Sun Slayer's radiance

Rain sprinkled down from the gloomy sky as the train pulled into Ponyville station. The gang stepped out of the train car, trying to stand their ground against the rushing ponies. Once they all weren’t at risk of a trampling, everyone said their goodbye and went their separate ways. Twilight had to go back to her castle to calm her worried assistant. Michikatsu voiced his concerns on housing, and Twilight was strangely quick to take in the demon swords pony with a crazed giggle. Applejack and Rarity had to return to their families and businesses. And Rainbow had to continue training for a famous pegasus group called the Wonderbolts.

Unfortunately, that left a now dressed Yorrichi and a quiet Fluttershy to walk home in silence. As they went down the dirt trail, Yoriichi could see, from the corner of his eye, Fluttershy taking side glances at him. Deciding that the silence had been going on long enough, Fluttershy broke the silence.

“S-So, Yoriichi.” The stallion in question looked over at her, making her flinch slightly under his gaze. “D-Do y-you remember that…thing, I did?” She asked as her voice got softer.

Yoriichi hummed as he racked his brain for what she was talking about, but nothing came to him. “Whatever do you mean?” He asked with a tilted head.

“A couple of days ago when I…kissed you.” Fluttershy mumbled out, her voice becoming inaudible to the swords pony.

Despite that, Yoriichi knew full well what the shy pegasus was referring to. He had to admit when she had done…that…he was genuinely stunned by her. Since the first day he had met Fluttershy, something about her made the stoic stallion feel warm inside. The sun seemed to always show the best of her appearance with her silky, long hair and beautiful eyes.

He couldn’t shake the warm feeling in his chest at times like these when the two were alone to express themselves. She had reminded him of Uta so much that he sometimes believed that the long-dead woman he loved was right in front of him.

Yoriichi shook his head of those thoughts and faced away from Fluttershy, “I do. What about it?” He asked, trying to hide a faint blush from her.

“I…shouldn’t have done that.” She muttered in a guilty tone. Yoriichi looked over at her with slightly widened eyes. “It was wrong of me to do. You didn’t ask me to do it, and I forced myself onto you because of my emotions. I couldn’t hold it anymore, and it felt right in that situation. I’m sorry.” Tears started to well up in the corner of her eyes, but she almost yelped in surprise when Yoriichi threw his haori over her head.

She moved it away from her eyes and looked over to see Yoriichi looking at her with a soft expression. “It is fine. I don’t hate you for it, Fluttershy. For I have the same feelings.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened in surprise; did he say what she thinks he just said? A visible blush appeared on her face as the thought came to her.

“O-Ok.” She said meekly as her cottage came into view.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia was bored. Simple as that.

It was court season again. And that meant having to listen to spoiled royals complain about petty things that made the solar diarch roll her eyes; internally, of course. But this time, she found herself in a lighter mood since her talk with Yoriichi the other day.

What he said was true when Celestia let her head cool down. With all the terrible things happening recently, she was blinded by panic and sorrow. Luna, Twilight, the other elements, and her citizens were all important to her. It may have hurt to see them all in pain, but no matter what, she could always count on her closet to be by her side.

Nothing could have-

CRASH!!!

The courtroom went silent as one of the many windows exploded in a shower of broken glass that luckily nopony got hit by. Despite that, everypony, even the princesses, was stuck place by fear at the one who had broken into the throne room. It was crouched down, but they could all tell it was tall.

It was a tall and lanky bipedal creature that stood two heads over Celestia herself. The body appeared to be made of several different creatures, the legs of a dragon, the main body of a bison, the arms of a purple sea serpent, the wings of a griffon, and the head of a demon stallion. And unlike a certain draconequus, the body parts looked as if they were hastily stitched together with dry blood caking each seam. It had a dirty brown cloak that barely hid its lean build. And a giant iron sword rests on the creature's back.

It stared at the crowd of royals for a few seconds, before turning its bored expression to Celestia, where it flashed a small grin. At the movement of the terrifying creature, the royals rushed out of the courtroom screaming at the top of their lungs. Soon it was just the creature and Celestia alone.

“It’s a shame I can’t stay around to play with an interesting pony like yourself,” The creature said in a young voice as it pulled out an item from behind its back. “But Lord Muzan ordered me to send you a message. And good thing it’s a good day to do it.” It remarked as it threw the item to the floor.

Expecting an attack, Celestia's horn glowed brightly and shot at the creature. The bolt of magic hit the ground in front of it, kicking up a big cloud of dust. When it cleared, the creature left no trace of existence, making the Princess grunt in frustration.

The door to the courtroom busted open, and a large group of solar guards rushed in. “Princess Celestia! Are you alright!” The front guard asked in a panic.

“It is over now, soldier. Go and have your stallions check the perimeter of the castle for any signs of demons.” She ordered. The guards saluted and quickly rushed off. Once gone, Celestia leaned back into her chair and sighed. “So they need direct sunlight to be damaged, huh?” She chuckled to herself, “Well that’s good to know.” She said sarcastically.

Celestia then remembered the item the creature had, quickly getting up and rushing to where it threw it. She rounded the court stand and stopped at the item. Upon seeing it, her eyes widened in fear.

On the ground at her hooves was a damaged alicorn amulet. It had cracks and missing shards of metal chipped off of the artifact. The head and wings were gone. And most frightening of all, its magical gem was now a dull black instead of its intimidating red hue with zero magical energy emanating from it. She was so terrified by the sight of it that she didn’t notice her sister rushing into the room.

“Sister! I’ve heard of what happened.” Luna rushed to her sister, “Are you-” Her voice immediately died out when Luna saw the face of fear on her sister. She noticed Celestia looking at something and followed her gaze, her eyes widening in shock at the destroyed alicorn amulet. “W-What is this!?” She shouted, more confused by the artifact's condition than itself.

“It's a warning.”

Luna looked over at Celestia with a confused look. “A message?”

Celestia nodded slowly, trying to hold back the shaking in her body to no avail. “Yes. This Muzan pony certainly isn’t a foe like Yoriichi described.” Her fearful eyes narrowed into a hardened glare as she looked out the broken window, rain pouring inside. “I can only hope that Yoriichi can finish his plan soon-”

“Because a war is coming.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Lord Muzan, I have returned.” The bored creature spoke as he kneeled in front of a suspended fleshy ball being lifted by tentacles attached to the ceiling. The flesh ball opened up in the middle was a wet-sounding tear and steam pouring out of it.

A figure soon emerged to reveal itself as the now alicorn Muzan Kibutsuji, who, besides the horn and wings, had a completely different form. His body has more muscle to it, the lower half and portions of his white coat had now been covered by a crimson substance. On those limbs, mouths with razor-sharp teeth breathed and gasped for air, some even having tongues. Finally, his black medium-length hair was now white as his coat and noticeably longer than before.

“How did she react?” Muzan asked in a calm tone.

The bored demon stood up as the demon king walked to him. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay around long enough before the pretty little thing started shooting at me.” The bored demon then sighed and hung his head. “Bummer too. She was interesting enough to almost cure my boredom.

Muzan walked past the bored demon with a faint scowl. Then, the bored demon yelped as he fell and hit his face on the floor. Looking back, the bored demon saw that his legs had been cut just above the knee as they slowly desegregated. “When I tell you to do something, do it correctly.” Muzan spat out, not bothering to stop walking. “Check on that failure Stardust. Make sure she is alright.” He said, disappearing into the darkness of a cavern tunnel.

The bored demon blinked at the demon lord and lazily raised an eyebrow. “I wonder what’s got him so worked up?” He didn’t bother to question further and instantly regrew his legs, got up, and jumped off in a seemingly random direction.

With Muzan, He slammed a hoof into the tunnel wall and growled. The tunnel momentarily trembled before going still. “Why did I say that?! None of these low lives deserve my sympathy, much less my care!” He angrily thought to himself. He slammed the wall again and continued his walk with an angry huff.

Ever since he had brought in the mare, he of course could care less if she died serving him or not. As long as she played her part, he could give a rat's ass if something killed her. But, when he gave her his blood, something happened with her biology that caused the demon lord to have flashes of her memories. As these went on, Muzan somehow felt as if they had something in common, and that led to his current predicament.

An example is after the attack weeks ago. When Stardust returned with the artifact, she collapsed due to an unknown reason. At the time, Muzan thought the sight was pathetic, but that irritating feeling returned. As she continued to lay there and unmoving, actual worry filled his cold heart. And in a moment that shocked even him, he ordered for Stardust to be watched over and taken care of until she reawakened.

Soon after that, he found out two things. One, that Yoriichi's brother had also turned up in this realm, and that he became a demon once more due to Stardust's blood. When he found out, he was beyond pissed, not only at Stardust but also at himself. He felt angry because of what the demon mare did, but he was also angry that his blood was somehow out of his control when it came to converting mortal.

He wanted to barge into the room Stardust was being held in and end her pathetic life right there and then. But that damned feeling struck again, and Muzan got cold hooves. Maybe something with this world's magic specifically was altering his body and mind to the point of it being infuriating. Or it was the demon mare somehow. Most likely the former theory.

Muzan rounded a corner and walked until he stopped at an oversized wooden door to his bed chambers. He pushed the doors open and quickly closed them behind himself. The room looked completely different from the dark and dank tunnels of the changeling hideout. The walls were covered in dark oak wood, and the floor was perfectly level and made of tatami mats. A large bed, filled bookshelves, and a circular table with chairs decorated the room. There was even a fireplace with a fire that warmed the room to a cozy temperature.

The demon lord made a b-line for the bookshelf and pulled a book off the shelf titled “Psychology 101: A guide for dummies!” With the picture of an idiotically drawn mare wearing glasses. After scoffing at the cover, he began to skim through the book looking for any answer to his problem.

But after hours and hours of search, the pile of books was angrily thrown into the roaring fireplace by Muzan. Nothing came up. There was no mention of a sudden feeling of compassion, no altering magic based around emotions, no parasites that could be messing with his head. Out of all the books he read, not a single one had a hint as to why he felt the way he was feeling. Muzan finally gave up and rubbed his tired eyes.

That too was also one of the many things that had changed as well. Now he felt things like drowsiness and hunger like the mortals he feasted upon. It bugged him to no end and the lack of answer didn’t help that.

Deciding to call it a night, Muzan walked over to his bed and got under the soft covers. A smile came to his face as he felt the magical energy coursing through his veins. Soon this world will be his to rule, and not even that pest Yoriichi could stop him!

Darkness and sleep soon took the demon king, quickly taking him to the realm of sleep.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Birds chirped as they flew through the clear blue sky, and children and adults alike walked among the streets of a sizable mountain village going about their day. An epidemic was recently causing people to drop like flies a few months ago, but it seemingly went away in due time. Of course, some still had it, but they were sensible enough to distance themselves away from others for their sake.

On a nearby rice farm, a young man could be seen hard at work collecting the cheap crop, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He was about in his mid-twenties with medium-length black hair and sky-blue eyes. The man had a decent life by his standards, even though the recent illness had caught up to him. He balled up his fist and coughed violently into his, rubbing the blood on his pants.

The man weakly took a few steps forward before collapsing to his knees into the water. Some other farmers noticed him fall and quickly rushed to him to help. He wanted to reject the assistance, but the condition of his body was getting worse and worse by the day to the point he forced himself to stay bedridden. The upper class wasn’t always kind; the only sign of them acknowledging their existence was the occasional celebration in their name and nothing else. They didn’t care for the poor that died at their feet, the man and the rest were expendable in their eyes. At least, that is what the man thought.

Even the emperor did little to aid the small village during the epidemic. It angered the young man to no end, especially since his wife was taken by the same illness that would soon take him.

As he lay in the hot and humid room of his small home, cicada’s buzzed outside, joined by crickets. Every minute was agonizing to the man as he waited for a special person. Before he had caught the illness, the man heard of a doctor a few miles away from the village who developed a cure for the illness. The man had visited the man himself and was surprised to know that he was the first to accept the operation.

Having no choice, the man accepted. Now, he only had to wait until he had arrived the same night. As the man waited, he couldn’t help but think back on his life and scowl at it.

Living in the woods from a small age, the man was a small boy who barely kept himself out of harm's way. He would always get into trouble, breaking bones and gaining a new scar every week. This became such a problem that his child self developed a fear of pain, too scared that something might end his life one day. Luckily that never happened and he grew up working on a farm owned by his father’s friend.

He got married and was making a good name for himself. But when the epidemic struck, it all came crumbling down. The illness itself was a nightmare of a process. It would start with a fever and a bloody cough, then move on to severe fatigue and migraines, finally, it ended with your lungs and heart just stopping, causing the victim to suffocate to death. His wife and the few friends he had went through the process, and he was unable to do anything about it. He grew bitter and hateful for it, and even the fear of his mortality resurfaced.

The man was snapped out of his unpleasant reminiscing by a knock at the sliding door. The man called for the person to come in, knowing full well who it was. The door opened up to reveal another human male in his late forties in a doctor's getup and a wool bag in his left hand.

“I presume that you are Muzan Kibutsuji, correct?” The doctor asked with a polite smile. Muzan nodded, and the doctor entered the small home, closing the door to what would change history for the worst.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Fluttershy walked into the main room with a tray of hot tea and biscuits and a towel in her wings, her front door was opened to reveal a soaked Yorrichi holding a back of animal food in his teeth. Thankfully his clothes were all folded on the couch, because the rain started to come down hard outside, and Fluttershy’s animals had to be fed.

“You know I could have done it. You didn’t have to, Yorrichi.” Fluttershy said, setting down the tray on the coffee table.

Yoriichi set the bag by the front door and walked over to her, to which she hoofed over the fresh towel. “I appreciate the concern, but I still owe you for assisting me.” He said with a deadpan like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He began to rub the towel in his fur, making Fluttershy look away in awkwardness.

Fluttershy took a seat on the couch and waited until Yoriichi was done drying himself off, his crazy mane and tail making the shy mare giggle cutely.

“On another topic. I wanted to discuss about earlier.” He said in a serious tone. This made Fluttershy stop giggling and caused her to frown slightly, thinking the stoic stallion was mad about it. “The truth is…I have been feeling the same for you, Fluttershy.” Her eyes widened and her face turned a bright red.

“W-Wait, you do?” She cautiously asked. Instead of answering, Yoriichi took a seat next to her and grabbed her hoofs in his own, making her blush even redder.

Yoriichi looked into her eyes and sighed, “I understand if you do not feel the same. But the day I first met you, You held out your kindness and aided me at my weakest. Even then you did not send me away or expect anything from me.” Yoriichi leaned in closer to her, “You are one of the kindest beings I’ve ever met and I can’t help but be reminded of my wife.”

Fluttershy was bewildered, not at the fact he had a wife, that was shocking enough. What she was shocked about was the use of past tense which left the shy mare feeling worried about her fate.

“For these many weeks, I’ve neglected to tell you who I am and it bothers me. So, Fluttershy, let me tell you about who I am.” His voice wavered a bit at those words, but he was brave through it.

So it had begun. He told every single aspect of his life to the mare in detail. From his dysfunctional family to his mother's death and his run away. His life with his wife and her eventual death. The time he served in the Demon slayer corps. His development of breathing techniques. Michikatsu’s betrayal. The Kamado family. And finally his death at the hands of his demon brother. Through the story, he explained the world he came from and how it could be both cruel and beautiful at the same time.

By the end of it, Fluttershy was in tears. The story of this stallion was riddled with tragedy and sorrow with no hope of peace. The moments with the kamado family and his fellow slayers didn’t do much to brighten her mood. The corps kicked Yoriichi and even told him that he should end his life because of an event he couldn’t control. When Yoriichi finished, she threw herself onto him and cried her eyes out for the stallion.

Yoriichi, though, expected this to happen, and it hurt his heart to see Fluttershy like this. He needed to tell the truth someday, for if they were going to do anything concerning a relationship, he needed to not hold any secrets.

As the shy mare cried in his chest, he caressed the top of her head gently with a hoof in an attempt to calm her.

“From this day,” He thought, “I will make sure that the future will be bright for us and all.”