After practically sprinting towards their destination, the three ponies and the Draconequus arrived at the castle's armory.

"We're here.", Celestia said, as they entered.

"Seriously? Weapons?", Discord said. "I can bend reality around me, and you are going to give me weapons? That's just silly."

"Trust us, Discord", Celestia said. "There is a reason we are here."

"Whatever you say, "your majesty"...", he said, rolling his eyes.

"I... I've never used a weapon before...", Fluttershy said, nervously.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy.", Celestia said. "These tools are easy to use."

"...Tools?", Fluttershy thought.

Celestia then pressed a very particular brick on the wall that had her and sister's cutie marks. Once she did, another secret passage was revealed.

"Alright. It is time to tell you two what a Demon Hunter is.", Celestia said.

"Oh finally!", Discord said. "I've been wanting to know since last chapter!"

"... What?", the three mares said, awkwardly looking at him.

"Nothing!"

"Well... Anyway, Luna, do you want to tell them?", Celestia said, looking at her sister.

"With pleasure.", Luna said. "Basically, the Demon Hunters are a sub-section of the Royal Guard. Their main purpose is to study and exorcise any demonic force that happens to find it's way into Equestria."

"Ok, got it, but why, oh why, are you telling us this?", Discord said. "Do we seriously need more exposition? I'm starting to get quite bored..."

"And where are my friends?", Fluttershy asked. "Why aren't they here?"

"Yeah, Cel. Where are the rest of the elements?", Luna asked. "I asked you that when you met me at the library, where are they?"

"I was going to get to that...", Celestia said, looking down with a sad look. "I regret to inform all of you, they have been captured."

"WHAT?!", the two other mares said in unison.

"Bullshit!", Discord said. "They've survived way, WAAAY worse things than this! After all, they survived ME. So how could they have been captured?"

"That's what i thought too...", Celestia said. "I believed they could fend them off, but when i received a letter from Twilight saying they needed my help, i realized i was wrong. I went to go help, but before i could, i saw that Twilight's castle had been taken over... The letter arrived too late..."

"Oh... Oh no...", Fluttershy said, dropping to the ground, her eyes starting to tear up.

"Oh, just, perfectly wonderful...", Discord said sarcastically. "We're all screwed."

"But not all hope is lost!", Celestia suddenly said. "See, had i arrived in time, and actually managed to help your friends, i planned to tell them all the things i told you two up to this point."

"*Sniff* W-why...?", Fluttershy asked.

"So they, and you, could become Demon Hunters, and more effectively help in the fight against the demons!"

"M-me?", Fluttershy said in shock. "I-i can't do that! They'll just capture me too!"

"Not so fast.", Celestia said. "Remember, Discord will be with you."

"I mean, i already cancelled my greatly anticipated date for this, so i might as well...", Discord said with a shrug. "Besides, they are bastardizing the delicately intricate form of art that is chaos, and i simply CANNOT stand for that!"

"B-but what about my animals?", Fluttershy asked. "They could be needing me! They could be in danger!"

"Yes, but if you were a Demon Hunter, you could more easily save them.", Celestia said.

"And what about your other friends?", Luna said. "Will you just let them suffer through whatever Grogar is putting them through?"

"N-no!", Fluttershy answered. "Of course not!"

"Then will you save them?"

Fluttershy thought hard about this. She couldn't let her friends be hurt, or worse, be killed. But she was too scared. Could she, the shy little yellow Pegasus, really save her friends from a threat beyond anything she had ever witnessed? She didn't know...

Then, she made her decision.

"Fine... I... I accept."

"Splendid!", Celestia said. "Now, you two wait here, while we go fetch some things for you two."

As Celestia and Luna went into the secret room, Fluttershy started to just realize what she said.

"Oh goodness...! What have i done...?! I can't do this! I-"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Calm down!", Discord said. "There's no need for you to worry, Fluttershy. Remember, you have faced worse things, like me, and i'm sure those unsavory huns will be no different."

"But i was with my friends!", she said. "I don't know if i can do this... I'm scared..."

"Aww, don't cry...", Discord said summoning a tissue, and handing it over to Fluttershy. "Here use this to wipe those dreadful, pesky tears off."

As Fluttershy wiped her tears away, Celestia and Luna came back, holding two pairs of gray clothing, and two strange, stick-like objects.

"These are your uniforms and tools.", Celestia said, handing over the clothes. "You may now put them on, if you'd like."

Fluttershy put on her uniform. It was a gray trench coat, with a brown belt, and a gray fedora-like hat. Discord grabbed his to put it on, but then noticed something.

"Hmmm... This coat seems a little... too small for me... Hmmmm..."

"We're sorry, Discord...", Celestia said. "This was the largest one we fou-"

Before she could finish, he started to stretch the trench coat, until it perfectly fit him.

"Ah, much better.", he said putting it, and the hat on.

"Oh. Nevermind...", Celestia said, awkwardly. "Regardless, here's your main tools."

Celestia then handed the two stick-like objects to them. One had a sun on top, which was given to Fluttershy, and the other had a crescent moon, which was given to Discord.

"These are Celestial Rods.", she said. "They are a Demon Hunter's main weapon, and they are able to exorcise demons with ease. Just point them at a demon, and-"

"Seriously?", Discord interrupted. "These? These are our main weapons?"

"Uh... Yes?", Celestia said.

"Oh this is just ridiculous! And not the fun kind of ridiculous!", he said, almost as if he was insulted. "How are these silly little sticks supposed to even help us defeat the demons?"

"You didn't let me finish...", Celestia said. "What i was saying was-"

Before Celestia could finish, a guard entered the armory.

"Your highness...! *Huff* It's an emergency...!"

"What happened?!", Luna asked, noticing how distressed the guard looked.

"The demons... *Huff* they broke through our defenses...! *Puff* You have to help us!"

"Oh no..." Celestia said, hearing the guard's plea. "Quick! We must go, Luna!"

"Indeed! I've been waiting to kick some demonic ass...", she said.

"You two! Meet us outside! We'll be waiting!", Celestia said, before preparing a teleportation spell.

"Wait! How do the-"

Before Fluttershy could finish, the two Alicorn princesses teleported away.

"Wow, how very ungrateful.", Discord said. "They could've at least teleported us with them. *Sigh*"

Canterlot's main street was in complete disaray, there were demons everywhere, attacking civillians, attacking the guards, and just generally causing destruction. The Royal guard and the Demon Hunters had tried their best to prevent them from getting in, and they were doing a good job, but in the end, it didn't work. Due to a specific type of demon, they managed to get in. But then, Celestia and Luna appeared, and started blasting the demons with their sacred magic, destroying them where they stood.

"Begone you foul fiend!", Luna said, blasting an Unicorn demon into nothingness, while Celestia mainly focused on the Pegasus demons.

As Fluttershy and Discord left the castle, they were greeted with the pandemonium outside, seeing the demons attacking and destroying things. Then, a Shadow Earth Pony noticed them, and charged towards them!

"Eeek!!!", Fluttershy screamed, hugging Discord."I-it's coming for us! What do we do?!"

Discord summoned a baseball bat, and swung it downward on the demon's head with all his strength, leaving it on the floor, stunned.

"SMAAAAASH!!", Discord yelled out. "Take that you nasty, ugly thing! ...Uh, Fluttershy, you can let go of me now."

"Oh, sorry...", she said, letting go. When she turned however, she immediatly screamed. A Pegasus-like demon flew straight towards them, talons ready to shred their flesh!

"AAAAAH! LOOK OUT!"

Discord swung the baseball bat at the Pegasus demon, sending it flying into a building.

"Now that, is what i call a home run!", he said before rushing at the demon to hit it some more.

Then the first demon got up, spooking Fluttershy. It was no longer stunned, though there was now a massive bump on it's head.

"S-stay back!", Fluttershy said, pointing her Solar rod at the demon in an attempt to put something between herself, when suddenly...

*PEW!*

A small beam of light shot out at the demon, burning a hole through it. Then, as the demon shrieked in pain, another beam was shot, and then another one, until the demon fell to the ground and disintegrated.

Once that happened, Fluttershy looked at the Solar rod. She had exorcised her first demon, and it felt good. Suddenly, she had an idea, as she looked at Discord beating the lights out of the Pegasus demon.

"Discord! Use the rod!"

"Huh? What?", he said, looking at Fluttershy with a confused expression.

"Use the rod the princess gave us! It can defeat them!", Fluttershy yelled out. Not very loudly, mind you, but Discord heard it anyway.

Discord pointed his Lunar rod at the demon, and then...

*pew!*

A small beam pierced through the Pegasus demon's head, disintegrating it instantly.

"Huh. Well, it looks like these sticks will be useful after all...", he said to himself.

"Alright, let's go find those two, so i can ask why they didn't just teleport us too when they could...", Discord said, putting his baseball bat away. "They can't possibly be that hard to find."

"Oh! I think that's them over there!", Fluttershy said, pointing at both Celestia and Luna, who were flying towards the city square.

"Well, what did i say...", Discord thought. "Let us go, then.", he then said.

As the two ran towards the city square, they were occasionally attacked by more demons, which slowed them down, but it was nothing that Discord's magic, and the rod's beams couldn't take care of. Some were Earth Ponies, and others Pegasi, but at least a few were Unicorn-like.

Meanwhile, in the city square, Tempest Shadow, the Captain of the Royal Guard, was fighting off several demons. Most were Shadow ponies, but a few were large, rotund dragons of similar coloration to the Shadows, which floated around spitting fireballs. While her crossbow did work, it seemed to not be as effective against them as she hoped.

"I'm not scared of you!", Tempest said, before firing a crossbow bolt right into a demon's forehead, exorcising it immediatly. She went to reload, when she noticed she only had two bolts left.

"Crap...", she said, watching as the demons got closer, only for a beam of light to hit some of them, which caused them to disintegrate. The other demons were then finished off by a blue beam. Tempest looked up to see that Celestia and Luna had arrived.

"Has the city been fully evacuated?", Celestia asked, as she landed alongside her sister.

"Not yet, there are still some civillians boarding the trains...", Tempest said, looking towards the train station. There were still ponies entering the trains, which led to safe places outside of Equestria.

"I didn't think they would've arrived so quickly, let alone pass through our defenses!", Luna said, looking at the destruction the demons were making.

"We actually were doing a good job at holding them back, but then some weird, portal-like creatures showed up, and started spitting them out!", Tempest explained. "That's what caused us to disperse."

"Hmm... I think i know what you're talking about.", Celestia said. "Regardless, we need to find a way to evacuate everypony out of here before more demons co-"

Suddenly, Celestia stopped talking. She suddenly changed her expression to one of distress, and she started to sweat. Suddenly, Luna started to do the same.

"Your highness?", Tempest asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm... I'm sensing a powerful evil presence...", Celestia said. "Can you feel it too, Luna?"

"Yes...", Luna said. "It's like i have a horrible headache..."

Suddenly, a black circle started to form on the ground, and a symbol similar to an upside-down star appeared on it. It is then, that a horned figure emerged from the circle, cloaked in darkness. Then, the darkness on it's body dissipated, revealing the figure's true identity.

It was none other than Grogar himself.

"Hello, ladies...", the goat said, grinning. His sharp teeth looked like they could slice through flesh as if it was a hot knife through butter.

"So you've shown yourself, you monster...", Celestia said, readying her horn.

"Straight to the point, huh?", Luna said, recovering from her headache. "I thought a coward like you would just hide behind your army, but here you are..."

"I'm not a fool, i don't need my minions to do ALL of my work..."

The goat looked at the train station, his eyes filled with hatred. The ponies at the station just watched, as the being older than time itself looked at them.

"Tell me... Are they your subjects...?", he said, licking his lips.

"Why are you asking that?", Celestia said, her horn now starting to glow.

"No reason... It's just i want to see the despair on their faces... AS I TAKE DOWN THEIR SAVIOURS!"

Before anyone could react, Grogar's horns started glowing, and the bell on his collar started to ring. As this happened, massive tendrils made of shadow enveloped themselves around the two princesses, restricting their movement.

"Agh!", Celestia and Luna both said, as the tendrils started to squeeze them. It was as if they were going to be crushed! The ponies at the train station all reacted in horror, causing him to grin in a menacing fashion.

"You bastard!", Tempest yelled out, before aiming her now reloaded crossbow. "Release them, now!"

"Go ahead. Shoot me.", Grogar said, looking at Tempest with nothing but cold indifference. "See if you can save your precious rule-"

Tempest was not intimidated by the goat's words, and fired a shot straight towards his forehead.

And it hit.

It didn't kill him, but it had at least pierced enough through his skull to lodge itself in there. Once Grogar recovered, he was shocked.

"Did you... Hurt me?"

Throught all of his existance, only one other mortal had even gotten close to harming him, and even then, that time, it had missed. He didn't even think mortals could harm immortals such as him, yet this mortal, a pony no less, had managed to harm him.

And he did not like that one bit.

Using his magic, he removed the bolt from his head, causing a small stream of dark, shadowy blood to squirt out, like how a dolphin squirts water through their blowhole. He walked towards Tempest, slowly but methodically.

"You... Are the first mortal to ever have hurt me... How do you feel? Surprised? I sure was... But that matters not."

"If you don't release them now, i'll do it again, you sick fucking bastard!"

Tempest was thrilled, her heart was racing, and she was sweating. She did not feel fear, but her body still urged her to run. The ponies at the train station all watched in awe, as they boarded the final train.

"I cannot let you go. You deserve to pay... FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!"

Then another tendril appeared, and wrapped itself around her. Tempest tried to fight back, but the tendril started squeezing.

"Let... me... go...!", Tempest said.

"No.", Grogar said, before all the tendrils went back into their holes, dragging both the now unconscious princesses and Tempest with them.

"Come back, my minions, i have what we came for."

As soon as he said this, the demons stopped attacking the city and all started to go away, back to their master's castle. Fluttershy and Discord only had time to witness Grogar leave through his portal.

"Oh, confound it!", Discord said, somewhat angry. "We're too late for the party..."

Fluttershy only caught a glimpse of Grogar, but she felt every single strand of hair in her coat raise. "Oh... No...", she said, looking at the scene of destruction around them. "W-What are we going to do?!".

Then, they heard something. They looked at the direction of the sound, only to see a Pegasus demon grasping Fluttershy's pet rabbit, Angel, in it's talons! The noise was him trying to release himself!

"*Gasp!* ANGEL!" Fluttershy yelled out, before taking to the air and trying to follow the demon.

"*Sigh*, This is going to be a long, long day, isn't it...?", Discord said, before flying after Fluttershy to help her.

Meanwhile...

Inside Grogar's castle, several ponies, including Fluttershy's friends, were caged in the basement, now turned into a dungeon. The unicorns had their horns covered with a metallic implement, to prevent them from using their magic, and the pegasi had their wings restrained. Since Twilight had both a horn and wings, they were both restrained. Everything was quiet. Then, the doors to the dungeon opened, and many ponies gasped in horror, as they saw both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna restrained, and in cages, just like them.

"Princess!", Twilight yelled out, before a demon that was standing guard hissed at her, causing her to recoil in fear.

Then, Grogar entered the room, accompanied by four cloaked figures. He was apperently instructing one of his demonic minions on how to do something.

"...and make sure her and her guards suffer. Now... Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. The rulers of Equestria, and the daughters of my archnemesis. How is the cage? Is it uncomfortable enough?"

"Oh now you've done it buster!", said Rainbow Dash, from her cage. "Just wait until i get out of this damn cage, and you'll be in for a world of hurt!"

"I'd like to see you try...", Grogar said, as if to provoke Dash further. But on the back of his mind however, the fact that a mere mortal had managed to hurt him was still there.

"You won't get away with this!", Celestia said. "There's still two individuals who can still stop you!"

"Oh i am aware of that.", Grogar said. I believe her name is Fluttershy. Although, i must ask... Who is the second one?"

Fluttershy's friends were surprised to find out their friend was out there. Celestia then spoke.

"Discord, the Lord of Chaos!"

As soon as he heard Discord's name, Grogar looked at Celestia with a mixture of shock and confusion. "WHAT?!", he said, bearing his fangs, his expression shifting into anger. "This explains what happened to that bastard..."

"Huh?", Celestia said.

"SILENCE!", Grogar said. "This does not concern you..."

Grogar proceeded to look at Fluttershy's friends, then at his cloaked accomplices, and then, he chuckled.

"That doesn't matter, i can deal with that later...", he said to himself, before addressing the ponies trapped in the cages. "Besides... I have just the perfect minions to capture them..."

"And who would they be? Huh?", Rainbow Dash said, as if to taunt him

"HER OWN FRIENDS... Get her."

Before anyone could say anything, one of the cloaked figures went inside Rainbow Dash, and suddenly, she was enveloped by darkness. She screamed in pain, as her friends could only watch in horror. Then, her cage burst into pieces, and something came out.

But whatever it was, it was no longer the Rainbow Dash they knew.

"So... Zebos, my loyal follower. How does this vessel feel to you?", Grogar asked.

"It is perfect... Masteeeer", "Dash" said, her voice now demonic. But it was clear, whoever was speaking, was not Rainbow Dash herself.

"Wonderful...", Grogar said, delighted by the demon's response. "Now... You three..."

"Find your own vessels, and then come to me..."

Author's Note

Demon Profiles:

Shadows (Unicorn Variant, part 1)
Threat level: Low
Class: Corrupted Spirit
The strongest of the three Shadow types (magically speaking), Unicorn Shadows are able to shoot projectiles made of dark magic, and some are able to teleport to short distances. However, they are the slowest of the Shadows, as their hind limbs are extremely short. Because of this, they primarily stay still when attacking. Their stationary nature, mixed with their teleportation being slow to charge, make Shadow Unicorns the second easiest Shadow to deal with.

Shadows (Pegasus variant)
Threat Level: Low
Class: Corrupted Spirit
The fastest of the three main Shadow types, Pegasus Shadows are known for their ability to swoop at opponents at great speeds, before clawing at them with their talons. These demons are not to be underestimated, as their talons are razor sharp, and their speed make them hard targets. The best strategy is to attack after they land, or attacking them mid swoop.

Dracodemon
Threat Level: Medium
Class: Corrupted Spirit
Dracodemons are the spirits of evil dragons that ended up in hell, and became even more corrupted. They retain their wings from when they were alive, but do not need them to fly, as their body is filled with a gas that allows them to float. Because of their balloon-like nature, they are very easy to pop with sharp objects.

"Portal Demon"
Threat Level: ?
Class: ?
Will appear later, so keep them in mind... ;)

Weapon Profile:

Celestial rods
Type: Tool
The main tool of a Demon Hunter's arsenal, a Celestial rod comes in two forms. Sun, and Moon. While both are functionally identical, the two types were blessed by different ponies, the Sun rods are blessed by Celestia, while the Moon rods, conversely, were blessed by Luna. They are easy to use, and extremely efficient.