//------------------------------// // Chapter 26 - Like a chihuahua‎ threatening a bulldog. // Story: A Bhaalspawn in Equestria // by Thadius0 //------------------------------// Watching the crystal city come back was a spectacle in and of itself. I caught vague glimpses of the six from Ponyville running some sort of carnival, though they called it the crystal faire. And while I had wanted to slightly show myself to them, I realized it would be a bad idea when the shield came down for the first time and that shade slipped something in. What was really bad was when the shield kept flickering, kept failing, and the buildings kept transforming. I did, however, have a tiny bit of faith in the ponies from Ponyville. Having caught a glimpse of Cadence and Shining on the balcony also set my nerves at ease, but really, I never took my left hand off my pocketwatch or my right hand off my long sword. I wasn't even sure if I could do anything to the malevolent smoke creature, but I intended to try. It was only when it became corporeal in the form of a unicorn that I thought I actually stood a chance. I snuck out from Whispered's and mine hiding spot and advanced on the thing, preparing to take it down. Never got the chance. Some little dragon appeared at the top of the castle with a jewel of some sort, and the shade reacted by summoning a tower of dark crystal to launch himself at it. Thank the gods that Shining can throw his wife. And there's a sentence I thought I would never say. Cadence intercepted the dragon, the two of them dodged the shade until they reached the base of the towering structure, and when the MacGuffin activated, the shade was blasted to kingdom come. But I saw his horn. It remained intact as it sailed away from the city, the ruby light glinting in the air before it left the bubble. I took notes on the trajectory and nodded at the fact that after the device activated, the storms outside died down considerably. Guess the shade was responsible for some of their intensity. I swung back by the hideout Whispered and I were using and knocked on the door, causing the thestral to pop his head out, his specialized sunglasses only barely working now that the city had been restored. "C'mon, we've got a thing to find." He sighed and I could see the eye-roll under the glasses. "When do we not?" ----- Scaling a nearby mountain revealed a cave whose shadows were deeper and darker than one would normally expect, even from a cave in the middle of nowhere. It was the tendrils that did it for me, really. Whispered and I looked at it for a minute before either of us spoke up. "So, what are we looking for again?" I put the watch away and drew both of my shortswords. "I'm looking for the horn of whatever that creature was, cause it was blown off intact. And I'm fairly certain leaving it be would create a situation for the world, which would give me a headache sooner or later, as evidenced by this." Whispered nodded and sat down a fair distance away from the cave. "Fine, if you get in trouble, just scream really loudly, and I'll tell the changelings that you died trying to defeat a great and terrible evil." I sighed at that. "You've learned far too well the art of snark." I could almost hear the smirk in his reply. "This would be after I go back to the city, find out who's in charge, and bucking tell them that there's an eldritch shadow abomination hiding in a cave that you went to fight." "Aw," I cooed, "You do care." He snorted at that. "Only because I don't want to try and bury you out here." I nodded and boldly walked into the cave, feeling the shadows wrap around me. It was oddly warm, and it was hard, even with my Infravision, to see the path ahead. I had to shuffle carefully through the ice cavern, and I heard a whisper as I did. "You are...strange. Your mind is...fragmented. It is...hard to see what you hate...what you fear..." I snorted at that and kept myself moving forwards. The horn was in here somewhere, I knew it. "That'd be because my mind is broken." "An interesting development. But it will not save you." Green and red eyes opened up in front of me, and I sighed. "Intimidation won't work on me. I've seen and done more terrible things than you likely dreamed of." At this, there was a surge from deeper in the cave, one that briefly lit up the entire thing. There, a red glow! And then the moment passed, and the voice returned. "I am KING SOMBRA! Tyrant of the Crystal Empire! Enslaver of them all! I command the shadows and twist your fears until they devour you!" I flourished my swords a bit and smiled wryly. "I'm Marketh Shadeblade. Last of the Greater Bhaalspawn by my own blades, Doom of the Diamond Dogs by slaughtering a war party of them. Shall we continue?" The eyes actually receded for a moment, and then returned. I got the impression that if this thing had eyebrows, he'd be narrowing them at me. "You think that impresses me? I am a master of the shadows and darkness! I will not be cowed by your mewling!" At that point, I saw the darkness give way to a redness, and beneath that, the faint outline of a horn on the ground. I reached for it and snagged the thing, and the shade of Sombra drew closer to me. The darkness became suffocating, thick, almost physical. "Let us see what lies within your mind! Let us see what you fear, what you hate! LET YOUR DARKNESS CONSUME YOU!" At that, I felt him tapping at my mind, and I closed my eyes, merging with what little was left of the spark within me. I'd kept him starved, and he was no longer able to whisper to me. I could still make use of his energy, though. Forcing a bit of his energy into the Swarm had helped as well. "You think to see what a Bhaalspawn fears? What a Bhaalspawn hates? You think my darkness is your ally? You know nothing of my darkness, Aspect of Destruction!" The darkness started to vanish, its presence lessening, and things just...go black from there... ----- Within the mind, the forms of Sombra and the Slayer stared at one another, then looked to the form of Marketh. "So, you wanted to see my shadow. Here he is." The shade scoffed. "And this is supposed to impress me? This creature could barely touch me in my glory days!" "But you're not in your glory days anymore. And this is our mind. Our rules." Before the shade could react, the Slayer picked him up, and all his color vanished as he turned to stone. It didn't stop with that, though, as the shadows he commanded slipped over to the Slayer, who appeared panicked. The form of Sombra, now fully grey, crumbled to dust, and the form of the Slayer became amorphous. Marketh drew his sword and stared at the black, indistinct form that now lay there. "Now what the hell are you?" "We are Destruction...nearly. And you will carry us to our other parts, so that we may be whole once more." The half-elf shook his head. "Not interested. Now if you'd kindly returned my demon and get out of my head, that'd be great." "You talk like you have a choice, child. Hatred, Fear, Wrath are all part of us. Lust, you dealt with. Envy, Pride, Greed remain. And we will be whole once more." And before any more words could be said, the ball of black and red flowed over the boy, silencing his screams... ----- Whispered Secret saw the shadowy tendrils in the cave recede, heard a high screaming, and then there was silence for a minute. Then there were footfalls from within that slowly drew near, and Marketh showed himself. But something was wrong. Something was dreadfully wrong, and the moment he entered the sunlight, Whispered saw what it was. When the light hit his form, darkness trailed behind him, creating a distortion in the air. "Sir?" Marketh looked to him with black eyes and holding a red horn in his right hand. And then he spoke two words. "Two remain."