Prolong: Dreams From Long Ago
Devils Rising:
A Shin Megami Tensei Saga
Prolong:
Dreams from Long Ago
“There! There they go!! Stop them before they reach the border!”
The two beings, ponies, ran as fast as their legs could carry them. One was clearly an adult stallion, from his size and built. His traveling partner was a child, given the relative small size compared to the other one. And from the younger’s build, it was clear the child was a filly.
“Daddy, what are we going to do?” the filly asked through rigged breath.
“Don’t worry, Little C. We’re almost there,” the stallion said in obvious false confidence.
The stallion looked behind him, and saw his pursers hot on their hooves. He narrowed his eyes and he studied his pursers. There were three ponies that much was certain, but there was something off about them. Pieces of them were flickering off disappearing moment after the pieces came free. It was the creatures behind the ponies that gave the mysterious stallion concern.
They were strange, to least the last; most of these creatures appeared to walk on two legs, and had mismatch body parts. Some of these creatures appeared to be flying without the use of wings. The stallion looked behind him and saw a dome of gold energy. He knew that in that golden glow was his target, his heaven. He looked back at the approaching forces and frown. There would be no way he and his daughter could make it to the dome’s borders before their pursers reached them.
There was really only one choice left him, no matter how much it irks him. He sighs heavily, and knee down so he could look his filly in the eyes. What he was going to do next breaks his heart in so many ways, he doubts he would be able to live with himself, but this is something that has to be done.
“Cadance…Listen, I need you to get to Equrestia,” the stallion said calmly.
Cadance, a light pink filly with wings and a horn, looked up at her daddy, frowning sadly. “But daddy…?”
The stallion sighs as a red light began to glow on the pony’s forehead. There was a soft click, and two items floated in front of the stallion. One was a letter, which he put into his filly’s bags. The other item was a belt with a strange device on it. The stallion brought the belt to his neck and snapped it shut.
“I know what I say, my little crystal, but we just don’t have time to reach the borders together,” the stallion said in a soft voice. “But you have an important mission. You need to get to your aunt, and warn her about the coming storm. Can you do that for me?”
The little filly looked like she could cry at any moment. Still, she looked behind her father and saw these creepy creatures coming toward them, and become slightly scared. She looked at her father and with weak determination, nodded. She then turned around, and ran as fast as her little legs could go.
The stallion allowed a small smile to grace his lips as he watched his daughter entered into the boarders of Equrestia. He then turned to his pursers, his smile fading into a cold and lifeless expression. His pursers had nearly reached him, and he decided to make his move. The stallion simply thrust his left front hoof onto the device and it opened with a soft click, the entire device suddenly lighting up brightly.
“Izanagi! I call you!” the stallion screamed into the glowing device.
A small red ball of energy shoot from the device a second after the stallion spoke, and came down behind him. A second later, a massive biped appeared behind the stallion, wielding a strange spear-like weapon. By time the newcomer was out, the strange ponies and their misshapen friends had reached the stallion.
“You have no way to run now, Red Sun! So just give it up, and meet your end with peace,” one of these strange ponies hissed venomously.
The pony called Red Sun looked at the pony he believed talked for about a minute, and then let out a dry chuckle, which irritated one of his pursers.
“What’s so funny?!” one of the ponies bark viciously.
“You shadow ponies don’t get it!” Red Sun shouted confidently. “I already won! My daughter’s safe in Equrestia! So I don’t care if you kill me, because to me, I already won!”
The shadow ponies growled angrily at the pony front of them, clearly irritated by their foe’s claim, and the one in the center order,” Demons! Tear this Alicorn to pieces!”
The demons responded to this command with vicious growls and roars, as they charged. Red Sun held his ground, his wings flaring out in determination, as his own demon joined his side.
“You ready to tear them apart, Izanangi?” Red Sun asked calmly.
The demon simple nodded, and together the pony and demon charged at their foes, showing no fear about the odd they were up against. The filly, despite her father’s orders, had taken to a hiding spot after she felt a tingle go through her and believe she was safe, had been watching as her father began to fight the monsters before him.
At first, Red Sun was doing well; he and his demon summon were handling the shadow ponies’ demons with little trouble, and it was looking like he was about emerge victorious. That hope was dashed quickly, when a shadow-like appendage came from a shadow Pony and grabbed Red Sun. Izanangi was distracted by master’s troubles, and the shadow ponies’ demons took that time to attack the other demon mercilessly. Izanangi tried to shake off his attackers but they were proving to be too much for him to handle. He soon collapsed to the ground, his form flickering slightly in the pale light of the moon.
Red Sun had fair no better then his demon friend. After the shadow ponies had captured their prey, they proceed to beat him mercilessly. The supposed Alicorn tried to fight, to break free of his captors and help his friend, but the shadow ponies’ hold on him was just too great to break. He soon was beaten within an inch of his life, and that’s when the shadow ponies let up. The leader of the group, the one who’s been holding Red Sun, turned the Alicorn so he was looking at him.
Red Sun then did something quite unexpectedly; he began to laugh loudly. This angered the shadow ponies’ leader, and slaps him across the face. But Red Sun didn’t stop laughing, which only made the leader that much more enraged.
“Stop laughing!” the leader barked angrily.
The leader began to repeatedly hit Red Sun, and the Alicorn continue to laugh despite the pain he was in. This made the leader that much madder, and he use his strange magic to make a small dagger and thrust it into Red Sun’s side. The Alicorn wince slightly from the wound, and continue to laugh, the sound turning a little mocking.
“You don’t get it!” Red Sun suddenly screamed. “I told you, I won! I don’t care if you kill me, so just it over and save me from your bad breath!”
This statement made the shadow ponies’ leader exploded with rage, and with a mighty roar of anger, he thrust his dagger into the Alicorn’s chest. Red sun cried out and then went silent as he body was release from the shadow ponies’ hold. The other shadow ponies began to laugh cruelly at the fallen pony‘s body hit the ground with a faint thud.
Suddenly, someone grabbed the corpse of the fallen pony, and flew away before anything else could happen. The shadow ponies’ leader gasp when he realized that it was the fallen Alicorn’s demon, weak but still able to fight. He growled angrily as he looked over to where the demons where, and was shocked to find them all defeated and dissolving into masses of energy. He snapped his head around and saw the weakened demon flying off with the corpse.
“Go! Run away! It doesn’t matter! He’s already gone!” The leader shouted in gusto.
From her hiding spot, Cadance had watched the entire thing unfold. Her face has begun bunched up at some time, and she was fighting to hold back tears, which finally came when she saw her father fall.
“DAAAADDDYYY!”
(…)
Cadance, princess of the land of Equestria and newly wed wife, awoke with a short gasp. She lay there for the next few minutes, letting her mind catch up with her racing heart, as she looked at the ceiling. She inhaled deeply once her she caught her second wind, and sat up.
“Hasn’t had that dream in a long time…” the pink pony muttered dryly to herself.
She looked to her right and saw it was empty. She smiled to herself, knowing that her husband, Shining Armor, was getting ready for his daily duties as Captain of the Royal Guard. She sighs with a bit of contentment, and got out of bed. She shakes her wings a bit, to get the stiffness out of them, and made her way to her balcony entrance. She opened the entrance with her magic, and was meant with the coolness of the autumn air. She let out another sigh of contentment, and looked towards the sky.
It was close to winter, about a month before the first snow fall was schedule to fall, and she was looking forward to it. She always love the first snowfall of the season, it was just something magical about watching it all. And this year was going be special; she get’s to spend Hearth’s warming Eve with her husband.
Her good mood went down somewhat as her thoughts turned to her wedding. It’s been barely three months since the wedding and the events of that time are still cooling. Ponies are still coming up to her and offering their encouragement. Some, however, looked at her wearily, clearly thinking that the youngest princess of their land was still just a monster in pony skin, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Cadance shook her head to clear it, and closed her eyes. Her horn became charge a second later with magic, as she began to cast a spell her father had taught her many moons ago. Her magic invisibly spread out across the land, allowing her to see far and wide. She smiled softly when she noticed the early morning gardeners tending to the maze garden. She next directed her magic towards the sky and saw a bird flying over head. Her smile grew ever so slightly as she focused her magic farther up.
The young princess suddenly gasps, and opened her eyes, alarm shining deeply in them. She kept her spell going as she extends it as far as it could go. Panic began to appear on her face as she scan the skies ferociously, clearing looking for something. Her heart began to beat against her chest violently when she couldn’t find what she was seeking.
“No, no, no, no!” Cadence exclaimed as she hurried into her room and to her door. The door opened with a wild flare of her magic, and she flew out, alarming some stiff members that were passing by. “I have to warn my aunts! The spell is gone! Equestria is blind!”
(Outside of Ponyville)
Ponyville, a small rural town nestled in the heart of Equestria; a place where those whose seeks to live a small, semi-peaceful life could gather.
“Blah, I see this dump hasn’t changed since I was last here!” a gruff and low male voice said in disgust.
There, standing near the edge of the place called the everfree forest, where two ponies. Both where wearing full-body cloaks, thereby masking their true appearance from the naked eye. One pony was close to an Alicorn height, just about a few inches shorter. The other pony, which stands on the taller pony’s back, was about as tall as a standard mare, just a few inches taller.
“What’s the matter, Beary?” the shorter pony asked erratically, in a high feminine voice. “Don’t like the fresh air or something?”
“Get off me, runt!” “Beary” screamed angrily.
The larger pony began to shake his body violently to get the smaller pony off of him. “Runt” giggled heartedly, as she jumped onto the larger pony’s and use it as a spring board to launch herself into the air. She landed in front of her partner and looked at him, a smile hidden before her cloak. Beary ignored his companion, and looked back at Ponyville.
“I just don’t like “still” places like this,” Beary deadpanned. “It remains me to much of a painting and I hate paintings. They to darn colorful for my likes,” he then looked behind him, and though his cloak hid his face, an erratic grin had appeared on his face, “But we’re going to change all of that, right boys?”
From within the depth of the everfree, red glowing eyes began to appear, accompany by various hisses, growls and moans. Beary’s hidden grin grew wild and turned slightly sadistically, as he turned and began matching into Ponyville, his mysterious companions following close.
Twilight Arc: The Stillness is Broken
Devils Rising:
A Shin Megami Tensei Saga:
Twilight Arc:
The Stillness is Broken
Twilight Sparkle, studious student of Princess Celestia and all around nice mare, found herself in a strange place upon waking. She blinked twice, and looked around. She began to panic when she find herself in a place she was unfamiliar with. She jerked her head around, trying to find any familiar landmarks. All she saw, however, was a white space, one that stretches beyond belief.
“Hello?” Twilight called into the abyss, half-expecting an echo to happen. What she didn’t expect was the voice that answered back.
“Greetings young one, how are you?”
Startled, Twilight began looking around, looking for the voice she heard just a moment ago. She was surprise when a small ball of greenish white light, about the size of a goof ball, appeared in front of her. Her curious nature started to override her fears, and she tried move closer. She frowns when she found herself unable to move not that it mattered, when the orb suddenly came closer, but stayed out of hoof length.
“Can you tell me your name, young one?” the orb asked in a strangely smoothing voice.
Twilight blinked, caught off guard by the suddenly question, and replied awkwardly after a moment, “Twilight…Twilight Sparkle.”
The orb seems too nodded at this, and moved back slightly. “Good…most couldn’t recall their names once they enter into this realm of dreams.”
Twilight blinked again, and looked around again. If this was truly a realm of dreams, then maybe Princess Luna was nearby. She frowns and panic began to set in again, when she couldn’t see the younger one of the royal sisters. Her panic nearly exploded when she couldn’t find the dark fur Alicorn, and looked back at the orb which has moved farther away.
“You wouldn’t find what you seek here, young Sparkle,” the orb said calmly. “But…I have came to warn you of great tragedy that’s about to befall you home.”
Twilight stared intensely at the orb, her fears telling to escape and seek shelter, but found herself unable to move. The orb moved close again, and she felt a strange power come off it, a power that made her both scared and curious at the same time.
“You and you alone have the power to change your land,” the orb spoke in calm yet mysterious voice. The orb move away, and traveled around the unicorn, who found herself turning along with it. When she next saw the orb, she was surprised to find it glowing red. “The stillness that once allow your land it beauty has been broken, and creatures form long ago are poised to return.”
The orb flew away a little, change back to it green coloring and began to pulse violently. It sent out a thin beam of light, and hit Twilight right between the eyes. The studious unicorn began to moan heavily, as she held her head with her hooves. Images began violently flashing before her eyes, and she let out glass-shattering scream a minute later.
“Will you choose the path of law, and returned to the stillness of old? Or…will you choose the path of chaos, where the strong rule? Or perhaps you will find another path, one that leads to you to your own collision? Whatever path you choose, it will ultimately be your and your alone…now awake.”
(…)
“Twilight? Twilight, you have a package,” Spike the Dragon, assistant to Twilight Sparkle and the closest thing she had to a son, called out and then muttered dryly, “and Derpy broke another window.”
With a heavy moan, Twilight pulled herself from the covers of her bed. She sluggishly got out bed, and made her way to her vanity. Like any other night where she had a nightmare, Twilight found herself with a bad case of bed head. The young mare levitated her brush from her vanity, and began to brush her mane. She had gotten her mane into her trademark style after a few brushes, and she frown when she saw her appearance.
There were large bags under her eyes, brought on by a three day-long study session and little sleep. Her coat also had lost some color, again due to her studying, and only eating small snacks to hold her over. She sighs and turned away from the mirror. First order of day, get something in her stomach, to wake her up and give her energy.
She turned away from the mirror, and trotted down to the lower levels, where a scowling Spike was waiting for her. Twilight smiled softly as she walked up to her assistant and wrapped him into a motherly hug.
“Morning Spike,” she said in a near motherly tone.
The unicorn released the dragon from her hug, and pushed herself away, so she could look him in the eye. Spike had one of these you-know-how-my-morning-went look to his face, and Twilight couldn’t help feel a little guilty. She looked around at the neat and clear library, and knew who was responsible for it. She looked back at Spike and offered him a weak, sheepish smile.
“Sorry Spike. I would have clean up before going to be late night, but I was so tired,” Twilight said sheepishly.
Spike rolled his eyes at the predictable answer and replied flatly, “Yeah yeah, I know. Like I said, there’s a package for you.” The dragon pointed to his right, and walked off before anything else could be said.
Twilight frown as she turned her attention to the box next to the table in the center of the room. She made a mental note to do something nice for her dragon assistant as she began to examine the box. It looks like a standard box, reaching up to Twilight’s knee joints and gray in color. She looked on the top and only found her address and no return address.
Twilight’s frown deepen as she began running through a list of possibly ponies who could have sent this to her. There was the princess, but she dismissed that thought immediately. Princess Celestia would usually send a message with any packages, detailing what the package was and any importance it might hold.
Next on Twilight’s list were her parents. She quickly dismissed that thought as well. Her parents aren’t the type to send gift packages. They usually show up themselves to deliver the package in person. Then there was her brother and new sister-in-law, both was quickly cross of the list, too. Both Shining Armor and Cadance really didn’t have time to shop for a gift, let alone ship it.
Twilight’s frown grew again, as she began to think who could have sent her this package. She didn’t have many friends back in her childhood home, and all of her Ponyville friends would just hoof deliver the package themselves. So…who could have sent the package to her?
“Why don’t you just open it and see what’s inside?” Spike called from the other room, answering his employer/mother-figure unspoken question.
Twilight blinked and looked in the direction of the voice. Though he wasn’t in the room at the moment, Spike knew just what to say to get Twilight in gear. She smiled slightly as she turn her attention back to the box, and use her magic to open it. She cocked an eyebrow when she saw a bunch of belts, with strange devices on them, in the box. She took one in her magic, and brought close to her face, examining it.
She saw that the belt had an adjustable strap, allowing ponies of different sizes and bulk to wear it without discomfort. She gave the device on the belt a closer look. It was a near square, with the sides pushed in. She noticed that it looked like it could open, and focused a bit of her magic onto the device and tried to open it. She began to groan as she found herself unable to open the device. She gave up after a minute produced no results.
“Who sent this box?” Twilight asked herself, and looked into the box with the identical items.
She looked at the belt currently in her magical hold, and became curious. She trotted back to her room and up to her mirror. She brought the belt to her neck and snapped it close, instinctively adjusting the strap so it didn’t bring her any discomfort.
“Hmmm….” Twilight twisted her neck slightly to get a better look at herself. She suddenly giggled as a random thought popped into her head. “Oh Darling, that belt simply wouldn’t do. It clashes with your coat, dear. And that hideous looking contraption doesn’t do you any justice, either,” she said, trying and failing to mimic Rarity’s voice.
She giggled a little more as she began charging her horn with the spell needed to remove the belt from her being. She lost her concentration when the belt began to glow faintly, and she knew it wasn’t her magic causing it, either. Her attention became fixated on the belt, as the light began to intensify slightly. The light died down after ten seconds, and Twilight gasp when she what had happen to the belt.
The belt and the device on it had change into a lavender color, about a shade lighter then Twilight’s coat. The rim of the belt retains its gray coloring, effectively separating the piece of clothing and the pony wearing it. The device on the belt hadn’t change much either, except for two things; the color, and it now has Twilight’s cutie mark inside of a strange star symbol.
Twilight frowned curiously, as she took a seat on her rump, and used her front hooves for a personal examination. She heard a soft click, and took her hooves away when she felt the device jerk. She watched as the device was pushed out enough that she could see it just be titling her head slightly, but wasn’t blocking her line of sight, and folded open. Twilight’s frown deepens slightly when she notices the layout of the inside of the machine.
The left side of the device had a roll of buttons, about seventeen in total, with Equestrian’s letters written on them. The right side of the device had some kind of screen on it, which had a series of commands that Twilight couldn’t identify. She lightly touched the screen with her muzzle, trying to see if anything would happen, which it didn’t.
“What could this thing do?” Twilight asked herself curiously.
Her thoughts were going to go unanswered for a short period, when a familiar sound reached her ears. She knew that sound all to well; it was the sound of panicking ponies, and the simple fact that it reached her meant the near entire town was in an uproar. She immediately ran toward the stairs, the device around her neck completely forgotten for the time being. She was even unaware when the device snapped closed and returned to it original position on the belt.
All she knew was that the residents of Ponyville was in danger, and any pony that threatens her hometown would get an ear full and maybe a little painful lesson in magic.
(5 minutes earlier)
“I was wrong…this dump had gotten worse since I was last here,” Beary said in disgust.
The large pony and his shorter companion were currently trotting through the market place. The strange creatures that had been following them since their emerged from the Everfree had disappeared replaced by a new pony, about the standard size of a mare. Like the other two ponies, the newcomer had a black cloak hiding his face from the many and puzzled onlookers they passed.
“What’s the matter Beary, camera shy?” Runt asked erratically.
Beary growl lowly as he took a swing at his companion, which Runt dodge by jumping into the air, going into a mid-air barrel roll, and giggling the entire time. The third pony watched all of this with an air of indifference, as the larger pony took several swings at his smaller companion, and missed each time due to the smaller pony’s size. The bigger pony finally stopped his assault, breathing a little heavy from wasting so much energy on his useless attacks. A small crowd had formed to watch the unusual ponies and some had even thrown in some bits, thinking it was some kind of performance. Beary growled loudly in the onlookers’ direction causing the crowd to break up.
Beary let out irritated sigh and kicked some of the bits out of the way. He began lazily looking around as he trotted farther into the market place. Runt and her companion follow close behind the larger pony, Runt bouncing somewhat happily.
“So…what are we looking for again?” Runt asked absentmindedly.
Beary just groan lightly, and kept his attention forward. Runt didn’t like to be ignored, and angrily jumped into the larger pony’s back. She was about to bit into the larger pony’s mane, despite having to go through a thick cloak to get to it, only to be thrown off when Beary suddenly stopped. She turned an anger glare at the larger pony, only to become confused when she notice the grin that only she could see on his face. She turned her curious glance to where her partner was looking, and saw an orange coat and blonde mane Earth pony with a hat on her head. She was tending to a stand, bushing away a few dead leaves with a bush held in her mouth.
“There’s she is,” Beary said smoothly and looked at the third pony of their group. “Unit 3397, you know you’re order, so carry them out.”
The third pony, 3397, wordless stepped in front of the other two, and pressed something under his cloak. A familiar looking device emerged from his cloak a second later, and lightly pressed the buttons with his muzzle. A soft glow came from the other side of the device and soon threw balls of green light shoot out of it. The balls landed in front of the three, and quickly formed into unusual creatures, drawing the attention of everypony in the area.
The creature on the left was a biped, standing about a foot tell, and floating in the air thanks to a pair of insect-like wings. Her hair was short and a pale purple, and she was covered with a purple cloth. The one in the center was even stranger, looking like some sort of deformed bee. It had a honey bee’s butt, but it also had a purple face with large black eyes, and purple arms with blue and yellow wrist bands, and was floating thanks to a pair of insect wings. The final one was liked a snowman, wearing a blue jester outfit.
“Pixie, Penaggai, Jack Frost! You all know what to do-” Beary screamed, and looked at the growing crowd, a sadistic grin forming under his hood, “-so get to it, you lousy devils!”
The devils looked at each other, and wordlessly attacked. Pixie launched an ice spell at Penaggai while he was busy with Jack Frost, who was charging up his own ice spell. The snowman-like devil fired his own ice spell at Pixie just as Penaggai landed a solid hit. Pixie’s attack also contacted, and all three devils went down a second later, causing frightened gasp to ring out around them.
Beary watched as the lifeless bodies of the devils fell to the ground, the color fading from their being as a mass of energy escape from the bodies. He watched as the energy quick rose to the sky, and his hidden grin grew greatly.
We may have sacrificed some weakened devils, but the results are well worth it, Beary thought smugly.
The large pony looked around, taking in the scare and frighten expressions of the ponies. He drank the confusion around him like a fine whine, and then looked towards the sky when he heard a noise. He narrows his eyes, and could see a speck rapidly approaching. The speck was soon close enough that Beary could see that it was a large crop of devils, and they were coming in fast.
“Amazing…” Beary mused to himself. “Those devils were low levels, but the magnetite they release was strong enough to bring all of these devils.”
Beary watched as the devils descended into the market place, and began to rampage immediately. Ponies ran screaming as the devils began to attack them. Some ponies, mostly unicorns, tried to fight back. They would shoot weak beams at the devils, and the devils would shrug them off without much trouble. This made Beary smile as he watched a devil, another Jack Frost, turned to a unicorn that tried to attack it and froze its legs to the ground with a quick freezing spell. The large pony’s smile grew quickly when the devil descended onto the helpless pony.
The Jack Frost was suddenly sent flying by a pair of powerful legs, landing near Beary, who lost his smile when notice the devil in front of him. He looked towards the pony, and wasn’t all that surprise to find their target knocking down devils left and right. The words of his master began to ring loudly in his head.
An Earth Pony has a strong connection to the earth. It is this connection that gives them incredible strong and stamina. This connection is farther strengthen when an earth pony’s connected to an Element of Harmony, putting their strength at mid-level devil strength, Beary thought.
And by watching the orange earth pony he could see just how sound information was. The cow-mare was bucking devils left and right, and most went down with a single blow. Beary frown as he came to the realization that the earth pony was taking out a larger crop of devils then he was thought she would.
“Unit 3397-” Beary said in a commanding tone, drawing the pony’s attention, “-restrain that earth pony.”
The mysterious pony didn’t acknowledge his master’s order, as he turned and began to advance towards the fighting pony. He broke into a run, and charged at the pony, throwing off his cloak in the process. The earth pony, Applejack, was suddenly blindsided and send to the ground, stunning her for a moment. Applejack shook off her daze, and shot a glare up at the pony bold enough to blindside her. She gasped as she saw the pony standing over her.
The pony was completely made out of shadows, which small pieces would flicker off at random spots and disappear into the air a second later. The eyes of the pony were a stone gray, and completely lifeless. The earth pony had gone up against her fair share of foes in her days, but none had scared her to her core like the pony standing over her.
What the strange pony did next caused the earth pony to nearly faint. Shadow-like appendages grew from each side of the pony’s neck and joined to form into a small dragger. Applejack tried to free herself, only for her captor to morph his/her hooves into dragon’s claws and use them to pin the earth pony’s legs down. She struggle harder to free herself, sweat rolling down her face as the dagger was lowered closer to her face.
The pony was suddenly broken apart when a familiar beam of magic pass through it. Applejack was stunned by this turns of events, but use it to get onto her hooves and ran to a familiar unicorn. The pony reformed a second later, and looked at his master, who had joined him, and waited for new order.
Beary had watched from behind his minion, and nearly panicked when he saw what was on the lavender unicorn’s neck. He growled deeply as he got closer to look at the device.
“How in the hell did one of these picture ponies get her hooves on a D-COM?” Beary asked angrily, and then looked at the shadow pony. “Unit 3397 takes out that unicorn immediately!”
The shadow pony didn’t respond to his master vocal, it just looked at the two ponies, and charged at them. His shadow appendages emerge from his neck once more, and formed into a pair of short swords.
(…)
Twilight could brag that, as a student to one of the most magical powered being in land and through her own adventures, she had seen much in her young life. But what she’s seeing right at this moment was something that she would have never expected, even if she lives in a semi-crazy town.
Creatures of different shapes and sizes were running amuck around the town, attacking any ponies they see. Some of the unicorns, ones who had gone to Celestria’s school for gifted unicorns, tried to fight back, but whatever magic these creatures possessed seems to be the natural opposite of Unicorn magic, and were able to shrug off the magical bolt sent their ways.
Twilight tried to help her follow ponies as she made her way to the market place, distracting some of the creatures so ponies could get away. Her friends and she had come up with a sort of emergency plan in case of a crisis. If a crisis was to hit their town, the group were to gather and then tried to sort the mass out. And since it was the middle of the day, in the middle of harvest season, she headed toward the market place to get together with Applejack and figure out what to do after that.
She arrived at the market place just in time to see her friend knocked to the ground by a pony apparently made out of shadows. The pony next pin the earth pony, and created a dagger out of living shadow. Applejack tried to free herself, but the shadow pony stop that quickly, by morphing its front paws into a dragon talons and sticking them into the ground around the earth pony’s front hooves, effectively tripping her.
Something snapped in Twilight at that moment. If there was one thing in this entire world that she couldn’t stand (outside of somepony finding her secret collection of romance novels) was somepony missing with her friends! She was so enraged at the moment that she had charged up and fired an extremely powerful magical blast before she even knew what she had done.
Twilight gasp when she saw her magic cut right through the pony. She hadn’t expected that, and it made her sick to her stomach when she realized that she had killed the pony. All she meant to do was blast it off of her friend, even if that part did work out in the end, as Applejack got to her hooves and ran over to Twilight.
“Twilight, what did ye do?” asked the frantic earth pony.
“I-I didn’t, uh, I mean I didn’t want-” Twilight was also in shocked by what she did.
The studious unicorn suddenly gasps and her pupils shrunk into dots. Applejack noticed her friend’s behavior and looked where she was looking. She gasps when she saw something truly disturbing. The bits pieces that made up the pony were quickly pulling themselves together, and reforming into the pony that was just blast to bits. Once the shadow pony was completely reformed, a large pony in a cloak came up to it, and said something that the Ponyville ponies couldn’t hear.
The shadow pony suddenly charge and grew small swords from it shadows. Both ponies gasped and dodge in the way only they knew how to. Applejack dive to her right and Twilight use her handy dandy teleport spell, just as the shadow pony reached them. Applejack watched, in frighten and growing disturbance, when the pony came to a stop and thrust it right sword to his right. The sword morphed into a dragon’s claw, and caught Twilight as she came out of her spell.
Twilight gasped as she found herself being thrown into a nearby fruit stand. She groans as she felt splitters of wood and the odd fruit jab into her side. The shadow pony wasn’t done with her, however, and lifted her up in the air. It brought it other sword in front of it, and tried to thrust it forward. Twilight in a moment of desperation teleported again, just as the sword reached her.
The stun pony appeared behind a large market stand, gasping for breath. She knew it wouldn’t be long before that shadow pony found her, so she began thinking. It was clear that this mysterious pony had some sort of power, one that allowed to sense magic, so she didn’t have long to come up with a plan.
“What can I do against something made out of living shadows?” Twilight asked herself and gasped when she felt something rubbing against her side.
She looked to her right and nearly screams when she saw one of these strange creatures. Thankfully, the creature seems just afraid of her as she was of it. Twilight, her curious side emerging, began to study the creature. It remained her of the fairies she saw in her old storybooks, only standing on upright, and wearing some kind of clothing.
She didn’t get chance to study the creature any farther, as the standing she was hiding behind was threw away from her, and she get a once glance of her attacker, as something was sent her way. She screamed out in pain as she felt something pierce both sides of her neck, and the belt that she had forgotten was opened and sent flying. She hit the ground, gasping for breath as the shadow pony trotted over to her.
Twilight tried to teleport again, but the shadow pony put a stop to that when it use it one of its shadow appendages to grab Twilight’s horn and pulled it back. This sent a painful feedback anytime Twilight tried to focus her magic into her horn, preventing her from using any spells. Twilight tried to break free, but she lacked the strength to do so, and began to panic when she saw the pony make a dagger out of it other shadow appendage.
I’m going to die, Twilight thought in fright as she watched the dagger lower to her face.
She felt a suddenly spark in the back of her mind. She recognized it immediately. It was a telepathic spell, one that only high level unicorn or Alicorns could do. But this one felt different then the one Princess Celestia uses.
Little one, use the D-COM! It is your only hope!” the voice, clearly a male, said urgently.
Twilight’s eyes widen when she heard the voice, and tried to talk back, but found the link already broken. D-COM…what did that pony means? That’s when she saw it from the corner of her right eye, and turned her head, earning her a massive jolt of magical feedback. It was the belt she got in the mail, which she assumed to be the D-COM the pony was talking about. She reached out with her right hoof, and tried to grab it. To her horror it was just a mere inch and half out of her reach. She continues to try and reach for it, but the shadow saw this, and morphed it hooves into blocks and slam them down onto Twilight’s body, knocking the wind out of her. She groans out in pain but didn’t stop trying to reach for the belt.
If only I could get that that belt, Twilight thought in desperation.
She suddenly felt something click within her mind, and could literally feel something in her body change. She watched, in shock and disbelief, when a shadow-like appendage like the shadow pony, only pale lavender, snapped into her vision and grabbed the device. The appendage, like being guided by Twilight’s thought, snapped the device in front of the shadow pony, and the device opened on it’s own with a quick beep.
The shadow pony jumped back, probably out of fear of the unknown, when a dome of white energy encased Twilight. The unicorn gasps in awe as she looked at the dome. Suddenly, the creature she encountered early, appearance in front of her. Twilight was surprise that it stayed throughout all chaos.
“Young mistress, will you allow me to aid you?” the creature suddenly said humbly, startling the unicorn.
“You can talk?” Twilight asked dumbly.
“All devils can talk, mistress,” the creature replied truthfully. “It’s just that you’re kind can’t understand us.”
Twilight’s mind was racing, and she looked at the device and the appendage that held it. She quickly realized the device was probably the reason she can now talk with the creature and from the sounds of it. And the creature wanted to help her. Still, one question was stopping her from trusting this…devil.
“Why should I trust you?” Twilight asked bluntly. “You’re attacked my home, tried to harm everypony that I care for. Why should I allow you near me?”
The devil sighs faintly and lowered it head, in what appears to be shame. “I am sorry about that, mistress, but when we sense magnetite some of us go into an uncontrollable rage. But not all devils are inheritably evil, and some of us are just caught when the stronger devils go on a rampage. So…to make amends, I, Pixie of the neutral order, offer my aid to you, mistress.”
Twilight was doubtful but looked behind the devil, and that shadow pony was getting bold, cautiously approaching the dome. She knew she wasn’t in any condition to go another round with it. So, with a bit of heavy sigh, she looked at the devil uncertainly.
“Alright, devil…I don’t trust you, but I know I can’t do much at the moment,” Twilight said uncertainly. “So I will take your help, but just this once.”
