Absence of Friendship

Chapters

Prologue 0
Chapter 1 - The Overlord from Another World
Chapter 2 - Opportunities
Chapter 3 - Good Old Fashioned Battle
Chapter 4 - Let's Rock!
Chapter 5 - Pandora Ignition
Chapter 6 - Nights into Dreams
Chapter 7 - Setting the Stage
Chapter 8 - Shocking Soul

Prologue 0

To those who are reading this story, a word to the wise…

Turn off the lights and sit as close as you can to your monitor’s screen as possible!

JUST KIDDING!!!

Keep the room well lit and keep your distance while you’re on your computer for long periods of time. Now enjoy this story!

Tartarus.

It has been said to be place in Equestria where evil creatures are held prisoner, and guarded by the mythical three-headed dog, Cerberus. The guardian of this underworld prevents any and all of its inhabitants from escaping into the bright world of Equestria.

However, just as there as many stars in the sky, there are just as many forms of Tartarus and just as many gates. Some of these forms are entirely different worlds, netherworlds spoiled by spite, cruelty, blood soaked taboos, bad one-liners, mimes, and boundless riffraff.

Many a stallion have wondered what lies behind these gates – What worlds are hidden by the darkness guarded by Cerberus? Only the bravest and foolish know, and of those few… Well, they’re more like idiots cause nopony’s ever seen them again once they found that answer.

… What was I talking about again?

Oh, right, the story. So yeah…

As I said, a number of stallions have crossed the gates into Tartarus, but what if a denizen from the Netherworld stumbled into Equestria?

Hehehehee… Well… How about we stop thinking about the ‘what ifs’ and get on with story? After all, I’ve droned on enough about these what ifs, so, let the fun begin!

TTTTTTTT

Absence of Friendship

Prologue 0

TTTTTT

It was a clear and calm night in Canterlot Gardens, the large moon loomed over the statues and foliage.

The castle in the distance loomed in the dark basked in the moonlight had only a few lights on in the high windows. Several unicorn guards trotted on the concrete path, their hooves clacked against the concrete paths, which shattered the silent night every once in a while.

A cold breeze wisped through the gardens, the tree branches quivered along with the wind. The shadows casted by the many statues in the garden crept across the ground and amongst the shadows, a lone figure stirred.

“Gargh… Ah, what the hell?” the lone figure growled as he pushed himself from the ground to stand on his hind legs. “I’m still in one piece? Hmm, the only thing I feel is just a headache – Note to self, use more of the Super Hero’s energy to power Getter Mach 2, if it explodes, it should at least break a few limbs.”

The figure glanced around and took in all of the surroundings, “Heh, at the very least it blew me away from the academy. Wonder where the hell I am though – Looks like some sort of castle for an overlord…”

His glasses covered eyes turned towards the statue behind him – A small pony on her hind legs. He looked past that statue to see the others, “One with a horse fetish apparently. Well, since I’m here, I might as well use this opportunity to expand the academy! My evil mind is telling me that I could find some unique test subjects and… Omph!”

The figure tried to take a step forward, but had only succeeded in losing his balance and crash face first into the ground. “SONVA-!”

With a loud groan, the glasses wearing figure began to push off of the ground but stopped when he gazed at where his… Hooves were?

“…”

He lifted his hooves up to his red eyes and gazed at them deeply, like he waited for some sort of response from his gaze at the two gray hooves. His eyes traveled down his legs to see that they too ended with a pair of gunmetal gray hooves. But then his eyes traveled up slightly when out of the corner of his eye he saw something crop out of the back of his white shorts.

A messy, white furred tail.

With one of his fore hooves, he brought it to his face and felt his nose a lot sooner than he expected, along with his mouth too.

The glasses wearing being took a deep breath…

“WHY THE HELL AM I A FR*CKEN HORSE?!?!?!”

That cry echoed through the air of the garden, which caused a number of the guards that roamed about to gallop towards the source.

“Was I propelled through my ‘Henshin Formulas’ again?!” The glasses wearing stallion questioned as he slammed his four hooves into the ground in order to at least get off of the dirt. “No! That’s inconceivable! That stuff would’ve turned my hair golden! It would’ve given me muscles! Or even give me an entire new outfit!

“It’s supposed to make something stronger! But this!?!”

With a push of his hooves, the stallion stood upon his hind legs again and threw his forelegs to the side. “THIS IS JUST STUPID! WHOEVER HEARD OF A BEING TURNED INTO HORSE BEING A POWER UP!?!”

“Halt!”

The stallion turned his red eyes to the side to see a pair of guards a few yards away – A unicorn and a pegasus who both trotted towards the glasses-adorned stallion. The stallion in response shifted his head left and right a few times, “Who the hell said that?”

“State your name and business!” The unicorn guard questioned, drawing the black stallion’s attention right back to the two stallions.

“Talking… Horses…” the stallion mused as he blinked a few times before his glasses before he focused on them. “Wait… A horn? Wings?”

“Are you deaf?” The unicorn shouted as his horn lit up the immediate area. “State your name and business!”

The mysterious white haired stallion lowered and his head and his body shook slightly, “Heh… hehehe…”

“Think he’s lost?” The pegasus questioned.

“We can never be sure, he could be one of those Princess fancolts we’ve been dealing with,” the unicorn guard replied as he trotted towards the stallion. “But he’s acting even weirder than the usual bunch.”

“BMUHWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

Both of the Royal Guard stallions jumped back as the black stallion had managed to get to his hind hooves and lifted his fore legs out to the side, forcing the baggy red coat to billow out from behind his body. “AMAZING! FASCINATING! Two mythical creatures right before me… Hehehe… And they can talk! SIMPLY MIND-BOGGLING!! There are so many facets here that intrigue me!

“What does your bone structure look like?!

“Do you have vocal chords?!

“How do your minds work?!?”

The stallions glasses fogged over as he began to wheeze loudly and drool began fall from the corner of his muzzle. The two Royal Guards reeled back from the freaky action from this stallion.

“This requires experimentation!” the stallion laughed out as he flew his coat up into the air. It was then that countless gears grounded against each other and sparks flew from the stallion’s back – And then six, extremely long, mechanical arms unfolded from the maniacal pony.

The two Royal Guards staggered back when they saw what was at the end of the mechanical arms – Two had thin, mechanical hands, one had a drill, one ended with a buzzsaw, and two more were tipped with scissor-like claws.

The arms came to life with the buzzsaw and drill spinning quickly about while the two hands shot towards the two Royal Guards. The guards leapt out of the last second before the hands latched onto them.

“Don’t run!” The black stallion laughed loudly as he turned his gaze towards the two royal guards. “I just wanna see what’s inside you – I’ll put everything back! Or wait… I know! Maybe I’ll cut you both apart and upgrade you two! Yes!

“A pegasus with laser beams on his head! A unicorn with rockets on its back for flight! JUST IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES!”

The unicorn staggered back and gulped loudly.

“Lasers on my head?” The pegasus guard mused with a quizzical look on his face. “That sounds awesome!”

“Idiot! He’ll kill us!” the unicorn guard yelled at his comrade.

TTTTTTT

A tall, dark blue form trotted to a balcony and looked up into the sky, her eyes locked up on the full moon that hung in the night. Her long royal blue man flowed freely through the air, caught amongst light breeze of the wind. The mare sighed loudly as she gleamed at the clear sky, ‘After so long and all the hardships, this world is still confusing to me – Especially considering the recent events.

‘The Nightmare Forces – They were able to corrupt even one of the wielders of the elements. And although they were defeated, there is no guarantee that the Forces are gone forever. As history has shown, when one darkness has been quelled, another just as terrible or even more so shall appear.

‘Discord, the Changelings and even… Myself. And even then, who knows what other forms of darkness will rear their ugly heads.

‘As princess of this land, I must remain vigilant. No matter what happens, I must make sure that Equestria and its citizens are safe from whatever…’

A loud explosion rocked the air and made the regal mare’s eyes widen in surprise. Her attention was immediately drawn down to the courtyard where a large amount of smoke billowed from the ground and up into the air. But what was strange about the explosion was that there wasn’t any fire, but rather from where the smoke originated, there was a large amount of jagged ice that pillared into the air.

“What in the name of Equestria?” The mare questioned as her wings unfolded before she flew off the balcony to investigate.

TTTTTTT

“MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

The black stallion quelled his laughter as he looked upon his handiwork – Or rather hoofwork – and gazed at all of the royal guards that were trapped in the ice all around him. So many unicorns and pegesai were partially bound by the odd ice, and the mechanical limbs from the black stallion’s jacket hummed to life again. “Very interesting! You horses are not only capable of speaking, but magic and even combat! Too bad your levels are way too low to fight me. But this’ll be an amazing experiment!

“Heat beam eye blasts, rocket hooves, and maybe even – Dare I say – missile launchers! I’ll turn each of you into weapons of mass destruction!”

“That actually sounds pretty cool,” The first pegasus guard admitted, despite the fact that he was frozen up to his neck with the mysterious ice.

“You idiot!” The first unicorn guard snarled as he glared daggers at his pegasus comrade. “Do you really think you’ll survive something like that?!”

The familiar buzz of a saw drew the unicorn’s attention to see that the mechanical limbs had encircled him. The Royal Guard reeled back as best he could in his trapped state.

“Ya know, that constant blathering is annoying,” The black stallion growled as he pushed up his glasses to reveal his red eyes. “Of course, once I remove that voice box of yours – That won’t be a problem! Now, if you’re a good little test subject, I might just be persuaded to use some of my homemade anesthetic.

“Then again, it might be fun to see how much pain a talking horse can take before he goes insane! Or dies… But don’t worry, even if you die, I can just turn you into a robot! Muhwahahahahahahahaa!”

The robotic arms drew closer and closer to the unicorn, with the drill and one of the mechanical hands coming in fast.

But just before the mechanical menace made contact with the stallion’s skin, a stream of blue energy crashed into the mechanized limbs and shattered them into millions of pieces. The black stallion’s red eyes blinked a few times in confusion. “Wha?”

“Halt!”

That loud, booming voice echoed throughout the garden and forced the black stallion back a couple of feet. His glasses covered eyes brought up to the sky where a solidary, winged figure descended from above. The winged figure quickly landed on the cool grass between the black stallion and the ‘iced’ royal guards, “What is the meaning of this?”

“A horn… And wings?” The black stallion questioned as his glasses fogged over.

“Your highness!” The unicorn guard called. “Please stay back! This stallion… He’s not normal!”

“Yeah! He talks weird!” the pegasus guard added. “And he’s got this weird breathing thing going on, Princess Luna!”

The stallion’s red eyes slowly disappeared as his glassed fogged up and the upper right of his mouth slowly curled. What stood before him was a mixture of the two mythical creatures – A mare (from the way the pony’s body was shaped and her facial features, he was able to discern that she was a female – Thanks to his 1.8 million EQ) with a royal blue coat and a flowing midnight colored mane and tail that billowed in the wind. Atop her head behind her horn was a black tiara that had a crescent moon adorned on it.

“Nay!” Princess Luna proclaimed as she lifted one of her front hooves up and pointed at the black stallion. “As Princess of Equestria, it is my duty to stop any and all harm that may come to my subjects!”

For a few moments, the black stallion’s glasses defogged, “Wait, you said Princess?”

“Indeed, you villainous colt,” Luna answered with her eyes narrowed down at the odd stallion. “No matter what you truly are I shall not…”

“MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAaaaaaa!”

Luna reeled back at the surprisingly loud laughter that boomed through the ice encased garden – The black stallion had leaned back and unleashed a his deafening cackle before he snapped his head back and revealed the perverted look on his face. “THIS IS SO CONVENIENT! I was never able to have extensive research on Princesses before, but here’s one right in front of me!

“In addition! You’re also one of these talking horses as well! But you’ve got wings and a horn! This is like Evil Claus thought I was worst of the worst this year to treat me so well! Such prime research material! Who knows what I could learn from studying you!?!

“And who knows? Maybe I can improve upon you! I’LL UPGRADE YOU INTO SOMETHING AWESOME! Perhaps I’ll replace those wings of yours with mechanical arms armed with sawblades! Or maybe some anti -gravity generators to make sure you can fly?”

“Mecha Luna sounds awesome!” The pegasus guard chimed up with a goofy smile on his face.

“You idiot! Don’t say that out loud!” The unicorn guard hissed at his comrade. “The princess is right there and we’re all in danger!”

The black stallion lifted his right hoof up, and lifted up a weird device that had a bulky white connector with a red glass-like protrusion on the side of it. “First, let’s see what your level is! Such a powerful attack to break my machines has to belong to something strong!”

Luna cocked an brow as she watched the stallion fit the odd device on his right ear, ‘What sort of stallion is this?’

“What does the scanner say about your level?” The black stallion asked as the scanner beeped a few times as some numbers appeared on it.

“It’s… It’s…”

BEEP!

“A thousand and six?” The stallion questioned before he shrugged and ripped the device off. “Oh well, must’ve been a fluke. That makes this all the easier!”

Luna turned her head towards the two captured royal guards, “Is this really the one who did this to you? He seems a bit… Uncouth.”

“Why thank you!” the black stallion laughed as he lifted his right hoof up. Several sparks erupted over the stallion’s hoof before it glowed a bright purple. “But enough talk! You may have that fancy talk of yours, but I’ve got these shining fing… Wait…”

The black stallion looked down at his hoof and growled. “DAMN IT! I DON’T HAVE THOSE ANY MORE!

“Oh well, I’ll just have to improvise!”

The stallion leapt high into the air, his right hand burned brightly, with Luna just watched as he fell towards the ground. “Take this! Shining…”

Luna’s horn glowed a low cobalt blue before the magical energy surged up into the stallion’s body. For a moment, the stallion was frozen in midair before he yelled out in agony. The energy washed over his body, the aura around his hoof wisped away and the stallion yelled out of pain.

When Luna stopped her attack, the black stallion crashed into the ground, his clothing, fur coat, mane and tail were singed and his red eyes spun about, dazed. “Urgh…”

The ice that had captured the guards cracked and shattered upon the mysterious stallion’s apparent defeat. Luna blinked a few times as she watched the odd stallion’s body twitch a few times in pain and she used her magic to lift up the odd scanner that the black stallion used earlier. ‘This thing appears to be upside down…

‘But this stallion, who is he? Why has he come to terrorize my ponies? And how is he able to use this odd… ‘magic’? I’ve never seen an earth pony with such abilities before…’

TBC

Author's Note

MangaKamen: My god... What have I written!?!

Chapter 1 - The Overlord from Another World

Chapter 1

The Overlord from Another World

TTTTTT

‘Look carefully at your own heart. Is anger and hatred all that you see?’

‘I’ll ask you again… What does a hero need?’

‘You’ve gained many precious things… From many of your friends…

“Dad…”

‘You’ll be fine… You can do it… I leave the Netherworld, and Evil Academy… To you…’

“Dad.”

‘The next Overlord… Is you, Mao…’

“Dad!”

TTTTT

He sat up immediately, the blanket that covered his body flew from his cold sweat covered body. He took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. ‘Damn it… Lousy dreams, first I’m a horse then I’m dreaming about the idiots and my… My dad…

‘I hate old memories, and why the hell did I dream of that stuff? At least those were just stupid…’

He lifted his arm up to the front of his face and his red eyes narrowed down at the gray hoof before him. “… Nope… Wasn’t a dream.”

… Wait for it…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

After that scream echoed through the air for a few minutes, the odd black stallion took a number of deep breaths and leered at the hooves before him. “IT WASN’T A DREAM!!!! WHAT THE HELL!?!?!

Past his hooves, the black stallion noticed something that was very wrong with this picture. “… And where are my pants?”

Indeed, aside from the glasses that sat atop his muzzle, nothing covered the stallion’s body. It gave him quite a view of his body though, ‘Great, the body structure of a horse. Meh, and the fur’s so thick I can’t see everything down there. Legs appear to be unguligrade – But I was capable of standing up without too much difficulty. Walking might be an issue, but nothing that my 1.8 million EQ can’t solve!’

“So, you’re awake,” A slightly familiar voice sounded out.

The black stallion craned his head to the side to see that behind a number of steel bars stood the same mare with the horn and wings that had appeared before him. Around her neck was a chest-piece that had a crescent moon on it and her hoovers were adorned with silver-blue shoes. The mare’s cyan eyes leered down at the black stallion as he looked about the area. “Are thou feeling alright? If thou doesn’t mind, would thou care to answer some quest…”

“So, you’ve got me locked up, huh?” the black stallion chuckled as he noticed the gray walls, the single bed and of course the barred window on the wall. “Too bad something like this won’t hold me for more than a second when I get bored.”

Princess Luna huffed slightly, “Thou should know that interrupting is rude. Especially considering your situa…”

“A demon must always interrupt the guy who’s talking even though you haven’t anything to say,” the black stallion blurted out before he stuck his tongue out at the alicorn. “Don’t think you can act all high and mighty just because you got a lucky shot on me last night! I didn’t expect to have hooves!”

“Are thou not just making excuses?” Princess Luna questioned with a slight smile on her face.

The black stallion barred his teeth and growled before he snapped his head away.

Luna took a deep breath before she drew closer to the bars of the prison. “I do apologize for last night, what had happened was probably taken out of hoof. There is possibly a good reason for thy actions.”

“Of course there was,” the black stallion cackled returning his gaze towards Luna. “I wanted to experiment on them! I wanted to see what made them tick and then improve upon them! Anybody would be an improvement with laser beams, rocket fists and maybe even a diamond pickaxe attachment!”

“Thou art a strange pony,” Luna pointed out as her eyes dulled slightly.

The black stallion trotted over to the bars (even though he stumbled for a few steps) and scanned his red eyes at the blue pony princess. For a moment, he just stood there with his eyes seemed to examine the still faced Princess’s face before he lowered his head. His body shook as he cackled. “That’s because I’m no mere horse! I am a demon! And…”

That’s when the stallion stopped talking and his mouth curled up into a cruel smile. “Oh… Ohohohoho! I get it now!”

“I beg your pardon?” Luna questioned with a brow cocked slightly at the odd stallion’s behavior.

The black stallion chuckled as he pushed himself back to his hind legs and threw his forelegs to the sides. “You can’t fool me and my 1.8 million EQ! It’s an ingenious plan – Take the headmaster of Evil Academy hostage, transform me into a form so I can’t access my full power, and you manage to capture me! I never expected it from a talking pegicorn!”

“… I’m an alicorn,” Luna corrected with a sigh.

However, her complaint fell onto deaf ears as the black stallion laughed loudly and threw his head back, “I’ll give you credit, I never thought I’d be turned into a horse – But even without fingers or my full demonic ability, you’ve underestimated me!”

The black stallion brought his forelegs to his chest and the air in the prison shifted about. Luna stepped back as a dark aura seeped from the black stallion’s body, and dropped to the stallion’s hooves. The aura whipped about the prison cell and centered around the black stallion’s body, and even managed to lift the stallion off of the ground. “To quote a peer of mine – I’m a Fr*cken OVERLORD!”

Luna’s eyes widened at the amount of energy that was pulsating from the odd stallion, ‘This… This darkness is…!’

“MWUHAHAHAHAHA!” the stallion laughed loudly as his red eyes gleamed through his glasses. “And now… TIME TO…”

And just then, the dark aura just shattered away from the stallion’s body. The black stallion pended in the air for a few seconds before he fell to the concrete floor. “OOFMP!”

The princess just stared at the confused colt who was now on the ground with his red eyes now the size of needle tips. “What. The. HELL?!!?”

“Um, are thou alright?” Luna asked as she leaned towards the bars.

“Alright? ALRIGHT?!?” he growled before he jumped to his hooves. “OF COURSE I’M NOT ALRIGHT! MY FINGERS ARE GONE! MY CLOTHES ARE GONE! AND I CAN’T EVEN ACCESS MY FULL DEMONIC POWER!!! JUST WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!”

“Although I would not have asked in such a manner,” a new voice sounded out. “That is a question I too would like answered.”

While the stallion didn’t really take notice of the newcomer, he was more preoccupied with the hooves he was looking at, Luna on the other hoof turned to see who trotted towards her. “Sister?”

Through the dark hall of the jail, another tall mare trotted towards the cell. In contrast to Luna, this one had a white coat with a bright sun on her flank, a golden crest and crown, and she had multicolored mane and tail that billowed with every step she took. She was taller than Luna, but also had a horn and a pair of wings. “I assure you, sir, we have just as many questions as you do.”

The black stallion tilted his head slightly before he crossed his fore hooves, “Heh, well, well, another pegicorn.”

“Thou must be hard of hearing, we are Alicorns,” Luna corrected with her nose slightly scrunched slightly.

“Meh, what a pain,” the stallion sighed, his red eyes dulled slightly at the two alicorns.

“Don’t look at we like we are inconveniencing thou!” Luna barked back as she pointed a hoof at Mao.

“There, there, Sister,” the white alicorn said as she used her own front hoof to lower Luna’s back to the ground. “There is no need to raise your voice to our guest. Sir, I apologize for the current circumstances, but it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Whatever,” the black stallion spat back. “My brilliant mind tells me that due to your crown, and since those guards called this blue pegicorn ‘Princess’, you must be the queen.”

“Princess actually,” the white alicorn replied with a smile.

“… Another Princess?” the black stallion questioned with his brow up. “Yeesh, are there more Princesses than countries in this world?”

There was a moment of silence before the taller princess cleared her throat to break the silence, “That’s another matter to discuss later, but for now, I think it’s time we had a proper introduction. I am Princess Celestia, and you have already met my sister – Luna. May I ask your name?”

The stallion gagged with his tongue stuck out, “Bleh, introductions?”

“The sooner we know your name,” Celestia pointed out with a heartwarming smile. “The sooner we can help you.”

“…Mao…” The stallion mumbled.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Celestia questioned as she leaned towards the bars.

“…I’m Mao…” the stallion mumbled a little louder, but still not audible enough to be clearly heard.

“Thou must speak up,” Luna requested.

The stallion drew in a deep breath and then. “I’M MAO!!!”

Both Princesses reeled back from the loud booming voice that echoed through the hallowed halls. The black stallion – Mao – cackled with a toothy grin. “I hope you’re satisfied now.”

Celestia shook her head, “Well, it’s nice to meet you… Mao. Although, you didn’t need to yell.”

“A demon must do an evil deed daily,” Mao cackled as he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s only natural that I do that.”

“Thou has mentioned ‘demon’ again,” Luna pointed out, still a little shaken from Mao’s sudden outburst. “Why dost thou keep mentioning that term?”

“Heh, that’s simple,” Mao chuckled as he stood up on his hind legs again and lifted one of his hooves up. “I am a demon.”

It took a few seconds for that fact to sink in, and Luna stepped back. “A DEMON!?!”

“It’s quite odd that you look like a regular Earth Pony,” Celestia pointed out. “However, what kind of demon were you? A changeling perhaps?”

“A changeling?” Mao questioned as he brought a hoof to his chin, slowly his glasses began to fog up. “As in a being that can alter its shape in order absorb ‘life energy’ from its victim? Ooh! Are those around? I’d love to get some test subjects! Ever since I saw BeyondX do that, I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a shape-shifter!”

Both of the Royal Canterlot Sisters looked to each other as Mao began to drool at the prospects in his head. The black stallion continued to cackle and proclaim to himself, which made it a little awkward for the two – At least until Celestia cleared her throat again, unfortunately, that didn’t really work to garner Mao’s attention. “Mister Mao, if we could keep on topic?”

“Huh?” Mao questioned before he wiped some drool from his mouth. “Whatever, I don’t have the ability to transform into a horse – So I’m not a changeling. I don’t know who would want that ability, seems like a pain in the ass.”

Celestia ignored the vulgarity that Mao expressed, but continued, “Very well, then let’s go with another question. Why are you here?”

“Hell if I know,” Mao spouted back with his fore-hooves crossed. The black stallion turned his eyes towards Luna and narrowed them. “Last thing I remember before I got sucker punched by big blue here was working on my Getter Mao MK III! I found a way to utilize the power of the Super Hero to give it the ability to change from ship form to combat robo! Gah! I was so close too!”

“Sister, are thou following anything he’s been saying?” Luna asked as she leaned in to make sure that only Celestia heard her (not that it would’ve been hard to do so, Mao kept on with his own conversation).

“I don’t think it really matters,” Celestia replied.

Mao snorted loudly. “Bah, whatever, as fun as it would be to run about this world and see what makes this tick – I got experiments, tortures and four million hours of gaming to catch up on and I’ve no time to waste on horses! Get me out of this cage, turn me back to normal and point me in the direction of where I can find a dimensional gate!”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Celestia replied with her eyes closed. “Demon or not, what I see right now is a peculiar earth stallion who assaulted not only the Royal Guards, but my sister as well. I do not tolerate any pony trying to harm my family or subjects, and this would result in banishment.

“But, as you are a visitor to Equestria, quite possibly against your will – So, I think it would be best for everypony for you to be sent back where you came from.”

“Heh, I guess we’re at least on the same page,” Mao cackled with a large toothy grin. “The sooner you get me in the right direction, the sooner I’ll get out of your hair and away from these stupid horse puns.”

“Thou certainly has no tact with words,” Luna commented.

“And you talk like you’re from seven centuries ago,” Mao shot back before he stomped a hoof into the concrete. “Now enough talk! Get me to a dimensional gate, or get me my clothes, either way, I want out of this place! It’s starting to smell like a barnyard around here.”

“As I said, it’s not that simple, Mister Mao,” Celestia continued as she rolled her eyes at her sister and the demonic pony. “We don’t know what world you’re from, or if it’s even possible for you to be returned to your world. Even then, we don’t know if you’d be back to your original form – This would require a lot of intensive studying of ancient tomes and such, and even then, there’s not even a guarantee that it would work.

“Then there’s the matter of where you would be during this period of research. The correct thing would be to keep you imprisoned here for your attempts last night – But, somehow, I doubt that would work in the long-term, especially with your powers and…”

“Blah, blah, blah!” Mao interrupted as he waved a hoof through the air. “Enough talk and stringing me along! What are you going to do!?!”

“My sister and I,” Celestia continued with a large smile on her face. “… Are going to discuss what to do, so please be patient.”

Mao’s red eyes grew wide before he leapt to the bars in an attempt to reach the sisters. “YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE ME WAIT EVEN LONGER!?!?! WHAT KIND OF SICK AND TWISTED TORTURE IS THIS!?”

Celestia and Luna didn’t answer, rather they just trotted away from the cell while Mao threw his hoof through the bars. “WAIT! GIVE ME BACK MY JACKET! I THINK I HAVE MY SLAYSTATION-VITA IN THERE!! I CAN AT LEAST CATCH UP ON MY PORTABLE GAMING!! COME BACK HERE!!!”

Mao’s protests and demands eventually became simple echoes in the hallways, accompanied with the sisters’ hooves that clacked against the stone. Luna sighed to herself before she looked to Celestia, “Sister, are thou sure that this is the wisest of ideas? We know not if he spoke the truth to us.”

“Whether or not he did,” Celestia replied, her gaze still aimed before her. “That is not the issue at hoof. If he lied and came here of his own accord, then his new form may have weakened him and ruined any plans he had.

“However, what’s more troubling is if he told us the truth. If he was, then that means that someone ripped him from his world – If it was someone from his world, then who knows what else they could send to Equestria. What’s worse is that there’s the possibility that whoever pulled Mister Mao from his world is from Equestria…”

“Sister, are thou really suggesting we trust this lunatic?” Luna questioned with her head tilted slightly. “He claims to be a demon and…”

“You were the one who saw his powers first hoof,” Celestia interrupted as she stopped in her hooves to look at her sister. “Is it too much of a stretch to believe that he could be a demon? Using ice magic, calling forth mechanical limbs, and even what he attempted to do while in the cell – Nothing that a regular Earth Pony can perform. There might be some truth to his words.

“But Luna, is there something troubling you? You seem to be a bit more on guard than usual.”

“There are a lot of troubles in thy mind at the moment, sister,” Luna answered as she looked down at her hooves. “With the Nightmare Forces appearing a few months ago, and now another pony with odd dark powers appears before me – There is a lot weighing down upon thy back with everything that has happened.”

Celestia smiled brightly as she brought her neck to Luna’s and nuzzled her sister, “Do not fret Sister, that darkness is no longer a part of you. And I will do anything in power to make sure that darkness will never appear in this land again.”

That’s when Luna closed her eyes and smiled, “I know sister, thank you.”

“For now, we’ll send some analysts to investigate the garden,” Celestia said as she pulled back from her sister. “Before we make any decisions with our guest, we’ll have to make sure of a few things. And we’ll put our best stallions to the task.”

TTT –TTT

“So, are we gonna ignore what happened last night?”

“Yup. Completely block it out.”

“Still, I bet I’d be able to outdo the Wonderbolts with rocket wings.”

“Damn it, Silver!”

It had been a long night for the guards, not only being trapped in ice, but also to report on the strange attack – needless to say, it wasn’t easy. Especially since the two guards were still on the castle grounds past their shifts, barely even awake and still in their armor to boot. The unicorn guard sighed at his still energized pegasus companion – Silver, “Seriously, how the Tartarus do you have this energy?”

“Oh, I take naps whenever I get the chance,” Silver chuckled as he stretched his wings, nearly whacking . “If you’re ever interested in a break, Smoke, I’m sure I can show ya a couple of my hiding spots.”

“Yeesh, Silver!” Smoke hissed with his eyes narrowed down at his fellow guard. “How have you not been fired yet?!”

“I’ve never been caught,” Silver answered.

“Silence, please!”

Both of the guards stood up straight and turned forward, where a number of other unicorn guards were gathered around the garden with their horns aglow. But what really drawn Smoke’s and Silver’s attentions was the stallion that was in front of them. “This is real delicate work! And unless you’re asked where the weird stallion appeared, please remain silent!”

The stallion in question before the two was a tall, skinny stallion with deep violet coat with his back to the two guards. He stood on his hind legs and moved his hips about with his right fore-hoof being pumped up and down in the air, which made his white lab coat sway with every one of his moves. What was really odd about this stallion was that his mane was a bright, flashy yellow afro and his tail was styled in a similar manner. “Fuhohohoo! Such an interesting case – an earth stallion with magic that could incapacitate a number of guards, within a matter of seconds too! It’s both amazing and pathetic at the same time!”

“Live Wire’s speaking his thoughts again,” Smoke groaned under his breath. “Great.”

“Is he wrong though?” Silver asked as the afro stallion named Live Wire spun around and immediately trotted towards another area nearby, the tip of a unicorn’s horn stuck out from the blonde mess. “Not like your unicorn magic helped us out last night.”

“I didn’t see you do anything useful!” Smoke growled with his teeth barred.

“Yeah, but my wings were frozen,” Silver retorted, a proud smirk. “Last time I checked, that horn was on your head, not your back or backside.”

“Grr…” Smoke snarled.

“Oh my, what exquisite results!”

Both of the Royal Guards turned back to see Live Wire dancing about a certain area with his horn glowing, “I’ve never felt such magical residue before! It’s almost intoxicating!”

“Are we sure we got the right mad stallion?” Silver asked as he leaned a little closer to the unicorn. “Live Wire’s starting to creep me out.”

“Knowing you, that’s saying something,” Smoke muttered back.

“Fuhohohoo! Did I just overhear you two talkin’ ‘bout me again?” Live Wire chimed in as he took a few moments to leer at the two Royal Guards. But that moment soon passed as the eccentric unicorn went back to work – Which apparently included for him to dance about with his afro mane and tail bouncing with his rhythm. “Better be careful, you never know who’s listening in there! And don’t you forget it!”

It was then that Live Wire got back to his hind legs, clapped his front hooves together a few times before he spun on his back hooves away from the two guards.

“You ever wonder if he gets into Poison Joke for fun?” Silver asked with a bright smile. “There’s no way he’s like that normally.”

“You’d be surprised,” Smoke sighed under his breath. “You know what they say about geniuses, they’ve got their insane sides. Some just tend to hide them, and others wear them on their sleeves. Live Wire’s the latter.”

“What did I just say!?” Live Wire called out from a distance. The eccentric unicorn chuckled when he heard the two guards yelp in surprise, but turned his attention away as his horn glowed even brighter. ‘Fuhohoohoo, suckers – Oh well, back to work. I’ve never felt readings like this before, I’m almost choking on the pressure that was left here.

‘If this really was left by a supposed stallion, then this is no normal stallion – I’ve never felt such negative magical energy before. I’ll need to run some further tests, but I think this could be quite fruitful in the future.

‘I’ll have to make a few reports first though, I’m sure that’ll be fun.’

Live Wire sauntered about the gardens for a few seconds before he smiled brightly at the sun in the sky, ‘I guess it’s time to really cut loose and let the music spin! Fuhohoohoo!’

TTT – TTT

“Ten thousand-three hundred and seventy-two, ten thousand-three hundred and seventy-three,” Mao counted off as he laid back on the cold concrete, his red eyes darted about the prison cell. “Ten thousand-three hundred and seventy…”

Mao stopped himself before he leapt back to the top of his hind hooves and brought his fore hooves to the sides of his head. “GAH! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! THERE’S JUST SO MANY TIMES I CAN TAKE WATCHING THE SAME SPIDER SKITTER AROUND THE CEILING BEFORE I GO INSANE!!!”

The black stallion leapt back to the bed in the cell and quickly flipped the rickety bed off of the floor and into the wall. Mao breathed extremely heavily as he watched the bed fall back to the ground, the pillow and blankets being crushed underneath.

Then, Mao sighed with relief before he scratched the back of his head with his hoof. “Well, that broke the boredom for a few seconds. Now what?”

“Are thou always like this?”

Mao turned back to the bars to see that Princes Luna was back before him, and the demonic stallion smirked. “What do you expect? You locked me up here with nothing to do for… How long has it been? A day? Two days? A month? A year?”

“It has only been an hour,” Luna pointed out with a roll of her eyes.

“Really? Damn, demons need to relish solitude, but with nothing to do,” Mao muttered to himself as he rubbed his chin. “Meh, this is why demons must have things to do! So, come here to ask more questions? Or did you come to gloat some more? If it’s the latter, than bravo! To beat me, you deserve it!”

“Actually, my sister has decided on the actions we’re going to take with you,” Luna replied as her horn began to glow brightly. “She requested that I be the one to escort you to the throne room, and that these be returned to you.”

In a flash of blue light, Mao’s clothes popped right in front of him – the articles of clothing levitated in front of him as the demonic stallion eyed the clothes. “What the? What’s wrong with my clothes? They smell… Different… What’d you do to them?”

“They were cleaned,” Luna answered as Mao pawed at the cleaned clothes a few times. “It was the very least that we could do as they were ruined when thy defeated you…”

“Damn it!” Mao growled as he lifted up the red jacket up, taking note that the fabric shined in the light. “It’s so shiny! How am I supposed to be a proper demon with clean clothes!?! At least you didn’t mess with the stuff in here!”

Luna tilted her head slightly, “What sort of items are you referring to? There were none that where found by the royal…”

“Ah, my Slaystation Vita!” Mao cheered as he pulled out a small black device from the red coat that had a number of buttons on it. The black stallion brought the device to his face and rubbed his cheek against it. “My precious! Muhwahahahaha! All that precious data! All those hours! You’re back in my hands!”

“Hooves,” Luna corrected. ‘Where in the heavens did he get that… Thing?’

“Whatever!” Mao spat back as he placed the Slaystation Vita back into his jacket and used his hooves to lift up his shirt. “What counts is that I got it back! Now then I have just one question for you.”

“And that is?” Luna asked.

“How do I put clothes on with hooves?” Mao questioned.

Luna blinked a few times before she conjured more magic to her horn, “Thou does not have to worry, allow I to help thee.”

A second flash of blue light surged through the prison cell, and Mao stumbled about, now fully dressed in his regular clothes. “Gah… What in the world was that?!”

“A simple teleportation spell,” Luna explained as she brought up a hoof to her chest with a bright smile on her face. “All I did was make the location on thou’s own body – A simple thing any unicorn can perform with a little practice.”

“Don’t do that again,” Mao growled as he finally gathered himself. “Ever.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot follow that request,” Luna replied as her horn glowed once more.

The aura appeared over Mao’s body, and the stallion’s red eyes grew wide. “Wait a second!”

The magical aura flashed through the prison cell, and a single second later, Mao appeared right in front of Luna outside the cell. The stallion’s red eyes spun about before he collapsed to the ground, “Gurk! Damn it! You did that on purpose!”

“Well, how else was I supposed get you out of your prison?” Luna snickered as Mao tried to get back to his hooves.

“HOW ABOUT USING THE DAMN KEY?!!?” Mao snapped back.

“Oh, thy almost forgot about that,” Luna giggled before she trotted off. “Now please follow me.”

“Don’t walk away from the subject!” Mao growled as he slowly walked forward… Only to fall face first into the concrete face first. “SONVA-!”

“Please refrain from swearing,” Luna requested. “It is rather uncouth.”

TBC

Chapter 2 - Opportunities

Chapter 2

Opportunities

TTT – TTT

Through the countless leafs and brush of the forest, light fell into the gaps of the deep, lush forest. The chirps of crickets, the wind’s whistles between branches, and the occasional snap of a twig were the only noises in the woodland as a single figure trotted through the woods, his breath calm and quiet.

It wasn’t until he reached a rather large clearing between the trees where a small pond stood still. The stallion looked about the area before the horn atop his head glowed brightly with a silver aura, “This place should do the trick. Such a pain in the flanks.”

The silver aura flowed over to the stallion’s sides where a pair of saddle bags resided, the magical light pulled out a pair of items – A large rolled up scroll with a number of holes in it and a spray can – and floated them through the air. The scroll unrolled to reveal that the holes were the outline of a large circle that had several runes in the design.

A sigh escaped the stallion’s mouth whilst the paper was laid out by the pond’s edge. He remained silent as he used his magic to shake the spraycan before it dispersed its contents on the scroll. “But, it’ll be worth in the end.”

With his horn brightened up once more, the faded paper was pulled off of the ground to reveal a bright blue runic circle painted on the ground. After he fitted the items back into his saddle bags, the stallion turned back to the rune and lowered his horn to the edge of it. “Now, just to add a little spark…”

The horn lit up once more and a few sparks flew from his horn. Those silver sparks landed on the runic circle and immediately a small flame erupted on the rune, very slowly, the flame followed the line and burned the symbol into the ground.

“Soon... Very soon.”

TTT – TTT

Mao wasn’t a happy stallion.

Sure, he was in a chariot being pulled by a group of pegasai, the blatant disregard of physics of how four stallions could lift up a solid gold vehicle completely straight without the aftereffects of turbulence was enough to make the demon lord droll with interest. But even that wasn’t enough to pull him away from this reality.

“So, what exactly is the point of this?” the demon lord questioned, his front hooves dangled off the side of the chariot. “Sending me out to… What kind of name is Ponyville anyway?”

Luna rolled her eyes at the stallion next to her, “Please show respect to the town. Until my sister and myself are able to find a spell to return you to your home, we decided that you will reside at Ponyville for the duration of your stay.”

“That’s not answering the question!” Mao snapped back as he turned his attention back towards the Princess. “Why? Why am I being sent to some backwater dump!? Why can’t I stay in the comfort of that huge castle?!”

With a deep breath, Luna turned her head away from the demon. Mao narrowed his eyes, “HEY! I’M TALKING TO YOU!”

Ignoring the supposed demon lord, Luna closed her eyes in deep thought…

“Sister, is it really wise to send him to Ponyville?”

While Mao was losing his mind in the prison cell, Celestia and Luna were in deep discussion about what to do with the supposed overlord.

Celestia kept her gaze on her younger sister as she continued to voice her concerns, “If he truly is a Demon Lord, Celestia, then it would be best that we keep him here so we can keep an eye on him and deal with him accordingly.”

“Hey.”

“All the more reason he should be sent to Ponyville,” Celestia replied with her eyes closed. “If it is true he is a demon, then we should have the Elements of Harmony at the ready in a worst case scenario. Besides, I don’t believe that this is a coincidence that our ‘guest’ is here, so, it would be best if he be in a different environment while we investigate.”

“Sister, I understand thy plan,” Luna stated as she looked away from Celestia. “But is it wise to leave the Elements in the same location of this ‘demon’? If this dangerous stallion were get his hooves on one of them, who knows what could happen if another threat were to appear.”

“I did take that into consideration, Luna,” Celestia answered as she trotted over to her concerned sister. Placing a hoof on Luna’s back, the white alicorn smiled warmly at her sibling. “Which is why I thought this would be an interesting chance for you to…”

“Hey!”

Luna shook her head and pulled her head back when she realized that Mao was only an inch from her face. She could feel the breath from his nose brush against her muzzle, “Uh, art thou a little too close?”

“I need to get this close to get some answers!” Mao growled as he leaned closer to Luna, to the point that their noses actually touched. Mao didn’t notice that Luna’s face now sported a slight blush. “Where the hell are we going?! What’s the big idea of loading me up into this thing?! And…”

A deep blue aura wrapped around Mao’s body before he was forced to the side of the chariot, almost being forced off of the golden carriage. Luna on the other hoof had inched to the opposite side and turned away from the black stallion. “Thou shall receive thy answers when we land, so please be patient.”

It took a few tries, but Mao was able to get his balance back to make sure he didn’t fall from the chariot. The black stallion growled under his breath as he looked about the chariot, in an attempt to try to find something to alleviate the boredom (Unfortunately, his Slaystation VITA’s battery had run out hours ago, so it was just a hunk of worthless plastic, wires and data that he couldn’t access at least until he could access more of his powers).

That’s when his red eyes fell upon a rather fancy blue case that had a number of jewels embedded on its’ sides with a lock on the front. Mao turned towards Luna, who’s attention was kept forward. So with a smirk, the demonic pony slowly inched his hooves towards the box and…

BZZT!

“GARGH!” Mao was propelled back with bright blue sparks around his hooves.

Luna had turned just in time to see Mao slammed up against the front of the chariot, his hooves now slightly charred from the sparks. “Thou should know better than to mess with others’ possessions.”

“Shut up,” Mao growled as he breathed on his hooves.

‘At the very least, that barrier spell is working,’ Luna thought to herself with a roll of her eyes.

TTT – One Hour Later – TTT

It was a calm afternoon as the pegasi drawn chariot landed on the grassy plains near a lush deep forest – the moment that it touched ground, Mao leapt from golden chariot and slipped on his new hooves. The demon growled under his breath as he pushed himself up from the ground. ‘Damn these hooves! I shouldn’t have to get used to these things, but if I’m stuck like this then… Then… GRAGH!! How do other demons do this?!’

After he regained his balance, Mao noticed that the golden chariot was being pulled away by the pegasai guards into the air once more. “Hey! Great! They dumped me into the boons of this world!”

“I hardly qualify this as ‘the boons’,” Luna stated as she trotted alongside Mao, her horn glowed a bright blue and next to her floated the same box that had zapped Mao minutes earlier. “This town is located directly next to Canterlot and has a lot of very profound citizens of Equestria in it.”

Mao’s eyes dulled at the sight of the blue alicorn, “And you’re here too – Just what I needed.”

“Thou’s sarcasm is noted,” Luna pointed out as she floated the box down to the ground once more. “Thou whine a lot for a supposed Demon Overlord.”

“Whining? This isn’t whining!” Mao spat back with his gaze turned away from Luna. “This is complaining! It’s completely different!”

Luna sighed under her breath, this stallion didn’t act like a being with the title of ‘demon overlord’. Then again, he just looked like a regular stallion as well. But there was truth to some of his words – while Mao was knocked out, he was examined by some of the medical professionals of Canterlot.

No wings, no horn (there was a large red scar where a horn would be though) – Physically, Mao was just an Earth Pony. But he wasn’t just some regular Earth Pony – Not with the magic he was able to perform, it broke the physical laws of Equestria. Another oddity was while the medical examiners were observing Mao, they took note that his body healed faster on its own and seemed to be much more durable than the average pony.

He was barely scratched by Luna’s magic by the time the stallion was brought to him, even though he was knocked out by her attack.

Everything about this stallion seemed to contradict this world’s knowledge.

‘This is why sister took such precautions,’ Luna thought to herself as her blue aura from her horn slowly graced over her form. ‘Still, I am a little unsettled about this plan of hers… But we have no other options at the moment.’

A blue flash of light lit up the area, at first Mao just blinked in confusion at the light behind him. But eventually, he turned around and raised a brow at the mare behind him. “What the?”

In place of Luna’s tall, dark blue alicorn form stood another pony. In contrast to Luna – this mare had a navy blue coat with a light blue mane that resembled that of her flowing mane, only this one stood still. Gone were her crown and royal garb, also missing were her wings, and she wasn’t as tall as Luna…

In fact, she only reached up to Mao’s neck if the two stood alongside each other.

At her flank, the mare still had Luna’s black fur pattern and with the crescent moon mark that adorned her backside.

Mao tilted his head slightly as his glasses slowly fogged up.

“Do not be alarmed, for it is I, Luna, that stands before you,” the younger looking mare announced as she lifted a hoof towards Mao. “This is just a precautionary form so that none of the ponies in town will…”

“AMAZING!”

Luna reeled back slightly as Mao pushed himself to stand on his hind legs, his fore legs held out at the sides. The demon lord in question’s eyes were completely covered with fogged up glasses, and there was a drunken smirk on his face. “You can change appearance at will?! You’re just like that one cosplay demon of the Diez Gentlemen!

“Why not just do that to me so I can get back my original form? It’d save us a lot of time and effort with this!”

The smaller Luna sighed with her gaze on the rather freaky-looking stallion before her. “I would, but this spell is not as easy to cast on others as it is for I. There is also a few other matters – for one, I do not know what thou’s real form looks like. Secondly, there is no telling what this spell could do with a being with your abilities.”

“That’s not a problem!” Mao laughed as he stepped shakily towards Luna on his hind legs. “Just let me examine and study this magic of yours! I might be able to…”

Using one of her front hooves, Luna lightly tapped Mao in the chest. The freaky stallion stumbled backwards and fell onto his back with a smack against the wet grass. “GAH!”

“I would allow no such thing!” Luna scoffed before she turned away from the stallion to lift the bejeweled container from the ground with her magic. “Now, enough of this, you are to follow me – We have some pony to meet in Ponyville.”

“Ponyville?” Mao questioned as he rolled back to his hooves. “Gee, I wonder what’s in there.”

As Mao followed Luna over the grassy plain, a devilish smile slowly crept onto his face. ‘I’m still interested in that magic she’s got – I can’t let a single chance pass me to experiment on it! And while I’m at it, I might as well experiment on her as well! Who knows when I’ll get a rare chance like this again?!’

It was then that Luna felt a shiver run down her spine.

While the two made their way to the small town in the distance (the two needed to stop every few minutes since every few steps, Mao slipped on his hooves and crashed face first into the ground), a shadow covered stallion watched the two before he slipped back into the woods.

TTT – TTT

The birds chirped happily.

Ponies roamed the streets to fulfill their daily deeds.

The sky was clear, save for the odd rainbow that sped across the blue.

Ponyville was having one its blissful, peaceful, autumn days – A day where nothing could go wrong, where everypony had a smile on their face, and where a song could be almost be expected to be heard from at least one of the town’s citizens.

Needless to say – Mao didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all.

He could feel the bile well up in his throat as he watched all the ‘cute’ ponies around him, most of them greeted him and Luna when they passed the two.

“Good day!”

“URK!”

“Howdy!”

“Gargh!”

“How are you two doing today?”

“AAAH!”

“Oh will you just stop it?”

Luna watched as Mao writhed in pain on the ground before her. With the way he flailed his legs about, it reminded Luna of when a filly acted up when they didn’t get their way. “You’re acting as if you’re being poisoned.”

“That’s because I am!” Mao replied as he pushed himself off of the ground again. “To a former honor student and dean of Evil Academy, a greeting is just like getting punched in the gut! It almost made me hack up a lung when I greeted you and your sister!”

“Lovely imagery,” Luna muttered under her breath. “Must you be so vulgar?”

“To a proper demon, vulgarities are necessary in demon etiquette,” Mao replied with a large smirk. “Hell, it’s the only way to actually greet someone at the academy without gagging on your own tongue!”

“You sound more like a delinquent than an honor student,” Luna replied.

“Don’t even joke about that!” Mao barked back as he stomped up to Luna to glare at her. “I wouldn’t dare become a delinquent! Always attending class, donating blood, giving charitable funds to the poor, or even… Graduating!”

‘Wait, if you didn’t graduate, how’d you become dean of the school?’ Luna pondered as she watched Mao shiver in front of her. ‘And why do things at this school sound so… Convoluted? It’s almost as if this Evil Academy’s culture is just to be the exact opposite of what expected here. It’s actually rather lazy, I would’ve expected a demon culture to be a little more refined in a sense.’

“Whatever the case, just endure it,” the disguised Luna scolded Mao as she turned back to their path. “We need only reach the Golden Oaks Library and I shall explain what we plan to do.”

Mao took a deep breath and growled rather loudly. But the growled ended as he chuckled, “Fine, then I’ll play your game for now – but know this, I don’t think I can kept underfoot for too much longer! This place is starting to get to me and…”

“Oooh! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!”

Mao’s eyes widened in surprise when a large amount of pink and… Darker pink entered his field of vision. The dark stallion pulled his head back to see that it wasn’t just pink in front of him, but rather there was a pair of large blue eyes and an ever growing grin. Before he could question just what the hell he was looking at, the pink blurred before him and disappeared.

“What the hell was that?” Mao questioned with a raised brow.

“I think I know,” Luna admitted but kept her head aimed towards where the pink blur dashed off to. “But that is for another time. Come, the library is not too further.”

Mao tilted his head slightly, “Too much pink energy is dangerous.”

The demon chuckled for a moment before he followed after the disguised Alicorn princess. But then he stopped and turned back towards the forest he and the princess were dropped off. His ears twitched slightly as he narrowed his red eyes at the woods in the distance. “…”

“Sir Mao, please do not lag behind.”

Mao huffed and slowly trotted after the disguised Luna.

TTT – TTT

Meanwhile, in the forest known as Whitetail Woods…

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“C’mon, Sweetie Bell, it’s not we’re in Everfree Forest.”

“Sides, it was your suggestion to get our marks in deno… Denro… What ya call it again?”

“Dendrology.”

“And what’s that supposed to be again?”

“The study of plants.”

Through the rather well-traversed woods, three little fillies trotted past the fallen trees with their hooves crunched down on the orange, red and brown leafs that fell to the ground. The purple mane pegasus who led the trio deeper into the woods, sighed loudly, “Great, that sounds perfect.”

“Scootaloo, maybe you should try getting a cutie mark in sarcasm,” the young, yellow earth pony filly retorted.

“What would a cutie mark look like for that?” Scootaloo asked with her brow slightly cocked at her fellow filly.

“Ah… Ah don’t rightly know,” the earth filly answered back

“Uh, girls, do you hear that?” the white unicorn questioned with a loud gulp.

The three mares stopped in their tracks and listened to the woods – Several loud snaps and cracks echoed through the light forested area. The young unicorn stepped back slightly, “C-Could it be a Timber Wolf?”

“Timber Wolves don’t live in Whitetail Woods, Sweetie Bell,” the earth filly answered back her red mane (complete with cute pink bow). “Ya don’t need to worry ‘bout them.”

“But, Applebloom, if it’s not a Timber Wolf,” Sweetie Bell replied as her legs shook slightly. “Then what could it…”

A heavy footstep slammed through the air, followed the much closer snap and splinter of wood. Another footstep sounded and the three fillies drew together as a large dark shadow slowly appeared amongst the trees before them. “So… Much… MANA!!!”

TTT – TTT

The disguised Luna sighed with relief as she stopped in front of the door embedded in the tall tree. Admittedly, the walk wasn’t what tired her out, it was Mao who had caused her frustration and anxiety – What with his constant complaints, every few moments he’d trip over his hooves (and she had to use her magic to help him back up), and…

Luna shook her head of those thoughts as she brought her hoof up to the door and tapped against the wood a few times. ‘The sooner I get this over with, the sooner that Mao can be returned to his ‘Netherworld’ and…’

In the middle of her thoughts, the door opened up to reveal a young lavender unicorn with a long purple mane (complete with pink and dark purple highlights), and kind purple eyes that looked at the disguised princess, both deep orbs seeped with curiosity. “Oh, hello! Welcome to Golden Oaks Library, can I help you?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” the disguised Luna coughed out, trying to keep her voice down. “Thou may drop thy act.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight questioned as she pulled her head back.

Luna tilted her head slightly, “Twilight Sparkle, I commend thee for thy dedication to the act, but please allow us to enter thy residence post haste.”

“Um, sure,” Twilight replied, blinking a few times.

With her muzzle scrunched, Luna raised a brow at the studious unicorn’s actions, “Did my sister not inform you of our coming? How we were to arrive in this form? Have you not…”

A loud burp sounded from inside the library, with both Twilight and Luna looking up to the second floor of the library. Twilight lowered her head slightly, “Oh, will you please excuse me for a few moments? I believe that’s for me, feel free to come in though.”

Twilight quickly trotted away, which left Luna to roll her eyes before the herself entered the library, ‘Celestia, have you just now sent the information?! In all of Faust’s holy name, why?!’

“Ohmygosh!”

Luna’s ears perked slightly when she heard Twilight’s cry and turned her attention towards the stairs where Twilight galloped down towards the disguised princess. The young mare gasped and skidded in front of the disguised Luna and kept her head down, “I… I’m so sorry, Princess Luna! I… I didn’t know you were coming! If I had I would’ve informed the town and… And…”

Luna sighed as her horn glowed brightly and her disguise slowly faded away to reveal her taller, more regal form. “That is quite alright Miss Sparkle, there is no need to fret – I suppose my sister had her reasons for not telling you until just now. But have thou learned of the reason why we are here?”

“I didn’t really read all of the letter,” Twilight admitted with a small blush on her face. “When I saw that you were going to be here, and disguised, I wanted to apologize!”

“It is no trouble,” Luna assured with a wave of her hoof. “All will be explained very soon, but first, I must introduce you to somepony who will…”

It was then that Luna came to a realization – One that could possibly rock the entire foundation of Ponyville, nay, Equestria! The implications of what could happen because of this fact shook Luna’s very core.

Mao was gone.

TTT – TTT

“RUN!”

“WHAT IS THAT THING!?!”

“DOES IT REALLY MATTER?! IT’S SURE NOT FRIENDLY!”

The three blank flanked fillies galloped as fast as their little legs could carry them through the forest, but the large shadowed creature that gave chase after them, didn’t have to try hard to keep up with the fillies. Every sixteen steps they took, the large creature only took one, so the trio couldn’t get too far from the massive monster that chased after them. “Don’t run! I can sense the Mana from you!”

“What’s it going on ‘bout?” Applebloom yelled out.

“Do you really want to find out?!” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Good point,” Applebloom admitted.

“STOP!”

Both Sweetie Bell and Applebloom stopped, with Scootaloo right in front of them. The yellow earth filly turned to her pegasus friend, “Scootaloo! Why are we stopping?!”

Scootaloo didn’t answer, but rather tackled into the two fillies just out of the way as a large dead log crashed into the dirt road where the fillies were moments ago. Fragments and splinters flew through the air over the three fillies with Scootaloo making sure that her friends weren’t going to get hurt.

“… Noble,” A gravelly, yet hollowed voice sounded from above the three fillies. “But, pointless…”

The three young mares looked up to see the being that chased the from the woods now loomed over them – It was a colossal creature that stood on two hind legs with long arms that ended in dirt covered hands. Its body seemed to be covered with jagged, wooden armor while the ‘skin’ of the creature seemed to be more akin to that of roots and soil combined in one. From the top of its head, a single, large leaf protruded through the air and its dull green eyes look down at the three fillies.

“Mana…” The wood creature growled as it slowly pulled its right hand back. “So… Much… Mana...”

The three fillies closed their eyes just as the large creature quickly brought is hand down on them, each of them trying to scream, but the fear of this odd monstrosity drawing ever closer by the second paralyzed them.

WHAM!

“What…?”

“Heh, I thought I sensed something familiar over here. Didn’t think it’d be a Wood Golem though.”

All three of the fillies opened their eyes to see that the Wood Golem’s hand was being held back by a single hoof that easily managed to prevent it from coming any closer. Connected to that hoof was none other than Mao who stood before the fillies, his coat billowed in the wind.

The Wood Golem growled as it clenched its fingers around Mao’s hoof, “Don’t… Interfere…”

“And you need to stop talking like that!” Mao growled before he leapt up and slammed one of his hind legs into the Wood Golem’s head. “Quit being so overdramatic!”

The Wood Golem’s eyes widened when the hoof connected with the side of his head and he stumbled about having released Mao’s hoof. The large monster fell to the ground as Mao landed in front of the three fillies, his face curled up into a large smile, ‘He may be over dramatic, but he’s a demon! That’s something I can use here!’

TBC

Chapter 3 - Good Old Fashioned Battle

“Heh, heh, heh…

“It’s like I thought… If I want to defeat you… I’ll need the ‘Power of the Hero’, won’t I?

TTTTTT

Chapter 3

Good Old Fashioned Battle

TTT – TTT

The Wood Golem growled as it clenched its fingers around Mao’s hoof, “Don’t… Interfere…”

“And you need to stop talking like that!” Mao growled before he leapt up and slammed one of his hind legs into the Wood Golem’s head. “Quit being so overdramatic!”

The Wood Golem’s eyes widened when the hoof connected with the side of his head and he stumbled about having released Mao’s hoof. The large monster fell to the ground as Mao landed in front of the three fillies, his face curled up into a large smile, ‘He may be over dramatic, but he’s a demon! That’s something I can use here!’

“You… BASTARD!”

The Wood Golem clamped its hands together before it slammed them into the ground where Mao was, but the black stallion had leapt up into the air and dodged the attack. Despite his previous issues with a simple trot, now that he was in an element he was familiar with – Kicking some demon ass – it was as if the issue was now as far as it could be in the back of his mind.

Mao landed on the ground behind the Wood Golem and spun around, his right front hoof pulled back quickly before he slammed it right into the Wood Golem’s back. “GARGH!”

Its wooden teeth grounded against each other before the large golem spun around to backhand the ponified demon lord. “HOLD STILL!”

WHAM!

The Wood Golem’s eyes widened when he saw that his attack did indeed connect, however, Mao had used both of his hooves and blocked the attack. A large smile crawled onto Mao’s muzzle and his eyes narrowed down at the fellow demon, “Is that all you’ve got?”

While the two duked it out, the three fillies watched their fight from a nearby log – Using it as a hiding place while simultaneously using it to watch the fight. Well, Applebloom and Scootaloo watched, Sweetie Bellee was completely hidden with her front hooves held over her head, her entire body shook. “W-What’s happening now?!”

“That pony’s fighting that tree monster, and winning!” Scootaloo replied, not tearing her eyes away from the action.

“Ah ain’t seen a Pony do that ‘fore!” Applebloom admitted.

Mao quickly pushed the large limb and slammed his right front hoof into the Wood Golem’s jaw, with a loud sickening crack that echoed through the air. “This is just pathetic! You call yourself a demon?! You can’t even take a horse down!”

The Wood Golem’s eyes widened as it stumbled back, its heavy footsteps rocked the ground, “W-What?! How do you know what I am?!”

Mao scoffed to the side, his red eyes leered right back onto the larger opponent, “Right, Wood Golems aren’t that smart – Well, either that or you’re not from Evil Academy. Or it could be both.”

At those words, the Wood Golem stepped back slightly, “Evil Academy? Wait – T-That hair… Those clothes… T… Those g-g-glasses… N-No…”

“Ah, looks like the gears are finally turning,” Mao chuckled as he lifted up his right hoof in front of his eyes. “Yes, I am the Dean of Evil Academy – Overlord Mao!”

With its eyes narrowed, the Wood Golem stood there for a few moments before all of a sudden…

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

The Wood Golem rolled over the ground, his arms wrapped around his torso and tears flew from his eyes as he kept up his laughter. Mao stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face. “The hell?”

Throughout its Belleowing laughter, the Wood Golem attempted to get off of the ground and back to its feet, but every time it did, it would double over in laughter again.

And Mao… He gritted his teeth and barked loudly, “WHAT THE HELL IS SO FUNNY!?!”

That yell seemed to have quelled the Wood Golem’s laughter (slightly) and it wiped a tear from its eye, “Oh, you have no clue – You have no idea! No idea of what an opportunity is in front of me!”

“You think if you attack the overlord while he’s a horse, he can’t properly defend himself, and you can become the overlord,” Mao bluntly stated with a dull tone in his voice.

“Uh… Well, yes,” The Wood Golem admitted as he scratched the side of his head.

“Damn it, are you really going for that clichéd of a motive?” Mao sighed with a shake of his head. “Then again, I have to give credit to you for at least wanting to take advantage of my current form. But… It’s pointless.”

“What?” The Wood Golem chuckled as he slammed his fist into his open palm, immediately cracking his knuckles loudly. “In case you didn’t notice, you don’t exactly strike fear with that new form of yours, and I doubt that those hooves of yours can do any real damage. Look at me, barely a scratch!”

“Right, you tree hugging bastards tend to heal yourselves,” Mao muttered.

The Wood Golem smirked as he crouched down, then he quickly leapt up high into the air, “BIG SPLASH!”

Mao blinked as he looked up to see the Wood Golem high in the air, spin about and slammed its hands together. The black stallion pushed up his glasses and chuckled, “Oh, that’s right, that’s you Wood Golem’s strongest attack. Well then, I guess I’ll have to counter that accordingly.”

With his right front hoof glowing brightly, Mao pulled it back as the light around his hoof erupted into a glowing bluish flame.

The Wood Golem plummeted down towards the demonic stallion, the air cut between him. But just before the Wood Golem was about to crash into the black stallion, Mao threw his fiery hoof up into the air and slammed it into wooden fists. Air and blue flames flew about the area as the two powerful forces clashed against one another.

Ker-RACK!

The Wood Golem’s eyes widened as he watched several cracks race up his arms, the wood splintering with every second he was above Mao’s attack. All the while, Mao’s face spouted a large Cheshire grin and his red eyes glowed brightly. “Bursting… HOOF!”

And just like that, the Wood Golem’s arms exploded into several jagged pieces of wood and dirt that flew through the air. The Wood Golem’s torso fell to the ground right at Mao’s hind hooves. Mao placed one of his front hooves atop of the golem’s head and cackled, “I’d make a joke about you being ‘unarmed’, but that would be in too bad of taste for me.

“So, I’ll just settle for asking you some questions – How the hell did you get here and how come you got to keep your original form?!”

“I… I don’t know!” The Wood Golem sputtered, his face firmly planted into the ground. “One moment I was in the middle of stealing some pizza from a delivery boy, and the next moment, I’m in a forest that’s teaming with mana!”

‘Mana?’ Mao thought to himself as he turned his attention towards the forest that was a few yards away. ‘Now that he mentions it, there does seem to be an abundance of mana around here – I just didn’t notice it because of these stupid HOOVES! Hmm… It would explain a few things here though: The talking horses, that pegicorn who beat me down and quite possibly my transformation into this form.

‘No, wait, it wouldn’t explain why the Wood Golem still has his default demon form – Hmm. Perhaps I should experiment on this demon and WAAAH!’

Mao fell face first into the ground. When the Demon Overlord lifted up his head, he noticed that the Wood Golem ran away towards the woods. “RUNNINGRUNNINGRUNNINGRUNNINGRUNNING!”

“Damn it!” Mao growled as he pushed himself off the ground and quickly gave chase after the armless Wood Golem…

… Only after one step, Mao slipped over his hooves and landed face first on his nose, “GARGH! DAMN IT!”

When Mao got back to his hooves, he growled and noticed that the Wood Golem had disappeared in the forest. The black stallion slammed his hoof into the ground, ‘Stupid hooves! You made me lose my only lead outta this sugary hellhole!’

“That was amazing!”

Mao blinked a few times at the three voices that called out in-sync and he turned around to see the three fillies had gathered behind him – each of them looked at the white haired stallion with stars in their eyes. The black stallion reeled back slightly as the three fillies ran up to him. ‘Gargh! What the?!’

“Thanks mistah!” Applebloom cheerfully said with a bright smile. “Ya’ll saved us!”

Mao contorted his face slightly in anguish, a demon being thanked for saving someone’s life?! He didn’t even see these three horses when he wandered over here, he was more concerned with the Wood Golem!

“Yeah, that was pretty cool,” Scootaloo admitted as she waved her hoof a few times. “Not as cool as Rainbow Dash, I bet she could’ve taken down that walking stump in half the time!”

“… I don’t know who that is,” Mao spat with a flat look in his eyes.

“Where have you been?” Scootaloo asked, a stern look on her face. “She’s the coolest pegasus to ever grace the skies! And one of the greatest fliers in all of Equestria!”

Mao rolled his eyes, ‘Simple words – Although, it might have some experimental merit if this boastfulness is true.’

“Uh, Mister?” Sweetie Belle spoke up.

Mao turned his red eyes down on the small unicorn, his glasses covered gaze caused Sweetie Belle to hide behind her two friends. Still she mustered up what courage she had and looked to the stallion, “Um, h-how were you able to do all that? Y-You’re not a unicorn, are you?”

“Of course not,” Mao cackled as he smiled brightly. “I am…”

“Sweetie Belle, of course he’s not a unicorn,” Scootaloo stated with a roll of her eyes. “Do you see a horn in that crazy mane of his?”

“Is he a Pegasus?” Applebloom questioned as she trotted around the taller stallion. “He’s got them neat clothes, so it could cover his wings…”

“Even if he was a pegasus, that wouldn’t explain that magic he did,” Scootaloo retorted.

“Wait, what if he’s an Earth Pony who’s talent is magic?” Applebloom suggested with a hopeful grin on her face. “Say, Mistah, what’s yer Cutie Mark in?”

“Cutie mark?” Mao questioned as he cocked his brow. “Just what the hell is that supposed to be? And don’t call me mister – I’m Mao, the Dean of…”

“That’s an odd name for a pony,” Scootaloo pointed out.

“That’s because I’m not a…” Mao growled.

“C’mon Mistah Mao,” Applebloom pouted, putting on her cutest puppy dog look and aimed it at the white haired stallion. “Can ya show us yer Cutie Mark? It’s gotta be related to that amazing light show you used to save us!”

Mao brought a hoof to his chest and grimaced. ‘Damn it! The cutesy is burning me!’

“Oh! W-Wait a second!” Sweetie Belle gasped. “We… We didn’t introduce ourselves!”

What happened next was enough to leave Mao, the strongest demon at Evil Academy and evil scientist who had performed many demented (and sometimes perverted) experiments, speechless.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Role Call!”

“Applebloom!”

“Sweetie Belle!”

“Scootaloo!”

“ON THE QUEST TO FIND OUR CUTIE MARKS!!”

Mao’s right eye twitched a few times as he watched the three fillies perform a dynamic pose similar to the colorfully dressed superheroes that he saw in his research. With a shake of his head, the Demon Overlord shivered for a second, ‘First thing I do when I get back to my lab – I’m drinking a large portion of that memory loss potion. I refuse to remember this… This… Cute travesty!’

The black stallion sighed loudly as he looked down at the three cheerful fillies, “I don’t have time for this – I need to…”

For the umpteenth time that day, Mao was interrupted – But not by one of these ponies, rather it was a loud grumbling that made his eyes shrink and stop in mid-sentence. “… Stupid stomach.”

“Ooh! We still need to really thank you!” Applebloom cheered as she and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered around Mao. “And Ah know exactly how to thank ya perfectly! We can get ya’ll some food!”

Truth be told (as much as he hated to admit it), Mao didn’t get a chance to eat since yesterday – And it could be possible that the fact that he wasn’t able to access his full powers was attributed to his hunger and lack of nutrients.

A large smirk appeared on Mao’s face.

TTT – TTT

“I just find this hard to believe this,” Twilight muttered out loud. “A demon overlord?”

Both Twilight and the disguised Luna had left the Golden Oaks Library in order to find Mao, and throughout their search, Luna explained the situation concerning Mao. “Thou should know better than anypony, Twilight Sparkle, that tales like these can be true – Trust I, I have seen what this stallion is capable of.”

“And from what I understand,” Twilight spoke softly under her breath. “You and Princess Celestia thought it’d be best to send him here?”

“So long as I am here,” Luna explained as she turned her head about, scanning the crowds of ponies in town. “And as long as you and the others hold their Elements, there should be no issue of this stallion. But we cannot let our guard down around him, though he may look like a regular earth stallion, he’s got impressive power and he’s not the most ethical pony around.”

“But Pri… I mean, miss,” Twilight corrected herself. “If we need to find him quickly, where are we supposed to start looking for him?”

“That is the question at hoof,” Luna replied as she stopped and tapped her chin with her front hoof. “I should’ve gone with a Pegasus disguise, then I would be able to search the skies for this troublemaker.”

“Then we need to get everypony searching for him,” Twilight replied with a bright smile. “We’ll get my friends and scour the entire town to find…”

“Ooh! Ooh! Twillight!”

Both Twilight and Luna turned to see a familiar pink mare gallop towards them, a huge grin on her face. The hyperactive mare skidded to a halt and bounced in front of the two, “There you are! I was looking for you! You won’t believe what just happened! You gotta see it for yourself! C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! You too Princess Luna! Come to Sugarcube Corner as soon as you can!”

And just like that, the pink mare dashed off leaving Twilight and Luna slightly confused at her actions. Luna craned her head towards Twilight and turned her head slightly, “Twilight Sparkle, am I not disguised?”

“Yes you are,” Twilight replied.

“Then how was the Pony of Laughter, Pinkie Pie, able to know who I was?” Luna questioned.

“It’s Pinkie Pie, she defies logic as a hobby,” Twilight sighed as she trotted ahead. “Let’s hurry, we should get Rainbow Dash first, she can help us get the others and we’ll search as discreetly as possible.”

“I thank you Twilight Sparkle,” Luna bowed her head slightly. “But, should we not recruit Pinkie Pie’s help with this matter as well?”

“She’s already got her mind set on something,” Twilight replied. “I’m sure we can find him without her, he couldn’t have gotten too far.”

Oh Twilight, you have no idea.

A few minutes later, Pinkie Pie trotted into Sugarcube Corner, where a certain trio was gathered around a familiar black stallion who was messing with something on the table in the confectionary. “Hey everypony! Everything’s all set!”

“Good!” Mao called out, not bothering to look up from the Slaystation Vita he had on the table. “We’re outta sweets over here!”

“No problem, Mister Mao!” Pinkie Pie announced as she trotted to the kitchen. “More sweets for the new pony!”

“And something to drink!” Mao shouted as the fluffy pink tail disappeared into the kitchen. “Something carbonated! Or juice!”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

“Ah ain’t never seen a thing like this before,” Apple Bloom stated as she looked at the glowing screen of the game system. “What’s it do?”

“YOU LOSE!!”

Mao growled as he pushed the game system to the side, “It cheats! That’s what! I can barely play any games any more with that thing!”

Sweetie Belle looked at the device and then towards the pouting Mao, “May I try, Mister Mao?”

“Whatever,” Mao growled as he slumped over the table. “Not like I can play the damn thing with these hooves now. Even if its on easy, I can’t be a fighting game now and…”

“WINNER!”

Mao’s eyes widened as he turned towards the small unicorn who had a great big smile on her face as she clapped her front hooves a few times. “That was really fun!”

“Wow Sweetie Belle, how’d you do that?” Scootaloo asked as she pulled it from her friend. “Lemme try!”

Not even ten seconds later…

“WINNER!”

“Ooh! Ooh! Me next!” Applebloom cheered out loud as she pulled the game device over to her.

… Do you really even need to ask what happened next?

“WINNER!”

“OKAY! THAT’S IT!!” Mao roared as his red coat flew up high into the air. All three of the fillies leaned back as three familiar black devices popped out from the coat and landed on the table – Three more Slaystation Vitas! “You three! I’m taking you three down in co-op play!”

“What’s co-op?” Applebloom asked as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo pulled up one of the Slaystations.

“It’s where these things can connect and we can face each other off,” Mao stated bluntly as he brought his own game system up to his hooves. “I’ll be able to show you all how it’s done! Nothing but beginners luck!”

“Does this mean we can keep these things?” Scootaloo asked as the screens lit up.

A wicked smile appeared on Mao’s face, “Tell you what, if any of you three win, you all can keep them. But, if I win, then you three will pledge to be my minions for the rest of your days!”

“Ooh! Maybe that’s what we’ll get our cutie marks in!” Applebloom squealed as she messed with the buttons on the device.

“What would a cutie mark of a minion look like?” Sweetie Belle questioned with her head tilted slightly.

“Enough talk!” Mao growled as he lifted one of his hooves up into the air. “Let’s get this showdown over already!”

TTT – TTT

Deep within the Whitetail Forest, the Wood Golem panted loudly to himself as he looked at his right arm – smaller than his original one, but at least it was there. Unlike his left arm which was still in the process of regenerating. “Damn it! DAMN IT! Just what the hell happened here?! One moment I was gathering mana from this world, net thing I know, I’m getting my wooden ass handed to me!

“What was he doing here in the first place?!”

“Hmm, how interesting – I wonder if the summoning process was influenced by where I placed the runes.”

The Wood Golem craned its head back to see an overshadowed unicorn was right behind him. The unicorn chuckled as he slowly trotted in a circular fashion around the wooden demon, “Still, that was a rather pathetic display – I would’ve thought a demon would be able to handle his own against three fillies and a stallion who trips over his own hooves.”

With its fist clenched tightly, the Wood Golem quickly stood up and pulled its fist back, “Then how ‘bout I take down a cocky stallion!?!”

The Wood Golem roared as it threw its fist right towards the stallion, however, the fist never connected. Instead, it flew over the stallion’s glowing head, sliced cleanly off of the Wood Golem’s arm. For a moment, the Wood Golem just stood there with his eyes wide, and he turned to see that a few inches away from the stallion was an aura covered sword that floated through the air.

The fancy sword flew about until it was pointed right at the Wood Golem’s throat, while the stallion kept his eyes narrowed at the demon. “Now, now, now, is that anyway to act towards the one who’ll help you get your revenge?

“Though I suppose you demons tend to be a bit rough – So consider this a grace from your better.”

TBC

Chapter 4 - Let's Rock!

Chapter 4

Let’s Rock!

TTT – TTT

“No… No! NOOOOOOOOO!”

“YOU LOSE!”

Mao’s face contorted in pain as he dropped the Slaystation Vita to the table, his face followed suit as all three of the fillies around him cheered loudly. “We won! We won!”

“How?” Mao mumbled as his eyes dulled slightly. “After all my training… After all those hours of gaming… All that time spent mastering combos and cheat codes… All to be beaten by a bunch of little horses!”

“Aw cheer up, Mistah Mao!” Apple Bloom comforted as she patted the stallion’s back a few times. “Maybe yer talent’s not in this stuff? Right girls?”

Unfortunately, both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had started a single match between the two them, and were too engulfed in their own individual game to listen to their fellow Cutie Mark Crusader. Apple Bloom smiled sheepishly as she turned back to Mao, “Uh, well, Ah’m sure that you’re good at something…”

“Good at something?” Mao growled, not even lifting up his head up from his head. “I was the number one Honor Student at Evil Academy, I conquered the school and became its Dean, I have a one point eight million EQ – So how in the hell did I lose to three little horses in a video game!?”

Most of that flew over Apple Bloom’s head, “Academy? You run a school?”

“Not just a school, but everyone at the school!” Mao cackled as he pushed himself from the table and lifted his front hooves into the air. “I am the overlord! I ruled over countless demons with an iron fist and experimented on them whenever I pleased and…!”

“Here’s some more sweets!” Pinkie Pie announced as a large plate of various sweets slipped on the table from the pink mare’s head.

Mao blinked a few times at the sweets before the Cutie Mark Crusaders swiped some, and then turned towards the grinning pink mare. “Curious – How exactly did you manage to make this stuff?”

“What do you mean?” Pinkie Pie replied with a bright smile. “All I did was some simple baking – Oooh! Do you wanna learn how to bake? It’ll be really, really fun and you could help me figure out what sort of foods I can serve for your ‘Welcome to Ponyville Party’ party! What do you say, Mister Mao?!”

“Wait, what?” Mao questioned with his head tilted slightly. “I’m just asking how you’re baking this stuff! Are you using your mouth to lift the materials up or…”

“Nah, I just used my hooves,” Pinkie answered back as she used her hoof to pick up a cookie from the plate and toss it into her mouth which she quickly chewed and swallowed it. “Just like that, Silly!”

Mao looked at his hooves and blinked a few times, ‘How is it possible? It’s impossible to lift up anything like that with only a hoof – But then again, this is a new world, who knows what physics exist in this world? I should start my experimentation immediately! But… I need to find an appropriate lab first!’

“So Mister Mao,” Pinkie Pie stated, the white haired stallion snapped from his thoughts. “What kind of party do you want?”

“Party? What party?” Mao questioned.

It was Pinkie’s turn to smile brightly.

TTT – TTT

While the transformed Overlord was subjected to various forms of sweetness and cuteness that would make any demon gag on their own tongue, a large shadowed figure stomped through the Whitetail Woods, its red eyes gleamed at Ponyville in the distance while a familiar sword wielding stallion trotted alongside it. “Now then, he’s more than likely to be there, go and claim your desire.”

The large, wood armored monstrosity nodded before it raised its foot up, tearing the roots that had grown from its foot.

The stallion smiled as he watched the wood armored figure stomp towards the unsuspecting town. ‘And soon, with the sun at his back, the brave shall appear and smite this abomination. Then, the first step shall be taken…’

Inside the blissfully unaware town, Twilight and the still disguised Luna trotted to a stop in front of the town hall, both of them with their heads lowered. “Aside from the wielder of Laughter, we have not seen your allies at all, Twilight Sparkle.”

“I don’t understand why,” Twilight admitted as she shook her head. “It’d probably be best just to search for this ‘Mao’…”

“But the issue is where he would go,” Luna pointed out. “He knows barely anypony, and can barely trot.”

“He can barely trot?” Twilight questioned with her brow raised slightly. “What does that mean?”

“Every few steps, he falls onto his face,” Luna answered quickly as she trotted forward. “Therefore, if we can find somepony who saw a stallion like this then…”

“Hey! Twilight!”

For the second time that day, both mares turned to the voice that called out, only this time they looked up to see a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail that wiped about before she landed on the ground before the two. “Hey, there you are! Where ya been, egghead?”

“Rainbow, now’s not really the time to call me that,” Twilight chuckled nervously, she could almost feel the odd look that Luna cast towards her. “W-We were kind of looking for you and the others…”

“Of course you would,” Rainbow Dash replied as she puffed out her chest slightly. “I’m just that awesome. But whatever, Pinkie sent me to get ya, there’s this huge party she’s holding for this really odd stallion and it’d be lame if you missed it.”

“An odd stallion?” Luna questioned as she stepped forward, almost getting right into Dash’s face. “What did this stallion look like? Did he have black fur? Large glasses? Did he dress in weird clothes?!”

Dash leaned her head back in surprise before she narrowed her eyes, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who the hay are you!? You ever hear of personal space?”

“Dash!” Twilight hissed as she galloped up to her pegasus friend’s side. “That’s Princess Luna! Watch your tongue!”

Dash looked at the disguised princess with squinted eyes, slowly the gears in her head began to turn and then realization struck. A large streak of pink appeared on Dash’s face before she lowered her head, “I… I’m sorry Princess!”

“Please, wielder of Loyalty,” Luna coughed. “There is no need act that way, not while I am like this – More importantly, what does this stallion this party look like?”

“Well, I’m not going to lie, he’s kind of creepy,” Dash admitted with a roll of her eyes. “Not only did he look like a weirdo, but when he learned that I was the fastest flyer in Equestria, he started drooling. Must be one of ‘those’ kind of fans.”

Luna sighed loudly, “What is really tiresome, if we had followed the wielder of Laughter in the first place, we would’ve found that headache sooner…”

“Uh, how do you know that freaky stallion?” Dash asked as Luna trotted forward.

“I’ll tell you on the way there,” Twilight groaned.

It didn’t take long for the three mares to reach Sugarcube Corner, which was surrounded by several dancing ponies with loud rock music and bright flashing, colorful lights pouring out of the building. Luna sighed as she trotted towards the doors, “Let us retrieve Mao and…”

SPLAT!

The royal sister would’ve continued her little talk, but a large pie had crashed into face with bits of crust and cream flew through past her. For a moment, Luna just stood there with the pie smashed in her face while Twilight and Dash looked at the Princess and stilled their breaths as the pie tin clattered to the ground.

“FOOD FIGHT!”

It only took a second for food to be flung through the air by a number of ponies either inside or outside the bakery. Various baked goods soared and smashed into either a pony, the ground, or the building’s interior, oddly enough, the rock music didn’t stop. With her horn lit, Luna used her magic to pull the remnants of the pie off of her face, revealing a rather disgruntled look on her face.

“Uh, princess?” Twilight chuckled sheepishly. “Y-You may want to take a deep breath before…”

SPLAT!

Twilight didn’t get a chance to finish. A second pie seemed to have locked on and landed right into the purple unicorn’s face, with enough force to send Twilight reeling back a few feet.

“MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!”

Luna narrowed her brow as that familiar laugh sounded over the music and cries of joy before her horn glowed brightly as a faint blue aura wrapped around her body. With determination in her eyes, Luna trotted through the front door as Dash helped the dazed Twilight off of the ground.

Inside Sugarcube Corner, Luna had to stop for a moment to take in everything that was happening before her – Everypony that was inside the bakery was caked in… well, cakes. Cookies were cracked against the floor, frosting flew overhead, and in one of the corners of building was a makeshift fort made up of chairs, a table, pillows and the cash register for the shop.

“MORE PIES!”

“AYE CAPTAIN!”

And atop the makeshift fort was none other than Mao, with three familiar little fillies about him – Oddly enough, the demon overlord didn’t have a bit of food on him, save for the pie that he lifted up with his front hoof. Then with a large smile planted on his face, Mao threw the pie and knocked some poor pony off their hooves. “DIRECT HIT! Ten points!”

Luna’s gaze zoned in on the laughing stallion and growled under her breath before she trotted towards him. Several baked goods were flung at the disguised princess, but thanks to the aura she had around her body, they just bounced off Luna and actually slammed into some innocent ponies.

Apple Bloom held up another pie that Mao picked up, “Here ya go, Captain Mao!”

“Good work, my minion!” Mao cackled as he tossed the pie up and down a few times on his hoof. ‘I’m starting to get the hang of this. As my extremely powerful brain was able to deduce, when I’m in a combat situation, my demon nature seems to rise and I can actually work with this body.

‘Too bad that this food fight isn’t like the ones back at the Academy – No explosions, nobody getting a broken bone, and the food here is acceptable at best. At least this is a semblance of fun that I can relate to and…’

“What dost thou think thou art doing?!”

Mao’s gaze seeped down towards the edge of the makeshift fort to see Luna’s own eyes narrowed at him. The transformed demon leapt down to the floor with a large grin plastered on his face. “Did your eyes get exchanged with that little disguise of yours? It’s a food fight! One of the most widely accepted school activities at Evil Academy – It’s only natural that I share my culture, isn’t it?”

Luna was about to speak before Mao threw the pie he had into the face of some random stallion, “Thou were supposed to be discreet in this matter, starting a food fight with most of the town is the worst way to be discreet!”

“Aw lighten up,” Mao cackled. “It’s a party.”

“Yeah Princess!” Pinkie Pie laughed in, the mare was completely covered with frosting, bits of muffins and cookies, and she licked her face every few seconds. “This is an amazing party! Sweets everywhere! It’s almost like a dream of mine I had once, where there was this huge school and everypony there wasn’t a pony and they kept on flinging food through the air while some of them sang atop of the tables while dancing to dodge the food and…”

“Regardless, cease this activity immediately!” Luna commanded as she lifted a hoof towards Mao. “We must return to the library so we can discuss what…”

At that very moment, a loud crash echoed through the air, so loud that it caused the music to screech to a halt. Everypony froze as a second crash sounded through the air, which shook the ground and most of the ponies dropped the baked goods they were about to throw.

And then a loud roar blasted through the air which had a number of ponies gallop to the windows to feature the source of the sound. This included Mao and Luna – The Demon Lord tilted his head while Luna’s eyes widened in surprised. “By Faust’s name, what is that?!”

“Huh, he looks different,” Mao stated as he rubbed his chin. “Did he dye the wood? Did he get taller?”

Outside and amongst the buildings in Ponyville was the familiar Wood Golem that Mao had saved the Cutie Mark Crusaders from – Only as Mao had pointed out, it had grown bigger till it rivaled some of the smaller houses in the town, its arms had fully regrown and its wooden armor had turned into a rich gunmetal black with its yellow eyes now a bright red. The Golem roared loudly before it stomped once more, which shook the ground once more.

The three, cutie mark seeking fillies had hidden themselves just under the window when they saw the enlarged golem trek through the streets. Luna turned towards Mao and narrowed her eyes at the stallion, “Dost thou know that monstrosity?”

“Personally? Nope!” Mao snickered with a large grin on his face. “Saw him earlier though…”

“And thou didn’t think this would warrant concern?!” Luna growled back.

Mao shrugged back, “Who was I supposed to tell? Besides, the big lug’s nothing more than a walking weed.”

WHAM!

Said walking weed had just slammed one of its fists into a nearby building, with wood and furniture flung through the air alongside its fist. That elicited most of the ponies in Sugarcube Corner to scream and gallop out of the building as the monster continued its rampage through the town.

“Not a threat?” Luna snapped with her teeth barred. “It’s wrecking the town!”

“Why are you making this out like this is my fault?” Mao replied using his hoof to pick up a piece of cake that was dropped on the ground and lifted it up to his mouth. “All I did was break its arms to get some information, how could that make me the culprit in this?”

“Art thou insane?!” Luna barked as she pointed a hoof at Mao, who was now munching on the cake he had lifted up. “It is obvious that the creature is looking for thou! Thou hast to take responsibility!”

“Um, Miss?”

Luna stopped and turned to see the three Cutie Mark Crusaders standing before her, each with their gazes turned away. Apple Bloom stepped forward and looked at the disguised Luna right in the eyes, “Please don’t blame Mister Mao for this, he was just trying to help us.”

“What?” Luna questioned.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo chimed in. “We were at Whitetail Woods when that big lug came out of nowhere and tried to hurt us!”

“And… And Mister Mao saved us,” Sweetie Belle added. “So please…”

All three of the fillies all spoke up at the same time, “Don’t be mad at him.”

‘He saved them?’ Luna thought to herself as she look at Mao who gritted his teeth. ‘Why would a demon save some fillies from danger?’

“T-That’s a lie!” Mao sputtered with a little tint of pink on his face. “I just wanted to beat up that treeman! I just happened to stop him before he laid a finger on these little cheating kids!”

Tossing the remains of the cake to the floor, Mao trotted towards the door, “I’d rather deal with that walking tree stump than be in here!”

Mao calmly pushed the door open with his front hoof… Before he slipped on the front step of Sugarcube Corner. “DAMN IT!”

Luna looked to the three fillies and sighed, “Did that stallion really help you lot? He seemed to deny it a lot.”

“Awe, he’s just shy,” Pinkie Pie stated as she hopped up, now completely clean with no deserts on her. “You should’ve seen him when I asked his name – He kept whispering his name before he finally blurted it out, he even had a blush on his face!”

Luna closed her eyes, ‘Now that she speaks of it…’

“…Mao…” The stallion mumbled.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Celestia questioned as she leaned towards the bars.

“…I’m Mao…” the stallion mumbled a little louder, but still not audible enough to be clearly heard.

“Thou must speak up,” Luna requested.

The stallion drew in a deep breath and then. “I’M MAO!!!”

‘Still, would a demon really save three innocent fillies?’ Luna thought as she looked out the window once more, this time seeing a rainbow streak fly about the Wood Golem’s head, distracting the demon from destroying the buildings. “That’s…!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo cheered out. “If anypony can take that thing down, Dash can!”

“Oooh! I should get my camera!” Pinkie Pie added before she bounced away.

“How can she be so calm at a time like this?” Luna questioned under her breath.

TTT-TTT

The large Wood Golem snarled as its large hands attempted to grab the quick rainbow blur that flew about its head, but with its size, its large hands missed the attacking blur. The quick blur slammed into the back of the demon’s head, which forced the creature’s head forward slightly with several wood splinters flung through the air.

However, the Wood Golem just scratched the back of its head, as if it was just bitten by a mosquito instead of being hit.

“Hey Twilight!” Dash called out from the air. “What the hay is this thing?!”

On the ground, the purple unicorn looked away from helping ponies escape to gaze up at her friend, “I don’t know ! It looks like it’s made up like a Timber Wolf, but it’s obvious that it can’t be! I’ve never seen…”

“It’s a Wood Golem, duh,” A cocky voice sounded out. “Apparently, it’s of the Dreadnaught variety, one of the strongest kinds there are.”

Twilight turned to the side and reeled back to see Mao standing there, his eyes fogged over and his breathing heavy. There was even a little drool pouring from the corner of his mouth, “Normally, it takes a lot of mana and time for a Wood Golem to reach this level – But this world’s saturated with mana! It must’ve sped up the process! How interesting!”

The mare blinked a few times as she took a moment to observe the odd stallion near her – And it didn’t take her long to figure out who this stallion was, “You’re Mao, right?”

“Heh, only a day and my name is resonating in this world,” Mao cackled loudly as he licked his chops. “A little slow for my taste, but then again, I’ve yet to show off my one point eight million EQ!”

“I’m assuming you mean IQ, right?” Twilight questioned as she raised a brow at the odd stallion.

“Nope!” Mao laughed back as he stepped forward. “By the by, I saw you talking to that pegasus in the air, mind telling her to back off? She’ll only get in the way of this – Not that it matters to me.”

“W-What?” Twilight muttered.

Mao crouched slightly, the sleeves of his red jacket seemed to flair about as a blue aura erupted over his right front hoof. With a large smirk on his face, Mao pounced through the air to leap against the buildings in order to soar towards the Wood Golem. Twilight watched with her mouth opened slightly, ‘What in the name of Equestria?! How is he able to do that?!’

The black stallion spun through the air near the side of the Wood Golem’s head before he slammed his green fiery covered hoof into the forest demon’s head. The golem’s eyes widened as the force smacked against its face and sent the demon stumbling to the side (almost crushing a nearby building in the process). “URK!”

Twilight’s jaw dropped as she watched the black stallion dropped to the ground before her, his back to her and his right front hoof had smoke float up into the air from it. “W-What in the?! Was that magic?”

Dash had floated down next to Twilight and shook her head, “Whoa, how’d he pull that off? I mean… That was just luck.”

“Nah, just pure skill,” Mao cackled with a wave of his hoof.

“MAO!!!”

The black stallion and the two mares turned back to see that the Wood Golem had recovered and the cracks that were on its face caused by Mao’s attack steadily recover. The demon’s red eyes glowed brightly as they narrowed down at Mao, “DESTROY!”

The Wood Golem crossed its arms over its chest, several roots erupted from the large golem’s feet and stabbed into the ground. Mao chuckled as he shook his head. “Really? You’re gonna use that? That’s rather pathetic, you’re being excessive here.”

“What’s he going to do?” Twilight questioned as she tilted her head slightly.

With a second road, the Wood Golem threw its arms up into the air as several rotted tree stumps with faces and root-like arms popped from the ground. The stumps cackled loudly before they began to jump through the streets towards Mao and Twilight. Mao sighed as he turned towards Twilight, “Hey, little miss unicorn, you may wanna run.”

Twilight was about to speak, but Dash grabbed and flew Twilight away from the path of the many living stumps that stomped through the streets. Mao just stood there though, his eyes glared at the oncoming stumps. A small spark jolted through Mao’s body and he smirked, ‘Heh, looks like I can still do that trick too! Still, I can’t use my ultimate attack yet though…’

Using his front hooves, Mao pushed himself to his hind legs as a blue aura surged over his right front hoof as the stumps drew ever closer. The transformed Demon Overlord drew a deep breath before he threw his hoof forward, “SHINE BEAM!”

The aura shattered and disappeared from Mao’s leg.

From their perch atop one of the buildings, Twilight and Dash looked at each other, “Twi, Princess Luna said he was a Demon Lord Thingie, right? Are they supposed to do that?”

“In all honesty, I don’t know,” Twilight muttered out loud. Then something occurred to her, “Dash! You need to help him! He’s going to be…”

That’s when several lights popped around the marching army of demonic stumps, and from the lights, multiple rays shot from the lights and crashed into the stumps. The sources of light danced about and shot several more and more rays into the stumps until they shattered into splinters of wood.

“Okay, that was pretty cool,” Dash admitted with a smirk at Twilight. “Are you sure you he needs help?”

Twilight didn’t know what to say to that. ‘He’s a demon, and he commands this much power – Are all demons like this Mao?’

The splintered remains of the stumps fell to the ground around Mao, and the dean of Evil Academy smirked wildly. ‘I’ve still got the touch! But, I still got the big guy to deal with…’

The Wood Golem seemed to be shocked that his attack was blocked with while Mao narrowed his eyes at it. ‘If I can’t access my full demonic power I won’t be able to deal with this annoyance – Although, there’s something I could always try one thing, but I’d need a guinea pig…’

CLICK!

A flash of light to Mao’s right caught his attention, and standing a few feet away was none other than Pinkie Pie with a camera around her neck, “WOW! That was an amazing trick! How’d you do that? Can you teach me how to do that? It would save me a ton of bits on lighting for my parties and it would be really good on holidays too!”

‘Found my guinea pig!’ Mao thought with a wicked smile on his face. “Say, Pinkie was it?”

“Yuppers!” Pinkie Pie chimed back.

“How about another trick?” Mao cackled with that wicked smile starting to encompass more and more of his face. “You can even have the honor of being a part of it.”

“Ooh! What trick is that?” Pinkie Pie asked as Mao trotted behind the pink mare. Pinkie kept her attention on Mao. “Are we going to pull Angel Bunny from a hat? A card trick? Waitwaitwaitwait! Are we going to saw some pony in half?! I’ve always wanted to see that!”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Mao stated as he used his hoof to push Pinkie’s head back forward. “This’ll only tickle for second.”

Before Pinkie could say another word, Mao lifted his hooves up and they glowed brightly at Pinkie’s back. The pink mare’s eyes widened as a bright light immediately engulfed her and Mao, everypony around watched in awe as the light died down…

“MAGI-CHANGE!”

“PINKIE PARTY CANNON MK IV!”

Where Pinkie Pie once stood, now in her place was a massive pink cannon that had three balloons colored on the side of it with a black silhouette of a familiar mare at the back of it. Behind the cannon, Mao stood behind it with a wicked smile on his face. “MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!

Twilight and Dash stood on their perch in utter shock. “Twilight, did he just…”

From Sugarcube Corner, Luna blinked a few times, “Just what…”

“WOW!”

Luna jumped as she watched the Cutie Mark Crusaders cheer at the sight outside the window, with Apple Bloom waving a hoof through the air, “Ah didn’t know that ponies could do that!”

“It’s Pinkie Pie,” Scootaloo replied. “This doesn’t surprise me.”

“But, it was Mister Mao who did it,” Sweetie Bell pointed out. “Is Pinkie alright?”

‘That is actually a good point,’ Luna thought to herself as she watched Mao cross his front hooves over his chest. ‘And is he going to do what I think…’

The Wood Golem roared loudly before it stomped towards Mao and the Pinkie Party Cannon MK IV, but the transformed demon only smiled brighter. ‘Stay on target…’

Even faster, the Wood Golem charged at the cannon and black stallion, and still, the dean of Evil Academy stood there. ‘Stay on target…’

When the Wood Golem was just a foot away from Mao and the cannon, it lifted its large and mighty arms up into the air with its wooden body cracking in the process. And as the Golem began to bring down its fists, Mao slammed his hoof into the back of the cannon, “SURPRISE!”

The cannon fired and a large burst of pink slammed into the Wood Golem’s face, the force enough to send the golem back with its attack halted and it staggered back. As it turned out, what had crashed into the forest demon’s face was a large amount of multi-colored confetti and streamers. The streamers had coiled around the Wood Golem’s body and the large demon stepped back as hit tried to rip the party favors from it’s body.

And Mao only smirked as he used his hooves to have the mouth of the cannon slam into the ground, “Next up… TWITCHY TAIL!”

Mao leapt atop of the cannon just before it fired into the ground and propelled him and the cannon up high into the air. Quickly, Mao and the Pinkie Party Cannon MK IV flew up into the air past the Wood Golem’s head just before he ripped the streamers and confetti from his body. The large demon looked about, trying to find the ones that had caused its pain.

“UP HERE!”

BOOOM!

The Wood Golem looked up just in time to have the Pinkie Party Cannon MK IV with Mao latched on it crash into its head. The cannon fired into the air, but instead of confetti and streamers, a large surge of pink energy erupted which formed into an oddly familiar puffy pink tail in the air. The force was enough to comically force the Wood Golem’s head down into its torso, its eyes just barely over its chest.

Mao leapt from his opponent’s head with the cannon held within his hooves, “And now for the grand finale!”

Mao slammed the cannon into the ground and immediately leapt into the cannon. The cannon aimed itself towards the Wood Golem that was still trying to pull its head out of its chest. Mao laughed loudly as the cannon glowed bright pink, “PINKIE POWER PINBALL!”

The cannon fired, shooting a curled up Mao through the air just as the Wood Golem pulled its head out from its chest. The Golem’s eyes widened as the curled up Mao slammed into his chest, and surprisingly, the force was enough to force the Wood Golem skid backwards.

Still curled up, Mao bounced from the golem and clashed against a single building as a light pink aura surged around the demon overlord’s body. The demon ricocheted off of building after building as the pink aura continued to grow over Mao’s body, and when the Wood Golem tried to grab the bouncing Mao, but the stallion was going too fast for the large golem’s hands

WHAM!

Mao’s ever pink glowing form slammed into the Golem’s right shoulder.

BLAM!

Then into the Golem’s back.

BANG!

And then into the Golem’s left side.

TILT!

Mao bounced off the ground a few times and right back into the cannon’s mouth, allowing a large surge of pink energy to surge around it. The Golem (now sporting quite a few cracks on its body) roared loudly as it charged towards the cannon.

However, the cannon fired once more, this time unleashing not only the ball-like Mao, but several other balls of pink energy did as well. All of them crashed into the Golem’s body before they propelled the Golem through the air with so much force that he disappeared into the sky with a small gleam in the distance.

And from the sky, Mao landed in front of the cannon and struck a pose, “Heh, that was too easy…”

The cannon behind Mao popped into a cloud of pink smoke, and immediately Pinkie Pie leapt upon Mao’s back, “Wowwie wowza! I’ve never done that trick before! Can we do it again? Please! That was really, really, really fun!”

“HEY! GET OFF ME!” Mao growled as he barred his teeth at the pink mare. “I’m not some pack mule! I’m an overlord!”

“Doesn’t change the fact that it was super fun!” Pinkie Pie replied as she bounced up and down on Mao’s back. “I always wanted to become my Party Cannon! Ooh! Think you can turn somepony I know into a tree? That would be super, special awesome!”

“It doesn’t work like that!” Mao barked back. But immediately, that anger of his faded away as a large demonic smile grew on his face. “Although, I could probably try to do that kind of experiment – After all, I wouldn’t mind doing some experimentation on a couple ponies and…”

“WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!”

Mao staggered back slightly when three blurs ran in front of him – Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at the black stallion with stars in their eyes. “Can you teach us how to do that?! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!?!”

“Gah! THE CUTESTY! IT BURNS!”

Slowly, Luna trotted towards the small group around Mao, ‘He doth save Ponyville – Yet he claims to be a demon overlord, so why would such a being do so? And although his powers and tactics are rather strange, there is more to him than just his title… Sister, is this why thou thought it be best to send him here?’

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!”

WHIIRR!

“Wow! Look at those! Where’d they come from?”

“THAT’S IT! I’M GONNA EXPERIMENT ON YOU!!”

Luna’s eyes widened when she saw that the mechanical arms (which were somehow repaired) sprung from Mao’s coat and were threatening to attack the fillies. “STOP! STOP!”

Meanwhile, outside Ponyville…

“HOW THE TARTARUS DID THAT STALLION DO THAT!? MY BEAUTIFUL PLAN… ALL MY EFFORT… GONE! GONE! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONEEE!”

The stallion snorted before he trotted towards the Whitetail Woods, ‘The first two summons were screwed up, and the one time that it works when it supposed to, some weird flank stallion comes out of nowhere and… And… And… And are those penguins?’

The stallion ducked behind a nearby tree with his head peaked out to see that two odd, blue penguins stood before a tree. The penguins had pouches around their stomachs, with little bat wings on their backs and peg legs where their feet would be. One of the penguins struggled to hold up several rolled up posters in its wings while the other tried to have one of the posters slapped on the tree. “Hurry up, dood!”

“Don’t rush me, dood,” The poster placing penguin retorted. “I’m barely getting paid enough to do this, and I don’t need you harping on me, dood!”

“We get paid the same wages,” the poster holding penguin sighed loudly. “So don’t give me that excuse, dood.”

“I still can’t believe we’re still working for him, dood,” the poster placing penguin growled. “He’s a talking horse now, and we’re still being ordered around by him, dood.”

“Yeah, but what do you expect, dood? He’s still paying us while we’re in this world, dood…”

“I get that, but there’s nothing but horses here, dood! What kind of world is this anyway, dood?”

“Obviously a world of horses, dood. Now hurry up with that poster, we still have a ton left to put up before tomorrow, dood.”

And just like that, the poster was up and the two penguins walked away. When they were gone, the shadowed stallion trotted up to the poster, “… What the Tartarus is Akutare?”

TBC

Author's Note

Mao: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! My conquest has begun! But if I'm to continue, I need some servants. I'm looking to you viewers - If you want to become a part of the Mao Conquest of Equestria, leave a comment and bring another with you to this story! First Fimfiction, then Equestria, and then the universe!

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!

And I shall return at the beginning of next year - So don't disappoint me... Or you'll be my next experiment!

Chapter 5 - Pandora Ignition

Chapter 5

Pandora Ignition

TTT – TTT

“Alright Prinnies! It’s almost time! A brand new world, a brand new fan base, and a brand new awesome form to boot!”

A guitar rift echoed through the air as several blue penguins saluted towards their boss. “When night time falls, we’ll set up the stage and booths. With this town, we’ll make a ton of cash with just selling food and drinks, and remember, if you Prinnies do a good job, I’ll bump your pay up from five percent to six percent of the profits!”

The Prinnies cheered as they threw their wings up into the air. “And if you don’t, we’re going Prinny Bowling!”

All of the Prinnies shivered before they saluted to the shadowed figure, “R-Roger dood!”

The shadowed figure smiled brightly as he watched the Prinnies scatter about. ‘A fresh start – This is just what I needed. Failed TV shows, failed warden job, failed president, even failed sushi chef! Even if I can’t use the money back home, it’s still gold and I can hack it for some Hl.

‘Besides, I’m kinda curious how I’m able to play my guitar with no fingers – Not that I’m complaining. And that’s enough of the exposition dump. Next scene!’

TTT – TTT

“You live in a library? Heh, what a nerd!”

“Excuse me?” Twilight questioned as she watched Mao strut about the main lobby of the Golden Oaks Library. “What’s wrong with living in a library?”

“Oh, nothing,” Mao snickered as he looked at the wood horse head bust. “Unless your only friends are the silverfish in between the pages.”

“Sir Mao, doth thou have to be an ingrate?!” Luna (now undisguised since she entered the library) spoke as she trotted up to the black stallion. “Twilight Sparkle has opened her home to us and…”

“And did you forget about the twenty foot walking tree that decided to redecorate your entire town?” Mao countered as he lifted a hoof up to one of the books.

Both Twilight and Luna turned to each other while the demon slid the book from the shelves and threw it to the floor for him to read. With the demon preoccupied, Twilight lifted her hoof up to her mouth, “Spike! Could you come down here?”

From the nearby stairs, the purple baby dragon ran down to the lobby and stopped for a moment to look at the odd stallion in the side of the room before he went to Twilight, “You called?”

“Could you please show our guest around?” Twilight requested. “I need to speak to Princess Luna in private.”

“You got it!” Spike replied with a salute to the mare before he turned towards the odd stallion.

“Twilight Sparkle, I do not believe that is a good idea,” Luna whispered to Twilight. “Mao’s reaction to a dragon might not…”

Both Twilight and Luna watched as Spike tapped Mao’s side to get the stallion’s attention. For a moment, the stallion eyed Spike then turned his head back to the book, “Huh, so they have dragons here too.”

Luna blinked a few times as Spike continued to try to garner the black stallion’s attention, “That is probably the most lackluster reaction I have seen from him.”

“I guess he’s used to seeing dragons,” Twilight suggested. “Then again, nopony really reacted to Spike when I first arrived in Ponyville save for Fluttershy – It was kind of odd now that I think about it.”

“Knock it off!” Mao growled as he slapped Spike’s claw away from him. “I’m not interested in some lame tour!”

“C’mon! It’ll be fun!” Spike retorted as he latched onto Mao’s tail, and immediately pulled on it a few times.

“Get off!” Mao snarled back. “Unless this place has a secret laboratory then I’m not interested!”

“But there is!” Spike shouted back.

And then all at once, silence echoed through the room. Mao didn’t struggle and slowly turned his head towards the small dragon, “Are you telling me that there’s actually a lab in this tree?! I was rather curious with the level of technology in this world since I was under the impression that it was nothing more than in the dark ages – But I grew curious when that Pink Pony managed to bake rather quickly and efficiently…

“But a laboratory?! TO THE LAB!”

Mao dashed off through the tree, with Spike’s claws grasped tightly around the stallion’s tail, barely hanging on. When the two were out of sight, Luna turned towards the unicorn near her, “Twilight Sparkle, is it wise for us to allow him access to such a place?”

“There’s nothing dangerous in there,” Twilight explained as she waved a hoof. “I have even taken precautions to make sure that anything dangerous has been properly locked up so that nopony can get into it.”

“I understand,” Luna replied as her horn glowed brightly. In a burst of light near her head, Luna called forth the beautifully crafted and bejeweled box from thin air. “In any case, we have much more to discuss, Twilight Sparkle. First and foremost, are thou sure about this? Having a Demon Overlord living amongst you and your friends?”

Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof before a tired smile grew on her face, “It is a bit unsettling, I’ll admit. However, Mister Mao did rectify the situation earlier – It was a rather odd way to do so, but still he did fix it. Besides, dragons, Discord, Changelings: What’s the worst that a Demon Lord could do?”

“That is why my sister decided to send these along with I,” Luna answered as the box opened up to reveal five necklaces and a tiara with bright jewels within them.

“The Elements!?” Twilight gasped before she raised her hooves up to her mouth.

“Indeed,” Luna replied as she used her magic to pull the tiara out from the box. “We have yet to see if they would have an effect on a creature such as Mao – But, tis better to err on the side of caution.”

The tiara landed atop of Twilight’s head and then faded away, Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise as she turned to Luna.

The Alicorn Princess smiled. “You need not worry, Twilight Sparkle. It is a mere cloaking spell so that nopony will see the Element. Each of the elements shall only appear once removed from thy self or when their power has been invoked. It is imperative that you and the other wielders of the elements keep these with you until we have found a way to return Mao from whence he came.”

“My friends and I shall not fail you, Princess Luna,” Twilight answered as she lowered her head slightly. “But what are we supposed to do, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“The elements are only to be used as a last resort,” Luna answered as she lowered the box containing the rest of the elements onto the floor. “While it has been shown that Mao is… Eccentric, and possesses powers not known to this world, we cannot force our hooves on this matter. He has stated that it wasn’t by his own desires to be in Equestria, but we cannot be too careful in this matter.

“He demonstrated what he was capable of against the tree monster. Which reminds me, how is your friend, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight mused with a rather meek smile on her face. “Well, it’s hard to tell – She seemed a bit more… Excited than usual. I think she actually liked being turned into a party cannon.”

Luna smiled, “You certainly keep interesting company, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Life’s never been the same since I met my friends,” Twilight replied with a nod. “In the good way, of course. Should we deliver the rest of the elements immediately?”

“There is no need,” Luna replied as she trotted towards the window. “We shall do so in the morning, it has been a long day. It wouldn’t be proper to intrude on them during the night – to be sure nothing goes wrong, I shall remain here for the evening. I trust that is okay?”

“O-Of course, Princess Luna!” Twilight stuttered back. “Just give me a little bit and I’ll prepare a place for you to..”

“No need, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna replied as she lifted a hoof up. “I shall not require…”

“TWILIGHT!!”

Both Twilight and Luna turned to see Spike run towards the two. When the baby dragon skidded to a stop before the two of the mares, his face was contorted with shock and fear – Signified by his dilated pupils, the cold sweat that rolled down the side of his head and that he was clearly out of breath.

“Spike! What is it? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked as she raised a hoof to the young dragon’s shoulder.

“T-That stallion,” Spike sputtered out between breaths. “He… He… Your lab… Too crazy!”

Both Twilight and Luna looked to each other for a moment before they galloped.

TTT – TTT

With the last light of the sun careening over the horizon near a large lush forest, a yellow pegasus flew about a large cottage that was covered with grass and bushes that had a number of animals around the building. The yellow mare’s pink mane and tail billowed as she fed the various animals that waited for her tender care.

She was unaware of what had happened in town – The giant Wood Golem that was defeated by a certain pink pony that was transformed into a cannon by a stallion that claimed to be a demon overlord – One of the otters wasn’t feeling well this morning and she spent the day trying to nurse the little critter back to health.

Of course, she couldn’t ignore the other animals and…

“Yo, dood!”

The young mare jumped with a loud yelp and ducked behind a nearby tree as quickly as her wings could carry her. A few moments later, the young mare perked her head out from behind the tree – And that fear melted away when she saw what it was that had spooked her. “Oh my gosh! Penguins!”

“Um, we’re Prinnies, dood,” one of the three blue penguins stated, trying to keep its flippers locked around a number of posters.

“O-Oh, I’m sorry, you just l-look like penguins,” The mare replied as she stepped out from her hiding place with her head lowered slightly. “Um, then again, penguins can’t talk…”

“Hate to interrupt, dood,” the Prinny with a large backpack slung on him. “But we’re kinda in a hurry, dood. We just wanted to ask if we could put up a poster on your house, dood?”

“A poster?” the mare questioned. “W-Well, I don’t mind, but not many ponies come out this way…”

The third Prinny sighed loudly and slapped a paintbrush against the poster carrying Prinny’s head, “I told you this was a bad place to go, dood! We’re gonna get our pay docked for screwing around, dood.”

“Aw man, really dood?” the backpack Prinny sighed as he placed his flippers on his stomach. “Does that mean we’re not gonna get dinner too, dood?”

“Oh my, are you three hungry?” the mare asked, drawing the attention of all three of the Prinnies. “If you’re not too busy, I can make you three something to eat.”

The three Prinnies froze for a few moments before the fell to the ground with tears in their eyes, “Are you serious dood?!”

“Um, y-yes,” the mare replied a little taken back by the excited penguin-like demons. “But you don’t need to call me ‘dood’, I’m Fluttershy.”

The three Prinnies dropped everything they were carrying and dropped to the ground, their tears fell to the ground. The Prinny that had the paintbrush looked up at Fluttershy, “You got it, Fluttershy dood!”

Fluttershy smiled, albeit there was a hint of nervousness to that smile, “Um, okay…”

“She’s one of the kindest souls we’ve met, dood!” The poster Prinny cried out.

“It’s not really a problem,” Fluttershy answered back as she blushed slightly. “I always take care of animals, so three guests shouldn’t… Um, tell me, what do Prinnies eat?”

“Pretty much anything at this point, Fluttershy dood,” the backprack Prinny stated. “You got any canned sardines, dood?”

“Why would she have sardines, dood?” the paintbrush Prinny commented with a flat look in his eyes. “She’s a horse, last time I checked, they don’t really eat other animals, dood.”

“W-Well, I don’t really approve of it,” Fluttershy stuttered as she looked away. “B-But I do have some fish to feed the bears and otters, would that work?”

“Sushi time, dood!” the poster Prinny cheered as he jumped up and down.

The paintbrush Prinny sighed as he shook his head, “Thanks Miss Fluttershy, you’re much better than our boss, dood. He usually just gives us cup ramen for dinner, dood.”

“I usually like that stuff, dood,” the backpack Prinny commented.

“I can’t even remember the last time I had fish, dood,” the poster Prinny added.

“Well, why don’t you three come inside and I’ll get some fish for you?” Fluttershy offered as she turned her head to her cabin. “I’ll even brew some tea for you.”

All three Prinnies turned to each other and then tears erupted from their eyes. The three Prinnies ran to Fluttershy and bowed to them, “THANK YOU, dood! THANK YOU, dood! THANK YOU, dood!”

“Oh, there, there,” Fluttershy replied as she placed her hoof atop of the paintbrush Prinnys head, and gently rubbed the penguin-like demon’s head. “You poor dears, just make yourselves at home, it will be my pleasure.”

The paintbrush Prinny lifted his head up and then stood up as he saluted to the yellow pegasus, “Prinny Poster Squad! Role call, doods!”

The backpack Prinny saluted, “Rob, dood!”

The poster Prinny saluted, “Jess, dood!”

“And I am…” the paintbrush Prinny announced as the other two Prinnies struck a pose behind him. “Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Fourth – or Tress for short, dood.”

“And together we are – THE PRINNY POSTER SQUAD, dood!”

A little taken back, Fluttershy smiled at the three bird-like demons and turned to head towards the cabin. “My, what energetic birds you three are, feel free to stay as long as you like.”

“Guys, this mare is a lot better than our boss, dood,” Prinny Tress stated with a loud snort.

“And she’s nothing like Master Etna, dood,” Prinny Rob added.

Prinny Jess shivered, “Dood! Not cool, dood! Every Prinny knows that if you don’t work for her, you are not supposed to say her name in fear that she’ll appear, dood!”

Fluttershy tilted her head slightly, she had no idea who this ‘Etna’ was, but she didn’t sound very nice since the Prinnies obviously seemed afraid of this ‘Etna’. ‘But I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding, no pony would be that cruel to instill fear…’

TTT – TTT

“W-WHAT IS THIS!?!?!”

Twilight’s jaw dropped when she, Luna and Spike descended down into her lab – Before it had tubes and a few odd machines here and there.

But now… Oh, it had countless machines with lights on them that flashed on and off with every passing second, tubes and wires were strewn all around the floor, along the walls were newly added shelves that had various comic books, boxes that had ‘Slaystation’ written on their sides, odd figures that stood on two feet and there glass orbs strew about the area that had electricity surging through them.

“He… He was only gone for five minutes,” Twilight sputtered out as she eyed the odd machinery. “How did he do this and where did he get this stuff?!”

“WITH SCIENCE!”

The two mares and dragon turned to the side just in time to see a large surge of electricity erupt between two large towers and before the electricity was none other than Mao himself – Atop of his two hind legs, the stallion had lifted his front hooves into the air.

Mao turned around, his face overshadowed with the light generated behind him, “Impressive, wouldn’t you say?”

“How did thou do this?” Luna questioned as she lifted up a wire with her hoof.

With a large smirk, Mao threw the tails of his coat up into the air, “Quite simple really, I pulled them from my coat pockets, the little dragon can attest to that.”

Luna and Twilight turned to the young dragon who was messing with one of the glass orbs, when the dragon realized that he was being watched, Spike smiled, “Y-Yeah! When he saw your lab, Twilight, he didn’t like it and then all these metallic arms came out of nowhere to build all this!”

“That doesn’t explain where you got the materials,” Twilight stated, using all her will to prevent herself from investigating these odd new machines.

“My jacket’s bigger on the inside,” Mao replied with a wild grin. “You see, during my research about heroes, I came across a particularly odd one. This one didn’t want to destroy his enemies, in fact, he often offered them a choice to run – Kinda got on my nerves as I studied the guy. But I pulled two interesting ideas from him.

“One has something to do with his tools, and the other was with that big blue box he used as his ship. While time traveling wasn’t the easiest thing to replicate, making pocket dimensions in my actual pockets was as easy as making a Prinny explode.”

“What’s a Prinny?” Spike asked.

“You have pocket dimensions in your jacket?” Twilight questioned as she trotted up to the stallion and used her magic to lift up the red fabric. “Okay, I have to know how you managed to pull that off.”

“Oh, you wanna know the how?” Mao cackled with his glasses fogging up. “Then how about a little trade, you let me examine your unicorn capabilities and even let me experiment and I’ll show you how to make your own pocket dimension. Deal?”

Twilight stepped back from the odd stallion, “Um, that’s okay… I’m good.”

“Pity, I could’ve improved upon the original design,” Mao cackled loudly. “But at least I have a new lab where I can continue my own personal experiments.”

“Excuse me, but this is my lab,” Twilight pointed out with her eyes narrowed down.

“Then you should be happy, it was nothing more than a kid’s chemistry set,” Mao answered back with a large toothy grin plastered on his face. “I modernized it. On the plus side, this world is nothing more than boondocks with a touch of magic – The fresh air outside is enough to make me gag on my own tongue. So with these machines, I can finally breath the smells of oil, electricity and dirty gym socks.”

“I was wondering what that smell was,” Luna muttered as he eyes spied what appeared to be a pair of used boxer shorts that were hung from the top of one of the machines. “That is disgusting.”

“What do you expect? This is my personal quarters!” Mao laughed out loud. “I’m allowed to be as messy as I desire!”

“What do you mean your room?” Twilight huffed with her eyes narrowed down. “No one gave you permission to claim this as your…”

“I gave my own permission!” Mao cackled back as he trotted over to a table that had a large amount of test tubes on it. “What's yours is mine, and what's mine is also mine! Now if you excuse me, I have a ton of experiments that require my attention.”

The mechanical limbs popped out from Mao’s jacket and lifted up a couple of the beakers and test tubes. “First things first, I need to work on that Henshin formula, I might be able to cast aside this equine form…”

“Hey! We’re still…” Twilight started as she trotted towards the black stallion.

However, Luna’s hoof stopped the lavender unicorn from advancing and the Princess of the Night turned her head towards the stairs a few times. The gesture made Twilight nod and the two mares and dragon headed towards the stairs.

After a minute or two (ignoring the loud cackling that echoed through the air behind them), the three were out of the basement lab. Luna smiled as she used her magic to turn the lock on the door, “There it shouldn’t be much of a problem, he’ll be able to amuse himself as much as he likes.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Twilight questioned with her head tilted. “We don’t know what he’s fully capable of. He can turn Ponies into weapons, he has pocket dimensions, and he even has technology that I’ve never seen before – Who knows what else he can do?”

“Until the elements have been delivered to your comrades,” Luna answered back as she trotted off. “I shall remain here, and despite his odd tactics and abilities, they were ineffective against I. It should stand to reason that the Elements will be enough to hold him back.

“So please, Twilight Sparkle, rest for the evening. And take comfort that I shall be the one to make sure that your guest shall not cause any problems for the time being.”

“Well, if you insist Princess Luna,” Twilight replied as she lowered her head towards the blue alicorn, Spike did the same. “We’ll be upstairs if you need anything.”

“Many thanks, Twilight Sparkle and Spike,” Luna stated as she watched the dragon and unicorn slowly make their way to the stairs that led up to the second level of the library.

When the two disappeared from her sight, Luna trotted towards a nearby window and closed her eyes. Her horn glowed brightly as the sun finally lowered over the horizon and with her own power, the moon slowly inched itself through the air. While it was true that she had control over the moon, the spell that was used to cast it was able to move the moon on its own through the night’s sky, it was a good thing to do in order to save time and effort.

‘And now, I wait,’ Princess Luna thought to herself as her eyes turned back to the entrance to the basement lab. ‘I need to wait for him to sleep before I can continue my ‘work’… Now, I wonder if Twilight Sparkle has any cake around here…’

TBC

Author's Note

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good new year, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Let me know what you guys think by posting a comment - And who knows, I actually enjoy reading your comments and I sometimes take suggestions.

Chapter 6 - Nights into Dreams

Chapter 6

Nights into Dreams

TTT – TTT

Dreams.

Whenever a stallion or mare slept, they experience different levels of consciousness and can even receive input from different dimensions that exist on astral, spiritual and mental planes. Dreams are a means to enter into those planes, even if they were not able to recall doing such a thing since it’s done on a subconscious level.

Many philosophers believe that all subconscious minds are in constant contact with one another, and this is proven by how often enough most ponies break out into song without any practice or rehearsal before the fact (and yet sound pristine and like they practiced several times).

These two facts are often paired together, as many pony philosophers believed that if a unicorn had enough magic and the knowhow, a pony could actually crossover into the dreams of others. It was quite an interesting theory.

But for Princess Luna, this was no mere theory.

She learned long ago that she could venture into the realm of other ponies’ dreams. Luna developed this power so she could learn more about the world she had been away from for the last thousand years, not only would she be able to see a pony’s dreams, but she was also able to dive even further into their memories and even into their consciousness.

Luna had performed his magic on a number of the royal guards and even some civilian ponies, taking care to not fully venture into personal matters. However, there seemed to be some sort of aftereffect to using this power, there seemed to be a growing number of ponies who had set up a fan club dedicated to her – Children of the night she believed is what they called themselves.

It wouldn’t have been so bad, even flattering, if some of the fans hadn’t been caught sneaking into the castle or her private quarters.

What does this have to do with anything you might be asking?

Well, the first night that Mao had appeared in Equestria and promptly had his flank handed to him, Luna decided to use this ability to learn about this so called ‘demon’. But, when she did, all she managed to see were a few glimpses of Mao’s memory, nothing visible, just a bunch of shadowed figures that spoke randomly.

‘I shall not fail tonight…’

That was the Princess’s mindset, in hopes of finding more truth about the Demon Overlord.

What she didn’t take into account was that Mao stayed up several hours of the night doing what only Faust knows. And it wasn’t until more than half the night was done with that she was actually able to enter his dreams – She couldn’t enter a dream of a pony who was awake, that was commons sense.

But when the princess of the night was actually able to enter the dream world of Mao… She didn’t expect anything like what she was seeing when she entered Mao’s dreamscape.

TTT – TTT

It was beautiful.

A cold beauty, a world that looked to be made entirely out of ice or crystal – and whatever light there was, was enough to reflect off of the crystals. As Luna had learned in her travels into other ponies’ dreams, every dream world was different. Some would be colorful, others would be dreary, and some of them would be just weird (like this one mare who seemed to have a dream world that was made up of nothing but muffins).

But this… This was…

“Odd, not what I was expecting,” Luna admitted as she tapped her hoof against the crystal floor a few times. “I was expecting something a bit darker, bleaker and… Hmm?”

Something out of Luna’s eyes caught her attention, a small white card that had a picture on it. Using her magic, Luna lifted up the card up to her eyes, “A blood donor’s card? And what is with this picture?”

Luna had never seen a being like this – but she certainly recognized that wild, white hair and those huge glasses. “Is this… Is this what Mao looked like before? I never saw what he looked like in my first time getting in here… Then again, I never saw this world…”

Luna lifted up a hoof and placed it against the blood donor card, and then the world began to turn to light…

“Mornin’ Mao. Still busy with the comics and games? You do know that superheroes are role models for us badasses.”

“What are you doing here, Beryl?” Mao’s voice sounded out. “Are you trying to interrupt my research again? I’m about to conduct a physics experiment on skirt lifting, heehe… Get out of here.”

“Geez, doing all this serious studies on being a prankster? You sure are an honor student through and through. Why not forget this evil stuff for now and do a little something good with me?”

“… Something good, you say?”

“YEAH! Let’s volunteer!”

“D-Don’t be stupid! I would never do such a delinquent act!!”

“If you do it secretly, no one will know. Besides, what’s cooler than an honor student who’s not always so honorable?”

“Uh, no. Way! I’m gonna become the number one honor student in the Netherworld!”

“Oh come on, don’t say that. Let’s go donate blood together.”

“S-St-STOP IT!!! Unhand me, you delinquent!”

“Give it a rest. So, what color’s your blood, huh?”

Luna shook her head as her magic dropped the card to the crystal ground, “W-Was that one of Mao’s memories?”

Looking back down at the card and then up into the clear blue sky, Luna sighed under her breath. ‘It looks like when he’s in a better mood, a demon’s dream is easier to access… I could almost make out what those two looked like.’

Luna brought her hoof up to stifle a little bit of laughter, ‘Still, I have to give credit to this Beryl, she certainly seems to know how to keep Mao in line. I wonder, is she a demon as well? Would a demon ever want to donate blood?’

“Possible enemy detected!”

“Is she a follower of ze great hot sauce?”

“Noh non! She has to be of ze dreaded salt and pepper! DEATH TO ZE SALT AND PEPPER LUVERS!”

Luna craned her head back and immediately reeled away from what she saw – Normally in a dream conscious, it was highly possible that Luna would meet a dream version of the pony who’s dream she had entered…

But she didn’t expect to see three Maos standing behind her – only their jackets were an ugly orange-brown color and their white manes and tail had a tint of orange to it. Luna tilted her head a little bit, “Excuse me?”

“Ah hah!” The leader of the trio of Saucy Mao laughed as he pointed a hoof at Luna. “You prefer salt and pepper on your sunny side up eggs, don’t you?! ADMIT IT! ADMIT IT AND WE WILL MAKE YOUR DEATH QUICK AND PAINLESS!!”

“No no!” another Saucy Mao interrupted. “What we should do is hold her down and shove salt and pepper into her mouth! Zat is ze ultimate punishment!”

The third Saucy Mao narrowed his eyes, “Now wait a minute! Wouldn’t using ze salt and pepper as torture be a blasphemy to our cause? You traitor!”

The Traitor Saucy Mao barked back, “NO! We are not going to eat her! Our cause is for ze sunny side up eggs! Is zat not our duty!?”

“To use Salt and Pepper on anyzing is a sin against hot sauce!”

“DEATH TO THE TRAITOR!”

The three Saucy Maos leapt towards each other, with dust and dirt being flung up into the air as the three fought it out. Luna slowly backed away from the scene, a little grimace on her face. “What in Equestria was that…”

Luna would’ve continued backing up, but she bumped into something.

Or rather somepony.

When she turned around, Luna spied another Mao! Only this one seemed to be a bit skinnier with a yellow jacket and blonde tint to his mane and tail. What was really odd was that this version of Mao had a ton of gym socks all around his body, and he had one right at his nose that he took a huge whiff off. When he exhaled, a rather creepy laugh followed, “Oh, what a lovely aroma… I can only imagine what gym socks will smell like with hooves!”

She knew she would regret this, but Luna cleared her throat. “Excuse me, may I trouble you for a moment?”

The Mao who loved to smell gym socks stopped moving and slowly craned his head around. He sized up Luna a few times before a large smile grew on his muzzle, growing creepier with every passing second, “Hmm, sure! But you gotta do something for me first…”

“And what, pray tell, would that be?” Luna asked, already regretting her decision.

The Mao who loved to smell gym socks lifted up a pair striped socks and his breathing became heavy, “P-PLEASE PUT THESE ON AND THEN GIVE THEM BACK!”

If Rainbow Dash was able to see how fast Luna was able to fly away from this particular Mao, she would’ve been jealous at that perfect take off.

A few minutes later, Luna landed in a more remote location of Mao’s subconscious, her wings folded down with head lowered. “Just when I think I found something to learn about this demon lord, he just turns even crazier!”

“Yeesh, don’t you know anything about personalities?”

Luna was afraid of lifting her head up, but slowly she lifted her head up to the side. A few feet away was another Mao, but unlike the other Maos, this one wasn’t wearing his usual ensemble, or any clothes for that matter. He was just chilling in a rather luxurious hot tub with his forehooves behind his head.

“Personalities have multiple facets to them,” Exhibitionist Mao explained as he slid further into the hot tub. “As much as we don’t like to admit, everyone’s got parts to them that they don’t wanna show. Everyone’s got an inner pervert, everyone’s got their kinks, what they like, and how they like to show it.

“How strong those traits is often represented in different forms – a simple way is to see how strong a trait is to see how many Maos are for said particular trait. That’s kind of the reason why I’m all alone in this Jacuzzi.”

“Well, thank thou,” Luna replied with rather quizzical look on her face. “Thou seem to be the most forward of Mao I’ve seen, even the real Mao wasn’t so truthful.”

“Real Mao? Sure,” Exhibitionist Mao cackled with a shake of his head. “Try going a bit further in, when you see a large safe in the shape of a heart, you’ll be sure to find some answers. As for me, I’m the part of Mao’s personality who doesn’t have anything to hide – Well, at least before all this fur covered up all the good parts.

“Speaking of, care for a dip? Plenty of room for another free spirit unchained by the confines of clothes!”

“Uh, perhaps another time,” Luna replied as she slowly trotted past the hot tub.

“Your loss,” Exhibitionist Mao chuckled as he dove a hoof into the water and produced an eye from the water. “At least the hard boiled egg’s ready, now, where did I put that salt and pepper?”

“ANNIHILATE ALL SALT AND PEPPER LUVERS!”

“ZOSE WHO DO NOT SUPPORT HOT SAUCE SHALL BE DESTROYED!”

Two of the Saucy Maos leapt into hot tub and began to attack the Exhibitionist Mao. Luna stood there as she watched the three stallions tussle about in the water, their clothes and fur clinging to their rather well defined body. Luna coughed slightly and trotted away, ‘This dream world is insane, then again, so is Mao.’

And Luna trotted through the crystal landscape, taking note that as she did, she saw several other kinds of Mao – A pink colored Mao who seemed to love taking photos of anything, a Mao dressed in a black uniform who danced to some odd pop music, a blue colored Mao who was a bit hefty and was seated at a large ramen stand where he slurped up noodles, and then…

She came across it.

It was oddly beautiful – A large structure that was in the shape of a heart, with gold trim and gold chains wrapped around it. The front of it had a large pair of doors that had a large skull-like lock on the front of it, oddly enough, even the lock despite its gruesome design also looked beautiful as it was crafted well.

“Welcome, Princess.”

Luna lifted her head up to the top of the heart-shaped structure, and as she guessed, it was another Mao. Unlike the other Maos, there was something different about this one, and not just the fact that his coat was green and he had a green tint to the rest of him. It was just… Luna couldn’t put her hoof on it.

The green Mao leapt from the top of the heart structure and landed in front of Luna. The stallion smiled before he lowered his head down towards her, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“May I ask what thine gimmick is?” Luna questioned with her eyes narrowed at the green Mao.

“I beg your pardon?” the green Mao stated as he lifted his head up.

“The moment that I stepped in here,” Luna replied, making sure that she was keeping her distance away from this Mao. “I’ve seen quite a bit of different...”

That’s when Luna stopped, which made the green Mao blink a few times in confusion. “Go on.”

“Sorry, but I was expecting thou to interrupt me,” Luna explained. “Mao did state that in those silly rules of his.”

“The cardinal rules of a demon,” the green Mao chuckled. “While it is true that those rules are held deep within this vault, they are merely guidelines – As are the cardinal rules of a hero. But that is neither here nor there, I assume you have questions for me.”

The green Mao glowed for a few seconds, and almost immediately, a table materialized between both Mao and Luna, a pair of mugs and a plate of cookies in the center. The green Mao sat down and used his hooves to bring on of the tea mugs close to him, “Please, feel free to help yourself to some tea and cookies.”

Luna watched as the green Mao sipped on the mug and sighed loudly. This Mao… Well, he was actually nice and courteous. The other Maos were loud and exuberant, even the original Mao wasn’t like this at all. In fact, this was the polar opposite of Mao. ‘Could possibly be only ‘good’ portion of Mao…’

“So, what part of Mao do thou represent?” Luna asked as she used her magic to lift up one of the cookies in front of her. “I’ve seen quite a few…”

“I am Mao’s True Heart,” the Green Mao answered bluntly before he took another sip of his tea.

The cookie that floated in mid-air fell to the table and Luna shook her head, “I’m sorry, but did thou say that thou are Mao’s true heart?”

“You could say I am his real self,” Mao’s True Heart offered with a smile. “What Mao will age into, the guardian of his real persona, or even his conscious. You’re more than welcomed to take your pick.”

“If thou are Mao’s true self, then why does Mao not act like thou?” Luna asked recalling her magic to lift the cookie up again and then took a bite out of it. ‘Hmm, a lot tastier than I expected.’

“I believe the Exhibitionist Mao explained it earlier to you,” Mao’s True Heart explained as he turned back to the large heart shaped safe. “Someone’s entire being is made up of several existing traits – Whether good or bad, they all form into a single personality that is shown to the outside world. Over time, some traits lose strength or fade away completely. They say that no one really changes, but that’s not true – events, conditions, and especially interaction with others are all factors that play in a role as to how we change.

“And Mao himself is a prime example of that.”

“Oh? And how so?” Luna inquired, having a hard time believing this Mao. “From what I’ve seen in the real world and this one, Mao has tried to experiment on soldiers and has been one of the rudest stallions I have ever seen.”

“Heh, you should’ve seen him two years ago,” Mao’s True Heart chuckled. “At least back then, he wouldn’t have saved those three little kids or even your town… Well, he probably would’ve battled that Wood Golem, but there’d probably be a lot more collateral damage.”

Luna turned away slightly and smiled slightly, “I was wondering if he did save those three fillies. Perhaps thou has more pull here than I thought.”

“While it is true that Mao’s ‘evil’ side does have dominance,” Mao’s True Heart continued. “It’s more of him being what you would refer to as a truant. I suspect if he ever went on an evil tirade, he’d probably just do some ding-dong ditches, steal some shoes, and maybe put some hot sauce in some baked goods.”

“He sounds more like a prankster than a demon,” Luna stated flatly.

“I still wouldn’t underestimate him,” Mao’s True Heart countered as he reached for the plate of cookies. “Mao has a potential – A potential for either great good, or great evil. Deep within his soul lies a powerful darkness…”

Luna’s eyes widened.

“Heh, perhaps you’re familiar with such a concept?” Mao’s True Heart questioned as a smirk slowly coiled on his face. Luna narrowed her eyes at the green Mao’s words while he chuckled. “Then again, who doesn’t have skeletons in their closet?”

“That’s a rather depraved outlook,” Luna retorted.

“I merely speak the truth,” Mao’s True Heart replied with a shrug. “But it is none of my concern, your secrets belong to your own heart while Mao’s are my responsibility. Now, I’m sure you have some more questions, and we don’t have long.”

Luna wanted to ask why, but shook her head, “Then why are thou being so cooperative with me? Would that not go against thy responsibilities?”

“Normally, that’d be true,” Mao’s True Heart answered with a smile. “But sometimes one needs to have their heart shown to others for the greater good – This isn’t the first time I had to do this to Mao. Since you’re the only one who has the ability to enter into Mao’s dreams and then his consciousness, I knew it would only be a matter of time since you’d try to return here.

“And it’d be best that you know exactly what you’re getting into concerning Mao. So, it is my turn – I need to make a request of you.”

“And would that be?” Luna asked.

“Do not betray Mao’s trust,” Mao’s True Heart continued.

“His trust?” Luna questioned with a raised brow. Then the princess snickered slightly, “Well, that’s even more of a surprise. I doubt that Sir Mao has any trust in I or anyone else.”

“And your doubts would be wrong,” Mao’s True Heart replied, taking note of Luna’s confused look. “Tell me something, have you ever thought that you didn’t belong – That you’re in a world that doesn’t fit you? Everything you know has changed, and even you yourself have changed into something that you didn’t recognize?”

Luna closed her eyes while Mao’s True Heart spoke out, memories flood back into the front of her mind – How she was saved by Twilight and her friends, how she was scared by the world that changed within a thousand years, and even the memories she had when she was forced to face against the very same darkness that had gotten her.

“You need not answer,” Mao’s True Heart spoke up once more as he stood up from the table. “It is not my place, but from the look on your face, you have at least some inkling how Mao might be feeling. While he does put on a strong front, deep within his heart, he has a bit of fear that lingers – Everyone he knows, everything he has acquire, all that he worked hard for, and the tittles he’s acclaimed, they are nothing to this world.

“And I can attest to you that he was indeed ripped out from his world by a force in yours.”

“Why should I believe thou?” Luna countered with a deep breath. “Thou are after all part of a demon, why should I believe a word thou speaks?”

“Because my word is all I have,” Mao’s True Heart answered. “Besides, though his intentions may not be the most noble, has he lied even once to you about them?”

Luna opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it when Mao’s True Heart’s words actually rang true. ‘And after what Mao has done so far, I should suppose that he should receive a little trust.’

“Hmm, I believe it’s time for you to leave,” Mao’s True Heart spoke as he trotted towards the heart-shaped safe. “A pity.”

“What does thou speak of?” Luna questioned as the table faded away. “I still have questions!”

“That may be, but you can only exist in here as long as your doorway is opened,” Mao’s True Heart explained before he sat down before the heart safe. “However, if that door is closed, then your link to this world will be cut off.

“Mao is waking up…”

Luna’s eyes widened when she realized that she was slowly fading away from the crystal area, but then she narrowed her eyes at Mao’s True Heart. “I shall just appear the next time Sir Mao sleeps…”

“True, but there’s no guarantee,” Mao’s True Heart answered back with his head lowered. “After all, the heart rarely opens up twice for an intruder.”

Before Luna could say another word, the Alicorn Princess vanished from sight. Mao’s True Heart sighed as he lifted his head up.

“Heh… I can sense it, she’s got quite the nice darkness to her…”

Mao’s True Heart trotted around the heart-shaped safe and leered at the shadowed figure who sat behind it, his body covered with chains and a small purple flame flickered from his right eye. The figure smirked wildly, “It’s nothing compared to mine of course, but still, what a tasty little darkness. I never would’ve thought that such a darkness would be in a world as cutesy as this one.”

“As long as you’re chained up, it doesn’t matter,” Mao’s True Heart scoffed.

“Yeah, but how long do you expect to keep me chained up? Just face it – You, the Saucy Maos, even Mao himself – everything that makes up Mao is nothing more than cowards that culminate into a single big coward! Chains made by cowards will never…

“HEY! I’M NOT DONE THREATENING YOU YET! DON’T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!!!”

“I’m not walking,” Mao’s True Heart chuckled as he lifted his hooves up. “I’m trotting.”

“YOU BASTARD!!!!”

TTT – TTT

Luna’s eyes fluttered open and she shook her head. It wasn’t the first time she got caught up in searching a pony’s dream and conscious to get kicked out when the pony woke up, but this time just made her a little bit annoyed. ‘I may have gotten a few answers, but now I have acquired even more questions.’

Looking out the nearby window, Luna saw that the sun was slowly beginning to rise over the horizon, ‘Sister is awake, and I should finish my own work here in Ponyville and…’

KA-BOOM!

The floor shook as several cracks webbed through the wooden floor and smoke seeped through the cracks. Luna’s eyes widened when the ground shook again with another explosion, “What in Faust’s name?!”

“Princess Luna!”

Nearly stumbling over her hooves, Twilight galloped into the room, dodging some of the smoke, “What’s going on?! Are you alright?”

“MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!”

Both Twilight and Luna looked down at the floor where the laughter originated and it didn’t take a genius who was behind the mysterious explosions.

TBC

Author's Note

Mao: ... What did I make? Comment and follow to find out next time!

Chapter 7 - Setting the Stage

Chapter 7

Setting the Stage

TTT – TTT

It was surprising what one could get used to over their life time. If some pony lived next to the train tracks for a majority of their life, they would get used to the sound of it as they slept. But if they moved away, they wouldn’t get used to the quiet sounds.

Mao had a similar oddity to him.

Well, similar was stretching it.

If there was one thing Mao loved doing to waste time – besides playing video games, practicing his evil laugh, or even just tor… I mean ‘experimenting’ on a certain Super Hero – He was always hoping to invent something new to fit his needs or wants (mostly his wants). He could barely sleep if he didn’t invent some odd thing or experiment in a new way on his lab Prinnies.

As such, he was trying to find a way to replicate his Henshin formula in Equestria. He was able to find a bunch of chemicals that were locked up in a safe (something about a Talent Enhancer or something along those lines), and after a little bit of experimentation, Mao was surprised to find that a good portion of said chemicals were actually the same that he needed for his Henshin formula.

Unfortunately, in order for the Henshin Formula to be effective, the chemicals need to set for at least one night (the poor Heavy Knight who was Mao’s lab rat at the time found out the hard way and became a lab sheep for about a year).

Of course, Mao’s lab wasn’t in a tree!

While Mao’s usual lab wasn’t the cleanest room in the Netherworld (something that he prided on), he was at least aware of what was in the room and if it would mess with any of the chemicals. Whether it was the mana in the air, something in the room, or if one of the chemicals was different than what Mao was used to using – Mao didn’t really care.

For you see, the moment that he woke up this morning, Mao’s first thought was to test the formula in an attempt to return him back into his normal form – Unfortunately, when he downed the stuff, he didn’t get the result that he wanted.

For one, he didn’t transform into his full demonic self.

Secondly – His entire body spontaneously combusted with a loud explosion.

And when Twilight and Luna had found the demonic stallion, he was propelled into a wall upside down with most of his usual attire singed and burned (his red jacket which was hanging off of one of the large machines was left untouched). “That was fun, mwahahahahahahaa!”

“Do we even want to know?” Luna questioned with a flat look in her eyes.

“Even I’m in the dark about what happened,” Mao chuckled before he coughed up some smoke from his muzzle.

Twilight looked over the ground where the chemicals were splashed about and shook her head, “I… How… Okay, we’re going to have to find you someplace else to stay: Away from the dangerous chemicals.”

“I refuse!” Mao spat back as he struggled to get free from the wall he was implanted into. “I’ll get my formula right! Besides, trial and error! It’s the foundation for SCIENCE!”

“Well, that is true, but you’re not going to get any more of these chemicals,” Twilight replied with a stern look in her eyes. “What were you trying to make?”

“If you must know,” Mao cackled with a prideful smile. “I was working on my Henshin Formula – I already made it back at Evil Academy, and it’d allow anyone who drank it to transform.”

“Transform into what though?” Twilight questioned, a little interested in the research.

“Hmm, curious are we?” Mao chuckled with a lick of his chops. “Get me more chemicals and I’ll…”

“Ahem,” Luna cleared her throat as her horn glowed brightly. “I hate to interrupt such a pleasant conversation, but we have some important tasks this morning and time is off the essence.”

The same aura appeared over Mao’s body and he was pulled out from the wall rather forcibly. “GARGH!”

When the black stallion was back on his hooves, his black shirt and white shorts were ripped, badly. “Yeesh! Don’t you know the word ‘gentle’?”

“And here I thought that a demon lord would be made of tougher stuff,” Luna snickered with a hoof to her mouth.

Mao growled as he trotted over to where his jacket was and yanked it off of the machine it was on, “Fine, the quicker we get these stupid tasks done, the faster I can get back to my experiments.”

“Does thou expect to go out like that?” Luna questioned with a roll of her eyes.

“What?” Mao snarled back with a roll of his eyes. “What the hell are you going on about?”

“Mao, your clothes are ruined,” Twilight replied as she lifted a hoof towards the transformed demon’s body.

A wild smirk appeared on the stallion’s face, “Oh? And just what do you expect me to do? Go out in the buff?”

“Well, it’s not like a lot of ponies wear clothes,” Twilight pointed out. “Well, with the exception of special occasions and the Ponies in Canterlot… My point is, maybe you should at least not wear them this morning, one of my friends can fix them up for you.”

Before Mao could say another word, a familiar blue aura surged over his body and his eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen, “Wait a second! Don’t you dare…”

Mao just disappeared before Twilight, leaving only his ripped clothes on the ground before the purple mare. Twilight turned to Princess Luna who had a large smile on her face, “Did I not mention that we are in a hurry this morning?”

“DAMN IT!” Mao’s voice echoed from the floor above.

“I shall see to it that your lab and home is repaired, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna stated with a slight bow towards the studious mare. “May I entrust you with the task of delivering the remaining Elements to your friends?”

“I will not fail you, Princess Luna,” Twilight answered back. “But is it wise to give them the Elements with Mao near?”

“He knows not of what the Elements can do,” Luna replied with a confident smile. “Do not worry.”

“Well, okay,” Twilight said back nervously.

TTT – TTT

Despite not being as big as Canterlot or Manehatten, Ponyville was pretty lively at times. Whether it was the farmer’s market, the off chance that a demonic creature that was bent on taking over all over Equestria, or that there was some horrible monster that just wanted to wreck stuff, Ponyville was a rather excitable place to live.

Even now, there were several, multi-colored tents and stands that lined the streets of Ponyville. Many ponies were rather confused as to where these things sprung up over the night, but even more so that there seemed to be a rather delicious aroma from some of them.

Of course, a certain black stallion didn’t really care at all about those. “This is ridiculous! A genius like me shouldn’t be waltzing around like this!”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the stallion behind her, “What’s wrong with how you look? You’ve got your red jacket on, and it’s not like anything shows…”

Mao growled as lowered his tail down, “Humph! That’s not the point! I… I just don’t like giving anyone a free show – Now, if I was getting paid, then I’d have no problem with that! Monetary or physical pleasures please!”

Twilight had to stop for a second and look at the demonic stallion next to her with a quizzical look, “W-Why would you say something like that!?”

“Why not?” Mao chuckled with a devilish smirk on his face. “It’s only necessary to ask for compensation for pleasure…”

This was starting to get out of hoof, so Twilight looked at the odd stands, “A-Anyway, I wonder what these are for…”

“Who knows and who cares,” Mao grumbled with a roll of his eyes. “After what I saw the Pink mare do yesterday, it wouldn’t surprise me that you ponies could set something like this up within a night – How you’re able to hold things with your hooves is still puzzling to me. You’d think every pony in this world was related to Spiderman or something…”

While it was true that Pinkie Pie could easily set up something like this in a short amount of time (practically by herself and give the laws of probability a black eye), but for what reason would she have? Twilight sighed under her breath with a smile, ‘Then again, since Mao did kind of save Ponyville, that would be more than enough of a cause for her to throw a party – but something’s off…’

Twilight shook the thought from her head as she turned back to the saddlebags she had – While one did have the remnants of Mao’s clothes, the other held the remaining Elements of Harmony and she needed to deliver them as soon as possible. “Well, in any case, we should hurry – After all, you’d like your clothes repaired, right?”

“Humph, fine!” Mao growled as he trotted alongside Twilight. “But don’t expect me to be able to pay – After all, in this world, I’m broke!”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak back to Mao, but took a deep breath instead, “You know, nopony knows how long you’re going to be here – And while I did agree to the Princess’s request, do you think that maybe you could act a little nicer while you’re here?”

Mao gasped, “You want me to be a delinquent?! The nerve! I was Evil Academy’s number one student! If any demon ever found out that I was… ‘nice’…” He practically gagged at that thought. “Then my reputation would plummet! And that would spell doom for Evil Academy as its dean!”

“Then how about a trade?” Twilight offered.

From behind his glasses, Mao’s eyes gleamed, “A trade? Ah, a demon’s trade – Although, we prefer the term ‘deal’. So you want me to be nicer for my stay here? Then what will you give me in return?”

“Well, I can get you some of those chemicals,” Twilight replied with a smile on her face. “Of course, I want to be there to see your experiments, but I can get you the materials.”

“Hmm, very tempting, very, VERY tempting,” Mao snickered devilishly. “But, I think there’s need of a little icing on this cake – So, how about you let me analyze that unicorn magic you’ve got as well?”

“That shouldn’t be difficult,” Twilight answered back as she lifted up a hoof. “So long as there’s no dissection,” the studious mare couldn’t help but notice the disappointed look on Mao’s face. “I’ll be more than glad to show you unicorn magic and even teach you other things about this world.”

That purple hoof hung in the air for a few seconds before Mao lifted his up, “Very well, I shall agree to those terms.”

“Excellent!” Twilight said as she shook Mao’s hoof. “I hope that we’ll both learn something from each other! Truth be told, I’m really curious about your world!”

Mao only smirked back in return.

A few minutes after the deal was struck, Twilight had led Mao to their first stop of the morning – A large, luxurious building that looked to be styled of that of an old carnival ride: a carousel. The building had an ornate purple color with several decorations that hung from the building.

“So… Much… POSH!” Mao cried out as he staggered back from the building. “It’s…. It’s too much! BLEH!”

“What’s wrong with it?” Twilight questioned as her eyes flattened slightly at Mao’s remarks.

“It’s… It’s too GIRLY!” Mao screamed out as he fell backwards and wriggled on the ground. “IT BURNS!”

“You know, it’s kind of hard to see how you’re an Overlord,” Twilight pointed out. “In fact, it’s kind of hard to see how you could be an honor student with the way you act sometimes.”

“Hehe! Don’t underestimate me!” Mao chuckled as he leapt back to his hooves. “I just can’t stand cute things, and this building right here is just as tooth numbingly nauseous as that pink mare’s place!”

“Just give it a chance,” Twilight requested as she tapped her hoof against the door a few times. “Besides, Rarity is one of the nicest ponies in town, and she’s very generous.”

“Generous you say?” Mao cackled under his breath. ‘I might as well take full advantage of such Generosity, hehehehee…’

“COMING!”

A familiar voice sang out, which made Mao scrunch his nose up slightly. “Wait a minute…”

The door opened up and a small, unicorn filly greeted the two guests, and Mao’s eyes widened as she looked at them. “Miss Sparkle! Mister Mao! Good morning!”

“Good morning, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight greeted back with a slight bow to the young filly. “Is your sister home today?”

“She sure is,” the young filly replied, a toothy grin on her face. “She’s just upstairs with her work, I can go get her if you want.”

“That would be wonderful,” Twilight stated as Sweetie Belle stepped to the side to let the two ponies enter. However, only Twilight did.

When the two unicorns noticed that Mao stood away from the door, his hooves planted firmly in the ground. “I’m not going in there.”

Twilight sighed as she turned to Sweetie Belle, “Actually, for now, would it be alright if I go up to see your sister? I need to talk to her about something private anyway.”

“Sure Miss Sparkle,” Sweetie Belle replied as she turned towards Mao. “What about Mister Mao though?”

“Well, how about you keep him company?” Twilight answered as she smiled at Mao. “I’m sure if you take a good look at Mister Mao, you’ll find that you have more in common with him.”

“Huh?” Mao questioned with a raised brow. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Twilight only smiled at the transformed demon before she playfully trotted away. Mao snarled loudly as Sweetie Belle stepped from the boutique and inspected Mao, “Hey! Get back here! We’re not done talking here! I… Huh?”

“Wow!” Sweetie Belle gasped as she looked at Mao. “T-That’s amazing!”

“Yes, yes, I know I have an amazing body, even as a horse,” Mao sighed with a roll of his eyes. “But I need to get that mare back here and…”

“Your flank!” Sweetie Belle announced. “It’s blank!”

“Excuse me?” Mao questioned.

TTT – TTT

It didn’t take long for Twilight to find Rarity’s workshop – She had been there several times and this time was no different. The studious mare reached the door and tapped her hoof against it.

“Come in!” Sang a voice as soothe as silk.

With her magic, Twilight opened the door and stepped into the workshop – Where countless mannequins in the shape of ponies stood, each garbed in fancy clothing that would make any pony envious, various fabrics were strewn across the floor, and amongst the rather colorful mess stood a beautiful, white furred mare with a blue mane and tail that curled into a rather luxurious style.

The mare turned her head around and smiled, “Twilight! Dear! What a pleasant surprise! What brings you to my humble boutique?”

Twilight smiled as she trotted up to her fashion-inclined friend with a smile on her face, “Good morning Rarity, I have a couple of things actually, but if you’re busy then…”

“Oh perish the thought!” Rarity replied as she turned from her work. “I’m ahead of schedule, so, it shouldn’t be a problem at all! I always have time for my friends.”

It was a warm comfort that Twilight felt, something she always felt when she was with her friends, “Well, you see Rarity…”

“GAAAH! GET OFF ME!”

Both mares jumped when they heard that yelling that emanated from downstairs, and without hesitation, the two mares galloped as quick as they could downstairs…

“Aw come on! You’d look good with the symbol on your jacket! You’re just like us!”

“NO!”

Both Twilight and Rarity watched as Mao dashed about the lobby of the boutique, Sweetie Belle right on his tail (not literally) with a red cape tied around her neck and a blue piece of fabric that her tail was wrapped around. “GET AWAY FROM ME!”

“Please Mister Mao!” Sweetie Belle pleaded as she followed Mao atop of the table in the lobby, both of which knocked off various items from it – including a glass vase that had flowers in it. “You’d fit right in with the Crusaders! And we can help you find your Cutie Mark!”

“I don’t even know what that means!”

Both of the mares couldn’t help but notice that there was quite a big mess about the boutique – aside from the broken vase, furniture was turned over, one of the curtains was ripped, and a number of the dress forms were knocked over.

Twilight looked over to Rarity who’s mouth was wide open and her eyes were narrowed down at the two ponies who were wrecking her shop. “Uh, Rarity…”

“ENOUGH!”

The booming voice of the white furred mare was enough to make Sweetie Belle stop in her tracks and look towards her older sister. Mao on the other hoof however wasn’t as lucky, he didn’t expect somepony to suddenly yell, and with him still technically not used to his hooves, tripped over them and rolled right into a few of the dress forms that remained untipped before the transformed demon slammed into them.

The dress forms, as well as the clothes that were on them, fell atop of Mao. A few moments later, the transformed Overlord popped his head out of the clothes with his eyes narrowed down. “Damn it…”

TTT – TTT

While chaos was ensuing in Carousel Boutique, Ponyville itself was another matter – All the stands and tents opened up: food stands, shops that sold T-Shirts, little toys, and various sweets. This wasn’t different from any festival that Ponyville would have, but the stands being run by blue penguins with peg legs and bat-wings on their backs was definitely new.

Then again, just the other night the town was under attack by a giant monster made out of tree parts, so penguins running convenience stands wasn’t all that weird in the grand scheme of things.

However, there were rules to these sorts of things – and the mayor of Ponyville: Mayor Mare, was called to investigate the scene, having been informed of the situation, she had left straight from home this morning to arrive. The silver mane mare was at one of the stands and tapped her hoof against the counter, “Excuse me…”

“How can I help ya, dood?” The Prinny asked as he turned away from his set up.

“I need to see your permit for your stand,” Mayor Mare requested, giving a stern look at the penguin-like demon. “After all, every business like this needs to get the go-ahead from Town Hall, and I’d remember if a bunch of penguins filled out the paperwork necessary to open a business.”

“We’re just the workforce, dood,” The prinny replied with a roll of his eyes. “You gotta talk to the boss for that sort of stuff, dood.”

“And where exactly can I find this ‘Boss’ of yours?” Mayor Mare asked.

“Well, he should be at the stage, putting on the final touches for his show, dood,” The prinny answered as he pointed towards the center of town. “The stage’s in front of that big circular building – He’s probably getting ready, dood.”

“Big, circular building?” Mayor Mare stated as her eyes widened behind her glasses. “Wait, he’s at town hall?!”

“I think he is, I dunno, dood,” The Prinny replied.

Before the Prinny could say another word, Mayor Mare already galloped away towards Town Hall. The Prinny shrugged and went back to work.

It didn’t take long for the Mayor to reach the center of town, and it was even more shocking for her to see that indeed in front of the town hall was a large stage that had a number of the Prinnies around setting up a number of various forms of equipment. But what really caught her eye was the stallion who was atop of the stage with his back to her, with his large white overcoat that covered most of his form, but the purple pants hugged his hind legs tightly and his neatly combed blond tail. “Alright Prinnies! Make sure everything’s ready for this afternoon! With how many ponies we got here, we’ll be able to…”

“Excuse me!” Mayor Mare called out to the stallion as she jumped onto the stage.

The white coated stallion’s ears perked up, a pair of tan colored ears.

Mayor Mare didn’t wait for the stallion to turn around, “I assume you’re the one who these penguins call boss?”

“Well, to be accurate, they’re called Prinnies,” The stallion replied, the tan wings that stuck out of his white coat unfolded and stretched out.

Mayor Mare narrowed her eyes at the pegasus in front of her, “Be it as it may, they are your employees, and I’d like to see your permit for not only having a business, but having a stage built in a public place and in front of town hall is another matter all together! I need to see…”

It was then that the stallion turned around and looked Mayor Mare right in the eyes. The purple eyes that looked at her made Mayor Mare stop speaking and look at the stallion. He had a bright blonde, sharp mane that had a pair of lightning bolt shaped eyebrows that peaked out from under the bangs. His face was youthful with an innocent smile at his muzzle and around his neck was a gold pendant that had an ‘A’ carved into it.

The stallion smiled rightly as he carefully trotted forward, the chain at the front hooves jingled slightly, “A permit? I’m sorry, I’m not from around here and I wasn’t aware of such a thing.”

Mayor Mare coughed slightly to get back to her demeanor and lifted a hoof up towards the blond stallion, “R-Regardless, you can’t just set up your…”

That’s when the blond stallion placed a hoof onto Mayor Mare’s and she pulled back slightly, a little twinge of pink on her face, “And once again, I must apologize! Is there no way we can fix this? The Prinnies worked so hard on this so we could put on a show for your lovely town.”

“W-Well… T-There isn’t an event going on today,” Mayor Mare coughed with her hoof pulled back. “But you still need to pay permit expenses and…”

“Then how about we give you a certain amount of our profits?” the stallion offered as he trotted around Mayor Mare. “From food sales alone we should be able to cover our expenses, and when the show starts, we’ll have more than enough to cover these permit costs.”

“This is… This is highly against how we do things,” Mayor Mare stated, trying her best to not look at the oddly handsome stallion.

“What am I going to do?” The stallion asked with a bright smile. “Skip town after all this work? Nah, it’d cost me too much to do so! So, what do you say?”

Mayor Mare looked at the stallion and almost got lost in the dark purple eyes that looked back at her, “Oh, what the hay? Very well, so, can I get your name, Sir?”

The stallion smiled greatly, “Heh, sure thing, Miss. The name’s Axel, Axel the Dark Hero…”

TBC

Chapter 8 - Shocking Soul

Chapter 8

Shocking Soul

TTT – TTT

“Pardon me, dear, but did you actually mean to say… Demon?”

Twilight sighed as she used her magic to reorganize some of the dress forms that Mao had knocked over, “Yes Rarity, Mao is actually a Demon. Demon Overlord to be exact…”

“Sweet heavens!” Rarity gasped as she ran to the window to see that Sweetie Belle was outside with a rather bored Mao, the young filly attempting to take his measurements for a Cutie Mark Crusader cape… Only to get pushed away gently. “I have to get Sweetie Belle away from him!”

“Actually Rarity, Mao saved Sweetie Belle and her friends,” Twilight stated, a little hard for her to swallow the truth concerning the transformed Demon Overlord. “In fact, he also prevented that giant tree monster from attacking Ponyville yesterday.”

“Really? Hard to believe somepony would be like that,” Rarity muttered, keeping an eye on Mao and Sweetie Belle outside. “I did see the monster and I was wondering what knocked it away…”

“Well, to be fair, it was technically Mao and Pinkie Pie who sent it flying,” Twilight answered, recalling the rather odd manner in how the Wood Golem was defeated.

“Oh, and how did the two of them manage that, if you don’t mind me asking?” Rarity questioned as she turned from the window.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” Twilight sighed under her breath. “In any case, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna asked us to make sure that he doesn’t attempt anything, and have even provided us with the Elements of Harmony that have a cloaking spell on them.”

Twilight horn lit up and from her saddlebags a golden necklace floated out with her purple aura around it, at the end of the necklace was a blue jewel that resembled Rarity’s Cutie Mark. Rarity mused as her own horn lit up to take the element. “Hmm, I suppose it would be wise to keep them on hoof. Still, is it okay for him to be near Sweetie Belle?”

“Well, from what I’ve seen,” Twilight stated as the light of her horn disappeared. “He’s not so much of a demon as he is a delinquent… Although he’s apparently an educator.”

Rarity turned back to the window and then back to Twilight, “Darling, I find that hard to believe that a stallion like that could be an educator – Then again, appearances could be deceiving.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Twilight mused as her horn lit up once more, this time from her saddle bags, Mao’s ripped clothes flew up into the air. “Do you think you could repair these clothes?”

Rarity watched as Twilight placed the clothes on the nearby table, and gasped at the sight of the rips, tears, and splotches of who knows what on the fabric. “Good heavens! What travesty! What happened to these poor clothes?!”

As Rarity observed the clothes, making sure to keep touching the clothes to a bare minimum, her eyes narrowed down and her brow furrowed at it, she lifted her hoof up to Twilight. “No, don’t tell me, better I don’t know. Unfortunately, Twilight, I am no miracle worker, there’s no saving these clothes… I’d have to suggest getting new clothes for Mister Mao.

“And while I’m not too pleased to have this stallion mess up my boutique, I have no qualms about helping him with an outfit.”

“Thank you Rarity,” Twilight said with a slight bow of her head. “I’ll make sure to pay you, I know that…”

“Oh, perish the thought, dear,” Rarity answered with a warm smile. “I’m more than willing to do this, but would you please be a dear and bring Mister Mao inside? I need to take some measurements.”

“Of course,” Twilight stated before she trotted off.

When Twilight exited the boutique to get Mao, Rarity turned back to the ragged remains of Mao’s clothes. ‘This fabric… I’ve never seen this kind of material before…’

Meanwhile outside Carousel Boutique…

“KNOCK IT OFF!”

“But Mister Mao, the Cutie Mark Crusaders can help you get your Cutie Mark,” Sweetie Belle offered as she trotted around the black stallion. “Scootaloo and Apple Bloom would think it would be great if you joined the group. We’re always willing to have other ponies who don’t have their Cutie Mark…”

“How many times do I have to say that I’m not interested?” Mao spat back at the young mare. “I’ve got my own agendas to deal with…”

“Well, okay, but I’ve never seen a pony your age without a Cutie Mark,” Sweetie Belle stated as she sat down, her ears drooped slightly.

“Oh, and just how old do you think I am?” Mao questioned with a smirk.

“Uh, well, Rarity says that you shouldn’t ask a pony their age,” Sweetie Belle replied as she looked away. “It’s supposed to be rude…”

“Feel free to guess, I promote rudeness,” Mao chuckled waving a hoof in front of him a few times. “It is my job to promote such behavior.”

“Okay,” Sweetie Belle muttered, her hoof tapped against her chin a couple times. “Um, well, you’re bigger than my sister Rarity, and you’ve got your hooves exposed like Apple Bloom’s big brother, so, are you older than twenty?”

“Heh, not even close!” Mao laughed with his tongue stuck out. “I happen to be fifteen hundred and seventy-eight years old.”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened, “Wow! You look really young!”

“Of course, every demon has longevity,” Mao cackled with a smug look on his face. “One of the perks of being an A-Class Demon.”

“I didn’t know that longevity was a trait of demons.”

Mao craned his head about to see Twilight was behind him, and a creepy smile on his face aimed at the purple mare. “Oh my, eavesdropping? Perhaps you’re not the straight arrow I pegged you for.”

“It’s not considered eavesdropping when you yell out everything,” Twilight pointed out. “But I find it hard to believe that you’re over fifteen hundred years old.”

“Whether you believe it or not, that’s your choice,” Mao cackled with a shrug of his shoulders. “So, Little Miss Deliquent, you must’ve come out here for a reason – We going to run some more errands or something that’ll try to instill your world’s sickeningly cutesy morals and sweets?”

Twilight sighed under her breath, “Actually, Rarity needs to take your measurements for your clothes…”

“Very well, whatever,” Mao huffed before he walked towards the door to the boutique. “Let’s get this over with, I’m starting to get hungry… Maybe we can snatch something from that Pinkie’s place.”

“I’m surprised you can remember her name,” Twilight stated as she followed the demon-turned pony.

“That’s cause she’s color-coordinated. I can only guess that the one you just introduced to me is named Marshmallow for all I know.”

“It’s Rarity…”

Sweetie Belle giggled under her breath as the two older ponies retreated back into the large building.

“Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle!”

When the small mare turned her head to follow the source of her name, she smiled and saw her fellow crusaders galloping towards her. “Girls!”

Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom skidded to a halt before the unicorn, with their faces adorned with smiles. Apple Bloom stepped up first, “Sweetie Belle! Ya won’t believe what’s going on down town!”

“And you won’t believe what I just found out,” Sweetie Belle replied. “It’s about Mister Mao!”

“He’s around here?” Scootaloo asked as she looked about.

“He’s inside,” Sweetie Belle stated as she gestured with her head. “But what I found out is that Mister Mao – Doesn’t have a Cutie Mark!”

Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other before they leered at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo spoke up, “No way. How could he do all that stuff and not have a cutie mark?”

“If you don’t believe me,” Sweetie Belle sighed as she walked over to the nearby window of the boutique. “See for yourself.”

In a few moments, the two fillies were at the window – Watching as Mao was getting fitted for his new clothes. And indeed, his flank was completely blank.

“Wow…”

“No way…”

“See, I told you,” Sweetie Belle stated with her chest puffed out slightly.

“We should see if Mistah Mao wants to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Apple Bloom stated as she leapt from the window.

“I tried, but he says he’s not interested in joining,” Sweetie Belle sighed loudly. “But what were you girls talking about?”

“Oh, there’s this huge concert going on,” Scootaloo answered. “There’s a ton of stands selling food and there are games, it’s like a carnival! There are even penguins running the stands!”

“Penguins?” Sweetie Belle questioned. “Why would there be penguins in Ponyville?”

“Exactly!” Scootaloo retorted with a large smile on her face. “There’s gotta be something big behind that! We could get our cutie marks in discovering why there are penguins!”

“We could get our cutie marks as ornithologists?” Sweetie Belle stated with a dulled look in her eyes.

“Orni-what now?” Apple Bloom questioned.

“It’s what you call ponies who study birds,” Sweetie Belle explained.

“Ah’ll never understand how ya know all them fancy words,” Apple Bloom sighed. “But anyway, we should still go! It could be fun at least.”

“Sure,” Sweetie Belle replied.

TTT – TTT

♪Boil the black blood, hot burning fire in my heart! ♪

♪That name is also the DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK HERO!!! ♪

♪Appearing suddenly through a white cloud of smoke…♪

♪SHOW ME BABY!! ♪

♪A hero who doesn’t waste his breath! ♪

♪There’s no regrets in the past you threw away, SAY GOODBYE! ♪

♪The road of stallions soaked in the BAD END! ♪

As that music echoed through the air, all of Ponyville seemed to be filled cheer and glee, with ponies lined up at the stands or in front of the large stage where the Pegasus named Axel sang and played a large purple and white guitar. On the stage, several Prinnies danced about while the ponies in front of the stage moved in rhythm with the tunes.

Axel flew about the air before he continued to sing.

♪… Even knowing the love you can forgive, More than times of injury, I want you with me, ♪

♪Boil the black blood! Hot burning fire in my heart! ♪

♪The solitary lone wolf who engraves a new history…♪
♪And lives on with dandyism♪
♪An awkward White Tiger…♪

♪That name is also the DARK HERO…♪

♪AXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! ♪

The front of the stage erupted into colorful plumes of purple sparks and flames that accented the ending and Axel’s glorious landing on the stage. “LADIES AND GENTLE-STALLIONS! I hope you’re all enjoying the action!”

Axel lifted his hoof up to one of his ears to hear the cheers from all the ponies, and a large smile appeared on his face. “That’s great to hear! We’ll be taking a few minutes before the next show, till then, here come the Mighty Morphin’ Prinny Ranger!”

With his guitar slung over his back, the blonde pegasus playfully trotted back stage as five brightly colored Prinnies leapt onto the stage, their sharp black shades glistened in the light.

♪Go Go Prinny Rangers! DOOD!♪

Backstage, Axel sighed as he took a seat. “Ah… This is going swimmingly. Or in this case, flyingly.”

A nearby Prinny sighed as he uncapped a bottle of water and gave it to Axel, the blonde stallion grabbed it with his wing. After a few gulps, Axel tossed the empty water bottle into a nearby trashcan, “So, tell me Prinny number seventeen, how are the stands doing?”

Prinny number seventeen reached into the knapsack and pulled out a clipboard, “Well, sir dood. So far, a ton of food and trinkets have been sold, we’ve already broke even, dood.”

“So it’s all profit from here,” Axel chuckled with a wave of his hoof. “I may be stuck like this, but with all the cash we’re making here, we’ll be able to live the sweet life.”

‘And any extra of these little golden ‘bits’ I can pawn for some HL back home.’

Axel shooed the Prinny away and leaned back in the seat, the tunes from the colorful Prinnies out on the stage echoed into his ears. ‘Ah, now this is the time that one would say that nothing can possibly go wrong… But last time I thought that, I got punched in the face by that Red-Haired Forest Maniac.

‘Still, I doubt that anything bad like that’ll happen again – Hell, this place is pretty peaceful. Almost reminds me of the human world, except without the pollution and technology.’

The Dark Hero chuckled slightly before he threw his front hooves behind his head, ‘Maybe when I get my old body back, I’ll find a way back here and set up a summer home – Certainly would be good to retain my fans in all worlds…’

“Boss Axel, DOOD!”

Another Prinny quickly ran up towards Axel, stumbling over his peg legs in the process. “We got major problems, dood!”

“Hey, don’t say that, you’re harshen my buzz here,” Axel chuckled under his breath. “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? We run out of food? Sold out all of the bobble heads or T-Shirts?”

“W-Worse, d-d-d-dood!” The prinny squawked as he flapped his flippers about. “I heard from a bunch of ponies about how last night there was this giant tree monster, and it sounded like a Wood Golem, dood!”

“A Wood Golem?” Axel muttered. “So, there are demons here? That’s not so bad, I doubt any demons out here would’ve heard of me – They’ll be fans in no time.”

“B-But it wasn’t that, dood!” The prinny squeaked. “It’s that the Wood Golem got sent flying, dood! And it was by a pony who had wild white hair, large glasses and a red school uniform jacket wrapped around his neck, dood!”

Axel’s eyes widened slightly, but then he chuckled with a wave of his hoof. “Oh come on now, there’s no way someone like that would be here – Besides, you said he was a pony and that’s impossible for a demon like that to be…”

“But you’re a pony too, dood,” The prinny pointed out. “If you were turned into one, then wouldn’t he become one too, dood?”

“GAH!” Axel yelped loudly. “S-Still! It could be possible that there’s a pony that looks like him…”

“It’s him, dood,” The prinny stated bluntly. “He was able to turn a pony into a cannon – Isn’t that what magichange can do, dood?”

Axel’s face contorted in sheer terror. There’s no way a pony could transform into a cannon – Magichange wasn’t supposed to be possible by the inhabitants here in Equestria. If this was true, then… Then…

“NO!” Axel yelled out with his hooves brought to the side of his head. “If ‘he’ is really here, then that’s not good! He knows about me! He knows my reputation! He’ll ruin everything!”

“So, what ya going to do, dood?” The Prinny asked with a shrug.

Although Axel dashed about the back stage with tan feathers flying out through the air, the blonde stallion took a deep breath and sighed loudly. Then with a large smirk on his face, the Dark Hero turned back to the Prinny, “There’s no need to panic!”

‘You were the one panicking, dood,’ The Prinny thought to himself.

“We’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t see me,” Axel chuckled with a wave of his hoof. “So, I want you to send the Prinny Rangers out to make sure that they distract him until we’re done with the show!”

“Shouldn’t we just pack up and leave, dood?” The Prinny questioned.

“Nah man,” Axel chuckled as the crowds outside roared loudly. “Can’t ya hear them? They love us! We’ll milk all we can here, and then we’ll get out of here in a flash! It’s practically foolproof!”

‘Except the plan was made by a fool, dood,’ the Prinny thought to himself.

“Now, if you excuse me, I hear the stage a calling!” Axel called out as he used his tail to grab his guitar.

As the blonde stallion trotted back towards the stage, another Prinny walked up to the original, this one had a long scar racing down the side of his face, “… Does he know, dood?”

“Nope, dood,” the regular Prinny answered back. “But we may have another pain to deal with, dood.”

“It won’t matter, dood,” the scarred Prinny replied. “With the abundance of mana in this world, soon, it’ll be ready, dood. It’s strength is on par with any demon overlord, not even the supposed ‘Dark Hero’ would be able to face against this force, dood.”

Both Prinnies chuckled to themselves as Axel began to sing once more, a pair of sharp red eyes glowed brightly from the shadows as several clicks and beeps echoed slightly backstage.

PRINNGER X…

Dood…

TTT – TTT

“… GAGH! How long is this going to take?!”

“Well, if you stop moving… About ten minutes ago.”

“DAMN IT!”

“Hush now,” Rarity stated, more preoccupied with using her magic to lift the measuring tape around Mao’s body. “Just be grateful that Twilight and I didn’t use magic to bind you.”

“Yeah, the magic you horses use on me tend to make me mad,” Mao growled. “I’d rather listen to the Prinnies’ work labor complaints than get levitated or teleported.”

“I thought you wanted to learn about our magic?” Twilight countered. “Wouldn’t it be better for you to experience first hoof?”

“Ugh, those horse puns are grating on the nerves,” Mao sighed with a dulled look in his eyes. “I’ve already experienced your unicorn magic, now I just want to study it! Such amazing force that the blue pegicorn showed…”

“How many times are you going to keep using that term?” Twilight questioned with a raised brow.

“… I can only imagine the implications of harnessing such magic!” Mao cackled with a diabolic smile on his face.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Rarity sighed as she pulled the measuring tape away. “But only unicorns and alicorns are capable of using magic… And I don’t see a horn in that mane of yours.”

“I’ve got my ways,” Mao chuckled. “Besides, I’ve got my own brand of magical abilities that I rightfully call my own here.”

“Well, good for you,” Rarity replied with a warm smile. “But in any case, I’ve got your measurements, sir. I should have your clothes done by the end of the day.”

“Heh, that long?” Mao cackled as he leapt off of the modeling tail and whipped his tail about. “I guess that means I can practice my streaking skills! I always heard that indecent exposure was all the rave in…”

“Alright, well then Mao,” Twilight interrupted as she quickly ran over to Mao and placed her hoof over the demon lord’s face. “We should be going now – We need to meet with Applejack and…”

Mao slapped Twilight’s hoof away and narrowed his eyes, “Whatever, let’s just get this over with – The sooner I get back to that basement lab of yours, the sooner I can get out of this hoof-given form.”

And with that, Mao trotted over to the door and opened it, “I’ll be outside – The amount of colors and all the fabric here… Unless you’re planning on cosplaying, then I’d rather stick outside where I don’t have to deal with all of this fru-fru junk!”

The moment that Mao exited the boutique and closed the door behind him, Rarity sighed, “Demon or not, that stallion is quite intolerable. You have the patience of a saint, Twilight.”

“Well, its only his words that we need to worry about,” Twilight replied. “And his threats of experimentation, and his weird demonic powers – But, he shouldn’t get out of control as long as we have the elements of…”

“PRINNY POWER – DOOD!”

A loud explosion echoed through the air outside the boutique, with enough force to make the entire building shake.

Both Twilight and Rarity turned towards the door and then towards each other…

TBC