For What Darker Purpose #11
“This is both brilliant and simple.” Bucky sat down and began to examine a small bedside table, touching it with his talons. The bedroom, on the top floor of the house, was just out of range of Sunset Shimmer’s dispelling burst, and some of the magic was still intact.
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.
“The magic is relatively simple,” Bucky replied, his eyebrows furrowing, “compulsion spells… which aren’t very difficult. They’re made stronger by the target of the spell having a strong affinity for the items… Hibiscus loved her house and her stuff. Made it that much easier to manipulate her mind. I wonder what they are hiding.”
“How does the maid fit into this?” Sunset sat down beside Bucky and heaved a sigh.
“I would imagine that she did a little spell maintenance. She was under compulsion as well, or so I would guess. Her maid’s outfit still had a little magical residue left on it, but not enough to study.” Bucky placed his talons on top of the bedside table and stroked the smooth wood. “The enchantment on this table is about sixty years old. I would imagine that a very young Hibiscus grew up among other such enchanted items, loving her finery, and hoping that one day, it would all be hers. Minion, these were shackles that were worn willingly.”
“What a horrible thing to say, Master.”
“Doesn’t make it any less true. Compulsion magic can be resisted by the strong minded. Hibiscus was a pony obsessed by finery, of this there can be no doubt. She loved her appearance of wealth and the trappings of being influential. She stood no chance of resisting them.” Bucky shook his head and looked at the bed. “Even the bed is enchanted.”
“So… was the Hibiscus we met anything like her real self, or was she entirely a puppet being pulled on by the strings? Was her attitude and the way she was the result of her personality or the compulsion?” Sunset stood up and began to look around the room, feeling bad for the ponies downstairs, who were grieving the loss of their matron.
“There is no way of knowing, Minion.” Bucky tapped his claws upon the table. “Something important is being hidden away here, Minion. Nopony would go through this much trouble to keep a secret unless it was something important. Something meaningful. Something that could cause a lot of trouble—”
“For a noble house that no longer exists,” Sunset said as she turned to look at Bucky.
“Yes… Hibiscus was just one of their leftover loose ends.” Bucky’s barrel rose and fell as he heaved a sigh. “A forgotten leftover loose end out in the middle of an alicorn forsaken swamp. How I hate this place.”
Sunset Shimmer looked at the mirror on the wall and wondered what enchantments it held. It gave off a faint magical signature. Everything in the room did. The ties were all broken. This wasn’t Hibiscus’ room, it was just another bar in her prison. The thought made Sunset feel depressed. Hibiscus clearly wanted to provide for her family and give them a good life. Her simple wants and needs had been corrupted and used against her. It was all the more depressing that Hibiscus had probably went under the compulsion with no effort made to resist.
“So what do we do now, Master?” Sunset asked as the fetish around her neck began to pulsate with a gentle, throbbing warmth that held the miserable feeling of depression at bay. She felt a little better in spite of everything.
“We keep looking,” Bucky replied, “something took place here. All of these birth defects… I don’t think it is a curse. Something happened here though. Something was hidden away here in this wretched place with the hopes that nopony would ever find it… that nopony would ever care enough to look.”
“The worst part is, we can’t even punish the ponies responsible for this.” Sunset let out a frustrated huff and felt the fetish around her neck doing its best to calm her.
“No, but we can save these ponies from their evil machinations.” Bucky stood up and adjusted his cloak. “Minion, I want to go out and meet with this Mother Malady that you met. I want to speak with him. Her… them.”
“Okay.” Sunset nodded. “That seems like a good idea. Maybe she knows more than she is letting on. I mean, I suspect that she knew about this. Maybe there is something we can learn from her.”
“I hope so, Minion, I hope so…”
Scowling, Sunset Shimmer stomped through the mud as a feral storm dumped rain down upon her. She had hoped that the rain would be cooling, but the rain was more like a hot shower. The air was soupy, almost unbreathable, and somehow, it felt even more humid.
The stench of ozone hung heavy in the air and distant thunder pealed. As Sunset walked, she could not help but notice that her skin was getting itchy. She began to wonder if even the rain was tainted and she tossed up a shield bubble to keep the rain off of her, and then used a spell to dry herself, but the itchiness persisted.
There was something wrong with this swamp. There was an acrid smell in the air, lurking, hidden within the scent of ozone. The rain smelled foul. Sunset Shimmer suffered in silence as she and Bucky approached Mother Malady’s encampment. For some reason, she couldn’t see the mysterious zebra giving Bucky straight answers.
Surrounded by swamp dwellers, Sunset watched and waited as more and more ponies gathered around them. They had been friendly towards her, but there were a lot of suspicious glares directed at Bucky. She hoped that the swampfolk were not hostile.
Mother Malady emerged from a shack, Sunset’s eyes narrowed, and the strange zebra stallion focused his attention on Bucky, ignoring Sunset completely. Sunset tensed, worried, and couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. As Mother Malady came forward, a pegasus mare shook a gourd filled with something to make it rattle at Bucky.
“And what brings you to my home, Chaos Spirit?” Mother Malady asked as she drew near. “You are not welcome here, Almost Draconequus.”
“I have no intention of staying, I just came out for a few answers, which I suspect that you have.” Bucky shifted and held out his talons. “And I am not a draconequus. Nopony can quite figure out what I am anymore, but I am not a draconequus.”
“You are corruption and chaos,” Mother Malady said. “Every bad thing in the world that you have dealt with has left its mark upon you. It has twisted you and left you deformed. You are no longer a pony… do not even pretend.”
Sunset started forwards, her mouth opening, about to say something in Bucky’s defense, but Bucky held out his talons towards her and made a gesture. Sunset remained silent, feeling irritated and a little angry. How dare Mother Malady say such an awful thing.
“Look, I didn’t come here to cause trouble,” Bucky said.
“No, but trouble came here long ago to cause you.” Mother Malady shook her head and let out a snort.
“No need to be cryptic. The sooner you cut the crap, the sooner I go away and I take all of my chaos and my corruption with me. Give me what I want, and I’ll go away.” Bucky grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.
“Have you not been twisted enough? Look at you… talons where your left hoof should be. Your neck… your face… those teeth… and is that a goat hoof I see on your right rear leg?” Mother Malady took a step forward and several swamp dwellers let out gasps. “Go home, Twisted One, lest you leave this place even more corrupt than when you came.”
“I’m guessing that you know something about this place, Respected Mother—”
“Do not try to flatter me with your sly draconequus tongue, creature of disorder and disharmony.” Mother Malady pointed her hoof at Bucky and the gourd shaking pegasus let out a startled cry.
“You do know something… now, look, I don’t want to throw my weight around, but I need to know… and if you don’t tell me, that’s impeding my investigation… which would be very, very bad for you. You don’t exactly deal in the cleanest of zebra magics, do you?” Bucky’s lips curled up into a smile and a short, raspy cackle escaped his lips. “Had to come out and hide in the swamps to practice your sex magic… heh heh heh…”
For a moment, Sunset Shimmer worried that Mother Malady would attack Bucky. The zebra stallion looked furious and began stomping his hooves on the wooden platform on which they all stood. The rain was coming down in torrents now, the air had grown thicker, and it had to be more than one hundred and ten degrees outside.
“I do not know what it is, but I know where it lurks. It has gained sentience. It feeds upon the ghosts left behind here.” Mother Malady’s teeth gritted for a moment and her eyes narrowed. “If you go there, it will twist you further. You were made to twist, Corrupted One. You defy everything… you defy the natural order… you resist harmony… look what your defiance has done to you, you unclean spirit of disharmony. What will you take away from this place? You should leave now… this swamp will continue to fester, a forgotten place, a burial ground, a place where secrets go to die.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Bucky said.
“But dealing with it will make you worse.” Mother Malady’s lips pursed and she gave Bucky a thoughtful look. “You will carry some of this corruption with you out into the world. Ask yourself, is it worth it?”
“I’m here to do my job.” Bucky’s talons began to tap upon the wooden planks. “Just tell me where to go. Let me save this place—”
“Who saves the world from you?” Mother Malady asked.
Sunset Shimmer let out an impatient snort. “You were very nice to me, but now you are testing my patience.” The bright orange unicorn strode forwards and stood by Bucky’s side. “We are here to do our jobs. Give us what we want or we shall have to take it by force. Believe me, you don’t want Bucky to do that, and he will.”
“And what would he take from me, I wonder?” Mother Malady remarked. “What mark of chaos would I leave upon him?”
“ENOUGH!” Sunset bellowed, the force of her words causing ponies to scatter, leaving the zebra the only one standing before her and Bucky. “No more mystical, magical, ooky spooky horseapples!”
“Very well… I will tell you what you want to know. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Mother Malady’s head and ears both drooped in defeat and she glanced up at Sunset Shimmer. “South from here, there is a sinkhole known as Granther’s Maelstrom. The swamp pours down into it. There are a series of caves down below. You will find what you are looking for there.” Mother Malady lifted her head a little bit and she gave Sunset a pleading look. “Don’t go there… for your sake. I do not know what it might do to you”—The zebra pointed at Bucky—“but he should be fine. He is made of poison and disease. He has become everything he battles against. He has peered into the abyss for far too long and now the denizens of the abyss shy away in terror, unable to meet his eye.”
“So much flattery.” Bucky rolled his eyes and his talons continued to tap upon the wood in an idle manner. “You sex magic types really know how to work the shaft. And no gag reflex to speak of. Amazing.”
Eyes narrowing, Mother Malady glared at Bucky, giving him a hateful stare. “My magic is just misunderstood… I do good in the world. I have long protected this place from being overwhelmed by negative emotions and utterly crushed by the bleak darkness that lurks below. Long have I battled with what resides in Granther’s Maelstrom. Do not presume to judge me, draconequus spawn. All you do is leave behind mindless rampant destruction and devastation.”
“Spare me your platitudes.” Bucky made a dismissive gesture with his talons, snorted, and then turned to look at Sunset. “Minion, maybe you should listen to the sex magic crackpot here. I don’t know if you should go with me when I go to find this place.”
“Bucky, my place is by your side, for good or for ill.” Sunset turned her fiery gaze upon Mother Malady. “We thank you for your cooperation. Do not make us come back here and investigate this place. I do not think Master likes you.”
“I intend to leave,” Mother Malady replied. “When the dweller in the dark is gone, I see no reason for me to stay in this place.”
Sunset glanced at Bucky, wondering what was going on, and hoping that he would explain more about everything that had just taken place. She had no knowledge of zebra sex magic and she began to wonder what had gone into the making of the fetish hanging around her neck. She wondered what went on here in this settlement out in the swamp.
She watched as Mother Malady turned and walked away, and then she heard Bucky sigh. It was time go and Sunset wondered what awaited them at Granther’s Maelstrom, wherever that was.
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Zebra Sex Magic, well there's part of the explanation as to why a Stallion is called "Mother" Malady.
I expect tentacles, and will probably be disappointed.
6901310
I based Mother Malady off of actual hoodoo...
A mother is a man that takes on the role of a woman, and is milked. Said milk is used for poultices, fetishes, spells, amulets, aphrodisiacs, etc. No, I'm not shitting you.
6901319
I believe you, I had a friend who was really into it, maybe on the more hollywood-side of things than actually accurate, but he was trying to make a Bokor/Shadow-man class for our D'n'D group. I ended up just picking up surrounding stuff like Haitian Vodou, and Hoodoo, because I'd talk to him about the actual design and "balance" of the class.
Wise as this mother malady is, she is not quite aware of the actaul circumstances. Bucky would have become something FAR more evil if he had remained on that path. As evil as the thing that orchestrated the fate that Bucky has defied.
He killed many, but the space he made will be filled with more balanced and worthwhile lives.
He would have ensured nothing could live in this universe ever again had he been cosmic pant's pawn.
Meh, it will be dead in one paragraph.
Bucky pwns everything.
"When you look into the abyss the abyss look back to you...unless you´re Bucky. Then the abyss run !"
6901357
I think the Zebra is referring to Bucky's destiny. Every evil he battles, every victory over some powerful force is another notch in his Alicorn of War belt. But the more he refuses that destiny the more he is changed. At some point the changes will consume him and he becomes a full Draconequues, thus unleashing a chaos worst than discord. So the Zebra preaches non action. If Bucky were to stay home, screw his wives and make babies, his chaos will be diluted and the balance of power will remain intact. If Bucky blows up all the evil the balance will require him to become theven evil he fights.
6901808 having outright evil is the issue. there is plenty of mior evils running around.
6901841
The problem is Bucky not the Evil. Every Evil he fights brings him closers to full on Draconequues. That was the point the Zebra was trying to make. Only Bucky could hope to kill the sinkhole deamons, but if he does so the world is put more at risk. Leave it alone and the ponies in the swamp continue to suffer but the world at large is preserved.
6901877 more than likely the thing in the cave will actually escape later on. that is the thing about evil things. if left to linger, they fester, and grow more powerful. whatever is in that cave is simply biding its time.
it cannot be left well enough alone because it will not be satisfied where it is, not forever. that is the nature of evil. it is desire gone rampant, uncontrollable, insastiable.
And evil is not bound simply to dark things living in a swamp.
6902017
Remember balance exists because there is good to balance the dark that lurks. Bucky does not represent good, he is acting as a tool for good. But it does not balance the good/evil scale. He absorbs the debt and becomes an even greater threat than the Pit fiend could have ever been.
So what happens when Bucky dies and all that debt is released? Balance will forever be shifted. And that could unhinge everything.
Hehehe
So it begins.