Aurthur visits Equestria

by James Fire

The Cell

"Dethon. it just had to be Dethon." How is he here? I exiled him to the bottommost layer of hell centuries ago.

Discord puts in his thoughts. "I met a being named Dethon some time ago. It came here through a portal, much like you did Mana. Of course, I didn't pay it much attention, mostly because it really just couldn't oppose me at the time. I watched it grow, and then eventually take over that pony's body."

Celestia seems curious and worried. "Discord, do you, by chance, know the name of the pony?"

"Maybe? It was a long time ago. I think it was some powerful wizard at the time. Star something."

While they continue to talk, I try to think of a way out of this place. I still pay some attention to what they are saying though.

"Star Bright? Starlight? Star Seer? Star Swirl? Star Shine?" Celestia rattles off some names, of which I am sure at least two of them are not actually pony wizards.

"That's the one! I knew I would remember it if I heard it."

Now Celestia seems confused. "Star Shine? There never was a powerful wizard named Star Shine."

A-ha, I was right. Somewhat.

"No, not that one. The one before that."

Celestia appears incredulous. "Star Swirl the bearded was possessed?!"

Discord appears thoughtful, "Now that I think on it, yes, it was the bearded one. Why does that seem odd?"

"He taught me and Luna most of what we know. Although, him being possessed would explain his rather abrupt disappearance."

Twilight seems to be broken. "Star Swirl... Alive?"

And Cadance is not listening, sitting in the corner with, who I presume to be, her husband and foal.

I need more information than this. "So, this Star Swirl, he was a powerful wizard? And he has been possessed by Dethon? Also, who are they?" I gesture towards the stallion and foal in the room. No, I did not point at Discord, I mean the stallion and foal sitting with Cadance.

Twilight is the first to speak. "YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF STAR SWIRL THE BEARDED?!" Er, yell, rather. "Oh, right. Just got here a few days ago. Well, lecture time!" She looks a bit too happy with that prospect. "Star Swirl was the pony who invented time travel, and many other spells. He advanced knowledge of magic by many decades, in the span of a few years. Without him, we might still be trying to figure out everything."

Well, that wraps that up. "Oh, so he is one of those, okay. Well, on to my other question, who are they?" Again gesturing at the stallion and foal, not Discord.

Cadance answers this one. "This is Shining armour, my husband, Twilight's sister, and father to my foal, Flurry Heart." She shows me the foal, and I feel overwhelmed at how adorable it is.

"Well, now that that is settled. Has anyone tried overloading their horn-blocker?" I demonstrate. Pushing all my collected power into my horn, and attempt to then push it out. No such luck, it would appear that mine, at least, was made for me. Everyone else in the room looks like they want to facehoof for not thinking of that, and tries it. Discord even tries to overload his cuffs. Nothing, nothing at all. None of them break, meaning we need an alternate solution. "Well, I can still work some magic. The horn-blocker does prevent me from using my horn, but it also severely reduces the strength of any magic I cast."

Twilight is reminded of that. "Could you teach us how to not use our horns? Maybe then Earth ponies and Pegasi could work magic too, more than just their innate magic."

Luna is more interested in hearing about our enemy than learning a new method of magic. "Who is this 'Dethon' you speak of? It sounds like you have met him before."

Ah, well, that is not really a question I want to go into right now, because that will take a long time to explain. Of course, it seems like we have quite a while, so I decide that a simple backstory is enough for now.

"First, Twilight, I can try to teach you, but not now. A dungeon is not the ideal learning place. Second, Luna, Dethon is the being that has possessed Star Swirl. Yes I have met him before, even fought him. I banished him, using a very powerful spell, to the bottommost layer of hell that I could reach, after I failed to kill him. He and his kin served Satan himself, and I have been tasked with weakening and eventually imprisoning Satan. Dethon and his kind got in the way, tried to stop me from becoming powerful enough to actually challenge Satan. I killed the rest of them, there are nine in total. He escaped before I could deal the killing blow. I did the next best thing, I worked a spell, based on his essence that he left behind, and bound him to the ninth layer of hell. It would appear that the binding did not stay as I had hoped it would. I am actually kind of curious as to how he got out of it. I used his own blood to bind him, and combined with the specific spell I used, he should not have been able to escape even with divine intervention. Even receiving help from multiple Gods should not be able to undo a blood binding. Unless... Hmmm."

Looking at the binding, he should not have been able to escape unless one of two things happened. One option is that I had a miscast of the spell, only binding him partially, or even a not fully developed version, making it not completely renew itself when it was supposed to, allowing him to be free after a certain period of time. The other option is he spent enough time traversing the web of the spell itself to figure out how to counter it, and then also found a large enough mana source to make the counter spell. Satan would have enough mana to do it, but I really don't think he would, because he doesn't forgive those who fail him, or at least, he didn't. He might have changed. Looking back on the spell, which is still there, apparently, I find nothing wrong with it, so I don't think I miscast it. I suppose I could have used one of his kind's blood to do the binding, which would work, but it would then only be a partial binding.

"Well, I still don't know how he escaped, but I think I do know a way out. I can call my personal guard to come rescue me. But it may take a while for them to find me. They would also be able to deal with Dethon, and make sure that he doesn't cause any more trouble.

Author's Note:

So, a big dump of info, as well as some of Aurthur's history.

Again, I ask that anyone reading comments, for my sake. I have also decided that this story will be partially comment driven. You put ideas in a comment, and I might actually use it, or it will inspire me with simething completely random.

Comments

[Boulder]

He Mir have changed. Looking back on the spell, which is still there, apparently, I find nothing wrong with it, so I don't think I miscast it. I suppose I could have used one of his kind blood to do the binding,

Mir?? huh?
kind's

If he teaches them all some rudimentary non-horn magic, they could all combine to at least take off the lowest set of the blockers of the least powerful individual. They may be set at varying strengths. Flurry possibly if Sombra has underestimated her abilities?

[James Fire]

8037966
Fixed!

Well, ummm. No way to really say anything without giving out spoilers.

[Boulder]

8038515 Oops, added spoiler black cover to comment now.