Sun Slayer's radiance

by TheGunslinger12

Rating: mature
Tags: Starlight Glimmer, Fluttershy, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Gore, Violence, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Main 6, Romance, Changelings
Length: 72406

After the faithful last encounter with his demon brother, Yoriichi Tsugikuni get's a second chance at life as a stallion in a land rid of demons. With the tragic life he's lived, mabye a bit of friendship can heal his broken heart.

After Yoriichi was killed by his older brother, he was pulled from the black void of death into the land of Equestria, a place free from the personified plague known as demons. Now with barely any purpose and a heavy heart, the ex-human must learn to adapt to his surroundings while also coping with past pain with the help of a shy pegasus.

All the while, a plan to bring down Equestria once and for all is brewing, and the one behind it is an old foe Yoriichi never thought he would see again.

(spoilers ahead for those who hadn't read the Demon slayer manga.)

Update: Stay tuned for part two of Yorrichi's story!

Both properties aren't owned by me:

Demon slayer is written and owned by Koyoharu Gotouge and studio Ufotable.
My little pony: Friendship is magic is owned by Hasbro

Cover art is not owned by me, the artist is Glazirka on deviant art

(Featured 10/24/22!)
(Featured 12/20/22!)

Published 2022-08-31 01:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-12-20 17:09:43 UTC

Moving in

For the first time in his new life, The stallion had a visible scowl of annoyance on his face as he walked through the forest.

From when he first awoke till now, it had been a full day’s worth of time as the sun poked out from the horizon. During this, the stallion had been subjugated to non-stop assaults from the forest’s beats made of flesh, bark, and rock. They’d “ambush” the stallion with hope and hunger in their eye, to being nothing but worm food in half a second.

This might not have been irritating to him if they’d stopped appearing every five minutes. It would be worse since the predators' bloodlust were weaker than a demon’s, so it was a while before he eventually got used to the sensation.

A tired sigh escaped his lips as the stallion stopped walking to look around, only stopping when he saw a faint light between the trees. The stoic stallion reached the location in no time, only to find a large lake with water reflected like a clear crystal. As the stallion approached, a sudden thought came to him.

‘I still don’t know what my form looks like.’ He thought. Sitting on his haunches by the edge of the lake and facing the water’s surface, the stallion couldn’t help but smile, even if it was a ghost of a smile.

When the stallion first saw his horse-like body, the thought of his head being just like that of an equine wasn’t that absurd to him. Instead, the head shape was rounded, with more fur fluff than fat. The muzzle was short and stumpy like the head. And the eyes were larger than the stallion thought was physically possible. The only similarities were his dark red hair, Hanafuda earrings, and the birthmark running down his forehead.

The stallion's smile grew a bit as he looked. ”I can only imagine what Uta would say right now.” He said while gently touching his cheek with a hoof. The stallion's smile disappeared as he lowered his head to the water, only reaching until he could drink from the strangely sweet lake. His relaxation stopped as a scream echoed from deep into the forest.

He didn’t want to waste time, so the stallion stepped back and fully flexed the muscles in his legs. With a grunt, the stallion kicked off the ground and soared in the air, landing on the other side of the lake. He quickly recovered and started to sprint through the forest, following the sounds of the distress cry. As the stallion got closer to the noise, he'd found it was coming from the tree line. So picking up the pace, he busted out of the trees into a wide flower field. All was ignored as his eye locked onto a smaller horse surrounded by a pack of wooden wolves.

The mare tried to crawl away from the wooden wolves, but her body was stiff with fright and refused to move as they advanced. The front wolf got into a low stance and pounced at the mare, who closed her eyes, waiting for her death. But the sound of pain-filled yelps made her look to see all the wooden wolves recoiling in pain with their bodies set ablaze with a bright fire.

“Third form, raging sun.” The stallion had slashed at the wolves' bodies, finding out hours ago that his sun breathing caused them to burn like regular wood. He sheathed his sword and turned to look at the mare. She had a butter-colored coat, a bright pink mane, and deep blue eyes that looked at him with a mix of awe and fear. “Are you ok, madam?”

The mare seemed to snap out of her stupor; noticing the stallion talking to her, she made an ‘eep’ noise and hid her face behind her mane. “I-I’m f-fine.” She meekly replied. The shy mare flinched when the stallion came to her and bent down to her eye level.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but what is a horse like you doing near these woods.” He said in an even tone.

The shy mare was silent for a moment until she revealed a portion of her face. “I was out collecting herbs for my animals, but those Timberwolves came out of nowhere and were about to…hurt me. Also, I’m a pony, not a horse.” She quietly said, being near silent at the end. She nervously played with her hair as her eyes filled with sadness. “Why did you… kill them?”

The stallion gave a confused look to the mare, ”They were about to harm you; I had to put them down before they could do so.” He held out a hoof, which the shy mare cautiously took.

“I could have talked to them.” She looked at the stallion, and even though his face showed no emotion, she could tell he was confused. “It’s what my Cuite mark means, see?” The mare smiled as she showed a picture of three butterflies on her flank.

The stoic stallion was intrigued by this and decided to lift his haori to discover that his ‘Cutie mark’ was an image of a rising sun. Letting his haori fall, the stallion turned around, only facing the mare with a side glance. “I’ll escort you back to your home, miss...?”

“Oh, I-It’s Fluttershy.” She said with a faint blush. “What’s your name?” the shy mare asked with a head tilt.

“Yoriichi Tsugikuni”

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

In the hive of the changelings, the insectoid ponies were nowhere to be seen in the large, unlit throne room. Four unconscious changelings sat on the floor, stuck in place by a hardened green substance. That was until one of them jerked awake with a gasp and cold sweat going down their injured exoskeleton body.

“W-What?! I thought we got away!” He shouted in disbelief. “Brothers, sister, are you up?” They said, looking side to side at their now awoken ‘family’.

“I suggest you keep quiet unless you want your death to be much more painful.”
All the changeling's faces contorted into fear at the furious-sounding voice. The same voice that belongs to that…THING… they captured a day ago. The cavern was suddenly illuminated by a bright and ominous red light, only to reveal something that filled the captured insects with dread and sadness. On the wall behind Queen Chrysalis's old throne, was the buggy monarch herself, nailed to the surface by her hooves and belly sliced open, leaving the guts to spill out. Atop the throne was the pony himself, Muzan Kibutsuji.

A purple and black changeling among the four sneered at the pony stallion, “YOU BASTARD! ONCE I GET OUT, I’M GONNA RIP-” His yelling was cut short when Muzan pointed a hoof at him and a giant mass of flesh dotted with eyeballs smashed the aggressive changeling into a puddle of green blood.

The mass of flesh transformed back into the stallion's foreleg as he glared down at the remaining 3. “Do any of you want to speak without permission?” He was met with silence as his glare softened. “You all consider yourselves lucky. I’m feeling merciful today, so I'll make you three an offer. Take some of my blood and join my ranks, or be squashed like the filth you are.”

Not to Muzans surprise, a timid-looking changeling managed to break free of his bindings and attempted to flee. In the blink of an eye, the changeling's decapitated body fell to the floor with a wet splat, his head held in Muzan's mouth by the horn.

Muzan spat the head, making it tumble down the stairs of the throne till it slowly rolled and stopped in front of the 2 trembling insect ponies.

The sound of buzzing reached the ears of the 2, making them look around to see, much to their horror, that their brothers and sister morphed and changed into abominations. Limbs were different sizes; fangs, teeth, and eyes grew in unnatural places, their bodies colored with blood red instead of the usual green.

“Now, any answer?” Muzan said with a raised eyebrow.

The changeling on the left looked at him with a pleading expression, “I don’t want your stupid blood! Please let me go; I won't bother you, I swear!” He cried out, going dead silent seeing the stallion's furious gaze.

“You would refuse my generous offer? To do such is a crime deserving of death.”

“NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT! PLEASE NO, I JUST WANT TO LEAVE!” The changeling attempted to free itself, but the substance was too solid to break.

“So now you are telling me that I am wrong? the last to say the same thing ended up just like you.” A long, sharp stinger of bone attached to a black tube emerged from his back and lunged at the terrified insect. The stinger stabbed through the changeling's mouth and out the back of the skull, only dislodging itself after a moment and letting the lifeless head dangle backward.

The last changeling sat looking at the floor as their body trembled. ”Just kill me, I beg of you.” They whimpered in defeat.

The demon stallion's muzzle scrunched in anger as a stinger appeared once again. ”Even in a different realm, these fools don't understand.” Before the changeling could even understand what he said, the stinger stabbed them in the side of the neck, a hot liquid floating into their bloodstream. The insect writhed in pain, as their screams bounced off the cavern wall as the changeling's body started to melt into a pile of black and red sludge until the screams fell silent. Muzan scoffed and sat back on the throne, resting his head on a hoof.

“You can clean the mess” He commanded with a flick of the hoof. The mutated changelings hissed in excitement, all unlatching from the walls and diving for their old comrades' remains.

Muzan sighed, looking at the ceiling with a sinister smirk. “That’s the rest of the filth finished off. I was surprised their leader was so weak,” Muzan looked back at Chrysalis's displayed corpse. “For how much boasting she did. Now that I have a sizable army, it’s time to find this Celestia person.”

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

Animals of all shapes and sizes scurried and ran when Yoriichi and Fluttershy arrived at a small two-story house with a roof covered in solid moss. When the two walked on the first path leading to the front door, The stoic stallion stopped as Fluttershy continued, only for her to stop as well and look back at him.

“You can come in if you want, mister.” She said with a smile but frowned when Yoriichi shook his head.

“I’ve escorted you back to your home, I do not wish to be a burden to you by staying around.” Yoriichi bowed deeply and turned to walk away before a hoof touching his shoulder made him stop.

He looked back to see Fluttershy with a grateful smile on her face that made the stallion inwardly wince at its familiarity. “You wouldn’t be one at all. Besides, I have to thank the stallion who saved my life.” She giggled cutely.

Yoriichi faced Fluttershy with his usual calmness. “I assure you that I am-” A loud rumbling sound made itself known from the stallion's stomach, making the timid pegasus look at him with a sheepish smile. “Are you sure I wouldn’t be a bother to you?” He asked, Fluttershy sensing a bit of embarrassment from Yoriichi.

Fluttershy walked back to her front door and opened it with her wing, “Nope.” The stallion reluctantly complied and entered the pegasus's home.

The smell of wild animals was the first thing to hit Yoriichi’s nose, the animals in the main room being the obvious origin of it. Even though they were animals, Yoriichi could tell that they had wariness on their faces as they stared at the stoic stallion. He was never the animal type, not because he hated animals, but because Yoriichi never saw an interest in owning/taking care of one when not needed. A hard tap caused him to look down and see a small white bunny glaring up at him with a carrot in its paws.

“Angel! You know better than to hit ponies.” Fluttershy berated, to Yoriichi’s mild surprise, the bunny seemed to roll its eyes and hop away with the carrot in its mouth. “Sorry, he can be a hoof full sometimes. Why don’t you take a seat while I make us some food?” Fluttershy smiled and walked off towards the kitchen.

Yoriichi walked over and took a seat on the main room's couch which was extremely comfy. As he sat in place, the stoic stallion, lost in his thoughts once more, reviewed the last couple of hours with an inward grimace. During his walk, it never occurred to the ex-demon slayer that not a single demon tried to kill him, even during the dead of night. If he was right, then he would be filled with joy but also worry. If he was in a realm where HE didn’t exist, Yoriichi could finally live a life of peace that he’d worked so hard for. At the same time, He was left without purpose now: no demons meant no demon slayers. Combine that with the fact he knew little of this realm; it would be near impossible to find something to make himself useful.

The last fact angered the stallion a little.

“Here you go, I hope you enjoy it.” Fluttershy’s voice snapped Yoriichi snapped him out of his thoughts as the mare placed a plate of…something in front of him and two cups of tea.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but can you tell me what those are?” He asked, pointing to the plate of unknown confectionaries.

It took Fluttershy a second to figure out what he meant, but when she realized, another cute giggle came from her. “Did you not have these before?” Yoriichi shook his head slowly. So Fluttershy picked one up with her wing and presented it to the stoic stallion. “They’re called cookies. My friend Discord had some leftovers from last time, he won’t mind if we take a few.”

Yoriichi almost gave the shy mare a quizzical look at the mention of a per- pony named ‘Discord’. Inwardly shrugging it off, the swords pony took the treat in his hoofs and took a small bite from it. He had to admit that these cookies were flavorful with a bitter-sweet taste to them.

The stallion placed the cookie down on the plate and bowed in front of Fluttershy, making her blush in surprise. “I thank you for the meal.”

Fluttershy’s blush went away as she smiled, “It’s not a problem.” She used her wings to lift a teacup to her lips, take a sip, and then lowered it back onto the table. The room was filled with awkward tension as both reserved ponies sat in silence, so Fluttershy decided to ask a question to break it up. “If you don’t mind me asking, do you have a place to stay?”

Yoriichi looked at the shy mare, “Why do you ask?” He asked bluntly.

“Well, I noticed you came from the Everfree forest all by yourself. So I wanted to know why and if you have a home to go back to.” She said with an innocent smile on her face.

“No, No I do not.” He answered somberly.

Fluttershy frowned at his tone before perking up with a small smile. “You can stay with me.”

Yoriichi almost seemed shocked by her response and immediately shook his head. “I am grateful for your offer, but I have already overstayed my welcome.” He tried to stand but instantly fell back into the seat. ‘Seems all that walk and being reborn took a lot of energy out of me’ he thought with a slight grimace.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked with concern.

The stoic stallion held up a hoof to stop her from speaking. “I’m fine Mrs. Fluttershy. It seems I’ve exhausted myself.”

Fluttershy stood up and held a hoof to his head, reeling away immediately upon contact. “That’s not good; you’re burning up!” An expression of concern was replaced with one of determination as she picked up the stallion with surprising strength for her size and placed him on her back. “I will not allow somepony to be sick in my own home.”

The swordspony tried to escape her grasp, and a hint of embarrassment crossed his face for being so weak at the moment. Fluttershy slowly carried the stallion upstairs and down a hall until they reached a door that Fluttershy opened with her hoof. The room was standard with a large bed, some bookshelves, a desk, and two windows. Walking over, Fluttershy gently placed the sick Yoriichi on the bed as well as pulled the bed covers over him.

“You don’t need to do this Mrs. Fluttershy, I’m fin-” Yoriichi tried to sit up, but the stern look from the shy mare made him stop for some reason.

“I don’t want to hear it, mister. You helped me when I was in danger, now it’s my turn. So you need to get some rest.” She stated, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

It might have been Yoriichi’s imagination or the sickness, but for a split second, Uta was standing before him with the same expression. Although, the image disappeared when the stallion blinked. Yoriichi showed a small smile as he laid back in bed.
“Alright then.” He simply said, closing his eyes and falling asleep not long after.

Fluttershy kindly smiled at the sleeping swords pony, quietly leaving the room and shutting the door.

The Sun gods performance

Rain pelted the window to Fluttershy’s bedroom, where Yoriichi had been resting for the past two days. He tossed and turned restlessly on the soft sheets of the bed. Even if the sickness was almost gone, Yoriichi couldn’t rest until he’d repaid the shy mare's kindness. The feeling of taking something without payment bothered him greatly.

The stallion stopped moving when a soft knock came from his door. “Yoriichi, are you awake?” Fluttershy’s muffled voice asked.

“Yes, you may enter.” He said.

The door opened to reveal the mare in question poking her head in with a fin frown across her muzzle. “I hate to ask you this while you're still recovering, but can you accompany me to the market?”

Yoriichi nodded in acceptance. Getting up from the bed, he realized that his clothes were still on from three days ago. It was obvious that they needed a wash. So inwardly sighing, Yoriichi looked at Fluttershy, “Do you have a bathroom and any spare clothes I may use?” He asked politely.

Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “I have a shower to the left of this room,” She pointed a hoof to a door Yoriichi noticed for the first time. “But I don’t have any spare clothes to wear. Most ponies don’t even use clothes, at least in this town.” Fluttershy opened the door the rest of the way and walked over to the swords pony, a glass of water in her wings. Yoriichi nodded thanks and took the glass cup in his hooves, knowing how to grapes objects with help from the shy mare, and took a gulp of water.

The glass cup was placed on the nightstand as Yoriichi got up and walked to the bathroom door. Before he entered, he turned around to look at Fluttershy with a small bow.

“Thank you.” He said as he entered and closed the bathroom door. Fluttershy giggled a little as she shut the door and quickly walked downstairs.

The stallion gazed at the sight of the unfamiliar room to him. Something inside of Yoriichi knew this was going to be complicated. To the left was a large wooden container with metal poles erecting from the back, two knobs with red and blue circles painted on them. On the right was a similar contraption except for a smaller container with metal poles running under it with a singular one on top with handles on each side, something Fluttershy called a “sink”. Yoriichi steeled his nerves and removed his clothes. Approaching the large wooden tub, he climbed inside and inspected the red and blue knobs with intrigue.

A hoof touched the red knob and slowly turned it to the left. Without warning, water rained down on the stallion, causing the calm stallion to jolt in surprise. After a couple of seconds, the cold water warmed up, spraying Yoriichi with a gentle stream of warm water.

“Amazing, water that appears out of thin air AND heats up.” The stallion stared at the tub's shower head, careful not to get water in his eyes. But his wonder was shaken away as his calm maroon eyes wandered for soap.

For the next several minutes, Yoriichi bathed in the warm water, scrubbing his coat with lavender-scented soap. He soon turned out of the shower and stepped out with a pink towel wrapped around his soaked form. The stallion considered using the water to clean his clothing, but Fluttershy was probably sick of waiting, so he decided to wash them later.

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

Fluttershy sat patiently in the living room as she waited for the stallion. The feelings of worry and guilt filled her mind at asking the sick stallion to come with her. Initially, Fluttershy planned to go by herself, but over the past few days, her guest had some problems. A day after she forced Yoriichi to stay in bed, she brought in one of those new radios that came out recently. It took her about 2 hours to fully explain to the stallion what it was with the limited knowledge she had of it.

Other incidents included explaining that the toaster didn’t shoot semi-burnt bread, how sleep medication wasn’t candy, and that the ‘Magical heat box’ didn’t use magic to cook food.

It was evident that Yoriichi didn’t know a lot about simple technology. So since he was feeling better, Fluttershy thought it would be a great idea to bring him along into town to the market and for a quick visit to Prince- her friend Twilight Sparkle.

The sound of hoofsteps caused Fluttershy to perk up. She looked towards the stars where they came from and couldn’t help but gain a small blush. At the bottom of the wooden stairs was a clean Yoriichi, toned muscles making themselves known behind the stallion's even, rosey red fur fully on display. It took all the pegasus’s willpower not to let her wings jet out. Fluttershy didn’t realize that the stoic stallion was staring at her with his even expression.

“Are you ready to head out?”

His voice snapped Fluttershy out of her thoughts, and she nodded. Fluttershy got up and walked to and opened the front door, not without her saddle bags and grabbing an umbrella with her wing. As they left and walked down the muddy path to ponyville, the shy mare couldn’t help but shift awkwardly under the umbrella, being so close to Yoriichi.

To calm herself, Fluttershy brainstormed ideas on how she can help her indefinite house guest adjust to ponyville. It was obvious that he was from somewhere farther away, maybe japony, if the clothes were anything to go by. Should she see her friend Rarity about getting new clothes for him? What about a job, perhaps? Heck, she thinks he couldn’t even read equish! The constant stream of problems hurt the shy mare's brain, making her let out a quiet whimper of displeasure.

“Are you okay?”

Once again, Yoriichi’s voice brought Fluttershy out of her thoughts. She faced him with a small smile. “I’m fine, just… thinking about things.” An almost look of suspicion appeared on Yoriichis's face, but he didn't speak as the town peered over the horizon. As they got closer, they both spotted a small cream-coated, brown-maned colt with buck teeth shouting something under his umbrella, a stack of newspapers by his hooves.

“Read all about, Read all about, Mysterious disappearances plague southern Equestria!” The small colt shouted. As the pair approached, he noticed and greeted them with a hearty smile. “Hi, Miss Fluttershy! Are you interested in today’s paper?” He asked, grabbing a newspaper from the pile with his teeth.

A confused Fluttershy took the paper from the colt's muzzle. “It sounds like something terrible is happening. Do you know featherweight?” She said with a saddened frown.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t be able to explain it properly miss shy. You have to read it to believe it.” Featherweight said. He noticed the stallion next to her and eyed him weary under the stoic stallion's gaze.

Fluttershy said her thanks. She and Yoriichi left the young colt and were now in Ponyville's marketplace. Wanting to read the newspaper before shopping, Fluttershy held it in front of herself. The headline read, in all bold letters-

“Mysterious disappearances have been reported all across the southern region of Equestria!”

Under the headline, the article went on to say, “For the past three days, ponies reported strange happening during the night. Blood-curdling screams suddenly go silent, ponies being dragged into allies and vanishing in the darkness, and reports of terrifying creatures appearing in the streets. Princess Celestia and Luna have issued an investigation on these incidents, but so far, nothing has yet to be revealed.”

The article continues with eyewitness accounts of survivors and on-lookers describing what, they thought, were mutated ponies prowling every corner at night. As she moved on, Fluttershy became fearful and trembled at every word. How did she not hear of this sooner? The shy mare turned to look at Yoriichi for his reaction but was surprised to see a hint of an angry scowl on his face.

“Y-Yoriichi, is something the matter?” She nervously asked. The stallion noticed her look, and his features returned to their usual calmness.

“Yes, something about this is bothering me. The newspaper is bringing up old memories.” He said, a grim tone in his voice. Fluttershy wanted to push her question further, but a bolt of lightning booming in the distance reminded her to keep moving. She told the stallion that they should hurry, and they both wandered into the crowded streets of the market.

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

“STUPID, Twilight! STUPID, Elements! When I get my hooves on that mare, I’m going to-” A quiet hissing sound stopped the soaked angry mare from her rant as small drops of rain snuffed out her fire.

“AAAAARRRRRRGGGHHH!!!”

A loud bang of an explosion made the surrounding wildlife run in fear as the furious mare stood before a crater where the fire was seconds ago. The mare had a light purple coat and a rich purple mane with blue highlights. On her flank was a purple star with a singular blue stream of mist rising from it.

“I FINALLY HAD A HOME WHERE NOPONY FELT INFERIOR AND COULD LIVE PERFECTLY! I HAD EVERYTHING UNTIL THOSE MARES SHOWED UP AND RUINED EVERYTHING; HOW DARE THEY TURN MY FOLLOWERS AGAINST ME!” She screamed into the rainy sky, tears of frustration pouring down her cheeks as she collapsed to the ground.

“Seems you have a problem, dear. But I may have a solution to that.”

The mare went wide-eyed at the sudden voice and quickly turned around with her horn glowing brightly. Behind her was a regular-sized mare under a japony-style umbrella with flawless white fur, a long tied-back black mane, and makeup outlining her crimson dragon-like eyes. The mare also had a plain black robe on with a white undershirt.

The purple mare's magic didn’t soften as she kept a glare at the strange white mare. “W-Who are you?!” She demanded.

The white mare giggled and slowly approached the purple mare. “I’m just somepony that needs help as well. I just so happen to-” The white was cut off when the purple mare fired a powerful bolt of magic at her, blasting off chunks of flesh in the process.

A spike of fear and guilt stabbed the purple mare's heart, seeing what she accidentally did. But her eyes widened in horror when the white mare's exposed muscle and bone began to heal, quickly finishing fixing the now scowling mare's face. “Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt somepony while they are speaking?”

The purple mare fell on her haunches and tried to back away, but the muddy ground caused her front hooves to slip. “W-What are you!” She demanded.

“That isn’t important at the moment. What is important is that I have a problem that keeps rearing its ugly head. It just so happens that you also have issues, and I’m willing to make a deal. Join me, and you will be able to enact your revenge.” A sinister smile crossed the white mare's lips as she held out a hoof.

The purple mare stopped trying to run and stared at the hoof for a few moments. Should she trust this strange white mare? The vibes from her sent chills down the purple mare's spine. But was swiftly ignored as images of Twilight and her insufferable friends getting what they deserved played in her mind. She stood up, mud covering her backside, and took the white mare hoof with a sadistic grin.

“I’m all out of options right now, but I’ll go along with you for now.” She said with a dark tone.

The white mare chuckled, “That’s good to hear, miss…” She trailed off with a playful eye raise.

“Starlight, Starlight Glimmer.”

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

Fluttershy waved the stallion working the stand goodbye with a smile as she approached Yoriichi, who had the umbrella in his mouth.

“I finally got the rest of the stuff on our list.” She opened a saddle bag, stuffed the small burlap bag into it, then turned back and grabbed the umbrella from the stoic stallion. “Ok, let's head back-”

“Hey, Flutters!” A raspy voice called out from the crowd.

She looked and spotted her rainbow-maned friend, rainbow dash, walking toward her with a neutral expression. “Good, you’re here. I need you to-'' The rainbow pegasus noticed Yoriichi looking at her, and Rainbow Dash gave Fluttershy a questioning look. “Uuuuh, who is that?” She said with a hoof pointed at the stoic stallion.

Fluttershy smiled softly, “I haven’t introduced you to him yet. He’s Yoriichi, a stallion that saved my life a few days ago. Unfortunately, he was sick, and I’ve been treating him.” Rainbow dash gave Yoriichi a thankful smirk, and he nodded. “Now, what was it you needed me for?”

Rainbow dash rubbed a hoof behind her head, a confused look across her face. “Well, all Twilight said was that she got a letter from the princess and that it was urgent. So she tracked me down to get the girls together to gather in the castle.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” She said with a frown. “I’ll be there right away!” Fluttershy looked back at Yoriichi, “Do you want to come with me?” The shy mare asked. Yoriichi simply nodded. Rainbow took off in a seemingly random direction as the pair swiftly made their way to the towering crystal castle. Once there, Fluttershy knocked on the door and waited a few seconds. Finally, the door opened to reveal Twilight's small assistant, Spike as he opened the door, prompting the two to walk in.

“Before you ask, Twilight’s in the map room.” Spike said abruptly, pointing a claw up the stairs. Fluttershy only nodded and made her way to Twilight with Yoriich close behind her.

A set of large doors blocked the pair's path, but a purple aura encased them after the shy mare had knocked on them. Yoriichi was stunned as the doors opened on their own to reveal a velvet alicorn mare with a horn.

“Twilight, I came as quickly as I could.” Fluttershy walked through the door, the swords pony taking a few moments to catch up. Inside, the rest of her friends sat in their seats, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie, who sat upside down. Rainbow dash entered the window and took her seat as Fluttershy did the same.

“Good, you’re all here. The princess sent an urgent letter requesting our assistance in the recent disappearances and wanted us to visit her up in Canterlot.” She spoke with seriousness in her tone. “Also, she mentioned a disturbance a few days ago but says not to worry about it.” The room was silent as everyone processed the information. Yoriichi took this time to walk over and take a seat next to Fluttershy, which Applejack immediately noticed.

“Fluttershy, mind tellin’ us who that is?” She asked while pointing a hoof at the stallion in question.

The shy mare looked puzzled for a second before she saw what Applejack was talking about and forced herself not to jump in surprise when she saw Yoriichi sitting next to her. “O-Oh, it’s a friend I met a few days ago. You probably don’t want to hear about how we met, it’s a long story.” She looked away awkwardly, but Rainbow spoke up.

“We got time, Fluttershy. I don’t think the princess would mind…right.” Rainbow looked at Twilight waiting for an answer.

Twilight nodded. So Fluttershy began to retell her story of the day she met Yoriichi. The part where she went near the Everfree and was about to be attacked by timberwolves and him coming out at the last second using strange magic. How Yoriichi said that he walked through the Everfree forest for almost an entire day. And that he was from a faraway land for unknown reasons he had yet to tell her. Her friends stayed silent as they listened, with looks of awe and dropped jaws at the shy mare's description of Yoriichi’s “Sun breathing” in action. When the story ended, most of the mares were stunned, except for Applejack, who had a suspecting look on her face.

“Ah don’t buy it.” Everypony, except Yoriichi, stared at her with bewildered expressions. “Ah mean, somepony can’t walk an entire day without a break. Even then, he’s walkin’ in THE Everfree forest, one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Plus we all know earth ponies can’t do magic, so unless I see it for myself, I ain’t buyin’ it!” Applejack argued with her forelegs crossed.

Twilight sighed and teleported the princess's letter away, “I have to agree with Applejack on this one. Yoriichi couldn’t possibly perform magic.”

Yoriichi then stood up and walked far away enough to be a safe distance from the mares. They all looked confused; but became nervous when he drew his blade from his sheath. Suddenly, a faint whistle noise came from the sword's pony as he sucked in a breath of air and swung his blade. Yoriichi displayed his techniques in a way that almost seemed like a dance of sorts, causing the mares to watch on with shocked expressions. The sword came down, a trail of sun fire following, and stopped before hitting the ground and the flame going out. Yoriichi stood tall and sheathed his sword, now facing the slack-jawed mares with his usual stone face expression.

“Was that enough to satisfy you?” He asked. The stoic stallion almost fell backward when Twilight teleported in front of him with stars in her eyes.

“THAT WAS SIMPLY AMAZING! YOU GOT TO TEACH ME HOW YOU DID THAT! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE, I MEAN, EARTH PONIES CAN BARELY CHANNEL THEIR BASE MAGIC. BUT YOU-” Twilight’s excited and foalish ramblings rapidly became a mess of intelligible babble and random words as the sound of a braking engine played in her head. The mares and Yoriichi watched as the studious alicorn fell to the ground and passed out.

“I think you broke her.” Pinkie blurted out, a hoof on her chin.

Yoriichi picked up the still-mumbling mare onto his back. ‘It wasn’t that impressive.’ He thought to himself, sweet memories of when Suyako and Sumiyoshi watched him do a similar act all those years ago. How he felt embarrassed by Suyako’s joy. The way Sumiyoshi proclaimed to keep his technique alive for future generations. Despite their praises of his strength, he never considered himself greater than anyone else, just another soul who lived and died. A warm smile spread across his muzzle, “Do any of you know where this mare room is?”

Some things never change.

New and revived relations

Author's Note

Sorry that this is a short read. I had ideas for the next chapter and they wouldn't go away until I wrote it out.

Again, sorry if it isn't as good as the rest.

I hope you all enjoy.

New and revived relations

“So… what’s this grand plan you were talking about?” Starlight asked, nervously shifting her eyesight from left to right at the demon changelings hissing and crawling along the walls of Muzans hideout. She and the demon king were situated at a table constructed of the same substance as the walls.

Muzan, now in his stallion form, lowered his wine glass and cracked a smile. “I want to conquer the sun.” He simply replied, taking another sip from his drink. The mare was thrown through a loop at the demon king's answer and let out a disbelieving laugh. Muzan scowled at Starlight, making her stop instantly. “What is so amusing?”

Starlight fumbled, but eventually found her voice, “S-Sorry, but did you just say that you wanted to… conquer the sun?” Sweat formed on her forehead as she could tell Muzans mood was dampening. ”NOT that there is anything ridiculous about that; I mean, there was an alicorn that tried to take over the night!” Starlight let out a nervous laugh with a sheepish grin.

Muzan ignored her excuses and placed his wine glass on the table. “You’re lucky I still need you.” He mumbled under his breath. “Yes, it’s true. I want to get rid of my worst enemy. Me and my servants are unable to feel the sun's warmth; otherwise, we burn to ash before it. In my past realm, a flower called the spider lily was the only thing able to cure that problem. Unfortunately, I was beaten by that sun-breathing brat and trapped in this accursed body.” Muzan slammed his hoof on the table, causing everything on it to shake. “But, I have to thank that same brat as well.” Muzan grinned evilly, “In this world, I have more options with its magic. No more flower hunting.”

Starlight sat quietly until the demon king stopped talking, “So this plan of yours involves what?” She deadpanned.

“ It is a simple four-step plan. Of which I need YOU for.” Muzan said, pointing a hoof at the mare. “Firstly, I need an ancient artifact called ‘the alicorn amulet’ that resides in a kingdom called Canterlot.”

The mare instantly stood up and planted her front hoof on the table. “WHAT?! That alicorn amulet?! But that’s-”

“DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK OVER ME!” Muzan roared in anger. Starlight's voice instantly died as she pitifully sat back in her seat. “Yes, this artifact is heavily guarded, from what my spies have reported. That is where you come in.” Starlight looked confused but raised a shaky hoof. “You may speak.”

“How do you expect me to grab something like that?” She asked with worry.

Muzan chuckled and clapped his hooves. A changeling with a small head and front legs flew down with a silver chalice. “For that, I’ll give you some of my blood.” Muzans right hoof morphed into a boney claw and slit his left foreleg, the blood draining into the silver chalice.

“Huh?” Starlight uttered with disgust.

The demon king's left foreleg healed, and his right returned to normal. “If you drink it, It’ll allow you to become more powerful than any artifact could. You can wipe those mares you hate off the face of this planet in an instant.” Muzan smiled as he pushed the silver chalice over to Starlight.

Starlight grinned as it stopped beside her plate. “If you are speaking the truth, I don’t care what happens or how many ponies I got to go through.” The chalice was surrounded by a light blue aura and raised to the mare's lips. “If it gets me my revenge, I’ll gladly accept it.” As she gulped down the semi-viscous blood, a spike of pain and an intense burning sensation filled her body, causing her to fall to the ground screaming in agony. Muzan wrapped a hoof around his wine glass and held it up.

“You ponies are all about friendship, correct?” He asked sarcastically, “Well, let’s toast to our new friendship!”

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

“Beep…Beep…Beep…”

The constant sound of the heart monitor was all Yoriichi was hearing, besides his unconscious brother’s ragged breathing. When Princess Celestia ordered for michikatsu to be thrown into a dungeon cell, a guard noticed a wound on his chest. He had a fragment of wood lodged in his chest somehow, puncturing his left lung, and the doctor said that he may have problems with breathing when he wakes up.

“Yoriichi?”

The silent stallion was broken from his trance and looked over to see a worried Fluttershy. It had been hours since Yoriichi had stopped talking if the night sky was anything to by. Fluttershy’s friends tried to talk to him, but they’d all been met with nothing every time. Fluttershy placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, “I can tell something is wrong. You can tell me anything, you know that?” She said with a sad tone.

“Do you think I’m a bad person?” Yoriichi asked, pain clear in his voice.

The shy mare was stunned by the question, but her look of worry became one concern. “No, of course not! Why would you say something like that?”
“When we were young, I left my brother alone after our mother died. We didn’t see each other for twenty years. But the first time we crossed paths, I failed to save his men and roped him into a life he should’ve never been a part of. I caused him to abandon his life… and eventually humanity as he betrayed the demon slayer corps. Failing to kill Muzan, failing to stop my wife's death, and my brother betraying me, I failed countless times despite my strength and it hurts.” Tears flowed down Yoriichis face as he turned to Fluttershy with the most sorrowful expression she had ever seen. “I’ll ask you again, am I a bad person?”

Yoriichi’s gasped in surprise when the shy mare latched onto him with a tight grip, tears coming out of her eyes as well. “No… No, you’re not.” She sobbed out. The two just sat there, holding each other, until a groaning sound came from the bedridden stallion.

“Ugh… my lungs feel like they’re on fire.” Michikatsu opened his eyes to see his younger brother and the yellow pegasus looking at him with shock. “What the-, Yoriichi, is that you? Why do you look like a small horse?” Michikatsu didn’t get an answer as Yoriichi immediately hugged his older brother with a tight grip.

“I’m so glad you’re with me again, brother,” Yoriichi mumbled. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to see your face again.”

Michikatsu Grabbed his brother's shoulders, attempting to budge his clingy little brother off. “Yoriichi, I can barely breathe as it is!” He wheezed out. Noticing his brother's distress, Yoriichi let go and sat straight up with a somber smile. “...Thanks, now can you tell me why you are a horse? And what the hell happened?”

For the next couple of minutes, Yoriichi recounted his first days of being in the land of Equestria. What ponies are, some of their culture, and the events leading up to now. Throughout this, however, michikatsu only had a frown and a thoughtful look in his eyes. Yoriichi saw this and stopped talking.

“I remembered that night before I was defeated.” Michikatsu softly said. “After everything I did, I was still not strong enough, even giving up my humanity didn’t change anything. I-” Michikatsu’s voice died when Yoriichi bowed to him, his hooves folded in front of his lowered head.

“I’m sorry, brother, for everything I caused. If I was a better brother… you wouldn’t have gone down that dark path. It’s all my faul-”

Yoriichi was interrupted when Michikatsu yanked his haori collar with a hoof, forced him up, and slapped him with his free hoof. The look on the older brother's face depicted rage, but more frustrated than angry. Fluttershy, who was watching quietly this whole time, gasped in shock at the sudden act of violence.

“SHUT UP!” The older stallion growled. “Stop apologizing! You did nothing wrong, you damn idiot. After our mother died and you left, I read her journal to find out why you always clung to her, and I became jealous. Ever since you left, I trained every day to the point my body could barely work, just so I can get as strong as you. But when I grew and obtained my own soldiers, they all got slaughtered by my incompetence. Then you show up and act like it was your fault! I abandoned my wife and CHILDREN just so my petty desire to be stronger than you. And in the end, I betrayed you and the corps by becoming a demon and having you suffer because of it. Even after all that, that night we fought, you apologized!”

Tears built up in the older brother's eyes as his face got closer to Yoriichi’s. “So don’t feel sorry because of my mistakes! None of it was your doing! You’re the best brother I don’t deserve! STOP APOLOGIZING!” Michikatsu lowered his head, his voice dying to a whisper. “Please…”

Yoriichi was strangely silent as he calmly removed his older brother's hoof and put it on the bed. Then, his forelegs wrapped around michikatsu and pulled him into a hug.

“Okay.” He said, a small smile on his muzzle.

The sun god's wrath

The train car rattled as it rode on the tracks, Yoriichi staring out of the window at the vast southern desert. Last night after his and Michikatsu’s talk, Yoriichi regained enough of his composure to listen to Celestia’s request. The elements and him were tasked with investigating the disappearances, starting with a little desert town called Appaloosa.

Initially, Michikatsu wanted to accompany the group as backup after Yoriichi discussed it with him. The doctor didn’t take it well, saying he’d make Michikatsu worse than he already was if he did such a thing. But Celestia's sister, Princess Luna, was made aware of the existence of the two brothers and gained a fascination with Michikatsu, rather than his younger brother. Yoriichi was just hoping his brother was doing well.

The train slid to a stop, letting out a hiss of steam. The gang stepped out of the train and into the dirt streets of the small desert town.

“Well, howdy there, partner. I hope you’re havin’ a swell mornin’!” Yoriichi was caught off guard by a yellow-coated, light-orange maned stallion wearing a brown vest and hat.

“I am, thank you, sir.” Yoriichi removed the stallion's hoof from his shoulder. “I guess you are Braeburn Princess Celestia was speaking of? He asked with usual evenness.

Braeburn pointed a hoof at the stoic stallion, “Ya darn right I am!” He looked over the swords pony’s shoulder to see Applejack and the elements walk up. “OH! I see ya brought my cousin and her friends along as well.” He said joyfully.

When Applejack and the rest met with the two, the farm mare waved a greeting, “Hey, no time long see, Braeburn. How’s the town comin’ along?”

“It’s been fine since you and your friends came along.” Braeburns then frowned, “But due to ponies vanishin’ on us, the bison aren’t comin’ around as much, says it’s too dangerous to come around here.” The cow-pony put on his previous smile and walked to applejack, putting a hoof around her neck. “Now that you’re all here, I’m sure you will solve this in no time!”

As the two cousins were talking, Fluttershy walked next to Yoriichi. “S-So, what do you think?” Yoriichi looked at her with a sense of confusion, “About the town, I-I mean.” She said, looking away with a faint blush.

Yoriichi looked away from the shy mare to the busy streets of Appaloosa, “It reminds me of the many villages I visited while in the corps. So I find it to be quite pleasant.” He said with a ghost of a smile. Before Fluttershy could say anything, Braeburn walked into view with a grin. “If ya want a tour, I can show ya around!” Yoriichi and Fluttershy were grabbed by the enthusiastic cow-pony and dragged off and lost in the sea of town ponies.

“Do you think we should help them?” Twilight asked with concern.

Pinkie pie walked past her with a freshly baked apple pie from in hoof, chunks of the pastry on her face. “Nah, they’ll be fine!”

Applejack just rolled her eyes, sighed, and walked off, following the direction of her cousin and the filly-napped friends.

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

Night soon came to the small desert town; Ponies were heading into their homes and businesses were closing up. Except for the local watering hole, still lively with tipsy patrons, dancing mares, and piano music courtesy of Pinkie pie.

At the bar, Yoriichi sat alone with a glass of apple cider in his hoof, which he found refreshing. The entire day consisted of Braeburn pushing Fluttershy and Yoriichi around town and showing them their attractions. During their tour, Braeburn pointed out a new ranch they’d built for dairy products and eggs. Fluttershy was infatuated by it, bringing Yoriichi along to visit and feed the livestock.

Let’s say that Yoriichi would never look at a cow the same way again.

Another event during their tour was the wild and mild dances. Once again, Fluttershy thought it would be a good idea to join in, eventually slow dancing with Yoriichi under the setting sun. The swords pony had trouble dancing at first, but eventually got the hang of it. In the middle of their slow dance, Fluttershy had tripped on a rock and was about to hit the ground before Yoriichi caught her with a hoof around her midsection. Yoriichi immediately helped Fluttershy to her hoofs, as it appeared to him that the sun was getting to her due to the shy mare's heavy blush.

So now, he, Fluttershy, and the rest of the gang met up at the watering hole, somehow getting roped into a late-night party not long after. Yoriichi turned his head to the side to see Bareburn sitting next to him with a smile on his face.

“Evnin’ sir, how do you like your visit so far?” The cow-pony asked.

Yoriichi took a sip from his mug and put it back on the counter. “Have you ever wronged somebody before… even if it wasn’t your fault?” He asked in a somber tone.

Braeburn looked confused for a second before chuckling. “I don’t exactly know what you’re talkin’ about. But yeah, I’ve had my fair share of bad moments.” He said, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

Yoriichi sighed and turned to the cow-pony, “What do you do to make amends? The per-pony I wronged doesn’t want me to, but I still feel like I have to make it up to him.”

“Well, my advice is to have a good time with ‘em” Yoriichi raised an eyebrow at this, so Braeburn continued. “What ah mean is, take him somewhere nice, have fun, talk out your problems, and just have some quality time together. At least that’s what ah think.” Braeburn tapped the bar top and a mug of cider slid over to him.

The sword-pony was deep in thought. It couldn’t have been that easy… could it? They haven’t spent much family time, even after Michikatsu joined the corps.

suddenly, the smell of smoke filled Yoriichi’s nose. Braeburn must have also smelt it because he had an irritated scowl and was looking around the (totally not alcoholic) bar. It didn’t take long before the origin of the smell was found, as Braeburn and Yoriichi saw small smoke trails coming from a hooded figure in the corner of the bar.

“Sorry Yoriichi-” Braeburn scoffed as he got off his seat. “HEY! Ya know smokin’ ain’t allowed in here!” The cow-pony shouted. The hooded figure didn’t react, even when Braeburn put a hoof on their shoulder. “Didn’t ya hear me?!”

A Sudden sense of urgency filled Yoriichis's mind, making him quickly get out of his seat and approach Braeburn.

“Demon blood art…”

Yoriichi’s eyes widened when the whispered words reached his ears. Swiftly biting the handle of his sword, Yoriichi dashed for the cowpony.

“DESTRUCTIVE TIDAL WAVE!”

Time seemed to slow down as Yoriichis's blade swung down at the figure. Under the hooded figure's cloak, a massive amount of blood headed for Braeburns face. Luckily, the sword blocked the attack, reflecting it through the upper floor and out the roof of the watering hole. Everyone in the bar was stuck in fear-filled shock and the air was still with heavy tension.

“Sun breathing, first form: Dance” A slash of sun fire cut the hooded figure's cloak, sending them flying through a nearby window. Everyone snapped out of their shock and screamed in horror, breaking the doors to the bar as the wave of terrified ponies ran out.

Yoriichi jumped out of the window he sent the hooded figure through just in time to see the revealed demon underneath.

The thing was repulsive to look at. The body resembled a bison, except it was air-less and malnourished looking, with barely any muscle around the skin-covered bones. The hind legs had normal hooves, while the front pair sported a set of razor-sharp claws. Patterns ran from the hind legs to its midsection in the form of sea plants, and it had the head of an angular fish with an esca in the middle.

The demon covered its sharp, toothy maw with a hoof and cackled madly. “You’ve got guts, pony.” The demon said with a shrill voice. “I don’t know how a weakling like you did that, but you’ll be dead long before you can answer that!” The demon got into a low defensive stance and opened its jaw widely. A bubble shape made of blood formed and grew to the size of a beach ball.

A fast stream of blood rushed out of the bubble at a high rate towards the sword's pony. Yoriichi redirected the stream again away from himself. Not wasting this chance, Yoriichi went in for the kill as sun fire spread across his blade. He was close to cutting the demon's head off when Esca, with a crying foal in its fleshy grasp, blocked the demon’s head and neck. The sword was inches away from the terrified foal when the air in Yoriichi’s lungs was knocked out by the demon hitting him in the face, launching the stallion into the bar's wall.

“HA HA HA! THAT’S THE THING WITH YOU PONIES, NEVER WILLING TO MAKE SACRIFICES TO WIN! HA HA HA!” The demon howled with laughter. His crazed cackling stopped as another bubble formed in its mouth. “DIE!”

Before the demon fired its attack, a rainbow blur hit the demon over the head, causing it to drop the foal and fall onto the ground with a thud.

“That’s what you get, creep!” Rainbow dash angrily yelled as she quickly changed her flight path and grabbed the foal. She set the foal down, and they ran away while calling for their parents.

The demon was back on its hooves again and growling in anger, Rainbow dash recoiled in disgust at the monster's caved-in skull slowly healing. “You damn pony! I’ll rip you limb from limb!” With a snarl, the demon dashed towards Rainbow. She backed away, and before the demon could reach her, a purple aura wrapped around it and held it in place. Twilight grunted as the levitation spell barely held back the beast, even with her alicorn magic.

Yoriichi groaned as he pushed himself out of the broken wall and fell to the ground. His head was spinning and a nauseating feeling filled his stomach. Out of the corner of his eye, Fluttershy, rarity, and pinkie rushed towards him. “Are you ok?” Fluttershy crouched down and inspected the sword stallion's body.

“Now, Applejack!” Twilight yelled from the watering holes deck, her voice strained.

Applejack ran past the alicorn with a rope in her mouth. The farm mare swung her head in a circle and threw a rope loop over the demon, tightening it. “Hold it there Twi!” Her muffled voice shouted. “Fluttershy, we need ya stare!”

Fluttershy turned away from Yoriichi and nodded at her farm friend and flew in front of the demon. It could smell the fear coming from the shy mare and let out a mocking laugh. “Come closer, pony, I don’t bite~” It taunted. But Fluttershy didn’t give in and closed her eyes and opened them with a hardened stare. An intense feeling of fear overwhelmed the demon, seemingly making it shake in fear.

During this, Yoriichi got up onto his hooves with his sword in his muzzle. ‘There is no way they are going to last long…’ Yoriichi looked to the sky, only to find the moon not even at its peak. ‘It will break out at any moment, I need to-’ The swords pony’s thoughts were halted when the demon suddenly broke out of the rope, at the same time, Twilight’s magic finally gave out, as the beast made a mad dash at Fluttershy. She yelped in pain as the demon nearly slit her throat but her foreleg covered it, making Fluttershy fall to the dirt.

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

In the medical wing of Canterlot castle, Michikatsu and Luna were talking to one another. It had been like this for the past few hours, discussing past stories, sharing interests, and the works. Michikatsu placed his cup on a nightstand and looked down with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Is something the matter?” Luna asked worryingly, placing her cup next to the older stallion’s.

Michikatsu stayed silent for a moment before closing his eyes and sighing. ”Yes, Luna, Something is indeed troubling me.” He replied in a somber tone. “It’s… about my brother.”

“What about him?” The lunar princess asked.

Michikatsu’s eyes opened, and he looked at Luna with worry. “It is just… he seems more… expressive… than the last time I saw him. Ever since we were young, my brother barely showed any signs of emotion to the point my family believed he was deaf. I’ve only seen him express emotion a ha- hoofull of times, but ever since I’ve appeared in this realm and met him again.” Michikatsu clenched his hoof as his body began to shake. “It’s like something in him has changed… and there is one thing about that idea that terrifies me to my core…”

Luna put a hoof on the older stallion's back, “What is it?” She asked curiously.

“With Yoriichi’s inhuman-like strength and sun breathing, I pray no being evokes his wrath.”

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

“You think that idiotic look frightens me?!” The demon raised a claw into the air, its sharp edges shining in the moonlight. “Fat chance!”

Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut as she awaited her inevitable demise. After a gargled yelp and the absence of sliced flesh, she slowly opened her eyes to see the demon with a shocked expression. Then she noticed black smoke coming from its joints and neck, and with a choked gasp from the demon, its head fell to the ground with a wet splat, and the rest of it soon followed.

The now sickened and horrified Fluttershy whimpered slightly at the display of brutal death. A subtle sound of heavy sighing drew her sight to Yoriichi standing and facing away from the burning demon corpse. He turned around and looked down the street as distant screams of pain and fear filled the night sky. But Fluttershy shivered at the sight of his face, which barely changed besides his eyes. The pupils were shrunk to almost pin prick with a bulging vein on the side of his forehead.

“Y-Y-Yoriichi?” Fluttershy cautiously said.

Yoriichi didn’t look at her, only tightening his jaw grip around his sword. “Are you alright?” He asked in a low and bizarrely calm tone. Despite not knowing if he saw her, Fluttershy slowly nodded. “Good.” He muttered as the handle of his sword nearly splintered from his grip.

The shaking mare couldn’t help but sit in fear, it was all she could do. She had never seen Yoriichi like this before, not even when an angel or a rude pony would try to antagonize him. He was always calm and gentle no matter what. But now… it was like sitting next to somebody completely different. Fluttershy’s eyes widened when Yoriichi got into a running stance and she tried to crawl as fast as her shaking legs could carry her.

“Wait, Yorii-” It was too late, the swords pony bolted down the dirt path in the blink of an eye. Fluttershy unfurled her wings to chase after him, but an orange hoof placed itself on her shoulder and stopped her.

“Ah think we should sit this one out, sugarcube.” Applejack said, also looking down the dirt road with a troubled expression.

Fluttershy faced away from the farm mare and looked down. “Yoriichi…”

Author's Note

Fun fact: The country with the most bikes per capita is the Netherlands, 23 million in total, with 1 million bikes sold annually.

Sometimes the easiest way is the correct way

“This world… it is beautiful in every single way.”

Yoriichi saw red as he mad-dashed down the dirt road. Two mares hugged each other to the side of the road as three changeling demons closed in. The mutated insects never got close as Yoriichi lunged at them, twisting his body in multiple directions. When he landed, the demons screamed in pain, their heads and bodies coming apart and burning.

“I believe being born in this world was a blessing in itself.”

A burly stallion stabbed a pitchfork into the chest of a changeling demon, but the farm tool snapped like a rotten toothpick. The stallion yelped in fear and backed into a corner with the demon not far behind. Before it could get him, the wall to the right of the stallion shattered into pieces as a black and maroon blur cut the demon's head off in a single fiery slash.

“But demons exist in this beautiful world… again.”

Over and over, demons fell to the sun slayer's blade as the slaughter continued. Yet, the burning hatred and pain that had been pent up for almost 80 years didn’t dwindle as Celestia’s sun peaked over the horizon.

“Am I doomed to forever live like this? What do I have to do in order to achieve a peaceful life? Time and time again, I am reminded of my failures and weaknesses, like some divine being found my suffering amusing.”

The remaining demons noticed the sun rising and promptly made a run for cover. But the enraged swords pony didn’t give them the chance to flee, cutting off heads or severing limbs and letting the rising star finish the rest.

Finally, the screams died out, pony and demon alike. As the final demon shriveled up from the light, Yoriichi stood where it had been before with labored breath. He could feel the splinters poking the roof of his mouth, sweat ran down his forehead, and Yoriichi’s heart was beating faster than it had ever had before. He shook off his fatigue, took a deep breath, and calmed his racing heart. Looking around, Yoriichi saw that he was near where the fight had started and that the watering hole wasn’t far away.

As he slowly walked to the bar, memories of Fluttershy played in his mind, much to his confusion. Even though her wound wasn’t a life-threatening wound, the sight of the injured sweet and innocent mare felt wrong to him. Maybe because she reminded him of a mix between Sumiyoshi and Uta, at least that is what he thought, and Fluttershy getting hurt was like them getting hurt also.

Yoriichi pushed the thoughts back when he reached the watering hole’s entrance, and stepping over the broken doors, was met with the sight of his friends. Rainbow dash and Applejack noticed him immediately, the former obviously trying her best to hide a nervous expression from him, while the latter flashed him a grateful look.

Twilight and Pinkie, who were tending to the now awake Braeburn, turned to him with grateful smiles. “Oh, you’re back, Yoriichi. We were worried about you.” Twilight said with a relieved sigh.

Pinkie Pie nodded. “Yeah! After you went all scary like, the girls and I waited for you for, like, ever! But in the meantime, I help patch ol’ Bray over here, and he’s all better now.” The party mare's cheerful demeanor damped sadly as a frown spread across her muzzle. “I can’t say the same for Fluttershy, though. No matter what I do, she just won’t cheer up!” She said, throwing her hooves up in the air.

Yoriich wordlessly nodded and looked around the room for his shy friend, quickly seeing Fluttershy facing away from him in a slumped position with Rarity next to her. Rarity turned around when Yoriichi’s hoof steps reached her ears, Fluttershy only flinching from his approach.

“It’s wonderful to see you are okay, darling…” Rarity greeted with a small smile. “I presume you… took care of them?” She asked, cringing internally at the thought of taking a life.

Yoriichi nodded and looked down at the hunched Fluttershy. “Yes, I have…” He knelt and placed his slightly damaged sword next to him. “Are you alright?” Fluttershy didn’t respond and only turned around to face him. Her foreleg, where the demon injured her, was wrapped in a bandage, which brought comfort to him. But the look of sadness on the shy mare's face snuffed that comfort.

“Yes.” She mumbled quietly. Yoriichi was about to speak again, but Fluttershy got onto her hooves and walked out of the watering hole, leaving the stoic stallion confused.

He was about to follow when 1) Rarity beat him to it, and 2) Braeburn put a hoof on his shoulder with a smile. “Ah don’t even know what to say, mister. But ah am grateful for your help last night. Without you, who knows how many would’ve gotten hurt?” He said.

While he did feel some pride in his service, Yoriichi didn’t feel as if he did a good job. Sure, he had stopped many lives from being lost, but his emotional outburst left a sour taste in his mouth. It was common knowledge, mostly to him and his brother, that he expressed little emotion since he was a child, especially hatred. Not many things annoyed or irritated his usually calm and cool demeanor. Even when fighting Muzan, nothing more than the feeling of caution and anger barely showed themself.

So why did seeing Fluttershy getting hurt anger him? When he came into this world, Yoriichi noticed increased moments of happiness and other emotions during his stay. Most of these moments involved Fluttershy for whatever reason, along with a new emotion he had long since forgotten. But due to this, he let his bottled-up anger loose and caused a lot of unnecessary destruction around the desert town.

Yoriichi nodded his head. “ It wasn’t anything special, I was just doing my duty as a demon slayer. Unfortunately, I damaged property during my duty and want to repay you”

It surprised the stoic stallion when Braeburn chuckled and patted Yoriichi’s shoulder, “You don’t need to worry about a thing, partner. If it is the same to you, ah think savin’ the town all by yourself is enough payment.” Braeburn then started walking over to the door of the watering hole and faced Applejack. “Ah’m goin’ to make sure nopony is still freakin’ out. If you are thinkin’ of leavin’, sat hi to the rest of the family applejack!” With that, the cow pony disappeared.

The remaining Elements and the swords pony decided not to overstay their welcome and made themself scarce. It wasn’t long before they made it to the train station, where they found Rarity comforting a, more than usual, quiet Fluttershy. Her face had faint tear marks, and her eyes were slightly red and glossy from crying, but Yoriichi decided to address it later. They all boarded the train, with Fluttershy and Yoriichi last, and as Yoriichi walked inside the train car behind Fluttershy, he couldn’t help but notice an uncomfortable chill go down his spine.

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

Muzan tapped a hoof on the arm of his throne, the stench of Queen chrysalis now disposed of carcass still lingering in the air. His newest servant starlight had been missing ever since he gave her his blood. At first, Starlight was disgusted by the idea of consuming flesh, but a mix of her petty desire for revenge and her new demon traits quickly died out once he brought out some captured ponies.

Even though her progress was rapidly increasing, her tendency to question his intellect was grinding on his patience. The only thing keeping the demon king from turning the ex-pony into a puddle of blood and leftovers was that this world's inhabitants weren't as easy to win over with power and immortality as humans. So, he had to make do with what little he had until he could get enough members to remake the upper and lower moons.

“Master Muzan, Master Muzan!” A demon changeling rushed into the throne room from the ceiling but forgot to land on his stick-like forelegs instead of his face.

“You better have something of importance, or your face won’t be the only thing smeared on the floor.” He threatened in a low tone.

The demon changeling quickly and sloppy got back onto his hooves and gave a small bow. “I come with the most disturbing news!” He said. “T-The entire force hiding out in the desert town has been wiped out.”

Muzna’s eyes widened in shock and he jetted out of his seat with veins bulging from his head. “WHAT?!” He roared. “There is no possible way those pathetic, weakling ponies managed to eradicate that many demons in one night!” A familiar chill ran down his spine, a chill that was frighteningly familiar to him. “Do you know who dared oppose me?!”

The changeling sputtered and moved his mouth wordlessly, but eventually found his voice. “T-There w-wasn’t much. But from a single survivor, t-they said that he used a sword, and a strange scar on his-’ the demon changeling didn’t get to finish his report when Muzan extended his hoof and instantly crushed the demon, with a shallow crater being his grave.

A faint ringing in his ear accompanied the demon king’s heavy breathing as he knew all too well what, or who, the dead demon changeling was speaking of. Then, a small chuckle escaped Muzans lips, soon turning into maddening laughter that filled the entire throne room.

“Even in death, I can’t escape you! But no matter, when I get my hands on the alicorn amulet, not even you will be able to stop me, Yoriichi!” He yelled. The sound of a hard thud stopped the demon king’s laughter. Turning to the noise, Muzan flashed a sinister smile to the first member of his upper ranks.

“Lord Muzan, should I be worried about this pony you speak of?” The demon pony’s echoed monotone voice asked.

Muzan sat back down on his throne, smile still on his muzzle. “No, my dear stardust, he will only be a minor setback when this is all over. But that doesn’t mean to underestimate him.” The demon pony only nodded as she disappeared into the shadows, leaving Muzan to himself.

“Watch yourself, demon slayer, for your days are numbered”

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

Once again, the scenery outside the train car passed by the window as Yoriichi sat beside it alone. The Elements were mostly conversing among themselves, only talking to him when giving thanks. He would say the same thing he said to Braeburn, only resulting in getting subtle looks of worry and pity from the mare.

Fluttershy, on her part, sat across the train car away from Yoriichi and not facing him. No words came from the shy mare for the past hour, and the same worrying feeling came back to Yoriichi.

Not wanting it to persist, Yoriichi had to “face the music”, whatever Pinkie pie said, and walked over and sat next to the shy mare. She flinched and tried to make herself smaller under Yoriichi’s calm gaze. Both stayed silent, not aware of the other Elements watching in mild suspense.

“Is there something bothering you?” Yoriichi asked. The shy mare next to him didn’t give him an audible answer, only a slight nod. “Judging by your reactions, it has something to do with me… doesn’t it?”

Fluttershy hesitated but eventually nodded in shame.

Yoriichi had thought that was the case. But even then, a ping of guilt and shame stabbed his heart as he looked away. Yet again, the silence was deafening as the stoic stallion was trying to come up with ways to talk with his friend, yet nothing came to mind. He’d dealt with this type of pony, or rather person, before. Usually, their quietness and distancing from others were caused by the death of a lost one, either because they didn’t save them from a demon or an accident. He never dealt with someone who visibly feared him to the point of wanting to get away from him.

No explanations or reasons came to the stoic stallion, Every pathetic excuse would never work or would possibly escalate the situation.

“Yoriichi?”

The swords pony’s thoughts halted when Fluttershy’s barely hearable voice called him. He looked over and saw that Fluttershy's tear-stained face was staring right back at him with… sorrow?

“Why did you have to do that?” She asked, her voice wavering with sad confusion.

“What are you referring to?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yoriichi forced his eyes not to widen when Fluttershy suddenly wrapped her forelegs around him in a tight embrace. “You… You really scared us last night. I’m thankful that you saved me, but that look you had frightened me.” She looked up at him with a hint of anger in her expression. “Why did you rush off like that? I was worried about you.”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t even know myself,” Yoriichi answered bluntly. “When I saw you get hurt by that demon, anger filled my heart at that moment… that disgusting feeling that drove me into a blind rage.” The swordspony rested a hoof on Fluttershy’s head and pulled her closer. “But I will never lower myself to that level again, I promise you that.” He whispered.

“I’m not saying you need to hide those feelings, just… don’t go overboard again.” Fluttershy said with a small smile.

Over on the other side, a white unicorn mare was squealing in joy as the rest of her friends looked on with either confusion or happy smiles.

“Rarity, what’s going on with you?” Twilight asked. Her mouth was plugged by Rarity's hoof as the young alicorn and unicorn ducked behind the seat.

“Twilight, darling, I know that you aren’t the most knowledgeable of ponies when it comes to things like this,” Twilight glared at the insult, but Rarity ignored it. “Still, even somepony like you can tell what’s going on?” Rarity pointed a hoof to the hugging pair a few seats back.

The young alicorn pushed Rarity’s hoof away and wiped her mouth. “Um… they’re making up as friends do?” She shrugged.

Rarity face-hoofed and let out a small groan, “No, darling, they are obviously falling in love!” She quietly shouted.

“Do you think they actually made a good match?” The prismatic pegasus asked from above, almost startling Rarity and Twilight, “In my opinion, they are both too alike.” She said with an eye roll.

The fashionista waved a hoof and scoffed, “Nonsense, Rainbow dash, they’d make a good pair. We just need to make sure it happens.” Rarity chuckled darkly while rubbing her hoofs together.

The pegasus and alicorn just looked at each other and silently agreed to just leave Rarity to her delusions.

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

Celestia took a bite from her vanilla-frosted chocolate cake and placed the fork back onto the plate. On the other side of the table, Yoriichi barely touched his pastry, only staring at it with a blank look.

“It is concerning, From the eyewitness reports and you and the elements reports, It sounds like the changelings are at it once again,” Celestia said. She sighed and levitated a quill and parchment over to herself. “I’ll have to write to my royal guard outposts in major areas.”

The solar Diarch was about to write when Yoriichi slid his plate forward, catching her attention. “It would not be of any use to contact them.” He said in his even tone.

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

Yoriichi turned his head and looked out to the clear blue sky outside of the princess's personal chambers. “While I’m not undermining the strength of your stallions, pitting them against a demon would prove to be more challenging. The best-case scenario would be a handful of guards would be able to take on a demon or two until daybreak, and that’s being optimistic.” He grimaced inwardly but continued. “I do not want to see anyone die, but if we are to go against Muzan, then me and my brother will not be enough.”

“Then how do you suggest we deal with these creatures?” Celestia asked, taking another bite from her cake. “Also, who is this Muzan pony, and why would he be teaming up with somepony like Chrysalis?”

The sword-pony sighed and said. “The method we demon slayers used to take out demons were special ores that can store sunlight, I have a feeling that it may or doesn’t exist here?” Yoriichi side glanced at Celestia, who was shaking her head. “Thought so.”

Then, Yoriichi had to fight off a scowl when Clestias second question came to mind. “As for Muzan, he is the vilest creature I have ever came across. A man once turned beast. He is the most likely one to create these newer demons, but I have no clue as to how he came to be in this realm. As for this Chrysalis per- pony, we can only hope Muzan hasn’t done anything life-threatening.”

Maybe he was right; Yoriichi would never find true peace. While he did have friends and co-workers that he cherished and loved greatly, there was always something missing. It was like a puzzle that could never be solved despite being the completed product. The only problem was that Yoriichi never sat down to think about these problems much in his past life, even after getting kicked out by the demon slayers. Even though Muzan was technically the cause of all his pain, he couldn’t bring himself to hate someone, no matter how vile.

Yoriichi never was one to truly hate another being beyond the common annoyance or frustration. Muzan though was the only one who was an exception to that. He made the sword-pony blood boil with an undying rage for what he had done, and Yoriichi swore that if the demon king ever showed himself again, he wouldn’t miss again.

Yoriichi turned his head away from the window and his thoughts at the sound of Celestia stifled laughter. “What is amusing?” He asked.

The solar diarch’s laughter died out as the parchment she had rolled up disappeared into thin air. “Excuse my rudeness, but when I finished writing a letter, I couldn’t help but take note of your seriousness.” She giggled.

Not understanding, Yoriichi asked, “Is that a problem?”

Celestia waved a dismissive hoof, “No, not at all. You and I have every right to be tense in these situations. I just think you need some relaxation time, too much stress is bad for a pony's health.” She then stood up and walked over to Yoriichi, “In truth, you remind me of myself a lot. Always worrying about others' safety.”

Yoriichi got up from his seat and stood up, almost reaching about the lunar princess's height. “Then what do you suggest I do?”

“ First off, I think you’d want to freshen up after a night’s worth of hard work.” The door to Celestia's room was surrounded by a golden aura as it opened. “I’ll have a bath set up for you in a guest room. Secondly, I heard there was a festival happening in Canterlot tonight.”

Now that she mentioned it, Yoriichi did notice the roads were less crowded than the last time he was here. Combined with the wooden stages being set up, a festival wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

“I suggest you go there to catch up and spend time with your friends, especially your brother,” Celestia said with a hint of somberness in her voice. “I don’t know the full story, but I can tell you and him have bad relations with one another. So try and do what my sister and I did and talk things out, ok?” She smiled, turning away and walking to the door. “Let's get going now.”

Yoriichi nodded in agreement and didn’t waste any time following the solar Diarch. As they walked down the pristine white halls, Yoriichi thought back on Celestia's words.

“Talk, huh? I’ll try again.”

Red festival: part 1

“This is the best day EVER!” Pinkie shouted, not even waiting for her friends to catch up as she bounced off into the crowded streets of the festival.

Shaking her head, Twilight stopped and turned to her friends, along with Yoriichi and his brother, with a smile. “Alright, everypony, I got all of today's events neatly planned so we don’t miss a single thing!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with a groan. “Booooring! Twilight, this is a festival, NOT a family get-together.” The rainbow-maned pegasus complained. “Besides, I’ve heard they got one of those new “roller coaster” things here!” Rainbow points to the distance at a towering structure with loops and hills that overlooked the festival itself. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not waiting for the line to get long. So see you all later.”

With that, the colorful pegasus took off with a rainbow trail left behind her. “Ah’m gonna follow her to make sure the mare doesn’t get into trouble.” Applejack tipped her hat and galloped after her friend.

“Oh, come on!” Twilight threw her hooves up, “I’ve spent most of the night coming up with this!” Her soon-to-be rant was interrupted by Yoriichi walking up to her.

“I still don’t understand. Why is this event so special that you’d lose sleep over it?” He asked politely. Last night after Celestia had suggested the festival, he questioned the solar diarch about it. Unfortunately, she only said that Twilight would be able to explain and that she needed to tend to some important documents. Not wanting to waste her valuable time, he obliged. When he arrived at the studious mare's room, she tunnel-visioned a checklist in front of her while mumbling about plans, routes, and whatnot.

Twilight's exasperated demeanor took a 180, gaining a guilty and sheepish expression. “Oh, sorry. I was caught up in everything last night. I forgot to tell you. Well, the festival is to celebrate the founding of Canterlot. Ponies throw this big celebration to show off a lot of things.” She explained casually.

“What things?” Michikatsu walked next to his brother, Fluttershy, silently following. “All of this is new to me and my brother.” The older brother looked around with an almost childlike wonder at the many food stands and games.

The studious mare giggled with a hoof over her mouth. “A lot of things, actually. If you want I can-” Twilight was once interrupted again when she was suddenly dragged into the crowd by Rarity and rushed behind a cotton candy stand. “R-Rarity, what are you doing?!” She shouted, but her muzzle was covered by Rarity’s hoof, with the other over her lips.

“Shush, Twilight. Don’t you see the opportunity?” Rarity questioned. “This is the perfect time to get Fluttershy and Yoriichi to discover the burning passion between each other!” The fashionista had a borderline crazed look, peering to the gap between the stands.

Twilight shoved Rarity’s hoof away and scowled lightly at the white unicorn. “This isn’t some cheesy romance novel, Rarity. If those two actually loved each other, then let them work it out on their own.” Her reasoning fell on deaf ears as the sides of her face were grabbed by the worried-looking Rarity.

“But Twilight, darling. The poor mare hasn’t found her special somepony in ages, and now is the time to change that!” Twilight held back a yelp as Rarity and her moved quickly to the edge of the cotton candy stand and peaked around the corner. Still in the same spot were the two brothers and the shy mare. “I mean, look at Yoriichi! He’s a strong, kind, and sweet stallion, perfect for Fluttershy!”

The two mares hid around the corner again. “All I am asking for is that those two can get some alone time.” Rarity gave Twilight a grown-up equivalent to a pouty face a foal would make. “Please?”

Now there were two options, Let the Fationista plan go through and leave the two alone, or put a stop to this. Sadly, the pouty face worked on the young princess who regrettably agreed with her friend. “Fine,” She sighed, “It wouldn’t hurt to leave them to themselves.” She could only shake her head as Rarity squeed in joy.

With the rest, Fluttershy shifted nervously in place and eyed Yorrichi. She was about to speak when Twilight and Rarity came back.

“Sorry to say this, but me and Twilight over here decided to go off on our little adventure, so I bid you three fare well!” In a burst of uncharastically speed, The two mares, mainly Rarity, dashed into and disappeared into the crowd.

Now alone, the three awkwardly looked at each other. “So… where should we begin?” Michikatsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I-I can show you two around.” Fluttershy meekly said. “ You both need time together, I hope I won’t be a bother…” The shy mare looked at the ground with a sad face. But she flinched a little when Yoriichi’s hoof touched her cheek and gently raised her face to look at him.

“You would not be a burden, so please, guide us,” Yoriichi said in a low tone.

A faint blush spread across the shy mare's face as she spun around. “A-A-Alright I g-guide you!” She unnecessarily shouted. The two brothers looked at each other quizzically but physically and mentally shrugged it off as the three walked into the depths of the festival.

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

Yoriichi eyed the tall attraction in front of him with a confused look. The…thing…looked to be at least 20 meters in height with a red bell at the top, numbers were painted on the vertical tower, and next to the base of it was a sizable wooden mallet. From what Yoriichi saw, foals and adults alike took the wooden mallet and slammed it onto the base, resulting in an attached projectile flying up towards the bell. Nobody had gotten it to hit the bell in the time the stoic stallion observed, and it interested him.

“What are you looking at?” Fluttershy said, now noticing Yoriichi staring at the towering attraction.

“It’s some weird machine that tests one’s strength,” Yoriichi said while rubbing his chin in thought. “While it is a simple concept, I find it to be interesting.” Yoriichi’s eyes wandered until they landed on his brother walking up to the stand with a confident smirk.

As Michikatsu stopped before the attraction, a young stallion wearing a blue and white shirt and matching top hat ran up to him. “Hello there, sir! Are you interested in testing your might with my invention-” The stallion dramatically threw a foreleg back, pointing at his work. “THE HIGH STRIKER!”

The older brother winced from the young stallion's volume but quickly hid it behind a cocky smirk. “Shouldn’t be too hard. A children's game is no a match for a trained sword-m- I mean pony like me.” He said. The small crowd of ponies audibly awed at the statement and watched with excitement as Michikatsu took the wooden mallet in his mouth.

With a mighty- albeit muffled- roar, the older sword-pony swung his head down and connected the mallet with the base of the high striker. The crowd watched as the metal striker rapidly approached the bell, only to be disappointed when the striker was barely an inch away from the bell. Michikatsu’s eyes widened, he involuntarily dropped the mallet and glared daggers at the young stallion.

“What the hell?! I put everything behind that hit!” He shouted. But his anger only grew when the young stallion smirked smugly and shrugged at him.

“Don’t know what to tell ya, man. Maybe you don’t have what it takes.” He said.

Michikatsu fumed and recoiled a foreleg back, “Why you little-” he was about to hit the little shit when his hoof was grabbed by Yoriichi, who blankly looked between his older brother and the smug stallion.

“If you don’t mind, I would like to have a try at it as well.” He calmly asked. Michikatsu yanked his hoof away from his brothers and walked back to Fluttershy while cursing under his breath.

“Sure man, you don’t look as strong as the other guy, but there's no limit to fun.” The young stallion said, adding heavy sarcasm at the end of his sentence. ‘Doesn’t matter anyway. It would take a Princess to get the striker up. There’s no way-” His internal monologue was halted as Yoriichi slammed the mallet into the striker base, splitting the mallet and leaving a big dent where he hit. The striker itself was barely seen: the only thing left of its existence was a ding from the now mangled bell as it flew off into the distance. The young stallion sputtered and wordlessly looked wide-eyed at the sky like the rest of the small crowd.

“I put too much force beyond my hit and I apologize for it,” Yoriichi said with a small bow. “May you have a good afternoon." The stallion didn't seem to respond as the swords pony walked away with a hidden smirk. Yoriichi reached his brother and a shocked Fluttershy and stopped. “Shall we continue?”

After Michikatsu got Fluttershy out of her stupor, the three continued their way through the festival stall to stall. TL;DR, many of the attractions that involved the usage of limbs, mainly forelegs, were destroyed by either of the two brothers, intentional anger or not. But in the end, Fluttershy was practically buried in stuffed animals with a belly full of sweets and other treats from the food stands. The sun was starting to set over the horizon yet the ponies only seemed to grow in number with the only safe place being a small courtyard that was fenced off from the road.

“I’m afraid that I need to gather our comrades. I’ll also need to get back to the castle soon, the princesses put me on something called “community service” as a punishment.” He said with a huff and eye roll as he walked away, leaving Yoriichi and Fluttershy alone.

For the longest time, the two stood in the court silently so as not to start any awkward conversation. Fluttershy looked around nervously while Yoriichi stared her down with his ever-lasting gaze. Ever since yesterday, the shy mare had been actively avoiding the swords pony for reasons she won’t say. It bothered Yoriichi to no end that it was because of him that she was like that, and he didn’t know how to fix it.

The stoic stallion sighed, walked over to a nearby bench, and sat on it, looking at the ground in thought. Fluttershy noticed this and carefully put the stuffed animals down to join Yoriichi.

“Fluttershy…do you hate me?”

She stopped in the middle of sitting down to look at him with a bewildered expression. “W-What? Of course not, why would you think that?” She asked worryingly.

Yoriichi looked at his shy friend with guilt, “Ever since that night you’ve been acting distant towards me. We both know that it is because of my outburst. But I still feel that there is some form of hatred in your heart for me, and I understand. I’m sorry for what I did…” The swords pony looked away from the now tearing up Fluttershy, “You can hate me all you want, I don’t have a say in what you feel.”

Suddenly, Yoriichi felt a light mass press against his back and two yellow forelegs wrapping around his form. He knew full well what, or who, it was from, but he couldn’t bear to look back. The feeling of hurting another was simply unbearable for him, especially the ones you can't cover with a bandage. Maybe it would be best if he’d leave and spare her and the others of the bad luck that follows him, they deserve to live better lives than to worry about him-

“I don’t hate you!” Fluttershy shouted, her voice barely heard by the ponies around them. “Sure, what you did scared me. And yes, I was distant because I was afraid. But I hate that I did that because I know you also feel bad about it. As an element of kindness, I should be there to support my friends…no matter what.” The stoic stallion slowly turned his head to look at Fluttershy. Her bright blue eyes seemed to shine in the moon's glow as the world around them seemed to become nothing but a whisper to them. Though the words she spoke were comforting, the nagging feeling from before came back in full force.

Yoriichi surprisingly gave a full smile to the shy mare. “I’m happy to know that. And I will also be there to protect the ones I love.” Fluttershy’s face seemed to turn a faint red, but the two didn’t even bother to address it.

As if in some trance, the two narrowed their eyes and leaned into each other, lips not even two inches away from each other.

BOOM!

The two broke out of their trance as they and the ponies around them all looked in the direction of the explosion sound. In the distance, the roller coaster crumbled into metal scrap with a large explosion accompanied by distance screams. Everyone was scared stiff, except for Yoriichi, who saw small figures in the distance rapidly becoming larger. His eyes widened and he immediately drew his sword.

“EVERYONE FLEE, TRY AND REMAIN CALM!” He shouted, his message being slightly muffled by his weapon.

It was too late, Demon changelings started to swarm into the crowd, getting in a few kills by stabbing ponies with horns or jagged appendages. Yoriichi took action and breathed deeply.

“Sun breathing: Thirteenth form”

Yoriichi kicked off the ground, breaking it and dashing into the panicked crowd like a bullet. Demons started to fall instantly with their heads coming clean off. The rest of the ponies screamed and ran in terror, not even bothering to look back. One after another, they fell like flies to Yoriichi's blade as the swords pony zoomed back and forth throughout the makeshift battleground. Two demons tried to pounce the sword's pony from the back. But the sun breather sensed the bloodlust and swiftly turned to face the shocked demons.

With one well-placed strike, Yoriichi cut the two hellspawn in half widthwise and caused the demon's screams to fall silent. Not waiting for them to regenerate, Yoriichi cut the halved necks of the demons, turning them into ash.

“Fluttershy.” He called out the pegasus, but she was nowhere to be seen. A hint of panic started to fill the stallion as the thought of her death plagued his mind. Although, the sound of frightened whimpering and the light pink tail poking out of a bush calmed him greatly. When he touched the silky smooth tail, there was an eep sound, and Fluttershy popped out of the bush and saw Yoriichi. “Are you unhurt?” He asked calmly.

She nodded but saw the dead demon corpse disintegrating behind Yoriichi and whimpered. Didn’t he take care of the scary demons from Appleloosa already? Why were they back? Fluttershy flinched slightly when Yoriichi put a hoof on her shoulder.

“We need to find my brother and the others. I’ll protect you as we search-” Yoriichi turned around, facing away from the shy mare. “-get on my back and hold tight.” He commanded with the sword still in his mouth.

She climbed onto his back and tightly held onto his neck, either her physical weight wasn't that great, or he didn’t seem to care, because the swords pony bolted forward and ran down the street. It took everything for the mare to not yelp, closing her eyes and deeply burying her face into his back.

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

Rainbow Dash's body was pulled out of the wreckage. She coughed up dust from her dry lungs, the feeling was agonizing for the athletic pegasus. Blood ran down her forehead and her wing was bent in the wrong direction, causing her to suppress a pained scream as the pain hit her full force.

“Sugarcube, are ya alright?”

She looked up to see Applejack crouched down next to her with a worried and angry expression. “Aj…what’s going on? And why is every pony screaming?” Rainbow dash asked groggily. She tried to stand, but her legs gave out, and she fell down with a thud as electric pain shot into her wing.

“Ah don’t recommend you standin’ right now. You’re in bad shape Rainbow.” The farm mare looked around the grizzly sight with ponies being slaughtered and bitten into left and right. “Those demons are back, somehow. They haven’t noticed us thanks to the rubble, but we need to get out of here quickly before they do.”

“Feast demons, for it is a privilege from Muzan himself that you live another day!”

The two mares froze at the familiar voice, and looking at the direction it came from, their eyes widened at who they saw.

Her body was a glossy black with mixes of blue, purple, and pink throughout her body in the form of galaxies and stars. The mane was similar to Celestia’s as it floated in a non-existent wind but more of a mockery than anything. Finally, her eyes were all but white voids with no pupils besides weird lines that Rainbow dash or Applejack couldn't understand. But what scared them both was the cutie mark of the demon.

A single star with a wisp of magic above it.

Red festival: part 2

A bolt of lavender magic struck a demon in the face before it could feast on the terrified mare in its grabs. It fell to the ground unconscious and the mare wasted no time running away. Twilight sparkle’s breath was heavy and labored as her horn glowed brightly, Rarity in the background waving ponies to safety.

Even though the two were having fun before, the explosion and demon changeling attack happened so fast that the studious alicorn wanted to believe it was a bad dream. But she pushed her fear aside when she saw a small group of demon changelings rushing at the escaping ponies. Twilight surrounded them in her magical aura and, with a grunt, flung them to the sky. She collapsed in exhaustion and felt as if she had run an entire marathon with Rainbow dash.

“Darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked with concern on her face. Twilight slowly nodded, standing up on shaky legs.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Another explosion went off in the distance, causing the pair to flinch, “We need to find Yoriichi and the others and figure out what is going on!” Twilight unfurled her wings and got into a low stance.”Make sure to get everypony you can out of the festival safely.” Rarity nodded in response.

With that, the alicorn took to the skies and scanned the ground for any sign of the swords pony. Luckily, she could make out the silhouettes of Yoriichi and Fluttershy rapidly running down a street, killing/ evading any demons they could.

On the ground, Yoriichi sliced the head off another demon and didn’t bother to look back. It had been only a hoof full of minutes, but no sign of his and Fluttershy's friends came into view. With the scale of the attack, Yoriichi could only think of how Muzan could get his hands on this quantity of creatures, much less convince them to turn willingly. As he slew another demon the sound of Fluttershy whimpering and tighter grip made him frown.

He needed to get her and the rest out of here and regroup with Michikatsu to take care of this massacre. Yoriichi stopped suddenly and looked up to notice Twilight descending and touching the ground in front of the pair.

“Thank Celestia I found you two, are you both unhurt?” She asked while approaching. Yorrichi nodded silently and removed Fluttershy from his back. She protested at first but seeing Twilight smiling at her calmed the shy mare. “Have you seen the others?” Twilight asked.

“N-No, we were searching as well. I think Rainbow and Applejack are still by the roller coaster, and I still haven’t seen Pinkie yet.” Her breathing became panicked as a million what if’s played in her mind. “What if they go ki-kil-hurt as well? Or what if they’re trapped under rubble and slowly suffocating?! What if-”

Fluttershy stopped ranting to see Twilight holding her shoulder, “It’s going to be alright, Fluttershy, our friends are tough and they wouldn’t go down without a fight.” She gave the shy mare a confident smile, which lightened her mood a bit. “Rarity is helping evacuate ponies to safety and I bet Pinkie is doing the best she can to help as well.”

“Miss Sparkle.” Yoriichi called out, getting both mare’s attention.”Take Fluttershy, find the rest, and get out of here. I have no doubt you all have great strength, but these creatures are beyond what you can handle at the moment, me and my brother shall handle things.”

“W-We can’t just leave you two all alone in this!” Fluttershy shouted, which caught the studious alicorn off guard.

Yoriichi lowered his gaze to the floor and sighed. “I know you worry about me, but I value innocent lives over my own. I can’t stand by and watch as you and your friend get slaughtered. It is my job to protect others, that is what it shall do.” Without waiting for a response, Yoriichi bolted off down the road. Fluttershy tried to follow, but Twilight’s magic trapping her tail stopped her from flying off.

“Come on, Fluttershy, we need to find the rest.” Twilight said in a somber tone. Turning around, the alicorn started to dash off in a different direction. Fluttershy took a second to look down the road Yoriichi fled down with a tear running down her face before running after Twilight.

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

Canterlot castle was in chaos as soldiers, lunar and solar, ran about like decapitated chickens. The sudden attack on Canterlot caught the unsuspecting soldiers off guard and made getting squads and rescue teams ready a nightmare as certain night princesses couldn’t fix.

“Princess, evac team number six is ready for deployment, should we send them out right away?” Raven inkwell asked.

Celestia nodded without turning her gaze from the window. HER city was basically up in flames, HER ponies were getting killed off like wild animals, and HER student was in the middle of it all. Rage built itself up in the solar diarch heart as faint wisps of smoke emanate off her mane. Raven took the hint and quickly rushed out of the bed chambers. Although her rage never dwindled, it was never growing knowing that Yoriichi and his brother were there and that she had faith in her student to get through this.

Suddenly, a distant explosion rattled the castle and made the solar diarch lose balance. Hoping she didn’t think what she thought it was, Celestia charged her horn and disappeared into a flash of light. When she reappeared, her eyes widened in horror and disgust. The hall she teleported into had a giant hole in the wall exposing the outside charge to the castle's insides. Demons flooded into the hall. And worst of all, her and Luna's guards were utterly wiped out as the disgusting creatures feasted on their flesh. The sound of crunching bones and flesh was all that she could hear.

The solar guard was like a family in itself, every one of them she committed to memory, faces, names, general information, She took that to heart. To see what essentially was a second family to her getting slaughtered was the straw that broke the camel's back as she let out a roar of pure, unadulterated anger. Demons finally noticed the solar diarch and froze, or rather warmed up, at the sight of the alicorn's solar magic.

A big blast of magic shot from her horn and impacted a demon, getting another that was close by in the crossfire, and making them yell out in pain as their bodies burned and shriveled away.

“HOW DARE YOU!!!” She shouted. Demons recoiled but had no other choice but to take her out. Before they could even move a leg, Celestia shot forward and death gripped a demon's neck and chucked him down the hall. It flailed and screamed but fell silent as the demon's body slammed into the wall, leaving a blood stain and a few cracks as well.

Carnage unfolded with demons either trying to get a hit on Celestia or running in fear of her solar magic. All was useless as they all got squashed like the insects they were under her hoof. Limbs and insides flew in every direction, blood painted the flawless marble walls, and the screams of anger and fear filled the air as the solar diarch went to work.

How dare they do this! They had the gall to intrude on her kingdom and destroy it without thinking of the consequences. Even though Celestia could only see red, a small part of her could help but darkly laugh at the situation. The first changeling invasion was bad enough, she got bested by Chrysalis before and was helpless to stop her invasion as her student and her friends risked their lives. She blamed herself for not being strong enough for her ponies, that she could have done more, but then Twilight talked with her and sorted it out, leaving the situation in the past.

But this was different.

Her student could be or is already dead.

Her and Luna's guards were getting slaughtered.

Her ponies were in real danger this time.

And she wasn’t able to stop it…again.

Celestia screamed as tears of anger escaped her eyes. Why does this happen to her ponies? Why do they need to suffer because of things out of their control? Why couldn’t she save them all? Time and time again, it seemed that her over one thousand-year rule was crumbling down like a house of cards in a windstorm with every passing year. She couldn’t do anything without another pony's assistant, and it pained her. She was the most powerful alicorn to date! How could she not take care of her subjects after all this time?

With another pained roar, a section of the floor crumbled away and caused the alicorn and a now crushed demon to fall to the next floor. The demons on this floor instantly turned and attacked the alicorn.

“I will not allow you to proceed further!” She shouted in an opposing tone.

As she kept fighting, in the deep parts of the castle, guards ran through the halls in order to get rid of the invasion. But a solar guard stopped running when he noticed two guards going the opposite way.

“Hey! What are you idiots doing?! The fight is the other way!” He angrily shouted. The two guards turned to face him with strained looks.

“W-We forgot our spears. Sorry…”One of the guards said in a deep, ruff voice.

The irritated guard huffed in annoyance and waved them off. “Whatever. Just get your shit and hurry up!” He commanded, running off to join the fight. The two guards didn’t seem to react to his tone and chose to keep walking, nopony noticing the red shimmer over their eyes.

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

As the farm mare and injured pegasus sneaked through the battlefield, Rainbow accidentally bumped into a piece of loose rubble and knocked it to the ground. They ducked their heads, nearly avoiding the eyes of surrounding demons.

“I don’t get it. What in the hay happened to starlight? Last time I checked, she wasn’t some space body freak!” Rainbow whispered to Applejack.

“Ah’m in the same boat as ya RD. But for now, we need to get out of here.” The farm mare continued crouching along, Rainbow was a few steps back due to her half-broken bones.

Something came into sight which made the two mares internally cheer in joy. The exit to the section of the festival was less than a few meters away and unguarded. Taking the chance, the two did their best impression of cockroaches and crawled on the ground as fast as they could. They were both halfway to the exit when a metal pole hanging from the Rollercoaster wreckage snapped off and landed right on Rainbow dash's wing, enticing a cracking sound from the broken appendage.

Rainbow dash bit her lip so hard that it drew blood in order to not scream from the electric pain shooting through her nerves. The pain caused her to collapse to the ground with tears welling in her eyes.
“RD are you okay?!” Applejack whispered shouted.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here~?”

The echoing voice made Applejack and Rainbow’s blood run cold as they slowly turned their heads to see the demon Starlight and a hoof-full of demons standing right beside them. “Hold them.” She commanded.

Time slowed as the demons pounced on the two mares. Rainbow was the first to be pinned down due to her still recovering and being dragged back. Applejack wanted to reach out a hoof but her legs automatically ran the other direction without waiting. A demon was about to grab onto the mare, but she reared back her hind legs and bucked the demon's face, causing it to cave in slightly. The others didn’t let down, they latched on like a patch of wool to Applejack and no matter how hard she tried to fight, the strength of the demons made her look like a foal in comparison.

“Let us go, Starlight!” Applejack demanded. A hoof from a demon changeling blocked her mouth, the taste of rotten flesh and dirt nearly made her vomit.

Starlight chuckled devilishly at the sight of the two elements struggling. “Do you think I would listen to you? Your friends stole everything from me when I was at the top! And now that I’m giving you all that you deserve, now you want to talk?” She said with venom dripping from each word that came from her mouth, “Also, it’s not Starlight anymore, it is-”

Starlight's eyes widened and she leaned her body back in time to avoid a purple blur with a blade from slicing her neck. When she turned to see her attacker, Michikatsu landed on the ground and faced the demon with a hateful scowl.

“I can’t believe I let Muzan turn me into one of you freaks.” He spat. Michikatsu deflected a magic blast from starlight and rushed at her.

“HA! A weakling like you believes that they can defeat me!?” The demon starlight charged her horn and shot a blast of vertically shaped magic sharp as a blade. Instead of deflecting or jumping over the attack as she suspected, Michikatsu went into a slide and took a deep breath.

“Moon breathing, Third Form: Loathsome Moon Chains.” Michikatsu swung his blade and an arch of crescent-shaped moons appeared from his attack, slicing the demons that were holding Rainbow dash and Applejack hostage. In one swift move, the lunar sword pony grabbed Applejack and rainbow dash by the barrels and spun around, slashing the fetlocks of Starlight. She roared in pain as her back legs gave out. The trio skidded to a stop, and the sound of multiple hooves approaching soon revealed themselves to be the rest of the elements, except for Pinkie.

“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy gasped and rushed over to Rainbow dash. “Dashie, you're hurt, let me take care of you!” Her attempt was stopped by Rainbow getting on her shaky hooves.

“Heh, don’t worry Flutters. I still have some fight left in me.” She said with a wavering smirk.

The almost completed group’s reunion was ruined when a blast from Starlight was once again blocked by Michikatsu. “ How dare you! Get out of my way, you pathetic stallion!” Starlight yelled, but she growled when Michikatsu didn’t give in. The group suddenly became uneasy when the demon mare started to grin wickedly. “Wait, I think I’ve seen you before. In the cell's memories.”

Michikatsu felt a drop of sweat roll down his forehead, and his stance became stiffer. “We have never met before, that's for certain. Now stop talking and fight already!” He shouted.

Although the demon mare sneered at his aggression, it was passed off by her wider smirk when she realized something. “Oh oh oh~ You haven’t told them yet, have you…Kokushibo.” She said slowly.

Anxiety caused the Lunar swords pony to tremble slightly as he looked back at the confused glance of his friends. He whipped his head back around and glared at Starlight. “I said shut up!”

“Kokushibo? What is she saying?” Rarity asked confusingly.

“It’s funny, really-” Starlight chuckled,”-It’s always the secrets that friends keep that hurt the most. Well, to put it simply, your little friend here is, or was, a-”

A feeling of urgency came to Starlight's mind telling her to jump back. She did, and nearly got the same treatment as before, but by a different swords pony. “Sunflower thrust.” Was all the demon mare heard before a sword pierced her neck and sent her flying back into multiple food stands.

“Brother!” Michikatsu shouted, getting the attention of Yoriichi. “Where the hell were you?” He asked in an annoyed tone. “For someone who is better than me at speed, you sure took your damn time!”

“Sorry, Michikatsu, I had trouble locating the rest, and I got caught up with demons.” Yoriichi simply replied. “Now get the rest out of here, I’ll-” Before he could say another word, Michikatsu had walked to his younger brother's side with a stance at the ready.

“Like hell if you're doing all the work again. Besides, the ladies can handle themselves, we just need to keep Miss cranky over there busy” He nudged his head forward in the direction of Starlight, who was now recovering from her wounds and visibly pissed off.

The demon mare reared her forelegs back into the air and slammed them into the earth with the scent of blood filling the brother’s noses. “Blood demon art: Meteor shower!” She shouted as astral comments flew out from her horn and rapidly approached the brothers.

“Sun breathing, seventh form: Beneficent Radiance”

“Moon breathing, Fifth form: Moon spirit Calamitous Eddy”

The two jumped around, slashing and cutting the astral meteor into the smallest chunk they could. As they fought, they didn’t see the growing smirk on Starlight's face. She brought a hoof up and, once again, slammed it down on the ground. Yoriichi noticed something was off and quickly charged at his brother and shielded him in time as the bits of astral meteor exploded, catching the sun breather in the back and sending the brother to the ground.

Starlight's cackling laughter left her throat as she walked toward the now-exhausted brothers. “ You know, when master Muzan warned me of you, Yoriichi, I felt genuinely terrified. Didn’t help that Muzan cells kept reminding me of you.” Her horn glowed dangerously as Yoriichi rolled off his brother, sword still in his mouth. “Now, when I’m done with you, I can finish Twilight and her insufferable friends.”

Yoriichi was about to strike, but a pink and yellow blur smashed into Starlight and sent her back. The sword pony’s eyes widened when he saw Fluttershy hovering in place with her wings, snarling at Starlight with a hate-filled glare.

“Don’t you dare hurt my friends!” She shouted angrily. “We didn't do anything to hurt you. In fact, You were the one hurting others, and we tried to show you forgiveness.” She stomped a hoof into the stone. “So why, Starlight! Why are you doing this?!” Fluttershy recoiled at the sight of the pissed mare with a sadistic grin on her face.

“I don’t exactly remember a lot, but I know that you and your bucking friends were the ones responsible for wronging me.” Once more, Starlight charged her horn, “And my name is Stardust comet!” The demon mare kicked off the ground and charged at the shy mare. “Now die like the scum you all are!”

Red festival: final

Starlight, now Stardust Comet, was livid. How can these damn mares think that they can stand up to her power?! She was faster, stronger, and more agile than the rest, yet they still persisted. Even the coward of the group grew a pair and just tackled her, outrageous! With a roar of anger, Stardust lunged at the mare and felt pride at seeing the yellow mare's scared face.

“SURPRISE!”

A load of confetti, streamers, and glitter impacted Stardust’s side, making her cough up blood and sending her tumbling to the ground.

“Pinkie pie! Where were you?” Fluttershy asked with a sigh of relief.

The pink party mare wrapped a foreleg around Fluttershy. “Oh, you know, just helping a few folks here and there, picking up a snack on my way to join you girls, getting distracted by a pretty bird I saw, and-” As Pinkie continued to ramble on, Stardust shook herself out of her daze and snarled at the two elements. But her sights were changed upon seeing Michikatsu trying to help his injured brother up.

“Shit, he’s out cold. What was with that explosion?!” Michikatsu frantically thought. Somehow, Stardust was able to create an explosion, most likely from the blood demon art, but something about it wasn’t right. His eyes widened in shock when the scent of blood filled his nose again. “Hey, get out of here!” He wiped around to face Fluttershy and Pinkie just in time for Stardust to charge her horn.

“Meteor shower!” The demon mare once again launched her assault on astral space rocks. Michikatsu’s body moved on its own as he grabbed Yoriichi, dashed toward the two mares, and tackled them and himself out of the way just in time.

The older swords pony recovered from the fall and charged Stardust with his sword, not noticing it turning a deep red. “Moon breathing, first form: Dark Moon, Evening Palace!” Michikatsu slashed his blade and sent the crescent-shaped projectiles at Stardust. To his shock, Stardust easily dodged them and appeared in front of him in a flash of white.

Michikatsu shut his eyes to shield them from the bright light, but they shot open when the demon mare’s hoof slammed into his chest. Blood escaped his mouth as Michikatsu’s ribs made a sickening cracking sound. The two stayed like that for a single second until Stardust's punch sent the older swords pony flying to the wrecked rollercoaster.

“No!” Twilight shouted as Rarity ran over to help him out. “This isn't looking good. Yoriichi and Michikatsu are down, and you have a broken wing.” She said to the recovering Rainbow dash. “If we don’t find out her weakness and defeat her soon, I don’t know what we can do.” Twilight started to breathe heavily, and her vision became blurry with tears of fear.

Fortunately, Rainbow got to her hooves and slapped the panicking mare. “Get a hold of yourself!” She yelled in Twilight's face. “This isn’t like you, Twi! I know things aren’t looking too great, but that doesn’t mean we should just give up!” She held out a hoof with a determined glare. “Now get up; we got a demon that needs a good kick in the flank.”

Over by Fluttershy, she got up from the ground and gasped at seeing Yoriichi’s body. She scrambled over to him and gently rolled him off his burnt and charred back. Thankfully Pinkie was brave enough to distract Stardust with her non-stop talking. Every time the demon mare tried to hit Pinkie, she’d disappear and pop out of nowhere to keep annoying stardust.

It didn’t last long as Stardust finally got a hold of Pinkie by wrapping a hoof around her neck, which made a rubber chicken sound on contact. Starlight grinned widely and was about to finish Pinke when her foreleg was shot off by Twilight's magic, causing her to drop Pinkie pie.

“ARGH! You’ll pay for that, you worm!” Stardust growled as she pointed her head at the approaching alicorn. Suddenly, a rope was tightened around her neck, and yanked her head. Applejack grunted as she tried to keep the demon mare back and looked at Twilight circling Stardust.

“Go on, Twi!” She shouted through her clenched teeth.

Twilight smirked, planting her hooves into the ground, and lit her horn, surrounding Stardust in a lavender aura and restraining her movement. Grunting and thrashing about, Stardust panicked internally. Just barely creeping out of the horizon was Celestia's sun. This was bad for two reasons, one, it meant the distraction at the castle was wiped out somehow, and two, she would burn up if she didn't act fast.

In a desperate attempt to get free, Stardust tensed all her muscles and aimed her horn at the ground. “Meteor shower!” A hoofball size astral meteor shot from her horn and into the ground, creating a big explosion. The rope Applejack had gone loose, and the magic surrounding her dispersed, with Twilight yelping in surprise.

When the smoke cleared, Stardust was heavily damaged with a missing foreleg, jaw, and most of her front skin, only leaving charged flesh and bone that quickly healed. She attempted to make a getaway, but a sudden purple and blue blur charged at Stardust, stabbing and grappling her in place. Michikatsu was equally damaged, as evident by the multiple gashes and the subtraction of a left foreleg. Sweat dripped down his pained face as he held desperately to his sword with his right hoof.

“Rainbow, don’t you dare let go!” He commanded, only getting an affirmative grunt from the injured pegasus.

Stardust had enough, she opened her sharp-toothed maw and chomped down on Michikatsu’s neck. He screamed in pain but overwise didn’t let go. To make matters worse for her, another pony joined the freaky as Yoriichi stabbed the side of her neck.

“You don’t get to go after what you did.” Yoriichi sneered. The burning from his blade caused agonizing pain to Stardust.

She saw the sun was now beginning to truly show itself with its light rays creeping towards her. Stardust felt tears of fear well up in her eyes. In a final desperate act, her body vibrated roughly to the point the ground was starting to shake. And with a defiant roar, her horn let out a powerful shockwave.

The force overwhelmed the three ponies and made Yoriichi and Michikatsu release their sword's grip and sent Rainbow dash and the others flying back. Taking the opportunity, Stardust pulled the swords out of her body and ran away from the sun as fast as she could. Yoriichi saw this and was about to give chase when, out of the corner of his eye, Fluttershy was lying in a destroyed building with a destroyed front. Above her, a portion of the second floor crumbled and threatened to crush the dazed pegasus.

Said shy mare was shaking the blurriness from her head when the sound of breaking brick made her look up. Her eyes widened in horror when a large chunk of the building. It broke off and Fluttershy’s body was too terrified to move. Covering her head, Fluttershy waited for the pain of breaking bones and the oncoming darkness. Only, it never came. She was puzzled at the fact she wasn’t dead, and slowly moved her forelegs. She immediately regretted it as she gasped at the sight of Yoriichi standing over her.

His body was holding up the rubble, his trembling legs looked like they could give out any second. Blood sputtered out of his mouth and nose with each pained cough from his broken ribs. And despite that, he gave her a sweet and comforting smile that did little to calm her down.

“Don’t…fear, you’re safe…now.” Yoriichi mumbled out as his eyes glossed over and became dull.

Fluttershy’s muffled cries for him to not go went unheard, as darkness crept at the edge of his vision. And for the briefest of seconds, Yoriichi could have sworn Uta and an unknown child sat behind the crying Fluttershy.

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

Inside Muzans hideout, the demon king himself was at a table using complicated chemistry set on it filled with colored liquids. Accompanying the set were different types of plant and biological life from the surrounding forest encased in glass tubes or jars.

Muzan himself, however, grinned widely as he looked closely at a vial full of a sea-blue-colored liquid with a hint of pride. That grin turned into an annoyed frown when the sound of hooves impacted the floor behind him followed by heavy breathing. Turning around, he saw Stardust comet kneeling on the ground, her astral mane unkempt, an uneasy look in the eyes that were looking right at him.

“M-Master M-Muzan, the o-operation was a success.” She huffed out. Muzan placed the vail on a metal rack and fully turned to face Stardust.

“Show me.” He bluntly said.

Stardust sat on her haunches and clapped her front hooves together. A second later, two demon changelings flew down from the ceiling carrying a large wooden box with gold trim. They set it down in front of Muzan and backed away quickly. The demon king smiled and grabbed hold of the locked latch of the box and forced it open by ripping out the lock.

Upon opening it the artifact radiated a sinister aura that made Muzan regain his wicked grin. It was mostly black with the only colors being the eyes of a unicorn head, the top of a pair of wings, and the shining gem that was placed in the middle of the artifact. Muzan could tell without wearing it that the alicorn amulet held great power, the power that was in his hooves.

“Uh, Lord Muzan?” He looked up away from the amulet to see a confused Stardust. “Not to question your intelligence, but how are you going to use it? I mean, you don’t have a horn so-” Her question when she blinked and her head was staring back at her decapitated body.

“Do not mistake me for a fool, no matter how you phrase it.” Muzan spat, throwing her head to the ground as it rolled back to her body. “As for your question, I can alter my body's structure to whatever I desire, that is my blood demon art.”

As Stardust reattached her head, her eyes widened. The areas on Muzans shoulders and forehead started to bubble and instantly grew a set of powerful wings and a long sharp horn. Never once had she ever seen something so jaw-dropping. In a matter of two seconds, this earth pony became an alicorn right in front of her eyes.

“It will take time adjusting to the magic flowing through my body,” Muzan closed his eyes in concentration and soon his horn glowed a faint red as the amulet was surrounded by the same aura. “But with this, I will no longer have to be afraid. No longer will the sun trap me in its shadows, and no longer with HE plague my memories!” The amulet wrapped around Muzan's barrel and clicked in place.

“Watch yourself, Yoriichi, for you will soon meet your fate once more!”

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

‘Beep…Beep…Beep’

Yoriichi slowly opened his eyes and immediately shut them as a bright light stung his vision. Taking more caution, he opened his eyes again and was rewarded by not being blinded, and the blank ceiling facing him. The sword pony attempted to sit up, but pain shot up his back and forced him to lay back down.

He had no choice but to use his head to look around, which wasn’t much better than sitting up. To his right, there were weird beeping machines that had tubes and wires connecting his bandaged body. To the left, a window was covered by light green shades, the lack of light coming through indicated that it was most likely night. Along the wall were a few chairs, one of which had a sleeping Fluttershy with bandages around her right foreleg and midsection.

Yoriichi stretched a hoof at the sleeping Fluttershy, but the pain started to flare up again, so he put his hoof back and returned his gaze to the ceiling. A wall clock ticked as the seconds went by, Yoriichi taking long and deep recovering breaths to heal what damage he could mend.

Saliva got stuck in his windpipe by accident and made Yoriichi cough, bringing more pain to his body. Gasps made him stop coughing, and he shifted his view to Fluttershy now wide awake with a shocked expression.

It didn’t take long before the shy mare was latching on to the bandaged Yoriichi, crying tears of joy. “Thank Celestia you’re alive! Y-You took so long, I was scared that you wouldn’t w-wake up!” She managed to say between sobs. Yoriichi recovered from the surprise bear hug and lightly patted her back, his expression softening.

“I’m glad to see you are fine as well.” He said with a ruff and raspy voice. Fluttershy took notice and let go of Yoriichi, walking into a bathroom out of Yoriichi’s line of sight, and coming back with a glass of water. She offered it to him, which he gratefully took in his hooves and guzzled back. Once he removed the glass from his lips and hoofed it back to Fluttershy, he asked,” How long have I been out?”

This made the shy mare stiffen as she looked away, a sad expression on her face. “Y-You’ve been asleep for almost three weeks.” Yoriichi’s expression turned to mild shock, but Fluttershy continued. “Most of your ribs were broken, along with fractures in your skull and legs. The doctor said it was a miracle that you were alive because one of your ribs pierced your lungs. Any longer and you would have…d-died.” She whimpered a little and tried to put on a smile. “But I-Its ok now, y-you are better, right?”

It was no use, her smile faded as tears started to pour down her face. Yoriichi forced his aching body to sit up and hold the crying mare in a warm embrace. “I-I’m so sorry! If I wasn’t so weak, you wouldn’t be like this. I almost got you killed because of my stupid self!” She shouted, voice muffled by Yoriichis's bandaged chest.

Yoriichi laid a gentle hoof on her mane and began stroking it, “You’re not weak,” Fluttershy ceased her sobbing and her blue eyes stared up at him. “When you stood up to that demon, most new slayer recruits from where I come from would have been frozen in fear. Instead, you fought back, and I’m proud of you for that.” Yoriichi held Fluttershy closer as his voice lowered to a whisper. “You may not be as strong or brave as others, but you have the potential to be a great pony. Don’t compare yourself to others; only focus on your strength and use it to help the weak.” Silence flooded the room as the two felt each other's warm embrace.

Then, Fluttershy pulled away from Yoriichi with a small smile, tears still rolling down her face. Suddenly, the shy mare leaned forward and pressed her lips into Yoriichi’s. This surprised the sword pony, causing him to mentally do a double take. Fluttershy broke the kiss, a heavy blush on her face.

“I-I’ll get the others.” She said simply before dashing out the door.

When the door closed, Yoriichi sat staring dumbfounded at it. He brought a hoof up to his muzzle and looked down, not seeing the faint blush on his face.

“What?”

Over the course of an hour and a half, Yoriichi was assaulted by hugs and relieved compliments from the other elements. Applejack and Rainbow were the only two that were bandaged up, with the rainbow pegasus’s wing in a cast. The rest, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity, were mostly unharmed with only a couple of bandages covering scratches and minor cuts.

Celestia soon joined in just as Pinkie had set up a mini party in the hospital to make up for Yoriichi's “welcome to ponyville” party. Despite Pinkie insisting it was an ‘emergency party pack’ she had stashed away in her main, he still thought it was a sort of magic.

During the party, the elements explained what happened when Yorrichi was asleep. Not long after the fight, the royal guard swooped in and got to work cleaning up and pulling any ponies out from the rubble.

They’d also retrieved him from the rubble, but Fluttershy supposedly wouldn’t let go and had to be pulled off him, much to her distress. More alarmingly, Twilight said the castle was attacked and heavily damaged, which Celestia looked away with a guilty look, and that something from its secret vault had been stolen.

“The alicorn amulet?” Yorrichi asked, taking a bite from his slice of chocolate cake.

Celestia turned to him with a serious look, “To make a long story short, it is a powerful artifact that can grant the user a magic boost that heightens their magical abilities. But it comes at the price of the user slowly falling under its effects and turning insane with power.” Twilight grimaced at Celestia's description, a memory of a blue show mare and her temporary takeover of Ponyville. “And we believe that it was stolen during the attack.”

Yoriichi looked down in thought. He didn’t think Muzan would go this far to gain power, but it was predictable considering the type of person he is. All that death and carnage just so his underlings could snatch an artifact. The very thought of it made Yoriichi’s blood boil, but he managed to not let it show. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind.

“What about Michikatsu? Is he well?” He asked calmly. As the question left his mouth, the room was filled with an awkward and uneasy tension as everyone averted their gazes, except for Twilight.

“Well…” She scratched the back of her head,” He did come with us.” She smiled awkwardly at Yoriichi, making him raise an eyebrow at her mannerisms.

“Then why isn’t he here?” Yorrichi had a worrying feeling in his chest at the thought of his brother being gravely injured, or possibly dead.

Twilight sighed and got off her chair, “It’s…best if I showed you.” The young alicorn made her way to the door of the room, cracked it open, and stuck her head outside. After a few long seconds of muffled chatter, Twilight brought her head back and walked away from the door. “He says he’ll come in. But also said to not freak out.” She warned.

The door creaked open as Michikatsu’s silhouette appeared in the doorway. Yoriichi was confused at first, but when the older brother walked closer, his face became a mix of anguish and horror. Michikatsu’s previously missing arm was back again as if nothing happened to it, the sword he’d lost was returned to his hip, and the stallion didn’t have any visible injuries to speak of.

What made Yoriichi's heart hurt with grief was the addition of six red and yellow eyes on his older brother's face.

Dawn of a new day

Yoriichi's vision became blurry as he stared wide-eyed at his now demon brother. How the hell did it happen…again? Not even a month into his new life, he’d had to see his brother turned into the very thing he swore to destroy once more. But, while he felt immense sorrow, he was also confused as to why Michikatsu was acting so…normal. The first time they’d encountered each other like this, Yoriichi nearly killed his older brother. Now, they both just stood in place looking at each other.

Sensing the tension in the room, everyone besides the brother left the room with the door making a soft click sound as the door shut.

“...how…” Yoriichi managed to say.

Michikatsu’s six eyes looked down in shame. “After I got stuck in the wreckage, some of it trapped my ar- foreleg. I’d managed to cut it off and attacked, as you know.” He looked back up at his brother and sighed. “When that demon bit me and you stabbed it, I theorized that some of its blood got into the wound. And when the fight concluded, I found myself turning into this form. The sun nearly got me but I quickly hid in a destroyed building before I died.”

When the demon brother stopped, he gritted his teeth when Yoriichi frowned with a guilty look on his face. “Don’t you dare say that it was your fault.” Yoriichi looked up at his brother, “As I am now, I haven’t fallen under Muzan’s influence and didn’t consume any flesh during your rest.

A feeling in Yoriichi's heart, combined with his brother's words, truly believed he shouldn’t be at fault. But there was that nagging feeling again. It whispered doubts into his ear and stabbed him with cruel words. Throughout his life, he had always blamed himself. Michikatsu almost lost his dream of being a samurai, countless people were slaughtered due to his lateness, and the first Michikatsu had turned.

Uta…

All of those moments weigh on his mind and soul. If he had been a little quicker, if he had seen it sooner, if he had seen it coming…none of those would have happened.

“It was my fault that I ended up like this in the first place. If I hadn't rushed in like that, I would still be human.” To Yoriichi’s surprise, Michikatsu cracked a smile at him. “On the bright side, I can use the rest of my sword forms now heh.” He chuckled.

Despite that, all Yoriichi wanted to do right now was to forget about those terrible things and spend time with his older brother.

Michikatsu’s chuckling slowly died out, Yoriichi gave him a small smile that sent a slight chill up his spine. “God, you’re even creepier when you smile.” He grumbled. Despite his older brother's discomfort, Yoriichi let a chuckle leave his thought that quickly turned into a laugh, creeping out the older brother even more. “H-Hey! I said stop that you asshole!”

The Elements on the other side of the door listened in closely with their ears pressed against it. They all sighed in relief at the sound of laughter and light bickering. At least they knew Yoriichi wasn’t going to kill his brother. As the group slowly left with their goodbyes, Fluttershy took a second to look back at the door with a warm smile.

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

A few days later, everyone was surprised when they saw the nearly healed Yoriichi walking around. Many nurses had been interrupted with their work to keep the swords pony from wandering off in the vast halls.

There had been days where some of the elements would visit him, only to find the stallion doing exercises that someone in his state shouldn’t be doing. Even after all that Yoriichi soon found himself walking around, what he found out to be, the Canterlot castle itself. It didn’t take long for him to discover the royal guard training ground.

Stallions in practice gear clashed wooden swords and spears in intense sparring matches. Some stood by either waiting for their turn or making idle chit-chat, and a few practiced shooting bows into hay bale targets. As soon as Yoriichi stepped onto the training grounds, guards quickly took notice and tried to remove him from the dangerous area. But one of the younger guards recognized Yoriichi, explaining who he was and what he did in the city all those weeks ago.

Yoriichi swiftly gained the respect of most guards, only a hoof-full still against letting the still recovering stallion trespass. For the fun of it, one of the guards hoofed a wooden practice sword to Yoriichi and challenged him to a sparring duel. This got the others hyped, with Yoriichi accepted emotionlessly, and the two got into their stances.

The guard stallion didn’t wait for Yoriichi to move as he charged at him with the wooden sword high above his head. Before he could strike though, in the blink of an eye, Yoriichi shot forward and landed three hard-hitting blows on the guard. One on the side of the neck, the middle of the stomach, and the back of his head. The guard fell face first onto the ground, knocked out cold.

Instead of deterring the rest, Yoriichi had somehow made the other guards more riled up than earlier. One after another they challenged the sun-breathing stallion. And one after another, they fell. Most of the matches were like the first, with them getting knocked out and falling to the floor. To Yoriichi’s surprise, a couple of guards stood their ground, requiring more effort from Yoriichi to take down. By the time the sun was its highest in the sky, more than half of the training ground guards groaned in pain as they rested on the nearby benches.

Yoriichi was about to place down the practice sword and head back to his room when Celestia herself made an appearance. He turned to her with his usual stone wall face, contrasting her elegant smile.

“My, that was sure that excellent display of skill, Yoriichi.” She said, stopping a few meters away from him. “I hope you don’t mind me intruding.”

Yoriichi fully turned to face her and placed the wooden sword down. “May I ask why are you here?” He asked in a polite tone.

Celestia groaned softly and huffed, “Royal courts have been in chaos since, and not the fun kind. Royals are either angry and confused about the attack, or are trying to guilt trip me into giving them bits for minor property damage.” She explained with an eye roll. “I got bored and decided to visit you, but when You weren’t in your bed, I looked out to see you fighting my stallions.” She motioned a hoof at the aching guards with a sly smile.

The swords pony cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. “Shouldn’t you be in court still? It seems irresponsible to abandon your duty like that.” He said with a frown. Celestia just giggled and waved a hoof.

“Not to worry, I have Luna and your brother taking up the court for this afternoon. There’s a spell she cast to keep any sun from shining through and hurting your brother. Also, from what I’ve heard, he’s doing a fine job keeping the royals from whining at much.” She grinned mischievously but returned to her pleasant smile. “Still, I want to make a request.”

Yoriichi suddenly felt an uneasy feeling, similar to when he fought Muzan. Yet it wasn’t the feeling of intense bloodlust, the best way he could describe it was intense grief and frustration.

“I’d like to spar with you as well.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the guards all perked up at this with shocked expressions, even Yoriichi was surprised by this. Some tried to sway the solar princess from her decision but their cries fell on deaf ears as the two sun-related ponies stared each other down. Without warning, Yoriichi picked his wooden sword up from the ground and bit into its handle.

“If it will put your sorrow to rest, then so be it.” He said. Celestia ignored the comment though and took her stance as her horn lit up. Her magic had summoned a lance with a foot-long blade with a wrapping going down the length of the handle.

“Before we begin,” Celestia’s horn glowed a bit brighter and, in a flash of light, Yoriichi’s wooden blade was replaced by his steel one, its sheath at his side. “You’ll need that.”

No further words were said as the two sprinted at each other. Their blades clashed with a metallic ting with the two struggling to gain the advantage. Celestia then backed up and twirled her lance until the butt end of it was headed towards Yoriichis face. He easily dodged it and swung at the princess. The blades clashed again and again to the point the slack-jawed guards couldn’t keep up with their movements. As the fight went on, Yoriichi noticed the princess’s movement became more erratic and less accurate. Her breathing was heavy and disorganized compared to Yoriichi’s calm breathing. Deciding to test a theory, Yoriichi concentrated and focused his eyes on Celestia's body.

The solar princess’s white fur and skin soon disappeared to reveal something that he expected to find. The inside of her body was like the aftermath of a war-torn battlefield. Her organs appeared to be healthy, but after looking some more, Yoriichi started to notice faint scars and marks on her organs and flesh. Cuts, stabs, burns, any type of damage he could think of was hiding under this mare's white coat.

As Celestia grunted in frustration, she swung her lance down on Yoriichi, he nearly blocked in time but caused the ground under the earth to shatter and kick up chunks of stone and dirt. Due to her restrained anger, the solar princess sees the look of pity on the stallion's face.

She looked young, but Yoriichi knew otherwise. Under the illusion of her calm and well-kept demeanor was a hurt mare. He could tell through her attack. With each swing and slash, they were backed by overpowering strength that could only stem from strong, negative emotions. Even though Yoriichi felt a tiny amount of fear from her ferocity, he couldn't help but sympathize with her.

He too felt the same emotions in his younger years. It was the first time he’d shown any anger in his entire life. Something was bothering Celestia, and he wanted to find out what and stop it. So breathing in a large amount of air, Celestia roared in anger as she was about to bring down her lance. And with a burst of speed, Yoriichi charged her with a trail of sun fire behind him.

“Sun breathing, Thirteenth form.”

Yoriichi jumped and danced around the startled alicorns. She attempted to strike him, but before she could move her weapon, it had been sliced into pieces, burning them to ash before they could touch the ground. Celestia lit her horn and tried to keep her eyesight with the speeding Yoriichi, to no avail. Suddenly, her back leg was hit and it buckled, causing her to falter.

That’s when it started to end. Second, after second, her body was hit left and right with blunt strikes that were hard enough to just be uncomfortable. She could hear guards call out for her to get up and fight back, but every time she tried, a leg would be struck and make her fall again. Celestia gritted her teeth in frustration and her horn lit brightly again.

The solar diarch was about to launch an attack, but the strike came to a sudden stop as Yoriichi stood in front of her. He breathed heavily as sweat dripped from his forehead. In his mouth, her eyes widened to see that his sword had been sheathed during her beating the entire time.

The guards looked on in stunned silence. How could some earth pony defeat a powerful alicorn such as Celestia?! A good portion of the guards glared and growled at Yoriichi and started to advance with a hateful fire in their eyes for Yoriichi trying to hurt the princess.

"STOP!” Celestia commanded in her royal Canterlot voice. “Leave us at once!” She pointed at the training grounds gates. Although reluctant, the guards made the walk to the entrance, not without some glaring daggers at the exhausted Yoriichi.

Now alone, the two stood still looking at each other before Celestia got on her hoofs, dusting her chest off with a front one. “Well, you have certainly proven yourself. It was fun while it lasted, but I must-”

“Wait.” Yoriichi blurted out, making Celestia stop talking. “We need to talk.” He said with a serious tone as he sheathed his sword. “I know something is bothering you, princess. The strength behind your attacks was far beyond just sparring, it nearly made my legs give out.” Celestia grimaced, looking away with a guilty look, but Yoriichi continued. “So tell me, what is causing you to lash out?”

The solar diarch was silent as she shifted uncomfortably in place. She then sighed and looked at Yoriichi with a frown. “What I said before was half the truth. Yes, I did come out here because I saw you training with my guards. But I also came here for…therapeutic reasons as well.” Celestia walked closer to Yoriichi and sat down in front of him. “You see, during the attack a few weeks back, my castle was also swarmed as well. I saw many of my little ponies killed and slaughtered like wild dogs. Rage built up inside of me and I let it out, heck, I nearly used dark magic. I was so angry.” Yoriichi didn’t know what ‘dark magic’ was, but he chose to stay quiet.

“Nowadays, I feel as if I have failed my subjects. Time and time again, I’ve failed to prevent incident after incident all due to my foolishness. I hate having to see my subjects cower in fear because of my mistakes.” Celestia's eyes started to gloss over, her voice becoming shakier. “They all still look up to me as some goddess that can do no wrong still even after the worst events. Every chant and praise I get feels hollow to me, like I don’t deserve them. I’m disgusted with myself over my lacking abilities and it’s maddening.” She lowered her head in shame as she held back tears.

Now it was Yoriichis turn to be silent. They had a lot more in common besides their affiliation with the sun. The pain and hardships the two experienced couldn’t be matched when directly compared, but their emotions and doubts could.

Yoriichi bent down and placed a hoof on Celestia's cheek, gently making her tear-stained face look at his. “There are those times where I’ve felt the same.” He said in a soft tone. “We all face our inner demons, some battles harder than others. I can’t imagine how your life must have been and what caused all your scars. But I can sympathize with you when I say that, despite my strength, I faced those same problems.”

Celestia's eyes widened in shock at what the sun-breathing stallion just said. “H-How? You are one of the most powerful stallions I have met in my one thousand years of living, surely that can’t be the case!” Instead of answering, Yoriichi nodded.

“During my duty as a demon slayer, I was not an exception when it came to failure. I couldn’t even count how many innocent lives had been wiped out because I was too late. Thoughts of how I could have done better ate away at me. Even my brother had turned on me and the core due to his jealousy towards me.” Yorrichi’s gaze hardened, and his hoof left Celestia's cheek. “But with all that weighing me down, I still have those who would stay by my side to tell me it would be ok.”

Memories of Sumiyoshi and his wife flashed in his mind. Anytime Yoriichi had a bad day or felt like visiting, they both listened and talked with him. They didn’t criticize him for his failures or scold him, they felt pity and cared for Yoriichi, becoming something of a second family of sorts.

And even after over sixty years of living, the day he held their daughter, Sumire, and the moment he’d visibly shed tears as he softly hugged the little toddler. That day both hurt him and helped heal his soul. It hurt because it only reminded him of the family he could never have, to live in a house so small that they all had to sleep close together. But at the same time, it felt that no matter how hard it gets, there are always others that can help you back to your feet in the darkest times and show you the light.

“I feel your pain, but don’t try and hide it away. Always know that you aren’t alone.” Shocking the princess more, Yoriichi enveloped the alicorn in a gentle hug.

Celestia looked down at the stoic stallion for the longest time before a smile appeared on her muzzle. She took a deep, soothing breath and used a hoof to lightly pull the stallion off her. “Thank you, Yoriichi. I’ll take your words to heart and stay strong.”’And maybe have a talk with Luna tonight.’ She thought with an inward grimace. “But there is one more thing I’d like to discuss before you finish healing.”

Yoriichi looked up at her with his head tilted to the side in confusion. “What is it you’d wish to talk about?”

She giggled at the curious Yoriichi, then turned around while still looking at him. “Let us discuss it over some tea, shall we?” She asked with a smirk.

The two were soon making their march back to the castle as the sun started to set over the horizon, not seeing the glowing crimson eyes watching them from the shadows.

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

It was the next day, gray clouds caked the sky, and the smell of approaching rain filled the air. On the sidewalk, Yoriichi and a couple of guards made their way down the cobblestone street to the Canterlot train station.

Along the way, Yoriichi saw ponies eyeing the stallion with caution. They hadn’t been told of Yoriichi's exploits during the attack, so the lack of praise made surrounding the sun-breathing stallion look like some criminal with the armed guards around him. Also, some of the upper-class royals felt as if he’d resembled a bit of the terrifying-looking stallion they’d seen in court the other day.

Yoriichi ignored all the looks and continued to stare straight ahead. It wasn’t long before he had reached the station, and spotted the bearers of the elements waiting for him. Pinkie made no attempt of subtlety as she waved flags with his stoic face on them, and used a strange noise machine behind her to welcome him.

When he stopped and the guards walked away to return to their duties, Rarity made her way to him with a pair of saddlebags on her flank. “It’s nice to see you up and about again, Yoriichi. And as thanks for helping to save Canterlot,” Her horn glowed a soft blue aura that opened the saddlebags and levitated a small stack of clothes to Yoriichi. “I took up the responsibility of using the scraps of your old garments and fashioning a new pair.”

The clothes themselves looked high quality to Yoriichi. Instead of the haori being a solid red, It was now a clean white with the sleeves shifting to a bright red color. A sun emblem on the back that resembled his cutie mark. The rest had been their original colors, except for the kimono, which now had a rosy red color that matched his fur.

“It looks fantastic, thank you for the gift, Rarity.” He said with a small grateful smile on his face.

“No problem, dear,” Rarity leaned in close with a devilish smirk. “I don’t think Fluttershy would mind seeing you wear it.” She whispered into his ear.

Rarity then leaned away and walked back to the train platform, leaving a confused Yoriichi behind. And speaking of Fluttershy, he looked at the group and nearly missed the light pink tail poking out from behind Rainbow dash. The prismatic mare followed his gaze and chuckled when she saw that he was looking at the shy mare.

“Weird, isn’t it?” She remarked with a held-up hoof, “Ever since you’ve woken up, Flutters here has been hiding away in her cottage. Talking about something embarrassing she didn’t want to talk about.” Then her expression turned to annoyance as she looked over at Rarity, who was pretending not to listen in on the conversation. “Rarity somehow got Fluttershy to spill the beans, but she refuses to tell us!”

Luckily, Twilight stepped forward and put herself between Rainbow dash and Rarity, “I’m sure that whatever Fluttershy told her was juicy in detail, but we all need to get going, Spike is probably worried about me.” She sighed. But then, she perked up with a smile and turned to Yoriichi. “Oh, I forgot to say that we have a surprise for you!”

Yoriichi also perked up. “A gift? I couldn’t accept it, the clothes are enough of a present as it is.” He argued.

Twilight was about to speak when Pinkie pie suddenly appeared beside Yoriichi, almost startling the stoic stallion. “But it’s suuuuuper cool! When you see it, your non-existent sock will be blown off!” She excitedly said while bouncing forward until she stopped by the machine. “You can come out now!” She shouted. Yoriichi’s eyes widened when Michikatsu appeared from behind the noise machine.

There was some strange aura around him that looked to be the night itself. And despite some sun poking through the packing clouds, they touched the demon stallion's skin and didn’t burn him. Michikatsu just walked up next to Twilight with a slight grimace. “That damn thing was starting to hurt my head.” He grumbled.

“How is this possible?” Yoriichi muttered in surprise.

Michikatsu spoke up before Twilight could go on a lengthy lecture, making the studious alicorn angrily pout. “The short of it is that Twilight and Luna developed a spell that allowed me to walk during the day. It is some spell that combines Luna's magic with a defensive spell, don’t ask me how it works.” He then smiled and patted Yoriichi’s shoulder. “Now I’ve got a total of eight hours to spend in the day.”

Yoriichi smiled too, but it went away quickly as a thought came to mind. “It’s wonderful that you can roam in the daylight, but we must be heading back as Twilight suggested, I can smell that rain will be coming soon.” The mares and Michikatsu nodded in agreement and quickly boarded the train. Most of the mares sat on the opposite side of the train car due to a lack of closed seats, except for Fluttershy. She had managed to nab a seat behind Yoriichi, and for the whole trip, Yoriichi couldn’t shake the feeling of being intensely watched the whole time.

Declaration of war and the call to action

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.”

Slayer training: part 1/ Breath in, Breathe out

“So is anypony going to tell me why he wanted us to meet here?” A tired and grumpy Rainbow dash complained.

Though it was early morning, the still present gray clouds blocked most of the sun's light. Last night, Yoriichi had sent a letter to all five of them saying to meet up at the open field next to the Everfree forest. Being on short notice, the mares, except applejack, were tired and ragged at getting up so early with Rarity complaining the most.

“If that stallion doesn’t have a good reason for ruining my beauty sleep, he’s going to wish he would have stayed in bed!” The furious fashionista yelled. Just then, two figures in the distance walked toward the group, soon becoming recognized as Yoriichi and Fluttershy.

Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes, “Quiet yer complain’ Rarity, they’re here.” She pointed a hoof at the pair as they both stopped.

“I apologize for making you all get up so early, but it is of the utmost importance.” Yoriichi reached his head over and grabbed a long felt bag from Fluttershy’s back and placed it on the ground. When he opened it up, the tired mares became confused when the contents of the bag were six wooden swords.

“Ooooh! I didn’t know we were playing with a pinata!” Pinkie happily cheered.

Yoriichi held back a confused look and shook his head, “Now is not the time for festivities, Pinkie. I ask of you all to take one.” He ordered.

The group didn’t question it, and; one by one, each mare took a wooden sword and stepped back. Twilight and Rarity held theirs in their magic, Applejack and Rainbow dash awkwardly tried to straighten them in their mouths, And Pinkie pie was balancing her on top of her head. Once the group got situated, Twilight chose to speak up.

“Now what?” She asked confusingly.

Her question didn’t receive an answer as Yoriichi bent down, bit into the last sword handle, and raised his head back up. He then raised his head high into the sky and, with a grunt, brought the wooden weapons down with mighty strength. The force of Yorrichi swing cracked the wooden sword, and when it was an inch from the ground, shattered into hundreds of splinters. All the mares yelped in surprise and jumped back from the blast of wood shrapnel. Yoriichi then spat the broken handle of the sword on the ground and faced the mares.

The group was silent until Rainbow dash flew upwards with a mid-air spin, seemingly wide awake now. “That was so cool!” She shouted excitedly. Rainbow flew up to Yoriichi with a starry-eyed look. “How did you do that, you have to teach me!” The prismatic pegasus practically begged.

“You’re in luck then.” Yoriichi simply said, allowing a small grin to show. “Because you all are going to need to learn that and more.” He said in a serious tone. Rainbow raised an eyebrow before Applejack bit onto her tail and dragged her back, scolding her quietly on manners. “To put it simply, Celestia and I have theorized that Muzan is planning something, maybe even a war.”

That statement caused the group to go silent and stare at Yoriichi with shock. “WHAT!?” Twilight shouted. “What’s this about a war? Who is this Muzan pony?” She demanded, accidentally dropping her sword to the ground.

Yorrichi looked down and narrowed his eyes, “It is just a theory, but we can’t take the chance of a war breaking out, because the demons would slaughter countless innocents in no time.” The group grimaced at the possibility, are demons strong enough to wipe out that many ponies? “As for Muzan. To put it simply, he is the one creating demons. The man is ruthless and uncaring, a being that even I am weary of." When Yoriichi had said that last part, the mares couldn't help but feel their hearts drop. "So we need all the help we can get.”

If they had to be honest, the thought of them going against this Muzan pony was terrifying. They had gone against threats like Nightmare moon, Discord, Chrysalis; heck, even Tirek for Celestia's sake! But they always used the Elements for those kinds of situations. This time, they had to fight a villain that would see to their deaths without hesitation, and not feel bad about it afterward. In addition, he had Starlight convert into the same monsters that attacked Canterlot, making her stronger than the first time they met. The mares' fears were visible by their expressions and trembling bodies, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by Yoriichi.

“I understand if you all aren’t comfortable with the idea. But my brother and I, despite our strength, cannot go against Muzan and his demons alone.” Yoriichi lifted his head and looked at the mare with hardened eyes.

“So I ask of you, leave me to take you all in as my students and train you in the art of Breathing techniques.”

Most of the mares looked at each other in confusion, all but Twilight, who gasped in joy. Her fear and confusion disappeared from her body in an instant as she pushed past her friends. “Wait! Do you mean the thing you use to fight demons? THAT breathing technique?” When Yoriichi nodded, Twilight squealed happily and gave a little dance of joy.

“Yes, I will be teaching you the basics of Breathing techniques so that you may grow stronger.” With the strange assistance of Pinkie pie, a chalkboard appeared behind the stallion, much to his confusion. “To learn this art, you need to practice three things: breathing control, strength and stamina endurance, spatial awareness, and style mastery. Everything else you will learn along the way. Today, we will begin breathing exercises and how to increase air intake and control.”

“That’s good an’ all, but what bout’ Fluttershy?” Applejack said, pointing her hoof at the shy mare.

Fluttershy smiled and waved her farm friend off. “I tried, but I don’t think I’m ready for his training yet, it sounds intense.” She said with a shudder.

Before Applejack could ask what she’d meant, Yoriichi spoke up. “Yes. And by the end of your training, I expect every one of you to do as I did.” With that, he began instructing them all to swing their swords in order to use them effectively. Little did the five know, the next few months of their lives would be absolute Tartarus.

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

Month 1

When Yoriichi said that they would all be taking a trip to a high mountain in deep Equestria, the expectation was to go to a fancy or well-kept hotel or resort for training. Although it was mostly Rarity that thought that. But they were surprised and disappointed to find out it was the complete opposite.

The mountain itself was higher than the one they ran the dragon out of many years ago. It was high enough to the point that the air was barely breathable; it was so thin. The forest surrounding the mountain was almost or just as dark as the Everfree, accompanied by strange animal sounds and creepy creatures. It made it all the worst when the place they’d be sleeping in wasn’t even halfway done being built.

Apparently, Celestia had sent out a team to the mountain and set up temporary residence in the harsh environment. After unpacking, the mares didn’t even have time to settle down before Yoriichi started ordering them outside. For the first of their breathing control training, Yoriichi said to run all the way down to the bottom of the mountain, then run back up. It sounded tiring to them, but it wasn’t the end of the-

“You’ll also have to avoid traps that could knock the air out of your lungs,” Yoriichi explained.

Now a sense of dread had taken the hearts of the mares. As Yoriichi went on to explain, the mountain has traps placed in specific locations on the route down. One missed step could mean a bruise or two and what little oxygen they had escaping their lungs. This was to ensure that their reflexes would be sharpened and so they could learn something called total concentration breathing.

The only reason they didn’t complain is that they knew the importance of this training. So after getting into starting positions, they were off.

Of course, Rainbow dash was off first as she dashed through the air with a smug grin on her face. Immediately after a few seconds of flying, her lungs felt empty, and her breathing became ragged. She huffed and puffed as she tried to keep herself from passing out. Unfortunately, the pegasus was blindsided by a tied-up log impacting her in the side. The trap sent her crashing to the ground with a solid thud and knocked Rainbow out cold.

With Applejack and Rarity, the two made good progress, in the sense that they didn’t get hit already. A single trap was sprung by Rarity, sending a bent thin tree whipping at her. Luckily Applejack saw this and pushed the fashionista out the way and took the hit. Air left her lungs and Applejack felt as if she was going to suffocate to death. Rarity came over in time and helped the farm mare to her hooves, soon the two were on their way down the mountain again.

Over with Pinkie and Twilight, the studious alicorn had become adjusted to the darkness in her surroundings faster than her friends. She easily avoided traps that nearly missed her eye. The only problem was her breathing, even with her added strength and stamina of being an alicorn, the taxing feeling was slowly catching up.

Pinkie pie though seemed to intentionally activate the traps on purpose. She giggled and laughed as she effortlessly dodged every trap in her way as the party mare's tail and ears twitched.

To say it was a long night would be an understatement. By the end of the day, with the moon high in the sky, all the mares shuffled and dragged themselves back up the mountain like zombies. Their lungs and bodies were on fire, and the look in their eyes suggested death as a viable option for escaping this torture. But it was quickly cured by a warm meal prepared by the workers and Yoriichi upon their return.

And since the small home wasn’t done yet, the group had to resort to using sleeping bags for beds and sleeping out in the open. The mares couldn’t get enough sleep on the account of Rarity screaming in fear every time a bug crawled on her, or a rustling noise came from afar.

This…went on for the entire time.

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

Month 2

By the end of the second month, the mares had made steady progress, especially Pinkie and Rainbow dash. Compared to the first day, they all could easily make their way down the mountain without too much trouble. Even the traps became easy to avoid and made their reaction times faster. But with all the time they spent training, the hardest part was avoiding the dangerous traps.

Yoriichi had noticed the mare’s improvement to see in coming threats, so he made a “small” increase to the route's difficulty. Instead of just trees and wire traps, real arrows and blades were thrown at the mares, forcing them to waste their breath dodging, or block them. There were injuries, but the worst one was a cut Pinkie had gotten on her flank when she got too confident. Despite the obvious life hazards, the mares learned to block the blades and avoid spike pits.

The same procedure went on like this for the rest of the week and by the weekend they had mastered total concentration and breathing with blood, sweat, and tears. As a bonus, the house was done being built during that time. So the group was feeling confident, to say the least.

Until…

“Total concentration breathing constant?” Rarity asked with her hairbrush in a blue aura.

Yoriichi nodded, “So far, you all have exceeded my expectations. Most new slayers would take weeks, even months, to master Total concentration breathing. But now that we are on the topic of breathing control, the next step is to learn Total concentration breathing constant.”

The concept was simple. Since normal total concentration breathing heightened a ponies body and mind, the constant version was that but it would require them to use the technique all the time.

The only problem was that Total consecration breathing was impossible for the mares to keep going more than a few seconds, any longer causing their eardrums to blow out and lungs to burn. So the concept wasn’t so simple after Yoriichi’s explanation.

So for the rest of the month, between their normal breathing training and constant training, the mares were barely functioning by the end of it. It didn’t help that they were also forced to do physical exercise in the thin air climate. Rarity, on the other hoof, got off easy from it since Yoriichi allowed it, leaving the others to suffer ribbed muscle fibers.

It was a brutal time with breaks few and far between. Sometimes Applejack and Rainbow dash worked hard into the night lifting large rocks or running circles around the house. But their efforts paid off by the end of the month.

Blade traps were nothing more than annoying obstacles, they ran marathons around the highest peak of the mountain, and did Total concentration breathing constant all the while. Yoriichi was surprised by the effort put in by his friends, most slayers gave up at this stage, and yet, they persisted and actually learned the technique ahead of schedule.

He couldn’t help but smile as he watched the future demon slayers train in front of him. Memories of his fellow demon slayers learning the same way came back to him. Water, stone, fire, wind, and thunder were the fundamental aspects of what made breathing techniques what they are. Sun breathing being the seed of the tree that birthed these techniques. And soon, these five would add branches to that ever-growing tree and stand up to Muzans terror.

Slayer training: Final/ Home sweet Home

“Finally! The air here is so much better than on that stupid mountain; it feels like I can fly forever!” Rainbow dash barrel rolled over the pegasus-drawn chariot with a giggle. “Ponyville, here we come!”

Rarity sighed, shaking her head, “Rainbow, dear, you should stop doing that. What if you hit a bird or something?”

The prismatic turned herself around while flying to face rarity, “Pft, You have nothing to worry about, Rare’s. I’ve got-” Just then, a robin smacked the back of Rainbow’s head, making her yelp in surprise and fall momentarily before correcting herself. Snickers from the other mare, minus Yoriichi, made Rainbow dash glare at them. “Shut up…” She muttered with an embarrassed blush.

“You can only sense a being from behind that is coming at you with harmful intentions. Best keep your eyes forward,” Rainbow rolled her eye, “Because we are arriving.” Yoriichi said, pointing at the snow-covered town.

For the past three weeks, the mare quickly got the hang of their spacial awareness training in no time, Rainbow dash being the first to grasp it. After a lot of bruises and borderline concussions, the mares could easily defeat themselves from the wild and defend themselves against Yoriichi. No attempts to attack the sun-breathing teacher had been made.

Applejack and Rainbow dash were prime examples.

Even so, Yoriichi felt pride well up inside himself: out of all the sword men and women he had taught, none could compare with this batch.

‘I know that they worked hard. It is clear as glass the amount of strain their bodies have been through.’ Yoriichi glanced at the mare's limbs. All had varying degrees of visible muscle, with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie pie being the most obvious: surprisingly enough. ‘Some had no trouble at all,’ He glanced at Twilight, reading a book she’d brought with her since the start. ‘Others had doubts,’ He looked over to see Rainbow chatting with one of the royal guard pegasus pulling the chariot, to no success. ‘And some didn’t believe that they could do it.’ He looked over to Rarity staring at the countryside view with a dreamy look. ‘But one thing they all have in common: Is that they made it. And I have no doubts that Muzan will fall.’

Yoriichi was snapped out of his thoughts when the chariot land on the ground with a bump. The mares quickly got out of it, with Yoriichi being last. Suddenly, voices called out, making the group look to their left. Down the dirt road were Fluttershy, Spike, and Michikatsu with his protective barrier still on.

“I see you all came back in one piece,” Michikatsu joked, “And in record time. Honestly, I thought you all were going to take at least a year or two. Thank the heavens that weren’t the case. All that book organization was driving me mad,” He cringed, “ I can’t even read a word! They’re in a totally separate language!” Michikatsu shouted while throwing a hoof up in frustration.

Twilight walked up and used her magic to levitate Spike onto her back. “Heh, If you want, I can teach you equestrian.” Twilight then nudged his side with a sly grin. “Maybe even throw in some beginner foal’s books to get you started.” She giggled cutely.

Michikatsu’s six eyes widened, then they narrowed at the studious alicorn, “Don’t. you. Dare.” He said in a threatening tone.

This made Twilight goggle more as she started to walk away. “I’m joking, Michikatsu. But thanks though, for taking care of the castle while I was gone.” She turned her head at Michikatsu with a friendly smile, “You’re a good friend.”

The demon brother faked coughed into his hoof to hide a blush, averting his gaze. “N-No problem.” He mumbled as he and Twilight walked away.

Soon, the rest dispersed. Applejack and Rarity had jobs and families to go back to. And Rainbow had flown off to practice her flying abilities; maybe throw some healthy gloating to the local fillies and colts with some tricks. That left Yoriichi and Fluttershy by themselves again as the shy mare ran up and threw herself on Yoriichi, wrapping her forelegs around his neck.

“I take it you’re glad to see me?” Yoriichi asked, rubbing Fluttershy’s back.

Fluttershy sighed in relief as she nodded. “You could say that. I mean, there are a lot of dangerous creatures in those mountains. The girls or you could’ve gotten hurt.” She let go of Yoriichi and stepped back far enough to give him room. “But I know that my friends are strong, especially you.”

Yoriichi nodded and looked to where Twilight ran off. “You are correct; they are indeed strong. But their training isn’t over yet.” He said with a stern look.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked with a head tilt.

“They still have to gain a breathing technique. I only allowed ourselves to return because they had already adapted to the thin air of the mountain, to stay there would be unnecessary.” Yoriichi explained. He looked back at Fluttershy, now with a soft expression and a small smile. “Also, I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss you a little.” He chuckled softly.

Fluttershy then perked up with widened eyes, not even caring about the faint blush on her face. “O-Oh, I forgot!” She looked side-to-side to make sure nopony was around to her hear. Thankfully there wasn’t. “You didn’t tell the girls about that letter I sent you…r-right?” She hesitantly asked meekly.

The sun-breathing stallion shook his head with a chuckle and placed his hoof around her neck. “No.” He simply said, causing the shy mare to visibly relax and let out a sigh. “But I must ask-” Fluttershy looked up at him,”-what is a “Coltfriend”?” He asked with an eyebrow raise. The sudden question made Fluttershy flustered for a moment before she managed to compose herself.

“W-Well, to put it simply, It’s like a best friend. But instead, they have romantic feelings for a mare. They make sure their marefriend is happy and vis-versa and take them out on…dates. And stuff…” Fluttershy spoke, her voice getting quieter as she went on.

Yoriichi’s smile grew wider at the shy mare's demeanor, “So, like a wife or husband that aren’t married yet, right?” Fluttershy’s face turned redder as she hid her face behind her mane, only silently nodding in response. Yoriichi started to walk, catching Fluttershy off-guard. But she managed to get up at his slow pace. “Well, since I’m this “Coltfriend” now, I should bring you somewhere nice where we can catch up. Do you know any places?”

Fluttershy peeked an eye out from behind her pink mane, her face a little less red now. “I heard the Golden Stable’s is a good restaurant; it just opened not too long ago.” She then escaped Yoriichi’s grasp and went ahead of him. “Follow me. I’ll show you the way.” She smiled. Yoriichi only smiled warmly as he followed Fluttershy.

‘You’re becoming more like her every time I see you, Fluttershy.’

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

Rarity huffed and puffed as she stopped mid-dash. In her panic, she forgot to use the concentration breathing and was now a sweating and tired mess. In her magic was a piece of parchment with a purple ribbon tied around it.

“D-Darn, J-Just *Huff* missed *Huff* them.” She cured under her breath. “Screw it. I’ll give it back to Yoriichi the next time I see him.” Rarity then sighed in defeat as she turned around to go back home. A small gremlin grin formed on her muzzle as she looked back at the barely visible forms of the couple.

“But I think he already read it” She giggled.

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

“ARGH!”

Michikatsu ran into the castle's study in a slight panic over the shriek. Only to narrowly dodge a wooden sword flying by his head and embedding itself into the crystal wall. Sweat rolled down his face as he peered in the doorway to find Twilight angrily huffing at the wooden sword, not even noticing the demon sword pony. When she did, her demeanor became timid as she grinned sheepishly at Michikatsu.

“Having trouble?” He sighed, walking in and to the mare.

“Y-Yeah,” Twilight chuckled. “I’m trying to develop my breathing style as Yoriichi told us to do. I mean, he gave us the rundown of it but didn’t go any deeper!” She pouted with folded forelegs. “I’ve been here all day trying to integrate my magic into my sword skills and with no luck.”

Michikatsu chuckled lightly and patted the grumpy alicorn's back. “There, There, you’ll get it soon. Hell, I made my own breathing style trying to learn Yoriichi’s, it’s not as good but it’s better than nothing, right? He said. But he slightly recoiled when Twilight looked at him with that sparkly eye look filled with wonder.

“You have to tell me your secrets!” She shouted. Michikatsu gulped as flashbacks of the first time he had been turned into a demon again played in his head. All the test and exams the crazy alicorn had put him through physically and exhausted a ex-UPPERMOON rank demon! He didn't wait for Twilight to get another word out as a bolted away. Her protesting voice got further away, but it was only a matter of time.

It was going to be a long night.

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

“Rarity! Applebloom and Scootaloo want me to go to the park with them today, can I-” The small white filly stopped at the bottom stair with a surprised look.

Around the room were several pieces of fabric being cut, stitched, and tampered with. All supplies and materials were surrounded in a light-blue aura as the small white filly could barely make out the form of her big sister, Rarity, through the dance of fabric. With some luck, the small filly weaved and made her way over to Rarity, who was hard at work at a sewing machine.

“Rarity, what are you doing?” She asked, poking Rarity's side and getting her attention.

“Oh, sweetie belle, why are you up so late?” Rarity huffed as she shut off the machine.

Sweetie belle just looked at the older sister with a confused looked. “Uh, it’s not even past midday yet.” She pointed to a nearby window. Sure enough, sunlight was pouring through it but was covered by the floating fabrics. “But why is the room so chaotic? No offense, but I’ve never seen you do something so…large-scale before.”

Rarity giggled and patted her little sister's head. “No offense taken, but you are right, Sweetie. Ever since Mister Yoriichi’s help, I’ve been able to spread out my magic to more objects than before. So now I’m able to finish orders two to three times faster than before! You know what that means~?” She drew out with a friendly smirk.

It took a minute for the filly to realize, but when she did, her face lit up with excitement as she squeed in joy. “That means you can actually have time to spend with me?!” She said. When Rarity nodded, only to be trapped in a mini bear hug by Sweetie. “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” Sweetie chanted. The happy filly let go of her older sister and raced to the front door. “Sorry, but I have to go! My friends are waiting on me! Love you!” She yelled as the door was quickly opened and shut.

Rarity smiled warmly and went back to work. Maybe these techniques were only good at saving the world. But it was time to go back to training.

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

Rainbow flew through the sky at blinding speeds. Her lungs never felt this full before, and she believed that her wing could go on forever. The prismatic flyer got as high in the sky as she could and let herself drop, sending her hurdling to the earth below. She gave a powerful flap of her wings that made a faint white outline surround her body.

Magical energy poured out of Rainbow dash in colors similar to her mane, it was held back by the wind force. It built up lots and lots of energy until it could hold it in and a loud booming sound rang out, accompanied by a circular explosion of color.

Rainbow dash internally smirked because it took everything she had not to have her face fly off. Unfortunately, the ground was close, and with no ever to go, she managed to pull herself up enough to not hit the ground. As she soared above the ground, the same multi-colored energy surrounded her again but built up more energy than before. The following explosion would have ruptured Rainbow's eardrums if she was by it, and would have been nearly crushed under the tons of dirt and land the explosion kicked up. She looked back at the aftermath with pride and slowed her speed until she hovered in place.

“A double rain-boom? I never heard of that happening before.” Rainbow said to herself. With a chuckle, she resumed soaring in the sky back to Ponyville, good thing she was a good couple of miles out. Just then, an idea came to her head. “That’s it.” She chuckled smugly, “It's going to be the best breathing technique nopony has seen before. I bet AJ is going to be impressed!”

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

Starburst moaned in pain and discomfort as she tossed and turned in bed. Whatever that damned red-maned stallion did to her was causing a burning sensation throughout her whole body like a terrible fever that never let up.

The walls of her courters were nothing special. Only lord Muzan could live in such luxury, of course. It was circular with enough room to walk around, only fitted with the bare necessities of decent living. There was a bed, which she was currently suffering on, a nearby table and chair with parchment and writing equipment, and a small restroom on the opposite side. It had also been several months since she had consumed mortal flesh, so her immunity and strength, or lack thereof, was probably the cause of this burning feeling.

She was thankfully interrupted from her silent suffering when the door to her room opened, and the bored demon walked in, a large brown sack over his shoulder. To her surprise, Muzan had also entered with a look she remembered seeing on royal guards when she was mortal.

“Drop it.” Muzan commanded.

The bored demon didn’t hesitate as he dropped the sack on the hard floor, resulting in a muffled yelp of pain and restrained cries. Starburst couldn’t see it due to her position on the bed, that was until Muzan walked to her side and used his newly found magic to levitate her into a sitting position. Not with care anyway. Now that she had a good look at the sack, she noticed it was moving slightly. The bulges receding and poking out were a vague outline of a pony’s hoof.

“L-Lord M-Muzan…” She managed to sputter out.

“Silence, one of my high-ranking demons shouldn’t be lazily laying around doing nothing. You should be fully healed by now, but you are not. Most likely, your body still isn’t at full strength, even with the amount of flesh you consumed. Be it your or the realm's magical environment or your own biology, that is little concern to me.” His face got closer to her with a bone-chilling stare. “What I care about is you making me look like a fool.”

Muzan then backed away from Starburst and over to the moving sack. In the blink of an eye, a stinger shot out of his back and quickly cut the top of the sack clean off, then hid back in the demon alicorn's side. When the sack unfurled, it revealed the form of a terrified mare in her late thirties looking around the room with fear in her eyes, mostly the inhabitants of the room. She had a lime-colored coat, baby-blue curly mane, a pair of little-pink eyes, and a cutie mark of a pair of scissors and cut paper. Starburst looked at her with an indifferent expression before looking at Muzan tiredly.

“I expect you to finish your meal before I return with more,” Muzan said. He turned around and started to walk to the door, the bored demon in tow. “Don’t make a mess.”

The door shut, which left the terrified mare staring at Starburst with wide eyes. The mare dragged herself backward until she hit the wall with a yelp. Since the floor was jagged and hard, combined with her visible raw hooves, left a small blood trail leading to her, like a red carpet to a fancy meal. A chuckle came from Starburst as a grin formed on her lips. In a flash, she had sprung from the bed and bolted to the mare. There was a scream for a single second, quickly turning into gargled cries when Starburst bit her throat like a wild dog. She didn’t wait to save the taste before her demon instincts kicked in, bite after bite as the burning sensation faded away slowly. The only sound in the room was the wet tearing sounds of flesh as the mare’s pained whimpers finally died out, barely noticeable to the starving Starburst. But when the demon mare got to the mare's midsection, something caused her to stop eating and stare at it with a surprised expression. In the mare's belly, was a barely formed foal that hadn’t even had a proper body yet, possibly a few months old.

Starburst suddenly felt a painful spike in her brain, making her recoil away from the pregnant corpse and hold her head with her hooves.

“Oh, I am so happy…do you think it would be a filly or a colt,...”

“...”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure my little colt friend can take care of our happy little child. If it is a colt, you can finally stop hanging around those annoying friends that get you into trouble all the time, Heh”

“...”

“I’m just kidding. Besides, it would be nice to not have to bail you out every weekend because of them. *sigh*”

“...”

“W-What? Why does the chief want to see us? And why such a date, three days from now? Is it because of our…nevermind, I’m sure it isn’t a big deal.”

“...”

“Anyway, this little jerk right here is making mommy very tired. So I’m going to get some rest while you go shopping, ok?”

“...”

“Love you too, honey bee.”

The painful sensation stopped stabbing the demon mare's head. She sat on her haunches and look at the ceiling while breathing heavily. “What was that? It feels like I should know who that stallion was, but I can’t name them.” She sighed. Shaking off her tiredness, she went back to eating the corpse with a strange sense of guilt and sorrow, setting the foal on the table so she could bury it later.

“Why do I feel sad all of a sudden?”

On the road yet again

The streets of Manehatten were primarily empty this time of night, with the exception of a few ponies sprinkled here and there. It was the weekend and most would go out on the town and party as long as they could, usually ending up with a pony sleeping on the sidewalk.

Three heavily drunk stallions walked down an ally swaying from side to side spewing incoherent speech. One stallion was red with a black mane and green eyes, the smallest stallion was violet with a green mane and gray eyes, and the biggest stallion was dirt brown with a red mane and red eyes. The biggest stallion was the least drunk compared to the others, the two smaller stallions barely able to walk straight. “Y-You k-k-know, I-I *hch* Iron lung? T-That…bitch doesn’t deserve s-such a stallion…like you~” The smallest stallion slurred to the biggest one.

Iron lung huffed and rolled his eyes. “For the last time, Berry blast, I’m not gay. Also, stop talkin’ about my girl like that.” Iron said in a threatening tone. “Besides, isn’t your colt-toy stumbling right beside me?”

“I-Its alright, Iron. C-Chili pepper is t-to drunk t-t-to even r-remember his *Hch* n-name.” Berry giggled.

“S-Sh-shut u-up. Y-You assholes…are makin’ my h-head hurt!” Chilli shouted angrily, only adding to his ever-growing headache.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves walking ahead interrupted the group bickering. From the far end of the alley was a cloaked figure stumbling down the alley towards them, mumbling to themself, but Berry smirked. Due to his size, he could only make out the mouth of a white-coated mare with a deep frown. Ignoring the mare's obvious distress, he puffed out his chest and approached the covered mare.

“W-Well, what d-do we have here? How about y-you and me go and get somewhere and have some fun~?” He said, trying his best not to sound too drunk. But when the mare ignored him and walked past, he frowned and spun around, grabbing her by the shoulder. “Hey, tramp, I said-”

“SHUT UP!”

The mare swung her left foreleg out at the small stallion, but before he could even react, a spike made of bone shot out of her hoof and speared through his skull until it hit the brick wall. There was a pregnant silence for a few moments before the mare gasped. And the spike receded into her foreleg, letting the corpse fall to the ground. She rushed over to it and attempted to shove the lost brain matter and blood into the heavily bleeding wound. "So sorry, sorry, so sorry." The mare muttered.

As for the others, they were both frozen in fear at what had happened to their friend. Not even a few minutes ago, the small stallion was joking around and drinking with them. Rage built inside of Chilli peppers heart as his fearful expression turned into one of pure hatred. The mad stallion charged at the panicking mare, ready to buck in her skull.

"Stop, don't go near that thing!" Iron Lung shouted.

But his plea fell on deaf ears as Chilli roared, turning himself around mid-run. The mare heard this and wiped her head to her side, letting out an ear-piercing wail that sent the angered stallion to the ground, writhing in pain as he covered his bleeding ears. Even when the painful noise stopped, Chilli's ears could not stop ringing.

The cloaked mare growled and went to her hooves. "Shut up, shut up! I don't want to hurt anypony! You're only making the damn voices louder. Stop it!" She shrieked.

Out of fear, Iron's lung's trembling legs slowly backed away from the crazed mare, soon devolving into a full-on sprint. It was not long before he emerged from the dark alleyway and almost ran a pony over in his panic.

"S-Somepony, help! Get me away from that freak!" Was all that Iron lung shouted as he ran down the street.

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

Michikatsu sighed as he placed a third blanket over the ill alicorn. Setting a warm bowl of soup next to her, he left the room, where he almost ran into Spike.

"Thank Celestia, you're here!" A half-relieved Spike sighed, "Tell me, is Twilight going to be ok?" He asked with a worried expression.

The demon stallion smiled warmly at the small drake and patted the top of his head. "There isn't anything to be worried about. Your big Sis only tired herself out trying to choke answers out of me" He chuckled. "I think she's about to awaken, so you can go say hi and whatnot."

At this, Spike visibly beamed, knowing that Twilight was ok. He rushed past Michikatsu and closed the door behind him, the muffled voice of a happy drake making Michikatsu chuckle. After the mini chase Twilight gave him the other night, the poor alicorn slipped on a stray rug and knocked her head against the floor. To make things worse, she caught a cold not long after her return from the snowy mountain. So Michikatsu was stuck caring for the sick alicorn, still hellbent on getting answers out of him despite her delirious state.

Michikatsu made his way through the crystal halls of the castle. The light from outside still tried to break Twilight's protective spell around him with no luck. But his quiet stroll was interrupted when claw steps approached from behind. Looking back, he saw Spike running towards him with a rolled parchment in his claw.

"W-Wait, Princess Celestia sent you-" Spike was cut off when a golden flash of light blinded Michikatsu as his entire body was weightless.

When his vision returned, he looked all around to find himself in a lavish room fitted for someone of high royalty. It wasn't long before Michikatsu spotted none other than Celestia sitting at a large wooden table. There was a steaming teapot with cups filled with a light brown liquid, one of them in the solar diarch's golden magic. Michikatsu scowled at Celestia for the sudden teleportation and was about to go off before his eyes landed on Yoriichi sitting next to her.

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded, his scowl slightly softening.

Celestia set her cup down. "I'm truly sorry for the unexpected action, but you must sit down. We have important things to discuss." She pointed her hoof to an empty seat across from her, which Michikatsu sat in. She then smiled and faced Yoriichi, "Now that we are all in one place, I've heard that my student and some of her friends have been making progress under your guidance?"

Yoriichi nodded and took a sip of the rich tea. "You are correct. They even surprised me with how quickly they were able to master those techniques. Most would have taken years to reach Michikatsu's level," He Said, ignoring his brother's hidden prideful smirk, "but even that would have been rare. And as of now, they are in the process of learning their breathing styles, a lesson they need to start with themselves. As they say, I helped them walk so they could run."

He set his cup down and faced his older brother. "If you don't mind me asking, how is Twilight's training coming along?"

The demon stallion's prideful smirk turns into a sheepish grin. "Well...you see? She and I had a little... interruption." He nervously chuckled, considering Twilight's ex-mentor and, practically, mother figure was sitting across from him.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?" She asked in a low and worried tone.

Michikatsu chuckled nervously and rubbed his hooves. "S-She might have been chasing me. Then slipped on a rug and knocked herself out while chasing me?" He winced, seeing the shocked princess's face. "B-But don't worry!" Michikatsu said, dismissively waving his hooves. "Her assistant and I are, or were, taking care of her, so there is no need to worry!" He internally sighed as Celestia relaxed and shook her head.

"That mare," Celestia mumbled. "It is good knowing that she is still well." She smiled before dawning a serious expression. "But back on topic, there has been another demon sighting, and most likely a more powerful one." Hearing this, the previous atmosphere of the room vanished as Michikatsu and Yoriichi tensed up as they listened further.

Celestia put her hooves together and hid her muzzle behind them. "Yesterday night, a local royal guard outpost in Manehatten reported that a distressed stallion barged into their building. He was raving and screaming about a monster pony that killed his friends. When they tried getting a description, it took many hours to calm him enough to get details." Celestia's horn glowed as it levitated a stack of papers on the table, the top being a sketch of the suspected demon. "Due to them wearing a cloak, all we got from the stallion was that they were a white-coated mare."

"But the lack of physical detail was made up for what the "mare" did to his friends." A sheet of paper was pulled from the stack and covered the sketch. "One of them tried talking with the mare. Ended up getting a "bone spike" pierced in their mouth and skull, killing him instantly. The other became enraged and charged the demon, to which she retaliated by letting off an attack that injured him." Another paper was pulled from the pile, showing a missing poster of a young stallion with a red coat, black mane, and green eyes. "The witness didn't confirm if this pony was killed, so the local guard released a notice. But the thing that bothers me was when the guards investigated the area the incident took place, there were no signs of the second stallion, only the first one's corpse."

When Celestia finished, the two stallions were lost in thought about what they had been told. Sure, the first corpse being there was usual for a demon. But the second one was missing without a sign of struggle. Michikatsu grimaced; a demon would only take a person for later consumption or use them as leverage in a fight. But if Celestia spoke correctly, the first option wouldn't be most likely, as demons rarely stored flesh for later. So either this demon was different, or they were saving that poor stallion for something terrible. The thought made his blood boil. His mind was snapped back into reality when Celestia coughed into her hoof.

"Due to the nature of this report, I can't send the guard on a wild demon chase." Celestia looked at the two with hardened eyes. "I trust you two can handle it."

Yoriichi stood up and faced the solar diarch. "I accept. I should head back and-" He was interrupted by Michikatsu quickly standing up.

"I'll do it." He said with a determined tone. "Yoriichi, you can stay here. I think I can handle this demon alone." Michikatsu smirked.

"You must take care of Twilight, though." Yoriichi refuted.

Michikatsu shook his head as he walked around the table and lightly pushed Yorrichi back into his seat. "That is a good reason. But, You and the others must be tired from all that training. Let your big brother take care of this one, I trust that Spike can nurse Twilight back to normal. I have been dying for some action since the festival. Plus, this demon can't be too dangerous if they left the third victim alive, right?" He chuckled confidently.

Yoriichi put a hoof to his chin in thought before facing his older brother again. "Do you truly believe that you can handle this?" When Michikatsu nodded, he sighed and picked his cup up. "I shall let you handle this one. And as thanks, I shall assist in the recovery of Twilight Sparkle."

As the two talked, Celestia giggled at Michikatsu's happy expression. "It is settled. But I have a question," Michikatsu looked at her with a questioning look. "Are you bringing anypony along? Surely you can't do it all by yourself? No offense."

Now it was his turn to think as he went over the small list of ponies he knew who could keep up with him. Sure, he could go in alone and take the demon out in no time, but that was the thinking of a rookie. Why did he even think that?

Suddenly, the perfect one came to mind as he smiled.

"I think I have the right pony in mind."

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

"Sooooo, can you tell me why you woke me up from my nap?" An annoyed Rainbow dash asked while hovering next to Michikatsu as they both made their way toward the ponyville train station.

It was only a couple of minutes since Michikatsu rudely woke Rainbow from her nap. The demon stallion hadn't given a reason as to why he did such a thing, only responding with "I'll explain on the train" or not at all. Luckily, they arrived at the train station, where Rainbow blocked Michikatsu's path with an angry scowl.

"Ok, we're here now, explain!" She said in an irritated tone.

Michikatsu sighed as he placed the luggage bag and a brand new sword Rainbow hadn't seen before onto the ground. " To put it plainly, Celestia gave my brother and me a report on a demon sighting in a place called Manehatten. I convinced Yoriichi to stay behind and take up the job for him, which he accepted." Michikatsu chuckled. "Then the princess gave me the idea to bring a partner along. You came to mind."

Rainbow's jaw dropped, "Wait!? You want ME to tag along?" Her expression instantly turned into glee as she hugged Michikatsu. "Thank you so much, dude!" She let go of the demon stallion with a confused look. "But why me?" Rainbow dash asked.

"This demon didn't sound tough, and I want to get this job done quickly. So I thought you would be the best choice to help kill this demon in no time if your claims of being the fastest are true. " Michikatsu turned his head to his side and picked up the sword he'd placed down earlier. "I also took the chance to snag you a little something from Canterlot. Think of it as a graduation gift." His muffled voice said.

Rainbow gasped as she held out her hooves, letting Michikatsu drop the sheathed sword into her forelegs. She didn't waste time grabbing the handle with one hoof and pulling the blade out. She was awed at the sight of it. The blade had a Rainbow color scheme similar to her mane in a swirl pattern, and the Habaki was shaped to resemble a white cloud, making the sword look like her cutie mark. She looked a the handle as well, it being a simple wrap with white and yellow pleather.

"I-I don't know what to say." Rainbow stuttered as she sheathed the sword.

"It's alright. The princess is the one you have to thank. When I chose you to be my partner, she was the one to ask me to give it to you." He explained.

Rainbow got back up on her hooves and used a sword belt provided by Michikatsu to place the word at her side. "Still, thank you for letting me tag along." She nudged his shoulder playfully and turned around. "Let's get going before Rarity knows we're heading to Manehatten." She chuckled.

Michikatsu raised an eyebrow but shook his confusion off as he and Rainbow walked into the train station, ready for another adventure.

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

The air of the city's sewer was plagued by the stench of rotten garbage and pony waste. But the horrible smell was ignored by a cloaked mare, who shuffled through the large pipe systems while mumbling to herself.

"Quiet, quiet, all alone, quiet, quiet. He will help if I stay quiet. They won't bother me anymore." She whimpered.

"I do hope you aren't wasting Master Muzan's time." A sudden voice echoed off the sewer walls. It made the cloaked mare flinch and yelp, but she tried her best to remain calm.

The mare fumbled a bit with her words before taking a calming breath. "I-I'm not. It-It's hard for me to keep you and the shadows away when I'm above ground. I-" She was cut off when a loud bang managed to shake the entire sewer, making her duck down while covering her head with her hooves.

"Unexeptiable!" The voice roared in anger. "You and I both know of our lord's plans. Yet you sit around with your fucked-up head up your ass all day! You do know what will happen if you make Muzan mad?" He said in a threatening tone

The mares gasped as she looked up, tears pouring out of her eyes. "PLEASE, NO!!! I don't want them to come back, please! I'll eat as many ponies as possible, don't make them come back!" She pleaded her shouting voice bouncing off the stone walls. It was silent for a few moments when the voice scoffed.

"You better. Another mistake like last night and, well, we know the rest." It chuckled darkly. The mare waited for what felt like ages for the whispering voice to quiet down.

Knowing that the voice was gone, she quickly got back her hooves and ran as fast as she could. Soon arriving at an opening in the sewer wall. She entered the space was almost bare, only sporting a single torn mattress with a tied-up red and black stallion on top of it. When the pony realized that the mare was back, he screamed and thrashed about in roped bindings, voice muffled by a dirty rag in his mouth. "I'm s-so sorry." The demon mare apologized as she slowly made her way toward him.

All the stallion saw before getting devoured was the dark voids of her eyes.

Please forgive and forget

A hiss came from the train's pipes, followed by a loud whistle signaling its passengers to leave. Dozens of suited or casual clothes-wearing ponies rushed out of the train cars like a raging flood, the last two being Michikatsu and his prismatic pegasus sidekick. Even though the train was a marvel to the demon stallion, the rough ride and the crowded space made him feel uncomfortable. So once he stepped out, Michikatsu stretched his neck and legs with a satisfied groan.

"Thank the Budda, I'm out of there." He looked back at Rainbow dash, adjusting the new sword at her side. "I don't know how you ponies can sit for that long." He groaned.

The wings on his back shook under his clothing with irritation, wanting to be set free. For the longest time, Michikatsu kept forgetting the two appendages on his backside. But the recent trip forced him to remember as they kept moving around the whole time.

Rainbow dash chuckled and patted Michikatsu on the back, unknowingly irritating his wings further. "I feel ya, dude. I can't stand sitting in a single place for too long. It's kinda hardwired into every pegasus to be open-aired ponies." She shrugged. But their chat was interrupted by a train conductor yelling about their departure. "I think we better start searching."

"The question is, how?" Michikatsu said uncertainty. "It would be a bad idea to split up, considering this rock jungle looks big enough to get lost in." Michikatsu looked between the busy streets and the imposing stone towers with a hint of dread at their sheer height.

Just then, a pair of golden-clad guards could be seen advancing toward the two demon slayers. When the guards stopped in front of them, they saluted the two.

"Sir and ma'am, we have been expecting you." The guards spoke in perfect unison. "Her royal highness ordered us to escort you to the Manehatten Royal Guard Center for assistance; please, follow us." And without waiting for an answer, the two guards spun around and started marching away.

The two pegasi looked at each other confusingly before following the golden armored guards. As they were guided through the city's maze-like roads, Michikatsu couldn't stop his six eyes from scanning the surrounding environment. Ponies dressed in strange but fancy outfits carried black boxes with handles in their mouths and entered the titanic structures. Shops and food vendors decorated the side streets, with some owners raving about sales or discounts on their goods. And Michikatsu had to admit, the smell of freshly baked goods and dishes the stallion never ate before made him almost wander off. Good thing Rainbow was there to keep him on track.

But despite the amazing things he'd seen, the walk continued with Michikatsu's mood slowly dampening. For starters, the place was too damn loud for him. Since birth, Michikatsu was always in the quiet countryside or secluded areas, far away from most "noisy" places. Even marketplaces didn't get as loud as the city. And secondly, most of the ponies Michikatsu had run into had been the most insufferable beings he'd ever had the displeasure of meeting. Early in the walk, an older mare bumped into Michikatsu when she wasn't looking and blamed him for it. She insulted him and called the stallion a freak based on his appearance.

Let's say it took the guards and Rainbow everything to hold the demon stallion back from the fleeing terrified mare.

By the time the two reached the guard center, Michikatsu already wanted this mission to be over. But being the modest stallion he was taught to be, he sucked up his pride and followed the guards and Rainbow into the large building. To Michikatsu's relief, the inside was relaxed compared to the inside as ponies and guards casually walked about. The main room had two staircases on either side of the room that connected and led to the second floor. Between the stairs was a front desk with multiple lockers and cabinets behind a bord-looking mare going over a stack of paperwork. On the ceiling was a big glass chandelier that brightly lit the room. Benches and mini tables filled the middle of the room with waiting ponies sitting on them. And doors and walkways were along the walls.

"Follow us." The two guards said, bringing Michikatsu out of his train of thought. Michikatsu and Rainbow followed the guards as they led them up the left staircase and down the left hall. Their walk finally ended when the guard stopped in front of a wooden door reinforced by metal rods.

"We're hoping that Celestia informed you about a suspect?" The guard asked. When Michikatsu nodded, one of the guards pulled a ring of keys from under his armor and unlocked the door. "He's in here. Good luck." With another salute, the guards stood on either side of the door in statue-like poses.

Michikatsu faced Rainbow dash and nodded before grabbing the doorknob with his teeth and pushing it open. As soon as the door was opened, a terrified scream made Rainbow dash and Michikatsu flinch. On the far side of the room, and at the opposite side of a metal table, was a large brown and red colored stallion trying to back away with a horrified expression.

His hooves were cuffed to the table, so he uselessly pulled on the chain holding his cuffs to the table. But his eyes were trained on Michikatsu like prey watching a predator before getting eaten.

"Y-You're with H-Her, aren't you!? G-Get away from me, you freak!" The stallion shouted wildly. His attempts to flee were more erratic when Michikatsu closed the door behind him and Rainbow dash.

Rainbow took the initiative and carefully walked closer to the terrified stallion with a hoof up. "Dude, chill out. We aren't to hurt ya or anything." She explained. "I know he looks creepy as Tartarus, but he's a nice guy once ya get to know him." Rainbow joked, earning her a quick glare from the demon stallion.

"Yes, even if I look 'creepy', I'm only here to get answers about the demon you saw?" Michikatsu said as he walked over to a chair at the metal table and sat in it.

"D-Demon?" The now confused stallion asked, not totally calm but not as skittish.

Michikatsu nodded, placing his hooves on the table. "Yes. I was told that you and two others were attacked. And that they were, unfortunately, killed or kidnapped. Correct?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

The room was silent with tension, but eventually, the stallion nodded slowly. "Y-Yes, t-they were. That night, we were all out drinking at a local pub like we always did on our days off. But we got more drunk than usual, and I thought taking a shortcut would be a good idea." The stallion went silent again, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. "As we walked down the alley, hoof steps came towards us. The thing that was a red flag was the smell of garbage, and the way we were walking down barely had any. Then this cloaked pony comes out of nowhere...and I think you know the rest..." The stallion finished quietly, hanging his head low. A sniffling sound came from the stallion as he grabbed the sides of his head with tears pouring out of his eyes.

"Ok then." Rainbow dash blurted out, "So did you see anything about this thing? No major detail like a cutie mark or something?" Rainbow backed away when the stallion gave off a sorrowful wail.

"I-I k-k-killed them. If I didn't g-go that way, t-they'd still b-be alive." At that point, the stallion became nothing more than a crying mess. Any attempts from Rainbow dash to get him to talk became useless.

Rainbow became annoyed by this and was about to demand an answer before a hoof grabbed her shoulder. Looking back, Michikatsu gave her a stern look that made her ears fold against her head. The two quickly made their way out of the room and hoofed the keys back to the guards.

As they walked down the hall, Rainbow huffed angrily. "Well, that's just great. We're never going to find this demon if our only lead is a crying mess now!" She complained.

"Not entirely."

Rainbow perked up at Michikatsu’s voice with confusion. “What do you mean?”

Michikatsu stopped, making Rainbow dash almost crash into him, and he turned around to face her.

Michikatsu stopped, making Rainbow dash almost crash into him, and he turned around to face her. "The scene of the crime should still be under watch. If we hurry up, maybe we will find something of use." Michikatsu turned and started to walk again with Rainbow close behind. "Besides, I never took you for the type to quit so easily." He joked, resulting in Rainbow punching his shoulder lightly with a pout.

"S-Shut up." Rainbow blushed with embarrassment. "And if I was one to give up easily, then I wouldn't have come along."

The pair rounded a corner and were soon descending the reception room steps and heading towards the front door. "You do bring up a good point, though." Michikatsu interrupted, opening the main entrance and letting Rainbow dash walk through. "Why did you want to come along?" He asked with a confused look.

Rainbow stopped walking and turned to him. "Heh, what do you mean by that?" Rainbow said with an amused scoff.

"When I woke you up from your nap, you were clearly annoyed by it. But when I said that I chose you for the mission, your attitude did a complete turnaround. Forgive me if I offend you, but I can't shake the feeling that you are hiding something." Michikatsu narrowed his eyes at the nervous-looking Rainbow dash with suspicion.

"D-Don't know why you'd think that. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to test my skills, that's all." She chuckled nervously.

"I may not know you personally, but I can tell when someone is lying or not. Helped in interrogation a couple of times while in service, just enough to know that you're lying through your teeth."

Rainbow growled and glared daggers at Michikatsu. "Can't a pony have privacy!? Ponies are allowed to have personal secrets, you know?" She said with venom in her tone.

Michikatsu slightly flinched from the rainbow-colored mare's outburst, but otherwise remained stoic. "I can care less about what you are keeping from everypony." He snapped," I just don't want it getting in the way of our mission." Walking down the steps, Michikatsu nodded forward. "Let's hurry up, the sun is about to go down soon."

Grumbling quietly under her breath, Rainbow followed behind while diverting her gaze away from Michikatsu.

The two walked silently in the city streets as the setting sun shined and painted a warm orange color over the never sleeping city. Small shops and food centers started to close their doors, and ponies waved each other off with friendly smiles. Even if the atmosphere was comforting for most, the air around the demon slayers was heavy with awkward tension and somberness. ness.

And as they rounded a corner and saw a small group of guards gathered in front of an alleyway entrance an entire street block away, the rotting scent of death could still be smelled by the duo. Rainbow Almost puked up her stomach contents as she got closer to the awful smell, soon being at the source as she and Michikatsu reached the guards. The golden armored stallions, after a bit of conversation that went on too long for Rainbow's liking, left them by and handed each a breathing mask. Which Rainbow quickly equipped. It was almost a challenge to move through the alley with an abundance of guards and investigators standing around. Fortunately, they passed the small crowd and entered a large clearing, but Rainbow's bulged as she gasped.

In front of her were a couple of ponies surrounding a decayed stallion corpse. His flesh, despite only being killed not even a day ago, looked like it had been lying there for weeks and was nearly black with only a few patches of fur still clinging on. The stallion's corpse was turned on its back, revealing the stallion's face. His mouth was wide open as if it was screaming in pain, and a giant hole leading through the mouth and out the back of his neck made Rainbow even sicker.

It also didn't help that the stallion almost looked like an older colt, thanks to his size. Rainbow covered her mouth out of horror and to keep the bile from her inside from coming up. But she starred as Michikatsu casually walked up next to a unicorn investigator.

When Michikatsu stopped beside her, she noticed him and closed her notepad. She had a silver coat, a white curly mane with a blue strand, and green eyes that shined like emeralds. The mare readjusted her black-rimmed glasses as a pen wrapped in a green aura clipped onto the notepad's spiral spine.

"I'm guessing you two are the ponies the Princess informed us about?" She asked, her face scrunching up in disgust as she looked Michikatsu up and down.

“You are correct, miss..?”

“Onlooker.” She finished.

“...Onlooker. Me and my partner over here-” Michikatsu pointed a hoof at the still frozen Rainbow dash, “-got back from the guard center not too long ago. We tried to get information out of the witness, which wasn’t hard. But besides telling us stuff we already knew, it was mostly a waste of time.” He said with a grimace.

Onlooker sighed and shook her head. “Figures. Some of the stallions tried to do the same, went as well as you think.” She grimaced. But then a small smirk crossed her lips, “But we got one detail that may help you both.”

Michikatsu perked up Onlooker with wide eyes. “What is it?” He asked with impatience.

“Funny enough, our perp wasn’t the stealthy type. Found a faint blood trail leading out the other end of the ally and heading straight to a stallionhole cover.” She laughed.

“I don’t think this is the right time to be laughing, Miss Onlooker.” Michikatsu deadpan look.

Onlooker wiped a tear from her eye and went back to examining the corpse. “Sir, when you are in the homicide investigations team, you kinda become numb to it all.” She looked back at him with a full smirk, “or maybe I’m just a crazy bitch?” She joked. “Get going, I’m sure you can get some guards to follow you around.”

Michikatsu bowed and turned around, “It was a pleasure talking with you miss. Come on Rainbow dash, let’s-” His voice died down when he saw Rainbow blankly staring at the corpse still. He sighed and approached the still mare and shook her shoulder, snapping Rainbow out of her trance. “Come on. The more we stand around, the more time the demon who did this gets away.”

No response came from Rainbow as she nodded before making her way out of the ally. Michikatsu watched as the pegasus shuffled away with a concerned look on his face.

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

One of the three royal guards accompanying Michikatsu and Rainbow dash bit down on a small fold-out handle of the stallionhole cover and pulled his head back. The metal cover followed and fell to the asphalt ground with a heavy thud. Ignoring the disgusting taste in his mouth, the same guard moved out of the way and directed the two demon slayer to the hole with his hoof.

"Right this way. Also, be careful. Never know what can be down there." The guard warned.

Michikatsu nodded. Walking towards the hole, he turned around and descended the old rusty ladder. He took the guard's advice and looked around once his hooves connected with the sewer water floor. Once he spotted no immediate threats, Michikatsu signaled for the others to follow.

Once the guards and Rainbow joined with the demon stallion, they began to walk down the shit and rat-infested tunnels. Some guards complained to themselves and flinched when a rat ran across their path.

On the other hand, Michikatsu kept his guard up and scanned the tunnels for any sign of the demon, but something was distracting him. Every second or so, he would steal glances at Rainbow dash, who didn't seem to have the same caution as he had. Her shoulders were slightly slumped, and the look she had was unfocused as if she was lost in thought. Michikatsu, at first, was annoyed by the mare's lack of battle readiness and thought about scolding her for it, but something caused him to hold his tongue.
Worry filled his mind as Rainbow dashes somber mood didn't go away and only seemed to get worse. Sighing, Michikatsu took a deep breath and approached Rainbow dash. When he was right next to her, he put a gentle hoof on her shoulder, causing the mare to jump and scream in surprise.

"AHHHH!" Her voice echoed off the walls as she reached around and drew her sword in a flash.

The guards and Michikatsu stared at her with surprise at the startled mare. When she realized her mistake, Rainbow dash blushed in embarrassment and sheathed her weapon with a nervous chuckle. The guards grumbled and scoffed at her abruptness and turned around and continued walking with Michikatsu and an embarrassed Rainbow dash behind them.

"I see you're doing well." Michikatsu said sarcastically.

"Shut it," Rainbow snapped back, "You just startled me, is all." She looked away with a pout.

"Startle?" Michikatsu huffed, "It looked like you were going to start slicing and dicing back there." Michikatsu gave Rainbow a cheeky smirk, but when she didn't respond, he frowned. "Ok, you need to tell me what's wrong with you."

Rainbow growled tiredly, side-glancing at Michikatsu, "I told you before, nothing is wrong. So stop talking about it."

"If nothing was wrong, you wouldn't be acting like this." He argued while throwing up a hoof. "You have been silent and reserved since the guard center. And it's starting to worry me," Michikatsu moved closer to Rainbow with a concerned look, "Tell me what's wrong, not because of this mission, but because you're worrying me."

The prismatic pegasus looked to the ground and was silent for a few moments before sighing. "That...stallion we saw earlier, you know the one?" Michikatsu nodded, "It...I'd never seen anypony...die...in real life before. Of course, I got an idea of it from novels and comics, sure. But..." Rainbow's face twisted into an uncomfortable scowl.

"But what that demon did to the stallion; it was...wrong. Heck, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought it was a colt." She chuckled darkly.
"I don't know. Maybe I'm not cut out for this if I can't even stomach something like-"

Rainbow dash was interrupted when Michikatsu put a hoof over her shoulders and pulled her closer, a somber expression on his face.

"When I first started demon hunting, I was just like you." He said in a whispered voice.

Rainbow looked at him with surprise, "What?"

"The first ever mission I went on. There were rumors that men and women went missing during the night, and I volunteered to go. After I tracked it down to a nearby abandoned home, I had to force myself to stop myself from puking. The entire floor was dug out into a massive pit and inside was nothing but bones and half-rotted corpses." Michikatsu grimaced at the memory, but he steeled his nerves." Even when I did kill the demon, I felt like quitting afterward. I had the same thoughts as you."

"So, why didn't you quit?" Rainbow asked.

Michikatsu huffed in amusement and smiled. "Yoriichi happened. He saw how I was and sat me down to talk. No matter how much I disliked him back then, his words never left my mind."

"No matter how difficult it gets or how terrible you feel. Remember, as a demon slayer, it is your job to make sure others; and their families can rest easy without fear of losing a loved one. Your soul will hurt, but it can be mended by the kindness you give and the gratitude you receive."

"Kind of a mouthful, don't you think?" Michikatsu chuckled, "But he's right, it will suck having to see things like that, but it's worth seeing the happiness and peace." He smiled and patted Rainbow's back. A chuckle from the prismatic pegasus made Michikatsu raise an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?” He asked in mock offense.

Rainbow stifled her chuckles into soft giggles and looked at him with a small smile. "Sounds like something Twilight and Fluttershy would come up with." She joked. Her expression softened as her smile turned into a thankful one. “But thanks for the advice. I needed it.” She said.

“No problem, I-”

“Sir!”

Michikatsu and Rainbow’s conversion was halted when one of the guards shouted while pointing a hoof at something. “There’s a dip in the wall about 50 meters from our location. Should we proceed?” The guard asked with a serious expression.

“No, me and my partner here will go ahead. Just make sure that we don’t get flanked.” Michikatsu commanded.

The guards all nodded in unison before letting Michikatsu and Rainbow move in cautiously. As they both got closer, the familiar scent of death reached their noses, making Rainbow dash scowl in discomfort. The silence only seemed to make the already thick tension worse as every little sound from the moving water, mice squeaks, and even their breathing bounced off the stone walls. Rainbow Dash swallowed a lump in her throat as she and Michikatsu reached the dip. But something made Michikatsu flinch. And before Rainbow Dash could ask what was wrong, Michikatsu grabbed her and moved her and himself to the wall.

Michikatsu made a shushing motion with a hoof and pointed to the entrance. Rainbow dash listened in closer. She became uneasy and confused when the sound of breaking and wet tearing reached her ears as she gulped again. But Michikatsu had already advanced slowly towards the entrance to the dip, pulling something out of his haori.

The demon stallion carefully peered around the corner and squinted at the darkness. In it, he could make out the shape of a hunched-over figure hovering above another prone figure, the wet tearing sound coming from it. Taking a quiet step into the dip, he froze when the figure froze and turned its head around, gasping. Nobody moved for the longest time, even the guards felt that something was off and had their spears at the ready.

“P-Please, g-go a-a-away.” A timid and scared-sounding voice spoke. The plea made Michikatsu do a double take. And even made him think that it was a random homeless pony and not a man-eating demon.

Unfortunately, one of the guards, who was a unicorn, lit up their horn and shot a light orb at the figure, causing it to shriek in fear. What little time the light orb was active was enough to get the guards ready to take on this…thing. Michikatsu’s senses were going off, and his eyes widened when the figure lifted its foreleg at him.

“MOVE!” He shouted, running out and dropping down in time to miss a long and thin bone-like spike shot out and stabbed the adjacent wall.

The guards roared as they charged the entrance with spears ready to strike. Michikatsu was about to shout at the stallions before a brown and white blur passed the trio, making them stop in their tracks. But they noticed that one of them was gone, and their eyes followed the path of the blur to a cloaked form standing over a dead guard. A spike was lodged in his forehead, even piercing the tough armor.

Everyone stared at the figure with feelings of anger, fear, and caution as it slowly turned around to face, its face obscured by the hood of the cloak.

“Why?” The figure muttered in sorrow. “Why c-can’t anypony just LISTEN!?” she shouted, the volume of her voice making Michikatsu wince.

Her answer never came as the remaining two guards charged the figure again. This time, they got close and stabbed it through the chest and next and getting its blood over themselves. Their confident grins, however, fell as they tried to remove the spears from the figure. No matter how hard they tried, they didn’t move a centimeter, with the wounds surrounding them having bulging veins trapping the spears. The guard's attempts were stopped when the figure started to mumble erratically to themself.

“Please go away Please go away Please go away.” They repeated.

A guard growled in frustration, and out of anger, raised a hoof to punch the figure. But it was useless as the figure suddenly let out a high-pitched wail, causing the guards to scream in agony as they fell to the floor covering their ears. They flailed in a panic and were shouting incoherent nonsense, similar to a cloaked figure.

Luckily, Michikatsu and Rainbow dash didn’t seem to get affected. Michikatsu instantly noted that the attack had a set range, and got into an attacking position, soon followed by Rainbow, who pulled her sword out and glared at the cloaked figure.

The cloaked figure pulled at its cloak while making crying noises. “Just go away, it’s that simple, you idiots!” It angrily shouted. Its cloak started to tear thanks to the strength of the figures, slowly pulling away to reveal white fur and a gray mane. “I want to get rid of these damn voices! But I need to hurt you because Lord Muzan said if I did they’d go away!” She sobbed. The cloak tore away completely, and Rainbow almost dropped her sworded in shock.

It was revealed that to be the demon, on the account of HER white fur. But what unsettled Rainbow dash was her face. Her lower jaw had been split into two parts with jagged slits across her cheeks, her lips in a permanent frown. Her eyes were the worse part. In place of two normal eyeballs was nothing but a black void. Not like her eyes were removed, but they simply just vanished, leaving nothing but darkness.

This demon…It was blind.

“N-No matter.” The demon muttered, “If I get rid of you two, then they will go away.” She said with heavy regret in her voice. Her eyeless gaze fixed on the two demon slayers, as tears rolled down her maned face.

“I’m sorry.”

Manehatten blue's

"Idiot," Muzan growled as he glared at the vast forest outside the newly built study of his bed chambers. " My forces are growing by the day. But that won’t matter if all of my upper ranks aren’t alive when the day arrives." Taking a sip from a half-full wine glass, he turned his gaze to the kneeling bored demon. "To rise to the top, I must trim the fat. Don't you agree?" He asked with a quizzical glance.

"You are right as always, my lord." The bored demon said, then looking up at Muzan with its signature indifferent expression. "But, if I may be so bold to ask, what should we do about our newest addition?"

"It seems she has gotten into trouble yet again." The demon lord sighed, "But It was a mistake of mine recruiting such a pathetic pony." Turning in his rotating leather chair, he looked down at the bored demon with a hardened glare. "Nevertheless, I want you to keep an eye on her; lest she cause another accident. We can not afford to lose an asset such as herself. If anything is to happen, It will be on your head, foal." Muzan sneered.

The bored demon lowered his head into a bow before disappearing in a flash. When Muzan was sure the room was vacant, he got up from the leather chair and left his room. As he walked down the halls, changeling demons bowed to him, only to be ignored outright. A nagging feeling was itching Muzan’s mind, only serving to aggravate him more.

And it had to do with that...mare.

Starburst.

No matter what, that mare never left his head, like a permanent tattoo on his mind that can never be removed. Ever since he found the pathetic creature wallowing in her own self-pity, it had been nothing but a nightmare for him, almost as bad as...him.

Even when she spoke out of line or made a mistake that enraged him, a strange feeling stopped him from killing her off. Her memories were a prime suspect. But for whatever reason, he also found himself getting glimpses of her past life. From each glimpse he saw, it was almost like he feeling-

Muzan's eyes widened slightly, but the demons around him were too weary to address him. But, Muzan finally knew what that feeling was. A feeling he hadn't experienced for hundreds of years.

Pity.

In short, Muzan had found the emotion of pity to be a sign of weakness. Only when he allowed Guytaro and his useless sister to become demons, did he feel some semblance of pity and fondness. He had killed and maimed countless before, demon and mortal alike, without any hesitation or remorse. So why was this mare so different?

Even now, he questioned himself as to why he was heading toward Starburst's chambers—not even remembering the real reason why he left his room. Muzan grunted in frustration and was about to turn the other way when that same feeling screamed at his limbs to keep marching forward. Sighing internally, he reluctantly continued his trek down the rocky hallways with a deep scowl. Time seemed to flow by as Muzan found himself standing before Starburt's door with his hoof mid-knock.

Wait. Why was he going to knock? He was the demon lord; this entire base and everything in it was his. So why did he feel the need to act polite?!

Muzan roared and reeled his hoof back, punching the door. The solid wooden barrier flew off its hinges, shattering into splinters, followed closely by a surprised yelp. Muzan huffed as he walked past the damaged doorway, scanning the room and quickly finding a large lump covered by bed sheets.

"If this is how one of my upper-ranked demons acts when getting ambushed, you severely disappointed me." Muzan scoffed, looking at the head of a panicked Starburst emerging from the sheets.

"M-My lord!" Starburst shouted as she tried her best to release herself from her cotton prison. Unfortunately, her wild movement had gotten one of her hoofs tangled in the sheets, making the demon mare scream as she fell off the bed and onto her head.

"Owww." She moaned.

Usually, Muzan would scold or punish such idiotic behavior from one of his demons, especially one of her rank. But to his surprise, he noticed a bubbly pressure rising in his throat that threatened to escape. He quickly got rid of it by coughing into his hoof. Starburst must have heard it, because the bewildered mare managed to untangle herself and bow deeply to Muzan, her body slightly trembling.

"M-My deepest apologies, Lord Muzan." She apologized, "I didn't expect you to come in here, so I-"

Starburst was cut off by her being surrounded by a blood-red aura and lifted onto her bed. She looked at Muzan with fear and confusion at the sight of his stoic expression.

Muzan sighed as he pinched the bridge of his muzzle with a hoof, "You are excused. I find myself having a hard time. Getting that new recruit under control is paining me." He scoffed.

"New...recruit?" Starburst asked confusingly.

"Did you not hear me?" Muzan snapped, causing Starburst to flinch and rapidly shake her head. "But to answer your question, yes, the newest addition to my army. Some homeless mare I happened to come across, and merely caught my eye. What she lacks in mental fortitude, she makes up for with her unpredictability and speed." Muzan shifted his eyes over at something from the corner of his eye. "What is that?" He pointed out.

Starburst looked confused before following his hoof until her eyes laid on a small mound of dug-up rock and dirt in the corner of her room. A look of sorrow and anxiety crossed her face. "I-Its nothing, sir." She mumbled quietly.

Suddenly, a magical aura tightly gripped her throat, making her sputter and gag for air as she slammed against the wall. Muzan stomped close to her and glared at the demon mare with irritation.

“I don’t appreciate when a pathetic mongrel like you lies to me.” He growled, but a sickly feeling appeared in Muzan’s stomach, making him dissipate his magic. Starburst fell to the floor hacking and coughing while holding her neck. “But it is of little concern to me. Continue your recovery, and prepare for when our rising starts. Do. not. disappoint. me.”

Muzan then turned, not even bothering to look back at the recovering Starburst. The sickening sensation made itself known again to the demon king as he walked down the rocky halls. And to say he was tired of these troublesome emotions popping up would be an understatement. He felt…

Disgusted.

Not in the sense of something or someone being repulsive to be around. It was the kind of disgust a good-mannered child would feel when they knew that they have done something wrong, knowing of the punishment yet to come. Of course, Muzan knew no punishment could, or ever would, befall him. But the more…concerning aspect was that he was feeling bad about his treatment of HER. Why the hell should he care!? That pathetic mare couldn’t even handle one fight before getting bedridden for MONTHS. She should be DEAD!

Muzan punched his hoof into the wall, causing the hall he was in to momentarily shake as a large crack formed upwards. “Damn this realm. And the maggots that infest it.” He cursed as he continued his trek as the startled changeling demon’s stepped out of the way.

This was exhausting

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

The streets of Manehatten were just alive as ever with ponies going about their night. That was until the middle of the street exploded and sent chunks of rock and concrete flying in every direction. Luckily nopony got hurt, but after so, the ponies just stared in shock.

Sparks flew as a frightening-looking mare faced off a colorful pegasus as hardened bone collided with steel. Both of their movements were too fast for the regular ponies, coming off as blurs and momentary after-images to them. Rainbow dash swung at the demon mare, but as the demon went to block, Rainbow bucked the demon in the muzzle, causing the demon to stumble back. Then, she roared as she brought down her sword, only to be stunned when the demon bit down on it, holding the weapon mid-strike.

“Ah, crap!” Rainbow shouted, using every fiber of her muscles to pull the sword out. But the demon didn’t let up, as it raised a hoof and pointed it at Rainbow. Sensing danger, Rainbow took a deep breath and let her pegasus magic flow through her body.

“Storm breathing, form 3: Typhoon!”

Rainbow tensed all the muscles in her body to their absolute limit and twisted her body. The demon tried its best to hold its ground but quickly found itself being launched into the side of a building with its jaw completely sliced off. Ponies scream and fled in terror once the demon got back on its hoof and glared at Rainbow dash with a crazed look. It growled angrily before launching another spike at Rainbow.

She smirked and rolled out of the way, but didn’t see the other one flanking her right and she jumped out of the way. Unfortunately, Rainbow didn’t react in time, and the spike stabbed into her right hindleg, electing a pained scream from Rainbow.

“Blood demon art,” Rainbow’s eyes widened when she heard the demon muttering, “Ribbed caged!”

To Rainbow dashes disgust, the ribs of the demon burst from her chest and grew, resembling the maw of a dangerous beast. But her stunned silence was killed off when she saw the crazed demon slowly approaching her. She went to stand, but yelped in pain and looked back to see the boney spike still embedded into her hindleg. No matter how hard Rainbow pulled, her leg was stuck there unless she risked damaging it further. Her breathing became erratic as the demon mare was not right in front of her, smiling wickedly with tears still rolling down her face.

“Please be silent.” The demon mare's monstrous ribs opened wide to engulf the down pegasus. Rainbow closed her eyes and braced for the oncoming pain. But a gargling noise and the sound of metal cutting through flesh made Rainbow open her eyes to see the demon mare holding her bleeding neck.

“You still got a lot to learn, kid.” Said a familiar voice. Rainbow followed it to see Michikatsu standing a few meters away with a strange sword in his mouth. “But you have potential, I can see that.” He said, turning around and allowing Rainbow to get a better look at the strange sword.

It was the normal shape of one, but beyond that was where the similarities ended. The purple blade was lined with eyes similar to Michikatsu’s with…veins connecting them. It was the same story for the rest of the weapon, with eyes on the pink and purple-lined hoof guard, and in between the dark-turquoise handle wrapping. Even the flesh-colored scabbard hand eyes go vertically down. Rainbow thought she saw some of the eyes blinking.

“What are you doing?! You’re supposed to be on our side!” The demon mare yelled. Instead of waiting for an answer, she turned her body to face Michikatsu and sent her sharp ribs at the demon slayer.

Michikatsu stood in place, even when the spike stabbed through his head, torso, and legs, he barely flinched or showed any signs of pain. In one swift motion, Michikatsu severed all the boney spikes, making the demon mare screech in pain and hold her head. He then scoffed as he got into an offensive stance, wounds healing,

“I gave up that life a long time ago.” Michikatsu said with a grimace,” It’s a shame, for a poor soul like you to turn into a monster.” He muttered to himself.

Michikatsu shook off the pity for the pony-eating creature and charged at it. But he scoffed as the demon’s jaw unhinged as it prepared for the same attack that downed the two guards. He quickly shifted his weight to one side and landed on the ground. Before the demon mare had time to move her head, in a burst of speed, Michikatsu swung at her with all his might. To his surprise, the demon mare bent backward under the attack, causing Michikatsu's attack to fly over her. A painful grimace enveloped the mare's face as she swung her left hoof in the air.

A sharp pain stabbed into his side when a spiked rib impaled the demon sword's pony in the stomach. And with a mighty screech, the demon mare swung Michikatsu above her head and tossed him away, sending him face-first into the side of a building. The brick wall collapsed and glass windows shattered at the impact, and ponies screamed and ran away from the collapsed building face. Michikatsu, laying bloody and broken in the crater, coughed up blood and got it over his tattered Haori.

“H-How? I put all my leg strength into that dash. So why didn’t it hit?” He questioned internally but held back a grunt as a shock of pain shot through his spine.

“MICHIKATSU!” Rainbow shouted with her hoof stretched out at him.

Her gaze was then changed to the demon mare, who was now slowly walking towards Michikatsu. Rainbow snarled at the demon. She bit down on her sword’s handle and tried to stand, but her back leg buckled under the intense pain.

“If I don’t get to her now, Michikatsu is toast!”

Then an idea struck her that made the prismatic mare smirk. Unfurling her wings, Rainbow dash did a few test flaps and found that, even with the sword's added weight, she felt lighter than air. “Thanks, Yoriichi, Michikatsu .” She remarked. Looking back at the demon mare, Rainbow flapped her wing hard and shot forth with a muffled BOOM in the air.

Hearing this noise, the demon mare turned to see a glimpse of a colorful blur before the feeling of steel slicing into its neck, making it look down. In front of her was the same pesky pegasus with her sword embedded in her throat, but unmoving. This shocked the pegasus apparently, going off her shocked expression, as the weapon barely scratched the demon's bone. “W-What?!” Was the only thing the pegasus could say before the demon mare kicked her into the window of a coffee shop.

The demon shuffled as she looked to where the pegasus landed. “You poor thing. My demon blood art allows me to manipulate my bone structure in any way I like. You didn’t know that, but even so, you're still too weak. *Sniffle*. There isn’t anything you can do to stop me, I pity you.” She cried out.

Michikatsu pulled himself from the crater, landing hard on the ground with a thud, and forced himself to his hooves. Breathing in deeply, He hardened his stance.

“Moon Breathing, Seventh forth: Mirror of Misfortune, moonlit”

Veins bulged on Michikatsu’s sword and slowly started to grow. His connection to his sword strengthened as the blade grew to nearly twice its original length, sporting new craved blades across its length. With a single swing, a barrage of downward crescent slashes rushed toward the unsuspecting demon, creating clean cuts into the road.

The demon turned around at the barreling noise and went wide-eyed at the razor-sharp attacks. They quickly tried to get out of the way, but the attack was too fast, and managed to sever the mare in half. With a pained yell and a wet thud, the two halves fell to the ground, as the bottom half fell to the ground.

The demon looked to her missing section, then to Michikatsu, then back to herself with fear and bewilderment. Its breathing turned labored and its eyes became unfocused as it continued to look at its lower half, now slowly reforming.

“No…No No No No No No…” The demon mare repeated while clutching the side of her head. “Shut up! I-I didn’t fail. This is only a setback!” It shouted. But the whispers got louder, filling the mare's head with thoughts of her internal punishment inside her mind, never to go away due to her uselessness. Over and Over again, they berated the ex-mare with taunts and haunting laughter that seem to circle her in all directions possible. Those children. The adults in white. They played with her fractured mind like some toy, trying to pry into it with no concern for her feelings. The pain. The pain. The pain…That damn clock never stopped ticking in her mind. Over and over it ticked and tocked.

All the demon mare could see was blurry red with a figure standing in the middle. A muffled scream came from her throat as the ticking became louder. To stop the damn noise, she had to dig it out. By force.

Michikatsu watched in shock as his body slowly regenerated. The demon mare was violently seizing on the ground, even though its body was fully reformed, it still writhed on the ground and foamed at the mouth.

His shock turned to horror when the demon started to bash its head with a hoof repeatedly. Loud crunches and cracks came from its bleeding head. Blood and bone fragments scattered the ground, barely being drowned out by the demon's screeches of genuine fear and pain. Was this some form of sick punishment from Muzan? Though the ex-mare was a demon, Michikatsu couldn’t help but feel sad at the pathetic site.

But what the demon said next shook him to his very core.

“Muzan! Please, help m-me!” It begged helplessly, its voice heavily slurred and garbled from the blood in its mouth.

“Please make the ticking stop! Muzan Kibutsuji, I beg of you!”

Time seemed to slow for the demon slayer as his eyes widened and jaw dropped. Maybe he hit his head a little too hard. Did she just say his full name? Michikatsu knew of the curse that every demon would receive upon turning, and what happened if it worked. Seconds felt like hours to him, yet, the demon mare was still screaming and crying out to him, full name and all.

Michikatsu suddenly discovered that his legs were moving toward the suffering demon, but he didn’t object. He needed to know more about this demon. There was no way a demon uttered Muzan’s full name and lived afterward. Michikatsu had seen a Mrs. Tamayo from Muzan’s cells before that had done the same thing. But to see it in the flesh was-

“WATCH OUT!”

He was then abruptly tackled out of the way by a Rainbow blur as a shadowed figure fell from the sky and landed on the ground away from the pair. Michikatsu coughed into his hoof as he pushed himself up to see Rainbow dash already in a defensive stance, glaring at the giant dust cloud.

As the cloud started to settle, he could make out a large figure almost twice as big as him that was standing atop something. That something became apparent as he saw the demon mare laying in a shallow crater, a giant sword running through her newly reformed midsection. The sword itself couldn’t even be called that, it was more of a large hunk of iron with a handle at the end. Gripping onto that “sword” was the second most grotesque being he’d seen in his life, the first being uppermoon 6, with a bored expression on its pony face.

“It’s a shame, really.” The demon said while looking down at the crushed demon mare. “You might have had my interest if you didn’t suck so much.” It then twisted the sword, electing a pained shriek from the demon mare. “But orders are orders.”

The demon pulled its sword from the demon mare, gripped the handle with a second claw, and raised the hefty weapon over its small head. No words were said as it brought down the iron chunk. Its bored expression showed some form of minor surprise when a flesh and purple-colored sword struck against it, knocking the weapon away from the downed demon mare.

“Hold on, you’re…” The bored demon said before getting bucked in the chest. It slid across the rocky surface, kicking up chunks of rock along the way, and stopping a few meters away. “What’s your name again…Kokushibo, right?” It asked innocently, showing no signs of pain.

Michikatsu Scoffed angrily as he got into a defensive stance in front of the demon mare. His stance and scowl only hardened at the name.

“You keep that name out your mouth, he doesn’t exist anymore.” He growled. “And you’re about to join him!”

The bored demon, for the first time since he could remember, felt the corners of his mouth stretch into a wide, unsettling grin. “Oh, you are definitely worthy of playing with.” He chuckled. “Since we’re going with new titles then, I guess you can call me…

“Ember.”

Moonlight nightmares

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.

What did I miss?

A hard thud landed in front of the open window in Muzan’s bed chambers.

The demon lord sat up, revealing his messy mane and scowling red eyes, glaring at the demon who dared wake him up from sleep. It had been an hour after he ordered ember to retreat from the city.

After a lovely bath made by his subjects and a hearty meal, he caught up on some light reading, a recent hobby he enjoyed when he wasn’t scheming. Reading the last pages of his short novel, he put it away to get some rest before Ember was to show up for his possible execution. Until now, with said demon kneeling in front of the open window and not daring to look up.

“I am truly sorry, Lord Muzan.” Ember pathetically said in a lowered tone. It flinched slightly when Muzan scoffed.

"Save me your apologies." Muzan scoffed, "What you did tonight went against my orders. You failed to finish off Red Cross, drew attention to yourself, and worst yet, you failed the simple task of ridding this world of Kokushibo." Berated Muzan, his voice rising in volume as every second passed. The sheets covering Muzan were thrown aside as the angry demon lord stomped on the kneeling Ember.

Once he reached the kneeling demon, he raised a hoof and slammed it into Ember's head, leaving a sizable crater and sending it into the wall with a loud crash. As Ember slid to the ground, broken chunks of rock and wood chips bounced off its body. But Muzan wasn't done. The demon lord's left foreleg morphed in his rage until it was mostly covered in a red, fleshy substance with sharp-toothed maws lining it. With a growl, Muzan grabbed Ember by the throat and slammed him into the shattered wall, inching his scowling face closer to Ember's healing one.

Tension strangled the air as the demon lord continued to glare daggers into Ember's unfocused eyes before it was broken by Muzan sighing. "Consider yourself fortunate, foal." He spat with disdain clear in his voice, "Since I was having such a wonderful evening, I'll give you a chance."

After a brief moment, Muzan's foreleg withdrew from Ember's throat, dropping it to the floor unceremoniously. Ember quickly scrambled to his shaking legs, purple claws rubbing their neck.

“W-What is it you request of me, sir?”

“I’ll give you one chance only, a single chance, to give me a reason not to end your miserable life.”

Fear crossed Ember’s features before returning to its usual interference. “While I was fighting Kokushibo, I couldn’t get rid of a nagging feeling in the back of my head. It might be nothing, but his companion only heightens my concern.” It said with a grim tone.

“...Explain.” Muzan ordered, narrowing his eyes.

“There was a rainbow-maned pegasus. She fought, or at least tried to, with Kokushibo when I made my presence known to them. I thought nothing of her, just some background noise to be ignored. But the thing that worries me is,” Ember looked Muzan in the eye with a serious expression, “She used a breathing technique to cut my leg.”

In an instant, the room was deafly silent as grim realization slowly formed on Muzans face. If this mare was able to use breathing techniques and no less be able to cut through the tough skin of Ember with ease, then…

“No,” Muzan muttered and lowered his head in disbelief, “This can’t be happening.”

Ember recoiled away from the demon lord, a sense of overwhelming anger and…fear making it stare at Muzan with caution. Suddenly, just as soon as the feeling had come, it was wisped away like dust in the wind. Muzan’s head rose with a strangely calm visage as he faced Ember.

“That is nothing to fear. Just because some random mare was able to injure you, doesn’t justify your failure. Leave, get out of my sight before I change my mind.”

With a rushed bow, Ember followed Muzan’s advice and was gone in a blur. Once the coast was clear, Muzan’s body began to tremble and his eyes shrank to pinpricks.

This could not be happening, not now. If…HE…was training these over-glorified mules to use Breathing techniques, then it was bad news, to say the least. The Hashira of the current year were pathetic in terms of ability, teaching newer demon slayers was practically a waste of time in all honesty. But, if it was someone like Yoriichi, it was a different story. A good demonstration was that Tanjiro brat. Muzan never figured out how that kid learn the Hinokami Kagura after its only wielder died hundreds of years ago, but that wasn’t the point.

What’s to say there aren’t more like that Rainbow mare that can injure, or take out, high-ranking demons with ease with Yoriichi’s training? Of course, none of them would come close to HIS skill, not in a million moons. But Muzan was overestimating demon slayers before, costing his past life. Not anymore.

A sudden knock at Muzan's door snapped the demon lord out of his internal panic, him turning to the door with a scowl. “Enter.” He commanded.

The door’s knob turned as it opened slowly to reveal a demon changeling, its legs violently shaking. “M-My Lord, I have come with a message.” It said with a shaky voice.

Muzan’s ears perked up. He fully turned around to face the changeling, “What is it?”

The demon changeling used its magic to levitate a worn-looking piece of paper in front of its face, “Dear Demon lord, If you are reading this, then that means I have successfully captured one of your demons and forced them to deliver this message to you. You can call me Doctor Crow. I won’t go into detail as to why I have written to you, but in short, I am interested in joining, as you have piqued my curiosity. Below, you will find that I have written the location of where I live. You can come to visit me or send somepony down to fetch me."

"Sincerely, D.C" As the changeling finished, it folded the letter and waited for Muzan’s reply, which didn’t take long.

“This individual has certainly caught my attention.” Muzan chuckled. “The audacity aside, I shall grant his request, only because I expect them to further my chances of victory.” The demon lord waved his hoof at the changeling and walked to his bed. “Go and get Starburst. Since she is showing no more signs of illness, I’ll have her retrieve this Doctor.”

The changeling nodded and rushed out, making sure not to slam the door behind it.

As Muzan got into bed and covered himself, he couldn’t keep a slight grimace off his face for a good reason. He could not let this plan fail, any chance he could get was vital. It didn’t matter if he seemed desperate, anything would do, especially with the chance of a demon slayer popping up once more.

“In two weeks, this world will fall before me. And not even you, Yoriichi, could stop me.” Muzan reassured himself, holding back a scoff as his eyelids grew heavy. With a calm breath, Muzan allowed his eyes to close, sleep conquered him once more.

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

Michikatsu groaned when a sharp pain shot through his head. The second thing he noticed as he opened his eyes was that he was in a white room with a tiled floor and green ceiling. Disinfectant and other clean smells assaulted the demon's nose, which made his face scrunch up in subtle discomfort.

His vision was still blurred. Looking around the room, Michikatsu could make out the outline of strange equipment on either side of the bed he found himself lying on, all of their screens pitch black. It was clear now, Michikatsu was in a medical facility since these strange machines were the same as back in the Canterlot infirmary. Looking around more, small details were also present, like a window not too far away from Michikatsu's bed with its curtain shielding him from the sun's light. Suddenly, his eye's halted when scanning his environment onto a blob of color and cyan.

The blob was slumped over, the chest area slowly rising and lowering with soft snoring coming from it. But thanks to a combination of a possible concussion and the grogginess from waking up, it took a moment for Michikatsu's vision to clear.

When it did, the blob was revealed to be Rainbow dash resting on a chair, her sword on her lap. He smiled warmly, seeing his partner sound asleep, but he needed answers. Luckily, it seemed his motor functions were intact after the beating he received as he crawled out of bed. Walking over to the sleeping Rainbow dash, Michikatsu put a hoof on her shoulder and shook her gently.

"Hey," He whispered softly, "Rainbow, get up."

Rainbow groaned as her face twitched but didn't wake. Shaking her a little harder, Michikatsu moved his mouth closer to Rainbow's ear.

"Rainbow, it's me."

With another groan, Rainbow's eye began to crack open. After a few moments of blinking and rubbing her eyes, Rainbow looked around, confused, before she landed on Michikatsu.

"AHHHHH!!!" Rainbow yelled. In her panic, Rainbow's wings accidentally flared out, pushing her off the chair and introducing her face to the steel floor.

Michikatsu huffed playfully, sitting on his rump and crossing his forelegs. "I know I'm not the best looker around, but I'm not THAT bad." He said with mock offense.

Rainbow scrambled herself off the floor and faced Michikatsu with a sheepish grin. "O-Oh, Michikatsu, you're awake...that's nice." She sputtered. "Sorry. After all that happened last night, I'm sorta on edge still." She nervously laughed while rubbing the back of her head.

"It's fine. I'm just glad you weren't as hurt as I was." Michikatsu quipped, "By the way, how long was I out for?"

"You were out cold for a while, at least a couple of hours." Rainbow answered, "Good thing you got insane healing; the doctor said you should've been dead, in a coma at the least." She then surprised Michikatsu by bringing him into a tight hug, which he hesitantly returned. "I should be the one worrying about you, I'm...sorry."

Michikatsu looked at Rainbow with confusion, "For what?" He asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"I'm sorry for not being able to help. I chickened out when you got hurt, and I barely did anything." Rainbow looked down with shame in her posture.

"Ugh, you're starting to sound like my brother," Michikatsu said with an eye roll. He put a hoof under Rainbow's chin and lifted it to meet her face with a tender look. "Look, I under what you're saying. I don't blame you for being scared at that moment, even though I was too." Michikatsu amitted, ignoring the shocked Rainbow, "No one is expecting you to go out and face danger with total confidence and not falter. It's impossible. All your friends and I expect from you is to do your best and nothing more."

"The future is uncertain, and we can't make promises that everything will turn out fine. That is why you and I need to get stronger so that we can protect the ones we care about. Not by hiding our fear and weakness, but embracing it and molding it into something that can help everyone."

Michikatsu bent down, grabbed the sheathed sword Rainbow dropped, and held it in front of her. "Now, fill me in on what happened while I was out. And then after that, I'll help you train for a while, alright?" He spoke, voice muffled and the corner of his mouth stretching into a playful smirk.

Rainbow stared in awe at Michikatsu, tears threatening to escape. She wiped them away with a foreleg and smiled confidently at Michikatsu. "Sure, but better keep your promise!" She said, snatching the sword from Michikatsu's mouth and setting it against the wall. "Well, here's how it all went down..."

For the next hour, Rainbow went on to recount the past hours Michikatsu had missed. Not long after he blacked out and was retrieved by the local guard, reinforcements aided the local guard for any sign of the demon that attacked them. Unfortunately, there was no sign of it, and worst yet, the sun had begun to rise. And due to Michikatsu's injuries, the protective spell that protected him from the sun was broken. So the guard rushed him to the nearest hospital for treatment, making sure to get a room without windows. As for the demon mare, Rainbow explained that it was shipped off to Canterlot for psychological treatment when the guards noted its sporadic behavior and occasional self-mumbling.
It didn't go well...

"N-No! You can't take me back! I've been a good mare; I swear I have! PLEASE!" The demon mare screeched as she tried to escape the grasp of two large stallion guards. Despite their strength, they visibly strained against the demon's might.

It took 3 trained mages to use high-level sedative spells to finally put the frantic mare to sleep. Besides the sudden panic attack, it went smoothly as they packed it into a large wooden container similar to a coffin and shipped it off to Canterlot. Not long after, Yoriichi and the rest made a surprise visit, saying they got a letter from the princess telling them to back Rainbow if anything else happened. Rainbow retold them what happened, getting faces of shock and horror at the retelling. Then Rainbow told her about Michikatsu's condition and the missing protection spell. And the rest was history.

“And it all leads up to now.” Rainbow finished with a roll of her hoof and crossing in her forelegs.

Michikatsu nodded with a satisfied look and rose to his hooves. “I am all caught up now.” He thanked. “But I must ask, what is of my brother and the others?”

"Eh, they had things to do today." Rainbow sighed, "Rarity and AJ still had to make up the work they missed during our 3 months away. Twilight is busy doing Princess things. And Pinkie...well, she's Pinkie." Rainbow shrugged.

"But what about Miss Fluttershy and my brother?" Michikatsu cocked an eyebrow confusingly.

Rainbow chuckled and glanced away. "I think those two love birds are going to be preeetty busy tonight~." She answers with a mischievous grin. The room went dead quiet, the only sound being the rushing air from a vent.

"What..."

"Well, I thought you would know by now. Yoriichi being your brother and all that?" Rainbow replied, failing to keep the grin off her face. "Especially since he and Fluttershy are..."

"A couple~"

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

It was a nice day to be in the market this time around. The passing winter weather made the air just chilly enough that you didn't have to wear coats or scarves. Ponies paraded about, grabbing food items and nick-nacks from each stand. Foals played about and filled the air with the sound of laughter.

Nothing could-

"WHAAAAT?!?"

Everypony flinched at the loud, enraged stallion voice. But a moment later, they all shrugged it off and went about their lovely day.

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

A faint whisper of a voice caused Yoriichi to perk up. He looked about the golden stable in search of the source, yet it was still the same semi-packed restaurant.

“Yoriichi?” He looked to see his now marefriend Fluttershy staring at him with concern, her ears folded back against her head. “Is something wrong?” She asked. Yoriichi shook his head and looked down at his half-eaten salad.

“No, nothing is wrong.” He answers, averting his gaze from the shy mare.

Fluttershy’s concerned expression turned to mild irritation as she leaned in and grabbed Yoriichi’s ear and yanked it, not getting much of a reaction from the stoic stallion, “You listen here, mister. What was the one thing I told you before we got together?” She questioned with an adorable glare, like another scolding their child.

With a sigh, Yoriichi locked eyes with Fluttershy, “To not keep our feelings hidden from each other.” He repeated. Fluttershy’s expression had softened into a smile at his retelling and released his ear. “But you are right, something is unnerving me.”

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked.

“My brother.”

The timid pegasus eyes widened in mild shock. She leaned in forward slightly from across the table, “Why is that?” She said.

“Michikatsu…he has always been the protective type. When we were young, he had a strong sense of responsibility for me since they all, including my brother, believed I was deaf. He used to see me as a fragile boy, and anyone that tried to talk to me was met with his hostility.” Yorrichi set his plate aside and pulled out a small bag, pulling a few bits from it. “What is worrying me is how he is going to take all this.” Yorrichi grimaced.

Sweat beads ran down the side of Fluttershy's nervous face, which she wiped away swiftly. “I’m sure he will understand. I-”

“YORIICHI, WHERE ARE YOU!!!”

Fluttershy ‘eeped’ at the shouting voice and covered her face with her mane. Her eye peered from behind the pink curtain and looked outside to see…Michikatsu. The timid pegasus eyes widened in fear as the demon stallion shouted at the air in random directions.

“HOW DARE THAT WHORE SEDUCE MY SWEET BABY BROTHER! I SWEAR, WHEN I FIND THAT SEDUCTRESS, I’LL TEAR HER LIMB FROM LIMB FOR TRICKING MY BROTHER!”

Thankfully, before Michikatsu could spot the trembling mare and Yoriichi, Rainbow dash and a pair of hospital staff tackled him to the floor and restrained his limbs. The two staff members struggled with his strength, Michikatsu raving in no particular direction, while Rainbow dash was on the verge of knocking the stallion out. Ponies surrounding the two made themselves scarce and hurried away.

“DON’T WORRY, BROTHER, I’LL SAVE YOU EVENTUALLY!!!”

As for Yoriichi, he continued to stare down at his older brother with an embarrassed look, trying his best not to stand out for fear of being connected to Michikatsu at the moment. Putting his bag away in his Haori, Yoriichi slide out of the window side table and helped the terrified Fluttershy as well.
“I think it is best if we make hast.” Yoriichi said flatly. Fluttershy nodded silently as they made their way out of the restaurant's back door.

“YORIICHIIIIIIIII!!!”

Doctors visit

"Is there something you need to see me about?"The purple pregnant mare asked.

"..."

"Situation? Is there something wrong, sir?"

"..."

"What about me?" She asked, fear steadily building up in her heart.

"...”

“WHAT!?” The mare yelled. She slammed a hoof into the ground and sneered at…” You want me to just up and leave?! I have a FOAL on the way! What do you think would happen if… isn’t there for him, huh?”

“YOU DISGRACE! One of the many stallions shouted angrily, “A high-class like you, making a relationship with a filthy worker class like…!”

Another stallion drenched in darkness stands up, only his ice-cold gaze piercing the darkness to glare at the purple mare. “If you can't cut ties with him, we might have to take… drastic measures to make sure our public image doesn’t get tainted.” He said in a calm voice, looking past the mare's face and moving his gaze lower and lower until it stopped.

The purple mare gasped and took a step back, holding her bulging belly with a protective foreleg. “Y-You wouldn’t.” She muttered in disbelief.

“This will be your only warning…! It will either be that “husband” of yours or that bastard child.”

The purple mare felt tears well in her eyes as she hung her head. With no choice, she nodded her head and spoke her response. The words that came out of her mouth never reached her ears.

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

“AHH!” Starburst screamed bloody murder and shot up, a cold sweat coating her astral coat.

She looked around the cave she set up frantically for any sign of…them. Only when she noticed the absence of threats in the immediate area, Starburst let out a sigh of relief and moved out from under the worn-out sleeping bag.

In that cave, there weren’t many things. In the corner were the last keepers of the cave, now a mangled pile of green sap and broken twigs. There was a large pair of saddle bags propped up against the wall near the sleeping bag, a slightly soaked cloak covering them. Starburst walked over to the bags, uncovered them, and scrounged around inside, seeing nothing was taken during her little power nap. But it was hard to tell how long she had been asleep. Ever since she arrived in this land a day ago, it had been non-stop raining from the sky. The demon mare was almost soaked to the bone by the time she had cleared the cave out, and it didn’t help that she recently got over with illness.

But as Starburst placed the saddlebags and the cloak over her astral body, the foul taste of bile never left the bag of her throat. She was sick still, as Ember said so. So why did she feel disgusted with herself all of a sudden?

She instantly shook the thoughts away from her mind. There was a job to do, and she was going to do it right. Walking out of the cave, Starburst saw that the rain seemed to lighten up the last time she was outside, but not by much, unfortunately. She ignored the assault of rainwater and walked along the tree line next to a dirt path in order not to be seen. Animals and small rodents ran away at the sight of her; the cold eyes seemed to pierce their very being despite looking…somber, in a way. As she continued to trudge along the muddy treeline, Muzan’s orders echoed in her head.

“A pair of my demons, or at least one of them, have brought back a letter written by a creature named “Dr. Crow”. From what I could get from the demon who gave me this letter, a town somewhere near the eastern coast of Equestria is where they acquired it. I will supply you with the same letter, read it, and see that his wishes are met. Not only do we need all the strength we can get before our big day, but this creature also needs punishment for his rude manners.”

The demon lord, in his ever-menacing aura, made it clear not to fail this. But the demon mare felt a strange uneasiness wash over her as a small village peaked out from the thick treeline, Starburst stopping at a small ledge that over-looking the village.

The uneasy feeling never left; instead, it only spiked as Starburst skimmed over the hay-roofed clay houses. When one has arrived at a new village or town, one would expect the usual from such a place. Ponies going about their day, fillies and colt's running about, and a warm and cozy feeling that would draw anypony in. But this place was the complete opposite.

Buildings looked as if they could break apart if the wind blew too hard. Signs, food stands, carts, barrels, and the sort decorated the streets with not a single noise to break the sound of rain and rushing wind.

The windows had been boarded up with wood, and there was not one chimney bellowed smoke. What's worse, not a single pony could be spotted by Starburst; even when she walked into the town, it was dead silent. The eerie quietness of the place made the demon mare a little paranoid, not that she would ever admit it, at every little creak and rusted groan from a hanging sign.

“Yo Ho!”

Starburst flinched at the sudden voice and instantly got into a defensive position, scanning the area for the voice's owner. After a moment of nothing, Starburst spotted a single building not too far from her, with its door creaking open.

“Yo Ho!”

Starburst flinched at the sudden voice and instantly got into a defensive position, scanning the area for the voice's owner. After a moment of nothing, Starburst spotted a single building not too far from her, with its door creaking open.

The building itself was in fairly well-kept condition. Windows were still boarded up, and cracks and jagged seams broke apart the building's white paint. Starburst's eyes wandered upward until she landed on a faded sign above the open door. The corners were rusted, and the image of a crow with its wings spread out was heavily faded.

"Yo Ho!"

The same noise emanated from the ajar door. Starburst approached it cautiously, lighting up her horn in case she needed to blow something up. But her tough facade was swept away when a brown-gloved hoof poked out from the dark interior, making the demon mare step back. It motioned for her to enter, a menacing chuckle accompanying it. The whole ordeal put Starburst on edge. The rain never let up, a ghost town that looked like a pissed-off Ursa Minor ran through it, and currently, a shady figure trying to lure her into some run-down clinic.

Finding her courage, Starburst scowled harshly at the hoof and stomped towards it with her horn shining brightly in the town's misty air. Suddenly, when Starburst was less than a half meter away, the gloved hoof shot out and gripped her shoulder. The demon mare yelped in surprise as the gloved hoof yanked her into the darkness with surprising strength, and the door slammed shut behind her.

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

Darkness.

That was all she was met with. In that darkness, Starburst could hear the sound of quick movement, every step making the wooden floor groan. Her breathing quickened, and her eyes desperately darted around, looking for a source of the sound. Only the faint purple hue of her horn lightened the small area around her, not being much use.

CRASH!!!

Starburst's breath hitched, and her head snapped in the direction of the crashing noise. A hollow, rolling metal sound slowly crept on the demon mare and revealing itself to be a metal mug with the strong scent of coffee from its inside.

"Sooooo, I take it you're one of "Muzan's" little friends, Yo Ho?" A joyful voice spoke.

Starburst growled silently and pointed her horn in random directions, "Show yourself, Coward!" She spoke through clenched teeth.

"Ooohhh, such hostility!" The joyful voice giggled, "And you're saying that I'm a coward? Despite you saying that your knees are shaking! I'm no doctor, but-"

Suddenly, Starburst was almost blinded when the room was flooded by a bright light, forcing her to protect her eyes with a foreleg. When she lowered her foreleg, she was met face to face by what seemed to be a bird with glass eyes bent upwards in mocked delight.

"I think you are afraid!" A shrill scream escaped Starburst as she fell to the floor, a horrified expression on her face. "Wait, I AM a doctor!" It laughed hysterically.

Starburst scrambled back in a panic, trying to find her footing. The creature before her stood at average pony height with long and angular wings. Its body was covered in a black and worn-out leather suit, with leather straps and pouches covering itself at the waist and shoulders. Covering its face was a mask that resembled a bird of prey, a raven, to be exact, and on top of its head was a tall top hat with red trim at the base.

During her examination of the creature, it managed to die down its laughter and walk closer to Starburst, making the frightening demon crawl away more. Its glass lenses then somehow changed to show confusion.

"H-How d-d-do you k-know who I a-am?" Starburst stammered out.

The creature hummed while rubbing his chin with a gloved hoof, the same that dragged Starburst inside, "Well, not many ponies come around here often. The only times they do are either they're looking to steal, or they're just passing by." It circled Starburst with its glassy eyes looking over her body. "But, you don't look like a pony just passing by or up to mischief, or a pony at all, for that matter."

It suddenly stopped in front of Starburst and held out its hoof. "Doctor Crow, at your service." He introduced himself, his 'eyes' in a joyful expression.

Starburst hesitated but eventually grabbed the doctor's hoof and pulled onto her hooves. "So you are the one who sent the letter, am I correct?" Starburst asked, watching as Crow walked over to a table Starburst hadn't noticed before.

"Well, aren't you a smart mare, Yo Ho!" It laughed. Crow pulled a chair from the table and motioned to it with a hoof. "Here, take a seat, madam, Yo Ho."

Not wanting to upset the potential new demon member, Starburst accepted Crow's kindness and took a seat. Then you know why I am here, right?" She asked with a serious tone.

Crow chuckled at nodded, "Oh, yes, my dear. That is why I am in such a festive mood! Yo Ho!" Crow then turned, rushed over to a doorway, stopped before entering, and turned to face Starburst. "Wait here, miss. I will fetch us some confectionaries, Yo Ho!"

With that, Crow disappeared into the next room, followed by crashing noises and silent curses. Seeing nothing else better to do, Starburst took the opportunity to examine her surrounding.

The room she was in was outfitted with the usual clinic decoration if the sign outside was anything to go by. Posters and painted words lined the walls, giving inspirational quotes and cute pictures to look at by any potential scared fillies or colts. There was also a waiting desk by the door, barricaded off by wooden boards. Strangely, the waiting room area was also combined with a kitchen of sorts with cabinets, a sink, and even a fridge. But what unsettled Starburst was the state of it all. And despite its warm and welcoming looking, there was something dark and disturbing past all of it.

“I’m back, Yo Ho!”

Crow barged into the room with a white ceramic bowl clutched in between his wings. He gayly walks up to the table and placed the bowl down and takes his seat. In the bowl was an assortment of different candies, mostly hoofmade, which Crow eagerly started to eat by sliding them under his mask.

Starburst grabbed a piece, red with a clear wrapper, and placed one into her mouth after freeing it from its plastic prison. The taste was pleasant, having a strong fruity taste that wasn’t too strong, which was weird since she never did like candies.

…

“Huh, that’s strange.” Starburst muttered to herself, “I don’t remember eating anything like this.”

“Hmm, did you say something?” Crow asked halfway stuffing his face.

Starburst looked at him with a sheepish expression, “Heh, no.” She lied, “But these are pretty good, and I thank you for them.” Starburst smiled, putting another piece in her mouth.

“Yo Ho!” Crow cheered, accidentally throwing the candy in his hooves into the air and down on the floor. “I’m so glad you find them enjoyable.”

“Yes,” Starburst's expression fell back into seriousness, “But on a more pressing matter, why did you seek out my master, and how did you come into contact with his underlings?” She propped her head up by folding her hooves under her chin, glaring daggers at Crow.

Doctor Crow halted his sugary feast and looked up in thought. Then smacked one hoof into the other with a look of realization on his mask. “That’s right!” He then leaned forward, his mask twisting into joy again. “Well, it went a little something like this…”

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

"Oh, bother," I mumbled to myself as I shook the access rainwater from my drenched top hat. Today had not been a good day, as poor Doctor Crow had a run-in with wild wolves.

It had been a few hours earlier; I was walking through the nearby woods, foraging herbs and spice for tonight's meal. It went nice and smoothly, that was up until I heard a strange explosion sound, followed by echoing whimpers of timberwolves. I never thought much about it and went back to business.

Not long after, three timberwolves sprung out from behind the tree line and crashed into me! Sending myself and them tumbling down the muddy road that I spent an hour walking on. When we eventually stopped, the three predators quickly got back up and were ready to face me with their sharp fangs at the ready. Luckily my super-awesome-doctor skills assisted me in defeating those dastardly fiends! (Not going into detail because I won't want to bother you, Starburst).

After dumping what remained of them in my cart, I found a porch roof to protect myself from the rain, which is where my story ACTUALLY starts.

As I was drying myself off, I couldn't help but overhear two voices talking from around the corner. Imagine my surprise when two red and black monsters were standing idly in the rain, arguing with one another!

"You idiot! We were supposed to turn right back at the pointy rock!" The first monster said. His build was quite strong. Too strong, in fact. It was to the point where his muscle was ripping through his skin like a cheap cotton shirt, but it never seemed to bother him. "Now we will never get back to Muzans hideout!"
The strong monster punched his companion over the head with a hoof.

"I-I'm sorry, Brother." The second monster apologized. His stature was significantly smaller than his 'Brother' when I compared him. Nothing but skin and bone is the best description I could give.

Now my interest was peaked. Two unknown monsters all the way out here in the harsh rain talking about secret hideouts? It was too good to pass up in this boring ghost town. So I did the best thing I could and walked out in the rain, clearing my throat to gain their attention. They immediately noticed me and got into defensive stances.

"Hello, gentle colts, fine weather we're having? Yo Ho!"

The strong one didn't answer as he charged at me. I totally didn't scream like a little filly as I dodged out of the way, landing safely behind the beast. Not wanting to keep my ever-growing interest waiting, I decided to deal with the big one first. (Again, not telling for time, madam. Yo Ho!).

When it was nothing more than a pile of mush mixing with the mud, I turned to the smaller one, who was shaking out of his skin in fear. I approached the thing, knocked it out, brought it back to my home, and locked it in the basement until awoken.

Quiet loudly, I might add.

When the poor thing settled down enough to talk. That was when I learned of his kind, demons. He told me all sorts of things, who the leader was, what had recently been going on, and something about not wanting to die. Luckily, his last request was granted. I was just in such a great mood that I decided to let the little bugger go, but not without a favor first. So in short, I wrote the letter you most likely read and sent him on his way.

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

When the dressed stallion had finished his story, he took the chance and resumed stuffing his face with his candies, leaving Starburst to her thoughts.

It was crystal clear that he was hiding something. What that something is, she didn't know for sure. On the outside, he had a bubbly personality with a tinge of minor insanity to add to it. But underneath, it wasn't hard for Starlight to tell he was sketchy at best, being a creature that embodies everything a pony shouldn't.

But she never would admit to him being attacked by timberwolves, seeing that she was the one that ran them off to steal their cave and killed their family.

But something else wasn't sitting right with the demon mare, something she had wanted to know ever since her hoof landed in this town.

"Hey, Doctor Crow," Starburst called out. The doctor in question paused his face-stuffing and looked at Starburst with a slightly annoyed look on his face. "I want to ask, where is everypony?" She asked with a hint of fear in her voice.

It took a second for Crow to figure out what she was talking about. But it hit him eventually, as he made an 'Ohhhh' sound and threw the rest of the candy back in the bowl.

"It's funny it took you that long to notice." He chuckled, "Well to put it simply-"

"I accidentally killed them all. Yo Ho!"

Sudden attack and secret confessions

Celestia sighed as she rolled herself over in the silk-sheathed bed of her chambers. The previous months had been the busiest she had experienced in over a hundred years, which she considered an impressive feat.

Compared to everything else that has happened so far, it should have been the complete opposite. The solar and lunar guards had undergone a new training regiment in order to compete with the demons. Thankfully it was working, demon reports in cities and small towns around Equestria had gone down to almost 50% since then. And Canterlot has been nearing completion since the attack three months ago. So everything should be going smoothly and returning to normal.

But there was one thing that no blade or magic spell could get rid of. And that would be economic depression, for the world of Equestrian politics was a cold and unforgiving one.

As most know, in Canterlot, you have two types of ponies. The first is the kind and respectable ones. Those who were either born into wealth or not that put themselves out for anypony in need, a gentle colt like Fancy Pants.

Then you got the second type. Despite being at the very top, the one percent, they are the lowest of the low. Greedy, rude, and stuck-up would be the best way to describe the high nobility of Canterlot if Celestia was being honest. Unfortunately, she had the misfortune of dealing with the second type after the attack.

It all started back after the demon Starburst and Muzans demons attacked Canterlot. Some business owners thought it would be a great idea of seeing a national incident as a way to gain profit. They didn’t care that ponies' homes and livelihoods were all but gone, they didn’t care that ponies lost their lives, if there was an opportunity to make a quick bit, then it was fair game to them. Insurance prices went up in most Canterlot hospitals, building equipment, and supplies were taxing on the royal reserves, and everything else in between went up as well. It got to the point where Canterlot was on the brink of bankruptcy. So for the past few weeks, after court session after court session, and many arguments later, things in Canterlot had begun to die down, if only a little.

Some ignored or tried to slip around the new laws she had placed into effect to limit big businesses, but she let her sister deal with it in the courtroom in the meantime. As for Luna during all this, she was taking on court sessions when her older sister was exhausted, which Celestia was hesitant about considering Luna's lack of experience in modern-day courtrooms.

But after some talking, Luna suggested that Raven Inkwell would help guide her during court and that Celestia could trust her completely. Seeing this as a learning opportunity for the Lunar princess, Celestia reluctantly agreed.

This brings us to now, where Celestia sighs heavily and rolls out of bed, landing on her hooves. Walking over to a hanged portrait of herself and moving it to the side with her magic, it revealed a hidden fridge within the wall. A small smile spreads across Celestia as she opens the fridge and levitates a bottle of special apple cider to her side. It was a gift from the apple family about two hundred years ago, aged like the finest of wines and just as expensive.

And she was about to drink it to get rid of a headache.

Celestia closed the fridge and turned away after moving the painting to its original place. Then walked over to her writing desk with her bottle and sat down on a large pillow. Golden magic surrounded the bottle's cork top and pulled on it until it made a loud popping sound. Celestia put the bottle to her mouth and let the dark-golden liquid flow down her throat, the taste of sweet apples flooding her taste buds. Eventually, Celestia removed the bottle from her lips with a satisfied sigh. Maybe it was going to be-

“Greetings.” A deep voice called from behind.

This startled the solar princess as she dropped the bottle with a yelp, shattering it into pieces and spilling the contents all over the ground. Celestia slowly rotated her head around to see who the pony was, only to have a sudden burst of anxiety hit her.

He sat upon the balcony railing with a calm expression. His snow-white fur practically glowed in the sun’s rays and his medium-length black hair moved slightly in the calm breeze. But despite the… creature… calm exterior, she felt nothing but a burning hatred and bone-chilling blood lust that rivaled even an enraged hydra. The thing in pony skin looked up at the sky with a smile.

“I’ve got to admit, the day looks just as beautiful as I remember, if not better in this realm.” It said, Lowering its head back down to face Celestia with the same unnerving smile. “If I’m not mistaken, you are Princess Celestia I’ve been hearing about.” It asked, awaiting an answer with a cocked eyebrow.

Celestia tried to back away, but found that her trembling legs wouldn’t respond, “W-Who are you?!” She shouted, charging her horn if the worst was to happen.

In a flash, the unicorn stallion appeared in front of Celestia and slammed his front hoof into her face. There was a resigning crack as Celestia was sent colliding with the back wall, her body forming cracks in the hard marble. The Solar monarch slid to the floor face first with a small spray of blood under her head, staining her white coat. Celestia attempted to stand, but her mind was swimming and her limbs barely responded to her commands. A bile taste rose in her throat she couldn’t hold back, quickly throating up her stomach contents that mixed with her blood. The sound of the hoof steps alerted the Princess, making her look up to see the unicorn stallion's foreleg kick her into the wall, this time he pinned the diarch against the wall with his blood-red magic.

“Let’s make this clear, princess.” The stallion said in a low tone, saying the last word with venom, “You will address me as Lord Muzan. And I do not tolerate lower beings not knowing their place, got that?” He asked.

Instead of responding, Celestia glared at Muzan with a burning hatred and lit her horn. That was quickly shut down, as the unicorn stallion used his hoof to hold her horn back, nearly breaking it off as tiny fragments chip off. Celestia held back her pained screams and continued to glare at Muzan, even if she could fully see him.

“It seems you have a hard time learning.” Muzan sneered, “But that won’t matter when I inevitably steal your status and make you into one of my servants, Celestia.” He chuckled.

“S-So it’s true, about the war.” Celestia croaked out, her speech slightly gargled by the blood in her mouth, “ We w-will stop you!” She shouts, resulting in her getting into a coughing fit. Her anger only flared when Muzan began to laugh maniacally.

Muzan’s laughter instantly dies out and is replaced by a cold scowl that gave Celestia the same horrible feeling as before. “I would say I’d like to see you try. But that would imply my demons would also have to put in the effort, which I highly doubt will happen. Even though you have those breathing style nuisances, it won’t be enough.” Muzan then let go of Celestia, letting her limp and weak body fall on the floor.

Muzan started to walk towards the balcony and only stopped as he leaped onto the railing. He turned his face back at Celestia with a disappointed frown. “Five days. That is how long you have to pray before I snuff out your pathetic existence.

Celestia’s eyes widened when a pair of wings shot out of his back and spread out. She gritted her teeth and lit her horn, sending out a blast of magic at the demon lord. It was too late, as, without a word, Muzan jumped off and took to the air with blinding speeds, the magic blast destroying the balcony and missing entirely.

A loud ringing filled the princess's ears and her vision started to dim as the doors to her chambers swung open. With her heavily blurred vision, Celestia saw a hoof full of solar guards storm the bedroom, some making their way to the solar diarch as she finally fell into darkness.

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

Applejack let out a heavy sigh as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. The last batch of apples from the orchard was packed and ready for shipping.

Thanks to Yoriichi’s training, life on the farm became a breeze for the apple farmer as she would buck tree after tree in quick succession. Due to this, her big brother and little sister, Big Mac and Applebloom, were able to go out into ponyville to enjoy a free day. So applejack had the whole day to herself, minus Granny who was sleeping in the house upstairs.

But since her workload was done, the farm mare decided to walk into town and join her siblings. So placing her hat back on, Applejack made her way over to the barn doors while whistling a toon. When she pushed the door open, a rainbow-colored blur slammed into Applejack, sending it and her rolling backward into the carefully stacked pile of apples. Applejack quickly regained her bearing and shot up from the pile of broken wood and smashed apples and scanned the area until she saw Rainbow climb out, dazed.

The farm mare was about to chew out her prismatic friend, when the pegasus eyes widened and she immediately rushed for the barn doors, slamming them shut and holding her body against the doors.

“Rainbow!” Applejack shouted, “What in the-” Rainbow dash shushed the farm mare, turning around and cracking open the door.

“RAINBOW DASH, I SWEAR WHEN I FIND YOU, I’M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!” A familiar voice angrily shouted. Thankfully, the barrage of swears and threats went quieter and eventually went silent.

“Few!” Rainbow wiped her forehead with a hoof and turned to Applejack with a thankful smile. “Thank Celestia you opened the door for my AJ, I wouldn’t know what would happen if he got his hooves on me.” She chuckled nervously.

When Rainbow Dash saw the enraged look on Applejack, and the destroyed pile of apples behind her, the prismatic pegasus’s smile turned sheepish.

Before she could get a word out, Applejack beat her to the punch. “Mind explaining ta me why Michikatsu sounded like he wanted to kill ya?” Applejack's glare deepened as she pointed back to her ruined apples, “And why ah shouldn't finish the job?” She said, not as much as a question, but more as a threat.

Rainbow’s eyes widened and she frantically waved her hooves, “Wait, wait, wait! I can explain!”

“Start talkin’.”

“Well you know how Yoriichi and Fluttershy are…a thing, ya know?” When Applejack nodded, Rainbow sighed and continued, “Well, when Michikatsu woke up, I told him about his brother and Flutters. Apparently, he didn’t take it too well and spent an hour yelling enraged nonsense. He then jumped out the window and started a pony hunt to find ‘the whore that seduced his poor brother’.” She said with air quotes, “Good thing me and a couple of stallions from the hospital got a hold of him before anything could happen.”

Applejack stared wide-eyed at the pegasus for a moment before shaking herself from her stupor, “Then why is he still outside the hospital?!” She asked with a fearful expression.

“Apparently, the anesthetics they used don’t work on demons.” Rainbow answered as she glanced away.

The farm mare deadpanned and facehoofed with a tired groan. “Of course,” She muttered under her breath. Applejack then walked past Rainbow, opened the barn doors, and left without speaking a word, followed by a paranoid and confused Rainbow Dash. The pair walked away from the barn until they reached the main house and quickly entered.

The smell of apples flooded Rainbow’s nose to the point it was bordering on homely and sickening. She followed Applejack into the kitchen where she took a seat at the table. Applejack placed a plate in front of Rainbow that held two fritters on it.

“Ah’ll keep ya here where it’s safe. I’ll go out, find Michikatsu, and hopefully get him to calm down.” Applejack said.

Before Applejack left the kitchen, Rainbow turned to her apple-farming friend, “Hey, AJ.” She said in a small voice, the tone of which had caught Applejack's attention. “Can I…ask you something?” She said hesitantly.

“Um…sure?” Applejack said slowly, not liking the usually energetic mares' tone.

“Are you…scared?”

The question had caught Applejack off guard, causing her to blink stupidly. “What kinda question is that? What is there to be afraid of?” She asked with confusion written on her face.

Rainbow shifted nervously in her seat, looking at the fritters, then back to Applejack. “Are you scared when somepony you love might get hurt, even though you know full well that they can handle themself?” She said, not daring to look the farm mare in the eye.

“Well…yeah.” Applejack answered, “I worry myself every time Big Mac goes out and works in the winter even when he’s sick.” Applejack then walked up to Rainbow and placed a caring hoof on her shoulder. “But what does this have to do with anything?”

“I-It’s just…I…Applejack I…” Rainbow sputtered out. She eventually gave up and shook her head with a sigh. “It’s nothing, just a dumb question.” Rainbow pushed her chair back and stood up, a somber look on her face. “Thank you for the food, but I’m not hungry right now.” She mumbled before trying to pass Applejack and to the door.

Her path was blocked by Applejack, who held out a foreleg and stared at her friend with a look of concern. “Hold it right there.” Rainbow was gently put back in her seat, feeling like she was being overshadowed by the farm mare standing before. “Somethin’ is botherin’ ya, Rainbow. And as your friend, not one of us is leavin’ until you tell me why your acting this way.”

Rainbow scoffed and looked down, “I told you, it’s nothing.” She tried standing up but was held in place by Applejack’s hoof. “Let me go, Applejack.”

“Ah’m sorry, but you are a terrible liar. Ah don’t have to be the element o’ honesty that you are lying to my face!” Applejack leaned closer to Rainbow, not noticing the faint blush on Pegasus's face. “And as your friend, I need to know what is buggin’ ya so ah can help.”

All that the shocked Rainbow could respond with was sputtering as she tried to formulate a single word. She looked around for any exit she could escape, but with the strong farm mare looming over her, it was next to impossible.

Silence gripped Rainbow's throat as the flustered mare wished she could dig a hole and bury herself inside it. For months it was something she carefully planned down to the finest detail. Never in her life had Rainbow dash spent so much time on one task and not rushed through it, for it was years before the two mares knew of each other.

Back then, Rainbow had only begun discovering her interest in mares but felt none of the ones she came across had caught her eye. That was until she moved into ponyville years ago when Rainbow discovered the farm mare. Something about Applejack clicked with her instantly. Maybe it was her good body, the fact she was a hard worker, or she had a pretty face; Rainbow didn’t exactly know. It took as long as it did to even make friends with Applejack, and it was taking longer to say her true feelings.

No matter how hard the prismatic pegasus tried, no moment felt right, especially now. But at that moment, the speech that Michikatsu gave her back at the hospital flashed in her mind.

"The future is uncertain, and we can't make promises that everything will turn out fine. That is why you and I need to get stronger so that we can protect the ones we care about. Not by hiding our fear and weakness, but embracing it and molding it into something that can help everyone."

If Michikatsu was right, she needed to take action. No more of this ‘is this the right moment?’ bullshit! So, Rainbow dash’s nervous expression shifted to pure determination, confusing the farm mare. But Applejack did have to question the pegasus before her hooves gripped Applejack's shoulders tightly.

“Applejack,” Rainbow called, gaining the attention of Applejack, “I love you.”

“What-” Was all Applejack could get out before Rainbow dash practically smashed her face into Applejack’s, sending the two mares to the floor. Their lips connected and were held for the longest time before Rainbow pulled away, her face redder than any apple on the farm.

“Rainbow…did ya just-” A blushing Applejack whispered out.

Reality must have finally caught up with Rainbow, as she yelped and fell back off of Applejack. “I-I’m sorry, AJ! It just happened so suddenly, and I wasn’t thinking straight, and I just-” Rainbow rambled on, waving her hooves in a vain attempt of explaining her thought process. The prismatic pegasus’s rambling ended when faint chuckling came from Applejack, soon developing into full-blown laughter.

It took a second for her laughing to die down, but she pushed herself back up onto her haunches and looked at Rainbow with a friendly smile. “Wow, Rainbow. I must say, you are a sloppy kisser.” She teased, earning her a flustered scowl from the pegasus. “Ah’m only playin’. But on another note, Ah…never knew ya felt that way, Rainbow.” She chuckled once more, readjusting her hat.

Rainbow looked down at her hooves in shame, “Yeah. As I said, I have feelings for you.” She admitted. “It’s just I never knew how to tell you. And with everything going on, I was worried something might happen, to the point where I never got to tell you how I feel, ever, you know?”

“So that’s what is buggin’ ya?” Applejack said with a sly grin. “Ah be lyin’ if ah said you weren’t also on my mind.” Seeing the shocked expression on Rainbow dash’s face only made Applejack giggle. “Never thought ah would fall for a mare.”

“Applejack…I-”

Rainbow was interrupted when a loud and quick trio of knocks came from the front door. Applejack huffed, annoyed by whoever ruined the pair's moment, as she walked over to the front door and swung it open. On the other side was Yoriichi, only his usual stoic look had a heavy sense of anger that downright terrified the farm mare down to her core, like looking into the eyes of a beast.

“No words, castle, now.” Yoriichi said before he turned back and started to run off into the distance.

“Hey, AJ, who was that?” Rainbow asked from the kitchen, snapping Applejack out of her fear.

“I-It was Yoriichi.” She called out, trying not to stutter.

Rainbow dash quirked an eyebrow, “What does he want?” She asked.

Applejack closed the door and rushed to the kitchen until she was in front of Rainbow. “He ain’t at the door no more. But all he said was Library and now.” She explained, leaving out the look Yoriichi gave her that activated her fight or flight instincts. “Ah think he wants us to go to the castle for somethin’.”

“Well, isn’t that vague?” Rainbow joked. Getting to her hooves, she smirked, unfurled her wings, and gave them a good test flap. “Wanna race there?” she asked with a cocky smirk.
“...Why the heck not?” Applejack sighed.

The two were out the door in an instant, running side-by-side as they quickly made their way past the countless rows of apple trees and near the edge of ponyville.

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

Time passed as each element of harmony, including the two brothers, was situated in Twilight’s castle. All ponies sat around the cutie map, shifting their eyes back and forth at each other with unnerved and tense stares, sans the young alicorn herself.

Applejack and Rainbow dash were mostly confused about the whole situation. Rarity, pinkie pie, and Fluttershy looked the most scared out of the bunch, with Rarity and Pinkie trying to soothe the quaking Fluttershy. As for the two brothers, both were undeniably the tensest out of everyone in the room as they stared at the blank map with stern looks. Even Michikatsu, who was nothing short of a raging bull a few minutes ago, was now silent. The tension in the room was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

That tense silence was relieved when the doors to the cutie map opened to reveal a disheveled Twilight, her eyes puffy and slightly red with tear stains on her cheeks. She shuffled into the room as a rolled parchment levitated next to her in a lavender aura. Twilight grimaced at the concerned faces of her friends and took a seat at the table.

“Dear Celestia, darling! What happened to you?” Rarity gasped.

Twilight looked over to the fashionista and held up the parchment, “It’s about Celestia. She…was attacked.” Everyone gasped in shock at what they had been told, except for Yoriichi and Michikatsu, their brows furrowing in anger.

“What the hay?! How could that happen?” Applejack said with a bewildered look.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s the princess we’re talking about! Who would just walk up to somepony like her and attack her?” Rainbow agreed, throwing her hooves in the air.

Twilight’s horn glowed a little brighter, and the parchment unrolled itself, a pained expression going across Twilight’s face at its words.

“Dear Princess Twilight,

Earlier this morning, Princess Celestia was attacked in her bed chambers and physically assaulted. Her condition, at the time I am writing this, is stable with most of her injuries already healed due to her alicorn nature. But still, her majesty has yet to wake up. She suffered a fractured jaw, hairline fractures on some of her ribs, a fractured skull, and a cracked horn. As I’ve already written, most of these injuries have vanished.
If you must, or have time out of your day, Princess Celestia has been administered to the royal infirmary under heavy guard. Visiting privileges have been granted to you and your friends. I’m sorry for the troubling news.

Signed Straight cut, head surgeon of the royal medical team.”

The room went quiet as the ponies inside of it let the letter's words sink in. All had a wide range of expressions of sorrow to internal rage written on their faces. Each turned and talked to the other, eventually discussing how to proceed after such a jarring letter.

Yoriichi, in his case, knew full well who would do something so appalling.

“It’s Muzan, no doubt about it,” Yoriichi whispered to his brother, his usual calm voice holding back his inner feelings.

Michikatsu scoffed and shook his head, “I want to say I agree. But I knew Muzan for hundreds of years; there’s no way he’d let his victims survive, especially if they threatened his power.” He said, giving his younger brother a knowing look.

“Maybe it’s different this time. Since he got his han-hooves on a powerful artifact and learned how to manipulate the magic of this world, then there is reason to believe that he has gotten more powerful. His rapidly growing forces are evident of that.”

“So what, are you saying that he did it to flaunt his power?” Michikatsu questioned with a worried look.

Yorrichi nodded slowly, “I know it seems unlikely, but Muzan isn’t known to do drastic actions like the attack three months ago. Today’s event only adds to my theory and hope of a possible victory.”

Michikatsu looked at Yoriichi with a shocked expression, “You have a plan?!” His whisper shouted, almost gaining the attention of the mares. “Go on, tell me.”

He responded only with a shake from Yoriichi’s head, “Not yet. As I’ve said, it’s still a theory. I promise by tomorrow that I will have formulated a plan.” Yorrichi said. Michikatsu sighed and went back to looking at the mares talking amongst themselves.

“Let’s hope whatever you have in mind will save us all.”

Home sweet home and friendly visit

(Five days remaining)

The hive was abuzz with urgency as demons flew this way and that way, trying their best to prepare for the upcoming war. It has been like this for days now. No rest, no flesh to eat, not even a moment to think before being forced back to work.

That was all halted, though. A door leading to the outside unexpectedly launched off its hinges with an echoing crack, sending splinters in every direction. What remained of the wooden barrier flew through the air until it eventually landed on an unfortunate demon's head, knocking him out cold. All was silent with the vast camber's inhabitants as they shot glared at the open entrance with bared fangs, ready to slay whoever dared to-

"Ohhhhh, So this is the hive! Yo Ho!"

From the dark void was a strange bird-pony hybrid wearing a top hat. It gleefully skipped as it swiveled its head around to take in the grandiose sight of the demon hive, giggling all the while

"Crow!!!" The one apparently named 'Crow' yelped in fear as its bird visage slowly turned to the entrance. "YOU. FUCKING. IDIOT!!!!" Crow screamed, scrambling to get up, but accidentally tripped on itself. It tried to get up again, but it was too late.

From the same darkness of the entrance, an astral blur shot out and straight at the poor bird-pony. The strange creature let out a final terrified cry as its face smashed against the cold stone floor. The surrounding stone cracked and split from the force, and the creature's body went limp. Above its body, Starburst exhaustedly panted as she stood over the fallen creature, wiping shooting star sweat beads from her forehead. She stepped off the corpse and lowered herself next to its ear.

"What in TARTARUS have I told you?! Time and time again, I have told you to stick by ME!" She shouted harshly. Starburst scoffed, taking a hoof and grabbing the collar of the creature's outfit, and hoisting it up to eye level. "And stop playing dead; I already know you can take more than that. We are wasting time."

To the surprise of the surrounding demons, the bird-pony groaned and shook its head; not a single scratch on its face other than a slightly bent beak. "You're no fun, Starburst." It said with an audible pout.

"I think we've had enough fun for tonight." She spat, emphasizing fun. Her furious gaze was then switched to the surrounding demons, causing all nearby to flinch away. "What are you all looking at? Get back to work!" She demanded. It didn't take long before the hive kick-started back into action, albeit faster this time.

“Come on, let’s keep going,” Starburst said, pulling the unharmed crow from the ground and setting him on his hooves. “I wish I still could get drunk.” She mumbled.
The duo made their getaway into the halls of the hive, Starburst slumping her head a tiny bit; Crow happily followed with his head held high.

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

To say the past few hours were tiresome for Starburst would be an understatement.

After Doctor Crow's little reveal about the seaside town, Starburst attempted to get the doctor to elaborate, to no success. She decided to move on from it and, seeing it was getting the two nowhere, asked general questions until the raging storm outside lightened. When it did, it had started the worst 12 hours of Starburst's life.

Firstly, you might be asking, how come she doesn't teleport herself and Crow away from the town? The thing with wild magic is that it's almost impossible to perform any kind of spell inside its area of effect. A famous example would be the Everfree Forest. Any spell requiring a large amount of mana that is cast within the forest's dark foliage will have varying outcomes. At the very least, its wild magic could force a caster to pour more magic into a spell than is needed, leaving the caster extremely weak. At worst, it would outright randomize a caster's spell. It also makes it all the more difficult when each wild magic-infested zone has its own type of effect. Thankfully, the storm seemed similar to the Everfree.

But this also meant that Starburst couldn't teleport away unless she wanted to needlessly waste her magic transporting two ponies over a vast distance.

So after the storm died down enough for safe passage, the duo left the water-boarded town. What began then was the most aggravating, head-smashing, and hoof-grinding hours of Starburst's life.

It started with Crow getting distracted by minor things, i.e, rabbits, insects, and such. This is because the mad doctor hadn't been this distant from his village in a long time, mostly going just far out enough to forage for herbs and berries. Annoying, yes, but it was something Starburst could handle. She was mistaken.

Every other moment when Starburst didn't have an eye on Crow, he would somehow wander off without making a sound. It left the demon mare to track him down by scent, which smelled strangely like strawberry-scented candles. And whenever Starburst located him, Crow would always be in some trouble. She could still feel that manticore claw embedded in her flank. And this cycle repeated for hours until they were enough distance from the hive where Starburst could teleport them both easily. But by then, the demon mare was on the verge of snapping the doctor’s neck then and there.

That all leads up until now. As Starburst and Crow walked through the rocky tunnels of the hive, the ladder sight-seeing as much as they could, they stumbled upon a large door. Doctor Crow was awed and went to touch the brass knob, but not before Starburst’s magic slapped the gloved hoof away.

“Listen here, Crow,” Starburst said with narrowed eyes, “You do NOT speak unless told to do so. You do NOT goof around in front of lord Muzan. Do NOT, and I mean DO NOT, insult him. Got it?” After Crow nodded innocently, Starburst sighed and opened the wooden door.

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

Ya'know? When Rainbow Dash woke up today, this was the last thing she wanted to do.

Like any cheesy adventure novel (not including daring-do!), the sun shined beautifully through the window of her cloudy home. After a warm shower, filling breakfast, and her usual morning routine, the prismatic mare was planning on training: wings and breathing. And stepping out of her home, she was met with a wall of purple fluff.

Looking up, she saw six pairs of cold-hard eyes belittling her under their gaze. Before Rainbow could utter a word, Michikatsu practically crushed her barrel when he grabbed her and, in a flash, flew off with her in hoof.

Now here she is. Hiding inside a bush with Michikatsu while he used a pair of binoculars to spy on Fluttery and his brother. It didn't help that the nearly 183-centimeter demon stallion stood out like a sore fetlock and barely knew how to use binoculars.

"Blasted contraption!" The demon stallion cursed under his breath, removing the backward-facing binoculars from his middle eyes. "Where in the middle of an important operation, and that pink devil gave me faulty equipment." He growled.

Rainbow dash groans and lays back into the semi-soft branches. "Dude, how do you not know how to use something like that!" She said, pointing a hoof to the backward binoculars. "The narrow ends are supposed to be near your eyes. Did you not think to ask Pinkie when you got them?"

"Well...I," Michikatsu faces away with a sheepish look, "I thought it was simple enough to know, and I let my pride get in the way." He sighed. "But, I also wanted to get away from all that rambling." Michikatsu shuddered.

"What are you two doing?"

Michikatsu and Rainbow Dash yelped in surprise and leaped away, landing outside the bush on their flanks. Shaking the daze out of their heads, they looked up to see a confused Twilight staring down at them.

"M-Miss Twilight, I..." Michikatsu scrambled to his hooves, dusting himself off, "Fine weather we're having?" He awkwardly smiled.

Twilight continued to give the demon stallion a bizarre look. Opting to turn her attention to the rising Rainbow dash, she asked: "Why were you two in...a bush?" Her expression shifted to suspicion, noticing binoculars poking out of the bush. "And what's with that?"

Michikatsu stiffened while Rainbow dash rolled her eyes, "Long story, twi. But what's up, or did you scare us for no reason?"

At that, Twilight's eyes widened, "Oh, horseapples! I totally forgot for a second!" The alicorn rushed to Rainbow and Michikatsu, placing each wing on their backs.

"You might want to hold your breath."

Michikatsu cocked an eyebrow, "What do you-"

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

BLARGH

Rainbow Dash shook her head, patting Michikatsu's back as he ejected his breakfast from his stomach into a public trash can. "You and teleporting don't get along, do you?" Rainbow dash asked. Spitting, Michikatsu raises his head to glare at Rainbow dash, pointing a shaking hoof at the trash can.

"What made you think that?" He responded sarcastically. Michikatsu's face shifted to a green hue again, quickly moved his head back to the trash can. Ponies passing by in the sanitized halls of the hospital gave the ill Michikatsu looks of worry; even a doctor came up to the trio to offer his assistance. Much to Michikatsu’s annoyance, the two mares politely turned their offer down. All the while, Michikatsu suffered both physically and mentally.

"I'm so sorry, Michikatsu. I didn't know it would affect you like that!" Twilight apologizes with a guilty expression. "It's just that something at Canterlot Medical Center needed your attention." Twilight placed a hoof on Michikatsu's back.

Michikatsu, once again, rose from the bin but looked more reserved than a few seconds ago. Wiping a hoof across his mouth, he turned to look at Twilight with a quizzical expression. “Yeah, I was going to ask you about that before I…you know.” Michikatsu nudged his head at the bin with a disgusted grimace, “So, what’s the urgent matter about?”

Twilight sighed sadly, “It’s…better if I showed you two, especially you, Michikatsu.”

With that, the studious mare turned from the two pegasi and began to walk down the semi-crowded hall. It left Michikatsu and Rainbow to look at each other in confusion before quickly catching up with the visibly concerned alicorn. White hall after White hall, a staircase here, a door there, and, eventually, the trio had found themselves in the psych ward section of the hospital.

And despite the cute pictures of animals and ponies on the wall, like some foal hospital, it gave off a spine-chilling feeling. In sections, cells side-by-side with a one-and-a-half-inch thick glass protecting the mentally ill from the ponies beyond them. Every single cell had one pony or some other poor creature residing inside. Screaming, clawing, and murmuring were the horrible symphony that echoed off the walls. To add the cherry to the horror movie-esque scene around them, nopony bothered to maintain the light fixtures on the ceiling, causing them to flicker randomly.

Good think their trip wasn’t long. At the end of the hall were two solar guards posted in their usual statue stance, gazes sharp as their spears. As Twilight approached, the two guards threw their hooves to their heads in a salute. “Princess Twilight Sparkle.” The first guard greeted.

“I assume that you saw Doctor Charlie Horse's letter?” The second asked.

Twilight gave a small smile and nodded, “Yes, I did. And just call me Twilight, if you will.” She said with a small chuckle. Her smile fell back again as she eyed the door between the two guards warily. “Has anything happened while I was gone?” She asked.

The first guard shook their head, “No. The demon hasn’t made a single movement in the last 3 hours.” They followed Twilight’s gaze to the door and huffed, “But I swear I heard faint talking on the other side.” He and the second guard looked to the door with an uneasy glance.

Twilight walked up to the first guard and placed a reassuring hoof on their shoulder. “You don’t have to worry now. Me and my friends here will take it from here.” She said with a slightly wider smile than before.

The two guards traded looks of uncertainty but eventually nodded and went back to their original positions. Twilight thanked the two, using magic to unlock the door and walking in with Michikatsu and Rainbow close behind. Inside, it was all a single large room split into two by a thick glass barrier going through the middle of the room. But on the other side of the glass, it made Michikatsu’s eyes widen in shock.

In a standard hospital bed, hooked up to a multitude of machines, was the demon mare from Manehatten. The best way he could describe the mare’s current state was…broken. She barely moved; only the subtle movement of her half-closed eyes and her chest were the only things that showed the mare wasn’t dead. Beside her and the many life-saving machines strapped to her still form, there was nothing else in the room, not even a toilet. Michikatsu walked closer to the thick glass and placed a hoof against its cold surface, staring at the demon mare with conflicting emotions.

Why had he been feeling this way? Any other time, killing a demon wasn’t a challenge to him physically, much less mentally. Those freakish bastards killed his men, took so many innocent lives away, and ruined livelihoods! But when he gazes at this mare, something inside him demands that she’s the one who needs help; it was concerning him, to say the least.

Did it have to do with the mare's demon art? No. It couldn’t have been; her blood demon art pertains to her anatomy, not some mind-altering magic. So why was he feeling bad for this thing?!

“Michikatsu?”

The stallion in question flinched slightly at the feeling of a hoof tapping his shoulder. Looking over, he saw Twilight and Rainbow looking at him with confused expressions.

“Ya good there, dude?” Rainbow asked.

“You’ve been staring off for a good 10 seconds.” Twilight added.

Michikatsu nodded and put his hoof back down, “Yes, I’m fine.” Turning his attention to the bedridden demon, he held back a grimace. “So why have you brought us here, Twilight?” He asked.

Twilight followed his gaze and breathed deeply, “Not long after the demon was placed here, doctors tried to run some blood tests, seeing it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It didn’t go well; three of the seven doctors were in critical condition, and their room was completely totaled. After placing a boatload of sleeping spells on it, it was logical to put the demon in the most secure section of the hospital, the psych ward.”

“After Doctor Charlie Horse told me of this in a letter, supposedly, the demon went into a semi-hibernation-type state. Any kind of attempt at physical or verbal interaction was pointless. Even when presented with meat, usually served to griffon patients, it did not move a muscle. The only thing it did was mutter mostly nonsense besides a few phrases like ‘good filly’ and ‘I’m sorry’ multiple times.”

Twilight then turned to Michikatsu with a mix of confusion and concern, “But one thing it said stood out,” Her eyes hardened, swallowing a lump in her throat, “It was calling your name, Michikatsu.”

The demon stallion did his best to hide his shocked expression by turning his face away, all while stifling a gasp, which came out as a huff. “That’s impossible.” He said, mostly to himself.

“I might have something to do with that.” Michikatsu and Twilight switched their attention to a sheepish-looking Rainbow dash. “I kind of…said your name while we were talking.” She nervously chuckled.

Michikatsu let out an exasperated sigh, “And WHY were you talking with the highly dangerous demon?” He irritatingly asked.

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, “Well…when it woke up, it started to freak out. So I made some small talk to pass the time and might have mentioned you.”

Resisting the urge to smack the prismatic mare in the back of the head, Michikatsu shook his head disappointingly and looked back to Twilight. “Alright, stupid decisions aside, what will you have us do, Twilight?” He asked, feeling rather eager to hear her response.

“What we are trying to do here is, get that demon to a controllable level, at least to the point they won’t go berserk at random.” Twilight winced at the memory of the damaged hospital room. “And, Michikatsu, I want you to try and talk to it. Get any info you can get, albeit personal or otherwise.”

Michikatsu stayed quiet when Twilight finished, looking down at the floor in contemplation. Would he be able to do this? Sure, he had talked to demons before during battles and such. But those were merely one-sided; he always thought demons were too talkative. Now he has the chance to converse with one of the monsters, and he was feeling…happy?

Why was he happy about this? That demon, even bedridden, could snap at any moment and cause damage or harm. But thinking back, he had been feeling differently towards this demon, which Michikatsu couldn’t wrap his head around. He contemplated killing that demon…mare off back then, but that feeling of pity was overwhelming to the point it felt like being in another person's body.

“Back then, I wouldn’t consider these things worthy of living. Now I’m about to talk with one of them.” Michikatsu thought grimly.

Sighing, Michikatsu raised his head and nodded, “If you wish, I will do as you request, Twilight.” He said.

This was going to be a long day.

Another steeping stone in life

Michikatsu sucked in a breath of air as a purple aura surrounded his entire form. After a quick flash of light, the demon stallion found himself on the other side of the thick glass. Twilight had explained that, since the barrier had no doors for safety reasons, he would have to be teleported to the other side.

After the churning feeling subsided, Michikatsu looked at the bedridden demon mare with great sympathy in his eyes. The poor creature looked hollow: Its eye sockets seemed emptier than the last time they met. He slowly stepped towards her with a heavy heart. Each step felt like stone, and every breath that entered his lungs felt more like water. The feelings raging in his chest like a tidal wave were vast and alien to the demon stallion since they were for the demon.

“Hey…are you awake?” Michikatsu whispered. A twitch from the demon mare’s ear indicated such. “I’ve been informed that you have been requesting my audience?” He said while taking a seat on the floor beside the demo mare.

The demon mare’s head sluggishly moved to meet Michikatsu’s face, her eyes filled with something Michikatsu couldn’t quite pin down. “Y-You…” She murmured, “Hus…band?” The demon mare asked.

Her question had caught Michikatsu off guard, mainly because she responded this fast. And what did she mean by husband? Last time he checked, Michikatsu only had one wife and a human one at that. Was it the demon mare’s brain at fault? Twilight had informed him that the demon had gone into some sort of hibernation state, so maybe it was her mind readjusting to the waking world. Whatever it was, Michikatsu could figure that out later as he shook his head slowly.

“No…I’m not.” He said softly.

A look of disappointment crossed the demon mare's face, sending an annoying feeling of guilt through Michikatsu’s heart. “Oh…right, you’re that stallion from Manehatten. You finally came- thank goodness.” She said, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

Not wanting this interaction to become chaotic, Michikatsu quickly rested a reassuring hoof on the demon mare's chest, doing his best sympathetic expression. “Are you…alright?” He awkwardly said, swilling his eyes back to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Much to his irritation, the two mares were peering into the room from the other side behind the door's single window. Michikatsu turned back, only for his frown to deepen. Tears ran down the demon mare’s face as she stared at the ceiling, clearly holding back sobs.

“All my life, I have been trapped within walls similar to the ones around us. Unfit for society, they say. In kindergarten, I mauled a colt's ear off because I thought he was going to hurt me, even though he was considered the most introverted in the class. More events like that forced my parent's hooves to take me to a hospital under the foolishly hopeful idea that it was some mind-related virus.”
“When the white coat ponies discovered that I had paranoia is when my parents forced themselves to lock me up in a mental hospital.” The demon mare looked around the room with a grimace on her face. “And this place…it gives me a sickly nostalgia, like re-reading a horror novel you hadn’t opened in years. Similar, but not quite.”

She then looked down at her stomach, placing a hoof over to the womb. “It was also there that I gave birth to a child. From what I can recall, the brother of a close friend of mine had an interest in me. So too, did I. When he found out about my emission, he came to me with the intention of a simple visit, but things got out of hoof. Us being separated for so long, one thing led to another, and well.” The demon mares hoof clench her lower section tightly. “That night was when a beautiful mistake; was planted, bringing me equal parts suffering and joy upon me.”

“When my child was born, the doctors took them away, only furthering my already fragile mental state. It pains me that I barely remember them; not even their gender comes to me, only another idea lost in my mind. So I broke out under the moonlit sky and spent most of my days as a street rat, wondering aimlessly in hopes of getting away from everything I had known. Weeks turned to months, and months turned to years. By then, I was nothing more of a bomb ready to go off, constantly living in fear to the point stray kittens nearly sent me over the edge.”

“That’s when I met him, the stallion in black. At first, I feared him as anything else around me. But for whatever reason, I felt as if this one pony would keep me safe, like Celestia wrapping her wings around me. That was the only moment I had felt truly safe in my life. In exchange for consuming his blood, I could have all the power I needed to feel at ease.”

A hollow chuckle crawled from her lips, facing back towards the ceiling. “Like before, I was foolish to believe I had such a gift, safety. It never stopped: the voices. They still taunted and laughed at my pain, even when I could claw them out with my hooves if I wanted to.”

Michikatsu winced at the memory of a similar scenario that happened in Manehatten. The sight of her hooves digging away at her own shattered skull and brain matter made him sick. To see her talk about it so casually was sickening in a sorrowful way. “S-So…what would you have me do about it?” The question had come out of Michikatsu's mouth automatically, shocking him. When did he think about that?

The demon mare slowly turned her face to meet Michikatsu’s, “The reason I was hoping to see you is that I think you are a good pony. The type to do anything to prevent a pony’s suffering.” A smile crept onto her muzzle but seemed almost forced. “So, Michikatsu,-”

“-Can you kill me?”

Immediately, Michikatsu’s eyes shot open in shock as a dumbstruck expression formed on his features. “W-What?” He stuttered.

“Even when I essentially became a new pony when Muzan reformed me, I could still tell my life was nothing more than suffering incarnate. Ponies like you try to rid the world of suffering, right? Like those stories, my mommy used to read to me. So please, rid me of my suffering once in for all.” The demon mare sniffled.

…

Michikatsu, for the first time in his life, had no words. He simply wrapped his forelegs around the demon mare and pulled her close, not bothering to hold back tears as he silently wept for her.

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

Fluttershy let out a contempt sigh and rested her head on Yoriichi’s shoulder. The couple was sitting atop a small hill, gazing towards the Everfree forest as Celestia’s sun, now controlled by Luna, drifted past the horizon and basked the land in an orangish hue. Subtle noises, such as the bird's last chirps before rest and the rustling of the spring leaves, gave the area a tranquil feel.

A gust of chilly breeze washed over Fluttershy, who only had a scarf on, which sent a shiver up her spine. She let out a whimper of discomfort, doing her best to close the non-existent gap between herself and Yoriichi's warm coat.

“I told you to wear something warmer, darling.” Yoriichi chuckled. Taking his haori off, Yoriichi wrapped it around Fluttershy’s shivering form.

It was an immediate effect as Fluttershy stopped shivering and looked up at Yoriichi with a smile. For the last few days, the two had gotten closer, both figuratively and literally. The former because of their newfound relationship. The latter because during their date, the night Michikatsu awoke, they discussed Yoriichi permanently moving in with the timid pegasus.

Before, Yoriichi only stayed in Fluttershy’s house out of a self-obligation to repay her for treating him and not having a home of his own. But now, he had the chance to stay with the one mare in this world he had felt a deep connection with. The moment she had brought the idea to light, Yoriichi automatically agreed to it. And at that moment, Yoriichi thought it was weird he was acting so…eager about something. Not like he was going to object or anything. It’s just something to bring up later in Twilight. Maybe it has to do something with that plan she was speaking of.

But Yoriichi was snapped back to reality by something nudging him. Looking down, he saw Fluttershy looking at him again with a concerned expression. “Are you ok?” She asked.

Yoriichi let out a snort of amusement and pecked Fluttershy’s forehead. “Yes, I am. Just got lost in my thoughts for a moment, that is all.” He replied, taking enjoyment in seeing Fluttershy’s faint blush.
“Oh…ok.” She said. Once again, silence took the two as they continued to peer out into the distance. It went on for a few moments before Fluttershy spoke again. “Was there something you needed to say?” She blurted out. Her eyes widened in shock at the way she asked her question, which sounded rude and abrupt.

Pulling away from Yoriichi, she put her hooves together and tried to make herself small as possible. “I-I’m sorry. I didn't mean to come off as impolite and-” Her apology was halted, however, when Yoriichi stood up and walked until he was in front of her.

“It is alright, my darling; I was about to get to that part, in fact.” Yoriichi’s hoof swiftly reached over to his haori and inside its inner pocket, pulling something out and hiding it from a confused Fluttershy. “I may not know of your culture's custom to this ritual, but I’ll try my best.” Getting into a kneeling position, Yoriichi cleared his throat before gazing at Fluttershy with a soft expression.

“It may not be the best time to do this, considering recent events and our short time together, but I digress. From the moment I met you, I could tell you were such a kind and gentle soul no other could match. You took care of me despite being a stranger at the time, you put your life at risk for me and my brother at the festival months ago, and the letters you had sent during your friend’s training filled me with great joy. And that is only a small sample of your never-ending kindness. In every possible manner, either directly or indirectly, we have been with each other through everything. And I want that joy and happiness you and I feel to last, even for a lifetime.”

Yorrichi’s curled hoof moved from the ground, opening up to present a small square box to Fluttershy. He bit the top of the box and pulled his head back. Inside, a beautiful hoof ring rested in the middle. Its edge looked made of polished ruby, complex engraving of animals and plants littered its golden surface, and a single diamond rested in the center of the ring. Fluttershy tore her teary eyes away from the ring and back to Yorrichi, who had a big smile on his muzzle.

“Fluttershy, would you take my hoof in marriage?”

Sunset and Sunrise

Darkness. That's how it always ends. His body floated through the dark void, at least half of it. Even in death, he still couldn’t find peace. The man's wife, long-lost comrades, or mother were nowhere in sight.

It was a beautiful-starry night, but the man’s old heart was devastated when confronting his now-demon-turned brother. He shed tears and said his apologies, but the fact the brother he still loved had betrayed the demon slayer corps, he had a job to carry out. The man used all his strength and slashed at his brother's throat, but the demon sibling stumbling made the cut too shallow. Before he could strike again, his heart and breath slowed as darkness appeared at the edge of his vision. Old age had caught him, and the last thing he saw was the unrelenting hatred in his brother’s six eyes.

The faint sensation of steel passing through flesh didn’t faze the dying elder as his life faded and his soul arrived in the dark void.

The only thing the man felt was a deep sadness that plagued his lengthy life. The day his mother’s illness killed her. The day he found his soon-to-be wife and unborn child slaughtered in his own home. The day he failed to kill Muzan. The same day he found out his brother WILLINGLY turned himself into a demon. That sadness was always there in his mind, waiting for another opportunity to turn the calm and stoic man into a ruined mess of emotion.

But, the only thing his mind was focusing on was the hate-fueled glare his brother gave him. What had he done to deserve such a look? Ever since they both were small, the man loved his brother dearly no matter what, the wooden flute being a testament to that. Had he done something or said anything to anger his brother? Maybe it was his fault; he should have been better.

The man's self-loathing was interrupted when a bright light shined upon him, accompanied by a pulling sensation. He had to shut his non-existing eyes to block out the blinding light as a loud bang made his ears ring.

A gentle breeze blew over the man's body, which he’d found to be hairier than usual. He could feel his clothing cover most of his body, a body that didn’t feel right. Opening his maroon eyes, the man saw a densely packed forest shrouded in darkness, despite the sun that lit the clearing he’d laid in. With a silent sigh, he attempted to stand; but found himself falling back to the earth.

The man quickly caught himself mid-fall with a…hoof? Sure enough, right below him was a hoof with rosy red fur. Looking over himself, the clothes he wore were still on him but was shocked to see his human limbs had been transformed into legs resembling that of an equine. During his examination, the ma- stallion saw that his Nichirin sword was still on his side.

Deciding it was time to get out of this awkward position, the stallion carefully got on his newly received hoofs without much trouble. Pride sparked in his heart for a moment before dying down. Now taking his attention away from his horse body, the sinister forest sounds echoed around him as he listened for any sign of danger. Suddenly, the stallion felt the sensation of heavy blood lust coming from behind him. He turned around calmly as a growl came from the direction of the fearful sensation, as a strange beast emerged from the bush, almost making the stoic stallion raise an eyebrow in confusion.

It had the body and head of a Lion, the wings of a bat, and a tail appendage with a sharp end to it. The last part brings back memories of his and Muzan’s first encounter. The beast growled at him with hunger, getting in a low stance, ready to pounce the stallion when he dropped his guard.

The stallion wasn’t one to inflict harm on other living things without a reason. In his younger days, the stallion's brother's teacher taught him how to swing a wooden sword, and he wanted to test his progress. Due to his unique abilities and surprising strength, the teacher got knocked into the air in four strikes and knocked unconscious. Since that day, he vowed never to pick up a sword, the feeling of hurting a person was too painful for him. But in this instance, the stallion wasn’t above killing the beast to survive, much like the countless demons he’d slayed.

The beast roared as its powerful legs kicked off the ground toward the stallion. With ease, the stallion dodged out of the way. The beast crashed into the dirt as the stallion backed away, it quickly got back on its feet and tried a second time. The stallion went to grab his sword but found that he could not draw his blade due to the lack of hand. Barely dodging again, he put his mind to work on how to kill the beast, and a simple idea came to him. With a bit of dignity shriveling up in agony, he swiftly brought his mouth to the sword's handle and bit down on it. The beast charged again but howled in pain as a burning sensation came to its now cut-off leg.

A bright fire effect followed from the wound to the swordspony, leading to the sharp edge of a bright red sword held in the mouth by the stoic stallion. The beast fell to the ground again, crying in pain with barely any blood coming out of its cauterized wound.

“Sun breathing technique, first form: Dance.” The stallion muttered, barely understandable due to the weapon in his muzzle. He turned and faced the beast, standing with the hungry look still in its eye, now with a mix of anger and caution. The stallion hardened his gaze and ran at the beast. “Setting sun transformation.” The beast backed away as the flaming sword swung at him but yelped in surprise and pain as the sword somehow slashed it without reaching.

Blood sprayed from the beast's neck as its eyes rolled back, falling to the floor with a thud. The stallion lightly landed on the ground behind the lain beast and exhaled, steam trailing from the corners of his muzzle. Sheathing his sword, he picked a random direction and started to trot off into the darkness.

On that day, the Everfree forest was a bit brighter.

"Your majesssty, we have brought the prisssoner." The Changeling said as it and its partner dragged a relatively large stallion in front of the changeling queen herself.

The stallion had white fur, a long wild black main, and a cutie mark of 3 claw slashes. His eyelids fluttered before slowly opening to reveal a pair of cat-like red eyes that weakly glared at the insect monarch before him. “W-What is this vile place?” He mumbled. Looking around, it was a vast chasm with walls covered in a green and black slimy-looking texture. Holes carved into the chasm surface only led to darkness as bug-like horses crawled out of them.

“Stand before your true queen, pony scum!” The changeling queen loudly commanded. She growled in irritation when the pony didn’t comply and smirked as her horn glowed a sickly green. An aura of the same color surrounded the exhausted stallion and violently pulled him until he was inches away from the queen's glaring face. “NOW, STAND!” The stallion was violently thrown to the ground, his forelegs almost breaking under the force.

Despite the rough wake-up call, the stallion stood tall with a minor sway. The queen grinned pridefully as she laid back on her throne. “What’s the name of the pony scum I’m about to wipe out?” She sarcastically asked, not caring if he’d answer or not.

The stallion looked up at the queen with a cold glare and a ghost of a smirk.

“Muzan Kibutsuji”

Author's Note

This is my first ever Crossover fanfic, so if you guys have any advice to give it would be greatly appreciated.

Celestial Sun's

A miner stallion walks down the streets of Appaloosa early in the morning, a lit lantern in his mouth. He hadn’t gotten much in terms of bits. With ponies disappearing suddenly, all business owners started cutting work time so their workers could go home early before dark. This stallion didn’t think it was all that scary; Pa never taught his son to crack under fear. As the stallion turned a corner into the packed part of town, a silhouette made itself known. Due to the darkness and his lantern not reaching it, all the stallion could make out that it was the outline of a filly. He placed the lantern at his hooves and took a deep breath.

“Hey, little fella, what are ya doin’ out so late?” He called out. The filly didn’t react, so the stallion picked up his lantern to approach the filly. Before he took a step, the filly ran off into an ally with a creepy giggle.

An uneasy feeling came over the stallion. But that filly was going to get hurt if they didn’t get home. So the stallion stuffed his anxiety away and steeled his nerves, as he walked over to the alley where the filly vanished. When he peered inside, his lantern barely lit anything past five hoofs in front of him. The stallion took careful steps into the darkness, avoiding boxes and bags resting on the ground.

“Kid, are ya there?!” He yelled. A giggle came from the darkness and, getting closer, the filly was visible, but something made the stallion stop in confusion and fear.

This “Filly” wasn’t…right. There were no eyes, mouth, nose, or even hair. Its entire body was composed of a pink and red flesh-like substance in the crude shape of a filly but looked completely normal in pitch darkness. The stallion's eyes went wide looking behind the “filly”, a thin string of the fleshy substance connected to its back, curving back into the darkness. The lantern was raised with a shaky jaw but dropped to the ground immediately as the stallion screamed in horror.

The silence was deafening as the sun slowly peaked out of the horizon.

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

A sleepy Twilight slumps over and rests her head on the now-clothed Yoriichi's shoulder as the train rattles on the tracks. It was early morning and the elements and swords pony decided to get ready ahead of schedule.

“Yoriichi?” The stallion looked at the next seat over to see Fluttershy offering him some daisies in a small paper bag. “You can have some if you’re hungry.”

Yoriichi held up a hoof and went back to looking out the window, not before Spike rose from the seat in front of him. “I guess what Fluttershy said about you was true, you got some insane energy, man!” Spike said. The swords pony raised an eyebrow at the small drake's choice of words.

Last night before Fluttershy and Yoriichi left, Twilight had woken up and stopped the two from leaving; practically begging for the swords pony not to go just yet. Apparently, the studious mare wanted to run a “few” experiments with Yoriichis sun breathing for a few hours. Fluttershy tried saying no, but Yoriichi nodded and accepted Twilight's request, making the alicorn overjoyed. For the next 12 hours, a cycle of hooking Yoriichi up to strange machines he’d never seen before, telling him to perform his techniques, and Twilight getting frustrated when no magical signatures results came back. This continued until the sun came up, and the alicorn mare had to use a ‘wide awake’ spell to keep herself from falling asleep standing up. Spike had volunteered to come along to keep an eye on Twilight just in case.

Rainbow dash flew from her seat over to join in on the conversation, “Yeah, and you gotta teach me those moves!” She smirked.

“Maybe in the future, but as it is now, we have more important things to worry about.” Yoriichi closed his eyes and faced down. “I’m worried about all of your well-being. The best course of action is to rest while we can.” The stallion went quiet, a soft snore coming from him soon after.

The prismatic mare groaned and threw her hooves up. “Oh, come on!” She complained with pout.

“Don’t be like that, Dashie! I’m sure Yory is going to teach ya in no time at all!” Pinkie pie said as she appeared behind Rainbow dash. “Think of all the fun party tricks he can do! Speaking Of parties,
doyouknowwhathemightlikebecauseIhaven’tfoundthetimetoaskhimsincehewasbusywithTwilightandIwaslike“OHNO”becauseIwouldn’tbeabletohavehiswelcomepartydoneintimebeforewehadtoleavebutthenIjustdecidedtoholdthepartyoffuntilwecomebackandhaveanapologysorry-I-was-latepartyafterward and-” Pinkies mouth was stuffed by an orange hoof, stopping her from rambling on.

“It’s too early in the morin’, Pinkie. Ya can worry about that when we leave Canterlot.” The farm mare said tiredly.

As the rest of the elements, minus Twilight, talked, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel a little jealous seeing Twilight's head resting on Yoriichi’s shoulder. She quickly shook off the feeling and went back to nibbling on her snack.

Rarity, who was sitting next to the shy mare, noticed her friend's mood and rested a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Fluttershy, darling, is something bothering you?” She asked with a concerned frown.

The shy mare stayed quiet for a few moments before sighing. “I don’t know if you want to hear it, Rarity. It’s probably nothing.” She then finished her snack and crumbled the small paper bag.

“Nonsense, dear. As your friend, It is my job to help with any problem that troubles you.” Rarity wrapped a foreleg around Fluttershy and dragged the shy mare closer. “Now, tell Rarity what is troubling you.”

Fluttershy stole a glance at the sleeping Yoriichi, a blush of embarrassment on her face. “W-Well, ever since Yoriichi saved me from those Timberwolves, I’ve had a strange feeling in my chest. Even though his face is so flat and stoic, I can tell he is a passionate stallion. And whenever I see him, my heart cannot help but flutter. I don’t know what-” The shy mare was interrupted when Rarity suddenly let out a whispered squee of joy and looked at her with a happy expression.

“OH, Fluttershy, darling. This is absolutely adorable!” The fashionista said with joy.

“W-What?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“Just imagine, The damsel in distress is being attacked by horrible monsters. Then a gorgeous warrior comes in the nick of time and saves his beloved. They slowly start to fall in love until they both get married and have a bunch of foals, and EEEHHH!” Rarity squeed again, a dreamy look on her face.

Fluttershy looked around nervously as her blush began to darken. “I-I d-don’t know what you’re implying, Rarity.”

The shy mare muffled a yelp as both of her shoulders were grabbed by Rarity. “You, darling, are in love!”

Alarms began to go off in the shy mare’s head. “W-What!” She reeled away, waving her hooves in front of herself with a deep blush. “No, no, no, It’s not like that! We just met only four days ago. I don’t LIKE him like that; I like him as a friend, even if he’s super nice, caring, and…cute.” She looked away, mumbling the last part.

As the two mares talked back and forth, nopony noticed Yoriichis narrowed eye, watching them as they talked. The stallion huffed in amusement and closed his eye as he drifted back to sleep.

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

“Enough already. I hate you.”

The memories of that fateful night played in his head. The environment around him was blurred as his sight was on a small wooden flute that had been chopped in half by his blade. Tears ran down his six-eyed face as his body slowly disintegrated, only leaving a pile of clothes and the same wooden flute pieces to remain.

“Why could I not leave anything behind? Why could I not become someone? Why are we so different?”

“Why in the world was I ever born? Tell me…”

“Yori-ichi.”

The last bit of light left the demon's nonexistent eyes, as a pulling sensation dragged his soul far away.

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

The train finally pulled into Canterlot station. The elements and Yoriichi stepped out onto the streets of Canterlot, the large town alive with the crowd of well-dressed nobles.

“Alright, gang, just*yawn*follow me.” Twilight slurred. She began to walk forward before collapsing to the ground. Applejack rolled her eyes playfully and placed the sleepy alicorn on her back. They asked Spike to lead the group, which he proudly accepted with a puffed-out chest.

As the group walked the streets of the mountain city, Yoriichi couldn’t help but notice the looks of the nobles. Some looked at him with interest, eyeing his clothing and looks. Some looked at his sword with caution and disgust. The swords pony ignored their stares as he and the group soon arrived at the gates of Celestia's castle. A pair of guards noticed them coming closer, and moved to the large gate doors and opened them. The element and Yoriich nodded their thanks to the guards and continued to walk. But the Yoriichi was stopped by one of the guards who put a hoof on his chest to stop the swords pony from walking further.

“Hey bud, the princess didn’t ask for you. So get lost.” The guard spat. Before Yoriichi got a word out, Fluttershy walked next to the guard with a pleasant smile.

“He’s with us, so don’t worry about it, sir.” She said, placing a hoof over the guards. The guard looked flustered for a moment before lowering his hoof and nodding his head to the side, indicating for them to move on.

The inside of the castle was the most wonderful thing Yoriichi laid eyes on. The walls were constructed of stainless marble, the floor made of a soft red carpet, and golden accents and designs covered each wall he saw. To say the palace had time and care put into it was an understatement in Yoriichi’s opinion. The group shortly arrived at a set of large ornate doors guarded by two golden armored stallions. Applejack explained their situation to them, and the guards nodded as they opened the doors to the throne room.

“How are you all fairing this afternoon?” An elegant voice greeted. The voice belonged to a tall, elegant alicorn with white fur, golden accessories, and a multi-hued mane that flowed in a non-existent breeze. The alicorn sat upon a platform situated on a golden throne with red carpet-covered stairs leading up to it. She saw Twilight resting away on Applejack's back and giggled, “I see my ex-student had a rough night sleeping?”

Rainbow dash chuckled, “Yeah, the egghead was up all night studying with him.” She said with a hoof pointed behind her to Yoriichi.

The alicorn mare’s soft purple eyes met equally soft maroon eyes, as the two had a mini staring contest. Then, the elegant alicorn cracked a kind smile, “So, you’re the one I’ve been wondering about?” She said. Before anyone could ask what she’d meant, a panicked guard busted into the throne room. Everyone looked to the guard as he huffed and puffed heavily.

“Princess Celestia! Somepony is causing trouble at the front gates and attacking any guards that get near. The troublemaker has a sword and we can’t get close, what should we do?” He asked.

Celestia’s face turned to one of seriousness as she stood up and moved to the throne room door. “I shall handle this, you get some rest soldier.” The princess left as the guard fell on his flank.

Yoriichi shortly followed her with the rest of the elements close behind. Once outside, a large circle formation of guards surrounded someone, a couple of them on the ground with minor wounds. Noble ponies screamed in terror as another guard nearly got killed by a sword-wielding pegasus. The pegasus in question looked similar to Yoriichi, except for a few details. His long black mane was tangled and matted, his forehead mark was slightly different, the stallion's light purple fur was a mess, and his eyes were pink instead of maroon. His clothing was different as well with him sporting a purple-and-black bee-hive patterned kimono, and black hakama pants, with a white uwa-obi around his waist. All looking disheveled and torn.

The stallion had a regular sword in his muzzle as he swung his head in multiple directions. The guards tried to get close, but the stallion would barely miss them with a slash and stagger a bit in visible exhaustion.

“My word, he looks absolutely horrid!” Rarity gasped in horror, not for the stallion's well-being, but more for his clothing.

Yoriichi’s eyes were wide and brimming with tears as he looked at the crazed stallion. The light purple stallion finally noticed him too and stopped swinging, dropping his blade, staring slack-jawed at Yoriichi.

“Michikatsu…” was the last thing the crazed stallion heard before blacking out from exhaustion.

Slayer training: part 2/ Measure of you worth through force

Snow slowly fell from the sky as a chilling breeze blew over the winter mountain scape. It had been a total of three months since the mares began, and they all were making outstanding progress.

“AH!”

Rainbow dash flew back and landed in a sizable snow pile. Standing before her was an angry grizzly bear ready to kill the irritating pegasus instantly. The bear reeled its claw back and swiped at Rainbow. But before it could hit her, Rainbow rolled out of the way and quickly got back on her hooves, wooden sword in her mouth. With a roar, the angry bear pounced at Rainbow with great speed.

Rainbow raised her sword to guard just in time as the bear's maw clamped onto the practice weapon. Unfortunately, the snow, combined with the bear's weight, had sent the prismatic pegasus to the ground with a quiet crunch from the snow. Rainbow dash grunted and tried to push the apex predator away, but not even her weight training made her that strong. The bear's muzzle was inches away from her strained face, its hot breath filling her nose with a terrible stench.

Suddenly, the bear pulled away from Rainbow and stood tall. The sudden motion caught her off-guard, and she didn’t register the several hundred-pound beast falling towards her. Time seemed to slow down for Rainbow, the face pace crunching of snow sound from the side. In a single moment, two orange hooves collided with the falling bear’s face, making an audible cracking sound and launching it backward into a tree. Rainbow looked up to see Applejack breathing heavily, looking down at her with a scowl.

“Gosh darn it, RD. What ah tell ya bout’ wanderin’ off like that?” The farm mare asked quizzically. Before Rainbow dash could answer, the bear got back up and charged the two with a roar of pain and anger.

While Rainbow looked almost terrified, Applejack just rolled her eyes. Out from the tree line, a wooden sword surrounded in a purple aura shot from the trees, hitting the bear in the middle of the side. Its legs gave out as it fell to the floor, gagging and groaning from the pain when Twilight walked out from behind the trees.

“Thank goodness Fluttershy isn’t here, or maybe it would have been better because you wouldn’t be in this mess.” She scolded Rainbow dash and, oddly enough, the bear as well.

Rainbow dash quietly growled and got to her hooves again. “Hey! I got a little lost, ok.” She argued, throwing her hoof up in the air. “Besides, I didn’t know there were bears out here. I’d like to see you not get mauled by that thing.” She pointed at the bear, who weakly got up from the snowy ground with a fire still left in its eyes.

“Darling, you simply have to listen to poor Twilight's lectures once in a while.” The mare’s and bear looked back at the elegant voice of Rarity as she lay on a tree branch covered by a clean cloth behind the bear. “They may be…boring, sometimes-” Twilight glared at the fashionista from afar. “-but they are good advice for situations like these.”

Without a word, Rarity rolled off the branch. The bear expected the potential snack to land on the ground, but after a few seconds, it looked back up to see she had vanished completely. Several dozen spikes of pain shot in the bear's backside, causing it to give up and run away with its tail between its legs, yelping like an injured dog.

Rarity sighed in pity as her light blue magic dissipated from a bunch of big pebbles; she then walked away from Applejack. The farm mare flinched slightly, not expecting her friend to be beside her.

A hiss of pain escaped Rainbow's mouth as she held her right wing. She then looked up to see Rarity crouching down and touching Rainbow's hoof, which was holding the injured wing. “Let me see it, dear.” She cooed softly. Rainbow grumbled and looked away as she removed her hoof. It wasn’t terribly hurt, just some redness and swelling, not surprising since the appendage hasn’t completely healed yet. “You know not to use your wing for at least another month, right?” She said with worry.

Rainbow sighed and scowled in minor annoyance at her friend's concern. “I fell on my back on accident, ok?” She pulled away from her and started walking away. “I’m fine, so don’t worry about me.”

The three remaining friends looked at each other for a moment before silently following Rainbow back home.

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

Yoriichi tapped his chin with a hoof. A small wooden and metal box in front of him rang out terrible screeching and static sounds that stabbed at his eardrums. Pinkie pie had labeled this device a “Radio” that supposedly played songs and pony voices that told of the news. He was skeptical at first, but that was completely thrown out the window and replaced with held-back irritation. No matter how many times he turned a nob, moved the metal stick, or lightly bashed the top of it, the static noise wouldn’t stop.

Thankfully his suffering was interrupted by the glass sliding door opening up, and the mares entered the warm building. Rainbow dash rushed through the main room and opened the door to the bedding area, quickly entering and slamming it behind her. Yoriichi looked at the remaining mares with his usually stoic face.

“Did something happen?” He asked, still fidgeting with the radio with no luck.

“Eh, Rainbow dash had ah run-in with a wild critter, nothin’ to be worried about.” She sighed, “But somethin’ else is botherin’ her. It’s best to let the mare cool down before we talk.” Applejack took off her hat, placed it on the same table the radio was on, and sat on the couch beside Yoriichi.

Rarity and Twilight pulled out a single chair from the table and took a seat at it. “It can’t be about our exercises,” Twilight said as she used her magic to put hers and Rainbow dash's wooden sword by a lit fireplace. “I mean, she is about as strong as you, Applejack. So it’s got to be something else.”

“I have to agree with Twilight. I’m just hoping it isn’t anything too serious.” Rarity said with concern.

The room fell silent as the mares looked about the room with somber expressions until a joyful party pony popped her head from the kitchen walkway with a grin. She had noticed the fallen mood in the room's occupancy and bounced inside with a tray of freshly baked muffins and hot chocolate. That somehow was perfectly balanced on her back and mane. “Why’s everypony so gloomy; it's almost Heart’s Warming Eve!” She announced with glee.

“Yeah, and I’m not spendin’ that time with ma family.”

“Or with sweetie bell.”

“Spike is probably worried back in Canterlot.”

Pinkie pie’s joyful mood had been dampened slightly at her friend's responses, but her grin became a smile as she placed the trays and mugs onto the table. “I know it sucks. The cakes and twins are probably missing me as well. But hey-” Pinkie sat on the floor, grabbing a muffin and taking a bite out of it. “At least we got each other.” She said with some crumbs flying from her mouth.

The room's tension lifted as the other mares smiled a little at Pinkie's words. Yoriichi, however, frowned as he continued to mess with the radio. That was until the party pony appeared behind him and smacked the top with a heavy blow, somehow ridding the room of the noise and replacing it with a soothing song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXDs-V_Lgxk

“Thank you,” Yoriichi said. “But, what is this, hearts warming eve you all speak of?” He asked, taking a mug from the table and taking a sip.

Everyone flinched as Pinkie let out a dramatic gasp with her hoofs squishing her cheeks together. Before she went on one of her long-winded tangents, Applejack shoved an orange hoof into her muzzle.
“It ain’t complicated. Every year, everypony bands together and brings in the snow, put the critters into hibernation, and put up decorations. Then on Heart’s Warming Eve families and friends get together and celebrate until the next day, when they open the gifts they got for each other. Ah’m surprised ya haven’t heard about it” Applejack chuckled, removing her saliva-covered hoof from Pinkies mouth.

Yoriichi shook his head after finishing off his mug. “No, I haven’t. Where I came from, winter was something we had to prepare for, and brave out it got rough. I can’t say we ever celebrated a harsh, famine-ridden winter.” He grimaced slightly at memories of having to walk miles to just get enough food for himself and his wife to eat. As if on instinct, a feeling of alarm rushed through his brain, telling him to move out of the way. Unfortunately, a speeding blur of pink latched onto him, that being a sobbing Pinkie.

“Oh, you poor, poor thing. It must be so boring not celebrating in the winter. All cold and sad with no cake!” Pinkie sobbed as she stroked the stoic stallion's mane in a caring manner. “Don’t worry. Aunty Pinkie is here to fix that. She’ll make you feel all better!” Yoriichi tried to tug her off, but the weight training made the party mare's already strong grip even tighter.

The others couldn’t help but giggle and laugh at the scene, with Twilight almost dropping her mug in her fit of laughter. But, as Yoriichi tried to pry the party mare off himself and her friends laughing, Applejack couldn’t help but look back at the bedding area with a concerned frown.

When she got up, everyone looked at her. “Where are you going?” Rarity asked politely.

“Ah’m gonna check up on Rainbow. The mare startin’ to worry me sick.” Applejack explained before rushing off into the bedding area, leaving the rest with worried glances.

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

The sound of distant chatter filled the dark room of the bedding area but was quickly muffled again by the sound of a closing door. Rainbow quietly growled and pulled the sheets of her bed further over her head. Hoofsteps slowly approached Rainbow's bed and stopped when a sudden weight sat on the edge of the bed.

“Are ya awake, sugarcube?” Applejack’s voice softly asked. Rainbow didn’t speak, only responding with a mild grunt and unpleasant shifting. The farm mare sighed as the covers over Rainbow’s head were thrown off, exposing the multi-colored pegasus.

“Hey!” She shouted, “What was that for!?”

Applejacks glaring face made her voice die out. It wasn’t a hateful or annoyed glare; it was one of frustration and worry. “Ah know somethin’ is botherin’ ya, RD. You can tell me, y’know?” She said, glare softening. Rainbow dash looked away from Applejack with a pout.

“Nothings wrong.” She said as her hoof reached for the covers in Applejack's hooves, “Now let me go back to sleep, I’m-” When her hooves got close, Applejack threw them out of RD’s reach, making her angrier.

“Ya can’t lie to the element of honesty. And you were a terrible liar to begin with, so tell me now, or I’ll get pinkie to ramble the answer outta ya.” Applejack threatened.

Rainbow dash grimaced, remembering the last time she sicked the party pony onto her for not admitting to stealing the last of the cider.

Not seeing a way out, Rainbow sighed in frustration and hugged herself, looking away from Applejack. “I’m…worried, I guess?” The confused look from the farm mare let Rainbow continue, “It’s just…you girls have been making progress better than I’ve ever made since we got here. Like the bear, for example! You kicked it in the face, Twilight gut-checked it, and Rarity, the fashion designer, scared the big thing away! Meanwhile, I can barely able to keep myself alive. I just lock up when I’m facing something like that. And if these demons that Yoriichi is describing, then I’m toast.”

“No matter how hard I train, I just can catch up to you. Even Rarity is almost as physically strong as me. I don’t want you, or girls, to get hurt or die because I can’t pull my own weight.”

An awkward tension filled the room as Rainbow lowered her head in shame. Tears threatened to escape her eyes as she tried her best not to cry. Suddenly, Applejack's laughter caused Rainbow to look at her with offense in her eyes.

“What? is my self-pity funny to you?” She spat out in a tired voice.

Applejack shook her head while still laughing. She then managed to get herself under control and wiped a tear from her eye. “N-No Rainbow. I’m laughing because of the ridiculous things you’re sayin’.” She bumped the pegasus's shoulder with a hoof, “You ain’t weak or nothin’ Rainbow. You are just overworkin’ yourself.” She said with a smirk.

“More like no working hard enough.” Rainbow muttered.

“Oh, horseapples, you’re practically breakin’ yourself down. Don’t think ah know you go out in that freezing weather when the sun hasn’t even risin’ yet. Heck, ya even skip out on meals just so you can get in extra training!” Applejack's smirk then faded, replaced by a soft smile. “Your body needs rest. Heh, I remember the first day I worked on the farm, I learned that fact the hard way.”

“But you know what Yoriichi said what Celestia told him; there could be a war coming! And if I don’t put in my all, a lot of ponies are gonna get hurt.” Rainbow argued with a panicked expression.

Applejack placed a hoof on Rainbow dashes, the darkness of the room hiding the prismatic pegasus’s blush. “Well, you ain’t gonna be fightin’ in any wars if you aren’t able to stand. Now you are going to get some rest and not train for a day or two, and ah’m not takin’ no for an answer.” She said in a tone that left no room for argument.

She wanted to argue with the farm mare. But between her exhaustion and wanting to be left alone, Rainbow dash decided to simply nod her head. Satisfied, Applejack smiled and gave her friend a supportive hug, which stayed like that for a good minute or so. The farm mare then let go and started to walk towards the door. Rainbow felt a rising beat in her heart that made her outstretch her hoof.

“Wait!” Applejack looked back at the rainbow dash with a raised eyebrow. “I, uh, I…” No matter how hard she tried, Rainbow couldn’t vocalize what she wanted to say.”Nevermind…” She sighed in defeat.

With a shrug, Applejack left the dark room as her muffled voice joined the others. Rainbow stretched out her hoof to the door again with a sad frown.

“I’m worried about you the most.”

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

Later that night, when all the animals and creatures are deep into their slumber, Rainbow dash swung at a test dummy with a wooden sword.

Over and over again, the wooden weapon smacked and bashed the dummy until it had splintered at the edge. Rainbow’s bite on the handle made splinters into the wood that stabbed the inside of her mouth, blood running down the sides of her lips. She grunted as each hit connected, each backed by a force of self-loathing and anger.

For the past three months, she had been making a fool of herself since the beginning. Applejack was right when she said that Rainbow had been destroying her body. Her stomach roared in hunger but was overshadowed by Rainbow's own muffled roars. How can she be like the others? They had made staggering progress while Rainbow had been dragging her hooves through the mud. All this negative thinking made the prismatic mare think she wasn’t worth it.

She wasn’t a swords mare.

She wasn’t a true Wonderbolt.

She wasn’t a great role model for Scootaloo.

And she was certainly not a good friend either.

With a final roar of pure rage that echoed in the night sky, Rainbow swung the wooden blade at the dummy’s neck. In the blink of an eye, the head of the dummy flew off the body. Simultaneously, Rainbow Dash's weapon broke under the tension and split in half, sending shards of wood into the dirt and her face.

Rainbow didn’t register the shard nearly hitting her eyes; she just stood there with a piece of wood in her mouth and the silent wind blowing. Her breath was heavy, and the edges of her vision started to darken, but she shook her head and spat out the broken piece of wood.

“What Applejack says is true.”

Rainbow dash yelped and jumped in surprise at the familiar voice. When she calmed down, she turned around and glared at Yoriichi, who was leaning against a tree.

“Y-You jerk! Don’t sneak up on a mare like that!” Rainbow shrieked with a heavy blush.

Yoriichi leaned away from the tree and walked up to Rainbow while looking at the aftermath behind her with a curious gaze. He then stopped just before her and held out a new wooden sword. “Hold it.” He said simply. The prismatic mare looked confused for a moment. But grabbed the practice weapon with her mouth. She was even more confused when Yoriichi pulled out a large cloth from under his Haori and tied it around his face, blindfolding himself.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow’s muffled voice asked.

“Do you think you have a good reaction time? At least compared to the others?” Yoriichi asked as bent his head down, and picked up the broken handle of Rainbow’s previous wooden sword.

Rainbow was quiet for a moment before answering. “I think so. I mean-” She then closed her eyes, smirked, and put a hoof to her chest,”-when you are the best flier in Equestria, you got to have a-” Her voice cut out when a feeling of danger made Rainbow dash to shoot open her eyes. Luckily she nearly dodged Yoriichis swing, and she used her wings to hover herself back. “What was that for?! You nearly took off my head!” She shouted.

Instead of answering, Yoriichi smiled at her. “You aren’t as worthless as you think.” he cooed.

“What?” A bewildered Rainbow dash said.

“I put almost my entire force behind that swing that you just dodged Rainbow dash. Not once has any mortal or demon been able to avoid my strikes. But you, there is great potential inside of you, don’t let your doubt cloud that. Everyone has their worth, some not as much as others, but still, they can grow that potential and soar to great heights.” Yoriichi then let go of his wooden sword, letting it drop to the ground, a little smirk across his lips. “And as a gift, I’ll give you a head start on the next lesson.”

Rainbow was speechless. How can one process that they just impressed one of the strongest ponies in existence? He had to be lying, there must have been at least ONE pony that dodged him-

Right?

Picking her hanging jaw up and getting into a defensive stance, she smirked as well. “And here I thought you were some freak combination of Fluttershy and Rarity, with a little mix of maud; what happened to treat everyone equally?” She remarked.

Yoriichi chuckled as he whipped out a reheated muffin from under his Haori. “I just think you needed a little…confidence booster, as Applejack put it.” Rainbow snatched the baked good from Yoriichi and practically swallowed it whole with very little chewing. “Now, let us discuss this over a proper meal and some rest, shall we?”

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

Four bruised mares watched with gabbed mouths as Rainbow dash almost effortlessly dodged
Most of Yoriichi’s attacks. There were a few grazes and nicks occasionally, but the prismatic mare was avoiding the attacks.

With a blindfold, no less.

For the last few hours, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack were subjected to brutal sparing matches with Yoriichi, also wearing a blindfold. Of the three, Rarity had been doing the best at dodging due to her lightweight body and surprising flexibility. But even that wasn’t enough, and now she had a hoof-sized lump in the middle of her forehead.

“Stop.” Yoriichi commanded. The two stopped sparring immediately and took off their blindfolds. “I commend you, Rainbow dash. The tips I taught you last night are working in your favor.” He said with a smile.

A cold gust of wind blew past the four silent bruised mares.

“WHAT!?!” They screamed in unison.

Rainbow turned to her friends with a sheepish smile. “Oh, we haven’t told you yet.” She chuckled. Rainbow then went on to explain the events of the previous night, shocking and surprising her friends with how she nearly dodged a full-force strike. When Rainbow dash finished her story, the other mares stared slack-jawed, which made a cocky smirk form on Rainbow's muzzle.

“And that leads up until now, any questions?”