Author's Note

Hey Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I got a new job and it took some time to get use to the different shift. I skimmed it over but I didn't have much time to proof read this one but it should be mostly alright.

Chapter 4

I returned to my cave after saving Twilight and the others from the dragon which turned out to be female and is now by dragon law considered my servant. Fortunately though I managed to buy myself at least two years of peace since I told her to finish her nap and dragons sleep for a quite while. Hopefully in that time I can find a way to release Flare from my service without damaging her honor or her pride.

After my nap I started looking through some of the capsules that the merchant gave me. I found four or five of them contain different sized houses ranging from a small one man home to a large spacious mansion, all in different styles. So after carving out some space deeper in the cave with my earth manipulation now have myself a nice house in a cave. Its similar to the one Bulma used in the cave on Namek but larger.

Looking around my new home I can see that the first floor of the house consisted of a kitchen, living room, dining room, and a small foyer by the door with two closets for coats and such. The second floor holds three guest bedrooms of decent size as well as a bathroom for them to share. The entire third floor makes up the master bedroom and seems to defy space a little bit, its almost like a little flat that's separate from the rest of the house. The first room of the third floor is a sitting room, followed by a an office and an impressive library fully stocked with books and DVDs of all kinds.

There is a really cool media room where I'll be able to read and watch movies and after that is the master bedroom and bathroom and I gotta say there both huge. Another desk is tucked into the corner of the large room and several empty bookshelves lines its walls. The bathroom consists of a large tub and shower respectfully, along with a Jacuzzi and a closet already full of supplies. The last room of the house is through a door located in my new office is secured by a reinforced steel door, a keypad lock, and a retnel scanner and I can only call this room I can only describe as a small batcave. Multiple monitors surround a large and powerful computer, weapon shelves line the opposite wall with an array of gadgets and repair tools on the next wall. On the final wall is a small medical station fit for almost any emergency.

Finishing my house tour I go back to looking in the capsule crate. There's a bunch of security equipment that syncs up to the monitor room in the house so I spent the afternoon setting up cameras and sensors throughout the cave and the surrounding forest. To further secure my new home I took the boulder I used as a door and pushed it flush against the cave's entrance, blocking it off completely then I used my energy to reinforce it, making it harder than diamond.

Now I'm the only one who can get in or out of the cave since I can use Genbu's ability to travel through the earth and stone I can simply walk through the boulder. I also took a quick trip to Ponyville and set up a bunch of sensors and cameras so I can monitor situations from here, and using the information in the books on magic that I got from the castle I set up an array of anti-magical seals throughout the inside of the cave to protect it from any magical assaults as well as mask my energy from anyone outside.

Now that security is taken care of I searched through some more of my capsules to see what's inside them. It turns out, a lot. There are about five capsules that each contain enough food to feed an army or two, with a note saying that it will never go bad, so I won't be going hungry anytime in the foreseeable future. One contained a vast array of tools, while another contained hundreds of jugs of purified water, but the best surprise is the barrel of senzu beans to which I immediately place a few in my utility belt.

A few of them had different vehicles such as a Pelican and a warthog from Halo, the nautilus submarine from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,

the batmobile from Batman Beyond, there's even a warship called the Atlas from the newest Voltron series though I doubt it can transform into a giant robot but the note attached to the capsule says that it has it's own A.I. and can be piloted by a single person if necessary. .

In the next three capsule were summoning like from Naruto. One of them allowed me to summon up to one thousand Quantrons, the robotic soldiers from Power Rangers In Space. The two let me form contracts with seven legendary pokemon and seven Duel monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh. Shaking my head I can't help but think that between the powers, weapons, and other items he really did mean it when he said I'd be a god. With all this stuff I could pretty much do whatever I want and no one could do anything to stop me, not that I really want world domination or anything, it'd be way too much of a hassle.

After thoroughly checking through my inventory I decided to use my jegan to see what Twilight was up to, it simply won't do if I miss an opportunity to do something fun. Besides I'm sure she sent a letter to Celestia by now to tell her about the dragon, which means she also knows about me now so how she reacts to my existence is up to her. But it turns out Twilight's getting ready for a slumber party, which means nothing should be happening for a bit and that gives me some time to tame a certain black dragon.

Leaving my newly created fortress I headed a fair distance away as to not damage anything near my new home. After making a rather large clearing with a rose-whip I decide to do a bit of training first, taking off my cloak so it doesn't get damaged, I use Genkai's spirti-cuffs to make it harder to move with an additional feature I added to restrict my energy. With that in place I use sniper's marker ability and place a marker on myself before firing off five energy blasts which due to the marker proceed to turn in mid air and fly straight at me.

I doge the first on by stepping to the left before jumping over the second one coming from behind me, before rolling out the way of the third into a back flip to doge the fourth. The fifth blast is too close to doge so I use my hands to catch it and it pushes me back a few feet before I kick it into the air, before teleporting a few feet away to get away from the other four blasts that all came at the same time. With my energy and movements restrained by the spirit cuffs this exercise is a lot harder than it was during my two years of training.

After about an hour straight of dodging, blocking, and redirecting I decide to move onto something that I've wanted to try for a while now. I noticed during my mental training that spirit-energy and demonic-energy are remarkable similar to chakra from Naruto, so I've been curious to see just how similar. Over the next few hours I determined that while my energy is similar it is definitely not chakra as I was able to stick to surfaces and walk on water I can't use jutsu whatsoever. Not being deterred though I was able to recreate some jutsu by using my own energy mixed with my elemental abilities.

Using the Prism of Seven technique and creating six other versions of me I was able to recreate the Rasengan, the Chidori and its variants, using Kurama's abilities with some imagination I was able to use Wood Style. I also copied a few fire jutsu and the Raikage's lightning armor and while i wasn't able to figure out the rasenshuriken I was able to create his counterparts Spiraling Ring along with its advanced stage the Great Spiraling Ring. All in all it was a lot to figure out from scratch but I'm happy with the results so far.

After two hours of this training I decided it was time to move onto the next phase, the real reason I came out here. I unwrap the bandages on my right arm revealing the tattoo of a black dragon spiraling its entire length. Taking a few deep breaths to center myself and gather my demonic energy I place another marker on myself and call out one of the most dangerous techniques in all of existance, "Dragon of the Darkness Flame!

The sky turned red and the clouds turned black as the world around me darkened. Thunder and lightning rained down from the heavens striking the area around me repeatedly. Even the Earth itself started to shake in fear of the coming of the black dragon.

My arm screamed in pain as it was burned from the inside out by the unholy flames of the black dragon. I watched the giant mass of black flames fly around the clearing as if it were reveling in its freedom but after a few moments it turns its site on me. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, telling me to move, to run away, to live, but I ignore the feeling as I gather every ounce of energy I have in my body in hopes of surviving the wrath of the dragon.

The massive construct of black fire opens its mouth, letting out a deafening roar as it slams into me. Grunting in pain I can feel the flames burning my flesh a I'm pushed back several yards before being carried into the air by the dragon. I take a deep breath and close my eyes as the dragon carries me higher and higher, putting all of my faith in my own power and my jegan eye I let my instincts take over. I reinforce my entire being with energy before opening my mouth, sucking the dragon into my body and beginning the process of becoming the dragon itself.

If I thought the pain in my arm was excruciating before from launching the dragon, I have absolutely no words to describe the pain I'm feeling now. Not that I could voice them if I could, the sound of my screaming is preventing me from hearing my own thoughts. I can feel my body being ripped apart by the flames but I'm still conscious and aware and it's not long before the flames themselves start to solidify and take shape, re-forming into the shape of my previous body.

I can feel it, the dragon's power is mine, I am the dragon now. The pain however is still there as I can feel the various burns on my body have yet to heal. I am completely exhausted and I can't move or stop myself as I plummet a few hundred feet to the ground forming a small crater. I can feel myself blacking out and I try to stay awake, but I only remain conscious for a few extra moments, with the last thing I see being a blurry mass of black and white moving closer and closer.

Opening my eyes I notice a throbbing pain in my head, which soon spread throughout the rest of my body. Looking around I see I'm no longer in field I was training in nor is it my cave, but in a bed inside a small house or something. The walls are littered with tribal-like decor and shelves holding countless jars of various ingredients, a small fire pit lays in the middle of the room with a large cauldron hanging over it. My cloak along with the rest of my clothes are hanging on a rack a few feet away from me.

Looking at myself I note that I have bandages covering both my arms, my left leg, and all of my torso, and that except for my boxers which I still have on thankfully. Another thing to note is how tired and drained I feel which doesn't make sense since when Hiei absorbed the dragon he came back fully energized and healed, but here I am still injured and feeling like i was hit by a truck.

After going through a few possibilities I figure that it's probably due to the spirit-cuffs that I forgot to release before summoning the dragon of the darkness flame. The technique didn't stop me from absorbing the energy of the darkness flame but since my energy was suppressed the dragon must have fought back before it was fully absorbed into my body, damaging it in the process. I must not have had enough energy to heal afterwards so any energy I've regained since then has gone right into healing my body leaving me with practically nothing at the moment.

The problem with that is that I need energy to release the spirit-cuffs which I can't do if all the energy I recover goes straight into healing my body. So I guess I'll have to wait until I'm healed before I can build up enough reserve energy to release the technique. I do have a few sensu beans on me but I'd rather not waste any on something so trivial, especially before I have a chance to see if I can grow any more, I'll put that on my list of things to do when I get back to my cave. Pushing my thoughts aside for the moment I start to sit up only for a voice to stop me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you my friend. Your wounds were rather sever and have yet to mend," a deep yet distinctively female voice called out from across the room. I looked towards the owner of the voice as she walked out of the doorway to another room, revealing a female zebra decorated in tribal jewelry. "Hello my friend my name is Zecora. May I ask yours?

I simply stare at her for a moment, debating whether or not to talk to her or simply grab my things and walk out like Hiei would. In the end the prospect of having someone to talk to after the last few months of silence won out. "My name is Hiei. Where am I and why did you help me?" I asked the striped equine who smiles at having learned from learning my name.

"Welcome Hiei, you are in my home just inside the Everfree forest. I found you in a crater while investigating the sound of a large boom coming from deeper in the forest. As for your other question. Why would I not help another in need? Even if that creature is a demon," she replied, my eyes widening in surprise causing her to smile. "Do not be alarmed my friend, I can sense you have no evil in you, I wouldn't be a very good shaman if I could not, you have nothing to fear from me.

"I suppose I should thank you for helping me then. I guess I was lucky your a zebra, the ponies around here are so skittish that they probably would've left me in that crater. For a moment her smile grew brighter before falling into a frown, her sadness showing in her eyes.

"As much as I would like to argue with you my friend, I must admit that is the most likely outcome. I have made many trips to town and they always seem to avoid me like the plague." She mumbled that last part but I heard her as she absentmindedly stepped close enough for me to touch her cheek with my hand to comfort her, which she nuzzled in return, a small smile replacing her frown.

"If they don't want to give you a chance than that's their problem, but I've been stuck alone in this forest for the past few months and I could definitely use someone to talk to" I said honestly, resulting in a beaming smile from the zebra. The thought that her smile was actually kind of cute popped into my head for a moment before it another question quickly took its place. "You're speaking normally. I thought zebras are supposed to speak in rhymes?"

Giggling at my question she shakes her head. "No my friend. Our rhymes are meant more for tradition however we do not usually use them when speaking to friends and family. In our first meetings ponies were weary of us zebras we found that speaking in rhymes seemed to give the ponies a sense safety. It is also quite amusing to watch others try to figure out the meaning behind our words," she finished the last part with a sly smile.

"You do know that if the guards or the princesses find out that I'm here or that you helped a demon its not going to end well right?" I asked her, though her mood showed no signs of dampening.

"And just who is going to tell them?" She asked. "Certainly not you or I, and I unfortunately do not receive any visitors so there is nothing to worry about. Besides I moved here to have access to the vast array of ingredients provided by the Everfree so if the worst were to happen I could just move further in where nopony would dare to go."

Now that's shocking. I know She's been alone for quite awhile but to think she'd go that far just because I promised to be her first friend in who knows how long, its flattering really. Its not like I don't feel the same way though, she took care of me while knowing I'm a demon, she's rather pleasant and easy to talk to, and now she's the first friend in this crazy new world. I don't care if the entire Equestrian army comes knocking on her door at some point, I'm not letting anything happen to her just because she choose to help me.

We talked for a few more hours. She told me all about the different creatures and plants that reside within the Everfree, and I told her about what happened to me and how I got here. I was surprised when she wasn't shocked to learn that other worlds exist, but apparently shamans can occasionally get glimpses into other worlds during their visions so she already knew about them. She did get visibly upset when I told her about my family but I assured her that it happened years ago and that I've come to terms with it, I was lying but she doesn't need to know that. Soon she noticed just how long we'd been talking and decided to call it a night, making sure I was comfortable before heading off to her room leaving me to drift into a dreamless slumber.

Waking up the next day I notice that the sun is already high in the sky, and checking my phone it says its almost noon, I must've been more tired than I thought. Looking around the room I notice a distinct lack of my host, but after a few glances around I see a note addressed to me stating that my new stripped friend has gone into town and that she'd be back shortly. I can't help but wonder if this is the trip where she's Twilight sees her for the first time, I'll have to wait until she gets back to ask her. If it is than I might be putting her in danger if Twilight and the others see me her since Twilight will no doubt tell Celestia.

Turning attention to myself I note that I feel so much better than I did yesterday and while I haven't recovered all of the energy that I've lost it should be just enough to release the spirit cuffs. Closing my eyes channel is much energy as I can before murdering release, theresults are instant.

For a moment I feel completely exhausted before feeling as if someone poured a bucket of warm water over my head as my energy comes flooding back into my body. I can feel my demonic and spiritual energies flooding through my veins, every muscle in my body bulge is for a moment before returning to normal. I'm still missing a nice little chunk of my energy but it feels good not to be suppressed anymore. Almost as soon as I finish the door of the Hutt opens and Zecora walked in looking rather downtrodden. I can wager a guess that its probably because the ponies hid from her again.

It turns out that's exactly what happened. Zecora also told me that some ponies followed her back to the forest and walked through a patch of poison joke flowers. The speckled blue flowers are a lot like poison oak but play pranks on those that touch them. After putting her bags away she starts on the process of making an antidote for the effected ponies who will most likely freak out come morning.

"Your far too kind to a bunch of strangers that go out of their way to avoid you every time you go into town" I told her. She just smiled while getting a few ingredients together.

"Ponies are naturally fearful of the unknown, I can not blame them for something that's just in their nature," she answered. I suppose I can't really fault her for being so forgiving having grown up in a world that seems to preach the concept. I spent the rest of the day helping Zecora prepare the ingredients for the poison joke cure and making idle chit-chat before preparing for bed.

The next morning we both woke up early to put the finishing touches on Zecora's potion. "Well from what you told me that yellow filly certainly seemed more interested than frightened. By the end of the day I can almost guarantee that you'll have at least one more friend, but that won't happen if I'm around. Their already afraid of me so it'll be better if I'm not here when you meet them," I told her while putting my shirt back on over the fresh set bandages. I told Zecora that they weren't needed but she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Before I could however Rainbow Dash and Applejack burst through the door and before careening around the room breaking various things throughout the Hut. They were followed by the others a moment later as Applejack jump onto Zacharias ear and began wrestling it. Rainbow Dash crashed into the cauldron in the middle of the room ending her reign of destruction.They then began accusing Zacora of cursing them and stealing Apple Bloom which she took as a grave insult. I decided to intervene right before it came to blows.

"Enough" I shouted, dropping my shirt and silencing them, bringing all their attention to me. "What are you fools doing here? Barging into someone else's home and destroying it is inexcusable." It took a moment for them to get over the fear of me being a demon but I suppose their anger overwhelmed their fear.

"But she cursed us!" Rainbow yelled.

"And she took Apple Bloom!" screamed Applejack. Twilight looked like she was about to say something but her words seemed to die in her throat as her eyes looked over the bandages covering my body that I had yet to take off.

"W-what happened to you?" She asked, her eyes traveling to Zecora before zooming back to me. "What did she do?" Twilight demanded, the others backing her up preparing more accusations but I silenced them with a small flare of demonic energy. But after two days of not having used any energy along with not having recovered completely yet made me rather dizzy forcing me to lean on the wall for support. Twilight snapped out of it first and her gaze immediately snapped back to Zecora.

"What did you do to him?" Twilight demanded. "And where is Apple Boom?" Twilight demanded as she lunged at Zecora who answered with a lung of her own that resulted in them butting heads, both of them trying to force the other to submit. Before I could move to break them up however, in walks the little yellow filly that they accused my stripped friend of stealing.

"Zecora, I think I found all the things you asked for," she called out her eyes still closed. When she opened them however they shot wide open at the mess. "What in Ponyville is going on here?" she questioned.

Applejack immediately started doting on her little sister, relieved that she was okay. "Apple Bloom your okay!"

The yellow filly tilted her head in confusion. "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked before Twilight jumped in front of her and took a protective stance and accused Zecora once more which made the filly and zebra break out into laughter. Surprisingly it only took a few minutes for everything to be explained and the ponies took it a lot better than I thought they would, even though I knew how it was supposed to go.

"Okay Okay I can except that all of this isn't a curse," Twilight conceded. "But if what about him?" she asked, pointing at me. "Don't tell me the poison joke did that too?"

Feeling well enough to move again I grabbed my shirt and cloak and put them on quickly. "As if something as pathetic as that could harm me" I answered. "These injuries have nothing to do with the poison joke. I was experimenting with a new technique an it backfired injuring me pretty badly, Zecora found me unconscious nearby and treated my wounds. I thought I told you to work on that xenophobic behavior of yours." Twilight smiled at me being okay but blushed in embarrassment a moment later, the others also had the decency to look ashamed at how they'd been treating the zebra.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward eyeing up my bandages, confusion evident on her face. " I don't get it we saw you throw a dragon around like it with nothing what kind of technique could hurt you?" She asked.

"The kind you really don't want to be on the receiving end of, believe me I can attest to that," I said with a small smirk. Surprisingly enough they didn't ask anymore questions after that even Twilight who should have been jumping to get answers.

They agreed to personally introduce Zecora to the ponies of Ponyville. I volunteered stay behind and start cleaning up though Twilight did invite me to come to town with them. Before I could decline her offer Zecora stepped in stating that I wasn't fully healed yet and she didn't want me overexerting myself, to which I shot her a greatful look.

Twilight dropped it after that and wished me well as did the rest of them minus pinkie who couldn't talk, Fluttershy who still afraid of me, and rainbow who's still suspicious. I crossed my fingers and promised to take it easy as I watched them depart for Ponyville.

It only took Zecora about two hours to come back from curing her new friends. I already had quite a bit of the mess cleaned up so when she came back it only took us another hour or so to finish.

After we finished cleaning up the mess Twilight and her friends made we decide to lounge around a bit before it was time to eat. Any extra chairs Zecora might've had were destroyed when Rainbow Dash crashed into them so both of us were sitting on the guest bed I'd been sleeping on for the past two nights. Leaning my head back against the wall I could feel myself starting to drift off into the haze right before sleep takes you, I tried to fight it but the bed is really comfortable. I coud tell by her breathing that Zecora was already asleep, and after a few minutes she inched her way against my leg.

Just as sleep was about to take me my jegan eye snapped open alerting me to a multiple magical signatures approaching rather quickly, It only took a moment to check with my jegan to confirm my suspicions. I jumped to my feet spun around and gently shook Zecora awake. She looked around in confusion for a moment before her eyes focused onto me, a slight blush on her face for having fallen asleep so quickly. Her embarrassed look quickly turned into a serious one as she saw the look on my face.

"What is it? What is going on?" She asked.

My gaze traveled to the front door for a second, then back to her. "There are multiple magical signatures headed in this direction, about fifteen total, five of each type. It looks like Twilight must've mentioned me being her to Celestia since the signatures belong to a squad of royal guards." Zecora's eyes snapped wide open and she started frantically looking around the room, but just as she was about to jump off the bed I stopped her.

"Okay look everything will be fine, you stay here and answer the door when they get here. I'll head out now through the back door, I'll conceal my presence and keep watch from the trees so just tell them that I left and if they ask you had no idea that I was a demon. Okay? I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you." She nodded in understanding, worry evident in her eyes as I take off through the hut's back door and leap into a nearby tree, my hand tapping the button on my belt concealing me from the world.

A moment later the guards came marching into the small clearing occupied by Zecora's hut. They stopped a good distance away and one of each pony-type, presumably the ones in charge walked over to the hut and knocked on the door. The earth pony was a stallion, the unicorn and the Pegasus were both mares. After a few moments the door opened revealing my zebra friend, a look of confusion adorned her face as she asked who they were and why they were there even though we both already knew why.

"By order of Princess Celestia we are here for the demon known as Hiei," the unicorn stated.

"Demon? What are you talking about? The only visitors I've had recently were from Ponyville and a strange bipedal creature but he did not seem demonic, besides he left hours ago." Zecora asked, feigning confusion.

"Are you saying you didn't know he was a demon?" The stallion asked and Zecora nodded in acknowledgement. The mares gave each other a look.

"That doesn't change anything," the Pegasus stated. "It will be taken into account later but for now we've been ordered to bring you in for questioning. If you cooperate you should be released within the week."

"Yeah like I really believe that" I said turning off my invisibility and jumping into the clearing from my spot in the trees. The guards immediately tuned towards me, they appeared frightened but ready for a fight. "I'm afraid she won't be going anywhere with you, I owe her a debt and it looks like I'll be repaying it right now" I placing my hands in my pockets.

"If you weren't in there how did you know we were here?" The unicorn demanded.

"I sensed you the second you stepped foot into my forest" I said.

"You're forest? The Everfree Forest belongs to Princess Celestia" the stallion yelled.

"Wrong" i said. "Neither you ponies nor your princesses can control anything about this forest or the creatures that inhabit it. I however can. Hasn't anyone noticed a distinct drop in timberwolf attacks the last few months?" I asked and they all gave each other looks that told me they had. "I am the alpha of this forest, no creature here would dare oppose me. The trees, the flowers, the weeds, every blade of grass are my eyes and ears. No one enters and nothing happens in this forest without me knowing. The guards looked a bit intimidated by my words, not that I expected them to run away just yet.

"It doesn't matter what you claim demon!" The unicorn yelled. "We have orders to bring you in and that's what we're going to do whether you like it or not. Guards get ready! Unicorns prepare your strongest stunning spells, we're taking him alive!" The other guards hollered in answer and immediately spread out into formation, the three that talked to Zecora joining them. The five unicorns were in the middle directly in front of me but spread out so they wouldn't get in each others way. The five earth ponies surrounded the unicorns acting as muscle to protect them while they prepared their spells. That left the five Pegasi hovering in the air above them ready to respond and counter, all in all not a bad formation for facing an unknown opponent but it won't work against me.

As the unicorns prepared their stunning spells I can't help but smile inwardly, outside my face remained stoic as ever. I always wanted to something like this I thought. I reached to my belt with my right hand and grabbed my darksaber and holding it at my side pointed towards the ground I ignited it, the black blade sucked in the very light from the air as it hummed to life causing all of the guards to jump in surprise. They stared in awe for a moment, unsure what to do, I'm not sure what they thought I was going to do but this definitely wasn't it.

I decided to break the tension by taking a step forward. The guards snapped out of their stupor and the unicorns immediately began firing their stunning spells at me. Twirling the darksaber around I deflected their blasts a I slowly advanced towards them. Left, up, right, down, center, I deflected each blast sent at me towards another one of the guards taking out three pegasi an earth pony. Their fear began to grow as I continued to advance and two remaining Pegasus ponies charged at me.

I simply side stepped the first one before grabbing her tail and throwing her into her fellow Pegasus sending them both to the ground. Still deflecting magical blasts I took out another Earth pony and a Unicorn leaving six left. As I got in about 10 feet from the remaining guards I held out my left hand and using the telekinesis granted to me by my Jegan as if it were the force I pulled one of the Earth ponies to me.

She gasped as my hand clasped around her throat but I didn't squeeze much. Instead I used her as a shield letting a few of the stunning spells hit her before I dropped her at my feet before I continue towards her fellow guards. Using my telekinesis again I grabbed another earth pony and flung her into a nearby tree with a flick of my wrist. I took out two more unicorns with their own attacks leaving only three rather nervous looking guards.The earth pony charged first but she didn't even make it to me as one of the remaining unicorns fired off a shot which I deflected into the charging pony sending her tumbling as her body locked up from the stunning spell.

Only two of the unicorn guards remained one of which I think is a captain or something since her armor is more of a teal color rather than the standard gold of the others. As a Captain she isn't under a glamor charm to make her identical to the other guards. She has blue eyes and bright red fur with a yellow mane and tail each with a red stripe through them.

"Your too dangerous to be taken alive. Your too dangerous to be left alive," she said seriously. Her he'd sipped down and she fired another blast at me and I could tell it had more power in it than any of the prior blasts I deflected and this one was meant to kill. Not that it mattered since like the others I simply redirected it with a casual swing of my sword.

The captain gasped in horror as her blast made contact with my sword before heading straight for her only remaining ally. The deadly bolt of magic sailed through the air for a split second before slamming into the ground directly in front of the other guard before exploding leaving a crater the size of my head, I missed on purpose of course but they don't need to know that. The two guards stared at the crater in shock for a moment, then the stallions eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he fainted dropping to the ground with a plop.

The captain snarled and her horn sparked to life as yellow lightning started dancing all over her body as channeled a large amount of magic. A split second later I snapped my head to the left to avoid a right hook from the enraged captain. It appears the spell she used increases her speed to around a mid B class demon and I gotta say I'm impressed, she has an incredible amount of potential. I dodged her next few strikes by tilting my head from side to side before I jumped backwards a few feet to avoid a kick from her right hind hoof.

Missing didn't deter her in the slightest, she used the momentum of her failed kick to flip her self in mid air and land on her hooves before lunging at me again but having seen enough I decided to end the fight. Since she lunged straight at me her punch was easy to avoid by simply stepping aside. And since she was in the air she had no way to alter her momentum and as she passed me I brought my knee upwards and into her stomach. She dropped to the ground like a brick as all the air left her body leaving her gasping and holding her stomach in pain.

Any fight the captain might've had died as she realized her speed was useless and for every one of my steps forward she would take one backwards and It didn't take long for the captain's back to meet with rough bark of a tree. She looked up at me eyes wide with fear, her body trembling in terror as she realized she had nowhere to go. I reached down and grabbed her horn to make sure there were no unwanted surprise attacks and she let out a squeak as I gripped the sensitive appendage.

"I hope you realize now that you never had even the slightest chance of defeating me," I spoke softly which resulted in the mare cracking an eye open and looking up at me. "What's your name?" I asked her.

"S-Scarlet S-Streak" she sputtered, her eyes not daring to meet my gaze.

"A fitting name" I said. But let me ask you this. What are you going to do now? Your friends are petrified and won't be able to move for a few hours, and your just as helpless as they are at the moment. So tell me how exactly do you plan on getting them out of here safely? You attacked me. You can't possibly expect me to let you leave just like that without some kind of punishment can you?

Her eyes snapped upwards, her gaze meeting mine with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please don't hurt them" she begged. "I'll do anything you want just let them go."

"Your hardly in a position to bargain." I replied with a raise eyebrow. "I could do anything to you or them right now and there isn't anything you could do to stop me. Tears welled up in her eyes and a reserved look came over her face.

"I won't resist" she said quietly. "Anything you want me to do I'll do it, I'll be your slave for the rest of my life if you want just please let them go back to their families." She actually surprised me I thought to myself. She said that last part with such conviction that I could tell that she really would live a life as a slave if it meant her subordinates could live and go home. Tightening my grip on her horn and mane I raised her up against the tree until her face was level with mine. As an added security measure I placed my knee between her legs, forcing them to open a bit and effectively pinning her to the tree.

I lowered my face so that my mouth was next to her ear. "Fine, I except your proposal" i whispered into her ear before throwing her back into the clearing with the rest of the guards. She took a moment to shake her head ridding her of her dizziness from being tossed like a sack of potatoes and looked back towards me. " Your going to deliver a message to Celestia for me in exchange for your lives and freedom" I told her. Her eyes widened and she gasped in surprise.

"R-really? That's all you want? You just want me to deliver a message?" she asked, her voice heavy with relief.

"Yes" I replied flatly. "Tell her that whether I become an enemy or an ally will be decided by her actions in the near future. As for a meeting since she's the one who wishes to meet me tell her that she will have to come to me, Ponyville will do. Tell her that on the day she wishes to meet to come to Ponyville and to flare her energy three times as a signal and I should arrive within the hour.

Also tell her that Zecora had no knowledge of me being a demon when she treated me and that she is now under my personal protection. This is Celestia's only warning. If she or Luna send any guards after her again I can promise you that they will not be coming back. That shouldn't be to much to remember right?" I asked, prompting a nod from Scarlet.

"Good, now I think it's time for you to leave Speedy" I said with a smirk. Before she can make any kind of response I was behind her and chopped the back of her neck sending her into the blissful world of unconsciousness. Using my telekinesis I moved all the guard to the clearing between the Everfree and Ponyville leaving them all to wake up a few hours later in one big pony-pile.

After literally dropping the ponies off I headed back to Zecora's hut where I was greeted by a very happy and affectionate zebra. I forgot for a moment that while she isn't a pony, equine culture in general here is big on hugs, nuzzles, and other forms of bodily contact as a show of affection towards one another.

"I am glad you are unharmed my friend" the zebra said while nuzzling my leg in greeting. I couldn't stop myself from bringing a hand up to pet her head to return the greeting earning me a bright smile. After the little nap we had earlier I no longer had any problems sharing a bed with Zecora in that sense. So after a quick snack we headed off to bed.