A Bhaalspawn in Equestria

by Thadius0

Chapter 12 - A mind is a terrible thing to lay waste to

It is almost always never a dull night at Casa de Marketh. Especially not if you can dream-walk. Like a certain cerulean alicorn.

"Foul biped, We hath returned to...what in the name of Our Sister hath happened here?"

Especially not after yesterday. The place was a damn war zone. Partially due to Discord's meddling, mostly due to the Slayer hunting for the Taint. I was looking at the ruins of his former prison, sighing sadly.

"Hello again Luna. Turns out yesterday was interesting. Had a run-in with a certain Spirit, and he ended up wanting to see 'who I'm not'."

The Slayer chose that moment to roar in the distance. I waved a hand afterwards to punctuate my next statement. "As you're no doubt aware, that's not the best of ideas. Plus the Slayer found a source of...call it demon-chow while he was out. So now I not only have to rebuild this, but keep the Slayer-food away from him. Fun times."

I could almost hear her blink incredulously behind me. "We do believe thou hath spouted enough of this 'sar-chasm' for one eve, half-elf. Dost thou..." Her voice trailed off before she finished her sentence, and I grinned and turned to face her.

"Begging your pardon, I didn't quite catch that."

She sucked in a breath and steeled herself. "Were We to offer Our aid in this, wouldst thou accept it?"

I smiled and nodded. "Of course! So long as you either are the bait to keep Mr Slayer running, or are willing to follow my every direction to the letter."

Luna pouted and stuck her tongue out at the choice I had presented to her. "We hath had enough of thine 'friend' to last Us even Our lifetime. We shalt suffer thine directions."

-----

Rebuilding a mindscape with the help of the Princess of the Night, Moon, Stars, and Dreams?

One of a kind experience. As in, I hope that was the only time I experience it.

At least this time it was far more relateable. We'd ended up making it in the image of my new base. Two visible stories, the bottom one is a perfectly legitimate shopfront, the top holds the housing for the regular and apprentice thieves...

It was the basement that I had yet to build that I was interested in. Seeing as how I had nothing else ready to draw on, I drew from the last guild I'd founded, and made the basement a betrapped maze. Only, these traps were quite deadly, thank you. Perhaps they'd even slow the damn thing down when we got him in there. And of course, at the end, where my office and room would be, we have instead a prison worthy of Bhaal, much less the Slayer.

"So, how shall thee lure thine eternal foe within?"

I smiled and 'ported us back to the surface, found the approximate location of the room while on the surface, and held up a hand. A green ball zoomed down from the skies and zipped inside the building. It was rapidly followed by two more, all three seeking the downstairs.

They'd just begun to run the obstacle course to the room when a bellowing yell sounded out and the Slayer ripped into the mock base. It roared again as he had lost sight of them, but a quick sniff showed him to go to the basement. The balls had proven to exceed in the course and would likely excel in evading him for some time.

Every so often he would come tantalizingly close to grabbing a hold of one, only for it to slip away and put on a burst of speed. The creature kept going, seeking the food he'd dragged into this mindscape. Finally, though, he'd cornered them in the final room of this place...

Only to see the door close, a tunnel briefly connecting the room to the world above that was sealed, and for him to come to a sinking realization.

He'd been led here for a single purpose.

To be trapped.

He screamed his rage to the world around him in vain...

-----

I sighed and pulled out a glass of wine from nowhere while looking at Luna. "It's been fun Luna, it really has. But I would like to get some actual sleep now, if you don't mind."

The blue alicorn nodded, and I continued. "However, as a way of saying thanks, I invite you to come back again some other time when I'm not under siege from the demon in my mind. We can have a lovely conversation, where we each answer each others questions."

Luna considered the offer and slowly nodded. "Thine proposal sounds fair." She turned and began walking out of the dreamscape. "We shall return another night."

I waved, not that she could see it, and replied in an upbeat tone. "Byeeee! Don't be a stranger!"

And with that, the dreamscape faded around us...

-----
(So, how is everyone's favorite Guard-Captain doing?)

Shining Armor groaned and hit his head on his desk. He couldn't come up with any plans to find the creature that wouldn't result in it standing over him, threatening his horn again.

Just how had he done any of that? The precision throwing! The turning invisible! That combat prowess!

He could be a damn fine guard, if he wasn't dead-set on being on the other side of the law.

Now there was a thought. Perhaps he could be pressed into service to make him pay for his crimes? He might even like it!

...Assuming he could be found. Once he'd left the library, he was gone from Ponyville in less than a minute. And the Bearer of Laughter wasn't saying where his home was. Something about breaking promises being the fastest way to lose friends.

Shining's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. He jerked his head up and opened it with a burst of magic. "Yes?"

And that was when all of his thoughts fled, because standing there was his marefriend, the Princess of Love, Mi Amore Cadenza. Or Cadence. She really preferred Cadence.

"Captain, I'm noticing that while the amount of guards on patrol is certainly adequate, there is still one slight problem."

Shining straightened himself automatically. "And what would that be, Princess?"

She gave what can only be described as a mischevious smile towards her coltfriend. "There is no guard on the inside of my room to help guard me."

Shining coughed and looked away. This was another way of saying she wanted him to take the next step and just sleep with her. Hopefully not in that sense. "Princess, there are plenty of guards on the outside of your room in case something were to happen."

Cadence pouted. "But my room, like many of the personal rooms in the castle, has been heavily soundproofed. Who knows what might happen inside that the guards outside wouldn't be able to hear?"

...Okay maybe she was inviting him to her bed in that way. She continued after noticing the way he squirmed. "And goodness knows there could be any manner of security breeches on the inside that I could be...unaware of..."

She'd drawn closer and whispered in his ear then. "The monster will keep for another day, Shining. I'd like it if you came back with me now."

...Mares. What can you do?

Comments

[NoLongerSober]

Heh. Cadance has him wrapped around her... uh... well shit.

[Pupsrus13]

Before I read this, I want to point something out:

It's Baldur's Gate, not Baulder's Gate. Unless there was a different localization crew or something.

[Thadius0]

4636956
Meep.
One is how it's supposed to be spelled, the other is how I've...always done it and pronounced it.
Nonetheless, fixed.

[SeventhBrony]

If I ever had to deal with Shiny having my life in his hooves, I'll send a missive to Chrissy and ask if she's got any Changlings willing to make a few bits. Of course, there's also Gryphons, Minataurs AND dragons and other species on the planet so there is a chance of getting a Merc band to gether for keeping me safe while Shiny tries and stills ends up letting who/whatever passed.

MOAR! WE NEED MOAR!

[Pupsrus13]

4636973 You're welcome. At least it was I who noticed it first and not someone who'd tear you a fully functioning new ***hole for misspelling it.

I try to help with spelling if I see it in titles and summaries.

[Snow Fluff]

You also (like many others it seems) spelled Cadances name wrong. Still enjoying the story greatly!

[Kage no Brony]

4637087
To be fair, no guard force is ready for a demon from another reality...