A Demon's Desire

I groaned as my clawed feet scraped across the lightly packed sand as I took my first step on dry land after over a month at sea. My body was drained, struggling to stay afloat in the ocean of weariness that several weeks of isolation had inflicted upon me. There were simply not enough creatures on a boat to torment to their breaking point keep me sustained that long and the last few days had been a torture far gone from usual enjoyment. Sure, if I had rationed my opportunites properly, I would not be in this sorry state, but you only have so much time to break everybody before some of them realize what was going on and try to do something.

Still, I had made it, feeding on the slim pickings of anguish that I could still siphon from the soulless sea dogs, and was now in a new realm of possibilities. The maps, and that wonderful crew, had been right and now I had so many new subjects to bend under my heel. "Although..." I stared at the bustling port city spread out before me and tilted my head. "Out of all the creatures I had imagined to encounter, tiny horses were not high on my list."

Would they even be enticed by my form enough to follow me to their doom? I certainly didn't want to spoil my chances at a long life here with them this early with a display force, but there was only so much I could to to make myself appealing to a creature I shared no similarities with, and I was no demon of lust-

"You're not a lust demon?"

"Of course not. I thought that was obvious." She scowled down at me as she rose back to sitting. "That's pretty rude, you know. I look nothing like a lust demon. I mean, look at the curves and ridges of my horns! See how beautifully they spiral back and towards my face? Only a demon of torment could have horns as beautiful as mine!"

I flushed again, shaking my head. "I'm sorry! I didn't know it was such a sensitive subject and I just assumed from the way you acted-"

And she laughed, hugging her chest and looking as if she was struggling not to roll on the hot stone. "Psh, as if I would be offended by something so petty. Besides, there are no visible distinguishers between us demons. No two demons of any tier share a matching set of horns. Honestly, I'd have been surprised if you could distinguish any demon from another. We do look quite similar, after all. Still, I'm hurt that you hadn't even thought to ask." For a moment, my face burned brighter at the shame of falling for her ruse, especially when she finally chuckled at my embarrassment. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes..."

I didn't quite have the time to, nor did I feel up to, ponder my situation for any longer, to just stand there, so I quickly made my decision. They may not have any attraction to my shape, but, if worse came to worst, abduction was always a possibility. I'd just have to tough out a few more hours of weakness if it came to that.

I smiled my first genuine smile in days as I dragged myself through the soft sand towards the port town. It was a brand new world filled with new creatures, all of them looking so innocent and delectable, and I was going to take full advantage of it.

It took only a few moments to make the short trek across the beach, avoiding the pier where my way of passage had docked as I was so I had time to hide my pale blue skin and horns with a shimmer of arcane energy, but by the time I had reached the little village the moon was beginning to dip towards the horizon and the ponies mulling about had slipped away towards the east. I had to admit that I was curious, if only to myself, as I found the sudden lack of bustle stranger than most things I had witnessed in my rather long life.

I had thought myself well-adapted to almost any situation in the world, and I certainly was, but that morning brought a surprise that I was far from ready for. As I made my way through the streets, my now pale feet, minus claws, padding softly on the cobbled stone, I soon found the commotion that the earlier morning had brought condensed into an area that seemed like the center of the town. The ponies packed together tightly to fit in a space much too small for the sheer amount of citizens in the town, all of them watching a small stage set up next to a rather plain fountain. I watched from my relative vantage, that being me having several orders of magnitude of height over the much smaller creatures, as another pony, or horse, I should say, made her way to the top of the stand.

Her large, white wings spread out from her back, her head standing tall with her horn facing west where the moon was finally beginning to disappear beneath the ocean. I was mesmerized by her majesty as her wings worked to lift her from the wood, picking her up into the air as the first glimmer of the sun spilled out from the distance. Higher and higher she rose, the sun following suit behind her, until she was hovering motionlessly in the air, her wings spread out behind her in a display of majesty, silhouetted by the light of the giant orange orb illuminating the world.

It was then that I realized the faint glow around her horn and the undisputable tug of immense magickal power flowing from her, seeming without direction. It was then when I realized where all that magic was flowing being directed. It was then that I came to a rather jarring realization as I pressed a hand to my chest. "O-oh... I think I'm in love..."

"You what!?" I stared at the massive demon in front of me, my mouth hanging wide. What else could I say or do? Celestia hadn't said anything even remotely close to those lines.

To my embarrassment, she just shrugged it off with a smirk and popped my jaw closed with a finger. "What? It's it really that strange for a demon to fall in love with a mare as beautiful as she?"

"N-no..., I mean... yes! Of course it's strange! What would you even find attractive about her? I know she's smart, and beautiful, and kind and..." She snickered and my face flushed once more as I clamped my mouth shut. "Still! You're not even a list demon, so why would you...?"

"Oh, that's an easy one." Another one of her smirks flashed across her face as she sat upright. "Power. You've been around her. You know just how much power she has. And to see her raise the sun just like the legends that were told across the ocean of the One That Bends the Stars? I was just flooded with anticipation and need." I flinched as she leaned in closer, but held my ground. "Surely you know what that feels like, and, for a demon that lives on the power she has over others, seeing it first hand was just sublime.

"Needless to say, but say it I shall, I wanted her."

I hardly remember the brief lapse of time between me standing at my place at the back of the crowd and the moment I had pushed through the ponies to stand at the foot of the stage. I'm sure there we plenty of hard stares, sour faces, and looks of shock, but all I was seeing was the mare that had just raised the sun, bending it to her will like it was a mere pawn, a toy. By the time I had crossed the sea of ponies, she had noticed me, her eyes widening for the briefest of seconds before she held that impenetrable impassiveness only a learned leader could maintain.

So enticing, so lovely, so powerful. I was more than a little eager to have her. "Why-"

"I must say that I've never quite seen a creature like you. What brings you to this quaint little town?"

I flinched, overwhelmed by the underlying force in her words, and shuddered as a jolt of electricity fired in my loins. "Well, I had grown rather bored of my previous home and figured I'd come and see this fabled Land to the East. I'd heard there was an immortal being that raised the sun and moon each day and I just couldn't resist coming to see for myself." I flashed my brightest smile, showing off the pearly whiteness of my teeth. It wasn't technically a lie. I had heard of her before and I was very interested in seeing the one that controlled the heavens, but I certainly hadn't come to this land for such a mundane, nigh unbelievable folk tale. "I certainly wasn't disappointed..." I arched my eyebrow as I bowed, lowering my head nearly perpendicular with my waist.

"Celestia. Princess Celestia. And you are?"

"What a beautiful name for a beautiful princess." I smiled widely, straightening back to my full seven feet to stare into her amethyst eyes. "You may call me Amai, from Comal."

"Amai? But that isn't your name, is it? I thought you were-"

"Shush, morsel. Did you think me so foolish as to give out my true name to such a magnificently overwhelming creature such as her?" She laughed at me as I pulled away from the finger she had pressed against my lips. "Of course I wouldn't give her my true name. She was my mortal enemy. Can you even imagine how much control one has over a creature of magic with something as simple as their name?"

I blinked, staring at her as she rolled her eyes. "Mortal enemy? But didn't you fall-?"

"Shush. I was smitten, not stupid. Just because my lust burned to have her doesn't mean that I was dumb enough to throw my ass at her on a golden platter." I grimaced as she bit her lip, her eyes rolling up, and her hands traced her body. "Don't think that I didn't do so later though. I don't even think somebody as prudish as you could have kept your hooves off me if you had seen me served up like I was on that dinner table..."

"Please, don't elaborate. I... I don't need that running through my head." This time, it was my hoof on her lips, and I instantly regretted it as her lips widened so her tongue could trace my frog. "Agh! Gross!"

"What? I thought that's what you wanted. Why else would you keep such a delicious thing so intimate with my mouth?" I shuddered, wiping my hoof off on my coat, and glared. "Fine, fine. No fun."

She pouted, but I kept up my glare until, eventually, she shrugged. "So, what happened next?"

"Well, she took me back to her room, of course." She beamed widely at my scowl, nearly breaking out into laughter again.

It only took a few minutes for us to reach the inn that she was staying at for the day's festivities, the Summer Sun Celebration she had called it, and even less time for me to be staring blankly at the wall as a small troop of armored ponies to point their spears at me. I can't say that I was surprised, though. "Wow, this has to be the warmest reception I've received since my birth! Why all the formalities, Princess?"

"As the princess of Equestria, I have to be keenly aware of the goings-on around me and take careful note of oddities amongst my ponies." She paced around me, leaning in close to stare into my eyes. "And I must say that I see nothing but deceit in you. I cannot tell why you seem off, but I know that there is something strange about you. Why did you really come here, Amai?"

"Aww, Princess, you'll make a demon blush if you keep praising me like that. And to think that I'm not even a being of deceit! I might just cry..." I mocked a sniffle, wiping at my eye to brush away an invisible tear, and earned a sharp jab from one of the soldiers encircling me. "Ouch... Do that again and you'll be my first, little morsel." I could feel him shudder through the spear in his hooves and would have laughed if not for the very serious glare I received from a very powerful princess.

"You shall not harm a single one of my ponies." This time it was my turn to shudder, an act that likely would have been seen as out of fear had it not been for the look of absolute bliss I just knew was plastered on my face. "What are you-?"

"Wow, you are one spectacular creature, Princess. I don't think I've ever wanted anything as much as I want you now." I grinned, hugging my body, leaned towards her. "Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be at the complete mercy of something more powerful than you?" My hand slipped past the spears, brushing them aside with ease and snapping the flimsy wooden shafts like they were twigs. "Because I have, and I've never had the chance to experience something so wonderful until now." I stretched my hand out towards her face, my smile growing ever wider as she just watched with her impassive stare. "Perhaps you'd like to indulge me in my desi-aaAAUGH!?"

My scream as I wrenched my blistering hand away from the princess shattered the glass lamps sitting on the tables around us, making all but Celestia herself cringe away and try to cover their ears. I stared incredulously at my blackened, bubbling skin where, seconds ago, there had been nothing but pale blue flesh and fire. I wailed in agony, clenching my arm tight enough to kill the circulation to anything past my wrist, until the cries of pain choked away into maniacal laughter, replacing the looks of shock on the ponies' faces with a hint of fear. "HAHAHA! Oh, Princess, you are wonderful! To think that I could feel a fire so painfully pure!"

I squealed as the mare remained unmoving, unblinking, and I reached for her again, touching my glamourless hands to her face and grinning as the fires that had ignited me before swallowed my arms up to my elbows. "I really am in love! It burns so wonderfully! Look, Princess! Look at how you torture me so! And you do it with such lack of concern for my health! You're perfect!" I tilted my head back and laughed, keeping my hands planted firmly on her cheeks as her soldiers watched on, too shaken to even try to pry me off of her, even as my skin began to melt from the muscle. "Be mine, Celestia! Be mine and I shall be yours forever!"