22 - Remedial Lessons
Twilight tapped a pointer held in her magic. "Now, Blue Belle, I know you must feel awkward, but let us begin by noting that making a mistake like this is... more common than you would think."
Blue had heard Twilight had gotten into some kind of trouble... "You say?"
"I do." She tapped the board. "For instance, Starlight once threatened all of Equestria with time travel."
"Oh my." Blue set a hoof at her cheek. "Did she also require remedial lessons?"
"As a matter of fact, yes." Twilight nodded firmly. "She is learning under me, and now I have been trusted with another talented, but misguided pony. But! But..." She waved the pointer at Blue. "I have an admission." Blue leaned in closer, just as Twilight wanted. "I also used forbidden magic."
Blue gasped dramatically. "Whatever did you do? You seemed quite the stickler for arcane rigor."
"And, normally, I am." She colored faintly, thinking back on it. "I had worked myself into quite a tizzy... twice if I'm honest... Once involving mass mental alteration, the second with a little time travel myself. I am happy to report that Equestria as a whole was not threatened by my foalish mistakes."
"Thanks for small reprieves, my dear." Blue Belle inclined her head, considering Twilight in a new light. "We all make our mistakes..."
"Which is exactly why I came. I heard what you did, and it was wrong, but I am still convinced you're a good pony and a great wizard, so I want to foster both of those things." She clopped her hooves together. "Did Luna explain what a demon is yet?"
"Today's lessons were to be about that precise subject." Blue nodded softly, raising a hoof before it fell back down in an aborted motion. "Was that what you wanted to go over?"
"Actually, no." Twilight shook her head. "I don't know much about them, besides the mythological view, which, I will note, is enough to make me not want to deal with them." She leaned in, eyes shining. "And you just casually made friends with one?"
"We weren't friends." Blue waved that thought away. "She was my employee, and a good one at that. While our relationship was cordial, to speak as if we were peers is quite unseemly."
Twilight let out a soft huh at that response. "Maybe I'm using the wrong word." Her tongue poked free in her intense consideration of the matter. "Were you happy to see her?"
"Of course." Blue lifted an ear faintly. "If I did not look forward to the presence of a particular servant, then I chose quite poorly in selecting them, did I not?"
Twilight deflated slightly, seeing she had gone on the wrong path. "Let's put that aside. This is the problem, and it is a noble problem."
"A noble problem?!" She recoiled at the idea. "I've just come into my own in that regard. I did quite well!" More defensive than anything else.
"I'm not questioning that," Twilight placated gently. "But, as a noble, it is your job to select your retinue carefully, knowing they reflect on you."
"This... is entirely true." Blue allowed a shallow nod. "Poorly selected servants can make a terrible mess of one's reputation, not to mention not getting things done that need to be done correctly."
"Which is exactly the problem." Twilight's smile grew, confidence building. "Your demon servant, she came from bad stock, terrible reputation. Even if she was trustworthy and capable..."
Blue slapped a hoof against her cheek. "It all makes sense now!" As if the entire demonic thing had just been alien to her, which it had been in large part. "Poor thing, to come from such a distasteful lineage... And there I am, dirtying my hooves along the way." She sank to her belly with a delicate frown. "I've made a right mess of things."
"Celestia forgave you," hastily reminded Twilight.
"But Fancy Pants saw it!" Blue set her hooves on Twilight's shoulders, shaking the alicorn vigorously. "He knows I hired and defended such a distasteful retinue! He must be thinking of it... speaking of it." She slid back to the floor, on her belly, trembling with visions of her peers whispering to one another about the utterly tasteless selection she made in mentor. "My reputation!"
"I was... told he found you not guilty." Twilight looked at her student, unsure of how to proceed. "Let's focus on what we will do, rather than what is already done."
"It isn't that easy!" Blue clopped down as she drew herself back to standing, a shake sending her dress rustling around her. "He is a dear chap, and said nothing to my face. Of course he wouldn't... He's far too dignified for that." She was breathing hard, envisioning the series of events. "But as soon as he was alone with another upper class pony, he would whisper. We all do it. We all do it!" She threw her hooves wide, just to collapse over backwards, facing the ceiling with tears stinging at her eyes.
"I thought I was coming into my own, but I had ruined everything before I took even that first step," Blue lamented, chest quivering with a fresh wave of sniffles and tears. "Everypony's probably already talking about it. Look at Blue Belle, she can't even hire even one pony before she's got her hooves in trouble. Did you hear? They were a demon! Anypony with sense would know better!"
"Most ponies have no idea what a demon is," dryly countered Twilight, watching Blue melt down. "On the other hoof, I can see why Rarity made up with you."
"Huh?" Blue peeked up out of her misery, confused. "Whatever do you mean?"
"You and her share..." She waffled her hoof in the air, uncertainty rising. "Certain coping strategies when faced with social calamity." There, perfect! "Blue Belle, I feel certain it's not as bad as you're imagining it."
"How would you know?" She rolled up to her haunches, regarding Twilight. "You are a princess, there's no arguing that. But you don't navigate Canterlot circles by habit. I would know, I don't see you there."
"While true... I do know Fancy Pants." She leaned in a little. "And he's run into a pony with questionable choice in social connections before."
"He has?! What did he do?" Suddenly Twilight was the center of Blue's world. "Did he gossip? I probably would have," she admitted without shame.
"He defended her. While unusual and unconventional, he saw the good side of Rarity's friends and stood up for her even as the other ponies were ready to look down their upturned noses." Twilight half-circled Blue. "Of all the ponies you could have had such a... faux paus with, Fancy is the least worrisome."
"Truly?" Blue drew a ragged breath as she rose to her full height. "You're not just making that up?"
"Stick a cupcake in my eye," Twilight said with a gravity that such a whimsical statement did not deserve.
Blue inclined her head, snorting gently. "Dear... I haven't the foggiest what that means, but I understood your meaning. Very well... if you vouch for Fancy, I will... accept this." She pointed at Twilight accusingly. "But I will be back if you're wrong!"
"Accepted. Now, about that teacher of yours..." She pressed her hooves together, her cheek resting against that union. "That's quite the interesting teacher to have. That explains some of the odd habits you were picking up. I heard from Starlight that you have learned well, from me and this demonic tutor. Even if your spellcraft is a bit... odd... it's certainly effective."
"How is it odd?" Blue squinted a little at that offensive word. "I can read, recite, and cast spells quite well!"
"Of that I have no doubt." Though she placed Blue in the Talented Caster bucket. Blue had shown no real desire or ability to research obscure spells or make up any new ones. A valued place to be, despite that. The number of Talented Casters was lower than the number of unicorns by quite a margin. "I am curious, do you want to know more about magic itself, or are you happy with the effects of the spells?"
"One casts a spell to cause its effect," she answered in an uncertain way. "You're confusing me. Oh! Do you mean to ask if I want to learn more magic? I do like collecting spells, quite the bad habit I've grown fond of." She clopped her hooves in a little applause to herself. "Starlight whispered that to you, didn't she? Naughty gossip." She didn't sound at all ruffled about that gossip happening.
"She did mention it... But more to the point, when you see a new spell, your thought is 'What can I do with this?'"
Belle's brow raised high. "Whatever else would I be thinking of?" And there, drawn in the sand, the difference between Twilight and Belle, between a Researcher and a Talented Caster. "They can do so many lovely things, and using them to proper effect is the pinnacle of wizardry, is it not?"
Twilight felt the urge to contest that, to loudly argue that discovery of magic was the height, but she bit back her words, calming herself. "A vital part of any wizard," she agreed instead in a tepid sort of way. Equestria needed both, Talented Casters and Researchers. Having the two biting at each other's rumps for not being the other was... She was a princess! She could rise to better than that! Besides, Starlight was a Talented Caster, one of the most talented she knew! And she was a great pony, and wizard. "But I would ask that you vet your information sources better in the future."
"I will," she got out in a mixture of a whine and a solemn oath. "I feel like such a foal, making such an inept move like that." She rubbed her cheek with the flat of a hoof. "But she is a good teacher. Whatever did her family do to earn such terrible opinions?"
Twilight let out her breath in a slow motion. "Well... We can go over a few of the more famous times." and so Twilight began to tell the old tales, of when ponies and demons met, by accident or on purpose. Usually, it ended very poorly for the pony involved, sometimes for the demon, many times both. "Some say that the world they come from, the abyss, is a magnet for unharmonious energy. Bits of that energy is drawn from elsewhere, including here. Imagine any pony you ever met that was acting poorly. Some bit of that unkind energy makes its way to the abyss, to give form to the demons."
Blue looked towards a brightly lit window. "That sounds like a bit of an old mare's tale there, the sort of thing you tell a little foal so they behave properly." She scoffed softly at the idea. "But the origin, I can see how that would create quite the negative impression..." She tapped at her chin softly before approaching that window, looking out across the clear sky and city below. "Poor Fire."
"Poor Fire?" Twilight watched Blue intently, but stayed seated where she was. "Pardon?"
"Fire Paradox? My teacher?" Blue looked over her shoulder at Twilight. "She really has been a model instructor, but she comes from such horrid lineage that to even be in the same room with her is to risk my own reputation! This simply won't do." She began to pace back and forth, the wind from that open window teasing at her mane. "She's done nothing wrong, but that is no shield against a tarnished family line. Fixing those is quite the undertaking..."
Twilight quirked an off-kilter smile. "I don't think you're going to fix the history of demons."
"I agree." She nodded sharply at Twilight. "But this is about Fire Paradox. Miss Paradox trusted me." She placed a hoof at her chest. "She trusted that I would be a good employer! Just as she is trusting Luna now, and what has Luna done? She has not abandoned her! I will not abandon a good worker. She is a member of my retinue. I made that mistake, but it is made, and I will not turn tail and flee and leave a mess behind for others to fix." She clopped a hoof down, an increasingly determined look on her face. "I bet that's what they expect of me, but I'm built of better stuff!" There was some pride in her decision, that she couldn't be chased away from what she wanted.
Twilight smiled a little, trying to grasp that viewpoint. That Belle saw herself as a bright and shining example of ponydom, and deserved all the privileges that came with it, but also that it was an eternal task to prove that point. She had moved from her snobbish start, but that proud core of herself had not changed. It had just become something of a strength instead of a groan-worthy liability. "I'm glad to see you standing beside a friend." She quickly added, "--or employee." Coughing to cover her mistake.
"But there are other issues, which I feel Luna will tell you all about. Miss Paradox has some specific... abilities? They come naturally to her, just like magic to a unicorn or flying to a pegasus." She wobbled a hoof through the air. "And they are a part of her. I understand you want to make sure she only uses them harmoniously, but knowing where she starts is vital to that."
"I would look askance at any other pony that quivered in fear at my magical abilities." She turned up her nose at the very idea. "Polite ponies simply do not behave that way." She colored faintly. "Don't tell Starlight I said that."
Twilight burst into laughter at the idea. "I won't, and we both know she's gotten better."
"Much better, what a darling. And that is precisely the way we will go with our little 'demon'. Just because she comes from..." She sagged a little. "Let's not joke on the matter. Her blood is as murky as spoiled mud, but we work with what we have, do we not?"
"Now, let's move on to actual magic." And so they set aside talk of demons and the troubles relating to them to instead speak on spellcasting and the proper dos and don'ts of being a responsible wizard.
Luna inclined her head towards her guest. "Fire is staying with me for the time."
Fire fluttered her lashes. "I've had worse arrangements." She chomped on a chocolate blasted into the air with a gust of flame, snapping it before it could start to fall. "She has good taste."
"I understand now." Blue dipped her head at Luna, standing tall and firm. "Fire's family has a terrible reputation, far beneath one such as I to be dealing with."
Fire frowned at that. "Well screw you too then."
Blue raised a hoof. "Watch your tongue, Miss Paradox. I was not finished. We entered a deal, and one I will not put aside for sake of political convenience. She has comported herself with dignity and competency, two traits I happen to value highly in any creature, of unfavorable lineage or not."
Luna nodded slowly. "I see. Do you understand what that entails?"
"I will have to endure the undue insults of my peers for selecting such an unfavorable mentor," she sighed out with visions of her mocking social strata. "But this is the price for having convictions and standing by them." She suddenly leveled a hoof at Fire. "But that doesn't exclude you from having to work, both for me and for yourself. Your family is relying on you to help turn their disastrous reputation around."
Fire met Blue's steely glare, the moment quiet, the room still. At least until a blurted pfft escaped her, bursting into musical laughter, a wave of heat washing from her in all directions. "Get this! Check her out... Oh... Oh wow... You... You just made my day." She wiped away the tears of laughter, still giggling. "Oh... Wow... Wait, you're serious." She could see Belle's resolve, though wobbling a bit under the laughter.
"Now I'm not sure if I should laugh more or pity you." Fire rose to her hooves. "Let's start with some truth. That sound alright?" She looked to Luna for permission.
Luna tipped her head faintly. "That feels productive. Please, proceed."
"As you command." With a rush of heat, much like a changeling, though more fiery red instead of the poisonous green, her form was revealed in its true form. She had cloven hooves and delicate spiraled horns. The fur of her tail had burned away entirely, leaving it naked and exposed as it swayed sinously. "I am not a lost pony," she insisted, licking over her sharp fangs. "My 'family' isn't a family. I hate most of them, and fear the rest. They deserve every bad word said about them, and probably more, considering how easily you accepted my services."
She stepped towards Belle, a cruel smirk on her face. In a gross display, she became a stallion. "If I had my way, I'd pin you down and show you exactly what I think."
"You would do no such thing," declared Blue, not a hint of fear in her voice. "You will sit down."
Fire raised a brow, but did sit. "You're not... scared, impressed... something?"
"Your appearance is quite unique," allowed Belle, considering it. "But this is a magic. You are like a changeling, able to be whatever you want. Quite a trick, and I will admit some amount of jealousy. If I had that, I wouldn't have had to try so hard to learn magic." A serene smile spread over her face. "But I'm glad I did. I've grown thanks to that adversity, and thanks to you. Now, teacher, I would thank you to never make such an uncouth suggestion ever again. You are not of the correct social strata to attempt to woo me, and that fashion of courtship is so far beneath me as to be buried beneath the mountain we sit upon. It is not only beneath me, it is beneath you, and I will not stand for you debasing yourself further."
Luna cleared her throat. "Well... That was a lesson delivered."
And not to Belle. Fire had shrank back, looking physically pained. "Are you not impressed?" she asked in a weak voice.
"Dear, I am not scared, why would I be? Attracted? Of course not." She shook her head slowly. "I have a stallion I wish to suit, I think... And you aren't them."
Fire slumped in growing misery, tears stinging at her eyes as her core identity was so violated without even any effort put into it. "I am everything you ever wanted..."
Belle set a hoof on Fire's head. "You are." Fire looked up with a hint of hope. "You are a fantastic teacher, and a confidant. I would like to have your services again, if you are still available. But I do have requirements of my employees, so this..." She waved towards what made Fire a stallion. "No more of that."
"Yes'm..." Fire rose, a mare again, her ears sagging. "Do I disgust you?"
"Hm?" Belle looked Fire over with a new appraising eye. "You are not a pony, this much is even more clear, but as creatures go, I've seen far worse." He pointed down to her cloven hooves. "Like a kirin or a goat. I am reminded more of a kirin with your magical aptitude, and they are considered quite comely creatures. Though I think we could enhance your appearance with a proper dress." Suddenly she clapped her hooves. "Oh, do you want to go shopping? Getting you looking like a proper royal servant would be lovely!"
Luna raised a hoof flat-side up. "I am inclined to agree. I also suggest you stay like this. And by suggest, I mean command." Fire wilted. "Don't look like that. Most have no idea what your appearance means, and Equestria is learning about other creatures. You'll just be one more exotic form among many."
"But no more lying about it," agreed Belle quickly. "Be proud of what you are, even if it has... some unfavorable reputation behind it... You can prove it wrong." She nodded with building confidence. "Speaking of--"
"--Did you not hear me?" Fire scowled at her former employer. "My family is trash. I'm not here to redeem them in the public eye."
"Then sever contact, and redeem yourself," advised Belle as if that were obvious. "There is no reason you can't be accepted."
Fire waved at Belle, looking at Luna, silent as she desperately waved. Check this out. What is this? These were words she tried to convey as her mouth betrayed her, silent and non-functioning.
"My niece has the best of intentions." Luna moved to stand next to Fire. "But she does not understand the nature of things."
"It is you that does not understand," snapped Blue. "You act if she were a monster, and perhaps she is." She nodded towards the strange un-pony-like form of her teacher. "But if a monster can talk, and can be reasoned with, then why shouldn't I at least try to be civil when civility has been offered to me?"
Blue's cheeks began to darken. "I mean... No offense, auntie dear..."
"Because I do not want to see my niece hurt," answered Luna in a moment of quiet honesty. "Because the idea of that is terrifying enough to make me ready to throw civility to the side, if it means I can avoid that situation. If I have to be rude to a monster to keep you safe, to hold this happiness that we have found, then I will do it, and am doing it."
They met one another's look, stern motherly care crashing into Belle's desire to do what was right, in her eyes. "I..." Belle shrank back a little. "I understand that, and am deeply humbled... To think you would hold me in such... Auntie, you are bringing tears to my eyes." But she wasn't crying, she was smiling. "I am no foal of yours by blood, which only makes this more of an honor, to be accepted in such a way."
Luna's stern look gave way, becoming a gentle smile. "Dear niece... I am the one that tipped you from the comfortable rut you lived in. It is my responsibility to see it through."
"That is not what you said." Belle approached with a little bit of a silly grin. "You care for me more than some royal duty, done out of responsibility." Luna glanced away, but Belle kept coming in. "You care for me... And I am humbled and grateful beyond words. Luna... I gladly accept it."
"If this is true." She nudged Belle away with an unfurling wing. "Then stop treating her like some new interesting creature and more like the dangerous demon she is."
"She is not dangerous." Both Fire and Luna squinted at her. "She is not. No more than any other pony, in the end. Uncouth, at times, perhaps... But that can be fixed, if she will allow me." She dipped her head towards Fire. "So my statement and my offer remains extended. There is a position for you, waiting, if you wish to fill it. I will endeavor to be an employer worth working for."
Fire flopped down to her haunches. "So.... what's this pony like?"
"Hm?"
"The one you have the hots for." Fire smirked, a wry expression as her nose wrinkled. "They a real musclehead, or a smooth talker?"
Belle's cheeks quickly darkened. "My word! He is an impeccable gentlecolt that understands the proper way to handle just about any situation with style and finesse. He's been my friend for countless moons and... maybe we'll deepen that connection..." Belle began to worry her hooves together. "But I'm still exploring that and it's none of your business," she finished with a squeak.
Blue Belle is the best, or worst, infernalist, I tell ya. Oh hey, it's trans visibility day, so I'm releasing this early, enjoy!
Posted early for patrons. Want to get updates early, and/or get your own story here at 
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Called Blue "he" twice
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My desperate search for 'he' turned up a lot of 'the' and some references to Fancy Pants... More info please?
*Poses to the camera*
Quite
puu.sh/HufQF.jpg
Learning not leaning
10748055
Found a paragraph! (fixed) Rather liked that tirade though...
Now Fire has something to get into Blue's head about. Fancy Pants.
Ah, good old Blue. Somehow getting the point without actually realizing it. Hitting the target, but without realizing she's shooting.
Good stuff.
:blue: So, Twilight, you are judging a group of people by the actions of the individual?
yes, you really can't trust ANY demon!
NO! NO! It's not like that!
pls don't cancel me
:blue: Wow. Just. Wow.
:blue: uh-huh.
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I mean, I’ve read a fair few Forgotten Realms novels with rather sympathetic part-demon and part-devil characters. Some Fall, others shine, but as Blue says, if they have the intellectual capacity for reason, there is hope that they can understand empathy and kindness.
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I once had deck using those.
That's an interesting idea. A demon that hate other demons so much that they end up as Lawful Good.
in her own way Fire Paradox i trying vary hard to do right..
this is a amazing story.
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Actually it is quite standard for demons to hate each other.
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Maybe more of a chaotic good.
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indeed. good stuff.
For someone who just flopped around on the floor crying in despair because someone told her she disapproved of one of her employees, Blue is being badassingly unfazed here.
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Her priorities are not our own. Such a silly mare.
"But this is a magic. You are like a changeling, able to be whatever you want. Quite a trick, and I will admit some amount of jealousy. If I had that, I wouldn't have had to try so hard to learn magic."
Once Chrysalis gets wind of this she's going to be annoyed Blue didn't come to her first...
Speaking of whom, given that the changelings were born from a magic tree, I'm inclined to trust Twilight's account of how demons are created.
I see a romance triangle appearing Bluey, Fancy, Fire BFFs if you will hehe. I knew fire cared for Blue. I'm looking forward to seeing what unfurls.