Queen Of The Netherworld [666 Follower Special]

Kyra stood at the entrance to the forest, tapping her foot impatiently. She had told them all where to meet her a few minutes ago and they still weren't here. Letting out a sigh of annoyance, she started to go on alone when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She turned around and crossed her arms, watching them run over to her. They had all removed their Nightmare Night outfits and wore normal clothes.

Twilight was wearing a white t-shirt and a violet skirt, Rainbow Dash was wearing a white sports bra and black shorts, Applejack wore a daisy duke and ripped jean shorts, Pinkamena wore jeans and a black, long-sleeved shirt that had rips along the arm, Apple Bloom wore a light blue shirt and denim shorts, and Sweetie Belle wore a purple shirt and short black pants. Scootaloo still had on her kitty costume and Fluttershy still wore her long sweatshirt.

"Took you guys long enough..." the demon said as her eyes narrowed.

"Well, not all of us can teleport..." Rarity replied as everyone, aside from Twilight, gave her a dirty look. It was clear that they liked her about as much as she liked them.

"Not my problem," Kyra sighed, turning from them and began heading into the forest. "Now, come on. Time is of the essence."

Rainbow eyed Twilight as they followed the demon. "Oh, yeah... Real friendly," she whispered.

"It's not over yet," Twi whispered back.

The group continued into the woods until they arrived at the Nightmare Moon statue and the pile of candy. Looking around, they saw that no one was here. Kyra took a few steps towards the pile of candy before turning to the group.

"The fuck?" She asked. "Where is she?" The group looked around, not saying anything. Kyra let out a growl and began walking towards them. "Let's head back to town before someone else dies."

When the group parted to give her room, the demon stopped dead in her tracks. The others all turned to see what she was looking at. Standing a few feet from them was a little gray filly with long red hair and purple eyes. She was wearing a cloak but had the hood down, just standing there. Kyra hesitated before smiling.

"You came on your own?" She asked. "Decided to come back home?"

The little filly giggled. "I am home..." she cooed in a sing-song voice. "I don't wanna go back with you..."

The mortal ponies all gasped as Twilight stepped up to Kyra. "Is that... the host?"

Kyra eyed her and nodded. "Pumpkin's in control of her now. Nothing we can do."

"B... But..." Twilight started, not wanting to harm a filly.

The red demon took another step forward. "You say you don't want to go back, but... you're just standing there. What are you waiting for?"

The filly smirked. "Nothing. I just like watching the looks on your friends' faces... The realization that the only way to end this is to kill me." She then inhaled deeply through her nose as all the mortals gasped. "Mmm... I can smell their fear... The only thing sweeter than candy, isn't it?"

"I've had enough of this," Kyra said, sounding annoyed as she raised her hand and clenched it into a fist. As she did, about ten roots shot out from the ground all around the filly and impaled her, blood splattering all over the grass. The filly let out a gurgled laugh before she closed her eyes. The roots then slipped back into the ground as the fillies body fell to the grass with a soft thud.

Everyone stared in horror before Twilight spun the demon to face her. "What was that?!" She yelled, slamming her fist into Kyra's shoulder. The demon didn't even flinch or show signs of pain. "You just killed a filly!"

Kyra stared into her eyes before placing a hand on the unicorn's chest. With a quick thrust forward, she shoved the mare away like she was made of paper mâché. "That wasn't a filly. Not anymore. When Pumpkin takes a host, she also takes the soul. That was just the empty corpse of whoever that used to be. She was dead before I got here."

Rarity put a hand over her mouth. "How awful..."

"What about her parents?" Asked Applejack, getting a look from everyone else.

Kyra walked over to the body and knelt down. She then, much to the shock of everyone else, reached out and placed her hand on the filly's cheek. "I'm sorry..." she said softly, though the others could hear. She kept her eyes on the filly a little longer before looking at the group. "We're done here." She then looked at the filly's body again and waved her hand over the body, sealing all the holes to make it look more presentable. When she was about to scoop her up, they all heard a rustling from the candy pile.

Kyra's eyes went wide and looked over, as did everyone else. The candy pile looked like it was moving as pieces rolled down the side from the top as if there was a mini earthquake. Soon, peppermint sticks unwrapped from the wrapped and fused together, forming a hand, which began to rise from the pile. As it did, more candy came together to form an arm.

"Oh, shit," Kyra growled, as she and the mortals watched the candy start to form a body. Looking at the others, Kyra pointed towards another path off to the side. "To the old castle. We'll lose her in there until we think of a plan."

Twilight nodded as she and the others took off running towards the path. When the Candy Mare had a head, half her body was still in the pile. She then grinned at the red mare.

"I'm coming for you," she sang evilly.

"Yeah, come get me, bitch," Kyra spat before running after the others.

Running into the old, run-down castle, Twilight looked back. "Be careful!" She warned. "This place is old, so the floor might be weak!" Looking over at the others, she then added, "And traps."

"Traps?" Asked Rainbow as everyone else looked at her with great concern, too.

Twilight nodded. "Booby traps for intruders. It's a good bet that no one's here to deactivate them."

"Well, that's just fantastic," AJ growled. "First, a demon... Then, a bitchy demon... Now, traps!"

Making their way down the main hall, Fluttershy let out an "eep" as the floor beneath her crumbled.

"Fluttershy!" Pinks gasped, diving forward to grab the mare's hand as she fell through the floor. Grabbing the mare's hand, she let out a grunt as she tried to pull up. "Come on..." she grunted. "Don't let g--" She was cut off when Fluttershy's hand slipped and she fell. "Flutters!" Pinks yelled, reaching out to her with wide eyes.

"Oh, no!" Rarity gasped as she took a step back before a panel opened underneath her. Letting out a yell, she slid down a chute before the panel closed.

"Oh, come on!" Applejack yelled, moving to assist before stepping on a trapdoor, too.

As the orange mare fell, Twilight looked at Pinkamena and Rainbow Dash. "Stay away from the center of the floor! Back against the walls!"

Pinks scrambled to her feet as she and Applejack pressed their back against opposite sides of the hall. When they did, the section of wall they stood at flipped around, taking them with them.

"The heck?!" Yelled Twilight when it was just her, Kyra, and the fillies. "Where's safe?!"

"Not here," Kyra growled, grabbing her hand and running. "Damn, you girls are making my job really fucking difficult..."

The unicorn did her best to keep up with the demon's pace as she looked back to see the fillies close by. She then looked way down at the entrance to see the Candy Mare standing there, eyes glowing purple as she raised her sharp claws, waving to her. Twilight let out a gasp when she was suddenly thrown into a room. Kyra then waited for the fillies to enter before she ran into the room. As she did, the Candy Mare rushed at her and swiped her candy cane claws at her. Letting out a yell, Kyra kicked her away and closed the steel door with a thud. She then raised her hand as dust shifted and hardened, closing off all sections where air could get into the room.

Kyra then turned to Twilight. "Your friends want to die, don't they?"

"What?" Asked the unicorn, taking a step forward. "No. Of course!"

"Well, they sure seemed drawn to the traps," Kyra pointed out, crossing her arms. "I suppose that's just shit luck. And, now we're all separated."

Twilight opened to her mouth to say something before looking at Kyra's arm. "O-Oh, um... What's that?" She asked, pointing. "Your arm..."

The demon raised an eyebrow before looking at her right arm. "Oh, fuck..." she growled, noticing a cut just under her elbow. The veins around it were glowing green. The green coloring also seemed to be traveling up her arm. "Fuck," she growled again, flexing the fingers on her left hand before she grabbed her right arm by the shoulder.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Asked Twilight, the fillies backing up as Sweetie Belle tried to avert her eyes.

"The curse is spreading," Kyra explained. "I have to amputate."

"A-Amputate?" Asked Twilight, going wide-eyed. "H-How do you plan on--"

"You may want to look away..." the demon said before letting out a yell and tearing her arm off, blood spraying all over the floor.

Twilight covered her mouth as the fillies screamed in terror, looking away and running to cower in a corner.

The Candy Mare stood outside the door with a grin on her face, running her clawed hand down the door. After reveling in the pained sounds and terrified screams, she left to go find the others.

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes. Everything seemed dark and blurry and her head was spinning. Letting out a groan, she sat up before letting out a sharp yelp. A strong pain shot through her body, originating from her leg. Whimpering as tears filled her eyes, she looked at her leg. Eyes going wide, she saw an unusual bump on her leg. Slowly reaching out and touching, she let out a pain yell. Definitely broken. She then began hyperventilating, knowing if she couldn't move then she was as good as dead. Suddenly, she remembered back to when Applebloom had her ribs broken and Kyra fixed it, as painful as it seemed. She then knew that the demon was her only hope.

"K-Kyra?" She asked, sniffling and looking around her surroundings. She seemed to be in the dungeons. She was in a hallway with cells lining the walls. The doors to each had fallen off and the cell walls had crumbled. "Kyra?!" She yelled out as loud as she could as tears fell from her eyes, her voice echoing off the walls. "Help me, please!"

Kyra dropped to her knees, her right stump dripping blood all over the floor beneath her. Twilight had backed up to stand in front of the fillies, blocking their view from the horrific scene. The demon mare clutched her stump and growled in pain. Twilight eyed the fillies, who were facing the wall with their eyes closed and covering their ears. Turning back to Kyra, she made her way over to her.

"Um... What was that?" She asked, kneeling in front of the demon.

Kyra eyed her with clenched teeth before letting out a pained grunt. "If... If the curse spreads to your body... your soul becomes hers and you become, what she calls, a Candy Ghoul..."

"But... you're a demon, too..." Twilight pointed out.

"Obviously," Kyra said, before wincing from the pain. "But, a demon can kill another demon... I am to her as you are to your friends... If the curse spreads, I have no soul for her to take... I'd just live a life of eternal pain and suffering as her puppet..." She then leaned back and sighed, removing her hand from her stump as the bone twitched.

Twilight quickly scooted back from the grisly sight before she watched a bone grow out from the stump. The arm was reforming. First her bone grew all the way down to her fingers. Holding up her skeleton hand, she looked it over as her muscle began to grow back. After that, her skin reformed, finally giving her an arm back. Letting out a deep exhale, Kyra fell on her back, panting heavily.

"Shit..." the demon sighed.

Kyra sat up as Twilight went over to kneel beside her.

"Um..." the unicorn said softly. "Are you... Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Kyra replied before eyeing her. "Why do you ask such a stupid question?"

"Well, that seemed to hurt," Twilight replied, acting like the mare's rude question didn't bother her. "The whole... arm ripping thing..."

"I do what I do to survive," Kyra said as she rubbed her shoulder. "Though, it could've been worse... I could've had to rip my arm off and be mortal..."

"Why?" Asked Twilight, sort of getting sick of hearing from the demon how much she despises mortals. "Because you'd be mortal, too?"

The demon let out a soft chuckle. "No... Just imagine having to rip your own arm off."

Twilight shivered at the thought before nodding. "I see your point. Though, if it came to that... I'd just use a sharp object, or something..."

"Could you do it?" Asked Kyra, looking at her. "Cut your arm off?" Her tone seemed to have changed. She didn't speak with hate in her voice now. She seemed to be having an actual conversation. Something strange to Twilight but not unwelcome.

The unicorn hesitated before smiling. "I'd do what it took to survive, too."

Kyra did nothing for a few seconds, as if she were thinking, before smirking lightly. It didn't seem like a devious smirk, but more of an impressed smirk.

Three figures entered the castle; a stallion and two mares, all three seemingly made of Candy. They made their way down the hall where they were greeted by a wall of black smoke, slowly filling up the hall in front of them. They stopped moving as the Candy Mare emerged from the smoke.

"I want you to find them..." the sweet-tasting mare cooed. "and I want you to cut them. I will take great pleasure in making them my slaves."

Pinkamena made her way into an indoor garden. The plants were long dead and the stone structures, crumbled into pieces on the floor. In the center of the round room was an ankle-high stone wall that served as the edge of the garden. Inside was dirt and all the dead plants. Some of the dirt had poured out through holes in the small wall. All in all, this place looked eerie and dead.

When she was about to leave, she heard a scuffling from the hall. Letting out a gasp, she took cover behind a broken statue. When she stood, it came up to her chest, so she was able to kneel behind it. Peeking out, she saw a mare stumble into the room. The pink mare let out a soft gasp when she saw that the mare was made of candy. It wasn't the Candy Mare, though. It looked like she used to be a normal mare but was candified to look similar to her mistress. Upon hearing the gasp, the Candy Ghoul turned its head to look towards Pinkamena, who quickly hid herself from view again.

Rainbow rounded a corner and found herself another hallway. "Aw, come on..." she groaned. "Where's the way out?" She kept moving and looking around for a side passage that might have a staircase. Suddenly, she heard a scraping noise, which seemed to be getting closer and closer. "Uh... Guys?" She asked.

When she got no answer in response but the sound got closer, she looked around and found a metal rod sticking out of a pile of rubble. Grabbing it, she got ready to attack. A figure soon emerged from a hall in the distance. It turned its head to look at the pegasus. Rainbow gasped when she saw what it was; a pony made of candy that wasn't the Candy Mare.

"What the heck is that?" She asked.

The creature then took off running at her. The pegasus didn't run away, though. Pulling the rod back like she was getting ready to hit a baseball, she grinned, waiting. When the candy pony was closer, it reached out to attack her. The mare quickly stepped to the side and swung at its head. Hitting it hard, the candy pony lost its footing and landed on its back. Right after it hit, it swiped at her legs. Jumping back, she managed to dodge it before it quickly got back up.

"Resilient, huh?" She asked, before dropping to her knees to avoid another swipe before she swung at its leg. When it fell over again, Rainbow quickly took off. "Stay down and don't follow me!" She called back.

Fluttershy scooted back against the wall, keeping her eyes on the entrance to the room, panting heavily from the pain and from fright. "Okay, Fluttershy," she told herself. "You can't stay here... You have to move..."

Looking at her leg made her less confident, though she knew she had to get moving. Taking a deep breath, she slid down the wall onto her right side to keep her broken left leg off the floor. Using her right hand, she dragged herself across the floor with grunts and yelps of pain, her injured leg resting on her good one.

"You're not dying here, Fluttershy," the pegasus told herself as she kept dragging herself across the floor.

Letting out grunt after grunt, she finally managed to crawl into the hallway outside the room. Looking both ways, she began to pull herself down the left passage. Moving further down the corridor, she saw a 4-way intersection. "Oh... Which way?" She whimpered.

Suddenly, she heard a sound coming from down the hall where she had come from. Looking back, she saw a candy pony walking towards her, claws out by it sides. Seeing how slow the pegasus was moving, the candy pony didn't seem to be in a rush.

Letting out a gasp, Fluttershy began to crawl faster, turning down another hallway. Due to her frightened state, she wasn't paying attention to where her limbs ended up and her hurt leg slipped off her good one and hit the corner of the wall. Mouth opening in a silent yell, tears filled her eyes as she stopped moving. The pain was too much for her to concentrate on anything. Slowly, a pained yell escaped her lips and her her breathing became erratic. Letting out a sharp gasp, she looked up to see the candy pony standing there. It lunged towards her, making her scream in fright before the candy creature was knocked away by a familiar orange mare.

"A-Applejack?" Asked Fluttershy, holding her leg above the wound.

The earth pony knocked the candy pony to the floor before stopping repeatedly on its leg before shattering it. "You leave her alone," she growled, grabbing its left arm to keep it from cutting her. She then stood up and placed her foot on the candy ghoul's neck, stomping it a few times until it shattered. The flailing arms fell limp but it didn't seem dead yet. Not wasting this moment, she quickly ran over to Fluttershy and knelt down beside her. "Oh, damn, Flutters..." she gasped, noticing the swollen leg and the tear-stained face of her friend. "Come on," she said, slowly helping the mare up on her good leg and put her arm around her. She made sure to stand on the side of the broken leg to make sure it didn't hit anything. "Let's get moving."

Fluttershy quickly nodded and leaned against Applejack, feeling safer with her friend now here.

Twilight panted as she watched the fillies collapse to the floor, their breathing becoming more desperate. The unicorn then looked at Kyra again. "We have to get out of here... We're running out of air..."

Kyra hesitated before nodding. "Right... The problem of mortals..." She then turned to the door. "So... an escape plan..."

"Can't you just... teleport us all out?" Asked the purple mare.

The demon turned to look at her again. "No. Pumpkin feeds off magic, too. I fear that all the teleportation I did around town helped in bringing her back. Now, that she's manifested herself in this world, the plan has changed."

"Plan?" Asked Twilight, confused. "What was the plan originally? And, how is it different now?"

"Well, originally I meant to kill her before she had the power to manifest in her true form. If I did that, then her connection to this world would've been severed and she would've returned to the Nether." She then paused and eyed the door. "Now, that she's made it into your world... I'll need the help of the one who assisted in her imprisonment all those years ago..."

"Who?" Asked Twilight, finding it harder and harder to breath.

Kyra turned to look at her again. "Luna."

Twilight went wide-eyed. "Princess Luna helped imprison her?"

Just then there was a bang on the door followed by a loud scraping noise, making Twilight jump. "How long do you think you can stay in there?" Came the eerie childish voice of the Candy Mare. "If I can't get in... then, that means you made the room air-tight..." She then giggled eerily. "If they suffocate, then it's not fair. Open the door so I can kill them myself..."

Kyra narrowed her eyes at the source of the voice before looking at Twilight. "Teleportation may be to risky to use around Pumpkin. But, perhaps I can use a lesser spell so as to not give her too much energy..."

"What do you have in mind?" Asked the unicorn, breathing heavily as she looked over at the fillies.

"I'm still connected to you and your friends from that spell earlier," Kyra explained. "I can combine that with another spell to communicate to each of them. Now, they wouldn't be able to respond to me but I can at least tell them what to do."

Twilight nodded and went over to the fillies, kneeling down with them. "Do whatever it takes... I don't have much... air left... and these three... have even less..."

Kyra hesitated for a few seconds, looking at the four of them before closing her eyes. "Listen up..."

Applejack and Fluttershy stopped running and looked at each other when they heard a voice in their head.

"You hear that?" Asked Applejack, receiving a nod from Fluttershy.

"...find a way back up and regroup," Kyra's voice continued. "I'll distract Pumpkin so you all can escape. Luna is the only one who can help us now so we need to get out of here. Now."

"Find a way up?" Asked Applejack with a scoff. "How are we supposed to do that?"

Almost as a response to her question, Kyra continued her announcement. "To find your way back, I will help. When I'm done talking, you'll hear a beep. The louder it is, the closer you are. Find your way quickly."

After she was done, sure enough both Applejack and Fluttershy heard the faint beeping.

"Well," AJ said, looking at Shy. "That's somethin'..."

They began to head in the direction of the beeping, making their way down the hall when someone ran out from one of the adjacent hallways. Both AJ and Fluttershy jumped before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Rarity," AJ said as Fluttershy looked through her mane, before smiling.

"Oh, I'm so glad I found you girls," Rarity said with a few pants, looking behind her. "We need to follow that noise quickly. There's one of those candy things chasing me." She then noticed Fluttershy's leg. "Oh, no! Your leg!"

"She knows..." Applejack commented as Shy leaned against her. "We have to get moving and get her help."

Rarity nodded and started heading in the direction of the beeping. "Onwards!"

Pinkamena covered her mouth as the candy ghoul came closer to where she was hiding. Suddenly, she heard a voice in her head.

"Listen up..." came Kyra's voice, making Pinkamena jump and let out a quiet gasp. The candy pony stopped moving as it tilted its head as if listening for another noise. The pink mare then heard Kyra's voice again. "find a way back up and regroup. I'll distract Pumpkin so you all can escape. Luna is the only one who can help us now so we need to get out of here. Now." The pink mare suddenly felt a little hopeful knowing they were going to go to Luna. The alicorn surely could help. "To find your way back, I will help," Kyra continued. "When I'm done talking, you'll hear a beep. The louder it is, the closer you are. Find your way quickly."

When she was finished, Pinks heard the sound and then nodded to herself, knowing what she had to do. Looking around, she quickly picked up a broken piece of the statue. She then threw it from the other side of the statue where the candy pony wasn't looking. The creature immediately looked over at the sound and darted over to it.

When it did, Pinkamena scrambled to her feet and made a run for it. The candy mare quickly looked over at her and hissed before darting after her. Moving like a cheetah, it quickly caught up to her and pounced. Hearing the incoming attack, Pinks turned around and tripped, falling backwards. When she hit the ground, she slid her knee up to her chest and grabbed the candy pony's wrists, her knee against its neck to keep it from clawing or biting her.

Letting out grunts of effort to keep it from harming her, she looked around for something to use. Finding nothing in range, she looked up at the creature's candy face. Closing her eyes, she breathed slowly, relaxing and getting her heartbeat to return to normal. When she felt calm, cool, and collected, she opened her eyes. Filling up with determination, she found the strength to push the pony off her, throwing its arms away from her.

When it hit the floor, the pink mare quickly got to her feet and took off towards the hallway where the beeping sound grew louder. When she made it to the door, she heard the candy pony regain its footing and took off running at her. As soon as she made it through the doorway, a familiar face stepped in front of her.

Letting out a gasp, she stopped moving. "Dashie?"

"Yep," the cyan mare said with a smile, holding up her piece of metal. "Get down."

Immediately, the pink mare dropped to her knees as the candy pony lunged at them. Rainbow pulled back before swinging hard at the pony like a baseball player. The metal bar struck the pony in the neck, shattering the candy. The ghoul hit the floor next to Pinkamena with a thud as the neck completely shattered, sending the head rolling away.

"Come on," the pegasus said as she helped the pink mare up. "We have to move. Now."

With that, the two made their way down the hall towards the beeping.

Applejack helped Fluttershy over to a flight of stairs, the beeping getting louder as Rarity stopped beside them.

"This has to be the way up," AJ said with a smile before looking at Fluttershy, her smile fading. "What's wrong?" She asked, noticing the mare's expression. She looked worried.

"My leg..." the yellow pegasus whimpered. "I don't think I can make it..."

AJ looked at her swollen leg before looking at the stairs. "Well... We have to get up there..." She then looked at the injured mare again. "If Kyra wants to help you, we're gonna have to--"

"She will help," Fluttershy corrected. "Twilight believes in her..."

Applejack was shocked at first by how her friend seemed to side with the demon, though it seemed the pegasus had a lot of trust in their unicorn friend. Smiling at her, she nodded. "If you want Kyra's help... we do have to head up the stairs..." Fluttershy looked at the stairs again, nervously. "We'll carry ya." AJ added with a smile. "Okay?"

"Yes," Rarity agreed. "Put your arms around us and we'll help you up."

Fluttershy smiled at both of them and nodded. "Okay..."

Pinkamena and Rainbow ran up a staircase and found themselves in the hallway they fell down from. Looking at each other, they let out a soft chuckle of relief before looking at the staircase on the other side of the hall. Seeing Applejack and Rarity carrying Fluttershy up the stairs, they smiled and waved before noticing Fluttershy's leg.

"Oh, no..." Rainbow gasped.

"Fluttershy!" Pinkamena yelled, running towards her.

AJ and Rarity smiled at seeing their friends, Fluttershy letting out a soft whimper at the pain in her leg.

"Are you okay?" The pink mare asked, running up to them. "I-Is it bad?"

"B-Broken..." Fluttershy answered. "B-But Kyra can help..."

Rainbow eyed Applejack, who gave a light smile. Suddenly the group heard a faint laugh. Looking down the hall towards the entrance, they saw the Candy Mare standing beside a metal door.

"Looks like you made it," she cooed darkly, tilting her head. "Guess I'll have to kill you myself..."

Back inside the room, Kyra eyed Twilight and the fillies. "Get ready," she said, as the fillies gathered near Twilight, ready to run. The demon then looked back at the door and sent the other ponies outside a message. "Run for the exit. Now!" She yelled.

Applejack let out a gasp as she slid her arm lower on Fluttershy's body and held her waist, lifting her up so her feet didn't touch the floor. The pegasus let out a gap of shock as she was lifted up and let out a wince at a slight pain in her leg. Rarity did the same with her left arm, supporting the injured mare's waist so all the weight wasn't on AJ. They then began running towards the Candy Mare, along with Rainbow and Pinkamena, all hoping Kyra knew what she was doing.

The Candy Mare grinned and licked her lips. "That's it..." she cooed. "Come play..."

When she was about to run at them, Kyra flung the door open, hitting the candy pony, making her stumble. Kyra then kicked her in the side, causing her to fall over and hit the floor with a thud. The demon then watched Twilight and the fillies leave the room as the other ponies ran passed. Her eyes then fell on Fluttershy, who was looking at her as she was carried away. When Kyra started to run, the Candy Mare grabbed her ankle and pulled, making her hit the floor with a grunt.

"You're ruining playtime," the Candy Mare cooed as she climbed atop the demon and rolled her onto her back. "I'll have to teach you a lesson..." She then raised both clawed hands and thrust them at the red mare. Kyra grabbed her wrists and pushed back, keeping the peppermint stick fingernails out of her eyes. "Just let it happen..." the candy pony cooed.

"I'll never be your slave," Kyra grunted. "And, I won't stop trying until I get you back where you belong..."

"I belong... everywhere," the Candy Mare hissed. "And, as soon as I kill you, I will be..."

"Not on our watch," came another voice from nearby.

The Candy Mare looked up to see Twilight about to swing the metal rod that Rainbow had. Growling, she swiped at the mare before getting a metal bar to the face. The candy pony tumbled off the red mare with a hiss of annoyance as Twilight held out her hand.

"Come on," she urged.

Kyra quickly stood up on her own. "What are you doing?" She asked in a scolding tone before grabbing the mare's wrist. "Come on," she said before running after the others. "We have to get out of here, now," Kyra said, when they aught up to the others. Using her powers, she created a red mist around the group. When the mist dissipated, the ponies were gone.

The Candy Mare scrambled to her feet in a squatting position. Placing her right hand on the floor, she scraped the stone and growled before looking back to see the candy ghouls leaving the staircase where Pinkamena and Rainbow came from. "Useless..." she hissed. She then held out her left hand towards the candy ponies. "But I can make use of you..."

The ghouls then stopped moving before they began cracking. Soon, they shattered and the pieces flew into the Candy Mare, adding on to her candy body. Her fingernails became longer and her muzzle became slightly longer, more teeth filling the empty space. Her arms and legs grew in length about three inches. Her body became slightly thicker as did her arms and legs.

Kyra and the others ended up back in the Golden Oaks Library, Applejack and Rarity quickly bringing Fluttershy over to one of the chairs at a reading table. Rarity then ran upstairs to grab a pillow from Twilight's bed and brought it back down to help support Fluttershy's hurt leg.

As they did this, Kyra got to one knee and placed her hand on the ground. Nodding to herself, she then placed a finger on the floorboards, a red glow emitting from her fingertip. Drawing as large a circle as she could on the floor with her finger, she created a glowing red ring. The others looked over at her as she drew a triangle in the circle, separating the circle into four sections; the three on the outside of the triangle and the triangle in the middle. She then drew smaller circles in the three outer parts. When she was done, the symbol flashed red.

"What's that?" Asked Rarity.

"Protective rune," Kyra explained. "Big enough to cover the entirety of Ponyville. It's risky, because Pumpkin can feed off it... but it will keep everyone safe for a couple hours."

"Why didn't you just make one of these from the start?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

The demon eyed her. "And trap her in here? Are you dense?"

Rainbow was about to retort but was cut off when Fluttershy spoke up.

"K-Kyra?" Asked the yellow pegasus, getting the demon's attention. "He-elp, p-please..." she pleaded. "I-It hurts..."

The red mare hesitated before slowly walking over to her, looking over her leg and letting out a sigh. "Bitch..."

Everyone gasped and Fluttershy felt her heart skip a beat, not believing what the mare said.

"That's uncalled for," Applejack said with a glare, clearly pissed off. "It's not her fault she got hurt. She isn't a demon like you--"

"I wasn't talking about Fluttershy," Kyra said, her eyes meeting the pegasus', who seemed relieved to hear it. "This will hurt," she warned, almost as if she gave a shit.

Nodding, Fluttershy sniffled. "Do it."

After hesitating for a brief second, Kyra placed her hand on the swollen part of the leg. Shy let out a wince of pain before a loud cry of pain escaped from her lips accompanied by a loud crack as the bone snapped back in place and healed. Tears fell from her face as Rarity ran over to comfort her. Kyra pulled her hand away, the bump gone as she turned to Twilight. Something caught her eye.

"Oh, shit..." she said through clenched teeth.

Looking down at her leg, Twilight gasped when she saw a cut on her knee from when the Candy Mare swiped at her. "Uh... Oh, no..."

"Twilight?" Asked Applejack, she and the majority of the girls not knowing what was going on, but Twilight and the fillies knew.

"She's infected," Kyra said as she quickly moved over to the unicorn. Looking over at the table in the center of the room, she pointed at it, everything on it flying off and landing on the floor. "And, there's only one thing to do..." Her eyes then met Twilight's as the unicorn nodded, a frightened look on her face as her heart rate increased. Kyra then brought her over to the table and patted it. "Lay on your back." The unicorn did as she was told before Kyra let out an angry growl. "I told you not to do anything stupid..." she hissed, looking Twilight in the eyes. "Why the fuck did you risk your life for me?"

"Because..." Twilight said with a light smile. "You're my friend."

Kyra froze in dismay, not believing what she heard. Nothing she's said or done made any indication that she wanted friendship. In fact, she acted the opposite and yet this mare still cared about her. Looking away briefly, she hesitated before moving her hand to Twilight's leg, eyeing the cut. "Damn you..." she growled through her teeth.

"Huh?" Asked Twilight, making the demon look her in the eyes.

"Damn you for making me care..."

Twilight smiled lightly, hearing that her persistence seems to have paid off.

"Can't you just knock her out?" Asked Applebloom, knowing what had to happen.

Kyra eyed them before looking at the cut, noticing the green in the unicorn's veins was spreading rapidly, quickly nearing the mare's hip. "No time!" She yelled, getting ready.

"Do it," Twilight said, gripping the sides of the table as tears filled her eyes.

There was a sudden wet, tearing sound as Twilight's screams filled the Library.

To Be Continued...