Author's note
Nobodiez, don't you mean 'isn't evil'? But I can see that you corrected yourself.

Unknown, I accept your ideas again.

Billy Arratoon, nice idea though Boris already knows what secret that Lorcan is talking about. I can alter it of course. Oh, and I accept your ideas too.

Thanks for the review, xSapphire-Catz. Yeah, Zecora not rhyming is OOC but you tried coming up with clever rhymes for her. This is the only way that I can use the zebra.

It is 2 hours until sunset, the ponies are making strategies for their next confrontation with the Demon Pony. If anything to calm the upset masses down and to keep the festival going.

"Okay, here's what we did the last time." Twilight discuss strategies with her friends. "Pinkie Pie just needs to improve her party cannon. We know Fluttershy does well. Now Rarity, confronting that thing head on was a mistake."

"Which ended up messing up my mane, believe me." Rarity remarks to Twilight.

"Right; Applejack, your lasso isn't enough to hold him. Rainbow, try not to be reckless next time.

"Yes, mother." Rainbow remarks sarcastically to Twilight of the suggestion.

"As for me...magic won't work so I will have to go for brains, trap the Demon Pony in an area with no way out and no stuff to climb over." Twilight said thoughtfully. "I think I know of a place: the Arena."

"Arena," Fluttershy ask with a blink of her eyes.

"Of course; The Arena is where ponies fight each other for sport and fun, not to the death."

"You mean you got big fights here?" Rainbow asks Twilight in amazement. "Cool! Suddenly Canterlot got a whole lot better!"

"We ain't going there 'ta watch fights, just 'ta lure 'de Demon Pony into a trap." Applejack said sternly to Rainbow.

"I know, but it's still cool."

"Excuse me?" Nyx spoke up, the girls saw the fillies coming in. "Uh, I know that we Pinkie Promise to stay out of this next time...but we can make suggestions like bringing your 'natural' talents to a whole new game play."

"Right, how about trying some unexpected moves or create something new to fit your style perfectly to take down the Demon Pony." Scootaloo suggests to the Mane Six.

"Hmmm, that could work." Twilight said thoughtfully.

"Yep; some o' yew have a few named special moves like Pinkie Pie wit' her Pinkie Sense, Rainbow Dash wit' her Sonic Rainbow an' Fluttershy's Stare 'ta paralyze any wild animal." Apple Bloom suggests.

"You want me to use my Stare to paralyze that thing?" Fluttershy ask Apple Bloom in concern. The yellow Pegasi isn't keen about doing that ability to a pony, even if this said pony is a wild creature.

"Yew can bring out yer greatest 'dat yer cutie marks say o' what they found out fro' o' parties, an air ace 'ta an animal communicator!"

"And what about the rest of the ones that doesn't or hasn't shown such things?" Rarity complains to Nyx and the CMC. "None of us have Pinkie Pie, the Sonic Rainboom or the Stare."

"Well, you like diamonds, right?" Sweetie points out to her sister with a smile.

"Well, true, but..."

"I think I know what your sister is driving at, Rarity." Twilight said thoughtfully. "You can use special diamond gems. A long time ago, an ancient unicorn warrior used such gems to shield him from brutal assaults with hard diamond structure to magical blocking abilities they have while they can be used to shot back against such opponents. You could use your gems to absorb any magical beams to form a giant gem size, the beam can shoot through inside before exiting out of the said gem."

"Yeah, that sounds neat!" Pinkie giggles a bit.

"An' mah sis has a talent 'dat she uses to lasso stuff wit' a rope." Apple Bloom points out with a grin. "She could bring up a special trick pass down in 'de Apple family name."

"Well, Ah reckon yer're right about 'dat." Applejack said with a smile. Her sister is right; there is a special rope trick that the Apple family knows.

"And then, there's mommy." Nyx said, making Twilight look at her. "She has her brain to help think this problem through & to solve a complicated problem."

"You know...you four fillies are right." Twilight said with a smile. "I think if we practice before sunset, improving ourselves or making ourselves better prepared, we will stand a chance this time."

"Come on! Let's do some practice like the RDTAU Cupcakes golf team does before their team!" Pinkie squeals in delight as she works on little 'tinkering' improvements of her cannon.

The Mane Six work on practicing and preparing themselves. Nyx and her friends smile in approval. They were able to make a bit of a difference even though the foals won't be going out tonight.

But maybe next time...the CMC and Nyx will try to dig into the mystery of the Demon Pony further...

-------------

Celestia watch her sister Luna set up the moon that night. The Goddess of the Sun sighs a bit. She hopes that Twilight and her friends are able to capture the Demon Pony this time. The other ponies are getting upset over what's happening.

Celestia goes over to a dresser and use her magic to open a drawer, taking out a photo and looks at it. The alicorn sighs in sadness; ever since that disappearance years ago...

"No, I cannot dwell on it right now." Celestia mumbles before putting the photo away. She can only hope that the Demon Pony is captured. The ruler has questions that she demands from it about a certain pony...

And hopefully, Celestia's nightmares that haunt her for years at times will finally be put to rest.

-----------------

The pub is abandoned as the place is closed for the night...though Boris and his boys are allowed entry and hang out as long as they want. Right now, the trio is having a conversion with the same figure from before.

"So, you have a new tactic?" The figure asks Boris curiously.

"Yes. With these bullets and Heckhounds at my disposal, the Demon Pony will be as good as dead!" Boris admits to the figure sinisterly. "Of course, once Twilight and her friends mess up, and I know they will..."

"Yeah, what he said." Boxco agrees with Boris stupidly.

"Dis I ask you idiot to speak?" The figure snaps to Boxco. His claws crackle. Boxco backs away. Addressing Boris, the figure said, "Good. But before you go, I think you should know this..." He whispers into the red stallion's ear. The stallion's eyes widen though not in surprise.

"I already know that. Thank you, but I don't need any figure information than I need now." Boris insists. His eyes narrow in determination. He nods his head in thanks to the figure and turns to leave. "Come, boys. It's time we settled things with the Demon Pony once and for all...once the night is over."

As the trio leave, the figure calls out again, "Know this, Boris! Should you fail, the Demon Pony won't the one lying on the ground dead...for you'll take his place!" He vanishes in green flames.

-------------

The Demon Pony growls, prowling the cities for either its next meal or whatever he wants. The creature shouldn't even try to come out after the last two times...but he has no choice. His demon form is making him harder for the Demon Pony to control.

The Demon Pony then sniffs something in the air and begins to head into the direction of what he smells. Smells like...cupcakes? The creature follows the smell, hoping to see what he could find.

The Demon Pony arrives in some sort of abandoned arena which is used to hold fights. He spots a table of cupcakes in the center of the area and heads to it. The Demon Pony chews down a bit but then stops.

This is suspicious. Why are cupcakes here just waiting for him? This doesn't make sense. Unless...

"NOW," A voice yells out. Suddenly the arena exits are closed, shut off, much to the Demon Pony's shock. He looks around, finding no other way out. The seats are blocked off and the walls are too scaly to climb.

"Got yew now," A familiar voice said as Applejack and the other ponies appeared. Twilight, the one who yelled out the signal, looks to the Demon Pony in concern. At least he won't escape this time.

"Look, we don't want to hurt you. Just give up before..."

"Please, don't." The Demon Pony grunts a bit in concern. "You don't understand! My Demon Pony form is getting hard to control over the years!"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it." Rainbow remarks while rolling her eyes. The Mane Six has heard this explanation before. "We ain't going to provoke you or anything. Just give up and maybe Princess Celestia would..."

"Please...let me go...I can't..."

The Demon Pony roars madly as his eyes grow red, charging at the Mane Six who prepared themselves. This time, they didn't provoke time. This time, the monster's form is getting harder for him to control!

"Here he comes, girls!" Twilight shouted as she gets in a fighting stance.

"Uh, I will go first." Fluttershy offers meekly. The others watch as she begins sing a familiar song. The Demon Pony stops charging as forest friends appear, gathering around.

The Demon Pony looked more puzzled while asking, "Now what is she doing?" Fluttershy appears to be entertaining right in the middle of a fight.

But then, suddenly, as the Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin plays in the background, Fluttershy and her animal friends glare at the opponent, startling the Demon Pony. She screeches out as the animals charge right at him.

"What on Equestria," The Demon Pony shouted as he kept dodging the forest animals.

"Whoa! I will never poke fun at Fluttershy's animal-loving nature again!" Rainbow exclaims impressed. The Demon Pony yelped as the birds attack him from the air, making him back away like mad.

"You make me lose, I blow my fuse!" Fluttershy shouted.

"I'll take it from here, dear!" Rarity said as she ran towards the cornered Demon Pony.

"Allow me 'ta make it done easier fer ya, sugar-cube!" Applejack cheers while whirling the rope via her tail.

"Applejack, you did that rope trick before." Rarity points out to Applejack, reminding her friend of the previous confrontation.

"Y'up, but Ah done tightening 'de ropes!" Applejack exclaims. She tosses the rope right over the Demon Pony and tightened the rope. She repeat the progress and up two front hooves with ropes tied up to make it a four time rowdy hogtie scene that's four times more. "'Dat 'de Apple Family's Double or Nothing Lasso Roundup' maneuver. Henceforth, it means Ah can do it with either 2 or 4 more ropes to lasso a foe."

"Good job. Now is my turn." Rarity said with a grin. She begins to levitate diamonds for both defensive shield & offensive assaults, the ones that are the hardest substance to break.

Rarity sends them right onto the Demon Pony and putting them on the ropes. The monster cringes as he has difficulty breaking free while feeling the pain of the sharp edges of the diamond neatly placed in the ropes so they cannot break.

"So what do you call that?" Twilight asked Rarity curiously.

"I call that tactic 'Eternal Style', a move that never goes out of style when it comes to jewelry, darling." Rarity explained proudly while batting her eyelashes.

"If you think that never goes out of style, watch this!" Rainbow said before she zoomed towards the Demon Pony.

Rainbow then spun around the Demon Pony, creating a rainbow line that got the beast trapped inside while getting him off his feet, or hooves in a dizzy manner.

Rainbow continued on; the faster she makes the attack, the longer it will last until the attack fades away, leaving the Demon Pony inside in a dizzy, queasy way.

"Oh, what was that move? Does it have a name? Oh, Mister Twister! No! Swirly-gig! No wait! Whirly-Twirly, Whirly-Twirly," Pinkie exclaims excitedly while jumping off and down.

Rainbow cut off while saying, "My move needs a cool name. It's called 'The Rainbow Cyclone'. Cool idea, don't you think? I have been practicing to do it after seeing a rainbow rotate around Nightmare Moon."

Twilight galloped towards the Demon Pony, who growled at her. The mare noted how he looked worried...and was that a hint of sadness in his face?

"Look, I'm sorry, but we got to do this before you hurt any ponies...or yourself." Twilight said smoothly to the Demon Pony.

Twilight knew that magic cannot harm the beast, but remembered how Pinkie's cannon managed to make contact. So the solution is that, since magical beams or casting a spell on the Demon Pony won't work, she uses magic on items to make them make contact.

Twilight used certain ropes and chains to help subdue the Demon Pony while carefully not hurting him. She still wants to question him about Ben's disappearance as well as to why the monster saved her life last night.

"Now, Demon Pony, tell me, why did you save me last night?" Twilight demanded, "And more importantly, what have you done with Ben?"

"I...I can't tell you. Please don't make me tell you." The Demon Pony insisted, his eyes filled with tears. Twilight looked worried. Why didn't he want to tell her?

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked the Demon Pony in concern.

"Twi, come on! We don't know how long before he tries to escape!" Rainbow insisted impatiently.

"Right, let Pinkie finish this off then you can interrogate him later." Rarity said in agreement.

"Okay." Twilight said with a nod, "Finish him, Pinkie!"

"Knock-knock," Pinkie Pie pops up before the Demon Pony with an innocent smile.

"Um, who's there?" The Demon Pony slowly responds awkwardly that this pony wanted to tell him a joke of all times,

"BIG surprise!" Pinkie Pie jumped up excited in what was at her door.

"Um, big surprise who?" The Demon Pony replied in wondering what this joke was about or why he somehow was playing along.

"Silly, there's a BIG surprise..." Pinkie Pie spoke innocently at first, but then she then hops above where in her place was...HER PARTY CANNON, "COMING AT YA!" Pinkie sank on her cannon with a freaky, yet almost crazy expression before setting a dial up to MAX before pulling the trigger rope.

"Oh no," Demon Pony had a very black if not shocked face in seeing he's in a point-blank range of the hyper-active pony's cannon ready to fire something... fierce,

The ponies run for cover yelling, 'Hit the deck!', 'Take cover!', 'Look out!' and stuff while Fluttershy's forest friends ran/flew back to the forest really quickly.

The scene shows where the group was on the far view look, as everything seemed peaceful until... 'KA-BOOM!.!.!' There came a giant cloud burst that shook off the entire area for many nearby ponies to see an explosion happened. But instead of that explosion being menacing, its color seemed colorful, sparkly stuff with streamers falling around, plus goopy, yet tasty pastry. If one didn't know any better, they could swear that this was nothing but something harmless for a party.

But with the group, the entire area that they were at looked like some wild party happened here; Party stuff & pastry cake mixes all over the floors, walls, some even on the Mane 6. Yet from a scene showed the Demon Pony, still chained and tied up, smacked against a side spot before slipping down on the ground, leaving an imprint of where he was while Pinkie Pie was on her cannon, gaping wide-eyed at what she managed to do.

"That...was...AMAZING!" Pinkie Pie slowly broke from her trance state to go like supernova over to her friends coming out from her 'little' aid. "Did you guys see that? That was the BIGGEST, GREATEST SURPRISE PARTY BASH that I've ever done in my WHOLE LIFE!" It was clear that this pink pony was more hyperactive while not bothered by how much of a mess she created even if it was to subdue the Demon Pony.

"Yeah, great, very great," Twilight said with a nod while glancing towards the Demon Pony, now unconscious. At least the monster has been captured.

-----------

Spike glances nervously as he and the fillies saw the cage that the Demon Pony is in. The monster, still chained and tied up, groans and roars a bit.

"Well, looks like you did it." Spike said with a nervous chuckle. "But why bring him here instead to the castle?"

"Because we're tired," Rainbow groans as it looks like she's about to collapse. "I want some sleep for what happened tonight."

"Spike, take a letter." Twilight said to Spike. The dragon goes back into the house and came back with a quill and paper, "'Dear Princess Celestia; I am happy to announce that my friends and I have succeeded in capturing the Demon Pony. We are holding him in a cage outside our house right now. Tomorrow, we will bring the Demon Pony over to you so yoy may question him before we release him away from Canterlot; Your Faithful Student and Niece-in-Law, Twilight Sparkle'."

After finishing the letter up, Spike blew fire onto it, sending the letter right to the castle. Applejack with a grin said, "Come on, ponies! We got some sleeping 'ta do here."

"Come, Nyx, we have to get to bed." Twilight said with a smile. She and the others head into the house, satisfied that they were able to complete their task. Soon the founding will go on and the mystery of the Demon Pony will be solved.

Nyx glances at the Demon Pony, who didn't notice her as he groans, with tears in his eyes. The poor former evil of Luna feels sorry for him. All alone, trapped in a cage like an animal, with no friends or family...

Nyx got an idea but decides to wait until everypony's asleep to do so.

------------

It was late at night. Twilight, her friends, her parents and the CMC are sleeping in their beds. The Demon Pony meanwhile has to stay in the cage, looking out at the sky. He wonders if Celestia, Twilight or anypony will understand the whole story...or if they will see him as a monster still afterwards.

The Demon Pony senses somepony coming, glancing and saw her: Nyx, the same filly he have saved from the Everfree Forest around the same time that Twilight has found her. She is carrying something in her mouth: some sort of donkey doll.

Nyx put the doll Miss Smartypants into the cage then smile while saying, "There you go. You now have someone to sleep with tonight so you wouldn't be lonely." The filly notes how the creature isn't responding to her. "Still worried about being in the cage, Mr. Demon Pony?"

The Demon Pony nods a bit. Nyx sighs while saying, "Look, don't worry. Tomorrow, mommy will take you to see the princess and you can be set free. Celestia may make some mistakes, like unknowingly turning me over to that cult that made me into Nightmare Moon, but I'm sure she is a nice alicorn."

"Your mommy," The Demon Pony ask Nyx, showing a bit of concern. "You mean Twilight Sparkle, right?"

"Yeah...of course, she isn't my real mommy. Twilight found me in the forest right after you saved me. She took me, took care of me and does her best to be the best mommy in the world. Of course, my mommy is having trouble sleeping. She misses that colt Ben Mare in her dreams...the same one that you said to have taken away years ago."

The Demon Pony didn't say a word, but appears to be deep in thought. Nyx continues, "Listen...I never got the chance to thank you...for saving my life that night. I would've before but I was scared and not sure if you wanted to eat me or not. I promise, you still got another friend tonight. Me."

The Demon Pony pauses then respond to what Nyx just said, "You're...welcome. And thank you."

Nyx nods as she goes back into the house. The Demon Pony sighs as he holds the Miss Smartypants carefully. At least it's nice knowing that the creature himself has at least one more friend...

Of course, a while after Nyx goes back inside, no one saw a figure coming out of the shadows: the same one that Boris and his goons has made. He grabs the cage's lock and breaks it before opening the cage.

The Demon Pony looks up and saw the figure coming to him, breaking the ropes and chains that subdued him, not worrying or caring about the diamonds. The prisoner growls in worry. What does he want?

"There. Now Boris won't need to tell me that I didn't help him," The figure said quietly. He is setting the Demon Pony freed to at least give Boris a chance to kill him or not. The result won't be right if that foalish fool didn't complete his task when the monster is released.

With a smirk, the figure held out one claw...and stabs right at the Demon Pony's side.

The Demon Pony's roars can be heard throughout the night. If anypony would've heard it, the noise would mean to them that the monster is roaring from his imprisonment...

----------

The next morning, Celestia grins as she watches the servants finish the decoration. The founding is tonight and the princess is relieved when she got the message from Twilight about the Demon Pony's capture. Now the citizens of Canterlot can celebrate the way that they wanted.

And of course, Celestia will finally solve the mystery that haunted her for years.

"So, Celly, things going well with the founding; I take it from your happy smile that Twilight and her friends were successful." Luna said to Celestia while coming up to the happy alicorn.

"Indeed, Twilight has written to me and told me that she and her friends have captured the Demon pony. At least now the celebration will go on as planned." Celestia said happily to Luna. Of course, the Goddess of the Moon looks suspicious. Her sister is acting determined and hopeful about the Demon Pony subject.

"Tia, telling me: mind telling why you are so determined to interrogate the Demon Pony? Does it involve that colt's disappearance years ago?"

Before Celestia could answer, a guard came in, saying, "Princess Celestia. A bunch of ponies are outside the castle gate...and they are upset!"

The princesses looks surprised but Celestia shrugs as she and her sister head out to greet the masses. The Goddess of the Sun is going to tell the worried ponies about the Demon Pony's capture and assure them that the founding will go on.

The Royal Sisters arrive outside, being greeted by a bunch of upset ponies. Celestia grins while saying, "My loyal subjects, I have some news. The festival will go on as planned."

"Oh good to hear that...because I'm sure as Tartarus isn't going," One pony snaps furiously to Celestia, making her a bit puzzled.

"Excuse me?"

"No, excuse us! Why didn't Twilight and her friends captured that monster yet?" Twinkleshine yells out angrily. "I mean, look what it did!"

Celestia and Luna gasps in shock as they saw the scenery outside the castle: the whole area is a mess, more stalls got knocked over or destroyed, walls were torn apart along with the trees; more of Canterlot got destroyed by the Demon Pony! But how can this be?

"But this cannot be." Luna said in disbelief. "Twilight told my sister...

"...a pack of lies!" An angry stallion snarls as he tosses a broken sign of his shop to the ground and stomps on it. "She and her friends didn't capture that thing and lied about it!"

"No, my student wouldn't lie when it comes to this subject even if she has no choice but to lie." Celestia said to the angry ponies sternly. After all, Twilight said that the Demon Pony has been captured. "Twilight told me that the Demon Pony was in captivity."

"Have none of you saw anything suspicious last night?" Luna asks the crowd in worry. The ponies look like they are going to throw a riot.

"Well, we saw an explosion...so I guess they must've captured the Demon Pony." Joe said with a thoughtful look. After all, almost everypony in Canterlot saw Pinkie's cannon explosion last night.

"But I betcha they failed to keep that thing tight enough! It escaped!" A female unicorn exclaims furiously. "We can't celebrate with that thing still on the loose! Twilight and her pals have goofed up! Something must be done!"

The ponies continue yelling and demanding some major action. Luna in worry exclaims, "Calm down, everypony, calm down!" The Goddess of the Moon sighs as she prepares to use the Royal Canterlot Voice again...

Suddenly a gunshot is heard, knocking a prop monster nearby and startling the ponies nearby. They turn and saw Boris, the one who fired the shot, smiling with Boxco and Dum-Dum nearby.

"Sorry, forgive me but I couldn't help but see this madness performing before I decided to interrupt." Boris said with a grin. "What a shame. I have hopes for Twilight and her friends but I guess they aren't up to the task. Perhaps now you ponies will need a stallion of action, one who couldn't let that monster continue terrorizing you all."

Some of the ponies mumble in agreement. Celestia and Luna both look worried. Looks like the mob is siding with Boris; they are now wanting the Demon Pony's head.

Celestia sighs in sadness as she looks down. With what has happened lately and the increasing demands, she will have no choice...but to give Boris permission to hunt within Canterlot limits and shoot the Demon Pony down.

May the Herd have mercy on her soul.