Guardianby Pegasus20101000ChaptersFireAppleloosaFamily and IdiotsFireWeavertown was experiencing a few rare quiet hours that evening. Streets that by day were busy and cheerful had calmed to a few patrolling ponies, night-time strollers, and late workers heading home to sleep after many long hours of travelling through the countryside to trade with the neighboring towns. Little wisps of smoke rose from the chimney of the blacksmith's workshop as he closed up for the night, newly forged swords hung up on the walls, ready for use, and expertly repaired weapons glinted in the moonlight. The usually roaring fire dying to embers and red coals. Outside the town's high wooden walls, resembling branch-less trees, were a pair of ponies digging a grave, their breath misting in front of their faces before getting pulled away by the cool breeze. The sounds of stubborn rocks scratching against the metal of the shovels echoed across the area sharply. Glancing up to the nearby gate they could see the vigilant sentinels; veteran wall guards watching the horizon and patrolling the walls, ears twitching at every sound even as they nudged the younger guards awake, newer volunteers who were unused to the night owl ways, who would instantly jump to attention and return to their posts. The residents of the village took their chance to rest while it was peaceful, feeling safer knowing that they were being guarded. Only a few candles remained lit, flickering in the windows and casting a gentle golden glow on the ground below. Nearer to the west wall, a little yellow filly stirred from her dreams and awoke, sitting upright instantly in her bed and glancing around in confusion. It seemed to be far too early for her to be awake as the stars shone clearly overhead, she could see them through the little window to her left. Thinking that since she was awake now she may as well enjoy the silent night while it lasted, she removed her quilt and approached the window, lifting it up and setting it on a hinge so it would remain open as she peered out into the darkness. The filly rubbed her eyes, adjusting to the outside light, and looked out over the houses, just about able to see the guards at the gate through a gap in the buildings, with a brilliant view of the constellations directly above her. However, as she inspected the night-time world, she spotted warmer colours peeking over the hills and mountains in the distance. She wasn't sure exactly how long she had been standing at her window, but when the guards began to pace faster along the walls and voices rose slightly, she grew suspicious. It definitely wasn't morning yet. Glowing white lights suddenly appeared all over the village, the villagers had awoken, and the filly herself joined in the warning, her eyes shining bright as she too detected the heavy demonic presence that was swiftly approaching her home. The sunrise split into a swarm of fiery singular lights, travelling through the air and growing in quantity. A fire demon swarm, led by the 'sun', the main cause of the daybreak-like glow, a much larger queen, her shape clear even from such a distance as she spread her wings and shrieked, announcing her arrival. Before they could reach the walls, the unicorn guards and villagers that had already left their homes rallied their magic together to form a shield, completely containing them inside. The gates were closed behind the grave-diggers as they fled to safety and everypony prepared for the raid, fire demons already crashing themselves into the shield in an attempt to weaken it. The queen had expected this, however, and in all her beautiful yet deadly power, sucked in all the heat that her fire-covered body produced, turning black-blue for just a second, and unleashed it upon the shield, heat passing through and knocking the nearest guards' concentration off instantly. The shield began to crumble. It only took seconds for chaos to descend. The wall guards closest to the queen had taken the brunt of the first blast and had been thrown from the walls, immediately afterwards the flying demons had switched their attention from the now useless shield to the village itself, and even the pegasi could not stop them by air when protective fire coated their enemy. Buildings burst into flames as the demons crashed into the roofs, falling debris and candles only spreading the fire even faster, trapping the slower ponies and those remaining inside and separating groups as they fled, bearing hastily grabbed weapons as they attempted to defend themselves. With the queen remaining in the air, hovering over the village and blocking out the moonlight completely, she acted as an airship, both land and air demons dropping down from her back and heading straight for the glass dome roof of the town centre. Over the sounds of shattering glass and plants burning to ash as the rooftop greenhouse was instantly destroyed were the cries of foals. On the ground floor of the town hall was the Elder of the village, a unicorn with a calming aura, who comforted the foals of the guards. She always took it upon herself to watch over them while their parents kept the village safe, but tonight she would be the one tasked with keeping them alive and soon guide everypony else to safety. She held the foals close, whispering her promise that she would keep them all safe as long as they stayed together, and glanced up through the spiral staircase that circled the inside of the building to the high ceiling. Red light began to pass through the wood panels and they began to burn and crumble, it would not take long for the burning to reach the support beams, and then it would all cave in on top of them. But once again, the groups eyes flashed white in warning, the Elder swiftly rose and turned, horn glowing as a small shield bubble sprang up around the fillies and colts, leaving the old unicorn exposed to the medium fire demons that had crashed through the windows and charged towards them, a blazing trail following them in. It seemed their plan was to circle the ponies and allow the collapsing roof to bury them as they became trapped in a ring of fire. The Elder would not allow this as she summoned ethereal blades of magic which hovered above her head, spun, and then impaled themselves in the chests of the demons, who almost immediately faded to grey and were blown away as ash. The shield was dropped and the Elder nudged the foals to draw them out of their shocked staring, guiding them outside quickly just as wood, glass and burning plant matter fell behind them. Once outside, more ghostly swords were created, slashing at any demon that approached the foals until the little group reached a surviving gang of guards that took over the job. With one last smile at the foals, the Elder returned to the fiery rubble to locate any more ponies in need of her help and bring them to the edge of town where a secondary gate was being unlocked to free everypony. Carts were pulled past her, carrying whatever supplies the villagers had been able to grab on such short notice, rocking violently as they hit debris in their path. Ears twitching at a thudding sound, she followed it to a doorway blocked by pieces of balcony and support beams. A pony must have been inside, trying to kick their way out. As she approached to use levitation to help move the blockade, her eyes flashed white again. She sensed a new fire demon aura, and as she scanned the sky a black feather floated down from above. - On the road between Diamond Dog territory and the little town of Appaloosa walked a lone cloaked unicorn. He wore a strange green amulet in the shape of his cutie mark, a fire-blast. He always seemed drawn back to this part of the country. Maybe the heat reminded him of his real home, or perhaps ponies were more easily impressed by his magic here, or the emptiness of the desert was peaceful. Either one would make sense. A wind that had swiftly picked up in just a few minutes carried a familiar burning scent, and as he looked to the North West, it blew his hood back to reveal green glowing eyes. The pony looked to the source, it appeared there was a fire in the Ghastly Gorge area. Not too far out of the scrub-land actually, perhaps an investigation would be interesting. He tucked his amulet into his cloak as he picked up the pace, his cloak billowing behind him, he kept his eye on the growing redness ahead, leaving the path to Ponyville to cut across the last bit of desert towards the neighboring river and grasslands. Recently published maps that he had spotted during his visit to the new town did not mark anything in that area, of course it was not a sought after living area, the Gorge was dangerous, and the forest was not too far off either, but there was quite a large clearing beyond it, between the Applewood mountains and the Everfree. He remembered the last time he passed that area, and what he had heard about it while he was at home. It definitely was a place to be avoided for somepony like him, though the fire had already gotten his attention and would most likely be a good sign that he could approach without being spotted. He knew there was an unmarked old village there, filled with ponies who could kill him if he got too close. As the desert thinned there was a caw from above and a large crow dived down, leveling out and flying at the unicorns side. “Hello, Corvus,” the pony greeted, “you’re coming along too?” Corvus cawed again, a yes. For a short time they continued on their way, the edge of the gorge ahead of them and the signs of fire grew; embers carried by the wind blew over their heads and the blaze was now visible, and above the burning village was the obvious cause. “A Queen is here? These ponies must have really got on the bad side of the fire demons.” He was not really too surprised though, relations between the hunters and these demons had always been tense, he had heard about it many times over the years, though it seemed it had finally reached a breaking point, one death of a demon too many had triggered a full on raid. As he watched a new wave of demons leaped down from the Queens’ back and landed near an elderly pony who seemed to be trying to break down a door, though it was immediately taken out by a second armed pony. He could also see a group of foals and guards in the least damaged area, they were escaping through a hidden village exit, passing under the walls and reappearing above ground on the outside, galloping to safety before they could be spotted. Others were heading that way. These hunters could handle themselves, and since he was not really wishing to cause problems between himself and the fire demons, the unicorn set himself down and continued watching, the crow landing on his shoulder. However, even as he watched more and more ponies escape, enough to be almost the entire village population, he thought things through again and stood up. This wasn’t right. He could handle fire demons, but watching the younger villagers become targets was unfair. Senseless killing was wrong. Corvus, sensing his new idea, cawed and took off, circling the village with glowing green eyes, spotting any trapped ponies who had been left behind. The unicorn, horn glowing green with magic and mane and tail flowing with his pyro abilities, winced as blood burst from his back and raven wings sprouted there, his hooves and teeth grew sharper too. After a moment of adjusting and testing his new limbs, he too leaped from the hill top and headed straight for the nearest trapped pony. The old mare and the guard had made progress on removing the collapsed beams, but there was still one trapping the younger pony inside, it had become lodged in the broken wall. Using a levitation spell, the flying unicorn forced it out of the wall. There was the sound of crumbling for a moment and then there was enough room for the villager to squeeze through and escape. With Corvus alerting him to the next fallen building, they made their way around the village, freeing the last few ponies in just a few minutes before hovering above the crushed glass roof of what used to be the town centre. One last caw, one last pony to be found. However, it seemed that they were a little late. This was one of the buildings hit earlier into the raid, and a foal had been left behind. But as they hovered above the wreck he sensed a heartbeat, they weren’t too late. Landing on the burning beams and roof tiles, he was unharmed by the heat as he began to free the foal with a combination of his magic and his own strength, revealing a damaged, ashen body in moments. He felt the creaking of the flooring as it weakened. He had one choice. The village was almost emptied of other ponies and they probably would not be able to help with burns this severe, but he could… Deciding to not leave the decision up to the fire and the dying pulse, he picked up the foal and took off after Corvus who had stayed out of the reach of the fire and done one last search of the village, discovering that both sides were making a retreat; the fire demons had done their jobs and did not pursue the fleeing hunters who carried whatever supplies they had left and their injured far away from the walls. Leaving in the opposite direction of both sides, as they passed over the border towards the south-east, the unicorn felt a sudden sharp, pulsing pain along his spine, but in a moment it had faded away. He paused to look back and investigate; nothing had hit him, and he didn’t think he’d overused his magic… Cawing drew him out of his confused thoughts and reminded him of the urgency of the situation. He could figure out what that was later, right now he was going to have to remember that he was looking out for two ponies. The desert was swiftly reached, and ahead in the now peaceful darkness was the shadow of a small town, on the outskirts of which was the place that the unicorn and crow had called home for a while now. They went unnoticed by the sleeping townsfolk below, or at least they slept for now, dawn would arrive fast and the desert would have plenty of noisy residents roaming around. Time was not to be wasted, especially since they did not want nosy ponies with good intentions coming to their home to disturb them over the foal, they could handle things themselves. Besides, the unicorn preferred to be alone, he had enough company, maybe even too much, and that was before he had a foal to take care of. Landing outside the building, the unicorn’s dark wings were removed with a flare of green magic, allowing Corvus to land upon his back as he unlocked the door with his magic and entered. It had been a long night. Author's Note Originally uploaded by friends requests, it counts as an origin story/crossover of the characters Acry and BlitzFire (Crazyhunterxiii). AppleloosaThe little house on the edge of town was a simple thing, all dark wood with stout windows along the centre of each outer wall, cramped rooms despite the minimal decoration, with the kitchen and living room getting the most space due to family and food being the most cared about things in this community. This property had gone cheap, just a little unassuming place that no one would take a second look at, one of the walls hadn’t even been finished! Yet, it had been bought on the spot, the builders didn’t even get a chance to get on the property to work after that, the reason they received being ‘that’s the best view of the sunrise from the property, don’t need a window here.’ And so they moved on, accepting it. That was just how Blitz wanted it. He and Corvus living un-bothered in a warm part of the country, they got that view they wanted with a seat to go with it, and didn’t bother with much else besides a sign on the door that warded away potentially overly-friendly neighbours. The other ponies got used to this loner attitude rather quickly, but not without some stubbornness while attempting to make initial contact Even while going into town, the unicorn stallion avoided the popular, town-wide fashion sense; no hats or boots for him, just the cloak he always had and maybe a crow on his shoulder. He wasn’t exactly completely different though, he paid for goods at the same store as everypony else, joined the crowds at town meetings to hear news and plans for their settlement, he would sometimes even pay the orchard a visit. This setting, despite the heat, was so different to his last home that he intended to live it like a normal pony, there were just a few things he refused to take part in, and they accepted that. He had spent only a few months here, the first had been eventful of course with all the settling in to be done, but after that it had all flown by and it had felt like he had started to fit in there, it started to feel like home. Stepping through the door after his little ‘trip’ out of the scrub-lands, Blitz’s cloak was immediately hung on a coat-hanger just by the door, one of his other rare additions to the place, and Corvus took off for his favourite perching spot, the upstairs ‘window’. With the door locked behind him, it was now time for him to deal with the main problem of the day, back pains and accommodation could wait a little longer when there was a burned foal in his hooves who had left soot patches on his once white coat, he couldn’t even tell what colour she was meant to be any more. Getting light into the room would be a good start, the dawn had not quite arrived yet, and so with a little flare from his horn he lit the candles in the sitting room as he walked in. Nopony else would be seeing the place so he didn’t care if it wasn’t exactly going to be presentable any more. The candles gave off a bright green flash at first, but then faded to regular, gentle yellow flames. Blitz set the foal down on one of the seats. He knew just the spell for this situation, but he hadn’t had much practice with it, it hadn’t been required for so long, but he was confident in his abilities and set to focusing on his magic anyways. The spell always required himself and a secondary injured being for it to be used at all. As his horn and eyes lit up some of that light spread to the burns and open cuts on the filly and they began to gradually close up and fade, however they reappeared exactly the same as before on Blitz’s body instead. Any pain he felt in that process was completely ignored in favour of focusing on the spell until finally he was sure that he had mended as much as he could, there was nothing to be done about anything older, they had already scarred over. By that time, the sun had broken over the horizon and had begun to fill the room with a golden glow, it wouldn’t take long for the higher temperatures to arrive too. With the foal now stable and sleeping, and his newly-traded injuries healing at their own rate, he could move onto the second problem; where would his new ‘tenant’ stay? There was absolutely no way that anypony would have returned to the village in less than three hours, and still no chance of her staying there either when the place was just piles of smouldering rubble, and possibly a few lingering demons. The ground floor windows were an issue, any passersby could just take a glance in, until now he had seen no use for curtains. A bit late, well, early, to go shopping for those, so it could wait. Perhaps one of the upstairs rooms would do better. Holding the foal away from his healing skin, he headed towards the stairs. As an afterthought he paused, came back into the room and then left again with a larger seat levitated behind him. A super basic room only took minutes to set up. The foal was now sleeping peacefully and Blitz’s wounds were well on their way to closing up completely. That reminded him of the final issue; his back. Without his cloak he could take a better look, but still that revealed nothing. No marks of any kind, no sign that anything had hit, bit or cut him. Maybe magic could have been involved in this, he hadn’t thought about that at the time, usually it was a very noticeable thing, especially with ponies. Though he realised it could have been something else entirely. Blitz left the room before testing his theory, pulling the door to behind him. There was a faint green glow from his eyes as he attempted to detect magic, and it worked. In fact, he could even see the etchings along his spine that something had left there… “Who the fudge gave me unwanted bone tattoos?!” - Slowly waking from her deep healing sleep, the filly’s thoughts were clouded. Waving away the fog in her memories, she saw the previous night and at first assumed it to be a dream, well, a nightmare. She was comfortable and warm, not burning, it was peaceful, how could anything bad have happened? No pain or searing heat, no gently rocking cart below her, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all wrong, her bed wasn’t this material, and it was always cool in the morning. It took a little longer than it should have before she shot up in ‘bed’, eyes wide and glowing as she sensed the presence of demonic energy and took in the new, unfamiliar environment. A tiny window, out of reach of the bed, was no help to her with her short legs, but bright sunlight shone through and illuminated the opposite wall. What she had been lying on appeared to just be a sofa with a thin blanket on it. There were no decorations, only simple, warm red walls with a light wooden floor. And there was a demon nearby… This was definitely not home, and she was completely sure by now that her family was not here either, no demon would be this close otherwise. Hesitantly, she stood up, thinking through all the events of the previous night; waking up, watching the skies, the fire… That last part. She remembered galloping towards the doorway of her bedroom as her ceiling burst into flames, the crunching sounds as a beam collapsed, and her darn tail got stuck under it, tripping her, and then she looked up and… That was it. There was no need to look at her body to realise that she wasn’t injured, but she did anyways in disbelief, her fur was a little patchy and was blackened with soot. No doubt there, she had been trapped in the rubble. Now she needed answers from whoever brought her here… A sudden caw surprised her, in her confusion a crow had flown through the gap in the doorway unnoticed and had landed on the armrest of the sofa. There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other, head’s tilted, before Acry awkwardly waved at it. It responded with a loud caw and a flash of green in its eyes that set Acry’s demon warning off a second time, and then hoof-steps were heard heading down the hallway, approaching the door. Strangely, the glow faded as the stranger entered the room. - With a little time to spare, Blitz had taken the chance to relax a little, drinking cider and watching the last of the sunrise as he cleaned up his fur, the transferred injuries reduced to little red marks, nearly completely gone. White coats were a pain for stains, but thankfully he was able to get the worst of the dirt out. He chugged the last of the cider bottle upon hearing cawing from the other room, dropping it in the corner of the room and heading along the hallway over to the brand new spare ‘bedroom’, Blitz was met with a very unintimidating glare and stand off from the foal when he entered the room, he wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting from a youngling from that particular village, but he was glad she didn’t go for the violent option. He’d only just got the soot out of this coat, no need for a second wash to get blood out. He was happily surprised to not be met with fear, though he supposed hiding behind a sofa would not do much. It was a good start though, now he just needed the impression he made to be better, if he wanted to help this foal it would be best to make that job as easy as possible, he was sure she didn’t trust him, why would she? And now what would be the very first thing he’d say? Glancing between the floor and the filly with an extended, silent pause, he spoke first. “Hi?” In his mind he was far more vocal. ‘Fudge cakes, that was awful, all those years of etiquette learning wasted, my family would be disappointed…' Two voices responded in unison, which was extremely rare for them. 'We’re disappointed.' ‘Shut it.' Blitz shook his head slightly and tried talking again, noticing the confused look on the filly’s face as she went from a bold but nervous stance to a more relaxed one, if her look was unintimidating to him, he was even worse. “You’re in Appleloosa. I saved you from the fire demon horde… Apologies for the rather rushed accommodation.” Her head tilted at that news, she supposed it explained the heat and how she got out of the rubble, but now she would start with the first question of many, many more… “What’s your name?” Easy enough to answer, “my name is Blitz Emerald Fire, and this,” he gestured to the crow as it fluttered up to land on his shoulder, “is Corvus, my companion.” “I’m Acry.” The second question arrived almost immediately, “how did you get rid of the burns?” “Uhh, some unique magic of my own, I specialise in fire spells, so burns are my healing speciality.” To prove the point, his horn flared with a little green light, a few embers spiralling around. “Oh,” she tilted her head, “I’m not very good with magic…” There was a quiet second before she asked her most important question, “you’re a demon… Right?” As expected from somepony from that village, she had indeed detected his true nature. He simply nodded and answered, “I am.” “And… You saved me instead of hunting like the others?” Acry had never communicated with a demon before, stories of their kind that even said or did anything other than snarl, roar or bite were very rare, as infrequent as her luck was any good. Looked like this time both had turned around in her favour. “Well, no need to tell you I’m any different, you’ve no doubt figured that part out yourself. I’ve been here in Appleloosa for a long time now, just trying to be a pony like everyone else, I would rather not go into detail on my reasons, but let’s just say that sometimes a demon is allowed to disagree with killing. I can get away with it since I can defend myself if I attract enemies, but for now, we should worry about getting you food and getting you cleaned up, your coat isn’t getting back to its normal colour by itself, right?” Effectively ending the questions for now, he gestured to the foal who lifted a hoof to see all the soot caked on it, it was getting rather uncomfortable. “That sounds like a good idea…” Family and IdiotsBy the time Acry had gotten the soot groomed and washed out of her coat and mane, and had pulled out a few splinters that had remained stuck in her tail, the sun had risen along with the temperature, and the voices of ponies in the street carried through the open ‘window’ of the little house. Her ears twitched at their voices as her hair slowly dried in the light, spending the time watching the town go about its business. Corvus was perched to her right on a little jutting piece of wood, preening his wing, the feathers shimmering green gently. She’d never been to Appleloosa before, it was all so different, the architecture, the fashion, the environment they chose to live in. No walls, guards or blacksmith, just bakers and farmers and a rather huge orchard just outside the town, she could see hundreds of trees from her vantage point. Strangely, she was already beginning to feel comfortable there. Though she suspected having unintimidating company was helping rather a lot with that. At this point, she realised that breakfast had gone completely forgotten, having that healing sleep did not help the matter, she needed sugar. She wondered if the town bakers made cookies instead of apple pies, which seemed to be the most popular option around here, she could smell the pastry even above the street level. It occurred to her that she could easily escape through the missing wall, the wooden structure would greatly help the climb down, but Corvus was watching, and she theorised from his earlier magic display that Blitz could be watching her through him. Blitz had left shortly before she had gone to see the view, it was nearing midday now and she hadn’t spotted him in town for a while, having lost track of him behind one of the buildings. Maybe he’d return with food… Corvus cawed and stretched out his tidied feathers before folding his wings, tilting his head at the young unicorn. When she turned to ask what the look was about, though she most likely wouldn’t understand any answers, he suddenly took off through the room door which had been left open, Acry hesitantly followed a moment later, hearing him call from the floor below somewhere. - Checking on the runes on the foundation of his house was important, but this time it was simply procrastination. Blitz had indeed disappeared behind a building after trying to delay the inevitable, for he had opened a strange, green rift and hopped through while nopony was around to see such a suspicious sight. He had been called upon not too long ago, and it seemed quite urgent, though he despised having to go back to the dullness of his true home, it was necessary. Almost instantly, he was thrown right back out of the rift on the other side, landing on cool, masonry flooring, the commotion of the town fell away as the portal closed, leaving him with the echoing clicks as he walked along the hallway he had been transported to. Voices in his head filled the quiet as he approached the nearest wall. “Another disagreement? Almost as bad as us two at that!” The first mocked, only to have his laughter shut down by the second in a deep, bored tone. “We only disagree because you can’t help yourself be anything other than a moron.” “At least we can actually agree on things!” Blitz enjoyed a few more moments of wonderful silence before they started up again, using his magic to draw a door into the wall. “Hey, what do you think Eon did this time?” “I don’t really care.” “Think we can steal some food from the kitchens before we go?” “Don’t ask me...” With a sigh, Blitz decided to speak up as the door formed and glowed green. ‘I’ll grab food if you shut up, how about that?’ There was a pause before he added, ‘and Chaos, Evil, I mean both of you. Not a word...’ He stepped through into the oddly bland throne room, demonic, heavily armoured guards stood at the double doors on one side, there was nearly as little decoration as the rest of the place. Everyone else had already arrived of course, he’d expected that, though two in particular didn’t even spare him a glance, too caught up in their own argument, one was an alicorn who sat upon the throne, the other was a charcoal pegasus with red eyes and a jet black mane and tail, he stood defiantly at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the demon lord. At Blitz’s approach, Crystal, his sister, turned to face him, “you’re late.” He didn’t bother to make an excuse. “What happened this time then? Wanna get it over with...” “Was expecting that,” she looked up as the sound of commotion grew, both ponies now stood, teeth bared at each other, “particularly bad disagreement, Eon’s attitude towards his and our fathers position started a fight, he mentioned you a few times if I recall correctly, they heard you were spotted somewhere in particular, I’m sure you know…” “Ah… Well, suppose I’m lucky that I can actually get out of here, he understands why I stay away, surely.” Of course they would still keep relations to the other fire demons, there was no way to avoid that, at least their queen had known better than to intervene. Though explaining himself would be rather annoying. At that thought, the room suddenly lit up with blue and red flames as their rage spiked, the arguers showing off their own burning colours. Now was a good time to step in. But as Blitz moved towards the two, Eon suddenly roared and took off out of the room, deciding on his own that it was time to leave, sparing Blitz a split-second glance as he passed, the guards barely got the door open in time as he fled. A few small explosions and crackling followed shortly after as he took his anger out on the castle interior. “Huh, guess he’s learnt from last time he tried to start a real fight.” Blitz shrugged off such a reaction and turned back to his father, the room dimming back down to grey. The older demon appeared to be showing more age than usual as he spoke, and the topic he brought up was one that Blitz had been dreading. “We need to discuss your place in this kingdom…” And then Chaos and Evil made it worse. “Not this again!” - By the time Blitz has finally escaped that tiresome discussion, well actually a near-argument really, and had shut Chaos up with food from the kitchens, it was pretty late in the afternoon. He’d nearly forgotten about Acry completely, but he trusted Corvus, that bird was a lot smarter than the average crow. He stepped into the house to find the two of them sharing cookies, a coin bag now considerably lighter on the table and crumbs everywhere. At least from what he could see they had been smart enough to stock up the cupboards he’d never really used, he wouldn’t have to do that himself now. He made it quite obvious he was looking at the mess of crumbs before speaking up a moment later, “been busy have we?” Even Corvus managed to pull off an apologetic look, though Acry had to talk for him, “sorry, Blitz.” She held up the last cookie for him, “we got supplies to make up for it! I didn’t really know what to buy though, usually the adults pick everything we need back home.” Blitz accepted the offer and took the cookie, “thanks…” At a thought he turned and opened one of the higher cabinets, “been trying to use your magic?” Acry nodded, “yeah! Didn’t wanna try climbing on the counter, so I had to levitate everything up there, it's the only spell I'm good at... Why?” “Just wondering… Need to train that magic up.” After seeing what food had been put in there, he closed the cabinet door and turned back to Acry, “so… Show me.” Acry tilted her head, surprised, he was right though, her Elder had told her she needed to practice more. “Now? How?” “Just using your magic often will make it stronger.” He gestured to the window and continued, “use your magic to throw those crumbs out of the window.” That seemed simple enough to start with. Acry stood so she could see where exactly she was aiming, her horn lit up and the larger crumbs nearby lifted into the air. Since she’d forgotten to in the first place, she had to extend her magic to somewhat easily open the window, which was quite obviously barely used, and then she sent the crumbs flying outside. While she continued the task of clearing up, Blitz ate the cookie and leaped up to his loft area, beginning to search for something. It didn’t take long for the kitchen to look much better, Acry stopped trying to pick up every last crumb when Blitz called down to her, “heads up.” She glanced up and spotted the weights he had found right before he dropped them suddenly, Acry just about managed to catch them in her magic before they could give the wood flooring a sizable dent. “That was close…” Seeing that she had caught them, Blitz smirked and turned to the last ‘weight’, a large rock. Acry looks up as the loft shifted under the sheer mass of it, hearing him grunt as he struggled to push it to the edge. “In time… When I’m done with you,” he stopped and looked over the edge of the loft, “you will be able to throw this guy around… Stand back for this one.” That didn’t sound good. Acry immediately protested and backed away, “wait… You’re not gonna drop that, right?” The rock started leaning over the edge. “No… Don’t!” It fell anyways as Blitz gave the final push it needed, Acry tried her magic despite her doubts that she could catch it, and sure enough there was barely any change in its descent speed, even just the second she tried to stop it was a huge strain on her magic, it was a massive jump from crumbs to a boulder larger than her. Acry braced for the destructive impact of the rock, yet the floor remained somehow untouched. However, everything that wasn’t anchored down shook from the force, it felt like the entire building rattled actually. She uncovered her eyes and stared in shock. “What?...” Blitz couldn’t help but laugh as one of his other personalities jumped into control, Chaos’ voice was noticeably different to Blitz’s and it got Acry’s attention as he spoke, “you weren’t supposed to catch it! That thing weighs almost two tonnes!” Before Acry could ask about the lack of damage, Chaos explained, “oh, Blitz carved reinforcement runes into the foundations, you can tell where that rock smashed through last time…” Sure enough, when she took a closer look, it did seem that some of the planks of flooring looked a little bit newer than the rest. Acry did have more questions though, quite important ones. “I’m really happy for all the help, but why are you getting me to practice magic?” “Trust me. You’ll eventually need it if you’re staying with us.” Acry still didn’t entirely understand, she was one of the demon hunters after all, surely there was more to it than that. That thought was interrupted when Blitz’s amulet began glowing and a winged version of him appeared, again with a slightly different voice. “Idiot… What Chaos meant to say is how we often run into trouble...” “Who even are you two?... Do you live in the amulet or something?” Acry glanced between them, she couldn’t recall them being mentioned previously. It was now that Blitz split himself and Chaos apart so he could answer, “no. They’re separate entities that I created to house my other two personalities.” Acry pretended that information wasn’t lost on her and nodded, “ohhh, okay.” She tilted her head, remembering something Chaos had mentioned, “how long will I be staying with you? I wouldn’t think you’d want to take care of a kid, I mean… Well…” He was a demon and she was a hunter, but she felt like it was bad to mention that. It had been easy to forget that up until now really. “Well, that very much depends on you, I can’t force you to choose…” It was obvious by now that Acry trusted Blitz, and in time also Chaos and Evil, but it felt like he was implying that she could stay permanently, despite her only having been there for a day or so. “I wanna know what happened to my family… And the town too. Maybe when things are re-built I can go back…” It was difficult to think about how much damage was sustained that night, and she had no idea if everypony even made it out, after all she hadn’t exactly been awake to see for herself. “Crap… I hoped this subject wouldn’t come up yet.” Chaos and Evil suddenly reformed with Blitz at this subject, he continued after a moment. “Honestly, I don’t know, but I can take you back to the village.” Even she knew her family weren’t that fast at building. “Not yet… I don’t think it will be safe for a while… But I don’t mind staying here a little longer, I like it here! I just still don’t understand why-” Blitz interrupted to finish the sentence, “why I care?” When Acry nodded, Blitz thought for a second and then answered the question. “I can’t quite understand it myself… But for now, it’s because I felt like it.” - That evening the boulder had been moved out of the way and Acry had claimed a table to draw at after Blitz had found parchment and quills, of course those supplies were meant for letters, but they would do for now, it was something to pass the time with. Blitz had promised to go out and buy some crayons soon. Once again, Corvus was perched nearby, keeping an eye on her and making sure she had some company while Blitz was out of the room. Acry stared at the blank paper though, unsure of what to draw and rather distracted as she thought about all the information she had learned in the previous hours. It wasn’t like having a demon for an ally was a completely unique situation, she remembered her Elder talking about how some decided against fighting the village and agreed on a truce, though that was still rather different. It was impossible for all demons to only concern themselves with causing violence, there were intelligent ones out there even if they were a little rarer, she supposed she was very lucky to have found one. Having a demon for a friend though… Now that was definitely new. She tapped the feather of the quill against the table edge absent-mindedly and glanced out the window at the darkening red sky. This was surely something great, having better relations instead of worsening ones for once, this could prevent further fighting in the future, some good news to return to her family with whenever conditions in the village were good enough for them to move back in. Acry was absolutely sure her family was fine, so she did her best to ignore any of her worries for now. She was going to enjoy her time in Appleloosa while she could, and she would learn more about Blitz in the process. Finally coming up with an idea, Acry smiled and dipped the quill in the ink, making sure to use her magic like earlier, and began sketching. Author's Note Due to an easier way to use Google Docs, this chapter was far more of a collaboration with Blitz's owner than the other chapters so far. https://www.fimfiction.net/user/PainfulHeart Credit for a lot of characterisation and dialogue goes to him, considering how little I had to work with from the original version of this story, I definitely needed the help! Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun working with you. ^u^
FireWeavertown was experiencing a few rare quiet hours that evening. Streets that by day were busy and cheerful had calmed to a few patrolling ponies, night-time strollers, and late workers heading home to sleep after many long hours of travelling through the countryside to trade with the neighboring towns. Little wisps of smoke rose from the chimney of the blacksmith's workshop as he closed up for the night, newly forged swords hung up on the walls, ready for use, and expertly repaired weapons glinted in the moonlight. The usually roaring fire dying to embers and red coals. Outside the town's high wooden walls, resembling branch-less trees, were a pair of ponies digging a grave, their breath misting in front of their faces before getting pulled away by the cool breeze. The sounds of stubborn rocks scratching against the metal of the shovels echoed across the area sharply. Glancing up to the nearby gate they could see the vigilant sentinels; veteran wall guards watching the horizon and patrolling the walls, ears twitching at every sound even as they nudged the younger guards awake, newer volunteers who were unused to the night owl ways, who would instantly jump to attention and return to their posts. The residents of the village took their chance to rest while it was peaceful, feeling safer knowing that they were being guarded. Only a few candles remained lit, flickering in the windows and casting a gentle golden glow on the ground below. Nearer to the west wall, a little yellow filly stirred from her dreams and awoke, sitting upright instantly in her bed and glancing around in confusion. It seemed to be far too early for her to be awake as the stars shone clearly overhead, she could see them through the little window to her left. Thinking that since she was awake now she may as well enjoy the silent night while it lasted, she removed her quilt and approached the window, lifting it up and setting it on a hinge so it would remain open as she peered out into the darkness. The filly rubbed her eyes, adjusting to the outside light, and looked out over the houses, just about able to see the guards at the gate through a gap in the buildings, with a brilliant view of the constellations directly above her. However, as she inspected the night-time world, she spotted warmer colours peeking over the hills and mountains in the distance. She wasn't sure exactly how long she had been standing at her window, but when the guards began to pace faster along the walls and voices rose slightly, she grew suspicious. It definitely wasn't morning yet. Glowing white lights suddenly appeared all over the village, the villagers had awoken, and the filly herself joined in the warning, her eyes shining bright as she too detected the heavy demonic presence that was swiftly approaching her home. The sunrise split into a swarm of fiery singular lights, travelling through the air and growing in quantity. A fire demon swarm, led by the 'sun', the main cause of the daybreak-like glow, a much larger queen, her shape clear even from such a distance as she spread her wings and shrieked, announcing her arrival. Before they could reach the walls, the unicorn guards and villagers that had already left their homes rallied their magic together to form a shield, completely containing them inside. The gates were closed behind the grave-diggers as they fled to safety and everypony prepared for the raid, fire demons already crashing themselves into the shield in an attempt to weaken it. The queen had expected this, however, and in all her beautiful yet deadly power, sucked in all the heat that her fire-covered body produced, turning black-blue for just a second, and unleashed it upon the shield, heat passing through and knocking the nearest guards' concentration off instantly. The shield began to crumble. It only took seconds for chaos to descend. The wall guards closest to the queen had taken the brunt of the first blast and had been thrown from the walls, immediately afterwards the flying demons had switched their attention from the now useless shield to the village itself, and even the pegasi could not stop them by air when protective fire coated their enemy. Buildings burst into flames as the demons crashed into the roofs, falling debris and candles only spreading the fire even faster, trapping the slower ponies and those remaining inside and separating groups as they fled, bearing hastily grabbed weapons as they attempted to defend themselves. With the queen remaining in the air, hovering over the village and blocking out the moonlight completely, she acted as an airship, both land and air demons dropping down from her back and heading straight for the glass dome roof of the town centre. Over the sounds of shattering glass and plants burning to ash as the rooftop greenhouse was instantly destroyed were the cries of foals. On the ground floor of the town hall was the Elder of the village, a unicorn with a calming aura, who comforted the foals of the guards. She always took it upon herself to watch over them while their parents kept the village safe, but tonight she would be the one tasked with keeping them alive and soon guide everypony else to safety. She held the foals close, whispering her promise that she would keep them all safe as long as they stayed together, and glanced up through the spiral staircase that circled the inside of the building to the high ceiling. Red light began to pass through the wood panels and they began to burn and crumble, it would not take long for the burning to reach the support beams, and then it would all cave in on top of them. But once again, the groups eyes flashed white in warning, the Elder swiftly rose and turned, horn glowing as a small shield bubble sprang up around the fillies and colts, leaving the old unicorn exposed to the medium fire demons that had crashed through the windows and charged towards them, a blazing trail following them in. It seemed their plan was to circle the ponies and allow the collapsing roof to bury them as they became trapped in a ring of fire. The Elder would not allow this as she summoned ethereal blades of magic which hovered above her head, spun, and then impaled themselves in the chests of the demons, who almost immediately faded to grey and were blown away as ash. The shield was dropped and the Elder nudged the foals to draw them out of their shocked staring, guiding them outside quickly just as wood, glass and burning plant matter fell behind them. Once outside, more ghostly swords were created, slashing at any demon that approached the foals until the little group reached a surviving gang of guards that took over the job. With one last smile at the foals, the Elder returned to the fiery rubble to locate any more ponies in need of her help and bring them to the edge of town where a secondary gate was being unlocked to free everypony. Carts were pulled past her, carrying whatever supplies the villagers had been able to grab on such short notice, rocking violently as they hit debris in their path. Ears twitching at a thudding sound, she followed it to a doorway blocked by pieces of balcony and support beams. A pony must have been inside, trying to kick their way out. As she approached to use levitation to help move the blockade, her eyes flashed white again. She sensed a new fire demon aura, and as she scanned the sky a black feather floated down from above. - On the road between Diamond Dog territory and the little town of Appaloosa walked a lone cloaked unicorn. He wore a strange green amulet in the shape of his cutie mark, a fire-blast. He always seemed drawn back to this part of the country. Maybe the heat reminded him of his real home, or perhaps ponies were more easily impressed by his magic here, or the emptiness of the desert was peaceful. Either one would make sense. A wind that had swiftly picked up in just a few minutes carried a familiar burning scent, and as he looked to the North West, it blew his hood back to reveal green glowing eyes. The pony looked to the source, it appeared there was a fire in the Ghastly Gorge area. Not too far out of the scrub-land actually, perhaps an investigation would be interesting. He tucked his amulet into his cloak as he picked up the pace, his cloak billowing behind him, he kept his eye on the growing redness ahead, leaving the path to Ponyville to cut across the last bit of desert towards the neighboring river and grasslands. Recently published maps that he had spotted during his visit to the new town did not mark anything in that area, of course it was not a sought after living area, the Gorge was dangerous, and the forest was not too far off either, but there was quite a large clearing beyond it, between the Applewood mountains and the Everfree. He remembered the last time he passed that area, and what he had heard about it while he was at home. It definitely was a place to be avoided for somepony like him, though the fire had already gotten his attention and would most likely be a good sign that he could approach without being spotted. He knew there was an unmarked old village there, filled with ponies who could kill him if he got too close. As the desert thinned there was a caw from above and a large crow dived down, leveling out and flying at the unicorns side. “Hello, Corvus,” the pony greeted, “you’re coming along too?” Corvus cawed again, a yes. For a short time they continued on their way, the edge of the gorge ahead of them and the signs of fire grew; embers carried by the wind blew over their heads and the blaze was now visible, and above the burning village was the obvious cause. “A Queen is here? These ponies must have really got on the bad side of the fire demons.” He was not really too surprised though, relations between the hunters and these demons had always been tense, he had heard about it many times over the years, though it seemed it had finally reached a breaking point, one death of a demon too many had triggered a full on raid. As he watched a new wave of demons leaped down from the Queens’ back and landed near an elderly pony who seemed to be trying to break down a door, though it was immediately taken out by a second armed pony. He could also see a group of foals and guards in the least damaged area, they were escaping through a hidden village exit, passing under the walls and reappearing above ground on the outside, galloping to safety before they could be spotted. Others were heading that way. These hunters could handle themselves, and since he was not really wishing to cause problems between himself and the fire demons, the unicorn set himself down and continued watching, the crow landing on his shoulder. However, even as he watched more and more ponies escape, enough to be almost the entire village population, he thought things through again and stood up. This wasn’t right. He could handle fire demons, but watching the younger villagers become targets was unfair. Senseless killing was wrong. Corvus, sensing his new idea, cawed and took off, circling the village with glowing green eyes, spotting any trapped ponies who had been left behind. The unicorn, horn glowing green with magic and mane and tail flowing with his pyro abilities, winced as blood burst from his back and raven wings sprouted there, his hooves and teeth grew sharper too. After a moment of adjusting and testing his new limbs, he too leaped from the hill top and headed straight for the nearest trapped pony. The old mare and the guard had made progress on removing the collapsed beams, but there was still one trapping the younger pony inside, it had become lodged in the broken wall. Using a levitation spell, the flying unicorn forced it out of the wall. There was the sound of crumbling for a moment and then there was enough room for the villager to squeeze through and escape. With Corvus alerting him to the next fallen building, they made their way around the village, freeing the last few ponies in just a few minutes before hovering above the crushed glass roof of what used to be the town centre. One last caw, one last pony to be found. However, it seemed that they were a little late. This was one of the buildings hit earlier into the raid, and a foal had been left behind. But as they hovered above the wreck he sensed a heartbeat, they weren’t too late. Landing on the burning beams and roof tiles, he was unharmed by the heat as he began to free the foal with a combination of his magic and his own strength, revealing a damaged, ashen body in moments. He felt the creaking of the flooring as it weakened. He had one choice. The village was almost emptied of other ponies and they probably would not be able to help with burns this severe, but he could… Deciding to not leave the decision up to the fire and the dying pulse, he picked up the foal and took off after Corvus who had stayed out of the reach of the fire and done one last search of the village, discovering that both sides were making a retreat; the fire demons had done their jobs and did not pursue the fleeing hunters who carried whatever supplies they had left and their injured far away from the walls. Leaving in the opposite direction of both sides, as they passed over the border towards the south-east, the unicorn felt a sudden sharp, pulsing pain along his spine, but in a moment it had faded away. He paused to look back and investigate; nothing had hit him, and he didn’t think he’d overused his magic… Cawing drew him out of his confused thoughts and reminded him of the urgency of the situation. He could figure out what that was later, right now he was going to have to remember that he was looking out for two ponies. The desert was swiftly reached, and ahead in the now peaceful darkness was the shadow of a small town, on the outskirts of which was the place that the unicorn and crow had called home for a while now. They went unnoticed by the sleeping townsfolk below, or at least they slept for now, dawn would arrive fast and the desert would have plenty of noisy residents roaming around. Time was not to be wasted, especially since they did not want nosy ponies with good intentions coming to their home to disturb them over the foal, they could handle things themselves. Besides, the unicorn preferred to be alone, he had enough company, maybe even too much, and that was before he had a foal to take care of. Landing outside the building, the unicorn’s dark wings were removed with a flare of green magic, allowing Corvus to land upon his back as he unlocked the door with his magic and entered. It had been a long night. Author's Note Originally uploaded by friends requests, it counts as an origin story/crossover of the characters Acry and BlitzFire (Crazyhunterxiii).
AppleloosaThe little house on the edge of town was a simple thing, all dark wood with stout windows along the centre of each outer wall, cramped rooms despite the minimal decoration, with the kitchen and living room getting the most space due to family and food being the most cared about things in this community. This property had gone cheap, just a little unassuming place that no one would take a second look at, one of the walls hadn’t even been finished! Yet, it had been bought on the spot, the builders didn’t even get a chance to get on the property to work after that, the reason they received being ‘that’s the best view of the sunrise from the property, don’t need a window here.’ And so they moved on, accepting it. That was just how Blitz wanted it. He and Corvus living un-bothered in a warm part of the country, they got that view they wanted with a seat to go with it, and didn’t bother with much else besides a sign on the door that warded away potentially overly-friendly neighbours. The other ponies got used to this loner attitude rather quickly, but not without some stubbornness while attempting to make initial contact Even while going into town, the unicorn stallion avoided the popular, town-wide fashion sense; no hats or boots for him, just the cloak he always had and maybe a crow on his shoulder. He wasn’t exactly completely different though, he paid for goods at the same store as everypony else, joined the crowds at town meetings to hear news and plans for their settlement, he would sometimes even pay the orchard a visit. This setting, despite the heat, was so different to his last home that he intended to live it like a normal pony, there were just a few things he refused to take part in, and they accepted that. He had spent only a few months here, the first had been eventful of course with all the settling in to be done, but after that it had all flown by and it had felt like he had started to fit in there, it started to feel like home. Stepping through the door after his little ‘trip’ out of the scrub-lands, Blitz’s cloak was immediately hung on a coat-hanger just by the door, one of his other rare additions to the place, and Corvus took off for his favourite perching spot, the upstairs ‘window’. With the door locked behind him, it was now time for him to deal with the main problem of the day, back pains and accommodation could wait a little longer when there was a burned foal in his hooves who had left soot patches on his once white coat, he couldn’t even tell what colour she was meant to be any more. Getting light into the room would be a good start, the dawn had not quite arrived yet, and so with a little flare from his horn he lit the candles in the sitting room as he walked in. Nopony else would be seeing the place so he didn’t care if it wasn’t exactly going to be presentable any more. The candles gave off a bright green flash at first, but then faded to regular, gentle yellow flames. Blitz set the foal down on one of the seats. He knew just the spell for this situation, but he hadn’t had much practice with it, it hadn’t been required for so long, but he was confident in his abilities and set to focusing on his magic anyways. The spell always required himself and a secondary injured being for it to be used at all. As his horn and eyes lit up some of that light spread to the burns and open cuts on the filly and they began to gradually close up and fade, however they reappeared exactly the same as before on Blitz’s body instead. Any pain he felt in that process was completely ignored in favour of focusing on the spell until finally he was sure that he had mended as much as he could, there was nothing to be done about anything older, they had already scarred over. By that time, the sun had broken over the horizon and had begun to fill the room with a golden glow, it wouldn’t take long for the higher temperatures to arrive too. With the foal now stable and sleeping, and his newly-traded injuries healing at their own rate, he could move onto the second problem; where would his new ‘tenant’ stay? There was absolutely no way that anypony would have returned to the village in less than three hours, and still no chance of her staying there either when the place was just piles of smouldering rubble, and possibly a few lingering demons. The ground floor windows were an issue, any passersby could just take a glance in, until now he had seen no use for curtains. A bit late, well, early, to go shopping for those, so it could wait. Perhaps one of the upstairs rooms would do better. Holding the foal away from his healing skin, he headed towards the stairs. As an afterthought he paused, came back into the room and then left again with a larger seat levitated behind him. A super basic room only took minutes to set up. The foal was now sleeping peacefully and Blitz’s wounds were well on their way to closing up completely. That reminded him of the final issue; his back. Without his cloak he could take a better look, but still that revealed nothing. No marks of any kind, no sign that anything had hit, bit or cut him. Maybe magic could have been involved in this, he hadn’t thought about that at the time, usually it was a very noticeable thing, especially with ponies. Though he realised it could have been something else entirely. Blitz left the room before testing his theory, pulling the door to behind him. There was a faint green glow from his eyes as he attempted to detect magic, and it worked. In fact, he could even see the etchings along his spine that something had left there… “Who the fudge gave me unwanted bone tattoos?!” - Slowly waking from her deep healing sleep, the filly’s thoughts were clouded. Waving away the fog in her memories, she saw the previous night and at first assumed it to be a dream, well, a nightmare. She was comfortable and warm, not burning, it was peaceful, how could anything bad have happened? No pain or searing heat, no gently rocking cart below her, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all wrong, her bed wasn’t this material, and it was always cool in the morning. It took a little longer than it should have before she shot up in ‘bed’, eyes wide and glowing as she sensed the presence of demonic energy and took in the new, unfamiliar environment. A tiny window, out of reach of the bed, was no help to her with her short legs, but bright sunlight shone through and illuminated the opposite wall. What she had been lying on appeared to just be a sofa with a thin blanket on it. There were no decorations, only simple, warm red walls with a light wooden floor. And there was a demon nearby… This was definitely not home, and she was completely sure by now that her family was not here either, no demon would be this close otherwise. Hesitantly, she stood up, thinking through all the events of the previous night; waking up, watching the skies, the fire… That last part. She remembered galloping towards the doorway of her bedroom as her ceiling burst into flames, the crunching sounds as a beam collapsed, and her darn tail got stuck under it, tripping her, and then she looked up and… That was it. There was no need to look at her body to realise that she wasn’t injured, but she did anyways in disbelief, her fur was a little patchy and was blackened with soot. No doubt there, she had been trapped in the rubble. Now she needed answers from whoever brought her here… A sudden caw surprised her, in her confusion a crow had flown through the gap in the doorway unnoticed and had landed on the armrest of the sofa. There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other, head’s tilted, before Acry awkwardly waved at it. It responded with a loud caw and a flash of green in its eyes that set Acry’s demon warning off a second time, and then hoof-steps were heard heading down the hallway, approaching the door. Strangely, the glow faded as the stranger entered the room. - With a little time to spare, Blitz had taken the chance to relax a little, drinking cider and watching the last of the sunrise as he cleaned up his fur, the transferred injuries reduced to little red marks, nearly completely gone. White coats were a pain for stains, but thankfully he was able to get the worst of the dirt out. He chugged the last of the cider bottle upon hearing cawing from the other room, dropping it in the corner of the room and heading along the hallway over to the brand new spare ‘bedroom’, Blitz was met with a very unintimidating glare and stand off from the foal when he entered the room, he wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting from a youngling from that particular village, but he was glad she didn’t go for the violent option. He’d only just got the soot out of this coat, no need for a second wash to get blood out. He was happily surprised to not be met with fear, though he supposed hiding behind a sofa would not do much. It was a good start though, now he just needed the impression he made to be better, if he wanted to help this foal it would be best to make that job as easy as possible, he was sure she didn’t trust him, why would she? And now what would be the very first thing he’d say? Glancing between the floor and the filly with an extended, silent pause, he spoke first. “Hi?” In his mind he was far more vocal. ‘Fudge cakes, that was awful, all those years of etiquette learning wasted, my family would be disappointed…' Two voices responded in unison, which was extremely rare for them. 'We’re disappointed.' ‘Shut it.' Blitz shook his head slightly and tried talking again, noticing the confused look on the filly’s face as she went from a bold but nervous stance to a more relaxed one, if her look was unintimidating to him, he was even worse. “You’re in Appleloosa. I saved you from the fire demon horde… Apologies for the rather rushed accommodation.” Her head tilted at that news, she supposed it explained the heat and how she got out of the rubble, but now she would start with the first question of many, many more… “What’s your name?” Easy enough to answer, “my name is Blitz Emerald Fire, and this,” he gestured to the crow as it fluttered up to land on his shoulder, “is Corvus, my companion.” “I’m Acry.” The second question arrived almost immediately, “how did you get rid of the burns?” “Uhh, some unique magic of my own, I specialise in fire spells, so burns are my healing speciality.” To prove the point, his horn flared with a little green light, a few embers spiralling around. “Oh,” she tilted her head, “I’m not very good with magic…” There was a quiet second before she asked her most important question, “you’re a demon… Right?” As expected from somepony from that village, she had indeed detected his true nature. He simply nodded and answered, “I am.” “And… You saved me instead of hunting like the others?” Acry had never communicated with a demon before, stories of their kind that even said or did anything other than snarl, roar or bite were very rare, as infrequent as her luck was any good. Looked like this time both had turned around in her favour. “Well, no need to tell you I’m any different, you’ve no doubt figured that part out yourself. I’ve been here in Appleloosa for a long time now, just trying to be a pony like everyone else, I would rather not go into detail on my reasons, but let’s just say that sometimes a demon is allowed to disagree with killing. I can get away with it since I can defend myself if I attract enemies, but for now, we should worry about getting you food and getting you cleaned up, your coat isn’t getting back to its normal colour by itself, right?” Effectively ending the questions for now, he gestured to the foal who lifted a hoof to see all the soot caked on it, it was getting rather uncomfortable. “That sounds like a good idea…”
Family and IdiotsBy the time Acry had gotten the soot groomed and washed out of her coat and mane, and had pulled out a few splinters that had remained stuck in her tail, the sun had risen along with the temperature, and the voices of ponies in the street carried through the open ‘window’ of the little house. Her ears twitched at their voices as her hair slowly dried in the light, spending the time watching the town go about its business. Corvus was perched to her right on a little jutting piece of wood, preening his wing, the feathers shimmering green gently. She’d never been to Appleloosa before, it was all so different, the architecture, the fashion, the environment they chose to live in. No walls, guards or blacksmith, just bakers and farmers and a rather huge orchard just outside the town, she could see hundreds of trees from her vantage point. Strangely, she was already beginning to feel comfortable there. Though she suspected having unintimidating company was helping rather a lot with that. At this point, she realised that breakfast had gone completely forgotten, having that healing sleep did not help the matter, she needed sugar. She wondered if the town bakers made cookies instead of apple pies, which seemed to be the most popular option around here, she could smell the pastry even above the street level. It occurred to her that she could easily escape through the missing wall, the wooden structure would greatly help the climb down, but Corvus was watching, and she theorised from his earlier magic display that Blitz could be watching her through him. Blitz had left shortly before she had gone to see the view, it was nearing midday now and she hadn’t spotted him in town for a while, having lost track of him behind one of the buildings. Maybe he’d return with food… Corvus cawed and stretched out his tidied feathers before folding his wings, tilting his head at the young unicorn. When she turned to ask what the look was about, though she most likely wouldn’t understand any answers, he suddenly took off through the room door which had been left open, Acry hesitantly followed a moment later, hearing him call from the floor below somewhere. - Checking on the runes on the foundation of his house was important, but this time it was simply procrastination. Blitz had indeed disappeared behind a building after trying to delay the inevitable, for he had opened a strange, green rift and hopped through while nopony was around to see such a suspicious sight. He had been called upon not too long ago, and it seemed quite urgent, though he despised having to go back to the dullness of his true home, it was necessary. Almost instantly, he was thrown right back out of the rift on the other side, landing on cool, masonry flooring, the commotion of the town fell away as the portal closed, leaving him with the echoing clicks as he walked along the hallway he had been transported to. Voices in his head filled the quiet as he approached the nearest wall. “Another disagreement? Almost as bad as us two at that!” The first mocked, only to have his laughter shut down by the second in a deep, bored tone. “We only disagree because you can’t help yourself be anything other than a moron.” “At least we can actually agree on things!” Blitz enjoyed a few more moments of wonderful silence before they started up again, using his magic to draw a door into the wall. “Hey, what do you think Eon did this time?” “I don’t really care.” “Think we can steal some food from the kitchens before we go?” “Don’t ask me...” With a sigh, Blitz decided to speak up as the door formed and glowed green. ‘I’ll grab food if you shut up, how about that?’ There was a pause before he added, ‘and Chaos, Evil, I mean both of you. Not a word...’ He stepped through into the oddly bland throne room, demonic, heavily armoured guards stood at the double doors on one side, there was nearly as little decoration as the rest of the place. Everyone else had already arrived of course, he’d expected that, though two in particular didn’t even spare him a glance, too caught up in their own argument, one was an alicorn who sat upon the throne, the other was a charcoal pegasus with red eyes and a jet black mane and tail, he stood defiantly at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the demon lord. At Blitz’s approach, Crystal, his sister, turned to face him, “you’re late.” He didn’t bother to make an excuse. “What happened this time then? Wanna get it over with...” “Was expecting that,” she looked up as the sound of commotion grew, both ponies now stood, teeth bared at each other, “particularly bad disagreement, Eon’s attitude towards his and our fathers position started a fight, he mentioned you a few times if I recall correctly, they heard you were spotted somewhere in particular, I’m sure you know…” “Ah… Well, suppose I’m lucky that I can actually get out of here, he understands why I stay away, surely.” Of course they would still keep relations to the other fire demons, there was no way to avoid that, at least their queen had known better than to intervene. Though explaining himself would be rather annoying. At that thought, the room suddenly lit up with blue and red flames as their rage spiked, the arguers showing off their own burning colours. Now was a good time to step in. But as Blitz moved towards the two, Eon suddenly roared and took off out of the room, deciding on his own that it was time to leave, sparing Blitz a split-second glance as he passed, the guards barely got the door open in time as he fled. A few small explosions and crackling followed shortly after as he took his anger out on the castle interior. “Huh, guess he’s learnt from last time he tried to start a real fight.” Blitz shrugged off such a reaction and turned back to his father, the room dimming back down to grey. The older demon appeared to be showing more age than usual as he spoke, and the topic he brought up was one that Blitz had been dreading. “We need to discuss your place in this kingdom…” And then Chaos and Evil made it worse. “Not this again!” - By the time Blitz has finally escaped that tiresome discussion, well actually a near-argument really, and had shut Chaos up with food from the kitchens, it was pretty late in the afternoon. He’d nearly forgotten about Acry completely, but he trusted Corvus, that bird was a lot smarter than the average crow. He stepped into the house to find the two of them sharing cookies, a coin bag now considerably lighter on the table and crumbs everywhere. At least from what he could see they had been smart enough to stock up the cupboards he’d never really used, he wouldn’t have to do that himself now. He made it quite obvious he was looking at the mess of crumbs before speaking up a moment later, “been busy have we?” Even Corvus managed to pull off an apologetic look, though Acry had to talk for him, “sorry, Blitz.” She held up the last cookie for him, “we got supplies to make up for it! I didn’t really know what to buy though, usually the adults pick everything we need back home.” Blitz accepted the offer and took the cookie, “thanks…” At a thought he turned and opened one of the higher cabinets, “been trying to use your magic?” Acry nodded, “yeah! Didn’t wanna try climbing on the counter, so I had to levitate everything up there, it's the only spell I'm good at... Why?” “Just wondering… Need to train that magic up.” After seeing what food had been put in there, he closed the cabinet door and turned back to Acry, “so… Show me.” Acry tilted her head, surprised, he was right though, her Elder had told her she needed to practice more. “Now? How?” “Just using your magic often will make it stronger.” He gestured to the window and continued, “use your magic to throw those crumbs out of the window.” That seemed simple enough to start with. Acry stood so she could see where exactly she was aiming, her horn lit up and the larger crumbs nearby lifted into the air. Since she’d forgotten to in the first place, she had to extend her magic to somewhat easily open the window, which was quite obviously barely used, and then she sent the crumbs flying outside. While she continued the task of clearing up, Blitz ate the cookie and leaped up to his loft area, beginning to search for something. It didn’t take long for the kitchen to look much better, Acry stopped trying to pick up every last crumb when Blitz called down to her, “heads up.” She glanced up and spotted the weights he had found right before he dropped them suddenly, Acry just about managed to catch them in her magic before they could give the wood flooring a sizable dent. “That was close…” Seeing that she had caught them, Blitz smirked and turned to the last ‘weight’, a large rock. Acry looks up as the loft shifted under the sheer mass of it, hearing him grunt as he struggled to push it to the edge. “In time… When I’m done with you,” he stopped and looked over the edge of the loft, “you will be able to throw this guy around… Stand back for this one.” That didn’t sound good. Acry immediately protested and backed away, “wait… You’re not gonna drop that, right?” The rock started leaning over the edge. “No… Don’t!” It fell anyways as Blitz gave the final push it needed, Acry tried her magic despite her doubts that she could catch it, and sure enough there was barely any change in its descent speed, even just the second she tried to stop it was a huge strain on her magic, it was a massive jump from crumbs to a boulder larger than her. Acry braced for the destructive impact of the rock, yet the floor remained somehow untouched. However, everything that wasn’t anchored down shook from the force, it felt like the entire building rattled actually. She uncovered her eyes and stared in shock. “What?...” Blitz couldn’t help but laugh as one of his other personalities jumped into control, Chaos’ voice was noticeably different to Blitz’s and it got Acry’s attention as he spoke, “you weren’t supposed to catch it! That thing weighs almost two tonnes!” Before Acry could ask about the lack of damage, Chaos explained, “oh, Blitz carved reinforcement runes into the foundations, you can tell where that rock smashed through last time…” Sure enough, when she took a closer look, it did seem that some of the planks of flooring looked a little bit newer than the rest. Acry did have more questions though, quite important ones. “I’m really happy for all the help, but why are you getting me to practice magic?” “Trust me. You’ll eventually need it if you’re staying with us.” Acry still didn’t entirely understand, she was one of the demon hunters after all, surely there was more to it than that. That thought was interrupted when Blitz’s amulet began glowing and a winged version of him appeared, again with a slightly different voice. “Idiot… What Chaos meant to say is how we often run into trouble...” “Who even are you two?... Do you live in the amulet or something?” Acry glanced between them, she couldn’t recall them being mentioned previously. It was now that Blitz split himself and Chaos apart so he could answer, “no. They’re separate entities that I created to house my other two personalities.” Acry pretended that information wasn’t lost on her and nodded, “ohhh, okay.” She tilted her head, remembering something Chaos had mentioned, “how long will I be staying with you? I wouldn’t think you’d want to take care of a kid, I mean… Well…” He was a demon and she was a hunter, but she felt like it was bad to mention that. It had been easy to forget that up until now really. “Well, that very much depends on you, I can’t force you to choose…” It was obvious by now that Acry trusted Blitz, and in time also Chaos and Evil, but it felt like he was implying that she could stay permanently, despite her only having been there for a day or so. “I wanna know what happened to my family… And the town too. Maybe when things are re-built I can go back…” It was difficult to think about how much damage was sustained that night, and she had no idea if everypony even made it out, after all she hadn’t exactly been awake to see for herself. “Crap… I hoped this subject wouldn’t come up yet.” Chaos and Evil suddenly reformed with Blitz at this subject, he continued after a moment. “Honestly, I don’t know, but I can take you back to the village.” Even she knew her family weren’t that fast at building. “Not yet… I don’t think it will be safe for a while… But I don’t mind staying here a little longer, I like it here! I just still don’t understand why-” Blitz interrupted to finish the sentence, “why I care?” When Acry nodded, Blitz thought for a second and then answered the question. “I can’t quite understand it myself… But for now, it’s because I felt like it.” - That evening the boulder had been moved out of the way and Acry had claimed a table to draw at after Blitz had found parchment and quills, of course those supplies were meant for letters, but they would do for now, it was something to pass the time with. Blitz had promised to go out and buy some crayons soon. Once again, Corvus was perched nearby, keeping an eye on her and making sure she had some company while Blitz was out of the room. Acry stared at the blank paper though, unsure of what to draw and rather distracted as she thought about all the information she had learned in the previous hours. It wasn’t like having a demon for an ally was a completely unique situation, she remembered her Elder talking about how some decided against fighting the village and agreed on a truce, though that was still rather different. It was impossible for all demons to only concern themselves with causing violence, there were intelligent ones out there even if they were a little rarer, she supposed she was very lucky to have found one. Having a demon for a friend though… Now that was definitely new. She tapped the feather of the quill against the table edge absent-mindedly and glanced out the window at the darkening red sky. This was surely something great, having better relations instead of worsening ones for once, this could prevent further fighting in the future, some good news to return to her family with whenever conditions in the village were good enough for them to move back in. Acry was absolutely sure her family was fine, so she did her best to ignore any of her worries for now. She was going to enjoy her time in Appleloosa while she could, and she would learn more about Blitz in the process. Finally coming up with an idea, Acry smiled and dipped the quill in the ink, making sure to use her magic like earlier, and began sketching. Author's Note Due to an easier way to use Google Docs, this chapter was far more of a collaboration with Blitz's owner than the other chapters so far. https://www.fimfiction.net/user/PainfulHeart Credit for a lot of characterisation and dialogue goes to him, considering how little I had to work with from the original version of this story, I definitely needed the help! Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun working with you. ^u^
