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 Notes:

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!