Devil's Epilogue (11/7/2016)


                                            >>The long-nosed man flips over the first card.

                                            >>”The Devil, upright in the past.”

                                            >>”A prisoner of their own device. Addicted and reliant… there are many things one can lust for. Money, attention, power… these addictions can control us if we let them. There is comfort in letting oneself be controlled and leaving their fate to a Devil. And even when we think we are free… the darkness can draw us right back in...”


                                            >And again, a two-week old being named the Devil, with a name which only his brothers could truly appreciate, tried to make sense of these words.

                                            >That's the only thing he recalled related to his Arcana ever mentioned by Igor and his strange companion.

                                            >And yet, he still remembered it clearly, even today.

                                            >"Sir?"

                                            >But that explanation lacked an important part: the positive aspects.

                                            >And that lack of knowledge has scared Devil.

                                            >Many of his brothers proved that they could do anything, pursue their own goals and dreams. Some even created new bonds and families.

                                            >Lucky Strength somehow scored Octavia... or Octavia Apple, as she calls herself now.

                                            >"Did you hear me, Sir?"

                                            >The man knew that meanings of these cards can be interpreted in many ways, and everything had good and bad sides, but it was hard for him to find good ones with no hints.

                                            >Everything was hard for him now, without voices of wisdom, knowledge and mostly randomness.

                                            >And worse, that description also reminded him too much of an old Diamond Tiara Rich, his maybe not too faithful, but still diligent student.

                                            >It sounded too fitting for her and her arcana in the past, but now...

                                            >"Are these the history books for half price I see?"

                                            >Devil snapped out of his daze and looked around, nearly spilling his tea over opened school-books.

                                            "Wait, what! Where?!"

                                            >"Is something troubling you, Sir?" Randolph asked, calm as always. "Once again, you are daydreaming and staring at the wall".


                                            "It's... it's nothing. Really, Randolph. I'm just still trying to get used to... a lack of helpful voices, so to speak".

                                            >The old butler simply went back to his work, serving food and making a new cup of hot tea for the one and only tutor living in the rebuilt Riches Estate.

                                            >"I see. It’s been a busy month for all of us. But if you're ever in need of somepony to talk to, you know where to find me, Sir An—Sir Devil".

                                            >Hunched over, the Man tried too hard to not chuckle behind butler’s back when he walked away with his tea wagon.

                                            "Well. At least I have found one good thing about it..."

                                            >"And pardon me but, for the weekend, mistress’ classes start in ten minutes", said the old stallion, right as the human took a big sip of tea, while also closing the door to Devil’s room with a sly grin.

                                            >"Try to get used to your new schedules, my friend".


                                            Riches Estate, Tiara's room, Day


                                            >”Good day, DVL!”, Diamond greeted her teacher cheerfully.

                                            “Good day, D... wait, what was that?”, the man asked curiously.

                                            >"Devil. DVL. It's not like only you can give silly nicknames to ponies. And your new one is way too funny".

                                            "So, that means..."

                                            >"No, I'm still going to call you 'Sensei'... when I feel like it, Sensei".

                                            "If that's what you want, DTR", said Devil, ignoring her fake 'ech' and putting down all the books.

                                            "Well, I'll be honest with you - this is our first tutoring session since I have moved here..."

                                            >"And the first tutoring in spring too. On a weekend, nonetheless".

                                            "You keep track of them better than me, you know that? But as I said, with moving here and not having time due to your house reconstruction... I'm not even sure what subject to even start with today. Maybe when school will start again. Or, you know, gets repaired, at least."

                                            >"Sooo..."


                                            >The man sat on the floor, moving books on different subjects to puzzled Tiara. "So, I decided that today you can ask me anything you want. Anything you don't know, and I will answer all of your questions. I asked Cheerilee and Hiero for some books and learned what you will be studying in the coming year, to get an upper hand... hoof".

                                            >Tiara just sat there, looking at these books and masked human on the cold floor. "Let me clarify that for you. You haven't prepared for the only thing that you were supposed to do here..."

                                            "I didn't say that".

                                            >"...and now you will answer any of my questions about anything I don't know, like a proper teacher, right?", asked Diamond, sounding way too serious for a Devil.

                                            "That's... I did say that more or less, yet I'm not seeing..."

                                            >"Promise me. That you will answer".

                                            >After a long, uneasy pause, Devil stood up and did some strange moves with his hands.

                                            "I Pinkie Promise to answer any of your questions, even the hard ones, about things that you don't know yet. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Hey, it's easier with a mask!"

                                            >Diamond Tiara just watched him, and when he finished, jumped on a floor, taking her place right across from her teacher. Never once has he seen his pupil so thoughtful before, which makes him nervous.

                                            >"What exactly are you?"

                                            >...


                                            >...

                                            >That one question caught Devil off guard.

                                            "Y-you mean like..."

                                            >"You know what I mean!", Diamond suddenly snapped, rising up and pointing her hoof at surprised human. "All... that! What are you! One day everything became chaos, all these masked things appeared, and then you came to rescue, like a white knight from books and soooo cool, kicking them all left and right with guards and then disappeared, and then suddenly there are tons of you with masks like the masked things too, and everypony acted like that's something normal, and h-how is all of this supposed to just be wi-ithout s-saying or explaining anyth-thing!~"


                                            >At the end of her speech, filly stood, pressing little hoof in the chest of the man, breathing heavily and shivering, finding it hard to look at silent form of that outburst Devil.

                                            >And the man, seeing that filly, outraged, determined, and scared, did the only thing that he thought was right.

                                            >He took her into his lap and hugged her hard. Hugged until she stopped shivering. And started to talk again, much more quietly.

                                            >"You are not my Anon, right? Not exactly him. Something... something happened to him that day".

                                            >Devil just patiently sat on the floor, with Tiara in his lap, petting her mane and back, waiting for her to let it out.

                                            >"No one randomly becomes a bunch of clones, aside from when we had many Pinkie mirror clones, but they all acted similarly. You, none of you do. You all are different persons, it’s subtle sometimes and really obvious others,but you all feel like him... Like him but not exactly, and that's..."

                                            "Too strange to you. Way too big a change in your life and surroundings to accept it and get used to?", finished Devil, hugging Diamond Tiara even harder.

                                            >"Heh. Guess I'm not the only one feeling that way, right?"

                                            >The man sighed before releasing his grip to look at Tiara.

                                            "Yes. You are right. About nearly everything. Have I told you already that you are way too clever for your age?"

                                            >"About that", Diamond looked up at him with a small smile. "Don't take it hard, but you are kind of a big dum dum compared to him. Anon would never resort to something so obvious like "tell me anything".

                                            "Says the one who still calls me “Sensei” and thinks that this is something bad".

                                            >Both of them share an awkward laugh, and Devil released the less nervous but still uneasy Diamond, taking off his mask and toying with it.


                                            "I don't think that others will like if I tell everything, but... I think you deserve to know. Not ‘everything’ everything, only important parts. You’ve got most of it figured out by yourself, about who I am, and who Anonymous was".

                                            >Diamond Tiara wanted to add something, but Devil interrupted her, to her obvious displeasure.

                                            "Some of these things I can't explain, nor mention, so I'll try to avoid them. But if they'll slip, do not ask about it. Not because they are a secret royal information, DTR, but I'm feeling that I'll get rains of megidolaons from one librarian for that".

                                            >"Megidowhat now?"

                                            "Aaand that's one of these things. To start with, I must first start with who, or rather what is Anonymous..."


                                            "...and with the power of everyone's friendship, when we got a chance to come back, leaving everything behind, we came to life. But at that time as a whole beings, destined to be with the ones who helped us return".

                                            >Devil finished his explanation, looking at a serious faced Diamond Tiara.

                                            >"So, you all really are different parts of senpai. Huh".

                                            "Yeah, it was really crowded back then. And sometimes silly, due to Death and others". Before the terrified filly could say something, Devil added: "That's just a name, like mine. We call him Mary, even now he is the same troublemaker, you know him, the one who colored his mask in pink".

                                            >"Aaah".

                                            "Yeah. But he's still a good guy. And others too. We liked to talk about literally everything, even in a heat of battles. And now... everything is harder without them. I wasn't even that good at words, unlike most of them. Look at me, even now I’m talking about my problems instead of tutoring you".

                                            >Diamond walked up to Devil and put a hoof on him: "Do not even talk like that. My sensei is the best tutor".


                                            >"And I mean it. MY sensei. The one part of Anon who was dedicated to me, the one which I brought back. The one who is so dedicated to me even after coming back".

                                            >Diamond picked up some of the books that Devil had nearly forgotten.

                                            >"Look at this. You may not be the brightest, but you are finding time for me. How much time did you waste searching for these books?"

                                            >Devil fell into his thoughts: "About a week, probably. Finding common books wasn't hard, but then I tried to search of more specific and interesting for you, with help of Chee..."

                                            >"See? You did for me even more than you should have. Anon was a good teacher, but he had many friends, marefriends, and not much time for everyone, even myself, but you - are MINE, my one and only tutor, my sensei. My senpai, whatever it means. And don't you dare go around forgetting that, you hear me?"

                                            >>"There is a comfort in letting oneself to be controlled and leaving their fate to Devil".

                                            >The man looked at filly, before taking the books from Diamond Tiara and ruffling her mane with his hand.

                                            "Yes, mistress. Thank you. That really puts my mind at ease, my clever student".

                                            >"Of course it did, I AM Diamond Tiara Rich. And it sounds much better than mistress, so I order you to call me only that, you big goof. Wait here, I'll ask Randolph to make some snacks for us, then we’ll continue today’s lesson. Oh, and I’d like to see what you got there from miss Cheerilee, so collect all these books from the floor".

                                            “If you say so, DTR”.

                                            >Tiara walked away, while Devil went to do what he was told, chuckling to himself as he worked.

                                            "Igor, you wordy nose. Couldn't just use something more simple, like "strong bonds" or "trust"..."

                                            >"Oh, and, before I forget-!", Diamond looked in her room through open door, "I can't miss that opportunity with Pinkie promise. What does 'Senpai' and 'Sensei' really mean? Something really silly, right?"

                                            "Um... Uuum..."


                                            >"Randolph, what is the meaning of this? Why is my daughter running around and constantly repeating that "she have seen a pie?", asked a clueless Filthy Rich, distracted from his work enough to leave his study.

                                            >The two old stallions stood on a staircase, listening to the loud filly yelling that phrase at the top of her lungs accompanied by sounds of trotting hooves, followed by human footsteps and grunting.

                                            >"It appears that little mistress finally found a way to get under her tutor’s skin, Sir", butler said with a small grin.

                                            >After some moments of listening, both stallions flinched from the sound of something loudly being broken upstairs, followed by childish laugh and more sad grunting from a uniquely human voice.

                                            >"Was that my antique vase...?"

                                            >"..."

                                            >"..."

                                            >"I'll go clean it right this away, Sir".