Dark Rites

Chapters

Foreword
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 11-1
Chapter 11-2
Chapter 11-3
Chapter 12
Chapter 4

Foreword

Excerpt from Andro Darkheart's personal journal:

"There has always been war in Equestria. Of course the war everypony knows about, the war of Princess Celestia versus her sister, Princess Luna, or as she was commonly known, Nightmare Moon. However, there is a war going on, even now, there are only a select few ponies that actually know the current situation. Demons have materialized in Equestria. They have found a way to walk the rift between their plane and ours.

One thousand and fifty years ago, before Celestia and Luna's reign, Demons rampaged the land. To combat these invaders, the current leader of what is now known as Equestria, decided to create an elite force of Demon Hunters. The force was named The Darkheart Detachment, in honor of High General Leonardo Darkheart. This secret organization was sent on a mission, by Leonardo, to destroy the demon threat, find out any information they could on them, and find out how they were entering our plane.

Overall, the assignment was a success. However, many lives were lost in the fight for Equestria. The demons proved too skilled for most of our warriors. Their magic was superior to ours at the time. By a stroke of luck, one of the spell casting demons had a book of spells in his pack. This book was later recovered and deciphered, slowly, into what is now known as the "Demonomicon". Later, more spellbooks were found on the battlefield. Slowly, the spellbooks were translated and compiled by our best scholars into the Demonomicon.

Demon magic requires sacrifice, usually by blood. This is why every time a spell caster uses a demonic spell, they bleed, get crippled, or worse. It is recommended to have a sacrificial creature, or a store of blood, to prevent the caster from physical harm. The way this works is when a spell is cast, the amount of blood required to complete the spell burns from within their veins. Some spell casters have an innate ability to cast some of the stronger demonic spells with minimal pain and blood loss.

The demons were eventually pushed back into their realms. Our spell casters used the first sealing spell ever cast by pony-kind at great cost. The spell demanded sacrifice, so the casters of this spell were killed by an unholy black fire. This sealing spell sent the target into the Nether-Plane instantly. We needed more time to study demon magic before we could combat them. Finally, we were confident enough in our abilities that we didn't seal them back into their plane. We decided to fight.

So the war raged on, with death on both sides. Our best unicorn, Andreah Darkheart, daughter of Leonardo, who trained in the most powerful magical arts, stood her ground against the coming demonic onslaught. She charged into battle, horn glowing black with demonic energy, drawing the largest demonic sealing circle anypony had ever seen under the entire horde of demons, and under herself as well. The spell completed and she was gone ever since. After Andreah disappeared, the demons came into our plane slower and slower, eventually to not even one sighting a week. We figured she made it to the other side and slew many demons before meeting her unfortunate end in the Nether-Plane. Shortly afterwards, we erected a memorial in her honor, for her valiant sacrifice, in the garden of Darkheart Manor.

Demon magic is fairly easy. It requires the caster to mentally draw an image of the spell's effect in their mind then physically manifest the spell in front of them to cast it, usually called "setting". Doing this in combat is not recommended because of the extreme focus required to maintain the spell. Standard sealing circles are inlaid with a pentagram, with demonic runes encircling between the inner circle, several inches in from the outermost circle depending on the size of the circle, and the outer circle. The points of the pentagram only reach the inside circle with black flames at the tips. Between the spaces of the star pattern, there are small demon hieroglyphics. These writings change from spell to spell, but detail the intent of the circle itself. So, if the circle was meant to restrain a target, it would contain the words for "circle", "restrain", and the name or type of creature being restrained. The more words that applied to the spell, the more powerful it is. Knowing the full name, race, and background of the target made the spell the most effective it could be.

The average Demon Hunter is well equipped, to say the least. Every Demon Hunter is required to wear the demon hunting uniform, have a demon hunting weapon, and other miscellaneous gear. This miscellaneous gear includes rope, small throwing weapons, grappling hook, caltrops, smoke bombs, and anything else the Demon Hunter might specifically like to have equipped. Demon hunting weapons vary on the user, but usually have three stages. The first being small, then medium, then usually a two-hoofed weapon. They can be anything from swords, axes, and maces, to pistols, crossbows, and magic throwing weapons. Magic throwing weapons can shoot flame, ice, lighting, or explosives at the target. Demon Hunters with magic throwing weapons are usually used to decrease morale and support the melee demon weapon users. Demon weapons are based on the user's bracelets. These bracelets are stolen from slain demons after battles are over, to equip new recruits. Weapon types are based off of the user's personality, combat skills, and tactical use.

There are several different types of Demon Hunters. Ranged squad use their range to take out targets from a distance. Tactical squad members are usually equipped with stealth enhancing uniforms, which allow them to take out important targets quickly and silently, without raising alarm. Most Demon Hunters are classified as "melee", this squad is equipped with heavy armor and powerful two-hoofed weapons, or dual wield, if they prefer. Support squad members take out the high priority targets that the Tactical squad can't touch.

This will be my last journal entry. I hope Spellflash forgives me for this when she gets older, I hope she understands that I'm not just abandoning her to our greatest enemy. Spell, if you're reading this I'm so sorry. There was no other way..."

(Several tears stain the page.)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

I grew up in the small town of Trotsville where everypony knew each other's name. I never really knew my parents that well. What I do remember of my mother was that she was a kind, compassionate pony, with skills in making medicines and cure-alls. She had a dark mane, like me, with icy-blue highlights streaked through it. Also, she had a bow in her hair all the time, which nopony would never catch me in. She was sort of the village’s doctor. But my father, however, did not reveal his true job to the public, for he was a Demon Hunter. Nopony in Trotsville knew this fact. What people thought he did was help run the Pharmacy with my mother.

I have my mother's mane and eyes, and my father's personality. My eyes are a bluish-green and my tail looks like a flame, the outside edge of it being dark like my mane, with the inside being the same ice blue color, like where the blue part of the flame is with normal fire. I inherited my mother's eye problems. I guess it's just genetics that I have to wear glasses too, they're my mother's old ones.

My father always helped his neighbors, making them smile, protecting them, and doing odd jobs around while he was in town. He was almost never in town though. He was usually out on "business". My mother was always so busy making special remedies for the ponies in town that we never really had time to have any mother-daughter time together. There was a plague in Trotsville at the time, that nopony knew how to cure. Little did the populace know, it was actually a demonic curse that was cast on the town once my family started living there. From what I can tell it was my dad’s fault. He slew one of the Primary Demons’ sons. The curse was set to get back at him.

The curse itself was particularly nasty. The first sign of the "disease" was the pony's coat would change to a sickening greenish-yellow color. The second, it made your mane and tail fall out and weakened the victim immensely. Thirdly, this affliction would cause your skin to start peeling off. Finally, the fourth stage of the curse, a pony would start to sizzle and melt away, leaving a puddle of hideously-smelling fluid, and not a trace of the poor pony.

My mom never found a cure, even if she was the most medically adept pony Trotsville had ever seen. The only way to get rid of a Demon Curse is to either kill them, or ask them politely to stop. I doubt asking one of the most powerful demons in existence would have worked anyway. However, my father knew a type of summoning spell, used to call forth demons from the depths of the Nether-Plane into an enchanted golden circle. The circle bound the demon in order for the binder to interrogate it, which was more stable, and more powerful than a standard binding spell. Unfortunately, the binding circle was never intended to be used as a means of attacking the demons themselves.

One night after I had gone to bed, my father had summoned the Primary Demon, Curse-Bearer. Primary Demon Binding had never been done before. If it had, the kind of power needed would be insane, and the binder would have to be foalish enough to cast the spell.

Apparently my father had that kind of power, the Demon Binding was successful. My father mistakenly thought that summoning the demon to the Equestria-Plane in the binding circle would cause him to be powerless. But, being a Primary Demon, he kept most of his power, even inside the binding circle. How could he have known? Being surprised by the amount of power the demon still had, my father had to quickly channel a spell into the circle, to prevent him from escaping. In his panic, however the spell was unstable and could not hold Curse-Bearer. This interruption enabled Curse-Bearer to violently slash my father from chest to throat.

My mother, hearing the quickly silenced scream of her husband, ran into my room, and told me to go into the attic, and to “let mommy handle things.” After a while of being too scared to move from the spot she left me, sobbing, I decided I would move closer to the opening in the ceiling where the entrance to the attic was.

What I saw was a scene of pure horror. My father’s lifeless body and my mother’s bloodstained dress was all I saw when I peeked into the living room. I couldn't control the magic welling into my body at that point. It was as if my mother’s and my father’s magic was coming into me somehow. Suddenly my horn glowed with a burning intensity. The color of my magic was originally teal, but when my parent’s magic fused with mine, it became an aura I had never seen before. It was a deep red with many flickers of black fire floating around it. A sudden smell wafted over me and I realized immediately what this type of magic was, Demon Hunter magic.

Originally I had barely enough power to levitate a book off a shelf, or to hold a candle as I walked around my house at night. My father was always away from home to teach me any spells. I was still young, so he figured I had a while until my true magic power developed anyway. However, the power I would get once I matured was no where near the raw energy I felt at that moment. It was incredible. I felt like I could tackle anything. “I guess dad was really powerful…” I thought. The combined strength of my magic, my father’s Demon Hunter magic, and my mother’s healing magic surged within me.

Little did I know at the time, but most demons can sense magic. Naturally, Curse-Bearer was one of them. I had barely enough time to react to the sudden wave of force emanating from under me. A huge blade sliced through the floor, where I was just a moment before. Suddenly, a phrase taught to me by my father instantly came into my mind. Before now, I thought it was just some useless catchphrase that he said just to keep me confused, it was actually a different language. The power transfer had not only given me my parent’s power, but also some their knowledge. I only had one chance to seal the demon back into the Nether-Plane before it destroyed the entire town. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Then carefully chanted "Uoin Eat'uo'Do'itot" aloud and as I did, the glow on my horn intensified, bathing the attic in a dark red light.

I drew a pentagon with a circle around it in my head, like I knew what I was doing. The circle had runes and sigils interspersed within it. I was sure this was one of my father’s spells, I had no memory of learning it. However, there was a faint reminiscence of the spell, like I had learned it, many years ago. I mentally levitated the circle in mid-air and fed my power into it, causing the rampaging demon to carve its way faster into the attic.

“Nooooooooooooooooo!” Curse-Bearer shrieked. “That ssspell mussst not be completed!” I had a feeling that Curse-Bearer knew what I intended to do with him. I focused harder on the spell, in order to hurry the cast. Finally, Curse-Bearer had made his way into the small attic, with the intent to kill me where I stood. He eagerly stepped forward and prepared his bladed forearm for a vicious strike, the low ceiling cutting his attack speed into an attack that I could dodge.

Still holding the spell in my mind, I danced around Curse-Bearer, trying to wear him out so I could set the spell I was holding. Suddenly, I saw him charge his own spell. Black fire flickered in his palm. I could tell that this was a spell that would leave me severely wounded, if not, dead, if it hit me. I breathed "Ujuo'nf" to change the runes within the pentagram of the spell to a shield spell, in order to stop the attack. At this point, the spell in his hands swirled and grew into a fireball at least the size of a bowling ball. Not having much time left before he cast it, I finished drawing the rest of the runes into the protective barrier spell and set it in front of me like a shield. Panting at the amount of power I had just used up, I tried to focus, again on making a new demon-sealing spell to send him back to the Nether-plane.

Reaching critical mass, the demon flung the fireball at my protective shield. It cracked at the edges, but still held. "Hmmmm... Perhapsss you are more powerful than I imagined. Your mother and father mussst be so proud. Oh, wait. I killed them!" he said with a condescending tone. "You have no hope left, little Ssspellflasssh. Your parentsss were pitiful. They weren't even fun to kill." His fireball surged at my barrier, fracturing in random directions, with some of the fire starting to leak through. "Something you didn't notice, Curse-Bearer, I put "Toh'noev" into my barrier." I said with a laugh. He gasped and tried to make a barrier spell of his own, but it was to late. My barrier spell had already bounced his fireball back at him. It hit him in the chest with an unnatural intensity not seen in normal flame. Knowing that he would be preoccupied, I set back to work on my sealing spell.

Blanking out the Primary Demon in front of me to focus my mind, I reached into deep reserves of power I didn't even know I had, and I finished the incantation, then set the circle directly underneath Curse-Bearer. With a loud pop, the Demon-Sealing spell went off successfully. A column of black and red light shot upwards from the circle, then disappeared a few seconds later, along with Curse-Bearer.

“Noooo-“ Shouted Curse-Bearer as he was cut off by the spell I had just cast. Smoke rose from where the Demon Sealing Circle was. I did it. I forced a Primary Demon out of our plane of existence. I had never thought I could wield such power. I was still only a filly. My thoughts shot forward to what power I could use when I was older. My mind started to wander to the words I had used against Curse-Bearer. Had my father been a wielder of demon magic?

Suddenly, a small flash appeared on my flanks. I looked at it. It was a pentagram surrounded by black fire. My cutie mark had appeared! At the time, I knew I would get it soon, but I had never expected Demon Magic to be what I was best at. I felt a sense of pride at that moment. Dad would've been so proud to know that his daughter had had the skill to continue the “family business”. I passed out due to excitement and exhaustion and woke up a few hours later.

After regaining some of my composure, I decided it would be best to move on, to find a new town to go to. Since my parents were the only family I had in Trotsville, I needed a new home. Even though it was my family home and the only home I had ever known. I knew it wouldn't be safe around here anymore for me. I came to the conclusion that it would be hard to explain the scene of violence to the citizens of my hometown, I decided that leaving town would be much easier.

I walked passed the remains of my family. With a sickening twist in my gut, I went into the basement and decided to gather up some Demon Hunting supplies. I knew I had to carry on my father’s legacy and get revenge. I wanted to kill every demon that had caused harm to anypony.

I found an old satchel with some vials, herbs and various other alchemical instruments. “Thanks, mom.” I thought to myself. I noticed I had a few burn marks from the flame that leaked through my barrier, and drank a potion labeled "Burn Cure". I wiped my mouth and opened a nearby closet and looked inside. The door swung open easily. I found a leather pouch with a note on it. I picked it up and read it. It said: “Dearest Spellflash, if you are reading this, you are now alone. I am sorry it had to come to this. I didn’t expect this to happen. Hopefully, the Magic Transference Spell I used on myself and your mother just before I summoned Curse-Bearer to our plane, worked. Heh, it should have, you wouldn't be reading this if it hadn't. Either way, remember that we love you. Remember that you have the power to accomplish whatever you want in this world. Don’t take it for granted though. We are always with you now; my Hunting skills and your mother’s healing magic will pass through you like they were your own. The transference spell will gradually give you the information we both knew in our lifetimes. The spell is also designed to become a personal reference book within your mind. With time, you may become one of the best Demon Hunters to ever be known. Inside this satchel I have put an outfit I had been saving for you for when you get older. We were going to train you, too late for that now I suppose. As you know, we have relatives all over Equestria. Go visit them, and tell them what happened. Love, Daddy.

I stared at the hastily scrawled text on the paper for what felt like a long time. I gasped at the sudden realization; my own father had sacrificed himself knowingly. “But,” I mused. “He did give me the means to avenge our family.”

“I can’t believe my parents are dead.” I thought aloud. The gravity of my parent’s death finally hit me. I fell in a heap on the floor and cried harder than I ever have before. I couldn't blame him though, he was just trying to save everypony.

After re-reading the note and crying for a while longer, I took a look in the satchel. In the leather pouch I found a few bracelets, 2 pairs of black leather boots, and a leather vest. As I looked around some more, I found a large stack of important-looking books on demons, and decided to throw them into the satchel, and then set off on the road to a new town for a fresh start.

Chapter 1

"'Trotsville City Limits' eh?" I said when I read the sign aloud. I looked backwards at my hometown. It still looked so peaceful, even though a few hours ago a Primary Demon had destroyed the inside my house. Luckily my father had sound-proofed the inside of the house. With some luck, I could get at least a town over before anypony came looking for me and investigate the crime scene. I sighed and continued walking.

After another twelve miles I decided it was time to rest my hooves a bit. It was beginning to get dark and my eyelids were heavy from lack of sleep. After another twenty minutes of walking I found a crystal-clear, sparkling lake next to a shady tree. I sat next to the tree, under the shade, and decided to read one of the books I had retrieved from my basement. I figured I had better look up some information on demons, considering I would probably be fighting them on a daily basis.

I opened my pack and took out an old, ragged, and thin tome. The title was simply "Demon". On the front of the book was a angry looking demon being speared through the torso with a magically levitated spear. The pony that was levitating the spear looked like my father, but I assumed it was just coincidence. It was a good enough place to start, given my basic knowledge of demons. I telekinetically flipped open to the first page. Quickly, I discovered that it was in fact, a personal journal written by my father. Realizing that, I flipped quickly back to the cover. I brushed the dust off the bottom with a hoof, revealing the author and the rest of the title. I hadn't known my father kept a journal. It was clear on the hard cover though, "Demon Lore" By: Andro Darkheart.

Flipping back to the first journal entry, I discovered that he had been a Demon Hunter longer than I thought. Immediately I thought back to how old he was. He had married my mother at a fairly old age. Here he was, slaying demons before he had any thoughts of marriage. "Barely older than me," I thought to myself. I felt suddenly excited. Reading that greatly improved my confidence of becoming the next-in-line Demon Hunter. Skimming his journal for useful information, I came across a rough sketch of a demon autopsy. Demon body structures were very different from ponies, yet some of the organs had similar functions.

We have some of the same organs, at least, that's what it seemed like. The descriptions of the organs themselves were smudged with age. Sinking further against the tree, I continued looking at the picture on the musty page. Thankfully, they were color-coded; in the top left corner, I saw what the colors meant. A chart of all of the colors and their meanings was displayed there. Looks like red was a vital organ, blue was an organ that the demon could live without, the yellow lines within the drawing were nerve endings, and the green organs were control centers for extra bodily functions such as movement and in some cases fire breath, lightning breath, acid production, and the like. I had no idea that demons were so complicated. Being a small town, my education wasn't all that great. I mean, we had the basics, like how Celestia is the princess and how she raises and lowers the sun and moon everyday. But, anatomy, biology, science, and topics like that I had to learn on my own. Most of them being self-taught from my dad's personal library. Vaguely, I recalled a page from a book entitled "Dragon Anatomy". They were oddly similar to demons, as far as I could tell. They both had scales, the organs were mostly in the right places, tails, spikes, and frightening appearances. I wondered to myself if demons and dragons were related somehow.

After I finished memorizing the diagram, I flipped to the next page. There were some notes referencing the previous diagram. The description of some of the organs that had not fit on the other page. Techniques about how to disable organs and what areas to aim for. I cataloged the notes as I continued through to the next page.

It was almost night time at this point. I channeled energy into my horn to make a light source. The book was bathed in my teal colored light, then, satisfied, I continued reading. Most of the journal was my father noting specific demons, their anatomy, and how to kill them. I skipped through the lesser demons until I found the section labeled "Primary Demons". I dog-eared the page and closed my eyes for a second and could barely get them open again. Learning how to kill beings of such immense power could wait until after I've had a quick snooze.

I tried to concentrate on what had happened, but my stomach broke my train of thought. Remembering that I hadn't eaten for many hours and haven't slept for nearly a day suddenly hit me. Sighing, I looked around. Nothing edible in sight. Looking up, I discovered I had been sitting under a pear tree the entire time. Grasping a ripe pear with my magic, I pulled it off the tree, with my magic and hovered it to my hoof. My light source flickered out and I realized I was out of magic. With my stomach growling angrily, I shrugged and blindly bit into it. As I nibbled experimentally, I saw that the fruit was not like any pears I've had before. Shrugging, I took a second bite. "Must be a different type of pear," I mused internally. It was far juicier than I expected and a sweet smell filled my nostrils as I chewed. I swallowed the chunks down and savored the flavor as I took chunk out of it. "This is the strangest tasting pear I've ever tasted, though." I thought to myself. My magic wasn't back at full strength, but I brought out my light again, the much-needed food fueling my glowing horn. Turning the fruit over in my hoof I realized that it was clearly not what I thought it was. It was a tear-drop shaped blue fruit with a sickly green color showing through where I bit into it. Instantly I stopped chewing. Unexpectedly, I couldn't breathe, and I felt my legs fell limply against the ground. A short time later, I felt my eyelids close. The last thing I saw was a dark vaguely pony shaped figure hovering over me, then I blacked out.

I woke up to the warm sunlight in my face about six hours later. "Ah...Good. You're finally up." Somepony said with a voice could swear I heard before, but I couldn't place the name. Remembering that I had lost feeling in my legs I tried moving them. They moved slightly under a blanket, I guess that fruit was something to avoid. I found that I had been in a bed. Where had this pony moved me?

A sudden image struck through my mind. It was like a cataloged entry of a book on herbs and plants. A voice manifested in my mind along with the data entry. "Parafruit," it said. "A blue teardrop shaped fruit that paralyzes whomever consumes the sickly green insides." It continued. "Commonly seen near lakes, this fruit grows on trees and should be avoided at all costs." I knew this voice, slightly chastising, motherly, and tender. Then realizing that this was my mother talking to me from within, I quietly listened to the description of the fruit. "Used mainly as a poison on weapons, a natural painkiller, and to induce a patient into a sleep. This fruit is coveted for it's medicinal uses." "Learned that the hard way," I sighed to myself.

"What was tha? You say somethin'?" "No," I slurred quickly, then opened my eyes to look at my captor. The stallion in front of me was a dull gray, had a dark mane, with gray streaked through it, styled like an old pony that wanted to keep up with the times. His tail was cut short, but streaked with gray just like his mane. He also had a beard, nice and curly, flowing from his chin. From just looking at him I could tell he was about middle age. He was wearing a brown country-style hat that was clearly his favorite, holes and tears strewn within it. He was also wearing a plain vest with a white undershirt. His cutie mark was a picture of a pint of cider. What surprised me is that he was wearing a concerned, yet inviting expression on his face. My eyes hadn't fully focused yet and my vision just now started to clear.

Slowly, I rubbed at my eyes and said, "So, who are you?" The fruit's effect finally wearing off enough that I could communicate. "Awww, dun be like tha', you should reckonize your favorite uncle. It's me Spellflash, your Uncle Joel!" Squinting my eyes slightly, I realized it was him. I hadn't seen him in over five years. He must have brought me to his old farm. I guess he found me passed out next to the lake, while he was on a late night walk or something. I was lucky that it had been him, instead of some crazy demon.

I rubbed at my eyes more, suddenly saddened by the thought of me forgetting a relative. My thoughts jumped to the note that I had found with my new outfit. It had said to tell every relative about my parent's deaths.

"Uncle Joel! I have terrible news!" I practically shouted at him. "Now hang on a sec'nd, hold your horses. Calm down and tell me what you need to tell me." I breathed in deeply and calmly exhaled. "My parents are dead." I told him without emotion. "Yer parents? Awww, tha's to bad, yer pappy was the bes' Demon Hun'er I've ever had the pleasure to meet." "I suppose he lef' you tha' letter in case one of his spells went awry," I nodded. "Ah, well, I suppose you should come with me then. I've a few tricks learn ye." He turned then walked out of the room. Before he turned however, I saw a slight tear in his eye at the thought of his brother's magic finally getting the better of him. Slowly, I followed him. I looked around and saw my satchel, the stack of books, and my boots in the corner. Knowing that it was safe, I followed him through the door and down the stairs into a wide living room with him standing in the middle. He gestured toward a bookshelf. Joel then pulled one of the books out, which made the bookshelf slide into the wall, then sideways, revealing a door. "A secret passage...?" I trailed off, wonder in my voice. My uncle only nodded with a smile on his face. As we descended, I decided that all demon hunters had something like this, where they kept all their gear. We stepped though the door at the bottom and I was welcomed with familiar smells of herbs, demons, and un-death, just like my basement.

Chapter 2

We descended down the stairs into Joel's lair. It was less impressive than dad's, but was still well-stocked, as far as I could tell. It was filled with shelves of potions, mixtures, and books. His demon-binding circle was in the middle of the room. There was dried blood on the floor. Hoping that it wasn't his, I asked him about it. "Joel? Whose blood is that?" "Oh, tha'? Tha' ain't blood, silly filly. It's cranberry juice!" he said with an upbeat attitude. "I forga' tuh clean it before ya' woke up." I smiled. The first time in a while. That's uncle Joel for you. Always making jokes and being a little kooky. I figured that's what his wife saw in him.

"Wheres aunt Sally?" I said, remembering her. A grim expression appeared on his face. "Well, tha's the problem. I've not a clue where she is." I could tell that he truly loved her. "Is there anything I can do to help you find her?" I said seriously. "Maybe. I could use a trackin' spell on one of her hairbrushes to find out where she is." Suddenly I realized that the "cranberry juice" was probably her blood. I gulped.

"Alright." I said. "Let's do it. It would be good training for me to practice some spells with you, right?" Just then, I remembered he was an earth pony. "Tha' it would, but I'm sorry to say tha' Sally was tha' caster of us two." I sighed. Why was it never easy. "However," Joel continued. "I do have some of her books layin' around, maybe ya' can read 'em and see if ya' can learn some somethin'." Overjoyed, I ran to the bookshelf to start reading. I grabbed a tome with a thick binding and a cover that suggested demon magic.

"Since I posses no magical powa, Sally used me as a tahget of her spells." I nodded. So, not only were they husband and wife, Sally used him for spell practice. They were partners in Demon Hunting. I looked up from the book briefly to look at my uncle. Even though she had practiced her magic ability on him, I saw no scars or magic residue. Somepony must be really good at healing wounds.

I looked at the book again, casually glancing through pages. Nothing on tracking spells. I telekinetically grasped another book from the shelf, casting the first book aside, on a spare table. Flipping through the second book, I found similar graphs, spells, and diagrams, but nothing directly helpful.

"Ahem," Joel interrupted, pointing to a book in his hoof, labeled "How to Cast a Tracking Spell". "Oh, that's helpfully specific." I said, a little curious at how long he was standing there holding the book. Grasping it with my magic, I pulled it close to me. I opened the book to the front page and started to study the mechanics of the spell. After about five minutes I had the book read.

"Okay, this spell seems easy enough, but I need some ingredients. Mind getting them for me please?" I asked Joel, who nodded and said "Sure thang sweetie." "Alright, I need..." Pausing at the line where the ingredients were listed, my hoof gliding over the text. "Some of her hair, powdered flameroot, a demon eye, and a phoenix feather." He gathered all the ingredients necessary as I called them out, pausing slightly at the demon eye, then completely skipped it. Joel set all the parts onto the table and looked at me with a sour expression.

"We have to get a demon eye, don't we?" I asked cautiously. "Yup, fresh out. They don't keep long and Sally just used the last bit in practice." "Well, crap. How do we get a demon eye then?" I blurted. Joel sighed. "I guess we have to walk the plane and go kill a demon 'ahselves." "Do you think I can take a demon by myself?" I asked him. "You won' be by ya'self, silly filly, you'll have me wit' ya'." Joel winked as he said it.

"Alright then, how do we walk the plane then? Is there a spell of some sort that I have to find like the last one?" Joel chuckled slightly. "No, that won't be ah problem, Sally always has a back-up plan." Then he walked to a shelf in the back and gave me a piece of paper with runes on it. "I'm guessing this is some kind of magic portal?" I said sarcastically. "Exactly. All you have to do is channel some of yer magic into it and it will teleport us on over to the Nether-Plane."

I shrugged and took the slip of paper. Closing my eyes and concentrating on the paper, I fed my power into it. "Spellflash, you also gotta concentrate on me too, or el-" He got cut off as the spell finished.

I couldn't hear what he said, but he wasn't with me now. Joel had said it would teleport "us" to the Nether-Plane. I wonder why he isn't here. Maybe I should have included him in the spell. That was probably what he had said.

"Well then, that sucks." I said aloud. I had no idea how to get back to the farmhouse. I looked at the smoking piece of paper. Thankfully, the runes on the paper were faded, probably meaning I could use it once more before turning into just another sheet of paper. I guess it was my round trip ticket. Knowing I had a way back made me a little bit more confident. I took my first look around the Nether-Plane.

It was a huge open landscape, fire instead of grass, and black metal spires spread throughout. I hoped I wasn't near any kind of demon capitol city where the more powerful demons hung out. I gulped and walked forward. Soon, I came across a small hut made of a the same strange glowing metal as the spires, but it seemed to be runed with some demonic spell. I walked up to the hut cautiously and peered inside the door.

Inside was a small demon boy. (I knew this from my brief readings on demon anatomy) He peered up at me, looking frightened. His skin was a shiny black, with a spiky tail and a pincer-like mouth. His flaming emerald demon eyes continued to study me as I did him. Forgetting that I left my stuff back at the house, I leaped back in surprise when he shot some strange green fluid at me, barely missing my neck. I guess demon babies are as aggressive as their adult counterparts.

"Spellflash, you can do this..." A voice echoed in my mind. "You must kill the demon, it doesn't matter if it's a child, it is still the offspring of a full-fledged demon!" The voice continued. "I feel the compassion for children in your heart, you have to get rid of it if you wish to survive this fight!" It was my father's voice, I was sure of it. This would be my first fair fight against a demon of similar age, I suspect. "Well, I don't really have any means of combating this demon..." I thought. Suddenly, an image of a book appeared in my mind, slowly at first, then quickly flipping pages to stop at a page with the words "Activate Arm-Blades" in the demonic tongue. There was a picture on the page showing a colt with bracelets almost identical to mine, with corresponding words of power. It seemed that the spell had three stages, "Fi'iiotu" dagger, "Uyy'tf" sword, then a two-hoofed sword, "I'toiv Uyy'tf" that combined the bracelets together.

I suddenly realized that these bracelets were my demon hunting weapons. The book faded and I snapped back to reality. I hummed the first word of power and sent power into my bracelets. They shined for a moment, before sinking down to my front hooves and turning sideways. After they had moved into position, the glow dulled, the gems set into the bracelets, then sharpened into magnificent, gleaming daggers. Now, I had a shot.

I turned to face my opponent, who was now in position to shoot another glob of acid at me. Cartwheeling towards him and dodging the blob at the same time, I swung my hooves down at his head, but missed by barely an inch. Clearly, this opponent was craftier than I thought. His razor-spiked tail shot forward at my face, but managed to slice a deep cut in my right cheek. There was no way I was this good without having any training with these weapons. I guess my father's expertise in demon slaying was shining through somewhat. At least I dodged his tail instead of taking it to the face.

The blood streaming from my cheek was starting to drip to the floor. I calmed myself in a sort of combat meditation. I focused my power and said the second word of the Demon Weapon incantation. A ruby light shined forth from my bracelets as they shifted again, this time settling on the front of my hooves, and growing to a decent sword length. At this point, it looked as if I was dual-wielding two swords forged out of rubies. They gave off an eerie light that gave me a red aura, like some sort of armor. I no longer felt blood or pain coming from my cheek, it was completely healed.

I guess the more power words that are said, the more abilities the user are granted. I supposed that this level was a regenerative aura. With a feeling of overwhelming power, sprinted towards the demon and brought both blades down across his front in an "X" pattern, causing him to stumble backwards limply, hit the ground, and fall apart.

Remembering that I need a demon eye to complete the tracking spell, I shifted the swords back into daggers, and carefully cut out both his eyes. I went into the shack where the demon lived, and checked for supplies. On a shelf I found several bowls and jars of unknown contents and picked them up, deciding that anything a demon kept around should be useful. Deeper into the house, I found a couple of beds and a chest. I went to the chest and opened it, inside I found several important looking demonic artifacts. I didn't know anything about them, but figured that Joel might know, and took them too. There was something hideously evil about the artifacts though. Something about them seemed...off. It's hard to explain, but there was a feeling of dread whenever I touched them.

Deciding that my work was done here and the mother of whatever I had just killed was probably pissed off, I brought out the runed piece of paper and channeled my energy into it, this time focusing on everything I carried as well. The spell went off successfully and I fell two yards to the floor with a clang inside the farmhouse.

Chapter 3

"Spellflash, are ya' okay!?!" Joel exclaimed as I hit the ground. "Yeah, I'm fine, I even took out a demon before I left." I proclaimed proudly, holding up both demon eyes as I said it. "I bet ya' think ya' are some kind of hotshot now, huh?" Joel replied sarcastically, but with a smile on his face. "What've ya' got here?" He said, pointing at the pile of demonic artifacts on the ground.

"Oh, I'm not sure. After I killed the demon, I went into his house and grabbed some important looking stuff, then used the paper to return back, making sure to focus on what I wanted to take with me this time." I told him, my mouth curving upwards towards the end of my sentence. "Heh, I suppose ya' heard me before the spell took ya' through the portal."

"I'm mighty impressed at ya' Spell, ya' took out a full-fledged demon an-." I cut him off. "Uhm, actually, I killed a young demon..." "Ya' what...? Oh, no. This isn't good a-tall." He said sadly. "So, what's so bad about it, Joel? I got out of there before any demon even noticed I was there." "Yes, but ya' took some of their treasure, which they can track!" Joel almost shouted at me. Feeling guilty, I looked at the trinkets on the ground. Now that I knew it was valuable, part of me wanted to know how much it was worth. Another part of me was worried because like Joel said, it could be tracked.

"If they can track it, then why aren't they here yet?" "Well, in the Nether-plane, I believe it is still mid-day, so I figure that the parents of the demon ya' killed will be home from hunting in ah few hours, which means we have to prepare." "We're going to fight them?!?" I gasped, "I barely got through a fight with a baby. I don't even think I can scratch an adult demon!" Joel laughed lightly. "Like I said before, ya' will have me. Unlike last time." He winked.

I trusted him. He was a professional Demon Hunter. I mean, he *had* killed demons with my dad on a regular basis. Hopefully, we would be able to fend off the demons when they arrived.

I gulped at that thought. Thrown into this life of being a Demon Hunter, and I could die in a few hours... Shrugging off my doubt, I decided to help Joel prepare. "Okay, you're the boss, what do we do to prepare?" I inquired. "Well, considering I don't know the lineage of the demon kid ya' slew, I'm not sure what we will be up against." "Gather up all the artifacts ya' stole, and follow me." I scooped up the ebony statues and proceeded up the stairs. "Um, I don't suppose you saw her while ya' were there, did ya'?" "Sorry, no, I didn't. I feel kind of bad now, I was caught up in the battle and just left, I didn't mean to, I wasn't thinking. Sorry Joel."

I felt a tear forming, but held it in and faced him. "It's okay Spell, ya' are still young. To be honest, I didn't expect ya' to return a-tall. I don't know what I would have done if I lost..." He cut himself off. I knew what he was going to say, but didn't push it. "It'll be okay, Joel. After this fight, we can rest up and go find her together." I said sympathetically. He lowered his head, and I saw a teardrop fall from his cheek. He brushed at his eyes with a foreleg. "Ah hope so Spell, I really do."

We reached his living room and crossed the floor to the back door. After he opened it, he stepped through, and held it open for me, considering I was carrying a bunch of statues. We came outside to a large backyard. I knew Joel was a farmer, but I had no idea he had this much time on his hooves. Everywhere I looked was a patch of vegetables or fruits. Extremely impressed, I said, "Wow! Your garden is amazing." "Eeyup. I've had quite a lot of time since ah retired from huntin' demons. Though, ah still train just in case." Suddenly, he gestured past a field of wheat to what looked like a large demon circle. I hadn't expected Joel having that large of a demon circle, or that it would be out in the open.

"Place them in tha' middle." I trotted over to the circle, and placed the objects into the middle, like he said. "Now, since we got lucky, and yuh special talent is demon magic, flip to page twenty-six, and learn the spell." He said, tossing a book to me. First, I looked at the cover. It had a picture of a demon using magic under large scripted letters that said Demonomicon. I snorted, "What a strange name to call a book." I thought to myself. I did what he asked and flipped the page to see a spell about unlocking demon artifacts. I raised an eyebrow at him as I glanced over the page. "So, you can open these things?" I asked. "Eeyup. They usually hold some kind uh, stored demonic energy. The demons will siphon off extra reserves of power into it, kind of like a magic battery." I suddenly realized what he wanted me to do. My heart almost burst out of my chest with excitement, as I read over the spell.

"You want me to take the demon magic out of them into my own body, to supercharge my magic ability?" I asked, trying to confirm my suspicions. "Exactly, Spell. But, the thing is if ya' absorb too much energy at once, it could have some nasty side-effects." Pausing, I looked over the spell one last time before reaching into my magic power reserves and carefully drew a magic circle in my mind and placing it under the artifacts, just as the spell told me to do. This time, I put the demon words for "absorb", "circle", and "unlock". The demon words were on the page, clearly visible to me. I read them out loud, "Idu'ytd, Eu'teno, Ap'nyem" The circle formed above the statue and wobbled for a second, before solidifying under it. Joel was surprised that I knew the words and could form a demon circle so quickly.

Slowly, I released the spell and the magic power came flooding into my body. Some of the magic I absorbed had memories attached to them. Images flashed through my mind and my vision started to blur. I saw a crown, royal looking clothing, and a huge palace. I cut the spell before falling to the ground. "Wha' happened? Ya' only absorbed a quarter a tha' energy." Joel said, a little panicked. "Uhm, we may have a problem." I told him about the images in my mind and he took on a serious expression. "It looks as though we will need reinforcements, Spell." He said, angrily. "Tha' demon ya' killed, he was royalty."

I was speechless for a few seconds, then said. "So, what do we do then?" "Like ah said, we gotta gather up the family, we got a full-scale war coming for us. Sooner or later, the demons will get angry and creative enough to make a new spell to cross back over into our Plane." I stared at him with a blank expression. "I started this. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it, I was just defending myself." I said starting to cry. "I know ya' feel bad about this, but there's nothing we can do now, besides defending our world." Joel said sternly.

"Get back to absorbing tha' magic, we need ya' at yer strongest to prepare for war." Nodding, I went back to the pile of hardly-drained magical artifacts, and channeled another circle under it, like before. This time, intent on doing it all at once. Bad idea. I absorbed all the excess energy at once, my eyes blurred, I fell over, and passed out.

"..flash! Spellflash! What the hell were ya' thinking! Damn it, wake up!" Joel was screaming at me. We were back inside, just like this morning where I was on the bed and he was across from me. Though, I remember this morning having a lot less yelling. Rubbing at my temple with a foreleg, I slowly got up into a sitting position. "Sorry Joel, you said we needed to get me as powerful as possible before we're invaded. So I took the rest of the power in one big gulp." I said a little bit to arrogantly. "Yeah, but I didn't expect ya' to do that, ya' may have contracted a demon illness or something, taking in all that energy at once." He said with concern. "Actually," I said, "I feel great. I think you were just messing with me when you said that."

Suddenly a book appeared in my mind and flipped itself to a page I haven't seen before. It was the same book that had shown me how to use my Demon Hunter Swords. It finally stopped on a chapter page entitled "Ranged Weapons". Then flipped a few more, as if stopping there had been a precursor to what was going to happen next. Stopping on a page with a crossbow in the middle of it, i looked towards the top. It said "Crossbow". It showed me the necessary words to summon my new weapons and I was thrown back into reality.

I must have looked deep in thought, because after I snapped out of it, Joel looked at me again with concern and a bit of pride. "Wha' did ya' see?" He asked. "Uhm, I have a question," I paused for dramatic effect. "Can I have more than one Demon Hunter weapon? Because a book in my head flipped to a crossbow page, and I know how to do the sword one already." He gasped. "I knew yer special talent was demon magic, but I didn't expect this! Ya' combination of yer mother's and father's magic power must be pushing ya' to yer limit." He paused, thinking about this new discovery. "By all means, try it out." He said.

I chanted "Fain" as I channeled new-found magic energy into my bracelets. The gems in the sockets started to morph, like before with the demon swords, and this time, changed into a pair of small crossbows, one on each bracelet, already primed with a bolt.

Joel gasped again. "Wow, I suppose ya' are..." He said as his voice trailed off. "I'm what?" I said, a little scared, but curious. "It seems, ya' can absorb power from those Magic Batteries, and gain other abilities with the power. So, I'd suggest doing it as often as possible, but don't overexert yerself while ya' are in hostile territory." I nodded enthusiastically. I was going to be one kick ass Demon Hunter.

Chapter 5

Shortly after ascending the stairs, we went to the kitchen, where our friends were still planning our defense. Upon us walking in, everypony had a hopeful gleam in their eyes. I also noticed all of them were fully equipped. They all had armor on, bandoliers with throwing knives in them, belts with various gadgets attached to them, and of course, bracelets similar to mine, their Demon Hunter weapons. Without either Joel or I saying a word, we both went to the kitchen table, selected an empty chair, and sat, exhausted. "So...? How'd she do?" asked Sophie with a glimmer of hope in her voice. Still a little winded from throwing apples and rubbing at a fresh bruise from one he had been to slow to dodge, Joel said, "Well. It turns out that she had previous experience makin' shield spells." He paused to take a breath, then added, "Howeva' she may be a lil' to smart for her own good." he said, winking at me as he said the last part. I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment and pride. Sophie handed me a bandolier of throwing knives and a leather vest specifically made for my size. I suspected that she had made both of the pieces in the time that me and Joel had been training. I put them on and looked to my friends for the battle plan.

"Good." said Salem. "We need everypony at top skill for this battle." he added, then paused for a second, deep in thought. "Speaking of "everypony", we need to go get your wife back from the Nether-Plane." Joel stiffened a bit, then sighed. "We don't even know where she is, Salem. How do ya expect us to find her?" Joel countered. "Actually," Salem said, "We have a Spellflash." he said, turning his vision to me. I jumped at the mention of my name, then gulped with anticipation. "Spellflash can track her if we go to the Nether-Plane. If she can bring us all to the demon's stronghold, we can take the fight to them, then bottleneck them in front of our turrets and barricades!" Salem almost shouted. "Plus, I'm sure she can do it." he explained, eying my cutie mark. I felt myself blush again. I guess if you're in the business for so long, you recognize a demonic circle.

I nodded, confident I could pull the whole squad with me into the realm of the demons. "I don't suppose you got any more of that Plane-Transfer paper, Joel?" I asked. As a response, Joel trotted to a bookcase, pulled out a book, and ripped a page out. Then, walked toward me and handed me the piece of runed paper, identical to the one I had used before. "Okay, I guess that answers that question." I said softly to myself. "So are we doing this now?" I asked the group. "Because I could use another nap after that training session."

Joel put a hoof on my shoulder. "Sorry, Spell. We gotta do this now. We're runnin' out of daylight as is." he said sorrowfully. With that, everypony walked up to me expectantly. Sighing, I focused on the last bit of magical power I had and sent it through the piece of paper while simultaneously focusing on all of us. Everything went black for a few seconds then I fell a few feet and hit a hard surface. I rubbed at my head, trying to get rid of the now extremely forceful headache I now had. Great. I opened my eyes and surveyed my surroundings.

It was quite a bit different than where I got teleported before. First off, I was in a building of some sort. Second, the room I was in had demons in it. Lots of demons. It's like they were having some sort of meeting. Upon continued observation, I saw I was on top of a table and none of my friends were here. All of the demons had a look of anger and confusion. Though, some of the demons didn't really have a face, so I just kind of assumed. I sat up and said, "Hey?" unsure of what to say. The demons hesitated. I suppose they really didn't expect a filly unicorn to suddenly poof out of nowhere and land in the middle of their meeting table.

Luckily, before I spoke I saw what looked like a door. The demons started to call upon their magic as I quickly got up and sped for it. Feeling a mass of energy follow me, I carefully dodged out of the way and it blew a hole in the wall, sending obsidian shards in random directions. They just bounced off of me because I still had the armor spell on and the leather armor that Sophie gave me probably helped too. I dove through the new opening and fell about twenty feet out of the palace onto an extremely convenient sludge demon.

It wasn't exactly a door, it was a window. In hindsight, that probably wasn't my best idea. When I looked up towards the opening, I saw a lot of spells being charged and thrown at me. Quickly, I rolled out of the goo, dodged a few fireballs, and got up, then brushed the sludge off of me as I ran. When I had gotten most of it off, I switched to a full gallop and sprinted away from the castle, in a probably vain attempt to escape. Carefully, I scanned the environment for a place where I could hide and find my friends. There was a cave that was pretty far from the castle and I settled into it. I was pretty exhausted at this point, and without my friends here, I needed to find someplace safe.

I had enough magic to call upon a light spell. Peering into the cave, my horn illuminated the entrance in a pale light. Seeing no threats, I went inside. It was a fairly small cave. From the entrance, I only saw one room. If I didn't have any light sources while inside, I could safely stay hidden while waiting for some of my magic to replenish itself. Deciding that I wouldn't put up a fight in this state anyways, I passed out from exhaustion.

I woke up what seemed like several hours later, somewhat energized. I supposed that the obsidian-colored material that the Nether-Plane was composed of had some kind of magic emanating off of it. My body must have absorbed some of it while I was sleeping. Now that I had some kind of power to use, I set to work finding somepony to help me. I focused again on the image of Sophie in my mind, while I chanted the power words required for the telepathy spell. The familiar blackness consumed my vision with a flickering light at the far end of my vision. I figured it was flickering because I didn't have a direct link to the pony in question. I focused harder at her image and said the words louder, putting a bit of magic into my voice to quicken the spell.

Suddenly, my point of view settled in the room from before, where Sophie and I had first "met". She was exactly as I had seen her before we teleported into this hellish place, though, she was missing some of her throwing knives and laying on the ground. Also, there was a curved, obsidian colored blade impaled through her chest. My heart sank. What do I do now? Slowly, I went up to her and noticed she was still breathing, if a bit raggedly, but that was a given. Quickly, I mentally flipped through the magic spells I knew how to use, searching for one to help me here.

"Spellflash," my mom's voice said. "Don't worry, honey. It will be okay." she said in a upbeat voice. Crying, I shouted in anger, confusion, and pain, "'It will be okay.'?!? Are you serious? Sophie's going to die!" The familiar demonic book appeared in my mind and flipped to a page I hadn't seen before. On this page was a spell called "Summoning". "Ah," I thought, wiping tears from my eyes and trying to focus. I broke the mental link with Sophie and concentrated on learning the new word on the page. I drew a circle in my mind, inlaying the words "Eu'teno", "Uaoo'yp", and Sophie Redmane, in the demon language, of course. "Hopefully," I thought. "This will teleport Sophie to me." When I finished writing the last word, set the circle a few feet in front of me, then released the spell. The spell had clearly been designed with having your magic power at full capacity. The spell slowly drained me. Slightly panicked, I drew a new circle on the ground with the words "Eu'teno", "Iduy'td"", and "Ejip'pon"" and released that one as well.

Using myself as kind of a magic funnel, I channeled the magical residue from the strange obsidian material that covered this plane, into myself, then into the summoning circle. Feeling supercharged with magical energy, I shoved all of the magic I was siphoning from the rocks into the circle. This action created noise, blinding light, and probably made it really obvious that somepony was doing intense magical things in the cave. I was in a magic trance though, and couldn't tell what was going on. I fell a few feet to the ground. I suddenly realized that I had been floating. Suddenly, I learned that my magical power reserves were fully supplied.

With an audible popping noise and a puff of smoke, my summoning circle had been replaced by Sophie! She was still impaled by the sword. I probably shouldn't have moved her, but I had to get her some help. "Okay, now what?" I thought at my mother's voice. A new book I hadn't seen before was revealed in my mind. This time, it was a green tome that had a large red cross on it. It flipped open to a page with "How to heal an impaled pony" as a header. "Well, that's helpfully specific." I said to myself. Sophie moaned. "Better get to work," I said, closing my eyes to look over the page.

First, the book said to remove said impaling instrument, gently, without causing increased harm. I focused on the sword and levitated it out of her body, and tossing it to the side, causing a metallic thudding noise against the floor of the cave. Next, said the book, repair organs. I sent some healing magic through her impaled organs. Even though I had never used restoration magic, a stream of mint green magic energy flowed from out of my horn, and into the damaged parts of Sophie. I felt a warm feeling wash across me. I had a feeling my mother had a part in this. Slowly, I watched the magic that wasn't my own, stitch, repair, and mend the wounds that had spread across Sophie's body.

"Wha...Huh...?" Sophie managed to say after all of her wounds were closed. "Don't speak, your wounds aren't fully healed yet." I told her with an authoritative tone. Calmly, she closed her eyes and breathed slowly. "Thank Celestia! You're alive!" I shouted, suddenly aware that my own personality, magic, and voice tone were back. Suddenly, I felt like I was going to explode. My eyes rolled back into my head and I felt overwhelmed with magic power. My hooves left the ground and slowly I felt a aura of pure magic energy form around me in waves. I guess I forgot to switch off the magic funnel spell that I had used to power the summon. All I felt at that moment was power.

Suddenly, a trio of scouting demons appeared at the cave entrance. "All too easy," I thought, arrogantly. I drew a circle in front of me, facing them vertically. With an almost lazy ease, I wrote the words "Eu'teno", "Doio", and "Eippyp". When I finished the words, I unleashed the spell. A thundering roar of energy shot outwards from the circle, directly at the unfortunate demons. I didn't get a good look at it with my regular vision, but with a kind of weird second sight, I saw a huge cylinder of sparking magic energy about three ponies wide and three ponies tall, shoot out of my circle and decimate the demons. They didn't even have time to react. The spell may have been a little overkill, but I had a lot of magic energy to burn up. Plus, they were trying to kill us, so why not?

Slowly, I stopped feeding the spell and the cylinder slowly shrunk until the beam dissipated entirely. I fell to the ground, panting. Glancing up, a perfect circle in the shape of my magical blast had increased the cave's entrance. Cursing myself, I hoped I didn't just alert a whole bunch of other demons to our location. Regaining my breath, I walked over to Sophie and checked if she was okay. Her eyes were wide with fear, astonishment, and surprise. She was healed up enough to move around. She got up, dusted herself off with her wings, and just started at me, mouth agape. Easily sensing how impressed she was, I gestured at the faint outline of magic residue where I had drawn the magic absorption spell. Nodding, she trotted over to me.

"Well, now that every demon in this Celestia-forsaken place knows were here, how about we get out of here?" Sophie said, with a bit of worry in her voice. "Yes, I'm all for that, but what about Joel and the Flamebreaks?" I asked. "Well, you teleported me here, just do it again with them." Sophie suggested. I shrugged, "That would work if I had some of their hair or something, but I don't really know them that well and we aren't related, so it won't be as easy as what I did with you." Sophie put a hoof to her mouth in thought.

"I don't suppose you can just sense where they are with your Energy Sense ability?" I blinked. "What do you mean?" I asked quizzically. "Oh, that thing that all Demon Hunters get where they are able to sense magic. Didn't Joel tell you about it?" This made a lot of things make sense. It explained how I dodged that magic blast up in the meeting room, Joel being able to dodge all, well most of the apples I threw back at him, and how I could see my magic, even though my regular vision was unusable. Seeing that I had figured something out, Sophie looked at me and said, "Now you get it. Use your Second Sight to find Salem and Sabrina. I'll fly around and look for Joel. When I find him, I'll take him back to this cave. When you find Salem and Sabrina, tell me and I'll guide them over to us. Let me take some of your mane so they can just teleport to you."

I flinched as she grabbed at my mane. "I don't suppose they saw the "beacon" that I sent out?" I suggested, putting air-quotes around beacon. "Oh, you're right. They probably sensed *your* magi-" Sophie said before being cut off by a popping noise, a puff of smoke, and black and green light with two silhouettes of unicorns with fiery manes. "Never mind, I'll just go look for Joel," she continued. "Ya mean me?" Joel said, as he stepped out from behind the Flamebreak twins. "Well then." Sophie sighed. "I guess we can go back home now, I'm tired of this dreadful place."

"Ummm." Said a voice I hadn't heard in a very long time. It was aunt Sally! They had found her. "Hi Spellflash, how's it going?" she asked me, a little bit raggedly. She trotted from out behind Joel. She was wearing a nice blue and green plaid sundress, just like what I remembered she usually wore, but this one was dark with dried blood. Savage scrapes were all across the fronts of her hooves. Her once beautiful sundress was almost in half because she had been whipped to the point of it almost tearing at the seams. Bruises peppered her body, her face getting the brunt of it. Her mane, usually a bright blue, was matted to her head, sections colored a sickening purple. Her yellow coat had splashes of red all across it. One of her cutie marks had been mutilated, the other was still visible, but stained with blood, a single rose, her special talent being earth magic. Sally had been tortured. I couldn't guess at how brave and courageous she was to have even survived the brutal beatings that she had endured. The big bow in her mane was torn, askew, and red with blood. She was hard to look at.

"Sally!" I shouted. "I have to heal you, you're a mess." I said, minty restoration magic already flowing out of my horn and into her wounds. "Spell, you were always so generous." she said weakly, through labored breaths. I pumped more magic into the restoration spell to heal her faster. There was too much damage to heal now, especially with my dwindling magic reserves. I was forced to stop healing her to prepare the spell we needed to take us back home. I got most of the surface damage, repairing her face, cutie mark, and the fronts of her hooves, so she could at least walk painlessly. She finally passed out from blood loss.

"Gangs all 'ere. Spell, take us out, she can heal up back at tha house." Joel commanded. Nodding, I brought out the piece of paper and focused on it, then stopped. "Wait," I said. "I have an idea," I drew a circle in the ground and set the runed sheet of paper on top of it. It floated over the circle, accepted. A small vertical shape appeared, then grew to the size of a pony. I had made a portal that crossed the planes. "This might be easier than all of us ending up separated and somepony sticking out of a wall." I said helpfully.

Everypony nodded and stepped through excluding Sally, who was being carried by Joel. I leaped through the portal and it closed behind me, leaving the rune paper behind us where the demons could easily track, right according to plan. I set up the portal to pop us out right in front of the turrets and the barricades. Upon seeing us, the turrets whirred slightly, pointed at us, then fell back into standby mode. "Thank Celestia we ain't demons, or we'd be fulla' holes." Joel commented. We walked back to the house, awaiting the demon attack.

"Great Celestia, did you see that?!?" Sophie shouted as we settled back into the farmhouse. "There was a huge beam of red energy coming from Spellflash. She literally incinerated three A class demons, on the spot." She continued. "A class?" I questioned, confused. "A class demons are a Prime Demon's personal guard. You liquified them, Spell." Sophie explained, then continued, "That's amazing. I don't know any pony, besides your late father that could've done that." I sat back on my haunches, then explained, "Well, I had been absorbing a lot of power, and decided to use it on the demons that had found us in the front of the cave." While this conversation was going on, Joel had left to put Sally onto a bed so she could sleep off her wounds, in peace.

"Still an amazing feat of magical strength, Spell." Salem commented. "Now that the time has almost come for the demons to attack, in full, we must prepare. I suppose that the turrets will take care of some of them, but there is no way it will handle all of them." Salem paused, then continued, "Spell, you've done enough for today. Go to sleep, you've earned it. We can handle it from here. Celestia's Grace, I almost forgot that you're still a filly." He said with a proud laugh. "But, I'm not even tir-" I started to say, then blacked out into the sweet embrace of the Sandstallion.

Chapter 6

"Yimo ar!" a voice boomed in my head. I knew I was still asleep, but this disembodied voice reverberated through my entire body. "Upuy'nopr dtiv! Yimo ar!" "I don't understand!" I shouted in my head. It paused and sighed, audibly. "I thought you could understand the demon tongue. I guess I'll have to use this," it seemed to audibly frown, in disgust. "This absolute abomination of a language." The voice sighed again, but continued the verbal torture.

"So, this is the "great" Andro Darkheart's daughter, eh?" the strange voice thundered in my head. "You look so impressive." the voice ended the sentence with a hearty chuckle. "Who are you?" I thought at the voice. "Me? You are really clueless aren't you, stupid filly?" the voice said, sounding like poisonous honey. Offended, I shot back, "You're calling me clueless, yet you're too cowardly to show yourself." "Ah, feisty," he said. "Since it makes that much difference to you, I shall reveal myself." It cleared it's throat and introduced himself, "I am the Primary Demon of Truth, Truth-Bearer." "Right," I said, hardly believing that "truth" is a demonic aspect. I played along anyway. "So, 'Truth-Bearer', what are you invading my dreams for?" I asked. "I am merely here to tell you that your beloved uncle has been a traitor since the very beginning." the Primary Demon casually explained as though it was an obvious fact.

"There was no way Joel had been on the demon's side this entire time, or has he?" I thought to myself. "Ah, doubt. My favorite." Truth-Bearer happily growled. "Anyways, your Uncle Joel has been helping us demons this entire time. He even told Curse-Bearer that your father had killed his son, for starters. Oh! Also, he sent his apparently beloved wife to go to the Nether-Plane on purpose, as bait, to lure you there, so we could all jump in and devour your soul. Which, I might add, looks extremely tasty." He followed that up with sliding his tongue over his lips, in a gesture of hunger, impatience, and greed. I couldn't help the shiver that shot through my body. "There I go off topic again. Sorry about that. Where was I? Ah yes, your betrayer. So, he gathers up all you "Hunters" and for the fight against my kin. However, his plans were set back a bit because Salem, the bastard, wants to save Joel's wife. What a waste of time. Everypony just had to go, completely ruining that plan. Could have just been you, so we could have ended this stupid charade." he sighed impatiently.

As I listened, emotion welled up within me. Anger, regret, surprise, confusion, doubt, and a host of other emotions surged. "Ah, I see you are doubting your favorite uncle. Don't be so quick to judge, little Spellflash. It's worse than that, for you. You see, Joel used the spell you messed up to his advantage. He sought out our generals to help kill you and your friends. Even going as far as involving the royal guard. Then shows up in your cave with those twins and his wife, conveniently after the squad arrived." I couldn't believe this. His name was "Truth-Bearer", how could I not agree with him? Sensing something awry, I turned on my Second Sight. I caught him before he spoke next. "As you know, Joel is an Earth Pony. He lived in his brother's shadow for so long, he had Andro killed in exchange for ultimate power. However, we would only honor the deal if you, the twins, and any other hunters you may have gathered, were dead at our feet. Not wanting to blow his cover, he had to make it look like he was being all friendly with you, so we could do the job ourselves."

I knew he was lying to me now. As he spoke, I saw the magic hanging off his words. Being honest was obviously not a characteristic trait of demons. I supposed being the "Primary Demon of Dishonesty gave you some increased persuasion abilities. "Reveal your true self, liar!" I shouted at the voice. "You're more clever than I thought. You may be as great as your father one day, but I doubt it. Oh, by the way, Curse-Bearer is pissed off that you sealed him back into our world. I thought it was funny though. I mean, seriously? He was sealed by a filly into the floor. It was awesome. Oh well, gotta go. Deceit-Spreader out!" he finished. Then he was gone from my mind. I still felt uneasy about Joel. I was going to have to watch him more carefully now, even if I knew the demon was lying.

I finally woke up after the conversation with Deceit-Spreader, feeling a little nervous. When I woke up, I found myself in a bed, the same one from before that I guess was mine, for the time being as long as I was staying there. Seeing familiar surroundings and not demonic structures made me feel a little bit better. After enjoying the comfort a bit, I flopped out of bed onto my hooves, stretched, and yawned. Levitating a brush, I went over to the mirror, and combed through my mane. In the mirror, I noticed that my gear wasn't on me anymore. Somepony had put them next to the door. I trotted over to it and re-equipped them after I finished brushing out the tangles in my mane. Feeling a little more confident, I walked down the hallway and down the stairs to the living room.

The "living" room doesn't describe what I saw there. There were demon corpses sprawled out all over the place. One hanging off the couch, one impaled through with a lamp, and several just on the floor, leaking vital fluids. "I must have missed one great party." I thought, chuckling to myself. After wading through corpses, I decided to go to the kitchen, for breakfast. I went to the fridge and opened it, found a jar of jelly and some carrots and put them on the, thankfully clean, kitchen counte. My stomach growled, craving another of Joel's great PB & J sandwiches. I looked to the cupboard and found the peanut butter. Gathering all my food, I turned to set them onto the dinner table. Though, once I turned, I dropped everything I was holding. There, on the table was a note, in pony blood that read, Spellflash Darkheart. While you were busy sleeping, I gathered up all of your so-called friends and sent them into the prison in our palace to be tortured. Good luck finding us. Yours truly, Malice-Bringer, Primary Demon of Cruelty.

Several things were revealed at this point. First, that my friends were kidnapped, again, they are in the Nether-Plane in a prison somewhere in a demonic palace, and I had the names of three of however many Primary Demons there were. I figured now was a good time to brush up on my opponent. Remembering that I had dog-eared the page of my father's journal, I quickly went up to my room to retrieve the book. I levitated the book out of my satchel and flipped to the dog-eared page.

The first entry was about Malice-Bringer. At the top of the page it read, "Malice-Bringer, Primary Demon of Cruelty." then continued further down, "Description: Malice-Bringer is the weakest of the seven total Primary Demons." "Well," I thought, "There are four more that I haven't even heard of yet. I continued reading, but not before looking at the winged centaur sketch on the other side of the page. "Malice-Bringer should not be taken on alone. He gets his power from inflicting pain on his opponents. The best option for defeating him is to kill him quickly, before he has time to react. Defeating him requires stealth, distraction, and cunning. His main weak spot is the vertebrae below his neck, in between his wings. He is heavily armored at all times. Some of the weapons he will use are bone saws, serrated blades, and his favorite meat cleaver. He is a brutal, tortuous, and insane, but he isn't the smartest. Use this to your advantage. Good luck."

"It looks like I have some work cut out for me." I thought. I went down to Joel's basement to gather some supplies. Since killing Malice-Bringer required stealth I grabbed some potions off the shelf. A convenient satchel was nearby so I started loading it up with necessary equipment. After grabbing an invisibility potion, sneak potion, and a hoof full smoke bombs, I flipped the flap of the satchel and snapped it closed. Slowly, I scanned the area one last time to see if there were any other tools I could use. My gaze fell upon a small pouch on a shelf. It was labeled, "Experimental Flash Bulbs". Peering inside, I found that the bag contained flower bulbs, which had a small amount of smoke coming off them. Deeming them useful, I unsealed my satchel and tossed them in. Venturing back upstairs to the bookshelf, I grabbed a few sheets of rune-paper that would transport me to the Nether-Plane.

After I rolled them up and set them in my satchel, I decided to survey the damage outside. There was a flash of light as I crossed the threshold of the door. "Spellflash!", Sabrina's voice said, "If you are listening to this, we are being hauled away to the demon's palace. We did not expect to be ambushed by a Primary, we could have used your help. I'm so..sorry." the recording stopped. At my hooves I saw a smoldering chunk of obsidian colored flesh. Taking it in my hooves I realized that it was a spike from Malice-Bringer himself. "Thanks Sabrina," I thought solemnly.

I continued outside to see that Joel's fields were ablaze, slaughtered demons slumped throughout the yard, their wounds gushing with bright green ichor. Trotting over to the circle inlaid within Joel's garden, I prepared a circle spell charged with summoning magic. First, I set the runed paper onto the middle of the circle, along with the spike from Malice-Bringer. Like before, I made a portal to the Nether-Plane, this time giving an exact location of where to put the exit portal. When the portal was finished forming, I stepped through.

After exiting to the other side, I found myself in what looked like a storage room. "Perfect," I thought as I drank all my potions. First I drank the invisibility potion. It tasted terrible, it was like drinking moldy hay cider, complete with chunks. Shortly after I downed the bottle, I noticed my body start to sparkle, then slowly fade into the background. After the transformation was complete, I popped the cork off of the other bottle and knocked it back. This potion tasted completely different. It was a sticky concoction and felt strange going down my throat, but it tasted like honey, cinnamon, and flower petals. The sneak potion enabled me to not make any noise whatsoever, which made it a handy potion to have when infiltrating enemy territory. Unfortunately, the potion did not make my armor invisible. However, there was a small amount left in the invisibility potion, which I poured on myself, causing my clothes to disguise myself further.

Now stealthy, I trotted silently passed the stacks of boxes, containing Celestia-Knows-What, to the door and pushed it open with my telekinesis. "Y'jiv yiu v'jiv?" clicked a demon with basic armor and a curved sword. He was probably a prison guard. I ducked behind a stack of boxes and focused. Focusing, I summoned the power from inside me, guided it to my bracelets and softly called out "Fain" for my newest toy, my crossbows. Swirls of red energy flowed around my hooves as the crossbows manifested themselves. As I glanced at the door, the demon looked out from it and stepped inside. Carefully, I cocked the bolts on my crossbows and took aim. I flicked my hooves down and a pair of bolts shot into the unprotected throat of the security demon, first stepping back, then slipping in his own blood, then falling forward to the ground, which shoved my bolts further into his throat, silencing him, at least.

As soon as I was sure he was dead, I carefully walked towards him and looked at his belt for some tools I could scavenge. He only had one thing that was of any use, a keyring. I levitated the keys into my pack and stepped through the door, then shut it, making sure that none of the demons would notice the dead one. "Stealth is key here," I thought, slightly chuckling at my own pun. It turns out that the demon was guarding a gate. I trotted over and looked inside. I saw Sophie there, huddled and shuddering in a corner, turned away from the entrance of her cell. It seems like she was sleeping. Deciding to leave her there, I turned and saw another few cell doors lining the right side of the rectangular room.

Assuming that the other ponies that I had befriended would be those cells, I braced myself for the worst. Cautiously, I looked past the bars. There was Salem, his mane drooped and pale, looking no longer like living flame, but more like a washed out curtain of dull green. He was also turned away from the bars, shuddering. If Malice-Bringer was really this messed up, I needed to put a stop to him as soon as possible. After looking through the two cells and looking at my friends in this state, I decided not to look into the next one, but to take the fight to the Primary Demon of Cruelty myself.

A large gilded door sat at the other short end of the rectangular room. Assuming this was the torture chamber, I put my ear up to it to find out if I could sense the location of the demon, since activating my Second Sight might've tipped off the demon to my presence. I glanced at my hooves to see if I was still invisible, I was, but I regretted only bringing one potion of each kind. Suddenly, I heard a tortured scream coming from the room. It had to be Sabrina. That explained why Salem looked so depressed and powerless. I felt sorry for him, but I would have revenge for the fallen. With Celestia as my witness, I shall bring Malice-Bringer's reign of terror to an end.

Not being able to tell if the demon was in the room and still being invisible, I quickly pushed the door open and slipped through, being careful to soundlessly click the door back into it's lock, without alerting any demons that may be lurking around. I turned to face a small group of armored demons which were facing the other direction, their gaze focused on a torture device, which had the outline of a pony strapped to it. Their armor was fancier than the guard's from before, theirs having a lot more polish and more attachments, such as chains, small spikes, and swirling emblems. I assumed they were Malice-Bringer's own guardsmen.

I was out in the open, so I moved behind a torture device, out of their view, not that they could see me anyways. Slowly, a plan to take out all at once came into my mind. While I levitated five throwing knives from my bandolier, I set a demon circle sideways, so that it faced them, inscribing the words, "Eu'teno", "Ir'oof", and "Hu'to"". As I slowly released the spell, I threw the knives through the circle at the demons. Sadly, the demons noticed this sudden use of magic and turned around. Unfortunately for them, my knives were faster. As soon as the knives passed through my circle, they were enchanted with flame and flew through the air, triple the speed I threw them at.

One of the knives hit the leftmost demon square in the chest, shattering his armor and painting the wall behind him in a mist of green blood. The middle three demons were hit straight in the head, splattering their brains out all over the walls and ceiling. However, my aim on the right demon was a tad off. It hit him in the arm, but the force was enough to take it off. The demon charged at where he saw the knives come from. Seeing him coming, I charged a few new bolts on my crossbows and let them loose. The twin bolts shot straight through my circle, were enchanted with flame, and flew faster than the crossbows could shoot them, impaling him to the wall with one through the chest and one through the face. He screeched until the fire went out, then slumped limply against the wall.

That was sure to alert Malice-Bringer to my presence. Sensing he was close, I took up a hiding spot in one of the corners of the room. While I was looking for a place to hide, I saw a demonic artifact on the ground. It must have fallen out of the pack of one of the demons I'd killed. Excited that I was about to get a new power, I grasped it with my magic and floated it over to me, while I crafted and set an absorption circle. Raw energy filled me as the power from the artifact flowed into my body. I saw the familiar book of the Demon Hunters in my mind as it flipped to the crossbow page. It stopped for a second, then flipped another page. "Stage Two of Demonic Crossbow, Sniper Bow" was the heading of the page. I memorized the word on the page and read the description. "Stage Two transforms your dual wield crossbows into one large crossbow, capable of firing a larger bolt with more force and velocity. Also while the Sniper Bow is equipped, it increases the accuracy of the user's shots. Primarily used to take out targets from a distance, due to a fairly long reload time and recoil. The book closed and I was greeted by the bloodstained walls and cries of terror from the tortured. I would get revenge on them.

I focused on my bracelets and chanted "Up'urot" to shift the dual crossbows into their new form. The new crossbow was heavy, but manageable. Slowly, I aimed at the door of where I assumed he would come from. A few moments later, the door swung open violently, and flew off it's hinges crashing into the wall on the other side, shattering into several chunks. "Come out little Spellflash, I know you're in here, you worthless excuse for a Hunter." growled a voice from the new opening. Malice-Bringer stepped through and surveyed the damage. "Well," he started, "You may not be that worthless at all." Seeing that my circle spell was still activated, I stopped feeding power into it and it popped out of existence. "It's too bad really, this room only has so many things to hide behind." he said and he drew a jagged edged knife from a sheath hanging at his side.

Suddenly, he threw the knife at where I was, barely missing me by a few inches. I ducked slightly and slowly moved over towards the other corner, keeping my eye focused on the monster. Drawing another knife, he said, "Awww, missed. I thought for sure you were there." I only had one shot to take him out before I was hit by his next attack and revealed. Taking aim for his left wing, I cocked the bolt and fired. The spear-like bolt sailed through the air and struck him straight into the meat of his wing, impaling it to the wall behind him. This bought me some time to change position, while he was trying to take the bolt out. Deciding that the crossbow was too heavy to hold and move quickly, I levitated it slightly in front of me, and moved towards where I had killed some of his guards.

"Aggghhh!" He shrieked, taken by surprise and how much power my bolt had. With one swift motion, he pulled his wing through the other side, blood flowed down the bat-like wing, as he searched the side I was on just moments before. The wing fell useless at his side. Luckily, I had hit it in just the right place to make it unusable. He threw the knife at full strength, empowered by anger and struck the wall, shaking it and driving the knife in all the way to the handle. Luckily for me, during this time, I had enough time to line up another shot. I aimed for his other wing this time, trying to psych him out. Just like the last one, it flew through the air at surprising speed and hit it's mark. "Arrrggh! Now you're pissing me off!" he screamed. He drew out a pair of bone saws, dual wielding them. "Aha! There you are!" he said and looked straight at me. Quickly, I looked at my hooves. They weren't invisible anymore. "Crap." I swore simply. Malice-Bringer charged through all of the torture machines at a surprising speed as I searched my bags for something helpful.

My grasping hand of magic found the flash bulbs. Shrugging, I took them out and threw them at the rampaging demon. Blinding light blazed across the room as I shielded my eyes. "Upuy'nopr dtiv! U yunn munn eya!" I let my crossbow spell drop so I could move quicker and equipped my blades as I ran for cover. "Fain." I breathed. Ruby colored blades materialized from my fore hooves. As I turned to face him, I chanted, "Uyy'tf." and channeled more energy into my bracelets. A misty healing aura floated around me as I got into an combat stance. I set a circle of power underneath Malice-Bringer with the words "Eu'teno", "Du'pf", and "Rtuu'yp" and fed some power into it. When I deemed the power was sufficient, I released the circle, causing a flash of dark energy and a binding circle to appear under the demon.

"Ha! You expect this puny circle to hold me? Preposterous!" he shouted as he swung his twin bone saws down at the barrier. "Yes, actually." I said nonchalantly. His attack barely dented my barrier. Seeing an opening for a counterattack, I raised my hooves and slashed him as hard as I could in a "x" shaped fashion. The blades touched his armor, searing an "x" pattern into it, melting through, and falling apart. Malice-Bringer was now armorless. Angrily, he growled, "You'll pay for that! Just you wait." With that, he sheathed his bone saws and drew out a great meat cleaver. He mumbled something under his breath and it was enchanted with black flames. With one massive blow, he swung the enchanted cleaver with enough force to shatter my barrier. Quickly, I pulled out a smoke bomb, and threw it near him, against the ground. I galloped quickly away, jumping and taking refuge behind an iron maiden. Now that his armor was off, I had a clean shot at his weak spot. "You aren't getting away that easily!" He was at least partially blind and disoriented, because he had been facing the wrong direction, with his back to me.

"Perfect," I thought, as I charged a new bolt into my newly materialized Sniper Bow. I set a new circle with the same effects I used on the guard demons in front of my crossbow, and released the spell. I activated my Second Sight in order to get a clean and accurate shot, since he was still fumbling around in the smoke. I aimed carefully at the designated spot and loosed the bolt. It struck his vertebrae cleanly, right between his shredded wings. The bolt had enough force to pierce through his tough hide, bone, and out the front of body, dragging with it a large amount of demon blood and some nasty bits of organ shrapnel. As the bolt passed through his body, it ignited his insides, causing him to scream obscenities known only to demonkind and curse my family. Shortly afterwards, he slumped forwards, slowly breathing his last breath and falling onto his side in a smoldering heap of flesh.

A dark shadowy mist came from his corpse, turned towards me and was absorbed by my body. I almost passed out from the power that killing him had granted me, but discovering that had to wait til we got back. After releasing my crossbow spell, I galloped over to where Sabrina was. Her skin was pale, she was dripping blood from various wounds she had received during the torture. Slowly, I tugged at her necklace, put it in my satchel, and swiped my hoof over her eyes. A lonely tear fell from my eye as I did so. Even though I had barely known her, I still felt this bad for losing an ally. Sighing with fear, pain, and sadness, I set to work.

After seeing the coast was clear, I cleared an area of the floor that was splattered with demon fluids and set the rune paper to send us home. When the portal materialized, I unhooked Sabrina from the torture device and levitated her through. Then I went back into the previous room and unlocked the cages with brute magical strength, shattering the bars of all the cells simultaneously. Hey, I could have used the keys that the guard demon had, but I was high on adrenaline, and I didn't care. "Time to go home everypony, portal's in the next room." I called, loud enough to wake all of them that had not been woken by either the fight or the bars shattering, yet quiet enough to not alert all the demons in the palace.

I didn't wait for all of them to come into the other room. I couldn't face them right now, especially Salem. The power he had now was incomparable to the power he had while he was united with his sister. Losing her would be a grave loss. I had no idea how he would take it, especially since I was the only one who could've saved her. Slowly, I went into where Malice-Bringer had been previously and took some of the important looking jars and statues. Once everypony had gone in, I turned, entered the portal, and awaited my friend's faces on the other side.

Chapter 7

My friends entered through the portal into Joel's living room. After I was through, the portal winked out of existence. I worked up the courage to look up at them. All of them were wearing faces of pain, anguish, and to my surprise, extreme pride. They all looked ragged, beaten, tortured, and maimed, but they all had smiles on their faces. Sophie was the first one to gallop towards me and swing her forelegs around my body in a big celebratory hug. Joel was second, followed by Sally. Not to my surprise, Salem hung back, facing away from us.

"I know you did all you could, Spell." Salem interrupted, with a hint of sadness. "For that, I thank you. But, I have lost someone dear to me, I must ponder my emotions elsewhere. If you will all excuse me." he said as he left the room into one of the bedrooms. Uncle Joel punched me in the shoulder encouragingly, "'Ey, Spell, dun feel so bad, ya did all ya could. Ya also killed a Primary by yerself. Tha's impressive. Yer daddy'd be proud." He said, winking. Sally turned to me. "Spellflash, you have done a great deed this day. Everypony is sure to shower you with their graces." Sally told me with her eyes closed and a huge smile across her face.

"So..." Sophie said, "What did you get from Malice-Bringer's stash?" she asked, with a great amount of enthusiasm. "I'll tell you guys later, I gotta sort through what I got." I told them, looking into my bags, then said, "Meanwhile, you guys should get some rest. Malice-Bringer did a number on you and you haven't look like you haven't slept in ages." They all gave me faces of agreement and disappointment. "But!" Sophie exclaimed, "I wanna see what you got from that demon!" She pouted like a filly who wanted to stay up for her Hearth's Warming Day gifts. "Now, now." I started, "Get to bed all of you, but first let me do something to help out."

Closing my eyes, I tugged at my dwindling magic reserves, willing it to send soothing rays of minty healing magic towards my friends. Peeking, I saw the mystical energy ripple out from my horn, enveloping my friends with a pale green light. On contact with their wounds, they closed slowly, as if there was an invisible needle and thread stitching up them up in front of my eyes. After all the wounds were closed, they looked at their bodies with a look of acceptance and respect.

"Not bad," Joel said with a smile. With that, Joel and Sally went to their room to take a much deserved sleep. It was bordering on evening, the sun was still shining in the sky, casting shadows low into the room. I looked outside, the crops were no longer on fire, but they wouldn't be salvageable. "Spell?" Sophie asked, "Were you going to go to bed? Because I think I'm just going to crash here on the couch." she mumbled tiredly as she laid down, yawned, then closed her eyes and started snoring softly.

"Good night Sophie," I cooed softly into her ear. It twitched for a second then she flipped over onto her back with her legs folded against her body, then flipped again, her front facing towards the back of the couch. After she had finally picked a comfortable position, I levitated the blanket that was draped over the couch and floated it gently on top of her. There was a demon corpse that I just noticed that was sprawled over the other side. Deciding to make this place not look like a war zone, I set to work cleaning up the mess.

First, I piled all the corpses outside, then picked up all the broken glass that came from the windows. Slowly, I carefully spent the better part of three hours just making the living room look livable again. The corpses were starting to smell, so I went outside and formed a circle in my mind. Inscribing the words "Eu'teno" and "Huto", I set the circle under the pile and set it off. At first, the demon bodies started to smolder, then started to slowly burn away. Instantly, I smelled the scent of burning demons, which was worse than just smelling their corpses. Quickly, I ran inside and shut the door, setting the spell to stop draining my magic, now the demons would just burn away, leaving ash and spreading it, hopefully fertilizing Joel's once beauteous garden.

After I was done cleaning, I went to my satchel and started pulling out the items I had swiped from Malice-Bringer. I pulled out one of the statues and turned it over in my hoof, studying it. It was a demon with a small flame coming from his claw. Magic power radiated from the statue. I decided to absorb it, setting a circle and quickly channeling the energy from it into my body. The usual obsidian color of the statue had disappeared, leaving it a greyish stone color. As the power flowed through my veins, my eyes rolled back into my head and I saw the familiar book flip to a new page. The word "Enchantments" was visible at the top of it.

"Enchantments imbue your weapon or item with a magical energy of your choosing." The page told me. Intrigued, I continued reading. "For example, you may take a sword, set a spell circle on the blade and chant the words of power of your choice to make the blade take on that attribute." Fascinated, I studied and memorized the words of power in order to practice my new spell. I looked around the room and saw a display sword rack which hung on the wall. I levitated the sword to me, since I wasn't tall enough to reach it, and set it on the living room table. Focusing my energy, I willed a circle in my mind, inlaying the words "Eu'teno", "Opeji'pv", and "Huto", then released the spell. My spell circle shrunk, floated to the tip of the blade then slid down to the hilt. The spell triggered a bright flash of light. The sword was flickering with magical black flame, somehow not lighting the wooden table on fire. It looked exactly as Malice-Bringer's cleaver looked after he had enchanted his. Curious, I picked up the sword in one of my hooves and gave it a practice swing.

Fire flowed from the blade, as if it was being fed a constant stream of gasoline. Deciding that this would be a good time to continue to practice my new ability, I looked around for more stuff to enchant. Feeling a little drained, I severed the link between my magic and the sword, causing the fire to slowly draw back into the hilt, then disappearing altogether. At that moment I wondered how enchanting one of my own weapons would turn out. I went to the back door and opened it slowly, making sure not to wake anypony, then closed it behind me. In the distance I could see a few training dummies set up in the middle of the field, next to where Joel's big circle was.

Trotting up to the dummies, I decided to work on my aim with my Sniper Bow. I called my power into my bracelets and said the words of power to trigger stage two of my crossbows. With the bow equipped, I willed a new magic circle over the crossbow, implanting the words "Eu'teno", "Opeji'pv", and "Uri'tm". As before, the spell circle floated to the front of the weapon, slid to the handle, and triggered a flash of light. After I unshielded my eyes, I saw that the bolt that was loaded into the bow was charged with electricity. I sighted the head of one of the dummies and held my breath, making sure I was as accurate as possible. Flicking the trigger, the bolt sped out from the bow, and hit the dummy directly in between the eyes. Then, nothing happened. Disappointed, I fed another bolt into the crossbow, then looked up. Just then, a bolt of black lightning came from the sky and connected with the bolt and caused the dummy to explode. The blast caused me to fall backwards on my plot.

"I found a new spell enchantment to use." I thought to myself, smirking. However, I supposed that it only worked outside, when there were clouds in the air. Suddenly, I felt exhausted. I had spent a ton of magic energy practicing my new ability. Satisfied with my training, I trotted back inside the house powering down my crossbow spell. When I entered I saw Sophie rubbing at her eyes. "Hey, Spell, what was that noise?" she asked tiredly. "Oh, that was my new toy." I told her, grabbing the statue which I had absorbed and showing her.

"Enchantments." I said, pausing to gauge her reaction. "I enchanted my crossbow with electricity and shot it into one of Joel's training dummies and it exploded when a bolt of lightning struck it." I said proudly. "Horseapples," Sophie swore. "Sounds awesome. I wish I saw it." "You still can, you can come outside and watch me do it again." I explained. She nodded excitedly, flopped onto her hooves and stretched. Together, we walked outside. Gesturing towards the training dummies, I directed her attention and told her to watch. I focused my energy and repeated the spell I had used before. As soon as my crossbow bolt was bursting with energy, I aimed at the head of the dummy and fired. It connected with a large enough force to whip back the head of the dummy and tear the seam and it finally settled facing downwards as if it was sad.

"Wait for it..." I said, reassuring her that what would happen would be awesome. A lightning bolt flashed in the sky and grounded itself directly into the bolt, causing the dummy to explode, just like the other one. "By Celestia's grace," She swore again. "That was amazing." Sparkles of light flashed in her eyes with amazement comparable to her amazement from when I vaporized the demons earlier while we were in the cave. I nodded proudly and stopped feeding the spell. Stumbling slightly, I forgot that most of my power was used up. "Spell! You okay?" Sophie asked worriedly. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just need to sit down for a minute. I used up a lot of my power doing that."

She patted me on the back with a hoof and we went back into the house. "Hey, let's get some food, it's almost dinnertime." I said to Sophie. "Sure." She said as her stomach growled, making her blush. We went to the fridge and made a couple salads composed of flower petals, lettuce, and carrots. We talked about what I had found in the satchel. When we had finished our meals, we went back out to the living room. I curled up on a recliner and decided to nap away the tiredness. Sophie agreed with me and laid back onto the couch. Shortly after both of us found a comfortable position, we drifted off into a good night's sleep.

"Spellflash! Wake up ya' lazy filly!" Joel said, shaking me from my dreams. "Huh? What?" I said sleepily. "We gotta go!" he said, pushing a lump of clothes into my hooves. Shrugging, I put on the garment. After my eyes adjusted to the light, I glanced down at what I was wearing. It was a black dress. Confused, I looked up at Joel. He was wearing a black suit. "What's going on?" I inquired. "Sabrina's funeral." he announced seriously. I nodded, sadly. Joel gestured and I followed him. We walked outside and I was greeted by bright sunlight. I had slept through the night.

I walked with him til we were in front of a large hole. Everypony was there. They were all wearing black clothing, with sorrowful looks on their faces. Salem looked like normal again, however, his mane had a slightly darker tint and his coat was slightly brighter. He was also fully healed. I guessed that Joel had slipped him a few healing potions before the funeral. "We put to rest Sabrina Flamebreak. A great Demon Hunter, a wonderful sister, and slayer of many demons." Salem said. We all bowed our heads. "I will now lower her into her final resting place." he said as he levitated the coffin that his sister was in, down into the hole. Sally's horn glowed with a deep brown color as the earth shifted and filled in the hole.

"Luckily for us, in the event of our death, we had the soul of the other join with the soul of it's twin." Salem explained. That explained the subtle differences in his mane and coat. I could feel the regret and sadness in his voice. We finished up the service, payed our respects, and went back inside. "Sorry for what I said last night Spell. I didn't mean to be harsh. But, now we are together once again." Salem assured me. "Oh! I almost forgot," I said as I levitated Sabrina's necklace out of my bags, then towards him. "Thanks so much, Spell. I was wondering where that was." He said as he grasped it in his hoof, then putting it on, fusing with his own. His eyes flashed white and rolled back into his head for a second as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, they were back to normal, even his damaged eye, which seemed to be healed, except it was Sabrina's eye color instead. We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. After I bowed before the grave with respect, I turned to go back to the farmhouse. Sophie tapped me on the shoulder.

"Now that that has been dealt with, I have a task for you Spell. I know you can do it. You've proven yourself before." Sophie told me. I nodded, accepting the challenge before even hearing the request. "This request is kind of unorthodox, but you can handle it." she paused. "I need you to retrieve an item for me. It is located in Deathgrowl Cave, near the edge of the Everfree Forest. The item is a magical book that I need to research to improve my armor crafting skills, however, the creatures that are guarding the are more ferocious than any demon you've encountered so far. Here is a map, just in case you get lost. I need to wrap up with some things here, then I will be waiting for you in my hometown of Manehatten. Okay?" Sophie explained the details of the mission, I agreed to the terms, and I suited up.

It was still mid-morning by the time I left Joel's house. Sally and Joel waved farewell, taking care to make sure I was bringing all of my items with me. When I had made sure all of my gear was gathered, I headed out in the direction of the cave. I checked the map and followed the path down the road quite a ways, taking in all the sights while I walked. Everywhere I saw flowers and trees of all different shapes and sizes. The colors that blossomed forth from the flower petals was practically overwhelming. As the wind moved through the landscape of colored foliage, it formed a wave of beauty that was unparalleled to anything that I had seen in nature before.

Eventually, I found a spot next to a shady tree and decided to eat the lunch that Joel and Sally had packed for me. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with a side of apple slices. They really know how to please my taste buds. I looked out over the landscape once again as the sights, smells, and tastes flowed through my body as I ate. In the distance, I could hear birds chirping and other pleasant noises that all made me almost forget that I hunted demons now.

After finishing my lunch, I continued onward to the Everfree Forest. From what I had heard about the place, it was a place where ponies dared not to go. It was apparently filled with monsters and creatures of ridiculous strength. Giving me a mission to go there proved that Sophie had a lot of trust in me. I was sure I could handle whatever beasties were hiding in the shadows of the cave. Seriously, I beat a Primary Demon, what could stop me now? A sign pointing out several directions to popular cities or land marks appeared in front of me. Straight ahead was Manehatten, to the left and up, was the city of Cloudsdale, and to the right, was the Everfree Forest. Noting the direction of Manehatten, I went right towards my mission.

Over the horizon, a large forest composed of dark vines, strangely shaped trees, and ominous, glowing, yellow eyes which seemed to stare directly at me. Arriving at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, I looked around for the cave. To my left, in the base of a mountain was a cave. Upon remembering I had a map, I pulled it out of my satchel and gauged my location. This was the correct cave, according to the map. Gathering myself up, I walked off the path and into the tall grass that bordered the forest. As I arrived at the cave, I was greeted with unnerving sounds coming from inside. Gulping, I summoned light from my horn and stepped inside.

Once inside, it didn't seem so bad. I readied a magic circle in my mind, just in case of sudden attack. Pausing to look around, I surveyed the area. The walls of the cave had liquid flowing down the sides. Every now and then, the sound of water dripping into a puddle could be heard. Stalagmites and stalactites were all around the cave, forming hideous looking jaws around the walls. This cave had been here a really long time. There were even pillars where they had joined together, every couple feet, which were at least a few feet around.

Suddenly, I heard a little squeak. I looked around and saw nothing. It squeaked again, this time louder. The source of the noise seemed to be right behind me. Quickly, I turned around and unleashed the prison spell that I was holding in my mind. Inside the binding circle, I saw...a bunny. "Really Sophie? This is the big scary monster that had you worried?" I said out loud, my voice echoing off the walls. "Aww, what a cute little bunny." I said to it softly. "You're no big scary monster are you, you're just a sweet...little...bunn..." I trailed off. Above me I saw a massive group of bat-winged demons, curled up and hanging from the ceiling. Making sure not to make any sudden noises, I looked back towards the trapped bunny. What was in my circle could no longer be described as a rabbit. It had transformed into a demon, matching the demons sleeping above me.

Without warning, the demon-bat-bunny screeched, awaking the bat demons above me. Quickly, I galloped towards the exit and called my demon swords forth, also enchanting them with an unholy blaze. Taking a combat stance, I prepared myself to fight. Bat demons swooped down at me in waves. I slashed at them as they came, drawing attention to myself by flailing around uselessly. Some of the demons got close enough to me for me to connect with flesh, igniting them in unholy flame. They writhed on the ground in agony, making horrible screeching sounds until they were smoldering corpses.

There was too many of them. I needed a new tactic. Remembering my favorite enchant, I disabled my blades and brought my Sniper Bow back into action, while chanting the words, "Eu'teno", "Opeji'pv", "Uri'tm", and "Ejiu'p". My crossbow flashed for a second and became usable. I aimed towards the center of the swarm of bats and loosed my bolt. It connected with a demon's chest, causing it to rupture a bit, but not enough to kill it. Suddenly, a bolt of dark lightning came down to strike the bolt, making the bat explode into a fine mist. The mist gave the secondary part of the spell easy access. Lightning arced from the bolt, through the blood, then into all of the other bats, stunning them and cooking them in mid-air. Each of them to hit the ground, sizzling, with a dull thump and a hiss.

Carefully, I made my way past the smoking demon bat pile and re-entered the cave. Slowly, I made my way back through the winding tunnels and eventually came across a book on a podium that seemed to be made from the cave walls themselves. Looking around, I checked for traps. Seeing none, I walked closer to the book, preparing another prison spell in my mind. Sensing nothing, I took the book, put it into my satchel, and headed out of the cave to Manehatten.

Chapter 8

Thankfully, I made it back to the road without any other monsters coming after me. On my left was the Everfree Forest. To my right was the way back. Wanting to make it back to Sophie as soon as possible, I took the path to my right and headed back towards the main pathway. Again, I reached the intersection where I had been before. This time, I went to Manehatten to meet Sophie. It didn't take so much longer to see the lights coming from the city. It was almost dark by now, so I wanted to get to the house before I got ambushed. Since I had killed a Primary Demon, I figured I was top on the priority list.

Finally, I arrived at the main gates of the city. Stepping inside, I felt overwhelmed at how many ponies were around and how tall the buildings were. Coming from a small town, I had no idea what big cities were like. There was no way I could find Sophie just by looking around. I focused my energy into a telepathy spell and willed it to communicate with Sophie, since she had given me no direction on where to find her in the first place. By now, I had done the spell enough times to be able to perform the spell without the use of DNA. Like usual, I saw the long tunnel with a light at the end. I plunged myself into it, momentarily blinding myself. After my vision cleared, I saw Sophie standing in front of me, in a white room, like before. I supposed that the more times a telepathy spell was used to link the same ponies, the quicker it was to tether the link to them.

"Sophie!" I said, excited. "Spellflash! How are you darling? I was just about to start making supper; you're just in time!" She said with a big grin on her face. "Umm," I said, pausing, "How do I get to your house? I just arrived in Manehatten and it's pretty overwhelming coming from such a small town." I told her. "Oh, right. Well, I live in a house fairly close to the entrance of Manehatten, it's hard to miss, with the giant anvil on the sign." she explained. "It will be on your left as you enter the main gates, it's between a few skyscrapers, actually." she continued.

"I see," I said, nodding. "I'll be there in a minute, I just have to find my way to you. See you soon, well, face-to-face." I said, winking. "Wonderful! I'll start supper then. I may even have it done before you get here. See you!" The link to Sophie severed and I was once again greeted by the sight of all the ponies in the city. I got off the road to let a carriage by and took to the left sidewalk. Inhibited by traffic, I slowly walked across the path, glancing at the left side of the street to find Sophie's house. After a few blocks, I found it. She was right, there was no mistaking the giant anvil sign hanging in front of the building. Sophie must work on the first floor and live on the top floor. I pushed the door open and walked inside.

I was right. The walls of the building was filled with various armor types, in the corner was a forge that looked frequently used, and a rack of tanning leather hides. On the other side of the room was a counter with a register for exchanging bits for Sophie's products. "Is that you, dear?" Sophie said, calling from up the stairs. I trotted over to the stairs and yelled "Yes, it's me!" "My goodness," Sophie started, "You don't have to yell. Come on up and let's have some dinner and chat about what we're going to do." I went up the stairs to meet her.

As I arrived at the top of the stairs I saw that I was now in her kitchen. The top of the store looked barely larger than the room I was now in. I wondered how this was possible as I scanned the walls of the room. There were at least two other rooms on the top floor. Confused, I asked her, "So, Sophie? How is it that the kitchen can take up this much space, yet from the outside it looks as if this room is the whole top floor?" She laughed. "Oh, that. My dear, that's the trick, it looks much bigger on the inside." she told me and winked at the same time. "Do you think I could get a tour after we finish dinner?" I asked her. "Most certainly, darling. I'm almost done. Please, take a seat and I shall serve you momentarily." she said with a flourish.

Nodding, I turned around and saw a fancy dining room set with six chairs and a large table. I took a seat and waited patiently for my meal. "What are we having, anyway?" I asked Sophie. "Oh, right. Of course. For starters, a scrumptious salad with a nice home made dressing, hay noodles and mixed vegetables in a sweet orange sauce. The recipe is straight from the master chefs of Neighjing. I've even got chopsticks!" She said excitedly. I had liked her cooking before and I had not had any food from Neighjing before. Deciding to get into the culture, I was curious about how to use these "chopsticks". I grasped them with my hoof and clicked them together. Finally, I got the hang of it by picking up other utensils with them.

"Oh, we also have apple pie for dessert, it's still in the oven, but should be done by the time we finish." Sophie grinned as she said it. She went all out with the meal, I was excited to dig in and enjoy. "Oh, right." I said as I fumbled in my satchel. "The whole reason I'm here, besides your wonderful cooking, of course." I winked as I pulled out the musty tome and gave it to her. "Yay!" she said enthusiastically. "You found it! I hope those pesky bat demons didn't give you any trouble." she continued, skimming the pages. "Yeah, Sophie, those demons definitely were the most powerful I ever seen." I said sarcastically. She winked at me. "I was just messing with you, darling. I knew they would hardly put up a fight." I blushed then said, "So, when do we get to e-" I was cut off by a whistle. "There we are, the noodles are finished boiling." She replied happily. "What do you want to drink?" she asked, walking around her kitchen, wrapping things up. "You have apple juice? That's my favorite." I told her. "Of course. I think I'll go with some hard apple cider." She gave me a sinister looking smile. I supposed she didn't bust out the hard stuff often, this was a meal for celebration, after all.

Sophie flew up to reach the top cabinets and grabbed a few plates and glasses, stacking the cups atop the plates. After she set the table, she trotted back over to the stove and dumped the watery noodles into a strainer. Trotting over next to the fridge, she grasped a keg, popped the cork out of it, and poured the liquid into her glass. She returned the keg to its original position, just before she went to the fridge to get my apple juice, retrieved the container, and poured the drink into my glass, then replaced the jug into the fridge. After that, she shook out the strainer to get excess water off the noodles, then returned them to the original container. With an unreal skill, she grasped a serving fork, twirled it around the noodles and threw at the plates. Surprisingly, the noodles formed a perfect pile on both of our plates. Next, she picked up the orange-sauced mixed vegetables and flipped them at the plates, again landing perfectly, on top of the noodles, sauce dripping down the sides and onto the plate.

"You have way to much time on your hands, but that was impressive." I said, resisting the urge to hold up a sign with the number "9" on it. "Years of practice," she told me as she sat down across from me. If it hadn't been for her amazing armorsmithing abilities, she'd definitely have a chef-themed cutie mark. I didn't wait for her to start eating. Expertly, I grasped my chopsticks and plunged them into the noodles, twirled them, then brought them to my mouth. Suddenly, my tongue felt like it was on fire. The food was extremely spicy. Not expecting the heat, I coughed a few times to clear my throat, then took a big swig of my apple juice. The cool liquid slid down my throat and quelled the flames. Gasping, I said, "You should've told me it was hot." I said angrily. Sophie just smiled then looked down at her plate, swirling her chopsticks around her own food. Just then, the full flavor of my food hit my taste buds like a crossbow bolt through a demon skull. Potent orange dominated the meal, followed by the grassy taste of the hay noodles, then the satisfying juicy crunch of the vegetables. I would have to have more Neighjing food in the future; this stuff was great! Seeing my satisfied smile, Sophie gave me a smile of pride back, then went back to eating, taking occasional gulps from her cup.

"So, Sophie? What makes that book so important?" I asked between a mouthful of salad, her homemade sauce dominating the lettuce in a sensational cooling flavor. "It has some demon armorsmithing techniques that I could use to improve my craft. I'm excited to get into it so I can increase my prices!" She said, a little bit of greed showing. "I see," I said as I slurped another mouthful of the flaming, delicious, food. We sat in silence for a while, only the sounds of slurping noodles or gulps from our drinks. "Spell? I have something to tell you." Sophie said, her look, serious. "Yeah?" I said, gulping a bite of noodle, then swallowing it so I didn't seem rude. "I'm so proud of you. The way you saved all of us back there was more than just impressive. I'm still in shock because I can't believe it. Honestly, I expected to see you in a cage next to me." I saw a tear start to fall as she lowered her head and wiped at her eyes. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you Spellflash." I gave her a weak smile and a shrug. "My dad's Demon Hunting experience I guess. I don't know what to tell you. Everything I did felt natural, like an instinct. There was no way I was getting this far without my dad's help." I said, producing a bigger awkward smile.

"Wait, have you even healed from the torture?" I asked seriously. "Well, no. The wounds still hurt, now that you mention it." "Let me heal you up after we finish eating. It's better to not sleep on open wounds." I said. The last sentence I said seemed to just slip out, like I knew what I was talking about. "Thanks mom, your sacrifice will not be forgotten." I thought to myself. She nodded, and we continued to eat in silence. A few moments later, the oven made a noise. Sophie got up, stumbled slightly over to it and took out the crispy apple pie and set it on top of the oven to cool. She shut the oven off, then returned to her seat, clearly drunk. "Shhhpell? Dids I tell you, that I love you?" Sophie slurred, obviously from the alcohol she had been consuming throughout the night. She had re-filled her glass at least four times. I looked at her curiously and nodded slightly, a little confused. "Shhhpell? I don't feel sho good." she slurred again, holding her stomach. "Alright, Sophie. That's enough for you. Time for bed." I told her authoritatively. "H'okay, you're the boss." she giggled, then burst into a random fit of laughter. She fell to the floor and started rolling around, being obnoxious. "Come on, get to bed. I still have to heal you." I commanded. I watched her disappear into the hallway, her shadows casting into the kitchen.

Eying the dishes left on the table, I decided to clean up before we went to bed. I levitated the plates over the trash can and discarded the small left over portions, then floated them into the sink. Next, I took the glasses and put them in the sink as well. Not sure what to do with the pie, I left it as is, but put a cloth over it so it wouldn't go stale. Seeing that there were still noodles and some sauce left, I put them in a small bowl together and stuck it in the fridge so it wouldn't go bad. Then I dumped the pans that Sophie had used for cooking into the sink and ran hot water over all the dishes. Satisfied that my cleaning was good enough to leave alone, I switched off the light and followed Sophie into the hallway. "I guess the tour will have to wait til tomorrow." I sighed aloud.

Easily, I caught up to her; she was leaning against a wall for balance. "Come on Sophie, move it." I commanded. "H'okay, fine. Gimme sssec." she hiccuped as she stumbled across the floor. Almost getting into another giggle fit, she flopped onto her bed and laid there. "Do what you need to do, Shhpell." she said, alcohol now clearly inhibiting her normal actions. Sighing, I focused my energy and flowed it into her, closing wounds and healing her skin and lightly scarring over. "Hehe, that ticklesh, quit it!" she said loudly, shaking her legs into the air. I ignored her and said, "Okay, there. You're good. Night Sophie. I'll find somewhere to sleep so you can get your rest." "Acthually, Shhpell, this is the only bed I have. But, there'sh plenty of room." she purred. After she finished her sentence, she closed her eyes and instantly started snoring. Shrugging, I crawled into bed with her, took off my glasses, set them on the nightstand, and closed my eyes, falling asleep almost as fast as she did.

A beam of sunlight shone through the window on my face and woke me up. Rubbing my eyes, I retrieved my glasses from the nightstand and put them on. Turning, I looked at Sophie. She was still asleep and looked peaceful. Deciding to let her sleep, I got up carefully as to not wake her, and went to explore the upstairs of her house. Walking out of her bedroom I looked around for the bathroom. I tried the door to my right, nope, closet. Tried the door to my left, nope, map room. The room was filled with large maps of various cities and provinces within Equestria. I guess Sophie had a thing for map-making. Sighing, I continued forwards, the pressure building, making me desperate to use the bathroom. The next door on my right was thankfully, the bathroom. Quickly, I rushed in and relieved myself. After I finished washing my hooves, I noticed a thump and hoof-clicks coming towards the door. When I opened it, there was Sophie. I supposed that the noise from the toilet woke her up.

"Good morning sweetie." She said softly, yawning. "You too." I said, smiling back at her. Realizing that she was next in line for the restroom, I moved out of the way. She nodded towards me slightly, then closed the door. Suddenly I heard a muffled retching coming from inside. "You okay in there?" I said under the door. "Yeah," Another retch, then, "Never better." A second gurgling sound, followed by spitting. Disgusted, I wandered off back towards the kitchen to get some breakfast. Searching through the cupboards, I found some cereal. I brought out the milk and found a couple bowls and where she keeps her spoons. I wanted to be nice to her, since she seemed sick and all. Plus, I was a guest, so I wanted to show her thanks for letting me sleep over. I poured the cereal into the bowls and coated it in milk.

Shortly after, I heard the toilet flush for about the seventh time and she finally appeared in the doorway. "Hey, I'm sorry you're sick, so I made you some cereal." I said, giving her a compassionate smile. "I'm not sick, I'm just hungover. Sorry about last night. I drank waaay to much for my own good." "Hung...over?" I asked, puzzled. "Oh, right, you're still young. A hangover is when you have too much alcohol in your system, it makes you act weird and gives you a big headache in the morning. Also, it makes you throw up, a lot." She explained casually. "That makes sense," I thought to myself.

We munched on our cereal for a while before Sophie said, "I've got a few errands to run today. Mind giving me a helping hoof?" She asked, her eyes sparkling in the sunshine. I couldn't say no to those eyes, plus, what else did I have to do? "Sure, I guess." I said around a mouthful of oat cereal. "What do you have to do?" I asked, wondering what kind of stuff she needed to get done. "Thanks ever-so-much, Spell. Anyways, I need a few supplies from the leather supplies store, down the street for some of my new garments. I need to hunt for some gems to socket into some of my other projects. Also, I need to go to the store to do my weekly grocery run." she listed. "How about, you go get my leather from the store down the street, I'll get the groceries, drop them off here, and I'll meet on on the other side of town. I have a good spot for gem hunting."

"Sounds good to me. After I finish eating I'll head out." I told her. She nodded, pleased. Shortly after, I finished my bowl and placed it in the sink. "Bye Sophie, see you in a bit." I said, grabbing one of my satchels and dumping stuff out onto the floor to make room for Sophie's leather. "Ciao, darling. See you." she smiled and waved back. As I left her home I looked around. It was less busy than before when I came at night. I took a left down the street and after a few blocks I saw a large sign with a knife over some leather with a needle and thread going through the leather. Figuring this was the right store, I opened the door and pushed myself inside.

"Hello! Welcome to Brann and Wrynn's leather shop, where "If it can be skinned, we sell it!" How may I help you, young filly?" the shopkeeper asked me. He was a tan-colored earth pony with deep brown eyes. The plain brown leather vest he wore made his muscles stand out. His mane was black, styled simply. Looking fairly young, he didn't look the correct age to run a store. Well, I suppose Sophie did and they looked about the same age. For his cutie mark, he had a piece of leather with a thread and needle through it. His cutie mark looked exactly like the sign out front. I assumed the knife was the cutie mark of the other store owner. I just noticed that he had a name badge pinned to his vest. It read "Brann".

"Hello, I'm picking up a package for a miss "Sophie Redmane"," I told Brann. "I'm her niece." I added. "Ah, right. Be right back. I'll get it for you." he said, walking into the back of the store. While I waited, I looked around at all the animal skins hanging about the store. "I guess this is the place for all your leather needs." I thought. Shortly after, he came back with a wrapped package. "Alright, here you go. Have a good one. Please be sure to come again." he said kindly as he handed the package to me. "Bye, thank you." I said, leaving the store. After I went back outside, I stuffed the leather into my satchel. That should have given Sophie enough time to fly over to the store and back to her house before I got to wherever her "secret gem spot" was.

I continued down the street until I saw a sign. It pointed every direction. The most obvious one was probably "Emerald Valley". I followed it with my eyes then started to trot in that direction. Upon reaching my destination, I waited there for a while. "Sophie should be here by now. She must be stuck in line." I mused. To pass the time, I pulled out a book from my satchel that hadn't fallen out when I dumped it, and started reading. Suddenly, I heard a scream of, "Somepony! Hel-!" come from a cave not to far away. The voice was silenced almost instantly. Quickly, I dumped the book back into my satchel and galloped off towards the distressed pony.

Chapter 9

After running for a short while, the cave came into sight. It was a large cave; the entrance about 5 ponies wide. The sides were big stones pushed together to border the entrance. A dirt path went up to it and ended at the entrance; turning into stone. I figured it was not natural, but pony-made. It definitely didn't look natural. Upon closer inspection of the cavern, I saw black burn marks on the edges. It seemed as though somepony had used some kind of explosive in order to create it's entrance.

Inside, there were several torches impaled into the walls to illuminate the descent. Slowly and cautiously, I stepped across the front and started to head into the mouth of the grotto. After a few steps, I noticed that the floor had turned into steps. As I trotted deeper into the cave, I was greeted by a large cavern, with many holes leading in all sorts of directions.

I could easily be lost in here, so I retrieved a jar from my pack. Contained in this jar, was a bright, neon green liquid. I figured it could be used as a trail if I poured it out, making a pathway out by following the drops. I spilled some liquid at the base of the stairs. It sank into the rock and it shimmered slightly where I had poured it. Grimacing at the subtlety of my way out, I shifted into my second sight to see if seeing the liquid in a magical light would increase it's visibility. It shone with a almost obscene lime green color. Deciding that it would work out fine, I picked a path to the right, carefully rationing out drops as I trotted.

My little trail of "breadcrumbs" had taken me to a new central chamber, filled with even more directions to go. Starting to get frustrated that I would never find the right way to go, I heard another sudden feminine scream, followed by "BE QUIET, PONY!", which shattered my train of thought. Carefully spilling out more of the liquid in the direction of the voices, I quickly trotted into the correct tunnel. I saw several figures in the next room; two tall figures hovering over a pony, who was laying on their back.

The creatures stood on their back legs, yet I believed that they could stand on all fours and get around much faster. The creatures had short grayish fur, with long limbs and thick forearms. They stood at least two ponies tall, with short, stubby tails that ended in blunt looking barbs. One of them was larger and more bulky, with the other being more scrawny, yet still with enough muscle to do what needed to be done, I assumed. Both wore protective leather vests that hung limply at the edges, implying that they were not fastened together across their respective chests. Their faces pointed away from me, looming over a pony laying on her back.

The pony wore a fancy looking dress, so I decided that she was from Manehatten and had been kidnapped by these monsters. She had a piece of cloth over her mouth, effectively silencing her. Her dress would have been absolutely beautiful, except for the fact that it was stained with blood and other fluids. Creeping a bit closer, I tried to look into the room. Around the room there were several pony corpses hung on hooks, hanging from the ceiling, their freshly gutted midsections oozing blood and internal organs, which dripped onto the floor, staining it a deep crimson. This room had to be the main room of the whole burrow. It had a cook fire and a couple of mattresses, which were also stained red, in one of the corners. In the other corner, a large pile of diamonds, emeralds, rubies and more littered the floor. The walls of the room were fairly high. I hadn't even thought I was this deep.

As I crept closer, I heard more of the conversation that the pony and the two creatures that stood over her, or rather, the one-sided conversation that they were having with the poor pony. She was crying in a fit of hysteria; her eyes wide with fear. "What was that!?", one of them growled at the other. "Oh, crap." I said out loud, noticing that I had stepped on a rock, nudging it loose from it's original place. They must have really good hearing. They turned around in unison, giving me a full view of the fronts of them. The bulkier one had a small face with a large muzzle with twin blood-caked teeth sticking out of the sides of his mouth, giving him a quite intimidating look. The other one also had a big mouth, but his fangs were slightly smaller than the bigger one's. Both of them had a crazed and feral look in their eyes. Slowly, I asked, "What are you...?"

"We are Blood Diamond Dogs!" The big one grunted with some pride. Which cued the smaller one to growl angrily, "What are you doing in our lair, little pony?!" Sensing a fight, I readied a spell in my mind, summoned some courage, and with a tone that suggested heroism, I shouted, "I heard a cry for help coming from inside this very cave. I see that I am not wrong in the assumption that somepony needs my help!" I finished with a dramatic flourish. Shrimpy punched Wide-Load in the arm for letting the pony make a noise and shouted at the pony, "We told you to be quiet and someone heard you! Once we get done with this one, we are going to make your death extra slow." Then quickly added, turning back towards me, "And who are you to stop us, you stupid filly?" "You are barely out of puberty and you expect us to kneel to your pony might?" Wide-Load said sarcastically as he cracked his knuckles, getting ready for combat.

"I am Spellflash Darkheart and I will bring you bullies to justice!" I challenged heroically. "Have it your way. I love it when they fight back." Shrimpy said, picking up a red-hot fire poker from the cooking fire. "I've decided to call you," I pointed at Shrimpy, "Shrimpy, and you...Wide-Load." I said, gesturing at the other one. This only served to make them angrier. "GAHHH!" They shouted in unison, clearly infuriated. Shrimpy charged at me with his fire poker and slashed at me, clumsily. Easily sidestepping his attack, I threw my readied spell right under him. A spell circle charged with the words "circle", "bind", and "prison" materialized under his feet as he was encased in a barrier powerful enough to keep the dog at bay while I dealt with his friend. "No! Not like this!" He screamed in anger. "Quick, get that pony!"

Wide-Load swung at me with a force strong enough to crush bone, missing me completely, as he slipped in pony blood and fell. Again his knuckles cracked audibly, but with a much louder pop than before. With my mother's medical knowledge, I could tell just by the sound it made that his entire hand would be broken and useless and that his shoulder would be dislocated. Smirking, I faced my enemy down, knowing that I had the upper hoof. Shakily, he stood up, looking at his hand. Shrugging back, he popped his shoulder back into place with a grunt and flexed his hand. Gazing at him with surprise, I went wide-eyed for a second and shuddered. Clearly these would be tough opponents. Gathering up my magic energy and summoning a new circle in front of me, I simultaneously called up the word for my Sniper Bow. Inlaid in the magic circle I put the words for "circle", "speed", and "ice". If I couldn't hurt him directly, I decided slowing him would be a good idea.

I readied my crossbow with a bolt and shot one through the circle. It hit him squarely in the stomach and punched through his back and stuck into the wall. On impact, the bolt had left a trail of ice, impaling him to the wall. A little surprised, I readied another bolt. He spat up some blood before screaming with pain and fury. Trying to dislodge himself from the ice javelin I had created through his body, he cracked the spear in two by wiggling his body from side to side and broke free. Slowly than ever before, he walked towards me. The wound and the freezing effect of my spell had really impeded his movement. "I'll get you, you damn pony!" Wide-Load raged.

"I don't think so," I said casually. "The freezing effect is moving at an alarming rate. I don't think you'll be able to 'get' anypony ever again. He looked at his abdomen. Where the ice spike had penetrated, growing outward, his skin was turning blue and shiny with ice crystals. "Only a matter of time before you freeze, from the inside." I told him, with an evil grin spreading across my face. Wait, was I really this evil? To torture another living being, just as they had tortured innocent ponies? No, they were guilty and must be brought to justice. I shook off the sudden feeling of malice and said, "Since I'm a merciful pony, I've decided to end you quickly." I said as I shot my other bolt through his skull with enough force to shatter the recently-frozen head. He toppled backwards, headless, and shattered on the ground into a thousand ice cubes.

Combined with the anger of losing his friend and brute force Shrimpy shattered my prison spell. Just then, he grabbed a nearby potion off of the ground and swigged it. I saw the pure fury in his eyes as he started to transform. Out of his back grew small stubs of obsidian looking spines. His forearms shifted into demonic skin, and turned his paws into obsidian claws and he started growing horns just above his eyes, which were now giving off a black aura. So, the Blood Diamond Dogs had acquired some kind of demon potion. Well, lucky for me I had the skills to fight such a monster.

Upon reaching a transformation akin to a Dog/demon hybrid, he cast away his fire poker and ripped two of the spines out of his back, one in each hand. A little confused, I continued to watch. Half dog and half demon blood flowed down his back, as the spines in his hands started to grow. Shortly after, they became swords. "A sword fight then?" I asked him. All he had to say back was a hellish, bestial growl, showing me his newly transformed mouth. Suddenly, he charged at me, blades swung quicker than I thought possible, slashing quickly across my face and side. My usually pristine white coat started leaking blood, turning it a dark pink. "Alright, be that way." I spat, summoning my own blades from my wrists. My full swords were about three-quarters the length of his blades, but then again, he was bigger than I was.

I felt my wounds close as my second-word battle-aura started to form around me. After closing my eyes and focusing for what seemed like a few seconds to concentrate, I opened them, facing my opponent in a battle stance. Stepping sideways to guess his next movement, we circled the room, daring the other to make a move. Suddenly, he charged at me, barely missing my throat. Spinning, I brought both blades down on him and slashed across his chest. Where I had hit him sizzled with demonic energy, mending itself. "That's just unfair! You're cheating!" I shouted. He responded with a low, guttural growl and charged again. Quickly, I enchanted my blades with frost. Seeing as I had countered his friend so easily with frost, I figured it was what Blood Diamond Dogs were weak against.

With barely any time to react, I brought up my newly-enchanted blades and parried his next attack, sending him off-balance. "This is my chance!" I thought, as I jumped into the air, tackling him with my blades in front of me, digging them into his chest. Howling with anger and pain, he threw me off his body at a high speed. I collided with a stone column and felt blood running down the back of my head. Shaking my head as I felt the wound heal, I brought up my blades in a combative stance. It wasn't long before I noticed that my blades were still impaled in the Demon Dog, slowly freezing him from the inside. I sighed with relief and brought out a spell circle with the words "circle" "speed" and "force" pointed vertically at the Blood Diamond Dog. Deciding to be sure, I levitated two more spell circles behind the first one, with the one closest to me being the largest and released them in order.

A cylinder of pure force shot towards the partially-frozen mutt, ravaging his body with blunt trauma and digging my swords deeper into his chest. Falling backwards, he skidded against the ground and hit the back wall with a loud thump. Slowly, the demonic features he had diminished, bringing him back to his original form. Shrimpy slumped and fell to the side, my swords hitting the ground as he fell. I casually walked up to the dead dog and retrieved my blades before dropping the spell and absorbing them back into my bracelets.

Sighing, I realized just how exhausted I was. Way too much power was used up in that battle and I had paid for it. I was in for one painful headache when the spells decided to come back and haunt me. Pushing up my glasses and shaking the tiredness away, I trotted over to the mare that the Dogs had been torturing before. She was bound with crude looking cloth wraps around her hooves. Calling upon the first level spell, I brought out a dagger and cut her loose. She untied the gag in her mouth herself. "I thought I was dead for sure." She said enthusiastically. "Thanks for saving me!" "Sure," I said, panting a little. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked cautiously. "No, I'm fine," I said, then added after a pause, "Just tired," My eyelids felt heavy. I needed sleep, pronto. "Well, here." she said, giving me a vial of mysterious red liquid that she had in her saddlebags. Cautiously, I popped the cork out and swallowed the contents. I figured a potion from a pony I had saved wouldn't be harmful. After a short time an invigorating burst of energy filled my body.

"I feel great! Healing potion?" I asked. "Yep, I'm an alchemist." She told me, before gesturing at her flank. On her flank was an ornate flask of red liquid. The light green colored earth pony got up and told me her name. "I'm Ivy." "Spellflash," I said, shaking her hoof. "I gathered. I heard you call out your name earlier. That was quite an impressive battle." She told me as she popped one of her own potions into her mouth. A magical glow like the one I had just experienced went across her and faded, all of her wounds were healed. "I was just out gathering herbs for a new potion I'm working on and I got ponynapped into this horrible place. Good riddance, I say to those Dog-things." "Yeah, good riddance." I said, looking around, disgusted.

"So, shall we get out of here?" I asked. "Of course!" Ivy said cheerfully. Her blonde mane had streaks of blood through it. She had a headband that was a deep blue, matching the color of her eyes. Smiling back at me, she asked, "Lead the way. I was in a bag when I got here, so I didn't see which way we came from." She paused. "That is, unless you don't know either." "Nope, I left a trail back to the entrance. Shouldn't take too long to get outside. But first, do you mind if I look around here for anything useful?" "No, that's fine." She said, blowing her mane out of her eyes, "Five minutes, then we should go. I heard other voices coming from this cave. Who knows how many other Blood Diamond Dogs there are." "Oh, right. Forgot about that. I'll be quick." I told her, my eyes already scanning the room for magical artifacts. Finding nothing apparently valuable, I switched on my second sight and looked around for anything magical. The large pile of gems were tempting, but I didn't have enough room in my saddlebags for them. My eyes stuck on a demonic figurine of a demon in a meditative state. I put it in my pack and gestured for Ivy to follow me.

We followed my sparkly trail back to the entrance of the cave. Once we got to the stairs, I returned myself to my normal vision. Then we trotted up the steps to be greeted by Celestia's warm sun. Stretching and yawning once we got to the surface, my fatigue was getting to me, even with Ivy's potion. After finding the path back to Manehatten, we walked to the center of town and followed the way back to Sophie's store, getting disgusted looks from the townsponies as we trot past. "..and this is my aunt's humble abode." I told her, gesturing to the building. "Neat." She said simply, as we walked inside. "We both should probably take a bath." I said, looking at myself. "Sounds good, I'll go first." She told me, as she almost leaped up the stairs.

"Wait a second," I said, pausing. "How come you're so full of energy after drinking your potion, if it's wearing off on me just now?" "Oh, that? That's because I'm an alchemists. Alchemists work with potions and mixtures so much that the effects last longer and are more potent." "Ahh. That makes sense," I said thoughtfully. She would make a great addition to the demon hunting team. I had no idea if we already had an alchemist, but she looked hardy enough, and having a steady supply of helpful potions couldn't hurt. Just then she asked, "Where's the-?" I cut her off, gesturing with a hoof as we approached the hallway, "First door on your left. Hurry up, I feel dirty." "Sure thing, she said as she made her way to the bathroom, snagging a towel from the adjacent closet."

About twenty minutes later, I heard the water shut off and Ivy walked into the room. "My turn!" I said excitedly. As I passed Ivy, I looked at her in a new light. Now that she was clean, she was way more attractive. She was gorgeous. Suddenly, I felt a surge of emotion rise from my chest. I hadn't felt this way about anypony before. I shrugged the thought away, grabbed a towel, and hopped in the shower. I shouted, "Make yourself at home!" before turning on the water and washing the almost dry blood off my body.

After I was done, I walked out with a towel around myself and went into the kitchen. No Ivy there. I turned around and walked into the bedroom and noticed Ivy was snoring softly on top of Sophie's bed. Remembering there was no other beds and my exhaustion sending a new wave through my body, I collapsed onto the side she wasn't occupying and quickly fell asleep.

For what seemed like five minutes later, because it probably was, Sophie entered the room with an, "Oh, my!" She continued with, "Spellflash, if you were having somepony over, you should have told me." She was blushing, hard. "It's not what you think!" I yelled. "I found her in this cave, ponynapped by some crazy Diamond Dog things. I saved her from being tortured, brought her back here and we ended up passing out. We had a crazy day." Sophie nodded, looking unconvinced. "Uh-huh. Right. Well, whatever the case, she's welcome regardless. I trust your judgement."

Rubbing at my eyes, I said, "Be skeptical if you want, I'm telling you the truth." Sophie sighed and said, "Well, I guess that would be a good alibi for you not meeting me at my secret gem hunting spot earlier. I gathered some up and came back just a few minutes ago." Then she paused for a second, adding, "When I didn't see you there, I figured you were perusing the shops in town and I would end up finding you at my house, and there you are, snuggled up with some mare." she snorted, a little flush of pink showing on her cheeks.

"Wha-huh?" Ivy slurred, shooting up instantly beside me. "What's going on?" she said, with a voice of a pony that had not fully awoken. "Spell was just telling me about your little adventure. What's your name?" "Ivy, ma'am." She said, politely. "Ma'am!? Hah, you didn't tell me she had a sense of humor. I approve. Call me Sophie."

Chapter 10

Shortly after, Sophie left us to go prepare some lunch. I rubbed away the sleepiness from my eyes and started to yawn. Ivy was still in a half-daze, still somewhat exhausted from this morning's endeavor. Don't get me wrong, I was tired as well, but I had gotten used to battling monsters on a daily basis; so I guess she just wasn't as hardy as I was. "I hope that changes," I thought to myself as I hopped off the bed and started to stretch. Noticing the shift in weight, Ivy sat up, wiped her eyes, and yawned, "Hey, Shpell. What's going on?"

I put on my glasses and told her, "Sophie is making us lunch. I figure we could hang out for a little while longer, if that's okay." "Oh, yeah. It's perfect." She said, stretching. "I'm starved, what's for lunch?" she asked. "Dunno, let's find out." I commented. Ivy burst through the door and found her way back to the kitchen, shouting, "Sophiiiiiie! I'm hungryyyyyy!" Sighing, I trotted over to the kitchen table and sat in one of the wooden chairs, next to Ivy. "Sophie is a great cook, I hope you're ready for a treat." I told her.

"Years of practice, my dears." Sophie explained, as she displayed some of her culinary skills. First, she threw some fruit behind her, then started to juggle them with her wings. Then, she grabbed a knife, threw a banana in front of her, and sliced it. As soon as she finished the previous fruit, she had another in the air, ready to be prepared by her skilled hooves. When there was a large pile of chopped fruit, she prepared a glaze composed mainly of milk and honey and started to mix it in a saucepan on the stove. Soon after, the oven dinged and a heavenly aroma of baking bread wafted out of it.

She poured the glaze over the mixture of sweet morsels and started spinning it, to coat the pieces evenly. After the bowl was done spinning, she brought it to the table. She acquired a new knife and started cutting the freshly-baked bread. The last slice of the bread was made and she brought over as well. Afterwards, she made her way to the fridge and gathered up a few dressings and a bowl of lettuce.

"Alright, fillies! Let's eat!" Sophie shouted, as she brought out some plates and silverware. Sophie and I watched as Ivy took her first experimental bite out of the bowl of mixed fruit. "MMMM!" Ivy exclaimed. "This is amazing! I wish I could cook as good as you." She continued, with a tone of wonder. "Glad you like it." Sophie beamed, bowing her head and closing her eyes. It was time to get my own food. Using telekinesis, I grasped a few slices of bread and a hooffull of the fruit salad, then placed them onto my plate.

"So, Ivy," Sophie started. "What do you do?" Ivy swallowed, then said "I run the apothecary on the other side of town. It is kind of slow, with ponies not usually needing potions for much, other than just for surface wounds or love potions. My potions range all the way from healing cuts and bruises to mixtures that turn your fur into a different color. I'm closed on Saturdays so I can gather reagents for potions as well as experiment with new combinations." Ivy explained, then took a bite of bread.

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "I see." she said around a mouthful of apple, strawberry, and several other juicy fruits. I wondered if she was thinking what I was thinking. Seeing the opportunity, I decided to make my move. "Hey, Ivy? I have a proposition for you." "Yeah?" she asked, turning to face me. "What if you made potions for us instead of working at that potion shop?" She paused mid-bite. "Ummm... I guess so. I wasn't having very good business lately, anyway. I can still experiment with random plants, right?" Ivy questioned. "Of course, why wouldn't you be able to? I was just asking if you wanted to travel with us and help us kill demons." I informed her, with a hint of wonder creeping into my voice.

Sophie did a facehoof. "What? Demons exist!? I thought they were just myth and legend! You're crazy!" Ivy screamed, horrified. My aunt's voice whispered through my thoughts, "Regular ponies don't know about the demonic influence around here. They just think some are regular animals. Careful what you say." "Oops," I thought at the voice. Blinking away the mind-link, I looked over at her. Her expression was serene as she continued eating, not even giving away that we had just had a telepathic talk. "Wait, you're serious, aren't you? You think there are actually demons roaming about?" she accused. "Yeah, I'm sure. They just disguise themselves and hang out only in the Nether-Plane and in some caves. Their force is massing and my family and I are gathering to put a stop to it. We could really use a constant supply of morale-boosting potions." I almost pleaded. I may or may not have fluttered my eyelids to guilt her more.

Ivy looked skeptical. She pushed away her plate and crossed her forelegs together in a pout. "I'm going to need some proof then. Take me to this..."Nether-Plane", or whatever." she stated, making an air quote gesture at "Nether-Plane". I looked up to Sophie, my expression asking permission. "I guess," Sophie sighed, exhaling hard. "I take it you fillies are done then?" "Yup, I am. I want to show Ivy the realm of the demons." I intoned, as I gathered up the dishes and set them in the sink. Still pouting, Ivy snorted. "Well, how are we going to get there?" She chided. "I have these pieces of paper that will send myself and any other object or pony that I focus on, there and back. Kind of like a round trip ticket to hell." I stated, nonchalantly.

"Let's do this." Ivy challenged. "If you say so," I said as I telekinetically gripped a book out of my saddlebag, which was on the counter, and tore a page out. "You coming Sophie?" I asked. "We could use your expertise if we encounter some crazy creatures." "Nah," Sophie declined. "I got some stuff to do around the house and I'm pretty sure my little Spellflash can take care of herself." Nodding, I said, "Alright. See you in a bit, then." I turned to face my new companion, "Anything you want to take with you?" I asked, as I hovered my saddlebag onto my back and fastened the buckles. "Sure, in case we encounter some monsters." She said sarcastically. Ivy trotted to the other room and returned with her own saddlebag. It was emblazoned with her cutie mark. "Ready." she said, yawning. I focused on the page, Ivy, and myself and we were torn out of the Equestria-Plane and sent hurtling into the pit of hell fire.

We appeared in mid-air about four feet off the ground and landed with a thump and a grunt from both of us. Both of us sat there rubbing our heads as we observed our surroundings. "Nice job, you put us in mid air." Ivy said angrily. "Well, it's not my fault that the pap-" I said before Ivy shoved a hoof in my mouth to silence me. I looked up at her face and saw that her eyes were wide with terror. Slowly, I turned around and faced a demon that I haven't seen before.

They were obsidian black, just like any other demon, but they had small heads with long antennae and huge claws that were about the size of me. There were three of these demon bugs staring right at us with large multi-sectional eyes. Insect-like wings flicked as their heads swiveled to look at us more closely. With long, thin legs and a thick exoskeleton, these demons are definitely different from any other abomination I've encountered so far. The skin of these bugs are like impenetrable plate armor, a natural protection against any piercing weapon. As they studied us, a thick green substance oozed out of their mouths, dripping onto the floor, which seared little puddles into the ground. We were definitely on the menu.

With a cinematic flash in my mind, I saw the "Encyclopedia of Demonic Creatures" appear in my head. Pages flipped until it settled on a rough sketch of one of the fiends I was looking at. It appeared in an attack stance with it's arms raised above it's head, slightly glowing with energy, as if it was being directly super charged with magical power. On the next page, opposite the drawing, was a description of them. Apparently they were referred to as, "Void-Scythes". It can be easily inferred by their claws how they acquired their nicknames.

Along with the description, there was a section about strengths and weaknesses. It read, Strengths: Ability to mutate to adapt to various types of environments. Ability to jump long distances using their wings. Ability to shoot spores from it's shoulders which paralyze and confuse their targets. Highly resistant to most magic. Minor regeneration. Weaknesses: Crushing damage. Relatively slow. Cold is a deterrent. "Well, that's helpful." I thought sarcastically.

My eyes snapped open and suddenly I was face to face with the Void-Scythes again. "Uhhh...Spell, I hope you have a plan." Ivy said through fearful breaths. "Kind of," I told her. "Do you have any sort of potion that is like acid or anything that is cold to the touch?" Reluctantly, she pulled out a flask of an ice blue colored fluid. The container had fingers of frost stretching and snaking up the sides of it. While she was digging the potion out of her saddlebags, I was preparing a spell circle to help spread the wealth. I took it from her in a telekinetic grasp and flung it at the demons, through my spell circle. The circle was inlaid with the words, "Circle", "Split", and "Fog". As the vial of liquid touched the circle, it replicated and spun at an increased velocity towards the demons. Once it hit them, a harsh wintry fog was laid over them, slowing them greatly.

"RUN!" I shouted at Ivy. We both sprinted away from them, as fast as we could into the dense forest. Now that we were away from the demons, I could get a good look at our surroundings. It was a big forest of black trees with dark green leaves. Thick vines hung in random places from the top, where the sunlight would have shone through, had there been a sun. With the lack of a sun, there was only darkness and the sanguine light which shone off of the blood red moon. Behind us, there was harsh clicking and hissing noises. I guess they really didn't like cold, or that we were escaping, or both. As we maneuvered through the jungle, we heard them getting steadily closer.

Suddenly dark colored mist floated above us. "Don't let that touch you!" I told Ivy, "It will paralyze and confuse you." "Got it!" She said, as she retrieved a potion from her bags and tossed me a similarly colored vial. She began running a lot faster as the potion took effect. I gripped the potion in my telekinesis and knocked it back. Almost immediately, the elixir took effect, increasing my speed exponentially, as well as invigorating me somewhat. Eventually, I caught up with Ivy and we sprinted together. Casually, she dropped another potion onto the ground behind us and it shattered, causing the contents to spill out over the ground. The potion was filled with Venus-Fly-Trap seeds and accelerated growth hormones. Upon contact with the growth hormone, the plants immediately rooted and grew to an immense size, looking hungry. "With some luck, that will slow them down." Ivy panted, smiling.

Shortly after, we came across a good-sized clearing in the middle of the forest. "Get ready, we're going to fight them. That cold fog and those plants should have slowed them down long enough for us to get prepared." "Seriously? We're going to fight them?" Ivy asked skeptically. "Yep, just get ready with any potions you've got and we'll make our stand." I said with a commanding tone. I prepared a couple prison spell circles as traps and set them into the dark soil. Harsh clicking could be heard from close by. "Hurry, they're getting closer!" I told her. "Yeah, yeah, I got it." she reported, gulping another flask. About five or six empty glass bottles littered the floor around her. She was almost glowing with all the magical energy swirling around her.

Auras of blue, red, yellow, and purple swam across her body as she took a fighting stance; a potion of clear liquid in her left hoof and an elixir of red flame in her right. Both were uncorked and slightly colored steam rose from out of the necks of the containers they were in. She faced the opening of the jungle that we just came out of. Nodding, I faced the same opening with a defiant glare and a spell circle charged with ice and speed hovered horizontally in front of me, with my crossbow pointed straight at it, ready to fire.

There was a rustling in the trees, then one of the Void-Scythes leaped out and came really close to hitting one of my traps, but didn't get completely caught by it. One of it's legs had triggered the trap, immobilizing it. Without missing a beat, I flicked the trigger with my hoof and shot a bolt through my spell circle, enchanting it with ice and speed. The bolt raced through the air and struck the creature in the chest, and bounced off. Luckily, the icy slowing effect was still active and made the monster hesitate. Just then, I remembered that crushing damage is one of their weaknesses. If we can get through their thick hides, maybe we can get the killing blow. Focusing, I whispered a new word into my spell circle, "Crush". I loaded a new bolt into my crossbow, took aim, and fired into the center of the circle. As soon as the bolt went through, it tripled in thickness, and the arrowhead became like the end of a mace.

The frost-enchanted projectile flew into the monster at an extreme speed and crushed the exoskeleton of it's lower torso. Upon impact, the demon hissed and started gushing green liquid from the cracks in their armor as well as it's mouth. "Ivy, go!" I shouted, as I readied another bolt. Just after I said it, I saw twin potions flying through the air and splash onto the fiend's carapace. As the two liquids mixed, they started sizzling and sank into the cracks I had made in the armor. Slowly, the creature started to expand and large chunks started to fall off of it's body. Under the exoskeleton, bright red fleshy parts were exposed and slowly started to melt. Ivy's mixture was starting to take effect. Loudly, the creature hissed and clicked maniacally, as it slowly started to dissolve. A puddle of armor shards, green fluid, and left over liquid from Ivy's potions settled where the monstrosity had been just a few moments before.

Another screech from the jungle had echoed across the landscape. A second one had survived the cold and Ivy's plants. Though, this one was a little bit more scratched than the previous Void-Scythe. One of it's wings were shredded and parts of the carapace were shattered from the fly trap's bite marks. For our sake, I had hoped that he was the only other one had survived and that the third one of the group was not as lucky as it's brethren. Ivy hadn't had enough time to ready another potion to throw at the deformed creature and it leaped for her. Luckily for her, the demon hadn't accounted for it's shredded wing and flew slightly off course, allowing Ivy to drop and roll to avoid the attack. When it missed, claws sank into the ground, and the Void-Scythe had become stuck.

In that time, the creature had released some spores that slowly sank over my new friend. "NOOOOO!" I shouted, as I charged at the creature, with my swords out. Jumping, I located a spot in the armor that I could wedge my ruby blades into and shoved them in with all the force I could. The blades sank deep into the creature, causing bleeding from the wound, as well as causing another armor plate to fall to the ground. Swinging with all my might, I cleaved the demon in two, slashing outward with my blades, spraying green blood all over the ground. The top half of the demon fell to the ground and twitched, started hissing, and slowly slumped backwards.

I retracted my swords and looked upon Ivy. She was poisoned. The purple aura around her slowly faded and disappeared completely. She then got up and dusted herself off. "The purple swirl was a poison resistance potion, I used up the charge, so it ran out and evaporated." she explained. "That's handy," I cheered. "Ready to go home? Is that enough proof for you?" I said, smirking. "Of course, though I think I may need another bath," Ivy commented, disdainfully. Nodding, I surveyed the area. As soon as I was sure we were alone again, I brought out the faded sheet of paper and focused on it, myself, and Ivy once again to make our return trip home.

We shimmered into existence in the same place we left at and fell, yet again, several feet to the ground. "Spell, really? Really? Why do we have to fall onto the ground every time we go across Planes?" Ivy said, as we got up and dusted ourselves off. "Would you rather be embedded into the ground?" I asked. "Point taken." Ivy said, looking around. "Hello, my little ponies!" Sophie said, returning to the kitchen. "Come down stairs, I have something to teach you." Looking at each other and shrugging, we turned to the stairs and trotted down them. As we went down the stairs, Ivy's potions wore off; the swirling colors slowly shimmered and faded away.

Waving a foreleg, she gestured towards her forge. "Hey, Spell, Ivy. How did the trip to the Nether treat you?" "It was awful," Ivy started, "First, we faceplant into the ground and then we find some crazy bug things, then they started to chase us, then we fought them and we won." "My, my, my, that sounds fun." Sophie giggled. "Have you reconsidered accepting the invitation into our ranks?" "Well, you see, fighting those...things, made me feel empowered. I felt like I never have before. Owning a little shop in Manehatten is nice and all, but I never have to fight for my life. It was actually the most scared I've ever been in my entire life... But, it was fun. Scary, but fun." Ivy finished. "So..?" I coaxed, with a "go on" gesture. "Yes. I want to become a demon hunter." Ivy said proudly. "Wonderful!" Sophie said. "I'll have to make you your own armor. You can help if you want."

Sophie grabbed a needle, some black thread, a pair of scissors, and four tanned leather hides. "Here is all the supplies we will need to make your new armor. You're a battle alchemist, aren't you? Fight with potions?" Ivy nodded. "Alright, we can give you a bunch of pouches and slots to put your attack-based elixirs into. It should be a lot easier to access than reaching into your saddlebags for everything. Now, anything else I should know?" Ivy brought a hoof to her chin and thought for a few seconds. "How about potion injectors? Like, with the potions I drink to increase my accuracy and resistances?" It was now Sophie's turn to think. "That... Is actually a really good idea. I'll start drawing up the plans."

About thirty minutes later, Sophie had drawn on a blueprint all the necessary pieces she would need, where to cut, where to fold, and what stitches to use. During that time, she had also taken Ivy's measurements, so her armor would be a better fit and be customized to her own preferences. Shortly after showing us both her plans, she told me to smelt some metal for the injectors. Sophie gave me several chunks of iron ore and I brought them to the smelter. "There should be a mold underneath of it for iron struts. Make a few of them and make sure that they're hollow in the center. Also, make some potion casings as well. Again, underneath the smelter." Sophie explained. Cautiously, I heated up the smelter and set to work on carefully setting the molds in line so the molten iron would be easy to pour. Then, I dumped the ore into the hopper inside.

Shortly after starting up the heat, the iron inside the basin started to melt and slowly glow red-hot. Gently, I grasped the bowl of molten metal and poured it into the molds in front of me. Meanwhile, Ivy and Sophie were stitching pockets, pouches, and straps into the armor and making sure she was still able to maneuver inside it. After the metal was set, I brought the molds to a trough of water, steam rising from the metal on contact. I shielded my eyes from the hot steam until it stopped, then I brought the iron struts and the potion holders onto the anvil, waiting for Sophie's expertise rather than me randomly smacking it with the hammer. Moments later, Sophie set to work forging and shaping the struts into the correct shape of her plans, then expertly fused them together with the potion holders.

After a while, she had produced two potion injectors and sewed them into the chest piece. After making a few adjustments, she had Ivy try it on. Ivy shrugged it on, the needles from the potion injectors sticking into her, making her let out a soft squeal of pain. She moved around experimentally, running, jumping and waggling her legs to measure the maneuverability that it gave. "Nice," She said. "Though, I do have one problem with it, my cutie mark is hidden." she pointed out. Sophie had purposefully left large pockets around the flanks of the armor. Large enough to put a good sized health potion emblem on each side.

Carefully, Sophie sewed the potions into the leather and bit off the extra string. Sophie gestured to a nearby mirror, causing Ivy to sprint over to it, to look at herself in her new armor. "I absolutely love it! Thank you so much!" Smiling, Sophie said, "No problem. I would have never thought of the potion injectors. That was clever." I brought a hoof to my chin, thinking for a moment, then remarked, "Now that you're standing in the mirror, I do see that you need to stock up on some potions. Let's go to your store and see how you look fully equipped. What do you say?" "Good plan. Plus, you never know when you're going to encounter some demons, right?" Ivy winked.

"We'll be back soon, Sophie. Right on time for dinner. Okay?" I told my aunt. "Sure thing. You fillies have fun!" Sophie called. But, we were already gone into the night time crowds. As we made our way to Ivy's shop, we passed by a few other stores that I wouldn't mind checking out. There was a library I wanted to look at, as well as a store that sold various flavors of ice cream. We would have to stop by that one on the way back from Ivy's store.

"...Aaaaand, we're here!" Ivy informed me, stopping in front of a building with a large green potion on the front of it. Inside, I could see rows of labeled mixtures, ingredients, and tables with burners and tubes, used for brewing potions. Reaching under her flank pocket was a key ring with only one key. She took it in her teeth and twisted the key in the lock, causing the door to open with a soft click. There were candles and lanterns scattered across the room, which definitely needed to be lit to see at this hour. I called upon my magic and carefully lit the wicks, casting a warm glow onto the rows of potions.

"Thanks." Ivy said, as she took off her armor to stock herself up with potions. She carefully placed some into her side pouches, some into the latches at the front, and others into the middle straps until her whole chest piece had a vial in every slot. Next, she trotted over to a shelf of ingredients and placed some into a different pocket. Before she closed the pouch, she hesitated, then grabbed a few herbs and a tuft of cloud and gave them to me. "Do me a favor and brew these together, please?" "Sure," I said, "What potion will this make?" Ivy turned away from me and headed towards the stairs, which led to the living quarters. "It's a potion to enchant the armor to make it lighter. If I'm going to wear all of those potions, I'm going to need the actual armor to be as light as possible, while still retaining the protection it gives." I nodded, and proceeded to an alchemy station.

I dropped the cloud into one of the vials over a burner. Next, I crushed up the herbs together and added them in with some water. When I turned on the burner, the fluid swam through the network of tubes into an adjacent bottle, filling it almost to the brim. Deciding it was good, I took it off the setting and turned the burner off. A few minutes later, Ivy came down the stairs holding a leaf colored bag, adorned with embossed vines, plants, and flowers. She took the potion from me and slowly coated her armor in the fluid. Briefly, the armor shimmered, then returned to it's original color, but this time a slightly lighter shade of brown mixed with a bit of pink.

Ivy adorned her armor, hefted the saddlebag over her shoulder, then asked, "Shall we head back?" "Sure thing," I said. "Also, is that ice cream place that we passed any go-" Sophie's voice interrupted my thoughts as I heard her say, "Spell, come quick. Blood Diamond Dog pack in field. Hurry!" I snapped back to reality, and said, "Scratch that, more Blood Dogs are about to attack Manehatten!" I hastily concluded. "Well, there goes the promise of ice cream." Ivy sighed, as we sprinted out of the door to meet up with Sophie.

Chapter 11

Ivy quickly locked up her potion shop and we went down the street to the field. As we ran by, the night time citizens of Manehatten looked at us in confusion, eyeing our outfits. They were clearly shocked about seeing two fillies in full leather armor. Especially Ivy, who was covered in potions. When we passed by, I overheard some of them saying something about how we're "Dressing up," or how we're both "Crazy maniacs," or some other insult that could be directed at two mares being together. We both ignored these, of course, but I was still a little angry at them. I was saving the world, and they're poking fun at me. I'm saving their sorry flanks and they don't even know it.

About five minutes later, we arrived at the field Sophie indicated. It was a park. It had trees of all shapes and sizes, with benches interspersed casually throughout the walking trail that winded around the trees. There was a playground for foals to play on, as well. A full jungle gym and slide combo. A younger me would have been ecstatic to play on it, however there was four Blood Diamond Dogs that were casually sitting on it, lazily picking at their teeth with small bones. The corpses of several ponies were seen around the playground. Parents and their foals. They didn't stand a chance against these monsters.

Slowly, I cast my gaze past the playground and over to the beginning of the walking trail after telling Ivy to come with me into a bush for cover. The sign was impossible to read with all of the blood and chunks of organs splattered across it. Several Manehatten ponies with exercise equipment were carelessly tossed aside after being eviscerated. Three more Dogs stood over them, cackling madly. Cautiously, I scanned the area to get a full gauge of how many enemies we would be facing. In the background, I saw a cave like the one I had entered before. The beasts must have caverns that stretch all across the city, which can probably deposit them anywhere they need to be. Several more of the bloodthirsty savages were gathering in the center of the park.

Tears were welling up in my eyes at this point and I quickly shut them. My anger and hate for them was rising at an extreme rate. They were actually eating the corpses. Ivy saw my concern and put a hoof on my shoulder. "It's not your fault, Spell. We couldn't have known they'd retaliate so harshly." She said comfortingly. She had read my thoughts exactly. Shortly after, Sophie swooped down from her hiding spot in the tree above and joined us in the bush. "So, what's the plan?" Sophie asked, a determined expression on her face. "I...don't know." I sighed, pausing. "I'm just so angry at them for what they did. I can't think straight." I finished. "I know, Spell. I feel it too. But, if you're going to be a Hunter, you have to prevent deaths. You can't bring back the dead." Sophie encouraged.

Wiping the tears from my eyes with a foreleg and after taking a deep breath, I thought about what to do next. "I've counted about eleven or twelve of them and what looks like their leader, from my hiding spot. I'm sure you can snipe a few of them before they even know we're here, Spell." Slowly I nodded. "If they group up a bit more, I can have most of them fried before they see where my bolt came from. Are we ready to do this?" I asked them. Sophie nodded and Ivy commented with, "I'm sure we can do it. We have to, for the sake of everypony in Manehatten!"

At that, Ivy drank a few potions from her belt and stretched, feeling the power rising within her. She also threw a few to us to drink as well. We gulped them down, reveling in the extra energy. The two of us took on a healthy green glow, then it slowly faded into a yellow aura, before fading completely. Ivy's potions gave her a bold glimmer of multiple colors. Sophie took out a pair of demonic looking bracelets and slid them over her hooves. They looked exactly like mine, except the gem set into the piece of jewelry was the color of steel. I was eager to see what power she had, but I quickly focused on my own bracelets and conjured up my crossbow. "Alright, I've got an idea, but it's going to take a lot out of me. You will have to cover me, got it?" I said, almost commanding. Ivy was still drinking potions, but paused long enough to gargle, "Got it." "Right," Sophie started, then added giggling, "You sound like your father. Let's make him proud, eh?"

Concentrating, I imagined a large spell circle in my mind, inlaid with the words "Circle" "Lightning", "Split", "Chain", and "Ice". After I had set all the words inside, I placed it in front of me, ready to fire a bolt through it. Just having the spell in front of me was noticeably draining me, along with maintaining my crossbow. I could only shoot once before they knew we were here and when my power reserves would be too low to be able to fight without resting to regain some strength. I've done four word circles before, but never a five word circle. It was like adding a word multiplied the amount of power necessary to maintain the spell. Sophie noticed first, saying "Good luck, Spell. We'll cover you. Don't worry." She smiled, giving me a boost of courage and self-confidence.

The spell in front of me sat ready. I loaded a bolt into my crossbow and aimed it at the middle of the group. Slowly, I accounted for wind direction and aimed carefully. I couldn't miss this shot. There was a Blood Dog that was bigger than the others, he had a scar across his left eye, making it useless and gray. His other eye was blood red, surrounded by subtle black flames. His skin was a shiny black, almost the color of demon skin, making it slightly more demon, than dog. Armed to the teeth with wickedly-edged dual swords, a bandolier across his chest filled with sharp throwing knives and shuriken. Around his waist was a belt that had a vicious axe on each side, and numerous bloody daggers, ready for use. Being a bit more demon than dog, he also had the strange red aura of demon magic, as well as subtle horns and spikes jutting from the skin of his forehead, wrists, back, and ankles. Definitely the best target to get out of the way first.

Taking in a breath, I focused on him and squeezed the trigger with my hoof and fired as I exhaled. The bolt flew through the air, into my circle and spread into a tightly-knit group of arrows, all traveling at the group of six dogs. As they flew, the dogs sensed something was wrong and turned directly into the onslaught of arrows. When the bolt struck one of the dogs, he was simultaneously chilled, impaled, and electrocuted as lightning rained from the sky, striking the end of each bolt as they hit. Suddenly, the lightning chained through all of them, making each of them a dried, partially-frozen, steaming husk. Well, all except the leader, who was clearly laughing at the destruction. He was barely fazed at the sight of his small army's defeat. Chained lightning flew from the circle of the corpses and into him, causing him to fall back onto his haunches, stunned.

Quickly after firing the bolt, I wiped my spell circle away and dropped my crossbow, causing it to retreat back into my bracers. Panting heavily, I looked back to my companions, which were gone. I pushed my way through the bush to check outside of it. My friends were running, headlong into the fray. Ivy started throwing vials at the Blood Dogs that were too far away from my attack to be hit. Sophie had activated her demon weapon and started to glow a pale green color. Her bracers had turned into spiked steel horseshoes. Seeing that my friends had it covered, for the time being, I closed my eyes and entered a meditative state to regain some lost energy.

Chapter 11-1

Chapter 11-1: Sophie

Sophie dodged the attack, spinning around gracefully as she landed a two-hoofed strike into the chest of the Blood Diamond Dog facing her. It backed away, spurting blood from it's mouth. "Stupid pony!" It growled as it raised it's sword, menacingly. Sophie's teal aura flared as she dodged the next series of the Dog's strikes. Seeing an opening, Sophie spun on her back hoof, and hit him in a pressure point located in his shoulder, causing minor paralysis in the arm. The sword that the dog was holding clattered to the ground. Giggling, Sophie spun backwards in the other direction and disabled his other arm. "The thing about us Blood Diamond Dogs is that we were made for fighting!" the dog growled. Under his tongue, the dog had a capsule containing demonic energy. "Mmmm...yummy." The dog replied, as he gulped it down.

Almost immediately, the capsule took effect, giving the dog use of his arms once more, and giving demonic power and attributes. Sighing, Sophie took on her fighting stance once more. She shrugged her shoulders back and flapped her wings to stretch her muscles. Cartwheeling forward, she put both of her hooves together and struck the demonic dog directly in the chest. With a sound of shattering bone, she sent a shock wave out of her hooves, which sent the dog flying back into a tree. The dog's spikes had stuck into the tree, making it unable for it to move. At this, Sophie flapped her wings and flew upwards. She aimed a hoof at the dog's head and flapped as fast as she could towards her target. Scared for it's life, the dog started to squirm around before the steel horseshoe went through the skull and into the tree. Brain matter and chunks of skull were sent flying outwards, and sprayed the ground with gore.

Twisting her foreleg, Sophie unstuck her hoof and turned around to face her next victim. The dogs standing before her was larger and more experienced than the last ones. She also noticed that the dogs had already eaten their demon pills. There were three of the dogs in front of her. Each one was brandishing a wickedly curved weapon and multitudes of various thrown ammunition. However, Sophie had fought worse than this in her career as a Demon Hunter. Focusing, she brought out the second trigger word of her bracelets and the horseshoes morphed into thick metal plates, coating her foreleg up to the joint. As she called forth her improved weapons, wisps of teal-green came from her eyes.

Sophie took a deep breath and exhaled, opening her eyes. She flexed her hooves and her wings to ready herself for combat, then taking a battle stance. She brought back a foreleg behind her head and exhaled deeply. Suddenly, her leg shot forward at one of the dogs, sending a pulse of energy outwards. "Ha ha ha! You look impressive now, but one punch? What was that supp-?" Sudden kinetic force slammed into the torso of the dog, cutting off it's sentence. A massive indent in it's chest caused it to spit up blood and fall to the ground in a heap, groaning with agony. It's own leather and steel battle armor was caved into dog's body, causing massive internal bleeding and a whimper to escape it's maw. The red-maned pegasus rolled her head back and started charging another kinetic punch.

"So, you think you can fight, huh? Just 'cuz you took a few of us down, you think you can take us all?" The bigger Blood Dog challenged. She only smiled and brought a hoof in front of her and waved it in a "bring-it-on" gesture. Angrily, the two dogs charged at her, weapons flailing. With the agility and foresight that her second power word brought forth, Sophie anticipated their attacks. The first dog brought down his sword, which was parried by her left hoof, making it glance off. Seeing the opening, Sophie side-stepped and brought her other hoof around her body, planting it into the stomach of her enemy, making him spit up blood and crouch forward, holding his abdomen as he backed up. Leaping, the second dog brought down all the force of his two-handed axe, which was easily countered by the pegasus, who caught the blade and brought it to her side, misdirecting all the force next to her, into the ground. A quick punch to the dog's face knocked it over.

It got up, blood oozing from it's forehead wound. It backed away from the armorer and left it's axe. In horror, the dogs looked at each other then ran away screaming. Smirking, Sophie slammed both front hooves into the ground, causing a massive shock wave in the direction of the fleeing canines. The wave caught up and tripped them. Just after she hit the ground with her hooves, she flew into the air, to prepare a new attack.

While the dogs were stunned on the ground, Sophie was charging her hooves again for the final blow. With all the force she could muster, the pegasus flew at the ground and slammed into the dogs with a concussive force. Around her hooves was a bloody hole inside of each dog about two inches out from where her hooves were. She had made a small crater in the ground where the dogs lay. In vain, some of the skin started to sew itself back together to repair the damage, but stopped after they took their last breaths.

Slowly, she called her Steel Hooves back into her bracelets and went to help Ivy. But before she could, the dog whose armor was caved in called to her, "Wait! I...still..can..." Staggering, the dog shambled towards her, the sword lazily being swung. The demon pill was working to an extent, but there was no way it could heal the damage that she had done. "Shhh..." Sophie cooed as she slowly walked to the creature. His attacks were easy to read, as she almost casually dodged them. She embraced the dog in her forelegs and snapped it's neck, ending it's pain. It fell limply against her body, leaking vital fluid from it's mouth. Sighing, she dropped the dead body to the ground and turned on her hooves to go see how the rest of the battle was going.

Chapter 11-2

Chapter 11-2: Ivy

Remembering that the dogs had a weakness to ice, Ivy threw a potion towards the three dogs that were advancing on her. Glass shattered on one of the chest spikes of the middle dog, causing the cool blue liquid to slowly coat it's flesh. Steaming, the liquid chilled the dog and slowly froze it completely, causing it to fall forward. It's arms broke the fall and sank into the ground, effectively keeping it from moving until it thawed. Seeing this, the other two dogs advanced forwards, not even caring for their fallen comrade. Ivy bit her lip as she thought about a battle strategy. An idea sprang to her head as she ran behind a tree. "Run while you can, pony! We will catch you and take you back to our beds!" One of them snarled. A small red flower, with petals shaped like flame, was in front of her beside the tree she was hidden behind. Quickly, she grasped it and started to expertly grind it in her hooves without causing burns. This plant was notorious for being extremely spicy. She grabbed an empty glass vial from her pack and slid the powdered flower into it. In one of her pouches was an accompanying herb mixture, which she added to the flower.

A sword embedded itself into the tree and caused Ivy to jump with surprise. "Found you!" the dog growled. This potion would have to be made on the go. She tucked herself into a ball and rolled under the legs of the dog while she stoppered the potion and shook it thoroughly. This caused the petals from the flower to ignite, heating the glass from the inside out. The rest of the concoction slowly burned and changed colors, and then melted into a swirling crimson liquid. Satisfied, Ivy uncorked it and said, "I give up. Come and get me." Withdrawing their weapons and taking on a hungry look, the creatures walked towards her. "Out of tricks, huh, little pony?" One of them chided. When they were close, Ivy snorted and said, "Not even close." as she drank the potion. Confused, the dogs stopped for a moment. "What did you do?"

Ivy burped, causing black smoke to flow out of her mouth and nostrils. "Not much, just drank a Dragon's Breath potion." she stated calmly, as she opened her mouth. A gout of crimson flame shot from her mouth, bathing the dogs in a massive wave of scorching agony. Soon after, she closed her mouth and spat out a few small embers. The dogs were in flames, running around in circles, attempting to douse the fire. As the dogs found their way to the small pond adjacent to the playground, Ivy took a second to plan out her next attack. Clearly, the dogs had a little more fight in them and a few burns wouldn't be enough to put them down for good.

Concentrating, she skimmed through her catalog of potions she knew how to make. Suddenly, one caught her attention. Looking through her pack, she found the necessary herbs and poured them into a new vial. A sudden realization was brought to her attention. She needed one more ingredient to complete the mixture she was working on. The pond where the dogs were was the algae-infested water she needed to add to the vial to make it most effective. She needed to distract them so she could successfully harvest it. Careful not to shake it more than necessary, she stoppered it and put it into a loop on her armor.

A strap held a perfect distraction. In the bottle, there was a small bulb which glowed with a white-hot intensity as well as a bulb that was dark grey which had wisps of grey emanating off of it. Ivy shook it violently as she yelled, "Come and get me you stupid mutts!" Too angry to realize that this wasn't a trap, the dogs ran at her, blades flailing. The burns, blisters, and scorch marks on their skin had become very apparent. Slowly, the demon pill's effects began to take hold. Charred fur and skin melted away to make room for new fur and skin. When the dogs were close enough, Ivy threw down the bottle and shielded her eyes as she ran through them. A bright flash of light and an obscuring cloud of thick smoke had appeared where the bottle once was. Enraged and partially blinded, the dogs began to cry out and scramble to get out of the smoke bomb.

Once she got behind them, Ivy carefully brought out the mixture she was working on as well as a small vial. With the vial, she scooped up a bit of pond scum and poured some into the concoction. The dull green liquid fizzed and bubbled as the water was added to the bottle. Small seeds barely sprouted within the mixture. Absently, Ivy swirled the potion until the seedlings were about to break out of the bottle and hurled it into the smoke. Once the glass shattered, the seeds took root and sprouted. Vicious vines came up from out of the ground, wrapping and entangling themselves around the dog's forms. Jaggedly sharp spines sprouted from the sides of the vines, impaling the dogs with several inch long thorns.

Bloodcurdling screams were heard each time the thorns punctured their victims. Vines crept along their bodies, continually ensnaring them as a slow paralyzing digestive enzyme spread through their bodies which was injected through the thorns. The thorns work much like a spider's fangs, hence the name of the plant, Spiderthorn. As the vines made their way up their torsos, impaling as they went, until they made it to their throats which wrapped around and started to cut off their oxygen. The plant started to pull the dogs down to the earth. With a dull thump, the dogs slammed into the ground with a force large enough to cause unconsciousness. However, the demon pills they had eaten before had increased their durability to such attacks which caused them to stay awake the whole time.

Coiling around the practically lifeless bodies, the roots took them under, feeding the plant. Suddenly, Ivy remembered the other dog that was frozen. Cautiously, she coaxed a vine over to the stuck Blood Dog. It had almost thawed out by this time, but it's arms were too deep into the ground to pull out. The vine attached to the dog's foot and slowly injected it's poison into the body. A few more vines followed and started pulling the screaming creature into it's demise.

Satisfied, Ivy decided to go help Sophie with her battle. Suddenly, a teal streaked comet slammed into the ground with enough force to cause a crater. Vaguely, Ivy remembered that Sophie's battle aura was a similar color and shrugged. "Guess she's alright. Looks like there's only one left, but we're probably going to need Spell for this one." Ivy thought to herself. She searched through her saddlebags and found a blue potion. Then she scanned the area for the bush I was still meditating in. Upon finding it, she threw the potion to the bush and shouted, "Spell! You're up!"

Chapter 11-3

Chapter 11-3: Spellflash

Suddenly, something hit me in the head, throwing off my concentration. Rubbing at my temples with my hooves, I looked at the object that had knocked me from my meditation. It was a blue potion. I figured that it was from Ivy, so I drank it. Immediately after tasting the potent herb mixture, I was filled with a massive amount of magical energy. Silently, I thanked Ivy and looked out of the bush. There was a great amount of destruction. Corpses littered the area as I surveyed the damage. Luckily, I saw Sophie and Ivy ready to take on the leader of the pack.

Sophie stole a quick glance back at me and nodded, knowing I was awake and ready to take on the monster before us. I hopped out of the bush and called my crossbow to me once again. By this time, the Blood Diamond Dog leader had overcome his stun. Ivy and Sophie were fighting him now and they definitely needed my help. Throwing knives and shuriken dotted the battlefield where the leader had missed. A few throwing knives were stuck in Ivy's armor and she was bleeding from her cheek and other parts of where her skin wasn't covered by the body armor. Sophie was a little worse. Several knives stuck in her legs. She pulled them out painfully, then called upon the healing mists of her aura to close the wounds.

Angry that my friends had been hurt by this mutt, I aimed at the leader and shot a bolt at him. The projectile struck and went through him, though he was barely fazed, after which, the wound closed almost instantly. He was going to be hard to beat. "Is that all you've got, little ponies!? You face the might of the leader of the Blood Diamond Dogs! I am Commander Har'Ghul! This pitiful attempt at dispatching me is making me sick. I need a real fight!" He challenged. His voice was gravelly and angry, like he had breathed in a lot of smoke during his life. Sophie wiped the blood from her mouth with a foreleg. Concentrating, she closed her eyes and unlocked the third word of her demon bracers. Steel enveloped her entire body as the bright teal aura flared brighter. Soon, her entire body looked as though she was dipped in liquid metal, then pulled out of it, except she had full maneuverability. Instead of her head being coated in steel, she gained a helmet which which had a cross-shaped eye slits as well as pegasus wings unfurled on the sides of her head.

Sophie looked like a knight. The only thing missing from her outfit was a lance or sword and shield. Instead, her forelegs had grown almost triple the size of her second word's. Suddenly, she spoke, "This is the power of the third word. Tremble before my might!" She called, gesturing at the leader. The voice that came from under the helmet was not her own, but hers with a valiant-sounding undertone, while also sounding like she spoke twice with one being barely in front of the next, like a commanding echo. She sounded possessed by some avenging spirit.

Flapping her wings, Sophie got some altitude and flew faster than I thought possible, with the amount of metal adorning her form. A angry comet of silver, teal, and grey smashed against the diamond dog's two-handed blade, causing him to stumble backwards against a decorative boulder. Sophie brought back a hoof and slammed it against his defenses, causing the boulder to crack down the center, then completely shatter. "Not bad, little pony! How about this?!" the maniacal dog growled. He hefted his greatsword and swung it against her, causing her armor to dent slightly and making her fly a few meters away.

During this time that he was distracted, I was chanting a new spell to use to improve our chances. Ivy was also preparing for battle. She was mixing together a small amount of pond water to a container which held several seeds. As soon as I saw Sophie fall, a large burst of energy filled my body. My anger was feeding my spell. Feeling the power surging, I blacked out and a book appeared in my mind. It was the book about demonic weapons. The pages stopped flipping and ended on the sword section. On the page was a stylized picture of a pair of daggers going into a pair of swords. Under the picture was a set of two words, with the third word blank. The part of the page where the swords would have gone into a larger part was empty, then slowly faded in and out. Eventually, the third part appeared and a large two-handed blade appeared as well as the third word.

I snapped back to reality as the word that had just appeared on the page passed across my lips. My crossbow disappeared and was replaced by a huge crystal sword that was a foot longer than my dual-wielded swords were. I reveled in the new-found power that was coursing through my veins. Energy surged through me as I held up the sword with virtually no effort at all. Ivy blinked, then gasped. "Spell...are...Are you okay?" she stammered after she gulped. "Yeah, I'm better than okay, I feel amazing!" I replied, experimentally swinging my sword. As I spoke, I noticed my voice change from my own to a echoing powerful voice. It made me sound almost demonic. Surging red and black energy flew around me as I started walking towards Commander Har'Ghul.

"Well, you look a little...Demonic. I was wondering if you were still in control." Ivy said cautiously, as if I was going to turncoat on her because I had become like what we were supposed to be hunting. "Of course I'm in control. The third word of power must give you an increased amount of power through demon magic, which makes sense because they are demonic artifacts anyway." I explained to her, mostly guessing. "Alright, I trust you," Ivy said, pausing. "Let's beat this guy and take a rest. We can worry about Sophie after he's defeated."

"Right, let's do this!" I yelled as I charged at him, full force of my ruby blade in front of me. At that, Ivy nodded and threw her potion at the Commander, causing vines to sprout up through the ground, entangling him. While he was stunned, I charged and swung my blade in an arc across his body, through the vines and into the ground. "Now, this is what I call a fight!" the commander said, overjoyed. The wound closed fairly quickly after I had sliced through him, though blood ran out of his mouth. The vines still worked their way around his body, causing small blood trails to flow from his thorn punctured flesh. He started to stagger, but regained his feet. Clearly Sophie's attack had left him off balance.

I took the opportunity and slashed across him several more times, bringing him almost to his knees. A flare of demonic energy flowed outwards from him, knocking me back a few feet. His wounds closed, though a little bit slower than before. Shortly after, he coughed, sending a splatter of demon tinged blood to the ground. His movements were a lot slower than before as well. I suspected that Ivy's vines had something to do with the paralysis he was experiencing. "This...is the...fight I was...talking about!" the commander said, staggering his words slightly. The vines slowly constricted him tighter and tighter until he was unable to breathe. As I brought up my sword for a final strike, I saw the look of crazed admiration in his eyes.

He had to die, though. All of the ponies that were scattered around the park would gladly want me to return the favor. I must release their souls by slaying their slayer. With a battle cry, I sliced my sword across his throat, severing the vines as well as his head. His head fell off his body and thumped to the ground. Feeling no resistance, the vines grasped his body and pulled the corpse into the ground. Only his head remained.

It was finally over. If there were any more Blood Diamond Dogs, they would scatter by the time the news of their leader had been slain. Quickly, I ran over to Sophie, whose armor was gone now. Luckily for her, the armor had taken most of the damage and she was left for at most a few broken ribs. She was still awake, but she was motionless, probably waiting for my medical aid. Ivy got to her first though and administered a potion. Quickly rejuvenated, Sophie got up and hugged both of us. Well, she would have hugged me, but I was still holding my huge sword. I dispelled my sword so I could hug her back. Calmly, I released the spell and came down from my power trip. I hadn't realized how much power maintaining the spell took, taking on that form had drained me quite a bit..

I fell backwards on my haunches and shook my head. When I looked up, I saw Sophie and Ivy standing there, looking a little worried, but mostly happy. "Level three Blades, huh, Spell?" Sophie said, softly. "Most ponies don't unlock that tier until they've had their bracelets for more than a year or so." "Well," I started, "Since my special talent is demon magic, I figure these things come to me a little bit quicker." Sophie nodded. "Anyway, we should probably get back to my house before the authorities show up and blame us," Sophie pointed out. "I think we all could use a good meal and a nice long rest." I said, grinning.

We left the bloodbath for Ivy's plants to clean up. "After a certain amount of feeding, the plants would become sated and disappear." Ivy said. My guilt was growing a bit after hearing that. "What about the ponies that died here tonight?" I asked. "Good question," Ivy said, putting a hoof to her chin. "We could blame it on local wildlife, if someone asks us." Sophie suggested. "If you ask me, I'd rather not think of it. Just recalling the images in my head makes my blood boil." I commented. "Agreed." Sophie and Ivy said in unison.

After we left the park, it was really late. There were almost no ponies outside to speak of. If anything, there was a few outside of a bar on one street corner, but they were probably too drunk to notice. We finally arrived on Sophie's street and made our way to her house. "Before we have dinner, we should probably wash up." Sophie asked of us. "Me first!" Ivy shouted as she sprinted up the stairs. Sophie giggled and said, "Does she always do that?" I sighed and said, "Yes, yes she does..."

Chapter 12

"Shopping!" Ivy suggested enthusiastically. "Really? You want to go shopping...now?" I asked with some disbelief. "Of course!" Ivy grinned. "It's the best time to get stuff. All the deals are going on now. Plus, what a way to introduce you into the Manehatten lifestyle!" She was somehow grinning harder. I could tell that she really wanted to go. Sighing, I said, "Fine. But I don't have any money. So if I see anything I like, you have to buy it for me." Sophie appeared from behind the doorway with a sack of bits. "Nonsense, Spell. Here's 40 bits for you to shop with." I cursed, mentally. I really hated shopping. The only things I liked buying were food and the occasional pieces of jewelry. Every time I went with my mother, I just kind of stood there, aimlessly looking through the stalls or shelves at stuff at I didn't even care for. Still, this might be a good chance to bond with Ivy a little more.

We had just finished a scrumptious dinner that Sophie had crafted through her fine hoofwork and almost scary ability to make everyday foods burst with flavor. Personally, I think she spiked everything. "Come on! We're going to be laaaaaate!" Ivy complained. "But it's already late, Ivy." I offered. "Psh... This isn't late. It's barely past sunset. Let's goooo!" she shouted as she dragged me down the steps to the front of Sophie's store. Bowing my head in defeat, I sighed. "Fine. But if we're going, let me walk by myself." Ivy playfully let me go and stepped across the threshold.

As we came outside, the lights of the city were almost blinding. Ponies were milling about, going from store to store without any care in the world. They were just spending their bits on clothes, food items, and various other materials for their own stores. It appeared that Manehatten had quite a few artisans. Ivy led me through the crowd to a massive line of stalls and buildings. "Here we are! Manehatten City Center!" Ivy told me as she did a dramatic hoof gesture. "Wow. Impressive." I lied. I really wanted to hang out with her, but under my own terms, not this "shopping" nonsense. We don't even wear clothes. Well, at least besides our battle armor.

She essentially dragged me through rows of stalls and merchants selling off their goods. Nothing looked particularly interesting. The bell over the door rang as we stepped through the door of a building which had seen better days. The sign on the front had a huge dress over it as well as a spool of thread and a needle. I had guessed it was a dress shop and my assumption had been confirmed almost instantly as a flamboyant pink maned stallion with a slight French accent greeted us. "Welcome, welcome! I am the master dressmaker of this very shop!" I grumbled, "That's nice." under my breath.

"If there is anything I can help you with, be sure to let me know!" he told us, with a bit more energy than was necessary. "Anyway..." I started after we got out of earshot, "Why are we here?" Ivy snorted, "For dresses, silly." Sighing, I went over to a bench and sat on it, waiting for her to finish picking something out. Occasionally, Ivy would come out from behind a wall of clothes and ask, "Does this one look good on me?" I glanced over and said, "Meh." to most of them. I must have been tired from the battle. Though, I really didn't want her to think that I didn't care about her. However, just being in a clothes store was boring me to a unimaginable extent. Finally, she came out with one and asked, "How about this one?" Expecting another "meh" dress, I lazily looked over, and saw her in a dress that perfectly accented her features. It was as if this dress in particular had been tailor made for her.

She took my breath away. Slowly, I walked towards her and whispered, "You look amazing." I stressed each word, to get my point across. Ivy brought up a hoof and wiped at my mouth. I must have been drooling. Blushing, I bowed my head and walked backwards. She smiled happily and went up to pay the "master dressmaker". Behind the curtain, for some reason, she took off the dress and brought it up to the counter, paid, and we left. "It's disappointing that we couldn't find anything for you..." Ivy said sadly. "Maybe at the next store!" Sighing, I asked how many more stores were on the list to go to. "We have the entire night to shop, Spell. We can do all of them!" I collapsed, grunting.

After I got up, she was gone. Hopefully she thought I was still with her, so I could explore some stuff that I was actually interested in. Casually, I scanned the crowd for books or jewelry that I might want to buy. One merchant was holding a pendant attached to a silver chain. The necklace looked extremely well made. I got closer to take a better look. Gradually, I noticed that the piece hanging off of the chain had small gems set into the metal. It was in the shape of a circle. Inside the circle was what looked like a demon. Narrowing my eyes, I looked closer.

Upon activating my second sight, I noticed that this amulet glowed with demonic energy. There was no way I was letting this fall into anypony else's hooves. I had to have it to protect lives...and, I must admit, wearing it would make me look like a badflank. Sneaking my way through the crowd, I finally got to the front of the merchant. "Greetings, young filly." The older grey unicorn said, "Would you like to browse my wares?" Nodding, I looked through his other pieces of jewelry with my second sight. None of the other ones looked demonic at all. All of the rest were horn rings, other necklaces, vanity bracelets, and other crafted items.

"That one," I said, pointing to the demon necklace. "How much?" The shopkeeper sighed. "As a unicorn, you should notice that this necklace," he explained as he took it from it's stand. "Is a magical item. It has been enchanted with some," he leaned in close to me, "Dark energies." he finished, looking grim. Shrugging ignorantly, I said, "Oh really? Do you have any proof?" Nodding, the shopkeeper brought his horn to the amulet and it glowed a familiar black and red. "Impressive." I said, convincingly. Truthfully, I was just trying to play stupid to try and weasel him out of making me pay too much for it. Hell, I only had 40 bits.

"Alright, I'm convinced. How much do you want for it?" He looked thoughtful for a moment. "One hundred bits." he said flatly. "I don't have that kind of money. Why is it so expensive?" Sighing, he said, "Do you know how much this goes for on "other" markets? I'm only selling it here to get rid of it. But, I'm going to make a profit. Now, one-hundred twenty bits, and that's my final offer." Shocked, I fumbled my words, "B-b-but I need that amulet! Also, did you just raise the price?" Shrugging and giving me a look, he said, "Demand suddenly skyrocketed."

"I'll tell you what," he started, "Since you look like a nice girl, I'll take all the bits you have, and you can come with me into my back room. We can negotiate things back there." Honestly, I wasn't stupid. Though, I did have a plan. Feigning ignorance, once again, I agreed. I knew EXACTLY what he wanted to do with me. My assumptions were kind of punctuated when he put up a "be back in 5 minutes" sign over his stuff. A little nervous, I walked with him back to his place. He got there first, opened the door and let me inside first, likely on purpose. I sensed a pair of eyes watching my flanks. "So, what's your name?" he asked, as he walked to his kitchen. "Spellflash Darkheart." I said, with a hint of nervousness, letting just a little out so he would think I'm "caught".

While he was distracted, I conjured up a spell circle in my mind and set it under the couch cushion I expected him to sit on. "That's a nice name..." He said, trailing off. "Drinks are almost ready." he told me as I sat on his disgusting looking couch. This gave me a good chance to scope out my surroundings. Everything looked shabby, dirty, and mistreated. For being a merchant, he didn't know how to haggle on goods he bought. Well, either that or he was just a bad home owner. "I didn't ask for a drink, though." I told him. "When you invite someone into your house, you offer them a drink. It's natural for the host to cater to their guest." he almost growled at the end of his explanation. I could tell he was getting excited in the anticipation of my...ahem..."extra payment".

I forced myself to be calm as he came through the kitchen door, carrying a tray with two cups of similarly colored beverages in his sickly green colored magic. He set the tray onto his coffee table and his magic aura disappeared. The shopkeeper breathed harshly out of his nose as he sat. Suddenly, before he touched the cushion, he paused, briefly and sat on the one closer to me. I mentally cursed again. So, I've got a large unicorn stallion that can sense magic to deal with. There was no way out now. If I used magic again, he would see my horn glow and overpower me then. Simply put, I was scre-No... No. Wrong word.

"So, nice bracelets you've got there. They look really expensive. Perhaps we can come to an agreement. I'll trade you the medallion for those." His voice was like poisoned honey. It oozed persuasiveness and vile intentions. "No can do. My dad gave these to me. I keep them to honor his memory. They're really important to me. Sorry." I said, shrinking back into the musty couch. "Awww, that's too bad. You know, I've got something else in mind." he breathed at me. His face was about three hooves away from my muzzle. Just close enough to feel and smell his nasty hot breath on my snout. It made me shiver with...excitement? My captor's dark eyes were half-lidded, his smile curved up just barely in a half-seductive half-wicked smile, and his nostrils were flaring. I could feel myself getting more detached and less in control of my body. I squirmed uncontrollably in ecstasy and kicked the tray from the table, knocking the contents onto the floor and staining it darkly.

He looked away for a brief second and I felt the control rush back into me. This was the moment I needed. With a quick thought, I simultaneously scooted the circle under his current seat and switched on my second sight. I looked at this pony in a new light. Instead of magic flowing through his veins, there was a darkened aura around it. In the center of his body, a dark and angry looking claw closed around his heart. The shopkeeper was being possessed! Unfortunately, I didn't know who was in control, so I couldn't just banish him. As he went to get up to contain the mess, my spell triggered and held him in his tracks. "WHAT! What is this!?" he called out.

The spell I had used on him was just a basic prison circle, but if he was a puppet of one of the remaining Primary Demons, it wouldn't last long until I knew his name, at least. Seeing that this stallion was possessed made me feel a bit better. It would explain how he gotten his hooves on a demonic artifact. Slowly, his voice changed to a deeper and darker tone, "Spellflash Darkheart! You will pay for this treachery with your life!" I knew this voice. He had invaded my mind and spread lies about the intents of my uncle. It was Deceit-Spreader for sure. Upon knowing this, I put cleanse and Deceit-Spreader's name into my circle and released the extra energy into it.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The voice wailed as it slowly faded away. An ebony mist flowed out of his eyes, nostrils and mouth then vanished. Suddenly, the stallion in front of me shuddered and vomited onto the floor. I felt for him, even if he was about to do things to me that would have scarred me for the rest of my life. Again, knowing he was possessed repressed the feelings of hatred I felt for him. After he had emptied his stomach, he said, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't in control. That...thing was making me do things I never wanted to do." He was practically sobbing. This stallion was so different from what I had thought he was like. Probably still a merchant, but no where near as persuasive and diabolical as the Primary of Lies.

"It's not your fault. I forgive you." I said, slowly. "However, I still need that pendant from you, and I still only have forty b-" He cut me off, saying, "No, just take it. You saved me from that...monster. I don't want to be put through that torture again." Feeling it was appropriate, I dropped my spell and gave him a hug. He sobbed into my mane until his ragged breaths were returning to normal. "Thank you. I don't know what else to say and I'm not going to ask how you did it, but I really appreciate you helping me." I smiled and said, "No problem. But, to tell you the truth, I'm a Demon Hunter. I rid our fair Equestria by banishing and slaying demons that intend to cause harm to the citizens of this nation. You were possessed by one of the most powerful demons in existence. But, he's gone now." As I explained myself, his expression went from gratitude, to shock, to confusion, then finally to relief.

"I don't care, as long as it's gone. Is there any way to be sure?" Nodding, I turned on my second sight and looked into his aura. The claw that was gripping his heart slowly released it's hold and faded away, leaving his own magic to flow freely through his veins. "Yep, you're good." I said with my happiest smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to clean up around here. He didn't let me keep up on maintaining my house." he told me as he escorted me outside and gave me the amulet. As he closed the door, he called out, "Thanks again!"

Taking the necklace in my hoof I brought it up to eye level and put it on. Small amounts of demonic energy flowed into my body and got absorbed into my magic reserves. I felt a surge of power flow through my veins as the necklace touched my coat. Before the pendant released too much energy into my body, I purged the demonic aura out of it, in case there was something that wanted to possess me. Flexing my limbs, I adjusted myself to my new power. It wasn't much, but having more demon-tinged magic flowing through me took a bit of getting used to.

I stole a look at the pendant as I felt the last bit of power flow into me. The rubies set into the eyes of the demon were dark and dull and I sensed no magical properties about it. Confused, I fed some power into it until the eyes glowed bright red once again. Feeling slightly drained, I decided to go find Ivy. The cold steel enchanted with my magic rested against my chest and I felt somehow reassured as I braved the crowds to find her.

After about twenty minutes of looking for her, I found her talking to some random vendor. The mare at the stall was selling ice cream. Ivy had bought one for me and was looking around for me. I had remembered that before we fought the Blood Diamond Dogs, that we had wanted to get ice cream together. She finally spotted me and motioned for me to head over to her. As I neared, she offered me one of the cones. I grasped it in my magic and took an experimental lick. It was amazing, just as she was in that dress earlier. My head filled with thoughts of her with that gorgeous dress on again, but before I could see her for more than a few seconds, I snapped back to reality.

"Spell? Equestria to Spellflash?" She clicked her tongue and waved a hoof in front of my eyes to get my attention. I backed up, shook my head and blushed slightly. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something." I said, before gesturing to go back to Sophie's. "About what? Oh, speaking of which...Where were you? You just disappeared after we left that store. Oooooh! Nice necklace! What's it do?!" Ivy had more energy than I thought she should have. I sighed and said, "I'll tell you later. I need to sleep." After we got back to my aunt's, we finished our ice cream and went to bed, with mostly her talking about everything she bought, with me barely listening through the haze of tiredness. At some point, I fell asleep.

The next morning, I awoke with Celestia's sun shining on my face. I blinked away the light and accidentally rolled over on top of Ivy. "Well, hello there." Ivy slurred, half-asleep. Blushing, I rolled back over and got off the bed, stretching after I had gotten my bearings. "So where did you get that thing?" Ivy asked, gesturing at my throat and my new piece of jewelry. Then I had told her about me losing her in the crowd and looking around for anything I'd like to buy from the stalls. Next, I told her about the creepy stallion and how he had almost had his way with me, but was actually possessed by a Primary. Finally, I told her about how he was so grateful I released him, that he gave me the pendant for free. Pausing briefly, I took this moment to bring up the pendant in my hooves and showed her how I could use it as a magic battery. Throughout the whole story, she sat there, almost unblinking, absorbing the information of my tale.

"Damn." She said, bluntly. Honestly, I agreed with her. We both used the bathroom and made our way to the kitchen, where Sophie was already up and cheerful as ever. She had already made us each a bowl of oatmeal with fruit arranged delicately on the top. I was already planning out how I'd break the news to Sophie. I needed to move on now that Manehatten's demon problem was taken care of. However, she beat me to the punch. "I think our time together was wonderful. Your father would be proud of you, Spell. I know you will become a great Hunter in no time." She said, before she took a bite of her breakfast. We were already digging in by the time she had said anything. "What do you mean? Do you want us to go?" I asked, confused. "No, of course not. I just think it's time for you to move on to other places that need your help. Manehatten is pretty much saved, thanks to you." She ended her sentence with a wink.

"After breakfast, we should go brave the world. Just walk around aimlessly until we find someone that needs our help. Sound good, Ivy?" Ivy nodded and said through a mouthful of oatmeal, "Yes ma'am." Sophie nodded and said, "So it's settled. I'll make you both some meals for your journeys. You should go to Ivy's and pack up so she don't leave anything behind." We both nodded as we finished our bowls and set them in the sink. Sophie got to work cooking meals for the next couple days as we left her shop, on our way to Ivy's house.

Shortly after, we arrived at her store. She was smiling happily, though tears were flowing from her eyes. "What's wrong?" I said to her. Ivy wiped at her eyes as she looked at the storefront. "I'm going to miss this place. I've been here and sold potions to ponies for years. Give me a couple minutes to get ready and I'll be back to head out." I nodded and sat on her porch furniture. About ten minutes later, she appeared in the doorway, looking prepared for the apocalypse. She was armed to the teeth with all sorts of potions, vials, and pouches of herbs. Still inside, she pulled out a sign that said "Store closed indefinitely. Be back some time!"

It was almost like she knew she was going and had made the sign before she even knew me. She must have been waiting to get out of here for some time. Maybe she needed a reason to leave her family's home and I had just given it to her. "Well, ready to go?" She asked, after looking at her house once more. I nodded as we turned to face the road ahead of us.

There was a small shape coming over the horizon. It was getting closer. We both looked to each other and nodded. I took a combative stance next to Ivy as we charged forward to this new foe. As we neared, we found out that it was not a demon, or Blood Diamond Dog, or anything. It was a male buffalo. He was badly wounded and being chased by many lesser demons."Lesser demons... In broad daylight?" I asked Ivy. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe they're getting angry that you keep killing them, so they're becoming more brave?" she offered. I shrugged. It made sense, but I was still a little cautious to engage them. We were on the outskirts of town. There were several paths that led out of Manehatten and we were on the one that led straight to the plains of mid-west Equestria, where the buffalo lived. The buffalo was still getting chased as he got close enough for us to show us distinguishing features.

His body was tattooed with tribal symbols. He was a light brown in color and he had a scar across his snout, going from under his left eye, diagonally to the right side of his face, ending just before his mouth. Large sacks of unknown material hung from his back and sides. The lack of fear in his eyes made me hesitate. If he wasn't scared, why was he running towards us? Was he showing off for us? I told Ivy this and she shrugged. We would have to wait and see.

"Morning, ladies!" he shouted. "Watch this!" he said, casually. Ivy and I dropped our battle stances, and watched him. He promptly turned around and appeared to focus. After which, all the demons that were chasing him started to stab him and impale him, then he fell to the ground, dead and making a puddle of blood on the road. Ivy whistled, "Wow. Impressive." I nodded in agreement. Suddenly, one of the demons in the back started to shoot his friends and then shoot himself in the head with his crossbow. Shortly after, the buffalo's body got up, dusted itself off, absorbed the blood back into it's wounds, and walked toward us, completely healed.

"Hello, my name is Baine."

Chapter 4

I pondered the thought of having so many weapons in my arsenal. If I absorbed the power from all the magic batteries I could find, I would be an unstoppable force of demon-slaying. Thinking back to the other pages in the Demon Hunting book that had flipped through in my head, showing me the weapons I could conceivably have, made me almost squee with excitement. Joel looked at me, puzzled. "Wha's got ya so happy, Spell?" "Oh, I was just thinking about my future as a Demon Hunter and thinking about all the weapons at my disposal." I exclaimed happily.

"Ahhh..." Joel sighed with some slowness. "I know yer excited for all the "fun" you think ya'll be having, hunting our enemies, but it will be dangerous, Spell." He said, making an air quote gesture with his right foreleg as he said "fun". "Just remember tha' this ain't a game. You could die." He said a little to harshly for my tastes. I felt tears form at the corners of my eyes. A single tear slid down my cheek. As I felt it, I lowered my head a little, and studied the ground for a moment.

"Alright uncle, I understand the consequences. I accept responsibility for my actions. Just tell me what to do so we can survive our next fight." I said, looking up to face him, giving him my most determined stare, with only one tear still sliding down my face. He trotted over and wiped it out of my eyes. He gave me a fierce expression with a hint of respect and pride and told me, "Okay," He breathed. "We have ta rally tha troops, give ya' a bit of defensive training, and set up some fortifications around mah house," He paused for a few seconds, then looked at me. "All of which will require yer magic, ya' may not even get ta fight. Honestly, I'm nah sure if ya' have enough energy ta do what needs ta be done and not be too tired ta fight."

I nodded, understanding that I'm still a filly and may not possess enough magical strength to do all of what's required to make it through. I may be too spent to be of any help after all of what Joel asked me to do. Shrugging, I asked him, "Okay, so you said call reinforcements first? How do I do that?" "It's a telepathy spell. Pretty simple, if ya know who yer talkin' ta." Joel informed me, then continued. "In that book there at yer feet, it should be on page...ah...wha' was it? Page thirteen, ah believe."

Using my telekinesis, I flipped to the telepathy spell page. Slowly, I studied it. Memorizing the spell words that activated the spell. "Now, since ya don't know who yer calling, ya need some of their DNA, so ya can link yer minds together." Joel said, handing me several locks of hair that must be from the ponies he intended for me to call. Focusing on the first lock, a ruby red colored strand, smelling faintly of strawberries, I wrote the demon words for "track" "mind" and "link" in my head and chanted "V'tiem", "Ou'pf", and "Nup'm" out loud, as I slowly closed my eyes, and released the spell.

Instantly, all I could see in my mind was darkness, then something like a pale light at a far end of the tunnel I seemed to be in. I focused harder on the hair I held in my hoof, spoke the demon words again, and the light shot toward me and collided with the viewpoint in my head. A second later, there was a bright white room in my mind which had a ruby maned mare staring at me in the middle.

"Well I guess it worked," I told her. She snorted, slowly walking towards me. "So, Spellflash Darkheart? How are you this fine evening?" the pegasus said. "Uh, I'm not so sure who you are exactly." I admitted with a bit of awe that this spell worked and some confusion at who this pegasus was. After a pause, she spoke again. "Ah, so you don't remember me," she remarked with a tinge of sadness. "The last time I saw you, you were just a baby." the dark blue pegasus sighed with a hint of reminiscence. "Since we have not yet met properly, I shall introduce myself. I'm your auntie, on your beloved mother's side, Sophie Redmane." As she said this, she flipped her luxurious mane back behind her neck, in a fashion that I expected had come with years of practice. "I suspect that you have called upon me because Joel let some demonic cat out of the bag, so to speak." Sophie said with mild annoyance. "Actually," I started weakly. "It was me, I killed a prince of the demons apparently when I was trying to find Joel's wife, aunt Sally." I said, pausing to gauge her reaction. She was just staring at me, absorbing the information.

"I'm not sure why," I paused, then continued, "But, Sally has gone into the Nether-Plane and I was sent to look for her, as well as find some ingredients for a tracking spell. I didn't see her there in my brief stay, but I did get the demon eye Joel didn't have so we could cast the tracking spell." I paused again, waiting for her to say something, but she still just stared, like a statue, unblinking, waiting for more information, and for me to finish my explanation of what's going on. "Anyways," I continued, "Joel gave me a lock of what I assume is your hair and told me to cast a telepathy spell, so here I am." I said, looking around the featureless, white, and empty room, save for me and Sophie.

Noticing that I was done with my somewhat epic tale, Sophie trotted a bit closer to me and hugged me tightly. I wondered where this was coming from, and thought that if Joel knew my parents were dead, Sophie would too. I hugged her back, tears forming in my eyes. I felt a tear sliding down my cheek as one of hers dripped onto my shoulder.

I knew that was what she was hugging me for. She must have really loved her sister. I sighed, then said, "So, I guess you figured it out then," I said sadly, with my head down and tears still flowing. "I could do nothing to stop him, I-" She cut me off with another brutal hug. "I know, Spell, it'll be okay, you're with family again. You have Joel, me, and Sally once we find her, so far. Our society is large, Spell, we will get revenge for your parents." She told me with a stern determination.

Feeling a little better about loosing some of my pent-up emotion, I smiled and nodded at her. "So, now that personal introductions are out of the way," Sophie said, "You may be wondering what I do as a Demon Hunter. Yes?" With a flourish she flew up a few feet in the air and spun in a highly eccentric fashion, again I assumed with years of practice. "I'm the Armorer!"

If I was drinking apple juice at the time, it would've squirted out of my nose. "Armorer?" I blurted, laughing slightly, "Are you serious?" "As a case of Feather Flu." She assured me, full of pride. "Don't believe me? Look above you." Without warning I was snapped out of the spell and fell on my plot. I rubbed at my head with a foreleg, looking up as I massaged away the side effects of casting the spell.

The very same pale indigo pegasus that I had just spoke to, circled above us carrying a large crate of unknown contents. She flew down to meet me and Joel, carefully setting the cargo onto the floor before settling on the ground herself. She winked at me, then walked over to Joel and hugged him while saying, "Joel! Darling! How have you been?" Joel looked uncomfortable, yet somehow thankful that she had come. "Well, I guess you guys are wondering what's in the box?" She asked. She turned her back end towards the box and with a swift buck, the box split open, pouring out armor of various sizes, shapes, and materials. "Told you I'm an armorer." She told me condescendingly.

"Well then," Joel breathed, "Now tha' we got our armorer, we can call in tha others. Go on Spell, do the same thang you did with Sophie." Sighing mostly at the headache that was forming from using too much magic in a short period of time, I grasped the next strand of hair and focused, copying the spell I had done before, but with a different result. I was greeted by the blackness again, but this time with no light at all. Puzzled, I murmured the words again and focused harder on the strands of hair in my hoof, but to no avail. Sighing I opened my eyes and told them the bad news. "I can't get a connection, it's like they don't exis-" I cut myself off before saying the last part. I started to cry because another family member I knew was probably dead.

I heard laughter coming from both of them. "Why are you laughing? This is serious!" I shouted at them. They simultaneously wiped a tear that had formed from excessive laughter with a foreleg. "Spell, I think yer gettin' tired. Cuz', tha' ain't no hair from a pony. That's a handful of straw from my broom." I looked at my hoof, saw that it was straw, then looked to the ground, noticing a broom with a large section of straw missing. Sighing with exhaustion, I blushed. Embarrassed, I sank on my haunches and closed my eyes tightly. "Yeah, Spellflash, brooms can't use telepathy." Sophie blurted before she saw that I was crying again. "Awww, Spellflash, don't be like that, we're only joking with you." Sophie said as she giggled.

I blinked, then looked her in the eyes. "Seriously?! You're joking around while demons are on the loose, killing innocent ponies? What's the matter with you?" I shouted, while simultaneously running to the house, diving inside then finally flopping onto the couch, still crying, into the pillow.

A few moments later, Sophie and Joel came into the room from outside, closed the door and sat next to me, on the chairs adjacent to the couch. "Sorry Spell, I thought we needed a bit of comedy to get us through this dark time. To distract us and make us feel a little better. A motivator to increase our morale, and all that." Sophie said, more seriously than her last statement. Slowly, I got up, a little angry at myself for my earlier outburst. "Sorry guys. I guess I need a rest. I've been casting spells left and right today." I yawned, "I feel a little worn out." Joel left the room, up the stairs to the attic, where I had been sleeping before and came back with a blanket and my satchel that I had before, which contained all my demon hunting supplies. He draped the blanket over me, set the satchel on his living room table, and left the room with Sophie so I could sleep.

I woke up several hours later. As I hopped off the couch and stretched a little bit, I felt a lot better and went into the kitchen. I hadn't eaten in a while and I thought that having a meal would re-energize me. I entered the door to the kitchen and found Joel looking into the fridge and Sophie looking at a large piece of paper on the kitchen table. I rubbed at my eyes and walked inside.

"Got any food, Joel?" I said with a smile, knowing he obviously did, with his huge garden outside. "He probably never had to go to the market for food," I thought absently. A plate with an exquisite looking sandwich dropped in front of me. "What kind is it?" I wondered aloud, while also checking between the bread slices. I found it to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. One of my favorites as a filly. Instantly, upon discovering the identity of my sandwich, I dug in face-first, mostly out of hunger, but also subtly telling them that I forgave them for laughing at my magic-induced stupor from earlier.

"'Ey, slow down a li'le. There's more where that came from!" Joel said, opening a new jar of peanut butter. "Ah thought you might be hungry after yer nap, so ah made us a couple sandwiches." Joel told me happily. Nervously, and around a bite of sandwich, I asked, "So, Joel, were you able to message the other family members about the incoming attack?" Joel looked at me with a serious expression, changing instantly from lighthearted uncle Joel, to the serious and grim, uncle Joel, the Demon Hunter.

"Yes, we were able to contact the other ponies that are in the area to help fend off the demon's strike force." Two ponies that I hadn't seen before stepped out from behind me, like they were on cue to come out as he said "other ponies". One was a dark unicorn stallion with a emerald mane that looked like the back of his neck was leaking fire. The other, an emerald colored, dark-maned, unicorn mare, her hair looking like living flames as well. Both of them looked like they had seen a few battles before. They both had battle scars across their sides and hooves. The stallion had a scar across his left eye, which was a shade of useless grey. His other eye was a bright, healthy shade of blue. The mare had a scar across her right eye, also a shade of useless grey, her other eye being a healthy shade of purple. I wondered to myself if they did that on purpose.

"Spell," Joel started, "These are some family friends. Meet the brother and sister mercenaries, Salem and Sabrina Flamebreak." He said with a dramatic tone, like he unveiled a great invention to a large group of important scientists. I glanced at their cutie marks. Salem's was a green fireball, while Sabrina's was a black fireball. I mentally shrugged. I guess they were made to fight together. I assumed with a name like Flamebreak they were skilled in fire magic. Cautiously, I introduced myself. "Hi, I'm Spellflash Darkheart." I said calmly in their direction, without looking up from my half-eaten sandwich. It didn't feel right looking at them directly. Like they were some kind of royalty and I wasn't worthy to look upon them directly. Sensing a large magical power in both of them, I assumed that this was why I didn't want to look at them directly.

"Hello Spellflash." Salem said, looking at me. "We've heard much about you from your uncle. It's a great tragedy, what has befallen you." he expressed, with some displeasure in his voice. I supposed that Joel and Sophie had told them everything. "So, I guess you were friends with my parents?" I asked, finally getting enough courage together to face them directly. "Yes," Sabrina said, "We were, your father was a great stallion, one of the best Demon Hunters I've seen. Your mother, one of the best medics I had the pleasure of being healed by." She said, gesturing at her left foreleg, with her right, implying it had been broken, or something serious like that, I wasn't sure.

I nodded slowly, understanding the weight of their pain of losing best friends. I noticed they both had identical amulets around their necks, about the size of a filly's horseshoe, with brilliantly colored rainbow colored gems in a circular pattern, which glowed occasionally with an almost searing intensity. Noting their probable importance, I decided to ask about them. "Those are some pretty necklaces you have there." I commented nonchalantly.

"Oh these?" said Salem. "They bind our powers together. We share our magical energy, like one being. Just like our connection as brother and sister." Sabrina chimed in, unexpectedly. So that's how they were so powerful together. I supposed that the further apart they were, the weaker they both were, and the light coming from the amulets would become softer, until they were far enough apart that they only were supported by their own power. I made a mental note about those amulets in the back of my mind. Assuming that there were many magical artifacts that I hadn't even seen yet, that were probably even more powerful than the amulets, my mind reeled at the thought of possessing some.

"Okay," Joel said, getting to business. "Tha turrets and barricades are set up around tha perimeter of tha house, which we set up while Spell was sleepin'. The cavalry is gathered. Looks like we are mostly prepared to fight this out." "What do you mean 'mostly'?" I asked. Joel turned to face me. "You aren't ready for this. You need some defensive spell training. Come to the basement and we can fix that right up. Oh, and bring that book with you. You're going to need it." Joel said, leaving the kitchen. "Well, I guess I got some training to do." I said, rubbing my hooves together. "Good luck." said Salem and Sabrina at the same time. "Work hard." beamed Sophie.

I finished my sandwich, left the kitchen, and went to the living room table. I grabbed the book and followed him to the basement. Upon arriving to the basement, I found Joel standing next to a bushel of apples. Puzzled, I walked to the opposite side of the basement, facing him. "Okay, Spell. Here's how it's going ta work. I'm gonna throw apples at ya and ya are gonna throw up a shield spell ta deflect it." Joel explained. I nodded, knowing that I was going to impress him again. I had used a variation of the spell he described on Curse-Bearer.

"Ready? Think fast!" He said as threw an apple at me. Thinking quickly, I quickly drew a circle in my mind and inlaid the words "Eu'teno", "Ujou'nf", "Toh'noev" and set it in front of me. A dark colored curtain of magic power appeared in front of me, the outside edges folding in on itself, creating a dome. The apple hit my shield, stopped for a second, making it ripple, then sent it back with double the speed he threw it, nearly hitting him, but he dodged out of the way, looking surprised and satisfied with the spell I had laid before him. The apple hit the wall behind him, splattering apple chunks and juice across the wall, then slowly slid down it.

"Okay, Spell, ya' know how ta use shield spells." Joel admitted, proudly. "Ah guess we can move on." We trained for about a half an hour in this fashion. He started throwing the apples faster and more of them at a time. All of which bounced off my shield easily. With only one apple left in the bushel and apple guts and sticky juice littering his basement, he decided to stop. "Ahright." Joel said, panting. "We're done. Let's go upstairs."

I dropped my shield and turned to leave. Just as I put my back to Joel I felt an apple hit me in the back of my head. I fell to the ground and started to cry. "One lesson about demons, Spell. Never turn your back to your opponent." "Yeah, Joel, I know." I released the circle I drew that I had previously set directly under him, inlaid with the words "Eu'teno" and "N'tuuyp". "All according to plan." I told him, arrogantly. "Heh, yer better than ah thought. Tha apple bounced off instead of smashed, so ya had an armor spell on as well. Well done, Spell, ah think yer ready ta fight. Now, release tha spell so we can go suit up." He requested, gesturing at the magic barrier preventing him from moving. "Of course, uncle." I smirked. I released the spell, then we went upstairs together, as fellow Demon Hunters.