You're a demon (Apparently)

by Turtwig-Tales


Chapter 14

The wind tousled your hair as you watched the sunset, yesterday’s events replaying in your mind. It had not gone as you had anticipated, but it had worked out. After that, the Princesses had gone about collecting the resources to send you back. Twilight had gone over the list with you, but all that magic talk went right over your head. What mattered is that earlier today, Spike had coughed up word that they had everything, and were on their way. Right now, they were setting it all up back at Twilight’s place. If everything went right, your time in this world was just about over.

Amber shifted slightly in your lap, rousing herself from the light doze brought on by your scratching. Even though she had been cleared to leave the hospital, for now, she still tired out quickly.

“How long was I…?” she trailed off, still half-asleep.

“Only a few minutes.” You replied, smiling.

“Hm…I don’t want to waste this…For a second, I thought you were gone…”

“Don’t worry, I’m still here.”

She looked away towards the horizon.

“Only for a little while longer…” she mumbled.

There was a pause, as the two of you just looked to the sun. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the town, with Twilight’s treehouse standing out amongst the buildings. A faint, golden light glinted from a balcony. Apparently, the Princesses really did move the sun and moon. Go figure.

“I’m sorry.” Amber finally said.

“What for?”

“I…I’ve only been a burden to you. The doctors told me what you did. If I hadn’t let myself get hurt, you…” she trailed off as she began sobbing.

You held her close.

“Amber.” You said softly, but firmly. “That wasn’t your fault. I made the choice to leave Zecora’s. And even though it worked out, it was too close. No one could have been able to know what was going to happen.

“BUT SHOULD HAVE!” she wailed. “I’m the one that should be able to know these things and prevent them!”

She buried her face in your chest. You did your best to ignore the stabbing pain from her horn.

“…You said it yourself, your visions are clear. You had an idea of what was going to happen, but no specifics. Let alone how to stop whatever was.”

That seemed to help. A little. If nothing else, she stopped stabbing you with her face. Her eyes met yours, her molten copper eyes still shining with tears. An idea popped into your head, and you grabbed Amber’s necklace.

“Why not give it another shot? See if something’s different?” you offered.

“A-Are you sure?” she asked.

“Sure. I’d like to know if there’s a good chance of me getting incinerated in the next couple of hours.” You joked, which didn’t seem to help improve her mood. “And besides, I trust you. You got this.”

Amber paused, thinking it over. After a moment, she lit her horn and looked into the old sap with the heart-shaped leaf. Her eyes glowed with the same molten-copper light as before, and the fiery light of her magic danced around her. After a moment she breathed in sharply and blinked, a shudder running down her spine.

“You okay?” you asked.

Amber nodded.

“Yes, just…taking it all in.”

“Is it that bad?”

“No, I…I’m not sure. I couldn’t make much sense of it. I…I saw you in the circle, like the last time I looked. The spell goes off the same way as before, and…not much after. There were…flashes, but I don’t understand what they meant. I saw a building, as big as the Princess’ castle. A massive hole in the ground. A…pony, I think? An Earth Pony, as big as Celestia. And…” she shuddered again. “Something turned them to stone, I think. They were reared up, so maybe something scared them? I’ve heard of something called a Cockatrice…”

She trailed off, her eyes wide with worry.

“I…didn’t see you there. I’m sorry, but I don’t know if it’s going to work…”

You thought about it for a moment. What Amber saw didn’t mean you wouldn’t make it home, but it still wasn’t a guarantee. There were plenty of big buildings back on Earth, that was for sure. The hole didn’t make much sense, but it wasn’t impossible for there to be one. Some kind of construction project? What concerned you was the last vision. A super-sized pony, sans horn and wings, possibly turned to stone by another creature you’d never heard of before? Given your recent track record, it didn’t bode well. On a note, you decided to never go camping again. Zoos were still up for debate. You and animals weren’t getting along well recently.

After a moment you stretched and let out a sigh.

“Well, no point in stressing about it. We’ve got to do it either way, so whatever happens, happens.”

Amber nodded but didn’t look encouraged.

A thought struck you.

“Were you there?” you asked your equine friend.

“What?” Amber answered, taken aback.

“Were you there when the spell goes off?”

“I…I think so, why?”

You smiled and continued rubbing behind her ears.

“That’s good. The last time you checked, you weren’t there when it happened. I’m glad this time there’s a good chance you’ll be there to see me off.”

She blushed and smiled back at you, albeit a bit sadly.

“Yes, I guess that is the best we could hope for at this point.”

The sun dipped closer to the horizon, and the sky blazed in orange, red, and yellow light. You looked into Amber’s eyes. Huh. They were pretty much the same color.

Blazing warm colors gave way to dark cooler hues as the sun finally sank below the horizon, the moon taking its place in the sky behind you. It looked bigger than the moon back home. The sky lit up with a tapestry of stars, adding to the moonlight. The light reflection caused Ambers eyes to sparkle, a stark contrast to her pale blue coat and sea-green mane.

She looked…beautiful.

Wordlessly, unconsciously, you drifted closer to her. Your eyes never moved away from hers.

Your lips came within a hair’s width from each other, almost touching…



Ahem. Am I interrupting something?” a voice behind you spoke up. The two of you scrambled to turn around in a mess of arms, legs, and hooves. Luna attempted to cover her smirk with a hoof. She did not do well.

“Apologies. I sometimes forget how easy it is to sneak up on creatures enjoying my night.” She stopped being subtle and grinned at you with a cat-like grin. “Although I doubt your attention was on the sky, was it?”

“Nothing happened!” you squawked awkwardly. “We weren’t doing anything!”

“Anymore…” Amber grumbled.

“Of course.” Luna chuckled.

You got up and dusted yourself off.

“So, what’s up?”

Luna’s face sunk into a much more serious one.

“Yes, I’m sorry to cut your goodbye short but…” she sighed.



“Everything is ready. It’s time to send you home.”







“Are you…sure this will work?” You hesitantly ask Twilight. Her mane was a mess, with random lock poking out everywhere.

“Yep! Totally!” she almost cackled. The wild look in her eyes and the random twitching was not reassuring.

“We have gone over the spell as best we can. We are confident it will work as intended.” Celestia clarified.

“Uh-huh. How confident?”

Twilight flipped through one of the many papers strewn about the library.

“Best estimate? About seventy-three-point-two-nine percent.” She took a deep breath smoothed her mane a bit. “Give or take a percentile depending on how the mana fields and interstellar winds interact, of course.”

“Everything will work out for the best, I’m sure.” Luna reassured you.

The circle on the floor had that familiar white glow, the same as the one you had found yourself in when you first arrived. It had not been that long but felt like it had been months, if not a year since then. This new circle wasn’t as big as Father’s but it looked much more complex.

You looked out at the small group around you. Twilight, Spike, Luna, Celestia, Discord, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and…fine, Rainbow Dash. To call them ‘Friends’ was, in some cases a stretch, but…hell they gave it their best shot.

And…Amber.

The memory of the moments before Luna arrived was still fresh in your mind. With it brought…questions. Questions that you weren’t sure you knew the answer to. Questions that seemed to look like would never be answered.

On that note, you guessed it was time for goodbyes.

You gave Celestia and Luna a polite bow, who returned the gesture in kind and wished you well. Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were swept up in and hug. Spike, being the only creature present with both what passed for hands and a Y-chromosome received the coveted ‘Bro-Fist.’ Applejack punched you affectionately on the shoulder, and Rarity offered her hoof for a polite hoof/handshake. You and Rainbow stuck your tongues out at each other.

Then, you came up to Discord.

“Discord, you may have left me mostly to own devices in a world I knew nothing about, did nothing to help me get home, and did little, if anything, about your friends who were actively hunting me down like an animal…”

“But…?” He offered.

“Hold on, I’m thinking.”

Discord huffed.

But,” you sighed. “you didn’t immediately kill me, may have subtly helped me survive here and there, and made a few decent pop-culture references. So I at least have a neutral opinion of you, I guess.”

“That’s all I ever wanted.” Discord whispered, wiping a tear from his eye.

You shook your head and moved on to…

Amber.

What could you possibly say to the only one that had consistently been on your side? To the one that kept you focused on making it through this whole mess? To likely the best friend you had ever had, in this world or the one you were about to return to? As you swept her up in the tightest, most loving hug you had ever given, the words came to you.



“Thank you.”



You held her there for what felt like forever. Honestly, you wish it could have been forever. She melted into the embrace, first with a light sob, then tears, then outright wailing that threatened to tear your heart out. You held her for as long as you could, rocking her and scratching behind her ears.

As she began to calm down, Celestia placed a hoof on your shoulder.

“I’m sorry, but we must proceed.” She stated with a calm, empathetic voice.

You nodded and withdrew your arms from Amber. She whimpered softly, and Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder.

As you took your place in the center of the circle, you looked around the room one last time.

“Well…Let’s get this over with.”

Everyone took their respective places around the circle in silence. Twilight and the other Elements took the primary spaces around the circle, with their magic bling shining in the faint light. From what you had been told, they were going to be the main ignition of the spell. The artifacts they wore would basically be powering the spell and kind of ‘willing’ you to go home. Celestia and Luna faced opposite of each other and would act as sort of anchor to keep everyone but the target (you) where they were. Amber and Spike would be outside of the circle as observers, and Discord would be as far away as space would allow. Luna claimed his ‘chaotic aura’ could interfere with the process, but you suspected she just wanted him out of the way.

“So am I gonna feel anything? ‘Cause the trip here wasn’t exactly ‘pleasant’.” You asked.

“…Maybe…?” Twilight grimaced. “We’re dealing with a lot of unknowns here. If it’s any consolation, I’m almost entirely certain there’s a good chance you’ll at least survive the initial casting mostly intact!”

“Wonderful...let’s get this over with.”

One by one the six Elements began to glow and rise in the air. You had a moment of déjà vu of when you first encountered them, right before they tried to nuke you out of existence. Good times. For a brief moment you wondered if they were just going to try doing that again, but you decided to trust them. Even if you ended up as a pile of ash, it was probably better than whatever the universe was cooking up to get rid of you anyway.

Amber’s gaze met your own. She looked absolutely distraught. Spike did his best to comfort her, but it seemed to do little to help her.

As the circle began to glow brighter a buzzing filled the air. The floating mares' eyes snapped open with a flash of white light, and the circle below them shifted colors to match the gems they wore. The colors began to swirl around you, pulsing and shifting with increasing speed. A faint pillar of light surrounded you.

Amber blinked, as though an idea came to her that she hadn’t considered before. You hoped it was something that would help when you were gone.

Suddenly, you felt the odd sensation of gravity reversing as you began to weakly float in the air. At least you weren’t dropping through the floor this time. You weren’t anxious to have a repeat of the ‘organ house party’ you had on your arrival.

Without warning, Amber bolted forward, knocking Spike to the side. She paused briefly at the circles’ edge, but only for a moment. Steeling her nerves, she leaped over the line and bolted towards you. The buzzing grew to a loud drone, drowning out the shout from Spike. Your vision began to blur as the light around you became blinding.

About five feet from you, she leaped into the air with her forelimbs outstretched. On instinct, you tried to reach out to her.

She shouted over the drone, and you barely managed to make out what she said:



“I’m coming with-“



Before she finished, your vision whited out and a massive force to your gut flung you through the ether, hurdling through time and space.