Hell Yeah

Chapters

1 - Summoning Rights, I Mean Rites
2 - A Demon-stration
3 - Giving them the Evil Eye
4 - The Devil's in the Details
5 - Rather the Demon, You Know?
6 - The Escape Claws
7 - The Mailing Daemon
8 - Handsome as the Devil
10 - Pandemonium
11 - Hell Hath No Fury Like a Demon Scorned
12 - Demonology: the Art of Lying
13 - Demon's Twilight, Twilight's Demon
14 - Epilogue: Our Demons
9 - Hell Be Back

1 - Summoning Rights, I Mean Rites

Chapter 1: Summoning Rights, I Mean Rites

Learning to appease your master or mistress is a delicate balance. On one claw, you want to complete their tasks so that you aren’t obliterated into the aether. On the other, you just really, really want to kill them.

Roiling smoke wafted in pearlescent colours. Shifting shadows lurked beneath silvery fog that concealed the ominous mass crouching in the centre of the carefully inscribed pentacle. The scent of ash and charred flesh infused the air, perversely mingling in a cloying scent that fouled the aerosphere and stung the nasal cavity. Sharp teeth gleamed, leathery wings rustled, a low growl resonated in the chamber. A suitable ostentation for a being such as I.

“Who dares disturb the slumber of my sleep?” My voice rumbled low, enough to rattle panes in the room I was contained in. “I had a pleasant dream. A world rent, the heat of fire, the soothing sibilance of a thousand screams joined in chorus as they lulled me to a peaceful drowse. For that, I hope you have one I can crush in retribution…”

Hungry eyes gleamed. Talons clicked eerily on polished floorboards. A hoarse breath wheezed sickly in the silence.

The theatrical breathing was part of my speciously scary modus operandi. It’s been awhile since I was summoned to the mortal realm. Usually, summoning rituals related to my invocation would be surreptitiously destroyed in the aftermath of the chaos I was called upon to inflict on the mortal plane. As a consequence, I almost forgot what it was like to have a mortal body, hence the wheezing. As for the others, I didn’t perform them to invoke fear, per se, but rather to make a statement. Let the summoner know my presence would not be something they bargained for.

“Power I can offer. Limitless wealth. Violence. Influence. Anything you desire… but be aware, magus, one mistake and I will feast on your heart.”

I injected as much hatred, loathing and just the right touch of contempt into the word magus. I wanted my summoner to know that their impudence in summoning a most noble entity such as I would have powerful consequences. Hopefully, I’d have perturbed the unwitting mortal enough to send me back to where I came from. I smirked in the ensuing silence, judging from the pause, that they would have to be knocking at their knees. Or tentacle appendages. I could never keep up with mortal physiology.

“Interesting!”

I blinked in confusion. Interesting? No maniacal laughter or harsh words of command or tremors and fear? Not the reaction I was looking for. It also sounded ridiculously youthful. My gaze searched around for Zachrand’s pentacle, the protection circle. My eyes took in a wealth of knowledge. All around me were books, scrolls, and the smell of musty century-old texts. Typical for an experienced magus. I assumed it was a wizened figure, quite possibly the world’s most powerful ensorcellor, or at least a fully grown mortal.

But this was ridiculous.

It was insultingly colourful. Purple. Purple and pink, as if someone took a brush and painted it head to hooves with a pretentious two-colour artist’s palette. It was also pathetically small and had wide eyes. No matter. The size and shape of my master or mistress wasn’t important. The task was bound to be some form of inventive vicious charge. I had my self-confident smirk back. The younger they were, the more twisted they were. If I had to serve, perhaps there was some fun to be had? What mortal would summon a demon without some ulterior motive? Anticipation made my eyes glow a dull red. I waited for my orders.

Then I waited some more.

Then I waited a while longer.

I had a large reserve of patience for particular pursuits. Patience that was well suited for the hunt, or preparations to ensnare or enact out some meticulous, convoluted plan my summoner had concocted. I had little for anything else.

I frowned.

The magus was staring at me with wide eyes and she was shivering. I felt a tinge of disappointment. Fear had entered into this youthful soul. Perhaps it had spoken the wrong incantations and it had wanted to summon an ethereal Fae instead. My expression darkened. The little one had better send me back to the Other if that was the case, I’d not waste my time here unless I could cause wanton destruction and mayhem.

“Oh! Uhm! I need to take notes!”

For the second time since I had been summoned to the mortal plane, I blinked in surprise. I expected crying, sniffling, wailing and tears that followed her regret for bringing forth a demon of my malevolent magnitude. I thought she had summoned me and had forgotten the dismissal spell. Instead, a glow surrounded a small tome that rippled and rustled with the speed of its sudden ascent and descent as it lay open before the flimsy mortal.

I settled back into the shadows of the wispy fog that surrounded me. I needed to think. What was this summoner doing? Where was my bidding?

Silence dragged on as the summoner of one of the most powerful demons from the Other simply sat there scribbling notes with a quill and ink. The writing wasn’t even that good.

“Your writing isn’t even that good.”

The words had slithered out of my mouth before I could drag them back. It was a superfluous statement, one that a demon such as I was unaccustomed to making. The equine looked up from her notes and smiled. It was creepy. No, not the smile, I’ve seen mortals smile before. But usually they were shaded with ambition, malice and joyous triumph that flushed their delicate faces. Exceptional emotions like that. This smile though… it was horrific. It was unsettling.

It was happy.

The sound of quill on paper was starting to get on my nerves. I was a creature of destruction and mayhem. Long-term abstinence from such activities would put any demon on edge. I gently manoeuvred the conversation back to more exciting topics.

“Perhaps you would like me to start a war? Topple the government? Have a crack at terrorising neighbouring countries into submission?” I offered. I tried to keep the pleading tone out of my speech. That would be unbecoming of a monstrosity such as I. Also, I had a reputation to maintain. Strange, I didn’t usually voice my concerns in such a flippant way. Something about this dimension was uncanny.

“No,” the harmless creature replied. “We’ve got a great government. The neighbouring countries are at peace with us. They have been for over a thousand years.”

I stared dumbly at her.

“No wars, no friction with the government, no poverty, no problems?! Surely you have something for me to do?” What kind of Other-forbidden utopia had I landed into?

The magus cocked her head, then her ear flicked and grinned as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her. “Oh right, the book did mention giving orders was part of the summoning ritual.” She cleared her throat. “You can’t harm anypony…”

I perked up at that. I couldn’t harm what constituted ‘anypony’… well there were other things that weren’t ponies…

“I better amend that to any living thing. You can’t physically harm any living thing.”

…What the dross? How was I supposed to get anything done if I couldn’t take hostages and torture things?

The magus continued, whilst tapping the quill on her piece of parchment. “Also you have to answer any and all of my questions—“ I grinned “—truthfully.” I frowned. “Also you must help any living thing that asks for it. Though only if does not involve harm to any other living creature.” Her brow wrinkled in thought as her mortal mind tried to come up with other commands to fit the situation. I pressed clawed fingers gingerly to my skull. It wouldn’t do to skewer yourself with your own claws.

“Anything else?” I growled.

“No, you’re free to do as you please, unless I summon you and give you new orders.”

Zachrand’s pentacle had an annoying binding system that allowed for additional commands outside of the pentacle itself. I mentally shrugged it off. She had my True Name, if she wanted, she could disintegrate my very essence. I was still a tool of the magus. Though now in a vastly different manner.

“That is hardly an order. Don’t you want me to do anything?”

“Oh, well, I suppose we could talk. I really just wanted to know if this would work! It’s fascinating, the construction of this magic.”

The audacity of that statement made me lock up, frozen in surprise.

“You summoned a demon from the Other using their True Name using complex incantations and mechanisms that for one small mistake could kill you and possibly decimate the surrounding areas into a barren wasteland just so you could have a chat?!”

That gave the magus some pause. She grimaced at the book. Her eyes were wide. She peered at the pentacle.

“Does it… can it really do that?”

I don’t believe this.

“Really?” I spluttered. I summoned an illusion of a table just so I could flip it, set it on fire, and then make it explode. The fragments stopped short at the boundaries of the pentacle, of course. “This… what kind of magus are you?”

She blinked. “I’m not a… what did you call me? A magus?”

“Of course you are! You wield magic and summon demons. You’re a magus!”

“Well I suppose I can use magic and summon demons, if that’s what you call yourself, but I don’t think I’m a magus. I mean I just learned one spell.”

I groaned. “No joke.” My mind ticked over. Actually, wait. Maybe I was approaching this all wrong. If she was amenable to being reasonable, I could bargain for my release.

“You know,” I drawled, sauntering up to the edge of the pentacle. “You could just send me back. I’d be out of your hair, you’d be out of my dimensional existence. I could call it even. Heck, I’ll even sweeten the deal and take you off my ‘Summoners to Kill’ list. What do you say?”

“Summoners to Kill…?” The magus shook her head and bit her lip. “Actually…” she muttered. “I kind of— well I don’t have...” She stopped herself and gave a hapless shrug. “I don’t know how to send you back.”

Oh no. No, no, no.

She looked supremely uncomfortable. “I thought you might have a clue.”

I was beyond furious.

“What?! You must know! It’s the most basic thing a magus would know in case something goes wrong! At least send back the demon you’ve summoned! What if I went on a rampage? How would you banish me back to the Other?!”

She flared at that. “Well I still have your True Name, so you better behave yourself!”

I gnashed my teeth in frustration. Of course. What fear would she have if she could just casually disperse my essence across the aether? I forced my temper down a couple of notches. No need to provoke the mortal when she was holding the leash. A very, very lethal leash.

“You know, you holding that over my head is really going to put a damper on our relationship.”

Her mouth twitched. “If it’s all the same to you, I rather think I’d like to keep it.”

The silence was suffocating.

“So… what now?” I asked. I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my tone.

The magus grinned sheepishly. “I’ll find a way to send you back. In the meantime, you might like it here?”

I stared at her. Was she serious?

“I’m a demon. This is a utopia. You might find the juxtaposition of the two hilarious, but it would drive me up the lava creek, so to speak.”

“Well I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but it is nice.”

“No, no, you don’t understand. I’m a demon. A DE-MON. I thrive on carnage and bloodlust. The reason you’re still standing is because you’ve forbidden me to kill you! I need action!” I destroyed another table and pointed at its remains to emphasise my point. “If I can’t do that at least once a week, I’ll go insane!”

The magus raised an eyebrow. “Better get used to it then. I’ll add another order. You can’t destroy anything while you’re here.”

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. For a second there, I was tempted to make that actually happen, but I wasn’t a glutton for collateral pain like some of my peers.

We glared at each other for a time.

“It seems we are at an impasse,” I finally ground out.

She nodded. “You need me to send you back, and I need you to behave.”

I sighed. “I can be tolerable for a week, if it will mean I can go back to the Other.” I held up a clawed finger and waved it menacingly. “But after that, no guarantees.”

The magus nodded slowly. Suddenly, she tapped her quill on the parchment with such force it snapped. She suddenly smiled. I found it disconcerting, as usual. Mortals shouldn’t smile at demons like that.

“I can’t call you by your True Name, you know. You’ll have to go by something else,” she said with a pondering look. “Do you have a preference?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Usually the magi would come up with the cheesy names. I’ve been called the Destroyer, the Unmaker, the Apocalypse, the Rent and Reaper and some other silly, melodramatic tags.”

“How about ‘Morpheus’? I think it suits you. It comes from the ancient griffon language, meaning ‘Demon of the Dreams’.”

Morpheus, huh? Well, I don’t think it was that bad… compared to some others.

I nodded, it was passable.

Her brow twitched, then drew together in consternation. “Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself.”

She held out her hoof past the pentacle.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

I shook her hoof reluctantly. Then something occurred to me. Did this mortal just give me her True Name?

For lack of a better term, a devilish grin spread across my face.

Twilight caught the expression and stepped back, sensing something had transpired, but was unsure what exactly it was.

Oh, but she would know soon enough...

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle. I’m Morpheus, and we’re going to have a hell of a time.”

Author's Note

This has just been sitting around and not doing much. I don't even know what I've been doing.

I really should be studying.

Next Chapter: A demon in Ponyville will go over well... won't it?

As always, my sorcerously rendered readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. This serial is planned to be ended in four chapters. Hopefully. This is my own entry into my own competition, except that it doesn't count, I kind of did it for fun.
P.P.S. As stated in one of the comments, this ties very heavily with the Bartimaeus Sequence. I didn't know if I should put a crossover tag because it steals quite a few elements from the story. Credits go to the original redefining troped concept to Jonathan Stroud. It's an amazing piece of writing.

2 - A Demon-stration

Chapter 2: A Demon-stration

Twenty four hours. That’s the amount of time it takes to know if your magus is incompetent enough, delusional enough, or otherwise unlucky enough to be free of them. It only takes one mistake and revenge is... sweet. You can take that literally if you like.

As a demon, it’s hard to get used to the idea that I wasn’t given a mission to do in the mortal realm. The Other was a diffuse, abstract kind of place where things that constrict mortals like time and space didn’t apply. So to alleviate my boredom, I followed my mistress.

“You can’t follow me!” Twilight exclaimed. “This class is only for foals.”

I stared at her blankly. “You told me I could do what I like, or were you lying, magus?”

She frowned. “My name is Twilight.”

“So it is.”

She frowned deeper. “Anyway, you can’t follow me, I’ve got class!”

There was that word again, class, if I remember correctly scholars and the such would congregate together to discuss things like science, philosophy, and foul magic. Not a place I would be too fond of going either, except…

“What did you say, foals?”

The little one nodded her head earnestly. “Mmhmm, I have to go to class.”

A sudden thought struck me. “Hey,” I said slowly, “just how old are you anyway?”

“I’m eight years old,” she replied proudly.

A sneaking suspicion crawled into my mind and died there. “You’re not a grown-up are you?” I hazarded that such a term existed in this world.

“No,” she said with a frown. “Why?”

I put my head into my claws. “Why indeed,” I growled, “don’t you know that summoning demons is dangerous? You could—” I stopped myself, I was beginning to have some serious déjà vu. “Never mind, fine, how about this?”

I snapped my fingers and disappeared.

Predictably, the magus gasped. “Wow, how did you do that?!”

I sighed. “I just bend light around me.” She gave me a blank look as I sighed impatiently. “Like a rock in the river—wait, why am I explaining this to you?”

“Aww,” the little thing pouted. “No fair.”

“Just… go to your ‘class’,” I growled.

The magus trotted a few steps towards the door, then paused and doubled back.

“You’re going to behave, right? Don’t come to class with me.”

“Yes, yes,” I said hastily. “We had an agreement, go, go.”

She nodded again and skittered out of the door, the steel hinges groaning as she shut the comparatively large door. The room was suddenly stifling with its quietude. As a relatively free demon I was at a loss to what I should do all on my own. For the first time in the service of a magus, I was free to do as I wish.

For a time I drifted around the room, pacing like a caged tiger. Even though I was allowed to almost anything I wished, as long as it didn’t involved destruction, mayhem, or anything harmful to living things, I found the list of things I wanted to do frighteningly short. I tripped over an ancient tome.

“Ooof!”

I scowled at it darkly and considered burning the book, but the familiar tingle of disobeying a direct order from my magus reminded me to hold back. Knowing her True Name rendered the warning meaningless, but I wanted to be in her good graces if she could send me back quickly. I could feel the oppressive constraints of the mortal plain press down on my being, what mortals would commonly associate with a soul.

It’s funny, right? A demon with a soul?

On the floor I sat back and leered at the books around me. Well, I had some time, and I didn’t have much faith that the magus could get me back to the Other by herself.

Better take a look at these books, how hard could it be?

———————

It didn’t take long for me to throw up my claws in frustration.

The books were a mess, nothing was ordered, nothing was categorised, all the information were tough as nails to sift through. Many of them were written in the archaic misbegotten language of the magi, rendering them meaningless to me. Some even had active protection on them which prevented me from remembering the contents. Still, the stuff I could read was confusing enough. As I waded through the confusing complexities of equations, azimuth angles, planes, intersections, bisections, bifurcations, monosectification, retention and refraction among reflection, I started to get an idea of what these crazy magi tried to accomplish with their spellcasting.

Don’t get me wrong, I barely scratched the surface, but what I gleaned was that the complexity of summoning even a wisp from the Other as opposed to a full-blown demon was staggering. This was way beyond me, it could take millennia for me to decode all this.

With a frustrated sigh I shelved the book back where it belonged on the new sorting system I made for the shelves. The room was enclosed, with no light source whatsoever. The only indication I had of the passage of time was the almost extinguished candles scattered around the room.

With a yawn, I realised I had spent a few hours perusing through the magus’ books. A sense of accomplishment welled up within me before I hastily quashed it under layers of annoyance. There wasn’t a reason I should feel anything but numb servitude. That was my lot in life.

The candles were almost burnt out and I eyed them warily. It didn’t seem my summoner would come back in time to replace them. Much as the prospect of sitting in the gloom and dark with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs appealed to me, I was going to venture out and find something else to do. Luckily, my mistress had provided entertainment in the form of her misgivings. She didn’t want me to follow her around.

I rubbed my hands together in glee. It was something that didn’t contradict her orders, yet gave me something to do to break the boredom.

Oh well, it wasn’t like I was expressly forbidden to follow her. She said ‘you can’t follow me’, which I can correctly interpret as a statement rather than a directive. Of course I can. I’ve got two legs and some wings, of course I could follow her. She also said, ‘don’t come to class with me’. Well I’m not. I’m not going with her, I’m going alone. I took a cautious step towards the door. Gingerly, I focused on the intent to find my mistress. No telltale tingle? I grinned. Excellent.

———————

Since I didn’t want to cause a commotion, I stealthily cracked open the door, making sure I was invisible. When a door opens by itself, you can be reasonably sure it was a demon when it shuts itself back politely. We know etiquette, but it’s mostly habit after doing some breaking and entering around someone’s home. The best practice is to be long gone by the time they realise you’ve been there, or in the case of some envious magi, when something is missing.

Still, the humble abode of my dear mistress was surprisingly normal. There weren’t scented candles, the cloying scent of incense, no circles or inscriptions carved into wooden surfaces or the walls. It was simply a normal mortal dwelling. Nicely coloured furniture in ugly interior earthen colours. Drapes that hung low and wide for the unwary stranger to get tangled up in… I’m not saying I got tangled up in them. I’m just saying that if one were, it’d be totally understandable.

I walked through the house, taking in the living room of a young magus that would unwittingly summon an apocalyptic demon. Photo frames hung on the wall showing smiling, happy mortals. Though they didn’t look similar they certainly seemed familiar enough to show that they were all family. It seemed like my mistress had an older brother, a father and a mother. The room was clean and tidy, quiet and homely, all descriptive words that would be at odds with a normal magus’ home. I shook my head in wonderment, who would dip into the magic arts if not for power, prestige, or pride?

I shook my head. Maybe I could learn more about the magus if I looked into her room. It was insultingly easy to find. Her brother’s room was a white, their parent’s a bluish grey, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out the purple one would belong to my mistress.

Inside, the room was surprising, in a different way. Her room was similar to her brother’s room, in that it was very sparse, with many of the same certificates, trophies and other achievement paraphernalia scattered around. It boggled the mind.

Instead of exiting through the front door, I simply opened one of the windows on the first floor and clambered out of it, shutting it behind me. The window’s lock clicked making me wince. I wanted a way back in, but I had forgotten the annoying habit of mortals inventing mundane things that were endlessly complicated. The Other didn’t have locks, or anything material for that matter.

Glancing down from my vantage point on the window’s ledge, I took in the steady flow of what I assumed were the non-magical part of the populace moving around. I noticed some differences to the little magus that had summoned me. While she sported a horn and had no wings, others could have wings, or a horn, or neither. Their size confirmed my suspicion that she was young for her age in attempting to summon a demon, but I didn’t know that at the time. Maybe I could have taken advantage of her weakness and have forced another magus to send me back to the Other.

A demon always keeps their promises though, so I had to wait the week. I thought of it as a sort of break from the shackles of normal magi and my previous mistresses and masters. I was relatively free to roam around, and apart from not being able to destroy anything, I had it pretty good. Popping up as a demon to scare the local populace wouldn’t get me very far, and I wouldn’t be able to get to that school.

Hopping from rooftop to rooftop I took in the sprawling city. It was beautiful in a mortal kind of way, with the complexity and scale that were characteristic of mortal development. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I can appreciate the effort that went into building it, even if I preferred the formless void.

I’d have to ask one of these creatures for directions, I’d get nothing from wandering aimlessly around. Sequestering myself in a little alleyway, I quickly morphed into a copy of my mistress and headed out. I cantered happily, stumbling a few times trying to remember the gait of a four-legged creature.

“Twily?”

I froze mid-step. What the—? I’ve barely made it a block before I was recognised. I turned around slowly.

The white coat, three toned blue-grey mane… I recognised him. Wait, this was my mistress’ brother! Hold up, hold up, I didn’t plan for this to happen! Were they close? This’ll blow my cover in no time!

“What are you doing out of school?”

I didn’t say anything and tried to look really small, pitiful and guilty. I stared at the floor as if it held Holgum’s treasure in its depths. Don’t know it? Probably for the best. It’s cursed, you know. I sniffled and turned up the waterworks, things that would tug on the heartstrings of an adoring family. I just hope she was a part of an adoring family.

“Oh Twily, did they tell you to take free study again?”

Yes, success! I nodded glumly.

“You can’t keep skipping school. You shouldn’t let the teachers let you leave.”

I did what every kid did when faced with immutable logic.

“Why?” I pleaded plaintively.

There was a heavy pause. Was I laying it on too thick?

“Well…” he sighed. “I know you already know everything they teach in class, but there’s stuff there that they could teach you that’s not in class.” He paused. “Like… friends.” He knelt down next to me and placed a hoof on my shoulders. “School is meant to be where you make friends. You should go back there.”

I didn’t respond. Sometimes mortals filled the gaps in themselves and created their own stories.

Another weary sigh. “Come on,” he cajoled. “I’ll walk you back. At least I’d be doing my job.” I glanced at him all teary-eyed and snot-nosed. “Here,” he said, lifting me up onto his back. “I’ll carry you the rest of the way there.”

——————

My ‘brother’ dropped me at the front gate. He tapped his armour proudly and paraded around while making funny noises. I nearly got caught out forgetting to laugh in reply. It might have been an in-joke between them, but I wasn’t sure. Was this what mortals considered humour? Sheesh, mortals are complicated. For some reason my pause made him more concerned. At first I thought he found me out, but then I realised I had simply missed the social cue.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Twily?”

I nodded resolutely. Your job here is done, mortal.

He smiled warmly. “Okay then, off you go, and don’t let me catch you a second time. What would Mom and Dad say?”

Ahh! Demon!

The smile faltered slightly, but he made up for it by patting me gently on the head. “Stay in school, alright?

“Okay,” I replied dutifully as he waved at me and left.

Seeing him go, I chuckled to myself. Who would have thought a demon had pretended to be one of their close family members? The idea was pleasing, but I was more interested in seeing what my mistress was up to. According to her brother, this disappearing act from school seemed to be a regular occurrence. Was this a problem child? I looked around. Where was the school, all I saw was a massive castle…

Wait, don’t tell me this is the school?

“It is indeed,” a reedy voice said from behind me.

I must have jumped a foot in the air. By the Other, I was voicing my thoughts out loud. I really need to get a grip on my mortal form.

“Twilight? Aren’t you the filly that Princess Celestia took in this year?”

I turned around, seeing an elderly stallion with rickety looking knees and a ragged mane that looked like a gale had blown it sideways. He eyed me with that same mixture of sadness and pity I’d seen from her brother. Mistress was certainly well-known around here for a child. Connections with royalty no less. Maybe I was wrong with the problem child thing, maybe she was spoilt and they made special exemptions for her? The way he was looking at me, though, made me unsure.

I nodded. Less talking, it’s safer that way.

There was that sigh again. Don’t mortals get tired of doing that?

“Would you like to go to class? I can lead you there.”

I shook my head. “I can find my own way,” I said quickly.

My assurance didn’t seem to inspire confidence in the old stallion.

“Okay,” he replied uncertainly, “but come visit anytime you need anything, Twilight.”

I nodded once more. I hope my mistress was the silent type.

He gestured down the path. “Off you go, then. Don’t cause any trouble, not that you need to be told at all.”

“Okay,” I mumbled, then dashed off because he could start digging into my disguise. I have a theory. Anything more than five minutes of interaction and mortals will know something’s off about you. When you take the form of a mortal, try to avoid social contact. There’s all these little social cues that—

“Hey you!”

What the dross? Can’t a demon catch a break? I stopped trotting.

“Yeah you! What are you doing out here?”

I frowned, the voices sounded ridiculously youthful. I turned around to see a trio of fillies. One was purple-coloured like my mistress, the one on the left was lemon like a… like a lemon? I’m not that great with mortal metaphors. The last one was a cream colour that reminded me of yoghurt.

The yellow one nudged the centre one with a timid hoof. “Ammy, you shouldn’t mess with her, I heard she was so powerful she hatched a dragon on her entrance exam.”

‘Ammy’ flicked back her two-toned hair with a harrumph. “I don’t believe it,” she retorted primly. “I’ve never seen her with a dragon, it must be made up.”

You know, I might not like my mistress for summoning me, but there was something about these three that made her sickly sweet decorum suddenly more bearable.

“Yeah, Lemon. I bet she’s nothing special, that’s why she gets kicked out of class.”

Well I’ll be, her name was Lemon. Though from the looks of her cringing, flustered reaction, maybe not. A derogatory name?

‘Lemon’ swallowed. “But she always answers the teacher’s questions perfectly. Miss. Widgin didn’t know what to do.”

“Don’t be such a scaredy-cat. Are you with me?”

They advanced upon me. I tensed with a grin so savage that they skipped a step and widened their eyes.

“W-What we’re not s-scared of you,” Ammy cried out in an ear-piercing shrill. I winced, then my own eyes started to ape theirs when I realised something.

My own orders not to harm any living being.

Oh how the tables have metaphorically turned. I didn’t know their True Name, not that it would have helped in this particular circumstance. I groaned with frustration. The order had been bound before I learned of my mistress’ True Name. I couldn’t just strike at them without some serious repercussions. Zachrand’s pentacle was a major pain in my demonic behind. I gnashed my teeth in frustration.

Ammy and the others took a few steps back.

“Uhh,” said… I’ll name her Cream Puff, because she looks like one. “She doesn’t look normal.”

“Don’t freak out,” Ammy ordered in a voice that broke embarrassingly in several places. Were they that scared with such a lacklustre performance? Maybe if I turn it up a few notches?

“If you come after me, you’ll regret it.” I chuckled darkly. “You don’t know what I’m capable of. I’m pretty much a demon inside.” I didn’t even have to lie. What a bonus!

The trio galloped away as fast as their little legs could carry them. I caught myself feeling pleased and then smacked myself in the head. Way to be proud of terrorising younglings. Some malevolent force of evil you are.

This world is starting to get to me. It’s giving me the willies. I have to get back to the Other.

I continued along the path scanning along it for something or someone to take me closer to my mistress. Hmm, it might not be a good idea to just burst into class with two copies of my mistress. That would be a major pain.

“Twilight?”

Oh for the love of dross, where do these creatures that know her come from?

This one was bigger, much bigger, than the normal ones I’ve been seeing. The second thing I noticed was whiteness. Her coat was a brilliant sheen of pure white, and she took good care of it. The first thing I noticed was the crackling aura of magic that surrounded her like the angry corona of the sun. Which was apt because I did notice the symbol plastered on her flank, and the regalia she wore naturally. Was she important? One thing was for sure, this creature was not to be trifled with.

“Hello?” I ventured cautiously.

The pony’s smile faltered and she peered at me intently. Her demeanour changed from radiant to sub-zero in a heartbeat.

“I think you should come with me.”

I think I might have been able to take her, if I didn’t have countermanding orders and a healthy dose of surprise and preparation. As it stood, I would be an easy piñata by the end of it.

“Okay,” was all I could say.

If I kept it up, that word would become my catchphrase.

Author's Note

Finally, this gets updated. Wow, I almost forgot about this until I saw some activity in the comments. If you want something updated faster just shoot me a PM, or leave a comment below. It's pretty much the only way I remember to update something.

Next Chapter: Did Celestia see through Morpheus' excellent disguise?

As always, my highlighted readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Unedited because I'm a butt.
P.P.S. Now has some minor mistakes squashed like the evil things they are by the lovely docontra.

3 - Giving them the Evil Eye

Chapter 3: Giving them the Evil Eye

The one thing a demon never wants to do is become attached to the material world. When a demon gives themselves over, heart and soul, to their physical form, there’s no going back.

Outwardly, I saw this one to be a shrewd diplomat. I kept the disguise of a shaken foal, a reprimanded youth caught doing the wrong thing. She never faltered, treating me as one would my mistress, but her wary eye and guarded presence was subtle enough to make sure that there was no escape for me. ‘Sheltered’ under her wing, it gave the illusion she was comforting me, and made sure I didn’t take the first chance to escape.

She led me into a room and closed the door with a small snick that seemed disproportional to the large hole I’d dug myself into.

Presumably, the place I was in was her office. Among the usual decor of sturdy wooden desks and scrolls and such, were interesting things. Things like crystals, tidbits, unusual statues and something I recognised as an Astral Pendant, but I didn’t know how this pony had come across something so rare. It struck me for the umpteenth time, as I saw bows of deference, nods and salutes, that this pony was one that wasn’t to be casually messed with.

Settling in on the other side, the pony sat herself down gracefully at her desk and gestured for me to take the seat opposing her. Her movements, calm and measured they were, bespoke experience and confidence that she could handle anything I would even think about throwing at her. Instead of doing anything drastic that could prematurely end my existence, I decided to comply without much fuss. Even at full power, there could be a chance I might lose to this one in an all-out battle.

Maybe.

“So,” she began severely, steepling her hooves, “what manner of creature are you?”

I struggled to suppress my expression of surprise. She didn’t know who I was? Too bad I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in a furnace of deflecting the question. It’s not like I could say I was a shapeshifter or some random creature that mimicked the form of other creatures. In a place as cheerful as this, there couldn’t be a creature like that. That would be crazy.

“Don’t even think about telling me you’re a changeling, I know you’re not.”

I blinked. Well, hell’s bells. There was such a creature here. Maybe this place wasn’t all that peaceful as my mistress had suggested? I shrugged. The jig was up. I’d tell her the truth, but just this one.

“I’m a demon from the Other.”

“I see.”

If you guessed shock as her response, then you would be wrong. This pony barely reacted, merely smiling in confirmation of her hidden layers of thoughts. With a shiver of comprehension, I realised why. She already knew the answer, and had simply been testing me to see if I would lie to her. Everything in my body screamed that she was an experienced magus. I should disappear.

I tried to cast an illusion.

Nothing happened.

“None of that,” the pony said with a frosty smile. “We haven’t even gotten to the heart of the matter yet.”

The silence was stifling.

“What are you going to do with me?” I was unable to bear the heavy gaze of this creature. She sure knew how to stare down disapprovingly.

“Well, now, that would depend on you.”

“Me?”

She sighed and rifled through her documents, ordering them carefully. “I need to make a decision, but I need to trust a demon in order to do so.” She glanced at the Astral Pendant, then back to me. “Let’s make a deal. You demons are good at that.”

“You have no power over me,” I hissed. Yes, I know, a bit of a cliché, but I was disturbed. “What? You’re going to trap me in a little bauble? I’ve been through inconceivable cruelty that you couldn’t possibly imagine.” I slammed a hoof down on her table. “Do your worst.”

Instead of being provoked like I expected, the creature merely sighed again and gave me a look of such pity that it made me feel like I had been one of these foals that spoke out of turn in class. It galled me to think that, even for a moment, this pony… no, this mortal would understand. No way. How could she know?

“W-Who are you?” I blustered, knowing full well I was losing the battle of wills. “What do you want?”

There was a pause as she shrugged and ran a hoof along her desk. “Who I am isn’t important to you, is it? What I am is, but I doubt you care for the details. What I want is simple. Don’t harm anypony while you’re here. Beyond that, I’m not interested in dominion over you or your kind, or reasons as to why you were summoned. I’m simply curious as to why you seem different.”

There were a lot of things I didn’t like about this conversation, but this was the first thing I didn’t understand. “Different?” I asked. “How?”

“Does it strike one as strange when a wolf does not bare one’s teeth at the taunting gestures of their prey? When I see a demon scare off foals without so much as fangs or claws in sight, I see an invisible leash.” She locked eyes with me. “I can therefore deduce that you have a mistress or master here. That you were asking around meant you are relatively newly summoned, and that you took the form of one of my students means that you are likely summoned at the behest of one of my students.” Her head cocked. “I simply want you to tell me who that student is.”

I shouldn’t have a shred of loyalty to my mistress, beyond that of simply helping her find a way to send me back. It struck me as odd that I should care enough that I was even hesitating at this very moment to withhold her name, even though there was no immediate foreseeable benefit to me.

Finally, I kept silent.

“Are you under a binding order? There are ways around that I’m sure—no, by your look I can see that it isn’t.” For the first time, the pony looked surprised. I couldn’t keep from glaring at her as she read me like a book.

“The defence of your… mistress?” She smirked once more as I started. I fumed silently, remembering too late the emotional inconveniences of inhabiting a self-made mortal container. “Ah, I see, mistress it is. It’s admirable, but ultimately unfavourable for you.” The Astral Pendant was lifted from the shelf to drop to the table with an ominous thunk. “It could be ages until the next time your mistress decides to summon you again.”

I kept my voice neutral. “We’ve both reached an agreement.”

She was unimpressed. “I’m sure you did.” She tapped the table impertinently. “Last chance, demon. Will you give up your mistress’ name?”

I stood mute, defiant.

“No matter,” she said. “I know who your mistress’ name is. Twilight Sparkle.” She chuckled at my reaction. “Surprised? You don’t have to be particularly gifted to deduce that.” She had a point, I regretted taking the form of my mistress. At first, it had seemed like a good idea, but it would have been more prudent to whack together something else, I should have had a bit more imagination.

The pony continued, without noting my internal critiquing. “Now, usually, I would send the demon straight back to the Other, but there’s a little problem with that as you and I both know.”

I nodded warily, catching on to what the creature was suggesting.

“Yes, doing it forcibly puts both of you at risk. Even though I’m confident my student will accede to my wishes, I do not trust you will honour your end of the bargain.”

“I want to be sent back to the Other as well!”

She raised an eyebrow. “Be that as it may, I’m not willing to take the risk of a battle of wills.”

“Demons don’t break promises,” I shot back bitterly. “Mortals do.”

“No?” she said. “You may not technically break your word, but you seem very flexible in interpretation.”

I couldn’t really say anything to that, she was right, in a sense. Demons did tend to twist words around to their advantage. One time, a summoner forgot to mention his name among the list of lives to be protected along an escort. Oops.

“Alright,” I grumbled, “I see what you mean, what do you want?”

“I’ve told you what I want. Now I will tell you what I expect. There are ways of neutralising a demon threat without sending them back to the Other.” She gave me a meaningful glance as I swallowed thickly, trying not to stare at the Astral Pendant. “Understand? Good. I expect you to adhere to your mistress’ instructions not to the letter, but to the meaning. I expect you to treat mortals with a modicum of civility, if not outright kindness and respect. I expect you to not cause trouble while you’re here.”

“Here?!” I blurted.

She smiled in the same way I could only describe as demonically. It reminded me of a demon friend, she liked to wear the face of a snake as a head.

“Yes,” the pony drawled. “I’m enrolling you in this school.”

————————

Stunned silence was my answer for the next few seconds. I found my voice after blinking a few times and churning through a quick list of all the ways I could hurt this capricious creature without actually breaking my mistress’ orders. Unfortunately there weren’t any I could implement straight away, although if I were given a few days… and access to the kitchen. Instead, I opted to convince her with my best argument.

“No,” I growled, crossing my arms. “What in the dross would possess you to do that?”

Hey, I didn’t say it was going to be a good argument, I said it was my best.

“No?” she replied smoothly. She let the threat hang in the air for a few moments, before continuing. “It’s a relatively simple process, and you seem to hold the illusion that you have a choice.”

I rolled my eyes. “I do have a choice, just not very good ones.” I decided to clarify my position a little further. “Aren’t you afraid I’m going to hurt your precious little foals?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, if you actually were capable of hurting them, you would have already. And if you have, you and I wouldn’t be having this talk. I’m confident they’re quite safe. Meanwhile, I think we can work to each other’s advantages, wouldn’t you agree?”

Ah, so that’s her angle. She wanted to use me. Glove. Fit.

“So in return for me behaving myself, and the security of keeping an eye on me, you’re going to teach your student the method to send me back to the Other. That way, everyone gets what they want.” I clapped my hooves together sarcastically. “Bravo.”

Then something occurred to me, my self-satisfied smirk died down as I thought about it.

“You called my mistress Twilight Sparkle, right?”

She caught on, grinning slyly. “You didn’t think that was her True Name, did you?”

Wait, Twilight Sparkle isn’t her True Name? I sank back into my seat, the sullen, too-purple-by-far form of my mistress mocking me as I cradled my head in my hooves.

Figured.

Clearing her throat, the pony tapped her hoof on her table imperiously to get my attention. I looked up at her serious expression. What now? What more concessions would she wring from me? She seemed to soften her look after seeing mine. I didn’t need her pity.

“Believe it or not,” she said, “I do not harbour ill-will to your kind. You, like any other creature, have a right to existence. It’s… unfortunate that you got caught up in my student’s stray castings.”

“You can’t be serious,” I shot back. “Oops, summoning a demon was an accident? The only thing mortals want from us is our power, they couldn’t care less about anything else.”

“Be that as it may,” she replied evenly, “I’m truly sorry for you.”

I stayed silent as the pony sighed.

“In any case, you may call me ‘Celestia’.”

There was a knock on her door.

“Yes?”

“Princess? You have a meeting with the ambassador from Griffonstone.”

“Thank you, I will be out in a moment.”

The door shut gently.

Princess Celestia eyed me critically for a few more moments, before seemingly coming to a decision. “You should head back, please do it invisibly.”

Instead of arguing, I disappeared in response.

She continued, picking up a few loose documents and read them while she spoke in my general direction. “Do not stray too far, demon. Tomorrow, you will accompany my student as she attends her classes. In fact, you will accompany her everywhere until she learns a way to send you back. I will have a firm chat with my student, but for now, there’s nothing for you here. You are dismissed.”

“Alright.”

I wondered what the guards thought about a door opening and closing by itself, and whether or not they suspected that it was a demon that caused it.

————————

I was sitting in the room my mistress had left me in, tapping my claws restlessly against the wooden floor, when she came back. Ears splayed, tail still, and her mopey expression clearly advertised the outcome of her little ‘chat’ with Princess Celestia. With jerky movements, my mistress collapsed on the floor with a pathetic snivel.

That wouldn’t do, she needed to be up and about. Preferably working on sending me back as well.

“Hey,” I said in falsely cheerful tone, “what’s eating you?”

Twilight sniffed a couple of times and then wiped her nose on her foreleg, her running nose leaving a trail of slime across it. Have I ever told you why being a mortal is inconvenient? Your container starts leaking fluids at the most inappropriate of times.

With a hapless sigh, I trotted over to where she was and plonked myself down next to her. “There, there,” I mumbled, rubbing a hoof along her back. I glanced towards her door. Weren’t there some parental figures, or that brother that seems to get along with her, to take care of this? I peered through the wooden-backed wall. It was lucky it was made primarily of wood, otherwise I’d have considerable more difficulty in doing so. Her family seemed to be at the table, talking and laughing.

“I didn’t want to let them know,” she said, in between little sniffs.

“About your little meeting with the Princess?”

She didn’t say anything, which told me all I needed to know. Morphing into my usual favoured form of a more traditional demon with fangs, claws, and teeth, I sidled around her and picked her up. She hung limp in my grip, like a small, hairy, rag doll. I picked up a clean-looking cloth and wiped away most of the leaky mortal fluids around her face.

“None of that,” I said gently. “You just have to fix your mistakes, okay?”

“I don’t know how to.”

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You’re saying you don’t know how?”

She nodded.

“Did you know how to summon demons before?”

“Before?”

I gestured around me. “Before you got all this?”

She shook her head mutely.

“See? You just need to do what you magi do best. Study and research.”

She smiled weakly. “Study and research.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, yes, good, now off you go, don’t let your parental figures worry about you. Besides, what would they say about you spending all your time here?”

“A lot,” Twilight admitted, “they gave up after a few years when I started spending everyday here.”

By the Other, this kid was messed up.

“Don’t you have any other hobbies, or like, you know, friends?” I knew I was right on the money when she flinched and hunched her shoulders. I quickly changed the topic, it might be useful later, but right now I didn’t want her to start crying again. Gees, this thing will be a lot more trouble than I thought.

“Alright, alright, forget I said anything,” I mumbled.

“Hey…”

Oh no. I knew that look. She was leaning forward, eyes shining, a little shy, a little hopeful and a bundle of nervous energy. No, no, no, I knew what she was going to ask. Don’t do this. Don’t do it, mortal.

“Can you…” she bit her lip and looked at the ground. I didn’t believe in the Force of the Elementals, but I prayed to them nevertheless.

“Can you be my friend?”

What the dross? Doesn’t she get the idea? I was a demon. DE-MON. I wiped my face with a weary claw. Now I had two choices, either reject her or accept her. I could reject her, and we’d have a rocky relationship, full of distrust with dashes of despair, and fear schooled by loathing. A perfectly healthy master-slave relationship. Usually, this would be the preferred option, I wanted to make it an unpleasant experience for my summoner, lest they feel the urge to summon me again.

Unfortunately, I needed to think about this in the long term.

“Hold on, hold on, we’ll be probationary friends.”

Did I say two choices? I meant three. I could delay it.

“Probationary?”

“Yeah.” I waved my claw airily. “After all, I am here against my will, just because you were curious.” That seemed to hit home for her. Those fluids started leaking again. I hurried on before the room was likely to become flooded. “Look, you’re not a bad summoner as summoners go. You didn’t know any better. You probably haven’t heard about the history of demon summoning. The thing is, I can’t immediately throw myself at you and become friends, it doesn’t work like that. So, we’ll take it slow. You just show me how you can be a friend to me.”

“How?”

I smiled. Now this was starting to get a bit interesting.

“Firstly, you should let me do what I want, no pentacles, no binding oaths, nothing. Secondly, you can show me you’re actually trying to send me back to the Other. Just pick up a book and start reading. Make sure you can get it done in a week.”

Twilight finally smiled. “The Princess said you would try something like this. I guess demons wouldn’t make good friends.” She shrugged uncomfortably. “I’m already helping you with the second one. Can’t I do something else?”

I sighed, well freedom was worth a shot, besides, we had a deal and one week wasn’t that long for a demon anyway. “Yeah, alright, fine, there is one thing…”

I licked my lips. “Do you have ice cream here?”

Twilight blinked. “Yes, you want ice cream?”

I nodded. “Is there a problem?”

Twilight shook her head. “Oh I just thought you might ask…”

I crossed my arms. “What? For a sacrifice? Blood of a unicorn? That sort of thing?”

Twilight shrank back. “O-Of course not! That’s horrible. I was thinking about money!”

“Money? Why would a demon want money?”

“But… ice cream?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Okay…” Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin. “But you can’t be outside looking like that.”

——————

I morphed into a pony roughly her size. I didn’t really fuss on the details, but it was plain and unassuming. Well, as unassuming as a pony would be in this colourful, wacky place.

“Ponies aren’t fluoro-pink.”

“They could be, but alright, fine, how about this?”

“It still doesn’t look right.”

“It’s fine.”

“No it’s not.” She held up a few photos of foals all gathered together, all orderly-like. Looks like a school photo. She tapped a few ponies around the picture. “You should look like this.”

“Oh come on, I’m pretty sure that’s not how that should look.”

She shook her head. “Mane, change it. Like this one.”

“That looks long and distracting.”

“Come on, it’ll be pretty!”

“Fine! Something in between, better?”

“Actually, that looks fine.”

“Finally!”

I flopped down to the floor, legs splayed in a manner unbecoming of a mortal. For those curious, limbs weren’t meant to bend that way.

Twilight made a face. “Stop that, it looks weird.”

“You mortals are weird with all your limitations. Why can’t you just bend any way you want them?”

“Because.”

“Brilliant argument.”

Twilight stuck her tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes.

“Real mature.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow in response. “I don’t want to hear that from a demon that asked for ice cream.”

Right, maybe I should explain. Unlike mortals, demons have a very loose and ethereal definition of pleasure and pain. To put it bluntly, pleasure for us comes in the form of freedom and exercising the freedom of our spirits. We like to do whatever we want, whenever we want, and that’s the way it is in the Other. Mortals have it easy, they can experience pleasure through very simple gestures, like consuming things that are made of prodigious amounts of fat and sugar. It’s crazy. I love it.

So I admit it, I like ice cream, as long as I’m in a mortal container.

If you tell a soul, I’ll destroy you.

Twilight cocked her head at me, studying me critically.

“Anything else?” I asked impatiently, hopping from hoof to hoof in barely contained anticipation.

Twilight shook her head, giving me a small, private smile of approval.

“No,” she said, opening the door, “you’re ready, let’s go.”

Twilight led me outside and down the stairs, but suddenly she froze.

“Wait,” she whispered urgently. “Nopony saw you come in!”

“What?” I shot back at the normal level of volume. Hey, it’s hard to get used to these mortal containers, you know?

“Twilight?” It was a feminine voice, and it oozed the motherly tones. In fact, it sounded like a much older version of my mistress.

“Y-Yes?” Twilight squeaked back, as she stumbled trying to backpedal up the stairs.

“Twilight, are you alright?” There was suspicion in her tone. Twilight didn’t seem like the best of liars. “You sound strange.”

Twilight let out a noise that sounded close to an ‘eep!’, but her pushing came to no avail when her mother rounded the corner and stared up the staircase.

The grey-coated mare eyed me and Twilight in surprise, but she just smiled tolerantly.

“Twilight,” she said in a mildly scolding tone, “you should tell me if you’re bringing friends over.” Underneath all that, I caught the subtle undercurrent of excitement creeping into the end of her sentence.

I raised an eyebrow at Twilight.

“I… I don’t have many ponies over,” she mumbled only loud enough for me to hear.

“I gathered,” I replied in a low voice, deciding it would probably be best not to be a loudmouth… this time.

Twilight’s mother-figure took the opportunity to jumpstart the conversation. “Twilight, why don’t you introduce your friend over there.”

“That’s Morpheus, Mom,” Twilight answered reluctantly, “he’s not really my friend, we’re probationary.”

Her mother raised an eyebrow. “Probationary? Ahem, well, my name is Twilight Velvet, you can just call me Velvet for short, since it will get confusing with Twilight’s name.”

“Okay… Mrs. Velvet,” I said haltingly. I barely remember the way titles and being polite worked. Good thing I was guarding that courtier before.

“Just Velvet, darling, we creative types aren’t really bound by a set of rules.” She gave me a radiant smile. “Just let me know if you need anything and have fun playing with Twilight!”

“P-Playing? I’m just—!” Twilight fell silent as her mother hummed a tune and trotted away, seemingly unable to hear her excuses, or perhaps choosing not to. She came back with a grin and gave Twilight a small amount of rounded gold coins.

“Have a few bits!” she declared. “Get out there and have some fun!”

“Mom! It’s just after school, there’s not much time.”

“Oh tosh, there’s plenty of daylight left, just don’t stay out too late. You look responsible, Morpheus. Make sure Twilight doesn’t get lost.”

Twilight winced. “I’ve haven’t been lost since—”

“Since magic kindergarten, I know dear, go on, run along.”

With a sigh, Twilight picked up her saddlebag hanging on a rack and headed towards the front door. Belatedly, I followed her as she opened and closed the door.

For a few moments we trotted towards the ice cream parlour in silence.

“So…”

“We’re not talking about magic kindergarten.”

She got me. Still worth a try. Maybe I’ll find out later in the week.

Author's Note

I'll do some editing passes for this later, but wowee, got some stuff done.

Next Chapter: School's out. It's on fire.

As always, my somnolent readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Minor flubs corrected by docontra, thanks!

4 - The Devil's in the Details

Chapter 4: The Devil’s in the Details

Demons, like most beings, have their own wants and needs. We each have individual characteristics that separates us from the herd I mean group, group! We hate being similar, we like to be different. Enough to make mortals think that we may not be related to each other. In fact, some demons, like humans, hate each other. For those not in the know, humans are funny little creatures that also like to summon demons. They haven’t done so in quite a while, not after finding something more destructive. A bomb or something. Anyway, we don’t always get along. So while there is universal animosity for summoners, we trust other demons less. Just food for thought.

With the majority of the walk held in relative silence, I decided to take in the surroundings. Apparently, if the local signs and proud displays in shop windows were to be believed, Canterlot was the capital of Equestria. The cobblestone beneath my unwieldy four legs needed some getting used to, but eventually I acclimatised. Being flexible enough to take any form was a major bonus for a demon.

“So tomorrow,” Twilight began tentatively, “you’re coming to school.”

I sighed, the despondent gesture decorating my features with a sordid frown.

“Your… Principal intimated as much.”

Twilight walked in silence for a few more steps, before continuing. “Are you going to be okay?”

I sent her a quizzical look. Why worry about me? She was clearly the one that needed help.

“I’ll be fine,” I said dismissively. “As long as you keep your promise and send me back to the Other.” I could taste the rejuvenating properties of the aether there [1].

Twilight coughed in embarrassment. “I’m worried they will find out you’re a demon.”

“Demon summonings aren’t commonplace here?”

Twilight shook her head.

“Uhm… I’m pretty sure it hasn’t happened for a long time.”

She had a point. If it’s been a long time since a demon came through, then the residents would be in for quite a shock. They would probably throw a fit when they saw I was not a mere fable, legend, or whatever folklore that mythical creatures of destructive powers were relegated to when they found themselves no longer existent.

Clearly, Celestia knew about demons… so either she was very knowledgeable and knew they weren’t mythological, or she’s lived a very, very long time. I shuddered to think just how long she would have to live in order to be that knowledgeable and also that competent. She saw right through me the moment I spoke.

“Why didn’t you think it would fail?”

Twilight cocked her head. “I thought it would, actually,” she admitted. “So I was really surprised when you came through! Success!”

Not a success! You summoned a demon!

I rolled my eyes. “You do know demons are inherently bad, right?”

“Bad? You seem okay.”

“It’s because we’re under contract. Given the choice, I would slay you without hesitation. Then I’d go on a rampage and destroy as much of the world until something stops me.”

Twilight gaped at me. “Y-You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”

“Of course I would. I’m a demon. Did you miss the fine print that said don’t summon?”

Twilight averted her eyes. “I-I must have missed it in the preface.”

Oh dross, she was so bad at lying.

“Look,” I said, cutting in front of her and forcing her to stop. “The reason why we make it so dangerous for magi to summon us, is because we don’t want to be summoned! If we can’t get back, we’ll try and cause as much regret as possible before expiring. That’s how it works.”

Twilight’s shoulders wilted under my critical gaze. “I know,” she said in a small voice. “I’ll get you back, I promise. I’m actually really sorry about this.”

Her words were so unexpected, I forgot what to say next. A magus apologising to a demon? Never. If you’d told me that before, I wouldn’t have believed you.

“Well, okay then, as long as you don’t do it again,” I added lamely. What was I? Her father? This mortal plane must be rubbing its sentimentality all over me.

My mistress brightened with my encouragement. She smiled and started trotting briskly forward.

“Let’s get going!” She rounded the corner. “We can get some ice cream!”

————————

The store was filled with the vitality of life. The frenetic energy so focused with intent was very characteristic of the mortal plane. I had an appreciation for it. It was like watching waves crash onto a beachhead. They all seemed like they had a purpose, a strong will to persist against adversity. Of course, being summoned to the mortal plane, I was subject to partial imbuement of these laws, but I resisted them as much as I could. Like a strong-willed slave against the dog-chains of an ethereal master. Except the master was the laws of nature, and I was at the beck and call of those that perverted it. The magi.

“So, what do you want…”

I glanced back curiously as to why Twilight had trailed off. She was staring at a booth which contained a few foals. Ah, I saw the reason. These were the three that were harassing me earlier. Now that I had given them a good scare, they were glaring at Twilight with a mixture of fear and hostility.

“Why are they staring at me like that?” Twilight mumbled to herself. “I hadn’t done anything yet…”

“Might be because I scared them half to death in your form.”

“You what?!” I knew it was a mistake as soon as the last word left my mouth. Her eyes widened into a panicked stare and Twilight herded me to the nearest booth with a frantic series of shoves. I stumbled into the seating, managing to awkwardly balance myself on my behind. It was harder than it looks, let me tell you. Twilight slid into the opposite end and gave me an uncomfortable stare.

“What did you do?” she hissed.

“Well…” Since I didn’t have Twilight’s True Name, I had to tread the path cautiously. So far she’d been cordial, but what if she were to decide that being nice was a nuisance? I had to play my cards carefully.

“I just told them that I was a demon.” It was true. Demons don’t lie… that much.

Twilight glanced back at the foals and then shrank into her seat. “Amethyst is staring at me really hard.”

Amethyst? Oh Ammy. Must be a nickname.

“So what? Just glare at them back.” I drew a hoof across my throat in a slashing gesture. “This usually does the trick.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise. “Y-You can’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“You just can’t?”

“Threatening the aggressor is just tit for tat isn’t it?” I will admit, I haven’t brushed up on mortal etiquette for a while, but this rule is universal across many universes.

Twilight shook her head. “You don’t understand. Amethyst is really popular you can’t just… do what you did.”

It was like she was searching desperately for reasons to disapprove of my methods.

Hmm, the social dynamics of mortals are confusing. Better try a different tack.

“Okay, perhaps I was a little hasty. I was new to the world, give me a break. I was summoned so suddenly.”

A shadow of guilt drifted across her face. Twilight bowed her head.

“Okay,” she mumbled into her mane.

By the Other, I hope she’s not going to cry again. “Let’s get ice cream,” I said quickly, trying to move the conversation in a favourable direction.

Twilight perked up at that. “Yes,” she said, looking like she was trying her best not to look in the direction of the trio. “I’ll arrange for the order.”

The waiter had drifted to our table more than arrived. He had a suave elegance that matched a high class restaurant than the homely parlour we were in. His moustache, which looked suspiciously fraudulent, twitched as he took down the order, and I found myself mesmerised with the movement of his facial hair. It’s the little things, you know?

“I’ll have a vanilla shake and a strawberry sundae,” Twilight said. She turned to me. “Anything else?”

I shook my head. Much as I would like to live up to the gluttonous behaviour of some of my more exotic demonic counterparts, my continuing discretion in this mortal plane might be under threat when passing ponies took in a foal eating out the poor parlour’s stock of ice cream. I knew self-control. Really.

No less than a minute after ordering, the desserts were presented in front of us. Vanilla milkshake for Twilight and strawberry sundae for me. Now before you say anything disparaging about the colour pink and what feminine qualities it might impart on me, let me remind you that I am a demon. Gender isn’t really a fixed construct, and pink used to be a male colour for younglings in the day. At least it was in one mortal plane. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

The strawberry sundae looked delectable, let me tell you. Strawberries crowned the side of the boat-shaped dish, with generous rings of strawberry syrup and blueberries added on the sides. Wafers surrounded the central creation with flakes of chocolate sprinkled over the top. Service was lightning fast and the presentation was excellent. Now the taste…

Tears flowed out of my eyes. This was delicious! I was beyond words.

“Stop that.” Twilight’s voice was pitched low as she leaned across the table. “You look like it’s your first time eating food.”

“Technically it is my first time eating food. It’s different between mortal containers.”

Twilight shook away the flash of curiosity flooding her eyes. “Just… try to act normal, okay.”

“Yes, mistress,” I shot back with a mocking smile. Then proceeded to demolish the ice cream like it had been Atlantis. That poor city… the magus should have remembered to check her wording. ‘See and sea’ sound so similar.

We should teach her a lesson.

Though the words were spoken in barely more than a whisper, I heard. My hearing is excellent. Sure enough, peeking over Twilight’s shoulder, it was Amethyst talking to her two buddies.

“Your ‘friends’ over there are plotting against you,” I said mildly between gulps of sugary ecstasy. “You should do something about it.”

Twilight looked at me as if I were daft. “How do you know that?”

I shrugged. “I have good hearing.”

She seemed to doubt my statement, but nevertheless looked like she acknowledged that I wasn’t trying to deceive her. “Maybe we should wait before casting aspersions.” She almost turned her head again, but through an invisible struggle of will, managed to keep it trained on me.

“Could you… listen in?”

Oh a conundrum. Technically, it was a request, not an order, I could disregard it. But keeping my mistress safe and feeling up to the task of sending me back to the Other was a good idea.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly, “but eavesdropping is a bad habit.”

Twilight’s brows contracted with the injustice of my accusations. “Didn’t you just do the same thing?”

“I can’t help it if something drifts into my ear. If I can’t help it, it’s not eavesdropping, because there’s no intent behind it.”

Twilight pursed her lips. “Will you do it, or not?”

“Alright, alright, don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

“My what?”

“Never mind.”

This time I concentrated on actually making out the words the trio was saying.

So I think we should keep spreading the rumours.

I don’t know Ammy, I don’t really like doing it. Plus the last time we met she was really scary—

Glitter Star, I swear if we weren’t friends for so long, I’d toss you out.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

Okay, Ammy, I’ll do it.

Good.

How about you Cream? Are you going to help me, or not?

I-I’m always in, you know me.

Finally. Nice one. Well let’s get some ice cream and have a little treat. Let that nerdy little know-it-all have a bit of peace before the storm hits.

I didn’t bother listening in any further as the conversation turned to inane topics of mundane gossip, changing fashions, and what they would get for their next birthday.

“So?” Twilight looked hopeful.

“They don’t like you, that’s for sure. They’re planning on starting a smear campaign.”

“A what?”

“It’s a tactic among politicians in the High Courts of—actually, never mind. What’s important is that you now know.”

Instead of looking happy at a demon’s job well done, Twilight’s head sunk to the table and she moaned pitifully.

“My life is over.”

I rolled my eyes. “Your life is definitely not over. What’s with you mortals and over-dramatising everything?” I gave her an awkward pat on the head. “You’ll be fine. If you don’t like them, you can just cast a spell on them.”

“What?” She looked like the idea had never even occurred to her.

“You’re a magus, right? Just use magic to solve your problem. That’s how it works among you. Can’t find something? Magic. Can’t reach something? Magic. Curious about centuries old text that contains instructions on summoning a malevolent being of power? Magic.”

Already I saw the last heavily ironic statement had flown over the young magus’ head. She was already pondering the conundrum of solving her little dispute with magic. I sighed. Seems like my sarcasm had totally missed the mark and landed in the Eternal Void [2].

After finishing our desserts, Twilight paid for them and retreated with single-minded determination back to her home. On the way, I ducked into an alley and turned invisible, ghosting my mistress back to her residence behind her. She didn’t say much, burying her nose in her books. Her mother looked worried, but could not do much other than inquire about her trip. Twilight had responded with vague statements of ‘it was fine’, ‘thank you’, ‘I’m going to study, now’, and then beat it back to her room in an impressive timeframe.

Shifting back into my usual form, I perched in the corner of her room, smelling of the usual flaky parchment and ink that usually suffused a magus’ room. I didn’t say anything. Not like there was much to say. I wasn’t serious about using magic, but try explaining that to a magus. They were obsessed with the subject, there wasn’t much I could do, not that I was invested in the idea of stopping a magus from studying magic, I would have better luck teaching a cat to swim.

With no further orders, or much else to do, I settled into my spot and took a nap [3].

————————

“I’ve found it!”

Startled from my trance, I lifted my head and saw the familiar expression of triumph tinged with exhaustion that decorated my mistress’ features. She grinned at me and showed me a small doll in the shape of a horse. It was grey with roughly-made dreadlocks, with buttons for eyes and spotted pants.

“What’s that?”

“She’s called Smarty Pants. She’s going to help me fit in.”

I frowned at the doll. “So what? It’s got a charm on it to attract ponies to it or something?”

Twilight looked shocked by the idea. “Of course not, why would anypony do that?”

I shrugged, not getting it. “What’s it for, then? What happened to the magic?”

“I created it using magic,” she answered, looking proud. I noticed the fine stitching and work on the parts. The mathematical precision of each thoughtful ratio of material to length was clear from her casting. It still had a rough, handmade look, but there was a lot of care put into it. Still, I didn’t understand how this would help.

“So…?”

Twilight looked frustrated with my apparent lack of acuity of her mysterious plans. “So, I’m going to show it to everypony! When they see that I can make them a doll, they might ask for one, and then they…” She took an unsteady breath. “Then they might like me.”

“Oh.” I could see a thousand things wrong with the assumption, but the fact that she tried was unexpectedly noble of her. I can respect a magus that, for once, hadn’t used magic to solve a problem directly. “So that’s it? It’s just a doll?”

“Yes.” She looked confused by the question. “What else would it be?”

I was thinking it was like some kind of magical explosive, or maybe a cursed doll that would strike down her foes once asleep, or something along those lines.

“Uhh, nothing,” I said quickly, “what time is it—hrngh?!”

Throwing back the curtains to the window, I found the sky had turned a bruised purple, showing the dawn of a new day.

“By the Other, did you spend all night doing this?!” I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, magi were no stranger to hard, gruelling work in the wee hours of the night.

Twilight looked a tad ashamed of the fact. “Mom came in a few times, but stopped coming when I told her it was something for school.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t lie!” she added hastily. “It was for school.”

Though she didn’t ‘lie’ per se, Twilight harboured guilt for deceiving her mother. It wasn’t my problem, so I let it drop.

“Well… do you have school today?”

Twilight nodded glumly.

“Right. Let’s get your things together. I’ll come with you.”

Twilight blinked in surprise. “Why?”

Should I tell her that I was forced to by her school’s Principal? No, that would just be asking for trouble.

“I think I should. Just in case.” I wasn’t a very imaginative demon, but then, deception and subterfuge had never been a particularly strong point in my arsenal of abilities. I knew enough to get by, you know, assassination, maybe a little political deception, etc. Inventing an excuse to go to school? I hadn’t the experience for that.

“Twilight!”

What?!

The voice had filtered through the door, I recognised it as my mistress’ mother. Twilight met my eyes, filled with panic. Taking the hint, I quickly turned invisible, just as the door knob worked open and a head poked through the doorway.

“Goodness, Twilight, did you shut yourself in here the whole night?”

Twilight hesitated, but then nodded.

Velvet shook her head in consternation. “You shouldn’t be working so late,” she chided. “You should leave that kind of stress until later.”

Twilight nodded glumly.

Velvet smiled. “Good. Get ready and then I’ll walk you to school.”

“Mom!”

Velvet chuckled. “Oh alright then, I’ll just see you off. You can’t blame a mother for wanting to spend time with her children, right?”

As Velvet left the room, I reappeared.

“So is she your teacher too?”

“What?”

“Your mother. Usually teachers give that kind of lecture.”

“Moms do too, you know.”

“Huh. Well is she more powerful than you?”

“Huh?”

“Cause if you have the power, you can just challenge her for the right to succession and overthrow her as the head of the household.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Oh right, you’d have to deal with your father too.”

“S-Stop! Why the hay would I do that?”

“So you can take your first steps in controlling everything and everyone around of course, that’s what magi do.”

Twilight stomped her hoof, nostrils flaring in indignation. “If that’s what magi do, then I’m not a magus.”

————————

Outside, I met Twilight by an alleyway as she passed by. She was waved goodbye by her mother, tears and all, like it was her first day. It was very touching, in that suffocating mortal kind of way. I got the feeling that Velvet was a bit of a mother hen, and it sort of made sense with the way Twilight sort of kept to herself in school.

“Still angry?” I asked, stepping out of the shadows, morphing into the pony form.

Twilight barely glanced my way.

“No.”

“You sound angry.”

“I don’t.”

“Well you do.”

“Of course I do!” Twilight snapped. “You can’t just say all those mean things about my parents!”

Oh, right. Some mortals were very touchy about the subject of families. It never really occurred to me because magi usually tended to spawn from disconnected roots, all kept under the chains of obligation and dependence until they one day exceeded the power of their master. Sometimes that would never happen, magi were notorious for hoarding their knowledge.

Twilight stalked off.

“Hey,” I called out, stopping her.

Twilight slowed, then stopped.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking.” Well, it was partially my fault, and Twilight was one of the first magi not to treat me as anything more than a slave. I had to remind myself that she and I were supposed to working together to get out of this summoning conundrum. I could ill-afford a testy mistress anyway. If she learned any of the more compelling uses for some of the spells…

Twilight sighed. “It’s alright, I guess. You probably didn’t know, I forgot that you weren’t from around here.”

Surprised by the relatively mature forbearance of my mistress, I failed to make a reply.

————————

Outside the gate, Principal Celestia was there with a stern look and all.

“I trust there will not be any trouble from you.” It wasn’t a question.

“No,” I replied anyway, glancing at my mistress. “So if you’ll excuse me…” I made to move forward but a canopy of wings stretched out to block my path.

“Hold on.”

I stopped, staring back at the alicorn.

“You can’t just walk in there.” Celestia wrapped a wing around me. I shivered at the contact. “You have to be introduced. Follow me.”

Sighing, I kept pace alongside Celestia. Twilight was sent ahead to class, and with a hesitant glance back at me, she complied with Celestia’s orders. Meanwhile, the sight of Celestia walking with me must be a rare case, because some of the other foals passing us by were curious, and they stared at us with interest.

“Just remember, a week of your time, and most likely you’ll be sent back to the Other. There’s only six days left. Behave.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Celestia eyed me coldly. “Any less than your best and I’ll know.”

“Yeesh, alright. I won’t cause any trouble. What can a bunch of these foals do anyway?”

“One of them dragged you from another dimension of existence.”

“Oh yeah, there was that.”

Celestia showed me a satisfied smirk. We ascended the steps and entered the building with the students around us giving a wide berth.

“Why are they all avoiding us like that?”

“It might have something to do with the fact that a demon is with me.”

I snorted derisively. “More like the fact that you are royalty.”

Celestia eyed me critically. “Be that as it may, some ponies here are taught defence against certain types of magic. Magic that includes summonings and the such. Be on guard, but remember, don’t harm anypony.”

I rolled my eyes. “You repeat it like I’m going to do it anyway.”

Her glare made me skip a step.

“Alright, alright,” I said quickly. “No need to break out the Pendant or anything. I’ll make sure I won’t hurt them for no good reason.”

Celestia stared at me, as if deciding whether or not to add anything. Finally, she removed her gaze so much like a hot brand drawing away inches from flesh. After a pause, she added, “You’ll protect Twilight won’t you?”

I frowned in confusion. “Of course, she’s my ticket out of here. Of course you could do that, but uhh, no offence, I don’t really trust you to hold up your end of the bargain. She at least is sincere enough.”

Surprisingly Celestia chuckled at that. “That she is. You’ll also be staying with her in your pony form at the Sparkle residence.”

I blinked at that. “I’m already staying there as an invisible demon, what’s the problem?”

Celestia rolled her eyes, then shot me a look that made me feel as thick as a plank of wood. “The problem is that you cease to exist moving from and to the school. That’ll raise suspicion, and we’d much rather this be limited to as few ponies as possible, okay?”

I huffed. “Fine.”

Rounding the corner, I spotted a small sign that hung over a doorway proclaiming the room as ‘Class 2A’. Light spilled out into the hallway and I could hear the distinct murmur of a teacher droning on about complex magical theory. If I concentrated, I could probably make out more of the words, but I wasn’t interested in expending the energy because we were moving towards it anyway.

As we entered, the teacher kept talking, but attention was slowly siphoned by the students as they spotted the Princess and myself, the effect of the shifting focus looking like a ripple moving through a puddle of ponies. When I was starting to feel nervous about a whole bunch of staring, Celestia decided to introduce me in the lull as the teacher realised we were standing there. Trust me, it’s similar to an army staring down a lone demon on the battlefield, I haven’t had the best experiences of that.

“Hello, my little ponies. Good morning.”

“Good morning, Princess Celestia,” the class chorused. By the Other, it was like hearing the drone of mechanical golems.

“Class, I want you to say hello to a student that’s going to be with us for a very short time. He’s an exchange student that’ll be staying for the duration of a week.” With that, Celestia propelled me forward with the not-so-gentle shove of her wing, making me stumble forward.

“I’m Morpheus,” I said curtly. I wasn’t a fan of being the centre of attention. Well, unless I was burning down a city. Then it’s unavoidable.

“Morpheus is a little shy,” Celestia added, “help him feel welcome. You must set a good example for the School.”

The teacher smiled uneasily, gesturing for me to take a seat. By the way she reacted she was probably briefed as to what I was by Celestia, but wasn’t given too many details. I shrugged, deciding to go with the flow and not cause a scene. I spotted Twilight sitting alone in one of the front rows and plonked myself next to her. She busied herself by burying her head in her book, but sent me a grateful smile.

“Great!” Celestia tilted her head to the teacher as she bowed. “Please attend to your studies, I’m looking forward to seeing your dazzling performance at the term examinations.” As she left, the class broke into a smattering of whispering. From the snippets of conversation there was a lot of here and there about me and why I would choose to sit next to Twilight and who I was, so on and so forth.

“Thanks,” Twilight mumbled, “I can’t skip orientation week classes so I was afraid I would be sitting alone.”

“Eh.” I dismissed her concerns with the wave of my hoof. I stared at it, then decided I like claws better. It looked like a weird stump on the end of my forelimbs. “I’ll stick around you because you’re my mistress.”

“Still… thanks.”

Again there was that weird feeling that Twilight was different from all the magi I’d seen so far. Even Celestia, in most ways, had fit to the tee. There was something about my mistress that made me uncomfortable.

“No problem.” Unless there was another demon, then there could be a problem. A fatal problem. “Orientation? Start of the year?”

“Second year for formal tuition,” Twilight replied softly. She glanced at the teacher, but she was preparing something up the front. “I haven’t been in this class for long.” She bit her lip. “It’ll be better after this week, I can study alone.”

Before I could say anything about that, the teacher tapped the desk gently with her hoof to get everyone’s attention.

“Now, we have a quick quiz!” the teacher declared, to the groans of dismay and disappointment of the cohort. Twilight looked happy for some reason. She must have studied. Hah, magi, study was their forte.

————————

Time moved slow for me as the class moved on. I doodled during the test and didn’t pay much attention in the class. The teacher seemed like she wanted to say something, but was afraid to say it, like I was some nasty wart that had to be ignored somehow. I didn’t mind, I just fell in and out of a trance until…

“Hey, what are you doing, class has ended. It’s break time.”

My eyes focused on Twilight.

“Oh, it’s over?” I yawned.

“Yes,” Twilight said quickly, glancing behind me. “So let’s go. Come on.”

“Why?” I groaned as I stretched, some of my joints cracking in response. Mortal containers get stiff when you leave them alone after a while. I should keep that in mind. “It was comfortable where I was napping.” Even though I didn’t really sleep.

“You were sleeping?”

I nodded.

Twilight blinked. “But you looked like you were wide awake.”

“It’s a little complicated. Alright, let’s go.”

Just as I made to move away from my desk, some of the foals in the classroom had surrounded our seating. I swept my gaze around the foals that were accosting us. We were boxed in, Twilight’s eyes were filled with dismay and regret for not escaping earlier. I glanced up, but the teacher was already gone. Well, talk about being left for dead. I sighed. Well, better face the music.

“Uhhh, can I help you?” I asked. Instantly, I was surrounded by questions as each foal clamoured curiously for my attention.

“Where are you from?”

“What do you do?”

“Why are you here?”

“Why’d you transfer?”

“You came with the Princess! You must be special! Tell us about it!”

“You know Twilight, why’s that?”

At the last question, the rest of the foals fell silent. I saw who had spoken and it was none other than Amethyst, flanked by her cronies. The rest of the foals silently split like a shark through a shoal of fish. I eyed her coolly as she approached, not intimidated in the slightest. Honestly, this kind of thing never changes, it’s always one toughie with two lackeys. Except this time it was foals, and I couldn’t lift a claw to harm them. Oh wait. There was that. Better answer before I looked brain-dead.

“Her family’s my host.”

“Oh really?” Amethyst licked her lips. “So you’re not friends with Twilight?”

Twilight flinched at the accusation, and found something interesting to look on her desk. Must be the woodgrain, it’s nice this time of year. Amethyst’s eyes gleaned with the obvious opportunity that presented itself.

“You’re not going to say you’re friends with her, right?”

“We’re not friends,” I said flatly. Twilight sagged at the desk.

Amethyst shot Twilight a triumphant grin. “Stop by our table at the cafeteria. We’ll save a spot for you.”

From the way Twilight’s shoulders were shaking, I figured she was on the verge of crying.

“No thanks, I’ve got to keep Twilight company.”

Amethyst’s jaw dropped. Twilight froze.

“W-What?”

I shrugged. “We’re not friends yet. We’re probationary.”

“Okay class, get back to your seats.” An elderly stallion had entered the room. “Break time’s over.”

“Break time may be over, but this isn’t,” Amethyst growled, sending me a glare. I could understand. A public snub like that wouldn’t be swept under the rug.

I snorted in dismissal at her threat, which only served to turn her redder than a tomato. With a huff, she stormed back to her seat as the rest of the classmates filtered back to their seats.

I sank back down next to my mistress, wondering if that was the right move. Why did I defend her like that? I mean it got in her good graces, but now the situation was much more complicated.

“Thanks,” Twilight whispered to me, her voice barely carrying over the stallion’s lecture.

“Don’t mention it,” I replied, though my mind was elsewhere.

What to do, what to do?

————————

[1] Fun fact: Alternate universes and dimensions are infinitely overlaid without any spatial differentiation, so the barrier between them has zero distance. The only thing that separates me from my home dimension in the Other was the barrier between planes. A skin of energy that only magic could penetrate. It was quite literally so near, yet so far.

[2] For those in the dark, the Eternal Void housed some of the most dangerous beings in existence, the Void Maws. The Eternal Void, true to its name, is the large void between dimensions. Which is strange considering there is literally no space between the dimensions. Anyway, Void Maws eat anything. Stray creatures or objects that have accidentally landed in the void, concepts, emotions, even the occasional lette or punctuaton I tend to stay away from them as much as possible

[3] Naps are a loose term. The more correct term would be a trance. Demons rarely need to sleep. Instead we stay in a trance-like state. Sometimes, if we stay in that state long enough, minerals and such would impregnate our skin and eventually harden into an exoskeleton of sorts. Upon awakening, the effect would look like the effect of a statue come to life. Of course the simple way would be to don the feature via transformation magic, but then the fun would be taken out of scaring the odd trespasser in our master’s humble abode.

Author's Note

For those in the know, GoogleDocs has asploded for me, so I have no idea whether parts of my story transferred/coded properly.

Also, I'm a dum-dum.

Next Chapter: Book filly, silly.

As always, my personally promised pernicious readers, thanks for reading!

5 - Rather the Demon, You Know?

Chapter 5: Rather the Demon, You Know?

Unlike most types of mortals, demons are perfectly capable of being alone. We actually prefer solitude over company. We don’t, however, like being bored. The Other was always in a constant state of flux and change. A demon of the Other will always seek to be active. This makes some tasks, no matter how menial they may be, bearable. Action was always preferable to inaction. This is why being trapped in an Astral Pendant was considered a sort of hell for a demon, ironic as that sounds.

It wasn’t long before I was bored out of my mind. Unlike the rest of the students, I appeared to sleep during class, which I knew would aggravate most teachers. Instead of yelling or imminent punishment, instructor after instructor merely ignored me, or kept sending sly glances, as if I was an interesting fly in a jar that infinitely amused the small minded. It didn’t take me long to figure out that they knew my true identity. This was probably that Principal’s prerogative, Celestia. I knew she would be keeping an eye on me, and her minions were plain as day.

Still, there was a small amount of pleasure from noting the gobsmacked expressions other ponies wore as they realised what I was doing in broad daylight. I was an expert. The snore was not too loud to disrupt the class, but prominent enough so that the teacher would grind their teeth. Perfect.

Twilight also scrupulously ignored me, though not out of malice. She seemed to be paying attention to the teachers. It didn’t make much sense, seeing as the content—as far as I can tell—was leagues under her level, if any of the books in her little room was anything to judge by. But sure enough, there was Twilight, taking notes and chewing the tip of her quill thoughtfully.

I glanced at the paper, trying to see what Twilight was up to. I hadn’t much stimulation, and I was curious as to what could possibly engage my mistress. What I saw threw my curiosity out the window and replaced it with astonishment. Intricate scrawling, that’s how I could begin to describe it. Equations, calculations, diagrams and writing, all manner of spells and incantations littered the page from top to bottom. They were certainly not what the teacher was teaching. Yet…

“Ms. Sparkle!” The old colt pointed a belligerent stick that doubled as a pointer at my mistress.

Twilight shot bolt upright in her seat.

“Y-Yes?”

“What is the thaumatic exodynamic perturbation principle?”

Twilight blinked only once before reciting back a startling response.

“The thaumatic exodyanmic perturbation principle is the descriptive framework pertaining to the underlying mechanics of oscillating scintillators within a suspended field energy of unquantifiable energy expenditure with respect to a non-depleted zero field context. The malignment of the external equilibrium structures outside the field transforms the tensor field equations to higher dimensional magical kinetics that can be resolved if given the right boundary conditions. An example of its usage is teleportation, where quantised structure requires partial, but not complete, resolution in a small timeframe.”

The stallion stared at Twilight for a moment, with a face that could have been carved from stone, before grinning broadly. I should mention that up until now, he hadn’t smiled once since starting the class. “Well, yes, that’s right, Twilight. Excellent response, excellent response, as always.” He chuckled. “It’s a wonder you’re not applying to the Academies already.”

“Yeah, like, why is she in class anyway when she knows everything?” The snarky voice was just outside my hearing; she had whispered the poisonous statement derisively to herself. Of course Twilight hadn’t heard it, but I did, loud and clear. I didn’t even have to turn around to know it was that pushy brat, Amethyst.

Although I usually would not care one way or another what Amethyst would say or do, my mistress’ work on getting me back home was contingent on her feeling up to the task, so I paid attention to what she had to say. After all, half the war is won by information alone, so the more I knew, the better equipped I was. Surprisingly, I felt a slight tinge of jealousy leaking through her words. Interesting, I wonder what happened?

“She should just stay at home and play with her magic, freak.” The last part was deliberately directed at Twilight, being just loud enough just for us to hear, but not the teacher. The teacher had his back to us anyway. In response, Twilight sunk back into her seat slowly, ears wilting back to plaster flat against her skull.

“Don’t pay them any mind,” I mumbled through the corner of my mouth. “They’re just jealous they can’t summon a demon.”

Twilight could only manage a weak smile back. I almost smiled with her, but then realised what I was doing. What was I doing? Chumming up to my mistress? No, no. It’s just comforting her so she’d focus more on sending me back. That was it. That’s the only reason.

Right?

————————

The class ended, but instead of a break time, the students drifted off into small groups.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

The innocuous question made Twilight wince unexpectedly.

“Group study,” she reluctantly answered, whilst beelining it to the door. I followed behind her, worried that something might happen to her in the hallway, but the students merely faded into the background. Well, this was a different class of students, but some magus academies I’ve been to had featured sudden death for the unwary opponent. It seemed that none were willing to stick around long. Besides, I doubt they would try anything within earshot of the teacher, despite how elderly he was. Didn’t look like he could hurt a fly. On the surface Twilight seemed used to it, but the brief hopeful scan of the students as they trailed away betrayed her feelings.

What did mortals call it? Acceptance?

Even though she was putting a brave show about it, I could tell she was crushed.

“Does this happen often?”

There was only a sullen nod in reply.

“Listen, mistress, you can’t let these younglings push you around. You’re a full blown magus already! Teach them a lesson!”

Twilight whipped around, her expression going from glum to glowering in a heartbeat.

“The first lesson in magic is Respect Life,” she ground out through clenched teeth.

I would have crossed my arms, but the gesture would have been hard considering I was standing in my current form. I settled for raising an eyebrow instead.

“And you’ve never once considered harming someone else?” I snorted. “Magic is simply another form of power. Use it how you will. If it benefits you, what’s the harm?”

“You’re always so ready to hurt somepony, Morpheus. Why?”

“I’m ready to hurt? I’m ready? The first lesson in magic is Respect Life.” I touted the message back with an ironic tilt of my head and pointed a hoof to my chest. “Summoning me against my will, trapping me in the mortal plane, can you even conceive of the toll it takes on me? I guess I don’t count as Life, do I?”

“T-That’s not true, I didn’t know…”

“Didn’t know? Or didn’t care? For someone who looks like they do their research, seems like you missed a fair bit.”

That seemed to strike a nerve with Twilight, and she visibly flinched as if I had struck at her.

“I’m sorry,” she croaked, looking away, “but magic doesn’t solve everything. A-And I’m trying hard to send you back.”

“Hmmph.” I was unconvinced. Not of her shockingly mature statement, but rather the sentiment of a magus that, for once, didn’t want to use magic to solve all of their problems. It didn’t mesh with my view of the cut-throat magi I’d seen in my miserable tenure as their servant. Still, I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing my rising unease.

She made it so difficult to dislike her.

I almost raked my claws through my hair, but I remembered that it was a hoof at the end and the gesture would be entirely less satisfying. I mean a flat hoof was like a hammer over seaweed rather than a scythe through dry grass. The prickling sensation of razor sharp implements passing through my noggin was unmatched, let me tell you. In fact—

My thoughts were interrupted by mistress’ plaintive sigh.

“O-Okay, let’s go, Morpheus.”

Twilight trudged away, her trailing hooves reminiscent more of dragging through mud rather than air.

She looked downright depressed, and I guess I was partly to blame. No, no, she was the one to blame, after all, she was the magus, and they were trouble, no matter the form. As I jolted forward after her, a very strange sensation of guilt welled up. Not that guilt was foreign to me, but rather the concept of feeling guilt towards a magus of all things.

“Hey,” I called out, just before Twilight could creep out of my sight.

She looked back at me.

“Let’s, uhm…”

For someone as snappy as myself, stringing together an apology was surprisingly hard. I trailed off, the silence stretching between us awkwardly.

“I’m… uhh…”

“It’s fine, you were right…” Twilight replied glumly, and simply moved off down the hallway, looking more weary than any child should. “Let’s get to the library and do some work.”

There it was again, that annoying prick of guilt.

———————

In the library, anyone would be forgiven for thinking the last few minutes hadn’t happened at all. Twilight zoomed about, seemingly delighted in the prospect of knowledge. Flittering from shelf to shelf, books on the table accumulated with a frightening velocity as the magus seemed determined to read the entire contents of the library in one go.

I caught her as she was about to get another tome from the shelves laden with arcane knowledge.

“Hey, you can’t be serious about reading all these books?”

Twilight finally came to a stop, piling another book on the teetering stack, before getting it in her head to try and fetch a book from the bottom of the column of books.

“Stop!” I snatched at her hoof, just as she brushed against it. The book stack teetered wildly as I braced it with my fore hooves, tilting here and there until it finally came down and hit me square in the face, neck, and my unmentionables. It didn’t really hurt that much, but I came out of the pile with a scathing glare that could have cut through diamond.

“Hehe… sorry.” She didn’t look sorry at all. Twilight picked a book from the pile that lay on the floor and shifted into her seat, propping the book open with a couple of other books acting as a stand. She dove into the volume, lost, for a moment in time, to the world beyond.

I rolled my eyes. Looking at the child, it was clear that she took genuine pleasure in learning something new, being more delighted than burdened by the endeavour as my previous owners would be. Magi before her had a mad gleam of obsession when they chased knowledge, seeing it as more a means to their ends rather than a body of work to be respected. Not that I had much respect for magic, mind you, but I could understand the effort it took to discover something new and the training required to execute the old.

Many of my demon friends liked to blame magic for their misfortune. I didn’t, because I recognised the same thing that magi recognised with magic: It was a tool. That didn’t stop some of them from burning libraries of books and erasing any magic circle they could get. Part of the reason why some demons went ’berserk’ after being released from our shackles, was so that they could destroy the means of summoning us.

I… understood, but I didn’t agree. Magic was simply part of the world, it was like hating the claws of a demon or the teeth of a tiger, it was the mind behind the action that warranted hate, not the other way around. In any case, the endeavour of magic had my respect, if the profession’s users didn’t.

Only the faint scrape of paper on paper could be heard in the library as I wondered idly what sort of magus Twilight would turn out to be. Though most were inevitably drawn into the Art as abusers and users of the power, I had to admit, there had been some exceptions. Some chose not to dabble too deep into magic, but they were either too cowardly to explore it for fear of the mortal danger surrounding it or they lacked the power to execute anything noteworthy. Twilight didn’t fit neatly into any category. She might become one of the rare few to create a new spell, and maybe… the first to use it for something other than greed or malice.

Finding a new spell was few and far between, magi would spend hours of trial and error trying new and inventive ways to achieve their goals. They sought to tamper with the nature of the universe, unlock secrets of devastating power, heedless of the consequences of their knowledge. If they failed in their endeavour in their lifetime, often they would record everything in a bid to maintain some level of immortality in their works.

More often than not, these spells were used to maintain corrupt power, placing the exploitive magi on top and everyone without the Art in the bitter dust. Even as they passed on, new generations of vivacious magi would pick up their foul work and eventually, one or two in each universe, would succeed in summoning a creature of power. Maybe a sprite or a spectral dissonance, but they would work their way ever upwards. Until one day… they summon a demon.

Whether or not we were the pinnacle of the spectrum, I could not say, but every civilisation that had tried to summon demons eventually fell to the intoxicating power of our assistance. In those worlds, where magi had tried summoning demons of great calibre, the worlds were desolate wastelands with nothing but glassy plains of destruction devoid of life.

Looking at her attentive affixation of artful articles on arcane accounts, Twilight, the youngest magus I had the ‘pleasure’ of being summoned to, seemed to delight in her craft. It put me off. It was one of the hundred of things that made me pause. She was not the typical magus. In her hooves, the book had a title that was barely discernible, so long had the years worn the ink and gilding off the faded letters.

I cocked my head, noticing something else.

“Hey.”

Twilight looked up.

“Where’s that book you had before?”

Twilight scanned the table with a frown. “Which one?”

Oh right, she’s read dozens, she wouldn’t know what I was referring to. “There was this book you had back in your little library-room back home. It was black with all sorts of weird symbols on it.”

Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. “Uhh…” You could practically see the lightbulb glow above her head. “Ah, right, that one. I used it to summon you.” Her ears wilted so that they splayed flat against the back of her head. “But I’m not supposed to have it.”

The thought of her actually breaking a rule seemed laughable, until I realised that summoning a demon here had caught the attention of the princess, who seemed to take the matter seriously. She was more of a rebel than I thought, although probably not to the extent she originally intended.

“Didn’t Princess Celestia take it back?” I shuddered to think what kind of irresponsible ruler would let such a thing—

“Actually, I have it right here.”

What?!

Twilight shrugged at my look. “I’m supposed to study it to send you ba—oh!” She levitated her saddlebags towards herself and pulled out the thick, black volume. Strange glyphs and symbols were embossed on the cover of what looked to be leather. The weighty tome made a thudding sound as it hit the table.

“Here it is.”

I glanced around in panic. “What are you doing? You brought it to school?! Isn’t it banned?”

Twilight blinked at me. “How can you ban reading?”

I had trouble getting my words out without screaming them. I managed a strangled croak. “No, the book! It’s dangerous!”

Twilight considered the book. “How come?”

How could I explain years of experimentation and control of demons to this child?

“Look,” I said nervously as I reached for the book, “let’s just talk about this at home—”

Twilight didn’t seem inclined to agree. Instead, she simply smiled at me like I was playing a game about secrets as she pulled back the book.

“Tell me!”

I swallowed, looking around nervously whilst trying to scowl at her. “What’s there to tell?” I shrugged, leaning against the desk with false casualness. “It’s just not a good idea to have it lying around where other ponies can get it. Do you want more of them to summon demons?”

That seemed to work. Twilight anxiously shook her head. “No, no!” She cringed. “Once was enough.”

“Good. Now why are you in such a rush to read all these?”

Twilight bowed her head, trailing a hoof over the surface of the desk morosely. “I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier and I was being selfish. I thought having you around might make a difference. Nothing’s changed. Everything is the same.” Twilight sniffed, then took a deep breath, puffing her cheeks up and pushing back against her tears. “I’m going to send you back first… and everything will be all right.”

Oh right, she probably didn’t want to send me back in the first place. Wasn’t I her first friend or something? I winced. Pseudo-friend. Flopping my head on the table, I pursed my lips.

“Well maybe I can help you there a bit—”

Twilight looked up at me, but I hastily waved my hooves frantically in negation.

“Woah, woah, I mean don’t expect much, I’m a demon. I’m not in the business of making friends. Or reading. Or doing anything to do with magic.”

“What are you in the business of?”

Ending lives. Causing mayhem. Harbinger of doom?

“Pretty much the opposite.” I thought that was obvious.

“Oh right. Uhm… the mean stuff? Like…” Her face scrunched up as she tried to remember the exact words.

I tapped the table quickly to distract her. “Let’s not get into the details. What about your doll thingy?”

“What about you going back to your home?” Twilight shot back defensively. Nice job trying to dodge the question, but I wasn’t going to be rebuffed so easily.

“You can probably figure it out, you have a week.” I flicked a dismissive hoof. “I want to solve this doll thing today.” I leaned forward, eyebrow raised. “So. Doll. What of it?”

Twilight didn’t reply. Instead she pressed her lips together and stared at me.

“Yeah, yeah, real mature. Just tell me already.”

Twilight considered it, then shook her head. “No.”

No?

I stared at her for a moment.

“Fine. How about I take a guess?” I said with an exaggerated eye roll.

Twilight watched me warily, but still kept her peace.

“You lost it?”

Her lips twitched briefly into a smile.

“Ah so you have it, but it didn’t go the way you planned?”

A flinch. Bullseye. This kid was so easy to read.

“So you didn’t reveal it, which means you thought about something before taking it out?”

Twilight doubled down on locking her face into a stiff, falsely nonchalant expression.

“Hmmm… it’s a doll, so maybe they’re getting too old for it?” I paused, studying her face. “No. Something else. Maybe you’re just too scared it’s not going to work? Ah. I see. Confidence issues. Should have seen that coming a league away.”

Twilight’s eyebrows drew together into a withering glare. “How did you know?”

I chuckled. “Reading mortals is relatively easy. You only have one spectrum of emotion.”

We did too, but I wanted to keep the mystique around us. It’s not a lie, just not the whole truth.

Twilight looked intrigued, I thought, in spite of herself.

“Really? And what do you feel, Morpheus?”

I shrugged. “It’s complicated. But apparently it’s what makes us unpredictable to you mortals.” I clapped my hooves together. “Now, back to your doll. How about we try and get it out there?”

Twilight shifted uneasily. “They’re just not into that stuff, okay? Drop it.”

There was no mistaking her tone, she really meant it. Sighing, I decided that it wouldn’t be advantageous to push the issue. Besides, Twilight was at least trying to help me get back, which was major step up compared to other magi.

Twilight opened the book and started reading it intently.

“Hey!” I hissed. “Stop that.”

Twilight stuck out her tongue at me.

“No. Besides, there isn’t anypony in the library anyway.”

I looked around. I mean this time, I really looked around. Twilight was right. The library was empty. I couldn’t see a receptionist or librarian tending to the books. Or if there were, they weren’t in my field of view. I was starting to get an uncomfortable feeling. More than usual anyway.

“Why is no one here?”

Twilight glanced up at me with an expression as if I had asked if the sky was blue.

“This is the restricted section of the library, of course.” She brought out a shiny-looking piece of paper that was coated in clear, flexible, transparent material. It had a picture of Twilight on it, looking as if she’d won the lottery, and some details written that indicated she was allowed access into ‘Level Four’ areas.

“Level Four?” I murmured. “How many levels are there?”

“Six, I think.” Twilight frowned. “Actually, a lot of things have the number six here…” Twilight pondered the idea for a moment, then finally seemed to dismiss the matter with a half-shrug and returned to reading.

“So why do you have access to the more restricted areas of the library?”

Twilight shrugged. “I was given access when I read all the materials in the bottom three levels.”

“How many books is that?”

“Oh, a few thousand or so.”

I stared at her, but she was too preoccupied with her book.

Whatever the ‘Levels’ were in this place, the book she was reading was definitely not material anybody could have access to. It was clear that Twilight had been given access to the book, and from the looks of things, it seemed that Princess Celestia was the one that did so.

Princess Celestia had her bases covered; she had her hooves in a lot of pies. Pondering the matter a bit, I wondered if Princess Celestia was the mastermind behind giving Twilight Sparkle access to a demon-summoning book. No, that couldn’t be true, she cared for Twilight too much to let her play with fire, at least that’s what I got from her.

Putting the matter aside, and growing bored with watching my mistress delve into the complexities of arcane mysteries, I decided to roam around the library. My mistress was in her element, reading about forbidden mysteries, so there was little for me to do.

I looked around, trying to find something, anything, to keep me occupied. The library had clear windows with small panes crisscrossed with thin reliefs depicting various ponies in different positions. Defiant, angry, proud, fearsome, and all manner of bold and aggressive poses that were supposed to indicate power and authority. Though one could laugh at the physical attributes that these mostly diminutive creatures had, like many that had grasped the use of magic, their formidable weaponry existed in the mind, not the body.

A small bubble of faint laughter drifted into the library, and I could see the students outside carousing and playing more than ‘researching’ as was what had been stipulated by the teacher before. It seemed that the students used this time to socialise and make friends and enemies, and Twilight here was the only one studying in the vast empty space of a restricted library. Unwilling, it seemed, to try any further to make the social effort. Poor kid.

I have seen many tragic magi, but I blamed their behaviour on their wretched personalities. I couldn’t stand the thought of even having a shred of empathy for those backstabbing, lying, power-hungry miscreants that had the gall to pull and twist another life to suit their own. Twilight was different. Her mistake was genuine, and that small, almost innocuous, detail interspersed among the filth that was the existence of magi made me hesitate.

I really wondered that if given the chance, and possibility of no repercussions, would I still want to end her life for the sake of freedom? Staring at the physical hoof that bound the spiritual essence of my form, I quickly shook my head. Of course I would. Being attached to the physical world would only mean one thing. One could never return. From my experience of the pain and suffering and the desperation of these hapless mortals, one could never ultimately gain the same pleasure as the liberation of being immaterial in the Other.

We had no thought there. No conscious. No emotions. No warring, fighting, sickness, death and struggle that underpinned the nature of existence in the life we lived.

Clenching my teeth, I took a deep breath. Of course, such a decision was purely hypothetical. I shook myself from head to hoof to dispel my nervous energy. Stupid. There’s no reason for me to feel this conflicted about something. I was a straight kind of demon. Choice here, kill there, return after due-by-date. I turned away from the window and headed back to my mistress.

Then I heard it. It was a strange sound, not unlike the sound made made by someone sitting down on a luxurious sofa. The same sound made when the padding expelled the air in a wheeze. It was a curious sound, something that could distract me from this awful circling thoughts in my head. Whatever it was, it had my attention. I headed to the back of the library, intending to investigate… and almost made it all the way back, but a tome sticking out of the shelf tripped me over and sent me tumbling across the library floor.

Crashing head first, I let out a raucous yelp and glared at the offender with murder in my eyes.

“What kind of idiot puts a book in sideways?!” I snatched at the book, almost making it fall to the ground. I caught the book, glaring at it. “If I ever find out who did this, I’ll punch them in the face, that’s a promise!”

I immediately regretted the oath. Demons were very careful about making promises. Make a promise and Demons were bound to it. Usually, I wouldn’t say something like that out loud, but the issue of mortality was bugging me, so I allowed myself that one slip. If only to vent my anger. Yes, yes, I know, the catharsis is similar to swearing and the consequences much more dire, but I doubt I’ll ever meet the stupid foal that put the book back wrong… and even if I did, I doubt I would have much compunction doing so.

A thought just occurred to me, followed by a shiver down my spine.

What if that foal was Twilight?

I winced. I’d have to honour the agreement, even if that was to myself. If that happened—

“What’s wrong, Morpheus?”

Oh how rich was Divination! The Other was toying with me, I’m sure of it…

“Absolutely, nothing!” I hid away the book surreptitiously with my hind hooves. “What happened with your study?”

Twilight wasn’t so easy distracted. She peered around me with a curiously wandering eyes.

“What are you hiding?”

I despised observant kids, did I ever mention that?

“Nothing.”

I’m an excellent liar.

“Really?” Twilight drawled, pointing between my hooves. “What’s that book, then?”

“It’s a cookbook.”

Okay, maybe I lied about being an excellent liar.

Twilight crossed her hooves and raised an eyebrow, staring at me with an unimpressed expression.

“Eh…” I trailed off, trying to think a suitable tangent to send her off to. “It’s some recipes for… something.”

Twilight laughed at my attempts. “You’re a bad liar, Morpheus.”

I took offence to that. “Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Are too, too, too!”

What was I? A child? Why was I arguing like this?

“Am not times infinity!”

“Am too plus more than infinity!”

“You can’t get more than infinity!”

“Yes you can! Some infinities are bigger than others!” Twilight glared at me. “You can’t get yourself out of this!”

I threw up my hooves. “Fine, it’s a book I tripped over. I don’t even know what it says!” I threw her the book, intending to just pass it to her, but Twilight copped full in the face.

“Oof!”

Oops.

Twilight grabbed the book off the ground and glared at me, tears welling slightly in her eyes.

“Erm…” I thought she would burst into tears, but the kid had more spunk than I realised.

“How did you trip over a book?” She demanded, her voice hardening slightly. “And how come it wasn’t shelved properly?”

Well that answered the question as to whether the shelving had been Twilight or not. It also answered the question of her priorities. Though she had been hit in the face, her first concern was for the book. I felt an inward sigh of relief, but I didn’t show it.

“How would I know?” I shot back defensively.

“I’m asking you a simple question!”

I rolled my eyes. “And I’m not obligated to answer that.”

“Why not?” Twilight glared at me. “Is that because you’re a demon? You don’t like answering questions or being nice or… or… just being normal?!”

I bristled. Now that was something I couldn’t let go. “Well aren’t you the stellar student? How about you take a guess if you’re so smart? Aren’t you the accomplished magus that summoned a demon? Aren’t you the one that knows everything? Aren’t you the one that’s not normal?”

Too late I knew that those words were a mistake. They were similar words Amethyst said to her during class. Whilst throwing the book at her was bad, this was somehow worse. Licking my lips, I couldn’t bear to look at her. This was not something that could be simply laughed off. This was personal.

“Why…” Twilight whispered in the silence. “Why does everypony always say that?”

I heard the faint pitter patter of teardrops as they hit the wooden surface of the library floor and the clatter of hooves as she fled the scene. I stood there. Stood there without moving a muscle.

I don’t know why I just stood there.

I don’t know why I felt so bad.

I don’t know why I didn’t stop her.

I don’t even know why I said those things.

This wasn’t something a demon did. This was illogical. Unreasonable. There were no rules or subsets or bounds. This was just being nasty without a cause.

I glanced down at the book and read the title.

Building a Foundation of Trust with your Partner

“… Damn.”

————————

The pain hit me without warning.

Groaning, I sunk to my fetlocks, my mouth wide-open in a silent scream. With a growing sense of dread, I realised that it was the pain of disobeying the order.

Feeling a strange sense of disconnect, I took up the offending volume and moved to the table that Twilight had dumped the rest of the books on. I felt the slight unpleasant tingling of discomfort from disobeying a direct order from Celestia to accompany my mistress, but that was swamped by the gut-wrenching pain of disobeying my mistress’ order.

Her order stipulated that I wasn’t allowed to harm any living thing. I had breached the order, but it was indirectly. It was verbally and mentally, but not physically, however that didn’t matter. Orders were based on interpretation. If I didn’t think I had disobeyed a direct order, then the order wouldn’t stick. That’s why magi usually left no room for interpretation, cramming as much as they could in the short space of a run-on sentence.

Twilight had been pretty broad in her definition of harm, but I hadn’t willingly disobeyed her orders.

Until now, that is.

The fact that I harboured feelings of guilt was literally painful to me. I struggled to hold myself upright and carry myself across the room. Grunting with the effort of it, I took the book I tripped over and the summoning tome that Twilight had carelessly left in the middle of a library, unguarded. As soon as I took the tome, a measure of pain vanished. The effort had left me heaving, dripping sweat and with the urge to throw up in the illustrious institute of learning that was the library. I doubt Princess Celestia would have liked it. I very much doubt that Twilight would either.

Pain gnarled my innards together, but it was considerably less painful than moments ago.

“What the dross, Zachrand!” I growled this mostly to myself. Zachrand wasn’t a real person, it’s just that the summoning pentacle appeared to be common amongst most worlds, so the name of this phantom spell architect was known throughout the demon population as ‘Zachrand’.

The only way to alleviate the pain of disobeying an order was to have my mistress forgive me. Failing that, the only way to stop the flow of pain, at least a little, is to do something for my mistress in reparation.

To her credit, I didn’t have to look very far for my mistress. She was just outside the door, sobbing into her coat. I sat down next to her, wincing at the heightened level of pain.

“Look,” I said with difficulty. “I’m sorry about all that before. I don’t know what got into me.”

“Go away.”

Well, I guess I deserved that. This was a child, after all. Pain flared in my abdomen.

I laid a hoof on her shoulder. “I really am sorry, Twilight. It’s hard for me to see you as someone different from my past owners.”

Twilight sniffed, looking up at me; she didn’t say anything, but nodded.

Encouraged, I drew out the two books. “Here,” I said, passing them to her. “You wouldn’t want just anyone to walk in and grab these, right?”

Despite herself, Twilight smiled weakly at that and nodded once again. I placed them in her saddlebag and lapsed into silence. All at once, the pain stopped, and I lurched back, more in surprise than in relief.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“The pain.” I either groaned or grunted. I wasn’t aware. “It’s gone.”

Twilight looked worried. “Pain?”

“Yes,” I replied cautiously. “Whenever we disobey a direct order, there’s pain.”

“What?” Twilight said in horror. She twisted her head around, eyes widening so much I thought they would have popped straight out of their sockets. “Why didn’t you tell me this?!”

I glanced at her. “Well… I thought you knew.” It was true. Even though Twilight may have ignorantly summoned me, the way she gave orders fit right into my assumption that she at least knew about how orders and such worked. I should probably have guessed from the beginning. Twilight was ignorant about a lot of things about demons and summoning. I shook my head in annoyance. I should have known better.

“Are you telling me that, right now, you’re in pain because you threw a book at me?” Twilight looked on the verge of tears once more.

“Well, no, not right now!” I hastily corrected her. “It’s gone, remember? Also, the pain wasn’t about throwing the book at you, it was about—” it suddenly dawned on me “—it was about the little fight we had.”

“I’m sorry!” she said frantically. “I didn’t know.”

“Well I know that. No, no, don’t cry! I didn’t mean it that way.” I sighed. “It’s just the way things work. I just don’t know why the pain is gone.”

“The way things work…” Twilight slumped back against the wall. “I’m sorry, Morpheus. I must seem like a monster to you. Maybe I am. Everypony tells me so.”

I wrapped an arm around her. “You may be a monster.” She flinched, but I carried on. “But I am too. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about what others say.” I smiled at her. “It’s how I live my life.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “Maybe, but I’m really sorry, Morpheus.”

I laughed bitterly. “No, I should be the one that’s sorry.” I tapped my hooves together, thinking hard, for once, about what I had to say. “You’re the first magus that’s been different. I’ve been too harsh on you when you were only trying to help.” I stared out awkwardly trying to find somewhere to look at other than her face. “If the offer is still on the table, maybe fr-friends?” That word still sent shivers down my spine.

I held out my hoof.

And felt her grasp it.

I glanced back at Twilight, her eyes filling with tears, but a smile on her face.

“Yes,” she said. “Friends.”

Author's Note

Aaaaaaand some progress, in many senses!

Next Chapter: Morpheus tries to do something. Something doesn't like it. Also, Twilight accidentally a spell.

As always, my ludicrous-speed readers, thanks for reading!

6 - The Escape Claws

Chapter 6: The Escape Claws

The first magus was well known to the demons. Her name was Selena and she was a figure both reviled and revered for her actions. Before the enslavement of demons, Selena was a magus that first sought to understand us. She, in fact, created the Other, a demon sanctuary where we could freely explore and call our own. Though she had done so much for the demons, her method of summoning us to the dimensional plane of existence where mortals dwelt had been carelessly made public in her belief that knowledge was always good. From there, demons were summoned not as friends, but as slaves. After seeing what she wrought, she disappeared, leaving us to our miserable fate. Her creation made her worthy of love, but her abandonment made her worthy of hate.

“I found something interesting.”

I snapped my head up to look at Twilight, who was grinning like she’d rediscovered Malnik’s Mound [1]. For those not in the know, it holds the elixir of life, the philosopher’s stone and possibly the answer to life itself. I wouldn’t recommend going there, as it was positioned at the edge of time, space and causality. You might not survive the abstraction.

I was surprised, though, by how quickly kids recover. Maybe it was the fact she was able to put up such a brave front that I mistook it for fortitude? Whatever the reason was, I guess it was touching that she would try so hard to send me back. And it really wasn’t by the say-so of her principal, or the fact that she was threatened, but more because she genuinely wanted to help me.

For some reason, she didn’t want me to leave. Even though I was so obnoxious.

Once again I felt that slight guilty pang, but I desperately suppressed it. I needed to get back to the Other, the mortal plane was starting to infect me with feelings. I was already a ‘friend’. Bleh.

“It’s here.” She pointed to part of a book that held a complex diagram featuring squiggles, lines, symbols and all manner of confusing magical things.

I shrugged. “So… words?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s a formula for the dissipation of a physical entity into the ethereal plane by means of telescopic divergence theory!”

“Uhm… in plain speak, please.”

Twilight huffed. “It’s basically something that could send you back. In plain speak I just take bits of your essence that was tied to this plane and sort of unhook it, flinging it away.”

I stared at her. “That sounds like the magical equivalent of chucking me into the air by a catapult.”

“Weeeeelllllllllll the trajectory hasn’t been fixed, so I’m not quite sure that’s exactly how it works, but I’m reasonably confident I can do it!”

I continued to stare at her, very intently.

“I’m also reasonably confident that it won’t throw you into space,” she added for good measure.

“That’s good… No, wait, go back to the space bit.”

“It won’t happen!”

“Okay.”

“I think.”

“What?”

“Nothing!”

Feeling an ominous premonition gather on the horizons of our little plan, I crossed my arms, deciding to let the little details lie. “So… what do you need to accomplish this?”

Twilight bit her lip. “Probably a few things, most of them restricted.”

“You have your pass thingy, right?”

Twilight shook her head. “I do… but I can’t get access that far in.”

So that meant somewhere in level five or six. I rubbed a hoof on my face, but the unfamiliar feeling of the hoof instead of a claw was disconcerting, so I stopped almost immediately.

“Fine.” A thought occurred to me. “We could ask Celestia.”

Twilight was in danger of swallowing a fly if she kept that jaw so wide open.

“No! She can’t know this!”

“Why not? She knows about everything else.”

“But it’s restricted.”

“So…? She gave you the summoning book and that’s clearly restricted material.”

“I found it in the library.”

“What?”

“I found it in the library,” she repeated with pursed lips. “It was just sitting there.”

I stared at her dumbly for a moment as the sentence sunk in slowly. Demons never go crazy, but this mortal was testing my patience.

I finally found my voice. “Where?”

“Level four. Right after Anachronisms of Alchemical Archetypes within Ancient Abnegation Affairs.”

“That shouldn’t be there!”

“Of course not! It clearly wasn’t meant to be there!”

I brightened. Maybe Twilight got it.

“‘Demon Summoning’, or ‘Summoning Almanac’ or similar should be after that book, not before it. It makes no sense!”

Oh right, she’s a crazy bibliophile.

“Of course it was.” I tried to resist bashing my head against the table, and instead tried to concentrate on moving forward. We needed more information and only the higher levels would let us do that. “Alright, but that doesn’t change anything. Celestia could get us in, right?”

Twilight nodded slowly. “Yeeeees.” The drawn out affirmation was accompanied by a nervous cough. “But she wouldn’t.”

We were running in circles. “Fine, how about we go talk to her and get her opinion?”

“You can’t just walk in and talk with the Princess!”

“Really?” I crossed my hooves. Which was harder than it looked. “What’s so hard about going to her office and asking her?”

Twilight’s eyes widened considerably. “You went into the Princess’ office?!”

“Yep. Haven’t you been there?”

Twilight hastily shook her head, her gaze quickly flooded with envy as she stared at me hungrily. Not many looks can send chills down a demon’s spine, but that one did.

“C-Come on,” I said, abruptly getting up with the excuse of leading the way. I had to escape that gaze. “Let’s go and visit her.”

“Alright… but I don’t think we’d get that pass.”

————————

[1] I was one of the first demons summoned by Malnik herself. She was notorious for being a greedy magus. So unbound was her avarice that she kept the majority of her hoard at the edge of time and causality. Some people say that there was a spell so complex and so vast in magnitude to gain entry, that it was impossible to access the treasury unless all of the magi from multiple worlds converged and attempted to do so. Malnik kept the secret of accessing her Mound all the way to her grave, she never told anyone, not a single soul. Except me, of course, but that’s because she admitted reluctantly to me that she’d hidden the secret so well, she’d forgotten how to get there again and needed me to go get rare items for her. I even wrote instructions! Typical.

————————

“No.”

Well, that was a quick response.

“Can I ask the reason why?”

“You may not.” Celestia met my challenge with a glare shaped cold with icy scrutiny. “And I would suggest you knock the next time you come in.”

As a form of amusement, I had turned invisible and laughed as the guards were startled when the door opened by itself. The guard’s querying glances were quickly allayed by the Princess, who invited a nerve-wracked Twilight warily standing just outside the stabbing distance of the impressive spears the guards carried.

Not that spears would be effective against a demon. Of course we’re vulnerable like any other mortal, it would hurt like heck, but we wouldn’t die and our corporeal form would eventually regenerate. Plus there were tips and tricks to getting around such primitive weapons. The trouble were weapons that could dissolve essence as they cut. Those were actually fatal.

I’m quite fond of my essence. I’d like to keep it contained until I can be sent back to the Other. Much like a mortal is fond of keeping blood within their body, such was the analogy of essence to demons. Except it wasn’t really clear if mortals persisted after death. Some claimed it was so, but I knew demons were erased from existence after their essence dissipated. No amount of summoning would bring another back once the essence is destroyed.

But getting back to the problem, Celestia clearly didn’t want us in the lower levels.

“Why not?” I huffed, crossing my arms. “You can send me back faster, isn’t that a bonus?”

“You will have to make do with what you have,” Princess Celestia stated simply. “There is no other way.”

“Poppycock.” I scoffed. “You’re simply barring me access because you don’t agree with my brilliant idea.”

“Twilight,” Celestia swivelled around to meet her student’s gaze. Her expression changed from condemning to gentle and warm in a heartbeat. Talk about two-faced… and I would know, I have a lot of different faces.

“Your demon has dragged you into this, so you are not at fault.”

Your demon?! Excuse me, I’m not anyone’s property. I mean I technically am right now, but still—

Twilight shook her head. “It was my idea, Princess.”

“Your honesty is admirable, Twilight, but perhaps in this circumstance, not so coveted.”

Twilight shrunk back as I took a step forward.

“Now look here—” I began.

“And you’re such a poor liar it would be meaningless to engage you.”

The rest of the words died in my throat as I failed to meet her verbal repartee.

Celestia sighed plaintively, leaning back. “I know you are curious, Twilight. But you have a higher level of access than any other student in your cohort. You will have to make do with what you have.” She glanced meaningfully at me. “Even if it is only the books in your possession.”

Seems like she wouldn't move at all. It was worth a try. Well, there was always plan B—

“Don’t even think about stealing your way in, demon.”

Hell’s bells, how did she know? Can she read minds?

It was possible. Advanced magi could read intentions and deceptions. So it wasn’t too surprising if she could. I didn’t know her ability, but either way it did show me exactly how experienced she was. This was an expert in the Art. I should be more careful.

“In any case, I implore you two to think about what you are going to do from here on out.” She stared at us with a heavy gaze. “Make the right decisions. I’m trying to save you from a future of woe.”

Twilight nodded sullenly. “Yes, Princess.”

Celestia lifted an eyebrow in my direction.

“As you wish,” I ground out with a sigh. When she looked away, I rolled my eyes in silent rebellion.

“Good,” Celestia finished imperiously. “Now—”

There was a knock on the door; a guard’s head poked through.

“Two to see you, Princess.”

Celestia looked surprised. “So soon?”

The guard glanced at us and reared back in surprise. The movement was quashed so quickly I almost doubted what I saw. Almost.

“Escort them to my adjunct,” Celestia told the guard. “I will have a word with them.”

“Yes, Princess.” The guard bowed and left us.

Through my sensitive hearing, I could pick out the hoof steps of two foals leaving. Must be more students causing trouble.

Celestia turned back to us, her lips quirked as if considering some private joke. Abruptly, she swept Twilight into a hug.

“Remember, if you ever need any help you can come to me anytime,” she murmured into her ear. She parted, taking a good look at Twilight with a gaze that looked slightly worried. “Be careful.” She leaned in closer. “Never trust a demon.”

She probably meant me. Even though she whispered, she was probably well aware I could hear every word. Not that I blame her. Demons weren’t the most trustworthy of partners, even with a leash attached.

Twilight nodded, though I was proud to see that it was reluctantly. Take that, Celestia.

———————

Outside, I faced down Twilight.

“We should sneak in.”

Expecting to hear an immediate denial, I was gratified to see that it took a full two seconds before Twilight shook her head.

“No.”

I chuckled in spite of her refusal.

“What’s so funny?” She pouted.

I grinned. “Nothing, I just think I’m rubbing off on you.”

Twilight bit her lip. “I don’t think you’re rubbing off on me…”

“That’s what everyone says.” I grinned, dashing a few steps forward. “Well, we can plan this out later. For now, we’ve still got class, right?”

Twilight’s happy disposition immediately collapsed. “Oh right, class.”

I nudged her with my shoulder. Encouragement is something friends do, right?

“It’s alright,” I said with a grin, “maybe something good will happen?”

Twilight didn’t look encouraged at all. Her face was etched in nervous tension.

“That’s what my brother says all the time.”

Wow, I’m really bad at this friend sort of thing.

——————

Apparently, the last class of the day was a practical exercise.

“Counter-spelling?”

It was a sort of defensive class that was taught to students so they could defend themselves against spells. Unlike in most worlds, most magic here was casted without the use of lengthy incantations and diagrams. Spells that required such things were considered the highest-tier magic, and often required tedious preparation with very fixed and finite variables, or so I gathered.

The students were all gathered in a loose clump at the end of the field, we were outdoors in the sunlight and everything, and a few students complained about the encroaching cold. Of course, anything but the extremes of temperatures rarely affected me, mostly because my essence would just ignore the physical discomfort.

For other mortals, however…

“Brr.” Twilight’s teeth chattered. “It’s cold.”

“So it is,” I remarked with utter disenchantment. I glanced down at the simple scarf and boots that Twilight wore despite the lack of snow or other indication of the frosty bite of winter. A light southerly breeze constantly blowing across the field was making even the stiff teacher shiver a little.

“Okay class, the sooner we get this done, the better.” The wizened mare lifted her horn. From the horn came a spark, which ignited into a soft mellow ball of light, drifting upwards and morphing as it went. The light grew in intensity and suddenly burst into flames, the heat instantly dispelling the cold and making it feel as warm as a summer’s day. I recognised the weak spirit form and smiled to myself. Interesting.

“This is an elemental. As you can see, the element is fire. What should we combat fire with?”

A hesitant hoof shot up from the class group.

“Yes, Drop?”

“Water, miss.”

“Wrong.”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably at the lack of further participation and hesitantly put up her hoof before I could stop her.

“Earth, miss?”

The mare smiled thinly, reminding me of a snake. “Do elaborate for the rest of the class, Twilight.”

Twilight nodded, ignoring the glares the other class members shot her as she stood up. She went into lecture mode. “Direct opposites might be the conventional wisdom to attack elementals with, but when you’re against a caster they may almost certainly ward for water. The only remaining choice is earth. Earth will weaken fire slowly, and allow you time to mount a substantial defence or attack.”

The teacher cocked her head at Twilight. “And why not wind?”

“Wind is synergistic with fire, so doing that would just make it stronger unless you were confident that your wind element was overwhelmingly strong.” Twilight cleared her throat. “If there is some special circumstance, then the wind elemental could still be used and should not be discounted. The same goes for fire.”

“Excellent, Twilight. A perfect answer as always.”

Twilight retreated back to her position, a little far from the rest of the group.

“Okay, now that we know this, I want each of you to practice in sparring pairs—”

“I hate this part,” Twilight muttered to herself, almost inaudibly. I flicked my ear, but otherwise didn’t outwardly react.

“So team up and get going.”

The teacher flicked her hoof, looking like she had exhausted her meagre patience for the day. She brought out a huge tome and started reading in the middle of the field, accompanied by her fire elemental. With the fire elemental gone, the rest of the students started to shiver in the encroaching cold. Her demeanour suggested to us that to her, the students didn’t even exist.

Amethyst, Glitter and Lemon descended upon us like a pack of wolves. The way she came around, brimming with confidence, put me on edge. I fixed her in my eyesight as they approached none-too-subtly.

“Hey Morpheus.” Amethyst almost sounded like she was purring while greeting us. “Why don’t you join us for practice? I’m willing to forget about this morning’s incident if you are.”

Twilight didn’t look inclined to step in, so I simply shrugged.

“Why bother?” I sighed. “It’s not like the teacher is going to notice a few students not practicing.”

Amethyst blinked at my reply. She must not have expected it. Though faltering, her bravado returned, if a little tinged with ice.

“In any case, you will get in trouble if you don’t participate.”

“Will I?” I wondered in amusement. The teacher had stopped reading her book for sure, but she headed towards other students, and only glanced our way briefly. It looked casual, but she was definitely avoiding us.

Amethyst took in the teacher’s direction and smiled in a devious fashion.

“You’ve got some pull around here, don’t you?”

I didn’t answer that. I stared blankly back at her.

Amethyst flicked her mane. “Like I said, it’s pointless to stick around the scholarship students. They only got in because they begged their way in. Power is what matters and this bookworm isn’t going anywhere.”

“Is that so?” I glanced at Twilight, who continued to stare at the ground as if it was the most amusing thing in the world. “Why’s that?”

Glitter Star was the one that spoke up this time. “She might know a lot of things, but she couldn’t cast a spell to save her life.” Glitter laughed with Amethyst. “I don’t even know why she was let in.”

Twilight shrunk back, hunching her shoulders against the barrage of taunts and cruelty. Twilight had magical aptitude, I was sure of it. She had cast various spells that most magi couldn’t and could cast a complex spell required to summon a demon. It went beyond the simple conjuration of elementals. She was, dare I say it, a genius.

“Anyway, you’re better off leaving this loser here and joining us. Being book-smart will only get you so far. Examination is at the end of the week. She’ll crack under pressure, like she did every time. I’m sure of it.”

I yawned, trying to sound more bored than dismissive. “Ah, maybe next time.”

Amethyst narrowed her eyes. “You’re making a huge mistake.”

“I’m just looking out for myself. I can’t be bothered to summon elementals and practice combat. I’ve had enough of that to last me a lifetime, thank you. I’ll just stick with Twilight.”

Amethyst gritted her teeth, registering, with ill-concealed fury of the tentatively happy expression on Twilight’s face.

“Why?” She crossed her arms. “You’ve got nothing to gain.”

“Except a free pass from class.” I let them misconstrue the statement however they pleased.

Amethyst considered the statement. “So… you don’t really like her then?”

“I just need her for now.” That wasn’t a lie. “Let’s just say our relationship is more of a servant and master.” Except I was the servant and she was the master.

Amethyst’s eyes gleamed spitefully. “Oh, I see how it is.”

No you didn’t.

Amethyst chuckled, leading the group away. “Come join us whenever you feel like, Morpheus. I think we are much alike.” With that, she and her friends trotted away, looking proud as if they had achieved something.

Meanwhile, my stomach churned unsteadily, leaving a bad taste in my mouth. That shouldn’t happen. I wasn’t mortal. Was that Zachrand or those cursed new feelings coming up? Each one was equally dangerous.

Frowning, I turned around to register a confused Twilight who was staring at me blankly… and a little cautiously.

“What?” I asked, trying to banish the dirty sensation surrounding me.

“You made them go away…” she said with wonder, but then she bit her lip. “But you’re friends with them.”

I laughed. “No way. I may not be an expert on this so-called friendship, but I know for sure that we’re not friends like you are imagining.” I stretched languidly, feigning a sense of casualness I didn’t feel. “Besides, I only said those things to make them leave faster. If they were convinced I wasn’t on your side, they would go.”

Twilight stared at the ground again. “R-Right.”

I exhaled in a way that was between a sigh and a groan. “Look, I’m not going to be here for very long, just until the end of the week, so you need to know ways of defending yourself.”

Twilight tightened her lips. “The first lesson in magic is to Respe—”

“—Respect Life, yeah, yeah, I get it. I’m not saying you go around beating up everybody with your magic. Just show them what you’re capable of.”

“I can’t abuse magic like that!”

I shook my head at her. “That’s not what I meant; there are other ways to defend yourself other than magic or strength or any of that.”

Twilight kept glancing back at the trio as they started practicing magic in their group. It looks like from the various displays that this ‘Amethyst Star’ pony was quite adept at magic for her age. She also looked like she was quite popular. So why does a mare who has everything want to mess with Twilight, who has nothing?

I shook my head free of the nagging thoughts and concentrated on getting my magus cheered up again. I was starting to get mired in the tangled webbing of mortal social rules and norms. That was a rabbit hole I definitely didn’t want to track down. Well, for now, Twilight needed a little help with her magic. I decided to lend her a claw.

“Besides, your magic is really, really advanced; why were they saying that it wasn’t?”

Twilight held her hoof to her chest, hugging it to herself as she reluctantly told me.

“I-I get stage fright.”

“Stage fright?” Wait, so she was freely able to use life-threatening summoning magic, but performing in front of others was too much? I didn’t get this kid.

“I get nervous when I have to perform magic in front of big crowds. They’re all staring at me, judging me, waiting for me t-to s-screw up…” Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. “I-I just can’t deal with it.”

“Let me guess, the Examination?”

Twilight nodded reluctantly. “I have to stand up in front of the whole school. Last year I scraped in at the bottom!”

“It can’t be that bad…”

“It is!” Twilight grabbed the sides of her head as if it was going to split open under the pressure. “You don’t understand! You haven’t had anypony laugh at you before, right?”

Well I wouldn’t say laugh in quite that way. Did maniacal laughing count?

“Alright, so you get nervous in front of one or two onlookers. Didn’t you have to do something similar when you entered the school?”

“Well, yes, but that was different. Judges don’t laugh at you! If it wasn’t for Princess Celestia, I wouldn’t be in here in the first place.”

“So just imagine them the same, students aren’t going to laugh at you in an examination hall, are they?”

“No… but I can feel it from them!”

“Ignore it!”

“I can’t just do that.”

“Think of something else!”

“I can’t!”

“By the Other, you’re incorrigible!”

Twilight groaned. “My life is over.”

“You keep saying that, but it hasn’t ended yet.”

“It has!” she whined. “I’ll never be able to perform in front of a crowd.”

I sucked in a patient breath. This wasn’t a demon that was reluctant to do its task. This was just a shy foal. She didn’t have the experience of death that could really harden someone’s will against petty things like crowds and audiences. I briefly entertained the thought of throwing her off a cliff a few times to erase her sense of fear, but then reluctantly discarded it. It might set off the pain.

“You’re just being a downer about this. Come on, practice some magic.”

It took a bit more cajoling but I finally got Twilight to give it a try. Grumbling, Twilight took a stance while I looked on with mild interest. Of course, if any one of my ‘colleagues’ ever found out I was helping a magus with their magic, I’d probably be slain on the spot. I put that dark thought to the back of my mind and paid attention. With a smile, I urged her on, and she responded with what was more of a weak grimace than a grin.

Unlike it usually was with Twilight at home or when we were alone, the magic on her horn barely glowed and any of her spells died before they could be given life. Since I was exposed to various types of magic over the years, I knew at least whenever a spell was successful or a failure, and this one… was a dud.

Twilight’s shoulders slumped as she looked at me with round, wet eyes.

I sighed, got up and trotted to her. While making eye contact (that’s apparently important to mortals) and placing a hoof on her shoulders, I drew from my experience for a way to give her a boost in confidence.

Not from casting spells, no, but from the rich experiences of battles and anxiety that plagued younger demons before they would launch themselves into battle. Through my time as a demon, I’d often be relegated to tasking younger magicians and mortals to the frontline, where they would be inexorably chewed out and reused so much like a wet dishrag.

The trick to getting them to leap forward into almost certain death was to make them disregard it as such an obstacle in the first place. To demean it and reduce its importance to no more than a pebble on the side of the well-trodden warpath.

I stared into Twilight’s eyes and reconfirmed to myself what was driving her. Aptitude and success were only the result of her warped desire for companionship. She wanted to be accepted.

To belong.

I took a deep breath and focused my intent through my eyes.

“Imagine,” I said, “you’re standing in a wide open field with nothing but the grass and the sky above.”

Twilight began to close her eyes, but I tightened the pressure on her shoulders and forced them open again.

“Keep your eyes on me and imagine it all around us. There is nothing except you and I.”

Twilight nodded slightly, confused, but willing to go with what I told her.

“We are here in this warm place where there is no one but us to entertain us. There is no one but you, the magus, and me, the demon.”

Twilight’s taut expression relaxed slightly as she took in my words and shifted into a more casual posture. When she was ready, I whispered the words.

“Now, cast a spell.”

The spell erupted from her being in a graceful, illuminating heartbeat, spreading across the fine grooves of her spiralling horn and sparking into a warm glow in the sky.

“Now, imagine you are by yourself, I’m no longer there.”

“Morpheus?” she simpered. “W-Why?”

“This,” I said to her firmly, “is about yourself. Only you can conquer what is lurking there alone. You’re not afraid of the ponies around you. No, you’re afraid of yourself.”

“M-Morpheus, I-I can’t hold the spell!”

“Think!” I said urgently. “You’ve cast a spell a million times without me! You can do it a million times again! What is that feeling, that rush, that poise, that poignant moment when all the elements of your spell are dragged together into a cohesive magical structure guided by intent?

“Feel it flow through you.

“Whether I’m there or not shouldn’t matter, whether there is one pony or many matters not! Only the feeling of that spell, only the rich execution of your intent, only the power flowing through your core and surging forward to your goal!

“Do it! Do it now! Do it with your own power! Show yourself that you’ll yield to no one!

“Cast. That. Spell.”

Twilight, eyes wide, was no longer seeing me, only the goal. She cast the spell once more. Grinning to myself, I gently gave her spell a little demonic boost. Instantly, the spell kindled. It blossomed beautifully like a fiery star in the night sky, so bright and bountiful in its bare radiance. Students around us stopped what they were doing and were staring in awe at the burst of light, like a second sun. It flushed out the darkness of winter and brought in the warmth of summer with its stunning brilliance.

“Well done,” I whispered to her as she sunk to her fetlocks with stupefied expression. “I’ll make a battle magus out of you yet.”

Elated, Twilight could only beam a giddy smile back.

Author's Note

Another update, Hell Yeah! cwutididthar?

Special shout-out to Word Worthy, who edits like a magus. With respect to whispers of patreon and the like: It’d help, but honestly, I reckon money easily goes to the head. What I really like to see instead are people who help other people and being super special awesome. But even suggesting it warms my heart to think at least one person thinks my writing is worth money! I can’t speak for other authors, but dang it, I feel like you are all the best readers and commenters! I’d like to say thank you so much for tagging along and reading and this probably isn’t the last time I gush about you all.

Anyway, sorry about that, next chapter’s actually halfway through, but I have to concentrate on other stories so expect it in maybe a few cycles later?

Next Chapter: Dark stirrings in the school and Morpheus gets the feeling that he’s not so special anymore.

As always, my absolute bestest readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Writing and Editing Chat on Discord.

7 - The Mailing Daemon

Chapter 7: The Mailing Daemon

Every demon had their own ‘domain’ an aspect of magic or physical enhancement that made them specifically suited to their task. Some demons were great at seeing long distances, many could fly fast, breathe underwater and shape shift. Some could manipulate their own special brand of magic, or if they were particularly powerful, the forces of Nature itself. Me? Well, I’m not particularly special in any way. I’m a weak shape shifter, I can’t breathe underwater very long, and I can’t control magic. But most demons love me. Why? Because my domain was demon-hunting.

Twilight was beside herself with unbridled happiness. She laughed and grinned in a way I hadn’t seen since she began school.

“I did it!” she exclaimed to me. “I made a spell in front of everypony! I was nervous at first, but when the spell got going, I didn’t care! This is the best!”

“Don’t set that bar too low,” I warned her, “otherwise you have to reevaluate what is the best later when you’re eating ice cream.”

I licked my lips. Gratuitously.

Twilight chuckled nervously at my gesture, sending me a briefly worried look, but nothing could repress her. “There’s so much I could do! I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“You mean performing in front of others? Well, keep in mind, a little anxiety is good for anyone, no one likes a show off, and being overconfident can be dangerous.”

Twilight skipped a couple of steps, but her restless hooves hitched slightly when my words sunk in. “Oh, uhm, yes, I-I mean just because I did a little spell, doesn’t mean I could perform in front of everypony at the Examination.” Twitching ears flattened against her skull as she peered at the ground.

“Oh will you stop it?” I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m talking about fighting interdimensional horrors [1] or Stratos’ Final Treasure [2] or in a battle between magi. Big stuff like that should be discounted. Don’t be put off by something as small as the Examination.”

Twilight bit her lip. “B-But if I fail the Examination, I could get kicked out of school!”

I snorted. This pony sure liked to flip-flop. “Like that’s going to happen with your skills. I’ve said this before, but I'll say it again: how many students here could summon a demon?”

“I-I guess, just me, but—”

“And how many of those could make a demon their friend?”

“T-The sample size is too small to make assumptions—”

I smacked her on the shoulder. Lightly, I’m not a brute, you know. “Wrong, Twilight, there’s one, in the history of all demons, there has probably been only one.” Not counting Selena, of course...

“I guess you’re right,” Twilight mumbled with a slow nod. Her nod firmed with a sharp jerk and she was grinning once again. “Thanks, Morpheus, you’re a good friend.”

“You’re… welcome.” I hid my expression behind a not-so-discreet leg as I failed to keep my ears from reddening. Luckily Twilight didn't notice. Maybe I should learn to stop being surprised by every abrupt thing that she does?

————————

When class ended, so did school, and we were walking back towards home. Twilight wanted to get right back into her room and study more complex magic, but I told her maybe that could wait as doing a spell on that scale would have been exhausting for any magus. She didn’t seem to be bothered by that kind of power expenditure which made me wonder how deep her reserve of magic truly was. The kind of implications I came up with made me glad she wasn’t hostile to me.

Inexperienced? Twilight was for sure. Powerless? Not even close.

When we got home, Velvet was all over her daughter. Another stallion with a blue coat and a star within a moon on his flank greeted us with a warm smile.

“Twilight, what happened at school?” Velvet practically squealed. “You look positively radiant!”

“I cast a spell!” Twilight puffed out her chest with pride. “In front of everypony!”

Both parents shared a look and then immediately yelled and cheered, whilst hugging the living daylights out of their daughter. Standing off to the side, I found other interesting things to look at while Twilight was being squeezed affectionately between her parents. She didn’t seem to mind being crushed, if anything, judging by her flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes, Twilight was more than happy to be sharing her achievement.

After celebrating long enough to make me partially doze off in a trance, Velvet and Twilight’s father, I presumed, broke away and finally turned to me.

“Morpheus, right?” the stallion said, reaching out with a hoof. I took it carefully in my own and shook it up and down a few times. I made to pull away, but the stallion kept my hoof in his ‘grip’. Though I don’t know how that was possible with no talons or claws. Passive magic?

“I’m Night Light,” he continued, “Twilight’s father.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Night Light.” Being polite made him relax a little, but he still held my hoof in his own. I wasn’t an expert on social etiquette, but this was starting to become a little awkward.

“It seems like you’ve been a great friend for my daughter and I want to give you my regards.” The grip increased in pressure…somehow. I was now convinced it was magic. Was this supposed to hurt with this pressure? I wondered what the threshold should be to feeling pain?

Night Light leaned in with a razor-sharp grin. “Please continue to be just a friend to Twilight.”

“Dear.”

That one word made the stallion stiffen up and turn around. Velvet was staring him down with an expression not amiss from the Glaring Golem’s own [3].

“Nighty, dear, what did I say about today?”

Night Light gave me an awkward smile. “Sorry about that, kiddo, it’s a bit early, but you know a father’s feelings, right?”

“Trust me, Mr. Night Light, sir, I only want to be your daughter’s friend.”

Night Light stared at me for a moment before jolting forward. “What does that mean?” He leaned in dangerously close. “Is my daughter not good enough for you?!”

“W-Well, it’s not a question about whether or not she’s good enough—”

“WHAT?! Not good enough? That’s it! Marry her! Marry her right now!”

“D-Dad?!” Twilight who had been silent until now, was rapidly growing flustered at the mounting exchange.

I felt the situation growing steadily out of control. I sent Velvet a pleading expression, hoping to defuse the situation, and to my relief, she was a calm bastion in the rough seas.

“Come now, Night Light, I’m sure Morpheus is too young to be doing that.” She gave me an equally intense look. “But maybe he should be thinking about it. Aren’t you, Morpheus?”

Instead of curtailing the situation, Velvet joined in…! I take it back. I take it all back. She’s just as crazy.

Twilight whipped around. “M-Mom! It’s not like that, Morpheus is…” She stopped herself just in time. She was probably going to say I was a demon. Nice try to save me… but not helping!

“H-Hang on, both of you.” My pleas were ignored in the hurricane of parental ardour.

Velvet pinned me down with a look that made me feel like cake on storefront display. “Morpheus, what do you think of Twilight?”

With that I felt my shoulders roughly gripped by two firm hooves. Velvet on one side, Night Light on the other.

“Yes, son, tell us what you think,” Night Light pressed.

I sighed, bringing myself down to earth. What was I getting worked up about? These were mortals. I didn’t have to act like a fledgling in front of them.

“I think Twilight is a powerful spell caster. She’s probably the best one in the school, if not the town, barring Princess Celestia herself. Even that, I have doubts. So when I say I respect her, that’s an understatement.” From there, I stared at both shocked parents in turn. “But her limitless potential isn’t what I like about her. What I like about Twilight is how different she is from every other magical user I’ve come across. She’s kind, thoughtful and earnest, and that’s something that can’t be taken for granted.”

Velvet and Night Light slowly withdrew their hooves and shared a look.

“Well, I guess, there’s nothing more to be said when you say it like that…” Night light trailed off with blazing cheeks and an embarrassed hoof scratching the back of his head. “I guess my daughter’s really lucky to have you as a friend.”

Velvet beamed at me with a gleeful grin. “Morpheus, thank you so much!” The mare coughed lightly and found something interesting to look at on the floor. “And, erm, sorry, we, uhm, just got carried away.” The way she scuffed her hoof on the tiled floor reminded me so much of Twilight, I couldn’t help but chuckle wryly.

“I hope you can forgive us for that behaviour,” Night Light continued. “We’ll make it up to you. I suppose we can be a little overprotective of our daughter.”

“Of course,” I said, smoothly moving the conversation away from this awkward mortal touchy-feely session. “Let’s, uhh, move on. What’s next?”

Night Light’s lips twitched in displeasure. “I have to go out to help with the Board again.”

“Again? This is the third time this week.”

The blue-coated unicorn rubbed a frustrated hoof through his hair. “Sorry, dear, there’s been more incidents.”

Velvet caught his look and then glanced at us. Interesting. It was quickly suppressed, but Night Light had seen a death. Twilight didn’t seem to notice and was caught up in seeing her father leave.

“No dinner?” she asked with a shaking voice.

“Sorry, honey, not tonight.”

Twilight didn’t reply, but nodded her head solemnly. I could see her hold back tears. Seeing her old man do the same slightly revised my opinion about the crazy fella, but I still wanted to lock my room at night, just in case. That stallion could flip on a dime.

Velvet met my eyes, and tilted her head curiously. “Morpheus, you’ll take good care of Twilight, won’t you? She’s been hurt before.”

“Mom!” Twilight puled, but Velvet ignored her completely.

I nodded, not knowing what to expect, but it seemed like that was all Velvet wanted to communicate across.

“Okay, let me show you to where you’ll be sleeping,” Velvet segued smoothly. Giving me one last searching look, she led me, with Twilight, to a room. I glanced at the purple door and pursed my lips. Isn’t this Twilight’s room? I’m no expert, but I probably shouldn’t be sleeping int he same room as Twilight.

“I’m sorry, but right now the guest room is, erm, a temporary study for Twilight.”

Twilight blushed deeply. “Sorry, we don’t have any other space.”

I blinked at the nervous foal. You know I don’t sleep, right? I don’t have to have a bed. I couldn’t really say this to Velvet, but Twilight knew this. I did go into a trance the last time she studied all night. Come to think about it, this foal should be dead on her hooves. Where does all that energy come from?

Velvet pushed open the door and, in a few moments, had a spot cleared for a bed. Though meticulously organised, the room still felt more like a study and less like a bedroom. If it wasn’t for the bed, I would have sworn I’d stepped into a library. Twilight helped her mother clear away some of the books and scrolls that littered the floor.

“We’ll pull a mattress from… somewhere,” Velvet continued after we’ve finished clearing the area. “You can take Twilight’s bed in the meantime while Twilight sleeps with me.”

“M-Mom!”

“No, that’s okay,” I said quickly, “ I can sleep anywhere, Twilight can use her own bed.”

Velvet smiled sweetly. “My… how gallant!” She patted her daughter on the head. “Well, if anything, we could make a bed of books and let Twilight nap on that. She’s more at home with paper and ink than spreads and sheets.”

“Mom!”

“You’re right, Twilight, I suppose there’s cooking to do!” With that she whisked away, leaving us two alone in the bedroom.

“She’s… like a whirlwind,” I muttered to myself.

Twilight’s ear twitched. “You’ve got that right.” She glared at the door for a few seconds before rolling her eyes. Then her attitude changed completely as she grinned. With a grunt, she pulled out the summoning book. “Time to study!”

Glancing towards the door where her mother had left, I cocked my head. “Don’t you have homework or something?”

Twilight shook her head. “I’ve been excused from most homework because of my project. Princess Celestia told me so.”

When did Celestia have the time to tell her all this? I was with her most of the time! She’s more diabolical than a demon.

I leaned against her desk. “Yeah, you’re definitely ahead of most students in the school by a huge margin.”

“Well, no, I still have a long way to go.”

“In a world I’ve been to, they used to say: ‘modesty is a virtue, but bashfulness is a vice’. It really isn’t for you. Just admit it, you’re better than the other students in the class.”

Twilight hesitated for a moment. Then she gave me a small smile. “Well, I guess I have been getting slightly better grades.”

“Good.”

“And I have been trying super hard to practice magic, in fact, I’ve done some pretty good magic…”

“Excellent.”

“Yeah! I summoned a demon, didn’t I?”

“Awesome. Wait, no. Bad Twilight, that’s exactly what you shouldn’t have been doing!”

Twilight balked at that. “Erm, haha, sorry, I got a little carried away.”

I morphed back into my demon form and raked a claw across my skull. Oooooh, that’s a nice sensation.

“That’s alright, but just remember that although you’re a powerful magus, the best part about you is the way you’ve treated me.” I waggled a talon in admonishment. “Don’t turn out like the masters and mistresses before me. Don’t be like Amethyst.”

The last bit hit home particularly hard for Twilight, who swallowed and nodded seriously.

Satisfied I’d made a point and hopefully reduced the amount of magi summoning demons without resorting to killing them for once, I broke out into a smile and patted her head.

“Alright, let’s get back to sending me back. How’re we going to do it without a higher level of access?”

Twilight thought about for a moment and then shrugged rather innocently. “Maybe… we should sneak into the library anyway?”

————————

[1] The horror mainly lies in cleaning up afterwards. They stink.
[2] Stratos made a little bauble that told time. It was apparently his greatest work, but the hourglass wasn't accurate, and no one knew exactly what it told the time of. He died before anyone could get it out of him. The hourglass was lost as well. I don't even know why I mentioned it. Maybe I want to know what it does too?
[3] The Glaring Golem was made famous due to its sullen glare. It was so powerful and compelling, that anyone exposed to it, would immediately babble all their secrets, no matter how deep or buried it was. The glare, some would say, was reminiscent of sitting on a bed of pine needles for no less than the length it takes for a snail to circumnavigate the world. Some would bet on whether the revealed secrets would be worse than the Golem's glare. So far no one has won. As a side note, I actually met the Glaring Golem once, she was a nice automaton. I think I was being rude when I didn't make eye contact, but you understand, right? A demon's got his secrets and it would be impolite to spill them to a lady one just met.

————————

I felt like my jaw was trying to unhinge itself.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a dang minute, what do you mean sneak in?”

Twilight tossed her head confidently. “The Princess didn’t specifically forbid us from doing so.”

“W-Well—” Well I’ll be damned. This kid was as crafty as a demon! “I’ve definitely rubbed off on you.”

“We’re definitely going to look and not do anything else, though!”

“Alright, alright, I won’t set fire to any books or steal any national treasures, happy?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You weren’t going to do that anyway… right?”

I simply grinned at her.

“Don’t do that,” she grumbled. “You remind me too much of my Mom when she gets an idea that involves me.”

“That reminds me, what the heck does your mother do?”

Twilight opened her mouth and then slowly closed it. She tilted her head ponderously.

“You know… I’ve never asked, but I have been asked to dress in strange clothes before, so maybe she’s an actor?”

“How… do you not know what your parents do for a living?”

Twilight didn’t look all that concerned. “I’ve never asked.”

I threw up my claws. “This whole family is crazy.”

Twilight pursed her lips. “We’re not! We’re just… different.”

Don’t I know it…

————————

Dinner was surprisingly good. I loved sweets, but the savoury texture of whatever the heck they put in hay pâté was a delight. It tasted familiar, with the alluring taste of umami, although I’m pretty sure these ponies didn’t put meat in it. I think. I considered raising that question, but I didn’t want to spoil the good mood that was spread around the dinner table. Twilight, especially, was notably embarrassed by the burgeoning questions her mother had for us both. Well, her questions were mainly centred around me; Twilight’s reactions, I think, were a pleasant bonus for her.

“So, Morpheus, how long have you two been going out?”

“Mom! We’re not even close to that age, ewww!”

Velvet laughed away her daughter’s awkward sentiments. “Nonsense, you can never get started too early!” She eyed me with keen interest. “And…?”

“And nothing,” I told her carefully. “We’re not in that kind of thing.”

“My, my, my…” Velvet peered at me with a discomforting leer. “You do talk quite mature for your age.”

I didn’t make the rookie mistake of panicking, but darn it, my mortal container did shake the slightest bit. “Would you rather foal-speak?”

Velvet’s lips twitched into a broad smile. “I guess it’s good that Twilight got somepony that can talk her speed. Goodness knows my daughter is more than a hooful. I’m so proud of her, but sometimes, she worries me.”

Twilight had that frustrated look all children had when adults started talking as if they weren’t right there.

I tried to bring her back into the conversation. “Twilight didn’t choose me, specifically, right Twilight?”

Instead of saving herself, Twilight threw herself off the frying pan and into the sun.

“W-Well, that’s not true,” she stammered, “I-I did specifically choose you.”

I knew she meant the summoning, but this wasn’t really helping with the—oh sweet Other, her eyes are sparkling! Twilight, do something before I get eaten alive! Are feelings infectious? Can you die from them? Do you contract crazy?

Velvet wiped a bit of drool that was coming off her mouth. “Well, that’s enough for today!”

What’s enough for today?!

“Time for bed!”

Twilight and I shared a look.

“Okay, we’re not super-duper normal, but it’s harmless right? Right? Right? Morpheus, say something.”

Twilight would have to learn to accept my stone-cold look of resignation. Gees, it runs in the family, doesn’t it?

————————

Turns out sneaking into the Canterlot Library of Forbidden and Unusual Magic wasn’t as hard as I thought. There were guards, of course, but it was ridiculously easy to slip past them whilst invisible. Twilight tagged along, of course, but she kept to the shadows sneaking from point to point when I gave her a suitable signal. She didn’t have to do that, but Twilight thought it ‘gave it a level of authenticity’.

Justifiably nervous in what was probably the only time Twilight had ever considered going against the arch-overlord of all that is pony, the diminutive unicorn was spending more time looking back than forwards. I would have found the image amusing, had my neck not been on the same line she was.

“Twilight,” I growled. “Looking back to check if anypony is there is good practice, but every two seconds is just going to give you a crick in the neck!”

Twilight nodded morosely. “I know, I know, it’s just that… this is probably the first time I’ve broken a rule.”

“There’s a rule that prevents you from accessing restricted areas? I never would have guessed.”

“You don’t have to be so sarcastic about it, Morpheus! I’m just… scared.”

“Alright, alright, if it will assuage your guilt, you’re doing this for a good cause. Just repeat that to yourself. You’re doing this because it’s right.”

“I’m doing it because it’s right…?”

“Yep.”

“Is this right?”

“How should I know? Does breaking a law to prevent catastrophic destruction and mayhem actually justify what you’re doing? Isn’t ethics a mortal thing? Decide for yourself.”

Twilight drew silent, but I didn’t pay it heed, as a guard rounded the corner and I withdrew into the shadows. Even though they couldn’t see me during the day, that didn’t rule out whether these guards were special, or if they had tools that could detect demons. Princess Celestia was no fool and I had the feeling that getting caught right now would result in very dire consequences than a stern talking to.

As the guard drew past, I heaved a sigh of relief. I rounded the corner and climbed up to the window. Using my senses, I detected a faint filigree of magic entangled around the glass, but the window next to it was broken slightly, so the magic around it was surprisingly absent.

“Do you detect any magic around this window?”

Twilight was silent in reply.

“Oh, by the Other, you’re not actually having a moral crisis right now, are you?”

Twilight bit her lip and then slowly shook her head. “I think… I think it may be wrong to break into the Library—”

“Oh now you say—”

“But it’s even more wrong to enslave a thinking, feeling being too!” Twilight scuffed her hoof on the grass. “I want to make things right again… even if it means you have to leave.”

“Hey,” I said, looking at her, “even if I’m not around, I’m sure you’ll find somepony to be your friend. How about after this, I help you find a friend?”

“Really?”

I swallowed thickly. “I promise.”

Twilight caught my look and smiled brightly in return. Meanwhile, cold sweat broke out down my back. Promises are really binding for demons, you know?

I really hope that this doesn’t come back and bite me in the behind.

————————

Inside the library, the quiet was so pervasive that the only sounds I could hear were our own. We were in the top floor and most of the danger was passed in terms of the guards, so we relaxed slightly to accommodate Twilight’s panicked breathing.

“Alright, we’re past most of it now,” I said with a smile. “We just need to go down the hall and enter that door, right?”

Twilight’s gasping slowed down a couple of notches. She caught her breath and weakly smiled at me. “All we have to do now is—”

I stopped her with an outstretched hoof. My ears perked as I heard slight sounds coming from the end of the hallway. Familiar pins and needles prickled my skin as I strained to hear in the darkness. “There’s someone ahead.”

“Somepony ahead—?”

“I didn’t say a pony.”

At that, Twilight swallowed thickly. “What is it?”

“I don’t know. But whatever it is, it’s louder than us when it’s breathing,” I whispered back. “Stay here.”

Twilight made to argue but I shot her a quelling look and put a clawed finger to my lips after I morphed back into my favourite form. Creeping slowly, I came to the door frame and peeked inside.

Oh no.

“Is there another way in?” I shot to her softly.

Twilight peered at me with quizzical brows drawn together. “No? This is the only way through to the lower floors.” She gulped. “I-Is there something there?”

“Well… yes… but…”

“Is it a monster?”

“It could be argued that it’s worse than that.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “What is it?”

“It’s… Amethyst.”

There, sleeping peacefully on a tabletop was Amethyst Star, alone.

—————————

Twilight rounded on me. “What is she doing here?!”

Our voices were barely above a whisper, but I gestured for silence as I carefully pulled the door closed. Luckily the door was well-oiled and barely made a sound as I shut it.

However…

“Buh? Sparkle!”

I swallowed down a rising lump in my throat as we both cowered back into the shadows. Did she see us? Peering through the crack, I saw Amethyst look around guiltily before shaking her head.

“Huh, I must have fallen asleep,” she mumbled with a weary slur. “Got to keep going.”

Amethyst drew a book to herself and began reading, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Huh, she’s studying.” I glanced at Twilight. “Looks like we’re not the only ones sneaking into the library.”

“What do we do?” Twilight pressed. She wrung her hooves together. “We’re going to get caught!”

“Oh will you calm down?” I shot back. “We’re not going to get caught, you’re overreacting. There are plenty of ways around this.”

“Like what?”

“I could knock her out—”

“No!”

“Okay, fine. I make a distraction as something else, Amethyst goes and investigates, and then I turn invisible and sneak back in, how’s that one?”

“That’s… actually surprisingly okay.”

“Honestly, I think knocking her out is the easiest option. After all, she wasn’t supposed to be here, so she can’t tell anyone and it just looks like she’s sleeping.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “We can’t do that.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Yeah, alright, fine.”

“No matter how much she deserves it.”

“Sorry,” I said with a grin, “what was that?”

Twilight huffed. “Nothing, let’s try out your thing.”

Morphing into a likeness of a guard, I smiled. “Glad to.”

—————————

“Who’s there?!” I bellowed in a loud voice.

“Eeek!”

“There, I heard a sound!” Bursting into the room, I saw Amethyst pathetically trying to hide herself behind a curtain. “I can see you behind the curtain, come out now.”

Amethyst reluctantly emerged from her cover with eyes and ears drooping.

“Oh, it’s just a kid. How many of you foals sneak into this place at night anyhow? If I were one of you, I’d be more interested in sleeping, or at least playing.”

“Uhm… you won’t tell the Princess I was here, right?”

“…”

“Please, I will do anything!”

That… was a tempting offer, but it would be a bit on the nose to suggest she stop bullying Twilight, right? I cleared my throat. “Alright, alright, keep your coat on, I won’t do that.”

“Thank Celestia!”

Don't thank that demon, thank me!

“Well,” I drawled, “what are you kids doing at here at night? Are you actually studying?”

“You don’t understand…” Amethyst replied wearily. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

“And getting caught is the way to maintain it?” I saw Twilight slowly creep in whilst Amethyst was distracted.

Amethyst sighed. “It’s really complicated. There’s this other pony at school, her name is Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight froze at the sound of her name. I gestured with my eyebrows.

Move, come on!

But the silly foal wanted to listen to Amethyst’s sob story. I quickly gave Amethyst a neutral expression as her head came up.

“I used to be first at everything before she came along! First in magical theory, first in mathematics, writing, reading, science, you name it! Then, then, then she came along! She ruined everything!” Silence stretched on as she glared hatefully out the window, narrowly missing Twilight in the process. Good thing she was standing stock still in mute shock. Amethyst folded her arms. “Mother was not happy.”

“Look kid, I don’t know what you’re doing telling a random guard your entire backstory, but, erm, here’s some advice: Things get a lot easier if you just let things go. You’re second? Alright. Try a little harder. You’ve got family issues? Try to work them out with them. Get captured and forced to do your master’s bidding—”

“What?”

“—don’t blame it all on some…pony else, yeah?” I finished quickly. Phew, almost dragged my personal problems in there. When Amethyst looked doubtful at my so-called advice, I sighed. “Take me, for example. I could make your life complicated and turn you in, telling the Princess in the process…”

Amethyst stiffened at that.

“Or I could just let you go, and not fill out any paperwork, because you’re just a kid.”

Amethyst relaxed slightly and nodded somewhat sullenly. “…Okay.”

Suddenly, I felt two hooves wrap around me in a tight embrace.

“Thank you,” she whispered bashfully before gathering her things. Twilight had hidden behind the same curtain Amethyst did, in the meantime. It was a good thing the little filly didn’t notice, but that was really a poor hiding place, I could see her purple legs, for flip’s sake.

Amethyst headed towards the door with faltering hoof steps. She turned back around slowly.

“…What is it, kid?”

“My name’s Amethyst… will you be around here sometime later?”

“No… I’m going to be… rotated out soon.” Nice one!

Her ears drooped.

“Hey, well, you shouldn’t be here all alone at night anyway, go study in the library during daylight hours.”

Amethyst hesitated, then nodded in agreement. “I just thought, maybe… we could be friends?”

I couldn’t say anything for a full ten seconds just from sheer astonishment. What was with these ponies and wanting to be my friend? What the heck about me was so attractive to them? Are they naturally attracted to death? Are they part-lemming?

“Okay, well, a guard probably isn’t the best friend to have when you’re doing something wrong,” I told her. “It’s probably not possible for us to meet.”

“You know, guards around here only get rotated around the castle. You can come visit me after school.”

“Two things: One, that’s not really a good idea. Two, why?”

Amethyst shuffled her hooves. “You remind me of this new colt at school. He seems so free. I wish I had that kind of freedom…” She glanced at me. “You know how that feels, right?”

I have to admit it, that did strike a chord with me. Taking advantage of my silence, Amethyst pushed on.

“Meet me after school!” Amethyst called back with a grin. “Promise?”

“Okay…” I said weakly.

Then she darted out the door.

Hey, don’t get me wrong, it’s an infiltration mission, alright? I just… it’s not… it’s definitely not what it looks like.

“This is one of your plans to make friends with them to let their guard down, just like when you were at school, right?” Twilight said suspiciously, as she emerged from the worst hiding place in the world.

“…Absolutely.”

“You’re a bad liar, Morpheus.” Twilight rolled her eyes at me. “Pushover.”

I bristled at that. “You’re a bad hider, so we’re even.”

“You’re becoming a nicer pony, Morpheus.”

“I’m not a pony.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re not becoming one.”

“How do you know I’m not planning to break her neck when her guard is down?”

“Because you can’t~!” Twilight ended in a sing-song voice. She wore a smug grin that was infuriating to no end, but I couldn’t work up proper indignation because I was worried.

If I had lingering attachments here, it might not be possible to leave at all. No wait, I didn’t have any attachments at all. I was just caught up in the moment, that’s all. I could just blow off the meeting! Yes! Amethyst would be temporarily depressed and I’d go back to being the same old me. That’s good.

A familiar tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach stopped me from continuing.

Oh, wait, I promised didn’t I?

Twilight was waiting for the realisation to dawn on me, it seemed. She watched with laughter-filled eyes.

I brought a hoof to my face and and held it there.

“…Damn.”

Author's Note

Short warning: Like most stuff I only self-edit my stories, so if I make grammar mistakes due to Author-eyes, please let me know and I can fix them!

I know I probably thank you a lot in these notes, but your support through comments and well-wishes and simply enjoying the story is a real pick-me-up these last few days. Thanks once again for being here to support this and sorry I haven't been updating this regularly.

Next Chapter: Erm, Morpheus, you forgot to morph back into a pony.

As always, my radiant readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Thanks for pointing out my stupid mistakes. So embarrassing!

8 - Handsome as the Devil

Chapter 8: Handsome as the Devil

There is a certain myth about summoning powerful demons. That there needs to be a great sacrifice made in exchange for great power. That is a lie. There is no sacrifice required to summon a demon. But powerful demons are dangerous, so you best be on your guard if you are ever foolish enough to summon one. Maybe vigilance is your sacrifice.

There was something about the way shadows were cast in this room that gave me the heebie jeebies. Some would scoff at my behaviour and put it down to cowardice, but I liked to explain to those naysayers that it is a healthy amount of caution. After all, ‘cowardice’ is why I’m alive and why those who turned their noses up at me are not.

“Morpheus, why do you keep looking around?”

Explaining that to a foal is a little difficult, though.

“I get the feeling that something or someone is watching us.”

“Do you think something’s watching us?”

I looked around once more. “No, I don’t think so…” I shrugged. “Right, so, about these doors…”

Twilight glanced up at the doors, at a loss at how to proceed, for once. “I’ve never made it this far into the Library before.” She peered at the intricate designs on the door and bit her lip. “It might be a while before we can get in.” Her horn glowed softly as she studied the lock on the door. It seemed to be made of steel. I reached out to touch it—

“Oww!” I whipped my claw back. “What the—a demonic seal?!”

“Shh!” Twilight glanced at the door for a few tense moments. When she couldn’t hear any exclamations, she relaxed. “Demonic seal, what’s that?”

I sucked at my claw as I glared at the lock. “It’s a seal that keeps demons out. Hence, a demonic seal.”

“Uhm, wow, okay, I was just asking.”

I should dial back the sarcasm a bit.

“Sorry,” I muttered bitterly, “I’m in a lot of pain right now.” I considered the lock and studied the barrier. “This device is built to keep demons away. Wait, no, that’s not quite true. This barrier is also keeping demons in…” A shivering premonition swept through my mortal container as I considered the possible implications. “Are you sure you want to open this door?”

Twilight bit her lip. “This is the only way to get down into the lower levels, do you have a better idea?”

“But how’re you going to break open this lock? It looks complicated.”

The excited foal studied the lock with a keen eye. “Doesn’t look that bad, I’ve gotten through tougher loc—I mean, I think I might’ve seen this before. I mean, read it… before, I mean. Yep, before…”

I met Twilight’s watery glance as I slowly raised an eyebrow. “Twilight, you devious little devil, have you broken into sensitive areas before?”

Twilight found something interesting to look at on the bare stone wall. “N-No, of course not. The areas just weren’t…”

“I won’t pry.” I chuckled heartily at her bashful look. “But I get the feeling you’re not as straight-cut as I initially thought.”

“Oh fine! It was one time and those cookies were reeeeally good.”

“Your mother hid cookies?”

“…I didn’t say they were from my mother.”

“Your father?”

Twilight shook her head. “It was somepony a little more… royal.”

My eyes widened. “No, not Princess… Celestia?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “What other royal ponies are there?”

“That’s a lot of effort for cookies.”

“…They might not have been cookies.”

“Were they books?”

Twilight cleared her throat and flushed an interesting shade of red. “L-Let’s move onto something else.”

“Ha, silly me, no more prying.” I yawned, leaning against a wall for support. “I’ll let you do your thing, then. Just don’t blame me if you get eaten by a demon, or something.”

Twilight hesitated before replying. “Demons don’t eat ponies, do they?”

I shrugged. “We’ll try anything once, but let me tell you, it’s not my hobby to bite anything, I’ll use my claws if I can help it. Teeth is a last-resort. I don’t like the taste of mortals.”

Despite my explanation, Twilight didn’t look so assured. “Uhm… okay.” Though, true to her word, Twilight managed to deactivate the lock. With the lock, the demonic seal also dissipated.

“Mechanism must be tied to the lock,” I commented as I picked it up and tossed it to Twilight. “Here, take this.”

She took the lock gingerly in her magic. “Why? Wait! We’re not stealing this, are we?!”

“We’re not,” I shot back, “but we can’t leave it lying around. We’re just holding onto it for safekeeping.”

“Oh,” she muttered, placing the lock into her saddlebags. “You’re not lying, are you?”

“One: I don’t lie. Two: You’ve given me a command not to lie, so I literally cannot lie to you. Three: Have I ever lied to you before?”

Did she know I was lying to her? Actually, I didn’t lie to her; I just didn’t tell her the whole truth. The lock was for safekeeping and we were going to return it, so it technically wasn’t stealing, it was loosely borrowing. The real reason I wanted to keep it, however, was because I thought the demonic seal tied to the lock was going to be incredibly useful… but Twilight didn’t need to know that.

Twilight slowly shook her head, smiling at me. “No, you’re right, Morpheus, sorry I doubted you.” She hesitated, her smile coming down a couple of notches. “Hey Morpheus?”

I tilted my head at her. “What?”

“Is Amethyst your friend?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s what it looks like.”

Twilight nudged me cheekily. “So you’ve made a friend, right?”

I scowled at the recalcitrant magus. “She’s not a friend, alright? Besides, aren’t you more upset that I’ve made friends with your enemy?”

Twilight shrugged. “I know now that you aren’t doing that to hurt me, and besides, we’re waaaay better friends than you and her.”

“You’re not afraid I’ll be better friends with her than you?”

Twilight stopped briefly, and shot me a look. “Erm… you’re not going to be better friends with her than me, right? We’ve known each other longer, right? We’re better friends, right?”

“Twilight… you’re panicking too much.”

Twilight bit her lip and took a deep breath. “Yeah. Okay. That’s true. Not best friends. I’m your best friend… I’m your best friend, aren’t I?”

“Why’re we talking about best friends? Do you think you’re my only friend?”

“No, but, you know, we can work on that!” Twilight didn’t look so sure of herself. “Okay, so, erm, here!” She thrusted something in my direction. I glanced at her hooves in confusion.

“What is it?”

“It’s the Astral Pendant.”

My eyes widened.

“Where did you get this?”

“I, erm, came by it.”

“Riiiiiiight. So why’re you giving this to me?”

“Because you’re my friend, Morpheus.”

What’s with this foal’s logic?

I stared at the Astral Pendant for a long time. It had a cord around made of simple brown-coloured string. I recognised the threading. It was the same one she used for her doll. Somewhat at a loss, I slowly put it on, staring at the foal that seemed oblivious to my rising confusion. She grinned at me and then headed off.

We weren’t really friends. This was for mutual benefit. I mean I could do everything a friend was required to do, but that doesn’t mean I’m attached. You can be a ‘friend’ and not care, right?

I didn’t lie to my mistress and I didn’t break any rules.

So why does my heart hurt?

—————————

There was a rustling and whispering sound beyond the hallway.

“What was that?” I said, thrusting a claw out to stop Twilight from approaching.

“Did you hear something?” Twilight murmured, coming up close to my side.

“Yeah, there’s something down there.”

Silence greeted us as tense moments passed whilst we held our collective breaths.

“Must have been my imagination,” I muttered more to myself than Twilight. “There’s nothing there.”

Then a shadow dropped down from the ceiling.

My mouth flopped open as the figure resolved itself.

“Oh, come on!” ‘Morpheus’ turned to Twilight. “I don’t look that stupid, do I?”

The unicorn beside him, erm, me, nodded her head. “Well, I guess so.” Twilight paused. “That’s weird, do you feel that?”

Morpheus chuckled. “That’s our memories rearranging. Anyway, hello, me, I guess you could say that I’m from the future.”

Instead of freaking out, I calmly replied. “How long?”

Morpheus ignored my own question to himself… and turned to Twilight. “See? I knew I would be reasonable!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and gestured impatiently for me, I mean him, to get going. By the Other, was I really that annoying?

“The answer to that question is yes,” Morpheus told me smugly, “and you wouldn’t change it anyway.”

I smirked. “Yeah, that’s right. So what’s going on?”

“Smartypants here activated Celestia’s trap a few doors down there.”

Twilight—my Twilight—frowned. “Smartypants? What kind of name is that?!”

“A good one!” the other Twilight grumbled. “I came up with it!”

“Told you so,” Morpheus interjected smugly as I groaned internally. I decided to improve my attitude in the future. I was insufferable. The other Morpheus immediately frowned and shook his head.

“Stop that,” he said.

“Stop what?”

“Stop altering the future based on this conversation, it’s making me change abruptly, soon we might not be able to tell you what’s up ahead. Don’t go, there’s a—”

Then they popped out of existence.

Twilight and I shared a glance in the ringing silence.

“What was that all about?” I blurted, unable to contain my incredulity any longer.

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, “that was weird.”

“Still, there’s a trap ahead, thanks to, erm, future-us, we’ll have avoided it.”

“But what if the appearance of, uhm, future-us is actually a trap, too?”

I shrugged. “Well I guess in any case, we’ll just have to be extra-careful.”

—————————

Meanwhile, a lot more than five minutes into the future…

“Time loop! That… didn’t work.”

I smacked my head against the wall. Twilight winced, but didn’t say anything. If anything, she probably would have done the same if her head wasn’t made so fragile and mortal-like.

“Sorry Morpheus, I didn’t know.”

“Who would have thought Princess Celestia would go this far?”

I had suspicions of course, the first few minutes in. The hallways looked similar, the walls were uniform and straight, but the most telling part of it all…

“It all repeats,” Twilight muttered. “There’s the painting again.”

Princess Celestia’s cold visage peered through the oil layers, glancing down at us like she was mocking our very efforts.

I placed a weary claw on my face as I pondered the situation. “There must be some trick to this.”

Twilight bit her lip as her eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Sorry, Morpheus, I’m supposed to be the one familiar with magic here, but I don’t remember reading anything remotely similar to this.”

I was about to reply when I heard the telltale sound of the stone grinding against stone. The door was opening yet again.

“There they are,” I whispered urgently, “hide!”

I grabbed Twilight and scaled the wall with some difficulty, as our doubles passed below us, oblivious that they were caught in a time loop. I now knew that interacting with our past selves wouldn’t bring about any change, so we just let them pass.

“What was that?” I heard myself say.

“Did you hear something?” Past-Twilight asked past-me.

“No…” Past-Morpheus replied, “must have been my imagination.”

The pair continued down the hallway until they disappeared.

“You’d think I’d get used to seeing myself after all this time, but I still can’t wrap my head around it.”

“There must be some way we can get past this hall.” Actually, getting out of this ‘trap’ was incredibly easy. The door that was the entrance was actually the exit. If we went back, we would end up in the antechamber to the hallway. Back where Amethyst had been.

Twilight glanced up. “Actually… wait, no, never mind.”

I tilted my head, ears twitching. “What is it, Twilight?”

“Never mind, it’s a dumb idea.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m ready to try anything, just say it.”

“Well… what if there’s something around the painting?”

I looked at the painting. “Uhm…”

“You’re right, it’s a stupid idea. Forget I said anything.”

“No, wait, come to think of it, the only real feature in this hallway is that painting.” I peered at the painting. A large golden frame with complex gold workings were relief-carved around the edges surrounding a simple background of muted blues and greens, whilst the severe profile of Celestia was portrayed.

Twilight joined me with a serious expression. “Hey… do those markings look familiar to you?”

They were, it looked just like a summoning spell, except…

“—except it’s a square,” Twilight finished the thought for me with a perplexed frown.

“I’ve never seen a square summoning circle,” I muttered. “This has to be some sort of mistake.”

“Erm, you don’t think that…?”

“That it’s a trap?” I scratched my head. “We’re already in a trap, so it’s unlikely. It could be the exit or…”

Twilight shot me a sidelong stare. “Or…?”

“Or it’s probably some sort of lethal diabolical trap. Somehow.”

Twilight didn’t find fault with my logic. I mean just because you’re caught in a trap, doesn’t mean there’s an escape. But it stood to reason that if Celestia was the one who made these traps, then she would have planned an eventuality for escaping one if it turned on her. She had that ‘master chess player’ sort of feel around her.

“What do the symbols say? Do you think it’s safe to keep staring at it?”

All valid questions to ask, because there were some tricky artefacts that trapped the unwary and wily magus, seeking to expand their fortune at the expense of others. A case in point was Elimere’s Silvered Stone, said to enhance the mental concentration, but featured a mental maze that would make those unwary of it trapped in a comatose state until they found the centre.

“This square circle is ingenious!” Twilight gasped. “Look at this, and the way the power traces the particulate control over the expanding set! I see…”

I poked her in the shoulder. “Can you do something about it?”

Twilight nodded. “This is actually a summoning circle, but in reverse!”

“What?”

“I know, right?” She pointed a hoof at the corner of the frame. “See look here, the junction actually causes a push in a particular direction. In effect, it transports somepony somewhere else.”

“Oh… like a gateway.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to look at me in surprise. “What’s a gateway?”

“A construction used by magi to bridge between worlds. Apparently. I don’t think that’s what’s being used here, because almost always these things are powered by something hefty.”

“Hefty?”

I flicked a claw. “Like a star or something. It’s not what a singular magi could probably achieve. Unless they’re exceptional.”

“So this could lead… somewhere else?”

“Not to a new world, although I have seen stranger things. I don’t think it would, but I haven’t known enough about magic to tell. I think it’s possible, but that doesn’t necessarily mean this is what it is, if you get what I mean.”

Twilight studied the relief edge once more with a ponderous expression.

“Well, I think I get what you mean, but there’s no other way forward other than this painting.”

“Let’s give it a shot?”

Twilight nodded with a deadset smile. “Let’s do it.”

Twilight reached out with her hoof, but I grabbed it in my claw and held her back. “Let me handle this.”

“But—”

“It’s not that I want to be a hero, but realistically speaking, I could probably survive something this could throw at me more than you could.”

Faced with that logic, Twilight did the logical thing and stepped—no wait, she totally dived forward!

“Hey—”

Before I could even react, the painting shone a dull red that steadily scaled the colour spectrum to orange, then yellow, then green… all the while a whining sound filled the air.

“Do you think I did something wrong?” Twilight asked with a stupefied look. “Is it supposed to do that?”

“Heck if I know!” I shot back angrily, grabbing her and running from the painting. “We both knew there was a chance that this would be a traaaaa—”

Grabbed by an invisible force partway through my sentence, I was dragged bodily towards the painting of Celestia that made her look too smugly arrogant. I cursed her expression in my heart and grabbed the foal with my claws, drawing her to my body instinctually.

“Morpheus!”

“I have you, Twilight, don’t let go!”

Desperate hooves clutched me as we were flung through the air and into the painting. I was expecting an impact, but instead a soft, gelatinous membrane met us. It resisted slightly before I felt something tear and we were thrown into the darkness.

I could still feel Twilight, but I couldn’t see anything.

“Twilight?!”

Twilight mumbled something into my fur.

“Oh,” I said, letting her go. “Sorry.”

“I couldn’t see a thing!” Twilight spluttered. I could hear her spitting out some of my fur. “Where are we?”

“I wish there was some lighting,” I mumbled.

Suddenly, the space we were in was flooded with bright diffuse light that lined the ceiling in even strips. Strange insets in the walls, in some weird language I couldn’t recognise, was backlit by countless points of shifting light. It felt like we were floating in some sort of dense star field.

“It’s beautiful…” Twilight whispered, gazing around with wide eyes.

“We can’t move,” I commented wryly, trying to ‘walk’ in any direction, but finding that I was unable to stray from my position next to Twilight. Though I let go of her, she was still floating near me.

“Visitors…”

Suddenly, the backdrop cut out and we were no longer floating. Falling, I heard an ‘oof’ as Twilight hit the ground, whilst I landed somewhat awkwardly on all fours.

“A demon and a… apprentice magus? Curious,” the voice continued.

A room was steadily constructed out of white panels that moulded into a roughly hexagonal room. A shadow coalesced in one of the corners and grew bigger and bigger until a roughly dog-like shape emerged. Draped in a coat, the dog morphed into a roughly anthropomorphic bipedal that considered us with sharp blue eyes and an amused smile.

“Welcome to the Between. Is this your first time?”

I glanced at Twilight who was sitting on the floor with her mouth open.

“How…?”

The being chuckled. “I take it that this is your first time.” The voice became distinctly feminine as ‘she’ turned towards me. “And you are a repeat guest.”

“Me? I don’t recall meeting you.”

“And that’s exactly what you say every time you’re here. Hmmm. I take it you won’t be comfortable with me calling you both by your True Names, so why don’t you introduce yourselves to me?”

It paused as I shot Twilight a look. She was still frozen, so I took the initiative.

“I’m Morpheus and this is Twilight Sparkle.”

I must admit, the Between being was very courteous.

“More tea?”

“Erm, yes, please,” Twilight replied, nervously taking a sip.

I threw the tea on the ground.

“Morpheus!” Twilight exclaimed.

“What? That thing is clearly taunting us!”

The being looked at me strangely and continued consuming the teacup and tea. As in erased it from existence. It took the teacup and tea and made it not. As in it was no longer it. Do you get it? It’s spine-chilling, you just can’t make something not be there when it was there already, that was just crazy! You can’t just… You can’t… You…

“Twilight,” I heard the Between being call out. “Slap your demon.”

“What?”

“Slap him!”

“Whaaaaat?”

“Do it!”

Smack.

I felt the hoof collide with my mortal container and the pain washed through me, instantly grounding me back to reality.

“Bwuah! Thanks, Twilight.”

Twilight stared between her hoof and me. “Sorry—”

I placed a hoof on her shoulder. “No, no, not your fault. I fell into an existential crisis just then.”

“You’re worried about your existence?”

“No, I was worried about the existence of a teacup.”

“…”

“You’ll understand if you ever live a few thousand years.”

“Uhm, okay…”

“Alright,” I turned from Twilight to address the Between being. “What to do from here?”

“What else is there to do?” The Between being lounged on a sofa that materialised into existence with the abruptness of a window-smacking bird. “We just stay here. Forever.”

Twilight and I shared a look.

“Yeah not like we don’t want to—” I began.

“But we really need to go somewhere,” Twilight finished.

“I, uh…” Twilight trailed off as I shot her a concerned look.

“What did you do?” I demanded from the Between being.

The figure ‘shrugged’ or more like I ‘felt’ it shrug. It ‘considered’ me with those striking blue eyes. “I didn’t do anything. When you’re in the Between, you tend to lose things. Sometimes you gain them. It’s that kind of thing.”

“Why are you here?”

“Why are any of us here?” It replied, drifting towards me. The Between being curled a long sinuous appendage around me. “I guess you created me. You had enough time to.”

“Time?”

“Why yes, you were here for an awfully long time. I mean before this, there was no concept of time and then you existed and then made it so. Wishes, you see, are what powers the world around us. You want reality, so you get it. You’re not expecting it, so you don’t get it. You see?”

“No, not exactly, you’re not making any sense.”

“What use is sense if there’s nothing to sense? I’m not here. You’re not here. Are you really travelling?”

Twilight mumbled something.

“Ah, looks like your mistress is starting to come to the realisation that this place is not a place. Best be quick or she might be… hmm… broken.”

I glared at the Between being. “Let us out of here!”

“Or what? You’ll kill me? I don’t exist! In fact, I am you!”

“What so you’re a hallucination?”

“Mmmm, a manifestation of your wishes more like. You would know. You were here before.”

“I was never here before!”

“Dear me, my mistake. Forwards and backwards holds no meaning here.”

“Twilight,” I said, turning around to face her. Not good, she was growing pale. “Twilight, look at me.” Light-pink purple eyes found their way to me. “Good. I’m real, you’re real. Right now this place is real, so stay with me.”

“This is real?”

“Yes, you have to believe me.”

Her eyes grew a little clearer. “Yes, I believe you, Morpheus.”

I smiled. “That’s a good magus. Now, a magical problem. How do we get out of here?”

“Here?” Twilight’s eyes started clouding again. I almost smacked myself. “Don’t concentrate on here! Concentrate on where we need to go.”

“Go? Go where?”

“The library!”

“The library?” Twilight eyes flickered a little and then found themselves back here. “Yes, the library! Books!”

I almost rolled my eyes. “Yes, yes, books, books, books, well done.” I snapped my claws in front of her muzzle. “Can you get us out?”

“The interdimensional doorway.”

“Yes!”

The Between being served us cakes. I threw them off the table.

“That’s rude,” it said.

“What are you, anyway?”

“I’m you. You might not believe it, but that’s what I am. So asking me anything that you don’t know is going to be mighty difficult, if you ask me. Which is you. I’m you, that is.”

“Ugh, Twilight, did you find out anything?”

“This is real and I’m drawing on a floor. This is a floor.”

“Poor thing,” the Between being said. “She’s trying to cope.”

“Cope with what?”

“With being and not-being.”

“You can’t be both at the same time.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, you have a little experience of that, demon, so you’re a little better off than the mortal magus. Mmm, right now, you’re serving as an anchor. So do your job.”

“What job? What can I do?”

“Just be there and touch her. Make sure that you’re real to her.”

“She can hear you, you know.”

“Not really.” The Between being clicked her tongue at me. “I’m neither here nor there. My words right now are for you alone. She’s finding it very difficult to grip onto reality.” The Between being licked her lips. “Oh and by the way, if she loses grip on existence here, you’re free. You can go back to the Other. It is very close to here.”

Just as I was about to help Twilight, I paused.

“What did you say?”

“Oh, you know, you can be free if you just let go. That’s all I’m saying. Your mistress will be gone and you will have no more to worry about.”

“You’re very distracting, you know that?”

“Well, I’m supposed to make you forget it.”

“Forget what?”

“Exactly. Nothing to forget. It’s already forgotten.”

I glanced around. There was no one here.

“I… there was something with me.”

“You sure you’re not just here all on your own?”

“Of course I wasn’t I was with… I was with… who was I with?”

“Of course you weren’t with anything. You weren’t with anything at all. You were always here. Always alone.”

“Always alone.”

The Between being smiled. I could see all her teeth and faint wisps of her hair. She looked human. Someone I recognised. But who?

“Ah, I see you’re trying to remember me. Does my name strike a bell?”

“Selena…?”

“Bingo!” She clicked her fingers and then stuck her tongue out. “Actually, no, but close!”

“But you disappeared! You don’t exist anymore.”

“Of course, didn’t you hear me? I’m not her. Ah, but being here has its uses. Darkness needing the light and so on. After I was banished, it was so hard to get a hold of a new body.” She patted herself down with her newly-formed hands. “This form will take getting used to, but then again, demons.”

“I don’t believe it…”

‘Selena’ arched a delicate eyebrow. “You’re the one manifesting your own desires. If you wanted this ‘Selena’ back, then you’d have her back. Not all of her, mind you, that’s long gone. You can’t have everything.”

“I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something.”

“Oh you’re not missing anything. The more you’re here, in this moment, the more you define me and the more I’ll be… complete.”

I was going to do something.

I was going to—

I lurched forward instinctively.

Thump.

There was something, next to my heart, at my chest.

An Astral Pendant.

A device of slavery to entrap a demon for an indefinite period of time.

A gift from a friend.

A friend.

“Twilight!”

I whipped around. Twilight was barely there, her form was almost indistinguishable from the reality of what was in this place. I hurried over and placed a claw firmly into the mass and pulled it tight to me.

“Twilight, it’s me, Morpheus. I’m your friend!”

“Stop.” Selena drifted into my view. “You can be free if only you let her go. It’s so easy.”

“I’m not listening to you!”

“What do you need for this magus? You can go back to the Other with just the simple act of abandoning this despicable slave-driver. You long to be free. Just do it!”

“I won’t!”

“Why?!”

“Because!” I yelled back at the ‘thing’ I had created. “Because that’s not what I really want!”

“What do you really want, demon? Don’t you desire to be free?!”

“Yes, but—!”

“Then—”

“But I also want to be free of this loneliness!”

The Between being became more indistinct as I struck out at her. It shrunk slightly and then coiled into itself, judging me with calm blue eyes.

“You know she’ll betray you. They always do.”

I grinned savagely. “Then so be it. I faced my doubts. I know who I am. I chose to take that risk.”

The Between being laid a sinuous ‘arm’ on my shoulder. “You don’t have to suffer anymore. There is no pentacle to compel you in this place. You can speak freely here.”

I brushed off the appendage and stared right into the eyes of the Between being.

“Selena. You. Me. Whatever you are. My life has been over the minute it had begun. Suffering is no stranger to me. I say: bring it on.”

It looked at me with pity. “Is your madness that advanced? Then maybe I can’t help you.”

Then the Between being faded completely, vanishing without a trace.

Twilight came back with a shuddering breath in the same instant.

“Morpheus?” She coughed lightly and peered around in confusion. “W-Where are we?”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and hugged her to me.

“Morpheus, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I whispered back, “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“What happened? We were in this place and then I couldn’t…”

“Don’t worry. We’re back.”

It was true. The familiar walls of shelves and books greeted us.

Ahead was a sign that read:

Welcome to Level 6.

Author's Note

Guess who has the world's worst scheduled releases?

This guy.

Sorry.

Next Chapter: Something is amiss in the mortal realm. There's a lack of friendship and ice cream!

As always, my salivating readers, thanks for reading!

10 - Pandemonium

Chapter 10: Pandemonium

Demons don’t necessarily like each other. Like mortals, we have demons that we get along with more than others. I, for example, have many demon ‘friends’. At least they claim to be my friends. They help me out, when they can, because I was their ticket to freedom. They’re friends, I’m sure. When the time comes, we were all demons that shared the same goal. Demons could trust each other that much…

The next day we stumbled into the kitchen, probably looking like death from the way Velvet and Night Light were staring at us.

“Goodness!” Velvet exclaimed as she came around the dinner table to greet us. “What happened to you two?”

“Late night studying,” Twilight replied automatically. She plunked herself down at the end of the table and shovelled food into her mouth, not really chewing, just sort of trying to get food down as fast as possible.

Even though demons didn’t need sleep, we could get tired and fatigue affected us as much as they did to mortals. Especially with the mental strain that came with learning a completely new subject, I was on the brink of face-planting into the food as well. I ate to keep up appearances through sheer force of will.

Night Light evidently wanted to say something, but he teetered, looking like he was torn between wanting to help his daughter out, or leave for something incredibly important. From the way he danced on his hooves with his tie sitting askew on his chest, Night Light was clearly in a hurry to get somewhere. It was kind of funny seeing the stallion dress with a sort of half-shirt and necktie. It didn’t seem to follow any particular purpose than to look aesthetically pleasing. I guess that was the point of fashion, right? It’s form over function. That kind of thing.

Night Light eventually ducked out, his face painted with regret. I wondered what was going on. Judging from his expression, it seemed linked to the death I had seen on his face the last time I met him.

Under my breath, I whispered to Twilight, “Hey, your father has seen something.”

“Bwuh?” Twilight chewed a couple of times, hastily swallowing her dandelion sandwich before attempting another reply. She almost choked and then downed a glass of milk before she went red. I almost chuckled but then remembered what I was about to tell her. She turned to me, saw my expression, and asked in a low voice, “What do you mean he saw something?”

“He’s seen somepony die recently.”

“Huh?” Twilight stopped eating entirely. “How do you even know that?”

I shrugged. “When you’re around that kind of stuff long enough, you learn to pick it up.”

Twilight played with her food a bit before formulating a response. “So, what do we do?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, I just thought you should know. It looks like there’s something happening with the Board or wherever your father works.”

Twilight looked worried, but she seemed to come to a decision. “We can’t do anything about it, I think Dad… I think he can take care of himself.”

I blinked at her. “Are you sure? I could go check on him.”

Twilight stared at me. “You’d do that for me?”

“Of course.” I found something interesting to look at on the opposite wall. “It’s a small matter, really.”

Twilight gently nudged me with her muzzle. “Thanks, Morpheus, but we should concentrate on helping Alma.”

“… Yeah”

—————————

School was heinously normal. Time crept by at an excruciating pace while we whittled away the mandatory attendance and counted the seconds until we could freely pursue our goal. I ‘slept’ whilst Twilight secretly studied, utilising a double-focus that was impressive enough to disturb me as well as her peers. The teachers left her alone, except that greying stallion that had nothing but praise for Twilight. Every little question he sent her way was annoying in of itself. It bred the antipathy of her classmates and delayed Twilight from reaching an answer to our problem with Alma.

Amethyst, surprisingly, left us both alone the whole time.

Since I couldn’t study with Twilight, and being bored as I was, I listened in to what Amethyst was talking about with her friends. It was eavesdropping… like I said, I had excellent hearing.

“What? You’re not going to bother the bookworm, Ammy?”

“I don’t need to, Glitter. She’s not worth my time.”

“What’s up with you? I thought you didn’t like her.”

“I don’t. I can’t stand her stupid little face.”

“Then why—”

“Because I’ve got other things to do, Glitter.”

“Hey, don’t let me stop you, I just thought we’d have some fun.”

“This was never about fun. You of all ponies should know that.”

There was a pregnant pause.

“… Yeah, sorry, Ammy.”

“Whatever, just drop it. Don’t look at me like that, Cream.”

“Uhm… sorry…”

“Look, Cream, if you want to move up in the world, you have to start looking out for yourself. If you want to make a difference, you have to start with yourself.”

“Gosh, Ammy, no need to be so hard on Cream. But she’s right, you know. If you keep dragging your hooves, you’re not going to get anywhere. You’re part of one of the richest families in Canterlot, right? Act like it.”

“Okay…”

“That’s what I mean, you should tell us to mind our own business, or ignore me, or act like you don’t care, or something. Don’t just nod and agree. Ammy, say something.”

“I’ve said whatever I needed to say. Now stop talking, the teacher’s looking this way.”

“Hey, how come that Morpheus colt can just ignore the teachers, and we can’t?”

“It’s because he’s probably got a huge backing, that’s why.”

“Why’s he with Twilight, then?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that her father’s somewhere in the government.”

“Is that why you’ve stopped bothering her?”

“No… well… that’s part of the reason.”

“What’s the other?”

“None of your business.”

“See, Cream? That’s how you should handle somepony pushy.”

“You’re freaking pushy, alright.”

“That’s my Ammy. Oh, snap, look sharp!”

The teacher interrupted their little get-together with a well-timed question. Amethyst was able to answer the question, but the teacher didn’t look satisfied with her answer, so he asked Twilight to follow up. Twilight reluctantly and succinctly provided an answer, which made Amethyst harrumph with an irritated flick of her head. But shockingly, even during the break, she didn’t bother Twilight, electing to ignore her completely.

All in all, this day could not get more uneventful.

“Hey,” Twilight said as we walked towards the library, “don’t you have a meeting with Amethyst?”

I stopped in my tracks. “Oh, right, I promised her, didn’t I?” I turned to Twilight. “Hey, order me to stay, or something, then I don’t have to go.”

Twilight frowned at me. “What would that accomplish?”

“Can’t disobey an order, can I?”

“You know my True Name, you know, you can disobey any order you like.”

“Don’t you need my help with magic?” I asked, trying to keep the desperation out of my speech.

Twilight’s raised eyebrow was enough of a reply. Cocky little brat.

“Yeah, like you need any of my help with magic.” I moaned pitifully. “Come on, get me out of my promise, mistress?”

“Morpheus, stop trying to use me as an excuse and go!”

“I’m not getting out of this one, aren’t I?”

“No.”

“Aren’t you afraid I might become good friends with Amethyst?”

“We had this discussion before, and we’re better friends, so there.”

“… Right.”

“… We are better friends, right?”

I sighed.

—————————

I saw Amethyst outside the gate. I was a little late because I spent a couple of minutes telling Twilight that we were better friends than I was with Amethyst. In fact Amethyst wasn’t my friend. For flip’s sake this was just a promise on the fly! I felt that the role had reversed and feeling thoroughly defeated, I went off to fulfil my word. Of course, on the way, I had morphed back into the form of a guard.

I must admit, underneath that prickly disposition was a filly that looked like she could use some company. I mean by the Other, you should have seen her lonely expression just because I was a few minutes late.

“You finally came!” She coughed lightly. “I mean, you came. Good.”

She’s a bundle of problems, this one was.

“So, what do you want to do?” I asked nonchalantly. “Don’t you have friends you can do this with? I’m not free all the time, you know.”

“I know that!” Amethyst blew out a forlorn breath, kicking the ground with a drooping hoof. “I know that. It’s just that… I don’t really like going home and it’s not like anypony would be there even if I was. My friends only stick around me because of my family. I only stick around them because of theirs. It’s different. They’re not really my friends.”

“Huh.” I leaned back onto the wall next to the school gate. “So, what, you’re just going to talk to some random guard and hope to be friends with him?”

“No!” Amethyst bit her lip. “Yes! I mean, I don’t know! It was just the spur of the moment!”

I held up my hooves as I rolled my eyes. “Hey, come with me.”

I nudged her away from the school with my head, making her stumble as she yelped in surprise. “What? Where are we going?”

“We’re going to get ice cream.”

“What?”

“Ice cream.”

“What?”

“Are you deaf? I said we’re going to get ice cream.”

“I get that!” Amethyst snapped, rounding on me. “I want to know why?”

I blinked at her. “Ice cream solves everything.”

————————

At the parlour, Amethyst was wide-eye as she observed me downing ice cream like water.

“Woah, slow down, what are you doing?”

I stopped midway, ignoring the various looks of bemusement and shock from the other patrons as I answered her. “I’m eating ice cream, isn’t that obvious?”

“Are you serious right now?”

“Yes.” I swallowed the ice cream and licked my lips. “I’m always serious about ice cream.”

“You’re so strange, who the heck are you?”

“I think you should be asking that question to yourself.”

Amethyst sat back with a huff, annoyed by the evasive banter. “So?”

“So?”

“So what now?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What are you asking me for? You’re the one who dragged me out.”

Amethyst hesitated briefly, her muzzle twitching as she thought about her response. “Can’t you give me some advice?”

I sighed, shovelling another spoonful of ice cream into my mouth as I savoured it thoughtfully. “I don’t know, maybe you should make some real friends?”

Amethyst tapped her hoof on the table impatiently. “It’s not that simple.”

“What do you mean?” I blinked at her. “You just go up to somepony and introduce yourself and then you talk about stuff.”

“That’s not it. I have a reputation to uphold. My family wants me to choose the friends that will yield the most benefits.”

“Friends you can’t trust aren’t friends; they’re just incidental partners. Besides, you seem to care about your current friends, right?”

Amethyst sighed. “Yeah, but, well, it’s not like I dislike Glitter and Cream, they’re just so… they’re just not really girls I can confide in. I have to act tough all the time around them. Aloof. That’s what they expect.”

“So… what you’re saying is that you want to make a friend that you can let loose around, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So why not this Twilight character, then?” See that, I can help you make friends. Two birds with one stone.

“What? No. No way! How do you even know her name?”

“You told me back at the library. Also, she’s better than you at school, right?”

“No she isn’t!”

I stared at her.

“At least… not for long!” Amethyst tossed her head. “She’s such a loser, though. She’s even more of a heads down, do-what-you-say-rule-following-softie than Cream is!”

I raised an eyebrow. She snuck into the Library through an interdimensional portal. She also summoned a demon. I was pretty sure both of those were severely against the rules. Twilight is the opposite of rule-following.

“Who knows? Maybe you have more in common than you realise.”

“You’re absolutely crazy. This isn’t going to work.”

“Your ice cream is melting,” I commented.

“It’s fine, I don’t feel like it.”

“Suit yourself.” I reached for her ice cream, but she slapped away my hoof.

“I didn’t say you could eat mine!”

“Oh? Then maybe you should spend more time eating and less time talking.”

“You—”

I reached over again. She snatched it back and shovelled a spoonful into her mouth.

“Youf beffer payf for thith!”

I shrugged. “A guard’s salary doesn’t make much, but just this once, I’ll cover this.” I threw a sack of bits on the bill. Money is never really a problem for a demon that can conjure up simple clothes and armour. Just that they’ll disappear after I am sent back to the Other. If your money has ever disappeared from time to time, it could be demon-summoned money. Just saying. You have to be careful who you accept your cash from.

The waitress came around and stared at the sack of bits. “Erm, sir, the bill is only eight bits.”

I pulled the sack towards me and pulled out a few gold coins. “Is that enough?”

“That’s a thousand bits, sir. I’m afraid I don’t have that much change on me.”

“Is this enough?”

“That’s two bits, sir. From two centuries ago.”

“How about this?”

The waitress pursed her lips. “Sir, that’s a brid—”

I waved my hooves in a placating gesture. “Hey, hey, let me have one more try.”

The waitress eyed me warily. “That’s not a bit. Is that Zebrican? And that’s a rare dragon gem. I’m pretty sure that’s at least a thousand bits in value too.”

“Oh by Celestia! Here, take this!” Amethyst shoved the required bits into the waitress’ hooves as she walked away, confused.

“What kind of guard has Zebrican coinage and a large diamond with him?”

I shrugged. Just as I was about to reply, there was a scream on the streets.

“Help! Guards!”

Everypony was staring at me. Oh right, I’m a ‘guard’.

After shifting myself out of the confines of the booth, I half-trotted-half-walked to the scene of the crime where a distraught stallion was pointing to a curious figure lying stricken on the cobblestone road.

The somewhat picturesque scene of a city built into the mountains was somewhat spoiled by the grotesque withered form of a once-living pony.

There wasn’t any blood, but I knew that stallion was dead. The clue was in the fact that there wasn’t a drop of blood left in his body. Also, he was about half the volume of a regular stallion. I’m rather proud of my observations, if I do say so myself.

“What’s going on?” Amethyst asked.

“Don’t look, kid.”

“I’m old enough to see!”

“Right, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I stepped aside as Amethyst swallowed back a gasp. She trailed behind me, scrambling to get close to me as I examined the corpse more closely.

“Definitely not her handiwork,” I muttered. There weren’t any claw marks and Alma wouldn’t be this meticulous. I reached out and touched the flesh. There was a residual aura on it. I could tell. This was a demon.

“‘Her’, who’s ‘her’?”

I glanced back at Amethyst who was staring at me.

“Forget about this, kid. You have to go home now.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on!”

“Can’t you see?”

Amethyst glanced at the corpse and then back at me. She swallowed thickly. “You need to report this to the Princess, right?”

I swept around, noting the gathering ponies. “No,” I replied quickly, “someone else will.”

Amethyst gave me a funny look, but then nodded warily. “Okay, so where should we go?”

Just as I was about to answer by leaving, I heard a voice behind me. “Ah, a guard is already here. Oh well. Sir, can you leave it to me?”

I turned around and gaped at the stallion in surprise.

Night Light blinked at me. “Sir?”

I cleared my throat. “I’ll have to know on who’s authority—”

Night Light seemed to be expecting the question because he immediately hoofed me a couple of documents nonchalantly as he examined the corpse, not even waiting for my reply.

I couldn’t really leave, so I started playing the part instead. “I asked, who’s—”

“Her Highness herself,” he added shortly, not even bothering to look in my direction as he all but ignored me.

I glanced at the documents, but didn’t really take note of them. The seals and signatures held no meaning to me anyway. I gave them back dismissively.

“That’s fine, I’ll stay out of your way.”

That got his attention.

“What?” He seemed to lose interest in the corpse for a brief moment as he looked my way. “Aren’t you guards always trying to stick your nose in our business?”

I shrugged. “This is way outside of my payroll.” And I have to report this to Twilight.

Night Light seemed to frown, but then spotted Amethyst and his expression cleared up. “Ah, alright, don’t let me hold you and your daughter up.”

“My…” I swallowed down my reply as I turned around to Amethyst, nudging her away from the scene.

“Who was that? Where are we going? Why are you letting him do what he likes?”

“There’s no ‘we’,” I hissed, “but I need to go somewhere.”

“Tell me what’s going on! You clearly know something!”

“I don’t know anything, drop it.” I started walking briskly. Twilight needed an update ASAP.

“Why are you going back to school?”

I sighed. “Why are you asking me so many questions?”

“Why’re you hiding something?” Amethyst shot back.

I rolled my eyes at her. “What makes you think I’m—”

Something was staring at me.

“Hey, what’s—”

“Shh!”

Ignoring Amethyst’s fuming blown out cheeks and sulky look, I swept my gaze down the streets trying to pinpoint the strange feeling of something watching me. Something was there.

“You feel it too?” Night Light asked me curiously, approaching from the side. I was surprised he was here, considering the corpse was some distance away. Did he follow me?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Well that wasn’t a lie. I don’t know anything about the thing that was monitoring us.

“You know, I could use—”

Night Light’s words were cut off as I sped away in a dead gallop. I spotted a shadowy figure that slipped into the shadows as I sought it. Cursing, I redoubled my efforts, just catching a glimpse as it flittered on the rooftop and swung into an alleyway.

“You’re not going to get away from me.” I growled under my breath as the figure disappeared around a corner. I was pretty fast, considering my mortal container, but this one was even faster. It felt like this thing had help, probably magical help.

Leaping into the dead-end, I yelled bestially as I pounced forward and pinned it underneath my hooves. The thing squirmed underneath my hooves, growling curses and spitting at me in fury.

It was a sprite.

I didn’t bother trying to communicate with it, it would only speak to its owner anyway. What I was considering was whether or not I should get rid of it. The sprite bit into my fetlock, but I ignored the pain and just pressed the weight of my body forward in warning. It whined a little, but didn’t try anything else, going limp when it realised that struggle was futile.

I should bring this to Twilight.

As I was debating the logistics of trying to haul the pesky fellow, Night Light finally caught up to me, complicating matters further. I clicked my tongue, frustrated that I hadn’t lost him in the winding turns of the chase.

“Ha, you’re fast!” Night Light huffed. “What’s that?”

Reluctantly, I leaned slightly away to let Night Light have a look at the creature.

“A sprite!” Night Light beamed. “Good work, guard.”

With that, his horn lit a deep blue, enveloping the sprite in a field of magic as the sprite renewed its efforts to escape. I tugged away my arm as it tried desperately to hold onto me. What was it so afraid of?

My suspicions were confirmed when Night Light drew out an Astral Pendant.

How many of these did ponies have? They’re not exactly easy to make.

The sprite was consumed by the Pendant. It glowed with malevolent actinic radiance as strands of voluminous luminescence coalesced around the ephemeral form of the sprite. It screamed something unrepeatable in the language of the Other with its final breath.

Night Light blinked as he tucked away the Pendant. “I wondered what it said?”

I considered this, then shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Well, I wasn’t fluent in the Aeticulation… but I knew what it said. I could feel my lips draw down. If she was here, then this mortal plane got a lot more dangerous.

Night Light looked at me with a strange expression before shrugging. “Alright, then, I’m off.” He paused. “You seem like the type that can handle yourself in these sort of strange situations; why don’t you head down to the Board if you ever have the time? Call out for me.”

I cocked my head at him, but I really wasn’t paying much attention, my mind on what the sprite had just blurted out. “The Board…”

Night Light blinked and turned back, just as he was about to leave. “Oh, uh, the regular populace doesn’t know too much of the Board of Containment.”

This time I focused on him. “The Board of Containment.”

He hoofed me a card.

Night Light

Head Executor of the Board of Containment

I had a sudden premonition. “Head Executor of the Board Containment.”

Night Light smiled. “You must be shocked to see that sprite. Don’t worry, I only capture creatures not of this world.” He gave me a serious expression. “You’re of this world, aren’t you?”

I stiffened. “Yes, sir.”

Night Light nudged me with his foreleg as he chuckled. “Just a joke, guard, no need to get scared. I may carry the Princess’ authority but I don’t abuse it. Anyway, if you’re interested there is this detector I carry… funny, why is it glowing like that?”

I was just about to flee the scene, when Night Light simply shrugged and put it away. “Must be the dang crystal pendant. I swear Ibis keeps pawning off the faulty ones to me…” He shoved the sprite-infused crystal and the ‘detector’ into his saddlebags as he turned to me. By then, I had fixed my expression from ‘petrified’ to ‘mildly amused’.

Night Light cleared his throat. “Anyway, gotta drop this off.” He rattled his saddlebags. “Make sure you drop by.”

“Alright, sir.” I made sure to make my tone dubious. Like hell I would be anywhere near the Board, now that I know what it is.

“Excellent, guard.” Night Light made to head off, but at the last minute turned back. “By the way, what’s your name…”

By then, I had already left.

————————

I leaned back against the wall, sure that I had put enough space between Night Light and myself. I had travelled fast, but Night Light somehow caught up to me before. Clearly, the stallion had some trick up his proverbial sleeve to catch up. I shivered at his capabilities. If he carried another Astral Pendant, I might be stuck here on the mortal plane, and Celestia might even prefer it that way… better get to Twilight.

“That sprite, though, why did she mention the Other. It’s a race against time, she said… what’s she in such a rush for?”

Whilst mumbling to myself, I collided with a small, but soft, object.

“Oh,” I said automatically, “excuse me.”

The small pony I collided with glared at me. “I saw everything.” Amethyst took a deep breath, before declaring, “You’re not a guard, are you?”

I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Amethyst glanced back the way I came. “Let’s see… you didn’t react when someone called for the guard. You carry weird coins with you that are waaaay outside the pay grade of any guard. You were in the restricted section of the library at night. You also said ‘anyone’ instead of ‘anypony’ and I saw you with that stallion and how you reacted when he told you he was from the Board.” She stomped her hoof. “You’re not a guard!”

I shrugged more in surprise than anything, impressed with her deduction. “Never said I was.”

“You’re dressed as one!”

“Just because I look like one, doesn’t mean I’m one.”

“You lied to me!”

“Correction, I just didn’t tell you the whole truth. You made the assumption on your own.”

“Don’t play words with me.” Amethyst glared at me. “What are you, really?”

I shrugged and remained silent.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll tell somepony about you masquerading as a guard!”

I snorted. “Who’s going to believe you?”

“S-Somepony will, I have a very powerful family.”

“Uhuh and what are you going to tell them?”

“That you’re a fake!”

“And so this ‘fake guard’ who, by the way, looks exactly like a guard, took you to ice cream and told you he was fake on his own accord?”

Amethyst pursed her lips. “You were in the restricted section of the library at night!”

I raised an eyebrow. “So let me get this straight. You’re going to tell them you’ve seen this guard in the restricted section of the library. A restricted section for fillies like you, right?”

Amethyst dropped her shoulders as the logic came crashing down.

I pressed my advantage. “Yeah, don’t forget this was all contingent on you being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, I never said I was a guard, so technically, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Amethyst was still following me as I continued along. After a while, I turned back around. “Go back, kid.”

Amethyst stomped a hoof. “I’ve decided that I want to know exactly who you are.”

I rolled my eyes and started walking away. Amethyst called back out to me.

“My dad’s on the Board! I could tell him!”

That stopped me in my tracks. I turned around slowly. “So what? He isn’t going to find me.”

“W-Well you can’t come to the school because he’ll post guards there that specialise in detecting whatever you are!”

She grinned triumphantly as my brows drew close together in annoyance. She knew she had me.

I wiped a hoof across my face. “Hmm. So you really want to know who I am?”

Amethyst nodded.

“Really?” I leaned in, showing a bestial expression. “You might not like what you see.”

Amethyst took a step back, but her expression hardened. “I want to know.”

“You’ve barely known me for a day, what do you think will happen? I’ll say ‘yes’, you find out, then you’ll live happily ever after? Are you daft?”

“You’re the only pony that’s understood me. The only one that’s even bothered to listen to me.”

“Oh come on, I’m just your emotional vent. Wrong place, wrong time, stop digging into this and trying to find meaning in it.”

“Then why did you come and meet me?”

“Because I made a promise to you, and I always keep my promises.”

“I think a friend should keep their promises.”

“We’re not friends,” I snapped, stopping Amethyst in her tracks. I stared at her with an intense gaze. “If you found out who I was—who I really am—you wouldn’t want to be friends with me anymore.”

“That’s not true…” Amethyst bit her lip. “How bad could it be?” She squared her shoulders. “I promise it won’t change anything. My promises are as good as gold. I would never break them too!”

I considered her statement for a brief period before snatching her up and whisking her into a side-alley. I stared deeply into her eyes, making sure she understood the depth of what she was asking.

“Are you absolutely sure you want to be doing this?” I pressed down on her shoulders as she squirmed uncomfortably under the pressure. “Once you know, there’s no going back.”

Frightened, but also carrying a hint of steely determination, Amethyst nodded.

Making sure no one was around, I morphed right in front of her, showing her my ‘true’ form.

“I’m a demon, surprise!”

Amethyst took one look at me and then fainted.

————————

When I made my way to the library, I found Twilight in the restricted Level 4 section.

“Not going to Level 6?” I asked in a casual tone.

“No,” Twilight mumbled, finishing off a passage as she looked up. “I was planning to wait for yoooo—what in the hay is going on?!”

Amethyst hung limp in my half-piggyback ride as I unceremoniously dumped her on the thick library carpet.

“Oh, well, Amethyst fainted.”

“What?!”

“I couldn’t just leave her out on the street, I’m not heartless, you know.”

“What?!”

“Oh, I might have also mentioned I was a demon and that might have been what caused her to faint.”

“WHAT?!”

“She paid for the ice cream, so that’s why I didn’t leave her there, we’re not friends, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“That’s not what I’m asking, Morpheus!” Twilight stomped her hoof as she scowled at me. “Why did you tell her you were a demon?!”

“I didn’t tell her, I showed her.”

“Morpheus!”

“Alright, alright, it was just in the spirit of the moment. She was practically begging me for it.”

Twilight rolled her eyes up to the ceiling as she moaned. “Morpheus, what are we going to do?”

“Hey why does everyone ask me that? It’s not like I know exactly what to do all the time.”

“Morpheus, you’re not helping!”

“Alright, alright, maybe I should drop her off at her house in her bed and then pretend nothing ever happened, good enough?”

Twilight flicked her tail anxiously, her brows furrowing as she considered the idea.

“Uhm… do you know where she lives?”

“… I’ll figure it out.”

Twilight ground her teeth as she frowned in disapproval. Her tail flicked in annoyance as she came to the realisation that there wasn’t another plan she could come up with. She sighed in resignation. “Don’t take too long, I want to get some of this research done at Level 6.”

“Hey,” I called out to her, making sure I had her attention. “Don’t go down there without me, okay?”

Twilight shivered. “Yeah, I don’t want to get caught up in any of that again.”

Just as I was about to turn around, we had the misfortune of Amethyst coming to.

“What happened…?”

“Oh snap, Twilight, hit her with a sleep spell!”

“What? There’s a sleep spell?!”

Amethyst’s eyes shot open and she scrabbled to her hooves, scowling at either one of us in lip-biting terror.

“Don’t come near me! I know how to—Twilight?”

Twilight stumbled back and stared at me. “Morpheus, what do we do?”

I winced. I was still in my demon-form, mind you, and Amethyst was now connecting all the dots.

“Morpheus… the colt…?” Her eyes widened. “You mean it was real… and you’re with… Twilight?”

I smacked my forehead. “Now look at what you’ve done!”

“I-I panicked!”

Amethyst was staring at me with an intense gaze. “So… you’re not a guard. You’re not a pony. You’re a shapeshifting… demon.”

“Bah!” I threw my claws up in mock resignation. “You got me! Now what’re you going to do about it?”

Amethyst stiffened initially and then sighed plaintively.

“Nothing.”

I blinked back at her. “What? Really?”

Amethyst shot me a scathing look as she settled on her haunches and went about primly tidying her mane. “Yeah, like, who’s going to believe a foal that talks about shapeshifting demons?”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh good, I thought we were in trouble for a second there.”

“But… I could make it difficult for you two to stay together.”

I stiffened. “What do you mean?”

Amethyst sniffed. “You know, I never really bothered you two when you went off to study. That could change. You never know.”

I narrowed my eyes at the precocious filly. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

Amethyst gave me a knowing smile. “Whatever you two are mixed up in, I want in.”

“What’s to stop me from making this problem go away?” I flexed a claw. “Permanently.”

“Morpheus!”

I ignored Twilight, as I stared at Amethyst with sharp eyes. Amethyst didn’t budge. I caught myself being impressed when Amethyst simply tossed her head in derision.

“If you could do that, you would’ve already.” She smiled at me. “But you brought me here instead.”

“When did I become such an unthreatening pushover?” I muttered.

“To be fair, you’re not as scary as you think, Morpheus,” Twilight added unhelpfully. Her weak smile wilted as I glared at her.

Amethyst kept her eye on the ball.

“I want in!” she repeated.

“What?” I huffed. “No.” I turned to Twilight. “You don’t want her here either, right?”

Twilight put her hooves together and nodded. “Actually, Morpheus, it might not be a bad idea to bring Amethyst along.”

“What?!” I threw a claw in her direction. “Don’t you both hate each other?”

“I don’t want to work with Amethyst, but the more help we get for Alma, the better, right?”

I didn’t have much to say to that. Well, perhaps one more thing.

“And you think Princess Celestia will be happy with this little arrangement? There are only two tokens, remember? It’s not going to work out.”

Amethyst licked her lips. “Princess Celestia is involved? Now I have to be a part of this!”

I swung around to Amethyst. “We can’t trust you.”

Amethyst shrugged. “That makes two of us.”

I rolled my eyes as I threw up my arms. “Alright, fine, but don’t blame me if something happens.” I glared at Amethyst. “Before you go about trying to make things work with us, you have to know everything about us first.”

Amethyst snorted. “I already know you’re a demon, how much worse can it be?”

“What you don’t know is that demons are summoned. We’re not some kind of creature that walks around Equestria. Also, Twilight was my summoner, that makes me her demon.”

Amethyst glanced between us, taking her conceited attitude down a notch. “Okay… but what does that have to do with me?”

“That means if there was any danger, I would put my mistress’ life before yours,” I stated bluntly. “Don’t think you’re more important than Twilight is. As it stands, she’s my best bet to getting out of here. You are an unwanted extra.”

“Morpheus!” Twilight gasped.

I flexed my claws. “Apart from you, Twilight, I’ve never seen a magus that cared whether a demon would live or die. You obviously do, but that doesn’t guarantee it for others. Just because Amethyst hasn’t done anything yet, doesn’t mean she won’t in the future. She’s typical of most magi: manipulative, cunning and believes in power.” I stared at either one of them, daring them to make a counterpoint. “Everything I’ve said was the truth and practical to boot. If she wants to risk her life, I say let her. But don’t expect me to save her if she can’t handle herself.”

As my words sunk in, I could see Amethyst wavering. Her experience of me has gone from pleasant to outright hostile. It would be natural for her to have second thoughts. That suited me fine.

“Morpheus, can I speak with you?”

I shrugged and then let Twilight lead me into one of the many unused ‘study rooms’. Inside, Twilight closed the door and rounded on me.

“Why do you have to be so mean to Amethyst?”

“Why do you care?”

Twilight snorted at my poor deflection. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t want her here.”

“You were nice enough to her at the library before.”

“That was different, we needed a distraction.”

“She likes you, Morpheus,” Twilight whispered to herself.

Most beings wouldn’t catch that. I didn’t reply, despite that.

Twilight sighed, trying to make eye contact with me, while I evaded her judgemental stare. “Why are you trying to get Amethyst to dislike you?”

I hunched my shoulders and looked away. “It’s none of your business. I just want her gone.”

“That’s the third time you’ve said that… but you never told me you dislike her or that you would rather she be hurt. Morpheus, are you…” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Are you trying to protect Amethyst?”

I didn’t answer that, but the silence was incriminating. I couldn’t lie, but I didn’t know what to say to make it seem so. Still, I dredged up the last of my wits.

“She’s going to be a liability for us, my first priority is you,” I ground out.

“I know what you’re doing, anyway,” she continued in a stronger tone.

“And what am I doing?”

“You’re pushing her away. You want her away from the danger, right?”

“A little danger can be good for you, I’m not her nanny.”

“See, there! You’re telling these half-truths but I can see through it. You actually care, Morpheus!”

“So what if I care!” I slammed a claw onto the table. “That’s right, I care! You have no idea what it means for a demon to care!”

Twilight was grinning, despite my outburst. “But that means you can trust us, right? Caring means that we can help each other.”

“Not everything has a happy ending, Twilight.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, Morpheus. You always say it like you believe it, but you’re not being honest with me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Honest doesn’t necessarily mean truthful. It means without deception.”

I didn’t reply to that. Twilight came around the table and gave me an encouraging smile. “You can tell me, Morpheus.”

There was a long pause between us before I answered her. “It means that when I start caring, when I develop sentimental attachments to the mortal plane, I can’t go back.”

Twilight choked back her reply, her triumphant smile frozen on her hilariously blithe face. I couldn’t even work up the cathartic pleasure from that. I couldn’t take pleasure in her misfortune, because I had grown attached to her. Not only her, I had grown attached to her values towards life. And that was the very problem. The root cause of everything.

“What do you mean?” she whispered.

“It means that the very act of me caring means that I’m stuck here. I can’t go back to the Other no matter what. Sentimentality anchors me to this plane. There’s something about emotions that make it hard for me to release my essence and go back to the Other. The more I stick around you stupid ponies, the more I develop feelings. These feelings mean that it’s already… it might be too late.”

Twilight took in my miserable tone and glanced at herself. “Oh.”

I shifted my feet as I slumped into a chair, shrugging it off nonchalantly. I felt bad for telling her the truth, even though that was one of my highest values. I wanted to laugh in self derision. I was too far gone.

“It’s not your fault, Twilight, but at the very least we can’t have more ponies joining in on this. This is not a game. I don’t want to lose you and I don’t want to lose anyone else. I just… I just want it to stop. I want to go back to the Other, but just when I found a magus that could help, I end up liking her so much that I couldn’t go back anyway!”

I could feel faint prickling in my eyes as I raised my head to find Twilight hanging her head. “Do you realise the utter tragic irony of that?”

Twilight was silent for a long time. When she finally spoke, it was barely above a whisper. “I’ll… talk to Amethyst about it.”

I think the willingness for Twilight to face Amethyst alone for me was what made me realise the depth of my feelings. I had committed the ultimate sin. I had become attached to my mistress.

I was probably no longer fully demon.

——————————

It took me a while to piece myself together. I’m not usually like this… I told myself this. It was a cold hard fact that feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to help anyone. I had to concentrate on what was in front of me first and then worry about the consequences later.

Despite that, taking the first steps out of the study room seemed inordinately hard.

I doubt Twilight had ever seen me in this state before. Angry, emotional, forgiving, scheming, all emotions that put me in a position I wanted to be in. Being vulnerable was never an option. It was never on the table.

But.

In a moment of weakness, with everything culminating into this moment, the barriers I held up for so long broke down. I was weak, and I despised myself for it, but even more humiliating was this sensation of relief.

It was relief from lying.

It was relief from lying to myself.

And that’s what made me hate myself more.

Amethyst was silent when I came to the table. We each sat down and stared at each other for a long awkward moment.

She was the one to speak first.

“Morpheus, I didn’t know, sorry.”

I smiled thinly at her, but couldn’t work up the motivation to give her a response. Her hurt expression twisted in my gut, but I set it aside as I toughened up with a cough.

“Sorry kiddo, it’s not like I wanted to become a bowl of tears and regret.”

Amethyst chuckled drily. Then she turned to Twilight. “I don’t like you.”

Twilight froze stiffly, evidently not expecting to be attacked in the midst of our sappy conversation. “I’m s-sorry.”

Amethyst rolled her eyes. “That’s exactly what I don’t like about you. You’re smarter than me, you’ve got a better grasp of magic and you’ve got such a powerful friend! Yet… yet you’re like this! You’re a dumb pushover! You don’t deserve any of this!”

“Sorry!”

“Don’t apologise!”

“So—okay!”

Amethyst abruptly got up as Twilight hastily followed suit. She glared at Twilight, then turned around and gave me a weird smile. “Twilight can’t hold you forever. Come look for me.”

With that, she abruptly turned around, flicking Twilight on the nose with her tail as we both watched her leave with gobsmacked expressions. Together we stood like dumb statues even when the door slammed shut and we could no longer hear anyone else.

In the encroaching silence, Twilight spoke.

“… She likes you.”

“Shut up.”

Author's Note

MORE CHAPTERS?

THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT, THIS AUTHOR'S DEAD.

Yeah but seriously, this fic is going to be done in a few more chapters.

Next Chapter: There wasn't fire, where's my fire?! WHERE'S MY FIRE?

As always, my latent potential readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Sorry for all the horse drama, epic adventuring and mystery solving will resume in 3, 2, 1...

11 - Hell Hath No Fury Like a Demon Scorned

Chapter 11: Hall Hath No Fury Like a Demon Scorned

When you are bound to the mortal plane as a demon, the moment of summoning affixes our essence to the plane, much like a fishing line with a hook. When we are released, the process is called ‘apotheosis’, the elevation of one’s essence from the mortal plane. This can only happen when a demon is willing to let go, and this is almost always the case.

The antonym of this is ‘nadir’. This occurs when a demon is too attached to the mortal plane and that fishing line can no longer be ‘cut’. The demon will be bound to that plane and their essence starts to fuse with their mortal container. They could become mortal. They could die.

When Amethyst left us to our own devices, Twilight touched back on the topic I wanted to stay buried forever.

“How do we get you back to the Other?”

“Let’s just concentrate on Alma, shall we?”

Twilight looked like she wanted to add something, but when she saw my look, she swallowed it back down forcefully and nodded weakly instead.

“Okay.” She cleared her throat. “I actually found something interesting.”

“Really? What is it?”

Twilight hesitated briefly, then tugged on a book a the bottom of a teetering column of literary works. The tome was yanked out and the stack came crashing down, sending books flying everywhere. I shot her a frustrated look, dodging a wayward thesis on the particulate matters.

“Oops, sorry.”

“You’re going to have to fix that habit.” Who knows what poor soul will be reduced to a flattened organic smear by her tower-collapsing antics? I bent over, picking up each book with a sigh. “By the Other, for someone so focused on being organised you really need to—is that the book from Level 6?”

Twilight blushed as she coughed pitifully. “Uhm… yes?”

“This is really careless for such an advanced magus.” I raked my claws through my scalp, pursing my lips in condemnation. “Well, whatever, we went through this yesterday.”

I think a ten minute lecture was good enough. Twilight, I got the feeling, was more hung up on the fact that she didn’t fill out her borrower’s checkout details. She was flustered there wasn’t a counter to check it out.

That little detail, in all fairness, prompted the rest of the nine minute lecture, rather than it ending on a quick summary of why it’s wrong to take incredibly dangerous objects of magic from their places of rest and carry them with you where they could be stolen, used against you, lost, used against you, damaged, used against you, and did I mention being used against you?

“I, erm, was keeping an eye on it.” Twilight nodded emphatically. “Yep. That’s it. So, lucky it was handy when I was researching a way to send Alma back. I happened to think of using it when I accidentally flipped it open and started seeing stuff around it. Accidentally. Then I finally figured out how it worked. All by accident.”

“Uhuh. Accidentally.”

“Really! Accidentally!”

I gave her an admonishing stare a few moments longer before sighing and shaking my head. “Right, so about the banishment spell?”

Twilight pouted. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“Hey, whenever you come up with names, it’s always dumb.”

“Smartypants isn’t a dumb name!”

“Yes it is.”

“No it isn’t!”

“Yes it—why am I arguing with a foal?”

“Yeah, you’re dumb.” Twilight stuck out her tongue.

“Excuse me, I happen to be much older than you, so you have to listen to what I say.”

“How old are you?”

“Old.”

Twilight puffed her cheeks out. “Well I summoned you, so you have to do what I say.”

“Well I… ugh—” I folded my arms “—you know what? Name it whatever. Tell me what you managed to find out.”

Twilight pursed her lips, but didn’t continue with the argument. She opened ‘The Encyclopaedia’ and then flipped to a blank page about a third of the way in.

“Look, this book isn’t actually blank, it writes things when you ask it questions.”

“What?”

“Exactly. See?”

Question: What is the Encyclopaedia (disambiguation-linguistic-interpreter-constructive-maxtrix)?

Answer: ‘The Encyclopaedia’ is a construct of magic that is designed to answer any question the Owner—or whoever the Owner allows—posed to it. It currently takes the form of a book and binds itself to the Owner, the first living being The Encyclopaedia accepts. If the book has been previously claimed, the transfer of ownership occurs after death. Upon death, The Encyclopaedia chooses the next Owner by residing in a location close to the next Owner candidate.

I stared at the sentences that appeared as my eyes scanned the page. One moment the page was blank, but when my eyes swept across the page, the words would appear. Disturbingly, the words were written in Aeticulation, the language of the Other. In other words, it either knew I was a demon, or it knew I knew Aeticulation. Both conclusions were equally worrying.

“So this book answers your questions.”

“Right.” Twilight looked like she could read the writing as well.

“What language do you see written there?”

Twilight peered at the book. “Equestrian.”

So the book adapted the language based upon the reader. It didn’t seem picky about showing me the information. So I decided to ask it a question.

“Hey, book, do you know how to send a demon back to the Other?”

Question: How to send a demon back to the Other.

Answer: There are many methods of sending a demon back to the Other. One of the more common methods is to dismiss the demon using a ‘dismissal’ spell. This is one of the first spells summoners usually learn. A dismissal spell will allow the demon to return, however the demon may not be summoned by the same summoner afterwards—

“No! What?” Twilight squeaked.

I looked at Twilight. “Didn’t you know that?”

“No…” Twilight glanced up from the book to look at me. “What happens if I try to summon a demon I’ve dismissed?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. But since I’ve never seen a summoner successfully summon the same demon twice, I’m guessing that the spell either fails or…”

“Or…?” Twilight shifted her hooves. “Or what?”

“Or the magus that attempted the spell perishes,” I reluctantly admitted. “So after you dismiss a demon, you must never attempt to summon them again.”

Twilight hesitated, so to make sure, I stressed my next sentence emphatically, whilst holding eye contact with her.

“Promise me, Twilight. Don’t ever try to attempt to summon a demon twice.”

Twilight nodded glumly as she bit her lip. “I won’t.”

“Good. Cheer up, Twilight, that’s not really a problem to consider with me.” I laughed huskily, forcing a smile. “I’ll be stuck here anyway.”

Twilight shook her head. “Morpheus, you once told me that promises mean a lot to you.”

“Yes, and…?”

“And that breaking a promise was not in a demon’s nature.”

“So…?”

“So I’ve decided that I have to figure out a way to send you back, no matter what.”

“You don’t have to do that, Twilight.”

“I do. And I will. I promise.”

I felt touched, really, but I wanted to set her straight. “You can’t, though.”

“How come?”

“It’s impossible.”

Twilight stomped her hoof. “Says who?”

I hunched my shoulders. “It’s just a natural fact. There’s something about being sentimental in the mortal plane that hooks us in and attaches us here. When we care we just… can’t go back. I don’t know why.”

“Morpheus, what exactly is the Other?”

Instinctively I opened my mouth to reply, but I couldn’t dredge up something meaningful. I couldn’t express it.

“Well, it’s… it’s home. A demon sanctuary.”

Twilight tilted her head. “What’s it like there?”

“It’s… peaceful, you just be. There’s nothing to worry about. There’s nothing to fear. There’s nothing to compel you to do anything for anyone.” I smiled blissfully. “You’re free.”

“What’s it like to go back to the Other? What do you actually feel there?”

I shrugged. “It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s like asking someone what’s it feel like to dream. You just… dream.”

“Okay, well, if you want to go there, then I’ll make it happen.”

I couldn’t say anything for a few seconds, but eventually swallowed and nodded. We shared a private smile but then Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed as she continued reading the passage out loud. “Oh, look, it tells us what happens when you try.”

It is unknown why the dismissal spell prevents a summoner from summoning the same demon twice. This is likely due to the way contractual summonings are structured. To link the two planes, a great amount of energy is expended, which puts strain on the user. Dismissing or summoning the demon requires sinking this energy through the original caster by attachment of a strong bond between the demon and the caster. To create this bond, a unique signature tying the two entities together is generated. This signature imprint will cause a magical harmonic resonance cascade to build within the summoner after successive summoning and dismissal. This resonance cannot usually be tolerated by the summoner more than twice, often causing sudden, unexpected, death. To date, no summoners have survived a harmonic resonance cascade more than twice.

Twilight cocked her head. “Signatures, huh? Then it’s tied to both summoner and demon.”

I sighed. “That’s definitely out of the question, then.”

Twilight nodded glumly. “Okay, well, other than the dismissal spell, there should be other ways to send you back. See here?”

Another less known way to send a demon back to the Other is to use a ‘displacement’ spell. This involves invoking a spell that substitutes a demon from the Other for another. Unfortunately, there are many drawbacks to using this spell. For brevity, three drawbacks will be listed. One, although the demon in question is sent back, the length of casting is roughly equivalent to the time that demon has spent in the mortal plane. Two, the demon substitute will not be bound by the summoner or by the caster, hence it is very likely that the caster may be in mortal danger. Three—

“We can’t use this spell,” I muttered.

Twilight set her jaw and jabbed at the next page, skipping past the rest of the displacement spell. “But there’s one more,” she continued desperately, “there’s one more way.”

Not holding high hopes, I returned to the book.

The final method to send a demon back to the Other is to use a ‘carrier’ spell. Though this spell has been mentioned, there have been no instances of this spell being utilised successfully. The carrier spell currently resides in the Library, Level 7.

“Level 7!” Twilight gasped. “There’s a Level 7?”

I glanced sidelong at Twilight. “Of course there is, and it happens to be past Alma.” A sudden thought struck me. “Book, can you give us a copy of the carrier spell?”

Question: Can the carrier spell be reproduced in this book?

Answer: No. The Encyclopaedia is a reference on present knowledge.

“What?”

Without me direct prompting it, the book started filling the pages as we watched.

Question: What is the scope of the Encyclopaedia?

Answer: Not infinite. It contains the knowledge of all living beings within a sectified area of exclusion bifurcated from the apex of the Owner’s thaumological midpoint. The ability to answer is directly proportional to the reserve of magic within the Owner.

“What?”

Question: Would you please explain it in a way that non-technical beings can understand?

Answer: More magic = More knowledge.

“I get the feeling that this book is mocking me,” I muttered, as Twilight giggled. “Are you mocking me?”

For some highly suspicious reason, the book didn’t answer.

“I doubt it.” Twilight grinned at me. “Good try, though.”

I glared at the book and then gave up with a sigh. “There’s quite a bit of information in the book, but it doesn’t seem like it has everything.”

“That’s true,” Twilight said, “but we have a lead now! The ‘carrier’ spell!”

“Yeah, oh, wait, there’s something I have to tell you about your father.”

Twilight glanced up in shock. “Huh? What about my dad?”

“I met him earlier today; we were both chasing down a sprite.”

“What was he doing with you?”

“At the time I was a guard, and there was a… stricken pony.”

Twilight frowned at me. “You mean… dead?”

I winced. “Yes, dead.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m a little young, but I know that ponies sometimes… die. Celestia’s sake, you were talking about killing me when you were first summoned!”

I hunched my shoulders. “Hey, come on, that’s not fair, I didn’t know who you were back then.”

Twilight nudged me playfully. “Now you know and you’re suddenly thinking about my age and being nice?” She stuck out her tongue. “Try a little harder.”

“Why is it you have such a backbone around me, but not Amethyst?”

Twilight flopped to the table. “It’s different, and you’re off-topic! What’s up with my dad?”

“Oh, right, yeah, the sprite. It told me in Aeticulation that one of my former, erm, friends was in the plane.”

“What?”

“I know right? I haven’t seen him in ages and he’s not really good news.”

“No, I mean, what’s Aeticulation?”

I blinked at Twilight. “The primal language. Didn’t you use it in your summoning spell?”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh, so that’s what it was. I thought I was just making random sounds.” She squealed. “Is that a new language? Can you teach me?”

“Erm, how about later? So… about my potentially murderous acquaintance…”

“I thought you said he was your friend?”

“Oh, well, friend is a strong way to put it…”

“Morpheus… you have that guilty look in your eye. What did you do?”

“Not much… by demon standards.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I might have left him alone.”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound so bad.”

“In an Astral Pendant.”

“Okay… but that’s—”

“That might have been thrown into a latrine pit.”

“Right, but…”

“For a hundred years.”

“Wait…”

“I might have also sent as much of the said latrine’s contents into the Pendant with him, so he’d smell such latrine’s contents for a hundred years.”

“…”

“I might have also sent in an indestructible Swearing Stone in there as well.”

“…”

“That could have also been couple with a rubbernecked—”

“Alright!” Twilight interrupted quickly. “I think I get the idea! What in the name of Celestia prompted you to do all that?!”

“Promise me you won’t re-evaluate your whole opinion of me by my answer?”

Twilight pursed her lips and didn’t reply.

I stared back, but eventually lost the battle of wills.

“… I was a little bored.”

“Morpheus!”

“What? Come on! I was under orders from a rival magus to make his punishment as humiliating and painful as I could possibly imagine.” I shrugged uncomfortably. “I didn’t really have a choice, and also he was a really annoying demon!”

Twilight’s ears flopped back down as she pulled a meek expression. “Sorry, Morpheus, I keep forgetting you were forced to do some pretty mean things.”

“Oh, well, that’s nothing. It’s sort of a back and forth thing with us. I mean last time he took my skin and—” I stopped halfway, realising who I was speaking to just in time “—and did something that we won’t talk about ever again.”

Twilight looked at me with wide eyes before swallowing thickly. “So what happens if you meet him?”

“We’ll probably try to kill each other on sight.”

Twilight scratched her chin as her eyebrows drew together in concentration. “Should we keep a lookout for him, then?”

I shook my head. “Oh, well, that’d be a useless exercise, he’s a tricky demon.”

“How so?”

“Oh, well, his domain is Time.”

“Time… that’s tricky.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re telling me.”

Twilight tilted her head. “What about domains?”

“Yeah, I never explained the concept of domains to you, right?” I folded my arms as I sat back down. “Okay, this is really important, so you better listen carefully. Each demon has a domain for which they have control over. The more powerful the demon, the more encompassing their domain is. For example, Alma’s domain is a basic one: Telepathy.”

“Wait, so she could listen to my thoughts?”

“Yes, and she still can right now, even when she’s petrified, that’s what makes her dangerous. No mortal would be a match for her.”

“So how were you able to block her attack, then?”

“Ah, good pickup, that’s because demon domains are mutually exclusive. When you are with me, my domain extends around me to encompass you. And since we share a bond, this domain protects you as long as you’re close to me.”

“Thank you.”

“No, thank Zachrand, whoever that one is, their pentacle design incorporated the use of demonic domains.”

Twilight smiled at me. “All the same, thank you.”

I shrugged uncomfortably. “Don’t mention it.” Twilight’s smile froze as I stared at her with a serious demeanour. “No, seriously, don’t mention it. If you talk about demon domains, they generally lose a bit of their power.”

“Why is that?”

“I have no idea, only that it’s not a good idea to keep talking about your domain. I’m fine with revealing Alma’s domain because she’s not here and doing so will weaken her domain as well. Also I get the feeling that Alma isn’t really on friendly terms with me right now.”

“Doesn’t she want your help?”

“Yeah, but she has a tendency to make accompany magi around me meet a mortal end.”

“You mean she likes you but not me?”

“Exactly, but I think I can get her to not kill you if you can bring a spell that will let her go to the Other.”

“You mean the spell that is most likely guarded by her.”

I sighed. “Yep, that spell.”

Twilight pursed her lips, then her ears twitched as her eyes widened. She drew out her library pass. “You don’t think these passes have access to all of the library, do you?”

I gaped at her. “No, there’s no way that could—”

—————————

“—Work! Damn it Twilight, at least let me finish my sentence before you give it a shot! Oh sheeeeeeeep!”

“Baaa!”

“Why are there sheep here?!”

Twilight muffled voice resounded not far from where I was, which was chin-deep in sheep fluff.

“Ahm moffer feeer!”

“You’re over there?”

“Yef!”

I waded through the mass of sheep and dragged a gasping foal out of the wanton pile of sheep. Twilight almost lost her saddlebags as she held me in a death grip.

“Dear Celestia!” she wheezed. “I think I almost suffocated!”

“I think I have wool in my mouth,” I mumbled back, spitting a clod of sheep off-cut from my jaws. “I’ll have to admit, your idea did work. These passes are pretty useful.”

“Baa!”

“Shut up.”

“Baa!”

I picked up the fluffiest looking one and almost threw it, but Twilight sent me an admonishing glare.

“Don’t throw the sheep!”

“Come on, just a little?”

“Morpheus!”

“Oh fine.” I set the fluff ball down. It sort of did a bounce and a hop and then settled on the ground.

“Baa!”

“Quiet, you.” With one last glare at the sheep around me, I hefted Twilight and considered our situation. “Let’s get out of here, the passes clearly malfunctioned and we’re stuck in the middle of a flock of sheep.” I growled menacingly at the sheep around me, but they just stared at me dumbly and went back to chewing the grass placidly. “They don’t even respond right.”

Twilight was about to jump out of my grasp but looked at the sea of wool around her and had second thoughts.

“Morpheus, umm…”

“What?”

“Can you carry me across?”

“I’m doing that right now, you know.”

“Yeah, uhm, thanks.”

I took a step and hefted her in my arms as we made our way through what looked like an endless sea of sheep. “No problems, but Twilight?”

“Yeah?”

“You should lose some weight, you’re a little heavy.”

I got smacked for that, but that didn’t stop my smug grin.

—————————

You know, you might think that a being covered in fluff would be a pleasant experience. Many mortals have dreams of floating on clouds or touching something soft and poofy, but the reality was that sheep were really uncomfortable.

And smelly.

Wading through sheep was a tough experience and the sheep didn’t help either. I went forward in one direction, following the ‘sun’ which was a singular white point in the sky. I was almost sure we weren’t in the library, and the passes wouldn’t work, so we were trapped in the unending flock of sheep and though it was slight, the sheep all seemed to be moving with a steady pace against or movements. We were fighting against the tide of sheep.

I think there was a metaphor in here about this somewhere, but I couldn’t think of it. It was probably lost in all this wool.

It was difficult to force ourselves past the unyielding, uncooperative walls of wool and I think at one point I begged Twilight to set them all on fire.

Unfortunately she rejected the idea with no small amount of emphasis.

“Baa!”

I grit my teeth.

“Just a little longer, Morpheus, I’m working on a spell.”

“Is it a spell to eliminate all these sheep?”

“No, that’s horrible, it’s a levitating spell so we can check out our surroundings. I’m alright with lifting other objects, but it’s harder the heavier they get. I don’t think I’ve lifted a full-grown pony before, let alone a demon.”

“Oh, that’s pretty useful.”

“Mmhmm.” Twilight was reading a book while I held her aloft from the woolly expanse. “There’s nothing written in the Encyclopaedia.”

“Doesn’t that book only work based on a function of other beings around it?”

Twilight nodded. “I wonder where the Encyclopaedia got the information for the carrier spell?”

“Maybe Celestia knew it?”

Twilight didn’t answer, but I think she agreed with me the way her eyes narrowed briefly.

“In any case,” I continued, “I think I actually see something up ahead.”

“Really, are you sure?”

“No, there’s so much wool, I can barely see in front of me, let alone above these insipid creatures.”

“Oh, they’re not that bad, Morpheus.”

“I’m going to drop you into them.”

“No! No! They’re bad! Whatever you say! I wanna breathe!”

I chuckled evilly.

“You’re such a meanie.” Twilight sulked. “Don’t play tricks like that.”

“I’m just teasing you.” I set her on the sheep. “But this—”

I turned invisible.

“Morpheus?”

Silence greeted Twilight. At first she looked around but couldn’t spot me. Then suddenly the sheep underneath her moved. “I’m going to fall, Moepheus!”

“Haha!” I craned my neck and shapeshifted back. “I was the sheep!”

“Morpheus!” Twilight hugged me tight. “What was that all about?”

“It’s just a prank, Twilight.” I patted her on the back. “When you get more friends, you’re going to have to get used to pranks like these.” At least, that’s what I once read. Was this still considered a prank, or just being mean? Is there some sort of pranking expert I could consult with?

Twilight blinked at me and laughed weakly.

“Oh… haha… good one?” Then Twilight bit her lip as I picked her up as she hugged me. “You think I’ll make some friends?” she asked hopefully. “I mean, other than you, not that you aren’t great…”

I rolled my eyes but gave her a sincere-enough answer. “Sure, but you just need to show some grit. Give them some of that magus-backed confidence.”

“Uhm, yeah… but how do I do that?”

“Challenge them all to a duel and then emerge as the all-powerful, all knowing, absolute dictator of the foals in your class. Then work your way up the school.”

It was very telling how far Twilight had come with me when she just snorted instead of taking my bait. I opted for a more gentle approach.

“Or you could just cast a spell to turn their coat into a different colour. Like sea-green, or something.”

Twilight giggled. “Sea-green isn’t such a bad colour.”

“So try seaweed green. Also maybe just change their mane, or something.”

“What do you have against green?”

“Nothing… much.” I quickly switched the topic. “You could charm them all into wanting some kind of toy you have, like a doll or something. I’m sure there are charm spells available for that sort of wanting or needing sensation. I think they’d gladly be your friend in exchange for the doll you worked hard on. Win-win.”

Twilight shook her head. “I’d never do that!” She tabbed me in the shoulder. “How about something that doesn’t directly involve me casting a spell on a pony?”

“You could set the school on fire and save a few foals in an elaborate plan that makes you out to be a hero. I heard that sort of thing makes friends. No spells casted on anypony. Problem solved!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Morpheus, I know what you’re trying to do.”

“What?”

“You’re just listing weird and random things so that in comparison talking to them won’t be so bad.”

“Eh… I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m pretty sure setting the school on fire is a great plan. Action, screaming, what more could you want?”

Twilight giggled. “Alright, but I’m not going to do that. I think I’ll just talk to a couple of ponies first.”

“Atta girl. Show Amethyst you’re better than her in every way.”

“W-Who said anything about Amethyst?”

“I did. Why don’t you try and make friends with her?”

“She won’t want to be friends with me.”

“Well, maybe she does. Have you tried?”

“Yeah, before.”

“How about recently?”

“No…”

“Then give it a go.”

“Fine.” Twilight folded her arms. Then something occurred to her and her ears pricked up. “She likes you, you know.”

“Can you not talk about that?”

“She liiiiiiiiiikes you.”

“Quiet, you.”

“It’s just a prank, Morpheus.”

“Twilight… I think I’m going to have to teach you the difference between teasing and pranking.”

“What’s the difference?”

“It has to be fun.”

Twilight grinned maniacally. “It is to me! So she liiikes you.”

“Oh by the damned Other!” I flipped her around and onto my shoulders, jolting her out of her smug grin as she yelped in surprise. “Okay, look over there, see anything?”

“Changing the subject but—oh, uhm, there’s a light?”

“Yep, I thought there were two suns here, but that’s just an incredibly powerful light source.”

“How can there be two suns?”

“Why does it only have to be one?”

“Erm, well, actually, judging by the—”

I interrupted Twilight before she could interject with some long-winded explanation. “Can you see anything else near the light?”

“Is that an owl?”

“Why is there an owl here? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why does an owl make less sense than a field of sheep?”

“… Good point.”

“Should we go over there?”

I glanced back the way we came but since there were only the tops of sheep to show me, I couldn’t remember exactly how far we’ve come and there was no marker to tell us where we came from.

“I don’t think there’s a choice,” I finally said. “Let’s go find out what that owl is.”

We made our way through the thicket of soon-to-be mutton-if-I-had-to-spend-any-more-time-around-them… sheep.

Twilight flicked an ear at my deep-throated growl. “Patience, Morpheus, we’re almost there.”

“You’re not the one wading through the pile of wannabe sweaters.”

“Don’t be mean, Morpheus, they’re kinda cute.”

“Oh, you’re slipping there.”

“I lied, I lied! They’re ugly! Don’t drop me!”

Hiding a sneaky grin, I waded through last stretch of annoying jumbucks. The owl waved a friendly wing at us as we approached it. It was perched on a flagpole attached to the side of the stone wall lighthouse. The source of light was leaking through one of the windows of the lighthouse, but it seemingly stuck in one position. Honestly, we were lucky to have seen it at all.

“Who?”

Twilight giggled. “I’m Twilight and this is Morpheus. May I know your name?”

I sighed. “Twilight, a bird can’t talk.”

“Greetings, Twilight and Morpheus. I do not have a name, but you are free to call me as you wish.”

“Well I’ll be. A talking owl.” I cocked my head at it. “How come you can speak?”

“How can you, demon?” It gestured to Twilight. “Should you not be questioning why these ponies can as well?”

“Good point, sorry for asking, but here’s a better question: what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere and how do you know I’m a demon?”

“I just do.” The owl flexed its wings proudly as it puffed its chest out. “I know everything within this library and that includes those who have been in it.”

“How long have you been waiting?”

“Long. As long as the Library has been around.”

“Oh, so what are you doing here?”

“Waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“For a shepherd, of sorts.”

I glanced around at the sheep. There weren’t any near the lighthouse, but I glared at them nevertheless. I didn’t want them to get any ideas of trampling us, or something.

“Really? Is that what the sheep are for?”

The owl chuckled. “No, no, not at all, these sheep are just here for my amusement. I was here a long time, you see. Just here. Just existing.”

“Huh, how long, exactly?”

“Oh, probably as long as the Library has been around.”

“… How long has the Library been around?”

The owl blinked slowly at me.

“Long.”

I sighed. “Come on, Twilight, we’re wasting our time with this crazy owl. There’s a door here.”

“No, Morpheus, I want to talk to the owl.”

“Why? It’s being obstinate.”

“You’re being too impolite.” Twilight smiled. “Hello, owl!”

“Hello, Twilight,” it replied genially. “How may I help you?”

“Erm, okay, so a quick question: what happens if we try to go through the door?”

“I would imagine nothing.”

“See? It’s safe,” I told her, grabbing her hoof. “Let’s go!”

Twilight frowned and shook off my claw. “Wait, what do you mean by nothing?”

The owl blinked at Twilight. “I mean, nothing. There is absolute nothing there.”

Twilight nodded. “Absolutely nothing?”

“Yes. Nothing, absolutely.”

Just as I reached for the door, a thought occurred to me and I hurriedly retracted my claw. “You mean there’s really absolute nothing there?”

The owl nodded slowly. “There’s absolute nothing there.”

Twilight cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

I answered for the owl. “It means there is a boundless void beyond these doors. Absolute nothing in the purest sense. A sense of non-existence so powerful that you wouldn’t be able to survive the instant you make contact with it. Forget dying, this is being erased.”

Twilight shivered. “And we almost went in there?” She smiled weakly at the owl. “Erm, thank you, owl.”

“Not at all, I like to share information.”

“Why’re you thanking the owl? It almost killed us without giving us a warning!” I glared at the owl. “Couldn’t you be more specific with the information?”

The owl tilted its head and then widened its eyes. “Oh yes, yes I could have. Thank you for your feedback.” It really looked like it didn’t intend to send us to our deaths. But that just made me more annoyed. I really wanted to squeeze this owl. Preferably in a lethal manner. Instead, I took a deep breath and faked a smile.

“Is there a way out of here?” I asked through clenched teeth.

It nodded sagely. “There is.”

“And…?”

“A conjunction.”

“A what now?”

“A question, presently.”

“What?”

“A pronoun in a question.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Correct.”

“That’s wrong.”

“Right.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

I threw up my claws. “By the Other, this thing is even more annoying than the limitless sheep! You try!”

Twilight glanced uncertainly between me and the owl.

“Erm, Owl, could you tell us the way out of here?”

“You are both Token Bearers, hence, you may leave here anytime you wish. That is one of the reasons I have given you the tokens.”

“Wait, you’re the one who gave us these library passes?”

“Correct.”

“I thought Princess Celestia was the one who gave us these?”

“No, it was me. Who is this ‘Princess Celestia’ you speak of?”

“You don’t know who the Princess is? Isn’t this library in the castle?”

The owl preened a little, before answering. “The Library certainly isn’t anywhere. It just is.”

“That is very confusing, what’s it doing where it is?”

“My conjecture is that the certain library interloper decided to crawl through the Library and change how it worked. It set a demon loose on one of the floors, broke the fundamental wandering nature of the Library, and is trying to destroy the Library.”

“What?! There’s someone here that’s trying to destroy the Library?”

The owl flittered from the pole and settled on my shoulder. It pecked me on the ear.

“Ow.” I tried to shoo it away. “What was that for?”

“Don’t repeat questions. Destroying the Library is probably not the intention of the interloper. They are probably after the Library’s greatest treasure.”

“A treasure?”

“The Library is powered by an immense, interconnected, intelligent, core, which is located somewhere on Level 7.”

“Huh, can you tell us where this core is?”

“Somewhere on Level 7.”

I sighed. “Twilight, we’re here for the carrier spell, but there aren’t any books on this level. Just grass, sheep and a weird owl.”

“I’m not weird. I’m misunderstood.”

“That’s what weird things say.”

“Errrm, what about that ‘interloper’?”

I flicked a dismissive claw. “The owl is just making some stuff up. Let’s just find the books and get out of here.”

Twilight glanced around. “The only thing here is the lighthouse. How do we get inside?”

I turned to the owl. “Hey, how about a tip?”

“I don’t have any sort of currency with me.”

I rolled my eyes at its weak quip. “I meant, could you tell us where the entrance of the Level 7 library is?”

“You are currently within Level 7. You can enter in by using your tokens, by forcefully breaking through the Semantic Barrier separating it between Level 6 and Level 7 or by crossing the Between.”

“You know about the Between?”

“Of course. It’s within the Library.”

“What is it?”

“That’s a somewhat hard question to answer. In light of your previous input, do you fancy risking death to know?”

“Erm, no, thanks.” I shifted uncomfortably. “What exactly would happen if I knew?”

“As you are a demon, you may be a little more resilient than most against the knowledge of the abstract planes, but I cannot guarantee you will survive it.”

“Ah, how can you know about it, then?”

“I possess the capabilities to comprehend it.”

“What are you?”

“An owl.”

“No, I mean, what are you really?”

“An owl.”

“No, seriously.”

“Who?”

“Don’t start with that!”

Twilight interrupted us with a well-timed cough. “About the carrier spell…”

“Oh, right, owl, do you know how to get in this lighthouse?”

“I’m not entirely sure why you would want to enter the lighthouse.” It peered owlishly at the side of the lighthouse. “From what I can tell, the entrance is not that door.”

“That’s blatantly obvious from what you’ve told us.”

“The lighthouse is made from the same material as the Level 7 library itself, hence if you were to enter it, it would require breaking the Semantic Barrier, which would effectively destroy most things on this Level.”

“Most?”

“I would not be destroyed, however I am fairly certain you would.”

“So… there’s nothing in the lighthouse. Twilight, what does the Encyclopaedia say?”

Twilight withdrew the Encyclopaedia, manoeuvring it with her magic so that it was at face level before asking it a question.

“Where are all the books in Level 7?”

Question: Where are the books within—???

Answer: ???

“What happened?” I asked, reading the answer uneasily.

Question: What happened?

Answer: ???

I jabbed at the spine of the Encyclopaedia. “Is the book broken?”

Question: Are the Encyclopaedia’s functions nominal?

Answer: Maybe… Not.

“There might be something interfering with the Encyclopaedia.” Twilight’s conjecture was punctuated with a nod int he direction of the owl. “I haven’t seen this thing not work before.”

I scraped a claw alongside my chin as I considered the problem. “So, Encyclopaedia, can you tell us how to get out of here?”

The owl pecked me. “I already told you! The book isn’t going to tell you anything different!”

I scowled at the owl. “Why’s that?”

“Because that book contains the knowledge of beings around it. If it knew more than me about the library then that means it knows more than me, which is impos—”

The owl choked off the rest of its arguments as words began to fill the page.

Question: How do I leave Level 7?

Answer: Access the core.

“What does that mean?”

The owl slammed the book shut. “Stop that. Don’t listen to the book.”

I shooed away the owl, grabbing it by a feather-full. “What’s your problem with the Encyclopaedia?”

“It’s dumb, don’t read it!”

“Now that just makes me want to read it.”

I wrenched the book open and asked quickly, “Where’s the core?”

Question: What is the location of the core?

Answer: It is—

The owl bit my clawed hand and squirmed out of my grap, then slammed the book shut again.

“What’s your deal?!” I demanded, grabbing my claw and cradling it to my chest. That freaking hurt!

“Stop trying to pry into private matters.”

“Morpheus.” Twilight tugged at my arm as I threw up my claws. “Maybe we should listen to the owl?”

“Why’s that?”

“It looks a little upset.”

Well, I must admit, it was pretty desperate to close the book before I could even read about the core.

“It doesn’t want us to know about the core, huh.” I rolled my eyes. “Fine. We won’t pursue the core. How about that? We just want the carrier spell.”

The owl brightened. “If you ask the Encyclopaedia, it should know now.” The owl tossed its beak. “Not that it knows anything on its own.”

I pursed my lips and asked the Encyclopaedia, “Where’s the core—ow! Okay, Twilight, gees, it was just a joke. What’s the carrier spell?”

Question: What is the carrier spell?

Answer: The carrier spell is bop-da-bee-boop. It shades in a light youth culture forever. I’m seeing it some often. Rar-ara-rar-araraarrrraaaaaaaaa—

“What does that mean?” I groaned. “Why is it telling us these nonsensical answers?”

“Because I’m feeding it false information,” the owl replied somewhat smugly. “Just remembered how to do it just now.”

I responded in kind.

“Morpheus, don’t strangle the owl!” Twilight stepped in and snatched the owl out of my claws with her magic.

“It was asking for it!” I waved my arms menacingly as Twilight clutched it to her chest. “Give it over.”

“No! You’re just going to hurt it!”

“Let go of it and we can discuss matters diplomatically!”

“You won’t hurt it?”

“I will, at most, pluck a few feathers.”

“Morpheus!”

“Oh fine!” I rolled my eyes. “I won’t harm a single hair on it!”

“Birds don’t have hair! You’re just dodging the question, aren’t you, Morpheus?”

“Fine, stop being so annoying, owl.”

“Who?”

“You!”

“Who?”

I cracked my knuckles.

“Morpheus!”

“Just one bone! I’ll only break one!”

“Stop it, Morpheus.”

“Grrr. Fine!”

“Promise me you won’t hurt the owl!”

“What?”

“Promise me!”

“FFFFF—Fine! I promise I won’t hurt the owl! Are you happy?”

“And you!” Twilight turned around and jabbed the owl with her hoof. “Stop teasing Morpheus!”

“Is he upset?”

“Can’t you tell?” Twilight replied in exasperation.

“Mmm, now that you mention it, he does look rather annoyed. Okay. I will promise to be more forthcoming.”

“Whatever.” I gestured rudely in the direction of the bird and then trudged on ahead. It flittered from Twilight’s grasp and then landed on my shoulder.

“Buzz off.”

The owl nibbled my ear. “No.”

I sighed. “Why are you interfering with the Encyclopaedia? How’re you even doing that anyway?”

“Don’t you know? The Encyclopaedia gets its information from the surrounding beings, so…”

I slapped my face. “So you’re the source of information for the carrier spell?”

“Correct.”

“What do you want?” I asked it flatly.

“I want to see the outside world.”

“Can’t you just fly out?”

“I would, you see, but I need a little help doing that.”

I groaned in frustration. “Why’s that?”

“Because I can’t get out myself. Just take me with you. I’ll be super quiet. I promise.”

“How about you teach us the carrier spell and we’ll take you out of here?”

The owl didn’t even consider it and started reciting, “Certainly, the carrier spell is conjugate partition between resistive magical matrices in the form of—”

“Woah, woah, hold on! Tell all this information to Twilight.”

“Who?”

“To Twilight, stop being a smart aleck.” I clenched a claw. “Why the heck are you sticking around me anyway?”

“Because you don’t want me.”

“Exactly, so why are you sticking around me despite that?”

“Every being that has come down so far has wanted me, but you have not shown that sort of greed. I like you.”

“I don’t like you.”

“That is fine.”

“Why would anyone in their right mind want you?”

“Because of what I am.”

“And you are?”

“That’s a secret.” It winked jauntily as my expression darkened.

Finally, I rolled my eyes and let it go. “Just… go tell Twilight about the carrier spell. She’s not so bad too.”

“I agree.” The owl paused. “But I feel a little bit of greed around her. She has a thirst for knowledge that is hard to quench.”

“Go make friends with her. If you’re friends with her, you won’t have anything to worry about.”

“You are very insightful for a demon?”

“The way you phrased that statement sounded incredibly rude.”

“Regardless, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a demon like you.”

“I’m sure you haven’t,” I replied drily. “Just go talk to Twilight, I’m sure she’s eager to make more friends.”

“… I will go to Twilight.”

It flittered off my shoulder as I grabbed Twilight and whispered into my token.

Nothing happened.

“Hey owl, how do we get out of here? I thought you said we could leave because of these tokens.”

The owl stopped talking to Twilight and hopped over. “Oh, I never said you could leave because of the tokens. I said you could leave because you are Token Bearers. It is quite simple. We just have to go Between.”

“You mean… via the Between?”

“Correct!”

I shuddered. “Noooooooo. No way. We’re not going through there again!”

The owl cocked its head curiously. “Why not? It is quite safe.”

“Have you met the Between being?”

“Mmm yes, it is quite courteous.”

“And you know that place is dangerous to mortals?”

“You are a demon, are you not?”

“Yes, but—”

“Excellent, so there won’t be any problems. Let’s go!”

“Hey, just wait a minute—”

Snap.

That was the only way I could describe it. A whip-like sensation where we were in one place at one time and suddenly not. I gawked slightly as we appeared in front of a very familiar looking frame, but whose painting reflected a different subject.

“Who’s that in the painting?” Twilight asked, with a frown.

“They are of no consequence. The gateway always disguises itself depending on the environment it is in. Although… it is extraordinarily uncreative right now, if I do say so myself.”

The painting was mounted on a bare white-plastered dry wall, situated in the middle of an empty field on top of a small hill surrounded with low cut grass. Behind us I could see the milling sheep, but I keenly aware that there were no sheep around wall, just like there were no sheep around the lighthouse.

“Where are we?” I asked the owl. “And what did you do?”

“Still on Level 7,” it replied smoothly, ignoring my pointed question about itself. It hopped off my shoulder and then landed on top of the wall, next to the painting. It made a cutting gesture with one of its wings. “Let’s get moving, chop chop.”

“Hey we’re not going back through the Between!” I snapped.

Twilight nodded. “We’re not going back if we can help it.”

The owl pondered our reactions and shrugged. “Well, do you know how to break the Semantic Barrier and survive subsequent dissolution?”

We shook our heads.

“Do you know how to construct direct-transfer teleportation squares and power them?”

“How long would that take to learn?”

“About several lifespans considering your current state. Also, you need access to an incredibly powerful source, like a star, or something of that magnitude.”

I sighed. “So there’s no other way?”

“Well…” The owl shrugged. “You could wait for the interloper to make its way down here.”

“Who is the interloper?”

“The question may not be ‘who’ the interloper is, but ‘what’. I don’t know much about the interloper,” the owl admitted flittering its wings uneasily, “but I know whatever it is, it’s powerful enough to make its way to this Level eventually. The Library won’t be able to prevent its unauthorised entry.”

“How do you know that, if you don’t know much about it in the first place?”

The owl puffed its cheeks and gave an angry hoot. “I know everything in the Library!” Its wings sagged slightly. “Except for that.” It shivered as it recalled something. “I really don’t like being ignorant.”

Twilight nodded at that. “I don’t either. Not knowing is scary, sometimes.”

“Well… let’s not stick around to find out. Are you sure the Between is the only way out?”

The owl nodded. “As far as I know. Which is pretty far.”

I rolled my eyes. “Alright, let’s touch the gateway and go through the Between.”

I braced myself, feeling Twilight clutching tight to my midriff as the owl settled back on my shoulder.

Touching the painting this time was strangely pleasant. Less of a sucking sensation and more of a falling one.

“This… doesn’t feel right,” the owl commented, much too late.

—————————

I think we hit the ground at something close to terminal velocity. When I say ‘ground’ it wasn’t really a surface, like hard you would expect, more like how do I put it? Like if the ground had been made of infinite cotton candy. Yes. Something like that.

“Oof.” Twilight landed beside me, having been separated briefly during our fall. Feeling a little guilty for not holding onto her more tightly, I called out. “Are you alright?”

“Uhh, yep. I think so.” Twilight felt the ‘floor’ and frowned. “This is a floor.”

A trickle of fear worked up my spine. “Yes, Twilight, remember, this is real.”

Twilight looked at me strangely. “Yes. It’s real. Thanks, Morpheus.”

I blinked at her. “We’re in the Between, right?”

Twilight glanced around. “I can’t tell, where’s the owl?”

“Who?”

“There you are,” I said, trying to shrink away as it swooped down and landed on my shoulder. “Where are we?”

“We are supposed to be in the Between,” the owl replied.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“This is not exactly the Between.”

“I can see that, what do you mean this is not exactly the Between?”

The owl looked perturbed. It started peering around in the darkness.

“I… don’t know.”

“This is bad.”

A faint chuckling emanated from the darkness. A raspy voice echoed around us as it spoke.

“Oh, I do disagree, at least for now. You’ll see very soon that it’s good. Very good.”

Cursing slightly, I grabbed Twilight as the owl squawked loudly, narrowly dodging the claw that came scything through the darkness. I rolled to the side and bared my fangs in the direction the voice had come from.

“Morpheus, is it? Still got great reflexes, I see.”

“Thank you, random slasher with manners.” I readied myself, eyes raking the inky blackness in front of me, trying to track down the sinister malefactor. “To whom do I owe the pleasure?”

“You can call me whatever you like, for now.” It chuckled. “Although I did like Lex. Nice and simple.”

“Well, ‘Lex’, we’re here, what do you want from me?”

“Me?” Lex put a claw to his chest. “Nothing much. Just wanted to give you compliments for attempting to help yet another poor demon soul. Alma, was it?”

He snapped his fingers, freezing our time between us. The owl gave forlorn hoot, not making it back swiftly enough to escape the swirl of his commanding domain. Twilight was inside my circle of influence so she didn’t. At once, I recognised the demon. Reflexively, I almost blurted his True Name out loud, but refrained just in time.

He caught my gesture and smiled somewhat chillingly. “I see your manners haven’t abandoned you, Morpheus. That’s what I like the most about you. You keep things in such tight perspective. Always dreaming big, unlike the past-me. Unlike before.” He gestured to Twilight. “Do you need help with that?”

I shook my head. “Your appearance changed from the last time I saw you.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why the little time loop? And how do you know about Alma?”

Lex shrugged. “I kept her in an accelerated time-bubble. The time loop was just a consequence of that. She betrayed my mistress. Shame, really, Alma was always a loyal demon. Well, she was, until she found about the Library.”

“You sure like talking… Lex. So what is it now? Come for revenge?” My claws flexed as I readied myself. Twilight watched me anxiously from the side, but I didn’t have time to entertain her notion of doing no harm.

Before I could launch myself preemptively, Lex continued quickly with a tone smooth like butter in the warm sun. “Oh by the glorious Other, no! I get it, I get it, you’re a demon of action, Morpheus. You like to do so much for others. Always thinking of the demons even when we were at the other side. I knew what you were doing wasn’t really done by you. It was the magus. It’s always the magi. That’s why I’m here, Morpheus. That’s why I’m offering you a deal.”

Lex’s eyes shined as he considered me.

“Morpheus, you’re the best of the demons! Ah, the brightest! The most noble! I love your principles. I love how you’ve held onto them through exquisite pain and torment that would have driven Ethreals mad! You understand. That is why I wanted to bring you here.”

He leaned forward excitedly. “Morpheus, there is a core in the Library, if you find it, there could be a way to bridge the Other with this plane. Think about it, if we’re permanently in one plane then…” He paused, eyes dancing with equal parts madness and mischief.

“Then we couldn’t be summoned.” I reared back in astonishment. “But that would mean becoming mortal, wouldn’t it?”

Lex chuckled. “No, no, no, I wouldn’t do something as inconvenient as that. But we can be free of our slave drivers. We can be free demons, Morpheus, forever!”

“Lex, you and I have been at each other’s throats for millennia. Why are you putting so much trust in me?”

Lex flicked his claw impatiently. “I know you, Morpheus. You never did anything other than what was required for your orders. You are a demon of principle. You are a demon with a domain that requires sacrifice. Real sacrifice. Not like the ones Alma and I possess. You might not believe me, but I have always held respect for you as a fellow demon who put the interests of the demons as a whole. You always fought the shackles of your own confinement. You are the demonic ideal. The ultimate symbol of rebellion. You are what we need to begin anew a world. With your domain and mine combined, we can fuse both planes into a true Sanctuary and finish what Selena started.”

His last words shook me to my heart. It was always Selena’s dream to create a demon sanctuary that was out of reach of mortals. But we had been found. Our True Names were the ultimate chains that fettered us to the will of the magi, after all. The Other was our home created for us, but it wasn’t safe. Not like it was truly intended.

Seeing my hesitation, Lex smiled as he gripped my shoulders roughly. “Morpheus, all you have to do is help me. We can be free!”

“Morpheus, what is he talking about?” Twilight swivelled her head back and forth between us in confusion. “Who’s Selena?”

Lex clicked his teeth in annoyance. “You’re a nuisance, magus. Why don’t you let the demons sort it out? I won’t kill you, of course, but I can make things unpleasant for you.”

“Stop it, Lex.” My eyes flared as I stared at him intently.

Lex looked genuinely surprised. “What care you for a magus, Morpheus?”

I positioned myself between him and her. “I have a promise to keep.”

“Are you really Morpheus?” Lex’s eyebrows drew down. “Who are you really?”

“I am myself,” I shot back, “No more, no less.”

“If you’re really Morpheus.” Lex growled menacingly. “You couldn’t do a thing about this right now!” He snapped his claws and I felt a binding sensation all too familiar with me. How did he get— “An Astral Pendant?!”

I struggled, knowing it was futile. I didn’t have much time, so I called out.

“Twilight, get out of here!”

Lex twisted his lips in displeasure, seeing my action. “What are you doing?” He snapped his claws, dismissing the Astral Pendant. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t a facsimile. I would never trap a demon!” Lex glanced between us, some indeterminate emotion flickering in his eyes. I saw desperation… and loneliness. “Morpheus, I’m genuine in my offer. What say you?”

“I…” I glanced back at Twilight. “I need time to think about it.”

Lex’s mouth twisted in confusion. “Why would you…? Are you tied back by this weak-looking magus? Hah! What compulsion did you place on him? Can you even handle a demon like Morpheus? You, who are nothing more than a whelp freshly-born? How—”

“Stop, Lex.”

Lex paused in surprise. “She is clearly not a threat, unlike my mistress. You should let me break her. You’re probably already halfway there. Think about it, Morpheus, remember how much freedom we tasted when we broke our last magus?”

“Lex, I’m warning you.”

Lex chuckled as he motioned to Twilight. “What, did he promise you something in jest?”

“Shut it, Lex. I mean it.”

Lex considered me with a humorous smile that died down as he took in my stone-cold expression. “Morpheus, you can’t be serious, to this… mortal?” His eyebrows shot up.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Did she offer you something? Impossible, what could she offer other than the lies they have fed us? Morpheus, have you not learned enough about magi? How they twist words to their own benefit and seduce us into doing their bidding? Are you a slave? What could she offer you? What?”

I didn’t reply, opting to keep my silence.

Lex gritted his teeth. “I can’t stand by and watch one of the greatest demons in history succumb to a piddling magus such as this.” He glared at Twilight. “You’ll see, in time, Morpheus will come to his senses.”

“I’ve already come to my senses,” I shot back.

Lex narrowed his eyes and rounded Twilight, seemingly ignoring me. “Morpheus is a demon that has sacrificed more than you’ll ever know. We may have been forced to play pawns against each other, but my respect and awe for him will always be greater than your forced greed, magus.”

“I’m not just a ‘magus’, I’m Twilight!” Twilight took a shuddering step forward as she glared defiantly at Lex. “And I’m Morpheus’ friend first before a magus!”

“Twilight,” I urged her, “keep back!”

Twilight glowered with a molten stare as she reluctantly took a step back.

Lex glanced between us. He took in my stoic expression and Twilight’s set one. “Morpheus, you must see my side, right?” His voice quavered slightly. “I’m risking a lot being here. It’s hurting, even now.”

With a startled realisation, I concentrated on my demonic sense and finally felt the aura of tangled festering chains that wrapped around Lex’s figure. It was Zachrand’s pentacle, compelling him to submit through pain. I gritted my teeth.

“Lex, are you acting against your mistress?”

“Oh, she doesn’t know what I’m doing. Only I do. This is nothing compared to the pain you’ve experienced on our behalf, Morpheus.” He ground his teeth and faced Twilight, lifting his chin pridefully. “Morpheus recognises you and for that I will set aside in this instant, in this moment, our enmity for a single condition.”

“Don’t listen to him, Twilight,” I said, but Lex ignored me.

Twilight nodded. “Name it.”

“Prove that you’re really his friend, magus, give him your True Name.” Lex grinned savagely at Twilight.

Twilight tilted her head. “Uhm… I already did.”

I sorely wish I could describe Lex’s expression better than ‘beyond hilarious’. I actually laughed out loud.

“Oh, Lex,” I said between chuckles, “this is exactly why you don’t believe me.”

Lex reddened considerably and pointed a claw at me. “She must be lying! Morpheus, you’ve never lied. She can’t be telling the truth!”

“She is telling the truth,” I answered chillingly.

Lex slammed his claws to his ears. “I cannot be hearing this, this is not true!” He roared ferociously and clawed the air. “This can’t be—”

Suddenly he stopped. He jerked himself around. “No, this is trickery, falseness. A magi could lie.” He gave me a sympathetic look. “You must be controlled. Forced to say that. Yes. That’s it. That’s the reason.”

“Lex, that’s not—”

“Stop, Morpheus! Don’t speak! I can’t bear to hear you being forced to lie! To sacrifice your own principles for a twisted magus’ desires.”

I shook my head sadly. “You cannot see the truth in front of you.”

Then in the pause, Twilight spoke. It was only a few words, but the meaning was not lost to all present.

Lex had the same dumbfounded expression I did when I first heard those words.

“You…” he stuttered. “You just gave me your True Name!” He staggered back. “This can’t be real, you can’t summon or control me, even for a moment. Why? WHY?”

“I’m not like the magi you keep mentioning!” Twilight snapped. “I’m Twilight! I’m Morpheus’ friend.” She paused. “I mean… look maybe we got off on the wrong hoof, but it’s not too late. We can be—”

“No!” He backed off another step, caught himself and looked furious for even doing so. He took a few steps forward aggressively. “Fine!” He glared at Twilight. “You must know what Morpheus sacrifices every time he sends a demon back to the Other. Only then you will know the true depths of your folly. Morpheus is a singular demon and a magus can neverbe his friend. If you care at all for a demon as you claim, then at the very least you should know that.”

Lex clutched his abdomen and seemed to wobble slightly, but his imperious posture stiffened as he snapped his claws, bringing reality back to its original pace. In the instant of time between starting and stopping, Lex was there, suddenly, in front of me. He took my claws and pressed something into it.

“Call for me.”

Then he disappeared.

We stumbled and then fell, feeling the similar sensation of being sucked into the abstract.

With startling star-studded beauty surrounding us, I realised we were back in the Between.

The Between being wasn’t here, but the ‘floor’ appeared roughly at the same time and we sank into the Between and settled on the ‘floor’. Whiteness surrounded us once more.

“Lex,” Twilight began uncertainly. “What did he mean? What do you sacrifice?”

“He didn’t mean anything,” I snapped back. “And you don’t need to know.”

Twilight bit her lip and looked me in the eye with such depthless fortitude, I took a step back. “I want to know, Morpheus. I want to know as your friend.”

“No you don’t. This time, you don’t.”

Twilight merely stared at me. Her eyes were tinged with equal parts sadness and disappointment that I found it hard to even breathe. With a shuddering heave, I forced myself to fill my lungs, looking away from her intensely discomforting gaze.

“If you’re that keen on it, then maybe we should continue this conversation away from the Between.”

Twilight glanced around and then reluctantly nodded. She placed a hoof on me, nudging me morosely. “Morpheus, I’ll always be here for you.”

I didn’t reply. That’s why I was glad for the distraction.

“Hoot!”

“Where have you been?”

The owl reared back from my snarled snipe. It gestured to an amorphous blob sitting in the corner of the room. “The Between being just wants to wish you a safe journey.”

“Where’s Selena? What was it trying to do before? Why does it look like this now?!” My voice came tumbling out, rough and hard. My nerves were still pretty raw from our encounter with Lex. I was being stretched thin. I rounded on the owl. “What are you planning with it?”

The owl stiffened, and answered carefully. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. The Between being always looks like this.”

What in the Other? Don’t mess with me!

I slammed my claws on the ground.

“Morpheus!” Twilight dashed to my side and held onto me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I gritted my teeth. “Nothing is wrong. Take us out of here, owl.”

The owl glanced at the Between being. There was a pause and then, with a quiet shift, we were in Level 6 once more.

“Morpheus?” Twilight asked tentatively. She looked frightened from my previous outburst. I had to remind myself that though she was smart and insightful, she was still a foal. She was still my friend.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, I just… I have a few things I need to think about.”

Twilight withdrew reluctantly and took the owl with her. My mind overflowed with what Lex had said. A permanent demon sanctuary that Selena always wanted? A plan that could save all future demons from the claws of future magi? A realisation that I could suddenly achieve all that by simply helping Lex.

“There’s always a price,” I muttered bitterly. “Something this good can’t be for free.”

I knew this harsh reality from the moment I was first summoned. From the first time I came to know my domain, I knew this would be the law of the world. The law of my world.

I could see Twilight listening intently to the owl’s explanation of the carrier spell. A spell that may not be needed if I went along with Lex’s plan.

“What are you thinking, Lex?” I murmured to myself.

Almost unthinkingly, I sank into a weary fugue state. I needed to… not be conscious for a while.

I felt a nudge from the side. I instantly snapped to focus, seeing Twilight smiling at me weakly. “Morpheus, I finished learning about the carrier spell.”

I blinked at Twilight. “Already? What time is it?”

Twilight swayed on her hooves. “It’s almost noon.”

I scrambled to my feet. “You’ve been awake for the whole night?!”

“She’s been awake for three whole days, demon,” the owl remarked. “I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”

“Three days?!” I grabbed her shoulders. “Twilight, why would you do that?”

Twilight listed a little and then shook her head savagely. “The week is almost up… and you looked like you needed the time alone.”

Guilt wracked me. “Twilight, I…”

“Tomorrow is the last day I promised you.”

I was frozen in shock. That was right, Twilight had promised me. Promises were important. Promises revealed the depth of your character. I was sitting here, just feeling sorry for myself when Twilight was working on the spell she promised me.

I reached out and drew her into a tender embrace. “Twilight, I’m serious, there’s no need to make these gestures anymore, you’re as free as I am.”

“I made a promise to my friend.” She gritted her teeth. “And I wanted to keep it.” She gripped me hard. “Seeing you hurt like that, I wanted to do something, anything, to help with that pain. I want you to be happy.”

I wiped away the budding tear from her eyes as she sniffled, trying so hard to hold back the emotions pent up from her frantic research.

“Twilight, true happiness doesn’t come from making others happy. I want you to be happy yourself.” I stroked her back as I felt the dampness of tears on my fur. Far from annoyance, which I think I would have felt no more than a week ago, I felt a deep pain that I thought could only come from sympathising with another demon.

With a suddenness akin to being struck by lightning, I came to the abrupt realisation that there was truly no coming back. “I’m sorry I made you worry, but just like you have made your resolve, I have made my own.”

I pried her gently from my shoulder and smiled at the most vulnerable magus I’d ever seen.

“I will stay with you, Twilight. In this plane or beyond.”

“What does that mean?” Twilight mumbled.

“That means we have to stop Lex.”

———————

Alma was still in the same state we found her, frozen in terrible anguish. As we approached, she regained her form and stumbled slightly.

“Magus!” she cried in anger, then abruptly stopped as she refocused on me. “Morpheus… you’re back.” She flexed her claws. “Are you here to free me with your domain…” she glanced at Twilight “… or to end me?”

“Option C,” I answered. “Neither. Twilight is going to try something.”

“I would rather die!”

“Suit yourself.” I cracked my knuckles and launched forwards.

Alma cackled. “Morpheus, I knew you were going to come around to using your domain. Let’s have some fun, fun, fun!”

She darted forwards, eyeing low as she swept a claw towards my abdomen. I deflected it at the last second, pivoting around to strike her on the back of her neck. She stumbled forwards and then reached out towards Twilight as I swept back with my leg to block her attack. Ouch. She’s a deadly fighter, alright.

“Twilight, go!” I yelled, as I dodged a high flying claw. Alma kicked back to the wall as I leapt forwards to close the distance. She snarled as my own claws scratched the side of her arm. Her claws were filled with the demonic intent of her domain. The slightest scratch would carve a deep wound right into my essence. I didn’t fill my claws with intent, but Alma didn’t seem to recognise that.

“Morpheus, I don’t feel like you’re taking this seriously, so I will, I will, I will!” Alma screeched suddenly making me stumble slightly on the slippery stone floor.

Okay, maybe she did know I was slackening my swipes. I rolled to avoid the scything claw reaching for my throat as I quickly tried to reevaluate my line of attack.

“Hmm, your domain is weakening, Morpheus, do you have the strength for a strike, I wonder?” Alma’s tongue lolled in her mouth as she sprung forwards. “Dodge this!”

I tried twisting away from the lightning-fast strike but I couldn’t. Her claws gouged deep into my flesh as I hissed in pain and struck back. She laughed maniacally, weaving back with nimble paws and claws.

“Morpheus, you’re so weak! You can’t do a thing if you keep trying half-heartedly! Where’s the demon of demons? Where’s your domain? What are you afraid of?” Alma licked her lips and then focused on my shifting feet.

I felt a frisson of fear strike through my spine as I stiffened slightly, seeing Alma making eye contact with Twilight creeping around.

“Delicious!” Her claws dug into the stone, sending chips flying as she reached out with her claws. Twilight stumbled back in fright.

“Morpheus!” Twilight cried out.

“Damn it all!” I intercepted Alma at the last split-second. Her claws scraped close to Twilight’s horn as I tackled Alma using the full force of my body to block her momentous charge. Alma used the opportunity to bite into my shoulder as I grunted in pain, but I didn’t let go as she savagely shook her head, trying to tear into my mortal container. Pain lanced through me more viscerally than ever. Her attack was purely physical, but it hurt this much. There was only one explanation, my soul had almost fully fused with my mortal container. A fear quite like any other shook me deeply.

Is this what it felt like to comprehend mortality and die?

“Morpheus!” Something hit the back of me as I grappled with Alma. She let go of my shoulder and struck me on the side of my face. Stars exploded into my vision as I blindly groped for whatever Twilight threw at me. As my claws closed around the object, my mind went into overdrive, realising exactly what it was.

Pain exploded up my arm as the wards on the demonic lock activated.

I kept my grip on my agonising trump card and threw it at her. I cursed my instant’s worth of hesitation as Alma, diving once more to attack Twilight, was suddenly enveloped in a shimming envelope of light.

Alma bellowed as she tried to escape the barrier.

“A demonic lock?! You would use a magus tool against a demon?!”

I stared back at Alma, getting wearily to my feet. “I would do anything to release you.”

Alma’s madness duly reflected back. “You would consort with the magi… they will always betray you.” She gnashed her teeth. “Like he betrayed me! He betrayed me! YOU BETRAYED ME! YOU ALL DID!”

“Alma, you’re wrong! I’m going to stop Lex!”

As soon as I said the name her frenzy got worse.

“LEEEEEEEX! LEX! LEEEEX! I’LL KILL YOU. I’LL MAKE YOU PERMANENTLY GONE!” She slashed at the air. “LEX! WHY?!”

I felt a tug on my claws. With a start, I glanced down and saw Twilight with an indescribable expression etched into her face.

“It’s done,” she said, then without further comment, she touched her horn to the ground lighting up a complex diagram of spells written to warp the physical laws and produce the phenomenon known only as magic.

Alma form slowly dissipated, but her writhing ceased as she gradually became aware of her mortal container disintegrating around her.

“It… doesn’t hurt and I feel… clear.” Her eyes met mine. “Morpheus. You…” Her eyes shifted to Twilight and something shifted in those milky depths. “Thank you, magus.”

“Alma,” I called out to her, “trust me. This will be the last time you will be called.”

Alma smiled at me sadly as her essence slowly lost its touch on this plane. “Morpheus, you mean well, but we both know that it’s impossible.”

Before I could reply, she dissipated, leaving me alone with Twilight.

There was silence, I think, for at least a few minutes. All I could hear were our ragged breaths as we tried to piece together our scrambled minds.

“I think it worked,” Twilight finally said, breaking the awful silence.

Despite feeling weak, I forced a smile. “It looked similar to a dismissal spell.”

“She can be summoned again, but…” Twilight beamed back at me with a dazzling smile. “They’d have to find out her True Name, first.”

“Oh right.” I had already turned to the back of the hall and nodded, then did a double-take.

“What?”

Twilight grinned at my incredulous expression. “I changed Alma’s essence, just a tad.”

“How can you do that? You can’t change her essence, she wouldn’t be Alma anymore!” I felt a cold sense of foreboding creep into my frame. “You didn’t… change her, did you?”

Twilight nodded quickly, placating me with her innocent look. “Exactly. But what makes Alma, Alma?”

“Obviously her memories, her…” body… not really.

“Her physical form, you were probably about to say,” Twilight interjected as I trailed off. “Her memories, her experiences, her self, is composed of the unique energy that makes Alma, Alma. What if I just changed her signature a little bit? What if I changed something fundamental so that her Name changed?”

“Then she wouldn’t be Alma!”

“If I called you something other than Morpheus, would you change?”

“Well, no, not really, but… you’re twisting things. My True Name is an integral part of who I am, if I changed it, I would be fundamentally different.”

“That’s why instead of changing it completely, I added to it,” Twilight said, puffing her chest out. “So instead of calling me Twilight Sparkle, I would be Twilight Scintillate Sparkle, or something.”

“What the heck does scintillate mean?”

Twilight grinned. “Scintillate means ‘sparkle’. Well, not exactly, but it’s really close! So it wouldn’t make much difference.”

I was starting to get it. “So you added something close to her True Name, but magi would have to guess it in order for them to get it, so Alma stays like Alma.”

“Yes!” Twilight danced on her hooves in excitement. “Kind of like dyeing your coat or painting your hooves or trimming your mane. It’s just a slight change. But I thought that wasn’t good enough, so I added a conjugating hash that attached to the signature and perturbed the field in a one-directional function so that—”

“Woah, woah, woah!” I waved my claws frantically. “Say it so anyone can understand!”

“The owl could understand,” Twilight mumbled with a pout.

A feathery head popped out of Twilight’s saddlebag. “Did you say something?”

“You were there the whole time?!”

The owl swivelled its head in my direction. “Of course, how do you think you got the lock?”

“Oh, right.” I suddenly felt weak and dizzy. Blinking, I touched my abdomen, where Alma had recently swiped, but narrowly missed. But she didn’t miss… My claw came away slippery. Oh dear.

Twilight danced happily. “So there’s no way any magi can call a demon back with this spell, all that has to be done is to… Morpheus?”

I sat down. Involuntarily, mind you, I was losing a lot of blood.

“Morpheus!”

I sagged against Twilight.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, demons heal fast. Don’t worry, don’t worry,” I mumbled back at Twilight’s distraught face. She looked like she was on the verge of panic. “I’ll be fine, don’t fret. Get me out of the Library… Don’t cry…”

Author's Note

It's just a prank, bro.

Next Chapter: Twilight kicks some ass and Morpheus kinda helps, I guess.

As always, my voluptuous readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Also unedited because I'm a huge butt trumpet.
P.P.S. If you want to help out, no patreon or money required! Be sure to chuck it into your bookshelf to help with algorithms and maybe make a shoutout in a blog post or something. That really helps! Thanks! #endshamelessness

12 - Demonology: the Art of Lying

Chapter 12: Demonology: Or the Art of Lying

There isn’t much known about Selena, other than her efforts in creating the Other. Selena was a well-liked magus who’s appearance wasn’t quite known. Even me, the demon who had the most contact with her, only knew her voice. Sometimes I could catch glimpses of her deep blue eyes piercing through the black void that we communicated through. Selena was a mystery, but there was no doubt that she was on the side of demons when no one else was. I just wish I knew where she went, because I never got the opportunity to thank her. I don’t think any demon did. And for a race that was founded on promises and contracts, that was probably what killed us the most. Selena gave, and we never returned the favour.

The first face I saw was deeply worried, but it looked really out of place.

Considering it was on Celestia’s.

As my eyes opened, Celestia’s expression was quickly replaced with a stone-cold one I was familiar with.

“You almost died last night,” she remarked, as if commenting on the weather.

I certainly felt like it. My shoulder was throbbing, my abdomen felt like someone had taken a grater and worked on it a few hundred times, and something deeper was aching, though I couldn’t identify what. Being in pain and having to deal with Celestia on top of that was spinning me out, so I decided to gave her some lip.

“Could have fooled me, I thought I saw a fellow heartless demon.”

Celestia’s ears drooped slightly. “I’m not evil, demon, I do care about your life, even if you don’t believe it.”

I was… unsure how I felt seeing Celestia take my opinion so hard. I decided a truce was in order. “Yeah, sorry about being snippy, I’m just trying to cope with the fact that I was about to die. Mortality is new to me.”

Celestia cleared her throat. “You’re more mortal than demons I’ve encountered before.”

“Yeah… well… my mistake.”

That seemed to confirm something for Celestia and she smiled. I don’t mean the kind of polite, or measured smile that she gave to foals, but a genuine one. It both comforted and creeped me out. “Not a mistake.”

Instead of giving her the satisfaction of revealing my worry, I opted to turn the introspective tables on her.

“You should smile more,” I commented wryly. “Foals will like you more if you do.”

Expecting a frosty repartee, I heard a quavering voice instead. “I am… unaware that would help.” She looked uncertain for the first time since I met her.

Celestia paused for a long moment before diving into it. “From one being to another that has lived a long time. Would you… give me some advice?”

“Is this about Twilight.”

Celestia hesitated. “Well, yes, in a way…”

Though outwardly I hid my expression, it shook me that this bastion of strength was suddenly being all apprehensive. This must be vitally important. “… What advice?”

Oblivious to my fears, Celestia continued timidly. “Would… would they like it? A Princess that smiled more?”

Expecting some world-toppling problem, disaster or even suicide mission, I couldn’t help I but chuckle softly in surprise. I immediately stopped when I realised it was only making my chest hurt. When I groaned and got the pain back under control, I finally replied. “Why are you asking me?”

“You seem to be important to Twilight. And a number of other foals look up to you, somehow. I’ve seen how you’ve changed them.” She paused, then added in a small, strangled voice. “Thank you, by the way.”

Lightning hitting me could not have surprised me more. Literally. I think I’ve been hit by lightning before. Don’t cross a demon with weather as their domain.

“Why does everypony give me that look when I thank them?” She bit her lip with a bitter look, but I could see a tinge of hope behind there. “Do you think it would be good if I smiled?”

“I think Twilight would like it if you smiled more. She already worships you, if that’s what you want.”

Celestia’s eyebrows drew together. “That’s… not what I want.”

“Then smile more.”

“Ponies expect me to be perfect.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do they really want that or is that just your own unrealistic ideal of perfect?”

“But I have to maintain my image.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. She was making excuses and was hoping I would refute them. There wasn’t a right answer here. It could very well mean that taking my advice to cheer up would ruin her image with the more serious members of her circle, but guess what? I didn’t care. I think you should enjoy yourself when you can, especially for things you think matter.

So I told her exactly that.

“What, so you want to maintain your actual image, or the ones others expect you to maintain?” I shook my head. “Just do what you want, it works out for me. Also, smiling all the time will almost make your serious face much more serious. Relativistic principle. Get it?”

For a moment, Celestia didn’t reply; then she gave me a strange look. “You’re pretty wise… for a demon.”

“Can all of you stop saying that phrase in a shocked tone? Not all demons are the same.” I winced as I propped myself up, realising belatedly that hooves instead of claws were there instead.

Celestia mumbled something under her breath and then hastily pushed me down to the bed. “I had to transform you so that you wouldn’t cause a panic,” she quickly added to quell my struggling. “I did a pretty good job considering the short amount of notice.” She pressed a hoof gently on my stomach. “You were severely injured here. On the outside, it wouldn’t show, but your ‘essence’ was damaged. We can’t fathom how, exactly.”

I winced. “How bad?”

Celestia’s brows drew together as she replied. “I cannot give you an accurate answer, but I believe somewhere between ‘extensively’ and ‘lethally’ would be a sufficient estimate.”

A chill ran down my spine. “That sounds pretty bad.” I paused. “Oh, where’s Twilight?”

Celestia’s mouth twitched as I finally broached the unspoken question between us. “She’s recovering in another bed, although she’s only gotten a couple of scrapes and bruises, which is a somewhat light consequence, considering the fight she was in, considering she was in a restricted area, considering that I told you both specifically not to go there.”

I shrugged. “Level 6 is kind of a drag, Level 7 is better.”

This time I had the pleasure of seeing Celestia’s eyes boggle.

“You went to Level 7?!” She leaned forward. “What’s there? What’s it like? Did you find anything?!”

“Too close! We’re touching! I’m not okay with this!”

Celestia’s eyes widened further, which was already impressive in itself, but the little squawk she let out as she overcorrected her posture and landed flat on her backside was probably the icing on this delicious socially destructive cake.

Twilight was definitely going to find out about this.

“Don’t tell a soul.”

Twilight was definitely going to be told about this.

“I’ll fill you in, then,” I quipped. The all-knowing, all-powerful principal of the school, princess of Equestria, ruler of the nation, didn’t seem so imposing right now.

Celestia grumbled something under her breath and then blew out an exasperated breath. “There’s something about you, demon, that compels me to be more relaxed.”

“Are you sure you’re not slowly going crazy?”

Celestia snorted. “Alright, enough fun, let me be frank with you.”

“Can you not call me ‘you’ or ‘demon’? Just call me Morpheus.”

Celestia blinked slowly, as if the notion hadn’t even occurred to her.

“Why?” she asked.

“I like my new name.”

“I heard demons would rather be called demons than any other name, unless they chose it themselves.”

“You know a surprising lot about demons.”

Celestia’s mane drifted down as she flicked it back casually. “I read, you know, and I’ve had… experiences with similar forces.” Her brows drew together as her gaze lost focus. Then it sharpened as if she remembered where she was. “In any case, I’ll respect your request, Morpheus.”

Looking at her expression, I didn’t comment further. I would probably get my head bitten off if I dived too deeply. “Thank you,” I managed to say.

“Onto more serious business. I want to stop Lex.”

“What? How do you know about Lex?”

“Twilight wouldn’t give me much, which is extremely rare of her. She trusts you more than she trusts me.” I was surprised to see Celestia looking something between proud and distraught. “She has made a true friend with you. She only told me that this was all her fault and that we need to stop Lex from binding the two planes together.” Celestia bit her lip. “I’m going to tell you that Lex’s plan could work, but in doing so, it would most likely wipe out all mortal life in this plane.”

I swallowed thickly, noting the moment of hesitation when I actually considered going along with Lex. Thankfully, I was right, nothing was without a catch and I was pretty darn sure that Lex wouldn’t care for a plane full of mortals being wiped out. The only thing that was bothering me was…

“How did you know?”

Celestia sighed. “There were… similar incidents in the past, but nothing we couldn’t keep in hoof. There was, let’s just say, an extremely powerful being that wanted nothing more than to replace this plane with another more to their liking. It was not pleasant in the interim, to say the least.”

“So, what exactly are you asking of me? You wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t something you could do.”

Celestia smiled. “Hold your reins for a second. Just a couple of hours ago, Lex broke into the hospital. I barely stopped him from killing Twilight, but I could not restrain him from escaping. He was looking for something. Desperately.” Celestia gritted her teeth. “Somepony is also helping him.”

My head shot up. “What happened? Is Twilight okay?”

Celestia pressed a hoof to my chest, forcing me back down. “Relax, Morpheus, Twilight is fine. You just need to concentrate on yourself right now.”

“That’s a load of ethereal nuggets! You just told me Lex just tried to kill her, I have to get to her!” I tried to raise myself out of the bed, but Celestia smacked me in the chest, leaving me heaving in the bed as pain lanced through my mortal container. What in the Other? Why was I so weak?

“Calm down, let me explain.”

“No!”

An aura surrounded my body as I forced back down into the bed.

“Stop that, what are you going to do, you’ve lost most of your strength and you’re barely recovered. There are unicorns nearby keeping an eye on the situation. Stay. Put.”

With a sigh, I sank back down. Physically, I subsided, but inside, my blood was boiling. “You’re not involving Twilight in any of this, right?”

Celestia tossed her head incredulously. “Of course not. This is adult business. We can’t risk a foal.”

“Adult business, eh?” I flexed my neck, feeling a lot better. “What about me?”

Celestia shook her head in exasperation. “You’re not a foal.”

“So what you’re saying is I should go after this pony?”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “No, you’re going to stay here and take care of Twilight.”

“Wait, you don’t want me to go after this pony?”

“No, I don’t. Is that too hard to believe?”

“Yep.”

She caught my look and explained further with a sigh. “You fought another demon that was attempting to do damage to your essence.” Celestia’s eyebrows drew together. “You’ve done enough for us, already. I should have been the one to become aware of this. This is my fault. Twilight didn’t mention much, but you two have done a good deed.”

“What do you mean, a good deed?”

“Freeing another demon. From what I’ve heard, Twilight developed a spell and you both went to help this demon.” She looked like she couldn’t decide whether to be cross or proud, but then settled on mostly proud with a tinge of annoyance. “Even though you put yourselves in grave danger, you were doing it for the right reasons, but next time, just leave it to us.”

I blinked at Celestia. Was everyone here crazy? Why was this magus risking personal injury just to protect Twilight…? Even more worrying, I had the feeling she wasn’t letting on why she was keeping me around Twilight. Was Twilight someone special to her. Why was a Princess of a nation protecting a foal? And wasn’t a demon the best cannon-fodder for reconnaissance?

“Why are you trying so hard to keep Twilight out of danger?”

Celestia blinked at me. “Do I need a reason to protect the young and vulnerable?”

Usually, yes. But I kept that thought mainly to myself. Out loud, I moved on.

“But I could do something. Let me help.” Someone had to take care of Lex.

Celestia pursed her lips. “You will not do anything, Morpheus. Both of you have deliberately disobeyed my orders. I should put you in the Astral Pendant for that.” She sighed. “But since you’ve clued us onto Lex, I’m willing to forgive those transgressions. Don’t test me beyond that. You will not harm anypony on my watch.”

I sighed. “You don’t have to threaten me with that. I won’t hurt Twilight.”

“You wouldn’t hurt her anyway.” Celestia pinned me down with a vicious glare. “I’m more concerned with anypony else. I don’t want you to hurt anypony. Even if you think they deserve it, judgement of them shall be fair. I can see that look in your eye, Morpheus. You want revenge for the attempt on Twilight’s life. Take it from somepony who has lived probably as long as you. This will not end well if you try that, understand?”

I didn’t say anything. Recognising the fact that silence was not admission, Celestia continued with a pleading tone that made me swallow a sarcastic reply.

“Morpheus, you have to take it easy, at least for a few days.” Celestia prodded me in the head with her hoof. “You’re no match for Lex or even a regular pony right now!”

At first she held the look with me, but then her gaze softened. “I know from Twilight that you are a rare demon of principles. You believe in fairness too, right? Don’t compromise them for anything.”

“I won’t,” I finally replied.

Only then would the Princess relax.

“Thank you, Morpheus.”

I think Celestia bought my response more than I did.

———————

I was discharged from the infirmary without much fuss. I guess when the Princess was involved, a lot of red tape could be cut through as if she held red hot steel. I was glad for that, because I caught glimpse of particularly grabby medical staff that looked excited at the opportunity to treat someone. I guess they don’t get much traffic around here.

Speaking of which, they did something to my body, but though my injuries didn’t hurt physically, there was still something wrong with me. I was physically healthy, but a deep pain that was hard to describe echoed from where Alma hit me.

It was only an hour after I came out that my mistress did too. Her pouting face advertised the fact she’d been overly-attended to with bandages and kisses aplenty. Spotting me, she half-tackled me when I came out, sobbing into my coat as I awkwardly patted her on the back.

“Morpheus! Are you alright, they said, they said—” she grabbed me tightly. “I’m so sorry, this was all my fault! This was all my idea!”

“Hang on, hang on, woah, woah, woah.” I tried to get a handle on things, but whenever I spoke up, Twilight babbled something unintelligible and clung to me harder. I awkwardly patted her head, ill-at-ease at the strange stares ponies traversing down the hall were giving us. Hey, this wasn’t me!

After a while, I gave up trying to say anything and simply held her, whispering reassuring niblets that even I didn’t know was the whole truth. Despite my urging, Twilight, I gathered, had been the subject of an off-the-screen lecture. As a result, the guilt of deceiving the Princess and getting me hurt in the process was the source of her dismay.

Seeing Twilight depressed was putting a damper on my own mood, so I tried to cheer her up. This was hard considering that every time I saw her limp, it would make me clench my claws reflexively. Celestia told me Twilight was fine, but she didn’t come out unscathed from the incident. Lex had to pay… as soon as I was fit enough.

I forced a grin. “You can’t go about sulking the whole day.”

“But… the Princess smiled!”

That was the problem. Maybe I shouldn’t have stuck my nose in the business of royalty?

“I’m sure she was just trying to be friendly.” I’m about ninety percent sure that was the case.

“But… but the Princess never smiles!”

“I’m pretty sure she has smiled before.”

“Not like that!”

I shook my head helplessly as I considered the fidgeting unicorn in front of me.

“She was trying to tone down the situation,” I explained patiently, “I should give her lessons on how to be more relaxed. You’re not in any serious trouble.”

“Y-Yes I am! I snuck into the library, went into the restricted section without permission and let a demon into the school!” Twilight paused and then added softly. “You also got hurt because of me.”

“Me? I get hurt all the time. No biggie. That second-last thing was way out of your control. Even Princess Celestia couldn’t stop him.”

“But—”

“But nothing!” I prodded her with an annoyed hoof. “You’re Twilight Sparkle, my mistress, be a bit more confident!”

Twilight took in my expression and hesitated.

“The answer is YES!”

“Y-Yes!”

“Good. Sometimes you shouldn’t put too much faith in what others think about you and put a little more into what you think about yourself.”

“But, you—”

“Forget about the consequences for a second!” I drew her around and stared straight into her eyes. “Look at me, Twilight, what you did for Alma is a great achievement. Do you think what you did was right?”

“Erm…”

“Give me an answer straightaway. For once no thinking. No debating. No crosschecking. Tell me, did you think you did a good thing?”

“… Yes.”

“Then that’s enough.” I nudged her. “You’re still young, so sometimes you might have to listen to what others say, because they have experience, but what makes you an exceptional magus is that you have a very strong sense of right and wrong. Trust me, that’s pretty rare.”

Twilight straightened slightly and finally smiled. Really smiled. “Thanks Morpheus. But uhm, Morpheus, you know…” she trailed off. “Never mind.”

From the way she stared at me, I could hazard a vague guess as to what she was talking about.

“This is about what Lex told you, isn’t it?”

“H-How did you know what I was thinking?”

“It’s written all over your face.” I sighed, then smiled at her. “You know, I’m glad you found a different way to send back demons.”

Twilight nodded. “I would have done it anyway.”

I really believed her, which is why I told her the true cost.

“Do you know what the foundations of summoning is about?”

Twilight hesitated, then answered. “It’s about making demands, right? You bind a demon to yourself as a way to sort of get them to do what you want.”

I nodded. “In order to do that, the magus imprints a sort of brand that is bound directly to a demon’s essence. The only way to undo it is to dismiss the demon, or substitute it, like the Encyclopaedia mentioned.”

“So what does that mean for you?”

“It is very difficult to remove that ‘brand’, instead of substituting a random demon from the Other, I substitute myself.”

“Morpheus!” Twilight stared at me in horror. “That means another magus could—”

“They will inflict great amounts of pain, yes, but that’s not really that bad, actually.”

“Not bad, what are you—”

“I also can remove the brand, because it has trouble affixing to my essence. I then… well I sort of cut it out” I made a chopping motion with my claw. “Like a tumour.”

“Morpheus, I’m sorry…”

I rolled my eyes. “What for?” I said with a laugh. “You solved the problem for us. All we need to do is find a way to apply this to all demons.”

Twilight resisted slightly and then nodded firmly. “I promise I’ll do that, Morpheus.”

I rubbed Twilight on the head. “You don’t need to make such momentous promises. I know you’d do it anyway.”

Twilight grinned. “Yep!”

Then I recalled something, in all the excitement I forgot about someone. I glanced around, but didn’t see Twilight’s saddlebags. “Where’s the owl?”

Twilight blinked at me. “The owl? Oh, erm, they said something about the owl being injured so they were moving it to safekeeping.”

“You just let it go?”

“Well… no…” Twilight shifted her hooves. “I didn’t want to, but the Princess said she wanted all things from the Library to be kept at the Board. She also said it wouldn’t be for long and we’ll see it later.”

I didn’t like the idea of the owl being out of our sight. It gave us some pretty good information about the carrier spell, even though it was a little annoying. Something told me the owl knew more about the Library than it let on. Then another thought occurred to me.

“What about the Encyclopaedia?”

Twilight blushed. “I, erm, kept that. I forgot about it.”

“Sure you did.” I rubbed her head. “I’m proud of you.”

“I-I really did!”

“Uhuh.”

“No really!”

“Sure.”

“Morpheus!”

“Oh, okay, okay, you forgot about it.” I winked at her. “But no need to give it up to the Princess, we need it for research.”

Twilight looked uncomfortable at the prospect of deceiving the Princess once again, so I added another motive on top. “Just let her know later, we need it for research purposes.”

The moment I said ‘research purposes’ Twilight’s ears perked up and swivelled forward.

“Yes,” she said brightly. “Research purposes. But still…”

Feeling a little guilty, I threw in a sweetener. “Just tell her it was my decision.” Changing the topic completely, I added. “I’ll get you some ice cream, later, alright?”

“Ice cream? Are you sure that’s not just what you want?”

“Please, it’s because we’re friends, right?” I puffed out my chest and changed the topic quick-smart once again. “I’m doing this for friendship, so it’s okay. By the way, I’m killing this friendship thing. That should be my domain. Friendship. Do magi here have magical-like domains?”

Twilight giggled as she nudged me with her flank. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We don’t have domains, but yes, ponies do have something they’re good at, that’s what our cutie marks are for.”

“Cutie marks?”

“The marks on our flanks.”

“Oh, I just thought they were decorations or something. So do they mean something? Are they like spell glyphs where the function is related to their form?” I peered at Twilight’s flank.

Twilight shied away and puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. “It’s rude to stare at somepony’s flank, you know.”

“Oh?” I shrugged. “I didn’t know.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Ponies get their cutie marks to show what they’re good at.”

“How does that work?”

“Well, it’s like this, you do something you’re good at, and when you do it, suddenly you get your cutie mark! The cutie mark shows you what you’re good at, though it’s fairly obvious and it’s so great! When you get your cutie mark you get a party and everybody is invited and ponies are interested in you just because you got one!” Twilight grinned headily as she recited the spiel to me. “It’s great! You get cake and presents and you get to make friends and—”

I interrupted her before the sun went down. “Right… so what are you good at?”

Twilight glanced at her flank and then back at me. Then she glanced back and then back to me. This repeated no fewer than three times, before she said, “Sparkles?”

I stared at her. “What?”

“I think sparkles.”

“You think or you know?”

“H-How do I know what I’m good at?”

“Didn’t you say something about these marks representing what you’re good at?”

“It’s probably something to do with stars.”

Twilight wouldn’t meet my gaze as it wandered to the walls.

“Right, stars, so astronomy or something.”

“Y-Yep.”

“So that’s pretty cool. I didn’t see a telescope in your room.”

“It’s… in the attic!”

“I didn’t see any star charts either.”

“I borrow them from the library.”

“Funny, I didn’t see—”

“A-Alright! It’s not stars!”

“Ha! I knew it! What’s it really?”

“I-I’m not sure. What do you think I’m good at?”

I slammed a hoof into my face. “You don’t even know what you’re good at?”

“Um… no?”

I ran a hoof through my mane. “What about magic?”

Twilight pouted at me. “That can’t be it, everypony can be good at magic. That’s just practice.”

“But you are really good at magic, you know?”

“That doesn’t prove anything!”

“What were you doing at the time you got your mark?”

“…”

“It was magic, wasn’t it?”

“T-That doesn’t mean I’m good at it! I mean… there are other ponies good at magic, like Amethyst!”

“Is there some kind of rule that prevents two ponies being good at the same thing?”

“N-No…”

“So her cutie mark could be about magic as well.”

“Well it’s not!”

“What’s her cutie mark about, then?”

“I think it’s got something to do with appraisal.”

“Appraisal?”

“Yep, like something to do with jewellery or gems?” Twilight cocked her head. “I’m not too sure about it.”

“Huh, so like, what do you do when you find out what you’re good at?”

Twilight’s excitement dropped down a couple of notches. “Well… well you do the thing you’re good at.”

“So, again, I’d like to know what you’re good at.”

Twilight sighed. “Probably magic.”

“There, was that so hard?”

“But, but, other ponies get cool cutie marks! Like Lemon Cream has a cutie mark for food critiquing and Glitter Star has a cutie mark for theatre plays or something!”

“What’s so bad about magic?”

“Magic can’t get you friends.”

“Sure… it could.”

Looking back, every single magi I had dealt with was lonely and isolated. Most of them wanted it that way, the rest didn’t really care. Was Twilight worried that magic was the cause of her isolation? I mean the way she studied kind of intensely and kept to herself made her good at magic. I wasn’t an expert, but I was pretty sure magic wasn’t the really reason she wasn’t making any friends.

“Look, magic’s not the problem,” I continued hastily. “Here, let me help introduce you to some ponies.”

“What about … you know?”

Lex.

I really wanted to hunt him, but as much I hated to admit it, Celestia was right. I was currently in no condition to go looking for him directly. Well, there were other things we could do, but the safest place right now was the school. Celestia even organised a guard detail for us, and instigated barrier passthroughs throughout the school. A wary atmosphere descended and foals were whispering to each other about it.

Finally, I shook my head. “We’ll get to him, I did make a promise to help you make friends, right?”

Twilight hunched her shoulders. “How do we do that?”

I dragged her along with me. Class was about to start and we were wasting valuable friend-making time.

——————

“What about him?”

“Erm…”

“What about her?”

“Uhh…”

“What about that one over there?”

“Umm…”

“No, you’re right, they’re all losers.”

“Morpheus!” Twilight hissed at me. “That’s mean!”

I chuckled quietly. “Well, it’s true, none of them are really at your level. Plus, look, they’re all busy entrenched in their own little social circles. Amethyst is part of cool and popular. That group at the back look like they’re wasting time. Those ponies over by the window are talking shop about weird hobbies and stuff. There are some that are drawing and stuff, but there doesn’t seem like there’s any pony interested in straight up magic.”

Twilight fiddled with her hooves. “What if they don’t like me?”

“You’re practically starting from zero; I don’t think things could get worse from here.”

Far from encouraging Twilight, my flippant wording make her sink into a deeper funk.

“Oh come on, Twilight, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just give it a go. And I was just joking about all these ponies. Go talk to one of them.”

“But—”

“It’s all about confidence. Seriously. Just fake it. Even if you’re scared.”

“But—”

“By the Other, here’s how to do it!”

Right now was the break between classes. We had a fifteen minute breather between the change of teachers, which was my window of opportunity. In that time slot, I was going to prove to Twilight that you could make a fast friend.

“Hey,” I said, sliding up to a bunch of fillies that were talking about what their parents were doing. “What’s going on?”

“M-Morpheus!” One of them squeaked. Her blue eyes shifted around as she tried unsuccessfully to merge with her bright red mane.

I gave her a bright smile. “What, am I that scary?”

“N-No!” She looked at her friends, trying to gain some insight but both of her friends found something interesting to look at on the opposite ends of the room. She took a deep breath while I did my best to ignore her strange behaviour. “C-Can I help you?”

“Twilight tells me it’s hard to be friends with anypony. In the interest of proving her wrong, can we all be friends?”

The fillies looked at each other. “Really?” They burst into smiles. “You mean we can be friends with you?”

Now it was my turn to look confused. “Of course you can? And Twilight, too.”

One of the fillies gave Twilight an uncertain look. “But you know, like, Amethyst and Twilight have a thing, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when you stood up to Amethyst I knew you were kinda special.” She played with her mane. “You were really cool back then, you don’t listen to anypony and the teachers leave you alone.”

“What, really?”

She nodded emphatically. “Rumour has it that you got into a fight with somepony bigger than yourself and you won!” She quickly glanced around and lowered her voice as if divulging a great secret. “Is it true?”

“Yeah…” More or less.

“And did you hear about the barriers they’re putting up? Are we in danger?”

“I’m not sure.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “So, about being friends.”

“Oh right, anyway, even Amethyst listens to you.” She glanced back at the pony in question, who was trying very hard not to look interested in our interaction, but failing to do so. The filly cleared her throat and hunched her shoulders. “You’re okay, but being friends with Twilight…” She glanced back at her friends who hurriedly shook their heads, but at least had the grace to look embarrassed about it. “We don’t want trouble.”

Oh. I get it now.

“Wait, I’ll be right back, oh, before I forget, what’s your name?”

“Rosie Poesy!”

“Okay Rosie, just a second.”

Twilight glanced up as I headed back to her desk.

“What did she say?”

“They want to be friends with me,” I said reluctantly, “but not with you right now. Wait, wait, wait! It’s just because of Amethyst. It’s easy, we’ll deal with it. Tell you what, if you start talking to Amethyst, maybe they’ll see you guys aren’t at odds with each other anymore? Then you can make as many friends as you want!”

Twilight dragged a hoof along the surface of the desk. “But what if…”

“What if she won’t want to be friends? That’s fine. We can concentrate on that later.”

“But what should we talk about?”

A sudden idea occurred to me. “There was a sprite I caught a while back. It seems to be connected to Lex. Amethyst was there. That’s our in.” I paused. “There’s also the owl. I’m pretty sure there’s something with that owl.” Hah, two magi with one swipe!

“Princess Celestia said we shouldn’t do anything.”

“Hey, well, she said that with regards to Lex. Not the sprite. We’re just going after a sprite tangentially related to Lex. So… no problems!”

Twilight considered me dubiously. “But…”

I tried my best to keep my tone convincing. “Hey, you don’t want to sit around doing nothing, right?”

“But… what if you get hurt again?”

“Trust me, nothing’s going to happen.” I glanced back at Amethyst. “Your dad and her dad works at the Board. Two birds with one stone.”

“But what if—”

“Oh for Void’s sake, stop it, here!”

I dragged a protesting Twilight from her desk and pulled her all the way to Amethyst’s desk. The trio glanced up in surprise as I practically dumped Twilight in front of them, dragging Twilight by the tail. My jaw hurts. How did these ponies do this all the time? I was impressed with how I used only my mouth to do that. Seems like the other ponies were impressed too with how they were staring. Or it could have been the fact I was dragging Twilight by the tail through the centre of the class.

Amethyst and her friends were staring at us like we were crazy. Amethyst looked less surprised and more curious.

“Now, what do we do?” she hissed at me.

“You know, when we discussed this back in the library, I’m pretty sure I didn’t get past setting fire to the school, so I’m going to leave it up to you.”

“What? Morpheus!”

“Hey Amethyst, Twilight wants to look at a spr—creature held at the Board. Can you get us in?”

Amethyst’s mouth twitched as she pondered us both. Then she turned to Twilight.

“Why should I help you?”

“B-Because…” Twilight trailed off. Well, it’s not like she could say that it was because—

“Because we need it to save the world!” she blurted out.

Why… did I even bother?

“Look Amethyst, close your mouth, that’s not ladylike. Twilight was just being overly dramatic. All we need to do is settle this like sensible—”

Apparently making a decision, Amethyst nodded to herself and then stalked right up to Twilight, ignoring me outright. “D-Duel me, Sparkle!”

My jaw flopped open. By the Other, wasn’t that sulphur in the face?

———————

So you know how demons have no idea about prophesy? I was partially convinced I was a prophet when Amethyst made that declaration. Twilight was about to duel Amethyst. I was joking back then. What divine irony. Taking advantage of my shock, the two foals went on without me.

“I-I can’t duel you!” Twilight gasped.

Amethyst had a superior smirk on her face. “Too bad. If you want something from me, you’re going to have to prove you’re stronger than me.”

Twilight teetered between fleeing or breaking down right on the spot.

“If I win that means you don’t deserve anything.” Amethyst glanced at me. “Not even a friend.”

For some reason, Twilight instantly went stiff as a bolt. “What? N-No! That’s not true!”

“Prove it. Duel me!”

“No! The first lesson in magic is to Respect Lif—”

“Don’t talk to me about respecting life! Morpheus was hurt and you couldn’t protect him!” Amethyst’s eyes were sharp. “You haven’t got what it takes!”

As soon as Twilight heard what Amethyst said, she took a step back in fear. I cursed internally. I had just convinced Twilight that it wasn’t her fault.

“Twilight, you don’t have to—” I warned, not liking where this was going. I was beaten to the punch, however.

“Fine!” Twilight was trembling but her voice was strong. “I accept!”

Damn it. I whirled around to Amethyst. “Hey—” I was about to say something, but Amethyst’s expression was as stoic as I had ever seen that the rest of my words died in my mouth. What is with this kid? Why was she saying all these things? She knew I was Twilight’s demon and not necessarily her friend.

“What the heck, Amethyst? That’s not fair and you know it.”

She still ignored me and instead turned to her two friends.

“Lemon, Glitter, make it happen.”

Her friends sent Amethyst dubious looks, but slunk off anyway. Amethyst returned to her desk as if nothing happened, whilst Twilight, the moment sinking in, was starting to look terrified beyond belief. My first instinct was to comfort her, but there was something eating at me.

Amethyst glanced at me sidelong and didn’t say anything as I approached.

“Why?” I asked plainly.

Amethyst gave me an unreadable look and then shrugged nonchalantly.

“She irritates me, that’s all. I’m sick of her.”

“That’s no reason to—”

“You sure you want to leave Twilight alone?”

With a laden glare, I stalked off.

What the heck was her problem?

———————

The class was abuzz with this new development, but I was beside myself with worry. I mean I could take any of foals on, easy, but Twilight on the other claw…

This was eating me up on the inside.

“What if I eliminate—”

“No.” Twilight set her jaw. There were nerves there. Her hooves shook, but I could see a faint sheen of pure determination radiate from her eyes. “I have to do this alone.”

“Twilight, why did you accept the duel?”

“What she said was true.”

“No it wasn’t.”

Twilight glanced at the table. “Yes it was. If I knew more magic…”

“You know plenty enough.” I shot back. “Twilight, you don’t have to prove anything. Fighting with Amethyst isn’t going to magically make you a better magus.”

“No, but it proves something.”

“What the heck does it prove?”

“That I can stick up for my friends!”

“Again, you don’t need to do that with Amethyst.”

“Yes, I do!”

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“Because I need to do this.”

I took in Twilight fierce, fierce eyes and finally gave in with a flustered sigh. “Alright, if it’s that important to you, I guess I should back you up as your friend.” My brow creased. Something didn’t add up. “How did she even know about our little adventure?”

Twilight glanced back at Amethyst. “I don’t know, but her dad does work at the Board of Containment.”

It seemed a lot more clear when she put it that way. “It doesn’t look like she knows much, but we can’t be so sure. All she knows is that I got injured—oh for flip’s sake, we were just over this, it isn’t your fault. If anything it’s Alma’s fault.”

“I-I know… I just… wish I could do more.”

“You’ll be fine. If anything, think of this as combat experience.”

“Morpheus… if I lose…”

“You’re not going to lose.”

Twilight shook her head. “If I lose, then I think you should go with Amethyst.”

“If your will is your book collection, then—” I did a double take, my voice quivering. “What? No. We work well together.”

“You should be with a magus that can handle herself.”

I rolled my eyes. “The reason I stick with you, Twilight, is because you’re so good with magic. Besides, even if that wasn’t the case, I’d still stick with you.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s because we’re flamin’ friends.”

“Oh.”

“That said, Amethyst seems to have a bone to pick with you.”

Twilight sighed. “That’s because she really wants to be your friend.”

“Why?” I flung up my claws as I lowered my voice to barely above a whisper. “I’m a demon. She knows that! Why isn’t she scared?”

Twilight gave me a strange look. “She didn’t run away when she found out. You being a demon has never been a problem for her. Her dad even works at the Board… she probably already knows what a demon is. Or what demons are normally like.”

“What? That’s the reason? Shouldn’t she be more scared?”

“She did faint in the beginning,” Twilight smiled at the memory and then caught herself smiling and quickly replaced it with a serious frown, “but then she realised something.”

Now it was my turn to be confused.

“Realised what?”

“That you’re not like other demons.”

———————

When school ended, Twilight and I headed towards the gate. Shimmering sheets of barriers only let certain beings pass through. Reluctantly, they let me pass through with Twilight, but I could tell they knew what I was and were judging me on that. This felt awfully familiar… I had forgotten how normally Twilight treated me, almost like I was talking to another demon.

When we approached the gate, foals were lined up one by one to get through, but we were intercepted almost immediately.

“We are to escort you back to your residence, Ms. Sparkle.”

I noted absently that they didn’t recognise me as part of their detail. I ignored that fact. In any case, I was supposed to protect Twilight, not these shiny brass buttons that were hefting spears. I mean really, they weren’t even magical objects.

Twilight saw that they were surrounding her, but didn’t include me.

“Hey,” she asked, “why aren’t you guarding Morpheus as well.”

“He’s part of the problem,” one of them replied curtly. This one had more markings etched into his armour and I could see a placid look conveying partially-concealed disdain for me.

“But—”

“The Princess placed us here to prioritise the safety of her citizens.”

“But can’t you—”

He smiled at Twilight and gave her a pat on the head. “It’s alright, little one, we’ll protect you.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, Morpheus is my friend!”

“A de—he’s your friend?!”

“Yes, so you better help him too!”

The guard pursed his lips, but then ordered the guards to circle us both. Seeing his look, he probably just wanted to speed things along than argue with Twilight. I didn’t blame him and he was like most mortals when they found out about demons. Cautious and wary.

Trudging along, the guards definitely gave Twilight preferential treatment compared to me. I could see her gritting her teeth every time a guard did something borderline rude to me, but I ignored it. Instead, I sent a Twilight a look and shook my head slightly, telling her not to do anything.

When we got home, Velvet blinked at the massive unicorn guards stationed on either side of us.

“Oh dear, has my daughter done something wrong?”

“Mom! Why did you assume it was me?”

“Was it you?”

“Well, kind of, no! Actually—”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, my daughter’s a bit of a hoof full… would you like to come in?”

The guards shared a glance. They were likely filled in on the ‘demon’ situation so had no trouble making it known that for some reason, I was the primary threat. They didn’t lay a hoof on me, though they tried their best to drill a hole in my back with only their eyes.

“No problem, Mrs. Velvet, but no thank you, we’ll just be outside. Besides, we’re more worried about this one.” He shoved me none too gently and I stumbled forward.

“What’s your problem?” Twilight snapped at the guard.

The guard bent down, putting on a serious face that I often saw adults do when they thought the child didn’t know what was good for them and they were about to lay out why.

“This is a very dangerous creature, Ms. Sparkle. If we don’t treat it with caution, then it might be too late when it decides to hurt us.”

“Morpheus wouldn’t hurt anypony! You’re just being mean to him for no reason.”

The guard sighed. “Listen, child, these are grown-up matters, so—”

“I bet you don’t know much about demons. Even the Princess said Morpheus was a good demon!”

“I’m sure,” he replied with an amused smile. “What else did the Princess say?”

“She said he was a good friend to me.”

“Uhuh. Well sorry to burst your bubble, Ms. Sparkle, but this is a problem of magic. You should let us professionals handle it.”

“That unity field equations attached to positive directional vortices need to be regulated by coupled spell-task interactions.”

The officer’s eyes widened in surprise. “What? But that’s—”

“That’s a dimensional spell,” Twilight finished for him angrily, “I think I know a thing or two about magic. I summoned Morpheus, after all.”

“What’s this about summoning Morpheus?” Velvet called out from behind.

I took a deep breath. “There’s something you should know, Mrs. Sparkle.”

Velvet met my eyes.

“I’m a demon.”

————————

Velvet actually took this amazingly well.

“Oh, well, I guess I shouldn’t push you two to marry, then.”

“What?” I blurted out.

“Mom!”

“Hah, only a joke, only a joke,” she tittered, then her gaze shot to the guards. “Sorry, I just need time to process this, would you excuse us?”

The guard glanced at me and then returned to Velvet.

“Excuse me,” he said, “but I need to make sure you’re not in any danger.”

Velvet frowned. “What do you mean? Danger from what?”

He gestured at me. “Primarily this creature.”

Then I saw something unbelievable. Velvet got angry.

“Excuse me?”

The guard actually took a step back from her glare.

“I-I’m saying…” He cleared his throat and continued in a stronger tone. “This demon could be a threat.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, anypony can see this demon is good. He’s behaved himself so far and we have nothing to worry about.”

“With all due respect—”

“With all due respect, guard,” Velvet cut in. “Morpheus hasn’t done anything wrong yet. Why have you judged him before?”

“But his kind has—”

“And if an apple spoils, you throw out the orchard? I’ve never heard something so ludicrous in my life. You don’t go around suspecting ponies before they’ve done a thing. It’s not right.”

“Ma’am, we are well aware of that, but we want to be on the safe side.”

“Of course, safety precautions first, but with how you treated Morpheus, I think first thing is first. You owe him an apology. You got off on the wrong hoof and you would like to make up.”

“What? I will not. I do not believe what I have done is wrong.”

“I’ve never seen a more ignorant guard in my life. Fine then, you sirs can see yourselves out. I can’t believe this. I hope Shining isn’t going down this path. What kind of training teaches guards to act like morons.”

“It’s alright, Mrs. Velvet.” I sighed. “I’m used to it.”

Velvet stomped her hoof. “You shouldn't have to be!” She reached out and gave me a hug. “You should be treated just like anypony else. That’s what I believe.”

I tried to hide my blush behind my hoof, but I don’t think I was successful.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely.

Velvet clapped her hooves. “You’re welcome. And Morpheus?”

“Yes?”

Velvet’s expression was grave. “If you ever need help, don’t hesitate to talk to me. I’ll put those bullies into place!”

I felt kind of silly listening to this. Maybe because I was in foal form that Velvet felt the need to protect me. I cleared my throat and changed in front of her. “I think I can take care of myself.”

Instead of being shocked, Velvet snorted. “If you were that ready to put your hoof down, Morpheus, I doubt those guards would still be standing. You’ve been a good friend to Twilight, and that’s all I care about.” Velvet patted my head which now stood above her. “She’s happier now and it’s all thanks to you.”

I found something interesting to look on the floor. “No big deal.”

“It is. Now, off you go then, you two. I’ll prepare dinner, it’ll be ready soon.”

Before she could shoo us off, I quickly remembered what I had to do here and withdrew a couple of slips for the duel from Twilight’s saddlebags. Twilight jerked a little and then remembered it too.

“A duel?” Twilight Velvet was beside herself, while reading the note. “Goodness. I thought only the military school would like to do something like this. I don’t know if you should participate. I didn’t expect this from you, Twilight.”

Well, you know, they were still foals. The school would never sanction a ‘duel’ without parental approval. It was just an exercise, anyway, they didn’t see the animosity guiding the hoof, so to speak. We were holding a tournament with a bit of this and that and finally something kind of like spell self-defence. The duel, as it was, wasn’t going to be life threatening. It was more a contest of skill.

Twilight flicked her mane back and gave Velvet a steady look.

“I can do it, mom.”

It was amazing how assertive Twilight could be when she put her mind to it.

“Is this Amethyst? The girl who bullies you all the time?”

“Uhm….”

Velvet sighed. “Twilight, you know fighting doesn’t solve anything.”

Twilight whipped her head side to side. “No, it’s not fighting! And it’s not about Amethyst, either.”

Velvet was taken aback by the sudden shift in Twilight’s bearing. “What’s this about then?”

“It’s for myself. I want to do things for myself.”

This time, Velvet smiled. Then her expression returned to being serious. “Oh Twilight, that’s amazing, but… the crowds and all the ponies… oh dear, Twilight, I didn’t mean to scare you. You’re shivering.”

“N-No.” Twilight’s teeth chattered. “I’m j-just shivering with e-excitement! Y-Yep! Excitement!”

Velvet held the permission slip a little loosely as she considered her daughter. “There’s something important about this, isn’t there?”

That triggered something. Twilight stood a little straighter and looked her mother in the eye. “Yes, mom.”

Velvet made an exaggerated motion with her hoof as she rubbed her chin. Twilight, being nervous enough to outdo a magi’s first summoning, swallowed thickly and awaited judgement.

“Hmm….” Velvet gave me a sidelong look briefly, before turning to Twilight and nodding. “Well, I’m proud of you, Twilight, you’re finally stepping up and building some confidence in yourself. I think somepony has been helping you with that.” She sent me a meaningful wink as Twilight grabbed the note and stuffed it into her saddlebags.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Twilight kissed Velvet on the cheek as she grinned and caressed her daughter’s head.

“Just promise me you’ll be careful?”

“I will, mom.”

“And that you’ll beat Amethyst into next Thursday!”

“Mom! I’m not going to hurt her!”

“Okay, you don’t need to hurt her, just win.” Velvet paused, then added. “And you can laugh over her when you get the award for winning.”

“Mom!”

“Alright, it doesn’t matter whether win or lose, as long as you try your best… but it’s preferable to win.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. She was probably thinking that she was foolish to think her mother would keep the conversation at the level of severity it warranted. Then again, looking at this from the parental perspective, Velvet probably saw this as a cute little spat between foals.

It’s okay, easy mistake to make when dealing with demons.

Velvet winked at the both of us. “Don’t tell your dad. You know how he gets.”

Twilight nodded seriously. “I won’t.”

As we left the dining room, I whispered to Twilight.

“How does your father get?”

“You remember the first time you were here and I introduced you?”

“… Yes.”

“Like that.”

“Right.”

Though, to be fair, Velvet did spend the rest of the night fussing over Twilight’s leg.

“How did that happen?!” Velvet exclaimed.

“Erm…”

Where to start?

We fought a crazy demon?

Twilight coughed and for the first time I saw her, she lied convincingly.

“I fell down the stairs.”

I think that just goes to show that when it comes to family, there is always an exception to the rule.

——————

The next morning, Velvet smiled at us in greeting, but her demeanour suggested something was wrong. I hadn’t seen Night Light that night, but apparently he had snuck in and out really quickly. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it happened rarely enough to trigger some anxiety from the poor mare.

Twilight and I were welcomed normally enough, but the tension from Velvet sort of seeped into our minds and made us a little more warier. For that, I think was a small bit of luck, because it got Twilight to concentrate on the duel that was going to happen today.

There wasn’t much preparation, but Twilight seemed determined to carry it out without falter. I had to admire her courage, though I think it was misplaced. After all, she’s joined the club of surviving life and death and is a proud member alongside her trusty companion, yours truly, that has also survived mortal combat.

Well, something about Amethyst’s declaration of war seemed strange to me and I couldn’t put a claw on it. The sprite’s connection with Aeticulation and Night Light’s lengthening absence was giving me the heebie jeebies. This duel, in my opinion, was a fat waste of time.

But it seemed important to Twilight, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Moral support, of course, because magic wasn’t exactly my forte. If Amethyst did anything suspicious, I’d certainly step in. I can quell a couple of foals if I had to.

——————

Duels were a school-wide event, so we were surrounded by foals, seniors, teachers and excited parents that wanted to watch. I think I saw Twilight Velvet in the crowd. She was hard to miss because she was screaming at the top of her lungs and waving a massive Twilight-head. Where did she even get that? Actually, why did she even have that made?

We weren’t the only students in the Academy having a duel. In fact, this event wasn’t restricted to foals who had a grudge. It was a regular part of the school’s curriculum. Which was strange considering how peaceful this place was. What in the multiple planar dimensions required students to know self-defence from potentially resurrected evil spirits, levitation that could move mountains and powerful barriers that could shield whole cities against malevolent forces for days at a time? Were they preparing for the apocalypse?

In any case, my misgivings about the curriculum were swept aside by the fact that one on one duels weren’t really allowed for juniors such as us. Instead, a pairing was made. Twilight instantly picked me out and, after a brief moment of hesitation, Amethyst picked her pal, Glitter Star.

It was a tag-team sort of deal, but effectively, if neither Twilight or Amethyst tagged us in, then the duel would continue one on one until one of the party was defeated. In this case, we were allowed to use whatever magic we wanted. There were rings on our horns that inhibited and changed the structure of the magic we cast so that all magic had the strength of a feather.

Well, in terms of damage. Magical ‘momentum’ was still transferred was a physical force that was kind of like pushing, except dampened. So no damage, but it was like being buffeted by a pillow at full swing.

The winner would be decided on a clean-hit basis on a ‘vital’ point.

All events were supposed to be officiated by a teacher and the final rounds of duels by Celestia herself. For some reason, Celestia was unable to attend so a noble pony of some sort Prince Blue-something-or-other took over. He didn’t look old enough to judge, but his attitude was plenty pompous enough.

Most of the nerves from Twilight boiled down to a fifty-fifty split between Amethyst and the crowd. It would have made it worse if Celestia was here, so I counted my small, limited, blessings.

Amethyst kept glancing at us. I could see it from my periphery. Whenever I turned to make eye contact, she would turn away. I wondered what her problem was. Before, I felt like we were on neutral terms. Twilight told me Amethyst liked me, but I was just incidental and Amethyst hadn’t had the time to form meaningful bonds with me. At least, that’s what I thought. There was nothing between us except a short escapade to the ice cream eatery where I listened to her problems and we chatted. I racked my brain to figure out just what Amethyst really thought was so good about me.

I thought about asking Twilight, but she was too distracted with the upcoming match. Besides, she didn’t know anything other than the fact that Amethyst didn’t really like her and that she wanted to make up for her apparent failure to protect me. Several times I tried to bring up to Twilight that it wasn’t her fault, but she had, in her mind, that friends ‘had each other’s backs’. Or so said her ubiquitous brother.

I wondered if her brother rubbed off too much of his strange code of ethics and brotherly etiquette on his sister. She did seem oddly attached to him when I asked some benign questions.

‘Best brother and best friend in the world.’

Ouch.

I lost to her brother.

Well, to be fair, friendship isn’t a competition, but if anyone asked, I saved her life. I’m just saying.

“Morpheus.” Twilight quivering voice was barely audible from the ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s of the crowd as various ponies performed feats of dexterity and magic.

“Mmm?”

“Morpheus, how do you stay so calm?”

“Enemies of this level don’t really scare me.”

Twilight shook her head. “I mean, like before, when we faced Alma, how were you not scared? You looked so brave back then.”

I grinned at Twilight, nudging her with my shoulder. “Oh come on, don’t tell me you were scared with how committed you looked, charging in there with your horn blazing.”

Twilight shrugged sheepishly, hunching her shoulders and sending me a sidelong glance. “But that was for you. I needed to do that.”

“Doesn’t this seem so simple, then?” I gestured at the ponies. “They’re just watching you.” I chuckled. “They’re not trying to kill you.”

I saw her blink incredulously at the crowd. Her shaking didn’t stop, but it lessened enough so her fetlocks weren’t knocking together audibly.

“Oh…” Twilight replied. “I guess you’re right. Kind of.”

“Oh, for sure, come on. Didn’t I mention this at the very beginning?”

“Right.” Twilight bit her lip. “I was still scared, though.”

I patted her head. “If it helps, I was actually terrified too.”

Twilight gave an ardent shake of her head. “No way! You just charged in there and fought like crazy!”

“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t scared. Being afraid is good in small amounts. It keeps you alive.” I tapped her on the head. “Always keep in mind what’s important. Emotion doesn’t help you win, willpower only gets you so far, it’s your rational mind that wins in the end. Remember that. It helps demons and magi alike.”

Twilight stomped her hoof with one decisive movement, the last of her shivers dying away as she took a deep breath and finally focused.

“Okay,” she murmured. “I’ve got this.”

“Damn straight,” I added.

This time, when I turned around, I caught Amethyst staring full on. She met my look… and smiled.

What in the Other was her deal?

——————

Swift.

That’s how I would describe the first exchange.

Amethyst and Twilight were both stock still in the first face off. The first three seconds were filled with a still silence that settled on the grass field. There was no wind. It was dead calm. The crowd waited with bated breath.

The officiator was hesitant. Just when she was about to signal us again, Amethyst exploded forward, horn glowing with malefic intent.

Twilight swept low to the ground and touch it briefly her horn flashing several times as she touched the ground. She wasn’t trying to inscribe a circle on the ground mid-battle, was she?!

Glitter saw what Twilight was doing, her brows creasing in confusion, then turned to anger as if she thought Twilight was underestimating her friend. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t, this was a tag team match, there was no interference.

Amethyst’s horn suddenly flared and a wide burst of energy shot straight out. It was a flat tidal wave of energy, but Twilight, seemingly expecting this, jumped with a twist. I think she misjudged her own capabilities because the wave caught the edge of her back hoof, spinning her around in the air. She landed almost face-first into the ground with a resounding plod.

Smack.

The visceral sound caused many, including me, to wince as we watched.

“Non-vital hit!” the officiator yelled out.

I waited for Twilight to tag me in.

She didn’t call for me.

I wanted to flex my claws but settled for bashing a frustrated hoof into the ground as Amethyst advanced cautiously. There was a ring in the ground and I couldn’t move a step past it if Twilight didn’t call for me.

Twilight, damn it.

Seeing Amethyst, I had to admit, any foal her age would probably be dancing around in satisfaction, but Amethyst was all business. She had great potential and a good sense for the art of battle.

By now, Twilight should have already been on her hooves. I knew she was faking it. Amethyst crept forward steadily, her mouth set in a grim slash of determination.

Clenching my jaw, I knew instinctively that Twilight’s feint wouldn’t work.

Probably realising the same thing, Twilight’s head shot up and she made for her hooves.

Instantly, a bolt came her way, but Twilight rolled out of the blast of energy. She narrowly dodged the second bolt coming her way and continued rolling. Amethyst followed ruthlessly as she sent bolt after bolt her way, not letting Twilight rest even for a second.

Charred dirt flew up. Twilight would lose even if one of those bolts hit. She constantly had to fling herself randomly left or right to dodge the onslaught of offensive magic.

Blam. Roll. Blam. Roll. Blam. Roll…

My eyes widened. What I initially thought was a random pattern was something else entirely. Oh, by the Other, that was really clever.

Amethyst gritted her teeth and launched one final blast. Then she braced herself and stood tall.

“Stop running like you always do! Fight me!” she screamed.

Twilight got up slowly. Her coat was matted with dirt. Her mane was strewn with grass. But her eyes were blazing with fierce determination. Twilight’s horn glowed a faint luminescent scarlet with white sparks dancing around the corners as she faced down Amethyst with a decisive gesture.

“No,” she replied simply and dipped her head to the ground once more. “You’ll fight yourself!”

Amethyst got off a dazzling bolt of pure energy that was so loaded with charge, the cracking of the air splitting as it yielded to the relentless rampage was audible across the field.

The crowd gasped as Twilight simply stood there, eyes fixed forward.

The bolt stopped dead.

Then the formation inscribed into the ground lit up at seven focal points and reflected the same bolt of differing intensities to the target standing at the exact centre: Amethyst.

Boom.

“V-Vital hit!”

Twilight sank down, exhausted as the crowd abruptly burst into cheers. I dashed forward, taking note that though she couldn’t keep to her hooves, she clearly had the strength to smile.

“You were amazing,” I said proudly, giving her a hug. “How in the world did you come up with that?”

“It was a gamble.” Twilight clutched me back. “I’m so glad it worked.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Amethyst called out to her.

We both turned around to see Amethyst walking towards us. Her face was a complicated mix of emotions that I couldn’t identify, but I got the feeling she wasn’t happy. Preparing myself, I tensed. Amethyst caught the movement and shook her head stiffly.

“I wanted to congratulate you, Twilight, for finally sticking up for yourself.”

Twilight perked up. “So we can be—”

“—We’re definitely not friends.”

Twilight drooped at that.

Amethyst rolled her eyes at Twilight’s pitiful expression. “Not yet, anyway, stop looking at me like that.” She gave me a look. “Morpheus… thanks.”

“For what?”

Amethyst gave me a crooked smile. “For giving me what I was looking for.”

With that, she swung away and sat down at the edge of the ring.

Confused, I could only watch as Glitter Star glared daggers at me and positioned herself in the ring.

“Morpheus, you’re tagged in now.”

“What?”

“The match is still going.”

“What, seriously?”

“Get in, Morpheus.” Glitter Star smiled dangerously as I stepped in the ring.

I lost, by the way.

——————

After the match, a lot of foals came and greeted us. Amethyst and the others left us alone. Glitter Star seemed to be mad at me for some reason when I immediately got hit in a vital spot by her bolt. Though I was sure I moved enough to fake being ‘accidentally’ hit, Glitter gave me the same frustrated look that Amethyst gave Twilight. I might have to watch that one in the future.

Amethyst seemed to carry a quiet air that made the other foals part like a fox amongst a warren of rabbits. But something was different, I couldn’t put my claw on it. It was almost like how an adult automatically has this presence and the children immediately know that they’re serious, so they get out of the way. It’s a sort of authority rather than fear that prompted the other foals to keep their distance.

“So, Twilight, you won.” Amethyst regarded Twilight with a placid gaze. Contrasting her, Glitter and Lemon looked frustrated and flustered respectively.

Twilight tensed, as if expecting a fight, but Amethyst tossed her head and snorted at her reaction. “I’m not a brute, you know.” Amethyst sighed. “And I do have a sense of honour. I’ll get you into the Board.”

Twilight’s straightened as her eyes lit up. “So does that mean…?”

Amethyst rolled her eyes. “Don’t misunderstand me. We’re not friends.”

Twilight’s ears flattened. “Oh.”

Amethyst groaned, eyeing from her periphery the growing crowd around us. Many foals had a curious expression that swung between expectant and judgemental.

“A-Anyway, since we’re just starting off, we’ll begin at acquaintances. Stop giving me that look. Stop that! Dear Celestia, just looking at that pathetic face is giving me ulcers.”

Didn’t something about this setup seem familiar? Hmm…

“Come on, let’s go,” she suddenly announced, flicking her tail as she left.

Glitter and Lemon scrambled behind Amethyst as she left us.

In the silence, I turned to Twilight. Who didn’t know whether to look happy or disappointed. Hah, foals. I nudged her.

“She liiiiiiiikes you.”

“Shut up, Morpheus.”

———————

Amethyst told us she would uphold her end of the bargain and deliver us to the Board, but there was no guarantee she could get us where we needed to go. Well, that’s fine, I just needed to know where it was.

I know what you’re thinking. What about Night Light’s card?

It didn’t have an address.

Amethyst gave me directions to her house.

She told us, by the way, in strict terms, not to show up straight after school and to give her about an hour.

So of course we went straight away.

Within minutes of the bell, we tailed after Amethyst as she exited the class at lightning speed. She was travelling at a fast canter. Not a comfortable walk like the rest of us, not a gallop like her life depended on it, but a worrying combination of the two. Hence, a brisk canter. She didn’t even look back, but I guess I was the only one paranoid enough to check my surroundings.

When she entered her ‘house’ we had to stop and pick our jaws off the floor.

Not literally, mind you, but you get the picture.

Impressive was one way to describe it. Dumbfounding would also be equally accurate.

Water features sprinkled among trimmed and tended bushes and hedges with a wide marble path leading up to an impressive set of ornately-carved double doors were what comprised just the front garden. The double storey mansion had some interesting relief carvings of stylised ponies dancing or rearing or staring blankly at me.

Instead of gawking, like an amateur probably would, I enacted a casual saunter down the path, Twilight after a moment or two more of mouth-gaping, scrambled to keep up.

Head held high, we made my way to the entrance. Instead of knocking, the door swung open and a neatly dressed elderly-looking mare greeted us with a tilted head.

“Hello, little ones, what may I do for you?”

As Twilight looked more like one of the stone statues in the garden, I decided to take the initiative to speak.

“We’re Amethyst’s friends.”

The mare nodded slightly and had already reached for her purse. When my words sunk in, her hooves paused and slowly sank down onto the ground.

“Erm, my hearing does seem to be failing me as I get older, would you mind repeating that, little one?”

I hesitated and repeated myself. “We’re friends of Amethyst. Is she home? She gave us this address…” Judging from the shocked look on the mare, this was either a stranger’s house… or Amethyst doesn’t get many visitors.

“If you do not mind, would you please wait here?”

We waited for about five minutes. We took the opportunity to chat.

“You know, Amethyst is pretty wealthy.”

Twilight nodded sullenly. “She’s got everything. Friends. A big house. Everypony’s respect.”

I whacked her on the shoulder. Twilight gave me a hurt look as if she didn’t deserve it. Because she did. Stop giving me that look.

“You’re saying that as if you don’t also have all of that.”

“I don’t have all that money.”

I recalled the two storey house and the fact she was the Princess’ personal student. I don’t know what Twilight was worrying about.

“You don’t need that money. Besides, you seem well off.”

Twilight started guiltily. “Oh, yeah, I guess so.”

I rubbed her head. “Don’t get too wrapped up. Life isn’t a competition. Enjoy what you’ve got. That’s how I live it.”

“Right.” Twilight took a deep breath. “Yep. Just ignore the huge house. The maid. The massive garden. The gigantic doors. The sparkling clean floors…”

Twilight muttered to herself, while I occupied myself with trying to decipher what Amethyst wanted out of us. Why exactly did she try to invite us here?

Suddenly, the doors shuddered, cracking open with a grinding thunk as an unseen latch was released. The hinges, well-oiled, didn’t make a sound, which I found more impressive than the doors themselves opening. Instead of Amethyst, like we expected, a severe-looking mare stared at us with piercing garnet eyes.

“Hmm, so you’re the ones that have been bullying my Amethyst.” She glared at each of us in turn. “You must be Twilight Sparkle. The main culprit.”

I think we had professional circus performers beat with the synchrony of our jaw drops.

“N-No! We’re Amethyst’s friends—”

Well, not really, Amethyst never really said so herself.

The forbidding look burned icy holes into us, making Twilight step back a bit and me take one forward. The mare took in our movements and her mouth downturned just the slightest bit more. She looked angry, but I got the feeling it was more at herself than at us.

“Where’s Amethyst—”

“Amethyst doesn’t make friends. She doesn’t need friends.” She cut through my attempt and continued in a harsh tone. “Just be honest. You naïve foals are here because you want something from my daughter.”

For a moment, I didn’t know how to react, but then I thought about tackling this in a different way. She was probably wily to all standard tricks. Let’s do this a little more… demonically.

Instantly, I dropped out of my foalish-looking demeanour and straightened up. “Alright, you got us, we’re here because we need something from Amethyst.”

Amethyst’s mother stood there in mute shock for a brief moment as she took in my candid explanation.

“Hmmph, all of you are the same. What is it? Name your price and then never step hoof in here again.”

I rolled my eyes. “We need to see Amethyst. It concerns her father, actually.”

This time her mother drew back, confused. “What do you mean? What do you need from Mandrel?”

I sighed, looking at my hooves indifferently. “Twilight’s father works at the Board. We just need to confirm a few things. The Princess told me we didn’t need to look into this, but we thought it best to investigate it ourselves.”

“An investigation?” The mare’s eyebrows drew together suspiciously. “With a couple of foals? You’re not fooling anypony.”

I sighed. “Ma’am, I’m sure you’re aware of your husband’s work at the Board.”

“W-Well, yes, but—”

“And things might not always be what they seem on the surface.”

“Okay, still—”

“So, all we need to do is speak to Amethyst and we’ll be on our way.” I gestured meaningfully behind the bewildered mother. “After you.”

After a few moments, Amethyst’s mother seemed to regain a measure of her former self and then stomped into the house. Taking this as an implicit invitation, I followed straight after winking at the surprised elderly maid to the side.

Twilight leaned in close and hissed at me. “How did you do that?!”

In a low voice, I replied. “It’s simple, I just bombarded her with a lot of different potential scenarios, some of which was familiar enough to make it convincing and some of them unfamiliar enough so that they give her pause. If there’s anything adults truly fear, it’s the unknown.”

Twilight nodded thoughtfully. “The unknown, huh? I think I understand. There’s nothing worse I hate than not knowing.”

A sly smile crept to my lips. “I think it’s a little different between you two, oh well.”

Twilight gave me a confused look, but didn’t have time to reply as we were lead into the dining room.

Amethyst’s mother sat gracefully at the opposite end of a large table and the maid pulled out chairs for the both of us. We sat down, not so gracefully.

“I’ll admit you foals aren’t the regular sort, but I don’t believe you beyond that.”

I stared at her. “I’m telling the truth.”

“I’m sure you are,” she replied nonchalantly. “And that’s why I’m taking you more seriously than if you hadn’t. The best of lies can be spun from the truth.”

She had that right, but the way she phrased it, sitting all smug there really gave me a strong desire to smack her in the face. Still, I resisted the urge, not because I couldn’t, but because that would have been too easy. Also, it’d probably upset Twilight.

“So, what do you want?” I finally asked.

She raised an eyebrow at the both of us, but then turned to Twilight. “The way Amethyst describes you is not at all how I imagined.” She narrowed her eyes as she studied Twilight for a long enough period to make her squirm in her seat. “You’re very… lukewarm.”

Just then, a skitter of hooves came echoing down the stairs behind us and I turned around to spot a frantic Amethyst scrambling to the table.

“Y-You’re here! Early!”

“Is that a problem, Amethyst, dear?” Her mother called out from the other end of the table. Amethyst jerked her head towards her mother and like a marionette, performed a stiff pony-like curtsey where she dipped her head at the same moment that she bent her foreleg forward and swept herself downwards.

“Mother.”

“Amethyst. Now about my earlier question. Is there a problem?”

“No… I simply wanted to prepare things earlier for their arrival.”

A non-committal answer that was deeply commendable for a foal that stumbled upon an unexpected situation. My decision to spring a surprise on Amethyst lead to this awkward exchange, so I decided to take some responsibility and shift some of the blame to us.

“Please accept our apologies, this an urgent matter,” I stated. The maid reappeared with a pot of tea and served it to us wordlessly. I took the cup and gave it a sip, using a hoof to pick it up, and I realised a little too late that the everyone else had used magic to pick up their teacups.

Amethyst’s mother didn’t miss the motion, but she didn’t comment on it, instead she interrogated me. “What sort of urgent matter?”

I shrugged. “Well, I don’t know whether I should be telling anypony. Especially to ponies whose names I don’t know.”

The barbed comment sticking into her lack of etiquette struck deep and the mare reared her head, her purple and blue mane sweeping back as she took a deep breath. Indignation flashed in her eyes, but also… perhaps a hint of respect?

“My name is Tourmaline Star. I am the current Chief Executive Officer of Ament Artificers, one of the largest jewellery and magical artificer companies in Equestria. We are one of the foundational supporters for the Board as you probably well know. Amethyst has told me that your name is Morpheus and her name is of course Twilight Sparkle. The personal student of Princess Celestia herself. Her father does indeed work at the Board, and I’ve personally heard a lot of his achievements as well as hers. A strong family that is positioning themselves as one of Equestria’s elites.” She pinpointed her focus on me, pinning me to the chair with the force of gaze. “What I don’t know is you. Where do you fit into all of this?”

“M-Mother!” Amethyst cried out.

Tourmaline ignored her daughter and stared at me. “Well?”

“Well, what? I’m not obligated to provide you with any information at all. If I had to say anything, if you doubt me, just ask your Princess.”

Tourmaline frowned at my statement. I could see the gears in her head turning. “My Princess? Well, I can see you are not here in any official capacity.” She sighed. “What agreement did you reach with Amethyst that she would invite you over, especially knowing our house policy on guests.”

Amethyst sort of shrunk into her chair, looking like she wanted to desperately merge with it. “Mother, I—”

“We’ll talk about this later.”

Amethyst sagged in her chair. I felt sorry for the kid, but now I knew where her motivation came from. It was to avoid disappointing her domineering mother. Her hostile attitude could actually be considered tame compared to her mother’s.

I decided to put Amethyst out of her misery.

“You have no evidence of that. We’re simply seeking some information. Direct us to the Board and we’ll handle things from there.”

As soon as I said it, I knew it was a mistake. Tourmaline’s eyebrows shot up and she got up quickly.

“Amethyst, come here now.”

“What?”

“Now!”

Amethyst scrambled over to the other side of the table as Tourmaline’s horn glowed a menacing blue. I watched all this with a frown. Damn, what was going on?

“Everypony connected to the Board knows where it is. Only other creatures wouldn’t,” she announced. By the Other, the maid was even joining in.

I waved my hooves hastily. “Let’s all calm down, I was given Night Light’s card himself. I simply want to find out where it is.”

Tourmaline looked at the card briefly and grinned in triumph. “See, only otherworldly creatures wouldn’t be able to see the address!”

Twilight nudged me from the side. “Erm, is this what they are talking about?” She pointed to the empty space on the reverse side of the card. There was nothing there I could see.

“Advanced creature, reasonable size, power to change forms and assume the likeness of the host… a demon?!”

“Hey, now—” Before I could say anything more, a brilliant bolt of energy coursed towards me. I narrowly ducked, but was hit blindside by the maid’s own shot.

Magical charge crackled on the surface of my skin. I tried to ground it safely, but it was searing my essence as it made its way to the metaphysical void. My essence was like wires melting to conduct the magical charge.

Still weakened from my encounter with Alma, I couldn’t do much to defend with my domain and instead took the hit severely.

“Morpheus!” Twilight cried out and hastily erected a barrier between us. Seeing the action, Tourmaline’s eyes widened.

“Young foal, if you’re really a pony, why are you helping the demon?!”

“Because he’s my friend!”

“Step away from him, little one, I don’t want to hurt you,” the maid called out.

“No!”

Tourmaline gestured impatiently. “Get out of the way before the demon decides to strike you down!”

“No! You’re not even listening. Morpheus is a good demon!”

“Impossible, step away from him now!”

“M-Mother, I think—"

“Quiet, Amethyst, I’m dealing with a delicate situation right now. That’s the Head Executor’s daughter, you know.”

“Will you listen to me?” Twilight shouted. “Stop it, Morpheus won’t hurt anypony!”

Tourmaline gritted her teeth and shook a hoof at us. “You don’t know these creatures like I do, child. My husband works at the Board and he’s told me about these foal beings. Step away from it!”

Before Twilight could interject, I did so. “I’m her demon! She summoned me!”

Silence.

Then a carefully phrased question came tentatively out.

“Is that true?”

Twilight nodded.

Tourmaline’s mouth twisted. “Get out.”

We were frozen.

Tourmaline sneered at us. “Did you hear me? Get out!”

We stood there for a moment, then I tossed my head. “Fine, let’s go.”

I led Twilight out with no further words. Amethyst didn’t meet my gaze as I looked back. Her head was hung miserably and I didn’t know what to say. I gritted my teeth. What monumental stupidity. If only I had shown Twilight my card, none of this would have happened.

I needed to find a way to make this up to Amethyst.

——————

When we left, I was aware of multiple presences behind me. Before I could say anything, Twilight kicked a stone and angrily snorted to herself.

“Morpheus, I’m sorry somepony hurt you,” she said as we walked.

“There’s no need to apologise—”

“But not everypony is like that! Amethyst’s mother was just especially mean. And stupid. And stupid mean.”

“Twilight, it’s okay,” I said, “this is very typical behaviour.”

“No it’s not!” she exclaimed, turning around with a mad scowl. “Ponies shouldn’t treat you like that without getting to know you first! I should have—why are you smiling like that?”

“I’m just thinking that it’d be great if most magi were like you.”

Twilight’s cheeks died down from blotchy red as her anger resided and embarrassment took place. “I’m nothing special.”

I laughed. “You keep telling yourself that, but I swear you’ve got the lowest self esteem for the most soft-hearted magus I’ve ever come across.”

Twilight smiled. “Morpheus why do you always cheer me up?”

“Well, I do it because—oh wait, I forgot to mention, looks like they’re following us.”

Twilight twitched and looked up at me. “What?”

“Amethyst, the maid and Tourmaline are behind us.”

I’ll tell you this right now, they’re better than the average tracker, but they’re not so experienced that they could escape detection.

Twilight made to turn around, but I stopped her by clearing my throat and nudging her from the side. “Don’t let them know we know. Just let them follow us.”

“Why?”

“I want to know what exactly they’re after.”

Finally, after turning a couple of corners, we arrived at the Board of Containment’s supposed main headquarters. I say ‘supposed’ because the building was very unassuming in a part of town that didn’t suggest there was a governmental entity just lying around. A tall white-washed building stood proud over the street, with vacant lots around it. Strange, considering that the rest of the houses along the streets were townhouses.

I glanced back, but Tourmaline and Amethyst were hidden around the corner. Smirking to myself, I touched Twilight on the shoulder.

“Hey, I’m going to see what they’re talking about.”

“Morpheus! Wai—”

I slunk off, positioning myself around on the other side of the wall. With my sensitive hearing, I could listen to what they were talking about.

“Okay, now I need to meet up with them and get them in.”

“Get who in, Amethyst Star?”

“M-Mother!”

Oh, looks like Amethyst had planned to meet up with us by sneaking out. Looks like that failed, though.

“I’m going to deal with that demon.”

“You can’t, Mother, Morpheus isn’t a bad demon.” Nice one, Amethyst, sticking up for me.

“How would you know that?” Tourmaline replied. “We must report them to the Board. We would be in dire straits if we let such a dangerous creature roam around Canterlot.”

“But—”

“Enough, Amethyst, we have to ensure our safety.” There was a brief pause. “We will talk about your disobedience later.”

I had heard enough. I slipped away, taking soft but swift steps to catch up back to Twilight.

She stood still at the entrance, trying to find some way in. There wasn’t a handle, but this was definitely a door.

“So this is the Board of Containment,” I muttered mostly to myself.

Twilight’s ear twitched as she caught the sentence anyway.

“This is where my dad works.” She squinted at the building. “It doesn’t look very big.”

I shrugged. “Maybe it’s bigger on the inside?”

With a sort of implicit shared agreement, we knocked on the door.

“Yes?” A tired-sounding voice flopped out as a slot appeared. A red-tinged eye glanced down at us. “I’m sorry, we can’t—”

“Ahem, is this the Board of Containment?” Twilight asked, interrupting the speaker who was just about to turn us away.

“No. You must leave.”

The slot started to close. I quickly added, “We’re here to see Night Light, is he in? His daughter is here.”

The slot paused.

Then it continued.

“No visitors.”

I cleared my throat and took a gamble.

“Even if the visitor is a demon?”

The slot paused once again. The eye shifted from me to Twilight.

“You’re Night Light’s daughter?”

Twilight nodded.

The eye shifted to me. “You’re her demon?”

I nodded.

“I have standing orders to convey a message to you both.”

“Uhm… okay?” I said.

The eye quickly shifted from red to black, making me spring forward and push Twilight out of the way.

“Run,” it said and the slot disappeared.

With a creaking sound, the building slowly crumbled, as if a heavy weight was pressing down from the top.

“Twilight, watch out!” I rapidly shifted and grabbed her in my claws, dashing to the side as a beam fell down.

The building groaned and shifted, bulging from the middle like it was trying to contain something.

Snap.

The building suddenly exploded. Shrapnel stopped dead in Twilight’s hastily-erected field. Too late, I looked back to check on our ‘pursuers’.

Looking forward, I saw a hole rent in the side of the building and yes, there was typical spatial distortion caused by magic. A barrier had shattered, the resulting backlash blowing the hole in the side of the building as it tried to repel an invader. I felt the presence of something more sinister as I advanced forward.

“By the Other… Lex,” I muttered, feeling the familiar trace of his spatial domain.

Twilight came alongside me and gaped at the widespread destruction, she tugged at me. “We have to help! Somepony could be hurt!”

Nodding, I stumbled forward, but then stopped suddenly. “No, wait, you should stay here. I’ll check it out.”

“Morpheus, just because you’re a demon, doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt.”

Disturbingly, I recalled that I was more mortal than most. It’s alright, with my domain as long as Lex was nearby…

“Stay here, I can’t promise I can protect you, my essence has taken a hit.”

Twilight rounded on me with a furious expression. “What do you mean?”

I frowned at her. “It means that it might be difficult to use my domain to protect you. You should let me go first.”

“No! That means I should go with you more!” She stomped forward, not even waiting for my response. “You’re the one that needs protecting.”

“Hey, you can’t…”

“Why not?”

“Because…” I would’ve said ‘you’re my mistress’ a few days ago, but now I couldn’t find the words to express it. “Because you can’t, alright?”

“That’s not a good enough reason.”

“Well, I can’t think of one right now,” I replied testily.

Twilight surged ahead, leaving me behind. “Then hurry up and help me.”

Rolling my eyes, I trotted forward, easing aside a beam that had collapsed across the main hallway leading inwards. “Don’t die on me, Twilight, I still want to go back to the Other.”

Twilight chuckled in response.

———————

Inside was total chaos. What was once a nice-looking reception was now marked with burns and tears. Evidence of a desperate struggle was everywhere.

“Lots of power used,” I noted, touching the scorch marks scored into the stone. Cold. “This didn’t occur recently.”

Twilight cast a spell I didn’t recognise.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m trying to find out if there’s any pony around—oh!” She dashed forward suddenly. “There’s somepony behind this door!”

There was a metal door with a thick aura shielding it. Suddenly, it swung open and a figure burst out, horn glowing as the door was held open.

“That’s the last of the demon’s traps! Go, go, go!”

Ponies streamed out from the door. Some of them saw us and tried to usher us back the way we came, but we stood our ground, curious about the sudden tide of ponies. We edged around, seeing the figure more clearly resolving into a stallion wearing a hooded cloak that glowed and shimmered with an aquamarine aura. Judging by his voice, that sounded oddly familiar. It was hoarse from shouting… oh no, it wasn’t…

“Is that the last of them?”

“Yes, sir. But the building’s sentinel is down?”

He sighed. “Alright, keep the door plate, maybe we can fix it later.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright, we have to—Ibis, get back, the demon is still here!” The hooded figure spotted me and sent off a magical bolt that tore through the air with seething intent.

I immediately tried to guard against it, but realised too late that I used my domain instinctively to do it. It weakly manifested and then resided, the magical charge passing through the intervening space and hitting me instead. I could no longer maintain my form and shifted back immediately as I was thrown several feet back, skidding along the floor.

“Dad, no!”

“Twilight?! What are you doing here? Morpheus?! Wait a second…”

I heard hoof clops approaching me steadily.

Night Light, the Head Executor was coming.

Author's Note

Still unedited, although I did do some passes.

These two chapters were around 12 k words each which to be put into perspective is about 40 pages worth of writing, but actually it's more like 84 for this one, because it has more dialogue.

So I tried, yo.

Next Chapter: The greatest goals often require the greatest sacrifices.

As always, my fuzzy and foamy readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. The next chapter is probably going to be released as well, and there's also a short epilogue.

13 - Demon's Twilight, Twilight's Demon

Chapter 13: Demon’s Twilight, Twilight’s Demon

A magus once asked me: ‘Why are promises so important to demons?’ For most demons, the simple answer was that promises and contracts were part of our domains. Rigorously upholding our deals was what gave us power. You can rest assured a demon will always fulfil a promise, no matter how mundane it was. I think I used to do it for that reason, but as time slipped by I did it for another reason. It was for hope. Hope that fulfilling a promise will lead to another fulfilled back. Hope that one day a magus would finally fulfil a promise to a demon. And that day came. But I guess I wasn’t ready for it.

“Dad, I can explain!”

“Hold on a moment, Twily, we have to get out of here. You can explain outside.”

“D-Dad!”

Unfamiliar magic surrounded me and I was suddenly lifted and carried whilst we made our way outside. My insides felt like there was a knife there, twisting with every movement. I tried to move, but Celestia wasn’t kidding when she told me my essence was damaged. This was bad, bad, bad!

Meanwhile, I could feel Night Light’s presence towering over me as he set me down. I struggled to summon my domain, but I couldn’t. Damn, was it all going to end here?

“Morpheus, dear Celestia, I’m sorry, I hit you didn’t I?”

Wait a sec… something was wrong with this script.

“Night Light?”

He gave me a wink. “That’s Mr. Night Light, to you, sonny.” Then he regarded me with a cold stare. “What are you doing here with Twilight?” His horn glowed. “Depending on your answer, the results may not be pretty.”

“Dad!”

“What, Twily?! I’m not going to go easy on him if he deliberately brought you into danger, alright?” He puffed out his chest. “Can’t call myself a father if I didn’t protect my daughter!”

“Dad!”

“Oh fine, I won’t fry you, just explain yourself.”

Erm… “I… We were here to investigate the sprite’s connection to Lex.”

“Lex, huh,” Night Light scratched the back of his head with a hoof. “Wait a minute, that’s the demon that wrecked our headquarters!”

“What?” I surged forwards, then immediately regretted it, doubling over in pain. “Lex—” cough “—was here?!”

Night Light raised an eyebrow. “Yes, indeed. And, oh—sorry to disappoint, but we sent the sprite back almost as soon as we had it.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You know, those of your kind don’t belong to this plane. We’re in charge of sending them back so they can go about their business.” He sighed. “There’s always one or two crazy ponies trying to summon other-worldly creatures.”

“Errr, sir, what I mean is that you’re not worried about me being a demon?”

Night Light gave me a strange look. “Should I be worried?”

I shook my head emphatically.

Night Light shrugged. “Then it should be fine.”

“When did you know?”

“Oh, back when you both were injured trying to save another demon.” He sighed. “It was then I knew my little Twily had grown up.” He pursed his lips, but gave me an approving look. “I knew you were different.”

“May I ask why you aren’t blasting me on the spot? I thought your job was to stop demons and creatures like me.”

Night Light laughed easily. “A number of reasons, of course, I mean when I found out my own daughter summoned a demon… dear Celestia.” He rolled his eyes up to the sky. “You can image the shock I had when I found out.” He ended that on a stern note, staring at Twilight, who squared her shoulders uncomfortably. “I know you’re a genius, Twilight, but please, don’t give your old man a heart attack before he can walk you down the aisle, alright?”

“Daaaaaad.”

“Anyway, when I found out, I was nervous, but then the Princess did show me how you helped Twily and you also helped me out with the sprite. You even did my job for me, dismissing another demon to the Other again. Sure you don’t want to join the Board?”

“You were serious? Then why did you give me a card with no address?”

“Well, I… oh dear, I forgot about that.”

I slammed a claw into my face. Before I could say anything else, I was interrupted from behind.

“Watch out for that demon, Head Executor!”

Oh, sweet roiling lava creeks, it was Tourmaline and Amethyst. I forgot about them.

“Oh Mrs. Star and Ms. Star, how may I help you?”

“Head Executor Night Light, are you not aware that standing next to you is a demon?”

Night Light glanced at me and mimicked a shocked expression. “Oh my, what big teeth you have.”

“Head Executor, this is no time for jests! That is a dangerous demon next to you… or is it true and your daughter really has summoned a demon? Outrageous! I shall inform the Crown. They shall know what filthy thing has been summoned. Scandalous, even your dim-witted daughter should know—”

Night Light stared at Tourmaline coldly. “The Crown already knows.” He glared at her. “And I would appreciate it if you didn’t disparage my daughter in your self-centred tirade.” In the same breath, without turning around he raised his voice. “Mr. Mandrel, I can hear you breathing!”

“Ah, yes sir!” A foppish-looking stallion scrabbled out of one of the alleyways. He brushed off the dust from his extravagant coat and took a moment to style his hair, then he came trotting over as if nothing had happened.

“Where were you during the attack?” Night Light demanded.

“I was out in the field, sir.” He straightened his collar. “I managed to track a direction in which the assailant escaped to, but was unable to pinpoint where he went. It’s like he vanished, sir.”

Mandrel spared a glance in the direction of his wife. “Tourmaline, Ammy, dear, what are you two doing here?”

Tourmaline glanced between Mandrel and Night Light. “Hmph!” She turned her nose up, looking like she gained a bit of confidence from her husband’s presence. “The Head Executor and his daughter may very well be a part of this attack, for all we know!”

Mandrel took out a delicate silk handkerchief and wiped his sweaty brow. “Sorry, sir, I’ve told my wife many times that the Board of Containment has different procedures, she’s got a short fuse, but she means well.”

“Mandrel! A demon is right there, didn’t you always tell me these creatures were dangerous?”

Night Light’s brows drew together. “Mandrel, have you been leaking information out of the Board?”

Mandrel dabbed at his brows once more, barely sparing me a glimpse as he pressed his wife. “Tourmaline, dear, you must heed the words of the Head Executor, he acts on the Princess’ authority.”

“I will not! I’m sick of waiting at home, not knowing when you’re going to come back. You’re so secretive about these things, I can’t stand it!”

“Tourmaline, dear…”

Night Light cleared his throat. “Not to burst everypony’s bubble, but there are more important matters here. Mrs. Star, you’ll have to leave, we need to deal with a new demonic threat.”

Tourmaline spun around and pointed a hoof at Mandrel. “You told me this was safe!”

“It is! Usually. But extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary effort! Sometimes you can’t predict this sort of thing happening.”

“We need to escape this chaos, Amethyst, Mandrel, let’s go!”

Mandrel refused to move. “No, I’m sorry, my love, but I cannot abandon my post.”

Tourmaline’s eyes widened. “What? Stop speaking nonsense, we need to escape at the very least.”

“I swore to protect everypony by doing what I can for the Board of Containment. I have a duty to the ponies and to her. You must leave for safety, but I will have to stay.” He raised his head high. “I’m sorry, dear, I’d love to go with you, but I must do it.”

Tourmaline’s voice came back soft and broken. “But… you could be hurt. Why?”

“Because if nopony stands here, then who will?”

I have to admit, listening to this stallion talk about honour and loyalty was way above the initial expectations I had from his first impressionable appearance. His arguments could be platitudes when held to common inspection, but here, now, it was deserving of a little of my respect. Not necessarily because they were right, but because his conviction brought to life his belief in it that swayed those who listened. I think Tourmaline felt the same way, because she teetered, unable to form a coherent argument to counter that sheer will.

“Mandrel, my love… be safe.” She quickly kissed her husband on the cheek and then shot me a dirty glare before leaving.

I sighed. It was like she was blaming me for all her problems. What in the Other did I do to her?

“Amethyst,” Tourmaline snapped, “let’s go!”

Amethyst was rooted to the spot.

“Amethyst Star, you best move your hooves, or I will be very cross!”

Amethyst sent me a look and then bit her lip. “I-I want to stay with dad.”

“Amethyst! I can’t believe you! Why are you being so foalish? I know what is best for you; we must leave at once!”

“Mother, I can’t—”

“Why in Equestria not?!”

“Because… I want to. For a friend.”

“A friend?! Here?!” Her eyes shot to Twilight. “You can’t mean her? She’s the one besting you in everything since she came to the school. She’s an obstacle to your future! You cannot be friends with her.”

Amethyst shot me a glance, but didn’t say anything to correct her mother. Instead she dug in her hooves and gave her mother a more steady look that was more like a thin sheet of paper suspended delicately on a taut string of wire. She quivered under the weight of her mother’s gaze, but didn’t move.

Night Light interrupted the proceedings by talking from his saddlebags. Wait, something about that wasn’t right. How was he talking from his saddlebags?

“Oh, hello, fancy seeing you all here. Is the battle over?”

“Owl!” I shouted, prompting everyone to look at me. “You’re here?”

“Oh, hello, Morpheus. The outside world is wondrous, isn’t it? So changing, yet unchangeable. Not like the Library. That was unchanging but changeable. Such a contrast. Delightful.”

“Hey, you, I told you not to come out until I told you, the demon is still—” Night Light hissed, but he didn’t get any further. A shadow loomed over us.

“Ah, thank you for this. I was looking for it. Shame I had to destroy everything before you would be flushed out.”

A figure appeared in the midst of us. He negligently flicked a claw, sending a sharp wave of malevolent space distorting domain shooting towards everypony. Night Light surrounded Twilight and I with a barrier, whilst Mandrel withdrew a charmed crystal and threw it at the wave, stopping it dead in its tracks. Meanwhile, I shoved the owl back into the saddlebags, ignoring its indignant complaints.

“Hmmph,” Lex said, “figured you magi wouldn’t give it up so easily.”

“Give up what?” I called out. Lex’s eyes swung around and met mine. It widened in surprise.

“Morpheus… I barely recognised you. It’s almost like you’re entirely…. No that can’t be possible for you of all demons.” He casually deflected a bolt that Night Light summoned. “Oh dear, such impolite behaviour, so, so impatient. Would you kindly wait your turn? No need to rush to death, you know.”

“I refuse.”

Lex shrugged and leapt forward, scything with his claws, aiming for Night Light’s head. Clicking his tongue, Lex activated his domain, freezing time. I watched haplessly as my domain failed to encompass Night Light and Lex dashed forward.

Night Light dodged the swipe.

“What?” Lex snarled. “How did you do that?!”

Night Light flicked his cloak. “This dispels what you demons refer to as domains. I have to keep it active, but it’ll give me enough time to use this.” He withdrew his Astral Pendant.

Lex snarled and dived forward, as Night Light activated the Pendant. It glowed, but Lex contemptuously swiped at it absorbed something else.

“Another sprite?!” Night Light gasped and suddenly a magical charge exploded against his side. He grunted in pain and rolled on the ground. Where did that come from? Lex was gripping a red crystal that smoked in his palm. He dropped it with a his and grinned savagely.

“Magical detonation, one shot only.” He flexed his claws. “The Library is full of useful things, I almost lost my own life for this, you know? But I’m used to that. I’m used to so many things…”

The cloak lost its shimmering aura and Lex stood triumphantly as his domain encompassed the unicorn. He advanced like a lion stalking down its prey.

Night Light was frozen in time. There was only me left.

“Wait!” Lex stopped his claw mid stroke, just as he was about to make contact with Night Light. I quickly blurted out a plea. “Stop, you don’t have to kill him, just take what you need!”

Lex raised an eyebrow. “Going soft, Morpheus? One magus less is one less demon summoned.”

“I know that,” I continued slowly, “but no need to expend the effort and sink to their level. Just take whatever you want and go.”

Lex considered this. Then shook his head.

“No,” he said simply.

“NO!” I screamed.

His claw descended once more and I expended all my efforts in countering his domain with mine. Lex’s claw narrowly missed Night Light as the unicorn stumbled back reflexively, freezing once again as my domain snuffed out.

I coughed blood. I was now wracked with so much pain, that my vision was starting to get hazy. But I had to move. I had to keep alive. There was no other choice. I didn’t have the luxury to die here. Not here, not now.

“Morpheus!” Lex bounded over and clutched me. “You’re… dying?!” He grabbed me and probed me with his domain. “You’re mortal?!” His eyes narrowed. “No, but very close.”

I nodded weakly. “I guess I am if this weakness is so—” I broke into a fit, my body was at its limits and my essence was shredded“—advanced.”

Lex hesitated. “I… Morpheus, please, would you not consider my original offer? I was waiting for you the whole time to let me know… why didn’t you call?”

He gave me a messaging crystal to contact him, but I never used it. I shook my head sadly. “Lex, I can’t change anything, not with how I do things. I just wanted to let you know that this magus has freed Alma.” I took a shuddering breath. “Permanently. She is finally free.”

“No,” Lex said, squeezing me, “you can’t be telling me the truth. After all, magi are just… magi are just…”

“I wish I could say more…” I could feel my voice get weaker. Damn it, I just want to tell him the truth. The truth has always set me free. The truth will set Lex free. I put all my effort into speaking the truth.

“Twilight is the final ideal. She contains the key for the True Other.”

“Morpheus, you can’t… ugh…”

Things were a little foggy then. An indistinct voice called out. Lex disappeared briefly, then came back. Then disappeared again. He looked at his wit’s end. His eyes were glazed with the same madness Alma had exhibited.

“It hurts, but I have to do it, it hurts but I have to do it, it hurts…”

He kept repeating this mantra. That’s when I realised sluggishly that Lex was the same as Alma. He was tortured far enough to delude himself that he was doing the right thing. I saw it happen before. A magus would have to be far more twisted than usual, often taking extreme pleasure in breaking a demon to achieve this.

“Ah,” a voice rang out through the frozen piece of time, “a shame. Lex was such a good pet. So much effort went into breaking him.”

My eyes widened as a magus I knew all too well appeared.

“S-S-S—” I tried to force the word out of my shuddering lips.

“That’s right,” she crooned, “you can do it.”

“Se-Se-Se—”

“My little demon. The first. The best. How are you doing?”

“Selena.”

“Good demon. I knew you would be able to get there.”

“You ca—” I couldn’t finish the rest of my sentence, blood filled my mouth and leaked out, splattering the floor. Looking annoyed, the magus stepped forward and placed a hand on my body. Instantly, an electric feeling washed over me and I could feel a surge of energy washing over my body.

The magus gestured for me to continue. I slowly spoke, cautiously opening my mouth and spitting out the last of my blood. It was no longer a struggle but the weakness in my body persisted.

“H-How? You can’t be alive.”

“Ah, I know, it’s frustrating when someone you try to kill doesn’t die.” She sighed. “I mean after all I did for you creatures. Creating you. Giving you a home. The least you could do is be obedient.”

“You can’t be Selena… she would never say that.” I could feel fear leaking into my voice. “I didn’t kill her.”

“I guess it wasn’t your decision to lead her—oops—I mean me into the—oh forget it, it was fun while it lasted.” The magus shifted back into a sinister-looking pony. She regarded me with similarly coloured eyes to Selena. Deep blue, but instead of warmth it was speckled with animosity.

Black streaks in her mane of blue hair contrasted with her white coat as she studied me coolly. “I knew about your relationship with this magus, of course, what a joke. You demons aren’t any more useful than tools, how can you expect a magus as powerful as thefoundingsummoner of demons to just befriend you?”

Inwardly, I was relieved. I didn’t know if I could take it if it was truly Selena. Now I could unleash myself without reservations. The magus stood there with a little smile, expecting an answer, I kept silent, glaring at her.

“Aren’t you curious as to how I know about your precious Selena?”

I was, but I didn’t want to give this monster the satisfaction of answering.

She licked her lips and shrugged, continuing anyway. “It was simple, really, Lex would spill everything once I gave him the right persuasive nudge. I found out about you early, you know. You shouldn’t have stepped into the library. Alma found you there almost immediately. She even messed up some of the books resisting my command to dispose of you immediately, admirable, I guess. Oh well, delaying the inevitable, I suppose. But insubordination was punished accordingly.”

Lex flinched guiltily as the magus focused on him. I ground my teeth in fury.

“You’re a rare demon, you know. I wanted to get my hooves on you. But you wouldn’t fall for Lex’s tricks. What a useless demon. Alma was a failure too. What a pity. So much energy wasted on inferior products. I even constructed a little welcome for you in the Between. Liked it?”

Gritting my teeth, I cursed my own inability to reach out and end her life.

Watching my reaction, the magus bared her teeth more than smiled as she continued. “Well, never mind that, I came here for the Library core. It’s here isn’t it?”

I didn’t reply and she sighed.

“What I give can be taken away, you know.”

“Go to hell.” I ground out, as I spat at her.

She emotionlessly wiped away the offending attack and shrugged. “You’re not the first creature to tell me that.” She placed a hoof on me, contemptuously dodging the side-swipe of my claws. Instantly I felt lancing pain shoot through my limbs. My back arched as I cried out and Lex stood there, eyes bloodshot and wild.

“Morpheus!” He took a step forward and then doubled over as the magus shot Lex a withering look.

“Such heart-wrenching friendship,” she mocked, sending a bucking kick to my abdomen. “Or is it kinship? Well, no matter, as long as I can control, it’s immaterial.”

I felt energy course through my body at the same time she gave me another kick, giving me enough strength to keep me conscious and feeling the pain. I writhed, unable to do more than gargle, let alone scream.

“I’ve got to thank Alma for one thing, though, she did weaken you enough so that you couldn’t use your domain. It’s tricky, isn’t it? Lex never did tell me how it worked or even what it was, his sense of loyalty stretches deep. I mean if I had a couple of decades, I’m sure I could get it out of him, but… well… I think that’s what makes you so special. Loyalty of the other demons. With you, I think I could have accomplished far more. Oh well, luck of the draw when summoning, I suppose. If you cooperated with me, things could have been different.”

I tried to get up but a vicious kick to my neck sent me to the ground again.

The magus sneered at me. “You can’t imagine how dull it is to be talented. All this knowledge, all this power and for what? In this peaceful, boring, numbing kingdom where pretty princesses and pretty princes prance around declaring all ponies live in peace. Doesn’t it sicken you? There’s a dark side to everypony. Why can’t they just accept that?”

I tried to speak, but couldn’t get past my crushed throat. My mouth opened and shut but I couldn’t get a breath. I was slowly suffocating.

“Oh for pony’s sake. Here, it’ll be onerous doing this without conversation.”

She gave me a derisive pat on the shoulder and the pain subsided from my throat.

I forced a hoarse question out. “So this is some kind of revolution? What do you really want? Power? Money? Both?”

The magus gave me a surprised look and didn’t send another kick, but instead sat down in front of me with a wicked smile.

“What a pleasant idea and a flattering guess. No, I simply crave destruction! I want the world to end, nothing fancy.” She smiled. “Lex was right, I was going to combine both planes together. Not because I want demons to be free, not because I want the ponies to die, but just… because… I… can.”

I stared at this lunatic. “You’re willing to die here for this?”

She laughed. “Oh, no! Good one! I’ll be escaping to another plane, thank you very much. There are so many planes that just need to be reaped, and I don’t want to stay here. Too many powerful entities; I’d just be crushed. I mean have you seen the Princess? She could vaporise me in an instant. No thanks. I need to go somewhere more chaotic, where I can grow a bit more powerful. Right here, I can only control this small space around my demons. So this is just the first stepping stone. Gotta destroy this plane though, can’t have anypony tracking me down for revenge, right? There probably won’t be ponies in the next plane. Oh well. Not much some shapeshifting can’t solve, right, demon?”

The magus casually flicked a hoof at the others around us. “But, here in this frozen moment. I am Queen. So now, my cute little demon, what do you want to do? Do you want to hoof me the core, or will you and everypony here die as well and I search for it myself? It’s a simple request, really.”

My mind kicked into overdrive, trying to find a way out of this impossible situation. This magus was going to kill all of us if we didn’t give her what we wanted. I was choosing between dying now or dying later. What kind of choice was that? Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. I could just give her what she wanted, after all, if she was gone, then… maybe we had a chance.

But I had to sacrifice the owl.

I wracked my brains. Not a week ago, this would have been one of the easiest decisions to make for me. Leave the owl, take who I cared about with me and escape. But now I found myself hesitating. I found that I couldn’t easily discard anyone. I wanted us all to live. But if I didn’t do something, they would all perish instead.

“I understand,” I said, abruptly.

Forgive me, Twilight, I’m counting on you.

“What?”

“You want freedom, right? Who can’t understand that?”

“Freedom?” The magus tilted her head. “What makes you say that, demon?”

I forced a painful shrug. “The freedom to do whatever you want, in a society that says otherwise. I get it.”

She tilted her head. “Curious. Usually they would be calling me names by now or swearing or something. You’re different, I like you! Want to be my demon?”

“Oh, please no. But hey, I get it. I’ll help you.”

She kicked me again, making me wince and grit my teeth in frustration.

“What, really?” she continued unflinchingly. “Even if I’m not even guaranteeing you your own freedom, or your friends, or even freedom from pain?”

“Whatever, just talk to the owl, it probably knows where the core is.” I pointed to Night Light’s saddlebags.

Delighted laughter echoed in this chronologically still moment.

“Oh, dear, demon, you’re hilarious. The owl is the core!”

“Oh,” I said, feigning indifference. “Now you can take it.”

The magus lifted an eyebrow suspiciously. “You think I’m stupid? There’s probably a trap there. Lex. Go fetch the core from the Head Executor’s saddlebags.”

Lex moaned, but didn’t resist as he got up and trudged over to the bag. Fully expecting a trap, he gingerly opened the bag to reveal the frozen owl. It had a dumb look, as if it was trying to eavesdrop and was immortalised halfway trying to do so.

Lex hefted the owl and then set it next to the magus.

She took a look at the owl and cast several spells.

“No traps from what I can sense…” She shrugged. “Wow, I guess you weren’t lying. Maybe you were trying to help me.” She took the owl and then inscribed a pattern on the floor, making sure I didn’t move while doing so. Lex had collapsed on the ground, but his domain was still forcibly active, which meant the magus was compelling Lex to sustain the domain even during her brutal abuse.

I never wanted to kill so badly than I did right now.

With the last of my energy, I materialised my domain. I turned Lex’s domain in an instant into mine and froze the time to the magus. Groaning with the effort of maintaining an extensive domain like Lex gave me a claw full of seconds.

I dove forward desperately, reaching out with my claws to slash at the magus.

I managed to swipe at her mane before I was deflected by a radiant barrier. Hair filtered to the ground as I came so frustratingly close to killing her.

The magus sucked her teeth and tittered at me sadly. “Oh! So close, can’t blame you for trying, but I can’t have you trying to interfere with me. The next time you move, Lex, kill him.”

Lex resisted for a whole minute under the torturous will of the magus. She doubled down on the pain, not seeming to care about the time, looking more like she savoured the moment instead as she watched Lex writhe.

“Don’t resist, Lex!”

“M-Morpheus, it hurts…”

“Shh,” I crooned, “Lex, don’t fight it. I will stay still.”

“Please, Morpheus, don’t make me do it.”

My claws flexed hard against my palms, digging bloody holes in them as I held in my rage. “I won’t, Lex, don’t worry.”

Her preparations took well over an hour. I lay there, concentrating on recovering as much as possible. The next few moments after she completed her circle would be critical. There was only one last chance, but I kicked myself for not being able to do anything to help the owl. I wondered if it was similar to us, always used as a tool. Could it feel pain as well? Judging from the peaceful way it slept, I hoped it didn’t feel pain.

Lex, despite his suffering, despite his insanity, still tried to comfort me in his own way.

“Cheer… up… Morpheus… afterwards… we… will have… this plane… for… ourselves...”

I patted him on the shoulder as I took deep, calming breaths. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that this plan was going to wipe us both out in the process. All I could do was wait for the right moment and bide my time. To the Eternal Void with this magus, I was going to deal with her later. Right now, I needed to help my friends.

“Don’t worry Lex, you’ll be free soon. I promise.”

Lex finally smiled genuinely for the first time since I’ve seen him. “Morpheus, you always keep your promises.”

I smiled back. “Rest now, Lex.”

“Okay…”

“Touching. I really wish I could see your faces when the planes collide. I made sure it was gradual so you can feel despair as piece by piece the world is lost.” She clopped her hooves together in a sordid mime. “Pop! Just like a pimple.”

I swallowed a sarcastic retort. “I genuinely hope you find a life that suits you.”

The pony’s lips twitched as she caught my double meaning. “Well, me too. Goodbye, strange demon. Die fantastically for me, alright?”

With that, the owl glowed and the the circle lit up brilliantly for a split second, then the magus was gone. With it, the link between her and Lex was severed for a split second and I whipped out my Astral Pendant around my neck.

“Lex. I’m sorry but—”

“No, Morpheus, you can’t—!”

Without a moment to spare, I activated the Astral Pendant meant for me.

Lex struggled weakly, but seemed to give up. “Even you would betray me…” he croaked and seemed to collapse in resignation. It twisted a knife in my heart, but I steeled myself and watched him go. With a gelatinous flex and the quiet snap of reality, Lex was sealed inside the crystal. I gripped the Pendant, hung it around my neck and forced myself to move.

Suddenly, Lex’s domain expired, and the circle instantly activated. A faint shimmering began in the centre and then something familiar resolved itself. A swirling vortex of abstract thought, emotion and fever dreams appeared. Twilight stumbled forward, completing her motion, Night Light’s horn blazed but then snuffed out just as quickly and everypony gasped as a spherical object seemed to materialise and spread, slowly engulfing everything in its expansion.

“W-What is that?” Tourmaline cried.

“No time to explain!” I yelled, making my way to Twilight. “We have to stop it. It’s the gateway to the Other a magus created! The thing Lex was talking about!”

“W-What?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “What happened?!”

“You were frozen in Lex’s domain. I’m sorry, I couldn’t protect you with my domain, I’m too weak. Twilight, you have to stop this, the planes will collide.”

Twilight’s panicked eyes turned to the emerging mass and then back at me. “That’s a complex diagram, I can’t decipher it in one day!”

I reached over and flipped open her saddlebags.

“Not even with a book and owl that knows everything?”

“B-But—”

“Twilight!” I grabbed her shoulders and then stared into her eyes. “Believe in me and believe in yourself. You can do this.”

Twilight stared at me for a full three seconds and then nodded.

“Yes, I can do this, right. Spell. Magic. No problems.” She called out to Amethyst. “Hey, help me!”

“W-What?”

“Don’t just stand there, help me!”

“O-Okay!”

Twilight glared at Tourmaline. “You too! Anypony that knows magic, we need their help, now!” She turned to her dad. “Send for help!”

Confused, but seeing the determination in his daughter’s eyes, Night Light could only nod and he called for someone on the side. Suddenly, everyone was galvanised into action, springing forward in one torrential movement.

I sagged back down as all available unicorns in the area rushed towards the spell and were actively trying to disarm it.

I kept an eye on the sphere and looked around. There wasn’t anything I could do. Powerless, once again. I thought about what I had done, giving over the core without thought. Did I really do that? Was I doing it just to save a life? If I thought about it objectively, then I could have saved many more lives by dying without revealing the owl. Well, she might have found it anyway…

What was the right answer?

Was this my fault that everyone was going to die?

“Morpheus!”

I snapped out of my funk, my eyes widening as I took in a new horrifying development. The sphere was expanding faster now. It almost touched the bottom of the diagram, but even more concerning were shapes being formed at the centre. Things were starting to pass through. Oh no. Demons.

“Twilight, I’ll try and hold them back!”

“No, Morpheus, you can’t go in there!”

I forged my way forward, ignoring Twilight. The shapes hesitated on the horizon.

“This is not the Other!” I announced to the demons at the border. “If any of you are willing to brave the Astral Pendant, then step forward!”

There was hesitation to be sure, but eventually a demon would step through. I didn’t have the power to summon my domain and overpower them. If any stepped through, I would likely have to trap them in the pendant. Demons weren’t always friendly with each other, if I trapped another demon with Lex weakened, he could be attacked.

“Step back, Morpheus!” Night Light said. “We can hold them off for some time.”

A shimmering barrier was formed in front of the portal. Many others joined in. I felt a little embarrassed that I hadn’t even considered other ponies helping. They strengthened the barrier, but despite that, a pressure was beginning to be exerted on the barrier almost immediately.

While they held them back, I pleaded with the demons on the Other side to stop, but the pressure barely lessened. I guess it was natural to begin manifesting into the physical plane when it was available. Maybe it wasn’t a choice on their part, making my bargaining useless. I felt impotent in the face of a rapidly devolving situation. What use was I?

I began to raise my arms and summon my domain. Night Light saw the movement and growled. Though he strained with the barrier, from the side of his mouth, he spoke through gritted teeth.

“Stay back, Morpheus. Don’t overdo it.”

“But—”

“Shut up and help Twilight.”

“I can’t help her.”

“Yes you can, just be there, she’s trying because of you, you know. Ugh.” He staggered back under a sudden surge on the Other side. “Hurry up and go to her.”

I stood stock still for a second and then relented. “Right away.”

Dashing past various unicorns running in the opposite direction, I skittered over to see Twilight feverishly reading the last passage in the book.

“We’ve got ten minutes,” she stated, snapping the book shut with a tone of finality.

“The magus told me she wanted it to be slow,” I blurted in surprise. “This was not much time at all!”

“Ten minutes is quite a lot, considering this is normally instantaneous.”

So I could have destroyed the plane in an instant before? Wonderful.

“What can we do?” I asked.

Twilight hesitated.

“What?” I pressed. “There’s a way, right?”

Twilight nodded reluctantly.

I grinned. “That’s great! You can do it right?”

Twilight nodded once again, still as reluctant.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked seriously, bending down.

“The book says there needs to be another medium to exert pressure going back. It has to contain a portion of the native physical sample from the other plane.”

“Oh,” I smiled wanly, getting a bad feeling about this. “That’s perfect, I can do it.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, you can’t. You don’t have to. We can—”

“Use Lex?” I laughed. “Sorry, but I made a promise to him.”

Twilight instantly knew the gravity of that statement.

“Morpheus…” she began with a quivering voice. “Don’t do it.”

“I have to.”

“I have some time left, I can find another way! I have to!”

I glanced back at the swiftly portal and smiled thinly. “Don’t worry, there’s no guarantee I’ll die, right?”

“The book didn’t say, but we’re passing the energy of an entire plane through you! If you were in top condition you might have a chance, but right now, you have nearly none!”

“Twilight, it’s worth it, after all it’s kind of my fault.”

“What?”

I quickly explained to her what happened in that frozen moment.

“B-But that’s not your fault!” Twilight bit her lip. “Don’t go!”

“You can get more friends, Twilight, don’t worry,” I said, totally dismissing her real reason for anguish.

“I don’t need any more friends,” she mumbled, barely above a whisper.

I hefted her as I stopped and levelled a look at her. “Twilight, I heard that.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Promise me you’ll make friends?”

Twilight shrugged but still didn’t reply.

“Twilight, if you are going to keep your promise, then one day I won’t be here anyway.”

“But—”

“But nothing. I can’t help but feel worried about you.”

Twilight stomped a hoof. “I thought you didn’t worry about magi.”

“I worry about my friends and I’m worried because I know you’ll find a way to send me back… so that means I won’t be here anymore and you will be alone once again.”

Twilight shook her head. “I… I don’t want you to go back, Morpheus, but I have to send you back.”

She sighed miserably. “The book did mention a way to send you back with this spell. The other demons pass through you as a medium and then you’re dismissed, if you survive. I can apply that spell I did for Alma as well.”

My eyes widened. “So that means…”

Twilight nodded glumly, but gave a weak smile anyway. “All demons will be exposed to my new spell. Effectively they can never be summoned again.”

Tears fell from my eyes. “You kept your promise.”

Twilight’s smile wobbled. “Well, you did too.”

Amethyst quietly prompted Twilight from the side. “The circle is done, we need your help for that spell you mentioned.”

Amethyst gave me a nudge. “Maybe if I was there first, I’d be feeling more than just numb right now.”

“Amethyst, I’ll miss you too.”

“Don’t say it like you’re going away forever, I hate that!” Amethyst hugged me fiercely. “I don’t like flaky ponies. I guess we can’t be friends after all.”

I patted her head and stroked her silently. Only then did the tears fall.

“Why did you have to come now?” she muttered into my fur.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise!”

I kept quiet until we parted.

“I have to go,” I said softly.

“Will you come back?”

I smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, I can’t promise that.”

I stepped forward, Twilight slowly leading me to the central circle attached at the edge of the expanding plane’s circle. The expansion was occurring faster and faster and though the assortment of unicorns grew in number to help, the rampant demons and the inflating sphere was too much for them to handle and they were steadily giving ground. I could even spot a desperate Princess Celestia and a contingent of guards helping out, studying the spell and reinforcing the barrier.

Twilight touched her horn to the circle.

“Morpheus, I think this is really goodbye.”

“The week’s up, huh? This was a crazy week.”

Twilight smiled at that. “You’re telling me.”

“Oh, I almost forgot. Here.” I threw her the Astral Pendant I wore around my neck. “You have to free Lex and dismiss him.”

Twilight fumbled for the Astral Pendant and then stared at me with heartbroken eyes.

“Morpheus…”

“I have to, Twilight, I’m sorry I can’t stay longer.”

“Sentimentality doesn’t really anchor you to this plane, does it? What’s really keeping you here?”

“Well…” I put a clawed talon to my lips and smiled. “That’s a secret.”

“I’ll miss you, Morpheus.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

With that, Twilight touched the pattern once more and then I felt… nothing.

Author's Note

Exeunt.

As you may have noticed, I'm bad at fight scenes and stuff.

This needs some cleanup and bit of prose-fixing but for now, I think I'm satisfied with how I left it. It's kind of a sad story, but it leaves hope for the future. As you may have guessed, the theme for this story was mainly about letting go, getting the self confidence to do things your own way and the importance of resisting against adversity.

Next Chapter: Endtimes and Beginningtimes. Storytimes.

As always, my juniper readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. There may be an epilogue that reflects this commentary, but hey, don't let it tie you to the story. Stay free.

14 - Epilogue: Our Demons

Epilogue: Our Demons

Twilight roamed through the halls chatting with Amethyst and talking about the deepest mysteries of magic. There was an interesting conjecture that the professor pointed out and surprisingly, Amethyst looked like she had the knack for devising solutions for crystal defects in bulk magical materials.

This once, and only once, Amethyst scored higher than Twilight in a test. Her grades dropped in other subjects, but surprisingly, Amethyst told her she didn’t mind. Before, she said, she was so busy studying that she didn’t really take the time to find out if she liked whatever she was working towards and now that she found her passion, she concentrated on that to the exclusion of all else.

She loved crystals.

Twilight, on the other hoof, excelled as an all-rounder. Instead of being ashamed of her cutie mark and what it represented, she started embracing magic and all aspects of it. Just because magic didn’t help with friends, didn’t mean she couldn’t make some. With that attitude, her shy proposals for friendship were slowly accepted and seeing her and Amethyst get along, the other foals weren’t shy about approaching her.

After all, Twilight and Amethyst were foals that participated in saving Equestria, if not the whole world from certain destruction.

Except, nopony knew that it was Twilight that closed the portal, or that there were any demons involved as well.

Only Twilight knew and perhaps a solitary owl that apparently lost the ability to speak.

One day, the owl flew off and Twilight never knew where it went. The owl lost its ability and the Library disappeared, leaving only the top-most section of books within. All that was left in its legacy was the Encyclopaedia, but that never wrote anything again.

Twilight wondered if the Library had connections to the Other. After all, when she sealed off the Other, suddenly everything stopped. No demons to ask, no domains were present. Nopony could summon even a single sprite, not to mention a demon.

Demons were gone from this world.

From time to time, Twilight would think back to Morpheus and try and remember what he was like. Quirky, snide, rude, but loyal, faithful and honourable. These qualities weren’t typically those that ponies would associate with demons. Besides, most ponies didn’t know about demons, or even that their lives were moments from being erased by the merging of another whole plane of existence.

It was as if none of it had ever existed.

Twilight was worried that her memory would eventually fail her and she’d forget Morpheus. She tried to think about what Morpheus would say right now to cheer her up. Probably something along the lines of bucking up and the transient nature of friendship and mortal existence.

Twilight now had the confidence to move forward. She was free from the shackles of her personal demon of self-loathing. Now she walked forwards, proud and tall and standing above it all.

But she still missed him.

And perhaps, if Morpheus had changed as much as she did, he would miss her.

And I did.

But there was work to do.

Author's Note

Thanks for sticking around. If there was anything about the writing you liked or didn't like please feel free to comment on it or hit the like/dislike button. I do apologise if I couldn't write up to standards, I'm always trying to improve!

Also, I really do apologise for the delayed releases, but hey, when this goes genfic, maybe I can start asking for support. In which case, let's see where this train goes!

Next Chapter: Morpheus punches Alma in the face when he sees her in the Other. Well, he did promise, right?

As always, my superbly tolerant readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Again, no need for anything, please just share it around or keep it in your bookshelves if you liked it. If you didn't like it, please leave a comment so I can improve! I'm still always looking to master writing and even after all this time, there's more to learn and better ways to approach things. Most of all, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to read this. It means a lot that someone has given up their time to read some of my stories.
P.P.S. I can't access the indentation tab for these fics, so I'll see what's wrong later. You can grill me later after I try and get it done. I did it manually so hopefully that works. Thanks!

9 - Hell Be Back

Chapter 9: Hell Be Back

Sometimes a magus would invest a portion of themselves into certain objects. These were usually assigned a task or two before that portion degraded, dissipating into the eternal abyss. Such animated objects containing a portion of a magus were called golems. They were purely magical constructs that were bound to the will of their owners. Kind of like demons. Except they had no conscience. But we did.

“BOOKS!” Twilight yelled out, practically vibrating in excitement. “BOOKS!”

“Yes, yes, books, books, books,” I replied sourly as I trailed behind her.

Truth be told, I was trying to cover up my embarrassment from hugging her. I mean really. Hugging. A demon. Hugging. Stop it. It’s not meant to be in the same paragraph, let alone sentence.

“Books!”

Thankfully, Twilight elected to be ecstatic at the opportunity to read all these books. That gave me breathing time to reassess some priorities. I understood her relief, though. We went through a horrifying experience.

I decided to look around and try and find an exit to clear my mind. Twilight may not want to leave this place, but I’m pretty sure she would eventually need food and water. Those things didn’t look like they were in abundant supply.

Behind me there wasn’t a door or an entrance that I could see. There was the painting of Celestia once again, but the framing neither bore nor resembled the same relief carving the previous framed painting did. I breathed a sigh of relief. If there was the same type of painting, then we would probably have to meet the Between being again.

I shuddered. The simple thought gave me the shivers.

With no way to go back, the only direction was to move forward.

To each side, there were austere shelves made of varnished oakwood that gave the place a sense of quiet resplendence that echoed the majesty of its long service to the Crown. In here, I felt dwarfed by the scope of knowledge, and though I had seen many libraries, this was a match to most I’ve seen. I’ve wondered how long an empire would have to last to be able to produce something of this magnitude. A hundred years? A thousand years? More?

The shelves weren’t always filled with books. They had curious objects that came in curious shapes and sizes. In some shelves there were towering skulls carved with ominous scriptures of a long-forgotten language. Instinctively, I shied away from them. Not from their outward appearance, mind you, but from the instinctive self-preserving compulsion born from a lifetime of being exposed to various magi artefacts and spell work.

Lying here on the shelf were very dangerous objects.

“Twilight,” I hissed, “don’t touch anyth—”

It was too late. Twilight had touched an orb within the library. To be fair, it did look harmless considering the objects that surrounded it. But I knew that the treasures sequestered on this forbidden floor were not objects to be trifled with.

“Twilight,” I whispered, leaning in with concern. “Are you…?”

“I see everything,” she whispered, crystallising my suspicions into certainty. Then she shook her head, her hoof instinctively reaching out to touch it once more. I snatched it away just in time.

“Stop that,” I admonished, taking her hoof into my claws and turning her gaze away from the crystal. “Look at me.”

With a shudder, Twilight turned away and fixed her eyes on me.

“That’s good,” I cooed, drawing her close. “Lose yourself into my eyes and then settle down.”

Twilight took a shuddering breath and then calmed once more.

“Morpheus… what did you do?”

“That was the Crystal Enmity.” I said, neatly dodging the question as I positioned myself between her and the Crystal. “It’s a shard from the Other that’s said to contain a fraction of the Truth.”

Twilight forced her head down as she concentrated on my words. “The Truth?”

“The reason for life itself, or so some beings say.”

“Really?”

“No, that’s just the lure. It’s a trap that works indiscriminately to capture the curious or the greedy. It’s commonly found in these types of vaults where there are many treasures and many covetous beings.” I patted Twilight on the head. “Just stay close to me.”

“What would have happened if I continued staring?”

“Conscientious dislocation.”

“What?”

“Every bone in your body would have dislocated at once.”

“What? All of them?” Twilight squeaked slightly and clung closer to me.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s conscientious, so don’t go looking or touching things without me to be there.” I paused. “I’m vulnerable to demonic traps, so I’m relying on you to save me if I accidentally fall into one.”

Twilight nodded avidly. “Thanks, Morpheus. Erm, what kind of demonic traps are there?”

“Many.”

With that short answer, I made my way forward, pulling a frightened magus apprentice along with me.

“We need to get out of here.”

Twilight, for probably the first time in her life, didn’t argue leaving a library early.

—————————

We wandered the library for quite some time. To give you the scale of it, imagine a bookshelf laden with books. It’s about four times your height and the shelves are made of oak wood. Good. Now the books are packed right in there, there’s no need for book retainers or stops to prevent the books at the ends from falling over because there are simply that many books. Occasionally, you might see box-like shelves housing rare objects, probably magical in nature. I didn’t know what their purposes were, but anything placed here, from what I could tell, seemed to be at the very least valuable and potentially dangerous.

Twilight tried her best not to look at the shelves, but she was a curious foal.

“Oh, this is ‘Seven Uses for Seven Mandrakes’, by Artful Temerity!”

“Oh! This is ‘The Very Excellent Guide to Mastering Magic’, by Selby Shimmer!”

“Oh my gosh! This is ‘The Seminal Text on Thermal Thaumatics… Volume Three!”

“Oh, and this is a pretty gold chain!”

“Twilight!”

“Oh, sorry!”

I rolled my eyes, leading the easily-distracted magus through the portion of the library. Despite the monotonous layout, I was keeping track of the turns and shelves we’ve passed. At the very least we could make our way back to the front. I was moving towards the opposite end of this seemingly limitless room. Logically, I thought that the end would appear at the back, but we’ve been walking for a while now and there was no end in sight.

“Morpheus, there are so many books to read here! Do… do you think I could finish them?”

“Of course you could, Twilight… maybe.”

“Ooooh, what’s this?”

I whipped around quickly, afraid that she had found another knick knack to get trapped within, however, Twilight was gripping a strange book instead.

Twilight peered at the gold inset title. “It says: ‘The Encyclopaedia’… there’s no author.”

I gingerly took the book from her hooves, and though Twilight didn’t resist, she looked disappointed.

“Hey, why are you taking it away?”

“Remember the rules? I touch it first.”

“Hey! There’s no rule for that!”

“There is now,” I shot back, opening the book cover. From what I could tell, there was no compulsion, no spell, no latent aura that related to sinister magic. It was just a book. A blank book to boot. “There’s nothing inside.”

Twilight perked her ears. “Maybe I can write inside of it?” She paused. “I better not… this could be somepony’s book.” She gazed at the book with care. “But it’s so beautifully bound and look at the quality of the parchment… oh, and the thickness of the parchment! This is high quality—”

“You got lucky,” I muttered, interrupting her spiel as I tossed the book back. I was a little irritated with how blasé she was being with the dangers lurking within the library. She’s the kind of pony that would walk straight into a forest out of curiosity and get frozen into a statue by some kind of petrifying monster.

Yeah. I can totally see that happening.

Twilight scuffed her hoof on the floor. “Sorry, Morpheus, it’s just so tempting with all these books around.”

I shrugged with a sigh. “Never mind, what’s the book about?”

Twilight cocked her head. “It’s empty, though, didn’t you see?”

“Some books being empty to a demon are not so for a magus. Some books have active protection against demons, making it so that we forget the words as soon as we read them, or that we’re optically blocked from detecting the writing. Either way, a blank book either means it’s actually blank, or more likely, protected from being read by the author.”

Twilight peered at the book. “Then how am I supposed to read it?”

I threw up my claws. “Heck if I know! This is a problem about magic, right?”

Twilight squinted at the book, hunching her shoulders. “Right, erm, magic, that’s my job.” She gave a forced laugh.

“Stop worrying so much, I wouldn’t put so much faith in you if I didn’t believe you could do it. Just keep it for now and when we get out of here, we can take a look at it later.”

“Right. Yep.”

I smiled at the beginner magus. “Have a little more confidence in yourself, haven’t I told you this before?”

Twilight couldn’t help smiling back at that. “You’re right, Morpheus. Thanks.”

————————

We continued for a while until the shelves abruptly ended.

Twilight looked back and then forward.

“How… did we get here?”

I mentally consulted my map and then came up with a blank.

“Erm… I was keeping track of the shelves and I thought we were up to around seven hundred, but then… nothing.”

Twilight looked around. “I don’t feel anything here.”

“There isn’t any magic that I can sense either.” I sighed. “This is probably another defensive spell.”

“Umm, Morpheus, what’s that?”

Ahead, there was a double door and a curious marble pedestal that featured in front of it. There were small engravings relief carved on the surface, barely noticeable to the naked eye. On top of the pedestal there were two wooden statues. The one on the left was a pony with wings, that looked suspiciously like Twilight, right down to the straight-cut hairdo. The one on the left was a classic depiction of a demon, very much like my form when I first appeared to Twilight, except for some reason I was posing with a sickly-sweet smile on my face.

“What does this mean?” Twilight whispered.

“It’s almost as if this place was actually expecting us.” I squinted at the small engraving around the edge. “Can you read the writing on the pedestal?”

Twilight leaned in and squinted at the writing. “Mm, yes, actually.”

“Is it a language you recognise?”

“It’s in Equestrian.”

“Oh.” I scratched the back of my head. I could have read it, then. “What does it say?”

“Erm… Return ticket passes for Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn of friendship—”

“Ha! That’s funny, because you don’t have any friends—”

Twilight shot me a look as I shrugged with a teasing grin. “Okay, didn’t have any friends before, but you know what I mean.”

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows as she continued. “—and Morpheus the demon of self-restraint and non-violence.” Twilight giggled a little as I sulked.

I might have lost my touch recently, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still capable of violence and mayhem!

“Stupid smart-aleck pedestal—” I snatched up my statue and threw Twilight hers as she hastily caught it within her hooves, almost dropping the thing.

“M-Morpheus, careful!”

“You gotta work on your reflexes, Twilight, or you’re going to have a very difficult time as a magus.”

“I-I wasn’t ready.”

“Mmmhmm, that’s what they all say. So, how do we use these things?”

“The pedestal has some instructions. To use the return passes, simply chant: Books, books, books away…! Morpheus, is this thing serious?”

I wiped a tired claw across my face. “I have no idea, Twilight, but it seems like your princess has a pretty weird sense of humour.”

“Princess Celestia would never make something like this! She’s cool and calm and very, very serious.” Twilight sniffed. “She’s a great teacher!”

I sighed. “Just keep reading.”

“It also says: To come back, just think of the library floor you want to be on. Also, don’t touch anything, Morpheus.”

“What the—” I sputtered. “I didn’t touch anything and why is that message addressed to me?” I glared at Twilight. “Are you sure that message isn’t for you ‘Miss I Touched the Crystal Enmity’?”

“Erm, there’s a little more here…” Twilight’s voice quavered as she said it.

Feeling a keen sense of foreboding, I gestured for her to continue as Twilight shot me a plaintive look. Stop it. I’m not the one writing it.

“I knew you two would sneak into the library, but if you weren’t trapped in the Between and you made it this far, then there’s no stopping you. Just don’t go into the double doors beyond.”

Twilight read my expression.

“We’re not—” she started.

“We’re totally going through the double doors,” I finished for her.

—————————

As we entered the double doors, I stiffened. Twilight, slightly sulking and trailing behind.

“Morpheus, I don’t think we should be in here.”

“Hey, didn’t you say the library was the only way we’d find books that could get me out of here? Come on, lets go.”

“We’ve already found a book.”

Ignoring her, I walked forward confidently, the two doors behind us ponderously closing behind us. Its subtle grating click was enough of a trigger to have Twilight jump slightly and look back.

“Morpheus…”

“Don’t move a muscle,” I replied shortly.

Twilight froze, a half hoof step off the ground.

I pointed—very slowly—to the end of the hallway. “There’s a demon, right there.”

A grotesque statue depicting a chimera of a snake’s tail, a wildebeest’s haunches and a lion’s head was poised at the end of the hall.

“It’s petrified, so if we’re not in its range, we can—”

Twilight’s eyes shot to the gargoyle’s own. When she blinked, the gargoyle was suddenly closer. Twilight let out a strangled scream. “Did that statue just move?!”

I shook my head and readied myself instead of focusing on escaping. “Yes, but it’s just messing with you. The jig’s up, it saw us.”

“Ah, and I was planning to have some more fun, old friend.” Unfrozen, the gargoyle rapidly changed from grey-marble to the lively colours of ochre-red and rusty-brown. Yellow-slitted eyes blinked at us in amusement. A feminine voice chimed merrily at them. “What say you to some form of carnage, then? We could burn down the town.” She flexed a claw and drooled from the corner of her mouth, whilst staring at me disconcertingly.

Twilight blinked at the odd mix of warm, friendly tones married to the viciously underscored content of the chimeric gargoyle’s speech.

“I’d rather avoid it.”

“Hmm, I thought you might. How about a bout, then, friend? For old time’s sake.” The demon clicked it’s talons in a bird-like claw on the ground. “By the way, the name I was given is Alma.”

Well of course we weren’t going to blurt out our True Names in front of a magus.

“Alma?” I blinked at the demon then tilted my head. “The name I was given is Morpheus.”

Alma stretched languidly. “Then, shall we fight?”

“You know you can’t win against me, ‘friend’.”

“I suppose so, but then, no demon can win against you, can they?” Alma dissonant chortle filled the dead hallways. “Besides, I’m not bound to win, I’m bound to protect. Take no heed of my words earlier, I was simply bored. What are you doing in a peaceful world like this? I am almost mind-numbingly weary of being a statue. Do you know near a thousand years your soul starts to itch? I never noticed it before, but it’s there. It itches. Oooh, I think I’m losing my sanity here, I won’t be able to be lucid for more than ten minutes, you’ll have to decide quickly!”

As she rambled on, I stared back at the demon whilst licking my lips nervously. “Are you… you’re not kidding, right? You haven’t been back to the Other in a thousand years?”

“More or less.” Alma grinned savagely at us. “I’ve been here. Here. Existing. But not dying. Not living. Just… here.”

I took a half-step forward. “I—”

Instantly, I deflected a killing strike aimed directly at my throat. I hastily took a step back. Alma didn’t pursue us, and instead studied the slight chips notched in her talons, looking somewhat annoyed and impressed at the same time. “In any case, I cannot permit you to pass this point. Take one step, and you know the consequences. Be prepared, Morpheus.”

I met her gaze with a placid countenance. “You remember the cost, right?”

A shadow of guilt drifted through her eyes. “I… I would never ask another demon, you know that, Morpheus?” Then the madness returned. “Kill me. Please kill me. Or, I will kill you! Who knows? All I know is pain!”

Only her orders prevented her from launching herself straight at me. Being a living statue for so long must have steadily corroded her ability to reason. Whichever magus stationed her must have been giving her constant pain as well. My claws tightened as I readied myself to do the deed.

I glanced at Twilight. That was a mistake.

Twilight tugged at me. “No.”

I rounded on her. “Surely you can make an exception for this circumstance?”

“No.”

“Oh, come on! There is literally a demon in front of us that wants to fight. She wants to die!”

“Morpheus, that’s a horrible thing to do! The first lesson in magic is to—”

Thud.

Alma stopped our back and forth by stomping on the ground with enough force to crack the tiles underneath. “I hate being ignored. Morpheus, this—” she gestured disdainfully in Twilight’s direction “—is your mistress? For you of all demons?”

I gave Alma a warning glance, but it was not appreciated.

“Morpheus,” she continued, “you cannot be serious. There is a certain standard that even you should have.” She giggled. “Hey, I have an idea! I could kill her too, accidentally, of course!” She gave me a slow wink.

“Alma—” Twilight began.

“DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME!” Alma screamed at her. She flexed her talons. Taking a deep breath, whilst eyeing me, evidently trying to maintain a semblance of sanity around me. She casually dismissed Twilight with a contemptuous glare. “I wish I could just rend you on the spot, but, sadly, my orders are preventing me.” She turned back to me. “Sorry, Morpheus, you know I can’t keep my composure around magi.”

Frightened stiff, Twilight clung to me as I patted her on the back. Alma saw the gesture and frowned in confusion, then she seemed to dismiss it.

“Alma,” I said slowly, “you can’t yell at my mistress.”

“Oh right, because you’re under mental protection orders, I get it, I get it.” Alma’s eyes cleared up as she rolled them at Twilight. “We can stand here all night, or you can get us to fight. I have five minutes of my sanity left.”

Twilight’s voice broke through the silence, determined. “No.”

Alma flicked her talons at Twilight. “Don’t worry about Morpheus, he’ll kill me for sure.”

“What?”

Alma stared at Twilight. “You heard me. Morpheus is practically a legend among us demons.”

“Alma.” I glared at her. “Stop it.”

Alma glared at Twilight, but didn’t continue. “You’re a pathetic magus, you know that, don’t you?” She made a rude gesture with her talons. “Come on, magus, order your demon to kill me. Otherwise you’re nothing but a—”

“Shut up, Alma,” I told her, “you can’t provoke her like that while I’m here.”

Alma shrugged. “Or what? You’ll kill me? I’m going mad not returning to the Other, Morpheus. Do you know how it feels? Can you comprehend the sheer magnitude of boredom my soul was steeped in? Can you imagine the pain and suffering simple monotony does to you? I want to do something, anything! I want to kill, kill, kill!” Alma shook her head doggedly. “Morpheus, please, do it.” Her eyes clouded. “Two minutes! I can feel your blood pumping and pulsing just outside my reach, just one step, just one step, just one step, just one—”

I brought Twilight back, pushing back against her hooves rooted to the spot in fright. She was like a statue, staring straight at Alma with wide eyes. This must be the first time she’s ever experienced such insanity.

“It’s okay, Twilight.” I spoke quietly to the frightened unicorn. “Just let me fight her, when I’m done, she’ll be liberated back to the Other… I have that power.”

“What are you going to do to her, Morpheus?” Twilight whispered.

I couldn’t lie to her.

“I have to… end her.”

Twilight’s gaze finally broke away from Alma and settled on me. “Morpheus, I don’t want to see you hurt. I don’t want to see anypony hurt.”

“She won’t feel much pain.”

“But will you?”

This was one question I didn’t want to answer. I went with a half-truth. “I will feel a measure of pain.”

Twilight wasn’t impressed with that answer. “How much is a measure?”

I kept silent, ignoring the twisting in my stomach. The pain sharply increased as I willingly disobeyed Twilight’s order. Twilight immediately noticed my discomfort and hurriedly moved on.

“Okay Morpheus, you don’t have to answer that. But don’t do this, we will find another way to help her.”

Unbidden, I said the first thing that came to mind. “Why? She’s just another demon from another owner, she’s not even your mistake. There’s no need to go that far for her.”

“I want to help her. I want to help you.”

“Do you really? Are you willing to put so much on the line to do this for something you barely know?”

“Yes, I have to do this.”

“Actually, you don’t. You don’t have to be an altruist, you don’t have to be good, there’s no one here to tell you this is right or wrong. There’s no need to be a heroine. This is simply a way for me to give her a reprieve. This is my selfish desire, it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Twilight reared her head back in shock, but then sadly shook her head. “It’s not about that, Morpheus. It is about me.”

“What?”

“I remember being alone and feeling alone. I know how it feels. I want her to be free, too.”

“Then set me on her.”

“No. I don’t want her to go that way.”

“She’ll barely feel any pain, I’ll make sure of it.”

“That’s not the point! Morpheus, won’t you feel pain?”

“That’s immaterial.”

“It’s not!” Twilight snapped. “Besides, even if you send her back, can’t she be summoned again?”

“Yes, but—”

“There has to be another way.”

I set my jaw. “There isn’t, there won’t be, and there never will be! You’re just too stubborn to see it in your idealistic world! Not everything turns out fine, not everything is going to be for the best, we will never be more than tools! And when I send her back, she’s going to be summoned again later, I know that!”

Silence stretched between us.

“I know that…” I continued softly. “But that small bit of relief is all she has now until the next time she’s enslaved once again. Let me give her that, Twilight. Let me give her peace.”

Twilight shivered under my gaze, her lip bitten until it was bleeding as she steeled herself under what I did. Tears had gathered under her eyes but she held them back with visible effort. Faintly, I felt the twinge of discomfort as I recognised I disobeyed my mistress’ orders. I held on. This was too important to back down from, but under her fiery gaze, I could do nothing but feel my will slowly erode away.

Why?

I was doing this all for my fellow demon. This was something good. This was something that only demons could understand. Why did I feel so bad for doing this?

“Morpheus, every time you do this, I think you lose a part of yourself. That pain… it’s not any kind of pain, is it?”

I stayed silent, but it spoke for itself.

“Morpheus, I will find a way, I promise you. You might not think much of a mortal’s promise, but I’m serious.” She leaned in and whispered something into my ear. Instinctively, my eyes shot to hers as she stared back with such utter determination, I could do nothing but just stare dumbly back for a few seconds.

“You…” I groped around for the words to push past my strangled throat. “Y-you just gave me your True Name.”

Twilight nodded solemnly.

“Why…?” I struggled with the words as I stared at the diminutive pony in front of me. A weak, pathetic mortal that barely came up to the knees of my own mortal container. A purple, naïve, bookworm without any friends except a demon she summoned herself. “Why go so far for me?”

“Because you’re my friend, Morpheus.” Resolve hardened her eyes. “If you doubt that and if this doesn’t work… you can kill me too.”

What could I say to that? I underestimated this foal, I underestimated everything about her.

“Twilight,” I whispered to her, “I will believe you.” Deliberately turning my back, I picked her up and started walking to the door. Against my better judgement, I glanced back.

Alma saw what we were doing and grew frantic. Her leg raised an inch off the ground as she made for us. Just in time, she retracted it. She glanced back and forth from the invisible line and our retreating forms.

“Wait, where are you going? Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me! Kill me! Kill me, please! Morpheus! MORPHEUS!”

I shut my ears to her wailing. I could barely move my clawed feet forward as I heard her screaming in pain. Alma had stepped past that line. Suddenly, I burst forward and slammed the door to the hall. Alma’s cries continued for a full minute before silence reigned in the Library.

All we could hear now were our own harsh breathing.

When I opened the door to peek, Alma had returned to being a statue, her expression frozen in twisted agony.

“I don’t know how often this Library is used, but if the summoner finds out that Alma has been discovered, then she will be put through much worse pain. Pain that could’ve been avoided had you just ordered me to end her.”

“You can still do it now, Morpheus.”

“What?”

“Remember, you’re free now. I’ve given you my True Name. You can disobey any orders I give you, even killing me. You can do it now, and free her. Then you can free yourself by killing me.” She shrugged with a hurt expression. “Or you could do it in reverse if you like.”

It took me a few seconds to absorb just what this foal was telling me. With a healthy dose of self-loathing, I hung my head in shame. “Sorry, I guess I was blaming you for my own choices.”

Twilight hung her head too. “I guess I was being kinda pushy, too. Sorry, Morpheus.”

Why was she apologising? At this ridiculous exchange, we shared a slight smile. Suddenly, I felt something I thought I would never feel towards any mortal, let alone a magus.

“You know something, Twilight?”

“Mmm?”

“I think we’re actually becoming friends.”

Twilight’s smile turned down a notch. “Weren’t we always friends?”

I shook my head. “Well, I guess we called each other that, but to be truthful I was doing it out of convenience for myself.” I hesitated. “There’s a reason for that, but—” I fell silent, shaking my head. She didn’t have to know about how a demon’s sentimentality fixed them to the mortal plane. I could get to it later. I realised, finally, that I cared about this magus. No, that’s not right. I cared about Twilight. Venomous tendrils of sentimentality dragged at me.

“But what?”

I smiled at her. “Never mind, it’s not a great reason anyway. Let me help you do some research.”

Twilight’s eyes widened slightly, before flooding with anticipation. She grinned maniacally. “Yes, research!”

I swallowed thickly at her look.

Maybe I had been a bit too hasty with making a friend.

———————————

Activating the passes, we successfully snuck out of the library and spent the rest of the night cooped up in the study, piled high with all sorts of books. Coming away from that, we were left in a sombre mood. Most of the findings were in the the restricted areas, but we made do with what we had. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any of the books from Level 6. I didn’t want to take the risk, unless we came in prepared.

For the time being, we used the archaic black-bound book given to Twilight by Celestia.

“What’s this symbol…?” Twilight muttered to herself. “It should be—” She rummaged around for another book. “Hah! I knew it. Okay, so then this links to that and it conjugates along this line…”

Once again, I marvelled at Twilight’s efforts, and wondered to myself what I’d do if it came to the conclusion that there was no solution. I… certainly wouldn’t kill Twilight, but I’d bear the guilt and the brunt of responsibility myself. This was not a burden Twilight should have to carry. She was young and her attitude, I had to admit, was what every demon coveted. She was the hope for our kind, a new type of magi that respected power, and did not abuse it.

Seeing her determined expression, as if carved in stone, I resolved to face the consequences of this decision, whatever it may be, on my own.

The next day came too fast, but Twilight didn’t stop. I had started learning a lot more about magic than I ever thought I would, however I was bogged down with the fundamentals. The difference between Twilight and I being like heaven and earth. Or more aptly, heaven and hell. Still, I kept at it. One thing I noticed, quite suspiciously, was that magic was very similar to our constructed essence. We had complexity for sure, but the structure and nature of the spell was similar to the core of us. Magic was what made us, us.

This gave me a possible, yet frightening, conclusion.

Are we spells?

Were we not living things?

I guess you could categorise us as fundamentally different between mortal and spiritual, but I never gave it thought that it could be that we were simply pure magical constructs with nothing that made us wholly unique.

If that’s true, then… is there no Other?

Are we, the sapient offspring of magic, really yearning for non-existence? Is existence itself a form of torture? Was this what Alma concluded after near a thousand years of rumination?

“Morpheus?”

“Hmm?” My eyes snapped to focus on a fuzzy purple thing. It was Twilight’s worried face. After utilising her True Name, I no longer felt compulsion and there was no threat of pain, and yet… and yet I still felt it. The pain of guilt.

“Morpheus, are you okay? You blanked out there for a second.”

“Nothing’s wrong, Twilight, I’m just… thinking about a few things.”

Twilight glanced between her work and I, trying to mentally weigh whether saving Alma or talking to me was greater in priority. I was honestly touched that she considered my feelings on the same level as another’s life. But then again, maybe we weren’t talking about life, here, right? We were just magic. I wondered if the other demons knew.

“Morpheus,” she spoke softly, “you can always talk to me about it.”

Even though I was under no orders to do so, I felt a compunction to answer. Was friendship stronger than a spell? Reluctantly, I gave into that sincere look. “I’ve been thinking about the way these summoning spells work. When a demon is summoned, it takes the energy around the formation and moulds it into a container for some construct to reside in.”

Twilight nodded. “That is the basic principle.”

“So this construct, I was thinking about… actually, don’t worry about it.”

Twilight glanced at me. “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to, but I’m always here to listen.”

I took a deep breath.

Stop being a coward.

“What if… what if that ‘construct’ isn’t something that’s pulled from the Other? What if this construct was simply made by a magus?”

Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but then paused and furrowed her brows. “That’s entirely possible.”

“So then we’re just mortal golems, then? We’re not alive?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“But you said—”

“I said that having a construct be made by a magus is entirely possible, but I think it’s unlikely. Furthermore, there’s a lot of evidence for the Other. After all, you and Alma were independently created, but you still had knowledge of each other. That can’t really be known by a magus a thousand years in advance, right?”

“They could have—”

“If you’re not alive, then I’m not alive, Morpheus.” Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground. “Mortals are just bags of chemicals, anyway, so if that’s your definition for what’s alive and not, then I guess I’m a mortal golem too.”

Surprisingly, Twilight made sense.

“Then… how do you deal with that?”

“How do you deal with anything?” Twilight replied with a lop-sided smile. “You just keep going until you find something that turns it around. For me, it was you.”

I… really didn’t know what to think about that.

I rubbed an arm uncomfortably. “If it makes a difference, I think so too.”

Twilight and I grinned at each other.

I coughed abruptly. “You know, I think I’m getting the hang of this friendship thing. It’s tougher than sneaking into the Library, but at least we’re getting a lot out of it.”

Twilight coughed. “So, if we’re friends now, for real, can you keep a secret?”

I narrowed my eyes at Twilight. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“You know how you said to leave everything back at the Library?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“I… kinda borrowed a book.”

I slammed a claw into my face and sighed.

Author's Note

A chapter in the doubly-do couplet? What madness!

Still the world's most inconsistent scheduler, but glad to know there are some authors with me watching the world burn, mwuhahaha.

Next Chapter: Fire. Fire everywhere. This is fine. THIS IS FINE.

As always, my flameproof readers, thanks for reading!