Inferno's Fireby Y-T-MellonChaptersPrologue: The Arrival of FlamesChapter 1: A Typical DayChapter 2: The FillyChapter 3: The Kiddo Comes BackPrologue: The Arrival of FlamesThunder rumbled through the skies, dark clouds boomed and thundered, seas crashed on land, earth shook in violent movements, and winds rushed fast into hurricanes! All of nature was disturbed. A god has fallen. In the court of Heaven, everyone shouted in anger, some shout in delight and pleasure. Some only grieved. "Order! Order!" Number Eight yelled. Everyone quieted down. "I know what has happened before us, our seventh dreamlord has fallen," he continued. The other six gods and goddesses known as dreamlords nodded. "We need to find an heir! Someone who is like him! We need someone who is powerful enough in spirit to handle this task!" He finishes. Everyone murmured, unsure of what to do. Until, one hand went up. Number Six, the water god, had an idea of who should be Number Seven. "I hath an idea my lord," he stated. Number Eight leaned in close as he could from his table. "I know a mortal named Inferno Firebrave! He is thou's best choice." Number Eight hummed in thought to himself. "Very well, send for this Inferno mortal, and be sure to make thy's haste." Number Six nodded before water arose from the ground, enveloped him, and teleports him elsewhere. In Trotingham, a bat pony with a dark red coat and an orange wild mane sighed while he put his mug down. "Another good sir," I said. The bartender huffed as one pony came up behind me. "Tell Jock I said bite me," I mumble as I felt the presence of a glare. "Boss wants ye now ya lazy twot!" The Trotstan accented brute stallion said. "And I say screw off ye bastard!" I replied back, mocking his accent. The back of my shirt was grabbed and I was thrown to the floor with a loud thud. I got up to brush off my shoulder. The Trotstan stallion rushed up to me. I merely side step and elbowed the back of his head, and I grabbed his mane to yank him backwards. Once he was about to fall down, I quickly punched him in the face to make him stay down. "Any other asswhole willing to fight me and get screwed up, or am I done?" I asked. As I suspected, some moron walks up. "Alright, more bruises to give then," I muttered. The stallion in front of me got out a knife he size of my middle finger. I give a mock terrified expression. "Oh Luna! It's my greatest fear! Small knives!" I yelled. He rushed at me, knife pointed towards me. I quickly grabbed his hand and directed the knife into his stomachs. I sucker punched him with my left hand. He falls to the floor, blood was escaping his body. "It's what they all use," I say walking around. I sat down when the ponies around me lost interest ever so suddenly. Or so I thought. A weird looking guy walks up. He had an aqua blue coat and a greenish blue mane. He had jeans and a light blue t-shirt. He comes up and sat beside me. I took a swig from a mug of beer next to me and cleared my throat. "So, you're name's Inferno right?" He asked. I glance at him and looked back at my mug. "Who wants to know Mr Stalker?" I asked sarcastically. "You have a reputation of being a judge of sorts. Eight years. You're twenty eight. What made you do it?" He asked. I looked at him, unamused. "If you knew how long I did this then you should know why. Don't think it's me being a hero or something, I'm obviously not that. Anyway Mr Stalker, anything else to tell me that I already know or do you have something actually important to tell me?" I asked, taking a bigger swig from my mug of beer. "Follow me, I want to test you," he said. I paused and smirked. "Two things, first I'm into mares. Second, what could you possibly want to test on me? My fighting style? Or are you just going to try and backstab me. Either way, you won't make me move," I state. I close my eyes and took the last sip of beer. When I opened my eyes, I almost choked on the drink. I was in a court room of sorts, surrounded by seven enormously tall ponies. All of them had a robe on, but all of them were different colors. "Okay, dude, I must have been hitting the beer very strongly if I'm this drunk." "Mr Inferno, you stand before all the gods and goddesses of this world. You are summoned because you are our prime candidate to be the seventh dreamlord, the dreamlord of Fire. You are our best hope in being the Fire Lord. How do you plea on this matter?" The stallion in a white robe asked, standing behind a table. I scoffed. "A god? That sounds cool and all, but I'm sure you got the wrong guy. I'm a wash out drunk who spends his days living off of morons who fight me," I said. I turn to leave, but a huge floating sword pointed towards me makes me halt. "Thou must first hear the opinions of thy jury," the white robe stallion said. I raise my eyebrow at why he decided to talk old all of a sudden. "I don't think he is fit for it Number Eight, he mocks what we stand for," the mare in brown robes said. I shrug. "I agree, he is childish and rude," the mare in green said. I nod. "I dunno, I saw his fighting, he is as the mortals normally say, 'Graceful as a butterfly, stings like a bee,'" the familiar sounding Aqua robed dude said. "I say we give him a chance, he's able body and strong minded," the mare in grey said. I smirked. "I do not approve of his status right now, but I think he'll be better if we work on him," a stallion in purple robes said. "I agree, maybe he'll amount to something," the black robed stallion said. Number Eight nods, "Then it is done, Inferno, you are hereby the new ruler of Fire!" He exclaims. After a few months of training in Heaven, I'm sent to Hell. Literally. My stone throne was rather comfy as I look out onto the place of fire. I have a new secretary name Devlin. He keeps track of would I judge and capture. I'll let some go to heaven, but if they're bad, they say bye to happy times. All in all, my job sucks. Most of the time, I have to capture the soul and hear them scream. To capture a soul, I need to be beside the being, and make it die. If I don't, they keep living, and most of the time they'll heal thanks to pony magic. On the bright side, I have new powers! I can summon fire solely on will, and summon special fire golems or demons to do my bidding. Another part of my job is pretty much police work. I investigate stuff that are suspicious and if it gets too big, I have to handle it discreetly. I'm good at that job. It's one of the best jobs in the world! About another few months later, we all had a group meeting. It's very rare. We all gathered to discuss topics on our job. After my initiation for the dreamlord of Fire, we all wore modern clothes. I made friends with the dreamlord of wind and water. Eris was wind's name, and Aquas was the water's name. It was ironic all in all. The rest of them, except Number Eight, kind of despised me. Eight on the other hand was like a father to me. He didn't favor anyone, but he supported me during my training. Once the meeting was over, we all went our separate ways. I was becoming more and more lazy during my job when it came to capturing souls, but I never shirked my detective work. I grew very powerful as well. Soon, I was declared as the Ultimate Judge, and I started to do a little more work. I wasn't as lazy, but I wasn't hard working either. Soon, Angels and Demons, funnily enough, tried to decide if I was a bad guy or a good guy. They decided, that I was neither. It was true all in all. I guess I'm happy that I'm not a villain, but I'm also kinda happy that I'm not a hero either. It's weird, but it makes sense. Chapter 1: A Typical DayGlass breaks as I was literally drop kicked out the window. I groan as I get up, two ponies a foot and a half taller than me seem to be not satisfied yet. "Get up Inferno, we ain't done yet!" Dipshit one says. "Good, I was wanting a warm up," I say. I sidestep from a punch and make a shotgun gesture with my fingers to blast a ball of fire. It hits the ugly mug's face, burning the skin. He screams in small agony but I shrug. "Illegal spell books being sold in your care is a sign that says you'll have a happy-go-lucky lawyer," I say. I walk over and grab the guys head. I bring it down into my knee, hearing a thud as his face met it. "One for the money," I shot his leg with fire magic. "Two for the pleasure," I lift my leg as my arm went under it to throw a fireball at his other leg. "Three to be steady," I got out my sword, which morphs into a whip. With a flick of my wrist, his head is wrapped in the first clutches. "And four for good measure!" I jerk my arm back, spinning the guy like a top. Once he slows down, he topples over. "Now stay down while I deal with your..." I trail off as I see the other moron's not there. "Oh... Brother... Well, guess I'll have to go ahead and get you to jail. Capiche?" I ask. He only groans in response. "Good, I'll chase your brother in a little bit," I say. I teleport us with my shadow magic. He lays in a stone bed, groaning in pain as he recovers from my harsh judgement. It's my judgement anyway. I teleport again, appearing in an alleyway, the little brother at the end. He keeps a fighting stance. "Bitch please, if I beat up your brother like it was nothing, how much of a better chance do you have?" I ask. He keeps his stance, shaking slightly. "Alright then, come at me bro," I say nonchalantly. He rushes toward me, swinging his fist. I easily duck and lunge forward, knocking him over. He falls over in surprise as I start rubbing my hands together. I got some shadow magic warmed up and put my hands on his head. The oaf got up, rubbing his head as he wonders where he is. He looks up and yelps in surprise. He sees a four story tall version of me, eyes black with red pupils, blood seeming like tears. My fanged smile didn't falter in striking fear as there was blood dripping out, soaking my coat and leaving blood stains a little darker. My mane is on fire, and I look badass all in all. He sees me as a demon and starts backing up. "Rocker Knocker, you stand before the judge of moral, rights, and ideals, how do you plea in you and your brother's crimes?" I ask. He shakily kneels, in a begging position. "Please! I-I didn't want to do it, my big brother forced me to! He said if I didn't, then he'd kill me before I went to the police!" He says, sobbing during the end. I look into his very soul to see if he's telling the truth. This part always manages to trip me up with my shadow magic. It's like watching a character in a tv show read a book, and the book would be doing vice versa. It's very easy to get lost in memories and realms if you forget where you are. I stand in a weird living room, the lugs standing and arguing. "I'm not gonna do it man! I'm going to the police!" The younger one said. "No, if you do, I'm gonna slit your throat in your sleep!" The older one yelled. The younger one scoffed and started walking, but the older guy grabbed his shoulder, and took out a pocket knife. He turned the brother and put the knife one inch from his neck. "Do not test my patience brother, I know you are a hippy, but we're gonna do this, got it. We need to pay back the asswhole who gave us the goods, got it?" He asks. I back out of both realms, and stumble off of the giant. "Damn, my head hurts," he muttered. "Sorry kiddo, you're free now. If someone troubles you, contact me," I say, giving him a card with an emblazed skull with horns and cross bones, I dissappear quickly and appear in the jail cell. The bigger brother looked up, giving me the death glare. "Not helping your hopeless case," I mock. I swing my fist across his face, pay back for the drop kick. This was my job, go get bad guys that are not of the mortal realm and bring them to jail. The guys I just dealt with? They're technically midgets where they were originally from. They were earth giants. Now, If they are deemed to be evil enough for Hell, which the big oaf is, they go. Of course, most of the time, they go to Hell. I like the part where the bad dude gets to see a court other than mine, everyone has heard of my special court, sadly, my court is an on the fly kind of thing. The court they see is also run by me, except they don't crap their pants. Maybe they still do, but I don't notice. There are rules in my court room, rule one: Never say anything false. That's a given. Rule two: If I see you act very poorly, or interrupt me, I will not take it lightly and back slap you. Rule three: If the defendant is assaulted, criticized, or insulted, the one responsible will be escorted or put on trial as well. No exceptions. Four: No bribing. And Five is the most important one: If the defendant attacks anyone, I will send them to a room of nightmares before sending them to hell. It's all fair all in all. After I was done giving the verdict to the big brother, I teleport to my stone throne. I hold my book in one hand, and a mug of cider in another. The cider was from a real cool place called Ponyville. I met a few ponies, real nice bunch. I smile at the memory and continue reading. My secretary Devlin came up. "Master Inferno! You astound me by being as lazy as you are!" He shrieks. He's a below average sized demon, dark red like my fur. He has two yellow eyes, and leathery wings. I respect him. He's been my companion for all this time so far. I don't really show my respect, but anyone who talked to me like that had a good fight coming. I set the insult aside. "Oh really? What'd I do this time?" I ask knowingly. Steam shoots out the pointed ears he has on the sides of his head. His arrow tipped tail straightened whenever he's frustrated. "You have to collect two thousand and sixteen souls! Do you think I like to spend my day counting the souls you did not get!?" He yells. I sigh. "Devlin, most of them are innocent though." "It does not matter! I do not care if they're innocent! Nobody does! They have to die eventually!" He yells. I nod. "Don't get me wrong, I collect innocent souls, but only if they were in much pain like fatal wounds and cancer," I say. Devlin takes in a deep breathe and sighs. I return to my book while he speaks. "Inferno, don't get me wrong, but I understand you don't necessarily like this job. In fact, I know you started being lazy after the... Incident. I know it was hard, but he needed to go. No one would have made a different choice," he says, trying to pep talk me into it. I huff. "It wasn't my choice Devlin, it was my job," I reply. He sighs. "Inferno, that's just it, no one else will do it, it is your job. I won't do it because I'm not strong enough." I scoff, getting a cigar. Lighting it with my thumb, I spoke one line, trying to be dramatic. "If I'm supposed to be strong to do it, then how come I'm not?" I ask. I groan as the alcohol burns up in my cup. "You're destined to do this Inferno! You are the only bat pony able to do this!" Devlin says. I smirk through my cigar. "So I was destined to take souls, nice encouragement. I'm going down to Equestria, Canterlot. I'll see you later Devlin," I say. Before he can reply or protest, I use my fire magic to dissappear thanks to being consumed by smoke. I use shadowy transport to transport short distances, fire magic was pretty powerful, so I could literally teleport at the end of the universe. I tried it once, it wasn't pleasant. The sad part was I was stupid enough to do it in the first place. At least I got my ten bucks. Chapter 2: The FillyI walk about Canterlot, roaming through the shops and merchants. I hope Devlin is okay. Devlin is like the friend who nags you constantly because you're lazy, but he's helpful and patient. Well, maybe not "patient" patient, but he's got some straws to pull before the last one. I suddenly stop, noticing something odd. There's a little filly, dark pink coat with a light violet mane with some blue eyes, in front of me with a face of fear. "Um... Hi?" I say. She scampers off to the alleyway. I tilt my head, unsure of what that was. I look a little to the right to see a big shadowy figure, and I squint. If I look hard enough, I can see what non-mortal being it is. It's a... I have no freaking clue on what the hell that thing is. Maybe it's a mortal, one that has a spell charm that deflects my vision. Mortals sort of know about the eight dreamlords. They know we were gods with extraordinary psychic abilities, which we still have, and that Celestia and Luna have met them. Celestia gave the original eight the name. I came in a lot later. I follow the suspicious stallion, noticing he's trying to catch up to the filly. I blink to see if he'sactually there, and he was. The filly's in his grasp and his smile sickening. He was about to stab an innocent child. I feel my blood boil and cough loudly. He drops his smile into a smirk and looks behind himself. "Oh hello young guy, don't worry, it'll be quick for her," he says. He pulls the knife up, and muffle the filly with the other hand. I got out my whip, wrapped his wrist and yanked him to fall in front of me. He drops his smirk into gritting baring teeth. "I'll make sure she gets to see you die fir-" I stomped his stomach to make him shut up. "Dude, new generation means new rules, one new rule is you don't have to listen to some boring chit chat," I wise crack. I pick up the man and flung him to the wall. "Another rule, if I'm the one that saw a crime," I smile like a lunatic. "I'm the only judge you'll see," I say. I use my shadow magic to enter the judge realm for his verdict. I watch as two grown stallions fought. One was about to stab me, one was protecting me. I guess his joke was funny at least. My rescuer's a bat-pony, dark red with an orange mane. He had red slit eyes, and he sent chills up my spine. He wore a brown leather jacket, which had a skull with crossbones on the back. He looks like a twenty eight year old. My name is Amythist, my parents are dead, I'm twelve, and my life sucks. I now live with my uncle, who's nice. I wish I wasn't so shy though. I was scared to even talk to the rescuer when I first saw him. Now, he's still pretty scary, but he's also kind of cool! My train of thought was interrupted by a hand shaking my shoulders. "Hey, kiddo you okay? Did the guy hurt you?" My rescuer asks. I shook my head, staring at the stallion who was gonna hurt me, hugging his knees in a corner. "Good, now be safe alright?" The rescuer asks. I nod. He starts walking off, but I hug his leg. He stops and looks down at me. "Sorry kiddo, no free rides, although you are adorable." He shakes me off, and continues. I felt my fears heightened and ran over to hug him. My arms almost reach all around him, but I was a couple inches from holding my own hands. He looks down again and sighs. "Fine, where to kiddo?" He asks. I point over in a general area where my house is. I have a vivid picture of the red house in my head. Suddenly, I am getting picked up by the mystery pony and he smirks. Soon, I'm in a piggy back position, and we're at the house. This puzzles me, because it took me half an hour to get to the shops, so why did it feel like seconds. He chuckles as I slid off of him and started heading home. I waved bye to him as he walks off, holding the p-sign. I get inside, embracing the feeling of warmth and home. Well, it was rather an okay home, I don't have any parents, but my brother takes care of me just fine. He works from nine to five in a cafe, waiting on the normal rich snobs. My big brother, Jem, looks at me as I enter. He rushes to me, anger in his eyes. "Where have you been?! I have been worried sick about you! Did that bully bother you again?! Cuz if he did I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind when I-" "Brother!" I yell to make him shut up. This is the most peaceful gesture I could muster. I walk over, and hug him. "I met a nice man today! I don't know his name but he saved me!" I say. My bigger brother leans down, his frown still there. "What did he save you from?" He asks. I gave him the full on info of what happened today. "...and then he just got me here!" I say. He groans. "Amythest, you can't just go around shops expecting to find adventure! Had it not been the goodwill of a stranger, you'd be dead by now! I mean dang Amythest, I love ya, but you drive me up the wall!" He says. I sighed, downcast. Jem hugs me with comfort and ruffles my hair. "It's okay this time though, this guy is... Okay I guess, but you have to get home quicker next time okay? Now, let's go get some dinner, I made some egg rolls today!" I groan as I heard that. He is definitely not the best cook. After dropping the kiddo off, I snicker as I return to the merchant filled street, seeing the rich noble snobs walk everywhere. One guy was a real crap, he says he's a prince when he's really a crappy uptight spoiled brat. I know this because I talked to him for five minutes. I hope I don't talk to him again. He has some sins crawling on his back, stuff that I'll find interesting in court. As I was holding my train of thought, said-pony happens to run into me. "Whatch it peasant!" He says. I stop and smirk as I turn to him. "You again! You seem to be as spoiled as ever! Tell me, did your little allowance go up by five thousand yet?" I sarcastically say. He huffs. "You again, why did I have to find someone as pitiful as you? Did your father giver her that jacket after he left to join the circus?" He asks with an insulting attitude. I scoff. "Yes, make fun of my parents, the ones who actually raised me right to be tough on this world. While your parents gave you a fake plastic toy kit, I got some work done while I was ten. You're almost thirty and still play with dolls!" I remark. He growls through gritted teeth. "Oh yeah? Do you want to settle this in a fair fight?" He asks. I sighed. "Wow, blunt as ever, okay," I say. A crowd of ponies gather around us, curious as to why we're fighting. Chapter 3: The Kiddo Comes Back"Long story short, the fight ended with me winning, but I got some complaints. Devlin would not shut up for about it for two days. Life was pretty much normal after that, kept being lazy, kept taking a few souls, and my secretary was annoying, but funny. So, how was Aquas' ten years?" I ask. Everyone around the court room in Heaven was frustrated. Aquas was smiling, Eris was pinching the bridge of her nose. Subterra, the earth god was looking pretty mad, Number Eight was devoid of any expression whatsoever, and everyone else was yelling. I let all of their insults hit me like they were pillows. "Order! Order! Inferno, please describe to me what this filly looked like again," Number Eight says. I scrunch my brows to try to remember. "Well, she was a unicorn, had a dark pink coat, light violet mane, and blue eyes. Why?" I ask. Number Eight sat, puzzled by something. I smirk. "She was an adorable little munchkin, and probably gives off middle fingers to everyone by now." "Do not mock this girl Inferno, she is vital to us," Number Eight says. I quickly shut up, Eris chuckling. "Do you know how old this girl is?" He asks. I look up to the ceiling in thought. "... Maybe she was twelve, maybe eleven," I say. Number Eight stands up, as did everyone else as we witness the action. "It is hereby decreed that there will be a bounty on her, and we will only accept her alive!" He yells. My heart skips a beat. "The reward is an ancient relic, and a new weapon!" I gasp along with everyone. An ancient relic was rather hard to find, and they posses rare and powerful magic. They are all unique, which makes it an amazing find. Those two items for some mare? "Get to her by any means necessary. If anything should happen to her by her captor, it will be sentenced to death to existence! We all fell silent. All this for one mare? Eight sits down and glares at all of us. "You may all go on to your daily lives," he says. I vanish instantly. Devlin picks up a book he has been wanting to read for two days now. He hasn't due to my laziness. He sits down on my throne, cozying up to the back of it. He opens his interesting book, and sighs in content. All this peacefulness was broken by me when I teleport inside, taking his book and throwing it to a random direction. "Devlin! No time for sleep! I need to find an individual with dark pink coat, light pink hair, blue eyes, and is between twenty to twenty four years old!" Istart rummaging through my chest behind the throne. Devlin catches up to reality and sighs. "Why?" He exhaustively says. "There is a bounty on her, two items, one's an ancient relic and one is a new weapon, custom made, and I know who she is! Come on, hit the books!" I say with one breath. Devlin grumbles to himself as he simply picks up a profile I had knocked over. "Here, now let me be with my book!" He yells. I catch the profile thrown to me and I vanish. Devlin sighs and goes over to pick up his book. "I'm too old for this crap," he says. I appear in Canterlot again, the markets being just as busy as last time. I scan the area, in search of the mare, I notice a certain pull. It wasn't my instincts, or any magically enhanced spectrum of my abilities. It was a tug on my mind, like my subconscience knows better. I follow the imaginary trail, as I had no other leads. As I was trekking on through the crowd of ponies, I notice a single mare over by the wall of a building. She has... actually I'm pretty sure you know what she looks like. I walk over to the targeted mare and start smoking a cigarette. "Smoking's bad for the lungs," she says. "Crowds are a little worse though right?" I ask. She scoffs and sat down. I sit down too, breathing out the smoke. "I was hoping to find trouble, but I guess that'll wait. So what's up with you?" I ask. She looks at me with sad eyes. I frown. "Why would you want to know?" She asks. I shrug. "One of the few things I'm interested in," I say. She shakes her head and starts crying. I get taken aback by this and I look around for any simple solutions. "Um, i-it's okay..." I try to soothe, but fail. "W-what's wrong?" I ask. "Everything!" She yells, scaring me. "My boyfriend dumped me for some plastic chick who was so fake! Then my big brother's in the hospital, I am about to lose my job and my home, and the rest of my family won't help because I'm 'unofficially' family, and to top it all freaking off, I'm being targeted by someone!" She screams. She breaks down and starts crying and sobbing, making her gain attention. I slowly scoot over and hug her. Not really knowing what to do, I shush her slightly as she cries into my chest. This has escalated rather quickly. "I must seem really pathetic now," she says, calming down a little. "How?" I ask. She looks up at me with a sad smile. "I barely even know you, but I'm crying on your shoulder," she says. "Everyone needs to vent from time to time," I say. She nods, wiping away some tears. I smirk. "If I had known any better, I'd say you are very familiar," I say. She looks at me puzzled. I shrug. "Food for thought, so what's your name?" I ask. "Kori, what about you?" She asks. "I'm Inferno." I had no idea that I had just formed the best bond in my own history.
Prologue: The Arrival of FlamesThunder rumbled through the skies, dark clouds boomed and thundered, seas crashed on land, earth shook in violent movements, and winds rushed fast into hurricanes! All of nature was disturbed. A god has fallen. In the court of Heaven, everyone shouted in anger, some shout in delight and pleasure. Some only grieved. "Order! Order!" Number Eight yelled. Everyone quieted down. "I know what has happened before us, our seventh dreamlord has fallen," he continued. The other six gods and goddesses known as dreamlords nodded. "We need to find an heir! Someone who is like him! We need someone who is powerful enough in spirit to handle this task!" He finishes. Everyone murmured, unsure of what to do. Until, one hand went up. Number Six, the water god, had an idea of who should be Number Seven. "I hath an idea my lord," he stated. Number Eight leaned in close as he could from his table. "I know a mortal named Inferno Firebrave! He is thou's best choice." Number Eight hummed in thought to himself. "Very well, send for this Inferno mortal, and be sure to make thy's haste." Number Six nodded before water arose from the ground, enveloped him, and teleports him elsewhere. In Trotingham, a bat pony with a dark red coat and an orange wild mane sighed while he put his mug down. "Another good sir," I said. The bartender huffed as one pony came up behind me. "Tell Jock I said bite me," I mumble as I felt the presence of a glare. "Boss wants ye now ya lazy twot!" The Trotstan accented brute stallion said. "And I say screw off ye bastard!" I replied back, mocking his accent. The back of my shirt was grabbed and I was thrown to the floor with a loud thud. I got up to brush off my shoulder. The Trotstan stallion rushed up to me. I merely side step and elbowed the back of his head, and I grabbed his mane to yank him backwards. Once he was about to fall down, I quickly punched him in the face to make him stay down. "Any other asswhole willing to fight me and get screwed up, or am I done?" I asked. As I suspected, some moron walks up. "Alright, more bruises to give then," I muttered. The stallion in front of me got out a knife he size of my middle finger. I give a mock terrified expression. "Oh Luna! It's my greatest fear! Small knives!" I yelled. He rushed at me, knife pointed towards me. I quickly grabbed his hand and directed the knife into his stomachs. I sucker punched him with my left hand. He falls to the floor, blood was escaping his body. "It's what they all use," I say walking around. I sat down when the ponies around me lost interest ever so suddenly. Or so I thought. A weird looking guy walks up. He had an aqua blue coat and a greenish blue mane. He had jeans and a light blue t-shirt. He comes up and sat beside me. I took a swig from a mug of beer next to me and cleared my throat. "So, you're name's Inferno right?" He asked. I glance at him and looked back at my mug. "Who wants to know Mr Stalker?" I asked sarcastically. "You have a reputation of being a judge of sorts. Eight years. You're twenty eight. What made you do it?" He asked. I looked at him, unamused. "If you knew how long I did this then you should know why. Don't think it's me being a hero or something, I'm obviously not that. Anyway Mr Stalker, anything else to tell me that I already know or do you have something actually important to tell me?" I asked, taking a bigger swig from my mug of beer. "Follow me, I want to test you," he said. I paused and smirked. "Two things, first I'm into mares. Second, what could you possibly want to test on me? My fighting style? Or are you just going to try and backstab me. Either way, you won't make me move," I state. I close my eyes and took the last sip of beer. When I opened my eyes, I almost choked on the drink. I was in a court room of sorts, surrounded by seven enormously tall ponies. All of them had a robe on, but all of them were different colors. "Okay, dude, I must have been hitting the beer very strongly if I'm this drunk." "Mr Inferno, you stand before all the gods and goddesses of this world. You are summoned because you are our prime candidate to be the seventh dreamlord, the dreamlord of Fire. You are our best hope in being the Fire Lord. How do you plea on this matter?" The stallion in a white robe asked, standing behind a table. I scoffed. "A god? That sounds cool and all, but I'm sure you got the wrong guy. I'm a wash out drunk who spends his days living off of morons who fight me," I said. I turn to leave, but a huge floating sword pointed towards me makes me halt. "Thou must first hear the opinions of thy jury," the white robe stallion said. I raise my eyebrow at why he decided to talk old all of a sudden. "I don't think he is fit for it Number Eight, he mocks what we stand for," the mare in brown robes said. I shrug. "I agree, he is childish and rude," the mare in green said. I nod. "I dunno, I saw his fighting, he is as the mortals normally say, 'Graceful as a butterfly, stings like a bee,'" the familiar sounding Aqua robed dude said. "I say we give him a chance, he's able body and strong minded," the mare in grey said. I smirked. "I do not approve of his status right now, but I think he'll be better if we work on him," a stallion in purple robes said. "I agree, maybe he'll amount to something," the black robed stallion said. Number Eight nods, "Then it is done, Inferno, you are hereby the new ruler of Fire!" He exclaims. After a few months of training in Heaven, I'm sent to Hell. Literally. My stone throne was rather comfy as I look out onto the place of fire. I have a new secretary name Devlin. He keeps track of would I judge and capture. I'll let some go to heaven, but if they're bad, they say bye to happy times. All in all, my job sucks. Most of the time, I have to capture the soul and hear them scream. To capture a soul, I need to be beside the being, and make it die. If I don't, they keep living, and most of the time they'll heal thanks to pony magic. On the bright side, I have new powers! I can summon fire solely on will, and summon special fire golems or demons to do my bidding. Another part of my job is pretty much police work. I investigate stuff that are suspicious and if it gets too big, I have to handle it discreetly. I'm good at that job. It's one of the best jobs in the world! About another few months later, we all had a group meeting. It's very rare. We all gathered to discuss topics on our job. After my initiation for the dreamlord of Fire, we all wore modern clothes. I made friends with the dreamlord of wind and water. Eris was wind's name, and Aquas was the water's name. It was ironic all in all. The rest of them, except Number Eight, kind of despised me. Eight on the other hand was like a father to me. He didn't favor anyone, but he supported me during my training. Once the meeting was over, we all went our separate ways. I was becoming more and more lazy during my job when it came to capturing souls, but I never shirked my detective work. I grew very powerful as well. Soon, I was declared as the Ultimate Judge, and I started to do a little more work. I wasn't as lazy, but I wasn't hard working either. Soon, Angels and Demons, funnily enough, tried to decide if I was a bad guy or a good guy. They decided, that I was neither. It was true all in all. I guess I'm happy that I'm not a villain, but I'm also kinda happy that I'm not a hero either. It's weird, but it makes sense.
Chapter 1: A Typical DayGlass breaks as I was literally drop kicked out the window. I groan as I get up, two ponies a foot and a half taller than me seem to be not satisfied yet. "Get up Inferno, we ain't done yet!" Dipshit one says. "Good, I was wanting a warm up," I say. I sidestep from a punch and make a shotgun gesture with my fingers to blast a ball of fire. It hits the ugly mug's face, burning the skin. He screams in small agony but I shrug. "Illegal spell books being sold in your care is a sign that says you'll have a happy-go-lucky lawyer," I say. I walk over and grab the guys head. I bring it down into my knee, hearing a thud as his face met it. "One for the money," I shot his leg with fire magic. "Two for the pleasure," I lift my leg as my arm went under it to throw a fireball at his other leg. "Three to be steady," I got out my sword, which morphs into a whip. With a flick of my wrist, his head is wrapped in the first clutches. "And four for good measure!" I jerk my arm back, spinning the guy like a top. Once he slows down, he topples over. "Now stay down while I deal with your..." I trail off as I see the other moron's not there. "Oh... Brother... Well, guess I'll have to go ahead and get you to jail. Capiche?" I ask. He only groans in response. "Good, I'll chase your brother in a little bit," I say. I teleport us with my shadow magic. He lays in a stone bed, groaning in pain as he recovers from my harsh judgement. It's my judgement anyway. I teleport again, appearing in an alleyway, the little brother at the end. He keeps a fighting stance. "Bitch please, if I beat up your brother like it was nothing, how much of a better chance do you have?" I ask. He keeps his stance, shaking slightly. "Alright then, come at me bro," I say nonchalantly. He rushes toward me, swinging his fist. I easily duck and lunge forward, knocking him over. He falls over in surprise as I start rubbing my hands together. I got some shadow magic warmed up and put my hands on his head. The oaf got up, rubbing his head as he wonders where he is. He looks up and yelps in surprise. He sees a four story tall version of me, eyes black with red pupils, blood seeming like tears. My fanged smile didn't falter in striking fear as there was blood dripping out, soaking my coat and leaving blood stains a little darker. My mane is on fire, and I look badass all in all. He sees me as a demon and starts backing up. "Rocker Knocker, you stand before the judge of moral, rights, and ideals, how do you plea in you and your brother's crimes?" I ask. He shakily kneels, in a begging position. "Please! I-I didn't want to do it, my big brother forced me to! He said if I didn't, then he'd kill me before I went to the police!" He says, sobbing during the end. I look into his very soul to see if he's telling the truth. This part always manages to trip me up with my shadow magic. It's like watching a character in a tv show read a book, and the book would be doing vice versa. It's very easy to get lost in memories and realms if you forget where you are. I stand in a weird living room, the lugs standing and arguing. "I'm not gonna do it man! I'm going to the police!" The younger one said. "No, if you do, I'm gonna slit your throat in your sleep!" The older one yelled. The younger one scoffed and started walking, but the older guy grabbed his shoulder, and took out a pocket knife. He turned the brother and put the knife one inch from his neck. "Do not test my patience brother, I know you are a hippy, but we're gonna do this, got it. We need to pay back the asswhole who gave us the goods, got it?" He asks. I back out of both realms, and stumble off of the giant. "Damn, my head hurts," he muttered. "Sorry kiddo, you're free now. If someone troubles you, contact me," I say, giving him a card with an emblazed skull with horns and cross bones, I dissappear quickly and appear in the jail cell. The bigger brother looked up, giving me the death glare. "Not helping your hopeless case," I mock. I swing my fist across his face, pay back for the drop kick. This was my job, go get bad guys that are not of the mortal realm and bring them to jail. The guys I just dealt with? They're technically midgets where they were originally from. They were earth giants. Now, If they are deemed to be evil enough for Hell, which the big oaf is, they go. Of course, most of the time, they go to Hell. I like the part where the bad dude gets to see a court other than mine, everyone has heard of my special court, sadly, my court is an on the fly kind of thing. The court they see is also run by me, except they don't crap their pants. Maybe they still do, but I don't notice. There are rules in my court room, rule one: Never say anything false. That's a given. Rule two: If I see you act very poorly, or interrupt me, I will not take it lightly and back slap you. Rule three: If the defendant is assaulted, criticized, or insulted, the one responsible will be escorted or put on trial as well. No exceptions. Four: No bribing. And Five is the most important one: If the defendant attacks anyone, I will send them to a room of nightmares before sending them to hell. It's all fair all in all. After I was done giving the verdict to the big brother, I teleport to my stone throne. I hold my book in one hand, and a mug of cider in another. The cider was from a real cool place called Ponyville. I met a few ponies, real nice bunch. I smile at the memory and continue reading. My secretary Devlin came up. "Master Inferno! You astound me by being as lazy as you are!" He shrieks. He's a below average sized demon, dark red like my fur. He has two yellow eyes, and leathery wings. I respect him. He's been my companion for all this time so far. I don't really show my respect, but anyone who talked to me like that had a good fight coming. I set the insult aside. "Oh really? What'd I do this time?" I ask knowingly. Steam shoots out the pointed ears he has on the sides of his head. His arrow tipped tail straightened whenever he's frustrated. "You have to collect two thousand and sixteen souls! Do you think I like to spend my day counting the souls you did not get!?" He yells. I sigh. "Devlin, most of them are innocent though." "It does not matter! I do not care if they're innocent! Nobody does! They have to die eventually!" He yells. I nod. "Don't get me wrong, I collect innocent souls, but only if they were in much pain like fatal wounds and cancer," I say. Devlin takes in a deep breathe and sighs. I return to my book while he speaks. "Inferno, don't get me wrong, but I understand you don't necessarily like this job. In fact, I know you started being lazy after the... Incident. I know it was hard, but he needed to go. No one would have made a different choice," he says, trying to pep talk me into it. I huff. "It wasn't my choice Devlin, it was my job," I reply. He sighs. "Inferno, that's just it, no one else will do it, it is your job. I won't do it because I'm not strong enough." I scoff, getting a cigar. Lighting it with my thumb, I spoke one line, trying to be dramatic. "If I'm supposed to be strong to do it, then how come I'm not?" I ask. I groan as the alcohol burns up in my cup. "You're destined to do this Inferno! You are the only bat pony able to do this!" Devlin says. I smirk through my cigar. "So I was destined to take souls, nice encouragement. I'm going down to Equestria, Canterlot. I'll see you later Devlin," I say. Before he can reply or protest, I use my fire magic to dissappear thanks to being consumed by smoke. I use shadowy transport to transport short distances, fire magic was pretty powerful, so I could literally teleport at the end of the universe. I tried it once, it wasn't pleasant. The sad part was I was stupid enough to do it in the first place. At least I got my ten bucks.
Chapter 2: The FillyI walk about Canterlot, roaming through the shops and merchants. I hope Devlin is okay. Devlin is like the friend who nags you constantly because you're lazy, but he's helpful and patient. Well, maybe not "patient" patient, but he's got some straws to pull before the last one. I suddenly stop, noticing something odd. There's a little filly, dark pink coat with a light violet mane with some blue eyes, in front of me with a face of fear. "Um... Hi?" I say. She scampers off to the alleyway. I tilt my head, unsure of what that was. I look a little to the right to see a big shadowy figure, and I squint. If I look hard enough, I can see what non-mortal being it is. It's a... I have no freaking clue on what the hell that thing is. Maybe it's a mortal, one that has a spell charm that deflects my vision. Mortals sort of know about the eight dreamlords. They know we were gods with extraordinary psychic abilities, which we still have, and that Celestia and Luna have met them. Celestia gave the original eight the name. I came in a lot later. I follow the suspicious stallion, noticing he's trying to catch up to the filly. I blink to see if he'sactually there, and he was. The filly's in his grasp and his smile sickening. He was about to stab an innocent child. I feel my blood boil and cough loudly. He drops his smile into a smirk and looks behind himself. "Oh hello young guy, don't worry, it'll be quick for her," he says. He pulls the knife up, and muffle the filly with the other hand. I got out my whip, wrapped his wrist and yanked him to fall in front of me. He drops his smirk into gritting baring teeth. "I'll make sure she gets to see you die fir-" I stomped his stomach to make him shut up. "Dude, new generation means new rules, one new rule is you don't have to listen to some boring chit chat," I wise crack. I pick up the man and flung him to the wall. "Another rule, if I'm the one that saw a crime," I smile like a lunatic. "I'm the only judge you'll see," I say. I use my shadow magic to enter the judge realm for his verdict. I watch as two grown stallions fought. One was about to stab me, one was protecting me. I guess his joke was funny at least. My rescuer's a bat-pony, dark red with an orange mane. He had red slit eyes, and he sent chills up my spine. He wore a brown leather jacket, which had a skull with crossbones on the back. He looks like a twenty eight year old. My name is Amythist, my parents are dead, I'm twelve, and my life sucks. I now live with my uncle, who's nice. I wish I wasn't so shy though. I was scared to even talk to the rescuer when I first saw him. Now, he's still pretty scary, but he's also kind of cool! My train of thought was interrupted by a hand shaking my shoulders. "Hey, kiddo you okay? Did the guy hurt you?" My rescuer asks. I shook my head, staring at the stallion who was gonna hurt me, hugging his knees in a corner. "Good, now be safe alright?" The rescuer asks. I nod. He starts walking off, but I hug his leg. He stops and looks down at me. "Sorry kiddo, no free rides, although you are adorable." He shakes me off, and continues. I felt my fears heightened and ran over to hug him. My arms almost reach all around him, but I was a couple inches from holding my own hands. He looks down again and sighs. "Fine, where to kiddo?" He asks. I point over in a general area where my house is. I have a vivid picture of the red house in my head. Suddenly, I am getting picked up by the mystery pony and he smirks. Soon, I'm in a piggy back position, and we're at the house. This puzzles me, because it took me half an hour to get to the shops, so why did it feel like seconds. He chuckles as I slid off of him and started heading home. I waved bye to him as he walks off, holding the p-sign. I get inside, embracing the feeling of warmth and home. Well, it was rather an okay home, I don't have any parents, but my brother takes care of me just fine. He works from nine to five in a cafe, waiting on the normal rich snobs. My big brother, Jem, looks at me as I enter. He rushes to me, anger in his eyes. "Where have you been?! I have been worried sick about you! Did that bully bother you again?! Cuz if he did I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind when I-" "Brother!" I yell to make him shut up. This is the most peaceful gesture I could muster. I walk over, and hug him. "I met a nice man today! I don't know his name but he saved me!" I say. My bigger brother leans down, his frown still there. "What did he save you from?" He asks. I gave him the full on info of what happened today. "...and then he just got me here!" I say. He groans. "Amythest, you can't just go around shops expecting to find adventure! Had it not been the goodwill of a stranger, you'd be dead by now! I mean dang Amythest, I love ya, but you drive me up the wall!" He says. I sighed, downcast. Jem hugs me with comfort and ruffles my hair. "It's okay this time though, this guy is... Okay I guess, but you have to get home quicker next time okay? Now, let's go get some dinner, I made some egg rolls today!" I groan as I heard that. He is definitely not the best cook. After dropping the kiddo off, I snicker as I return to the merchant filled street, seeing the rich noble snobs walk everywhere. One guy was a real crap, he says he's a prince when he's really a crappy uptight spoiled brat. I know this because I talked to him for five minutes. I hope I don't talk to him again. He has some sins crawling on his back, stuff that I'll find interesting in court. As I was holding my train of thought, said-pony happens to run into me. "Whatch it peasant!" He says. I stop and smirk as I turn to him. "You again! You seem to be as spoiled as ever! Tell me, did your little allowance go up by five thousand yet?" I sarcastically say. He huffs. "You again, why did I have to find someone as pitiful as you? Did your father giver her that jacket after he left to join the circus?" He asks with an insulting attitude. I scoff. "Yes, make fun of my parents, the ones who actually raised me right to be tough on this world. While your parents gave you a fake plastic toy kit, I got some work done while I was ten. You're almost thirty and still play with dolls!" I remark. He growls through gritted teeth. "Oh yeah? Do you want to settle this in a fair fight?" He asks. I sighed. "Wow, blunt as ever, okay," I say. A crowd of ponies gather around us, curious as to why we're fighting.
Chapter 3: The Kiddo Comes Back"Long story short, the fight ended with me winning, but I got some complaints. Devlin would not shut up for about it for two days. Life was pretty much normal after that, kept being lazy, kept taking a few souls, and my secretary was annoying, but funny. So, how was Aquas' ten years?" I ask. Everyone around the court room in Heaven was frustrated. Aquas was smiling, Eris was pinching the bridge of her nose. Subterra, the earth god was looking pretty mad, Number Eight was devoid of any expression whatsoever, and everyone else was yelling. I let all of their insults hit me like they were pillows. "Order! Order! Inferno, please describe to me what this filly looked like again," Number Eight says. I scrunch my brows to try to remember. "Well, she was a unicorn, had a dark pink coat, light violet mane, and blue eyes. Why?" I ask. Number Eight sat, puzzled by something. I smirk. "She was an adorable little munchkin, and probably gives off middle fingers to everyone by now." "Do not mock this girl Inferno, she is vital to us," Number Eight says. I quickly shut up, Eris chuckling. "Do you know how old this girl is?" He asks. I look up to the ceiling in thought. "... Maybe she was twelve, maybe eleven," I say. Number Eight stands up, as did everyone else as we witness the action. "It is hereby decreed that there will be a bounty on her, and we will only accept her alive!" He yells. My heart skips a beat. "The reward is an ancient relic, and a new weapon!" I gasp along with everyone. An ancient relic was rather hard to find, and they posses rare and powerful magic. They are all unique, which makes it an amazing find. Those two items for some mare? "Get to her by any means necessary. If anything should happen to her by her captor, it will be sentenced to death to existence! We all fell silent. All this for one mare? Eight sits down and glares at all of us. "You may all go on to your daily lives," he says. I vanish instantly. Devlin picks up a book he has been wanting to read for two days now. He hasn't due to my laziness. He sits down on my throne, cozying up to the back of it. He opens his interesting book, and sighs in content. All this peacefulness was broken by me when I teleport inside, taking his book and throwing it to a random direction. "Devlin! No time for sleep! I need to find an individual with dark pink coat, light pink hair, blue eyes, and is between twenty to twenty four years old!" Istart rummaging through my chest behind the throne. Devlin catches up to reality and sighs. "Why?" He exhaustively says. "There is a bounty on her, two items, one's an ancient relic and one is a new weapon, custom made, and I know who she is! Come on, hit the books!" I say with one breath. Devlin grumbles to himself as he simply picks up a profile I had knocked over. "Here, now let me be with my book!" He yells. I catch the profile thrown to me and I vanish. Devlin sighs and goes over to pick up his book. "I'm too old for this crap," he says. I appear in Canterlot again, the markets being just as busy as last time. I scan the area, in search of the mare, I notice a certain pull. It wasn't my instincts, or any magically enhanced spectrum of my abilities. It was a tug on my mind, like my subconscience knows better. I follow the imaginary trail, as I had no other leads. As I was trekking on through the crowd of ponies, I notice a single mare over by the wall of a building. She has... actually I'm pretty sure you know what she looks like. I walk over to the targeted mare and start smoking a cigarette. "Smoking's bad for the lungs," she says. "Crowds are a little worse though right?" I ask. She scoffs and sat down. I sit down too, breathing out the smoke. "I was hoping to find trouble, but I guess that'll wait. So what's up with you?" I ask. She looks at me with sad eyes. I frown. "Why would you want to know?" She asks. I shrug. "One of the few things I'm interested in," I say. She shakes her head and starts crying. I get taken aback by this and I look around for any simple solutions. "Um, i-it's okay..." I try to soothe, but fail. "W-what's wrong?" I ask. "Everything!" She yells, scaring me. "My boyfriend dumped me for some plastic chick who was so fake! Then my big brother's in the hospital, I am about to lose my job and my home, and the rest of my family won't help because I'm 'unofficially' family, and to top it all freaking off, I'm being targeted by someone!" She screams. She breaks down and starts crying and sobbing, making her gain attention. I slowly scoot over and hug her. Not really knowing what to do, I shush her slightly as she cries into my chest. This has escalated rather quickly. "I must seem really pathetic now," she says, calming down a little. "How?" I ask. She looks up at me with a sad smile. "I barely even know you, but I'm crying on your shoulder," she says. "Everyone needs to vent from time to time," I say. She nods, wiping away some tears. I smirk. "If I had known any better, I'd say you are very familiar," I say. She looks at me puzzled. I shrug. "Food for thought, so what's your name?" I ask. "Kori, what about you?" She asks. "I'm Inferno." I had no idea that I had just formed the best bond in my own history.
