"Well… you are better than I was expecting, honestly." stated the vampire, while looking inside Celestia's mouth, and examining the alicorn's throat. "I assumed I would find a lot more traces of corruption. Well, this is good then." She stated, satisfied. The alicorn let out a muffled sound, as the vampire finished her examination.
"So… how is she?" asked Noxfero, watching as Sasha floated away from Celestia, satisfied.
"Well… she's recuperating quite fast from the experience. We should thank Junior, apparently, since he started to purify her body right away. But this is still the quickest recovery I have ever seen. Less than two days, and she seems to be fine." Said the vampire shrugging, as the alicorn followed her with her eyes.
"She can travel?"
"Of course she can. Her magic is probably going to be a little off, though." Stated the vampire, shrugging again. The devil smiled a little, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Well, that's fantastic. I'll see when Belzebù will be able to meet us…" he muttered, before focusing on Celestia. "Princess, I'd be more comfortable if you'll stay in here a little longer, in case anything goes down suddenly. Also, you won't have to deal with Jaco, he probably has already forgotten the way here." he said with a little smile. Sasha raised an eyebrow at the deference her master was showing, but didn't say anything. She didn't want to be punished again.
"If you think this is for the best, I don't have any complaints." said the alicorn, slipping back under her covers, looking at the ceiling. " By the way Noxfero, thank you." She added, with a little smile. The devil raised an eyebrow. "You tried to save Equestria as soon as you knew there was danger, then you took care of the girls when they came to your world, and now you are doing all that is in your power to help us."
"What did you expect?" asked the devil, still with his surprised face. The alicorn's smile grew a little wider, but she dismissed him with a little chuckle and a wave of her hoof. The devil blinked, before shugging and crawling outside, muttering under his breath.
The alicorn smiled even more, letting her head sink into the soft pillow. The medical bay smelled slightly of dust and mold, the walls were blank and depressing, the lights on the ceiling was dim… but she felt safer than she had ever been lately.
-oOo-
"What are you two doing…?" asked Noxfero in disbelief, staying motionless in the doorframe of his room: Pinkie and Jaco were sitting on the black bed, folding some some tinfoil into the form of little hats, while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were trying as well, even if they seemed unable to reach the pink mare's skill. Twilight was reading a book, laying on a pillow (who would have thought?) and as soon as she heard the devil's voice, she jumped off the bed and trotted to him.
"Is the princess ok?" she immediately asked, catching the devil's attention, stopping in front of him.
"Fine as a mosquito in a blood bank." Was the rushed answer of the devil, still looking at his minion and the pink pony crafting the little hats. "What are you making those for?" he finally asked, since he wasn't able to come up with any good reason himself.
"Daelus called, said he managed to contact Belzebù and get an appointment for the both of you. So, we are making tinfoil helmets!" explained the little devil, with a silly smile. "So he won't be able to read our minds."
"Daelus can't read minds!" snapped the archdevil, exasperated. Pinkie and Jaco shared a glance, a little disappointed.
"Can we still do these?" asked Pinkie, raising up a perfectly shaped hat in her hooves and showing it to the devil. He sighed in resignation.
"Sure, why not. But you explain to Daelus why are you wearing them." He blurted out, before returning his attention at his minion. "Anyway, that's good news. Sasha told me that Celestia is well enough to travel so we can have her at our side."
"Do you really want to take her and the girls with you to Belzebu's castle?" asked the little devil, raising an eyebrow.
"We should meet him." noted Twilight, taking a few steps towards the devil. "If he's a friend of yours he might help us out, right? Noxfero can better explain the situation with our help, as well as the princess'."
"That's not the point…" muttered Jaco. "He's not… a pleasant guy." he began to say, before being grasped by a shadowy tentacle and dragged into one of Noxfero's raincoat pockets.
"Whatever. We need him to be on our side, and they can help oil the gears, so to speak." He grunted. "Call him back and tell him to come as soon as he can." He ordered. The little devil saluted, before sinking inside the pocket and searching for a phone.
"So… that Daelus guy is an Arch-thingy like you, uh?" asked Rainbow, raising her eyes, as the devil dropped on the bed and started to stroke Pinkie's mane. "He's quite different than you."
"He was nice." Murmured Fluttershy, with a little smile. "He wasn't scary like the red one that attacked the castle…" she murmured, her face frowning at the memory.
"Well, not only did you lie about the fact that you are the 'ultimate evil'…" teased Rarity, smirking, and raising a hoof to preempt the harsh answer that the devil was going to spit out. "Don't even try it, you are not going to convince any of us." The devil grumbled, but stayed silent. "As I was saying, you also lied about your collegues."
"I didn't lie!" snarled the devil. Pinkie nuzzled his side with a little smirk. "I'm serious… at least, I didn't lie too much. We are evil… following the human line of thoughts." he finished, his voice becoming a low mumble. "But about Daelus, you are right. He's the most pleasant of all of us. Probably because he was supposed to end up in Heaven, not here."
"Didn't you say that Heaven is for the good… souls… while this place is for the bad souls?" asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow, as she returned to lay on the bed, while from Noxfero's pocket continued the rustling of Jaco in his search for a phone.
"Yup. As I said, he was supposed to go up. But being the good soul that he is, he decided to follow his sister down here. He was supposed to become an Archangel, but the boss saw his potential, and hired him as the last archdevil. The archdevil of sloth."
"Sloth? Do ya mean laziness? Yer friend didn't seem all that lazy to me." Noted Applejack, raising an eyebrow from the pillow where she was sitting.
"It was just because that was the only available spot. He's the only archdevil that doesn't mirror his assigned sin. That's probably why his powers were also changed. From slime to lightning. Oh well, who am I to try to understand these things?" he concluded, shrugging.
"That's why you talked with him about us?" inquired the pink pony, her ears fluttering as the black nails of the devil scratched her skin. The devil nodded, emitting a low growl.
"Very well then dear, call soon!" chirped Jaco, popping out of the pocket, with a cellphone pressed upside down to his ear.
"Were you talking to Daelus?"
"Uh? Of course not! Just had a little chat with the Queen of England. Nice lady, as usual. I should call her a little more often, though. Maybe send her something for Christmas."
"I would facepalm, but I'm afraid of making a hole in my head." Growled Noxfero, snatching the phone from the little devil's grasp and starting to type a number.
"Well, I just wanted to hear a little bit from her, since I was there…" muttered the little devil. Noxfero sighed, shaking his head, as he waited for Daelus to answer.
"You girls, go get the princess." He muttered, shooting a glance at his minion. "So we can save some time. Do you remember the way?"
"Of course we do. Come on girls." Immediately ordered Twilight, straightening up and trotting at the door. "Let's go get the princess. Come on, let' move!" she urged the other mares, who exchanged a few glances before slowly following the mare out of the room, Applejack stopping a second beside the bed to permit to Pinkie to slide onto her back.
"Twilight, there is no rush." Tried to say Rarity, as soon as they entered into the corridor and the purple mare started to walk rapidly, quickly striding apart from the rest of the group. She stopped and breathed heavily as the others caught up to her.
"I know, I know… it's just that… I'm excited because the princess is here! She's safe. But she might also be angry with us. And especially with me for having dragged all of you here, and…"
"Sugarcube, she ain't angry." Reassured Applejack, patting Twilight on the back. "Ain't no point in getting all worked up about that. Just relax."
"Yeah! Have a cupcake!" cheered Pinkie from Applejack's back, extracting a cupcake covered in green frosting from her mane, giving it to Twilight. . She took it and started to munch on it, relaxing a little.
"She's going to be happy that everything is fine." Reassured Rainbow, lazily flapping her wings. "You'll see."
Twilight let out a little smile, before stopping in front of the dark door and grasping the handles with her magic, then pulling them open.
"You are probably right." She stated, looking at her friends, before actually looking into the room: Celestia was sitting on her bed, half covered by her sheet and was looking with polite curiosity at Junior, who was staring at her from the bed in front of her, his frowning eyes locked on the alicorn.
"Oh, hello girls." Stated the princess, turning her head and smiling. "How are you doing today?" she asked in a sweet tone. After she had woken up, the ponies hadn't had a real chance to talk with her, since Sasha had put her under observation, without actually allowing anyone to get near her. "What brings you here?" she asked sweetly. Twilight blinked, before rushing to her mentor's side, a bright smile across her muzzle.
"Good day princess!"
"Glad to see ya'll are doing fine, princess." Added Applejack, walking in behind her friend, quickly followed by all the other mares, eager to give their own greetings to their ruler. They didn't even notice as Junior raised himself into the air, sustained by black tentacles stretching out of his back, and crawled out of the room through a vent hidden behind a tile in the wall.
"I'm fine indeed, Applejack. The doctor working here is quite good, and my body was fast to recover from that… unpleasant experience." The alicorn stated, her smile not fading. "I'm a little sore and my magic isn't working properly, but I suppose I can't complain." She said, looking at her subjects.
"That's wonderful news, your highness…" murmured Fluttershy, smiling a little.
"Princess, Noxfero wants to take us to meet another of his archedvil collegues…" started Twilight, trying to mantain a neutral tone. "If you feel ok, I think it's a good idea too…"
"But of course." immediately stated the princess. "And I'm assuming he wants me to go with him?" she asked, and received a nod in response. "Very well, then. If that's what is best, I think I should not leave him waiting for me." She commented, trying to slide out of the bed. She placed an unstable hoof on the ground, before being immediately helped by Rainbow Dash and Twilight, both running to the alicorn's side, helping her to get to the ground.
"Thank you girls, my muscles still hurt a little." She said with a little smile, starting to walk slowly towards the door, the two mares still at either side to help her avoid wobbling too much. "How are you doing, Pinkie Pie?" she asked, moving her eyes to the mare laying motionless on Applejack's back.
"Better, thank you princess!" she cheered, wiggling her bandaged hooves under Celestia's face. "I hope to be ok soon, so Noxfero doesn't have to carry me around!"
"I'm quite sure he's not disliking that." whispered Rarity to the yellow pegasuswho let out a little chuckle.
"Well, AH will appreciate that for sure… Ah say it again Pinkie, you are a little heavy…" panted Applejack, continuing to walk beside the others down the corridor while wiping off a few drops of sweat from her forehead.
As the group chuckled, they continued to walk through the dark corridors of the castle. Celestia could see Noxfero's touch in their surroundings. The black walls, purple-glass windows, shadows crawling in every corner. A rolling Jaco on the floor with his head engulfed in flames…
"Still here girls? Come on, Noxy is waiting for you outside." he chirped, standing up and hopping happily towards them. "Hi Celly!" he added, waving a tiny hand at the alicorn. "Glad to see you back on your hooves."
"Thank you Jaco." Smiled the princess, as the little demon turned and started to guide them, his head burning like a torch, lighting up their way.
-oOo-
"…I'm just saying that you could just tell her." spoke Daelus, as the mares finally left from the main door of the castle: an enormous obsidian door with numerous carvings of skulls, devils, and other not really pleasant things.
"Like that? Don't even…" started Noxfero, before noticing the mares and shutting up, walking towards them. "Princess, if you had problems with walking you could just ask for Sasha's help."
"I'm fine, Noxfero." Was the calm answer of the alicorn. "Just a little dizzy at the beginning."
"Man, she reminds me a lot of the boss." Snickered Daelus, crossing his arms. "Badass, powerful, and with just that aura of superiority that none of us can hope to obtain."
"At least she doesn't punish those who disappoint her with baths in the boiling oil." muttered Noxfero, before shrugging and gesturing at them. "The transport is coming, so don't stay on the path."
"Transport?" asked Twilight, looking around: this being her first time outside the castle, she had been expecting a different environment. Instead, she was faced with a fairly large plain of gray dust, in front of a tall and long series of spiky mountains. There was no place for a road where a transport could pass.
"Just asking, what kind of transport it is? There ain't no road here that I can see." Asked Applejack, giving voice to the unicorn's thoughts.
"Flying transports, of course. Usually we would just fly directly to Belzebù's palace, but since only two of you are able to fly at the moment, we have to call for some of Belze's servants." Explained Noxfero, making a vague gesture at the reddish sky, where a couple of black clouds were rolling lazily past. "We just have to wait here for a little while. Sadly, they aren't too fast."
The devil closed his mouth, looking at the sky, waiting for their transports to enter into his field of view. Applejack dropped Pinkie to the ground with a grunt, before sitting and resting on the dusty earth. Celestia sat on the ground as well, looking at the sky, filling her lungs with the fresh air.
"Awkward silence…" whispered audibly Jaco, popping out from one of Noxfero's pockets, patting the devil's side.
"The alternative would be me and Daelus speaking about work, and we are avoiding doing that since it'll be quite a bit more awkward." Snarled the devil, shaking his head. Daelus let out a little chuckle, before taking a step towards the mares.
"I'm not too sure what to speak about with a group of ponies. I'm not the one that went and passed a lot of months in their apparently perfect world." He snickered, his big tail slamming on the ground.
"You may talk about this world then. We are just foreigners here. You shall be our guide." Said calmly Celestia, turning her eyes to the enormous devil. "Noxfero was quite vague when speaking about this place… and the 'mortal world' connected to this one."
"Princess, we would need an awful lot of time to describe even a small part of Hell." Snickered Daelus, as his ears twitched, hearing a loud buzzing sound, that was quickly approaching. He raised his eyes, imitated by the others: an enormous cockroach was rapidly approaching, heading towards the ground, the enormous and transparent wings emitting the loudest buzzing the mares had ever heard.
"Oh dear!" was Rarity's scream, before she tried to run back inside the castle, just to be stopped by a shadow hand that grasped her tail, stopping her a few steps away from the door.
"That's our transport." Snickered Daelus, as the enormous bug finally landed a few meters from them, raising a cloud of gray dust in the air. Now the mares could see some sort of chariot-like cabin tied up on the middle section of the bug, while a maggot-like creature was seated on the head of the bug.
The cockroach closed its wings under its green carapace, emitting a screeching sound with its jaws, which Celestia was sure could tear an alicorn apart with no effort. The maggot-like creature moved a white and tiny appendex at the two archdevils, pointing at the cabin.
"Here is our ride." Snickered Noxfero, clearly enjoying the ruckus Rarity was causing trying to free herself from his tentacles of darkness and run away from the immense bug, without results. "Dash, Shy, hop on, we are coming." He ordered. The two pegasi nodded and started to fly up towards the cabin, the door opening on its own.
"Come on now, Rarity, stop struggling…" he muttered, trying to grasp the flailing unicorn, receiving a couple of kicks as he tried to do so. Daelus lowered slightly towards Celestia, ignoring Twilight cringing.
"May I, your highness?" he asked calmly, pointing at the cabin with his tail. The princess nodded.
"Yes please. I'm afraid my wings aren't up to the task, and it seems as if Noxfero has is hands full, at the moment." She chuckled, as Rarity freed herself and tried to make another dash towards the door of the enormous black castle, as Noxfero leaped in the air, trying to pounce on her, while Applejack and Pinkie were rolling on the ground, almost choking with laughter. Daelus lowered his hands, and gently grabbed the alicorn, as if he was picking up a cat, and raised her at his chest, while from his back a couple of transparent wings opened.
While the Archdevil of Sloth raised into the air and moved towards the cabin, Noxfero had managed to tie down a screaming Rarity and held her under one arm, with Pinkie under his other arm.
"You can't drag me towards such a creature! You can't!" was screaming the candid mare, but Noxfero, after a couple of random kicks between his legs, had decided to stop paying attention to the mare's complaints. Pinkie on the other hand was still laughing, her eyes tearing up from her laughter.
"Glad you are having fun, Pinkie." He snarled, opening his black wings and starting to flap them, raising into the air and heading towards the cabin, just as the other archdevil returned down to pick up Applejack and Twilight. "Because I'm not!"
"I'm having fun too!" chirped Jaco. "By the way, great hits Rarity. Maybe next time you should aim a little better…"
The archdevil growled, entering into the cabin, and placed the two mares on two soft and padded armchairs. Rarity immediately stopped to whine as soon as she noted the inside: a set of scarlet, furry armchairs were placed all along the wooden walls, except for what had all the intentions to be a minibar. She stayed still as the shadowy binds disappeared, while looking in amazement around her.
Noxfero had the clear impression that it wasn't a good idea to tell her that the coating of the armchairs was made out of the remains of cockroach eggs.
Daelus crawled through the small entrance and placed the last mares inside, before turning towards the maggot-like creature and waving a hand. He pushed himself inside, keeping his head low to not poke the ceiling with his horns, and closed the door right behind him, as the cockroach opened his carapace and started to move its wings again. At least the inside of the cabin was padded and they didn't have the obnoxious sound piercing their ears.
The bug raised through the air, with just a little bump in the cabin, moving swiftly over the mountains around the black castle, and starting to rapidly fly over a vast black, rocky plain, filled with holes and canyons of erupting flames.
"This is still my realm. But if I have to be honest, the layout was done by the archdevil before me. I was just too lazy to remodel it." Said in an apologetic tone Noxfero, looking down one of the windows of the cabin. The mares looked down, amazed by the peculiar scenery. "Every realm is modeled on the archdevil's desires and inclinations. I'm quite sure my predecessor was quite the sadistic type." He added, spotting a canyon filled with impaled, burning souls.
"You are a sadistic type too." Noted Jaco, raising an eyebrow.
"Just to who deserves it." Shrugged the devil. "Speaking of which…"
Noxfero stood up, grasping the little devil's neck with a hand. He walked towards the cabin door, opened it, and tossed the little devil outside. Then he calmly closed the door, and returned to his place.
"That is so much better." He sighed, relaxing. Twilight and Applejack rolled their eyes, while Celestia raised an eyebrow and Daelus snickered. "Anyway, as you can see now, we are already on the Styx." He added, regaining his role of 'guide', pointing down to a large stream of reddish water that abruptly interrupted the black plain of rocks. "It's the only river down here, and also marks the boundaries between our territories. We are entering Belzebù's level now." He explained.
Under the cockroach now there was a vast and dark forest, as far as the mares' eyes could see: tall and sick-looking willows and mangroves were compacted against each other, forming an almost uniform expanse of leaves.
"It's a swamp down there?" asked Fluttershy, examining the trees. Noxfero nodded, shrugging.
"The swamps of gluttony, where the souls are condemned to crawl around, hiding from the predators, almost constantly tortured by swarms of flies and mosquitos, still able to feel the hunger but unable to eat anything of the food the plants produce, since they are poisonous and revolting." Commented Daelus, a slight frown on his face. "An effective punishment for the gluttonous, I suppose."
"That's horrible!" exclaimed Rarity, looking outside. "Why is gluttony such a bad thing? I mean, ok, it might ruin your figure, but isn't that punishment enough?!" she asked, looking at the two archdevils. They shared a glance.
"We don't have the slightest idea." finally stated Noxfero, shrugging.
"We are not the ones making the rules." Added Daelus. "There is surely a good reason, but that's not the sin assigned to us, so we didn't really make any research on that."
"You can ask Belzebù, if you wanted." Shrugged Noxfero, as the cockroach suddenly started to lower, heading towards a vast clearing, in front of a tall and large building, apparently made out of mud, not nearly as elaborate as Noxfero's palace. "Now, hold on…" he muttered, as the bug landed with a splash and a series of gurgling sounds inside the muddy marsh in front of the immense building. The bug emitted a series of screeches, before finally settling, closing its wings.
With a little screech, the door of the cabin opened, as the maggot creature turned and waved its little pale arms, gesturing to his passengers to get out. Daelus nodded and passed again through the doorframe with a little bit of effort, before offering his arm to Celestia, who accepted it with a little smile, permitting the archdevil to grab her again and glide down towards the swampy ground. Rainbow and Fluttershy followed him, looking around, impressed by the dimension of the trees.
Rarity looked down at the muddy ground below them, before turning towards Noxfero, who was grasping Pinkie and holding her to his chest.
"Can you hold me too?" she squeaked, getting the devil's attention. "I don't want to have any of that nasty mud on my coat." She pleaded, her lower lip trembling a little. Noxfero let out a worn out sigh.
-oOo-
Daelus and Noxfero walked towards the large, muddy, and covered in slimy water stairs of the palace, the bigger devil holding Celestia, while the second one was holding Pinkie in his arms, while Rarity was comfortably placed on his head, and meanwhile the other mares were falling a little behind them.
A couple of worms beside the dirty door raised their tails in salutes, before grasping the handles of the gate and opening it, slipping on the mud.
"A peculiar set of creatures…" noted Celestia, as the little group rushed into the corridor of the palace, lit up by numerous braziers that were burning with strange blue flames. The walls were apparently made out of dried up mud and sticks, giving the sensation that it could crumble any second. The two archdevils ignored the surrounding, moving swiftly over the muddy floor, also ignoring the large number of bugs and vermin crawling out from cracks in the walls to stare silently at the guests of the palace.
"I'm sure you'll see soon enough why, princess." Said softly Daelus, taking a turn and walking down another corridor, where a series of paintings that were half covered in dirt were stuck into the mud.
"He sure should have been chosen as the archdevil of dirt for sure." noted Rarity, looking with disgust to a big reddish spider crawling on the ceiling, following them. She didn't even notice the carved door until the two archdevils stopped: this door was metallic, half rusted, and covered in clear carvings representing piles and piles of food.
"Do you think he's eating?" asked Daelus, raising an eyebrow.
"Mh… we are talking about the archdevil of Gluttony… what do you think?" snarled Noxfero, grasping the door's handles. "Girls, plug your nose." He warned, before pushing the door open.
In front of them there was an immense, round room, brightly lit up by a series of crackling torches, stuck in the walls, lighting up the enormous round table in the center of the room, where a mountain of food was piled up messily. But it wasn't common food: putrescent carcasses of dead animals were mixed with festering fruits and vegetables, all mixed in a multicolored pile of decay. A stream of rotting liquid was leaking down the table, producing a fairly large puddle.
Rarity plugged her mouth, as her stomach started to twitch. The other mares weren't any better, since Twilight pressed her hooves to her mouth as well, Applejack put her hat in front of her muzzle, in an attempt to hide from the miasma coming from the rotten food. Fluttershy was becoming green, and Rainbow was trying to cover her nose. Celestia was the only one that seemed to be unaffected, even if her nose was wrinkling from the strong hit.
Swarms of flies were buzzing all around the pile, feasting on it, as well as a large number of pale maggots swarming all around the pile. And on the top of it, sitting on a dead cow's ribcage, ripping up a chunk of festering meat, there was Belzebù.
Celestia first thought was that it was a big fly. But after a second, she could see the different structure, somehow similar to Noxfero and Daelus'. The body was squat and round, of a dark ocher color, while the round head was covered in dirty tufts of fur. The big eyes were like a pony's, but instead of a normal pupil and iris, they had a pupil sectioned like the eye of a fly. The legs and the arms were thin and covered in black fur. The mouth was just a long proboscis, almost as long as his body, ending with a toothy orifice, that he used to rip the meat from the bones, while a couple of translucent wings flapped on his back. All in all he was quite small, no taller than a common pony. Hard to believe that he could be…
"Oi Belze!" shouted Noxfero. The fly-like creature raised his eyes and spotted them. He waved a tiny hand and started to fly lazily towards them, gulping down the few traces of rotten meat stuck under his little claws.
"Daelus! Noxfero! Nice to see you two guys!" he exclaimed, as soon as he reached them, in quite a normal voice. Celestia was expecting some sort of squeaky or silly voice. "You never come visit me!"
"I wonder why…" snorted Noxfero, eyeing the pile fo rotten stuff.
"You want something to eat? I have already finished the manure muffin, but you can…" started Belzebù, but was cut of by a wheeze: Rarity slid rapidly off Noxfero's head, and ran towards the wall, starting to barf on the way, before stopping and vomiting on the dirty floor, trying to hide herself from the other's sight.
"Maybe we should get out of here?" asked Daelus in a pleading tone. "We can't discuss with our subject vomiting all around."
"Vomiting? I thought it was offering me the dessert." Stated the fly, raising an eyebrow. Another set of retches followed this statement.
-oOo-
"Are… are you feeling better?" asked carefully Fluttershy, looking at the candid mare that was resting on the sofa. Belzebù had agreed to move to another side of the castle, away from the awful sight and smell. At least, this room was a little cleaner, and the mares were able to sit on a sofa without having to deal with mud, sewage or other stuff.
"I won't eat for the next week." Was the ranted answer.
"Uh, can I have your desserts then?" asked Pinkie, turning towards Rarity, a hopeful shimmer in her eyes, totally ignoring the three archdevil's discussion, with Noxfero explaining the general details to the little archdevil.
"So… you disobeyed the boss?" asked the fly creature, looking at the archdevil.
"He tried to help his friends." Stated Celestia, taking Noxfero's defence. "Sometimes the heart acts on its own."
"Woah ma'am, I'm not judging, that's not my job. And orders are made to be broken. It was because we disobeyed an order that me and the boss are here doing this job in the first place." immediately stated the fly, putting his little hands in front of him. "I was just surprised he had the guts."
"What Mephisto could have done to them is nothing compared to what the boss might do to me." Snarled Noxfero, shooting a glance at the six mares relaxing on the sofa. "But if it wasn't for my intervention, they were going to be dead, and the princess would have ended up being used as a weapon."
"Ah yes, and that's the accusation you want to move against Mephisto, right?"
"Right. What the princess described to me was quite similar to the extracting process to remove holy powers from angels. He was trying to suck her powers out, to use them against the boss."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Come on, this is Mephisto the one we are talking about." Snarled Noxfero, raising an eyebrow.
"I guess you are right." Grunted the fly, before moving his proboscis towards the alicorn, and emitting sounds similar to sniffs. "…Well, she's a beacon of holy power all right."
"By holy power you mean…?" asked Celestia, raising slightly an eyebrow. She wasn't quite sure what that word was supposed to mean. At least, in that contex. She knew what 'holy' meant, of course, but she never saw herself like something divine and holy. Even if maybe some pony did…
"Lighty." Daelus stated, as a response.
"Pure." Added Belzebù.
"The kind of power that can kick our ass into the next dimension. That's why Mephisto wants it. Your power is enough to challenge our boss. If you hadn't been caught off guard, I'm sure you could have been able to kick Mephisto's ass quite happily." He explained.
"Actually, no." Retorted Belzebù, shaking his head. "As ex angel… and not just an angel but THE angel, the first one, the most perfect and pure, the boss is totally immune to holy powers. And apparently, everyone knows that apart from you and Mephistophele."
"He's good at not getting things!" called Rainbow from the couch, receiving a glare from Noxfero.
"So, all those shenanigans were useless?" asked Daelus, raising an eyebrow, before shrugging. "That doesn't change what Mephisto did. He attacked innocent creatures in a dimension out of our territory."
"Yup. You'll have my help on that. they seem to be creatures allright." Nodded Belzebù, looking first at Celestia, then at the ponies on the couch.
"Yep. Even if their tolerance to disgusting things is quite low." Noted Noxfero. "So please, try to not gross out them too much."
"I get it, I get it."snorted the fly, before turning, opening a drawer in the wall and taking out a series of caramel-covered dead spiders. "Anyone want a treat?"
Oo-oO
Well, I assume this story (like all my others) are in a universe set after s2, without considering s3. Anyway, here's Belzebù, lord of flies and archdevil of Gluttony for ya all.
So, what or who do you want to see next? Lilith? Mammon? Or just worck with what I have for now? Feel free to let me know in a review.