//------------------------------// // It Might be Love // Story: The Legend of a Shadowmare // by JasontheDemon //------------------------------// 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.