The Daemon of Trotschester

Chapter 1.

At her parents’ Tudor style house in west Fillydelphia, a young unicorn named Lumina Brightmantle was venting her frustrations to a fillyhood friend, a young pegasus mare by the name of Kiwi Glitter. They sat around a table and a pot of tea, having not even unpacked Lumina’s extensive luggage. Lumina had recently been failed out of school.

Lumina pounded the table and snapped, “How dare they!”, she rubbed her face, holding back tears and sniffling."

“Lumina?”, quipped Kiwi Glitter, worried.

“Of all the reasons I could have been dropped, those insensitive bigots chose my one failing, a failing of infirmity, on which to judge me? Could they not see that my talent in other magic should overshadow my lack of innate levitation?”

Kiwi Glitter scoffed, “You won’t hear me arguing, I always said you should go into a trade school like me, I’m not even an earth pony and no one has given me any trouble for it at school.”

Lumina pretended to wipe the tears that she never cried, “Kiwi Darling, perhaps I should have heeded you, but you must understand, my talents lie in magic, and there is simply no better place to learn magic then at Celestia’s Academy for gifted unicorns. If I wanted to BE somepony, I HAD to go there.”

“I never bought into it,” said Kiwi, “and I’m glad they flunked you. Just look at the name of that academy and you’ll find a solid bit of racism runs through that place. Maybe through all of Canterlot.”

Lumina gasped, “Perish the thought of it! Celestia’s Academy is supposed to be a school for magic, and as you know, mentioning “for unicorns” is just a formality, since unicorns are the only ponies who practice magic.”

Kiwi Glitter raised an eyebrow and set her tea down with both hooves, “Well.... you say that, but then what do you call an earth pony’s power over animals and plants? Or when a pegasus stomps out thunder from the sky? We call that magic as well.”

“Ahh yes, the “other” magics, druidic rites and such, but I suppose what is meant here is that at Celestia’s Academy you learn SPELLS! Spells are the domain of unicorns only, Kiwi.”

Kiwi Glitter leaned back and looked away, clearly a bit uncomfortable, “I still don’t buy it, I’ve seen zebra magic, and sure enough those are spells being cast, incantations and everything, I just think that horn on your head lets you cast spells without all the mucking about with reagents and incantations.”

Lumina held her tea far out with one hoof and rolled her other in the air, “Ah!...No, I can’t fault you for that thought, you don’t have a horn, you would not know what it is like. I have seen a few rituals, potions and magic of that sort, but it just is not how a unicorn operates. It also is not what is taught at the academy.”

Lumina was visibly distraught, and looked pensively out a window, hardly touching any of the small cakes that sat before them.

Kiwi Glitter sighed, “Lumina, I know it’s been two years, and we haven’t seen each other much since you’ve been at the academy, but I always thought of you as my best friend, and I know this is cutting you up inside, but I think there may be another way to be the magician you always wanted to be.”

Lumina perked up for a split second, then thought forward a bit, and visibly deflated.

“Kiwi, I am NOT going into agricultural studies... I can’t even levitate things, I would be useless as a farm hand.”

“Lumina no! I wasn’t trying to be half hearted and push you into something I know myself, I really think there’s a way for you to be a great magician! Something you were born to do! You can learn ritual magic, with the hocus pocus, the goofy outfits, the smoke and fire, I think your horn not working like everyone else’s is a sign, Lumina!"

Lumina pursed her lips and looked up, “Hmm... that is not a small insight you have made here Kiwi, I had wondered about such things myself, but I had only had a smidgen of contact with ritual magic at the academy.”

“I thought unicorns didn’t practice ritual magic?”

Lumina smirked, “Well, unicorns of the imperial schooling do not, but the academy has a few secrets, dark secrets, and I think you may have just given me an idea...”

Kiwi Glitter was visibly worried, her eyes became intensely focused, and her expression became nearly a sneer.

“Lumina no! I know what dark magic entails, and I don’t want you having any part of it.”

Lumina pointed her hoof at Kiwi, “Do you Kiwi? Do you really have any knowledge of dark magic beyond the imperial propaganda?”

Kiwi Sighed, “Guess I don’t really. “

Lumina pushed off from the table and trotted over to her bags, her parents’ house had been the first place she had gone since her expulsion, and Kiwi had gotten here before Lumina’s parents, who were still at work. Lumina opened up a suitcase and piled the clothes out of it, revealing a massive, leather bound tome.

“Oh no... Lumina!”

Lumina rolled her hoof in the air and turned her head, “Relax, Kiwi, when I knew I was getting expelled, I just felt I needed a little souvenir, one that looked expensive, there’s a strong value for such things on the black market, you know.”

“Lumina that’s stealing! Don’t you know what the royal guard would do to you if they found you with that?”

“Spank me? The royal guard tends to hand out only the lightest of punishments to criminals, the courts are known to be very lenient and even try to “reform” criminals. I might have gotten a desk job out of a “heartfelt” apology on my part.”

Kiwi Glitter pushed her hoof into her eyes and somehow squeezed her eyebrow together, “I guess you are right, but there’s a big jump in punishment from slap on the wrist to “thrown in the dungeons” or “encased in stone forever”, and stealing a book of dark magic might just put you into the big leagues!”

“Bah, hardly. Now, what I am thinking of doing WITH this book, maybe, but not just stealing it. I had not planned on using it myself, but since you mentioned ritual magic, now I just feel as though it is my destiny to master these arts.”

“Lumina....”

Lumina opened the book, causing Kiwi to flinch slightly. Lumina hoofed through the pages quickly, until settling on one page.

“Ahh, here we go, Daemon Summoning, the perfect spell for a beginning ritualist.”

Kiwi Glitter jumped up, “Daemon summoning! That should be the LAST spell you ever try!”

“Now Kiwi, Daemon Summoning makes sense to start with, as the spell binds the Daemon to your will, and Daemons are ancient creatures with great knowledge of ritual magic themselves, so what better way to learn than to have a tutor?”

“A diabolic tutor?! Really? She’ll just trick you into casting spells that destroy you and set her free, free to eat foals and drink blood and whatever other horrible things Daemons do!”

Lumina brought the book over to the table and began reading its presumably foul contents, “Nonsense, Daemons are just spirits from another world, and the incantations in this book should be fine for binding them, we will just have to be clever in how we word our pacts.”

“Oh Lumina, no, this is all just so wrong...”

Lumina kept reading, “Trust me on this, Kiwi, I feel the pulse of destiny calling me...”

They continued to bicker, but when it became clear that Lumina was not backing down from this lofty goal of true sorcery, Kiwi became complacent, deciding that she could at least temper her old friend’s ambition, or provide some common sense along the way. Kiwi reasoned that if things got too bad, she could always fly away and warn someone.

Lumina’s parents, Briddlewald and Sierra came and consoled their young dropout, and were happy to host Kiwi, an old friend for dinner, at dinner time, however, Lumina made a statement that shocked Kiwi, but thrilled her parents.

“Mother, Father, I’m not going to let this setback ruin my chances of success, with your permission, I’d like to move into the family summer house in Mane, and begin my own magical research.”

Brindlewald clapped his hooves together, “Oh sweety that’s wonderful, I was worried you would be in a state of depression for weeks, or just fall back on shop keeping or some other peasant’s trade.”

“Nonsense, father, I realize that what I may lack in... levitation, I make up for in knowledge of magical theory and raw genius, I already have some theories on enchanted wagons and the like that may make me rich! “

Sierra chimed in, “How wonderful, your brother was already planning to take over the family business, so it is great to see you branching out. Ooh, sweety, while you are at the summer home, perhaps you can fire up the family’s lighthouse, the enchantments there were made by your great grandmother Lumina, after whom you are named.”

“A wonderful idea, mother, perhaps I can find the inspiration I have been looking for while I am there.”

Lumina grinned wickedly, but only Kiwi seemed to suspect anything amiss, or otherwise Lumina’s parents mistook that wicked grin for enthusiasm, spite, or some other positive emotion that would drive their daughter forward.

The very next day, Lumina was packed up and on a carriage ride to Mane, where the family’s summer home lay next to an old lighthouse, Lumina had heard that the town of Trotschester had grown up a bit, but in her heart she still expected it to be a rustic community of fish loving yokels. Kiwi, for her part, was still by her side, and Lumina could not have been happier seeing her old friend there. Kiwi had already graduated from trade school, having learned basic weather management for agriculture, and didn’t think finding a job in Mane would be hard during the winter.

Their carriage rolled up to a gated house, a two story building up on a rocky bluff overlooking the sea, a lonely house, with no friends for miles save the lighthouse that loomed over it. Lumina stepped out to unlock the gate, then re-entered the carriage as they were drawn through the long driveway, a snaking path through brown, tangled trees.

When the carriage finally approached the house, a peel of thunder rolled in from the sea, greeting the new residents. Kiwi looked nervously about as the carriage ponies began unloading luggage.

Kiwi Glitter kicked the dust off of a nearby credenza, “I have a bad feeling about this, Lumina, I don’t know if your “destiny” is really a good thing after all. Do you think famous tragedies were the work of “destiny”?”

Lumina had begun dragging luggage around with her teeth, but stopped for a bit to remark, “Oh Kiwi, be brave, the work I have planned here will make me a great master of magic, and who knows, maybe there really is something of value in that old lighthouse, for one thing, every sorceror needs an ivory tower to work in, and that one will do very nicely for me!”

“Lumina, can we at least get this place heated up and cleaned before you try anything?”

Lumina checked out the scenery, quite a few cobwebs, she thought, “Well, heated yes, but what would be the point of the spell I’m planning if we needed to do the cleaning ourselves? “

The carriage ponies that were unloading luggage raised an eyebrow, but ultimately made no mention of the strange debate going on around them. Lumina tipped them handsomely and made mention of needing a pickup for supplies in town tomorrow. They signed the orders for a return trip, took their down payment and left, perhaps in a bit of a hurry.

Lumina walked over to a large fireplace, a cozy study right out of stereotype, bear skin rug and all. Lumina loaded some logs into the fire and then opened up her favorite book, while Kiwi started a fire.

“Oh this is going to be wonderful, Kiwi” said Lumina while she hoofed through the ages of her accursed tome,  “And it seems so dreadfully simple I can’t imagine how anything could go wrong.”

Kiwi Glitter smacked her head against the rug, “Lumina, I know you are all set on going through with this, but have you considered at least practicing some of the other spells a bit before trying the big one?”

“Kiwi, I don’t think you understand, this IS the easiest spell in here, spells for creating dark mirrors to other worlds, charming handsome stallions, or stealing someone’s youth are all much, much harder than mere Daemon summoning.”

Kiwi Glitter raised an eyebrow, and her left ear flitted about, “Wait, those are the other spells in that book? Those sound terrible!”

“Well, it IS Dark Magic, Kiwi, not exactly rainbows and flowers now is it? Besides, it is all in how you use it, we do not HAVE to do evil things with this magic....” Lumina smirked and leaned in, nearly touching her friend face with her own, “Though I saw the look on your face when I mentioned charming handsome stallions.”

Kiwi Glitter’s face got red, an impressive act considering her face is covered in lime green fur, “Ha Hem, keff keff, me? No... well, what type of charming are we talking here?”

Lumina’s voice became a bit huskier and she put an arm around Kiwi’s withers, “Oh, just putting yourself in the best light, dear, it is not mind control, nothing so immoral, just making a stallion more honest with themselves.”

“Well.... I don’t see the harm in that then.” Kiwi coughed.

“Perfect, then tomorrow we will pick up some supplies we need in town, and tomorrow night, we will perform the summoning. Who knows, perhaps this Daemon himself will be a handsome stallion?”

Kiwi Glitter gulped loudly, then slept uneasily by the fire. Lumina stayed up a bit reading, then fell asleep in her chair. Neither of them had even unpacked when morning and the carriage ponies arrived.

“Heh? Oh would you look at the time, Kiwi, wake up, we have work to do.”

The two mares traveled in silence, Lumina busy checking her list of reagents, and Kiwi looking out the window, worrying about the future. The two carriage stallions couldn’t help but notice the oddity of seeing Lumina, a unicorn, writing with a pencil in her teeth.

The carriage stopped in Trotschester, a quiet ocean town. With all the stallions out at sea fishing or harvesting kelp, the only life in this town were the odd craftsponies plying their trades in shops, or mares shopping for their households. At this time of year, Mane was practically livable, sunny and warm by local accounts, but still cool and refreshing by the standards of a Fillydelphia native. The smell of the sea was everywhere.

Hopping off the carriage, Lumina tipped the carriage ponies and shot them a wink, then trotted off with a swagger. She was feeling particularly excited today, and for the moment, perhaps even a bit playful. Kiwi then exited and followed, but not before one of the carriage ponies shot her a wink. Kiwi blushed and galloped off after her friend.

The first carriage pony looked over at his friend, “Did you notice how the unicorn didn’t levitate her pencil to write things down? “

“I guess I missed it.", The first carriage pony stated.

“Or how the pegasus has a fruit on her flank?”

“You think they’ve got a lot of Earth pony in them?”

“I think they might soon have a lot more!”, chuckled the first carriage pony.

The carriage ponies laughed and knocked their hooves together, then trotted off to gossip about the two very lonely mares stuck in that house alone.

Meanwhile, Lumina had purchased a small cart and begun filling it with an increasingly suspect array of ingredients. Generally only those who traded with Griffons had any need to visit a butcher’s shop.

Lumina was feeling a bit uneasy about this request, “Oh it is for chum you see, we like to watch the fish.”

The butcher raised an eyebrow as he handed Lumina a bucket of fresh blood. That was what buckets of blood were for.... he hoped.

The butcher leaned over the table, “Why do you need all them candles made with tallow?”

“Oh! I was planning on having some guests over, and the tables are so dreadfully drab.”

Lumina could not stand the butcher’s disapproving gaze, and she withered under it like a wilting flower in the sun. The shopkeeper looked out the window at the carriage the two had come in on. He noticed the two rowdy carriage ponies, young single stallions from in town with a reputation for drunkenness and seedy moral character. The shopkeeper sighed and then handed Lumina a box of specially prepared fish guts, small tubes of them, meticulously cleaned, with the ends tied off on one side. Certainly not like corn-sausages which were tied on both ends.

Lumina held one in her hoof, “What are these for?”

The butcher put a corn sausage inside one of these tubes and then wiggled it around slightly, pushing it back and forth in the air.

Lumina gasped, and blushed, “Oh! No no, well, ..”

She looked back at her carriage stallions, felt sick for her reputation, but then decided she’d rather have someone view her as... such... then really look into why she had been to a butcher.

“I ahh... I might as well take these, since you never know when you might ah... need to pack some sausages.”

She blushed, but took the sausage covers, then hurriedly ran about on her shopping, dodging wary glances as she assembled her list:

Fresh Blood-1 Gallon

6 Silver Candle Holders

Real Fat Candles

A silver knife

Holly Leaves

Nightshade

Various Glass Bottles

A Cauldron

Eye of Newt

A Griffon Claw

40 lbs of hay

30 Kiwis

10 Bananas

Firewood

Laundry detergent

What? Her list of reagents had to include a few necessities for around the house. The carriage ponies returned Lumina and Kiwi Glitter to their house, and leaned up against the door while politely asking if Lumina and Kiwi needed any help inside the house.

Lumina shot down this notion, but mentioned needing a pickup again in 3 days for supplies. Perhaps a little disappointed, the carriage ponies trotted off. Lumina wasted no time in jumping right to laying out her spell.

“This is it, Kiwi, this is our time for glory! Soon I will be the mightiest sorceress in all of Ponydom!”

Kiwi Glitter was working on carving some symbols into the ground, “Perhaps... Now the angles on these lines have to be very precise, right?”

Lumina snapped, “Yes! The circle of blood must have the channels the blood fills in carved in precise geometric relation! The circle of blood is what keeps the Daemon trapped within while I bind it. If you screw this up, the Daemon could run loose and eat us!”

*gulp, “Well good thing I went to trade school” Kiwi said, “There’s plenty of geometry in weather vane construction.”

Lumina settled down, “Excellent. Now we need two opposed Equestrilateral triangles right here and here.”

“You mean equilateral?”

Lumina re-read the instructions “Hmm... I guess that would make a bit more sense. I am glad you are here, Kiwi!”

Kiwi gulped again.

Later that night, the two initiates to the dark arts stood before their ring of burnt leaves, with the EQUI-lateral triangles bound within it, filled with blood which was getting a mite bit un-fresh by now, with their six silver candle holders burning real animal fat at the point of each triangle. Kiwi Glitter wore a hood and held a silver dagger.

Lumina began, “Arise! Arise from the dread realm of discord! Oh ye Daemon! Full of wickedness and wrongness, hear our cries! Grant unto this unworthy mare your presence, in the name of Dol Equinarus the ever living I command you! Bael Dornath Kuro Nargath Samiel Kuro Nargath! Bael Dornath Salheed Dogerad!”

Nothing happened.

“Okay Kiwi, give me the knife, I need to cut myself.”

“What? Why?”

Lumina looked away, “The ritual needs the blood of... well...you know....”

Kiwi Glitter laughed, “Oh come on! You gave me so much shit about those stallions and your telling me that you never...”

Lumina stamped the ground, “I am from a proper family Kiwi! I always had to look out for my bloodline, I could not just risk my breeding with any random stallion at the academy.”

“You know, I just think after all the advice you’ve given me with men, maybe you might of actually...”

Lumina snorted, “Well of course I’ve DATED, Kiwi, charmed a few stallions in my day, had a few candidates for a husband I may have considered, maybe fooled around a bit, but I never slept with any of them. I suppose we could always use your blood if you think me impure.”

Kiwi Glitter chuckled, “Yeah no, I’m not qualified at all.”

Lumina gasped, clearly shocked, “Kiwi you didn’t! Who was the lucky stallion?”

Kiwi Glitter’s ears went flat and she lowered her head, “Ah heh, I can’t really remember a name, drinking hard was kind of a team sport at Manehattan Ag and Tech.”

“How dreadful! Well, at least it was just a one off experience.”

Kiwi’s face reddened, Lumina raised a hoof to ask further questions, then just decided that whatever happens at freshman year of technical college stays at freshman year of technical college. With a sigh, she took the knife and cut herself.

As the drops of keh heh... virgin blood fell upon the meticulously laid out altar, for a moment, there was a heavy pause, doubt, and embarrassment. Then fear! A terrible rush of smoke rose up from every candle, and a darkness filled the room, neither pony could see anything except the glowing sigil upon the floor. A horrible emptiness filled the room, then a feeling of vertigo as the bottom of the altar seemed to drop away, leaving both ponies embracing each other in terror. With a flash, the smoke cleared the room, and standing in the middle of the circle, was the Daemon.

Larger than a Griffon, taller than Celestia, it stood on two feet like a Diamond Dog, and loomed over the two terrified ponies. Its shoulders were broad and thick, and its torso and thighs were covered in hard, red scales like a dragon’s. Its belly was bloated and fat, and its face was a solid metal mask twisted into an expression of pain and hate. It wore a metal hat, with flat, unnatural horns twisting out from under it, and in its hand it held a massive wooden club covered in large round bulbs of metal. It also had a wicked sick mustache and funny looking wooden sandals.

The Daemon looked around, then turned its face towards the pair of would be spellcasters, and took one huge step towards them. Lumina wet herself in terror, but was then comforted by a ping of relief as the Daemon hit an invisible wall and stumbled backwards, then began exploring the confines of his ethereal prison.

Lumina looked up, stunned, “Oh... my ... Celestia.”

Kiwi Glitter’s jaw dropped, “What... is that?”

Lumina completely lost it, “Why, it is a Daemon, why would it not be a Daemon, he he ha ha, that is what this spell does, summon Daemons, yes sir here it is ah ha ha ha.”

Kiwi Glitter looked at her friend nervously, “Lumina, maybe we should... undo the spell?”

Lumina stamped, still clearly in shock, “No! We have come this far, no sense wasting a perfectly good Daemon.”

The Daemon seemed to notice the two ponies talking to each other, because at that point it began to speak back to them. The dark tongue of Daemons was a terror to hear, not the high, neighing rhyme of pony-speech, but a harsh, stuttering tongue, choppy and straightforward. The two ponies slowly turned their necks towards the Daemon, shivering, as blood shot out of the ground and into Lumina’s face.

Lumina and Kiwi flailed around for a bit, then came to their senses. Lumina straightened the most this time, for in her mind, she heard the meaning of the Daemon’s tongue.

The Daemon’s mien was inscrutable, “Hey, Hey can you hear me?”

Lumina opened her mouth, her horn glowing, and spoke, some force of the spell made the jump between Daemon speech and its would be master.

Lumina spat out blood, “Yes, yes I hear you, oh Daemon.”

The Daemon chuckled nervously, “Ahh, well, I seem to be trapped in this... magic circle and I assure you I am not a Daemon.”

Kiwi Glitter pressed up against her friend, “What’s it saying? Is this part of the spell?”

Lumina pushed Kiwi away and cleaned some blood from her ears, “Yes, it is part of the spell, the caster is supposed to be able to talk with the Daemon to make a pact, I guess you can not understand it?”

Kiwi Glitter shook her head, “It just sounds like dog barking to me. Lots of it, slow and horrible.”

The Daemon put a finger up and coughed, “I uh.. couldn’t help but overhear you talking to your friend there, you, uh, really small unicorn.”

Lumina stomped, “Silence Daemon! I am your master now and you shall do as I say!”

The Daemon looked around, “What? Look there’s been some sort of terrible mistake I’m not a Daemon, I’m just a chemist from Tennessee.”

Lumina stepped right up to the edge of the spell circle, “Enough of your tricks! You will make a pact here and serve me! Obey!”

The Daemon was fidgeting quite a bit by now, “Well... I kind of have a job to get back to on Monday, so I could ...maybe... serve you until then? Can you let me out of this circle?”

Lumina reared up on her hind legs and brandished her front hooves, swatting the air repeatedly. Her horn burned with a sickly, chlorine-yellow light, “No! You shall serve me for a year and a day, then return to your wretched realm of Ten Essy. The name of Dol Equinarus compels you!”

The Daemon stepped back, “Look, I’d really love to help, and you seem nice but, if I don’t get back to work on Monday, people are going to start wondering where I went, and my job is gonna have a hard time getting done.”

Kiwi Glitter calmed her friend down, and whispered into her ear, “What is he saying?”

Lumina threw her mane to the side, having embraced her facade of bravery, “Foolish Daemon tricks, I read all about them, trying to convince me that the spell did not work, that he is not a Daemon, that he has places to be, he tried to bargain for going home on Monday.”

“Oh well, how does this thing here work?”

Rather matter of factly, Lumina stated, “I can keep him in that circle as long as I want, but he can only leave once we have made a deal, and then he is bound to that deal.”

The Daemon gagged, “So wait? I have to cut you a deal or else I’m stuck here? What if I starve?”

Lumina chuckled, “Then you starve. Cut me a deal Daemon, and you will be free.”

The Daemon stammered, “Well, how about I just help you clean up the place, I mean it is pretty dusty in here, and I imagine being a ... unicorn... wizard... doesn’t make it that easy to keep this place clean.”

“Ha! You will have to do better than....”

The glow of the circle completely faded.

Lumina’s face sank, then sank worse. She remembered that Daemons were bound to the letter of their law, and she had just told him if he cut her a deal, he would be free. He had cut her a deal.

Kiwi Glitter quickly picked up on her friend’s panic, and looked up to the Daemon in fear.

He stepped out of the circle.

Both ponies ran from the room as fast as they could, bumping into each other and tripping on themselves as they left. They ran out of the lighthouse and into the open area on the way to their house. They were running clear for the gates, when they saw a carriage pull up to the house. Oh no, not these two, not now. They decided to change their heading to run towards the two carriage ponies.

The smaller, brown carriage pony announced himself, “Hi I’m Clodhopper, and this is my friend Granite, we heard some screams, did you two have a problem here?”

Lumina stuttered and said, “No! no.. No, everything is fine, just.. ahh, working on the lighthouse”

Granite, the larger, gray carriage pony spoke up, “We saw a red light coming from the lighthouse and came to check if you’d lit something on fire.”

Lumina , slowing down, said, “Oh, no, no we were just testing out some ... ways to light up differently...”

Kiwi Glitter interjected, “Red sky at night, you know?”

Clodhopper reared up, “Oh that’s a great idea! Red beams would make a lot of sense that way. Did you think of that miss...”

“Ahh... Kiwi, Kiwi Glitter, and I am Lumina.” Lumina said, “We’d love to stay and chat but I am afraid we absolutely must get going now, ahh, very busy, nothing to see here.”

Granite asked, “Well, you two mares sure seemed to be awfully hysterical out here, did something go wrong?”

Lumina grimaced, “Oh, we ahh, spilled some... things.”

Clodhopper raised an eyebrow, “Like...”

Kiwi Glitter spat out, “Umm... smelly things, yes, uhh, toilet problems you know.”

“Oh geez.”, Clodhopper said, clearly unable to hide his disgust.

Lumina looked at Kiwi with her mouth hanging open and her eyebrow raised, then snapped her face towards the two carriage ponies, “Yes! And you can see why we would want just a bit of time to clean up, maybe a few days and you could come back and visit?”

Granite pushed the cart back a bit, “Yeah sure, for your pickup in two days, getting supplies in town?”

Kiwi Glitter nodded, “Yup. I’ll see you then.”

The fact that Lumina had wet herself became obvious as she walked away, and the two carriage ponies looked at each other and felt no need to inquire further. Toilet troubles indeed. They did not imagine the toilets at a lighthouse were in very good condition.

Clodhopper and Granite were clearly a bit put off by this bizarre encounter, but then again, old houses weren’t known for their plumbing. As in, having it at all. Clodhopper finally spoke up, “You know, when mares are living together long enough they tend to get visited by aunt Luna at the same time.”

Granite put the thought together, “Oh Geez, you think that’s why they wanted us to visit in three days? They time this stuff?”

Clodhopper chuckled, “Yeah, mares can be pretty gross some times, don’t let the lady act fool you. That old house is probably a stinking shithole right now too. Anyway, dibs on the pegasus. I love that funny robe she was wearing, it makes her look like a wizard.”

Granite shrugged, “Fine by me, I always liked unicorns better.”

“You sly diamond dog you...”

The two carriage ponies trotted away, hardly looking back on Kiwi and Lumina. Lumina sighed a breath of relief and wiped her head, but the embarrassment she felt was soon replaced by a well remembered dread.

Kiwi Glitter looked back at the lighthouse, “So... why did the Daemon get out?”

Lumina sighed, “I ...may have been unspecific with my wording and let it choose its own deal.”

“Oh...shit.”

Lumina snapped her head towards Kiwi, ears down, “Well! Look it is not that bad, he mentioned cleaning the house! Maybe we can... compel him into cleaning, and he never mentioned finishing and escaping back to the Daemon realm.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to leave”, Kiwi said flatly, still staring at the lighthouse.

Luminas heart sank. She looked at the lighthouse, no light shone forth from it, but somehow that made things much more intimidating.

Lumina puffed her chest out, “Kiwi, I made this mess, and I shall deal with it, you do not have to come with me if you would rather not.”

Kiwi Glitter looked at her friend, “No, I was in on this myself as well, I had better help make this right.”