Here it is, second cap. hope you enjoy remember to drop a review. I'm not allergic to that, you know?
Oo-oO
The sled rocked, while azure sparks danced around it, as the Santa Claus tried to stop the sled's rolling.
"You can't control this damned thing better?" growled the gorilla, while grasping firmly at his seat.
"Well excuuuuuse me if the sled isn't built for holding more than two people!"
"You are supposed to drag around the presents for all the toy shops around the world!" retorted the gorilla, as a group of sparks passed under the sled, making it tremble a little.
"Well, but it's not built for people!" snarled the Santa Claus. Noxfero sighed, before stopping their fighting.
"It's one of the worst ways to travel. But it'll be come in handy once we are on the other side, since you two can't fly."
"Well, if I barf on you, don't blame me." Grumbled the monkey, as a bright shimmer began to flash in front of them. With a cracking noise, they were for a moment engulfed in the light, while filled with the sensation of being surrounded by jelly, before they suddenly found themselves suspended in the air, the sled rocking wildly while darting away from an azure crack in the sky. The first thing that the devil noted was that the crack wasn't exactly on the castle as he expected. Indeed, it was was quite far from Canterlot, which he immediately spotted on the side of the only mountain in sight. The second thing he noticed were the columns of smoke rising from all over the city.
"Well… fuck." He stated coldly, before slapping the nape of the Santa's neck. "Move this thing. Towards the city." The Santa grumbled, pressing on the accelerator, as the sled began to move, still rocking and threatening to roll at every second.
-oOo-
The princess of the night was flying over the city, trying to help whoever was cornered or menaced by the strange creatures that were attacking the town. Her refined dress was half burned and half shredded and dangling under her, as she pushed away one of the creatures off a pegasus guard, that once freed flew towards a group of civilians. The alicorn turned again, ready to fly to another side of the city, when a group of creatures jumped down a house, landing on top of her.
"BEGONE CREATURE, THOU ART FACING THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!" she bellowed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, sending one of them against a wall, but the other didn't budge from her back, beginning to claw and bite her flesh, laughing and emitting squeaky sounds. She tried to push them away, but they were again over her before she could even spread her wounded wings. she cried out in pain as sharp teeth bit her neck. She got ready to burst another blast of magic energy against the creature, even if that meant to hurt herself; her horn was lighting up, her eyes shut in either pain and concentration, when a loud noise echoed in the alley, above the sound of the flames and the screams of ponies far away. And then, something pulled away one of the creatures from her back. Probably hitting it with an extremely high speed.
"Oh my, I really heard your voice." Cried a happy voice. She opened her eyes, and faced the smiling face of Jaco, who was pinning one of the creatures in the ground with his head, as if he had been shot by something…
"See? I told you he could fit in your bazooka."
"But it wasn't designed to shoot around your minions!"
The sound echoed another couple of times, and the last creatures were pushed away from Luna's body. Jaco smiled and walked away from the creature he had hit, and walked towards the dark alicorn. Luna blinked, staring at the little demon, before moving her eyes towards the sky and watching as a sled fell down, slamming loudly on the stone street.
"Great way to park, idiot."
"Shut up, pumped baboon!"
She blinked, watching the biggest gorilla she had ever seen and a red-dressed humanoid arguing, before noticing Noxfero jumping off the sled and walking towards her, followed by a naked being with something like a little sun under his belly, that didn't permit her to see anything in that region.
"Look at this…" Noxfero's voice catch her attention again: the devil was looking at the wounds on the alicorn's body, his tail moving angrily. "Mark can you do anything about those wounds?" he asked, turning towards the other creature, that nodded and put his hands over the scratches. Luna's first reaction was to back away from that unknown creature.
"They are not going to heal if you move." The creature stated calmly, loweing again his hands. This time Luna didn't move, as a warm light began to shine, and her wounds began to heal. "Remember that I'm just a Cherub, not a Seraph. I can't heal more than minor injuries." Stated the creature, looking at Noxfero.
"Noxfero, what's happening?" asked the mare. If the devil was there again, he should know what was going on.
"No time to explain. You have to evacuate the city." Stated the devil, looking around at the columns of smoke. "Where is your sister?"
"She… she's at the castle, she's trying to stop the one we believe is the leader of these creatures…" said the mare. She tilted her head a little when she saw the devil's expression.
"Evacuate the city. It's useless trying to save it from the flames." He stated, pointing then to the gorilla and the other creature. "Those two will help you take care of this creatures."
"What? You dragged us here, and we have to escort horses?" growled the humanoid. Noxfero bared slightly his fangs, clearly on the edge of his nerves.
"Since you are vulnerable to those flames, yes, it's better if you stay here, where you can avoid the fire. I, Jac and Mark will go at the castle." He growled, spreading his wings and flapping them nervously.
"What's happening? Noxfero why…"
"No time Luna, listen: the hellfire is a kind of flame that burns whatever it takes, and can't be put out. The city is doomed. Only unholy and holy forces can't be ignited by it. In this case, I and this one." Said the devil, pointing at the red-haired creature, that waved. "We'll enter into the castle and bring out Celestia, while these two cover you while evacuating the city. Clear?" The mare nodded, confused but determined, and opened her wings.
"The gala was held this night. The girls are still inside." She stated, a serious expression on her face. Noxfero licked his lips and nodded, before darting in the sky, followed by the other creature.
"Well then Gil, let's see who kills more of these bastards?" grinned the red dressed creature, starting some sort of engine in the sled, which began to rise into the air, rocking a bit. "The guns are in the back."
-oOo-
"Take this, ya vermin!" growled Applejack, kicking in the chest of one of the creatures, that fell to the ground, just to stand up standing up again and resuming to walk towards the group of mares, chuckling evilly.
"What the hay are those things?!" screamed Rainbow Dash, while flapping over the rest of them, ready to push back the next creature that would have dared to make a step towards them.
"Look at what they have done to my wonderful dresses!" Rarity exclaimed angrily, glaring at her once perfect dress, now torn to pieces, revealing her raffled candid fur, which was stained with some blood dripping out from some cuts.
"I don't think we have to worry about the dress now!" stated Twilight, sending a purple bolt against one of the creatures.
"Twi is right. We have to hold them back 'til all the ponies have left the castle! We can't permit anypony to get hurt." Huffed the orange earth pony with a cocky grinn, ready to stomp again against the creature.
"Well, of that I'm sure." Stated Pinkie, throwing a cake into the face of another creature. "It's just us and these meanies around here, as far as I can tell."
"Well, that's a relief. Now, we just have to hold on until the princess come to our rescue!" exclaimed the purple mare with a confident smile. Behind her Fluttershy just whimpered in fear. Suddenly, from the wall of flames that were surrounding them, arrived a roar similar to a bear's. From the wall of flames emerged the enormous body of a creature that none of them had ever seen before: it faintly resembled a minotaur, but was three times taller than a common minotaur. His fur was short and ocher, his face contorted and similar to a skull, flames erupting from his scarlet eyes, a big double edged axe in his grasp.
"Well… buck!" cursed Applejack, stepping back, while Fluttershy whimpered loudly.
"Come on girls, we can do this!" exclaimed a lot less convinced Twilight. The black creatures chuckled, and began to walk slowly towards the mares, while the enormous creature began to move towards them too.
"Well, I suppose that it's my obligation to tell that is a pleasure to be with you in this moment." Stated calmly Rarity, straightning her posture, even if she was shaking. Applejack just stood beside her, nodding, as Rainbow Dash descended to the ground, nearing her friends. The creature roared again, and the humanoids hissed, displaying their fangs.
There was a hiss and a gushing sound, as a series of tentacles emerged from the creatures's shadows, and began to stab into them mercilessy and suddenly. Most of tme didn't even notice the sharp points of the dark strings tear through their bodies, sending out streams of flaming blood on the burned grass. The creatures rolled on the ground, some of them motionless, other still giggling and chuckling, trying to cover the enormous holes in their bodies, from where the blood was coming out. The enormous creature seemed unimpressed, and instead darted towards the mares, raising its axe-
And while he was roaring at the darkened sky, a blade shot out from his chest: at least, for the mares was just a blade with some sort of little blades on its body. But a mortal could have easily recognised it as a chainsaw with some curved, evil-looking blades on the chain.
The enormous creature emitted a loud moan of pain, as the blade began to move upwards, releasing a flood of dark blood on the grass, as the ponies watched, terrified, as the creature was sawed in half. With a horrible sound the saw cut up through the throat of the creature, and finally cut the head in halfflooding the ground with blood, brain and other disgusting demonic bodily fluids. The enormous body wobbled a little before falling backwards and spilling out over the ground all his organs, which began to melt the grass. Noxfero lowered a little his chainsaw, lapping a little bit of the creature's blood from his face, his wings spread and tense, covered in blood like the bottom half of his raincoat, looking with his narrowed eyes at the ponies, while behind him other tentacles were impaling another group of creatures.
The mares looked at him for a couple of seconds, blinking, before beginning to scream like crazy.
Celestia raised her ears, hearing the high pitched screams of fear from her student and her friends coming from the other side of a wall of flames. She moved her head, trying to locate the source of the sound, failing to dodge the pitchfork that stabbed into her forelegs, opening more bloody wounds in her candid body.
"My, you are such a distractedt creature." snickered the scarlet demon, rotating the pitchfork in his hand. "But you are such a powerful source of energy… yes, I definitely need you." He stated, smiling coldly. The alicorn glared at him, sending a golden beam of magic towards him. The devil just dodged, chuckling.
"Boss, we got the chaotic energy source. It's some kind of twisted statue of some sort, we are taking it back to the portal. And as a notice, it won't stay open for much longer. I suggest you stop playing and catch the other source." Stated the skeleton's voice in the archdevil's head. Mephistopheles grinned and pointed his hand towards the alicorn, releasing a stream of flames. Celestia emitted a scream of pain, falling to the ground. Mephistopheles chuckled to himself, landing on the charred ground and walking calmly towards the alicorn, reaching a hand down to pick her up.
-oOo-
"Girls, stop flipping out, it's me!" shouted Noxfero, while trying to calm the five still screaming mares (Fluttershy had fainted). It didn't help that at the same time he was beheading other black creatures, which were continuing to emerge from the flames.
"Jaco, help me with them!" he cried, moving his eyes towards his minion, who was currently being chewed by one of the creatures. The archdevil's minion nodded, slipped out of the other creature's mouth, pausing to poke it in the eye with his thin hand before running towards the mares, jumping over Rarity's face and slapping her.
"Come on now, snap out of it!" he screamed, looking with his big round eyes in the unicorn's face. Her sight focused on the little demon, as well as the others, as if hypnotized by the tiny handthat had slapped the mare's face.
"Jaco…? What are you… I mean… why… what the hay are you doing, Noxfero?!" managed to screech Twilight, as the devil cut in half another one of the black creatures.
"As far as I can see, I'm saving your goddamned furry asses!" he growled back, before turning towards the incoming horde. "If you know what's good for your souls, you worthless minions, you'll fall back this instant, if you don't desire to be erased from all planes of existence!" he roared, making the chainsaw screech. The creatures stopped and looked at each other for a couple of seconds, before running away, hissing and screaming.
"Stupid worthless minions. Luckily, I don't have servants like those…" he hissed, turning towards the mares and lowering the chainsaw.
"Yeah, you have me!" exclaimed Jaco, smiling brightly.
"… Unluckily, I don't have servants like those…" the devil corrected himself, triggering a fit of nervous and almost hysterical giggles from the ponies. The devil grinned, before walking towards them, wiping away some blood from his face. "Now, are you all still in one piece…?" he asked, leaning towards Rarity and looking at her wounds.
"Yeah partner, more or less…" said the orange mare, grinning. "Thanks for the help, by the way." She added, smiling sweetly. Quite a difficult thing to do, considering the large number of corpses behind the archdevil.
"Noxfero, what are you doing here? What's happe-" began Twilight, before being cut of by a pink blur that passed her and charged Noxfero, smashing him to the ground.
"Noxy! You are back and you didn't tell us? How I was supposed to prepare a welcome back party?!" asked Pinkie Pie from atop the demon's chest, smiling brightly.
"Yes… I'm happy to see you too Pinkie…" muttered the devil, pushing the mare gently off so he could stand up again. "To answer you Twi, it's hard to explain. But don't worry, I'm here to fix it."
"And kick some ass." added Jaco, smirking.
"And kick some ass, yes."
"I think that might be a little problematic now…" stated the angel's voice apologetically in the devil's brain. "I saw them dragging some sort of statue into the portal, and even Mephisto was dragging an unconscious big white horned and winged pony toward the portal. I assume it's going to close itself."
"Did you stop him?" hissed the devil, moving his narrow pupils towards the scarlet scar in the sky, half covered by the streams of smoke.
"Well, I tried of course. But you continue to forget I'm just a cherub, not a seraph. Actually, I'm pinned to a wall by Mephisto's pitchfork, and the pain is quite unbearable."
The devil roared, startling the mares, opening his wings while starting again his chainsaw, before flapping his wings and flying off, passing through a wall of flames. Just one wall, and he was where he wanted: behind the scarlet back of the other archdevil, who was still occupied with keeping Mark pinned to a wall of the castle. Noxfero roared, raising his chainsaw, as the other devil turned, raising his hand to send a stream of scarlet flames pouring out towards Noxfero.
-oOo-
"Jaco what's happening…?" asked Twilight worriedly, as the archdevil disappeared in the sea of flames in front of them. The little demon tapped his chin, while a few feet behind him Rainbow Dash was waking up Fluttershy.
"Well… Long story short, a bad guy is trying to mess up with this place, we assume. And Nox's here to save you all, because he cares about about you. Despite what he said when we left."
"Oh well, that was kinda obvious." Noted Twilight.
"Yeah, he's such a bad liar sometime." Agreed Jaco. "We brought some friends with us. A couple of them are helping Luna to evacuate the city, while the other one is here somewhere."
"Speaking of us, those sissy ponies are scared as hell of us, too. Isn't it clear we're the good guys?" asked the Santa Claus' voice inside the little devil's head.
"Quite hard to tell, with you running around with a rocket launcher shouting 'Ho Ho Ho motherfuckers!?" replied the gorilla's voice. "Anyway, our portal's time is running out. We are returning back in two minutes. You do whatever you want."
"I surely couldn't expect nothing more from two souls of Purgatory!" hissed Noxfero's voice, disturbed, as if he was thinking about something else. Like staying alive. "Do as you wish."
"Jaco, are you ok? You are spacing out." stated Rarity worriedly, tapping a little the demon. Fluttershy raised her head, confused.
"Jaco…? Here? I wasn't dreaming then…? Before, I mean…"
"Hi Shy. I was listening to my friend's thoughts. One of our friends is a sort of transmitter of thoughts, he uses that to determine who is good and who's bad, and we use him like a central line." Stated Jaco happily. A roar of pain come from the flames, followed by the sound of something falling down.
"We have to go help Noxy! I hate to stay away from the action like this, especially if a friend is in danger!" grunted Rainbow, trying to find a passage through the flames. "Twilight, can't you put this out?"
"No she can't." grunted Jaco. "It's impossible to put out. And we can't cross it, either. Only demons and angels can do that. We have to find a way around."
"Wait a moment, partner, aren't ya supposed to be a demon?" asked Applejack, beginning to trot behind the little devil.
"It's hard to explain."
-oOo-
"Now Nox, I admire the effort, but in the end, garbage is still garbage, huh?" stated smirking Mephistopheles, flapping his wings and pressing a hand against a large slash across his chest. On the ground, Noxfero and Mark were panting, the first one with a series of scratches over his wings, the second with three stab wounds in his chest.
"Yeah, indeed, you haven't changed a bit." Hissed the devil, taunting Mephistopheles, who only smiled in return.
"I actually was expecting you to show up and try to steal all the wonderful source of powers I manage to find here. Though, I actually wasn't expecting you to convince an angel! I mean, did you drug him? Did you take control of his mind?" he asked, still with his smile on.
"Who knows…" hissed the other devil, spreading again his wings, ignoring the pain. In a remote corner of his mind, he heard two of his companions' voices tell him that they were going back into the portal.
"It's kinda strange. I know you two were… friends… in life, but that doesn't authorize an angel to help a demon."
"What do you know about us, Mephisto?" asked Mark, while a faint light began to materialize in his hands. The archdevil chuckled.
"Enough. Now Noxy, I'd like to give you the chance to flee. I'll steal your power another day. For today, I have two sources of energy to study." stated Mephistopheles, pointing at the unconscious body of Celestia, which was engulfed in a bubble of solid fire and floating in the air beside him. He then pointed his pitchfork at the pair, smirking. "Maybe I can leave you a nice scar…"
"Hey you! Big meanie! Stay away from Noxy!" cried Pinkie Pie, darting in from a corner and placing herself in front of the demon, quickly followed by her friends.
"That's right, ya big red-skin, if yer going to touch him, ya'll have to deal with us first!" growled Applejack, stomping a hoof on the ground.
"Yeah, we are going to kick your flank so hard we'll make you blue!" added Rainbow Dash.
The archdevil looked at them, blinking, as well as Noxfero. Then he began to move his eyes between the ponies and the other devil, while his brain began to put two and two together.
"You…they…you…" he began, before bursting into a shower of laughter, rolling in mid air. "Oh… oh man. You are so.. PATHETIC! A shame as a human and now a shame as an archdevil!" he stated, laughing.
"Yeah yeah… at least I know who my parents are…" grunted the other devil. Mephistopheles stopped laughing, raising a finger in a gesture that the ponies didn't recognize.
"Fuck off Nox."
"Master, you'd better move, the portal will close in a couple of minutes!" cried the skeleton's voice from the sky, as the bony man entered the scarlet shimmer. Mephistopheles grinned, before flapping his wings and darting towards the scar in the sky, followed by the bubble of fire that was holding the princess of the sun. Noxfero tried to jump into the sky, only to fall to the ground, yelping in pain, as streams of black blood poured out from his wings. The scarlet archdevil stopped a few inches from the portal, roaring in the air.
"Minions! You'll die in a couple of days. The only way to survive a little longer is to drain the archdevil's energy!" he shouted, before smiling, and disappearing in the red shimmer, witch emitted a pulse of flames before disappearing.
"Oh look, our portal is moving here, where it was supposed to open!" stated Jaco, looking at the sky, as the azure scar crawled through the sky, setting above the castle.
"Fascinating." Grunted Noxfero, turning and stabbing a couple of claws into the eyes of a black creature that jumped out from the flames. "He's trying to block me here again. He knows our portal will close shortly. Mark, you go back."
"Wait Nox, I can help you he-"
"Move!" roared the devil, ripping off another creature's head. The angel gulped, bowed his head slightly towards the mares, then spread his wings and darted into the sky. "And tell to the other two, leavemy castle, before my boss catches your presence. Tell them I'll find a way to let them have their payment!" added the devil. The angel waved his hand, gesturing that he had heard, before entering the blue scar.
"Nox, where did that creature take the princess? " cried the purple unicornlooking fearfully at the sky. The devil threw another creature against the castle, before turning to face the mares.
"To his place, probably to drain her powers and corrupt her soul. Do you remember when I told you that devils are evil?"
"While trying to be evil, ending up just being a grumpy?" asked Rainbow, smirking. The devil huffed.
"Well, yes. But he IS actually evil. Even for me. I think it's safe to say he's the most evil, between all of us." he muttered, stabbing another black creature with his tail. "I promise I'll try to fix it."
"You'll try?! We need you to do it! We can't lose the princess!" Cried the purple mare, her eyes widening.
"I'm sorry Twi, but there is nothing you can do!" growled the devil.
"Nox, the portal!" cried Jaco, pointing at the sky, where the azure scar was beginning to twitch and to tremble, ready to close. The bigger devil growled, grabbing Jaco and pushing him in one pocket, before jumping into the sky, the gashes on his wings healed. He flapped his wings a couple of times, before being pulled down: a group of black creatures were dangling from his tail, trying to reach him, dragging him to the ground. Noxfero roared, landing again and and cutting swiftly with his chainsaw through the group, chopping off heads and arms, before focusing his gaze again on the sky.
He flapped his wings once more, but again, something tugged his tail. "I don't have time now! I'll kill them later!" thought the devil, still focused on the azure fissure in the sky, which was beginning to disappear. He flapped his wings, darting into the sky and dragging with him whoever was attached to his tail. He flapped his wings frantically, narrowing his eyes, trying not to be distracted by the smoke and the flames. With a final, victorious scream, the devil entered the shimmer, engulfed again in the light.
Sparks, lightning and flashes of light danced in front of his eyes, before being suddenly substituited by the darkness of his castle's dungeon. He fell to the ground, flapping his wings on histinct, while behind him came the sound of screaming machines, fizzling cables and creaking metal.
"What the heck boss! I told you that it couldn't take the passage of more than six souls!" screamed Pumpkinhead, darting out from behind his console. "Now the portal is gone!" The devil didn't answer, turning and raising his chainsaw, ready to chop some more of Mephistophele's minions… and he was greeted by the sight of six certain mares, all of them attached to his tail.
The chainsaw switched off on his own, as the devil's ears dropped and his eyes widened, trying to understand what he was seeing.
"Woohoo! Can we do it again?!" exclaimed Pinkie, raising her hooves in the air.
"Dear heaven, a talking horse!" screamed Pumpkinhead, pointing at the pink mare.
"Holy Celestia, a talking scarecrow!" screamed Applejack, as her eyes stared at the scientist near Noxfero.
"Well, what's so strange about a talking scarecrow?" asked Pumpkinhead indignantly immediately, crossing his arms.
"Oh, look at that, they came with us!" exclaimed Jaco happily.
"Who had this idea…" murmured Noxfero, in a dangerously tense tone.
"Why, me of course. Now, we, including myself, will be able to DO something for the princess." Stated Twilight, failing to notice the devil's glare as he stood up.
"Like what? Die?" he hissed, furious. "Of course it was an idea of yours, Sparkle! The leader of the group, always dragging all of the others in her crazy and dangerous plans! But this time you crossed the line! This is not Equestria! Here there are no lollipops and rainbows! Here you can die!" he screamed, grabbing the mare with a tentacle of darckness and pressing his face on her muzzle, as his voice echoed in the dungeon. "Pumpkinhead, activate the portal, send them back!" ordered the devil, without moving his eyes from the scared face of the unicorn.
"Well… I can't. All these overcharged the mineral, which just consumed itself. I can't fix the portal."
"Well, build a new one then!"
"Well… I can do that… but… well… I need more of that mineral… and well… it's pretty rare… the one that was in the portal, that was the first I managed to purchase in over five years…" said the scared scarecrow, ready to run away in case his boss flipped out.
"Well, isn't this just marvelous?" asked venomously the devil to the mare. "You are fucking stuck here! Risking your fucking life! What the hell do I have to do with you Twilight? Tell me! What the fuck would I do if something happens to you?!" he roared, pushing back the unicorn's mane.
"Come on you silly, nothing will happen to us. You'll protect us!" chirped happily Pinkie, smiling. The devi blinked, looking at her, then sighed, dropping the mare gently on the ground.
"Pinkie is right… if I'm correct, this is the place you know the best. I'm sure you can give us some good advice on how to survive out there." Stated Rarity, smiling.
"Out there? You are not moving a hoof from here!" exclaimed the devil. "You are not leaving this place, and if you do, I'll be with you. That's the first rule. Objection, ladies?" asked the devil, glaring at the group.
"You can't do that!" exclaimed Twilight, again on her hooves. "We are here to rescue the princess!"
"Of course I can. My home, my rules."
"Hah, you can't hide the rainbow!" boasted Rainbow Dash, flapping her wings and trying to dart towards the stairs, efore stumbling to the ground.
"Rainbow! Oh my… I knew this wasn't a good idea…" murmured Fluttershy, walking to her friend, who smirked.
"Don't worry I'm just a bit beaten up."
The devil growled.
-oOo-
"This is your room." Groaned the devil, opening a heavy red door, revealing an extremely dusty room with a series of enormous spider webs on the ceiling.
"But Noxfero, this is dreadful! It'll be an enormous damage for my mane! Don't you have a more… suitable room for guests?" asked Rarity in a slightly-disgusted tone, looking over the room. They had been extremely quiet during the walk between the guest's room and the dungeon. Noxfero had avoided all the passages near windows on the outside or other more… gruesome parts of the castle, leaving them to think about the decision they made. But evidently, that was enough to break the mare's silence.
"No Rare, sorry. I don't usually have guests." Hissed the devil. "Just one bed, I'm afraid, but I'm sure it's big enough. Tomorrow, don't leave the room until I'm not here to pick you up."
"Uh? And where are you going?" asked Pinkie curiously, while looking under the bed, being greeted by the sight of a spider big as a cat crawling away, an eyeball in its mandibles.
"To my room… well girls… goodnight, and welcome to hell!" grunted the devil rushly, before slamming the door. The mares looked at each other, before slowly crawling under the dusty sheets.
"Maybe this time… we've bitten off more than we can chew…" murmured Fluttershy as soon as Rarity put out the black candle near the bed.
"I… I don't know… I just wanted to help the Princess…" murmured Twilight, as her voice broke a little.
"Oh, I know sugarcube." Said softly the orange mare, hugging her friend. "It's normal. I want to help the princess too."
"I think it's better if we analyze the situation after we are all rested." Stated Rarity from the darkness.
"Yeah. Let's just sleep a little. At least, here it's safe." Said Rainbow, yawning loudly.
On the other side of the room, a closet opened slightly with a high screech, as something similar to black hair crawled out, followed by a crazy multicolored and luminescent eye, staring at the bed. The mares blinked.
-oOo-
Noxfero tossed himself on the bed, after putting his raincoat in its place. His body was screaming in pain and fatigue, while stings of pains crawled all inside his wings. He grunted, rolling on the bed and looking at the ceiling. Maybe all of this was just a werid dream, and he still had to wake up, and prepare himself to go to the meeting.
"It would have been better to have never met them, if that would mean they could be safe now…" he murmured, flapping his ears."Man… what they will even going to believe about me now? What Pinkie will going to believe? I wonder if they're starting to think I'm some monster living in his evil lair here... I mean, I am, I really am, they should, they... should."
And then he heard a faint murmur outside his room, before someone knocked at his door.
"Jac, I'm not letting you sleep here, go away!" he growled.
"Nox?" asked a voice on the other side. The devil blinked, before standing up and moving towards the door, opening it: in front of him, Pinkie was smiling sheepishly, a pillow in her mouth. "Err… can we sleep with you? Please?" she asked, gesturing to the other five mares hiding behind her. The devil blinked, before sighing and letting the mares inside.
"I'm here just so I'm not left out, I'm not scared or anything!" exclaimed Rainbow, while darting beside him and putting herself beneath the sheets of the enormous black bed. The devil grinned.
"Of course…" he hissed, laying between the mares and opening his wings, creating a protective shield around them. "Try to sleep now, ok?" he asked gently. Pinkie nodded and hugged him, using his chest as a pillow, as well as Fluttershy. Rarity murmured a 'goodnight' before falling rather unladylike over the pillow, snoring loudly. Twilight said nothing, trying not to look in the devil's eyes, but relaxing when his tail tucked the sheets around her.
Noxfero sighed, and closed his eyes, as a group of shadowy hands put out the lamp's candles, and the last two mares began to snore loudly.
"Goodnight girls." he murmured, as his mind slip away, lulled by the mares' breaths.