---

---

I slowly wake up between both Desire and Damien as memories of last night flood my mind and I can't help but smile as I feel my face heat up. Even though we're all naked I'm not embarrassed at all, for the first time in years I don't feel stressed or nervous. I feel light and relaxed as if a weight was taken off my shoulders... and also my legs feel a bit numb making me giggle and snuggle into Damien more.

I then have a thought. 'Does this make me his mare and him my stallion now? My books told me when a couple mate it's a sign of dedication and... love,' I wonder to myself and look up to his sleeping face, here I am cuddling up to the Overlord of Tartarus and I'm... happy? Despite his violent nature when he's threatened, he's treated me, Selene, and Gilda well and with respect, and protected us from harm when we were attacked and saved both me and my friend from dying. He's also tolerated my brother's hardheadedness without really hurting him much.

If I do pursue a relationship with him... what would my parents think? What would the Princesses think? Would I even be welcomed back among ponies again? I sigh, relax, and let sleep take me again as Damien's reassuring scent fills my senses.

---

---

I jolt upright and notice I'm wearing my usual clothes and what's more surprising is I'm a unicorn again. "Huh?" I mumble and look around, I'm back in the Ponyville Library where Spike is passed out on the couch with one of his Power Pony comics over his face.

Shaking my head in confusion I stand up and dust myself off and walk over to my assistant and shake him gently. “Spike?” But I get no response. I then walk over to the window and look outside only to see the town and no pony around, it's like a ghost town out there.

"What is going on?" I wonder to myself and I hear somepony upstairs in my room. I frown and head up and I see none other than Princess Luna looking through my bookshelves. "Princess Luna?" I say getting her attention.

"Ah, Miss Sparkle. We were hoping to enter Sir Damien's dream but we suppose this is the best we can do as thou art almost out of our current range... We bare a message that thou need to deliver to Sir Damien urgently. Our sister hast sent a letter to the gryphon King warning him of thy arrival, we believe they plan to ambush ye at Talonsport and capture thee and thy brother to be returned here, and kill the others," she tells me sadly and sighs.

"Ever since her defeat at the hands of Damien, she's becoming more and more unstable. She's lashed out at the guards and maids in her fits of anger, she's even hospitalised some guards sparring with them once she recovered... We fear that she'll soon snap and hunt thee all down herself," Princess Luna finishes with a sad frown. "And we dost nary have the power to stop her."

I frown and think, if they're waiting for us, then we'll just change course and land offshore elsewhere and let Mr Steelfeather continue to Talonsport without us. "Then we'll change course and sneak past Talsonsport elsewhere and use disguises to buy supplies in the towns we pass by... Damien can hide himself in the Shadow Realm if he needs to along with Ironhoof and Scarlet," I reply and tap my chin.

Luna looks at me with a confused expression. "Something seems different about thee, Miss Sparkle since we last saw thee... we just cannot put our finger on it..." the Princess says and circles me.

I blush and keep my eyes on her as I laugh nervously. "Different? How so? I like to think I'm still the same mare as before," I reply as my tail flicks to the left.

She stops in front of me and stares into my eyes for a few seconds and then gasps as she pulls back. "Thou hast mated with Sir Damien haven't thee?" she asks surprised.

I couldn't fight off the blush that burned on my face. "I-I-I..." I stutter but the Princess just giggles at me.

"Worry not, Miss Sparkle. Whatever reason thou hast it is thy business alone unless thou wishes to tell us," she tells me and smiles.

I bite my bottom lip and after a few seconds I tell her how it happened but left out the details. "And well... I'm not entirely sure what to feel about him, despite his violent nature, I feel safe near him and his wife..." I tell her as we sit on my bed.

"We see, he is an interesting fellow. Thou should ask our... sister, Selene to allow thee to enter his dreams, specifically his home world, they have the most interesting sweets there," she tells me and giggles again, but her eyes then go wide and she gasps. "Our sister is looking for us... please deliver our message to Sir Damien as soon as thou can," she tells me and quickly fades away leaving a note with what she told me on it. 'We hast left thy dream lucid, spend the rest of thy slumber memorising it perfectly.' I read the note over and over to burn the words into my mind... I won't let Prin... Celestia hurt my new friends... and possibly... my new mate.

---

I slowly open my eyes and yawn as I sit up and rub my eyes. I'm now alone in the bed but Desire is sitting by the desk brushing her mane.

"Ah, good morning sleeping beauty. So how do you feel?" she asks me with a warm smile.

I blush but return the smile. "Better than I ever have to be honest..." I reply and get out of bed with a stretch and gather my clothes and a towel, I need to wash up after last night's... activities... at least I can feel my legs again.

"That's good, so how was it for your first time?" she asks and leans her head on her left hand as she looks at me.

I bite my lower lip at the memories and feeling of Damien mating with me making me shiver. "I... I wouldn't mind doing it again..." I reply getting her to giggle and walk over to me.

She wraps her arms around me in a hug and ruffles my hair. "I'm sure Damien would love to bang your brains out again, so long as you can stay conscious next time," she teases me with a giggle making me blush harder.

I then remember Luna's warning and gasp. "I need to talk to you and Damien! It's important! Princess Luna gave me a message to pass onto him!" I tell her quickly. I don't know how much longer we have until we reach Gryphonia but we need to change course now!

"Message?" she asks confused.

I quickly give her a brief explanation making her frown and sigh. "Of course that whorse wouldn't just leave us be. Well then, looks like we'll just have to fight our way through again, and this time I won't be sitting idle. I may not look it, but I'm an archdemon, whose power originated from Damien's, I'll show them why we are feared amongst our enemies in Tartarus," she replies coldly and heads towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I ask her.

"To tell Damien. You go and wash up, I believe your brother wanted to talk to you... and he's not happy," she replies and walks out the door.

'My brother wants to talk to me? Why?.. Oh, I wasn't exactly quiet last night was I?' I think to myself feeling like I just want to crawl back under the covers and hide.

---

After washing and getting dressed in a clean pair of clothes which consisted of a pair of white panites and bra, light blue denim jeans and a dark purple shirt, I head back to our cabin to see if Desire and Damien have come back... but then I remember that my brother wanted to talk to me. I sigh and change direction for his room and once I arrive I knock on the door.

"Come in," I hear my brother say and I gulp as I open the door.

I see Shining laying on his bed where he looks up at me from the book he's reading. "Twilight, we need to talk," he tells me with a stern tone and look.

"A-And what would that be, Shiny?" I ask nervously.

He closes his book hard and glares at me. "What possessed you to let that monster mate with you?" he asks me without emotion in his voice.

I stare at him wide eyed at the tone and words he used to describe Damien. "Monster?" I ask shocked at his attitude.

"Yes monster. For Celestia's sake, Twilight! He's the Overlord of Tartarus! King of the demons! His abilities along with that soul stealing weapon of his make him look like an evil tyrant! He butchered my guards and turn us into monsters as well!" he tells me and tears start to form in my eyes.

"You think... I'm a monster now?" I ask him with disbelief with my hands over my muzzle.

His eyes widen as he realises what he said. "No! No... Twily... I mean look at us! Ponies will never see us the same way again... we'll be scorned and hated for what we are now," he tells me sadly and sighs.

I frown as I wipe my eyes and walk over and sit next to him. "My friends in Ponyville saw me like this, and they still wanted to be my friends. Even Fluttershy is a demon now but still the others love her and care for her... Yes, having ponies hate me for how I look will hurt, but as long as I have those closest to me still care for me then I'm okay with it... And Damien isn't the monster you make him out to be, he's kind and gentle when he isn't provoked. He's only protected himself and his wife when the guards attacked them, and he's also protecting Princess Luna's other half..." I tell him and shake my head before continuing.

"He only kills when forced to, he saved Fluttershy and myself from death and he spared Celestia when he could have killed her," I say and he looks at me stunned. "What?" I ask him.

"It's just I've never heard you call the Princess that without her title..." he replies with his surprised expression still on his face.

I frown sadly as I look to the floor. "I guess after learning that she's been manipulated all these years and that she's not the kind, motherly mare I've known since I was a filly anymore has made me lose faith in her... I'm going with Damien to Tartarus to help Celestia be free from Tirek's influence," I reply.

"I see..." he replies and sighs before getting stern again. "But that still doesn't explain why you let him rut you," he says.

I blush brightly and glance at his frowning face. "I was going into what Desire called a lust hunger... I was losing control of myself like a mare going into heat and I tried to jump Damien the moment I saw him enter the room... by rutting me he not only fed me, but he also brought me back to my senses..." I reply, but decide not to tell him how I'm feeling about it all at the moment.

He looks even more surprised and a bit worried. "You lost control?" he asks me.

"Well, more like I had the urge to eat something before I starved... an unquenchable desire for what I wanted... besides... he was gentle with me," I reply with a smile.

He frowns for a few seconds before sighing. "I still don't like it, but as long as he didn't hurt you then... it's going to happen again isn't it," he asks me sadly.

"Well... most likely, if it helps keep me under control then I can live with it... but what about you? What if you go lust hungry?" I reply and ask him with worry.

He grimaces and shudders. "I'm not sure... I love Cadence with all my heart... but if I lose control as you say you did, what do I do?" he asks me with a hollow tone.

"I know I wouldn't want you to lose control and rape an innocent pony or anyone else. Gilda did say she'd let you rut her to feed if you had to to prevent that happening, and Desire did tell you how to prevent yourself from impregnating anypo, anyone... I'm sure Cadence would understand," I reply with a hint of uncertainty.

Shining buries his face in his hands and quietly cries into them. "I didn't ask for any of this... I just wanted to save you from him and bring you home... but here I am forced to follow him, and to find out I could be hunted by the Princess as well if what he said about her being influenced is true, she even might have harmed you if I brought you back..." he replies sadly.

I lean over and hug my brother gently and try to calm him down. "I'm fine, Shiny. Despite being a demon now I'm still me, I love learning new things, like our new demon magic and-" I reply but get cut off as a flash of light blinds us and I hear the sound of a mare panting and another crying.

My vision returns and I see an exhausted looking Princess Luna standing in front of us with Fluttershy looking terrified next to her holding an equally terrified bunny.

"P-Princess Luna! Fluttershy! Why are you here?" I ask them in shock as I notice Fluttershy trembling with tears flowing down her face.

"We discovered that our sister planned an attack on Fluttershy's abode in an attempt to capture her once she remembered her physical change," she replies and gently guides the distraught mare to me. I quickly hug her and she cries into my shoulder. "Her animal friends tried to protect her from the guards and they were cut down in the process, but they bought us enough time for us to get to her and teleport here. We still had thy location from the night before which we used to get us here," she replies and collapses onto the ground.

"Princess!" Shining says and quickly picks her up and places her on the bed.

I'm both shocked and disgusted at Celestia right now, her hatred for demons despite her manipulation is getting out of hand, she knows Fluttershy and how gentle and kind she is... How could she even think about attacking one of the elements like that?

"We art fine, Captain Armour... We just require rest, but we shall not be returning to Canterlot again... we hast no delusion our sister wouldst not punish us for this... Fortunately we masked our magical signature so she cannot follow us," Princess Luna says weakly before drifting off to sleep.

Shiny and I are stunned silent as Fluttershy is sobbing hard against me, she loves her animals as if they were her own foals... to watch them get killed in front of her...

"It's okay, Fluttershy. You're safe now," I try to calm her down as I stroke her mane softly.

Her bunny Angel is frowning in the yellow mare's arms with an expression that appears to promise revenge.

After about eight minutes of silence the cabin door opens to reveal a very confused and surprised looking Damien as he looks at the Princess and then to Fluttershy.

---

---

"What's this then?" I ask Twilight and Shining as I gesture to the blue alicorn and the thestral in the room... and what appears to be a small white rabbit as well.

After a couple of minutes of Twilight explaining the situation to me, I sigh and rub my face. I'm starting to regret letting Celestia live now.

"So not only did we have to change course, we now have a hate obsessed alicorn after us who even tried to kill or capture one of her own people just because they're a demon now? Just great, if she does show up, remind me to break off her horn again and shove it up her cunt," I say irritated and exit the room before heading back to my room with Desire behind me.

Jock and Ironhoof are taking us to a place called Skullcove Bay, a pirate town twenty miles to the left of Talonsport. Ironhoof has a lot of influence there and guarantees Jock's safety and passage out once we leave the ship.

I flop down onto my bed and sigh as I'm feeling stressed from all this bullshit happening. Desire lays beside me and circles a finger around my chest with a worried expression. "Are you alright, my love?" she asks me.

I frown and turn to look at her. "I've been better, but I've got a feeling Celestia just ain't going to let this go... I think we'll have to face her somewhere along the way and if we do, this time I'm going all out on her, even if it means using the souls Thanatos has collected," I reply and hug my wife to my left side tightly.

"You know what happens when you do that, last time you almost lost control, just like you did avenging Adderine and went on a rampage... it took both Slitherana and I to calm you down to a point you could vent the excess energy. If you did that again, I might not be able to calm you down alone," she tells me sadly.

"I know, but you remember what Selene said, Celestia wasn't fighting at full strength and I used my demon form to stop her quickly... I'm just not going to take any chances to let her attack any of us, I'll make her focus on me," I say and yawn. I could use a relaxing nap right now as it'll take us another five days to reach Skullcove Bay.

Desire sighs and cuddles up to me with a frown on her face.

Next Chapter: Chapter 26: Skullcove Bay Part 1 Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 51 Minutes