I'm Datin' a Demon

by ArtsyGum

Summonin'

Outside, the sun is lowering toward the horizon, causing a warm orange glow to cast across the scattered pink clouds of the sky.

Inside of the Golden Oak Library, Twilight sits alone in the dim light that pours in. She is reading a mysterious green-spined book. The cover is a deep charcoal black adored with a blood-red demonic symbol. A polished grey mechanical hoof is flicking through the pages. Her right hoof is keeping her balance. Each page consists of arcane text and symbols.

“Hmmm, surely it will work this time without incident,” she thinks aloud to herself.

She stops at a page, reading over it. She narrows her one good eye as she reads a passage, a gauze bandage wrapped around the left side of her face.

“Spiiiiiike!”

Spike walks clumsily up the stairs from the basement, watching his feet over a bunch of black-coloured candles he holds in his arms. “I’m coming! I’m coming!”

“Good.”

Her eyes scroll across the page, furrowing her brow with an exhale. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

She rolls up the right sleeve of her dark grey jacket with a hoof. A red glow forms around her horn as she magically levitates the book to her nearby book stand in the center of the room. From the same table she levitates a silver razor-sharp ornate knife with runic carvings etched into it.

With a swift motion she slashes the knife across her right forearm.

“FUCK!”

The blade clatters to the oak floor, along with a few trailing drops of blood. Her teeth clench as she wets the hard metallic surface of her robotic hoof with the blood from the wound. Walking around the room, her hoof draws a large precise circle with an inscribed six-pointed star resembling her cutie mark inked in her blood. The blood dries out from her metal hoof just as she finishes the inscription.

She tends to her wound. “Spike, quickly! Place the candles already, dammit!”

He nods. Quickly yet carefully he places each candle in their proper place.

“Phew … Twi, we should really take a long break from all this demon summoning stuff…” He gives an exasperate sigh. “Remember what happened to you last time? I mean, look at you! Have you told Princess Celestia yet?” Spike tilts his head towards Twilight with with a concerned frown.

Twilight rolls her one eye, issuing an annoyed grunt. “They don’t need to know!” She shakes her head. “Besides, I have everything under control, Spike. Now, please, just light the candles!”

“Fine…”

One by one, he breaths his green flame on each candle, lighting them. The blood-enscribed circle glows a soft red and fills the air with a low quiet hum.

“Yes, perfect!” She grins manically, rubbing her hooves together.

The black and green-spined book levitates back over to her within a red glow. She begins to recite an incantation from the page.

“Kcab gnir binome dash, tpe deht htae neb morfk. Calb foseld nacd, erfog nir!”

The final word leaves her lips and the candle flames grow to an unnatural height, towering tall above the two figures. Green and yellow swirls dance in Twilight’s wide eager eyes, her lips pursed in a joyful smirk.

The library door is swung open violently, crashing loudly into the wall. Twilight turns her head sharply toward the door.

“Hey, Twi!” Obliviously barreling in is a bright cyan mare adorned with a black leather jacket and a shaven rainbow mow-hawk dyed black at the root. “Ya’ busy?”

Looking up to the tall green flames, her hooves touch the ground. “W-What the—?”

Twilight grits her teeth in anger. “Dash! Now’s not the time! I’m in the middle of something!”

Suddenly, the swirling green flames erupt into a volcanic tower of glowing light at the exact moment the sun sets below the horizon outside. The sky is painted a blood red as the clouds swirl around the Golden Oak Library in a vortex of fury, air screaming in through the open door.

The flames finally dissipate and the sky suddenly clears. Left amidst the aftermath is the dark silhouette of a unrecognizable pony-like figure with spired tall horns, sharp pointed ears, and a thin rattling tail that trails behind her across the floor.

Rainbow Dash sits in silence with her mouth agape.

“Woah.”