A Medicine Cat among Ponies

by Kitsulestia

Demona's Return

*Back in Twilight's Castle*

*Applejack's POV*

"Okay, so we're supposed to meet these Gargoyles, right?" I asked Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow spoke "Yeah, but I don't know who they are though."

Pinkie spoke "Even I don't know!"

“Me neither.” A voice added as Trixie showed up, still a genie.

Card spoke "Hey Trix."

Trixie giggles "Hi, Wild Card. Heehee."

Card spoke "It's a total bummer that I can't become an alicorn... I don't have enough alicornism to ascend into one."

Trixie spoke "Hey! Don't say that, Card! It's about what you do, not about alicornism."

Card spoke "I wish I was able to ascend... It's because I love you Trixie."

Trixie froze at that.

Danyelle spoke "Woah, I didn't see that one coming."

Spottedleaf spoke "I don't think any of us did."

Trixie spoke "Th-This is not a joke, right? Because Trixie does not like her feelings being toyed with."

Card spoke "I'm not joking around Trixie. Ever since I first met you, I was head over hooves in love with you but I was too afraid to tell you because of Spell Nexus."

Danyelle spoke "*Facepalm* Don't remind me."

Card spoke "Oh hey Twilight."

I ask "So, what's going on?"

But then we heard roars from the top of the castle.

Roll asks "What in StarClan's name was that?"

Werelight spoke "*smile* That would be Goliath and his five friends."

"Who?" The rest of us who just got inside from the front door asked.

Werelight spoke "Old friends of Luna's from before her fall to darkness."

Rarity asks "Pardon?"

Luna spoke "It's better if I explained it though."

Luna explained everything that happened prior to her fall.

Fluttershy was most shocked.

Werelight spoke "So yeah... Goliath, Brooklyn, Bronx, Hudson, Broadway and Lexington are the last of the Everfree clan gargoyles..."

Werelight's left ear twitches when she picked up on the scent of a female Gargoyle from the Everfree clan.

Werelight spoke "You might as well come out Demona, I know you're hiding nearby."

Demona asks "How did you know I was here?"

Goliath froze at that voice.

Werelight spoke "Alicorn by day, lycan by night is what I am. I have a keen sense of smell."

But then Werelight's nose twitched again.

A male Diamond Dog spoke "Ah, I see you noticed me and my right hand pony as well."

A male coyote diamond appeared with a well-dressed earth pony stallion and a female gargoyle.

Werelight, Azure and Rainbow were growling since the three of them didn't trust the Diamond Dog.

The Coyote Diamond Dog spoke Hmm... I can see that this trust will need to be nurtured. My name is David Xanatos, founder, owner and CEO of Xanatos Enterprises from Manehattan. And this pony is my right-hand pony, Strong Hoof."

Well, he is right about one thing, trust will have to be earned.

Werelight growls "Well, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle... Werelight Shine at night."

Xanatos spoke "Hmm... Makes sense. Well, I certainly hope we can all try to get along."

Werelight spoke "I'm the one who found six of the remaining members of the Everfree clan and judging by Danyelle's growling, Demona's got a lot of anger built up in her."

Demona growled as it looked like she was about to bring out something before Xanatos stopped her.

Xanatos spoke "You have quite a judgement of character, Danyelle."

Ears flatten, Danyelle spoke "One of my counterparts can tell if someone's hurting deep down."

A warp ring opens up before OC-verse Danyelle steps out.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "The yellow cat is correct sir, I can tell if someone is hurting deep down. And from just looking at the female gargoyle, I can tell that she's hurting because of what happened to her clan a thousand years ago. Somepony betrayed the Celestia and Luna of this universe and killed most of the gargoyles, leaving seven adult survivors and 36 unhatched eggs behind. Two alicorns and a unicorn take the eggs to a place called Avalon so they'd be protected."

That suddenly angered Demona to no end as she burst out the front door and glided off, already getting beyond anyone's reach.

Xanatos spoke "Well, you certainly seemed to have rubbed salt into the wound."

But just before Demona ran off, OC-verse Danyelle used Chaos Chain Snare to restrain the angry female.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "Look ma'am, I've already said this to my universe's Gilda back when I first met her because I understood her pain. The past can hurt but the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it and I can tell that you've been running from your pain for a long time."

OC-verse Danyelle walks over to Demona and hugs the gargoyle.

OC-verse Danyelle then uses her dimensional scream to show Xanatos and the other ponies what really happened to the Everfree clan.

*Flashback to before the massacre*

But Demona wanted to warn the rest of her clan of the possible attack, but she was too scared, because that would mean she might have to reveal her part of the conspiracy. She was angry about the other creatures' prejudice about gargoyles.

*After the massacre and after Noble had put Goliath into a stone sleep*

Demona awakened that night, and returned to find her clan slaughtered by the gryphons. Horrified and grief-stricken, she hid herself when Goliath returned to the castle, too afraid to face him. By the time she returned, Goliath and five other survivors had already been put under the stone sleep curse by Noble. Looking up at her mate's petrified form, Demona cried out, "What have I - what have they done to you?" In that moment, her mood changed from grief to anger and hatred, burying her guilt underneath her rage at the ponies and other creatures, blaming them for her woes so that she could avoid facing her own responsibility for her actions. She saw Atem, Noble Howl and Pyre below loading the rookery eggs onto the cart and driving away with them, but made no effort to go after them as she was unable to face the eggs. Instead, she kissed the stone Goliath one last time and glided away, sending herself into exile.

*End flashback*

Luna spoke "Demona, I know that saying sorry won't fix the damage that's already done but those 36 gargoyles that survived have already hatched and have formed their own clan. Including your daughter."

But then Demona's eyes glowed red in anger as she broke free and continued gliding away.

OC-verse Danyelle sighs "This... is gonna be harder than I thought."

"Looked like she didn't believe us one bit, not even you." I noticed as OC-verse Danyelle flew back down to us, nodding in agreement.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "Her emotional wounds are too deep so it will take time for her to heal..."

Xanatos spoke "Well, I honestly wasn't expecting expecting that."

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "I sensed that she doesn't trust anyone in the Alicorn Alliance right now and..."

OC-verse Danyelle suddenly shot out of the castle after Demona when she sensed something bad was about to happen to the gargoyle female.

An arrow hits Demona on the right wing, causing her to fall to the ground from high in the sky.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "HANG ON! I'M COMING!"

A sudden Fireboom lights up the night sky as OC-verse Danyelle grabs Demona by the waist as the two veer toward the water before they crash land into the water.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "*Cough* Shit! She can't swim!"

Despite her own inability to swim, OC-verse Danyelle dove down into the water to get Demona back up to the surface before swimming to shore.

Shaking the water off, OC-verse Danyelle pushes on Demona's chest to get the water out of the gargoyle's lungs.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "Come on... You can't die now!"

Demona coughed out water before immediately getting up as she growled at seeing OC-Verse Danyelle.

Demona growls "Don't think this changes anything!"

Demona ran off, escaping from sight as OC-verse Danyelle sighed.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "Oh well, baby steps."

OC-verse Danyelle flew back to us.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "That one's gonna be a real piece of work though."

OC-verse Danyelle passes the arrow that she had removed from Demona's wing to Xanatos.

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "I found this lodged in her wing."

Xanatos spoke "Hmm? Well, that's surprising."

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "I picked up the scent of poison on the arrowhead too. Whoever shot this was trying to kill her."

Xanatos spoke "I'm not certain if it would be concerning or not, because something didn't smell right about her."

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "I smelled strange magic on her. It smelled like a shackle spell. Someone is magically shackled to her. I know of this since my universe's Twilight has a nine-tailed beast and a two-tailed beast shackled to her."

Werelight spoke "But I didn't sense any other soul inside her."

OC-verse Danyelle spoke "It's not THAT kind of shackle Sparklebutt! God.... *pinching the bridge of her nose* What I was talking about is something like the chakra threads over in the Heartsverse."

Lexington snickers at the insult.

Brooklyn snickered too.

Danyelle snickers "Hey Brooklyn, what do you call a Diamond Dog with half a brain?"

Brooklyn asks "What?"

Danyelle laughs "Gifted!"

Lexington and Broadway burst into laughter at the same time Pinkie did.

Rainbow snickers "Okay you guys, calm down."

OC-verse Danyelle snickers.

Well, the nights are definitely gonna be interestin' from here on out.

Cocoa and Foxsong were both laughing at the joke.

End