Demon Bonds

You may roll for success, then.

It seems the guard was a more experienced fighter than his evil buddy. Graysword had trouble deflecting the sword, but the protective barrier prevented him from getting hurt. Due to his positional awareness, the guard kept Graysword between him and a clear line of sight for Greenwood.

<...>

Right. So... if Princess Forbidden Pleasure is done shooting death lasers from her eyes, can we continue?

Uh-huh. You tell yourself that. Anyway, let's get on with the show. Shining, you must roll at least a ten to come out on top.

Shining rolled his dice while Eight Bit glanced at me from the side. "You made him really nervous there, huh?"

I frowned as the pegasus smiled awkwardly while Twilight gave me an uncertain look. "What's it to you?"

"Nothing, nothing! I was just wondering..." he said, giving me some space. "You've been giving him these weird looks all evening and even over the week at school. Are you... jealous?"

"What?!" I asked in a harsh whisper, momentarily drawing the attention of the other guys. They continued with the game unhindered, thankfully. "Why would you think I would be jealous?!"

"Well... Cadance seems popular," Eight Bit explained cautiously. "I know I would be jealous if the pony I liked was into my friend rather than into me."

I stared at Eight Bit for a moment. He couldn't possibly... "I'm not into Shining Armor!" I denied it, hoping the unicorn stallion wouldn't overhear us.

Eight Bit seemed to sag with relief, smiling awkwardly. "You're not?"

"No!" I exclaimed, interrupting Gaffer in his narration again. We probably should be paying more attention to the game, but I had to snuff out this drama before it could get anywhere. I was not jealous, damnit. Who said I was jealous?!

"So..."

I sneered. "I'm not into you, either."

Eight Bit wilted. "O-oh..."

"Who do you like, then?" Twilight asked me innocently.

"No one! You're being ridiculous!"

"So... if you won't marry him, Shining has to marry Cadance."

"He won't marry Cadance, either!" I growled.

"But... how will you become my sister if you won't marry my brother?"

My eyelid twitched. "Twilight—" I muttered, only to be interrupted by the pinto unicorn stallion.

"Ahem!" Gaffer cleared his throat, giving us the stink eye.

"Sorry," I muttered, feeling my ears and cheeks burn with embarrassment. Gaffer rolled his eyes, but before we could get back into the game, the front door of Shining Armor's house opened with noisy sounds of hooves on the floor following soon after.

"Shining! Twilight! We're back!" a mare's voice called out that I assumed belonged to Twilight's mother. "Mrs. Towel? I hope we didn't..."

The noise got quieter as she presumably went upstairs to check on her daughter. Twilight gave me a panicked look while Shining's ears wilted. It didn't take long until the door to the basement opened, and a middle-aged mare came down to check on the whereabouts of her children.

"Shining, did Mrs. Towel forget to come by again? I didn't see her upstairs with—O-oh! You have a new... friend..." the light gray mare with the moderate purple and white mane said, noticing me sitting there next to her daughter and Shining's friends. "Oh, my! I'm so sorry; I hope Twilight behaved herself while you were playing with the colts! I—"

"It's okay," I said, making her relax visibly. "Though I recommend you find yourself a different foalsitter. Your... previous one expressed some concerning views regarding my pony tribe."

Shining's mother took my wings and fangs in for the first time in addition to my horn, and her light blue eyes widened comically. Not a moment later, she was prostrating herself on the ground before me. “P-P-Princess!”

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "You may rise," I told her, not at all happy about how she felt the need to kiss the floor in front of me, and more importantly, her children. I was a guest in her house, not the other way around.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you at first! I assumed Shining and his friends made friends with a filly from school, not... not a princess! I'm so sorry!"

I rubbed my temples with a hoof tiredly. "It's okay, really. Just... stop treating me like that, for f—friendship's sake," I grumbled, catching myself before I swore in Twilight's presence. I was uncertain whether or not it was worth it, seeing the weird looks I was receiving from around the table. I wasn't exactly known to mince my words around the guys, but Twilight was another matter entirely. I glared at them. "What?!"

"N-nothing!" Eight Bit squeaked, quickly looking away. I rolled my eyes. Whatever.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but... you said something about Mrs. Towel being a tribalist? I had no idea," Twilight's mother said, ears wilting. "I'm heartbroken to hear she was so rude to you. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, please don't hesitate to mention it."

Before I could reply, Twilight was already in front of her mother. "It's okay, Mom! The Princess sent her away, and we had lots of fun without her!"

I snorted, smirking with evil glee. "Right. I'm happy you liked hanging out with us, Twi. Miss Wet Poodle was a nasty, boring pony, anyway."

Twilight giggled while her mother smiled awkwardly, uncertain. "Can I keep playing with her and Shiny, Mom? I promise I won't eat any junk food... anymore."

"I don't know," she said, giving me a hesitant look. "If it isn't too much of a bother for you, Your Highness?"

I shrugged, grinning down at the kid. "I don't have any problems with that. I'd totally be lost without her help, right guys?"

"Yeah!"

"Sure."

"Twilight can stay. The more, the merrier, right?"

We all looked at Shining Armor next. "Hm? Oh! Yeah, Twily stuck to her side the whole evening, Mom. She also said something about a new foalsitter?"

"Oh, yes! Mom, Pleasure said that—"

"I'd be happy to keep an eye on her whenever I have the time, and you need a foalsitter," I said, interrupting the little filly before she could mention Cadance's name. Said filly gave me a stunned look that quickly turned to awe while Shining Armor frowned. Eight Bit gave me a weird look again, but I ignored him.

There was no way in Hell I would give Shining Armor a chance to talk to Cadance alone with his earlier comment. I knew perfectly well what he was up to; he couldn't fool me. I've got my eyes on you, you fucking horndog.

"I-I couldn't ask you to—"

"Please, Mom?"

"Twilight, honey, I'm not sure we could afford—"

"I won't charge any bits," I interrupted her, and this time, it was her turn to give me a shocked, awed look.

"But..." she started, fidgeting in uncertainty. "Won't you have more important things to do? You're a princess! We can't possibly ask you to come foalsit Twilight when you must be so incredibly busy!"

"I don't have any 'important' duties just yet. I'm more or less free to do whatever I want on the weekends after my exercises. I'm sure my aunt will occasionally make exceptions during the weekdays if necessary. I'm free on Fridays after school, so I might as well watch her while we play."

It looked like the light gray mare was fighting with herself over whether or not she wanted to accept my offer. It didn't take long for her to falter as Twilight turned to her with the full might of the puppy dog eyes. Oh, the little brat was the manipulative kind, wasn't she? Heh. I approved wholeheartedly. "Oh, alright. But only if you stay for dinner! I won't let it be known to anypony that I'm an ungrateful host."

"Yay!" Twilight cheered, and I chuckled as she did a silly dance, jumping around like the energetic little filly that she was.

"Speaking of dinner, your father and I brought pizza with us. There's enough for everypony to have some. Do you want to eat down here with your friends or come upstairs, Shining?"

"I—" Shining Armor began, but he didn't get far as I had already moved away from the table, intent on going upstairs.

"We will eat with you," I said. "Isn't that right, Twilight?"

"Yes! Can I sit next to you? Please?"

I smirked. "Sure," I said, rubbing her head. I looked back at Shining Armor, daring him to say something different.

The white unicorn colt seemed to imitate a fish momentarily before he reluctantly got up. "I guess we will eat in the dining room?"

His friends all shrugged and followed us up the stairs. I could tell he would rather eat in the basement and keep playing Ogres and Oubliettes, but peer pressure won out in the end.

We met Twilight's father in the kitchen as he was putting away the groceries. He had a blue coat and a midnight blue mane and tail. On his forehead was a unicorn horn, and his golden-yellow eyes turned our way as we came out of the man cave downstairs. He did a double take as he saw me, and I had to tell him to get up from inspecting the ground up close, but otherwise, he seemed like a pretty chill guy.

I learned that his name was Night Light, while Twilight's mother had a name identical to that of her daughter. Her name was Twilight Velvet, and she was an editor for a famous book author, while Night Light worked as a bookbinder despite what his cutie mark might have suggested. I supposed the two must have met due to work.

The dining table had more than enough room for all of us and then some. I was pretty sure Aunty Sunbutt could have easily sat at the head of the table without taking up half of the room with her ginormous swan wings. Seriously, I had no idea why she kept them open for more than half the day. Maybe she was part swan for real and had to take up as much space as possible to look more important.

Obviously, the pizzas were without meat—no surprises there—but for some reason, Twilight's parents thought ananas was a good topping to choose from. I stayed away from the travesty that was ananas on pizza and went for a couple of slices of spinach pizza. Twilight sat down next to me and grabbed herself a slice of the mozzarella pizza while Shining took a slice from the unholy abomination and a slice from the mozzarella pizza. The others divided the chili cheese pizza among themselves, and Shining's parents took some slices of the spinach and mozzarella pizzas.

Tch. I knew Shining could not be trusted. No normal pony puts ananas on their pizza. Good luck finding a girlfriend like that. You will stay a virgin forever at this rate.

We made some small talk over dinner while everyone enjoyed their frankly divine pizza slices. Those were some high-quality pizzas, hot damn. I would have to take Cadance to the pizzeria where they got them; they were crazy good. They used fresh ingredients for everything on top of making their own cheese and tomato sauce (shocker, I know). Better yet, Night Light told me they had a stone oven that was older than Princess Auntia (allegedly). All the famous ponies went there to eat Italian food, whether or not they lived in Canterlot.

Without connections, you would have to wait hours in line, and getting a reservation for a table there was nigh impossible for the next year and a half. It was a family-run business, and the time they were open was limited to a few short hours each evening, which made me question how Twilight's parents got them without coming home empty-handed. Or empty-hoofed, I supposed. Stupid ponyisms.

Night Light gave me a curious look as I forwent using my horn magic to eat while Twilight Velvet looked on in concern. I slowly stopped chewing as things got increasingly awkward. "What..?"

"Dear, is something wrong with your magic?" Twilight Velvet asked me, and I blinked. I gave the straight horn, barely in the field of my vision, a glance before noticing that even Twilight was eating her pizza with the pieces floating in her magic aura.

"No?" I answered, feeling kind of uncomfortable for being called out on eating like a savage. Or what Sunset called eating like a savage, anyway. Fuck that bitch.

"Forbidden told me she can't use her horn very well yet," Twilight mentioned, like the little brat she was. I gave her the stink eye for snitching on me. She smiled innocently back at me. Hmph. She was good. I could already tell she would grow up with a scary poker face. She was a little troublemaker, wasn't she?

"Oh," Twilight Velvet hummed, surprised. "I can't imagine what it must be like to be unable to use your magic."

"Eh, I haven't had my horn for very long yet," I said, shrugging with my wings. It was the truth, depending on how you defined having a horn. I certainly never had a unicorn horn before. And the curly ram horns of my demon form couldn't channel magic, so there was that.

"How fascinating," Night Light mentioned. "Did it just appear one day? I imagine you must have only had your wings before, right?"

I rubbed my neck with a hoof. "You could say that," I said, unsure how much I could say about ascension. "Cadance and I got them at the same time. Aunty Celestia has been teaching us whenever she has the time. We also have tutors to get us up to speed."

"Did your village not have a school?"

"Uh..." I hesitated. I know I saw one, but the last year wasn't exactly very kind to it. "The school didn't teach any magic. Or much at all aside from math and... Equish."

"What?!" Twilight gasped, horrified. "Only math and Equish?!"

I shrugged, retelling what Cadance told me about it. "Our village was pretty remote, and we were the only... ponies... with wings there. It was an earthpony village before we were found in the woods by ourselves as little foals," I explained, lying in regard to my happenstance of 'living' there. To a certain degree of the word living, anyway.

"So you are sisters!" Twilight exclaimed, and I facehoofed.

"No, we're not," I grumbled. "We weren't even adopted by the same pair of ponies." If one were to count enslavement as 'adoption,' then sure, I was adopted by the worst kind of pony there was.

"Oh," she deflated, pouting. I snickered, nudging her with a wing. What a silly little pony.

Twilight Velvet hummed, giving me a curious look in response to my (more or less fabricated) story. If I included 'summoned' in the meaning of found, it wasn't even too far off the truth. "What did your parents think about you becoming alicorns and moving to Canterlot?"

"I..." I said, biting my lip. For unknown reasons, I felt my ears wilt at the mention of parents and the lack of any alive, both for Cadance and me.

Twilight Velvet seemed to have realized she had touched an unpleasant topic. "Oh. I'm so sorry, dear. I didn't mean to," she whispered, guilty.

I gave her a nod, trying to smile, only to find a frown on my muzzle instead. A tear rolled down the side of my face, and I wiped it away, mildly confused. Heck, I never knew my parents as a human, either. Why was I the one crying now? "It's okay," I muttered, and the table descended into uncomfortable silence. What a weird feeling, sorrow. When was the last time I felt remotely sad? It usually was seething anger and burning hatred whenever I looked back at my past.

"How did you and Cadance become friends if you aren't sisters?" Twilight suddenly asked, and I turned my head to her. What?

"Why are you so fixated on us being sisters?" I asked, puzzled.

"Because if Shiny marries you, I get two sisters instead of just one!" she stated it like it was obvious. Said colt did a spit-take. With cola. On me. Ugh.

"Fu—Ngh," I exclaimed, clamping my muzzle shut with a baleful glare directed at the white teenage stallion. "Thanks for that, you piece of—" I growled, grabbing the towel offered by his mother as I desperately tried getting the sticky substance out of my coat. For fuck's sake, what a fucking idiot! "Twilight, what in the nine rings of—Where in Equestria did you get that idea from?!"

"Dear, if you want, you can use the shower upstairs to clean yourself up," Twilight Velvet interjected, obviously concerned I would blow my lid any second now. It was tempting, but...

"No, thanks," I huffed, sagging in my seat. I threw the towel on my plate with a grumble. Stupid, brain-dead asshole. I took a deep breath, calming myself down. I couldn't let myself get too worked up. "Your offer is very kind, Mrs. Velvet, but I think I'll take my leave for this evening. It's getting late, and I don't want to make my guard wait too long to escort me back to the castle."

Not that I went here with one, but the batponies in the night guard were very overprotective of me for reasons I wasn't quite sure about—I doubted it was just because of my 'apparent' pony race. I was ninety-nine percent sure at least one was shadowing me twenty-four-seven around the clock.

Twilight (the small and purple one, that is) wilted slightly as I said that. "Do you have to go so early? We haven't even finished playing the campaign yet!"

"Kiddo, the sun went down an hour ago," I mentioned, trying not to frown. It took some effort, but eventually, I had a soft smile on my muzzle. "We'll continue next week, okay? I'll leave my phone number so your parents can call when they need a foalsitter. Don't make them call me just because you feel like it, alright?" Twilight nodded, and I grinned. "Great. If you behave yourself, I'll show you a secret hoof shake only the two of us will know, okay?"

"Really?" Twilight beamed up at me, and I nodded.

"Really."

Twilight clapped her hooves excitedly while her parents shook their heads good-naturedly. Shining avoided eye contact with me while Poindexter and Gaffer gave me small, disappointed smiles that I wouldn't hang out with them for longer. Eight Bit was frowning at Shining like he had committed the worst crime in history, but he gave me a hesitant smile when I said my goodbyes to them.

"It was nice meeting you, dear," Twilight Velvet mentioned as she saw me off at the door. Night Light gave me a hoof bump, saying it was a pleasure talking with me. Then Twilight hugged me (the big, light gray one; Tiny Twi had to hop into bed at her parent's insistence, much to the displeasure of the filly). "Do be careful on your way home."

"I will," I reassured her, already spotting the totally inconspicuous guard on a rooftop on the opposite side of the block—so much for being stealthy. It was kind of endearing, to be honest. "Don't be too harsh on your kids, okay?"

Twilight Velvet exchanged a quick glance with her husband before smiling awkwardly back at me. "I would never, Princess," she said, a concerned look entering her eyes. "Why would you assume that?"

"I..." I started, only to trail off awkwardly. Fuck. I forgot ponies weren't humans, and scolding their foals was the most they ever did. They rarely even used harsh words to reprimand their kids, too.

The light gray mare reached out a hoof to touch me on the shoulder. I let her despite feeling uncomfortable. "Dear, did you get abused by your parents?"

"What? No!" I denied, wincing. Abandonment didn't count as abuse, did it? I mean... I was sure my human parents had good reasons for doing so. I ended up in Hell; they must have known I would end up being a problem child. And, well... Lilith was a literal demon queen; her calling herself my mother was more of a formality than actual adoption. I wouldn't consider her my mother or anything, even though she tried her best to gaslight me into believing I was her actual daughter. She was a cruel, manipulative bitch, through and through, end of story.

The less said about Prismia, the better.

"You can tell us if something is bothering you, dear," Twilight Velvet whispered, concerned. "You already feel like a part of the family; I wouldn't want you to suffer silently."

"I'm fine," I responded, harsher than intended. Twilight Velvet withdrew her hoof from me as if burned, and I averted my eyes. "Even if I was, I'm over it. It's in the past."

"Princess..." she hummed, stepping closer to me. I took a step back, afraid. I didn't need her fucking pity. I was a big girl... I could take care of myself. I've always done so, and... I always will.

"Don't," I muttered. "It's not like it matters anymore. My real parents didn't want me and my surrogate—" Fuck that bitch. Aunt Celestia was a thousand times better than Lilith could ever be, and that idiot pony was as dense as they came. She couldn't even admit to herself that she saw Sunset as her daughter, for fuck's sake. God forbid she ever gave birth to a foal of her own. Not that I thought anypony would ever want to stick their dick in that dusty old vagina, to be honest.

Mrs. Velvet frowned slightly. "Have you spoken with the Princess about what you went through?"

I snorted. Sure. She saw the entirety of my fucked up life on a big ass magic television screen. "Both her and Cadance know," I grumbled. "And I'd prefer to keep it that way. I don't want to burden anypony else with my baggage. You don't want to know the details."

"If you say so..." she said. I could see the water in her eyes and smell the pity from a mile away. Fucking Hell, why did ponies have to be so caring and kind and shit? "I won't keep you any longer. But, please... talk to somepony who can help you deal with it. I know of a wonderful pony who helped me a great deal through my own trauma."

Oh. "...were you..?"

"Abused? No, nothing like that," she told me, frowning sadly. "I lost a foal before we got Twilight. It hit pretty hard... we almost didn't try again if it weren't for my therapist helping me deal with it."

"I..." I swallowed, thinking of my daughter. She was probably long since in Heaven now (I would know if she ended up in Hell). In a way, I did exactly what my biological parents did to me. I left her all alone in an unforgiving world with no one to look after her. She probably hated my guts. I earned it, too.

"It was nice meeting you, Princess," Mrs. Velvet said, and I nodded glumly, feeling bad for her. She was far too nice to deserve something like that.

"Take care of Twilight and... Shining," I said, smiling awkwardly. For some reason, I felt like a small child around her. She was very maternal. Maybe, at some point, she would drop the title. The light gray mare felt like extended family already after only meeting her. Despite how much Twilight (the tiny one) wanted me to be a part of her family, I wouldn't ever get together with Shining Armor. Not even if my life depended on it. No way in Hell.

"I will," Twilight Velvet nodded. "Have a good night, dear."

"You, too," I responded lamely.

The unicorn gave me one last surprise hug before closing the door after her, leaving me standing in the lamplight of the street lanterns. I frowned, trudging slowly away. Ugh. I really needed a nice, long bath. Screw you, Shining Armor.

At least my shadow knew to keep her distance. I wasn't in the mood to be fawned over by another overly affectionate bat. The first one was cringe, the second one treated me like a child, and the third—actually, the third one was cool, but he was a bit of a gruff ass. So far, Lieutenant Shade Leaf seemed to be the most respectful out of all of them. She knew when to give me space instead of getting on my nerves.

I was thankful I didn't run into anypony on my way to my private chambers. Aunt Celestia was already fast asleep, snoring like a motorboat. Maybe someone should tell her about that.

...Pfft, nah. It was funnier this way. I should take Twilight on a castle tour and throw a slumber party for her just to show her the hilariously embarrassing sight of her monarch snoring up a storm. I was sure she would never be able to stop giggling about it.

Despite the somber mood earlier, I fell asleep that night with a tiny smile on my muzzle. Things weren't so bad anymore. Aside from having to go to school again, I liked it here. I could do without some things, but those were pretty minor compared to what I had to endure in Hell.

Maybe Mrs. Velvet was right. Perhaps I should talk to someone professional about my time in Hell and learn to cope with decades upon decades of post-traumatic stress disorder. But first, Shining Armor needed a reminder to stay the fuck away from Cadance.

Suffice it to say, I was more than certain the guy wouldn't have the courage to confess his feelings toward her anymore. I knew how to make a rejection sound very convincing, and it would constantly nag at him in the back of his mind. That, and I made sure to exploit his insecurities about Buck Withers, his non-existent popularity, and his stallion-ness for good measure. There was some internalized homophobia there, as well. It seemed somepony was afraid of being seen as a 'colt-cuddler.' It was more than enough fuel to torment him with one nightmare after another of Cadance telling him he would never have a chance with her.

I didn't feel the least bit bad about bullying my friend. I was a demon; I did stuff like this for entertainment. No amount of pity for the guy could hinder me from crushing his dreams of a perfect, fairytale romance.

And yet... why did it feel so hollow and dirty?

No matter. This was for the best. I just had to keep telling myself that. Cadance's happiness was just too important to me. I couldn't let him break her heart. Just like I couldn't allow myself to feel anything but friendship for her.

She was too good for anypony. Even me.