Fred Walsh's Adventures in Equestria

by Baguettedood

Chapter 20 - Cleanup

Chapter 20
“Well, we killed Potens Daemonium, bitches.

“I think while inside his head, I had one of those 'what the hell am I doing?' moments. I used to be a person who had a few friends and played video games, and now I've fallen through a wormhole and fought a demon. Who else can say that? Also, can I even say that? It won't really be taken seriously, not to mention my very existence here infringes on copyright. I'll have to think about this.

“Speaking of saying, In retrospect, I used a cliché when I said that it's now or never. Screw it, the meaning still applies for now.

“Amazingly, there were no casualties, other than the demon. City damage was high, though. It tore out the whole clock tower with its bare hands! Fortunately, given enough time, Canterlot can be cleaned and destruction rebuilt.”

---

Fred Walsh witnessed the eyesore that is the body of Potens Daemonium taking up a large portion of Canterlot. From the castle's Southern balcony, he watched a number of volunteers attempting to clean up the mess. He could see the unicorns breaking the corpse into smaller parts, while the earth ponies and pegasi moved them inside somewhere. 'They might be just storing those remains for movement elsewhere, or that's a crematorium.'

It was only a few hours after the demon had been stopped, and most of the city's residents had already returned once the evacuation was no longer in effect.

With some time remaining before sunset, Princess Celestia was going to make an address at the castle gates about the event that had transpired. As the cultists were still a potential threat, even though their icon had been destroyed, precautions had been put into place. The alicorn had her magical protective jewellery on, spare harmonic amethysts were equipped by some of the guards and imperceptible physical barriers had been set up in case of non-magical projectile attacks. The wielders of these barriers were two unicorn guards, standing a few metres either end from their leader-deity, ready for anything.

Still on the balcony, Fred had a decent view of the upcoming speech, and the perception filter cast on him was still in place, so nopony would freak out if they looked.

“Attention subjects,” the Princess began with a magically amplified voice in front of a crowd, “a few hours ago, Canterlot's evacuation warning sounded when a demon known as Potens Daemonium attempted to destroy the city. As you can see, the threat was destroyed and safety has been restored. The culprits behind the monster's appearance was a sinister cult which summoned it, and they have shown themselves before.”

At that moment, a mass of the cultists charged from the back of the audience.

Fred Walsh, still watching from the balcony, caught sight of the red-cloaked ponies.

“Irrumabo, they're back,” he muttered before sprinting downstairs, though the route was long.

Meanwhile, the chaos at the gates continued. Civilians were panicking and fleeing as the cultists ran in. A group of three unicorns charged a missile together in a magic pool, to enhance its power threold.ef They released it toward the alicorn. Celestia flinched as the spell barged toward her until it dissipated with a purple glow from the amethyst jewellery. 'Fred Walsh was right; these harmonic amethysts will be useful.' The Princess telekinetically grabbed the three ponies to immobilise and disable them.

Bullhorn ran outside to assist, sonic blasting a few cultist earth ponies off their hooves. Other guards sprinted into action, protecting the populace and fighting off the attackers.

A herd of four ponies, two earth and two pegasi, charged toward the Princess. The earth ponies were halted by two guards while the pegasi hit the hidden physical barrier around her. The ponies holding the barrier looked strained from the forces. Two cult unicorns realised the source of the barriers and cast knock-out spells on both the guards, then were arrested themselves.

The battle raged for a few minutes, still with frightened civilians around, when finally the attackers were down to one: The messenger who started it all. The earth pony charged toward the Princess in a mixed emotion of rage and... sadness from loss?

“My leader lies defeated!” he screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran. “Now you will join him,” he finished darkly.

Celestia charged a defensive spell but she dissipated it when the final cultist was suddenly jerked sideways from Bullhorn's sonic blast. Guards approached the red-cloaked pony and arrested him as they did with the others.

Fred Walsh exited the castle, noting that he was late to the battle, which had been resolved. He couldn't fight well anyway but wouldn't hesitate to help. He slowed himself to a stop when he reached the gate where Celestia stood. The perception filter was still active so worry wouldn't arise from any onlookers.

“Princess, looks like that got taken care of.” He tried to hide the fact he was a little out of breath.

The two stepped to the side as the guards pushed the now-captive messenger into the castle to the dungeons. They heard some quiet rambling as he went past.

“My master... he's gone... I can't hear the voices anymore...” he sobbed. The human and alicorn gave each other a look somewhere in between confusion and relief.

Some of the civilians moved to revive the unconscious guards now that the dilemma was over.

Bullhorn approached the Princess. “Area secured, your majesty.”

“That cult certainly doesn't know when to give up,” Fred sighed. “Your speech definitely spoke true, though.”

“We should get inside,” Celestia suggested.

---

The sun had set and the moon rose in the sky. Princess Celestia observed the moonrise on one of Canterlot Castle's Eastern balconies. Now free from the threat of The Cult of Potens Daemonium, her regret the events against her sister had returned. She was preoccupied with the cultists to think about it since Fred Walsh's appearance, but nothing else was available to draw her mind away.

The aforementioned human was aimlessly strolling through the castle's corridors until he spotted Celestia looking out at the moon from the balcony. He changed his path to find out what she was doing.

“Princess, you okay?”

She gave a sorrowful sigh. “Since your arrival, I've been thinking about how I treated my sister all those years ago.” As she confessed, Fred looked up at the moon. “She changed for the worse, but I didn't think my actions through, and now I will never see her again.”

He noticed a lone light orbiting the moon and remembered the prophecy in the first episode of the show. 'The stars will aid in her escape.' “I don't recall a star orbiting the moon.”

The princess was confused at Fred's change-of-topic, but turned her gaze to what he was describing. She observed the slowly moving object for a few seconds before her countenance turned to a mix of both worry and excitement. She knew what would eventually happen. Luna would return, but as Nightmare Moon.

Celestia whispered, “My sister's coming back... But I won't be able to stop the corruption inside her.. Not on my own. I can't wield the Elements any longer.”

“The Elements of Harmony, I read. So, you'd need to find new bearers for when the time comes.”

“I will have to prepare.” She left the balcony in contemplation.

'It's also night-time. I should go and sleep,' Fred thought before leaving to turn in for the night.