Malgrephor The Demon

by Black Iron Tarkus

Return of the King

Weeeeeeeeeell this is awkward. I’m strolling down the street, in the company of a trio of long dead equestrians. Where are they taking me? Hell if I know, but my best guess is that their bringing me to that big ass tower thing, but that really only happens in movies and stupid fanfics. And, more importantly, why would they be bringing me there? ………………………. I got nuthin’. Zip, zippo , zilch, Nada, nichts, niente, niets, nichego, arap’eri, khong, wu, tipota, walla- ok enough of that. But really, what the hell is going on here?

I crawl down into pony hell, take a brisk walk into town, and now a couple of dead guys want me to come and chat in some tower of doom.

Hang on a second……………. I just came from ponyville, a nice, quiet little town, full of happy, smiling, carefree ponies, where random musical numbers in the middle of town square is totally normal……….and I got my ass kicked. But now, I’m in Tartarus, where there are a bunch of dead people hanging out around a crumbling city s. And these guys seem to be totally kissing my ass.

Then again, these people are essentially the souls of the damned, of who are required to serve and obey demons. Then again, how do I know this isn't a trap? THEN AGAIN, maybe I’m just over analyzing again, and about to fall flat on my-

ABJ: Dude, stahp. You’ve sucked that joke dry.

Alright, alright fine.

…..ANNNNNNNNNYHOW

My mind continued to yammer on like this for a couple of minutes. In the middle of one of my conspiracies, I felt a weird sensation. I initially blew it off, but it started to get really overpowering. The chills seemed to be coming from behind me; so, naturally, I turned around….to be greeted by a massive crowed of the specters, closely following me, like it’s a frickin’ parade.

Needless to say, it scared me, to the point where I actually squealed a little. The sudden, shrill sound seemed to startle them as well, causing them to jump back. The Pegasus guiding me’s head whipped around in attention to my squealing and the loud clattering. His eyes initially met mine, a confused look on his face.

“Heh, uh… sorry, they kind of startled me.” I awkwardly apologized. The Pegasus’s attention was immediately redirected to the crowd, who shrunk back when they heard what I said. The Pegasus gave them a short glare, before turning back around and continuing down the street.

Whatever’s going on, these people seem happy to see me; but why?

Few minutes passed, and we arrived at our destination. What was our destination you ask? The tower, of course!

‘Called that shit.’

I looked up at the tower. I would place its height at around 150 to 200 feet tall. It appeared to be made entirely of a black stone, kind of like nether brick. It was unlike most towers due to its shape being more of a cylinder, except the tops circumference was smaller than the base. It was covered in these spiky, pointy thingies, and it had two tall spikes at the top.

‘Saaaaaay, that looks familiar’

Either that or it’s just Satan’s dildo.

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After going inside and going up a few flights of stairs, we came into a large, round chamber full of books. But it wasn’t really a library, more like a study; the books were stacked here and there, haphazardly. At the other end of the room, was a pony wearing a ruined, pointed hat and frayed cloak. He was looking out a window (well, more like a giant hole in the wall) that overlooked the city. The Pegasus suddenly spoke up.

“Starswirl, there’s something you need to see.”

Wait a minute…. Starswirl?

“*sigh* Not now, I’m…………….. I’m busy.” The elusive pony said in a forlorn tone.

Is it just me, or dose this guy sound like Qui Gon Jinn?

“No, I’m sure you’ll want to see this.” The Pegasus retorted. The pony gave out an annoyed sigh and started to turn around.

“What could possibly be so important that it couldn’t wait until-”

But when he faced us full front, he saw me and stopped. Heck, when I saw HIM I froze due to recognition. The first thing I noticed was the long, scraggly, white beard. Despite his decayed skin, I could tell he was an older stallion.

‘Beard, pointy hat, old, pseudo Gandalf look……… hold on!’

That’s when I noticed the faded star pattern on his cloak, and the rusted bells on his hat.

‘Starswirl The Bearded!’

Course, I was able to keep my cool, in order to prevent from blowing my cover. He, however, didn’t even bother to hide his surprise. His eyes got so wide I thought they were going to pop out.

“By Faust………… you’ve come back…………. You actually came back.”

He rushed over, maintaining the shocked expression.

“I can’t believe it, it-it’s been so long, I thought you’d never be back, I-” in the middle of his rambling, he looked down at my hands.

“Let me see your hands!”

“Uhm, I- uh.” I fumbled with my words as I presented my hands, palms up.

“No, the backs, the back of your hands!”

I flipped my hands over, revealing the symbols. Starswirl’s old eyes shifted back and forth between them, retaining his shocked expression.

“It’s true…… you’ve really come back.”

Wha…. Eh……..but…………..th-………… huh……….what the hell’s going on?

Me confusion was apparently very evident; so evident that Starswirl’s expression changed to a mix of realization and concern.

“You don’t know what you are, do you?” he deadpanned. I shook my head.

“Hm, the prophecies are quite precise. But if that’s the case, I have a lot to tell you.” He turned to the three that escorted me.

“You three are dismissed, this matter is of my concern and-” he stop mid-sentence and turned to me. it only took me a second to tell that he was asking my name.

“Oh, uhm, Malgrephor.” He continued.

“-Malgrephor’s concern.”

They did as they were told, and exited the chamber. Starswirl then turned to me.

“This way, I have so much to tell you.” He said as he walked to a stairwell.

‘Finally, some goddamn clarity in this crazy world of colorful ponies.’

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Minutes later we arrived in a newer chamber. It was like the last one in the sense that it had a copious amount of books; but this one was roughly the size of the Sistine Chapel’s interior, and the shelves in which the books were kept on stretched to the ceiling. A few ponies stood around them, who had been looking at the shelves before we came in.

“What is this place?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“This is the Archives.” Starwirl answered “every bit of information we’ve received from deceased scholars has been pooled in this very chamber. But none of these books can tell you what I’m about to show you.”

Deceased scholars? It got me thinking: if Tartarus is the realm of damned souls, why are there a bunch of seemingly innocent creatures here?

“So, if these books won’t tell me anything where are you taking me?”

“The Wall.” Starswirl replied.

“The Wall?” I repeated; simple name.

“One of the only three documents of this realm; and, fortunately for us, this is the best one.” He looked to the ground and sighed. “I’ve looked upon the wall one hundred twenty-three thousand, nine hundred and two times, waiting for this day.”

‘HE COUNTED?!’

Once the conversation had died down, I heard the other ponies following us. It was obvious that they had been waiting for this day as well.

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We passed through the archives, walking into a long, dark corridor. Starswirl motioned for me to stop, moving ahead a few paces, and turning to face me and the rest of the ponies.

“I assume you’re familiar with alicorns and draconiqui, yes?” he asked. I replied with a simple nod. “Then there’s no need for further explanation.” He cleared his throat and began. “Now, you’re familiar with the notion that magic and the state of the world can either be chaotic, or harmonious, correct?” I nodded. “Well, it’s all wrong.” His hat tilted backward, revealing his now glowing horn. A torch on the wall sparked to life, slowing getting brighter. “There is, in fact, a triad of states; Harmony, chaos, and chaotic-harmony.”

The wall was fully illuminated by this time, revealing a stone carving of a triangle, its point facing downward.

“For harmony: The alicorns, who ruled the surface world.” He pointed to the top left corner of the triangle. There was a simple carving of an equine with a horn and wings there.

“For chaos: The draconiqui, who ruled the nether-realm.” He pointed to the left side of the triangle, which depicted a serpent like creature with miss-matched limbs, wings and horns; obviously a draconiquis.

“And for chaotic-harmony, the arch-demons, who ruled Tartarus.”

He pointed to the bottom point in the trigram. There, an image of a humanoid creature was carved; a pair of horns resting on its head, four wings stretched out at its sides.

“That’s what you are.”

Starswirl continued down the corridor.

‘Dude……..WHOA.’

I had no idea that what I was about to be shown was going to blow my mind.

Starswirl moved to the next part of the wall and lit the torch. The light revealed a carving of two arch-demons with a fist on their chests, one of which had the blue mark on the back of its hand, the other, a red mark.

“The first thing to be noted of the Arch-demons is that despite their brutish appearance they are extraordinarily sophisticated, and incredibly perceptive. There existed two types of arch-demons; those born with the red mark of the warrior and those born with the blue mark of the mage. The warrior mark grants it’s host the power to summon weapons and armor in battle, and are said to be blessed with a natural immunity to fire and are capable of breathing fire. The mage mark grants its host the power to cast spells, summon creatures to their aid by whispering the words of power into their hand. They can also communicate to other magic users through dreams, and can regenerate limbs.”

Right before I was about to pipe-up and ask why I had both, he continued to the next part of the wall.

“Around three thousand years ago, one hundred years before the founding of Equestria, the arch-demons grew concerned of the neighboring realms; their purely harmonic and chaotic states disturbed them. They knew that pure harmony would coddle the surface world, that it with make it’s societies dim-witted due to lack of conflict, and keep them from changing for the better. They knew that pure chaos would cause the nether-realm to collapse on itself. In an attempt to create balance in both worlds, the arch-demons went to the alicorns and draconiqui, offering to help bring such balance.

But their efforts were for not. The Alicorns couldn’t see past the arch-demon’s crude appearances. Aside from this, the Alicorns strongly believed that any form of chaos, no matter how minor, is despicable.

The draconiqui were no different. At the mere mention of harmony, they scoffed, saying that harmony is uneventful. Plus, the draconiqui retorted that even if the nether-realm was destroyed, they would just move on to a new world.

Knowing then that the neighboring world’s minds wouldn’t be changed by promises, they began working diligently to create the balanced worlds they strived for.

They began by designing factors that would counter the overpowering chaos or harmony. For the surface world, they introduced hostile creatures, disasters and sickness; as well as introducing the mortal life to ambiance of chaotic nature, such as malice, voracity, deceit, duplicity, contemptuousness and solitude.

For the nether-realm, they created sentient automatons with an instinctive desire for order, with magic powerful enough to fight the draconiqui. These automatons would build structures to create a sense of orgainization in a world ravaged by the draconqui’s storms.

Needless to say it worked, both worlds’ states began to become stable; but the reaction of the alicorns and draconiqui were not what the arch-demons had anticipated.

These changes angered them both sides greatly, believing them to have soiled their ways of life. They went to the arch-demons immediately, demanding they revoke the changes. The arch-demons had to explain to the alicorns that the creatures couldn’t simply be removed, and that the only way to remove the feelings of chaos was to isolate and kill every creature that had experienced them. They also explained to the draconiqui that the automatons were completely independent, and they didn’t take orders from them.

But these explanations only angered them further. Both sides began arguing amongst themselves, as to what they would do to resolve the situation. After much rage and arguing, both decided to seek revenge on the demons, and began their march on Tartarus.

Despite being greatly out-numbered by both of the opposing sides, the Arch-demons held against the using their knowledge of magic and combat, and pushed back the incoming waves.

But the constant assault from two fronts proved to be too much, and the Arch-demons numbers began to dwindle; more and more with each attack. They soon realized that the alicorns and draconiqi would outlast them. Upon this revelation, they knew there was only one way to discourage the angered races from continuing their assault: they had to create an Arch-demon-lord.

An Arch-demon-lord is a stronger variant of the Arch-Demons, created by combining an Arch-demon child with a warrior mark and another with the blue mark using powerful magic, and trained to by the finest warriors and mages until adulthood.

And the lord completed his training just in time. The Alicorns and Draconiqui launched a final assault upon Tartarus, hoping to finish them off once and for all. The lord, placed at the front lines with the last of the Arch-demons, hoped that with this battle, the long, bitter conflict would cease.

The Alicorns and Draconiqui came by the thousands in wave after relentless wave; but the Arch-demon-lord proved to possess strength and powers to be reckoned with.

Within hours, the Lord had reduced the armies to a third of their sizes. But the races, intoxicated by the palpable magic in the air, continued to fight.

In the end, the angered races numbers were next to none. So they fled, never to return. The war was over, but Lord was the only Arch-demon left standing; the rest had been felled in battle.

Too make matters worse; due to being the only one left, the Lord could not maintain a link between Tartarus and the afterlife. The Lord soon came to the conclusion that the other worlds were having the same difficulty.

So, feeling obligated, the lord began to draw the lost souls of the dead into Tartarus. The Lord gave them bodies of their own, and gave them shelter in the empty cities of Tartarus. It was here that the Lord would house the souls of the dead until the link between the afterlife was restored.

But the Lord’s plans were thwarted; when a young Draconiqus, overcome with rage, came into Tartarus. The Lord, weakened by having brought so many souls into Tartarus at once, was unable to fight back. The Draconiqus then expelled the Lord from all three worlds. The lost souls’ bodies then became ethereal, and the cities began to slowly crumble.

The Lord, however, had anticipated this. The souls were told that in an event of such circumstances, the Lord would escape into a different world, and would come again in a new body. And though having no knowledge of their origin they would relearn their strength, and Tartarus would be restored to its former glory”

Starswirl turned away from the wall.

“This is where you come in.”

Well…………….shit. I just got involved with something huge. I mean, come on! I just wanted to cuddle some ponies!

Even so, this prophecy stuff seems kind of interesting; not to mention the fact that these people need serious help. I guess I should hear this guy out.

“So, how exactly do you propose I learn all this?” I asked

“I have just the solution for that. Now, because of the war, parts of the cities were destroyed. Before the last battle, the Arch-demons collected the mage and warrior stones, and hid them in scattered locations throughout the surface world to ensure their safety. The mage and warrior stones were sacred documents that taught the arch demons the words of power.”

Skyrim anyone?

“Since none of us can speak or read the language of the Arch-demons, you’ll have to find a way to relearn it yourself. Fortunately, I know of an easy way to learn on your own.

Years before I passed away, I was involved in an expedition to saddle Arabia, after someone had found a strange stone with unknown markings inscribed upon it. Several other unicorns and I traveled there to collect it. However, within a week we found that with no level of magic or horse power (man power) could move it.

So, instead, we copied the inscriptions, and took them back to Canterlot. For two years some of our finest scholars spent in their studies, deciphering the inscriptions. Finally, after much effort, the language had been interpreted. But the scholars only found spells they couldn't use. So, the translation documents were put into a book and was stored in the Canterlot archives, in chase any other stones were found. That would be your best option.”

Oh great, Canterlot. The place in which is filled with ponies, and the last remnants of a species that hates my species’ guts. FM fucking L.

“Well, I guess there’s no time to lose.”

Well, as they say: #yol-

Abj: YOU SAY THAT, AND YOU FUCKING DIE!

I WAS BEING IRONIC!

Abj: I DON’T GIVE A STEAMING SHIT!

GO FUCK A CACTUS!

………………………………………..AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANYHOW.

“Thank you; you can’t possibly imagine how much this means to all of us.”

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So, I headed back up to the entrance of the tower. As Starswirl was seeing me off, he gave me a compass.

“This will lead you to each of the stones in chronological order. Remember, there are seven in total. We all wish you the best of luck.”

As I walked through the city, I began having some second thought about this whole thing. What if die? What if Celestia banishes me to the moon? What if this whole thing turns out to be a dream, and I really am going to fail tomorrow’s exam? It was until the lost souls began cheering and wishing me a safe journey that I knew I wasn't going to die on them, and there’s no way in hell I was going to die in the one place every brony dreams of going one day.

Once outside the city, I walk to the dreaded stairs that kicked my ass an hour before. I looked up to the top.

‘Jesus, that’s a lot of stairs. Good thing I've got wings, so I can just……………………wait.’

(………………………………………..processing………………………………………….)

“FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!”

Comments

[DrYumekui]

Oh yay! It Truly is a joyous occasion that this has updated.
Thankfully this explained why Mally was attacked like he was ('part from being hideous) by the mean ponies and their judgement. If it was already explained...then i probaly need to do a re-read to refresh my memory of the story

[killer007]

[Dignity]

Nice chapter right there ^^

[joebomo11]

we need to make this an entirely different chess game of the gods universe I for one would read the shit outta those stories