Equestria, a world full of joy, magic, and friendship. It's a world of perfect harmony but that is also it's downfall. For years demons have been in hiding, scouting the land in search for its powerful magic under the rule of Lord Kagloth. Nopony suspected anything 'cause no one knew demons existed at this point but we should've known better. As time went on demons got more and more desperate in their search for their prize and started killing, slaughtering and outright corrupting ponies to do their dirty deeds in the most horrible of ways. This is what is known as 'The Great Demon War Of Equestria'.

Not many ponies know of the story to this day only the royal sisters, Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna can tell fact from fiction of the war. Ponykind was almost annihilated by the sheer numbers of demons. If it wasn't for a bipedal creature ponykind could've been extinct. This creature was said to be part demon itself and wore a red coat and carried all kinds of different weaponry known as 'devil arms'. This creature was able to turn the tables and brought the fight to the demons. Nopony could believe their eyes when they saw how this bipedal creature fought and they were able to gain a foothold back of their world.

No one knows what happened after that nor of the bipedal creature. But to this day no one has seen or heard from any kind of demon within 2000 years. But as far as everypony is concerned demons are a mere myth like the legendary devil hunter in red himself.

"Why did it have to be hidden in the forest?"

A lone earth-pony stallion was wandering around in the Everfree forest late at night, talking to himself about this demon myth wondering how a single creature was able to banish if not outright kill all of these demons. Was there a magical artifact in play? An amulet maybe, or maybe this red coat this half-demon creature had was enchanted beyond what was thought possible. He kept on musing to himself about what could be the reason this creature had the edge. Only to be interrupted by noises that didn't sound like it came from a living being. He stopped and listened for the sound again only to hear nothing but the wind rustling the leaves of the trees and bushes.

"'Going to the Everfree forest is gonna get you killed' they said. 'Once you're in you'll never come out alive' they said. I'll have them know I know what I'm doing and I am not afraid of some stupid forest!" The stallion bellowed in frustration over his paranoid mind. "If it really was something I'm sure I would be dead by now!"

A sudden twig snapping from behind indicating someone must've heard him or rather someTHING had heard him considering his surroundings. At this point, he did the most logical thing he could think of which was to run like the wind and did he run. He ran and ran for what felt like an hour but had to stop running 'cause he had to catch his breath. As he was catching his breath he didn't hear any unusual noises and no twigs snapping. He must've lost whatever was chasing him. Having finally caught his breath it was time to keep on trekking only to notice a sudden chill coming from behind him.

He slowly turned around and regretted doing so. All he saw was a dark figure emerging from some sort of cloud underneath it. It was wielding a massive scythe dripping with some dark yet fresh liquid. It looked to covered in a cloak and only consist of bones underneath it as it stared at him with its glowing eye sockets. A demon with an intent to kill was staring right at him.

"S-stay back!" The stallion told the demon as he started backing away from the demon.

The demon inched closer with each backward step the stallion took. Bumping his rear into a tree and being unable to move further back the stallion just looked at the demon in horror, completely in shock and wide-eyed. The demon lifted its scythe and prepared for the kill. Too scared to run the only thing the stallion could do was scream for his life as the scythe neared its target.

"And that's at least how the rumors go."

Sugarcube Corner, the popular bakery was filled with ponies going on about their day, getting their baked goods from the Cake family and their assistant Pinkie Pie when she wasn't out adventuring with her close friends. Pinkie was currently talking to her friends about a sudden rumor that had spread throughout Ponyville through the last couple of days after an earth pony stallion was rushed to the hospital.

"Pinkie as much as I like a good rumor I don't really think that's a true story. Demons don't exist at all," Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship told her hyperactive friend. "Besides, the whole thing about demons is just pure fiction, nopony has ever seen or faced a demon."

"I know that silly it's also just a rumor but imagine if it was a demon," The pink earth pony gasped. "If it really was a demon should I throw it a party? Like a 'Welcome to Ponyville Party, Spawn of Tartarus'?"

All her friends just facehoofed at that. Demons couldn't be a thing, after all, it's just stories made by creative -yet disturbing- minds. There were a few demon stories published but very few and hard to find in most libraries. The only demon story that's easy to come by was 'The Great Demon War' that explains about a time when Equestria was lost to demons if it wasn't for a creature with a red coat coming to the world's aid.

"Hey Twilight, You still got one of those great demon war books?" Asked an interested rainbow-maned pegasus. "I wanna see what the fuzz is about and I have heard awesome things about how this demon killer fought."

"And I thought reading wasn't your strong suit Rainbow," Twilight said as the four other ponies around giggled at this comment. Before Rainbow Dash could counter her with a smart comment of her own a small ding was heard near the counter and Pinkie immediately got back up behind the counter to do her job and serve the customers. The current customer was a yellowish stallion with a white mane and tail whilst wearing a red trenchcoat to boot.

"Hai there! What can Pinkie Pie get you?" Pinkie asked in her ever so chipper manner.

"Hello Pinkie, get me the usual sundae would you?" The stallion said and put five bits on the counter. The pink mare giggled at this.

"It's still only three bits for the sundae you know."

"And? I love the atmosphere and the goods this place sells, which is why I pay a little extra to keep it afloat."

"Okie dokie lokie be right back with your sundae just find a table and I'll be there super duper fast!" And with that, Pinkie headed to the kitchen.

After Pinkie left, the stallion just stood there smiling for a second before heading for a table with a lone unicorn stallion in with a black suit and a matching hat and tie, snacking on a piece of pie.

"So you decided to come at last did you?" The stallion spoke as he laid eyes on the approaching stallion. "Was afraid I was gonna have to come find you, Hunter."

Rolling his eyes, Hunter took a seat on the other end of the table looking at the suited stallion expectingly for a bit before he opened his mouth.

"So, what's this about? Normally you come to my place, grab a drink while we talk about the odd jobs. Why meet at my favorite dessert joint?"

"Well, I thought a change of scenery and a dessert wouldn't hurt."

"It could, never know who might be listening to this conversation."

"True, true but this place is filled with friendly faces and judging by the amount of bits you just put on the counter to Miss. Pie up there I'd say you think the same."

"Sure... anyway what am I hunting down this time?"

Levitating a file onto the table for Hunter to read as the suited-stallion took another bite of his pie. Opening the file was rough sketches of some sort of sword stuck in a tree trunk. Skimming through the file's text it was said to be some sort of powerful artifact that could even rival Equestria's princesses and that many had tried to get to this sword in hopes of getting its immense power. While getting to the sword would be easy if you were able to read the environment for danger. The real problem would be confronting the locals of the area.

"'Everfree forest' huh? The least magical and dangerous place in Equestria?" Chuckling Hunter closed the file and smirked. "I'm gonna like this Easter Egg hunt."

"Did you say 'Easter Egg hunt'?" A chipper voice chimed in. "I love Easter Egg hunts you'll never know where to find those little chocolate eggs!"

Hearing the newcomer's voice Hunter immediately recognized the owner of the voice. Turning around he smiled at Pinkie Pie who had arrived to give out her order for Hunter. A strawberry sundae.

"It's just a metaphor Pinkie, there's not gonna be any chocolate eggs in this," Hunter stated as he dug into his dessert. "Just me having to find a little thing is all."

"Oohhh what is it? Is it a treasure chest? Or it's a bunch of gems! No, it's a giant puppy!"

"Or it's a magical artifact that can cause lots of destruction if it's in the hooves of the wrong ponies," said the sharp-dressed stallion.

"Or that yeah..." Hunter replied.

"Anyway, Hunter it's nice to know you're still up for the task but I must leave now good hunting Hunter." With his farewell, the suited stallion left the store leaving Hunter to the file and dessert in front of him.

"Hmm... Everfree forest how could I have been so blind? I felt a sudden change in aura last time I was in there so why didn't I stay and search around?" Hunter thought as to scold himself of his own stupidity.

Eating his dessert, Hunter kept on examining the file for anything to tell him what this artifact could be but sadly no luck. All he knew was that the item of interest let out an interesting aura for demons or powerful magic users who got anywhere near it. Finishing his sugary snack Hunter packed the file and headed for the door only for Ponyville's purple scaled pal, Spike the dragon to run into his chest.

"Whoa hey there pal easy now where's the fire?" Hunter asked expecting no real answer.

"S-Sorry! Important message for Twilight," Spike replied before heading towards the table of six mares and leaving Hunter to head his merry way. Pondering a bit Hunter got a really bad feeling about this due to prior hunts.

"Finally catching up are we princess? Well, I'll still get the artifact before anyone else will." Walking out of Sugarcube Corner, Hunter started his quest for finding the artifact.

Meanwhile in Sugarcube Corner

"Spike, calm down what's wrong?" Twilight asked her assistant.

"Urgent message from Princess Celestia!" Spike exclaimed as he tried to breathe the sweet, sweet oxygen. "She's at the library needing all of you girls there at once!"

"What could be so bad that the princess needs to see us at this point? What could possibly come from Tartarus now?" The confident Rainbow Dash asked.

"I couldn't tell you if I wanted to Rainbow but Princess Celestia will surely tell us on what's going on," Twilight said as she got up from her seat. As she did so, the rest of her friends did the same -with Spike having jumped onto Twilight's back- where they all exited the bakery and headed for the library.

"Uhh... you girls don't think this could have something to do with those rumors that's been spreading as of the last few days?" Fluttershy, who had been mostly quiet of the afternoon asked.

"I highly doubt that Fluttershy dear," Rarity told the shy mare to reassure her. "But still it's rather unusual of her to go out of her way to warn us by coming down to Ponyville personally. It's usually us who have to go to Canterlot like the incident with Discord."

Coming up to the Golden Oaks library the six mares and dragon entered the building.

"Hello, my little ponies," a warm and soothing voice was heard as the six mares and dragon entered the main room. Said voice belonged to the co-ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia.

"Princess! I got your message what seems to be the problem?" Twilight asked.

"Something very worryingly Twilight, and I should've seen it coming," The tall white alicorn said. "There's been a magical surge in the Everfree forest, unlike anything we've ever seen anywhere in Equestria yet it feels so familiar."

"But the Everfree forest doesn't show much magic if any at all from countless studies over the years!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I know and that's what worries me Twilight. Normally I'd have you girls go investigate it alone, but the magical spike unleashed was an alarming amount. So alarming that I need to make sure how dangerous it is to my little ponies."

A magical spike in the Everfree forest? This was alarming. To begin with considering Everfree's almost non-existent magical power. This wasn't a normal problem that the group of friends would have to deal with.

"So a magical mishap happened in the Everfree forest so what? This is gonna be a cakewalk and I'll even have time for a nap after," Rainbow Dash said as she stretched her limps. Only to get a glare from the Orange earth pony.

"Rainbow can ya'll take this seriously fer like five minutes? If the princess is worried we should be too," Applejack said.

"Still gonna be done before the day is done, farm girl."

"If you're both done with your argument I'd say we get going and get this checked out fast," Twilight cut the arguing pegasus and earth-pony off before they could get too far into it. Nodding Princess Celestia looked around at the six friends.

A ruffling sound of papers caught the attention of everypony in the room. What the ponies saw was a bunch of papers being stuffed into a saddlebag. Everypony looked at Twilight who smiled sheepishly and became flustered.

"Sorry about that."

A while later the solar goddess and the six friends had gathered at the edge of The Everfree forest separating the forest from Ponyville. It took a bit of convincing for Twilight not to bring her studying gear but eventually, she left it at the library.

"Ready my little ponies?" Celestia asked. "If you see something moving, warn everyone. Anything could be lurking in that forsaken forest."

Fluttershy was staying close to Rarity and shaking a bit in fear. She remembered some of the horrors she's witnessed in The Everfree.

"Fluttershy darling, we're all here for you no need be scared we'll make it through dear," Rarity told the butterscotch colored mare and gave her a gentle hug to reassure her. Having calmed Fluttershy down, they all headed into the forest looking for the magical disturbance.

Walking through the forest was no easy task no matter who you were. Branches, thorny bushes, poison joke, and everything huddled close together made everything that much harder to navigate. Celestia used her magic to guide them to the disturbance.

"So how long are we gonna be going for?" A very bored Rainbow Dash asked. "I could sweep this forest faster than the speed we are going at right now!"

"Rainbow Dash, you don't even know what yer looking fer," Applejack said. "You'd miss it without knowing from doing so."

Groaning from boredom and the lack of speed Rainbow Dash just accept the fact that Applejack was right. Arriving at a small area in the forest all the mares saw burnt grass, burnt trees, and a sword stuck in the dirt. All the mares looked at the unusual sight in front of them. There was no reason for this area to be surrounded by burnt trees or burnt grass since no creature in The Everfree was known to have some sort of fire that could go so out of control.

"What happened here?" Twilight asked to no one in particular as she stared at the scene in front of her.

"I must assume it was this magical disturbance that has caused this," Celestia said as she slowly trotted over to the sword and examined it ever so carefully. The six friends followed Celestia's hoof steps and trotted to the sword since it was obvious this item was out of place. Getting close to it, it was clear as day that this wasn't a normal sword. It was covered what looked like organic material as well as the metal itself like any sword would have but the design threw it off. It would not be able to be handled a simple pony. Twilight, Celestia, and Rarity took a look at the sword to see if there was something to figure out about it than what they could tell from its appearance.

"So it's a sword stuck in the dirt?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We went in here for a sword? Never have I done so much for so little!"

"But what if there's more to it? This is clearly what we've been looking fer and I have no I idea why but I don't give a hoot about it!" Applejack snapped.

Leaves rustled from the nearby trees that didn't get burnt which caught Fluttershy's attention. There was no wind so it was just something she imagined right? Surely there wasn't something stalking them.

"So what? It's a sword. Sure the design looks weird considering it looks like it's made out of flesh as well as metal and bone!"

"G-Girls? P-Please stop." Fluttershy said quietly and nervously. Clearly, the mares didn't hear the butterscotch mare.

"And? It ain't like it sprouted legs and decided to plant itself here on its own free will!"

"How would you know that?!"

"G-Girls stop."

Suddenly a loud shriek caused all the ponies to stop what they were doing and look towards the treetops of the still-living trees. Slowly from the trees emerged shadowy figures with a white mask for a face and wielding a giant pair of scissors. Fluttershy slowly backed lost all the color in her and hid behind her mane whimpering in fear. Rainbow Dash took to the air and flew towards the creature only to pass right through it. Thinking she missed she gave another try with a result that was exactly the same. Suddenly more and more started to emerge from the treetops.

"W-what are those beings?" Twilight asked blasting one of them with a lightning spell only for the demon to shrug it off.

"I can't tell you what they are if I wanted to Twilight. Only thing I know for certain is that their magical aura is of demon origin" Celestia stated

"Wait did you say demon?!" Twilight exclaimed panic as she fired more magic at the demons. "Can we even hurt those things?"

"We should be able to stagger them so we can escape but demons are relentless," Celestia reluctantly said in a somewhat calm demeanor.

"S-so this is it? W-we're gonna die?!" Rarity exclaimed out of pure panic. The demons just floated there looking at the ponies. Their giant blood-soaked scissors and white creepy masks didn't ease anyone of what would be in store for them. This was it. A magical disturbance led the ponies to be surrounded by demons. One of the demons floated towards Fluttershy who was still hiding behind her mane and sobbing.

BANG

Fluttershy slowly pulled her mane out of her teary eyes to see the giant pair of scissors was now stuck in the grass and the shadowy creature disintegrated and disappeared. What happened? What was that loud noise and where did it come from?

"Well well well. Ain't this a nice little surprise," someone called from up above.

looking up high, the mares noticed something was off about one of the branches. Laying on one of the branches was a stallion. He had a yellowish coat, a white mane, tail, and a red trenchcoat covered his form.

"I hope you finally got the money for that one time some of your cousins destroyed my dad's shop years ago," he said with a grin as he turned his head to look at the demons.

"Hey ain't it that there stallion you know Pinkie?" Applejack asked surprised.

Rolling off of the branch, Hunter fell from a height that would certainly break somepony's legs. But Hunter landed perfectly fine on his hindlegs with no sign of broken bones. Looking around Hunter could count and least 20 demons and there was surely more to come. The demons all looked at Hunter as if to analyze their foe and find a weakness. These demons didn't know who they were messing with. Hunter lifted his right foreleg and pointed at one demon then another as he spoke.

"Now, which one of you wants to play?"

A single demon charged him and Hunter grabbed a pair of swords on his back as the demon got ever so closer to him. Hunter blocked the scissors that reached him with his right sword and slashed the demon's mask in half with the left, killing the demon instantly. Realizing how easy it was for the lone demon to easily die from the stallion, three of them charged only for Hunter to do a large backflip and land on another tree branch. Sidestepping away from one pair of scissors and rolling underneath another pair, Hunter just chuckled and decided Taunting was a great option.

"You know you guys might be good mane dressers but certainly not good fighters. Hey, would you mind if I paid you all to fix a curl in my tail?" Hunter taunted. "Or maybe you could just cut it off. Eh doesn't really matter at this point."

Hunter slashed his swords on a nearby tree to cut off a branch and throw it at the trio of demons charing him. They didn't stand a chance once the branch split into three sharp ones in flight and pierced their masks on impact. Jumping into the air with his face looking at the ground, Hunter pointed his forelegs down, started to spin rapidly and started firing at the demons with some red energy. Blocking as much of the energy as the demons could only five of them stood left and they were all looking for revenge.

"Man and here I thought you guys had learned a new thing or two since I last fought your kind. It hurts to see you die this easy, it doesn't feel like an accomplishment anymore just a pure nuisance, I mea-" Hunter didn't get to finish his rant as he was stabbed by multiple scythes from behind. Gasping in shock all the mares stared in horror as the blood-covered scythes had cut into Hunter. Cackling from behind him stood a few grey figures covered in a black cloak and black bandages. They had easily taken down Hunter and now it was the mares' turn. That was until the stabbed stallion grabbed one of them and thrust one of his swords through it leaving the demon to disintegrate on his blade.

"I'm impressed. You demons sure know how to throw a party, if it wasn't for the fact that the food and drinks are missing and the babes are scared shitless" Hunter chuckled and disappeared only to reappear a few feet in from of him. Twirling his swords in his forelegs, Hunter took a deep breath and smirked. While doing his little circus act, more demons spawned whilst cackling and shrieking. Looking at all the spawning demons Hunter stopped twirling his swords and butted the blades against each other to which the swords reacted. One of the blades became engulfed in flames while the other became engulfed in some kind of powerful wind.

"Brother it is time to bathe in demon blood once more!" A very deep voice exclaimed.

"They don't stand a chance against master Hunter," another voice said.

"Indeed they don't," Hunter replied to the mares' confusion as to who he was talking to. "Let's get it on! Swordmaster!"

As the words left Hunter's mouth he went all out. Jumping over one demon to land his blades in another behind it. Hunter Blocked a scythe with one the sword in his right hoof and kicked the owner of the scythe back into another demon knocking them over. Out of nowhere, two sin scissor demons flew at high speed towards Hunter from his front, one close to the ground and a second one above the first. Hunter barely had time to react but was able to jump in between the scissors aimed to cut his legs and head off. Throwing his swords in the air, Hunter aimed his forelegs at the demons that missed him and fired bolts into the back of their heads, watching the bolts pierce through the shadow and broke their masks from the inside.

Charging at Hunter, the rest of the demons went in for an all-out assault on the devil hunter. Catching the swords that Hunter threw he put both the bottom of his swords' handles together, Hunter twirled the swords around above him letting a small vortex of fire come to life, only to jump up in the air and aim himself downwards to increase the destruction and range of the flame vortex. The demons that had charged the devil hunter got caught in the flames and disintegrated in the flames. Adjusting himself so that he landed on his hindlegs, Hunter just smirked and took note that there were no other demons around.

"job well-done guys," Hunter said and flipped the swords so he was looking at the bottom of the handles. "This is why I always love a good fire, the smell of windswept burnt wood and grass."

"Have ya gone insane there fella?!" A southern voice shouted. Chuckling Hunter put the swords on his back and looked towards the group of ponies that were staring at him. Deciding to have a bit of fun, Hunter did a little bow only to be met with glares of anger before they turned to worry about each others' safety.

"That was awesome!" Except for one.

The rainbow-maned mare of the group who flew over to be right in the face of the stallion.

"You gotta teach me some of those moves!"

Hunter smirked at the excited mare but turned his head towards the massive sword in the dirt the mares were slowly moving away from except for Twilight who was taking notes on the sword. Getting back on all of his legs, Hunter headed over to where the sword and purple alicorn were. Only to be stopped by the orange farm mare glaring at him, as a mother would to a child who's been bad.

"Not that ah don't appreciate that there rescue partner, but what are ya'll doing in the forest to begin with?!" She asked in a demanding tone.

"Well you see, I heard there was a party that was happening out here but I wouldn't call it a party if you only have the babes scared and the entertainment isn't that entertaining. Meanwhile, the food and drink are nowhere to be found," Hunter replied in a cocky manner.

"So yer gonna have a cocky attitude with me huh?! You could've died fighting them there demons, speaking off, how didn't you die from all the stab wounds?!"

BANG

"Damn, I'm losing my edge it seems."

Everypony looked at the stallion to see that he was aiming a front hoof towards Twilight. Twilight slowly turned her head to look at what was behind her only for her eyes to go wide while looking like she had almost lost all the color in her coat from what she saw. A demon with a scythe was standing perfectly still behind her, having almost slashed her with it. The demon fell over and disintegrated leaving the ponies alone. Twilight not moving an inch started shivering badly from what almost happened. Trotting over to Twilight and the sword, Hunter looked at the wide-eyed mare and rolled his own eyes before grabbing the sword in the dirt and pulled it out to examine it himself. While examining the sword, all the ponies gathered over by the stallion and shivering mare to make sure that Twilight was alright. Celestia cast a few spells on Twilight to just make sure there was no sign of damage to her body and thankfully there wasn't. After making sure her student would be alright the solar princess turned her head towards the stallion who had just saved everypony.

"Not many ponies would jump from such a high branch, let alone fight a horde of demons," Celestia stated. True to her words most ponies would've panicked and run away from such a foe.

"Well, I'm not like most ponies as I'm sure you can tell by any of this Celestia. Not many ponies would dare venture into the Everfree forest like myself and the currently hospitalized stallion that's barely surviving."

"I heard about that rumor, something about demons."

"Jammed the scythe right into his torso. He would've died from blood loss if he was lucky. But lady luck was kind enough to him and had me nearby to aid him and get him to a hospital."

"Very kind of you sir. Pardon me but would you mind telling me which of my little ponies I am talking to?"

"Hunter. That's all you need to know princess and that this sword here belongs to me. Hope you don't mind."

Swinging the sword a few times Hunter could feel the demon power in the sword coursing through him. It felt like Hunter had wielded this sword before but he couldn't recall it. Smirking, Hunter started thrust the sword forward in front of him speeding up with each thrust until he gave a powerful thrust at the end. Chuckling to himself Hunter put the sword on his back with his other swords and ran off before anyone was able to get a word out. Noting a few similar things that the solar princess had witnessed before a single word left her mouth, a name.

"Dante?"

Author's Note

So yeah. Haven't really written anything in a while and the fact I'm easily distracted doesn't help it either. If you see any grammar issues and such feel free to point it out and I will fix it at my earliest convenience.