Of Demonic Firepower

The demons grew nearer to Dante, and he only watched as they made movements the devil hunter could see coming miles away. With Rebellion in a defensive position, Dante smirked and began to walk toward the hoard as well.

A demon cloaked in red was the first to strike. It dashed into a horizontal swing that it thought was certain to cut the intruder in half. But Dante was waiting for just that. With a quick step, the devil hunter hopped in the air and landed on the scythe of the enemy, flipping off of it, forcing the blade down to the ground and it's owner thrown off balance. Its head was then pierced with Dante's signature weapon, strewing demon blood across a few faces of the others.

Anticipating Dante's trajectory, several other demons began to swing their scythes at the spawn of Sparda. However, Dante was coming out of a front flip. At his current velocity, he was gonna smash his head into the concrete. Dante knew it wouldn't hurt, but he still didn't wanna look like an idiot.

So, during the flip, Dante drew a double-barrel shotgun he snagged from a bar not too long ago, and shot it down onto the blades that all met at once at where he would've landed. With the recoil of the shotgun giving him more forward turbulence, Dante prepared a hammer slam on the demons with the body still completely stuck on Rebellion. The ground then shook as three evil souls melted away into the wind, leaving behind a few stones of red demon blood that could be infused into Rebellion and other similar Devil Arms to make them more powerful.

Dante was on the other end of the crowd, sword stuck in the street away from the enemy. With a quick flick of his legs, he propelled himself upward and kicked an ugly demon face in the moment. Now, with Rebellion out of the road, Dante followed up with a sweep of the demons' legs. The majority of those who were struck by the blade immediately fell, but those who weren't so fazed by it moved forward to strike again at the devil hunter.

Dante let go of Rebellion so it would cut through the ones still standing and fly out of range of the demons, and pulled out Ceberus all in one fluid motion. Holding two ends of the nunchaku, the icy weapon whipped through the black bones of the enemies, stalling their advance, giving the devil hunter more opportunity to look stylish. Too bad there wasn't an audience.

Letting go of one of the nunchaku so that two would now slash through his foes, Dante caught the head of one unfortunate soul and entangled it within the chains of Ceberus. It was then launched at the other demons thanks to a quick flick of his wrist. During the spin, Dante completely let go of Ceberus, but caught his left index finger within the loop that connected the three nunchaku, and also threw two shotgun shells in the air as if it were completely natural. Refocusing on the ring, Dante thrusted his arm through the hoop and spun it around his wrist, shooting icy burns at any of the impatient souls who dared get to close to the windmill-type movement of the nunchaku.

Stepping back, Dante opened the barrels of his shotgun, and let the two cartridges he threw up just a second earlier fall into their appropriate locations in the firearm. As soon as the barrels closed, Dante rolled forward into the crowd of demons; toward where he threw Rebellion not five seconds ago. Jumping out of the roll, Dante once again used the shotgun to propell himself forward in the air while the buckshots rained upon the ugly skeletal faces of his enemies. He threw Rebellion further than he wanted to, unfortunately, but it didn't faze Dante's style in the least.

"Woohoo!" Dante yelled as his feet met with the ground. All in one amazing motion, the young devil hunter sweeped up the hilt of Rebellion and aimed down its blade toward the demons struggling to get up. "C'mon, boys! Don't want the show to end yet!" Dante clapped his hands together, as if calling a dog.

Shink!

He gasped. Dante looked down to see the blade of a scythe sticking straight out of his chest. Sudden spilling of some of his blood re-energized the demons still laying on the street, dashing over to where Dante was and all putting their weapons through him nearly at the same time.

"Damn," Dante said in a frustrated tone. He looked back at the face of the first demon to pierce him.

"And I was on a roll! Man, you guys aren't fun anymore..."

"Where did you find them!?"

Zecora ducked her head out of the volume Twilight was yelling at her in. "The story is quite simple, so just let me speak; and then I shall give you the answers you seek."

Twilight was growing jumpy at the fact that she was a potential witness to two dying ponies, but she managed to control herself for Zecora. "Okay."

Zecora sighed and recollected. "...Just this morning, I sent out to go look for some herbs only found in a deep part of the woods. What I found instead, were the black and silver pony, who appear to be named 'Ebony' and 'Ivory.' "

Twilight nodded as she took it all in. "Are they alive? It would be a miracle if they were. I mean, who knows what's out there in the forest?"

Zecora also nodded. "I agree, they cut it close; but they are still breathing. What's odd is that their hearts don't seem to be beating."

"What!?" the purple pony gasped out of disbelief. "How is that even possible!? You can't live without proper blood circulation! It's just impossible!"

Without waiting for a response from Zecora, Twilight Sparkle went over to observe for herself. Indeed, their chests were steadily ascending and descending, but Twilight could hear no heartbeat as she pressed her ear up against them. Stumped, the pony stepped away from the black and silver ones laying next to the fireplace.

It was then that Zecora spoke. "How this stuff works, I can't really say. What attacked them must've left them this way."

Twilight shook her head to the two unconscious ponies. "What are they? Zombies?"

Zecora laughed. "Twilight, you know that assumption is absurd. Zombies are just fiction, from what I've heard."

"Then how do you explain --"

She was interrupted by a cough from behind her. Startled, she slowly, very slowly, turned her head to look where the noise came from. She jumped back when she saw the puddle of blood that was on the floor and all over the silver and black coats of Ebony and Ivory. They were both awake now.

What surprises the pony and the zebra further, is that when they stirred, the blood dissolved back into them.

Ivory was the first to stand on all fours, very closely followed by Ebony. When they were steady, they looked at each other with vacant expressions. Puzzled, Twilight Sparkle gathered the courage to check their chests again.

She shook her head. "Their hearts aren't beating... ... ... They just... aren't... ... ..."