Ponies and Demons - The Philosopher's Stone

by Puerto Princessa

A New Paradigm

My lioness(1) form, all five hundred plus pounds of it, was blown back by the force of the magical bolt that Twilight had summoned from her horn. I hadn't even noticed the horn before, half-buried as it was under her ridiculous mop of hair. I realized now that Twilight resembled a unicorn(2), and even when shocked by a dijinn suddenly turning from an Egyptian woman to a lioness going for her throat, she had a potent magical ability. My suspicions about Equestria were becoming increasingly serious; whereas the magicians were apparently mutant ponies with such names as Twilight Sparkle, they had a magical force to rival that of the spirits they summoned(3).

It raised the question of why she even wanted to raise me in the first place, considering that her own personal magic was capable of forcing me back. My focus shifted from my master to her surroundings. We were in some sort of wooden fixture, with light coming from a bulb on the ceiling, and all around me were metallic behemoths whirring and buzzing. I could only guess that they were recording data of some sort. So this Twilight was a scientist then. Logic dictated that the most likely scenario was that Equestrian magicians were self-sufficient and had little experience with summons. This explained why the pentacle binding me was lacking in defenses.

“What was that about?” Twilight's whining brought me back to the present. Her voice trembled slightly, it seemed the lioness now sulking at a distance had injected fear into her cheery disposition. “You had me frightened there, Bartimaeus!”

“What do you expect?” The lioness swiped a claw at it's former pentacle, dashed a few of the inner summoning runes. Twilight would now find it impossible to order me to do anything, though sadly I was still bound to the world by her potent will. “You didn't put enough security on the summons and I tried to take advantage of it. You're lucky you're strong enough to defend yourself. If you hadn't been...” I ran a sickle-like claw against my lioness's throat and made a morbid sound to effect.

“Don-don't joke about that! You wouldn't do that to me. Would you?” Twilight's voice held a sort of nervous conviction, as if she really couldn't believe I would 'stoop that low'. It was virtually disgraceful, how much faith she could put in me.

“I've killed masters before.” I said that particular line with the sort of bass voice that would trigger earthquakes and avalanches, make magicians cower in their pentacles. Twilight gulped, took a backstep out of her pentacle. That would have been a dumb and fatal mistake, if it weren't for the fact that her magic put her on equal footing with me.

“You- you're dangerous,” she managed to squeak out. No guessing who the trophy for most obvious would be going to. “I'm afraid I might have to take drastic measures if you're going to be a threat to Equestria.” She said it unwillingly, as if she'd love nothing more than to drop the whole threat and take me out for tea and pastries. I sensed it in her, the kind gentle sort of spirit that would leave a human magician from Earth bleeding to death in a back alley.

I realized though that I had to tread carefully here. Even the most gentle and loving creature had their limits of patience. The rules of summoning meant that these pony magicians would have the upper hand once they figured out how to use protective runes, and combined with their self-powered magic they could easily kill a confined spirit mano a mano. If I marked us spirits as dangerous to these Equestrians, a reprisal could follow. I imagined a witch hunt, all hooded robes and burning torches and people screaming for the blood of witches and demons, only with technicolor ponies being the inquisitors.

I spoke as smoothly and consolingly as possible. “Please Twilight, don't be hasty.” I made my voice feminine, a play for feelings of sisterhood. “Do you really want to have the blood of spirits on your hands?” Twilight shook her head solemnly. Her apparent pacifism was a good angle, so I kept hammering at it for all it was worth. “It is true that I, Bartimaeus, have been a wretched creature in the past. But in a society such as Equestria I am sure I can relearn my ways.” A whopper of a lie, no society could erase 5,000 years of oppression no matter how idealistic. But I could at least learn to live by a new set of rules. Besides, I was sure that these ponies would be clement masters so long as I kept my darker experiences under wraps.

“Well...” Twilight wanted to believe me, I could tell. “I think I'll trust you, Bartimaeus. After all, it's important to forgive and forget, right?”

“Of course, of course.” I said soothingly. Of course, my own imagination was a fertile hotbed where nothing was forgotten no matter how slight, here I prepared creative plans of revenge for beings I had not even met for thousands of years. I held no malicious intent towards Equestria; I was apathetic towards the affairs of mortals.

But this Twilight, as nice and naïve as she was, had summoned me and thus temporarily turned the cruel dynamic of power against me. Not to mention how she had blasted me down, which would be a rank embarrassment to my reputation if any other spirit ever caught wind of it. Assassination wasn't off the table in spite of Twilight's demeanor, as a spirit you learn to be as merciless and unforgiving as the magicians who summon you. I'd watch and bide my time, and if this purple pony ever slipped up...

“Well Bartimaeus, are you going to be alright with my home? You'll be staying here while I conduct more research on spirits.” The lioness arched a nonexistent eyebrow, I had never before been invited by a magician to stay in their home so freely(4). Twilight was unknowingly handing me more and more power over her, so the prospects for revenge seemed fairly open. With any luck I'd be able to make Twilight regret ever summoning me within a few days. Her power was great though, and I was as of yet unwilling to test her openly.

“I'm honored that you would grant me asylum in your home. Though your home seems incredibly flammable. You should be careful with that, Twilight.” I was prodding here, looking for a weakness. An Inferno(5) to her home could have been a quick blow against her, ruining her place and possibly even her life if I was lucky.

“I have a magical fire retardant system in place.” No dice there, but I kept my disappointed sigh internal. “Thank goodness I've never had to use it before.”

“Well Twilight, color me very slightly impressed, by a faint margin. I wonder why you need to summon spirits like me when you're capable of such potent magic on your own.” Twilight smiled at the complement.

“Thank you Bartimaeus. I summoned you to study you, I was curious when I found ancient lore describing 'demons of Tartarus' and other such creatures. It didn't seem to be referring to Equestria's Tartarus, but a realm completely separate. It took me some months to work out the procedures, mostly because the lore I studied had no descriptions on hand. But eventually I did work it out and I then summoned you!” She seemed excited to be revealing her hard work to another person.

“So I'm your experiment then.” I rankled slightly at that, though I didn't give any outward sign of it to Twilight. When you've worked on building a reputation as grand and mighty as mine, being an amateur summoner's baby steps is a bit of a let down. “Well you'll find that there's nothing much that I can offer you, Twilight. Your horn can summon forces akin to my Detonations(6), so you can do anything I can do for you. Perhaps you should just let me go?”

“I don't need you for your spell work. I'm really just curious about you, if that's okay.” I realized that this was going to be even easier than I thought it would be. Like my old master Ptolemy(7), Twilight only wanted me around for strictly academic purposes. Provided I could survive the cultural isms that were sure to confound me as I had long ago been confounded by the strangeness of human society, my tenure as Twilight Sparkle's slave could possibly be less of a headache than servitude normally was.

“Well I'm really curious about you as well.” In a way this wasn't a lie, knowing was half the battle after all. “I'm wondering, for instance, what unfortunate circumstances led to your travesty of a name. I've half a mind to consult an almanac and discover a new name for you.” Twilight tutted in disapproval.

“What's wrong with my name, Bartimaeus?”

“Beyond it consisting of two nouns that shouldn't be used in any rational conversation outside of dialogue in a child's book?”

“Is my name really that silly?” Twilight shook her head in blatant denial. “Nonsense. Bartimaeus, I think I should introduce you to my friends.”

---

(1) Bear in mind here that my spirit is technically male, despite all the female forms I have already assumed. Gender is no issue for spirits as a whole, and practical experience had taught me that a lioness without a mane was a far more practical form for battle than a lion.

(2) Unicorn: A rare type of dijinn whose fabled horns possess powerful curative properties when cut off. Pacifistic and timid in nature, unicorns are useless in most normal assignments and thus summoned purely for their horns.

(3) This is something I've never witnessed in my career before. Former empires I had served had built up immunities to magic sure, but never had they actually gained the ability to use that magic. Using magic was strictly a spirit's domain; due to our expansive essences we can interact constructively (to destructive effect) with the far more limited essences of the mundane world. Indeed, a quick scan of the higher planes revealed that on the fifth and onward this Twilight's aura was somewhat more freewheeling than it should have been. All very strange.

(4) Like the cheesy vampire stories of old, we spirits adhere to certain universal tenants of magic. Key among these is the idea of control: the more you know about somebody (for example, true names) or the more privileges that somebody gives you, the more power your magic will have on them. Inviting a spirit into your house, as cliché as it is, is actually a strong talisman. While a spirit can break into a home without approval (as I have done many times), you give them even more power if you give them consent.

(5) As simple as it gets, a magical flame. Capable of causing immense destruction to the mundane world, given as how a shocking amount of things and people are flammable. Somewhat less useful against spirits, our essences are fluid and thus fires don't stick so readily.

(6) A powerful blast of super compressed essence that explodes forcefully upon contact with something. Dijinn, as spirits of air and fire, have particularly explosive Detonations that also leave flames at the impact zone. This affinity and their practicality in dispersing the essence of hostile spirits make Detonations the spell of choice for most dijinn.

(7) A beloved master of my past that I regularly took the form of to respect what he had done for me. The story is contained within a certain Bartimaeus Trilogy, which I'm sure I've mentioned before.

Comments

[BronzeFog]

yay update

[xbox432]

Great update, can't wait to see Twilight's expression when he tells her that she basically enslaved him. THE HORROR, THE HORROR!

[Crowley]

I jusst realised. Twilight's told him her real name. That's a bad thing, isn't it..?

[Cadmium]

Wuhu update here!
And yes Twilight told him her real name invited him into her house didn't use the binding runes, she has nearly no leverage against him here and he has infinitely more experience than she does, that is bound to not end in a good way. Or end in a extremely hilarious way.

[Pheonix Hellfire]

1673423ha ha:

[Mysterious Pony]

A Bartimaeus crossover? And I was not informed?!?
*reads*
Not bad. While I think that Barty is a little out of character (He's much to open and friendly to a magician who has enslaved him, he hasn't utilized knowing Twilght's true name yet, he's to easygoing about the idea of talking ponies, ect.), i am interested in where this will go. You have earned yourself a fav. Just be sure to keep it going. I attempted making my own Bartimaeus crossover (you can read it here), but in the end I was to busy to continue it and cancelled. I would be happy to share my story ideas with you if you wanted to.

[Theanonymous1]

Interesting. Bartimaeus has practically been given free reign to do as he wishes, provided it doesn't involve hurting Twilight.

What I want to know though is if he will meet Discord. As the "Spirit" of Chaos, he should be something akin to Ramuthra. The meeting would be quite shocking for the both of them.

[r4d6]

It's sad that there's only two Bartimaeus fanfics, and both of them dead for over 10 years...