YUNA AND RACHE
The daemon set off across the Nothing, nostrils twitching as he searched for Chaos taint rising from the world outside the pocket dimension. The vapor was entirely too thin for his liking, and it took several passes before Rache could be certain he’d found anything worthwhile.
He squatted on the ground and thrust his claws through the white, and pawed about until his fingertips brushed something decidedly Yuna-flavored. The daemon’s doglike mouth curled up at the corners.
“Rise and shine!”
Fingertips latched onto Yuna’s psyche, hauling her consciousness from her body into into the Nothing.
The contrast between them was disparaging. The brutish daemon’s head towered above the beautiful Pyersai, though he was squatting upon the ground and she floated upright just above it. A lavender mist swirled about her, fashioning flowery patterns as it kissed her cool, black skin - Will’s Blessing would prevent her from drifting away to her demise while here. Rache raised a wicked claw to his snout to flick away a bit of drool tickling his chin, and then he rolled onto his rump and tucked his muscular legs into a half lotus.
“So, here we are,” though the throaty words were spoken softly, the vocal depth of his voice vibrated Yuna’s own chest.
“So here we are?” The Princess responded, her mind yanked out of its sleeping body, a mere vessel for the girl’s soul. The soul in question hovered daintily in the midst of mist, and Rache of course.
Her eyes flicked back and forth, finally settling downward.
Her chest! It had returned once more to her! It wasn’t the most flattering part of herself to appreciate, but it was a surefire indication that at least in her present state, she was no longer one of those accursed ponies. She held nothing against them of course, but almost couldn’t stand to be occupying the body of one.
“Am I dreaming? I-I fell asleep, right?” She asked, looking towards the being in front of her. Did she even need the answer though? She was back to normal, floating in the middle of nowhere, with flowery mist swirling around her body. Yeah, she knew it wasn’t real, but she politely waited for a response regardless.
“Not a dream,” the daemon confirmed. “You exist here, same as I. We don’t have much time.”
His red eyes narrowed as he regarded the hovering princess. What he wouldn’t give to have her fully indoctrinated into Minerva’s Lads. Time would be in their favor, then. As it was, he could only hope to grab a head count and their bearings. “Where is your body currently? How many Residents are with you?”
“Uhm . . . The Princess looked on, confused for but a moment. Who was this being that was asking things of her? “Just one other, Aegis is his name. We’re sleeping in a small cottage in the woods, outside of Groundtown, I think it’s called.” She nodded. It was everything she knew up to that point.
“Where are you? Or . . . Who are you?” She asked, trying to maneuver (If she even could) into a better position to get a good glimpse of Rache. “Are you a resident too?”
The bloodthirster rolled his eyes in response. “I am Hans’ inner daemon. Who else would I be?”
Of course she wouldn’t recognize him. He’d all but forgotten being regulated to the shadows back home, so easily had he settled into the sensation of being a valid individual in Willow and Pansy’s minds here in pre-Equestria. The daemon glowered at the Princess, though the sour expression faded as quickly as it had arrived; there wasn’t any reason to treat her poorly for not knowing him. Besides, if Aegis was with her, their team had just grown stronger for it. “I am Rache. Willow Streaks is with me, and we are in the Pegasi capitol in the clouds.”
He summoned what little knowledge he had gained. “Groundtown - I presume you and Aegis have been forced into Pony shape as well? Ground… no, Earth Ponies, yes? Now listen...”
They didn’t have all night, and Rache was forced to cut out much of his own part in the tale so far. He delved into Willow’s version of Hearthswarming Eve instead, stressing that the Residents had possibly gone back in time in order to perhaps set things into motion or to correct an error along the timeline.
“These leaders must meet up,” he stressed to Yuna, “and their subordinates must be with them. The windigos must be defeated by the magic shared between the subordinates in order for Equestra to form. Like the place or lump it, by virtue of Fate, we are bound to relive it.”
Rache rubbed his tired eyes. What he wouldn’t give for a fully fledged cultist. Bah, it wasn’t Yuna’s fault. Poor girl was left to flounder on her own. Damn that Will, but Rache had half a mind to take her under his own wing. Not that she could be much use to War.
His expression softened as he turned his head to regard her again. “But first, we need to find you in the material world, and then we need to find Chrys. Perhaps she has been accompanied by another Resident or two. And-” if luck were kind “-perhaps she has found herself in the midst of the unicorns? Ah, but that would make things go much more smoothly!”
The damon thrust his finger through the ground, swirling the mists to fashion a gateway for Yuna to return to her body. “We’ll fly towards Groundtown tomorrow. Look for us in the sky.”
He punted the Princess back to her body, then swept across the Nothing to enter into his. At last, they could all sleep.
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