Author's note
To be honest, Solid Sun, it looks pretty good; As for your suggestion, Neros, maybe.

Chapter 6: The Demon Pony's Redemption

The Demon Pony sighs as he prepares to head to the guest room door with a plate of food in his paws. The transformed prince has thought about what he had did, acting like a bully and losing his temper before. Perhaps the Demon Pony will try to ask Twilight again, even apologizing and asking nicely as well as offering her a meal in the progress.

"Okay...I can do this. I would try not to lose my temper like the last time. Right, here goes." The Demon Pony said with a nod.

The Demon Pony knocks on the door, expecting an answer from Twilight. But when none came, the wolf-like creature knocks again, but still no respond. The Demon Pony sighs in sadness.

"Why isn't she answering?" The Demon Pony asks as he prepares to head back to the West Wing.

But then the Demon Pony heard voices, hiding in time and saw Twilight, Nyx and Spike with Soarin', Caramel and Winona. The master felt disappointed. The purple unicorn probably was fed already but maybe she came down here to get a tour from his servants.

"Now as you notice the unusual inverted archways, you will see that this is of curse another example of late, new, classic Baroque period." Caramel, like a tour guide, explains eagerly as he shows Twilight, Nyx and Spike around. Not of them notice that the suits of armors (more Pegasus guards transformed) turn to look at the purple unicorn. "And of course, as I always say...if it's not 'Baroque', don't fix it!"

Caramel laughs at his own corny joke while Spike roll his eyes while remarking, "No offense, but that joke really...well, it needs work." The baby dragon heads off to follow Twilight, Nyx, Soarin' and Winona.

Of course, Caramel soon notices that the Pegasus guards are looking at Twilight, causing him to turn around and snap sternly, "As you were!" The armor ponies quickly turn away, making Twilight and Nyx laughs a bit.

"Wow, this is so beautiful and cool, Soarin'. I got to admit, this castle is one awesome place to be here." Nyx said with a giggle. The Demon Pony in hiding smiles a bit.

"Right, I agree, I love it here so far." Twilight said in agreement. The Demon Pony was about to come out of hiding when the mare frowns as she snaps, "If only that thick-headed monster you called 'master' isn't around."

"Yeah, why you have that bully as a master, I would never know."

As the group walks off to follow Caramel to resume the tour, the Demon Pony came out of hiding place, looking shocked and upset. He was hoping to show Twilight how much of a gentlemen he is...only to witness her distaste to him.

"Ugh, act like a gentlecolt, my hoof. I'm an idiotic fool." The Demon Pony growls as he storms off. Perhaps it's not worth trying to win Twilight's heart after all...

---

"Now then, if I will draw your attention to the flying buttresses above the..." Caramel begins to speak while going down another hallway. But the Earth Pony soon stops as he realize that Twilight, Nyx and Spike are gone, "Uh, Twilight, Nyx, Spike?"

Soarin' and Caramel looks around. Winona suddenly bark, getting the two foals' attentions as the trio saw an alarming sight: Twilight, Nyx and Spike are walking up a set of stairs...and are heading to the west wing, the same area that the Demon Pony has forbid them all from going to!

"Weird. What's up here?" Nyx ask curiously. Twilight, curious herself, is heading on the steps with her adopted daughter and Spike behind here.

Unknown to the trio, the Demon Pony, still upset over Twilight's words earlier, was on his way to the west wing, when he notices her, Nyx and Spike on the steps, making him gasp in shock.

"Oh no, what are they doing? Those three are heading to the west wing! They are not supposed to be there! Twilight, her daughter or that dragon could find something that they weren't supposed to...or worst, they could break the rose!" The Demon Pony said to himself in silence and horror. If the enchanted rose were to get destroyed by any way, then the spell will be permanent!

The Demon Pony cannot let that happen, he has to cut Twilight's group off! Quickly he heads off to another direction to the west wing to beat them there in time. Meanwhile, the purple unicorn, Nyx and Spike were almost up the stairs, not noticing the Demon Pony himself, when Soarin', Caramel and Winona appears, blocking their path while smiling nervously.

"Say, what's up there?" Twilight ask the two foal servants curiously. "My daughter and I want to take a closer look."

"Uh, what there? Why, it's nothing, absolutely nothing at all." Caramel said nervously while nudging Soarin' to make him nod in agreement. "You don't have to bother with the west wing. Nothing interesting there; the place is dusty, dull and very boring."

"Ah ha! So that's the west wing." Nyx said with a smirk while glancing at the west wing, making Caramel yelp in alarm. Not good, he went and told the guests!

"Oh, good work," Soarin' remarks to Caramel sarcastically. Now that the Earth Pony has mentioned where the west wing is, Twilight would definitely want to go up there and find something that could anger the Demon Pony further.

"Hmmm...I wonder what he's hiding up there." Twilight said thoughtfully as she walks up the stairs, only for the two servants and the puppy to block her once more.

"Oh, errr, nothing; the master isn't hiding anything at all." Soarin' said nervously.

"Well...if he is hiding nothing..." Spike begins to say with a sigh.

"Then it wouldn't be forbidden." Twilight said with a devilish smirk. She and Nyx prepares to head up the stairs, only for the servants and the puppy to block them once more. "Oh come on!"

"Let us up there, I want to see what the Demon Pony got in his west wing!" Nyx exclaims to Caramel and Soarin' with a pouty look.

"Come on, maybe you all like to see something else, right?" Caramel asks with a slight chuckle. "We got interesting tapestries that date all the way back to..."

"Maybe later," Twilight said as she and Nyx walk past the two, heading upstairs once more. Spike hesitate going, worried that he and the fillies may end up upsetting the Demon Pony. Whatever is in the west wing, the monster doesn't want his 'guests' to know at all.

Soarin' and Caramel blocks Twilight and Nyx's path again as the foal Pegasus pony insist, "Maybe you would like to see the gardens...or the library! Yes, we got a library!"

"Wait, you guys have a library?" Twilight ask Soarin' and Caramel in interest. This make the two servants sigh in relief. Finally, something to keep her and maybe Nyx's interest off the west wing; Everyone dodge a bullet there!

"Of course, yes, yes! We do!" Caramel exclaims with a smile.

"We got a lot of books." Soarin' said as he, Caramel and Winona begins to lead Twilight's group away from the west wing.

"Gads of books!"

"Mountains of books!"

Of course, have the two servants and the puppy were to look back, they would've seen Twilight and Nyx stopping and glance back at the west wing. Curiosity is overtaking the two fillies once. They got to see what the Demon Pony is hiding up there.

Twilight and Nyx head upstairs, the worried Spike follows them as Soarin', Caramel (both arm-in-arm) and Winona is on their way to the library, unaware of what happened.

"Forests of books," Caramel exclaims with a smile.

"Cascades..." Soarin' said eagerly.

"Of books!"

"Swamps of books!"

"Why we got books as far as the eye can see, more than you would be able to see in a lifetime!" Caramel continues on, unaware of Twilight's group's absence. "There are books on every subject ever studied by every great author who wrote on paper..."

Once on top of the stairs, Twilight and Nyx prepares to head to the west wing, much to Spike's horror as he protest, "What! Are you crazy? That Demon Pony told us not to go in there!"

"Which is why we're going; He's hiding something. And I want to know what." Twilight said to Spike in determination. Whatever the Demon Pony is hiding, the trio (well, mostly the fillies) is going to find out what that is.

"B-b-but what he finds out we've been in the west wing?" The baby dragon notices that Twilight and Nyx are heading into the west wing, causing him to follow. Spike moans, "That won't end well."

Twilight's group continues going through a dark corridor, Spike is shivering a bit as Twilight herself and Nyx looks around. This place looks like a disaster, not been clean in years. As the group goes by broken statues, they went by a broken mirror and reach the end of the corridor.

Twilight's group saw a door that is scratched a lot with a door handle that has a monster face that looks at them as if it is alive and saying 'Stay away or else'. For a moment, the older mare thought about going back, remembering the Demon Pony's warning and is worried of what she would find inside...but curiosity overtook her again. The master of this castle is indeed hiding something

"Come on." Twilight whispers as she took a deep breath and opens the door, going into the room with Nyx and Spike. Their eyes widened as they saw what appears to be a bedroom which is a big mess.

"So the Demon Pony's secret is that his room is a mess?" Spike asks puzzled. "Honestly, having a dirty room is nothing to be ashamed about."

"Yeah, it's more messy than my own room back home." Nyx adds then she, Twilight and Spike yelps as they see carcasses of dead animals near the broken furniture, "Eep. I hate to see what he did to those."

The group wanders around, Twilight yelps as she bumps into a table that the filly grabs to keep it from falling in time. The mare looks around...then turns around and gasps upon seeing something that causes Nyx and Spike to turn around.

Twilight is looking at a portrait that has been slashed with four deep slashes, mostly on the face and where the cutie mark should be. It looks like that of a brown coated colt with a spiky like brown mane, green eyes, a long tail and a red collar.

Twilight looks puzzled. Those eyes of the colt in the portrait look familiar to her but where has she seem before? And in a different color too? The purple unicorn begins to use her magic to move up the slash parts of the portrait to lift them to get a closer look...

But then the trio notices something on a dressing table nearby: a shimmer of light. They came to it and saw some sort of rose under glass. Nyx smiles while saying, "Wow, a rose...any chance that we..."

Twilight uses her magic to remove the glass and leans forward to touch the rose...when a familiar voice yells out, "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" She, Nyx and Spike gasps in alarm as they saw the Demon Pony, glaring angrily at them while roaring.

Twilight's group got out of the way as the Demon Pony put the glass back over the rose. He turns in outrage at the ones who trespass here in the West Wing while demanding, "Why did you all come here?"

"Sorry. We didn't mean to..." Twilight begins to say to the Demon Pony nervously.

"I told you all to never come here!"

"We're sorry, we didn't mean to!" Nyx protests to the Demon Pony in terror.

"Do you realize what you almost have done? GET OUT!" The Demon Pony roars in fury. The trio yelps in fright as the angry monster knocks over a few empty tables while roaring in fury. Spike run as the girls prepares to follow, but Nyx screams as the Demon Pony grabs her. "You all have no right to be here! GET OUT!"

"Let go of me, you're hurting Nyx!" Twilight protests to the furry pony in horror. The Demon Pony roars as he throws the former Nightmare Moon right into some stuff.

Twilight and Spike stops in their tracks and gasps as they see the groaning Nyx getting out of the stuff, barely. They came over to help her, glaring furiously at the Demon Pony who calms down and realize, to his shock and regret, what he had done.

"I'm sorry, please, let me..." The Demon Pony said in worry as he tries to help Nyx up.

"Stay away from my daughter!" Twilight hiss furiously as she uses her magic to move a broken table to block the monster's way. Nyx crawls away to her adopted mother who helps her up with Spike glaring angrily at the Demon Pony, especially with how he has treated the poor filly. "Fine, we're leaving, and forget our promise; we are never staying or coming back, you monster!"

Twilight, putting Nyx on her back, run out of the room with Spike, the Demon Pony protests, "Wait, come back, no! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt her or frighten you all!" The former prince then became more of grief as he turns away. "You all don't understand..."

The Demon Pony is on the verge. He has lost his temper and scare them all, almost hurting poor Nyx in the progress. Any chance that the prince wanted to have with Twilight is gone. The Demon Pony bows his head, putting one paw onto his face while saying, "There is so little of me left...so little..." He then begins to sing.

Demon Pony: And in my twisted face...
There's not the slightest trace
Of anything that even hints at kindness
And in my tortured shape
No comfort, no escape

I see, but deep within is utter blindness
Hopeless
As my dream dies
As the time flies
Love's a lost illusion
Helpless
Unforgiven
Cold and driven
To this sad conclusion

The sad Demon Pony look at himself in a broken mirror, sighing in sadness.

No beauty could move me
No goodness improve me
No power on earth, if I can't love her
No passion could reach me
No lesson could teach me
How I could have loved her and make her love me too
If I can't love her, then who?

The Demon Pony glances at the portrait that Twilight was looking at it. Now because of his recent behavior, the poor pony will never return to what he once was.

Long ago I should have seen
All the things I could have been
Careless and unthinking I moved onward

The Demon Pony now go outside and climbs up to the castle's top spire, standing on top while singing in powerful tone of voice.

No pain could be deeper
No life could be cheaper
No point anymore if I can't love her
No spirit could win me
No hope left within me
Hope I could have loved her
And that she'd set me free
But it's not to be
If I can't love her
Let the world be done with me!

With that, the song ends as the Demon Pony looks down in sadness. Looks like all is over...

---

Twilight's group rush downstairs in the foyer and right past the shocked Soarin', Caramel and Winona, the three have came looking for them. The Pegasus protests, "Wait, come back! Where are you going?"

"Forget the promise, we ain't staying in here another minute!" Spike exclaims as Twilight opens the door, causing snow to blow into the castle.

"That master is a monster and he always will be!" Twilight exclaims angrily.

"Wait, please, no!" Caramel protests in horror. Unfortunately, it's too last as the trio closes the door behind themselves. The servants look down in sadness; Looks like it's all over.

---

The group rush through the forest, with Nyx and Spike on Twilight's back. Looks like it's a clear escape...but then the trio stops as the baby dragon screams, "Whoa, not cool!"

The group gasps as a group of hungry snarling Houndoom, the same ones who chased Houndoom, appear. Outnumbered and defenseless (even with Twilight and Nyx's magic), the trio quickly run off with the Pokemon in hot pursuit.

Twilight gallops one side to another, causing some of the Houndoom to hit the tree. Spike kicks one into a tree. The trio reaches an icy pond that broke upon them touching it. The Houndoom jumps in after them and the heroes escape after one swim. Unfortunately, Twilight's group didn't go too far as more Houndoom surround them, startling the purple unicorn to the point of knocking her riders off of her back.

"Whoa, Twilight," Spike exclaims as he fell into some branches, getting trapped there.

The Houndoom prepares to attack Spike but Twilight and Nyx quickly use their magic to get some sticks and hit them back. They did a good job until one of the Pokemon snaps their sticks in half with their jaws. Twilight screams as she and Nyx got knocked to the snowy ground, one of the Houndoom grabs the purple unicorn by her mane, tugging on it and causing her to scream again.

One Houndoom prepares to lunge at Twilight; the purple unicorn prepares herself for what is going to be her own demise...but when the Pokemon jumps at her, something surprising happened: a familiar monster appears and grabs the Houndoom, roaring in its face before tossing the Pokemon.

Twilight, Nyx and Spike watch as the Houndoom glares at the Demon Pony who stood protectively over them; Soon a fight breaks out as the Pokemon attack him, the monster knock and hit them away. Some of those monsters were able to bite inside one arm hard and some of him, causing the Demon Pony to roar in pain though he was able to toss one of them into a tree, knocking the Houndoom out.

Pretty soon, the Houndoom yelps as they run out, eventually no match for the Demon Pony. Once those Pokemon are gone, he stood protectively in front of Twilight, she look at him as he look back in despair and bad shape...before the Demon pony collapsed right onto the snow.

Nyx, during this time, got Spike free from the branches. Twilight glances down a road, it's a free one, no one is stopping her and her group from taking it. But something stops her. Twilight looks back at the Demon Pony who lifts his head out of the snow, giving her a sad look and gave out tears while neighing in sadness.

Twilight then feel something: sadness for the Demon Pony. She couldn't leave him out here, the poor thing would die. Spike, noticing that his friend is still standing there while looking at the monster, ask, "What are you waiting for? Let's go."

"We can't leave him." Twilight said, much to Spike's shock.

"What! After the way he treated us?"

"He saved us!"

"He probably followed us to capture you so that he can lock you back up in the tower!" Spike protests to Twilight in worry. But even Nyx has to agree, it wouldn't be right to leave the Demon Pony out here to die like this.

"We can't just leave him here to die. We have to help him." Twilight insists to Spike, making him groan and sighs a bit.

"Okay. We'll take him back to his castle. Then we go straight home."

Spike and Nyx were able to help Twilight put the Demon Pony on her back then the group begins their trek back to the castle. The little adopted daughter looks at the rescuer in pity. Even though he almost hurt her before, she knew deep down that it isn't his fault. He was upset over their intrusion in the west wing.

"I hope he recovers." Nyx mumbles then groaning a bit. "I need some help myself..."

---

Once back at the castle, the servants got to work. Applejack pours water into a bowl while Apple Bloom heats the thing up. Nyx was treated to, luckily all she got was scratches and bruises though she did get a few bandages and some ice; Nothing major of course.

Twilight user her magic to take the towel out of the water and wrings it. She turns to the Demon Pony who is licking at his wounds literally. The purple unicorn said in concern, "Hey, now. Don't do that."

The Demon Pony growls at Twilight. The others back away slowly while Spike say, "Twilight, he looks upset. Be careful."

"Now hold still..."

Twilight tries to reach the wound, the only one on the Demon Pony, as the furry pony tries to keep it away but eventually the purple unicorn was able to put the wet towel right onto the wound. As a result, the Demon Pony roars in pain from the string that happen, so loudly that everyone but him and Twilight hid.

"That hurts!" The Demon Pony yells in Twilight's face angrily.

"Well, excuse me! But if you would've held still, then it wouldn't hurt as much!" Twilight snaps to the Demon Pony in annoyance.

"Well, excuse me! But if you, your daughter and that baby dragon hadn't run off, this wouldn't have happened!"

"If you hadn't frightened us and almost hurt Nyx, we wouldn't have to run away!"

The Demon Pony was about to speak up but stops a bit. Twilight's right, he had scared her, Nyx and Spike and almost hurt the little alicorn. The former prince feels bad and ashamed of himself for doing so, all because of his bad temper and fury.

Still, the Demon Pony isn't about to let Twilight win this argument. He then snaps, though in a low tone of voice, "Well...you all shouldn't have been in the west wing in the first place!"

"You should at least learn to control your temper!" Twilight snaps to the Demon Pony. The others got out of their hiding places, looking concerned. What will their happen now? The two quarreling ponies look at each other as their eyes dropped. "Now try to hold still, okay? This may sting a little."

The Demon Pony cringes as he turns his head away, closing his eyes tightly and preparing himself for the sting. As Twilight cleans the wound with the towel, she then adds softly, "Oh...and thank you...for saving us."

The Demon Pony opens his eyes, turning to her in surprise. She has thanked him for saving her, Nyx and Spike. For the first time ever, he felt something...warm inside. The others came out of hiding, smiling at the fact that he isn't yelling or acting violently for once.

"You're welcome." The Demon Pony said calmly then he turns to Nyx. "And Nyx...I'm sorry...for almost hurting you."

"It's only a few scratches and bruises. I'm just relieved that you're okay." Nyx said as she got onto the chair that the Demon Pony and sat near him, cuddling to the furry pony like a daughter would to a father.

The Demon Pony blinks and smiles warmly; Looks like this is a new start for him and Twilight.

Author's note
Well, thanks to the Demon Pony saving Twilight, Nyx and Spike, they are grateful and he is redeem in front of their eyes. What will happen now? In the next chapter, Boris reveals his plan for Twilight's hoof to Cutler Beckett, the owner of the local insane asylum, which involves Dusk Shine.

Twilight: That isn't good.

Me: Meanwhile back at the castle, relationships between the Demon Pony and Twilight got better, especially with the song 'Something There'.

Some of the stuff in this chapter came from the musical, though I change some of it.