Chapter 2: Getting Acquainted

It was dark, but that's to be expected when it's 10 o'clock at night. Fluttershy had just convinced Daemon to stay inside for the night. Daemon was very skittish and didn't seem to know what think. His first impression of Fluttershy was that she hated his kind, Shadowmares... but now she was insisting he spend the night with her. When Fluttershy got inside she noticed Daemon sitting outside like there was an invisible barrier keeping him out.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to come in?”, Fluttershy asked.

“I am in...”, Daemon responded looking down at his hoof. Upon closer inspection Fluttershy saw that he indeed had one hoof partially in the doorway. Fluttershy rolled her eyes thinking to herself that the stallion was even more socially awkward than she was.

“Now don't be so impossible... when I said 'come in' I meant come all the way in”. Daemon gingerly stepped inside, as if he was afraid of breaking the floor.

“So...” Daemon spoke up (still as close to the front door as possible), “I'm meant to sleep here, right?”.

“Umm... nooo.... not unless you prefer the floor over a bed.” Fluttershy said motioning with her head towards a room that was normally unoccupied. Daemon's eyes lit up like he just won the lottery.

“I... I... I have my own bed?!”, He managed to choke out. He flew to his new room so fast that Fluttershy was barely able to tell what happened to him.

“How come you're so excited to have a bed of your own... if you don't mind me asking?” asked Fluttershy as she walked in to the room. Daemon was rolling around on the bed hugging a pillow in what seemed to be pure bliss.

He sat up smiling, “I don't know. I just feel like it's something I've always wanted, ya know?”. Fluttershy was glad she could make him happy so easily, especially after putting him in a state of terror the way she thought she did. She then noticed a mark on his flank. Well three marks actually. They seemed to be three red diagonal lines.

“That's an interesting cutie mark...”, she said getting closer to it.

“Cutie wha-AHHH!”, Daemon shouted the moment Fluttershy accidentally touched it. She jumped at the sudden scream and saw that her hoof had a spot of blood on it.

“OH MY GOODNESS! That's not a cutie mark! You're hurt! Wait right there!”, Fluttershy zipped off and rushed back with a first aid kit. She opened the kit and got out a bottle of some strange clear liquid, a few cotton balls, and bandages. “Sorry, but this is going to hurt a little.”

Daemon just thought to himself, 'how bad could it be?'. His question was answered by a searing pain in his flank as Fluttershy rubbed what Daemon could only guess was acid.

“I know it hurts but it will all be over soon...” Fluttershy said sweetly.

Daemon thought that, 'it will all be over soon' was some kind of demented code for, 'I'm trying to kill you!', but he rode out the pain and Fluttershy quickly bandaged his leg.

“There! All better!” Fluttershy said admiring her work. Daemon looked at her smiling from ear to ear. She looked up and saw the smiling stallion. 'He's just like a big colt' she thought to herself before saying, “It's getting really late... we should get to bed. You will probably need to go do a few things tomorrow and we can't be falling asleep every ten minutes so...”. Daemon rolled over and got under the covers. As Fluttershy began to leave the room she heard, “Thank you... for everything.”. She blushed, not really knowing why.


The next morning Fluttershy woke to see the Shadowmare sitting in her room just watching her with a curious stare, almost like he didn't know what he was looking at. Still being half asleep, Fluttershy gave out a frightened squeak and hit the ceiling, clinging to it for dear life.

“Um, good morning. Did I scare you? Sorry.” Daemon said looking at the floor in remorse.

When it finally registered in Fluttershy's brain, she let out a breath of relief and replied, “oh... it's only you Daemon. How long have you been up?”.

“About two hours.”, he said, shrugging like it was no big deal.

“Well you could have woken me up. We need to go to see Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack today.”. Fluttershy's announcement caught Daemon off guard.

“Wait, that sounds like a lot! Why do we have to see them all today?!”, he asked with his eyes wide in shock.

“You'll see.” Fluttershy said smiling like it was a big surprise. She noticed that his bandages weren't on his leg. “What are you doing with you bandages off already?!”, gasped the yellow mare.

“Well, I don't need them anymore. My cuts are better.”, Daemon said looking at his flank.

Fluttershy stared in disbelief. The gashes in his leg were gone and only three light diagonal scars remained. This was impossible. There was no way the half inch thick wound could have healed that quickly. She moved closer and gently touched the scars. It was true... they were healed, much to her astonishment. She decided to let it go for now and leave, taking Daemon with her.



The two ponies entered Sugar Cube Corner soon after leaving the cottage. Pinkie was standing behind the counter with a huge grin.

“Hi Pinkie. Do you have it?”, Fluttershy asked tilting her head toward Daemon on her left.

“Sure do!”, Pinkie responded tossing Fluttershy a muffin.

"Here Daemon.” Fluttershy said handing him the muffin, “This should give you enough energy to continue throughout the rest of the day. It's a special recipe.”. Daemon ate it quickly, considering he hadn't ate anything in at least twenty-four hours. It was very sweet and like Fluttershy said he felt completely energized.

“Woah... that's some muffin!” he exclaimed viciously shaking his head as if to clear his vision. The three ponies talked for a while about what had transpired the night before and about the muffin, which Pinkie said was a secret recipe that she had made just for the purpose of filling ponies with a great burst of energy. When they finished talking, Daemon and Fluttershy said their goodbyes and headed off to Rarity's boutique.

The mismatched couple walked through the front doors of Rarity's renowned establishment. The white unicorn seemed to be working very hard at the moment, not noticing she had visitors. Daemon and Fluttershy saw that she was busy and quietly sat down right in front of the doors they entered through. They seemed to be so synchronized that somepony could easily confuse them for siblings. They sat patiently for about fifteen minutes before Rarity finished whatever she was doing and noticed them.

“Fluttershy! Daemon! Why didn't you say you were there? I wasn't doing anything so important that I had reason to ignore my friends!”, Rarity said with her eyes sparkling.

“I didn't want to be a bother...”, both ponies said in unison before giving each other a surprised look.

“Wow, you two seem to be hitting it off rather nicely!”, Rarity laughed.

“So, Rarity. I have a little bit of a favor to ask...” Fluttershy whispered so Daemon couldn't hear.

“And what's that?” Rarity whispered back. The two whispered back and forth for a few minutes, giving occasional glances at Daemon.

'Uh oh, they're planning something and I think I'm a part of it!' Daemon thought to himself, getting more uneasy by the minute.



About an hour later Daemon was looking in a mirror with a very dissatisfied look on his face.{Link 1} It wasn't at all angry, just sort of upset.

“Okay... Rarity, I'm sorry but...no. Alright? Just no.” Daemon said keeping his face in the same unimpressed position.

“What? Why?! I don't see anything wrong with it!” Rarity shouted while still keeping her ladylike impression.

“Hmm... I don't know, maybe because I'm wearing a dress?!” Daemon responded, exactly in the way you think a guy forced into a dress would respond. It turns out that Fluttershy wanted Rarity to make him a new outfit to replace his old, tattered clothes, but Rarity wasn't given any guidelines to follow so she made what she's most experienced at... a dress.

Daemon took off the dress and tossed it at Rarity while saying, “It's not that there is anything wrong with the dress. I mean, I'm sure it would look great on a mare, but that just it... I am a stallion! I don't pull off the whole dress look.”.

Rarity gave him a pained look before responding, “Very well... what do you want me to make?”.

“Why don't you just try to remake what I was wearing before?” Daemon asked the prissy mare.

“But... your old clothes were so... so...... you! That's perfect! Why didn't I think of that before?! The style matches you perfectly! We can just redo them, maybe in black with a stunning flame design!”. Rarity started working frantically, and within half an hour she was done. Just like she said, it was the same outfit but it was colored black with a flame design lining the lower part of the vest.

“Ah-ha-ha-some!”, Daemon exclaimed picking up his new duds, admiring the manliness of them.

“I'm glad you like it! It's amazing what a little inspiration can do, isn't it?”, Rarity asked the grinning Shadowmare.

“Yeah! It's great... but do you have any sunglasses to go with it? Or something else I could use to cover my eyes? I know what my eyes look like and everpony in town was mainly looking at them. I just want to be less noticeable when I'm out.”.

Rarity thought for a few seconds before telling him, “No I don't carry any eye wear, but I believe that Rainbow Dash could help you out. She is more into wearing that sort of thing.”. Just like at Sugar Cube Corner, the three said their goodbyes before heading out.


Daemon was informed that he could find Rainbow Dash in her 'cloud castle' this time of day. He didn't know what they meant by cloud castle until he saw it. He was surprised that Rainbow Dash actually resided in a castle made of clouds, but he also figured that it would definitely be a comfortable place to live. He flew up to the front door (or at least what he considered was the door). He just stood there puzzled for a while trying to decide if he should knock, because he didn't know how 'knocking' on a cloud would work out. Right when he went to knock the door opened and he ended up knocking on the head of a sleepy looking Rainbow Dash.

“What is wrong with you?”, she asked groggily.

“Oh! I'm sorry! I just heard that you had some 'eye wear I could use'.” Daemon said trying to mimic Rarity.

“All I have that could possibly work are my legitimate, one of a kind, Wonderbolt replica goggles.”, Rainbow Dash said rubbing her eye.

“Cool. I don't mind if they're goggles.” Daemon said walking inside rather happily.

“Hah! Like I'd ever give you my Wonderbolt goggles! They were given to me because I won a race against the fastest fliers in Equestria! You can't get them anywhere else!”, Rainbow Dash laughed, wiping a tear from her eye as if she just told the best joke in history.

“How about we make a deal then? I prove that I'm every bit as fast as you and you give me the goggles, If I can't prove it then you keep the goggles and I work for you for an entire day. How does that sound?”, Daemon was holding out his hoof ready to strike the deal. Rainbow Dash looked at him in the eyes confidently, feeling like this bet was in the bag.

She spit on her hoof and pounded it against Daemon's saying, “It's a deal! There's no way you can fly as fast as me!”.

“Why's that?”, Daemon asked curiously, tilting his head to one side.

“Because I'm the only one who can do a Sonic Rainboom!”, the cyan mare announced with a malicious smile. As they went outside Rainbow Dash explained the Sonic Rainboom to Daemon. He just nodded from time to time as she was speaking.



“So, to make a Sonic Rainboom, I just have to break the sound barrier right?” Daemon asked, cracking his neck, getting into position on a small cloud.

“Yep, but it's not that easy. You will have to power through the backlash that it gives! You don't have a chance!”, the smug pegasus yelled on an adjacent nearby cloud.

Daemon exhaled, focusing on the task at hand. 'Speed... I just need speed', he thought, psyching himself up. A gentle breeze blew by, and when it died down Daemon took off, full throttle straight at the sun. When he was confident that he was high enough, he let go and free-fell for about two seconds before opening his wings and flapping them down once with amazing force. The single, strong flap of his wings shot him toward the ground at a great velocity, and a cone of air started to appear around him.{Link 2} Seeing this in action Rainbow's jaw dropped, and then in a great flash, Daemon did it. Well not exactly... when the boom went off there was an explosion of fire and Daemon had a trail of flames behind him instead of a rainbow.{Link 3} Knowing that she was beat, Rainbow Dash fell face first into the cloud she was on before letting out a muffled scream of frustration. Daemon landed by her frowning.

Rainbow Dash lifted her head and looked at him, “What? Are you gonna tell me you feel sorry for me now?!”.

“No... I couldn't do it.”, Daemon said flopping on the cloud.

Rainbow stood up, and rather confused at the comment, asked, “But I saw you do it, what are you talking about?”.

“You said, and I quote, 'there is a massive rainbow explosion and rainbow trail when you do a Sonic Rainboom'. I didn't make a rainbow...”, Daemon replied, staring out into the distance, looking beaten. Rainbow Dash threw the pair of goggles at him.

“Eh, it was close enough...”, she said nudging him with her hoof. Daemon smiled as he put the newly won goggles on.

'Huh, he actually pulls off the look well.' Rainbow Dash thought as she looked at the heroically posed stallion.

“Wait. What time is it?!”, Daemon asked suddenly remembering something.

“About 6:30, why?”, Rainbow asked.

“Crap! I was supposed to meet Fluttershy at... uh, some sort of apple orchard half an hour ago. I think she said 'Sweet Apple Acres'. Please, can you tell me where that is?!”, Daemon asked, trotting in place impatiently. Rainbow Dash simply pointed in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Daemon looked over and felt very stupid that he didn't notice it before.

“Um... thanks.”, he said, smiling out of embarrassment. He backed up slowly and accidentally fell of the cloud, but quickly caught himself. Daemon slowly rose back up and looked at Rainbow Dash before saying very seriously, “I meant to do that! Bye.”. The rainbow maned mare laughed and waved goodbye as Daemon flew off.



Daemon landed hard in front of Applejack, causing a small shockwave to kick up dust and nearly blow off the flinching mare's hat.

“Could ya warn me next time ya gonna do that?! Ah dang near lost mah hat!”, Applejack said dusting herself off.

“Sorry, I knew I was late so I was in a hurry.” Daemon apologized, removing the goggles that he was just given.

Applejack noticed that the goggles were Rainbow's and asked, “Now how in tarnation did you get those?! Rainbow Dash said she would never give 'em up in a million years!”.

“We had a bet and I won... simple as that.”, Daemon answered, not wanting to go into detail. Fluttershy trotted up next to Applejack and smiled.

“Hi. You're a little late... but its okay. Some help is better than none.” she said, knowing that Daemon was going to be confused about what she meant, just like with the other 'surprises' she sprung on him that day.

Daemon sighed, “Alright, what do I have to do this time?”.

“Well it's Zap-Apple season and we're a little behind on harvestin' them. Ya see, if we don't get all the apples off the trees by sunset they'll disappear. Think ya can help?”, Applejack asked with a pleading expression.

“Heh... piece of cake.”, Daemon said smiling deviously. He looked at the trees that were bearing rainbow striped fruit. He estimated that there were roughly a hundred trees and the sun was already beginning to get low. There was no way bucking the trees one by one would accomplish his goal so he tried to think of ways that he could shake the apples loose all at once. Suddenly an idea hit him. He bolted straight up until he was no more than a dot in the sky then, just like with his newly invented 'Sonic Fireboom', he flapped his wings with one quick snap and shot toward the ground. Everything suddenly got quiet as everypony started watching his strange maneuver. Most thought he would start slowing down as he approched the earth... but he was actually gaining speed! Before Daemon hit, he stuck out his hooves. He struck the ground, causing a visible ripple to flow along the ground, almost like it was made of gelatine. The quake caused most ponies to fall over or stumble as if they were on an unstable boat. The plan had worked to perfection. Every Zap-Apple fell landing in containers that were placed below. The obviously exhausted Shadowmare slowly walked up to a wide-eyed Applejack.

“How was that?”, Daemon asked trying to catch his breath. Applejack shook her head trying to comprehend what she just witnessed before answering.

“Well, partner, let's just say ah'm glad y'all are on our side!”. Daemon, Fluttershy, and Applejack all started laughing. As Fluttershy and Daemon went to leave Applejack told him that if he ever needed a job, a position would always be waiting for him.



When Fluttershy got to the cottage with Daemon it was about 8 o'clock. When they opened the door they saw a little white rabbit with it's arms crossed, tapping it's foot.

“Oh, hi Angel. What's... oh my goodness I forgot that I was taking you to the park today! I'm sooo sorry!”, Fluttershy said kneeling down to the disappointed bunny. That's when Angel saw Daemon for the first time. Curious of the new stallion, Angel hopped closer to him, looking him over. Angel motioned for Daemon to lower his head.

'Oh no, knowing Angel, this can't be good', Fluttershy thought, worried of what the little creature was planning. Angel looked long and hard at Daemon, making him nervous, before finally jumping on his head, getting comfortable in his hair. Fluttershy bursted out laughing (to the best of her ability), while Daemon was stuck looking up, even though he couldn't see Angel sitting on his head.

“Angel has never been that nice to somepony new before... he actually has a bit of a bad streak in him.”, Fluttershy said with her usual shy smile.

“You don't say...”, Daemon said, still looking pointlessly at his forehead.


Daemon played with Angel for at least three hours before Angel fell asleep.

“You really are great with him... I can't even get him to eat most of the time”, sighed Fluttershy.

“It might be just the way I smell... it's not like I really did anything for him to like me. Hey maybe we should make some sort of purfume with my scent! We can call it 'Eau De Daemon'!”, Daemon laughed. For some reason this made Fluttershy think of Zecora, maybe because both perfume and potions come in bottles. This gave her an idea.

“Daemon! I just came up with what we'll do tomorrow!”, Fluttershy said, showing as much excitement as possible for her.

“I don't think I want any more of your surprises... today was tiring enough as it is.”, Daemon said, rubbing his shoulder.

“Sorry about that... but this is something to find out more about you! Zecora knows all kinds of mysterious things! She might know something about you!”, the now ecstatic pegasus said.

“Well the only way to know for sure is to go to bed and see what she knows tomorrow...”, Daemon grinned.