A friend to the end

Princess Celestia's point of view

Celestia and Starlight were in Celestia's quarters, they were going to get married soon and so they decided to share the same bed- which they had every right to do of course. Celestia was just getting undressed and into her night gown. Her night gown was a thick high quality silk, it went down to her feet and was white, the collar went to her collarbone, on the flank of the gown, a replica of her cutie mark was embroidered in gold on the gown. She signed in satisfaction, all her jewelry was off and she was comfortable in her gown.

Starlight had on a gown of his own, it was merely a large shirt made of simple cotton. He smiled as he walked up behind Celestia and brought his arm around her shoulder as he kissed her cheek affectionately.

She giggled a bit as she wrapped an arm around his neck and gently pulled him into a loving kiss. They held it a moment before breaking apart. Once they did, Celestia gently pulled away and said with a smile, “let's go to bed.”

Starlight smiled as he said, “I agree I am quite tired.” They both began walking to the bed to go to sleep, however there was a knock on the chamber door.

Starlight smiled as he said, “I'll get it love, please get in bed and rest.”

Celestia smiled as she brushed his cheek with her fingers and kissed him and said, “thank you, I will let you turn out the light's then.”

He nodded, as he said, “of course”, then went to open the door to see whom was knocking. When he opened it he was surprised to see Twilight and Bladecleaver, along with two more, whom he didn't recognize. He smiled as he said, “hello, do you need something?”

Bladecleaver nodded as he said, “they're from Ponyville, the mare is an Element of Harmony, while the stallion, I don't know much about him but he's her companion. They were attacked by dark creatures in the Everfree forest.”

Starlight's face took a look a worry as he asked, “oh? And what did um... these, dark creatures look like exactly?” Bladecleaver told him the description, as did Fluttershy, and Bidziil. Starlight sighed, “I was afraid of this.”

Twilight looked at him nervously confused as she asked, “what? Why? What's going on?”

Celestia soon came over to the door, after hearing Twilight's voice. “Twilight? What are you doing up so late? In fact, what are any of you doing up this late, or better yet-”

“Tia”- Starlight interrupted her, a serious look on his face as he continued- “we need to talk.” He quickly looked to the three outside the door and said, “I'm sorry, but we need to talk, could you give us a minute?” Then closed the door before they could answer.

“Starlight! How dare you interrupt me in front of my subjects, not only that you closed the door on them, what has gotten into you?”

Starlight sighed as he said, “he's still alive....”

she gave him a confused look as she asked, “who is Starlight?” When he didn't answer. Celestia began to lose her patience as she stamped a hoof and said, “darn it Starlight, answer me when I ask you a question!”

He looked at her and said, “Amduscius is still alive and is not in Hell still.”

Celestia's eye's nearly popped out of her head at the width they opened at, and how far they bulged out. “Are you sure?” he was silent at this as he turned away in embarrassment- “Burn you Starlight if you have a doubt in your mind right now tell!”

He sighed as he said, “I have no doubts that he is out there still, I was there to see it.”

Celestia quickly grabbed her magic and used a spell to block all sound in the room from being heard outside the walls, then she got in Starlight face. Though, he was a head taller than her, it didn't make much difference, she simply pulled him down to her level by his collar as she said in a tone full of rage and fear, “you told me you and your father slew him fifteen thousand years ago! So why am I just now finding out he was never killed!!??”

Starlight easily pulled her off as he stood erect and said in a voice full of authority, “because, me and my father both knew you were going flip out like this, so we kept it secret.”

“Of course I would flip out!! you were supposed to take care of him, then!!!”

“well we couldn't, even together he was simply to strong, so, my father weakened him, and I helped him subdue him in a prison which was supposed to hold him, we even put up a magical force field of white magic to ensure none of his minions got out and terr-”

“wait- he has minions? What do you mean minions? How many demons actually escaped Hell Starlight?”

“I assure you my love th-”

Celestia glared at him as her horn began to glow saying, “do not even dare call me that right now Starlight. You will address me as the princess of Equestria or so help me I will knock some sense into that thick skull of yours!!”

he sighed as he replied with, “very well, I assure you your highness, that only one Demon got out of Hell. But... well he turned over half the army you gave us into his undead minions- don't worry we killed many of them, he only has about, I'd say...... a thousand left, nothing much. And I will contact-”

“nothing much? Are you serious? Starlight you idiot!! a thousand of my subjects being used as undead minions- that I may remind you is enough to nearly take Manehattan if it were to be on it's own- this is a huge dilemma!!” she sighed as she put a few fingers on her head and breathed a bit in an attempt to calm herself enough to think clearly. Finally she said in a calm, but none the less annoyed voice, “how exactly did he turn them into his-” she said the next thing as though it were a bitter piece of fruit which left a horrid after taste in her mouth- “undead minions?”

“Well he shot a spell at one of the soldiers- it was like an infectious disease- he ''bit'' another and he turned, and that one bit another and before we knew it he had his own army.”

Celestia looked at him in horror as she said, “Starlight”, she began shaking with anger as her entire face began turning beet red, “your an idiot. Do you know how much danger my kingdom is in right now because of you? You will be lucky if I do not cancel the wedding.”

He sighed as he said, “I know, I will contact my father and we will take care of it.”

She sighed as she said, “get out of my sight Starlight- the mere sight of you disgusts me right now”

He nodded as he sighed, leaving the room.

                                                          Twilight's point of view

Twilight looked at the door worriedly a moment, “they've been in there an awfully long time, I hope everything is okay....” she quickly turned on Bladecleaver, “Blade, do you think they're alright in there?”

He gave her a skeptical look as he said, “why wouldn't they be alright?”

“Well they've been in there a long time, don't you think something is a little bit wrong?”

He shrugged as he said, “I  doubt anything serious is happening, they're probably having a mild argument or something I'm sure, but I'd be surprised if anything more, they're both very patient and rarely lose their tempers, they're fine Twi, trust me.”

Twilight unfortunately wasn't convinced as she looked to the door worriedly. She then looked back behind her at Fluttershy and Bidziil, “well what do you two think?”

Fluttershy looked away nervously as she said, “um... I- I dunno....”

Bidziil simply shrugged, not one for talking.

Twilight rolled her eye's in annoyance, “can't anyone give me a straight answer here other than Bladecleaver? Nopony here is helping my anxiety!” Finally the chamber door opened and Starlight stepped out, wearing a gray loose long sleeved button shirt and dress pants. He gave a look to them and sighed.

“Is she vexed?” Bladecleaver asked in a conversational tone.

“Vexed? Oh no, she's furious with me.”

Bladecleaver's brows rose as he nodded, “wow, what did you do?”

He shook his head as he said, “it's a long story – he sighed  you need to hear it though - all of you do.”

“Come with me”. Starlight then walked off down the hall, the group following in tune. They followed him down twists and turns until they got to a large metal door, Starlight opened it and they all walked inside. In the room was, well, nothing. It was empty, except for two large double doors on the top of the door was an orb like object, the doors had a great dragon embroidered onto the door . He quickly grabbed his magic, making his horn glow a bright flaming red color, he then released it as a bolt of magic at the orb above the door. The bolt hit the orb, making it glow the same color as the bolt, and the flaming red slowly moved down the door in the embroidered dragon and instantly began glowing. Then the doors began to slowly open a bright, white light shot through it, they all had to close their eye's and look away, whether Starlight was doing it was unknown to the group. However they heard his voice as he said, “walk into the light ad through the doors and all will be revealed to you.”

They couldn't see, so they simply nodded and slowly began walking towards the light, and slowly through the double doors. The doors then closed as the light went away, though the dragon and the orb continued to glow a flaming red. Starlight sighed, “I'll need to remember to open the doors in a couple of hours.” He then turned to the door and exited the room.

                                  Inside the double doors: Fluttershy's point of view

Fluttershy slowly got up as she looked around, they were in a stone walled room, the walls were a creamy white color, as was the floor, she slowly rubbed her fingers across it and saw it was as smooth as silk, yet hard and sturdy. She shook her head as she slowly stood, barely able to keep her balance as she nearly fell, luckily ther was a large table near her and she used it for support as she struggled to stay on her feet. She heard groans and moans from her companions, she quickly looked to them, a look of relief coming to her face, “oh thank goodness, they're coming to.” Bidziil slowly stood as he looked around and gave her a confused look, as though she would know where they were.

She shrugged as she gave a sheepish grin. Bladecleaver and Twilight soon got up also, though not a gracefully as Bidziil had. They all looked around confused.

Bladecleaver was the first to speak as he said, “I- I don't understand, we're in the Tower, how- how is... better yet, what was that thing we went through?”

Everypony stared at him blankly, Bladecleaver sighed as he said, right, well come on we need to find our way out of here. He then walked to the door, but before he could open it, it swung open and very nearly hit him in the face.

He was surprised to see the two stallions who came in the door, it was a younger Starlight, before he looked to be in his mid thirties, but he now looked to be in his early twenties, barely older than Bladecleaver himself. He wore a heavy looking armor from his chest to his hooves which was cream white with gold embroidered into it, and a sword belted to his side.

The other stallion was a larger – about by a head to be exact – he was albino also, though seemed to be very old - about his seventies -  yet he had a flame in his eye's showing he was still a very able fighter. He wore similar armor, only it was pure white, and had a cross on his chest plate, he had a long mustache and a chin beard to go along with it, and his mane was brushed back out of his eye's.

They simply walked on by Bladecleaver as though he weren't there.  Fluttershy soon realized they were in a memory and that they didn't exist here. They stayed quiet and listened to what they were saying.

The older stallion began talking first, “are you sure of this my son?”

Starlight nodded as he said, “yes father, Shatter Rave sent a letter to me- I don't know why it was to me instead of you, but it can't be helped- he said that  Amduscius has gotten past the gates of Hell.”

“How could he get past the gates? Cerberus is supposed to be guarding them at all times!”

Starlight sighed as he said, “I know father, I don't know why he wasn't paying attention, he's a dog for goodness sake, Why would you leave a dog to guard the gates of Hell in the first place?”

His father sighed as he said, “we need to take care of this, quickly, I don't want Princess Celestia or Luna to catch notice of this, the last thing I need is both those mares finding out and trying to send out their entire armies against this Demon when we know nothing about what he's capable of.”

Starlight sighed as he said, “I understand father, I won't tell her of this.”

In the doorway was another stallion, he had dark gray, nearly black fur, and a black mane, he wore black clothing, such as a leather tunic over black mail, and with a sword which looked somewhat like a dragons tooth belted to his waist. The other two in the room didn't notice him, he gave a wry smile as he slowly walked away without a sound.

Bladecleaver gave him a suspicious look, but didn't make any attempt to follow him. Even if he had it wouldn't have meant much because everything went white again to the point where nopony could see anything at all.

Soon everything came back and they saw they were in the Canterlot throne room, it didn't look much different. They looked to the throne and saw Princess Celestia and Luna on their thrones. Luna wore a dark blue dress which had stars on it, it also had a crescent moon on the flank of the dress. The dress was a Qipao, a foreign dress the collar went to her neckline.

Celestia sat on her throne, a stern and aggravated look on her face, back straight giving her a look of great authority. Starlight, his apparent father, and the stallion who had spied on them in the doorway just before, all was kneeling before her and Luna.

Celestia continued to glare at them as she said, “why did you both fail to inform me, or my sister of the Demon who had gotten past the gates to Hell?”

The eldest stallion sighed as he said, “because I did not want to worry you ab-”

“ENOUGH! Do you really believe I'd see this as truth? You do not care Starburst, we both know that. The stallion went silent as he bowed his head submissively.  Do you think that because both my sister and I are so young that you can take advantage of us? If so I assure you, though we may be young, we have more than what it takes to run this kingdom with, or without you and the Tower.”

Starlight looked at her alarmed as he said, “Tia, you don't mean that”-

“do not call me THAT right now Starlight. I am of business and business only and you WILL address me as my position in this kingdom over you requires.”

He sighed as he said, “your highness, you don't mean to rid Equestria of the Guardians do you?

Starburst sniffed loudly as he said, “please, this kingdom would be attacked and conquered in a month without the Tower to protect it. Celestia you would be a fool to-”

Celestia glared at him as she said, “DO NOT DISRESECT ME IN SUCH A MANOR!! is this a claim, or a challenge? I assure you if I see you a threat to my position on the throne, I will get rid of you, and all Guardians in my kingdom, or die in the process of fighting for my throne.”

Starburst gave her a stern challenging look as he said, “I swore loyalty to Equestria, not you Princess, and truthfully I think you will make a marvelous ruler, in time of course, right now though you are young and foolish, if you would let me guide you then-”

“guide me? How are you trying to guide me?! You didn't even tell me of the Demons escape! How can you guide me on how to approach this if you do not tell me?!”

Princess Luna suddenly cleared her throat as though to let them know she too was ruler of Equestria feeling as though she were being ignored completely. They didn't really pay much attention as they went on.

“That is just it Princess, I am not truly sure how to approach this, please, forgive me for not informing you before, but I thought it best you not know and try and take care of it before anything could really happen.”

She rolled her eye's as she said, “that doesn't excuse the fact you did not tell me my kingdom is in danger Starburst, how can I trust you, or the Tower, how can I trust Starlight?” He silently bowed his head in shame at this comment. “We learned of this from a letter sent to Luna by Starbright. Starbright! For light's sake! This is simply ridiculous!”

Luna gave her sister a heated glare at the insult she threw at Starbright as she said in a calm demeanor, “sister, do you not think that you should at least thank Starbright for what he has done? After all, we would not have known any of this if not for him.

Celestia gave her sister a dull look as she waved her off saying, “yes, I suppose your right sister, but none the less, Starlight should have been the one doing it, not him.” this earned her a stone hard glare, which she of course either didn't notice, or simply ignored. Starbright also glared at Celestia, but kept his mouth closed tight.

Starlight sighed as he said, “your highness, please, forgive us, I am sure I speak for all of us when I say, we will never fail to tell you of this again.”

She nodded as she said, “see to it that it won't. Now it is time for you to take care of this Demon, I will send a quarter of a legion with you to ensure you are successful, I do not want to see you again until you have taken care of this, all three of you.”

Luna quickly added, 'Starbright you do not have to go if you do not want to,  I thank you for your faithfulness.” Celestia was the one to give the glare this time as she said, “no, I have spoken and I say-”

“you do not rule this kingdom on your own sister, he was faithful and I refuse to let you send him away simply because you resent him sister, and do not-”

“very well! Have it your way sister, all of you leave us, we have things to discuss.”

Everything went white again, much to Twilight's vexation. She was very interested in this, she had never seen this side of Celestia before. Whether it was because of her younger age, or simply because this was a side that she held back unless provoked.

The scenery was see able once again and they saw they were just outside the Everfree forest. They saw Starlight, and his father Starburst with a quarter of a legion, which was about five thousand soldiers. The soldiers were all in silver mail plated armor and silver shields and silver mail plated leggings and boots, and iron spears and iron swords. Starburst looked to his son as he said, “it is time to take care of this Demon my son, are you ready?”

Starlight nodded as he said, “yes father, let's take care of this Demon before it hurts anypony else.”

His father nodded with a smile as he said, “agreed.” he turned behind him to the soldiers and said, “soldiers of Equestria, we are about to face a Demon from Hell, literally. I will not say that you will all come out of this safely, or alive for that matter. I know this scares all of you, but remember, you joined the military to serve and protect your country, and  now is your time to prove your worth. If you do not have the courage to give your life for your country, then leave and go home, I will even write you a letter of dismissal. believe me, if you do not have the courage, then go because you are useless here, go and follow your cutie mark to wherever it leads you. Do not think that because you do not possess the courage to follow us that you are not a stallion, this is a very real Demon we are hunting here, most stallions would quiver in fear at just the mere sight of a Demon, so do not feel unstallionly if your are without courage for this. But, do not come with us  into this forest because there will be no turning back of ANYPONY until we have completed our mission, AM I UNDERSTOOD?!”

All the soldiers roared as they bashed their spears on their shields, the clamor and bashing of metal being heard for miles as they bashed them in tune with one another in a rhythmic, almost hypnotic way.

Starburst nodded as he said, “good, I see there are none but fearless stallions here, now, LET'S MOVE OUT!” They then began marching into the forest, a a rhythmic beat which almost sounded similar to music.

They marched through the forest, wordlessly, for what seemed like hours, until finally they made it to an open field. It was about five acres of land at the least, maybe a bit more. However, in the middle of the field, there was a boulder, and on it sat the Demon. He was pitch black and looked as though he'd be twelve feet tall on his hooves,it had a man's body, and horse like legs thick with muscle, black fur covered his legs down to his hooves, and he had a pony like head, blood red, pupiless eye's, large bull like horns protruded from it's head, and an Unicorn like horn on it's head, bat like wings were closed at it's sides, knife like claws protruded from it's fingers, it's bi and triceps were as large as some of the soldiers' heads, and blade like teeth a foot long and three inches wide, less than half an inch from each other aligned it's maw, adding to the vicious appearance of the Demon. In his left hand he held a large scythe, it was pitch black with glowing blood red symbols of an unknown language encrypted onto the long hilt of the scythe.

The Demon gave them a wry smile as he said in a deep, echoing voice which sent chills down the spines of every stallion opposing him, “hello, I was wondering when you would find me.”

Starburst glared at him a he replied with, “how exactly did you know we were coming?”

Starlight looked at him confused, he obviously didn't know what the point of asking this was and would rather attack outright from the start without conversation with it.

The Demon smiled as he said, “simple really, I'm Amduscius, a Demon as you may have guessed, you really think I wouldn't expect the Grandson of Starstrike the light bringer to come and try to subdue me?”

Starburst glared at him silently as he said, “I assume you will not be coming of your own will?”

The Demon laughed as he replied, “coming of my own will? Do you truly believe you can defeat me? He laughed even harder as he said, an old washed up stallion, and a young colt, tell me, how many Demons have either of you fought? “

They both were silent at this but glared at him none the less.

The Demons laughter died down to a simple wry smile again as it said, “I see you have brought an entire legion with you, well, I have no army, however, your soldiers are weak, but will be useful. Watch as I show you the true power of a Demon. He quickly stood and raised his right hand at them, a ball of black energy began developing. Starburst grabbed hold of his magic as his horn glowed a bright white , and Starlight's horn also glowed a bright white as they began preparing themselves to use white magic against the Demon to counter his black magic, however white magic took a minute to warm up, so they had to wait a minute before they could do anything else, and they Demon quickly shot the ball of black magic at a soldier, it hit the stallion and he fell to the ground screaming as he began growing as his fur changed to pitch black, and his eye's went blood red, his mane and tail fur fell out, leaving a long, bald, abnormal tail, as he soon became to large for his armor, as it broke away from his body with ease. The bones in his fingers grew until they broke the skin and came out at five inches, as did bones in his hooves and his teeth grew also about five inches longer than before and were sharp as knives. He quickly turned to the nearest soldier and sank it's teeth into his arm. They all were in shock at what had happened to him so they had not expected it.

As soon as it attacked him he too turned into the same Demon like spawn that had taken the other. Very soon soldiers and spawn erupted into a huge battle, screams of fear rang out in the field as the Demon's one minion quickly grew to an army and grew larger still, and the soldiers attacks could do nothing to stop them, every hack they made at them was useless as they acted as though they felt nothing. Starburst, and Starlight finally had their white magic charged all the way Starlight quickly unsheathed his sword and used the white magic to imbue it with the power to affect the Demon. Starburst simply unsheathed his sword, his sword was a Paladin sword there for was forged to combat dark creatures such as Demons, he shot a bolt of white magic at Amduscius which he easily dodged. Then they quickly moved to attack Amduscius in close range and end the battle before it was too late to.

However, the Demon took his scythe and blocked their attacks as they flashed their swords at him. Starlight got to close, and the Demon knocked him away. He went flying into a tree and fell unconscious as the Demon moved towards Starburst. They quickly took to the skies, flashing their weapons at them as they each tried to overwhelm the other, unfortunately Starburst was old and didn't have the energy to keep up with him, but still fought on desperately as he waited for Starlight to awaken again. It didn't take long, and when he did, he quickly shot into the sky sword in hand as he came up behind him and slashed with all his might. However, the Demon was faster and parried his attack, then parried attacks from Starburst, thankfully they were overwhelming him so he could do nothing but block and parry.

Unfortunately  Amduscius teleported behind them and lashed out with his scythe, Starburst parried it as he returned blows of his own, Starlight joined in too, and were able to at least keep him from using his magic they fought for hours.

Finally Starburst stabbed him in the shoulder. He bellowed in anger and pain as his sword filled with white magic cut his flesh, the only kind of blade that could truly harm him, he quickly curled into a ball and burst outward, sending out a strong force of dark magic, making them both back off. Both caught themselves before they slammed into anything, but the Demon had time to recover a bit and was already building up a large mass of dark energy. Starburst saw this and knew he had to do something, so he quickly shot a beam of white magic at his chest, only this time it exploded on contact.

The Demon bellowed in agony as he fell from the sky, blood pouring from his wound and landed with a thud on the ground, make it shake a bit. It lay there panting, Starlight and his father landed on the ground in front of him however Amduscius wasn't done yet as he forced himself up onto his hooves, he was weak, but so were Starburst and Starlight whom stared at the Demon with surprise.

Starburst turned to Starlight and said, “we can't beat him, he's too powerful, do you remember the sealing spell I taught you?”

Starlight nodded as he said, “yes father, but are you sure this is the right thing to do?”

He nodded as he said, of course I am my son, it's the only way we both will get out alive.”

Starlight didn't agree with it, but nodded as he said, “alright father, I'm ready when you are.”

Starburst nodded as he said, “very good, lets hurry before it's too late.”

He and Starburst quickly grabbed their magic and shot a gray bolt of magic at the Demon. When it struck him he bellowed and fought hard as they attempted to seal him away, they barely were able to and would not have been able to if not for him being so weakened as he was slowly enveloped in stone.

They then turned to the spawn and saw that the majority of the soldiers were infected, they quickly killed off most of them, but some were turned to stone as well. And once they were stone it was virtually impossible to kill them. However before anything else could be seen though everything went white again. They soon realized that they were being taken out of the chamber.

                                                              End flash back

They all took a step out of the chamber doors, none of them seemed to be able to gather all they saw and see it as reality, they all seemed to hope that it all simply a nightmare.

Starlight sat in front of them, an unreadable look on his face.

Bladecleaver was the first to speak as he said, “Starlight, why have I never heard of this? You never taught me a lesson on any of this before.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow as he said, “really? Blade, you rarely paid attention to any of our lessons unless I mentioned a huge exam, which I rarely ever did.”

Bladecleaver blushed a bright red at this as he said, “oh....um...right, I forgot.”

Starlight ignored it as he said, “well, you now all know the truth, and Bladecleaver, you are right, I never taught you of this, the truth is.... it's embarrassing and shameful that my father and I couldn't take the Demon, and, well, lied to the Princesses.”

Celestia soon walked towards them from a corner of the room, and fully dressed, a worrisome look on her face, yet somehow managed a smile as she said, “hello my little ponies, and Bladecleaver.”Starlight told me of what happened and how you all went into the chamber of memories.

Twilight gave a her a concerned look as she said, “um.... are you-”

“mad?” She finished for her with a smile- “no, I am not mad Twilight, although a bit upset over a few things, I am fine.”

Twilight gave her a questioning look as she asked, “um... Princess, may I ask you something?”

“Of course Twilight, ask to your heart's desire, you deserve to know the truth”, she directed a glower towards Starlight who quickly looked to the floor in shame.

Twilight noticed but ignored it as she continued, “okay well, in the um... chamber of memories, we saw you on the throne next to Luna arguing with Starlight and some other pony named Starburst I think, well you were acting like a.... bit different pony, especially towards Luna. I was wondering why?”

Celestia sighed and was silent a moment before giving a sad smile saying, “I was a very different pony when I was younger Twilight. I took for granted everything I had, especially my sister.” She went silent after that, leaving Twilight wondering just how different she was when she was younger. She forced a smile however as she said, “it's late, I insist that you all sleep here in the castle until morning.”

Fluttershy and Bidziil looked at each other and shrugged as Fluttershy bowed and said, “thank you Princess, we would be honored.”

She smiled as she said, “good, Twilight please show them their rooms would you?”

Twilight nodded as she said, “of course princess.”