• Published 18th Jun 2014
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A Bhaalspawn in Equestria - Thadius0



When you're turned into your character from Baldur's Gate and shoved across the Multiverse, I can tell you one thing that happens: Nothing Good.

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Chapter 29 - Helluva spin cycle

Ponyville in and of itself appeared to be relatively intact. There was a little cosmetic damage from the start of the fight between Celestia and the creature of darkness, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed in an hour. The real commotion was from the area to the south of the town, between it and the forest. Dust was settling from the battle Celestia had drawn there. Twilight, Cadence, and Luna had gathered the other Bearers and arrived to see something that was frankly unbelievable.

Both Celestia and the creature of shadows were panting, exhausted from their bout. Both of them were in the center of a circle of dead grass, the earth itself slightly disturbed by whatever had transpired recently. But where Celestia seemed to need a moment to gather her wits and power, the creature was already recovering. It got its legs under itself, drew itself back to its full height, growled a growl that could plausibly cause avalanches, and spoke.

"Celestia, your time on this world ends now. You will be sent to Tartarus, and Destruction shall reign!"

The sound of this thing's voice was terror-inducing. However, bolstered by each other and the Elements Luna quickly placed on them, the Bearers stepped up to the creature. And that was when Luna opened her mouth.

"Foul beast! You shall pay for defiling Marketh and attacking my sister!"

The creature turned around, saw the Princesses, saw the Bearers, saw the Elements, and began a ear-rending howl. One that was cut off in the middle by a hacking cough and the beast taking a knee as it spasmed and twitched. And then it spoke again.

"Twilight...Sparkle..."

All present held their breaths.

"Open...fire..."

Twilight blinked twice, nodded, and the Elements of Harmony went off. The rainbow impacted the beast, and it howled...

-----

The Titan had asserted its will and entreated to be blasted with the Elements of Harmony. When the rush of rainbow entered the mind, young Christopher molded and directed the flow. Each of the three Equestrian villains was reduced to smoky essence and bound up in a sphere. The Slayer would take more work, though.

And then the boy's eyes fell on the books of memory, and he smiled as a plan came together. With a couple of mighty punches, the Slayer was reduced again, then his unconscious form grabbed along with all the rest. The boy turned his attention skyward, and the mindscape finally broke.

He was finally free...

-----

The rainbow cleared, and what was left in the clearing was not the creature or Marketh. It was something similar to Marketh, yes. But at the same time, not.

Its hair was brown, its eyes were green. Its ears were decidedly non-pointed, as opposed to Marketh's slightly pointed ones. It was wearing a black shirt that showed off its forearms as well as its hands, and the pants were of a strange blue fabric. The shoes were white and laced. Then the new being drew itself up and began to speak, thus identifying its height as lesser than that of Marketh's, but the gender as the same.

"Invaders, I cast thee out of mine mind."

He raised his left hand to the heavens, and three shadowy spheres, followed by one green one, appeared over it. Then, the male brought his right hand over and made some sort of flicking motion with each of the three shadowy orbs, sending each one off, screaming, into the distance. After that, he looked at the green one, sighed, and put his right hand to his chest.

What happened next was something no pony could ever unsee, despite how much they might want to.

The being placed his right hand over his heart, pushed, grabbed a hold of something, and in a fountain of blood, extracted two tomes. One done up in red, which he passed to his left hand, and one done in blue, which he kept a firm hold over. Once the red tome was in his left hand, the orb of green sunk into it and caused the tome to start glowing. The male looked at it firmly for a moment before talking again.

"Return to whence you came."

And then he threw the book into the air, where it vanished with a flash of light. After which, he turned to Cadence and smiled.

"For the first time in a long time, I remember. And I have you two to thank for it."

With that, he held out the blue book and continued. "What I sent back was all the memories and instincts of Marketh Shadeblade, infused with the Slayer. Unbound from me, it had no tether to this world, and was snapped back to its own. This book...contains my memories of Equestria. Take it, and I will be similarly unbound, and snapped back. Possibly. Or, you could leave it with me, and I could start again."

The sound of Celestia speaking up interrupted the male. The ponies and others turned to look at her, and she pointedly looked at the book before looking back into the being's eyes. "You would offer us this? Why?"

He smiled softly. "Because I do not know if I want to return, nor do I know if I can forgive myself. Or if you can forgive me. While it is true I had another man's life, another man's curse, jammed into my head, my thoughts and ideals mixed with his. So how much of what happened is my fault, and how much of it is worthy of the best banishment you could offer?"

Celestia's eyes narrowed as she looked at the male's chest. "And what is that?"

His left hand reached back into himself and withdrew a simple yellow book. It was extremely thin, Twilight would be surprised if it held more than twenty pages. The being smiled and looked back to Celestia. "A probable future. Should you choose to let me remain, this will turn from the blank book it is into the life I will lead next."

There was a pause for roughly a minute as various twitches and near-expressions played themselves out on the faces of the three alicorns. Finally, Celestia sighed and proclaimed her decision.

"Place them back in yourself. Both of them."

With a quick flourish, the books were replaced with no small amount of bloodcurdling noises. The male bowed, there was a flash of light, and the clearing was clean again as the remnants of the Elements of Harmony's magic left. The being in the clearing was mostly the same, but now it staggered and fell into a kneeling position while a blue bag appeared and fell next to it. The creature clutched his head with one hand and moaned. "What...what happened? Why...how..."

Celestia cautiously approached, but by the time she did, he'd collapsed fully onto the ground. Checking for a pulse, the solar mare turned to her sister and said the one phrase nobody really wants to hear.

"Call a doctor!"

-----

Beeping.

Incessant beeping.

The feeling of something stuck in my arm, and constant, constant, beeping.

The sensation of something being attached to my chest, and that damnable beeping!

I pried my eyes open to see a white ceiling above me, and I felt a blanket atop me. There was a noise from one side, but I paid no attention to it. Instead, I focused on myself and thought long and hard about what I could remember. The last thing I could recall with clarity was...seeing Sombra's horn in my hand, hearing his voice...after that, it was a blur of me fighting tooth and nail to try and regain some semblance of control again. And then I was...here. I had no idea where here was.

After another moment to think, I realized that moving was an option, and began to do so. I immediately noticed that I was in a hospital room. I hadn't been in one in Equestria, but seeing as how the machines around me matched up with some that I'd seen on Earth, it seemed the most logical conclusion to make. I then made a startling conclusion: whatever I had ended up doing to regain control, I had been possessed by...I think multiple? dark forces at the time. Naturally there would be some recovery time factored in, but there would also probably be some dungeon time afterwards.

Not sticking around for that. Luna'd been banished to the moon, and she'd been Celestia's sister! I had no such familial ties. And Tartarus was horrible this time of year. I carefully looked at the nearby machines and turned each one of them off before looking down at my body. There were what looked to be sensors and an IV stuck in me, which told me a few things. One, the ponies didn't know much of my physiology and wanted to get a better idea while I was out so that they could keep me alive, and two, I'd been out long enough for hydration of my body to be a valid concern. The third thing was noticed while I was carefully removing the sensors from myself, and that was that I was currently absent my pants, shirt, and shoes. A quick scan showed me they were likely in a wardrobe in the room, and I gulped at the thought of trying to escape in my underwear. A small hiss escaped me as I pulled the needle for the IV out. Never did like those things. Once I pulled myself off the bed, I realized something highly important:

I wasn't Marketh anymore. Everything that had made him up, everything that he could do, was gone. This went from having the Slayer's voice in my ear to being able to dance in combat like he could. Granted, I still remembered how he did it while he was here in Equestria, but that was academic knowledge, not muscle memory anymore. And while I enjoyed the thought, I could certainly use his skills in stealth right about now!

I had just managed to get my clothes on and was starting to plan my daring hospital escape when the door to my room opened. And in walked Celestia. Followed by Luna and Cadence. The room was suddenly very cramped with three royal ponies in it. I slowly looked between them all and got in a relaxed position on my bed. They studied me, and then Cadence asked a question.

"What is your name?"

I chuckled at that. "Well, while I've gone by that name for a while, the name I was born with is Christopher Wetherby. Pleasure to finally meet you, your highnesses."

Cadence nodded and stuck out a hoof, which I shook. Luna looked to Celestia with a slight hint of smugness, and Celestia rolled her eyes. Then the solar mare spoke up. "So any and all traces of that other name?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Hmm. I can remember my time here. But any of his specific skills are mere knowledge to me. Not muscle memory. I know how he did them, but don't expect me to reproduce any."

Celestia actually went from her usual 'poker face' to a soft smile at that, and Luna put a hoof on my shoulder. Then the lunar mistress questioned me. "And the traces of darkness upon your soul?"

I really focused at that one, and there was a flash of memory. I responded absently as I watched it play out in my head. "What was formed from the union of the Slayer and Sombra was an amalgamation, something that desired more power merely to have more power. Once Nightmare was added, the two fought against the Slayer, and a unified mind was a pipe dream. The Slayer sought out Tirek in the hopes that once added to the entity, he would help subdue the others. However, Tirek had no desire to serve any others, and sought control himself. Their fighting only had one common goal: dethrone you two, take over, and from there, figure out who the dominant mind would be, and rule as Destruction Incarnate. However, all that fighting allowed me to rebuild my memories, and with knowledge of who I am, I was able to take back control. The darkness was cast out, and the Slayer was returned from whence he came, along with the memories of Marketh Shadeblade. He and I are no longer one, and I am no longer a danger."

The three seemed impressed by my tirade, and Luna nodded softly. She too had been taken by darkness, so she likely thought that she'd found a kindred spirit. Celestia smiled, actually smiled, and placed a hoof on my head.

"Welcome to Equestria, Christopher Wetherby. May your stay be long and pleasant."

At that, I chuckled, and all three of them raised an eyebrow at me. I then decided to elaborate. "In my home, there are a set of three ancient sayings that can be taken as curses when thought about properly. The first is 'may you live in interesting times', and I certainly have at that. My whole life up until this point can be thought of as interesting. The second, 'may people in authority take notice of you', done. You lot are here." At this, the three were chuckling. I waited patiently for them to ask, which didn't take long.

"And the third?"

I turned to Cadence and made sure my smile was full of teeth. "May you get exactly what you wish for."

At this, Celestia fidgeted, and I wrote it off as mere familiarity with the phrase...

Author's Note:

So yeah, just one more chapter. The epilogue.

With a guest we haven't seen for quite a while conversing with Chris!

...Make that two of them!

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