Never say die.

"Ugh, how much did I drink last n...wait...this ain't my room..."

I looked around, noticing that this was...Moonie's room? Wait, I remembered now. She had woken up yesterday after weeks of resting and had called for me to see her. We ended up reading for hours until we fell asleep. Problem was, I was currently very close to her and my leg was nudging up against her...well, you know. Private area.

I immediately jumped out of bed once I realised, breathing deeply and shaking. I slapped myself, trying to get ahold of my emotions. "The hell is wrong with you, idiot?!" And then my worst fears came to light.

I heard a voice. A voice that I suddenly wished I didn't hear.

"My my, a bit soon, don't you think?"

I looked down at the bed. Moonie was now smirking at me, her eyes half lidded. "I knew that you started to like me fairly quickly, but damn. Calm down there, romeo. We have to go on a date first."

I coughed, sweating behind my mask. What the fuck was going on with me? I took a second to calm myself, two of my fingers going out in front of me as I did the samurai like calming technique. Damn, I was turning into Daemon himself more and more everyday.

She raised one of her eyebrows, staring at my sudden motion, clearly confused. "What are you doing?"

After I let out a deep breath that I had been holding in, I smirked behind my mask. "Nothing you need to worry about. Anyway, Juliet, how're you feeling?"

Moonie rolled her eyes at me, grinning and trying to get out of bed. "I feel gr...ow!"

My eyes widened as I rushed towards her, catching her just before she fell. I helped her back in bed, scoffing. "You still need more rest. I don't want you hurting yourself."

Now she scoffed, laying her head down. "Whatever you say, mom. Seriously though, I'll be fine. I know that you've been on your own for weeks and I'd feel kinda shitty if I wasn't around."

I smiled at that. She'd gone from a complete bitch to a complete sweetheart in such a short time. I remember her telling me last night that she had gotten a letter from her mother on the day that I had arrived here, which is why she was so bitchy to me at first. Still though, she got over that in no more than a day. It still confused me, but I wasn't going to complain. I walked towards the door, turning my head before I walked out.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be back soon. I need to see someone."

She called out again, causing me to stop in my tracks. "Who?"

I grunted, pretty much spitting out the next sentence. "The one who caused you to lose your wing in the first place." And before she could reply, I shut the door, sighing heavily. I unsheathed my sword for a second, breathing in deeply as I rubbed my fingers along it. I swiped in the air, calming myself. I sheathed it a second later and made my ways towards the holding cells.

"Here we fucking go."

“It doesn’t have to be like this, Chrysalis. Tell me what I need to know and we can work out a deal. An actual deal, this time. You have my word.”

As I stood outside Chrysalis’s holding cell, I heard a voice. Celestia’s. Seems that she was still questioning her.

“I’m not making any deals with you, you…”

That was Chrysalis’s voice for sure. I opened the door, closing it behind me. I looked towards the two, both of them turning their head towards me. Celestia smiled, where as Chrysalis just looked…stoic. Not angry like yesterday, just void of all emotion. I turned to Celestia, nodding. “So, what’s happening?”

She sighed, looking towards Chrysalis and then back at me. “I am offering a deal to Chrysalis. A deal that will benefit both of our r…”

Chrysalis bared her fangs towards Celestia, snarling. “Just like you did last time, you bitch!”

I could tell that hit Celestia hard. She looked at the floor, not saying a word. Chrysalis looked towards me, the anger seeming to fade away as she did. Weird.

“You…Daemon, wasn’t it?”

I nodded. She continued.

“I should kill you for what you did to me." She pointed at her muzzle, which was still heavily bruised. "But my beef isn’t with you. I don’t even know what you are or where you’ve come from. It’s the ponies that have caused me to do this!”

Celestia let out a heavy sigh as she brought her head back up from the floor. “Chrysalis, I…

Chrysalis raised a hoof. “Enough! I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I shall talk to this…Daemon¸ if he so wishes, but not you.”

Celestia looked towards me, an unsure look on her face. “You don’t have to, you know.”

I nodded, crossing my arms. “I know, but I came down here for that exact reason. I need to talk to her some more. I’ll be fine.” I motioned towards my sword, something Chrysalis also noticed. Celestia sighed, nodding.

“Alright, Daemon. Ask the two guards outside the cell to get me if you require anything.”

She walked past me and out of the cell, closing the door. I heard a scoff from behind me. I turned around to see Chrysalis grinning slightly. “That old witch…thinking she can fool me again.” She looked at me, the grin disappearing. “So, Daemon…what do you want? Come to beat me up some more?”

I rolled my eyes, kneeling down so that I was face level with her, unsheathing my sword and using it as a leaning post. “Listen, as much as I hate you for what you did to my friend, I don’t want you dead. So seriously, chill out and tell me more about the deal that you made with Celestia all that time ago. All that she mentioned is that…”

“That I wanted one of her little prissy ponies as a food source?”

I blinked, not expecting her to cut me off. “Yeah, pretty much.”

She chuckled, sitting up slightly to get closer to me. “Figures that she’d keep the most important details secret. The cow.”

I raised an eyebrow as I listened to her, wanting to know more. “What are you talking about?”

Again, another grin and chuckle. “The ponies who would be the food sources for us were volunteers. They were some of the few ponies who actually cared enough to help us. We didn’t force them by any means. And I bet she told you that they’d be a lifeless husk, void of emotion or something like that, right?”

I nodded, a bit uneasy as to where this was heading. “Again, exactly that.”

A full laugh came from her throat this time. She coughed a bit, the laugh seemingly hurting her bruised body even more. “Ah, Celestia. So predictable, even after all this time. If you want to know the truth, the ponies would indeed be well after having their emotion fed on. But they wouldn’t become a lifeless husk, however she worded it. They would be unwell for a few weeks at best. Ponies are very resilient. They may not look it, but they won’t die from it, even the Earth ponies and the Pegasi.”

My anger was slowly rising. This was sounding more like a dying race trying to save itself than some malicious force bent on conquering every country. Celestia had lied to me and I was going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another. I looked at her, sighing.

“Look, I understand why you did it. If you’re telling the truth, that is.”

That caught her attention a bit. “You…you do?”

I nodded, standing up. “Yeah, I do. But because of you, my friend has been seriously injured. So, while I can’t forgive you, I can understand where you’re coming from. And trust me when I say this, I will get to the bottom of this. I don’t appreciate being lied to, whatever the reason. We’ll speak again soon.”

I turned around and got to the door, slowly opening it.

“Wait!”

I turned around, raising an eyebrow. “What is it?”

For the first time since we had met, Chrysalis…smiled.

“Thank you.”

Despite my hatred towards her for hurting Moonie, I nodded, not saying a word. I walked out of the room, ready to confront Celestia about this whole ordeal.

“She better have a good explanation for all of this.”