One day later

“I still cannot believe they actually went for the trial plan.” Zero groaned, sitting in a cage at the edge of the town. The townsfolk had decided that it would be safer to place him in a cage far from them while the plans for the trial and the location were being made. Twilight had asked him to go in the cage, in an effort to show him as trustworthy. It still ticked him off, but if it could help, might as well give it a try.

“Me neither. The ponies of this town are ridiculous!” Twilight groaned, sitting next to him outside the cage. “It makes me want to just leave, but…”

“But your duty as the last Princess of Equestria demands you help protect them.” Zero finished, sighing.

“That, and it wouldn't be right to leave them to their fate.” Twilight nodded.

“So, when does the trial start?” Zero asked after a moment.

“In a few hours. But unless you can pull some magic words out of a hat, you're screwed.” Twilight replied.

“Yep.” Zero chuckled. “I could just break out and run away. They would probably celebrate.”

“Yeah, but if you ever came back, you would likely get lynched or something.” Twilight replied, her eyes towards the ground.

“Hmmm… say, you said that your friends went missing or something, right?” Zero asked suddenly. Twilight’s ears twitched.

“Yeah, they did.” She said slowly, turning to look at him through the metal bars. “Why?”

“I may just have a plan.” Zero chuckled, sitting back. “It's a stupid plan, and is more likely to fail than anything, but it's a plan nonetheless.”

Zero sighed as he was escorted to his stand, his arms and legs shackled together with iron chains.

“Where did you even find this stuff?” Zero asked, looking at the chains.

“Quiet, demon!” One of his escorts growled, kicking him in the leg. They entered the ‘courthouse’. In reality, it was a roofless building with some chairs gathered from around the town, and a few desks for the judges area. Two of the judges were ponies he was unfamiliar with, who glared at him with hate. Twilight took up the third desk, trying to keep herself calm.

Other townsfolk gathered, taking up the fifteen seats in the room. Zero’s ‘stand’ was a large box. His escorts forced him to sit on it, and the box crumpled under him, old with age. He sighed, extending his legs to sit.

“This court will now be in session.” Twilight Sparkle stated, looking at the ponies in the jury seats. “We are here to decide what will happen to Zero, who is under the accusation of being a demon.” She looked around.

“Is this really necessary? Just break the chains and ditch these idiots.” A voice growled inside Zero’s head.

“No, just trust me on this.” Zero muttered to himself quietly, glancing up at Twilight.

“Let's get this over with.” Twilight said. “Whoever is the one who wants to start the charges, go ahead.” A Unicorn with a light blue mane, and a white coat stepped forward, his cutie mark, of all things, a burning cross.

“Princess Twilight,” the unicorn said, glaring at Zero. “This demon was sent here to infiltrate our town, and slaughter us all in our sleep! We must kill this abomination before it brings more of it’s ilk!”

“How would you know that?” Twilight countered. “What evidence of these accusations is there?”

“We all saw him, your Majesty!” The unicorn growled, before catching himself, and continuing in a more civil manner towards the Princess. “When he fought that demon that attacked us, he revealed his true form! He is clearly a demon, and he must die before he can do any more harm to us!”

“While his other form is worrying,” Twilight replied, giving the unicorn a cold glare. “You have provided no proof that he is here to kill us. Instead, you have stated that he saved everypony here from being killed by that demon. If he is planning to attack us, as you say, would he really have agreed to this trial?” Twilight asked.

“Permission to speak, Princess?” Zero asked, and a pony smacked him in the back.

“You may.” Twilight said, before any of the other judges could say otherwise.

“If what this blubbering fool said was true, there is no way he would have been able to acquire the knowledge of this.” Zero began, and the unicorn glared at him. “If anything he said was true, the only way he would know is by having acquired such information is if he himself was part of such a plot.” The unicorn gawked at him. The ponies in the jury shifted their eyes to the unicorn, uncertainty in their eyes.

“That is untrue!” The unicorn growled, looking at Twilight. “This demon is attempting to use words to seed distrust in our ranks!”

“Either way, what he said isn't true.” Zero shrugged. “I am not here to kill anyone.”

“It could be that he is a rogue demon, who betrayed the other demons.” Twilight pointed out. “Besides, the demons have always had the advantage in this. They wouldn't need to try something like that. The accusations of a demon plot will be dropped. Next.” Twilight pulled a hammer out of thin air and smashed it into the table. The other judges looked at her.

“Your highness, if I may?” Zero said. Twilight glanced at him.

“Sure.”

“I have a proposition to the court.” He stated, looking at the gathered ponies. “Even if I was proven innocent, I doubt these ponies would just drop their hatred of me. In fact, I expect to be kidnapped and burned to death.”

“So either way, your fate is sealed?” Twilight asked, confused.

“Instead of this, why don't we make a deal?” Zero chuckled. “If I were to go out into the world, and try to find the Princess’s friends, who went missing over time.” A gasp of shock rippled through the building.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Look. If we find your friends, who once used the Elements of Harmony, it might be possible to fight back against the Demons. I'm willing to go out and look for them.” Zero explained.

“This is just the demon attempting to escape it’s fate.” One of the other judges growled. “If we let you go, you are more likely to flee back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of.”

“No. I swear.” Zero said, remembering something Twilight had told him about. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” He said, somehow making the motions while chained.

“What makes you think we will trust the promise of a demon? I say we kill the beast-” the judge said, but was cut off by Twilight.

“No, I trust him. No one makes a Pinkie Promise and breaks it.” Twilight stated, and the others looked at her uncertainly.

“If you want, you can put some sort of spell on me that will kill me if I don't do this.” Zero suggested.

“Preposterous.” The unicorn growled. “You would likely break the spell once you are out.”

“Do remember that I am the former bearer of the Element of Magic.” Twilight said, “I could make such a spell that cannot be broken by most creatures.” The others shrank back.

“Are we in agreement?” Twilight asked, glaring at everypony. No one made a sound. She smiled. “Okay then. Motion passed.”

Zero was not surprised that he was given almost nothing for supplies and food. The ponies still glared at him even as he waited for Twilight to activate her spell. The purple alicorn stepped forward, her horn glowing brightly as magical energy circled Zero. The rings of magic closed around the Mercenary, before vanishing entirely, making him glow purple momentarily.

“There you go, Zero.” Twilight said, yawning. “Good luck on your quest. I need a nap.” She walked away, and Zero shrugged, before beginning his journey through the woods.

Three hours later

Zero sighed, taking a small break on a tree that had fallen over. He gazed up into the blood red, cloudy sky, trying to find even the slightest glimpse of the sky beyond. Finding none, he shrugged, standing back up.

“So, Voice in my head, who exactly are you?” He asked out loud.

“Well, I guess I could say I'm you.” The voice replied.

“Spare me the bullshit.” Zero growled. “I know for a fact that before I arrived in this hellhole, there wasn't any goddamn voice in my head.”

“Fine. I am Zero, before you and I became a single person for whatever reason. I guess now I am the Spirit of Laevateinn, the sword you use. I am also the source of those ‘instincts’ that kept you alive.” The voice relented, and Zero sighed.

“So, I'm guessing you know about whatever happened back when we fought that demon?” Zero asked.

“Beast Mode? Yeah, I know a bit about it.” Laevateinn said. “It’s a thing we can activate, since we are a Killer Prince.”

“Killer Prince?” Zero asked, sitting back down on the fallen tree. “I'm getting more questions than answers from you.”


“Killer Princes are humans with both Beast’s Blood and Killium, the essence of our weapons.” Laevateinn stated indifferently. “Now, are you done asking me meaningless questions?”

“Well, could you teach me how to properly use my powers?” Zero asked.

“And why should I?” Laevateinn asked.

“Because I'm currently the one in control, and am more likely to get us killed without knowing how to use these bizarre abilities. I can't always rely on your instinct.” Zero replied, “And I get the feeling you don't want to end up dead because of my stupid actions.”

Laevateinn was silent for a few seconds. “Fine. I'll teach you, at most so you don't try rushing a demon like last time. Also, I should note, that someone has been tailing you the entire time.”

“What?” Zero asked in surprise, glancing around. As his gaze panned over some trees behind him, a purple horn quickly vanished into the bushes, but not quickly enough for Zero to have not seen it. His sword once again in his hand, he pointed it towards the bush.

“Whoever is in those bushes, show yourself now.” Stepping closer, he raised his blade to strike whatever was in the bush. A familiar yelp resounded from the bush, and an even more familiar purple alicorn fell backwards out of the foliage, rubbing her head.

“Twilight?” Zero asked, shocked. “The hell are you doing here?”

“Umm…” the Alicorn grinned sheepishly. “Enjoying the scenery?”

“Yeah, and I'm in a fanfiction.” Zero rolled his eyes. “So, why were you following me? What happened to the whole ‘Duty to protect the Ponies’ gimmick?”

“During the wait for the Trial, I found a badly burned book containing a replication spell. Using that spell, I made a clone of myself to guard the village, while I snuck out and followed you.”

Zero sighed. “Well, it's not like anything can be done about it now.” He sat down on the fallen tree once again, patting the spot next to him. Twilight took the hint and sat down, and the two sat in silence for a few moments.

“Do you have any sort of map so we know where we are going?” Zero asked. Twilight nodded, levitating out a small, rolled up scroll from her saddlebags, which he had not noticed earlier.

“It's dated back from before Equestria fell, but it should work in our favor.” She glanced at him curiously. “So, who exactly were you talking to?”

“Apparently, I have this other guy in my head who claims to be my sword.” Zero replied, “And he promised to teach me how to properly use my newfound abilities, though he doesn't seem to like me questioning him.” He added that last part when he noticed Twilight’s eyes widen. “All he said was that I'm something called a ‘Killer Prince’, and that I've got Beast’s Blood and something called ‘Killium’ inside me. That's apparently what caused the whole event of me turning into a demon.”

“Interesting….” Twilight muttered, writing on a scroll with a quill surrounded in her magic.

“What are you writing?” Zero asked.

“I'm just putting down what information we know about your powers. Perhaps if we learn more about it, we can better control it. You never know!” Twilight explained, rolling the scroll back up, and into her saddlebags.

“I see.” Zero said, deciding to stand up. “So, where's the nearest town?”

Twilight pulled out her map again. “The closest ruins are… Fillydelphia, on the coast. We might find some survivors, but it's a week’s journey.”

“That will give us plenty of time for training.” Zero said, walking off. “To Fillydelphia!”

“Zero!” Twilight called. “Fillydelphia is the other way!” The Mercenary stopped, turning around.

“Yeah, I knew that. I was just making sure there was no one else around.” Zero said quickly, following Twilight.


Hidden in the tree’s foliage, two emotionless red eyes watched the two go. The unknown being gripped her sword, before vanishing entirely.

Author's Notes:

And at last, chapter 3 is out! I hope you all enjoyed, and will see you in the next chapter!