A Bhaalspawn in Equestria

by Thadius0

Chapter 11 - ...from their passing.

I opened my eyes and looked at the Chaos Spirit before me. "Thank you ever so much for releasing me. Just give me one moment..."

The spirit's eyes widened as Marketh's body began to shift and change into the one I was more familiar with. Bones cracked and shifted, muscle grew, skin darkened, and overall I just frightened the poor spirit. His eyes widened as he realized that he was the one responsible for this. "H-H-How?!"

"It's quite simple. The boy's father was Bhaal, Lord of Murder. When he walked the mortal realm, he fathered many children. The boy is one of his greater creations. Should he have ever, oh, lost control of himself, he would have become a monster. And now that you've put me in control..."

The spirit made to cast another spell, but I caught a familiar scent and moved close, sniffing and huffing like an animal. Undignified, really, but the boy was never one for magic, and frankly, neither was I. Why bother memorizing a long line of ancient words to kill someone when a sword through the ribs does the same with not even half the effort? The spirit was unnerved by my actions. "What are you...doing?"

I responded halfheartedly. "Three familiar scents cling to you..." I finally placed them and growled. "Those fillies you mentioned to the boy. Where are they?"

The spirit looked at me warily. "And why do you want to know?"

"Mayhem, Madness, Anarchy. Three imps from Pandemonium cling to them and nurture their nature, their heritage. I will find the imps, devour them, and cut the young ones from their heritage and take it for mine own. The boy refuses to allow me to grow, this is an opportune moment."

The sprit's jaw dropped off, he hastily picked it up and reattached it. "Grow? You mean you can get worse?"

I smiled, it seemed to unnerve him even more. "But of course. This form is known as The Slayer, the taint that lies within all of Bhaal's spawn. And once I find and take enough of Bhaal's legacy from this world, I will grow to become His avatar again. I will become The Ravager, and all of Equestria shall be bathed in blood as I murder freely once again. None will be capable of stopping me!" Here I stopped and looked the spirit in the eyes and smiled wider. "And I have you to thank for the chance, O Spirit of Chaos."

And with that, I stalked off, with the smell of the imps fresh in my mind. They had to be somewhere...

The crusaders huddled in their clubhouse, the one place that it seemed the chaos outside had yet to notice. "What d'ya think is causin' all this ruckus?"

Sweetie looked outside and briefly caught a glimpse of Canterlot Castle. Memories flashed across her mind of the field trip the class had taken not too long ago and she gasped before replying to Applebloom. "Girls, remember that statue Miss Cheerilee made us write about?"

"Y'mean Discord? What about it?"

Sweetie gathered her friends closer. "Remember what we said it was before she told us it was a lack of harmony between ponies?"

"Yeah..." Applebloom trailed off, starting to see where Sweetie was going with this. "We said something about confusion and evil..."

"AND chaos! And if the stuff outside isn't chaos, then I don't know what is!"

Three distinct shadows that had no object to cast them laughed to each other at the filly stumbling upon an answer. It would likely be wrong, or she might stumble again, but they had to admire her ability to put two and two together.

And then everything in the clubhouse stopped as a voice outside rumbled like an avalanche. "Well well well. Three little morsels in a tree, all nice and sedate, just for me."

While the fillies didn't know that voice, the imps did, and it terrified them.

That was the voice of an Avatar of a master of one of Pandemonium's layers. Even if he were in his...lesser form, he could and most likely would find and destroy them. He preferred to work alone, after all.

There wasn't even a second between the voice uttering its terrifying rhyme and the next thing occurring, which in this case happened to be the Slayer materializing in the clubhouse. There was no other verb for it: he was there as though he was always there and meant to be there.

Naturally, the three fillies panicked and ran to the far corner of their clubhouse, while the Slayer grabbed on to the camouflaged imps, who had unsuccessfully tried to flee. "Oh no you three don't. I'm here for a reason. The fillies can wait, you're being dealt with now."

There was almost a sound as the three imps faded rapidly into, then out of view. The Slayer sighed in satisfaction and let out a small burp. "'Scuse me, but absorbing imps tends to make me gassy."

The fillies just stared, but started scooting backwards as the creature advanced on them. "Now...you three have something I need. So let's just see if I can find it."

With that, the creature grabbed their forelegs, made a quick pass with his free hand to shallowly cut their legs open, made a similar pass on himself, and tore into their minds, seeking the taint of Bhaal.

Between the fillies and the Slayer stood Marketh, his arms crossed and his face screwed up in a scowl. "I think you've done enough for one day. Give me back my mind, and I'll go easier on the locks when I rebuild your cage."

The Slayer laughed. "Not a chance, boy! I'm free for the first time in ages, and I will capitalize on it! Now get out of my way, I have taint to find and take for my own!"

"Oh, you mean this?" And with that, Marketh held up a hand, and from the darkness around them, three green orbs coalesced into one, which hovered over his hand. The Slayer stiffened as he realized he'd been bested.

"How did you do this so quickly?"

"Well, I was here while you were forcing your way in, mainly because I asked politely. That resistance you encountered? Yeah, that wasn't them. That was me. This taint wasn't even formed into an alternate self yet, either. Pretty easy to take out of these fillies. And now you get to choose. You either fight me for control, and win or lose, the taint goes to the Void, or you give my body back, and in return, I feed you this. Your move."

The Slayer growled again, having to make a choice between the two things he wanted most.

Unfortunately, that was when a burst of rainbow light echoed throughout the mindscape, shattering it nigh instantly...

I gasped and looked down around myself, noticing the fillies second to the main thing: I was back in control of my body, and it had returned to its normal form. Silently cheering on the inside, I looked over to the girls to see they were out cold. Not surprising, it isn't every day a demon and his better half force their way into your collective minds. But what separated us like that so suddenly?

I shrugged and put it on the list of mysteries to solve. There was something a wee bit more important to worry about. Namely, my shattered mindscape. The Slayer was being delayed, true, but I would need time either in a meditative pose or asleep to truly work on my mind. And I needed to do it fast, the taint I'd taken from the girls had followed me back.

This wasn't good. I didn't know how much the Slayer needed to grow into the Ravager, and I couldn't get rid of the stuff I'd taken now that I'd taken it. My one chance to get rid of it was when I cut it free from the girls, and I'd lost that chance. So now I had to deal with a demon in my head who wanted the demon-chow I'd taken back with me. Fun!

I mulled over my options, then smiled. Assuming Luna paid me another visit when I fell asleep, this situation could still be salvaged...

And with that, I quietly, silently, made my way out of the clubouse of the fillies, across Sweet Apple Acres, and headed for my home in the Whitetail Woods by skirting the rest of Ponyville. The locals seemed to be focused on the town and...was everything normal again? That meant that they had something that could not only defeat Discord, a spirit of chaos, but something that could undo all of his magic? The very thought of such a weapon not only existing, but my odds should I ever have to go up against it, made me shudder.

After a moment, I shook my head and continued on my way. I had a mindscape to work on, and I preferred to be in relative safety while I did so.