Sun Slayer's radiance

As the two demons faced each other, Rainbow looked back and forth at them with an uneasy feeling. She could tell they were on a completely different level.

But the most off-putting aspect was the other demon, Ember, who radiated an aura of bloodlust that made Rainbow's bones tremble. It didn't help the abomination had a maniac grin that would give anypony nightmares. Rainbow dash tried to stand on her shanking hooves, but Michikatsu's hoof held her down.

"I need you to get away, Rainbow." He said, "This thing is too powerful for a beginner like you."

Rainbow's eyes widened for a second before they narrowed, standing back up despite Michikatsu's hoof. "Like Tartarus, I will," Rainbow growled, biting hard into her sword's handle. "I'm not-"

A loud crashing sound made Rainbow's voice die out as she stared wide-eyed at Michikatsu standing in front of her, blocking the overshadowing form of Ember. Michikatsu groaned under the force and, with a heavy grunt, managed to push the large demon off-balance and buck him away. Ember tumbled back a few meters before planting his sword into the ground, stopping his momentum.

Michikatsu turned to Rainbow with a stern look, "That wasn't a suggestion!" The demon sword pony looked over Rainbow's shoulder, then back to her. "Look, take that demon over there and run as far as you can." He said, pointing behind Rainbow.

Rainbow followed his hoof and her eye widened as she whipped her head back to look at him with a bewildered expression. "You want me to take...HER...with me?!" She shouted.

Behind her, the demon mare was whimpering as she shifted into a fetal position; her mid-section slowly healed.

Michikatsu sighed, "Look, it isn't safe for you to be here. I-AGH!" He screamed as a giant iron sword impaled him in the chest, almost reaching Rainbow's muzzle. Michikatsu was lifted in the air as his blood poured on the ground, Ember chuckling behind him. The prismatic mare’s shock slowly faded away. And she yelp out of fear and pushed herself backward when Ember’s gaze fell on her.

“We can’t have any distractions now, can we, Kokushibo?” It said, Its maniac expression turned back into its usual boredom.

Michikatsu coughed up blood and growled as he turned his head to side-glance Ember, his hate filed look drilling into it. “I said,” Suddenly, Michikatsu twisted his upper half around, breaking his spine, and faced Ember with his sword aiming for its neck. “That’s not my name!” The elongated sword slashed through the air and struck Ember's neck, but barely making an inch in. Michikatsu grunted and growl in anger as veins formed on his neck. The sword barely made any progress, only making a centimeter of progress with all his strength.

An amused chuckle came from Ember before its purple claw grabbed the blade and snapped it into two like a twig. “It’s useless, Kokushibo.”Ember taunted. Its laughter only increased at the shocked expression on Michikatsu's face. “You know, you say that you aren’t one. But you look like us, fight like us, and have the same abilities as us. So tell me,” The sadistic grin from before reformed onto Ember's face,” Why do you despise what you truly are?”

Just then, Ember fell to the ground and causing him to lose the grip on his sword, dropping the impaled Michikatsu. It looked back to see Rainbow dash, sword in mouth, with flickers of electricity around her.

“Storm breathing, Form 3: Fast as lighting.” She huffed out.

Ember arched an eyebrow and looked down to see his left leg had been severed with a jagged cut, a wisp of smoke coming from the stump. It then glared at Rainbow with a mix of anger and caution as its leg regenerated.

“How did you-” Ember’s sentence was cut off as Michikatsu bucked It squared in the back at an angle, sending the hulking demon fly through the air and into the side of a building.

“What did I tell you?!” Michikatsu shouted, dropping his sword to the ground while pulling the big sword out of his chest as his body slowly healed.

Rainbow dash sheathed her weapon and ran up to him with a held-out hoof, which Michikatsu took after a moment of hesitation. “I know, dude.” She grunted as she pulled Michikatsu to his hooves, “But if I didn’t do something, you would have been more hurt!” Rainbow rushed past him until she reached the whimpering demon mare. “ I’ll get that demon mare out of here, just try and stay alive!” She shouted, lifting the demon mare onto her back and running off.

There was a few moments of silence. That silence was then broken by a nearby crash, prompting Michikatsu to look back. As expected, Ember stood in a shallow crater, shards of glass and rebar sticking out of its back, with the same grin on its face.

Michikatsu sighed tiredly. Lowering his neck until he bit down on his broken sword handle, then craning his head back with a hard scowl. “Alright you bastard,” He muttered to himself. The end of his broken katana began to bubble, and a point shot out of the flat edge and the blade looked brand new. “If you want a demon, I’ll fucking give you one.” Michikatsu growled.

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

“Worthless, no good, Freak!” An angry stallion voice shouted. His hoof smacked across the face of a young mare, making her drop to the ground with a cry. “I trusted you, how could you do something like that?! My brother is DEAD because of you!”

The mare, her hooves covered in a crimson substance, crawls away from the stallion until her back hits a wall. “I-I didn’t mean t-to! T-The voice-” Another hit from the stallion impacted her face and made her head slam into the wall. Blood leaked from her nose, and a ringing sensation nearly deafened her.

In the back, an older mare and stallion in doctor uniforms banged on the reinforced door, yelling something that was muffled by the thick glass. Their cries were ignored, however, as the stallion huffed and used a hoof to grab the mare's neck and throw her against a nearby dresser.

“Lies! There are no voices in that fucked mind of yours, told you to do ANYTHING!” He shouted, stomping a hoof on the floor.

The force from the impact caused something to fall to the floor beside the frightened mare. When she looked over, it was a fancy music box her daughter had given her as a gift last year for nightmare night. It was decorated with tiny skulls made of clay, and a hoof-drawn picture of a bone-like cutie mark. The lid was open, and a small figure of a dancing pony slowly spun in place as a soothing melody played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co-fVmEKAQw

As the angered stallion continued to yell at the mare, his voice muffled, her hoof slowly moved to the music box, a tear running down her cheek. Suddenly, the hoof stopped and her eyes widened as a dark chuckle echoed in her mind.

“Come on~ You know you want to” It chuckled. “I mean, his meanie of a brother did all those nasty things to your privates. Oh, how you cried your little head off, begging for him to stop. it was unforgivable! Weren’t you glad that little ole’ me helped?”

Her hoof grasped the music box, its tune still playing. It sounded soothing, like Celestia herself was speaking through her ears.

“I’m the one that has to always clean up after you, but that’s alright. I get rid of meanies for you, you know that.” It cooed. Flashes of horrors played in her mind, years and years of non-stop fears plaguing her mind flared up, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

The mare's breathing quickened as her eyes moved toward the stallion, it didn’t seem like he noticed her moving.

“Come on, do it!” The mare got onto her hooves, only enraging the stallion even more. “Do it.” She took a step forward, her breathing becoming audible and ragged. “Do it.” The quickening banging on the door hurt the mare's ears as she steps closer. “Do it” The stallion's expression of anger turned to fear at the sight of her, and he backed up to a bed. “Do it!” He berates the mare to stop, she doesn’t. “DO IT!”

Before the stallion could get a word out, the music box in the mare's other hoof swings at him, slamming the object into the stallion's eye. He screams as he falls into the sheets, all the while covering his heavily bleeding eye.

“Y-You, bitch! My eye!” He screams.

The mare's face contorts into unadulterated grief as she pounced on the stallion, sitting on his torso, trapping his arms. She brought the music box down on his face, getting blood over herself and the floor. Over and over again, the box crushed the stallion's face repeatedly, and his cries of pain and fear turned quiet not long after. But that didn’t stop her. White bed sheets were stained red, and her laughter and sobs filled the air. The stallion's face was already caved in by the time blue-shirted ponies came to hold down the mare.

Hooves and forelegs restrained her limbs, making her drop the mostly intact, and bloody, music box. Its tune softly played as the mare tried to wrestle her way out of the pony’s grasp, kicking and crying madly like a newborn foal. A white-coated mare then rushes into the room with a needle in her magic and stabs it into the other mare's neck, pushing the clear liquid into her.

“Awwww. Looks like it’s sleepy time now.” The voice said, mocking sadness. “But, since you were a good girl, I’ll let you sleep with only a few passes.” The mare tried to plead with the disembodied voice, but her voice slowly died out as her eyes closed.

“Good night~”

The demon mare jolted awake with a scream of terror. It looked around frantically as if she was looking for someone.

“You’re awake.” The demon mare yelped when the raspy voice spoke. Looking over, it saw that Rainbow maned pegasus sitting not too far from It, her sword at the ready. “Don’t try anything. I won’t hesitate to kill you off.” Sneered the pegasus.

“W-Where am I?” The demon mare stuttered.

Around the demon mare, was a lavish area that looked to be a waiting room. But the Rainbow maned pegasus stood up and looked out of a window next to her. “We’re at the Guard center. Good thing I convinced the guards not to kill you, considering what you are and what you did.” She said, saying the last part with a hint of venom in her voice.

The demon mare winced at her tone, and then noticed the lack of guards in the empty room. “W-Where is-”

“The guards?” The pegasus interrupted, “I told them what happened back there, Also that I had you covered, despite my hoof.” She waved her bandaged back leg for emphasis, “I don’t even know why Michikatsu wants you alive. Should’ve just cut your head off sooner.” She grumbled, going back to looking out the window.

Silence strangled the air as the two mares looked away from each other, not daring to make eye contact. Whispers and hushed voices snickered and laughed in the back of the Demon mare's mind and, luckily, it was able to fend them off.

How long has it been? Just it and another sitting in silence for this long. How could she forget those…memories? It…She didn’t. She didn’t want to remember them. Clawing and scratching at her mind, taunting and mocking her every mistake. The concept of murder was repulsive to her and still is now. But there was nothing she could do…or maybe.

“I’m…sorry.”

The rainbow-maned pegasus’s ears perked up as she looks at the demon mare with confusion. “What did you say?” She asked incredulously.

“I’m sorry, for all of this. I didn’t want ANY of this.” The demon mare spoke quietly, hanging her head in shame.

“Tch, you expect me to forgive you or something? You killed other ponies for Celestia's sake!”

The demon mare flinches from her tone, “I don’t think you or anypony will forgive me. It's not like anypony cared for me when I was mortal.” She then looked up at the rainbow-maned pegasus with a tired look. “What’s your name again?”

“It’s Rainbow dash, and don’t forget it.” Rainbow dash huffed.

“I think you remind me of…somepony.” The demon mare said, gaining Rainbow's attention. “They were so small and young, like a flower yet to bloom. And the same personality as well.” She chuckled, “I can’t specifically remember their face, but you remind me of the only pony who cared for me.” The demon mare hung her head again, holding back tears. “But that’s the thing, I can’t remember. Just another thing life has taken away from me.”

Rainbow dash, during The demon mare’s talk, looked at her with a soft glare. A flurry of mixed feelings swam around in her head. It was mostly anger, considering what the demon had done to her and those around her. But, she felt a ping of pity for the sight in front of her.

This demon was on the verge of tears and not trying to escape. Every other encounter Dash had with a demon, the one in appaloosa and starlight, always ended in ponies getting hurt. Cold and unfeeling monsters that felt nothing but hate and hunger, seemingly going against everything Equatria stood for. But in front of her was the equivalent of a kicked puppy in the rain, so innocent looking it almost made Rainbow forget that it was a demon. It didn’t help what the demon was talking about. It said that it couldn’t remember much, but said that it was uncared for. Had it forgotten something? But it was hard to believe that something like that was hard to forget.

Rainbow sighed and leaned back in her chair, setting the sword at her side. “I’m sure they were cool and all. But get some rest, it’s going to be a long night.” She said.

“Why aren't you killing me right now, as you said?” The demon mare asked.

“I don’t know. But Michikatsu told me not to, so I’m not.” Rainbow answered. Her eyes shifted to the window, where a small legion of soldiers was escorting panicking ponies down the street. “But since you and I are stuck here, what’s your name?” She questioned, not looking away from the window.

The demon mare’s head rose with a surprised expression, “M-My name?” She then looked down in thought for a second before looking back at Rainbow. “I t-think it was…Red cross. Yes…that’s it.” She smiled.

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

A chorus of frightened screams rings out as the wall of a small office building gets destroyed, sending debris into the street and other buildings. Guards protect the running ponies, rescuing ones that have been trapped.

Michikatsu growled as he tensed his legs, jumping out of the way last second before Ember smashed into the spot Michikatsu was. His clothes were nothing more than rags now, and half of his face had been torn off from the ensuing fight. Michikatsu spreads his wings and dives at Ember, who turned around just in time to get bucked further in the building.

The demon fell through two floors before crashing to the bottom. It chuckled, rolling out of the way as Michikatsu stabbed the floor. Michikatsu wasted no time, pulling out the sword, he breathed in deeply and aimed his sword.

“Third Form: Loathsome Moon, Chains”

He swings his sword rapidly in a pair of large crescent slashes, with a storm of smaller crescents shooting out at Ember. The attack destroyed the inside, tearing furniture and walls to shreds. But Ember blocked by protecting his neck with his arms, the rest of his body barely receiving scratches. Ember chuckled and charged Michikatsu and tackled him out of a window. The two fell to the street, and the larger demon managed to get Michikatsu in a chokehold. They rolled on the ground, as Ember shrugged off the full-force punches from Michikatsu.

“You know, Kokshibo, I haven’t had this much fun in ages!” Ember shouted happily.

Michikatsu grunted, pulled his head back, and swung it back, hitting Ember in the face. It caught the large demon off guard, letting Michikatsu go. He jumped off Ember and was in another stance.

“This guy is getting on my nerves.” Michikatsu internally said. “Nothing I throw at it is doing damage.” His jaw clenched the handle harder, and veins appeared on his forehead.

“Fourteenth Form: Catastrophe, Tenman Crescent Moon!”

The demon sword pony swung his elongated blade. A chaotic vortex of crescent slashes emerged from the swing and trapped Ember inside of it. The mini-moons slashed and cut Ember slightly, making the large demon swat uselessly at the air. One of the crescent moons cut the back of its knee, making Ember stagger. Michikatsu saw this and, rushing forward, swung his blade at Ember's neck, and landed it.

Ember’s grin grew, “Idiot, you already tried that! It won’t-”

Michikatsu roared with fury. More veins bulged on his head and neck, the blood flow making the temperature in his body rise. Surprisingly, the sword was cutting through the neck of the large demon easier than before. As Michikatsu yelled, he didn’t notice his blade turn a deeper shade of red as it sunk further.

But Ember, his expression of joy fell into fear, noticing what was happening. It quickly grabbed the blade with its claw and tried to push it back, but the still present crescent moons severed his arm.

The pupils in his eyes went unfocused and hazy, but he didn’t let up his charge. He had been thrown around this city like a rag doll. It felt humiliating, to say the least. Whatever was happing right now, he didn’t care at the moment. Ember growled as clenched his other claw. It then raised its arm and struck Michikatsu on the damaged side of the face. The hit dislodged the sword from Michikatsu’s mouth, sending him to the ground and rolling a small distance. Ember let out a sigh and pulled the sword from its neck. Its expression then fell back to boredom as it made its way to Michikatsu.

“While I’ll admit you had me there. But you’re getting predictable now.” Ember reached Michikatsu, who was pushing himself up by his forelegs. “It's sad, I thought you’d be more entertaining.” It raised a leg, and stomped on Michikatsu’s back, breaking his spine and wing. The smaller demon screamed in pain, trying to free himself.

“Demon blood art: Overwhelming force.”

Ember raised its arms, the damaged one now healed and brought them down. Suddenly, the area around them cratered and broke into the ground. Michikatsu screamed again as most of the bones in his body were broken and not able to heal. More and more force pushed on him, sinking Michikatsu into the ground inch by inch.

“There it is!”

“Huh?” Ember said, raising its head and looking back to see a large number of solar guards charging at him, yelling at it with their spears raised. It grinned and stepped off Michikatsu, releasing the blood demon art on him.

“Don’t.” Ember flinched at the voice’s tone, its grin turning into a frown. Muzan said not to make a big scene and apparently was making sure. It knew the consequences of going against Muzans rule.

With a scoff, Ember lowered its arms and looked back at the half-conscious Michikatsu. “Consider yourself lucky, Kokoshibo.” It spat.

Crouching down, Ember jumped an inch off the ground was disappeared in a blurred flash. The guards were too late and looked stunned at the sudden disappearance. A guard shook off his shock and ordered the others to search around for the large demon. Small groups split off in opposite directions as two of them approached Michikatsu.

Unfortunately, his body was too exhausted and damaged to heal as fast as it did, and the feeling of tiredness overpowered the demon stallion. He cursed weakly under his breath before passing out. A frown formed on his muzzle, letting the darkness overtake his vision once again.