Through Martyr's Eyes

by ShouldNotExist

Sultans of Swing

-Sultans of Swing-

“Lean against the dark,” Marty said calmly, his voice drifted through the haze of Twilight’s inexperienced sight. “Let it hold you, support you. Trust it to reveal what it will in its own time,” he encouraged, gentle in his voice but strong in diction.

Twilight grunted, her face scrunched into intense concentration. She could feel a vein throb in her forehead. Marty let out a sigh. “Stop,” he ordered, and Twilight relaxed explosively. Her eyes opened back to the colorful interior of her library and locked immediately on the exhausted features of Marty’s face. “It’s been two days of constant attempts, Twilight. Don’t you think we should take a break?” he asked.

“It’s only been ten work hours, and no,” Twilight insisted despite the pain in her skull. “I know I can do this, I did it in the street just yesterday!” she yelled, frustration grating further on her headache.

“I think you might be trying too hard,” he suggested.

“Too hard? How can you try too hard to practice?” Twilight was incredulous, had Marty never had an Exam spring up unexpectedly and had to go several nights straight studying?

“This isn’t like … It’s not like regular magic, you don’t force it into working for you. It’s like trying to shove the square brick through the circle hole,” he tried, he gesticulated with his hooves and clapped them together to demonstrate. “It just doesn’t work. Maybe that’s why my master tried to rip out the knowledge we had of other magic types, so she wouldn’t have to deal with bad habits,” he pondered as he returned his hooves to supporting his tired head.

“They are not bad habits!” Twilight protested, Marty flinched at the volume. “I have practiced and mastered over a hundred spell-types! That’s over one hundred spells each -”

“There are over sixty-four to the power of sixty-four spells calculated to be possible within the boundaries of most Harmony Magics, and that’s just an extremely rough estimate,” Marty said with a smack of his hoof on the wooden floor. “You wouldn’t be able to read the name or function of each and every one if you had a million years, Twilight!” he said.

Twilight was struck at the tone in his voice. She’d forgotten how forceful he could be, or just how knowledgeable he was in this subject. “Oh,” she muttered weakly, she fell quite quickly off her soapbox. It was a strange and new experience for her, talking with somepony who wasn’t the Princess who knew much more about magic than she did.

“And absolutely none of them are going to be possible for you if you keep trying to force yourself into Harmony Magic!” he finished bluntly, his point hammered home. “You have to relax,” he said as he calmed himself.

“Alright,” Twilight relented. She paused a moment before she tried again though, a thought had come to her. “How did you do it? The first time that is,” she asked, both interested in knowing his methods as well as him.

He looked surprised at her question, and it showed quite well in his milky eyes. He gave a short hum in thought, obviously caught off guard by her question. “Well, actually I’m not sure,” he said to Twilight’s surprise. “My first experience with it was actually a long time before I ever had a master or realized what it was, I actually got my Mark for it,” he remarked. “I remember what happened though, it was beautiful. I fought and studied and practiced for almost ten years before I ever really saw it again.”

His expression had gone distant, and Twilight got the feeling that if he could he would be staring off into the distance. Twilight didn’t move, she barely dared to breathe. It was incredible how fast Marty could simply go from an unassuming pony in her eyes to somepony who was matured far past their days. There was wisdom somewhere in this colt, whether he chose to use it or not just seemed to be part of his charm.

“Let’s go for a walk!” Marty stood quickly, his magic felt around for his things in waves of silver aura.

Twilight jumped, shocked out of her reverie by Marty’s sudden shift in attitude. “A walk? But we’re practicing!” she protested.

“You can practice after you show me the Everfree,” Marty beamed, his saddlebags strapped themselves over his barrel and his guitar quickly followed. He must have somehow been able to tell she was pouting because he turned to her with a conspiring smile. “Show me the forest, and I’ll show you exactly what happens when you can make a full dive into Harmony Magic,” he offered.

“But the Everfree Forest is dangerous! You could get hurt!” she tried to protest again.

“Two powerful mages should be able to handle themselves in any amount of danger.”

“But you’re blind!”

“You underestimate me, Twilight Sparkle,” he said with a grin as he straightened up.

Twilight sighed in defeat, there was no convincing Marty otherwise it seemed. He wanted a walk through the forest, and he wouldn’t help her with this Harmony Magic unless he got it. “Fine …” Twilight grumbled, she watched him pump a hoof in success. “But only on one condition-” Twilight stood herself and pressed a hoof to his chest forcefully, “- you have to stay right next to me the entire time. The forest is extremely dangerous: Ponies can walk in on the same path and never come out the same path, or never come out at all!”

Marty only grinned wider. “That’s so awesome.”

---

Birds screeched in the distance the gnarled trees soaked up the sound and spat it out in a thousand directions. The air was heavy and thick and it was dark even at midday. The ground was soft and spongy underhoof, made up of cold mud and only held together by the intense amount of vegetation all vying for space. Bugs of innumerable colors and wings and legs flitted about in the air and things slithered in the underbrush.

And Marty was in love with every second of it.

His smile was wide enough to rival any of Pinkie’s, and he swung his head around as if he could actually see the forest around him. He must be able to see some magic in the trees, that was the only explanation that Twilight could come up with that made sense. But what she didn’t understand was where the magic had come from? No one had planted these trees, so how could it have any magic?

She had to tug on his saddlebags often to keep him close, he would surprisingly lock onto something in the trees and attempt to walk after it. The umbrella was soaked with mud and bits of green vegetation, but Marty hardly seemed to need it.

Finally, Twilight came across a clearing that she knew was nearby Zecora’s hut, one that wouldn’t turn out to be a cockatrice nest or turn into a sinkhole. She stopped Marty here, finally frustrated enough to be fuming. “Alright, we’re in the forest, just like you wanted!” she said not unkindly. “Now can we please go back and practice some more?” she pleaded.

To her dismay, Marty chuckled and shook his head. “There’s more to magic than just studying it Twilight,” he laughed as he slipped his saddlebags off. “You have to experience it, drown in it and come back only to want to do it all over again,” he said as he unpacked his guitar.

“Okay, now what are you doing?” Twilight asked in exasperation. “If you play too loudly you’ll attract some sort of predator or something!”

Marty only smiled as he turned to her with his guitar gripped firmly with his magic. “I thought you wanted me to show you what it was like?”

“What what was like?” Twilight asked, thoroughly confused now. All she’d wanted to do was practice today, she’d had it all marked out on her calendar and everything. But Marty was being uncooperative, and there was no way Twilight would be able to make any progress without his help.

“Getting a cutie-mark in Harmony Magic.”

The forest was silent as Twilight realized what Marty was offering her. “You want to tell me how you got your cutie-mark?” she asked, surprised and somewhat flattered. It wasn’t that sharing such a story was uncommon, but it was still considered fairly personal.

“No, show you,” he said, his expression softened as he took a deep breath. “Might want to sit down,” he suggested even as he did so himself. Twilight instantly sat herself on the moist grass; she ignored the water that seeped up into her coat.

Marty’s guitar settled into his lap with practiced ease, and his hooves easily plucked out a melody from the strings. He looked up toward the dark canopy above them with his unseeing eyes and started to sing.

“Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again,” he sang smoothly, the forest drank in his voice just as much as Twilight did. “Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains … within the sound of silence.” His hooves danced subtly across the guitar's neck, the trees offered just enough acoustics to make the sound come alive.

Twilight didn’t notice as the forest darkened around them, she was too locked onto Marty’s words. “In restless dreams I walked alone, Narrow streets of cobblestone ‘Neath the halo of a street lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp.” The temperature dropped considerably, and Twilight could practically picture herself standing on that street. “When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of neon light, that split the night … and touched the sound of silence.”

Marty stood up, guitar in hoof, but whether Twilight noticed or not not even she could tell. He was singing to the forest as much as he was to her. His guitar came to life in his hooves, his magic giving the instrument a virtual amplifier that spread his music throughout the forest. “And in the naked light I saw, ten thousand people, maybe more. People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening. People writing songs that voices never share, And no one dared … disturb the sound of silence!”

“‘Fools,’ said I, 'You do not know, Silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you, Take my arms that I might reach you.’” The forest was dead around him, but Twilight could see it now, there was much more than trees in this forest. “But my words, like silent raindrops fell” -There was magic here, magic so pure and powerful and alive that nopony could really see it because they were too busy looking at their own magic to notice it.- “And echoed in the wells of silence.”

The trees glowed with life, and a million other things with them. All connected but separate at the same time, and all beautifully powerful. These trees were ancient, and with that age came power and magic. It got to a point that she thought she saw the still giants turn and gaze at Marty, the beacon of magic that he was in her eyes, and reach out to touch him.

“And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming and the sign said 'The words of the Prophet are written on the subway walls! And tenement halls … And whispered in the sounds … of silence.'"

---

They stayed in the forest for nearly an hour afterwards, leaned against each others' backs so they could stare at the forest around them. Light danced inside everything, static and dynamic all at once with sigils and patterns Twilight had never seen before. Their eyes might have been closed, but there was no end to what they could see and feel and hear.

"I knew there was a good reason to follow you here," Marty mumbled, Twilight could feel his voice through their backs.

"Huh?" was the most she could reply with, she was too enraptured as she traced the thin, intricate ley lines in one of the trees around the clearing. She kept trying to commit each one to memory, but every time she did something made her move on to the next and forget the notion altogether.

"I've heard stories about places like these," Marty explained. Twilight felt him move his head to 'look' around the clearing with her. "Places that are ... alive with magic. Can't you see it? All this magic in one place, it's a demesne with its own perception, emotions even. Hell, this forest is probably so old that it barely even notices you or me," he said in wonder, Twilight could feel the nervous shivers run up his back at the thought.

They drifted to silence, just to sit and watch the forest through the eyes Harmony Magic had granted them. Twilight was certain now that, whatever this magic actually was, it was too beautiful to be evil.

"You get it now?" It wasn't really a question, Marty already knew the answer before he asked. "Think about it, Twilight; there must be places like this all around the world, powerful and older than any pony could ever be, and you have one in your backyard!" He gave a laugh at that but let it fade away into the hum of the forest. "Listen," he said after a moment more. "Can you hear that? The forest is singing for us."

"Yeah ..." Twilight said, her ears twitched. She could hear a thousand instruments, just on the outside of her hearing, but all of them were in harmony with one another.

"When I first heard it, I thought I was hearing the voices of a thousand angels ... I thought I was going crazy!" Twilight could hear the smile in his voice. "It took me a couple years before I tried to piece out one song or another from it, even longer before I started singing them myself. My master must have recognized it because she took me in instantly, and I learned and unlearned and relearned ..." He trailed off, the joy in his voice had faded until he just stopped talking altogether.

"Marty?" Twilight asked, concern pulled her away from her admiration of the forest.

"I miss when things were that simple," he mumbled. Twilight wouldn't have heard it if not for his back against hers and the strangest feeling coming from the forest around them. "There are two sides to everything, Twilight," he said to her, once again as objective as a teacher to his student. "A yin to the yang, a down to the up, a dark to the light, and an ugly to the beautiful. One - it seems - cannot exist without the other."

Twilight sat up and turned around to look at Marty. He didn't bother to support himself, he just rolled over and laid himself out on the grass. "Watch," he instructed, and instinctually Twilight found the sensations he'd taught her to see. "I ask for only a taste, enough to wet the tongue, Everfree," he whispered into the grass between his hooves. His words were gentle, like he was speaking to a special somepony.

Twilight was enraptured as, all around them the trees and grass and bushes all seemed to turn and look at Marty. She heard the singing of the forest again, this time as a gentle, wordless lullaby. Magic curled through the air, unwove and floated on ethereal currents. The motes of magic coalesced around Marty’s brightly lit shape, caressed him, and wove themselves within his blinding magic. He whispered a thank you and the forest returned to itself.

Twilight released her hold on her sight, it was strange returning to such a clarified picture. It was almost like she'd put on extremely corrective lenses.

"That is Harmony magic," Marty said resolutely. "You ask, and if you are deemed worthy, you receive. But you can also take, and that is just as bad as murder, not just theft." One of his hooves dug into the soft sod beneath him, anger was prevalent on his features. "And like black magic; if a pony takes for the sake of power, it won't fill a hole in them, it will only make it bigger. It's a lot like heroine: they start with a needle, 'just to try' they say, then they have to do more and more until before you know it they're OD-ing just to get even the slightest buzz.

"Or they start hurting ponies," he continued as he rolled onto his side, his back to her. "They become so addicted to having- taking more, that they decide they'll do anything to keep their high. So they start sucking up other ponies' souls," he ranted. Without pause, his hoof pulled his grey mane away from the base of his neck to reveal the gnarled scar hiding there. "And when you realize what they've done to you, and you finally break away, you're left with scars much worse than this one, hiding just out of sight."

"Marty ..." Twilight said, shocked. "Wh- Why are you telling me all this?" she choked out unsure what else would be an appropriate reaction.

"Harmony magic, in and of itself is not and cannot be evil. It shapes itself to the user, but it can't shape the user. Ponies can change though; they can get caught up in their lust for power. And that's when they can start doing bad things with good magic," he explained as he sat up. "You can get really far with this stuff, Twilight, just don't let yourself get lost in it," he warned. His blank eyes turned to her, the slightest glow of magic in them.

"Of course not, Marty," Twilight said and took a seat next to him. She leaned against him reassuringly. "I promise that I will never let that happen to anypony, especially not if I have a chance to stop it," she said, he sighed in relief and returned the embrace.

“That means more to me than you know,” he muttered.

---

"It's perfect."

"It's crazy."

"We could totally do it, Octy!"

"It's a risk we should take: He'll be out in the open, distracted, and nopony will be close enough to interfere. And in the crowds, nopony will notice a few teleport gems going off among all the other flashing lights, or a few ponies going missing."

"But in front of everypony? Is the Mistress approving of such an overt display?"

"She is desperate to get him back, Octy."

"Hah! When Martyr was around, we did all sorts of things that were a lot more overt. The break-in to the world's most secure vault in Trottingham; all the money gone without any magical or physical trace - except for a wrecked bank; the vault, three feet of cold-rolled steel and ten feet under solid stone, busted through from above. He was there."

"Really? The papers said it was some sort of dragon raid!"

"How come I never heard of this, Tei?!"

"Canterlot buried it deep, they didn't want anypony to think they couldn't pin us down once we'd done it. Anyway, I think the mistress will like it. It's showy, dramatic; just her style. But she won't want anypony to know right away, we can get a few of her Changelings to keep everything quiet until we're in the clear if we can keep it low key."

"This is really bad, isn't it?"

"Don't worry, Octy. It’s for a greater purpose."

---

"You can't just use it willy nilly, either," Marty said as he and Twilight made their way back into town. "This magic has to be respected, which means I only want you to use it when I ask you to or if you absolutely need it."

"What would I need it for? What sorts of applications does it have?" Twilight inquired.

"Mostly the revealing of hidden things. Very little can be hidden from it, even though it is possible to an extent. But don't worry, that's a pretty advanced skill, we'll come back to-"

“There he is, 'cuff him."

It only took an instant for the order to be carried out. In a cloud of dust Marty was wrenched to the ground by a wave of greenish magic that quickly bound the other unicorn and capped his horn. He was violently jerked off the ground to hang suspended only a few centimeters up. It was only once Marty’s things had been wrestled away from him that Twilight noticed the small group of Royal Guards that had appeared.

"What's going on?" Twilight attempted to demand, unfortunately it came out as more of a frightened squeak.

"Step aside, ma'am," one of the Guards said simply. The Guard's simple spear lowered between Twilight and Marty to cut her off from him.

"Holy shit! At least let me touch the mother-loving ground!" Marty yelled, a distinct shudder of fear in his voice. The Unicorn Guard lowered him only slightly, apparently considerate enough to allow Marty’s bound hooves to scrape the dirt.

"What's going on?!" Twilight asked again; she managed the demanding part this time and it seemed to get the Guards’ attention.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," a familiar brown Pegasus said as he walked up to her. "Marty is breaking his parole, for the third time I might add!" he shouted in Marty’s direction.

"You're his parole officer too-?"

"That first time was bullshit and you know it, Ironrod!" Marty burst out. "You were fine with it when you found out I was just at Trumpet Cove!"

"You still broke your parole! You left without anypony knowing where you were! I only barely got you out of that one, you ungrateful snot! Now I got no choice! It's out of my hooves!" the large Pegasus yelled, face turned red with anger.

"And now he'll be returning to jail,” an even more familiar voice confirmed.

“Shining?!” Twilight all but screamed at the sight of her brother in armor and holding his own spear. Simply the fact that the Captain of the Guard was involved was enough to make Twilight flinch, not to mention that it was her very displeased looking brother. It could also have been that he looked only a step away from arresting Twilight as well; though for more personal, protective reasons.

“Step away from him, Twily,” the muscular Unicorn stepped forward to take over the grasp on Marty. “We’ll be having a conversation later, for now I have to sort out this guy’s mess-”

“No way! I’ve read my stipulations! I am not going back.” Marty bellowed, perhaps if he had seen the scowl on Captain Shining Armour’s face he might have stopped there but the blind pony went on. “I have to be with a supervisor, magical or otherwise at all times when not at home or with family: Twilight Sparkle told me she was one!” he claimed.

Shining Armour and Ironrod both turned to Twilight, a scowl and a surprised look aimed at her respectfully. “Twily … ?” Shining asked with a tone that read “warning.”

“I … did sort of tell him that,” Twilight admitted. Twilight knew the law, she often found some enjoyment in the study. And while she had not admitted to Marty that she was legally able to determine the effects of black magic and technically to monitor somepony accused of black magic before he had jumped the train with her, she had told him. Now she was caught in situation she truly had no experience with; determining whether to support her brother or her friend.

“Fine, but you still left your assigned perimeter without authorization: I’m taking you in,” Shining said. “And you’re coming with me, Twily,” he growled, a rough hoof grabbed her by the arm and Twilight reluctantly allowed her older brother to drag her away.

“I will demand trial by combat if I have to!” Marty yelled, only the slightest shake of uncertainty in his voice. However, his outburst had its desired effect. Every Guard froze and she could feel Shining’s arm tense at the threat. It only took a moment longer for Twilight to realize the implications of what Marty had just said.

Marty had just called out Shining Armour’s authority in front of the universe.

---

Shining Armour’s small group of Royal Guards had quickly commandeered Ponyville’s police station and its blue walled drunk tank to hold their ‘prisoner’. However, Twilight had been given an arguably more stressful confinement: the sheriff's office with her older brother glaring her down. The blinds were drawn, and the lanterns unlit. The entire room appeared to have been gridded out by the light from outside, every object striped with a line of gentle light.

He hadn’t even said anything yet. They’d arrived and quickly left a silently brooding Marty in the empty drunk tank, and Shining had very simply sat her down in the sheriff's office and sat behind the desk in the big chair; silent. The sheriff's various plaques and baubles appeared as little more than background noise with him there. Twilight knew the tactic: allow the suspect to stew in their own thoughts until they were ready to talk on their own. However it did not detract from its effectiveness.

"You know who he is?" Shining said, more a statement than an answer. However, Twilight saw no other choice than to agree with a nod. Shining gripped the bridge of his muzzle with the frog of his hoof, the clearest sign of emotion Twilight had seen from him since he'd arrived. "Martyr is a criminal, and the only reason he isn't lockedd up in the deepest, darkest dungeon in Canterlot this very instant is because he knows how to abuse the system. For all his preaching, which I'm sure you've heard plenty of by now, he does it for the thrill. He likes to test the limits we put on him," Shining grunted angrily, his hoof moved deliberately and slowly to gesticulate his points. Twilight could see the hard muscles tensed in his arms and neck; he was furious. "And now he's challenging my authority, and to top it all off he's gotten you involved in all of this bullshit!" His hoof slammed onto the sheriff's old desk and Twilight jumped.

"I'm sorry," Twilight muttered. It was a weak apology; made more in hope that it would allay her brother's anger than it would actually fix anything. "But I am a trained black magic defense practitioner, and if what he was saying was true then he really was-"

"Do not defend him, Twilight!" Shining snapped. "We have documented proof that he has broken the agreements of his parole on multiple occasions, but nopony has bothered to recognize the danger that he presents to everypony around him. That ends here!" he barked.

"As far as I can tell he's done nothing wrong! Everypony makes mistakes. Besides, what kind of danger can a guitar playing, blind pony present?" Twilight rebutted. She fumed silently inside, her anger on a slow heat. To her, it appeared as if Shining Armour had determined she was to blame for any action Marty might have made.

"He's killed ponies with magic, Twilight!" Shining Armour all but screamed. The room was deafeningly silent in the moment that followed as Shining's words sunk in. "Six. On purpose; he admitted it in court. He admitted he would do it again, and more, 'if he had to'. He only got away on a plea of black magic induced madness," Shining explained. He sank back in the sheriff's big armchair. He appeared exhausted and frustrated, suddenly as upset with himself as he was with Twilight.

"I- I hadn't realized that ..." Twilight muttered, unsure how she was supposed to react in the vacuum that had been left by that revelation.

"Of course you hadn't," Shining said, his voice back to the gentle tones that she was used to. "You're such an innocent soul, Twilight. You haven't really gotten to see how bad some ponies are, and I envy you for that. But you have to realize that this pony is probably using you; to what end, I don't know," Shining said. He leaned forward in the chair, his elbows rested on the old wood desk and he leaned over it to look Twilight in the eyes. "But I guess we'll find out if he's right in a few hours. Won't we?" he said with finality that made Twilight’s heart hurt horribly.

Shining would duel with Marty by the time the sun and the moon began their trade of the heavens: sunset.

Author's Note:

Hey! Look: I'm not dead! It's a bloody miracle!

I won't go into the speal about how irl has gotten in the way of my writing time, or how inspiration and motivation is becoming hard to muster.

However I do think I'll just throw down the fact that a duel, for unicorns in this case, is actually a really big deal. Less civil and almost entirely unseen in their modern culture, but still a valid part of law because of the magic that is involved in it. Everything's gonna be explained in the next chapter, though that might be awhile from now.

Feel free to tell me whatever you think, I read every comment.

Comments

[-Brutus]

This chapter is amazing; definitely big hit that I didn't see coming with those guards and Shining Armor and Iron showing up arresting him for violating the parole and reveals that Marty is indeed one of those magic users.

And he have killed ponies before but as you have showed so far in this story that he have changed- to what extent I don't know yet. He actually outright warned Twilight about the dangers of magicks that she's trying to learn about.

I look forward to that duel between Shining Armor and Marty.

(update sooner :D)

-Morfonious