One of the nurses had arrived to let everyone know that they needed to leave so that the patients could rest. So they all did. An explanation of the prior events was given to Vinyl, Aria, and Sonata by Twilight and Aidon.
“And that’s the long and short of it,” Twilight said as they walked through the hospital, “Wendy Goetia is a wendigo who was brought into Equestria somehow.”
“...Bitch,” Aria swore under her breath and continued in a normal tone, “What a lame name too. ‘Wendy Goetia’ the Wendigo? Is that supposed to be a cute play on words? Cuz it’s not even funny.”
Sonata gave the name some thought. “I dunno…we figured out that ‘Goetia’ is a pretty powerful name which means she likely came from--”
“Hell.” Aidon took all of the air out of the room, forcing everyone to pause as soon as he spoke.
“...You mean Tartarus,” Sonata asked innocently with a raised brow, “...right?”
“Tartarus is but one of many circles of hell,” the man went on as the girls listened carefully, “That’s the circle in which souls are eternally damned with no chance of escape. But somehow...she escaped.”
“Holy shit…” Vinyl muttered while balling one of her fists. “Tavey better not be corrupted or else…”
Suddenly, one of the girls stepped in front of the professor to stop him in his tracks. “Hold up. Wait a damn minute,” Aria remarked while holding up her palm, “Just how do you know so much about this?”
“Wait a second. What did Wendy call him before she left?” Twilight mental gears had also started to turn as she took notes and tapped the pen against her chin. That’s when it hit her. “...Wendy said your full name. Aidoneous, correct? That’s what Aidon is short for. But Aidoneous means...Hades...”
“...” Aidon covered his face with one of his hands. At this point, there wasn’t much he could do to hide who he really was. He had to come clean if they wanted to progress.
“Professor…” Twilight looked up at him with a pained, sympathetic expression as she asked, “Are you from Equestria? And if so...what were you?”
Silence. Aidon continued past them towards the lobby where he would eventually take a seat on one of the couches. On the opposite end of the room, Rarity could be seen stress-knitting some scarves for Octavia and Adagio.
Aria, Sonata, and Vinyl Scratch all sat down next to the professor while Twilight went to comfort Rarity.
“Well?” Aria asked, “I think it’s painfully obvious at this point. I don’t think the magic you had was native to this world.”
“Dawg--er, sir,” Vinyl pleaded, “If you know anything that can help us take down the bitch that hurt my girl, I’d hella appreciate it.”
“Same here,” Sonata added, “I’m through messing around. I want this Goetia girl to buzz off. But we need to know as much as we can…”
Twilight had managed to calm Rarity down, and the latter could be seen leaving the hospital as she thanked her friend.
Then, the purple nerd took a seat on the same lobby couch, awaiting his explanation. “...Tell us what you’re able to, professor. Don’t force yourself to bare uncomfortable details.”
“...Listen up, everyone. This may sound far-fetched, but it’s all true…”
Many were familiar with Tartarus as the location in Equestria where souls were eternally damned to eternal imprisonment for their crimes in the overworld. And while that was true, that was only one small part of what composed the entire underworld and where demons came from. In total, there were Nine Circles of Hell and Tartarus was located in the Seventh: Violence.
Enter Overlord Aidoneous. A hellborn shadowpony gained power through absorption and corruption of the mana of his enemies. Constantly gaining power throughout the Seventh Circle until he came to rule it. Why? He sought out sinners and those who were banished to hell that constantly abused other hellborns. He wanted to end the cycle of the strong trampling the weak...but he wasn’t satisfied with that alone.
“Shadow ponies or Umbrums--were constantly feared in Equestria,” he went on, “There was no one I could trust because I went mad with power and a lust for strength. I hated living among those damned corrupt and demonic souls. All the while, I never really felt…”
“Like you mattered?” Aria interjected with a question and a somber expression.
“Like nobody around you could understand why you did the things you did?” Sonata added with a dejected frown.
“...Yes. Exactly,” Aidon replied, as he wondered just what prompted such questions. Then he put two and two together. “...Oh yes. That’s right--you’re from Equestria too, aren’t you? You know what that feels like, hm?”
“Uch, duh,” Aria rolled her eyes, “Starswirl practically freakin’ nuked us outta there when we gained power.”
“...All we’ve ever had to rely on was each other,” Sonata lamented, “If I’m being honest? It wasn’t very fun. We were so afraid of everyone else that we lashed out and caused all the ponies to fight each other instead.”
“Woah…” Vinyl commented, “That sounds...kinda sad.”
Aria scoffed and went on. “Hm. No shit. But it sounds like you were suffering the same thing we did, prof. Except you were all alone.” Her eyes widened upon realizing how bluntly worded that came off. “...Er, what I mean is--”
Aidon shook his head. “No no. I understand completely…”
“Please keep going, mister,” Sonata encouraged him, “As a fellow Equestrian native, we wanna know as much as we can so we can help you. Right, sis?”
Aria didn’t respond verbally. All she did was give a slight nod.
Twilight had been busy taking notes the entire time, not saying a word either.
With that, Aidon continued. “Alright. Anyway…”
In his state of madness due to a permanent lack of satisfaction, the Overlord sought relief, and started to unearth the powers of Tartarus to bring them into the world above. The intent? Seeking a better place to take his leadership so that he could finally find peace.
But it was all for naught.
It wasn’t long before many powerful individuals caught wind of his existence and sought to remove him from their world for something beyond his control. To Starswirl and his followers, an umbrum wasn’t welcome in Equestria simply for the corruptive, unstable nature of dark magic. Nobody attempted to try and get through to him or figure out what it was he wanted.
Magic first, ask questions later.
“...And that’s the long and short of it. I don’t know if it was my dark magic or my lonesome existence, but I wound up banished here by...some unicorn. I can’t even remember if it was Starswirl or not at this point. But...Goetia is one of the demons I remember seeing in hell. A wendigo who was banished there.”
“...You poor guy...” Sonata held back her tears, “Surrounded by so many followers but still alone in the world…and then banished for simply having powers you were born with...”
Aria chose to speak up next. “...Not gonna lie, if I was on my own like that, I would’ve merked myself a long time ago. The only reason why I’m still sane is because of my sisters,” she said while pulling Sonata in close to her for a hug, “So I can empathize, sir. You have my respect.”
Even Vinyl had to comment. “...I can’t imagine being all by myself forever. I’d go crazy.”
Naturally, Twilight was still rapidly scribbling away in her notes, but she paused mid-way through to say, “...I’m sorry I made the assumption that dark magic is only utilized by evil people. It sounds like you were just...hurt. Hurt by the life you were born into and couldn’t control, and hurt by the fact that everyone turned their backs on you when it was convenient for them to do so.”
Their words eased a bit of his pain. “I appreciate it, really,” Aidon replied with a small smile, “So now, I’ve devoted my time to studying how this world works along with math so I can get a proper second chance at life. Which is exactly why I won’t let any of you get hurt in the process. Goetia will face judgement if she shows her face again.” He sighed. “...She even blackmailed me into keeping away from you all, lest she ruin my career with false accusations. Tis a sad existence…”
“...Whattabitch,” Vinyl snarled as she cracked her knuckles, “Sounds like she’s the corrupt one here. Not you. If I see her stupid face again, I’m gonna--”
“Relax yourself, Ms. Scratch,” Aidon commented as he stood up, “You all need to focus on your loved-ones. Especially at this time of year. Me? I’ll figure something out. Just watch out for each other, alright?” he started to leave the hospital, but was stopped when someone called out to him from behind.
Twilight stood up and tried to speak to him before he could leave. “...You’ll still be our professor...won’t you?”
“I won’t be giving up that easily. I’ve finally found what I want to live for,” he replied, facing away from them as he stepped out of the hospital and into the darkened evening outside. “See you around...tetragrams.”
The girls all exchanged uncertain glances with each other as Aidon left. But they could all agree on one thing:
Goetia needed to go. But how would they find her?