//------------------------------//
// 6 - The Escape Claws 
// Story: Hell Yeah 
// by sunnypack 
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Chapter 6: The Escape Claws

 
The first magus was well known to the demons. Her name was Selena and she was a figure both reviled and revered for her actions. Before the enslavement of demons, Selena was a magus that first sought to understand us. She, in fact, created the Other, a demon sanctuary where we could freely explore and call our own. Though she had done so much for the demons, her method of summoning us to the dimensional plane of existence where mortals dwelt had been carelessly made public in her belief that knowledge was always good. From there, demons were summoned not as friends, but as slaves. After seeing what she wrought, she disappeared, leaving us to our miserable fate. Her creation made her worthy of love, but her abandonment made her worthy of hate.

“I found something interesting.”

I snapped my head up to look at Twilight, who was grinning like she’d rediscovered Malnik’s Mound [1]. For those not in the know, it holds the elixir of life, the philosopher’s stone and possibly the answer to life itself. I wouldn’t recommend going there, as it was positioned at the edge of time, space and causality. You might not survive the abstraction.

I was surprised, though, by how quickly kids recover. Maybe it was the fact she was able to put up such a brave front that I mistook it for fortitude? Whatever the reason was, I guess it was touching that she would try so hard to send me back. And it really wasn’t by the say-so of her principal, or the fact that she was threatened, but more because she genuinely wanted to help me.

For some reason, she didn’t want me to leave. Even though I was so obnoxious.

Once again I felt that slight guilty pang, but I desperately suppressed it. I needed to get back to the Other, the mortal plane was starting to infect me with feelings. I was already a ‘friend’. Bleh.

“It’s here.” She pointed to part of a book that held a complex diagram featuring squiggles, lines, symbols and all manner of confusing magical things.
 
I shrugged. “So… words?”
 
Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s a formula for the dissipation of a physical entity into the ethereal plane by means of telescopic divergence theory!”
 
“Uhm… in plain speak, please.”
 
Twilight huffed. “It’s basically something that could send you back. In plain speak I just take bits of your essence that was tied to this plane and sort of unhook it, flinging it away.”
 
I stared at her. “That sounds like the magical equivalent of chucking me into the air by a catapult.”
 
“Weeeeelllllllllll the trajectory hasn’t been fixed, so I’m not quite sure that’s exactly how it works, but I’m reasonably confident I can do it!”
 
I continued to stare at her, very intently.
 
“I’m also reasonably confident that it won’t throw you into space,” she added for good measure.
 
“That’s good… No, wait, go back to the space bit.”
 
“It won’t happen!”
 
“Okay.”
 
“I think.”
 
“What?”
 
“Nothing!”
 
Feeling an ominous premonition gather on the horizons of our little plan, I crossed my arms, deciding to let the little details lie. “So… what do you need to accomplish this?”
 
Twilight bit her lip. “Probably a few things, most of them restricted.”
 
“You have your pass thingy, right?”
 
Twilight shook her head. “I do… but I can’t get access that far in.”
 
So that meant somewhere in level five or six. I rubbed a hoof on my face, but the unfamiliar feeling of the hoof instead of a claw was disconcerting, so I stopped almost immediately.
 
“Fine.” A thought occurred to me. “We could ask Celestia.”
 
Twilight was in danger of swallowing a fly if she kept that jaw so wide open.
 
“No! She can’t know this!”
 
“Why not? She knows about everything else.”
 
“But it’s restricted.”
 
“So…? She gave you the summoning book and that’s clearly restricted material.”
 
“I found it in the library.”
 
“What?”
 
“I found it in the library,” she repeated with pursed lips. “It was just sitting there.”
 
I stared at her dumbly for a moment as the sentence sunk in slowly. Demons never go crazy, but this mortal was testing my patience.
 
I finally found my voice. “Where?”
 
“Level four. Right after Anachronisms of Alchemical Archetypes within Ancient Abnegation Affairs.”
 
“That shouldn’t be there!”
 
“Of course not! It clearly wasn’t meant to be there!”
 
I brightened. Maybe Twilight got it.
 
“‘Demon Summoning’, or ‘Summoning Almanac’ or similar should be after that book, not before it. It makes no sense!”
 
Oh right, she’s a crazy bibliophile.
 
“Of course it was.” I tried to resist bashing my head against the table, and instead tried to concentrate on moving forward. We needed more information and only the higher levels would let us do that. “Alright, but that doesn’t change anything. Celestia could get us in, right?”
 
Twilight nodded slowly. “Yeeeees.” The drawn out affirmation was accompanied by a nervous cough. “But she wouldn’t.”
 
We were running in circles. “Fine, how about we go talk to her and get her opinion?”
 
“You can’t just walk in and talk with the Princess!”
 
“Really?” I crossed my hooves. Which was harder than it looked. “What’s so hard about going to her office and asking her?”
 
Twilight’s eyes widened considerably. “You went into the Princess’ office?!”
 
“Yep. Haven’t you been there?”
 
Twilight hastily shook her head, her gaze quickly flooded with envy as she stared at me hungrily. Not many looks can send chills down a demon’s spine, but that one did.
 
“C-Come on,” I said, abruptly getting up with the excuse of leading the way. I had to escape that gaze. “Let’s go and visit her.”
 
“Alright… but I don’t think we’d get that pass.”
 
————————
 
[1] I was one of the first demons summoned by Malnik herself. She was notorious for being a greedy magus. So unbound was her avarice that she kept the majority of her hoard at the edge of time and causality. Some people say that there was a spell so complex and so vast in magnitude to gain entry, that it was impossible to access the treasury unless all of the magi from multiple worlds converged and attempted to do so. Malnik kept the secret of accessing her Mound all the way to her grave, she never told anyone, not a single soul. Except me, of course, but that’s because she admitted reluctantly to me that she’d hidden the secret so well, she’d forgotten how to get there again and needed me to go get rare items for her. I even wrote instructions! Typical.
 
————————
 
“No.”
 
Well, that was a quick response.
 
“Can I ask the reason why?”
 
“You may not.” Celestia met my challenge with a glare shaped cold with icy scrutiny. “And I would suggest you knock the next time you come in.”
 
As a form of amusement, I had turned invisible and laughed as the guards were startled when the door opened by itself. The guard’s querying glances were quickly allayed by the Princess, who invited a nerve-wracked Twilight warily standing just outside the stabbing distance of the impressive spears the guards carried.
 
Not that spears would be effective against a demon. Of course we’re vulnerable like any other mortal, it would hurt like heck, but we wouldn’t die and our corporeal form would eventually regenerate. Plus there were tips and tricks to getting around such primitive weapons. The trouble were weapons that could dissolve essence as they cut. Those were actually fatal.
 
I’m quite fond of my essence. I’d like to keep it contained until I can be sent back to the Other. Much like a mortal is fond of keeping blood within their body, such was the analogy of essence to demons. Except it wasn’t really clear if mortals persisted after death. Some claimed it was so, but I knew demons were erased from existence after their essence dissipated. No amount of summoning would bring another back once the essence is destroyed.
 
But getting back to the problem, Celestia clearly didn’t want us in the lower levels.
 
“Why not?” I huffed, crossing my arms. “You can send me back faster, isn’t that a bonus?”
 
“You will have to make do with what you have,” Princess Celestia stated simply. “There is no other way.”
 
“Poppycock.” I scoffed. “You’re simply barring me access because you don’t agree with my brilliant idea.”
 
“Twilight,” Celestia swivelled around to meet her student’s gaze. Her expression changed from condemning to gentle and warm in a heartbeat. Talk about two-faced… and I would know, I have a lot of different faces.
 
“Your demon has dragged you into this, so you are not at fault.”
 
Your demon?! Excuse me, I’m not anyone’s property. I mean I technically am right now, but still—
 
Twilight shook her head. “It was my idea, Princess.”
 
“Your honesty is admirable, Twilight, but perhaps in this circumstance, not so coveted.”
 
Twilight shrunk back as I took a step forward.
 
“Now look here—” I began.
 
“And you’re such a poor liar it would be meaningless to engage you.”
 
The rest of the words died in my throat as I failed to meet her verbal repartee.
 
Celestia sighed plaintively, leaning back. “I know you are curious, Twilight. But you have a higher level of access than any other student in your cohort. You will have to make do with what you have.” She glanced meaningfully at me. “Even if it is only the books in your possession.”
 
Seems like she wouldn't move at all. It was worth a try. Well, there was always plan B—
 
“Don’t even think about stealing your way in, demon.”
 
Hell’s bells, how did she know? Can she read minds?
 
It was possible. Advanced magi could read intentions and deceptions. So it wasn’t too surprising if she could. I didn’t know her ability, but either way it did show me exactly how experienced she was. This was an expert in the Art. I should be more careful.
 
“In any case, I implore you two to think about what you are going to do from here on out.” She stared at us with a heavy gaze. “Make the right decisions. I’m trying to save you from a future of woe.”
 
Twilight nodded sullenly. “Yes, Princess.”
 
Celestia lifted an eyebrow in my direction.
 
“As you wish,” I ground out with a sigh. When she looked away, I rolled my eyes in silent rebellion.
 
“Good,” Celestia finished imperiously. “Now—”
 
There was a knock on the door; a guard’s head poked through.
 
“Two to see you, Princess.”
 
Celestia looked surprised. “So soon?”
 
The guard glanced at us and reared back in surprise. The movement was quashed so quickly I almost doubted what I saw. Almost.
 
“Escort them to my adjunct,” Celestia told the guard. “I will have a word with them.”
 
“Yes, Princess.” The guard bowed and left us.
 
Through my sensitive hearing, I could pick out the hoof steps of two foals leaving. Must be more students causing trouble.
 
Celestia turned back to us, her lips quirked as if considering some private joke. Abruptly, she swept Twilight into a hug.
 
“Remember, if you ever need any help you can come to me anytime,” she murmured into her ear. She parted, taking a good look at Twilight with a gaze that looked slightly worried. “Be careful.” She leaned in closer. “Never trust a demon.”
 
She probably meant me. Even though she whispered, she was probably well aware I could hear every word. Not that I blame her. Demons weren’t the most trustworthy of partners, even with a leash attached.
 
Twilight nodded, though I was proud to see that it was reluctantly. Take that, Celestia.
 
———————
 
Outside, I faced down Twilight.
 
“We should sneak in.”
 
Expecting to hear an immediate denial, I was gratified to see that it took a full two seconds before Twilight shook her head.
 
“No.”
 
I chuckled in spite of her refusal.
 
“What’s so funny?” She pouted.
 
I grinned. “Nothing, I just think I’m rubbing off on you.”
 
Twilight bit her lip. “I don’t think you’re rubbing off on me…”
 
“That’s what everyone says.” I grinned, dashing a few steps forward. “Well, we can plan this out later. For now, we’ve still got class, right?”
 
Twilight’s happy disposition immediately collapsed. “Oh right, class.”
 
I nudged her with my shoulder. Encouragement is something friends do, right? 
 
“It’s alright,” I said with a grin, “maybe something good will happen?”
 
Twilight didn’t look encouraged at all. Her face was etched in nervous tension. 
 
“That’s what my brother says all the time.”
 
Wow, I’m really bad at this friend sort of thing.
 
——————
 
Apparently, the last class of the day was a practical exercise.
 
“Counter-spelling?”
 
It was a sort of defensive class that was taught to students so they could defend themselves against spells. Unlike in most worlds, most magic here was casted without the use of lengthy incantations and diagrams. Spells that required such things were considered the highest-tier magic, and often required tedious preparation with very fixed and finite variables, or so I gathered.
 
The students were all gathered in a loose clump at the end of the field, we were outdoors in the sunlight and everything, and a few students complained about the encroaching cold. Of course, anything but the extremes of temperatures rarely affected me, mostly because my essence would just ignore the physical discomfort.
 
For other mortals, however…
 
“Brr.” Twilight’s teeth chattered. “It’s cold.”
 
“So it is,” I remarked with utter disenchantment. I glanced down at the simple scarf and boots that Twilight wore despite the lack of snow or other indication of the frosty bite of winter. A light southerly breeze constantly blowing across the field was making even the stiff teacher shiver a little.
 
“Okay class, the sooner we get this done, the better.” The wizened mare lifted her horn. From the horn came a spark, which ignited into a soft mellow ball of light, drifting upwards and morphing as it went. The light grew in intensity and suddenly burst into flames, the heat instantly dispelling the cold and making it feel as warm as a summer’s day. I recognised the weak spirit form and smiled to myself. Interesting.
 
“This is an elemental. As you can see, the element is fire. What should we combat fire with?”
 
A hesitant hoof shot up from the class group.
 
“Yes, Drop?”
 
“Water, miss.”
 
“Wrong.”
 
Twilight shifted uncomfortably at the lack of further participation and hesitantly put up her hoof before I could stop her.
 
“Earth, miss?”
 
The mare smiled thinly, reminding me of a snake. “Do elaborate for the rest of the class, Twilight.”
 
Twilight nodded, ignoring the glares the other class members shot her as she stood up. She went into lecture mode. “Direct opposites might be the conventional wisdom to attack elementals with, but when you’re against a caster they may almost certainly ward for water. The only remaining choice is earth. Earth will weaken fire slowly, and allow you time to mount a substantial defence or attack.”
 
The teacher cocked her head at Twilight. “And why not wind?”
 
“Wind is synergistic with fire, so doing that would just make it stronger unless you were confident that your wind element was overwhelmingly strong.” Twilight cleared her throat. “If there is some special circumstance, then the wind elemental could still be used and should not be discounted. The same goes for fire.”
 
“Excellent, Twilight. A perfect answer as always.”
 
Twilight retreated back to her position, a little far from the rest of the group.
 
“Okay, now that we know this, I want each of you to practice in sparring pairs—”
 
“I hate this part,” Twilight muttered to herself, almost inaudibly. I flicked my ear, but otherwise didn’t outwardly react.
 
“So team up and get going.”
 
The teacher flicked her hoof, looking like she had exhausted her meagre patience for the day. She brought out a huge tome and started reading in the middle of the field, accompanied by her fire elemental. With the fire elemental gone, the rest of the students started to shiver in the encroaching cold. Her demeanour suggested to us that to her, the students didn’t even exist.
 
Amethyst, Glitter and Lemon descended upon us like a pack of wolves. The way she came around, brimming with confidence, put me on edge. I fixed her in my eyesight as they approached none-too-subtly.
 
“Hey Morpheus.” Amethyst almost sounded like she was purring while greeting us. “Why don’t you join us for practice? I’m willing to forget about this morning’s incident if you are.”
 
Twilight didn’t look inclined to step in, so I simply shrugged.
 
“Why bother?” I sighed. “It’s not like the teacher is going to notice a few students not practicing.”
 
Amethyst blinked at my reply. She must not have expected it. Though faltering, her bravado returned, if a little tinged with ice.
 
“In any case, you will get in trouble if you don’t participate.”
 
“Will I?” I wondered in amusement. The teacher had stopped reading her book for sure, but she headed towards other students, and only glanced our way briefly. It looked casual, but she was definitely avoiding us.
 
Amethyst took in the teacher’s direction and smiled in a devious fashion.
 
“You’ve got some pull around here, don’t you?”
 
I didn’t answer that. I stared blankly back at her.
 
Amethyst flicked her mane. “Like I said, it’s pointless to stick around the scholarship students. They only got in because they begged their way in. Power is what matters and this bookworm isn’t going anywhere.”
 
“Is that so?” I glanced at Twilight, who continued to stare at the ground as if it was the most amusing thing in the world. “Why’s that?”
 
Glitter Star was the one that spoke up this time. “She might know a lot of things, but she couldn’t cast a spell to save her life.” Glitter laughed with Amethyst. “I don’t even know why she was let in.”
 
Twilight shrunk back, hunching her shoulders against the barrage of taunts and cruelty. Twilight had magical aptitude, I was sure of it. She had cast various spells that most magi couldn’t and could cast a complex spell required to summon a demon. It went beyond the simple conjuration of elementals. She was, dare I say it, a genius.
 
“Anyway, you’re better off leaving this loser here and joining us. Being book-smart will only get you so far. Examination is at the end of the week. She’ll crack under pressure, like she did every time. I’m sure of it.”
 
I yawned, trying to sound more bored than dismissive. “Ah, maybe next time.”
 
Amethyst narrowed her eyes. “You’re making a huge mistake.”
 
“I’m just looking out for myself. I can’t be bothered to summon elementals and practice combat. I’ve had enough of that to last me a lifetime, thank you. I’ll just stick with Twilight.”
 
Amethyst gritted her teeth, registering, with ill-concealed fury of the tentatively happy expression on Twilight’s face.
 
“Why?” She crossed her arms. “You’ve got nothing to gain.”
 
“Except a free pass from class.” I let them misconstrue the statement however they pleased.
 
Amethyst considered the statement. “So… you don’t really like her then?”
 
“I just need her for now.” That wasn’t a lie. “Let’s just say our relationship is more of a servant and master.” Except I was the servant and she was the master.
 
Amethyst’s eyes gleamed spitefully. “Oh, I see how it is.”
 
No you didn’t.
 
Amethyst chuckled, leading the group away. “Come join us whenever you feel like, Morpheus. I think we are much alike.” With that, she and her friends trotted away, looking proud as if they had achieved something.
 
Meanwhile, my stomach churned unsteadily, leaving a bad taste in my mouth. That shouldn’t happen. I wasn’t mortal. Was that Zachrand or those cursed new feelings coming up? Each one was equally dangerous. 
 
Frowning, I turned around to register a confused Twilight who was staring at me blankly… and a little cautiously.
 
“What?” I asked, trying to banish the dirty sensation surrounding me.
 
“You made them go away…” she said with wonder, but then she bit her lip. “But you’re friends with them.”
 
I laughed. “No way. I may not be an expert on this so-called friendship, but I know for sure that we’re not friends like you are imagining.” I stretched languidly, feigning a sense of casualness I didn’t feel. “Besides, I only said those things to make them leave faster. If they were convinced I wasn’t on your side, they would go.”
 
Twilight stared at the ground again. “R-Right.”
 
I exhaled in a way that was between a sigh and a groan. “Look, I’m not going to be here for very long, just until the end of the week, so you need to know ways of defending yourself.”
 
Twilight tightened her lips. “The first lesson in magic is to Respe—”
 
“—Respect Life, yeah, yeah, I get it. I’m not saying you go around beating up everybody with your magic. Just show them what you’re capable of.”
 
“I can’t abuse magic like that!”
 
I shook my head at her. “That’s not what I meant; there are other ways to defend yourself other than magic or strength or any of that.”
 
Twilight kept glancing back at the trio as they started practicing magic in their group. It looks like from the various displays that this ‘Amethyst Star’ pony was quite adept at magic for her age. She also looked like she was quite popular. So why does a mare who has everything want to mess with Twilight, who has nothing?
 
I shook my head free of the nagging thoughts and concentrated on getting my magus cheered up again. I was starting to get mired in the tangled webbing of mortal social rules and norms. That was a rabbit hole I definitely didn’t want to track down. Well, for now, Twilight needed a little help with her magic. I decided to lend her a claw.
 
“Besides, your magic is really, really advanced; why were they saying that it wasn’t?”
 
Twilight held her hoof to her chest, hugging it to herself as she reluctantly told me.
 
“I-I get stage fright.”
 
“Stage fright?” Wait, so she was freely able to use life-threatening summoning magic, but performing in front of others was too much? I didn’t get this kid.
 
“I get nervous when I have to perform magic in front of big crowds. They’re all staring at me, judging me, waiting for me t-to s-screw up…” Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. “I-I just can’t deal with it.”
 
“Let me guess, the Examination?”
 
Twilight nodded reluctantly. “I have to stand up in front of the whole school. Last year I scraped in at the bottom!”
 
“It can’t be that bad…”
 
“It is!” Twilight grabbed the sides of her head as if it was going to split open under the pressure. “You don’t understand! You haven’t had anypony laugh at you before, right?”
 
Well I wouldn’t say laugh in quite that way. Did maniacal laughing count?
 
“Alright, so you get nervous in front of one or two onlookers. Didn’t you have to do something similar when you entered the school?”
 
“Well, yes, but that was different. Judges don’t laugh at you! If it wasn’t for Princess Celestia, I wouldn’t be in here in the first place.”
 
“So just imagine them the same, students aren’t going to laugh at you in an examination hall, are they?”
 
“No… but I can feel it from them!”
 
“Ignore it!”
 
“I can’t just do that.”
 
“Think of something else!”
 
“I can’t!”
 
“By the Other, you’re incorrigible!” 
 
Twilight groaned. “My life is over.”
 
“You keep saying that, but it hasn’t ended yet.”
 
“It has!” she whined. “I’ll never be able to perform in front of a crowd.”
 
I sucked in a patient breath. This wasn’t a demon that was reluctant to do its task. This was just a shy foal. She didn’t have the experience of death that could really harden someone’s will against petty things like crowds and audiences. I briefly entertained the thought of throwing her off a cliff a few times to erase her sense of fear, but then reluctantly discarded it. It might set off the pain.
 
“You’re just being a downer about this. Come on, practice some magic.”
 
It took a bit more cajoling but I finally got Twilight to give it a try. Grumbling, Twilight took a stance while I looked on with mild interest. Of course, if any one of my ‘colleagues’ ever found out I was helping a magus with their magic, I’d probably be slain on the spot. I put that dark thought to the back of my mind and paid attention. With a smile, I urged her on, and she responded with what was more of a weak grimace than a grin.
 
Unlike it usually was with Twilight at home or when we were alone, the magic on her horn barely glowed and any of her spells died before they could be given life. Since I was exposed to various types of magic over the years, I knew at least whenever a spell was successful or a failure, and this one… was a dud.
 
Twilight’s shoulders slumped as she looked at me with round, wet eyes.
 
I sighed, got up and trotted to her. While making eye contact (that’s apparently important to mortals) and placing a hoof on her shoulders, I drew from my experience for a way to give her a boost in confidence. 
 
Not from casting spells, no, but from the rich experiences of battles and anxiety that plagued younger demons before they would launch themselves into battle. Through my time as a demon, I’d often be relegated to tasking younger magicians and mortals to the frontline, where they would be inexorably chewed out and reused so much like a wet dishrag.
 
The trick to getting them to leap forward into almost certain death was to make them disregard it as such an obstacle in the first place. To demean it and reduce its importance to no more than a pebble on the side of the well-trodden warpath.
 
I stared into Twilight’s eyes and reconfirmed to myself what was driving her. Aptitude and success were only the result of her warped desire for companionship. She wanted to be accepted.
 
To belong.
 
I took a deep breath and focused my intent through my eyes.
 
“Imagine,” I said, “you’re standing in a wide open field with nothing but the grass and the sky above.”
 
Twilight began to close her eyes, but I tightened the pressure on her shoulders and forced them open again.
 
“Keep your eyes on me and imagine it all around us. There is nothing except you and I.”
 
Twilight nodded slightly, confused, but willing to go with what I told her.
 
“We are here in this warm place where there is no one but us to entertain us. There is no one but you, the magus, and me, the demon.”
 
Twilight’s taut expression relaxed slightly as she took in my words and shifted into a more casual posture. When she was ready, I whispered the words.
 
“Now, cast a spell.”
 
The spell erupted from her being in a graceful, illuminating heartbeat, spreading across the fine grooves of her spiralling horn and sparking into a warm glow in the sky.
 
“Now, imagine you are by yourself, I’m no longer there.”
 
“Morpheus?” she simpered. “W-Why?”
 
“This,” I said to her firmly, “is about yourself. Only you can conquer what is lurking there alone. You’re not afraid of the ponies around you. No, you’re afraid of yourself.”
 
“M-Morpheus, I-I can’t hold the spell!”
 
“Think!” I said urgently. “You’ve cast a spell a million times without me! You can do it a million times again! What is that feeling, that rush, that poise, that poignant moment when all the elements of your spell are dragged together into a cohesive magical structure guided by intent? 
 
“Feel it flow through you.
 
“Whether I’m there or not shouldn’t matter, whether there is one pony or many matters not! Only the feeling of that spell, only the rich execution of your intent, only the power flowing through your core and surging forward to your goal!
 
“Do it! Do it now! Do it with your own power! Show yourself that you’ll yield to no one!
 
“Cast. That. Spell.”
 
Twilight, eyes wide, was no longer seeing me, only the goal. She cast the spell once more. Grinning to myself, I gently gave her spell a little demonic boost. Instantly, the spell kindled. It blossomed beautifully like a fiery star in the night sky, so bright and bountiful in its bare radiance. Students around us stopped what they were doing and were staring in awe at the burst of light, like a second sun. It flushed out the darkness of winter and brought in the warmth of summer with its stunning brilliance.
 
“Well done,” I whispered to her as she sunk to her fetlocks with stupefied expression. “I’ll make a battle magus out of you yet.”
 
Elated, Twilight could only beam a giddy smile back.