Devil Dust was pretty happy. For the first time, he was actually popular and had friends. He even got a nickname now, DD. Having friends was weird, even if he liked it, and what was really weird was getting Hearts and Hooves gifts from the fillies. He blushed a bit, making sure to keep them in a box in his room.

He had a party planned, but nothing big like a cute-ceañera. And yet, his mother had pulled out a lot of stops to make sure everyone was having a fun time. There was even a filly, Vanilla Sundae, who confessed that she liked him, and although others laughed, Devil hugged her close, thanking her for saying that. He didn’t deny anything, but that was because he didn’t know what romance truly was.

As the party came to an end, Devil sat with his mom eating dinner. “Hey mom? When’s dad coming back from work?”

“Soon, honey. He was called to the castle, and needs to handle something, but he’ll be back.”

Nodding, he quietly ate until he heard a knock at the door. He ran as quickly as he could, opening the door to see his dad still in his armor and with a tired smile on his face. “Hey kiddo…” Ashen said, hugging his son close as Devil hugged him back. That was when he noticed who was behind his dad: the tall, regal form of Princess Celestia. Star Dust was in awe, bowing before the princess.

“Y-Your Highness! I’m honored to have you in my home!! To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Chuckling, Celestia waved her hoof. “Do not worry, Star Dust. I am only here because…” She paused, looking at them for a bit as her smile faltered for a moment. Seeing Devil, she leaned down and looked at his cutie mark. “My, that’s quite the cutie mark…”

“Th-Thank you, Princess Celestia…” Devil said nervously. He was worried that he did something wrong. Was it the fire?

“You know, your father told me quite a lot about you. You like making weapons, yes?”

He nodded quietly, pointing to the staff nearby. “Th-That one is my favorite… B-But I do sometimes make swords and stuff too… I just make stuff with whatever I find. It’s fun.”

She quietly picked up the staff, inspecting it. She noticed traces of magic that were not of the unicorn or even alicorn kind. Her eyes turned to the colt, who grew more and more nervous as she was there. Her smile returned as she knelt low, looking him in the eyes. “Do not worry. I am not mad, and I am not here to hurt you. You’re safe…”

Hearing this relieved Devil, even if only for a little bit. Celestia took a seat and motioned the others to do the same. As the family all sat down, she slowly set an ornate chest on the table. “Mrs. Dust… Are you familiar with the concept of the Heavenly Bodies?”

Star blinked in confusion, thinking for a moment. “Well, I… I don’t think I am…”

Nodding, Celestia continued. “You see, long ago, the stars gave birth to many bodies, including our own. In order to ensure the balance of the world, 24 celestial bodies would search for 12 ponies to serve as vessels. Two of them would occupy one body, and at the end of the life cycle of the 12 vessels, there would be new ones with the order altered. There would never be the same one twice for a long time. As the death of the last leader occurred recently, we had been searching for the next batch of avatars… But it seemed as if dark tides swayed the influence of 11 of them.”

“W-What do you mean…?”

She sighed and looked down. “The years ahead, it seems, will contain malevolent forces from which corrupted the other 11 emblems as they were being created. Only this one remains… The one which belongs to your son.” She lifted the jade emblem and revealed it to them, showing it contained the same carvings as Devil’s cutie mark. Her mother gasped in shock, covering her mouth.

“W-Wait! My son can’t be some kind of… Avatar deity! He’s just a little colt!”

“M-Mom, I’m not a little foal!”

Celestia intervened. “Star, don’t you think it’s weird that a pegasus managed to perform any kind of magic at all, let alone magic that is not of this world?”

“W-Well… I-I don’t know!” She huffed, crossing her hooves. “I-I just think he’s too young to deal with any of this nonsense!”

“Oh, I agree. I was never planning on having him start an adventure. What I wish for him to do is receive his education and training in the castle and among the other fillies and colts in my academy.”

Devil immediately jolted up. “N-No!”

They all looked at him, and he shrank a bit and gulped. “I-I mean… I’m finally making friends at my school… I-I feel… Happy…”

Seeing the sadness in Devil’s eyes, Celestia slowly lifted his chin up and smiled at him. “My sweet rat child… I understand your worry. But rest assured, just because you will be away, it doesn't not mean that they will forget you. Paths of friendship always cross along the road.”

Devil looked down, sniffling. He didn’t really get it, but he would only nod. He wasn’t going to defy the ruler of Equestria when his mother was nearby. Celestia suddenly hugged him close. “I promise. You’ll make new friends along with your old friends…” All Devil could do was savor the moment, closing his eyes as he cried silently.

~~~

The next week of school was hard on Devil Dust, especially when everypony was treating him so nicely. They all were so impressed that he got to go to Celestia’s school and do cool stuff. Of course, none of them knew why. They were not allowed to say what they were planning to do. That still didn’t stop everyone from thinking that DD was the coolest colt, getting to go to the best school in Equestria. However, the one who was hit hardest was Vanilla, who was in tears. Not sure what to do, Devil hugged her tight.

“Hey… It’s not like I’m moving. You can come and visit sometimes if you want…” He smiled at her, rubbing the back of his head. Vanilla looked up, eyes shimmering with tears. “Y-You mean it…?”

“Yeah, of course! And when I’m done and everything, wherever Celestia has me go, I’m sure we’ll run into each other!”

He gave a cheeky laugh, showing his innocence and care. It was the kind of thing that made young Vanilla’s heart skip a beat before hugging him tightly. “A-Alright…” She turned away and began walking before she stopped and pointed to him. “D-Devil Dust! I promise that we’ll be together forever! Do you??”

Smiling, he nodded and crossed his heart, making Vanilla blush before turning away and walking off. With this done, Devil got his books and left that school for the last time, nervous but hopeful that his new school would be better.

~~~

Needless to say, the school was everything Devil’s young mind could comprehend, and yet nothing like it. He was surrounded by many other colts and fillies, all studying subjects that he couldn’t possibly understand. And yet, he tried his best. At the very least, his linguistic side was his strongest suit, and while he was lagging in some aspects, he made up for it by turning in amazing stories. Her teacher smiled wide. “My word Mr. Dust! Where did you learn to craft such amazing stories~?”

“Oh, just… In my head.” He chuckled nervously. It was true that everything he created was in his head, but some of it felt like somepony was guiding him on how the plots should go. He never understood that guiding spirit, but he was simply going to roll with it like he always had.

Unfortunately, not many of the students wanted to be friends with him. Even with his talents, they all saw him as some weird, uneducated pegasus who got in on a fluke. His moves didn’t impress, and he couldn’t use his fire under Celestia’s request.

However, while the classes themselves were a struggle, nothing could compare to his true training. As he approached the courtyard, he looked around, slightly nervous. He wasn’t sure who he was supposed to be looking for, or if this was the correct space. However, soon two guard ponies approached him. One an older dark blue pegasus with grizzled features and a yellow tail, and the other a white, younger but still adult unicorn with a longer, sapphire blue mane. The pegasus looked the young colt up and down as he paced around him. “Heheh… So, little Devil Dust… Haven’t seen you since you were just a tiny foal.”

DD blinked as he looked at the older pegasus. “W-Wait… You know me, mister…?”

“Name’s Blue Thunder. I was a part of your dad’s squad before they moved me to the castle to train new recruits. Speaking of…” He motioned to the unicorn. “This here is Shining Armor. I’m teaching him about training. He’s gonna be moving up, this one, heheh…”

Devil waved to Shining, who nodded and smiled at him. He then turned to Blue, who rolled his neck. “Before we can start your training, we need to see where you stand. Can you fight?”

“U-Ummm, well… Yeah, with my staff.”

“You fight with a staff? Hmmm, impressive. Not many can pull it off. Would you like to take it out?”

Nodding in excitement, he went to his bag and pulled out his staff. The trained soldiers couldn’t believe what they were seeing. What they expected was a wooden staff for swift combat. What they saw were five pieces of rebar that had been somehow fused and taped together and wrapped in the middle. It was clearly too big for him as he stumbled backward trying to get it out of his bag.

They wanted to chuckle, but they were quickly silenced as Devil performed a few moves with the skill of a Wing Chun adept. When finished, he sighed and looked down. “S-Sorry. I know I’m not that good. I-I just copied the moves in the movies…”

Blue smirked as he approached the colt, taking the staff and inspecting it. It was definitely a sturdy weight, not something that a normal colt could handle. Something was definitely up with him. He handed it back before stepping back. “Next, we’re gonna see your magic potential. Hit me with your strongest spell.”

“Uhhh, sir,” Shining Armor intervened. “He doesn’t have any magic.”

“Just give him a minute.

Gulping nervously, he nodded and tried to focus. He performed the same form that he had done when he first shot out fire. However, as he came to the conclusion, nothing came out of it. He stared, feeling his heart beat faster as he performed the move over and over. Blue sighed, shaking his head. “It’s alright, kid. There’s no reason to be ashamed-”

“No no no no no no…” He repeated over and over as he swung his staff continually. His breath quickened, sweat poured down his face, and his teeth started to grit. Blue dodged a misplaced swing and reached the colt. “Devil, that’s enough. Come on…”

“No no no NOOO!” Slamming his staff onto the ground, the ground suddenly cracked hard. Fire rushed up with chains arising with them. Seeing this, Shining quickly rushed to the two and shielded them as the chains slammed against the shield. When it couldn’t break through, it began to slam into the courtyard, grabbing things and pulling them in.

Blue could only see one solution to this. He moved the staff away, holding the colt. “Hey hey hey… That’s enough… You’re okay, kid. I’m sorry for pushing ya…” Slowly but surely, Devil calmed down. The ground closed up and the fiery chains vanished. With that done, Blue stood up and looked at Shining. “Listen, cadet, do you think you can keep an eye on him? I need to report inside.”

Shining saluted. “Yes, Commander.”

“Excellent.” With that, Blue Thunder left towards the castle.

Shining looked down at the miserable Devil Dust. He got down to his level and smiled at him. “Hey, don’t get so down. That was some amazing magic you did. I don’t know what it was, but I think that you’ve got talent. No other pegasus can use magic like you.”

Devil was undeterred in his misery, however. “But… But I didn’t do the move I was supposed to… Everyone’s going to be mad at me…”

Shining was definitely confused. “Who’s going to be mad? No one said what move you had to do, just some magic.”

It seemed like Devil was trying to understand what this meant beyond passing and failing. Before he could blurt out another reason for his failure, Shining stood up. “Tell you what. I’m going to take you out to get some ice cream. My treat.”

This seemed to snap Devil out of it, smiling as he stood up. “Really? You mean it, Mr. Armor??”

“Of course! I can introduce you to my sister if you want as well. I think you both would get along pretty great!”

Nodding, he quickly jumped up, following Shining as they left the courtyard.

After a quick stop at the academy in order to pick up a purple filly, the three stopped at an ice cream parlor. The filly went by the name Twilight, and it turned out she was Shining’s little sister. Devil did his best to be friendly but only earned an odd look from her. It wasn’t malicious, at least it didn’t seem to be. Nevertheless, he was enjoying his frozen treat. It felt like the fire in him was finally dying down. The ice cream was smothering the fear in a scoop of bliss.

~~~

Blue sighed as he sat with Princess Celestia, looking over the notes he took. “I gotta say, I didn’t expect this from Devil. First, he exhibits this… Weird magic, and then there were those chains. I know for a fact that I saw some of those chain markings glowing. I think the neck?”

Nodding, she inspected the scores that were put down. She completely ignored Blue’s comment. “I see… However, I did notice that you are missing the flying portion. When will I see the score?”

“Hm? Oh, you won’t. Truth is, Devil can’t fly. I don’t know why, but ever since he was a kid, his wings have stayed clamped shut. He looks like he’s got strong ones too. Just he’s too afraid to use ‘em. But seriously, what was with his magic? That wasn’t what you told me he would be.”

Celestia remained calm, looking through the notes. “Blue, while I understand your concern, if you knew of the truth of Devil, then I believe things would be very difficult for you.”

Blue’s eyes squinted. “What… What are you tryna get at, Princess?”

Sighing, she looked out the window. “Blue, before I can tell you the truth, I need you to make a promise to me. Never tell Devil what I am about to tell you, and do not treat him any differently than before. He is still the same colt you bonded with alongside Star and Ashen.”

After a moment of pause, Blue nodded. “Alright. I promise to keep everything secret and treat him the same way as before.” With a cross of his heart, the Princess nodded and began to tell a tale of a monster.

Author's Note

So two things:

One, didn't expect to get the next chapter done. Had way too much free time, which means I need to spend more time actually doing shit.

Second, Hell yeah! Majority dislikes! Let's keep it rolling people!