Ch48: A New Beginning
Sometimes, Celestia found the absolute loyalty of her guards to be disturbing. Like she wasn’t worthy of their willingness to lay down their lives for her, to say nothing of trusting her no matter what and never questioning anything she did.
Today was definitely not such a day, she noted, as she and Luna were both carrying the charred remains of the once profound human hero, Markus Becker, into her royal chambers. Markus had left them with a spell that, by his description, held the power to protect every creature in Equestria from harm indefinitely.
As ruler of Equestria and protector of her little Ponies, Celestia could not leave such a claim untested. If it was true that this single spell could protect all of her subjects indefinitely, then she had to try. Unfortunately, one of the components of the spell was a sample of foreign magic and Markus was the only source of it. Luckily, he seemed to know that and placed a strong preservation spell onto his own body. It wasn’t strong enough to avert all damages or even save his life, but it left enough of him intact to extract the needed amount of magic.
Celestia breathed a sigh of relief, as she and Luna finally reached the privacy of her chambers together with their… rather bizarre cargo.
“Luna, please remind me to never carry burned corpses through the palace EVER again. In fact, let’s just say corpses in general.” Celestia said, when she let her aura fade from her half of the corpse.
“We fail to see, why thou should ever need to carry a corpse through the palace, apart from today, but we will keep it in mind.” Luna answered with a barely stifled smirk. She, too, then let go of her half of the corpse, before she went to arrange the two halves of the former hero into the middle of a transmutation circle on the ground.
When they had found him, Markus was cut clean in half by the explosion. His internal organs seemed to have been burned or flung away, leaving only his bone structure and burned skin and muscle tissue somewhat intact. It was truly a gruesome sight and even though Celestia had been very doubtful about his trustworthiness, even after he came to rescue Canterlot, she couldn’t help but feel deeply saddened over his untimely demise.
Now, they were standing in front of his corpse again, this time arranged in a way that would make it seem like it was at least not cut in half. Both sisters looked at each other one last time, before they touched their horns together and began to fulfil this warrior’s last will.
They projected their magic upon the circle, which began to glow in return. The runes written into it projected themselves onto the very air above them and began to rotate around the center of the circle.
A bright flash suddenly erupted from the middle, leaving both Alicorns temporarily blinded. When their eyesight returned, they found that… nothing had happened. At least nothing they could immediately perceive. The circle was gone, but the corpse was still there. Did that mean that the spell had worked? Or did that mean that it had worked only partially? There was only one way to find out!
Luna loaded a shock spell and, with her agreement, shot it right at Celestia’s sun - and not the one in the sky, I might add. She yelped in pain, as the spell hit her flank and left a small black spot on her sun cutie mark.
“Ouch.” She whined. “Well, I guess that means that the spell has failed.”
“But how? We did everything like it was described!” Luna wondered aloud.
“I know it might hurt, Luna, but the spell Markus has found could simply be ineffective in itself. Maybe it didn’t even exist in the first place? It would certainly explain, why I hadn’t ever cast it before, seeing as its apparent effects were quite promising.” Celestia stated, however, Luna didn’t like what she was implying at all.
“WHAT?! Sister, art thou implying that Markus might have faked this spell?” She seethed.
“No, Luna. All I said was that the spell might have been faked by anypony, not just Markus.”
“But you wouldn’t exclude him from this possibility either.” Luna noted. “What is it that thou have against him, sister? At first, we could understand thee, as he was definitely a threat, given that he didn’t come from this world, but now? He saved Equestria TWICE, maybe even more and you still don’t see him as trustworthy?!”
“You have to understand that I have to care not just about me, but about all of Equestria, Luna! I can’t just go about and trust anypony that suddenly falls through a portal or through whatever means he arrived.” Celestia argued against her sister.
The two sisters were so ensnared in their argument that none of them noticed the corpse suddenly open its eyes again. They also didn’t notice, how the corpse got up and walked to the window. They didn’t notice the wings that were suddenly growing on its back and they didn’t notice the subsequent transformation. Only when a bright light suddenly filled the room did they notice that something was happening. They looked to the source of the light, but what they saw made them both go rigid and caused their heartrates to skyrocket.
There, before Celestia’s mirror stood an alicorn stallion. This in itself was unnerving enough and the appearance of said stallion wasn’t helping the impression. He seemed burnt from head to tail, his skin beginning to peel off in some places, while already missing in others. His lower jaw hung completely bare, as well as his ribcage and lower legs. His eyes were pitch-black, as was his horn and wings, the latter of which covered the entire length of the stallion thrice. The cutie mark of this stallion appeared to be a T-scale with the Deathpony in the right bowl and an Angel in the left and the fur below indicated that his coat colour was red.
Their staring didn’t go unnoticed much longer, as the stallion suddenly turned his head towards the two sisters. Both, in turn, cowered back as they were met with his gaze.
They quickly put more distance between them and this unknown stallion and he moved to follow. First his right foreleg, then his left and then…. He suddenly fell to the floor. Both royal sisters now looked at each other slightly confused. Did he not know how to properly walk on four legs? It was then, that Luna had a hunch and looked over to where the corpse lay before.
She almost cheered in delight as she saw that indeed, the corpse was gone. She couldn’t be sure yet, though, so she turned back to the stallion and tentatively asked: “Markus?”
The stallion opened his jaw to answer, but no sound came. This was hardly a surprise, given that his lungs and probably even his vocal cords were missing. Seeing as a verbal answer was thus out of the question, the stallion then went for a non-verbal answer.
He nodded.
A moment of silence reigned over the three alicorns, as Celestia and Luna were processing his answer. When they were done, however, Markus suddenly found himself with a new problem, as Luna suddenly came in for a strong hug that felt like it would crush what was left of his body.
“You’re alive!” She cheered, tears of joy falling from her eyes, as she tightened her hug. Even Celestia couldn`t help but release a few drops of her own, though her joy was not as strong as Luna’s, by far.
“We thought you were gone forever!” Luna said, as she broke into sobs and tightened her grip even further. Markus felt how his neck was slowly giving in to the strain, so he tried to tell her to stop, but his voice was still unavailable. He needed to stop her somehow, lest his neck breaks in two and he’d have to go through this whole ordeal again.
He tried tapping her with his hoof, but this action only held the result of her further snuggling into the hug. Luckily, Markus then had an idea: He used his ability to create force fields and spawned one directly above him. A big, black rectangle appeared and he used it to transmit vibrations into the air.
“Luna, please stop, you’re crushing my neck.” Sounded a very high-pitched voice from the makeshift-speaker. It didn’t sound like Markus at all. Rather, one could think it was Pinkie speaking through a voice emulator. It sounded synthetic and Luna had to take a moment to realize, that it was indeed Markus, who spoke to her.
“Markus? What has happened to your voice?” Luna asked, while Celstia barely managed not to laugh at the absolutely ridiculous voice that Markus now spoke with.
“I have to agree that it sounds ridiculous, even to myself, but sadly I have to use this voice, as my vocal cords are currently… unavailable.” Markus explained, to which Luna gave a short glance down at his throat, only to flinch back, when she remembered the state Markus was in.
“Y-Yeah, I know. Sadly, there is no healing spell that directly affects the vocal cords and generic healing magic always works itself from the outside to the inside, so all I can do is offer you a ‘therapy’.” Luna offered somewhat saddened by the fact that she couldn’t do more for him.
“That would indeed be very nice of you, Luna. I gladly take your offer.” Markus said, causing Luna to cheer up a little bit. “Now, I just need to learn, how to use these.” He then said, while tentatively flexing his new wings.
“Oh, I can teach you! I can do that directly after the therapy! And if you want, I can even teach you how to properly walk on four legs!” Luna eagerly offered.
“That would indeed be nice of you, although I don’t think that I’ll need the lessons on four-legged movement.” Markus told her.
Luna wanted to point out that he had just graciously failed at moving on all fours, but at that moment, Markus suddenly seemed to shape-shift. His features contorted and his whole body began to shift, contract and bend back into the shape of a male human.
“Thankfully, the pain brought by this transformation now doesn’t come unexpected anymore. Still, I would like to keep my transformations to a minimum and I have to say that I am simply more used to this form than to my new alicorn-form.”
Luna and Celestia both wanted to protest, tell him that an alicorn would be easier to hide in a world full of ponies, but they both realized that it would be a fruitless endeavour, as Markus seemed stubborn in his decision. Thus, Luna simply sighed, before she put on a smile and began with the first ‘therapy-session’.
“Thanks. Now that at least my not-yet-re-inserted internals are covered, I will retreat myself. Before you protest, however: do not worry, I am not going to leave this room. I have become death after all and as such, I have a new realm to inspect.” Markus said and before either Luna or Celestia could ask, what the Faust he was talking about, Markus opened a black, swirling rift out of thin air and went through it.
A dark expanse. That was all one came to see, if one was to set foot into the realm of death as a mortal. A few specks of light could be seen throughout the void, dancing in weird patterns that would make any mortal wonder, if those were indeed just specks of light or if they were something more. And indeed, it weren’t just mere lights, but the souls of those who have passed on and have now taken the next step in their existence. All of them were now overlooking their own little worlds, having created their own paradise for themselves with only their own wishes and dreams and no other could see them beside they themselves… and one other.
A vortex of white light suddenly emerged in the void and from it stepped a red alicorn stallion. He was the ruler of this realm, the newly born prince. It was his task to oversee this plane and watch over it. Also, he was the only being that could see the worlds which the dead had created for themselves.
All but one, that is.
“Markus?” A voice suddenly asked. One, that Markus immediately recognized.
“M-Mom?” Markus replied in wide-eyed wonder.
“Yes, my dear, it’s me. It has been a long time since we last had a word.”
Markus stood still and didn’t say a word, as he was too shocked from this newest revelation.
“What? Eight years and you can’t even properly greet your own mother? Oh come on, I thought I had raised you better!” She said after a moment with mock disappointment.
Markus meanwhile couldn’t hold it any longer. His eyes began to tear up, until the salty liquid wetted both of his cheeks. He went down to his knees, clutching the spectral form of his mother in his hands and crying out his very soul.
“I have missed you so much, mother!”
His mother, in turn, said nothing, as she held her son in her arms and comforted him like any mother would do. It took a while, but eventually, Markus could restrain his own emotions again. He stood up and looked at her, now with a slight bit of wonder.
“But how are you here? You should be in the death realm of our old universe and not of this one!” He asked.
“Oh please, do you really think that such a little bit of dimensional travel would stop a mother from seeing her son? I thought you knew better, Markus!” His mother replied. „Besides, I was worried about you! You still have this trait about you that you always have to protect others, even risking your live for them without being asked.”
“You know that I have made an oath to protect.” Markus pointed out.
“I know, but that doesn’t mean that you have to actively seek death every time it comes to you! You have died two times already, for Christ’s sake!” His mother retorted.
“And if you’ve been watching, you should know that it was my pre-written fate to die twice and that now, I have basically become death incarnate by doing so.”
“Yes I know, but still… sometimes you’re just overdoing it. Don’t get me wrong, defending others definitely is a noble cause… but you have to also let them defend themselves at least a bit. If not for your own sake, then at least so that they don’t grow too dependent of you.” She pleaded to Markus, hoping that her son would finally see reason, after having died two times now.
“You do realise that, even if I were to let them fend for themselves, they probably wouldn’t achieve much without the proper training?” Markus pointed out, earning him a disapproving glare from his mother. After a short while of staring, he finally relented with a sigh. “Though, I have to admit that I wanted to use the current situation to do some covert-ops and I can’t do that while I’m also openly protecting everyone else. Still, they need to grow stronger or else, things might look pretty grim for them…”
Markus brought his hand up to his chin in his standard thinking pose. He then stood there, thinking for a moment, before his mouth formed up into a smirk.
“In fact, I think I know how to do that already…”
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So is ponys coming back to life a common thing in equestria? Because they did not act shocked at all
I guess I've read through the buildup from when I stopped.
10464043
yes, that was actually the motivation behind the design. 'The fandom doesn't like red/black alicorn OCs? Huh.' - created a red/black alicorn OC
an avatar of death that protects....................................................
hmmmmmm...............................................
sounds iffy.............................................
eh fuck it, everything is weird in equestria!
