Fiend of a Doomed world.

“Um…” Applebloom began seeing the scene before her. She and the girls had gotten up to see Starlight and Demi-Fiend sitting at opposite ends of the table, the feeling of awkwardness thick in the air. Both were blushing and while Demi-Fiend looked sheepish Starlight was angrily pouting. “Wanna explain what this is about?”

“No,” the two ‘Adults’ said while looking away from each other. This left the three children to let out a sigh of annoyance. It was like dealing with their sisters all over again.

“Well, are you at least going to do something today?” Scootaloo said with a huff. “You’ve been like this ever since you got back from town.”

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle said in agreement. “It’s like super awkward.”

The two adults held their heads down in shame from being lectured by the three kids in the room. Looking at each other the two let out a sigh, as they got up.

“Well I guess it is getting dark,” Starlight muttered as she looked out the window. Taking note of how the dark clouds were getting slightly darker. “So it’s the best time to hunt down some demons for you to take care of.”

“How do you figure that?” Demi-Fiend asked while getting up as well.

“Demons seem more active during the night,” Starlight answered. “At least these ones do, more than likely to avoid being killed by stronger demons.”

“What do you mean ‘stronger demons’? What other kinds of things have you seen out there?” Demi-Fiend asked.

This question made the group of girls shudder as memories of powerful beings flashed in their minds.

“Things you’re not ready to fight,” Starlight muttered as she walked towards the door. Taking a look back towards the red headed demon, the powerful unicorn gave him a harsh look. “Yet anyways. But hopefully, you taking care of these small fries will show me where you stack up for now.”

“You make it sound more like I’m part of some dog fight for demons then a helper for your town,” Demi-fiend muttered as he made his way out the door with Starlight. The two were making their way to the woods near the farm as the CMC waved them goodbye.

“See you soon!” Sweetie Belle called.

“Don’t get too roughed up! I want pancakes again!” Scootaloo added.

Demi-Fiend chuckled as he rolled his eyes and waved back. “So how’s this gonna work? Is there a nest to go after or do we just hope we run into some of them?” he asked Starlight.

Rolling her eyes, the unicorn pulled out a map. Looking it over for a bit the unicorn soon nodded and started moving slightly more east.

“No we are not going to walk around and hope to run into some, and neither are we going to attack a nest without the proper set up first,” Starlight said as she followed the map and checked a pocket watch she had in one of her pockets. “I and Big Mac have been scouting as much as we can, and have not only found out their scouting patterns for Goblins that attacked the girls last night. But also they’re holding out in a cave nearby.”

“Well, why didn’t you say that first?” Demi-friend asked as he tried to take the map from starlight. “Let’s see where they are holding up at and let’s take care of them.”

As the red-headed demon tried to reach for the map, Starlight quickly reached out and pulled his ear, causing the larger person to let you a yelp of pain as he tried to get his ear out of Starlight’s bear trap-like grip.

“AH! WHY!? JUST WHY!?” Demi-Fiend shouted in pain.

“Because A, I still don’t trust you. And B, because I’m still very pissed at you for smacking my flank!” she seethed.

“I’m telling you, it was the fairy! Why don’t you believe me!? What would I have to gain from it!?”

Starlight just growled and then pushed his head away. “Anyway back on topic. We are not attacking the cave until we take care of the hunting parties.”

“Hunting parties?” Demi-Fiend muttered while rubbing his ears.

“Like the group you killed when you first met the CMC,” Starlight said while ignoring how Demi-Fiend flinched at the reminder on how he killed the group of goblins. “If we follow the map and keep an eye on the time we can take out the hunting groups and leave the cave with less Goblins to defend it.”

“Wait, have you done this before?”

“No,” the unicorn said with a shake of the head, “didn’t have the manpower to pull it off, especially now that Twilight and the others are gone to search for help, I and Big Mac are the best fighters the town has right now and we couldn’t risk one of us getting hurt trying this little plan of mine.”

“I see,” Demi-Fiend muttered. But then shot Starlight a wide-eyed look. “Wait, does that mean we're only doing this because I’m expendable to you?”

Shrugging the mare simply continued to walk towards their destination. “Maybe. Let’s see if you can even take out a full hunting party first before I put any confidence in you pulling the rest of the plan off.”

‘I can’t decide if I want to show her up or hold back just to spite her,’ he thought with a scowl as he continued to follow behind her.

An hour passed as the two made their way through the woods, nether stopping for a break.

“We should be getting there soon,” Starlight muttered as she pushed back a branch to get through, and soon let it go after getting through. Letting it hit Demi Fiend in the face.

“Oh com- really?” Demi-Fiend complained. Rubbing his face from where it got smacked. All the while hearing a small giggle coming from somewhere.

“Hurry up,” Starlight muttered as she started walking up a hill.

Letting out a growl, the red-haired demon followed her up the hill… only to look away after he noticed the angle they were walking was giving him a good view of her rear… a view that would no doubt get him killed if Starlight caught him even remotely staring at it after his so-called ‘Assault’ of her rear earlier.

Didn’t help that he saw that DAMN FAIRY appearing again.

“No,” Demi Fiend said as he looked at the little woman who gave him an impish smile as it flew closer to Starlight.

“What was that?” Starlight asked with a glare completely missing the fairy who flew away once it saw Starlight turning around. “Changing your mind about helping? Even after you promised you would?”

“W-what!?” Demi-Fiend said in shock as he turned his attention back to Starlight. Only to look away once he noticed where his eyes were about to wander again. “No! I was just…, distracted with something.”

“... you weren’t looking at my flank were you?” Starlight said with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“No! In fact, I’ve specifically gone out of my way not to look at it!”

The unicorn simply stared at the sweating demon for a few seconds before scoffing and getting back to walking up the hill.

“Whatever.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, the marked demon followed the annoyed unicorn as they made it to the top. Before Demi-Fiend could ask what they needed to do next he was suddenly yanked into some bushes by Starlight.

“Quiet,” she whispered, then pointed ahead. Demi-Fiend tried to ignore how close he was to her face and looked in the direction she pointed. He saw a group of five of the same creatures he fought yesterday, some standing at attention and looking around, others looking bored and resting against trees. One of them held a crude spear, two had clubs, and the other two had nothing.

“So now what?” he whispered.

“They’ll hang around here for a bit before moving to a new location,” she answered.

“So are we gonna let them pass, or-?”

“We’ll wait until they’re going to head to their next destination. When they’re all facing one way, then we strike,” she answered coldly. He was genuinely surprised at how… murderous she sounded. It wasn’t just hate in her tone, it was also a cold determination to see it through.

“So uh… any plans for when that happens?” he asked, suppressing the urge to gulp nervously.

“Simple,” she said as her horn and even her eyes glowed with a teal aura. “You go in and beat them to death while I take potshots at them.”

“So you want me to just run in?” Demi-Fiend muttered under his breath. “Am I that expendable to you?”

Even though he said that the red-headed demon was already shifting into a sprinting stance. So when he charged in, he would be doing it with the most speed.

“Ready…,” Starlight said as she readied a spell. “NOW!”

With that Starlight shot off a spell into the back of one of the Goblin. Knocking it down from the force. Taking that as the signal Demi-Fiend bolted towards the closest Goblin and dropped kicked it in the chest. Sending the poor bastard sailing.

Before he even checked to see what kind of damage he’d done he got up and rushed the one with the spear, who was just starting to get it’s bearings and realize what was happening. He grabbed the weapon before it could be used against him, using it to pull the creature towards him before grabbing it by the face, lifting it up before slamming it to the ground, smashing it’s skull. He noticed one of the ones with clubs jump to swing at his head before ducking under it. When it landed and then turned around it was met with a spear through the eye, killing it instantly.

He heard the familiar sound of a fire spell going off and quickly dropped to all fours, the ball of flame soaring over him as he turned to see where it had come from. The goblin readied for another blast only to be shot in the back by Starlight, causing it to stumble. He quickly grabbed the club the other goblin dropped when it died and lunged at it, the swing causing the club to smash to splinters and also for the goblin’s head to explode into gore.

He quickly turned to find his next opponent, only to see the other two were already down, apparently having already been killed by their starting blitz.

“Well… I guess that’s that,” he muttered, looking away from the blood and gore he’d caused. ‘I’ve beaten people to a pulp before, but not like this. Lord, give me the strength to do what needs to be done.’

“Are you done?” Starlight asked as she got out of the bushes.

Brushing some stray twigs and leaves the unicorn gave the Red-Headed a once over and let out a hum. “You don’t even get a scratch on you, even Big Mac has to rest for a few days if he even gets grazed by one of the goblins’ fireballs.”

“I got hit in the back with one of those fireballs,” Demi-Fiend said while gesturing where he got hit. “It stung for a bit but it didn’t hurt for that long. You sure the Goblins didn’t just get lucky when they got Big Mac?”

“... Yeah. Lucky,” she agreed hesitantly, suddenly realizing just how durable her new charge was.

“Well, uh… lead the way, I guess,” Demi-Fiend motioned.

“Right,” she muttered as she pulled out the map again before delving even deeper into the forest. Soon the two found another hunting party in the mits of bagging a dead boar.

“Savages,” Starlight hissed out as she saw the group of Goblins laugh as they started tying up the dead boar while also punching anyone from their group who tried to take a bite from the dead animal. “Let’s take care of these demons and move onto the last known hunting party.”

“Really?” Demi-Fiend asked with a raised brow from how few hunters there were. “Why only three?”

“There WERE four,” Starlight said while taking a side glance towards the red-headed demon. “But you took out one of them last night. And I doubt these demons are organized enough to quickly replace them.”

“I see,” Demi-Fiend muttered as he watched the hunting party about to finish up their hunt taking note that like the last two groups he faced this one was made up of five as well. Noticing Starlight readying a blast of magic like last time. “Wait.”

“What?” she hissed out, only to be stunned when she noticed Demi-Fiend quietly climb up a tree near the group of Goblins. “What are you doing!?” she hissed out as quietly as she could as to not alert the Goblins. Thankfully, said group was too busy celebrating their success to notice. Heck, some were even dancing as if they caught the holy grail of hunts and not just a decently sized boar.

“Just get ready. I’ll do the first attack, you follow up. Go for the ones with the weapons,” he loudly whispered back. She scowled at him but prepared her spell anyway. He carefully positioned himself on the branch, then turned around so his back was facing them. He then crouched down and launched himself at the group in a perfect moonsault, landing on and crushing the two unarmed goblins under his body.

Starlight just blinked for a moment before she realized that this was a life or death situation and blasted the spear goblin with a spell, sending it flying back into a tree, blood splatter as it hit. Before she could target the next one Demi-Fiend rolled towards it before extending his legs and grabbing it’s head between his feet, then vaulting backward and slamming its head into the ground with a sickening crunch. As the last one with the club rushed him he quickly spun and kicked it in the head, causing it to spin and fall over, then using the momentum to swing himself to his feet, all the while grabbing the other club from the ground. The last goblin gathered itself just in time to see Demi-Fiend bring the blunt weapon down on its head, ending its life.

When it was all done he turned to Starlight and smirked, tossing the club over his shoulder. “So, how expendable do I look now?”

“Sorry, too distracted with how bloody you are,” the unicorn muttered as she tried to keep a good distance from his blood-covered form.

“Oh, uh… sorry… Don’t suppose you brought a towel?” he asked sheepishly.

“No,” Starlight muttered before gesturing towards a direction. “There is a river near here. Take a quick dip before we head out. Don’t want the smell of blood to tip off the rest of the goblins.”

“Uh, thanks,” said, walking in the direction she pointed. After a few minutes of walking, thankfully with no encounters, he kneeled down by the river before splashing himself with the water, using the reflection to see where he had missed.

“So… that was… flashy,” Starlight said awkwardly as he cleaned up. “Do demons like you usually fight like that?”

“Okay, first, again, human not demon. Second, no, I was taught how to fight like that,” he said, checking to see if he had missed any spots.

“Like what, a combat academy?”

He got up and brushed some of the water off him. “I had one teacher where I lived who took the time to teach and pound the basics of fighting into me, and then there were those who I never met and who I learned just by watching their greatness and trying it out until I could imitate them,” he said proudly, a wave of nostalgia washing over him as he thought back to many Pay Per View wrestling matches.

“... Right. So if I can drag you back out of fantasy land for a minute, let’s keep moving,” she said as continued.

‘Fantasy land, says the unicorn,’ he snarked internally as he followed.

It seems one of the reasons Starlight suggested the river (besides of him smelling to high heaven) was because the last hunting party was known to hunt near the river.

After a bit of walking near the river the two stopped by a large rock, Starlight then hid behind it, took a quick peek behind it before quickly gesturing Demi-Fiend over.

“So is this the spot?” Demi-Fiend asked before getting shushed by Starlight. “What?”

“Shhhh!” the unicorn shushed again. “Be quiet!”

“You're the one being loud,” Demi-Fiend muttered under his breath as he walked towards and looked behind the rock and saw a sight that shocked him.

A group of goblins were cheering near the edge of the riverbank, trying to pull something inside of a net out of the water. But what really caught his attention was what was in the net, and namely how human it looked. It appeared to be a beautiful woman with long flowing blonde hair, skin of a light blue color, and red eyes with what appeared to be purple eye shadow around them. He also noticed the woman hissing at the goblins as it tried to escape, showing some sharp canines. He also tried to ignore the fact that she was clearly naked.

“What the…,” Demi-Fiend muttered as his eyes were glued to the struggling form of the woman who was trying to desperately grasp for the water of the nearby river. This action only got her a quick kick to the side by one of the goblins.

This made Demi-Fiend about to bolt up and charge the little monsters but was stopped by Starlight who used her magic to hold him down.

“What are you doing!?” hissed out the unicorn quietly as she glared at the red-headed demon, only to flinch back a little when he sent her a glare back as he tried and failed to break free from the magical hold placed on him. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

“Don’t you see the woman near the banks of the river?” Demi-Fiend growled out as he tried to break through the aura of magic holding. “She’s in danger!”

“And?” Starlight said with a raised brow. Confusion clear in her voice, much to Demi-Fiend’s shock. “She’s doing a great job distracting them.”

“How can you be so… so dismissive? So cruel!? She’s being attacked by those creatures, just like you and the other back in Ponyville have been!?” he shot back in a loud whisper.

“She’s a demon,” Starlight scoffed. “The same as the rest of the creatures that came to our lands and have been killing our people. Why should I care that they’re killing each other? Better for us in the long run if you ask me.”

Demi-Fiend looked at the lavender coated woman in shock as his mouth moved slightly, trying to find the words to try to argue with the horned magic-user. But nothing came out as his gaze shifted to the group of goblins and their captured prey. Seeing a second goblin joining in the first one’s little game of abuse towards the defenseless demon woman. While the rest laughed around the fire at the show of violence, save for one who simply huffed out in annoyance as it went back to cooking the fish for the rest of its group.

“So let’s let them have their fun and when they're distracted we’ll take them out and head towards the nest,” Starlight said. Demi-Fiend could only continue to gape at her, stunned by her callous and uncaring response, before looking over to the blue woman. To his surprise he saw that she was looking directly at him, forgetting that his head was out enough for her to see. For a moment he panicked, realizing that she could unintentionally attract attention to him. Instead, she closed her eyes, looking defeated, before going back to trying to fight off the goblins.

‘She’s… she’s making sure I don’t get seen,’ he realized. And just like that, his anger raged inside.

“Will you just calm down!?” Starlight hissed. “They’ll hear us if you’re not careful.”

Ignoring her, Demi-Fiend struggled as he slowly got up, much to Starlight's shock as the spell she used should have kept him on his knees.

“Wh-What you-!? Hey, stop that!” Starlight demanded, trying to hold him down.

Her words fell on deaf ears as Demi-Fiend struggled against the magic keeping his arms bound. Slowly but surely he was able to move his arms as the magic tried it’s best to keep them in place.

“What-!? How are you-!? Damn it, stop you idiot!” she ordered, somewhere between scared and furious.

The magic keeping him bound slowly flickered in and out as it tried to fight against the strength Demi-Fiend was using as he slowly let out a guttural growl as his muscles bulged and the marking on his body began to glow as the magic around him started to fizzle out.

“STOP YOU BRAIN DEAD DEMON!” she shouted, then covered her mouth as she just realized what she’d done.

The Goblins stopped their merriment as soon as they heard the scream coming from the other side of the river. Once they looked towards the origin of the sound they were soon shocked at what they saw.

Letting out another growl that soon turned into a full-on scream, Demi-Fiend used all of his strength to break through the magic aura, and with a mighty yell, the magic shattered off of him, the sound of breaking glass could be heard the Aura ripped.

Everyone was frozen in shock. The goblins who were looking at a demon who was radiating a force of power and who was glaring at them with such intensity, and made one of the goblins who had his foot on the blue-skinned woman's head to take a step back in fear.

Starlight who was still hiding behind the rock, and was now on her rear after getting knocked back from the backlash of her spell being torn apart, looked up at the Demi-Fiend with barely contained fear.

And finally was the blue-skinned woman in the net, who looked on in shock but also hope as she stared at the imposing form of the red-haired demon.

“You,” Demi-Fiend growled out. Causing the goblins and even Starlight to flinch from the tone as he stepped forward. “You… GETAWAY FROM HER!”

With a lunge Demi-Fiend leapt at the goblins, so full of rage he didn’t even recognize he’d crossed the river in a single bound, landing on the terrified and stunted goblin that had been tormenting the blue-woman and squashing it into a mess of blood and gore. Without a moment’s hesitation, he grabbed the next nearest one by the leg and effortlessly lifted it off the ground, then roared with fury as he charged at the next closest one, who had finally begun to process what happening just in time for Demi-Fiend to use it’s companion as a club, both of them exploding into messes of flesh and bone.

The next one raised it’s hand and shot a fireball at him in a desperate attempt to do something. Demi-Fiend held his arms in front of him to block and just charged, tanking the hit and plowing through. As he barrelled down at the terrifying creature he raised both his fists and slammed them down on its head, easily crushing its head.

His eyes locked on the last one, snarling as he stomped towards it, his fingers tensed and prepared to rip it to pieces. He was so focused he didn’t notice a small object until it hit him in the face, causing him to flinch. He looked down at the offending object and saw… a rock.

The absurdity of it snapped Demi-Fiend out of his bloodlust to notice something about the last goblin: It was scurrying along the grown, backed up into a nearby tree, and… crying.

“P-please!” cried the Goblin as it went to its knees and pressed it’s face to the dirt as it shook with fear. “Please spare me, strong one! Me no not how to fight, me no threat. Only brought to cook for rest of party!”

“You…,” Demi-Fiend breathed out as the markings on his body stopped glowing and his muscles stopped bulging. Returning to their original size. “Can talk?”

“Y-yes! Me can talk!” cried the goblin as it nodded rapidly. “My kin can all talk!”

“Then why haven’t you talked before?” Demi-Fiend asked with an accusing tone. Causing the goblin to flinch and bury it’s face in the dirt again.

“Probably too busy dying by your hands!” it cried as it groveled at his feet. This made Demi-Fiend flinch. Both in the realization that he was killing sentient beings, and the fact he stopped thinking of them as living things to make himself feel better about killing them.

As he looked down at the crying mess of a goblin, Demi-Fiend simply let out a sigh as he crouched down in front of the scared goblin.

“Hey,” he said. Causing the small creature to flinch. “Hey don’t be scared I won’t hurt you.”

Taking a second the Goblin slowly looked up at the red headed demon. “R-really?”

“Yes,” Demi-Fiend said with a nod. “But first, can you tell me about your nest.”

“YES!” the Goblin shouted as it rose up. “Me tell you anything you wants!”

“Well… that was easy,” Demi-Fiend muttered. “Why so quick to sell out your nest even after what you saw me do to your friends?”

“‘Friends’? Me no have friends. Me not even want go here. Me just do what Big Boss says. Move close to the horse-people village because Big Boss say so.”

“Big boss?” Demi-Fiend wondered before shaking his head. “Anyways if you're so willing to tell me this then will you tell me how many goblins are at the nest right now?”

“YES YES!” the Goblin said with a nod. “There only ten left! All the best goblins who Big Boss likes stay to guard him while we weak ones go hunt and give Big Boss food. Also we need to find pretty ladies.”

This bit of information made Demi-Fiend blink in confusion. “Pretty ladies? Why do you need pretty ladies?”

“Me not know?” the goblin said with a sad shrug. “Big Boss just told us to find pretty ladies or we get the club…”

“Hmmm,” Demi-Fiend hummed out as he looked at the goblin who looked back at him with pleading eyes. Letting out a sigh the red-headed demon waved his hand away in a shooing motion. “Fine, I got what I needed. Get going before I change my mind.”

A look of shock appeared on the goblin’s face before it broke out into tears of joy before getting up and running into the forest.

Just then something hit Demi-Fiend in the back of the head with a loud “smack.” “Ow!” he exclaimed and turned to look at a furious Starlight Glimmer.

“WHAT IN TARTARUS IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” she shouted.

“What do you mean? There was no more reason to fight!” he replied indignantly, rubbing the back of his head.

“You let a demon go!” Starlight shouted. “And if it warns the others at the nest then all this work was for nothing!”

“It’s not going to rat us out,” Demi-Fiend yelled back. All the frustration with Starlight finally boiling up to the surface as he glared down at the anthro unicorn.

“Of course it’s going to! Why wouldn’t it!?”

“You heard what it said, it doesn’t even want to be here!”

“I didn’t hear anything!” Starlight shouted. “All it was doing was making disgusting noises from it’s demon mouth and you were just standing there like some moron as it ran away!”

“... Wait, you didn’t understand any of what it said?”

“You did?” she asked with snark in her tone. “You really are a demon.”

“It said there were only ten goblins left, and that the Big Boss kept the actual strong ones for himself. And that they were ordered to capture any ‘pretty ladies’ they found, though they didn't know why.”

Starlight looked surprised at that, not expecting to get some actual intel out of this. Or that what she thought were just mindless creatures were actually somewhat organized.

As she thought about it, Demi-Fiend took the time to change his attention to the blue woman. Walking towards the bound woman Demi-Fiend kneeled down as he slowly grabbed the net and started to untangle the woman from it.

“Don’t worry,” Demi-Fiend said in a soft tone as he tried to get the net off her. All the while the blue-skinned women just stared at him with a curious look as it silently watched him.

After a bit, Demi-Fiend was finally able to get the net loos and pulled it off of the woman.

“There we go,” he said with a smile as the woman stood up with the aid from Demi-Fiend. “You're free now. Do you have a place to stay?”

“She’s not staying with us!” shouted Starlight. “Already have one defective demon, don’t need another one.”

Shaking his head at his ‘companion’s’ attitude, Demi-Fiend gave the rescued woman a smile. “Sorry about that, but honestly do you have a place to stay?”

Nodding her head, the blue woman gave Demi-Fiend a strange look before grabbing his face.

“What are you doing-mmfff!?” Demi-Fiend asked before the blue skin woman KISSED HIM!

Starlight was similarly shocked, surprised that the demons she once thought were so animalistic would even engage in such acts. All the while not hearing a giggle coming from the nearby tree.

“Oh my~!” giggled out the same Pixie from earlier as it watched the little show going on.

Minutes ticked as the kiss showed no signs of stopping, all the while the Demi-Fiend stood there shocked.

‘Crap… lungs losing air…, vision fading…, brain status report!” Demi-Fiend thought in a panic. Said panic grew as he felt the woman he just saved sliding in some tongue.

‘Uuugggg… frozen peas…,’ his brain muttered out before going silent.

‘That's not good…, that's not good at all…,’ Demi-Fiend thought as his vision began going dark.

*BANG!*

The sudden sound jolted the two demons as they turned towards it to see a blushing Starlight glaring at them while pointing at the sky with a now smoking finger.

“Okay you hormone-addled teens, fun’s over! You!” she pointed at the blue woman. “Get! Go back to… wherever it is you’re from! Just… shoo!”

The blue woman frowned before looking back to Demi-Fiend, giving a smile and wink. She then walked to the water and seemingly fell in before rocketing upstream like a bullet.

“What happened,” Demi-Fiend muttered out in a daze before letting out a yelp as Starlight pulled him by the ear.

“Nothing you need to worry about!” the unicorn shouted as she stomped into the forest towards the final location. All the while yanking poor Demi-Fiend by the ear. Leaving him to wonder what he did wrong this time.

Why did girls have to be so weird?

~~~~~(two hours later)~~~~~

“God, did you need to yank me by the ear for most of the trip here?” Demi-Fiend muttered while rubbing his ear witch was practically glowing red from the abuse Starlight put it through.

“Well, if you don’t want to help, you can just go ahead and find your new demon floozy,” she huffed, her muzzle in the air.

Demi-Fiend could only sigh in defeat at Starlight’s attitude. Then let out a growl once he heard the same fairy from before laughing at his situation.

Did that fairy have nothing better to do?

“You just going to stand there?” Starlight called out, snapping Demi-Fiend out from his thoughts.

“R-right…, sorry,” Demi-Fiend muttered as he made his way to Starlight who was waiting for the red-haired demon. “So what are we dealing with.”

“Well, if your new little friend is right, then we only have ten more goblins to deal with, who should be a little more competent than what we’ve fought so far,” she said.

“And the ‘Big Boss’ it was talking about,” he reminded her.

“And maybe if your luck with it was as good as your luck with demon mares, maybe it actually won’t have alerted the rest of them,” she muttered.

“What?”

She sighed. “Nothing, let’s just get this over with.”

“So,” Demi-Fiend muttered out as he and Starlight crouched in some bushes as they observed the ten Goblins stationed in front of the cave. He noticed that these Goblins were a little bit bigger and looked well-fed compared to the other goblins he fought. “How do you want to start this?”

Starlight hummed as her eyes scanned the area until she took notice of some large rocks over the cave entrance. She also took notice of three goblins standing near the entrance of the cave.

A deviant smile made its way onto her face as she charged some magic into her hands.

“Like this,” the unicorn said as she took aim with her now glowing hand and let loose a blast on energy. The energy shot out of her hand like a cannon and blasted towards the rocks over the cave entrance and slammed into them with mighty force. The noise alerted and shocked the goblins, but not as much the three goblins closest to the blast.

Looking up one of the three Goblins noticed much to its horror that whatever hit the top of their cave had loosened the already unstable rocks at the top, causing them to quickly slide down, and crush him and the other two goblins before he could even yell out a warning.

“Could’ve said go or something!” Demi-Fiend complained as he dashed towards the rest of the group, catching them off guard as he dropped kicked two of them at once, feeling their necks crack as he sent them flying. One of them stabbed at him with it’s spear while he was on the ground, and he kicked it away while using his momentum to swing himself to his feet before punching it in the face. While it staggered he tried to take it’s spear away, but it managed to hang onto it. Thinking quickly he swung the spear, goblin and all, into the two club wielding ones that jumped at him, knocking them away, before slamming the goblin into the ground to make it let go, then quickly took the spear and stabbed it in the chest.

He turned to face his next opponents only to be blasted back by two fire spells slamming into his chest, knocking him onto his back. He groaned and got up to see two with spears rushing to stab him, only for one to be blasted away by Starlight. He wasted no time and stabbed the other one through the eye, then got up and rushed at one with a club who fired another fireball at him which he rolled under, ready to shoulder check it only for the creature to leap over him and slam it’s club into the back of his shoulder. He grunted through the pain and nailed it with a spinning kick, breaking its neck. One of the last two threw it’s spear at him before readying its hands for a fireball, while the other ran to the side, ready to flank him with it’s club. With quick reflexes he grabbed the spear out of the air and hurled it back, nailing the goblin in the throat, which also surprised the club wielding goblin. He took advantage of it’s distraction and charged, nailing it with a lariat strong enough to break its neck. He looked around to check for the next opponent and was pleased to see there wasn’t one.

“Well… besides feeling a small bit of a burn from one of those fireballs I can safely say that we took care of the Goblins,” Demi-Fiend sighed out as he rubbed the spot that was hit with said fireball. “So should we start heading back before it gets too late?”

Not getting an answer the red-headed looked at his companion who was scanning the area.

“Starlight?” Demi-Fiend muttered, but still no response. This pissed off the redhead as he let out a growl before barking out. “HEY! Starlight are you listening!?”

Snapping out of her thoughts, the unicorn gasped in surprise before turning towards Demi-Fiend with a scowl.

“Can you be quiet for a second?” she hissed out. “I’m trying to make sure there are no threats around.”

“Threats?” Demi-Fiend muttered out as he looked around. Seeing nothing but dead goblins. “Pretty sure we got them all. Heck pretty sure we even got Big Boss as well!”

Starlight let out a sigh as she gave the laughing demon in front of her a dry look, and was about to tell him to stop being so cocky.

But before she could even get a word out the two felt the earth under their feet shake a little, causing the two to look down at the ground in confusion. The second wave of vibration soon happens. Then a third, soon the two were able to see that the shaking was coming from the cave itself.

“Demi-Fiend,” Starlight gulped out.

“Yeah?” Demi-Fiend muttered as he got into a fighting stance as the shaking at the cave was getting more intense and the boulders blocking the inside of the cave were starting to get loose. “What do you need to say?”

“I don’t think this big boss was a goblin,” Starlight muttered out right before the boulders in front of the cave exploded and a big hulking beast roared out in anger.

“Yeah, I think you may be right,” he muttered as the large creature beat it’s chest. It was very tall and muscular, with pale green skin and long red hair. It’s eyes were yellow and solid, it had a long nose and pointed ears and had sharp fangs. It wore a very small bit of leather armor with some plumage on its shoulders, and in one hand carried a metal club.

It saw the two of them and charged with impressive speed, Starlight running to the side while Demi-Fiend rushed at it. It swung it’s club down at him, which he managed to avoid by ducking it, and nailed it in the chest with a punch… only for the creature to barely flinch.

“Oh no,” he muttered, before looking up to see it grinning at him before smacking him away with a backhand. He tumbled along the ground before skidding on his back, his eyes clenched shut in pain.

“LOOK OUT!” he heard Starlight scream. He opened his eyes to see the beast charging towards him, it’s club raised. He rolled to the side just in time to dodge, but by the time he stopped it had already raised the weapon to strike again. He rolled, to dodge the next blow, and again for another when he got an idea. He barely dodged one more strike and grabbed the club, holding on for dear life as it swung up and took him along with it. He let go at just the right time, flying through the air and slamming into a large tree branch, which he quickly grabbed onto to keep from falling. He saw the beast look around confused, and took the opportunity to swing up onto the branch.

“Okay, yeah, definitely not a goblin,” he wheezed. The creature apparently heard him and turned to face him, looking furious.

“‘GOBLIN!?’ ME NO GOBLIN! ME TROLL!” it declared proudly before running at him before leaping into the air, club raised. “YOU DEAD!” it shouted as it swung down. Demi-Fiend leapt to another branch to avoid the blow, which cleanly snapped it in two.

It turned to face him again only to be met with a blast of magic to the face, making it flinch. It turned to see Starlight, who was looking scared at how little her attack had done. She practically turned white when it charged at her, far too quick to run away.

“STARLIGHT!” Demi-Fiend shouted, only for the unicorn to raise a dome of magic around her. The club slammed into the barrier, and he sighed in relief when it held, only to gasp when he saw a second hit crack it. A third shattered it and Starlight fell back like she herself had been hit. “Shit!” he muttered. “Here goes something. HEY, ASSHOLE!” he shouted as he crouched down. Like he hoped, the troll turned to face him and he launched himself at the beast, flipping so his back hit it’s chest and his legs wrapped around its neck. He then threw his weight forwards, pulling himself over its head, and then falling down it’s back before locking his feet under its chin and wrapping his arms around its waist, using his momentum to pull it off its feet. Demi-Fiend landed in a sitting position while the troll’s head slammed into the ground, it’s legs in the air.

Both the troll and Starlight looked completely stunned at what had just happened. “MOVE!” he shouted to the unicorn who quickly scrambled away from them, while the troll struggled and managed to wrench itself out of Demi-Fiend’s grip. It got to its feet as he rolled backwards and sprung off his hands, putting distance between them and getting to his feet.

“You! How you do that!?” the troll demanded. “What magic!?”

Demi-Fiend smirked back. “A little something called Lucha Libre, payaso,” he replied. Demi-Fiend sprinted at the troll and the monster roared and charged as well, raising it’s club to strike. When it was in range it swung down, only for Demi-Fiend to dive between its legs and slide, then stopping and lifting himself to a handstand. The troll turned just in time to see him spring backwards, land on his feet, then do a backflip and landing both legs on the troll’s shoulders before gripping hard and swinging his feet down, taking the troll down with them forcing it to its back. The troll turned to try and right itself only to be met with Demi-Fiend rolling towards it to give it a swift kick to the side of the head, hitting in the temple and dazing it a bit.

As he rolled away and then sprung off his hands Starlight just stared at the flashy display that Demi-Fiend was doing, moving like a gymnast he outmaneuvered the power but clumsy troll. The larger demon growled as it got to its feat before roaring in anger, slamming its club into the grow in a display of frustration. In response Demi-Fiend… turned and ran away from it. The troll was confused for a moment before it bellowed and chased after him. Starlight was about to chastise him for fleeing only to notice he was running full speed directly at a tree. He managed to run up it for a few steps, then launched himself off directly at the troll, spinning in the air and slamming one of his elbows into the troll’s face. A crack could be heard as blood spurted and the troll fell onto its back, gripping it's now bent nose as Demi-Fiend landed, still smirking.

“Starlight!” he called over to her, snapping her out of her trance. “That barrier thing you did, can you make one here?” he asked, pointing behind him.

“Uh… y-yeah!” she nodded, gathering her power and putting up a barrier about a yard behind him. “What are you-?”

“Hey ugly! Wanna finish this!?” he called to the troll, standing tall with his arms out to the side. “I’m starting to get bored here!”

The troll stood up, absolutely enraged. “ME BREAK YOU!” it shouted and charged. Demi-Fiend turned and ran up the barrier before launching himself at the troll, locking its head between his legs. He spun around the beast, who was too stunned to realize what was happening, stumbling off balance, before Demi-Fiend adjusted his weight, pulling the beasts head down to slam into the barrier as he fell. The impact left a crater in the protective spell, causing Starlight to flinch a bit, and then the troll hit the ground limp, bleeding from its head.

“Heh, guess that wasn’t too hard once I got the hang of it,” he chuckled.

Starlight just scoffed. “Yeah, we probably could’ve been done sooner if you didn’t do all that unnecessary flashiness.”

“Oh come off it!” he snapped back, causing her to flinch a bit. “You’ve been giving me the third degree all damn day! Let’s not forget I’m the one doing you a favor! I got the job done, didn’t I? So just let me freaking have this! Besides, you will not insult lucha, especially now that I’m finally able to pull off the moves of my heroes!”

She growled and then just huffed. “Whatever! Let’s just get back before it gets… too…” she trailed off, looking up and behind him as her eyes widened with fear.

It was just then he noticed he was in something’s shadow and his body broke out in cold sweat. He gulped and turned to see the troll, still bleeding from its head, looking down at him furiously. The troll lunged at them and Demi-Fiend shoved Starlight out of the way, only to leave himself vulnerable. The monster wrapped its muscular arms around him and pinned him to it’s chest.

“Like me said, ‘Me break you,’” it smiled viciously and began to squeeze.

Demi-Fiend struggled, bracing his body and trying to break out, but the monster’s grip and sheer physical might were too much for him. Part of him noted this was the first time in a long while that he was the one lacking in physical strength as his legs kicked the troll as he was lifted off the ground. He couldn’t even call for help, all the air having been squeezed out of him as he gasped for breath.

The troll smiled as it crushed it’s prey, only to be distracted by a hit to the back of the head. It turned to see Starlight, readying another magic blast before firing it at the monster’s head in a desperate attempt to do something. The troll smirked and just turned to face her, holding the still struggling Demi-Fiend into her line of sight. The human-turned demon felt his ribs start to crack, gasping as he foamed at the mouth, his saliva starting to mix with his blood.

“NO!” someone shouted. A moment later the troll was hit in the face with a fireball, the pain enough to cause the monster to yell in pain, dropping Demi-Fiend and holding its face to try and disperse the embers. Both Starlight and the troll turned to see who had interfered, and were shocked to see a Goblin standing on a tree branch. Starlight recognized it as the one Demi-Fiend had let go.

“ME KILL YOU!” the troll shouted as it charged and jumped at the Goblin, who jumped to the side and just barely made it out of the way before falling painfully to the ground. Starlight didn’t know how to react, but then noticed a groan and that Demi-Fiend was struggling to get up. With some effort he managed to get to his feet.

“Hey, ugly!” he called, spitting out blood as he panted. “We’re not done.” The troll stopped and turned to face him, angrily charging at him with its fist raised. Demi-Fiend waited and then, with a grunt of effort, jumped the troll’s arm, locking it with his own, before spinning around it’s shoulders, locking his legs around it’s head, and then using his momentum to bring the demon to the ground. He then gripped his legs as tight as he could and twisted his waist, a wet snap sounding out as the troll went limp. He then stood up and took a look at his opponent before walking over and kicking it in the head, seeing it make no reaction. It was finally dead.

“And that’s how you wrestle… Lucha Libre style!” Demi-Fiend huffed out as he looked down his fallen foe, slightly wincing when he noticed how twisted the neck was. Almost looking like a twisted candy wrapper more than anything.

“Huh,” he muttered as he looked towards the cheering Goblin that saved him and then at the shocked face of Starlight who looked up towards him. “I’m really surprised that I’m still standing-oh there we go…”

With those words, the red-headed demon fell backward as his injuries finally caught up with him. Thankfully Starlight was able to snap out of her daze and ran up and caught the falling demon.

“Oh Celestia!” Starlight called out in worry as she looked at the battered and bruised Demi-Fiend. “Demi-Fiend! Demi-Fiend!”

“What?” he groaned out as he cracked his eyes open enough to see Starlight looking over him. “Did I not get them all?”

“It’s not that!” Starlight shouted out while trying to fight back the tears trying to come out. “You’re hurt!”

“I…, kind of noticed,” Demi-Fiend muttered out as his eyes slowly started to close. But a few shakes from Starlight was able to keep him awake. “Crap…, I think I might have a concussion.”

“You need to stay with me!” Starlight called out as she tried to use whatever magic she had left to heal him, but even with that and his natural healing, the only thing going away was some minor bruising and a few scraps. Everything else was barely showing any signs of healing.

“At least I got the job done,” Demi-Fiend wheezed out. “At least I can say I kept my promise.”

“Just forget about that!” Starlight Cried out as she kept shaking Demi-Fiend awake. Tears now falling freely down her face. “You need to hold on! T-the CMC won’t forgive you if you die!”

As the young mare cried out to Demi-Fiend. The red headed demon simply smiled as his vision was going dark…

Until he heard a small voice giggling out to them.

“My oh my~! Looks like you're going to need little old me after all~!”

Hearing the voice the two looked up to see the same fairy from last time.

“You…,” muttered Demi-Fiend muttered as he gave a small glare at the small little creature hovering over them. Smug look still plastered on her face.

“Oh~! No need to give a look like that!” the little redhead whined as she started flying around them. “And here I am, coming out into the open to help!”

“What?” Starlight muttered as she looked at the small flying humanoid. “What do you mean help? Who ARE you?”

Giggling at the question. The small fairy-like did a few twirls as she pointed at the two.

“I’m glad you asked!” she said with a smile as she soon did a pretty risque pose and gave the two a huge grin.

“Have no fear!” she sang while doing another pose that had Demi-Fiend a little hot and bothered. “For Pixie is here!”

With that, the Pixie flew up into the air and shot some raw magic from out of her hands. Putting on a show for the new bewildered Starlight and Demi-Fiend.

Why did the two feel like they just let a headache enter their lives...

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CHAPTER END

fight scenes done by ShinigamiSparda.