Room For One More

Chapter Eight: What have you been hiding?

"They are... processed."

Samael

Celestia scowled and left the smoldering demon where he lay. She left and closed the door to his cell behind her, locking it as she always did. She made a mental note to check in on him in a few hours.

Celestia decided she wasn't up for the arduous walk back to the palace and teleported to her bedchamber. A sudden dizziness came over her and she stumbled into her bedside table as she stepped out of the immaterium. Celestia's vision was blurred but returned quickly.

Teleports shouldn't make me lightheaded?

Celestia sat down on a cushion and took a deep breath, still attempting to return to normal, to shake the numbness in her joints. She looked over at the mirror in her room and stared at her reflection.

Samael woke with a start. He drew a breath into newly formed lungs and it shook the inside of his throat, creating a horrible rasping sound. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. His eyes focused and he then realized he had eyes to focus again.

"Ow."

And nerves to feel again. He groaned and rose to his feet slowly and carefully, wincing every time his skin touched the ground. He took a step and itched his back where it had started to ache. The great coat he had once wore proudly was now cinders, a loose skeleton of fabric hung about him and shifted as he itched. Celestia had done a number on him. He hadn't considered how powerful she'd become.

She was going to be a problem and the worry had started to fester in his blackened skull. He felt like he needed to leave but knew he couldn't creating an ache only the truly imprisoned feel. He hadn't been reduced to what and all he was since he'd been in Hell.

He walked up to the massive door separating him from the rest of the world. A door born of the iron will of Princess Celestia herself. The barrier designed to keep bad things like him from getting their claws on the innocent world of Equestria.

An obsidian door for a jade cell with Ahuizotl's ten spell for binding demons to imprisonment and submission. This is the meaning of the word, 'Shit' for demons.

"Shit," Samael answered appropriately.

He scanned the door, not really knowing what he would find. The runes were enchanted to shift about so he couldn't read them. He glanced around the cells walls, priming his vision with magic to see the tiniest detail.

The cell wasn't even scorched. The ash he'd made slid about on a fritionless surface. It was no small feat he was standing too, he was performing a very old magician's trick and floating just about the surface of the ground.

He turned back to the door to see a rune with a scratch mark through it floating across the door.

Samael held up his left hand and light a candle on his finger. He held up his right hand and extended a finger creating a shadow on the floor. This was old magic he hadn't used since his youngest days when the gods of the universe still played about with creation. This was shadow magic. Old magic. He moved his fingers about like a spider, waiting to strike at the rune. If any other rune touched his shadow but the broken one, he would be killed and brought so low he would not remember who he was.

He let out his breath slowly and struck. His finger's shadows grew to thin picks that grew out wards. The spindly picks probed inward, looking for a place to start. He spied an opening and thrust a shadow towards the broken rune. Another rune cut across and he disappeared the pick in an instant, it growing back from the tip of his finger's shadow. He saw the runes sensing something was wrong and they began shuffling about like a swarm of insects, keeping the broken rune protected.

He made his shadows dance, pulling the runes around to keep up with the assault. Dancing was one of his few polite talents.

The runes began lashing out but he knew this dance better, he made them surge to the top of the door before he bodily lunged forward, being careful to keep his left hand casting light behind him. The broken rune was clutched in his hand's shadow. The runes at the top of the door fall like angry stars towards him. He ripped the rune away and threw his left hand aside making up the distance and securing him the rune.

Runes could be fiddly things. A single missing rune could throw the whole spell system awry. Samael watched the runes jerk about as if in a fit before one by one, sparking out of existence. Because of how powerful the spells were, when they shook apart, the door shook with them. Samael took a few steps back and watched as the runes cracked and burst the door apart. Chunks began sliding past him and he stepped back a little further avoiding the tide.

The last pieces fell and he stared out into the pitch black hallway. Opportunity stared back at him. Someone had broken that rune he wanted to know who. He took a step forward and disappeared into the darkness.

The reflection stared back at Celestia, she cocked her head to the side and stuck her tongue out.

"Having fun?"

Celestia spun around and looked at her sister, her tongue still hanging out. It disappeared into her mouth and she blushed. Luna smiled triumphantly.

"Gotcha! As you would say," said Luna who dropped herself down on the pillow next to her sister. Celestia tried to enjoy the moment but felt the joy draining out of all the emotional holes made by the events of the past few days like water from a colander.

"Hello, Luna."

Luna clenched her jaw for a moment, switching emotional gears to comfort her older sister.

"What happened?"

"You know what's happened to make me so... depressed. This war is... different. It used to be so simple, crisis I mean. We always had a plan, the Elements, the magic of Love. A hero come forth from obscurity. Never anything like this, when our army faces true conflict for the first time in centuries. I've never seen an enemy like this. Oh, and I didn't kill Samael."

Luna closed her mouth and thought a moment before pressing her attack.

She might be cursing herself for not trusting him sooner or blaming herself for the pain he's already gone through. She's been quiet about what they talk about when she goes down there.

Luna decided to go fishing.

"Celestia?"

Celestia closed her eyes and silently wondered why her sister was asking her this question. Having lived together for so long, they knew what the other wanted just from the tone of voice they used to call their name.

"I know what you're going to say and I feel fine."

"Liar."

Luna was the only pony in Equestria who could get away with such a bold faced accusation with Celestia and she knew it.

Celestia turned to meet the eyes of her sister and she looked into the mirror black pools filled with worry.

"Alright, fine! I feel... old! When I'm not distracted I can feel my joints creak and my magic is getting..."

"Erratic. The sun's schedule is off most days, you forget and it stays in place for a while before leaping ahead to catch up. Sister, you can't get old. You might think so but we left mortality behind a long time ago. You're stressed, that's what you are."

Luna stopped even though she'd meant to continue to drive her point home. She stopped because she now wondered who she had been saying it for. Herself, who was just as worried about her sister's health as she was or for her sister's emotional well being. Luna had the war on her mind 24/7 and found herself making sure every action she took helped in some way and had only now realized that meant she didn't have a emotional stake in the lives of those around her.

Am I helping her because she's my sister or because the country needs her to be strong? Can it be both?

Celestia was about to object when she felt something enter the room. There had been no sound, no magical aura appearing out of nowhere and no rush of air from a teleport. It was the smell of burnt cloth.

"Sorry to interrupt such a touching heart to heart between two sister's but we all have things to do so... git up ya lazy kids."

Samael was leaning against the wall near the window. His coat hung in tatters around him like a rotting death shroud but he made sure to straighten it when they slowly turned their heads to stare at him in disbelief.

"Don't bother asking how, we haven't time for that. We need to start winning this game tonight! Come on, up, vite! Wir müssen gehen!"

Celestia scrambled to her feet, wincing from her knee popping as she moved too fast.

"But-"

"Nien! Wir müssen gehen!"

Samael headed for the door with Luna and Celestia in tow, both of them unsure how to react to the past twenty seconds. Celestia wasn't sure if she was following him because she wanted to put him back in his cell or if she actually wanted to see what he wanted.

Samael threw the doors open and smacked the guards on duty into the walls, knocking them unconscious. Celestia exited her room and saw stars dancing around their heads.

"Samael!"

He was already turning the corner at the end of the hallway. Celestia galloped to catch up and Luna frowned at the sight of her sister huffing and puffing down the corridor before simply teleporting beside the demon.

"Listen, imp, I take it you were set free from the chains and not the room?"

Samael leaned over to her and smiled wide.

"Great, while I trust Celestia's decision not to kill you, don't leave our sight ever again, understood?"

"I understand what you just said, yes."

Luna felt that she should have made herself more clear but before she could speak, Samael abruptly turned and flung open a set of doors. Luna's eyes glanced upwards at the room number and her heart sank into her stomach. He had just walked into the HQ for the entire Equestrian military. She entered to see Samael standing proudly in front of a hall full of officers and soldiers, all silent and watching in utter disbelief that a demon was standing in front of them.

Luna tried to find the words that would defuse the situation. She opened her mouth and held out her hoof but nothing came out but a squeak.

Samael held up his hands in mock surrender. Carefully, he formed a wine glass made of ice in his right hand and in the other, a bottle of wine. He poured himself a glass and set the bottle down roughly on the nearest table. He drained his glass of wine and tossed it to the floor where it shattered, breaking the deathly silence.

"Great, now that the ice is broken, I have a few things to say. Don't reach for that pistol, son, it isn't loaded. That sword you're carrying, ma'am, is ceremonial and worthless. Get up and you might have a heart attack, gramps. Now! Listen up! I am Samael and am here to help, s'why you're all still alive. I'm going to need maps and a national situation update in ten minutes. You also have one minute to freak out and get over yourselves but it is optional."

They all looked to Luna who turned a pale blue.

"He's right. We've... convinced him to aid our current mission by providing us with tactical assessments of the enemy combat strengths and doctrines. He will be under my direct supervision and as well as that of my sister's for the duration of the war. So, bring him up to speed on current events."

The room stayed still, the ponies' eyes shifted from their Princess to the demon with equal looks of suspicion and distrust.

The older stallion who had tried to stand before now did so and brought all of his years of experience into the withering look he gave Luna. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it and looked over Luna's shoulder in fear.

The room lit up as Celestia entered in all her glory and power, her body radiated the heat of the sun and her eyes shone a purest white.

"Do it now."

The older stallion would not dare disobey a direct order from her and promptly about faced to walk to the back of the room to pick up a stack of scrolls. His subordinates stood still until he made brief eye contact with them and they jumped to help him. The room became a flurry of activity.

Samael watched all of this between the princesses. Celestia put a hoof on his shoulder and his coat was surrounded in a white light. As the light spread the damage was repaired until his clothes looked as good as the day it was made. Samael chuckled and nodded at her. He made to take a step towards the table but Celestia held onto him and the coat started burning under her hoof.

"What you have been given, Samael, can be taken away. Do not disappoint me."

She removed her hoof and walked into the fray, all ponies rushing by giving her a wide berth. Samael rubbed his shoulder through the coat and opened his mouth to speak but shut it and thought of a better time to say what was on his mind.

It's like she hasn't changed at all! Hahahaa!

Samael smiled and glanced over at Luna who was giving him a worried look.

"I've seen that look in your eye, it has never boded well."

"I'm just thinking about your sister. No, not that way, don't be ridiculous."

Luna looked away and stuck out her tongue. Samael looked around the room.

"Hey, where are the Elements?"

"The what? Oh, I'd imagine they'd be sleeping by now. Your demon friends..."

Luna wasn't quite sure how to finish that sentence. They had all made it out unscathed physically, save for perhaps Fluttershy who was by now almost certainly either dead or worse. The damage that had been done to the Elements of Harmony was grievous but not fatal. They could still perform their duties in some capacity.

"They aren't my friends, Luna. I wouldn't be here if I cared about any of them."

"I can never tell whether or not you are telling the truth."

"I'm a demon, remember?"

"You're allergic to cats too."

Samael grit his teeth and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'll need the Elements to be here when I start explaining things because I'm only going to say it once and besides, we don't have time for me to start giving lectures at the university on demonology 101."

"I'll go get them," said Celestia who had a few scrolls floating in the air around her.

Luna closed her mouth. She had been about to protest and tell Samael off for not having any decency.

"Sister, are you sure it can't wait?"

"I'm through waiting. Reports of the counterattack just came in and it did not go as planned. You catch up while I wake the girls. Luna... I'm sorry about what happened."

Luna raised an eyebrow at this before her eyes widened and she rushed past Celestia to find out what happened to her Night Guard.  Samael followed her in.

Celestia walked out the door and disappeared in a flash. There would be no long walk. She was done musing and thinking. Such things had cost them all dearly.

Twilight woke with a start. Something was touching her shoulder.

NO!

Twilight spun around and brought her forelegs up to meet whatever had woken her. She lashed out and her hooves connected with something above her. Twilight tried to stand but was tangled in the bed sheets and stumbled over the edge of the cushion she had been sleeping on. She crashed to the floor, landing hard on her back. She drew a sharp breath and started screaming for help.

"VIC! V-.... CELESTIA HELP!"

Someone turned on the lights and Twilight stopped struggling for a second. Slowly, she peeked out over the edge of the blanket to see Celestia standing over her, holding her nose in her hoof. One eye was shut and watering but the other had an ageless worry in it.

Twilight realized that she had just kicked the Princess of the Sun in the face as hard as she could, mistaking the kindest and wisest mare in her life for a nightmare.

"*whimper*"

Twilight's eyes started watering and Celestia knelt down beside her and slowly untangled the unicorn from the blanket. Twilight was a fully grown mare but melted in her mentor's forelegs as she was pulled into a motherly embrace.

"Shhhh, it's okay. I'm here. I got you. I'm not mad, just relax. Sh, sh. It's alright... We have to go."

Twilight looked up into Celestia's eyes. The old mare bit her lip and let down her guard, her hair fell about her shoulders, a soft pink colour.

Celestia continued, "I wish I could spend an age making you happy again. I wish I we had never left the library all those years ago that warm April day. Remember the day? We spent the entire day studying and reading and experimenting. You built a book fort? You remember, you told me it was the best day ever at the time. We don't have the time or the means to replicate that day and we won't ever get the chance to again if we don't go now and work for it. That is what I want you to think about from now on, that day and my promise that when all of this is over, we'll have another."

Twilight was pulled to her hooves and Celestia gave her one last hug before guiding her out the door. The other Elements were waiting outside, groggy. All of them had red eyes. It seemed that as soon as the doors were shut and the blinds were drawn, everypony was still grieving.

Rarity took Twilight from Celestia and guided her down the hall, past Scribbles who's hoof was still extended, about to knock on a door that was already open and comfort a mare who had already left. Twilight stopped a moment and put a hoof on her shoulder. She awoke with a start and her hoof passed through the air. She sputtered and looked around, she hated it when somepony moved her when she fell asleep.

"Where... Twilight! Are you... okay?"

Twilight didn't answer right away. Scribbles mentally berated herself for asking such a stupid question and tried to take advantage of the situation.

"Well, you didn't burst into tears when I asked so you're not sure you're not alright. Chin up, Twilight, come on, ears up, stick your tongue out, do a little dance."

Twilight followed along and giggled at herself. Scribbles smiled and mentally sighed in relief.

Good save.

Celestia looked at the hold up and Rarity bumped Twilight's shoulder and led her along. Scribbles followed the group, not seeing a better alternative.

They walked in silence back to the room where Samael and Luna were organizing the military. Luna was clearly distressed and had reverted back to using the Royal Canterlot Voice, indoors. The door vibrated as Celestia approached it. She opened it and the noise rushed out into the hallway to assault the ears of everyone in the palace.

"YES, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN A SIMPLE ORDER BY A DEMON LORD. I EXPECT YOU TO FOLLOW IT AS IT IS THE FIRST INTELLIGENT THING I HAVE HEARD IN THE PAST TWENTY THREE MINUTES. SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET!"

Luna looked back at saw her sister enter the room with the Elements and Scribbles. Her eyes were pure white and sparking but they softened and returned to normal when she saw the Element's emotional condition. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped and cleared her throat before continuing.

"Hello, everypony. Please find some seats, Samael will begin shortly."

Luna turned back to the crowd and began roaring again. It was obvious she was displeased with the ponies charged with the defence of the nation and had taken to yelling at them like children.

"EVERYPONY PROCEED IN AN ORDERLY FASHION TO THE CHAIRS PROVIDED AND GIVE SAMAEL YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION FOR THE DURATION OF THE PRESENTATION."

Samael nodded at her and walked onto the improvised stage. He cleared his throat and growled in his own tongue. Everypony's attentions were instantly on him as the demon language passed through them, vibrating their bones and settling in their stomachs.

"You don't like it do you? When a powerful being speaks to you in the demon tongue they speak not to your body but to your mind. There is no defense. You can only shout back. That is how you are going to win the war."

He waved behind him and the projector screen lit up with the images of demon soldiers in battle. They fought a myriad of species in the pictures, some had two legs and four arms, some were insect like and covered in natural armour plating. Some were massive ape like creatures that towered over them in splendor and glory. The result, however was always the same, the demons won.

"The demon way of war is, appropriately, devilishly simple. Theatre-wide dominance coupled with enemy disruption on a national scale. They have perfected their art of war over millennia of conquest. To demonstrate this I will use the invasion of Ponyville as an example. I have gone over the reports and filled in the gaps using my own knowledge and a little scrying. It started with Major Swift Ascent of the 101st Airborne. He was under a subtle mind alteration spell that changed the chemical balance in his brain and made him more rash and illogical. He believed that positioning his forces along the northern edge of town would stop them from reaching the civilians. His forces were positioned to cover the entire demon approach and were spread too thin. A simple spell by demon standards, nearly untraceable and very effective at making enemy commanders ineffectual.

The next phase was the bombardment, after the initial probe to panic the ponies in the town, the cloud bank was enchanted by a nearby combat sorcerer to rain small hydrogen bomblets into town and sow confusion and chaos among the pony ranks. It cut off communication between officers and troops and scattered the remaining defenders.

The next phase was the air support covering the advance of demon ground troops and demon armour south-east through the town. The goal of the air infantry was not to take ground but to send the defenders into a panic. While the ponies were occupied, bombing squadrons of drakes singled out pockets of resistance and coordinated with infantry platoons to target enem-... pony positions. The Equestrian Naval support was forced to withdraw after sustaining the loss of the commanding officers aboard the flagship Empress from a surprise boarding action. The flagship was also lost in the battle.

Then the final stages began as the air infantry began taking prisoners and the ground troops finished sweeping through the town with the armour swinging around towards the north, cutting off the pony retreat. Major Swift Ascent had gathered his remaining defenders at the train station with the intent of buying time for a large number of civilians to leave but his execution was poor as he was still under the effects of the spell. He charged the demons and met them in open battle and his forces were massacred. Elite-"

Samael stopped and focused on a single raised hoof in the air. It was Rainbow Dash, giving him a determined but nervous look. The other Elements looked from her to Samael, it was clear they all had the same question but only Rainbow Dash was brave enough to ask it.

"Yes?"

"What happens to the prisoners?"

The whole room shifted uncomfortably. Samael was struck with the thought that using Ponyville as the example wasn't the best of decisions given the present company. He swallowed and looked for the right words.

"They are... processed."