I: Sloth
~BlackRoseRaven
"Demons, demons, demons... demonic artifacts, demonic... baubles... ah, here we are, demonic contracts..." mumbled the orange unicorn, smiling to himself before he settled comfortably back under the tree, not caring in the slightest that he was wrinkling up the expensive silk garments covering his body, almost hiding his cutie mark of a scroll. He rose the book in front of himself, bright red eyes roving back and forth over the text, long and messy crimson mane half-falling over his face as he happily shut out the world around him.
That was, until he heard hoofsteps approaching across the courtyard, and the orange stallion slowly looked up from his book, expression turning sour as a voice called mockingly: "Oh look, Ardent Desire has his face buried in fairy tales again!"
"Oh shut up, Shieldhoof, you're just jealous that I can read." retorted the orange stallion as he snapped the heavy tome closed and hugged it protectively against his chest. He glowered up at the quartet of other stallions, as they all grinned down at him, led by an enormous unicorn with a flowing golden mane, baby blue eyes, and a perfectly-toned ivory body that looked like it was sculpted from marble. "Why don't you go back to beating up small foals?"
"Like you?" the statuesque unicorn leaned down with a wide grin, and Ardent Desire winced despite himself before Shieldhoof laughed and straightened, tossing his mane and looking down at the orange unicorn with entertainment. "Don't worry, Ardent, you're not worth my time. No, I merely came to see just what little fantasies you were exploring today. Oh, fairies? Magical alicorns who are supposed to save us all? Or Kelpies again?"
"Kelpies exist!" Ardent Desire snapped, and Shieldhoof and his friends laughed, the orange unicorn blushing even as he continued defensively: "Down by the river, I've seen them myself! And there are all kinds of records and stories and prophecies-"
"Anyone can make up a story." Shieldhoof scoffed, then he shook his head and said kindly: "Look, Ardent. I'm trying to do you a service here. All these musty books and foal's fables that you believe in... you wonder why you can't find a single mare willing to so much as look sideways at you, and it's because of this. I hear even the slaves don't respect your eccentricities, Ardent, and that's just sad. One would think that at the very least you'd be able to control your own servants, even if poor little Ardent couldn't even compel a slave hoof into bed with him."
That got another round of laughter, and Ardent Desire glared up at the larger unicorn as he stumbled to his hooves: and as often happened, his mouth got the better of his brain, and he snapped before he could stop himself: "Well I suppose that unlike you, Shieldhoof, I don't particularly enjoy the thought of abusing helpless mares."
Shieldhoof favored Ardent Desire with an ill look, then he reached up and pushed a hoof against the orange pony's face, shoving him backwards and making the smaller stallion wince. "As if I need to sink so low as to sully myself with a slave. I have plenty of more-than-willing mares of the most elite class very eager to indulge whatever I desire... but you should know, Ardent Desire, why, I have bedded both your younger sisters."
Ardent Desire looked sourly at Shieldhoof, as Shieldhoof smiled mockingly back, and then the orange unicorn said grumpily before he could stop himself: "And I heard that you took up sleeping with your mother, too, since your father doesn't anymore. Or can't."
"Why you foul-mouthed little-" Shieldhoof leapt forwards, and Ardent Desire hurriedly skittered backwards, almost tripping over his book as he dropped it. The enormous white unicorn simply slapped this aside, snarling as he chased Ardent Desire around the tree, while his unicorn friends were content to sit back, laugh, and enjoy the show. "If your father wasn't a Baron, I'd cut you in twain, Ardent! Stay still, answer me for this insult!"
"I'd rather not!" Ardent Desire called over his shoulder hurriedly, and then he tried to scamper away from the tree... only to end up being caught by two of the other unicorns when they decided to intervene. He was caught by either foreleg and slung down on his back, the orange unicorn wincing as Shieldhoof loomed over him and glared furiously, and Ardent Desire grinned lamely as he asked: "Can't we just... you know... say that you said some things, I said some things, oh, we both regret it now and we should just... move on?"
"I challenge you on the field of honor, Ardent Desire! Horn foiling: the loser is the first to bleed or submit." Shieldhoof said sharply, and Ardent Desire winced a bit. "Your noble blood compels you answer this call to fight!"
"Actually, my noble blood wishes very much to stay in my noble body." Ardent Desire said mildly, and then he sighed tiredly when Shieldhoof stepped back and the trio of other unicorns all glared at him pointedly, the orange stallion mumbling as he rolled onto his stomach, carefully pushed himself up... then gave a series of badly-faked exclamations, holding up a front hoof. "Oh, ow, ow, hey, wait, I think I sprained something. Oh, darn, the rules state that in event of injury-"
Shieldhoof's front hoof smashed across Ardent Desire's face, knocking him staggering as blood flew from his nose, and Ardent yelled in pain and shock as he grabbed at his features. He glared furiously up at the larger unicorn, but Shieldhoof only grinned, saying mildly: "Looks like your hoof is working just fine to me, Ardent Desire."
The orange unicorn stared, then opened his mouth, but in a moment Shieldhoof had leapt towards him, slashing his horn down across the orange stallion's face and tearing a shallow wound over his scalp before a hoof smashed down into his cheek and knocked him to the ground. And then all Ardent Desire could do was cover his head and try not to cry as Shieldhoof slammed blow after blow down into his head and shoulders.
Ardent Desire was saved by a loud call, but when the orange, bloody and bruised unicorn looked up with his teary eyes, he found himself immediately wishing miserably that Shieldhoof had just killed him even as the ivory unicorn stepped backwards and bowed his head politely. Two other unicorns were approaching, both much older: one had a long, gray beard and a mane of the same color, his coat a ghostly white and mostly hidden by a long cloak... the other was large and crimson, dressed in heavy silver plate mail and with a golden mane cut into a short mohawk.
The latter looked down in distaste at Ardent Desire as he carefully dragged himself to his hooves, glancing over him with a look of contempt in his eyes... and what hurt more, shame. Ardent Desire kept his eyes down, trying not to look up into the aureate irises of the large stallion, before the crimson unicorn simply glanced towards Shieldhoof and asked calmly: "Don't you have a better use of your time, Shieldhoof?"
"I... sorry, sir. But I had no choice but to respond to your son, he started it." Shieldhoof said quickly, and Ardent Desire looked up, opening his mouth... and then clenching his jaw when the crimson unicorn didn't even look up, only held up a hoof as he met Shieldhoof's gaze with his own. "I was just. Defending my family's honor, sir."
"Shieldhoof, apologize to the Baron." ordered the elderly ivory unicorn, and Shieldhoof dropped his head quickly as the aging male added: "And I apologize on my son's behalf as well, Lord Bonfire, we know that your son is-"
"There is no need to apologize and no need to make excuses for Ardent Desire." the crimson unicorn replied calmly, and then he looked moodily towards the orange unicorn, who shrank a bit under his father's cold gaze. "Go inside."
Ardent Desire nodded and looked down with a mumble, turning and striding towards the doors leading out of the courtyard and into the keep: before he could reach them, however, his father's voice called to him, and Ardent Desire turned around just in time for the book he'd been reading to hit him squarely in the face, almost knocking him over as he stumbled backwards and Lord Bonfire added irritably: "And stop taking these nonsense books out of the library!"
"Yes, father." Ardent Desire mumbled, lifting the book with telekinesis and trembling a little as he turned around, then hurried towards the open doors as fast as he could walk. He knew better than to run, even if he was burning with humiliation that far, far outweighed the pain of his bludgeoned and bloodied features. Running would just get him scolded like a foal again later, and give Shieldhoof and his cronies more things to laugh about.
But once Ardent Desire was inside the stone halls of the sprawling keep and around the corner, then he ran: he sprinted past slaves and servants and soldiers, all of whom were all so used to this by now they barely noticed. He ran all the way to the old quarters of the building, where his room sat near the library, the slave housing, and all the other parts of the building that his father considered 'necessary evils.'
The orange unicorn tore through the door and slammed it behind him, stumbling into his large room and over to the bed to fling himself onto it, book falling from his telekinetic grasp. He buried his bloody face into a pillow and screamed almost silently into it, then simply lay there, trembling, as trails of tears leaked from his eyes.
After a few minutes, he got himself under control enough to sit up on his plush bed and sigh a little, looking silently up at the painting of his mother on the wall above his bed. She smiled down at him, a beautiful emerald unicorn with the softest, most vibrant eyes he had ever seen even in a painting... eyes he only vaguely remembered looking up into as a foal, as he reached out and silently straightened the framed image.
Then he shook his head slowly before looking miserably around the room: shelves full of parchment and books near a table where he did a lot of his reading and writing, a sword hanging on one wall with a shield that was gathering rust and dust, a large chest that contained some of his valuables and an enormous fireplace. The orange unicorn's eyes roved towards the mostly-empty tinderbox nearby, and he sighed before slipping out of bed, mumbling: "Oh fine."
The servants were supposed to take care of tasks like this: the slave hoofs, who didn't have neither horn nor wings. They had ten slaves, who all had lodgings in the servant's barracks along with the two foals that were too young to work. But while the servants were utterly terrified of his father, the Baron Amadeus Bonfire, they all-but-ignored Ardent Desire, and the orange unicorn didn't have the heart to complain about it. After all, if Lord Bonfire found out that the servants skimped their duties or ignored him, Ardent Desire would find himself punished, and the slaves would probably all end up being publicly whipped.
Ardent Desire mumbled as he left his room, heading down the hall quietly to one of the storage rooms and shoving it open: it was filled with cut logs, tinder, coal, and a few barrels of lantern oil. The orange unicorn helped himself to a load of tinder and logs, then left and sulked his way back to his room to drop most of the load in the box and toss the rest into the fireplace.
He concentrated for a moment, his horn glowing before he flicked it to send a spark of flame bursting over the logs, spreading rapidly into a cheery fire. Well, it looked cheery, anyway, and the warmth was nice as Ardent Desire sat back and sighed a little. He rubbed at his bruised features, then closed his eyes with a mumble as he felt around until he managed to grab the book from where it had fallen and hug it up against his chest.
For a few moments, there was silence... and then the door banged loudly open, and Ardent Desire almost fell over before he winced at the sight of the Baron, his father, standing in the doorway. The large crimson unicorn scowled down at him, and Ardent Desire shrank a bit before Lord Bonfire asked icily: "Were you trying to cause a rift between our house and Sir Windsong's? Or was this another 'accident,' Ardent Desire?"
"He... he started it, Dad! I was just reading, minding my own business-" Ardent Desire started hurriedly, and then he winced when Lord Bonfire's eyes flicked to the fireplace before narrowing.
"And you're wasting firewood again. Ridiculous, it's only autumn, not winter." Lord Bonfire's horn glowed, and a moment later, the flames in the fireplace burst upwards and vanished, the welcome heat disappearing with the fire. "When are you going to learn you are no longer a foal? When are you going to become serious in your studies?"
"I am serious! I can read and write, I... I went to school, I have a scholarship! You heard for yourself, Abbot Clearwater offered me a job!" Ardent Desire said pleadingly, looking up at his father with desperation for some kind of acknowledgment, validation, anything. "Come on, Dad, just listen-"
"Your three sisters are all adults. One even became a shieldmaiden, you know what a rare honor that is." Lord Bonfire continued coldly, as if he hadn't even heard his son's pleas. "Your other two sisters are younger than you and yet all the same honor the family name. One is to be married in the spring, the other is to be trained as a diplomat. And what about you, Ardent Desire? My only son, my supposed heir. You are nothing but a child still, burying his head all day in... in nonsense books!"
Lord Bonfire's eyes narrowed, then his horn glowed brightly, and the book Ardent Desire was clinging to was yanked out of his hooves before it glowed brightly, then burst into flames. It burned so hot and bright that it was like a miniature star, the orange unicorn yelping and falling backwards in shock: but in moments it was over, and the book was nothing but ashes that scattered to the ground.
The orange unicorn trembled, looking up weakly before Lord Bonfire said quietly: "In a few days you will resume learning to horn foil. You will train until you are on par with Shieldhoof, who has graciously agreed to spar with you once every week, for an hour. And yes, Ardent Desire, you spend that entire hour on your hooves, showing a little backbone and effort. For every minute you spend crying or puling or on your back, I will have you lashed ten times, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, father." Ardent Desire whispered, looking down and closing his eyes tightly as he trembled, and Lord Bonfire shook his head slowly and contemptibly.
"When I was your age, I was already a veteran during the war. I was much more concerned with real-world problems, than I was with fairy tales like... demons and ghosts." Lord Bonfire replied coldly, shaking his head in slow disgust. "And I am still more concerned with the real world than I am with your nonsense.
"When I return from my meeting with the other Barons, we will begin your training, and you will not disappoint me." Lord Bonfire said calmly, straightening and shaking his head slowly. "Until then, Morning Glory is in charge of the keep, and you will answer to her as you would answer to me, is this understood?"
"Yes, father." Ardent Desire mumbled, humiliation burning in his cheeks: he was the eldest son, and yet even with how unusual it was, Lord Bonfire always put his second-born daughter in charge when he was gone: but all throughout the barony, Morning Glory was toted as Lord Bonfire's pride and joy, while Ardent Desire, on the other hoof...
For a few moments, Lord Bonfire looked down at him, and Ardent Desire finally opened his eyes and dared to look back up, but all he saw as contempt and shame and disappointment. It hurt. It hurt worse than the bruises on his face, the cut on his scalp that was still oozing blood, or the fact his whole life was nothing but failure after failure...
Lord Bonfire grunted, then turned and strode out, leaving Ardent Desire to sit silently for a few minutes before he looked down miserably at the pile of ashes on the floor that had once been a book. He reached out and scuffed at them, spreading smears of gray over the floor, before he finally forced himself to his hooves and headed to the door.
He breathed slowly in and out, taking a moment, waiting until he knew that his father was gone, and then he pushed the door open and turned down the hall... and almost ran right into a slender, tall unicorn mare with a golden mane and pale pink body. They looked at each other for a few moments as Ardent Desire automatically shrank back a bit, and then the mare leaned down and grinned widely, asking contritely: "Coming to beg for mercy, little brother?"
"Yes, Morning Glory, that's precisely what I was about to do." Ardent Desire mumbled, looking awkwardly up over his sister as he swallowed a little. Morning Glory scared him more than his father did: her eyes were ruthless, and her cutie mark was of the sun just coming over the horizon. Her special talent was manipulating light magic, a power she used to devastating effect in combat.
She didn't care about much of anything apart from earning daddy's favor and beating the crap out of whatever was unlucky enough to get in her way. One of her favorite hobbies was picking on her big brother, Ardent, and making him look like even more of a failure than he already was: Morning Glory had big goals, after all. Among others was her dream to take her father's place when he was ready to pass down the barony, and become the first mare to assume the title of Baroness.
For the moment, however, she seemed to be in a good mood, so Ardent Desire only carefully skittered out of the way, and Morning Glory looked pleased with this before she tossed her mane and said mildly: "I'm having guests over for dinner tonight, and I'd like to make a good impression. Stay in your room and I'll have one of the servants bring you your meal. And if you keep nice and quiet, I won't tell Daddy about the whores."
Ardent Desire flushed deep red, then he only nodded, knowing it would be useless to deny anything, and this seemed to please Morning Glory further as she laughed loudly, then smiled and strode past, calling over her shoulder: "You wouldn't have to pay for sex if you weren't so determined to be such a freak, brother. Daddy might even like you better if you would just do what you were supposed to do."
The orange unicorn didn't respond, only looking away, humiliated, and he skittered quickly down the hall. He tried not to think about it, but now the memory was coming back: the smell of sweat and staleness and bodies, moaning, the feeling of... flesh, soft and rubbery. The slave hoof whore had looked better with her clothes on than with them off, but it was humiliating to still be a virgin at his age, and when she'd sprawled back on the bed, he'd... he'd...
It had been less than a minute, and over. Ten bits paid. She called him 'cute' in a mocking way and he'd hurried out of the brothel and out of the village still reeking of the place and his shame. He'd bathed in a nearby river and that hadn't done anything but made him feel wet, and even now he still smelled her, but it had helped him understand there were worse things than being a virgin.
He was so distracted that he went right past the servant's quarters, past the closet where the cleaning supplies were kept, and his hooves found their way to the library. He shoved himself through the doors and into this room that smelled of books and was like a comforting womb, where he was safe and secure and surrounded by the tight walls of shelves and books and paper.
Ardent Desire breathed slowly in and out, looking back and forth, feeling... comforted, like he always did, and he closed his eyes as the faintest scent of lavender touched his nose, and blurry memories came to mind. Of his mother reading to him, and holding him, and how everything had used to been before she had passed away.
He touched his forehead, then shook himself out before sighing, his eyes lingering along the shelves. His mother had told him all sorts of stories when he was younger, and the stallion quietly strode towards a set of shelves near the back of the room. He looked back and forth carefully, then reached up and grasped what looked like a warp in the wooden shelving before grunting and tugging on it firmly, and a small section of shelving swung open as he murmured: "And Mom only ever showed me where all the good books were. She trusted me with them... she trusted me more than she trusted anypony else. She loved me more than she loved anypony else..."
He shivered a little, and he saw his mother's smile, his mother's eyes, heard her voice as she explained kindly: Demons aren't all evil, Ardent Desire. Just like you and me, they can choose to be who they want to be... your mother was rescued by a demon when she was very young, you know...
"And that's why Mom collected all this..." Ardent Desire murmured, looking back and forth as he entered the small room hidden by the shelves: a room filled with more books, all of them much older, tomes that detailed both stories of both great good and terrible evil about the supernatural. Stories that Ardent Desire firmly believed in, as he traced his hoof over several of the books and smiled to himself. "I wish I knew where Mom found all these."
He quieted, then shook his head and sighed as he turned to face the back shelves. Parts of the collection were missing: destroyed by Lord Bonfire or Morning Glory, for the most part. Other books simply seemed to vanish on occasion, and Ardent Desire quietly paged through the shelves before he finally grasped a heavy, leather-bound tome to read. It would calm him down and keep him entertained, he thought, as he pulled it free... and then he dropped the book and stumbled backwards in surprise as a second, much-smaller notebook fell out from behind the tome.
Ardent Desire picked the notebook up and examined it curiously: it was badly bent and a little beaten up, some of the shoved-together parchment torn and the stitched-together spine coming undone. The orange pony tilted it back and forth, then he finally shrugged a little and opened it before frowning at the ink-splotched pages, muttering: "Who wrote this..."
Then his eyes widened slightly as he flipped to the middle of the book and found not just notes, or smudged writing, but what he recognized as a diagram for some kind of ritual. He leaned down intently, and he realized after a few moments... it was a summoning ritual. He couldn't entirely make out the words, but the diagram of what was required, it was all very clear...
Ardent Desire looked back and forth, then he quickly turned and hurried out of the secret room, flicking his horn to slam the hidden door shut behind him, not caring that several books were rattled out of place. He hurried across the library as he breathed harder, his eyes bright: his mother had told him all kinds of stories about demons being called upon, said that they could be convinced to do favors or make deals with mortals... said that there were even some demons who would help ponies of their own volition.
All his life, Ardent Desire had looked for demonic magic: he had even tried to develop some on his own, but he had never been able to contact demons, never glimpsed more than a Kelpie in the river nearby. He had studied up and down rituals, summoning circles, everything that could be related to demons by even the wildest leap of imagination, but he had never seen anything concrete, never found anything like this...
It could be what he'd been looking for, the answer to all his problems, a way for him to finally prove that he wasn't just some lazy failure. To become more than a disappointment, to get all the things that had been denied him his entire life. And with these thoughts in mind, Ardent Desire hurried back to his room to eagerly begin reading, forgetting all the warnings and cautionary tales his mother had told him alongside the good and happy stories, forgetting that what demon loved to punish most was hubris and good intentions.
It was late that night, and Ardent Desire had only eaten a small meal: he was fairly sure the servant that had brought him his dinner had stolen a good amount of it, but he was too excited and anxious to be hungry anyway.
He had waited until the deep, deep darkness had settled in, when he could be sure that the rest of the keep was asleep. And now, flames danced in the fireplace as he carefully traced a circle in the floor, following the diagrams and illustrations he'd found in the book. He'd read it back and forth, studied everything that remained: many of the pages were frayed, and a few had been torn out, but there had been more than enough to explain the basic concepts and he'd been able to get his hooves on what he needed earlier in the evening, while his siblings had been occupied with dinner guests and the servants were more concerned with keeping Morning Glory happy than whatever the eccentric Ardent Desire was doing.
The orange stallion finished drawing the last symbol in the circle with chalk, then he glanced quickly at the notebook floating beside him before nodding once to himself. He hesitated only a moment longer, then tossed the book back onto his bed and took a slow breath: now came the hard part.
Ardent Desire closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards, concentrating his magic. He had gone over and over the spell in the book, memorized every part of it, but it seemed almost too simple, too easy: he had the strangest feeling that he was missing something important, and yet... yet...
No, there was no turning back now. Ardent Desire gritted his teeth, his horn glowing brighter, dark swirls rumbling through the red aura that surrounded the spire as he began to murmur the words that had been on the page, the language guttural, dissonant, stumbling. He spoke quickly as the magic poured out of him, began to sap his strength as the air around him rumbled and hummed with the call he was putting out, before his eyes snapped open as a voice said softly: "You are not Illuminia."
Ardent Desire's head snapped up, words cutting off and the magic fading from the air as he stared across at the entity that had appeared only a few feet away. A golden mask hid its face from view, but orange eyes with slit-like pupils stared out at from beneath the strangely skull-like, gemstone-ornamented metal, and a heavy cloak hid the rest of it from view, billowing like smoke around the entity. Only a pink, rat-like tail was visible, the tip of this swaying slowly as the creature murmured softly: "And a protective ward. A powerful one... who are you, unicorn?"
"I... my name is Ardent Desire. Are... are you a... a demon?" Ardent Desire whispered, his eyes lighting up as he stared almost desperately across at the being, who looked back with calm curiosity.
After a few moments, the masked entity nodded slowly, bowing its head courteously. "That is what your kind calls mine, as we call all yours 'mortals.' I take it you have called upon me for a reason, Ardent Desire? Why don't you step outside that protective circle, so we can discuss this more amiably?"
"I... I..." Ardent Desire, faced with a real demon, licked his lips hesitantly before he said carefully: "I would... like to know more about you first. You... you said Illuminia... my mother's name. Did you know her?"
"No." the demon said calmly, and when Ardent Desire's head raised slightly, the demon gave a quiet chuckle behind its mask. "Yes, I cannot read your mind while you are inside that protective ward, but I can see your thoughts clearly all the same. If I said yes, true or not, you would have been quicker to trust me. But demons do not lie, only twist the truth. Now step out of that circle. I have no desire to harm you."
Ardent Desire hesitated, shifted uncomfortably... and then he finally nodded and stepped nervously forwards, leaving the safety of the ward. He stood apprehensively across from the demon, which he realized was even smaller than him... and yet all the same, both scared and enthralled him, before he felt a shiver run through his body as the demon said softly: "Yes. You seek to do business with me. Perhaps you are worth my time after all, Illuminia or not."
"Wait, wait... I... how do you know about my mother?" Ardent Desire asked finally, and the masked demon studied him curiously. "Are... I mean, my mother always told me stories about... demons, good and bad, and..."
"There is a pecking order in the demon world, especially amongst devils: the more-proper name for those of our kind who are more inclined to order, whilst demons are of... baser instincts." The entity sniffed almost disdainfully, and then said quietly: "I was a... business associate to a demon lord, who has... passed on, as I believe mortals colloquially phrase it. He was very fond of your mother. I have now taken over his accounts and manage his former assets: when you tried to call upon him tonight with your crude summoning, I heard you instead."
Ardent Desire stared in disbelief for a few moments, then swallowed thickly before leaning forwards and whispering: "My mother... knew a demon lord?"
"Yes. She was saved by him as a small child. Some our kind takes pleasure in being invoked by ponies – even the insane – when they attempt to perform a ritual sacrifice, others... do not. Some of our kind views mortals as only meat and food. Others have developed a fondness for them. But none of this is important." The demon made an almost-irritated gesture, revealing a skeletal claw covered in stretched white skin from one long sleeve of its cloak, and Ardent Desire shivered a bit. "What do you wish to bargain for?"
"I... wait. No, no, I... I mean... I just wanted..." Ardent Desire shook his head hurriedly, looking awkwardly at the demon. "I don't even know your name. I only wanted to prove that this magic... works, exists. I want to show the world that-"
"Demons and my kind are not toys, Ardent Desire, nor are we creations of magic to be called at whim and fancy." the demon said quietly, and Ardent Desire shrank back a bit before he looked nervously over his shoulder at the protective circle. Slowly, he began to back towards it... but then the demon caught his attention when it said softly: "Besides, why bother with the long road, when I can take you directly to your desired destination?"
"What?" Ardent Desire looked up hesitantly, and the demon's eyes seemed to smile as it hid its claws back inside the sleeves of its robes, bowing its head towards him politely.
"Pleasures of the flesh. Mares. Servants. Wealth. I can and will give you these things, with ease." the demon said calmly, and then it continued in that same gentle, alluring tone: "And out of respect to my former associate, and the fact that your mother was special to him, I am willing to share my gifts with you for a full month, without cost or obligation. After that, you may keep what you have earned... or we may discuss a new deal."
"Wait... for... for free? You're saying you'll just give me... everything I've ever wanted, for a month, for free?" Ardent Desire stared in disbelief, and then he shook his head, adding hurriedly: "I don't... I don't even know your name..."
"Names... why are names so important to your kind?" The demon sighed, shaking its head before bowing again and replying politely: "If you must refer to me as something, then you may call me Cupidus. But yes: as I stated before, demons do not lie... and I will not even tender a contract, nor bind you to any other form of written nor verbal agreement. I only ask you to remember that it will be the duration of precisely thirty days, and that during the last few days, the enchantment will weaken until you are left with only what you have earned."
Ardent Desire hesitated for a few long moments, and he began to open his mouth, but found himself cut off when Cupidus answered his unspoken question calmly: "I already told you. I have taken over my former associate's accounts, and I must seek to honor his alliances as well as repair his grievances. Besides, what you're asking is a very simple matter, Ardent Desire. To ask for something in return for this sampling would reflect badly on my business ethics."
The stallion swallowed a bit, and then he bowed his head forwards and whispered: "My mother told me demons could be generous, Cupidus but... but I'm truly humbled, and..."
"This is only the beginning, Ardent Desire, of what I hope will prove a profitable relationship for us both. But please do not call me in the future unless absolutely necessary, although I will check in over the month to ensure you are enjoying your new life." Cupidus replied, and then the demon glanced back and forth before asking: "Where do you keep your money? I require a change-purse, or something similar."
"I... I think I have one right over here." Ardent Desire hurried eagerly over to his trunk, yanking it open and looking back and forth before his horn glowed as he lifted out a small violet sack. He began to turn, and yelped when he found himself face-to-face with Cupidus, the demon easily catching the purple cloth bag when Ardent Desire accidentally flung it into the air. "I uh... I... sorry, I mean, I..."
"It is done." Cupidus held out the bag, and Ardent Desire blinked in surprise as he looked at it, then gingerly took the sack as he realized that it did now feel heavier, and was bulging like it was filled with coins. The stallion shifted it in his hooves as Cupidus explained in his same cordial tones: "The sack will fill with your mortal currency every hour, until the month is up. Enjoy your wealth, Ardent Desire."
Ardent Desire lamely took the bag, looking down at it before he opened his mouth and looked up... and saw the demon had simply vanished. He frowned in surprise, then shifted and patted all over himself, mumbling nervously: "I... I don't feel any different..."
He looked at the bag after a moment, then hesitantly opened it and looked inside... and yes, it did seem much fuller. For a few moments, he only stared, then bit his lip before hurrying across the room and simply upending the sack, pouring all the coins inside out over the table and leaving a sizable pile: in fact, it looked like more than would fit inside the bag. Much more.
Ardent Desire stared over this pile of money, and then he looked eagerly down at the bag... but now it was empty, and he winced a bit as he returned his eyes to the pile of money. Oh, sure, it was a handsome start, and to have real spending money of his own instead of taking from the Baron's coffers and hope he didn't notice, well, that was wonderful in and of itself. But... this wasn't exactly a grand amount of wealth...
The stallion reminded himself of what Cupidus had said, however, and so he instead put the bag aside, then simply sat and stared at it, waiting for some sign that it was going to start filling up. He still felt elated... but part of him was beginning to wonder whether or not he had just been the butt of some demonic prank, too. Joyous as it was to have so many questions answered, so many thoughts confirmed... he had been left with all kinds of other thoughts and... and...
Ardent Desire felt his eyes getting heavy, and he frowned a little to himself as tiredness washed over him. He shifted awkwardly, then cursed under his breath before he found his head bowing forwards, his eyes closing...
No! He snapped his head up, forcing away the tiredness, sitting hurriedly up in... in bed? "How... how did I get..."
The orange stallion looked dumbly back and forth: now there were only embers in the fireplace, and the protective ward of chalk had vanished. The orange stallion wondered for a moment if it was all a dream, as he slowly turned his head... and gaped, dumbfounded by what he saw.
His purple changepurse was sitting on the edge of the chair... and beneath it, spread almost halfway across the room, was a pile of coins and bits. Ardent Desire stared, then twitched when the bag trembled visibly before another hoof-full of bits poured out of its open mouth to tinkle along the enormous pile below, one of these slowly rolling all the way to the bedside as Ardent Desire looked down... then giggled childishly and grabbed at his face in delight.
He leapt to his hooves, seizing the changepurse and shaking it as he laughed loudly, then looked quickly back and forth before his eyes locked on the large trunk. A moment later, he was flinging all his knickknacks and other silly things he kept in there out of it, and then scooping up as many coins as he could carry with telekinesis, flinging them into the wooden box as he sang: "Oh I'm a happy stallion, I'm a happy stallion, I'm a happy stallion, as happy as can be!"
The trunk was only half-filled with coins by the time he had scooped everything in easy view up, and judging by the light coming in through the thin slits near the top of the wall that served as this room's 'windows,' he had slept for a good six hours. So he dropped the change purse inside, careful to leave it so the mouth of the magic bag was open, before grinning and happily flinging his door open to step out into the hall... and the first thing he did was run directly into Morning Glory.
He bounced off her, then winced and staggered backwards as she glared down at him, snapping: "And why weren't you at breakfast today, and... and who took care of your wounds? You look... you... look..."
A strange frown spread over Morning Glory's face, and she breathed a bit harder for a moment before shaking her head out hurriedly, her eyes flickering as Ardent Desire stared up at her. And then the stallion cleared his throat a bit as he straightened, before wincing when Morning Glory said irritably: "Well, I'm waiting for an answer!"
"What do you mean? I... no one healed me..." The orange stallion reached up, touching over his face gingerly... and then pressing a bit harder as he realized that he could no longer feel any swelling or cuts from yesterday, and his eyes widened a bit before he muttered before he could stop himself: "Thank you Cupidus..."
"What?" Morning Glory asked with a frown, leaning down over him threateningly, and Ardent Desire winced before the mare reached up and grabbed him by the horn. He yelped as his head was jerked forcefully up so she could glare at him menacingly, leaning down... and then her features twitched again, her mouth fell a little open, her eyes almost shimmered as she simply stared at him, and he stared back nervously, wondering if after all these years, her mind had finally snapped.
But then she only shook her head quickly and shoved him backwards with a disturbed look on her face, shivering once before she muttered: "Get out of my sight, Ardent Desire. In fact, do me a favor and leave completely. I have guests to entertain, including Shieldhoof, and I do not want today's diplomacy marred by another silly fight."
Ardent Desire mumbled a little, then he nodded and said awkwardly: "Then... I'll just grab some things and-"
"No, you'll leave, right now." Morning Glory stomped a front hoof firmly, and Ardent Desire yelped and nodded as the unicorn mare breathed hard and glared down at him, a flush rising in her cheeks and her eyes burning holes in him, making the stallion skitter backwards before he turned to run away. But before he could, she reached up and seized the end of his long tail, holding him in place for a moment and making him wince before she blurted: "But they'll be gone by supper. Be home for supper... I... don't waste... food."
Ardent Desire slowly stared over his shoulder at her, and then Morning Glory let go of his tail and snarled at him, and the stallion decided it was a better idea to simply run away than argue or question whatever was wrong with her. He hurried down the halls, and bolted out through the rear entrance of the keep, used mostly by the servants.
Ardent only tossed one look back at the large, rounded stone structure as he hurried away from it: the keep was shaped like a mushroom laying on its side, with a rounded, almost dome-like back and a rectangular, walled-in front. It was built on a hill, with the back facing down the steep slope that towards a steep embankment, and the stallion slowed as he approached this before finally halting at the edge of a cliff with a sigh to gaze moodily down into the ravine below.
The river they got fresh water from flowed as peacefully as ever, and there were several buildings that sat comfortably in the shelter of the cliff and keep above: farms, mostly, and a barracks for soldiers. But everything else past this point was mostly wilds: most of the barony's population lived in the opposite direction.
The orange unicorn shook his head a little, then turned around to follow the curving path that followed a slope leading down from the wide mountaintop the keep was situated upon, and follow it towards the village in the distance. That was, until he saw the banners and cadre of ponies approaching, and the stallion winced and hurried off into the forest that lined the path, not slowing down as he pushed his way through the trees. The last thing he needed was to be caught out on the road by Shieldhoof while Lord Bonfire wasn't around...
Besides, this was where Ardent Desire had planned to head anyway... he'd just hoped to take the path through the forest, not shove his way through the messy underbrush. But after a few minutes, the unicorn managed to find the path all the same, and he sighed in relief as he looked back and forth. Birds sang in the trees, and animals rustled through the woods, and everything felt well and good as he shook himself out before turning his eyes down the well-trod trail and smiling a bit as he began to follow it while letting his mind... think.
He had money now. It was left to be seen if he was... different in other ways, but for now, he thought he had enough bits to do the one thing he'd always wanted to: leave. After all, the time he'd spent out earning his scholarship had been wonderful, and freeing. Sure, he'd still been more miss than hit with people, but just being out from under his father's eyes had been... redemptive, he thought.
Ardent Desire chuckled quietly as emerged from the forest and into a small clearing in front of a quietly-burbling river, where he spent a lot of his time. He smiled as he strode over to a flat rock and sat down on it, sighing in relief... and then staring when only moments later, a head poked itself up out of the water and looked at him with surprise.
He gaped in shock, his mouth working stupidly as the head rose higher, revealing part of a smooth, strong body: it looked like a sea-green pony, but the sharp teeth, the glowing eyes, and the fact her mane was made of seaweed revealed all too clearly it was a very different creature indeed. And even though he'd caught glimpses of them, had once even been teased by one from the other side of the bank before it had dived back into the river... he'd never actually seen...
"A Kelpie..." Ardent Desire whispered, and then he watched with amazement as the creature slowly swam forwards, then put a cloven hoof up on the bank and climbed sinuously out of the river, continuing to study him almost raptly. The stallion didn't even know what to do, what to say, as it approached him, and then he yelped when the slick mare grabbed him and shoved him down on his back.
The Kelpie grinned down at him widely, licking her lips... and Ardent Desire winced in sudden fear as he saw those sharp teeth, reminding himself of what he was dealing with. He shivered, but the creature held him easily down before she leaned over him and cooed in his ear, in a sonorous, ringing voice: "I smell demonic essence... and I feel a magnetism that could only come from powers well beyond a simple unicorn's magic. Have you been a naughty colt?"
"I... I..." Ardent Desire grinned weakly, and then the Kelpie drew back, her eyes locking with his before they glowed faintly, and the stallion shivered before he felt the truth being compelled out of him, as he whispered: "I... made a deal with a demon... he... gave me wealth and power for a month... for nothing..."
"Oh, the cost is never nothing, darling. Never nothing at all... Greed demons are tricky bastards. Not like my kind... we only want two things..." The Kelpie rubbed her hooves slowly over Ardent Desire's chest, and he breathed unevenly, shivering and staring up at her before she leaned down with a grin. "And you'll do well enough for one, handsome."
Ardent Desire's mouth worked stupidly, and then the Kelpie leaned down and kissed him firmly, and the stallion's eyes rolled up in his head as he almost whimpered in delight before her hooves pressed against him, and she asked softly: "Virgin?"
"I... I only... once... it was... a prostitute and..." He was silenced as she touched her hoof to his lips, licking her own slowly as her eyes half-lidded and she gave a growl of delight.
"Close enough. Just relax, sweetie. I'll make you a real stallion..." purred the Kelpie, and Ardent Desire stared up at her hungrily, adoringly, as she sat back against him and slid her hooves over his chest, pressing down against him, feeling him as she tilted her head back as she shifted... and then the stallion's eyes closed as there was bliss.