Equestria Handyman

Slowly waking up, Mark finds himself in Canterlot general with a cast on his right arm, a series of bandages on his arm, and clinic gown as Milky rests peacefully next to his bed, Fluttershy and Umbral close by on a couch near his bed. Looking out the window he could hear what sounded like cheering as the obvious celebration appeared to keep going despite being late at night judging by the moon.

“Welcome back to the land of the living?” Luna says, appearing in front of him. “We missed you at the party, hero.”

“Hero eh?” He smirks and raises an eyebrow. “Not sure if I could take the whole credit, I was mainly the tank.”

“Please old friend, you don’t need to be so modest, you managed to slay one of Equestria's biggest threats and you did it while he had so much power not even my sister or I could have stopped him even if we wanted.” Luna mentions. “You were out for the last four hours and have a couple of broken ribs as well as a broken arm. I thank the star that was mostly all you suffer after facing such an explosion. Tell me Mark how you manage to overcome the odds?”

“I simply thought like a hunter would, when it comes to a battle it doesn’t matter much who is the strongest, or the fastest, but rather the smartest. If you find a strategy to chip away your opponent you can potentially defeat anyone.”

“As long as you have in hand a convenient pair of gravity manipulating gauntlets?” She adds with a smirk.

“Ok you got me there.” Mark chuckled and petted Milky’s head. “What about them by the way? Did you return them already?”

“We informed Auroros and Midas already and the gems were spread throughout the world in safe locations as we speak. The Queen will be coming tomorrow for her wedding ring, as for Midas…”

“He is not taking his relics without a fight is he?”

“It is mostly a matter of cultural principle, dear Mark. You earned them, the pieces saw you worthy, even if you cheated. He is mainly furious knowing that mind won over brawn for that prize, and wishes to rectify it. But do not fret, their codes prevent him from striking those injured, and is viewed as cowardly. You will not face him until completely healed.”

“At the very least we can take the gems away from them, it’s not right entrusting me with so much power, I don’t want to have that type of responsibility hanging over my shoulders.”

“Why not?” She sits on his bed. “For what you did, you performed spectacularly while confronting that menace, Equestria sure would appreciate greatly your help should another foe like him appear”

“But I still will feel like I stole my supposed prize, if I truly earn them I would like it to be fair and by my actions and not because I was controlled by someone else.”

“I understand, but I only want to tell you, after tonight, no pony will ever doubt your worthiness.”

“Thanks” He nods before thinking about it and remembers the sensation of flight. “Say princess, if I per se would like to keep them, I would only be needing to win a fight? No string attached? I would not become like the king of the minotaurs or something like that?”

“Oh no, you would only earn half their nation” Luna reply

“WHAT?!”

“Kidding, kidding!” The Princess chuckled with a dismissive wave. “Oh dear Mark, please never change.” She cleared her tears “But no, it is a matter of pride, you lose you return the gauntlets and everything is forgiven, you win and Midas will accept that you earned them fair and square. Maybe he would summon you as their champion should an emergency arise but other than that. You would be fine”

“And are you sure there are no strings attached?”

“Nope none what so…what so ever”

“Ah…what was that? What was that pause right there?”

“Oh just the idea of well the champion having the right of choosing a bride or a herd member in your case but that is mostly only for their species. Doesn’t apply to you, and no Holstaur has ever joined a pony herd, so I’m pretty sure that part doesn’t hold water. Besides, it's not like you would be seeking a bride right?”

“Right…but just out of curiosity, if they are in exile…?”

“What?”

“Nothing! Nothing! Just thinking out loud. For now I’m happy all this nightmare is over and we can get it behind us.”

“Indeed, and do not fret for Chrysalis, we contacted king Thorax and as soon as she in condition to be moved would be transferred to a pod for good.”

“She…she would be put in stasis forever?” Mark questions in pity.

“It would be the decent thing to do, Mark, she is still a big risk for the entire world, and sending her to Tartarus would place her right next to her partners in crime.”

Mark thinks it over before coming up with a solution. “What if there is another way?”

“Oh? What do you have in mind?”

“Something out of an experiment.” He suggests with a smirk.

Days later

“He is gonna WHAT?!” Chrysalis asks in horror, as Discord looks besides Princess Luna and King Thorax.

“Be in charge of your reformation program.” Luna repeated. “As an ex-villain himself, Discord is the perfect choice to guide you into bettering yourself, and live a healthy and fulfilled life.”

“We would be more than welcoming you back into the hive if you truly wish to change Que…Ah…I mean Chrysalis.” Thorax mentions.

“We are gonna be roommates!” Discord appears next to her in excitement. “This is gonna be incredible, I never had a roommate before we will comb our hair, talk about boys, have facials.” He lists snapping his fingers as the two appear in pajamas and Discord exchanges their faces, for a second “It will be awesome!”

“Discord this is a reformation program not a sleepover!” Luna reminds him.

“Is there a difference?”

“Discord?”

“Relax, just yanking your tail, and trust me, I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“You are kidding right? You are seriously saying I’m gonna spend the rest of my life living surrounded by literal chaos? This is totally a form of weird, cruel, and unusual torture!” Chrysalis bellows.

“Well if you are against it, we can go with the original plan, OH! Or maybe you could live with Starlight Glimmer!” Thorax suggests “She is also an ex-villain right? Plus it might make things slightly less awkward with you two being mares and all.”

Chrysalis was left quiet at the options before sighing in defeat “May the hive help me, if those are my options…I choose Discord.”

“Yay! I knew you would see things my way!” Discord exclaims in happiness appearing next to her like a snake wrapping around her neck. “And don’t worry I will gladly help you win over dear ol’ Mark?” He whispers catching her off guard before he disappears and reappears next to the royals.

“Do not fear fair rulers. I promise I will take good care of this evil doer, I will hug her, and bathe her, and dress her, and name her George!” He announces before summoning a zipper and literally zip the two back to his dimension.

“He…is joking right?” Thorax asks Luna.

“Honestly King Thorax, I’m not completely sure.” Luna sighs in exhaustion.

“Well, I’m happy to know you really wish to reform our former Queen. To tell the truth, she might have been evil and aggressive but well…she still was kind of our mom.” Thorax confesses in sorrow. “Watching her willing to try, and better herself is something that fills me with happiness, a lot of lings of the hive have been wondering how she would look, if she went through the transformation.

“Well you might have your wish. It was a good friend of ours who vouches for reforming the queen and honestly I would much rather have her as an ally than an enemy.” Luna nods before sighing “I just hope Cadence and Shining Armor will get on board with the idea.”

“I’m sure they will be willing to give it a try, I mean they did with Discord right?”

“Right” Luna nods as the two royals depart the now empty cell.

Soon after that, things became more hectic when dealing with the aftermath of the whole incident, finding any other victim Tirek might had struck and was stranded in the middle of nowhere, issue apologies for stealing ancient relics, establish a convincing story on how the gems that could activate them just simply disappeared as far as the public would know, and determine where to hide it and who kingdom entrust to, and in particular find a place for the Crown of Ambrosia who by far was the most dangerous of the relics and who’s nation it once belonged to, no longer existed. In the end deciding on handing it to Queen Rain Shine considering her years of meditation made her perfect to look after it, and according to Rarity’s words ‘it compliments her mane’. As for the gauntlets of Minos, they were ultimately placed in the royal safe in Canterlot beneath the crystal mines. A security measure, mostly for appearance since according to King Midas, any ‘fool that tried to put them on or steal them, without being deemed worthy would not be able to even lift a finger on them, gems or not.

All of that on top of fending off the press fighting like sharks in bloody water for the details on how Tirek was defeated once and for all and get the scoop first before their competition.

Needless to say the following days in Canterlot were chaotic and a half and by the end of it, the only thing the main six, Mark and his herd wanted to do was lay on their respective beds and end the day.
“And this could had been my daily routine?” Twilight asks in shock. “Mark I could kiss you right now, you sure helped me dodge one huge arrow.”

“I wouldn’t count it a complete victory, Twilight.” He weakly tells as he leans on his seat as everyone was heading back to Ponyville via chariots. “Princess of Friendship and all that? I don’t think the press is ready to let you go just yet.”

“Ha big deal, they just wanted a couple of pictures, I say we give the audience what they want.” Dash mentions in pride.

“I agree with Rainbow darlings, we are just the scoop at the moment.”

“Not sure if we really deserve being the cover image though.” Applejack mentions. “It was Mark who gave the final blow to Tirek.”

To that mention Mark flinches a little. “Yeah…the final blow.”

“Mark, why are you suddenly tense?” Applejack questions with a raised eyebrow.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” He quickly points out.

“Then why are you nervous?”

“Look, can it wait? I’m done answering questions.” He says holding his arms.

“Mark, what is the matter?” Fluttershy asks in concern.

“I…I killed someone Fluttershy, I could have done things differently he was practically inmobile and yet…I’m a murder.” He confesses in shame. “I murder someone and i got a parade for it”

He holds his head. “Hearing so many people reminding me makes me realize what I did, I…I need to process it.”

They all stay quiet as the hype dies down, and understands his point. Fluttershy resorted to simply hugging him trying to calm down. The rest of the trek back was spent in relative silence, and even if he insisted, his herd refused to leave his side, fearing he more than ever needed them with him.