The Legend of a Shadowmare

Chapters

Getting Acquainted
Mysteries Revealed
Setting the Stage
Fighting Chaos
Beauty and the Beast
It Might be Love
Going Undercover
Life as a Lightmare
Infected with Hate
Song of Redemption
Happy What?
Deceptions
Preparing for War
Do or Die
Rise of Peace
Epilogue
Daemon's arrival
Meeting Royalty

Getting Acquainted

Chapter 2: Getting Acquainted

It was dark, but that's to be expected when it's 10 o'clock at night. Fluttershy had just convinced Daemon to stay inside for the night. Daemon was very skittish and didn't seem to know what think. His first impression of Fluttershy was that she hated his kind, Shadowmares... but now she was insisting he spend the night with her. When Fluttershy got inside she noticed Daemon sitting outside like there was an invisible barrier keeping him out.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to come in?”, Fluttershy asked.

“I am in...”, Daemon responded looking down at his hoof. Upon closer inspection Fluttershy saw that he indeed had one hoof partially in the doorway. Fluttershy rolled her eyes thinking to herself that the stallion was even more socially awkward than she was.

“Now don't be so impossible... when I said 'come in' I meant come all the way in”. Daemon gingerly stepped inside, as if he was afraid of breaking the floor.

“So...” Daemon spoke up (still as close to the front door as possible), “I'm meant to sleep here, right?”.

“Umm... nooo.... not unless you prefer the floor over a bed.” Fluttershy said motioning with her head towards a room that was normally unoccupied. Daemon's eyes lit up like he just won the lottery.

“I... I... I have my own bed?!”, He managed to choke out. He flew to his new room so fast that Fluttershy was barely able to tell what happened to him.

“How come you're so excited to have a bed of your own... if you don't mind me asking?” asked Fluttershy as she walked in to the room. Daemon was rolling around on the bed hugging a pillow in what seemed to be pure bliss.

He sat up smiling, “I don't know. I just feel like it's something I've always wanted, ya know?”. Fluttershy was glad she could make him happy so easily, especially after putting him in a state of terror the way she thought she did. She then noticed a mark on his flank. Well three marks actually. They seemed to be three red diagonal lines.

“That's an interesting cutie mark...”, she said getting closer to it.

“Cutie wha-AHHH!”, Daemon shouted the moment Fluttershy accidentally touched it. She jumped at the sudden scream and saw that her hoof had a spot of blood on it.

“OH MY GOODNESS! That's not a cutie mark! You're hurt! Wait right there!”, Fluttershy zipped off and rushed back with a first aid kit. She opened the kit and got out a bottle of some strange clear liquid, a few cotton balls, and bandages. “Sorry, but this is going to hurt a little.”

Daemon just thought to himself, 'how bad could it be?'. His question was answered by a searing pain in his flank as Fluttershy rubbed what Daemon could only guess was acid.

“I know it hurts but it will all be over soon...” Fluttershy said sweetly.

Daemon thought that, 'it will all be over soon' was some kind of demented code for, 'I'm trying to kill you!', but he rode out the pain and Fluttershy quickly bandaged his leg.

“There! All better!” Fluttershy said admiring her work. Daemon looked at her smiling from ear to ear. She looked up and saw the smiling stallion. 'He's just like a big colt' she thought to herself before saying, “It's getting really late... we should get to bed. You will probably need to go do a few things tomorrow and we can't be falling asleep every ten minutes so...”. Daemon rolled over and got under the covers. As Fluttershy began to leave the room she heard, “Thank you... for everything.”. She blushed, not really knowing why.

The next morning Fluttershy woke to see the Shadowmare sitting in her room just watching her with a curious stare, almost like he didn't know what he was looking at. Still being half asleep, Fluttershy gave out a frightened squeak and hit the ceiling, clinging to it for dear life.

“Um, good morning. Did I scare you? Sorry.” Daemon said looking at the floor in remorse.

When it finally registered in Fluttershy's brain, she let out a breath of relief and replied, “Ah... it's only you Daemon. How long have you been up?”.

“About two hours.”, he said, shrugging like it was no big deal.

“Well you could have woken me up. We need to go to see Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack today.”. Fluttershy's announcement caught Daemon off guard.

“Wait, that sounds like a lot! Why do we have to see them all today?!”, he asked with his eyes wide in shock.

“You'll see.” Fluttershy said smiling like it was a big surprise. She noticed that his bandages weren't on his leg. “What are you doing with you bandages off already?!”, gasped the yellow mare.

“Well, I don't need them anymore. My cuts are better.”, Daemon said looking at his flank.

Fluttershy stared in disbelief. The gashes in his leg were gone and only three light diagonal scars remained. This was impossible. There was no way the half inch thick wound could have healed that quickly. She moved closer and gently touched the scars. It was true... they were healed, much to her astonishment. She decided to let it go for now and leave, taking Daemon with her.

The two ponies entered Sugar Cube Corner soon after leaving the cottage. Pinkie was standing behind the counter with a huge grin.

“Hi Pinkie. Do you have it?”, Fluttershy asked tilting her head toward Daemon on her left.

“Sure do!”, Pinkie responded tossing Fluttershy a muffin.

"Here Daemon.” Fluttershy said handing him the muffin, “This should give you enough energy to continue throughout the rest of the day. It's a special recipe.”. Daemon ate it quickly, considering he hadn't ate anything in at least twenty-four hours. It was very sweet and like Fluttershy said he felt completely energized.

“Woah... that's some muffin!” he exclaimed viciously shaking his head as if to clear his vision. The three ponies talked for a while about what had transpired the night before and about the muffin, which Pinkie said was a secret recipe that she had made just for the purpose of filling ponies with a great burst of energy. When they finished talking, Daemon and Fluttershy said their goodbyes and headed off to Rarity's boutique.

The mismatched couple walked through the front doors of Rarity's renowned establishment. The white unicorn seemed to be working very hard at the moment, not noticing she had visitors. Daemon and Fluttershy saw that she was busy and quietly sat down right in front of the doors they entered through. They seemed to be so synchronized that somepony could easily confuse them for siblings. They sat patiently for about fifteen minutes before Rarity finished whatever she was doing and noticed them.

“Fluttershy! Daemon! Why didn't you say you were there? I wasn't doing anything so important that I had reason to ignore my friends!”, Rarity said with her eyes sparkling.

“I didn't want to be a bother...”, both ponies said in unison before giving each other a surprised look.

“Wow, you two seem to be hitting it off rather nicely!”, Rarity laughed.

“So, Rarity. I have a little bit of a favor to ask...” Fluttershy whispered so Daemon couldn't hear.

“And what's that?” Rarity whispered back. The two whispered back and forth for a few minutes, giving occasional glances at Daemon.

'Uh oh, they're planning something and I think I'm a part of it!' Daemon thought to himself, getting more uneasy by the minute.

About an hour later Daemon was looking in a mirror with a very dissatisfied look on his face.{Link 1} It wasn't at all angry, just sort of upset.

“Okay... Rarity, I'm sorry but...no. Alright? Just no.” Daemon said keeping his face in the same unimpressed position.

“What? Why?! I don't see anything wrong with it!” Rarity shouted while still keeping her ladylike impression.

“Hmm... I don't know, maybe because I'm wearing a dress?!” Daemon responded, exactly in the way you think a guy forced into a dress would respond. It turns out that Fluttershy wanted Rarity to make him a new outfit to replace his old, tattered clothes, but Rarity wasn't given any guidelines to follow so she made what she's most experienced at... a dress.

Daemon took off the dress and tossed it at Rarity while saying, “It's not that there is anything wrong with the dress. I mean, I'm sure it would look great on a mare, but that just it... I am a stallion! I don't pull off the whole dress look.”.

Rarity gave him a pained look before responding, “Very well... what do you want me to make?”.

“Why don't you just try to remake what I was wearing before?” Daemon asked the prissy mare.

“But... your old clothes were so... so...... you! That's perfect! Why didn't I think of that before?! The style matches you perfectly! We can just redo them, maybe in black with a stunning flame design!”. Rarity started working frantically, and within half an hour she was done. Just like she said, it was the same outfit but it was colored black with a flame design lining the lower part of the vest.

“Ah-ha-ha-some!”, Daemon exclaimed picking up his new duds, admiring the manliness of them.

“I'm glad you like it! It's amazing what a little inspiration can do, isn't it?”, Rarity asked the grinning Shadowmare.

“Yeah! It's great... but do you have any sunglasses to go with it? Or something else I could use to cover my eyes? I know what my eyes look like and everpony in town was mainly looking at them. I just want to be less noticeable when I'm out.”.

Rarity thought for a few seconds before telling him, “No I don't carry any eye wear, but I believe that Rainbow Dash could help you out. She is more into wearing that sort of thing.”. Just like at Sugar Cube Corner, the three said their goodbyes before heading out.

Daemon was informed that he could find Rainbow Dash in her 'cloud castle' this time of day. He didn't know what they meant by cloud castle until he saw it. He was surprised that Rainbow Dash actually resided in a castle made of clouds, but he also figured that it would definitely be a comfortable place to live. He flew up to the front door (or at least what he considered was the door). He just stood there puzzled for a while trying to decide if he should knock, because he didn't know how 'knocking' on a cloud would work out. Right when he went to knock the door opened and he ended up knocking on the head of a sleepy looking Rainbow Dash.

“What is wrong with you?”, she asked groggily.

“Oh! I'm sorry! I just heard that you had some 'eye wear I could use'.” Daemon said trying to mimic Rarity.

“All I have that could possibly work are my legitimate, one of a kind, Wonderbolt replica goggles.”, Rainbow Dash said rubbing her eye.

“Cool. I don't mind if they're goggles.” Daemon said walking inside rather happily.

“Hah! Like I'd ever give you my Wonderbolt goggles! They were given to me because I won a race against the fastest fliers in Equestria! You can't get them anywhere else!”, Rainbow Dash laughed, wiping a tear from her eye as if she just told the best joke in history.

“How about we make a deal then? I prove that I'm every bit as fast as you and you give me the goggles, If I can't prove it then you keep the goggles and I work for you for an entire day. How does that sound?”, Daemon was holding out his hoof ready to strike the deal. Rainbow Dash looked at him in the eyes confidently, feeling like this bet was in the bag.

She spit on her hoof and pounded it against Daemon's saying, “It's a deal! There's no way you can fly as fast as me!”.

“Why's that?”, Daemon asked curiously, tilting his head to one side.

“Because I'm the only one who can do a Sonic Rainboom!”, the cyan mare announced with a malicious smile. As they went outside Rainbow Dash explained the Sonic Rainboom to Daemon. He just nodded from time to time as she was speaking.

“So, to make a Sonic Rainboom, I just have to break the sound barrier right?” Daemon asked, cracking his neck, getting into position on a small cloud.

“Yep, but it's not that easy. You will have to power through the backlash that it gives! You don't have a chance!”, the smug pegasus yelled on an adjacent nearby cloud.

Daemon exhaled, focusing on the task at hand. 'Speed... I just need speed', he thought, psyching himself up. A gentle breeze blew by, and when it died down Daemon took off, full throttle straight at the sun. When he was confident that he was high enough, he let go and free-fell for about two seconds before opening his wings and flaping them down once with amazing force. The single, strong flap of his wings shot him toward the ground at a great velocity, and a cone of air started to appear around him.{Link 2} Seeing this in action Rainbow's jaw dropped, and then in a great flash, Daemon did it. Well not exactly... when the boom went off there was an explosion of fire and Daemon had a trail of flames behind him instead of a rainbow.{Link 3} Knowing that she was beat, Rainbow Dash fell face first into the cloud she was on before letting out a muffled scream of frustration. Daemon landed by her frowning.

Rainbow Dash lifted her head and looked at him, “What? Are you gonna tell me you feel sorry for me now?!”.

“No... I couldn't do it.”, Daemon said flopping on the cloud.

Rainbow stood up, and rather confused at the comment, asked, “But I saw you do it, what are you talking about?”.

“You said, and I quote, 'there is a massive rainbow explosion and rainbow trail when you do a Sonic Rainboom'. I didn't make a rainbow...”, Daemon replied, staring out into the distance, looking beaten. Rainbow Dash threw the pair of goggles at him.

“Eh, it was close enough...”, she said nudging him with her hoof. Daemon smiled as he put the newly won goggles on.

'Huh, he actually pulls off the look well.' Rainbow Dash thought as she looked at the heroically posed stallion.

“Wait. What time is it?!”, Daemon asked suddenly remembering something.

“About 6:30, why?”, Rainbow asked.

“Crap! I was supposed to meet Fluttershy at... uh, some sort of apple orchard half an hour ago. I think she said 'Sweet Apple Acres'. Please, can you tell me where that is?!”, Daemon asked, trotting in place impatiently. Rainbow Dash simply pointed in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Daemon looked over and felt very stupid that he didn't notice it before.

“Um... thanks.”, he said, smiling out of embarrassment. He backed up slowly and accidentally fell of the cloud, but quickly caught himself. Daemon slowly rose back up and looked at Rainbow Dash before saying very seriously, “I meant to do that! Bye.”. The rainbow maned mare laughed and waved goodbye as Daemon flew off.

Daemon landed hard in front of Applejack, causing a small shockwave to kick up dust and nearly blow off the flinching mare's hat.

“Could ya warn me next time ya gonna do that?! Ah dang near lost mah hat!”, Applejack said dusting herself off.

“Sorry, I knew I was late so I was in a hurry.” Daemon apologized, removing the goggles that he was just given.

Applejack noticed that the goggles were Rainbow's and asked, “Now how in tarnation did you get those?! Rainbow Dash said she would never give 'em up in a million years!”.

“We had a bet and I won... simple as that.”, Daemon answered, not wanting to go into detail. Fluttershy trotted up next to Applejack and smiled.

“Hi. You're a little late... but its okay. Some help is better than none.” she said, knowing that Daemon was going to be confused about what she meant, just like with the other 'surprises' she sprung on him that day.

Daemon sighed, “Alright, what do I have to do this time?”.

“Well it's Zap-Apple season and we're a little behind on harvestin' them. Ya see, if we don't get all the apples off the trees by sunset they'll disappear. Think ya can help?”, Applejack asked with a pleading expression.

“Heh... piece of cake.”, Daemon said smiling deviously. He looked at the trees that were bearing rainbow striped fruit. He estimated that there were roughly a hundred trees and the sun was already beginning to get low. There was no way bucking the trees one by one would accomplish his goal so he tried to think of ways that he could shake the apples loose all at once. Suddenly an idea hit him. He bolted straight up until he was no more than a dot in the sky then, just like with his newly invented 'Sonic Fireboom', he flapped his wings with one quick snap and shot toward the ground. Everything suddenly got quiet as everypony started watching his strange maneuver. Most thought he would start slowing down as he approched the earth... but he was actually gaining speed! Before Daemon hit, he stuck out his hooves. He struck the ground, causing a visible ripple to flow along the ground, almost like it was made of gelatine. The quake caused most ponies to fall over or stumble as if they were on an unstable boat. The plan had worked to perfection. Every Zap-Apple fell landing in containers that were placed below. The obviously exhausted Shadowmare slowly walked up to a wide-eyed Applejack.

“How was that?”, Daemon asked trying to catch his breath. Applejack shook her head trying to comprehend what she just witnessed before answering.

“Well, partner, let's just say ah'm glad y'all are on our side!”. Daemon, Fluttershy, and Applejack all started laughing. As Fluttershy and Daemon went to leave Applejack told him that if he ever needed a job, a position would always be waiting for him.

When Fluttershy got to the cottage with Daemon it was about 7 o'clock. When they opened the door they saw a little white rabbit with it's arms crossed, tapping it's foot.

“Oh, hi Angel. What's... oh my goodness I forgot that I was taking you to the park today! I'm sooo sorry!”, Fluttershy said kneeling down to the disappointed bunny. That's when Angel saw Daemon for the first time. Curious of the new stallion, Angel hopped closer to him, looking him over. Angel motioned for Daemon to lower his head.

'Oh no, knowing Angel, this can't be good', Fluttershy thought, worried of what the little creature was planning. Angel looked long and hard at Daemon, making him nervous, before finally jumping on his head, getting comfortable in his hair. Fluttershy bursted out laughing (to the best of her ability), while Daemon was stuck looking up, even though he couldn't see Angel sitting on his head.

“Angel has never been that nice to somepony new before... he actually has a bit of a bad streak in him.”, Fluttershy said with her usual shy smile.

“You don't say...”, Daemon said, still looking pointlessly at his forehead.

Daemon played with Angel for at least three hours before Angel fell asleep.

“You really are great with him... I can't even get him to eat most of the time”, sighed Fluttershy.

“It might be just the way I smell... it's not like I really did anything for him to like me. Hey maybe we should make some sort of purfume with my scent! We can call it 'Eau De Daemon'!”, Daemon laughed. For some reason this made Fluttershy think of Zecora, maybe because both perfume and potions come in bottles. This gave her an idea.

“Daemon! I just came up with what we'll do tomorrow!”, Fluttershy said, showing as much excitement as possible for her.

“I don't think I want any more of your surprises... today was tiring enough as it is.”, Daemon said, rubbing his shoulder.

“Sorry about that... but this is something to find out more about you! Zecora knows all kinds of mysterious things! She might know something about you!”, the now ecstatic pegasus said.

“Well the only way to know for sure is to go to bed and see what she knows tomorrow...”, Daemon grinned.

Mysteries Revealed

Chapter 3: Mysteries Revealed

It was a peaceful morning in Fluttershy's cottage... well until Daemon decided to wake Fluttershy up.

“GOOOOD MORNING FLUTTERSHY!!!”, Daemon yelled, trying to sound a morning radio host. “It's a beautiful day! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, we are gonna go see Zecora today, and... I made waffles!”.

Stirring from what had been a pleasant sleep, Fluttershy looked at the 'waffles'. It was obvious that Daemon had no idea how to make them, because they were a sickly green color and at one point Fluttershy thought she saw one move.

“Now eat up, we have to get going soon!”, Daemon said walking away with a bounce in his step. Not wanting to hurt his feelings (but also not wanting to die of food poisoning) Fluttershy quickly hid what he made under the bed, but the waffles had other ideas and slithered out the window. Fluttershy just looked at the odd scene, feeling very disturbed.

“Oh! Your done!”, Daemon said grinning, “Well let's be off then!”.

“What's the hurry? Zecora isn't going anywhere... and you seem to be in a good mood today, so why rush?” asked the quiet yellow pegasus.

“I'm just excited that I might get some answers to who I am. Who knows, I might even regain my memory.”

“Oh, that's... nice...”, Fluttershy whispered mostly to herself. The timid mare was just scared of what he would be like if he did remember who he was. He could change completely for all she knew, and she was afraid that he might end up like the descriptions of the Shadowmare's from the stories she was told as a filly. She liked him the way he was and didn't want him to change, but she followed him out the door and led him to Zecora's hut in the Everfree forest anyway.

Upon entering the hut, Fluttershy and Daemon saw Zecora adding various ingredients to a cauldron, most likely making a potion of some sort.

“Hello you two, is there something I can do for you?”, Zecora asked without straying away from her work.

“Does she talk in rhyme, like all the time?”, Daemon asked Fluttershy, realizing he just did the same thing.

“Yes... you'll get used to it.”, Fluttershy responded. “Okay, sooo... we came to see if you knew anything about, umm... my kind. Do you have any knowledge about... Shadowmares?” Daemon questioned, afraid of a negative reaction.

“Ah so you're the famed Shadowmare! I'm sorry I don't know anything of your species, this I swear.”, Zecora said with an apologetic look in the direction of where Daemon was, but when she wasn't looking Daemon started working on the potion as if he was an expert.

Noticing what he was doing Zecora yelled, “What are you trying to do?! Sabotage my healing brew?! Get away, you!”.

“Well excuuuse me for making it better!”, Daemon said, casually walking away.

“What do you mean you made it better?” Fluttershy asked.

“It was a healing potion... I made it into a power surge potion. Not sure how I knew how to do it. Just came to me.” Zecora took a small taste touching her tongue to the mysterious new tonic. She instantly felt better than she had in years!

“This concoction is marvelous! You have made this zebra a bit jealous! If we are done, let me say that here, you will always be welcome.”.

Daemon thanked her for her 'help' and headed out with Fluttershy, a little disappointed.

On the walk back, Fluttershy kept glancing over at Daemon, wondering how he knew what was needed for the potion. He didn't have any memories of his past so how could he know which ingredients would help? She didn't care enough to ask about it, but she was still puzzled by the whole ordeal. As they came to a clearing they suddenly heard something from above them, it almost sounded like somepony was yelling something in the distance. They stopped and looked up at where they heard it. There was what looked like a comet falling out of the sky straight at them they quickly backed away behind the treeline. The thing they thought was a comet crashed in front of them, making a decent sized dust cloud. When the dust finally cleared they couldn't believe their eyes. There was a pony standing where they expected to see some kind of space rock! And to make it even more shocking, she looked a little like Daemon in a way, which probably meant she was a Shadowmare too! She had a dusky magenta coat, a long saw-wheel styled hot pink mane, with a similar colored tail that looked about the same style as Daemon's. The thing that gave her the appearance of a Shadowmare though was her horns, demonic wings, and those wicked looking eyes! Unlike Daemon, she had three horns; one on her forehead and one on each side of the main one. Her extra horns were also more... feminine than Daemon's. They were smaller and more dainty looking, but they still gave her a demon-like appearance. The wings were exactly like Daemons, just a slightly different color. Her eyes were also the same for the most part, but besides the fact that they were a glaring bright pink and more 'gentle looking', they seemed to be filled with anger. Actually they seemed to surpass anger. They were brimming with pure, unequaled rage! The rest of her face and the way she was posed on the ground confirmed this fact. {Link 1}

“DAEMON! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I've been searching for you for three days now and you had better give me a good reason not to bury you six feet under... again!”, the new mystery mare yelled, loud enough to send a hydra running for cover. Fluttershy quickly hid behind Daemon trying to stay hidden from the furious pony's sight.

“Uh... uh...”, Daemon uttered, at a loss for what to say.

“Oh, that's a new one! The idiot is speechless! Like I've nev...”, the new Shadowmare stopped mid sentence, seeing Fluttershy poking her head out from behind Daemon.

“Oh sweet Nightmare Moon above! Tell me you didn't pick up another straggler! We went over this! We can't just bring along somepony you happen to find! We have a mission to complete! We can't slow down just because of your insane delusions of how you think you can make a friend!”, She continued.

“Uh... do I... know you?”, Daemon asked, wide eyed and shaky.

“Open your eyes, dummy! I'm your girlfriend!”. Upon hearing this Daemon stuttered woozily and started swaying side to side before passing out at the new information.

Daemon awoke in Twilights library. When he opened his eyes he saw Fluttershy and Twilight standing over him appearing concerned.

“Oh man... you would not believe the crazy dream I had! I dreamt that there was another Shadowmare and she was actually my-”

“Girlfriend? Yes we've been over this already...”. Daemon quickly sat up to see the mare sitting in a chair reading a book titled All you need to know about Shadowmares. Daemons jaw dropped faster than a lead ballon filled with sand.

Twilight spoke, “It wasn't a dream Daemon... she's real and she said her name was... uh...”. The very serious looking mare closed the book and stood up clearing her throat.

“My name is Desdemona Monica Blackheart... the third. The idiot over there is named Daemon Icarus Fireblood the fifth. As you already know, we are Shadowmares, and sadly we are the only two left. That is why I am his girlfriend. If I had the privilege, I wouldn't be caught dead around this numbskull!”.

“Why do you keep calling him 'idiot', if you don't mind telling us?”, Twilight asked. Desdemona sighed and pointed towards Daemon. Twilight didn't notice anything out of the ordinary at first. It appeared that he was just reading a book, but then she saw that he had it upside down.

“His I.Q. is lower than some insects that I've seen... and trust me, it will show when you least want it. You see he is the muscle while I am the brains.”, Desdemona explained. Twilight thought the others should probably be present to hear the new info that was being brought to light.

“Maybe, I should get my other friends over to hear this as well.” Twilight suggested.

“Oh, don't get up. I got this!” Daemon said leaping from his seat. His main horn started to glow and in a flash there were images of the remaining mane six floating in front of him, almost like a video chat room.

“Everypony, come to Twilight's house. We have some amazing news!”, Daemon said before the images vanished. He turned around, smiling pleasantly.

Desdemona shouted furiously, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?! NO! OF COURSE NOT, BECAUSE YOU JUST HAPPEN TO HAVE AMNESIA! I know! I was informed of that! But let me just tell you what you did! You just signaled our location!”.

“To who?”, Twilight asked a bit scared at what could cause such a panic in a Shadowmare.

“The Lightmare Legion! Now hold that thought while I gather your friends...”, Desdemona said before teleporting the others into the library one by one. A little winded from the multiple teleportations she caused, Desdemona said, “Okay, now that we're all here I can...”. It suddenly started to get bright outside... very, very bright. It almost looked like the sun could have been right on the front steps of Twilight's home. Suddenly the doors burst open and the intense light blinded everypony in the room, except Desdemona who seemed to be unfazed.

When the light died down there was a large mare standing right in the middle of the room. She was very tall, but slender. She was bit bigger than Daemon, but she seemed to be nearly a complete opposite of the Shadowmare. Her coat was a bright blond. Her mane and tail were nearly golden in color. She had a tail that was similar to the two Shadowmares, but not identical. The style of her mane was sophisticated, but also a little basic. She wore a pure white vest and golden armlets around each leg. Her eyes were a brilliant, bright cyan and they glistened like diamonds. But the odd thing about her was that she had three horns and a pair of wings! The two spare horns, one to each side of the main horn, were curved upwards and upon reaching a certain point, they were angled back like they were bent that way. Her wings were a little more like eagle wings than standard pegasus wings and they had what looked like armor running along the length of them {Link 2}.

“Oh, thank goodness it was you this time, Flara”, Desdemona sighed in relief. The room suddenly burst into questions from everypony at once. The scene that had just unfolded caused a lot of confusion and each pony wanted answers.

“Will you all just... SHUT UP!”, the female Shadowmare shouted. Things quickly became dead silent... for the most part. Pinkie Pie was still shouting something about ballons for about two seconds after everypony else had stopped talking, before realizing what had happened and got quiet herself.

“Okay, now that we are all here, safe and sound... I'll tell you all I know...”, Desdemona spoke. She went over everything that the others had missed and continued her explanation from there. She told everypony that the Lightmares are a race of ponies that are the basic opposites of the Shadowmares. The Lightmares are an aggressive race of ponies that actually are more like what the Shadowmares were thought to be. The Shadowmare stories were really an ancient conspiracy to keep the race of Shadowmares vulnerable and unable to turn to others for help. The primary goal of the Lightmares is to wipe out the Shadowmare race because they see the Shadowmares as 'unholy abominations'. It turned out that the new blond colored pony, Flara Brighthoof, was a Lightmare herself, but she was secretly a friend to the Shadowmares. She was actually the head scout for the Lightmares, and she would often lie about not finding anything when she was sent to investigate a disturbance. The Lightmares have a special device that searches for dramatic spikes in magical energy. If the reading is higher than what the average unicorn can do, they send out a scout to check if there is indeed a Shadowmare present. Even though Flara has kept many Shadowmares from being caught in the past by lying, she can only lie a few times before needing to expose a Shadowmare to keep from seeming suspicious. They were lucky that the spell Daemon had cast was just at the line of a unicorns potential. Doing a small spell multiple times like what Desdemona did was fine, but if the spell is overly complex, it will cause the Lightmares to send a scout.

As for the history of the Shadowmares, they come from a far off place called 'Armaregeddon'. Supposedly it was a very beautiful place to live until the Lightmares started slaughtering the citizens. The original attack occurred 6,000 years ago, and the Shadowmares have been in hiding since then. The parents of Daemon and Desdemona were taken away because they needed to use a powerful spell that they called 'The Ritual'. Shadowmares are actually not born looking the way they do, but once they come to age, they have an extremely powerful spell cast on them to give them their horns, wings and trademark eye pattern. Knowing that their time was coming anyway, the parents of Daemon and Desdemona cast the spell on their children simultaneously. When Flara came to find them, she told them that the spells were too large to be a malfunction on the machine and she was already on the razors edge of being labeled a traitor. It was decided that all four parents would reveal themselves to save their children. Before Desdemonas parents left, they told her that the only hope to save their race was to find the Shadowmares foretold savior, Nightmare Moon. Only Nightmare Moon was powerful enough to stop the Lightmare Legion.

Hearing that Nightmare Moon was the only one who could save them, Twilight cringed.

“I'm sorry to tell you this but... we defeated Nightmare Moon.”. Desdemonas heart sank.

“Great! Thanks to you we're doomed! Alright Flara, seeing as how we now have no chance at survival, you can take us to the chopping block now!”, Desdemona said, presenting her hooves in surrender.

“There must be another way to save ourselves!”, Daemon spoke up, refusing to succumb to his tragic fate,“I'm strong! I bet if I use that potion I made, I could-”. As soon as Daemon said potion, Desdemonas eyes shot open.

“Potion?! What potion?! Tell me!”, she shouted, shaking him roughly.

“It was some sort of energy enhancing potion. I don't know anything other than that!”, Daemon said desperately in hope that the other Shadowmare would stop shaking him.

“Yes! It could only be the legendary potion, 'Bane of the Sun'! I don't know how you came upon the ingredients or how you managed to remember the recipe, but I don't care! We have a chance now!”, Desdemona said, her voice expelling a great feeling of hope.

“'Bane of the Sun'? That sounds a might evil if ya ask me.”, Applejack said, a little worried of what it meant.

“The name means nothing... but what it does to Shadowmares is extraordinary! To a normal pony it would be like about fifteen cups of coffee and a day at the spa, but for a Shadowmare it's like taking the power of the sun and absorbing it into you! It gives you untold power, strength, speed, and endurance! But it only lasts a short period before the side effects come into play. When you come off the power surge, you get hit by a wave of exhaustion, leaving you vulnerable and weak. It's a double edged sword in a way...”.

“So why don't you use it and beat the feathers out of the Lightmares?”, Rainbow Dash asked, throwing a few punches in the air. Desdemona looked at Daemon, who was paying more attention to a fly than he was to anything else.

“Daemon is the only one strong enough to use the potion effectively and in his current state he wouldn't know how to combat the Lightmares, not in the massive numbers that they have... I suppose that until he regains his memories of training to fight them, we are stuck here for the time being.”, Desdemona sighed.

“Well I guess this would be the best spot to hide”, Flara said with a voice so pleasant that it could put an angels to shame. “The other Lightmares will have no reason to come here if I say it's clear, and the only reason for them to show up would be if they find another power spike in this area. So, Desdemona, in fear for your safety I'm ordering you and Daemon to stay in Ponyville until further notice!”.
Everypony (besides Desdemona) started to cheer.

“I hate being reduced to staying with idiots... if anypony needs me, I'll be outside wondering how I got into this mess.”, the Shadowmare grumbled as she headed out the door.

Setting the Stage

Chapter 4: Setting the Stage

It was the morning after Desdemona and Flara had shown up. Shortly after Flara had ordered the two Shadowmares to stay in Ponyville, she left to give her report about 'an overly enthusiastic unicorn trying to show off', to the rest of the legion. The seven friends talked to Desdemona after Flara left, trying to find out where she would like to stay. The deep magenta pony didn't want to stay with anypony, saying that it was not acceptable for a Shadowmare to take help. Eventually, after much coercing she decided to stay with Fluttershy, only so she could keep an eye on Daemon. Desdemona was forced to sleep in the same bed as Fluttershy since there were no more spares. This caused Fluttershy to stay up most of the night out of fear. Desdemona had a very aggressive and intimidating attitude, causing Fluttershy to fear that she would get violent if awoken... or touched or looked at the wrong way or basically anything else. It took time, but Fluttershy did manage to get to sleep... at the very edge of the bed.

The two mares awoke to the smell of smoke.

“Argh... Daemon is trying to cook again.” Desdemona said shuffling out of bed. Fluttershy already was in the kitchen, trying to put out any fire that there may have been when Desdemona walked in. “Daemon, I know you don't have any memory of this but... YOU CAN'T COOK! Luckily I can.”, Desdemona said walking over to the fridge, pulling out a few things. The Shadowmare got to work, chopping and slicing with grace and precision. Then she pulled out a frying pan and started to cook the ingredients, flipping them in the air and putting on quite a good show. After about 2 minutes, she pulled out two plates using her magic and placed them in front of Daemon and Fluttershy. Then she set the frying pan down on the stove and quickly slammed her hoof on the nearby counter, sending what she had made out of the pan and on to the plates.

“Oh my goodness! That was amazing! How did you do that?”, Fluttershy said clapping her hooves together in applause.

“It's something I can do naturally. Shadowmares excel in basically everything, there are a few things we can't do to save our lives though and each one of us is different in that way. It's an evolutionary trait, we adapted it due to the demand that staving off the Lightmares gave. If we didn't adapt we would have wound up dead. That's why we can no longer get what you call cutie marks, because they would prove to be redundant. We also heal at an alarming rate in order to stay in peak physically condition at almost all times.”, Desdemona explained to the astonished pegasus.

“Wow this tastes great D. Monica!” Daemon said devouring what had been placed in front of him.

“Wait! What did you just call me?!” Desdemona shouted in surprise. “D. Monica, its the nickname I gave you, remember?”.

“Yes I remember... but how did you?! Did you just get your memory back?!”, Desdemona asked hopefully.

Daemon finished eating before answering, “Hmm... I don't think so, but I do remember a few other things I remember that my favourite food is Zap Apples. I remember how we used to race each other and I would always win. My favourite colour is purple... oh, and we never went to a party before.”. The two mares just looked at him, stunned of his new memory.

“When did you remember all of this?!” Desdemona asked, praying for some clues to help trigger the rest of his memory.

“Uh, I guess about two days ago when I was becoming friends with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. Weird, huh? I make friends and all of the sudden I start remembering stuff.”, Daemon said, chuckling. Desdemona looked at him with look of dull disbelief.

“Are you kidding me? You get your memories back by bonding with other ponies?!”. Daemon put a hoof on his chin, pondering this statement.

“Huh... guess so. What are the odds of that?”, Daemon remarked with a grin.

“With you... very good.” Desdemona sighed with a hoof on her forehead as if she was getting a migraine from the conversation.

“Okay... yellow one... Fluttershy I believe?” Desdemona said pointing at Fluttershy who was nodding in confirmation of her name.

“I need everypony in Ponyville to become Daemon's friend as fast as possible. How should we go about doing that?”, the Shadowmare asked, still looking frustrated.

“Well, Pinkie Pie is always throwing parties and nearly everypony shows up to them... we could ask her to throw a party to introduce you guys to the town.”, Fluttershy answered in her normal passive way.

“A party... great. I think I'm gonna hate it here...”, Desdemona growled.

It didn't take long for the preparations to get finished for the party, and with Pinkie Pie running things, it took even less time for everypony to hear about it. The party was to take place in Applejacks barn at sunset. The plan was to win over everypony with Daemons singing the same way he won over Fluttershy. There were even instruments set up on a makeshift stage. Daemon fooled around with the instruments one by one, showing excessive talent in each one. Fluttershy asked Desdemona if he was always so good with music. She told Fluttershy that music is the one thing that Daemon has always enjoyed and he often can make up songs on the fly and sing them based on his mood or feelings. It seemed to take forever for the sun to start setting. Daemon and Desdemona were told to wear large monk-like robes to hide themselves until they were to be revealed to the crowd.

When everything was in order and all the ponies of Ponyville were inside Twilight tapped on the microphone to get everyponies attention.

“Excuse me. I know what you are all thinking. You are wondering what you have been called here for and I'm here to tell you that something... unexpected has happened recently. We have gotten two new additions to our town and you may have seen one of them during the past few days. I would like to say that they have now decided to reveal themselves as to who they are and they wish to become your friends.”. Twilights announcement caused the crowd to go into an uproar of questions.

“I understand you are confused as to why our new guests would try to hide themselves. They only wished to stay hidden to keep from being judged, but now due to some new discoveries, they need to become your friends. So without further adieu, I give you Daemon and Desdemona!”, Twilight declared, stepping off the stage, allowing the two Shadowmares to step forward and reveal themselves dramatically. The audience gasped upon seeing them.

Things got eerily quiet before Daemon started talking, “Uh... hello everypony. I would like to say that we are not here to hurt anypony first of all, and also we look like this because we aren't regular everyday ponies... we are Shadowmares.”. This caused even more gasps, followed by a few murmurs.

“Yes, I know we have a bad reputation but I would like to show you that its all lies by singing a song.”, Daemon stated, before starting to sing the song that Fluttershy heard.

However before he could even get through the first line of the song, one pony yelled out, “You expect a song to make us believe you aren't evil?! That's not good enough!”. The pony in the crowd then threw a cupcake at him, but Daemon dodged it before it had a chance to hit him in the face. Daemons gaze got serious... angry even.

“Not good enough, huh? Well then, HOW'S THIS?!”. {Link 1} Daemon picked up the near by guitar and started playing. Then the rest of the instruments started glowing and playing by themselves with his magic. He started singing, but this song was different. It was angry, frustrated, and the lyrics matched the situation almost perfectly. It made the ponies in the crowd cringe as he yelled his feelings. The lyrics made it sound like everypony had been judging him, never giving him a chance to show that he was good (which was true), and it also stated that he was on his own because of it. When the song was finished the floating instruments came crashing down and Daemon stormed out of the barn through the door by the stage, taking the guitar with him. Desdemona simply backed off into the shadows, with a blank, emotionless look on her face.

Fluttershy started to follow him but stopped in the center of the platform. She turned to the crowd with a furious stare.
She stomped up to the microphone and spoke into it, “I hope you are proud of yourselves! He was just trying to be accepted and you hurt his feelings!”.
“Hurt his feelings?!”, one pony yelled, “That...THING doesn't have feelings!”.

This accusation enraged Fluttershy, “You believe he doesn't have any feelings? Follow me everypony, I have something to show you.”. Fluttershy trotted through the mass of ponies and headed out the main barn doors. The rest of Ponyville followed her, curious what she could show them to change their minds about the Shadowmare. For a while Fluttershy walked about town and it seemed that she was not heading anywhere in particular. When the group of ponies following her were about to go back home, believing the yellow pegasus had just went out of her mind, she said something and took off, looking like she had found what she was searching for. The citizens of Ponyville chased after her and stopped after catching up. The mayor was about to ask what she thought she was doing when a sound started to resonate from a nearby cliff overhanging the road. It was a guitar being played by a mysterious shadowy figure. It took a few seconds for everypony to realize that the one who was silhouetted by the moonlight was Daemon.{Link 2} {Link 3} He was playing a sad, but remarkably beautiful song. The town just stood staring at him with shock and awe. Everypony believed that the song was about Fluttershy... but really Desdemona was the only one who knew who the song was truly about.

When Daemon finished the song he floated down gracefully, landing in the middle of the group.

“So, are you gonna run me out of town now? Thats what villagers do, right? You run the monster out of tow-OOF!”. Daemon looked down to see a small filly hugging him with tears in her eyes.

“Don't go mister demon. I like your music! It's pretty!”, the little pony cried.

Daemon smiled at her warmly, “Okay... I'll stay... and my name is Daemon.”. The rest of the crowd appologized to Daemon, as they went back to the party. Many of the ponies that had been so harsh before were now asking him to play more of his music. He played about three songs before handing things over to a pony by the name of Vinyl Scratch. His songs were much more cheerful and pleasant then the ones he played earlier, which made Fluttershy glad to see him actually enjoying himself.

About an hour into the party, Desdemona asked to see Fluttershy outside in private. When Fluttershy met up with her, she was pacing, looking quite worried about something.

“You wanted to talk to me?”, Fluttershy asked, tilting her head.

“Yes... it's about Daemon getting his memory back.”, said the concerned Shadowmare.

“I know. It's great isn't it? Pretty soon he'll remember everything.”, Fluttershy responded pleasantly.

“That's what I'm afraid of... you see there are a few memories I don't want him to get back. Remember the song we heard him singing a little while ago? It was about someone he cared about... she looked a lot like you actually.”, Desdemona said looking away from Fluttershy.

“Why don't you want him to remember her?”, Fluttershy asked now concerned herself.

Desdemona went on explaining their past, telling Fluttershy about the pegasus friend they had. They had met this pegasus while walking through a forest one day and after they had met the pegasus just kept following them everywhere. They learned that her name was Firefly and she was abandoned at a young age. It didn't take long for Daemon and Firefly to become close friends and enjoy each others company. Firefly knew that they were Shadowmares the whole time, but she didn't care. If anything, being Shadowmares just fascinated her even more. During their travels they would often compete in races... Daemon would actually lose on purpose to make Firefly feel better. That was the sign that showed he didnt remember her yet, because at breakfast he said he always won the races. It wasn't until recently that things got... complicated. About five days ago they came across a couple Lightmares. Unfortunately, Firefly got caught in the crossfire. Desdemona had hidden herself in the trees while Daemon quickly rushed to the side of Firefly. When she died shortly after, Daemon went into a rage, attacking the Lightmares head on. While he did manage to kill both of the Lightmares he got an injury on his leg. When Desdemona walked up to him he started singing that one song over Firefly's dead body. Desdemona tried to tell him that it wouldn't have worked out anyways and it was going to happen sooner or later. That's when Daemon flew off as fast as he could toward Canterlot, and Desdemona was unable to keep up, losing him in the process. It was said that Nightmare Moon's magic was so powerful that it could even be used to resurrect a pony from the dead. That is what Daemon was doing in Ponyville when he collapsed and lost his memory... he was desperately trying to do something to bring Firefly back. Desdemona ended the story there and begged Fluttershy to try to keep this part of his past a secret, because if he were to remember it, he could go into a deep depression, and give up his fight with the Lightmares. Fluttershy shook her head up and down with tears in her eyes from the sad tale.

Daemon burst out of the barn bouncing like he was on a jackhammer.

“I-know-why-Pinkie-Pie-loves-partys-now! It's-because-of-this-stuff-called-candy! I-ate-so-much-I-threw-up, so-I-ate-some-more!” Daemon shouted hyperactively, before collapsing on the ground asleep from the sugar low.

“Fantastic... mind helping me drag the 'party animal' back to the house?” Desdemona asked, looking at the snoozing stallion.

“Not at all... I would feel bad if you were to bring him back all on your own” Fluttershy said, wiping a tear from her eye.

Fighting Chaos

Chapter 5: Fighting Chaos

It had been four days since the big party. Apparently it was a big hit since everypony was treating Daemon with respect and attempting to treat Desdemona the same way. Desdemona would just glare at anypony who would talk to her though... she said that making friends was Daemon's job, not hers and she wanted to keep it that way. Daemon returned the Wonder Bolt goggles that Rainbow Dash had given him the day after the party, telling her that he no longer needed to hide his eyes. In fact, now that he was an accepted citizen in Ponyville, everypony seemed to enjoy his striking eyes. Some would be so entranced that they would just stare at him smiling. The party also gave Daemon some of his memories back, although a lot of his regained memories were hazy and jumbled. During the past few days, Daemon would go around town and help those who needed his assistance or complete some odd jobs that needed his talents. He did notice that Fluttershy had become more distant towards him for some reason but he just guessed that giving her space would be best and continued forming stronger friendships with those in Ponyville. His help had also come with a few rewards, Applejack heard that he loved Zap Apples so she gave him a twenty pound sack of them. The only reason she was able to do this in the first place was because of his help at the final moments of harvest anyway... she thought it was only right for him to get what she could spare. He also was given the guitar from the party. It was sort of the towns way of saying sorry for their harsh words.

After he was done helping out at Twilight's, he decided to go back to Fluttershy's cottage, which he now called 'home'. Upon entering he noticed that it was empty. It was already getting late so he found the absence of Fluttershy strange.

“Fluttershy? Are you home?”, he called out, hoping for a reply. His call went unanswered.

“Okay, something is definitely up... first of all Fluttershy is not one to stay out late; second, I know she would have told me if she was going somewhere; and third... I'm talking to myself! I should really stop or I might end up as crazy as Pinky Pie.” Daemon said to himself, walking back to the door.

“Yes, talking to yourself is almost as crazy as I am...” an unfamiliar voice spoke, startling Daemon.

“What?! Who's there?! Show yourself!”, Daemon shouted at the relaxed, yet sadistic sounding voice. Then, 'something' came walking out into the the room from the kitchen. It was some weird creature that was made up of all kinds of different parts. It looked like a biological jigsaw puzzle, one eagle talon, a lions paw, a white goat-like beard on the head of a horse... it looked like a mad scientist spliced together thirteen different animals into one horrific abomination.

“Don't mind me... I'm just here to pick something, or should I say someone, up.” the creature laughed causing Daemon to shake off his initial fear and show a bit of anger.

“I asked you who you are... now tell me!”, Daemon snarled, assuming that the one he said he 'picked up' was Fluttershy.

“Ah, yes. How rude of me. I am Discord, being of chaos and disharmony, at my service! Now who are you? I haven't seen a pony like you before...”, Discord said, staring intensely at the Shadowmare.

“My name is Daemon and what I am is none of your business!”, Daemon yelled causing Discord to step back. “NOW WHAT DID YOU DO WITH FLUTTERSHY?!”, he continued to shout.

“Oh, nothing much... yet. You can find her at Twilight Sparkle's abode, along with all of her other friends. See you there!”, Discord said before laughing maniacally and teleporting away.

'Why did D. Monica need to pick today of all days to leave and strategize with Flara?!' Daemon thought, before teleported to Twilight's so he could stop whatever this new threat had in store for his friends.

After teleporting, Daemon expected to see this 'Discord' guy torturing his friends, but instead he just saw all of his friends standing in the room looking at him.

“Are you guys alright? Where is Discord? Did he hurt you?” Daemon asked, making sure everything was as perfect as it seemed to be.

“I have no idea who yer talkin' about...”, Applejack said looking back and forth suspiciously.

“Oh-kaaay? Uh... Fluttershy would you mind telling me what is going on?”, Daemon asked feeling like something wasn't quite right.

“Why don't you figure it out?! Oh wait that's right... you're too stupid to know how to add two plus two!”, Fluttershy responded, acting a lot like Desdemona.

Daemon was shocked to hear this,“Fluttershy being cruel? That's not right... something tells me this is what Discord was up to.”. Daemon started to hear slow clapping above him and looked to see Discord.

“Congratulations, you figured it out. I like turning the personalities of ponies backwards... its always a laugh!”.

“If you laugh, I swear I'll kick your teeth out!”, Pinkie Pie yelled at the snickering Discord.

“Not if I get to him first Pinkie...”, Daemon said popping his joints.

“Oh please... don't be so serious I was simply having a bit of fun... but this is where it gets personal.”, Discord said glaring at the mane six. He snapped his fingers and suddenly, Daemon's six friends were encased in stone leaving only their heads sticking out.

“Why are you doing this?! What did they ever do to you?!”, Daemon yelled in hopeless desperation.

“THEY TRIED TO SEAL ME IN STONE FOR ALL ETERNITY! HOW'S THAT FOR A REASON?!”, Discord yelled back, finally losing his cool. He was breathing heavily for a few moments before gathering himself.

“Do you know what it's like being turned into a statue? It's not very pleasant. All I wanted to do was spread chaos and put the whole world into a state of pure disharmony... is that so wrong? I even made it rain chocolate milk. Tell me who doesn't like chocolate milk? Well I couldn't have that because these six were able to gather the Elements of Harmony and stop me. It's a good thing that they didn't do anything to keep me imprisoned or I would still be made of stone, but I digress, there is nothing that can stop me now and I'm finally free to create my world of anarchy!”.

Daemon couldn't believe what he was hearing. This thing was out of his mind. Wanting to create chaos? This was insane, the world was chaotic enough for Daemon, there was no reason to make it worse... especially just for entertainment! To make matters worse his friends were being hurt by the stone encasing them. Discord must have been right about the whole 'not pleasant' thing, because it looked as if each one of them were in extreme pain. Daemon was scared, furious, saddened, and confused all at the same time. He just sat in front of his friends shaking when Discord laughed evilly and made his exit. Unable to think of a way to free them. Daemon broke down. He felt like his heart was going to shatter any moment. He was totally helpless. Daemon knew he couldn't free them or else the Lightmares would find him and things would be even worse with them thrown into the mix. Not knowing what else he could do he moved toward Fluttershy, crying at her now petrified hooves.

“Suck... it up... you big baby.”, Fluttershy struggled to say. “You're a Shadowmare... for Celestia's sake! Argh! Try... acting like it!”. Daemon looked up at Fluttershy and saw a faint smile on her face. He believed that this sudden statement was Fluttershy... the real Fluttershy... trying to tell him that he could still try to beat Discord. Suddenly, Daemon felt a pulsating in his chest. It wasn't his heart, it felt different, it felt... powerful. Then the pulsating increased in speed until it was almost in rhythm with his heart beat. That's when it happened... Daemon's dark side was unleashed.

Daemon stepped outside to see the town in a panic. Ponies were running frantically. Most of the buildings were floating upside down and the ground was covered in a checkerboard pattern. None of this phased Daemon. He was focused completely on Discord, who was sitting on a floating throne in the sky.

“Ah! Daemon! You made it. I was worried I hurt your feelings and we weren't going to be friends. That would have been just awful!”, Discord said chuckling to himself.

“Discord... I'm giving you one chance to return everything back to the way it was and run away...”, Daemon said in a calm tone.

“Or what?! Are you forgetting that I am unstoppable without the use of the Elements of Harmony? You cant do anything to me, so stop trying to act like the hero and enjoy the coming of the new world!”, Discord said raising his hands in triumph.

“I don't know what these 'Elements of Harmony' that you keep rambling on about are, but I assure you... I won't need them. However I will need to borrow Vinyl's music equipment...”, Daemon said walking inside Vinyl Scratch's nearby house. He came back out with a turntable and two large speakers, rolling them into position by Twilights house.

“Ha ha ha ha! You're going to stop me with music?! That is hysterical!” Discord laughed.

“No I'm just setting the mood. The fun has yet to begin...”, Daemon replied, sounding calm and emotionless.

He took out a record and placed it on the turntable. {Link 1} The music that came out when he put the needle on the record was quiet at first, but after Daemon walked away from the speakers and crouched down in a take-off position, it quickly blasted in fierce sounding lyrics. The moment the song changed into one of a fighting melody, Daemon shot himself straight at Discord, who was shocked by the stallions incredible speed but still able to fling some floating buildings together in an attempt to smash Daemon. The angered Shadowmare was two steps ahead of Discord though, teleporting behind him and giving a quick buck to the back of his head. The buck wasn't full powered, but it was enough to send Discord hurtling towards the ground. After impacting the soil below, Discord brushed himself off and looked at Daemon.

“That wasn't very nice!”, Discord snapped.

“That's funny, normally I'm a pretty nice guy... I wonder what could have happened to change me?”, Daemon growled sarcastically, venomous hatred clear in his words.

“Are you still upset about that? Move on dear boy. There is nothing you can do to stop their fate. I have already won. Give it up!”, Discord said, floating back up to Daemons eye level.

“I'm not going to give up... you hurt my friends and attempted to hurt me. I will make sure you will pay.”, Daemon responded, eyes still overflowing with a silent fury. Discord made the first move this time, phasing out of sight and reappearing behind Daemon. He grabbed the stallion by the neck, causing him to struggle.

Discord then ran his finger across Daemons face, whispering, “Now let's see what your opposite self is like”. Daemon continued to struggle, confusing Discord.

“Why aren't you succumbing to my magic?! What are you?!”, Discord shouted in frustration. Daemon then broke free of his grasp and started to giggle somewhat evilly. “What is so funny?”, Discord asked, not sure what could be amusing this strange pony.

“What you said... 'what are you'? Heh heh heh... you really don't want to know.”, Daemon said grinning wickedly.

Daemon started to think that the fight was dragging on way too long and rushed at Discord. The mismatched creature tried to block the incoming attack, only to have Daemon swing his legs to the right, shifting his momentum to circle around to Discords back. Daemon delivered a right hook to Discord, sending him flying to the left. After that, Daemon started to jolt back and forth through the air, hitting Discord each time. It looked as if Daemon was playing volleyball with the psycho. This went on for a good fifteen seconds before the Shadowmare finished up by tossing Discord to the ground. The beaten creature looked up to see Daemon staring back with an aura of rage surrounding him.

“W-what are you?!” Discord shouted in what was now fear. Lightning went off behind the unflinching stallion as he still showed a merciless stare {Link 2}.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Daemon asked the shaking Discord.

“Ye... yes?”, Discord stuttered not positive he wanted to know.

“I am a Shadowmare or in this case... your worst fear brought to life!”, Daemon shouted back.

“Wh- Y-you can't be serious! You aren't supposed to exist!”, Discord yelled, shaking even more than he was before.

“Oh, I'm serious... you might even say I'm dead serious! We do exist, and pretty soon... you won't!”, Daemon said back to Discord.

“Wait! Let's not do anything drastic! I... I can free your friends! I can set everything back to how it was! Watch!”, Discord said snapping his fingers. In a flash, Ponyville went back to normal and the mane six appeared outside Twilights front door, also back to their original selves.

“See?! Now please let me go! I won't bother you ever again!”, Discord pleaded.

The six on the sidelines looked at Discord and then to where he was looking, trying to understand what was happening. When they saw Daemon in the sky they noticed something was... wrong. He looked different somehow. Fluttershy was the only one who knew what was going on. She remembered Desdemona telling her that when Daemon starts to fight, he becomes a totally different pony. He becomes an unforgiving warrior, unable to stop himself from finishing the fight... even if it means killing the one he's fighting.

“It's far too late for that Discord. I gave you a chance to escape before and you rejected it. You have nobody to blame for this but yourself...”, Daemon said coldly. He then flew at Discord at a speed which caused a Sonic Fireboom. Fluttershy saw what he was about to do and screamed,

“DAEMON! NO!”. Right before hitting Discord, Daemon stopped abruptly, causing the shockwave of the Sonic Fireboom to be the only thing that hit Discord.

Daemon dropped to the ground, eyes wide, stunned by his actions. Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke, “What have I become? I... I was about to kill him...”. Fluttershy slowly walked up to him, but Daemon stepped back fearfully, scared of himself.

“Daemon... I...”, Fluttershy whispered before Daemon flew off, feeling forlorn.

Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 6: Beauty and the Beast

Fluttershy could only look off in sadness toward the direction that Daemon flew. The rest of her friends behind her had a few questions, so when Twilight asked what that was all about, Fluttershy told them all she knew. It just so happened that Daemon, and every other Shadowmare born, has a fatal flaw and it differs from Shadowmare to Shadowmare. Sometimes the flaw would be something completely harmless, like the inability to taste strawberries... but other times it would be something much more severe. With Desdemona, her flaw was that she couldn't shiver, no matter how cold it got. However, with Daemon, his flaw was a gift and a curse. He was unable to control himself in combat, making him a ruthless, unforgiving, blood-thirsty warrior whenever the enemy attacked. Desdemona often would tell him that if she had his “flaw” she would accept it as a blessing... but Daemon is a peaceful and kind soul who hates to hurt others, making him see his flaw as his inner monster, and sometimes his true self.

“Because he has never had the reason to fight in Ponyville till now, he must be seeing this as a huge problem”, Twilight said after Fluttershy had finished talking.

“Yes... I'm afraid that he's panicking right now... he might do something bad if we don't talk to him soon.”, Fluttershy responded, looking quite sad from the whole dilemma.

“Yeah, but how will we be able to calm him down if we can't even find him?! It's not like we know his favourite hiding spots right?!”, Rainbow Dash shouted, sounding frustrated.

“Well actually... I think I know where he might be... but we don't want to spook him, so I may only be able to bring one of you...”, Fluttershy told them quietly.

“I'll go”, Rarity said, raising her hoof. “I have been told I have a way with words, so I might be able to make him a little more... rational.”. Fluttershy nodded and lead Rarity to where she believed they could find Daemon.

Discord then scooted over by Twilight, spat out a tooth with some blood, and asked, “Sooo... you wont be telling Celestia about this will you?”. Twilight glared at him and responded, “No, you're not getting off that easy!”.

“Well, I tried.”, Discord said shrugging.

They spotted Daemon exactly where Fluttershy thought he would be... on the same overhang that he was found on during the party. This time he wasn't found singing. Instead they saw his figure laying on the ground with his hooves over his eyes, sobbing in complete misery.

“You know, you'll never be able to hide for long if you keep coming to the same spot...” Fluttershy said, laying her hoof gently on his shoulder. Daemon quickly pushed her hoof off him and cringed.

“I don't have anywhere else... this is the only place where I can go. Please, just go... I don't want to hurt you too!”, Daemon cried before dropping to the ground again.

“THAT IS ENOUGH!”, Rarity shouted, catching Daemon and Fluttershy by surprise, “That wasn't you fighting discord! You know better than that! I'm sick and tired of you putting yourself down! You may not be the most attractive pony, but you are the most gentle, kind, and caring stallion I've ever met and if that's not enough you saved us all! You are a hero! Never forget it!”, Rarity yelled, now with signs of tears forming.

“But I... uh...”, Daemon stuttered before closing his eyes and giving a small smile of acceptance. “You're right, Rarity. I'm always doing this... I am constantly seeing myself in the darkest way, never looking to the good things I've done. And you know what else? That all ends now! I'm tired of being sad all the time. I appreciate the well deserved kick in the flank you gave me, I needed that.”. Daemon smiled a bit more and wiped a tear from his eye. “D. Monica should be getting home soon... we should get back home before she gets there and throws a fit.”.

The three went back to Fluttershy's house and on the way Daemon asked Rarity a few questions, mostly concerning what she was doing and if he could help. Daemon was the kind of pony that didn't like to pass up a chance to repay another who had helped him in any way. It turned out that she was having a hard time coming up with a new line of clothing. Daemon suggested that he could visit her tomorrow to help with ideas. Rarity was just concerned that he wouldn't be able to help and get back to feeling sad, but she agreed to let him try.

Shortly after Rarity left Desdemona walked through the door, letting out a big sigh in exhaustion. Fluttershy was acting like she was reading, while Daemon was acting like he was tuning his guitar.

“I'm finally back... so did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”, Desdemona asked the two who were faking their boring activities.

“Um... no, nothing of interest.” Fluttershy lied, smiling. Daemon shot up his hoof and shouted, “Ooh! I saw a squirrel on my way to Twilight's!”. Desdemona furrowed her eyebrows in contempt.

“Faaassscinating... well, as exciting as your days were and how much I would love to talk about it... I'm tired, so I'm going to bed.”, Desdemona said sarcastically, heading up the stairs. Daemon and Fluttershy simply smiled at each other pleasantly.

The next day Discord was sent to Celestia for his punishment. It was decided that he was to be imprisoned in an area specifically designed to negate all magic... for the next 2,000 years. Meanwhile Daemon was heading to Rarity's, when he spotted the mailmare, Derpy Hooves. She was carrying a letter and walking toward him. Daemon happened to like her for her clumsy accidents, he thought it was cute how she made a simple task seem so complicated. She was a blast to talk to at the party, always seeming to be more intelligent than her appearance led on. As Daemon was thinking of how much fun she was to be around, he didn't notice her stop right in front of him.

“Hello! I brought you this... it's very important! The Doctor said it's even more important than muffins! Can you believe that?! Nothing should be that important, but I know you never question The Doctor... he gets mad when you do.”, Derpy said, giving him the letter. Daemon took the letter and looked at it, wondering what Derpy had meant by it being very important.

“Did you give it to him?”, said a pony that Daemon also met at the party.

“Yes, Doctor! I gave it to him like you said and I didn't tell him about how he-”

“Don't tell him! You'll cause a paradox if you do! Now come along miss Hooves!”, the doctor said, walking over to a blue phone booth.

“I told you! My name is... you know what? Forget it, I guess I’m Derpy now...”, Derpy responded. This doctor was quite strange actually. He said he was 'The Doctor', but never said what he was a doctor of or what his real name was. Daemon simply shrugged and continued over to Rarity's.

Upon arriving at the boutique, Daemon quickly shoved the doors open and shouted, “DING-DONG!”.

“Oh, hello Daemon! Are you ready to brainstorm?”, Rarity asked.

“Yep! I even remembered to bring the storm cloud!”, Daemon said, pulling down a small dark cloud. Rarity laughed at his joke, while still maintaining her ladylike demeanor.

“Well I don't think we shall be needing that... uh, what is that in your pocket?”, Rarity asked pointing at the letter.

“I'm not really sure...” Daemon replied, looking at the letter with a raised eyebrow. “Derpy just gave it to me and said it was 'important'. I guess now is a good a time as any to read it.”. Daemon opened the envelope in one quick motion and took out a small scrap of paper.

“Well? What does it say?”, Rarity inquired.

“It just says, 'when you find yourself in your darkest hour, show her how you feel before facing the light'... and that's it.” Daemon said shaking the envelope in hope that there would be another clue inside.

“Well that certainty is mysterious... I wonder what it means.”, Rarity said, puzzling over the letters contents.

“Well I don't think it's all that important right now. We should just focus on getting your new...”, Daemon shuddered, “ugh, fashion line done.”. Rarity nodded and went over to her mannequins that already had some designs on them.

“You see, Daemon, the problem I'm having is that I can't think of good designs for stallions. They always turn out too... feminine. And the order I got was for strictly stallion apparel, so there lies the dilemma.”, Rarity explained while moving some fabrics up to her creations, trying to determine a good colour to go with them.

“Well I think I see your problem Rarity... you try too hard! Guys are normally glad to wear simple, darker things. Less is more! I mean just look at what you made me for example.”, Daemon said presenting himself. “Its only a vest and some straps that I wear as shoes. They are black and aren't 'dazzling' in any way, but they are functional. The pockets come in handy when I need to carry something small, like a letter... and they make it easy to move, unrestricted. That is what stallions are all about! Simplicity! Oh, and it's our girlfriends that we really want to stand out, so we just try to blend in to let them shine.”. Rarity just looked down and tried to absorb this information.

“I think I understand... but I don't really feel inspired to make something like that.”, Rarity said, looking slightly confused.

“I thought you might need some help with that, so I brought this!”, Daemon said, pulling out his guitar. “Now just let the music flow through you. Let it do all the work.”

Daemon started playing his guitar, it was a smooth melody with a bit of a rock like feeling in it.{Link 1} His lyrics were a little unusual though. They spoke of doing anything for his love and it made Rarity believe that the song couldn't possibly be for her. During the middle of the song, Fluttershy walked in, just to check on how things were going, and upon hearing the lyrics flowing from Daemons mouth, she broke into tears. Daemon stopped singing and walked over to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy what's wro-” before Daemon could finish his question Fluttershy ran out crying.

“Oh dear...”, Rarity said concerned.

“I don't get it. What's wrong with Fluttershy?” Daemon asked, oblivious to what was going on.

“You really don't know? Umm... how should I put this? Fluttershy... likes you.”, Rarity said, putting her hoof on his shoulder in a caring way.

“Well that's nice. I like her too!”, Daemon said smiling, “But that still doesn't explain why she was crying”.

Rarity face hoofed, “No! I mean she LIKES YOU, likes you! She has cared for you this way for a while now... and when she saw you singing that song to me... I believe she may have gotten the wrong impression.”.

“Wait, you mean she... loves me?”, Daemon said, looking as if he was about to cry tears of joy. “You know I... made that song when I was thinking of her. I think I might love her too...”, Daemon sniffed and gave a small laugh before hugging Rarity.

The stylish unicorn patted him on the back and said, “Well if that's how you feel... you should tell her now. She could really use it.”.

“Yeah! I know exactly how to do it t—wait... what about you? I promised that I'd help.”, Daemon said, loyal as always.

“Oh don't you worry about me. I'll be fine. Just make sure that whatever you are planing will be sure to work... Fluttershy is probably in a really sensitive state right now and needs all the help you can...”, Rarity stopped as soon as she heard the doors shut behind her. “...Spare...”, Rarity sighed, smiling.

Several hours had passed and Fluttershy was still crying into her pillow.
'It's not fair...' she thought 'I was told I couldn't love him and now he loves Rarity... how could this happen?'. Angel hopped up to her and stroked her mane concerned when he heard a small tapping on the window downstairs. He went to check it out and saw Daemon outside.

“Angel, I have a favor to ask...” Daemon whispered in order to keep Fluttershy from hearing. Angel crossed his arms and looked very upset with him.

“Yeah I know... I messed up, but I can make it better. Trust me. Just lead Fluttershy down here and I'll do the rest.”, Daemon continued to whisper to the white rabbit. Still upset, Angel slapped Daemon and glared at him with one raised finger, signifying that he only had one chance. The bunny reluctantly tugged at Fluttershy's tail, in an attempt to get her downstairs to an awaiting Daemon. When Fluttershy brushed him away, Angel got more aggressive and pulled on her mane, practically dragging her off the bed.

“Please Angel, I'm not in the mood to...”, Fluttershy trailed off, hearing the familiar sound of a guitar. As she walked out Daemon was sitting on a nearby post, playing yet another song. {Link 2} When she saw what was happening she turned her head away trying to hide her feelings, but he already saw. Daemons singing was great as always, but the lyrics were asking Fluttershy questions... caring questions... like 'why are you striving these days' and 'why are you trying to earn grace', but the question that really stood out was 'why are you crying'. After that, Daemon put his hoof on her chin and turned her head towards him and said “let me lift up your face... just don't turn away”, looking deep into her eyes affectionately {Link 3}. After that, he continued his performance with grace and emotion... singing of his love for Fluttershy.

After the song ended, Fluttershy seemed to be in the same depression that she was before the song.

“Okay, I give up... what's wrong? Didn't you like the song? I made it for you...”, Daemon said, trying to look Fluttershy in the face while she kept turning the other way.

“No, it's not that... the song was beautiful as always, but I can't accept it...”, the sad looking pegasus admitted.

“I don't understand. Why can't you accept it? Don't you feel the same way?”, Daemon asked, feeling a little shot down.

“Yes, but... and I know Desdemona is going to kill me for saying this... you were in love with another, and she... died. I wasn't supposed to let you know because you mi-”.

“So she told you about that huh? I didn't think you needed to know... that's why I didn't say anything...”, Daemon stated quietly, with a look of both sadness and slight embarrassment.

Fluttershy was stunned by his confession, “H...how long have you...”.

“Since the party... it was one of the first memories I got back, but that's the funny thing... I didn't feel sad. I didn't feel sad because I knew I had new friends, like Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash... and you.”. Fluttershy got a little closer to Daemon, but then hesitated.

“Wait, what about-”

“What are you two doing outside at this hour?”, a familiar voice interrupted.

“Desdemona!”, Fluttershy gasped, before hiding behind Daemon.

“I asked you a question. What are you doing out here?”, Desdemona asked again.

“Can't we enjoy the beauty of the night... or do we need your permission for that?”, Daemon answered, trying to change the subject.

“No...” Desdemona said walking inside, “...But don't think I believe you, because I don't.”. Fluttershy looked at Daemon for reassurance, but Daemon was waiting for Desdemona to close the door to her and Fluttershy's room before doing anything. When he heard the click of the door shutting he turned to the scared mare behind him.

“Don't worry about her. She doesn't know and even if she finds out... I will defend you to the death.”, Daemon said gently, giving a small but loving smile.

This caused Fluttershy to tear up again, but Daemon quickly intervened, “now don't you be crying on me again... I just got you to stop. If you don't knock it off I'll be forced to write another song!”, he said, giving her a playful nudge. Fluttershy giggled and walked inside, while Daemon continued to stand outside.

“What's wrong? Aren't you coming in?”, Fluttershy asked.

“I am in.”, Daemon said, still showing his gentle smile. Fluttershy looked down, and saw that his hoof was in the doorway... just like when they first met.

It Might be Love

Chapter 7: It Might be Love

The morning after Daemon confessed his love for Fluttershy, he was feeling like he needed to get away from Desdemona. She was glaring at them both all morning and it was starting to get to Daemon.

"Uh, Fluttershy...", Daemon spoke up,"shouldn't we go to Applejack's now and, um, do that... thing that she needed help with?".

Fluttershy just looked at him confused and said, "I don't remember Applejack needing help with anythi-".

"Yes you do! Remember she need help doing that thing that she, uh, needed help with...", Daemon said looking over at Desdemona nervously, "and we should go see her... riiight nooow.".

Finally getting the hint, Fluttershy responded, "Oh! Yes! We should definitely get going! we will be back later, Desdemona!". The couple quickly rushed out the door, leaving Desdemona behind.

"Oh yeah, that wasn't suspicious at all...", Desdemona said sarcastically to herself, "They are up to something and I will get to the bottom of it.".

Fluttershy quietly followed Daemon for a good five minutes before asking, "Um... Daemon? What are we really doing?".

"We're going to take the day off. We've been through a lot lately and I thought it would be nice to just relax for once.", Daemon responded, still completely focused on walking to his destination. It was another few minutes before they reached a beautiful pond. There were a few trees scattered around it and Daemon picked a willow to lay under. Fluttershy sat a few feet away from him so she wouldn't be invading his personal space. There was a gentle breeze and just a handful of clouds overhead, making the day seem truly perfect. Fluttershy looked away from the scenery to see Daemon lying peacefully under the tree he had decided to lounge under. A butterfly fluttered over and landed on his nose... Daemon was at such ease that he didn’t seem to notice.{Link 1}

‘It’s like he’s a saint who has reached perfect harmony with the universe’, Fluttershy thought to herself. Her idea of him being 'in tune with everything' vanished when he sneezed and sent the butterfly spiraling away. It wasn’t long before Daemon got back to his zen like state, while Fluttershy unknowingly started moving closer. After about an hour of silence, Daemon caught Fluttershy off guard by singing a beautiful song... about how her mere presence made him smile.{Link 2} The pleasantly romantic song tugged on Fluttershys heart. Being the shy mare that she was, this all seemed a little sudden, but she just enjoyed the music and waited for her chance to ask a question that had been bothering her.

When Daemon’s ballad ended, Fluttershy gathered the courage to ask him, ”Hey, um... Daemon? Is this a... a... date?”. Daemon responded almost instantly as if he knew she was going to ask that.

“Well, what do you think? I can’t be on a date with you if you say we aren’t. It’s your choice to make, so you tell me.”, Daemon said nonchalantly. While Fluttershy was getting ready to answer she didn’t notice the pony that had been spying on them the whole time walked up behind her.

“Well... I think that Desdemona still deserves to be told if we plan on doing anything like that. You two were meant to be together after all.”, Fluttershy said, sliding her hoof around on the ground. That’s when she noticed the extra shadow and gave out a frightened gasp.

Fluttershy quickly jumped and did a one-eighty in mid-air to see the intense hot pink eyes of Desdemona looking back at her, but they weren’t showing their usual anger, if anything Desdemona looked... happy? That was something that had never been seen before in the devilish mare. Then something else completely unexpected happened... Desdemona hugged Fluttershy.

“Uh? D.? Are you feeling alright?”, Daemon asked Desdemona completely confused.

“Well no duh I’m feeling alright brainless! Do you know what this little pegasus did just now? She showed that she can be trusted. I have nothing to worry about from her. Going over all of what I’ve seen today, she has shown that her heart is pure and she is worthy of taking over my responsibility of being your girlfriend! I’m free of taking care of you for the rest of my life!”, Desdemona explained. The confusion on Daemons face slowly turned into a stern frown.

“So that’s what it takes to make you happy? Getting rid of me? Okay, that’s it, I gotta ask. What is your deal with me? What did I do to you to make you hate me so much?!”, the demonic stallion yelled.

“What did you do?! You got us into trouble more times than I can remember! Ever since we met you’ve been nothing but a disaster! Every time we passed a town you would force me into going into the town with you! And you would always end up slowing us down! We could have been done by now if you weren’t so childish! Not once did you ever think of saving our race! And look at where we are because of it! We are in ‘Loser City’ and you’re the damn mayor!”, Desdemona shouted back. Her words pushed Daemon a step too far and he lunged at her, only to have her intercept him and fling him upside down into a tree surrounded by blue flowers.

“Stop fighting! That’s Poison Joke!”, Fluttershy shrieked. Desdemona had never heard of such a thing.

“Poison Joke? Never encountered it before... what are the side effects?”, she asked while helping Daemon out of the flower patch, being careful not to touch it herself.

Fluttershy explained that the side effects were different among each pony and that they wouldn’t know what Daemon’s would be until tomorrow because it takes a while to kick in. She also told Desdemona about the previous run in the mane six had with the blue flower. Desdemona gave a sly smile while looking at Daemon.

“Well, maybe if he shrinks he won’t cause such big problems”, Desdemona said chuckling.

“Oh, that makes me feel so loved...” Daemon responded sarcastically. Having completely forgotten the fight she was having with Daemon, Desdemona left to lay under the same tree she would go to almost every day. Fluttershy and Daemon were alone once more, just sitting quietly in an awkward silence. Of course the peace didn’t last long as Daemon had yet another idea for an activity.

“Ooh! Let’s go to Sugar Cube Corner! We haven’t done that in a while!”, Daemon said excited.

“Okay, but Pinkie Pie won’t be there... it’s her day off.”, Fluttershy said in her usual gentle tone. Daemon just gave a big grin and left with Fluttershy following close behind.

As the couple entered the shop of sweets, they were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

“Fluttershy! Daemon! What brings you two here this fine day?”, Mr. Cake asked, happily wiping down the counter.

“Just thought it would be nice to drop by and order something I’ve had my eye on.”, Daemon replied in a similarly pleasant tone.

“But, Daemon...”, Fluttershy spoke up, “You don’t have any money to buy anything.”.

“Ah, but I do! I’ve been saving up what I’ve earned from all my small jobs around town and I finally have enough... for that!”, Daemon said pointing to a larger than average pink cupcake. Fluttershy gasped at the gesture. The cupcake he was referring to was meant to be shared by two ponies... who were in love! Mrs. Cake gave a warm smile and went to retrieve the cupcake.

“I knew you two were meant for each other the moment I saw you...” she said, making Fluttershy blush in embarrassment. Daemon reached into his pocket, pulled out just enough to pay for it, and placed the money on the counter while simultaneously grabbing the pastry. Daemon walked up to the still tremendously blushing pegasus and split the cupcake in two, offering half to her.

After accepting her half, Fluttershy asked,”Daemon? Do you know... um... what giving this to me means?”.

Daemon engulfed his half before answering in a chipper clueless tone, “No idea! Just thought it looked good!”.

‘Sweet and innocent like always... I guess that’s why I like him so much.’, Fluttershy thought to herself.

After Fluttershy finished her half of the cupcake, Daemon wanted to check up on Rainbow Dash, since he hadn’t seen her in a while. He searched everywhere, but couldn’t find the rainbow maned daredevil. He asked the townsfolk if they had seen her and after at least half an hour of questioning he came across a small orange filly by the name of ‘Scootaloo’. Apparently she was a big fan of the cyan pegasus. She explained that Rainbow Dash seemed obsessed with getting faster lately. Then Daemon was told that he could find her thousands of feet above the ground, among the highest clouds. Daemon was very curious as to what she could be doing that high up so he went to investigate. After passing through the highest cloud layer he was hit with a rush of air created by a light blue blur. The Shadowmare went tumbling onto the layer of clouds, stunned from the shockwave. When his vision cleared he saw Rainbow Dash giggling at him.

“Did I die just now? Is this heaven?”, Daemon asked, rubbing the side of his head. Rainbow laughed while helping him up.

“No, but it’s pretty close. This is where I come to get faster. When you’re up this high, you can’t disturb the ponies below with sonic booms.”, Rainbow Dash explained.

“That reminds me... what are you doing trying to get faster? I thought you were already the fastest in Equestria. Why push yourself even further if you are already the best?”, Daemon asked. Rainbow Dash frowned.

“That’s the problem... when you won the goggles from me, that was because you proved that you were as fast as me. I wasn’t the fastest in Equestria because I was tied with you!”, Rainbow Dash shouted in irritation. Daemon noticed that something she said didn’t add up.

“What do you mean you ‘were’ tied with me?”, the puzzled stallion asked. Rainbow Dash gave an insidious smirk.

“I said I ‘was’ tied with you because I have gone beyond Sonic Rainboom! I call it the ‘Rainboom Mach 2’! You actually interrupted it the last time I attempted it, but that’s fine... ‘cause now I can show you!” Rainbow Dash said, trotting off into the distance.

Daemon just watched as Rainbow Dash started to fly, quickly achieving a Sonic Rainboom with ease. It didn’t end there like it usually did however. She started to fly in a large circle, gaining speed with each pass. After fifteen seconds, a rainbow tornado started to grow from the ring Rainbow Dash had created. As it extended upwards, it got slimmer, until it formed an upside down cone of swirling spectrum. Once the cone was complete, Rainbow Dash flew into the point of the cone, struggling against it. It took a few moments, but she eventually overpowered the vortex and it accelerated off the cloud layer with such speed that Daemon could barely keep his eyes on it. It was truly a sight to behold. The way it flowed through the air with ease and grace made it look like a rainbow snake slithering in the rays of the sun.{Link 3} It started to slow down and when Rainbow Dash emerged in front of Daemon he was stunned.

“Well? What do you got to say about that, tough guy?!”, Rainbow asked, obviously feeling triumphant in her new skill. Daemon stood looking at her speechless. “I’ll take that as a ‘wow’ then!”, the cyan mare said laughing.

Daemon spent the entire afternoon with Rainbow Dash, catching up on what she had been doing and how things were going. Eventually they said their goodbyes and they both headed home. On his way to the humble cottage, Daemon spotted three fillies walking on the path alone. Daemon recognized one as the filly he spoke to earlier, Scootaloo. Daemon swooped down behind them, and without any of them noticing he started to follow them. They were asking each other questions like ‘are you sure he doesn’t have one?’ and ‘why would he join us?’. Daemon just continued to follow them up to the door of the house, not saying a word. Scootaloo went to the door but was stopped by a white, lavender maned filly.

“Scoots are you sure this is a good idea? He might be busy.”.

“Who might be busy?”, Daemon asked, finally revealing that he was behind them the whole time. The three jumped and gave little shrieks of shock. “Yeah, I get that alot...”, Daemon sighed.

“Oh, sorry about that. We just didn’t know you were there and you scared us. Allow me to introduce ourselves. I’m Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s sister. That’s Applebloom, she’s Applejack’s sister... and you already met Scootaloo. Together we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”, the small filly clarified.

“What do you do? And more importantly, why are you here when it’s starting to get dark?” Daemon inquired. “We came to ask if ya wanted to join us! We heard that ya don’t have yer cutie mark yet and that’s what we do!

"We try to get our cutie marks!”, Applebloom shouted in the same accent as Applejack.

Daemon laughed a little and told them, “listen... I’m glad that you would think of me like this, but there is a reason why I cant join you.”. The three Crusaders started to listen more intently, curious as to why the Shadowmare couldn’t join their club. “It’s like this... Shadowmares, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we want one... we can’t get a cutie mark. It’s because we have so many talents that having one cutie mark wouldn’t be good enough. So instead of getting lots of cutie marks, we don’t get any.”, Daemon told the three friends.

“Dude... that stinks. I thought we could be friends. You looked like a nice guy to hang out with.”, Scootaloo said looking at the ground sadly.

“Hey, who said I couldn’t hang out from time to time? I can still be your friend, even if I can’t join your club... or is that one of your secret rules?”, Daemon asked in a joking fashion, before rubbing the orange fillies head. The door behind Daemon suddenly opened up, revealing Desdemona. She glared down at the four ponies.

“You three, go home. Daemon get inside.”, Desdemona said in her usual strict, but calm manner. The three fillies quickly zipped off, afraid of getting into further trouble. Daemon almost tiptoed his way into his room, but the other Shadowmare was on to him.

“Daemon, get back down here.”. Daemon stopped dead in his tracks and slowly headed back downstairs, head hung in despair.

“What did I do now?” Daemon asked, expecting another lecture that always followed Desdemona calling his name.

“You didn’t do anything. I just wanted to tell you that I was going to be at Twilight’s library researching some things all night. You will be left here with Fluttershy until I return tomorrow.”. Daemon’s jaw dropped. He never believed that Desdemona could be this nice. She didn’t yell, she didn’t argue... she didn’t even raise her voice! To top it all off, she was allowing Daemon to be alone with Fluttershy, all night! Daemon was relieved to hear that he was going to have a night off from the stress of being with the other Shadowmare. They never got along and always found something to fight over, but tonight he was going to have some peace like when he first arrived.

After Desdemona left, Daemon started fiddling around with his guitar. Fluttershy was sitting next to him watching his technique closely. Daemon noticed her watching him with great intensity.

“Do you want to give it a shot?” Daemon asked her, offering the guitar.

“Oh, no! That’s okay! I’m fine just watching.”, the pink maned mare responded. Daemon handed her the guitar and moved in close to her, causing the shy pony to blush fiercely .

“Come on, it’s no fun just watching. I’ll help.” Daemon said positioning her hooves on the guitar. “Okay, now strum down.” Daemon instructed. Fluttershy slowly moved her hoof along the strings, causing a sweet sound to hum through the air. “That’s good! Now keep moving your hoof up and down at that speed... I’ll handle the rest.” Daemon said, taking control of the frets. Fluttershy slowly moved her hoof up and down, while Daemon quickly moved his hoof up and down the neck of the guitar making a song out of the consistent strumming.{Link 4} Considering the way Fluttershy was playing it seemed impossible to make the song that was being heard... but somehow Daemon managed to do it with relative ease. For the time they played, Fluttershy loved every second.

Once they stopped it was nearly midnight.

“Oh my... where we really playing for that long? We should get to bed.”, the yellow pegasus said, yawning slightly.

“Hey... Fluttershy?” Daemon asked shyly, moving towards her.

“Would it be okay if I slept with you tonight? I don’t know what will become of me in the morning, you know... because of the poison joke, and I’m a little scared to sleep by myself knowing that anything could happen.”. Fluttershy smiled pleasantly.

“Of course... it will be no trouble at all. Especially since you are a hundred times better than Desdemona.”. The two then went to bed. Fluttershy slept peacefully, while Daemon on the other hand was haunted by nightmares. In his slumber he saw a mirror. He looked into it and noticed that his coat had changed color. It had become golden in hue. As he continued to stare into it he saw his friends behind him smiling, but when he turned around horror overcame his heart. They were all laying on the ground, dead or wounded. Daemon quickly ran over to a bloody Rainbow Dash. He asked her who had done this to them and she weakly pointed to the mirror. Daemon turned around to face it once again, but when he did, his reflection leapt out of the mirror with glowing red eyes and a terribly evil grin, choking him. Daemon then awoke to the scream of Fluttershy.

“What’s wrong?! What happened?!”, Daemon asked in a panic.

“You... you’re a Lightmare!”, Fluttershy said trembling in fear.

Going Undercover

Chapter 8: Going Undercover

After spending an excruciating night without sleep, reading almost half of the books in Twilight’s library, Desdemona slowly trudged her way to the door of Fluttershy’s home. Upon entering, the Shadowmare was tackled by a panicking pegasus.

“Desdemona! Thank goodness you’re home! When I woke up he was gold! He looks like a Lightmare and... and... and...”.

Desdemona put her hoof on Fluttershy’s lips and asked her in a mildly exhausted tone, “Okay... now I want you to slow down... and calmly tell me... what in blazes are you trying to say?”. Fluttershy calmed down like she was told and Desdemona released her lips.

The yellow mare took a deep, calm breath... and shouted at the top of her lungs, “DAEMON IS A LIGHTMARE!”. Hearing the startling news, Desdemona pushed Fluttershy aside and ran in, quickly seeing a dazzling blond pony staring into a mirror making faces {Link 1}. There was no doubt that it was Daemon. He was still wearing his stylish black outfit that Rarity gave him. Desdemona approached him and her horn started to emit a ray of light. When the light hit Daemon it illuminated him in a red aura. Desdemona sighed in relief.

“It’s okay... he’s still him. The Poison Joke must have changed his outward appearance while keeping his inward self the same. Think of it like a costume... he may look different but he is still a Shadowmare on the inside.”, Desdemona told Fluttershy, who was still on edge.

“H-how do you know that he’s still him?”.

“Because of that spell that I used. It was an aura spell. It detects what kind of pony you are and responds by showing a different colored aura based on what you truly are. Pegasi are blue, Earth Ponies are green, unicorns are purple... and Lightmares are yellow.”, Desdemona said, flinching after explaining the Lightmare aura. Fluttershy could see that the normally volatile Shadowmare was remembering something from her past... something painful.

“So, since Daemons aura was red, that means he’s still a Shadowmare, right?”, Fluttershy asked, snapping Desdemona out of her depressed state.

“What? Oh, yes. What has been done is nothing more than a simple disguise. I believe that was the joke. It was kind of funny if you think about it. You really thought he was a...”, Desdemona stopped talking suddenly. Her eyes got wide and her jaw slowly started to drop as if she had just seen the gates of heaven open up before her. She grabbed Fluttershy by the face and kissed her forhead. “Thank you, you marvelously brilliant pegasus! We are in business now!”, Desdemona shouted excitedly. Fluttershy was once again confused... that seemed to be happening alot lately.

“Um... what did I do exactly?”, Fluttershy asked, hoping that Desdemona didn’t simply just go insane.

The horned mare laughed like a maniac before answering, “Don’t you see?! If Daemons appearance was enough to fool you and me at first, that means the Lightmares may be convinced he’s one of them as well! Especially since they don’t know about the Poison Joke! He could blend right in!”.

“You mean like a... spy?”, the shy pony asked.

“Precisely...”, Desdemona responded, grinning maliciously.

It was decided that the others needed to hear the plan to go undercover as well. On the way to the normal meeting area (a.k.a. Twilights house), Daemon started to notice that everywhere they went, ponies were giving him odd looks. It wasn’t that the looks were mean or nasty in any way, but Daemon had never seen a pony look at him like this.

“Why is everypony acting so weird?”, Daemon whispered to Fluttershy.

“I think they like your new look. They think you look handsome.”, Fluttershy responded. Daemon looked over at a mare who was giving him an odd smile and she fainted.

“They are swooning over you...”, Desdemona told Daemon.

“I don’t know what swans have to do with anything, but I could get used to this!”, Daemon replied happily. Desdemona just gave an aggravated sigh and rolled her eyes like usual while Fluttershy giggled at his clueless comment.

Upon entering the library, gasps filled the room. Daemon was quickly tackled by Rainbow Dash.

“OKAY LIGHTMARE, HOW DID YOU FIND US?! WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! TELL ME!”, Rainbow Dash yelled angrily, keeping the now golden stallion pinned down.

“Uh, Rainbow? Mind getting off? This is starting to hurt.”. Hearing the familiar voice surprised and confused the mare.

“Daemon? Is that you?”, Rainbow Dash asked, looking deeply into his eyes.

Daemon nodded and said, “The one and only! Now would you mind... um...”. Daemon cleared his throat and motioned for her to get off. Slightly embarrassed, the cyan pegasus jumped off him.

“Sorry about that! I didn’t know it was you... hey, why do you look like that in the first place? Are you trying to make me look stupid?!”, Rainbow Dash accused.

“No...”, Desdemona spoke up, “He had a run in with Poison Joke yesterday and this was the effect.”.

Twilight laughed, “Oh, well we don’t have to worry then! I just happen to know the cure. All we have to do is gather the ingredients and Daemon will be back to normal in no-”.

“Hold it right there!”, Desdemona interrupted, “We don’t want to do that just yet... Now what was so extraordinary about what happened to Rainbow Dash? Anypony?”. An awkward silence fell upon the group.

“It’s very simple... you see before Daemon revealed himself, he was presumed to be a Lightmare, correct? Now imagine if we used that and sent Daemon in among the lightmares as an undercover agent... they wouldn’t expect a thing and we would have instant access to understanding what they are plotting. We would be able to gather intelligence without consequence!”.

Daemon pondered this for a second and a question came to mind, “Hey, what if they find out who I really am and kill me?”.

“Like I said, ‘without consequence’.”, Desdemona said, snickering a little at the dark joke she made.

The mane six started to plan along with the Shadowmare, thinking of ways they could contribute. Twilight was going to be the organizer of the incoming information that was gathered. keeping things in order and connecting the dots was one of the most important jobs there, but Twilight was as eager to help as the rest. Rainbow Dash was going to be the scout of Ponyville, always on the alert for unknown Lightmares. The spunky mare was perfect for the job, because she could survey the entire town in ten seconds flat. Applejack was going to be the town defender while Daemon was away.

If Rainbow happened to spot a Lightmare in the vicinity it was Applejacks job to knock out the intruder with a quick buck to the head as soon as possible. Pinkie Pie was going to keep everyponys spirits up. Even though that was what she normally did, this time it was so suspicion wouldn’t arise from a sudden decrease in the overall town mood. Rarity had the job of making new clothes for Daemon, since Lightmares wore white, never black. As for Fluttershy, her job was to stay safe. Daemon already felt the loss of somepony close to him before... feeling it again was not an option for him. The only thing left was to discuss the plan with Flara, the only nice Lightmare the Shadowmares had ever known.

It was going to take some time to signal Flara. Desdemona was taught how to use a certain spell that only Flara could pick up on. the only problem with the spell was it took some time to prepare and cast it effectively. In the meantime, Pinkie Pie suggested that they go to Sugar Cube Corner for one last time before Daemon had to leave. After entering the building Mrs. Cake noticed Daemon, and like everypony else thought he was new.

“Oh my! Another new friend Pinkie? It seems like we’ve been getting a new pony in town every other day. If this keeps up, we’re going to have to open a second shop!”. As Pinkie Pie explained, the rest of the group sat down at a table large enough to accommodate them all. Daemon sat next in between Twilight and Fluttershy. Even with the dangerous plan about to go underway, the Shadowmare was at complete ease, knowing that he was surrounded by ponies that cared for him.

Noticing that Daemon seemed to be in a state of serenity, Twilight grew concerned.

‘How can he be so calm?’, she wondered. The spy mission was no laughing matter. It could be a crucial tipping point in the fight, so how was it that Daemon could be so relaxed?

“Daemon? Just asking, but... are you sure you know what’s going on?”.

Without skipping a beat the stallion responded, ”Of course. I go in, I learn all I can, I come back each night, and then I relay the information to you. Simple!”. Daemon was doing stuff like this all his life. Stealth wasn’t his best quality, but when it came to matters of life or death, he was used to it. To him this was just another day. The others at the table started to grow concerned as much as Twilight. They had never encountered a pony so comfortable with so much at stake. The tension was soon demolished when Pinkie Pie brought out the food. Everypony quickly forgot about how this may be the last time they see Daemon... well, last time they see him alive that is.

The get together lasted for a good three hours. Jokes were told, talking was constant, and a great deal of fun was had the whole time. Rainbow Dash even laughed so hard that she couldn’t feel her stomach. Applejack got the hiccups at one point and Daemon laughed at her until he got them too. Daemon never recalled getting the hiccups before so he started to freak out. He kept saying that there was some evil thing controlling him until Rarity explained what the hiccups were. After all the excitement died down, the seven friends went back to Twilights treehouse to check on Desdemona. She said that she needed a few hours to focus the spell and cast it. Since they had been gone for a good amount of time it was probably done and Flara might have already showed up. Along the way, ponies were still ogling Daemon.

“Is this what it’s like to be normal?”, Daemon asked nopony in particular.

“No! You’re still not normal! You’re just seeing what it’s like to be better than normal for once, like me!”, Rainbow Dash boasted.

“If yer better than normal, I hope for all our sakes that ya don’t get perfect at anythin’! If ya did, then we’d be in real hot water.”, Applejack joked, making everypony but Rainbow laugh. Once they reached the door to Twilights home, they noticed that the door was open slightly. Flara was presumed to be inside. They all knew what was going to happen next... they were going to have to say goodbye to Daemon as he left for the first time since arriving.

Daemon slowly stepped inside. He quickly noticed that something was amiss. Nopony was inside as far as he could tell.

He prayed that this wasn’t going to be a repeat of the Discord fiasco and asked in a somewhat scared voice, “H-hello? Desdemona? Flara?”.

“Right behind you...”, whispered a familiar voice. Before he could turn around, Daemon was flipped onto his back and pinned by Flara. “Huh... I guess you were right, Dez. He really doesn’t have his combat skills back yet.”.

Desdemona walked out from the basement and replied, “I told you he is in a pathetic state... AND STOP CALLING ME DEZ! I hate that nickname as much as ‘D. Monica’... well, almost as much.”. Daemon was embarrassed that he was pinned twice in the same day, even if he didn’t expect to be rushed the way he was, it was flat out humiliating. Flara helped him up and explained that the whole surprise attack was a test to see how many useful memories that Daemon recovered. The results were disgraceful, meaning that he was nowhere near where he was before losing his memory. Flara had agreed to the arrangement, thinking that this was the best way of gaining an advantage. The secondary objective of the undercover mission was for Daemon to befriend the Lightmares and possibly regain more memories that way.

Once everything was in order it was time for the mane six to say goodbye. Pinkie was first to go, even though she had more difficulty saying farewell than most would. Her hair lost its puffiness and fell flat when she spoke,

“I guess I’ll see you later then. It’s been...”, pinkie started to sniffle, wiped a forming tear from her eye before continuing, “It’s been fun”. Pinkie hugged the sympathetic looking stallion and backed away for Rainbow Dash to give her say.

“Give them heck for me, okay? Oh... and don’t even think about dying on us. If you die, I swear I’ll kill you.”, She said giving Daemon a playful punch on the arm. Twilight just put her hoof on his shoulder, smiled and nodded without saying a word. Applejack simply told him that he was still a honorary member of the family and he would be fine. Next Rarity presented him with his new outfit. Same style as before, but they were pure white without flames lining the trim.

Tears started to well up in the white unicorns eyes as she spoke, “Now if you ever need anything... and I mean ANYTHING! Just come back and I’ll give you anything you need. Promise me that you will come back.”. Daemon placed his hoof under her chin and lifted it up.

“Don’t worry. I will be back. There is nothing on this planet that could keep me away from this place. Dry your eyes and cheer up. This isn’t the end... it’s just the beginning.”. Daemons words instantly cheered up the room. Fluttershy who had been in the back however, was too upset to step forward. Daemon walked up to her as the others moved out of the way.

“Fluttershy...”, Daemon spoke, making the shy pegasus look into his eyes, “I need to ask you a favor.”. Daemon leaned in close and gently whispered into her ear. “I need you to stay strong for me while I’m gone. That means no crying, no sad faces. Be happy... for the both of us. Do you think you can do that for me?”, Daemon asked looking into her large aqua eyes. Fluttery smiled and gave a cute salute.

“Alright, if that’s all we should get going.”, Flara said making her way to the door.

Daemon started to follow, but Rarity quickly shouted after him, “Wait! Daemon! You almost forgot your guitar!”. When Rarity went to give Daemon the instrument Flara snached it away with lightning fast speed.

“No. Daemon, I’m sorry but you can’t bring a guitar. Trust me on this one... it would look suspicious.”. Flara trotted over to Fluttershy and presented it to her. “I believe you would be able to keep this safe while we are away?”, Flara asked. Fluttershy took the guitar without breaking eye contact and slowly moved her head up and down. It appeared as if Fluttershy was looking into the face of a god the way she stared into Flara’s eyes. The Lightmare smiled and headed to the door once more with Daemon.

When Daemon got outside, he was told that there was only one way they would be able to make the journey before it started to get dark. Flara told him that there was a secret method of travel that the Lightmares used to go long distances in a very short amount of time. Daemon was guided to the height that he had seen Rainbow Dash training, but they kept heading up. after being about a mile above the highest clouds Daemon felt a strong wind blowing on him.

"We’re here. This, Daemon, is what we call the ‘Quick-Stream’. It is a place where high velocity winds can help you travel miles in the blink of an eye. To find the one you need pluck out a hair and hold it. The direction it blows is the way you will travel. Use the hair like a dowsing rod and find a Quick-Stream that heads south.”. Daemon did as Flara instructed and soon found the right one. He was taught to merely open his wings and let the stream of air carry him.

After about two hours Flara told him to start heading down. after dropping through the cloud layer Daemon was shocked to what he witnessed. The landscape had changed completely and nothing looked familiar. Flara guided Daemon to a forest and stopped in front of a very normal looking tree.

Flara gave a kind smile and asked, “Hey Daemon... wanna see something cool?”.

“Do you even have to ask?!”, Daemon responded, eager to see what she had to show. Flara gave the tree a few bucks in a strange pattern and the craziest thing happened! The tree opened up! It was hallow with a metal interior and a panel on the inside that had a glowing red button. The inside was lit up from a bright white light on the floor {Link 2}.

“Daemon...”, Flara said motioning with her hooves in a ‘viola’ fashion, “This is the elevator to our underground base. Half of the trees that make up this forest are really fake and act as entrances to where we reside! So... is that cool or what?”. Daemon was so giddy from the thought of the elevator sending him somewhere that he rushed in and slammed his hoof on the button.

The chamber closed and a pleasent voice coming through the speaker in the top of the elevator said, “Please brace yourself for transportation.”.

“Brace myself? For wha-AAAAHH!”, Daemon said as he was hit with six g’s of crushing force. He couldn’t see outside the steel tube, but he knew that he was going extremely fast. when the pressure stopped and the door opened Daemon tumbled out of the screaming metal deathtrap and hit a metal lined wall with his butt in the air and his head on the cold hard floor. Once Daemon’s head stopped spinning he shouted in a gleeful tone, “Woo-hoo! Let’s do that again!”. Daemon noticed that a Lightmare stopped right by him and was staring with a bitter angry expression. As Daemon gave an uncomfortable smile and waved slightly, the Lightmare only snarled back at him. The Lightmare was an older looking stallion with a gray mane and tail. He was very large, possibly as tall as Celestia herself. His physique was more muscular and only gave him the appearance of being larger than he already was. His outfit was a lot like Flara’s. He wore a white vest with silver, jewel embedded armlets. The only difference was that the silver bands that he wore were around his hoofs, not the upper portion of his arms. Flara, seemingly out of nowhere, dashed in between Daemon and the grizzled Lightmare.

“Flara... what is this?”, the rugged stallion asked in a rough, commanding voice, pointing at Daemon.

“I am sorry, SIR! This is my brother from Sector Delta! He’s not very bright, SIR!”, Flara shouted in a military-esque fashion. The large Lightmare stared at Flara intensely.

“That’s funny... I never knew you had a brother.”.

Flara started to sweat as she said, “He was transferred here recently, SIR! I will be taking him under my wing and will instruct him on our ways, SIR!”. The Lightmare kept looking into Flaras eyes sternly for a few moments before bursting out in great, hearty laughter.

“Very well, Lieutenant Flara... but I will be keeping an eye on the both of you!”, he said sternly before walking away. When he was out of sight, Flara slammed her back against the wall and slowly eased down in a sitting position. She clutched her chest and took staggered, raspy breaths. Sweat was dripping off her brow and Daemon could see that she was terrified.

“Uh... Flara? Who was that?”, Daemon asked hoping for an insightful response to what could have given Flara such a shock.

Flara chuckled and answered, “That was General Lux... our leader...”.

Life as a Lightmare

Chapter 9: Life as a Lightmare

Daemon just had walked the razors edge of life and death with his brief encounter with the Lightmare leader, General Lux. Flara had explained that he was the most ruthless pony she had ever seen. If you were to show any sign of insubordination, he would find a way to make your life miserable. His favorite way of ‘breaking new recruits’ was to find one thing that gave them happiness and force them to do something to shatter that happiness forever. For example, once there was a rebellious recruit who loved animals... he was forced into slaughtering an entire forest of harmless creatures and coat himself in their blood. General Lux was the one behind it all. He was the oldest living Lightmare and he was the one who made the stories of the Shadowmares up, which meant that he was at least 4,000 years old. Even though he was ancient, Lux was at least twenty times as powerful as any normal Lightmare. That was why everypony obeyed his orders... for fear of being killed by the unforgiving general. As Daemon and Flara walked down the long hall, Daemon couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable about his surroundings. The whole place seemed to be nothing but metal lined halls with futuristic looking sliding doors. It looked more like a hospital than the base of an evil army.

Flara stopped at one of the doors after leading Daemon around for what seemed like forever.

She placed his hoof on a glass panel by the door and said, “Computer, scan.”. A green line of light behind the glass quickly moved from the top of Daemons hoof to the bottom, then the door opened. “I just scanned your hoofprint into the database and registered this as your room.”. Daemon looked inside. The room was completely blank! It was just a big, white cube shaped room with a faint grid pattern lining the walls!

“This is my room? You have got to be kidding! Where am I supposed to sleep without a bed?!”, Daemon shouted, wondering how the empty room was supposed to accommodate his needs. A sly smile crossed Flara’s face.

“Computer! Hologram; night; beach house!”, she shouted at the bare ceiling. Suddenly the room came to life. The panels on the wall started to glow and change color. In an instant, the room went from being bare to looking like the inside of a beach house! It was complete with matching furniture, a slight cool breeze, and even the sounds of the ocean!

“WHAT THE HELL?!”, Daemon shouted, blown away by the high-tech simulation.

“Lightmares are very good at creating advanced technology... this is a simulation that we have in our storage. The possibilities are nearly endless. Just say ‘computer’, give a location, and you are basically there.”, Flara explained.

“Nearly endless possibilities, huh?”, Daemon said smiling, “Computer! Make a hologram of Fluttershy’s cottage!”.

The same voice from the elevator responded, “Selection not available.”. Daemon frowned and Flara laid her hoof on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Daemon... you can’t make selections like that. I know you must already miss her, but you need to keep focus. This could be the difference between the survival of the Shadowmares or the loss of everything. In the meantime, Computer... Canterlot Castle; Princess Luna's chambers.”. The room changed again. This time it was a very royal looking palace room. Daemon went over to the simulated balcony. He could see Fluttershy’s house and it gave him a little more pep.

The incognito Shadowmare walked over to the very large bed, covered in dark indigo sheets.

As he got in he asked the blond mare, “Hey, Flara? Can you sing that one song that you used to sing for me?”. Flara walked over to him smiling gently.

“You remember that old thing? Okay... I’ll sing it.”. {Link 1} Flara’s singing was simply angelic. The tune sounded sad, but it was like a motherly lullaby and Daemon liked it. He remembered that Flara was always like a mother to him and his real mother was taken away at such a young age he didn’t really remember her. Flara used to sing this song when Daemon was having a hard time sleeping. It always made him feel loved. When it ended they would always whisper goodnight to each other. Daemon used to call Flara ‘mommy’ when he was too little to understand what happened to his real mother... Flara always let him. After they went through the old ‘goodnight whisper’ ritual, Flara told Daemon that he was now to be known as ‘Nova Brighthoof’, her younger brother. Daemon nodded and rolled over as Flara exited the room, closing the door behind her.

When Daemon woke, he started to freak out. He was so used to waking up in Fluttershy’s cottage it took a few moments for him to register that he was staying among the Lightmares. He walked out of the room and was greeted by Flara.

“Are you ready to begin your first day here?”, she asked, showing a stern seriousness. Daemon looked around and saw that there were at least five other Lightmares walking through the hall.

“Uh, yeah. Let’s go, ‘sis'...”, Daemon said. His acting was horrible. Flara just hoped that he wouldn’t become the center of attention. After guiding Daemon down the hallways for a while Flara stopped at some sliding doors that looked rather important. She pressed her hoof against the panel, it was scanned, and the doors opened to reveal what looked like a locker room with ten elevators in the back. The place was filled with many Lightmares of varying sizes. Both mares and stallions alike were opening the lockers and retrieving gauntlets that they wore on the end of their hooves. The gauntlets were almost like metal gloves. Suddenly one of the smaller stallions pressed a button on the one he wore. Three blades quickly extended from it and a laser shot out of the end, blasting one of the overhead lights out. The other Lightmares in the room turned and glared at him furiously.

“Idiot! Keep that thing on safety until we get there!”, one of the gold maned mares shouted.

“Sorry guys! It was an accident, won’t happen again!”, the younger Lightmare said laughing a little. He then walked up to Daemon, smiling as he looked at Daemons back leg. “Battle scars... not too shabby for a rookie! I’m Ezreal Lightmane! Don’t worry dude, I’m pretty new here too.”, Ezreal said, breaking the fear Daemon was feeling. Daemon looked at his flank and noticed that his scars were faint, but still visible.

“Hello Ezreal. This is my younger brother, Nova Brighthoof. I will be leaving him in your care for now.”, Flara said, saluting the smaller Lightmare. Ezreal saluted back, but his was more relaxed and not as ‘professional’.

After Flara left Daemon in the care of Ezreal, the two stallions started talking and got to know each other a little better. Daemon lied about many things over the period of their conversation... it made him feel bad that he had to hide the truth from such a friendly guy. Ezreal was almost as old as Daemon but he was actually a little smaller than Twilight. He said that his size was not a problem because it just gave him a better chance to fly through tight areas. Ezreal also was somewhat of a ‘class clown’, always making himself the center of attention. The energetic stallion reminded Daemon of Rainbow Dash in a way. He was a radical, thrill seeking, daredevil... just yearning for the next big challenge. After they were done chatting, Ezreal opened a locker and tried to give Daemon one of the gauntlets that he saw before.

“Why are you giving me this?!”, Daemon asked, backing off, afraid to touch it.

“We are going on a class five scouting mission. Weren’t you briefed?”. Daemon shook his head.

“Well it seems silly to me but there have been large magic readings from this one town for a while. The radar operators say that there is a 10% chance for a Shadowmare to be hiding there, so we’re gonna check.”, Ezreal continued to explain. Daemon reluctantly took the weapon, knowing that if he denied it Ezreal would grow suspicious.

Daemon and the other Lightmares in the room used the elevators and shot themselves to the surface. To reach their destination they were going to use the Quick-Stream method of flying. While they flew, Daemon felt a sudden sharp pain in his head. The headache quickly subsided and Daemon went on as though nothing had happened. The group of Lightmares must have been about fifty strong, if not more. Daemon was just concerned with getting it over with as fast as possible. As he followed the others down to their destination, he was shocked at what he saw. The entire city was being destroyed! The many fires that could be seen made a great cloud of black smoke above the city. The buildings were vaguely obscured by the smoke but Daemon could see that they were in ruins. It was like the entire place was being drawn into hell. Ezreal tapped Daemon slightly, pulling him out of his daze.

“Okay dude. This is it... you ready?”.

“For what?”, Daemon asked.

Ezreal was drawn back by the question, “For the cleansing of course! We need to wipe out every pony in the city, Shadowmare or not. Just by seeing us they know too much and have to be exterminated! Don’t you know anything?”. Fear shot through Daemons heart like an arrow. How could he be expected to kill?! He knew it was wrong, but he had to keep the ruse going. He dreaded the time when he would actually be asked to kill one of the civilians in the ruined city. Daemon was sent near the center of the demolished metropolis, ordered to ‘delete’ all life in the area. The flames of the burning buildings lit up the streets and Daemon had no trouble seeing. He actually had hoped that it was going to be impossible to see anypony so he would have to abandon the slaughter-fest, but no such luck. As Daemon wandered through what remained of the city, he could hear the blood curdling shrieks of ponies in the distance. Murder of the innocent was occurring all around Daemon... and he would be the next to kill. A small filly ran in front of him and tripped, causing her to stop mere feet from the fake Lightmare.

‘Maybe I could just let her go, maybe there’s no reason to kill if nopony sees me’, Daemon thought to himself. Just as he was about to tell the little pony to run, Ezreal came swooping down next to Daemon.

“I’m done with my sector.”, he said before looking over at the filly. “DUDE! What are you doing?! This is no time to be slacking off! Finish her so we can go home!”. Daemons hope to save somepony was shattered. He had no choice now... Daemon had to kill her.

Daemon couldn’t face the pony. Not like this, not when he was going to execute her for no reason. Daemon kept his eyes shut so he wouldn’t have to look at her. The worst part of this was that she looked a lot like Twilight. As Daemon charged the laser, a tear ran down his face. The filly only looked at him with an expression that could have stopped the most hardened murderer in his tracks {Link 2}.

Daemon whispered through clenched teeth, “I’m sorry...”, then he fired the gauntlet. The laser vaporized her instantly, not even leaving ashes in its wake.

“There we go. Now let’s get back home! I have a friend that I want you to meet!”, Ezreal said in an tone that should have been illegal at a time like this. Daemon didn’t say a word. “You act like that was your first time or something!”, Ezreal said grinning. As Daemon stood silently trembling, Ezreal’s smile slowly turned into a sympathetic frown.

“That was your first time wasn’t it? ...I’m sorry, I didn’t know. That first time is always the worst... I still remember the face of my first. It keeps me awake some nights... but don’t worry, dude, it gets better!”. Daemon slowly walked past Ezreal keeping his head held down in a way that caused the shadows hide his eyes.

“Let’s just go... I don’t wanna be here anymore.”, Daemon uttered, sounding cold and cut off. Even though Daemon was trying to put on a brave face, Ezreal could tell that he was broken from the events that took place.

As the army of Lightmares were flying back, Ezreal felt like he needed to say something to his new friend.

“Nova, I... I’m sorry about what you had to do. Nopony should have to feel that pain...”, Ezreal said, looking down grievously.

“It’s not that I feel bad... that’s the problem. I... didn’t feel anything when shot her. It almost felt... good.”, Daemon replied, seeming as if he was replaying the scene in his head. Ezreal perked up.

“That’s good though! That means that it won’t be a problem when you need to do it again, and as Lightmares, I know we will be doing this again! It’s in our blood to fight! Exterminating those lesser than us is ju-”.

“Don't you DARE disrespect the dead! They are living beings just like you! Not some pests that need to be wiped off the fase of Equestria!”, Daemon shouted, frightening Ezreal with his rage. Daemon sighed. “Sorry, it’s just that I think all life is precious and nopony deserves to take the life of another... let’s just drop the subject and focus on getting back.”. Ezreal nodded and didn’t say another word the whole way back. Daemon’s thoughts were going crazy. He couldn’t stop wondering why he didn’t feel anything from killing. Was it that killing isn’t as bad as everypony says it is? Was it truly in Daemon’s blood to kill or was there more to it than that? He had no idea what was going on and he didn’t believe he would find the answers anytime soon.

When Daemon got back Ezreal led him to a room that he called the ‘rec room’. Knowing that ‘rec’ stood for recreation, Daemon expected a party of some sort, but what he found was nothing like a party. The room looked like a dojo with the wood paneling on the walls and the wooden floorboards. Near one wall there was what appeared to be a boxing ring. There were two Lightmares in it throwing blows at each other. One punch connected and the opposing Lightmare flew out of the ring hitting a wall, but instead of screaming in pain, the Lightmare started laughing like he was just told a joke! The remaining Lightmare jumped out of the ring and made his way towards Daemon and Ezreal. He was almost the same size as General Lux, in both height and muscle mass. His mane flowed over half of his face, obscuring his right eye. Daemon thought that it made him look nicer than most other Lightmares that he had seen.

“Chalk up another win for Aura!”, Ezreal exclaimed.

“Yeah, yeah... I know, I’m a badass and all that... so who is your friend Ez?”, the stallion said in a deep, velvety voice.

“Aura Flash, meet Nova Brighthoof. Nova Brighthoof, Aura Flash.”, Ezreal said, introducing the stallions to each other. Daemon tried to learn more about Aura, but the big guy was soft spoken and a little on the shy side. He was basically your average, everyday, gentle giant. Daemon asked his new friends what they did for fun... they told him that he was looking at it. Lightmares were allowed to spar against one another on their down time. Daemon was appalled that fighting was all they knew how to do.

After watching a few matches, Daemon noticed that the training weapons they were using to fight with looked familiar. Upon closer inspection, Daemon figured out why... they were using instruments to train! Daemon rushed in and grabbed a guitar and a bass before they were destroyed. Every Lightmare in the room was in an uproar.

Daemon faced them and shouted, “What do you think you are doing?! Fighting with instruments?! REALLY?!”. Silence befell the crowd for a few moments.

“What is an in-stru-ment?”, one pony asked, forming the word ‘instrument’ awkwardly like she never heard it spoken before. Daemons jaw fell. That must have been why Flara didn’t let him bring his guitar... Lightmares had no idea what music was!

“Well, they aren’t weapons for one! They are used to make music! If you have any more, tell me so I can show you.”, Daemon said, thinking of a way to brighten things up around the gloomy facility. Aura walked to a wall and opened a hidden panel. Behind the panel were all kinds of instruments, maybe even one of every instrument in existence.

“We find these while searching towns on raids. It always struck me as weird that the towns we hit never defended themselves even though they had all these.”, Aura explained. Daemon pulled out a microphone, a set of drums, and a few speakers. Once he set everything up in the fighting ring, he told Ezreal to take the guitar and Aura to take the bass. Just as they got into position, Flara entered the room. It looked like she had just gotten up from a nap. When she looked up, she expected to see a few Lightmares knocking each other senseless, but when she saw what Daemon was doing she was shocked.

‘He is going to teach the others about music?! Is he trying to be found out?!’, Flara thought as she looked up at the improvised stage.

“Hey Flara! You made it just in time! We still need a drummer. Wanna join?”, Daemon asked eagerly. Flara knew this was a bad idea, but she couldn’t say no to the smiling stallion.

“Very well... let’s begin.”.

It took about fifteen minutes for the others to pick up the ‘music’ thing, but once they did, Ezreal and Aura played like professionals. Daemon was soon confident that they would be able to play a real song, and he led them into playing a song that had been taking shape since he had gotten to the Lightmare base. General Lux was looking over a map of Equestria, trying to figure out where the last Shadowmares could have been hiding, when he heard something he hadn’t in centuries... music. He stood up and walked around looking for the source. The sounds that he had been hearing led him to the rec room. Before he opened the double doors the music stopped. Now seemed like the perfect chance to confront the one responsible. He slammed open the doors and a new song started up, as if on cue. {Link 3} The song sounded angry, but the lyrics made it seem tragic. It spoke of the young being born into a world that was falling apart and how the youth of today was staying strong through it all. It looked as though it was a great inspiration to the Lightmares in the crowd. Some of the gold colored ponies even sang along during the chorus near the end. Lux was outraged and wanted to find the one who was making such an atrocity. That’s when he spotted Daemon. As the song ended General Lux marched up to the makeshift stage, obviously upset. The room achieved complete silence as everypony noticed their furious leader.

The grizzled stallion lept up next to Daemon and shouted, “THIS ABOMINATION WILL CEASE AT ONCE! EVERYPONY, GET TO BED NOW! THAT’S AN ORDER!”. Daemon started to sneak away but was caught by a magical field of energy. “EXCEPT YOU! You have been here only one day and already you test my patience! Now, this is your ONLY warning! If I ever catch you doing something like this again, you will wish you were never born! Do I make myself clear?!”.

“C-crystal...”, Daemon said, fearful of the power Lux had yet to show.

Daemon walked back to his room, accompanied by Flara once again. He had a question, but was afraid to ask it. Flara saw that he looked troubled by something.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”.

Daemon knew it was now or never, “I want to ask you something... What were my parents like? And for that matter, how did you meet?”. Flara sighed. She knew this day was going to come sooner or later.

“Well let’s start at the beginning... your parents were the first Shadowmares I met. When I saw them I was only a second class lieutenant. I was scared out of my mind and I was about to open fire, but I saw that your mom was going into labor. In a state of panic I helped her give birth... to you. The moment I saw you and witnessed the love your mother gave you, I knew that Shadowmares weren’t at all like we were told. I heard a knock on the door and answered it. It was a couple of Lightmares asking what I had found. I knew I couldn’t let them kill you, so I lied and told them that there was nothing inside but some old furniture. When your father showed up he was most hospitable, thanking me for what I had done. As life went on we became close friends... I even learned that lullaby from your mother. You remind me much of her. You always bounce back to being cheerful no matter what is thrown at you. As you grew, we became like a family. I would do whatever I could to keep you safe and in return I would learn more about your kind from your father. He was always so kind and thoughtful. After a few years had passed, rumors spread. I was being called a traitor. Even though they had no proof, I needed to keep my secret... and keep you alive. When I told your parents they knew what had to be done. Desemona’s family had recently joined with us and we all agreed on the same conclusion... we had to keep the offspring safe at all costs. I believe you know the rest.”.

This was the first time Daemon had heard this story and he was overcome with emotion. He had been in his bed for the last bit of the story and was currently sitting up, ready to break into tears. Flara gave him a comforting hug.

“This is why Desdemona and I have been so strict with you. She is a little older than you, so she remembers everything. It’s up to you now... you need to buck up and end this. You are our last hope. Do you think you can stay brave until this is over?”, Flara asked, looking Daemon in the eyes. He gave a very serious looking nod, even though he still had tears running down his face. Flara smiled as she said, “Good. We need you now more than ever... and look at the bright side, you will be going back to Ponyville in the morning.”. With that in mind, Daemon cheered up a little and slept peacefully... well, except for the headaches that were increasing in frequency.

Infected with Hate

Chapter 10: Infected with Hate

It was very early in the morning when Daemon was awoken. Flara shook him gently to rouse him from his sleep. Daemon groaned and rubbed his head as he sat up.

“Ugh... what time is it?”, the groggy stallion asked.

“About three o’ clock.”.

“IN THE MORNING?! Come on! Give me a break! I’m going back to sleep.”, Daemon shouted, pulling the covers over his head and flopping back down frustrated. Flara used her magic and yanked the covers off him and threw them to the opposite side of the room. Daemon gave a whiny moan and curled up even more, refusing to move.

“Get up Daemon! We don’t have time for this! This is our only window of opportunity to leave!”.

“Argh! Alright, alright! I’m getting up! Damn Lightmare rules...”, Daemon grumbled as he got out of bed.

The two walked to the door and Flara shouted, “Computer! Simulation; terminate!”. The room quickly returned to being an empty old room with just a white paneled surface. Flara opened the door while looking back at Daemon. She didn’t notice that Ezreal and Aura were standing right outside as she spoke. “Okay now that you're up we can get back to Ponyville. Hopefully nopony noticed that you are really a Shadowmare...”. Ezreal and Aura stood there, mouths agape from what they had just heard. Daemon saw that the two Lightmares were behind Flara the whole time and he tried to get her to turn around but she just kept talking.

“Uh... Flara...”,

“I just hope that you gathered enough information for Twilight.”,

“Flara...”,

“If we’re lucky we may be able to stop coming here and keep you away from all this Lightmare anarchy... is there something wrong, Daemon?”. Flara finally turned around to see the two blond stallions staring at her completely speechless. “Oh, buck me.”, she swore, knowing that she just blew it. Ezreal stabilized himself enough to talk.

“So... uh, you’re Shadowmare... okay.”, Ezreal said, fear piercing his voice, causing it to crack. He took a few more shaky breaths before continuing, “I knew there was something different about you...”. Flara tensed up, preparing to rush out with Daemon as quick as possible. “This... is... AWESOME! I have a Shadowmare as a friend! And even better... he is going to let me come with him?”, the short Lightmare said, insinuating that he wanted to join them.

Flara was confused as to why they would want to be around a Shadowmare. She knew both ponies personally and she also knew that they were terrified of the demonic looking race.

“Do you seriously think I’m dumb enough to let you come with?! You guys are as anti-Shadowmare as the rest around here... so why do you want to join us?”.

“Because in the one day we knew Nov... I mean Daemon, we had more fun than we have ever had in our lives.”, Aura spoke, which was rare for him. “He is the best thing that has ever happened to us, and being a... Shadowmare, doesn’t change that.”.

Flara sighed. “Very well... you may come along, but remember that the outside world works on different rules. If you intend to keep your lives, I suggest you don’t do anything stupid.”. The stallions gave a couple awkward smiles and moved out of the way for Flara to pass.

The group of four quickly made their way to the elevators. Ezreal and Aura were feeling a little exhilarated by the whole idea of going AWOL. As normal Lightmares they had never disobeyed an order and they had never rebelled. Going against all they had been brought up to do made them feel alive. The whole world seemed to open up before them as they flew through the Quick-Stream, feeling the cold air flow past them. As the sun started to rise they had reached their destination.

“That’s strange... where is all the fire? This is a town, isn't it?”, Ezreal said as they approached Twilight Sparkles abode.

“Towns aren’t always on fire, Ez. They are only set on fire by us Lightmares while we are destroying them.”, Flara explained.

“I like it better this way... it’s pleasant.”, Aura said, gazing out at the still sleeping town. After a few knocks, tired looking purple unicorn answered the door.

“Hello... library hours are from seven a.m. to ten p.m.... If you need a book I suggest you come back when the library opens...”. Twilight was totally out of it.

Flara laughed softly and said, “Twilight? We’re back... Please let us inside so we don’t get seen, okay?”. Twilight smiled dreamily with her eyes still closed .

“Okay Flara... Wait! Flara?! You’re back! I’m sorry, I didn’t think you would come back so early in the morning! Come insi...”, Twilight trailed off as she saw the two Lightmares she didn’t recognise. “Flara, don’t panic, but there are two Lightmares behind you.”, the purple mare said, not moving her lips from the smile she was forcing.

“Oh, I almost forgot. This is Ezreal Lightmane and Aura Flash, they wanted to join the cause. I have informed them that if they step out of line, I will personally bring them down, so there is no cause for alarm.”.

As they waited for the others to arrive Daemon was acting kind of strange. Kept glaring around the room. It seemed like he was angry from seriously painful headaches at first, but as time went by it appeared as if Twilight was the source of his anger. He stared at her with an intensity that made her wonder what she had done to make him mad. Twilight sighed in relief as the others came through the door. As with Twilight, the rest of the mane six were startled to see the extra Lightmares in the room. Flara explained everything and the tension was broken. Daemon got straight to business and said everything he saw... and he even told everypony about how he had to kill. The thought of Daemon murdering an innocent caused a dead silence to invade the room. The thing that caused everypony to feel disturbed was the way Daemon said that he killed the filly... there was no hesitation or regret in his voice. Desdemona felt that something was wrong. Daemon had never been so uncaring in all his life. He always showed deep concern for even the smallest of problems. When Daemon finished telling everypony what he had witnessed, Desdemona walked up to him and put her hoof to his head.

“What are you doing?”, Daemon asked, sounding rather irritated by her touch.

“Checking to see what is wrong with you. You have been behaving oddly, I am going to find out why.” Desdemona said as she checked his pupils for signs of a concussion. As Desdemona went through the physical examination, her hopes slowly dropped. She was down to one last test, the one she didn’t want to resort to... she used the aura spell that Fluttershy saw a few days before.

A ray of light emanated from Desdemona’s horn and hit Daemon. The result was shocking to everypony.

“Just as I feared...”, Desdemona sighed. The glow around Daemon was an unstable orange. It pulsated between being a better shade of red to yellow. “Daemon, the Poison Joke has not stopped its infection of your body. You are becoming a Lightmare in mind and soul as well as body now.”. Daemon looked quite mad from the accusations he was presented with.

“I’m not becoming a Lightmare! In fact, I don’t remember the last time I felt so good! Wait, I know what’s going on... YOU’RE JEALOUS! You’ve never been as powerful as me and now that I’m admired by everyone you can’t stand to see me doing so well! All of you are just jealous of my gifts! I’m not going back to the way I looked before! YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!”, Daemon shouted as he flew through the door, breaking it off it’s hinges.

“What the buck just happened?”, a shocked Rainbow Dash asked.

“His Shadowmare flaw, the rage that gives him outrageous power, is merging with the growing Lightmare instinct to fight. He is most likely becoming the worst of both sides because his aggressive traits are feeding off one another.”, Desdemona hypothesised. “We need to catch him and force the cure on him. I already know he is too far gone to be reasoned with. The look in his eyes as he left told me that his dark side has been released, that I am sure of. Let’s spread out and find him, but don’t take him on by yourself. Call for help if you find him. He will not be himself and he will kill you if you give him the chance.”.

The ten ponies searched the town high and low, but of course Fluttershy was the first to find him in the woodlands by her cottage. She wondered why she was always able to find him with such ease. It was like they were magnetically attracted to each other. Daemon was holding his head in extreme agony {Link 1}. The alteration of his mind was taking a toll on him. Seeing him in so much pain made Fluttershy completely forget what she was told about yelling for help upon his sighting. His suffering made her inch her way towards him. Fluttershy accidentally stepped on a twig. The snap alerted Daemon to her presence and his eye shot open {Link 2}.

“Argh... Fluttershy! Stay back! I... I can’t hold it much longer! Agh... RUN WHILE I’M STILL IN CONTROL!”, Daemon shouted staggering his way to her. The look on his face was one of pure hatred. It was the same look he gave Discord. Fluttershy couldn’t move. Her legs were frozen in fear. Daemon was mere inches from her when he was tackled by Aura Flash. Even though Aura was at least three times the size of Daemon, he didn’t stand a chance. Daemon easily tossed Aura off him like he was made of paper. Daemon then set his sights on finishing off the large stallion who was picking himself off the ground. Before Aura could react, Daemon knocked him into a nearby tree with a solid buck to the jaw. After slamming into the hard trunk of the tree, Daemon continued to buck him in rapid succession in the stomach. With each blow, Aura spat up some blood. Suddenly Desdemona rushed in and grabbed the out of control stallion in a headlock.

“Twilight! Barrier! Now!”, Desdemona shouted as she continued to struggle with Daemon. Twilight, who had been following close behind Dedemona, put up a magical force field around Daemon. It seemed to work at first. He stopped moving and showed no sign of aggression. As the others arrived, Desdemona had been thinking that he gave up far too easily... and she was right.

Daemon chuckled sadistically. His evil laughter frightened all around him. Daemon strained against the spell that Twilight had cast, shattering it with relative ease. The way he moved and acted was entirely different than anypony had seen him before. He was definitely a totally different guy now... and he was ready to fight the rest of his friends. Taking advantage of their stunned state, Daemon used a telekinesis spell and flung Applejack into the woods. After dealing with Applejack, Rainbow Dash rushed him, flying head first in an attempt to knock him out before he had a chance to react. Daemon turned and caught her, placing his hoof on her forehead. While she was suspended from the inertia of her flying assault, Daemon moved his hoof up, causing Rainbow Dash to swing into an upright position. Daemon then shoved his hoof down causing the vertical Dash to be pressed into the ground like a railroad spike.

“Ohh... when I get out of here, you are so going to get it...” Rainbow Dash muttered, only her head sticking out of the ground. As the corrupted Shadowmare slowly marched up to Desdemona, Pinkie Pie charged in with her party cannon. Right as Pinkie was about to fire it, Daemon hit the muzzle without even giving the pink pony a glance. It flipped to face Pinkie a moment before it went off. With soot on her face Pinkie Pie waved a little white flag in a cartoony fashion. Seeing how easily Daemon defeated the rest of her friends, Rarity thought it was best to just stay out of the way.

Daemon was slowly and ominously walking up to Desdemona. She had her back against a tree and was glaring at him furiously, unable to do anything else but wait for him to attack her.

Ezreal got in between the two and yelled, “STOP! Dude, I know you’re still in there somewhere! You have to fight this! I don’t know what’s going on, but I know you can beat it!”. Daemon didn’t show any sign to signify that heard Ezreals speech. As Daemon raised his hoof in the air he felt something grasp him. In reflex he swung his hoof to bat away what was holding his arm. Fluttershy went flying and smacked into a tree, instantly being knocked unconscious. Witnessing what he had done, something started to happen to Daemon.

He held his head and grunted, “Flut-ter-shy... Arrgh!”. Desdemona never saw him fight his Shadowmare fury before. It always took complete hold of him and didn’t let go until everyone in the vicinity was either incapacitated or dead, but here he was... fighting his biological flaw because he happened to harm one pony. Daemon staggered around, holding his head, and growling in pain. “D.! Do it! Aah! Change me back NOW!”. Desdemona couldn’t believe it. He was going against four millennia of evolution and asking to be changed back to normal. She didn’t waste any time and pulled out a vial of concentrated antidote that she got from Zecora. Desdemona chucked the bottle at Daemon and it shattered against the ground below him. After being drenched in the tonic, Daemon passed out. Right as Daemon hit the ground, Applejack came charging out of the woods.

“Alright, partner! Ya caught me off guard before but this time I'm not gonna go so easy on... wait, what in tarnation did I miss?!”.

Daemon woke up in the hospital. His head was throbbing, but he felt fine. When he tried to sit up something stopped him. He looked at his arm and saw that he was hoofcuffed to the bed, completely unable to move.

“Hello? Guys? Anypony?”, he called out, staring at the ceiling.

He heard a door open and a familiar voice say, “Hello idiot! You’re finally awake I see... so how’s the head?”. Daemon could tell it had to be Desdemona... nopony else called him ‘idiot’ like that.

“A little sore, but not bad... and how are you this fine day? Forgive me if I don’t make eye contact while speaking to you. It’s just that I’m HOOFCUFFED TO A BED AND CAN’T MOVE!”, Daemon yelled.

“That was for protection.”, Desdemona said, unlocking one of the hoofcuffs on his leg.

“How are hoofcuffs supposed to protect me?!”, Daemon shouted. Desdemona slapped him with tear in her eyes.

“It wasn’t for your protection! It was for hers!”, Desdemona yelled back, pointing towards the other bed in the room. Fluttershy was sitting down on the bed with a bruise on her right arm and another on the left side of her forehead. Her head was tilted down and she didn’t move. Fluttershy was asleep. “You hit her, but she demanded to stay with you while you recovered from your psychotic state. In order to make sure you wouldn’t be able to hurt her again, we restrained you with what we had to work with.”, Desdemona told the now teary eyed stallion.

“If you care for her, you should stay away from now on. We are Shadowmares, Daemon. We only end up hurting those who we get close to. I was a fool to think you two could live together without her getting injured. Unless you want her to end up like Firefly... don’t get too attached.”, Desdemona said as she left the room. With all the hoofcuffs removed, Daemon sat up and thought about what he had done earlier that day. The memories were hazy, but he still knew that he had hurt the ones he cared about. He couldn’t let it happen again, even if it meant cutting himself off from his friends... forever.

Song of Redemption

Chapter 12: Song of Redemption

Daemon couldn’t believe he was face to face with a honest to goodness ghost.

‘Ghosts don’t exist! Well on the other hand, they say Shadowmares don’t either... I guess I know how everypony feels when they meet me now.’, the petrified stallion thought to himself. The ghost started to giggle slightly, then it escalated into full blown laughter.

“Oh, you should see the look on your face! Ha ha ha ha! I’ve been a ghost for 1,000 years, but the looks I get are still a riot!”,the ghost continued to laugh.

“Does this mean you aren’t going to kill me, or whatever it is ghosts do?” Daemon asked, back against the wall and his eyes still wide.

“Phht, NO! What is it that makes you ponies think ghosts are always violent? I wouldn’t harm a fly... and from what I saw upstairs, I’m pretty sure you feel the same way.”.

“How do you know?! I could be the most ruthless killer this world has ever seen!” Daemon yelled defensively. The ghost gave an aggravated sigh.

“Because one; you didn’t put up a fight; two; you were smiling which meant you were happy about the sentence you were given; and three; you are a Shadowmare which means you could have killed the guards or at least broken out of this cell with relative ease.”. Daemon didn’t know how obvious his decision to be locked up was until he heard her deduction. He slumped over in humiliation and sadness. “Hey there don’t look so down... at least you have me to talk to. Oh, my name is Ghost Mysteria by the way! It’s been a pleasure meeting you
Mister...?”.

“Daemon Icarus Fireblood the fifth...” Daemon responded reaching out to shake hooves.

“Wow, that’s quite a mouthful! I hope it's okay if I just call you Daemon for short...”, Mysteria said, reaching out to shake Daemon’s hoof in return. Their hooves passed through one another and they looked at each other in surprise before they started laughing.

Meanwhile, in the Lightmare base, General Lux was busy trying to figure out what happened to the four who disappeared about a week earlier. In another part of the base, a good handful of Lightmares were sitting in the very room that they had first experienced music. Since it had been absent since the Lightmare known as ‘Nova’ disappeared, things weren’t like they used to be. It felt lonely and empty around the high-tech facility. Nopony felt like doing anything and their minds kept returning to the instruments that they were forbidden to play. Most of the ponies were cleaning or holding a guitar or something, fiddling around with them in their hooves. Before he realized what he was doing, one stallion was making a beat with a few drumsticks {Link 1}. Another joined in almost automatically without even thinking about it. Now there was a catchy beat with some flute music. The others caught on and quickly adjusted to the song. It was as if the music was possessing them and they couldn’t help themselves. Before long the whole room was dancing and playing along with the melody. The pace was fast, but great for dancing. The Lightmares made a system to have a scout outside to see if Lux was coming while they played. Eventually, the Lightmares were acting just like any other ponies while the general was none the wiser.

Back at the dungeon, Daemon and Ghost Mysteria were talking about how the demonic stallion had gotten into his present situation. Daemon told her everything, except for Fluttershy and how he felt.

The translucent mare knew what he was hiding and asked, “Why don’t you tell her how you feel?”.

“Her who?”, Daemon grumbled.

“Look, I didn’t die yesterday, you know. I can tell you have a very special somepony and I know you are hiding your real feelings so let them out.”. Daemon was stunned (and also a little embarrassed).

“Okay it’s like this...”, he said blushing slightly. Mysteria put her ethereal hoof over his mouth before he could continue (even though he couldn’t feel it and he would still be able to talk).

“Don’t say it... sing it.”, the ghost pony said smiling gently.

“Uh... I can’t sing without my guitar? Yeah, that’s it! I need my guitar before I can sing!”. Ghost Mysteria frowned.

“Agh... I’ll be right back.”, she moaned. Her ghoulish figure sunk into the ground and she was gone.

After about half an hour went by and Daemon continued to wait.

‘What could a ghost possibly need to do for so long?!’, he thought to himself. Just as he was about to pass off himself ‘talking to a ghost’ to be a figment of his imagination, he heard hoofsteps from down the corridor. A guard carrying a guitar was the source. The imposing stallion opened the cell door and gave the guitar to Daemon.

“Okay, now hide this before he comes to.”, the guard told Daemon. The confused Shadowmare put the guitar under the poor excuse for a bed. When the instrument was well hidden the guard started to wobble as if coming out of a daze. When he saw the door that was supposed to contain Daemon was open he slammed it shut and locked it as if his life was on the line.

“OKAY SHADOWMARE! I have no idea what you did to me, but if I catch you doing it again there will be hell to pay!”, he shouted, glaring at Daemon angrily. After the guard walked off Daemon was still confused about the whole event.

“What the hell was that all about?”, he asked out loud.

“Oh don’t worry. That was just me. I needed to borrow his body to get that guitar.”, said a voice coming from behind Daemon. The stallion turned around and once again saw the fantasmal pony coming from out of the wall. Daemon pulled out the guitar and looked at it. It was a very fine quality.

“Okay now like I was saying... sing your feelings for her. Sing of what you want to tell. Sing... because this may be your last chance.”

Little did Daemon know that the translucent mare never even wanted to hear his song... her intention was to get him to sing for the pegasus who was ordered to visit him. Just as Daemon started the song, Fluttershy had made her way to the intersection near his cell. Princess Celestia ordered the distraught pony to visit him for a reason she never explained. Fluttershy was in a pitiful state, she had no desire to see Daemon because of the awful condition her fragile heart was in, but orders from royalty can’t be turned down so she had no choice in the matter. Even though she loved Daemon for a time, it seemed as if lately he wanted nothing to do with her. Fluttershy assumed that he no longer loved her and they were going to go back to just friends, which made his death sentence feel less tragic, but still horrible. However, her opinion of this changed once she was about to round another corner on her way to see him one last time. The moment that she heard his voice, the tears that she just managed to cease a few minutes before came flooding back, but with a different feeling behind them. Daemon started singing... {Link 2} {Link 3}

“Writing here Cause there's nothing left here

For me to do

But please know that

I'm trying to make up for my mistakes

And you're moving on

With guilty memories

But I was wrong

To ever test us

This broken road is more than I can take”

The meaning behind his lyrics was clear to the shy yellow pony. Daemon was trying to make up for how he had hit her a week prior by intentionally sending himself to death row. He felt guilty and he thought that he was wrong to try and fall in love.

“So this is the way that I'll tell you

That I'll leave you alone if you want me to

But I've had enough of this life alone

I'll give it up this time I know

I don't deserve to tell you that I love you

There's nothing in this world I'd take above you

I'm dead inside

Bring me back to life”

Now that he had felt love and there was no way that he could keep it, his heart was tearing at the seams. He didn’t want to go on living his life alone, but he felt that he didn’t deserve to tell Fluttershy that he loved her, even though she meant everything to him.

“I'll leave this note for you to read

So you won't forget that all I need is you

It's you!

And the world is not so clear anymore

Since the day that you walked right out that door

I knew all I need is you”

He was pouring out every emotion he had. Daemon only wanted to be with the kind, quiet, pegasus. That was his only desire, but due to recent events, nothing seemed to make sense. Nothing was clear.

Fluttershy couldn’t help herself, she galloped straight to the depressed Shadowmare’s cell and cried, “THAT’S NOT TRUE! I love you with all my heart and I know you would never do anything to hurt me! And.... AND I NEED YOU TOO!”. Daemon was shocked to say the least.

“Fluttershy?! What are you doing here?! Stay back! I can’t be near you!”, the stunned, and slightly frightened stallion shouted, pushing his back against the far wall, trying to stay as far away from Fluttershy as possible. Fluttershy managed to squeeze her small form through the bars and continued to walk closer to Daemon.

“I’m not going to leave and I won’t let you die! You are still good and Princess Celestia can see that now! We can stop this!”.

“I don’t want to stop it... If I do then more ponies will just get hurt because of me. I’m the reason why there has been so much pain, so much death... I don’t want to do this anymore knowing that I’m the reason why everyone gets hurt.”, Daemon softly explained.

Another voice emanated from outside the confines of the stallions cell, “Is that what this was all about? Forgive me, but I believe it is the Lightmares that were behind all those disasters, not you.”. The ‘cell mates’ looked past the bars to see none other than Princess Celestia herself. The princess unlocked the gate and opened the door.

“Excellent work, Ms. Mysteria. I’ll be sure to let my sister know that you did a fantastic job on
your assignment.”, Celestia said smiling. The ghost mare floated out of a wall behind the majestic alicorn.

“Thank you your highness. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t stay a while longer to catch up with my old friend Luna.”. Mysteria slid through the air and stopped in front of Daemon.

“Sorry I lied to you... I’m not really a ghost that haunts this dungeon. I was just asked by Princess Luna to help in this little endeavour. We were great friends back when I was alive and I couldn’t say no.”, the wispy pony explained. “And now that I’m done I have to get back to my loving husband and little foal.”.

“You are part of a family? I didn’t know ghosts could have babies.”, Daemon remarked.

“They aren’t ghosts... they are both living unicorns.”, Ghost Mysteria responded. Daemon was even further confused and at first wanted to ask how a ghost and a living pony could actually accomplish such a thing... but he decided he really didn’t want to find out. After the ghost pony left and Daemon managed to snap Fluttershy out of the hysteria she was in from seeing a ghost, the three ponies made their way out of the bleak dungeon. Celestia explained that everything was a set up to make Daemon snap out of his gloomy daze. Twilight’s most recent letter asked a favor of the princess. She wanted to make a situation to perk up the Shadowmare and reveal his feelings (because keeping them inside wasn’t mentally healthy and his mopy behavior was causing everypony to become concerned). It was because Applejack told Twilight what she had heard the previous night that the plan was set in motion. The royal pony escorting the now reunited couple showed the letter and the plan within. Everything was anticipated. Twilight had expected Daemon to lash out and sing a vicious song; she knew that he would be okay talking to a ghost; and she knew that if asked to, he would sing his feelings, unaware of Fluttershy’s presence! The most remarkable thing was that it was even planned out for Daemon to see the letter!

“Wow. Twilight is super smart!”, Daemon exclaimed, staring at the paper in levitating in front of him.

Celestia laughed a little, “Yes, that’s my student! Brilliant beyond her years. So, I trust you now know that you are not alone and why you can’t back away?”.

Daemon nodded and smiled, “yeah, I have too many friends who care about me to just leave them... I see that I need to live, not die... for them.”.

Upon entering the throne room, Daemon and Fluttershy were greeted by nine familiar faces.

“Ha! We got you good! 'I understand your majesty. I know I’m too dangerous to be let go. You are wise to do what you have declared’. Bah ha ha ha ha!”, Rainbow Dash laughed after mocking what Daemon had said previously.

“Yeah, ha freakin’ ha. Very funny...”, Daemon said through clenched teeth.

“Don’t be such a party pooper! It was to help you, ya know! We needed some way to turn that frown upside down!”, Pinkie said bouncing her way to him.
“I can’t believe you were dumb enough to place yourself in prison!” Desdemona said angrily.

“Well I can’t believe how ugly you are, so I guess we’re even!”, Daemon snapped back.

“OH! THAT IS IT! Come here ‘lover boy’!”, the pink maned Shadowmare yelled before lunging at Daemon. As they fought on the ground, Ezreal got excited and started cheering.

“YEAH! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Fight. Fight...... fight.”, Ezreal slowly stopped and cleared his throat after noticing the glares he was receiving. “Um, I mean, stop... this isn’t what friends do?”, the Lightmare said, smiling nervously and looking at the others for approval. Aura Flash stepped in between the two fighting ponies and easily kept them apart.

“Let me go! I didn’t start it, but I’m going to finish it!” the two Shadowmares said simultaneously. Aura didn’t move a muscle. The large stallion might as well have been a six inch thick steel wall. After having a few moments to calm down, the frustrated duo were released and Fluttershy stepped in.

“I think you two need something to unwind and get rid of all this pent up tension... I know! How about tomorrow we all go to the spa? That sounds like fun doesn’t it?” Fluttershy asked smiling sweetly.

“Go to a spa?! I’m a Shadowmare and I have no need for such trivial relaxation treatments!”, Desdemona growled. Daemon walked past Fluttershy.

“Sorry, but I’m a guy. I don’t do girly spa stuff.”. Fluttershy had enough.

“YOU TWO ARE GOING TO THE SPA AND THAT’S FINAL!”, she shouted, startling everypony in the room with her sudden outburst.

The massive group of friends left shortly after Fluttershy’s ‘spa recommendation’, and they boarded the train to Ponyville. They took up about one fourth of the car they were resided in. The rest of the car seemed to be filled with ponies hell-bent on making as much noise as possible. There was a rich couple arguing about something, a crying foal, a filly and colt (most likely siblings) yelling, running back and forth, and fighting through it all. Yes, this was a train of horrors and ruptured eardrums. Daemon seemed at relative ease however as he sighed contently and picked up his guitar. {Link 4} In an instant he calmed everypony in the radius of his melody. Shortly after he started, the only thing that could be heard was Daemon playing. His song was something of a lullaby and it seemed very familiar but nopony could put their hoof on where it was from. Whatever it was though, every passenger seemed to be entranced by it. When the song ended, the harsh, loud atmosphere of the car vanished and was replaced by an unequalled calm serenity.

After Daemon’s performance, and peace was achieved, a very rich looking unicorn (probably from Canterlot) walked up to Daemon and presented him with a card.

“That was a marvellous show you put on. I would like to ask you to play at my daughters birthday party.”, she said with her nose in the air. The snooty unicorn walked away, leaving Daemon staring at the card as if he had no idea what it was or what to do with it.

“Hey why didn’t I get an invitation?!”, Pinkie shouted upset. Rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful.

When the herd of friends made it back, it was already very late and everypony was content on going to bed. Daemon started to walk off in a direction different from Fluttershy’s house, but after taking two steps his tail was caught and yanked on by Desdemona’s magic. Caught off guard by the sudden tug, Daemon tripped and was left lying on the ground.

“And where are you going?”, Desdemona asked in her usual manner.

Daemons eyes darted back and forth before he answered, “Uh... I was just gonna go-”

“No you aren’t. You are coming back with us. No questions, no excuses!”, Desdemona ordered, before trotting off, showing her frustration on her sleeve. Fluttershy went over to help Daemon up.

“You don’t have to come back if you don’t want to... but I would be really glad if you did.” Fluttershy said blushing as she offered her hoof. Daemon laughed and pushed her hoof away. At first Fluttershy was heartbroken that he denied her help, but that quickly changed as he hugged her for the first time.

She melted in his embrace and whispered, “how did I ever get so lucky as to meet you?”.

Happy What?

Chapter 13: Happy What?

For the first time ever, Daemon was actually woken up by Fluttershy.

She nudged him softly while whispering, “wake up please... I would like you to wake up now, if that’s okay with you...”.

After Daemon woke up he just acted like he was still asleep, keeping one eye cracked open, while slowly snaking his arm around the unexpecting mare.

When his arm was nearly all the way around her back, he quickly flipped her over onto the other side of the bed and yelled, “Gotcha!”, causing her to let out a startled squeak. Daemon proceeded to give Fluttershy a noogie despite her giggly protests. Fluttershy was eventually saved by Desdemona who had walked in on the touching scene and cleared her throat to get their attention.

“If it’s all the same to you, I would like to get this over with now.”, she said with her usual scowl. Daemon let go of Fluttershy and got off the bed.

“Get what over with?” Daemon asked, raising an eyebrow.

Desdemona groaned and muttered something about ‘why she even bothered to stay around mentally deficient morons’ and stormed out the door.

Fluttershy explained on Desdemona’s behalf, “the spa date we had scheduled last night, remember?”. A smirk formed on Daemon’s face.

“Spa... Date?”, the stallion said flexing his brow twice after saying ‘date’.

Fluttershy sat there thinking about that statement for a few moments, allowing the gears in her head to start turning.

Suddenly her eyes bulged and her face blushed, “Oh no no no no! I didn't mean it like that! I just meant appointment and-”. Daemon let out roaring laughter and fell to the floor clutching his stomach while the yellow pegasus continued to blush and giggle nervously.

The three ponies made their way to the spa, barely making the appointment time. When they entered they were greeted by two nearly identical mares (twins most likely). The only thing that separated them was their reversed coloration. The one with the blue coat and pink mane zipped up beside Daemon.

“Hello! I’m Lotus and that’s my sister Aloe!”, she said pointing over to the pink coated pony who had somehow rushed by Desdemona without any of them noticing.

“Oh my goodness! Look at your coats! They must be filthy!”, Aloe said, closely examining Desdemona’s short, dark magenta fur.

Desdemona responded by first glaring at the overly enthusiastic mare and stating in an upset tone, “For your information, Shadowmares are born with their murky coat! It’s a birthright, not a bathing problem!”. Aloe made tensely made her way over to her sister, making sure to keep her distance from the hot-tempered mare. The two whispered back and forth while occasionally looking over to Desdemona. It was apparent that they were trying to decide who would have the privilege to tend to her while the Shadowmares were going through the extensive treatment. Fluttershy walked over to Desdemona while the two were ‘debating’.

“Um... Desdemona?” Fluttershy said tilting her head.

“What?” Desdemona responded apathetically.

“Well, I was thinking that if you were a little nicer to everypony, they wouldn’t be so scared to help you... I’m sorry if that sounded harsh.”. Desdemona looked at the ground and thought about Fluttershy’s words.

When Fluttershy turned around and started to walk away Desdemona spoke up, “Um... how do you act nice? I can’t remember ever doing something like that to anypony. We were always by ourselves. I never needed to be nice to anypony and I... I never got a chance to practice.”.

Fluttershy gave a little laugh and said, “you don’t practice being nice, you just are! Remember to not insult ponies or glare at them and you will be fine. Try to smile too, that helps.”.

Fluttershy left the Shadowmares in the care of the spa sisters. They finally made up their minds and decided to switch customers after each treatment. First on the list was the deep tissue massage, which the two sisters could easily tell was well overdue from the tense and knotted muscles of the Shadowmares. As Aloe and Lotus worked out all the stress built up in their clients, Desdemona and Daemon had nothing else to do but lay there and talk. Desdemona started the conversation,

“Hey Daemon. Do you remember Princess Luna?”.

“Yeah. She was the one who took me to the castle, right?”, Daemon replied.

“Well it turns out that she was Nightmare Moon at one point... but she wasn’t like we thought. From what I hear, she was evil and would have done nothing to help us after all. In short, we came all this way for nothing! Isn’t that funny?”, Desdemona said, snickering. Daemon just looked at her like she had finally lost it.

Daemon had been thinking of what they could do to increase their chances of winning against the Lightmare Legion when an idea popped into his head.

“Hey! Why don’t we get Princess Celestia to help? She must be powerful enough to beat them!”.

Desdemona sighed, “She might be able to, but if she can’t, then that would be a real disaster. If she died the ponies of this land would be thrown into chaos. Even though Luna could take Celestia’s place on the throne, she has been gone for a thousand years and she wouldn’t be able to run Equestria like her sister. Princess Celestia can not die for our problems... she is of too much importance.”.

Daemon never heard Desdemona call anypony else ‘important’ before. Normally it seemed as if she cared of only those who were Shadowmares... everypony else was of no real use. However, now it looked like she cared just as much about every other race as her own.

After the massage was done, they went to the sauna.

Daemon was the first to go in. “Is this it? I guess it’s okay, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sweat with such a low temperature”, he said looking through the plexi-glass door separating them.

Lotus was baffled. The thermometer already said it was 187 degrees inside. Most ponies would pass out instantly in such extreme conditions, but Daemon didn’t even show one drop of perspiration! Desdemona laughed at the flabbergasted mare.

“Our kind are used to high amounts of heat. Shadowmares would stay within hostile living conditions to avoid being found. Over three millennia, staying by such things made us adapt to feel at ease in all kinds of weather. It’s just genetic assimilation at work, but unless you think you can go beyond the temperatures found in lava fields, I suggest we move on.”.

The three ponies walked away, forgetting that Daemon was inside until he started shouting. Aloe went back to fetch Daemon, while Lotus tried to convince Desdemona to proceed with step three of the deluxe therapy. Desdemona was not pleased with this next treatment.

“There is no way I’m getting in that...” the revolted mare said, staring down at what awaited her.

“It’s just a mud bath! It’s good for you, trust me! If you get in I’ll give you extra complimentary chocolates.” Lotus said, giving encouraging jabs with her elbow.

“Chocolate? I’ve never had such a thing. Why should I want it?”, Desdemona asked.

“Because it’s like the best candy ever! I love chocolate!”, Daemon said before doing a cannonball into the muck.

Desdemona wiped the mud off her face revealing a very upset look.

She sighed, “Very well I’ll try this... chocolate, but I still don’t see the point in getting in this when the idea is to get clean.”.

After Desdemona slid her way into the filth, she was presented with a bowl full of brown cubes. She hesitantly took one out and placed it in her mouth. Once the confection touched her taste buds, she couldn’t believe the amazing flavor she was experiencing. It was the best thing she ever had. It was rich, creamy, and a taste all its own. There was no way to describe it, but she felt... good. Better than good; she felt amazing.

“HOLY CRAP! WHAT’S IN THIS STUFF?!”, Desdemona shouted, desperate to find out how they made something so delicious.

“It’s just chocolate... there isn’t any other ingredients. How could you live without ever tasting chocolate before?”, Aloe asked.

“One word: Shadowmare.”, Desdemona retorted.

After Desdemona finished her bowl of chocolate, the final step of the treatment was ready for them. It was a hydro-therapeutic bath, complete with several stages of healing processes. It would take an hour to finish the bath, so Desdemona asked for more chocolate to help the wait. Daemon was okay with relaxing in the water without any sort of activity.

As the clock ticked by, Daemons thoughts turned to Fluttershy and how thoughtful she was when she decided to take him to the spa, but then something suddenly occurred to Daemon... he didn’t have anything to pay!

His eyes shot open and he jumped up. “Oh damn! We don’t have money to pay for all this!”, he shouted, causing Lotus to drop some towels out of surprise.

Lotus took a few moments to settle down before explaining that Fluttershy had already paid the forty bit fee. Daemon slouched back down in the tub.

‘Fluttershy paid for us out of her own pocket? And forty bits?! That’s crazy! I have to make it up to her somehow.’ Daemon thought, almost completely submerged in the soothing waters. It didn’t take too much longer for the spa visit to reach its conclusion. Daemon and Desdemona didn’t notice at first, but after they got a chance to stretch their wings and move around a bit outside they realised that every movement felt effortless and smooth. They had no more pain or discomfort. Desdemona felt like she could take on anypony and Daemon felt as if he had the weight of the world taken off his shoulders. The two rejuvenated Shadowmares were feeling better then they had in years... and Desdemona was actually feeling happy.

While they were flipping around in the air, testing out their revitalised bodies, Fluttershy was trotting towards them. Daemon spotted her and swooped down, landing gently to greet her.

“So how was your time at the spa?”, Fluttershy asked, already sure that the feedback was going to be positive.

“Well it was pretty boring... but man do I feel great! It’s like gravity just vanished! For example, look what I can do!”, Daemon said, suspended upside down, balancing on his front right hoof. Fluttershy giggled at Daemons acrobatic stunt.

“Well that’s nice, but what should we do now?”. Daemon thought that there was only one way to repay her.

“Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner!”, Daemon shouted excitedly.

“NO! If we go now that will ruin your sur-”, Fluttershy covered her mouth, stopping whatever she was about to say. Desdemona grew suspicious of Fluttershys behavior and wanted to find out what she knew, but she was too busy eating Daemons share of spa chocolates.

“Well, okay... I guess we could fly around a bit. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you fly more than a foot off the ground... it doesn’t look like there’s anything wrong with your wings.” Daemon said, holding his chin and inspecting Fluttershys wings. Fluttershy backed way with her ears down.

“I don’t fly because I’m not very good at it. I’ve always been, um... a weak flier. Anyways I could say the same about you. I hardly ever see you fly, and you’re good at it!”.

“That’s because you can’t get to know anypony if you’re always zipping around above them! I like to take things slow, but it would be nice to cruise around through the clouds with you... Hey! That’s what I’ll do! I’ll teach you some flying techniques! You will be a professional in no time!”, Daemon said grabbing her hoof.

The ecstatic stallion dragged Fluttershy to a field and instructed her to fly straight up. At every cloud they passed, Fluttershy would stop and ask Daemon if they were done; Daemon would say no; they would continue ascending and the process would repeat. It took a while but Daemon finally stopped at the top cloud layer of the atmosphere. He told Fluttershy to wait until she regained her breath before they would continue. After Fluttershy said she was ready Daemon told her to fly up even more. He was by her every inch she flew and that gave her the courage to press on, even though she would have been scared stiff over half an hour ago. Fluttershy had flown higher than she thought was possible, and she began to feel a breeze... which quickly turned into a powerful yet very stable wind.

Daemon smiled and said, “Fluttershy... I welcome you to the Quick-Stream! Here you can glide on the wind and go anywhere at a tremendous speed! Think of it as the ultimate highway! Ha ha, I made a joke.”.

Daemon continued to instruct her on how to fly using the Quick-Stream the same way Flara taught him. It took Fluttershy a little while to get the hang of it, but the important thing was she was having fun. Fluttershy was soon tired and wanted to go back down, so Daemon told her to carefully glide down, making sure not to go too fast. It started out well enough as Fluttershy got to the top cloud layer in a few moments, but as soon as she started to go further down Daemon noticed something was off. Fluttershy was gaining way too much speed! The cause... she had snapped her wings shut out of fear. Daemon tried to catch up but at the rate she was falling he would never make it in time.

‘I have to time this just right!’ Daemon thought as he poised himself for his trademark technique. Daemon shot down, accelerating until he created a Sonic Fireboom. The flames surrounding him were too hot to catch Fluttershy, so he had to do something very risky. Before hitting the ground, Daemon curved sharply leveling himself out a few inches from the earth below. Right before reaching the spot where Fluttershy was about to hit the ground, he ceased the Sonic Fireboom, slowing dramatically and positioning himself right under the mare in peril. Daemon flipped to face skyward and he reached out with both arms {Link 1}. Daemon had just barely made the catch. Fluttershy had fainted from the shock. Her stallion savior was grinding against the ground from the momentum until he hit a tree and fell into unconsciousness himself. {Link 2}

A few moments after the fall Fluttershy awoke to find herself in the arms of Daemon. He was out cold, but Fluttershy didn’t need him to tell her what happened. She would have died if it wasn’t for him. A gentle breeze was blowing.

As Daemon rested beneath the shade of the tree, Fluttershy couldn’t stop thinking, ‘He looks so peaceful. In this light, he actually looks kind of... cute.’. She leaned in close. Her heart was racing but she didn’t even notice as her lips approached his. Suddenly she heard a familiar shout about a hundred feet away and jumped, startled at the interruption.

“What are you guys doing way out here?!”. It was Desdemona. Fluttershy exhaled and calmed herself. “We were flying, but I almost fell and then Daemon...”,

“Knocked himself out?” Desdemona said, finishing Fluttershys sentence. Fluttershy nodded weakly, hoping that Desdemona wouldn’t notice her blushing.

Desdemona sighed and rolled her eyes, “Typical... Don’t worry, I got this.”.

Desdemona moved carefully up to Daemon and put her mouth next to her ear. Fluttershy covered her ears expecting Desdemona to yell at the top of her lungs, but instead the deep magenta Shadowmare whispered something. Daemon quickly popped his head up with his eyes wide open.

“Candy?! Where?!”, Daemon asked frantically searching his surroundings. Both mares started to giggle at the clueless stallion.

The group of three headed to Sugarcube corner next. For some strange reason Fluttershy had insisted they go. What struck Desdemona as weird was that Fluttershy had never been so dead set on something before, but she was in a good mood today so she decided to let it slide without asking questions.

Upon arrival the shop looked closed. The lights were all off and the curtains inside were shut. Fluttershy knocked on the door and it opened. She then gave Daemon the ‘after you’ gesture and allowed him to walk inside. It was pitch black inside and it seemed like there was nopony around as things were dead silent. Daemon was feeling really scared by this point. The seemingly empty bakery was giving Daemon ‘Discord flashbacks’. Fluttershy and Desdemona walked in and shut the door behind them. As soon as the lock clicked the lights turned on.

Daemon jumped out of his skin when all his friends popped out and yelled, “SURPRISE!”.

“Ah! We’re under attack! Hit the deck!”, Daemon said as he flew under a nearby table.

Twilight peered under the table and said, “Uh... Happy Birthday?”.

“Happy what?” Daemon asked, coming out from under the table. All the ponies in the room (except Daemon and Desdemona) were shocked.

“How could you not know what a birthday party is?!”, Pinkie asked, mouth agape.

“Because this is the first time the Shadowmare race has had a chance to celebrate one in many generations. They have never had the opportunity to stop and celebrate the day of their birth with all the hiding they have had to do... not to mention they never had any supplies to do such a thing.”, Flara explained.

After everypony knew why Daemon and Desdemona were confused as to what a birthday party was, they tried to explain it to the startled Shadowmares.

After they were done explaining, Daemon asked, “What am I supposed to do at my ‘birthday party’? Do I play music? Buck apple trees? Help make cupcakes?”.

As soon as Daemon mentioned helping to cook something and started heading for the kitchen, everypony shouted, “NO!”. Rarity walked up to him, gave a nervous laugh and tried to make up for her unladylike outburst with the others moments before.

“You don’t work on your birthday. It’s a day about you. Everypony is here to celebrate the fact that you exist. You can do anything you want... and we've got the music covered”, Rarity said, pointing over to Vinyl Scratch by some turntables in the corner. The DJ pony was currently telling Desdemona that they could be sisters (because they shared the same hairstyle).

As the party went on Daemon started to enjoy himself. He liked the fact that he got gifts, even if he didn’t know why it was tradition to get them. Flara kept a close watch on him and made sure he didn’t eat too many sweets. When the party started to conclude, Daemon thought that it would be fun to play a few songs and give his DJ friend a rest. The band that Daemon made in the Lightmare base went back to their original instruments and started to play.

After about fifteen minutes, Daemon noticed that Desdemona looked kind of sad as she sat in the back staring into her drink, not paying any attention to the music (or anything really).

Daemon walked over by Desdemon after his song was done and said, “I’m done... your turn now!”. Desdemona looked up at him surprised then shook her head and arms in a vigorous ‘no’
fashion.

“Oh come on! I know that you wanna do it!”. “No, really! Singing is your thing! I don’t want to!”, Desdemona said, dismissing Daemons advances.

Daemon then started to lead the others in a chant, “Dez... Dez. Dez! Dez!”. Desdemona bitterly snatched the microphone from Daemons grasp.

“I’m gonna get you all back for this later...”, the Shadowmare growled as she approached the stage.

{Link 3} Aura started the song, making a smooth rhythm on his bass. Ezreal and Flara joined in later, giving the song more of a hard rock vibe. The lights dimmed and the multicolored spotlights shown on Desdemona. She closed her eyes and inhaled getting ready to sing {Link 4}. As soon as the moment hit her just right she let the music flow through her lips. Nopony could believe it... she had the voice of an angel. Her lyrics were obviously meant for Daemon but contrary to the hardcore sound of the music, her words were kind and inspirational. She made the group of ponies in front of her stare in disbelief at her tribute to Daemon. She sang that Daemon was not wrong for being different, but infact he was better because he was different. Desemona also made it clear that Daemon should stop apologizing for being himself. When Desdemonas song ended, nopony knew what to say. The demonic mares ears fell.

“Was I really that bad?”, she asked. Everypony ran up to her at once and gave
her a group hug.

“Argh! What are you all doing?! Knock it off! …DAMN IT! GET THE HELL OFF ME!”, Desdemona shouted in building rage.

Everypony yelled “No!”, and continued to laugh while hugging her.

After the party was over, Fluttershy was walking home with Daemon and Desdemona.

“That was fun! When do I get another birthday party?” Daemon asked, grinning.

“In a year...” Fluttershy answered. Daemons head fell in sadness.

“Don’t worry. A year will fly by before you know it... and by the way, I would have never guessed that I was actually a year older than you!” Fluttershy said as they reached the front door.

The three ponies went to sleep rather early because Fluttershy was going to take Desdemona to the chocolate factory in the morning. Little did they know they were being watched all day by a dark and sinister creature...

Deceptions

Chapter 14: Deceptions

Before the sun had risen, Daemon started to stir from his sleep slightly because there was some kind of racket coming from downstairs. Daemon assumed that it was Desdemona who just couldn’t wait any longer and was getting ready to leave for the chocolate factory with Fluttershy. Feeling that there was nothing for him to do today he decided to drift back to slumberland and spend the day loafing around the house. A few hours later however, Daemon heard breathing by him and opened his eyes to see who it could possibly be. Daemon was surprised to see Fluttershy staring back at him affectionately. She had never looked at him like this before and it was starting to creep Daemon out. “What are you still doing here? Weren’t you going with D.Monica to see how chocolate was made?” Daemon asked, still half asleep.

“Oh, um... she, uh , said that I could stay with you while she did that. She didn’t want us to be apart for even one day.” Fluttershy answered, running her hoof along Daemons face.

“Really? That’s out of character for her.”, Daemon said, thinking what the reason behind Desdemona's actions could be. After a few moments of deep thought, Daemon shrugged and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

As Daemon sat eating his breakfast later that morning, he noticed Fluttershy wasn’t eating along with him. This didn’t strike him as too odd however, seeing as how she wasn’t a big eater in the first place, but he couldn’t help but tell her that she needed to eat so she would stay healthy. Daemon gave her some of his salad that she made him and after taking a small bite, she started to gag and ran to the bathroom. After Fluttershy ran to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her, Daemon inspected what he gave her. He gave the lettuce a few test sniffs and ate it.

‘Tastes fine to me’, the Shadowmare thought to himself as Fluttershy came out of the bathroom. “So, what should we do today?”, Daemon asked the mildly sick looking pegasus.

Fluttershy just stared back at Daemon sensually before saying “I want to do anything you want to do...”. “Okay then! Lets go to Twilights! I want to thank her for the book she gave me for my birthday yesterday... even though I have no idea what most of the words in it mean.” Daemon said, flipping through the pages of a dictionary. Fluttershy facehoofed.

“Did you get it?” Daemon asked.

“Get what?” Fluttershy responded, quite confused as to what he was talking about. “The mosquito! That’s why you smacked your forehead, right?”.

By the time the two reached Twilights library, Fluttershy had a bright red mark on her brow. When the door to the hollowed out tree opened, Fluttershy suddenly got very pale.

“Hello Daemon! Hi Fluttershy! Come on in!”, Twilight said, leading the way.

Daemon got straight to thanking Twilight for her gift, but after he was done thanking her, he explained that Fluttershy had been acting strange all day. At the mention of her odd behavior Fluttershys eyes got wide and she started to say that there was nothing wrong. Just to make sure she wasn’t getting sick, Twilight checked her temperature. Even though the thermometer read ‘normal’, Fluttershy was sweating immensely. Twilight had no idea how she could be sweating without a fever, but since she was a mare of science she decided that there was nothing wrong and sent Daemon and Fluttershy on their way with a clean bill of health. On the way back to the cottage Fluttershys stomach growled.

“I told you that you needed to eat more than you did!”, Daemon laughed.

Fluttershy muttered something to herself. Daemon was about to ask what she said, when he was stopped by Fluttershy looking into his eyes passionately.

“Why don’t you sing me a song? That will probably make me feel better.”.

Daemon felt very awkward by the look she was giving him and nervously said, “well I have been making a song but it's not ready and...”.

As Daemon tried to explain, he was cut off by Fluttershy. “SING IT!” she yelled, now with a look of anger.

Frightened by Fluttershy’s first show of such fury, Daemon started to play the song.{Link 1} It had a smooth mellow feel to it. The relaxing melody was accompanied by beautiful and loving lyrics. The meaning behind the song was deep and full of life wisdom. However, the song seemed to be having a strange effect on the yellow mare. Fluttershy was writhing in pure bliss as she was listening to the song. Daemon continued to sing, but the way Fluttershy was acting made him feel disturbed. After the song was over he walked over to Fluttershy and asked if she was alright. She gave the worried Shadowmare a loving look and assured that she had never been better. Since there wasn’t anything else that need to be taken care of Fluttershy suggested that they just go back home and enjoy each others company.

‘Man, Fluttershy is being extra clingy today.’, Daemon thought, as they neared the cottage.

After going inside, Daemon asked, “why have you been acting so weird lately?”.

Fluttershy giggled and said, “I’m just showing how much I love you... especially since you saved me yesterday.”.

“That? It wasn’t all the big of a deal. I mean, I would have done it for anypony. I wasn’t just gonna let you die.”.

When Fluttershy moved closer and leaned in to kiss Daemon, she felt a slight tug on her tail. It was Angel holding a drinking glass. Apparently Angel was thirsty and wanted Fluttershy to get him some water. Fluttershy turned to look at Angel, but she didn’t look at him with her normal gentle smile.

Her eyes were cold and harsh as she said, “go away rodent... I’m busy.”. Her words devastated the little white bunny. Daemon walked over to Angel and lowered his head to the stunned rabbits eye level.

“Hey Angel, can you go outside while I have a word with Fluttershy?”. After Angel headed out the door, Daemon closed all the window curtains with his magic, making the whole house a great deal darker and a bit more sinister looking. Fluttershy took a few steps closer to Daemon who had his back turned towards her.

“What are you doing”, she asked, about to put a hoof on his shoulder.

Without moving, Daemon said in a cold hollow tone, “Who are you and where is the real Fluttershy...”.

‘Fluttershy’ gasped and replied, “what are you talking about?! I am the real Fluttershy!”.

“Okay, if you are the real Fluttershy, you would know about that one cupcake I gave you at Sugarcube Corner. If you can tell me what flavor it was, then you are the real deal... if you can’t, you are going to be in a load of trouble. Oh, and just to give you a sporting chance, it was a pink cupcake all the way through.”.

‘Fluttershy’ gulped and started shaking. “W-well if it was pink, that must mean it was... Strawberry?”. Daemon smiled warmly and stretched out his arms for a hug.

‘Fluttershy’ gladly accepted Daemons loving embrace... only to have Daemon whisper in her ear, “wrong answer.”. The Shadowmare quickly used his magic to slam the imposter against the wall by the front door, keeping her pinned there.

“The correct answer was chocolate. It was a special recipe made by Mr. and Mrs. Cake. The way they do it is a mystery, but somehow they are able to make pink chocolate. If you were the real Fluttershy you would have known that! So I’m only going to ask this one more time, WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE IS FLUTTERSHY?!”.

The fake Fluttershy started to laugh and change. Green flames stripped away the guise, revealing the black skin underneath. The further the transformation went, the deeper and more villainous the laugh got. When the metamorphosis was complete, there was a black insectoid creature in place of the once sweet looking pegasus.

“I am Chrysalis! Queen of the Changelings!” the vile creature said. “I suppose I should have tried harder to mimic that pathetic mare but sometimes my hunger gets the best of me. I could feel the love seeping off of you both yesterday and it was divine. If I kept draining you of your love for a while longer I could have returned to full strength, but what I got was enough to sustain me for now. So could you be a dear and let me go? That would be great, thanks.” Chrysalis chuckled.

After she finished her little spiel, Daemon felt an all too familiar pulse course through every cell in his body.

‘Oh no! Not now! Anytime but now!’ Daemon thought as his body surged with the power of his inner rage. Desperate to make sure he didn’t kill her without getting the real Fluttershy and Desdemona back, he had to resort to intimidation. Daemon gave a very angry glare at the queen and slammed his hoof next to her head with amazing skull shattering force.

His eyes seemed to look directly into her soul as he shouted, “You will NOT order me around! I am the one in control here and as you are right now, I could easily destroy you! Now you are going to bring them back now or else!”.

Normally Chrysalis would have laughed in his face and shown him that she was really the one in power, but she wasn’t. Her strength was feeble at best since her little ‘invasion plan’ went wrong so many months ago. She had been surviving on the scraps of kindness here and there as she trekked back from the badlands to the south. As things were she had no choice but to do as this odd looking stallion requested. With an exasperated sigh she transported the two ponies she banished to the center of the room. They were in deplorable condition.

Fluttershy had a bruised and scraped forehead, not to mention the small bleeding cut on her cheek and dirt smudges all over her. Desdemona was in even worse shape. She had a large bleeding gash right beneath her horn and a black eye. They both looked like they were put through the wringer.

“There they are, both safe and sound... well for the most part. Now let me go, we had a deal.”.

Daemon was gone. His eyes were glowing with hatred and his teeth were clenched shut in pure fury. Chrysalis saw that he wasn’t playing around and knew that right now he had her at his mercy. Her confident smile turned to a look of worry and fear. For the first time in centuries, Chrysalis felt afraid of a pony. Even though his appearance was alarming, there was no reason for someone of her stature to fear him.

‘I am the queen of all Changelings, so why is it that his gaze makes me tremble?’ as these thoughts when through Chrysalis’ mind, Daemon turned to look at the two mares behind him.

When he turned back to the Changeling queen he was furious, and Desdemona didn’t help in that matter.

“Go ahead Daemon. Kill her! After what she did to me and Fluttershy, she deserves to die!”, Desdemona said, only to be contradicted by Fluttershy right after.

“No Daemon! Nopony deserves to die! This isn’t you! Don’t do it!”, she cried. It was as if the two were both sides of his conscience, one leading him down the path of light, the other leading him down the road to revenge {Link 2}. All Chrysalis was able to do was pray as the ponies tried to sway the decision of the enraged Shadowmare. The growl Daemon was making was almost feral... beastly even.

“Listen to the yellow one! You can’t kill me! Ponies aren’t known for acts of murder!” Chrysalis cried out, hoping her logic was correct.

Desdemona laughed wickedly. “Well most ponies are peaceful in nature... but we are a different breed. Have you ever heard of the Shadowmare race?”. Chrysalis gasped and her pupils shrank in the horror of her revelation. “That’s right! We are Shadowmares! Oh, and just for your information... Daemon here gets rather violent when angered. Sure, if you were at full strength you would probably be able to handle him, but in your current state... you are as good as dead.”. Daemons rage was in full force. He was ready to end the life of the queen before him, but suddenly as he pulled his hoof back ready to strike, he felt a familiar touch grab hold of him.

“Please stop! I’m begging you Daemon! Don’t kill her! I couldn’t take it if you did! Please... please just stop.” Fluttershy sobbed.

Tears were streaming down her face. Desdmona thought that her pleading was all in vain... that is until she noticed Daemon was coming to. His eyes started to soften. The aura of fury around him lightened. Even the dense suppressing feel of the air started to dissipate. As Daemon returned to his original self Desdemona realized what was going on... Fluttershy was somehow able to break him out of his rage! It was a honest to goodness miracle! This mere pegasus’ touch was able to throw thousands of years of evolution out the window and free Daemon of his biological flaw! It didn’t make sense but that’s what made it so unbelievable. All this new information made way for Desdemona to hatch a plan.

Daemon was coming to his senses and said, “Fluttershy... is right. Even though you hurt those I care about, you were doing it to survive... you don’t need to die.”. Fluttershy was so happy from hearing this that she hugged him hard enough to suffocate him.

“Can’t... breathe!”, Daemon struggled to say as he was being crushed by Fluttershys embrace. Fluttershy quickly noticed that he was turning purple and let go.

“I’m sorry... I was just so glad that you stopped that I couldn’t help myself.” Fluttershy apologized.

“It’s okay. You were right. I can’t kill her no matter what she has done to us. that would make me just as bad as her, if not worse. Miss Chrysalis... I’m sorry about that, but you can’t hurt others and think you can get away with it. Also you shouldn’t have to steal love, you are a queen after all. You should find somepony who loves you for who you are... like I did.”, Daemon said, looking over lovingly at Fluttershy.

“You have no idea what it’s like being a Changeling! I am despised by all but my subjects! What makes you think you can tell me what to do? And furthermore how do you think I can find true love in such an unforgiving world?!”, Chrysalis scoffed.

Daemon laughed a bit, shaking his head in pity. “Let me just tell you that YOU have no idea what it's like being a Shadowmare... I have been hiding all my life, running from those who wish me dead. I’ve been through hell... but I still see the world as a kind and beautiful place where even somepony like me can find compassion. You just need to change your attitude a little and give it a chance... or is it impossible for a Changeling to alter her point of view the way she can alter her appearance?”.

Chrysalis was moved by the stallions words. She had never encountered a pony who had the gall to talk to her in such a way, but she felt like he was speaking from the heart and he knew what he was talking about. Maybe she could give his proposal a chance. For as long as she could remember she was made out to be ugly, evil, and unlovable... but for the first time she felt like this Shadowmare knew what that was like and she didn’t feel so alone. She actually wanted to try finding love now, but how would anyone accept her after all she did? Suddenly she felt something move across her cheek. she moved her hole filled hoof to touch it, only to discover that she had a fluid leak coming from the corner of her eye.

“Are you crying?” Fluttershy asked as Daemon released his hold on her.

“Preposterous! I am queen of the Changelings! I don’t...”. Chrysalis stopped as soon as she felt the warmth of the small pegasus’ touch. She was shown an act of kindness from one who she had hurt only six hours prior. There was an awkward silence as the yellow pony caressed the Changeling. Chrysalis broke the silence and said that she had to go somewhere to think.

Desdemona was a little upset that she was just being let go (mostly because it was Chrysalis’s fault that she wasn’t able to attend the tour at the chocolate factory). Daemon just kept saying that he trusted her to do the right thing from now on and she was only doing what she needed to survive. It was in a Changelings nature to feed off of love in order to keep living. It wasn’t Chrysalis’s fault... she was just starving and in dire need of nourishment. Fluttershy was just glad to be back home without anypony getting seriously hurt.

After night fell, Desdemona decided to tell Fluttershy and Daemon what she had learned earlier that day. “Daemon, Fluttershy, take a seat. I have something important to tell you.”. They did as she requested and Desdemona continued to speak. “Earlier, when you were losing yourself to your rage, do you know what snapped you back to reality, Daemon? I saw what I thought was impossible. Fluttershy, it was your touch that brought him back. I don’t know why, but contact with you coupled with your feelings of desperation stops Daemon from giving in to his dark tendencies. I know it’s a risk, but I would like to test this theory out tomorrow.”.

Daemon didn’t want to go through with Desdemona’s crazy plan of course, but Fluttershy said that it would all be fine as long as they were together.

Preparing for War

Chapter 15: Preparing for War

The day after the Changeling queen, Chrysalis, tried to deceive Daemon, he was roughly awoken by Flara.

She flung him into a wall with the use of her magic and shouted “RISE AND SHINE, MAGGOT! YOU ARE IN FLARA’S TRAINING CAMP AND YOU ARE GOING TO HATE ME BY THE TIME THE SUN GOES DOWN!”.

Daemon proceeded to peel himself off the wall and said pleasantly, “Good morning Flara! I’m glad to see you’re feeling so energetic, but I don’t think I could ever hate you!”. As Daemon smiled, Flara put on her best psychotic grin and said, “oh, you will! You will...”.

Fluttershy entered the room soon after Flara’s ‘threat’. She was smiling as she trotted up to Daemon. “Good morning Daemon... hello Flara! You seem happy today!”, Fluttershy noted, seeing Flara’s evil smile. “Damn it! What’s wrong with ponies around here?! I’m supposed to be intimidating! All the Lightmares back at the base were terrified of making me mad! I was a 1st Lieutenant for bucks sake!”.

After calming down, Flara explained that it was going to be Ezreal’s and Aura’s job to get Daemon to unleash his rage and then they were going to keep him from causing mayhem while Fluttershy would snap him out of it. The process would continue for as long as it would take to make it second nature to the two ‘love birds’. Flara was going to keep an eye on things and make sure that nothing went wrong. This ‘training exercise’ was going to help Daemon to control his power and allow him to use it against the Lightmares. Since Daemons memories of fighting style and battle strategy seemed dead set on staying lost, they were going to try to control Daemon’s flaw and turn it into their greatest asset. If all went according to plan Daemon would be able to fight the Lightmare Legion in a week... and win.

First thing on the day's agenda was to find a place that was void of random civilians. They came across a meadow just outside town and decided that it was far enough away to suffice. Ezreal and Aura went about it like they would in the base. they lined up side by side and stood at attention. Ezreal was always unable to keep the average serious look on his face and ended up with a smirk that suited his personality.

Flara marched in front of them like she always did at the base, saying, “alright, we are here to train Daemon into an ultimate fighting machine. You will engage him in combat and activate his rage. You will then make sure nopony gets hurt as the process of taming him is underway. We need to accomplish this as soon as possible.”.

That’s when Flara noticed Pinkie Pie lined up among the two Lightmares, sitting at attention just like the stallions beside her. “Pinkie?! What are you doing here?!” Flara shouted in surprise.

“I thought the Corps would help me straighten out my life, ma’am!” Pinkie responded like she was in the army. Once again the pink pony seemed to be out of her little mind with the crazy statement. Flara always knew she was a bit random, but popping up out of nowhere, saying that she wanted to join the military? She must have went insane at some point in her life.

“Pinkie, this isn’t the Corps.”.{Link 1} Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. “It’s not? Okie dokie lokie!”, she said, bouncing off merrily.

Even though Pinkie managed to keep things interesting, now was not the time for jokes. Daemon grew increasingly nervous beside Fluttershy, knowing that he could easily kill everypony if Desdemonas theory was incorrect. Desdemona had gone to the chocolate factory earlier, to make up for the previous day. Even though the chocolate addicted mare was healed completely, Fluttershy was still sporting a bruise and a bandage over the cut on her cheek. Shadowmares were built for battle... but Fluttershy wasn’t. She was fragile. Incapable of harming a single soul because of her nature. Daemon was terrified for her, but Fluttershy calmed his nerves with than a simple touch and a gentle smile. Daemon couldn’t explain how her touch made him feel. It was as if he became instantly relaxed whenever he was in contact with her. It wasn’t that natural feeling that you get when someone calms you down either... it was more like all but the most pleasant emotions were shut off all at once. However, even though there was more to it than met the eye, Daemon still had doubts and fears for what was to come.

“Okay Daemon... are you ready?”, Flara asked after he was in position.

“Uh, I don’t thin-” Daemon was quickly cut off by Aura Flash ramming into him, sending the unprepared Shadowmare to the ground.

“THAT’S TOO DAMN BAD! IF YOU’RE GOING TO SURVIVE THIS, YOU ARE GOING TO FIGHT NOW!”, Flara shouted.

Flaras harsh order to attack Daemon in such an unsporting fashion was part of her plan. To unleash Daemons rage he had to either get mad to the point where he couldn’t help it or snap suddenly from an unexpected attack. Unfortunately, her plan may have worked too well.

When Daemon snapped, he rushed Ezreal, pinning him by putting his hoof against his throat. As Daemon increased the pressure he put on the Lightmare, Fluttershy couldn’t help but stare in shock. Daemons ruthlessness was almost too much to bear. Before her very eyes, the Shadowmare that she cared for so much went from being his normal sweet self... to a monster who looked as though he was enjoying squeezing the life out of the small blond stallion. Flara was yelling at Fluttershy who was, at the moment, frozen from the shock of what she was seeing. Much like when Daemon was out of control while infected with Poison Joke, her brain was telling her to move, but her body wouldn’t respond. Aura had to do something to keep Daemon from killing Ezreal, so he ripped a tree from the ground and chucked it at Daemon. The Shadowmare leapt over the flying hunk of timber and dove for Aura. Ezreal quickly regained his breath and used his magic to slam Daemon to the ground before he reached his target.

As the fighting continued, Fluttershy was in her own little world. She was having flashbacks of all the great times she had with Daemon. The time they went to the pond and he sang for her; when they first met and she bandaged his leg; how he taught her how to use the quick-stream; the first hug they shared after he was ‘imprisoned’... and every time he said that he loved her. The images flooding her mind were replaced by all the times she had stopped him from succumbing to his dark flaw. First when Discord came back and Daemon nearly killed him. The second time when the Poison Joke altered his genes and made him go mad as he was slowly changing into a Lightmare. Finally, the day before, when he was ready to slaughter Chrysalis. Every time he changed, Fluttershy had pulled him back. She had been the one to keep him from killing every single time. She was the key. She was his pacifier; his guardian; the savior to his soul.

When Fluttershy came out of her trance, both Ezreal and Aura were on their last legs. They had put up a great fight, but Daemon was far too skilled in his current state. Daemon was just standing in front of the two stallions... looking as cold and ruthless as any cut-throat assassin.

It took a moment for Fluttershy to realize that Flara was still shaking her and screaming, “SNAP OUT OF IT! YOU NEED TO STOP DAEMON! WAKE UP!”. Fluttershy started to move towards Daemon.

She walked slowly, but at least she was moving now. When she came within five feet of Daemon, he noticed her and turned around. His horn started to glow as Fluttershy inched her way to him. Daemon’s horn fired a laser that barely missed Fluttershys face, cutting roughly three hairs in the process. Fluttershy remained unfazed as if she didn’t even see what happened. The stallions horn started to charge for a second blast, but the moment Fluttershy wrapped her arms around him, it died down. Daemons fierce expression softened and he hugged her back, smiling out of relief.

The next couple of days consisted of repeating the process. Every day would be better than the last. Fluttershy soon lost her fear of his rage completely and started seeing it as him throwing a tantrum. After six days of rigorous practice, Fluttershy was able to snap him out of it by simply shouting, “Daemon, that’s enough!”. Also with each passing day, Daemon would go to find Vinyl Scratch and they would work on what Daemon said was a ‘secret project’. Whatever it was, it seemed Daemon was able to keep it a mystery from everypony.

Fluttershy took the time she had off to make sure all the animals were well taken care of, but since she had made a process to make the ordeal run smoothly and quickly, she was often at a loss of what to do. Since the ‘taming’ of Daemon went without many problems, it was safe to say the final battle was soon to come. Fluttershy should have been a nervous wreck, but oddly enough, she was actually looking forward to the day where they would be able to live peacefully without fear of a Lightmare attack. It was amazing how much Fluttershy had changed since she met Daemon. She used to be afraid of her own shadow, but now she was able to feel at ease knowing that the fight of their lives was soon at hand. ‘I guess being around a Shadowmare has that effect on you’, Fluttershy thought as she approached Flara for another day of training. Daemon was right beside her, smiling with no sign of nervousness like he had on the first day. The two were now highly trained and synchronized soldiers of purity.

They were expecting Flara to shout her usual orders, but instead she smiled and declared, “You have passed ‘Flara’s boot camp for the weak’... congratulations. Your training is complete and I’m giving you the rest of the day to do as you please. Have fun... or don’t, it’s up to you.”.

Daemon shouted with glee did a backflip in celebration, while Fluttershy smiled politely, content with taking the less dramatic approach to show her appreciation.

“Hey, Daemon now that we are free for the rest of the day, do you want to go see Applejack?” Fluttershy asked. Daemon placed his hoof on his chin and assumed a thinking pose.

“Hmm... Do you mean on her farm?”, the Shadowmare asked.

“Yes.”.

“Well if thats the case... buck that! She always finds a way to make me work for her when I visit her farm! I would really like to not spend my time off working, thank you!”, Daemon exclaimed.

The two decided to visit Rainbow Dash instead, since she was more about having fun than the orange earth pony. The rainbow maned pegasus was currently going about town pranking ponies with Pinkie. Daemon had never performed a prank before but he wanted in on the action. Rainbow Dash guided him in the way of the most classic prank of all time... the whoopie cushion!

“Okay, first you inflate it. Then you find a nice unsuspecting target.”, she explained gesturing to Pinkie who was acting as a volunteer for the stunt. “Finally, you put the cushion on their chair and offer them to take a load off!”.

The pink mare demonstrated by sitting on the seat that was primed for the prank. It let out a revolting sound and Daemon fell over, unable to stop laughing.

“Is this your first time seeing a prank or something?”, Rainbow Dash asked the hysterical stallion.

“Ha-y-haha yesss! Ha ha ha ha ha!” Daemon barely managed to say over his laughter. After Daemon caught his breath and stopped giggling, he asked if he could borrow the rubber cushion. Against her better judgement, Rainbow allowed him to use it. Daemon took the opportunity he was given to pay Twilight a much needed visit. He kept the object of hilarity hidden from the purple unicorns sight as she came downstairs. She was clever enough to see the hidden cushion in the reflection of a mirror on the wall. Daemon offered her a seat by him, but knowing what he had in store Twilight declined and chose a chair across the room. However, Twilight wasn’t as clever as she thought and Daemon managed to move the whoopie cushion under her with his magic before she sat down. Hearing the sound she thought she avoided, Twilight was surprised. She leapt to her hooves while blushing to see that Daemon had actually outsmarted her. Spike was watching the whole time and joined Daemon in his well earned laughter.

After Daemon was done pranking for the day, the sun was setting and he had one last thing he wanted to do. Since they were done practicing the control of his rage, that meant that tomorrow they would have to face the Lightmares for one final battle... winner take all. If he lost, he wanted his last memories to be pleasant, so he went to find Fluttershy. She was on a grassy hill staring out at the sunset when he found her. The breeze was blowing through her mane and the way she was looking out in the distance made her look like Princess Celestia... wise, serene, kind, and composed. She had an air of confidence surrounding her that made Daemon almost forget why he came.{Link 2} When she turned to look at him, Daemon suddenly remembered what he wanted to ask and got nervous.

“Daemon? What is it? Is there something wrong?”, Fluttershy asked. Daemon started to sweat as he stuttered through his question.

“Uh, y-yeah. I was just thinking that, um, we never had a chance to do this before and I thought that it would be nice... and, uh, what I’m trying to say is...”. Daemon never had so much trouble talking to anypony before. Fluttershy tilted her head, wondering what could have been making him act so strange... she quickly got her answer.

“WILL YOU GO ON A DATE WITH ME?!”, Daemon shouted with his eyes clenched shut out of nervousness.

Fluttershy giggled and responded, “Of course, Daemon... but It’s getting late and I don’t think we could go anywhere in town since they all left for the Lightmare battle tomorrow.”.

Relieved that she didn’t shoot down what could be his last request, Daemon cheerfully said, “That’s okay! I didn’t want to go anywhere special. I just thought we could do something simple like watch Luna raise the moon or stare at the stars. I always liked the stars. I used to connect them and make pictures when I was just a colt.”.

“That sounds like it would be very nice...”. Daemon explained to Desdemona what they were going to do back at the cottage. She said that she didn’t care and he didn’t need to tell her such trivial things because she wasn’t his babysitter. Desdemona was starting to seem more like a regular mare recently. She didn’t act mad all the time and she actually smiled on rare occasions. Her actual laugh was still a mystery however. No matter what happened the most anypony would ever get is a small smile... and it always looked awkward, like she had only recently learned how.

‘At least she’s a little happy... I guess that’s all we can ask for.’ Daemon thought as he made his way toward an open field covered in long lush grass.

Fluttershy was right beside him, smiling as usual. They had come a long way from their first encounter. Daemon was nothing more than an unknown stallion with a lost memory. Fluttershy was just a common pegasus with a fear of almost everything (including heights, being mocked, enclosed spaces, and her own shadow).

“Hey Fluttershy, I bet you can’t catch me!” Daemon shouted, running off into the moonlit meadow.

“I bet I can!”, Fluttershy shouted in return, chasing after the childlike stallion.

Daemon was able to keep Fluttershy just out of reach as they leapt around. Before she realized it, Daemon vanished from Fluttershys sight. She started to get scared from how eerily quiet things were. Fluttershy began to panic and looked around as she heard the sounds of nocturnal creatures. Suddenly just as she was about to run away in terror Daemon leapt from the grass concealing him and pounced on the mare.

“Ha! I caught you!” Daemon said staring into a pair of aqua eyes.

“I thought I was supposed to catch you.”

“Oh yeah... I forgot! Ha ha ha!” Daemon laughed as he flipped off of the yellow pegasus.

They started to relax as they picked formations of stars out of the sky. Daemon showed Fluttershy all the constellations he made up when he was little. The shear number of images that he showed Fluttershy was astounding, but what was even more astounding was that he had a name for them all.

“...And that one is Steve, the magical blue donkey. See how he’s casting a spell on Blaine, the fire turtle? Ooh! And that’s Desdemona! The mud eating meanie face!”, Daemon said, making Fluttershy laugh. {Link 3} {Link 4}

They continued to stay up under the stars, talking for hours. Daemon told of all the things he did while traveling, all the sights he had seen, and all the amazing creatures he had come across. Fluttershy would tell him her adventures with her friends in return. It was at least one o’clock by the time Fluttershy fell asleep. Daemon got up and used his magic to gently place her on his back. As he was walking home, he felt completely satisfied with how things had turned out. He was happy and knowing that he had done all he wanted, he felt like whatever happened tomorrow would be fine with him. He didn’t care if this was his last day in Equestria... because he now knew what it was like to truly be in love.

Do or Die

Chapter 16: Do or Die

Desdemona awoke at sunrise, knowing that this day was going to be momentous. She let out a deep sigh as she got out of bed and made her way towards Daemon’s room. Upon entering she was surprised. The bed was made, the floor was clear of any clutter and zap apple cores, and Daemon was nowhere to be found. It took a few moments for Desdemona to realize that Daemon must have been more reliable than she once thought. She decided to look for Daemon outside, but as soon as she opened the door she saw him. He was watching the sun rise in a pose that seemed focused... determined... heroic. Desdemona walked up next to him and sat, gazing at the sunrise as he did.

“How long have you been up?”.

“I never went to sleep.”.

This was a whole new side of Daemon that Desdemona had never seen... he was actually acting the way he should have considering the situation. She was beginning to feel a newfound respect for her counterpart, but also a strange sense of fear. Daemon had always been his normal goofy self. Even the time he caused a pack of manticores to chase him, he just laughed. Seeing how serious he was now meant that even he knew that the chances of success were slim. From what they had heard from Flara there were about 50,000 Lightmares in bases all around the known world... so it was going to be one Shadowmare against 50,000 Lightmares. Knowing that this could be their last day, Desdemona shared a few of her deepest secrets.

“Daemon, I know I tend to call you ‘stupid’ every now and then...”.

“Every now and then?! Are you serious?!”, Daemon responded.

“Okay, I call you stupid a lot, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. You are wonderful, kind, and caring. You see things I can’t even comprehend... and you can do the impossible.” Daemons jaw hit the ground from hearing the mares eulogy.

“Oh my Celestia! It’s happened hasn’t it?! Hell has officially frozen over! I never thought I’d see the day where Desdemona, the mare without a heart, the queen of mean, would be sentimental! Give me a moment, I need to compose myself... don’t cry Daemon, don’t cry.” Daemon said, faking his reaction at Desdemona's expense.

Desdemona gave him a light punch in the arm and chuckled. “Shut up you knucklehead.”.

The next couple of hours were spent boarding up houses and making sure all the animals were far away from Ponyville. Twilights house was going to be the stronghold. Everypony made sure it was modified to be secure as possible. The windows were replaced by steel bars and the door was reinforced with an alteration spell (making it as hard as stone). By the time they had finished all the preparations were complete, it was dusk. Fear was setting in among the herd of friends. Twilight kept pacing the room until Flara tapped her on the shoulder and told her that everything was going to be fine. The blonde mare didn’t really know that for sure but she had to say something to calm everypony down. As soon as the sun began to set, the three Lightmares started casting a huge spell. The pressure in the room was so intense that the windows would have been blown out... that is if they hadn’t removed them first. At a moments notice, the spell died down.

“What in Equestria was that?!” Rainbow Dash asked, holding her hoof over her heart because of the crushing power the spell had caused.

“It’s the beacon...”, Aura said softly.

“It’s like this huge burst of magical energy that two or more Lightmares cast when they’re in trouble! It’s only supposed to be used when you are going to die or if you see a threat like a Shadowmare... no offense.” Ezreal said, turning to Daemon.

“So they should be arriving shortly, if you have anything you want to do before this starts you should do it quickly.” Flara said, looking at each of the ponies in the room.

There was only one thing that they could think of at the moment. Each of the Mane Six moved in, surrounding Daemon and then giving him a group hug. However, it didn’t feel the same. It felt like they were saying goodbye to him all over again. The Lightmares even joined in, but Desdemona was too concerned with the darkening sky outside. Black clouds were rolling in but it didn’t feel natural... it felt like something very powerful was spawning them. Thunder crashed and caused Rainbow Dash to break the hug. She flew over to the barred window.

“What the hay?! There wasn’t supposed to be a storm until next week! Why are there rain clouds?!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Flara sighed as she walked in between Desdemona and Rainbow.

“He always did like making an entrance...”.

Daemon started walking, but it wasn’t to the front door like he was supposed to. “Daemon? The door is that way.” Twilight said pointing to the front entrance.

“Oh, I know... I just thought I would spring my surprise now.” Daemon responded, opening a black case. From the case he pulled out a guitar. It was extravagantly decorated with red tribal markings on a black body. The rest of it was just as impressive... except it was missing one small detail. There weren’t any strings!

“What are you planning to do with that? Serenade them into giving up?!”, Desdemona hollered as he made his way to the balcony door. “Something like that, yeah. Of course this is only part one of my surprise.”. Desdemonas eye started to twitch from the sheer stupidity she was faced with.

“ARE YOU INSANE?! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH OR SOMETHING?! RIGHT NOW IS THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME YOU COULD-”.

Daemon cut her off, “Do you trust me?”. Desdemona was taken back by his question.

She thought about it a moment and replied, “I... I guess so.”.

Daemon gave her a hug and gently said, “Okay, believe me when I tell you, everything is going to be alright.”. Daemon walked out onto the wooden planked balcony, shutting the small door behind him.

Desdemona turned around with a look of worry on her face. She noticed that everypony in the room was looking at her. “And what the buck are you all looking at?!” she snapped, causing them to turn away and whistle nonchalantly.

As Daemon stood outside, the dark foreboding clouds over head started to spiral around. The speed increased and a small cone formed. the cone suddenly started to release Lightmares... a lot of them. It looked like the sky was pouring out the foul beings like water from a faucet. After about two thousand had emerged and taken place in mid air around ponyville, there was a thunderous boom followed by a bright light that lit up the entirety of the ‘soon-to-be battle arena’. An orb of intense golden energy split the clouds and hovered right in the center of town. When the light dispersed, he was revealed... General Lux, he was smiling.

“Thank you Flara for leading me straight to the last two abominations... I don’t know if I should kill you for going AWOL and taking three other rookies with you or give you a medal!” the general laughed. Daemon started to laugh along with him, causing the Lightmare leader to stop and question the Shadowmare. “What are you laughing at you accursed thing?”. Daemon acted like he was wiping a tear from his eye.

“It’s just so funny, you know? You really thought that ‘Nova Brighthoof’ was a real Lightmare!”.

“Do you think you know him better than I? He was a nuisance, a failure, a burden that weighed us down. He was...”.

“HE WAS ME YOU DUMBASS! I went undercover and infiltrated your base right under your nose! Also, I learned a thing or two while I was there.”.

“Oh, do tell... I can’t wait to hear this before I wipe out your damnable race once and for all.” Lux scoffed.

Daemon cleared his throat and spoke, “I learned that everything is run by you. You are behind the training, the missions, the belief that Shadowmares are evil... and the brainwashing that causes your underlings to be obedient. They aren’t really bad... they just have a bad teacher! That’s where I come in. I am going to show them the true light. I am going to free their minds and their souls!”. General Lux looked at him with a doubtful stare.

“Oh please, do go on...”, the cocky leader said with deep seeded sarcasm in his voice.

“Well if you insist!” Daemon shouted, flipping the odd guitar around to his front.

‘I wonder if he knows that it is missing the most important part?’ Lux thought as Daemon got ready.

“Lightmares! Hear my voice and decide for yourself who the truly evil one is!”, Daemon called out with his arms raised out to his sides. That’s when the most surprising thing happened. Daemon pressed a glowing button near the bridge and caused six bullet sized cylinders that made the truss, to shoot out bright cyan beams of light. It was like he had made strings out of laser pointers! The craziness didn’t end there though. Daemon then stomped on a floorboard and it pressed down like a button. All of Ponyville started to rumble and out of the roofs of the homes surrounding the treehouse came gigantic amplifiers!

“That must be what he was working on with that lunatic DJ...” Rarity said.

“Couldn’t have said it any better myself.” Desdemona retorted, gawking at the display of ingenuity and planning. Daemons song began as he started to strum the strings created of light. The rhythm made a radical riff that he used to sing a tale of his innermost thoughts. He was actually catching the attention of the evil stallion above. The lyrics were amazingly insightful.

{Link 1}

“Somewhere between happy, and total fucking wreck
Feet sometimes on solid ground, sometimes at the edge
To spend your waking moments, simply killing time
Is to give up on your hopes and dreams, to give up on your...

Life for you, has been less than kind
So take a number, stand in line
We've all been sorry, we've all been hurt
But how we survive, is what makes us who we are
{Link 2}

An obvious disinterest, a barely managed smile
A deep nod in agreement, a status quo exile
I shirk my obligations, I miss all your deadlines
I excel at quitting early, and fucking up my life

Life for you, has been less than kind
So take a number, stand in line
We've all been sorry, we've all been hurt
But how we survive, is what makes us who we are

All smiles and sunshine, a perfect world on a perfect day
Everything always works out, I have never felt so fucking great
All smiles and sunshine, a perfect world on a perfect day
Everything always works out, I have never felt so great

Life isn't like this
Life isn't like this
Life isn't like this
Life isn't like this
Are we verging on an answer,
or fucking up our...

Life for you, has been less than kind
So take a number, stand in line
We've all been sorry, we've all been hurt
But how we survive, is what makes us who we are

It's what makes us who we are
Makes us who we are
It's what makes us who we are”

Daemon made it sound like the Lightmares were committing heinous acts, but he was still inspiring them to give up their nefarious ways. He was telling them that their decisions in life were what made them who they were, not their beliefs, their sorrow, or how much they had been hurt. They were responsible for how their life played out and how moral they were. Daemon also sang of his life since freeing himself from the concerns of the idiotic feud. The best thing that had happened to him was losing his memory. Like the Shadowmare said in the song... ‘he had never felt so great’. All in all, Daemon was trying to make them all see that they weren’t so different.

After the song ended, silence enshrouded the town until one lone Lightmare asked the general, “Sir? What did he mean when he said ‘he never felt so great’? And I believe he said something about being happy at one point? I thought Shadowmares were unable to feel?”.

Lux put on an perfidious grin and said, “My child, that was a lie...”.

Another recruit spoke up, “what was a lie? The thing about Shadowmares not being able to feel?”.

“No, the part about-”. General Lux was interrupted by yet another Lightmare.

“Hey if he infiltrated the base, why didn’t he kill us? I thought you said they kill everything that moves?”. The huge Lightmare leader started to sweat as he was hit by more and more questions. It seemed as though for each one he answered, two more would take its place.

After about fourty seconds it became too much for him and he shouted in rage, “SILENCE!”. His voice shook the sky like thunder. “YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH?! THE TRUTH IS I MADE IT ALL UP! THESE THINGS ARE NO THREAT! THEY NEVER WERE!”. A chorus of gasps and chatter followed the declaration.

“The only reason why I decided to attack them in the first place was because their species was weak and vulnerable! Only the strong should survive! These lesser beings were the first on my list because they started out as an easy target. They had no wings, no horns... they didn’t even have the ‘cutie marks’ that other ponies possessed! It wasn’t until they allied themselves with some powerful unicorns and gained their wretched powers and that blasted ‘ritual’ that I made the tale Legend of the Shadowmare! And once I’m done erasing them, I shall target the unicorns next... I can’t have their magic get in the way again.”. The Lightmares didn’t know what to think. Their leader, that had taught them all they knew, had only taught them lies. How could they know what was true or not now? Even though their world basically got pulled out from under them, they knew that one thing was true... the Shadowmare was no longer their enemy. A few Lightmares flew by Daemon, then a few more... this continued until the entire squadron was at his back. Lux was outraged.

“Very well! Go ahead and side with him! Just know that as long as you fight for his cause, you will die like him as well!”.

“They won’t be fighting, you psycho! This is between you and me!”, Daemon said, setting down the guitar. Daemon looked back at the Lightmares and told them to clear the area and spread the word of Shadowmares being good after they left, because things were going to get 'messy’.

After the Lightmares cleared the area, Daemon grinned. “You know that song was only phase one. I found out that Lightmares aren’t the only ones making high-tech weapons.”. Lux’s eyes slowly narrowed as he put two and two together.

After figuring out what Daemon had meant, he gasped and looked around at the twenty or more over-sized speakers surrounding him. Daemon chuckled sinisterly and pressed down the hidden panel again, causing the speakers to open up and start glowing with a light blue light.

“SAY HELLO TO THE BASS CANNON BARRAGE!” Daemon shouted, stomping on the floorboard a third time. Lasers fired from each cannon, colliding on the generals position. The clashing beams produced a growing ball of energy that imploded after reaching the size of an average house. The concentrated energy ball bursted shortly after and made a rather large shockwave from the intense light explosion. Everypony had to shield their eyes from the blast and wait for it to subside. When the dust finally cleared Daemon saw that Lux had just barely avoided the surprise onslaught by flying up to a safe height.

“I admit that was clever Shadowmare. If that had hit me I might have had a problem on my hooves. I hope that wasn’t the only thing you came up with to try and defeat me... I think I might in reality enjoy this little sparring match you have set up!” the large Lightmare laughed.

“I was really hoping that it would have at least nicked you... oh well, I guess I'll just have to pull out all the stops then.” Daemon said, shrugging as he pulled out the small vile of purple liquid from his pocket. It was finally time to use the ‘Bane of the Sun’ potion and end this.

Daemon popped the cork out and put the glass bottle to his lips. He slowly tilted back the vile, drinking every last drop of the foul tasting elixir. After he was finished, he put the bottle back in his pocket. Desdemona had informed him that it would take about thirty seconds to kick in so in that time he had to be in full force combat with Lux. Daemon wasted no time and shot himself at the high flying general. Lux was not afraid. The moment when Daemon was in range, Lux swung his hoof and batted Daemon away like a fly, sending the Shadowmare hurtling towards the ground. Daemons eyes shot open and he flapped his wings once before hitting the earth, stopping him in midair inches above the soil. Daemons rage had been unleashed. This time he teleported in front of the Lightmare, striking him before he could react. As Lux was sent flying, Daemon flew after him and upon reaching his stunned enemy he grasped his head in between his hooves and headbutted him with outstanding force. The general flipped in the air to land firmly on all four hooves and charged up a spell. Several boulders were flung at Daemon, one managed to hit him and Lux took advantage of it. While Daemon was dazed by the stone, General Lux was flying full force at the Shadowmare. The hulking stallion rammed into Daemons gut, knocking the wind out of him. While Daemon held his stomach in pain, Lux had started to applaud the dusky stallions ability.

“I must say, you are the most fun I’ve had in a long time. You have a fire in you that I’m dying to extinguish! It’s actually quite a laugh... you think that you can hurt me! Let me just say that each one of those little punches you threw were no more bothersome than a bug bite. Unless you can pull an ace out of you sleeve right now, you are finished!”.

As soon as General Lux finished his sentence, Daemon started to feel an odd sensation course through his body. It was like his heart rate was increasing in speed and heating his blood. His veins started to feel as though they had fire coursing through them. Everypony watched as the transformation went underway. Daemon started to glow and pulsate with red energy. His movements were twitchy and erratic. Desdemona smiled as his eyes started to shine with a white light... but suddenly it faded and left Daemon staring at his hooves in confusion and fear.

“Uh... was that supposed ta happen?”, Applejack asked the slack jawed Shadowmare beside her. Desdemona just shook her head slowly, eyes wide in disbelief.

“WHAT HAPPENED?! WHY DIDN’T IT WORK?!”, Desdemona yelled.

“That would have been my doing.”.

Everypony turned around to see a chestnut colored earth pony with a brown mane.

“Excuse me but who are you?” Flara asked.

“I’m the Doctor, hello! As I was saying, I changed the potion. It’s fascinating how adding one little ingredient can change the effect so much. Just put in one little dash of ‘Heart’s Desire’ and you have something completely new!”. Desdemona couldn’t help but be shocked at what this ‘doctor’ was saying.

“When did you...? How did...?” Desdemona stammered.

“Eh, wibbly wobbly, timey wimey... that’s not the point though! You see now Daemon is free of his flaw and will be able to beat that behemoth!”, The Doctor said, excitedly looking out of the window.

“But how will he be able to do that without his flaw?!” Desdemona shouted.

The Doctor shrugged, “I don’t know... isn’t that exciting?! I love not knowing stuff! Keeps you on your toes, er... hooves.”. Desdemona levitated the eccentric earth pony and slammed him against the wall, gazing at him furiously.

“Now, now miss Blackheart. There is no reason for all that. I was simply doing what history told me to do. I assure you it will all be alright in the end, you’ll see... now if you would please place me back on the ground I would greatly appreciate it, thank you.”. Desdemona released her hold on The Doctor, causing him to fall to the floor with a thud. “Note to self; don’t forget to add gently next time.” the stallion said, rubbing his hindquarters.

Back outside, Daemon was still coming to terms that not only had the potion failed to work, but he also seemed to be unable to use his rage. As he floated in midair trembling, Lux started to catch on.

“What’s the matter, Shadowmare? Were you expecting something to happen? Did it not work? That’s too bad... I guess I’ll just have to kill you now!”. The general rushed into Daemon, causing him to fly back a little before being caught by the tail. Lux then proceeded to spin daemon around, laughing maniacally the whole time. When the Lightmare finally let go, Daemon was propelled upward, only to be cut off and the punched hard by Lux. Daemon tumbled through the air and landed near Twilights front door. The Shadowmare was breathing raggedly with a determined look on his face. Daemon flew at General Lux time after time, only to be knocked back to the ground.

“This is growing tiresome... I believe I have had enough fun for one day.”, Lux said, pressing a button on the silver band around his wrist. The metallic ring transformed and converted into a rather large gauntlet like the other Lightmares had used. The Lightmare general pointed the blaster at Daemon. Before he fired however, something had caught his eye. When nopony was looking Fluttershy had left the safety of the treehouse. Witnessing Daemon being beaten to a bloody pulp sent her into a state of shock. She didn’t know why, but for some reason she had to be with him. She felt like it was all a bad dream and when she woke up, she would be in her bed, Daemon would be trying to make her breakfast again and Desdemona would be yelling at him, calling him an idiot... but this was no dream. Lux saw her and his blond coat went pale.

“No... NO! YOU! YOU CAN’T BE HERE! THE PROPHECY FORETOLD OF YOU! I WILL NOT LET YOU RUIN EVERYTHING NOW!”, he shouted, turning the gun on her.

‘No! Fluttershy! I can’t let you die! I WON’T let you die!’ Daemon thought as he teleported in between the two as Lux fired. {Link 3} Daemon made it just in time and intercepted the blast. It hit him dead center in the chest and sent him to the ground, sliding into a tree from the force. Fluttershys heart snapped in two at the scene. As if on cue, thunder rumbled through the sky and it started to rain. It was as though even the heavens themselves were crying at the Shadowmares selfless sacrifice to save the yellow pegasus. The others watched on in dismay from the safety of the library. In an instant Fluttershy dashed to Daemons side. There was a huge burn mark on his chest as blood continued to run out of his nose and mouth. His clothes were scorched and his mane was less spiky from the rain soaking it. He gave a pained cough and stared up at Fluttershy above him.

“Daemon... why would you do something so crazy?!”. Daemon chuckled lightly and strained himself to speak.

“They say you always do crazy things... when you’re in love... *cough* but... I know it only looks crazy to everypony else cause they don’t know what it’s like.”. Daemon smiled and laughed a little. {Link 4} It was hard to tell where the rain ended and the tears began. Daemon slowly fell into unconsciousness... and he was dying. {Link 5}

Rise of Peace

Chapter 17: Rise of Peace

Everything that could have gone wrong, had. The potion didn’t work, Daemon was dying from a laser wound in his chest, and to top it all off, it was revealed that Lux had no intention of stopping his onslaught once he was done killing the last Shadowmares. The rain poured on as Fluttershy slowly drifted into denial.

“Come on Daemon... quit goofing around... I know you’re not dead. You CAN’T be dead. Come on, open your eyes and get up! This isn’t funny anymore! Daemon!”. Fluttershy continued to plead and nudge at Daemons limp body while everypony inside was dealing with the loss in their own way.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie were sobbing uncontrollably, hugging each other for comfort. Desdemona and Twilight were yelling at the Doctor, screaming that he said ‘it would all be alright’. Rainbow Dash was trying to hold in her tears the best she could as she repeatedly punched a wall while Applejack was crying and trying to stop her. Ezreal, Aura, and Flara were just hanging their heads in mourning.

Back outside the general started to chuckle, “Well, he wasn’t my prefered target, but it’ll do! HA HA HA HA HA!”.

As seconds ticked on Fluttershy just stared at Daemon. How was it that he could be dying? He was from the legendary pony race called ‘Shadowmare’. They never died in the stories... they were supposed to be invincible! That’s what made them so scary! They couldn’t be stopped... or at least that’s what Fluttershy always was told. Memories of Daemon started to flood Fluttershy’s mind. Images of laughter, joy, and serenity overcame her. Daemon wasn’t the one of the Shadowmares from the stories... he was so much better. He was kind, funny, gentle, and always doing things not for himself, but for others. Fluttershy never felt so sad. It was like her entire life was going to be meaningless if it meant she couldn’t live it with Daemon. In the time she had known him, she became more attached to him that anypony else.

Daemons breath started to slow down and Fluttershy snapped from her trance. Fluttershy couldn’t breath. Her heart felt like it was being ripped from her chest the moment Daemon let out a death rattle. The rain stopped as Fluttershy looked on, tears still strong in her eyes {Link 1} {Link 2}. She knew she wasn’t asleep but everything felt like a horrible nightmare.

A sick feeling filled her throat and she let out a cry of heartbreak, “DAEMON!!!”. The piercing shriek of a painful loss was heard by everypony.

Fluttershy collapsed on the lifeless corpse of the Shadowmare she had loved. Fluttershy continued to sob on Daemons dead body while Lux glided down to the front door of Twilights house.

“Knock knock...”, the hulking Lightmare said as he gave one strong blow to the door, causing it to break off the hinges and fly across the room. “Has anypony seen a Shadowmare around here? Oh wait, nevermind. I see her. Ha ha ha ha ha!”. Lux pulled Desdemona by her hair using his magic and brought her outside away from others who were left cowering from his display of amazing strength.

There was only one thing on the sadistic Lightmares mind now... enjoy every last second of beating the last Shadwomare into oblivion.

“So how does it feel knowing that you are the last of your race? To know that you have come so far only to fail?”, Lux asked, moving his face closer to the magenta mare, grinning psychotically. Desdemona just glared at him and spat in his face. Angered by her action, the general tossed her to the ground and caught her as she bounced so he could throw her again.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was still sobbing on Daemon, but she now noticed a small piece of paper peeking out from his pocket. Curious of what it was, Fluttershy pulled it out and read it. ‘When you find yourself in your darkest hour, show her how you feel before facing the light’. Fluttershy was shocked. If she understood the message correctly, that meant that Daemon felt like she was worth dying for. He gave his life for her because he couldn’t show how deep his devotion was in any other way. This tore the yellow pegasus’ heart open once again. She would have done anything to just hear him say that it was going to be alright one more time. The world around her, including the beating that Desdemona was currently receiving, no longer existed in Fluttershy’s mind. All that was left was her and Daemon. She never even got to say goodbye.

“No...” she said, her face now holding a look of serene determination. “I can still say goodbye, even if he won’t hear it.”. Fluttershy placed her hoof on his cheek and positioned his face forward. As her face neared his she gently whispered, “I will always love you...”, and then their lips met. Fluttershy was kissing Daemon goodbye... but she didn’t realize the faint glow that started to emanate from him. The light slowly surrounded the both of them and a strange energy started to lift them in the air.

Nopony but Desdemona saw what was happening. As the kiss continued the light grew stronger and the two were now floating at least five feet above the ground.

Suddenly, a fluorescent red beam of energy shot into the air and dissipated the clouds, gaining the attention of everypony and leaving a beautiful night sky. The beam wasn’t the only thing that shocked everypony though... Daemons flank started to shine and sparkle. In a flash a mark appeared right over Daemons scars. It was a red peace sign with horns! Daemon now had a cutie mark! The energy started to die down and the couple landed gracefully in the moist earth below. Fluttershy seemed to not realise what happened and was still crying. Daemon was now glowing with an aura of pinkish-red and he lifted the crying mares chin. Startled by his touch, Fluttershy gasped and her eyes grew wide in disbelief. Daemon slowly opened his eyes and assumed a loving expression.

Fluttershy was speechless as Daemon spoke. “I don’t know why you’re crying... I thought it was a nice first kiss.”. Daemons voice pierced the air and made its way to everyponys ears. It wasn’t like the Royal Canterlot Voice, it was like it transcended space and time and flowed straight into the mind. Daemon seemed to gain almost god like power and his aura was wafting around, filling the air with a sense of peace and tranquility. His energy made everypony feel relaxed and calm.

Fluttershy spontaniously wrapped her arms around him and cried, “Daemon! I thought you were dead!”.

Daemon chuckled, “me too... now Fluttershy, please go back inside. I have an attitude to adjust.”. Fluttershy released Daemon and looked at him briefly before flying back inside.

Lux had just been standing still, looking at Daemon in complete disbelief the whole time. Desdemona was still in the grip of his magic, weak and battered from the savage assault of blows she had received.

When Daemon started making his way towards the general, Lux snickered evily and threw Desdemona back inside like a ragdoll. “I guess I’ll have to play with her later... it seems that my other toy is still working.”. Daemon stopped a foot in front of the towering stallion and looked up to see him face to face.

Back inside, Desdemona was laughing harder than she ever had before. Her hystarical behavior scared all but Flara, who had started to laugh along side the bruised Shadowmare.

“Okay, I don’t get the joke... what’s so funny?”, Pinkie pie asked.

“The prophecy came true!”, Desdemona said through her weak laughter.

“Prophecy? What prophecy?”, Twilight said, confused as to what they were referring to.

“An ancient prophecy known by both Shadowmares and elite Lightmares. It was foretold that ‘when the element of kindness falls in love with the fury of the beast, the result shall be everlasting peace’. The element of kindness was said to be a beautiful yellow mare judging by the ancient scripts we researched. Who would have thought that the myth was speaking of her? See that’s why it’s so funny! They were destined to meet and all of this was supposed to happen! He is the warrior of peace!”. The blonde mare continued to giggle along with Desdemona.

The Doctor walked up, straightened his tie and said, “oh so that’s how it goes... I knew that something was missing but I never figured out what. I suppose the lifeforce of the kiss was enough to kickstart the formula. They do say that life energy is easily exchanged through the lips.”. Desdemona managed to sit up a bit and started to apologize to the doctor, but he said that there was no harm done and it was alright.

Turning their attention back to the stallions outside, it seemed that Daemon and General Lux were having a stare down.

“So you managed to get your second wind... no matter. I am more than capable of taking you down again!”, Lux shouted. Daemon showed no sign of fear or anger. He actually looked at Lux with what could only be described as sympathy.

“I don’t want to hurt you...”, Daemon said, his voice echoing in the heads of everypony there. “If you surrender and promise to give up your violent ways, no harm will come to you.”. Lux bursted out in monumental laughter.

“You think you can hurt me?! Do you not remember what happened last time?! I must have hit you harder than I thought! Or it could be that I didn’t hit you hard enough... let me see if this helps remind you!”. Lux threw an insanely powerful punch at Daemon. Right before it connected, Daemon moved out of the path so fast that it took Lux a moment to realize he dodged it {Link 3}. “What the buck?!”, the general shouted, taking another swing at Daemon, which he simply dodged like the first. “Hold still damn you!”.

“Make me...” Daemon responded with a sly smile, taking off into the sky. Lux followed him up about a two hundred feet.

“You must think that you are pretty hot stuff to have dodged my strikes, but you’re not! DO YOU HEAR ME?! YOU ARE NOTHING!”, Lux yelled as he flew remarkably fast at Daemon. The Shadowmare turned and looked away in pity as Lux charged. Everypony below held their breath as the Lightmare approached Daemon. When General Lux got within reach he threw a punch with everything he had, madness strong in his eyes. Daemon moved his hoof up and with seemingly no effort at all he blocked it. A huge shockwave blasted against Daemon and tore at his tattered clothes, which he stared at solemnly. {Link 4}

“You ruined my jacket... it was a gift from Rarity. Now I need a new one.” Daemon said, turning his head towards Lux, who was stunned with fear.

“You... you... COCKY SON OF A BITCH! YOU WILL DIE!”, Lux screamed punching rapidly at Daemon. The Shadowmare avoided everything without even trying while the Generals anger grew. ‘He’s just toying with me! The bastard isn’t even taking this seriously anymore! I need to think of something to catch him off guard, but what?!’ Lux thought, adding to his missing streak with Daemon.

The general quickly realized Daemons weakness... his friends! He stopped his mindless assault of Daemon and focused on the building containing the others.

“Do you finally give up? Are you ready to change your ways?” Daemon asked. Lux didn’t respond and suddenly flew directly at the treehouse.

As he approached his horn started to shine fiercely. He was going to try and wipe out the whole place and crush the morale of Daemon, but he was far too slow compared to Daemon and was soon face to face with the godly powerful Shadowmare. Lux halted himself in midair before colliding with Daemon.

“Where do you think you’re going? I was up there, you have no reason to be running now... or are you scared? That’s it, isn’t it? You are afraid and now you want to fight dirty and hurt my friends to win, huh? You know, I pity you. Being so blind to the world around you, only wanting senseless destruction... it must be horrible.”, Daemon sighed.

“SPARE YOUR PITY! I AM NOT THE BLIND ONE! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE GLORY OF BATTLE FEELS LIKE! THE RAW POWER BEHIND CONQUERING A CITY IS FANTASTIC, BUT YOU WON’T SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW SUCH PLEASURE!”, Lux shouted, enraged and charging his horn. “I DIDN’T WANT TO DO THIS, BUT YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE! I MADE THIS SPELL JUST FOR SUCH AN OCCASION! EVERYTHING YOU SEE WILL BE OBLITERATED IN A MATTER OF MOMENTS! ANY LAST WORDS, YOU HELLSPAWN?!”. Daemon gasped.

The magical energy that Lux was conjuring was massive. At the rate he was going he could make an explosion the size of Fillydelphia! Daemon had to work fast to counter. He flew straight up as quickly as possible.

Watching Daemon fly off made General Lux laugh wickedly, “See how your hero runs to save himself?! He cares not of your safety! Only his own life is of any worth to him!”. Nearly everypony inside cowered in fear, believing this was their day. Rainbow Dash however, was looking towards the sky where Daemon flew off, her mouth agape.

“Uh... guys? You... might want to take cover.” Rainbow Dash said heading for the basement.

“I don’t think hiding in the basement will save us from him, sugercube!” Applejack pointed out.

“He’s not the one I’m worried about!”, Rainbow dash responded, zipping into the basement. Confused, but trusting of the cyan mares words, everypony quickly rushed into the basement.

“Do you really think that pathetic bunker tactic can save... you?”. Lux noticed that a bright light was starting to form overhead. It was Daemon performing a Sonic Fireboom... and attempting the same technique as Rainbow Dash had to make the Rainboom Mach 2. He circled overhead at a super sonic speed, creating a vortex of fire. Lux quickly shifted his focus towards Daemons mysterious maneuver and changed the structure of his spell from an explosion that was to be centered on him to a powerful stream of energy. Both stallions were readying their attacks. Daemon was finished forming the cone and was proceeding the step of breaching the point. Lux was gathering more energy than he ever had in his 6,000 year life. Daemon couldn’t believe how much force the Sonic Fireboom was producing. If he hadn’t gained his recent power, it would have torn him apart.

‘How is Dash able to take this stain without killing herself?!’ Daemon thought as he struggled against the fire cones backlash. Before Daemon was ready, General Lux fired his contained spell and made a massive beam of energy that was headed straight for the not yet prepared Shadowmare.

“YES! YOU ARE DONE FOR, SHADOWMARE!” the Lightmare General shouted, feeling triumphant.

“HEY LUX!” Daemon shouted back, “STOP SAYING ‘SHADOWMARE’ LIKE IT’S AN INSULT!”. With that said, Daemon bursted forth from the blazing inferno, streaking across the night sky like a shooting star. The blazing fireball consuming him turned toward the ray of raw magic and clashed with it head on. Seeing the tactic Daemon was using, Lux willed the beam into a more narrow shot in an attempt to stop the Shadowmare of his greatest nightmares. The point where the two great powers met seemed to be evenly matched. Sparks and bursts of intense flames shot out at the midpoint.

“GIVE UP! YOU DON’T STAND A CHANCE! YOUR MOMENTUM WILL WANE BEFORE I DO!” Lux yelled, grunting in between sentences. Daemon continued to push against the laser, putting in nearly every ounce of strength he had into forcing the beam back.

“Don't... tell me... WHAT I CAN NOT DO!”, Daemon yelled, narrowing his body to become more streamlined, pushing even harder, purging the beam and breaking through to meet Lux. Overwhelmed by Daemons might, Lux’s spell shattered and he was struck by the first ‘Sonic Fireboom Mach 2’. Much to Daemons surprise, Lux was still standing... scorched, but standing. Daemon was exhausted and breathing heavily, but Lux seemed calm and perfectly energized.

“Oh come on! I put everything I had into that! How are you...?”. At that moment, Lux collapsed. He must have been unconscious but still balanced enough to stand. Daemon chuckled as he staggered over to his fallen foe. “Insert awesome quote here...”, Daemon said before collapsing himself. His aura quickly faded as he lie there next to the enemy that had nearly killed countless others.

The sound of chirping roused Daemon from his slumber. “Ugh... stupid birds. Shut up...”, he mumbled before realizing what happened and sat up alarmed. From the looks of things he was in the hospital. It was still pretty early. He was concerned about what happened to General Lux, but seeing how he wasn’t dead, Lux must have been contained. Daemon sighed in relief before hearing a gentle snore coming from beside him. He glanced over to see Fluttershy, sleeping in a chair by his bed. Daemon always thought it was silly how she worried about him getting hurt, since he healed at an astonishing rate. Staring at her, he felt compelled to wake her and tell her everything was alright, but he wanted to wake her in the best way he could think of. A few seconds ticked by before Daemon thought of the perfect way to wake her. Fluttershy was dreaming about the night before... reliving the horror of Daemon dying. Suddenly she felt something press against her lips. She opened her eyes to see Daemon kissing her. Fluttershys heart soared, knowing that he was alive. Tears of joy began to stream down her face as she closed her eyes and kissed the Shadowmare back {Link 5}. Just as they were starting to enjoy the moment, the door flew open and Pinkie bounced in between the two startled ponies.

“YAY! Your awake! So-what-was-it-like-to-defeat-that-big-meanie?! Does-your-chest-still-hurt-from-where-he-shot-you?! Is-there-a-scar?! How-big-is-it?! Where-you-guys-kissing?! Do-you-want-some of-this-awesome-cake-I-found-in-the-mhph”. Pinkie’s chatter was silenced by Twilight, covering the chatterbox’s mouth with her hoof like always. Rainbow Dash flew in, followed by Rarity, Applejack, Ezeral, Aura, and Flara.

“So what was it like to be all ‘god mode’ like that? Do you think you could do it again?” Rainbow dash asked excitedly.

“Um, I think that was a one time thing. It was like Fluttershys kiss gave me some of her energy and it exploded inside me, but I think I used it all up.” Daemon answered.

He looked around for a moment before asking, “Have any of you guys seen D. Monica?”. The room suddenly got really quiet and everypony looked away as if they were hiding something. “What happened?! Where is she?!”.

Rarity rested a hoof on his shoulder. “I’m sorry darling. There was nothing we could do...”. Daemon could barely believe what he was hearing. He broke down and started to cry, but soon heard a familiar voice call out from behind the curtain to his right, “oh my Celestia you are an idiot!”.

The curtain swung open to reveal Desdemona lying in the bed next to him. “Thanks for indulging in my prank guys. We totally had him going!”, Desdemona said laughing. Everypony else joined in and all went back to normal... well except for the antics of the five new additions to Ponyville.

{Ending song}

Epilogue

Epilogue

After the defeat of general Lux, he was taken to a high security prison that was far more advanced than the one Daemon had been to. The dungeon that Daemon was confined to was only for show and was only used to frighten fillies and colts on Nightmare Night. Lux, however was held in a cell designed for some of the most powerful threats to Equestria. The prison was built over a natural magical draining area, the very area that was used to punish Discord. Since he was not placed right on top of the energy draining soil below, the Lightmare general still had some access to his magic... but only enough to lift a fork to his mouth at most.

Since all the conflict was over between Lightmares and Shadowmares, the Lightmare legion had no more work that they could do to keep themselves busy, but Celestia had already foreseen this and had come up with an appropriate ‘punishment’ for the ponies without a cause. She had proclaimed that they would be allowed to stay in Equestria as long as they performed acts of community service. They would either be assigned to a partner pony (which could be an earth pony, unicorn, or a pegasus) and they would basically be that pony’s servant, helping with chores and daily activities, or they would be sent to Manehatten to rebuild the city that they had destroyed. The total number of hours that they had to serve before being free of their punishment was 250,000,000 shared among them. Since there were at least 50,000 Lightmares and they were all willing to put in 12 hours of work a day, they were going to be relieved of duty in a little over a year.

There were a few select Lightmares that were off the hook for their aid in the fight, one was even rewarded. Ezreal was let go (even though he would have never done the work in the first place) and he helped Rainbow Dash in her training when he could. He taught her some ways to corner and weave through obstacles without losing speed. Eventually through their cooperation and determination, Rainbow Dash finally got the privilege of being one of the Wonder Bolts. She told them that she wanted Ezreal to join them as well. Even though they were willing to let him, Ezreal turned down the offer, telling them that his only desire was to get Rainbow to achieve her dream and he never wished to become a Wonder Bolt himself.

Aura spent a lot of his time with Applejack. He told her that doing physical labor was his way of letting everything go and relaxing. She admired his strong work ethic but quickly decided to spend a day with him to show him that there were other things besides work. Unbeknownst to Applejack, this day off sort of became their first date and they soon became very close to one another. It only made sense that they got together, since they had so much in common. They were both strong in willpower and in physical ability, they both were honest and hardworking, and they both shared a deep respect for the country lifestyle.

Flara was made Celestias personal guard due to her overwhelming amount of experience in war and battle. She was also appointed as the overseer of Lux, to make sure that he never escaped. Celestia did not make this decision lightly and she made sure to look over Flaras personal records from the Lightmare stronghold. What astonished Celestia the most was Flaras intellectual prowess and ability to stay calm and focused under any kind of pressure. Her tactical ability in field showed that she was nearly as insightful as Celestia herself, able to nearly read the minds of the opponent and counter attack flawlessly.

Pinkie Pie was her usual self and she found that having a Lightmare for an assistant was fun. Pinkie would tell her to fetch an ingredient or tool and she would pick up some random thing in hopes that it was correct. Pinkie would teach the Lightmare about all kinds of new things that she had never even heard before. The funniest moment was when Pinkie set up a pinata and after it was hit by one of the fillies at the birthday, the Lightmare ‘rescued’ it and told it that everything was going to be okay and she wouldn’t let the others beat it with sticks anymore like a mother would to a child. Pinkie had to explain so many things that she felt as though she was almost the parent of the Lightmare.

Twilight had put it upon herself to educate everyone she could about Lightmares and Shadowmares. She ended up writing an informative textbook about the two species and had it published. There were many ponies that doubted her and believed that the book was supposed to be in the fantasy section of the library, but she assured that it was all true and she had done the research herself. She included everything she could. Even the anatomy of both races. Spike even helped point out stuff that she missed while she was writing down notes for it, like how Shadowmares could withstand the intense flames of a baby dragon and if they wanted, they could even hold said flames in their mouth. Through the whole process, Spike and Twilight laughed as they recalled all the things they learned and wrote them down.

Desdemona was the test subject most of the time Twilight had a question about Shadowmare physiology. She was not happy with some of the tests, but she was willing. Since Lux had been taken down, Desdemonas attitude seemed to brighten up a great deal. She would commonly smile and do things that she would have earlier refused. She even went to the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy on a number of occasions (though the others expected it was only for the complimentary chocolate). Desdemona ended up working at the most exclusive restaurant in Canterlot and almost instantly became the head chef. Her natural cooking talent was mostly to blame for her success, but she wasn’t complaining. Her job actually made her happy... it was one of the few places where she could be as mean as she wanted and still get a smile followed by ‘yes chef’. Knowing that she had success in her grasp, Desdemona left Flutteshy's cottage and found a place of her own with the money she got as head chef. Her pay was substantial and she decided that her home should match so she bought one of the most luxurious homes in Canterlot. Even though she was living large from her Shadowmare abilities, she still visited ponyville as much as she could to keep up with the ones she was now glad to call ‘friends’.

Fluttershy was the happiest of all. She was married to Daemon about six months after Lux’s defeat and she was unable to contain her joy at the wedding. Nopony had ever seen her in such great spirits. Angel demanded to be the best man and that suited Daemon just fine. Besides the wedding, Fluttershy’s life was pretty much where it had been before. She took care of sick and injured animals along with those who had no homes to go to, but this time she had something else to look forward to in her life... she had a loving husband and nine friends who all cared for her.

Daemon was able to finally relax for the first time in his life. There was no longer anything he had to fear and he was glad... but relaxing wasn’t really his style and he wanted to give back to the community. Celestia talked with him after he was done healing at the hospital and she suggested that he start a band. She even came up with a name. Since Lightmares were angelic in appearance and Daemon was going to be the only Shadowmare in the band Celestia thought that ‘Daemon Among Angels’ was a fitting name and Daemon agreed... in his words it ‘kicked flank’.

Ezreal and Aura were more than happy to join him, but Flara couldn’t leave Celestias side any time she wanted so the band had to make some adjustments to their designated instruments. Daemon was going to play guitar and be the lead singer. Ezreal was moved to bass and Aura accepted the drums. The band quickly took to their new positions and made their debut at Fillydelphia's grand concert hall with Celestias blessing. The band took off and was an instant hit. Rarity joined in on the fun and became the bands wardrobe designer and Daemons primary consultant due to her experience running the Carousel Boutique. Since she had experience in running her own business, Daemon looked to her advice when he didn’t know what to do... and knowing Daemon, Rarity was sure that was bound to happen sooner rather than later. One thing that Daemon did that made the band memorable was that he chose to begin and end each concert with the same two songs. The introduction song was inspired by his thoughts of the war and how he had overcome the challenges that stood before him. It not only amped up the crowd but it also left a deep impression on everypony so they despised war as a senseless battle with no winners. The song Daemon made the finale of the concert was more upbeat and inspiring. He thought that it would be a nice way to encourage everypony who was listening to strive and achieve their dreams... because even his greatest dreams could never compare to the joy he held.

Just when things couldn’t seem to get any better, Fluttershy revealed that she was going to have a baby. A few days before the second anniversary of the Lightmare’s defeat, Fluttershy gave birth to a small filly who she had decided to name, Firefly. The little foal was without a doubt a Shadowmare. While she didn’t have the horns, wings, or eyes of a Shadowmare, she bore a muddy looking yellow coat, hook shaped pointed ears, and a perpetually messy pink mane that was like Fluttershy's but a little darker and determined to remain unkempt. Rarity had tried her best to tame the out of control mane, but failed multiple times before throwing in the towel. Daemon and Fluttershy didn’t care though... she was their daughter and they loved her all the same. Firefly seemed to share Fluttershys skill for befriending animals, but she was also more adventurous and brave. Firefly took on some traits of both parents and showed promise of becoming a great loving mare. Thus ends... The Legend of the Shadowmare!

{Link to the sequel}

Author's Note

Final Notes: I would like to end this by saying thanks to all of my readers and followers. I would also like to give a special shout out to a few other people for their varied help. First on the list is shadowless_night for giving me positive feedback right when I was about to cancel the story and delete it. Second would be a few close real life friends of mine for supporting me through it all. Finally I would like to thank my editor, Jayfeather97, for his time and effort. Thank you for reading, JasontheDemon signing off!

Daemon's arrival

My story is a little more interactive than others out there. Certain points in the story can be amplified by going to a link and looking at or listening to the content. When you see them, you can go to the indicated link or continue with the story. The links are not required, but I believe you will get a better experience by going to them. After you are done reading, please rate as you see fit and post a comment telling why you felt it was good or bad.
Enjoy!

{optional intro music}

Chapter 1: Daemon's Arrival

Our story begins in Ponyville on a beautiful sunny day. The Mane Six were all having a picnic in the park... well, all except Pinkie Pie who was late for some unknown reason. Normally Pinkie wouldn't miss a chance to have fun with the others, so Twilight, who was the smartest one there, was a little curious about what could be taking her so long.

While Twilight was pondering this she heard a shout off in the distance, “GIRLS! A NEW PONY IS IN TOWN!”. It was none other than Pinkie, who was running at a breakneck pace. When she stopped, she started talking frantically. Nopony could understand her so, as usual, Twilight put her hoof over the energetic pony's mouth.

“Now Pinkie” Twilight said, “What is so important about this new pony? Don't you usually just make friends and move on?”.

“Yeah” blurted Rainbow Dash, who was presumed to be sleeping before the outburst, “just talk to this new pony and get it over with”.

Pinkie Pie settled down with a slightly scared and nervous look on her face, “That's just it... I can't...”.

This statement was meet with many shocked looks and a few gasps. Pinkie Pie was never afraid to make a new friend! This situation was not only unheard of but also thought to be impossible!

“Are ya feelin' alright?”, Applejack said placing her hoof on Pinkie's forehead.

“I'm fine, but the pony I was telling you about didn't look like he was...”, mumbled the concerned looking pink mare. “That's why I came as fast as I could!”, she shouted, “because he looked really hurt! He needs help!” At this, the group of friends asked Pinkie to tell them where she saw the stallion and ran straight there.

It just so happened that he was leaning against Twilight's tree house right where Pinkie said she last saw him. There was a large crowd gathered around him, but everypony was keeping their distance, and it was clear to see why. The stallion looked positively demonic! He was about the same size and build as princess Luna. His coat was a dark, ashy red. His mane and tail were a shade of crimson, almost blood red. His mane was spiked up and messy making it look somewhat like fire. The same was true for his tail. He was wearing tattered leather shoes that were held together with a few buckles and a vest that was equally as worn with a few pockets on the front. But this isn't what made him look so terrifying. What was keeping everypony away must have been his wings, horns (five in all), and two of the most startling eyes you could ever see.

The newcomer had the standard unicorn horn on his forehead, but he had two more behind both temples (making five horns total). They were smaller and curved up (much like a demon would have). His wings were almost like dragon or bat wings. They had no feathers, just skin in between the bones of the wings. However, even though he had the right requirements to be an alicorn, there was something that told Twilight he was something else entirely. His eyes were captivating, but also very intimidating. They were a bright, vibrant red. So much that you would think they were glowing. The pupil of his eye was elongated and the iris was striped with black lines that extended outward from the pupil, much like Pinkie's pet alligator, Gummy.

Even though his appearance was shocking, most ponies felt pity for him. He seemed like he was near death by the look of pain on his face. He was breathing heavily, staring out ahead of him in the direction of Canterlot. Twilight was the first to walk up to him when he closed his eyes, in an attempt to rest.

“Hello there...” she said cautiously approaching him, “ My name is Twi-” she was cut off by a quick and hostile looking glare. The stallion shifted his weight, pushing himself off the tree that was supporting him. His fatigue was very apparent as he struggled to stay standing.

He took a few slow, trembling, steps forward then painfully muttered, “I must go on... the mission isn't complete... I must...”. He then passed out, collapsing on the ground with a thud.

The demonic stallion awoke three hours later in the hospital, feeling woozy and confused. The mane six were there surrounding the bed, all except Fluttershy who was hiding in the hall poking her head around the corner.

“Well, it looks like the sleepy head is awake.” Rarity announced in her regal tone.

“I thought he looked better asleep”, Rainbow Dash said with a smirk on her face.

“Umm... hello there again”, Twilight said, afraid of receiving another glare.

“Again?” the stallion said puzzled and disoriented.

“Oh, you probably don't remember me because you passed out shortly after” Twilight told him with more confidence.

“Actually, I... I can't remember anything!” he shouted with sudden shock in his voice.

“Wait you can't remember anything?!”, Twilight said fearing the worst.

“Okay just to make sure, where are you from? What were you doing here before you passed out? Do you have any family or friends?” “What's your favorite color?!”, Pinkie joined in, pointing a light at him like in an old detective film.

“Pinkie! We're trying to see if he has amnesia! Not find out if he prefers red over blue!” Twilight yelled at the energetic pink lunatic. “...okay, now that's out of the way...” Twilight sighed, staring at Pinkie then back to the mysterious new pony, “do you know the answer to any of my questions?”. The stallion appeared as if he was focusing all his energy into pulling just one answer out of his head, but to no avail.

“No, I can't remember a thing...”. It was silent for a few moments before he looked like he just found the holy grail and popped his head up. “Wait!” he said with a gleam in his vibrant red eyes, “I remember... my name! My name is Daemon!”.

This was better than nothing, at least they knew what to call him now. But his name alone wasn't good enough for Twilight, she wanted to know what kind of pony she was dealing with. For some reason she felt like she knew what he was but couldn't put her hoof on it. She decided the best way to find out was to go home to the library and look through her books until she discovered the answer.

With her goal in mind she announced to the others, “Let's go back to the library, we may be able to find out more there. You are welcome to come if you feel up to it, Daemon.” He merely shook his head in agreement.

On the way there, Daemon became acquainted to the six ponies. All except Fluttershy who kept well away from him. Daemon was confused as to why she wouldn't approach him. When he asked he got 'it's just the way she is' or 'be patient, she will warm up to you' as an answer. Feeling like the odd one out, the new addition to the herd of friends stayed quiet most of the time. After about four hours of Twilight flipping through books, she gasped. 'That isn't a good sign' thought Daemon.

“How bad is it, Twi?” asked Applejack, praying for good news but expecting bad.

"No it's not that it's bad exactly...” Twilight responded looking at the words in her book, wide eyed and a little shaky, “its just unexpected... I think he may be... a... a...”.

“Out with it!” Rainbow Dash yelled in nervous desperation. “He's a Shadowmare!”. There was a collective gasp from the rest of the mane six.

Daemon obviously was confused by what this meant, since he had no memory anyway, and gently asked, “what is a Shadowmare?”.

Twilight looked at him with sadness in her eyes, as if she was about to tell him he had two months to live, and said, “They we're supposed to be a race of ponies from long ago... nearly four thousand years ago to be precise... But they were thought to be no more than an old mares tale. They were said to be the most evil kind of pony out there! Unfeeling, destructive, blood thirsty monst...” her voice trailed off noticing her explanation was putting Daemon on the edge of tears. “Uh... don't worry though! There is no proof of anything so everything in these books could be wrong!” Twilight's attempt to make him feel better didn't seem to work too well. Pinkie saw that this information was weighing heavily on his heart and went to hug him, but he stepped away (probably thinking that he was not worthy of such treatment). Nopony knew what to say... even Pinkie Pie who was an expert at lifting spirits was at a loss of what to do.

The silence was broken by Rarity, “it's getting late... we should decide where you should stay for the night, Daemon.”.

He looked up at the beautiful white pony and replied, “I... could just sleep outside...”. Twilight was not pleased hearing this.

“NONSENSE!” she practically screamed, “you can stay at Fluttershy's cottage! She has an extra bed and knows how to treat many injuries.”. Fluttershy whimpered in fear, not loud enough to be heard, but she whimpered none the less.

Before the ponies were able to head out, Twilight's baby dragon, Spike, came running downstairs, afraid of what the commotion was a few moments before. When he saw Daemon, he assumed that Daemon was attacking the others or causing some kind of distress to them. Spike quickly dashed in front of Twilight and blew a fireball in Daemons face. Other than a little soot on his face, Daemon seemed to be fine.

“Spike! This is Daemon! Our new friend! Now apologize!”.

“That won't be necessary.” Daemon said quickly after Twilight finished, “now, Spike was it? Try doing that one more time...”.

Daemon's face was one of serene confidence. Even though Spike thought this new guy was out of his mind after only three seconds from meeting him, Spike did as requested. This time was different. When Spike blew out the flames, Daemon inhaled deeply, engulfing the green fire. As if that wasn't enough, he then blew the fire back out into Spikes face! Singed by his own fire breath, Spike stood there, with a look that can only be described as 'priceless'. Daemon started chuckling at the stunned dragon, who slowly started to chuckle back. Before long the two were laughing on the floor, clutching their stomachs. When they stopped Daemon gave the purple dragon a joyous look, “catch ya later little dude!”.

“Back at ya!” Spike said pointing at the Shadowmare, like they had been friends for years. Twilight gave a little laugh as they finally headed off.

It wasn't long before the group saw the humble cottage come into view.

“So... that's it, huh...? It looks like a very lovely place to live...”, Daemon said in a way that made it obvious to the others that he was lost in deep thought. When they reached the door, Fluttershy stood with her eyes closed shaking as she reached for the doorknob. She whispered something that was too quiet for anypony to hear.

“What was that sugercube?” Applejack said putting a hoof on her shoulder.

Fluttershy then shouted louder than she ever had before “I CAN'T LET HIM IN!”, this outburst from the normally quiet and timid pony came as a shock to all. “He's a SHADOWMARE! The thing that gave us all nightmares as fillies!I can't let him stay in the same house as me! What if he really is as evil as the stories say?! NO!”, she burst through the door and locked it behind her rapidly yelling,“Nononononononono!”, as she ran to her room.

“I am soooo sorry for this!” Twilight said turning her attention to the door, “FLUTTERSHY! OPEN THE DOOR THIS INSTANT! I am not going to let you just-”

“Twilight... it's okay. I don't want you to start a fight over me...” the Shadowmare said gazing into a nearby birdbath, apparently looking at his reflection. “I will figure something out... you guys can just go”. The five remaining ponies looked at him with worried stares. “Really! I'll be fine! You all have done enough as it is, especially you Twilight”. He gave a fake smile to reassure them. They hesitated, but eventually left, feeling like there was nothing else they could do.

About two hours had passed since Fluttershy locked herself in her cottage and ran into her bed. Suddenly, the yellow mare sat up listening to a sound. It was distant and muffled, but she knew what it was... somepony was singing! She got up and went to the front door, following the voice. She knew that to find the source she would have to go outside. She gathered her courage and opened the door slowly, worried that the Shadowmare might still be outside. She could hear the song more clearly now, it was indescribably beautiful, but filled with sadness.{Link 1} Fluttershy stepped outside following the outstanding singing. She found the pony who was singing under a tree, about twenty yards from her house. It was Daemon! It was dark, but the moonlight shining on him gave off a light blue glow. He was surrounded by many small animals, all entranced by his melody. His eyes were closed so he didn't notice Fluttershy slowly approaching him. His sulking posture was that of melancholy and depression. His tune matched the sad state he seemed to be in, the lyrics were telling Fluttershy a story. She felt that the song depicted the loss of somepony Daemon cared deeply for and how he would give his life to bring her back. When the song ended, the stallion let out a deep, forlorn sigh and opened his eyes looking at the ground.{Link 2}

“You have a beautiful voice...” Fluttershy said in a gentle and caring tone. Surprised by the pony he failed to notice before, Daemon jerked his head up with a quick gasp. He zipped behind the tree, shielding himself from Fluttershy's sight with his wings.

“I'm sorry! I... I-I didn't mean to disturb you! I'll be quiet! I'll stop singing! Please! Just don't make me leave! I... have nowhere else to go...”. Daemon was in a panic... and over Fluttershy! Nopony had ever been scared of her! Not like this! But here was this Shadowmare, the myth of everypony's nightmare, begging for her forgiveness! The thought of this made Fluttershy giggle.

“Hey now... there is no reason to be afraid of me. I mean... why would I send you away?”, Fluttershy asked sweetly, trying to resist laughing at the rediculous situation.

“You...”, the cowering stallion spoke, “...you don't like me... and why would you have any reason to? I know what I look like now... I’m a monster. I don't deserve kindness, especially from one as perfect as you...”. This overwhelmed Fluttershy, flooding her with mixed feelings. She was outraged that he would viciously assault himself like this, but also embarrassed that he called her 'perfect', and upset that she was probably the one to crush his heart, making him look at himself as a monster. Her emotions led up to anger when she finally spoke.

“You are not a monster! There is no way in Equestria that a monster could ever sing with such emotion! Now you are going to come with me. There is plenty of room inside.”. Daemon didn't move.

“It's okay! I... I’m fine sleeping out he-”.

“Hush!”, Fluttershy interrupted, “I won't take no for an answer!”. Daemon could feel how serious she was and slowly stepped from the shadows with his eyes clenched shut.

“You won't be able to see where you're going with your eyes closed silly... now open them so you can follow me.”. Fluttershy's voice was back to its original sweet tone. Daemon reluctantly opened his eyes, seeing Fluttershy staring back at him. His eyes were redder than normal and a little bloodshot. “Have you been crying?”, Fluttershy asked concerned.

“A little...”, Daemon responded with a pitifully small smile.

Meeting Royalty

Chapter 11: Meeting Royalty

It had been five days since the incident with Daemon changing into the monstrous Shadowmare/Lightmare hybrid. Flara and the other two Lightmares were forced to stay in Ponyville. Flara explained that if they were to return, they would be questioned about “Nova’s” disappearance. Aura and Ezreal were a bit awkward at first, damaging property and roughing a few ponies up to make friends. Lightmares would bond by hitting each other and rough-housing. However, the new additions to the humble town soon learned the correct way to greet ponies was not a punch to the jaw. They even managed to find good ways to pass the time with their newly acquired friends. Ezreal found joy in flying with Rainbow Dash, trying to keep up with her. Rainbow Dash would sometimes show her true potential and scare Ezreal with her remarkable speed, but Ezreal enjoyed being with a mare who had the same radical personality as him. Aura loved nature and adored being outside on Sweet Apple Acres. He would walk around with Big Mac and help him out with the farm labor. Both of them never said a word the whole time, but they did happen to enjoy working together none the less. Aura didn’t even see it as work, he saw it as a vacation if anything. His tremendous strength made bucking the trees almost too easy. It indeed seemed as though everything was working out fine... except for a certain Shadowmare who looked like he just had his soul ripped from his body.

For nearly five days now, Daemon would walk around in a daze, not really interacting with anypony. He looked very troubled, you may even say he looked like he was in a severe state of depression. His eyes no longer showed their usual shine, instead they were dull and lifeless. He walked slowly. His normal energetic trot was reduced to a pathetic shuffle.

When his friends would ask what was wrong, a fake and shallow smile crossed his face and he would respond with a pleasant, “nothing! everything is great! Yeah, everything is... just fine.”. Every one of his friends could see that everything he told them was a lie to cover up something, but none of them had the heart to ask what it was. What was even stranger than his listlessness was his disappearances at night. Fluttershy said he wasn’t sleeping in her cottage like he used to, and every night he would just vanish. Nopony knew where he would go for the night to sleep, but every day he would show up again with the same melancholy attitude, so they decided that he was alright for the time being. Desdemona didn’t seem concerned about his drastic change in mood, but she never seemed too concerned about anypony. The last thing that disturbed the ponies in Ponyville was the lack of music. It was assumed that Daemon got his guitar back when he returned, but nopony saw him with it anymore. He didn’t sing, he didn’t smile, and he didn’t stay near anypony for more than a few passing moments. Something was definitely wrong with the dusky stallion.

Applejack had done her chores for the day and had just finished her workload of bucking apple trees. She was ready to go to bed and relax after a hard days work. She couldn’t help but feel like things were getting worse more than they were getting better.

‘First we have ta deal with all this Shadowmare nonsense, and now we gotta take in a Lightmare!’, she thought to herself. It was true after all... they had no choice but to take in Aura Flash. It didn’t really bother her that she had to help him. She thought he was sweet, if a little too quiet. The thing that got under her skin was that she had to share her room with the near larger-than-life stallion. He took up a lot of space and could barely fit through her door. Applejack sighed as she continued to walk on, but she couldn’t help but notice a subtle sound emanating from the barn to her left. Thinking it may be a trespasser trying to steal her crops, she silently made her way to the barn door. As she inched her way closer to the entrance she began to notice something familiar about the sound, but she couldn’t put her hoof on it. After the orange mare cracked the door open she instantly knew why it sounded so familiar... it was Daemon. He was singing for the first time since the incident... or at least this was the first time he was heard. Daemon was sitting on the rafters near the top of the barn, his legs hanging off the wooden beam, playing his guitar. {Link 1} By the sound of his song, he was singing about Fluttershy, but the lyrics didn’t add up. {Link 2} He was singing of how he missed her even though he saw her every day and she hadn’t left Ponyville in at least a month. He also made it out that he wasn’t good enough for her. Applejack had no idea what could be making him say such sad things... until she remembered what he did when he was last fighting off his inner rage. He was still torn up about hurting his friends! Even though it was out of his control, he still saw himself as the bad guy. Applejack knew he was hurting inside and didn’t even want to attempt to try to make the Shadowmare feel better, so she tried to slowly back away once the song ended.

However, Daemon already knew she was there and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t ask if I could use your barn. I just didn’t want to bother you...”.

“How long did ya know ah was here?” Applejack asked.

“Since before you opened the door... I apologize in advance, but you aren’t the lightest on your hooves and I could hear you from a mile away.”.

Now that she had already started talking to Daemon, Applejack figured that she might as well ask.

“So why are ya sittin’ here in the dark? Y’all are more than welcome to come inside. Oh and before ah forget... why are ya not at Fluttershy’s? Ya know she has been wor-”

“I can’t go near her! At least... not anymore.” Daemon interrupted.

Applejack was fed up with his self pity party and shouted, “YES YOU CAN! I can’t believe y'all are havin’ such a hard time with this still! We went over how ya can’t control yerself and-”

“This is different!” Daemon interrupted yet again. “This time I hurt her! And who knows what will happen if I’m around when I snap next time?! I need to stay away from her and everypony else as much as possible or it might just turn into what happened to Firefly all over again!”. Applejack was taken back by how much he had thought this over, but she had one last question.

“Um, excuse me but... who’s ‘Firefly’?”. Daemon landed close by Applejack before he explained,

“Firefly is why I’m here. She was a pegasus, like Fluttershy, who had journeyed with us. We were with her for a while, but.... she died because she was with me. If she never met me, she would still be alive. So, please, just let me stay as far away from you guys as possible. You need to remember... I'm a Shadowmare. I'm not safe to be around.”. After that being said, Daemon walked out of the barn into the cool night air and faded away in the darkness. Applejack was left with a cold empty feeling in her chest. She wanted to help, but Daemon made it perfectly clear that he was not ready to forget about that incident five days earlier. In need of somepony cleaver who could help think of a way to give Daemon the aid that he needed at a time like this, Applejack decided to talk to Twilight.

The next day, Daemon was helping out Sweet Apple Acres, tilling the soil to plant a few more trees. His strength wasn’t as immense as Big Mac’s, but it was good enough to make plowing a field no real problem. Applebloom was right behind him every step of the way planting seeds in the freshly churned soil. She saw how sad Daemon looked and tried to cheer him up a few times by telling jokes while they worked, but Daemon never even seemed to notice her.

‘Dang, it’s like workin’ with a zombie pony!’, the yellow filly thought to herself. Applebloom soon got bored hanging around Daemon and just wanted to finish so she could get away from the perpetual mope. After finishing, Daemon started walking back to the main road of Ponyville, when he was stopped by a loud ominous yell from the sky.

“SHADOWMARE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE! WE HAVE COME TO HAVE A WORD WITH THE LEGEND FROM THE DISTANT PAST!”. Daemon looked towards the booming shouts coming above him and saw that the sky was getting dark and windy. The clouds started to swirl around and a flash of lightning was followed by a thunderous boom. It got cold and the air got heavy. Daemon half expected to see a god pony to come down, and his assumptions weren’t far off. A black chariot pulled by two evil looking pegasi came flying through the circling cloud formation. In the chariot was an alicorn. She had a navy blue coat and an ethereal dark blue mane and tale that sparkled like the night sky. She was a bit bigger than him, but not by much. Stunned by the show and a little scared to move, Daemon just sat in place while the shady bunch of ponies landed by him. All of Ponyville saw the entrance of the alicorn and a group quickly gathered around them (mane six included). Twilight was the first to speak.

“Princess Luna? Why are you here? -not that it’s a bad thing! Just unexpected! NOT THAT I’M SAYING I DON’T EXPECT YOU TO VISIT, IT’S JUST THAT-”

“Calm down Twilight Sparkle. I am here strictly for him.”. The pony labeled as ‘Luna’ pointed at Daemon.

“What? Why are you here for Daemon?”, Rarity asked, pushing her way through the crowd.

“According to Miss Sparkle’s letters, this young stallion is not only a Shadowmare... he also aided in the destruction of Manehatten and killed an innocent. We need to place him in our custody until we can be sure of his intent.”. Luna’s statement of Daemon killing and causing the downfall of a city was met with gasps and hushed whispers.

“SHE’S JUST KIDDING EVERYPONY!” Pinkie Pie shouted to the frightened collective of ponies. “THAT’S RIGHT! MOVE ALONG! NOTHING TO SEE HERE!”, the pink mare continued to shout, leading all the onlookers away.

“You shouldn’t say things like that when everypony is looking! They might get the wrong idea!” Rainbow Dash said, hovering above Luna and the others.

Luna didn’t move a single muscle and said in a rather sarcastic tone of voice, “Oh yes... because the destruction of a city can be interpreted in sooo many different ways.”. This hit the flustered pegasus like a sack of bricks, causing her to fall to the ground in absolute depression.

“Don’t take this out on them! It’s me you want, so just take me and let’s be done with it!”, Daemon grumbled, making his way to the dark, crude mode of transportation.

“Is he always like this?”, Luna asked, turning to Rarity.

“No. He’s quite sweet most days. I don’t know what has gotten into him lately.”.

The trip to the palace was pretty uneventful. Daemon showed a stern expression that was normally seen from Luna. The princess of the night was a little uneasy sitting next to him. His kind wasn’t even supposed to exist! Even when she was a filly herself there were stories of Shadowmares, but that was just it. They were supposed to be just stories! They were meant to be no more real then the creatures known as humans. Had she known the existence of Shadowmares was more than a pony tale when she was a filly, Luna would have wet herself. It was a good thing that she was much older since then and far more powerful or she would have still been scared stiff. Upon arrival at the castle gates Daemon flew out of the chariot before it had a chance to land. However, instead of trying to escape like Luna thought he would do, he actually went inside willingly.

‘Either he is the bravest pony I have ever met, or he is the dumbest...’, Luna thought, before ordering her guards to whisk her away to her bed chambers. Daemon was escorted by four guards when he entered through the two large castle doors.

“Is this really necessary?”, Daemon growled. There was no response from the stoic ponies leading him. Daemon observed that the entire place seemed rather empty. “Your princess must get lonely with nopony around to talk to her.” Daemon said, hoping for a response this time... there was none. Right when Daemon was going to ask if he was being punked into walking in circles, the group stopped at a large, excellently crafted door.

“Upon your meeting with Princess Celestia, you may only address her as ‘your majesty’. If you attempt to attack or show any hostility, you will be restrained and thrown in the dungeon. The first thing you will do is bow to the princess and show your respect towards the crown by saying, ‘thank you for summoning me your majesty. I am not worthy.’. Do you understand what you have been told?”, the guard asked, glaring at Daemon.

“Yeah, yeah. Act like a pathetic sniveling worm with no self-respect. Got it.”, the demonic stallion answered.

As soon as Daemon entered the throne room he saw the alicorn known as Princess Celestia. Much to Daemons surprise, she was smiling. She actually seemed happy to see him. On the floor in front of her were two more guards. Daemon started to do what he was told by the other guard, bowing and reciting that ridiculous boot-licking speech.

He was cut off by the Princess herself, “You don’t really have to say that. It’s not something I enjoy hearing. Ponies just think that they need to say all that because it has been passed down through the eons. Now I hear that you have been to Manehatten recently? Hearing that it was annihilated by some unknown force was not something that I needed to hear last week... but it turns out that my star pupil’s new friend had been there and he knew what had happened.”. Daemon started to sweat, knowing where she was going with this. “She said that you were there the day of the attack... and you helped?”, Celestia said, looking down at Daemon with a frown.

“Yes”, Daemon responded trying to stay cool under the pressure he was experiencing.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to order your execution... at least not without hearing your side. I will give you one chance to prove yourself as nice and pure as Twilight has told me you are.”. Celestias horn started to glow and a guitar floated out from behind her throne.

“I have read in many letters that you are quite the musician. I would like to hear this for myself, if you don’t mind.”, the princess said, telekinetically handing Daemon the stringed instrument. Daemon suddenly had a thought about the position he was in, ‘I’ve been trying to stay away from my friends to protect them, but if I am where they can’t be, they will be safe no matter what happens.’. Daemon grinned wickedly and started to play, using his magic to change the sound of the acoustic guitar to sound like an electric one {Link 3}. Twilight and the others walked in just in time to see his performance... and they didn’t enjoy his music for once. His lyrics were aggressive, angry, vulgar, and hateful to the point where it scared them. Twilight couldn’t believe he was singing such a disrespectful song to her godly teacher. Princess Celestia just stared at him blankly with a small frown. As he continued, Fluttershy turned around, clenched her eyes shut, and held her hooves over her ears, trying desperately to block out the dark music that resonated through the massive room. The others were too shocked or disturbed to turn away. The moment the song ended, Daemon was seized by the guards, both grabbing an arm to hold him in place.

“I’m very disappointed... I expected much more from one my student regarded so much. Due to your... performance, I have no choice but to sentence you to death”. At the royal pony’s mention of the death sentence, the group of six friends gasped. “I’m sorry, but I can’t have a pony with such a potential for violence to roam free.”, Celestia said, looking quite sorrowful.

“I understand your majesty. I know I’m too dangerous to be let go. You are wise to do what you have declared.”, Daemon said, a slight smile painting his face.

Daemon was taken to the dungeon. As he was escorted out of the throne room he heard his friends objections to his sentence.

‘I sure am lucky to have so many friends who care about me...’, he thought. The dungeon was dark and bleak. Only a few torches lighted the catacombs of the suffocating prison. The whole time, they walked past nothing but empty cells. It seemed like Daemon was the only one who dared to wish being sent to such a place. Before the guard locked him in a one of the hundreds of cells he told Daemon of a ghost that supposedly haunted the place. Daemon just thought the guard was trying to scare him, but as time went on he had the strangest feeling that he was not alone. The Shadowmare only passed it off as his imagination... at least until he started hearing things. The things he heard were also not things that you could pass off as just ‘the jail walls crumbling away’ or ‘dripping water’. He started hearing giggles... from all around him. He also felt cool breezes rush by him even though there were no windows and he was far from any source of wind. Knowing that he wasn’t going to live to see tomorrow anyway, Daemon stayed calm.

“Maybe I’ll be able to make friends with this ghost after I’m sent to the chopping block.”, Daemon laughed. However his laughter quickly stopped as a ghostly figure phased through the wall and stared at him in the eyes {Link 4}. She had a ghoulish grey coat that was completely transparent, a brown mane and tail that were also transparent... and there were black voids where her eyes were supposed to be.

“Boo...”, the ghost pony said at the wide eyed stallion.

“H-hello...”, Daemon said, scared out of his mind.

Author's Note

The ghost pony is not of my own creation. It was made by one of my friends and I give her full credit. Thank you for reading this far in. I'm a little surprised anyone would put up with this crazy crap for this long! But seriously, thanks for viewing!