?' It was even more laughable that Apple Bloom, a child, had more sense than the adults. Honestly, Nero was tempted to just walk out there and confront Zecora himself. He was about to do so, only to see that Zecora had finished up and was leaving.

Next time she shows up in town, I'm definitely getting to the bottom of this.

Just as he was about to look away from the window, Nero caught something in the corner of his vision. He spotted a familiar little filly with a large bow on her head tailing Zecora out of town. He did a quick scan of the room and confirmed that Apple Bloom was nowhere to be found.

Uh Oh.

"Uh, girls? I think we have a problem. Apple Bloom's missing." The devil hunter cut off their argument. Once he had their attention, he gestured to the open door.

"She went outside!?" Rarity cried out.

"That silly little filly! I told her to stay put!" Applejack was the first out the door, followed by the rest of the girls. Twilight told Spike to stay in case Apple Bloom came back, and the baby dragon gave a salute. With that, they followed the rest of the group out of the bakery, chasing after Apple Bloom.

The group followed Apple Bloom's trail into the Everfree Forest. They soon found the small filly, as well as the mysterious Zecora not much further ahead.

"Apple Bloom!?" AJ quickly called out to her sister. While it did get Apple Bloom's attention, it also grabbed the attention of Zecora. "You get back here right now!"

"Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!" Zecora called out to them in return as she backed away, deeper into the forest and out of sight.

Huh? Leaves of blue?

Nero looked down and finally noticed that they were all standing in a patch of vibrant blue flowers. The only one that wasn't standing in them was Apple Bloom.

Did she mean these flowers? They don't seem dangerous, at least at first glance. What the heck was she talking about?

Applejack, on the other hand, didn't seem to take her words as a warning, and instead, a threat. "Y-You keep yer creepy mumbo jumbo to yerself, ya hear!?" She yelled back at the zebra as she scooped up Apple Bloom. The other girls, sans Twilight, all shouted similar threats. Well, except Pinkie, who was singing that song she wrote once again.

"Oh brother..." Twilight muttered.

"Beware! Beware!" Zecora's exotic voice echoed through the forest, chanting the same warning.

"Yeah! Back at you, Zecora! You and your lame curse are the ones who'd better beware!" Rainbow yelled back.

"And you!" Applejack turned her head to face her little sister, who was still sitting on top of the farm pony's back. "Why couldn't you just listen to your big sister? Who knows what kinda nasty curse Zecora coulda just put on you!?"

"Just like in my song! EVIL ENCHANTRESS~! WITH THE DANCES~! AND THE TRANCES~!" Pinkie hopped around in the flowers, singing her song again.

"You guys, there's no such thing as curses!" Twilight argued, shaking her head.

"Says the magical talking unicorn. Listen Twilight, I agree with you that they're overreacting about Zecora, but you can't say curses don't exist when you literally have a talent for magic." Nero butted in.

"My magic, real magic, comes from within. It's a skill you're born with. Curses are artificial, fake magic. It's conjured with potions and incantations, all smoke and mirrors meant to scare. But curses have no real power. They're just an old pony tale." The purple unicorn explained.

"Just you wait, Twilight. Yer gonna learn that some pony tales really are true." With that last statement, Applejack and the others turned back around and left, making their way back out of the forest. Twilight and Nero shared skeptical glances before following them.

Curses, huh? Like that'll actually happen.

The rest of the day had been uneventful, and soon the sun had set, being replaced by the moon. Nero turned in for the night, and awoke the next day.

The second he woke up, he could tell something was wrong.

He had no idea what it was, but something felt... off. He had no idea what it was, all he knew was that his body felt different. It wasn't a completely foreign feeling, though. It felt kind of like when he was in his Devil Trigger form, yet slightly different somehow. Obviously, it couldn't possibly have been his Devil Trigger, since he never activated it last night. At least, he didn't remember activating it.

He shrugged it off, thinking maybe he just didn't get a great night's sleep or something. He made his way to his bathroom, intent on starting his usual morning routine. Just as he was about to grab his toothbrush, he saw his reflection in the mirror.

The familiar sight of his Devil Trigger form stared back at him, its eyes wide.

"What the hell!?" The devil hunter looked down at his hooves, and sure enough, they were covered in greenish blue scales. "Wha-!? When did-!? How!?"

Shaking his head, Nero focused as he deactivated his Devil Trigger so he could get on with his day. When he looked back in the mirror, however, he saw that he was still in his Devil Trigger form. He tried again, only to get the same result. For some reason, his body would not return to normal.

Oh, you've gotta be kidding me! How the heck did this-!?

Before he could finish his thought, his Devil Trigger deactivated without his input, and his body returned to normal.

Oh... well, that was weird. That's never happened before. What was that all about?

With his body back to normal, Nero grabbed his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth. Things seemed to be back to normal until partway through his brushing, his Devil Trigger form returned. Since his Devil Trigger turned his teeth into fangs, the brush ended up breaking on his teeth, snapping in half. The half-demon had to cough up the half that was in his mouth in order to keep himself from choking.

Oh, come on! Again!? What the hell's going on!?

Paying another glance to the mirror, Nero realized something rather odd. His hair hadn't grown out like it usually did when using his Devil Trigger. His faux hawk was still the same as it was in his normal form. His eyes weren't demonic either, instead looking completely normal.

Without warning, his form changed again. This time, his hair had grown out despite being in his normal form. His eyes were still normal, but the spectral wings were now resting on his shoulders, and his hind legs still had scales on them.

My Devil Trigger's never acted up like this. Seriously, what in the actual hell is happeni-WOAH!!!

All of a sudden, Nero's spectral wings started flapping on their own, sending him flying out of the bathroom and crashing through a wall, back into his room. After standing back up with a groan, Nero's form changed again. This time, all four hooves were normal, but the rest of his body was covered in scales. The spectral wings had disappeared, and his hair was short again, but now his eyes were demonic.

Before he could take another step, a blue glyph appeared beneath Nero's feet, which he recognized as the platform he would summon to perform an air hike. The glyph glowed before launching Nero headfirst into the ceiling. He fell back to the ground, just barely managing to land on his hooves. The devil hunter growled angrily, already sick of whatever was going on. His voice carried a demonic echo as he spoke, "I swear to God, Discord, if this is your doing..."

"I feel insulted that you automatically assume everything is my fault."

Nero spun around to find a familiar draconequus floating behind him. How he managed to keep sneaking up on Nero was a mystery. "Well, if this isn't your fault, care to explain what's happening?"

"Well, your demonic powers appear to be going haywire." Discord simply responded.

"Oh really!? Gee, I hadn't noticed! Think you could tell me why!?" Nero angrily yelled just as his body transformed again. This time, all four of his hooves became scaly while the rest of his body returned to normal, save for the demon horns on his head. His voice still had a demonic echo as well.

"Well, not when you have that attitude. Besides, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise! I can at least tell you that it has something to do with your little encounter yesterday." Discord replied. It took Nero a second to realize the draconequus was referring to when they followed Apple Bloom and Zecora into the Everfree Forest. "Either way, I can assure you that I'm not the one you should be asking about this. I'll leave you alone to handle things. Ta ta, and good luck!"

Discord snapped his fingers and teleported away, leaving Nero alone to think. Had Zecora actually done something to them? ...No, that couldn't be it, the girls were just jumping to conclusions about her. There must've been something else that caused this. They did say the Everfree Forest was a weird place, there's probably a number of things that could've caused this. Either way, one thing was certain.

He needed to talk to Twilight.

Getting to the Golden Oak Library was easier said than done, thanks to Nero's powers going nuts. His air hikes would send him flying into the air, his spectral wings sent him crashing into buildings, his strength made his steps powerful enough to crack the ground beneath him, even his speed was out of control, making him move at mach 3 out of nowhere and causing him to crash into even more buildings. To make things even more annoying, his body kept getting jumbled up between his normal and Devil Trigger forms. Still, the devil hunter persevered, and eventually reached the library.

Ok, now to just carefully make my way through the front door-OH CRAP!!!

Another air hike glyph launched the half-demon into the air. While midair, his spectral wings appeared and started flapping, sending him through the library's second story window. He crashed into the stairs, tumbling down them until he reached the bottom floor. After coming to his senses, he looked around to see that Twilight wasn't the only one here. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, and Apple Bloom were all present. Seeing them all made one thing clear.

"Looks like I'm not the only one effected by whatever's going on." Nero said aloud.

Twilight's horn flopped around like it was made of rubber and was covered in blue spots. Pinkie's tongue was inflated, preventing her from speaking coherently and making her spit everywhere. Like Twilight's horn, it was covered in blue spots. Rarity's mane was long and messy, covering her whole body like a wet mop. Rainbow Dash had crashed into a bookshelf and gotten herself tangled in a ladder, and that her wings were angled weirdly. As for Fluttershy and Apple Bloom, nothing seemed to be wrong with them, at least at first glance. Same goes for Spike, but he hadn't been in the forest with them, so that was to be expected.

Wait a sec, where is-?

"I hate to say I told ya so, Twilight, but I told ya so!" Everyone turned in the direction of Apple Bloom, where the voice had come from. The voice hadn't come from Apple Bloom herself, but the pony riding on her back. The pony in question was Applejack, only the farm pony was the size of a pea. "It's a curse, I tells ya!"

Ah, so that's what happened to AJ. Guess she isn't the big sister anymore.

"But Fluttershy seems just fine!" Twilight said, looking over at the shy pegasus.

"Same goes for Apple Bloom. Either of you notice anything weird about yourselves?" Nero asked the two of them as his body transformed once more.

"I've been the same since yesterday, as far as I can tell." Apple Bloom responded. Fluttershy, on the other hand, remained silent.

"Fluttershy? Are you okay?" Twilight asked her, and Fluttershy turned away, not wanting to look her in the eye.

"Is there something wrong with you?" Twilight asked again, and Fluttershy nodded nervously.

"...Would you care to tell us?" Fluttershy, once again, kept her mouth shut.

"So... you're not gonna tell us?" Fluttershy gave a curt nod in response.

"Yes you're not, or yes you will-?"

"Good gravy, girl! What's wrong with you!?" Applejack butted in, hopping on top of a stack of books to reach eye level with Fluttershy.

"Yeah, c'mon, Fluttershy. Whatever it is, it can't be worse than the rest of us." Nero added, his body changing again mid-sentence. The shy pegasus remained silent for a bit longer before finally giving a vocal response.

"...I don't wanna talk about it." Fluttershy said, her voice deep and masculine.

...Oh.

"Snrk... BWAHAHAHA!!!" Spike burst out laughing. "This is hilarious! Heh, look at all of you! We got Hairity, Rainbow Crash, Spitty Pie, Apple-tini, Flutterguy, Nero to Zero, and...uh..." Spike paused when he reached Twilight, unable to come up with a nickname for her. "...I got nothing. 'Twilight Sparkle', I mean seriously, I can't even work with that."

"Hmm..." Nero looked at Twilight's horn for a second, watching it flop around. It didn't take long before an idea sprang into his head. "...How 'bout Twilight Flopple?"

"Oh yeah! That's perfect!" The baby dragon cheered.

"Don't encourage him!" Twilight snapped. "This is no joke, you two! Now Spike, start looking for more books so I can find a cure!" Spike groaned at having his fun be shut down, but he did giggle a bit when Twilight's horn flopped around a bit more.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had managed to get untangled from the ladder and flapped her wings, hovering in the air. At least, she tried to, but was having much difficulty trying to control what direction she flew in. "I think we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place!"

"It's not a curse!" Twilight scowled as Rainbow crashed into another bookshelf.

"I agree with Dash. We'll go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex!" AJ proclaimed from atop her stack of books.

"It's not a hex either!" Twilight insisted. As the girls continued to bicker amongst each other, Nero noticed Apple Bloom tiptoeing out of the library. Nero stepped away from the others and followed her, wincing as a couple of his hoofsteps left holes in the library's floor.

"Hey, kid!" Nero got Apple Bloom's attention once he was outside, making the filly jump. She turned to face him, eyes darting around in a desperate attempt to find an excuse.

"O-Oh! Nero! I-I was, uh..."

"Relax, squirt. I'm not gonna go all 'Mr. Authority' on you. Let me guess, you're gonna go find Zecora and ask her to fix this?" A couple seconds passed before Apple Bloom hesitantly nodded.

"This is all my fault! If I hadn't followed Zecora in the first place, none of this woulda happened. I've just gotta try and fix it!" Nero put a scaly hoof to his chin, thinking about what he should do. After a few seconds, he came to a decision.

"Alright then, I'll go with you. We'll go find her together."

Apple Bloom's jaw dropped as she stared at the devil hunter. "Y-...You'll come with me? You ain't gonna tell on me?"

"Yeah, you seem pretty dead set on trying to fix this, so who am I to stop you? The Everfree Forest can be dangerous, so it'd be better if you didn't go alone. If I let the others know, they definitely won't let you go, with or without someone else. Plus, after seeing how overprotective Applejack was yesterday, I think it's time for a little teenage rebellion."

Apple Bloom looked at him with confusion. "I'm... not a teenager."

"Eh, you get my point." Nero shrugged as his body transformed again. "Anyway, we should get going before they realize we're gone." A smile spread across Apple Bloom's face as she nodded enthusiastically. The two of them began trotting away from the library as they began their journey to find Zecora.

Unbeknownst to them, Nero hadn't been the only one to notice Apple Bloom sneaking out of the library. Applejack had spotted her sister leaving and, not being big enough to follow on her own, hid inside Apple Bloom's mane. She also overheard what Nero had said, and was absolutely furious about it. Not only had he not stopped Apple Bloom from running off after Zecora, but he encouraged her to do so. Teenage rebellion!? Why, she had half a mind to give the devil hunter an earful.

In fact, she fully planned on doing so.

Nero and Apple Bloom reached the entrance to the Everfree Forest, though they had been delayed a few times thanks to Nero's powers sending him off course. They were about to charge into the forest but were stopped when they heard a voice call out to them.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" The voice called out. It took Nero and Apple Bloom a second to realize the voice had come from the latter's mane. A tiny pony popped out from underneath the head of hair, a seething glare on her face.

"Applejack?" Nero stared at the farm pony, a little surprised. Then again, she had already shown how protective she was of her sister, so he probably shouldn't be.

"I can't believe you, Nero! You were gonna let my sister go into the Everfree Forest!? And without any protection!?!" Applejack yelled.

"What, I'm not good enough for protection? I hunt demons for a living, remember?"

"You barely have any control over yer powers right now!!"

"Oh please, it's not as bad as when I woke up this morning. I've gotten it under contro- OH SHIT!" Nero was cut off as an air hike glyph catapulted him upwards, headfirst into a tree branch. He fell back down into the dirt before getting back up, brushing some of the dirt off. "...for the most part."

"And you!" Applejack turned her attention to her sister. "This is the second time you've run off after Zecora! You turn around right now, missy!"

Apple Bloom looked up at her sister before a cocky smirk took form on her face. "No."

"NO?! You can't ignore a direct order from yer big sister!" Ignoring Applejack's protests, Apple Bloom took her sister off her head and placed her on the branch of a nearby tree. While it was a low hanging branch for Nero and Apple Bloom, AJ's size made it so that leaping off that branch would lead to injury.

"Sorry, Applejack, but I'm the big sister now." Apple Bloom giggled as she turned to leave. Nero followed her, a little surprised but still satisfied she had taken charge like that.

"We'll come get you on our way back. Just sit tight, and don't go anywhere." The devil hunter called back to the farm pony. As expected, Applejack demanded they come back, to which she was ignored.

Looks like I was right. Applejack really isn't the big sister anymore.

Shockingly, it didn't take them very long to find where Zecora lived. After a few more incidents involving Nero's powers, the duo found themselves standing outside of a hut adorned with odd looking masks and decorations. If Apple Bloom had been trying to hide her nervousness, she wasn't doing a very good job.

"This place does look a little creepy..." The filly admitted.

"Don't worry. On the off chance that she does turn out to be evil, I'll be here to protect you." Nero gave Apple Bloom a pat on the shoulder, which seemed to reassure her. They walked up to the front door and Nero gave it a knock...

...Only for Nero's power to turn that knock into a kick, knocking the door off its hinges.

"Uh... whoops." The half-demon winced. After he started examining the damage, a familiar zebra came running in from the other room. A look of shock understandably found itself on her face.

"Who was so immature, that they felt the need to break down my door!?" Zecora shouted.

"S-Sorry, that was an accident! My power has kinda had a mind of its own lately." Nero tried to apologize.

Apple Bloom stepped into the hut after Nero, and Zecora recognized her as soon as she laid eyes on her. "W-We're sorry for bargin' in like this, Ms. Zecora, but we need yer help!"

Zecora looked between the two of them before she relaxed, realizing they meant no harm. "There is no need to fear, for the situation has become quite clear. I assume the damage to my door was simply an accident, and that you came seeking aid for your current predicament."

"Uh... yeah, pretty much hit the nail on the head." Nero said as he and Apple Bloom shared a look. Was she speaking in rhymes? "So, do you know what's causing this?"

It turned out Zecora did indeed know what caused Nero's affliction. She went on to explain that Nero, as well as the other girls, had most likely been affected by a blue plant known as 'Poison Joke'. The devil hunter recalled the patch of blue flowers they had run into yesterday, and what Zecora said about the 'leaves of blue'. Zecora also explained that she could make the cure, but she was missing some ingredients. Most of them could be found in the Everfree Forest, save for one herb. The herb in question could be found at the flower shop in Ponyville, but whenever Zecora went to buy it, all the shops were 'mysteriously' closed.

Gee, what a surprise. Zecora really was just going to the stores to shop. Who could've possibly guessed?

"So, what exactly is this remedy, anyway?" Nero couldn't help but ask.

"The process is quite simple to cure Poison Joke's wrath. All you need to do, is take a bubble bath." She rhymed.

Nero blinked a couple times. "...That's it?"

While Zecora started brewing the remedy, she asked Nero and Apple Bloom to gather the ingredients she was still lacking, using a pair of saddlebags to carry them. They had to trek a bit further into the forest to get them, but they managed to make the journey without any incident. Well, no "getting attacked by demons and/or wild animals" kind of incidents. Nero's powers continued to be unpredictable, though. His spectral wings even sent him flying into a nearby lake, which was why he was currently dripping wet as they walked back to Zecora's hut. Apple Bloom tried and failed not to laugh at the look on his face.

"This is definitely in my top ten worst days of all time, that's for sure." Nero groaned.

"Really? If this is only in the top ten, then what's your worst day?" Apple Bloom asked curiously.

A memory flashed through Nero's mind. He remembered seeing Credo get stabbed through the heart, and that there was nothing he could do about it. He had been too weak to protect him.

"...Not a story for little kids, I'm afraid." He shrugged it off.

"Hey, I'm not a little kid!" Apple Bloom argued, scrunching up her face to glare at the devil hunter. She just ended up looking adorable, which made Nero laugh.

"Right, right, sorry, I forgot. You're the big sister now." He joked as they finally reached Zecora's hut. Nero felt a huge wave of relief knowing his powers wouldn't be going haywire for much longer.

"Zecora, I think we found all the things ya asked for-" Just as the pair had entered Zecora's hut, they were met with quite the sight. The inside of the hut had been trashed, and Zecora stood in the middle of it. In front of her was Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Applejack, still tiny, stood on top of Zecora's head and wrestled with her ear. "...What in Ponyville is goin' on here?"

"Apple Bloom! You're okay!" Applejack gasped in relief at the sight of her sister.

Apple Bloom shared a confused look with Nero. "Uh, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you and Nero up into soup!" Twilight explained as she jumped in front of Apple Bloom, taking a defensive stance. Nero, Apple Bloom, and Zecora all shared a look before bursting out into laughter.

"Wow, Twilight. Even you started to believe those rumors?" The half-demon chuckled.

"Yeah, you know there's no such thing as a curse!" Apple Bloom added on.

"Oh, come on, you two can't just stand there and tell me this isn't a curse." Twilight gestured to the whole group, as well as her own horn.

"This isn't a curse." Apple Bloom proceeded to stand there and tell her exactly that. She then brought the ingredient-filled saddlebags over to Zecora, who began explaining the situation to the girls.

"If you will remember back, the words I spoke were quite exact. 'Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke.'" The zebra recited what she had said the day prior.

"She'd been trying to warn us about those blue flowers we ran into when we chased after Apple Bloom. They're called Poison Joke." As Nero clarified, his voice took on a demonic echo part way through as his body changed for the umpteenth time.

"That plant is much like poison oak, but its results are like a joke."

"What in the hay does that mean?" Applejack asked, confused by Zecora's rhyming.

"She's basically saying that because we ran into the poison joke, it caused all these problems with our bodies as some sort of joke." Nero, once again, clarified. The girls all seemed to accept the answer about the Poison Joke, but didn't seem to be convinced about Zecora not being evil.

"...Okay, fine. But what about the cauldron?" Rainbow asked.

"And the chanting?" Fluttershy also asked.

"And the creepy decor?" Rarity also also asked.

"Treasures of the native land where I am from." Zecora gestured to a pair of masks in the corner. "This one speaks 'Hello', and this, 'Welcome'."

"Not welcome at all, if you ask me." Rarity grimaced as she eyed the masks. Well, Nero assumed she was grimacing, but it was hard to tell when he couldn't see her face through her shaggy mane.

"The words I chanted were from olden times, something you call a nursery rhyme."

"But, the cauldron... the Apple Bloom and Nero soup?"

"Looky here, Twilight. That pot of water wasn't for us, it was for all these herbal ingredients." Apple Bloom pointed to a nearby book with the recipe for the Poison Joke remedy. "The cure for Poison Joke is a simple ol' natural remedy. Ya just gotta take a bubble bath!"

"Besides, if Zecora were somehow evil and wanted to cook us into soup, do you honestly think she could overpower me of all people?" Nero tacked on as Twilight looked over the recipe for the cure.

"...But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn't find anything! What book has this natural remedy?" Twilight turned to Zecora with her question.

"Here is the book, see? Sad that you lack it in your library." Zecora closed the book and showed the cover, revealing the title of the book as 'Supernaturals'. Twilight stared at the book in silent shock as her ears began to droop.

"Actually, I do have this book. But I didn't look inside because the title was so...weird." At Twilight's words, Zecora just smiled and opened the book to a different page, which Twilight read aloud. "Supernaturals; Natural remedies and cure-alls that are simply super."

Twilight hung her head low, looking ashamed. "I... I'm so sorry, Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I'd bother to look inside."

"Maybe next time, you will take a second look and not judge the cover of a book." Zecora stated with a smile.

Oh, she was definitely waiting to use that metaphor.

Zecora was kind enough to fix up another batch of the herbal bath, though she needed help getting the final herb from the shop in Ponyville. The group agreed to explain to everypony that Zecora was, in fact, not an evil enchantress, and to help her find the herb she needed.

Unsurprisingly, the townsfolk scattered the second Zecora stepped into town.

Thankfully, Twilight managed to convince Daisy, the owner of the flower shop, that Zecora was friendly. After getting the herb and fixing up the new batch, they went to the Ponyville Day Spa and requested to use their bathtub, since it was big enough to hold all of them at once.

"Man, I could get used to this..." Nero let his body unwind, no longer a jumbled between his normal form and his Devil Trigger form. While this bath was just meant to cure the Poison Joke, it was surprisingly relaxing. It felt good to just lay back and enjoy the tranquility of the therapeutic water.

At least it was tranquil, until Pinkie Pie cannonballed into the tub, splashing everyone.

So much for resting my eyes.

"Miss Zecora, I would love to get the recipe for this bath. It's simply luxurious!" Nero overheard one of the spa owners, who had a thick Swedish accent, asking Zecora about the herbal bath.

What was her name again? I think it was Lotus something or other...

"Applejack! Hey, where's Applejack!?" Nero was stirred from his thoughts by Apple Bloom's voice. He shared a look of horror with the other girls in the bathtub as they frantically searched for the tiny farm pony.

OH CRAP! WE DIDN'T CRUSH HER BY ACCIDENT, DID WE!?

"I'm right here, little sis." Everyone looked outside of the tub when they heard AJ's familiar Southern drawl. She was sitting in a small cup just outside of the tub, only now she barely fit in it, having returned to her normal size. "I ain't tiny no more!"

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. Everyone seemed to be relaxed once more, until Pinkie burst out from underneath the water. "OH MY GOSH! I never realized how horrible it is not to be able to talk! I mean I love talking so much and when I couldn't talk anymore my tongue was all aaaaah~! It was the worst! Don't you agree, Fluttershy!?"

"...Yes." Fluttershy gave a smile, her voice having returned to normal.

Seeing that everything seemed to be back to the way it was, Nero let himself sink a bit deeper into the water. "Ah, this feels so good. I should do this more often."

"Yes, I couldn't agree more. a trip to the spa always does wonders for me." Rarity agreed.

"Hm? Oh, I was just talking about the bath. This is actually my first time going to a spa."

"WHAT!?!" Rarity had closed the distance between them in a second, placing her hooves on his shoulders. "You've never had the luxury of enjoying a fabulous trip to the spa before now!?"

"Uh, no, why?" The devil hunter was a little surprised by the sudden invasion of personal space.

"This simply cannot do! Lotus Blossom! Please prepare my usual! I must show Nero the wonders of the spa treatment!" Rarity called to the spa owner.

"Wait what!? Hold on, I didn't agree to-"

"Say no more, Nero! I promise you will love every second of this venture! Now let us be off!" Rarity dragged Nero out of the bathtub and further into the spa, forcing him to endure God knows what.

I've gotta learn to keep my mouth shut.

Swarm of the Century

View Online

Nero burst out of Sugarcube Corner's kitchen, coughing in an attempt to breathe through all the smoke that had been filling the room.

Guess I'm not as great of a baker as I thought. That time I stopped a sleep-deprived Applejack from ruining the muffin sale must have been a fluke.

The reason why the devil hunter was currently attempting to make baked goods was because Princess Celestia would be visiting Ponyville tomorrow. Everypony in Ponyville was helping prepare for her arrival, and Twilight had asked Nero to pitch in. He was supposed to be helping Mr. and Mrs. Cake prepare the desserts for the banquet, but he wasn't doing a great job, as evident by the current state of the kitchen.

"Oh Goodness! Nero, are you alright!?" Mrs. Cake rushed over to him after hearing his coughing fit.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just gimme a sec to clear out the kitchen." Nero turned to face the entrance to the kitchen, smoke pouring out of it. He levitated Red Queen off of his back, focused his demonic energy into it, then swung his sword. The swing was powerful enough to create a large gust of wind that blew through the kitchen, forcing the smoke out through the open windows and airing out the kitchen in seconds.

"There. The kitchen is once again safe to enter!" Nero stepped back in and approached the oven. After opening it, he used his magic to pull out a muffin tray filled with nothing but charred ashes. "Can't say there's any hope for the cupcakes, though."

Now that Nero thought about it, perhaps there was a reason Kyrie insisted on handling all the cooking. The half-demon didn't even want to think about the time he set fire to their own kitchen while trying to make a salad.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake! How's the banquet coming?" Nero overheard Twilight's voice as he exited the kitchen, still carrying his failed attempt at baking. Twilight had poked her head through Sugarcube Corner's main entrance to check up on them, and gave Nero a wave once she spotted him.

"W-Well, not that great, actually. Nero's having a bit of... difficulty in the kitchen, and Pinkie Pie is..." Mrs. Cake pointed to a large table containing all of the desserts that were made for the banquet. While a couple remained untouched, most of them had large bites taken out of them, if they hadn't been eaten entirely.

Pinkie, while wearing a crown that she got from... somewhere, was currently demolishing a giant two-layer cake in just a few bites. A large chunk of frosting remained on Pinkie's face, looking a lot like a beard. As expected of the pink pony, she promptly licked it off of her lips before eating that too.

Welp, their goes hours of work.

"Pinkie!!! What are you doing!? Those sweets are supposed to be for the princess!" Twilight expressed, an understandable look of shock and horror on her face.

"I know, that's why I'm tasting them! Somepony needs to make sure that everything is tasty enough to touch the royal tongue!" Pinkie stuck out her tongue and pointed at it to emphasize her point. She then marched out from behind the table and started speaking in a much more regal tone of voice. "And I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a King! Or a Queen! Or a Princess!"

Pinkie then caught a glimpse of Nero's burnt cupcakes, causing her to grimace. "Except for that. That is definitely not fit for royalty... or anypony for that matter." Nero groaned at Pinkie's criticism as Twilight stopped her from chowing down on another cake. Just then, the front door opened again.

"Twilight, Pinkie, Nero! You won't believe-!" Fluttershy had run through the door, clearly excited about something, before skidding to a stop. "O-Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, am I interrupting?"

"No, not at all! Come on in and make yourself at home!" Pinkie answered. Since Twilight was distracted by Fluttershy's entrance, the pink pony took the opportunity to grab another cake with her tongue and swallowed it whole in one gulp. "What's goin' on, Fluttershy?"

"You won't believe what I found at the edge of the Everfree Forest! Come on out little guy. It's okay." On Fluttershy's cue, a small, blue, sphere-shaped creature with transparent wings popped out from within the shy pegasus' mane. It also had four stubby legs and big green eyes, and its appearance made it look pretty adorable.

Fluttershy gasped as two more creatures that were identical to the first also popped out of her mane. The only difference with these two was their color, one being yellow and the other being brown. Seeing as how Fluttershy's calming smile had been replaced by a look of shocked confusion, Nero assumed she didn't know about the other two creatures.

"They're amazing! What are they?" Twilight approached to get a better look at the creatures.

"I'm not sure. I'm also not sure where these other two came from." Fluttershy pointed to the yellow and brown ones as they flew around the room.

"I'll take one off your hooves. I've never seen anything so adorable!" Twilight cuddled the yellow one. "Besides, it'll be nice to have a companion for Spike so he won't bother me so much while I'm studying."

So, we're just not gonna question how two more of these things mysteriously appeared in Fluttershy's mane without her knowledge?

"Pinkie, Nero, do either of you want the other one?" Fluttershy addressed the other two ponies.

"Ugh! A parasprite!? Are you kidding!?" Before Nero could answer, Pinkie had shown her apparent disgust for the creatures as she made her way to the exit. Nero, Twilight, and Fluttershy all shared confused glances. "Ugh! Now I've gotta go find a trombone!"

"A trombone? ...Wait, hold on a sec, Pinkie. What the heck are you talking about?" Nero voiced his confusion first.

"A trombone! You know..." Pinkie did her best to imitate the sound of a trombone while pretending to play one. Before Nero could question her further, the party pony had hopped out of the building.

...Ok, that was random. Then again, that's nothing new when it comes to Pinkie.

"Typical Pinkie." Twilight sighed as she gave the creature, what Pinkie had called a 'parasprite', more nuzzles. "What about you, Nero? Do you want the other one?"

"Nah, I'm good. I'm more of a dog person, anyway. Appreciate the offer, though."

"Alright then. I need to go check on Rarity over at her boutique, so I'll see you two later." With a final wave goodbye, Twilight left Sugarcube Corner. Once she left, Nero looked at the sorry excuse for cupcakes he had made, as well as all the other sweets that Pinkie had eaten. He gave a tired sigh, knowing how much work they would have to do over.

Because he had stayed to help the Cakes remake all the sweets Pinkie had eaten, Nero hadn't gotten back to his shop until after midnight. At that point, he had been so tired that he went straight to his room, flopped down into his bed, and passed out. For a couple hours, he was able to get some sleep.

Emphasis on 'a couple hours'.

Nero was jolted awake in the middle of the night by the sound of the shop's phone ringing. He checked the clock to see that it was 2:43 in the morning. Groggily, he got out of bed, left his room, went over to his desk, and answered the phone, wondering who was crazy enough to be calling at this hour.

"Devil May Cry..." Nero answered. His tone wasn't very professional, but considering what time it was and how tired he was, he couldn't care less.

"NERO!!! I NEED YOUR HELP FINDING AN ACCORDION!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed on the other end. Nero was both surprised and somehow not surprised.

"Wha-? Pinkie? How are you calling my phone?"

"Whaddya mean?" She asked.

"To call my phone, you need to cast a certain spell. Only unicorns can use it. How the hell are you even calling me?"

"I have my ways! But that's not important right now! If I don't gather the right instruments in time, all of Ponyville could be in danger! I was busy wondering how I was going to find all of the instruments I needed all by myself and then I remembered 'Hey! Nero does a bunch of different jobs for everypony if you call him and ask him to help you! Normally you have to pay for his help, but we're friends, so he'll definitely give me a free pass!' So that's when I got the idea to call you and ask for your help collecting all the instruments I need and I couldn't help but think to myself, 'Pinkie Pie, you are such a genius!' and then I was like, 'Thanks, Pinkie Pie!' and then I was like 'No problem, Pinkie Pie!' So then I called you and asked for your help finding an accordion, and then you asked how I was calling your phone since I'm not a unicorn so I said, 'I have my ways!' and then I retold every detail on how we got to this exact point in time! Talking over the phone like this is really fun, by the way!"

"...Pinkie, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Hmm, I'm pretty sure it's around 2:45 a.m. right now. Why do you ask?" Pinkie wondered innocently.

"...The fact that you see nothing wrong with that is the problem." Nero let out an exhausted sigh. "...Listen, I'll help you with whatever you need as long as you let me get some sleep. Whatever it is, can it please wait until morning?"

"Really?! You'll help!?! WOOHOO!!! Okie-dokie, I'll see you tomorrow! Meet me in front of Sugarcube Corner at 8 o' clock sharp! Bye!"

Before Nero could respond, Pinkie disconnected the call, leaving Nero to listen to a dial tone. He hung up the phone and dragged his hooves back to his room. He flopped back into his bed, falling back to sleep soon after.

Typical Pinkie.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

Once morning came, Nero was once again rudely awakened by Pinkie Pie. Instead of calling this time, she woke him up by bouncing up and down on his bed and yelled for him to wake up.

The devil hunter rubbed the sleep from his eyes before locking them on to the pink pony, feeling very grumpy. "Pinkie, I thought you said you would let me get some sleep. Didn't you say we were meeting at Sugarcube Corner? Why are you here?"

"Yeah! I said to meet me at 8 o' clock! You're late!" She exclaimed louder than Nero's still-sleepy brain was comfortable with. To confirm Pinkie's words, Nero looked over at his clock to check the time.

It was 7:54 a.m.

"No, I'm not. It isn't 8:00 yet." He grumbled.

"It's almost 9:00, and you aren't even out of bed yet! Now c'mon, time's a wastin'!" She zoomed out of his room and left him to get up. Reluctantly, the half-demon got up out of bed, grabbed his weapons, and followed. He found Pinkie outside the shop hopping in place, looking like it would be torture for her if she had to stay in one place for more than five seconds.

At least one of us is a morning person.

"Alright, let's get down to business!" Pinkie pulled out a checklist from who knows where and began listing off items. "I managed to find the trombone and the accordion already, so we don't need to worry about those. I still need a harmonica, a banjo, a pair of maracas, a tuba, some cymbals, a flute, and as many tambourines as you can find! Hopefully we can find everything in time to stop the parasprites before the princess gets here!"

"...Run that by me again?"

"Here, just take the list! I've already got it memorized! Find as many items on the list as you can then meet me in the center of town!" Before Nero could ask any more questions, Pinkie ran off at the speed of light. With a sigh, Nero reviewed the list for himself.

...Okay then, guess I'm going on a scavenger hunt for instruments. Well, it's not the weirdest job I've ever taken. Shouldn't be too hard.

It turned out to be harder than Nero thought.

The devil hunter had figured the simplest answer was to go to a music store and buy the instruments. However, this plan was shot down pretty quickly once he got to the music store. As for why, there were actually two reasons:

The first reason was that the store was miraculously out of stock for every instrument on the list.

The second reason was that even if the instruments were in stock, Nero didn't have nearly enough money to afford them.

What kinda music store runs out of stock for seven different instruments!?

Thankfully, Nero was able to find a couple of alternatives. He had gone to Sweet Apple Acres, remembering having seen Applejack with a banjo once. The apple farmer was happy to lend it to him, but she also asked if there was some sort of music event going on, since Pinkie had shown up earlier asking for her harmonica. Nero assured her that it was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.

He hit up a couple of other places before eventually finding himself knocking on the door to Rarity's boutique. Instead of Rarity answering the door like he expected, he was met with a young unicorn filly. Nero noticed that the filly had a bit of a resemblance to Rarity, and he realized why when the filly introduced herself as Rarity's sister, Sweetie Belle. According to her, Rarity left a little while ago to take care of something. When Nero showed Sweetie Belle the list, the filly told him that they had a flute, and was kind enough to let him borrow it.

That's two instruments down. Three if I count Pinkie getting the harmonica. Now, where else can I find-?

Before the devil hunter could finish his thought, he felt someone bump into him. He turned to see Twilight carrying a pair of saddlebags, both of which were stuffed to the brim with... something. The bags jostled around as whatever was in it most likely wanted to get out.

"Oh! Sorry Nero, I didn't see you there!" She quickly apologized.

"No problem. Say, you wouldn't happen to know where I can find some maracas, a tuba, some cymbals, and a tambourine, would you?" He asked, and Twilight just blinked at him in confusion.

"...Wait, what? I'm sorry Nero, but I've got a serious emergency right now! I don't have time to go looking for instruments!" Before Nero could ask what the emergency was, Twilight ran past him in a hurry, leaving him alone.

...Well, that was odd. Anyway, it looks like I'm gonna have to search elsewhere. I hope Pinkie's doing better than I am.

Since his run-in with Twilight, Nero had only found one more instrument. For some reason, somepony had thrown a tuba into the trash. Nero thought it might have been broken, but after checking it, the tuba seemed to work just fine. As for why someone would throw away a perfectly good tuba, he had no idea.

Not having any luck with the other instruments, Nero stood in the center of Ponyville to wait for Pinkie like they had planned. He tapped his hoof impatiently as he waited, wondering why the pink pony was taking so long.

Hope she didn't get distracted by some cupcakes or something.

He started looking around for something, anything interesting enough to keep him occupied. Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything of the sort.

...Until he looked up, that is.

Slowly raining down from the sky were several little creatures with wings. Nero recognized them as the creatures Fluttershy had shown them at Sugercube Corner yesterday. Instead of just the three, however, there was an entire horde of them. There were so many that Nero couldn't even attempt to count them all.

What the hell...?

None of the other townsponies seemed to be worried about the creatures. In fact, they looked upon them with awe and wonder, too focused on how adorable the creatures looked to question what they were. A couple ponies even held them in their hooves to admire them. For the first few seconds, everything seemed calm.

Then all hell broke loose.

The creatures began swarming the entire town like insects, eating every crumb of food they could find. Ponies' lunches were quickly stolen from them, food carts had their entire stock ripped from them, and gardens were devoured in seconds. It was pure chaos.

"Hey! Schoo! Get out of here!" Nero summoned a spectral fly swatter with his horn and swatted the pests away as best he could, but it was having little effect. His first thought had been to just pick them off with Blue Rose, but Discord's no killing rule kept him from doing so. Even when the draconequus wasn't around, he still managed to get under the devil hunter's skin.

"What do we do? They're eating all the food in town!" Nero's ears perked up when he heard Fluttershy's voice. Looking around, he spotted the usual group of gals, minus Pinkie Pie, gazing upon the scene.

I should've known they were involved in this somehow.

"My apples!" Applejack gasped just as Nero approached. The farm pony took off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, most likely to defend her orchard from the creatures.

"I'm assuming this was the emergency you were talking about earlier?" Nero questioned Twilight, getting their attention.

"It's a long story, but we don't have time to explain! We've got to do something about these creatures! If we don't get rid of them before Princess Celestia arrives, it'll be a complete disaster!" Twilight responded first.

"Can't you use your powers to do something about these things!?" Rainbow Dash pointed at Nero before trying to swat one of the creatures away.

"I hunt demons, remember? I can't just go killing things willy-nilly. Twilight, is there some sort of spell you could use?"

The purple unicorn put a hoof on her chin in thought before a light bulb seemed to turn on in her head. "I've got it! I'll cast a spell to make them stop eating all the food!"

Twilight's horn glowed and cast forth a burst of energy. Purple glowing rings spread throughout the entire town, moving through all of the creatures. The creatures themselves all stopped in place once the rings had passed over them. Not a single soul moved as they waited in anticipation to see if the spell worked.

"HEY NERO! LOOK! I FOUND A BUNCH OF TAMBOURINES!" The devil hunter turned his head to see Pinkie running up to him with saddlebags filled with tambourines. "How did things go on your end? Did you find all the instruments we need?"

"Uh, yeah, I found some, but not all. Here, take 'em." He handed the pink pony the banjo and flute before returning his focus to the creatures. "I'll help you with the rest later, but as you can see, we're dealing with something more important than that right now."

Pinkie's eyes widened in shock. "What!? But Nero, that's what I'm trying to-!"

"Not now, Pinkie, I said I'll help later." He simply told her.

"I-! But-! Wha-!? GRRRRRGH!!! IF ONLY YOU WOULD ALL STOP AND LISTEN TO ME!" Pinkie yelled in frustration before running off with her instruments.

Ignoring her, Nero and the other girls watched as one of the creatures flew near a basket with a single apple inside. It gave the apple a sniff, and they all held their breath, waiting to see if it would ignore the apple. After a couple seconds, the creature turned away from the apple, having no interest in it.

Yes, it worked! Now we can-

The creature opened its mouth wide and ate the entire basket instead, leaving the apple untouched. Similarly, all the other creatures had begun eating inanimate objects all over town. Signs, streetlamps, storefronts, even houses. The only thing they didn't eat was the food.

...Nevermind.

"Hey, it worked. They're not eating the food anymore." Rainbow grumbled sarcastically, giving Twilight the stink eye.

"...Oh no! If they get inside my store...!" A look of horror quickly found itself on Rarity's face as she came to a realization. "EVERYPONY FOR HERSELF!!!"

Rarity took off, racing back to her boutique to save her dresses. The others all came to the same conclusion and ran back to their own homes, hoping to stop the creatures from eating their stuff. Nero did the same, using his demonic speed to get himself back to Devil May Cry. He didn't have anything important besides his weapons, and he was already carrying them. Still, he'd rather not have to pay to replace anything.

With the current state of his wallet, he probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

Nero burst through the double doors to his shop and found the place swarming with the creatures. half the couch had been eaten, the jukebox had been consumed in its entirety, and they were about to start munching on the desk.

"Oh no you don't!" The devil hunter summoned his spectral fly swatter once more and started swinging wildly at the pesky creatures. After a few minutes of constant swatting, the creatures gave up and flew out of the shop, narrowly avoiding the half-demon's wrath. Once they were gone, Nero inspected the damage to the shop.

"Man, how the hell am I gonna replace all this? Damnit!" He groaned. He was especially upset about the jukebox being eaten. That thing was expensive, after all.

Alright, come on Nero, think! There's gotta be a way to get rid of things! Maybe if I-

Nero's thought was cut off by the sound of... music?

The devil hunter could clearly hear the sound of an orchestral band playing music. From the sound of it, the music was coming from outside. Curious, Nero poked his head outside to find the source of the music. He didn't have to look far, seeing Pinkie Pie of all ponies marching down the streets of Ponyville, carrying all of the instruments she had gathered. What was even more bizarre was that she was somehow playing all of them at once! What really made Nero's jaw drop, however, was the effect the music was having on the creatures.

The little pests seemed to be mesmerized by it, following Pinkie in a single-file line.

What. The. Fuck.

Nero spotted Twilight and the rest of the girls at the end of the line, all holding equally surprised expressions. He exited the shop and joined them, following Pinkie and the creatures out of town. After walking for a bit, they soon found themselves just outside of the Everfree Forest.

"Look!" Twilight got everyone's attention and pointed to the sky. A golden chariot being pulled by two royal guard ponies, both pegasi, was flying down to their location. Sitting inside the chariot was none other than Princess Celestia herself. Everyone except Pinkie ran to where the chariot had landed to greet the princess. Once Celestia stepped out of the chariot, the girls all bowed down before the princess. The only one that remained standing was Nero.

"Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil!" Celestia greeted her student.

"Hello, Princess!" Twilight returned the greeting, though the tone of her voice didn't hide how nervous she was. With their bowing finished, the girls all stood back up.

"So lovely to see you again, as well as your friends-" Before Celestia could continue, her attention was drawn away by the sight of Pinkie Pie and the line of creatures passing by. Going by her wide eyes, even the Princess of the sun had been taken off guard by the miraculous sight.

"So, uh, how was the trip? Hit much traffic?" Twilight attempted to change the subject.

"What is this?" The Princess couldn't help but ask. One of the creatures landed on her wing, giving her a closer look at it. Celestia couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "Oh, these creatures are adorable!"

"They're not that adorable." Rainbow muttered, glaring at the creature.

"I'm terribly honored that you and the good citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit." Celestia complemented.

"Parade? Actually Princess, this isn't a-hrgh!" Nero clamped his mouth shut when Twilight elbowed him in the side to shut him up.

"Of course! The parade! That's what this is! All according to plan! No trouble here!" Twilight forced a smile as she chuckled nervously, not wanting to worry the Princess with the chaos that had just occurred. Whether Celestia bought Twilight's act or not, Nero couldn't tell.

"Unfortunately, my visit is going to have to wait for another time. I'm afraid an emergency has come up in Fillydelphia. Apparently, there's been some sort of infestation." Celestia explained.

"An...i-infestation?" Twilight stammered.

"Yes, a swarm of incredibly bothersome creatures has invaded the poor town."

"Is it demons?" Nero questioned her, his tone becoming a little more serious.

"Thankfully, no, it's nothing that serious. I should be able to handle it with the help of the royal guard." She reassured him before turning back to her student. "I'm sorry, Twilight, to have to put you all through so much trouble."

"Trouble? Heh heh, what trouble?" The purple unicorn chuckled apprehensively.

"Before I have to go, would you care to give me your latest report on the magic of friendship in person?"

"My...report?"

"Haven't you learned anything about friendship?" Pondering Celestia's question, Twilight's gaze soon found itself on Pinkie Pie, still playing the instruments and leading the creatures back into the Everfree Forest.

"...Actually, I have." She answered with a confident smile. "I've learned that sometimes the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it. It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives. Even when they don't always seem to make sense."

"I'm so proud of you, Twilight Sparkle, and I'm very impressed with your friends as well. It sounds like your all learning so much from each other." With that, Celestia stepped back onto her chariot, and the pegasi prepared to take off again. "Oh, I almost forgot. I trust you'll be attending the Grand Galloping Gala as well, Nero?"

"Yeah yeah, if I don't have anything better to do." He shrugged, and the princess gave him a smile. She and Twilight said their final goodbyes, and the chariot flew off into the sky. Once it left, the group all made their way over to Pinkie, who had just finished leading the last of the creatures into the forest.

"Hey, what happened to the princess?" The pink pony asked curiously.

"Emergency in Fillydelphia." Twilight replied.

"Some sort of ...infestation." Rainbow Dash added.

"Oh no! Have they got parasprites, too!? Well, have tuba, will travel!"

Pinkie went to play her tuba again, only for Twilight to stop her. "I think the Princess can handle it."

"So, you knew what those critters were all along, huh Pinkie Pie?" Applejack asked.

"Well, duh! Why do you think I was so frantic to get my hooves on all these instruments? I tried to tell you!"

"We know, Pinkie Pie, and we're sorry we didn't listen." Twilight apologized first. Everyone else followed with their own apologies, even Nero. "You're a great friend, even if we don't always understand you."

"Thanks guys! You're all great friends, too! Even when I don't understand me."

"You saved my reputation with Princess Celestia, and more importantly, you saved Ponyville!" Twilight cheered.

"...Or not." Twilight sighed, staring at the ruins of what was left of Ponyville. The parasprites had done a number on the town, having eaten most of it. It would take a while to rebuild everything and fix the damages. Saying that Pinkie 'saved' the town was definitely an exaggeration. At the very least, she prevented more harm from being done.

...Y'know, now that I think about it, Pinkie said she had gotten a trombone to use with the rest of the instruments, but I didn't see her using it when she was leading the parasprites out of town. Why did she-?

Suddenly, Pinkie popped up in front of the group, holding the trombone. She placed her lips on the mouthpiece and...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJTqZB0SvIs

Oh, that's why.

Author's Notes:

And that's a wrap, ladies and gentlemen! Well, it is for this chapter at least. Now, I came up with an idea for what I could do for the next chapter, which leaves me with two different choices.

The first option is that we progress normally, meaning the next chapter will be Winter Wrap Up, and we'll get to see how Nero handles Ponyville's tradition of cleaning up winter. Since this chapter didn't happen during the winter, there's going to be a large time skip in between so that Nero doesn't wake up the next day, find out it's suddenly winter, and everyone is acting like it's been winter for months.

The second option is that we have a sort of intermission chapter. Don't worry, this doesn't mean we'll be skipping Winter Wrap Up, it just means that I'll write that chapter after the intermission.

The intermission chapter will focus more on Nero and finding out more about the big bad demon that's responsible for causing the demonic invasion on Equestria. This will also give me a chance to establish the beginning of winter. That way, while there will still be time skips, it won't be as big of a gap as it would be if we decide on option 1 and go straight to Winter Wrap Up.

Let me know in the comments which option you would prefer I go with. Personally, I'm leaning more towards the intermission chapter, but if you guys would rather go straight to Winter Wrap Up, that's fine by me.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always, stay SSStylish!

(Intermission) A Familiar Sight

View Online

"Alright, I'll be right over." Nero hung up the phone and sat back in his chair. He'd just gotten a call about a really large demon over by Galloping Gorge, setting fire to some of the forests. From the sound of it, this job was gonna be a bit tougher than the others, but still nothing he couldn't handle.

Unfortunately, Galloping Gorge was pretty far from Ponyville, so this meant he would be gone for a couple days. If anymore calls came in about demon sightings, he wouldn't be around to answer the phone. He was gonna need someone to keep an eye on things while he was gone.

Maybe I can ask Twilight if she can take care of it. Even if she can't, she'll probably know if there's anyone else who can.

With a plan in mind, Nero grabbed Red Queen and made his way out the front door. As soon as he pushed the door open, he immediately felt the chill of the cold winter air. Thankfully, his demon blood made him partially immune to the elements, so it wasn't too big of a deal to him. He stepped out into the snowy ground and made tracks towards the Golden Oak Library.

Winter had started about a week ago, and that was when Nero learned that ponies didn't just control the weather in Equestria. They also controlled the changing of the seasons. According to Rainbow Dash, they even had an entire factory dedicated to it up in Cloudsdale, a pegasus city above the clouds.

If the demon over by Galloping Gorge is able to start forest fires in this weather, they clearly aren't just your average rank and file demon. Looks like I'll be in for a bit of a fight.

Once Nero reached the library, he gave the door a knock. After a few seconds, the door opened, and Spike poked his head out and greeted the devil hunter. "Oh, hi Nero!"

"Hey there, Spike. Is Twilight in? I need to talk to her about something."

"Yup! We we're just finishing up cleaning the library." The baby dragon opened the door further to let Nero in. As soon as he stepped inside, he spotted Twilight on a step ladder, cleaning the upper bookshelves with a feather duster. Once she finished, she climbed down the ladder and turned to face Nero.

"Hello, Nero! How can I help you?" She said as she teleported the feather duster away with her magic.

"I just got a call about a demon over by Galloping Gorge. It sounds pretty nasty, so I'll be heading over there now. I'll be gone for a couple days, and I was wondering if you could keep an eye on the phone back at Devil May Cry, just in case any more calls come in."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I won't be able to. I promised Applejack I'd help her and Big Macintosh with stuff around the farm this week. From what she told me, chores can get pretty rough when winter starts, and they've been falling behind as it is."

"Ah, gotcha. I understand." Nero shrugged. "Do you know if anyone else is free to handle it?"

"I could do it!" Spike got the attention of both Nero and Twilight. "I don't have any plans this week, unless you need me to help out on the farm too?" He turned to Twilight. The purple unicorn brought a hoof to her chin in thought before coming to a decision.

"I think we should be able to handle it. It's only for a couple days, so if we need your help later this week, you should be available then." She nodded in agreement.

"Alright, sounds like a plan. I'll be sure to pay you back for this with something special, Spike." Nero promised.

"Really!? What's it gonna be!? Will it be a gem?! Please tell me it's a gem!!!" Spike's eyes sparkled as he licked his lips.

Nero raised an eyebrow in surprise. "A gem? You never struck me as the type to enjoy expensive stuff like that."

"Oh, that's right! I never told you about how dragons like gems, did I?" Twilight remembered before beginning to explain. "While ponies use gems for decoration or currency, dragons use them for sustenance. In fact, it's one of their favorite things to eat."

Hearing this, Nero recalled how the dragon he had fought hoarded a bunch of treasure in its cave. It hadn't just been collecting a bunch of shiny things, it had been saving food. "Huh, interesting. Well, if that's the case..." The half-demon turned back to Spike. "I'll be sure to bring you an extra shiny one."

Spike giddily hopped around in place, barely able to contain his excitement. "YES!!! I can't wait!"

The Next Day...

Nero stepped off the train once it had reached his stop. Apparently, he was the only one getting off near Galloping Gorge, as the train stop was completely barren. This wasn't too surprising though, considering a demon had been spotted going on a rampage around here.

The devil hunter watched as the train started up again and sped off down the tracks, moving on to its next destination. Once it was over the horizon, he pulled out a map he had brought with him.

Okay, the forest near Galloping Gorge should be a short walk East from here...

Nero turned his gaze to the East and immediately spotted a large column of smoke rising from the forest itself, clear signs of a wildfire.

Not exactly hard to miss.

He stuffed the map back into his pocket and started making his way over to the forest, unsure of what kind of demon awaited him. As he walked, he made sure to double check his gear. Red Queen rested on his back, Blue Rose was sitting comfortably in its holster, and his saddlebags were filled with Devil Breakers.

Just as he reached the edge of the forest, several woodland creatures came running out from behind the trees, fearing for their lives. Nero watched as several deer, squirrels, bunnies, skunks, birds, porcupines, and other animals all hurried past him. A lot of these creatures should've been in hibernation by now, but it seemed that the demon bringing havoc to the forest had put a damper on those plans. They didn't seem to pay him any mind, more concerned with whatever they were busy running from. One of the bunnies bumped into Nero's hoof before looking up at him.

"Hey there, little guy. I'm guessing the giant, scary, fire-making demon is back that way, right?" Nero pointed towards the way the bunny had come from. The bunny looked back at the forest before hopping around the devil hunter, continuing to run for its life. "I'll take that as a yes." Without any hesitation, Nero sauntered into the forest, a smirk on his face.

Hope this demon will put up enough of a fight to be entertaining.

Speaking of demons, Nero couldn't help but wonder how many jobs he would need to take care of when he got back to Ponyville. The amount of demon activity seemed to constantly fluctuate. Sometimes he would be swarmed with work, while other times there would be almost no reports of demons whatsoever. They never seemed to terrorize Equestria at a steady pace, and it really bugged him with how much it had been affecting his bank account and sleep schedule.

I hope Spike'll be able to keep up with it all. Wonder how he's doing right now...

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to let him know once he gets back." Spike hung up the phone once the call ended. He was currently sitting at Nero's desk in the Devil May Cry shop, jotting down any and all demon sightings that have been reported. He finished writing down the address for the most recent report, then stood up on the chair to do some stretches.

The task that Nero had left for him wasn't very strenuous; it was actually pretty easy. All he had to do was answer the phone, ask where they saw the demon, then write it down. While he waited for calls to come in, he used the time to catch up on some of his comics. Still, idly sitting in a chair for hours on end can cause your joints to become pretty stiff.

Despite that, he knew it would be more than worth it for a sweet, juicy, delectable gem.

The baby dragon took a glance at the list of addresses he made. All the reports weren't anything too serious, just small batches of weaker demons. There were quite a few of them though, and it was obvious that Nero would be busy when he got back.

The sound of the phone ringing once more drew his attention. He picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. Before Spike could say anything, however, the person on the other end spoke first.

"Hello, Nero! It's your old pal, Discord here! Just wanted to check in to see how things are going. I'm not sure if you heard, but there's a rather powerful demon lurking around Galloping Gorge right about now, along with another special surprise that I think you'll recognize. I'm sure once you see what the surprise is, I won't need to tell you just how important it is that you destroy it. Think you can take care of that for me ol' buddy, ol' pal?"

Spike blinked, unsure of how to respond to any part of what the mystery caller had just said. After a few seconds, he eventually came up with, "Uh... I'm sorry, but Nero already left for Galloping Gorge. If you'd like, I can pass your message along to him once he gets back."

The person on the other end was silent for a bit before speaking again. "For the record... who am I currently speaking to?"

"Oh, my name's Spike! Spike the dragon!" Once more, the mystery caller didn't respond for a few seconds. Spike started to wonder if something had happened on the other end, only for the caller to finally speak again.

"...Wrong number." Before anything else could be said, the mystery caller hung up, and Spike was left listening to a dial tone.

...Ok, that was weird.

Spike hung up the phone. The call had left him with a few questions, but only one really stuck out in his mind.

Who the heck is Discord?

Nero left hoofprints in the slushy, melting snow, dodging and weaving around the burning trees of the forest. The devil hunter had to perform several acrobatics in order to navigate through the raging fires. There were even a few spots he couldn't get through without using Punch Line to surf over them. If he had to guess, he was somewhere near the center of the forest. He pushed a couple branches aside to reveal a large clearing in the forest.

As soon as he saw it, he felt his breath hitch in his throat.

The clearing itself was incredibly open and spacious, with only one obstruction in the center of it. The snow had completely melted in this part of the forest, but the grass wasn't wet or muddy at all. In fact, a lot of it had been burnt and charred. Despite that, the fire wasn't as present here as it was amongst the trees. If he found the demon, this would be a good place to fight it. This wasn't what shocked him though.

What shocked him was the large object sitting in the middle of the clearing.

The object was a giant, monolithic stone with intricate markings covering the face of it. He recognized the object, and he could scarcely believe he was seeing it. It shouldn't have been there, it didn't belong in Equestria, yet here it was.

There, in the middle of the clearing, was a Hell Gate.

How the hell is there a Hell Gate here!? Is this how the demons have been getting into Equestria?

A tidal wave of questions coursed through Nero's brain, but he eventually shook the thoughts out of his head.

I'll worry about it later when I get back to the shop. Right now, I need to focus on destroying this thing and killing the demon.

Nero started to approach the stone, but stopped when he sensed a powerful demon approaching, and fast. He leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the demon as it came charging into the clearing from the trees. Once Nero landed back on his hooves, he was able to get a good look at the demon. The demon itself shared a striking resemblance to a snake, though there were plenty of noticeable differences. It was the size of a house, had two curved horns protruding from the sides of its head, and was completely engulfed in flames. The demon stared down the descendant of Sparda with all six of its eyes.

"Hmph. I'd know that scent anywhere..." The snake hissed. "You're one of Sparda's kin, aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged." Nero shrugged. "Every demon I meet seems to pick up on that smell. You think I should start wearing cologne? Not sure if it'll hide it, but it's worth a shot, right?"

"You jest even in the face of death? I'll admit, you are braver than most. Still, that will not be enough to save you from its grasp!" The demon spat out a ball of fire from its mouth in Nero's direction, and the devil hunter rolled out of the way.

"Hey, neat trick! Speaking of tricks, I heard snakes can eat an entire egg whole. Is that true?" He asked.

"You dare to compare me to such an insignificant creature!? I am Gorgon, servant of the Fire Hell, and I will not be looked down upon by a mere mortal!" The demon hissed once more.

"Alright, jeez, no need to be rude about it. It was just a simple yes or no question." Nero raised a hoof in mock surrender. Gorgon spat another fireball at him, and he launched himself into the air with an Air Hike. The devil hunter landed on top of the Hell Gate and sat down. "If you can't tell me about the egg thing, can you at least tell me what this thing is doing here? Can't say I'm an expert, but I'm pretty sure Hell Gates don't belong in this world."

"That is none of your concern, mortal. Now sit still... and DIE!!!" Gorgon lunged at Nero, who backflipped off of the Hell Gate and landed on the ground. He levitated Red Queen off of his back and took a fighting stance.

"Alright then, looks like I'm gonna have to beat the answer out of you. Hope there's no hard feelings."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtlhadd8gjI

Gorgon shot towards Nero like a rocket, and the devil hunter flipped out of the way with a Table Hopper, then returned fire with Blue Rose. Gorgon did a 180 and opened his maw, attempting to swallow Nero whole. Nero refused to stay still, avoiding each chomp while occasionally striking the demon with his sword whenever he saw an opening.

He's pretty fast, even for a demon. This might be tougher than usual...

During one of Gorgon's attempts to bite Nero, the devil hunter leapt onto the demon's back, stabbing Red Queen into it and giving it a few revs. While the blade seemed to hurt the snake demon, the flames from his sword didn't seem to have as much of an effect as they would on other demons. It still seemed to hurt the snake a little bit at least.

Before Nero could pull his sword out, Gorgon slithered out of the clearing and weaved through the burning trees in an attempt to knock Nero off of his back. The half-demon clung to Red Queen and ducked under several branches to keep from getting knocked off.

"Get off you pest!" Gorgon hissed as he wormed his way through the forest.

"Nah, I don't really feel like it!" Nero called out from his place on Gorgon's back. With the hoof holding onto Red Queen, he continued to rev the sword repeatedly. With his free hoof, Nero summoned a spectral arm and started punching the snake as hard as he could. Finding no success in knocking the descendant of Sparda off, Gorgon circled back to the clearing. No longer constricted by trees, Gorgon whipped his body around and finally managed to throw Nero off. Nero landed on all fours and looked back at the demon; his sword still impaled in its back.

Well, that's a problem.

Nero avoided a few more chomps, swinging a few jabs at the snake with his spectral arms every time he saw an opening. During one of Gorgon's lunges, Nero hopped upwards and pushed off the demon's head with a hoof, flipping himself onto Gorgon's back once more. Gorgon rotated its head 180 degrees just in time to see the devil hunter rip the sword out of its body. Gorgon roared in pain before lunging at Nero again, and Nero flipped backwards to avoid it. Mid-flip, Nero shot forward towards the demon with an Ex Calibur, then sliced into the demon's head with several midair swings.

Gorgon shook off the strikes and swung its head at Nero like a club, knocking the devil hunter aside. Nero rolled with the landing, quickly getting back to his hooves. "FUCK YOU!" Nero yelled before activating his Devil Trigger. Gorgon spat out a barrage of fireballs, which Nero dodged with several consecutive Table Hoppers, then closed the distance between himself and the demon by hitting it with a Streak. He swung upwards with a High Roller to gain some height, hit the demon a few more times with Red Queen, then shocked the snake with a blast of electricity from Overture.

Furious, Gorgon lunged at Nero once more, hoping to swallow him whole. Just as the demon was about to close its maw around the devil hunter, two spectral arms shot out from Nero's hooves, grabbing the snake by its mouth and stopping it in its tracks. Nero used one of the spectral arms to grasp one of Gorgon's fangs before ripping it out, much to the demon's agony. Nero twirled the fang around before impaling it directly into one of Gorgon's eyes, making the creature howl in pain.

This seemed to do enough damage to finally stun Gorgon, so Nero took the opportunity and grabbed the snake's tail with a pair of spectral arms. He spun around and around, gaining more and more momentum before finally releasing his grip on the snake, sending it flying straight into the Hell Gate. The Hell Gate itself cracked a bit from the impact, but still remained standing.

With Gorgon dazed, Nero got into position and prepared himself for a Showdown, a spectral version of the Yamato appearing at his side. "Tide's turning..." He said before unsheathing the sword. "SHOWDOWN!!!" Nero unleashed countless rapid slashes, not only cutting through Gorgon, but slicing up the Hell Gate as well. For the final cut, Nero brought out Red Queen and swung both swords in an X formation.

The Hell Gate crumbled to the ground as Nero's Devil Trigger wore off. Seeing that his job was done, he strode over to Gorgon, who was now too weak to move. "So, are you feeling a bit more talkative now?"

Gorgon chuckled, though there was some obvious strain in its voice. "Heh... foolish pony. You think this will be enough to stop our master? This is a mere minor setback at most. There are plenty more Hell Gates being built across Equestria as we speak. Once they are finished, there will be no stopping the resurrection of our master."

"Care to tell me who this master is, and why he needs Hell Gates in Equestria of all places?" Nero attempted to push for more information.

"You are quite gullible to think I would tell you that, pony. Our master was once defeated by a carrier of Sparda's blood, but he will rise again, and he will have his revenge. That much I can promise you." Gorgon coughed a few more times before its life slowly faded away. Gorgon's corpse broke down into ashes that were blown away by the wind. As he watched the ashes fly away, Nero noticed something on the ground where Gorgon had been.

Upon closer inspection, it looked like a rock covered in scales. Through the cracks in between the scales, there appeared to be glowing embers. If Nero had to guess, this was most likely a piece of Gorgon. During the Qliphoth incident, Nico had used the parts of bigger demons that Nero killed to make new Devil Breakers. He took the piece of Gorgon and stuffed it under his coat. Since Discord had been able to replicate the Devil Breakers, maybe he could do something with it.

Nero digested what little info he had gotten from the demon. It seemed this wouldn't be the only Hell Gate that needed destroying. The devil hunter made a mental note to have Twilight send a letter to Celestia about this. That way, the princess could inform the citizens of Equestria to keep an eye out for the Hell Gates, alongside any demons they see. As for what Gorgon said about a 'carrier of Sparda's blood', he assumed the demon meant someone related to Sparda. He was aware that Dante had taken down quite a few big bad demons before, maybe it was one of them? If so, which one?

Either way, standing around in the middle of a burning forest wasn't going to help him find the answer. It was about time he headed back, no need to keep Spike waiting any longer. He still needed to go pick up a gem for the baby dragon, anyway.

I hope Spike doesn't care what kind I get. I wonder, do different kinds of gems taste differently, or do they all taste the same?

The Next Day...

As Nero made his way from the train station and back to Devil May Cry, he examined the gem he had gotten for Spike. It was a purple amethyst gem, the cheapest kind of gem available. It might sound like Nero was trying to skimp on Spike's reward by getting a cheaper gem like this, but that wasn't the case at all. In actuality, an amethyst was the only gem Nero could afford without going completely bankrupt. Unsurprisingly, gems were pretty expensive.

Hope this is good enough for Spike.

Eventually, Nero reached the doors of Devil May Cry and pushed them open. The first thing he saw was Spike sleeping in the chair behind the desk, a comic book covering his face as he snored. It wasn't too surprising to see the baby dragon asleep, considering it was early in the morning. A little after seven o' clock to be specific.

With a chuckle, Nero walked behind the desk and gave the baby dragon a little shake. "C'mon, Spike, up and at 'em. I got your reward right here, if you want it."

Spike began to stir, slowly starting to wake before shooting straight up in the seat. "H-Huh!? Why's it dark!?" Spike panicked. Nero levitated the comic book off of Spike's face, and the baby dragon blinked to let his eyes adjust to the light. He looked around to get his bearings before his gaze fell on Nero. "Oh, Nero, You're back."

"Morning, squirt. I take it things went well?" Nero levitated the comic back to Spike.

"Yup! No problems at all! I wrote down the addresses for all of the calls you got while you were away. Here!" Spike reached onto the desk and grabbed a scroll off of it. The baby dragon unfurled the scroll, and Nero's eyes went wide as he watched the parchment extend long enough to roll onto the floor and out the door.

...Just how many calls did I get?

"Uh, you okay Nero?" Spike snapped his claws in front of Nero's face, bringing the devil hunter back to reality.

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't think there would be... this much work." He gestured to the long scroll. "Anyway, I've got something for you."

Spike's eyes sparkled and his mouth started dripping saliva as soon as Nero fished out the amethyst. It seemed the gem was still to the baby dragon's liking despite being cheaper. "Oh sweet!!! Thanks Nero!" Spike hopped out of the chair and eagerly made his way to the exit, intent on enjoying his reward. What Nero hadn't expected was for Spike to stop at the doorway and turn around, seemingly remembering something. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! There's something I wanted to ask you."

Nero raised an eyebrow, unsure of what Spike could possibly want to ask him of all people. He plopped himself down in his chair, leaned back, and put his hind legs up on the desk. "Alright then, shoot." He responded casually. Whatever Spike wanted to ask probably wasn't anything extreme.

"Who's Discord?"

Nero nearly fell out of his chair, completely caught off guard.

What!? How did he know that name?! Where could he have heard it!?

Nero managed to regain his balance before clearing his throat. "Where, uh... where exactly did you hear that name from?" He managed to ask.

"Someone calling themself Discord called while you were gone to tell you about the demon at Galloping Gorge. He also said there was some 'special surprise' there that you would recognize. Do you know what he was talking about? He said he was a friend of yours, so I figured you would know." Spike clarified.

Goddamnit, Discord. Could you have possibly picked a worse time to call me?

"Uh, yeah, it's nothing you need to worry about. Just forget you heard about it, okay? Don't worry, it's nothing important." Nero did his best to give a reassuring smile. Spike looked skeptical, but eventually shrugged. The baby dragon left, closing the door behind him. Nero waited a few seconds before letting out a sigh of relief.

Great. Even if Spike doesn't know about Discord, he's definitely suspicious now. Hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass. Anyway, speaking of Discord...

"Hey Discord, you there? Got a couple things we need to talk about." Nero called out. It only took a couple seconds before the draconequus appeared before him. Nero didn't even bother saying anything to Discord, simply raising an eyebrow as he waited for an explanation.

"Oh, come on, it was an accident! How was I supposed to know you had already left for Galloping Gorge!?" Discord defended himself.

"Didn't you say you would be keeping an eye on things? How could you not know!?"

"I was busy with personal things, for your information! I do have a life outside of you, I'll have you know!" Discord pointed a finger at Nero. The devil hunter simply groaned and slumped back in his chair.

"...Fine, whatever. There's still something else I wanted to ask you about." Nero reached into his coat and pulled out the piece of Gorgon. "I was wondering if you could make a new Devil Breaker out of this."

"Oh, I'm afraid that's out of my skillset. While I was able to replicate Ms. Goldstein's design with your current Devil Breakers, creating entirely new ones is not something I'm capable of. I'm afraid my hands are tied on this matter." He explained, his hands literally twisting around and tying themselves into a knot.

"Seriously? There's nothing you can do?" Nero sighed. "And here I was thinking I could get a new toy to work with."

"...Tell you what, I'll look into it and try to come up with something, perhaps an alternative solution."

"You've got an idea?" Nero perked up again, a little hopeful.

"Not yet, but I'll get brainstorming. Until then, I bid you good luck on your future endeavors." Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared again. Now alone, Nero put the Gorgon piece into one of his desk drawers before taking a look over the comically long list Spike had made.

At least I'll be keeping busy while I wait.

Winter Wrap-Up

View Online

"NEEEEEEEEERROOOOOOO!!!!!"

Nero's eyes shot open as he felt someone hopping up and down on top of him. He craned his neck to see Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down on his bed, yelling at the top of her lungs for him to wake up.

Please, God, don't do this to me. Just let me sleep for once.

"NERO!!! COME ON!!! IT'S WINTER WRAP-UP DAY!!! IT'S WINTER WRAP-UP DAY!!!" She screamed in excitement.

"Uh huh, sure... just give me five more minutes... or five more hours..." Nero yawned as he turned back over, tucking himself further under the covers. Pinkie yanked them off barely a second later, much to his chagrin.

"No sleeping in today, Mr. Grumpy Pants! We've gotta get up bright and early for Winter Wrap-Up!" Pinkie denied the devil hunter his peace. He'd been on another late job last night and didn't get home until 2:00 a.m, so he wasn't exactly in the mood for Pinkie's antics. If the clock on his bedside dresser was correct, it was currently 6:00 a.m.

"I'm afraid Pinkie Pie is right. While I do agree that beauty sleep is important, we cannot afford to waste any time if we wish to clean up Winter by the end of the day." Hearing another familiar voice, Nero turned to see that Rarity was also here to wake him up. The difference between her and Pinkie was that Rarity stood in the doorway to his room like a normal person, as opposed to leaping on him as soon as she entered. It was then that Nero noticed the two of them were wearing some kind of vests. Rarity wore a tan vest while Pinkie wore a blue vest.

"Wait, 'clean up Winter'? What does that mean?" He asked, understandably confused. Before Rarity could provide a calm and normal response, Pinkie let out one of her long, dramatic gasps.

"OH MY GOODNESS THAT'S RIGHT HOW COULD I FORGET!?! This is your first Winter Wrap-Up Day, isn't it!?" Pinkie pulled Nero close, staring straight into his eyes as she pressed her face against his.

"You still haven't answered my question." Nero rolled his eyes.

"You see, darling, Winter Wrap Up-Day is a local tradition here in Ponyville." Rarity stepped in, pulling Pinkie away with her magic and giving Nero some space. "Since Ponyville had originally been founded by earth ponies hundreds of years ago, they've never used magic to clean up Winter like all the other ponies in Equestria. It's been a tradition ever since then."

"Sounds interesting. You two have fun with that." Nero used his magic to levitate his blanket back onto him and got comfortable in his bed again. Rarity relinquished the blanket from him once more with her own magic. The half-demon groaned as he turned over in his bed, his back facing the two mares.

"I'm sorry, Nero, but we could all really use your help." The fashionista gave Nero an apologetic look as she walked over to the other side of his bed, her eyes meeting his own. "Every year, Ponyville ends up being late when it comes to wrapping up Winter in time for Spring. Having somepony of your talents would surely help us finish by the deadline. The mayor is specifically requesting your help on the matter! You will, of course, be compensated for your efforts."

Nero took the time to consider the proposition. It was true that he needed money badly. He was so low on cash that he hadn't been able to afford his heating bill all Winter. Thankfully, the piece of Gorgon had come in handy keeping him warm. There wasn't anything hotter than the fires of Hell. Still, having actual heating in the building would have been preferable as opposed to keeping a chunk of a dead demon near him at all times. Since it sounded like Winter would be coming to a close after today, he wouldn't need the heating as badly anymore, but that didn't change the fact that he desperately needed money.

The devil hunter sighed as he crawled out of bed. "Alright, fine, I'll pitch in."

"WOOHOO!!! Nero's gonna help with Winter Wrap-Up! This is gonna be so much fun!" Pinkie cheered, wrapping her hooves around Nero in a bear hug.

"Yeah, cuz nothing says 'fun' like spending the day shoveling snow." Nero muttered.

It wasn't long before Nero found himself standing amongst the crowd of Ponyville's citizens outside of the town hall, his hooves slightly buried in the snow. Everyone wore vests similar to the ones Rarity and Pinkie Pie had worn. Rarity had explained to him that each color vest represented a different team in charge of specific tasks. Blue vests were for the weather team, green vests were for the plant team, and tan vests were for the animal team. Apparently, the fashionista had designed the vests herself.

The mayor had been hoping Nero would do his best to assist all of the teams, so he hadn't been given a specific vest. However, the mayor did recommend that he focus the majority of his efforts on helping the plant team, since their job mostly involved strength and hard labor, something he excelled at accomplishing. In all honesty, Nero was just fine with not getting a vest. He preferred his jacket anyway. Soon, the mayor herself stepped up to the town hall's podium to give her speech.

"Thank you, everypony, for being here bright and early. We need every single pony's help to wrap up Winter and bring in Spring!" She addressed the crowd. "Now, all of you have your vests, and have been assigned to your teams, so let's do even better than last year, and have the quickest Winter Wrap-Up ever!" The audience cheered in response, feeling motivated to work extra hard and get Winter wrapped up before the day's end.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Hearing a familiar voice, Nero turned to his left to see that Twilight had apparently been standing next to him the entire time. Spike, looking just as tired as Nero was, sat on her back. Nero also noticed that Twilight wasn't wearing a vest like all the other ponies.

When did she get here? And how do these ponies keep sneaking up behind me without me noticing?

"Alright, everypony. find your team leader, and let's get galloping!" The mayor concluded her speech, and the crowd quickly parted, everypony joining their respective teams. The only pony that remained besides Nero was Twilight, who's gaze anxiously shifted between each of the groups.

"Oh Gosh, where should I go? I'm not sure where I'd fit in. What exactly does everypony do?" The purple unicorn seemed to be pretty worked up over the issue.

"Relax, Twilight, I'm sure you'll find something." After hearing the devil hunter's voice, Twilight finally realized that Nero had been standing next to her the entire time.

"Oh, Good Morning Nero! I didn't see you there." The purple unicorn turned to fully face him. "I'm a little surprised to see you helping out with Winter Wrap-Up. Knowing you, I figured you would've just slept in or something."

Sheesh, she makes it sound like I'm lazy. I'm not normally so eager to sleep all day, but I've got a lot of sleep I need to catch up on after being so busy.

"Well, that had been the plan, but the mayor said they could use my help with the work today. Pinkie and Rarity stopped by to ask if I would be willing, so I figured I might as well pitch in." Nero shrugged.

"Let me guess, you're only helping because you're being paid?"

"Is it that obvious?" He chuckled.

"Well at least you're getting something out of it. I was having a great dream before I got woken up for this. It's way too early..." Spike yawned from Twilight's back. Understanding his pain, Nero's heart went out to the poor baby dragon.

"So, what team are you on?" Twilight asked, changing the subject.

"No team in particular, they just wanted me to go around and help out everyone the best I can. From the sound of it, you don't really have a team either. Why is that?"

"Everypony already belongs to a team. My talent has always involved magic, but it's Ponyville tradition to clean up Winter without using magic. I have no idea where I would fit in! What should I do? Where should I go?"

Ah, I see the problem. Now it makes sense why she was so worked up about this.

Nero brought a hoof to his chin. "...Tell you what, since I'm gonna be checking on all of the teams, how 'bout you come with me, and we'll find out what each of the teams do together. Maybe you'll surprise yourself and find something you're good at without needing magic."

"Really? That sounds like a great plan! Let's do it!" Twilight's worried look disappeared as she gave a confident nod. Together, they began trotting through Ponyville to see what each of the teams were in charge of doing. Just as soon as they started, Nero heard a familiar sound that filled his soul with dread.

The familar sound... of music.

Nero had learned that when it came to this world, that could only mean one thing.

Somepony was about to start singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEFJ8Bu66jg

"Three months of Winter coolness, and awesome holidays~!" Nero was surprised to hear Rainbow Dash start singing first.

"We've kept our hoovsies warm at home, time off from work to play~!" Nero was significantly less surprised to hear Pinkie sing next.

"But the food we've stored is runnin' out, and we can't grow in this cold~!" Applejack started singing after Pinkie.

"And even though I love my boots, this fashion's getting oooold~!" Rarity was the fourth pony to begin singing.

"The time has come to welcome Spring, and all things warm and green~! But it's also time to say goodbye, it's Winter we must clean~!" Even Twilight was singing now!? "How can I help~? I'm new, you see~. What does everypony do~? How do I fit in without magic, I haven't got a cluuueeee~!"

"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! Let's finish our holiday cheer~!" The fact that the other girls besides Pinkie had started singing was surprising enough, but then Nero was shocked again to see that every single pony helping with Winter Wrap-Up had joined the singing as a chorus. "Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here~!"

Rainbow Dash continued the song as she flew overhead, followed by several other pegasi. "Bringing home the southern birds, a pegasus' job begins in clearing all the gloomy skies to let the sunshine in~! We move the clouds, and we melt the white snow~; When the sun comes up, it's warmth and beauty will gloooooow~!"

"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! Let's finish our holiday cheer~! Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here~! Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here~!" The chorus repeated as they pulled carts of supplies through the streets.

"Little critters hibernate under the snow and ice~!" Rarity began the next verse before Fluttershy picked it up.

"We wake up all the sleepyheads, so quietly and nice~!" Fluttershy and several other ponies wearing tan vests gently woke up several critters that had been burrowed in small holes for the Winter. They then handed the critters baskets of vegetables and cleaned their tiny homes.

"We help them gather up their food, fix their homes below~!"

"We welcome back the Southern birds~..."

"So their families can groooooow~!" Rarity and Fluttershy sang in unison.

"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! Let's finish our holiday cheer~! Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here~!" The chorus repeated once again before Nero, Twilight, and Spike all found themselves buried under a mound of snow. Annoyed, the three of them looked up to see the source of their displeasure had been Rainbow Dash, who knocked a large clump of snow off of a tree branch and onto them. "Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here~!"

"No easy task to clear the ground, plant our tiny seeds~. With proper care and sunshine, everyone it feeds~!" Applejack sang as ponies raked and plowed the snow off the ground, planting seeds in the dirt. "Apples, carrots, celery stalks, colorful flowers too~! We must work so very hard, it's just so much to doooooo~!"

"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! Let's finish our holiday cheer~! Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here~!" Several pegasi used snow shovels to knock the snow off of the rooftops as they sang. "Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here~!"

The music seemed to tone down as Twilight continued to sing again. "Now that I know what they all do, I have to find my place~! And help with all of my heart, tough task ahead I face~." As if everypony spontaneously breaking out into song wasn't odd enough, Twilight decided to make it more dramatic by standing at the peak of a steep hill while she sang. "How will I do without my magic, help the earth pony way~? I wanna belong so I must, do my best today~! Do my best tooodaaaaaay~!"

The music picked back up as the chorus looped one final time. "Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! Let's finish our holiday cheer~! Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here~! Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~!"

"'Cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is heeeeeeeeeeere~!" Twilight finished the last bit of the chorus, and the music began to fade out as the song finally came to an end.

Yup, still not used to that.

After the unprompted musical number, Nero, Twilight, and Spike continued on through the town streets. They were stopped in their tracks, however, when a familiar rainbow blur sped by them.

"Alright, team! You're cleared for takeoff!" Rainbow Dash, wearing a blue weather team vest, signaled to a few other pegasi wearing the same vests. On Rainbow's signal, they flew off to take care of... whatever assignment they were ordered to take care of. As for what that assignment was, the three of them were about to find out as Twilight got Rainbow's attention. "Oh, hey guys! What's up?"

"What are you doing?" Twilight started with a straightforward question.

"Sending off one of my flight crews to retrieve the birds that have flown south for the Winter." She simply stated, keeping her focus on the sky.

Since when do birds need help flying back North once Winter is over? Don't they normally fly back in flocks on their own? Man, Equestria logic is weird.

"Ooh, can I help? How about if I clear out the clouds?" After Twilight's suggestion, Rainbow, Nero, and Spike all looked at her with an 'are you serious?' expression. To point out the problem with the purple unicorn's idea, Rainbow gave a flap of her wings. "Oh, right, no wings..."

"Sorry, Twilight." That was the only sentiment Rainbow showed before taking off into the sky, joining the other pegasi. Twilight watched with just a slight bit of annoyance as her friend left with barely a word.

"Great. Now what do we do?" Twilight turned her head to look back at Nero and Spike... only to see Spike missing. The two of them took a quick glance around before spotting the baby dragon making himself comfortable in a bush.

"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna be napping." Spike declared before laying back into the bush. His loud snoring gave away that he had already managed to pass out.

This kid's got the right idea. If I wasn't being paid to help out, I'd join him. It is way too early for all this.

"Come on, Spike! This is serious business!" Twilight nudged the baby dragon to no avail. "Winter needs to be wrapped up, and I'm determined to do my part! ...Somehow."

Noticing Twilight's drop in spirit, Nero stepped in. "Oh, come on, we just started. I doubt we we're gonna find something for you on the first try. If it helps, I don't have wings either, so I'm kinda in the same boat."

"...Yeah, I suppose you're right. I'm sure we can find plenty of other opportunities." With renewed confidence, Twilight gave up on trying to wake Spike up for now and levitated him onto her back. "Let's stop by Rarity's shop next. I'm sure she can find something for us to do." With that, the trio set off for Carousel Boutique, hoping to find a way for Twilight to fit in for Winter Wrap-Up.

I doubt it'll be anything too difficult. As long as she doesn't want us to try on any more ridiculous outfits, we should be fine.

When the trio arrived at Carousel Boutique, they quickly caught sight of Rarity working at a table outside of her shop. There were several bundles of sticks and hay next to her, as well as an entire basket of arts and crafts supplies. Twilight quickly got the dress maker's attention as they approached. "Rarity, please tell me there's something, anything I can help you with!"

"Well, how would you like to help create Ponyville's finest bird's nests?" Rarity offered.

"Bird's nests?" Both Twilight and Nero asked in unison.

"Why yes! When the weather team guides the birds back North for the Spring, they'll need a place to live and lay their eggs." She explained. Twilight seemed to be satisfied by the answer, but Nero was a bit more skeptical.

"Alright, I'm willing to accept birds needing help flying back North for Spring, but they need help making their nests too?" He voiced his confusion.

"Why of course they do, Nero! They're already busy taking care of their families, the least we can do is provide them with a home." Rarity asserted.

"They never had any trouble with it back on Earth, but alright, if you say so." Nero shrugged before switching his attention to the bird's nest currently sitting on the table. Several colorful ribbons had been interwoven with the nest, while the nest itself was perfectly pristine and symmetrical, with not a single twig out of place. It even had a flashy red bow tied to it. "It's nice, but it looks more like a bowl than a bird's nest if I'm being honest. Pretty sure birds don't care if their home has this much pizazz."

Rarity 'harumphed' at Nero's critique while Twilight just sent him a small glare. "Well, I think it looks really beautiful, Rarity!"

"Oh, why thank you most sincerely, Twilight! At least somepony here has manners. Say, would the two of you like to try your hoof at a nest?"

"Would I?! Yes! Where do I begin?" Twilight enthusiastically jumped at the opportunity to help out.

"Eh, why not?" Nero simply shrugged.

Rarity levitated two baskets filled with arts and crafts supplies over to their side of the table before dumping the contents in front of the pair. "Okay, now, take some of that straw and hay over there, and a little bit of branch..." Nero had looked away for only a second to hear Rarity's instructions. When he looked back, he had to do a double take, unsure if what he was seeing was real. In the short second that he had looked away, Twilight had already managed to neatly organize all of her supplies into different categories.

"Huh... I take it she's a bit of a neat freak?" The devil hunter whispered to Spike, who had a similar bug-eyed expression.

"I think she prefers the term 'organized'." The baby dragon whispered back.

Both Nero and Twilight began the process of making their own bird's nests. Rarity tried to provide input where she could, though from the sound of her voice, the dress maker was probably regretting her decision to let them handle the task. "Now, weave them through there. Yes! Uh, take some ribbon, yes- oh, no, n-not there. Ooh, uh, y-yes, uh, tuck it in... over there, but be careful not to... no, no, no, I, uh, guess that will do... oh dear..."

Nero and Twilight took a step back to examine their finished products. Compared to Rarity's, the quality was... questionable, to say the least. Unlike Rarity's art piece, Twilight and Nero's bird's nests looked like a pair of jumbled up hay and sticks mushed together, with a few bits of ribbon sticking out of them.

"There! It looks just like-!" Twilight went from excited to downtrodden when she looked over at Rarity's nest, quickly noticing the obvious difference in quality. "...yours...oh my."

"Now these look more like authentic bird's nests." Nero said, a lot prouder of his work than Twilight. The devil hunter hadn't even been trying to replicate Rarity's design. He'd just mashed a bunch of stuff together at random and hoped for the best.

"Those nests need to be condemned!" Spike commented with the bluntness of a sledgehammer.

"Oh, come now, Spike. I-It's not so bad! Maybe the birds can use them as an...uh..." Rarity tapped her chin, trying and failing to think of something.

"An outhouse?" Spike deadpanned, maintaining his streak of bluntness.

"Spike, they're just fine. They're just a little rough around the edges. Here, let me lend you a hoof." Rarity stepped in for the two, attempting to fix the abominations they had created. "Let's just untie this ribbon, and if we take out these sticks here, reshape this..."

"I think we lost her..." Spike whispered to Nero and Twilight as they all watched Rarity take apart the entirety of their nests. Twilight let out a sigh and hung her head low, moping away from the boutique. Nero and Spike shared concerned glances as they followed after the purple unicorn. "Hey, cheer up, Twilight! Maybe this didn't work out as well as you'd hoped, but I'm sure we can still find something else you'll be good at!"

In return for Spike's words of encouragement, Twilight gave the baby dragon a smile before reasserting herself. "You're right, Spike! We've still got a long way to go. I'm sure we'll find something!"

The trio were nearing one of the lakes near and around Ponyville. During the warmer seasons, ponies would sometimes stop by one of Ponyville's many lakes, either to go swimming or just to enjoy the sun. As of right now though, the lake had been frozen over by a thick layer of ice during the Winter. On the lake itself, the group spotted Pinkie Pie ice skating across the frozen body of water.

"Hellooooo, you guys!" Pinkie waved to them as she skated by. Twilight was quickly found herself enraptured by the pink pony's skill.

"Wow, Pinkie Pie, you're quite the skater! Probably the best skater I've ever seen!" She complemented as they got closer. Pinkie drifted on the ice before coming to a stop in front of them.

"Thanks, Twilight! I've been doing this since I was an itty-bitty, little-little, Twinkie Pinkie! Just comes naturally!" Pinkie pushed off the ice, performing several stylish hops and flips around the lake, showing off both grace and elegance. "Which is probably why they designated me the lake scorer!"

"Lake scorer? What's that?" Nero asked as Pinkie did another lap around the lake.

"Basically, I cut lines in the lake with my skates. That way, when the rest of the weather team comes here to break the ice, it'll be easy as pie!"

"How clever. When the thick ice begins to melt, it'll break along the lines." Twilight marveled at the brilliance of the plan.

Nero scratched his chin as he began to realize the large scale of such a task. "You take care of this all by yourself? There's quite a few lakes around Ponyville, last I checked. That's a lot of work for just one person."

"Huh! Tell me about it!" Pinkie huffed before suddenly stopping in front of the small group. A bright smile found its way onto her face as an idea popped in her head. "Hey, do you guys wanna help me out?"

"Would we!? Yes, we'd love to!" Twilight answered before Nero could.

I'd prefer it if you let me speak for myself, Twilight.

"That sounds great, but I'm pretty sure I could just melt the lake instantly with this." Nero took the chunk of Gorgon out from his pocket and showed it to the others. They all felt the heat emanating from the chunk almost instantly.

"What's that?" Twilight studied the piece with curiosity, trying to examine every angle of it.

"This is part of a demon I defeated over by Galloping Gorge. I couldn't afford the heating bill, so I used this to keep warm during the Winter. Since it's literally hot as hell, I'm sure it could take care of the ice no problem."

"WHAT!? Nero, you can't use magic!!! That would be going against tradition!!!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Technically, this isn't magic. It's demonic energy."

"Well, did the earth ponies who founded Ponyville use demonic energy to help clean up Winter?" Pinkie asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I'm not exactly an expert on Ponyville's history, so I can't say for sure-"

"They didn't! So that means no demonic energy either, buster!" Pinkie declared, pointing a hoof in Nero's face. The devil hunter simply rolled his eyes.

"Alright, alright, whatever you say." Nero stuffed the Gorgon piece back under his coat. "So, how exactly are we supposed to help then? We don't have any skates of our own."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that! I've got a bunch of spares over there!" Pinkie pointed her hoof over to their left. Following Pinkie's hoof, they spotted a bunch of conveniently placed ice skates nearby.

Oh, well that's convenient.

"...Wait, if you're in charge of handling this job alone, why'd you bring so many skates?" Nero couldn't help but ask.

"It's always better to be prepared for anything!" Pinkie answered vaguely. "C'mon! I bet the two of you will be naturals just like me!"

The two of them gave Pinkie a nod before slipping on the spare skates. Not long after, Nero found himself skating along the ice with ease, even doing a couple of stylish flips to show off.

"Wow, you're absolutely amazing at this, Nero! Have you had some practice?" Pinkie complemented.

"Nah, this is actually my first time, actually. Kyrie and I did want to try it out the next time Christmas rolls around, though."

"Oh my goodness that's so romantic!!! I bet you two will have loads of fun!" The pink pony gushed. It was about then that Nero realized he had yet to see Twilight skating around. He looked back at the edge of the lake and saw the purple unicorn, her hooves wobbling as she struggled to keep her balance.

"Uh...maybe on second thought- WHOA!" Twilight's sentence was cut off when she slipped and face-planted onto the ice. She managed to stand back up, though it was clear the hit to the face had made her dizzy.

"What are you talking about? You said you wanted to be helpful, now get out there!" Spike gave Twilight a push, sending her sliding onto the ice, much to Twilight's fear.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Twilight frantically tried to gain control, but found little success. She spun around haphazardly and out of control. She even almost hit Nero, if he hadn't front flipped over her.

"Twilight! Steer! Steer!" Pinkie tried to help direct her friend, but this also had little success. The party pony's eyes widened as Twilight came careening towards her. Unfortunately, Pinkie wasn't as agile as Nero, and found herself unable to dodge the oncoming unicorn. "Oh, boy- OOF!"

Nero watched with concern and slight amusement as the pair of ponies slid uncontrollably across the ice before crashing into Spike, then crashing into a pile of snow. In cartoonish fashion, the trio crashed into the snow in a position that made them look like a snowman. After getting their bearings, the three of them shook the snow off as Nero made his way over, quickly helping them all get off of the ground. "You three alright?"

"Yes, I think so." Twilight nodded.

"Ha ha! You are a natural, Twilight! A natural disaster! HA HA HA!" Spike giggled.

"Twilight, you did a great job your first time around! I'm sure my first time was just as wobbly and bobbly and crasherrific as yours!" Unlike Spike, Pinkie tried to provide encouragement to her friend.

"Really?"

"...No." Encouragement that lasted all of two seconds. Twilight looked down at the ground, once again looking depressed. "...But did I make you feel better?"

"...Y-Yeah, I guess." Twilight chuckled a bit, but it was clear she was still upset about it.

"I bet you'll be super awesome at something that keeps your hooves on the ground." Pinkie tapped her chin before getting another idea. "I know! Fluttershy could probably use your help with the critters!"

"Well, I am pretty good with little animals." Twilight surmised.

"You are?" Nero gave her a questioning look, to which Twilight responded with a deadpan look of her own. He turned to address Pinkie, "It sounds like a plan either way. We'll start heading over there now." Nero then caught a glimpse of Twilight beside him, who had slipped on the skates again and ended up on the ice once more before crashing. "...Eventually."

The next stop for Nero, Twilight, and Spike was the meadow near Fluttershy's Cottage. Normally it would be a gorgeous field with a few trees here and there, but now it was currently buried in mounds of snow. Once they reached the meadow, they found Fluttershy poking her head inside a small burrow, ringing a small bell to wake up whatever critters were inside.

"Wake up, little sleepyheads. I hope you had some wonderful dreams and restful hibernation, but it's time to get up now. Spring is coming!" In response to Fluttershy's voice, a few porcupines began making their way out of the burrow, rubbing the sleepiness out of their eyes before skittering off elsewhere.

"Aww, how cute!" Twilight gushed as the critters passed by.

"Aren't they? This is my favorite task of the whole season, when I get to see all my little animal friends again." Fluttershy gave a bright smile.

"Uh, what's hibernation?" Spike asked.

"It's like a long sleep." Fluttershy took the bell and approached another burrow, repeating the same process she used with the last burrow to wake up the animals in this one. "Animals often hibernate through the Winter to save their energy and eat less food."

At least someone's getting a healthy amount of sleep.

"I definitely like the idea of hibernation! Well, except for the 'eat less food' part." Spike said as another family of porcupines emerged from the burrow.

"Oh, but just look at all these warrens and dens. I'm worried that I won't be able to wake up every animal before Spring comes." The shy pegasus gave a worried glance to the rest of the meadow, seeing dozens upon dozens of burrows.

"Well, we'd be willing to help, Fluttershy!" Twilight jumped at the chance to help out, as well as nominating Nero to help once again.

"Not sure how good I'd be with little animals, but I'll give it a shot." Nero shrugged.

"Oh, you will? Oh, that would be wonderful!" Fluttershy then handed the pair their own bells to use before they all split up to cover different parts of the meadow. It didn't take long for Nero to find a burrow that looked like a good starting point. Ducking down, he held the bell in front of the burrow before giving it a ring.

"Alright little guys, up and at 'em. I know being woken up from a good nap isn't the best feeling, but Spring is on the way. Let's go, chop chop." Nero called into the burrow. For a second, he thought he was successful in waking up the critters as a few bunnies started to emerge from the burrow, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. The second they laid eyes on the devil hunter, however, they screeched before bolting back into the burrow.

Okay... not the reaction I was expecting.

"Is everything alright, Nero?" Nero looked over his shoulder to see Fluttershy approaching, probably having heard the bunnies' screeches of terror.

"The bunnies seem scared for some reason, but I couldn't tell you why. Maybe you could try talking to them?" At Nero's suggestion, Fluttershy leaned down towards the burrow and called to the bunnies. One of them nervously poked their head out before conversing with the shy pegasus. Without possessing the ability to speak to animals, Nero was forced to awkwardly stand there while Fluttershy communicated with the little critter.

"Uh huh... I see... Oh my! Mr. Rabbit, you shouldn't say such rude things about him like that! I know you're scared, but I promise he doesn't intend to harm you or your friends. He's actually very nice!" Nero could only understand Fluttershy's half of the conversation, but he had a feeling they were talking about him. After a bit, Fluttershy managed to convince the bunnies to leave the burrow. They gave Nero a few nervous glances before hopping away.

"Soooo... any idea what that was about?" Nero scratched the back of his head.

"Well, they said you were the 'scary pony with the giant glowing demon hand', and they were worried that you might try to gobble them up. I think they remember you from the bunny census a while back." Fluttershy gave the half-demon an apologetic look.

Oh yeah, I did scare the pants off of them with my spectral arm way back when, didn't I? Figures that would come back to bite me.

"Oh well, it is what it is. I'm sure I'll have better luck with the other-"

"AGH!!! SNAKES!!! SNAAAKES!!!" Nero's reply was cut off by the sound of Twilight shouting. He and Fluttershy looked over at the section of the meadow that Twilight had started in, where they saw the purple unicorn fearfully backing away from one of the burrows, which had several hissing snakes slithering out of it. In her desperate attempt to put some distance between herself and the snakes, Twilight backed up into another, much larger burrow. A second later, she came running out screaming as a flock of bats chased after her.

"AAAAAAAH!!!" As she fled from the bats, Twilight failed to see the tree in front of her before slamming face first into it. The impact shook the tree, causing a beehive that had been hanging from the tree to fall and land directly on Twilight's head. Twilight's shrieks of terror were muffled by the beehive as she started running blind. Her chaotic sprint came to an end when she crashed into another burrow. The skunks that crawled out of that burrow seconds later made it clear that Twilight was probably going to need a bath.

Nero and Fluttershy joined up with Spike as the three of them approached the burrow, passing by the skunks as they did. Spike pinched his nose shut as they passed while Fluttershy greeted them from their hibernation. "You hangin' in there, Twilight?" Nero called to the purple unicorn still in the burrow. The only response he got from her was a groan of pain.

Nero had a feeling their search to find Twilight a job wasn't over just yet.

Nero, Twilight, and Spike had reconvened at the Golden Oaks Library, where Twilight was getting a much-needed tomato juice bath. On top of the unbearable stench, Twilight had several bee stings on her face from the beehive. "All this Winter Wrap-Up stuff is a lot harder than it looks..." Twilight groaned as Spike scrubbed her with a brush. Both he and Nero were wearing nose plugs to spare themselves from the smell.

"Right! Because there's no magic! Why don't you just use magic, Twilight, and get it done the right way?" Spike asked as he continued to scrub. His voice sounded a bit funny due to the nose plug.

"No, Spike. I have to do it the traditional way. Ponyville has never needed magic to wrap up Winter." Twilight asserted.

"But they never had you before, either. Think of how much quicker they could wrap up Winter with your magic!" Spike insisted.

"No, no, no! I'm gonna find some other way that I can help out, even if it kills me!" Twilight shot back, stomping a hoof in the tomato juice.

"Alright, alright, settle down, you two." Nero finally decided to intervene. Just like with Spike, the nose plug made his voice sound a little funny. "Twilight, I get that you're eager to help out, but finding something to do even if it kills you is a bit of an overreaction. It's not the end of the world, so there's no need to fret over it this much."

Nero then turned his attention over to Spike. "And Spike, while I agree that using magic would make things a lot easier, the whole town considers it tradition to not use magic for Winter Wrap-Up. Breaking their tradition without their go-ahead would be a bit of a dick move."

"Language." Twilight muttered.

Nero rolled his eyes, ignoring Twilight's comment. "My point is, we don't have to go doing anything rash. If we keep at it, I'm sure we'll find a job for Twilight eventually. Sound good?"

Twilight let out a sigh before responding. "...I suppose you're right. I shouldn't be getting so worked up over this. We could try checking in with Applejack next, I'm sure she'll have something I could help with."

"There ya go, that's the spirit." Nero smiled. "But how about we finish washing off that stench first?"

On cue, Spike poured another can of tomato juice on Twilight's head. She let out an annoyed groan as Spike resumed scrubbing her down.

As they had expected, the trio found Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres. The farm pony was busy managing the dozens of strong ponies in charge of plowing the snow off of the crop fields. "Keep pushin', Caramel! That's it, Bumpkin! I know it's hard work, but you guys're doin' great! Yeehaw!"

"Hey Applejack! How's everything going?" Twilight greeted AJ as they approached.

"Oh, just dandy. A little slow startin', but peachy all the same." Applejack answered before turning to look at the fields. "There's a lot of ground to clear, ya hear? We can't even start the plantin' and the waterin' until we get all this heap of snow hightailed out of here."

"Well, we'd like to help." Twilight gave a confident smile.

Applejack was... surprised, to say the least. Twilight's request to help with such tough labor clearly caught the farm pony off guard. AJ knew that Nero wasn't a stranger to heavy lifting, so she wasn't too worried about him. Twilight on the other hand was a different story. She may have been great when it came to magic, but she wasn't exactly known for her muscle. The snowplows that the other ponies were pushing didn't look very light, either. "Well, I-... I don't know, Twilight..."

"Just give me a chance! Please?" Twilight begged.

"Well, I never turn down a hard worker, but-" Before Applejack could finish, Twilight took it as her cue to step into one of the empty plows and prepare herself to start pushing.

"Eh, don't worry about it, AJ. Worst case scenario, she can't push it, and that's that." Nero reassured the farm pony as he moved to another empty plow.

"If ya say so..." Applejack replied, though she couldn't shake the feeling this wasn't going to end well.

The plow itself was shaped like a small green carriage, with two large wagon wheels in the back, the actual plow in the front, and a sunroof on top. There was a handlebar in the front to push the plow, but Nero wasn't quite sure how to use it without hands to grab it. He paid a glance over to Twilight and saw her walking into the handlebar chest-first. She wasn't getting very far, but it reminded him that they were horses, so they had to push things like horses.

Following Twilight's example, Nero walked into the handlebar with his chest and soon found himself moving with little trouble. He could tell the plow was heavy by human/pony standards, but for a half-demon like himself, pushing the plow was a breeze.

"This isn't so hard, right Twilight?" Nero looked to his left where he thought Twilight was plowing alongside him, only to see that the purple unicorn wasn't there. Thinking she must have fallen behind, Nero looked behind him to try and spot the mare. Upon seeing her, he realized she had fallen behind quite a bit. In fact, Twilight hadn't moved an inch from where they started. It appeared that the plow truly was too heavy for her. For a second, Nero felt a bit sympathetic for her...

...Until Twilight suddenly started pushing the plow forward with practically no effort, not even breaking a sweat.

What the heck?

Nero watched with bewilderment as Twilight passed him, moving at a brisk trot and pushing the plow faster than all the other ponies currently plowing. The other plowers were just as shocked, seeing Twilight outpace them with ease.

...Okay, something's fishy about this.

With his demonic strength, Nero was able to push his own plow at a speed that matched Twilight's. It didn't take him long to catch up to the mare, plowing side-by-side with her. It was when he paid her a glance that he noticed a faint magenta glow around Twilight's horn, as well as a similar glow surrounding her snowplow. It took him a second, but Nero quickly put two and two together.

"You're using magic!?" Nero whispered so none of the other ponies would hear.

"I'm sorry, but I had to try something! I couldn't think of any other-!" Whatever else Twilight was going to say died on her lips when she noticed the plow was starting to move faster than her. She tried to pick up her own pace to match the plow, but it proved to be too fast for her as it began dragging her along, accelerating at an uncontrollable speed. "Uh-oh! Slow down! SLOW DOWN!"

This can't be good...

Several other ponies had to halt their plows to avoid getting hit by Twilight's plow as it raced across the crop fields. The snow that Twilight's plow was gathering began to build up, piling into a giant snowball. Applejack and Spike went wide-eyed as the plow headed straight towards them, the snowball crashing straight into them.

"What's goin' on!? What'd you do?! Ya used magic, didn't you!?" AJ yelled as the snowball carried both her and Spike along for the chaotic ride.

Gotta stop this before it gets any worse!

Nero leapt out of his own plow and sprinted towards the Twilight and the others, revving Red Queen as he did. The devil hunter got in front of the plow and slashed his sword through the snowball, the fire from the sword melting it instantly. No longer trapped in the snowball, Applejack and Spike tumbled to the ground, rolling out of the plow's way. Without wasting a second, Nero pivoted on his hoof and bucked straight into the plow, bringing it to a halt. Whatever spell Twilight cast on the plow was still trying to push past Nero, but it was no match for the half-demon's strength.

Once the plow had come to a stop, Twilight immediately deactivated the spell, and the plow stopped moving. Nero let out a breath of relief as he removed his hoof from the front of the plow. His attention shifted to Applejack and Spike as they caught up with Nero and Twilight. "You two alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Spike answered. AJ, on the other hand, had her full focus on Twilight. Seeing the furious glare on the farm pony's face, Nero had a feeling she was a little upset.

"Nuts, Twilight! You used magic!!!" AJ exclaimed.

"The nerve! Can you believe her?" Spike added.

"Weren't you the one who suggested she use magic?" Nero called Spike out, to which the baby dragon just chuckled nervously.

"That's not how we do it 'round here, Twilight. And especially not on my farm!" Applejack continued to lecture Twilight about her magic usage. As for Twilight herself, she seemed to be on the verge of tears. Clearly, the purple unicorn wasn't proud of what she did.

"W-Well, see, I-I just wanted to-...to-..." Twilight found herself unable to speak as her eyes watered. Before any of them could stop her, Twilight ran off crying. Silence hung over Nero, Applejack, and Spike as the three of them watched Twilight leave. Eventually, Applejack was the first to break the silence.

"...I think that mighta been a bit harsh of me." She sighed, clear regret in her voice.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't mean to hurt her feelings. We'll go talk to her and try to cheer her up. C'mon, Spike." Nero gestured to the baby dragon, who gave a firm nod in response. Spike hopped on Nero's back before the devil hunter took off after Twilight.

It took a little over an hour, but Nero and Spike eventually found Twilight in the town square, hiding herself in a bush just outside of Town Hall. While the two of them had been lucky enough to find Twilight, they weren't having as much luck convincing her to leave the bush. "Come on, Twilight, come on out."

"I'm a Winter mess-up..." Twilight moaned from within the bush.

"Oh, that's not true. You're good at a lot of things! Just not nest making... ice skating... animal waking... snow clearing-"

"Spike, I don't think that's helping." Nero cut the dragon off.

"Oh, thanks a lot for making me feel soooo much better." Twilight groaned. Unfortunately, Spike didn't seem to pick up on the sarcasm.

"That's what I'm here for, sister! Heh, and you thought I wasn't helping." Spike gave Nero a smug grin, to which the devil hunter just rolled his eyes. Not only had it taken them over an hour just to find Twilight, but they'd been standing her for almost 30 minutes trying to get her to leave the bush. There had to be something they could do to convince her!

Nero huddled Spike close so the two of them could come up with a plan. "Alright, let's think; Twilight's upset that she can't find any jobs she's good at, so we just need to find a job that she would be good at. Besides magic, what talents does Twilight have?"

"Hmm... Well, she's always great at organizing stuff. She loves reorganizing the library practically every week!" Spike suggested.

Huh... now that I think about it, back when we were making the bird nests, Twilight had organized all her supplies in record time. But I can't think of any jobs that require organization to clean up Winter. Unless some convenient miracle job that requires a pony who's good at organizing stuff shows up, there's no way we're gonna-

"Rainbow Dash, y'all on the weather team need to melt the rest of this snow here on the ground, and the trees, pronto!" Both Nero and Spike perked up when they heard Applejack's voice from behind them. They turned around to see the farm pony talking with Rainbow Dash a few feet away, along with the rest of the pegasi on the weather team hovering above them.

"Got it!" Rainbow saluted. She was about to fly off and do as AJ asked, only to be stopped by Fluttershy.

"You can't! My poor little animals' homes will get flooded if the snow melts too fast!" The meek pony explained.

"Got it." Rainbow replied. She was about to fly off again, only to be stopped a second time, this time by Applejack.

"I'm telling ya, Rainbow, ya gotta melt that snow now!" Applejack ordered. Rainbow nodded and took to the sky, only to be stopped from flying off once again by Fluttershy.

"No! You simply must wait!" Fluttershy pleaded.

"Ok-!" Rainbow was stopped yet again by Applejack.

"Go!" AJ demanded.

"Stop!" Fluttershy demanded.

"GO!"

"STOP!"

"GO!!!"

"STOP!!!"

"UGH, MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!!!" Rainbow yelled. Nero and Spike shared glances as they watched the squabble ensue.

"Oh, what in Equestria are you all arguing about?" Nero and Spike watched as the mayor approached, not at all amused by the debacle. "This sort of silliness is why we were late for Spring last year, and the year before that, and the year before that!"

"Did she say... late?" Nero and Spike looked back to see Twilight had poked her head out of the bush, the commotion having gotten her attention as well.

"I was hoping my amazingly inspirational speech would urge everyone to do better than last year, but now it looks like we're going to be later than ever! I mean, just look at this catastrophe!" The mayor gestured to several places around town. "The Ice scorer made the ice chunks too big to melt! The nest designer's horrendously behind, we need several hundred, and she's only made one! And don't get me started on all the clouds still in the sky, the icicles on the trees, oh this isn't good. Not! At! All!"

"And it's gonna be all-to-pieces disastrous if we can't get our seeds all planted." Applejack added.

"Chillax, Applejack! We're busting our chops as fast as we can!" Rainbow rebutted.

"No! Not fast. You have to wake animals slowly." Fluttershy insisted.

"Uh... AJ?" Everyone turned to see Applejack's brother, Big Macintosh, approaching with an orange earth pony stallion. Upon seeing the stallion, AJ smacked a hoof against her face.

"Oh, good gravy. Caramel lost the grass seeds again, didn't he?" Applejack gave an annoyed groan, and the stallion, 'Caramel', winced at the reaction.

"Ayep." Big Mac simply answered.

Just then, another pegasus from the weather team flew over, clearly paniced about something. "Ditzy Doo accidentally went North to get the Southern birds!"

"Oh, that featherbrain! Didn't she learn her lesson last year when she went West!?" Rainbow exclaimed in frustration. Things continued on like this for a bit. All of the ponies crowded around the Town Hall, yelling, complaining, and arguing about something or other. It was complete chaos.

Yeesh, what a shit show.

"Stop this at once! We don't have time to argue!" The mayor declared. "It's almost sundown, and Spring is going to be late again! Another year of scandal and shame! If only we could be more organized..."

...Did-...Did she say 'organized'?

Nero and Spike looked back at Twilight, who now had a bright smile on her face. It seemed they had finally found a job for her.

Wow. That convenient miracle job turned up after all. How 'bout that.

"Spike, get my checklist and clipboard, stat!" Twilight said as she hopped out of the bush. Spike gave a salute before rushing back to the library. Nero and Twilight approached the bickering crowd, and Twilight tried to get their attention. "Stop, everypony! Stop!"

Unfortunately, everyone was too caught up in the arguing that none of them could hear Twilight. Getting an idea, Nero whipped out Blue Rose and fired into the air twice, instantly silencing the crowd and getting their attention. "EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" He yelled before turning the attention to Twilight. She thanked him before addressing everypony present.

"I know you all want to complete your jobs on time, but arguing is no way to go about it. What you need is..." Partway through Twilight's sentence, Spike came back holding a quill, clipboard, and checklist. "Organization! And I'm just the pony for the job!"

Twilight had gotten to work instantly, planning out the quickest and most effective methods to clean up Winter. For the nest making, supplies were properly separated and organized, and extra ponies were assigned to help build the nests themselves. For the ice scoring, measurements of the lake were made to show the ice skaters where to skate, creating evenly spaced cuts in the ice and keeping the ice chunks from being too big.

At Sweet Apple Acres, the ponies in charge of plowing the snow were tailed by ponies in charge of planting seeds. This allowed them to plow the field and plant the seeds at the same time, saving them much needed time to take care of other tasks. In the meadow where the critters were hibernating, bells were set up outside all of the burrows, all of them connected by ropes that were tied together. When they were finished, they pulled the rope to ring all of the bells at once, waking up all the critters at the same time. After that, the weather team was given the signal to clear away the clouds and melt away the snow.

Everypony continued on like this, working at a quick and steady pace. They planted grass and flowers, helping the birds return from migration, so on and so forth. They continued to work even through the night, and by the time morning came, everyone stood outside of Ponyville, overlooking the town. The sun was shining, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, the grass was green, and the rivers flowed evenly.

Spring was finally here, and it was a gorgeous sight.

Nero, Twilight, and the mayor all stood at the top of a small hill overlooking the town, the rest of ponyville's citizens crowded behind them. Spike was asleep on Nero's back, having been exhausted from all the hard work. The baby dragon was lucky Nero had found him when he did. Spike had been napping on a chunk of ice in the lake that was close to melting. If Nero hadn't grabbed him, Spike would've been in for quite the surprise when the ice finally melted. With how worn-out Nero was at the moment, he was actually pretty jealous of the baby dragon.

"I can't believe it... Spring is here! On time!" The mayor gazed upon the result of everyone's work with joyful disbelief before turning to Twilight and Nero. "And we have you to thank for it, Twilight Sparkle. If it weren't for your organizing skills, we would still be arguing." She then turned to Nero. "I also want to thank you for providing your assistance with this year's Winter Wrap-Up, Nero. With your strength and speed contributing to the work, we were able to get things done twice as fast!"

Technically I didn't do much until after Twilight stepped up to help organize things, but I probably shouldn't mention that if I want to get paid.

"All in a day's work." Nero shrugged.

"It was a team effort." Twilight smiled.

"Ms. Sparkle, since you helped organize every team, we have an official vest for you." As the mayor said this, Rarity walked up beside her, levitating a vest similar to all the other team vests. What made this one stand out was that it had colors from all three teams, blue, green, and tan. "We give you the title: All-Team Organizer!"

"Gosh... I don't even know what to say. Thank you, everypony!" Twilight admired the vest as she put it on. The mayor then turned to address the crowd.

"And hereby I declare that Winter is... wrapped up on time!" The crowd of ponies cheered at the mayor's declaration, clopping their hooves in applause.

"Welp, glad we got everything sorted out. If you don't mind, I'm gonna head back to Devil May Cry." Nero levitated the slumbering Spike onto Twilight's back.

"Leaving already? Don't you want to celebrate?" Twilight gave him a confused look.

"Oh, I plan to celebrate, alright. I'll be celebrating the same way Spike is: with a nice, long, nap. I just stayed up for over 24 hours while only running on 4 hours of sleep. 'Tired' doesn't even begin to describe how I feel." With that, Nero turned on his hoof and left, dragging his hooves as he did.

"Oh. Well, I hope you enjoy your nap then!" Twilight called out to the devil hunter, to which he gave her a wave back. As Nero made his way back to Devil May Cry, he took in the sights around him. The blooming flowers, the singing birds, he had to admit it was a beautiful sight. As tired as he was, he'd be lying if he said he didn't have a good time wrapping up Winter.

For Nero's first Winter Wrap-Up, it wasn't half bad.

Suited for Success

View Online

"Just keep flapping your wings- Whoa, careful! Remember to keep yourself level, or you'll lose control! Just turn your body a bit more to the right... No, my right! And don't stop flapping!" Rainbow instructed Nero as best she could.

"Christ, you make this look a lot easier than it actually is!" Nero, who was currently using his spectral wings, struggled to keep himself in the air. Before this, Nero had only used his wings to either get some extra height in his jump after an air hike, or to attack enemies while using his Devil Trigger. It had never actually occurred to the young devil hunter to try flying with his wings until this morning, when he saw Rainbow Dash practicing a new trick in the sky. Considering she was the best flyer in Ponyville, he figured she would make a good coach. Now, the two of them were high above Ponyville as Rainbow tried to teach the descendant of Sparda how to fly.

Unfortunately, they weren't making very good progress.

"Easy, easy- WHOA! Careful, watch where you're- ...oh no, LOOK OUT- OOF!" Despite Rainbow's best attempts to guide him, Nero ended up spiraling out of control and crashed into the rainbow speedster. The two of them quickly began losing altitude.

"Oh shit, OH SHIT!" Nero cursed.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" Rainbow warned to anypony who might be below them. The two of them crashed through the roof of a building, collided with the floor, then tumbled into a group of... mannequins?

"Ugh..." Rainbow Dash grunted in pain as she pushed a couple of the mannequins off herself and stumbled to her hooves. As she did, a few of the mannequins fell apart, having been damaged by the crash. Both she and Nero were draped in cloths and fabric that had previously been draped over the mannequins in question. Now that Nero was able to get a better look of their surroundings, he saw that they had crashed into Rarity's room inside Carousel Boutique. The room was furnished with a bed, more pony-shaped mannequins, shelves filled with fabrics and thread, a workbench with sewing equipment, and other bits and bobs for fashion-designing.

Oh, and Rarity, Twilight, and Applejack were all standing in the middle of the room, staring at Nero and Rainbow in surprise.

"Heh, sorry. I was giving Nero some flying lessons. It... hasn't been going well." Rainbow apologized.

"I'm not paying for that, by the way. Can't afford it." Nero pointed to the hole in the ceiling.

"Hmm..." Rarity stared at the two of them, more specifically Rainbow Dash, as she rubbed her chin, pondering something. After a couple seconds, her face lit up as she gasped. "Ideeeaaaa~! I'll make you an outfit for the Gala too, Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow shared a glance of confusion with Nero. "...Outfit for the what now?"

"I think we're missing some context here." Nero said, though the mention of a 'Gala' struck a chord of familiarity for some reason.

"I'll make one for you, and you, and all of you! Ooh! And of course, Pinkie and Fluttershy, too! Oh, and when I'm done, we can hold our very own fashion show!" Rarity exclaimed.

"What a great idea! If you're sure you can handle it, that is." Twilight said.

"Oh, it'll be a little bit of work, but it'll be a wonderful boost for my business. Plus, fun!" Rarity levitated a few rolls of fabric over to her sewing machine in preparation.

"Oh, I love fun things!" Rainbow chimed in.

"I'm gonna have to pass. Fashion shows aren't really my thing." Nero shrugged off the cloths and fabrics he was still covered in.

"Either way, you still need an outfit for the Gala, darling. I know you don't like dressing up in fancy clothes, but the Gala is such an important event, you couldn't possibly not wear formal attire. Even Applejack will be wearing something nice." Rarity insisted.

"...Sorry, what Gala are we talking about?" Nero asked. Everyone in the room gave him confused looks.

"Uh, the Grand Galloping Gala? Don't you remember? Princess Celestia personally requested that you show up for the event." Twilight tried to jog his memory.

Nero racked his brain for a second before the memory finally came to him. "...Oh, yeah, that thing. Celestia said there were some rich guys who wanted to meet me, right? Well, if they want me to go so badly, then I should at least be allowed to wear what I want."

"Oh, come now, Nero. You should at least put some effort into looking nice. It would be the courteous thing to do." Rarity persisted.

In response, Nero took a quick glance around the room before his gaze fell on a mannequin wearing a fancy suit and tie. He walked over to it and pulled the tie off before loosely tying it around his own neck. "There we go. All set for the Gala."

Rarity looked at him with an unamused, deadpan stare. "...Fine, if you truly insist on not wearing a nice outfit, then I won't push any further. However, I will have to insist you help work as my assistant instead. While I am eager to pursue this task, making six dresses in a short timeframe is a lot of work. It will be a good way for you to work off the debt you owe me."

Nero blanched. "Debt!? I don't owe you any money!"

"On the contrary, you left a rather large hole in my ceiling, and that will cost quite a bit to fully repair. If you can't afford to pay for the damages like you claim, then you will have to work for it." Rarity pointed upwards to the hole in question, "And that's not even mentioning the mannequins you destroyed. You will also have to pay for that tie around your neck if you wish to wear it to the Gala. Considering I'm only asking for a bit of help with my work as repayment, I'd say this is more than a fair deal, wouldn't you?"

Nero was about to argue, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized Rarity made a good point. He broke in by smashing a hole in her roof, destroyed her mannequins, and just took the tie without intending to pay for it. Technically, his actions could be classified as breaking and entering, destruction of property, and theft. Helping her work for a bit was actually a generous punishment, all things considered. "...Yeah, that seems fair." He relented with a sigh.

"Then it's settled. Nero will help me make your dresses, and we'll have a fashion show starring us!" Rarity declared, and the other girls cheered. Rarity wasted no time as she placed a fabric onto her workbench and began snipping away at it with a pair of scissors.

"So, all ya have to do is make a different, stunning, original, amazing outfit for one, two, three, four, five- plus yourself- six ponies!? And lickety split?!" Applejack's eyes went wide after she did a mental head count of how many friends Rarity would be making dresses for.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho, Applejack. You make it sound as if it's going to be hard." Rarity laughed.

"I mean, I don't know much about dress making, but that definitely sounds like it would be hard." Nero added.

"Don't you worry, we'll have these dresses done in no time!" Rarity promised with absolute confidence.

"Well, it sounds like you'll have a lot of work ahead of you, so we'll leave you to it. See you later, you two!" Twilight waved goodbye as she exited the room, followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Soon, Nero and Rarity were the only ponies left in the room.

"Alright then, what's my first task as your new 'assistant'?" Nero turned to the dress maker.

"First, I'd like you to patch up the hole in the roof. It doesn't need to be a professional patch job, but something would be better than nothing. In the meantime, I'll get started on the dresses. Ooh, I can't wait!" Rarity gushed as she turned back to her workbench, putting on a small pair of red cat-eye glasses. Nero let out a sigh as he went to go find something to patch up the hole.

*Meow?*

Nero stopped in his tracks. Was it just his imagination, or did he hear a cat?

*Meow!*

He looked down at his hooves and to his left to find a plump white cat staring up at him. The cat wore a purple bow on top of its head and a garish collar around its neck. "Uh...hi?"

The cat hissed at him in response, glaring at him.

"Uh...is this your cat?" Nero asked Rarity, who looked up from her work when she heard the devil hunter.

"Hm? Oh! Yes, that's Opalescence, the most adorable little kitten! She's an absolute sweetheart, I'm sure the two of you will get along nicely!" Rarity introduced her pet before returning to her work.

Opalescence hissed at Nero again, her glare never wavering.

Nero had a gut feeling they would not get along nicely.

Twenty minutes later, the hole in the ceiling had been haphazardly boarded up with several wooden planks. "Alright, I'd say the hole is officially closed."

Rarity looked up from the workbench when she heard Nero, then turned her gaze upwards toward the ceiling. Seeing the patch job, she gave a satisfied nod. "Excellent! Now we can get on to the real work!" She turned back to her workbench, placing a piece of fabric under the sewing machine.

Y'know, maybe being Rarity's assistant won't be so bad. I should be fine as long as she doesn't start-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcphzHXbULg

...singing.

Nero promptly smacked his head on the workbench and let out a groan as music began playing.

"Thread by thread, stitching it together~!" Rarity sang as she sewed a piece of thread into the fabric. "Twilight's dress, cutting out the pattern snip by snip, making sure the fabric falls nicely, it's a perfect color and so hip~!" Rarity cut a few pieces of fabric out from a long roll of it to use later. "Always got to keep in mind my pacing, making sure the clothes correctly facing, I'm stitching Twilight's dreeeeess~!"

"Yard by yard, fussing on the details~! Jewel neckline, don't you know a stitch in time saves nine~?" Rarity gestured for Nero to grab a few rolls of fabric from the workbench. Unfortunately, Opalescence was laying on top of them and refused to budge. Nero's tried to gently nudge the cat off the rolls, and the cat hissed at him in response, swinging her claws at him. "Make her something perfect to inspire, even though she hates formal attire~! Got to mind those intimate details, even though she's more concerned with sales~! It's Applejack's new dreeeeess~!"

"Dressmaking's easy~! For Pinkie Pie, something pink~! Fluttershy, something breezy~! Blend color and form, do you think it looks cheesy~?" Rarity asked both Nero and Opal as she pointed to the sketches she made for Pinkie and Fluttershy's dresses. Nero gave a nonchalant shrug, while Opalescence just looked bored.

"Something brash, perhaps quite fetching~! Hook and eye, couldn't you just simply die~?" Rarity placed some sort of gold feathered head accessory on the mannequin she was using for Rainbow Dash's dress, then added some rainbow colored fabric. "Making sure it fits for lock and crest, don't forget some magic in the dress~! Even though it rides high on the flank, Rainbow won't look like a tank~! I'm stitching Rainbow's dreeeeess~!"

"Piece by piece, snip by snip~! Croup dock haunch, shoulders hips~! Thread by thread, primmed and pressed, yard by yard, never stressed~! And that's the art of the dreeeeeeeess~!!!"

It had taken a lot of effort, but they managed to finish making the dresses for all six ponies by the next day. While the devil hunter had been roped into working with Rarity on the dresses, he had to admit that it was satisfying to see the finished products. Rarity wasn't a fashion designer for nothing, the dresses looked amazing!

"That's it, keep them closed. Don't look~!" Rarity led Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy into her workspace with their eyes closed, a wide smile on her face. Nero stood off to the side, occasionally sharing a glare with Opalescence.

"...Okay you can look now!" Rarity burst out, barely able to contain her excitement. The girls opened their eyes, each of them gasping in sync as soon as they saw their new dresses. "These are your new outfits!"

Applejack's dress was very cowboy-ish, and had a lot of green and brown colors with a few red accents. A Stetson hat similar to Applejack's own sat on the head of the mannequin, only it had much more fancy and intricate designs, including two apple-shaped patches. The collar had an apple-shaped pin on it, and a pair of fancy green cowboy boots with apple-shaped spurs were worn on the hooves. "What do you think of your 'old duds' now, Applejack? Pretty swanky, are they not?" Rarity chuckled.

Twilight's dress was mainly blue, similar to the night sky, and had several white and pale blue star patterns on it to match. There were also a pair of star shaped earrings on top. "Oh, and Twilight! We made this dress for you, and I designed each outfit theme to perfectly reflect each pony's unique personality!"

Rainbow Dash's dress looked like it was inspired by a Greek goddess. The gold feathered head accessory from before sat on the head of the mannequin, and a silver necklace rested on the neck, with purple decorative grapes dangling from it. Two golden Grecian sandals were worn on the hooves. Finally, the rainbow fabric was lined with a cloud-like trim. "Oh, it took me forever to get the colors right on this one, Rainbow Dash, but I did it! Oh, and it turned out beautiful, don't you think?"

Fluttershy's dress was a forest green color with flowers decorating the hem and a sky-blue butterfly design on the chest. A similar butterfly design was used for the earrings. "And I know you're going to love yours, Fluttershy. It just sings spring!"

Pinkie Pie's dress was, unsurprisingly, pink. It was also decorated with different candy patterns, and had a few spots with blue and white stripes for accents. A small white hat sat on the head with a pink bow attached to it. "And Pinkie Pie, look! Pink! Your favorite! Aren't they all amazing!?" Rarity and Nero looked back at the others, expecting to see looks of joy or wonder upon seeing the amazing designs.

The looks the girls were giving, however, were... not what they expected.

They were all certainly surprised, but they didn't exactly look... happy. They weren't upset or anything, but there wasn't any excitement in their eyes, just plain shock. Rarity gave a few awkward blinks as she began to worry the girls didn't like their new dresses, but she managed to keep the smile on her face.

"Is, uh... is something wrong?" Nero asked.

"H-Huh? Oh, no! They're...uh..." Twilight began, trying to find the words.

"Y-Yeah, they're..." Rainbow attempted to add something, but was having just as much luck as Twilight.

"They sure are, uh... somethin'." Applejack managed to find a word for it, giving a strained smile.

"Yes! Something!" Twilight agreed as she and Rainbow gave smiles that looked just as strained as AJ's.

"I love something! Something is my favorite!" Pinkie added as she also gave an awkward smile.

"It's...nice." Fluttershy was the last to comment, but she wasn't able to force a smile like the others. Instead, she looked pretty downtrodden.

"But what's the matter? Don't you like them?" Rarity was becoming increasingly worried.

"They're very nice!" Twilight insisted.

"And we're plumb grateful 'cause ya worked so hard on 'em." AJ added.

"Mine's just not as cool as I was imagining." Rainbow said. It took her a couple seconds to realize the other girls were glaring at her. "...What? She asked."

After sighing at Rainbow's bluntness, Twilight spoke up again. "I guess what we're all saying is that they're just... not what we had in mind." The other girls around her all agreed, and Rarity looked rather...hurt by this.

Despite being heartbroken by their reactions, Rarity managed to take a deep breath and force a smile back onto her face. "That's okay, not a problem. There's plenty more where that came from! They were only a first pass." She casually waved it off, but Nero could still see she wasn't too ecstatic about the results. "You're my friends, and I want you to be 110% satisfied. Not to worry, we'll redo them!"

"We will!?" Nero blanched from beside her. It had already taken them a lot of work and effort to get these dresses done. Knowing that effort would be a waste wasn't exactly a happy thought.

Plus, if I have to spend more time working here...

Nero paid a glance over to another side of the room, where Opalescence was glaring at him.

...It would mean more time with that demon-cat.

"Oh, Rarity. You don't have to do that. They're fine." Fluttershy said.

"I want them to be better than just 'fine'. I want you to think they're absolutely perfect!" Rarity said as she began removing the dresses from the mannequins.

"Are you sure? I mean, we wouldn't wanna impose." Applejack asked.

"Oh, it's no imposition. Really, I insist!" Rarity chuckled.

"Well, in that case, thank you again, Rarity! You too, Nero!" Twilight thanked them as the five girls left. Once they were all gone, Rarity turned back to the dresses and continued to remove them from the mannequins.

"Well then, let's get back to it, shall we? We're going to have to double time it if we want to get these dresses done in time for the fashion show!" While Rarity managed to make her voice sound like she didn't mind, Nero noticed that she refused to look him in the eye.

"...You sure you're alright, Rarity?" Nero walked up to her, and the fashion designer paused in the middle of removing Rainbow Dash's dress.

A beat passed, then another. Rarity released her grip on the dress, letting it drop to the floor, then lowered her head. "...No, Nero. I'm not alright." She let out a dejected sigh. "I put my best effort into these dresses. I really thought they would love them!"

"...Well, if it's any consolation, I think they're amazing." He picked up the dress and hung it on a nearby dress rack.

Rarity gave him a smile. "Thank you, Nero. Though, as much as I liked these dresses, I meant what I said earlier. I want to make sure they are completely satisfied with their dresses! If they had something different in mind, then we'll make it for them." She gave a confident nod.

"That's the spirit. Now let's get to work." He followed Rarity over to the workbench, both of them preparing themselves for the workload ahead.

Another Day had passed, and both Nero and Rarity were working diligently. They'd finished Fluttershy's dress and were working on the others while they waited for the shy pegasus to show up. It was as they worked that Nero noticed Rarity was starting to look a bit...ragged. Her mane was messy, and he could see the slightest hint of bags in her eyes.

The two of them looked up from their work when they heard a knock on the door. Fluttershy opened the door a crack and poked her head through. "Hello? You wanted to see me, Rarity?"

"Fluttershy! Your new new gown is ready!" Rarity galloped over to Fluttershy and led her to one side of the room with a folding privacy screen. "I completely revised it, and I know you're going to love it!"

Nero brought a few more rolls of fabric to the workbench per Rarity's request, then waited for the two to finish putting on the dress. As he did, he felt his hoof step in something wet and sticky. When he looked down, he grimaced upon seeing a hairball stuck to his hoof. His eyes searched the room before finding Opalescence, who was busy laughing at him. In response, he levitated the hairball off of his hoof and chucked it at the feline. A satisfied smirk made its way onto his face when it hit the cat's face with a wet *splat!*

Eventually, Rarity and Fluttershy came out from behind the privacy screen, with Fluttershy wearing the new dress. It was pretty similar to the original design, but there were a few noticeable changes to it. Rarity had Fluttershy stand in front of a large mirror to let the pegasus get a better look at herself in the dress. "What do you think?" Rarity eagerly awaited her friend's response.

"I...love it." Fluttershy had hesitated with her answer before flashing a nervous smile.

"Oh, you're just saying that." Rarity saw through the fake smile.

"N-No, no, I do. It's... nice."

"'Nice'?" Rarity raised an eyebrow.

"...Nice." Fluttershy repeated.

"If you don't like it, then you should just tell me." Rarity huffed.

"Oh, but I do like it." Fluttershy nodded.

"Like it, or love it?"

"Um...both?" Fluttershy flinched back.

"Which is it?" Rarity insisted as she stepped towards Fluttershy, forcing the shy pegasus to start backing up.

"Uh, please stop asking me this. I-"

"Well just tell me what you really think!"

"Uh, no, that's okay." Fluttershy eventually ran out of room to back up as her flank pressed up against the wall.

"Tell meee!"

"No, i-it's fine."

"Tell me!"

"I-...I like it." Beads of sweat began to form on Fluttershy's forehead.

"Tell me, tell me, tellmetellmetellme!" Rarity stomped her hooves.

"...Alright, since you really wanna know..." Fluttershy inhaled a big, deep breath before finally giving her honest opinion about the dress. "The arm size is tight the middy collar doesn't go with the shawl lapel the hands are clearly machine-stitched the pleats are uneven the fabric looks like toile you used a backstitch here when it clearly called for a topstitch or maybe a traditional blanket stitch and the overdesign is reminiscent of PReT-a-Porter and not true French haute couture."

Rarity and Nero blinked as they stared slack-jawed in awe after hearing Fluttershy's in-depth critique of Rarity's dress, unaware the shy pegasus had such knowledge about fashion.

"...But, uh, you know, um, whatever you wanna do is fine." Fluttershy quickly reverted back to her old meek self.

After Fluttershy had given her surprisingly thorough critique, they each said their goodbyes and Fluttershy left. After hearing what Fluttershy had to say, Rarity got the idea to call in each of the girls individually and ask them what they would prefer their dresses to look like, rather than continue making new dresses and hoping the girls would like them. The girls had been happy to do so, and each provided their own input as to how they wanted their dress to turn out. Now, Nero wasn't a fashion designer by any means, but even he could tell a lot of the suggestions that the girls gave were... questionable.

Twilight pretty much wanted to wear a map of constellations that was 100% accurate to an actual star map. The dress ended up looking extremely tacky and unstylish by the end.

Applejack's ideas seemed to consider function over fashion. The second AJ had recommended galoshes in case it rains, Nero and Rarity could both guess the dress the dress wasn't going to turn out great.

Fluttershy had, at the very least, based her recommendations off of other fashion styles like 'French haute couture', whatever that was. However, she also threw in some other bizarre ideas, like wearing a bird's nest on her head instead of a tiara.

Pinkie's proposals were all ridiculous, but not unexpected from the pink party pony. She wanted to add as many balloons, streamers, and sweets onto the dress as possible.

Rainbow Dash was by far the hardest to work with, since she didn't really add much. Whenever Rarity would ask her what she wanted for her dress, the rainbow speedster would just say she wanted it to be 'cooler', as if that was enough information to go off of. When asked to be more specific, Rainbow just said that the dress needed to be about 20% cooler.

Since when was coolness measured in percentages? I always measured it in ranks, like D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS.

After a full week had passed, they finally managed to get the sorry excuses for dresses finished. Rarity had collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion, looking upon the dresses with disdain. "Nero, Opal, be honest with me... Are they really as hideous as I think they are?"

Nero and Opalescence both gave the dresses one glance before giving Rarity a sympathetic nod.

"I thought so..." Rarity sighed. "Oh, these are the ugliest dresses I've ever made! I just hope the girls will like them..."

Nero paid another glance to the abominations of fashion.

Yeah... hopefully.

Later, the other five girls had gathered in the boutique for Rarity and Nero to show off the... well, Nero wasn't even sure if he should call them dresses. That felt like an insult to dresses.

"Okay. I did exactly what each of you asked for. Now don't hold back, let me know what you really think." Rarity awaited the girls' reaction. Each of them looked over their 'dresses' with smiles on their faces and stars in their eyes. They all gushed at the designs, paying compliments as they did. Meanwhile, Nero could see Opal hissing and batting her paws at the 'dresses'.

"It's exactly what I asked for!" The five girls said in unison.

Rarity and Nero gave a sigh of relief, knowing this meant they were finally finished working on the dresses, though there was a hint of bitter sweetness to it. "Thank you, you two! I imagine this took a lot of hard work." Twilight thanked them.

"Are you as happy with them as we are!? Huh huh HUH!?!" Pinkie, excited and energetic as always, got up in Rarity and Nero's faces.

"W-Well, we're... happy that all of you are happy." Rarity chuckled nervously, sharing subtle glances with Nero. "We're just relieved to finally be done."

"Y-Yeah, what she said." Nero nodded in agreement. "Also, on an unrelated note, uh... is the fashion show still happening, or...?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, I believe it is. Why?" Twilight answered. In the corner of his vision, Nero could see a look of absolute horror making its way onto Rarity's face. With how much focus they'd put on making the 'dresses', Rarity must have forgotten that they would be showing them off in a fashion show. Now, many of Ponyville's residence were going to see them on full display.

Well, at least it can't get any worse-

Just as Nero thought that, the door to the boutique swung open. Everyone turned their attention to the entrance and saw Spike standing in the doorway, practically doubled over and gasping for air. "You are never gonna believe this! You've heard of Hoity Toity?" Spike asked once he'd gotten his breath back.

"Uh, no. Who's he?" Nero asked.

"I'm pretty sure he's a bigwig fashion hotshot in Canterlot. What about him?" Twilight asked Spike.

"Uh huh! He heard about your fashion show! Well, maybe I happened to mention it to him. He's coming here all the way from Canterlot to see your work, Rarity!"

Oh...Oh no.

"H-Hoity Toity? H-He's coming here... to see... t-t-these dresses?" Rarity's eyes were the size of pinpricks.

"Yup! Get ready for all your dreams to come true!" Spike commended her. Rarity's eye began to twitch as the other girls congratulated Rarity, believing that this would be a jumpstart for her career.

If things played out like Nero suspected they would, this would do anything but help her career.

Later that night, the fashion show was about to begin. A stage and catwalk had been setup for the show just outside of Carousel Boutique, and ponies gathered around in excitement, chatting amongst each other as they eagerly waited for the show to begin. Nero stood behind the curtain with Rarity as she peaked out to look at the crowd. The other girls weren't with them, currently getting ready for the show.

Anyone with half a brain could tell that Rarity was nervous. Actually, nervous felt like an understatement. Her anxiety was through the roof right now as she scanned the crowd for one pony in particular. Eventually, Rarity let out a gasp and pointed to the crowd. "Oh! There he is!"

Nero took a peek through the curtains to see who Rarity was talking about and spotted the pony he assumed was 'Hoity Toity'. He was a grey stallion with a white quaffed mane and tail. A pair of purple-tinted sunglasses rested on his muzzle, and a cravat was wrapped around his neck. His cutie mark appeared to be a pale-yellow folding fan. Several ponies in the crowd murmured and whispered upon seeing the celebrity. He walked to the front of the crowd, standing at the base of the catwalk, and clapped his hooves. On cue, another pony brought out a pillow for Hoity to sit on.

Nero looked over at Rarity as she began hyperventilating. "Easy, easy, deep breaths Rarity." He told her. Heeding his words, Rarity continued to breathe in and out until her breath finally became stable again.

"R-Right, right, thank you Nero. I-I just need to c-calm down. I'm sure everything will be fine. Our friends liked their outfits, and so will he."

Ok, that I'm not so sure about. I doubt anyone here is gonna like those outfits.

"Don't worry. If things go south, I've got a plan." Nero gave her a confident smile.

Rarity blinked in surprise. "You do? What do you plan to-" Before Rarity could ask what the devil hunter's backup plan was, the lights quickly dimmed. "AH! What's wrong with the lights!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE-!?!"

"Relax, Rarity, it just means the show is starting." Nero said.

"O-Oh. Yes, of course, right, good, that's good." She smiled sheepishly as they both took a step back from the curtains. Off to the side, the pony they'd hired for the music started playing some mid-tempo techno music on their DJ mixer. He believed her name was Vinyl Scratch or DJ-Pon3 or something like that. A couple spotlights hanging above the stage turned on, shining down on the catwalk as Spike's voice could be heard echoing through a microphone.

"Since the beginning of time, the elite of Equestria have longed for pony fashions that truly express the essence of their very souls..." Spike spoke dramatically, hyping up the crowd. "Patiently waiting decades, no, centuries for the perfect pony gown. Today at long last, Equestria, your wait... is over!" The curtains on the stage pulled back to reveal Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, all wearing the outfits Rarity had made for them.

Twilight's 'dress' looked more like a large purple blanket that was draped over her body, and had several constellations sewn onto it. Because Twilight had insisted that the constellations stayed accurate to an actual star map, Rarity had been unable to create any sort of pattern out of them, causing them to be randomly speckled all over the dress. On her head, she wore a headband with yellow and aqua green stars dangling from it.

Fluttershy's dress could be described in one word: 'Nature'. The outfit was decorated with flowers and plants, and she even wore a birds' nest on her head instead of a crown. That's not even mentioning the mismatching colors that made the whole thing garish.

Pinkie's dress was very... 'Pinkie'. The dress was littered with bows, streamers, balloons, and other colors that didn't blend well at all. Ironically, there wasn't even a speck of pink on Pinkie's dress. Instead of a crown, she wore a giant cupcake on her head with sprinkles and a cherry on top.

Applejack's dress was more akin to farmhand attire than fashionable wear. A large red ten-gallon hat, Overalls, a toolbelt, a skirt that looked more like a quilt, and galoshes. How AJ even remotely thought that looked like a dress, Nero could never guess.

Rainbow Dash's dress looked more like a suit of armor. She wore a golden helmet and boots with rainbow-colored accents, as well as a red skirt with a decal of a cloud and golden lightning bolt.

The audience's reaction was... well, not entirely unexpected. The crowd let out a collective gasp upon seeing the ghastly outfits, and it wasn't the good kind of gasp. Murmurs and whispers ran through the crowd as everyone gazed upon the 'dresses', unsure of what to make of them. Nero wasn't sure if the girls had noticed the audience's reaction as they strutted down the catwalk with smiles on their faces.

Once the five girls had reached the end of the catwalk and actually started to really pay attention to the crowd's expressions, they began to pick up on the mood. With his enhanced hearing, Nero was able to pick up on their conversation as the girls whispered to each other.

"Why's everypony lookin' at us like that?" AJ asked, turning to Twilight.

Pondering the question herself, Twilight ended up taking another look at the outfit she was currently wearing, and the realization began to dawn on her. "...Oh dear."

"You think we overdid it?" Rainbow Dash whispered.

"Nah." Applejack shrugged before looking down at her own outfit. Specifically, the galoshes on her hooves. "...Okay, maybe a little."

"Oh, those amateurish designs look like a piled-on mishmash of everything but the kitchen sink." Hoity Toity commented from the audience, and the crowd burst out laughing at his joke. Backstage, Rarity and Nero subtly nudged a kitchen sink out of sight, hoping no one had seen it. Hoity Toity continued with his critique, "It's a travesty is what it is. Those outfits are the ugliest thing I've ever seen! Oh, for shame! Who is responsible for subjecting our eyes to these horrors!? Not to mention wasting my valuable time?"

"Ah! Hide me!" Rarity quickly shuffled behind Nero. This was it. Her career was over. As soon as Hoity Toity and everyone else in the audience found it was her who made those hideous dresses, no one would ever come to her shop again! She can imagine the gossip already: 'Hey, did you hear about that mare that runs Carousel Boutique? She makes the most awful dresses! You shouldn't buy from her!' This couldn't possibly get any worse. She was doomed. DOOMED! There was no way out of this. She couldn't hide backstage forever. Hoity Toity had demanded to know who was responsible for those dresses, and he would find out sooner or later. As soon as she walked out onto that stage, it would all be over!

...Except, as she hesitantly took a step forward, somepony raised a hoof in front of her, stopping in her tracks. She looked to her right to see that the hoof belonged to Nero. "Welp, I figured it would come to this. Just stay here, I'll take care of this." He said as he approached the curtains.

"W-What? What are you going to-?"

"Remember that backup plan I mentioned? I'm gonna make sure you don't lose your career over this." With that, the Devil Hunter stepped towards the curtains.

"Well!? We're waiting! I demand to know who is responsible for creating these repulsive outfits!" Hoity Toity stomped a hoof just as Nero pushed aside the curtain and stepped out onto the stage. As soon as everyone could see him, he waved to the crowd.

"Hey there. My name's Nero, and I'm the one who made those god-awful dresses."

Everyone in the audience let out a collective gasp, including the girls standing on the catwalk. However, no one was as surprised as Rarity, who stared at Nero from backstage with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

"What in Equestria convinced you to make something so hideous!?" Hoity asked in a snobbish, demanding tone.

"Eh, I'm the kind of guy who likes to dip my toes- er, hooves into new things." Nero shrugged. "Figured I'd give fashion designing a try out of curiosity. I'm just a rookie when it comes to fashion, and going off the final product, it clearly shows. I guess you could say this was a learning experience for me."

"Wait, wasn't this a fashion show for Carousel Boutique? I thought that meant Rarity was the one who made those dresses?" A pony in the crowd asked.

"Ah, that's just a bit of a misunderstanding." Nero was quick to interject. "I didn't have any stuff like threads, fabrics, sewing machines, or anything I would've needed, but Rarity was generous enough to let me use her workshop to make the dresses. Other than that, it was all me."

"Well, I must say, you should definitely avoid pursuing a career in fashion, or even fashion as a hobby! Those 'dresses' are absolute abominations!" Hoity Toity eyed the dresses as if they were pieces of trash that someone had hocked at him.

"Duly noted. I appreciate the advice from such a big name in the fashion industry. Thanks for sparing your time." Nero gave a polite nod. He could see the audience was a little surprised that Nero wasn't even the slightest bit embarrassed for having made those terrible dresses, but they thankfully didn't question it. Hoity Toity let out a 'hmph!' as he turned on his hoof and stormed off, most likely still upset about having his time wasted like this.

With the fashion show pretty much over, the crowd began to depart. Seeing this, Nero turned around and returned backstage, the other girls following not too far behind him. There, he saw Rarity and Spike, the former of the two still standing there with a look of absolute disbelief. Spike was waving a claw in front of her face, trying to spur her out of her reverie.

"Uh... Rarity? You alright?" Nero raised an eyebrow.

"I-... you-... wha-... why-...HUH!?!" Rarity eventually snapped out of it.

"Well, I figured if everyone thought I made those dresses, your reputation wouldn't take a hit. Obviously, I'm not actually interested in fashion design, so it's not a big deal if I'm labeled for making terrible dresses. This way, your career doesn't go down the drain, and the only one who takes a hit is me, and it's a hit I can take no problem." Nero explained.

Rarity just stared at him, too shocked to find the words. After a bit, Rarity leapt at Nero and wrapped her hooves around him, much to his surprise. "Thank you so much Nero! You have no idea how much this means to me!"

Nero just kinda stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to respond to the sudden hug. He didn't think what he did was that big of a deal, it wasn't like Nero was sacrificing his own career for Rarity's. His expertise was in devil hunting, not fashion. "Uh... don't mention it?"

"Rarity?" Nero and Rarity both turned to see Twilight and the other girls standing behind them, each looking very apologetic. "We're sorry for almost ruining your career. If Nero hadn't stepped in, it would've been a disaster. Those first dresses you designed were perfect, and we should've let you keep the original designs."

"You worked really hard to make our dresses exactly the way we wanted them, and we all just saw how well that turned out." Rainbow continued, paying a glance back to the catwalk.

"We're so super sorry." Pinkie apologized, and the girls all lowered their head in shame.

"We hope you can forgive us." Fluttershy added.

"Oh girls, of course I forgive you! You all being happy with your dresses was much more important to me than making the designs I wanted." Rarity released her grip on Nero and quickly embraced a group hug with the other girls. As always, Nero couldn't help but roll his eyes at how corny these girls always were. Looking down and to his left, He could see Opalescence beside him. The look on the cat's face showed that she had a similar opinion about the girls' corniness.

At least there's something we can see eye to eye on.

"We want to make it up to you, so would it be alright if we helped you finish your own dress? We realized since you were too busy with our dresses, you didn't have time to work on your own." Twilight explained.

"Hm? Oh! Right, I almost forgot about that. Thank you girls, I would very much appreciate the extra help!" Rarity smiled, and they all made their way to the backstage exit. As they did, Twilight walked side by side with Nero and subtly leaned over to him.

"I still feel bad about ruining Rarity's fashion show like this." She whispered to the devil hunter.

"Eh, you don't have to. I stopped her career from going down the drain, didn't I? Problem solved." He whispered back.

"Yes, but this fashion show was also meant to get Hoity Toity's attention and boost Rarity's career. Even if you stopped her career from going downhill, we still took away her big chance."

"I'm guessing you have a plan then?"

"I do." Twilight nodded with a determined smile. "First, we need to help Rarity finish her dress. Then..." Twilight whispered the rest of her plan into Nero's ear as the group made their way back to Carousel Boutique.

It had only taken them a day to finish Rarity's dress, and it was incredibly gorgeous. Rarity felt great satisfaction seeing the finished design and wanted to celebrate with the other girls, but they said there was something they needed to take care of as they went into the changing area of her shop. Obviously, Rarity was very confused and wanted to see what they were up to, but Nero convinced her to stay in the front with him and Spike. She had a feeling they knew what the girls were planning, but when she tried to ask, they dodged her questions, merely saying it was a surprise.

Imagine her shock when the entrance bell to her shop rang and Hoity Toity of all ponies entered almost 10 minutes later. "All right, I haven't got all day. Where are the dresses I was asked to see? My train back to Canterlot leaves in a few hours, and I would rather not miss it." He asked upon entering.

"H-H-H-Hoity Toity!? W-What-?! When-!? Why-!?" Rarity stammered.

"Ah, Hoity Toity. Glad you could spare us your time." Nero casually greeted him, unphased by his arrival.

"You again? Don't tell me you intend to waste more of my time with your awful designs." Hoity huffed.

"Okay, ignoring the blunt insult, this isn't for me. We asked you here to see her designs." Nero pointed to Rarity, who was looking between Nero and Hoity in disbelief. "I've got a feeling you'll like them. Anyway, the girls should be just about ready now. Spike, could you get the lights?"

"You got it!" The baby dragon saluted as he turned off the lights and closed the window curtains, enveloping the Boutique in darkness. After a few seconds, some spotlights flickered on and shined down on the miniature stage that was used to display mannequins for customers, only the mannequins had been removed. Instead, Twilight was standing on the stage, wearing the original dress Rarity had designed for her. The dress was blue, similar to the night sky, and had several white and pale blue star patterns on it to match. Twilight wore a pair of star-shaped earrings to go along with it.

"Why hello..." Hoity Toity lowered his glasses to get a better look at the dress Twilight was wearing. "Oh, this certainly isn't the same designer. This dress clearly has talent put into it."

Nero rolled his eyes at the comment. That definitely wasn't going away anytime soon.

The curtains on the stage closed, hiding Twilight from view. When they opened again, it was Applejack standing on the stage. Just like Twilight, AJ was wearing Rarity's original design. The dress had a lot of green and brown colors with a few red accents and gave off an old western style, and the collar had an apple-shaped pin on it. On top, Applejack wore a Stetson hat with fancy and intricate designs, including two apple-shaped patches. Below, she wore a pair of fancy green cowboy boots with apple-shaped spurs. To add to the look, Applejack had braided her mane and tail.

"Simply magnificent!" Hoity applauded. "And I suddenly have a fierce craving for some Dutch apple pie, candied apples on a stick, apple turnovers, apple cobbler..."

As Hoity Toity ranted, the curtains closed again and Nero leaned over to Rarity. "You might wanna go backstage and start putting your own dress on if you want him to see it." He whispered to her. Rarity blinked a couple times, trying to overcome the shock that had taken over her before processing what he said. She gave him a nod, mouthed a 'thank you!' and rushed over to the changing area.

The curtains opened again, this time revealing Pinkie Pie. Her dress was mostly pink with white and light blue striped accents. It was also decorated with different candy patterns, and a small white hat sat on the head with a pink bow attached to it. "Brilliant!" Hoity cheered. After the curtain closed, he jumped in surprise when a flash of light and a loud roar of thunder erupted from behind the curtain.

The curtains parted yet again to reveal Rainbow Dash, flying a few inches above the stage in her own dress. Fittingly, the dress consisted mainly of rainbow-colored fabrics, and had a cloud-shaped lining along the trim. A gold feathered head accessory rested on her head, and a silver necklace was draped around her neck, with purple decorative grapes dangling from it. Below, she wore two golden Grecian sandals on her hooves. Finally, the end of her mane had been tied into a small ponytail.

That flash of lighting and thunder wasn't part of the plan. Guess Rainbow wanted to add some flare to her intro.

"Oh, spectacular!" Hoity seemed to still be enjoying the show regardless.

Next up was Fluttershy. The curtains opened once more to reveal the shy pegasus in her dress, which was a forest green color and had flowers decorating the hem. A sky-blue butterfly design was on the chest, and a similar butterfly design was used for the earrings. Her mane had been decorated with more flowers, and the ends of her mane had been styled into curls.

"Now this is a fashion show! Oh, these dresses are absolutely amazing!" Hoity turned to face Nero as the curtain closed again. "You said that mare made these dresses, correct? Oh, where did she run off to? Step forward, show yourself!" The fashion critic looked around the room for Rarity, but was unable to find her.

"She's right here." Nero gestured back to the stage. On cue, the curtains opened again. This time, it was Rarity standing on the stage, wearing her own dress. Rarity's dress was a bright maroon color with yellow accents and frills, and she wore glass slippers on each of her hooves. Gold and maroon earrings rested on her ears and a golden tiara with a purple jewel in the center sat on her head. Hoity Toity was amazed and astounded by the beauty of her dress.

"Brava! Brava! Magnifico! Encore!" Hoity clapped his hooves together.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! OOH! Thank you all so much!!!" Rarity began thanking everyone in the room, looking like she was on the verge of joyful tears. Clearly, their second take on the fashion show had been a success.

"You know, you could learn a thing or two from her." Hoity mentioned to Nero, who just stared back at him with a deadpan expression.

Later, after the second fashion show had concluded, the girls were all chatting amongst each other, admiring their new dresses. Off to the side, Twilight was having Spike write a letter to Celestia about what she and Rarity had learned this week.

"Dear Princess Celestia, this week, my very talented friend Rarity learned that if you try to please everypony, you often times end up pleasing nopony, especially yourself. And I learned this: When somepony offers to do you a favor, like making you a beautiful dress, you shouldn't be overly critical of something generously given to you. In other words, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth." She chuckled. After finishing the letter, Spike rolled it up and blew green flames onto it, the ashes flying out the window and towards Canterlot.

"Rarity, my congratulations to you on a most impressive fashion debut!" Hoity Toity exclaimed as he approached Rarity. "No offense to your friend, but your dresses were leagues better than his!"

"Ah, yes... about that..." Rarity paid a glance over at Nero, who was currently talking with Rainbow Dash about continuing their flying lessons at some point. Not only had he helped as her assistant, but he also kept encouraging her to keep pushing forward as they both struggled to make the dresses exactly how her friends wanted them. Granted, he had only acted as her assistant as payback for destroying her roof, but he still helped.

On top of that, he took the blame for the awful dresses so that it wouldn't hurt her reputation, and he helped Twilight convince Hoity Toity to come see her original designs. Nero may not have been interested in a fashion career, but it felt wrong to let his name become a laughingstock among the fashion industry after all he did for her. Having made a decision, Rarity turned back to Hoity Toity. "You see, those dresses you saw yesterday weren't made by Nero. They were actually made by me."

Hoity's eyes widened behind his sunglasses. "I beg your pardon!? T-That couldn't possibly be true! Those hideous designs are nothing like the ones I saw today!"

"I'm afraid that's our fault." Rarity and Hoity turned upon hearing Twilight's voice. She'd overheard the conversation and decided to step in. "The dresses you saw today are the ones Rarity had originally made for us. However, we had our own ideas for what we wanted the dresses to look like and asked for them to be made exactly the way we wanted. What you saw last night was the result of that. Nero didn't want to see Rarity's reputation be ruined, so he lied about making the dresses."

"Hmm, I see. I appreciate you two telling me about this. I was going to tell my colleagues about it as a bit of gossip, but after hearing what you've said, that wouldn't be very fair to him." Hoity Toity thanked the mares. "Either way, after seeing your work here today, Rarity, it's clear you have great talent in fashion! Would you do me the great honor of allowing me to feature your couture in my best of the best boutique in Canterlot?"

Rarity's eyes sparkled at the very idea of having her dresses featured in a Canterlot Boutique! And the best of the best Boutique at that! "Why of course! I would be delighted and honored!" Rarity gasped in excitement.

"Splendid! Now, I'll need you to make a dozen of each dress for me by next Tuesday." Hoity said as if it was a completely normal request. Upon hearing said request, Rarity's eye began to twitch and she felt like she was going to faint.

"A-... a dozen of each, you say? I-I see, t-that's...uh...oh..." Rarity found herself unable to keep her balance and fainted on the spot. A few feet away, Nero was still chatting with Rainbow, but his enhanced hearing had allowed him to overhear the entire conversation. He couldn't help but smile after hearing Rarity stand up for him. However, after hearing Hoity's request, he had a feeling Rarity was going to need some help getting all those dresses done on time.

It would seem his time as Rarity's assistant was far from over.

Author's Notes:

Fellas, I have a confession to make: I've been slacking on this chapter for a bit.

I've been extremely busy balancing College, work, and life in general, plus I've been working on another story that is a huge passion project for me. However, I've been spending most of my free time playing video games, especially after the new Dead Space Remake came out, instead of working on this story. I could've gotten this chapter done sooner, but I'd been too preoccupied enjoying Dead Space and it ended up taking longer to write than it should have. For that, I apologize.

Anyway, I might take a bit of a break from this story so that I can focus on the passion project one. I want to finish the first 3 chapters before publishing it, and I want to get a couple more chapters done after that before coming back to this story. Don't worry though, I can guarantee that this story will continue. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always, stay SSStylish!

Feeling Pinkie Keen

View Online

The sun was shining in the mid-morning sky, bathing the town of Ponyville in warm sunlight. Yet another long, sleepless night of demon hunting had finally come to an end for Nero. He dragged his hooves through Ponyville before reaching the Devil May Cry shop, feeling nothing but immense exhaustion. For the other residents of Ponyville, it was time for everypony to already be up and ready for the day, but not for Nero. For him, it was finally time to turn in.

Man, why couldn't I have been born with Dante and Vergil's stamina? They wouldn't be having this problem...

While Nero always referred to himself as half-demon, this wasn't technically the case. Dante and Vergil had a demon father and a human mother, making them both 50% demon and 50% human. Nero, on the other hand, was a different story. His father, Vergil, was a half-demon while his mother was human. This meant Nero was technically 75% human and only 25% demon. While being a descendant of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda made him extremely powerful, especially compared to most demons, he didn't have all the same capabilities as Dante and Vergil. One of those capabilities included being able to stay awake for days without growing exhausted. It was most likely how Dante was able to run his demon hunting business 24/7 without getting tired.

Opening the doors to the shop, he tossed Red Queen and Blue Rose to the side, made his way upstairs and to his bedroom, then plopped down in his bed. He felt a wave of relief wash over him as soon as he felt the comfort of his pillow. Slowly, he closed his eyes and let the sweet embrace of sleep overtake him...

...

"NEEEEEERROOOOOOOOO!!!!! WAAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUPP!!!!!"

He didn't jolt awake. He wasn't even surprised. Nero slowly opened his eyes, a frown present on his face, and casually got out of bed. He ignored the incredibly pink pony that had climbed onto his bed and yelled in his ears, instead heading back downstairs and making his way towards the front entrance. He figured since he wasn't going to be getting any sleep, he might as well head out and grab some coffee to wake himself up.

"NERO! You need to be careful! I was walking by your shop when my tail started a-twitch-a-twitchin'! I came in here to warn you before it was too late!" Pinkie exclaimed, sounding more frantic and worried than usual.

"Uh huh. Sure thing, Pinkie." Nero didn't even glance in her direction. He liked Pinkie Pie, he really did, but dealing with her antics after a long, sleepless night was just too much for him.

"I'm serious! You know what a twitchy tail means, right!?" She ran in front of him, blocking him off from the exit.

"Can't say I do, Pinkie." Nero gave her a tired look, not really in the mood for this. He did, however, finally notice that Pinkie was wearing some sort of rainbow-colored umbrella hat. The odd fashion choice made him raise an eyebrow.

"A twitchy tail means my Pinkie Sense is telling me something is about to fall! You need to take cover!" Pinkie got up close and personal, invading his personal space.

"What, is today the day cows start falling from the sky? I'll take my chances, thanks." He chuckled as he weaved around Pinkie and continued towards the exit, pushing the double doors open.

'Pinkie Sense'? That's a new one. I'll admit that Pinkie's a strange pony of many talents, but having a sixth sense that can predict the future seems a little-

Nero's thought was cut off as something smashed over the top of his head the second he exited the shop. By the feel of it, he could tell that whatever had hit him would cause serious injury to any average human or pony, like a concussion or maybe worse. Due to being part-demon, the worst he would get was a sore spot on his head for about five seconds, so he didn't have to worry too much. Still hurt like a bitch, though.

"OW!!! Son of a-!" He turned to see the source of his pain and saw a familiar neon sign on the ground. The blue 'Devil May Cry' neon sign that normally hung above the door to his shop had fallen and crashed onto the devil hunter's head. The impact had caused the sign to snap in half, and the fluorescent light was completely dead.

What the hell...?

"Nero! Are you okay!?" Pinkie came running out of the shop, having seen what happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing serious." He reassured her, and she let out a breath of relief.

"Oh, thank goodness! See? I told you, twitchy tail means something is gonna fall!"

"...So you did." The devil hunter stared at the broken sign in bewilderment. Pinkie had predicted something would fall, and her prediction came true seconds later. Was her 'Pinkie Sense' actually real, or was it just a coincidence? It wasn't too hard to believe it was real, he'd seen weirder things in his life. Plus, Pinkie was already strange enough as it was. A weird sixth sense ability in the form of a twitchy tail didn't seem too out of place for her.

"Welp, my tail stopped twitching, so it should be alright now. See ya later, Nero!" Pinkie waved goodbye as she hopped away.

"See ya." Nero replied as he stared at his broken sign, realizing he would have to pay for a new one that he couldn't afford. As if his morning wasn't off to a bad enough start as it was. His horn lit up as he levitated the broken sign and carried it to the trash can sitting outside the shop. A trash pony could come collect it later.

"Yeesh, that doesn't look good." Nero looked up when he heard a familiar tomboyish voice from overhead. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings not too far above him, hovering in place. It seemed she'd been flying by when she noticed him throwing out the sign. "How'd that happen?"

"Wish I could tell you. I walked out of my shop, and it just fell and hit me on the head." He answered, and Rainbow's eyes widened.

"Whoa, what!? Are you hurt?!" She landed on the ground, concern spread across her face.

"Nah, I'm all good. It'll take a lot more than that to hurt me seriously." He boasted as he wrestled with the sign, attempting to get it to fit inside the trash can. This was difficult due to the sign being bigger than the trash can itself. "You wanna know the weird part? A few seconds before it fell on me, Pinkie predicted something would fall. Said her 'Pinkie Sense' warned her about it."

"I'm guessing it was a twitchy tail, right?" Rainbow asked. It seemed she was familiar with the Pinkie Sense. A couple seconds later, something seemed to click in Rainbow's brain as her eyes widened in horror. "W-Wait, her tail wasn't still twitching, was it!? Is something else gonna fall!?!" Rainbow immediately grabbed the lid from his trash can and held it over her head, hoping to shield herself from any potential falling things.

Nero blinked, bewildered by her reaction. "Uh, no, she said her tail stopped twitching. It should be safe now."

"O-Oh..." Once she realized there was no danger of falling objects, she realized how she'd reacted and chuckled nervously out of embarrassment, passing the trash can lid back to the devil hunter.

"So, is this 'Pinkie Sense' thing real then? You clearly seem to believe it." Nero finally managed to squeeze the sign into the can, which looked like it could barely contain it, before placing the lid on top.

"As far as I can tell, yeah, it's real. Pretty much anypony that's lived in Ponyville long enough believes it. It doesn't really make much sense, but whenever her Pinkie Sense acts up, her predictions always come true. As Applejack would say..." Rainbow cleared her throat before doing her best Applejack impression. "If Pinkie's a twitchin', ya better listen."

"...That was actually a really good impression of Applejack." Nero complimented.

"I know, right? What's even funnier, AJ can do a spot-on impression of me, too!" Rainbow chuckled.

Huh, neat.

"So, can her Pinkie Sense predict things other than when something falls?" Nero's curiosity had officially been piqued.

"Oh yeah, there's tons of different feelings that she gets, I can't even remember them all. I think when her knee gets pinchy, it means something scary is about to happen, or when her nose is itching, it means a swarm of bees is nearby. There's also ones she calls 'combos', where she gets a few feelings in a certain order." Rainbow explained.

"Huh... Alright then, I'll be sure to keep an eye out the next time I see Pinkie acting up."

"Sounds good. Anyway, I came up with a new move I've been meaning to practice, so I'll catch you later." After giving their farewells, Rainbow took to the sky and flew away.

Keep an eye out for Pinkie's Pinkie Sense, noted. Now, where was I?

As if on cue, Nero let out a yawn.

Ah, that's right. Coffee, the cure for tiredness.

Later that day, after acquiring some caffeine and rejuvenating himself, Nero went around town looking for work. He did a couple of small odd jobs here and there, but not much. Eventually, instead of finding more work, he found Twilight and Spike hiding in a bush, spying on Pinkie Pie. While Spike looked normal, Twilight was wearing a pith helmet as she stared at Pinkie through a pair of binoculars, watching the pink pony as if she were some sort of strange creature. The pink mare in question was prancing around, enjoying the scenery, smelling the flowers, being mesmerized by passing butterflies, and basically just being happy in general.

This oughta be good...

He silently crept up next to them, just barely staying out of view, before speaking up. "...Whatcha looking at?"

"GAH!!!" Both Twilight and Spike practically jumped out of their skin before turning to see the devil hunter standing next to them. "Nero!? Ugh, first Spike and now you?! Doesn't anypony know not to sneak up on other ponies!?!" Twilight groaned.

"Says the mare currently stalking another pony." Nero replied sarcastically.

"I'm not stalking her!" Twilight pushed some of the branches in the bush aside and stuck her binoculars through so she could get a good view of Pinkie. "Like I just told Spike, I'm observing Pinkie Pie in her natural habitat for scientific research. Her scientific name: Pinkius Pieacus."

Oh boy, today's gonna be an interesting one, isn't it?

Welp, Nero was already involved now, so he might as well find out what sort of shenanigans he was in for. "And why exactly are you doing this 'research'?"

"Are you familiar with Pinkie's so called 'Pinkie Sense'?" Twilight asked, not even taking her eyes off the binoculars.

Nero nodded, "Yeah, I saw it in action just this morning."

"It's really cool, right? I can't believe Pinkie can predict the future!" Spike added.

"No, she can't! There isn't any rhyme or reason as to how her 'Pinkie Sense' works, it just doesn't make any logical sense! I think there's something fishy about it, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it." Twilight declared just as Pinkie started to hop away. "Quick, c'mon. Pinkius Pieacus is on the move!" Twilight was so dedicated to staying hidden that she lifted up the bush and carried it with her as she followed Pinkie, staying a good enough distance not to get spotted. Spike tried to assist, but his shorter height meant he couldn't reach the ground, and his legs dangled underneath the bush as a result. Nero casually followed behind, not even bothering to try and keep out of sight.

So this is about her Pinkie Sense, huh? Well, I guess I'm a little curious about it myself. Might as well tag along for now.

The trio had followed Pinkie to the schoolhouse, where she rolled around in the playground's dirt and hummed a tune to herself, smiling all the while. Twilight continued to watch Pinkie through her binoculars while Spike sat next to her with a notepad, ready to take any notes they might need. Eventually, the smile on Pinkie's face disappeared when the pink pony stood up and started scratching her nose.

If I remember correctly, Rainbow Dash said an itchy nose means a swarm of bees is nearby, better keep an eye out. Also, is this what Pinkie normally does all day? She just wanders around and does whatever? Must be nice to live in bliss and not have to pay any bills...

"Hmm, itchy nose..." Twilight said, and Spike jotted it down on the notepad. Most likely spooked by the potential nearby swarm of bees, Pinkie scanned the sky fearfully before running for cover.

"Aha! That makes no sense! See? She's hiding like something's about to fall from the sky, but a twitchy tail means something's gonna fall from the sky, not an itchy nose." While Twilight was busy bragging about 'being right', both Nero and Spike noticed the predicted swarm of bees flying overhead. Unfortunately for Twilight, her back was turned to them, so she hadn't noticed. "This proves, perhaps conclusively, that-"

"Yeah that's great and all, Twilight, but you might wanna move." Nero cut her off as he grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her behind him. Just as the bees started to close in, Nero summoned his spectral devil bringer arm, as well as the two spectral wings that sprouted from his back, to make himself look intimidating. The swarm of bees quickly flew in the opposite direction out of fear.

"Buzz off, will ya?" The spectral arm and wings faded away as Nero turned to face Twilight. "Something tells me 'itchy nose' means 'look out for incoming swarm of bees'. Still think her Pinkie Sense isn't real?"

"...That was just a coincidence. There's still no scientific proof or explanation as to how her Pinkie Sense works, so there's no way it could be real." Twilight argued.

"Yeah, because nothing says 'scientific' like casting magic spells." Nero chuckled, gesturing to Twilight's horn. He kinda regretted it a second later when he saw Twilight's reaction. She almost looked offended by his words.

"Magic is not just some unexplainable phenomenon. Magic is something you study, learn, and practice. It only happens when you choose for it to happen, it doesn't have a mind of its own. And when you do use magic, you aren't getting a random, unexpected result. You cast a specific spell with an intended result. Pinkie's 'Pinkie Sense' doesn't follow any sort of logic like that, it just happens randomly. It doesn't make any sense!"

"Then... maybe that's all there is to it?" Nero suggested.

"What?" Twilight threw up an eyebrow, not following what he meant.

"Maybe there isn't an explanation to how Pinkie's Pinkie Sense works. Maybe it just... happens. There are some things that just can't be explained, and this might be one of them."

Twilight blinked, staring at the devil hunter in disbelief. "Wha-!? But-! NO! That can't be the case! Everything has an explanation for how and why it happens! If they didn't, then nothing would make sense!"

"If you insist, then I won't push it. Just don't be disappointed if you can't find any explanation for how her Pinkie Sense works." With that, Nero turned and started to leave. "Anyway, as interesting as this is, I've gotta go look for more work. Apparently, I need to start saving up cash for a new neon sign. Good luck with your research, I guess." He then paid a glance to where Pinkie Pie was, only to see her hopping away already. "By the way, you might wanna hurry if you wanna catch up with her."

Twilight's eyes widened when she realized the rare and mysterious 'Pinkius Pieacus' was getting away. She swiftly levitated both Spike and the bush up before carrying them with her, galloping after Pinkie. "Quick! Before we lose her!"

Nero simply rolled his eyes and chuckled as he watched her go. He turned on his hoof and left in the opposite direction.

Welp, now that that's done, where can I find some work? Maybe AJ's got something I can help with...

It turned out that Applejack did, in fact, have something for Nero to do. She had just gotten a new apple cellar just outside the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. At the moment, she was moving baskets of apples from the orchard all the way to the cellar. When Nero offered a helping hand (or in this case, a hoof) she happily accepted.

They'd been working for a while now and were currently dropping some more baskets off in the cellar. As they placed the most recent batch of baskets down, Applejack wiped the sweat from her brow. "Phew! Thank ya kindly for helpin' out again, Nero."

"Don't mention it. I'm happy to help." Nero took another look at the cellar itself. The walls were made of stone bricks, held in place by wooden supports. Overall, the cellar was rather spacious. Other than the several baskets of apples, it didn't have much else inside.

"How 'bout we take a quick break? We've been at it for a while now, and Granny Smith said she's makin' some apple fritters for us." Applejack suggested, the two of them making their way towards the stairs that led out of the cellar.

"Sounds good, can't wait to try-" Nero opened the cellar door, and before he could finish his sentence, a familiar purple unicorn fell through the entrance with a yelp. Twilight smashed into the devil hunter, sending them both tumbling down the steps and back down into the cellar. Nero's durability kept him from being hurt, so all he did was let out an annoyed sigh. Twilight, on the other hand, hadn't fared as well as him, now having many new bumps and bruises.

"Twilight! Ya came to visit my new apple cellar, how nice!" Applejack was rather enthusiastic about Twilight's surprise visit. Her enthusiasm slowly faded away, however, when she noticed her friend wasn't moving. "Twi? You okay? Uh, Twi?"

The only response Twilight gave was a groan that was a mixture of annoyance and pain. Nero stood up and dusted himself off before helping Twilight get back to her own hooves, though she had a noticeable limp now. She was probably gonna need to go see a doctor and get patched up.

"Twilight!? Are you okay!?" Spike's voice could be heard from outside the cellar, clear concern in it.

"She's pretty banged up, but as far as I can tell, nothing too serious. She might need to see a doctor, though." Nero called back to the baby dragon.

"I'm fine." Twilight grumbled before limping back up the steps. Nero and Applejack followed her, greeted with sunlight that hadn't been present in the cellar. Before Nero could even ask what Twilight was doing at Sweet Apple Acres, he spotted a familiar pink pony nearby, currently hopping away with a smile on her face. It didn't take him long to put two and two together. "C-Come on, Spike. We need to c-catch up with her." Twilight winced.

"I think we should get you to a doctor first." Spike suggested, helping Twilight walk. He waved goodbye to Nero and Applejack as he and Twilight left the farm for the nearest hospital.

"What the hay was that about?" Applejack turned to Nero, an eyebrow raised.

"She's been studying Pinkie to try and learn more about her Pinkie Sense and how it works. Apparently, 'it just happens' isn't a good enough explanation for her." He explained.

"She's still on about that? I tried explainin' it to her this mornin', but she wasn't havin' any of it then, either. Give her time, I'm sure she'll come around."

Nero looked back in the direction Twilight and Spike had left in. "I hope so. If she keeps this up, her visits to the hospital might start getting more frequent."

After enjoying Granny Smith's delicious apple fritters, Nero and Applejack got back to work, returning to the orchard and filling more baskets with apples. As they followed the path back to the farm, they ran into Pinkie Pie on the way. She was sitting in the middle of a crossroads on the dirt path, humming a tune and twiddling her tongue for... some reason. Nero suspected that Twilight was nearby, probably watching them through a pair of binoculars.

"Hey Applejack! Hey Nero! Watcha doin'?" The party pony greeted the pair as soon as they got close.

"We're takin' more apples to my new apple cellar. How 'bout you, Pinkie? Whatchoo doin'?"

"Oh, letting Twilight secretly follow me all day without me knowing." She said with a smile.

Of course she knew the whole time...

"You mean you knew all along!?" Twilight emerged from a nearby bush, covered in even more injuries since the last time they saw her. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Hehe! Silly, that would've spoiled the secret!" Pinkie giggled. While Pinkie looked rather pleased, Twilight looked like she was about to blow a gasket.

"T-Tail... still twitching?" Spike peeked out from behind Twilight, worried that something else might fall from the sky today.

"All done. Clear skies from here on in, as far as I can tell-W-W-W-H-O-O-O-A-A!!!" The exact second Pinkie finished her sentence, her entire body began shuddering uncontrollably on the spot. After she finally finished shaking, everyone present stared at Pinkie with wide eyes, including Pinkie herself.

"Oh no! What does that one mean!?" Spike hid behind Twilight again out of fear.

"I-... I don't know! I've never gotten any like it before... but whatever that shudder's about, it's a doozy! Something you never expect to happen is gonna happen!" Pinkie explained the feeling she was getting, and everyone's reactions were mixed. Applejack and Spike both looked nervous about what this could mean, the latter even more so to the point his teeth were chattering. Twilight gave a deadpan look, merely raising a disbelieving eyebrow. Nero's expression hardened, preparing himself for the worst-case scenario. Could it be a demon attack?

"Whatever's gonna happen, is it happening right here?" Nero asked as his horn glowed, ready to levitate Red Queen off of his back at a moment's notice.

"No, I think it's gonna happen somewhere else. Whatever's gonna happen, it's gonna happen at..." Pinkie started to focus before her whole body started shuddering again. When the shuddering stopped, her eyes widened. "...at Froggy Bottom Bog!"

Applejack let out a gasp. "That's where Fluttershy's headed!"

"Huh? Why's she headed there?" Nero turned to AJ.

"She said the pond was gettin' overpopulated, so she's flyin' a bunch of 'em over to Froggy Bottom Bog, where they'd all have more space." The farm pony explained as she turned towards the path leading to the bog. "Come on, y'all! We'd better go and make sure she's okay!"

"Oh calm down, everypony. All we know right now is that Pinkie Pie just got a case of the shivers. That's all." Twilight gave a more logical explanation for Pinkie's shuddering... only to realize everyone else had already run off, heading for Boggy Bottom Bog. She sighed before galloping after them. When she finally caught up with them, she noticed Spike was starting to lag behind, having fewer, stubbier legs than the rest of them. She grabbed him as she ran by and placed him onto her back, letting him ride on top of her.

"Hey, I thought you didn't believe in this stuff?" Spike questioned her tagging along.

"I don't. I just wanna be there to see the look on Pinkie's face when we find out nothing's wrong." Twilight said with a smug grin.

"Okey-dokey!" Pinkie smiled innocently. Nero looked back at the exchange as he ran in front, rolling his eyes.

"Don't bother waitin' for us, Nero! If ya can get to Fluttershy faster, then do it!" Applejack pulled his attention away from Twilight and Pinkie. He gave the farm pony a nod and started running at his full demonic speed, passing the tree line and entering the swamp that contained Froggy Bottom Bog.

I just hope Fluttershy's safe, and that whatever's gonna happen doesn't happen until I get there...

The ambient noises of birds chirping, owls hooting, frogs croaking, and flies buzzing filled Nero's ears as he raced through the swamp. Nero had to slow his pace somewhat as he galloped through the swamp, so as not to pass by Fluttershy without noticing her. Even then, he was moving faster than the average pony could. He could feel mud and grime sticking to his hooves as he ran, but that wasn't his biggest concern right now.

"FLUTTERSHY!? IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, SAY SOMETHING!" The devil hunter called out for her. He couldn't feel the presence of any demons nearby, not yet anyway, but he was still on edge. There was no telling what might happen if even Pinkie's Pinkie Sense couldn't predict exactly what it would be. For all he knew, it might not even be a demon. Equestria had its own fair share of hostile creatures. Any one of them could be a potential threat to Fluttershy's safety.

Then again... maybe there was no threat? Pinkie only said that something unexpected would happen at Froggy Bottom Bog, and unexpected doesn't necessarily mean bad. Maybe whatever's gonna happen will actually be a good thing?

...Psh. Yeah, and maybe Santa Claus is real. Knowing my luck, it's definitely something bad.

"FLUTTERSHY!? FLUTTERSHY!?! FLUTTER-" Nero skidded to a halt when he spotted a pair of frogs, just barely having avoided stepping on them by accident. At first, he didn't pay them much mind, but after a second, an idea popped into his head. Applejack had mentioned Fluttershy came her to drop off some frogs... maybe these two were with those same frogs? He leaned down to get at a closer level with the frogs. "Uh, hey fellas. You wouldn't happen to know where Fluttershy is, would you? Pegasus, pale yellow fur, long pink mane, about yay high?"

Nero's question was left unanswered as the frogs did a 180 and started hopping away from the half-demon out of fear. It seems his charm with animals was still non-existent. Just as Nero was about to try calling out for Fluttershy again, another thought occured to him.

Wait... animals see Fluttershy as a source of comfort, right? If they're scared of me... then they'd probably seek her out for protection! I just gotta follow them, and they'll lead me straight to her!

With a plan in mind, Nero gave chase after the frogs... which quickly turned out to be much easier done than said. The frogs weren't able to hop very fast, not by Nero's standards at least, which meant he was forced to follow them at a slow trot. While this made following them extremely easy, it did nothing to help his anxiousness. Every second wasted looking for Fluttershy was a second she could be in danger.

After some time, Nero followed the frogs to a large murky lake. He scanned the entire lake before spotting Fluttershy off to one side, releasing more frogs into the wild. He sprinted over to her in a heartbeat and called out to her to get her attention. "FLUTTERSHY!"

The shy pegasus turned her head in the direction of Nero's voice, surprised to see the devil hunter here. "Nero?"

"Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything, are you?"

"Uh... no, why would I be?" She asked, understandably confused.

"Hopefully it isn't anything to worry about, but Pinkie's Pinkie Sense was going nuts earlier. She said something unexpected would happen at Froggy Bottom Bog." He quickly explained.

"P-Pinkie Sense!? Is something bad going to happen!?!" She recoiled in fear, a look of panic spreading across her face.

"Hopefully not, but I think we should leave before anything does." As soon as he turned around to lead her out of the forest, he saw a few familiar faces approaching. It seemed that Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Spike had all managed to catch up.

"Fluttershy! You're okay!" Spike leapt over and wrapped his arms around the shy pegasus, embracing her in a hug.

"Whew! What a relief..." Applejack let out a relieved sigh.

"I'm so glad everything's alright!" Pinkie smiled.

Unfortunately, the relief ended there as Twilight began to brag. "I'm sorry, I know it's not nice to gloat but... AH HA!"

Oh boy, here we go.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about, and I was right!" Twilight wore a smug smile on her face as she continued. Meanwhile, just barely in his peripheral, Nero noticed some movement in the water. At the same time, a foggy mist slowly began to surround the group. The devil hunter started to get a familiar feeling, and not a good one. "Pinkie Pie said whatever she was shuddering about was a- *cough! cough!* doozy, and the only- *cough! cough!* doozy here is how right I am!" Twilight, along with everyone else, started coughing as the mist grew thicker. It was then that Nero saw the movement again, only this time it was behind Twilight.

A large, scaley creature with a snake-like neck began to emerge from beneath the water behind Twilight, who was completely oblivious to it. After it, three more slowly sprouted out next to it, all four of them towering over the group. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all looked up at the creature in horror, and Nero levitated Red Queen off his back. Twilight, somehow, was still oblivious, and kept going with her rant.

"Uh, Twilight?" Nero tried to get her attention, but she wasn't listening.

"Pinkie's made a lot of predictions today, but- *cough! cough!* ugh, what is that smell?!" Twilight wafted some of the mist out of her face, not that it did much. Meanwhile, the necks had emerged out of the water enough for Nero to see that they were all connected to a single body. "But what we've shown here is that there is no point in believing *cough!* in anything you can't see for yourself!"

"Oh yeah? Then how about you see what's behind you?" Nero pointed a hoof over Twilight's shoulder. He watched her turn around, then look upwards at the top of the long, scaly necks to see the serpent-like heads that sat on top, each one sporting very sharp fangs. The glowing red eyes on each head confirmed Nero was right about the feeling he was getting.

It was another creature possessed by demon blood.

He could see Twilight's ears flop down as she took in the horrifying sight. She stepped back from the beast, joining the rest of the group behind Nero.

"IS THAT A HYDRA!?!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Everyone start running, I'll take care of it!" Nero ordered, and the group all listened as they turned around and started sprinting in the opposite direction. Nero then turned his attention back to the hydra, which had started to fully climb out of the murky water, revealing a large, scaly body with four legs and a spiked tail on the end. "Y'know, I've heard that two heads are better than one, but four seems like overkill, don't you think?"

One of the hydra's heads shot towards Nero in an attempt to eat him, and he simply flipped out of the way. "Whoa, hey, I'm not judging or anything. Just giving my two cents, that's all." Two more heads tried to snack on him, and he swiftly dodged both. "Alright, now you're just being rude."

All four heads on the Hydra let out a collective monstrous roar, glaring down at the devil hunter. Nero simply smirked, "Okay then, if that's how you wanna settle this, then be my guest." Nero twirled Red Queen before stabbing it into the ground and revving the handle. "I'll try to go easy on you, but no promises."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ybHsjxrt6w

Pulling Red Queen out of the ground, Nero backflipped away as the hydra tried to chomp him again, this time swiping his sword at the creature's face mid-flip. The hydra let out a roar of pain as it recoiled from the strike, and Nero took the opportunity to put some distance between them. Standing in the middle of the bog didn't give him much space to work with since most of it was water, so he needed to take the fight somewhere else. Dodging another chomp from the Hydra, Nero started running back into the forest, leading the Hydra away from the bog. He fired several rounds from Blue Rose as he ran, angering the giant beast as it gave chase. Eventually, he reached a mostly clear area with only a few trees surrounding them.

Alright, this looks like a good spot. Let's do this!

Turning back around to face the Hydra, Nero took a fighting stance as he waited for it to attack again. All four heads shot at him like rockets, their maws opened wide and ready to chomp. He ducked, flipped, and evaded every bite with ease, taking every opportunity he could to counterattack with his sword while occasionally attacking with his devil breakers to spice things up. For extra damage, he would rev his sword mid-swing to perform an EX-Act, adding flames to each attack.

"C'mon, is this the best you got? Can't say I'm impressed..."

With each strike that landed, the Hydra would let out a small roar of pain as it continued its onslaught of attacks, simultaneously swiping its tail at the demon hunter while also trying to swallow him whole. As the Hydra's attacks started to become faster and more vicious, Nero started using his Gerbera devil breaker to help him evade. As two of the heads speared towards him from opposite directions, he used the devil breaker to blast himself backwards at the last second, letting both heads smash face first into each other.

While the Hydra was stunned, Nero activated his Devil Bringer, summoning a spectral arm from his right hoof, and grabbed a nearby tree. With his immense strength, he ripped the tree out from the ground before smashing it across one of the Hydra's heads like a baseball bat, causing the tree to break. A second spectral arm sprouted out from his left hoof, then two more came from his horn, and he used all of them to grab the Hydra by its four necks. First, he smashed all four heads together three times in a row, making the creature dizzy beyond belief. Next, straining with some effort, Nero lifted the beast up before throwing it over his shoulder, slamming it into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater. Then, he clamped all four spectral arms into fists before smashing them down onto the Hydra's heads like a hammer. Finally, he grabbed the Hydra yet again, spun around a few times, and threw it into the air, sending it flying over the trees before it crashed into the ground.

No doubt that did a lot of damage.

A second later, the Hydra bellowed in anger as it charged through the trees, heading straight for Nero.

But apparently not enough.

"BRING IT ON!!!" Nero yelled as he activated his Devil Trigger, his body transforming. He began shooting at the Hydra as it approached, summoned spectral swords flying at the beast in sync with the shots from Blue Rose. When the Hydra finally reached the devil hunter, it tried attacking again, only for Nero to avoid each one. He sliced at the Hydra with his sword, the claws on his spectral wings adding to the damage done. It eventually became too much for the Hydra to handle as it stumbled back, dazed and barely able to stand. "I think it's just about time for the finale!"

A spectral Yamato appeared at Nero's side as he took a stance, readying himself. "Tide's turning..." He unsheathed the spectral Yamato, wielding it at the same time as Red Queen, and delivered several slashes and strikes onto the beast. "SHOWDOWN!" The force of the attack knocked the Hydra backwards, causing it to fall on its back. Nero felt the presence of demonic energy leaving as the fight came to an end, signifying the Hydra was no longer possessed by demon blood. By the look of it, the Hydra appeared to be unconscious, but still alive.

Good. Now to catch back up with the others.

With that, Nero turned around and headed back towards Froggy Bottom Bog to find out where the rest of the group ran off to.

Eventually, Nero managed to catch up with Twilight, Spike, Applejack, and Fluttershy, finding them on the other side of a large gap. A few natural stone columns stood in the middle of the gap, allowing Nero to hop across to them. "Glad to see you're all safe. The Hydra's been taken care of."

"Phew! What a relief..." AJ sighed.

"I don't know how it happened; coincidence, dumb luck, or what, but you said there'd be a doozy at Froggy Bottom Bog, Pinkie Pie, and I'd say we just had ourselves one heck of a doozy!" Twilight admitted.

"Finally starting to believe in the Pinkie Sense, huh?" Nero chuckled. Just as Twilight opened her mouth to respond, Pinkie Pie's whole body started shuttering again, grabbing everyone's attention.

"...That wasn't it." Pinkie simply said.

"What wasn't what?" Spike asked.

"What are ya talkin' about, Pink?" AJ also asked.

"The Hydra wasn't the doozy. I'm still getting the shudders!" Pinkie answered as her body continued to shiver and shake. "Y'see? There it is again! Whatever the doozy was at Froggy Bottom Bog, my Pinkie Sense says it still hasn't happened."

Nero paid a glance over to Twilight, watching her face go through several different emotions as she processed the new information. "H-Huh? But I-... WHAT!?!"

Uh oh...

"The Hydra... wasn't... the doozy? How... could it not be... the doozy?! What could be doozier than that!?!" Twilight's eye started to twitch as she was quickly reaching her breaking point.

"Dunno, but it just wasn't it." Pinkie shrugged.

Twilight began fuming through grit teeth. Her anger and frustration boiled to the point that flames sprouted from her mane and tail, her eyes turning red. After a few seconds, she let out all of her rage with a sigh, causing her mane, tail, and eyes to revert back to normal. "I give up..." she relented as she collapsed to the ground.

The hell was that just now? Could she always do that?

"Give what up, Twi?" Spike asked as he walked up to her.

"The fight. I can't fight it anymore." She sighed before continuing. "I don't understand how, why, or what, but Pinkie Sense somehow... makes sense. I don't see how it does, but it just does. Just because I don't understand doesn't mean it's not true."

"Y-Y-You mean you B-B-B-Believe?" Pinkie asked as her body continued to shudder.

"...Yup. I guess I do." Twilight answered tiredly.

As a reaction to her answer, Pinkie's body started shaking even more violently before it started moving about chaotically. Her body contracted, expanded, shrunk, inflated, and bounced up and down before suddenly, all motion in Pinkie's body ceased. Pinkie blinked, giving herself a once over as she noticed the shudders were gone, before letting out a gasp. "That was it! That's the doozy!"

Everyone stared at Pinkie as if she'd just grown a second head, glancing between each other to see if someone else had understood what she meant. Eventually, Twilight asked the question on everybody's mind. "What? What's the doozy?"

"You believing! I never expected that to happen!" Pinkie pointed at Twilight. "That was the doozy! Oh, and what a doozy of a doozy it was! La-La-La-La-La~!" Pinkie started prancing away in the direction back to Ponyville, humming a tune to herself the entire time. Meanwhile, Twilight was left standing as she stared blankly ahead, digesting what just happened.

"...Huh." Was the only response she could come up with.

"...Well, I guess that means everything's settled now. What's say we head back, huh?" Applejack suggested.

"Sounds like a great idea. There's a comfy bed calling my name..." Nero yawned, the effects of his coffee starting to wear off. Together, the group followed Pinkie as they made their way back to Ponyville.

The next day, after Nero had finally gotten some much needed sleep, he went out to buy a brand-new neon sign to replace the old one. The new sign looked identical to the previous one, so much so that you wouldn't even know it had been replaced unless someone told you. After finally having gotten it into place above Devil May Cry's entrance, he took a step back to admire it. "Back in business." Nero said to himself.

"Wow! It looks good as new!" Nero looked over his shoulder at the sound of Pinkie's voice. She was wearing that rainbow-colored umbrella hat he'd seen her wearing yesterday morning. What really surprised him was that Twilight was standing next to her, wearing an identical umbrella hat.

"Thanks, but... what's with the weird fashion choice?" The half-demon pointed to their hats.

"Pinkie's tail is twitching. Better to be prepared, right?" Twilight pointed to Pinkie's tail, which was indeed twitching.

"Heh, yeah, I guess so. Glad to see you finally understand some things can't be explained." Nero chuckled.

"You're right. I understand now that there are some things in this world that you can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. You just have to choose to believe in them, and sometimes..." Twilight shifted her gaze to Pinkie, "...It takes a friend to show you the way."

Nero smiled. "That's good to hear. Welp, I'll keep my eyes upwards just in case something does fall."

"Sounds good! See ya later, Nero!" Pinkie waved goodbye as she and Twilight continued on their way. Once they left, Nero turned his attention back to the new neon sign. Remembering that Pinkie's tail was twitching, a thought occurred to him...

"...Don't you dare." Nero glared at the sign with suspicion.

Author's Notes:

This chapter took waaaay longer to finish than it should've, and I sincerely apologize for that. Every time I would sit down to write this story, I would only get about 100 words before running out of motivation to keep writing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this story, as well as the fact that so many people are enjoying it as well. The problem is, I'm not as passionate about this story as I am for other stories I want to work on.

This pretty much started out as a fun idea of "What if Nero (and eventually Dante and Vergil) ended up in Equestria and followed the events of the show?" It wasn't anything big or groundbreaking, and it wasn't a passion project for me or anything, so I never expected it to get as popular as it did. Trust me, I'm super happy that so many people did give it attention, and I intend to keep writing it because of that. It's just hard to feel motivated about writing this story when I'm more interested in writing other stories.

Again, don't worry, this story isn't dead. I've just been having difficulty keeping focus on it, that's all. Anyway, now that it's finished, I'm gonna go play the new Separate Ways DLC that just came out today for the Resident Evil 4 remake. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to update sooner if I can. Stay SSStylish!

Devil May Cry: Demons in Equestria

by GeekMaster101

Prologue

Friendship is Magic (Part 1)

Friendship is Magic (Part 2)

The Ticket Master

Applebuck Season

Griffon The Brush-off

Boast Busters

Dragonshy

Bridle Gossip

Swarm of the Century

(Intermission) A Familiar Sight

Winter Wrap-Up

Suited for Success

Feeling Pinkie Keen