Equestria: The Afterlife

by Timzocker201

CH50: A Plan Set Into Motion

Markus sat in his suite in the Canterlot Castle, letting his few precious moments of silence take him. Ever since he was brought back to life, he had spent most of his time either learning the basics of flight or overseeing the progress of his plan, not to mention the work he did to keep up the disguise, Luna had given him. Thus, moments like these, when he could just relax without being both-

“MARKUS!!! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!” Luna suddenly barged in, screaming in panic.

“What? What happened?” Markus asked, slightly annoyed that his precious freetime was likely about to be stolen.

“Lord Tirek broke free from Tartarus!”

Markus put on a shocked expression, though, internally, he smirked, as his plan seemed to slowly take shape. “What? Really? In that case, we need to immediately notify Celestia!” Markus said, transforming into his Alicorn form and walking towards the door. “Come on, we don’t have time to lose!”

They made haste to arrive at the throne room, in which Celestia sat already with a very troubled expression.

“Here we are. So, what do you plan to do?” Markus asked Celestia, as he stepped towards the throne.

“Frankly, I don’t know yet, myself. My first impulse was to send the elements, but I am sure that you will find something to argue about with that plan yet again, won’t you?” Celestia asked rhetorically, which didn’t stop Markus from answering, though.

“Indeed I will. For one, the elements of harmony are magical items and Tirek’s ability is to absorb magic. Secondly, it is unlikely that they have fully recovered yet and will thus likely be less effective when it comes down to it.”

“Yes, I know, but sadly, we don’t have another choice in the matter.” Celestia stated forlornly.

“Actually, yes, we do.” Markus countered, causing Celestia to quickly perk up.

“We do? What do you have in mind?” She asked, although slightly hesitant.

“Well, there is one other being, beside the elements, that holds as much, if not more power than you do and whose magic can likely not be absorbed by Tirek.” He answered cryptically.

“What? You’re not speaking about yourself, are you?” Celestia asked disapprovingly.

“No. You know exactly who I am talking about, Celestia.” Was Markus’s answer.

Celestia sighed, before looking up at the former soldier again. “So… how do you plan on making him do that? Or how do you even want to make him come and listen in the first place?”

“Oh, that’s simple: he may not like you all that much, a feeling which seems to be mutual.” Markus stated, causing Celestia to snort in bemusement. “, but he seems very interested in Fluttershy, to the point that he always keeps an eye on her, no matter where he is. Thus, you can just invite the Element bearers and Discord will certainly tag along. As for actually convincing him… Well, I’m sure that Fluttershy will find a way to convince him.”

Celestia took a moment to think for herself, though just as much to ponder over the idea, as to process the implications towards the relationship between Discord and Fluttershy. In the end, she gave a resigned sigh, before closing her eyes and nodding.

“I must admit, your plan seems promising enough. Very well, I will send the summons immediately. There is no time to be wasted.”

Just as she had said, Celestia immediately materialized parchment in front of her and scribbled down summons for the elements, which were immediately sent out.

Just as expected, Twilight and her friends arrived only a few hours afterwards and with them, Discord also came along. In disguise, of course, though Celestia almost immediately called him out. What followed was some major drama on Discord’s side, but eventually, he was brought around and agreed to help out.

With that settled, the element bearers left the throne room again. During this whole time, Markus was sitting in a hideout behind the throne and listening to the conversation taking place. When all was said and done, he came out of his hiding place, where he was immediately intercepted by Celestia.

“So, what do you plan on doing during this whole mess? I take it you will help us in our efforts?”

“Unfortunately no, I can and will not help you.” Markus answered. Both Luna and Celestia looked a bit taken aback at this.

“What? But why won’t you help us? Isn’t that what you have always talked about? That it is your duty as a soldier to protect others?” Luna asked with a hint of suppressed disappointment.

“Indeed I did. However, the escape and subsequent re-imprisonment of Lord Tirek is a major event in Twilight’s life. One I am not allowed to interfere in. But rest assured that I will keep an eye on everything.” Markus assured.

“Your knowledge from another world again, I take it?” Celestia pointed out.

“Partially, yes, although not only that. You see: by becoming the alicorn of life and death, I have, in a way, also become the alicorn of another factor in everypony’s life.” Markus answered cryptically yet again, as he began to make his way to the door again.

“Which would be?” Celestia wanted to know before Markus left. He, in turn, stopped and gave a single, short reply.

“Fate.”

---

Two days. It had taken two whole days for everything to properly come into motion. However, in the end, everything went to plan. Tirek sucked in everypony’s magic and even got the princesses’ magic in the end. Markus was almost about to step in at that point, but then Twilight and her friends went back to the Tree of Harmony and that was when Markus remembered, how Tirek was actually defeated.

From a cliff, he observed, how the Element Bearers each brought an item along with them, though he was quick to realize that it were the gifts he had given them. Not only that, but to his great surprise, the Tree actually accepted them and gave them their powers. At that moment, Markus felt a tug in the back of his mind, as if something was suddenly connected to him. It was at that moment that he realized that his presence in this world has likely already altered it to the point, where relying on the old show’s timeline may have worked this time, but certainly won’t be a reliable method anymore.

Still, everything else went entirely to plan and, just as planned, Twilight has her Castle standing proudly on the edge of Ponyville. Though, there was also something else discovered that Markus didn’t know about just yet…

He was yet again sitting in his room, this time experimenting with his new abilities, when Luna barged in yet again.

“Markus, we bring absolutely TERRIFIC news!” She cheered, holding what looked like a letter from Twilight.

“A friendship report? Oh, but I know about her Castle already, Luna. After all, I’ve seen it grow out of the ground.” Markus explained.

“Yes, I do know that, but there is something else written in here that may interest you very much. How about you just read this passage here?” Luna held the letter out to him and Markus started to read.

“Seems like a normal friendship report to me, I don’t… know…” His eyes went wide for a moment, but he quickly gathered himself again. He grabbed the letter in both hands and read the same passage over and over again.

Luna was a bit worried about his reaction, or rather the lack of one. She was looking at Markus with definite worry written on her face. “Markus, what is it? Aren’t you happy about their pregnancy?”

Markus looked over at Luna for a moment, before forcing a cheerful smile. “Oh, yes, of course I am. I am just a bit overwhelmed, that’s all.” He chuckled.

Luna seemed satisfied with that answer, though. “Oh, of course. In that case, I shall leave you alone for a moment, to collect your thoughts.”

As soon as Luna shut the door, Markus finally let his façade drop. He dropped to his knees, having to support himself with his arms in front of him to not topple over.

Twilight’s letter said that he was definitely the father. Though, he had only done it with them once, back before the war. That meant that they had to have been pregnant since then, which in turn also meant…

“I have not only endangered their lives, but also the lives of our unborn foals…”

It has always been one of his principles that children, no matter which kind, had to be protected by any means. Yet, here he was, endangering his very own children in an attempt to make Twilight and Rainbow stronger.

His principles had been hurt, worst of all by himself, causing him to plummet into only the second mental breakdown he had experienced in his entire life. However, what he didn’t notice was that his breakdown caused his inherent magical abilities to finally awaken.

He didn’t notice how his powers became stronger. He didn’t notice the magical surge running through his whole being… and he didn’t notice how his skin, flesh and bones slowly crumbled to dust…

---

Luna came back an hour later, with two cups of coffee floating in her magic. She figured that the way she knew him, Markus would need somepony to talk to after such a grand revelation. For a change, she made her presence known, by knocking on the door first.

“Markus? It’s me, Luna. I’ve brought some coffee for you.”

No response. This wasn’t unusual for him, as he tended to be lost in thought quite a lot. One of the reasons why she normally just barged in without knocking.

This time, though, she was more careful, given the situation. Instead, she scanned the room with her magic, to see what Markus was currently doing… only to find that there were no living beings inside the room.

A pang of worry hit her, so she tentatively pushed the door open and peeked inside. “MarkuuuuuuUUUS?!”

She dropped both cups and reeled back in surprise, as she found that there was a large, black orb of liquefied magic floating close to the ground, surrounded by what seemed to be… ash?

“Luna? Oh, well, uhm…”

The orb flew upwards, now floating slightly higher than Luna’s eye level.

“I, uhm… it is very embarrassing to have you find me kneeling on the ground, you know?” the orb spoke with Markus’s voice, though Luna couldn’t be sure…

“M- Markus? Is that you?” She asked tentatively.

“What? Don’t tell me after just leaving the room you spontaneously don’t recognize me anymore?”

“A-Actually… no, I don’t… Here, take a look at yourself…” As she said that, Luna took the full-size mirror from the corner of the room and floated it beside Markus with her magic. She didn’t know if he was actually looking inside of it, but his reactions at least made it seem like it.

“Hmmm… interesting.” He commented, before the orb suddenly formed itself into a string of black mist, which swirled around for a bit, before it assembled itself into Markus’s human body. He looked himself over from top to bottom, before giving a satisfied smirk and turning to face Luna.

“Luna, I think my life just got quite a lot easier.”

Author's Note:

AAAAAND another chapter done. So, here some basic things before you rant on in the comments: Yes, I know it is quite blockheaded of Markus to not notice that this Equestria isn't the one that he knew, after a literal WAR has taken place. To explain this: He was kinda going insane for a moment there after his true calling was activated without his magic being ready for it. Think of it as a large-scale magic overload.

Comments

[Munro]

i actually dont know what to say abaut this Oo "discord is going to get fat from popcorn, from watching all that chaos"

[Fireeaters]

Nice

[Tale Enjoyed]

Keep up the great work! The recent chapters have been short but that's alright because at least we have them. We know we can trust you to deliver. And do stay at your own pace. It makes it easier for you and it teaches us patience as well as gets us hyped for new content.