ESF: The Terror of Crowley

"I'm sorry, Princess. The First what?" I asked in shock. Luna nodded. Everyone was sitting down in booths now. Sunset next to me, Crystal and Mocha in on booth with Valerium on the other side, Joy and Soul in another, Paradise and breeze in the one behind them, along with me and Sunset in front. Luna sighed.

"The First Blade. It's a blade fashioned to destroy anything evil, including demons. However, the blade is useless without a mark known as the Mark of Cain." She explained. Suddenly, my brain clicked, causing me to gasp.

"The Mark of Cain?!" I exclaimed. Luna nodded. Everypony looked at me, confused. I straightened my jacket's collar and cleared my throat. "The Mark of Cain is said to be a holy object, and it can only be given by somepony who is worthy. try to strike down said pony, the Mark obliterates you completely." I explained. Mocha gulped.

"So, If one of us had the Mark, we'd be invincible?" She asked. I shook my head.

"No, you can still be killed if you're not paying attention. Like Luna said, without the Mark, the blade is useless. Once somepony holds the blade, they feel a tremendous surge of power, and strength. Basically, nothing can stop them. Now, we need that blade to kill Crowley, assuming he hasn't possessed Galaxy yet." I hoped. Unfortunately, Crowley was just about to possess our friend. Galaxy was tied to a chair once again, with Lucifer smirking.

"Are you ready, Crowley?" He asked. The King of Hell nodded. Galaxy gulped as red smoke emerged from Crowley's mouth and surged into his own. Galaxy coughed as his eyes turned a blood red, his irises red as well. Lucifer gulped. "Crowley, is that you?" He asked. Galaxy looked at him.

"Yes, it is." He smirked. "Hmm, odd. I seem to have retained Nebula's voice. Ah, well. It'll fool the guards even better." He chuckled. "Now, help me out of these shackles. I can't even move with them binding me." He snapped. Lucifer nodded. Soon, Crowley, who was in my friend's body, was free. OK, you know what? I'm just going to stick with Galaxy's name so there's no confusion, alright? Are we all settled? Good. Now, let us continue. Late that night, there were a few royal guards patrolling the streets of Ponyville. Anypony caught without a note from the princess saying they could be out at night would be sent to the palace for questioning. Celestia made it as a security measure so no new villains could do any harm. Galaxy and Lucifer managed to sweep past all of them.

"The palace is just this way. Does the train run late at night?" Lucifer asked. Galaxy nodded.

"Yes. I've put Galaxy's subconscious self to sleep so I can access his memories. He has no clue I'm in here." Galaxy smirked. Meanwhile, a few of us, Mocha, Sunset, Crystal, Valerium, Luna, and myself, were searching for the First Blade.

"Princess, are you sure you know where it is?" Val asked. Luna nodded.

"I was the pony who hid it long ago. Only I know it's exact location." She said. Mocha tried guessing.

"Is it Dragon's Cove, by any chance?" She asked. Me and Luna both looked shocked, her more than myself.

"How did you know that?!" Luna gasped. Mocha smiled.

"Just a hunch." She s'queed. Luna rolled her eyes and trugded on, the rest of us following behind here, with Paradise and Breeze.

"Do you think Safari is still there?" Breeze asked Paradise, who was not amused.

"Breezy, you need to get over him." She said. Breeze sighed.

"Oh, you're right. We'll just end up fighting over him again." She admitted. Soon, we reached Dragon's Cove. There was just one minor setback. Dragons were running loose everywhere. A pegasus shot by us with his tail on fire, hooping and hollering his lungs out. I cringed as the poor sap whacked himself right into an unsuspecting tree. I walked up to Luna.

"So, where's the Blade, exactly?" I asked. She pointed straight ahead, towards the Dragon's Cave. My heart did a leap. "There?! Are you out of your bloody mind!" I exclaimed. Last time we came here, we nearly all died trying to get the Thaumaturgy Gemstone. Luna was serious.

"It was the only place Crowley could not find it. Let us not linger and press on. We are close to our destination." Luna explained. crystal gulped. She wasn't with us the last time we were here, so to her, this adventure was spooky.

"If it saves my Gal-Gal, then I'm in." She said. I almost threw up. Gal-Gal? I asked myself. Apparently Crystal had a nickname for Galaxy as well, and it wasn't just Peaches, either. We trundled on, hoping nothing would block our path. Unfortunately, somepony did. It was Safari, looking older than last we met him. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw us.

"What in the name of all sanity are you doing back here?!" He demanded as he trotted up. "Do you not see all the dragons loose!" He asked us. Breeze put a hoof over his muzzle.

"Safari, I'm only saying this once." She said seriously. Safari nodded. "We came here to get a little thing called 'The First Blade'. Princess Luna here thinks it might help defeat a red eyed demon named Crowley. Making sense so far?" She asked. Safari nodded again. "Now, we need to go into the cave to retrieve it, and you are not stopping us from saving our friend and killing Crowley, got it?" Breeze threatened. Safari nodded once more and took off running scared.

"Huh. You know, in my head, I was expecting a completely different reaction from him." I admitted. Paradise agreed. Mocha looked ahead. We were at the ledge we came to last time to get across. "Alright, who's carrying who? Normally, Galaxy would carry me, but he's not here, so...." I stated. Crystal lifted me up by my jacket. "Hey, watch my jacket, Crystal!" I told her. She blushed nervously. I was basically the only earth pony here. Everyone else could fly, and Mocha and my wife both knew teleportation spells. Soon we were across, staring right into the Cave's mouth.

"Once more unto the breach." Mocha gulped. I nodded. Valerium flew close to Mocha, and we all stayed close as we all trotted in to the cave, unaware what we would find.