Slowly escaping, the clutches of sleep, Hunter woke up to a sleeping sapphire on his belly. Confused at first, Hunter recalled the memory of the night prior and gently stroked her mane. Feeling Sapphire make small adjustments as to how she was laying on her stallion sized pillow, Hunter gasped at the sudden feeling of a brush against his most sensitive of limbs. Growing a little panicked as well as blushing, Hunter tried to think of a way to get Sapphire off of him, without waking her but much to his dismay she kept adjusting herself and Hunter started groaning in response.

"Dammit, Sapphire!" Hunter hissed quietly through gritted teeth. "Stop, moving so much."

As Sapphire's movements slowly came to a halt, she slowly stirred awake and opened her eyes to see a nervous and blushing Hunter at her mercy. Yawning, Sapphire rubbed the sleep from her eyes and arched her back in a stretch, giving a satisfied groan as a small yet audible 'pop' was heard, Sapphire kept laying on Hunter and nuzzled him gently.

"You're like a cuddly teddy bear, you know that?" She said and gave a low cat-like purr.

"W-well, this teddy bear would like its freedom," Hunter replied trying not to stutter but failed in doing so.

Giggling, Sapphire decided to mess with Hunter and got into a sitting position and sat on Hunter's chest.

"I bet you're loving this right now handsome~" Sapphire said as she winked at Hunter. "I bet you're all excited, that a mare has you where she wants you."

"You wouldn't be half wrong," Hunter mumbled to himself and looked away, his blush growing more intense.

Giggling again, Sapphire gave a gentle sigh as she leaned down and gave Hunter a kiss on his forehead.

"Thank you for letting me stay Hunter," Sapphire said and climbed off of him. "I knew you were a gentlestallion dee-"

Sapphire cut her sentence short as she looked at the other end of the couch, opposite Hunter's head.

"Sapphire? Are you alright?" Hunter asked as he followed her stare and knew why she cut herself short. She was staring at his 'friend'.

Blushing a deep red, Sapphire averted her eyes and covered her mouth in surprise and an awkward silence soon followed. This was the first time Sapphire had seen Hunter so exposed, it didn't help that there was a certain smell of stallion in the air either. It surely couldn't get worse than this right? But knowing the luck of Hunter and her own recent week, it would probably get worse. Hunter pointed his nose upward and noticed the air had gotten a peculiar smell about it. As the silence went on for several minutes, Hunter spoke up.

"Uhh... do you smell that Sapphire?" He asked uneasily. "Smells like pear, with a slight hint of lime I think."

Still not saying anything, Sapphire just kept quiet, not sure what to say. He had just caught a smell previous stallions did in the past when she would get excited.

"Did we really just excite each other?" Sapphire mentally asked herself. "Oh boy, this is gonna be an awkward morning."

Clearing his throat Hunter managed to get Sapphire's attention as she looked back at him, blush present on her face.

"Listen, how about you go put some coffee on and I'll go take a shower, sound good?" Hunter asked and saw Sapphire meekly nod. "Great!"

Getting up from the couch, Hunter headed upstairs to the bathroom as quickly as his body would let him and locked the door. This certainly would be an interesting and awkward start of the day.

About an hour later, Sapphire was sitting in silence in the office, with two cups of coffee on the coffee table. The coffee wasn't cold but steaming hot, due to the memories of earlier kept coming back and stopped Sapphire in her tracks. She'd prepare the coffee then stop for minutes just fighting off fantasies of Hunter out of her mind. She only meant to make a joke not for it to go that far.

Hearing a creaking sound coming from above gave Sapphire the idea that Hunter had finished in the bathroom and was heading down. It felt like an eternity for Sapphire, she didn't know what to say or if she could looking Hunter in the eyes after this, it was embarrassing and awkward as hell. Hearing hoofsteps from her front, Sapphire saw Hunter had walked to the couch in front of her and sat down with nothing exposed thankfully.

"So uhhh... Slept well?" Hunter asked, still fighting the embarrassment that was still present on his face.

"Mhmm," Sapphire answered and gave a nod.

"Good! Good," Hunter said and grabbed the coffee cup in front of him. "Let's just forget about this ever happened and move on."

Taking a sip from the cup Hunter swallowed the contents of his cup in mere seconds before putting the cup down. Looking over to Sapphire, Hunter noticed that she wasn't looking well in terms of mood and just looked into her coffee. Hunter began to think on a way to at least put her mind at ease, or at the very least get her to stop looking so nervous. Smirking Hunter leaned forward and executed his plan.

"Hey, Sapphire," Hunter called. "Why did the duck cross the road?"

She didn't move her head and just kept staring into her coffee.

"Why?" She asked meekly.

"To go to the naughty unicorn's house," Hunter replied. "Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"The duck," Hunter said and moved over to Sapphire and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Walked right into that one."

"Pfffft... You cheeky foal Hunter!" Sapphire exclaimed and started to laugh a bit.

"What can I say? I'm a foal at heart!" Hunter said proudly "Feeling a bit better?"

Nodding Sapphire gave a smile.

"Yeah, thanks Hunter and sorry for making things awkward," Sapphire said.

"It was bound to happen really. I know you wouldn't jump me without consent but go all shy like that? Now that's a surprise to me."

"It's all really just a thing to keep me sane and somewhat normal Hunter. If you met 5 years ago, you wouldn't believe me if I said I was a normal pony."

"Yeah I know, you wanna live a life you want but something didn't want you to," Hunter said. "I figured it out after the first month you started hanging out with me. I may act like it but I'm not a complete moron."

Knowing what Hunter meant, Sapphire nodded and finished her coffee, as the front doors opened revealing a stallion in a black suit with matching tie and hat. Noticing this Hunter gave a skeptical look towards the unicorn, as he walked in. It was early in the morning and Hunter wouldn't have the office open for another half an hour, so this was confusing.

"Good morning Hunter, Sapphire," The stallion said as he nodded in both ponies direction. "I'm sorry it's this early in the morning but this is more serious than you think."

"Must be, you'd probably be getting your beauty sleep right now about now," Hunter remarked.

"Very funny Hunter but no," The stallion said and levitated a file onto the coffee table. "We may have a very big problem in our hooves than these artifacts and lesser demons I've mostly been having you go after."

Opening the file, Sapphire grabbed a piece of paper and started to read out loud.

Codename: Black Mamba.

Known for associating and aiding demons in The Great Demon War, is said to have become ageless as thanks for aiding the demons. She is highly dangerous and wishes nothing more than for her king to rise to power and take over everything.

Last known information about her, is that she is an earth pony who has mastered the arts of alchemy and potions. Should you encounter her remain calm and don't let her figure out if you know who she is.

Should her capture be a success, only the highest of skilled mages or the princesses would be able to prepare her for transportation and is MANDATORY to keep her in check until she is safely locked away.

Current whereabouts are unknown but are still being investigated.

As Sapphire finished reading the file, Hunter grabbed a few of the pictures from the file and saw a hooded pony on all the photos, with nothing striking him as out of the ordinary. More demons had arrived since Hunter first arrived and now there was the whole scooter incident the day prior, somehow it all seems connected but there would still be factors missing, so far it only seemed to be like that time in Fortuna.

"So you want me to go after this mare, penguin?" Hunter asked.

"Good heavens, if only it was that easy," the suited stallion said. "No, what I want you to do is to go to Canterlot as a guest for the Grand Galloping Gala, find a secret room that is located in the west wing of the castle. In that room, there should be a weapon said to have repelled the demons back and would end a war that wouldn't even be able to start. Also, Penguin?"

"I need to call you something, I'm sick and tired of not knowing what to call you," Hunter stated.

"Well if it makes you feel better sure, I'll go by Penguin."

"Good, now let me get this straight," Hunter said. "You want me to go as a guest to the Grand Galloping Gala, a party primarily filled with nobles that I don't fit in with at all, a party being hosted by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, a party that will have massive security 'cause of the guards present, then once I'm there you want me to break the law by trying to find this hidden place which only the princesses are allowed to be in, and to even get in I need a ticket to even get in. Is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes, that is simply put what I want you to do."

"Heh, I like it but there is one major problem penguin, I don't have a ticket so how am I gonna get in there and portray as a guest?"

"Well, that is where our lovely friend Sapphire steps in Hunter," Penguin said. "Sapphire you have two tickets to the gala like you do every year isn't that correct?"

Sapphire who had been silent for the most part suddenly rubbed the back of her head and sighed.

"Well... that is what we 'elite' nobles get every year when the gala is upon us," Sapphire said.

"So that's what you were this entire time a noble?" Hunter asked and smirked. "Well color me impressed, I knew you were hiding something but this? I gotta give it to you Sapphire, you're good."

"Don't know if I should be offended or not by that Hunter," Sapphire huffed slightly.

"Easy, I'm pulling your tail, I will ask later but for now we need to make preparations 'cause I am gonna need your help, Sapphire."

"I trust you two with this," Penguin chimed in. "I don't care how you do it just go in, get the weapon then get out without raising suspicion. I wish you two good luck, I will keep in touch."

With his farewell, Penguin headed out of the building and left Hunter and Sapphire alone again.

"So how did he get in? I locked the door before we fell asleep yesterday," Sapphire said.

"He has a key for the office, the reason he does is because of how shady he is. He is too shady to be with the demons and I know what shady looks like from a demon's side." Hunter explained.

"I see, so...?"

"Preparations. I need to get a tux, and your help teaching me a few things about being a decent stuck-up prick." Hunter shuddered as he said that. "I can't believe I said that but this is an even more dirty job than I usually do and I need to be different for it."

"Give me a list, I'll make sure we can get the things and be in Canterlot before tomorrow night," Sapphire said.

Hunter looked at Sapphire with wide eyes as the words left the mare's mouth and just stared at her for a few minutes, before opening his own mouth.

"TOMORROW NIGHT?!"

It had taken Hunter and Sapphire most of the day to prepare for this little burglary. It had taken much more time than what Hunter thought because right now, he was disembarking the train in Canterlot with only a bit of time to sundown. The gala would start within the hour and Hunter had to go meet with Sapphire in her house in Canterlot for a final makeover.

"Gala starting within an hour, I still need a tux, better hope Sapphire comes through with this 'cause if not this won't end pretty," Hunter mumbled to himself as he was heading down to Canterlot square where Sapphire would meet him.

Sapphire gave Hunter the idea that even though he would be wearing a tuxedo, the princesses would still be able to see through his disguise if he didn't have a different mane color and a different manestyle and then the plan would be over before it even began. As Hunter walked, he noticed nobles were heading towards Canterlot Castle with their 'charming' behavior talking about either, how to brag to other nobles or talk business with each other. This was indeed gonna be a 'fun' night for Hunter.

Coming up to the Canterlot square, Hunter saw a lone green unicorn mare leaning against the water fountain while looking in Hunter's direction. Giving a small nod, Hunter followed her as she headed to one of the expensive-looking buildings that were large houses. Hunter held his tongue as to not voice his opinion on it, there was no need to have this much space in your home unless you had an office or something of that sort, otherwise you'd just have more space than you'd ever need. Seeing the mare enter a more middle-class looking house, Hunter followed her in and closed the door and locked it behind him.

"I've never been to Canterlot before but I can already see why you prefer to live in Ponyville Sapphire unless necessary," Hunter said and shuddered. "Seriously what is wrong with the nobles?"

"Oh, they care for nothing if it's underneath the high-class Hunter," Sapphire said casually. "I'm just happy I didn't turn out like them."

"I can understand that." Hunter nodded in understanding. "That's not why we're here though, we have less than an hour to be ready to enter the castle and join the gala."

"I got a tux from my last coltfriend, who turned out to be the most bucked up plothole I've ever met." Sapphire was visibly fuming at the mention of him. "But remember Hunter, the tuxedo is only part of it, now sit in that chair and let me work on your mane."

"Normally I'd tell you 'go fuck yourself', but you're right and as you said," Hunter started as he sat in the chair Sapphire had prepared for his arrival. "'There may be many nobles, but none of them would have a yellow fur and a long white messy mane or tail to boot'."

"Yeah, otherwise it would've helped spread some confusion," Sapphire said and started to come Hunter's mane and tail. "Also, did you pick out a dye from my collection yet?

"I did," Hunter stated and felt the corners of his lips pull him into a smile. "I want both my tail and mane be dyed brown."

"Oh? That's... actually a pretty good color to match your fur coat and the tuxedo," Sapphire said in surprise. "What made you choose that color in particular?"

"I'll tell you when we're done with this job," Hunter said and relaxed.

Though Hunter was never a fan of having anypony touch his mane or tail at all, Sapphire proved to be really good at it, almost as if the strands of his mane was talking to Sapphire on some level. One good thing about Sapphire being a noble aside from having tickets, was the fact that no one would question why she was there 'cause the other nobles would be too busy talking about deals or brag to others about how their business would be better than others and Sapphire wasn't seen as a competitor which was good.

One thing that struck Hunter as odd was this, Celestia and Luna have witnessed the demons are slowly coming back so why haven't they brought out this weapon? Were they waiting for Kalgoth to arrive to end him for good or is there something else to it? Well, the only way to be certain was to find this secret room and get the weapon hidden in there.

"Hunter? Hunter, wake up I'm done." Sapphire's voice called.

"Wha- huh?" Hunter snapped out of it and looked at the owner of the voice and saw something he didn't expect.

Sapphire was standing there in a dress that showed off what a beauty she could be if she tried. The dress was a purple color with the edges and collar of it having white and purple-pink-ish pearls sewn into it. Thin and short light pink gems hung off of the mask she was wearing, with a larger one sitting on the bridge of her nose keeping the mask together in a smart yet beautiful way. A necklace made of the same light pink gems but larger was sitting on her neck going well with her green fur. Sapphire had even straightened her mane and let it down. Hunter was staring at Sapphire completely mesmerized by her beauty.

"Hunter!" Sapphire called. "Admire me later, we're gonna be late!"

"Late? Late for..." Hunter asked before remembering. "Right the gala, just let me get the tux on and we'll get going."

"No need, I put it on you while you were dozing off," Sapphire said with a giggle.

True to her word, when Hunter looked at himself in the nearby full body mirror, he was wearing the tuxedo with a bowtie, his mane was slicked back and dyed brown, and like his mane, his tail was dyed brown as well. All he saw in the mirror was a colt that had been transported to another world, all grown up into a stallion looking to find out what happened to the father who took him in after his rescuer died in a building fire. Shaking his head Hunter cleared his head and turned to Sapphire.

"Well, we better get going then, you ready madam?" Hunter asked and extended a hoof.

Blushing lightly, Sapphire giggled and grabbed Hunter's hoof with one of her own, as they started the path towards Canterlot Castle.

The Grand Galloping Gala was probably the biggest event every noble would be excited for, getting to enjoy a nice party in the castle and brag about your achievements? Nobles would be fools to not do as such. Hunter would not fit in at all and prayed that he could get this job over with before the party would even really start. Sapphire would be able to pull off acting like a noble seeing as she is was a noble in the first place and hopefully, ponies wouldn't give much of a damn about Sapphire.

"Cash Grab dearest," Sapphire whispered to Hunter as she got into character. "Remember the bowtie I helped you with? It's got a spell on it that connects to my necklace so we can talk to each other using a mental link."

Hunter nodded and gave his bowtie a quick tap with his hoof.

"Testicles, testicles, hello, hello."

"Celestia dammit Hunter! Are you ever gonna grow up?""

"Just testing to make sure it's working and all."

"Let's just get going 'Cash Grab'."

"Let's go over the plan again just in case first. We go in mingle as business partners with the nobles where you will do the talking as I, 'Cash Grab' am a mute who suffered through an accident in his foalhood that fucked my vocal cords so badly that I can only grunt or make small noises but no actual words. After that, we break off towards the west wing where you will get any guard blocking off the west wing go to the royal gardens because something happened that requires the guards' attention. I will then go and look for this secret room and keep in touch with our accessories, any questions?

"Only one. How will you get back being discreet? The guards will probably be back in place, once you've got the weapon."

"Speed, shadows, and improv."

"Oh, of course that would be your plan."

Having gone over the plan one final time, Hunter and Sapphire headed up the steps of Canterlot Castle which was of course guarded to make sure that the 'riff-raff' didn't get in, too bad it was gonna happen tonight. Reaching into his tuxedo, Hunter grabbed the tickets and handed them to the guards who inspected the tickets for a bit. After a minute or two, the guard with the tickets nodded to the other guard and they both took a step away from the door and let Sapphire and Hunter in. Hunter gave a small nod to the guards before walking in with Sapphire close by his side to make their disguises look perfect.

"Miss Sapphire Star, good to see you," A feminine voice called out.

Both Hunter and Sapphire turned to their left to see both princesses welcoming their guests, as per tradition. Giving a small smile Sapphire nudged Hunter to make him play along. Giving off a small smile himself, Hunter tried his best to make it look real and not fake.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, forgive me for not noticing you at first, I can only blame myself," Sapphire said using a manner of talking Hunter never heard her use.

"It is quite alright Miss Star, say it has been quite a while since you've been to the gala and you bring a stallion too?" Celestia asked in genuine curiosity.

"Oh my, where have my manners gone?" Sapphire asked nervously. "Your majesties, I present to you my coltfriend, Cash Grab. It's his first gala."

"Sapphire that wasn't what we planned."

"Hunter shut it!"

"Well, in that case, let us be the first to welcome to thy first gala, Mr. Grab," Luna said and smiled.

Hunter gave a polite bow to the princesses and looked at Sapphire.

"Sadly he can't really use his words, due to an accident in his foalhood and will only be able to make grunts and lightly chuckle," Sapphire said in a soft yet sad voice.

"We are sorry to hear that Mr. Grab, rest assured we hope you enjoy the gala nevertheless," Celestia said and gave a soft smile.

Nodding at the princesses, Hunter gave off another smile in return to the princesses for understanding.

"We won't take any more of your time your majesties, I am sure you have will be very busy welcoming the rest of the high-class," Sapphire said.

"Sadly thou art right," Luna said and gave a small sigh. "Hopefully we will be able to, 'catch up later' as they say."

"Of course your majesties," Sapphire said and turned to Hunter. "Come, dearest, let us go and enjoy the evening."

Nodding, Hunter and Sapphire headed towards the main room to 'enjoy the festivities'.

"'Coltfriend'? Really?!"

"I panicked alright? At least it didn't blow our cover."

"True... but let's refrain from changing the plan more than needed alright?"

"Agreed."

Hidden in the dark overlooking the castle, a figure was observing Hunter and Sapphire heading to the main room.

"You can't hide Hunter but feel lucky, you are you're needed alive after all."

The main room of the castle was filled with ponies talking, having a laugh, or just listening to the music being played. Aside from the food table filled with lots of different snacks, the castle staff was walking around with trays of additional snacks and champagne, offering their cargo. Everything was going like Hunter expected, a boring party that would test his mental capabilities.

"You know, maybe we could just head straight for the west wing and get this over with already. My sanity is slowly draining from trying not to scream."

"I know what you mean Hunter, but wasn't it you who said we should mingle with the nobles?"

"And I regret that idea, I should've just thought about using my abilities to sneak in instead."

"Sapphire darling, over here!" Someone called causing Hunter and Sapphire to look at two approaching ponies, a mare and a stallion.

"Oh no, my parents."

"Welp, this is not gonna end well and we haven't even mingled with the nobles yet!"

"My, I couldn't believe it for a minute it really is you, Sapphire!" The mare exclaimed and hugged Sapphire like there was no tomorrow.

The mare was a white unicorn -typical for Canterlot- that had a bun manestyle and a simple red dress on. The stallion was also a unicorn but a blue fur coat and wore a tuxedo, like Hunter's but with a top hat to boot. Seemed like they were more of a middle-class nobility than high-class to Hunter, but that could be their cham.

"My baby's back in Canterlot!" The mother almost shouted in happiness.

"And with a stallion to boot," the father said.

Hunter smiled nervously and took a look at Sapphire who was almost turning blue. Pointing at Sapphire's face the mother looked at her and immediately let go of Sapphire.

"T-Thanks Hunter."

Sapphire gasped for air and rubbed at her throat.

"So sorry about sweetheart! Are you alright? Do you need anything? Maybe a glass of water?" the mother frantically asked.

"I'm fine mother, I'm just a tad surprised is all," Sapphire said and gave a few coughs. "Didn't expect to find you two here."

Chuckling the father gave a gentle smile as he looked at Sapphire.

"We go to the gala every year Sapphire, you would've known had you been to them all," he said. "Now who is this stallion with you? He doesn't seem like he knows how to treat his herd, let alone a single mare."

"D-dad!" Sapphire exclaimed and blushed heavily. "We're not even that far yet, we're just giving it a shot."

"I'm just messing with you, sweetheart," the father said before turning to Hunter extending a hoof which Hunter shook. "Silver Moon."

"Velvet Swirl" Velvet said. "Now how long have you been with my baby, and when can I expect grandfoals?"

Hunter blushed heavily at that and opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out, not a single sound was said as remembered he had to be mute, so he looked at Sapphire.

"Sapphire help? I might know how to fight demons and all but this shit is terrifying"

"Mom you're scaring him!" Sapphire pointed out. "I haven't even been able to introduce him yet."

"But he is a grown stallion he should be able to shouldn't he?" Silver countered.

"Yes, if he wasn't a mute dad," Sapphire said which surprised both parents. "He had a terrible accident when he was a foal, his vocal cords were so damaged that he is only able to lightly chuckle or grunt."

Gasping both parents looked at Hunter and saw the sadness in their eyes, Silver even took his hat off and put it against his chest.

"I'm so sorry to hear that my boy," he said. "I hope you can forgive us since we haven't seen our girl in two years, only letters."

Hunter nodded and gave a small smile to both Velvet and Silver as if to say that, he forgave them.

"Let's try this again, mom, dad, meet Cash Grab, my coltfriend." Sapphire introduced Hunter to keep their cover. "And we've been together for a few months now."

"You are planning on telling them after everything is done right?"

"Not now smart flank..."

"Good to know things are going better than your last coltfriend Sapphire." Velvet said. "And sorry to just leave you like this, but your father and I have some things we were planning on doing here at the gala but do enjoy yourselves now!"

As Velvet finished her sentence, she and her husband took off in a direction and disappeared in the crowd, leaving a pair of relieved ponies.

"Sapphire?"

"Yeah?"

"Your parents sure are something."

"Better than most nobles."

"Yeah, let's just head towards the west wing and get this over with, we've mingled with more than enough nobles and your parents didn't act like the shitty ones!"

"You're right, let's go."

Heading over in the direction of the west wing Hunter broke off from Sapphire in the middle of the crowd as she headed over to the guards blocking the path. She had to give them a solid lie, so they'd be off and she wouldn't get bitten in the ass for it. Someone passed out or was dying? No, other nobles would be able to say otherwise. A brawl wouldn't work because of the nobles' high class. A duel? That could work but it would get ponies in trouble that were 'relatively innocent'. A changeling? That would work for sure. Taking a deep breath Sapphire approached the guards and saw Hunter ready to move.

"Excuse me, sirs?" Sapphire asked.

"Sorry ma'am, this area is off-limits to party-goers and non-staff of Canterlot Castle, please go back and enjoy your evening," the guard on the right said in his stoic manner.

"About that, I think I saw a changeling disguise themselves as one of the staff members of the castle." Getting the guards full attention Sapphire continued. "I saw it happen in the royal garden but they didn't see me so they still believe that they've not been discovered."

"Ma'am, thank you for bringing this to our attention, we will go check it out at once."

Immediately the guards left the path to the west wing unguarded and Hunter walked down the hall as no one except Sapphire, was none the wiser.

"Be careful Hunter, I can't help you anymore from here."

"You did good Sapphire, go enjoy the party, I'll be back shortly."

Walking down the hall sticking to the shadows to avoid guards or staff in case there would be any, Hunter didn't see much except for the moonlight shining in through the windows and doors to different rooms.

What struck Hunter as odd was that so far he hadn't seen a single pony, only the long hallway which seemed to go on forever.

"This is gonna take way longer than excepted, I'm sure of it," Hunter thought to himself as he walking hoping for anything.

"Hun...ter..."

Immediately stopping in his tracks, Hunter looked around to see if someone was following him but there was nothing.

"Alright, you're just imagining things Hunter, you've been in the hallway for at least 10 minutes now so ease up, it's not even Equestria's version of Halloween yet, Hunter thought to himself.

"Hun...ter..."

As he kept hearing his name being called, Hunter slowly started to feel a strong demonic aura, possibly belonging to the weapon he was looking for. Deciding to follow it Hunter kept sticking to the shadows, just in case. Seeing another hallway coming up, Hunter felt the power getting stronger as he from there and decided to keep going.

"Hunter? Have you found the weapon yet?"

"No, I do believe it's guiding me towards it, hence why I feel a strong demonic power, very, very strong power."

"Alright, be warned though, the guards are back and I've even noticed the element bearers. Should this go south, you're in big trouble Hunter."

"Roger that, I'll be back without raining hell, over."

Passing a door Hunter looked at it and saw the plaque that's been dusty as all hell, shrugging Hunter cleaned the plaque and smirked as he saw the name. In bold red letters, the plaque spelled out 'Dante'

"So this is where you are hiding the weapon, Celestia? Of course, no one would look in the room of the 'hero in red', since you've most likely cleaned it of artifacts and such, Hunter thought and grabbed ahold of the doorknob, only to be surprised that it was actually open. "Must be my lucky day.

Heading inside and closing the door, Hunter took a look around and saw his old home. The desk, the couches, the fan, hell even the guitar was here.

"Hun...ter..."

The voice was louder and the aura was very strong, the secret room had to be in here. Getting rid of the cliché, Hunter checked under the desk to see if there was a button on the underside but there wasn't. Such a shame. Noticing the pictures around on the wall, Hunter saw a few of Dante and himself in them bringing a small tear to his eye. He never forgot him, even though he didn't return.

"I miss you, dad, and I will find you before or after this whole demon mess I swear I will," Hunter quietly said.

Smiling, Hunter looked at the picture that was tilted to the side and saw himself, his father, and his mother smiling at the camera. Hunter sniffled a bit and let the tears roll down his cheeks as he adjusted the picture so it was upright and not tilting to the side. Upon doing so, Hunter heard a 'clank' noise from underneath the desk, taking a look he saw a small trapdoor had opened so his Hunch was right.

"Let's see what's down here shall we dad?" Hunter quietly asked as he headed underneath the desk and climbed down the trapdoor.

A trapdoor with a ladder leading to a secret room wasn't something Hunter was not expecting, it reminded him of that one time on Mallet island with his dad, too much to explore yet no time at all since the island is now gone for good. Reaching the bottom of the ladder, Hunter examined the room and saw that it was dusty as hell, there was a table with his father's weapons were. Rebellion and Ebony and Ivory was kept in pristine condition, which meant that even the princesses missed his father. Looking away from the weapons Hunter saw a tarp was draped over something. Hunter felt the aura of the weapons on the table, but that wasn't what he had been following which confused Hunter. He then walked over to the tarp and grew, even more confused, the aura was coming from what the tarp was hiding so Hunter, did what most adventures would do in this situation and pull the tarp off and Hunter fell onto his haunches. Hunter had gone wide-eyed and was staring at a stone statue of his father there was one massive difference though, a normal stone statue wouldn't be pulsating with demonic power.

"D-dad?" Hunter asked out loud as he couldn't believe it. "What happened to you?"

Hunter didn't get an answer but was so confused as to why his father was stone and not killed, it didn't make sense to him. Looking back and forth between the weapons on the table and his father, Hunter didn't know why but he went over to the weapons and put them against the statue. Feeling his tears come back, Hunter put a hoof on the statue and let the tears fall. Why would the ponies do this to him if he saved from all those years ago? How could Princess Celestia let this happen? Why would she let it happen? Feeling his sadness turn to anger, Hunter was gonna have a word with Celestia about this. Hunter headed over to the ladder and turned to the statue to give it one last glance. Hunter nodded and climbed up the ladder.

"Sapphire I found the room but the weapon is not a weapon, it's my dad it's my fucking father the stone statue!

"What? But why? That makes no sense at all! We were meant to get a weapon, not a pony!"

"He isn't a pony, look I'll explain later but right now I have a princess to go get an answer from!"

"Just don't be seen, Hunt- oh no."

"Talk to me Sapphire what's going on?"

"Hunter get to the main hall hurry, some bipedal creature in blue wielding a sword, is holding a pony hostage asking for you!"

"Do not apporach it whatever you do, I'm on my way!"

"No it's not possible, he can't be here!" Hunter exclaimed as he rushed to get to the main hall.

Author's Note

So, I had a massive energy surge and had this chapter done in a few days after the last chapter's release, but took some time to go over it time and time again to make sure it didn't feel rushed to me. I also decided to try a go at walkie-talkie like spell since there are no such things as the technology we have here in real life.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and feel free to point out grammar mistakes, typos, and mistakes in general.