Martin: Chronicle Of A Hero

by CrypticMetaphor

Chapter 13: Martin's Choice

All of The Mane Six were gathered in front of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres looking at the roof as the sun was steadily rising revealing the slouched figure of Martin with his amp beside him. The Six had been worried about him since he had not said a word ever since arriving back at Ponyville after their encounter with Phobos in Canterlot, the only thing he said was goodnight before departing indoors to sleep. A few hours later before sunrise, AJ had heard noise that awoke her and noticed Martin taking his guitar and amp to the top of the barn and he had sat there ever since just staring into space, this caused her to call her friends to see what they could do to help him. Immediately as the sun began to gain more height from its rising position, Martin began to play Inferno by Graeme Revell for the second time since he had been in Equestria; however unlike the last time when he played it with much enthusiasm to prank AJ and RD, it was much slower, almost in a sad fashion.

Rarity looked up with concern, “What do you suppose has him in such a sad mood?”

Rainbow just tsked, “He isn’t sad Rarity, so what if he’s playing slowly, that’s his favorite solo remember?”

Pinkie nodded, “Yeah, remember it was mentioned in chapter six”

Everypony looked at her with confused expressions, but they returned their attention to Rarity when she spoke up, “Dash, I have seen enough to know when somepony is miserable or in a sour mood”

They stopped talking when they noticed Martin stand up and began to play the rest of the solo faster with greater speed and efficiency. But as Martin hit the last cord which was louder than the rest, his face suddenly turned to one of anger and he raised the guitar above his head and brought it down hard on the amp. Each time it made contact, all the ponies flinched in unison and eventually Martin threw the amp and guitar off the roof and stood panting. He then saw The Six were below looking shocked at what he did, he just looked away and jumped down to the ground and started walking away…only to be blocked by The Six who had teleported in front of him thanks to Twilight, who had a look of concern and slight anger on her face.

Twilight then stepped forward and stared straight at him, “Why did you do that, Pinkie gave you those as a present and you smashed them, explain yourself mister!”

Pinkie just patted her friend slightly on the side, “it’s okay Twilight, he had to let his anger out, it healthy to let it out you know”

Twilight shook her head slightly, “be that as it may, there was no reason to do that, if there is something wrong just talk to us that’s what we’re here for”

Martin muttered something under his breath, Twilight leaned forward slightly, “What was that?”

Martin then spoke slightly louder in frustration, “HE WAS RIGHT, OKAY!”

They all cringed back as he turned his back to them and began to gesture in the air as he spoke, “I’m not some extravagantly gallant individual who would ride in to save the day!”, he lowered his head as he spoke in a saddened tone, “The REAL Martin Fairbridges is nothing more than a loser”, he turned and faced them as he addressed them in a steadier tone, “When I was in school the only friends I had were Alan who defended me from bullies and other nasty’s if I was incapable to do so myself, and the occasional person who I never see anymore”, he looked down slightly, “I pretty much went through life as a standard individual never going off the beaten path if I could help it, the only job I landed was being a stock boy at a store, after a year I was promoted to the night shift manager position, and my job became worse from then on”, he then looked at them all, “I have enough money to own the home I’m currently living in and to pay the bills and my taxes, I do the occasional fun thing when I’m free, but the rest of those days are spent asleep or sitting around doing nothing, Phobos was right, I’m nothing more than a loser and a foolish mortal trying to fool himself into thinking he’s important”, he then looked at Twilight straight in the eye, “You ponies are the heroes here, not me, I don’t even belong here I’m just getting in the way, hell, all of you practically defeated a deity and saved all of your world I could never do that”.

He then walked to the side and stopped, “And I’ve hated that person I see in the mirror every day of my life”

Applejack stopped him, “But Martin, yer not ah loser, yer our friend and we need you with us when we all head to Avilon tomorrow morning, please”

Martin just gave her a pained look as he responded with sadness, “I’m sorry I….I just don’t belong in this world”

He then walked in silence with his head hung low, as the ponies looked after the sad human as they all went to get prepared for tomorrow’s journey, but they all knew it wouldn’t be the same without Martin being there by their sides.

*

As the day progressed, Martin never spoke to anypony at all, he did put on a fake smile and waved to them though, but he remained silent the whole time. Eventually he had lost track of time and decided to head back to the barn since night had fallen, when he arrived at the farm house he found everypony was asleep. He went to find Applejack but found an empty room; she was most likely killing time at Twilights along with the rest of the six to prepare themselves for the coming battle.

Martin turned on some light in his room and just stared at the wall in silence for a good fifteen minutes until an explosion of white was seen. Martin sharply turned his head and saw Luna with a wooden trunk behind her, he bowed slightly to which she nodded but a look of concern appeared on her face.

Luna approached Martin, “Martin thou seems troubled, might I ask what is wrong?”

Martin just sighed as he sat down and looked at the alicorn who had taken a seat beside him…metaphorically speaking. He then began to explain his situation to Luna to which her reaction slowly changed to an unimpressed one. When he finished explaining they both were silent…until Luna smacked him upside the head.

Martin yelped as he rubbed his head, “Ow! What was that for?!”

Luna just shook her head as she took on a look that a teacher would give a misbehaving student, “I was merely checking to see if thou’s brain was working correctly”

Martin took on a surprised look, as she continued to speak, “Martin Fairbridges thou has promised my sister you would stand by Twilight and your friends…”

Martin cut her off slightly, “you mean “her” friends”

Luna shook her head, “No Martin Fairbridges, your friends, for if they were not, why would they stand with thee instead of leaving thou lost and alone in a world thou knows nothing about”

Martin looked down, “But I’m powerless against Phobos, I wouldn’t even be able to stand against him in a one on one fight, I’m just one man, not a hero”

Luna nodded in agreement, “Thou is correct, you are nothing more than a worthless man…”

Martin just looked at her and was about to voice his reply until Luna placed both her front hooves on his shoulders as she smiled, “….who has the potential to be so much more”

Martin looked at her as she tapped his chest when she said potential, she then continued, “You have friends HERE in THIS world, they may not come from your world, but they are your friends none the less, and they fight for all the lives of Equestria and you should be standing with them against Phobos”

Martin just spoke slightly pained, “But how can I stand with them, they are better at this than me and I don’t think I could ever be a true friend to all of them, it’s all just so hard”

Luna just took on a straight face as she walked to the trunk and tapped it, “open this when you make the right choice, I have to be by my sisters side in this time of crisis”

As Martin took on a down casted look Luna left him with a few parting words, “Twilight Sparkle spoke these words in a time of crisis almost like this, Martin”, he looked up at her as she spoke with a kind smile, “friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!” She then vanished as Martin stood and contemplated those words in his head, visions of all the good moments of his time in Ponyville flashed through his head but all of them settled on one specific conversation.

“awww, Marty why aren’t you smiling anymore? Were you not surprised enough, I knew I shouldn’t have told you it was a surprise party but I thought if I didn’t tell you it was a party at all you wouldn’t come and you would think we weren’t friends and you would be sad and I couldn’t have that happen after all how would you not meet all these new friends?”

Martin’s face took on a surprised expression, after Pinkie put a plate of cake in his hand and stood beside her friends, “wait a minute, you six consider me a friend? I just met all of you a few hours ago and now you’re throwing me a party, I don’t understand”

Applejack spoke first, “well we aren’t considering yall a frightenin creature and kicking ya out of ponyville, that just wouldn’t be civil of us”

Twilight nodded in agreement with her friend, “Exactly, plus we know it wouldn’t be right to just leave you all by yourself in a world you know nothing about”

Fluttershy finally spoke in a soft voice, “plus you don’t seem dangerous at all; you seem rather nice and just need someponies company”

Martin just smiled at all of them as they smiled back, he couldn’t believe how accepting all of them were of him to them he was just someone alone in a strange world in need of a friend. He actually shed a manly tear as he stared at them, he then quickly wiped it away put down the cake and flexed his arms, “I mean, I’m manly”

Martin then took on a determined expression as he approached the trunk and opened revealing a sword laying atop of a sheath

*

Day broke revealing six mares with packed saddle bags watching the road as if waiting for something, soon they all sighed as they all turned to leave. But they were soon turned by the jumping and pointing of Pinkie Pie; they all turned and saw Martin wearing completely different clothes. Martin's "Hero Clothes" consisted of a black muscle shirt along with matching pants, hard brown leather bracers with matching greaves that had steel plates fitted perfectly on them. He wore black boots with steel plates on the toes, and a harness on his torso which consisted of wide hard leather belt straps in an X shape with a large circular plate fitted perfectly over where the straps intersected in the center of his chest that protected his ribcage area very well, and attached to his back was a sheathed sword.

Rainbow just looked him up and down, "hey stranger have you seen a loser around here?"

Martin nodded and addressed the ponies, "yeah, he wanted to tell you that he is sorry for the way he acted, and that this is not his world and he realized we were never friends...", they all looked shocked but Martin finished his sentence, "...we are the best of friends, and this may not be my world, but i know everypony here and have earned their friendship and respect, and im going to fight for it and for Equestria"

All of them embraced in a group hug for about a minute, then they disconnected as they all turned to face the road before them with determined looks and solid resolves.

Martin then spoke in a completely determined voice, "Alright girls, let's send the Lord of Fear packing and show him the habitants of Equestria aren't going to be pushed around"

Comments

[Khorne]

Make him turn into the God of Balance
Or maybe the God of War
Or God of Joy?

[Azzazel]

static4.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/3406344+_ba16670562fee687c2bb94b033adb983.jpg
static.fjcdn.com/comments/The+dog+sitting+fun+has+been+doubled+_f86c5bbdec25e33c905f0a853869961c.png
Too sappy for my tastes but still good...

[Taktiker]

492535 God of War? If thats going to happen then... lets just say it would be awsome

[Odd_Sarge]

569068
God of War Indeed.

[The Watcher 509]

492535 How About God of The Sword?

[someone else]

2658450 Alex, you must first find the picture online, then post the URL of the picture, you cannot paste pictures from your hard drive.

[Godiswithus3]

Hoorah!