ARC FINAL: Ch46: The Prince of Death
Time went by and the warm months passed. Snow soon covered the land and with it came the first hearth’s warming eve that Rainbow and Twilight would spend solely at home.
Their foal’s development went smoothly. Twilight read a lot of books about pregnancy and even Rainbow indulged in tomes of the sort. They both figured that the less they moved around, the less they would have the chance to endanger their foals, so they both agreed on minimizing their movement as much as possible. This was especially hard for Rainbow Dash, as this meant that flying, in particular, would be suspended until well after the pregnancy.
Thus, hearth’s warming eve was spent in the cosy warmth of Twilight’s castle and while everypony else used the free space to happily dance and mill about, Rainbow and Twilight kept to the sidelines and enjoyed just watching their friends have fun, while their own precious gifts were growing inside them.
The day after, the CMC went to spend the entire day searching for their Cutie Marks, followed by a sleepover at Apple Bloom’s. This meant that Rainbow and Twilight had the castle all to themselves. Not that they planned on anything, they weren’t little fillies after all. However, as much as they both loved Scootaloo, she was now slowly coming into puberty and with that came certain… developments in her personality that made it a true hoofful to care for her. Thinking about that this was only the beginning sometimes truly made for the perfect horror story, when one saw one of her early-pubescent outbreaks.
Needless to say, as much as they loved her, Twilight and Rainbow enjoyed the quiet that reigned when their little troublemaker was not at home. They spent this time together with Mystic, reading books and talking about how their pregnancies were progressing. Well, at least as much as Mystic could talk about it without being pregnant herself.
However, it didn’t bother her too much that she didn’t have much to contribute. After all, it was her greatest pleasure to fulfil her duty. To watch over Rainbow and Twilight and make sure that their foals were safe. In fact, she felt more than happy just sitting with them inside the reading area of the castle and hearing them talk about how well they were doing, while stifling a giggle from time to time, when one of them sent yet another ridiculous food-request for Spike to fetch.
The whole day went by calmly, with the fire crackling away in the fireplace and warming the three mares present with its soft glow. However, when evening came around, so came the first signs that the day might not be at its end just yet.
Applejack and Rarity hurried through the door, both wearing concern-filled looks.
“Say, you two, did you see Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom somewhere around here?” Rarity asked, not bothering with a greeting.
“No…? Shouldn’t they be at Applejack’s by now?” Twilight answered with slight alarm.
“Yeah, that was tha plan anyways. Thing is they didn’t turn up at all, even when I waited fer an hour! I then went ta Rarity`s t’ see if they were there, but as ye can see, they weren’t. We searched all of Ponyville, but nopony has seen them either and now, your castle was the last place we thought they could be.”
Twilight and Rainbow immediately slid off the sofa onto their hooves.
“That’s horrible! We need to go find them!” Twilight said in a panic, before both, she and Rainbow, were pushed back onto the sofa.
“No, you won’t.” Mystic said firmly, as she released them from her magic.
“But Mystic! What if something happened to them? What if something happened to Scootlaoo?!” Rainbow panicked.
“Don’t worry about them! You two need to stay calm and remain here. I will send Alpha and Charlie to search for them.” Mystic stated. She then turned and left the castle, leaving the four mares behind.
Silence befell the group. An uncomfortable silence, heavy with the weight of uncertainty that each of them were carrying.
“We could see if the map shows them.” Rainbow broke the quiet. “Maybe… maybe they’re stuck in a friendship problem that somepony needs to solve?”
“Rainbow, you know those three. They would never-“ Twilight was cut off by Rainbow grabbing hold of her shoulders and pleading to her.
“Pleeeeaaaase! You know I can’t stand just sitting around and doing nothing! I want to help somehow!”
Twilight wanted to argue against it, say that it was unlikely that the map would be showing their location, but seeing her herdmate in such distress made her reconsider.
“Fine. We can at least have a look, right?” Twilight gave in.
They made their way to the map room and opened the doors, but found it to be strangely dark inside. Normally, the chandelier would emit constant illumination, but now, it seemed like it wasn’t emitting light at all.
“Huh, that’s strange.” Twilight said absentmindedly, as she made her way into the middle of the room, where she gave a short pulse of her magic, which ignited the crystals yet again.
“So, now, as you can see, it’s not even… ac… tive?” Twilight trailed off, as she saw her friends standing in the entrance and shaking in fear. Rainbow was pointing somewhere directly behind her and when Twilight followed the point, she nearly went into early labour as she laid eyes on what it was that caused her friend’s reaction.
Directly behind her, there was a tall, bipedal entity leaning against the wall with its arms crossed. It stood slightly taller than Twilight remembered Markus to be and its shoulders seemed to be slightly narrower. It wore dark brown boots, a long, black leather coat with a hood that covered the back of its head, a black hat with a rim about as wide as its shoulders, as well as a white mask with a long beak, through which shone two yellow, reptilian eyes. Eyes which were currently looking directly at her.
“Greetings.” It said in a hollow and synthetic sounding voice.
Twilight recoiled, scooting back on her rump, trying to gain distance to the unknown entity.
“Oh my. There is no need for such a reaction. I am not here to harm.”
“W-W-What – w-who are you?” Twilight stammered.
“I am but a messenger. I was sent by my master to deliver a message.” It answered.
“W-who is your m-master?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh, you have met him already. He was a… special guest. At your wedding.”
“Special guest? He… He might not have been a red alicorn, has he?” Twilight asked.
“A red alicorn? Hm… yes, that was certainly him.”
Applejack abruptly came out of her stupor with a slight outbreak of anger. “So yer working fer this varmint that shoved us harder than ah can applebuck mah trees? Ah swear, if ah get mah hooves on him again, I’ll-“
“AJ, please! I know that he did that, but it was only to rescue Twilight!” Rainbow tried to calm her.
“So… what’s the message?” Twilight asked tentatively.
“The message… is that my master has accepted the offer of your princesses.” It said.
“Offer? What offer did the princesses make to him?” Rarity asked.
“Why, they offered him a position of royalty, of course. Now, if you will excuse me, I have already stayed longer than my contract allows.”
Leaving many questions unanswered, the entity made its way towards the exit, but stopped just before exiting. “Oh… and don’t worry about your sisters… I will inform my master about your problem and I am sure he will see to their safety… if they aren’t due yet.”
With that, the entity left the room and with it, four very frightened and stunned mares.
A few hours later, the crusaders still had yet to be found. Mystic’ search parties were still roaming the immediate area and parts of the Everfree Forest, but in quiet they all knew that, if the fillies had gone in there, they would likely not be found all-too soon.
While her soldiers were searching, Mystic had returned to the castle, together with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who wanted to help the search. However, as it had already gotten dark outside, they found it better to help Twilight and Rainbow calm down.
Suddenly, somepony knocked and before anypony could react, Rainbow was at the door and opened it. At first, nopony seemed to be there, but when her eyes adjusted, she could see a tall figure with a large horn and a flowing mane just outside of the light.
“Princess Celestia?” Rainbow questioned, however recoiled as she was answered.
“Unfortunately no, I am not.” A male voice said. A voice, which she had heard only once before. A blood red hoof stepped into the light, followed by a body and a snout in the same colour. A black horn and black eyes became visible next, as well as a black mane and two black wings that were extended upwards in a roof to shield his back from the falling snow.
The crimson stallion stepped further forward, into the castle. Rainbow was slowly retreating at the same pace, while her friends were now filing in from the room behind her.
“Good evening. I hope I do not come at an inconvenient time.” The stallion said.
“Yeah, as if you could ever come at a convenient time.” Applejack hissed. “What’cha come ‘ere for? Tell us that our sisters are ‘due’?”
The stallion strode further forward. “There is no need to be so hostile, dear Applejack. Be assured that I have not come to tell you of the untimely demise of your sister. In fact, I have come to tell you quite the opposite.”
He stopped and retracted one of his wings, revealing a blanket on his back, under which there lay three sleeping fillies. He angled his right wing downward, using it like a ramp on which he let the sleeping crusaders slide down to the ground. Immediately, their sleeping forms were greeted with tight embraces by their sisters/mother-in-law.
“After my servant has told me of their fate, I have sought out for their lifetimes and found that they indeed still have plenty of time left. As such, I went ahead and searched for them myself and I found them on the north-eastern edge of the Everfree. I do not claim to know their means to get there, but seeing the result, I doubt that this information is of importance.”
“Yeah… I-euh… thank you.” Twilight said. However, something seemed to be amiss, as she started looking downward and circling her hoof on the floor.
“There is no need to remain silent, Twilight Sparkle. If there is something that bothers you, then I am willing to listen.”
Twilight breathed a small sigh. She looked up, hesitantly, but eventually, she began to speak. “The-The time of Markus’s return… the time those three have left… how come you know such things?”
The stallion seemed completely unimpressed by the question, however apparently found it difficult to answer it anyways.
“Well… I’ve got to admit that I can’t seem to phrase it properly… Perhaps, showing you would be the better solution.”
He turned his side towards the group and then lifted his wing slightly, so that his flanks were freed of the feathery appendages. Beyond the black mass, atop the red background, there the ponies found a picture of a golden T-scale with a pony angel in the left bowl and the pony of death in the right.
“So… you balance good and evil?” Twilight asked curiously.
“No… not quite. Albeit your formulation seems quite fitting, it is not good and evil that I balance, but life and death.”
“A-ah…” Twilight had not awaited such an answer and as such felt slightly unsettled, now that she’d heard it.
“Now, I think I’ve stolen enough of your time.” The stallion said, before giving Twilight a respectful bow. “Farewell, Twilight Sparkle. We shall meet again.”
He turned around and went to leave the castle, but stopped when Twilight cried out to him. “Wait! You’ve never told us your name.”
The stallion looked over his shoulder back at the group. “Indeed. That is because I do not carry a name. However, if you want me to tell you one, then I believe ‘Mortis’ to be quite fitting.”
With that, the stallion stepped outside, before he then formed into an orb again and ‘shadowed’ away.
About a month later, Twilight got a letter from Princess Celestia, that a new alicorn would be crowned. Of course, Twilight knew by this time that it could only be Mortis who was meant by this. Thus, on the day of the coronation, which coincidentally seemed to be on Markus’s birthday, she and her friends travelled to Canterlot, with yet another set of garments that Rarity had tailored for them.
It was the first time that Twilight would attend such a ceremony not as a normal attendee, but as an actual princess sitting on a throne. Her friends were allowed to stand beside her on her right, while Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence sat to her left and to their left, there stood Shining Armor. Before them, there were two large groups of Ponies. The nobles of Canterlot, who were allowed to witness the ceremony from within the throne room, while the remaining populace would wait outside.
Celestia held a short speech, before she called out for the ceremony to begin. On cue, the doors swung open, revealing Mortis standing behind them. However, in contrast to Twilight’s coronation, he did not wear any special garments or hoof-tailored suit. Indeed, he chose to wear nothing, stepping in in his pure, red form.
He slowly made his way along the red carpet that was laid out from the door up to the throne. This time, the dust that his steps kicked up seemed a lot lighter in colour, albeit still being black. His wings were slightly extended up- and outwards in a display.
He reached the throne and lowered his head before Celestia, who then lifted up a crown from behind her throne. Said crown was of a simple, six-pointed design with multiple blue crystals embedded into its sides.
The princess put the crown onto his head. However, as soon as metal touched fur, the golden colour began to fade. A swirl of black mist surrounded the crown, until the gold and blue colours were gone and replaced by black metal and red crystals. A few gasps became audible from the audience, however, Celestia remained unfazed.
“I hereby present to you…” She began to declare, “the newest addition to equestrian royalty. This stallion shall henceforth be known as: Prince Mortis.”
This declaration immediately caused Blueblood to step in from somewhere off to the side. “WHAT?! PRINCE?! Aunt Celestia, I don’t think this is appropriate. I am the only true prince of Equestria!”
Celestia facehoofed at Blueblood’s tantrum, however the prince didn’t seem to notice. He went over to the new prince and looked him dead in the eye. “Listen, you wannabe-prince: I am the only one who may ever truly carry the title of prince, so I command you to step down immediately!”
Mortis lifted his head and looked down on the prince. He then looked over to the princesses, scanning them seemingly in search for something. “I am sorry, but I fail to see the connection.”
Blueblood gave an upset gasp. “How dare you?! It is no question that I carry the same coat and mane colour as my aunt does!”
“That may be,” Mortis agreed, “yet, every royal pony in this room seems to at least carry a horn. An appendage that seems amiss on your forehead.”
Blueblood was speechless. Mortis had just picked at his weakest spot. The wound he had sustained from his failed duel with Markus. The stump that had been left was already healing, true, but it was still multiple years away from becoming the once magnificent horn that once adorned the most beautiful head in all of Equestria.
Multiple loud gasps sounded from the attending nobility.
“He has insulted Prince Blueblood!”
“He has insulted the Prince!”
“How could somepony like him even become an alicorn?!”
“Why would Celestia ever choose somepony like him?!”
Suddenly, Twilight and her friends found themselves the target of a barrage of various fruits and vegetables that came flying from the audience. Twilight closed her eyes and readied herself to be hit, but all that she ever came to notice were multiple dull thumps that came from right in front of her. She tentatively slid one of her eyes open, only to then rip them wide when she saw what had saved her.
She saw a wall of black that seemed to have a feathery texture. She looked over to her right, where she saw the ends touch the wall. She then looked to her left, where she saw that these walls were indeed the wings of Prince Mortis, which, now completely unfolded, spanned the whole width of the Throne Room.
Fluttershy, Rainbow and Cadence instinctively opened their wings in a wing display and Twilight could feel her new Pegasus parts scream at the back of her mind to do the same. However, due to her Unicorn heritage, it was relatively easy for her to subdue.
“That is enough.” Celestia commanded. Mortis respectfully bowed his head, before he tucked in his wings again. Strangely enough, it seemed as if the tucked-in wings were much smaller than they actually should be. Though, it didn’t seem like they had been magically shrunk or something like that.
“We have made our decision to accept him into equestrian royalty. You as the equestrian nobility are to accept and respect such a decision! Now, the ceremony shall continue!”
Following her order, the festivities went on. The princesses and the newly crowned prince left the throne room and made their way towards a balcony, from which one could oversee a large plaza, where seemingly all of Equestria was currently gathered to witness this event.
When he reached the end of the balcony, Mortis put his wings on display again and, according to tradition, held a speech regarding his ascension, which was accented by a wonderbolts display at the end and received with loud cheers by the audience.
After the speech was held, he retreated himself into the castle. Twilight went after him and called out to him just before he could round a corner.
“Prince Mortis!”
The Prince turned around and faced her. “Twilight, please, there is no need to address me with my title. After all, we are of the same standing.” He said, making Twilight give a sheepish smile.
“Ehehe, yes, I know… Uhm, Mortis, there is something I wanted to ask you…”
This quickly gained his interest. “Go ahead. I will answer any question you may have.”
“Euhm… I’ve been wondering… if you know the date of his return… do you know where he currently is? And if you do, could you please tell me?”
The Prince stood silent for a moment, making Twilight gulp in discomfort. “Well, I do indeed know where Markus currently is. However, I may not tell you.”
“Oh… Why don’t you want to tell me?” Twilight asked in slight disappointment.
“It is not that I don’t want to tell you, dear Twilight. Rather, it is because Markus doesn’t wish to be found. All I can do, is repeat to you what I have told you once before, for your rightful husband truly will return… in eight months.”
Twilight was still disappointed with the outcome. However, if it truly was Markus’s wish to remain hidden for now, then she was willing to wait it out.
With those last words exchanged, the newly crowned Prince Mortis resumed his path. He rounded the corner and vanished from sight.
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is this supposed to be Illya leonov too? XD i understand if yes, his voice is just....... if a voice could’ve ended world hunger, his would’ve done so a long time ago,
yup, it’s him alright, XD
........mum!
he makes a return regardless,
ohhhhh SCP-049, i know that one, the plague “doctor,”
it’s the same voice,
Where are you going with this? the few last chapters have been strange to me.
10283500
Im with you on that
10283307
10284197
yea him,
10283500
10283544
Well, I did say at the beginning of the arc that it might feel a little rushed, so there you are. Setting that aside, this whole thing was intended more as a teaser for the actual upcoming arc 2 than actually be conclusive or anything of that sort.
I will not say what the next arc will be all about, but I can say that the knowledge you got from this mini-arc will further the effects of what you will witness in the upcoming chapters. However, like I said in the chapter, you will have to wait some time for this...
5 bits says Markus is one of the alicorn foals
10284772
You think he's his own father?... well, as... interesting as the idea may sound, I can tell you that those 5 bits are now mine.
If I recall right TheVolgun is the voice actor for 049 (atleast for SCP CB)
10286218
He's the voice actor for a lot of them.
10303703
Attacking someone under the guise of surrender is a war crime and a shitty thing to do, as much as he goes on about being honorable it's a bit hypocritical.
10303719
On that note, I may inform you that a white flag doesn't necessarily symbolize surrender, but rather a temporary ceasefire, a parlay in this case.
Also, while Markus may (mostly) be seen as honourable up until that point, I cannot recall him calling himself honourable. (If he does, please tell me where, I'd have to correct that.)
In fact, Markus is rather practical, seeking to exploit his Opponent's weaknesses and creating one if necessary. It just so happens that Markus's whole personality is defined by his efforts to protect others, which is mostly regarded as honourable.
10303959
A white flag is considered a flag of truce, attacking someone after the flag has been waved is a warcrime.
I admit I cannot recall when/where he may have called himself honorable, that was probably a bit of exaggeration on my part, it has been a while since I have read this far back into the story. Unless I have read something wrong or I am miss remembering, Markus has usually shown himself to be a good soldier and a decent human being, making it a bit shocking to witness him do something like this.
10304002
Understandable. It was what that chapter was meant to show after all. However, rest assured that even if he will throw common sense and war law out the window in favor of a tactical advantage, his prime directive still is to keep equestria and Twilight and Rainbow in particular, safe and it will remain like that for the rest of the story.
10304002
No he is correct, while modern intentions label it as a Flag of Truce, in olden times it was a request for Parlay.
Back in the times of knights, sieges and large battles a white flag would be risen to talk (hince parlay) with an enemy commander to either issue a demand for surrender, to surrender, to ask for a temporary cease of combat to retrieve the wounded and dead or many other relations to honor and chivalry.
Back then, to attack a white flag would be seen as dishonorable and the equivalent of a Truce Breaker.
Today, a white flag is typically associated with a declaration of intent to surrender, though nine times out of ten it is used to lure in the enemy to ambush them and thus is not taken as seriously as it should normally be.
To this end, most nations will look the other way if their troops attack those who bare the flag.
10304029
I never said that he was wrong, if I did imply that i did not mean to.
Yeah, it's unfortunate that people would use the flag to attack others, it makes it hard for those who genuinely want to surrender to get a way to do so
10304044
No I understand, just the history buff in me had to have it’s say
hearing We shall meet again from the Prince of Death? yeaaaa no thanks,
Great history, good job...👍👏
10347214
I may inform you that history relates to a thing of our real past, while the word you might have sought would be: Story. I can only imagine that you've translated from the german word "Geschichte", which holds both meanings.
Still, thanks for the compliment and sorry for the lecture.
10347225
I write these simple sentences without a translator, I make mistakes to anyone, it can happen, the most obvious thing is that you know what I meant ... Regards
10424121
no. just a german, who knows how to build guns.
Changed the wording a bit to avoid such misunerstandings in the future. Thanks for pointing it out.
you know, ever since i’ve gotten to know that Mortis is made after Illya Leonov i can’t stop reading Mortis’s lines with Illya’s Voice, :P
Markus is gonna get his assbeat wehen he gets home