“There!” Phillip called, pointing to the building they were fast approaching. Even from their vantage point in the sky, they could see the ivory mare in the suit. She stood by the doors, as if waiting for them. She seemed to flash them a smile before stepping inside.

Daring set Phillip down just outside the door. She made to charge forward and draw her pistol, but he stopped her, shaking his head.

“Daring, I know what she said, but if she’s had the chance to attack us and hasn’t, maybe we should hear her out,” he said.

“Hear her out?” Daring roared. “She was asking for our souls, Phil!”

“Even so, if we go in there guns out, we’ll only cause a panic. Let’s scope things out first.” He jerked his head towards the front window. With a grumble, Daring nodded, joining him at the window to peer inside.

Lucifer had trotted over and sat down at the bar. The Apple Pie seemed sparsely occupied at this time of night, with only a few customers milling about. She cleared her throat, and Pinkie popped up from seemingly nowhere behind the bar.

“Hello there,” Lucifer purred, her crimson eyes locked with Pinkie’s blue orbs. “I would like the sweetest thing you have on the menu, even if I have to wait for you to clock out.”

Pinkie’s face turned a deeper shade of pink and she promptly disappeared into the kitchen.

“Did she scare Pinkie?” Daring hissed.

Phillip shook his head. “No. She looked… flustered.”

Pinkie appeared a moment later with a plate full of what looked like burritos smothered in maple syrup. Leaking out the ends, however, was melted chocolate. A napkin with a knife and fork on it was slid next to the plate. Before Lucifer could say anything to her, Pinkie slipped back into the kitchen.

Applejack walked over, scratching the top of her head under her hat. “Huh. Now I wonder what’s gotten into Pinkie Pie,” she remarked.

“Bartender,” Lucifer said, lifting her fork and knife in her magic. “What would you say is your finest beverage?”

Applejack flashed her a friendly smile. “Why, that’d be our apple cider, ma’am.” She reached under the bar and pulled out a cold bottle. Setting another napkin down opposite of the first, she sat the sweating bottle before Lucifer.

The demon hummed and opened the bottle, taking a test swig. “What a rich, robust flavor. My compliments to whoever bottled it.” She lifted the bottle in her magic and nodded to Applejack.

Applejack beamed. “That’d be my family. Our pride and joy.”

“I can see why.” Lucifer began cutting into her pancake, mopping up some of the syrup with the first forkful. “Tell me, have you seen any unicorns like me around? With a horn like mine, I mean.”

Applejack looked her up and down and shook her head. “Sorry, can’t say I’ve ever seen a unicorn like you before,” she said. “If I see ‘em, I’ll let them know yer lookin’ for them. Miss… uh…?”

“Call me Lucy.” She took a bite of the pancake and hummed with delight. “And please, give your chef my compliments.”

“Will do… if I can find her.” Applejack frowned and stepped into the kitchen.

“Alright,” Phil said. “Let’s go talk to her.” Daring nodded.

The two stepped into the Apple Pie, getting a few waves from the few patrons left. Lucifer, however, didn’t seem to even notice them – she continued to chow down on her syrup-laden pancakes hungrily.

Walking over, they sat on the stools next to Lucifer, glancing at her. “Took you long enough,” she said around a mouthful.

“What’d you do to Pinkie?” Daring jerked her head towards the kitchen doors.

“What can I say? Demons love sugar,” Lucifer replied with a shrug.

“Enough games, Lucifer,” Phil said quietly. “We need to know why you’re here.”

“And why you want our souls,” Daring hissed.

Lucifer swallowed and sighed. “Well, seeing as I didn’t get what I needed from here, I suppose an information exchange would be useful.” She looked to Phil. “By all means, you first.”

“Why were you at the butcher scene?” he asked. “Did you do that?”

“No.” Lucifer cut another piece and ate it. “I was trailing the demon responsible. Beelzebub the Exiled, most dangerous kind of demon there is and recent escapee from the Abyss.” She paused, glancing at the two of them. “You would call it ‘Limbo.’”

“And you decided to not tell the police that?” Daring asked.

“Ah, ah. My turn.” Lucifer smiled, before her complexion returned to seriousness. “How long have these butcher scenes been occurring around here?”

“It started a week ago. There’s been four of them so far,” Phil replied.

“Each more grizzly than the last,” Daring added with a shudder.

Lucifer hummed around another bite of pancake, staring into the woodgrain of the bar. “That would line up with when Beel was released.”

“Alright, so why is this Beelzebub killing ponies like that?” Daring asked. “Is she... eating them or what?”

Lucifer shook her head. “She’s after their souls. Each body I saw, the soul was cleaved entirely out of it. And the way they died? She wanted it to hurt, to ensure the soul experienced the most anguish it could so it’d be potent.” She huffed. “What do these dead ponies have in common?”

“The only pattern we could figure out was they were all criminals, mostly organized,” Phillip said. “Some in the middle of a drug or weapons deal, some were in their hideouts. None of the loot or weapons seemed to be missing, and each pony seemed to be suffering from some sort of infection or sickness.”

“Just about all of them had records as long as their legs,” Daring added with a nod.

“Sinners,” Lucifer muttered. “She’s after tainted souls. I don’t know what she could want with them, but she mentioned being employed before she got away from me.”

“Employed by who? Another demon besides you?”

“I don’t know. Someone strong enough to break her out of the Abyss and control her. There’s… something else you should know about all of this.” Lucifer looked to them, eyes locking on theirs. “She stole some souls on the way out… including one of the Old Gods.”

The temperature in the Apple Pie seemed to drop twenty degrees. Daring gripped the edge of her stool so much that the leather squeaked. Phillip felt his heart hammering in his chest, and it took him a moment to reign it in enough to speak.

“Which… one?” he croaked.

“Nightmare Moon.” Lucifer huffed, taking a swig of her cider before slamming it down on the napkin. “Did you think I was up here for a vacation? If it were just Beelzebub, I’d let you two handle her like you did Zugzwang.”

“You should have led with that! What are we doing just sitting here?!” Daring exclaimed, before clamping a hoof over her mouth. She glanced around, but the other patrons didn’t seem to notice.

“I need to find my two colleagues first. They’ll be invaluable when we find Beel. Unfortunately, we split up when we reached the surface to cover more ground and I haven’t seen them since.” Lucifer gave a weak chuckle. “Actually surprised your fellow officers haven’t found them first.”

“Then we need to get a move on, now.” Phillip said, sliding off his stool with Daring following after him.

Lucifer set some bits on the counter and hopped down after them. “You know, the soul pledging offer is still on the table,” she said.

“Not a chance,” Daring said. “Where do we start looking?”

Lucifer hummed, tapping her chin. “Now that I think about it, maybe your officer friends have seen them. It’s hard to miss a unicorn like me – and one of them is a bit of a loose cannon.”

She galloped past them and outside. Another column of crimson fire startled pedestrians as Lucifer leapt into it and vanished along with it.

“Wish she’d do that for us,” Daring huffed, hurrying outside.

“Flying’s bad enough,” Phil grunted, racing after her. “I’m not ready to be grilled on the barbie.”

“And you’ve never had this sort of nightmare before?”

Flash Sentry swallowed and shook his head, looking down at the tile floor of the precinct lobby out of embarrassment. “I know they were my ancestors and all… and I’ve felt some pressure to be as good as they were, but… not like that, you know?”

The mare he was talking to nodded in understanding, jotting something down on the notepad floating next to her.

She was around his height, with a muscular build. Her pristine white coat matched her mane and tail, the former done up in a ponytail. Her horn curved forward instead of being straight. A pair of mirrored sunglasses blocked her eyes from view, and she was dressed rather casually – a red button up shirt with rolled up sleeves, black tie, and a black jacket draped over her shoulders. Padded gloves covered her forehooves, with the label “HPJ” on the cuffs. Her cutie mark was a pair of golden scales.

“Sorry, I know this is important and all, but… it’s just so embarrassing to talk about,” Flash huffed.

The mare set a hoof on his shoulder. As he looked up, he caught the glint of a pair of revolvers tucked in shoulder holsters under the draped jacket. She flashed him a reassuring grin.

“Hey, you’re being a big help to this investigation. And you’re not the only one experiencing this stuff – hence the investigation,” she replied.

Flash gave a half-smile and nodded. “Thanks. I’m glad to know Princess Luna is investigating this – it’s all so weird.” He frowned. “I, uh, never caught your name.”

“Call me Justice,” the mare said, pointing to herself. “Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Justice!”

Justice turned in time to catch Lucifer as she all but tackled her. Her glasses were knocked askew briefly, revealing pale eyes, before she quickly corrected them with a chuckle.

“Good to see ya, Lucy,” Justice said, nestling into her mane. “Did you find anything?”

Lucifer huffed, pulling away. “No. Beel got away, but apparently she’s working for someone now,” she replied, glancing away briefly. “Have you found anything?”

“Maybe. I’ve found a weird pattern going on with the officers here,” Justice said, floating over her notepad.

“Uh…” Flash took a step back, looking at Lucifer with widened eyes. “Aren’t you that weird mare that Red—”

“Oh come on! We were just here!”

Flash jumped when Daring stormed through the precinct’s front doors, followed closely by Phillip. He nodded to Flash, before he and Daring turned their attention to Lucifer and Justice.

“Phillip, Daring,” Lucifer said, standing to the side. “This is Justice, the former High Prosecutor.” She gestured to her with a hoof. “Seeing as she was responsible for originally defeating and imprisoning Beelzebub in the Abyss, I’m sure she’s more than capable of doing it again.”

“Detective Finder, Detective Do, it’s an honor,” Justice stepped forward and offered them her forehoof. Phil and Daring glanced at one another before each shaking it. “Loved your work with Zugzwang, awesome final battle.”

“You say that because you weren’t in it,” Daring deadpanned.

“Right. Well, I found something interesting that might be related to our missing Old God,” Justice said, flipping through her notepad. “Officers around here have been having vivid nightmares. Dr. Suunki, Twilight Sparkle, Detectives Herring and Sentry, even Chief Cold Case.”

“They’re all pretty close to us,” Phil said, rubbing his chin.

“And this is Nightmare Moon we’re talking about,” Lucifer added with a nod. “Strange… why would she target those close to you?”

Flash took another step back, glancing between the four of you. “Uh, well, if you have this covered, I’ll just, uh… go see how Twilight’s doing,” he said.

Just as he was turning to leave, the phone rang at the receptionist’s desk. She answered it, listening to someone on the other end, before turning to Flash. “Detective Sentry, it’s for you. It’s your mother.”

“My mom?” He blinked, rounding the desk and taking the phone. “Mom? Uh huh. Who? Well, Phil’s here, I’ll ask. Ok, love you too. Bye mom.” As he handed the phone receiver back to the receptionist, Flash frowned at the group.

“Is Joy alright?” Phil asked.

“She says she has company. Some mare who’s looking for a Lucy and a Justice?” Flash asked, looking to Lucifer and Justice.

The two demons looked at one another.

“That can only be one of two demons,” Justice said.

“Then let’s hope it’s ours,” Lucifer said. She turned to Phil. “I’ll let you take point on this one and let you lead us there, but time is of the essence.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Flash asked, panic rising in his voice. “Is my mom in trouble?”

“We don’t know that yet, jackaroo, but you’d best come with us,” Phil said, galloping for the door with Daring and the demons in tow. Flash quickly followed on their heels, taking flight as Daring scooped up Phil yet again.

Daring and Flash landed out front of Pastor Sound’s home, the former setting Phil on the ground as she did. Lucifer and Justice ran up shortly after, breathing a little hard from the run.

Lucifer seemed to sniff the air as she narrowed her eyes at the house. “Justice and I will wait out here,” she said. “We’ll stop anyone who tries to escape.”

“Besides, demons and holy places don’t exactly mix,” Justice added with a nervous chuckle.

“Come on!” Phil jerked his head towards the door. Daring and Flash were at his side as he all but charged the front door. He tried the knob first and found that it was unlocked. Flash barreled past him as it swung open.

“Mom! Are you ok?” he called, skidding to a halt in the living room. His stomach sank into his chest.

Pastor Sound was seated on the couch, and next to her was a mare of imposing stature. She easily stood—or in this case, sat—as tall as Princess Celestia, her limbs and barrel hardened with muscle. Her coat was a dark charcoal gray, contrasting with her white mane and tail that flared wildly like fire, the former in a loose ponytail. Her horn, longer than a normal unicorn’s, curved forward and was jet black in color, seemingly as sharp as a sabre. She was dressed in an open leather jacket with spiked collar and a crimson band on her upper left foreleg. Metal gauntlets covered her forehoves. Her cutie marks were triple-crossed white chains.

The most haunting feature, however, was her eyes. They were white, though not an unseeing pale. They glowed with an intensity, the only way to determine the iris from the whites of her eyes. They matched her frowning expression.

And she would have been even more intimidating… if she didn’t have a glass of milk and a plate of chocolate chip cookies floating next to her, freshly baked from the aroma in the home.

“Oh, why yes, I’m quite fine,” Joy said, flashing Flash a smile. “Are you alright? You sound like you’re out of breath.”

Phil and Daring joined Flash, gawking at the site of the demonic unicorn next to the pastor.

“Who, uh… who’s your guest?” Daring asked.

Joy smiled and patted the unicorn on the leg. “She said she was from out of town and misplaced her friends. I offered her some milk and cookies while she waited. We got to talking and I mentioned my son and she suggested calling the station. I hope we didn’t interrupt anything.”

“Actually, Joy, we were looking for her,” Phil said, keeping his eyes on the dark mare. It was hard to make eye contact with her – every time he did, an unpleasant memory bubbled to the surface of the mind, and he eventually settled on the side of her neck. “Thank you for calling.”

“Oh? Is she in any trouble?” Joy asked.

“No, we have her friends outside is all,” Daring said.

The trio stepped back as the milk and cookies were lowered gently onto the coffee table in front of the sofa and the mare got to her feet. “They’re right, I should be going with them,” she said, her voice calm and level. She turned to the pastor, a look of discomfort coming over her. “Thank you for your time, and… thank you, for the milk and cookies.”

“Always a pleasure, dear.” Joy smiled, patting her leg. “Peace be with you.”

“And with you.” The mare nodded and stepped towards the group.

She paused, regarding each of them with her glowing eyes, before stepping around them and out the front door.

“You didn’t happen to catch her name, did you, Joy?” Phil asked.

“No, she didn’t say. And I didn’t think to ask.” Joy got up, and Flash was immediately at her side to help her over to the group. “Is everything alright, Phillip?”

Phil set a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s another big one, Joy. But we’ll handle it, don’t worry.”

Joy nodded, patting his hoof. “I’ll be praying for you.”

Phil gave another nod as he, Daring, and Flash exited. Lucifer and Justice approached the mare.

“Judgement! There you are,” Lucifer said. “What were you doing here?”

Judgement grunted. “I wasn’t making headway, with finding Beelzebub or the souls, so I decided to wait,” she said. “I figured if you two needed me, you’d find me.”

“So wait, if demons and holiness don’t mix, why was she in a pastor’s house?” Daring asked as the three of them walked over.

“Daring, Phillip, Flash, meet Judgement,” Lucifer said, gesturing to the taller mare.

“Is she the embodiment of… death, or something?” Flash gulped.

“Hardly. Death is the mortal’s reprieve – then you meet her.” Lucifer smirked. “Judgement here is the High Prosecutor, in charge of punishment of the damned. As such, she’s… exempt from normal demon etiquette. Holiness doesn’t harm her.”

Judgement walked over and towered over Flash. She jabbed a hoof at his chest. “Your mother is a good pony,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “And so are you. See to it that you stay that way.”

Flash gulped, stepping back. Phil set a hoof on his shoulder, glaring up at the demon. His eyes faltered again, however, and he was forced to look at her nostril.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to scare you,” Judgement said, huffing. “All demons can read souls. Yours is clean.” She frowned as her eyes shifted to Phil. “Yours, less so.”

“Why don’t you go back to the precinct, jackaroo,” Phil said. “Tell Cold that we’ve got a handle on this.”

Flash took one more look up at Judgement before pulling out a necklace from under his shirt – a circular medallion with the Holy Mother’s eye, surrounded by the six gems of the Elements of Harmony. He whispered a silent prayer to it before looking to Phillip. “A-Alright. Good luck.” He tucked the necklace away, spread his wings, and took flight, disappearing into the night.

“So wait, if you’re the former High Prosecutor…” Daring looked to Justice, then to Judgement. “And you’re the current one… how’d that happen?”

Judgement snorted. “You two of all mortals should know an office romance when you see one,” she replied.

Justice coughed, looking away as her cheeks flushed.

Lucifer scowled at the ground, face growing red. “Yes, well… it wouldn’t look good for the balance of things if the Devil held sway over the High Prosecutor, let’s leave it at that,” she said curtly. She cleared her throat and fought to regain her composure. “This is the entirety of my team. We should start strategizing with what we have now.”

“Agreed.” Phil nodded. “Let’s head back to our house before anything else happens.”

“And no flame teleporting, we live there,” Daring said, jabbing a hoof at the demons.

As they waked away, the trio of demons followed after them. Judgement leaned and whispered to Lucifer. “Mortal souls shouldn’t be working this with that old fly and the Old God loose.”

“Have faith in them, Judgement,” Lucifer replied quietly. “I suspect there’s more to them than meets the eye… at least some higher powers certainly seem to think so.”

As they walked away, none of them noticed the fly take flight from a nearby streetlight and into the night air.

A crimson changeling standing on a nearby rooftop held out a hoof. The fly landed on it before burrowing its way into her chitin. Her pale red eyes flashed brighter briefly and she frowned. “Lucy’s got the gang back together… it won’t be long before they put two and two together.”

She turned to the mare standing beside her. She looked like an ordinary unicorn mare, with a golden colored coat. Her blonde mane and tail were straight, the former coming down to cover her right eye. She was simply dressed in a purple top hat and a purple vest with a shimmering star pattern for the fabric. Her cutie mark was a coffin.

She turned to the changeling, her visible eye’s iris glowing pink. “Then we need to set a trap to stall them,” she replied. The glow in her flickered as she talked, seemingly two voices coming from her lips instead of one.

A dark smile crossed the changeling’s muzzle. “What did you have in mind?”

“The Nightmare has had her fun with their dreams. I’ll let you and Charlotte have fun with their bodies,” the mare replied, a dark giggle emanating from the second voice. The smile soon hardened into a determined frown. “You have to be quick and quiet. No one can alert them until the trap is in place.”

“And once they arrive?”

“Keep them there as long as you can. The Nightmare must be properly charged. Charlotte here is expendable, but you’ll need to escape. Understood?”

“No spider has caught this old fly yet… save for the Abyss,” the changeling replied, taking a grand bow.

The mare gave a satisfied smile and nodded. “Excellent. Then I leave my doll in your capable claws, Beelzebub. Do not fail me.”

The pink glow flickered out, revealing a green iris. The mare smirked at the changeling.

“What did you have in mind?” she asked, her voice back to normal.

Beelzebub gave a dark chuckle, her horn sparking with crimson firefly-like magic.

“How good are you at playing pretend?”

Author's Note

Ah yes, Justice. We’re indeed quite… close. Especially after Beelzebub was imprisoned the first time. The way she fought to defend me from that traitorous bug… well, you had to be there to see it. A shame she had to give up her High Prosecutor position for me, but it was her call. There’s no way I would have gone to Ponyville without her.

Speaking of the High Prosecutor, Judgement can be quite ruthless at it. I swear she’s a sadomasochist the way she punishes sinners. Torment suits her – I can see why the higher powers decided to send her down to us. Oh yes, she’s as fallen as I am, though she doesn’t seem to miss the clouds. Any demon would be a fool not to bring that kind of muscle along on a mission like this.

She puts up a tough exterior, but between you and me – we both enjoy small, talking furry animals. Ponies included.

~L