The pungent scent of smoke burns my nostrils, a layer of ash coats my face. I choke on the stale air as I run through the center of Ponyville. The town hall has been burnt to the ground and the surrounding buildings are in the process of joining it. Ponies scramble out of burning buildings, lugging crying foals, expensive jewelry, and their own hides. Pegasi frantically drag rain clouds over the fires. Paramedics rush among the gore laden streets, searching among burned bodies, desperately trying to resuscitate the few living souls they find.

I weave my way through the chaos, dodging hysterical ponies and stepping through blood saturated roads, all while holding Scootaloo steady on my back. I need to get her to the hospital before I do anything; though it appears I’m not the only one with that priority. There’s a stampede of limping mares, seared stallions, and healthy ponies carrying less able neighbors. The front door of the hospital is surrounded by a small crowd of wounded, and I need to fight my way in.

The hospital lobby is in even more chaos than the town square. Doctors and nurses work as fast as they can to process the incoming flood of patients. Fleets of gurneys are brought in to sail wounded ponies off to operating rooms, those who can stand help carry more in by hoof, but there’s still not enough. Patients continue to pour in, some about to keel over from blood loss, some hurt but keeping strong. Some cling tight to loved ones, some hold themselves alone.

There’s a great shriek from the entrance, louder even than the crying and moaning of the others. All heads turn to three earth ponies struggling to bring in one larger earth pony who’s kicking and bucking like a mad bull while screaming at the top of his lungs. It takes me a few seconds before a realize that shrieking pony is Big Mac.

Two more strong stallions come to help restrain him, and still, they struggle. He screams and punches one in the face. He drags the whole lot closer to the door, flailing his forehooves wildly like he’s trying to escape a ravenous animal.

One of the doctors comes in and gapes at the scene. “Get me a sedative! Get me a sedative damnit!”

There’s a jump from a nearby nurse who dashes off into the hallway and zips back a second later with an inch tall glass bottle and a syringe. The doctor wastes no time in preparing the needle and then cautiously moving in to try and get an opening. He eventually finds it and sticks the needle in his thigh.

Big Mac keeps resisting for a few moments, then slowly his strength begins to fade and his movements die down. He slumps to the floor, his hooves and body shaking. He keeps screaming, but soon those too fade to soft moans. What doesn’t change is his expression. Even with the sedatives coursing through his veins his face remains locked in bewildered horror. His cheeks are gravestone pale and his eyes bulge forward as if they were being ejected from his skull. It’s not the look of someone who merely saw the dead outside, no, he saw something far worse than death.

Once he stops moving the stallions that brought him in relax. One sits back on the floor right there and breathes a heavy sigh. The doctor gives him a worried look. “What the hell happened to him?”

The stallion shakes his head. “I don’t know. He was charging through the streets when we saw him, literally shoving mothers out of the way as he ran. We tried to calm him down, but he was completely incoherent. He just kept screaming, and screaming, and screaming. Couldn’t get a word out of him.”

The stallion runs a hoof through his mane. He freezes up, pulls his hoof off his head, and finds it covered in blood. “Is that mine?”

The doctor looks at him. “No, it’s not.”

The stallion stares at it for a second. “Ugh, I’m getting a goddamn drink.”

“The whole town’s on fire.”

“Don’t care, I’m getting a goddamn drink.”

The stallion picks himself up and leaves. The doctor only shakes his head, then looks down at Big Mac. “Nurse, bring this guy into a room and tie him up. Make sure whatever you use is thick as well.”

He turns to head back into the operating rooms. I take the chance to approach him. “Doctor, my friend is hurt! She needs help!”

“Set her down with the others and we’ll get to her.”

“There’s a bone sticking out of her hoof and she’s bleeding from the head! She needs your help now!”

He looks down and scowls at me. “Everyone needs help now! Everyone’s dying now, and they’re all looking at me like I’m the new princesses. Set her down over there! We’ll do our best!”

Scootaloo paws at my chest. “Hey, it’s okay Sweetie. I’ve lasted this long I can last a little longer. Leave me here and go do your thing. I’ll get help eventually.”

No, you’ll sit here and bleed to death because you didn’t get help in time. I grab the doctor’s sleeve just as he’s about to leave. This time he looks at me with a flash of lightning in his eye. I look straight back with red glowing irises. “Doctor, you are not going to let my friend die. No matter what circumstances you are going to ensure she lives through this. Do you understand?”

His anger fades into blank acceptance. He nods his head and quietly says, “yes.”

“Good. I’ll be back Scootaloo.”

“W-wait, Sweetie, did you just…”

I set her down gently and the doctor immediately goes to work helping her.

“Stay here and do what the doctors tell you. I’ll be back soon.”

I give her a reassuring smile then fly out the door. I follow the sharp pang in my head which becomes a pulsing heartbeat as I draw closer to the demonic energy. Smoke and screams become more common the closer I get. I start to notice a trail of carnage which I seem to be following. Houses are ripped into slithers of wood, pipe, broken glass, and the odd body part sticking out of the rubble. Fires climb up the trunks of trees and across rooftops. Gore is splattered across the main path, severed limbs with the imprints of teeth in the flesh, bodies that have been sliced in half at the waist with intestines spilling out on the ground. The few survivors left are traumatized, shambling about like walking corpses or screaming hysterically as they run for their lives.

I stop upon seeing a survivor no older than five. She’s a yellow unicorn tearfully trying to pull her hind legs out from under a collapsed chimney. She sees me staring. “Help! Help! Help Me! Please!”

I pause for a moment. Every second means more lives lost, but I’m too pained with sympathy to ignore this. I run over to the trapped foal and lift up the heavy portions of brick and mortar burying her.

“I’ll get you out of here. Don’t worry.”

“It hurts,” she cries in a cracking voice. “It hur-ur-urts.”

I swallow the prick in my throat and throw the last hunk of brick off. Her legs have been literally smashed flat. The flesh along her thighs popped open under such weight and blood is splattered about like a paintball. I try to pick her up, her legs stick to the ground and she screams. I hesitate for a second, then swallow my breath.

“I’m sorry.”

I pull her back fast and rip her legs from the ground. She screams and cries horribly and flails to get away from my grip. I carry her carefully away and lay her down gently, trying not to cause further damage.

Now I need to find someone to help her, quickly.

“Mommy!” She screams.

Her pained face gains shades of hope as a gaunt blue unicorn approaches us. She nearly leaps up from the ground, but I hold her firm lest she does further damage to her legs.

“Is that your mom coming toward us?”

“Yes, it is! Mommy, mommy, I want to go home, mommy!”

The mare walks slowly as if she were uprooting her hooves with every step. I tell the wounded filly not to move, then walk towards the mother. “Ma’am you need to get your daughter to the hospital. I’d try to help, but I need to go some…”

She walks past me staring straight at her daughter. The filly looks up at her mother through tearful grimacing red eyes. She pulls herself with her good hooves, dragging her body through the ash stained dirt. The gaunt mare stops a hair’s length away from her. The foal wraps her arms around her mother’s leg and weeps loudly against her shin.

“Please take me home mommy,” she sobs. “Please take me home.”

The mare looks down at her. The mystic chime of magic flares up and a soft aura of light surrounds the filly. She’s lifted up into the air until she’s at face level with her mom. She sniffles and grimaces then reaches out her arms for an embrace. The mother lifts her hoof up; in it is a jagged piece of glass which she slides across her daughter’s throat, cutting deep through the entire length of her neck.

“Holy shit!” I scream.

The filly’s hooves shoot up to her neck. She croaks, and sputters, and wriggles in the air. The mother releases her telekinetic grip and drops her to the ground. Her body jerks upon landing with blood gushing out of her severed artery. Her head twitches. Her desperate attempts to breathe produce only wet gurgling noises. She reaches up for her mother, her eyes drowning in pools of fear. Her hooves paw against her knees once, twice, a weak third time, and then her waning strength fails. Her eyes remain open, but unmoving. The only signs of life are the rivulets of blood gushing up from her still beating heart, and then there’s not even that.

My heart descends from its steam engine pace. I take in several heavy gasps; I didn’t know I was holding my breath. Before I’m even recovered I march up to the mother, my flat teeth turning to jagged sets of daggers. I look up at her face ready to tear it off. Her expression stops me.

She has the face of a specter. She looks more dead than the daughter she just murdered. Her cheeks are white, like every cell of blood was drained from her face. Her eyes are discolored, her irises a sickly pale yellow. Her mane is tinged with grey at the base, making her look twenty years older than she is. It’s the face of the indescribable, a mortal who has seen something her mind was not equipped to see. Horrors only conceivable to those doomed to experience them.

She never takes her eyes off her daughter, even after the blood stops coming. She keeps staring at her corpse as she raises the bloody shard of glass to her own throat, and pushes it in till the tip scrapes against her spine and pokes out the back of her neck.

She chokes, but beyond that there is no reaction. She doesn’t flinch, she doesn’t move, she doesn’t give any sign of pain. She just stands there with the glass in her throat, and blood spraying out her neck. She stands there for thirty seconds, then her head starts spinning, and her legs get weak. She buckles under her own weight and collapses face down on top of her daughter.

For several moments I sit stunned. I stare at the bodies in disbelief, stare at the once breathing living mares, stare at the blood still gushing out of the mother’s throat. Then as I’m staring at them a vehement anger sinks into my chest. It builds up slowly, slowly, until my teeth hurt from biting so hard.

I whip my head around and glare in the direction of the demonic energy. I race through the rest of town holding back a scream as I get closer to the source. When I hit the end of the trail, and arrive outside of Twilight’s library, I release that scream. I cry with rage and nearly blow the door off as I charge in.

The room is dimly lit by the fires outside. Shelves have been toppled over, books are scattered everywhere. The wooden bust that made up the centerpiece of the room has been thrown against the wall, cracked to slithers with a light coating of blood dripping from the pieces. It takes me a moment to figure out whose blood it is. Then I see it.

Opel lays limp by the side of the shattered bust. Her head is caved in, the skin of her forehead pressed like a soft grape. Streams of blood seep into the floor boards around her, and a trail of tiny red paw marks follow behind her.

I stare in shock. I never liked that cat as much as my sister did, but, still...

There’s a loud bang upstairs, followed by a scuffle and a whine. I scramble out of my haze and sprint up the steps. I throw open the door to Twilight’s room. To my utter horror I see what became of the other pets. Their bodies lay strewn about the room in pieces. Blood taints every crevice and every floorboard. Tank’s shell lays in the middle of the room, split in half down the middle with gore and crushed limbs poking out from the inside. There’s a shredded pile of feathers and flesh which I can only assume is Owlowiscious. Angel is nailed to the wall by a long sharp splinter with his guts wrapped around the outside. I can’t find all of gummy, but I continually step on bloody green scales spread all over the place. There’s no sign of that snake. Then I hear movement in the loft. There’s a figure with scaly skin. It’s bent over, facing the ground and making strange noises. At first I think it’s Alda’s serpent, then I realize. “Spike?”

He goes completely still. He stands to his feet. Winona hangs half devoured in his jaws.

I gasp and step back upon seeing it. Everything from the chest down has been eaten save for a chewed intestine swaying from the rib cage. One of the front legs is missing and the flesh around the right side of her face has been peeled off. Spike is completely drenched in blood, and he looks at me with crazed vicious red eyes. He bites into Winona’s throat, blood squirting out between his teeth. Her neck cracks. Spike grabs her by the snout and pulls. The flesh rips open and I can see the individual fibers in her neck break one by one until her head comes clean off. He tosses the severed head to the floor, it lands with a wet smack at my feet. He puts the bleeding neck stump to his lips, tilts his head back, and raises the body above him. I watch in horror as he drinks for over a minute. There are audible gulps and tiny rivers of blood running down his chin.

He lowers the headless corpse and slaps his tongue along his dripping red lips. He turns his eye to me for the first time and bellows a hearty laugh. “You finally arrived. Come, come, I was just finishing some appetizers while we await the main course.”

The voice is still Spike’s but there’s a satanic echo behind it; rough, low, yet mockingly cheerful. “You… you’re Alda’s snake, aren’t you? The one she took with her everywhere?”

“That would be me. Speaking of that little cunt, I admire your enthusiasm in killing her, but I’m still a tad pissed that you did so. I really wanted to feel her wiggling around as she slowly dissolved in my digestive tract.”

“Well, don’t be too angry. You’ll still get a chance to experience just that when you see her in hell.” My horns shoot out in a flash of fire, my coat sizzles and turn coal black. My teeth sharpen into daggers, and my eyes glow blood red.

I march a few steps and glare defiantly at the demon. His humored expression is cracked by large eyes and a flat lip. “You still insist on being a pain in the arse? Even now with Order surely barreling down on your tail?”

“You’re the one who’s bringing their attention!”

“Well, we wouldn’t have had to make such a big deal out of it if you had just been more cooperative. At the damned least you coulda stayed out of our business instead of disrupting our mission, aiding our enemies, and killing one of our most loyal cultists.”

There’s a slight edge in his tone, which instantly vanishes with the next sentence. “Yet, despite all that, you’ve yet to do anything that can’t be forgiven. Right now, you no longer have a reason to resist us. So go on, eat, mutilate, smear yourself with the blood of these frail animals. Soon we’ll take to the town and fuck every mortal in alphabetical order. We shall slit their throats as we devour their children and dance around their burning homes.”

My mind breaks.

He’s… he’s fucking shitting me right now, isn’t he? There’s no way… he can’t be that… fucking, God damn, mother, Ah!

While my brain starts to mold itself back together, I try to form the most coherent and sound response I can muster. “Fuck you!”

I leap into the air and swing at his head. He ducks and maneuvers around to put distance between us. “Whoa, easy there my blood thirsty little foal. Think about what you’re doing for five seconds.”

He rips off the last leg from Winona’s corpse and scarfs it down whole, bone and all. He then tosses what’s left of the body and talks with a full mouth. “You’re alone, without help, and the Order is surely coming to secure this town even as we speak. And while I may have been the one to bring them here I also work for one of the few who could drive them out. Their presence here will only be temporary, but they’ll be gone even quicker with your help. And once they're gone you’ll be free to do what you want without ever fearing them again.”

He swallows and then licks the blood and flesh chunks off his hands. He walks towards me, slowly, with a confident smile. “Alternatively, you could keep fighting us. Cross the Rubicon and start a battle you know you can’t win. You might be able to kill me, and maybe even a few more of our soldiers, but ultimately Asmodeus will crush you without lifting a finger. Which way would you rather have it?”

He stops right in front of me and I glare into his over confident eyes. He slips his hands on my shoulders. My glare is broken as I feel his sharp fingers run down my back and his warm chest pressed against mine.

“Come now, forget this silly feud and let's create a world where you can live in the open instead of hiding in the shadows.”

His clawed thumb grazes the base of my tail, my rump receives a firm squeeze. I moan softly, allowing him a small opening to slip his other thumb in my mouth and hold my gaze in his eyes. Aka’s lustful expression shows through Spike’s eyes. I shut my own eyes. I turn my head. I take a step back. I clench my hind legs together as I hold back my strongest impulse.

His thumb moves around inside my mouth, pressing down on my tongue. I feel his breath on my lips, his other claw slips below my rump and teases the folds of my marehood. My breath quivers and I get a dumb smirk on my face. Lust leaps and howls in my stomach, and rages in my lions. I feel him push a claw inside of me. I grab both his arms, force him on his back and aggressively lock lips with him.

He chuckles victoriously then wraps his arms around my back. I straddle him as he continues groping me. I feel his stiff rigid lance rub against my entrance. Our lips pull away with a sigh and I position myself over his tip. Aka guides my hips down in a show of subtle dominance. Spike’s prick enters me.

We both moan. Aka tightens his grip. Our breaths heave for a few moments. I shiver with pleasure and smile down at him. “Aka.”

He returns the smile, puts his hand on the back of my neck, and pulls me closer. He pushes his hips upward, driving his cock deeper into me. I touch my forehead to his and breath deeply. “What the hell made you think you could pull this trick on a succubus?”

His hands go stiff. My eyes burst red and I wrap my arms around Spike’s body, holding him down. Aka thrashes about and snarls in a distorted voice. He’s strong, but I remain in control. I latch on to Aka’s spirit and funnel demonic energy into him. His snarls turns to shrieks and cursing. I keep my grip tight, even when he starts clawing my back and biting my shoulder.

I speak in a distorted demonic voice. “You have two options at this point. A, you exit this dragon’s body and fuck right the hell off out of Ponyville, or B, I continue pumping you full of demonic energy until your spirit implodes from the pressure and is sent spiraling down into the furthest reaches of hell!”

He groans in pain, trembling and shaking underneath me. He looks up at me choking back tears but then gets a confident grin. “Or maybe, you can take this kid’s scrawny scaled lizard dick, and choke yourself on his cum you stupid cunt!”

I feel his grip on my side, followed by Aka’s energy pouring inside me. The burning starts in my chest but soon spreads through my entire body, through every muscle, through every organ, until it’s burrowing through the marrow of my bones. My teeth clench together forming a dam for my scream. The moisture on my eyeballs starts to boil. My hoof instinctively weakens my grip on Aka, but I force myself to hold on and stop holding back. I snarl a distorted battle cry and fire every ounce of demonic energy I have into Aka. He screams again, but doesn’t relent.

We continue this tug of war for fifteen minutes. Windows blow out and books burst into flames because of our overflowing power. We could’ve stayed locked in this stalemate forever if I hadn’t notice Spike’s nose starting to bleed. It’s the first sign of a meltdown; if I continue any farther I’ll end up harming Spike as well as Aka.

I lower my head and clench my eyes. With a pained cry, I let go of Aka, throw myself away from him, and collapse on the floor. I collect my breath and roll onto my side while my seared flesh begins to heal. Aka is already on his feet, scowling.

“You made a bad decision today you little cunt. Now I’m gonna have to skin you, then rape you, then roast you, then eat you, then shit you out and rape you agai-”

I punch him in the face. Not hard, just strong enough to make his head turn. His expression goes blank, his arms go limp, and he slowly topples over like a mighty castle spire succumbing to age. He falls off the side of the loft and bounces slightly off the hardwood floor. He moans weakly before falling unconscious.

This serpent is pretty strong, but definitely not the brightest bulb in the horde. Demonic possession 101: While all of your powers and abilities carry over into your host body, the mortal shell you inhabit remains just as fragile and finite as ever.

I sit up rub my temples with the rims of my hooves. Okay Sweetie, you’ve got a demon possessed baby dragon who could wake up at any minute, who’s far too strong for you to exercise the easy way. Which means the only option now is ritual exorcism, but for that, you’d need-

I look over at Winona’s body, or should I say the headless stump leaking rivers of red from the loft. “Blood.”

My head turns to the room and the mess of mangled animal corpses scattered about. “Lots, and lots of blood.”

My mind holds me still and begs for some ethical dignity for once in my life. Then I look again at Spike and sense the subtle pulse of demonic energy slowly coaxing him from his slumber.

I growl in frustration. “I am too fucking horny for this shit!”

I grab Winona’s carcass, then jump from the loft to get the others and what I can find of gummy. I lay their remains in one pile. I drag Spike to the center of the room and lay him out flat. I take Tank’s body, the bloodiest of the group, and lather my hooves in his blood. I smear it all over Spike’s body. He was already stained with a little blood, but I drench every scale. I soak his chest, his face, his fins, his eye-lids, his tail, his claws, his toes, his penis, and then stick a chunk of gore up his ass.

Once he’s slavered red I take the other corpses and start scrawling sigils on the floor, starting with a large inverted pentagram around Spike. I draw rings around the pentagram, and in between the rings I hastily draw the sigil of hellfire, over and over again. I make eight of these rings, then draw a line starting from the outermost ring and extending a few feet out. I draw a small circle at the end of the line with a single large dot in the center.

With my preparations complete I sit down in front of the small circle and conjure my demonic energy. Fire rushes through my charcoal hooves. Smoke trails from my mouth and nostrils, filling the room and heating the air.

I extend my arms out and say with authority. “In nomine Domini nostri Satanas, praecipio gehennae ignibus mancipatur. Sta in planis atque aeternitatis mortalis huius saeculi. Ejice spiritum inimicum. Incendent transgrediatur anima in aeternum donec veniat gustavi gutta voluntati submittit. Sic, inquam, sic erit!”

I slam my hoof down on the circle at the climax of the chant. Demonic energy surges through the lines of blood. They glow white, like melted iron. Flames rise high from the blood lines, then spread to the outermost ring. The fire slowly jumps from circle to circle, moving inward to Spike. The smoke must have roused something in his head as it’s only now that he decides to wake up.

He moans and slides up on his knees. He rubs his hands down his face before noticing the room is on fire. Shock flashes on his face, and then he sees me through the flames.

“Sweetie Belle, do something quick! Get the fire out!”

He speaks in his normal voice. The fire has spread to the fifth circle. I smile at him. “I’m not falling for it Aka.”

“Wha-What are you talking about? Stop standing around and help me! Please!”

“Seriously, you’re just wasting your breath trying to fool me.”

Spike shakes and coughs on the smoke. The fire is at the third circle now and has left a tight space for him to move. He gets down on his knees and begs me with folded claws. “Sweetie please if I did anything to make you do this just tell me. I’m sure we can work this out.”

I tilt my head and give him a smug look. “That’s really you then? You’re the real Spike?”

“Y-Y-Yes of course! I’m Spike. I’m Twilight’s assistant, I read comic books, I’ve got a crush on your sister.”

“Not being controlled by anypony, or anything?”

“No, not that I know of. Completely in control.”

“Question. Why would a young dragon, who could literally take a bath in molten magma, be scared of a little fire?”

Spike goes silent. The fire spreads to the second ring and now laps at his heels.

“Well, any answer for that Spike? I’m waiting for an explanation, Spike.” I edge closer, my face stuck out like a peacock. “You would know why Spike. After all, you are really Spike. Right, Spike?”

“I will rip that prissy little horn off your head and skullfuck you with it!”

The flames reach the final circle and ignite the pentagram. The fire continues to burn, but the room gets dark. There’s a brief silence. Then an explosion. Spike’s body is wrapped in flames. The demon controlling him snarls and claws wildly at his skin. The flames grow. He’s lifted off the ground, his back arched, his limbs stretched in the five points of the star. Aka screams out curses to me and to God. Then out of Spike’s mouth and eyes a hellish green energy shoots, blasting through the roof of the library. I shield myself from falling branches and bark, then look to see Spike’s limp body fall to the ground.

I walk over to him. The flames are slowly dissipating, leaving only scorch marks on the floor. I look up through the gaping hole in the roof, to the cloudy night sky above. Aka will be back any second, I’m half expecting him to fall right back through the ceiling.

Spike groans and makes trembling weak movements off the floor. He opens his dry glazed red eyes. His green fins wilt along his face. He squints his eyes shut like it hurts just to look.

I remain partly suspicious. “Feeling okay there Spike.”

His head perks up at my voice.

“Sw-Sweetie… is is that yo-”. That’s all he gets out before he lurches forward and vomits on the floor. Oh yeah, Aka’s out this time.

He hunches over on his hands and knees, struggling to support his own weight. His head trembles just trying to maintain eye contact. “Sweetie?”

“It’s me, Spike, I’m here.”

“What happened?” He winces and clutches his stomach with a pained look. “The last thing I remember I was trying to get that stupid rabbit’s food right when Alda’s snake jumped on me and…”

He vomits again. My face twists and I step away from the spreading puddle of bile. “It’s… a really long story. The whole town is in chaos. Do you think you can come with me out of the library? I don’t know how safe it is here.”

He coughs up the last chunks. He groans and wipes his mouth. “I… I guess, but why isn’t it sa-”

Spike’s eyes spread wide open when he looks at me. He stumbles back and sidles away from me on his hands and feet, hyperventilating and trembling like the tail of a rattlesnake. “What, what, what the hell! What hell are you!”

“Whoa Spike what’s wrong?” I extend my hoof out. My razor sharp black hoof. Oh right, I’m still in hell spawn mode… Fuck!

Spike backs himself against the wall and holds out his hands like he’s trying to push me away from across the room. “Stay back! I’m warning you! I’m friends with Princess Twi-”

His eyes shift to his arms, still covered claw to shoulder in blood. His mouth opens and he makes a protracted horrified squeal.

“Spike, I know this may look bad, but I need you to listen to me. You’ve gotta stay calm, take a deep breath, and for the love of Luna don’t-”

Spike yanks the fins on the sides of his head and screams like someone cut his tail off. He curls up with his knees to his chest and claws at his scales trying to get the blood off. I clench my eyes and look away.

Great, he’s completely lost it. Could this get any wor- I should fucking know better by now!

I turn to face the charging mountain of demonic energy approaching from outside the library. The ceiling comes crashing in. I react fast to shield Spike from the tidal wave of debris. I then grab him around the waist and lunge through the nearest wall just before a massive claw shreds it to slithers.

My hooves touch down on soot-drenched cobble stone. Shredded bark and paper rains down around us and I put my hoof up to cover my face. Spike whimpers as he looks upon the wreckage of the library. My gaze is focused on the figure floating in the middle of it.

Long tendrils of arms move about like nodding serpents, each ending in a bush of thin curved claws. It approaches us, crushing the remnants of the library under its massive muscular legs. It's skin is a scaly oil black which glistens in the red glow of the fires. Aka hisses and darts his forked tongue between his curved venom slicked fangs.

“Just had to keep pushing me didn’t you, cunt.”

He stares right at me. His eyes go on for eternity. His pupils are jaws that eat away at the fabric of this realm and reveal to me the relentless agony of the trillion sins I have committed. The crushing weight of forever is in his gaze, the unavoidable assurance of eternal torment and indescribable pain. Horrors beyond horrors glimpsed forever in an instant.

My whole body goes cold, and I get a headache. I understand now the haunted expressions of the ponies I saw earlier. No mortal being could look into those eyes and turn away sane. If I weren’t part demon I’d probably be babbling on the ground right now. Any mortal who looked into those eyes is lucky to be alive.

Realization hits me like a flood. I turn to Spike, he lifts up his head, I throw both hooves on the back of his head and force his face to the ground. “Don’t look at him, Spike. No matter what happens. Don’t. Look!”

I feel the vibrations of the charge before I see him coming. Aka drags his claws along the ground in a low swipe. I hold Spike’s face against my chest and leap away. Aka swings several more times while I zip and dodge each attempt. He backs me against the wall of a house but I jump high and land on the roof. His next swing blows through the whole front half of the building and sends the rest collapsing in.

We’re launched off the side of the roof amid shredded shingles and bits of drywall. Spike yells and clings tight to my neck. Aka’s next swing comes sailing through the debris, but I extend my good wing so that the pointed tip stabs Aka’s palm. He has only the time to shriek before I twist my wing, swing myself around, and drop kick him in the chest.

He stumbles back, tripping against small houses, and then falling over, crushing the building underneath him. I land, still holding Spike, and run through the streets. I put a good distance between us and Aka before I have the nerve to stop and throw Spike down.

“Get out of here Spike! Get as far away as you possibly can!”

He curls up in the fetal position and whimpers softly. “What is going on? What the hell is going oh-o-ooon?”

He begins balling into the ground. I press my hooves into my forehead and groan. “I don’t have time for this Spike. You need to leave!”

There’s a loud crash followed by a chorus of horrid screams. The ground vibrates like a drum. I violently shake Spike’s shoulder, urged on by fear. “Come on, you can’t do this now! Get it together!”

He responds with a loud sob and tightening further into his cradled position. Several ponies run by us, screaming hysterically like they’ve seen death. I hear a loud crash behind me and see the frame of a house collapsing, followed by more screaming. Aka’s thunderous footsteps get closer and closer.

I’m out of options. I pick up Spike. He kicks and yells and pulls my hair, begging me to let him go. I slap him in the face. He stops struggling. I pull him by the chin and force him to look into my eyes. I summon up demonic energy.

“Spike, go to the hospital. Go there as fast as you can and don’t say a word to anypony. Go. Now.”

His face goes blank. The fear that was once there vanishes to faint wrinkles. Spike slowly nods his head, then turns and runs off as fast as he can. With him, in relative safety, I take a deep breath and brace myself for a fight.

Aka’s footsteps are only a few clicks away from me now. I can hear his hissing breath. I turn and see Aka approaching at a casual pace. He holds up his long thin hand, on it two mares and a stallion are impaled through their genitals on his curved saber claws. They’ve only been pressed part of the way through, enough to cause extreme pain without damaging their internal organs. They cry and wail helplessly, trembling in agony. Aka holds a fourth victim in his free hand; a stallion who screams hysterically and flails his legs in vain to get free. Aka looks at me, his never ending eyes causing me to back away. He grins as he brings the stallion down on his pinky claw. The stallion screams to God on high. My own privates shrivel with every inch he goes down.

“You’re missing out on a lot girl.” He bites one of the mares’ heads off causing the other’s to scream. “They’re more delicious when they’re in pain.”

He scarfs the body down like a shish kabob. It’s one of those rare moments where the horror of the scene gets to me. I’m a little scared, though the fear is overshadowed by a world of rage. “Let them go right now!”

His lip curls up like a fish hook. “Anxious for the main event are you? No worries. I can respect that.”

He lifts them over his open mouth and with his free hand scrapes them off his claws, sending them screaming and crying down his throat. I can still hear them beg after they’ve been swallowed. Aka moans delighted and pats his stomach. “I love feeling them squirm in there. It makes me a little hard picturing them, slowly dissolving and dying in agony. Puts me in the mood to fuck something, be it living or a corpse. Which do you want to be?”

I snarl like a rabid animal and charge straight at him, leaving fiery hoof prints behind me.

“Oh, I love an eager filly.” He drags his claws along the ground, raking them into my path. I dodge left of the swing, duck under another and strike at his leg. My hoof scrapes against his scales. I push his leg back, but there’s not a mark on his skin.

He lifts his opposing leg to step on me. I shoot between his legs to dodge, only to get whipped in the face by his tail. I fly like a cannon ball, straight through some poor mare’s house. I crash into the opposing street, ricocheting off the the hard dirt like a stone across water.

I groan, shaking bits of drywall and earth from my mane. Aka bulldozes through the house I just flew through, and pounces at me with claws drawn. I panic and leap out of the way, just before he buries his claws three feet deep into the spot I was just at. He yanks his buried hand through the earth, shooting stones the size of small cows in my direction.

I jump straight into the wave of oncoming earth, kick off one of the larger missiles, and launch myself at Aka while I’m hidden in the dust.

I clasp my forehooves together and ram the points of them into his abdomen. The result is him coughing up a mound of saliva and staggering backward, but still no penetration. I growl and jump up to his shoulder. I throw myself over and onto his back just as his claws swipe at his shoulder. He swings his whole body around, shaking and jumping to get me off, while raking his long claws across his back hoping to swipe me. I manage to hold on dodge his claws for several moment, then once I see an opening I jump up to his shoulder again. His claws shoot up once more, but I jump over them, extend out the tip of my wing, and thrust it into his eye.

Windows shatter and the air ripples when Aka screams. Shocks of lightning shoot up my limbs and freezing terror grips me. I feel like I just touched insanity.

I fall, almost petrified, to the ground. The point of my wing drags down as I fall, leaving a deep gouge in the howling void that is his retina. Aka clutches his wounded eye in agony. I land, force my frozen limbs to move, and then immediately charge at his leg. My shoulder slams into his ankle and I pull his leg out from under him.

Aka topples over like a towering tree and shakes the whole town as he lands. I zip around to his head and punch him on top of his skull. There’s not a scratch. I throw out five more punches in rapid succession. My effort results in sore arms and a dense drum beat.

I see Aka’s claw in the corner of my eye and leap back out the path if his swipe. He staggers to his feet, still holding his bleeding eye. His hand slowly lowers to reveal a snarling scowl and a horrific wound that emits steam as it begins to heal. He looks at me with his other eye, filling me with endless dread and the overwhelming sensation of imminent damnation.

I break eye contact and stop myself from backpedaling out of the town. I take two deep breaths and stomp my hooves out wide.

Aka looks like he’s about to peel my skin off like a potato, then his anger recedes. A smug grin fills his face and he claps mockingly. “I’ll give it to you slut, you pack a pretty mean wallop in such a tiny sexy space. But these scales of mine are still way too thick to give, and whatever damage you may have done can be fixed before I’m done speaking. And to top it off, while I’ll be the first to admit how ungodly painful that was, gotta say, I’ve been hurt worse.”

“You shouldn’t be so smug considering you’ve barely laid a claw on me so far.”

“Ha! That filly sized crater over there says otherwise..” He creeps toward me, scraping his claws together and giving me a hungry stare. “Face it kid, you couldn’t make a dent in me if you tried. Try as you might, you can’t dodge forever. I’ll get you soon enough. I’ll slice you in half, stick my cock up your torso, and fuck it until your skull pops off. Maybe I’ll even wear your face as a codpiece and flaunt it in front of that pretty sister of yours.”

“She’ll be making me a snakeskin purse when I’m through with you shitbag!”

I lunge twelve feet forward and pound my hoof into his chest. It bounces off like rubber against stone. Aka swings his claws at me as I land. I jump towards his palm, swing myself over his thumb, and bite his knuckle. I clamp my jaw down so hard it feels like my teeth are going to shatter, yet I don’t even crack the skin.

Aka’s fangs flash in my peripheral vision. I kick off his hand at the last second, before he bites his own hand. The fangs pierce the skin easily. He winces and there’s trails of blood leaking down his hand, but he largely shrugs it off. He pulls his hand out of his mouth and shakes his wrist a few times.

“Hm, did I strike a nerve with your sister?”

I try to keep myself restrained, but I can only rest my face in a glare.

“Oh, ho, ho, I certainly did didn’t I.” He wears a sadistic grin and begins to prowl around me. “What is your fling with her anyway? Can’t be just be a way to get in with the elements? Does she know what you are? Is she dabbling in the occult herself?”

He snickers and leans in, feigning a slight shred of decency. “Is there some sexy incest thing going on here?”

“Shut the fuck up! If you’re trying to goad me into blindly assaulting you it isn’t working. I don’t give a shit about what happens to my sister, or any of the elements for that matter! All I want is to be left alone and not be harassed by vulchers like you!”

His mouth rips open like a wound and he bellows laughter, pressing his stomach and stepping back like he’s going to fall over. “Come on filly, I’ve seen you lie better than that. What happened to the sharp tongued foal that went on about being chased by Manticores?”

“I don’t give a fuck about the elements!”

Aka’s smile turns wry. “Is that so? Well, I guess it wouldn’t matter to you in least if I told you, we captured one of them.”

Everything melts off my face. I’m a cold pillar of hopeless fear. “You’re bluffing.”

“Ha! I knew you had gotten attached to them,” He declares triumphantly. “Not to worry though kid, we got her tucked away all nice and safe. Lord Asmodeus isn’t done with her just yet. He’ll keep her nice and healthy until the time comes. Although who knows, he might allow for some light torture and a bit of rape here and there. I’d be a tad pissed if I was denied the chance to fire a load into any of those mares that’s for sure.”

I growl and stomp the ground. “Well now I know you’re lying. The elements are the biggest threat Asmodeus has on this plane. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill any one of them if he had the chance.”

He lowers head and stares at me with those horrific indescribable eyes. I still can’t look at them directly for any longer than a second. My head pounds and my body sweats just from that brief exposure.

“You assume a lot about someone you know next to nothing about. Asmodeus has big plans for the elements; plans that involve keeping them very much alive.”

“What could he possibly gain by that? What’s worth risking his entire operation for?”

Aka flicks his forked tongue between his fangs. “You’re very curious, does that mean you’re finally gonna pull head out of your ass and join the winning team?”

“It means I have one more reason to pull your intestines out of your urethra.”

He shakes his head. “Well then, I see no reason to tell you his plan. Disappointing really, you would’ve made a valuable ally. Tough business capturing an enemy, but so much easier to betray a friend.”

I reflexively glare from the corner of my eye, but even this is too much exposure to those never ending irises.

“Still, we managed the former well enough. With them separated and no longer such a nuisance, we can focus all of energy into trapping the rest. Well, that, and killing bratty little cunts like yourself.”

He lunges at me, claws pointed forward like spears. I jump to the side to dodge, but trip upon landing and fall to my stomach. Aka drags his claws my way. I push myself up and jump back as fast as I can. As I’m in the air the tips of Aka’s claws graze the side of my cheek, slice up my face, and cut through my eyeball.

I go screaming back in the air. My hooves come up to my bleeding eye socket, nursing the stabbing unbearable pain. I hit the ground and a jolt of lightning goes through my spine. I’m literally paralyzed in agony.

Aka’s cackle echoes through the night sky. “Yeah, not so good when someone else does it to you ain’t it.”

He punts me across the town like a soccer ball. I crash into town hall, my back cracks against the ground,and the whole building collapses on top of me. I sit taking raspy pain laden breaths and choke on the crumbling debris. I push several layers of broken drywall off me and drag myself out of a crater. My legs buckle each time I put my weight down.

Aka’s booming footsteps draw closer at a casual pace. Horrified ponies scatter as he comes, many more glance at his eyes and instantly scream as the thin thread of their sanity snaps. “Get comfortable filly, cause I’m gonna take my time killing you. I’m going to masterbate over every agonized scream and plea for mercy. Hell, I could crush you with my cock and there’d still be nothing you could do to stop me.”

I prop myself up on my forearm and spit up blood. My left eye burns as it begins to heal. I clamp my hoof around the sliced organ and glare at Aka through the my good pupil.

“Hell, maybe I’ll just keep playing with you until you beg me to put you out of your misery. Maybe I’ll pluck off all your limbs and fuck your torso like a sock puppet. Not like you can get any more helpless than you are now.”

He slaps his knee and laughs like a drunkard. He howls with his head held high and his mouth open wide. I spring to my feet and jump at his head. I dive between his fangs, into his jaws, and uppercut the roof of his mouth.

Aka’s screams, the force of his voice nearly blowing me out of his mouth. My punch fails to puncture his skull, but it does pierce the skin.

I have an idea.

I leap back to one of Aka’s fangs and stab my hoof into the gums around it. Aka reals back in pain and slams his jaws shut. I jump back onto his tongue to avoid getting chomped, then leap back up when he sticks his claws in his mouth. The razor sharp nails slice and tear up his mouth, causing more problems than they solve. Aka screeches as he takes his hand out, distracting him as I hammer away at his gums. He clamps his jaws shut repeatedly, but I dig my hooves into his gums and hold myself flat against the top of his mouth. I continue digging and slicing up his gums until the fang begins to wiggle and move freely.

I jab my front hooves into the gums just next to the fang, then lift my back legs and push against it until the roots begin to snap. Aka’s lips seal shut and he smothers a horrific scream. I buck the fang several times until it's knocked loose with a pop and hangs by a thread.

Aka opens his mouth screaming and jabs his claws in again. With less than a moment to react I swing my hind legs up, yank my front hooves out of his flesh, and kick off the roof of his mouth diving straight at the fang. I tackle it with my shoulder and snap the last root connecting it to Aka’s mouth.

The hard fang provides a buffer against his claws, but my legs still get sliced up upon leaving. I crash into the street, the pain in my leg exploding from the impact. I groan, but turn to see Aka curling over in pain. His hands are pressed to his mouth, his distorted voice echoes through the town.

I need to act now. I drag myself up until I can hobble towards the severed fang. I rest the back end on my shoulder and stand on my hind legs, lifting the point up off the ground. I stumble back and struggle to maintain balance, an effort made all the more difficult by shaking weak knees and the incredible length of this thing.

“Now you’ve gone and done it cunt!” Aka snarls. He wipes his bleeding lip and marches towards me threatening all but a stern scolding. “I’m gonna peel your skin off and dip you in salt for that. You hear me, I’ll rape you with a fucking branding iro-”

I pivot and throw the fang like a javelin. It hits him dead center in the left pectoral, punctures his armored scales, and sticks ten inches in. Aka halts his approach and looks down at the wound, more in shock than in pain.

I run forward, jump into the air, and ram my full weight into the back of the fang. The tooth slides in two feet deeper. Aka scrunches up and topples backwards. He slams against the ground, me on top of him. He lifts a shaky claw towards the fang, but I’m quick to capitalize. I clasp both hooves together and slam them down on the fang, pounding it further into his chest like a nail. I hit with my hooves five more times, then climb up on top of it and jump up and down, stomping my hooves and grunting like an enraged gorilla. I stomp the fang one last time. Aka wretches. His fingers twitch, and he gargles on his own blood. He lifts his arm in slow stiff movements, reaching to stab me on the ends of his finger tips. His claws slow more with every inch they cover. When they finally do reach me, Aka no longer has the strength to push them through my skin. His palm collapses and slides off his chest. The gurgling in his throat quiets, and there is no more movement.

I exhale several heavy breaths. My shoulders sag forward and my head feels like it weighs seven hundred pounds. I hop down from Aka’s body, almost collapsing when I hit the ground. I drag my feet through the dirt, blinking a few times as my wounded eye finishes healing.

I come around to Aka’s head. It lies still, facing the sky, eyes open. Even in death, the act of looking into those eyes makes me feel like the cold hand of hell is seconds away from pulling me under. I close my eyes and turn away. Cold shivers molest my body, and for moment I’m left shaking.

Then I swallow my fear and approach the head, careful not to make direct eye contact. I pull on his freezing cold cheek, sliding his face down until he’s staring me dead on. I tense up and turn away again, hyperventilating and suppressing my near instinctual urge to run. I clack my teeth, close my eyes, then face eye and thrust my hoof forward.

Decaying blood splashes against me. My eyes flash open and suddenly I’m very cold. I shiver and sweat. Clamp my teeth and bite my tongue. The pain needs to end. Oh God why won’t the pain end? I pray through boiling tears and a sizzling tongue, begging, pleading ceaselessly to make it end. It courses through my entire body, from the tips of my hooves to the fringes of my mane. It never stops, every night, every day. It never stops. I wish I was never born! No life is better than experiencing one second of this! Oh God, please make it stop! It hurts! I can’t take it! Please anyone, make it end! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!

I snap to consciousness. I lay in a puddle of black slimy blood, oozing forth from Aka’s hollow eye socket. I push myself up and sit still. I listen to screaming and sobbing of frightened mares, I smell the smoke and ashes of homes and bodies, I taste the blood of the one that caused it all, and I feel as numb as a brick. I sit staring forward for a long time, then I get up.

I walk back through the ruins of town, towards the sanctuary of the hospital. I still need to make sure Scootaloo is okay. I need to tell her that I took care of the demon and that everything’s going to be fine. That I’m going to keep protecting Ponyville and fight every demon that comes our way. That Aka’s a big fucking liar and our sister’s are gonna end Azmodeus any day now.

I better stop crying before I tell her that.