Rebirth of the Damned

by Borsuq

First published 8th of October, 2012

Months after his death, Arthas Menethil, long known as the Lich King, is given another chance. In a world populated by talking ponies, of all places.

His evil was legend. He was an entity of incalculable power and unparalled malice - his icy soul utterly consumed by his plans to destroy all of life, until he was stopped and defeated. But what if that wasn't the end? What if he was given a second chance, in another world? For he was not always like this. Nobody is born evil. But anyone can turn evil. Will he become a hero? Or is he doomed to repeat his mistakes and walk the same path as before, the Path of the Damned?

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Edited by Zaleros, TimePrincess
Proof-read by: Bazing, Sage Probo, guardianxela
Former edit: Lazygamer313
Former last check-up (starting from chapter 139): Dubz
Chapters 132-133 proofread: Sixkiller5, DarkZonker, SmurfOnSteroids, Bast, Shadowfire, Wraithguard, Bazing, Sage Probo, guardianxela
Former proof-readers: Vrilix, Defias, Merchent343, TexPony
Fan Fiction Read on youtube by lunarassassin

Epub with styles (italics, bold): http://www.mediafire.com/file/l7flswrrl68do0y/rebirth-of-the-damned.epub, created by Halusm

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
1. This is my first fanfiction, so honest criticism is appreciated.
2. This is a crossover with Warcraft universe.
3. English is my second language, so you will have to forgive me for possible grammar mistakes.
4. Hope you like it.
5. There is a prequel called: Project Eclipse.

1. Awakening

He awoke.

Immediately, he realized that something was amiss. In fact, the entire situation before him was all wrong.

For one thing, he was alive. That much was impossible; he clearly remembered dying... as well as a few things that happened afterwards.

“Did someone... bring me back?” he wondered, but he quickly brushed off that idea. There wasn't anyone left that would want him back. “Not even her.” he lamented, and the very thought hurt him more than pain of death.

The second thing that was wrong, was noticed by him when he first opened his eyes. He was surrounded by a dark, shaded forest. And by dark, he meant REALLY dark. Not by only the lack of sunlight, but also... the seeming wrongness of this place. As if this forest, and whatever might be in it, didn't belong here. It made HIS blood run cold, and that's saying something!

As the impact of that internal assessment hit him, he noticed something else was very wrong.

He put his hand upon his chest.

...ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump…

“I have a... heart...?”

That was even more absurd than the fact that he was even alive. Not only because he personally cut out his own beating heart, but the fact that it was physically destroyed before his own eyes, mere months before his defeat, and death. He shivered, as he remembered the sheer pain he felt that day.

He looked down, towards his chest. There were two huge scars; one stretched across his rib cage as a painful reminder of a wound that was so deep, it had actually grazed his then-living heart. That near-death blow had prompted him to physically cut it out of himself in the first place. The second one...was from the weapon strike that had ended him, delivered by the runeblade created as a sister blade and direct counter to his Frostmourne; Shadowmourne. And the former was shattered.

“Why am I alive...?” he wondered again, staring at his scars. After a moment, he noticed that where there weren't scars, there was a coat of fur; A white-colored fur coat.

“Did somebody turn me into one of those mongrels when I wasn't looking?!” he thought angrily, as he started to panic, only to notice that whatever had happened to him, was far more disturbing, insane, odd, and possibly idiotic than anything he knew of. The realization hit him hard, as soon as he shifted his gaze towards what was originally one of his hands.

“What...? By all that is holy, is this...a hoof, instead of my hand?!” he uttered to no one in particular, speaking for the first time since he had first woken up.

He stared at it in disbelief for what felt like hours to him, until he finally broke his stupor, and tried to get up. Only to struggle without result. Bending his head, he gave himself a good look at his body. As he had suspected, he had been turned into a horse. A small, white horse.

“Is this some bizarre version of… hell...?” he muttered to himself, while attempting to stand up again, and succeeding the second time. “If it is some sort of hell, then I don't understand it. I mean, it's unusual, but I've always liked horses...” Memories of his late beloved steed washed over him, but he promptly shook them off. Now was not the time to lament what he had done to him. “It doesn't feel like that much of a punishment... Wait a second… am I… talking?? How the bloody hell I can be a horse, and still talk?!” he exclaimed, using one of his old mentor's favorite verbal curses.

As he tried to figure out how he would walk on four legs (which was surprisingly difficult), he noticed a small pond nearby. Deciding that he would take a good look at himself, he carefully, and awkwardly, walked towards it.

The face that returned his gaze from the surface of the pond was both odd and...disturbingly familiar. It had obvious horse features, but they appeared to be toned down to humanoid facial standards, if the dumbfounded expression it wore was any indication. However, what struck him the hardest was the color of his hair (“Er… mane” he mentally corrected himself), as well as his tail, which he hadn't noticed earlier. They both wore the same golden color that his hair used to have.

“Indeed, 'used to have'… before all of the unspeakable things I did back then...”

He peered sadly into his sea-colored eyes (which, he noted, were ridiculously large), as they were reflected in this small pond, and pondered out loud:

“What am I? Who am I?”

Three loud shrieks pierced his thoughts from somewhere nearby, as though to answer his pondering questions.

Instantly, he stood up. Some people were in trouble, and that was the only thing that was clear to him, so far; he could sort out his identity problems later. And with that set in his mind, he started to run towards the direction of those screams...only to fall on his face.

Frustrated, he stood up once again, but this time, he focused himself. He closed his eyes, and tried to recall how his dear steed had moved, how he ran, how he jumped…

“Bah! There's no time for this!” he suddenly scolded to himself. Having thought this through, he started running once more (or, galloping, rather), with far more success this time. Feeling a small amount of relief after this small personal victory, he tried to focus towards the direction of the screams, and they were heard once more.

He quickened his pace in response.

If it weren't for the fact that this entire situation didn't make any sense to him to begin with, he would have believed that he was seeing things.

In front of him was a clearing in the forest, where three little horses were screaming for help. They were surrounded by wild creatures, which appeared to be something out of some lumberjack's twisted nightmare; a pack of wolves...that appeared as though they were made out of wood.

This image before him was so unbelievable, that he nearly stopped. But, he somehow managed to get a hold of his uncontrolled chain of thoughts, and quickly charged towards the unusual wolves.

When he slammed his body against the closest wolf, he noticed that they didn't just look as if though they were made of wood, they felt like they were made of wood. Nonetheless, he struck the wolf with enough force to hurl its body right into the wolf next to it.

With two of the pack out of the way (at least for the moment), he stood protectively in front of the little ones and called out towards them: “Stay close to me!”, after which he returned his attention to the wolves.

There were five of them, including the two that were already getting back up off the ground. They appeared to have been staggered by his sudden attack, but were quickly recovering their original intent. Already, they began to encircle around their prey, attempting to surround them again.

Not that he planned to ever give them a chance to do that. He quickly leaped next to the closest wolf, whirled around, and kicked it forcefully with his hind legs. Judging from the painful-sounding whimper that the wood-like creature produced, it was apparently quite effective, even with its hard outer skin. Wasting no time to glance at it, he dashed back next to the little ones, and headbutted the wolf that was attempting to bite them, perhaps thinking that it would have time for such a bold move. The creature was proven painfully wrong.

He quickly turned around in time to see another wolf leaping towards him, with teeth bared. This time, he stepped to one side, dodging it, then back-hoofing it at the back of its skull. He made a mental note to himself that it was probably a good thing that he had hooves right now – had he tried something like this against a creature like this just bare hands, he was fairly certain he would have broken a few bones in it, and the wolf would probably have barely felt it. For now, it awkwardly stumbled away; seemingly dazed and dizzy from the harsh impact strike against its head.

He looked towards the wolves. There were two left that hadn't attacked him yet. Among them was the wolf he had charged into at the beginning, or at least he thought so; he couldn't really tell, either way. Besides them, the only wolf still present was the one he rammed with his head.

He stomped one hoof forward, harshly. If it had just been him, then he had little doubt that he could defeat them, even with this weird body he found himself in. But with the little ones behind him, he preferred to not take his chances.

“GET LOST!” he shouted harshly and angrily at them, trying to intimidate them.

The display appeared to work, at first. The two wolves that he had already hit started to back away in evident fear; they were clearly not terribly keen on being injured by a capable combatant again. However, the largest wolf, which had kept itself towards the back of the pack when they had attacked, now stepped forward.

He frowned with annoyance. Guessing by how much larger this one was, along with the fact that it had waited for the rest of the pack to create an opening for an easier killing blow towards the stronger individual – him – must have meant this was the alpha member of this pack. This did not bode so well for him. For one, it probably wouldn't be so quick to show weakness to its pack by surrendering to its apparent prey, so it wouldn't be simple to intimidate. And two, noting the scars that stretched across its muzzle and body, it was probable that this wolf was a veteran among its kind, and familiar with situations where the prey fought back. The one good thing amidst it all, was that it appeared to have focused solely on him (for obvious reasons), so the little ones were probably out of harm's way for the moment.

Uttering a silent prayer for the safety of the little ones (not for himself, for he very well knew that he deserved a fate far worse than death, even now), he focused his gaze upon the alpha wolf. It was pacing slowly, while attempting to approach from his left side. The without further warning, the alpha suddenly pounced at him. Having anticipated that much, he quickly pressed his body closer to the ground, intending to hopefully cause the alpha to overshoot its target, while preparing to strike his skull with his hind legs as it flew over in midair.

But he didn't get the chance to do the last part…

Instantly, the alpha wolf grasped at his neck with all four of its paws, halting its flight. Without even missing a beat, the alpha instantly landed on the ground, then immediately followed it up by harshly kicking the pony head-first into one of the many trees with its hind paws.

"Since when can wolves do something like that?” he briefly wondered in shocked astonishment, before impacting against the tree.

Attempting to stand, the force of the impact had left him dazed. He nearly collapsed towards the ground, when he heard the three voices of the little ones call out simultaneously:

“Look out!”

He managed to react just barely in time to throw his front hooves between the open jaws of the alpha wolf.

Seeing sharp teeth so close to his throat – and once again being thankful for the hard hooves he currently had instead of soft hands – he curled his hind legs, and (desperately hoping that the creature on top of him of him was a male) kicked into it with all his might, aiming at one spot that he was pretty certain wouldn't have as durable skin.

The contrasting screech of pain that the wolf produced was loud enough startle everything in the forest. Taking advantage of the overwhelming pain the wolf was immobilized by, he quickly dashed away, and grabbed a tree branch that had likely broken off from his previous impact with his teeth. He then swung it with as much speed and force that one could muster after fighting in many battles, and the strike made contact with the alpha wolf's forehead, just as the alpha wolf had finished recovering itself and had attempted to turn its head towards him. He finished by using the momentum to whirl himself around again, and kicked him hard, again in the head. The force of the impact hurled the alpha wolf some distance away from its former quarry.

He glanced around to be sure that the young ones were safe, and ensure that the wolves hadn't gotten any bold ideas while he was dealing with their apparent leader. The kids were staring at him with wide eyes, but otherwise appeared to be unharmed. The remaining wolves, on the other hand, (“Or other hoof” he mused) were visibly terrified, and were fearfully backing away.

He turned his attention back towards the alpha wolf, which was attempting to stand up, while trembling. He then noticed that a few of its teeth had been scattered on the grass. Just like before, he harshly stomped his hoof on the ground and shouted, attempting to be as loud and forceful as possible:

“I will not say this again; GET LOST!!”

This time, the message got through. The alpha wolf, having recovered to its feet, quickly turned away and hastily scurried off, with its tail between its legs. The rest of its pack quickly followed the example.

“That. Was. Awesome!!!” erupted three voices behind him, which was followed by two similar cheers.

He smiled, briefly. How long had it been since he had heard someone proclaim such things about him? He turned around, amused that he wasn't even surprised at this point that they could talk.

“I guess nothing can surprise me now.”

He would regret making that thought the moment it concluded in his mind. Now that he was able to get a good look at the three fillies (not knowing how the hell he could know they were girl-horses), he noticed that the orange one with purple mane had wings, and the gray one with pink-purple mane had a horn. The only 'normal' one out of the three was the light yellow one with red mane with a pink bow.

“...This is going to be a long day.” he mused wearily, feeling quite dizzy.

“I'm glad that you think so.” he said aloud to the three fillies. “Are any of you hurt?”

“No, mister, and its all thanks t'ya!” said the yellow one.

“You're, like, the greatest hero ever!” added the gray one with the horn.

“Hey!” snapped the orange one with wings “The greatest hero ever is Rainbow Dash, remember?”

“Well sure, Rainbow Dash is awesome. But, take a look at his scars! Don't they make him look just like a hero?”

“Okay fine. But, Rainbow Dash...”

“Putting aside the heroism of this 'Rainbow Dash',” he started, interjecting before they had a chance to start arguing. While at the same time, wondering:

“What kind of name is ‘Rainbow Dash’, anyways?”

“Do the three of you mind explaining to me; just what are you all doing in a place like this?” he finished, with a stern expression on his face.

The three fillies looked at each other, with a guilty look in their eyes.

“We were gonna visit Zecora...”

“... to see if she could teach us her native language...”

“... and then we... kinda got lost.”

“Why am I not surprised by the last one...?”

“Ah, well...” he said, dropping the stern expression, “I suppose I'll leave the scolding to your families. And I can't really hold against you the fact that you're lost, since I am as well.”

“Really? How did'ya get lost, mister?”

“Long story. Maybe I'll tell you about it some other time. But for now, we should get out of this forest. Let’s try that way.” he added, while pointing with one hoof.

“How do you know Ponyville is that way?” asked the filly with wings.

He was about to snort a laugh on that name, until he remembered that his own hometown's name really wasn't any more original, either. Instead, he chuckled in his thoughts:

“So we are ponies, then? Damn...I liked it better when I was a horse!”

“I don't.” he answered, truthfully. “But the wolves went in the opposite direction.”

It seemed to sound like a good enough reason for the fillies, since all at once, they started walking in the direction he had suggested. When he was certain that they weren't watching him, he pressed a hoof to the back of his head, and then stared at it.

There was fresh blood on it.

“Well, damn. No wonder I'm feeling so dizzy...” he thought to himself, and briefly wondering if he could do something about it, only to notice that there wasn't anything there he could use as a bandage. “I could have healed a wound like this in the blink of an eye, at one point.” he thought, and also realized “Hell, back then, I wouldn't have even been injured that easily.”

He shook the thoughts from his mind, and continued to walk with the fillies at his sides. Right now, his top priority was to get them out of this forest. After that, he could bleed out until he died again, for all that he cared. Although, he would probably pass out first, due to the concussion.

“Why did you want this 'Zecora' to teach you her language?” he asked out of curiosity after few moments, trying to distract himself (and them) from this whole situation. “Seems unnecessary for kids your age to try and learn a second language.”

“We thought that maybe our special talent would turn out to be language learning, or something.” explained the one with a horn, as her head was hanging down

“Yea, we could get a 'language learning' cutie mark!” proclaimed the one pony with a pink bowtie on her head, as she agreed with her friend that had a horn.

“What’s a 'cutie mark'?”

He already knew that he had said something weird the moment he finished that sentence. All three fillies had turned their heads towards him simultaneously, and were looking at him with wide-eyes and gaping jaws, and a shared expression of disbelief.

“Err, sir, are you jokin'...?”

“No, why?”

“HOW CAN ANYPONY NOT KNOW WHAT A CUTIE MARK IS!?!?” the three fillies all shouted in painfully loud unison.

“First off, not so loud,” he said, massaging his aching head (the shouting wasn't helping that, either), “and second...”

“Look girls, he has a blank flank!” exclaimed the one with wings that had crept closer to him.

“Does she mean that I'm naked...?” he wondered briefly, just realizing that only now.

“What!? How can a pony be this old and not have a cutie mark!?!”

“Oh my stars, does this mean we could be blank flanks...forever!?!”

“Hey, is that a road?” he started, briefly regretting that he was trying to distract them, only to suddenly notice that he actually was pointing at a road of sorts.

“Huh, would you look at that...”
“You're right, mister. That’s the main path of the forest... oh! I can see the entrance from here!”

“We're saved!”

“Good.” he replied wearily, feeling even dizzier from all of their shouting earlier. “Do the three of you think you could...”

“Apple Bloom!!!” some voice from ahead exclaimed, both relieved, overjoyed, and upset.

“Uh oh...” the one with the bow quietly whimpered.

“Seems like someone is in a bit of trouble.” he guessed, amused. While the filly was probably uncomfortable that somebody had found them, he for one, was relieved; for some time now, he was keeping himself conscious and standing with only sheer willpower. Now, he could finally let go, and collapse…

*Thump*

The darkness… closed around him… once more...

2. Name

As soon as he opened his eyes, he wished he hadn't.

“No... Not here! Not again!”

He knew the Great Hall he was in very well. He looked at the all too familiar fireplace, tall enough for a man to stand in, that was filled with thick burning logs. Over the ornately decorated mantel, carved with images of fantastical creatures, the giant antler of a shoveltusk was mounted. Carved dragon heads served as sconces, holding torches with flames burning bright. Heavy beams supported the feast hall that could have housed dozens, the warm orange hue of the fires chasing away the shadows to hide on the corners. The cold stone of the floor was softened and warmed by thick pelts of polar bears, shoveltusk, and other creatures.

A table, long and heavy and carved, occupied most of the space in the room. It could have hosted three dozen easily. But now, besides him, only two others sat at it, and they were both known to him. One was old and green-skinned, with a white skull painted at his face; while the other, sitting in place of honor at the table, looked like a flame that was shaped into humanoid form and enclosed in pieces of plate armor.

“So you are awake, at last.” said the burned man.

“Bolvar Fordragon?” he asked, confused. For a moment there, he feared that what happened in past few months was nothing but another dream, but in those dreams never had this person appeared. “What are you doing here? What am I doing here?! Shouldn't I be dead?”

“Hmph.” snorted the old orc.

He paid him no heed. Once, the orc had been a shaman, able to direct vast powers of the elements, but all that remained of that time was his gift of visions.

“There must always be a Lich King.” said Bolvar, looking at him with quite literally burning eyes. “Without the master's command, the Scourge would have shred Azeroth to pieces. I am now The Jailer of the Damned, Arthas Menethil.”

Arthas winced at the sound of his name as if the man had hit him.

“As for why you are here, a piece of you have been left inside here since you died and I donned the Helm of Domination, along with Ner'zhul's soul. Although opposite to him, those shreds of your soul had no form until a few hours ago, interesting appearance by the way.”

Arthas looked at himself at noticed that he still bore the shape of a pony.

“Few hours ago...” he said, trying to understand what was happening. “... I woke up in this body, alive and in weird world, whose inhabitants look like this.”

“We know.” rasped Ner'zhul, looking at Arthas with hatred. “We've seen and heard everything that happened to you there.”

“You know, if anyone should be unhappy about being in the same room with somebody, it should be either me or Bolvar.” Arthas replied, offended by his tone. While he may have walked his path willingly, it was Ner'zhul who set the path.

“Both of you be quiet.” warned silently Bolvar. “It would appear that we are stuck with each other, so get over it.”

“You could always just kill him, that’s what I did.”

“I don't have a magical blade on me. And besides, as much as annoying Ner'zhul is, it's better to have some company, rather than sit on the Frozen Throne alone. It’s bad enough that I have to keep the Scourge in check, I don't need to go insane out of loneliness.”

“So...” Arthas said after few moments of silence, wanting to go back to his problem. “... have I died again?”

“No, you just passed out. You're not really here, we're talking through the bond we all share thanks to the pieces of your soul left here. I suppose you should wake up back in that weird world soon.”

“But why am I there?” asked Arthas, not understanding that. “Why am I alive? I remember that I was among the dead, in the darkness. And why am I brought back to life as a talking pony?!”

“How would any of us know that?” snorted Ner'zhul. “Even my visions haven't showed me that.”

“Your vision haven't showed you me impaling you on the Frostmourne, either, so I don't think they are that reliable.” answered Arthas, annoyed. “There must be a reason for this!”

“There probably is.” said Bolvar, silencing the orc before he had a chance to reply. “But it is up to you to figure out who did this and why.”

At that moment, Arthas vision became blurry. He felt as if something was pulling him somewhere.

“It would appear that you are waking up at your side.” told him Bolvar, noticing his behavior. “We will talk again, Arthas.”

Arthas stirred as he woke up.

“I think I'm starting to get used to this.” he thought, half annoyed, opening eyes.

Hovering above him was a pink head.

“Well, clearly I was wrong.”

“Oh my gosh, you're awake! The doctor said you'd be fine, but you slept whole day, so I was, like 'What if he doesn't wake up?', but...” the pink pony, that was for some reason standing atop of him, kept spouting words quickly, until she was interrupted.

“Pinkie Pie, get off him!” shouted some voice, after which strange aura enveloped the pink pony and dragged her off. “I'm terribly sorry.” said his rescuer, a lavender pony with indigo-pink-purple mane and horn. “Pinkie Pie sometimes behaves as if...”

“... As if she didn't know the meaning of words 'personal space'?” asked Arthas, more amused than annoyed.

“Well, I was going to say 'as if everypony was her friend and knew how she acted', but I suppose you are correct.” she answered, chuckling.

Arthas looked around. He was in green room (which was an understatement), and was surrounded by six mares and something that looked like a small purple basilisk standing on his hind legs.

“This will be interesting.”

“I hope I don't sound rude, but do you mind telling me why am I surrounded by six ladies and some small lizard-thing? Or, for that matter, where am I?”

They all exchanged glances, before the lavender one answered: “Well, you are in Ponyville Hospital, we are here because you saved three fillies that we know and love, and...”

“And I'm not a lizard, I'm a dragon!” snapped the lizard, apparently offended by his comment.

“This can talk?” thought Arthas, now not sure if he should expect everything, including plants, to talk in this weird world.

“Wait, you are dragon?” asked, to which the purple lizard nodded. “Are you sure? I haven't personally seen a dragon hatchling, but... eh, forget it.” Arthas stopped himself before he said 'I've heard enough from the Cult of the Damned about their experiments in Scholomance and Sindragosa's Fall to know they look different', which most likely wouldn't mean anything to them. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense.” he said instead.

“That’s okay, we're cool. I'm Spike, by the way.”

“I'm Twilight Sparkle” said the lavender one, nodding her head. “And those are...”

“I'm Pinkie, but you already know, because Twilight told you!” shouted the ridiculously pink pony.

“Name's Rainbow Dash, best flier in Equestria.” said the cyan one with a rainbow colored mane and tail, which was flying above the floor.

“I could guess.” thought Arthas, noticing her mane's colors and remembering fillies talking about her.

“Applejack.” said the orange one with blond mane and tail, both tied who was wearing a hat and sounded familiar. “Thank ya for savin mah sister, Apple Bloom.”

“You saved my sister, Sweetie Belle, too.” added a white one with a horn and purple mane and tail which were combed in wavy curls. “You can call me Rarity, or Miss Rarity, if you like.”

“Is she a noble or something?” Arthas thought, noticing slight difference in Rarity's way of speaking in comparison to the other mares.

“And, um.... I'm Fluttershy.” said the one with a light yellow body and a pink mane and tail so silently that Arthas barely heard her.

“So, what’s you're name?” asked Twilight Sparkle, when everybody introduced herself. “Girls said you never got to introduce yourself.”

“My name...” said Arthas, who started to slightly panic. He didn't want anyone here to know his name. Even though this was a different world and they never heard of him and probably never will, he didn't want to say it aloud for in his mind, he wasn't the same man he was the last seven years ago.

So, instead of saying his real name, after a second of hesitation he said a name he knew the best part of him bore for some time.

“My name is Matthias Lehner.”

3. Eyes

"Matthias Lehner?" asked Twilight, puzzled. "That's a weird name for a pony."

"Well, I'm not from around here." said Matthias, not really caring. "It's rather common where I came from."

"Which brings us to our next question: where exactly are you from?"

Matthias wondered is he should tell them that he was from another world, or that he wasn't a pony. That, however, could bring even more uncomfortable questions, so he decided that for now it would be best to be as cryptic as possible.

"Why would you want to know that?" he asked instead.

"Well you're definitely not from Ponyville, and that’s the only town in Equestria that close to the Everfree Forest. And I hope I'm not offending you, but... well..."

"How can you be this old and not have a cutie mark?!" interjeceted Rainbow Dash. "You must be the biggest loser ever."

Matthias facehoofed himself and let out exaspereted noise, remembering similar reaction from the three filies. He didn't have a high opinion of himself, not after everything he has done, but calling him a 'loser' was a bit irritating.

"For the love of Light, can somebody please tell me what the hell is a cutie mark!?" he said, a bit louder than he intended.

"Aaand that's another thing." Twilight said, frowning. "How can you not know what's a cutie mark? That's something everypony knows!"

"Everypony? For Light's sake..."

"I'm from very far away, so things that are normal here are considered rare there." he said, hoping it will be good enough explanation. "I'm willing to bet that there are also few things known to me and not to you or... anypony here."

"Well, at least that's true."

"That's still impossible! How can you be a pony and not know what's a cutie mark?"

"Can you please just explain to me what it is, for Light's sake?"

"Aargh" growled Twilight, irritated. "A cutie mark is a symbol that appears on a pony after he or she discovers his or her's special talent." as to emphasize her words, she moved her body so that Matthias could see her flank, and the star like symbol on it.

For a moment he almost wished that he still had the Helm of Domination on his head, so nopony could see his face as he stared for next few seconds with undoubtedly stupid expression at Twilight cutie mark, until he realized that he was also looking at her ass, which made him uncomfortable enough to snap out of this.

"You're serious?" he asked to be sure. When all of them nodded, he tried to buy himself time to think of some good explanation as to why he didn't know something that apparently was part of this creatures life cycle: "And what, pray tell, is your special talent, Miss Sparkle? Stargazing?"

"No, my cutie mark represents expertise in magic."

"So it's more a metaphorical thing..." Matthias wondered, looking at the other mares: Applejack's cutie mark were three apples, Fluttershy's three butterflies, Rarity's three diamonds, Pinkie Pie's three balloons and Rainbow Dash's was a cloud with thunder in rainbow's colors. "Why more than half of them has three things on their cutie marks?".

"I'm beginning to see why the fact that I didn't know about something like this seemed strange to you." he said slowly. "However, I still stand by my previous explanation: I'm from very far away, where things regarding ponies are... different." Matthias hoped it sounded better than he thought it did. Funny thing was, he was still telling the truth, to some degree at last. "We don't have those cutie marks there, or, in fact, ponies with wings or horns, although we do have legends about them."

He was rewarded with confused looks.

"Where the heck are you from?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Ever heard of Azeroth?" Matthias answered, figuring he could say at least the name of his world.

"Eee, no." she answered , looking at Twilight.

"I haven't heard of that place either!" she practically yelled, surprise at her voice. "Where is this Azeroth of yours? I've read tons of books, but none of them mentioned of such place, with just earth ponies without cutie marks!"

"Her 'special talent' thing is magic, and she 'read tons of books'? I didn't know Light could be so ironic..." Matthias thought, reminded of Jaina.

Before he could answer Twilight's question, the doors opened and a brown pony with horn wearing a white coat walked in.

"Oh good, you're awake. I'm one of this hospital's doctors." he said as he came closer. "Do you mind if I take a look at your head?"

"Not at all." answered Matthias, relieved.

The doctor's horn glowed and bandages on Matthias' head had untied themselves, or at least he thought so, until he noticed strange aura, that had the same color as light around doctor's horn, surrounding them. Remembering that something like this happened to Pinkie when Twilight took her off him, Matthias guessed that this was magic.

"So only ponies with horns can use it?"

When he finished untying Matthias' bandages, the doctor examined his head, which took him mere second.

"It looks like your skin has healed. I must say, though, you must be really tough. From what I've been told, that timberwolf threw you into a tree so hard that many of its branches fell. Not only it didn't crush your skull, but you also managed to stay conscious for a good ten minutes."

"Yes, well, I've been through worse." Matthias muttered.

"I could see that. Mind telling me how those wounds on your chest were treated? They must have been grievous, to leave such scars."

"One was treated by freezing myself for few years, and the other wasn't."

"I don't really remember, I was unconscious both times. Blood loss does that to you." he said, telling the first thing that came to his mind.

"Hmh... Anyway, I don't see any reason to keep you here any longer. We're kind of full, you see, since there are still ponies with the feather flu here. I need you to fill some papers for the hospital. If you could come with me, please..."

Matthias nodded and got up. While he may have never heard of such disease as 'feather flu', as a former paladin he understood their need for more space. He wondered how serious it must be, so that priests or paladins couldn't have simply healed them, until he realized that maybe ponies don't have either of them.

As he rose from the bed he was lying on, he realized he had some kind of gown on himself, which he took off, since, apparently everypony was walking naked around. Some of the mares gasped when they saw his scars.

"I'll see you later, ladies, Spike. Light be with you." he said for a goodbye, bowing his head, and followed the doctor.

As doctor led him to his office, Matthias discreetly looked at his cutie mark, which appeared to be some sort of gnomish device. Not really sure what was that suppose to represent, he hastened his pace, until he stood in doctor's room.

"Ah, here it is." said doctor, levitating some sheets of paper and a quill. "Name?"

"Matthias Lehner"

Doctor's brow rose, but all he said was: "With two 't'?", to which Matthias nodded.

"Place of residence?"

"Hmm... homeless, I guess?" answered Matthias.

This time doctor made a comment: "You 'guess'?"

"Well, I have no place to sleep, if this is what you meant. Speaking of, do you know of any place they let you live in in return for work?"

"Not at the moment. Maybe one of those ladies would let you stay at her house? They seemed to be grateful to you for saving those fillies, and they are quite friendly."

"Maybe" Matthias replied, not really expecting anyone, or rather, anypony, to be friendly or grateful enough to let a complete stranger live in their house.

"So, what did you think of him?" Twilight asked the other girls as they left the hospital.

"Ah'don know, Twi." said Applejack, her expression puzzled. "Ah mean, am thankful he saved mah sister and all, but... he seems strange."

"Yeah, no kidding!" added Rainbow Dash. "I mean: place where ponies don't have cutie marks and there aren't any pegasi or unicorns?! Does he think we're stupid?! He's hiding something, Twilight."

"Oh, I wouldn't have said so." interrupted Rarity. "Personally, I found him quite charming. I could tell by his behaviour that he's clearly a sophisticated pony. Well, aside for cursing few times, but he was probably under a lot of stress."

"Ye, Dashie, give him a chance." said Pinkie, hopping up and down as they walked."I'm sure we're all gonna have a lot of fun at his welcome party. There're will be music, balloons, food and big sing that will say: 'WELCOME TO PONYVILLE, ATIAS MENER'. Wait... how do you write Matthias Lehner?"

Everypony else rolled their eyes. To Pinkie Pie, only few things mattered.

"And what was this 'light' thing he kept saying about?" wondered Spike. "'Light be with you', what is he, afraid of dark or something?"

"I'm sure this is some custom from where he's from." said Twilight, shooting her assistant a glance. "I'll write a letter to the princess about this 'Azeroth', as well as about Matthias. In the meantime, I think it would be best if he stayed at my place..."

She was interrupted by both Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

"Are ya crazy?!"

"He beat five timberwolves in a matter of seconds!"

"I know, and that is why he should stay with me; if he tries something, I can easily stop him with magic. And besides, I want to hear more about the place he's from, anyway."

"Are you sure, sugahcube? Ah don't know if this is good idea."

"Oh, Applejack, you're fretting over nothing, I'm sure Matthias is a real gentlecolt." said Rarity with a dismissive tone.

"And beside, I'll be there." added Spike with cocky attitude. "Even if he would try to do something bad, he can't beat a dragon."

Ponies again rolled eyes.

"Hey Fluttershy, what do you think of Matthias?" asked Twilight, noticing that their timid friend haven't said a word.

"I, well..." said the shy pony, looking at the ground. "I think he's scary."

"You think everything is scary, Fluttershy." replied Rainbow Dash.

"I know that those scars he had looked scary, Fluttershy," said Twilight; she herself was afraid to think what kind of creature left such wounds on somepony able to beat five timberwolves with relative ease. "but if he often finds himself in such situation as yesterday's, it's not really a surprise he was wounded, right?"

"Um, its not that." answered Fluttershy, shaking her head. "I was scared of... his eyes." she added in a whisper.

"His eyes? Why?" asked Twilight.

"They... were empty."

4. Mists of Equestria

After ten minutes of answering the doctor's questions and over five of putting down his signature, which was embarrassing, Matthias was finally free to leave the hospital. As he walked out by the door, wondering were should he go, he had been surprised by the sight of Twilight Sparkle and Spike waiting for him.

"Hi!" said Twilight, noticing him. "All done?"

"Yes." Matthias nodded. "While I'm pleased to see both of you again, do you mind telling me what are you still doing here?"

"Well... I just thought, that since you don't have anywhere to sleep, you could come to my place."

"Really?" asked Matthias, surprised. "That’s... nice, thanks."

"You're welcome. So, shall we go?"

"Lead the way."

Twilight smiled and started trotting away. Spike run up to her and jumped on her back.

"So," said Twilight to Matthias, not reacting to Spike's behaviour; Matthias guessed it was normal, "could you tell me more about Azeroth?"

"Ah, there it is." thought Matthias, looking around. It was already past nightfall, but only one of the moons was rising. "Or maybe they have only one moon here? Better not ask." The town was preparing for the night, it seemed; he could see ponies leaving places that reminded him of his world's taverns and inns and hurrying to their homes. More than few of them shoot him a curious glance and were more than disturbed by his scars. What struck him as odd was the fact that he couldn't see any fortification around town, no walls or anything. "Is it really that peaceful around here?" Matthias thought. At the same time, however, he noticed a town at the mountineside in a distance, which looked like somebody mixed together Dalaran and Silvermoon.

"Maybe," he said, answering pony's question. "but perhaps you could tell me few things about this place, first?"

"Oh!" said Twilight, as if the thought of him wanting to know where he is didn't occured to her. "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"How about you give me some basics?"

"Okay. This is the town of Ponyville, and this land is called Equestria, ruled by sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from the capital, Canterlot, which you can see over there."

Matthias nodded.

"Princess Celestia also raises the sun, while princess Luna..."

"Wait, wait." interrupted confused Matthias. "What do you mean by 'raises the sun'?"

"Eee... what I said? She raises the sun every morning, and Princess Luna raises the moon."

Matthias shoot her a look of disbelief, but didn't say anything. Either all of these ponies were being fooled by their rulers, or this world was even stranger than he thought.

"Or is it?" he thought, remembering some of vrykul's myths about horses pulling the sun, moons and stars, or about the night elf's moon goddess Elune.

"Never mind. They're good rulers, I take?"

"Of course!" Twilight snapped at once.

"Sorry, didn't mean anything rude." said Matthias, flinching a bit.

"So, can you tell me now about your homeland? And how come nopony ever heard of it?"

"It's... complicated. You see, our land is hidden behind... a magical mist."

"What?"

Arthas stood near the dying wildkin. It was the biggest one of the group; the three smaller ones already died. Arthas mused over an idea of raising their corpses to add them too his army, but rejected this notion; he would deal with his former brothers personally, with only his subjects fighting beside him.

"Mind telling me why you attacked us?" he asked the beast, not really interested. "Most creatures simply run away. Did you liked those trees we've cut so much?"

The wildkin looked at his direction and gasped something. Arthas shook his head. He thought for a moment that these creatures were intelligent, since they used some weird magic to fight them besides their claws and beaks, but apparently, this wasn't the case. They were just some animals.

Arthas came closer to the dying beast, deciding to end its suffering in a rare moment of mercy. He raised Frostmourne and plunged it through the heart of the wildkin. As his runeblade took the soul of the beast, the death knight took a peak in its memories.

His mind was assaulted by a stream of memories and thoughts, of some strange beings and their promise.

"Slay them. None can know about this secret pandaren relaxation area." was the most recent thought in creature's head.

Arthas looked at the corpse for a long moment.

"You weren't just some animals, weren't you?"

"About few thousand years ego, our land was in terrible danger." Matthias said, recalling the memories of the wildkin who was guarding for the pandaren of the Wandering Isle their relaxation area and what they told it about their home as well as about Pandaria. "In orded to save our land, our last emperor created a barrier made of mists that hid Azeroth from the rest of the world."

Twilight looked at him, stunned. When she finally spoke, she did so in a bit unsteady voice:

"How come you are here, then?"

"I'm... not sure." he said, for it was the truth. "All I now is that I woke up in a middle of that forest and almost immediately heard three fillies screaming for help."

"So that’s why you were there." said Twilight, nodding.

"Wait, she actually believes me? What in Light's name is wrong with this world?"

"I'm assuming you would like to find a way for you to return to Azeroth?"

"No, not really."

Again, she looked at him stunned.

"You don't want to return to you home? Why?!"

"Well, mostly because I'm pretty certain that it's impossible. And besides," he added in much sadder tone "I don't really have anything to return to."

Twilight looked at the weird stallion that was walking next to her. She didn't know what to make out of him. He was big and well muscled, probably even more than Big Macintosh, which along with his scars made him appear as some brute, but spoke with eloquence befitting a prince, aside of few moments when he was irritated at something.

And there were also his eyes. Now that Twilight took a good look at them, she could understand what Fluttershy meant.

"There wasn't any emotions behind them. Whenever he has smiled or frowned, it didn't reach his eyes. As if their were obscured by a mist."

5. Books, owls, and hay

"What do you mean by that?" Twilight asked.

"It would take me too long to explain ." Matthias sighed. "Let's just say that this is a story without happy ending. Not for me, at least." He shrugged, as if trying to rid himself of his past. "So, how far is this house of yours?"

"It's actually over here." Twilight said, pointing at huge tree.

"Where, behind this tree?"

"No, this tree is my house. See the door and windows?"

"You... live inside of a tree."

"That’s right."

"First moon goddess/princess, and now house inside of a tree. Night elfs would love this place."

"Looks nice." was all he said.

"Wait until you've seen it from the inside." said Spike, who until now have been quiet for some reason. "I've just finished cleaning it this morning."

"So your Miss Sparkle's... housecleaner?"

"No. I'm her number one assistant."

"Maybe the two of you should continue this discussion inside?" interjected Twilight, opening the door. "It's getting chilly."

Until she mentioned that, Matthias didn't notice it. It was indeed rather cold, which he nearly forgotten how that felt. Since he took that cursed blade he couldn't feel cold, and as a testament to that, he spent later six years sitting quite literally on an iceberg. To feel cold again was... almost pleasant.

"Are you coming in?" asked Twilight, noticing he was still outside.

"Oh, right." he said, shaking his head.

As soon as he was inside, he saw that Twilight really did read 'tons of books'. Her whole house was practically filled with them. Of course, Matthias has seen bigger collections, but those were usually in libraries.

"That's a lot of books."

"Well, this is Ponyville's library." Twilight said, pride in her voice.

"Wait, what?" asked Matthias, sure that he misheard. "Did you just said that this is a library?"

"... Yes?" answered Twilight, not understanding why he reacted like that.

"So you live in a library."

"Yes."

That was too much for Matthias. He dropped on the floor and burst into laughter.

Twilight looked at the weird pony who started laughing for no apparent reason other than her living in a library. She felt offended and a little embarrassed, to her surprise. Twilight shook her head and stood next to Matthias, who was currently lying on his back, still laughing.

"Mind telling me what's so funny?" she asked, looking down on him.

Matthias looked up and Twilight gasped. For the first time she could see something in those sea-colored eyes (which were, as Twilight noticed, blushing, quite beautiful): happiness.

"I didn't mean to offend you, Miss Sparkle." he said in apologetic tone, still chuckling. "You just reminded me of... an old friend."

And as Matthias finished that sentence, all that happiness evaporated. Once again, his eyes were emotionless. Empty.

"You would have liked her." he said, picking himself off the floor. "You are very alike: you both like magic and to read. I once told her she should live in a library, considering how much time she spent studying. I'm sure that if you two ever meet, you will be best friends in an instant."

"Well, I, eee... I hope I'll meet her someday, then." Twilight blurted out, unsettled by those changes in his behaviour. "You know, you can just call me Twilight." she said, trying to be friendlier.

"Well, in that case, you can just call me Matt." he said with a smile which didn't reach his eyes. "It's easier to say than Matthias, anyway."

"Sound like a plan. Speaking of plans, do you want something to eat? I'm can make some dinner for you, I already ate with my friends when we waited at the hospital."

"Considering how long it has been since I last ate, I won't refuse. Thank you."

Matthias looked as Twilight went to what he assumed was a kitchen. She really was a lot like Jaina, but there were plenty of differences, too. Like that she was a pony. But she also was more naive and innocent than her: when he first met Jaina, she already lost her older brother to the Horde. She knew what pain and lost felt like, even before he became...

He shook his head, not wanting to think about this for a moment. He noticed that Spike was still here, although he looked as if he would fall asleep standing up.

"Shouldn't you go to sleep?"

"And leave you alone? I don't think so, buddy." said Spike, straightening up.

"So, you don't trust me?" Matthias said, surprised.

"Well, it's not that I suspect you to do something bad, but I don't know anything about you, right?"

"You are right." he said, pleased that at least this dragon hatchling showed some common sense. "However, if I was going to do something 'bad', as you put it, a dragon that is almost sleeping while standing up wouldn't be able to stop me. I'm sure that if you were at peak form, I would have a problem, though" he added, noticing Spike's expression. "Don't worry, I swear by the Light that I won't do anything 'bad'. Now please, go to sleep, before you fall over and Twilight will think that it was my fault."

"I guess you're right." said Spike, yawning. "Good night"

"Good night." replied Matthias, watching him go. He was so different from his world's dragons; he had no wings, he was walking on two legs... maybe he was a drakonid? He would look into it later.

He looked around at the books. Unlike the library in Dalaran, this one seemed organized; from what he could see, they were put in order on the shelves based on their topic: history books together, philosophical...

Matthias's train of thoughts was interrupted by a sound of wings coming from the opened window. He turned around swiftly and saw an owl sitting on a bird perch. He was about to return to examining the books, when he remembered that so far, the only creatures that didn't talked to him were those timberwolves, and even they were smarter than wolves should be.

"Hi there." he said, coming closer to the owl. "I'm Matthias."

"Who?" asked the owl.

"Matthias Lehner." Matthias replied.

"Who?"

"Eee... I just said, Matthias, didn't I?"

"... Who?"

"Wait a moment. Can you talk, or are you just making some noises?"

"Who?"

"You."

"Who?"

"Oh for Light's sake!" he snapped, losing interest.

"He's not going to reply to you, you know." Twilight said coming into a room, levitating a plate with...

It took every bit of self control out of Matthias to not roll his eyes around.

"A sandwich with hay in it. I really should have seen this one coming, shouldn't I?"

"I assume there is a reason you keep this owl around other than annoying your guests?" he said, trying to stay in the current topic.

"He helps me with my late-night studies, when Spike is sleeping." answered Twilight, chuckling. "His name is Owlowiscious."

"Owle-what?" Matthias thought. "Honestly, I know of Nerubians with easier to pronounce names!"

"Cute name." he lied through his teeth. He decided to change the subject. "This looks really delicious." he said and he meant it. Apparently, becoming a pony automatically switched him into a vegetarian. "Thanks."

"It was nothing." said Twilight, slightly blushing. "I'm a bit tired, so I'm going to hit the hay. Your bed is the one on the first floor in this room." she added, pointing at the room she was going into, same as the one Spike went into earlier.

Matthias nodded and said: "Good night."

"Good night."

Turning his attention back to the sandwich, Matthias thought "How long it's been since last I ate anything? Must have been that morning before Mal'Ganis attacked...", and took a bite.

"Why does it taste so good?!"

6. News from home

Matthias soon finished eating and went to sleep. While his head has healed, it still hurt a bit, and all the weird things he had to deal with since he came to this world were only adding to his migraine. The bed Twilight prepared for him looked comfortable, and surprisingly, normal. He half expected that ponies slept in a piles of hay or something.

It didn't take long for him to fall asleep. However, as soon as he did that, he opened his eyes and found himself again in Bolvar Fordragon's consciousness.

"This Equestria is really weird." the current Lich King commented.

"Tell me about it." replied Arthas, shaking his head. "I can't figure out why was I brought there."

Both Bolvar and Ner'zhul looked as confused as he.

"Logic would dictate that however it had happen, it was for a reason." said Ner'zhul. "Perhaps there is something to be done in this world that only you can do."

"But what could that be?" asked Arthas, no longer caring to be angry at the old orc. "This world appears to be more peaceful than Azeroth would ever be. What could possibly somepony like me do?"

"I see you're adapting to you new life well, despite not knowing what is it that you have to do there." said Bolvar, noticing his choice of words.

"Guess those ponies are rubbing off on me." Arthas replied, facehoofing himself. Suddenly, a thought came to him: "Hey, how long was I dead, anyway? I lost track of time in that... darkness. For a moment I even thought I sensed Sylvanas there."

"Ah yes, Sylvanas. She came before the Frozen Throne few days ago. She didn't seem to be very happy to see me sitting on it, though."

"I imagine she would be even less happy about me living again." muttered Arthas, regret piercing his heart. "What did she do after noticing you?"

"She jumped."

"She what?"

"Jumped. It appeared that with you dead she didn't have any reason to live."

"I'm touched." Arthas said sarcastically, despite how heavy his heart felt at the moment.

"So she was there. I thought it was just a different part of my torment..." he thought, feeling guilty of her death this time as much as of her first.

"However, she appeared to change her mind, if my informations that she's currently planning an attack on Gilneas on behalf of the Horde is true."

Arthas stared at Bolvar, not understanding a word he just heard.

"You said she jumped." he finally said. "While the fall itself probably would not have killed her, there are plenty of saronite spikes at the base of the Citadel. She couldn't have survived! I sensed her in wherever the hell I've been, for Light's sake!"

"Val'kyr." said Bolvar, one word enough for Arthas.

"Dammit." Arthas cursed, understanding at once. The Val'kyr were bound to him; after his death and Bolvar's 'succession', they became bounded to him. Apparently, they weren't happy that they had to lay dormant atop Icecrown Citadel, so they made pact with someone so familiar to them, bringing her back to life. "How many are with her?" he asked, not remembering at the moment how many Val'kyr were left at the time of his death.

"Eight. One of them took her place in that realm."

Arthas shook his head. The thing Sylvanas could do with Val'kyr serving her...

"Why is she attacking Gilneas?" he asked, still not understanding that. "Why is the Horde attacking them? They sit behind their Wall, not integrating with the rest of the Azeroth. The Horde has no reason to attack them."

"They still have no reason." answered Bolvar, his brow furrowing. "However, the Horde is under new management, and this management is convinced that they need a save port in Lordaeron."

"'New management'? Seriously, how long was I dead?"

"About... two or three months."

"Could you tell me what happened during that time?" Arthas pleaded. He needed to know, even if he couldn't do anything for Azeroth.

"Soon after the end of what everyone calls 'War against the Lich King', the world of Azeroth came under attack from the Emerald Nightmare. It has been stopped, however, by Malfurion Stormrage, archdruid of the kaldorei, and few others."

Arthas glanced at Nar'zhul. He has seen it happen, in one of the old orc's visions.

"Since then, both Alliance and Horde agreed to hold a temporary truce so their armies could return from Northrend without unnecessary problems. Problems they still had, however; this world is in great pain, Arthas, and all the elements are acting violently, for some reason. I'm sure that you remember that the Warchief of the Horde, Thrall, is a shaman. He went to the Outland, to seek counsel from shamans who know about violent elements, so that he could figure out what ails Azeroth."

Arthas once again glanced on Ner'zhul, the one responsible for the state that Outland is now. If he had any regrets, he didn't show them.

"Do you know what ails Azeroth?" he asked, not expecting him to answer.

"No." he said, surprising Arthas. "But I can feel the earth's pain, despite not being shaman for many years. And whenever I try to concentrate, I see a vision that you've seen through me once; a huge mass of swirling water, and laughter."

"Helpful." the comment, surprisingly came from Bolvar. "Let's hope Thrall is more successful. Anyway, during his absence, he appointed Garrosh Hellscream as acting warchief."

"Garrosh?" he knew of him, of course. Garrosh Hellscream had been an Overlord of Warsong Offensive, the Horde's army sent to fight the Lich King. From what he know, he hasn't been part of the Horde for long; why did Thrall appointed him...

"Apparently, he earned a great popularity within Horde for his victories in Northrend." said Bolvar.

"Victories? What victories?" asked Arthas, slightly offended. "Hadn't those who slain me told everyone that the whole point of this war was for me to resurrect the most powerful champions of Azeroth as my servants?"

"In case you forgot, there were only Alliance heroes in that group." said Bolvar, amused. "As for Tirion, his Argent Crusade is neutral in Alliance-Horde conflict."

"Oh, whatever."

"However, it might have been better if Thrall knew and chose somebody else, for there appeared to be some disagreement between Garrosh and tauren high chieftain, Cairne Bloodhoof. I don't know all the details, but he challanged Garrosh to a duel, which he lost, because Magatha of the Grimtotem poisoned Garrosh's weapon, and she and her tribe currently occupies Thunder Bluff."

"It might have been better, indeed."

"There are also some tragedies for Alliance, as well. King Magni Bronzebeard also tried to understand what ails Azeroth, using an old ritual that dwarves found out about while exploring Ulduar. It allows whoever performs it to be one with earth. Unfortunately, nobody expected it to be literal, and Magni ended up transformed into stone. To make things even more hectic, his daughter, Moira, returned with her half Dark Iron son and half of Dark Iron dwarves and took the throne of Ironforge."

"Thats... saddening." Arthas said, not happy that even without him Azeroth is still plagued by such disasters.

"Indeed."

All three of them were silent for a long time after that, each of them thinking of what would became of Azeroth. Being practically one being, each knew what visions visited Ner'zhul, but even he, who understood them better, could not explain or predict every thing.

"How do you know all of this, anyway?" Arthas eventually.

Bolvar smiled sadly.

"While you controled the Scourge through more intelligent and powerful servants, leaving them to control the weaker ones, I cannot do that. Those more intelligent and powerful are mostly beyond my control, Val'kyr being prime example of that. So I keep the Scourge in check by controlling those mindless ones. Their are my eyes and ears, whatever they see or hear, I see or hear."

Arthas nodded. This made sense.

"I'm sorry you have to bear such burden." he said, truly meaning it.

"It was taken up by me voluntarily," answered Bolvar. "but I appreciate your words."

Arthas bowed his head and said: "I'd better go back to Equestria, I really need some rest. See you two later."

And with that, he closed his eyes and welcomed the sweet embrace of sleep.

7. Surprise

Twilight stretched as she woke up. Despite putting several wards that were suppose to awaken her if Matt tried to rob her, hurt her or Spike or simply leave the library, she slept without being disturbed the whole night, and now she felt bad about not trusting the strange stallion.

She got up from her bed and looked at Spike's which was empty. Guessing he either was doing some of his chores or went to Rarity's, she headed down to make some breakfast for herself and Matt.

"Good morning." she heard, surprised. Matthias was already awake, lying on her spare bed and reading one of her books. Several others were lying on a small table next to the bed. "I hope you don't mind that I'm reading these - Spike said its okay, but..."

"No no, it's quite alright." she answered quickly. "This is a library, after all. I didn't know you like to read, though."

"Well, it's not that I like it, but I wanted to get to know Equestria." Matthias said pouting, at the same time blinking with one eye, as if to show her he meant it as a joke.

Twilight looked at the titles he picked. 'A millennium of Celestia's rule', 'The land, towns and cities of Equestria', 'Customs and everyday live of ponies', and 'All about dragons', which he was currently reading.

"Dragons from Azeroth are different than Spike" he said, noticing where sha was looking. "I was curious if all dragons here are like him. Unfortunately, this book doesn't have much information in it."

"Yes, ponies know close to nothing when it comes to dragons." Twilight said, a little ashamed. "Dragons tend to keep to themselves, and ponies are too scared to properly study them."

"I guess that's understandable" Matthias chuckled.

"How different are dragons in your homeland?"

"To make it short, they're the most intelligent and ancient race on Azeroth, and they are guardians of it. There are five dragonflights: red, green, blue, bronze and black. Well, there are others beside those, but they are not natural, so I skipped them."

"Not natural? What do you mean by that?" asked Twilight, intrigued.

"Trust me, you don't want to know" he said, not looking at her.

Twilight, even more intrigued now, frowned. She remembered how dragons where in Equestria: selfish, brutal, and greedy. "Well besides Spike, of course." she corrected herself. To think of dragons as guardians of some land...

"How do you know so much about them?" she asked, baffled; she didn't know much about dragons, despite her love for studying and living with a dragon.

"How should I put it... I learned few thing about them during my work." he said, and almost immediately winced on his own words.

Twilight knew better by now and didn't ask what was his work.

"Speaking of dragons, do you know where is Spike?" she asked, hoping to distract him from his thoughts.

"He mentioned something about helping Rarity at her boutique."

"Of course he did." she muttered. "Do you want something for breakfast?"

"Thanks, but Spike already made me something, as well as for you. Quite the helper you've got." he said, smiling.

"Yes, Spike is a great assistant." she answered, feeling pride in young dragon. "Well, I better eat whatever he made me."

And with that she turned to the door, thinking how to get Matthias to be more open; after all, Princess Celestia sent her here to study the magic of friendship. What kind of friend she would be (for she already thought of herself as Matt's friend) if she couldn't help him deal with whatever was plaguing his mind?

So engrossed was she in her thoughts, she didn't pay attention to anything when she entered the main room of her library. Only after few paces did she noticed something was off.

Her jaw dropped.

When Twilight left, Matthias turned his attention back to one of the other books. He wandered how long he could put her off with his half answers.

The more he studied Equestria, the more weird this world seemed to him. The fact that the Princess Celestia was at least a thousand years old wasn't strange to him (after all, there were those in his world much more older than that), but that she banished her own sister to the moon after she was corrupted by dark powers born out of her own bitterness and jealousy amazed him. He thought this world to be peaceful, and its inhabitants innocent. He was impressed by what Celestia did, and could identify himself with Luna, even if what happened to her was more similar to the work of the Old Gods .

He thought back to Stratholme. At the time, he really believed that what he was doing was right. Even now he wasn't sure what would happen if he didn't slaughter everyone there; the number of dead from that city could have been enough to destroy Lordaeron, or maybe they wouldn't. He would never know, but what he knew was this: that day, he did not only killed his subjects, but himself as well.

"Did Princess Celestia feel the same after she banished her sister?" he wondered. He thought about his own sister, Calia, who disappeared during the fall of Lordaeron, and was probably dead. At least Celestia got her sister back; according to the book, which was quite new, being printed barely six months ago, Princess Luna returned from the moon more than year ago, and was purified of her dark self by something called the Elements of Harmony, and now ruled alongside her sister again after a thousand years. "Why don't we have those back on Azeroth?" he smirked at his dark humor.

No less surprising was to him the fact that they had essentially the same celebrations: Azeroth's Love is in the Air for Equestria's Hearts and Hooves Day, Winter Veil and Lunar Festival for Hearth's Warming Eve, Hallow's End for Nightmare Night, Midsummer Fire Festival for Summer Sun Celebration, and apparently, Apple family (which he guessed must be Applejack's family) had something called Applebuck Season, which was more or less same as Harvest Festival, as well as Cider Season for Brewfest. While there were some differences, it was still weird for two worlds to have similar celebrations in in the same time.

Despite Matthias concentration on ponies related subjects, he managed to learn something very useful: what kind of other creatures were intelligent in this world, such as griffons, Diamond Dogs, mules, donkeys, zebras, minotaur, buffalo, cattle, sheep...

"Hey Matt?" his train of thoughts was interrupted by Twilight's voice. "Would you mind coming here for a moment?"

"Sure, no problem." Matthias answered. He could use a break anyway. He never understood how Jaina could read for hours without one.

Wondering what was it that Twilight wanted from him, he opened the door.

"SURPRISE!" greeted him a fairly big crowd of ponies, which were surrounded by balloons and colorful pieces of paper.

His jaw dropped.

8. Detrimentum a do sola ditas

Matthias could only stare wide-eyed at the crowd of ponies and jumping Pinkie Pie among them.

"So, do you like it? Were you surprised? Were you? Were you?" she asked, suddenly appearing next to him.

"'Surprise' is an understatement." he muttered to himself, and to Pinkie said: "What is all of this?"

"Duh, your surprise 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" she shouted with excitement.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that, I..."

"Of course I had to it, silly, I throw them for anypony new in town! So, do you like it?" she asked again.

"Why, yes, of course." answered Matthias immediately, and then he realized something: "Hey, wait a second! Half an hour ago I went to the kitchen to get something to drink. How did you prepare all of this in such short time, without making any noise at that?!"

"With my party cannon." she said innocently, while pulling a big cannon from somewhere behind her and shooting a bunch of balloons and pieces of paper from it.

"That still doesn't explain the lack of noise..."

"Oh, just let it go." interrupted him Twilight, coming closer. "Trying to make sense out of weird things happening around Pinkie Pie is a waste of time."

"What do you mean?" asked Matthias, confused.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." answered Twilight, smiling.

Matthias chuckled, hearing her use his own words against him.

"I guess that’s fair."

"All right!" shouted Pinkie. "It's time to party!"

She ran up to a unicorn pony sitting near some weird contraption and said a few words to her. The pony, who was wearing purple tinted sunglasses for some reason, nodded and used her magic on her machine. Out of nowhere, a music could be heard.

"This world is really weird." Matthias thought, rolling his eyes.

"Did you know about this?" he asked Twilight.

"No, I was just as surprised as you are. Pinkie could have at least asked me before she threw a party here." she answered, but didn't appear to be angry. "Oh well, no sense standing here. Go and enjoy yourself." Twilight said as she trotted away to talk to Spike and Rarity.

Matthias looked resigned around, and made his way to the table with snack on it. Few ponies that walked past him said "Hello.", or something along those lines, but other than that, they were talking between themselves, for which he was grateful.

"Hi mister." said a familiar voice.

Matthias turned his head left and smiled.

"Hello to you, too. I hope the three of you didn't get into much of trouble while I wasn't around to save you." he said to the three fillies with a grin.

"No, we kinda all got grounded after that timberwolves thing." answered the little unicorn, Sweetie Belle, if he remembered correctly, with anunhappy voice. "We were only allowed to come here to again thank you for rescuing as."

"Serves you right." he thought.

"Your families just want to make sure you won't do something like this again." Matthias said, trying to cheer them up.

"Yeah, we'now, but its still unfair." said the earth pony, Apple Bloom.

"But that’s not what we came to talk to you about." said the pegasus, Scootaloo; Matthias was thankful that he asked Spike this morning about her name, among few other things.

"Oh right, we wanted to ask you if you would liked to join our club."

"Your club?"

"Yes, we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders." said Scootaloo with pride in her voice.

Matthias barely stopped himself from bursting into laughter. He couldn't help but wonder how would the Argent Crusade, or even better, the Scarlet Crusade, react to those three fillies and their club.

"And what is it that you do?" he asked, keeping amusement out of his voice.

"We're on a mission..."

"... a quest..."

"... to find our special talents and earn our cutie marks!"

"And we figured, that since ya don't have yar's, and you saved us at the Everfree Forest, you could join us and discover you special talent as well!"

Matthias was touched that these three girls wanted him to join their special club (and once again, he was amazed how trustful denizens of Equestria were), however, he knew he couldn't accept their invitation.

"I'm honored that you would let me join the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but unfortunately, I will have to respectfully decline."

"What? Why?!" said the three fillies, crestfallen.

"Because I'm afraid how would my cutie mark looked like."

"I'm not sure if you heard already, but I'm from a land that ponies don't have cutie marks." he said, and the fillies nodded. "While coming here might have changed that thing for me, I still don't know if I can have a cutie mark. If I can't, I would be wasting your and my time by trying to discover what my special talent is. You could spend that time better on discovering your talents, while I on figuring out why am I here."

"What'ya mean, 'why am I here'? asked Apple Bloom.

Matthias cursed at himself. While trying to cheer them up, he said to much.

"Everything happens for a reason." he said, hoping he won't have to go into much details. "I don't know how come I am here, but there must be a reason for that... as well as I am sure there is a reason ponies have to earn their cutie marks, instead of simply being born with them."

"I suppose you're right." said Sweetie Belle, still a bit sad.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you will discover your special talents soon. You don't need an old colt like me to slow you down." Matthias said, winking.

That finally made the girls laugh. Saying their farewells, they went over to the group of ponies near their age.

"Ya handled them pretty well." said Applejack from behind him.

"I'm assuming that's not easy." he replied, turning around.

"Yah, well, they can be handful, alright." Applejack said, looking at him closely.

"Finally, somepony who doesn't trust me." he thought, almost happy.

"You don't trust me, don't you?" Matthias said, pouring himself a drink.

"Ah just think ya're dangerous." she answered, not even trying to deny it. Matthias couldn't help but to admire her courage, as well as her common sense. "Don't get me wrong, Ah'm happy ya saved mah sister and the others, but that doesn't change the fact that ya are stranger. No offense."

"None taken. In fact, I'm impressed."

"Pardon?" she asked puzzled.

"You're right, I am dangerous. So are you, if what Spike told me about your applebucking skills is true. However, you're the first pony who remembers that, beside Spike, who is a dragon, so he is bound to look at some things different than ponies. Hell, Twilight even invited me to sleep in her house without taking any safety measures, unless she put some sort of magical wards on me or something."

"So... ya're sain' that..." said Applejack, confused.

"What I'm saing, Miss Applejack, is that you have the same reasons to be cautious of me, as I have of you."

Applejack stared at him for a moment, and finally said:

"Ya're weird."

"Duly noted." he replied, amused.

"Well , hope you have fun at the party." she said, leaving.

Matthias looked at his drink, which, despite not having any fingers, he somehow managed to hold.

"Fun, huh?" he thought, wondering if somepony like him deserved to have fun, and taking a sip of what turned out to be an apple juice.

"Hey Spike." Matthias said, noticing the dragon.

"Hey." Spike answered, pouring himself a drink. "How do like the party?"

"It's fun." he said. "Hey, what were you going to do at Rarity's place? You said she is a fashion designer, right?"

"Yes. I figured she may need some help with something." dragon answered, slightly blushing.

"You... like her, don't you?" Matthias asked, surprised.

Spike jumped.

"Hey, not so loud!" he said in a hushed tone, looking around. Nopony was paying any attention to them at the moment, though. "Yea, I kinda have a crush on her." he confessed.

"A dragon has a crush on a pony. I officially cannot be amazed by anything anymore."

"Mind if I ask you a question, Matt?" asked the dragon.

"Shoot." Matthias said, taking another sip.

"We're you ever... dating somepony?"

Matt's mind whirled at the memory of Jaina, but nonetheless, he nodded.

"Mind giving me some tips about asking girl out?" Spike said, both hopefully and embarrassed.

"And now dragon is asking me for tips about dating." Matthias thought, confident that Bolvar and Ner'zhul must be laughing right now.

"Looking how my relationship ended, I don't thing it's a good idea for you to listen to me." he said, hoping the dragon would take a hint and dropped the subject.

"What do you mean?" asked Spike, oblivious to Matthias discomfort.

"That the last time I've seen the woman I love, I tried to kill her."

"Who does what mean?" asked Rainbow Dash, who flew up to them.

"Matt has been telling me about his girlfriend and how things didn't end well." blurted out Spike.

Matthias looked at the dragon, who just now realized that he may have wanted to avoid this subject in front of others.

"Wait, a loser without a cutie mark had a girlfriend? I find that hard to believe." said Rainbow Dash with a smirk on her face.

"Are you jealous or something?" asked Matthias, trying to change the subject.

"Huh, you wish!" answered Rainbow Dash, clearly offended. "I don't deal with losers, let alone date them!"

Matt privately wondered if the tomboyish pegasus would ever date anypony.

"So..." said Spike, unsure if he should continue. "How did your relationship ended?"

"Basically, I told her I wasn't ready for a serious relationship, and we broke up." Matthias said, bitterly remembering that Winter Veil. "We tried again few years later, but things... didn't work out so well again."

"'Things didn't worked out so well'." he snorted in his thoughts. "I asked her to help me slaughter thousands of innocent people. Of course she would leave me! Pity she or Uther didn't simply kill me then."

His pain must have been visible on his face, because Rainbow Dash said sympathetically:

"Wow, I almost feel bad for you."

"Don't." he answered, thinking: "Better feel bad for all those who might have lived have I been husband and father."

"I said almost." Rainbow replied with a grin.

Matthias sighted.

"If the two of you would excuse me, I'm going to get some fresh air. It's a bit stuffy here." he said, bowing his head to them, and left the library.

Twilight heard the doors open and notice with a surprise that Matt has left. Last she seen him, he was talking to Spike and Rainbow Dash, so she went over to them, the other following her.

"Hey, what happened? Why did Matt left?"

"Well, he might have felt bad about what we were talking about." said Spike uncomfortably.

"What were you talking about?"

"He was telling us about his girlfriend that he broke up because he wasn't ready for a serious relationship, and later when they got together again they broke up." answered Rainbow Dash.

While Twilight was thinking this through, realising this was most likely this friend he mentioned to her yesterday, and started to better understand Matt, she heard Applejack say:

"Man, Ah almost feel bad for him."

"That’s what I said!"

Twilight shook her head.

"We better go after him." she said.

"Why?" asked Rainbow.

"Duh, because the party is still on!" said Pinkie happily.

"I don't think it's just about this." Twilight replied, as if Pinkie hadn't said anything. "Like Fluttershy said, he's... empty inside. Whatever happened to him that caused it, it must have been something horrible. Now, while you got him thinking about his girlfriend, it might be easier to get him to talk."

"Couldn't you just use some spell to read his mind?" asked Rainbow Dash, clearly not interested.

"No, because it's an invasion of a pony's privacy." replied Twilight, not mentioning that she didn't know a spell to read minds.

"Come on, ya'll, lets just go and find him." said Applejack.

"Spike, you stay here and keep the party under control."

"Got it!" Spike said, saluting, as Twilight and the other five left.

They looked around the library, but he was nowhere in sight.

"Okay, think." Twilight said, poking her head with hoof. "Where would you go, if were in an alien land and were feeling depressed?"

"Umm... to the river to look at the water?" shouted Rainbow Dash, looking from high above the ground.

Twilight looked at the direction her friend was pointing, nodded at the rest, and galloped over there. After few moments, they spotted Matthias.

Spike looked at the door few minutes after his friend left. He felt guilty; if he didn't keep pestering Matt about relationships, he wouldn't have left, feeling sad. He should apologize to him.

And with that in mind, he left the library as well.

Matthias looked at his reflection in the river, thinking about Jaina, as well as his father, Uther, Muradin, Antonidas, and everyone he ever hurt, which meant pretty much everyone. Even Invincible. He winced as he recalled how he caused his friend's accident, and was forced to end his suffering. He remembered, how the first thing he did after murdering his father was raising his beloved steed from his grave, so he could serve him once again.

He looked at he sky. "Had Invincible hated me?" He never thought about this before; he always assumed that stallion trusted him in everything, but now... he wasn't sure of anything anymore.

And it was with this thoughts in mind that he opened his mouth and did something he hadn't done in years: he started singing.

Comilito equinus

Orbitas lacuna

G'Odhun A'l Korok Boda Uh'm

Boda Uh'm Ron'Kashal

Detrimentum a do sola ditas.

An Karanir Thanagor

Mor Ok Angalor

Mor Ok Gorum...

Pala Ah'm Ravali Ah'm.

Comilito equinus

Orbitas lacuna

G'Odhun A'l Korokh Boda Uh'm

Boda Uh'm Ron'Kashal

Detrimentum a do sola ditas.

An Karanir Thanagor

Mor Ok Angalor

Mor Ok Gorum...

Pala Ah'm Ravali Ah'm.

The girls listened, mesmerized. None of them could understand any word of this song, but the sadness of it could pierce anypony's heart. And none of them expected Matthias to have such beautiful singing voice, either.

When he finished his song, they looked at each other, unsure what to do now. Finally, Twilight stepped forward and said:

"Matt?"

He whirled around, surprised. It said something about how lost in thoughts he was that he hadn't noticed them earlier.

"Oh, hey. Sorry I left the party, but I needed to think about something."

"Yes, we guessed." said Twilight carefully. "That was a beautiful song, by the way."

"I don't know what came over me." Matthias replied, looking away. "I usually don't sing."

"Pity." said Rarity, trying, without a doubt, like Twilight to make him more open. "You have a very beautiful singing voice."

"Thanks."

"Do you mind telling us what this song means?" asked Twilight. "We couldn't understand its words."

"Very well, but I warn you: it's not a happy song." Matthias answered, thinking how to best translate this song into Common. He decided to use the translation he was most familiar with, changing only the word 'steed' into 'friend'.

'O friend, stalwart companion

I mourn your loss

Even in death, first in battle,

Last to retreat, even so in death

Alas, I have lost a part of myself.

Long live the king

May his reign last forever

May his strength...

Fail him never.

'O friend, stalwart companion

I mourn your loss

Even in death, first in battle,

Last to retreat, even so in death

Alas, I have lost a part of myself.

Long live the king

May his reign last forever

May his strength...

Fail him never.

As he expected, all of them, including rough Rainbow Dash and always happy Pinkie Pie, were looking at him with sad eyes.

"Matt..." started Twilight, but never finished.

She was interrupted by a loud laughter and terrified scream.

"That sounded like Spike!" said Rainbow Dash, and everypony looked at each other, before they galloped toward the source of the scream.

9. Where Dragons Fell

As they run, Twilight tried to imagine into what kind of trouble Spike got himself now, but nothing could prepare her for what she was about to witness.

There they were, in the center of Ponyville. The three jerky dragons that Spike first befriended, then angered when he realized what kind of friends they really were during the Great Dragon Migration, were standing right here, and their leader, the red one, was holding Spike by his head high above the ground.

"Hey, leave him alone!" she shouted to them, infuriated.

They noticed here and started laughing.

"Aww, look! Those are the namby-pamby pony friends of Spike!" said the red one, still laughing.

Twilight bit her lip, thinking for a heartbeat what she could do. The dragon was still holding Spike; she could easily teleport him out of his grasp, but what then? The dragons would be still in Ponyville, and she doubted than anypony beside the Princesses could made them leave, even if they were only teenagers.

"We're so sorry to decline your request," said the red dragon with mocking tone. "but, you see, we kinda came a long way to visit our friend Spike, and we're not really in a hurry to part ways. Right guys?"

"Heh, yeah!" replied the fat bronze dragon.

"Yeah!" repeated the tall purple one.

"But don't worry, we will come over to you and say hello, soon."

Twilight's horn glowed, as she prepared to cast a spell.

"I said: Leave! Him! Alone!"

"Oh yeah?" red dragon said, snorting. "Or what?"

Before Twilight had a chance to reply, a calm voice sounded behind her:

"Or else, you will have me to face."

Matthias came closer to the dragons, so they could see each other better. Like Spike, they were different from dragons from Azeroth. They were bipedal, had small wings, one of them was ridiculously fat, and they appeared to be incredibly stupid. Judging by the size difference between them, Spike and a matured dragon from the 'All about dragons', Matthias guessed that they must be a teenage dragons, on Azeroth called drakes.

Just as he was observing and judging them, the dragons judged him. They weren't impressed, if their laughter was any indication.

"Oh look, those ponies have a knight in shining armor!" said the one holding Spike, who looked slightly less brain-dead than the others. Nevertheless, he was laughing. "And you know what dragons do to knights in shining armor, right?"

"They let them kill them?" Matt asked, keeping his voice casual.

That finally got him attention from the dragons. None the one he would desire, since they were rather angry instead of worried, but still, it was some improvement.

"Now, how about you release Spike and leave the town, before things get... ugly."

"Oh yeah?" snapped the red dragon. "We'd rather prefer things to get ugly. Whole town's gonna be ugly when we're finished with it." he said, and burst into laughter again, along with his two henchdragons.

"Big mistake." Matthias thought, as they took their eyes off him.

"I don't know what surprises me more." he said, not caring that with the noise the dragons were making they couldn't hear him. "That dragons can act this way despite not belonging to Black Dragonflight, or..." he added in much darker tone, as he throw himself at the three drakes. "... that you actually think the three of you stand a chance against me!"

By that time the red dragon noticed that something was off, mostly because the last word Matthias practically shouted right into his ear. But he still couldn't do anything to stop Matt from slamming his knee into the dragon's throat.

As soon as he landed his hit, Matthias bit back a shout of pain that came with it. Dragon's scale was even thougher that he gave it credit for, but now there was no turning back. As the red dragon gasped for air, he hit him with his elbow at the base of skull for good measure.

At the same time, he could hear that the other dragons noticed what was happening, so Matthias whirled, grabbed Spike, and jumped away, just in time to avoid the flames, which were most likely meant for him, but hit the red drake instead.

Being save for a moment, he spared few seconds to toss Spike to Twilight, knowing she would catch him with her magic, and said:

"Don't interfere! I won't be able to both fight them and protect you at the same time!" and with that, he turned his attention back to the dragons.

As he suspected, their scales gave them more resistance than even the bark of the timberwolves. The two strikes, which would have crushed any other creature's spine, didn't do much to the red drake beside leaving him stunned for few seconds, and his comrades flames did even less. In fact, he was the one who was more hurt.

"Time to change tactics." he thought, and threw himself between the dragons.

Twilight and her friends were looking, stunned, as Matthias threw himself right between the dragons. That was pure madness! Now not only he was fighting three dragons, but was also surrounded by them.

"I have to help him!" she thought, and prepared to cast a spell, despite Matt's warning not to help him. At the same time, however, one of the dragons tried to hit Matthias with his tail, which he swiftly dodged, and the tail hit the other dragon instead.

Twilight now understood what Matt's plan was. He noticed, or, which was even more likely, knew from the beginning, that his punches weren't going to have much effect on dragons. Their scales were too thick and durable. Even striking at vital points such as the throat wasn't enough. So, instead of using his strength, he was going to use the dragon's own strength instead.

Still, this was going to be risky. If he couldn't dodge a single strike like the one before, he would end up with his bones broken.

Twilight looked at her friends. All of them were staring at the scene before them with wide eyes, as well as all the ponies, who were showing a common sense by staying in their houses and were watching the fight through their windows. And none could blame them. How often a single pony was fighting three dragons and was winning? It was such a captivating scene, that it wasn't until few hours later that it hit Twilight that she should have sent a message to the Princess at this moment.

Matthias tried his hardest to keep up. As much as he hated to admit it, he underestimated those drakes a bit. They were faster, and, judging by their yowls of pain as they hit themselves, were also stronger that he gave them credit for. But still, he had the upperhoof: it was a lot harder to hit a smaller target. All he had to do was keep in mind their positions and react in time.

And that was what he managed to do, until he was forced to jump in the air, and realised too late that he couldn't dodge the fireball the purple dragon was about to fire at him. Cursing at himself, he crossed his arms in front of him, and waited those few fractions of seconds for fireball to almost reach him, and in that precise moment, he hit the air in front of him, which actually worked better that he expected. The dragon was also surprised, so Matthias used his momentum and slammed the dragon's face with his hooves, extinguishing few flames that were on them in the process.

Unfortunately, he lingered with pummeling the purple dragon's face a second too long. The brown dragon grabbed him from behind and lifted him in the air, squeezing his chest. As he felt his ribs shatter, he uttered a short, painful scream.

Ponies looked terrified as Matthias screamed. Their defender has lost, and dragons won.

"Heh, not so tough now, huh?" laughed the brown dragon, as he squeezed him even harder with one had, and moved the other to his throat..

Twilight was as terrified as anyone, but her fear lasted only a short time. She once again prepered to cast a spell she had in mind for a while, but before she finished, she stopped.

Matthias, despite being strangled, was talking.

Sensing the dragon's claws around his throat, Matthias didn't fall into despair, as most ponies would. Instead, he fell into rage.

Uther couldn't kill him. Sylvanas couldn't kill him. Anasterian couldn't kill him. Antonidas couldn't kill him. Such great heroes, warriors or wizards, and they fell before him. And now, when he was actually fighting to protect others, for the first time in almost a decade, he was going to get killed by those pathetic creatures?!

He gazed at the dragon with eyes that could cut through a saronite, and the drake, despite crushing him, despite strangling him, backed off a bit, scared, and loosened up his hold of Matthias. Not enough to let him escape, but enough to let him speak.

"I defeated the dreadlord Mal'Ganis at Drak'Tharon Keep!" he snapped, getting everypony's attention: both from dragons and ponies. "I fought with the blue dragon Sapphiron, the ancient servant of Malygos the Spell-Weaver, at the wastes of Dragonblight, and made him serve me instead! I dueled the demon hunter Illidan Stormrage, Lord of Outland, in front of the doors of the Frozen Throne, and was victorious! I faced the avatar of the Old God, Yogg-Saron, in the forgotten depths of Azjol-Nerub, and walked away alive! I will NOT be defeated by the likes of YOU!!!"

His last words turned into a yell, as he managed to free one arm and hit the drake right in the eye, which caused the dragon to yowl in pain. Whirling himself free after that, Matthias spun around and kicked the drake in the jaw, breaking it.

As the bronze drake fell to the ground, writhing in pain, Matt looked at the other dragons with hatred in eyes, and attacked again.

Twilight watched as her friend once again threw himself at the dragons, but this time it was different. This time he wasn't letting their attacks to land on each other while he dodged them. This time he was attacking, with rage burning through his eyes.

She though about what he just said, about all those victories against some strange creatures, including a dragon, which, judging by his title, was a full grown dragon. She though about his scars, and how he seemed so full of hatred right now.

For the first time, Twilight felt actually scared of Matthias.

Despite his injuries, Matthias moved even faster now, easily dodging all of the drakes attacks, and landing his. While they still were far from effective, he kept striking at sensitive areas, such as the throat, eyes, and joints. After a while the dragons started to actually grunt in pain whenever he hit them, which told him they wouldn't last long. That thought almost became his undoing, when he let his guard down and once again jumped up into the air, and get hit by red drake's tail. Thankfully, he managed to lift his arms and block it, but the force of the strike threw him trough the doors of a bakery.

"Now I'm pissed!" he thought, angry both at the dragons and himself. As he got up from the floor and looked around to see if the owners were here so he could apologize to them before he throw himself back into the fray, he noticed a long knife lying on the table next to him.

"Mind if I borrow it?" he said aloud, and, not waiting for an answer, hit the knife with a hoof, and as it shoot into air, caught it with his teeth, with the blade on his right side.

He could see the the purple dragon in front of the bakery, preparing to set it aflame and him along with it. Matthias was faster. He jumped out through the hole in the door and slashed the drake's open mouth.

"Awhh, mah toungh!" yelled the dragon, despite his wound being a mere graze. Matt didn't spare him a look, and kicked with his back legs drake's kneecap, causing the dragon to collapse.

As he looked at the last standing drake, he throw the knife into air, let it spin around, and caught it. Now the blade was on his left side.

He charged at the dragon, not bothering to look at his face. Matthias jumped between his legs, and slashed, managing to cut, even if barely, through drake's scale at it weakest point. As the dragon was falling, Matthias swiftly rolled out from under him, and jumped on his chest. He twisted the knife again, and prepared to lower it into the red dragon's throat, looking into his eyes.

The dragon looked backed at him with the exact same look as the children's of Stratholme gave him.

Terrified.

For what seemed like an eternity, he stared at those eyes, realizing what he almost did. Finally, he spat the knife away, and get off the dragon, forcing himself not to tremble.

"Get out of this town and never return." he said, somehow managing to keep his voice calm.

As the dragons picked themselves from the ground, two of them limping and one holding his jaw, he stood still, despite his urge to go away from everypony. But he wasn't going to take his eyes off the dragons until he was sure they left for good.

For a moment, it seemed that it would take long. But soon, the red drake looked back at him, all his fear disappeared already, and said:

"Don't think this is over! We're just a teen dragons. But just you wait. When we are full fledged dragons, we will return. And you will burn!"

Matthias shook his head. If the dragon didn't learned anything, he would break it to him.

"The only reason why I'm letting you leave is BECAUSE you are youths. Return when you are all grown up, and I will kill you without a moment of hesitation."

The dragons throw him scared looks, and all the ponies gasped.

"I don't know how the ponies in Equestria do things," Matthias said, making sure the dragons knew that he wasn't kidding, "but where I'm from, if somepony threatens to hurt our friends and burn our village, we don't sit idle."

The dragons hastened.

When they left, Matthias didn't bothered to looked at the ponies. He knew what he would see in their faces.

He turned away and went once again to the river.

10. The Pony and the Raven

Twilight simply stared at the space where Matthias had nearly killed three dragons long after everypony started whispering between themselves about what just happened. Finally, her friends managed to snap her back into reality.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"Ah was sayin': what are we going to do'bout Matthias?'" repeated Applejack.

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight, despite knowing the answer.

"What do you mean: 'what do you mean'?!" asked Rainbow Dash. "He just beat three dragons, and said that he could kill them! He is dangerous!"

"Twilight, darling, as much as I hate to do it, I must agree with Rainbow Dash on this one." added Rarity, clearly unnerved by what they all just saw. "That Matthias is some kind of... " she stopped, looking for the right word.

"A nut job?" hinted Rainbow Dash.

Rarity nodded, dismayed.

"Ya, well, what are we going to do ya'll? We've got a potential murderer in Ponyville, for pity's sake!"

"Shouldn't you write to the Princess about him by now, Twilight?"

Twilight bit her lip, unsure. While she really needed to write to the Princess (quite frankly, she should have written to her yesterday), that would most likely result in Matt being arrested or banished, and that would be unfair. After all, he was only protecting Ponyville and them, even if his methods were a bit brutal.

And like that, Twilight has made her decision.

"I will write to the Princess," she said, looking at her friends, "but not now. First, I need to talk to Matt."

Her friends almost immediately protested and tried to talk her out of this.

"Twi, have you gone bonkers?"

"He almost killed! Three! Dragons!"

"Exactly!" said Twilight, hoping her friends could see her reasoning. "He almost killed them. But he didn't. He stopped the moment when they understood they were beaten, and let them leave."

That finally got some positive attention out of them, but they still remained unconvinced.

"But... he still told them that he would have kill them if they were grown up dragons." said Rarity.

"Maybe he was bluffing?" replied Applejack, but her tone said she didn't believe that.

None of them did. They all could hear in Matthias voice that he meant his words.

"Well... he is from a different land." said Twilight. "He said himself that's how they deal with threats. At least they don't kill kids."

Her friends looked at each other.

"Ah ya sure, sugarcube?" asked Applejack. "Ah wouldn't want to see ya get hurt."

"Yes, I'm sure, and I will be fine. I will go talk to him now, and I will send Princess Celestia a letter about this later." she answered, hoping that Matt would tell her something that would convince the Princess to let him stay in Equestria.

"Do you want us to come with you?" asked Rarity.

"Not now, it would be better if it would be just me talking to him."

"Well, okay then." said Applejack. "Ah have to get Apple Bloom back home now, anyway."

"I have to get my sister back home as well." added Rarity.

"And I would better see how the Cakes are doing. Oh, and I should bring them their knife back, too!"

"I have to check on my animals. Oh, and, umm, Twilight... please thank Matthias for scaring those scary dragons away."

"Well, since everypony is going to do something, I might go bring you back that 'Daring Do' book and borrow the next one."

"Okay, lets all meet all back in a library in... half an hour?"

They all nodded their agreement.

"Spike, could you clean the mess from the party?"

"Fine." said the baby dragon, reluctantly.

And with that, saying their farewells, Twilight walked the way Matthias went.

When Twilight left to find Matt, her friends stayed a few moments longer, besides Spike, who went to the library and started cleaning it.

"Is it just me," started Rarity. "or was Twilight trying really hard to find some... excuse to not throw Matthias into a dungeon or something?"

"Ah noticed that too."

"But why would she do that?" asked Rainbow Dash, confused.

"Maybe she, umm... likes him?" said Fluttershy.

"Well, he did seemed to be fun." replied Pinkie.

"Pinkie, darling, I think Flutteshy meant that Twilight really likes Matthias."

"I know, I heard her." Pinkie said, still oblivious... or maybe not, nopony was sure.

Rarity and Applejack shared a look.

"This won't end well." they both said, worrying about Twilight.

Matthias trotted to his 'pondering place' by the bridge, as he came to call it. While his mind and soul were struggling not to break after what he nearly did, he was at the same time suffering from bodily pain as well.

Now that the adrenaline rush was over, he could feel how bad he was hurt. He was certain that he had all of his ribs shattered. Pity he couldn't remember how many ribs ponies had at the moment. Matthias thought that maybe thirty six. He was just glad that at least none of them punctured his lungs. And as if that wasn't enough, his hooves bore first and second degree burns, despite him extinguishing dragon's flames quickly.

But none of it mattered to him. He looked at his reflection, the memory of the Culling of Stratholme renewed in his mind. He could practically hear the screams of his people, his subjects that he swore to protect, as he slaughtered them all. Nearly twenty five thousand people killed in a single day.

He would have probably stayed like this for hours, ravaged by his memories, if he wasn't interrupted by something that tried to collide with his head. Matthias ducked at the last second, and was just about to strike at it, but he stopped himself at the last moment.

That 'something' turned out to be a raven, which was now sitting on a bridge and looked directly at him.

"Stupid bird!" Matt snapped, glaring at it. "I could have hurt you!"

"You would not have harmed me, and I required your attention." replied the raven, its voice deep and mild.

Matt's jaw dropped.

Not just because the raven spoke. By now, he was far to used to this, even though he was pretty sure ravens here didn't speak. No, what unsettled Matthias was what the bird had said. There was one that had said the exact same words, when he came with a warning to him. A warning, that, if he would have heeded it, he would have never became the Lich King. And even though that seemed to be impossible, he called the raven by the name he knew that person bore, despite not knowing it back then.

"Medivh?!"

The raven bowed his head.

"I'm pleased that you remember me, young king."

Matthias winced at the title the Prophet had used, but he had bigger issue now.

"You're suppose to be dead!" he said.

The raven turned his head, as if mocking him.

"The same could be said about you, King Arthas" he reminded him.

Arthas barely stopped from facehoofing himself. He decided not to bring up the fact that Medivh should be dead twice.

"Alright, forget that. What are you doing here?"

"Helping you."

"Helping me. You couldn't help me back then, so that I wouldn't tried to commit a mass genocide of the whole Azeroth, but you find some free time to come to a world populated by talking ponies, seven years after your second death!"

"If you would recall, I did try to help you." said Medivh calmly, not angered by Arthas accusation. "I warned you, but you didn't listen. Have I spoken more clearly of the fate that awaited you at the end of that road, would you have listened to me?"

"... Fair enough." said Arthas.

"And if you think that me being in Equestria is weird, you should see what I'm about to do in a month and a half from now. Now listen to me, boy!"

"If you say: 'This land is lost!', I swear, I'm going to hurt you."

"You were brought here for a reason." Medivh said, with a voice that couldn't be interrupted. "There is something that only you can do here, but as you are now, you won't be able to do it."

"What do you mean?" Arthas asked.

"You are not as you are suppose to be." explained Medivh without explaining anything. "You have to heal the wound that's within you, if you are going to do what you are supposed to do here."

Arthas sighed and looked at the sky. Somehow, he doubted that Medivh meant his injuries.

"... Or else this land is lost."

Arthas swung his hoof, while still looking at the sky, only to hit an empty space. Medivh was nowhere to be seen.

"Get back here, you confounded..."

"Who are you talking to?" said a familiar female voice.

Matthias sighed again.

"My raging insanity, most likely." he replied to Twilight Sparkle.

11. Magic of Friendship...

Twilight looked at Matthias and fought back the urge to gasp. His hooves were badly burned and judging by the shallow breaths he was taking she guessed that most of his ribs were broken.

"Shouldn't you go to the hospital?" she asked, wondering how was he able to stand.

"They have their hooves full with the feather flu." Matt replied, shrugging. "I'm not bleeding internally, I'll be fine."

After saying that, he returned to staring at his reflection. Twilight came up and sit next him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, almost immediately realizing how stupid that question sounded.

"Since we just talked about my physical condition, I'm assuming you're inquiring about the fact that I almost killed a bunch of kids?" he snorted, not looking at her.

Twilight winced. This talk wasn't going the way she hoped. However, before she had a chance to say anything, Matthias took charge of the conversation.

"Mind if I ask you something?"

"Eee... sure." answered Twilight, surprised.

"Have you ever done something... that at the time you were sure was a right thing to do, but later realised that it was in fact a terrible thing, and regreted doing it?" asked Matthias, visibly putting a lot of effort to formulate this question.

Twilight thought a moment before she answered him.

"Well... sort off. Few months ago I accidentally... brainwashed the whole of Ponyville."

That finally got some reaction out of him. Matt turned his head, stared at her, surprised, and asked:

"Why?"

"It wasn't on purpose! I just needed some friendship problem to solve before sundown so I could write to the Princess... "

"You just said a lot of words, and I didn't understand any of them." Matt said calmly.

Twilight took a deep breath.

"He is the one that should be freaking out, not you!"

"Let me start from the beginning." she said when she calmed down. "Princess Celestia is my mentor." Matt's eyes went wide as she said that, but he didn't interrupt her. "She sent me to Ponyville to study the Magic of Friendship. I am supposed to write her letters describing what I learned. One day though, I forgot that I haven't sent her a letter since the previous week, and I was afraid that I was going to miss the deadline."

Twilight decided she wasn't going to mention to him about the whole 'magic kindergarten' thing.

"I started looking around town if any of my friends had some problems that I could help them solve, but none of them had, even Fluttershy. I later asked them for help, but they thought that my problem was silly, so they didn't help me. So, after a while, I might have gone a bit... crazy. I figured that if I couldn't find a friendship problem, I could create a friendship problem. I enchanted my old doll Smarty Pants, so that everypony would fall in love with it, and the next thing I knew, the whole town was put under that spell. Thankfully, Spike wrote to the Princess Celestia how the whole letter thing got into me, and she came to Ponyville in time to fix the everything. In the end, it turned out I didn't have to send her those letters every week, but only after I learned a new lesson. So... yeah, that’s it."

Matthias looked at her for a bit, and then started chuckling. Twilight, who was expecting that, rolled her eyes. After few seconds Matt stopped laughing and shook in pain.

"Aau... It hurts to laugh." he said in light tone, holding his chest. "It isn't exactly what I had in mind, but I suppose it's the best I can get in a world such as peaceful as Equestria's. Well, beside occasional dragon's raids or timberwolves attacks, I guess."

Twiligh couldn't help but notice his choice of words.

"Did Matthias just said 'world'? He must have meant 'land'." she thought, shaking her head.

"Matt, could you please tell me whats wrong?" she asked, hoping that this time she could finally get some answers. "I can see that something is plaguing your mind, and I would like to help you, but I can't if you don't talk to me." Twilight for a moment thought that she could see fear on Matt's face, but she must have been mistaken.

Matthias barely managed to keep his composure when Twilight said 'plaguing'. This odd coincidence had made him abandon his idea of telling her everything. But he knew he had to tell her something. For some reason, Twilight wanted to help him, and he found out that it was nice to have a somepony who cared about him. And he liked her, even though she reminded him so much of Jaina that he could feel the pain in his heart renewed whenever they talked.

"Telling you everything that is wrong would take forever." he said after a moment of hesitation. "And even if I did tell you, you would either not believe me, or would get scarred mentally. Or both."

Matthias glanced at Twilight. She seemed to be a bit scared after what he said, but she was still listening to him.

"I've read in one of your books about what happened to Princess Luna over a thousand years ago. Since you're Princess Celestia's apprentice, I guess you are more familiar with this story than me. I suppose you could say that something similar happened to me."

"You became... evil?" Twilight gasped.

"Why is that such a surprise to her?"

"I didn't just became evil. I was evil. I made... a bad choice, which seemed right to me at the time. I have followed a path of revenge, and it led me to the weapon of great power, which I had paid a great price to get. It corrupted me. I slowly forgot about everything and everypony I ever cared for. It wasn't until shortly before I woke up in Equestria that I returned to who I was once... more or less."

"More or less?"

"You can't do the things I did and be yourself after you've returned to your senses. I may no longer be the same pony I was during last few years, but I'm not as I was before, either."

"Is that what Medivh has meant when he said about a 'wound that's within'?"

Twilight gazed at Matthias, trying to comprehend what he said. That he was once evil, while wouldn't be shocking to her friends, surprised her. She had assumed that something terrible has happened to him, and even though she was right after a fashion, Twilight didn't think that it would be anything like Princess Luna becoming Nightmare Moon kind of terrible.

However, there was something different between those two cases. While Luna had a lot of trouble to adjust to the life in Equestria, it was mostly because she was banished for a thousand years. Matthias, on the other hoof, seemed to be troubled by what he did.

"What could have been so terrible?" with this thought, Twilight made a mental note to look into a mind reading spells.

"I'm afraid, Twilight." confessed Matt out of a blue.

"Afraid?"

"Afraid that I might became evil again."

And now Twilight understood why he took what happened with the dragons so badly.

"Matt." she said to him, trying to get him to look at her. "I don't know what happened to you in Azeroth, or what you did, but what you did today wasn't evil. You saved Spike, and Ponyville. While your methods might be considered barbaric here, I understand why you did that. I guess, sometimes you have to step down to their level."

"That's what I said to myself back then, you know." Matthias snorted.

"Yes, but did you have friends with you then?"

That caught Matt off guard.

"I... did, for some time. They refused to help me, though."

"Well, if they were with you all the time, do you think that you'd have done all those things?"

"It wasn't exactly as simple as you make it sound." said Matthias, getting angry, only to be calm a second later. "But... I can see your point."

"If you have your friends with you, they can tell you when what you're about to do is wrong. Being surrounded by ponies you trust and have them advising you will always make you take the right course of action."

Twilight smiled to herself, realizing that when she'll write Princess Celestia a letter about Matt, she could add a new lesson about the Magic of Friendship.

"My friends did tried to warn me... I just didn't listen. Guess that makes me a bad friend, huh?" said Matthias with an unhappy grin.

"Well, you could try again, with new friends. I would like to be your friend, if you would let me."

As she said that, she extended her hoof, hoping that Matt would do the same. What he did, however, was something she didn't expect.

Matthias took her hoof, lowered his head and planted a kiss on it. While Twilight blushed with embarrassment, she heard Matt say:

"It would be an honor to have you as a friend, Lady Twilight."

When they eyes crossed, Twilight saw a spark of amusement in his. Realizing that he meant for her to feel embarrassed, she fought the urge to frown. Instead, she came up with an idea for revenge.

"Well, we'd best be going. We have to take care of your injuries."

"I told you, I'm not going to the hospital. I'm not that hurt."

"Who said anything about a hospital?" Twilight replied innocently.

12. ... and its pains

As promised, half an hour after Twilight went after Matthias, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie gathered in front of the library, wondering if they should come in or wait a bit. They were about to start discussing it, when they heard a loud yowl of pain coming out of the Twilight's house. Without a moment of hesitation, they all barged in, expecting to see Matthias hurting their friend.

"Twilight, are you..." started to say Rainbow Dash, only to stop at the sight of the scene inside.

Matthias was being held by Twilight's magic hovering above the ground in the center of the room. There was a bandage wrapping itself very tightly around his chest. His front hooves were in a bucket filled with some funny smelling liquid. Twilight was standing in some distance away from him, levitating a book in front of her. Spike was watching them both, not sure if he should be amused or scared.

"... okay?" Rainbow finished her question, despite knowing it wasn't her that screamed.

"Oh, hi girls." greeted them Twilight.

"Umm... what are ya'll doin'?" asked Applejack, glancing at Matthias.

"Torturing me." replied the stallion, looking at them with pleading for help all over his face.

"Oh, hush." said Twilight. "Those injuries of yours needs treatment."

"If this is treatment, then how come I feel worse?" he asked, and although he was in pain, the girls noticed that the corners of his eyes sparkled with amusement.

"That’s just what you get for being stubborn and refusing to go to the hospital." replied Twilight unsympathetically.

"Oh?" said Matthias, surprised. "I thought this was all about..."

Whatever he was going to say, it transformed into another yowl of pain as Twilight tightened his bandage.

The five mares and Spike exchanged worried glances. What in Equestria has happened to their friend? Finally, Rarity came over to Twilight.

"Um... Twilight?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes?" replied Twilight in the same tone, reading the book. Rarity glanced at the title.

"Is this book called: 'Medieval's art of medicine'?"

"Yes."

"And is the chapter you're currently reading named: 'The most painful kind of healing'?" she asked after looking at the part that she was on.

"Ahuh."

Rarity waited few moments for her friend to explain herself, but soon realised she wasn't going to.

"Is there something wrong, dear?"

"Oh!" gasped Twilight, as if only now realizing how it all must have looked. "I, aaa... look, lets just say that he deserves this and leave it at that."

She tried to sound casual, but Rarity noticed her voice to be a little shaken, as well as that she was blushing.

"I must have gone out of practice." said Matt unexpectedly. "I recall getting away easily with this sort of joke."

Twlight, realizing that he heard what she and Rarity were talking about, tightened the bandages again. To his credit, this time Matthias only grunted.

"Aren't ya bit too hard on him?" asked Applejack, feeling pity for the stallion.

"Oh no, he is very resistant to pain. I've never seen a pony that could walk around town with so many ribs shattered. Or, just a pony with so many ribs shattered, for that matter."

"Glad to know I'm so impressive." said Matthias. "And how many ribs do I have shattered, exactly?"

"All of them."

All five of her friends gasped, wondering how he could have simply walk away after the fight, or how he was able to withstand Twilight healing methods without passing out. Rarity sharp eyes, however, managed to notice an expression Matt's face had for a second: as if he was expecting more concrete answer.

Twilight finished paging through the book, unhappy.

"I'm going to visit Zecora and ask if she has any potions to help. Do you mind watching Matthias?" she asked, and when her friends agreed, although not very enthusiastically, she picked up her saddlebag and made her way to the door.

"Help you heal me, or inflict more pain?" Matthias asked her, but after a moment he added: "Wait, doesn't this Zecora live in the Everfree Forest? Are you going to be fine?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." she answered, smiling.

"Good, because in this state I wouldn't be able to help. I'd really hate the irony..." he said with dark tone and trailed off.

"Okay, see you all later." said Twilight and left.

Matthias glanced at the five mares and one dragon. They were looking at him with confusion and suspicion.

"What in tarnation did'ya do to her?" asked Applejack.

"Well, I may have... kissed her in a hoof when she extended it with an intent of shaking hooves purely out of desire to see her embarrassed." answered Matthias awkwardly.

He was rewarded with four mares staing at him with a mix of astonishment, anger, and embarrassement. Pinkie and Spike, on the other hoof, burst into laughter.

"No wonder she was mad!" Spike said through tears.

"In retrospect, that was a horrible idea." confessed Matthias.

"You're lucky Twilight is not me. I would have kicked you all the way to the other side of Equestria." said Rainbow Dash angrily.

"Oh don't worry, I would have never dream of doing that to you." he answered with a smirk.

"Good, because... hey, wait just a minute!"

"Calm down. sugarcube." said Applejack.

"Matthias, would you mind telling as if before all that Twilight had talked to you about, well, what you almost did to the dragons?"

"Why, yes." answered Matt, a bit uncomfortably. "In fact, it is thanks to her talking to me that I'm not still near that bridge sulking."

The girls shared a look. Matthias could guess this wasn't what they wanted to hear.

"She also mentioned to me that while my way of dealing with danger may be normal for where I am from, it's not well looked on in here, so the next time something like those dragons attack, I will just beat them into submission again."

"Is that all you talked?" asked Rarity.

"Since I told Twilight, I suppose I should tell them as well."

"Umm... I also told Twilight that used to be evil."

Their reaction was more along the lines of what he expected.

"WHAT?!"

"Hear me out, before you will pass your judgement upon me." Matthias said, and before any of them objected, he continued: "What happened to me was similar to the fate of Princess Luna: like her, I succumbed into dark powers, and did a lot of terrible things. For many years I had no feelings such as pity, remorse, or shame. I had no longer cared for my friends and family, either. It wasn't until before I had come to Equestria that I was freed, and I still have problems... adjusting."

Matthias looked at the floor, trying to find the right word to describe it to them how he felt, but found none. Luckily, he didn't have to say more.

"Well, we've seen Luna having the same problem, so we get the idea." said Applejack, coming closer to him. "Twilight trusts ya, so Ah will as well, but please, don't be so, brutal. Deal?"

"Deal." Matthias said.

"Lets shake on it." Applejack then did something weird: she spat on her hoof and then extended it.

"... You know, I have learned my lesson." said Matthias, glancing at it.

"Ya're just as prissy as Rarity, aren't ya?" Applejack replied in dismay. Rarity frowned.

"Now wait a moment." said Matthias, offended. He figured that this was some sort of 'peasant' custom, so he spat at his hoof and bumped into Applejack's. "I've been called many names, but 'prissy' isn't one of them."

Applejack smiled, but then frowned when she looked at his hoof.

"Don't let it bother you." he said, putting the hoof back in the liquid. Twilight said it was cleaning his flesh... by melting the burned and contaminated parts of it.

"Okay..."

"Well, if both Applejack and Twilight trust you, I suppose I can as well." said Rarity. "You will forgive me for not giving you my hoof, though, I'm... afraid to cause you pain. Heh."

"Wow, she is prissy." Matthias thought, realizing she didn't wanted to touch his hoof.

"Yay! I know you could be fun!" said Pinkie Pie, jumping around him. "Oh! We should throw another party!"

"No, thank you, that one was fun enough."

"Oh, okay!"

"Umm... You did scare off those scary dragons, so I think you deserve to be trusted." said Fluttershy, not looking at him.

"You really don't like dragons, don't you?" he asked, wondering why was she so shy around him.

"Yes, they're scary, big, mean... oh, I don't mean you, Spike!"

"I know." Spike said, amused. "I also think that Matthias can be trusted. And besides, I would like to hear how you beat that Sap-something dragon!"

Everypony looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Fine." she said finally, although unhappy."But I'm watching you. Like a hawk."

"Duly noted." replied Matthias, but at the same time Pinkie said:

"Why? Can't you watch him like a pony?"

"Ugh! Never mind. I need to borrow another 'Daring Do' book." she said and started looking at one shelf.

"I didn't think you were the reading type." said Mathias.

"Reading is something anypony can enjoy. Especially, books cool as those!" she replied excited, and flew up to him with the book she was about to put back on the shelf.

Matt looked at the book. The title of it was: 'Daring Do and Snake God's worshippers'.

"Wait, why does it sound so familiar?" he wondered, reading a description at the back. After a while he started chuckling.

"Hey, what so funny?" asked Rainbow Dash, preparing to kick him.

"It's not funny, it's, well, weird." Matthias said quickly. "There is this... pony, named Harrison Jones, back on Azeroth, who is exactly like this Daring Do character. Well, besides gender."

"You're making that up. Nopony is as cool as Daring Do. Besides me."

Before the two of them could get into an argument, the door opened and Twilight came in.

"Hi, I'm back."

"How in tarnation did'ya make it to Zecora's hut and back so fast?" asked Applejack.

"Oh, I didn't. Zecora happened to be in Ponyville, buying some ingredients. I bumped into her, and she made me these: a body lotion for regenerating skin, and a brew for healing broken bones."

Everypony looked at what she was showing them and shook. The bottle with the brew had some scary looking pictures of bones on it. There were letters on it, too, which were forming a word: 'Skele-Gro'.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

13. Nightmares of night and day

Dear Princess Celestia

I'm writing to you today because of the strange thing that had happened in Ponyville a few days ago. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the three fillies that you often read in my letters, and who barely a week ago sent you their own letter, got lost in the Everfree Forest. While they were trying to find they way out of it, they were suddenly attacked by a pack of timberwolves. Before any harm came to them, out of the woods jumped out a strange stallion and fought them off. After he managed to take the girls out of the forest, he lost conscience due to the injury he received during the fight. We took him to the hospital, and when he awakened, we asked him who he was and where did he came from.

It turned out that his name was Matthias Lehner, and he is from a land called 'Azeroth', which I never heard of, and apparently, it is only populated by the earth ponies. In fact, he didn't know that unicorns and pegasi really existed, he thought that they were only in legends. But that is not the weirdest part of it. Matthias, despite being older than me and the rest of my friends by at least ten years, doesn't have a cutie mark! And according to what he said, ponies in Azeroth doesn't have them either! Not to mention, that until we explained to him what was a cutie mark, he didn't know about it!

I think it would be best if I told you about this Azeroth a bit, in case you haven't heard about it like me. Matt told me that a few thousand years ago his land was faced with a terrible danger. To protect it, the last emperor of Azeroth somehow managed to create a magical mist around it, which hid it from the rest of the world. Is such a thing even possible?

However, those aren't the most important reasons that I'm writing to you now. If that were the case, I would have waited until I've gathered more information. Today, while we were having a party for welcoming Matt into Ponyville (you know how Pinkie can get), our town had unwelcomed visitors. The three teen dragons that Spike met during the Great Dragon Migration came after him to the Ponyville, with an intent to cause trouble. Before they managed to do that, Mattias started fighting them, and despite getting severely injured, he beat them. For a moment he was even go as far as to kill them, but stopped himself, and let them leave. When one of the dragons warned him that one day, when they were all grown up dragons, they would return, Matthias said something that scared everypony: that he let them leave only because they were merely kids, and if they would return as grown ups, he would kill them without hesitation! Apparently, that is how ponies in Azeroth handle danger.

After the dragons left, he went to sulk near the river at the end of the Ponyville. I went after him: I wanted to know why he said what he said, as well as better understand him in general. He told me then something terrifying: that because he made wrong decision once in his life, and followed a path of revenge, or something along those lines, he became evil after he found some weapon that corrupted him. He didn't say what exactly he did, saying that it would take long time and would scar me mentally. He only said that he did a lot of terrible things, and it wasn't until shortly before he came into Equestria that he was brought back to his senses, and he fears deeply that he might became evil once again. He is plagued with guilt for what he did. His story sounds a lot like what had happened to your sister, Princess Luna.

I had said to him what I think is a great lesson about friendship: that If you have your friends with you, they can tell you when what you're about to do is wrong. Being surrounded by ponies you trust and have them advising you will always make you take the right course of action. I had also offered to became his friend, which he happily agreed to.

Matt is currently staying at my house. Of course, I have placed magical words to warn me if he would tried to cause harm, just in case. I don't believe he is of any danger to anypony, and my friends agree with me (well, mostly), but I felt that I have to ask for your opinion nonetheless.

Awaiting your response, your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

He was in a dark room, chained to the table. He couldn't get out, his bindings were to tight. He tried to look around the room he was in. At first, he couldn't see a thing, but after a while, he managed to make out several shapes, and he wished he didn't.

There were corpses on the floor, and the tools, which, judging by the blood on them, were used to kill them, hanged on the walls. But it wasn't until he noticed what those corpses had in common that he started to panic and tried to break free.

The corpses were skinned and had most of their organs removed, and if their faces were of any indication, it all happened when they were still alive.

He struggled with all his strength to break his bonds, but to no avail. When he finally stopped to catch his breath, he noticed that he could hear something.

Steps.

Whoever his captor was, he was coming.

Step by step, heartbeat by heartbeat, he was coming closer. Soon, his captor's steps became loud as thunder in his ears. He could feel his heart beating, as if anticipating that it would soon stop for all eternity.

Slowly, his captor came into sight. He gasped when he recognized the full body armor he wore. He tried to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth.

And his captor was still coming closer, until he stood right next to him. He raised a hand wielding an all too familiar to his victim shattered blade, and slowly, very slowly, brought it down to his chest.

When his captor started skinning him, an unbelievable pain shoot through him, but still no sound came out of him.

He didn't know how long it had taken, but cutting off all of his skin couldn't have been fast. When his captor finally stopped, he felt his mind empty from his soul's screams. That he was still sane was a testament to his will.

But what came next was possibly even worse.

The blade once again cut his flesh, this time digging deeper. He could feel a cold hand grabbing his insides and taking them out one by one. His captor didn't even spare his bones. By now, he was sure he was still alive - if he was alive - only because of his captor's whim.

Feeling the cold fingers grasping his heart, he struggled and looked at his captor's face. He must have sensed his victim's gaze, for he turned his head and their eyes met.

He frowned. Something was wrong.

His captor's eyes gleamed with a sadistic joy and started laughing, while at the same time spouting words very quickly, that his victim, despite his barely sane mind, or maybe because of it, could distinguish from one another, but not understand. He then put his hand on his helmet and took it of.

The face under it, bearing a horrifying grin, was Pinkie Pie's.

This time, Arthas Menethil screamed.

He woke up from his nightmare, only to find out that while in reality he wasn't in a dark room or that he wasn't bound, he could still feel the pain.

Matthias frowned as he remembered the taste of the 'Skele-Gro' that Twilight practically forced him to drink, or how he soon realised that the taste of it was the most pleasant part. The pain he felt now was nothing compared to the sensation of having a thousand small hot needles piercing his chest. He was surpised that he actually managed to fall asleep, although had he known he would have such scary and bizarre dream he would have stayed awake.

His thought were interrupted as Twilight barged into room.

"Is something wrong? I heard you screaming." she said with worried face.

"Guessing by your expression, nightmares aren't a side effect of your treatment?" Matthias said in light tone, despite his ordeal.

"Uh, no." replied Twilight with a hint of guilt. "What was your nightmare about?"

Matthias considered not telling her, but he knew that she would continue to pester him about it later.

"I saw what I thought was an old me torturing me, only to realise it was Pinkie Pie, and then I woke up."

"Pinkie?!"

"Yeah... I must have eaten something bad before I went to sleep." Matthias said, shrugging his arms.

Twilight gave him a look that said she wasn't convinced he had said the truth, but soon forgot about it.

"How do you feel?"

"All things considered, better." he replied, taking off his bandages.

The body lotion worked very well, despite not hurting nearly as bad as any other treatment Twilight have given him, and his hooves were completely healed. His chest, while still aching, appeared to be healed as well. Matthias stretched carefully and checked his ribs. Throughout the pain, they mended.

"I think I'm fine." Matt said, jumping down from his bed.

"Great. So, what do you want to do today?"

"I was thinking about having breakfast, and then tour around Ponyville, maybe? I didn't have a chance to get a good look of it yesterday with all that was going on."

"Excellent idea!" replied Twilight happily.

After they ate, they went outside. Spike stayed in the library, cleaning after the mess Twilight made while studying in the night and in the morning before Matthias woke up.

"You really like studying." he commented as they left.

Twilight just shrugged and went on.

"I was thinking we could go to the Sugarcube Corner first. You should apologies for the hole you made in their door, after all."

"Ow... I forgot about it. I should probably help them repair it, too."

"Don't worry about it, I already fixed it with my magic yesterday." replied Twilight.

Sugarcube Corner turned out to be run by Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and Pinkie Pie was their employee.

"Figures she would work in a place like this." Matthias thought as she was giving some pony cupcakes he just bought. For some unknown reason, this made him remember his dream. He shook his head and returned to the conversation.

"Once again, I apologize for... well, bursting in yesterday." he said to Mr. Cake.

"Don't worry about that. Thankfully, we were both upstairs at the moment, feeding the babies."

"I hope the noise I made didn't scare them." Matt replied, worried.

"They're just foals, they get scared of every loud noise. By the time Pinkie came they were already sleeping."

"I'm glad to hear it." Matthias said, glancing at Pinkie Pie, who was talking with Twilight at the moment. "Mr. Cake, do you mind telling me why you hired a pony like her? I mean no offence, but she seems kind of, well..."

"I know what you mean, but trust me, she's a great employee, and my wife and I couldn't have asked for a better foalsitter than her."

Matthias stared at him. Mr. Cake sighed.

"Yes, originally we thought the same. But she's really great with foals."

Before Matt could reply to that, Twilight came up.

"We'd best be going, if you want to see the rest of Ponyville today."

"Very well. Goodbye." he said to Mr. Cake.

"Goodbye Mr. Cake."

"Goodbye, and once again, thank you for fixing the door, Twilight."

"Where to now?" Matt asked Twilight when they left.

"Town hall. After that we could visit Rarity's boutique, Pinkie should join us there once she finishes her work."

The town hall was an impressive building, to say at least. A lot more familiar to Matthias than a giant tree he was sleeping in, that’s for sure. However, it looked more like a carousel than town hall, but he decided to keep it to himself as he talked with the mayor of Ponyville, a sympathetic mare, who thanked him for getting rid of the dragons, but asked him to not be so brutal in the future.

At Rarity's boutique they found Spike, which wasn't a surprise to neither of them. Soon after they came in, Rarity started asking Matthias questions about fashion in Azeroth, like how did the most luxurious dresses looked like, how much the most expensive suits cost, and stuff like that. He tried to answer to the best of his possibilities, which normally wouldn't be so hard; his mother and sister, as well as Jaina for some time, had plenty of beautiful dresses, and he have seen them on many occasions. He also had to wear formal clothes from time to time, not to mention he had dealt with many nobles and have seen what they wore. There was one problem: those were human's clothes. He tried his best to describe how would they looked like in a version for ponies, helping himself by looking at some of Rarity's dresses, and surprisingly, she found the clothes from his description to be 'dazzling', and said that he gave her a lot of ideas.

By the time they finished talking, Pinkie Pie came, and they decided to go visit Applejack, who was living on a farm outside Ponyville with her family. On they way there, they unexpectedly run into Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Apparently, Rainbow Dash have just finished her weather jobs for today, and Fluttershy returned somepony's pet that she was taking care for. Since neither of them had anything better to do for the rest of the day, they decided to join the others and they were going to see Applejack all together.

Before they managed to make few steps, however, something weird happened.

"Oh no!" Pinkie started shouting out of the blue.

"What happened?"

"My knee is pinching!"

Matthias was about to roll his eyes, when he noticed that for some reason everypony was looking at her with fear in their eyes.

"Something scary is about to happen at Sweet Apple Acers!"

And like that, everypony started running in the direction of Applejack's farm. Besides Matt, who for few moments simply stared after them.

"Can somepony explain to me what just happened?" he asked, easily catching up with them.

"Look, I know this won't make much sense," started Twilight, "but Pinkie has something she calls 'Pinkie Sense'. She can predict the future through various twitches and involuntary motions made by her body. And now she predicts that something scary is about to happen on Applejack's farm!"

"How come in a peaceful land like this so many bad things happen?" asked Matt, trying to imagine what could be happening at the farm.

"Well, its... Wait, you believe this? Just like that?!" Twilight asked in astonishment. And she wasn't the only one; even Pinkie Pie seemed to be surprised.

"Are you kidding? After all the things prophets and shamans put me through, I am just glad that this 'Pinkie Sense' is at least specific!" Matthias replied without glancing at them.

They quickly made they way to the farm, and could already see the big sign saying 'Sweet Apple Acres'.

"What that noise?" asked Rarity.

Matthias started listening.

"Oh its just Winona. Applejack's dog." Twilight added to Matt, but he was already running towards the noise at the back of the farm.

"It's not a dog!" he shouted back, speeding up.

Rainbow Dash, who quickly realised what he meant, flew fast ahead of him.

"You fool!" thought Matthias, forcing his legs to run even faster.

By the time he got there, a huge timberwolf was about to pounce at Rainbow, who was standing over Applejack laying form.

"Duck!" he shouted at Rainbow Dash, jumping.

Thankfully, she listened, so the timberwolf, instead of pouncing at the cyan mare, collided in the air with Matthias. The speed with which Matt was running made both of them roll on the ground, but the wolf was faster to recover, and pounced at him, biting his arm.

Matthias growled and attempted to throw the timberwolf off him. He almost stopped when he recognized the scars on its muzzle and missing teeth.

"You again?!" he thought angrily, shaking him off.

The loss of his teeth didn't work well for the timberwolf. He was visibly thinner, and alone. The other wolves must have abandoned him. Not feeling sorry for the animal that just tried to hurt his friends, he quickly turned and kicked him with his back legs. Since the fight with the timberwolves, he grew more accustomed to his new body, and was a lot faster now. The wolf didn't even have a chance to dodge, and soon was flying between trees.

The timberwolf picked himself up, growled, and started running away.

"You think I will let you get away that easily?!" Matthias thought.

He started to give chase after the timberwolf, but soon Twilight scream stopped him dead in his tracks:

"Applejack!"

Matthias looked back and felt his blood run cold.

Applejack was laying on the ground in the pool of her own blood, gasping for air, with her throat ripped open.

14. Heart's tears

Twilight watched in shock as her friend's life fluids were flowing out of her body. For what seemed like an eternity, she couldn't move a muscle, or think a single thought other that:

"This can't be happening!".

Finally Rarity managed to snap her out of her torpor, shaking her vigorously.

"D-do something!" she shouted.

Twilight shook her head and tried to focus. If she could teleport her and Applejack to the hospital, the doctors might be able to stop the bleeding. There was one problem, though; teleportation spell was always a bit tricky if it was used to teleport more pony than just the user. With Applejack in this state, she could go into shock and pass out, and if she would pass out now...

"It's no use." said Matthias unexpectedly. Twilight glanced at him; when she saw him a moment ago, he was still wrestling with that timberwolf. Now he walked up to them, despite a bitemark on his arm. "She has lost too much blood already. I'm sorry, but there is nothing you can do."

He spoke calmly, with a voice that spoke of a first-hoof experience in the matter, but when Twilight looked in his eyes she saw a deep sadness in them.

"This can't be happening!" she thought, forcing herself to think of something - anything - that could save her friend.

Nothing came to her mind.

"It's your fault!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

Twilight watched as the cyan pegasus hit Matthias and pinned him to the ground. He didn't even tried to fight back.

"That timberwolf came here for you!" she kept screaming at the stallion; Twilight noticed that she also bore few wounds, and there was a small stream of blood on her head. "If you haven't beaten that wolf so badly, he wouldn't have come here, and Applejack wouldn't... wouldn't..." unable to say it, Rainbow Dash surrendered to her grief and started crying, putting her face in hooves.

The sight of their friend, who so disliked showing any 'sappy' emotions, crying, was to much for everypony. They all burst into tears. Twilight pressed her head to Applejack's trying to comfort her in her last moments.

Matthias knew that he had to try.

He rose up, despite knowing that it couldn't work. He came closer to Applejack, despite fearing that his action could only give a false hope to everypony. He put his hooves on her body, despite not having hope.

He closed his eyes, lifted his head, and started praying.

"Light, I will not ask for forgiveness for my sins, for I am far beyond redemption. But I do not ask you for help for me, I ask for you to help this mare. She is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die. Please, grant me the power to heal her."

Nothing happened.

Twilight looked up hearing Matthias spoke. He was standing close by, performing some sort of prayer. But what he said made no sense: 'grant me the power to heal her'? Twilight felt angered that he tried to do something so useless, and wanted to hit him like Rainbow Dash for a moment, but she was too grief-stricken to do that.

Like he expected, nothing happened.

Matt was about to move away, when Applejack coughed. He instinctively glanced at her. She was still alive, somehow, but she didn't have much time. She must have tried to say something, because she coughed blood.

Looking at her, Matthias remembered how she boldly said to him that he was dangerous, or how she was the first one after Twilight to trust him.

He remembered Invincible.

The day when he died flashed before his eyes. It was during winter. He would have normally had a prayer session at that time, but his father was on a diplomatic mission to Stromgarde, and Uther had accompanied him, and that left Arthas with his afternoons free, and he wasn't going to waste them, despite the weather. So he rode with Invincible through the snowstorm, galloping the familiar path. He was about to turn back, right after they would've jumped, like they had jumped so many times in the past. But that jump turned into a disaster, as Invincible lost his balance on the ice and shattered both of his forelegs. Arthas wanted to help him, but he wasn't a paladin then, he didn't know how one channeled the powers of Light to heal others, and they were trapped in the middle of storm. He didn't know how far it was to the closest town, and even then, he couldn't know if there was a priest there. Uther was in Stromgarde, and so was the bishop. There was only one thing the young prince could have done for the poor stallion.

And that was to end his suffering.

He didn't know how long it took him to find the strength to do that, but he finally rose, lifted his sword, and, apologizing to his friend, he pierced his heart.

The memory of that day haunted Arthas for the rest of his life as a human, blaming himself for what he knew to be his fault. Even after he became death knight, and resurrected Invincible, he still yowled in pain when King Anasterian Sunstrider cut of both of his forelegs, reminding him of his first failure.

Now he looked at Applejack, a pony, laying in a pool of her own blood.

"No!" he shouted in his head. "I will not fail again!"

He started praying again, trying to recall how did it felt, when Light touched his heart and soul.

"If you have to, take my life! I deserve to die a thousand deaths, while she doesn't! Take my life and save her!"

Nothing happened.

Matthias cursed in his thoughts. He shouldn't have expected the Light to answer him. It didn't help him save Invincible, it delayed its approval at his introduction to the Order of the Silver Hand, it didn't...

... it didn't help him in Stratholme.

Twilight glanced at Matt, when he again pleaded to whatever this 'light' was. She didn't bother to tell him to stop. She, along with her friends, preferred to spend her last seconds with Applejack recalling every moment they knew her; like when they defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord, when she refused to accept help during Applebuck Season, when she and Rarity were forced to spend the night in Twilight's house, when she and Rainbow Dash competed for the title of best athlete in Ponyville, how Applejack refused to go back home after the Equestria Rodeo Competition...

Unbelievable pain shoot through Twilight as she realised that they were about to lose their friend forever, and there was nothing they could do.

So lost was she in her pain, that she didn't even noticed, that Matthias, whose face was a second ago bristling with anger, was now crying.

He started to cry as the realisation had struck him.

"It's my fault."

It was his fault that he couldn't heal her. Had he not done all those atrocities, had he not slaughtered his subjects and rose them from death, had he not killed his father and Uther, if he wasn't so far beyond redemption, he could have easily save Applejack.

But he couldn't. All he could do was cry.

He cried for Applejack. He cried for his father. He cried for Uther. He cried for his subjects. He cried for Invincible.

Arthas Menethil, King of the fallen Lordaeron, cried for everyone.

"Please..." he tried one last time. "It's my folly... my fault... Please..."

Twilight Sparkle wiped her eyes. She tried to think how was it possible that the sun was in her eyes when it was just few hours after noon, but she soon realised that the light that was blinding her didn't come from the sun, but instead was coming from Matthias.

Like a familiar caress from a loved friend, he felt it.

Tears are the first step in healing one's heart...

The Light raced through him, comforting and warm, and he bit back a sob as he saw the glow begin to embrace his hooves.

The Light never abandons those in need...

Matthias drank it in, opened his heart to it.

Applejack would not die.

Twilight gasped as the light from Matt's hooves flew and embraced Applejack body. For a moment that seemed to her and everypony else stretch forever, Applajack seemed to shine like a sun. Everypony gasped as they realised that her wound stopped bleeding, and started closing.

After a second the light dimmed, and then vanished.

And so did the wound.

Applejack stirred, opened her eyes, and then got up.

"Wha... what happened?" she asked, looking them with a puzzled expression.

Before she knew it, everypony thrown themselves at her, hugging her and crying.

"Oh Applejack, you're okay!"

"I'm so glad..."

"What's with ya'll?" she asked confused.

"Don't you remember?" asked Twilight. "A timberwolf attacked you, and he... ripped your throat! You were dying!"

Applejack stared at her in horror as she remembered. She quickly put a hoof at her throat, to check if it was really healed, while looking at the blood pool they all stood in.

"How did... what... how..."

"Matthias... he did something." that was all Twilight could say. She had no idea what it was that he did, but at the moment, she didn't gave a flying feather about it.

She was simply glad she didn't have to say good bye.

They all glanced at him. Matthias was starring at his hooves, a shy smile on his face.

"Thank you." they said to him in unison.

Matt glanced up, his smile widening, and reaching his eyes.

"Do not thank me. Thank the Light."

15. Compassion

Twilight stared at Matthias, trying to comprehend what he just said. Apparently, it was thanks to to this 'light' that he's been praying to that Applejack was alive.

"That makes no sense!" she thought. "You can't just 'pray' and make something like that happen! It's not scientifically possible."

The only explanation that came to her mind was that Matthias somehow managed to use some sort of magic, despite not being an unicorn. But if that was the case, then why was he trying to say that it wasn't his doing? And what was that magic? It looked a bit like something Twilight has seen Princess Celestia do few times, but felt... different.

"Just what is Matthias, exactly?!"

"What do you mean?" she asked, feeling her head hurt from trying to figure out all of this. "What kind of magic was that?"

"That wasn't magic." Matt replied calmly.

"What?!" asked Twilight, starting to shout. "You can't just heal somepony's ripped throat and say that it wasn't magic!"

"Then let me rephrase that: it wasn't magic as you understand it". said Matthias, amusement in his eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Twilight, still angry.

She didn't notice that her friends moved away from her a bit.

"As much as I would love to explain the ways of the Light to you, I have other matters to attend to." replied Matthias, getting up from the ground.

"What 'other matters'?" asked Rainbow Dash suspiciously.

"Isn't it obvious?" told her Matthias, turning to look at her.

Noticing her wounds, he frowned. He closed his eyes and pointed a hoof at her. Again, mysterious light enveloped it, and before anypony could react, the light enveloped Rainbow Dash as well. The cyan pegasus gasped, but the light vanished from her even faster than from Applejack.

Dash looked at the few bitemarks left by the timberwolf. They were gone.

Matthias opened his eyes.

"I'm going to hunt down that wolf before it causes any more harm."

Having said that, Matt turned and was about to follow the track left by the timberwolf.

"Wait!" Twilight called after him. "What are you going to do to it once you find it?"

Matthias sighed. He should have expected that they would try to talk him out of it.

"An animal isn't a sentient creature like dragons, it can't be reasoned with." he said, glancing back at them. "If it won't be stopped permanently, it will come here again. I know it's not the way you do things around here, but there is no choice. That timberwolf has to be put down."

And with that he resumed tracking the beast, only to be stopped again.

"Wait!" came a shout from above him, and a blink of an eye later Fluttershy landed in front of him. "That timberwolf only came here because he couldn't hunt normal prey with so many of his teeth missing! If you could heal him like you did Applejack and Rainbow Dash, he wouldn't have a reason to come here again!"

Matthias shook his head.

"Even if I were to do that, it already tasted pony's blood. It knows it's an easier prey than whatever they eat in the forest." he said and attempted to get pass Fluttershy, only to have her stop him again, much to his annoyance.

"I could talk to him, tell him to not attack ponies."

"You've barely spoken to me, but you think you can convince a wolf to not attack ponies just by talking to him?"

"I..."

"Look, enough is enough!" he finally snapped. "I have a deep respect for the fact that Equestria is such a peaceful land, but you can't always have that kind of attitude in the face of danger! Now, if you excuse me, I..."

"Just who do you think you are, mister!" shouted Fluttershy unexpectedly, and Matthias found himself backing up. "Just because you're big and strong doesn't mean you can go ordering everypony around, or deciding who can live and who should die!"

Matt, to his amazement, realized that he was stunned, or even scared, from her change of attitude.

"What the bloody hell just happened?" he thought.

This was ridiculous; he was once a Lich King, a single most evil being on Azeroth - why was he suddenly afraid of this shy little pony, who until now had barely exchanged two sentences with him?

"That timberwolf had nearly killed your friend!" Matthias replied when he managed to hold himself together. "Next time it can come after you, or somepony else, and I might not be around in time. Life of one wolf, or lives of many ponies. It's as simple as that!" Matt said it in a voice full of conviction...

.. the same conviction Prince Arthas's voice held when he ordered the Culling of Stratholme.

Matthias sighed, took a deep breath, and said:

"Very well, lets try this your way."

Fluttershy, who was about to start lecturing him again, looked at him wide eyed. And she wasn't the only one; everypony was surprised by this sudden change of heart.

"Um... what?" asked Fluttershy when initial shock passed.

"You're right." replied Matt, sighing again. "I shouldn't decide who can life and who should die. My mentor once said to me: 'the third and most important of the Light's virtues is compassion'. I should have at least tried another option before I would do something irreversible. Lets go."

"Wha... now?" asked Fluttershy as Matthias started to make his way again.

"Yes, we need to find him now, when his trail is still fresh." Matt replied, stopping briefly.

"Uh... 'we'?"

"You're going to talk to it, I'm going to heal him."

"Eh... shouldn't we all go?" asked Rainbow Dash. "The timberwolf probably went back into the Everfree Forest. It would be dangerous if it's just the two of you."

"If there will be more than two ponies, it will most likely try to escape." said Matthias, starting to get annoyed again. "Do not worry, I won't let any harm come to Fluttershy. The rest of you'd better clean yourselves from this blood on your coats."

"Matt..." started Twilight.

"What?!" snapped Matt, looking back.

Twilight was pointing at him.

"You have a cutie mark!" she said happily.

Matthias looked surprised at his flank.

"Hey, she's right." said Dash, flying up to better see it.

"But... what is that?" asked Fluttershy.

"It's like a... "

"Did it appeared now, or was it after he healed Applejack?"

"I don't know, I just noticed it."

"What is that?" asked everypony.

"It's a symbol of the order I once belonged to." replied Matthias, looking with a frown on a silver symbol on his white coat. "It's Silver Hand. Lets go, Fluttershy." he said with a sigh.

Twilight looked at the distancing figure of Matthias, followed quickly by Fluttershy, with a lot of questions going through her head.

"Why was his cutie mark a hand? Did he earned it when he healed Applejack, or when he listened to Fluttershy? What kind of order he belonged to? How could he have a cutie mark, when he said he was from a land where ponies didn't have them? Why wasn't he happy that he earned it?

"Why didn't he heal the wound on his arm?"

As Matthias walked, fallowing the timberwolf's tracks on the ground, he was thankful that Fluttershy reverted to her quiet self. He needed to think. The pain in his shoulder wasn't helping, but it wasn't anything serious, so he didn't bothered to ask the Light for healing for himself.

"Why is my cutie mark a symbol of the Knights of the Silver Hand? Does this mean that my special talent is... being a paladin?" he though back to the voice he heard when the Light touched him. He knew it must have belonged to the naaru, a dimension-traveling race of sentient energy beings, that seemed to be an embodiment of the Light, or at least had a very deep affinity for it. It said that 'tears are the first step in healing one's heart'. Was that the 'wound' that Medivh had mentioned? "Well, I did cut my heart out, and had it destroyed. No wonder it was wounded." he thought with a dark humor.

"Does the fact that my cutie mark is a symbol of the Silver Hand means that there is no chance I will lose my way again?" that was the most important question. The one he didn't know an answer to.

They had entered the forest soon - too soon for Fluttershy's liking, judging by the way she started shivering - and he had to stay focused. If his tracking sense was correct, the timberwolf was close by.

"When we find it, stay behind me." he said to Fluttershy, turning his head. "Wait for me to subdue the wolf, then you can do... whatever it is that you want to do."

"Alright..." her widening eyes were the only warning he got.

He uttered a prayer for protection.

A barrier made of pure Light enveloped him. The timberwolf that tried to pounce on him yowled surprised when he collided with it. He stumbled back, dazed.

Matthias was about to make it even more dazed, but suddenly Fluttershy jumped in front of him.

"What do you think you're doing!" she started screaming at wolf, which, to Matt's amazement, instead of growling, whimpered. "You should be ashamed of yourself! Not only you attacked my friend at the farm, but now you attacked another pony when he came to help you! What do you have to say for yourself!? I asked: 'WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF'!?" she repeated when the wolf didn't react immediately.

As the giant timberwolf whimpered even more sorrowfully, Matthias was glad that Fluttershy wasn't shouting at him.

"That's okay, nopony is hurt now." Fluttershy said in her normal sweet voice. "But you must never do that again, understood!?"

Matt could swear he heard the wolf say 'understood'.

"Um, Matt... could you heal him now?"

"Oh, sure." he replied, trying not to think to much into it.

As he approached the timberwolf, he started growling at him, until he was silenced by Fluttershy stare. Matthias put a hoof on wolf's muzzle and uttered a prayer for healing once again.

Once again, the Light enveloped him and spread to the timberwolf, which, in contrast to Dash, stayed calm. In fact, it was even calmer that... ever. When the Light finished healing him, he looked back at Matthias with his muzzle full of teeth, and unexpectedly licked his hoof.

As Matthias moved back, astonished, the wolf started licking Fluttershy's face.

"I'm glad that you're healed, too." she said, laughing. "Now, off you go, and remember, don't ever harm another pony."

The timberwolf barked at response, wiggling his tail, and run back into a deeper part of the forest.

Matt stared at Fluttershy.

"How did you do that?!" he asked with wide eyes. "You just turned a giant wolf into a happy pup!"

"Oh, I'm just good with animals." she answered. blushing. "It's my special talent, you see."

"'Just good with animals'?" repeated Matthias as the made they way back. "I know of druids that could learn from you!"

"'Druids'?"

"Nevermind." he answered, shaking his head.

Once again, this world proved to be more amazing than anything he knew on Azeroth.

"We should go and tell everypony that the timberwolf won't return again." said Fluttershy.

"Do you mind doing this yourself?" asked Matthias. "I... need to think about few things."

"Oh, okay."

"If anypony needs me, I will be by the river." he said, meaning his pondering place. "And Fluttershy?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"For what?" asked surprised Fluttershy.

"For reminding me what compassion is. I needed that."

16. Shattering

When Matthias and Fluttershy left, the rest did as he suggested them. They went to Applejack's house and cleaned themselves up. They were all grateful that nopony was here: Granny Smith went to visit one of her friends, Big Mac was selling apples at market, and Apple Bloom had stayed with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at school working at the school newspaper, the Foal Free Press. They didn't think they could explain to anypony why they were all covered in Applejack's blood.

"So... what do you all think?" asked Twilight when they were cleaning themselves.

"About what, darling?"

"Oh, I don't know: about the weather, the sun, or that our friend was saved by a weird earth pony that can use a weird magic!"

"Calm down, sugarcube." said Applejack. "Ah was the one dying, Ah should be nervous."

"Right, sorry." said Twilight, but then noticed something. "Wait a second, you're right! You should be nervous, or depressed, or something!"

"What'ya mean?"

"You can just have a near death experience and just act normal so soon. But here you are, calming me."

"Ya know, ya're right." said Applejack, rubbing her head. "Ah know Ah shouldn't be calm, but... Ah am. Ah don't understand, but when Matt did... whatever he did, Ah felt..."

"Felt... what?" asked Twilght after few moments when her friend stayed silent.

Applejack thought few seconds more, then shook her head.

"Ah don't know how to explain that. Rainbow, he did the same to'ya." she said, turning to the cyan pegasus. "Could'ya tell what that feeling was?"

Rainbow Dash made a troubled expression, and after a while also shook her head.

"Trust Dash to talk about feelings." Twilight frowned.

"Does it matter?" asked Spike. "Shouldn't we be just glad that Matthias healed them?"

"It's not that I'm not glad." replied Twilight. "I just want to know how an earth pony could use magic. It doesn't make sense!"

"Sugar, remember how'ya tried to figure out somethin'bout another earth pony?"

They all looked through the window. Pinkie Pie was outside, apparently talking to some bird.

"And how did that turned out?" asked Spike.

Twilght turned her sight at the wall.

"Point taken." she admitted. "But still..."

She was interrupted as Fluttershy entered the room.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt you?"

"No, Fluttershy." she sighed. "Back so soon?"

"Yes, we found that poor wolf quickly, and..."

"'Poor'? Fluttershy, dear, it tried to kill Applejack!" Rarity said.

"Only because he was hungry!" the shy pony defended the wolf, cringing at Rarity's tone of voice.

"Hey, where's Matt?" asked Spike, and only now they realised that he didn't come with Fluttershy.

"Oh, he said that he needed to think about some things. He said that if anypony needs him, he will be by the river."

"Did he went sulking again?" thought Twilight, half annoyed, half worried.

"Lets go everypony. I have some questions for him."

"Alright, Ah need to thank him properly, anyhow."

As they made their way out of Applejack's house, they were approached by Pinkie.

"Pinkie, we're going to see Matt. Are you coming?"

The pink pony nodded her head energetically.

"Of course I'm coming, how else I'm going to deliver Mattie that message?"

"Well then, lets... Wait, what? What message?" asked Twilight.

"This message." Pinkie replied, giving her a piece of paper.

Twilight looked at it. To her astonishment, the paper was covered with some strange symbols she didn't recognise.

"Pinkie, where did you find this?"

"Oh, I didn't find it." replied Pinke. "This really nice raven asked me to give it to Mattie."

"A raven."

"Aha."

"A bird."

"Correctamundo!"

"Pinkie, birds don't talk!"

"Well, that one did."

Twiligh facehoofed herself.

"Did this 'raven' told you its name?" she asked, figuring it would be easier to play along instead of objecting.

"He said his name was keeping secrets... wait... or that it was 'Keeper of secrets'."

"That’s not a name!"

"Well, that's what it meant."

Twilight was about to burst into flames out of irritation, when Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Sugar? Matt?"

"Right." Twilight replied, irritated even further that her friend, that almost died not even an hour ago, was calming her down again. "Lets go, everypony. The sooner we get to Matthias, the sooner we can get some answers."

Matthias sat at by the river bank, not looking at his reflection this time. This time, he had his eyes closed, as he tried something he never actually tried to do before.

Meditating.

He knew he wasn't going to find any answers by thinking things over and over, so the only way to figure out why he was here that was left for him was to try to use his renewed connection to the Light and get into a trance, in which he might find those answers.

The problem was, the spiritual aspects of the Light never were his speciality. In fact, that actually fell more into a priests' area of interests rather than paladins'. However, paladins were as much as warriors as priest, so he hoped that Light would answer him. He knew it spoke to Uther, Tirion and Turalyon, the three greatest of this calling ever to be born among humans, or even other races. While Matthias was definitely far from being a perfect paladin, if he could muster enough patience, it would surely bring results.

"Then again, patience isn't really my speciality, either." he mused, but quickly brushed that thought off and resumed his trance.

He could feel the Light. That alone brought him happiness, joy, pride, and inner peace... as well as pain and deep shame. But it was there, in his heart, and even if it wasn't speaking to him like it did at the moment when he healed Applejack, he could feel its warmth. That the Light forgave him, or at least trusted him enough to let him help somepony filled Matthias with wonder at its purity.

"Lad, no one feels ready. No one feels he deserves it." Uther's words, said to him at the day of his introduction to the Order of the Silver Hand came to him now. "And you know what? Because no one does. It's grace, pure and simple. We are inherently unworthy, simply because we're human, and all human beings--aye, and elves, and dwarves, and all the other races--are flawed. But the Light loves us anyway. It loves us for what we sometimes can rise to in rare moments. It loves us for what we can do to help others. And it loves us because we can help it share its message by striving daily to be worthy, even though we understand that we can't ever truly become so. So stand there today, as I did, feeling that you can't possibly deserve it or ever be worthy, and know that you're in the same place every single paladin has ever stood."

"If all human beings are flawed, than how would you have called me?" Matthias thought, feeling the tears to start gather in his eyes again.

He shook his head. He couldn't meditate with those kind of feelings - or, in fact, any kind of feelings or thoughts. He took a deep breath...

"Hi mister!" shouted three familiar fillies.

Matt sighed and felt his tail twitch in annoyance.

"Hello, girls." he replied, opening his eyes.

"What are you doing, mister?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"You know, you can call me Matthias, or Matt. 'Mister' makes me sound old." Matthias said with a grin. "As for what I was doing, I was meditating."

"Medy-what?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Thinking." Matt simplified.

"Ouhh... what were you thinking abo..."

"HE HAS A CUTIE MARK!!!" shouted Scootaloo.

"Oh, no." Matthias thought as the three fillies stared at him wide eyed.

"When did you get a cutie mark?"

"About... an hour ago."

"How did'ya get it?

"What is you special talent?"

"Yeah, what is that, some kind of statue or something?"

"You do realize I can't answer all you question at once, right?" asked Matthias, hoping somepony would come and save him.

The girls looked at each other, and Sweetie Belle was about to repeat one of the questions, when suddenly:

"There he is!"

Matthias and the fillies looked at the direction the voice of Twilight Sparkle came from. She was followed by the other mares and one dragon. For some reason, she appeared to be almost angry.

"Did'ya do somethin' bad again, Matt?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Nothing I know of." replied Matthias.

"I'm not going to meditate today, aren't I?" he though, regretting for what he wished a moment ago.

"Hey." the paladin asked his companion.

"Yeah?" the death knight replied, not taking his eyes off from the frozen wasteland that was below them.

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

" It’s one of life’s great mysteries, isn’t it?" said the death knight, looking up at the sky. "Why are we here? Are we just a product of Titans failed experiments, or is it Light's doing? I don't know, man, "he added with a sigh, "but it keeps me up at nigh."

His friend from the Argent Crusade stared at him.

"...What?! I mean why are we out here, on this freaking ice spire?"

"Oh. Uh... yeah." replied the Knight of the Ebon Blade.

"What was all that stuff about keeping you up at night? You don't sleep!"

"Uh...hm? Nothing."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously though, why are we out here?" asked the paladin, getting back to the subject. "As far as I can tell, it's just a pile of ice in the middle of nowhere"

"Well, it is the Icecrown Citadel." reminded him death knight. "We're suppose to guard it."

"Guard it from what? The sleeping beauty over there?" said paladin, pointing at the frozen figure behind them.

As everyone within the Ashen Verdict, the combined force ot he elite Argent Crusaders and Knights of the Ebon Blade, they knew who sat on the Lich King's Throne, as well as why.

"You know, for a paladin, you have surprisingly little respect for someone who chose to be damned to save Azeroth."

"It's not that I don't respect him, it's just that I don't understand why we have to freeze our asses up here."

"If you're asking specifically why here, it's because it was our turn to stand here. Just be glad it wasn't our shift when the Banshee Queen came, those two are still standing guard at the bottom of the Citadel, near the entrance to Naz'anak."

That got the paladin to shiver. The Forgotten Depths were the home to the faceless ones, servants of the Old Gods. Where they walked, only madness stayed. The commander left in charge felt it was a perfect place to have stationed two imbeciles who let the Dark Lady do whatever it was she wanted to do without anyone from Ashen Verdict accompanying her.

"And if you mean the Citadel in general," continued the death knight, "it's because both of the Highlords ordered so. Write them a letter of complaint."

"Before it would get to them, I would be an ice sculpture." muttered the paladin. "It's easy for you, you don't feel cold anymore."

"One of the perks of being dead." replied the death knight with a typical for his kind dark humor.

"Hello." said Matthias as the group approached.

But for the moment, their main focus wasn't he.

"Apple Bloom, ya told me ya'll were stayin' at school to work at the school paper!"

"We are!"

"Yes, we were hoping we could get an interview from Matt!"

"What?"

"I hope you weren't going to write anything like during the whole 'Gabby Gums incident', weren't you girls?" asked Rarity.

"Wha... Of course not!" replied Sweetie Belle.

"We were going to ask him about where he came from, how did he got here, where did he learned how to fight..."

"But now we wanted to ask how did he got his cutie mark!"

"I'm sorry, girls, but that talk will have to wait a bit." interjected Twilight. "We have to talk with Matt about some... grown up ponies stuff."

"'Grown up ponies stuff'? What'ya mean?"

"Why do I have a weird feeling that none of them is going to ask me out on a date?" thought Matthias, suspecting what they wanted to talk in general. "It would seem that I'm not the only one with questions."

This time he was prepared to tell them almost everything; that he was from another world, that he wasn't always a pony...

Everything except his crimes. He doubted that they would have wanted to have anything to do with him if they knew, despise their declarations of trust and friendship yesterday.

"But we want to know how he got his cutie mark now!" begged Sweetie Belle with an eyes of a puppy.

"Come now, girls." said Matthias before anypony else answered her plea. "I'm sure this won't take too long. And besides, we can always talk another time, right?"

The fillies looked at each other.

"Ya promise?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Yes, I promise. And a gentlecolt always keeps his word." he added with a courteous bow.

"Okay then." replied fillies, brightening up. "See you."

"So..." asked Matthias when the three of them were out of earshot. "What do you want to talk about?"

Thrall, Former Warchief of the Horde, looked at the piece of Cairne's shattered runespear he selected from his pyre. It bore a single rune: healing. He would keep this, to remember Cairne by. To always be in touch with his heart.

Thrall jumped lightly to the earth and began to walk slowly toward the setting sun. He didn't look back.

The wind was slightly chill after the sun had gone, Thrall reflected. There was much that yet needed to be discussed with Baine, much planning that still needed to be done. Yet before that, Thrall desired a little time to sit with Aggra in this peaceful land.

"Who you really are?" started Twilight. "How can you use magic despite not being a unicorn? What kind of magic was that? Why are ravens sending you messages?!"

Twilight cursed at herself as she yelled in her frustration Pinkie's ridiculous story.

"Ravens?" asked Matt with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I..."

"You mean Medivh?"

"Yeap, that’s his name." replied Pinkie Pie.

Twilight stared at both of them.

"What?!" she screamed finally. "Pinkie, you said that its name was 'Keeper of secrets'!"

"Yes, it is!" confirmed the pink pony happily.

"Eee... I don't know how she knows this..." interjected Matthias quickly. "... But his name, Medivh, actually means 'keeper of secrets'. What was the message?"

"Here you go!" said Pinkie, giving him the piece of paper with strange symbols on it.

As Matt read the message, Twilight fought hard to calm herself.

Deep within the Alterac Valley, Drek'Thar and his attendant Palkar sat in the hut, eating dinner. News of Baine victory over Grimtotem and reclaiming of Thunder Bluff spread quickly, even to this faraway corner of the world, and they warmed everyone's hearts. Even Drek'Thar, who has once again started to lose his contact with reality, joined in public joy.

Matthias looked at the brief message that Medivh for some reason wrote in Thalassian and entrusted to Pinkie Pie:

Well done, young king

-Medivh

Matt made a mental note to hit the Prophet as soon as he sees him next time.

"What a confounded..." he muttered.

"What did it say?" asked Twilight.

"Nothing of a significance. I swear, annoying others must be the only amusement he has left."

"Okay..." said Twilight, visibly handling the situation as well as Matthias. "Matt, look. I respect your privacy, and understand that you have reasons for not telling us everything, but...

"Yes, I know." interrupted her Matt. It was time for some confessions.

Deep within the middle of Azeroth, the Maelstorm, the gigantic rift that was created when the Well of Eternity collapsed into itself during the Great Sundering, was furiously spinning, as it always had in the ten thousand years of it existence.

If there was anybody unfortunate enough to find himself close to it, he would have noticed that suddenly, the water shook.

That there was a light coming from the center of the Maelstorm.

That you could hear a laughter.

Twilight listened as Matthias spoke.

"I know it must be hard when you are trying to trust somepony that you know close to nothing about. That's why I decided to tell you everything. Make no mistake - I will still not tell you what it was that I did during my time as 'evil', not just because I dislike thinking about it, but for your own good. I doubt you could get much sleep after hearing this story."

Twilight enthusiasm for hearing the truth about Matt was a bit shaded by the feeling of offense at his comment; they fought Nightmare Moon, they fought Discord; what could possibly he worst than the two of them?

"Were should I start?" wondered Matthias. "I guess it would be best if I told you that-"

Whatever Matt was going to say, it was immediately interrupted by a terrifying yowl of pain that came out of his mouth.

Arthas Menethil screamed.

He screamed louder that he ever did, as the pain that he felt, that some part of his mind knew to not be his, erupted within him with an intensity that he never thought to be possible.

And in the back of his mind, he could hear two other screams.

Icecrown Citadel, until now silent as death, shook.

The paladin and the death knight desperatly throw themselves away from the gasp, trying to grab anything that was attached to the Citadel. The Knight of the Ebon Blade managed to get a hold of one of the ice spikes coming out from the frozen floor near the Throne. Noticing that his friend was about to fall over, he reached with his hand, barely managing to grab him in time.

He hawled the paladin up to where he stood and they waited. Waited for whatever the hell was going on to stop. At some point, they looked at the Frozen Throne.

The paladin felt his heart stop beating, and he had no doubt that if his friend's would still beat, it would also had stopped.

It was cracking!

The earth split before Thrall.

He leaped aside, landing and rolling and getting swiftly to his feet only to be knocked off them again. The ground beneath him surged upward as if he were riding the back of the great creature, lifting him up and up. He clung to it, unable to rise and flee, and even if he did flee, to where?

"Earth, soil and stone, I ask of you calmness. Share with me what it is you fear, name it, and I will-"

The earth did have a voice, and now it screamed, a rumbling agonizing cry.

Thrall felt the rip in the world. It was not here, not in the Thunder Bluff, nor even in Kalimdor-it was to the east, in the midst of the ocean, in the center of the Maelstorm.... This, then, was what the elements had been afraid of. A shattering, a cataclysm, breaking the earth as Dreanor had been broken. Through his connection with them, their terror surged through him, and he, too, threw back his head and shrieked for a long moment.

Drek'Thar, who had been dozing, bolted upright.

His blind eyes could see what other's could not, and he now beheld the full terror of what was happening to Azeroth.

A scream was thorn from his throat.

Twilight and everypony else looked terrified at Matthias, cowering their ears.

Matthias, who fought with timberwolves without uttering a single sound of pain, who had his ribs shattered and hooves burned by a dragon and merely grunted, who endured medieval medicine's treatment with only few yowls, was now screaming in a voice that nopony would believe a pony could utter, as if he was pelted from his skin.

They weren't the only ones that heard it. As Matthias scream grow louder and louder, and he was squirming at the ground in pain, few ponies came, alarmed, to see what was making such terrible noises.

Twilight knew that even more were cowering in fear.

As Matthias screams seemed to go on forever, it shifted, and everypony could hear the words...

Words that were uttered by three voices.

Arthas Menethil, Ner'zhul, Bolvar Fordragon, Thrall and Drek'Thar all sreamed the same words at the same time:

"The oceans will boil! The land will weep, and the world will break!"

After that, they knew nothing.

Twilight gazed at Matt, who finally went silent.

However, she was now more afraid for him than when he screamed.

"Quick, we have to take him to a hospital!" said somepony, Twilight didn't know who; Matthias scream deafened them all.

"No." she said. "Bring him to my library."

The paladin of Argent Crusade and the death knight of the Ebon Blade looked at the Frozen Throne. Now that the quakes has ended, so did the cracking of it. The cracks that were already made started to disappear, as the ice prison repaired itself.

"I'm going to report this." said after a while the death knight. "You stay here."

"Why me?" asked paladin in a bit too high voice.

"Because I already died once, it's your turn now." replied death knight as he made his way down.

"There he is!" shouted Aggra to Baine.

Thrall was laying on the earth, a short distance from the funeral grounds. Baine quickly followed the brown skinned orc to see if his father's friend was alive.

"He's just unconscious." she said with relief.

"Good." grunted Baine, letting a humor to slip into his voice. "I doubt my father would have liked if he joined him in death so soon."

Drek'Thar wept despite being unconscious, tears falling from his blind eyes. Palkar knew better than to doubt him. He felt nothing, at least not here, not physically, but he could sense the world's distress. And so when Drek'Thar awakened, inhaled a sobbing breath and turned his face up to his young caretaker, Palkar waited for what the seer would impart. The younger orc's blood seemed to run cold in his veins at the words.

"Someone is breaking down the door! Bar it! Do not let him in!"

17. Cataclysm

"Where is it, where is it!?" repeated Twilight as she looked around her library.

"What are'ya looking for, Twi?" asked Applejack as she and Rainbow Dash put Matthias on the floor.

Since he stopped screaming, he hadn't moved, and everypony was worried about him, even those ponies that were more terrified of him than grateful for fighting those dragons off. There were some that thought it would be best if he was moved to the hospital right away, but Twilight knew better.

Whatever has happened to Matt, wasn't caused by an injury, or at least, an injury that could be healed by Equestia's doctors, or probably nopony in Equestria. And the only pony that wasn't from Equestria happened to be Matthias himself.

So Twilight was going to ask him, in a fashion.

"Spike!" she finally yelled when she realised she wouldn't find that book by herself. "Where is 'The psychological art of mind's magic'?!"

"Er... right here?" replied Spike, grabbing the book from a shelf.

"Twilight, what are going to do?" asked Rarity as Twilight pulled the book to her with magic while Spike still held it, dragging him along.

"When yesterday Rainbow mentioned to me that I should just read Matthias mind, it got me thinking on the subject of how you can affect minds with magic."

"That's why you made such a mess here earlier?" asked Spike as he picked himself up from the floor.

"And in this book, I found a spell that allows a pony to read the mind of another." finished Twilight as if the dragon haven't said anything. "Well... sorta."

"What do you mean: 'sorta'?"

"The book says that it doesn't actually work as simply as it sounds. The spell allows to enter the pony's mind, and there you can see its thoughts, feelings and memories, or, in some cases, talk directly to the consciousness of a pony, which, in this situation, would be best. I could just ask Matt what had happened to him."

"Are'ya sure that its safe?" asked Applejack. "Ah don't think that Matt would be happy to see'ya inside his head."

"Well, its not like we have a choice, don't we?" replied Twilight, not mentioning that there were other dangers that the book warned about.

Rarity was about to say something, but was interrupted as a sudden burst of green flames came out from Spike's mouth. Soon, a letter was laying on the floor.

"It's a letter from Princess Celestia!" said Twilight, who, with all that had happened today completely forgot that she was waiting for he mentor's response.

"What does it say?" asked everypony as she quickly opened the letter.

She read aloud:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

My most faithful pupil, I must admit, what you had written to me surprised me. I had never heard of a land called Azeroth, nor did I heard about ponies who couldn't have cutie marks. I am, however, sure that there never was a society of ponies ruled by an 'emperor'. Such title was invented by Diamond Dogs, three thousand years ago, but their empire was destroyed long before Equestria was founded, and they themselves degenerated, mostly mentally, into what you and your friends encountered. So I am afraid that this Matthias Lehner has lied to you, at least at that subject. However, it can be understandable that he wanted to hide some things from his past, judging by what you've also written.

I was deeply sorry to hear that somepony shared my sister's fate. I can't imagine what it must have been that exactly happened, but being turned into something that you're not, and performing acts of evil can't be anything but terrifying. Luna doesn't like to show it, but I know that she herself also has problems with her past.

I'm proud of you that despite hearing from him that he was once evil, you decided to befriend him rather than ostracise. If he truly regrets his actions, then he needs friends like you. However, I want you to let him know: if he ever becomes a danger to Equestria, or any of my subjects, he will be dealt with. I also want you to observe his reaction, and write about it to me in your next letter.

I know I don't have to mention to you that Matthias has to learn to respect the law of Equestria. If he wants to live here, he can't do as he please, and decide to kill somepony, even if that happens to be rampaging dragon.

Since it is you that took it upon yourself to help him, I'm sure in time he will warm up enough to tell the truth about where he came from. Until that time, take good care of him.

Your mentor,

Princess Celestia

Twilight finished reading and looked at her friends.

"I guess that now we really don't have a choice. The Princess said to take good care of him."

Everypony shared a look and nodded.

Twilight trotted over to where Matt was and laid next to him. She checked one last time the spell in the book, to be sure it won't backfire, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and pressed her head against Matt's, wondering if it was really necessary to have the base of the horn touch the forehead of the pony. Twilight blushed as she thought how it must have looked like.

She casted the spell.

She was in a darkness.

Twilight looked around, panicking that in her embarrassment she botched the spell. But just then...

Pain... rasped a terribly loud voice.

Twilight gasped as an image appeared from the darkness, a hammer hitting a red hot metal plate, and as soon as it registered in her mind, it disappeared.

Agony... rapsed the voice again.

This time the scene that had formed was of many hammers hitting a gigantic red hot metal plate. Twilight wondered for what reason they were doing this, and the strange voice, that make her shiver for some reason, said:

My hatred burns through the cavernous deeps.

Twilight eyes went wide when she saw what they were doing with a finished plate.

"They're nailing it to a body!" she thought, noticing though that the metal plate (still hot) appeared to hold together this... whatever that huge being, which now growled in deep pain, was.

And its roar... it sounded somehow familiar, but louder, and more sinister. And it not only was much louder than Matt's screams of pain, but it also vibrated through her body.

She kept watching as some strange beings were adjusting the armor on this humongous being, when suddenly the scene shifted to a barren wasteland, where the earth had cracked, causing some kind of tower to shake. The scene shifted back to the huge being, that had another nail pierced deeper into its body, and flapped its bat-like wing.

Twilight gasped as she saw an image of a town that was about to be hit by the biggest wave she ever saw.

She returned to the being before the wave hit, to see how a nail on its spine was plunged deeper, and the being (which by now she was certain to be a dragon) hit a stone wall with its neck and head out of pain.

The world heaves with my torment. Its wretched kingdoms quake beneath my rage...

Twilight could only stare as she saw the images of the barren wasteland from earlier was split apart, a zeppelin crashed into a building within some city, and a canyon filled with towering mesas was assaulted by another big wave of water.

"So much... destruction." she thought as she watched, helpless. She didn't knew why she was seeing this in Matt's mind, but she wanted it to stop.

The scene soon shifted back to the dragon, who had the strange, small in comparison to him, beings finish adjusting his armor, and started to rise.

"Wha... what is that!?" Twilight thought as she beheld his size. If he was a dragon, then must have be the biggest one there was - even the greatest dragons she saw during the Great Dragon Migration where dwarfed by him several times. She watched, as he put forth one of his clawed paws with molten lava slipping through it

She watched as he flew up.

He burst through a maelstorm, burning the air around him with just his body's heat.

But at last... The whole of Azeroth will break...

Some part of Twilight's mind registered the name of the land Matthias has claimed to come from, but she was too petrified with fear to think about it now. She watched as the black dragon flew across the sea, sinking some island with town full of small green beings in it. She gazed as he flew above huge dam, and by just doing that, causing it to crack.

...And all will burn beneath the shadow of my wings...

When the dragon finally landed on the city as big as Canterlot, and she could see once again how big he was, she snapped. It was too much for her. Twilight screamed and closed her eyes, unable to watch what kind of sick fate had the dragon in store for the city's inhabitants in his wrath.

"Twilight?!" asked a familiar voice.

Twilight opened her eyes to see Matthias standing over her, shock and concern on his face. Without thinking, she threw herself at him and hugged him, sobbing.

Arthas was surprised to see her here, to say at least, as well as to see her act like this.

Until he remembered what he himself saw few moments ago.

"It's fine, you're safe." he said to Twilight, patting her mane in an effort to calm her down.

As Matthias spoke, Twilight felt his hoof patting her mane and blushed, realizing she just embraced a stallion she knew three days. Feeling embarrassed, but calmed, she pulled back.

"Matt, I..." she started, not sure if she should apologise for barging into his mind or ask about just what it was that she saw, but she was interrupted.

"You've got a lot of arrogance to just come here like that." hissed a strange voice.

Twilight gasped when she saw what kind of creature uttered it. It was big, bipedal green being, that was wearing some robes and had a white skull painted on its face. It not only seemed unhappy to see her here, but was also walking in her direction.

Before he could do anything to her, or even get close, Matthias stepped in front of her.

"Back off, Ner'zhul, or I swear, this time I will kill you for good." he said, keeping his voice calm, but that only made him sound more dangerous.

The creature - Ner'zhul - snorted and turned around.

Twilight looked around. They were in some kind of hall - or rather, they were in Matthias mind that for some reason looked like hall. It had a fireplace, a table that could host many ponies, and on the walls there were...

She swallowed. There were animals heads hanging from the wall.

"Twilight?" asked Matthias, puling her back into reality - well, closely.

"What is this? What is that?" she asked, meaning both the hall and the strange creature. "What's that... Ner'zhul doing inside your head?!"

"Technically, it's my head." said a voice that was both cold and burning before Matthias could answer.

Twilight gazed at the direction the voice came from and screamed.

The creature that said that shouldn't be alive. He looked a lot like Ner'zhul, but there were some differences in their body build that told her they were of different species. But she doubted that all of this one's kind appeared as he. He seemed to be constantly burning, with pieces of plate armor attached to him and melted directly into his skin.

"Thanks for helping." she heard Matthias say in sarcastic voice to the strange creature. "Twilight, look at me."

She didn't answer. She wasn't too shocked by the appearance of the that being to take her eyes off him.

She was too terrified of everything she saw to move.

Suddenly she felt Matt hoof on her chin, and her head moved in his direction.

"Twilight, I know that what you saw must have shocked you. I will explain it to you, along with everything else, but not here. Please, leave my mind and return to your body. I will wake up shortly, I promise."

Looking into his eyes, Twilight could tell that he spoke truth. She nodded, taking some comfort from his promise, as well as managing to calm herself. She casted the spell and returned to her body.

Arthas looked as Twilight's horn glowed and she disappeared.

"We will have to finish this discussion some other time, it seems." he said to the other two. "I have to return and explain some things to them."

Bolvar nodded, but Ner'zhul had some objections.

"You choose to go calm some horse rather than talk about the fate of the world?"

"There is nothing I can do to help Azeroth." said Arthas, frowning at his own words. "And neither can any of you. If I have a choice between going to help my friend or talk about something I have no influence over, I choose the first."

As he prepared to wake up in Equestria, he told Ner'zhul one more thing:

"And she's not a horse. She's a pony."

18. Confession

Twilight gasped as she woke up in her body. Trembling, she moved away from Matt.

"Twilight! How did it... why are'ya shakin?" asked Applejack, worried.

"Its... nothing..." replied Twilight, knowing how unconvincing that sounded.

"How could I explain to them what I saw? So much destruction, so much hate..." she shook as she remembered the fury of the black dragon. "How could I explain that Matt has two other minds in his head?".

"Darling, what happened? Did Matthias..."

"No!" Twilight said quickly, before Rarity could accuse him of something. "It wasn't his fault, I..." she paused to take a deep breath. "Before I found Matt's conscience, I saw... some kind of vision..."

Her friends waited for her to collect her thoughts and continue with her story.

"In that vision, I saw... a dragon, but he wasn't like any dragon I ever saw. He was huge! I saw him land on a city as big as Canterlot, and he could have easily squashed it if he wanted! And he could have, for all I know! The vision stopped then."

"So you are just afraid of some imaginary dragon from Matt's head?" asked Rainbow, confused.

Twilight shook her head.

"It wasn't just that. He... he was destroying everything! Just from his rage, the earth cracked, and the oceans split! And he... He looked as if he was falling apart!" Twilight screamed as she tried as best she could to described the terrifying appearence of the dragon. "He had metal plates nailed directly into his body just to keep himself together! He looked like... like a volcano, or..."

"Your comparison is surprisingly accurate." interjected a calm voice.

Everypony turned their heads.

Matthias has awakened.

"Predictable." Matt commented in his thoughts as Rainbow Dash flew over to him, angry.

"Just what the hay you showed her in that head of yours?!"

"It wasn't my intention for her to see that." he replied, getting up.

He could see that Twilight wasn't handling what she saw very well. And who could blame her? Matthias himself was shakened by the vision he saw because of Ner'zhul, not to mention the feeling of pain as the world was breaking.

"Light," he started praying. "I ask of you to calm her. Grant her peace, so that her heart won't break." he could hear gasps as he and Twilight were basked in Light's grace. "Grant them all peace." he added, letting the others know of the Light's love for them and everypony.

Twilight couldn't believe it.

She felt... at peace. A moment ago she was distraughted by the vision of the black dragon, but now she was calm, and happy. She could feel warmth coming from her heart, warmth that loved her, and as the light embraced her friends, she knew they could feel it to.

"This was what Applejack meant." Twilight realised, as the warm in her heart magnified, and could be felt in every part of her being. "This feeling... this love... it cannot be put to words."

She opened her eyes, not even knowing when she closed them. The light was vanishing, and so did the warmth, and while she was saddened by that, she somehow knew it was always there.

"How did you do that?" she asked Matt.

"It's a long story." Matthias replied. "I think it would be best to explain some other things first."

He now had everypony's attention. They all felt the Light, and Matthias knew that despite never hearing about it, they all understood it now on some levels. Explaining how it worked could wait.

This could not.

"I suppose I should start by saying where I really came from. Earlier, I said that I came from the land known as Azeroth, and while it is true, I lied when I told Twilight that you don't know about it, because it was hidden in a magical mist."

Matthias paused and took a deep breath.

"You don't know about it, because it's not a land. Azeroth is the name of the world I came from."

His words were answered with confused and shocked stares.

"Now, when you say 'world'..."said after a while Twilight. "Do you mean it, like, a completely another world, or..."

"Yes, that's what I mean." he answered, looking around. "I'm sure in one of those books you must have some theories about different worlds, planets, as well as dimensions, universes, and such. Since I'm not a scholar, those books would probably better explain that to you."

Twilight rubbed her head, thinking about it.

"So, you trying to tell as that you're from a different world." Rainbow asked to be sure.

"Yes."

"So that vison..." said finally Twilight.

"Yes, those lands that you saw being destroyed were from Azeroth. You don't have to worry about that happening here."

"That's some relief, but... I can help but feel sorry for that city."

"That was Stormwind." replied Matthias, closing his eyes.

"Varian." he thought, remembering his old friend. He hated that he couldn't do anything to help him, although if he somehow found a way to go to Azeroth, Varian would have killed him as soon as he realised who he was. "I will pray that you, Anduin and your kingdom are safe."

"Don't feel sorry for them." he finally said, trying to convince her as much as himself. "It has some of the best warriors and mages from Azeroth, and its ruler wouldn't let some dragon to harm his subjects."

"You speak as if know him." noticed Rarity.

"We... met." was all that he was going to say about it.

"But how?" asked Twilight. "I got a glimpse of the city's inhabitants, they weren't ponies."

"They're called humans." replied Matthias, preparing to tell them something even less believable. "They're bipedal creatures, 147 to 198 centimeter height if male, 135 to 185 if female. Besides the hair on their heads and... some other body parts, their pink skin is furrless, which is why they wear clothes all the time."

"You sure know a lot about them." said Twilight, no doubt remembering Bolvar.

"Well, that's quite understandable, since before I came to Equestria I was one of them, isn't it?"

"What?!" asked everypony.

"Before I came to Equestria, I was a human." repeated Matthias, while thinking "Well, technically, I was an undead human, but still..."

"How... is that even possible?" asked Twilight. "Something changed you from a human into a pony?!"

"It would appear so. And because of both that and me being from another world, I didn't know about cutie marks, not to mention the fact that I didn't have one then. Hell, when I woke up in the Everfree Forest, I didn't even knew how was I supposed to walk! It's a good thing for those three fillies that I'm a fast learner when I need to."

When he mentioned his original luck of knowledge about cutie marks, it seemed to convince them that he was telling the truth.

"Why were you changed into a pony?" asked Twilight. "Why were you brought into this world in the first place?"

"I... don't know." answered Matt uneasily.

"Well, do you remembered what happened the moment before you woke up in the Everfree Forest?"

"That's... another thing you will probably find try to believe in." Matthias said, rubbing the back of his head and looking at the ceiling. "For about two moths prior to all that, I was..."

"Was... what?" asked everypony as he paused.

"Do you remember how the doctor back in the hospital said how terrible must have been the wounds to leave such scars?"

The ponies and dragon exchanged looks, surprised by the change of subject.

"Yyeess."

"Well, can you see this scar?" asked Matthias, pointing at the scar that went vertically through his chest.

"Yyeess."

"And do you remember how I told the doctor that I don't really know how it was treated?"

"Yes! Will you tell us what are you getting about, or not!?" shouted Rainbow Dash, fed up with his questions.

"Well, that was a lie." said Matt calmly, as if Rainbow didn't say a word. "The truth is, this wound was never treated."

Everypony looked at him, confused.

"Wait, if that wound was never treated, then how come..."

"I died." replied Matthias, getting tired of waiting for them to figure out what he meant.

"W-What?!" asked everypony, backing away.

"You mean...

"... you're a...

"... ghost?!" asked Pinkie, terrified.

"Wha... no, of course not!"

"A zombie?" asked Spike, hiding behind Twilight.

"No! For Light sake, you can check my heartbeat if you want." replied Matt, angry that they thought that now he was an undead.

"But... if you died, how come you're... alive?"

"I've been wondering about it myself. However, while bringing another back to life is hard, it's not impossible on Azeroth. At first, I thought that was what had happened, but then I realized that I was a pony, so..."

Everypony was even more confused than him.

"But why would somepony want to kill you?" asked Fluttershy.

Matthias smiled sadly.

"I mentioned that I was evil, didn't I?" they gasped as the realisation hit them, and he added. "The moment before my death I managed to return to my senses, and I died without remorse. I deserved to die. I was actually happy that it was over."

Matt decided not to say anything about the void of darkness that he later found himself in.

"But then... two months later, I woke up, in Equestria."

"How do you know it was two months?" asked Twilight.

"You remeber who you've seen when you entered my mind?" said Matthias.

"That's another thing; how can you have two other minds in your head?!"

Matt glanced at the shocked expression of the others and sighed.

"Twilight encountered two beings while she was in my mind. One was an orc - similar to human, but green-skinned, bigger and uglier - called Ner'zhul, and a human called Bolvar Fordragon. They told me it has been two months since my death."

"That thing was a human?!" asked shocked Twilight.

"It's a long story. Anyway, there is a connection between the three of us - a part of my soul is inside Bolvar's mind, alongside what's left of Ner'zhul's soul. I can shift my conscience into that part of me if I want to, and speak with them, which was what I was doing when Twilight... barged in." he stopped to give her a stern look.

"I... I guess I'm sorry. But I didn't have a choice! You were screaming, whirling in pain, and then you were unconscious, so..."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to bear a grudge because you were trying to help me." said Matt, smiling. "And even if I was going to punish you in some manner, seeing that vision was more than enough."

"But why there's this soul part of'ya is inside this Bolvar fella's head?" asked Applejack.

"That's... complicated. Lets just say it has something to do with my being evil and leave it at that."

"Fine." said Twilight before anypony could say anything.

Matthias blinked at her, gratefully. She understood that he didn't wanted to mention much that had to do something with his time as 'evil'. She replied with a wink.

"So lets sum this up." added Twilight."You're from a different world called Azeroth. You used to be human, went evil, and you died. But two months after that, you awakened in Equestria in a body of a pony, not knowing why, and a part of your soul is inside Bolvar, which lets you talk to him and Ner'zhul, who's also there."

"That about sums it up, yes."

"Okey then. Do you mind now telling us what was that vision, who was that dragon, and about this... light?"

"Sure." said Matthias, but at that time his stomach growled. "Oh, sorry." he said embarrassed as everypony started laughing.

"Well, ya're definitely alive, alright." said Applejack. "C'mon ya'll, lets get somethin' to eat."

Everypony agreed.

19. Nightfall

"Well..." said Twilight after the waiter took everypony's order. "As we wait, could you tell us more?"

"Of course." replied Matthias, deciding not to ask why Spike asked the waiter if they had any rubies. "You wanted to know about that dragon from the vision, correct?"

As Twilight nodded, Matt thought for the moment how he should start.

"Long ago, Azeroth was ruled by beings know as the Old Gods." he said at last. "I don't know how many were there, but I know of three: C'Thun, Yogg-Saron, and N'Zoth. They were beings of unimaginable evil, and when the world of Azeroth attracted the attention of the titans, a race of extremely powerful, majestic creatures, akin to gods, they fought them. They managed to beat the Old Gods, and sealed the entities away within the deeps of the world for the remainder of its existence. The titans rebuilt Azeroth, and, as they began to depart, they left many guardians to protect it in the future, the most powerful ones being the dragons."

"You mentioned that name, Yogg-Saron, when you fought the dragons." noticed Rarity.

"Yeah, you said something about fighting it, and walking away." added Rainbow.

"Walking away alive. And it wasn't the Yogg-Saron itself, it was just an avatar of him, a mindless minion of his that he empowered and controled." Matthias corrected, shrugging. "If it wasn't for the fact that I was already mad at that point of time, I doubt I could beat it, even with Anub'arak's help."

"Who?"

"Long story."

"What did you mean that if you weren't mad you couldn't beat it?" asked Twilight.

"The Old Gods are beings of unimaginable power, and even more unimaginable hatred towards everything that lives. You could fall into madness just by looking at them, let alone because of their whispers in your head. But we're getting off topic." Matt said, changing the subject back to the dragons. "As the titans were preparing to leave Azeroth, they tasked the dragons with protecting that world. In that age, there were many dragonflights, yet five flights, red, green, bronze, blue and black, held dominion over their brethren, and were chosen to shepherd the budding world. The greatest of titans imbued a portion of their power upon each of the flights' leaders. For red dragongflight, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder; for green dragonflight, Ysera the Dreamer; for bronze dragonflight, Nozdormu the Timeless One, for blue dragonflight, Malygos the Spell-Weaver, and for the black dragonflight, Neltharion the Earth-Warden. The Dragon Apects weren't just some bigger dragons with greater powers - they were the embodiment of the world's aspects: life, dream of creation, time, magic, and earth. Together, they were suppose to be able to guard Azeroth from every danger."

"I'm guessing that didn't work well." interjected Twilight, probably figuring out the black dragon's identity.

Matthias nodded.

"Over time, Neltharion began to hear whispers. I don't know how long did it go on, but eventually, Neltharion fell into madness that destroyed his mind, changing him and his kind forever. Since then, he has been known as Deathwing the Destoyer, and originally, he worked toward the goal of the world ruled only by dragons - black dragons. As of now, however, he is so lost in his madness that he just wants to destroy Azeroth and every living being in it."

Everypony shook.

"You said that the Dragon Aspects were the emobidements of the world's aspects." said Twilight slowly. "So because he became evil and insane, this... Deathwing, now looks as if he was about to blow up?"

"There was also other reason, but yes, mostly." replied Matthias, not bothering to mention about the Demon Soul, which was destoyed, first by Rhonin a decade and half ago, and the remanents of it by Alexstrasza's prime consort, Korialstrasz, over a year ago. "He is like earth; it's disturbed by what's inside, so it's about to erupt like a volcano."

"You seem to know a lot about that, despite saying you're not a scholar." noticed Twilight.

"It's... complicated." said Matt uncomfortably.

"How could I explain it to them that I know all of this because I have access to the memories of beings that soul's have been claimed by Frostmourne?" he thought.

Indeed, most of what he just said to them was coming from the memories of Sindragosa, the former prime consort of Malygos, that he ressurected as a frost wyrm. Matthias uttered a silent prayer that after she met her end at the hands of Ashen Verdict, she found peace at last.

"So... do'ya think those other four Dragon Aspects gonna beat the Deathwin' fella?" asked Applejack.

"Three." corrected her Matt. "Malygos also went insane and tried to kill all magic users on Azeroth, and so few months ago the other dragonflights and some mortals killed him."

"Your world is really brutal." commented Rarity. "Couldn't they have found a different solution?"

Matthias shook his head, saddened, but at least that was one of few tragedies that had happened during his reign as the Lich King that wasn't his fault.

"Out of the other three... I heard that Nozdormu has been missing for some time, and when somepony that is supposed to manage the timelines is missing for some time, you really start worrying. So that leaves just Alexstrasza and Ysera."

"Well, its still two to one." commented Rainbow.

"Deathwing has allies." dismissed her enthusiasm Matt. "His own flight, the... Twilight's Hammer cult..." he said with an amusement.

"Twilight has a hammer cult?" asked Pinkie.

"No, it's just some band of lunatics that want to see the world end, and they happened to name themselves Twilight Hammer. You know, because twilight is the time of day when the sun sets and night begins."

"Wait, I don't get it; what does Princess Luna's ticks have to do with that?"

Matthias facehoofed himself.

"Anyway... it's not going to be easy beating Deathwing. Still, the mortal races has some great heroes among them, so I'm sure it will all end up alright." he said, trying to sound convincing.

At that moment, the waiter brought their meals, so everpony started eating. After about twenty minutes of munching, there was nothing left.

"Well, that was satisfying." commented Matt, pushing away an empty platter that a few moments ago stil had haywitches on it.

Applejack supported his claim with a burp. As Rarity shot her a glance, the pony farmer said:

"Pardon." as Matthias chuckled.

"You still haven't told us what magic was that that you used to heal Applejack and Dash, and calm everypony." reminded him Twilight.

"Right." agreed Matt, trying to remember how did Uther described the Light. "What I did earlier was what on Azeroth we call a 'holy magic'. It's a kind of magic one can use through channeling the strength of the Light, or, in case of some other races, whatever they worship. The Holy Light is... it is a philosophy, training its followers to seek perfection within themselves. It is very much an active practice of virtue rather than a passive worship. Those who follow it closely gain spiritual awareness and guidance, allowing them to lead others. Those like me, who use its connection for healing and fighting, are called paladins. The paladin is a 'warrior of the Holy Light'. We uphold all that is good and true in the world and revile all that is evil and sinister."

"Weren't you evil?" interrupted Rainbow.

"When I was evil, I couldn't use my Light given powers." replied Matthias, giving her a stern look. "That's why it took my so long to heal Applejack, it was the first time I tried to ask the Light for anything in a long time."

"So... you can do all that by... praying?" asked Twilight in disbelief.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but basically, yes."

Twilight rubbed her head, thinking it through. At that time the waiter brought the check and Matthias realised something.

"Eh... It's kind of embarrassing, but I don't have any... what do you use for currency here, anyway?"

"Bits." replied Applejack. "And don't worry, Ah got'ya covered. It's the least Ah can do after'ya saved me."

"It was the Light that saved you, not me." he tried to protest.

"Come now, that's stinkin'thinkin. Ya deserve some credit too."

"Well... If you insist on paying for me, then I must at least pay you back somehow."

"It's bad enough that everyone I ever knew hates me, I don't want to think how would they reacted if they knew I let some girl to pay for me."

"Ya sure are prideful, aren't'ya?" chuckled Applejack. "If'ya insist, ya can help me on a farm tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me." replied Matt.

"So those vision were granted to you by this Light?" asked Twilight, who was still thinking about what he said.

"No, that was because of Ner'zhul. He was once a shaman..." noticing a blank expression on everypony's faces, he added. "Shamans gets their power throught spirits of the elements: fire, water, earth, and wind. They can see into the world of spirits and communicate with creatures invisible to eyes of normal beings. Shamans are beset by visions of the future and use their sight to guide their people through troubled times. The visions are about the only thing Ner'zhul has left of his powers, although he still has some connection to the elements, guessing by how we all - me, Ner'zhul and Bolvar - felt the pain of the earth the moment Deathwing caused the Cataclysm."

Twilight nodded thoughtfully.

As they were leaving, they all noticed for the first time how late it was.

"Oh my gosh, it's already night!" gasped Twilight.

"Oh no, I have to go feed my animals!" said Fluttershy, flying away faster than Matt ever saw her.

"With all that was happenin today, we all lost track of time, Ah guess."

"Well, I best be going. I have a lot to do tomorrow. Good night, everypony." said Rarity.

They all said their good byes and went their separate ways.

Twilight tossed in her bed, unable to fall asleep.

She could hear Spike quiet snoring, and there were no voices coming from Matthias bed, so she assumed he was also sleeping. She couldn't understand how could he fall asleep so easily. They both saw the same destruction; since she has trouble sleeping because of it, shouldn't he as well?

Twilight whirled again. While Matthias helped her calm down with the Light, she still couldn't get those pictures out of her head.

"Can't sleep?" suddenly said Matt.

He wasn't surprise that she couldn't. That was why he didn't fall immediately asleep, he wanted to make sure Twilight was alright.

"No." answered Twilight.

Matthias wondered for some time what he should do. There was only one thing that came to his mind.

Dormite liberi,

Dulci pueri dormite, caloria et,

Comodus Vester lecti boni.

He sung quietly, to not wake up Spike, a lullaby that his mother sung to him few times when he was a child, mostly when his father was away from Capital City, because then he had some nightmares that Terenas couldn't protect him from something scary.

Osservo te, semper te,

Latus tui costa te, autem solus, mitite,

Latus tui hic sum.

In Somninum plati

Floridus plena, dormite liberi

Dulci mei dormite

Mitite liberi,

Sine pater autem, mitite, liberi,

Visi te tua mater.

Osservo te, semper te,

Latus tui costa te, liberi sine sentite,

Momentum dormite.

In conclave sine mater.

Conclave dum dies saperis...

When he finished singing, he listened very carefully, until he heard Twilight's steady breathing. Satisfied, he fell asleep himself.

20. Two months

There was nothing left. The world was silent

There was not a cry of anger, or pain, or delight. Not the soft sound of breath. No waves crashed on shores, for the oceans have dried up. Not even plants were left alive.

The Hour of Twilight had come.

Dragonblight, once a holy place for dragons, where they came to die, was swollen with echoes of the past, long since forgotten. At the foot of Wyrmrest Temple lay the bodies of the mighty Aspects: Alexstrasza, Ysera and Kalecgos. There was no Nozdormu, not anymore - only Murozond remained, the sole living being left on Azeroth.

And at the spire of Wyrmrest Temple...

A single, massive body. It was illuminated by the dim, somber light of the twilight skies of Northrend, a limp and too-still thing.

Deathwing.

This... was the End Time.

Matthias woke up, shaking. Even though it hasn't been the first time he had that vision - courtesy of Ner'zhul - during the last few weeks, he still found it terrifying.

It has been close to two months since he was brought back to life in a body of a pony in Equestria. Two months... and he still didn't knew what it was that he was suppose to do here.

Annoyed, he got up from the bed and made his way into the main room of library, where he saw Spike, busy with cleaning.

"Good morning." he greeted the baby dragon.

"More like 'good afternoon'." replied Spike, amused that for once it wasn't he who overslept.

"Guess that will teach me to never again compete with Applejack." chuckled Matthias.

Since that day that he helped her on Sweet Apple Acers in return for paying for him at that restaurant, he continued to come and help every few days, finding apple bucking as a good way for strengthening his muscles, as well as quite relaxing. Yesterday, for some reason, he and Applejack gotten into a friendly argument about who could gather more apples within a day. They made a bet, with the loser having to do anything the winner said for the next day, got their friends to be judges, and spend the rest of the day bucking as many trees as they could. While Matt was overall stronger physically, Applejack had stronger hind legs, and had a lifetime of experience with apple bucking, so he had to work at double the pace to keep up. In the end, it turned out that Matthias managed to gather more apples, but Applejack bucked more trees, so they decided to call it a draw.

However, the competition left Matt all sore, and because of that he slept so long.

"You could have just healed yourself with Light." noticed Spike.

"I could have." admitted Matt.

Spike frowned. No doubt by now he knew that unless it was something important, Matthias wouldn't ask the Light to heal him.

"Where's Twilight?" asked Matt, wondering why the lavender unicorn wasn't here.

"Oh, she went on a picnic with the rest of the gang. She said she would have woke you up to ask if you wanted to come, but she knew you would probably went to meditate by that 'pondering place' of yours."

"Ahh, how well she knows me." sighed Matthias.

He tried to meditate as often as he could, which to his annoyance not only hasn't brought any results, but was also very hard. Only the day after the Cataclysm, he was interrupted by the Cutie Mark Crusaders again, attacking him with questions. While he didn't say that he was from another world, he did answered most of those questions truthfully. He told them about the Light, which they were sceptical until he did the same as with Twilight and the rest, about the Knights of the Silver Hand, about Muradin Bronzebeard, who taught him how to fight, and Uther the Lightbringer, who tutored him in the ways of the paladins. To his amusement, the three fillies said that the names of those two were more 'pony like' than his.

After that, he hoped he would have some peace and quiet the next day. He was wrong. The fillies tried to talk with him as often as they could through the first month of his stay in Ponyville, and while Matthias couldn't find within himself to be truly angry at them, he still regreted the time he could have spend on finding about why he was here. Despite that, he found some amusement in that, because the glares that Rainbow shot him few times when she was flying over as he talked with Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, as well as Twilight tales about a few things that happened around Ponyville before he came here, made him realise that the reason Dash still disliked him, albeit not as much as at the beginning, was that she was jealous, or rather irritated, that in such short time he managed to gain so much admiration from those three, that was usually reserved for her.

There were other 'distractions', of course - after all, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had to attend the school, so he had mornings and noons free of them. Soon after his powers were a well known fact around Ponyville, he was approached by the doctor who treated him after his first encounter with timberwolfs, and asked if he could help in the hospital. Matthias obviously agreed, cursing at himself for not thinking about it earlier, and soon, the feather flu epidemic was nothing more than a memory. Matt would have stayed all the time there after that, but the hospital's staff told him, laughing, that it would made them lose their jobs. They said that they would only called him if there was a case that they couldn't deal with themselves. Matthias, painfully aware that there are diseases that even Light can't heal, hoped that they would never have to resort to that. He also instructed the hospital's staff to not call him in cases such as broken bones, unless it was necessary.

"Broken bone that mends naturally is stronger than the one magically healed." he told them. "And the pony that endures pain of his or her injuries grows stronger, as well. That was why it was forbidden by my order to heal ourselves, unless one was in the middle of the battle and such."

He tried to help Twilight within the library, despite not being nearly as organised. He also told her some of Azeroth's history, which she had great interest in. He went to Fluttershy once to deliver her a book she asked from Twilight and helped her feed her animals, and that finally made the shy pegasus more open towards him, and despite being acquainted with her pet rabbit Angel, he found the whole day fun. After that, Fluttershy asked him from time to time about animals from his world. Similarly, he talked about clothes on Azeroth with Rarity whenever she asked him about it, this time more easily, since he didn't have to adapt them to ponies bodies. And of course, he helped at Applejack's farm. Pinkie Pie didn't seemed to need his help with whatever it was that she does, but he still made a point to talk to her few times at Sugarcube Corner. The hardest one to get to know and befriend was Rainbow Dash, of course, but eventually, about a month after Matt has offered to teach her some of his fighting moves she agreed, and they had sparring fights every few days.

One time she asked him why he was trying to be friendly with everypony.

"Because I'm afraid." he replied, earning a confused stare form the cyan mare. "Afraid that I might become evil once again. But Twilight told that if I have friends by might side, they will stop me before I fall down this path. In other words:" Matt said, grinning,"I trust you and the rest to smack me at the back of my head if I go on a rampage around Ponyville."

Rainbow chuckled at that, and since then she became friendlier.

Despite all that, however, when about a month ago they all went to Canterlot to deliver Cakes cake for National Dessert Competition, he opted to stay and meditate. While when he heard what ridiculous adventure had happened to them on that train, he was glad of his choice, he didn't get much time to do as he planned. Soon after everypony left, the Cakes realised that they had some large catering order to complete, and needed a foalsitter for their toddlers, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. Not having anypony else to ask, they turned to Matthias, who agreed. The foals were quite handful, but he didn't have any bigger problems, aside from changing their diapers.

Matt shook his head. At the rate he was going about, he might have as well went to that picnic. But he knew this was more important.

"I better go, then." he said to Spike, turning towards the door.

"Don't you want anything to eat?"

"No, thanks, I can eat when I return." Matt replied, leaving the library.

As he went through Ponyville, saying his greeting to few ponies that passed him, he couldn't help but wonder how were things on Azeroth going. He knew about the most important events thanks to Bolvar - the destruction the Cataclysm has wrought, the rejoining of Gilneas, or rather, the survivors from Gilneas, to the Alliance, the introduction of Bilgewater Cartel to the Horde and the mess they made out of Azshara, the continued war between the two factions, dispite their world crumbling around them, the assault on the World Tree, the battles across the sunken ruins of Vashj'ir, and the events that traspired around the Dragonblight. As he remembered Chromatus, the dreaded chromatic dragon with five heads, he felt as if the air around him grew colder.

He cursed at his inability to help Azeroth. Even Bolvar couldn't do anything, since he wanted to keep the information that the Lich King hasn't been destroyed, like everyone thought, a secret. Matt wished there was something he could to to help, if not his world, then at least his friends, like Varian, Muradin... or Jaina.

Matt could help but think how much she would love Equestria. Here everything was peaceful, everypony was kind, there were tons of book around and plenty of magic for her to study. He tried to imagine how would she look like if she was transformed into a pony...

... and in his head, she looked exactly like Twilight.

That was another thing that worried him, as much as his inability to find out why he was here and to help anyone on Azeroth. Twilight reminded him so much of Jaina, that he soon realised that he started to have the same feelings he had for the daughter of Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore. He was dismayed at himself for that. Those feelings were nothing more than an echo of his love for Jaina. Twilight, no matter how much she was alike her, was Twilight. If he tried to get into that kind of relationship with her because of that, it would be unfair for her.

Not that he would even try.

As Matt reached his pondering place, he looked around. The ponies have long since learned that he desired to be undisturbed when he was meditating, and none of those he saw in the distance paid him any attention. Satisfied, he sat down, when Canterlot caught his eye.

"Is it just me, or does it look... different?" he asked himself, gazing at the far away city. There was something that seemed familiar to him about this, but...

Brushing this weird feeling off, he started meditating.

He sat there for a few hours - at least that was what he thought, time didn't matter to him when he stayed connected to the Light for so long - when he noticed that somepony was approaching him.

Matt opened one eye and saw Twilight trotting over to where he sat, not looking at him. She sat next to him, her eyes on the water.

"What happened?" asked Matthias.

Twilight shook and finally looked at him.

"How do you know that something had happened?" she asked him. "Did you use some Light trick to read my mind?"

"You don't need to be the paladin of the Holy Light to know when your friend is unhappy about something." Matt replied, and he meant it. Twilight was still his friend, despite those feelings he started to have for her because of her alikeness of Jaina. "And affecting minds of others is more priests speciality than paladins, anyway."

"What about that time when you calmed me?"

"I affected your heart, not your mind. What's wrong?" he asked, growing concerned.

Twilight sighed and looked away.

"My brother is getting married."

21. Prelude

"You have a brother?"

Twilight shot him a glare.

"The only thing I know about your family is that your mother knew a beautiful lullaby."

"Fair enough." Matt replied, shrugging. "But... forgive me, why are you upset about your brother getting married? Isn't that supposed to be something you should be happy about?"

"Oh sure, I'm very happy." she said in a sarcastic tone. "I'm so happy that my brother didn't see fit to tell me in person, or even introduce me to the mare he's marrying!"

Matthias was beginning to understand what everypony meant when they said that Twilight sometimes has this 'crazy eyes' thing when she is very angry.

"Twilight." he said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Take a deep breath."

She shot him another irritated glare, but did as he asked.

"Now, tell me - calmly - why are you so upset."

"It's just that... Shining Armor and I were always... why are you smirking?" she asked Matt.

"No reason." he replied, putting a hoof on his mouth.

"His name is Shining Armor? Next thing I know, she will tell me he's a Knight-Captain or something."

"Please, continue." he said, getting a hold of himself.

Twilight glanced at him a moment longer, and continued:

"Shining Armor and I were alway very close. Before I came to Ponyville, I didn't have many friends; in fact, I only considered my brother and Spike as friends. We always did everything together, but now... I feel as if we are so far apart. He didn't even bother to come and tell me in person that he's getting married!"

"Twilight, I'm sure there is some reason for that." Matt said calmly. "You can ask him what that reason was when you see him. Speaking of, when is the wedding?"

"In two days in Canterlot."

"Wow. Quick, isn't he?"

Twilight again glared at him.

"Please stop doing that. You're scaring me." he said with quite well pretended fear.

That finally got her to laugh.

"Sorry." she apologised, chuckling.

"So you'll be going to Canterlot, I take?" Matt asked, supressing a frown at the thought of her of being away for few days.

Some time away from Twilight might give him the chance to sort out those stupid feelings.

"Yes, and it's not just me that's going." she replied, and noticing his confused stare, added: "Princess Celestia asked me and the other girls to help with preparations for the wedding."

"Why would the Princess... wait, all of you? As in, including Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight nodded, amused.

"What the hay can somepony like her possibly do to help with a wedding?!" Matthias asked, unable to comprehend that.

"The Princess asked her to perform sonic rainboom as the groom and bride complete their 'I do'." she answered, stoping herself from laughing.

"What in the name of the Light is a 'sonic rainboom'?" he asked, this time more intrigued.

Twilight was about to reply, but suddenly closed her mouth.

"You know what, I'm not going to tell you. You will have to wait and see."

"Fine then." he sighed, but then his mind registered what she said. "Wait, I'm coming too?"

"Well... " Twilight replied, looking away. "I just thought that, since everypony is going, you should come as well. After all, you didn't come with us to the Canterlot the other time, and we could have used your help at that..."

"As I told Pinkie, I couldn't ask the Light to 'heal' the cake that you all ate!" Matt said in frustration, reminded how the pink pony was badgering him about it when they returned.

"I didn't eat it! And that wasn't what I meant, anyway. I meant that we could have used your help with solving that mess." she sighed. "'Getting back to the topic, Applejack mentioned to me that she could use your help with getting the food there."

"Oh, so you want me there as a pack mule?" he said amused, and then quickly glanced across the river. "No offense."

"None taken." replied the mule that was walking on the road on the other side.

Twilight sighed again.

"Look, I know that what you're doing - or rather, trying to do - is important, but... you could use a little break, maybe?"

"You just want me there to heal your brother after you're done beating him, don't you?" asked Matt, who whirled at her comment about him not making any progress.

"No! I mean, I just... thought that maybe if you enjoyed yourself a bit, it would be easier for you." she said, looking at the ground. "And... it would have been nice to have all my friends with me there. In case I was going to do anything stupid to my brother."

Matthias sighed and looked at the Casterlot, once again noticing that it looked somehow different, thinking this through. Every logical part of his mind told him to stay. He needed to know why he was here, and the fastest way to know that was through meditation. Unless Medivh would have dropped by, but even then Matt doubted he would get any clear answers out of him. He also needed to stop thinking about Twilight as if she was Jaina, and going to the wedding of her brother wouldn't help with that.

"Then why do I feel that I have to go?" he thought, sighing again. He knew his logic wasn't going to win.

"It's not as if I'm making any progress here."

"So you're coming?" asked Twilight hopefully.

"I guess I am." he replied, and smiled back to her.

"Great! We're going tomorrow morning, so you better go to Sweet Apple Acers and see what Applejack will need your help with."

"Very well, but please, first tell me: why is the Princess so interested in this wedding?" he asked the question he almost forgot earlier.

"Oh, well, my brother is marrying some Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, so it must be one of her nieces."

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?" said Matt, searching his memory. "Odd. I don't recall reading about anypony named like that in that book about Equestria's royal family you borrowed me." he almost rolled his eyes at the thought that he memorized the whole family tree of the royal family up to the cousins of Celestia and Luna.

"Old habits die hard."

By going over the list, he reminded himself of that "Prince" Blueblood Rarity had mentioned to him. He wondered if he would stumble upon him in Canterlot. He was itching to teach that snob how a prince should behave.

"How did your brother managed to get a princess to marry him?" he asked, getting back into subject. "He must be a great pony."

"Well, obviously, he's great. They don't just make anypony the Captain of the Royal Guard, you know... Why are you laughing?!" she asked the stallion that was rolling on the grass.

"Pity I never had a chance to take a ride on Deeprun Tram, maybe then this ride would be more comfortable for me." Matthias thought as the train rode toward Canterlot.

"A sonic rainboom?" said Rainbow to the others in daze. "At a wedding?! Can you say 'best wedding ever'!"

Matt frowned as Pinkie screamed: "Best wedding ever!", and her voice was echoed by the cave they just rode into. Warned by Twilight, everypony refused to tell him just what this 'sonic rainboom' was, except that it was the 'most awesome thing ever', according Dash and Pinkie.

"So you all get to help with the big fancy wedding," was saying Spike. "but I'm the one who gets to host the bachelor party! I have just one question. What's a bachelor party?"

As everyone laughed at dragon's question, Matt poked Applejack.

"Whose idea was it to let a baby dragon host a bachelor part?" he asked her.

"Ah don't know." she replied, chuckling.

Matt sighed and looked for Twilight. Her brother was about to be deprived of 'man's last night of freedom', as Muradin had called it. But all the thoughts and ideas about this problem evaporated from his head as he saw Twilight laying on the compartment 's bed.

"Oh great, now she's sulking." he thought.

He once again poked Applejack and pointed at Twilight. Understanding what he meant, she went over to talk to her.

"Why the long face, sugarcube?" he heard her ask.

"I'm just thinking about Shining Armor." Twilight replied. "Ever since I moved to Ponyville we've been seeing each other less and less. And now that he's starting a new family with this 'Princess Mi Amore Cal-whatshername', we'll probably never see each other."

"Come on, now. Ya're his sister. He'll always make time for ya."

Hearing that, Matthias couldn't help but feel pain in his heart at the thought of his sister, Calia, who he would never see again, even if she was still alive.

"Couldn't seem to make time to tell me he was getting married." Twilight snorted and rolled down the blinds.

Matt got up and started walking toward them to tell her she should consider herself lucky, but before he got to them, Pinkie started screaming:

"We're here, we're here!"

Suddenly, a pink wall of energy went through the compartment.

"What was that?" thought Matt. The feeling he had when it phased through him... it reminded him of a scanning spell.

He was even more confused as they got out of the train and saw that the station was full of guards.

"Whoa, what's with all the guards?" asked Rainbow

"So, there aren't so many guards here normally..." he mused, looking at the armor they wore. "They fight in this?! I hope it's magically enchanted or something, it looks as if it could break with one hit!"

"I'm sure they're just taking the necessary precautions." Rarity replied to Dash. "Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies."

"I wouldn't be so sure that's the issue..." Matt muttered as he looked around, but his words were stifled by Pinkie sneeze. He was about to turn and say 'bless you,' when he noticed that the sky around Canterlot appeared to be pink, until it glimmered and he knew it wasn't sky at all.

"No wonder I thought yesterday that there was something different and strangely familiar about it." he thought as he recalled the glowing dome that the Kirin Tor erected around Dalaran as they rebuilded their city.

For some reason, a similar dome now protected Canterlot.

"What is going on? Increased number of guards could be explained by the wedding, but not this!"

He was about to say his thoughts aloud, but at that moment Rarity said:

"Now let's get going, we've got work to do!"

"And ya've got a big brother to go congratulate." added Applejack to Twilight

"Yeah. Congratulate. And then give him a piece of my mind." she said angrily as she marched away.

"Eee... should I go after her in case she plans on killing her brother?" Matthias asked, worried.

Everypony chuckled, thinking he was joking.

"Come now, we need to get movin'with the food." said Applejack.

22. The Knight and the Captain

"Cake, check." said Applejack as she ran around the kitchen making sure everything was ready.

Twilight ticked off the cake from her list.

"Ice sculpture, check. Best darn bitesize apple fritter you ever tasted..." Applejack said while putting one of them in Twilight's mouth.

"Mmm. Check." answered the unicorn.

"So what were you saying about the bride?" asked the farmer pony as she put the next batch of apple fritters into the oven.

"That it's my old foalsitter, Cadance." replied Twilight, glad that they returned to the topic.

"Well, isn't that dandy! And ya'were all worked up 'bout not knowin' his bride!"

"Well, yeah, but... she acted as if she never met me before." Twilight said with sadness in her voice.

"She couldn't forget me... could she?" she thought, not able to understand how Cadance could treat her as if she was air.

"Who acted as if she never met you before?" asked Matthias as he walked through the door, dragging a cart filled mostly with apples.

"The bride." replied for her Applejack. "Is this the last one?"

"Huh? Yes, that the last one. I thought you didn't know this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?" Matt said as he turned to Twilight.

"I knew her, but just... I forgot that it was her full name." she explained nervously. "I just called her Cadance. She was my foalsitter."

Matthias eyes went wide, but soon his face was covered by that smirk she always found both charming and irritating.

"While this kind off explains how you brother managed to get a princess to marry him - by starting to seduce her all those years ago when she was supposed to watch over you - I don't... Au!" he yelped as Twilight used her magic to grab his ear and pulled it. "Sorry! Sorry! But seriously, a princess was your foalsitter? How did that happen?"

"It's a long story." she replied, still angry at his comment.

"It's that what I sound like?" Matt muttered, but soon shrugged. "Nevermind, it's not my business. But what do you mean that she acts as if she never met you?"

"I mean exactly as it sounds! I talked with my brother, he told me that it was Cadance that he was marrying, I was happy, and then she came in, I recited our little chant, and she walked by me indifferently!"

Matt and Applejack exchanged glances.

"So..." said the stallion with a serious face. "... you had a chant?"

Twilight facehoofed herself, starting to regret that she bothered to convince him to come, as he and Applejack laughed.

"Aw shucks." chuckled the cowpony. "Ah bet it was somethin' cute, with a little dance."

"Would the two of you focus!" Twilight shouted at them.

"Sorry, Twi."

"I beg your forgiveness." added Matt with a bow.

"Hmpf." snorted Twilight. "So, what do of you think about this?"

"Ah think ya're frettin' over nothin'." said Applejack, getting back to cooking. "Ah mean, tomorrow it's her weddin'. She's bound to act weirdly."

Twilight frowned and glanced at Matthias. For a moment, he look as if he was going to say something, but then shook his head.

"I agree with Applejack. I'm sure she remembers you, she's just focused on wedding. And with this increased security, I bet your brother is too busy to help and everything is on her head."

Twilight must have admitted that he was speaking sense.

"You're probably right." she sighed.

"Great." he commented. "Now, is there anything else I could help with?"

Twilight was about to reply, when they heard:

"I do. Do you? I do!" followed by a kissing noises.

They both glanced at Spike, who playing with the figurines of Shining Armor and Cadance that were supposed to go on the cake. Twilight snatched them from him with magic, causing the dragon to laugh nervously.

"You can take Spike away before he causes some trouble." she said with stern voice, but winked at Matt.

"Fine by me. I wanted to go and see Canterlot, anyway. Hop on, Spike!" he beckoned the dragon, who jumped on his back, and they both left.

Matthias was still a bit unused to the feeling of having a dragon hatchling riding on his back, but he didn't mind. He liked the little guy.

"So Spike, how about..." he started saying, but trailed off as he noticed the approaching pony.

She was simply beatiful. Her coat had a light pink color, while her mane and tail were dark violet with moderate rose and pale gold streaks. She wore a gold tiara, gold necklace, and gold horseshoes. But the most amazing thing about her was her horn and wings, marking her as an alicorn.

Matthias knew who she must be.

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," he greeted her, bowing and almost causing Spike to fall. "congratulations on your upcoming wedding."

"Thank you." she replied coldly, acknowledging his bow with a nod, and passed them, going to the kitchen they just left.

Matt glanced at her cutie mark as she walked by. It was a teal crystal heart within gold lace. He wondered what was her special talent, as well as how much Muradin would enjoy having an excuse to stare at princess's ass.

"Wow, talk about cold." said Spike.

"She's royalty, of course she acts like this when dealing with 'commoners'." snorted Matt. "And don't forget, she has a wedding on her head, she doesn't have time to exchange pleasantries."

When Twilight mentioned to him her weird behaviour, however, for a moment he was thinking if that had anything to do with this increased security, but quickly brushed that off. Now he didn't even cosidered it - to him, Cadance was acting like most royals and nobles from Azeroth.

Reminding himself about that issue that bothered him, he looked at the magical dome. He needed to know what was going on.

"And I know who's going to tell me." Matt thought with a smile.

"Well, Spike, since we congratulated the bride, it would seem fit to go and congratulate the groom as well, don't you agree?"

"You mean Shining Armor? I suppose... but how are we going to find him?"

"We're just going to ask." replied Matt, noticing a guard that was going somewhere in a hurry.

"You think he's going to tell some stallion where his captain is just like that?" asked Spike as Matthias trotted over to intercept him.

"Honestly, Spike, I find your lack of faith in me disturbing." he chuckled in response.

After few seconds, they stood in a place that the guard had to pass right in front of them.

"Guard, halt!" shouted Matthias after him in a voice he often used to adress his troops back in Lordaeron.

The guard looked back, surprised.

"Eee... you're talking to me, mister..."

Matt stomped the ground.

"I told you to halt, not talk!"

The guard closed his mouth and saluted.

"Yes sir!" replied the unicorn, sensing the note of superiority in his voice.

"Good." Matthias commented, supressing a smile. "What's your name and rank, soldier?"

"Private Grey Stripes, sir!"

"I'm looking for Captain Shining Armor, private. Do you know where I can find him?"

"The captain?" asked the private. "I think he should be still on the north wall. I would lead you there myself, sir, but I have to go to my station, so..."

Matthias nodded.

"As you were, soldier." he said, letting him go.

When the guard was out of earshot, they started laughing.

"That was awesome!" Spike said through tears. "How did you do that?"

"I was a paladin of the Silver Hand back on my world, remember? I'm used to giving orders to the other soldiers. My attitude made Grey Stripes think of me as somepony that is higher in rank than him, even though he never saw me."

They laughed together for few moments as Matt walked in the direction the guard pointed him in.

"So..." said Spike. "You said that you're used to giving orders?

"Yes." replied Matt carefully.

"What was your rank?"

Matthias cursed at himself. He didn't wanted the dragon or anypony else to know who he really was, not yet at least.

"Does it matter?" he answered with a question. "We're in Equestria, not on Azeroth. My rank has no meaning here."

"Oh, come on, just tell me!"

"Tell you what, you'll try to guess, and I tell you when you get it."

"Oh, was it a 'captain'?"

"No."

"Oh, ehh...

"Was it a 'supreme super captain'?" Spike tried about twenty minutes later.

"You already asked that one." replied Matt, gazing around.

There were already at the northern part of the city and could see a lot of royal guards.

"Do you know which one of them is Shining Armor?" he asked the dragon.

Spike jumped on Matt's head and looked around.

"I don't... Oh, there he is!" Spike shouted excited.

Matthias glanced at the unicorn he was pointing. He wore a violet armor with more decorations on it, had white coat and blue-striped mane and tail. At that time Shining armor turned and noticed Spike.

"Hey, Spike!" he greeted the dragon, coming to them. "Long time no see!"

"Hi Shining!" replied Spike, bumping his claws with his hoof. "Congratulations on getting married."

"Heh, thanks." said the captain, and turned his attention towars Matthias. "And who you might be?"

He was about to introduce himself, when Spike decided to do it for him.

"Oh, thats Matt. He's been living with Twilight and me for two months."

"Oh, no..." Matt thought as Shining Armor's eyes went wide, knowing what he must be thinking.

"Please allow me to rephrase what our dragon friend said, as well as properly introduce myself." he said quickly, and cleared his throat. "My name is Matthias Lehner, a Knight of the Order of the Silver Hand. I arrived at Ponyville about two months ago and your sister was kind enough to offer me a place to stay. Over the time, I've became a good friend of her and Spike, as well Twilight's other friends."

"Oh, is that so." said Shining Armor, gazing at him suspiciously.

Matt allowed himself to chuckle.

"Judging by Twilight's reaction to the news of your wedding, I guess she values how close the two of you are. Do you think that if what you're suspecting was true, she would kept that away from you?"

"I guess you're right." said the captain, looking ashamed .

"What are you talking about?" asked the dragon, not understanding.

"Nothing." they both replied.

Shining glanced at one of the other guards.

"Sergeant, lead the patrol. I will catch up to you later."

"Yes, sir." saluted the earth pony, and he and three others marched away.

"So you're saying you're a knight of some order?" asked Shining, leading them away to some garden, while glancing at his scars. "I suppose it's a given you're not a stranger to combat. I've never heard about Order of the Silver Hand, though."

Matt opened his mouth to reply, but again Spike was faster.

"Well, no wonder. It's from another world."

"Another what?" asked Shining, glancing back at Matthias.

"Is he doing this on purpose?"

"As strange it may sound, it's true. I came from the world known as Azeroth. Two months ago, I woke up in the middle of Everfree Forest, and found myself in a body of a pony. I have no memory as how that happened, though."

Shining Armor looked into his eyes, as if to see if he was kidding, and turned to Spike.

"Is it true?" he asked, and when the dragon nodded, he added: "It seems so... weird."

"That was nothing." replied Spike. "When until he tells you that he was actually dead."

Matthias rolled his eyes.

"Or that he was evil."

Matt's eyes went wide at that. And so did the captain's.

"Spike, would you mind going to Twilight and see if she needs your help with something?" he asked the dragon. "Matt and I are going to... talk a bit longer."

"Oh..." said Spike, looking at both of them, as if now realizing what he said. He was about to protest, but noticed Matt's nodding to him. "Okey. See you later."

When Spike left, Matt and Shining long stared at each other.

"So..." finally said the captain. "You were evil."

"One of the princesses you serve also was evil once." replied Matt.

"You compare yourself to Princess Luna?"

"You would be surprised how much she and I have in common."

"How so?"

"Lets just say that the way she became evil - by being corrupted by dark powers, to be specific - is very similar to my story."

"And what is your story?" asked Shining Armor.

"I haven't told your sister or her friends, despite knowing them for two months." said Matthias, smiling. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because Twilight and her friends can't throw you into prison?" replied the captain as if they were talking about the weather.

"You raise a good point, captain. However, I don't think my explanation will be necessery."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Firstly, because I am no longer evil. I was killed on my world and returned to my senses before I died. When I was brought back to life, one of my first thoughts was that I should be dead." Matt said, unable to keep the shadow from passing over his face as he recalled the darkness he was in before that. "And besides, do you think I would go around telling everypony that I was once evil if I still were?"

"I... guess that makes sense." replied Shining Armor.

"Secondly, I know for a fact that Princess Celestia knows about it, as well as my existence in general, thanks to Twilight, If the Princess doesn't have a problem with me, I don't think you need to either."

"You know, you could have spared us all this talk if you said that at the beginning." Shining Armor said, frowning.

"And miss the 'serious talk'?" asked Matt, grinning.

The captain chuckled.

"Well, I guess you must be okay if both Princess Celestia and Twilight trust you."

"Thank you. Now that you're not threatening to throw me into a dungeon, may I congratulate you?"

"Oh, right, thanks." said Shining Armor, smiling.

"I met your bride briefly. You're one lucky stallion."

"Heh, thanks."

"Pity there is a terrible danger threatening Canterlot."

"W-what?" asked shocked Shining Armor. "What do you mean?"

"I hope you're not going to pretend that there isn't any danger." Matthias frowned at him. "My world is practically in a constant war. I know what increased security means, as well as magical dome protecting a city."

Shining Armor stared at him, and finally said:

"You're right." he sighed "A threat has been made against Canterlot. We don't know who's responsible for it, though."

"Huh." said Matt, thinking. "You know, I was actually kind of bluffing."

...

"You know, I can still throw you into prison." replied the captain when he recovered from shock.

"I'm starting to see the family resemblance."

"So you don't know anything about this 'threat'?" asked aloud.

"No."

"You should work on your spy network. No offense, but your's is a long way from SI:7 level."

"Who?"

"An organization from my world specializing in special operations, assassination and stealth tactics." Matt answered automaticly, as his mind pondered possible threats to Canterlots security. "Are the spellcasters that erected that barried well protected?"

"Excuse me?" asked the captain.

"In case when the whole town is shielded by a magical dome, there are only three solutions." Matthias said and started counting. "One: find a way to neutralize the barrier, but I'm assuming that if that is even possible, you already took some precautions against that." he waited for Shining to nod, and went on. "Two: hit it with a great force, until it breaks. The weak point of that strategy, however, is that it would annouce the enemy attack, and you could deal with them quickly. And three: take care of those that are sustaining the barrier."

"You really are no stranger to combat." commented Shining. "Or rather, warfare."

"My world is a lot different than yours." replied Matt, shrugging.

"Going back to your question, yes, the spellcasters are well protected."

Matthias could help but notice the way he said that, but shrugged that off as not important.

"I need to go catch up with patrol." said the captain, preparing to go. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Knight of the Order of the Silver Hand."

"Likewise, Captain of the Royal Guard." Matt said, nodding.

23. Dueling nobility

Matthias entered the castle, looking back at the setting sun.

"I should look for Twilight and the rest." he though, feeling a bit tired.

After his talk with Shining Armor he spent some time walking around Canterlot, which still was to him a lot like Silvermoon, as well as Dalaran. The architecture, the magic... It wasn't a surprise to him, however, everypony that passed him, meaning mostly unicorns, stared at his scars, both terrified and disgusted. He noticed that earlier, but didn't mentioned it to anypony, simply not caring. The royal guards, on the other hoof, looked at him with a mix of respect and wariness, which earned them his respect in return.

As he came into a crossroad of corridors, he wondered just were the rest could possibly be, when suddenly he heard a raised voice nearby. He crept closer in their direction.

"... and how dare you to not proparly apologise to me for spilling that drink on me!" he heard somepony say and soon saw a white unicorn stallion, screaming at some brown mare, also unicorn.

"Excuse me, what seems to be the problem?" Matthias asked, interjecting.

Both ponies looked at him. The stallion was wearing some kind of formal attire, which probably meant that he was part of nobility, while the mare was wearing some kind of bonnet that made her look like maidservant.

"Ah, finally somepony who shows proper respect." said the stallion. "Could you please instruct this servant about..."

"For the last time, Prince Blueblood," intejected the mare. "I am not going to apologise for you walking into me. Now if you would be so kind to move away, I have to..."

"How dare you to speak..."

"Wait, you're Prince Blueblood?" asked Matthias.

"Why, yes. I'm surprised you haven't recognised me."

"Well, that explains everything to me." said Matt and he meant it. He heard enough about him from Rarity and the others to know that this was his fault. "Apologise to this lady."

"E-excuse me?!" asked Blueblood in shock, as the mare looked at Matt, confused. "H-How dare you speak to me that way? Who are you?"

"Matthias Lehner." replied Matt politely.

"I've never heard of you."

"Well, I've heard of you. You're a self-centered snob, who doesn't understand what chivalry means. I'm sure that whatever you're accusing this lady is your fault. Apologise to her."

"Wha... The nerve! Don't you understand that you are talking to a Prince?!"

"Don't make me laugh." snorted Matthias, who had enough. "You're not a Prince. I've given you chance to walk away with your honor intact, but since you refused..."

Quicker than eye could follow, he slapped gently the snobbish 'prince' in the face with his hoof.

"... I challange you to a duel, and when I win, you have to publicly apologise to every mare that you have offended in your life."

The shock on Blueblood's face turned into an outrage.

"How dare you! Very well, you shall have your duel, and when my representative defeats you, you will leave Canterlot immediately!"

"Name the time and place." replied Matthias, not surprised that the 'prince' didn't want to fight him himself.

"In an hour, at the Canterlot's Grand Arena!"

"Great. You will have a good stage for your apology."

Blueblood snorted and walked away.

"Why did you do that?" asked the mare that Matthias almost forgot about. "This wasn't something worth fighing for."

"That's maybe true." replied Matt. "But I heard about this pony earlier, and I practically waited for an excuse to teach him a lesson. Pity I can't fight him, though."

"Well, for what it's worth, thank you." she said, bowing. "I'm Pixie, one of Princess Celestia's maidservants."

"Pleasure meeting you, Lady Pixie."

"I would love to stay and chat, but I have to go. Princess Celestia will be tired after whole day of guarding Canterlot."

"I won't keep you, then. But try to come to the Grand Arena to hear that snob apologise." Matt said, trotting off.

"Now, just which way is this 'Grand Arena'?"

Pixie looked as the stallion was leaving. There was something... familiar about him, but the unicorn couldn't remember what exactly.

Twilight could belive that her friends could be so blind.

"The princess is about to get married." Rarity said, trying to calm her, but instead she added more fuel to her anger. "I'm sure any negative behavior she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves."

"And I'm sure it's the result of being an awful pony who doesn't deserve to even know Shining Armor let alone marry him!" Twilight said, stomping on the table.

Everypony looked at her, worried.

"Think maybe ya're being just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?" Applejack asked.

"Uh-huh." agreed the rest of her friends.

"I am not being possessive, and I am not taking it out on Cadance! You're all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn't even be a wedding!" she said, hitting the table so hard that she spilled all the drinks, and turned around.

She nearly bumped into some stallion.

"Uh, sorry." he apologised and went to the table were two other stallions were sitting. "Hey, you guys are off-duty too?"

Twilight walked away, thinking what she should do next, when she overheard what they were talking about.

"There's a fight in the Grand Arena in about twenty minutes!" said the pony that nearly collided with her. "That douchebag Mighty Shot is fighting."

"Really?" asked one of the other stallions, who, as she realised, were royal guards. "Who is the unfortuned pony that he's going against?"

"I don't know, some kind of weirdo that came into Canterlot today and challenged the Prince 'Snobblood' into a duel. Anyway, lets go and watch."

As the three stallions were leaving, Twilight glanced back at her friends, their argument forgotten for a moment. She saw the same thought in their eyes.

They all knew who this 'weirdo' was.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" said magically enforced voice that could be heard across the whole Arena. "Mighty Shot, a long time friend of Prince Blueblood, is representing him in the duel that he was challenged to by Matthias Lehner! The fight starts in five minutes!"

Twilight and her friends looked at the stadium, and there he was. Standing completely still, waiting for his opponent.

"What the hay is he doing?" she asked, flustered.

"Did the announcer said that he challenged Blueblood?" asked Rarity.

"You mean that snob that you wanted to marry?" replied Rainbow with a smirk.

"I thought we agreed to never. Speak of it. Again." Rarity hissed.

"Ah don't get it. Why did he challenge him? And why isn't that prince fightin' himself?"

"When a noble is challenged into an honorary duel, he can choose a representative to fight in his place." replied Twilight as they made their way through the crowd. "But why did Matt challenge him?"

"That's some crowd." Matthias fought as he scanned the spectactors. "There he is!"

Blueblood finally came and sat on the honorary place at the other side of the arena. They both looked at each other with disgust.

There was still some time left before the fight, but Matt was already standing at the stage, waiting for this 'Mighty Shot'. He had stretched himself a minute earlier in the locker room, after declining from the Arena's staff the armor they wanted to give him.

"As if that thing could be of any help..."

"Matt!" a shout interrupted his thoughts.

Matthias glance to his right. His friends were standing by the barrier at the edge of the fighting stage.

"Hi everypony." he said casually as he walked to them. "How do the preparations for the wedding go?"

"What the hay are you doing?!" asked Twilight.

"Killing time." he replied with a smirk.

The expression on her face was priceless, even though he wouldn't be thinking so if it wasn't for the barrier that prevented anypony from the other side from intervening.

"Look, I would love to stay and chat, but the fight starts soon. I asked the Arena's staff to save you some seats in case you came." he said as he trotted away.

"This is going to be fun." he thought, and he recalled how few years ago he was watching another fighting in the arena.

Who would have guessed that the orc, that was a slave and was even named so, would rise up to be the Warchief of the Horde and a shaman that is destined to stop Deathwing, while the prince, that was going to be a paladin and King of Lordaeron, would have done all that he did, and would find himself here?

"Things change." he repeated Anub'arak's words.

"Calm down, sugarcube." said Applejack. "Ah mean, it's Matt. I'm sure he knows what he's doin'. And hey, he deserves some excitement, right?"

"Yes, it's just..." Twilight trailed of as they sat on the seats that Matthias had reserved for them, trying to collect her thoughts.

"First, it's this whole wedding thing, and now this." she sighed. "I guess I expected Matt to help me find some solution, but he goes around fighting."

"Just what, dear?" asked Rarity.

"I just... wonder if he's going to be okey." she answered, not wanting to go back into the fight with her friends over the wedding. "I heard about this Mighty Shot from my brother. He's a royal guard, like Shining Armor, but he is kind of... unpleasant. And strong. He never lost a fight."

"Well, that's about to change!" said Rainbow.

Matthias came closer to the middle of the fighting stage and glanced at his opponent. He was surprisingly well muscled for an unicorn; in fact, the only other well-built unicorn that came into Matt's mind was Shining Armor. He wore full body armor; at least, by Equestria's standards, and underneath it Matthias could see a dark coat, same color as his mane and tail.

"The combatants are ready?" asked the announcer.

"Yes." they both replied.

" Before we begin the fight, let me remind you the rules: no magic, no killing. We fight until the first blood is drown. The medics are staying within the barrier, but won't interfere until the fight is over. The fight begins... now!" shouted the announcer and the crowd cheered.

"This is your unlucky day." said Mighty Shot as he started to circle around him.

"Mind if I ask you something?" asked Matt, following him with only his eyes.

"Shoot."

"Why are you friends with somepony like Blueblood?"

"Because we think alike. We both know that we are better than commoners that the Princess holds in such great regard for some reason."

"Good." replied Matt, grinning, although the unicorn couldn't see his face.

"What do you mean?" asked his opponent, and Matthias heard his armor creak as he prepared to jump.

"Isn't it obvious?" he replied with a question, and swiftly dodged Mighty Shot's attack. "I'm glad that was your answer, because that means I still get to beat up a snob."

Mighty Shot snorted and attacked again.

Matthias was impressed by the number of kicks and punches the unicorn had thrown at him. Despite his heavy build, he was very fast, and had a good fighting technigue.

But he was not as fast as he was, and his fighting technique could't match with that of a Knight of the Silver Hand.

Every punch, every kick, every headbutt hit an empty air as Matt moved out of the way. Since most of those strikes were aimed at his head, he could simply stood still for most of the time, and just move his head.

After few minutes his opponent, who started growing tired, backed away and charged at him. Matt jumped over him and kicked Mighty Shot at the back of his head, causing his helmet to fall off and giving the stallion's face a ride through the ground.

After a few moments of silence, the crowd started cheering, Mighty Shot picked himself from the ground, spitting dirt.

"Do you need a break?" asked Matthias, smirking.

The unicorn shoot him a glare that could probably melt steel. His horn glowed.

"Oh..." said Matthias.

Twilight watched, speechless, as the magical bolt hit her friend...

... and everything exploded.

"Matt!!!"

Mighty Shot looked at the huge smoke that covered the area where that dirty commoner stood. He didn't even try to suppress the cruel smile on his face. Who cares that he broke the rules? The rules are below those of noble blood, such as he. He was...

...clip... clop...

"Wait, what?" he though, sure that he must be hearing things.

...clip... clop...

"Tha... That's impossible!" Mighty Shot though, backing away, as the joy on his face changed into a terror.

From the smoke, Matthias Lehner emerged, not a scratch on him.

"My turn." he said with a smirk, and charged.

Mighty simply stared, unable to keep up with earth pony's speed, as his hoof hit him with unbelivable strength, shattering his armor and sending him flying.

"Did the hoof... glow?" he manged to think before he collided with the wall.

24. Discorded

Prince Blueblood stared at his dented into the wall friend, speechless.

"How could he lose to that commoner?" he thought.

As the crowd started cheering, one of the Grand Arena's ponies came closer to him.

"Prince Blueblood," he said, turning the royal pony attention away from the fighting stage, "there's a letter for you."

Blueblood frowned, and took the letter.

I hope you remember what you are supposed to do now. You don't want me to go to you, don't you?

The prince glanced at Matthias, who was bowing before the crowd. As if sensing this, the earth pony looked back at him. Blueblood found himself quivering from that look. He quickly returned to reading the letter.

Seeing as you are too frightened to properly think, I took the liberty of writing for you what you are about to say.

As Prince Blueblood read the other part of the letter, he blushed out of embarrassement.

Matthias once again bowed before the cheering crowd.

"I'm beginning to understand why it took so many years for Thrall to run away from Durnholde." he thought, waving. "How long has it been since I heard such large group cheering for me?"

He frowned as he remembered.

"It was the moment before I killed my father."

He stoped reacting to the crowd as his thoughts once again turned dark. With his good mood dumped, he was about to turn around and leave, when he heard Blueblood's voice.

"If I could get everypony's attention..." he said, clearing his throat. " I have an important announcement to make."

Matt, who completaly forgot about this, glanced at him. Even from here, he could see that the 'prince' was all red out of embarrassement.

"I, Prince Blueblood, would like to publicly and officially apologise to every mare that I ever offended. My behaviour is beyond forgiveness, unless one can count being a self-center snob as an excuse. Truly, it's a wonder that I haven't been yet accused in a court. I hope that I never put any lady in any discomfort by being a jerk. Once again, I apologise."

Hearing the murmur of laughter that went through the Arena, as well as seeing Blueblood leave in a hurry, made Matt feel better as he left the fighting stage.

Twilight laughted with the others as the prince said his apology, knowing that it was because of Matt that they could hear it. She was about to call him, when she noticed that he no longer was where he stood a moment ago. She looked around and saw his tail disappearing in the exit of the stage.

"I will go talk with Matt. Can the rest of you go back to the castle and check on everything?" she asked her friends.

"Be sure to give him my thanks." said Rarity as everypony nodded, and Twilight went looking for the entrance to the locker rooms.

She needed to talk to him.

Matthias stared at his reflection in the mirror, wondering how would his father think of him now.

"Oh, for pony sake!" he heard Twilight say behind him.

"Well, it's rather a long way to my usual pondering place, isn't it?" he chuckled, turning around.

"You know that you technically cheated, don't you?"

"Technically, this isn't magic as you understand it in Equestria, so I didn't cheat. And besides, would you prefer me to get hit by his spell?"

"Well, no." she said, looking at the floor. "You scared everypony, you know that?"

"Sorry." Matt replied, trully regreting worrying his friends, especially her. "I didn't mean to make it look so... dramatic, but he really caught me off guard."

"Oh, now you really calmed me." Twilight chuckled, then sighed. "I'm just glad that you're okay."

"Once again, I'm sorry." Matt said. "So, how are the preparations for the wedding going?"

His question had an unexpecting result. Instead of brightening up and telling him how great everything was going, Twilight looked distraught.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I... I'm not sure there should be a wedding." Twilight said, staring at her hooves.

Matthias wasn't sure what to say. He recalled how unhappy she was earlier today, but he thought she had gotten over it by now.

"Why?"

"Because she's mean!" Twilight started shouting. "She's been horrible to everypony: she threw away the snacks Applejack gave her, after saying that she 'love, love, love them'; she was being so demanding about her dress; and she insulted Pinkie Pie's party!"

"What did the others say?"

"They are so too caught up in their wedding planning that they didn't even noticed!" replied Twilight, starting to pace around.

"Um... Twilight?" asked Matt, mentally going over the prayer for protection, just in case. "Don't you think that you're maybe... overreacting?"

"What!?" she shouted, looking at him in disbelieve.

"Princess Cadance is getting married, of course she's going to be a bit..."

"Urghh, you'r just the same as everypony else." said Twilight, turning around.

Matthias knew he couldn't let her go like this.

"Twlight wait!" he shouted, and noticing her glowing horn, he spoke fast, before she managed to teleport herself. "Remember what you told me after that dragon incident?"

That got her attention.

"You said that if you have your friends with you, they can tell you when what you're about to do is wrong. Being surrounded by ponies you trust and have them advising you will alway make you take the right course of action."

"You... remembered it all?" she asked with wide eyes.

"What you're about to do is the same what I did." Matt continued, not bothering to reply. "You're turning your back on a friend that is trying to advise you."

Twilight, looked at the floor.

"You're right. Sorry." she sighed.

"Twilight, I have no right to judge somepony because she's trying to do what she believes to be right." Matthias said, coming closer to her. "But I would prefer to not see you suffer as I did when I watched my friends turn their backs on me."

"But... what am I going to do?" Twilight asked, tears forming in her eyes. "If I am right, she's going to ruin Shining Armor's life! I can't..."

"Talk with your brother." told her Matt. "I've met him today, and he seemed to me happy about getting married. But maybe you are right. If the two of you talk - calmly - I'm sure that the truth about Cadance and the wedding will come out."

Twilight looked into his eyes and smiled.

"I will do that. Thanks." she said, whipping out tears.

"You want me to come with you?"

"No, I... I will be fine." she said, taking a deep breath. "You'd better go and take some rest. I will tell you tomorrow how it went."

"Very well, see you tomorrow. And remember, stay calm!" he shouted after her.

Matthias trotted toward the castle. Everypony he passed greeted him with a smile. News about Blueblood apology traveled fast, and everypony, even those of the same social class as the 'prince' seemed glad about it.

As he was approaching the castle, he noticed the entrance to the castle's gardens. Thinking that it would be a good way to calm himself after all that happened, he entered the gardens.

The flowers and trees looked a bit scary, now that it was night. Matthias found that refreshing. He was still unused to the way everything screamed 'happiness' in Equestria.

He bent over to smell few flowers. He remembered snapdragon at the Balnir Farmstead, the pride of Vera Balnir. He loved spending time there as a child, whenever he didn't have any lessons, and play with Jarim. He whirled as the memory struck him, but soon was repleced by another, as he saw a lilies. They looked a lot like flowers once called Stratholme's Lilies, before their name was changed.

Into Arthas' Tears.

Matthias wondered how come he hadn't gone insane with all those memories.

He began to regret the idea of coming here and looked for exit. As he walked, he passed few statues, not paying them much attention, until he came across the last one.

"What by all that is holy is this supposed to be?"

It was... Matthias couldn't even find a proper word to describe it. The abominations that Putricide made could at least be described as that, but he couldn't help but feel as the statue was based on the living creature. The expression of pure fear on it's face, that looked a bit like pony's, told him that. Other than that, the creature had a body of a cloud serpent that Matt knew to exist in Pandaria, two wings - one pegasus', other bat's - that were too small to lift this body, a mountain cat's paw, eagle's claws, dragon's paw and and pony's hoof. Even it's face was weird, had a goat-like horn and deer-like antler, one eye bigger than the other one and a giant tooth.

Matt stared at the creature, his thoughts about his past evaporeted.

"What the bloody hell are you?" he finally asked.

"This is Discord." said a serene voice behind him.

Matthias turned around and gazed at her.

Like Cadance, she was beautiful, but while Cadance beauty was a simple, mortal beauty, she emanated a godlike beauty. She was a lot bigger than other ponies. Her coat was white with a slight pink tinge, and her mane and tail... Matthias thought he saw four different colors of the sky on them, but he couldn't be sure, because they were constantly flowing, despite that there was no wind. She wore similiar regalia as Cadance, but they were a lot bigger and valuable, and her cutie mark was the symbol of the sun.

Matt quickly took a hold of himself and kneeled before her.

"Princess Celestia, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please, pardon my previous words. I had no idea I was in your presence."

"That's quite alright, Matthias Lehner, there's no need for you to apologise. And it's a pleasure to meet you, as well. Please, stand up." as Matt did as Celestia told him, she continued: "I read quite a lot about you in Twilight's letters."

Matt smiled sadly.

"Normally, a pony would say: 'all things good, I hope?', right Your Highness?"

The Princess nodded.

"Normally, yes." she replied and glanced at the statue.

"You said that this is discord." Matthias said, "What did you mean by that, Your Highness? Was it the name of this creature, or is this all symbolic?"

"Both statements are true in this case. Discord is a Spirit of Chaos that once ruled over Equestria, before my sister and I defeated him and imprisoned him in stone."

"So... that's not really a statue?"

"No."

"What did you mean by Spirit of Chaos, Your Highness?"

"Discord in chaos incarnated. He can warp reality to his own amusement, and he doesn't care that it hurts other ponies. Quite the contrary, he finds great delight in their suffering. And he has a terrible sense of humor. I'm surprised Twilight didn't mentioned him to you." added the Princess.

"Why would she mention to me about some creature that you and Princess Luna defeated more than a thousand years ago?" asked surprised Matthias.

"Because it was her and her friends that defeated Discord when he broke free few month ago with the Elements of Harmony."

Matthias eyes went wide and he almost let his jaw drop.

"You mean the Elements of Harmony, Princess? The ones that changed your sister back to her old self?"

Princess Celestia chuckled.

"Yes, and that was also their doing. It would appear that Twilight kept a few secrets from you."

Matthias looked back at the statue.

"Well, it would seem that it's only fair, since I keep a few secrets away from her as well."

"So they can use the most powerful artifacts on this world... Looks like I really don't have to worry about hurting anypony if I ever become evil again."

Thinking about it made him ask the Princess something.

"Why did Discord became evil?"

"I'm sorry?" asked Princess Celestia.

"Why did he became evil? What was the reason that triggeret it?"

Princess looked at him with wide eyes.

"He always was evil, ever since he came to Equestria. He's the incarnation of chaos."

"I beg your forgiveness, Princess, but he couldn't always be evil. Nopony is born evil, of which I am the prime example of. There must have been a reason for that, but if what you say is true, then it must have happened before he came to Equestria."

Princess Celestia looked at him thoughfully.

"You know, Matthias, I have never thought of that." she said finally. Glancing at the statue, she added: "I guess to me, he was always the monster from the stories my mother told me and Luna. But there is nothing we can do about it, unless he would break free again, but that would be most unfortunate."

"I guess your right, Princess." replied Matthias, pitying the creature.

Princess Celestia turned away, signaling for him to follow her. Matt walked beside her.

"You haven't told much to anypony about yourself from the time before you came to Equestria."

"Am I right to assume that Twilight wrote you everything I have told her or said in her presence?"

"Yes."

Matthias chuckled.

"It looks like I have to apologise to Shining Armor for saying that you don't have a very good spy network."

"It's not exacly spying." said the Princess a bit . "Twilight is just..."

"... observing me." finished for her Matthias. "And I don't mind, honestly. I'm actually grateful."

"Because you're afraid you will become evil once again."

"Yes."

"Is there a reason why would that happen?" asked Celestia, glancing at him.

"There are may reasons why one would became evil." replied Matt. "Hate, fear... duty to protect others..."

Princess stared at him few moment after that.

"You are an interesting pony, Matthias. Why would the duty of protecting others could make somepony evil?"

"You don't want to know, Your Highness." Matt sighed.

He doubted that Celestia agreed with him, but she didn't press the matter.

"Twilight also wrote me that you constantly meditate, trying to find the answer to why you are here."

"Unfortunately, without luck."

"Why is it so important to you to know why you are here?" the Princess asked. "It's clear that there must by a reason for such thing, but I don't understand why you need to know it as soon as possible."

Matthias hesitated. This was another thing that he hasn't told Twilight.

"Twilight's letter mentioned to you the name Medivh, right?"

"The raven that gave you some message through Pinkie Pie that is actually a human from Azeroth, and some sort of prophet?"

"Yes, but I haven't told Twilight everything. Medivh warned me that if I don't do what I'm supposed to do here, this land would be lost."

Princess Celestia stopped, and so did Matthias. As she looked into his eyes, felt as if she was scanning him with magic, which, for all he knew, could be true.

"Why haven't you told Twilight about this?" she asked at last.

"Because I didn't want her to worry about something she had no influence over."

Celestia nodded.

"Then you should do the same."

Matthias stared at her, sure that he misheard her.

"Forgive me, Princess, but..."

"You don't have the influence over this, either. When the time comes for you to do whatever this is that you are supposed to do, I trust that you will know by then what it is."

Matthias was speechless. He hadn't thought about it.

"In the future, don't waste your time meditating when you could spend it with your friends." she added, resuming her walk. "And since we're already talking about it, I can tell you why you haven't been able to fell into a complete trance and get in contact with Light."

"How could you know?" asked shocked Matt. "I mean no offense, Princess, but before I came here nopony knew what Light was. How could you..."

"You don't always need to know something to understand it." replied Celestia calmly.

"You are indeed as wise as Twilight made you to be, Princess." said after a while Matthias. "Please, if you would be so kind, Your Highness, could you tell me why am I failing?"

"Because you're in conflict with yourself. I don't know if this is because you can't forgive yourself for what you did or for some other reason, but as long as you are like this, you won't be able to succeed."

Matthias glanced at the floor. He didn't even notice when they entered the castle.

"How could I ever forgive myself?"

"You gave me a lot to think about, Princess. Thank you."

"You're most welcome, Matthias. It was the least I could do after you stood up for Pixie, not to mention the fact that you're one of Twilight's friends."

She stopped in front of the door that, as Matthias recalled, led to the rooms that he and others were staying in.

"I hope you will have peaceful dreams, Matthias Lehner. Good night."

"Likewise, Your Highness. Good night."

As the Princess left, Matt entered through the door into the hallway, and saw five of his friends...

... wearing beautifull dresses.

"So thats how ponies look like in them, huh..." he thought as all he could do beside that was stare at them.

He has seen dresses in Equestria, of course, but they were always on the dress forms in Rarity boutique. To see them on his friends...

"Oh, Matthias!" said Rarity, stopping her discussion about Applejack's hat. She came over to him and hugged him. "Thank you so much for making Blueblood to apologise like this!"

"You're welcome." Matt replied, blushing. "Might I say, those are beautiful dresses. You all look astonishing."

"Thank you very much. We are going to be beautiful bridesmaids, don't you agree?"

"Of course you... wait, you're the bridesmaids?" Matt asked, confused. He knew from Spike that Twilight was the best mare (on which he rolled his eyes), but... "When did this happen?"

"Oh, about the time we came back from the Arena." replied Rarity. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza came to us and asked us if we wanted to be her new bridemaids."

"'New' bridesmaids? What happened to her 'old' bridesmaids?"

"That's funny, it's exactly the same thing Twilight said." replied Applejack.

"Twilight is here?" Matthias asked, wondering how her talk with Shining Armor went.

"No, ya missed her. She went off somewhere."

"Hmm..." Matt said, trying to imagine how it went. If there was still wedding tomorrow, that must have meant that her brother convinced her that everything was fine. "Well then, I guess I'm off to sleep. The wedding is somewhere around the noon, right?"

"Yes, although we have the wedding rehearsal few hours before that."

"Isn't this all exciting?" asked Pinkie.

"Yes." replied Matt, smiling. This was the first wedding he attended in fifteen years, and he couldn't help but feel a little excited at seeing how different weddings were in Equestria. "Have fun with the rehearsal, everypony. Good night."

25. Revelation

Matthias stretched as he woke up. While he had nothing against the bed Twilight gave him, it was refreshing to sleep in a king-sized one. Yawning, he got up, glad that he didn't have any dreams this time. Judging by the fact that Bolvar and Ner'zhul haven't summoned him, he quessed that things were quiet on Azeroth... as quiet as they could be on the world that was literally falling apart.

He entered the balcony and gazed at the city. He had to admit, Canterlot looked beautiful, even more so during a morning like this.

"What a beautiful day." he said aloud. "On a morning like this, you can't help but think that this day is going to be perfect."

"And it is going to be perfect." he reflected. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance were getting married, and Twilight had gotten over her silly fear that Cadance was going to ruin her brother's life. He gazed at Canterlot, allowing himself few more moments of happiness, and after a while he went into the bathroom.

It took him about ten minutes to refresh himself and he was about to leave his room, when he heard voices on the other side.

"Can ya'll believe what she did?!"

"I must say, that was..."

"What are you guys talking about?" interrupted Matthias, coming in.

The five mares and dragon glanced at him.

"We were at the wedding rehearsal, when suddenly..." said Rarity and trailed off.

"Suddenly what?" asked Matt, sensing that something terrible has happened.

"Twilight barged in and started accusing Princess Cadance of being evil!" said Applejack.

Matthias stared at her, and then at the others. They all nodded.

"Damn it!" he thought, mad at himself. "I should have gone looking for her yesterday!"

"Tell me exactly what happened." he asked the girls.

"Well, when Twilight came in, she said that she wasn't going to stand next to Cadance, and that neither should Shining Armor."

"We tried to stop her..." added Fluttershy.

"... but she wasn't listening!" finished Rainbow.

"Then she started accusing Cadance of being evil..."

"... that she was horrible to us..."

"... that she did somethin' to her bridesmaids..."

"... and in the end, Twilight said that she saw her put a spell on her brother that made his eyes go [bells jangling]!" ended Pinkie Pie, rolling her eyes in opposite directions.

"Wait, what? What spell?" asked Matt, immediately on alert.

"Shining Armor later said that the princess was using her magic to heal him. He's been having some terrible migraines as of late."

"'Later'? What happened in between?" he asked, fearing worst.

"What'ya think happened?! The princess burst into tears! She asked Twilight why she was doin' it to her, and as she run away, cryin', Twilight was shouting after her that's because she was evil! Can ya belive it?!"

"Actually, I can." Matt thought, puttin his hooves over his eyes. He knew how Twilight was upset about this whole wedding, and still he didn't do anything to help her. "I should have gone with her to talk with Shining Armor!"

"After that her brother yelled at her, dismissed her accusations, and told her that she could forget about being his best mare, or coming to the wedding at all."

Matthias started pacing around, trying desperetly to think of something to fix this all. The thought of Twilight, who loved her brother so much, hearing Shining Armor say that, was causing him greater pain than any physical injury, even the one that killed him.

"Even Princess Celestia was mad at her." added Rarity. "I hear her say to Twilight that she 'have a lot to think about' as we all left."

Matt forgot that the Princess would be there. Not only was Twilight rejected by her brother, but by her mentor as well...

"Wait..." he stopped, noticing what Rarity said. "What do you mean by 'as we all left'?"

"Well, we all went after the princess, of course, to check if she was alright."

Matthias stared at them as if they all had suddenly grown second heads.

I can't watch you do this.

"But don't worry, Princess Cadance feels better now. The weddin' is still goin' as planned." quickly said Applejack, thinking he was worried about that.

"You mean to tell me... " he finally said, barely keeping the fury away from his voice. "... that when your friend was being rejected by both her brother and her teacher, you were all worried about somepony you met yesterday?!"

His voice was raising as he talked, and his last words were practically a scream. Everypony looked at him, scared at confused.

"What the hay is your problem!?" asked Rainbow Dash, the first one to react. "Twilight was going crazy out there, and deserved to hear what they said to her."

"I must agree with Rainbow Dash." supported her Rarity. "As bridesmaids, it was our duty to make sure the bride was alright."

I would prefer to not see you suffer as I did when I watched my friends turn their backs on me.

Matthias snorted at them all and made his way to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To find Twilight and figure out a way to fix this whole mess." glancing back at them, he added with venom: "You are obviously too busy to help a friend in need!"

Having said that, he slammed the door behind him with his tail, before the shocked ponies could answer him, and he ran toward the hall that the wedding was supposed to be held. Twilight, however, wasn't there.

He backed away, trying to think. He knew Twilight. He knew how she was thinking. Where could she go?

He couldn't find her.

He looked for her everywhere. Inside the castle, in the gardens, at her parents' house (luckily, they didn't know about what happened and Matt didn't tell them). He also asked few royal guards if they saw her, both in the castle and in the city, but nopony saw her since the wedding rehearsal. He checked even the train station and asked ponies working there if they saw a mare matching her description board the train leaving to Ponyville, but they also said no.

"As if she sank underground!" he thought in frustration.

The only place that he didn't check was her brother's house, doubting that she would find by herself courage to go and apologise, and Princess Celestia's private chambers, knowing better than to disrupt her.

Finally, thinking that maybe Twilight would come to the wedding after all, he went back into the castle, took quick shower and went there as well, only to see no sign of her.

So he sat there, resigned, as he watched the young couple getting married, wishing that Twilight was here to see it, as she should have.

"Why... Why do I always have to fail?" he asked in his mind. "I couldn't save Invincible, my resolve to save my homeland has made me into a monster... I can't even help one friend."

He shook slightly and returned his mind to the present moment.

"Mares and gentlecolts," was saying Princess Celestia, "we are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor.

He didn't look at Spike and the girls, still mad at them for abandoning Twilight, as well as feeling guilty for his outburst. After all, most ponies would do the same as them. It was unfair of him to yell at them like that.

He glanced at the groom and the bride. He noticed a weird expression on Shining Armor's face.

He's been having some terrible migraines as of late.

"Why would he be having migraines?" he asked himself quietly, while at the same time wondering how could Twilight mistake a spell for healing headache for some mind hurting one.

"Hm?" asked the stallion sitting next to him.

"Oh, sorry." he apologised, whispering, just now realising that he said that aloud. "I heard that the groom was having migraines lately, and I was just wondering why. I mean, I know stallions can feel a bit sick before the wedding, but headaches are more of a mare's thing, right?" he asked, trying to make a joke out of it.

The stallion, that, as Matthias realised, was the sergeant that was on a patrol yesterday with Shining Armor, smirked and covered his mouth with a hoof.

"Good one. But it's not really a surprise that he's been having migraines lately. After all, keeping up this barrier around Canterlot by himself can't be easy."

Having said that, the sergeant returned his attention to the ceremony, so he couldn't see Matthias staring at him with eyes round as plates, as his mind whirled.

... she walked by me indifferently!

A threat has been made against Canterlot.

And three: take care of those that are sustaining the barrier.

... Twilight said that she saw her put a spell on her brother...

As if she sank underground!

"Princess Cadance and Shining Armor..." said Princess Celestia as she prepared to pronounce them as mare and colt.

"No!"

Queen Chrysalis could barely keep her expression as cute as if she really was Cadance.

How easy it has been to fool those ponies! Only one had realised that something was wrong, but Twilght Sparkle has been dealt with. Now, nopony could stop her.

Soon, this city would be hers. Her subjects would devour all of Equestria's love. They would all feed as they have never fed before. And then...

... then she could look for him.

"Princess Cadance and Shining Armor," said the pony princess, that wasn't much smarter than the rest of her species, even if she was an alicorn with astonishing powers, "it is my great pleasure to pronounce you...

"Yes!" thought Chrysalis, savoring her victory.

Out of nowhere, golden chains surrounded the Queen of the Changelings.

"What is that?" she thought, suprised as everypony, exluding Shining Armor, who she fed off so much that at this point he was almost a doll compered to other ponies.

She has never seen something like this. Those chains looked as if they were made not of gold, but rather some kind of solidified light. She felt the heat emanating from them, and she knew that if it wasn't for the fact that they were few centimeters away from her body, they would probably burn her.

"What the are you doing?!" said few of her new bridesmaids with fear in their voice. She looked in the same direction as they.

Coming up the walkway that she herself went through moments ago was an earth pony, the one that, as she recalled, was friends with those ponies that helped prepare the wedding, and was yesterday the talk of almost whole Canterlot. But he was different now. His whole body glowed with the same light as the chains that trapped her. But the worst were his eyes.

They shone like two miniature suns, and were looking at her with such righteous anger, that despite herself, Chrysalis felt herself shrunk.

"Where are they?" he asked, and despite how quietly and calmly he said that, everypony heard him...

... and feared.

26. Face of the enemy

Matthias walked up to the altar, not paying any attention to the other ponies. His eyes were fixed on 'Cadance'. He could see how her fear was quickly replaced by anger, only to masked by fake tears a heartbeat later.

"Why are you doing this to me?!" she cried.

That only served to fuel Matt's anger, as he realised that this was the same trick she used earlier to turn everypony against Twilight.

"I swear, if I find out that she hurt as much as a single hair on her coat, there will be no end to her suffering!"

He could see in the corner of his eyes his friends looking at him with both fear and dismay, probably thinking that he was crazy, like Twilight. He could also hear few of the royal guards coming from behind, no doubt to apprehend him. Knowing that the imposter won't do anything drastic while in front of all the wedding quests, Matt turned his head and uttered quick prayer.

A wave of Light formed before the four guard and pushed them away, dazing them a bit but not causing them much harm otherwise. Everypony else gasped and moved away from him.

Despite his anger toward the fake Cadance, he was still relatively calm, so when Princess Celestia called him, he listened.

"What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself!"

Matt knew he had to answer, not just because she was the ruler of this land or that fighting her would serve no purpose, but also because if half of what he heard or read about her powers was true, he wouldn't stand much of a chance against her.

"Forgive me for interrupting the ceremony, Princess." he said, keeping his eyes on the imposter, who was still crying. "I just thought that it would be better for the groom to not go through divorce proceedings after this whole farce is over." adressing the fake Cadance, he repeated his question. "Where are they?"

"I-I don't know what you mean!" she cried.

Matthias stomped, causing the floor to crack.

"My patience is running short. Tell me where are..." he started to say, but stopped as he felt strange force pick him up from the ground.

"Enough of this!" said Celestia, her horn glowing.

Feeling that she was not only holding him, but also trying to free 'Cadance' (which he felt she would have already done if she was more familiar with this kind of magic), he asked the Light to strengthen her bonds and free him.

Celestia gasped surprised as he landed on the floor. Matt turned his attention on the fake bride.

"Those chains are made of pure Light. When they touch such a vile creature as you, they cause immense pain. Answer my question or I will tighten them! Where are the real Princess Cadance and Twilight Sparkle, you imposter!?"

His words caused the everypony to gasp, but Matt doubted they believed him. He probably rather convinced them that he was insane. The fake princess was still crying.

"Matthias Lehner, stop this, or I will be forced to take drastic measures!" said Celestia, growing angrier. Her horn glowed again, this time brighter.

Matt started tightening the chains.

Princess Celestia shoot a beam of concentrated magic energy at him. He stombled back, despite the shield that Light had enveloped around him in the nick of time.

"You have been warned." said Celestia, her horn now bright as the sun that she raised. "Release Cadance at once!"

"That was just a warning?! Just how powerful is she?"

"Am I the only one that finds the lack of reaction out of the Captain of the Royal Guard as his bride is being threatened strange?!" he asked, hoping that at least Celestia would finally notice that something was wrong.

Celestia glanced at Shining Armor, and so did Matt. He stared into nothingness, and his eyes had a strange green hue to them.

Suddenly, the fake Cadance started crying even louder.

"What have you done to him?! Why are you ruining my special day?"

Matthias, feeling fed up with her, was about to reply, but somepony beat him to it.

" Because it's not your special day. It's mine."

Surpised, he turned his head.

Twilight knew that everypony would be suprised to see her and Cadance enter the wedding hall. After all, you don't see two identical ponies too often.

What she didn't expect, however, was to be surprised as well.

The fake Cadance, standing next to Shining Armor, was surrounded by some gold chains. Near them stood Princess Celesia, with her horn glowing, although now that she and Cadance were here the glow was fading. And in front of them all was Matt, his body glowing with Light.

As the realisation hit her - that whatever had happened before they came here was his doing - he turned his head and gazed at her with eyes that shone like suns.

As they looked at each other, the expression on his face turned from one of anger and worry to one of joy and relief.

Twilight couldn't help but smile at him.

"She's safe! Thank the Light, she's safe!" was all that he could think as he stared at her and her beautiful smile.

As everypony was gasping again, he glanced as well at the real Princess Cadance. Unlike her double, she was covered in dirt and her mane was in mess. She also looked a lot thinner.

Matt grew angry once again as he realised how long it must have been since those two switched places.

"Calm yourself." he thought, knowing only too well that anger led nowhere; now that he knew Twilight was safe, he remembered that.

"Well, you two sure took your time." he said, returning to his witty attitude. "I was starting to fear you would miss all the fun."

Twilight smile turned into half frown.

"What?" asked the imposter. "But how did you escape my bridesmaids?"

"So that's what happened to her bridesmaids..." Matt thought as he watched Twilight and Cadance exchange a glance and the princess said:

"Why, I throwed a bouquet at them, of course."

"That actually worked?"

"Hmph. Clever." commented the fake princess. "But you're still too late."

"A-Ah don't understand." said Applejack, voicing everpony's thoughts. "How can there be two of 'em?"

"She's a changeling." answered her question Princess Cadance. "She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them."

The fake princess' eyes and horn glowed green and Matt felt the chains beginning to break.

"Do you think I'll let you get away?!" he said, reinforcing them with his will and prayer.

The changeling smirked in response.

The pressure on the chains increased tenfold, and as they broke, a beam of sickly green energy that reminded him of the fel magic of the Burning Legion shot at him. Surprised and strained, all he could do was block it with his foreleg.

The force of the impact had send him flying across the walkway. Somehow, he managed roll in the air and land on his three legs behind Twilight and the real Cadance.

"Matt!" Twilight screamed.

"I'm fine." Matthias gasped as the Light healed his limb.

"Second degree burns." he noticed. "And I think she broke it in at least five places."

As his foreleg healed, he looked at the imposter, that was now surrounded by green flames that soon erupted around her.

As the flames dispersed, the true form of the imposter was revealed. She was as tall as Celestia, and like an alicorn, she had wings and horn. But her horn was twised, and her wings weren't covered in feathers. Instead, they had insectoid appearance. Her coat (if it was coat; it looked more like a carapace) was black, and her mane and tail teal. She also had blue-green chitinous plating over her midsection, a sharp pair of fangs, dark green eyes with elongated oval pupils, and she wore a small, black crown tipped with blue orbs. Her legs, mane, and tail were full of holes and her limbs and torso were very slender.

"Right you are, Princess." she laughed in a voice that had a distorted echoed quality, as if two voices were speaking slightly out of sync. She continued talking as she came closer to Cadance: "And as Queen of the Changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects. Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!"

"They'll never get the chance!" replied the princess defiantly. "Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us."

The Queen of the Changelings chuckled in response.

"Oh, I doubt that." with her horn glowing, she looked behind her and asked. "Isn't that right, dear?"

"Mm-hmm." confirmed Shining Armor, his eyes glowing with the same color as changeling's horn.

Cadance, seeing that, was about to run to him, but was stopped by the Queen.

"Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you?" she asked with horn glowing once again.

Matthias, his foreleg fully healed, jumped in between them.

"You know, I heard that mares can get jealous of the bride at weddings," he said lightly, despite his serious frown, "but you've taken it to the extreme."

The changeling's attention shifted to him, and for a heartbeat she studied him with angry grimace. Matt noticed that her gaze lingered a moment on his foreleg, no doubt wondering how did he heal it so fast. But soon she turned away and flew up to Shining Armor.

"Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you." she told Princess Cadance. "Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now my minions are chipping away at it." He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now." she laughed, holding him by his chin, and as Twilight and Cadance gasped, she added: "And I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard!"

"Not my Shining Armor!" cried Cadance.

"Soon, my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!" declared the Queen of the Changelings, acting as if she already won.

"Isn't she forgetting something?" Matthias thought.

"No." interrupted her Celestia. "You won't."

"Ah, there it is."

As the Princess confronted her, the changeling turned her attention toward her.

"You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self," Celestia paused as she and the Queen clashed, "I can protect my subjects from you!"

Princess Celestia disengaged from The Queen of the Changelings and shot a beam of magical energy at her, and the Changeling retaliated with a beam of her own. Everypony watched as they collided. Immediately, Celestia had the upper hoof.

"No surprise there." commented Matt, who experienced a bit of her power. "After all, she is a goddess."

So it was a big shock to him and everypony else as after few seconds the green beam of the Changeling's Queen overwhelmed Celestia's and hit her.

Everypony gasped in terror as their Princess fell, and her crown clanged when it hit the floor.

"Princess Celestia!" screamed Twilight and was at her side in a second, along with her friends.

This kingdom shall fall...

Matthias, whose gaze lingered a moment on the crown as his mind was plagued a memory, shook and concentrated on the Queen of the Changelings. She seemed surprised as everypony else.

"Ah! Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought!" she said to Cadance. "Consuming him has made me even more powerful than Celestia!"

"Dammit, this is bad!" Matthias thought, preparing for what she would do next.

" The Elements of Harmony." he heard Celestia rasp. "You must get to them, and use their power to defeat the queen."

Matthias noticed in the corner of his eye that Twilight and the rest nodded and run towards the door.

At the same time, however, the queen disappeared in a burst of green flames.

"Now now, it's not polite to leave so soon." she chuckled at the girls as she blocked their way.

Matthias, summoning the power of the Holy Light, charged at her. The changeling either didn't noticed him in time, or was too surprised to react, but either way, he hit her in the chest with the same foreleg that she harmed earlier, throwing her away from the his friends and bursting her threw the wall into the next room.

"Go!" he screamed to them as he jumped after her. "I'll hold her off!"

"Wait..." he heard Twilight scream after him.

Using the Light to increase his strength again, he bucked the column next to the hole in the wall, causing the rest of it and the ceiling to collapse and block the entrance.

"Good."

Twilight and the others stared at the rubble that blocked their way to their friend that was fighting the Queen of Changelings.

"Calm yourself." she thought, despite how scared she was. "Matt will be alright, he knows what he's doing."

"Come on everypony!" she urged her friends as they resumed running towards the Elements.

Matthias looked as the Changeling's Queen picked herself from the floor. In the place on her chest where he hit her was a crack, that confirmed his quess that it was carapace, and a green liquid was coming out of it. Suddenly, her horn glowed and her carapce repaired itself in a blink of an eye.

"I must say, you continue to be both irritating and intriguing." she said as if she wasn't just punched through the wall. Glancing at the rubble behind him, she added: "You do know I can teleport out of here, right?"

"Who said I wanted to trap you here?" asked Matthias, smirking. "I just wanted to keep anypony from interfering."

27. Battle of Light and desires

The Changeling's Queen smirked in response.

"Very well then. I do happen to have some time to kill." she said as Matthias watched her carefully. "But you do realise that I am stronger than your precious Princess Celestia, right?"

Of course, Matthias knew that. But he also knew that it's not always the strongest one that wins.

"That may be true." he replied, preparing to attack. "But you see, Queen... I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Hmm, it's Queen Chrysalis. Why do you ask?" she inquired, surprised. "Most ponies would be just content with calling me a monster, and such."

"Why would I call you a monster? You're just doing what's in your nature." Matt answered with a shrug. "If it wasn't for that little fact that you trapped my friend in some caves and turned everypony she cares about against her, I would have even felt pity for you."

"My, what a gentlecolt." Chrysalis replied, and Matt couldn't tell if she was mocking him or being honest.

"Anyway, Queen Chrysalis, there is one thing that I have that gives me an advantage here." he said, coming a bit closer.

"Oh? And that would be...?"

"Plenty of experience in combat!" he answered, emiting a dazzling light in all directions, blinding her, and charged.

As Chrysalis backed away, covering her eyes, he jumped and swung his Light enveloped hoof, aiming at her horn, but before he could reach it, he was blocked by a barrier of green energy.

Noticing that the queen was opening her eyes, Matt quickly jumped away. After a second Chrysalis shot a magical beam through the place were he was, and made a hole in the wall. Amused, she attacked once again. Matthias dodged that one as well, although this time he got grazed.

"I could sure use a weapon right now!" he thought, and grimaced as an idea formed in his head.

The Light shaped itself into the form of hammer in front of him, and was hurled in the direction of the changeling, hitting the floor.

"Nice aiming." commented Chrysalis, smirking. Matthias smirked as well.

She soon screached in pain as the hammer started blasting the area with arcing Light, hurting her and healing Matt's injury.

Chrysalis teleported out of the reach of the hammer and gazed at Matthias with sickly green eyes, now enraged. Knowing what she was going to do, he jumped away, and as the place he stood was hit by another beam, he grabbed a rock from the rubble and threw at her as she was about to shoot again.

The rock turned into dust as the beam hit it right in front of her face, once again blinding the queen. Matt took the opportunity and hid behind one of the columns.

Next to the column was a window, and Matthias saw to his horror, but not surprise, that the protective spell of Shining Armor was broken. The barrier was collapsing, and he could see many black objects - probably changelings - flying in.

"Girls..." he thought, but shook his head. "If I leave now, she will just follow me and make things more chaotic down there. I need to have faith in them."

And he had. He knew that Twilight Sparkle was a powerful unicorn, second to none of her kind when it came to magic; Rainbow Dash was a great fighter, even if impatient, but so was he in the past; Applejack was strong; Fluttershy scary when she wanted to; Rarity could wrap anypony around her hoof, like those Diamond Dogs he heard about; and Pinkie Pie... was Pinkie Pie. They would be fine.

He had only a second to think about this all, because in the next one the column he was hiding behind exploded, and he was hurled through the window.

"What the..." he thought as his body shattered the glass. "I made sure she couldn't see my reflection in it!"

On the plus side, he didn't need to think about avoiding collision with the ground.

On the minus side, it was because he was surrounded by green aura.

Chrysalis pulled him back and threw him into the wall, and then into the floor in front of her. Stunned, he shook his head and saw her standing over him, about to bring her hoof down on him. Not having time to dodge, he asked the Light for protection.

The Light's barried formed around him, blocking the queen's attack. The look of amusement returned to her face, as she brought her hoof up for another strike.

Matt smirked as another idea hit him.

Chrysalis wanted to laugh as she saw the earth pony smile, thinking that his puny shield could stop her. Unknown to him, the power that changelings gained as they fed wasn't just magical.

It was also physical.

She stomped once again, this time putting more strength into it, and this time shattered his barrier. Punching him in the stomach more lightly, she leaned over.

"Now, seeing that we still have some time, prehaps we could talk?" she asked, curious about him.

As in response, she felt a light pain that didn't have any particular source. Pressing her hoof tighter, she said:

"Still thinking that those light tricks of yours will help?" noticing that the pain was growing more intense, added: "Stop it!"

The earth pony - Matthias, she heard him called - smirked, despise the increasing pain he should be feeling.

"As if I could." he rapsed, and at the same time, golden chains once again formed around her.

"What?!" Chrysalis thought, not understanding what he was trying to do...

... until she saw her shadow move.

She glanced above her and couldn't belive it.

A giant hammer-shaped beam of light was coming down on her, and the closer it was, the more pain she felt. And it was already too close for her liking. She didn't want to find what would happen if it collided with her.

She casted a teleportation spell, only to find that it didn't worked.

"So that's why he summoned those chains again!" she thought.

In any other circumstances, she would have spared a second to congratulate him that he was willing to get hit by his own attack to defeat her. But the hammer was a second away.

Thinking fast, she casted another spell.

Matthias yowled in surprise as the the floor below them collapsed.

He whirled in the air so that he could land on his hooves and attack Chrysalis, but before they both hit the floor, she shot him in point-blank range in the chest.

They both screamed: he as he was blasted across the room and hit the wall, and Chrysalis as she was hit by the hammer he summoned, and fell on the floor.

"That was close." he thought, looking at his chest. "If it wasn't for that attack healing me, I probably wouldn't get up."

Matthias glanced at her as the Light healed him. She managed to minimise the damage from the Light's hammer by bursting through the floor just in time, but she was still hurt pretty badly. Both her wings were reduced to small knots, there was green liquid everywhere around her, and judging by the way she was lifting herself up from the floor, her spine was damaged.

"Does she even have a spine?" Matt wondered as he watched her heal herself.

They soon both finished healing, got up and prepared to resume the fight.

"Ah, how cute." spat Chrysalis, looking pissed. "We both finished together."

Matthias' eyes went wide.

"You're making that kind of joke after I broke your spine?" he asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"That coming from a stallion..." she snorted, and her horn glowed.

Matthias asked the Light for help as he dodged her attack, and the Light answered.

In front of him materialised Guardian of Ancient Kings, a huge humanoid, with two wings spreading from his back, clad in armor and made entirely out of Light. In his hands was two-handed sword Decimation. At once, he charged at Chrysalis.

So surprised she was by his appearence, that she barely flew out of the way of his sword and attacked him with magic. The Guardian of Ancient Kings stumbled back and fell, disappearing.

Matthias, who was waiting for that (apologising in his soul to the ancient spirit), unleashed the Ancient Fury.

Now it was Chrysalis turn to stumble back as Matt's attack hit her, but noticing that the distance between them was too long, he took advantage of the fact that she wasn't paying attention and hid behind one of the columns.

He needed a moment to think about his next step. So far, the Queen of Changelings managed to deal with everything that he threw at her, and he was about to run out of tricks. What could he...

Matthias jumped away at the last second as the column exploded.

"How the bloody hell are you doing this?" he asked frustrated.

Chrysalis chuckled in response.

"We changelings feed on love, remember? I can sense your emotions, you poor fool. I must admit though, they have quite an unique taste."

"Why didn't I figure that out?!" Matt cursed at himself, but in a heartbeat he smiled.

"Oh, so all I have to do to hide from you is stop feeling any emotions?" he asked her as if to be sure, teasing her. "Thank you, Queen Chrysalis, that will surely help!"

"Stop fooling around." she snorted. "Nopony can just stop feeling emotions on call."

Matthias smirked.

"Apparently you've never fought a paladin before." he said as he blinded her once again with Light.

Deep beneath the ruins of Capital City, within the Undercity's Royal Quarter, the Dark Lady Sylvanas Windrunner shook.

Sharlindra, Bragor Bloodfist and ambassador Sunsorrow all looked at her, surprised.

"Mistress? I something wrong?" asked Sharlindra, concern on her ethereal face.

Sylvanas, no less surprised than them, replied:

"Nothing."

... despite the warmth she briefly felt inside.

She couldn't sense him.

"That's impossible!" she thought, continuing to keep up the barrier that she created as she was blinded by his attack around her.

Before, she could sense a torrent of emotions: great anger for her, deep love for his friends, tiny fear of what might happen to them all... and deep down, almost not noticable, an insane hatred for himself.

But now there was nothing.

Of course, she knew that there were certain ways for ponies to stop feeling any emotions for some time, like through meditation, but no pony could do something like that in the middle of the battle.

"Where are you!?" she shouted, frustrated.

Matthias sat behind anothet column, knowing that his plan was working. He once again repeated in his head a prayer that helped paladins to clear their minds before the battle:

Light, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Focusing on those words helped him to achive the same state of mind as during meditation. Now Chrysalis couldn't tell where he was.

Glancing at her, he noticed that she was still keeping up her barrier. He waited. Either she would soon drop it, or she would continue losing her energy.

Both options worked fine for him.

Chrysalis was thinking.

She couldn't sense him. He could probably see her. He knew she was loosing her energy the longer she kept her shield up. Of course, it would take a while for her to run out of the power, but if it would last longer, she might find herself weaker than Matthias.

He intrigued her. His abilities were like nothing she ever faced before. She wanted him alive, so that she could know how he acquired them, and who he was. Even looking over his weird powers, he was unique. He not only managed to figure out that she wasn't Cadance -which even Twilight Sparkle couldn't - but also showed great skill in combat. He kept surprising her, and she knew that if she grew weaker, he might actually win.

"What to do..." she mused.

She couldn't start shooting random columns. If she chose the wrong one, she would give him an opening. Maybe if she could force him to reveal himself...

Chrysalis smirked and dropped her shield.

"Now!" thought Matthias.

Without making a sound, he left his hiding place and jamped and Chrysalis. He asked the Light to give him strength, and it once again enveloped his hoof as he was about to break her horn.

Green flames flashed.

He was about to attack Twilight.

"Wha...? he thought, terrified.

Nowhere to run...

Twilight looked back. Her horn and eyes glowed green.

Matthias was thrown into the wall. He couldn't move.

Twilight laughed and once again the green flames flashed, transforming her into Chrysalis.

"Dammit!" Matt thought, realising how stupid he was.

"I knew you would feel something if I transformed into her." said the queen, still holding him with magic and coming closer. "She's special to you, isn't she?"

Matthias didn't bother with reply and instead tried asking the Light to help him, only to find out that he couldn't concentrate.

She wasn't just holding his body. He could feel her doing something with his mind, and to his frustration, he couldn't do anything to stop her.

"You know, I actually enjoyed this." said Chrysalis, looming over him. "It's been a while since I've had to fight like this. And you are interesting. Who are you?"

Matthias didn't answer.

"Now now, no reason to be like this." she chuckled, and her horn glowed brighter for a second. "We should be friends, don't you agree?"

"Why would I be friends with you?" Matt asked, feeling his head hurt.

"Because I can be generous to my friends." she whispered. "I could give you anything you want..."

Green flames flashed.

"... or anypony." finished Twilight, coming closer.

Matthias knew this wasn't her, or that he didn't even truly wanted her. And yet...

"There's no reason why we shouldn't be friends." whispered Twilight even quieter as she brushed his his cheek with her nose.

Their lips touched and Matthias gave in.

"Stallions truly are the easiest to fool." Chrysalis thought putting her hooves around Matthias neck as the kiss deepened.

Noticing how furious he was when he realised that she did something to Twilight Sparkle and how quickly he became calm when she appeared at the wedding hall, she guessed that the unicorn was more than just a friend to him. But there was something else to this than just that. Even now as she fed off him, there was some dismay he had for himself that had nothing to do with the fact that she wasn't real Twlight. As if... she wasn't who he truly wanted, but still...

"He really is an interesting one." conluded Chrysalis as she run her hoof down his body.

But she had time to discover what this was. The spell that she used on his mind subtly increased his feelings to easier bend him to her will, and now he was hers, despite that he still knew that she was a changeling.

Chrysalis would have smirked if her mouth wasn't busy. What Matthias was experiencing now was even worse than what she did to Shining Armor. He didn't knew that she wasn't Cadance, and now, after she consumed so much of his love, he didn't knew what was happening around him, but this one... he was fully aware of everything and couldn't do anything to stop himself.

"Tormenting ponies is so much fun." she thought as she was about to place her hoof on his member.

Suddenly a pain exploded in her mouth.

It took incredible effort of willpower from Matt to bite both of their tongues off, but it had done the trick.

When somepony was trying to take over your mind, it was always the easiest way to force yourself out of her or his control by inflicting pain on yourself. And she happened to be kind enough to present a way to harm her as well.

As Chrysalis, still looking like Twilight, pulled back, screeching, he felt both his mind clear and the magic holding him weakened. Not wasting time, he headbutted the Queen of Changelings and ran once again behind a column and calmed his feelings so she couldn't find him.

"Ooo..." rasped Chrysalis as they both healed their tongues. "... ret... skshgn... just you wait!" she finally screamed. "I've given you chance to serve me, but you chose to suffer! When I get my hooves on you, I will devour every bit of love of yours, and make you watch as I do the same to your friends! I will break your mind and make you serve my every whim!"

Matthias wondered what to do now. Another mistake would cost him dearly. He knew that he couldn't beat her alone but who could...

He almost facehoofed himself.

Queen Chrysalis was never this angry before.

"How dared he?!" was all she could think of as she changed back to her true form.

No being ever had done something like that to her. She wasn't really hurt, but was offended beyond measure.

She had enough.

Her horn glowing, she prepared to destroy this whole room. After that she could wait until the smoke and dust cleared and he would emerge, covered in that shield of his.

"Looks like I really pissed her off this time." Matthias noticed as he heard a loud explosion behind him.

Why didn't he thought about this earlier? If he could heal Celestia, then together they could beat Chrysalis. It was so obvious, and yet...

Matt shook his head. He knew why he didn't thought about it.

It was because he forgot how to fight with somepony standing by his side.

"How long has it been?" he wondered as he run. "It must have been when Anub'arak and I lead the Scourge against Illidan's forces at the base of Icecrown."

Even when he was still just a death knight, he knew how to fight side by side with others. But as the Lich King...

He shook his head again. He could think about it later.

As he run, he passed by a few windows, and could see hundreds of changelings attacking everypony. He sped up, but then he stopped as he realised what he was seeing.

Terrified, he looked through the window.

"H-How... How is that possible?!"

He stared at them, unable to understand. It took all his willpower to make him turn away and force himself to run.

"How?" he kept thinking.

Noticing that he was about to enter the wedding hall, he took a deep breath. Right now, what mattered most was healing Celestia and defeating Chrysalis and her minions.

He will deal with that later.

He burst into the hall, and noticed that it was now empty, save Spike, Princess Cadance, that was glued to the floor, Shining Armor, that was still staring into nothingness, and Princess Celestia, unconscious, that was in a lime green goo cocoon.

And there they were.

He didn't bother to fight the six changelings that were guarding them. He just flashed Light at them all, causing them to flee out of fear.

"Don't worry, I will free you in a moment." he told Spike and Cadance as he ran up to Celestia, wondering how to free her from that cocoon.

"Behind you!" they screamed.

Too late.

Matthias was blasted across the hall and hit the wall. Slowly, he fell on the floor.

As he tried to get up, stunned, he could hear the sound of hooves.

"Did you really think I wouldn't figure out were you went?" asked Chrysalis, a bit calmer that when he last heard her, but with an edge in her voice that told him she didn't forget what he did to her.

Matthias forced himself up, summoning the Light.

A beam of green energy hit him before he could do anything, causing him another wave of pain, but instead of blasting him away, it was...

... trapping him in a green amber.

Tired and full of pain, he lost consciousness.

28. All's well that ends...

Chrysalis looked satisfied at the green amber containing the troublesome stallion. Now that their fight was over, she found that she wasn't that much angry at him anymore... although, she still intended to punish him in some fashion, but that could wait.

"Who are you?" she wondered once again. "You are definitely a unique pony, you know a lot about combat... but why then aren't you a royal guard? You would have make a much better captain than Shining Armor, that's for sure. I didn't have a battle this intense since... since..."

She grabbed her head with her hoof as a migraine attack hit her.

"You won't get away with this!" Princess Cadance's words pulled her back to the present moment. "Twilight and her friends will..."

At the same time, the door opened, and six ponies escorted by her subjects entered.

"You were saying?" she asked Cadance.

When changelings captured her and her friends, Twilight thought that things couldn't be any worse.

She was wrong.

Not only her brother was still under the Changeling's Queen spell, but also Cadance was glued to the floor, Princess Celestia was in some lime green goo cocoon on the ceiling upside down, while Matthias was in some kind of green amber.

Twilight looked at Cadance, hoping her eyes would tell her how sorry she was that she failed her and everypony.

"You do realize the reception's been cancelled, don't you?" said the queen, rubbing it in. Looking at the other changelings, she added: "Go! Feed!"

All the changelings beside her flew away, and their queen closed the door behind them with magic.

"She's that confident that we won't be a threat to her?" thought Twilight, but knew that the Queen of Changelings was probably right. After all, she did beat both Celestia, who was the most powerful pony, and Matt, who came from the world that was in a constant war. "What now?"

The Changeling's Queen laughed as she came closer to them.

"It's funny, really." she said, lifting Twilight's head with her hoof. "Twilight here was suspicious of my behavior all along."

Angry, Twilight pushed her hoof away.

"Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct." she continued to laught at everypony.

"Sorry, Twi." said unexpectedly Applejack. "We should've listened to you."

"It's not your fault." replied Twilight, simply glad that her friends were once again on the same side with as her. "She fooled everypony."

"Hmm, I did, didn't I?" said to that the queen, glancing back at them as she walked up to the trapped in amber Matthias. "Although, I wouldn't say 'everypony'. This one managed to somehow figure it out." she poked the amber, as if to see if it still holded him. "He also proved to be quite an opponent... much more dangerous than your Princess Celestia, that's for sure." she added with a smirk, looking at the Princess trapped in the cocoon. Returning to gazing at Matt, she said, as if after a thought. "He is also quite the kisser."

Twilight's eyes went wide. Was she saying that Matt had kissed her?!

The Changeling's Queen looked back at her and chuckled.

"Oh, your faces now are priceless." she commented.

Twilight glanced at her friends and noticed similar to hers reaction on their faces.

The Queen of Changelings, still chuckling, walked away from Matthias toward the window, that opened to the balcony, and out of a sudden, started singing:

This day has been just perfect

The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small

Everypony I'll soon control

Every stallion, mare and foal

Who says a girl can't really have it all?

Twilight, who's been thinking what they could do this whole time, had an idea. Taking advantage of the queen's smugness, she sneaked over to Cadance.

Chrysalis watched through the window as her minions were wrecking chaos all over Canterlot. Despite those ponies behind her interfering with her plans, the victory was hers.

It was now only a matter of time before the whole of Canterlot would belong to the changelings.

Soon, very soon, she would find him.

"Where are you?" she wondered, not caring for what the ponies were doing inside the wedding hall.

"Quick! Go to him while you still have the chance!" Twlight whispered to Cadance and used her magic to free her.

She knew that if anypony could break the spell on Shining Armor, it was her old foalsitter. The prisons of Princess Celestia and Matt looked too strong to be destroyed by Twilight, at least not without notifying the queen, so everything she could do right now was to hope that if her brother was free, he could cast his spell to throw the changelings away from Canterlot.

Twilight and her friends watched as Princess Cadance came over to Shining Armor, tears in her eyes. She rubbed his cheek with her hoof, and when he didn't react, she hugged him and closed her eyes, concentrating. Sparks appeared around her horn, as she casted her love spell. Soon, a heart appeared, and it hovered over Shining Armor's head, enveloping him in a small blast of magic.

Her brother closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them, there was no longer any trace of green hue.

"Wha- whe- huh?" said Shinig Armor, as everypony, but especially Cadance, looked happily at him. "Is...is the wedding over?"

Before anypony could reply him, the Queen of Changelings landed in front of him and Cadance.

"It's all over!" she declared, not even caring that the princess broke the spell.

"Your spell!" Twilight shouted to her brother. "Perform your spell!"

Hearing that, the queen laughed.

"What good would that do? My changelings already roam free." she said, pointing at the chaos outside.

"No!" said Shining Armor as he realised what happened.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, but nothing happened beside a little light appearing at the top of his horn.

"My power is useless now." he finally said, sweating, as the light disappeared. "I don't have the strength to repel them."

Cadance came closer to him.

"My love will give you strength." she told him as she hugged him.

That caused another wave of laughter out of Changeling's queen.

"What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment."

"That coming from a monster that feeds on love." thought Twilight, glancing at her brother and Cadance.

The two of them looked into each other eyes and concentrated.

Chrysalis was about fed up with those ponies. She let them be, for the moment, allowing them enjoy each other's company for few more moments, before she would put them in cocoons.

Suddenly, she noticed that her shadow moved. Earlier, she wouldn't care about something like this, but her fight with Matthias caused her look back, and she was glad she did.

Princess Cadance and Shining Armor horn's were connected, and magical energies circled around them.

"Nice try." said Chrysalis and used her magic to strangle them, interrupting their spell.

"No!" shouted Twilight, her horn glowing, and her friends about to charge at her.

Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis started strangling them as well. Not that she planned to kill any of them. She just wanted them unconscious. She mentally summoned her minions so that they could capture them.

Twilight gasped for air, but there wasn't any.

"This can't end like this!" she thought.

She opened her eyes and looked around, trying to think about something she could do. But due to the lack of air, she couldn't cast any spells.

At some point, her gaze rested on Matthias, still encased in green amber.

"Matt... please..." she thought, despite knowing he couldn't hear her thoughts, hoping would cause some miracle. She knew he could. "... help me... please, save me... Matt..."

She gasped as she noticed that her vision started turning black. She fought to stay conscious, knowing everything would be over is she gave in.

"...Matt..." she tried to think once again, but she couldn't concentrate on even that now.

Matthias mind was plagued by nightmares.

...turn to bloodlust, we will become as vile as the orcs...

...forget this business! Lead your men home...

...and you've ground it to dust in a matter of days...

...you lied to your men, and betrayed the mercenaries who fought for you! What's happening to you, Arthas?...

...How fares your noble father?...

...Your curiosity will be the death of you.

Face now your tragic end!

...No king rules forever,...

...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...

...I'm sorry, Arthas. I can't watch you do this.

Matt... please...

Matthias shrugged as his mind registered Twilight voice.

... help me... please save me... Matt...

He opened his eyes, but what he saw didn't seem much different from his nightmares.

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Shining, Cadance were all being choked by Chrysalis... and he couldn't do anything!

He tried to move, to break the amber around him, but nothing even budged.

"I have to do something!" he thought, desperetly trying to save his friends.

...Matt...

He looked at Twilight and noticed that her struggling was ceasing.

"Light," he thought, putting every bit of his soul into this prayer, "please, I beg of you, give me the strength to break this prison!"

It was over.

Twilight could only see darkness before her. Some part of her mind wondered why she never asked Matt how it felt like to die, or what happens after that.

... crack...

A bright light shone threw the darkness and reached her, giving her warm and the feeling of safety.

She opened her eyes.

Were Matthias was a moment ago was, imprisoned in the green amber, now a pillar of Light shined, and Matt himself was flying towards the Changeling's Queen, emiting the same warm Light.

"Wait, flying?!" thought Twilight as her vision cleared.

Matthias wasn't just emiting Light. His coat's color turned from white into gold, his entire body beside his head was enclosed in a glowing gold plate armor, his eyes shone brighter than a thousand suns, his mane and tail looked like golden fire, and...

... and he had wings and horn.

Matt has just became an alicorn!

She watched, as in slow motion, he descended upon the queen, who with fear on her face tried to move away. Matthias lifted his hoof, and as long beam of Light shot from it, he brought it down on her. A second before he hit her, Twilight noticed what that 'beam' really was.

It was a huge sword, with a glowing crystal embedded into it.

For a heartbeat, Twilight thought that the sword cut threw queen's head, but soon realised that wasn't what happened.

"My horn!!!" screeched the Queen of Changelings, squinting her eyes to look at her forehead and what was left of her horn.

Matthias landed between her and everypony else.

"No more, Chrysalis!" he shouted, spreading his wings and pointing the sword at her. "No more ponies will be harmed by your hunger!"

On Azeroth, inside Mardenholde Keep in Hearthglen, Highlord Tirion Fordring sneezed. Waving his hand, he urged the commander to continue his report about Andorhal.

Matthias was well aware just how ironic this all was.

And he was delighted by it.

When the Light shoot from his hoof and formed into a blade, he was afraid for a heartbeat, but as he registered the shape of it, he smiled in his mind, and couldn't help himself from uttering the same words Tirion have said.

He didn't know why the Light decided to take shape of the Ashbringer, or why did it change him into an alicorn, but he had more important things to worry about, namely a pissed of queen and an army of insectoid creatures that were about to fly into the wedding hall. He raised the Light's blade as he prepared to strike at them, but then:

...your methods might be considered barbaric here,...

...deciding who can live and who should die!

...he can't do as he please, and decide to kill somepony, even if that happens to be rampaging dragon.

Matthias rolled his eyes and caused the blade to vanish.

"Whatever it is that you're about to do, I suggest you do it fast!" he said, glancing behind him and summoning the Guardian of Ancient Kings once again, this time equipped with the mace Remorseless and shield called the Crystal Plated Vanguard. Asking the ancient spirit to protect them, he turned back to Chrysalis and her changelings. "I will hold them all off as long as I can. Esarus thar no'Darador!" he shouted as he charged at them, sending a wave of Light that pushed them away.

He jumped outside the window and confronted the changelings.

"You will pay for this!" Chrysalis hissed at him, pressing a hoof to her bleeding forehead.

Twilight could hardly believe what had happened, but she didn't have time to ponder on it.

"Quick, complete the spell!" she told Shining Armor and Cadance, ignoring the towering figure made of Light that appeared as Matt's horn glowed.

Her brother and her old foalsitter both shook their heads and once again connected their horns and closed their eyes.

"Look out!" shouted Rainbow Dash, pointing at the window.

Twilight looked that way and saw two changelings that gotten past Matt and flew toward Shining Armor and Cadance. She was about to counter them with magic, but they suddenly bounced back as they hit some kind of barrier.

Twilight glanced at the strange creature, which was holding up its shield as it regarded the changelings. Knowing she didn't need to worry about them, she looked back at her brother and the princess, who were once again enveloped in the whirling magical light that lifted them into the air.

When they opened their eyes, they glowed with light that soon spread through their bodies.

Matthias wondered how long he could keep this up.

Between sending waves of Light, summoning the golden chains, blinding changelings and causing them to flee in terror, he started to feel a bit tired, despite the Light filling him with it's warmth and strength. He could also tell that this empowered form of his wouldn't last much longer.

And then, it happened.

A huge wave of purple light erupted from behind him and blasted all the changelings away... beside those that were bounded by the golden chains, including Chrysalis.

Matt released them one by one, letting them be thrown away as well. Soon, there was only their queen left. He walked up to her.

"What? Are you going to gloat now?" she growled, and Matthias thought he could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" he frowned.

He pointed his horn at her and basked her in the Light. Chrysalis gasped and closed her eyes, most likely thinking that he was going to hurt her. So she must have been surprised as after a second she noticed that she not only didn't feel any pain, but didn't feel any pain at all now.

Matt stepped back as she squinted her eyes to look at her restored horn.

"Don't ever dare to return." he told her as he released her.

"Whaaaa..." screamed Chrysalis as she was thrown away from Canterlot.

Matthias turned away.

Twilight looked as her brother and Cadance gently landed on a floor.

"Princess Celestia!" she suddenly reminded herself as she looked for her mentor.

Celestia was laying on the floor, free of her prison. Twilight run up to her and helped her get up.

"Don't worry about me." said Princess Celestia. "I'm fine."

As she said that, a gold glow enveloped her, and everypony else. Twilight once again felt the warm spread across her body, soothing her strained nerves. She looked up and saw Matthias walking in.

He smiled, while suddenly his eyes stopped glowing, his wings, horn and armor disappeared, his mane and tail returned to normal and his coat turned white... soaked in blood and green liquid, which, Twilight realised, was most likely chagelings' blood.

"How did you do that?" she heard Rainbow Dash ask him.

"I must admit, I was surprised by that as well." replied Matt, and turned his head toward the strange being he somehow summoned. "Thank you for your help, ancient one." he said, bowing his head.

The being repeated the gesture and disappeared.

"All I did was ask the Light for help, and a miracle happened." he finished answering Rainbow's question. "Although, it pales in comparison to the one you caused." he nodded toward Princess Cadance and Shining Armor.

"And what was that being?" asked Twilight as the two of them smiled after his complement.

"A very old spirit, called the Guardian of Ancient Kings, that one can summon through Light to help him or her in battle." Matt replied as if they were talking about the weather.

"Soo..." interjected Applejack. "Is it all over?"

"It would appear so." said Princess Celestia. "The changeling, along with their queen, have been repelled from the city. This reminds me..." she added, turning to Matthias. "How did you realise that it wasn't the real Princess Cadance during the ceremony?"

For some reason, he frowned at the question.

"I would have realised that much sooner if somepony told me who was responsible for keeping the shield around Canterlot." he said, looking at Shining Armor. "Didn't I mentioned to you yesterday that targeting the one that sustains the barrier is the easiest way for enemy to break into the city?"

Twilight glanced at her brother, who looked a bit uncomfortable from Matt's remark.

"Well, yeah, but..."

"You're lucky that the sergeant you were yesterday on a patrol was sitting next to me. If we hadn't talked, you would be married to Chrysalis."

"Chrysalis? You mean the Queen of Changelings?" asked him Celestia.

"Yes, Your Highness, she mentioned her name to me as we fought." Matthias replied with a shrug, as if he didn't think that was important.

As Twilight heard him say that, she recalled something that the queen have said, and she suddenly felt angry.

"Was that before or after you kissed her?"

Matthias stared at Twilight wide eyed.

"H-How did you..." he started to ask, but then all the other girls gasped.

"So the bug was telling the truth?" asked Rainbow with disgust on her face. "Eew!"

"That..." Matt thought, regreting healing Chrysalis.

"Eee..." he stammered, rubbing the back of his head with his hoof. "How much did she tell you?"

"Please, Light, tell me that she didn't say about transforming into Twilight!" he prayed.

"Enough to be disgusted!" said Twilight. "Why would you do that?"

Matt looked closely at her face and decided it was safe to assume that Chrysalis didn't mentioned that which he feared. If so, Twilight would have been more embarrased than angry.

He cleared his throat.

"Why, it was a part of my brilliant battle strategy, of course." he said with a smirk.

"There is no way that I'm going to tell them that I was molested by her."

"A 'brilliant battle strategy'?" asked Twilight, and Matt realised that putting a smirk on his face in this situation probably wasn't his best idea today. "Care to explain how exactly does putting your tongue in the throat of your enemy helps in battle?"

"That's... complicated." replied Matthias, wondering what to say. "I swear, if I knew she told you all that, I wouldn't have healed her horn."

"Wait. Did I thought that, or said that?" thought Matthias.

Everypony gasped.

"Oh, for Light sake." he sighed, wondering if he was low on sugar or something.

"Why in thunderation would'ya healed her?" asked Applejack.

"Because I... felt sorry for her?"

"Felt sorry for her?!" screeched Twilight.

"Why are you this angry?" inquired Matt, while at the same time backing away.

"I am just wondering why one of my friends would first kiss and then healed a monster that trapped me in cave and nearly destroyed Canterlot!" replied Twilight, following him with with her horn frowing few sparkles.

"Technically, she's not a monster... " Matthias started to explain before he could stop himself.

The look that Twilight shoot him immediatelly silenced him.

"She kidnapped Cadance, pretended to be her, turned everypony against me, trapped me in a cave, and all that while trying to take over Canterlot and whole Equestria." she counted as Matt continued to back away and she continued to follow him. Now they were on the balcony. "And you say, that she isn't a monster!?"

Matthias felt his tail brush the balustrade.

"Well, eee... you see..." he glanced behind Twilight, hoping to see some help.

He saw none. Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity and Pinkie looked at him disgusted, Cadance and Celestia were glancing surprised at Twilight, Fluttershy stared scared at Twilight, while Shining Armor and Spike were exchanging uncomfortable looks with each other.

"... It's like this... "he said to Twilight while trying to think of something.

"Oh, forget it."

"Later!" he told her and jumped off the balcony.

As he fell, he twisted in the air, and rolled few times as he hit the grounds to minimise the pain, unsure if Light would agree to help him in a situation like this.

"Get back here!" he heard Twilight shout after him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked the royal guard that stood nearby.

"Nothing, sir!" he quickly replied, probably scared of his blood-soaked coat and scars, or remembering him from his fight yesterday.

Matt was about to go away, but he noticed few wounds on the stallion. Concentrating, he asked the Light to heal him. As he gasped, Matthias realised that his work wasn't over yet.

"Were any ponies wounded in the attack?" he asked the guard.

"Only a few, sir." answered the stallion. "The changeling preferred to capture ponies unharmed. Those few that were wounded were directed toward the Sacred Heart Hospital."

"Which way is it?"

Twilight couldn't believe him.

"Oh, that..." she muttered angrily.

"Calm down, sugarcube." said Applejack. "Ah am disgusted by him as well, but'ya shouldn't be that mad at him."

"Oh, really? Why?"

"Well... " said Applejack, blushing with shame a bit. "After we told him about... you know, the rehearsal, he was pretty angry at us for not stickin' with'ya, and he went looking for'ya."

Twilight frowned. That did sound like something he would do.

"Twilight..." said Rarity. "We all are really sorry that we didn't believe you earlier."

"Yea..." added Rainbow, rubbing her neck. "We should have listened to you."

Twilight was about to replie, but Celestia interjected.

"I am sorry as well, my faithful student. I should have trusted your judgement."

Hearing not only her friends, but Princesss Celestia apologise as well, caused her to feel a bit embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Twily." said her brother. "I more than anypony should have trusted you. I... will understand if you don't want to be my best mare again."

Overwhelmed with emotions, Twilight hugged Shining Armor, answering his question.

"No hard feelings." she told everypony.

Everypony had tears in their eyes. Princess Celestia smiled to her.

"I think you have a real wedding to put together."

29. ... well?

Matthias wondered how did he get roped into this.

It didn't take him long to heal everypony in the hospital. Like the guard have said, there weren't many who got hurt, and their wounds in most cases weren't serious. It would have taken him even less time if it wasn't for those two annoying doctors. Matt has made a mental note to never allow the two of them to meet Pinkie Pie, which he was sure would cause a Cataclysm.

After he was done treating ponies, he went back into the castle, wanting to clean himself. On his way there, he bumped into Shining Armor, who asked him to became one of his groomscolts.

"I would be honored." he immediatly replied, surprised, but then added: "But have you run this by your Best Mare?"

"Yes, well, after she calmed down." Shining Armor said, chuckling nervously. "She's still pretty angry at you, but I would've guessed that you're used to it by now. Her friends told me how she practically tortured you when you pulled some joke on her."

"Don't remind me." Matt told him, shuddering despite his light tone.

"So... Why did you kiss the Changeling's Queen?"

Matthias looked at him coldly.

"I believe your the last pony who can judge me on this matter."

"I'm not judging you, I'm just asking." Shining replied, although he did blush a bit.

"Like I said, it was part of my strategy." Matt said as they entered the castle. "She managed to grab me with her magic, so I seduced her, and when we kissed, I bit her tongue off - and mine as well, but that's not important - and the pain forced her to release me. I had no idea it would have so angered your sister, though."

"Yeah, I was a bit shocked too." admitted captain. "But I guess that's understandable, since she turned everypony against her."

After that they went their separate ways.

And that is how he ended up here, after getting himself thoroughly cleaned, standing near Twilight, Spike, and two other groomscolts, wearing the attire that Rarity somehow managed to make for him in time. He noticed that the Best Mare tried to not look at him, but when she did, she did so with such a look that he immediately turned away.

He found out that it wasn't easy, however, as he once again glanced at Twilight. She looked so beautiful in her purple dress and with that wreath on her head that she kept catching his eye. It was hard for him to know that she was so mad at him, and even harder to remember that she wasn't the one he wanted.

He turned his attention toward the door as the music played and the birds started singing. The door opened and the flower fillies - Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo - came through, throwing flowers.

"Here comes the bride."

Princess Cadance, wearing a beautiful dress, has walked to the altar, with few of Fluttershy's bird holding her train. As Matthias watched her march on the walkway (that he himself has walked on barely few hours ago), he wondered how come the ponies didn't had any traditions like Saber Arch. It would've been appropriate to have it on the wedding of the Captain of the Royal Guard. Matt decided to ask somepony about it later.

"Seriously, though." he heard Twilight say to Shining Armor. "I get why the Queen of the Changelings wanted to be with you, but how did you get someone as amazing as Cadance to marry you?"

"I told her she wouldn't just be gaining a husband, she'd be getting a pretty great sister, too."

"Kiss flank." Matthias muttered, and both Twilight and Shining Armor glanced at him, although the groom was amused.

He glanced at the bridesmaids, who were also looking beautiful. He half frowned, half smiled as he saw that Applejack had taken the advantage from the fact that Rarity had to wipe a tear with a tissue, and put her hat back on. The cowpony noticed his gaze and smirked.

"Well, at least the others seem to put that whole 'kissed the bug' thing behind them." Matt thought as Applejack looked back at Rarity, to make sure she wasn't looking.

Cadance had joined them finally at the altar.

"Mares and gentlecolts," started Princess Celestia when everypony was ready, "we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza..."

"Princess Cadance is fine." interrupted her the bride, smiling uncomfortably.

Celestia smiled warmly at her niece before she continued:

"The union of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. The strength of their commitment is clear. The power of their love, undeniable."

"I'll say." commented Matt as he recalled the purple light that repelled all the changelings away from Canterlot. There were few feats done by mortals on Azeroth that could top that.

"May we have the rings please?" asked Celestia, glancing at Spike.

Spike presented to her the pillow he's been holding that had the rings on it. A gold glow appeared around them as they were wrapped in Celestia's magic and lifted through the the air towards the couple.

"I now pronounce you mare and colt." she said as she put the wedding ring on their horns.

Matthias joined everypony in the hall in the cheering as the newly-wedds stepped out to a balcony to wave to a huge crowd of even louder cheering ponies.

"This is your victory as much as theirs." he heard Princess Celestia say to Twilight after a while. He turned his head so that he could hear better. "You persisted in the face of doubt, and your actions led to your being able to bring the real Princess Cadance back to us. Learning to trust your instincts is a valuable lesson to learn."

"Sure, don't mind the pony that fought with an army of changelings and with their queen." Matt coughed.

"You mean 'fought with an army of changelings and made out with their queen', right?" Twilight replied, shooting him another glare.

"I'm not having this argument with you." Matthias sighed as everypony chuckled. He shrugged and added: "Still, you deserve some extra points for managing to put together the wedding again in such short time, so I will admit you were the better one today."

As he said that, he bowed his head to Twilight respectfully. His comment, along with the gesture, seemed to calm her. At any case, it made her stop glaring at him. Matt noticed that Celestia gave him a pleased smile.

They all turned their attention to Cadance and Shing Armor as they shared their first kiss as a married couple. It was a kiss that spoke of love and devotion, clearly the opposite of the one Matthias has shared with Chrysalis.

"Rainbow Dash, that's your cue." whispered Celestia to the cyan mare.

Matt glanced at her, confused. For a heartbeat, Rainbow seemed to share this confusion, but soon her eyes went wide as if she remembered something. Smirking, she flew quickly through the window, leaving her dress behind.

"Oh right, she was supposed to do some "sonic rainboom" or something." Matthias thought as he trotted over to the said window.

His jaw dropped as he beheld the seven-colored spectacle.

"Did she just..." he started to ask, with his voice shaking, but then decided not to.

"I'm never going to get used to this world." he thought as he facehoofed himself.

"Mossst of the ssswarm isss accounted for, Your Highnesss." said the changeling. "There are but few who haven't reported back to the hive."

"How many are wounded?" asked Chrysalis.

"Many." he simply replied.

The queen frowned and gave him the signal to leave. The changeling bowed and flew away from the royal chamber.

"How could this all go so wrong?" Chrysalis pondered as she was left alone with her guards.

Along with every changeling, she was blasted away from Canterlot, right to the very borders of Equestria. Every fiber of her being urged her to go back and attack again, but her subjects were wounded and beaten. Knowing her first duty was to them, Chrysalis ordered the retreat back to Dread Wastes.

"How could this all go so wrong?!" she thought again. Chrysalis was sure that she would have cried if she could do that in her true form.

The Queen of Changelings face turned into an angry frown as she answered her own question.

It was because of Matthias.

"If it wasn't for him, we would have won!" Chrysalis thought angrily as she rose from her throne and started pacing back and forth. Her guards shook as they felt her hatred. "Because of him, my subjects were hurt! Because of him, they are wounded! Because of him, now our larvae are starving!"

Contrary to what most ponies thought, the changelings weren't like bees and ants. She wasn't the mother of any of her subjects, and they weren't sterile and divided into castes. While they weren't exactly working like ponies families, they still cared for each other.

Chrysalis calmed a bit as she considered going to the incubation and nursery chambers, to comfort the eggs and larvae, but decided to do that later. Her main concert was making sure that every changeling that took a part in the attack was safe, and there were still few that were missing. Chrysalis had a mental contact with all her subjects, and could tell where the conscious ones were. She already instructed few changelings that were still full of energy and not wounded to go get them, noticing that most of those that haven't returned had injured their wings.

But there were still those that haven't answered her mental summons.

She knew they were alive. If they died, she would have felt it. She hoped they would wake up soon and contact her.

"It's all you fault, Matthias!" she once again grew angry. That strange pony with his strange powers caused her more pain and humiliation that any other being. He...

... he healed her horn.

Chrysalis stopped her pacing as she pondered on it.

"Why did he heal me?" she thought. It was the first time a pony showed her some form of kindness since... since...

Again, pain shook her. Cursing her inability to remember, she frowned.

"Why did I do it?" she wondered. They had never any lack of love to feed on - until now - and yet she ordered her subjects to attack the city she knew was well prepared for such threats.

All because of the dream she had over a month ago.

"Assume this form." she ordered one of her guards as she showed his mind a part of her dream. "Act like him."

The guard's eyes flickered with surprise, but didn't question her. They never did. Chrysalis knew they would have jumped into the fire if she ordered them to. Not that she ever would.

She looked at her guard as the green flames shot. Now, in front of her, cowered in fear an odd looking young colt, barely in his teen years of life.

"Please, help me." he pleaded, extending his hoof towards her. Suddenly, he shook as if somepony strucked him. "Save me, please. Make it stop. MAKE IT STOP!!!"

The last sentence was a scream much louder than any colt should be able to utter.

Chrysalis stared at the the young pony, who was as strange as Matthias, and not just because of his unique look.

He was strange to her because she cared about him.

"It's just a pony." she thought, not understanding. "I shouldn't care for him in the slightest. Why then, as I hear his cry of pain, I feel as though my heart was being shredded to pieces?"

In the forgotten caves beneath Canterlot, much deeper than Princess Cadance was imprisoned by Changeling's Queen and were she sent Twilight Sparkle, at the very bottom of it, six unicorns gathered.

Five of them were enclosed by shadows, protecting their identity.

"The changelings have failed." one of them said, its voice enchanted so that it wouldn't gave away anything about the pony, including gender.

"We knew that their attack on Canterlot would fail." reminded one of the others.

"But we hoped that they would kill Celestia! How are we supppose to operate when she still lives?"

"Perhaps it's a good thing, actually?" interjected the third one. "Think about it. If Celestia had died, there would be chaos across the whole of Equestria. Luna would be on alert for every strange occurrence in the land. We would be found out quickly."

"I agree." rasped a voice belonging to the sixth pony, the one who didn't use magic to conceal his identity. He didn't need to. He couldn't leave this place.

Not looking like this.

"I, for one, am not surprised that their queen didn't kill Celestia." he continued. A cruel smile, which made his face look even more terrifying, appeared on his lips as he said: "After all, once a failure, always a failure."

He took a moment to ponder at his own words, then shook his head.

"Either way, it matters not. We've got what we wanted. As expected, the changelings proved to be a great distraction. I'm pleased to officially announce that Phase One of the Eclipsed Eye Plan is complete."

He paused as the other ponies murmured their excitement.

"Now is the time to begin Phase Two. But which one of you..."

"I will do it." said one unicorn, they same one who said that Celestia surviving the battle was a good thing. "I will need some time, though."

"It's settled, then." replied the not concealed one, clearly the leader of the group. "I trust you will regulary report about your progress. You may all leave."

The unicorns teleported themselves out. One lingered a bit and exchanged glances with its leader. Then, it too disappeared.

The leader of the group stared in front of himself, thinking about all that happened.

"Soon..." he muttered to himself, "everything will be restored to its rightful place. The true power... the power that was supposed to be mine will finally belong to me."

He started chuckling, at first silently, but as his voice grew louder, and louder, and louder, and soon loud as an avalanche, the unicorn's maniacal laugher echoed through the caves.

"To think that after all this time, Project Eclipse would turn out to be a success!" he laughed, not caring if somepony could hear him.

And nopony did.

Matthias looked with everypony else in the courtyard as the newly-wed started dancing.

"Hello, everypony. Did I miss anything?" he heard somepony ask and turned his head to the right.

The pony that just flew in could only be Princess Luna. Like Celestia, she emanated godlike beauty, but unlike her sister's, hers had a darker tone to it. Her coat had the color of cobalt blue, her mane and tail - flowing like Celestia's - looked like a night full of stars. She was a bit shorter than her older sister, but that didn't made her any less royal or beautiful.

Matt frowned.

"It is about time I tell them this."

Twilight nodded to Pinkie Pie, signaling her to start.

Pinkie reacted with the usual for her enthusiasm and run over to the mixer with gigantic speakers connected to it.

"Let's get this party started!" she shouted while pulling Vinyl Scratch, or, as she preferred to go by, DJ Pon-3 from under the mixer and together they started playing the music.

Pinkie threw Twilight the microphone, which she catched with her magic and started singing:

Love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom,

Two hearts becoming one

A bond that cannot be undone because

Love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said love is in bloom

You're starting a life and making room

For us (For us, For us....)

Your special day

We celebrate now, the pony way

Your friends are all right here

Won't let these moments disappear because

Love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said love is in bloom

You're starting a life and making room

For us, (For us... For us...Aah...)

"What, did you think you're the only one who can sing, mister?" she thought as she finished, happy that her spell that made the echo worked, and looked around for Matt...

... only to realise that he was gone.

Twilight's anger toward him, that had been quenched, was now renewed.

Matthias glanced as Twilight started singing. He suddenly realised it was the first time he heard her sing. Her voice was simply beautiful.

"Oh, for Light sake, get a hold of yourself! She can't be that perfect that you have to constantly think that everything about her is beautiful!" he thought, rolling his eyes.

Nevertheless, he regretted that he wouldn't hear the entire song.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna." he said as he approached them, bowing.

"Ah, you must be Matthias Lehner." said the Princess of the Night. "It's a pleasure to meet you at last."

"Likewise, Princess." Matthias replied, bowing once more. "I'm afraid, however, that the pleasantries will have to wait. I have something important to talk about with the two of you in private, Your Highnesses." glancing at Twilight and the others, he added, regretfully: "Right now, if you would be so kind."

The two sister exchanged surprised glances. Luckily, both of them nodded.

"Very well." said Celestia and her horn glowed.

Matthias blinked as he suddenly found himself in a large room. He could hear through the window noises coming from the courtyard, so he knew he had to be in the castle.

"Those are my private chambers." answered his unasked question Celestia as she closed the window. "Nopony has access here exept me, my sister, and few of the castle's staff. We don't have to worry about anypony overhearing us."

"Thank you for allowing me to speak to the two of you here, Princess." Matt said, bowing once again.

Knowing this was Celestia's private chamber, he immediately stopped himself from glancing around and concentrated on the two Princesses instead.

"What is it that you wanted to talk to us about?" asked him Luna.

Matthias noticed that her cutie mark was a crescent moon on a dark purple background.

"What I wanted to talk to you is about something I realised as I fought with the Queen of the Changelings."

He stopped and took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

"Well, here goes." he thought, opening them after a second.

"The changelings, or at least their ancestors, came from my world."

30. Connections

The two Princesses stared at him with wide eyes. After a few heartbeats Celestia finally recovered and asked:

"Are you sure?" and when Matt nodded, she added: "How can you know about this? Twilight wrote me in her letters every bit of information you told her about Azeroth. If there were creatures like changelings in your world, you would have mentioned them to her, seeing as they resemble ponies to some extent."

"Let me start from the beginning, Your Highness." answered Matthias, frowning. "When I fought Chrysalis, I looked through the window and saw the other changelings. The way they moved, fought... it made me realise that I saw that already."

"You realised that they are from your world by the way the changelings moved and fought?" asked Princess Luna. "What about their queen?"

Matt shook his head.

"She looked and acted as if she was pony, or at least, she was more pony than what I think her ancestors were."

"Do you mind telling us what those ancestors are, exactly?" asked Celestia, frowning.

Matthias closed his eyes.

"Long ago, a race of intelligent insectoid creatures was born on Azeroth, called Silithids. About sixteen thousand years ago, the fallen Old God C'Thun recognized their appearance, and attempted to sunder the world that it once held in its merciless grasp. The Old God created avatars from the Silithid in its own image. These avatars were eventually known as aqir. They created an empire — the civilization of Azj'Aqir. These clever insectoids were greatly expansionist and incredibly evil. The aqir were obsessed with eradicating all non-insect life from the fields of Kalimdor. The trolls’ empire - I told Twilight the history of trolls, didn't I?" he asked to be sure, not wanting to start another tale. When the Princesses nodded, he continued: "They fought them for a thousand years, but never succeeded in winning a true victory over the aqir. However, due to the trolls' persistence, eventually the aqiri kingdom split as its citizens fled to separate colonies: Ahn'Qiraj in the southern desert of Kalimdor, Azjol-Nerub in the northern wastes of Northrend, and one more in the Dread Wastes of Pandaria. Possibly due to the environment, the three groups eventually became completely different beings, though whether this was a divide that had always existed remains unknown. The more insectoid qiraji have taken up residence in Ahn'Qiraj, the spider-like nerubians populate the northern city of Azjol-Nerub, and and mantis-like mantid live in the Dread Wastes of Pandaria."

He finished and glanced at the Princesses. They seemed to take everything in rather well.

"So you think that the changelings are the fourth offshoot of aqir that somehow found their way into this world." said Celestia, nodding.

"Yes, although how that happened is beyond me." Matt said, frowning.

"That is impossible!" "shouted Princess Luna suddenly. "If what you said is true, then the aqir race split around fifteen thousand years ago." she waited for him to nod, and continued: "The changelings were first discovered a little more than thousands years ago. I remember it well, because... it's one of the last memories I have from that time before I became Nightmare Moon." she added, shaking a bit.

"Sister." told her Celestia, placing her hoof comfortingly on her shoulder, "stop thinking about it."

Luna gave her a weak smile.

"Luna raises a good point." she said, turning to Matthias.

"Maybe you didn't notice them, Your Highness." Matt replied, shrugging. "They are shapeshifters, after all."

Princess Celestia shook her head.

"Before our reign, Discord ruled Equestria." she reminded him. "If the changelings were here at the time, he would have know about them, and revealed them. He would have found a great joy in telling ponies about creatures that fed on their love. The changeling were discovered some ten or twenty years after we defeated him."

"Maybe..." Matt pondered about it. "Somepony like an incarnation of chaos wouldn't be fooled. But if that's true, then how?"

"How long did Discord's reign lasted?"

"About fifty years."

"A thousand years ago... " he said aloud, pacing. "Sometime after you defeated Discord and before Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon, the changelings appeared, a thousand years ago..."

He whirled as the realisation struck him.

"Wait, all of this happened during a single century thousand years ago?!" he asked the Princesses with his eyes wide.

They shared a look, startled by his reaction.

"Yes." Princess Luna answered his question. "What are you..."

"And when did you return?" he interrupted her, forgetting about formalities in his panic.

"What?"

"When did you return from your banishment to moon?"

"It was two years ago." answered for her sister Celestia. "Why do you ask?"

"I couldn't be... could it?" Matthias closed his eyes as he forced himself calm.

"A thousand years ago, the Old God C'Thun nearly awakened, and the qiraji waged war, trying to dominate the continent of Kalimdor. The night elves and eventually dragons opposed them in what became known as the War of the Shifting Sands."

"You think that it have something to do with what was happening here?" asked Celestia, alarmed.

"As much as I find it hard to believe that, yes, that's what I think. And there is more. That war ended when the Scarab Wall was erected to contain the qiraji within the city of Ahn'Qiraj. But, two years ago, the Old God began to awaken again." Matt added, looking at Princess Luna. "A Second War of the Shifting Sands took place, as the Azeroth realised that the only way to deal with the threat once and for all was killing C'Thun."

Luna's eyes went even wider as she understood what he was suggesting

"So, my escaping from the moon, as well as me turning into Nightmare Moon." she asked, shaking., "was because of that... Old God waking up?"

She looked like she was sick.

"I don't know, Princess." Matt said, bowing his head. "But I know this: when I first heard about what happened to you, I immediately thought about Old Gods, but until now I haven't thought that to be possible."

"Luna?" asked Celestia, worried about her.

"I'll be fine, sister." she replied, forcing herself to be calm.

From the look that Princess Celestia gave her younger sister Matt figured that she was as much convinced by her words as he was, but didn't pressed her.

"How would all of that be possible?" she asked Matt.

"I have no idea, Princess." answered Matt, frowning. "Although it is not impossible to travel to other worlds, as there is another world - or rather, remains of a world - connected to Azeroth called Outland through the gate known as the Dark Portal, it would take a similar connection for the Old Gods' influence to reach here, and I'm sure that there is no Dark Portal near Ahn'Qiraj."

"And what about the changelings?"

"That's another thing that I don't understand. None of the aqir descendants have shapeshifting abilities, and they don't feed on love. At least, to the limits of my knowledge."

"And how limited is your knowledge, exactly?" inquired Princess Celestia.

"I know next to nothing about the mantid, unfortunately, but on the other hoof, my knowledge about qiraji is fairly vast. As for nerubians." he added with a smirk, "I most likely know more about them than anypony, beside the nerubians themselves."

"Quite a feat for somepony who repeatedly says he's not a scholar." noticed Celestia, but she shook her head. "I guess it doesn't matter. I wonder, though - do you think that's why you're here? So you could help us with them?"

Matthias has been wondering about it for some time, too.

"I'm... not sure." he said, frowning. "You said that I would know what it is that I have to do when the time comes, Princess. I still don't."

Celestia nodded and was about to say something, but her sister interrupted her:

"Why did you heal her?"

"Excuse me, Your Highness?" asked surprised Matt.

"You healed the Queen of the Changelings. Why?" repeated Luna. "Not only she tried to take over Equestria and harmed many ponies, including your friends, but also is a descendant of one of the most violent race on Azeroth. And you healed her horn, Why?"

Matthias smiled and closed his eyes.

"I am a paladin, after all. My obsession with redemption goes beyond the insane. And the queen didn't seemed that evil to me... compared to those on my world." he added, noticing that both of them were about to protest. "All she did was for the good of her subjects, after all."

"You're a strange one, Matthias." said Princess Luna after few seconds.

"Maybe." told her Celestia. "But I can see his point. I just hope it won't come back to haunt us later. As for the possible connection between our worlds... I will have to look into it. Maybe in one of the oldest scrolls there will be something that could shed some light on this mystery."

"I will leave this to you then, Princess." Matt said, bowing.

"I have one more question, though." added Celestia. "Why didn't you want to mention this near Twilight and the rest of your friends?"

"I... still feel guilty about how terrified Twilight was after she saw the vision of Deathwing." Matthias said uncomfortably. "I prefered to spare her and the others more horrors of my world."

"I guess that's understandable. But Twilight is stronger that you think. While she was shaken by that vision then, she would probably be fine now after hearing such news. And you don't need to feel guilty that she saw that." she added, looking down. "If anypony is guilty of that, then it would be me."

"You, Your Highness?" asked surprised Matt, not understanding.

"That book where Twilight found the spell to enter your mind, the 'The psychological art of mind's magic', was forbidden by me to read over forty years ago, soon after it was published. I was sure that all copies of it were either destroyed, or kept in the locked part of Canterlot archives. I had no idea that there was a copy in the Ponyville library." she sighed. "I allowed Twilight to keep the book, although I forbade her to use spells from it unless it would be necessary."

"Why did you forbid this book to be read?" asked Matt, curious.

"Aside from the fact that entering ponies' minds is an invasion of privacy? There are very dangerous spells in it."

"Makes sense."

"Lets return to reception." said Princess Celestia, her horn glowing. "I don't see any reason why we shouldn't celebrate with everypony, even in light of those revelations."

She flashed her horn and Matthias found himself once again in the courtyard.

"Will you tell Twilight and the others about it?" he asked Celestia.

The alicorn pondered that thought for a moment.

"Not for now, I think." she said finally. "I would prefer to research about this before I will let anypony know."

She glanced at him.

"Then I won't tell anypony either." Matt said, bowing his head.

He glanced at everypony. Shining Armor and Cadance were still dancing, but were now surrounded by many other dancing ponies, including his friends.

"Are you sure you're alright, little sister?" he heard Celestia ask Luna.

He turned his head to them. Princess Luna was gazing in front of her with empty eyes. She stirred as her sister called her.

"I am alright, my sister, it's just..." she stammered, looking for right words. "To think that all of that happened to me because of some evil being waking up, manipulating me, just..."

"Look at it this way, Your Highness:" said Matt as she once again stopped to look for words that would describe what she felt. "it wasn't entirely your fault."

Luna looked at him, surprised.

"I had became evil once myself, so I know how you must feel." Matthias told her, coming closer. "You feel used, sick, weak, because you allowed that evil to control you. But, the fact that you were controled, means that at least it wasn't entirely your fault. It's better than becoming evil on your own, I think."

As Luna gazed into his eyes, Matthias knew she was trying to believe what he said, but also knew that her guilt made her hesitate.

"You will probably never forgive yourself for that." he told her, despite that he could see tears in the corner of her eyes. "But you are luckier than me, Princess. While I will forever be remembered in my world for who I became, you were given a second chance by fate here, in Equestria, and you have your sister beside you."

Princess' gaze moved from him to her Celestia, who smiled in response.

"Thank you, Matthias." finally said the Princess of the Night, smiling as well, although it was a weaker version of the smile her sister gave her.

But at least, it was an honest smile, not a forced one.

"My pleasure, Your Highness." Matt answered, bowing. "If you would be so kind to forgive me, I would..."

"Of course, Matthias." nodded Celestia, allowing him to leave.

Matthias once again bowed and made his way to the celebrating ponies.

31. Wine, innuendo, advice and revenge

Matthias suspected that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thought that he was going to party with his friends. However, while he still had that in his plans, the middle of the dance floor wasn't his first destination.

First, he went to drink some alcohol.

Not that he planned to get himself drunk. Matt just wanted to boost his courage before he would talk again with Twilight.

"I hope she didn't see that I left during her song." he thought, shrugging at the thought about how she would react to that after everything.

He trotted over to one of the tables with food and drinks, and found what he's been looking for. Well, something close to it, anyway. He hoped to find some ale, or at least, something along those lines, but instead found wine.

"I forgot that this is a royal wedding." he commented in his thoughts, not really feeling bad about it.

He was pouring himself some wine into one of the glasses, when he heard somepony call him.

"Hey, Matt!" said Spike as he came closer to him. "Where did you disappear to?"

"I needed to talk to the Princesses about something, so Princess Celestia teleported us to her private chambers for a few minutes." explained Matthias, taking a sip of the wine. "Eee... did anypony else notice that I disappeared?"

"I don't know, maybe. Why?"

"Nevermind." answered Matt, looking around.

Twilight and the others got off the dance floor and were talking with Cadance on the other side of the courtyard. Matt looked at them, admiring once again the beauty of both the dresses and the mares, while wondering where was the groom, until he noticed that said stallion was coming his way.

"So, how does it feel like to be married?" Matthias asked Shining as he joined him and Spike near the table.

"As if I was the luckiest stallion in Equestria." replied the captain with a smile.

"I had a friend that would jokingly object to that." Matt chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind, it would take a while to explain the dwarfs’ sense of humor." he replied, shaking his head.

He noticed that Spike turned around.

"Catch you guys later." he said to Matt and Shining as he went over to where Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were dancing.

"Did he just ditch us?" asked amused groom.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that he hangs out with ponies his age." Matthias replied, also amused, wondering if Shining knew about Spike's crush on Rarity.

He finished his drink and poured himself a new one, as well as one for Shining Armor.

"Anyway, congratulations for entering a new chapter of your life." he said, giving him the drink.

"Thanks." the groom replied, tapping his glass with Matt's.

They both took a sip of the wine, but after that Shining stared into his glass for a moment. Finally he said:

"Can we talk a moment? Alone?"

"Sure." answered surprised Matthias, moving away from the crowd of ponies and into the garden, still keeping the glass of wine in one hoof.

Shining Armor followed suit and soon they were out of anypony earshot.

"What's going on?" he asked, worried that something bad happened.

The captain was looking weirdly uncomfortable.

"Eee... you see..." he stammered. "Twilight's friends mentioned to me earlier that you had a girlfriend once..."

"Yeah, I had." said Matthias, wondering where he was going with this...

And then his eyes went wide as a suspicion arose in his mind.

"Oh, Light, please tell me this isn't going where I think it is..."

"So, umh, did you and your girlfriend ever, you know... been intimate with each other?"

"... Yes..."

"So..." said the Captain of the Royal Guard, looking even more uncomfortably. "... Could you give me any advice?"

Matthias facehoofed himself, and this time, he actually heard Bolvar and Ner'zhul laugh in the back of his soul.

"Don't you think you had enough for now, sugarcube?" asked her a slightly worried Applejack.

"It's only the third one." muttered Twilight as she emptied her glass.

She couldn't believe that Matt had the gall to just leave after she started singing. She was beginning to think of him as her best friend after she saw him at the hall confronting not only the fake Cadance, but also Princess Celestia, because he was the only pony who took her fears seriously and figured everything out in time. Sure, she was a little angry at him after she heard that he kissed the Changeling Queen, healed her, and said she wasn't a monster after everything she put her and Cadance through, but she was willing to put that behind her, especially after she heard from her friends how Matt had yelled at everypony and how he tried to look for her, but now...

Now he was going to pay.

"I need to get back at him somehow!"

She thought back to the 'treatment' she gave him after he embarrassed her on purpose. This time, however, she couldn't count on him getting himself so injured, as he could simply heal his wounds now. Maybe if he was knocked unconscious...

Twilight shook her head as she realised that she was wishing Matt to get severely injured and to lose consciousness because of a song!

"Okay, maybe I did drink a little too much." she thought, putting the glass away.

"I think I had enough for now." Twilight said as she noticed her friends glancing at her.

"Good." replied Cadance, grinning. "This day had enough disasters without the Best Mare getting herself drunk."

Everypony laughed, causing Twilight to blush.

"I didn't drink that much!" she protested.

"But enough for the rest of us to worry, dear." said Rarity.

"Ya wouldn't wanna cause any worries to the groom that would trouble him enough to make him unable to... fulfill his duties, right?" added Applejack, winking at Princess Cadance.

Cadance chuckled at that, blushing a bit, and the others followed suit. Except for Twilight.

"Gee, thanks, that's what I needed: a mental image of my brother and my old foalsitter..." she shivered out of embarrassment.

Everypony laughed at her comment as well.

"Sorry, Twi." apologised Applejack. "But seriously, why does it bother ya? Ah mean, they must have already..."

"Stop it." told her Twilight.

"Actually..." said Cadance, still blushing. "Shining Armor and I haven't yet..."

"Really?" asked surprised Twilight, forgetting about her embarrassment.

"Yeah, since I'm a princess, it is expected of me to keep my virginity until the wedding night." Cadance explained, half annoyed, half embarrassed. "Although, it was your brother who insisted on respecting that, I wouldn't have minded..."

Everypony chuckled at her discomfort.

"Well, Ah suppose we can't really laugh at ya for that." said Applejack after a while. "Seein' as we haven't got much experience with stallions... unless one of'ya was keepin' secrets?" she added, looking at the others.

Twilight was a bit relieved as she saw that all of her friends shook their heads, blushing. She was afraid that she was the only one who hadn't got any 'experience with stallions', as Applejack had put it.

"How much wine did they drink?" she thought, wondering about how they started talking about those things.

Suddenly, she noticed Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders passing by.

"Shhhh!" she quickly said to others. She turned to the young ones. "How are you enjoying the reception?"

"It's great!"

"Yeah, it's so fun!"

"I'm glad to hear it." said Cadance. "Did you happen to see where Shining Armor went?"

"Last I saw him, he was talking with Matt." answered Spike.

"Oh, Matthias' back, isn't he?" Twilight asked, barely stopping herself from voicing her anger. "Did he happen to tell you where he went?"

"Oh yeah, he said that he was with both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in Celestia's private chambers."

Everypony, aside from the young fillies, looked at him with wide eyes, all thinking the same thing.

"Wh... wha... what?! Celestia... and him... and Luna too..." thought Twilight, feeling dizzy.

"Now, wait a second." said Rarity in a few heartbeats. "Did Matt tell you why he and the Princesses where there?"

"He said that he had to talk to them about something." Spike replied with a shrug.

"Oh, thank goodness." said everypony besides Twilight.

"Right. Talk." she muttered instead.

"Eh... would the four of you mind leaving us for a moment?" Rarity asked the baby dragon and the fillies, noticing what she said.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike exchanged surprised glances, but didn't object.

"Twilight, you can't seriously think that Matt and the Princesses... I mean, they weren't even gone that long!" told her Rarity as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Can we please stop talking about it?" asked Princess Cadance, pressing her head with her hoof. "The last thing I need right now is the mental image of my aunts and Matthias..." she trailed off and shook.

Twilight twitched her tail in annoyance. She knew that Rarity was right, but still, she was pretty mad at Matthias. What could have been so important that couldn't wait until tomorrow?! Twilight once again started thinking about how she could get back at Matt.

"If only I could find some way for him to make an idiot of himself..." she thought, and grinned as an idea hit her.

"Hey, Cadance..."

"How come you've never been intimate with Cadance? You knew each other since foalhood, for Light sake!" asked Matthias, irritated.

"She's a princess!" replied Shining Armor, offended.

"And I was a crown prince, and Jaina was the daughter, if not of royalty, of nobility and of a ruler." thought Matt, emptying his glass.

"I apologize for my reaction." he said, forcing himself calm. "But I wasn't expecting to be asked for any advice about the wedding night. Honestly, if somepony would have told me five months ago about this, I would have died out of laughter."

"Sorry." apologized Shining Armor, still embarrassed. "I just... after everything that happened, I just want it to be something Cadance will never forget." he explained, raising his glass.

Matt sighed.

"Advice number one: don't drink too much." he said, taking the glass from him and drinking it himself.

"So... you'll help me?"

"I suppose I can give you a few pointers, but do both of us a favor and don't mention it to anypony." Matt said, and thought for few moments about what he could tell him.

"Concentrate on her." he said finally. "Try to keep the foreplay as long as possible, but not too long, or you will be too tired for anything else. You do know what foreplay is, right?"

"Of course! I mean, we did play with each other a bit..."

"Well, good." Matt replied, still not believing they had this conversation. "You know what both of you like, then. Anyway, when you move on to the intercourse, try to keep yourself from finishing until she finishes first, or maybe even after. If you have a problem, try thinking about something disgusting, like..."

"Okay, no need to explain further." Shining Armor interrupted him. "Anything else?"

"Nothing that comes to my mind. I wasn't always a pony, mind you: I can't give you any ideas about positions and such, seeing as I didn't have any 'intimate moments' with mares."

He glanced at the captain and noticed the strange look he was giving him.

"What?"

"Nothing, just... having second thoughts about you living with my sister."

Matthias chuckled, and soon Shining joined in.

"Seeing how she was angry at me, I doubt you have to worry about anything. And besides," he added, growing serious, "she was the first one to befriend me out of them all. I didn't have a real friend in a very long time. Our friendship is too important for me to risk it. You have my word on that."

Shining Armor looked at him and saw on his face that he spoke truly. He nodded.

"But honestly, thank you, I..." he started to say, but stopped as he looked behind Matthias.

Matt followed his gaze and saw the bride coming towards them.

"Princess Cadance." he greeted her, bowing. "Please, accept my congratulations as well as my wishes of good health in the new chapter of your life."

"Thank you." she replied, surprised but pleased. "For that, as well as for everything that happened today."

"Think nothing of it, Your Highness."

"You don't need to call me that."

"Beg your forgiveness, Princess, force of habit." Matt replied, shrugging. "I hope you don't mind that I took Shining Armor away for a while? I was curious about what kind of training the royal guards go through."

He figured it would be better if he came up with the excuse for the groom.

"Not at all." she said, and then sighed, looking both annoyed and amused. "Twilight happened to point out that you haven't given us a wedding gift."

"I would beg to differ." Matt thought, but didn't want to argue.

"He doesn't need to..." started Shining Armor.

"Oh, come now, Captain, don't start arguing with your wife over something like this." Matt interrupted him. "Remind me to thank Twilight for pointing this out, it had completely slipped my mind. However, I can't think of anything that I could give you, but, knowing how smart Twilight is, she has probably suggested something already, am I right?"

"She mentioned you have a beautiful singing voice."

Matthias eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped.

"She said that it would be a great idea to have some songs from your world heard here, at the reception." finished Cadance, looking at him sympathetically.

"Did she mention that the only songs she heard me sing was a lullaby and a song so sad that it made them all cry?" asked Matt, getting a hold of himself.

"Why were you singing a lullaby?" asked the confused groom.

"Now?! Seriously?" replied Matthias, then turned to Cadance. "You seem to not be bothered by the fact that she uses your wedding party as a way to get back at me."

"Well, she did save me, and revealed the Changeling's Queen..."

"So did I..."

"... and I actually want to hear you sing. But, if you don't want to, I understand." she finished, frowning sadly.

Matthias sighed.

"Either I cause the bride a displeasure, or make a fool out of myself. Your sister can be cruel." he told Shining. "Why is she so angry at me?"

"Well, she seemed to be over those things things with the queen, but then you disappeared during her song..."

Matthias cursed in his thoughts.

"... and then Spike came and said that you were with my aunts in Celestia's private chambers."

Both Matt and Shining Armor stared at her, although after a moment the Captain of the Royal Guard was staring at the Knight of the Silver Hand.

"You... and the Princesses..."

"No! For Light's sake, we weren't even gone that long!" Matthias replied, facehoofing himself. "Remind me to have a talk with Spike later; I think this is the third time he did something like this."

"Of course, he added that you were just talking about something with them." she reassured him Cadance. "Although, at first we thought..."

"For Light's sake! That's just ridiculous!" Matt said, shaking his head. "I've been called the most eligible bachelor in Lordaeron, but this-"

"Lordaeron?"

"A kingdom on my world that I lived in." he replied, sighing. "I will go talk with the musicians."

"So you will do it?" asked both bride and groom.

"Sure, why not. I know of a few songs that you and everypony might like - but just to be safe, you're not going to blame me for anything?"

"No." they promised him.

Matthias nodded to them and turned toward the musicians, who were currently having a short break.

"This is going to be a long night."

32. Canterlot Idol

"Will you be able to do it?" Matthias asked Octavia, a gray mare with a purple treble clef for a cutie mark.

"I don't see any problem." she replied, glancing at the other musicians. Each of them nodded. "Give us few minutes to prepare and we should be ready."

"Take all the time you need." Matt said, moving away. "Call me when you're sure you're ready."

"What had you started to say after our duel, Illidan? 'You are not prepared'?" he thought as he made his way over to where everypony - the bride and the groom, the best mare and the bridemaids, the Princess of the Day and the Princess of the Night - stood. "Somewhere out there you are laughing at me, aren't you?"

"So?" asked Twilight with a smirk.

"'So' what?" Matt replied with a question, being casual.

"Are we gonna hear you sing, or not?" she specified her question, frowning.

"I already told Princess Cadance and Shining Armor that I am going to sing. Are you suggesting that I would go back on my word?" Matt answered, pretending to be surprised and offended. "Shame on you, Twilight, I thought you know me better."

The look she gave him in response told him to not push it. Everypony else seemed to be amused, though.

"Now, Matthias," said Rarity, "you do realise that this is a wedding, so songs about..."

"... war and death are not appropriate?" finished for her Matt, grinning. "You know, my world isn't that bad as to have only those kind of songs, although I do plan to sing one or two sad ones, so that a few love couples will have an excuse to hug tightly. Anyway," he said as he trotted over to the closest table, "the musicians need a few minutes to prepare so I thought I would use this time to prepare myself as well."

"What do'ya mean by 'prepare'?" asked Applejack.

Matthias replied by picking up a bottle of wine.

"Really?" asked Shining Armor as Matt uncorked the bottle.

"I have no problem performing in front of a crowd, as you can guess by the spectacle in the Grand Arena yesterday, but singing is another matter." he answered as he lifted the bottle, backed his head and put the bottleneck into his mouth.

Everypony looked with wide eyes, either out of amazement or dismay, as Matthias proceeded to drink the bottle in one go.

"Um... Matt?" asked Applejack.

He lifted a hoof, signaling her and the others to wait. In few more gulps he completely emptied the bottle. He shook his head, put the empty bottle back in the table, and looked at them.

"Are you trying to get drunk?" asked Shining Armor, who was the first one to recover.

"With wine?" Matthias asked and chuckled. "Remind me once to introduce you to a dwarven ale, that's the strong stuff. Your Highnesses, I hope you'll forgive me that act on account of being roped into singing." he added, bowing his head toward all three princesses, and they nodded in response, although a bit surprised.

The others were still gazing at him, unsure how to react.

"If you excuse me for a moment, I need to take care of something. Be right back." Matt said, bowing his head, and made his way toward the closest toilet.

Twilight frowned as they all glanced at Matt talking with the musicians ten minutes later. She intended this to be his punishment, but he seemed to be dealing with this somehow.

"Oh, well." Twilight thought, resigned. "At least this means I won't turn Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding into a disaster."

But still, she was surprised that he managed to tell the musician what music to play. She didn't knew he was that talented.

"He is a master in terms of combat, he can call upon the power of Light, he knows a lot about battle strategies - according to Shining Armor, his knowledge about his world is astonishing, he is well familiar with an etiquette of the elite circles, but at the same time, he can act like a pony that doesn't know anything about it, can tell musicians how to play a melody that they never heard of..." she pondered about everything she knew about him, wondering if there was more to him than she knew.

"Ah think they're 'bout to start." Applejack said, interrupting her train of thoughts.

Twilight glanced at the space in front of the musicians, where Matt now stood, armed with a microphone. At the same time, DJ Pon-3 stopped spinning the vinyls.

"Good evening, everypony." said Matthias, as all the guests turned to him once the music stopped playing. "To those of you who don't know me - my name is Matthias Lehner, and I am a pony that used to live far away from Equestria. I have been asked to perform a few songs from my homeland, and although I'm not a big enthusiast of singing in public, it would have been impolite to refuse, so please, bear with me, ponies, and dance to the music."

When he finished, the musicians started playing a melody. Matt took few breaths, and started singing:

Who do I turn to when things are broken?

Where do I go when I'm feeling alone?

Who's always there with arms wide open, it's you.

Yeah, it's you.

Twilight wasn't surprised when she saw that more than few ponies opted to simply listen to the song instead of dancing.

Where do I hide when it's dark and stormy?

Where do I run when it's all too much?

Who gives me hope when I wake each morning, it's you.

Yeah, it's you.

You were there for me in my darkest days,

You cared for me when I lost my way,

My guiding light, you always pulled me through,

I believe in you.

Yeah yeah.

When I stumble and fall, you take my hoof.

When I don't have a clue, you know what to do.

When nothing makes sense, you help me to understand.

It's true.

It seems like forever, it's been you and me.

I know who you really are.

Sometimes I wonder where would I be without you?

Yeah yeah.

You were there for me in my darkest days,

You cared for me when I lost my way,

My guiding light, you always pulled me through,

Yeah, you gave me strength when I was weak,

You were my voice when I could not speak,

One ray of hope that I could hold onto,

Yeah, I believe in you.

Yeah, I believe in you.

You were there for me in my darkest days,

You cared for me when I lost my way,

My guiding light, you always pulled me through,

Yeah, you gave me strength when I was weak,

You were my voice when I could not speak,

One ray of hope that I could hold onto,

Yeah, I believe in you.

You were there for me in my darkest days,

You cared for me when I lost my way,

My guiding light, you always pulled me through,

Yeah, I believe in you.

Yeah, I believe in you.

The song was over before anypony noticed. As soon as it ended, the sound of stomping could be heard. Matt bowed, and turned around a bit to drink a few sips from a glass of water, as the musicians started to play once again.

"The next song is a bit slower, so it's mostly for couples." said Matthias, winking at Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, and once again started to sing:

Whenever sang my songs

On the stage, on my own

Whenever said my words

Wishing they would be heard

I saw you smiling at me

Was it real or just my fantasy

You'd always be there in the corner

Of this tiny little bar

My last night here for you

Same old songs, just once more

My last night here with you?

Maybe yes, maybe no

I kind of liked it your way

How you shyly placed your eyes on me

Did you ever know?

That I had mine on you

Darling, so there you are

With that look on your face

As if you're never hurt

As if you're never down

Shall I be the one for you

Who pinches you softly but sure

If a frown is shown then

I will know that you are no dreamer

So let me come to you

Close as I wanna be

Close enough for me

To feel your heart beating fast

And stay there as I whisper

How I loved your peaceful eyes on me

Did you ever know

That I had mine on you?

Darling, so share with me

Your love if you have enough

Your Tears if you're holding back

Or pain if that's what it is

How can I let you know

I'm more than the armor and the weapon

Just reach me out, then

You will know that you are not dreaming

Darling, so there you are

With that look on your face

As if you're never hurt

As if you're never down

Shall I be the one for you

Who pinches you softly but sure

If a frown is shown then

I will know that you are no dreamer

Once again, as the song stopped, ponies started stomping, giving their thanks to the singer and musicians, who after a short break started to play another melody.

"The next song," said Matthias after he cleared his throat and the music started, "isn't exactly one you would expect to hear on wedding reception, but I was given a free hoof, and I would have liked to honor... a memory of a little filly from a small village called Darrowshire."

He looked up into the sky, and opened his mouth:

I've seen a great many things that cause a stallion to wonder

I've seen a great many things that can tear a stallion's heart asunder

But the day that will not let me go, it haunts me to my burning soul

Is the day I found Pamela wandering Darrowshire

Can you help me find my dolly? I left her by the window sill

Have you seen my daddy? I think he went off to war

And can you tell my family I've been missing them for oh so very long

Ask them why'd they leave me here alone in Darrowshire

I bring word from your sister, she's alive and well in Winterspring

Here I found your dolly, it's up to you to keep her safe

And your father's coming home again. The war for him is over

And your spirits once again may be at rest in Darrowshire

Twilight almost whirled as she heard the last line. Was Matt implying that this... Pamela, was a ghost?

"Then again, he did die once. I suppose it's not impossible." she thought, looking at the crowd of ponies.

Like Matt predicted, those who could hugged somepony tightly. Twilight was beginning to wish that she could hug somepony after that sad song, when suddenly:

"That was sooo sad!" cried Pinkie as she hugged tightly all five of them.

"Pinkie, get a hold of yourself!"

"Okay." said Pinkie, calming down almost immediately.

Twilight shook her head and turned her attention back to Matt, who started another song:

Just look from there once more

Look from the place that you returned to

Just let the soft, soft waves

heal your heart so tired from sadness

Just begin to dream once more,

to bring back your 'courage'

And from just that dream,

let the passion you once forgot

into your smile and melt your frozen heart

Yes, on that Friday that I saw you

riding on the back of waves

Let your emotion overflow

Just like you did back then

Let me see that shine anew

Let me see that shining you

Just like you did back then

Let me see that smile anew

Let me see that smiling you

Ripples on the waves

Battles on the brain

Can you ease my mind?

Can you feel the strain?

Carry me across the sea

Carry me to days gone by

Let me feel what I felt then

Let old passions fly

Love the ones you have lost

Love the times you knew

But new life has come along and

It needs your love too

Rippling waves will bring me home

Back to where life starts

Rippling waves will bring with me

My beloved's heart

Rippling waves, rippling waves

Rippling waves of love

Just one more time, please look

At the place you wish to return to

And allow the quiet small ripples of time

To heal your tired heart

Just one more time, please dream

And remember the dream called courage

The passion you have forgotten

Will melt the ice in your heart

Memories of you riding that wave

Fills my mind, even now

On that Friday

Memories of that time

I wish to see you shine again

Shining like a new star

Like a new moon

Memories of those times

I wish to see you smile again

Smiling

"The next song is going to be in a different language." said Matthias after he finished and the musicians started to play a new melody. "I would have translated it for you, but it doesn't sound so beautiful."

Anar'alah, Anar'alah belore

Quel'dorei

Shindu fallah na

Quel'dorei

Anar'alah

Shindu Quel'dorei

Shindu fallah na

Quel'dorei

Anar'alah belore

Shindu Quel'dorei

Shindu fallah na

Quel'dorei

Anar'alah belore

Belore

Twilight frowned. Something about that song told her that this wasn't one that would fit an occasion like a wedding party.

She looked as Matt prepared to sing once more.

"This is going to be the last song." he said, and, noticing the disappointment on almost everypony's faces, he added: "I'm sorry, but on such short notice I can't remind myself more songs."

As he opened his mouth and started to sing, he looked at Twilight. She could swear she saw him wink at her.

You can reach for the stars

And know that in your heart

You have the strength deep inside.

Let it be your guide.

You can fly past the moon

And race all afternoon.

Don't be afraid to make a choice.

Raise your voice.

Just follow your star.

Spread your wings and be free.

Wherever you are

Is right where you should be.

So listen to your heart

And believe in what you dream.

And follow, follow your star.

Twilight was beginning to understand that Matt winked at her to refer to her cutie mark. She blushed, wondering how many times he was going to repeat the world 'star'.

There's a time when you know

How to find your destiny.

And with each turn in the road

It's clear for you to see.

So push through the days

Don't let your spirit fade.

Throw away all your doubts.

I'll sing out loud.

Just follow your star.

Spread your wings and be free.

Wherever you are

Is right where you should be.

So listen to your heart

And believe in what you dream.

And follow, follow your star.

Just follow your star.

Spread your wings and be free.

Wherever you are

Is right where you should be.

So listen to your heart

And believe in what you dream.

And follow, follow your star.

Follow your star.

Follow your star.

Follow your star.

Follow your star.

Follow your star.

Follow your star.

Follow your star.

Follow your star.

Follow your star.

Just follow your star.

As Matthias's song was coming to an end, the Light started to envelop him, but the moment he finished, a bigger pillar of Light appeared around Cadance and Shining Armor.

"May the Light's blessings be with you." said Matt, bowing. "Everypony, thank you for your attention, you've been a lovely audience. Remember to congratulate the newly wed, if you haven't yet."

He bowed once again, as the Light disappeared from him, but stayed on Cadance and Shining Armor, although dimmed, and with that, Matthias moved away.