Chapter 9: Life as a Lightmare
Daemon just had walked the razors edge of life and death with his brief encounter with the Lightmare leader, General Lux. Flara had explained that he was the most ruthless pony she had ever seen. If you were to show any sign of insubordination, he would find a way to make your life miserable. His favorite way of ‘breaking new recruits’ was to find one thing that gave them happiness and force them to do something to shatter that happiness forever. For example, once there was a rebellious recruit who loved animals... he was forced into slaughtering an entire forest of harmless creatures and coat himself in their blood. General Lux was the one behind it all. He was the oldest living Lightmare and he was the one who made the stories of the Shadowmares up, which meant that he was at least 4,000 years old. Even though he was ancient, Lux was at least twenty times as powerful as any normal Lightmare. That was why everypony obeyed his orders... for fear of being killed by the unforgiving general. As Daemon and Flara walked down the long hall, Daemon couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable about his surroundings. The whole place seemed to be nothing but metal lined halls with futuristic looking sliding doors. It looked more like a hospital than the base of an evil army.
Flara stopped at one of the doors after leading Daemon around for what seemed like forever.
She placed his hoof on a glass panel by the door and said, “Computer, scan.”. A green line of light behind the glass quickly moved from the top of Daemons hoof to the bottom, then the door opened. “I just scanned your hoofprint into the database and registered this as your room.”. Daemon looked inside. The room was completely blank! It was just a big, white cube shaped room with a faint grid pattern lining the walls!
“This is my room? You have got to be kidding! Where am I supposed to sleep without a bed?!”, Daemon shouted, wondering how the empty room was supposed to accommodate his needs. A sly smile crossed Flara’s face.
“Computer! Hologram; night; beach house!”, she shouted at the bare ceiling. Suddenly the room came to life. The panels on the wall started to glow and change color. In an instant, the room went from being bare to looking like the inside of a beach house! It was complete with matching furniture, a slight cool breeze, and even the sounds of the ocean!
“WHAT THE HELL?!”, Daemon shouted, blown away by the high-tech simulation.
“Lightmares are very good at creating advanced technology... this is a simulation that we have in our storage. The possibilities are nearly endless. Just say ‘computer’, give a location, and you are basically there.”, Flara explained.
“Nearly endless possibilities, huh?”, Daemon said smiling, “Computer! Make a hologram of Fluttershy’s cottage!”.
The same voice from the elevator responded, “Selection not available.”. Daemon frowned and Flara laid her hoof on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Daemon... you can’t make selections like that. I know you must already miss her, but you need to keep focus. This could be the difference between the survival of the Shadowmares or the loss of everything. In the meantime, Computer... Canterlot Castle; Princess Luna's chambers.”. The room changed again. This time it was a very royal looking palace room. Daemon went over to the simulated balcony. He could see Fluttershy’s house and it gave him a little more pep.
The incognito Shadowmare walked over to the very large bed, covered in dark indigo sheets.
As he got in he asked the blond mare, “Hey, Flara? Can you sing that one song that you used to sing for me?”. Flara walked over to him smiling gently.
“You remember that old thing? Okay... I’ll sing it.”. {Link 1} Flara’s singing was simply angelic. The tune sounded sad, but it was like a motherly lullaby and Daemon liked it. He remembered that Flara was always like a mother to him and his real mother was taken away at such a young age he didn’t really remember her. Flara used to sing this song when Daemon was having a hard time sleeping. It always made him feel loved. When it ended they would always whisper goodnight to each other. Daemon used to call Flara ‘mommy’ when he was too little to understand what happened to his real mother... Flara always let him. After they went through the old ‘goodnight whisper’ ritual, Flara told Daemon that he was now to be known as ‘Nova Brighthoof’, her younger brother. Daemon nodded and rolled over as Flara exited the room, closing the door behind her.
When Daemon woke, he started to freak out. He was so used to waking up in Fluttershy’s cottage it took a few moments for him to register that he was staying among the Lightmares. He walked out of the room and was greeted by Flara.
“Are you ready to begin your first day here?”, she asked, showing a stern seriousness. Daemon looked around and saw that there were at least five other Lightmares walking through the hall.
“Uh, yeah. Let’s go, ‘sis'...”, Daemon said. His acting was horrible. Flara just hoped that he wouldn’t become the center of attention. After guiding Daemon down the hallways for a while Flara stopped at some sliding doors that looked rather important. She pressed her hoof against the panel, it was scanned, and the doors opened to reveal what looked like a locker room with ten elevators in the back. The place was filled with many Lightmares of varying sizes. Both mares and stallions alike were opening the lockers and retrieving gauntlets that they wore on the end of their hooves. The gauntlets were almost like metal gloves. Suddenly one of the smaller stallions pressed a button on the one he wore. Three blades quickly extended from it and a laser shot out of the end, blasting one of the overhead lights out. The other Lightmares in the room turned and glared at him furiously.
“Idiot! Keep that thing on safety until we get there!”, one of the gold maned mares shouted.
“Sorry guys! It was an accident, won’t happen again!”, the younger Lightmare said laughing a little. He then walked up to Daemon, smiling as he looked at Daemons back leg. “Battle scars... not too shabby for a rookie! I’m Ezreal Lightmane! Don’t worry dude, I’m pretty new here too.”, Ezreal said, breaking the fear Daemon was feeling. Daemon looked at his flank and noticed that his scars were faint, but still visible.
“Hello Ezreal. This is my younger brother, Nova Brighthoof. I will be leaving him in your care for now.”, Flara said, saluting the smaller Lightmare. Ezreal saluted back, but his was more relaxed and not as ‘professional’.
After Flara left Daemon in the care of Ezreal, the two stallions started talking and got to know each other a little better. Daemon lied about many things over the period of their conversation... it made him feel bad that he had to hide the truth from such a friendly guy. Ezreal was almost as old as Daemon but he was actually a little smaller than Twilight. He said that his size was not a problem because it just gave him a better chance to fly through tight areas. Ezreal also was somewhat of a ‘class clown’, always making himself the center of attention. The energetic stallion reminded Daemon of Rainbow Dash in a way. He was a radical, thrill seeking, daredevil... just yearning for the next big challenge. After they were done chatting, Ezreal opened a locker and tried to give Daemon one of the gauntlets that he saw before.
“Why are you giving me this?!”, Daemon asked, backing off, afraid to touch it.
“We are going on a class five scouting mission. Weren’t you briefed?”. Daemon shook his head.
“Well it seems silly to me but there have been large magic readings from this one town for a while. The radar operators say that there is a 10% chance for a Shadowmare to be hiding there, so we’re gonna check.”, Ezreal continued to explain. Daemon reluctantly took the weapon, knowing that if he denied it Ezreal would grow suspicious.
Daemon and the other Lightmares in the room used the elevators and shot themselves to the surface. To reach their destination they were going to use the Quick-Stream method of flying. While they flew, Daemon felt a sudden sharp pain in his head. The headache quickly subsided and Daemon went on as though nothing had happened. The group of Lightmares must have been about fifty strong, if not more. Daemon was just concerned with getting it over with as fast as possible. As he followed the others down to their destination, he was shocked at what he saw. The entire city was being destroyed! The many fires that could be seen made a great cloud of black smoke above the city. The buildings were vaguely obscured by the smoke but Daemon could see that they were in ruins. It was like the entire place was being drawn into hell. Ezreal tapped Daemon slightly, pulling him out of his daze.
“Okay dude. This is it... you ready?”.
“For what?”, Daemon asked.
Ezreal was drawn back by the question, “For the cleansing of course! We need to wipe out every pony in the city, Shadowmare or not. Just by seeing us they know too much and have to be exterminated! Don’t you know anything?”. Fear shot through Daemons heart like an arrow. How could he be expected to kill?! He knew it was wrong, but he had to keep the ruse going. He dreaded the time when he would actually be asked to kill one of the civilians in the ruined city. Daemon was sent near the center of the demolished metropolis, ordered to ‘delete’ all life in the area. The flames of the burning buildings lit up the streets and Daemon had no trouble seeing. He actually had hoped that it was going to be impossible to see anypony so he would have to abandon the slaughter-fest, but no such luck. As Daemon wandered through what remained of the city, he could hear the blood curdling shrieks of ponies in the distance. Murder of the innocent was occurring all around Daemon... and he would be the next to kill. A small filly ran in front of him and tripped, causing her to stop mere feet from the fake Lightmare.
‘Maybe I could just let her go, maybe there’s no reason to kill if nopony sees me’, Daemon thought to himself. Just as he was about to tell the little pony to run, Ezreal came swooping down next to Daemon.
“I’m done with my sector.”, he said before looking over at the filly. “DUDE! What are you doing?! This is no time to be slacking off! Finish her so we can go home!”. Daemons hope to save somepony was shattered. He had no choice now... Daemon had to kill her.
Daemon couldn’t face the pony. Not like this, not when he was going to execute her for no reason. Daemon kept his eyes shut so he wouldn’t have to look at her. The worst part of this was that she looked a lot like Twilight. As Daemon charged the laser, a tear ran down his face. The filly only looked at him with an expression that could have stopped the most hardened murderer in his tracks {Link 2}.
Daemon whispered through clenched teeth, “I’m sorry...”, then he fired the gauntlet. The laser vaporized her instantly, not even leaving ashes in its wake.
“There we go. Now let’s get back home! I have a friend that I want you to meet!”, Ezreal said in an tone that should have been illegal at a time like this. Daemon didn’t say a word. “You act like that was your first time or something!”, Ezreal said grinning. As Daemon stood silently trembling, Ezreal’s smile slowly turned into a sympathetic frown.
“That was your first time wasn’t it? ...I’m sorry, I didn’t know. That first time is always the worst... I still remember the face of my first. It keeps me awake some nights... but don’t worry, dude, it gets better!”. Daemon slowly walked past Ezreal keeping his head held down in a way that caused the shadows hide his eyes.
“Let’s just go... I don’t wanna be here anymore.”, Daemon uttered, sounding cold and cut off. Even though Daemon was trying to put on a brave face, Ezreal could tell that he was broken from the events that took place.
As the army of Lightmares were flying back, Ezreal felt like he needed to say something to his new friend.
“Nova, I... I’m sorry about what you had to do. Nopony should have to feel that pain...”, Ezreal said, looking down grievously.
“It’s not that I feel bad... that’s the problem. I... didn’t feel anything when shot her. It almost felt... good.”, Daemon replied, seeming as if he was replaying the scene in his head. Ezreal perked up.
“That’s good though! That means that it won’t be a problem when you need to do it again, and as Lightmares, I know we will be doing this again! It’s in our blood to fight! Exterminating those lesser than us is ju-”.
“Don't you DARE disrespect the dead! They are living beings just like you! Not some pests that need to be wiped off the fase of Equestria!”, Daemon shouted, frightening Ezreal with his rage. Daemon sighed. “Sorry, it’s just that I think all life is precious and nopony deserves to take the life of another... let’s just drop the subject and focus on getting back.”. Ezreal nodded and didn’t say another word the whole way back. Daemon’s thoughts were going crazy. He couldn’t stop wondering why he didn’t feel anything from killing. Was it that killing isn’t as bad as everypony says it is? Was it truly in Daemon’s blood to kill or was there more to it than that? He had no idea what was going on and he didn’t believe he would find the answers anytime soon.
When Daemon got back Ezreal led him to a room that he called the ‘rec room’. Knowing that ‘rec’ stood for recreation, Daemon expected a party of some sort, but what he found was nothing like a party. The room looked like a dojo with the wood paneling on the walls and the wooden floorboards. Near one wall there was what appeared to be a boxing ring. There were two Lightmares in it throwing blows at each other. One punch connected and the opposing Lightmare flew out of the ring hitting a wall, but instead of screaming in pain, the Lightmare started laughing like he was just told a joke! The remaining Lightmare jumped out of the ring and made his way towards Daemon and Ezreal. He was almost the same size as General Lux, in both height and muscle mass. His mane flowed over half of his face, obscuring his right eye. Daemon thought that it made him look nicer than most other Lightmares that he had seen.
“Chalk up another win for Aura!”, Ezreal exclaimed.
“Yeah, yeah... I know, I’m a badass and all that... so who is your friend Ez?”, the stallion said in a deep, velvety voice.
“Aura Flash, meet Nova Brighthoof. Nova Brighthoof, Aura Flash.”, Ezreal said, introducing the stallions to each other. Daemon tried to learn more about Aura, but the big guy was soft spoken and a little on the shy side. He was basically your average, everyday, gentle giant. Daemon asked his new friends what they did for fun... they told him that he was looking at it. Lightmares were allowed to spar against one another on their down time. Daemon was appalled that fighting was all they knew how to do.
After watching a few matches, Daemon noticed that the training weapons they were using to fight with looked familiar. Upon closer inspection, Daemon figured out why... they were using instruments to train! Daemon rushed in and grabbed a guitar and a bass before they were destroyed. Every Lightmare in the room was in an uproar.
Daemon faced them and shouted, “What do you think you are doing?! Fighting with instruments?! REALLY?!”. Silence befell the crowd for a few moments.
“What is an in-stru-ment?”, one pony asked, forming the word ‘instrument’ awkwardly like she never heard it spoken before. Daemons jaw fell. That must have been why Flara didn’t let him bring his guitar... Lightmares had no idea what music was!
“Well, they aren’t weapons for one! They are used to make music! If you have any more, tell me so I can show you.”, Daemon said, thinking of a way to brighten things up around the gloomy facility. Aura walked to a wall and opened a hidden panel. Behind the panel were all kinds of instruments, maybe even one of every instrument in existence.
“We find these while searching towns on raids. It always struck me as weird that the towns we hit never defended themselves even though they had all these.”, Aura explained. Daemon pulled out a microphone, a set of drums, and a few speakers. Once he set everything up in the fighting ring, he told Ezreal to take the guitar and Aura to take the bass. Just as they got into position, Flara entered the room. It looked like she had just gotten up from a nap. When she looked up, she expected to see a few Lightmares knocking each other senseless, but when she saw what Daemon was doing she was shocked.
‘He is going to teach the others about music?! Is he trying to be found out?!’, Flara thought as she looked up at the improvised stage.
“Hey Flara! You made it just in time! We still need a drummer. Wanna join?”, Daemon asked eagerly. Flara knew this was a bad idea, but she couldn’t say no to the smiling stallion.
“Very well... let’s begin.”.
It took about fifteen minutes for the others to pick up the ‘music’ thing, but once they did, Ezreal and Aura played like professionals. Daemon was soon confident that they would be able to play a real song, and he led them into playing a song that had been taking shape since he had gotten to the Lightmare base. General Lux was looking over a map of Equestria, trying to figure out where the last Shadowmares could have been hiding, when he heard something he hadn’t in centuries... music. He stood up and walked around looking for the source. The sounds that he had been hearing led him to the rec room. Before he opened the double doors the music stopped. Now seemed like the perfect chance to confront the one responsible. He slammed open the doors and a new song started up, as if on cue. {Link 3} The song sounded angry, but the lyrics made it seem tragic. It spoke of the young being born into a world that was falling apart and how the youth of today was staying strong through it all. It looked as though it was a great inspiration to the Lightmares in the crowd. Some of the gold colored ponies even sang along during the chorus near the end. Lux was outraged and wanted to find the one who was making such an atrocity. That’s when he spotted Daemon. As the song ended General Lux marched up to the makeshift stage, obviously upset. The room achieved complete silence as everypony noticed their furious leader.
The grizzled stallion lept up next to Daemon and shouted, “THIS ABOMINATION WILL CEASE AT ONCE! EVERYPONY, GET TO BED NOW! THAT’S AN ORDER!”. Daemon started to sneak away but was caught by a magical field of energy. “EXCEPT YOU! You have been here only one day and already you test my patience! Now, this is your ONLY warning! If I ever catch you doing something like this again, you will wish you were never born! Do I make myself clear?!”.
“C-crystal...”, Daemon said, fearful of the power Lux had yet to show.
Daemon walked back to his room, accompanied by Flara once again. He had a question, but was afraid to ask it. Flara saw that he looked troubled by something.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”.
Daemon knew it was now or never, “I want to ask you something... What were my parents like? And for that matter, how did you meet?”. Flara sighed. She knew this day was going to come sooner or later.
“Well let’s start at the beginning... your parents were the first Shadowmares I met. When I saw them I was only a second class lieutenant. I was scared out of my mind and I was about to open fire, but I saw that your mom was going into labor. In a state of panic I helped her give birth... to you. The moment I saw you and witnessed the love your mother gave you, I knew that Shadowmares weren’t at all like we were told. I heard a knock on the door and answered it. It was a couple of Lightmares asking what I had found. I knew I couldn’t let them kill you, so I lied and told them that there was nothing inside but some old furniture. When your father showed up he was most hospitable, thanking me for what I had done. As life went on we became close friends... I even learned that lullaby from your mother. You remind me much of her. You always bounce back to being cheerful no matter what is thrown at you. As you grew, we became like a family. I would do whatever I could to keep you safe and in return I would learn more about your kind from your father. He was always so kind and thoughtful. After a few years had passed, rumors spread. I was being called a traitor. Even though they had no proof, I needed to keep my secret... and keep you alive. When I told your parents they knew what had to be done. Desemona’s family had recently joined with us and we all agreed on the same conclusion... we had to keep the offspring safe at all costs. I believe you know the rest.”.
This was the first time Daemon had heard this story and he was overcome with emotion. He had been in his bed for the last bit of the story and was currently sitting up, ready to break into tears. Flara gave him a comforting hug.
“This is why Desdemona and I have been so strict with you. She is a little older than you, so she remembers everything. It’s up to you now... you need to buck up and end this. You are our last hope. Do you think you can stay brave until this is over?”, Flara asked, looking Daemon in the eyes. He gave a very serious looking nod, even though he still had tears running down his face. Flara smiled as she said, “Good. We need you now more than ever... and look at the bright side, you will be going back to Ponyville in the morning.”. With that in mind, Daemon cheered up a little and slept peacefully... well, except for the headaches that were increasing in frequency.