Courage squirmed and stretched. "I need to go. Another of those and I will agree to stay…" She felt an odd sensation of deja-vu, as if she already had given the demoness permission to keep her, to use her.

"But if another is all it would take, then why not?" Corignis smiled, a little of Courage's seed staining her chin. "You sure you want to go up? We could be demon-lords here, together."

"Blah blah blah, and I will be stuck here forever, probably as your pet or something." Courage kissed the demon, subconsciously avoiding the stained fur. "Thanks, but no thanks. I need to get out of here."

Corignis leaned up and pressed her snout to Courage's ear. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife." She kissed Courage's ear. "And if I hear you try to summon me for anything that doesn't involve kicking plot or bucking mine, I will drag you back here."

"That… that was your name?" Courage blinked. "Isn't that dange-"

"So don't tell everyone you see, got it?" Corignis sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel better, give me yours. It won't work yet, but if you get any more demon in you, it will."

"And then you can drag me back here any time you want?" Courage gave a bark of laughter. "Send me up, I am not going to give you power over me." She steadied herself and glared at the demoness. Corignis sighed at the mare and gestured lightly with a wing, but the power that poured from her was anything but light. It crashed into Courage like a wave, thrusting them upwards, blacking them out in the process.

Courage woke up slowly, her mind spinning a little. She could still taste the last kiss that Corignis had stolen from her. "Damn but she was hot…" She blushed a little at the words and shook her head. "So where is this? Come on, I know you are still around."

"You might get mad if I told you."

"I'll get mad regardless you… what are you, anyway?" Courage put her hooves down with purpose, pushing and lifting herself up. Looking around herself, she saw something coming toward her. It looked like a beast, huge and powerful canine of some type. "Oh no, not this unicorn you don't!"

Courage first reached for her dagger, cursing that she hadn't replaced it when she had the chance, she charged up the best magic bolt she could and hurled it at the charging beast. "Buck yeah!" The blast dropped the monster mid-stride. Just as Courage was about to investigate something landed on her. Pain blossomed in Courage's shoulder as the second beast, atop her, bit down through cloak and fur both.

Thrashing in desperation to get free, Courage opted at last to squash her attacker. Slumping to her side, she kicked at the ground put all her weight on the creature. The sound of a yelp was accompanied by more pain in her shoulder as Courage felt the thing under her let go. She didn't relent, though. "Just die dammit!" It was luck more than skill that had her braced on the animal's windpipe, she didn't question how she was weakening it, she just made sure to not let-up.

Even after the animal went still, even a minute later, she still didn't move. Courage waited longer still before she could be sure that the thing under her wasn't moving anymore. She took some time to look it over more carefully. Resembling a timberwolf, the creature looked to be made of flesh and fur. Claws adorned each paw, as well as fangs in its mouth, the red pelt was an obvious warning that it was not to be trifled with.

"Bravo! Bravo!"

"This isn't a show! I nearly died to that thing!" Courage rolled off the monster and slowly got to her hooves. "Now I am probably bleeding, and my cloak is ruined!" The laundry-list was quickly growing, Courage finding a need to vent. "And to top it all off, you start cheering as if this is all a game!"

"It is a game."

"Not to me." Courage pulled her favorite cloak off and inspected the big tear in it. Feeling a slight breeze, she spread the wings she had gotten when she first arrived. "And these, they are useless! If a pegasus spread their wings they would have to fight from being lifted up and away, instead I have stupid bat-like…" She stopped her tirade and reached a hoof up and back to scratch at where she had been bitten. "What the… already healed? Did you do this?"

"Of course not, that would be cheating."

"Well boo-hoo for you." Courage rubbed the itch on her back more until, with a deep, satisfied sigh, she practically melted. "Oh there it is… ugh so good…" She knew she must have a goofy look on her face, her tongue hanging out as her hoof seemed just right for dealing with the itch.

"Giving up so quickly?"

Shaken back to herself by the words, Courage pulled her hoof away and froze. "W-W-What happened?" She stared at the paw on the end of her foreleg, then looked at one of the monsters and saw four more of them. "What is this place?"

"Welcome to Violence"

" 'Violence'? So if this is all revolving around that, how am I meant to get out?" Courage froze, realizing she had reached around with her other leg to scratch her shoulder. "Aww buck…" Drawing her leg back into view, she saw another paw adorning that.

In the distance, a roar of sound pulled Courage's attention. "Let me guess, another stupid city with stupid laws and some stupid 'violence' demon that will smuggle me in?" Despite her sarcasm, she was already walking toward the source of the noise. "Or will this be a city under attack?"

"Would it be cheating to tell you?"

"Probably, but you are a demon. Buck, look at me! I am part demon now too!" Courage spread her wings and gave them a few flaps. For a moment she felt them cup the air, her body becoming lighter as gravity was opposed by lift. It felt so good to just let loose with the wings that she flapped them more, but never really got enough lift to rise. "Whoo!" she cried out at the end, "Okay, maybe that part of being a demon isn't so bad."

Trotting forward, Courage saw where the noise was coming from. It was still a long way away, but the huge building grew more distinct the closer she got. It was built like a giant circle, hundreds of pony-lengths high, all made from stone.

The sound became a roar again, as she got near. Courage walked around the huge structure until she found a giant archway. The itching on her back was, by now, much more annoying. Every few moments she felt the need to reach back and scratch it. Walking under the huge arch, she found a long corridor with light at the end of it.

"A new competitor approaches!" The loud voice was almost drowned out by the roar of approval. "This is a strange one. Just appeared, barely even adapted, what will this pony do?"

Walking out into the light, Courage saw that she was in the middle of a huge arena, thousands of onlookers cheered down at her. "Er, what is this?" Her words didn't get far over the wall of noise coming down on her. The crowd seemed a mix of demons, big, small, male, and female; all of them were cheering for her.

"Let's see her fight, a hound!"

A crashing sound had Courage jump forward and spin to look behind her. The entrance she had come through now had a huge portcullis dropped into it. "Hey, what is this? What is going on? Let me out!"

"And the hound is away!"

Courage's heart turned to lead and she turned, just in time to see another of the beasts charging for her. She laughed at the big canine and lowered her head. Her magic shot out, lancing a red beam right at the creature. Apparently more canny than its wild kin, the beast dodged her attack and kept moving.

Spreading her wings, Courage flapped as hard as she could and lifted up and off the ground. She was so happy to get out of the hound's reach that she messed up a flap. "Ahh buck!" There was nothing for it than to brace her legs and be ready for the impact, but luck was on Courage's side when one hoof hit the creature a solid blow in the neck.

"She is victorious!"

Courage felt a rush of power, of strength filling her. The crowd was screaming, their lungs burning out their approval for her and her victory. She couldn't stop herself, she started trotting a circle in the middle of the arena, the sound coming at her from all sides making her feel amazing.

"Since this is her first time here, our new crowd favorite must fight a second foe, and it must be more of a challenge!"

This time Courage saw the gate open on one side of the arena, she watched as two of the hounds came out this time. Shaking her shoulders, Courage shook her plot too in readiness, and realized that the long snake-like tail was much shorter and, to her surprise, it had red fur trailing down it. She heard the snarling and spun back, watching as the two canines approached from each side. A chant started in the crowd, Courage's body responded to it before she even realized.

"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!"

She turned to her left, beat her wings twice and shot herself up, then snapped her wings almost completely closed. Hurtling down, she landed on the hound and again broke the beast under her weight. Only now Courage wasn't acting in desperation.

The crunch of bones under her back-legs, the feel of the claws of her new forepaws sinking into the animal, made her heart soar. The wild cheering almost made her deaf, she certainly didn't hear the second hound until it was already leaping at her. There wasn't time to lift off and dive, instead her heart told her what her mind couldn't contemplate. She leaped forward and pushed her head upwards.

Heat, wet and heavy, poured down onto Courage. She pulled back from the weight of the beast atop her and it got worse. She watched as her horn tore the beast's belly open and her eyes were wide with shock. Shoving to the side, she pulled away from the grisly mess she had just made of the animal.

The heat had been nothing compared to the power that poured into her now. The crowd roared so loudly she couldn't even hear that loud voice, it screamed so loudly that the ground shook.

"Is it safe?" This voice wasn't the announcer, but something much closer.

Courage's head spun around to the owner of the voice. A small impish demon-pony was dragging the first of the hounds back, pulling it by its tail. Part of her protested the stealing of her kill, but another part, a bigger part, rallied against it. Courage was once more in her right mind. "What are you? What is this place?"

"Violence." The voice sounded hungry, happy.

Courage shook her head, feeling droplets of something spraying free. "What do I do now?" She saw another imp gingerly approaching the beast she stood beside. Stepping back, she saw relief pour onto the little demon's face.

"Follow me." Not the announcer, not even one of the imps, the voice was deep, with a crackle behind it, like a flame licking over dry wood.

When Courage turned at the new voice, she saw a bigger pony-demon, deep red of coat and sporting a mane and tail of fire, it spoke once more. "Follow me, now."

Her hooves and paws moved, she turned from the stinking patch of the arena and followed the demonic stallion. "What is this place?" It was like her voice was stuck with only the same questions, she could barely think straight through the haze the roar of the crowd incited her to.

"This is the Heart of Violence. You won your first fight, you will live." The demon looked back over its shoulder and eyed Courage. "And you grow stronger. Good. You might live longer."

The heat of the demon's tail seemed to dry her off, Courage relaxing a little as she followed him out of the arena, through a gate. She spotted the water bucket before it was pointed out and dove forward. Shoving half her face down into it, she drank and drank. The water tasted good, tasted great. She gulped it down, salty and tasting coppery, before she even realized what it was tainted with.

Courage's eyes narrowed to pin-pricks as she saw the red color of the water, saw a single bright red drop drip from her snout.

Author's Notes:

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I they will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! I They will pick one question per chapter. (note, the commissioner will answer questions in the comments, since this is their OC)

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