Author's Note

Just to let you guys and gals know, I've updated and rewritten some parts of the last chapter. I felt as if the interaction and battle between Daemon and Chrysalis was severely lacking and quite lazy. So, I have rewritten it to a slight degree. I feel as if it is much better now. I have also rewritten Moon Dancer's part, so I would advise you guys and gals to reread the last chapter before reading this one.

Once again, thanks and enjoy.

Getting some damn answers.

"Why?"

Another smack. My hand was now coated in green ooze. I cringed.

"Damn, it's like snot." I looked at the badly beaten changeling queen in front of me. She was currently on the floor in the cell along with me. It had been a few weeks since the changeling invasion and Moonie's injuries. Luna and Celestia had given me the okay to...question her. According to Celestia, it turns out that because I'm not from this world, magic doesn't work as strongly against me. Which would explain why I was able to break free from Chrysalis's hold. It doesn't really make a ton of sense to me, but I didn't care. All I cared about was teaching this damn bug not to mess with my loved ones.

Or loved one, I guess you could say in this instance.

The awful insectoid looked up at me, smirking. Cuts and bruises all over her face. "S-seems....like I've h-hit a nerve, huh?"

Yet another smack. That one shut her up. She cried out in pain and laid her head down on the floor. I knelt down, looking at her as she raised her head back up. "Listen, I just want to know why you did what you did. Doesn't need to be like this."

Oh, trust me, I wanted to slice the bitch open for what she did to the city and to Moonie, but I had to play it somewhat safe. Couldn't kill her just yet.

She scoffed, backing away from me. "Really expect me to care, creature? I don't even know what you are. Those ponies are the ones to blame for this."

I raised an eyebrow, leaning on my sword as I knelt down. "What do you mean? How are they at fault? You invaded them before, didn't you?"

I heard a deep chuckle come from her throat, looking at me with her slit eyes. "You wouldn't understand. You don't know us as we don't know you. The ponies are not as friendly as they seem. They treat us like outcasts. We didn't want to invade. We had no choice."

This was getting interesting. I sheathed my sword and sat down, crossing my legs as I draped my arms over my legs. She looked at me, one of her eyes staring at me while the other was closed now. Probably because I smacked her in that eye more times than I'd like to count. "You're not scared of me, are you?"

I shook my head. "Not in the slightest. To me, you're just a bug who was responsible for hurting someone I really care for."

She groaned slightly in pain, trying to stand up. Against my better judgement, I stood up and I offered her a hand. I had to show her some amount of kindness. Otherwise, she wouldn't spill the beans. She looked at it for a moment before grabbing it, helping herself up. She looked at me, brusing herself off slightly. "And who exactly may that be?"

I scoffed. "None of your business. Tell me more about why you invaded."

She returned the scoff, licking the green goop off of her lips. Assuming that was her blood at this point. Least I hoped it was. "Whatever you say, creature. As for why we invaded, we were starving. We still are. I tried to make a deal with Celestia in the past, only for her to shun us out. My race is dying. My children are starving to death. Tell me, creature..."

I was really getting fucking tired of her calling me creature.

"Daemon."

She looked at me, confused. "What?"

I crossed my arms, grunting. "My name is Daemon. I'd rather you use that."

She rolled her eyes, walking around the cell. "Fine. As I was saying, Daemon, do you have family? Loved ones, apart from the one that you mentioned?"

That hit me slightly. I had a fast vision of my parents leaving me again, like they had been doing in my nightmares. I shook my head, trying to get it out of my head and clear my thoughts. I opened her eyes. The cow was going to use this to her advantage, wasn't she? Probably part of her plan to try and manipulate me. Well, it wasn't going to work! "I bet as soon as I open my eyes, she's going to be..."

Giving me a sad smile?

I looked at her, confused as to why she was smiling. "Erm, why are you giving me that look?"

She kept the sad smile, sighing heavily. "Because, creat...Daemon, I am tired of all this. This fighting, this scavenging to survive. To keep my race alive. It gets tiring. We just want to be treated as equals. I know that I do not seem the type to be like that, but I've only been doing what I have been doing to keep my race alive. Surely you can understand that, right?"

I stood there, not reacting. What was this bitch trying to pull? Surely she couldn't be serious?

"And surely you can't expect me to believe you when you've literally just invaded the race that has took me in and cared for me since I've been here and hurt someone that I care deeply about. Even if you personally didn't hurt her, because of you, she won't ever be the same again. So forgive me if I don't buy your sob story."

She sighed again as she slumped down to the ground. She started to...cry? Jesus. Now I was starting to feel like a bit of an asshole. And I didnt' like that.

She looked up at me, her eyes filled with tears. "I hate this! I hate having to cause so much pain! And for what?! Just to survive! Those ponies are to blame! If they didn't..."

I walked up to her and put a hand on her. She stopped her rant and looked up at me. She obviously couldn't see because of the mask, but I was sporting a sad look on my face. As much as I wanted to kill this fucking bug, I just...I couldn't be that heartless. Not when she was sat here pouring her tears out about saving her own race. Still, I was feeling my anger rising as my mind went onto Moonie. I walked back to the cell door and looked back as I walked out, staring at her.

"I understand. Seriously, I do. But it's no excuse for what you've done.. I need to go. Celestia will probably be back down here later to question you more, I suspect." And before she could respond, I walked out, closing the door behind me. I could still hear her sobs as I walked down the hallway. I sighed. "This is getting too much for me."

"So, she was...crying?"

I nodded, leaning against the very window that I had looked out ever since I had ended up here. It still felt strange without Moonie in the room with me, even after all this time. She was still in her own room, recovering. Celestia had moved her to her own room about 2 weeks ago to give her some peace as she was resting, which I understood. I didn't want to postpone her healing even more by being an emotional idiot.

Speaking of the solar princess, she was stood next to me, looking out of the window as well. I let out a heavy breath of air as I watched the ponies below get back into their normal routines. "Yeah. She kept going on how about she only did all of this to save her race. She blamed you lot. She also mentioned a treaty that she was supposed to have with you and that you shunned her and her species. What's that about?"

I heard Celestia sigh, shaking her head. "It's a long story, but basically, she wanted food for her race. If it was normal food, that would have been completely acceptable and I would have helped. But, changelings feed on her love. Her condition was that we give a pony over every few months so that her race could feed. The issue is, eventually, the pony would become...void of emotion. A lifeless husk. And I couldn't bear that happening to any of my ponies. I suppose that I was quite selfish. I risked an entire species to save my own. And I can't even blame them. It's just in their nature. It's how the changeling race feeds."

I raised an eyebrow. Interesting. I'd never seen this side of Celestia before. I didn't think she could be selfish. She'd done nothing but made sure that I was comfortable ever since I got here. Went to extreme lengths to make sure that I was treated fairly. To hear this...it was strange. I could understand, but it was still odd to me to see this version of her. Regardless, I walked past her, heading towards the door.

"I'm going to go into the gardens and clear my head. Tell me what happens with Chrysalis whenever you decide to question her for yourself."

"Why does this have to be so goddamn complicated..." I sat there, in the castle's gardens, just thinking and rubbing my temple. Why did Moonie have to get hurt? Why did the only being here that I deeply care for have to go and get herself hurt so badly? I was really wanting to kill Chrysalis...and it was disturbing me. I was never bloodthirsty before. But right now, at this moment in time, I wanted to slit that damn parasite's throat and watch as she...

I let out a deep sigh as I breathed in and out deeply in an attempt to calm myself. I heard leaves behind me rustle. Someone was here.

"Who is it?"

I heard wings. Mkay, so it certainly wasn't Moonie, considering she only had one now. And even then, how would she even be up yet? "Fuck. Daemon you idiot, get your mind off of Moonie for one damn second!" I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I turned my head to see none other than Luna. She gave me a sad smile.

"I can sense that your thoughts are quite...erratic right now, mr Daemon. Please, try and calm yourself. Moon Dancer has requested to see you at once."

I stiffened up at that. "Wait...she's awake? Already?"

She nodded, smiling. "Indeed she is. It seems that she is already on the way to making a full recovery. She is complete aware of her surroundings and can communicate just fine. Of course, she has also realised now that she has lost one of her wings. So her mood isn't...the best right now."

I scoffed, chuckling. "Yeah, I can see why." I heard her stand up, motioning me to do the same.

"I need to get back to my duties. Take care of yourself, Daemon. And again, thank you for saving her."

I nodded, watching her fly off. I let out a heavy sigh and walked back into the castle. I made my way as quickly as possible to Moonie's room, ignoring the staff's "hello's" as I pretty much eventually started to bolt towards her room. When I reached my destination, I knocked on the door. I heard a familiar voice that I had missed so much over these last few weeks.

"Come in."

My eye twitched. "Still anxious huh, brain? Yeah, me too.". As I opened the door, I saw Moonie reading a book. I chuckled. "Still reading, eh?"

She looked up from her book, a wide smile adorning her adorable face as she noticed me. She ushered me over to her. I walked over her side of the bed and knelt down so that I was eye level with her. She suddenly wrapped her hooves around me, dragging me in for a hug. I complied and hugged back. I didn't even care if it was weird, I had missed her so fucking much. She looked at me, still smiling.

"How've you been?"

I nodded, smiling behind my mask. "Wish she could see my smile right now."

"I'm alright. How bad does it hurt?" I pointed at the now missing wing, her face going grim. "Quite a lot. The worst part about it isn't the pain, it's the fact that I won't be able to fly again."

I patted her on the head, getting a cute little squee from her. God, that almost gave me diabetes.

I rubbed my hand through her mane. "I understand. I'm so sorry. I feel as if I'm to..."

She suddenly put a hoof to where my lips would be if I didn't have this mask on and shushed me. She then kissed me on the side of my face. The only place what the mask wasn't covering. I smiled behind it, hugging her. She giggled.

"You're a dork. It's not your fault at all. Don't you ever think that. Want to read with me?"

I nodded. I just wanted to spend some time with her, honestly. Couldn't care less about the book. I kept knelt down. She looked at me, raising one of her eyebrows. "What are you doing? Get in bed you idiot."

A blush formed on my face. I was suddenly very glad that she couldn't see behind this mask. I squirmed slightly, something that she seemed to pick up on. She sighed. "You don't have to if it's going to make you uncomfortable. I just want you to be comfy."

I let out a sigh of mine as I stood up. "It isn't that. I was just thinking. When we first met, we were literally at each other's throats. And within a day, we were fine. I don't understand how."

She rolled her eyes. "Because on the day when I met you, I had gotten a letter from my mother. I won't go into detail about what it said, but as I stated before, me and her aren't on the best terms and it put me in a really sour mood. I guess I ended up taking it out on you. It's why I wasn't as hostile the next day. Guess I felt bad. And when you saved that mare...I could tell that my assumptions had been wrong and it had been due to my crappy mood and my poor judgement. I'm sorry. Truly."

I smiled behind my mask, chuckling. "It's fine, you soppy pony. Give me a second." I walked over to the other side of the bed, making sure to put my sword on the nearby desk. Didn't need to accidentally lay on that.

Fucking no thank you. Ouch.

She turned her head to me, smiling. She put the book between us. She snuggled close.

"Hey, Daemon?"

"Yeah?"

"I care for you. A lot."

I chuckled, getting closer. "I know. I care for you a lot as well, nerd."

We read into the night, falling asleep after only a few hours, embracing one another. For once since I had gotten here, my sleep wasn't plagued by nightmares.

Think I had Moonie to thank for that.