//------------------------------//
// Dance With The Devil 
// Story: Strange Bedfellows 
// by BRBrony9 
//------------------------------//

Canterlot was almost a busy, bustling place once again, at least the area around the palace. The human cleanup team had done a good job of sweeping the streets and the exterior and rooftops of several buildings, thus freeing them up for pony use. Some of the civilians had been moved out of the palace and into the newly available structure, freeing up more space inside the palace itself for use by the military, both for accommodation and for the storage of supplies, which could finally be brought up from below ground where they had been in use as emergency equipment. The threat of fallout had passed totally due to the decay of radioactive elements, but much of the city remained contaminated and as a wise precaution, the ponies had been told to stay clear of those areas until they could be given at least a superficial clean by the human crew and their chemical sprays and foams. 

Twilight was happy enough to remain in the palace and its grounds. Though she used to live in the city, she had not spent much time exploring it in the past, as that was when she had been something of a shut-in. Her books and studies had been all she really needed, and they offered her solace when she felt down. They still did, to some extent, but she had since learned of the immense value of friendship. In many ways, Twilight regretted that she had only learned of it after going to Ponyville, and not while she had still been in Canterlot. It was a beautiful city, or had been before the invasion, and it deserved more attention than she had been able to give it back then.

Now, of course, it was no longer in the best shape for accepting visitors or tourists, even if anypony left in Equestria would ever have the appetite for tourism again once this war was over. There would be more important things to worry about, mourning and rebuilding being chief among them. Equestria had been devastated, and while she knew relatively little of the details of what exactly had been going on outside the walls, she had learned enough to know that the destruction was widespread. It was not confined only to the places she had been; Ponyville, Cloudsdale, Griffonstone, Canterlot. Other cities had been affected too, and not just affected, but wiped out, by the sound of it. Such devastation had never been unleashed, so far as she knew, by any other enemy in Equestria's history. Not Discord, not Sombra, not Chrysalis, nor Nightmare Moon, as the latter had thankfully been stopped before her hoped-for eternal night had plunged the world into a freezing famine, with mass starvation due to almost total crop failure.

Twilight had no idea when the destruction and war would end. She hoped it would be soon, but there was no indication that things were yet drawing to a head. At least part of the city had been made inhabitable once more. She could see the area in question from the top of the palace battlements, as she took her walk around the grounds and up along the walls. The beautiful, dreaming spires of the palace itself towered above her, while those of various other buildings, shorter and less ornate, but still impressive, dotted the skyline of the city as she looked out across the rooftops. Maybe one day, all of the buildings she could see would be made livable again, and ponies could start to return in numbers. Assuming there were enough ponies left to even fill the relatively small capital city. Even that was potentially in doubt, given the almost universal death and destruction visited upon them by the enemy. At least the Changelings had fled; not far enough for her liking, but somewhere beyond the sea, to the other continent, perhaps to terrorise the Zebras instead, or perhaps to regroup, bide their time, plan another attack on the palace, with their whole army, and with the capital's defences still in relative disarray. An understrength garrison, potentially already infiltrated by Changelings, low on supplies and with parts of the city still uninhabitable would make for a ripe target for Chrysalis and her minions.

Twilight had never truly hated anyone or anything before, but she knew now deep down inside her that she hated the Changelings. She hated their Queen. Not just because they had imprisoned her and stolen her Element, but because ultimately she had accepted Spitfire and Luna's argument that the deaths of ponies during the attack on the Hive had not been down to Twilight, but rather down to the Changelings themselves. Even faced with a threat from beyond the stars, Chrysalis had not been moved to fight against it, as the Griffons, erstwhile enemies of Equestria, had done. Nor had they remained seemingly neutral, like the Zebras. The Changelings had continued their grudge match against ponies, against Celestia, against Equestria, even as a new enemy with the power to destroy all life on the planet had come calling. Though Chrysalis had tried to explain her reasons to Twilight during her captivity, the young mare had not cared to hear it. No excuse could justify what the Changelings had tried to do, not in her mind. Others, such as Nightmare Moon, had been reformed by the power of the Elements, and perhaps that was why Chrysalis had stolen one, to prevent such a tactic being used on her; rather than fearing death or imprisonment as a result of the elemental power they wielded, perhaps Chrysalis feared being reformed most of all? Then again, that was a justified fear in a way, because using the Elements in that manner was really more akin to forced brainwashing, in a category with various spells that were outlawed due to their similar effects, not quite dark or black magic, but not far off. 

Despite Twilight's opposition to such magic, at least in general and on principal, she found herself half wishing that they could, some day in the future, use the Elements on Chrysalis for just such a purpose. If that was her fear, then she should suffer through it, a fate worse than death for an unrepentant mass murderer. On the other hoof, if the Elements killed her, then Twilight would certainly feel a kind of grim satisfaction at seeing her new foe dead, and that was a feeling that disturbed her. To want to reform a creature was one thing, borne of good will and moral principle. But to want them to die, to actively wish that they would burn or bleed or scream for mercy, was a concept entirely alien to Twilight. She was starting to get some kind of sense into Princess Celestia's thought process when she had issued the orders that the Chaos prisoners should be executed, and she did not think that she liked the feeling at all.

The Imperial fleet was still in orbit. Chrysalis's plan, so far as she had relayed it to Twilight, involved getting aboard their ships and casting off for pastures new, elsewhere in the galaxy. Part of Twilight hoped they would go, ridding Equestria of the Changeling menace once and for all. But another part wanted her dealt with here and now, and still another part feared that the Queen's plan could somehow contrive to come true, spreading across the heavens, far and wide across the galaxy, conquering it all. 

Twilight wished she could be spending her spare time watching the Imperial ships, studying the craft as they floated in space high above. What marvels of technology they must be. to travel between the stars with such relative ease. Twilight considered herself a well-educated and smart pony, and rather scientific for such a powerful unicorn, but she found herself pretty much at a loss to explain exactly how those ships could accomplish such feats of endurance, speed and, above all, size. Surely something as big as the ships she had seen through her telescope could only have been built actually in space, otherwise there would be no way to lift something to bulky out of a planet's gravity well, and...

That was it! The telescope! Not hers, but Princess Luna's. She had used it, on the first day, or maybe the second, of the invasion, to look at the ships in orbit. If it had survived the enemy occupation, she could use it again, make notes, so many notes. It might provide some useful information that would come in handy in the future, or at the very least, it would keep her busy, instead of letting her thoughts dwell on the bad things that her mind had been filled with of late.

Twilight trotted down from the palace walls and back to the building itself. Luna's quarters were up in the Lunar Tower, which was where the telescope was located. It was a fair climb up the staircase, and Twilight was tired once she reached the top, perhaps exerting herself a little more than she should have. There, she found two members of the Night Guard, Luna's personal protection force, clad in armour of dark purple and blue.

'Is the Princess in her quarters?' Twilight asked, somewhat breathless from the climb.

'No, ma'am,' one of the guards replied. 'She is in the throne room.'

Twilight was disappointed, but she wanted to get Luna's permission and not simply barge into her quarters, even assuming the guards would have let her do so. She headed back down again, making several stops to catch her breath on the way, and wandered through the palace to the throne room itself.

There, she found Princess Luna, seated, oddly, on Celestia's throne. Though the two sisters were theoretically co-regents, it was universally acknowledged that Celestia was the senior of the two, and if it came down to it, would be the one to take command, which was why she had been the one in charge of negotiations with the Imperium, the military response to the invasion, and the raid on the Changeling Hive. Luna usually acted as her deputy, taking control when her sister was away on business or some royal visit.

'Princess Luna!' Twilight greeted her with a smile, as the guards allowed her passage into the throne room itself. 

'Twilight,' Luna replied with a nod. 'Is something the matter?'

'No, Princess. Actually, I was just wondering if I could use your telescope. You know, the one you showed me before? If it's still working. I had completely forgotten about it, but it's such a beautiful design and I was just thinking about how I could use it to observe the human starships and maybe learn something about them, how they work...that kind of thing!' Twilight explained breezily, feeling more purpose in her mind than she had since she had been taken by the Changelings. Here was something that she could do, something that might be useful. She could help out again, use her scientific knowledge, such as it was, for the greater good. She was no expert physicist, but she had a good grasp of a wide variety of scientific and technical subjects, with one of her specialties being astronomy. Not quite starship-gazing, but not far off, and...

Luna interrupted her rambling train of thought. 'My telescope? Yes, it is still intact, by some miracle. Perhaps the Chaos troops never bothered to climb all those steps. You may of course make use of it any time you wish, Twilight.'

'Thank you, Princess!' Twilight smiled. It seemed like the first time in ages she had done so, though she was sure she must have when she was reunited with her family or her friends. 'I don't know if I can discover anything that will be of value, but...maybe! I mean, there's always a chance.'

Luna nodded. 'Indeed. There is always a chance.'

'Where, uh...where is Princess Celestia?' Twilight asked. If she had not been told otherwise by the Night Guard, and she had just visited the throne room on the off chance, then she would have expected to see Celestia on the throne, and not Luna. 

'She...has gone to Fillydelphia,' Luna answered her query, after a moment's hesitation.

'Oh...to supervise?' Twilight asked. 'To see how the attack is going?'

'No, Twilight,' Luna replied simply. 'She has gone to fight.'




The incandescent beam of magic struck the Daemon bodily. Or at least, it would have done, if not for an almost imperceptible movement of the beast's staff, which resulted in some kind of shield suddenly leaping forth from the crystal at its tip. The magical blast struck the shield bodily, a loud crack ringing out over the city and the surrounding countryside. It did not penetrate the shield, and the Daemon quickly leaped into action, retaliating against Celestia, its staff flashing as it released a blaze of death, a stinging retribution aiming to burn the pony princess. A golden orb surrounded her, and protected her as well as the Daemon's staff had done. The flames played across its surface, but Celestia suddenly teleported away, appearing behind the Daemon and firing another shot from her horn, a powerful blast that would puncture any substance known to either ponykind, or mankind. Again, the Daemon's shield protected it from any harm.

'Impressive...' it muttered, seemingly as keen to analyse Celestia's power and her attacks as it was to avoid them and carry out its orders. The opening exchanges of the battle had taught it much about the Princesses' strength, agility and defences, and it clearly found what it saw to be worthy of some amount of respect, however little that might mean to Celestia. 'Hm, perhaps it would be a good idea not to kill you. I am sure you would make a fine addition to Lord Tzeentch's throng. After all, who says that a pony cannot work for Chaos?'

'I do,' Celestia replied firmly. 'We have fought your kind before and we will continue to do so, as long as you threaten our homes and our lives.'

'Ah yes, the one you refer to as Discord.' Malaranth nodded. 'A most curious case, it has to be said. He is not one of us, not in the strictest sense. In possession of great power, very great power indeed, but not the desire to use it in the correct way. He is not born from the Immaterium as I am. In fact, his true origins seem to be one of the few secrets in the universe unknown even to Lord Tzeentch. Nevertheless, his power and potential was recognised long ago. Many offers have been made over the years; position, title, power, wealth, whatever he may desire. Yet he has never accepted any of them. It seems that Discord wishes to remain a true enigma, neither directly helping nor hindering Lord Tzeentch. And that, in a way, is more pleasing to my Lord than any aid which Discord could give. After all, what is more unpredictable than unpredictability itself?'

Celestia had, after encountering this Daemon and being told about its nature, imagined that Discord was most likely descended from the same species, if that was the right term for these alien creatures from another dimension. To be told otherwise was something of a surprise, and to learn that Discord was as confusing to the enemy as he was to the inhabitants of Equestria was oddly reassuring. It might also go some way toward explaining Discord's notable absence since before the invasion. Perhaps he had sensed something coming and wanted nothing to do with the Chaos forces who had apparently made him various offers down the years. Perhaps he was trying to truly be neutral in this particular struggle, as unlikely as that might sound. But the Daemon had a point; Discord did not seem to do the things he did on behalf of anyone else. He seemed to operate entirely based upon whatever he felt like doing on any given day, which could vary wildly from changing some flowers into flowers of a different colour for no real reason, or overthrowing Equestria on a whim.  

'If that is so, then perhaps you will not mind being defeated in a similar way to Discord,' Celestia replied to the Daemon's story. 'I will be happy to send you back to wherever it is that you came here from.'

'We shall see,' Malaranth answered with a chuckle. A flash of light from its staff made Celestia teleport away, but this time it was not a direct attack. Instead, she found herself surrounded by vapour, a thick fog forming from nowhere. It was like flying through a cloud, and with a similar reduction in visibility. Celestia found herself looking around for any sign of the enemy, but seeing nothing with her eyes. She turned to her magic instead, an instantaneous spell being cast and showing her the auras of any living creature nearby. There were some humans below, enemies no doubt, somewhere within the bounds of the city they were occupying. Tiny pinpricks of light denoted rats or flies or other inconsequential creatures below. Ah, there it was, the large silhouette, glowing unmistakably. She readied another magical blast at the tip of her horn, but instead of hurling it across the sky, she teleported it next to the Daemon, where it detonated into a fireball.

She flew up higher, after a few seconds breaking through the cloud layer and into the open, bright rays of light from her sun streaming down upon her in the clear, late morning sky. A moment later, there too was the Daemon, lightning fast reflexes having evidently allowed it to escape from the teleported magic bomb in the split second before detonation. Its feathered wings flapped powerfully as it drew level in altitude with her.

'Very clever, Princess, very good indeed,' it said, once again throwing praise instead of insults. 'But still a little simplistic, no?'

Celestia did not bother to reply to him, instead teleporting another magical bomb right beside the Daemon, which detonated immediately, blasting raw energy across the sky. Somehow it escaped again, its form now shimmering, like light reflecting from the surface of a lake, somewhat similar to the effect present in Celestia's mane and tail. 'Lightning never strikes twice, they say,' Malaranth laughed, though Celestia's repeated attack had nearly caught it off guard. Whitish-blue arcs of psychic energy, like electricity, crackled from its suddenly outstretched left claw, leaping and dancing through the air, propagating at a breakneck pace toward Celestia. She responded with her own, golden lightning, and the heavens rang with the sound of duelling thunder.

Those on the ground watched on in awe and terror. The Chaos infantry in Fillydelphia did their best to take shelter, as many of them were directly below the action in the sky. The Imperial ground forces, though miles outside of the city, could see the battle clearly through their scopes, and they were afraid. Though this pony Princess was supposedly on their side, here she was going toe to toe against a Daemon of such forbidding psychic power that its mere presence was enough to drive men insane, and from what they could see it was an even contest. If she lost, if she died, then the Daemon would have free reign to turn its gaze onto them. But if she won, then she would be free to do the same, and if she chose that course, then who could stand against her?

Most of the men still hoped for the Princess to be victorious, however. What came after would remain to be seen, but nothing could be worse than allowing a Chaos victory. A Daemon like that had to be exterminated at any cost, and most likely, Exterminatus would result if they could not destroy it through any other means. A heavy bombardment from orbit by cyclonic torpedoes and mass drivers, virus bombs to turn all organic matter into a kind of soup, before being ignited in a global firestorm. Destruction of the entire biosphere, all life on the planet snuffed out in a matter of minutes. It might not even kill the Daemon, but it would deny Chaos their thrall over the planet's inhabitants, a merciful end, many would say, for the strange Xenos creatures that lived here. A quick death was preferable to a lifetime of suffering and horror living under the rule of the Archenemy.  

For some of the men, those from more traditionally superstitious home worlds or those who had simply never seen such power wielded by a creature that was friendly, at least for now, it was a more symbolic experience. The Princess resembled a messianic archetype, an avenging angel striking from the heavens to engage in the almighty struggle with the Daemonic, come to save them all, offering salvation where no other could. Those among them who had seen her fight before were not surprised, and those who had been feeling the strange calmness and serenity since landing on the planet felt there had to be some connection; not only because of the visual symbolism, but because those feelings only seemed stronger when the Princess was present, even at such a distance. That, surely, could not be a coincidence. The men watched on from their defensive positions, hoping for success, for the death of the Daemon. None of them were in any doubt that it would not go down easily, if it went down at all, but if anyone could destroy it, it seemed that the Princess was the most likely candidate. 

The dueling lightning played across the sky, a stalemate, with neither the Daemon or the Princess able to achieve a breakthrough. Malaranth was the first to cut it off, and he quickly teleported away. It seemed that he had not reappeared, but then suddenly a beam of dark light erupted from the river below. Celestia dodged to the side, swooping down, using her wings to carry her onward as the psychic shot missed her and raced away into the stratosphere. Her horn glowed for a few seconds, and suddenly the area of the river around the location of the shot was bubbling, steaming, boiling like a kettle, in the hope of roasting the Daemon alive. It was not to be, as Malaranth was gone, reappearing in the sky. To the observers on the ground, the Daemon now looked like a hideous vision of death, all contorted fangs and corpse-like, sagging skin, a horrific sight to behold.

To the Princess, it looked the same as ever, still in its true form, feathery wings flapping steadily. Its staff flashed and out of nowhere, there was a hole in the sky, some kind of orifice in reality itself. Like water going down a plughole, the air around the opening began to be rapidly drawn in, a vacuum-like effect sucking up everything around the gash in the sky. Celestia felt herself being pulled quickly back toward it, and in the blink of an eye she was gone, teleporting to safety, well clear of the opening. A powerful blast from her horn sealed the hole shut, like cauterising a wound.

Malaranth was not content, and with a flick of his staff, another tear in reality was created near to Celestia. This time, instead of everything being sucked in, something began to come out. Daemons, dozens of them, much smaller than Malaranth but evidently summoned by his command, or perhaps just drawn to the opening in their world by natural curiosity. What lay beyond the opening was a vision of hell, swirling energies and unnatural warp fire blazing brightly, searing the eyes of any man who dared look at it, even from twenty miles distant.

The smaller Daemons, a mixture of bizarre flying discs and winged manta ray-esque creature with a multitude of horns. As each one emerged into realspace, they hurled themselves at the Princess with gay abandon, seemingly uncaring for their own safety. Celestia had to back up a little, using her wings, but she was able to start striking them down almost immediately, rapid blasts of magic and flashes of golden lightning killing the horrors by the score as they burst free and lunged at her.

But her attentions could only be in so many places at once, and she could not fight off hundreds of lesser Daemons and still keep track of Malaranth. The Greater Daemon changed position, getting behind the Princess. Its staff flashed, and suddenly the sky around Celestia was burning.