//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 - Memory pend-D̢́̕̕̕Á̶̸̢͡T̶̴̸͜͟A̷͘͘͘͢ ̢͘C̡̀̕͟O̷̢Ŕ̀͏̕ŖŲ̵͢P̶͠͏̀T̶̢̨̕͡È̛D̸͢͝͞ // Story: A Bhaalspawn in Equestria // by Thadius0 //------------------------------// The room faded around the ponies, and they were back in the central area again. Twilight carefully inserted the violet gem in the last open spot, and the dome in the middle... ...faded away. In lieu of the steel once there, there was now a slight depression in the room, with some sort of...mass of light gathered at the bottom. It pulsed weakly, erratically, like a candle about to go out, or a heart about to stop. The ponies approached it carefully, and the light shivered. Twilight cleared her throat, and it flickered a bit. "Marketh? If that is your name?" There was silence for a minute before they got a response from the light in front of them. "No. No, it's not. It never was. But..." There was the sound of someone sighing, and then the voice continued. "Mortal frames, mortal minds, mortal souls, mortal brains...we were only meant to remember so much. Most have trouble when they get to their seventies or higher. I think I started to forget at around two-hundred, and only really noticed at two-fifty. That was the time when I set up a new guild in Baltimare, introduced myself to my new recruits..." Here the voice shifted a bit, to match the steel that surrounded them. "And couldn't remember any name other than Marketh Shadeblade." The light gathered itself up and seemed to study the ponies before it. Shining took the chance to interject. "So...you weren't born with that name, you merely took it for yourself?" "Indeed," the light said, "In fact, my story is rather simple...mainly because I can't remember most of it. I will remember that one day, though. I'd been playing a fantasy role-playing game involving the Forgotten Realms...where the main character was a Bhaalspawn, and would wind his way through three separate campaigns. I'd finished the first, added the necessary rule changes to proceed to the second...and then I was here, in Equestria, as my main character." The ponies looked at each other, and each could see the hint of tears on their fellow pony's face. "So that's why you took up that name...and why you wrote that question so many times..." The figure of light did a slight nod at Twilight's statements. "When I first realized I couldn't remember my birth name...I went a little crazy. But then I calmed down and realized that, name or not, I could still find a way to do what I set out to do once I realized what I was. Despite no longer remembering my own name, I could still save Equestria from the taint of Bhaal's blood." Then there was a sigh, and the light dimmed quite a bit. "And I couldn't even do that. Chrysalis gathered all the power unto herself over a long period of time, while I saved a mere handful of ponies, all of them from Ponyville...I've taken all the power she gathered into me by right of caste. I'm...a big, walking ball of Murder Incarnate. And...and I don't know why you're trying to save me. I told you to save yourselves..." The light dimmed even more and seemed to settle in the depression in the floor. "Why...would you bother saving something like me...a failure at even his little make-believe session through magical pony land...someone who wanted to save you from a great darkness, yet ended up becoming it...why..." And it was at that particular point when Shining Armor, fed up with this nonsense, walked down towards the flickering light, and somehow, back-hooved* it. The light itself actually physically recoiled from the strike, and in the silence that followed, Shining let loose with a tirade that, were he giving it to his recruits, would be known as 'A Really Bad Monday'. "THAT IS NOT THE SOUND OF SOMEONE WHO TAKES PRIDE IN WHAT HE CAN DO! THAT IS NOT THE SOUND OF SOMEONE WHO CAN EVADE THE GUARDS FOR NEAR A MILLENNIUM! THAT IS THE SOUND OF A WHINER, AND I WILL NOT LISTEN TO WHINERS, ESPECIALLY IN THEIR OWN HEADS!" Another definition would be 'tough love,' but it got the job done. The light shivered a little at the words of Shining, and slowly grew before stopping and letting out a sigh. "The Slayer was the source for my increased combat capabilities, and without him, how am I meant to stand up to what he is now?" "Strength in combat is only one facet of anypony," Celestia pitched in. "There is also strength of character, of self. As well, I did not see any of his features when you escaped from me in the Everfree, so don't you dare say he is the source of all your strength." The light grew in intensity again, before flickering to a stop. It was significantly brighter, true, but every pony there had the feeling that it could be even greater. Indeed, there was another sigh from it. "And even if I did win, what then? The amount of power he now is would corrupt me absolutely." Cadence snorted and rolled her eyes at that one. "And if you weren't the one best suited to having it, I would agree with you. As is, you're the last one left who can have it, and you didn't do anything terrible over the years with the paltry amount you did possess. Ergo, you can be trusted, both by yourself and us." The light grew a little brighter, but stopped far too soon, and asked the next question in a trembling voice. "And...and even if I should win, and finally put all this behind me? What then? No town would accept me for who or what I am. A normal life is beyond me, forever." Luna spoke softly then. "Thou would have friends in us all, Marketh. We would stand by you, no matter what the other ponies say. Thous shalt always be welcome within our lands, no matter what the petty nobles say otherwise." The light seemed to boil, then, and asked one final question in an indignant tone. "And that! That right there! How can you claim that what is to be will always be welcome, when I do not even know what was about me? I cannot predict the future without knowing my own past!" Twilight put her mind to work on the problem and smiled when she came up with a solution. "Just because you don't know your definite point of origin, doesn't mean we can't extrapolate. And based on what you've said and done recently, I think I can." Everyone held their breath while Twilight continued. "You've acted in the defense of others. You've tried your hardest to find and root out evil. You used minimal force to escape from those who didn't know better as to what they were trying to hold. You may have acted outside the law, but you did so with good intentions. And while the road to Tartarus may be paved with good intentions, it's far better to have them than to not. So while you may have looked and acted like Marketh Shadeblade all these years, whoever you are, it's your choice. And you seemed to have chosen to be a good person." The light wavered, then rallied, grew, and shaped itself into a familiar bipedal form. "Shade," he called, and the small demonic form was suddenly there. The two fell into one another, and the shape of Marketh resulted from their merging. After a moment's rest, he looked up from his landing place and clapped his eyes upon the final door. "It is time," he said, and thrust a hand at it. The door slammed open, and on the other side, the massive form of the Ravager was easily seen. It pulled itself into the room and roared at the gathering. And while the ponies instinctively cowered back, Marketh was unimpressed. Marketh pointed first at the Ravager, then at a wall, and suddenly, the creature was flying through the air and pinned up against the wall by some unseen force. It struggled to break free, and Marketh made a chopping motion. Swords appeared out of nowhere and pinned it to the wall by its wrists and ankles, and some sort of cross shape glowed on the wall behind it. The Ravager howled for a moment, and then began to try and work its way free, ignoring the pain. Marketh frowned at that. "Fine, try this symbol on for size!" The cross faded, to be replaced with a five-pointed star within a circle, and the demon howled so loud, the rest feared for their ears. Dozens of swords appeared and impaled the creature then, keeping it pinned to the wall. Marketh nodded as a good majority of the Ravager's struggles ceased, then frowned. After a moment's contemplation, his eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. "Oh crud. You five need to get out now. There's about to be a reaction here, and if you're still connected, I can't promise you'll be safe anymore!" Luna was taken aback by a fair bit, but slowly nodded. "Are thou certain?" Marketh merely nodded. "Go!" And with that, Luna's horn lit up, taking the five from the mind... ----- When the five awoke, it was to a scene they'd slightly hoped would happen. Namely, that of Marketh being his old self again. However, it wasn't all good, as he still had that fearsome aura around himself, and even seemed to be groaning in pain. He looked up and locked eyes with first Celestia, then Luna. "Mortal mind, mortal frame...this amount of power, I'm not meant to have it..." He slowly picked himself up while Twilight went to comfort the Bearers and tell them it was mostly alright. Then all eyes turned to Marketh as they realized he was doing something. Namely, he was looking out at Canterlot through the ruined window. He idly held up one hand and looked at it while asking a question. "Shining Armor, what did you do with the Changelings?" Shining gulped at being directly addressed, but rallied nonetheless. "They all appear to have fallen into some sort of coma, so we've merely gathered them up and held them at various points throughout the city. We're hoping that by the end of the day we can-" And that was as far as he got before the words died in his throat. Not his fault, really. Marketh was doing something breathtaking. Both his hands lit up with a sickly green fire, which turned into streams of said fire. He was directing both streams at each other, though, and they converged right in front of his face. He slowly brought his hands together, not letting up with the streams of fire, and eventually he managed to bring his hands completely together. After a moment of silence, he brought his right hand back and stared at it. Or more accurately, stared at his creation atop it. For hovering above it was a miniature green star. Everyone looked at it in awe while he continued to pour streams of green fire into it, and it barely grew in response. Eventually, Marketh cut the flow as the star was about the size of an orange. He then looked out to Canterlot and sighed. "She did something terrible to them all. And now, I reverse it." And with that, the green star was hurled out the window, where it soared into the sky over the city. After three seconds, the star exploded, bathing the entire city in a wave of green light. Of course, green not being a normal color for sunlight, everyone below stopped and stared. Eventually, the light faded, only to be replaced with a green mist that slowly drifted down to street level. This caused a slight panic amongst the ponies, as they weren't certain what it was or what it was supposed to do. Everyone was so focused on the spectacle going on around them, nobody saw what was happening to the changelings. Nobody except Marketh, who merely smiled and said something to the ponies around him. "Oh man, you lot aren't going to get this, but it so fits." He cleared his throat and stared out at the city. Were a pegasus to pass by, or he to look at any of the ponies in the room, they would see that his eyes were now a burning green. "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL OF THIS SWARM." The others heard the layered effect of his voice, but that's not all they heard. They also heard the words being said at the same time from the city below, and then they all paled when they heard the next thing. The sound of a thousand sets of insectoid wings buzzing. And when they saw the cloud of black forms rise up from the city, all of them felt fear again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *The pony version of a back-hand, in case you were unaware. It is significantly more dangerous, because even the novices to the art can break skin with their hard hooves.