Chapter 5: Fighting Chaos

It had been four days since the big party. Apparently it was a big hit since everypony was treating Daemon with respect and attempting to treat Desdemona the same way. Desdemona would just glare at anypony who would talk to her though... she said that making friends was Daemon's job, not hers and she wanted to keep it that way. Daemon returned the Wonder Bolt goggles that Rainbow Dash had given him the day after the party, telling her that he no longer needed to hide his eyes. In fact, now that he was an accepted citizen in Ponyville, everypony seemed to enjoy his striking eyes. Some would be so entranced that they would just stare at him smiling. The party also gave Daemon some of his memories back, although a lot of his regained memories were hazy and jumbled. During the past few days, Daemon would go around town and help those who needed his assistance or complete some odd jobs that needed his talents. He did notice that Fluttershy had become more distant towards him for some reason but he just guessed that giving her space would be best and continued forming stronger friendships with those in Ponyville. His help had also come with a few rewards, Applejack heard that he loved Zap Apples so she gave him a twenty pound sack of them. The only reason she was able to do this in the first place was because of his help at the final moments of havest anyway... she thought it was only right for him to get what she could spare. He also was given the guitar from the party. It was sort of the towns way of saying sorry for their harsh words.

After he was done helping out at Twilight's, he decided to go back to Fluttershy's cottage, which he now called 'home'. Upon entering he noticed that it was empty. It was already getting late so he found the absence of Fluttershy strange.

“Fluttershy? Are you home?”, he called out, hoping for a reply. His call went unanswered.

“Okay, something is definitely up... first of all Fluttershy is not one to stay out late; second, I know she would have told me if she was going somewhere; and third... I'm talking to myself! I should really stop or I might end up as crazy as Pinky Pie.” Daemon said to himself, walking back to the door.

“Yes, talking to yourself is almost as crazy as I am...” an unfamiliar voice spoke, startling Daemon.

“What?! Who's there?! Show yourself!”, Daemon shouted at the relaxed, yet sadistic sounding voice. Then, 'something' came walking out into the the room from the kitchen. It was some weird creature that was made up of all kinds of different parts. It looked like a biological jigsaw puzzle, one eagle talon, a lions paw, a white goat-like beard on the head of a horse... it looked like a mad scientist spliced together thirteen different animals into one horrific abomination.

“Don't mind me... I'm just here to pick something, or should I say someone, up.” the creature laughed causing Daemon to shake off his initial fear and show a bit of anger.

“I asked you who you are... now tell me!”, Daemon snarled, assuming that the one he said he 'picked up' was Fluttershy.

“Ah, yes. How rude of me. I am Discord, being of chaos and disharmony, at my service! Now who are you? I haven't seen a pony like you before...”, Discord said, staring intensely at the Shadowmare.

“My name is Daemon and what I am is none of your business!”, Daemon yelled causing Discord to step back. “NOW WHAT DID YOU DO WITH FLUTTERSHY?!”, he continued to shout.

“Oh, nothing much... yet. You can find her at Twilight Sparkle's abode, along with all of her other friends. See you there!”, Discord said before laughing maniacally and teleporting away.

'Why did D-monica need to pick today of all days to leave and strategize with Flara?!' Daemon thought, before teleported to Twilight's so he could stop whatever this new threat had in store for his friends.

After teleporting, Daemon expected to see this 'Discord' guy torturing his friends, but instead he just saw all of his friends standing in the room looking at him.

“Are you guys alright? Where is Discord? Did he hurt you?” Daemon asked, making sure everything was as perfect as it seemed to be.

“I have no idea who yer talkin' about...”, Applejack said looking back and forth suspiciously.

“Oh-kaaay? Uh... Fluttershy would you mind telling me what is going on?”, Daemon asked feeling like something wasn't quite right.

“Why don't you figure it out?! Oh wait that's right... you're too stupid to know how to add two plus two!”, Fluttershy responded, acting a lot like Desdemona.

Daemon was shocked to hear this,“Fluttershy being cruel? That's not right... something tells me this is what Discord was up to.”. Daemon started to hear slow clapping above him and looked to see Discord.

“Congratulations, you figured it out. I like turning the personalities of ponies backwards... its always a laugh!”.

“If you laugh, I swear I'll kick your teeth out!”, Pinkie Pie yelled at the snickering Discord.

“Not if I get to him first Pinkie...”, Daemon said popping his joints.

“Oh please... don't be so serious I was simply having a bit of fun... but this is where it gets personal.”, Discord said glaring at the mane six. He snapped his fingers and suddenly, Daemon's six friends were encased in stone leaving only their heads sticking out.

“Why are you doing this?! What did they ever do to you?!”, Daemon yelled in hopeless desperation.

“THEY TRIED TO SEAL ME IN STONE FOR ALL ETERNITY! HOW'S THAT FOR A REASON?!”, Discord yelled back, finally losing his cool. He was breathing heavily for a few moments before gathering himself. 
“Do you know what it's like being turned into a statue? It's not very pleasant. All I wanted to do was spread chaos and put the whole world into a state of pure disharmony... is that so wrong? I even made it rain chocolate milk. Tell me who doesn't like chocolate milk? Well I couldn't have that because these six were able to gather the Elements of Harmony and stop me. It's a good thing that they didn't do anything to keep me imprisoned or I would still be made of stone, but I digress, there is nothing that can stop me now and I'm finally free to create my world of anarchy!”.

Daemon couldn't believe what he was hearing. This thing was out of his mind. Wanting to create chaos? This was insane, the world was chaotic enough for Daemon, there was no reason to make it worse... especially just for entertainment! To make matters worse his friends were being hurt by the stone encasing them. Discord must have been right about the whole 'not pleasant' thing, because it looked as if each one of them were in extreme pain. Daemon was scared, furious, saddened, and confused all at the same time. He just sat in front of his friends shaking when Discord laughed evilly and made his exit. Unable to think of a way to free them. Daemon broke down. He felt like his heart was going to shatter any moment. He was totally helpless. Not knowing what else he could do he moved toward Fluttershy, crying at her now petrified hooves.

“Suck... it up... you big baby.”, Fluttershy struggled to say. “You're a Shadowmare... for Celestia's sake! Argh! Try... acting like it!”. Daemon looked up at Fluttershy and saw a faint smile on her face. He believed that this sudden statement was Fluttershy... the real Fluttershy... trying to tell him that he could still try to beat Discord. Suddenly, Daemon felt a pulsating in his chest. It wasn't his heart, it felt different, it felt... powerful. Then the pulsating increased in speed until it was almost in rhythm with his heart beat. That's when it happened... Daemon's dark side was unleashed.

Daemon stepped outside to see the town in a panic. Ponies were running frantically. Most of the buildings were floating upside down and the ground was covered in a checkerboard pattern. None of this phased Daemon. He was focused completely on Discord, who was sitting on a floating throne in the sky.

“Ah! Daemon! You made it. I was worried I hurt your feelings and we weren't going to be friends. That would have been just awful!”, Discord said chuckling to himself.

“Discord... I'm giving you one chance to return everything back to the way it was and run away...”, Daemon said in a calm tone.

“Or what?! Are you forgetting that I am unstoppable without the use of the Elements of Harmony? You cant do anything to me, so stop trying to act like the hero and enjoy the coming of the new world!”, Discord said raising his hands in triumph.

“I don't know what these 'Elements of Harmony' that you keep rambling on about are, but I assure you... I won't need them. However I will need to borrow Vinyl's music equipment...”, Daemon said walking inside Vinyl Scratch's nearby house. He came back out with a turntable and two large speakers, rolling them into position by Twilights house.

“Ha ha ha ha! You're going to stop me with music?! That is hysterical!” Discord laughed.

“No I'm just setting the mood. The fun has yet to begin...”, Daemon replied, sounding calm and emotionless.

He took out a record and placed it on the turntable. {Link 1} The music that came out when he put the needle on the record was quiet at first, but after Daemon walked away from the speakers and crouched down in a take-off position, it quickly blasted in fierce sounding lyrics. The moment the song changed into one of a fighting melody, Daemon shot himself straight at Discord, who was shocked but still able to fling some floating buildings together in an attempt to smash Daemon. The angered Shadowmare was two steps ahead of Discord though teleporting behind him and giving a quick buck to the back of his head. The buck wasn't full powered but it was enough to send Discord hurtling towards the ground. After impacting the soil below, Discord brushed himself off and looked at Daemon.

“That wasn't very nice!”, Discord growled.

“That's funny, normally I'm a pretty nice guy... I wonder what could have happened to change me?”, Daemon said sarcastically, venomous hatred clear in his words.

“Are you still upset about that? Move on dear boy. There is nothing you can do to stop their fate. I have already won. Give it up!”, Discord said, floating back up to Daemons eye level.

“I'm not going to give up... you hurt my friends and I will make sure you will pay.”, Daemon responded, eyes still overflowing with a silent fury. Discord made the first move this time, phasing out of sight and reappearing behind Daemon. He grabbed the stallion by the neck, causing him to struggle.

Discord then ran his finger across Daemons face, whispering, “Now let's see what your opposite self is like”. Daemon continued to struggle, confusing Discord.

“Why aren't you succumbing to my magic?! What are you?!”, Discord shouted in frustration. Daemon then broke free of his grasp and started to giggle somewhat evilly. “What is so funny?”, Discord asked, not sure what could be amusing this strange pony.

“What you said... 'what are you'? Heh heh heh... you really don't want to know.”, Daemon said grinning wickedly.

Daemon started to think that the fight was dragging on way too long and rushed at Discord. The mismatched creature tried to block the incoming attack, only to have Daemon swing his legs to the right, shifting his momentum to circle around to Discords back. Daemon delivered a right hook to Discord, sending him flying to the left. After that, Daemon started to jolt back and forth through the air, hitting Discord each time. It looked as if Daemon was playing volleyball with the psycho. This went on for a good fifteen seconds before the Shadowmare finished up by tossing Discord to the ground. The beaten creature looked up to see Daemon staring back with an aura of rage surrounding him.

“W-what are you?!” Discord shouted in what was now fear. Lightning went off behind the unflinching stallion as he still showed a merciless stare {Link 2}.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Daemon asked the shaking Discord.

“Ye... yes?”, Discord stuttered not positive he wanted to know.

“I am a Shadowmare or in this case... your worst fear brought to life!”, Daemon shouted back.

“Wh- Y-you can't be serious! You aren't supposed to exist!”, Discord yelled, shaking even more than he was before.

“Oh, I'm serious... you might even say I'm dead serious! We do exist, and pretty soon... you won't!”, Daemon said back to Discord.

“Wait! Let's not do anything drastic! I... I can free your friends! I can set everything back to how it was! Watch!”, Discord said snapping his fingers. In a flash, Ponyville went back to normal and the mane six appeared outside Twilights front door, also back to their original selves.

“See?! Now please let me go! I won't bother you ever again!”, Discord pleaded.

The six on the sidelines looked at Discord and then to where he was looking, trying to understand what was happening. When they saw Daemon in the sky they noticed something was... wrong. He looked different somehow. Fluttershy was the only one who knew what was going on. She remembered Desdemona telling her that when Daemon starts to fight, he becomes a totally different pony. He becomes an unforgiving warrior, unable to stop himself from finishing the fight... even if it means killing the one he's fighting.

“It's far too late for that Discord. I gave you a chance to escape before and you rejected it. You have nobody to blame for this but yourself...”, Daemon said coldly. He then flew at Discord at a speed which caused a Sonic Fireboom. Fluttershy saw what he was about to do and screamed,

“DAEMON! NO!”. Right before hitting Discord, Daemon stopped abruptly, causing the shockwave of the Sonic Fireboom to be the only thing that hit Discord.

Daemon dropped to the ground, eyes wide, stunned by his actions. Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke, “What have I done? I... I was about to kill him...”. Fluttershy slowly walked up to him, but Daemon stepped back fearfully, scared of himself.

“Daemon... I...”, Fluttershy whispered before Daemon flew off, feeling forlorn.