#10
"Ben, HEY! Open your eyes!"
I slowly opened my eyes to spot a demon on the far side of the room, he held in his hand a ball of clothes and on the other a wooden pole. It took me a few seconds to rub the blur away from my eyes before recognizing the clothes as mine and that the pole in his hand was actually a sword, a wooden sword.
"What are you doing with my clothes? And what's with the-"
I quickly flinched away as he flung the ball of clothes at my face. I extended my arm and caught the ball before instantly getting the scent of lavender as it polluted the air. "What the?" I began curiously unfolding all the clothes and studying them. Odd, they had all been cleaned and washed of all stains.
"Did you wash them?"
I admired the smell of clean clothes, and when it smells like lavender. He slowly looked to the door which seemed about half open, and from the door I could hear a gentle voice singing. The voice was slow and calming but the fact that it was Flutter's voice gave me a small thing to wonder.
"No, she washed them, seems you impressed last night" He said throwing me my sword, I reacted quickly, reaching my hand out catching it by the handle and placed it down by the bed.
"You…saw that?" I asked a bit timid about him knowing.
"Well what did you want me to do? Look away? Interrupt…Join in?"
"Fine, and how were you even watching us?"
"Through your eyes, I'm inside of you remember?"
That forced me quiet for a moment.
"You mean I'll never have privacy again?"
"As far as I know, no."
I stared at a wall before looking at my sword. He appeared last night and now he was here again, and had done no wrong between that time period, on the contrary, he's been useful. I pondered it, whether to accept he was just another new thing about coming here, or if he came with me from the old world, as outlandish as it was.
"Are you…something that I brought with me from the old world, or are you just something new from this world?" I asked unsheathing the blade halfway. He was silent for a moment.
"I've been with you since birth."
"Birth?" I asked. "So, when I was born, so were you?"
"Exactly, everyone has demons, normal and petty ones, then there are those with big enough ones to show themselves."
"Then why didn't you show yourself back then?"
He looked off to a side and cleared his throat.
"Want me to remind you how many you killed?"
I instantly sheathed the sword with a strong grip.
"That…was you?"
"It was both of our faults, but in the end, we can't change the past, now can we?"
I gulped and agreed. He had a valid point, and one I can't prove wrong. I remained silent for a few minutes, lost in the thought of the lives I've taken before it became to quiet for him. He moved over to my side of the bed kicked my leg gently to get my attention.
"Get up."
I glared at him and he kicked me again, slightly harder this time.
"Don't look at me like that, you were never a lazy guy, get your ass up."
I stared at him some more before I sprang up onto my feet with the ball of clothes in my hand.
"Well then, I guess I'll go change." I said as I proceeded to head to the bathroom, only to be stopped by a heavily placed hand over my shoulder that spun me around.
"You're not going anywhere…without one of these." He said pulling out a toothbrush from his back pocket, I curiously stared at the brush as I took it from his hands and studied it.
"Where did you get this?" I asked feeling the bristles of the brush: stiff. He looked out the window and smiled childishly.
"I took it from a creepy smiling pony, it's new though, and don't worry, she didn't see me." He chuckled making the whole situation sound trivial. I wouldn't condone stealing anything but since it was necessary, I didn't mind.
"Thanks."
"No Problem." He said throwing himself on the bed. I turned to him and smirked. "You know I'm confused as fuck about you, right?"
He shrugged before smiling, laying on the bed and looking at the ceiling. "Yeah, but you won't question it, just take me for who I am; your demon."
I looked at him before sighing. "Whatever, but we're gonna have to talk at some point, you were the reason I got thrown against a wall on the first day."
"They were being assholes! Now go and change!" He ordered. I left the room feeling rather jittery inside, maybe it was after last night, and Flutters. I smiled as I entered the room and looked at my smile in the mirror, he actually made me laugh. This was a new me, one that I'm proud of, and don't have to worry about. I sighed as I laid out the clothes in front of me.
I opened the bathroom door, fully attired and headed back to the room to check on the demon. I slowly walked back thinking about how life was going as of right now: ponies, a demon, magic, friends: It was out of a dream. The fact that I have a demon by my side, talking ponies that are cute, magical power, and having friends, was all too new for me, yet, I wouldn't I have it any other way.
Before I knew it, I was at the door with the strange feeling that something was off. Flutters had stopped singing and she didn't seem to be active. I quickly turned to the door that was now fully opened and showed the shadow of a small pony and a taller figure, I could only assume the worst as I slowly crept to the room.
The first thing that came into sight was Flutters who was looking up at Kusanagi, while her whole body shivered in fear. He on the other hand, just stared down at her with cluelessness shown across his glare, both didn't look away from each other. I quickly concealed myself on the other side of the door and watched what happened.
"B-Ben, you…ch-changed again." Flutters shivered slowly backing up, Kusanagi slowly placed his hands ahead of himself in caution and began to slowly back, back onto the bed. Despite him showing no threat, he held a straight, serious glare on him as he backed up.
"I'm not gonna hurt you, I've said that already, haven't I?" He said sitting back down on the bed, Flutters stopped backing up but remained alert. I would have intruded by now but I wanted to see how he would handle this and if it gets out of hand, I'll go in. I figured this would be a small test of his word.
"Yes, I-I remember, but you threatened Luna and you're a-a demon…and you got Ben hurt!" Flutters reminded him, backing even more but she quickly hit the wall behind her and stared intensely at him. I wanted to step in right now but immediately stopped when Kusanagi got off the bed and walked over to her slowly. He got close enough for her to react by placing her head down with her hooves over her eyes, he didn't do anything for a few seconds until a grin appeared on his face.
"I did and I am, but even if that's true, I wouldn't hurt you for one or two reasons," he said reaching down and picking up Flutters, she quickly removed her hooves and stared at him, confused and terrified out of her mind. He lifted her up to the sunlight shining through the window to see her clearly. I was as shocked as Flutters was by his actions but something was telling me this will end well, so I stood my ground.
"W-what are the one or two reasons?" Flutters asked in a quieter than a mouse whisper looking down at him, nervous out of her mind. He chuckled a little before bringing her down and sitting on the bed with her in his hands and on his lap.
"For one: Ben has vouched to protect you and everypony, so I must, in some way, also do the same." He said, still keeping Flutters in his hands with a firm grip. Flutters didn't react at the instant but her attitude changed, her look gave it away.
"A-and what's two?" she asked looking at the silhouette made by him. He quickly turned Flutters around to face him, she looked at him wide-eyed as he stared into her eyes.
"Two: For a demon, I'm not as bad as I look." He chuckled finally allowing Flutters to go free, she didn't seem to know whether to trust him or not but I could tell she wanted to believe him, I would after that. Not as bad as he looks when he looks like me. I smiled as I accepted his words.
"That sounded about right." I said finally emerging from the back of the door, startling Flutters causing her to jump into the air while Kusanagi smiled at my sight.
"About time you showed." He said getting to his feet, grabbing his wooden sword and walking up to me. I smiled at his gesture and turned my attention to Flutters who was as about as lost as ever.
"If you're Ben, then, who are you!?" She asked pointing her hoof at me then at him, we gave a quick glance at each other before he aimed his thumb at himself.
"I'm Kusanagi, Ben's demon, and he's Ben, but you already knew that." He said twirling the wooden sword, on the other hand, Flutters slowly floated over to me, keeping her eye contact on him.
"Is he really not going to hurt anypony?" Flutters asked in a whisper. I could tell Kusanagi wasn't the type to hurt innocents but he was the type to be daring over anything, aside from that, he really wasn't a threat as far as I've seen.
"I trust him, and don't worry about him hurting anyone, he'll probably hurt anyone who tries to hurt us." I said with a smile, petting her head. She seemed to relieve some of the stress in her but still kept her caution up. Kusanagi took kindly to my trust in him. He picked up my sword and handed it to me.
"Thanks." I grabbed it and putting it onto my waist. I didn't know how I was going to explain this to everyone else, but for now I'll enjoy his company. Flutters seemed to improve her view on him from his actions and landed back down onto the floor.
"Oh yeah, and about your vest, I put it away, along with all the weapons in there, don't worry though, they're safe." He said looking at my torso. I didn't notice I didn't have it on, but I had to admit I felt way lighter and comfortable knowing it wasn't on me.
"Thanks, I wasn't gonna use it that much anyway, not like there's any wars going on here." I thanked him. He laughed a bit before looking away and nodding.
"Hopefully." He said ominously, triggering my gust of questions which Flutters halted with her sudden uprising of joy.
"How about I make breakfast, um…what would you like?" Flutters turned to the new company, quickly getting his attention. He swirled around and glared suspiciously at her.
"Break…fast?" Kusanagi asked with his hand under his chin. I quickly turned my attention to him along with Flutters, both of us had equally confused expressions as we looked at him.
"Yes…breakfast, the food you eat in the morning." I said trying to make sense of his confusion.
"Hmmm…" He hummed nodding his head in agreement but not saying a word.
"Have you ever had breakfast? Food?" Flutters asked nearing him with a puzzled look. He shook his head with a hand on his chin.
"No…I've never tasted food before, I've tasted blood though, it's quite nasty." He said, looking at the floor, seriously trying to comprehend food.
"Yeah…that really isn't breakfast." I corrected, walking up to him and getting next to Flutters, who look a little disturbed by his answer.
"Umm…I can make you some eggs and toast instead, right?" Flutters asked with a faithful smile. K nodded before finally dropping his hand from his chin.
"I know what eggs and toast are but…what does it taste like exactly?" He asked, looking straight down at Flutters. I could tell Flutters was becoming anxious from her terrified smile. K had a strong stare and it wasn't like mine at all, it was deeper and more bone chilling.
"Hey, why not find out?" I said distracting him from Flutters, he turned his attention away from Flutters causing her to let out a sigh of relief. He smirked before smacking a fist into his palm almost as if ready to go into a brawl.
"OKAY, LETS GO EAT SOME EG-!"
"FLUTTERSHY!"
Everyone immediately became silent and didn't move when the house door swung open. I quickly recognized the voice of that of a southern accent pony. Kusanagi quickly drew his wooden sword and put it up in an attacking position, while both me and Flutters stared at each other, each one signaling each other to go check on the guest and rejecting it each time.
"FLUTTERSHY?! WHERE ARE YA?!"
Flutters gave a quick sigh as she slowly peeked out the door before fully exited the room. Her face was enough to put me on edge and retract myself away from the door.
"Oh…hey Applejack, you don't look so happy." She nervously chuckled with the same terrified smile from earlier. Kusanagi and I both threw ourselves behind the bed and peeked over it cautiously as we both gave each other a share of our confusion.
"OF COURSE I AIN'T HAPPY, SOMEPONY CUT DOWN ONE OF OUR TREES!" She yelled, I could tell Flutters was gonna have a hard time calming her down, but that didn't grab my attention as much as the sword that Kusanagi had in his hands. I glared at him.
"You had something to do with that, didn't you?" I asked, he didn't answer but instead immediately placed his sword away into a holster behind his back that I didn't notice before and put on an annoyed look.
"She doesn't so sound friendly!" He exclaimed rolling himself across the bed and running towards Flutters, I had no choice but to go after him.
"HEY YOU STOP THAT YELLING, I NEED SOME DAMN EGGS AND TOAST AND YOU'RE IN THE WAY!" He yelled sliding out the room with his finger pointed at Applejack. I quickly slid out the door along with him and stared at Applejack who had her mouth hanging in shock and anger.
"Who the hay are you!?" Applejack asked giving him a frustrated look. He didn't take her actions too kindly as he immediately balled his fists and gave her his own stare, the only difference between his stare and hers is that his is a death stare by default. Applejack flinched her body upon looking into his eyes directly and backed a step.
"You must be Applejack, no?" he chuckled. "You're a very lucky pony, you would've been nothing but ashes, if it wasn't for your relation to Ben." He taunted letting his fingers open and close in anxiety and his to-be famous grin appear. I wasn't at all surprised by his choice of words, but Applejack was, as she quickly lowered her anger to a shocked look. Flutters was about as equally shocked but she didn't express it in her face but in her shaking.
"Darn, ya don't have to be like that!" Applejack said back, but Kusanagi wasn't going to take that, he instead crouched down in front of her and drew the wooden sword from his back, showing it to her. I could immediately feel that this wasn't going to end well and so did Flutters, she practically covered her entire face.
"Listen, your tree isn't there anymore, but instead you can have a look at this here wooden art and finery!" he said sounding like a game show host announcing a prize. Applejack's anger immediately showed as she grabbed him by the collar with her hooves and pushed her head to smack on his.
"YOU CUT DOWN MY TREE FOR A TOY!?" She yelled but it had no effect on him, he instantly grabbed Applejack and picked her up and placed her to his side locking her with his elbow. I quickly took a step forward but was immediately stopped when he stuck his hand out to my face.
"HEY, PUT ME DOWN!"
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, but instead I want to show you why I cut your tree down!" He said flicking the sword in front of him. I never noticed the design on the sword till now, it wasn't an easy project to complete. The sword looked like mine, but its design was completely different. His had a sun on one side and a crescent moon on the other side, immediately sparking my interest in why he would choose such a design.
"Okay-okay, just put me down, please," Applejack said lowering her anger to disappointment. He just chuckled and opened his arm causing her to fall to the floor awkwardly. She pouted and sat down next to Flutters who tried to comfort her but she wasn't in the mood to be comforted.
"Alright then, show me what ya did…" Applejack demanded, sighing at the end and putting a saddened look on. I glanced over at her and my curiosity lowered slightly at seeing her disappointment but only slightly.
"Hey, Applejack, I'm sure your tree was put to good use, let's just hear him out." I said lowering my hand to stroke her mane but immediately retracted it when she sprang up and rapidly looked at me and Kusanagi.
"What the hay?! Who… yer… WHO'S THAT?!" Applejack yelled switching her sight between me, Kusanagi, and Flutters. "They didn't tell me Ben had a twin, a rude one though."
Kusanagi looked at me and I at him, as Flutters grabbed Applejack's attention and turned her to face us. He didn't waste time in holstering the wooden sword which was still making my mind itch, apart from that it also seemed to put me in a state of caution. I dismissed my thoughts as he spoke.
"Now listen, at some point I'll have to introduce myself to everypony but I don't want you all getting ahead and introducing me before I do, got it?" He said giving us the same "or else look" I have. Both Flutters and Applejack nodded obediently, I, on the other hand, chuckled as he placed his hands together and grinned.
"Alright…now we will discuss this over some eggs and toast." he said, switching to a calm tone, immediately disappearing from our sight leaving me along with the two ponies beside me surprised.
"Where did he go?" Flutters asked as she looked around moving her head side to side while Applejack and I looked at the location where he was standing before disappearing.
"He's gone?" Applejack added on using her hoof to lift her hat to scratch her head.
"Oh…he's here, He-!" I began but was quickly interrupted when his voice emerged from another part of the house.
"I don't think this is as an egg, but hey, it on the plate."
"What?" We all said running before looking over the edge of a wall to see the demon holding in his hands a small bunny who was trying to break from his grip. I stared at him in disbelief realizing he would eat a bunny alive as he neared the bunny to his open mouth, the bunny covering its eyes and shaking violently in fear. Before I could say anything to stop him from eating it, I heard Flutters scream from behind me.
"EEEKKKK! DON'T EAT ANGEL, HE ISN'T AN EGG!" Flutters yelled quickly stopping him from nearly chomping down on the poor little bunny. If she had stopped him a nanosecond later, that bunny would have been decapitated for sure. He quickly stopped and pulled the bunny away from his mouth and stared at it with a confused and angered look.
"Why didn't you tell me you weren't an egg!?" He asked, waving a finger at the bunny, the bunny as well giving him an angered look with its arms crossed. I couldn't wrap my head around everything that was happening but I now learned something new: Kusanagi isn't that smart when it comes to identifying things. I revealed myself along with Applejack and walked up to Kusanagi who had been staring the bunny down. The bunny was also staring up at him with a stare that matched his exactly. Kusanagi finally had it when the bunny stuck its tongue out in a tease.
"THIS BUNNY WANTS TO DIE!" He yelled putting the bunny down and quickly drawing his hands forward and aiming them at the bunny. I quickly recognized the position of his and rushed over to stop him as sparks began to form around his hand and a dark energy ball appeared.
"FINAL!"
"WHAT!?" Flutters and Applejack yelled as they threw themselves to cover, while "Angel" hopped away.
I quickly got in front of his attack and balled my hand swinging it into his stomach causing him to gag as he cringed his fingers. He quickly reacted the same way, he balled his hand and buried it into my stomach as well causing us both to stand there with pain pulsing throughout our bodies.
"DAMN! YOU HIT HARDER THAN I EXPECTED!"
"DAMN IT BEN! I COULD'VE ENDED IT IF YOU HADN'T GOTTEN IN THE WAY!"
We both pushed ourselves away from each other holding our areas of impact and laughing the little air our lungs had left, insanely.
"You watch yourself K," I said, addressing him with a new name. "Or I'll hit you harder next time, Hehe…"
"Next time you'll take that Final Flash to your gut dumbass!" He said as we grinned at each other, and awkwardly fist bumped at the end. I honestly had never taken an open punch to the stomach so forcefully but it felt like a burning flame in my body had been given an overload of fuel and I could tell that K felt the same way by his grin.
"Is it safe to come out?"
I quickly turned my attention to the two ponies and bunny peeking over the table with wide eyes. I instantly remembered what had happened before we ended up with a printed fist on our shirts and gave K the slap of his life behind the head causing him to rub and stare at me.
"What the hell man!? I thought we were even!?" he exclaimed giving me a gentle punch on the shoulder.
"EVEN!? YOU TRIED TO KILL A BUNNY! NOT ONLY THAT, YOU COULD HAVE KILLED THE FLUTTERS AND APPLEJACK YOU DUMBASS!" I shamed him back, whacking him again behind the head again. He immediately became defensive and came back at me.
"I JUST WANTED SOME EGGS AND TOAST, THAT BUNNY NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT NOT BEING EDIBLE AND HE'S AN ASSHOLE TOO!" He yelled back whacking me behind the head causing me to rub my head in pain.
"HOW THE ACTUAL FUCK DO YOU MISTAKE A BUNNY FOR AN EGG!?" I said locking his head with my elbow and rubbing his head violently.
"HEY BEN!" K yelled from his locked position.
"WHAT!?" I yelled holding him in place.
"FINAL!"
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
"STOP FIGHTING YOU TWO BEFORE I THROW YOUR BREAKFAST FOOD AWAY!"
"WHAT!?" We both exclaimed looking up at Flutters.
…oh shit…
Both our eyes widened and we instantly stopped and froze, as we looked up at Flutters who had an angered look that sent chills down both our spines. We immediately let go of each other and sat down on the kitchen chairs, giving her our maximum attention.
"Oh my…I didn't mean to scare you two." She said losing her angered expression and picking up Angel, holding him tightly. I let go of my breath along with K and placed our heads down on the table.
"Wow…ya got that fancy magic like Ben!" Applejack exclaimed hopping onto a chair across the table, K and I perked up immediately and looked at each other. We gave each other an awkward stare before looking back at Applejack who was cocking an eyebrow.
"You could say that," K started putting his hand out and creating his dark energy sphere. Flutters quickly hopped on a chair to observe him. I acknowledged his gesture and followed.
"But, I guess…I'm kinda like Light," I said placing my hand out and creating my bright blue energy sphere.
"And I'm Dark." K finished, both of us closing our fists making the spheres disappear. Flutters and Applejack gave each other a glance before looking at us.
"OH! Like Princess Luna and Celestia!" Flutters excitedly explained placing both hooves on the table making the table shake.
"Oh yeah! They do kinda have some similarities!" Applejack said slamming her hooves onto the table too, leaving me and K with our hand on our chins, pondering.
"I haven't thought about it that way." I said lowering my hand and looking at the two ponies before turning my attention to K, who had wide eyes staring at the wall behind Flutters. He must have taken it seriously to look so serious.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked reaching my hand out to get his attention, he broke his stare and looked at me with a serious expression and then back at the two ponies in front of us.
"NO! I still have no idea what an egg tastes like!"
"GOD DAMN IT, SOMEONE GIVE THIS DEMON AN EGG!" I ordered.
Flutters rushed over to a refrigerator, that I never noticed before, and swung it open.
"I'll get to it!"