Cookies and a Devil - the full story

``` He figured to leave his room He turned right and started walking until he finds something interesting Something interesting.... a library He skipped the library Maybe he should visit never again? So he is on the way to Nevios office On his way, he sees nobody else. As if the complex was wiped empty all of a sudden. Normally there would be at least two or three ponies standing around somewhere talking, but at this time nobody was seen.

maybe its lunchtime...< he thought and soon stood in front of Nevios doors. He knocked The doors opened, but seeing inside was a bit of a problem as the room was very dark. A devil may be able to see something, but even for ponies with good eyes, it was near pitch black in there. Just a pair of red eyes stared back at him. "How can I help you Artyom?", a deep and fearsome voice answered. "Lucy is preparing something for the hunt and I am bored so I wanted to see how you are fairing, Nevio?" He stepped into the darkness. His orange fur kind of glowing Nevio growled deeply, more to himself than at Artyom. Shadows wrapped around the devil erasing the glow of his fur and pulling him closer to the black stallion. "I'm also preparing, but you can watch my kind of training if you dare to. Normally I take someone who hasn't been doing well in the last few missions and train on them, but a devil your caliber would be a nice challenge." "Gladly. Personal training with the guild master. What an honor" Nevio laughed. "What a high price for some honor." A silhouette appeared in the room. "You know we need him for tonight", a female voice said. "You can release your pressure on me. I can't be of much help for you guys in a fight anyway."

Mirabell came closer to Nevio looking at the floor as she approaches. The leader growled and Mirabell immediately fell to the floor whining and twitching in pain. Nevios eyes started to glow red. Pure anger and aggression marked his face as he approached her. "Tell me, tell me all your little secrets little doggy." He sounded different. "You know I'm trying to get it under control and still you invade my room and ... " The glow lightened and Mirabell could stand up again. Breathing heavily she answered "That was faster than ever before. You're in good shape. I ", she had to take a short break speaking.

"You go and cure those mental wounds I just inflicted on you. Pay Siren a visit she will be taking care of them", Nevio said with a slightly worried look on his face. But Mirabell refused. "I can take care of myself. It's not like you're the only one out there who did that to me. I will get over it." With that, she left the room.

"Mirabell..."

"She will be fine," Nevio answered. Then he noticed the look and tone of his voice as he said her name. "Is everything okay between you two?" "Eh? Yes yes... I just see a big pet in her" he smiled, trusting Nevio. "I am ready. We can start" "There is only one thing I want to test on you and that is how far my control reaches into your dark devil's soul. Do you understand what I'm talking about? My skill is to manipulate the feelings and in general, the perceptions ponies have. It goes so far that I can control them by giving them either what they want to see and feel or by scaring them using their biggest fears. Aside from a few very dark and unpleasant tricks, this is my biggest power. I want to know how much that affects you as you are the same type of being we will be facing, probably." "My will should be stronger than the enemies. don't hold back. If you succeed than its gonna be easy" "Eazy for us"

"He's not fighting alone. We don't even know if he'll be there or if it's a trap", he said coming closer to Artyom. "Also you already did accept my shadows one time. The first time is always the hardest to do." Then he touched his cheek with his hoof and looked him deep in the eyes. "I can see those thoughts of me doing all that dirty stuff you like so much, building up in your head as we speak." His eyes started to glow red as he softly started to invade the devil's red soul. Progressively trying to dig deeper for personal moments and weaknesses.

Instead of sipping through cracks. The devils magic forced the other into another place again. Out. "Just as I thought, your minds are clearly different from the mind of the beings of this realm. This won't be an easy fight for us." He raised his hoof and a dark symbol appeared on its front. "This type of magic is the only thing I found that could work. A dark mind controlling spell used by devils of our realm against each other." The sign left his hoofs and started floating between them. "But it doesn't necessarily have the same effect. It can distract your kind enough though to give us some advantages." The sign floated toward Artyom and he let it sink into his head. He was confident that his inner magic would take care of it. But something did not work, the red magic completely ignored the sign and let it sink into his core. Apparently, the red magic thought that the sign belonged to one of Artyom's bosses and let it pass... ...for now what were the effects?

"It's interesting, isn't it. How it just sinks through all defenses. We've tried to understand these runes with a few of our best mages in anti-magic. None of them could figure out how to defend against it." He immediately let the sign vanish. "I won't let any effects happen though, it seems, from the last encounter you had with such runes, that they drain a lot of your energy." "yeah they did, it was quite painful as well... Ugh, the point is that the runes should look like one of the superior devils in the job," Artyom finished, feeling quite dizzy. "I guess I go back to sleep.. or do you wanna cuddle?" Nevio pointed to a door. "Come with me." He went through that door and waited for Artyom. The room was pitch black there was just a device standing in the middle of the room. It looked a bit like a sunbath with a transparent lid. Artyom followed the dark pony and entered it. He was glowing again, "...sorry". He stood in front of Nevio then "It's me who should be sorry. So I'll let you rest in my bed for a bit." He typed a few things on a touchpad and the lid opened. "It's a special kind of bed and as you're also a creature of the dark it should be a very pleasant surprise for you to sleep in here. You'll see."

He set the dark energy supply on half which would kill normal ponies for sure, but Artyom and himself live in the dark so it's more than pleasant for them. The bed supplies a lot of energy to the one sleeping in it. "Also it determines what temperature you like most and heats up or cools down until you're comfortable in it. That is why it has this lid on top. Come here lay yourself down." Artyom nodded and got on top of the special bed, laid down. he turned and looked at Nevio, waiting for him Nevio hopped in with him and said something in another language, the lid closed itself. "The hour we have left should be enough to get you up and ready for the upcoming fight." Darkness flooded the chamber and Nevios eyes began to glow as the device started supplying the energy. He growled softly waiting for the reaction of Artyom. Artyom snuggled up to Nevio, his head under Nevios chin. Artyom closed his eyes and dozed off he started to snore slightly and put his face into Nevios chest fluff

While lying there Nevio kept in contact with Mirabell, who was doing some scouting in Baltimare. ">What is she doing at the moment?<", he asked her in his mind. ">I don't know, but maybe she just wanted some time alone. There is a lot happening between those two as you undoubtedly noticed.<" Nevio looked at the snoring devil. ">Yes and I hope it will happen soon.<" Mirabell laughed and he could feel it through the connection with her. A few hours passed and Artyom was awoken

Nevio was still awake he sleeps rarely. "How do you feel?", he asked with a slight grin on his face.

"Pretty good. How do you feel, dear?"

"How I feel? That's a question I didn't get asked for a very long time", he laughed and opened the lid. "What do you think a shadow feels like?" "Hmmm dark?" "It's not so easy to know, is it? Trust me it's even harder to describe it." "However you feel like be sure that we devil love ponies like you." Artyom traced his hoof on Nevios chest Artyom wanted to kiss Nevio "If not I could make you love it." He winked at Artyom and went into the other room. "Do you want to do anything before we go into the fight?", he asked. "Being prepared for a fight is important." "I think I could sharpen my horns for better efficiency" "Know where ?" "Armory maybe..." Nevio looked at him and held a hoof in front of him. Then suddenly a black metal blade formed on his hoof. "You can take black metal to sharpen your horns." It flew toward Artyom whose horns appeared. He grabbed it and started to grind the horns against the metals edge. "Devil horns are not sensitive at all but they hurt when not sharp enough" "Like." Artyom tried to think of something but couldn't "Well at least someone has use for the black metal. Bahlok never becomes blunt." "I could have used a simple pencil sharpener too. These horns are not normal bones... more like teeth. don't worry they don't bite " After a while, he was finished and his horns, sharp as ever, disappeared. "I am done" "I'm not worried about the little pain that physical wounds can inflict."

Mirabell was about to knock on the door as it opened. She could've guessed that he knew that she was coming. "All missions were finished, no casualties like always." Nevio nodded. "Then go and prepare yourself for the fight", he said. Nevio, we don't even know if that someone is dangerous. Do you really think it's necessary to use two Dark Elite and three Dark Wings for this mission? This looks more like a trap to me than anything.

"I held myself back for so long Mirabell, no one still alive could possibly know my real strength and you know that. For far over thousand years I didn't fight. It's finally time." He said with a slight glow in his eyes. Artyom smiled at the arrival of the mare and teleported over to her, hugging and petting her," who is a good girl" It became awkward Artyom stopped, "sorry" Mirabell looked at him then at Nevio. If Artyom would've been someone else it wouldn't look good for the devil right now, but as he was accepted by Nevio the other night things looked a bit different. He stopped with his explanation and thought about something for a few seconds. "Who won?" asked Nevio. Mirabell looked at the floor and flattened her ears. "I see," said Nevio Mirabell nodded. "That's unexpected." "What are you two talking about ?" Artyom was confused the reference lost on him As long as Nevio and Artyom talked Mirabell was silent and looked at the floor. "Seems she found out, that you're more dominant than she is, which is interesting since she is the beta of my pack. Even though she is female." "oh... well. thanks?" "You don't need to thank anyone for your dominance except yourself." Mirabell slowly walked to Nevio and lay down at his feet. Artyom nodded and asked Mirabell, "Wheres lucy'?" Mirabell smiled as Nevio started stroking her head. Then she, like the good girl she is, gave Artyom his answer "As I returned she was just walking through a forest looking at Trees and eating some wild berries." "okay... I go get her then, where should we meet up?" "Leave her be, she'll be there," Nevio said with a calm voice nearly smiling slightly while Mirabell was embracing his touch. "Bahlok will teleport us to the spot in Baltimare." He turned his head and just a fraction of a second later a grey pony with blue and red markings appeared right next to him. "the dark metal?" "No, the dark metal is made out of my shadows and darkness. Bahlok is something very different", Nevio explained. "hello block" "Everyone ready?" "Hello", the grey pony returned the greeting without a smile or any other sign of emotions. Then he reached out with his hoof and suddenly the air around his hoof looked like a paper wall he sticks his hoof through. Then he just ripped a rip into the room like it was the most normal thing ever. With the rift opened Nevio stepped through and Mirabell followed. Before she did she took a little black bag out of Nevios Desk.

"It's safe", Bahlok said and went through. He would hold the portal open for as long as Artyom needed to go through. Artyom was next

The other side of the rift was very different from the room they just were in. All around them were plants that looked like they were rotten and water seemed black. The Sky was also black with two moons. Nearly the whole land was made out of black stone. "Welcome to the Darklands", Nevio said. "Here was my home a long long time ago." "edgy," said Artyom under his breath and said louder. "Tartarus, mine at least, is pinker than this place..." "The Darklands be the shadows are born." In the far, a wicked and monstrous sound came through to the group. "We should move quickly. The animals have felt our presence and whatever that thing is we're fighting against I would rather take that enemy on than any of the animals here." Bahlok ripped another rift into the room and they saw Baltimare on the other side. "I'll go through last", Nevio said. All nodded and got through the hole

As they all were through Bahlok closed the rift and they looked around. It was a cold night with a bright moon and clear sky. The stars looked down on them like little cameras. A mare appeared right next to them with a blue circle beneath her hoofs. "It's time," Nevio said. "The major of this down didn't know that we're not just dealing with a crazy vampire. It seems this vampire has some very dangerous company. I have positioned over anti mages around the town. No one is coming out or in." Artyom sighed his goofiness out. Serious Artyom was needed "We will have to face magic we don't know, so we have to count on you devil to do whatever you can to protect us against it." A second mare stepped into the moonlight.

"Siren, have you found him?", Nevio wanted to know. "They are three and they are hiding inside the church, but I don't think they are very scared. Something isn't right", she warned him. Nevio nodded and gave her the command to ready the group.

Siren took a step back and closed her eyes. Then her markings changed in color. They turned blood red. She began to sing a violent and aggressive melody, which filled the air and in short time the group was wrapped in her magic. Giving them strength for the fight.

As she was singing someone appeared right beside her. It was a grey-green mare. Her mane was also green, wild and untamed and had grey ends. Siren held her hoof out to her and the mare suddenly transformed into a flute made out of mithril. The Symphonica (The Tribe Siren was born in) took the flute and started to play on it to finish the supporting spell.

For Lucy, it was the first time to hear her play and she was overwhelmed by how much stronger she felt. It was like Siren's music awakened the beast inside of her. But at the same time, she felt calm and rational.

Sirens Song came to an end and the flute turned back into a pony. "Wonderful as ever Siren and Thu'um, thank you", Mirabell said, feeling ready for a good fight. "I promise to keep yall safe from the red magic." He clapped his hoof and a red shine washed over all, "at least this shield will prevent you from taking damage from the first hit by red magic" "Let the fight happen then." Nevio looked at Mirabell which immediately took on her wolf form. "Lucy and Artyom you two will go in from the tower of the church, Mirabell and I will break through the front door and Siren ... you know." She nodded and disappeared with Thu'um into the shadows.

Lucy broke a few cookies and a blue circle appeared beneath her hooves. Then she made a big jump and landed on the roof of the church, right next to the bell. "Well, in position", she said to herself. Artyom popped beside her into existence and went low. Heading to the bells, to a trapdoor. "What are you doing?" someone suddenly asked right next to Lucy's ear. She nearly screamed but before she could a hoof hit her hard and she made a hole in the church's roof as she broke right through it.

Nevio didn't waste a second. He walked through the front door of the church breaking it as he did so and caught Lucy. "I'm fine, I'm fine", she said. So Nevio placed her down again.

"You're not a demon or a devil and you survived that blow from me? Weeeh you ponies are fun." Now she saw him. It was a little vampire pony boy. He jumped down into the church hall and landed as if he just had walked down a step.

there goes stealth..< Artyom appeared in the room as well. Behind the colt. "Oh look, an undead parasite" "He's not the vampire," Nevio said.

The little colt smiled "Oh look there is Nevio what a coincidence. You didn't tell me that you wanted to visit."

"You know each other?", asked Lucy. Nevio shook his head. Artyom's horns appeared, they glowed and a sword was at his side. He growled and looked around for any other vampires or monsters. But at this moment only the boy was there. It was strange just this little boy against a group of the most dangerous monsters and fighters of Equestria and beyond.

Nevio looked at the little colt. "Say, where is he?"

“Who?", the colt asked. "You mean master? He's not here. I'm your opponent, dragon.

Nevios eyes started glowing red. "There are only a few people who know that. Where did you get that information from?"

"As if I would tell you, grandpa", he stuck his tongue out. "Dragon? Nevermind. Listen, boy no matter what you will do your team will loose because if I do, stronger devils will come and kill you so hand us over your master or face consequences." If the vampire does not agree to that then there is no hope for a diplomatic talk. One chance for the enemy to back down. Always.

Artyom readied his sword and waited for the answer. "Consequences? I don't think you understand, devil.", the boy said. Nevio growled. "You won't try that boy." The little Demon grinned. "Well, we are." He turned to Mirabell. "How many ponies are at headquarters?" "About why?" Artyom took an unnoticed step forward. Every time the boy blinked Bahlok vanished. The boy looked at Artyom then at Mirabell. "This is boring." Suddenly Artyom was on top of the boy and placed some pentagrams on his neck.

"Uhhhh what do they do devil?", he laughed. "Depends on Nevio," he said and a crystal appeared beside new, "any kind of spell you use on that will appear on the pentagram" he looked back at the devil, " )" Back at the vampire "That's good because he can't. His magic doesn't work on me. I'm immune to dark magic." Nevio looked at him. "This means I was right." Mirabell grinned and Lucy laughed. "We have him!" Nevio looked at Bahlok. "Bring him here". A few seconds later Bahlok returned with a black stallion. "You said there would only be low hunters left at headquarters!" Nevio laughed. "Did you really think I would leave headquarters without a back plan?" "Or tell the truth to the enemy?" "Even friends I hope that's okay with the team." "Meh" The little boy looked a bit startled."idiot you had one job" "Enough pep talk now," Artyom went serious and kicked the undead foal toward the others "You are immune but he isn't." The dark furred pony clearly feared what was about to happen now. "Oh, also boy try being immune to this," Mirabell growled as Nevio gave her an invisible signal. "Don't kill him." The boy didn't seem so fearless anymore. "These are not the main threat", Nevio stated. "Let's find out who is then. Bahlok gets Siren." The weapon vanished immediately. Mirabell got closer to the vampire. "She she is a ponywolf!" Artyom growled and put a hoof on the little vampire, "anyway, if you don't answer our questions I will cook your flesh and melt your bones and feed you off to Cerberus ... or the ponywolf" he winked at Mirabell

"so... answer our questions. NOW" "You didn't even ask me a question yet silly devil." Suddenly a darker voice appeared. "And they won't get to." Mirabell and Lucy were pushed against the walls of the church not able to move. Only Nevio and Bahlok could still easily stand upright."It's been so long traitor", the dark red stallion said to Nevio.

The eyes of the pony-dragon started to glow his face filled with anger. "Drem Yol Lok, Nevio", said their enemy. "Drem Yol Lok, Dukaan. What are you doing here Dukaan? I thought I killed you for good this time." Dukaan ground his teeth. "I won't rest before I killed the traitor! So I found away around your weak spells, Nevio. Their magic." He pointed at Artyom. "I must thank your kind, for your magic is the key to bring chaos to this world."

Nevio tried to think of a way to get everyone out here alive. This was far worse than he expected. "Shiite" Artyom breathed out and run to lucy, "You alright, love?" "Love? How sweet. They are so different, aren't they? From our devils of course. Soft hearts and kindness, it's disgusting. They should all die!" he jumped at Artyom and reached out to give him a blow which would've catapulted him through the church wall. But instead, his hoof stopped as it hit something very hard and sturdy. The shockwave of the blow made cracks into the church wall. Nevio was standing right before the devil. "Don't let your guard down", he said but suddenly was hit by something different. The red shield around Nevio lifted as it did its job. But now Nevio was not able to defend against what came next. Suddenly he couldn't move anymore and with another blow, he hit the wall in the back of the church. Still unable to move he tried to find a way to lift the magic with his but was unable to as it did not follow the same rules as normal magic and even now he didn't want to use his last resort. "Nev! Grr! You unauthorized capitalistic swine!" Artyom turned to the dragon. clopping his hoofs at the ground a wall of magic appeared around Mirabell and Lucy as a shield "I'll turn your insides into dog food!" Artyom prepared himself with another red shield over him and summoned his swords. "How was that magic he used to overcome yours, the devil? You know about the dark runes, don't you? " He freed his two colleagues and dark runes began to appear all around him. "Made from your own kind to defeat the red mages they were facing day to day. The same magic, that is allowing me to use your methods, functions, and variables. Come at me try to hit me, but you know you can't defeat me with me being able to use the best of both worlds." "Bah!" Artyom stepped forward, "there is more to red magic than red magic alone, dragon!" The swords started to swirl around Artyom like Sharks around an alpha if sharks would hunt in packs

"I studied it for years." He smirked and with a swipe of his hoof, a black rune destroyed the swords flying around him. "Forget it. You won't win this, devil", the little Vampire boy said tauntingly.

"You have to do it Nevio."<, Mirabell thought to him. But he didn't want to. Not now, not here. Suddenly a melody emerged. Played on a flute. "Stop her!", Dukaan yelled at his underlings and they immediately took off to stop Siren. But as soon as they jumped into the air Bahlok appeared right next to the little Vampire boy hitting him right back to the ground. Without the boy being able to recover Bahlok kicked him in the air again and another blow launched him right against the church's altar. At the moment the dragon did not look at the devil. Artyom was able to punch him in the face like a meteor from the border of the galaxy.

Dukaan made a barrel roll and landed on his hoofs again. He didn't seem very damaged. Then he took off to stop Siren. "You have to do everything yourself." Bahlok did let go of the little boy and faced the master of those two. The time he wanted to use magic on Bahlok the grey pony just shrugged and washed it off like it was nothing. "You pest of a weapon." The next thing that happened was unexpected to most of the team. Bahlok showed an emotion. It was pure aggression. He needed the emotion to boost his next blow. Dukaan tried to catch it off but it was too fast for him to even see it. The grey stallion kicked the red pony six feet deep into the floor. Then he had to retreat because it did cost him a lot of energy.

Finally, Siren was finished and a blue wave washed over the church. Lucy and Mirabell were able to move again. Nevio stood up immediately and made a lightning step to Bahlok. "Teleport us to headquarters!", he shouted at Siren. The Symphonica jumped down and Lucy ran right next to her throwing a cookie at each one of the team. They broke on contact and placed a rune on each one. "Now!", she shouted and Siren played a quick piece of music and suddenly they were standing in the middle of headquarters. Artyom growled, "I haven't expected him to be that way... you alright, lucy?" He went to nuzzle lucy and nodded to Mirabelle "I am, but I thought he was dead." Nevio nodded. "Me too, we saw him die." Ponies came running with supplies and medicine to take care of wounds. Artyom breathed out, "I commission a spell to hack him.. or is there another way ?"

That's the problem and also why he wants to see me dead. I'm the only one left that can kill him. If he dies normally he just comes back. He has to be killed with special magic only a pony-dragon can cast." "We could turn him to stone or similiar. " "No, then he would just wait his turn to come back. You can't keep someone tape in something forever. Trust me we tried", said Siren. "Got a plan?" "We won't be able to do this alone. We don't have a choice. I have to contact Razlad. Except if you would find a way to defend yourself against those dark runes I showed you. If you are able to do that he wouldn't be able to counterspell your magic." Nevio thought about it for a while. "He wants to kill me. I will hide where he's never gonna find me and in the meantime, you two will go on a vacation." "...Fine. tho I am not sure if razlad will help.. anyway, vacation?" "Razlads magic... is specialized" "If we can pull it off without him it would be even better. That's why you two will be on vacation for a while. In the Darklands." "Aye, I'll get my stuff. See you all soon... " Artyom left. Lucy also went to grab some stuff. "Siren make a package for them." He thought about something again. "And for me. I'll be joining them. If something happens to send Bahlok." After an hour, Artyom stood in the room they first teleported put from Out from Siren followed shortly after. "This won't be easy, but why the darklands?", she had an idea but didn't know exactly why he chose that horrible place.

Because it's hostile and the magic we use to get around Artyom's magic comes from there. Everything there is filled with that energy. If we're going to find a way to defend against it, then it will be there. Artyom waited on lucy. Lucy wanted to say goodbye to Nevio, but then to her surprise, he stepped through with them. "So here we are. The Darklands. A Dimension where light as the pony world knows it doesn't exist." "So. Do we camp somewhere or is there a special hotel you made somewhere?" "Nope just us and the wild and gruesome Darklands. To sustain a hotel here it would take nearly all of my troops to secure the place."

"Makes sense... we follow, you lead then" "That's another misconception. I'm here to oversee your progress not to guide you." He said. "You two are on your own." As soon as he said that black smoke surrounded him and he melted into the shadows. "I just don't want you to die yet, so I'll be keeping an eye out for you two." "Creepy... " he shuddered and looked around, "whats your input on this, Lucy?" "It's been a long time... ", she just said. "The biggest problem will be finding food. If I recall correctly the only way of finding food in this land is to kill and even then you don't eat what you have killed. The land somehow keeps you alive as long as you're killing." "Nutrition is taken care off then. We need to find or build a shelter first, then look for stuff to hunt down. Probably be always on the lookout and always moving. You know this lands better than me, do you have an idea where we can build a shelter or similar ?" Artyom finished and continued to scan the landscape.

"To be honest I'm kind of lost here, too. It's been a while and I was one of the ponies who didn't have to train here. Other ponies who want to join elite forces have to be trained here. They need to survive a full year." She looked around. "Shelter? Well, do you think the shelter would be a good idea? Because staying in one spot makes us an easy target. We shouldn't take shelter somewhere for more than one or two days."

"Exactly what I meant. " He started walking Somewhere... "Do you think that mountain there is safe to set camp at the base" ```