A Fiend's Game

///LEVEL 2 Heads Down///

Val walked through the forest, carrying an unconscious mare before him. She was surprisingly light, even for her size. She stopped crying some time ago, and now her breath was quiet and steady. It seemed that she was simply sleeping now.

In the meantime, walking became a bit harder for Val, for a very strange reason.

[Rall? There is something wrong with me.]

[What now? I'm trying to figure out how badly this whole ordeal messed up your head.] In his sealspace, Ral held a strange green microscheme that fell out from one of the computers. He looked inside the system block, to find out that its place was taken over by a new, shiny one. [I wonder what this does. Anyway, what's the problem?]

[I have a boner, and I do not know why.]

[Oh...] Ral touched the new microscheme and tried to get a general feel of it with whatever limited magic he had. It felt strange, but also cleared up things a bit. [I think I know what is wrong. Say, what do you feel when you look at the naked woman.]

[Umm... Arousal?]

[Exactly.]

[I do not see how is that relevant right now.]

[Well, there is one right before you. She apparently doesn't wear any clothes.]

[... You've gotta be shitting me. I am not into little horsey-things!]

[You are now. Whatever that was, it replaced your attraction towards humanoid women with attraction towards these little horsey-things. Would be great if that applies to females only.]

[Well, fuck.] What else there was to say?

Val looked down to the mare in his hands. Her features smoothed, free of fear now. She looked kind of cute like this, curled in his embrace. Val gulped and tried to get these thoughts away. However a skin contact denied him that. He felt the fur of her coat under his hands, and the feel was pleasant in more ways that it should have been … .

o--(==========-

Twilight slowly came back to her senses. She felt something holding her tightly. Carefully, she opened her eye and looked at the monster. Its face, lit by uneven moonlight was somehow different from before. That wicked grin was gone, and now his face looked determined. It would seem that it was carrying her somewhere, maybe its lair, to finish what it started … . Twilight tried hard not to shrug, not to make a sound, to avoid alerting the creature. She decided to try and run away as soon as this being would release its hold on her.

"You woke up." A quiet voice said.

Twilight couldn't help, but tense up. She tried to curl up, pressing legs to her body, and shut her eyes tight.

"No need to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. Not anymore. I am sorry. I truly am — sorry… ."

She felt a wet drop on her body, and opened her eyes in surprise. The monster was crying.

"Why?" Her voice was weak. She barely had any strength, and realized that at this point any attempt at running away would be an instant failure.

"I got possessed by a demon, and didn't hold it back. I am sorry." He repeated. "I will accept any punishment you, or your people would bestow on me."

That was strange. The monsters speech completely different now. And the thing it was saying — possessed by a demon and didn't hold back? Sounds like a typical excuse of a loony criminal. 'A voice made me do it!'. If that is so, then it could revert to a previous state any moment now. Better try and use this time to find out more about this creature. Maybe find a way to fight it. She decided to be careful in her questions though, since she did not knew what could provoke it again.

"Who are you?" She tried to shift in his grasp, but apparently she still was too weak for that. She felt him move his hands carefully around her, making her more comfortable. His hand held on her left shoulder now. She looked up at him again, noticing that he was wiping his tears away, using fabric on his shoulder.

"My name is Valianir Zimmer. I belong to a race of Vireny, and I am a fiendmaster. May I ask who are you then?"

"Twilight Sparkle. A pony, Ponyville's librarian." She answered. He answered her question, so it would only be fair if she would answer his. Not like he would be able to gain any advantage from that knowledge. "You said you would agree to any punishment, why is that?"

"Because I am guilty." A simple answer.

"Even if said punishment would be spending a thousand years on the moon?" She didn't knew why did she asked that last question. A strange chain of associations perhaps?

"Yes. But that would hardly be a proper punishment. Your moon is beautiful."

Their moon? What did he meant by that? Against her better judgment, she decided to pry further into the issue. "Why are you so willing to accept it? Wouldn't it be logical for you to run away?"

"What would it change? I can not run from myself. I know what I did. I took your power — I am sorry" He sniffed, suppressing more tears and collecting himself. "I know that what I did could not be redeemed, but know that I will do anything you want."

It appeared to Twilight that he believed he took away her magic power for good. Terrified, she reached into herself, and sighed in relief. Her magical potential was still there. Her energy reserves however were nearly dry. She hardly could light a candle or lift a book in this state. It already started to replenish itself the usual way though. She held herself from telling him that the damage was not permanent. Who knew how he will react? But what will happen when he finally finds out? She decided that it would be better to be surrounded by ponies when this would happen. Hand him over to the guards, he suggested this himself, would be the best solution.

"If what you're saying is true, bring me back to Ponyville then."

"Ponyville? You said you are librarian there. Is that where you came into the forest from?"

"Yes. It should be located... Huh?" She finally realized he was carrying her in the general direction of the town.

"How did you know where to carry me?"

"I just followed the same direction from where you came from. I figured I could get you to your people that way."

Twilight shifted her head, trying to get a better view of surroundings. She noticed a change in the ground, and that a more swamp-specific plants were growing around, confirming her suspicion. She heard splashes of water nearby.

"Stop. If you have headed straight to where I came from, then we should be near the bog. We should head there." She waved her hoof. "And find a road."

"Okay." Val agreed, and wanted to say something else, but suddenly a roar interrupted him. He looked in the direction it came from. There, from a body of water a thick snake-like head began to rise.

"Why are you standing still? Run!" Twilight tried to shake him, to get his attention. But Val had another idea. Carefully, he laid her on the grass and took of his jacket, putting it over her, then turned around. The air around him began to glow with a dim blue light. The Hound still was with him, unsealed and free. And it would not understand why its alpha suddenly ran from a fight.

Another monster appeared near the first one. Now two heads were spying him, clearly figuring out a better moment to attack. A third monster followed suit.

"Damn. It's starting to get a bit crowded here." His armor went offline right after the explosion, but it would seem he still had access to some of its features. He unreeved his Spellsinger and shotgun, making them appear in his hands.

As the first monster decided to initiate the attack, it roared and headed straight for the young man, but instead of a meal it got a facefull of buckshot. It roared in pain and backed away. Val expected a shotgun to deal at least some noticeable damage at this distance, but it would seem that this beast had much thicker skin than he anticipated. The shot ripped part of its skin away, along with its left eye, but it seemed more enraged now.

"That didn't go well."

Twilight couldn't help but watch with amazement, as Valianir Zimmer dodged hydra's attacks, periodically cursing and taunting the beast. His moves were smooth and fast, as if he danced with the dangerous being. She did not understand why did he act this way, but somehow felt there was a reason to it. She thought about an unusual artifact he used. It looked like a weapon, sure it won't do that much damage to the hydra, famous for their regenerative abilities, but still — and that glow around him. It was similar to the glow around a horn when a unicorn used magic, but at the same time it did not. This glow was — she could not find a better word than ‘smokey.’ It wavered and shifted, as the Vireny moved around. The artifact in his other hand flashed.

"Good, now lets try this!" He dodged the monster once again, making it jaw strike the grass. Why wasn't it coming out of water? Was it too bound to its natural habitat? The monsters were getting hang of it though. They figured out his tactic and started to act together, two of them covering the obvious routes to dodge the attacks of a third one. He was able to out maneuver them, thanks to Hound's agility.

Next time they initiated an attack, they came at him from three sides. Val did not dodge in either side, as he did before. Instead he leaped high into the air, pointing his Spellsinger down. With a click of a trigger he unleashed a spell onto unlucky monster. Struck by "iceblast", its head turned into a nice ice statue. On his way down, he focused his will on his fist, manifesting The Hound's paw, and as he descended, he put all of Hound's strength, combined with an inertia of the fall into a devastating attack, breaking a frozen head to tiny bits.

The other two monsters roared, witnessing the death of their own kin. He was too reckless. While he enjoyed his victory one of the monsters managed to get closer to him without him noticing. It attacked him from above, trying to swallow him whole. On pure instincts, Val pulled his shotgun upwards, and fired a hollow shot, making a kinetic blast throw the hungry maw away.

The creature flailed its head around, trying to shrug off the effect of the shot. It seemed like the blast broke its neck... And then its head fell off, showing a clean cut, without a trace of blood coming from it.

"What." Val watched as the body of a monster stood up from the water. He looked at his first enemy. The part of its neck lied there along with frozen remains of a head, cleanly cut like the second one. All of these serpents were connected to a single body, and it had one more head, that was looking at him with fear. Two remaining heads roared, then the beast turned around on its two stumpy legs and started to walk away.

Val frowned and tried to chase the thing to finish it off, but a quiet voice stopped him.

"Don't. Please don't kill it. You hurt it enough already." Twilight's voice was pleading. She sounded as if she was about to cry. Why would she care about a thing that just tried to eat them? Val knew the answer. Her personality was already formed. She was a priestess, and priests never enjoy seeing harm done, even if it was on an enemy. Erica was a special case... Erica. What would she think about him if she saw him right now? What would she say?

He reeved back his weapons, sending them into a folded space, put on his jacked, then picked up Twilight.

She grabbed onto him.

"You walked into its home." She said accusingly.

"I guess I did. I didn't knew though." Val answered indifferently.

"Why did you had to fight it if I clearly told you to run?" She continued.

"Because one of my demons is still around, unchecked. And running from a fight is a best way to irritate it. You don't want to deal with an irritated demon. I think you had enough dealing with one before."

That comment made her remember... She sniffed, and started to cry quietly.

"I'm sorry. I'm an idiot - I shouldn't have said that." He placed his hand on her cheek, wiping away her tears. Her cheek felt warm. He held his hand in place, letting this feeling of warmth sink in, then came to his senses and pulled it away.

o--(==========-

"I am sorry okay?" Valianir Zimmer looked into her eyes. Surprisingly for her, his touch didn't elicit any bad memories. On a contrary, it was pleasant and soothing. Twilight sighed.

"I forgive you. For that. You said that you will do anything I ask of you, so if I tell you to do something next time, please do as I say." She still was not sure if this would work.

"Alright. Now, where did you said I should go?"

"There." She showed him. "A road leads straight to Ponyville, you can't miss it."

As Valianir carried her down the road, she thought about what she saw back there, during a fight. The glow around him was certainly magical, but he was not a unicorn, and how much magic did it take him to make his whole body glow? The only times she saw him actually doing magic, was when he jumped, and when he made his arm grow into a blue shining paw. The other times were clearly an effects of his weapons, what were those, and where did he put them? He said he was a ‘fiendmaster,’ but what exactly is a ‘fiendmaster?’

She wanted answers, but now was neither time, nor place to ask questions. She had to get home first… .

o---{>=L=O=A=D=I=N=G=-