//------------------------------// // Mysteries Revealed // Story: The Legend of a Shadowmare // by JasontheDemon //------------------------------// 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.