//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Black // Story: Martin: Chronicle Of A Hero // by CrypticMetaphor //------------------------------// (Listen to this to optimise the awesomeness of the victory party, if you wish that is) The party that followed was known as the biggest party Pinkie had ever organized, Everypony in Ponyville and Canterlot attended along with the griffins from Avilon, both princesses and the two Aspects. Vinyl Scratch was in charge of music, Martin had made a request for some of the party songs on his iPod to be played, to which she happily obliged out of curiosity of how earth music sounded, currently Dreams by Van Halen was playing causing the party to get into full swing. Martin was sitting with the six at a nearby table looking out at the stars, Martin had changed out of his damaged “hero” clothes and into the same clothes he had worn when he first arrived in Equestria, his coat was currently draped over the back of his chair and he absently scratched at his shoulder where he had been impaled by Phobos’ shadow sword. Twilight noticed this, “Martin, Nurse Redheart said not to scratch at it for at least another few hours” Martin stopped immediately, “sorry, it was unintentional I assure you” Applejack just shook her head, “Yeah, and am the mayor of Ponyville” Pinkie perked up, “you didn’t tell me you were running for office Applejack” Everyone, except Pinkie who was confused, shared in a laugh, soon the laughter died down when Lord Highwind approached their table flanked by Gilda, and the griffin with the one ruby eye and the Griffin he had tried to help back in the palace hallway. Martin stood with the six who then bowed; Lord Highwind then spoke, “Rise, I owe all of you a great deal of thanks, for if it had not been for you, my kingdom along with the rest of my dominion would have fallen prey to that monster that attacked, and in saying that, you are all here by my honored guests if you may ever find yourself in my kingdom” Twilight and her friends bowed once more, “thank you your majesty” Lord Highwind departed with all but Gilda, who just stared at Martin, the silence between both was mind numbing until Gilda raised a talon in a fist, “I gotta say, what you all did was pretty cool” Martin fist/talon bumped her as Gilda pointed at the six, “don’t think for a second that this changes anything”, she then walked off leaving the group of friends to sit down once more. The hours passed by with everypony and griffin having a chance to chat with The Mane Six and Martin as they all partied to their hearts content. Various things happened that night, Rarity got into an intellectual argument with a pony known as Octavia which soon began to escalate into a physical argument which was stopped by AJ and Vinyl. Rainbow was sang along to Welcome to The Jungle with Martin when it came on over the speakers, Pinkie and Twilight got into a cupcake eating contest which only had one decisive winner, and Fluttershy talked with Aequivalere after overcoming her fear of his appearance for a good portion of the night while Twilight chatted with Sortitus on what magic he used and what the princesses were like in their younger years. As the party began to die down, various ponies and griffins alike left with fond memories and good spirits, soon only The Princesses, The Six, The Aspects and Martin remained. All of them were gathered around one table as they began to reminisce of times past. Martin was just finishing one of his stories, “…and then Alan said his cat attacked anything that moved so he told me not to move, then a second later the cat was attacking a kitchen chair like it stole his favorite toy to which I pointed out, “yeah, look how it attacked that fast moving chair” Everypony laughed except for Pinkie who added, “Hey chairs move fast, I actually had to nail one down because it kept moving away from me when I tried to sit down” Twilight then pointed out with a half-smile, “Pinkie, that chair had wheels remember?” Pinkie nodded thoughtfully, “So that’s why it kept moving after I put nails in its legs” The laughter only increased, it soon stopped when Celestia spoke to Sortitus with a smile, “Remember back when you helped me harness my full powers?” Sortitus nodded, “Yes, I remember that day well, I was teaching you how to harness your magic by drawing on the power of the sun to give you a boost”, he then smiled, “if I remember correctly Celestia, the spell blew up in your face and it blackened your horn for weeks” Celestia blushed slightly as everypony laughed at their ruler; they shared many mirthful stories until Luna informed them that the time of the night had arrived for all of them to get some rest. As they all got up, Sortitus announced one last thing, “Martin Fairbridges, I request that you bring your friends with you to the place where you arrived in Equestria this coming morning” Martin took on a confused expression, but he knew deep down what the reason was but he still asked, “Why?” Sortitus raised his hand above his head as his signature teleport spell started up, “to send you home of course”, he then vanished in a flash of white. * Martin could barely sleep that night, it’s not that he didn’t WANT to go home; it’s just that he had made so many friends and various connections in Equestria that he felt at home in the land of ponies. But deep down he knew his stay would not last forever, but in truth he wished that his stay would be longer after all he and his new friends just saved the magical land from evil which had made him a hero in all of the ponies and griffins eyes officially wiping all paranoid notions from the Equestrians minds. But none the less he awoke the following morning and ate his last breakfast with The Apple Family, they were all sort of in the dark about his leaving, as far as they were concerned he was going on a vacation. Soon he and AJ left the farm and headed toward Twilight’s where the rest of the six were waiting for them, it was silent until AJ turned to Martin, “Martin” Martin looked at her, “yeah?” AJ stopped for a second, “when Sortitus sends ya back to yer world, yer not gonna forget us are you?” Martin just took on a half grin, “hell no!!” AJ smiled at having the question that had been plaguing her for the entire night answered. Soon she and Martin arrived at the library, all the ponies were happy to see their friend arrive, but were saddened because they all knew what was coming. As they all headed to the hill where Martin had arrived on when he came to Equestria, Martin just gave them all a reassuring smile. Soon they all arrived in the small clearing where Sortitus was currently standing. Sortitus stood aside revealing the same door Martin had entered in the hallway that fateful night he found it in the alleyway, Sortitus just gave an understanding smile, “I know this is hard, but it must be done Martin”, Martin nodded with a hard look on his face. Martin turned to the six who were tearing up slightly, however Rainbow passed it off as something getting in her eye, “Don’t you girls worry, and just always remember the good times, K?” All of them nodded as Rainbow trembled slightly in mock sickness at the sappiness of the moment, but she joined in the one last group hug. Martin opened his wallet and plucked a photograph of him in a phone booth with a big smile and handed it to Twilight, “Make six copies if you can” Sortitus cleared his throat as Martin approached the door, “Now the process is simple, I have made it so the return trip through The Bridge will deposit you back on the night you left so not to cause any problems” Martin nodded, “Just like in Narnia” Sortitus just chuckled slightly, “Indeed, now you might want to close your eyes this time” Martin turned to look back at the Main Six as he grabbed the knob, as the light began to flare to life, the last thing he did was make a saluting gesture, and then the light engulfed him. * Martin opened his closed eyes and was looking at the night sky; he then looked at his surroundings and saw he was indeed back in the alleyway. He checked his watch as he stood up from the ground, only a minute had passed since he touched the door knob for the first time; he then quickly looked where the hallway had been, but all he saw was the redbrick of the building, he then turned and walked home. * Three days had passed since the day of his return to Earth, and things were looking up. The morning after he returned, his boss had called him regarding his future employment at the Stop Shop. His boss had told him that he was retiring in a few days and moving on to live the life of a king, he also told Martin he was being promoted for his hard work. Martin’s current position is that of running the store, what the boss told him he had to do was simple in itself, he told him since it was a fairly small business the only time he had to get involved was if there was an emergency or if he had to train new employees. Martin was fine with that, especially because of the pay increase he got. So ever since he had all the free time to do anything he wanted, his social life improved in terms of him getting out a bit more, but he still missed his friends. When he came home to his two floor home he walked into his bedroom and saw a person in a white business suit with a familiar face. Sortitus smiled at Martin, “What’s up?” Martin just looked completely confused, “Sortitus, why are you in my room?” Sortitus stood up, “well you see, I was thinking hard on the subject of you and those six ponies for a while, and I thought it wasn’t right for me to thrust you back into this world the way I did” Sortitus examined a statue of the thinking man, “And I came to a decision, I already asked the ponies and they agreed” Martin looked even more confused, “What decision?” Sortitus turned toward Martin and pulled an old fashioned brass key from his suits lapel pocket, “this key will fit any door and open The Bridge to Equestria…” Martin just waved his hands in a “slow your roll gesture”, “Hold on a second, I can’t go back now, I have a new job and stuff that I sort of need to be on call for” Sortitus nodded, “I understand that, but you see that’s the thing about The Bridge, when you enter it and leave your home dimension, time slows to a crawl” Martin just gave him a look, “you’re saying it like I now have the power to go back and forth between the two worlds”, in response Sortitus raised an eyebrow as he raised the hand holding the key Martin just gave The Aspect an embarrassed smile, “seriously?” Sortitus nodded, “If you choose to accept it” Martin just opened his hand as the key was placed in it, “go ahead” Martin then shut his bedroom door and touched the knob with the key, there was an unlocking sound as he opened it and stepped into the light. He opened his eyes and was tackled to the ground by six familiar faces. Martin looked at them all as he stood up, “Hey girls” Sortitus appeared behind them in his robes, “Now I must tell you the same thing I told the elements, I’m afraid only you yourself can use The Bridge, you must promise me that you will uphold this promise” Martin nodded, “yes, I promise” Sortitus smiled as he turned on his heel, “then enjoy this gift Martin Fairbridges, and use it wisely” Martin just stared after Sortitus as The Spirit of Destiny vanished in a flash, he then turned back to the six, “What should we do now?” Pinkie Pie immediately bounced over, “PARTY!!!!” Martin smiled as he joined in the happy cheering as he came back to Ponyville and was greeted by its inhabitants; he was all smiles when the party started. The princesses even decided to attend the celebration, at one point Martin scored some bits from a RD and approached Luna with a request. Luna just gave him a confused look, “Pray tell, what exactly will this favor serve?” Martin just smiled, “As a welcome back present” Luna smiled and inhaled deeply, she then yelled in the royal Canterlot voice, “FUS RO DAH!!!” Martin just smiled, “Worth every bit” Martin then gathered the six close and instructed Spike on how to use the camera function on his phone, “EVERYPONY SAY, WATERMELON!!!” The photo was then snapped Epilogue Sortitus was currently sitting in front of the round table with Aequivalere across from him, in their home known simply as The Sanctuary. Aequivalere just stared at Sortitus, “You sure it was wise that you gave the human control over The Bridge?” Sortitus didn’t even look up from the book he was currently reading, “What did I say about questioning my judgement?” Aequivalere sighed, “That I can never win the argument” Sortitus smiled, “Exactly” All of a sudden Sortitus was struck with a migraine as images flashed before his eyes; Martin besieged by an unknown assailant Two people sharing a kiss of passion Earth in total chaos And a Draconequus laughing maniacally as a women stood by its side Sortitus then looked at Aequivalere with a worried expression, “It seems things are about to become chaotic, fate has shown me a most unfortunate vision” Aequivalere just nodded, “He’s returning then?” Sortitus only nodded in response ************************************************************************************* Thank you so much for sticking by me to the end of this tale, I promise you more to come.