“I’m telling the elements that I’m a demon.”

I think I’m more shocked than anypony to hear those words coming out of my mouth. Scootaloo and Spike are both surprised, but not devastated. They’re not coping with the fact that a huge undertaking of their lives is about to crash and burn before them and their very lives and souls could be at risk. Scootaloo leans up in her hospital bed, mouth open in disbelief. Spike is visibly ecstatic, and looks at me for the first time with something akin to friendliness.

“That’s– That’s great Sweetie. I’m so happy you came around on this.”

“Sweetie, you sure about this?” asks Scootaloo. “You said if anyone finds out you’re a demon there’s a good chance you’ll be killed.”

“There is a good chance I’ll be killed, but at this point, It'll be more risky to stay hidden than come out.”

“Why, just because Spike told you?”

“Because Rainbow Dash got kidnapped.”

Scootaloo winces back against her stack of pillows. I think she’s still somewhat in denial. She thought I was kidding when I initially broke the news. It took fifteen minutes of back and forth arguing before she accepted I was serious. Now she’s just in a slump.

I breathe a deep sigh. “Before that happened I was so sure that Twilight and the others would have no trouble dealing with Asmodeus. I thought all I had to do was stay under the radar until they sorted it out, and everything would go back to normal. Now half of Ponyville is in ruins, and Rainbow Dash has been captured. Asmodeus has a genuine chance of winning, and if he does I won’t be the only pony who is completely fucked. I’d rather take the risk of the Order knowing what I am than do nothing and risk all of Equestria being destroyed.”

“Glad we see eye to eye now,” Spike says.

He runs over to a satchel he brought over from the ruined remains of the library and pulls out some blank parchment and an owl feather quill.

“So how do you want me to word this?” he asks. "Just break it to them right away, put some context or explanations first, or maybe you’d like to write this yoursel–”

I swipe the paper from him. “No, if I’m doing this, then I’m doing it in a way that guarantees the Order doesn’t find out, or at the very least buys me enough time to explain myself fully to the elements before the Order has a chance to stick a knife in my throat. That means no rushing and no sending them messages that any Buck, Oat, or Cherry can pick up and read.”

Spike looks at me clicking his claws together. “Well, okay then, how do you want to go about doing this?”

“I’m going to meet with them directly.”

“That will be difficult, considering that not even I know where they are.”

“Finding them is the easy part. It’s getting to meet with them alone, without anyone from the Order noticing, that’ll be the challenge. If I just show up on their doorstep unannounced, the Order will definitely think something is up and I’ll be found out and cut down before I even get a chance to confess.”

“Uh, do you have any spells that can help?” Scootaloo asks. “Something that could stop the Order from detecting you?”

“Nothing that wouldn’t instantly fail under intense scrutiny, which I would certainly be under in this circumstance.”

“So, how are you going to make this happen then?” Spike asks tapping his foot.

“I can’t meet with them, but I think there’s a good chance that you can get them to meet with me.”

Spike’s eyes open wide. “Me? What can I do?”

“If I go anywhere near their hideout I’ll be discovered and gutted before I get a single word in, I doubt they’d even believe I was really Sweetie Belle. If you were to go there, however, they’d be suspicious at first but you’ve got nothing to hide. They’ll have to believe you’re the real deal. Once there you can talk with Twilight and the others and convince them to go somewhere private where I can meet with them.”

Spike is speechless for a moment, then he clicks his claws together. “Couldn’t— Couldn’t we just send a letter asking Twilight to hold them off until you can prove you’re Sweetie Belle?”

“That's not how this'll play out Spike. When the elements find out I'm a demon they'll doubt me and question me before they even think about offering protection. When the Order finds out I’m a demon there'll be no questioning. They'll try to kill me, and the elements need to be behind me one-hundred percent at that point or I'll die.”

“But Twilight—”

“I’m sure wouldn’t let them cut the hair on the ends of my mane if she knew for certain I was Sweetie Belle and had no ill intentions for her friends or Equestria, but she won’t be certain when I first tell her and she won’t be convinced by one letter no matter how well written it is. So I need to make sure the Order doesn’t know about me until we’re sure they’re all in agreement that I’m no threat. You don’t want to risk getting me killed do you?”

Spike looks at me for a second then gives a defeated sigh. “Okay, but how would I even convince them to go out alone, when there are demons looking for them?”

“I’m sure if you make it sound urgent enough Twilight will listen to you.”

“Alright, but you still don’t know where they are.”

“One second.”

I close my eyes, clear my mind, and focus on the element’s location; or more specifically Twilight’s location. I don't want another migraine like what happened when I tried looking for Rainbow Dash. Images come into my head of an old three story building in downtown Los Pegasus. I focus harder and get more specific details.

“They’re hiding in an old picture shop called Fast Flash, which is actually a front for an Order hideout. The address is 24819 Lucky Lane, in downtown Los Pegasus. That good enough for you?”

Spike opens his mouth. “How–”

“Clairvoyance,” Scootaloo answers. “Forgot to mention, she has that too.”

Spike looks at her a minute then shakes his head. “Won’t the Order have questions for me? I mean why would I go there in the first place? How would I find them? I can’t just say you did it, then you’ll be under suspicion.”

“Why you’d go there? Well, let's see, Ponyville was attacked, half the town is dead, Apple Bloom is dead, Scootaloo is hospitalized, you’re homeless, and all their pets were sacrificed in a satanic ritual. Anyone of those would be a valid reason for you to go looking for them. And as for how you’d find them.”

I hand him back the parchment I took earlier. “I want you to write a letter to Twilight. Tell her about the attack, be as detailed as you can, but don’t mention anything about me being a demon or you coming to find them. I want you to send a few of these letters, and then once we set out, you can just say you ‘tracked them’ using some special magick.”

“You want to me to lie to them?”

I roll my eyes. “You won’t have to lie. You will be sending a message, and I did just track them using 'special magick’. They just don’t need to know the details.”

He bites the ends of his claws and looks between me and Scootaloo. “But, if I show up alone it’ll look like I left you alone. Rarity would be mad at me, they’d all be mad at me.”

“I’ll just disappear then.”

“Disappear?”

“Yes, granted I’ll be back in a day or two so we can go over to Los Pegasus and give the confession, but for that time I’ll be gone and you won’t know where I am, and that’s exactly what you’ll tell the elements. Hell, mention it in the letter that’ll be even better.”

“What are you going to do when you’re gone.”

“There are a number of things I can do to help the elements once they know what I am. I intend to show them at least one example during our talk, one that I’m sure they’ll greatly appreciate, but also one that’ll need a little time to get ready.”

“And that is?”

“I'm going to find out where Rainbow Dash is.”

They both stare at me. Scootaloo sits up with a hopeful look on her face.

"How are you going to manage that?" asks Spike.

"If I got into the specifics there'd be no way you could say I disappeared without lying to them. Hell, knowing I'm looking for Rainbow Dash might already be too much."

Spike stares at me a moment, skeptical as to whether he should accept that answer.

"But aren't the elements and the Order already looking for her?" asks Spike. "What can you do that they won't be able to?"

"I can contact demons directly for one thing. I may be a filly, but I'm familiar enough with Equestria's demonic underbelly to know where things are hidden. If anypony knows anything about where Rainbow Dash might be, I'll find out."

Spike looks at me another moment with conflicting emotions on his face. Whatever side of his mind decided telling the elements needed to happen wins out in the end, and he nods his head slowly.

"Alright, if this is what it takes to get you to tell the elements then I guess I'll go along with it."

“Excellent. You get to writing that letter, and I’ll just slip out, for a day or two of course.”

“Don’t do anything too crazy out there,” says Scootaloo.

I smirk at her. “Nothing crazier than shaking my ass in front of an on charging hellhound, I promise.”

Scootaloo rolls her eyes. “One time.”

I laugh. Spike looks between us bemused. I walk past him to the window and climb through it. The main hall has calmed down since the initial attack, mostly due to an ever climbing mortality rate, but it’s still quicker to leave this way. I don’t get three steps before I hear a thump and turn to see Spike getting up after me.

“I thought I asked you to write that letter?”

“I will, just as soon as I see you ‘disappear’,” he says. “I don’t want to tell them anything that isn’t true.”

I look at him with slanted eyes. I understand now why he’s so hesitant to lie even about the smallest of things, he is fucking terrible at it. Whatever, I’m sure I’ll learn what he actually wants as we go.

We walk down the winding road into town, or what’s left of it. The place is almost a ghost town now, save for a few stragglers. Some sift through remains of burned out homes, pulling out money and food, in some cases an old wedding dress or some foals’ toys. Others are still desperately searching for lost loved ones. I notice Silver Spoon among that group, calling out Diamond Tiara’s name.

I turn away and walk just a tiny bit faster.

“So, you said you’re leaving to try and find Rainbow Dash?” Spike asks.

I turn to him and nod my head. “Yep, that’s what I plan to do.”

“How exactly?”

“I told you, if I say any more than I have, you’ll need to lie.”

“Okay, but try to understand how this looks to me,” he says getting in front of me and walking backward to face me. “I just found out what you are, and that you’ve been hiding it for years. Is it wrong of me to be just a tiny bit suspicious of you just up and leaving Ponyville immediately after, when you don't really have a plan for what you're doing?”

I look up for a moment. “Guess I can’t blame you for it, after everything that’s happened. Plus, it would be a tad hypocritical of me to say you should trust a demon.”

“Exactly, so can you at least give me a little info on the how?”

“Only if you feel comfortable telling Twilight and Rarity something that isn’t true.”

Spike stops walking and bites the tips of his claws, then rushes to catch up to me. “Is there anything you can tell me where I can like, tell a half-truth, or just leave something out?”

I tilt my head and think for a moment. “I am going to meet with an old friend, someone who might, keyword might know something about it.”

Spike looks down and holds his chin. “Okay, that’s a little more I can work with. Is there anything el—”

“I tell you any more than that and you will have to tell a bold face lie in order to not to give away too much.”

Spike gulps. “Alright, but I’m still not entirely comfortable with this.”

“You’re not in danger of having your guts ripped out. I’d say you have very little to complain about.”

We reach Carousel Boutique and walk inside. We walk the stairs up to my room, where I hear something moving around inside.

Oh mother fucker, I forgot about that.

I stop and raise my hoof in front of Spike. “Uh, could you wait out here for just a second. There’s uh, a bit of personal business I forgot to take care of.”

“Personal business? Wait, were you doing something demonic in there?”

“No, no, more of something, uh, girly.”

He gives me the biggest bullshit look I've ever seen from him, then charges the door. I grab him by the ankles and take him to the floor right before he grabs the knob

“Spike no!”

“What the hell did you do?”

“I swear, it’s nothing like that!”

“Then let me see!”

He struggles pointlessly against me as I effortlessly keep him pinned. He makes a lot of noise, however, and I soon realize why that’s a problem when my bedroom door opens behind us.

“Fucking hell! Can a stallion sleep off a fucking hangover in peace!”

I clench my eyes shut while Spike doubtlessly gawks at the beleaguered earth pony stallion who stumbles out of my room.

“Who the hay is– Wait, Caramel?”

“Spike? Oh, shit. Uh, I’m sorry, don’t tell Twilight you heard any of that.”

“What the hay is going on?”

I step off of Spike and stand to face the stallion. “Yes, hi Caramel. Did you just wake up?”

“Yeah, it was sort of hard not to with all that noise you were making. What exactly were–”

He looks at me a second, and I think he starts remembering everything we did last night, as he makes a face like he just dropped someone’s baby on the floor right in front of them.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuucck!”

He stumbles back into my room sounding like he’s on the verge of crying. Spike looks straight at me.

“Sweetie, what’s going on? Is he, you know, like you?”

“No, nothing like that Spike,” I say covering my face. “Basically, I was very stressed after all the shit that’s been happening lately, so I found him and brought him over to, help me relieve it.”

“Okay,” he says slowly. “But why is he freaking out, and why were you so nervous about–”

“Oh for fuck sake, I fucked him, alright. I fucked him.”

He looks at me with eyes the size of bowling balls. “Wait, you mean, you and him…”

He makes a ring with his fingers and moves a claw through it.

“Yes! I. Fucked. Him. We had sex, made whoopee, bumped uglies, got busy, danced dirty, did the nasty, shagged silly, passed the gravy, buttered the bis–”

My mouth is stuffed with a large brownish hoof that sneaks up behind me. “Please, stop, talking!”

Caramel turns and smiles at Spike. “Kids say the darndest of things these days don’t they, and so often without actually knowing what they mean.”

“She seemed to know what she was talking about,” Spike says.

“Well, I guess there’s nothing to be freaked out over, am I right?”

“She’s ten!”

“Hey, she came on to me, and on top of that, I was drunk. She got me drunk in fact. If anything I’m the victim of assault here.”

“You’re seriously trying to justify this?”

“I never gave consent.”

“Would you shut the fuck up both of you!” I scream.

They both keel away from me in fear. I take three heaving breaths then turn to Spike. “You, are not to breathe a word of this to anyone! Nothing about me, nothing about him!”

I turn to Caramel. “You, can fuck right on out of here and never come back again. I doubt I need to tell you why you should never speak of this.”

“So you can dodge the rape charge?”

“I should’ve booted your ass out of here the first time you came before I did, get out!” I yank him down the hall and kick him down the stairs. “If I hear even the wisp of a rumor of something between you and me I’ll bite your cock off! Fuckin prick!”

I shake my head and turn back to my room. Spike is staring dead at me his face frozen and unblinking.

“So, you have sex?”

“Yes, I have sex.”

“Is it some sort of, messed up demon thing, where even the kids have sex?”

“Believe it or not, yes, it is. Demons become sexually active at an incredibly young age, and succubus demons like me don’t even go through puberty at all. We can fuck, cum, and give birth the second we pop out the womb.”

“Alright, that’s as much as I want to know,” he says putting his hands up.

He marches into my bedroom. His whole frame tensed up and he turns back to me.

“Give birth, how does that work when—”

“Most of them die if it happens obscenely young.”

“And you still—”

“Younger than me. Not that it would even matter in this case; only another demon could get me pregnant. Mortal sperm literally burns up in my system.”

“Okay, now I mean it. Don’t want to know anymore.”

I shake my head and follow him into my bedroom. I ignore him gagging at the sight of the stained ball of sheets that is my mattress. I grab my saddlebags from underneath my bed and begin packing the essentials. Two sets of hoodies, some white flour for drawing ritual lines, my silver cutting scissors, my spellbook, and my favorite Maredonna records when I get a break. I strap my saddlebags on, then fetch the circle of black candles out of my closet. I place them down one by one in front of Spike, careful to space them in a perfect ring.

“This is how I’ll be leaving. It's a special ritual that lets me teleport to any place I can picture in my head.”

Spike faces away from the forming circle, but can’t help but peek out of the corner of his eye. “So this is the kind of stuff you do on a regular basis?”

“Yep.”

“Can the Order find you if you use that? You keep saying they’ll show up in Ponyville.”

“If they’re not already here they will be before the day is over. I’m honestly not sure if they can track me through rituals like this or not. What I know for sure is that if I come under direct suspicion I am all the way fucked up the butt. It’s actually just one more reason why getting out Ponyville, even if only temporarily, is a good idea.”

“Do you think there’ll be less members of the Order where you’re going?”

I stop and think for a moment. “I have no idea. The place I'm going got hit hard by Asmodeus's invasion, but the Order has been fighting the demons back as well. I could pop up in an area infested with demons, or in a tightly controlled Order checkpoint. I'll just have to see.”

I place the last candle down and sit down inside the ring. I clap my hooves together and light them all with a short burst of demonic energy.

“Sweetie, you will be safe wherever you’re going right?”

“I’m not safe anywhere, but thanks for being so concerned for yourself.”

I clear my mind and focus on a single image.

“I’m concerned with Rarity and Twilight.”

My smile is forced and painfully wide. “That’s still being concerned with yourself. Do you mind? I need to concentrate to make this work.”

Spike opens his mouth like he wants to keep arguing, but decides against it.

I close my eyes once more and expel all thoughts from my mind. I focus my concentration on imagining an old broken down apartment room in Manehatten. I picture it in as much detail as I can; the faded peeling paint on the walls, the cracked floorboards with several hoof sized holes in them, windows so dusty you can’t see out of them, the collapsed frame of a bed with a missing mattress, the neglected ursa teddy ripped along the neck where a young colt clutched it too tight.

I hold that image in my mind and don’t let it go, not even as I feel light, not when I start feeling like I’m spinning and flipping in every direction. I keep thinking of the poor ursa teddy as my body is flung through space at speeds too fast to see. Then it all stops.

I open my eyes to the smell of damp wood and mildew. My nostrils are plugged from all the dust and I give a violent sneeze. I extinguish the candles then get up and tiptoe my way to the window, dancing around the holes in the floorboards and stepping lightly not to make new ones. I rub my hoof against the dust-caked glass and peer outside, squinting against the blaring Manehatten sun.

The streets below look like a horror film. Blood splatters the roads and I can spot several corpses mutilated and dumped off on the sidewalks. There are no signs of life save for the occasional sounds of piercing howls and hysterical shrieks from other buildings. I’m definitely in one of the areas still overrun with demons.

Down the road I notice a barricade with guards standing behind it clutching swords, pegasi hovering above holding spears, and in front of it, I see more ponies wearing…

I go short of breath and my knees buckle out beneath me. Those were undoubtedly the black hooded robes of Order agents. I’ve heard tons of stories of course, but seeing them in person still jars me.

Calm down. Breath deep. Stay focused.

I hold a deep breath and peek my eyes above the windowsill. There’s a line of other mortal ponies, civilians who are searched and magically tested for any signs of demonic energy. When each one passes the barricades open up and they’re quickly rushed inside. This could be good. They might be too preoccupied with rescuing civilians than patrolling for demons. I can just blend in, keep my distance, and pray they don’t decide to push in. Plus, if my old friend is anything like she used to be, she’ll probably be in the demon controlled area of the city.

I use my clairvoyance to briefly check this, and smile when I get a vision of a little corner bar not too far away. Looks like I’ve finally caught a break for once.

I transform into my demon self, deciding it’s more important to hide my filly face as long as I’m in this part of town. I gather up the circle of black candles and place them in my saddlebags. I give my wings a hard flap. My wounded wing is still a little stubby, but I can probably glide on it so long as I don’t need to gun it.

With a deep breath, I push open the glass panel and perch myself on the windowsill. I extend my wings to get them use to flying again then push myself into the air. I float for a bit, using just enough force to keep myself elevated. I glide over the burned out section of the city towards the bar I saw in my vision.

I get a moving tour of this section of the city. It’s mostly a ghost town with only blood-drenched streets to indicate recent life, but every now and then I see something that brings a bad taste in my mouth.

First, I come across a tall gothic skyscraper with a whole swarm of scaly skinned demon ponies swarming around it. There are alcoves near the roof where gargoyles should sit, but in their place are tied up mares, each with a demon mounting and thrusting into them. They scream and sob loudly, pleading for mercy as the demons howl like hyenas. Whenever one finishes another swoops in to fill its place. One of the mares looks right at me as I fly by.

Second, I witness a stallion carrying a young colt, fleeing from a pack of horn bedecked earth ponies that chase them like a pack of wolves. They exit the alley and get onto the main street, where they’re quickly ambushed and surrounded. The stallion throws the colt down and tries to stab him with a knife, but one of the demons grabs him and yanks him back. They crush the stallion’s eyeballs inside of his skull, so he can only hear his son screaming as they castrate and devour him. Their agonized sobbing echo behind me.

Third, and most disgusting of all, I see a whole crowd of mortals gathered around a raised wooden platform with several demons up front and around them. The mortals bow towards these demons, and some come up on stage to take turns offering sacrifices to them. Some give their bodies, some give them money, one mare carries her six-month-old colt up and kneels offering it to a demon on extended hooves. I stop and hover in place as the demon eats the mare’s child right out of the cups of her hooves, its blood spilling down her arms. The demon smear that blood across the mare’s face, then kisses her with her own child’s blood on its tongue. She falls back and allows the demon to fuck her on stage to the excited cries of the crowd.

I’m half tempted to jump down there, crush that mare’s head, and eviscerate the rest of the crowd, but that’ll draw attention and I only have so much time.

Swallowing my anger I turn and continue flying. Thankfully I don’t encounter anything more. I touch down outside the bar I saw earlier. It’s a dingy old place on the corner of the street, with black painted brick walls and a blazing red neon sign in the image of a pegasus mare with her hooves between her legs, and a sign that reads “Angel’s Dive”. The muffled sound of blasting drums and rapid-fire guitars bleed out of the walls, which I can already tell is going to annoy the shit out of me. There’s a large sign on the front of the door that reads in big red letters, “No Fighting or Fucking Inside.”

I cock an eye at the sign as push open the door and enter into the dark smoke filled room. The static-infused ‘music’ blasts me in the face and I hold in a groan. For a moment I can’t tell if I stepped into a bar or a sex shop. The walls are fucking plastered with posters and photos of young, lusty mares striking seductive poses and wearing lingerie, to the point where in most places I see more ass than walls. If it’s not pictures than it’s glass casings with vintage Mare Toy magazines, lewd collectible cards with signatures of the mares, and even a very realistic figurine of a red-maned pegasus mare with her hooves between her legs like the mare on the sign out front.

The only thing indicating that this place is, in fact, a bar and not a porn shoot is the lit up counter at the back, displaying the hard liquor stacked in rows. There’s a rather grizzly looking stallion behind the counter tending a single customer, the mare I’m looking for.

She hasn’t changed a day since I last saw her. Still has that wild mess of blue mane standing in contrast to her simple white coat. Still wears that red leather jacket with the chains wrapped around her front hooves. She wears a pair violet tinted sunglasses and holds a shot of tequila, or what I assume is tequila if old habits haven’t died.

I inhale a deep breath and approach with a knot in my chest. Even with the quote on quote ‘music’ blaring, I can still hear Vinyl’s excited voice gabbing away.

“—And I tell him, ‘Hey retard! I don’t know how your sister taught you to treat a mare in bed, but you’re supposed to make her cum at least once before you fuck her in the ass.’ And then this dipshit, actually leans down on top of me, with his cock in my ass, and whispers in my ear like he’s being all romantic and shit. ‘Not to worry babe. Give me five minutes and I’ll make you cum harder than ever before in your life’.”

“And I’m guessing you took him for a ride after that,” says the bartender with a smirk.

“Oh trust me, this dumbass had a broken pelvic bone by the time I was done with him. But no, before that happened I got this evil idea. Basically, I let him keep nailing me from behind, but as he did I started to clench.”

“Uh, doesn’t that make it better for him?”

“You’ve clearly never gotten anal from a succubus before.” She chugs back another shot before continuing. “No, it was less like wrapping up a cucumber and more like crushing it in a vice. The dude was crying when he pulled out, hooves pressed against his crotch and praying to God, but you want to know the best part? He fucking came from it.”

“No way.”

“I swear to you, hoof on my heart, the guy was screaming in agony, but I felt him shoot off inside of me and I saw it dribbling on the floor. I could not stop laughing after that. It was the funniest shit I’ve seen all year.”

“Sounds like a pretty neat trick,” I say climbing up on the bar stool next to her. “I could’ve used it last night actually.”

Vinyl turns to me smiling. Her grin fades the moment she sees me and her dark shades fall a tiny bit down her nose.

“Hey DJ, it’s been awhile,” I say. “What have you been up to since we last met?”

“I’m sorry, is this filly a friend of yours?” asks the bartender. “Cause she needs to get out of her demon form, and switch to a more adult looking appearance if she’s going to stay here.”

“Um, I’m actually ten.”

“Oh, then you can fuck off indefinitely then.”

I give him a slanted look. “You know I could crush your skull like a grape if I wanted to right?”

“Point being?”

I sense around for any demonic power but there’s nothing around him. I use clairvoyance quickly just to make sure it’s not another situation like Alda, but there’s nothing. The stallion is just a normal earth pony, completely unfazed by my threats.

“You serve demons often?”

“They've been my only customers recently.”

“How have they not eviscerated you?”

“I serve them drinks, but I don’t serve minors. Now fuck off.”

I gawk at him. The very least I can see why Vinyl is hanging out with him.

I look over at her and see she’s staring steak knives at my heart. I smile humoring her. “Whatever, we can catch up outside. See you out there DJ.”

I push myself up off the bar stool and walk to the door. I can feel Vinyl’s gaze on my neck the entire way. I exit the bar and lean against a street lamp outside for a bit, watching harpies fly above me fighting for severed flesh. Two minutes pass before Vinyl comes marching out of the bar herself. She’s holding a handle of vodka, which she proceeds to break off the seal, and down right in front of me. She chugs for about fifteen seconds, the chains on her arms jingling. She finishes the bottle and throws it down, smashing it against the concrete, then walks towards me.

I breathe out a hard sigh. “Okay look, I know we didn’t exactly leave on the best note. I also knew that you’d be no fan of Asmodeus, which basically makes you the only one I can somewhat trust. So I was hoping you might know something about—”

She slugs me in the face. I go down hard, breaking up bits of the asphalt as I go sliding across the street.

“Don’t you talk to me about trust.”

I groan shaking my woozy head and fidgeting my jaw. She thrusts her arm forward and her chains unravel, shooting towards me and wrapping around my neck. I clutch at the narrow line of metal at my throat, attempting to make room to breathe, when she suddenly yanks on the chain, hoists me up into the air, and slams me back down to earth.

“I have one regret in my life, and that’s not caving your stupid fucking face in with my own bare hooves when I had the chance. Time to fix that.”

The chains retract, wrapping themselves back around her hoof and pulling me in closer. I’m dragged along the ground, but manage to shake my head around and clamp the chains in my teeth. I stand to my hooves and we have a brief tug of war before I whip my head back and swing her into a lamppost, snapping it straight off its base on impact and slamming it and her into the ground.

I rip the chains off my neck and cough as air rushes back into my lungs. “Right, so you’re still pissed. While I’d love to bicker about the past I’m sort of here on a more important task.”

“Fuck you traitor!” She stands to her hooves and swings her chains hard enough to carve the concrete like a cake. I shoot up into the air to dodge and land on the roof of the bar, where I hope she’ll be less apt to swing at.

“You think you can show your face to me for the first time in two years after what you did, and it’ll be just like nothing fucking happened! No, I’m not letting you slip away this time! You’ll eat that lying little tongue of yours when I’m through with you.”

She shoots her chains at me again, but I swipe them all up with a single hoof. “If I remember correctly, the whole reason you let me slip away the first time was that I fought a demon that you had been trying to kill for half a decade and ripped him in half in two minutes. You can’t fight me Vinyl. You’re like a fly buzzing around the ass of a donkey. You should stop pestering me before I swat you down.”

She bares her teeth at me like a dog. “Yeah, but can you remember how many you slaughtered and stabbed in the back to get that powerful?”

I glare at her. Her horn suddenly flashes with magic and she disappears in a flash of light. The chains I was just holding also vanish from my hooves. I’m taken off guard by this and don’t notice her charging up behind me until she rams me like a mountain goat, goring me in the chest with her horn. I’m launched off the side of the roof and while I’m in the air her chains extend out and wrap around my body. She spins in the air and then jerks her ends of the chains and sends me rocketing into the street with such force I punch a hole in the asphalt and land in an open sewer canal.

I spit up blood and hold my gushing chest wound as it begins to heal. I stand up, pushing a hill of rubble off my back. Vinyl jumps down into the canal and runs at me spinning her chains above her head. I stare her down like a charging bull and when she’s about to swing her chains I lunge forward and slap her into the canal wall, burying her in stone and mortar.

“I’m fighting against Asmodeus,” I say. “I need information to do it.”

She busts out of the wall collapsed on her knees, coughing up two teeth on the floor. She growls and glares up at me. “What makes you think I’ll give you shit?”

“Because I know you’re one of the few demons in Equestria who doesn’t want Asmodeus to win. You’re the only other demon I know who actually has somewhat of a problem with being completely fucking evil. You have a ponies you want to protect, you have a sister you want to protect. You don’t want them to fall under the rule of demons. So help me make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“And what can you do to fight a fucking demon prince? You’re a bastard, but not nearly as big a bastard to take on that.”

“I heard that Asmodeus recently captured an important prisoner. One of the elements of harmony.”

She stops pulling against the chains and looks up at me in shock. “How the hell do you know that?”

I throw the chain down, letting them clatter against the shredded sidewalk. “One of Asmodeus’s goons told me, right before I ripped out one of his fangs and drove it through his heart. I also confirmed with a special power of mine that said element is one self-professed best flyer in Equestria, Rainbow Dash.”

“Special power?”

“Clairvoyance to be specific.”

Her eyes widen to the size of light bulbs and then she buries her face, right in the sewage. “Are you fucking me in the ass right now?”

“Like I said, fly on the ass of a donkey.”

She makes a snarling sound in the back of her throat, making her seem rabid.

“On to the point, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about where she might be would you?”

She glares up at me and wraps the chains around her hooves again.

“Come on, you and I both know Asmodeus will eventually win if the elements can’t fight him.”

“How do you know she’s not dead?”

“Again, clairvoyance, though actually finding her with it is a little more complicated. Wherever she is, Asmodeus has set up some powerful magick to block me from finding her using it.”

“And he probably wouldn’t go through the effort of doing that for a corpse,” Vinyl says defeated.

“See, now you’re starting to get it. So, how about we help each other out?”

Vinyl stands up and looks at me for a long time. She doesn’t say a word, then she turns and jumps out back into the street. “I can dig through some contacts I have around Equestria. I’ll see if any of them know anything about Asmodeus and where he might take a high-value prisoner.”

She looks back at me. “You’re still a cunt by the way.”

I sigh and jump out of the hole with her. “You’ve gotten a lot more serious since I last saw you.”

“Yeah, it’s strange, there’s just something about seeing your face, breathing and alive that just kills any sense of humor I have.”

“Shame, I like to think I got a large part of my wit from you.”

“Remind me never to become a teacher then.”

I shake my head.

“While you’re hitting up your contacts I’ll be searching around for any of Asmodeus’s soldiers. If I’m lucky one of them might know something.”

“Try not to get raped out there, last thing I’d want is for something horrible to happen like there be more ponies like you running around.”

“Oh come on, that was low even for you.”

“Forgive me, let me try that again and make it less offensive.”

“Really? Now that’s completely out of character for you. Okay, go for it.”

She stares me dead in the eye and says plainly, “Go to hell.”

I stare back for a second, smiling to mask the rage. “I’ll see you there you shitfaced shitstain.”

“Least I’ve got something to look forward to.”

We storm off in separate directions. I fly off into the air after several steps to get away from her faster. I fly over burned out buildings and pockets of demonic atrocities, too filled with anger to take stock of it.

I wasn’t looking forward to meeting her again, but I wasn’t expecting her to get under my skin so easily. I use to look up to that mare, want to be like her, want to be as strong as her. She encouraged me too, said I could do it if I tried. Then I not only equaled her, I surpassed her, and she hates me because of it.

I fly stubbornly for a bit longer until finally admit to myself how fucking stupid that explanation is. No, if I’m being one-hundred percent honest with myself I know exactly how she got under my skin and exactly why she’s so angry.

Because everything she said about me is true, and she has every right to be angry.