Chapter 17: Devil's Deal
Kyle wondered just how long her family would keep her out in the stables.
Even with the redecorating, they were still entirely on their own, separated so completely that she wouldn’t see anyone unless they chose to seek her out. That was probably an advantage for Dad, but not so much for her own sanity. Or the baby’s either, for that matter. After her third day, she could tell that Fae was starting to get agitated by the confined space. She pressed to go outside more and more, and whined incessantly if they stayed inside for too long. Kyle knew better than to ignore her anger.
At least her family took care of her other needs. Now that everyone knew about her, she didn’t have to survive on whatever scraps Kara could scavenge from the crisper drawer. It was something.
“We’re doing everything we can,” Mom said, when she asked about it. “We’re making arrangements, Kyle. We’ll let you know as soon as we figure things out.”
“What is there to figure out?” she asked, pushing Fay gently back from the doorway. The longer she stayed in one place, the more the baby seemed interested in other people. Not that she ever got far from Kyle, but… “There’s no one who can fix this, except maybe Fay. And she hasn’t yet.” Maybe me too, but let’s not promise that now. She’ll expect me to keep it, and I don’t even know if I can.
Mom only shrugged noncommittally. “I’m not going to close any doors before we investigate what’s waiting on the other side. Maybe there’s a way to fix things that you didn’t think of. I’m not waiting for the alien to fix the damage it did. If we had anything to do with it, I would feel happier if it was far away from you. There’s no telling if she won’t cause more harm.”
“No!” She didn’t even think, didn’t have to. “I’d love to give her back to her mother, but Fay doesn’t have anyone else. If you took her away, she’d be…” She bent down, holding the child in her magic. “Look at her. You couldn’t abandon her, could you?”
Mom hesitated, but wasn’t able to answer the way she wanted. “We wouldn’t do that. It would be nice if her mother returned to fix the mess her daughter made. I’d like my son back.”
“I’d like my me back,” she countered. “If you see any giant horses with horns and wings, you call me. I’ll keep an eye on the backyard.”
And maybe take a few more hikes. She couldn’t help but think back to the place she’d found the baby, abandoned on a hillside. Maybe there was some clue about her that she hadn’t connected yet, some fact that could help fix this.
“Wait, Mom! I forgot about something. Up in my room… open my backpack. There’s a shard of blue glass in there. The baby was wrapped up in it, like a giant spiky flower. Maybe there’s a clue we can use?”
Mom turned back around, folding her arms. “Your father isn’t going to be happy you didn’t share that with us sooner.”
“I had other things on my mind!” she snapped back. The baby squirmed and shoved against her chest, squeaking for attention. Or… maybe that was fear? She could apparently sense her frustration with her mother’s reaction. “I don’t know if you noticed.”
“That’s Kara’s schtick,” Mom interrupted, smiling faintly. “You can’t pull off sarcasm like your sister. But… I’ll look into it. With biohazard protection, just in case. Maybe that’s how you caught this in the first place.”
She hurried back to the house, breaking into a light jog as soon as she was further away from Kyle. She watched her go, sighing deeply. “How am I supposed to fix this and care for you at the same time, Fay?”
She turned the baby around, sticking her tongue out and imitating her. That made Fay giggle, forgetting all her anger with Kyle. She was just a baby, and not terribly difficult to amuse so long as she didn’t do the same thing for too long.
But Fay wasn’t the only one losing her mind stuck in a tiny room—Kyle could only pace back and forth and stare at a laptop she could barely use for so long before she wanted to go outside. Even if she didn’t have many friends, or anywhere to be—stuck in the same room was a bit much for her.
Thankfully, they still had the grounds. Fay liked to run, even if she didn’t know what she was doing and probably would’ve fallen on her face more than once without Kyle there to catch her. Not only that, but the grounds never seemed to lose their appeal to her. They could look at the same statues every day, so long as they didn’t look at them for too long. Fay didn’t so much want the novelty, she just wanted attention.
“I wish you were a few years older,” Kyle muttered, settling down on her haunches beside the fountain. Once it had been in the center of a little hedge maze, but those took work and this one had been abandoned when she was still in preschool. Now there was only a thin layer of brown water collecting near the bottom, with green residue coating much of the interior.
The statue in the center was much too old and disfigured to judge—another cavalryman, by the roughly horse-shaped outline. “If you were bigger, you could just answer all our questions. You wouldn’t have needed to change me to get the care you needed. We could take you back to your family.”
Fay babbled in response, balancing on the stone bench. There was a fall to either side, but Kyle didn’t worry. So long as she didn’t take her eyes from her, she could catch Fay easily.
“You must miss them. Maybe that’s why you’re so sour if we sit around for too long. You start remembering them. Unless you were grown in a test-tube somewhere. It could still be that, even with… all the magic.” Realistically, it probably couldn’t be. But some part of her wanted to hold on to her rational explanation for everything, even if present evidence suggested otherwise.
Fay offered her no answers. At least she was in a good mood today. Something to distract Kyle from her life unraveling around her.
Maybe my anonymous helper will jump in to save the day. Once they figure out that I’m not lying to them, they might be exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Or maybe they represented the very danger that they’d been warning about, and their apparent sympathy was only a ruse to extract further obedience. Or maybe she was just being screwed with as elaborately as any other internet lolcow, by trolls with no idea they were actually dealing with the real thing.
Whichever the case, she did hear back from her mysterious benefactor later that day. She checked the disposable address the same way she did every afternoon, once Fay was down for a nap. No one had discovered the address yet, so she didn’t have to deal with a barrage of spam.
“Horse girl.
“After examining your message, I’m reasonably confident you’re telling the truth. I’m still trying to process exactly how this has happened to you, since your story doesn’t conform with any of the existing methods that might’ve left you this way. The Hidden Masters don’t seem to be involved—or if they are, their touch is so subtle that you haven’t detected it. I know I can’t, given the photo.
“I know you’ll want more help. I wish I could do more now, but I can do something. Swear to never divulge what I share with you with another human being. Do it in the following way:”
What followed was a… ritual, there was no other word for it. Symbols she had to draw on something flammable, then touch with a little blood and burn, after speaking her promise aloud.
“That will do jack shit for you if this is all a joke. Most people are sleeping deeper than three weeks of Xanax and a few fifths of whisky. But if those images are true, then you’ll have enough magic to spark it. It’s an oath, so don’t fucking break it. That’s your first magical lesson, free of charge. Magic is a promise, and if you want it to serve you, keep your promises.
“Prove you’re worth anything, and we’ll probably have to do more than email. I won’t lie and tell you I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart. If this works out, and you live through this mess, you’ll owe me. Magical favor from a creature like you—it’ll be worth something a century or two from now. But our interests align in the meantime. You have to live for me to cash in. So do what I say, and you live.
“You don’t need to reply to this message. When you’ve done it, I’ll know, and I’ll send you the first few lessons. Study well, and get back to me when you master the basics. Or don’t do what I said, and you won’t hear from me again. I don’t have time to waste with skeptics—sleepers have no reason to believe in magic, and I don’t blame them. But you do, if you weren’t lying.
“Good luck.”
Kyle stared at the diagram for a long time, trying to wrap her mind around the shapes. It certainly looked like it could be the design for a magical spell. The language was vaguely Arabic, with an angular style more like runes. Stranger still, it just wasn’t there when she tried to take a screenshot. Even using her phone, the picture blurred beyond recognition.
The hell?
But at this point, Kyle couldn’t exactly say that one impossible thing was more impossible than being an adoptive horse mom. She was surrounded by evidence of things that shouldn’t be possible.
None of the supplies she’d need were in the nursery in any case. So she waited, until Kara made an appearance after school, with the evening’s dinner delivery.
“Hey horse.” She slipped through the door, offering a carboard box of fresh produce. Washed this time, instead of right from the farming store. So… that was an improvement. “Any exciting developments?”
“Promise not to tell Mom and Dad?”
She grinned in response. “You know I’m good for it, Kyle. Whatever you’re thinking.”
She did know. It didn’t matter that they were older now, and Kara was better than her in every way. A lifetime of closeness couldn’t be erased by more recent failures.
She told her, recounting her desperate pleas for help. She had to explain the steps she’d taken to hide her identity, since Kara had never really understood anything that technical. Then she went through the conversation—the person she’d taken seriously, and their promise of help. Complete with a bizarre demand of a ritual.”
By the time she finished, Fay was up again, and demanded her attention. She bounced the foal up and down, delaying her desire for food as long as she could, even knowing full well what she wanted.
“That’s… I’d say it was stupid and silly, but you’re a horse holding a horse magically in the air. Guess we don’t know as much as we thought we did.”
Kyle nodded, waiting for her to get past that point. She’d already thought about that—it was the obvious place to start. But then she got past it. “Let’s think about it both ways. They… kinda built the proof right into their email. There’s no reason this stranger should know that you burned a weird symbol. If anything happens, you’re good.
“But if magic is real, then… you don’t know what you’re doing. They admit right there in the message that they expect things from you later. Maybe you’re, like…” She trailed off, waving a hand through the air. “I dunno, what happens in those nerdy books you like?”
She flushed, ears flattening. Fay seemed to notice her discomfort, spinning around to glare at Kara. Nothing approaching the anger she could somehow show, but clear disapproval. “Lots of things. I guess it could be a trick. But what if it’s not?”
Kara sighed, slumping into the oversized cushion. “You sure you don’t want to ask Mom and Dad about it? They might have some advice.”
She laughed in response, so energetically that Fay copied her and started giggling too. It didn’t matter if she didn’t understand. “Their advice will just be taking my computer away, maybe burning it instead. I’m not telling them.”
Kara shrugged, defeated. “Well bro, what will you do?”
A few minutes later, the sheet of paper was burning.
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At first I thought this mystery person was Sunset, but now I’m expecting a vampire or something. “A century or two” is a pretty big hint.
this is going to prove to be a vary good idea in the long run.
10113717
if i am guessing right (not likely) this is going to be some one with way more power than Sunset.
Should've promised to not to share with other sleepers. Interesting how the promise doesn't exclude anything but humans, so he'll able to tell it to ponies... Or Kara if he turns her into something else.
10113717
I haven't thought of Sunset since the beginning, because if this is Sunset's world. The homing spell should be able to trace it through the mirror in the castle, not outside Equestria like this.
10113717
In a lot of fantasy settings wizards and other magic users tend to live a very long time on Harry Dresden as one example.
summoning circles could work, just make sure you get the fail-safes in place before trying.
What sort of oath or promise is this guy asking for? Because making a promise when you don't know what your promising probably will not help at all.
Yes, doing something you don't understand but sure sounds like some kind of satanic ritual on behalf of someone you don't know or have any real reason to trust is clearly a brilliant idea
Well, hopefully Twilight and Cadance will be able to bail Kyle out of whatever trouble they've gotten themselves into when they show up...
I'm still of the opinion that this mysterious individual doesn't know what he's talking about. Believes what he's saying yes, but nothing in what he's stated sounds remotely like it could apply to Equestrian abilities.
Actually sounds somewhat demonic come to think of it... which means if it is something real? You'd want to stay far away from it. Being a female horse-thing would be infinitely preferable.
Welp, Kyle just signed a contract without reading it. I'm sure that won't ever bite him in the rear. Hopefully his contact will prove helpful.
10113717
The reference to "sleepers" does feel very World of Darkness. If this world's magic operates along similar lines... Yeah, no wonder the anonymous contact is scratchin their head over Flurry. Magic should not work that way, and yet...
I think Kyle will be a slave ..
that is not a good idea..
Bad idea. It is the same but worse as signing a contract without reading it. The guy on the other side would have respected a reply that went, I trust in the ritual but saying that I am loathe to sign anything I haven't read and don't understand.
At the very least I would have Google translated the words of the spell.
Well, that totally can not go wrong whatsoever
Kyle is weak
Well, I would have been a lot more interested if I'd known that this was a "Mage: the Awakening" crossover; everything from the Hidden Masters, the Sleepers and the operation of the ritual itself screams that. Hopefully, Kyle didn't just get bound to something dangerous.
10113717
Could still be Sunset. There's a LOT of fanfics about that.
Probably, yes.
Caveat emptor. There's a time and place for hasty decisions, but this probably isn't it.
10113891
That can be alternative translation of Veiled Masters, in this case it's Hogosha, not mage of Ascension, or Awakening.
Bad idea I smell a bad idea
You called her Flurry there, rather than Fay.
10113717 10113731 10113989
The story has been explicit that this is not the world Sunset Shimmer lives in. It's further away on whatever axis you use to measure that sort of thing.
10114115
Good catch, fixed.
10113844
Humans require social contact, and I imagine ponies even more so.
10114247
Kyle is weaaaaaaak
That's not at all an ominous title name, given the contents. In with the 'at least ask what you're signing first' club.
Demonz
Email guy is either totally BS, or Kyle's just enslaved himself to a demon. There ain't no good coming from a ritual like that. Though I guess he wouldn't know how Equestrian magic is really cast. Even though, I wouldn't assume some ominous ritual would be related to adorable colorful ponies. This guy's just not on the level. In literally every way. Let's hope it's all just a prank. The worst that could happen is Kyle making a fool of himself. It won't be long before the real magician reveals herself and saves the day.
10114156
It's "Fae" now instead of "Fay." (At least it was when I was reading this)
and Kyle delves further down the rabbit hole
Likelier than you might expect.
That doesn't really sound like Equestrian magic in any way. Native magic to this Earth?
Now this makes me wonder, if this rule also applies to the Verse where the rest of the Alicorns exist(or applies at all, assuming this isn't a trick to teach obedience), how does it apply to every pony there? What does this mean for Fay now that she has expended incredible amounts of magic three times in a relatively short span of time? What will this do in the next chapter to Kyle if the promise is retroactive? If it is not, what does this mean for him in general? He has already started to use magic, granted it's only telekinesis, but still.
As soon as I could talk to this dude again, I would ask how my maybe-not-so-immediate-but-still-fairly-immediate interests to find the real family of Fay and get my old body back aligns with their interests in getting a favour from my current body in a few centuries...
---
EDIT: Also, what would happen to his sister now that she isn't one of the sleepers anymore? Or his family for that matter?
Silly Kyle, when making strange promises with magical enforcement you always add conditions! Like "Unless in case of life and death, or you attempt to harm, capture, or otherwise purposefully disrupt the lives of friends, family, or any extension of friends, and in the instance that you not abuse this promise to steal my magic, or otherwise coerce me into actions I would not otherwise consent to Will I do my best to keep your lessons and discussions secret. Unless another individual is already aware of said interactions already in which case I will not disclose more than explicitly allowed"
You really gotta add the fine print10114926
That's... a very good point. If this anonymous benefactor is genuine, then any successful attempt at actually upholding his end of things is going to make Kyle magic-less and mortal again. Not much to cash into there.
Ooh boy, never trust some shady dude on the internet who may have given you some sort of satanic ritual thingy. I'd rather stay a pony than have my soul sacrificed to some demon.
10114115
I think that this was the narrator.
Bad choice. It's obviously a magically binding contract and he can't read the fine print.
10116233
agreed... This could very easily be a binding ritual to force her to be controlled partially or outright. Could also be the begginings of a soul swap considering this guy wants her magic and she wants to be a human again. His angle could be to trade his human body for that of an alicorn to gain immense power.
Oc this is speculation.
10114953
LAWYER ALERT... This guy speaks... fine print...
Time to summon the mystic, green question mark.
10117874
Exactly. It's magic, literally anything could happen, all it needs is power. In terms of this kind of thing it's a magically binding contract, as said, as soon as you sign, it's binding. It's not like law, or a promise that can be broken and the worst you'll get is jail time. No, this could take your magic, your life, even your mind. It could do literally anything to you.
And as said, she can't read the fine print. She doesn't know what the contract does, and again it's not like law or a promise wherein the contract is null and void if someone that signs it cannot read it.
10113758
The email says, and Kyle spoke it out loud (which wasn't covered in the text, because it doesn't need to be).
10118156
There could still be hidden clauses in the spell itself. Also if this is the case she is already unknowingly breaking it since she signed it with her sister present... That means... if that is what the terms are then they are indeed broken. We need only read further to find the truth.
As ever, there appears to be a lot more going on than anyone had suspected....
And that's how you get bound by a contract, oh no.
10114115
And then it was changed to "Fey"!
Remove the end quotation mark.
> But some part of her wanted to hold on to her rational explanation for everything, even if present evidence suggested otherwise
Rational means using the available evidence properly. With this evidence, you would rationally conclude that magic is real. The word he's looking for is 'conventional'.
And speaking of rational…
1) getting a ritual magic
2) after being told it requires a promise not to share it with anyone, sharing it with someone
3) despite not understanding it, casting it anyway
So yeah, rational isn't a good approximation of the thought process here.
"Caught this". Right. I suppose the stables also "caught" something, then?
Didn't the guy start off by saying not to make contracts with any dodgy people? I dunno, seems kinda contradictory