After getting a snack at Sugarcube Corner I start heading back to the Library to continue my study of advanced arcane sigils by Starswirl the Bearded, but along the way three figures emerge out of thin air near the edge of the town centre in a mist of shadow magic. I don't recognise the tall furless creature in the middle wearing a long black coat but I go wide eyed at who he's holding in his right hand.

Princess Celestia, beaten and bloodied badly where the creature then just drops her face down onto the ground and then drops something small next to her... oh no, is that the Princess' horn?

The other pony to his left looks like Fluttershy, but she has leathery wings instead of feathers and her eyes are red and cat like, as well as having fangs, and tufts of fur on her ear tips.

"FLUTTERSHY!" I call out which makes her look towards me. The creature then says something to her to which she nodded quickly in return before fading away in shadow mist again.

I run over to her and the Princess who fortunately is still breathing. "Fluttershy! What happened? Why is there blood all over you? Who was that?" I ask her as I start applying first aid to the Princess' wounds.

"Oh erm... I was attacked by a manticore and he saved me, his name is Damien, he and the Princess fought each other when she found us," she replies and flutters her wings slightly.

"He attacked the Princess!?" I ask shocked that anypony would attack the Princess.

"Well... no, she attacked him and his mate first actually..." Fluttershy replies quietly and then starts poking one of her fangs with a finger with a worried expression. "Although, he and his mate did kill all the guards with her..." she then informs me with a sad frown.

'He killed all the guards!? Oh I hope Shiny wasn't with them... could anypony even break through his shield spells?' I think to myself starting to get worried.

I shake my head and prepare a teleportation spell to get Princess Celestia to the hospital. "We'll talk about this later, the Princess needs medical attention first, meet me back at the Library," I tell her and gingerly pick up Princess Celestia's horn tip.

"Oh, okay, Twilight," she replies and gets up.

I nodded to her and then cast the spell, my vision goes white and just a second later I can see the lobby of the Hospital. There's nurse Redheart behind the counter with a couple of ponies sitting in the waiting area to the left. "I need help! The Princess is badly injured!" I call out getting gasps as the doctors and nurses go into action within seconds.

The Princess is placed on a stretcher and wheeled out down a hallway to an operating room. "Twilight, what happened?" Doctor Stable asks me while I hand him the Princess' horn tip.

"She was attacked by some furless bipedal creature, even Fluttershy seems to have been affected physically by his magic. I need to head back to the Library and get Fluttershy's account on what fully happened and see what changes have occurred," I reply.

"Very well, we'll do our best to help the Princess, we'll also send word to her sister about Princess Celestia's condition," he tells me and heads off after the nurses and other doctors.

After looking down the hallway hoping for the Princess' quick recovery, I head back to the Library to get more information about this creature. A quick teleport later and I'm in the main reading room of the Library where Fluttershy is sitting nervously on the couch.

"Fluttershy," I say getting her attention as I get a quill, ink well, and scrolls to write down everything she knows. "I need you to tell me in as much detail as you can about what that creature is and what it can do," I tell her and sit next to her.

"I, well, um... He said his name is Damien and that he is a demon," she replies and I gasp.

"A demon!? What is a demon doing here? The gates to Tartarus are sealed," I say as I start writing.

"Well he said he was pulled to Canterlot from Tartarus where he then escaped from the guards, but he also told me he's the Overlord of Tartarus as well," Fluttershy then tells me.

"O-Overlord!? Then... that explains how he managed to defeat Princess Celestia... what was his magic like?" I ask her seriously. I'll need to research what kind of magic he uses and find ways of countering it.

"I don't know, Twilight. You know I know nothing about magic like you or even Rarity, but from what I saw it looks like he uses shadows and this black and dark purple fire," she replies and fidgets uncomfortably.

"He uses dark magic..." I mutter as I write it down. "Anything else?" I ask her.

"Erm..." she mumbles and then nodded. "Yes, he has these strange weapons that look like tubes that make loud bangs which spits out something fast enough to make a hole through the guards armour..." she replies and turns a bit green as if remembering or imagining it.

"A weapon capable of piercing the guards armour?" I ask with worry, if that's the case then what if all the demons of Tartarus have such weapons? "We need to find a way to stop him before he can hurt anypony else... where was he when the Princess arrived?" I ask her.

"I... I promised him I wouldn't tell..." she mumbles and twiddles her thumbs.

"Promise? Fluttershy, he injured the Princess and killed her guards! He needs to be thrown into the dungeons or sealed away before he can kill anypony else!" I tell her with wide eyes, why would Fluttershy be helping him.

"He's not a bad pony, Twilight. I... I was about to be killed by a manticore before he and his mate Dark Desire arrived and, and killed the manticore before it could..." she says and sniffles for a bit. "I was dying, Twilight…” she says with a shiver. “If he didn't use his magic on me I would be dead right now... I may not like my appearance now, but he saved my life. He just wants to get back home to his family," she tells me with tears forming in her eyes.

I just look at her with surprise. He saved her? Why would a demon, the Overlord of Tartarus at that save one of the elements of harmony? "But... I... He..." I stutter trying to come up with a reason why he should be stopped and captured but Fluttershy's eyes show she meant what she said.

"I don't agree with how he dealt with the Princess' attack, but he only got really mad when she hurt his mate Desire, that's when he killed the guards and attacked the Princess. He was only protecting her and Luna," she tells me.

"Luna? What was Luna doing there? I thought she was in Canterlot recovering," I ask her. Princess Celestia wouldn't bring her sister to a battle in her weakened state… would she?

"Oh right, when we used the elements on Luna, it didn't cleanse her like we thought, it split her into two different ponies. The Luna we know got to keep her body while the other was turned into a mist of magic... though I did watch as Damien gave her some of his magic which started to make her a new body slowly, but she looks just like Nightmare Moon," Fluttershy tells me.

I just stare at her wide eyed and slack jawed as my quill slips from my grip. "Nightmare Moon is still out there as well!?" I shout out in near panic, so not only do we have a dangerous demon on the loose but Nightmare Moon is with him as well?

"Oh no," Fluttershy says waving her hands gently. "she actually hates that name and is basically a copy of Luna, they both have different parts of the original Luna's personality, it's why the Luna we know is timid and not very social while the other Luna is more confident and forward. She was actually pretty friendly," she replies.

This is too much... So nightmare Moon isn't evil but a half of Princess Luna? But... then why did all the books I've read all say Nightmare Moon was cruel and wanted to veil the world in eternal darkness? Did Princess Celestia rewrite history? There's only one way to get answers, I need to speak with Damien and this other Luna.

"In the morning we're going to gather the girls together and find this Damien... There's too many questions and I want answers. If he's as friendly as you say he is then he'll be willing to talk, if not then we can just use the elements on him," I tell her and pick my quill back up and write down everything Fluttershy told me.

"I don't know, Twilight... he's very strong and while friendly enough he seems to have a bad temper..." she replies and frowns sadly.

I sigh and levitate my scrolls, ink, and quill to a nearby desk and then look at Fluttershy. "It's the only way I can get some answers, what was Nightma... Princess Luna's reason for turning on Princess Celestia a millennia ago? Why is this Overlord friendly...ish compared to the last one who tried to steal all of Equestria's magic? I need to know!" I tell her and stand up. "I also need to scan you and see if there's anything wrong with the changes to your body," I inform her and start channelling a scanning spell into my horn.

"Erm, okay," she replies and just sits there patiently.

I cast the spell and after a few seconds of looking I detect the demon's dark magic inside her, focused mainly in her heart. "Fluttershy, could you show me the area around your heart please?" I ask her.

She blushes slightly at my request. "Oh, um, sure," she stutters and pulls her dress down slightly exposing the area around her heart, what I see is a black mark of a creature's skull I don't recognise with two horns on it. Fluttershy looks down and gasps at the mark. "Twilight, what is this?" she asks with worry.

I run over to my books and start going through the books I have on demons but I find nothing about markings.

"I don't know, Fluttershy, but I think that demon placed it on you when he healed you... what it does I have no idea," I reply to her question with worry of my own.

The Library’s front door then bursts open with Rainbow Dash coming in. "Twilight! What's this I hear about the Princess being in the Hospital!?" she asks me panting for breath. Following in behind her is Pinkie, Rarity, and Spike who was out helping Rarity all day. "Fluttershy!? What happened to you!?" Rainbow then shouts out at our timid friend's new look.

Fluttershy shuffles nervously as everypony stares at her. "Oh, hello, Rainbow. I'm fine," she replies and hides behind her mane.

Rainbow quickly flies over to her and I look back to the others standing near the door with shocked expressions. "Sit down girls, I've got a lot to tell you," I reply and gesture them all to sit down.

"So that's why I want to find this Damien and the other Luna to answer some of my questions and if we have to, use the elements on them," I finish telling them all.

"So you basically wanna find them, ask questions, and if they get mean we kick their flanks?" Rainbow sums up.

"Basically? Yes," I reply and faintly smile.

"But how do we beat such a brute who managed to defeat the Princess?" Rarity asks with doubt in her tone.

"I'll put a shield spell around us while we ready the elements, I'm sure there's a spell here somewhere that can counter dark magic," I reply and we head upstairs to my private collection of books on magic.

"If the demon is as friendly as Fluttershy says, do you think he'll like parties?" Pinkie Pie asks as she sits on my bed and rocks side to side with a big smile on her face.

"Do demons even have parties?" Rainbow asks with a raised brow.

"I dunno! That's why I asked!" Pinkie replies with a giggle.

I just sigh and continue to look through my books while Rarity fusses over Fluttershy's new look and Pinkie plans for a demon themed party.

Next chapter will be Damien, Desire and Luna(NM) to set out towards the gryphon kingdom.

Now I'm off to write the next Shinigami in Equestria chapter.