The journey up to Canterlot was...boring to say the least. Gluttony was in some sort of meditative trance and Lust just flew next to us and wasn’t talking to me, I guess she was still pissed at us for trashing the throne room. Once we made it to the city the fun started, screaming masses, Royal Guards cowering before us, and Gluttony stealing somebody’s lunch. Man, such a panic over three people walking through the city. I mean, it’s not like we were doing anything, I guess the throne strapped the Gluttony’s back was scaring people, that or the fact I was riding on his shoulder.

The ponies were just running around everywhere, huh, maybe they’ve encountered Demons before? Ah well, we were here now, nothing we could do about it. The ponies jumped out of windows, threw each other aside and knocked over stalls as they ran from us. As the wind blew I snagged a black fedora as it almost flew over my head from a stall.

“So what’s the plan when we get into the castle?” Lust finally asked.

“Hey, so you are talking to me!” I chuckled.

“I might as well, this stupid stunt is either going to get us returned to Hell or leave us with a ton of explaining to do.” She sighed, “Look, I don’t like it when you do something stupid. That’s why I was pissed off at you. Just...tell me you have a plan.”

I grinned as Gluttony breached the castle, not that there were any gates or anything, “Sure do. I need to talk to Celestia alone. If Princess Luna’s there you have to get her away or calm her down if she tries to do something rash. Gluttony,” I smacked the side of his head gently, “Time to get your head in the game, big guy. I need you by my side, you’re my muscle for this, if things go tits up I need you to cover me and give us a chance to escape.”

He nodded, “Got it.”

“And what about you? You’re just going to hope that Celestia cuts a deal? We’re Demons, it’s not going to be that easy.” Lust said, making a good point.

“We’ll offer our services or something. You could feel it back in the castle, couldn’t you? The tainted mark on this world? You know what that means, these peaceful ponies won’t be able to defend against them.”

Lust gave a low laugh, “Did you plan that? Is that why you summoned us in this world?”

I shook my head, “Wish I could say that’s true, but honestly this was the first time I’ve been summoned, I just seized the opportunity I saw. But with the mark I can push us into a place where we’re needed.”

She shook her head, “Always plotting, aren’t you?”

I smirked, “What can I say? I’ve always been greedy for success.”

“Ha! That’s true!” She grinned.

“Here we go, guys!” Gluttony yelled as he pushed open the doors and entered the castle, knocking out some stones as he forced his way in.

I laughed nervously as I barely clung to his arm, “Fucking hell, Gluttony, some warning’d be nice next time!”

“Sorry, thought you were ready.” He rumbled, throwing his arms up in front of his face as the guards finally got their shit together and started shooting energy blasts at us.

Lust landed on Gluttony’s other arm and took cover, “It’s getting a bit too hot to fly.”

“I thought you liked fire.” I snarked.

“Well, seeing as we need these idiots alive I can’t really do anything, can I?” She spat.

“Right. Hey, Gluttony!” I grinned evilly at the crowd of guards blocking us, “Gotta go fast.”

He blinked before giving a booming laugh, “GANGWAY!” He roared, suddenly picking up way too much speed and knocking the guards aside with ease and smashing through the wall.

“SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!” Lust screamed.

We almost immediately returned to a reasonable pace. “Better?” Gluttony asked, mockingly.

“Don’t you fucking sass me, fatso!” Lust took to the air and summoned a ball of fire, “I will burn your loincloth off!”

He just smirked, “Go ahead, I prefer to go au naturel.” As Lust gagged he came to a stop in front of a pair of large double doors. “We’re here.”

“You sure, buddy?” I asked.

He sniffed the air, “Oh, yeah. The Alicorns are in there. They smell of power.”

I grinned, “You know the drill.”

Lust blinked, “What are you planning?” I kept quiet. “Greed?!”

Gluttony kicked open the doors and I surfed down his arm and flipped into the throne room, “BOOM, baby!” I yelled, throwing my hat aside. I sauntered up to the throne, jumping over the guards and grinning at the princesses sitting in their thrones, looking pissed off, “Well, well! Looks like we finally got here, guys! Man, you would not believe the traffic coming here!”

I heard Lust snap her fingers and I felt intense fires rage behind me, “Alright, I could kill you in a snap of my fingers, you idiots get that?!” She yelled, “So back off! You weak mortals can’t stop us anyway! So just stand aside!”

“As Lust said, boys!” I shouted, “Move on by!”

As the flames died down Celestia spoke up, “Guards, stand aside.”

There was a silence for several seconds before I heard them move and Gluttony stepped up next to me as Lust kept an eye from the sky. I laughed, “Nicely done, Princess! You kept the body count at a big, fat zero! Though there might be a few injured idiots around the castle. Gluttony, the gift for the princesses!”

“Got it.” He rumbled as he pulled out a decapitated head and threw it my way. I tossed it at Luna before pulling a piece of flesh from my pocket and tossing it at Celestia.

“You murdering MONSTER!” Luna roared, raising from her seat.

“Ah, ah!” I waved a finger. “A monster, me? For doing what? Collecting a bounty?” I fished Open Speech’s wanted poster out of my pocket and tossing it at her. “As you can see. Dead or alive. I just chose the easy option.”

As Luna growled under her breath Celestia leant over, “Calm, sister.” She turned to me, “You are correct, this is Open Speech. Where was he hiding?”

I gave a carefree shrug, “Eh, the old castle in the Everfree. What’s it to you? Place needs a dust.”

“That is our castle!” Luna snarled. “You will never return there!”

I smirked, “Not anymore! The Castle of the Two Sisters belongs to me! Actually, let’s rename it to the Castle of Sin! Much catchier!”

“And you plan to intimidate us?!” She spat. “You? A scrawny thing and a fat beast?!”

I patted Gluttony’s arm to calm him down. She was being a disrespectful little brat. “Ah, no, I’m not the fighter here. That’d be her.” I jerked a thumb at Lust who grinned widely, rubbing her fingers together.

“Begone, foul hellspawn!” A voice called out before a pony dropped from the ceiling. The white, unicorn stallion was brandishing a sword with several runes carved into it. The thing actually gave me chills as it glowed with a soft light. “I will not allow you to bring damnation upon this world, monster!” He called out, “I, Blueblood the fifty second, will destroy you!” He suddenly charged me.

I barely raised my claws in time to block the sword, “Shit.” I muttered, my claws starting to feel like they were burning, “That thing’s a Holy sword, ain’t it?”

“Indeed!” He grinned, “It was forged eons ago to strike down hellspawn such as yourself!”

“Back up, Gluttony!” I laughed. “Alright, kid, let’s rumble!” I hopped back and brought my foot up into his chin. As he staggered back he swung the sword and nearly caught me across the chest.

“Ha! It will take more than that! I come from a long line of Hunters! Destined to fight back you dark creatures!” He boasted.

“Meh, sounds like a generic fantasy plot to me.” I mocked. I quickly charged him, then jumped back as he swung his sword, then I surged forwards and punched him across the horn. Whatever spell he was using failed and the sword tumbled to the ground. “Checkmate, bitch.” I smirked.

He then punched me in the face. I stared at the little shit. “Gluttony?” I said. “Eat him.”

The little shit then squealed as Gluttony grabbed him. “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM!” Luna boomed, spreading her wings and shooting towards us.

As she was about to reach us Lust’s tail wrapped around her and yanked her up into the air and she punched Luna in the face before unwinding her tail and headbutting Luna. Luna responded by letting loose a bright flash of light. As Lust clutched her eyes Luna blasted her with magic and dove towards her. Lust gave a sudden grin and grabbed Luna’s head and smashed her into a wall before backing off. As Luna recovered they both gave out war cries and collided with each other, shooting across the room in a flurry of feathers, fur and fire.

As Luna and Lust tumbled through a window in a ball of punches and blasts I just stared. “Well...that just happened.” I turned back to Celestia and caught a hoof to the face. “DAMN IT! WILL YOU PEOPLE STOP DOING THAT?!” I roared. “It’s not helping!”

Celestia smirked, “No, but it made me feel better.”

I raised a finger and opened my mouth to say something before pausing. Hadn’t I done the same in both life and in Hell? “Eh, fair point.” I shrugged before smirking, “Just don’t try it again or I’ll use your spine as a toothpick for Gluttony.” She never changed her expression. “Huh, that usually evokes some response. Ah well, let’s get this over with, shall we?”

“You expect to overpower me?” She said, her eyes narrowing.

I shrugged, “I could try that, but that’s not usually our style.” I fixed a stare at Gluttony to make sure he didn’t actually eat the little shit, that'd make us look bad. “But no. We came here to offer some...assistance.”

“I don’t trust demons.”

I held my hand up to my mouth, incredibly offended, “Madam, I am ashamed of you! How dare you insult me! I am no demon! We are Demons. Not those mindless, half-formed things.”

“Look, we could banter back and forth all day.” Gluttony spoke up. “But at the end of it you need us.”

“And how do you figure that?” Celestia asked. I could see her holding back her anger, so maybe I could cut her some slack.

He dropped...hell’s his name again? The little shit, “After summoning the three of us in the same place this world now has a tainted mark. A mark that others in Hell can sense.”

I picked up, “Exactly! And they’ll be coming. Only a group at a time, but they’ll still be too strong for you to deal with. That’s a fact.” I smirked deviously, “But we know their weak points, we know how they fight. We can beat them. Give us a home and we’ll defend it with our lives.” So long as we never have to go back to Hell I don’t really care about any of that, but if it keeps us here I’ll protect the mortals. "Look, all we want is a place to call home, and in return you get three protectors, it’s a win-win situation! Look past the prejustice you have and listen to what we’re saying! We can protect this world, please.” I looked her in the eyes, “Just give us a chance.” I rubbed my arm, my confidence falling away, “We don’t want to go back to Hell. It took us a hundred years to get just the three of us together again. You ponies find friendship important, right? Well, if you send us back to Hell who knows how long it’ll be before we find each other again? Just...just give us a chance. Please.”

She was silent for several minutes. “You understand that this isn’t an easy decision. You’re monsters, by every account.”

“What are monsters, but the fear of our innermost selves revealed to the world?” Gluttony said. “And when you stare long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back at you.” He looked at Celestia, “We are all monsters, whether it is obvious, on the outside, or hidden away inside your mind. We are all monsters, to judge one of us means you judge us all. But that also means that if one of us can be redeemed, then we all share that potential.”

Celestia sighed, “Damn you. Fine. I never expected you to be so smart.” I...didn’t get it. I never was good at figuring out metaphors and such, maybe I’ll ask him later. “We accept your help.”

I smiled, “That’s good.” My smile turned into a smirk, “Now how about we figure out what payment will be like? Actually, I’ll leave that up to you, Gluttony! I don’t really trust myself with that.”

“Who are you?” Celestia asked. “This one is Gluttony, that one fighting Luna is Lust...What about you? What is your sin?”

I paused for a second before giving her a wide, cocky grin and pointing at her, “The name’s Greed! My friends? They belong to me! Don’t you ever try to take them away! I’ll cling to them till the end of time itself! That’s my sin! I wear it proudly as my name! Don’t forget that!”

She raised an eyebrow, “You like a dramatic flair, don’t you?”

I opened my mouth to respond when something suddenly...felt off. There was a foul scent in the air. “Greed.” Gluttony said, sniffing. “Something’s wrong.”

“Yeah, I feel it.” I scanned the room. “Any idea what it is?”

He looked over at me, “It smells like Hell.”

I realised what that meant, “Ah, shit.” I turned to Celestia, “Princess, get your guards and that annoying little shit and back up!”

“What are you talking about?” She asked as her guards began moving towards her.

A large red crack appeared in the air, just leaking with Hell energy. “Yep.” I groaned, “We’ve got a Demon coming.” She immediately snatched up that little shit and his sword and rushed back to her throne. Was that place more easily defendable or something?

The crack flashed and began twitching around when an arm shot out and began clawing around. It grabbed the edge of the crack and started pulling itself out. Soon enough a standard Greed Demon popped out, a starving looking, male human with no discernible sexual characteristics completely covered in gold and its eyes were jewels. Was that what was eventually going to happen to me?

It looked around and began laughing madly, “This world will be mine!” It hissed. “All the gold, all the gems, all the silks, the wines, everything! They’re mine!”

“Hey, fucker!” I yelled, catching its attention right as I delivered a flying kick to its jaw. “Go back to Hell!” As he crashed into the wall I held up a hand to stop Gluttony. “Hold it. I want this. I need to know if I'm better than these mass produced Demons!” But if things got tough I was going to let Gluttony charge him.

“Idiot!” The Greed Demon spat, “You can't beat me! You're a new Demon! I have six hundred years experience!”

“Whoop de doo. Well, fucking, done for you, do you want a gold star, my special, little retard?” I mocked.

“Going to kill you!” He spat, rushing towards me, swiping at me with his claws.

As I dodged each swipe I smirked, “Man, is this the best you got? You're so slow! My grandmother can move faster-” I was cut off by a kick to the face, sending me tumbling towards Gluttony.

I pushed myself off the floor and wiped my mouth. There was blood on my hand. My blood started pumping faster and I could feel my heart racing, “Big mistake, you old fart!” I cried, running towards him and jumping over a punch and kneeing him in the face. As I landed behind him I followed it up with a kick to the back of his knee and a punch to his kidneys.

He spun around and tried to bite me but I just leapt into the air and landed on his head, I jumped again, pushing him to the ground. “You're weak!” He snarled, scrambling to his feet and trying to claw at me again. “I'm not going to lose to a weakling like you!”

“Maybe,” I shrugged, jumping away from him, “But at least my mind is still my own! You're just a slave to your sins, right?! No free will of your own! You just do as your sin commands with no thoughts of your own!” I clenched my fists, “That just pisses me off!” I roared, jumping above him and kicking him in the face.

As I was about to jump away he caught my arm, “Got you! Make your skin my coat!” He hissed.

“Gluttony! I shouted and there was a sudden ripping noise and the pressure on my arm was gone. I looked down and saw his arm was on the ground.

“NO!” The one armed Demon screeched, “My arm! Mine!”

I rolled my eyes before grabbing his head and snapping his neck. “Shut the hell up, will you?”

His body slowly faded away into ash and a black soul with gold streaks in it emerged. That was a Greed Demon’s soul, huh? Interesting. His soul screamed at me, “YOU CAN’T DO THIS! YOU’RE JUST A WEAK NEWBIE! YOU CHEATED! CHEATED!” Like real fights had rules, fucking idiot. His soul would soon cross back over to Hell and he’d be reborn in a few decades.

I sneered as a thought crossed my mind, “You know...I wonder how Demon souls taste?”

He froze, “...You...you can’t…” I held him up and opened my mouth wide. “NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! IT ISN’T RIGHT! YOU CAN’T EAT A DEMON’S SOUL!” I swallowed his soul and felt the power running through my body.

“No, then what’d I just do?!” I laughed. My right arm tingled and I glanced over at it. I blinked. Some of the redness around the gold had faded. Just...what the hell did that do?

“Greed. Did you kill that...thing?” Celestia asked. But eating another Demon’s soul...

“Yeah, he’s dead.” I shouted back as a blue line suddenly appeared in front of me. Ah shit, another one?!

“Oh, boy.” Gluttony muttered. “I don’t care what you say, I’m helping this time. You don’t have enough power behind your attacks to fight another Demon.” Yeah, I knew that, it was why I prefered to steal and run. I just...didn’t realised I was that weak. I didn’t even make him bleed. But...I feel stronger now. Not massively, but there was definitely a little boost. Could it be that...maybe...?

The blue line opened up into a portal and after a moment someone stepped through. I blinked before lowering my fists, “Lord Malice?”

Malice smiled at me, “Ah, my boy! You've taken the name Greed, haven't you?” How did he…? He gave a laugh, “Sonny, you don't become a Lord of Hell without learning a few tricks!”

“Mr Malice? How did you get here? You didn't tear apart reality like that other guy.” Gluttony asked.

“Ah, Gluttony, my friend!” Malice flashed a kind grin, “I'm glad you're doing well. And as for how I'm here...Let's just say that being a Lord gives you special privileges.” His smile faded and turned back to me with a serious expression, “But Greed...it seems you're figuring it all out about us Lords, hm?”

I nodded, “I think...you've eaten the souls of a lot of other Demons, haven't you?”

“That’s right. That’s how us Lords of Hell gained our power.”

“That’s...intense.” I said carefully.

“I know.” His smile turned vicious as he said something that shook me to the core and ignited the flames in my heart, “Now, how’d you like to become a Lord of Hell?”

Author's Note

Yeah. Okay...don't expect any more chapters at this rate. This is insane for me.

You may have noticed that Greed's combat style is very...jumpy. He doesn't like to keep his feet on the ground and as he can jump a lot higher than a human he exploits that. But on the downside he's not much stronger than a human, which means he can't really hurt other Demons easily. And that Greed Demon he fought was pretty weak.

Well, that's it for this time.