Hell's Gate

Deep in the Everfree forest lives a force unknown to this world, a force of light and darkness. A creature slept for the last 2 days, the sun setting causing the forest to become darker, body recovering from the injuries it had received last. The Creature was near death as the body it inhabited was failing and only being kept alive by unseen magic. The body of a Bat-pony lay in the brush, A broken blood-red sword lay beside the pony. The Bat-pony herself had injuries most common with corpses, wounds that should have been fatal, but her body was not dying. Her normally powerful muscles were unseen and weakened, her usual cloak and long coat were tattered and blood-soaked. She had been banished by the Demon Lord, for being a traitor to their kind. She was now alone in an unknown world, powerless and weak. All of a sudden her eyes opened and the confusion was evident, she was supposed to be dead was she not?

I opened my eyes slowly and looked around confused, 'Why am I inside a forest? I am supposed to have died, with my sword broken I was powerless he had more power than I thought possible.' I felt odd like something was missing and something was added, but I didn't know how to react to the feeling. I rubbed my face and gasped, My hand was now a hoove?! A nearly black one at that, 'Why did I have a hoove! This must be a terrible dream!' It wasn't a dream it was real because when I saw my broken sword I knew right then that I had been banished. I groaned well priorities. 'Find a safe place and heal my injuries, check my body for broken bones. Start training again and find a way to return to my old body if that's possible. If not I need a way to get my old power again, I have no idea what I will be facing here.'

I quickly sat up looking around causing the bush I was lying on to rustle, but I expected that what I did not expect to hear was the most adorable squeak. I looked around a saw a yellow, why yellow, a horse with wings and a pink mane and tail, again why, with blue eyes. Three butterflies on her flank, 'huh'.

The pegasus was backing up in fear, and I don't blame her, I had to calm her. I mean if I can think maybe they can also, it's better to try and be wrong than not try and be wrong. I spoke calmly and softly, "Hey calm down miss Is everything okay?" The pegasus seemed very shy so I decided, so I looked around and hid my sword inside my tattered coat, oddly my coat was not loose as I expected because of my size shift it seemed to have a fitting enchantment. "So miss where is the nearest town I don't wish to be stuck in this place for long." I kept a calm relaxed tone, which seemed to scare the pegasus more. I shook my head, "Look into my eyes do you see any malicious intent in them." Upon looking into my eyes she shivered, that was the reaction I didn't expect.

A snarl echoes through the woods, a snarl all but familiar to me. The pegasus squeaked and full-on sprinted, that pegasus was trying to die! I grabbed my broken sword in my mouth and attempted to run, only for my feet to tangle causing me to fall on my face. I groaned, great more pain! Lifting off the ground I looked around mystified, 'Why is everything spinning?' I shook my head attempting to remove the spinning only to make it worse. I groaned in agitation, 'Why does reality hate me? I swear it seems like something in this universe wants to kill me!' The snarling got louder and louder as whatever was making that all but familiar sound, got closer. I sighed, 'If running won't work. Fight! Fight until you are unable to move!' I gripped the sword in my mouth harder, 'Fuck it' spreading my Hybrid feather-leather wings I growled prepared for a battle. 'Half dead, likely outnumbered and overpowered, the ruins of my sword as my only weapon. Yeah, life sucks.' I looked around checking my surroundings, yeah bushes, trees, and flowers just what I expected for a forest. 'How am I going to win this one? My own fighting style will be useless, I don't have fingers!'

A set of glowing green eyes peering at me from inside a bush. My only thought was, 'The fuck?!' Before I could recover from the shock, 3 forms jump from behind trees and bushes, all with the same glowing green eyes. My broken sword seemed to glow in the moonlight, it likely looked just as scary as those eyes. Though I quickly realized the fighting had started as one of those creatures pounced, I side-stepped the attack as best I could, earning a slash across my flank. I blinked as I saw the creature up close, a wolf completely made of wood?! 'So they are quite weak, I assumed something larger or at the very least like twenty of them. This is actually disappointing, where is the great challenge?!' I quickly regretted those thoughts as the wolves seemed to notice my static pose and all charged at once. 'I am an idiot they are pack-animals.' I flexed my wings in one powerful downwards gust, sending my body straight into the air. Quickly realizing my old flying techniques are actually about to have me killed, I switched my style from a powerful gust of winds to weaker but more frequent. 'Huh I was overestimating my own weight, I'm not fat!'

Sadly not paying attention to where you fly has side effects, like hitting a tree going 200 miles an hour, or it felt like that anyway. I heard and felt something in my face crack, 'Fucking fuckety fuck! Why am I so damn clumsy! I was a skilled warrior, not a klutzy teenager! And to top it off I was a Hybrid! Flying is like my specialty!' My body which has lost all its forward momentum slid down the tree in a very painful manner. Feeling my frustration and anger rising, most of my kind would attempt to control those emotions. Me, I used them like a sharpened sword. Having enough bull shit, I backflipped off the side of the tree using my wings for propulsion and landed on the ground right on my back legs. Holding my sword in a way similar to how I used to hold it, only for it to fall to the ground. My eye twitched, "Someone is gonna suffer for making me have no finger!" I have wings and a useless sword, my powers are either gone or missing, and all my skills need hands. 'Worse day ever.' 'Well since I can't run, and I'm shit at flying..again, I suppose I will just die!'

'That's what they would want, easy prey hum?' A voice spoke in the back of my head with the power of millions of others, 'Kill' You know what fuck it, my vision starting to take a red tint. 'Welcome to hell you muts, and I'm the devil' A faded blood-red aura formed around me, 'Weaker than normal I suppose it is expected.' Runes started to form inside the aura, looking at one, in particular, the rune of fire. 'Fire beats grass.' Selecting the rune inside my mind, having no way of transferring the rune into actual power, I had only one choice. My mouth opened and started to glow as dark red flames leaked from my nose and mouth. The wolves seeming taking the hint, I was done playing, whimpered at the sight of the flames, and fleed. Bluffing, I coughed up smoke, and spit up some blood. 'I hate doing that, I need to make new attacks that will work in this body!' I grunted and attempted to walk forward only for my left rear hoove to spike with pain, not having my years of pain resistance, I whimpered. 'Why does my life suck?'

I sat down hard and looked at my left back leg, and I could see the swelling, but I sighed when I realized it wasn't broken. I looked at where I spit up blood and grimaced, 'Oh I broke a tooth.' i limped over to the tooth and tilted my head, 'A fang? That's no K9, That is a fang. What have I become?' i picked up my broken sword and stepped into the moonlight, my blood-red sword while was dark still shone in the moonlight. I saw my reflection and I could only blink in confusion, I looked like a pony but a few things were different. For one my eyes, huge eyes, and blood-red vertical slits. 'Ah, I see my demon blood actually had an effect on my body it seemed?' And before my eyes, the blood-red color started to fade and shift into a light grey. 'Color-changing eyes? Well, at least this body has something in common with my last one.' The next thing that caught my attention was the single fang that stuck out of my mouth. 'I do hope those regrow, otherwise, it will be awkward...and painful to eat.' I looked up at my mane and blinked, why was it Dark blue, and what's with that single light purple strip. I looked away from my reflection and grabbed the broken fang and placed it inside my tattered coat pocket. 'At least I still have my clothes, even if they are shredded from battle, this jacket may save my life later.' I placed my sword inside the cracked sword scabbard on my back.

'Good sword, I will have to heal you later it would seem, a healthy dose of blood should help.' I started to walk in the direction that cute pegasus fleed in it might take a few hours to find that town she was likely running towards. Then I froze, 'Did I just subconsciously think that pegasus was cute?' The only response I got was 'Kill' I snorted, 'Bad sword! You don't kill innocents, I will have to give you blood sooner rather than later if you are begging for death.'

I kept walking, quickly noticing this forest was creepy as fuck, I don't know how to explain it. It just felt evil, overbearingly hostile, it considered me an intruder and wanted me gone. I wanted to leave also, my powers are empathy, I can feel emotions better than most creatures. I also feed on all emotions on all sides of the spectrum, this place seemed to be absorbing that emotion I so required. Being half Demon and Angel gave me those gifts, doesn't mean they don't have drawbacks. Without emotions to feed on I will slowly die, I only need one side of the emotional spectrum positive or negative though, basically, I need emotions of any kind.

Before long I saw a light at the edge of the forest and also voices, I quickly rolled behind a bush covering my muzzle with a hoove as I nearly screamed from the pain in my leg. The pain quickly faded, So I started to listen to the voices. "B-But T-Twilight!"

"I know it's scary Flutter Shy, but if somepony is lost inside the forest we should try and find them, Or at the very least find out if they are okay!" I heard a small 'Eep!'

"Twilight doesn't be rude darling, she didn't mean to leave that poor pony alone in the woods. You know she is easy to scare, and those Timberwolves likely scared her senseless. Those brutes, I hope they didn't hurt that poor pony!" 'Ahh, they were talking about me, then I mentally slapped myself. Of course, they are I am likely the only pony in the woods.' I froze, I didn't even breathe. 'I just thought the word where person or creature would have sufficed,' My thoughts were derailed completely as I looked to my left on a hunch and saw, bright blue eyes connected to a Pony that was just pink, was staring into my soul. My scream would likely be heard all across the planet, I jumped so high that I thought I was flying. 'HOW?! I would have sensed anything in my close proximity! What is this pony some kind of master of stealth!?' The ponies eyes were hard as stone, she was looking me over, with an almost terrifying expression. Her eyes seemed to have deemed me not a threat and she smiled almost too wide to be possible, 'The fuck?! Bipolar? Or was this mare just that hyperactive? An that stare! That was the look of somepony who had killed before and not afraid of doing it again, just who was that pony?!'

The pink pony bounced and almost screamed, "I found her, hehe I may have snuck up on her!" She was smiling softly at me, that schemer! She checked if I was a threat to her friends or not and upon finding out she relayed that to her friends. Though what if she deemed me hostile, I did scream, maybe she would act like it came from that direction and cause her friends to travel on a wild goose chase. That mare scared the fuck out of me, she moved like a master at combat and her stealth is off the charts.

I shook my head and returned to my stern, calm expression, focus. I need a name, with the name I heard Twilight and Flutter Shy, I had a good idea on the name I would use. It would go good with my nickname, just gotta keep my real name silent.

A soft lavender unicorn mare with a dark purple and tail with both a Pink and light purple stripe through them. The yellow pegasus I saw earlier, I assumed was Flutter Shy. and a second Unicorn that was white with a curled purple mane and tail. When all three of them saw me, they took a cautious step back, and when I didn't pursue they relaxed. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Hello, I'm Double Ace! But please just call me Ace, It's like my nickname."

The Lavender mare spoke with an irked tone but also a curious one, "Okay Ace, why are you in the woods, especially at this time at night? Most ponies stay away from this forest," Her eyes widened at the sight of me, I must have looked terrible. Body covered in blood, my clothing tattered and ruined hell I am missing a fang! "You need a hospital, and rarity can you fix her clothing?!"

The White unicorn mare noded who I understood as Rarity, her horn glowed in a light blue aura, and my cloak and jacket detached from my body. Almost instantly I felt odd, I was naked. An Rarity on the other hand, hoove? Her eyes widened at its surprising weight, I would also if I wasn't me. That cloak was armored to help resist crossbow bolts, and that coat was actually armored with steel plating. It weighed a good 120 pounds, and that was my lightest coat! I shrugged and smiled. "May I ask why this coat is so heavy and why do you have a sword?"

"Well, you see I am a warrior, but I just wanna sleep." My words made everypony but that Pink mare gasp, they looked at me with a shocked expression.

Twilight looked at me in wonder, "May I ask you questions later, when you exit the hospital." I looked at her confused.

"I am not going into no hospital, my wounds are minor I would prefer healing on my own." Even that pink pony looked surprised at me with that comment. "If my injuries are not life-threatening it is pointless, I will heal in time. I just need a bath and some soap, do you have hot water?"

Twilight nodded happily, 'She must love shot showers, that or the idea of answers makes her happy.' I shrugged, "So where is this town?" Twilight's eyes widened and looked at me examining my body.

"Before we head out I need to do something so I can ensure you will hurt innocent ponies, I don't trust you, something about you just scream evil." 'Maybe my demon side you dote!' I sighed and nodded, Her horn flared And a ball formed at the end of her horn. She launched the ball forward and it hit me directly between the eyes, and nothing changed. 'Huh Odd'

"That was actually pleasant!" Rarity who was looking at my coat nearly screamed, everypony present pinned their ears back. 'Oh shit. What's wrong now?'

"This coat is hideous! Why would you wear something like this in the first place its so ugly! Why would wear something so ugly it hides your natural beauty!" My only reaction was a blink, I was stunned.

'This has to be the first time I heard anything close to a compliment, that pointed towards me anyway.' I looked between Twilight and Rarity, 'Why?'

"Was I just complimented for the first time, in my life?" Rarity's eyes widened, and even Twilight looked surprised. "Huh, I ... kinda like it." An for the first time in 50 years I smiled, not those drunken or even my battle-loved smiles. No, I actually smiled as a small feeling of warmth filled my stomach. I could see that Pink mare twitched at that comment, but she seemed occupied, but I could tell, she wanted to hug me.

Twilight blinked but also smiled, 'I wonder what that spell was? I doubt it was lethal or even dangerous, these ponies seem innocent besides that pink mare. It could be a stun spell, possibly.'

Rarity coughed, "Well Ace would you like to stay at my place, you need a wash." she scrunched up her muzzle, "Badly, you smell like death dear, and you need some medical attention if you refuse the hospital." I sighed, great, Doctors. Just what my life needed, more annoyances.