Chapter 13: Happy What?
For the first time ever, Daemon was actually woken up by Fluttershy.
She nudged him softly while whispering, “wake up please... I would like you to wake up now, if that’s okay with you...”.
After Daemon woke up he just acted like he was still asleep, keeping one eye cracked open, while slowly snaking his arm around the unexpecting mare.
When his arm was nearly all the way around her back, he quickly flipped her over onto the other side of the bed and yelled, “Gotcha!”, causing her to let out a startled squeak. Daemon proceeded to give Fluttershy a noogie despite her giggly protests. Fluttershy was eventually saved by Desdemona who had walked in on the touching scene and cleared her throat to get their attention.
“If it’s all the same to you, I would like to get this over with now.”, she said with her usual scowl. Daemon let go of Fluttershy and got off the bed.
“Get what over with?” Daemon asked, raising an eyebrow.
Desdemona groaned and muttered something about ‘why she even bothered to stay around mentally deficient morons’ and stormed out the door.
Fluttershy explained on Desdemona’s behalf, “the spa date we had scheduled last night, remember?”. A smirk formed on Daemon’s face.
“Spa... Date?”, the stallion said flexing his brow twice after saying ‘date’.
Fluttershy sat there thinking about that statement for a few moments, allowing the gears in her head to start turning.
Suddenly her eyes bulged and her face blushed, “Oh no no no no! I didn't mean it like that! I just meant appointment and-”. Daemon let out roaring laughter and fell to the floor clutching his stomach while the yellow pegasus continued to blush and giggle nervously.
The three ponies made their way to the spa, barely making the appointment time. When they entered they were greeted by two nearly identical mares (twins most likely). The only thing that separated them was their reversed coloration. The one with the blue coat and pink mane zipped up beside Daemon.
“Hello! I’m Lotus and that’s my sister Aloe!”, she said pointing over to the pink coated pony who had somehow rushed by Desdemona without any of them noticing.
“Oh my goodness! Look at your coats! They must be filthy!”, Aloe said, closely examining Desdemona’s short, dark magenta fur.
Desdemona responded by first glaring at the overly enthusiastic mare and stating in an upset tone, “For your information, Shadowmares are born with their murky coat! It’s a birthright, not a bathing problem!”. Aloe made tensely made her way over to her sister, making sure to keep her distance from the hot-tempered mare. The two whispered back and forth while occasionally looking over to Desdemona. It was apparent that they were trying to decide who would have the privilege to tend to her while the Shadowmares were going through the extensive treatment. Fluttershy walked over to Desdemona while the two were ‘debating’.
“Um... Desdemona?” Fluttershy said tilting her head.
“What?” Desdemona responded apathetically.
“Well, I was thinking that if you were a little nicer to everypony, they wouldn’t be so scared to help you... I’m sorry if that sounded harsh.”. Desdemona looked at the ground and thought about Fluttershy’s words.
When Fluttershy turned around and started to walk away Desdemona spoke up, “Um... how do you act nice? I can’t remember ever doing something like that to anypony. We were always by ourselves. I never needed to be nice to anypony and I... I never got a chance to practice.”.
Fluttershy gave a little laugh and said, “you don’t practice being nice, you just are! Remember to not insult ponies or glare at them and you will be fine. Try to smile too, that helps.”.
Fluttershy left the Shadowmares in the care of the spa sisters. They finally made up their minds and decided to switch customers after each treatment. First on the list was the deep tissue massage, which the two sisters could easily tell was well overdue from the tense and knotted muscles of the Shadowmares. As Aloe and Lotus worked out all the stress built up in their clients, Desdemona and Daemon had nothing else to do but lay there and talk. Desdemona started the conversation,
“Hey Daemon. Do you remember Princess Luna?”.
“Yeah. She was the one who took me to the castle, right?”, Daemon replied.
“Well it turns out that she was Nightmare Moon at one point... but she wasn’t like we thought. From what I hear, she was evil and would have done nothing to help us after all. In short, we came all this way for nothing! Isn’t that funny?”, Desdemona said, snickering. Daemon just looked at her like she had finally lost it.
Daemon had been thinking of what they could do to increase their chances of winning against the Lightmare Legion when an idea popped into his head.
“Hey! Why don’t we get Princess Celestia to help? She must be powerful enough to beat them!”.
Desdemona sighed, “She might be able to, but if she can’t, then that would be a real disaster. If she died the ponies of this land would be thrown into chaos. Even though Luna could take Celestia’s place on the throne, she has been gone for a thousand years and she wouldn’t be able to run Equestria like her sister. Princess Celestia can not die for our problems... she is of too much importance.”.
Daemon never heard Desdemona call anypony else ‘important’ before. Normally it seemed as if she cared of only those who were Shadowmares... everypony else was of no real use. However, now it looked like she cared just as much about every other race as her own.
After the massage was done, they went to the sauna.
Daemon was the first to go in. “Is this it? I guess it’s okay, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sweat with such a low temperature”, he said looking through the plexi-glass door separating them.
Lotus was baffled. The thermometer already said it was 187 degrees inside. Most ponies would pass out instantly in such extreme conditions, but Daemon didn’t even show one drop of perspiration! Desdemona laughed at the flabbergasted mare.
“Our kind are used to high amounts of heat. Shadowmares would stay within hostile living conditions to avoid being found. Over three millennia, staying by such things made us adapt to feel at ease in all kinds of weather. It’s just genetic assimilation at work, but unless you think you can go beyond the temperatures found in lava fields, I suggest we move on.”.
The three ponies walked away, forgetting that Daemon was inside until he started shouting. Aloe went back to fetch Daemon, while Lotus tried to convince Desdemona to proceed with step three of the deluxe therapy. Desdemona was not pleased with this next treatment.
“There is no way I’m getting in that...” the revolted mare said, staring down at what awaited her.
“It’s just a mud bath! It’s good for you, trust me! If you get in I’ll give you extra complimentary chocolates.” Lotus said, giving encouraging jabs with her elbow.
“Chocolate? I’ve never had such a thing. Why should I want it?”, Desdemona asked.
“Because it’s like the best candy ever! I love chocolate!”, Daemon said before doing a cannonball into the muck.
Desdemona wiped the mud off her face revealing a very upset look.
She sighed, “Very well I’ll try this... chocolate, but I still don’t see the point in getting in this when the idea is to get clean.”.
After Desdemona slid her way into the filth, she was presented with a bowl full of brown cubes. She hesitantly took one out and placed it in her mouth. Once the confection touched her taste buds, she couldn’t believe the amazing flavor she was experiencing. It was the best thing she ever had. It was rich, creamy, and a taste all its own. There was no way to describe it, but she felt... good. Better than good; she felt amazing.
“HOLY CRAP! WHAT’S IN THIS STUFF?!”, Desdemona shouted, desperate to find out how they made something so delicious.
“It’s just chocolate... there isn’t any other ingredients. How could you live without ever tasting chocolate before?”, Aloe asked.
“One word: Shadowmare.”, Desdemona retorted.
After Desdemona finished her bowl of chocolate, the final step of the treatment was ready for them. It was a hydro-therapeutic bath, complete with several stages of healing processes. It would take an hour to finish the bath, so Desdemona asked for more chocolate to help the wait. Daemon was okay with relaxing in the water without any sort of activity.
As the clock ticked by, Daemons thoughts turned to Fluttershy and how thoughtful she was when she decided to take him to the spa, but then something suddenly occurred to Daemon... he didn’t have anything to pay!
His eyes shot open and he jumped up. “Oh damn! We don’t have money to pay for all this!”, he shouted, causing Lotus to drop some towels out of surprise.
Lotus took a few moments to settle down before explaining that Fluttershy had already paid the forty bit fee. Daemon slouched back down in the tub.
‘Fluttershy paid for us out of her own pocket? And forty bits?! That’s crazy! I have to make it up to her somehow.’ Daemon thought, almost completely submerged in the soothing waters. It didn’t take too much longer for the spa visit to reach its conclusion. Daemon and Desdemona didn’t notice at first, but after they got a chance to stretch their wings and move around a bit outside they realised that every movement felt effortless and smooth. They had no more pain or discomfort. Desdemona felt like she could take on anypony and Daemon felt as if he had the weight of the world taken off his shoulders. The two rejuvenated Shadowmares were feeling better then they had in years... and Desdemona was actually feeling happy.
While they were flipping around in the air, testing out their revitalised bodies, Fluttershy was trotting towards them. Daemon spotted her and swooped down, landing gently to greet her.
“So how was your time at the spa?”, Fluttershy asked, already sure that the feedback was going to be positive.
“Well it was pretty boring... but man do I feel great! It’s like gravity just vanished! For example, look what I can do!”, Daemon said, suspended upside down, balancing on his front right hoof. Fluttershy giggled at Daemons acrobatic stunt.
“Well that’s nice, but what should we do now?”. Daemon thought that there was only one way to repay her.
“Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner!”, Daemon shouted excitedly.
“NO! If we go now that will ruin your sur-”, Fluttershy covered her mouth, stopping whatever she was about to say. Desdemona grew suspicious of Fluttershys behavior and wanted to find out what she knew, but she was too busy eating Daemons share of spa chocolates.
“Well, okay... I guess we could fly around a bit. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you fly more than a foot off the ground... it doesn’t look like there’s anything wrong with your wings.” Daemon said, holding his chin and inspecting Fluttershys wings. Fluttershy backed way with her ears down.
“I don’t fly because I’m not very good at it. I’ve always been, um... a weak flier. Anyways I could say the same about you. I hardly ever see you fly, and you’re good at it!”.
“That’s because you can’t get to know anypony if you’re always zipping around above them! I like to take things slow, but it would be nice to cruise around through the clouds with you... Hey! That’s what I’ll do! I’ll teach you some flying techniques! You will be a professional in no time!”, Daemon said grabbing her hoof.
The ecstatic stallion dragged Fluttershy to a field and instructed her to fly straight up. At every cloud they passed, Fluttershy would stop and ask Daemon if they were done; Daemon would say no; they would continue ascending and the process would repeat. It took a while but Daemon finally stopped at the top cloud layer of the atmosphere. He told Fluttershy to wait until she regained her breath before they would continue. After Fluttershy said she was ready Daemon told her to fly up even more. He was by her every inch she flew and that gave her the courage to press on, even though she would have been scared stiff over half an hour ago. Fluttershy had flown higher than she thought was possible, and she began to feel a breeze... which quickly turned into a powerful yet very stable wind.
Daemon smiled and said, “Fluttershy... I welcome you to the Quick-Stream! Here you can glide on the wind and go anywhere at a tremendous speed! Think of it as the ultimate highway! Ha ha, I made a joke.”.
Daemon continued to instruct her on how to fly using the Quick-Stream the same way Flara taught him. It took Fluttershy a little while to get the hang of it, but the important thing was she was having fun. Fluttershy was soon tired and wanted to go back down, so Daemon told her to carefully glide down, making sure not to go too fast. It started out well enough as Fluttershy got to the top cloud layer in a few moments, but as soon as she started to go further down Daemon noticed something was off. Fluttershy was gaining way too much speed! The cause... she had snapped her wings shut out of fear. Daemon tried to catch up but at the rate she was falling he would never make it in time.
‘I have to time this just right!’ Daemon thought as he poised himself for his trademark technique. Daemon shot down, accelerating until he created a Sonic Fireboom. The flames surrounding him were too hot to catch Fluttershy, so he had to do something very risky. Before hitting the ground, Daemon curved sharply leveling himself out a few inches from the earth below. Right before reaching the spot where Fluttershy was about to hit the ground, he ceased the Sonic Fireboom, slowing dramatically and positioning himself right under the mare in peril. Daemon flipped to face skyward and he reached out with both arms {Link 1}. Daemon had just barely made the catch. Fluttershy had fainted from the shock. Her stallion savior was grinding against the ground from the momentum until he hit a tree and fell into unconsciousness himself. {Link 2}
A few moments after the fall Fluttershy awoke to find herself in the arms of Daemon. He was out cold, but Fluttershy didn’t need him to tell her what happened. She would have died if it wasn’t for him. A gentle breeze was blowing.
As Daemon rested beneath the shade of the tree, Fluttershy couldn’t stop thinking, ‘He looks so peaceful. In this light, he actually looks kind of... cute.’. She leaned in close. Her heart was racing but she didn’t even notice as her lips approached his. Suddenly she heard a familiar shout about a hundred feet away and jumped, startled at the interruption.
“What are you guys doing way out here?!”. It was Desdemona. Fluttershy exhaled and calmed herself. “We were flying, but I almost fell and then Daemon...”,
“Knocked himself out?” Desdemona said, finishing Fluttershys sentence. Fluttershy nodded weakly, hoping that Desdemona wouldn’t notice her blushing.
Desdemona sighed and rolled her eyes, “Typical... Don’t worry, I got this.”.
Desdemona moved carefully up to Daemon and put her mouth next to her ear. Fluttershy covered her ears expecting Desdemona to yell at the top of her lungs, but instead the deep magenta Shadowmare whispered something. Daemon quickly popped his head up with his eyes wide open.
“Candy?! Where?!”, Daemon asked frantically searching his surroundings. Both mares started to giggle at the clueless stallion.
The group of three headed to Sugarcube corner next. For some strange reason Fluttershy had insisted they go. What struck Desdemona as weird was that Fluttershy had never been so dead set on something before, but she was in a good mood today so she decided to let it slide without asking questions.
Upon arrival the shop looked closed. The lights were all off and the curtains inside were shut. Fluttershy knocked on the door and it opened. She then gave Daemon the ‘after you’ gesture and allowed him to walk inside. It was pitch black inside and it seemed like there was nopony around as things were dead silent. Daemon was feeling really scared by this point. The seemingly empty bakery was giving Daemon ‘Discord flashbacks’. Fluttershy and Desdemona walked in and shut the door behind them. As soon as the lock clicked the lights turned on.
Daemon jumped out of his skin when all his friends popped out and yelled, “SURPRISE!”.
“Ah! We’re under attack! Hit the deck!”, Daemon said as he flew under a nearby table.
Twilight peered under the table and said, “Uh... Happy Birthday?”.
“Happy what?” Daemon asked, coming out from under the table. All the ponies in the room (except Daemon and Desdemona) were shocked.
“How could you not know what a birthday party is?!”, Pinkie asked, mouth agape.
“Because this is the first time the Shadowmare race has had a chance to celebrate one in many generations. They have never had the opportunity to stop and celebrate the day of their birth with all the hiding they have had to do... not to mention they never had any supplies to do such a thing.”, Flara explained.
After everypony knew why Daemon and Desdemona were confused as to what a birthday party was, they tried to explain it to the startled Shadowmares.
After they were done explaining, Daemon asked, “What am I supposed to do at my ‘birthday party’? Do I play music? Buck apple trees? Help make cupcakes?”.
As soon as Daemon mentioned helping to cook something and started heading for the kitchen, everypony shouted, “NO!”. Rarity walked up to him, gave a nervous laugh and tried to make up for her unladylike outburst with the others moments before.
“You don’t work on your birthday. It’s a day about you. Everypony is here to celebrate the fact that you exist. You can do anything you want... and we've got the music covered”, Rarity said, pointing over to Vinyl Scratch by some turntables in the corner. The DJ pony was currently telling Desdemona that they could be sisters (because they shared the same hairstyle).
As the party went on Daemon started to enjoy himself. He liked the fact that he got gifts, even if he didn’t know why it was tradition to get them. Flara kept a close watch on him and made sure he didn’t eat too many sweets. When the party started to conclude, Daemon thought that it would be fun to play a few songs and give his DJ friend a rest. The band that Daemon made in the Lightmare base went back to their original instruments and started to play.
After about fifteen minutes, Daemon noticed that Desdemona looked kind of sad as she sat in the back staring into her drink, not paying any attention to the music (or anything really).
Daemon walked over by Desdemon after his song was done and said, “I’m done... your turn now!”. Desdemona looked up at him surprised then shook her head and arms in a vigorous ‘no’
fashion.
“Oh come on! I know that you wanna do it!”. “No, really! Singing is your thing! I don’t want to!”, Desdemona said, dismissing Daemons advances.
Daemon then started to lead the others in a chant, “Dez... Dez. Dez! Dez!”. Desdemona bitterly snatched the microphone from Daemons grasp.
“I’m gonna get you all back for this later...”, the Shadowmare growled as she approached the stage.
{Link 3} Aura started the song, making a smooth rhythm on his bass. Ezreal and Flara joined in later, giving the song more of a hard rock vibe. The lights dimmed and the multicolored spotlights shown on Desdemona. She closed her eyes and inhaled getting ready to sing {Link 4}. As soon as the moment hit her just right she let the music flow through her lips. Nopony could believe it... she had the voice of an angel. Her lyrics were obviously meant for Daemon but contrary to the hardcore sound of the music, her words were kind and inspirational. She made the group of ponies in front of her stare in disbelief at her tribute to Daemon. She sang that Daemon was not wrong for being different, but infact he was better because he was different. Desemona also made it clear that Daemon should stop apologizing for being himself. When Desdemonas song ended, nopony knew what to say. The demonic mares ears fell.
“Was I really that bad?”, she asked. Everypony ran up to her at once and gave
her a group hug.
“Argh! What are you all doing?! Knock it off! …DAMN IT! GET THE HELL OFF ME!”, Desdemona shouted in building rage.
Everypony yelled “No!”, and continued to laugh while hugging her.
After the party was over, Fluttershy was walking home with Daemon and Desdemona.
“That was fun! When do I get another birthday party?” Daemon asked, grinning.
“In a year...” Fluttershy answered. Daemons head fell in sadness.
“Don’t worry. A year will fly by before you know it... and by the way, I would have never guessed that I was actually a year older than you!” Fluttershy said as they reached the front door.
The three ponies went to sleep rather early because Fluttershy was going to take Desdemona to the chocolate factory in the morning. Little did they know they were being watched all day by a dark and sinister creature...