Holding the sobbing, injured, shell-shocked mare to his chest, Cole Winters looked around the bar. Thankfully, nothing had caught fire yet, and the coals seemed to be burning out first. Trying to find a way to cheer her up, or at least get them moving, Cole cast his eyes about the room a second time.

Sighing when he found nothing, he patted her on the back, and tried to get her to stand up. Here eyes were red, but this time with the bloodshot look of some who had, shockingly enough, just been crying a river. Not knowing what else to do, he remembered how she acted before and decided to take a leap of faith; he kissed her quickly on the lips.

“T-Thanks for saving my ass b-back there.”

Summer just looked up at him, and the ring of red on his lips.

“You’re welcome, Cole. I- I couldn’t see you hurt, too.”

Cole reflexively licked the blood from his lips, almost starting at how... good it tasted.

“Don’t worry about me so much, I got hurt a lot when I was back home, I can take a few hits, I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

Cole held her close, tightening his hug, his tongue snaking out to pick up some more blood from her coat, cleaning her somewhat. Summer giggled.

“Sorry, I seem to have developed a weird habit.”

“It tickles. A-and thanks. I’d heard Nightwing saliva helps heal wounds... uhm, w-woul you-”

Cole cut her off by frenching her deeply, his tongue waggling around to slide against her jaw and the split in her lip, the skin beneath his flexing muscle sealing rapidly. Slowly leaning back, he withdrew his tongue back into his mouth, the delicious, salty-copper taste coating it.

Shivering slightly, he wondered momentarily if he could take the rest of the blood from her. To get her clean, of course. And it tasted so good...

“Th- thank you, Cole.”

She looked up at him with large, much calmer eyes, and she kissed his bottom lip for a moment, before retreating. In the low light, Cole wasn’t quite sure if she was blushing or not, but she did look a little more rosey.

“No problem, now lets stop making out and save Illicita.”

“Y- yeah... I can do that.”

“By the way, how did you do the magic garrote trick?”

She blushed visibly, now, and looked away as she slowly put her bags back on her back.

“I-it’s just a magic replacement wire, for if a stringed instrument breaks. I read in a noir novel that you could use a piano wire, and I used to play violin for a while, then piano, then contrabass, so I used it often.”

“Oh, what a clever girl you are, maybe you can show me a few tricks when we get back, but for now we have to save Illicita’s giant flank!”

Summer followed Cole as he began to sneak up the stairs to the second floor none-to-stealthily. He still had to get used to having big clunky things on the ends of his feet all the time.

Reaching the top the stairs, the colt saw a pegasus mare with metallic blades on her one wing, the other just a stump inside her leather armor, along with a pony in gleaming silver armor, a large golden sun across one massive pauldron. A huge warhammer was strapped to the unicorn’s back, though all of the pony was covered, the only indicator of race being the armored spire on the top of the helm. A more modest sword stood at perfect attention in a soft green glow in front of the armored unicorn.

A smooth, but slightly deep voice rumbled from the metal helm, calm and collected.

“Please, halt your advance. I would rather not kill if I am able to talk the problem out.”

“No! They killed Scarred Mountain! We should just kill them now!”

The pegasus mare sounded rushed and angry, a boyish squawk to her voice. The armored one, however, barely sounded feminine around the deep, bass rumble of her voice.

“I’ll talk to you, you seem more intelligent, so wha-”

The pegasus interrupted his attempt at diplomacy with the massive figure, practically moving forward into his face.

“Shut it, Eldrist! You have no say!”

The large unicorn only rumbled for a moment, choosing to reply in her slow, calm voice.

“I would rather speak to your mistress, oh summoned fiend.”

“Not a good idea right now, your friend broke her jaw and she’s-”

“Fuck that! Die, monster!”

With her exclamation, the hasty pegasus, her mane shaved and her coat dark red. Leaning back to avoid a swipe across the muzzle from her wing-blade, Cole had to block a rapid strike from a leg before ducking the backswing of the blade, some of his mane falling to the ground in the process.

“Bitch, I’m a Nightwing, not a monster-”

“They’re the same thing!”

“-now let me talk!”

The pegasus continued to ignore him as she got closer, and he saw an orange line drifting through the air towards the maroon mare. Unfortunately, the pegasus caught view of it, and a wing-slash dissipated the spell.

“Oh, so you’re gonna try fighting me like that, eh bitch?”

The pegasus’ attention was away from Cole long enough for him to tag her across the cheek. The sound of a loud ‘pop!’ as the air caught and slammed her to the side.

“Just shut up already! This is between me and you if anything, now stop bringing others into it you annoying cunt!”

A low snort of laughter from the unicorn and a stunned pegasus was the audience, along with Summer looking appreciative of his support.

“He speaks truly, if you had waited, we might’ve yet secured an honorable duel. Now, you two must fight from here. And this time, Razor, I will not bail you out. We will resume communications after this little... ‘disagreement’, shall we say, has been dealt with.”

The unicorn’s voice brooked no refutations, an absolute factor in the equation.

“Finally some cooperation around here, now be back with you in a minute if you don’t mind.”

The inarticulate growl of rage from the seething pegasus at the meaning of his comment, and she charged again. A swipe went high, and he got tagged across the face once, then dodged and blocked it the next time, noticing that she tried the exact same move again.

Hitting her with a solid blow across her face, and dodging another swipe and jab, he repeated the process. He almost laughed, as she had virtually no skill, just a pattern. Tagging her in the face again and again, he bloodied her nose, and her swings grew more erratic, wavering from her careful pattern bit by bit.

“If you want to quit now, you can, I won’t hold it against you.”

“F- fuck you!”

The pegasus was gasping a little around the fluid leaking into her nose.

“I’ll take that as a no then, carry on with your suicidal assault.”

The mare just doggedly struck at him again and again, to no avail, until a chance mistiming left him open for just moment, the blade slicing open his side in a momentary pass, the pain trickling into his senses.

Focusing harder on defending himself, he struck at her less, wearing her down as much as possible, not even realizing that his wings had gone up part way.

Without thinking, and treating a wing like a long-fingered hand, he darted forward in the middle of one of her swings, turning and grabbing the wing she was attacking with, and twisting slightly.

The pegasus gasped, her face stricken as she tumbled off-balance. As she sprawled onto the ground, rear in the air as she whimpered on the ground. Blinking slightly, Cole realized she was on the ground only after the fact.

“Crap, are you okay?”

Cole looked down to the pegasus, who just whimpered again, her eyes full of tears. Realizing what he was holding her down with one of his wings, he carefully let go, flexing the appendage slightly as he saw the many similarities to his original hands.

“Didn’t mean to do that.”

“F- fine, you beat me... what’re you going to do now, take a blood-tithe?”

The pegasus snapped out the question angrily, a snarl creeping along her voice as she spoke.

“No, why would I do that?”

The unicorn responded for her downed comrade.

“Because she thinks you have turned sarosian, nightwing.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think so, I don’t do anything to people when I beat them.”

The unicorn nodded, and turned to the pegasus, her bass rumble of a voice loud enough to be heard down the hall. The commanding unicorn looked at both Cole and Razor.

“I, as a knighted paladin of the Solar Order, declare this duel concluded. May you two consider your grievances at rest. Now, young warlock-”

“Not a warlock, accidental summoning.”

“No, no, she’s right. I am a professional summoner, so my title is indeed warlock. Madam paladin, please continue.

“Oh, never mind then, carry on, I’m going to sit down and quite literally lick my wounds.”

The two mares gave him looks of confusion for a moment, as he sat down and Razor slid fully to the ground, her rump no longer up in the air. Unfortunately, he found his own blood not-so-tasty, and his wounds weren’t closing. Stupid magic not working on himself...

“Damn, oh well, atleast I can get the blood out of my coat before it d-ow!-dries.”

Picking at the scratches with the only thing he had available, Cole tried to clean himself off. Meanwhile, Summer and the paladin began to speak, using large, eloquent words. Most of it sounded like overly-flowery legalese. While Cole wouldn’t follow most of it, he got the basic understanding that Summer was trying to explain that Cole and herself were, at least, not hostile, merely trying to rescue Illicita.

During all of this, the pegasus had shuffled off to one side, and had removed the blades from her wing to massage the pained limb. Cole moved over to her cautiously, not wanting another fight.

“Hi, sorry about that, are you okay?”

The pegasus ‘hmph’d and turned away a little, still tenderly rubbing her wing.

“Is your wing okay? Can I do anything to help?”

The pegasus mare, Razor, if Cole remembered correctly, refused to speak to him, finishing her ministrations on her wing by tucking it around herself.

“You got me pretty good earlier.”

Cole showed her the cut she gave him, still a little blood around the wound.

“You did pretty well back there, what training do you have?”

“I’ve been trained by none. I learned the use of the wing-blade on my own. All pegasi must learn a weapon of their own choosing on their own before they may be taught by an armsmaster.”

The mare stopped herself with an audible snap of her mouth closing, as she realized she was speaking.

“Well I had about five years of unarmed training, I almost reached first-dan, the first level of mastery.”

The pegasus mare just glared at him.

“You should count yourself lucky you even received training. When I lost my wing to the raid, I was no longer permitted training. I was left behind, useless to them. A pegasus who cannot fly... cannot fight.”

Razor looked away again, her hard expression softening slightly from obvious saddness.

“You’re not useless, I was trained and you almost cut me to pieces, so cheer up Razor.”

Cole wrapped a wing around her and hugged her. To his (very mild) surprise, she shoved him away, a shouted at him.

“Get away from me, you sarosian pit-spawn! Try your pity games on some mare stupid enough to fall for them!”

Cole backed up a little bit.

“I don’t pity you, I am being sincere. Would it make you feel better if I gave you some advice? Not that you aren’t capable or anything.”

“Oh, go-”

Razor’s response was cut off by the paladin slamming a hoof down between the two winged ponies, startling each of them.

“Both of you, stop bickering like foals! This matter is resolved.”

The larger mare, still clad in her bright metal armor, turned to Cole.

“You and your lead mare will continue to the end of this hall. My code of honor ensures to me that you are not evil... but I will not stand against my allies.”

The paladin stepped back, and Summer stepped forward, eyes darting between the still-glaring pegasus and the human-turned nightwing.

“What?”

“L- let’s go, Cole. We should hurry, we need to save Illi.”

“Fuck! I knew I forgot about something, lets go!”

Cole stood up and walked towards Summer, but before he left he turned back to the pegasus.

“And I am sorry, no pity, no hidden insults.”

The pegasus just stared after him as Cole and Summer turned and trotted down the hall towards the door the paladin had mentioned. As they walked along, Cole caught the edge of a whispered statement between the paladin and the pegasus.

“... I just don’t know... I doubt mother even remembers me.”

“Mom still loves us both, she hasn’t forgotten you...”

Continuing on their journey, Cole didn’t comment on what he heard, instead asking a more immediate question.

“So, how did you negotiate your way past her?”

“Oh, I just swore on a few things, made a binding oath not to lie about it, and then told her we needed Illicita to continue our journey.”

“Nice, lets hope the rest of the group is as rational, I can’t take much more damage.”

“Sorry... I hadn’t expected that to happen. Why did you fight her? You... you could have passed the challenge to me.”

“Because, I’m used to getting hurt, and I couldn’t stand by and watch you get hurt.”

Summer looked over at him with a look of concern right in front of the door.

“I can take it, Cole, I’m a mare. You’re a colt, you shouldn’t have to deal with being hurt.”

Summer then opened the door, stepping into the room beyond.

While Cole had half-expected either a lavish apartment or a dark, eerie lair, it was really just a room at an in, with a large glass ball glowing in the center of it, along with a stallion and a mare standing nearby it.

“Well too bad, I have five years combat training and they are going to be put to use. So... What’s all this then?”

Cole asked as he looked around the room. He saw the male and female ponies turn towards him and Summer. The stallion, a large russet unicorn, looked her over appraisingly, and Cole caught a glimpse of the mare staring at him with narrowed eyes. A moment later, though, her hood fell back into place.

“Hey, you, give us Illicita back.”

Cole took a step towards them. The two exchanged a glance, before the stallion, his bright orange mane drifting roguishly across his face like something out of a cheap romance novel, looked him in the eye.

“Well, fine gentlecolt, perhaps we can come to an agreement.”

His voice was almost disturbingly genteel, at exactly the right octave to be a combination of attractive and at the same time noble.

“I think I know where you’re going with this and sorry dude, I’m only gay for Summer.”

The stallion laughed, his voice clear and strong.

“Oh, I must admit, I’m happy to have met her, too. Still, if you would like to come to an arrangement, I’m sure we can find something we both want.”

The stallion followed his proposition with a leer and a wink, and the mare to the side of him rolled her softly luminous yellow eyes.

“Oh, stop it, ye’ great dandy. Ee’s not interested, Ah c’n tell jes from lookin at ‘im. Ye’ c’n go ‘bout gettin’ th’ Goldstar lass’s steel-clad plot easier than this whipp’d boy’s.”

The scratchy, thick near-irish/scottish accent was almost mind-bogglingly far from the stallion’s.

“So what do we have to do to get you to release Illicita? And aren’t you curious as to what happened to your other group members?”

The stallion, looking a bit put-out about the mare’s words, smiled a bit less grandly at Cole.

“Well, we’ll need some sort of compensation for the catch, and the promise not to let the thing rampage any more. As for what happened to the mercenaries I hired, well... the only one I’m really surprised you passed was our resident drunkard. She has a problem with unicorns and bat-folk.”

“Oh, jes git on wid it! This ‘un ain’t wort’ much, just grab some gold’n get us goin’!”

The stallion rolled his own eyes, and sighed.

“Fine, Mercuriel, I’ll forgo the pleasure of their company for cold, hard coinage. Madame, a mere price of seventy-five gold coins would be ample-”

“Fifteen, I’m young, not stupid.”

The stallion nearly spat at Summer’s remark, and even Cole had to double-take.

“All four of my parents are involved in business, one way or another.”

“Fine, madame, but I must make a profit, and these capture globes are-”

“Forty-seven silver pieces, or four gold coins and seven silver. They’re also re-usable, and I want her released, not still contained.”

The stallion looked ready to chew some nails, before growling and huffing angrily.

“Dude, she’s a lot smarter than you think so cut the games.”

The stallion, no longer looking so regal or kind, glared at Cole, before turning back to Summer. She hadn’t let her gaze leave him the whole time, and spoke before he did.

“You should be glad you’re getting any gold, so take the offer or face the consequences.”

Anger spilled out with the last three words, and finally the colt spoke up again.

“Fine, twenty-five gold coins, and I release the demon.”

“Release first, money second.”

“And how would I know you aren’t going to simply sic the beastie on me the moment it’s free?”

Summer was about to retort again, when the glowing-eyed mare spoke up, exasperation evident in her voice.

“Jes give half now, and half when the demon’s out! Yer nay gonna come ta any agreement bickerin’ like foals and fools alike!”

The force of the mare’s voice was impressive, and she sounded honestly angry. The two arguing ponies flattened their ears, and Cole had to cover his own with his hooves to avoid being deafened.

The stallion and Summer quickly agreed on the process, Summer giving the first twelve gold coins to him. His horn lit up brightly, and the orb of glass in the center of the room stopped shining, and split open vertically. A thick, viscous stream of smog poured out from it, slowly forming a hazy outline of a pony.

“Illi?”

Summer’s voice trembled a bit as she said the demon’s name, taking a hesitant step forward, catching herself quickly.

“Wait, I need to make sure it’s you... What are the strictures of our covenant?”

The smog looked up at her, smiling slightly.

“That I cannot harm you or your friends, my mistress.”

Summer smiled at the words, then turned to the stallion.

“It’s a nice con, but bring me my friend before I demonstrate my new cranionectomy procedure on you.”

“Yeah, she did it to one of your mares downstairs, the one with the scar.”

“And what, exactly, does ‘cranionectomy’ mean?”

“Something ending with ‘ectomy’ indicates a surgical procedure to remove something, as designated by the prefix. The cranium is the head. I’m sure you can figure it out from there.”

Summer’s grin was a bit unsettling, and her eyes seemed a little... small. The irises and pupils alike appeared to have shrunk inward a bit, and several strands of hair had jumped out of place from her normally fairly orderly mane. Her horn flashed orange, and the cloud screamed and began fading out, much to the surprise of everyone else.

“Now, since you don’t seem to get what I mean, perhaps I should elaborate. Release my friend, and I’ll let you leave with all your limbs still attached. Fail to do so... and I’ll get inventive.”

The stallion’s eyes suddenly bugged out for a moment, and Cole wondered why for a moment. then, he saw a faint glow from the colt’s underside, and saw the two trailing ends of Summer’s wire-spel poking out from his trousers, faintly outlining a vague bulge.

The colt, rather suddenly sweating, powered his horn once more, and a second orb skidded out from under the bed, cracking open and letting a brownish-red cloud boil forth, quickly changing to Illicita’s demonic form.

The glowy-eyed mare, having been silent since her outburst turned calmly to the stallion.

“Well, ah told ye’ it wouldn’t work, and ye ignored me. Ah cain’t feed off’n a demon, an’ those two’re more trouble than they’re worth. I hereby dissolve our contract, an’ leave ye’ in peace. Ye’ moron.”

The mare then threw back her hood and shimmied out of the simple garment, revealing a lithe mare in green, with a brilliant blue mane. However, that didn’t last long, as a gold-colored flames erupted around her, and a black-and-yellow changeling stood in her place.

“Good riddance to ye’, ye’ daft loon.”

Before anyone could react, the changeling shot a blast of magic through a window and flew out. The three ponies and the demon just stared for a moment, until the stallion finally spoke up.

“Wow, I thought the accent was just because she was weird.”

“Eh, I actually like changelings.”

Summer turned to Illicita who was looking around at the group.

“So... are we gonna kill him? Or just castrate him? ‘Cuz if it’s the kill option, I call dibs.”

The stallion whimpered at the options presented, Summer looking at him with an angry expression.

“I don’t feel any reason to spare him since he just tried to con you, kill our friend, and caused all this, so do as you please, I wouldn’t mind an execution.”

Cole stared at the stallion. The stallion’s russet face went pale, his eyes tiny as he looked around, still not moving from the cord presumably wrapped around his junk.

“So Summer, which head do you want to remove?”

“I vote death, I can drain him and eat the body.”

The colt’s face went even paler at the succubi’s suggestion.

“I say we go with her suggestion, after all, she was the one who was tortured. Why not let her have her fun?”

“Idunno, I think a longer-term punishment is better... and my momma always told me not to hurt a colt.”

The male unicorn visibly relaxed.

“Unfortunately, my mother taught me how to hurt a colt, quite extensively. Did you know that he’ll still feel the urges, but be unable to act on them if I cut it off, along with his tongue? I could remove his horn too, and brand hi-”

Summer’s tirade, growing ever more maniacal as she went, was broken off as Illicita slapped her.

“Summer, snap out of it! This isn’t you. Don’t you dare go stooping to his level!”

The poor buck seemed entirely confused and terrified, and Cole wasn’t too far behind on that.

“That actually sounded like one of my rants...”

“Stay out of this, outworlder.”

It was the first time Illicita had addressed Cole as anything other than a vaguely insulting innuendo, so it was entirely unexpected by him.

“Okay, okay, lets just finish up here and get her back to the room, you both have had a tough day.”

“Summer, listen to me. We’re going to go back, everypony’s getting a bath, and you’re not going to kill or maim him. It was funny when I was joking about it, but this is not who you are meant to be.”

Summer shook slightly at Illicita’s words, and Cole had some issues figuring out where this serious side of her was coming from.

“Yeah, let’s just go before you kill him, it might be a worse punishment to leave him like this anyways.”

Summer nodded, and disappeared in a flash of orange light, bright enough to hurt Cole’s eyes. Illicita turned to the stallion on the floor, who was visibly relieved that Summer was gone. Until, that is, when Illicita metamorphosed into a massive, slimy-skinned thing, with dozens of needle-lined mouths and reaching tentacles, eleven or eyes floating in gooey sacs along the top of the monster all looking down at the now-terrified pony.

[“̸̪̯̬̠̙̣͋̊ͫ̋̚͢͠Ȉ̸̹͕͎̦͓̲ͥͪ̔͛̎͢f̩̭̬̖̰̺̙̅ͤ͘ ̴̭̗̲̯̮͒ͩ͛ͬͥ͟I̸̫͍̦̓͞ ̴̵̱̘̯͎̩̩̑͑ͬ̾̑͡e͗҉̨̟̤̝v̜̙ͯ͌̾ͯ͑̕e̴̗̹̹͓̍̅͐͋ͨ͝r̴̡̮̘̦͇̮̿̆͢ ̶̴̟̙̰ͦ͂͗͐̐ͨͥ͌s̭̠̖̱͔̺ͯͦ̒̍̽̀̀̀̕ȅ͚͓͙̌e̫̥̪̼̖̟͆̽ͧ͆̂͋ͦ̀ ̗̞̣̬̟̜̘̯̅̂̌͒̾̍̽y̠͔̻̗ͭ̅͌̄ͨ̆ͫ̊ͅő͈̯̩̝̉̃̈́͠ṷ̹͖̳̣͚̭̙͚͌͊̿̓́ ̖͚̯̞͔͑͊ͮ̄̆ͮ̇͘a̓̆̏ͨͦ̃͒̉҉̤̗̘g̢͍̥̪̳͗̍̐̀̂̎̇͗͠͡ą̗̞̰̉ͯ̽̽ͤ͗̒́į̜̠̤̖͍̭̰ͥͤ̒̽́ͭͬͮ̅ͅn͇͓̘̫̩̦̳͗ͫ͡,̨̦̝͔̣͉̥̝̼̎ͤ̄ͯ̍͑͠ ̻̫̞̟̯̙̖̉͊͋͟͝Ỉ̸̹̦̪̣͙͈́ ̨͍̱̝̄̈́̂̓ͬ̐͝w̴̨̩̫̖̮̹͔̘͒̓̅͋ͩͨ͊̚ͅĭ̴̴̮̗̥̭̟͈͜l̦͖̗̮̱͍̣̋̎ͅl̑͛ͮ҉҉͚̝̤ ̴̧̣̪̹̱̌̋̉́ͅn̢̲̘̗̳̮̰ͣ̑̑̅̋̉̍͞ǫ̱̤̬̝̝̜̜ͮ̋͒͜ͅt̖̬͎̤̻͙ͭ̒͊̽̎̒͜͝ ̸̲̰̭̻̣̉̅̃ͩ̄h̨̟̟̼͎̹ͪ̏ͥ̊͑̽e̡͌̌̄͐͑͏̗͓͓̭̙̠̜̖ͅs̵̙̟̺͇̪̞̼̃̒̊ͭ͐̾̽̄i̧̱̗̙̮̦͓̘̽̌͐ͨ͆͠t͉ͮͮ̀͟͡ã͇̻̒̌ͧͩ͆̒͒t̼̳͚̜̐̾͆͛̎͟e̯̻̲̣̺̠͔̯̠ͤ̌͑̈́͛̀́ ͈̻͚̮̠̟̻͗̎̽ͩ͂͊̄ͅtͪ̒ͩ̐͑͏̷̳̦̖̮̳͓̙̳͢ö̗̞́̅ͧ͋̀ͯ̚̚ ̥͖̺̳͓̪̄̓ͮṫ̍҉͈͍͇̥̯̭̝͚͜͟e̸̷̠͉̳ͥ̍̌ͥ̄ͣ̎à̺̿̾ͧ̂̉r̜̲̤̟͓͍̅̑͠ͅͅ ͗̃̈́̂͒͋ͮ̚͏̰̗y̖̗͓͓̟̙̯͙̾̾̎ͯ̿̿̉̑͗̀͟ǫ̛̹̼͎̭̣̑̀ữ̪̻̱̝͚͚̦͎̽ͪͮ̀̀ ̵̸̡̺̩̙̣̟̯̝̗͌̅̾̐ͩ̏̏̆l͎̘͓̭̳ͪ́͌̈ͤͧͫ͂͢i̐̕͠͏͇̘̬m̞͎̝͎̤ͥͪ͗͗̏̒͑̔͡b͙͇̠̭͔̜̎-̠͓̞̻̫̘̓̓ͩͪ̉ͦ͂̉ͅf̓̋ͯͦ̈ͪ̆̃҉̸̪͇̖͢r̢̳̯̪̲͈̖͕͌̉̈́̍ͥ̕͢o͍̹̫̐̄͊̅̇̃ͨ͟͢ṃ͖͕̠̟̫̙̖̲ͫͫ̋̓̓ͯ͌̉-̡̛͇͓͔͓͖͖͍̍̈́̍ͧ́̓͑̽l̦̥͇̯̠͔̜̤͌ͨ͛̓͆ͣ̀ͭ̕͘i̵̧͈̥͔̝̪̟̔̔m͒͌̉҉̡̨͚̳b̘͔͉͇̫͒̄̐̒́͟.̴̯̩̬̆”̩̦͆ͭͭ

The stallion nodded hurriedly, and the smell of urine met Cole’s nostrils. The twisted, demonic voice refused to leave his mind, and the blob shifted back into Illicita’s more ‘normal’ form, with the red coat and tiny bat wings.

“Now give me all your money, and I won’t bite your dick off anyways.”

Author's Note

Yeah, I'm borrowing terms left right an center, because the good ones are all taken by traditional folklore (which people get pissy about me re-purposing, for some reason) or by other authors (which folks get even pissyer about) so I'm snagging a title from the awe-inspiring SS&E, and if you don't know who that is, you've been living under a rock, marsupial.
Anyhow, 'Sarosian' is a term from a couple of his stories, referencing the bat-ponies, who were built as weapons by Discord and such, but Luna saved them, they fought back etc. SS&E did a way better job of making sound cool.

In this case, though, a 'Sarosion' is a nightwing who has drunken enough blood to effectively turn into a vampire like Dracula from the Castlevania series. Freakishly scary. Early on, though, they are simply tougher, faster, and stronger than normal.

Anyways, magical physiology lesson complete, for now. Feel free to chat with me about it if you want in the comments.