The Legend of a Shadowmare 2: Journey for Firefly

by JasontheDemon

Concert of Lies

For Firefly, the past four days were the hardest of her young life. Not only was she friendless, with the exception of Pumpkin and Pound, her dad was spending most of his time practicing with uncle Ez and Aura. School was excruciating, not because it was difficult... she was actually very smart for her age and had no problem acing any test or quiz. Her problem with school was her loneliness. Recess had just become depressing since nopony wanted to play with her. Firefly decided to pass the time by hanging around under a tree... for some odd reason the shade made her feel nice recently. Daemon was almost set to get the show on the road. He told Flara that he needed her ASAP. He didn’t tell her why because of the orders he was sent, but Daemon made sure she was coming. Ezreal was napping in the chariot and let Aura carry all of the equipment. Daemon told the smaller than average Lightmare that he can’t simply expect Aura to do all the work while he slacks off. His response was, “Come on, he loves doing everything... don’tcha big guy?”. Aura didn’t reply, he just gave a low grunt and a hard glare towards Ez. Aura and Ezreal were best friends even if they didn’t always see eye to eye. They were actually polar opposites in nearly every way. Ezreal was loud, aggressive, rude, and energetic (most of the time). Aura on the other hand was soft spoken (or nearly mute to be more precise), passive to a fault, polite, and had a deep calmness about him. How they managed to stay friends while being so different was anypony’s guess. Daemon was somewhere in the middle of the two and yet he was completely different altogether. It was hard to describe who he was, but Fluttershy could sum it up in one word... Daemon. Just when you thought you knew him, Daemon would surprise you by doing something astounding and unbelievable. One minute you would believe him to be a total moron who never saw anything coming. The next minute he would be facing off against a hydra, dodging it’s every move, practically playing with it... just to defend one pony. His unconditional caring heart made him completely unpredictable and his natural physical ability caused him to be a marvel to behold. He had so much power held within him, but he rarely used it.

While Daemon was heading through town that day he noticed a mare was following him. He had seen this mare before, but she only arrived recently. In the few days that she had been in Ponyville, Daemon had seen her staring at him with more speechlessness than fear. She would just stare at him with her mouth slightly open as he walked by. She was a unicorn with a black coat, a teal mane and tail that looked like it was made of some sort of webbing, and she had vibrant green eyes. Daemon had just about enough of her gawking at him and decided to end it. He walked down an alleyway then took a few turns at random. Before the mare knew what happened, she lost him after turning around a corner. Once again her efforts to talk to him were in vain... or at least that was what she thought until Daemon dropped down from behind her. He had propped himself up against the walls of the narrow alleyway after making that last turn. The mare didn’t seem shocked at all. Infact she looked like she was about to say ‘well done, that was clever’ by her expression.

“Okay, what do you want?! You have been looking at me like I saved your life since you got here but you never said a word! Out with it! Who are you and what’s your deal?!” Daemon said, wanting to get to the bottom of his ‘stalkers’ reasoning.

The mare looked at him like he was insane but then smacked her forehead, “Oh yes, please forgive me, sometimes I forget that I’m in this form. Perhaps this will jog your memory... just don’t jump to conclusions when I do this, agreed?”.

With that the mare’s horn and eyes started to glow with a bright green color. Flames started to engulf her hoof and travel down the length of it to reveal a sleek and shiny exoskeleton filled with holes!

“Remember me now?” She asked with an uneasy smile.

Daemons face deadpanned. “Yeah... so you haven’t been getting in any trouble, have you... Chrysalis?”.

Chrysalis disguised her hoof once again before sighing sadly. “No. I have been trying to find one who will love me as I am as you suggested, and even though I have managed to make some genuine friends with my current form... nobody is willing to stay once I reveal my true self. After I show who I really am they always react the same way and I must erase their memory.”

Daemon chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve been there... well except for the memory erasing part. So are you still stealing love?”

“I have no need to anymore! That is why I came to this hovel of a town, I wish to thank you! Since gaining friends, I can just absorb the feelings that fall off of them. No one needs to get hurt, and I get a feast. It’s a remarkably efficient way of doing things... I even need to restrain myself from overindulging around the holiday known as Hearth’s Warming! Can you believe it? I need to hold back! Ha ha ha!”

Daemon smiled, “That’s good to know. So what about the other Changelings? Are they doing this well too?”.

As soon as the Shadowmare mentioned the other Changelings, Chrysalis’ happy expression died. “They no longer consider me fit to be queen. They said that my proposal to change our ways was a sign of weakness so they went their separate ways in the delusion that they could become more powerful without me... the fools will all soon die because of their choices. I have already heard of many Changelings that were found dead from starvation. But it was of their own doing that killed them, not mine, so I feel nothing for their passing.”

“Oookaaay... remind me never to cross you. Well this has been fun, but I gotta go and get ready for the concert tonight. See ya later Chrysalis!” Daemon shouted flying off to Raritys to get the bands matching black jackets.

“OH, BEFORE I FORGET, CALL ME CHRYS!”, Chrysalis shouted after Daemon.

Flara was on her way to see Daemon. He said it was urgent that he see her right away... in his words ‘I need to see you right now! It’s like super mega ultra important!’. His demand was one of the few things that could drag her away from the castle. As a former Lightmare Lieutenant, she took her duty very seriously. The fact that she was the personal guard of Celestia herself made her job all that more important. This was the first time in two years that she had been away from the princess and it felt wrong. She didn’t even get a chance to explain why she had to leave because, well, she didn’t know herself.

‘This had better be good Daemon.’ she thought to herself.

Daemon had been like her son. Her dimwitted, but faithful and pure hearted son. She didn’t like to admit it but Daemon was sometimes a real pain because of the way he thought things through... which was to say, not at all. His heart was always in the right place, but the way he went about things seemed to lack common sense. For instance if your watch fell out a tenth story window, he would dive though the same window to retrieve it instead of using the elevator or stairs. Yes, he was a moron sometimes, but he was her moron and she loved him. After reminiscing about Daemon for a time she found that the royal chariot was coming to a halt. It only took two seconds upon leaving the vehicle before she was tackled by a mustard yellow blur.

“Auntie Flara! You’re here!”, a little voice squeaked.

Flara shook her head and allowed her vision to clear before laying her eyes on the filly that rammed into her. She looked like she had the body type of a young Desdemona, but her coloring was a murky shade of what Fluttershy had. It was like somepony decided to mix the two mares and shrink her down to result in this adorable little Shadowmare.

“Hello Firefly. My goodness you have grown! And I believe there is something else different... let me guess, you got a new mane-cut right? Nooo, that’s not it. Hmm, well I am stumped.” Flara said, playing dumb.

“Aunt Flara! I went through the ‘Ritual’!” Firefly said, giggling.

“Are you sure it isn’t your mane?”, Flara responded, giving Firefly a warm smile while rubbing her messy bubblegum pink hair, causing the filly to smile back.

“So where is your father?” Flara asked, getting back to business.

“Behind you.” Firefly said as if it was common knowledge.

Flara turned around and sure enough, there was Daemon waiting with a huge grin on his face. Before Flara could even ask how he managed to get behind her without her noticing, he gave her a hug so tight it caused her bones to make cracking sounds. Daemon released Flara and let her catch her breath.

“For the love of Celestia, Daemon! Why did you nearly crush me and why in EQUESTRIA did you call me here?!”, the Lightmare shouted.

Daemon stroked his chin in false contemplation before giving a retort, “That’s why!”. He was pointing at the chariot. Flara facehoofed causing Daemon to look at the direction he was pointing.

“Hey guys, move please! You’re in the way!” Daemon said to the royal guards. They walked forward and revealed the black covered wagon behind it. The odd thing about the wagon was that Flara had recently seen it popping up around canterlot. It was powered by machines that moved the wheels, not ponies that pulled it along. It was a newly invented Lightmare contraption that helped ponies go where they wanted without magic, wings, or the use of any manual labor! They called it an ‘automobile’, and this one was top of the line.

“Hopefully you didn’t call me here just so you could show off your new toy...”

“OUR new toy!” Daemon corrected, levitating a pair of drumsticks towards her.

Flara couldn’t believe her ears. Was he really saying what she thought he was saying?

“You aren’t seriously asking me to play in one of your concerts are you?! I’m too busy and you said that you weren’t going to do this anymore because it was getting in between you and the ones you love! Did you forget that already?!” She yelled.

Daemons expression turned to that of worry and sincerity. “No, I didn’t forget, but from what Princess Celestia told me, you need a break. I’ve heard that you’ve been working yourself to death and you need this to unwind! Come on! Loosen up and just go with the flow just this once!”.

Flara thought this over and made up her mind. “Alright, if its an order from the princess I guess I can’t do much about it...”

“That’s the spirit!” Daemon shouted, wrapping his arm around her, pulling her close. He flung his other arm in the air for emphasis as he rejoiced in her settlement.

As they were making their way to the automobile, Ezreal stuck himself halfway out a window and started smacking the door with his hoof while yelling, “Hurry up! Let’s get this show on the road already! Aura is getting bored!”.

His comment caused Aura to stick his head out the window beside Ezreals and reply, ”excuse me, but I’m just fine. You are the one who can’t hold still...” .

“They haven’t changed a bit...” Flara sighed happily.

Three hours of riding in the black machine took its toll on the Lightmares but Daemon was chipper as ever. They had arrived on the outskirts of the newly rebuilt Manehattan. The Lightmares that had been working to rebuild it were very quick to repair the destroyed city. It still had some run down and ruined buildings but the majority of the city was back. The only problem with the city was that it was mainly inhabited by the ones who rebuilt it... there were only a couple hundred other ponies that dared to step hoof on the once devastated ground. There were enough ponies to start a few gangs and clubs but other than that it was completely Lightmare territory. Daemon decided that since this was a concert to commemorate the day of Lux’s defeat, the Lightmares should be the first to celebrate. After all, they were the ones who were deceived into killing for a false reason. They were told that they were killing to purify the world of evil, but really they were tricked into killing the weak and helpless because, as General Lux put it, ‘only the strong have the right to live’. His belief merged with the lies to his army had demolished cities and caused senseless murder of countless innocent beings. However this was all in the past and it was time to move on and start anew. The band got to work on the stage and set up the lights (along with a few special effects for the finale). The construction of it got some attention and ponies started to recognize Daemon and the others. Before long, there was a massive crowd of cheering fans. Daemon had went backstage to keep the suspense peaked.
Once the sun had set the crowd started chanting, “D. A . A.!”. This was short for ‘Daemon Among Angels’. This was it, the time felt right, so in a burst of blinding speed Daemon shot into the air, created a small Sonic Fireboom, then in a flurry of flames he landed in the center of the stage which sent the crowd into a frenzy. The others used a light spell to illuminate themselves as they gracefully descended behind Daemon. Flara was on drums, Aura took the bass position, Ezreal waited eagerly with a guitar, and Daemon snagged the microphone. He looked out at the sea of golden colored ponies and spoke.

“Hello Manehattan! Are you ready to rock your brains out with us?!”. The legion of Lightmares roared at his voice. Their calls did not go unanswered and Daemon started the show off with a rock song that he made up while having the nightmares of Lux returning.

Meanwhile at home, Fluttershy was busy doing some laundry while Firefly was doing her homework. Fluttershy was always a neat freak and loved keeping things clean around the house. Sometimes it would give Daemon the creeps. To him things were never spotless for more than five minutes and that was just weird because of how messy his antics could get. Once he was covered in jelly, for reasons he never truly explained, and made an absolute mess of the house. Seeing how filthy he was, Daemon jumped in the shower for no more than fifteen minutes, and when he came out it was like he never even made the jelly disaster in the first place! Firefly was used to it being clean so it never bugged her. In fact, nothing really bugged her. The way everything was had been normal to her because it was all she had ever known. When others teased her and said that she was unnatural, it shattered how she saw things. What was normal to her was freaky to everypony else. The bully problem she had died down for the time being and she was getting used to the horrified stares of her classmates, but it was still a hardship she had to endure daily. Her dad told her just to ignore everypony and believe only what she believed. The only thing that troubled her right now was that she couldn’t be at his concert cheering him on. After a few pages of math questions, there was a knock at the door.

“Can you get that sweetie? I’m busy folding your fathers vests... I swear he needs to take classes on how to stay clean!” Fluttershy said from the other room.

Firefly gladly did as she was told and opened the door to see who it was. She didn’t recognize him but he looked happy to see her. He was very big and from the looks of it he was a Lightmare.

“Could you go get your mother and tell her that the General will see her now?” He said in a low gravelly voice with a big smile.

Firefly went into the room where Fluttershy was currently pouring detergent into the load of clothes. “Mom, there is a big stallion at the door who said the General was here.” Upon hearing her daughters words, Fluttershy’s jaw dropped and she ended up spilling the bottle of detergent on the floor. Firefly was confused.

“Mommy? Are you okay?” the filly asked concerned.

Fluttershy stood there in silence for a second before speaking. “Go to your room...”, she said, voice trembling.

Firefly was starting to get scared and wanted to know what was going on, “Mommy, what’s-”.

“I SAID GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW!”, Her mother shouted strictly.

Fluttershy had never raised her voice to Firefly in her life. The little Shadowmare ran to her room terrified. The large Lightmare stallion stood in the doorway cutting off the majority of light from entering the room.

“Hello again... Element of Kindness.”

Back at the concert things were getting ready to come to a close. Daemon had one last song that he wanted to share... a song he had come up with that week while he was watching Firefly practice flying with Rainbow Dash. This song came from his fatherly love towards her... and he was ready to share it.

“Okay everypony! Can I have your attention for a second... I want this final song to be a good one so I’m going to finish things up with a song I wrote while thinking of my daughter. She couldn’t be here tonight, so this one is for her!” Daemon said, cueing Ezreal to start it with his guitar. Flara and Aura followed the lead provided by Ez. Then at just the right moment, Daemon let the lyrics flow.

The song ended with the crowd going nuts. Celebrations were short lived however as a blinding white light manifested on stage. When the light faded and everypony could see, Princess Celestia was on stage... looking quite upset for some reason.

“Daemon, what reason do you have for taking Flara from the castle?” The alicorn asked, obviohusly furious.

“Uh... y-you asked me to?” Daemon said, unsure of what he did wrong.

Celestias expression went from stern to baffled instantly. “What did you mean ‘I told you to’?”

Daemon gave her the letter from his pocket. The royal pony quickly read it and responded, “I never wrote this... and I certainly think that lara is needed at the castle to guard Lux. If he is left alone too long he is still capable of escape. That's why I never asked her to take a day off like in this letter.”

Now Daemon was really confused. ‘If she didn’t send this, then who...’ at that moment it hit Daemon like a sack of Rarity's gems.

‘HE is coming back’.

The words from his nightmare echoed through his mind. This was too much. He had been the main contributor in his own fear coming true. In a panic, Daemon ran off the stage and rocketed past the crowd, achieving a Sonic Fireboom as soon as he was a safe distance away. As he flew he prayed that he wasn't too late. He tried to tell himself that he was overreacting but deep down he could feel something was wrong. Something was wrong with all of it. The way he got the letter, when he got it, how perfectly everything was set up. Daemon tried to force the dark thoughts from his mind as he raced towards Ponyville.

When Daemon landed infront of the cottage he noticed something... or rather lack of something. The air was dead. The dusky stallion felt like screaming just to remove the tense silence. The other thing that struck him was how dark the house was. Normally there was at least a little light emanating from the quaint home, but now it was bleak and chilling. It seemed as if he was in a completely other world from the one he left. Daemon moved slowly to the door. Dread was hanging around him like a thick mist as his hoof approached it. He carefully nudged the door... and it fell to the floor, torn completely off its hinges.

“Welcome home... Shadowmare.”