23 - Social Strata
"I would like to be frank."
Fancy considered Blue a moment. "Of course. Why would that be in question?" He smiled a little. "It wouldn't be the first thing you've confided in me, and I will keep it to myself."
"You are too good." Belle fluffed her mane a little, delaying her talking for just a moment. "You have your share of servants, this is a known fact."
"A fair number." Fancy nodded, then his ears pricked. "Is this about your magical teacher?"
Blue huffed softly. "Let a mare arrive at her point!" She clopped a hoof, a bit red in the cheeks at being cut off so sharply, and with a perfectly accurate guess at that! "But, yes, her..." She sagged a little. "I am... informed that you will keep that discreet, despite my not asking it of you."
"There is nothing to be discreet about, at least not especially." Fancy reached a hoof towards her, but delayed. Blue seemed a bit on nerve and the hoof hovered awkwardly a moment. "I was asked to render judgment, and I did, and you were found not guilty. Were anypony to ask, I would gladly inform them that you were found to be a law abiding pony."
"You are too good for this world." Without thinking, she touched her nose to that hovering hoof. "Thank you."
He colored and drew his hoof back, setting it on the ground. "I do what is proper, Blue Belle."
"It's one of your more admirable traits." Blue nodded with more easy confidence. "But back to the topic at hoof. I want to educate Fire Paradox, much as she had for me. She showed me arcane secrets, and I will show her social ones. I mean to make a proper lady of her."
"While I am no expert on the topic--" He circled around towards a collection of delicate glasses, pouring a dark red fluid into one. "--I was given to understand her particular... heritage... was already given to social interactions, usually to the detriment of the other involved." He tipped the bottle towards Blue Belle in silent offer.
Blue tried to snatch the bottle in her magic, but Fancy did not release it, instead pulling it away and starting to pour her a glass, ever the gentlepony. "Hmm, well, yes, but being able to throw the proverbial wool over a pony's eyes is not the same skill as weaving through our world with grace." She smiled as her magic curled around the glass, then three quarters full. "I have no interest in Fire Paradox, the scoundrel. I want Fire Paradox, the lady."
"Not to dissuade you." He smiled at the determined mare. "In fact, if I dare say, I rather fancy you like this."
Belle darkened. "W-whatever do you mean by that?"
"The fire in your eyes." He raised a hoof under her chin, raising it to match her eyes. "The determination in your voice. You are quite the warrior when you set your eyes on something, and I find that quite..." He trailed off, the thought lost as he gazed into her eyes, she, the pony that had once been one of his guy friends, though not one of the deeper ones. They had shared in camaraderie and jokes, often at other ponies' expenses where they couldn't hear it.
It had changed. But was it a bad change? "Pardon me." He trailed his hoof away. "Blue, I simply mean to say that you have grown, as a pony, and I am honored to be a part of it."
Blue smiled brightly. "Fancy..." Her ears did a little quiver. "I'm just as happy to be here. I may have grown, but what about her? I would like to help another pony behind me, just as Luna held out a hoof for me."
"Ah, yes, paying it forward, I believe it's called." Fancy nodded as if things had suddenly clicked for him. "I understand completely. Assuming Miss Paradox has agreed to this, I would be proud to take part in it."
Blue nodded once firmly. "Jolly good! She... has not entirely done that." She curled a hoof about towards herself. "I'm still working on that. Poor thing is quite intimidated, and who wouldn't be? Noble life is quite the trick, as we both know." She was technically one step above that, but no reason to rub that in poor Fancy's face. "She had expressed some interest in you."
His ears danced. "Has she?"
Blue rolled her eyes. "It may well be of a base gossiping sort. She knows we are... in the midst of courtship, and wishes to know more about the pony that caught my eye. I wouldn't worry about it overmuch."
Fancy did not seem entirely mollified. "I see. Do be careful with her, Blue Belle. While we are trying to help, her unsteady background is not entirely undeserved."
She threw a hoof wide, almost crashing its hard wall into the glass that had been floating there. "Oops." She floated it closer to her head and the side, taking a sip. "Mmm, quite nice! You must share the year and vintage. But, as I was saying, I will not tolerate such talk. We are trying to raise above unfortunate origins, Fancy Pants."
"I've known a great dragon in my day." Spike was not much of a 'great' dragon, but a good one! "But that they have fire goes without saying. One must be aware of the situation, is all that I urge. This is not a reason to not be civil, and I will help how I can."
"Of course, of course." She took another light sip, dabbing her lips clean with a floating cloth napkin. "I always know I can rely on you, Fancy. Thank you."
"Think nothing of it." It was then that he shared the source of the wine, in case she wanted to get some herself later.
She had freedom! Of a sorts. Luna allowed her to roam the castle, and Fire Paradox was glad to take advantage of it. Watching Luna sleep was, at best, boring. She had to be in her true form, which... itched? She didn't like it. A pony could call her out, make fun of her...
That was a petty little thing, for a pony. They could laugh it off, or just ignore it. For her, literal injuries could result. Her mind could be flayed and drawn over hot coals to have someone degrade her form, and there it was, for all to see. She flicked her heart tipped tail with a little frown.
A curious double-edged sword that, allowed free, but thrown out naked and exposed to danger... Ah, there was a maid. They were too polite to say anything harmful. "You." She jerked with surprise that brought a smile to Fire's face. Their discomfort was so cute! "Where can a girl get something to eat?"
The maid regained her composure quickly. "Ah, yes, of course." She turned and extended a hoof. "Just down the hallway on the left is a dining hall. If you prefer more... intimate arrangements, we have many smaller rooms where food can be served."
On one hoof, being with people who could respond to her sounded way more fun. On the other hoof, being alone was safe.
Safety. Boredom. She huffed softly. "Show me to the dining hall." She had enough boredom! "Anyone interesting there?"
The maid did not provide that information, simply leading Fire Paradox to the door and waving to it demurely. Fire advanced with uncertainty. There could have been anyone on the other side. Anypony at all... Whatever. She threw it open to see a unicorn nibbling on something. Unicorns were the most common sort in Canterlot. She was white colored in her pelt, and a deep purple in her mane and tail. "Oh my," she gasped out, seeing Fire.
Fire frowned. Lovely, trapped with a single little snooty flower. "Good evening," she said with false sugar, a smile on her face. That mare was just the sort to start throwing insults. "They serving anything good?"
"Oh, well, yes actually." Her horn glowed as she willed a plate to lift. "I must recommend these little morsels. They are to die for."
Fire lifted an ear with surprise. She had expected the unknown mare to make comments about her. Her cloven hooves, her naked tail, or maybe the horns? Screaming shrilly and fleeing also would have met her expectations. "Yeah?" She hopped up a chair down from the mare, to find a portion of the snack floating just in front of her. "Thanks?"
The buttery chocolatey combination that flowed over her tongue wasn't too soft, just enough crunch to chew on. "Hm. Not bad." She was keeping her eyes on the mystery unicorn. "I am getting such crossed signals in this castle."
"Darling, I know what you mean." She waved it away, setting the plate down with her magic. "I blame Celestia, lovely as she is. She keeps a tight rein, but she does not move with the times, dear. Even Canterlot as a whole moves in odd ways around the anchor that is the castle."
Was the mare... casually gossiping with her? "I thought you were... startled."
"I was," easily she confessed, sipping from a tea cup. "Never saw a creature like you before, but I was also being rude, so apologies for that. I'm Rarity, by the way. Nice to meet you." She offered a hoof, hovering there in the air.
Fire focused on her namesake, warming herself as she reached out a hoof to meet it, cloven against solid. Rarity jumped, just as Fire had hoped.
"Oh my. Wait..." She tapped her chin. "Are you one of those kirin? Applejack mentioned them."
That was the second time they had been mentioned. Fire frowned a bit. Was someone ruining her good, er, bad, name? "I don't think so... Tell me about them."
"Well, now that you have me thinking about it." Rarity bobbed a hoof in thought. "They were armored, here--" She pointed just above her eyes and trailed a line back across her head. "Right down their back. Usually quiet and reserved, they can become quite fiery when agitated. Why, even their names usually reflected that dual nature of sorts. Things like Rain Steam or Autumn Blaze. Cool hot! What a fascinating little thing. I never saw one myself, I admit. Now that you have me thinking about it, of course you aren't that, but you made me think of them."
"Of course," tepidly agreed Paradox, drawing a plate over with a hoof. Ugh, she had to forge a new pact and get her magic back properly. A shame Luna had disagreed with each proposal. "I'm Fire Paradox."
"Oh, hmm..." Rarity inclined her head, looking thoughtful. "A fiery contradiction. Oh, no, a warm contradiction. Something that leaves you befuddled, but you want to get closer."
Fire lifted one ear as the other went askew. "Huh."
"Am I off?"
"No..." It was actually a fairly apt dissection of her name. "You're a clever pony."
Rarity fanned herself with a hoof, tittering softly. "I do try to keep up, darling. Now, just to be certain... you are a lady, correct? I don't want to assume. You aren't a pony, as we established."
She couldn't hide her non-pony nature, much to her annoyance. "I am whatever you're in the mood for."
Rarity hiked a brow at that. "Oh my! That's quite an offer, Miss Paradox." She fanned herself a little harder. "But my taste is very specific and you don't fit that, I'm afraid. Don't you worry, I feel certain you didn't come to the castle to look for me anyway."
Fire Paradox brought together her cloven hooves. "Say... Do you know a Fancy Pants?"
Rarity's expression brightened immediately. "What a darling stallion. Now, you didn't hear me say that, but that is more my speed." Her brows waggled salaciously. "What a stallion. Now, what were you asking?"
Somehow, that made sense. Snooty upper class mares wanted snooty upper class stallions. "I hear he's friends with Blue Belle."
"Blue... oh! Yes, of course." It had taken her a moment to recall the name and remember the pony attached to it. "I hear they've been associates for quite some time now. What of it?"
"Not 'associates'." Fire leaned in a bit from the side. "I may not be your cut, but I hear he is hers. Know anything about that?"
Her cheeks quickly darkened. "Oh! Oh... Dear me. I couldn't rightly blame any mare for thinking Fancy Pants was worth chasing, truth told. Perhaps that's part of the reason I never tried that myself. I can only imagine he has more than his share of potential suitors. I value him more as a peer than to ruin it with a misplaced attempt at courtship."
Suddenly she burst into titters. "Oh, look at me! Considering him a peer. My, have I come quite a ways." She saw Fire gazing confusedly. "Sorry, darling. I used to be quite a bit below him, but that's changed, with time and effort." She buffed her chest proudly. "I climbed the sheer cliff between us and I forgot how hard that climb was for a moment."
"Yeah?" Fire Paradox slapped down a hoof, causing the plate she hit to flip, sending a fish cake into her waiting maw. "You think I can climb that cliff?"
Rarity's expression spoke more than her words, doubt across her features. "Not the same way I did, clearly. You haven't struck me as the business minded sort to begin with." She suddenly waved it away. "But never mind that. You don't need to copy me. You'll make your own path, your own way."
The ponies she met kept being... supportive. Had Equestria really become so... nice since the last time demons had come to visit? "Hay, you ever hear of a demon?" She curled her heart-tipped tail, waving it in view with a predatory grin.
"A term usually used for ponies that are quite ruthless." Rarity nodded. "Ruffians and unkind, you don't want to run into one of those, darling. Is somepony picking on you? You can tell me."
Paradox paused a moment, caught between feelings. Rarity was offering a hoof even while telling her to avoid demons, which she clearly did not understand. "I'll keep that in mind." She licked over her lips and stepped to the floor. "I should get going. I'll see you around."
"Keep your chin up, darling. You'll make it." And so Fire Paradox departed under Rarity's smiling gaze.
"Blue!" Rarity closed with the pony in her vision. "I had been looking for you."
"Have you?" She turned a hoof on herself. "Whatever for, dear?"
"We had discussed a meeting of the belles, do you not recall?"
Blue's brows went up together. "Oh! Yes! Your little sister, was it not? Are they a foal, or a foal?" She lowered her hoof close to the ground and slowly raised it.
Rarity's magic took hold of Blue's hoof as it reached the correct height. "She's quite an advanced filly, I assure. She already runs a successful business! I'm so proud of her." She let out a little pleased sigh. "Why, she might have been able to help you."
"Pardon?" Blue blinked at the idea. "However do you imagine that?"
"She and her friends are cutie mark specialists." Rarity pointed to Blue's own mark. "She would have figured it out, given a chance. You did it on your own, darling, and you should be quite proud of that. Some ponies never do."
"I don't imagine you ever faced that challenge."
"I confess, I had it easy." She laugh-snorted, hoof over her snout. "Diamonds for the pony who adores making things pretty and enabling ponies to look their best. A match I mostly had straight from the start. But just because it came to me doesn't mean it's easy for every other pony, I get that." She nodded with solidarity. "And even with knowing that, I had a lot about me to figure out."
"I can't argue that." Not that she had forgotten how she met Rarity to start with. "I would like to meet this other Belle. Perhaps we have more in common than just our names. Perhaps not, but I will be on my best."
"And I will tell her to do the same." Rarity looked more like a stern mother than a caring sister at that moment. "You tell me if she misbehaves."
Blue gently smiled. "If they are a sister of yours, I'm certain it will work out."
"Right, right! Sorry. She hasn't really rubbed elbows with that many upperclass ponies, but she really should. Thank you for giving her the chance." She leaned in and landed a peck on Blue's left cheek. "See you in a few days." And off she trotted, pleased with life.
Blue knew that kiss meant nothing, just a kind gesture, no more than a random patting one might give, even if she was sure she rated above such familiarity. Rarity... She sure liked to imagine herself as a high standing noble. "Silly mare." She was a well to do merchant, which was not nobility, allowed in just barely. Still, she would not hold that against Rarity. She was not a bad pony.
"Teach me." Fire rolled right over onto her back, hooves cycling in the air. "Modern Equestria is so strange." Her eyes flickered with flame. "I don't understand it, but I want to. Show me." She could imagine younger demons had a better grasp. Their insults made more sense, looking back. She was basically a fossil in their eyes. "I want to understand it."
Luna inclined her head. "That is a feeling I know well."
Blue reached to set a hoof on fire's chest, flopped over as she was. "Sit up. No need to throw yourself prostrate before me. I already offered the position and listed the terms, which includes educating on matters of societal expectations, did I not?"
Fire sprang up to her hooves. "Then it is a deal?" She offered a hoof, the tips of its cloven points strangely sharp.
Luna thrust out an arm between them. "Must you make this a pact?"
Fire glared at Luna, but her tension ebbed out. She dared not challenge the most powerful there. "If I am pacted, I get my power back, which makes me a more useful servant, which you keep refusing to do!" She clopped down a cloven hoof. "You have no idea how miserable this is. Blue! Imagine you had a hoof tied against your side and you had to walk on the other three all day long."
"That sounds miserable." She perked an ear towards Luna. "Is that what it's like, for her?"
"I'm not a demon." Luna shrugged gently. "So I couldn't say with confidence how they feel any particular thing."
"Then take it from me, who is a demon." She rolled her eyes. "Besides, you get to set the terms of the pact. You don't like it, set it right. Demons are tricky bastards, this is me not arguing that, but that deal is binding, on both sides. I did your windows!"
Blue stroked her chin softly. It was true, her windows had been kept spotless... "Then I know exactly the pony I would consult." Both Fire and Luna looked to her. "Auntie Celestia's favorite secretary. She will fashion a contract to both of our satisfactions."
"Raven Inkwell." Luna nodded, the confusion fading quickly. "She is quite talented at her job. I have no doubt she could avoid loopholes if directed properly." She rose to her hooves. "Which I will now do." She strode from the room without any further delay.
Blue huffed at Luna's retreating form. "She is a dear, but I know how to make a request to the servants." She sat down despite that. "Nothing for it. Luna is hard to influence when she had her mind set."
"Tell me about it." Fire glanced off and back at Blue Belle. "I kinda missed working with you."
"I as well. You are my first and only true servant, who belonged to me and no other." She set a hoof on her chest. "And I mean to be a good employer. Even my subjects, who labor under my directives, are just that, subjects, not servants. There is a difference."
"You are adorable." Fire clasped Blue's cheeks between her cloven hooves. "I just want to gobble you up." A less idle threat with her sharp teeth. "I will need to read that contract, by the way."
"As will I." Blue inclined her head, drawing back from the trapping hooves. "Signing contracts without being aware of their clauses is an easy way to invite trouble."
"I like trouble." Her heart-tipped tail swaying eagerly. "But only trouble I'm starting, not the target of."
"A trickster that can't take a joke turned back on you?" Blue smirked wryly. "Not the most mature, Miss Paradox."
"Bite me." She flopped down to her belly, a cloud of brimstone escaping the point of impact.
"I told you to not court me."
Fire blinked slowly. "What? I... No! That was not an invitation." She huffed, a little smoke escaping. "I was being annoyed, and you're making it worse."
"Then I will refrain from biting you." Blue listed her head to the right a little. "Do demons bite each other often?"
Fire slapped her hoof over her own face. "Sometimes, but rarely in a fun way. If a demon offers to bite you, turn it down." She bared her teeth, razor daggers in gleaming lines. "You don't want these guys anywhere near your pretty flesh."
"I imagine not." Though she was now imagining different ways that could work out and she colored faintly. "Did you... have friends, that you left behind? When I called you that is."
"A couple." Fire shrugged. "Less friends and more 'people that both thought it sucked and you could complain at.'"
"Companions in misery?" Belle considered a moment. "Is that why you would rather not be sent to your old home?"
"You win the prize." Fire slid upwards and trotted to the window. "Nobody likes it there, the demons least of all. We're just good at sharing our misery, without consent."
"That does sound... unfortunate." Blue tried to imagine a world so miserable, but she really had no perspective to do so. Not a single maid in sight! You had to clean things yourself, oh, and fire, there would surely be fire. And the food was poorly prepared, oh, and you had to make it yourself.
She shuddered at her imagined hellscape. "I am in no hurry to pay your old home a visit."
"They would eat you alive, and that's not even kind of a joke." Fire glanced over her shoulder. "It would hurt, a lot. You stay away from there."
Blue came in closer from behind and to the side, setting a hoof on Fire's back. "That goes for you too. You are too good for such a ghastly place. They had the chance to have you and squandered it. Pity for them, you're mine now and I plan to take full advantage of the situation."
"Take advantage, huh?"
"Yes, of course." Blue nodded with growing confidence, a smile on her face. "You are my first servant and a fine tutor. We will teach each other and grow. I do look forward to when I can take you to functions. You'll have so much fun, I promise."
Fire inclined her head slowly at the grinning fool of a noble mare. "You are too innocent for this world." She wasn't sure if she should looking for ways to exploit that. Probably? It was what came naturally... She had to learn more about... "So, about this stallion of yours. I hear he's a real catch."
"Oh, yes. A gentlepony of stunning pedigree and upbringing." Blue nodded, pride in her chosen courting partner growing. "You should meet him, in time."
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Rarity and Fire Paradox have great chemistry. I hope we see more of them together.
Then I get to be Phillip. Hi Frank!
Yeah, Blue. You owe her.
Part of me thinks they are doomed to failure. A demon isn't the same thing as an ethnicity or mortal race; she is supposed to be composed of literal evil. I can't stand modern works that depict monsters as "misunderstood people" as they are not people and it short changes what they are. She appears to be a succubi which is a literal embodiment of the sin of lust; whether she is meant to bring it out of others or practice it herself.
The rest of me thinks that it is an alternate universe from any established settings (fictional or otherwise) and what a demon actually is as of yet undefined for the most part. Surely we are getting an optimistic (possibly naive) outlook from the ponies and confusion from Paradox.
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She is, in some ways, arguably worse than a succubus, seeing as she isn't trying to feed off intimacy, but rather to encourage depravity and corruption of passions (physical preferred but not limited to).
A little confusing. Pronouns usually refer to last spoken or mentioned person, but Fancy isn't she. Gender alone in this case doesn't excuse the stylistical faux pas.
Is Tartarus a ponyism for Earth?
10776969
Perhaps they are closer to Warcraft demons, which are literally just inhabitants of different plane (not to be mistaken with Burning Legion members, who are corrupted, mutated members of mortal races), whose powers and ability to reincarnate puts them into a hierarchy without any moral restraint, only one of eternal power struggle
10780872
Fix'd
A bit confused, but she sure has the spirit.
"I am... informed that you will keep that discrete - discreet
They had shared in comradery - camaraderie
The buttery cholatey combination - Is that supposed to be chocolaty? (Also spelled -ey)
She keeps a tight reign - I think you want rein, as in reins used to control a horse
10867486
Oh dear, so many mistakes. Fixed all up!
I wonder if there might be a correlation there.