Chapter 4: Setting the Stage
It was the morning after Desdemona and Flara had shown up. Shortly after Flara had ordered the two Shadowmares to stay in Ponyville, she left to give her report about 'an overly enthusiastic unicorn trying to show off', to the rest of the legion. The seven friends talked to Desdemona after Flara left, trying to find out where she would like to stay. The deep magenta pony didn't want to stay with anypony, saying that it was not acceptable for a Shadowmare to take help. Eventually, after much coercing she decided to stay with Fluttershy, only so she could keep an eye on Daemon. Desdemona was forced to sleep in the same bed as Fluttershy since there were no more spares. This caused Fluttershy to stay up most of the night out of fear. Desdemona had a very aggressive and intimidating attitude, causing Fluttershy to fear that she would get violent if awoken... or touched or looked at the wrong way or basically anything else. It took time, but Fluttershy did manage to get to sleep... at the very edge of the bed.
The two mares awoke to the smell of smoke.
“Argh... Daemon is trying to cook again.” Desdemona said shuffling out of bed. Fluttershy already was in the kitchen, trying to put out any fire that there may have been when Desdemona walked in. “Daemon, I know you don't have any memory of this but... YOU CAN'T COOK! Luckily I can.”, Desdemona said walking over to the fridge, pulling out a few things. The Shadowmare got to work, chopping and slicing with grace and precision. Then she pulled out a frying pan and started to cook the ingredients, flipping them in the air and putting on quite a good show. After about 2 minutes, she pulled out two plates using her magic and placed them in front of Daemon and Fluttershy. Then she set the frying pan down on the stove and quickly slammed her hoof on the nearby counter, sending what she had made out of the pan and on to the plates.
“Oh my goodness! That was amazing! How did you do that?”, Fluttershy said clapping her hooves together in applause.
“It's something I can do naturally. Shadowmares excel in basically everything, there are a few things we can't do to save our lives though and each one of us is different in that way. It's an evolutionary trait, we adapted it due to the demand that staving off the Lightmares gave. If we didn't adapt we would have wound up dead. That's why we can no longer get what you call cutie marks, because they would prove to be redundant. We also heal at an alarming rate in order to stay in peak physically condition at almost all times.”, Desdemona explained to the astonished pegasus.
“Wow this tastes great D. Monica!” Daemon said devouring what had been placed in front of him.
“Wait! What did you just call me?!” Desdemona shouted in surprise. “D. Monica, its the nickname I gave you, remember?”.
“Yes I remember... but how did you?! Did you just get your memory back?!”, Desdemona asked hopefully.
Daemon finished eating before answering, “Hmm... I don't think so, but I do remember a few other things I remember that my favourite food is Zap Apples. I remember how we used to race each other and I would always win. My favourite colour is purple... oh, and we never went to a party before.”. The two mares just looked at him, stunned of his new memory.
“When did you remember all of this?!” Desdemona asked, praying for some clues to help trigger the rest of his memory.
“Uh, I guess about two days ago when I was becoming friends with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. Weird, huh? I make friends and all of the sudden I start remembering stuff.”, Daemon said, chuckling. Desdemona looked at him with look of dull disbelief.
“Are you kidding me? You get your memories back by bonding with other ponies?!”. Daemon put a hoof on his chin, pondering this statement.
“Huh... guess so. What are the odds of that?”, Daemon remarked with a grin.
“With you... very good.” Desdemona sighed with a hoof on her forehead as if she was getting a migraine from the conversation.
“Okay... yellow one... Fluttershy I believe?” Desdemona said pointing at Fluttershy who was nodding in confirmation of her name.
“I need everypony in Ponyville to become Daemon's friend as fast as possible. How should we go about doing that?”, the Shadowmare asked, still looking frustrated.
“Well, Pinkie Pie is always throwing parties and nearly everypony shows up to them... we could ask her to throw a party to introduce you guys to the town.”, Fluttershy answered in her normal passive way.
“A party... great. I think I'm gonna hate it here...”, Desdemona growled.
It didn't take long for the preparations to get finished for the party, and with Pinkie Pie running things, it took even less time for everypony to hear about it. The party was to take place in Applejacks barn at sunset. The plan was to win over everypony with Daemons singing the same way he won over Fluttershy. There were even instruments set up on a makeshift stage. Daemon fooled around with the instruments one by one, showing excessive talent in each one. Fluttershy asked Desdemona if he was always so good with music. She told Fluttershy that music is the one thing that Daemon has always enjoyed and he often can make up songs on the fly and sing them based on his mood or feelings. It seemed to take forever for the sun to start setting. Daemon and Desdemona were told to wear large monk-like robes to hide themselves until they were to be revealed to the crowd.
When everything was in order and all the ponies of Ponyville were inside Twilight tapped on the microphone to get everyponies attention.
“Excuse me. I know what you are all thinking. You are wondering what you have been called here for and I'm here to tell you that something... unexpected has happened recently. We have gotten two new additions to our town and you may have seen one of them during the past few days. I would like to say that they have now decided to reveal themselves as to who they are and they wish to become your friends.”. Twilights announcement caused the crowd to go into an uproar of questions.
“I understand you are confused as to why our new guests would try to hide themselves. They only wished to stay hidden to keep from being judged, but now due to some new discoveries, they need to become your friends. So without further adieu, I give you Daemon and Desdemona!”, Twilight declared, stepping off the stage, allowing the two Shadowmares to step forward and reveal themselves dramatically. The audience gasped upon seeing them.
Things got eerily quiet before Daemon started talking, “Uh... hello everypony. I would like to say that we are not here to hurt anypony first of all, and also we look like this because we aren't regular everyday ponies... we are Shadowmares.”. This caused even more gasps, followed by a few murmurs.
“Yes, I know we have a bad reputation but I would like to show you that its all lies by singing a song.”, Daemon stated, before starting to sing the song that Fluttershy heard.
However before he could even get through the first line of the song, one pony yelled out, “You expect a song to make us believe you aren't evil?! That's not good enough!”. The pony in the crowd then threw a cupcake at him, but Daemon dodged it before it had a chance to hit him in the face. Daemons gaze got serious... angry even.
“Not good enough, huh? Well then, HOW'S THIS?!”. {Link 1} Daemon picked up the near by guitar and started playing. Then the rest of the instruments started glowing and playing by themselves with his magic. He started singing, but this song was different. It was angry, frustrated, and the lyrics matched the situation almost perfectly. It made the ponies in the crowd cringe as he yelled his feelings. The lyrics made it sound like everypony had been judging him, never giving him a chance to show that he was good (which was true), and it also stated that he was on his own because of it. When the song was finished the floating instruments came crashing down and Daemon stormed out of the barn through the door by the stage, taking the guitar with him. Desdemona simply backed off into the shadows, with a blank, emotionless look on her face.
Fluttershy started to follow him but stopped in the center of the platform. She turned to the crowd with a furious stare.
She stomped up to the microphone and spoke into it, “I hope you are proud of yourselves! He was just trying to be accepted and you hurt his feelings!”.
“Hurt his feelings?!”, one pony yelled, “That...THING doesn't have feelings!”.
This accusation enraged Fluttershy, “You believe he doesn't have any feelings? Follow me everypony, I have something to show you.”. Fluttershy trotted through the mass of ponies and headed out the main barn doors. The rest of Ponyville followed her, curious what she could show them to change their minds about the Shadowmare. For a while Fluttershy walked about town and it seemed that she was not heading anywhere in particular. When the group of ponies following her were about to go back home, believing the yellow pegasus had just went out of her mind, she said something and took off, looking like she had found what she was searching for. The citizens of Ponyville chased after her and stopped after catching up. The mayor was about to ask what she thought she was doing when a sound started to resonate from a nearby cliff overhanging the road. It was a guitar being played by a mysterious shadowy figure. It took a few seconds for everypony to realize that the one who was silhouetted by the moonlight was Daemon.{Link 2} {Link 3} He was playing a sad, but remarkably beautiful song. The town just stood staring at him with shock and awe. Everypony believed that the song was about Fluttershy... but really Desdemona was the only one who knew who the song was truly about.
When Daemon finished the song he floated down gracefully, landing in the middle of the group.
“So, are you gonna run me out of town now? Thats what villagers do, right? You run the monster out of tow-OOF!”. Daemon looked down to see a small filly hugging him with tears in her eyes.
“Don't go mister demon. I like your music! It's pretty!”, the little pony cried.
Daemon smiled at her warmly, “Okay... I'll stay... and my name is Daemon.”. The rest of the crowd appologized to Daemon, as they went back to the party. Many of the ponies that had been so harsh before were now asking him to play more of his music. He played about three songs before handing things over to a pony by the name of Vinyl Scratch. His songs were much more cheerful and pleasant then the ones he played earlier, which made Fluttershy glad to see him actually enjoying himself.
About an hour into the party, Desdemona asked to see Fluttershy outside in private. When Fluttershy met up with her, she was pacing, looking quite worried about something.
“You wanted to talk to me?”, Fluttershy asked, tilting her head.
“Yes... it's about Daemon getting his memory back.”, said the concerned Shadowmare.
“I know. It's great isn't it? Pretty soon he'll remember everything.”, Fluttershy responded pleasantly.
“That's what I'm afraid of... you see there are a few memories I don't want him to get back. Remember the song we heard him singing a little while ago? It was about someone he cared about... she looked a lot like you actually.”, Desdemona said looking away from Fluttershy.
“Why don't you want him to remember her?”, Fluttershy asked now concerned herself.
Desdemona went on explaining their past, telling Fluttershy about the pegasus friend they had. They had met this pegasus while walking through a forest one day and after they had met the pegasus just kept following them everywhere. They learned that her name was Firefly and she was abandoned at a young age. It didn't take long for Daemon and Firefly to become close friends and enjoy each others company. Firefly knew that they were Shadowmares the whole time, but she didn't care. If anything, being Shadowmares just fascinated her even more. During their travels they would often compete in races... Daemon would actually lose on purpose to make Firefly feel better. That was the sign that showed he didnt remember her yet, because at breakfast he said he always won the races. It wasn't until recently that things got... complicated. About five days ago they came across a couple Lightmares. Unfortunately, Firefly got caught in the crossfire. Desdemona had hidden herself in the trees while Daemon quickly rushed to the side of Firefly. When she died shortly after, Daemon went into a rage, attacking the Lightmares head on. While he did manage to kill both of the Lightmares he got an injury on his leg. When Desdemona walked up to him he started singing that one song over Firefly's dead body. Desdemona tried to tell him that it wouldn't have worked out anyways and it was going to happen sooner or later. That's when Daemon flew off as fast as he could toward Canterlot, and Desdemona was unable to keep up, losing him in the process. It was said that Nightmare Moon's magic was so powerful that it could even be used to resurrect a pony from the dead. That is what Daemon was doing in Ponyville when he collapsed and lost his memory... he was desperately trying to do something to bring Firefly back. Desdemona ended the story there and begged Fluttershy to try to keep this part of his past a secret, because if he were to remember it, he could go into a deep depression, and give up his fight with the Lightmares. Fluttershy shook her head up and down with tears in her eyes from the sad tale.
Daemon burst out of the barn bouncing like he was on a jackhammer.
“I-know-why-Pinkie-Pie-loves-partys-now! It's-because-of-this-stuff-called-candy! I-ate-so-much-I-threw-up, so-I-ate-some-more!” Daemon shouted hyperactively, before collapsing on the ground asleep from the sugar low.
“Fantastic... mind helping me drag the 'party animal' back to the house?” Desdemona asked, looking at the snoozing stallion.
“Not at all... I would feel bad if you were to bring him back all on your own” Fluttershy said, wiping a tear from her eye.