Matthew and Fluttershy awoke the next day. Fluttershy had slept very well, but Matthew couldn’t get the thoughts of what was going to happen out of his head. He would be openly confronting Princess Celestia for the first time in about seven or eight months. Matthew sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. Fluttershy put her hoof on his shoulder.

“Are you alright Matthew? You know, you don’t need to do this,” Fluttershy said, trying to comfort Matthew. He looked to her.

“I’m fine, it’s just that I wish that none of this was happening. Well, I don’t mean everything, just all of the hiding and having to fear for our lives. We shouldn’t have to be doing this, but it is what it is. I’m ready to do this, don’t worry,” he said, and he got out of bed and prepared himself.

Matthew began to arm himself. He strapped on his straps and belts, pistol holsters, quiver, and tomahawk holster. He placed his pistols and tomahawk in their respective holsters, threw his bow over his shoulder, and finally strapped on his hidden blades. He made sure his outfit was in proper order, and he and Fluttershy set off for Ponyville.

The walk was rather quick for the two of them. Matthew had told Twilight to send the letter to Celestia at a specific time. Matthew would already be in Ponyville by the time the Princess got there, so he had a bit of time to fully prepare himself.

Arriving in Ponyville, many of the ponies were shocked to see both Fluttershy and Matthew. Many of the ponies ran to their homes, but others just couldn’t leave the area. Not only did Matthew surprise them, but Fluttershy, who had been gone for months, had finally returned. Little did all of those ponies know that she wasn’t there to stay. Matthew and Fluttershy walked through Ponyville, catching the attention of the rest of their friends. Matthew made sure to cue them not to go near him or Fluttershy. They all just watched Matthew and Fluttershy walk through the town, waiting for Celestia.

About half an hour passed before she finally arrived. She was pulled in by two guards on her royal chariot. She was actually glad in a set of battle armor. Matthew was quite surprised to see the drastic change in her looks, but he didn’t really care. He and Fluttershy were hiding at first, waiting for Celestia to call out or something. She did.

“Twilight Sparkle, where are they?” she shouted out, and Twilight stepped forward. Twilight was a little fearful, but she remained composed.

“I’m sorry Princess, but shortly after I saw them, they ran off,” Twilight responded. Celestia shot her a look of anger.

“That is disappointing Twilight. Nevertheless, we will find them. Guards, begin searching the area!” But before the guards could even go anyway, Matthew and Fluttershy stepped forward.

“Why search when we are already here?” he called out in a bit of a cocky tone. He gave a curt smile to Celestia, who only shot him a look of pure hatred. “Celestia, good to see you again.”

“I cannot say the same for you, Matthew,” she responded, and she assumed a battle ready stance. “I hope you are ready to die, the both of you!” She started to charge her horn, but before she could fire, Matthew spoke out.

“Celestia, wait!” To his own surprise, she stopped. “Listen to me. I just want to say, I’m sorry. I never meant to kill Luna,” he said, but before he continue, Celestia interrupted.

“Of course you didn’t you bastard! Do you think me so foolish that I would actually believe you?”

“No, I wouldn’t expect you to believe me. I just need you to listen. I know my words mean nothing to you, but you need to try to understand that I had no intentions of killing her. I was moving too quickly to think, and my actions were just spontaneous. I couldn’t stop to think about what I was doing. She got in the way, and I just, well, struck. I’m not trying to deceive you.”

“Your words are false, more so than the disguise of a Changeling. They mean absolutely nothing to me. I do not care if you meant to kill her or not! The fact of the matter is she is gone, and I can’t bring her back! For that, you will pay!” she shouted out, and she shot right at Matthew. He pushed Fluttershy out of the way and rolled in the opposite direction.

“Celestia, stop! Things don’t have to be this way! Sure, you’re mad, I get that. You can kill me, but why the fuck do you want to kill Fluttershy?”

“She has been tainted by you. It is no longer worth purging her memories of you. Now, she will die, along with you and any who assist you.” Celestia kept assaulting Matthew with beams of energy, and he kept dodging. Matthew dodged one final shot before speaking.

“Are you sure that this is the way you want to play it?” Celestia simply charged her horn again. Matthew simply smirked. “Fair enough,” he said, and he flipped up his hood. He quickly pulled out both pistols and fired off five bullets from each. Celestia quickly formed a barrier to protect herself. As it faded, she fired back at Matthew. The shot was too quick for him to dodge, and he fell backwards. He quickly got back up, put away his pistols, drew his tomahawk and left hidden blade, and charged.

Celestia met his charge with more shots, which he dodged. As he got closer, Celestia’s guards jumped in front of him. They were using magic to levitate spears. There were four of them, easy enough for Matthew. One guard went in for a stab, but Matthew simply pushed it aside with his tomahawk. Spinning around, he slit the guard’s throat with his knife. Continuing his spin, he brought his tomahawk down on the skull of another guard, and finished by chopping the first guard in the legs. Two more remained.

One tried to bring down his spear on Matthew, but he slashed it aside with his tomahawk and slashed at the guard’s throat with his knife. The last guard tried for a stab, but Matthew pushed the spear aside with his tomahawk, spun around, stabbed the guard in the back, and came back around and slashed the guard from his chest up to his chin with his tomahawk. Blood flew through the air as the guard fell to the ground. Matthew was caught off guard as Celestia charged at him with her horn ready to pierce his heart.

He quickly spun around her, sheathed his weapons, brought out his bow, and successfully shot two arrows into her back. She fell over to the ground, but she quickly got back up. She used her wings to break the arrows off. They were staring each other down, but in the middle of them lay the bodies of the guards. Matthew fully observed his handy work. One guard had blood seeping out of his skull, his eyes in the back of his head. Two of the guards were gagging from having their throats cut open, as blood poured out from the open wounds. One of those guards had been chopped in the leg, and Matthew thought he could see bone. The final guard was the worst. Matthew managed a clean cut straight up his chest, and the blood wouldn’t stop pouring out. Matthew had never managed something so violent before.

“See what you have done. You have just killed four guards in succession of each other, not so much as thinking about your actions. And you mean to tell me that my sister was different. You are a liar, and now you shall die one!” Celestia cried out, and she flew into the air, her horn charging up for something big. Matthew had a split second to make a move. He shot off two more arrows, but they were simply deflected by Celestia’s force field. She shot down at Matthew. He barely managed to roll out of the way as the beam struck the earth, disintegrating the guards that had been there moments ago. Matthew looked at the scene in shock, and then back to Celestia, who showed no care for what she had just done. Matthew didn’t even try to think of anything to say. He simply pulled out his pistols and began firing.

The bullets managed to strike Celestia, and she fell to the ground. Matthew quickly put away his pistol and charged at her with his tomahawk in hand. She quickly got up, and met his tomahawk with her armored horn. The armor made her horn as sharp as any sword. Celestia used her magic to pull out a sword she had on her side. She almost managed to stab Matthew, but he couldn’t dodge completely. She clipped his chest, and he held it in pain. He moved his hand to see that she had managed to get a pretty deep cut on him. He regained his focus as she brought her sword down.

In a split second, he side-stepped the blade, slid out his hidden blade, and sliced at her chest. He managed to land a successful hit, but she didn’t seem fazed by it. She merely looked at Matthew with anger in her eyes. She threw the sword aside and charged with her horn. Matthew decided to use this to his advantage. He slid on the ground under her and kicked her from under her stomach. She was sent flying two feet into a street light. The pole fell over, crashing into some bushes. Celestia got up and decided to do something crafty. She magicked the fallen pole and swung at Matthew with it. The size made it too difficult for Matthew to dodge, and he was sent flying a good ten feet. He landed with a hard thud and began to cough up blood. He definitely had broken some ribs. Celestia threw the pole at him, but he managed to dodge it. Doing so however brought Matthew pain.

“You are faltering Matthew, and soon, you shall die. Why not just give up now?” she asked him mockingly. He merely looked to her.

“Because only the weak surrender, and I am not weak. I’m going to beat you, one way or another.” As he said that, he charged towards Celestia. She softly chuckled and shot him with a beam of energy. He couldn’t keep fighting, not like this. He was only human, and Celestia was practically a Goddess. He managed to get up, only to meet the hind legs of Celestia. She bucked him right in the head, and he fell back. He started to cough up large amounts of blood. She stood over him.

“Ready to die?” she asked. He managed to crack a smile.

“Not yet.” As he said that, he slid out his right hidden blade and drove it into Celestia’s exposed unprotected underside. She gasped, surprised by the sudden strike. Matthew pushed her off and he landed on her. He grabbed her horn and slammed her head to the ground. She was unable to use her magic now. Matthew stared into her eyes as he drew his tomahawk and raised it to the sky, ready to bring it down on her skull.

“Do it then! Finish me!” she said, her voice still filled with rage. But, Matthew just looked into her eyes, and he felt his strength fading. He couldn’t do it. Looking over to Fluttershy, he saw her in tears. He breathed slowly, still in pain. Fluttershy had seen Matthew kill two men before, but he had just killed four guards and managed to bang up Princess Celestia to a good degree. Matthew couldn’t bring himself to killing her. He stared back at Celestia.

“No, I won’t kill you. I’m no monster. But, let me make myself clear Celestia. Should you continue to hunt me, the next time we meet, I may not be so lenient with my choice. I hope your guards know where you are, because you’re going to need a pickup service,” he said, and he slammed his knee into her head, knocking her out. He dropped her head to the ground and went to Fluttershy.

She couldn’t stop crying. Matthew held her close.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy. I thought I could get her to see reason. I was wrong, I was very wrong. I can’t believe you just saw all of that.” As he said that, he released her, standing up and walking away a bit. But, she stopped him.

“Matthew, it’s alright. I just… I didn’t think you could be so violent. I mean, the first time was pretty bad, but that…” She didn’t need to finish. Matthew fully understood. He stared at where the four guards had been lying moments ago, before Celestia disintegrated them. Matthew stared back at Fluttershy.

“We should go.” Fluttershy nodded. They ran off, unable to allow their friends to even try to talk to them. But, they knew where Matthew and Fluttershy lived, so they could find them. Rainbow Dash watched the two run back into the Everfree Forest from one of her clouds. She landed on the ground and went to Twilight.

“That was… intense,” she said.

“Indeed it was. I never imagined Matthew could do such things,” Twilight responded. She looked to Rainbow. “Do you think we should still trust him?”

“Well, considering Celestia tried twice as hard to kill him, yeah, I think we should still trust him.” Rainbow made a good point. Celestia had managed to nearly kill Matthew, and she wasn’t even trying. Matthew would need to step his game up. Rainbow and Twilight looked to the Princess.

“I never knew the Princess had such a dark side to her,” Twilight said. “We really can’t let her know that we are affiliated with those two.” Rainbow simply nodded, and they went over to Celestia’s side. Shortly after, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity joined them. The ponies all looked at each other, then to the Princess. Things were never going to be the same in Equestria.