Martin: Chronicle Of A Hero

by CrypticMetaphor


Chapter 16: White

Phobos rose from the ground as he regarded the beings before him, he had never been bested by mortals let alone a pony, he had always been a force to fear, to be respected, but THESE worms had the tenacity to oppose him, insult him and make a fool of him, he had officially had enough.

A mask of complete rage appeared on Phobos’ face as his white irises began to glow an ominous white, “YOU ALL HAVE MADE THE LAST MISTAKE OF YOUR MISERABLE LIVES!!”, Phobos’ cloak then began to enlarge around his body before it completely engulfed him, a few seconds passed and the cloak itself exploded off of him.

Phobos now looked completely different; his skin had become completely pale and covered in the same black evil tribal tattoo like lines that were on his wings. His wings had transformed into six wings made out of pure darkness covered in demonic red eyes that had inhuman slits. His horns had jagged edges and his hair had become black fire, he wore nothing on his upper torso, but he wore black robes for his pants. His fingers had become black bone like claws; and his eyes had become orbs of glowing black energy.

Phobos then summoned his sword once more, “Consider this a privilege, not many have seen my divine form”

Rarity just scoffed, “Divine form?, darling, there is nothing divine about that form, it’s an atrocity and nothing more”

The second that was said, Phobos’ wings extended and expanded, when this happened, the eyes widened and glowed which caused Rarity to nervously back up.

Twilight and Martin stood their ground as they both turned around to shield their eyes, Martin just looked at Rarity, “Rarity, he’s just messing with your head, just ignore it and power on through!”

Rarity regained herself and joined her friends once more, “Thank you Martin, Twilight do you have a plan?”

Twilight’s determined look slowly dropped, “Truthfully I haven’t gotten that far yet, although this spell could give us an advantage I’m not sure how powerful Phobos is right now”

Martin just shook his head, “as long as we have something that gives us an edge, we can win”

Phobos just spoke in frustration, “How can all of you still be so confident in the face of your demise?!”

Martin and Twilight spoke at the same time, “Because we have bravery and harmony on our side!!”

Phobos just narrowed his eyes as The Elements attached themselves to their wielders, “they did not work before, what makes you think it will work a second time?”

Martin stepped forward, “because now we know how to defeat you”

*

Sortitus was now walking away from the window which Aequivalere had reluctantly made disappear; Aequivalere fell in step with Sortitus, as they were about to pass the shined white round marble table, they stopped. They both looked at the two high backed chairs they used and then at four chairs that had not been touched in eons.

Sortitus took on a saddened look; Aequivalere placed a hand on Sortitus shoulder, “it was out of our hands, we did what had to be done”

Sortitus nodded in understanding as he straightened up, “I know, but time is short and we must assist the mortals immediately”

Sortitus then raised his hand and a white arcane circle appeared about one foot from his hand, it then glowed bright and an identical one appeared beneath both of them and the vanished in a flash.

*

Martin and the ponies were running in all directions dodging black light bolts that Phobos was hurling at them. After the latest bombardment, Phobos rushed Martin and swung at the human… who immediately vanished, Phobos stopped in mid swing as he looked around for the invisible mortal.

Phobos just laughed, “You think you can hide from me”, the eyes on the wings darted around, “think again”
Martin then yelled right beside Phobos, “It’s called a distraction dingus”

Twilight and her friends were glowing white and fired the elements straight at the Lord of Fear once more, when it collided with Phobos, Martin felt the tingling sensation once more as he jumped away. Phobos shot right out of the blast and sent all the other ponies flying with his wings as he grasped Twilight by the throat, Martin saw this and rushed to her aid only to be sent flying by the wings.

Phobos looked straight into the unicorns eyes as he seethed, “I don’t know why, but I’m under the impression that if I snap your neck, one of the major nuisances that currently plague me will disappear”, he looked straight into her eyes with a maniacal smile, “tell me I’m wrong”

Twilight only croaked in response, Martin then grabbed a shard of his broken sword and rushed up to Phobos and proceeded to drive it into the Lord of Fears back. Phobos roared in absolute pain and anger as he back handed Martin into the throne, Phobos then let go of Twilight as he leapt in the air and impaled Martin through the shoulder with his shadow sword.

Phobos then landed and approached, “you’re first now”

Martin tried to remove the sword to the best of his abilities, but it didn’t budge. Martin was in constant pain as he looked at the six who were about to come help, he knew that he couldn’t fight Phobos on his own, he knew that the brave spell weakened Twilight and the elements only pissed Phobos off. There had to be a way, if only the magic in the world that was giving him his abilities was stronger…wait a minute.

Martin a crazy idea then dinged in his head, “TWILIGHT, FIRE THE ELEMENTS AGAIN!!!”

Rainbow just yelled on Twilights behalf, “IT WONT WORK!!”

Martin was then picked up by the throat as he gestured frantically toward himself, everypony was confused, but Twilight caught on immediately, “MARTIN YOU’RE A GENIUS!!”

Pinkie then spoke as they all began to light up, “no he’s not, he’s a hero”

Phobos began to tighten his grip as the elements fired into Martin, the second that happened, Martin right hooked Phobos out another window. Martin just looked at his hand as a rainbow aura appeared around him, Phobos rushed right at him and went for Martins neck with the shadow sword…which immediately exploded into shards upon contact.

Phobos just looked at Martin with rage as he went to slash at him with his claws, which Martin blocked with ease, Phobos tried again and again but all of Phobos blows were blocked easily.

Martin just yawned as he threw Phobos clear across the room and pummeled him into the ground with moves that would make Neo jealous. Phobos stood shakily to his feet and attempted to shoot a black light bolt at Martin, but a blast of white hit him in the chest which literally shattered his divine form and reverted back to his previous form. Phobos then looked straight at Twilight whose horn was still glowing white, he angrily tried to rush over but he was repelled once more by Martin who punched him in the gut knocking the wind out of him.

Martin turned to look at Twilight as he raised his fist; Twilight fired the spell straight at it and it was soon engulfed in white as Martin turned back to Phobos who weakly said, “this is impossible, how can this be?”

Martin brought his fist back, “open up your eyes maybe you’ll see”, he then yelled at the top of his lungs, “MARTIN PUNCH!!!!”, and hit Phobos square in the heart.

The shadow like robe exploded along with Phobos’ very being revealing his incorporeal form underneath, the humanoid shadow with white energy orbs for eyes collapsed defeated. Soon all around the kingdom of Avilon and Equestria, black eyed victims were cured and recovering slowly.

Martin beamed at his friends as they all whooped for joy, Fluttershy even yelled, “WE DID IT, I CAN’T BELIEVE WE DID IT!!”

They all embraced in a group hug, which was cut short by Phobos being behind them, he grabbed Martin and yanked him off his feet and began to black eye him. Everypony then rushed to his aid, but then two bolts of energy, one white and the other black hit the ground behind Phobos.

A voice was then heard yelling, “Ligare!”

Soon white tentacles of magic ensnared the astral Phobos as Martin was released; he immediately bolted away from the bound Phobos as two cloaked men appeared on either side of Phobos. One was cloaked in white, the other was in black, and both approached Phobos and tilted their heads slightly as if examining him, the black one grabbed Phobos by the shoulder and nodded at Phobos before uttering something.

Then in a blink of an eye Phobos vanished, soon the white cloaked man turned to Martin and the six and uttered one word, “yo”

Martin immediately stood up and pointed, “You just came down out of nowhere, trapped our bad guy and made him vanish and all you can say is “yo”, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!”

The guy in the black cloak took a step forward only to be stopped by the white cloaked man, “forgive me, it’s been quite some time since I have given a proper introduction, my name is…”, the white cloak removed his hood revealing the smiling face of a twenty year old man, his hair was a silvery white and medium length, his irises were sapphire blue with the occasional flecks of white, “…Sortitus, and this is my associate Aequivalere, it is truly an honor to finally meet you all in person”

When everypony saw Sortitus’ face they all gasped, Fluttershy pointed, “Martin, he’s a human, just like you”

Martin didn’t even respond, he just continued to stare at Sortitus in absolute shock, after a minute of silence Martin finally spoke, “You said, it is an honor to finally meet us, does that mean you already knew who we were prior to coming here?”

Rainbow picked up on that immediately, “Yeah, if you knew about us, why didn’t you show up sooner?”

Applejack spoke in a more annoyed tone, “ah think the bigger question is, if he knew about us, why didn’t he help us fight Phobos “

Martin heard this and pointed an accusing finger, “They all have a point, so what’s the deal Sortitus?”

Sortitus just sighed, “I could not interfere”

Martin just got more annoyed, “what do you mean you couldn’t interfere?”

Sortitus then scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile, “It’s kind of hard to explain”

Aequivalere placed a hand on Sortitus’ shoulder, “It would be wise if we discussed this elsewhere lest…”, he turned and regarded the now recovering griffin’s, “…more questions are asked”

Sortitus smiled at that and nodded, he then raised his hand and his trademark white arcane circle appear under all of them, a blinding flash was all they saw before Avilon vanished around them leaving a confused Highwind, Mariah and Onyx to question about the damage that was done.

*

Celestia was sitting in the royal throne room alongside her sister contemplating the fates of the group in Avilon. She knew there was a good chance they were coming back because the palace nurse had informed her that Gilda had returned to normal and was currently resting. Even though the good news in itself informed her of their fate, she was still worried for the safety of her student and her friends.

Luna gave her sister a calming sister a calming smile, “worry not dear sister Twilight Sparkle and her friends shall return in due time, I dare say they might…”, she was interrupted by a flash of white.

Sortitus surveyed the room he had arrived in with a blank expression, “I might have overshot it just a bit”, he then caught site of the princesses who had immediately broken out into smiles which he did as well.

Celestia and Luna approached both of the cloaked individuals first, Sortitus and Celestia hugged for a brief moment whereas Aequivalere and Luna both bowed in respect.

Sortitus pulled away with a happy smile, “it’s good to see you Celestia, I see your kingdom has flourished as much as its ruler”, he then crossed his arms as he looked her up and down, “If I recall correctly, you were not this tall last time I saw you, although I do like what you have done with your mane, it truly fits you and your spirit perfectly”

Celestia smiled, “thank you Sortitus, I see you’ve shortened your hair and shrunk”

Sortitus just laughed at the smart remark, “still have your wit, eh?”

Both Alicorn and man shared a collective laugh which was interrupted by Twilight clearing her throat, “Princess, you know these two?”

Celestia nodded, “indeed my student, these two beings helped me and Luna become the rulers we are today, they are our Teachers, as I am to you”

The group of friends gasped as Sortitus turned to address them, Twilight however spoke first, “then the biggest question is, WHAT are you, because you both can’t be human because Martin has told me humans have fairly short lifespans and you both are supposed to have been around when the princesses ascended the thrones?, sounds a little suspicious to me”

Rarity spoke next, “And might I add that you two seemed to be a little too familiar with Phobos when you saved Martin from him”, Martin just gave her a confused look, “trust me darling, I know when somepony knows another pony to such an extent of giving them a sympathetic look”, when she said this, the unicorn looked straight at Aequivalere.

Sortitus nodded at Rarity’s remark, “Why wouldn’t we, he is our brother after all”

All of the ponies gasped, even the princesses did as well, Luna then addressed Sortitus, “But that was not the Phobos we saw when you…”

Aequivalere shushed her to allow Sortitus to continue, Sortitus continued, “I would rather not continue on the subject of him so I will give you the short version, Phobos was our responsibility and we finished what we started, all of you I’m afraid were caught in the crossfire and for that I am sorry”

Rainbow zoomed right up to him, “Sorry, SORRY?!, you almost got us killed and you expect us to accept your apology?!”

Sortitus just nodded, “you have every reason to be mad, and I understand that Rainbow Dash”

She took on a surprised look, “how do you know my name?”

Sortitus smiled, “I know all of your names”, and he then pointed to each pony with each of their names, “Kind Fluttershy, Pinkamena Diane Pie whose laughter fills the hearts of many, Honest Applejack, Generous Rarity, and the magically acute Twilight Sparkle who I can say is a strong and intelligent pony that cares for her friends and all others”.

Twilight then came to a realization, “What happened with the stones, that mysterious voice, that was you?”

Sortitus merely smiled at the question, he then turned to Martin and placed a hand on his shoulder, “now the other reason I have come here…”, Martin shrugged off the hand, “I believe you still need to answer Twilight’s question on what you are”

Pinkie bounced next to him, “Yeah, the readers have been dying to know who you guys are, I mean come on you both have only had brief cameos up until now”

Sortitus nodded once more, “fair enough, myself, Aequivalere and Phobos a merely three of The Aspects of Creation”

Once more everypony gasped as Sortitus continued, “Aequivalere is the Aspect or Spirit of Balance, Phobos was self-explanatory, and I am The Aspect of Destiny”

Martin just stared at Sortitus as he turned to face the human once more, Martin then came to a realization, “does that mean your…”, Sortitus nodded, “that’s right Martin Fairbridges, I am the one who brought you here”
Martin just stared shocked as Sortitus continued, “Ever since you were born, you were destined to come here, I did not see how the rest of your fate would play out but I knew you were the one”

Martin stepped forward as he nervously asked, “but why me out of everyone on the Earth, you could have chosen anyone else, I mean I know I’m destined and such but why?”

Sortitus summoned up a window which showed various things, many were humans in Equestria, others were things Martin could only perceive from popular media, one showed a pegasus walking amongst several zebra, another showed a human repairing all of Canterlot with a wave of his hands, another depicted two ponies who were once friends on earth hoof bumping each other, then the window stopped.

Sortitus looked at him, “It was not just you on earth I had to choose from, it was throughout the entire multiverse I had to choose a champion that could face down Phobos…”, and the window then proceeded to vanish, “…and you were the one I chose”

Martin then asked once more, “why?”

Sortitus then answered in a serious tone, “If I chose the wrong champion, then Phobos would have consumed this dimension Earth and Equestria, and moved on to the others until there would be nothing left, not even the champions of the other dimensions would be able to stand against him at that point, and you had something that all the other champions did not have”

Martin just looked at Sortitus as he continued, “your fate was unpredictable, you could have taken any path, but you chose the one of the hero and you finally got the destiny you yearned for all these years”

Martin then raised his hand with a smile which Sortitus took, “thanks dude, you have no idea how happy you have made me, if it wasn’t for you”, he turned and looked at the six who smiled at him, “I would have never met the best friends I have now”

Sortitus nodded but then straightened up as he turned to the princesses, “but there is still a matter that needs to be addressed”

Celestia looked at Sortitus with a confused expression, “what’s that?”

Sortitus then grinned as he brought Pinkie over too his side, “the matter of their victory party”

Pinkie Pie then got the biggest smile on her face.