Tales of Equestria

by Neroson40

The Demon Contract

Silver first became aware of an intense pain in his right front leg. The next thing he knew was he didn’t feel like his usual self, at least not in body shape. Then he opened his eyes and he was… somewhere like Manehatten. The buildings, the streets… only the inhabitants weren’t ponies. They stood on their hind legs and their front legs swayed at their sides. Their muzzles were smaller and they wore clothes all over their bodies… Silver stood up and, imitating the weird creatures, found it easy to stand on two legs. He walked out of the alley and found one of the creatures looking like…

“Rainbow Dash?” he said quietly. He watched her run past then wondered where he was, what he was even.

“Mommy, that man’s arm is weird!” A little girl said pointing to Silver. It was then that he realized the pain in his left… arm?… may not have been in his head. He looked down at the appendage… and was instantly horrified. It was like the thing crawled out of the depths of Tartarus, plates of demonic skin and eerie protoplasm took on the shape of what his mother called a “hand.” he hid the thing in his jacket sleeve and ran opposite the way Rainbow Dash went. Where am I? He asked himself. What am I? Eventually he ran into someone else.

“Rider!” Silver said as he got back on his feet.

“Silver?” Rider asked. “You recognize me with this body?” Wave Rider was the daughter of a friend of Silver’s mom, though he assumed he bore more of a resemblance to her father, whoever he was. “never mind. How do we get back to Equestria?” the pain in Silver’s arm flared up, knocking him down on hands and knees. “The hay is that?” Rider asked.

“I don’t know… but it hurts.”

“We need to find someone...” Then it occurred to her. “The Sirens!”

“What?”

“If we offer to give the Sirens their powers back, they may be able to help!” it was then that Silver realized what she was talking about. It was thanks to the magic of the sirens that his parents were almost not… married or anything like that. Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk used music to make the people of Canterlot High argue with each other except for the six who got closest to Silver’s Mother.

“Not a chance!” Silver said. “They almost tore my parents apart, there’s no way I’ll help them!”

“Like it or not, they’re the only ones who can help you.” Rider said. “At least they can make the pain go away.” His arm started to sting a little, so he was forced to agree with her.

“Fine! But how will we get their powers back?”

“I’m getting a lot of power from that thing, we can give some of it to them in exchange, right?”

“I think you’re talking out you tail now.” Despite the pain, Silver tried to keep the snarky demeanor that he was known for. The look on Rider’s face said everything she wanted to. “Fine, let’s go with that!” Silver followed Rider’s lead, she had a secondary talent for locating ponies (And really anything sentient) so why should she be unable to find the Sirens (or the Dazzlings as his mom called them)?

Eventually they ran into three girls. They fit the description of the Sirens’ human forms in a restaurant that sold… Hamburgers? huh… so Silver took a chance and asked them the question.

“Are you the Dazzlings?” he winced.

“That’s us,” The one with the purple skin and hair, Aria, answered in annoyance. “You want to make fun of us too?”

“No… we want to make a deal,” Rider said. the Sirens looked a little more annoyed. But the one called Sonata asked what it was.

“I need help to lessen the pain in this thing.” Silver whispered as he showed them the arm. “Rider here suggests whatever power you take that lessens it, or even return it to normal, you can keep.” The Sonata and Aria looked at him with a bit of hope, but the leader, Adagio Dazzle… her response was still on the reveal of the hand. She looked at it in horror.

“How can you still stand with that thing?” She asked. “It hurts because it’s taking your magic energy away from you!”

“But I’m an Earthling!” Silver said followed by a wave of pain like a lightning bolt. The sweat on his brow fell off his forehead. “I don’t have magic!”

“That’s never happened before,” Adagio said. “Either way we don’t want the power, you gotta find a way to use it yourself.”

“Can you make the pain go away at least?” He hissed.

“I don’t think we have a choice here Adagio,” Aria said.

“I agreed,” Sonata responded. “We might get some form of redemption at least.”

“Alright,” Adagio sighed. “We’ll take some of the power.” They started to sing acapella. The pain in Silver’s arm was getting lighter. The arm itself wasn’t changing aside from the plasma glowing ever so slightly fainter but it hurt less. Gemstones were starting to form on the Dazzlings’ necks. The song was approaching an end and the arm looked… no different physically.

“Okay, we’ve done all we can,” Adagio said. “That demon’s not coming off any time soon.”

“Demon!?” Rider screamed. Everyone in the restaurant looked at them while the Dazzlings and Silver shushed her.

“We made the thing rest a while longer, but we don’t want its power, go to the Wondercolt statue at Canterlot High and walk through it, give these to Princess Celestia.” Adagio said as she removed the gem around her neck. Aria and Sonata, though startled by the action, followed suit. “Tonight should be the night when you can travel between the worlds naturally, so it’ll be easier to meet Celestia.”

“If you don’t want the power, how can we repay you?” Rider said.

“You’ll owe us one.” Aria said in exasperation.

The Mirror in the Crystal Empire was disorienting to go through, it always gave Silver a headache to travel between the worlds, especially because his body changed whenever he did. Though the headache was lighter this particular time… which should’ve been the first indicator that something was wrong. He lifted his hand to his forehead and rubbed the migraine. It took him ten seconds to realized that he still had a hand. He looked at the thing, horrified that he was still… a monkey? No, monkeys have tails. He freaked out, screaming and crawling backwards from the mirror.

“Silver…!?” Rider said from the right. The affliction hadn’t spread to her at least, she was a Pegasus in blue with white mane and a cutie mark that showed a jet ski and waves on either side of it. “What Happened!?”

“I don’t know!” Silver shouted. “I don’t think I can be a pony anymore!” there were clopping hooves down the hall and then Silver realized that he and Rider were surrounded by Guards with spears pointed at them.

“Who are you?” The leader of the guards asked. Silver recognized him, he was younger than when Silver knew him as a retiree, but this was definitely his uncle Shining Armour. “This creature is possessed by a demon! Unicorn Troops, Keep your distance!” Silver stood up.

“I need to… see the princess!” He said. “Take me to Celestia!”

“Answer my question first! Who are you and the Pegasus!?” Shining demanded. Silver swallowed in fear of the worst once he said what he had to.

“My name is Silver Streak,” He said. “I am the son of Princess Twilight Sparkle!” the fact that Shining thought he wasn’t taking it seriously led to him stepping forward himself… to be blown a way by an ungeist, a demon’s astral image on the physical plain.

“Can’t let you hurt my partner!” The thing said… though it looked like whatever Silver was in this new form. It was masculine, of medium build and covered by a cloak in black with brown hair and grey sunglasses. “You okay, boss?”

“Now’s not the time to ask who you are, but why did you possess me?”

“I didn’t, we have a contract. My power for a body for me to live in.” Silver looked around to see if anypony else was seeing what he was… but they looked frozen, with the same expression on their face as when he popped out. “Can’t remember the motive behind the contract, or when it was initialized, but I do know it is a contract, not a possession.”

“Did you freeze time?” Silver asked out of nowhere.

“That’s the least of my self-saved power,” The ungeist said. “But yeah… what else do you want to know?”

“I guess now’s a good time to ask your name, and can our contract be a possible demonic contagion on magic ponies?”

“Names’ Century. And no, the contract actually prevents a demonic outbreak, even coming in contact with those gems won’t affect anyone. Any other questions?”

“Later, can you set time back on course?” Century smiled, snapped his fingers and vanished in a puff of smoke as everyone started to move again.

“Commander Armour!” one of the soldiers shouted.

“I’m… fine?” Shining queried. “aside from the throbbing.”

“Turns out I’m not contagious.” Silver said. “But I need to see Celestia to explain!” the guard stood down as he walked by them and helped Shining to his feet.

“Lt. Surge!” Shining shouted. “Escort… Mr. Streak to the station. I’ll send a message to Princess Celestia to expect him…” He looked to Rider. “… and his friend.” Rider followed them out of the castle at Shining’s command.

Author's Note:

It's been a while FIMfiction