//------------------------------//
// 159. Revelations under Moon 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

“I… see,” Clover’s echo murmured as Serenity finished telling her the last two thousand years of Equestria’s history. “Equestria hath certainly changed from my times.”

“Well, it has been about two thousand years,” Storm thought, rolling his eyes as he and Tucker carried the dried up bushes and small branches they’ve collected over to the center of their makeshift camp, not far from the campfire. Taking a look at their surroundings, he couldn’t help but add “As one could tell by looking around…”

The watch tower they had chosen for their camp based on the old maps was in… slightly worse condition that they had anticipated. The fortifications surrounding it where all but gone, with only a few bigger stone blocks remaining. As for the tower itself, only about half of it was still intact; the other half had long since collapsed, leaving them with the Moon shining brightly upon them from the night sky that hung over their heads. Still, the surrounding, circular walls with only one entrance offered a good protection should they come under attack (overlooking attacks from above, of course, which with all the griffon echoes and pegasi echoes on the island was quite possible), and they had easily enough room for all of them to rest.

“It’s hard for me to believe that there art actual, living alicorns ruling Equestria,” Clover continued. “And that they come from Platinum’s line at that. She’s not even expecting… I mean, wasn’t expecting a foal around the time the real Clover was here,” the echo corrected herself, frowning briefly.

Storm looked briefly at Serenity as she nodded and began to reply that Queen Platinum’s son would be born about ten years after the war had ended, then at Tucker who added some of the ‘timber’ they brought to the campfire, then at Guard Shield, who’s attention was switching between the history conversation and scanning their surroundings for any enemy echoes, then finally at Sir Lightbringer.

The head paladin was laying beside Serenity, his ear perked to the conversation, too, but he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as he stared into the fire. Storm wondered if he hadn’t been more wounded in the fight with Clover that he let on; he hardly spoke a word after healing the echo’s injuries that he himself had caused her (and then forgot about; only when Clover gasped when she tried to trot after him had he realized she was still wounded), letting Serenity answer Clover’s questions.

Storm thought back to that moment briefly, thinking of how weird it was to see the Light heal an injuries of a creature that was basically a ghost. The pained expression on Clover’s face had also indicated that it was… unnatural. As Sir Lightbringer had explained to them earlier and to the echo before he began healing her, as her form was made of necromantic magic, coming into contact with the Holy Light would be painful for her, even if used for healing.

Clover had agreed to be healed, out of curiosity.

Afterwards, though, Sir Lightbringer remained silent, aside from giving a few commands to set up a camp. A part of Storm wondered if that meant he had been relieved of command that he was given for the duration of this trial, or had Sir Lightbringer simply forgotten about that after the battle. Not that he minded, or that the head paladin had taken charge during the fight with Clover’s echo. However, this prolonged silence… unsettled him.

“It couldn’t be that he was wounded, he would have healed himself by now,” he realized. “So he must be thinking over something… but what?”

Although he was reluctant - really reluctant - to disrupt him, Storm trotted over to Sir Lightbringer and cleared his throat. “So, um, Sir, am I still in command of our group or…” he initiated, saying the first thing that came to his mind.

Sir Lightbringer’s other ear perked and he finally took his gaze off the fire. “Of course you are,” he replied, frowning slightly, as if surprised that the pegasus had asked. “I only assumed command because of the direness of the situation we had found ourselves. Assuming we won’t run into an echo as powerful as Clover, you will still be in charge until we get back to the port.”

Storm nodded, having more or less expected that. He opened his mouth to ask in turn if everything was alright with Sir Lightbringer, but he hesitated, not sure how to best do that, and in that time the head paladin had turned to Clover.

“On that note, do you know if anybody else could possess such threat to us as you had, Lady Clover?” he asked when she and Serenity had taken a pause in their conversation.

The echo turned to him and nodded. “Yes, but, um, couldst thou just call me ‘Clover’? It feels odd to be addressed as ‘lady’.”

Sir Lightbringer frowned, and for a brief moment it looked to Storm as if he wanted to say something, but he must have changed his mind if that was the case, as he merely nodded.

“How about ‘Archmage Clover’ then?” Serenity chimed in. “You were the Archmage of the Magic Corps, after all.”

“I suppose… though I still prefer just ‘Clover’. Especially since now my rank holds no meaning. But to answer thy question, Sir Lightbringer,” she resumed, turning back to the white paladin, “there would be two echoes who could cause you as much troubles as I had; Commander Hurricane and King Friedrich of Griffonia.”

“I know that Commander Hurricane was a great warrior and him and the first King of Griffonia were considered almost equal, but I don’t see them being as powerful as her,” Storm thought, but chose to keep that comment to himself.

“The two of them should be locked in battle,” Clover continued. “Now that I am aware of the magic binding me and the other echoes, I’ve began to recollect the memories of the last eight hundred years… in any case, they and the divisions under their direct commands have been fighting through most of the day in the sky above and now are resting, and will resume the battle on the morrow. By evening tomorrow, Hurricane shall force Friedrich to retreat… and starts making preparations for Equestrian Army to chase after him,” she finished with a sight. “It is hard to believe ponies and griffons had mended relations since those days, even if it had been two thousand years… art thou honestly planning to allow Griffonians to join thy order?” she asked, looking from Sir Lightbringer to Serenity (who had told her about that) and back.

“Griffonia and Equestria are now on friendly terms,” Sir Lightbringer replied, “and I believe this way our two kingdoms will only get closer. That being said,” he added, looking away, past the ‘walls’ of their camp, “I can understand why it would seem near impossible. War is… an ugly thing to experience.”

The tone in which he had said those words unsettled Storm even more than his earlier worries, but it was Clover who asked the question: “Hast thou experienced war?”

As if it was his intention to confuse everypony even further, Sir Lightbringer snort and nickered: “I suppose you could say so, yes.”

“I’m… a bit confused. I had thought that there had been no war in Equestria after this one?” Clover asked, glancing at Serenity with confusion.

“Um, yes, but you see, Sir Lightbringer here is not from Equestria,” the crystal pony hastily replied, a bit awkwardly. As Clover’s eyes slightly widened she explained further, casting Sir Lightbringer questioning glance, as if wanting to make sure it was okay for her to speak more about him; the paladin though ignored her, staring into the flames again. “He came several months ago from a different land, due to some… magic accident?”

“Come to think of it, it was never really clear to me exactly how he came to Ponyville either,” Storm realized as Serenity glanced at Sir Lightbringer again, now with uncertainty, and tried to think back if that had ever come up.

Clover the Clever, who’s ears perked slightly at the mention of ‘magic accident’, turned to him with intrigued expression on her transparent face, but before she could ask him what did that mean Tucker sat beside her.

“If that captures your attention, babe, let me tell you how I came around here,” he said, smirking at the echo, who had slightly drew away from him out of surprise. “You see-”

“Tucker!” Serenity hissed at him. “She’s one of the Founders of Equestria, lived over two thousand years ago, and she had been stuck relieving the same few days over and over for the last eight hundred years! Stop hitting on her!”

“Seems like about time something worth relieving happens to her,” Tucker countered, raising an eyebrow. “Besides, I might very well be from her times, remember?”

“W-wait, what?” Clover, who had been slightly abashed by his advances, now turned to him curiously. “What dost thou mean?”

“Oh, I’ve been stuck in this weird amber-like thingy for nopony knows how long inside an abandoned research facility that there are no records of, and have completely no memory of my life before,” Tucker replied, almost nonchalantly. “Aside from how to be so kickass that is.”

“And how to speak,” Serenity pointed out, staring at him through narrowed eyes. “Clearly, your manners of speaking prove that you cannot be from the same time.”

“So? I still dig older mares if they are as fine looking. I mean, considering you’re over a thousand…”

“Oh for the love of Light!”

As those two bickered, Clover’s echo had continued to gaze at Tucker curiously, more precisely at his forehoof, probably recalling the energy blade she had seen emanate from it and now pondering what this ‘research station’ could have been about. Storm was curious as to what she could think of it, as she was one of the brightest unicorn minds ever, but before he had a chance to talk to her - or to stop Serenity and Tucker’s arguing, which he felt was happening at hardly the right time or place - he felt Sir Lightbringer’s hoof on his armored shoulder.

“I cannot sense any presence other than Clover’s around,” he whispered. “I don’t think we need to worry about getting attacked, so you can call Guard to join us; we will assign watchers for the night when we go to sleep.”

Storm nodded, seeing no sense in keeping the older paladin away from the company when it was safe, and quickly called him. As Guard joined them beside the campfire, Tucker and Serenity had calmed - actually, Serenity was the only one who was angry, so only she had calmed - and ended their argument - which meant that Serenity had given up on trying to stop Tucker from hitting on the echo (which Storm had no idea if it would… yield the results Tucker apparently expected) - allowing them all to enjoy a moment of silence as they took out their rations and began to eat.

“So, changing the subject a bit,” Tucker spoke up after a while, glancing at Sir Lightbringer, “Sir, what was with that winged golden chick?” Sir Lightbringer swallowed his food to reply to him, but first he paused to roll his eyes, which Tucker used to add “‘Cause she was hot!”

Sir Lightbringer glared at him before replying “Her name is Raogrior, she’s an ancient spirit of an ascended warrior of the Light; recently she and her sister, Sanngrior… came into my service, so to speak, for the time being. Her sister is currently protecting the Abbey during our absence, while Raogrior watches over us here from the Spirit World. I am fairly certain she does not appreciate your compliments,” he added.

As now it was Tucker’s turn to roll his eyes, Storm turned to Sir Lightbringer before the unicorn paladin could say something in response that would only annoy him or Serenity further. “When did that happen, Sir? Them coming into your service I mean.”

“And how?” Serenity added.

“If I may…” Clover spoke up before Sir Lightbringer could reply to either of them, “I am curious as to what that being was before she became this ascended warrior? I do not recognize her species, and I know of every race living in this world. Or, well, had thought I knew of every race,” she added, frowning. “Those changelings thou hast mentioned of are a mystery to me as well.”

“She sorta resembled the statue of your mentor,” Serenity interjected as Sir Lightbringer uttered a tired sigh. “Um, I mean, that she looked human like him, except female… and bigger.”

“Actually, she’s of a race from which the human race had descended from, called vrykul,” Sir Lightbringer replied.

“Huh, there sure are a lot of races in that land where you have come from Sir,” Tucker pointed out, while Clover frowned thoughtfully. “Humans, vrykul, dwarves like Brann… and all those mentioned in the librams you had Brann bring, high elves, blood elves, draenei, trolls…”

Recalling their short discussion back on Lady Gale, Storm wondered if Tucker was about to use this opportunity to question Sir Lightbringer about the lack of ponies in the Order of the Silver Hand that so bothered him. Truth be told, Storm was also curious about that, so he observed the Grand Master curiously to see if he would explain that. However, before Tucker could develop his thoughts further, Guard spoke up.

“So many races… I guess it somewhat explains how come there have been wars there?” the older pony asked, raising an eyebrow. “Different people with different views and all that.”

Sir Lightbringer snorted. “Sounds about right… though not all wars start because of those reasons…” he muttered, his gaze once again travelling to the fire.

“Sir…” Guard began, but hesitated briefly. “The things we have seen on this island… all the fighting and death… I think I’ll speak for all of us that it was very unsettling.”

“More like fucking messed up,” Tucker remarked, snorting as an unpleasant grimace crossed his muzzle.

“I cannot imagine what it must have been to actually live through those events,” Guard continued, nodding respectfully to Clover’s echo before turning back to Sir Lightbringer. “Sir, you have said that you want to be sure we are capable of serving our purpose as paladins even in darkest of times. You have clearly picked the right place to test that. But I wonder… in your old land, are there places like this?”

Storm felt taken aback by the by the gentle tone of the older paladin as he asked that question, and the compassionate look he was giving Sir Lightbringer. He realized that Guard was worried if being in this place was causing him to relieve some of the horrors he had seen in his homeland.

“Could that be the reason why he has been so quiet and keeps staring into the fire?” Storm wondered. “Although he had only become like that after the fight with Clover… then again, after that we hadn’t run into any more echoes, so before that he had been focusing on fighting…”

He stopped his musing as he realized that Sir Lightbringer had began to say something. The Grand Master of the Celestial Light was still staring into the flames, and what he was saying - in a hushed tone, requiring Storm and the others to perk their ears to better hear him - didn’t sound like an answer to Guard’s question.

“‘Be wary, child, of Plaguelands plain. Be mindful, child, of the infected grain. For if throat is parched and of infected water sip, forever your soul will be in cursed Scourge grip. So heed this warning, child, and if far from mother stray, let light from home's hearth guide you back your way.’ It’s a nursery rhyme, told among humans," Sir Lightbringer added in a normal tone. “The place it speaks of, Plaguelands… it’s far worse than Dread Isle is. By far. This place was uninhabited before the war. Everybody who had perished here was a soldier or alternatively a laborer. The Plaguelands… they were once a normal land, called Eastweald, part of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, with towns, villages, and farms. Seven, eight years ago, though, they’ve became the land of the death, with only a few living people remaining there.”

Storm shared a look with the the others. That indeed sounded a lot worse than the Dread Isle. Especially since whatever the hell happened there was so recent. And it was impactful enough to have a nursery rhyme created about it in just a few years!

“What happened to that place, Sir?” Serenity asked, fear and concern in her voice.

The answer Sir Lightbringer gave her had definitely not calmed her, or anypony else.

“I happened.” As everypony stared at him with wide eyes - and all felt a chill run down their spines, although Storm couldn’t be sure if that wasn’t just him that experienced that - Sir Lightbringer gave out one last tired sigh and finally looked up from the campfire, meeting his paladin’s gazes. “I had told you once that I had fallen into darkness. That I was evil. That I had commited many unforgivable sins, the murder of my own father being only one of them.” He paused again as Clover uttered a short gasp; Storm wondered very briefly if he had forgotten that they had company, but he quickly pushed the thought away, too engrossed by what Sir Lightbringer was telling them. “I hadn’t told you much other than that, though, not even the very nature of my actions, or their reasons. But… I believe that now has come time for you to learn everything there is about me. The four of you are the closest ponies to me after my closest friends; I like to consider you too as friends, even if being your superior requires me to be more detached from you. I would like to be able to confer with you openly, without all those secrets. Well, some of those secrets,” Sir Lightbringer added, a little of his usual humor flashing briefly, “but I can’t expect you to trust me if I’ll continue to keep things from you. More importantly though,” he continued, his voice becoming even more serious than before, “the four of you are the first pony paladins. I had passed on to you the virtues I had been taught by my mentor, Uther the Lightbringer, and if you are to be the true heirs of his legacy, you need to know… just how far his worst student has fallen,” he added, sighing again, his gaze downcast. He then snorted and added, amusement creeping into his voice, “Also, Brann will be possibly visiting Equestria soon, for a longer period than his last two visits. I can’t help but think that, unless you all know about my past, this will lead to either a lot of confusion and questions, or me ‘jumping through hoops’ to keep everything secret from everypony, and I really am too busy as it is to worry about that as well.”

As he listened to Sir Lightbringer’s half-hearted rant about Brann’s incoming visit, Storm found himself speechless. He really had no idea what to say… or if any of them should say anything, for that matter. He had never seen Sir Lightbringer like this, and he doubted any of the others had. “Maybe Rarity and his other friends had though,” Storm thought, recalling how close he was with them (especially Lady Twilight). Regardless of that, it clearly showed how much trust and respect Sir Lightbringer had for them, to open up so much… especially considering what he was about to open up about.

“Do I really want to learn about that?” Storm wondered; it would be nice to learn more about Sir Lightbringer, sure, but the way he spoke about his past… Storm worried if knowing that would change the way how he looked at him.

“I would also like to hear what one of the Founders of Equestria thinks of me after hearing my tale,” Sir Lightbringer said, turning to look at Clover’s echo. “In this world, only three people know everything about my past, and only two of them I am certain that know it in almost every detail. All three however got to know me before learning about it, and I would like to see how a pony of great wisdom would react to it after having met me so recently.”

“Sir Lightbringer is… a paragon, champion of the Light,” Storm thought as Clover nodded back at him with understanding. “Whatever he might have done before, the Light had forgiven him, and he strives to be better than he had been. But… will we still see him like that after learning about his past?” he wondered, then realized what Sir Lightbringer had said.

“Sir, did you say three?” he spoke up. When the earth pony paladin nodded, he added: “Does that mean that your friends do not know what you’re going to tell us?”

“The three I’ve talked about are Princesses Luna and Celestia, of course, and Lady Twilight,” Sir Lightbringer replied. “Rarity and my other close friends… are aware that I had been evil and commited a lot of atrocities, but I never went into… details when I would talk about it with them, not like I’m about to talk with you,” he explained, his gaze returning to the flames. “Whether I kept that to myself out of shame or concern for them I don’t know… probably both. They even claim to not being interested in it, as they are content with just knowing me as I am now. But… I believe that time had come that I should reveal this to them as well, once we get back to Ponyville. After how Twilight reacted… maybe I’ve been being unfair to them, by keeping this all to myself? Who knows…” Sir Lightbringer trailed off, then, to Storm’s confusion, he snorted with laughter. Shaking his head and chuckling, he muttered “Being on this island must have made me… almost sentimental. Still, if that was the push I needed…” he added, shaking his head again and sighing.

Storm couldn’t help but feel a little relieved to hear that Sir Lightbringer planned to tell Rarity and the others what he was about to tell them as well. He didn’t think it would bode well for his and Rarity’s relationship if he knew about her friend’s past and she didn’t. Even though she had apparently already known about him being evil (only later had Storm realized that he should have realized this before, as Rarity and the other Bearers of the Elements were with Sir Lightbringer in the Crystal Empire when King Sombra had used his magic to repeat Sir Lightbringer’s statement about some of his crimes), he knew he would feel weird whenever he would find himself in the company of both of them at the same time, for whatever reason.

“Um, Sir?” Serenity spoke, snapping Storm back to attention. “I-If I may… I think I understand why you want to tell us this. I-I just want to tell you, Sir, that you most certainly aren’t the same pony as you were then.” A ghost of a strangely amused smile appeared at Sir Lightbringer’s muzzle, but he didn’t stop her. “I’m sure Lady Twilight has said this as well, knowing you far better, but… the pony you are now would most certainly not murder his own father or kill thousands.”

“I’ve been made aware of that,” Sir Lightbringer replied, chuckling warmly as he confirmed Serenity’s guess about Twilight Sparkle’s opinion on this. “Thank you, Serenity. However, your words only confirm that I should tell you; continuing to keep my past secret would be like… hiding from it.” He paused to sigh and shake his head again, then fell silent for a brief moment. Finally, he opened his mouth, but before he spoke he frowned and turned to Clover’s echo. “Actually… do you happen to know of a spell or a ritual that would make them see my memories or thoughts?”

Clover blinked, then frowned, pondering his request. “Hm, well, there is one spell that comes to mind… however, since those aren’t mine thoughts, I would need some… conveyor from thee, to conjure a vision for all of us to experience.”

“Conveyor?” Sir Lightbringer repeated, tilting his head with confusion and interest.

“Something that would resonate with my spell in order to create the vision,” Clover elaborated. “I believe a song should do.”

“A son-” Sir Lightbringer began to repeat, but then abruptly stopped as the word registered with him. “Why does it have to be a- oh who am I kidding, of course it has be song!” he exclaimed, facehoofing. As Storm and the others exchanged a glance, both amused and slightly concerned by his reaction, he sighed and said “Alright, but none of you are to say a word about it to Brann or anybody else who could come here from Azeroth, as unlikely as it would be. Not so unlikely with my luck, of course...” he added under his breath so quietly that Storm had barely heard him.

However, the Sir Lightbringer then added something back in the normal tone that made little to no sense to Storm.

“I think I would honestly prefer to die again than to explain to anybody why I made song about my life…”

“‘Die again’?” Storm repeated in his thoughts. “I get it that he considers his past as ‘previous life’ or something, but isn’t this sorta… exaggerating?”

He guessed by the expressions of the others that they thought more or less the same way, but nopony spoke up, letting Sir Lightbringer concentrate. He soon nodded to himself, and, after briefly frowning, he turned to Clover and nodded again, letting her know he was ready. The echo closed her eyes as she focused, her horn glowing as she channeled her spell. Sir Lightbringer uttered another sigh and closed his eyes too as he began to sing:

There once was a paladin of golden hair and heart,
with the Light at his side he fought for the welfare his people.
Yet his path had led him into a darkness Light couldn’t pierce,
his fate bound into the death and ice, and horrors unspeakable.

As the words of the song reverberated around them, Storm realized that their surroundings slowly changed. The magic seeped from Clover’s horn and began to create transform everything around her, expanding further to engulf them as well. Storm blinked and saw that they were no longer in the ruins of the tower and beside the campfire. Rather, they were at a crossroads…

With a mission given by the King and the master of mages,
the paladin and his men joined with a sorceress on a chilly day.

Storm turned to look at the shapes that stood beside them… and frowned, confused. They were all humans - at least, he assumed so, as their bodies bore a resemblance to Uther’s statue. But there were horses behind them, except they weren’t like any horses from Saddle Arabia; their faces were weird, and their entire bodies seemed… primitive, like mere animals. Which was further evident by them being tied to trees and them simply eating grass from the ground.

“I don’t get it,” Storm thought, looking around. “Where’s Sir Light-”

He’s eyes stopped on the huge man leaning against a tree. He wore an armor much more ornate than the other men, and his massive hammer quickly made Storm suspect that he was a paladin. But what grabbed his attention was the man’s hair, identical in color to Sir Lightbringer’s mane, and his face, which, while different, bore this weird resemblance…

They searched through villages, looking for signs of a plague,
suspecting foul magic was at play…





“Ya didn’t add nothin’ t’ this punch, did ya Pinkie Pie?” Applejack asked, looking at the pink pony in question with an eyebrow raised.

Pinkie giggled from beside the punch bowl she had just brought from the kitchen before replying. “Nah, I wouldn’t do that. Not after last time,” she added, giggling and blushing.

Twilight also blushed recalling that last slumber party, on the night Arthas had moved out of her library, and what happened back then. And the mild hangover they all had the next morning. Although not nearly as bad as the one she had after Rarity’s birthday party, Twilight had made a mental note to be careful when drinking anything.

They were all - all meaning Twilight herself, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy - in Rainbow Dash’s living room. Due to the cyan pegasus receiving tomorrow morning the letter that would confirm whether she had been accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy or not, they had decided to have a slumber party. The plan was for all of them to get up early and eat breakfast at a picnic below Rainbow’s cloud house, near her mailbox, and wait for the delivery pony. Also, due to Rainbow almost certainly getting into the Academy, she would have to leave tomorrow for an entire week, so they all wanted to spend some time together.

“First Arthas leaves, now Rainbow,” Twilight thought, a bit unhappy about her friends (one of them being also her secret coltfriend) leaving, even if only for a very short time. “Oh well, I suppose at least thanks to that I will more time to study… What happened to the times when I’d gladly sacrifice social life for studying?” she wondered with amusement when she realized that her earlier thought didn’t fill her with as much excitement as it usually would.

Not wanting to dwell on such thoughts for too long, Twilight focused herself back into attention. Scootaloo, who had recently moved in with Rainbow, had retreated for the night along with her pet fire eagle (as they had decided to call the offspring of Al’ar) she had named Glory, a few moments ago, a bit begrudgingly. Twilight suspected that if it weren’t for tomorrow being a school day, the little filly would have tried to stay longer with her idol and everypony else (or rather, if it weren’t for that, Rainbow wouldn’t have told her to go to sleep). Regardless, now that she had left after wishing them good fun and good night, Twilight suspected that the topics of their conversation were about to start centering around more mature subjects (as they usually would on their slumber parties as of recent times, for whatever reason; already, the discussion about the punch was proving that point). As she still didn’t feel ready for her friends to know that she and Arthas were together, finally, Twilight knew she’d have to remain focused throughout the night. Last thing she needed was to let a little something slip (like it happened to Arthas with his real name); she was sure her friends would be able to pick on that something and learn their secret.

“And ya?” she heard Applejack ask Rainbow Dash now.

“You do remember that I didn’t exactly enjoy that one time either, right?” their hostess retorted, deadpanning. Her muzzle then broke into a grin, though, as she added “I mean, now I wouldn’t mind, but I would prefer to both of us to be clear-headed and stuff. Speaking of…” she trailed off, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Nope,” Applejack replied her firmly, though she gave an amused sigh as Rainbow broke into chuckling.

“‘Sides,” Rainbow continued later, “I wouldn’t want to oversleep and miss getting the letter with my acceptance into the Wonderbolt Academy-”

“Assuming you get in!” Pinkie Pie interrupted her, pushed her face against hers in panic. “What if you don’t!?”

Rainbow paused to push her face away gently and to deadpan at her, conveying perfectly to everypony just what did she think about the possibility of her not being accepted.

“- or worse,” she resumed, “show up at the Academy with a hangover. Can you imagine how that would look?”

“Yes, that would be quite an awful first impression, darling,” Rarity agreed. “Though I would say a glass of wine would be appropriate, considering how many occasions for celebrations we have. Like our Fluttershy learning from that magnificent demigod,” she added, beaming at the pegasus proudly, who blushed from the embarrassment of being brought up into the spotlight. “Or the upcoming wedding. We really should invite Nymph over next time,” Rarity said, glancing at Applejack.

“Hey, I did ask her if she’d like to come,” Rainbow spoke up, then smirked. “But she mentioned that she and Big Mac had ‘plans’,” she accented suggestively.

“Well, they had only recently become intimate after all,” Rarity said, giggling. “I’d imagine being in love as much as they are they’d want to spend every waking moment together.”

“Yeah, well, Ah hope they’d remember they ain’t the only ones in the house,” Applejack replied, slightly frowning. “Granny’s hearin’ ain’t quite as bad as she lets on, and Apple Bloom’s room is opposite of Big Mac’s. And just ‘cause Ah’ve changed mah opinion of Nymph, it doesn’t mean Ah wanna hear her and mah brother ‘bein’ intimate’ either.”

“Oh, hm, I think this might by why Nymph had asked me recently about sound-proofing spell,” Twilight revealed, blushing; she was so excited to speak about spells and magic - a topic which before Nymph arrival in Ponyville she didn’t have too many occasions to approach - that it didn’t even occur to her as to why the changeling could have asked about that particular spell.

Applejack glanced at her as Rainbow and Pinkie giggled. “Yeah, sounds ‘bout right,” the farmer pony said after a second.

“So, speaking of couples,” Rainbow spoke up after a while, looking at Rarity, “how are things between you and Storm Clash?”

“Why, thank you for asking, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity replied, smiling. “I believe ‘things’ are progressing quite nicely between us, so to speak. Storm is a real gentlecolt, strong and kind, and funny. And he looks just handsome in that armor of his,” she added, winking and causing several giggles. When they toned down, though, she sighed and added with a little pretense “I wish Arthas hadn’t had to drag him off to that awful island on this ‘trial’ of his, or whatever, but I suppose dating a paladin requires you to be prepared for your special somepony to be send off on a mission from time to time.”

“Well, it’s not like we don’t get send off on a mission from Princess Celestia from time to time,” Twilight couldn’t help but point out.

“True,” Rarity agreed. “But with them it seems more… what’s the word I’m looking for, official? With them being knights I mean, they are sworn to obey the Princesses. Which has its allures, of course, knights are quite a romantic idea after all,” she added, giggling briefly, “and of course I am quite proud to carry out whatever task the Princesses gives us from time to time. But I just wish I could spend more time with my coltfriend, is that a crime?” she finished, pouting.

“To be fair,” Rainbow spoke up, “you did go on a camping trip, like, right after you and Storm began dating.”

“Oh, that was Sweetie Belle’s fault,” Rarity huffed. “That little manipulative filly just had to come upon me with that request while I was in such a happy mood that I’d agree to almost everything…”

After everypony laughed for a bit, amused by Rarity’s annoyance at her little sister, Rainbow resumed: “Still, you’ve been with him for quite some time now.”

“Why, even if we’d count the time we’ve spent away from each other on accounts of camping trips and expeditions to haunted islands, it would be little over a week now,” Rarity corrected her, at the same time gazing at her suspiciously, probably trying to guess where she was going with this.

“Hey, some ponies decide to get married in that time,” Rainbow exclaimed humorously, earning a good-natured shove from Applejack and causing Pinkie to fall off the couch in a fit of laughter. “But anyway, I was wondering if you have some juicy stories to share,” she said, grinning.

“Oh Rainbow Dash, honestly,” Rarity sighed disapproving, “a proper lady doesn’t share her bed with her special somepony after one proper date; a lesson that I had quite thoroughly beaten into Nymph’s head prior to her own date with Big Mac actually. Though I suppose I should have emphasized that it doesn’t exactly mean that she should make him her lover after the second date…” she added, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

“Yeah, would have saved mah family some trouble,” Applejack replied, chuckling. “Like plannin’ a weddin’. But oh well, guess that couldn’t have been helped.”

“You guys are talking like having a bit of fun is wrong,” Rainbow pointed out, frowning.

“Oh no no no, Rainbow, of course we don’t mean that,” Rarity quickly disclaimed, shaking her head. “But, um, ‘having a bit of fun’ with a pony that I am not sure I’d want to spend a long time together with, simply isn’t something I’d do. Since Nymph came to me for advice - albeit she was sort of forced by her mother - I shared with her my point of view on this matter. As for Applejack’s comment, I am certain she had mostly referred to what her brother did that had resulted in him and Nymph becoming engaged,” she added, glancing at the earth pony, who nodded.

“Eeyup. Ah mean, why did he have to bite on her more insectoid bits of all places?!”

Now it was both Rainbow and Pinkie who fell off their seats while laughing. Twilight, who opted to listen to the exchange in silence - fearing that participation would lead to the matter of her and Arthas being brought out - had to agree that it was somewhat amusing, to hear Applejack voicing her frustration at her brother for something like that.

“Speaking off ‘insectoid bits’,” Rarity spoke up when Rainbow had recovered, “what exactly is between you and Wind Reaver, darling?”

“Wha- Wind? What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“Well, dear, you have been spending an awful lot of time with him,” Rarity pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh please!” Rainbow snorted. “If you are trying to say that there is something between us, then I’m sorry to disappoint you but there isn’t. For starters, he’s taken; you do remember that the whole thing with his mate missing is the reason why he’s here to begin with right?”

“Yes, of course. However, such things… didn’t seem to trouble you before, so to speak,” Rarity explained, giving a not-so-subtle glance at Twilight’s direction.

Rainbow paused to glare at the white unicorn with annoyance before retorting. “Okay, first, kinda low blow; second, that was totally different! Twilight and Arthas weren’t - and still aren’t, for whatever reason - a couple! If they are going to be idiots about the whole thing, then… they’re both fair game, actually,” she said after a brief pause, as if only now realizing it. Twilight felt herself blush as Rainbow playfully winked at her. “Let me know if you wanna ‘get back at Arthas’,” she said with a smirk before turning back to Rarity, frowning. “Now, back to Wind; changelings don’t really have problems with stuff like casual sex, like basically all of their relationships are open relationships, so even if-”

“So you admit that that your previous point doesn’t really matter?” Rarity asked, smirking and lifting an eyebrow.

“Um…” Rainbow blinked, confused for a few seconds as she slowly realized that she had just made her point for her instead. By the time several other ponies had began to giggle she sighed and frowned. “Oh, dammit. Okay then, next thing; he’s an asshole! I only occasionally hang around him because racing him is somewhat challenging, and it is very satisfying to beat him every time. Seriously,” she continued angrily, snorting and rolling her eyes, “I do feel sorry for his girl being gone and all, but the guy is so annoying! He thinks he’s so great, seems to think that he knows how I think and feel about everything, constantly hits on me or makes comments like the one he made before the Princesses today… which is, by the way, mostly the reason why I’m around him, cause he keeps getting around me! And did I mention how he has this huge ego about his abilities!? I mean, even after I beat him several times, he keeps thinking that he is better than me! Seriously, hanging out with this guy is like-”

“Like looking into a mirror?” Twilight couldn’t help herself from not saying that, looking at Rainbow slyly.

Rainbow gasped and for a second stared at Twilight, her embarrassment, over what the unicorn’s comment must have reminded her of, resurfacing briefly. However, the pegasus quickly regained her composure and stared at her with narrowed eyes. “Oh, you wanna play like that Sparkle? How about we get back to you and Arthas?”

“Oh, crap,” Twilight thought, already regretting opening her mouth.

She hoped that the others would remain focused on Rainbow Dash and Wind Reaver subject (as her and Arthas were talked over to death already), but unfortunately for her everypony, even Fluttershy, turned to her, more than one smirking almost maliciously.

“Why, an interesting idea, darling!” Rarity exclaimed. “Especially considering the recent development?”

“The recent… what?!” Twilight replied, her eyes wide; for a brief moment she thought that Rarity somehow knew, but then realized that it couldn’t be it. Or at the very least she should play dumb and pretend she didn’t know what she meant.

“Stay calm, Twilight, you can do this: just talk to your friends calmly and be smooth.”

“W-what are you talking about? What new development? Hadn’t we talked over the subject of me and Arthas many times already? A-and didn’t you guys say that you’d leave us alone after that mess in Altomare?” she added, pointing her hoof accusingly, but in her nervousness it brought about only a half-hearted effect. She then pointed at Rainbow “Why not get back to Rainbow and Wind? This is much more, um, interesting thing to discuss!”

“Smooth, Twilight, real smooth… Is it getting hot in here?”

“Why so nervous dear?” Rarity asked, her interest piqued. “Do you have anything to hide?”

“O-of course not!” Twilight immediately replied. “I wouldn’t hide anything from my friends.”

“And now you’re straight out lying. Great… maybe Arthas was right and I should just tell them…” she considered briefly, but then inwardly frowned. “Then again, I really don’t wanna tell them while they are being so pushy like now…”

“Well then,” Rarity continued as Twilight finished her mental discussion, “you won’t mind telling us what happened in Canterlot?” Twilight’s heartbeat had slightly increased. “I’ve been told that after the Princesses announcement after changelings you’d spend an entire day and night there together.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Twilight replied slowly, careful to not make any mistake. “Princess Celestia requested that we’d take part in the council meeting after the announcement. After it turned out that Princess Luna needed us to fill in for her nannies and take care of little Moonlight; we were busy until the evening.”

Rarity hummed. “Hm, and where did the two of you spend the night, if I might ask?”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at her before replying, wondering if she somehow know that they’ve spend the night at her old house before asking that question. “At my old house in Canterlot.”

“Really?” Rarity exclaimed, her eyes wide. “How peculiar; after all, it surely would have been easier for you to stay at the royal palace. The Princesses could have easily arranged rooms for you… unless of course,” she added, narrowing eyes at her playfully, “there was some reason why you’d wouldn’t have wanted to be… interrupted?”

Twilight felt her cheeks slightly blush as she easily figured out what Rarity was insinuating, which actually happened (unless she was also suggesting that they’d planned to become physical on that night as well). She opened her mouth to denying her accusation… then closed, thinking back to that moment; she had hoped to spend some time alone with Arthas, after all, to talk about his past. But was that why she had suggested that they’d spend the night at her old house.

“No,” she slowly replied, her confidence returning. “There was no special reason why we went to my old house instead of staying at the palace. I just… thought that it would have been nice to spend the night there, and show Arthas where I used to live,” she said, speaking from her heart. She might not have thought that back then, but now she realized that this was mainly what she had wanted when she had suggested this to Arthas. “Come to think about it, I hadn’t showed you girls that place either; it’s decided then, next time we’re all in Canterlot we’ll be staying there!” Twilight exclaimed, smiling brightly.

Her friends quickly joined in, even Rarity, despite her appearing a bit disappointed that her guess hadn’t been correct. Although Twilight was quite happy to elude the other unicorn’s suspicion, she knew that she wouldn’t give up so easily. Even if she had defended her motives for bringing Arthas to her old house for the night, soon the questions of what happened there would start. The only way to prevent that from happening - and risking her slipping up on something - was to… tell them.

Sighing, she looked down at the cloudy floor and said: “That being said… while I hadn’t invited Arthas over there out of some ulterior motive, I… had hoped for an opportunity to speak with him alone,” she confessed.

“Sorry Arthas,” she thought, even though she knew only too well that the human-turned-pony would forgive her for this without even batting an eye.

“Oh?” she heard Rarity exclaim, not even trying to hide glee from her voice; a quick glance around her friends informed Twilight that everypony was looking at her expectantly.

If what she was about to tell them wasn’t so serious, she would have smirked.

“You see… back at the council meeting, Arthas had to explain the current world politics of his original homeworld, Azeroth,” Twilight began, a bit uncomfortably. Her friends’ expression slowly changed into confused; clearly, her tale wasn’t going the way they’ve expected. “The Princesses requested that due to the connections between that world and the changelings… anyway, one thing that he had mention made me think of something he had once said months ago and, well… I figured out what exactly he had done in the past.”

Her friends all stared at her, their eyes wide. “... Oh…” Rarity muttered after a few moments.

Twilight nodded and elaborated a little. “Well, not exactly exactly, just the general, um, thing. However, I… I had to know everything after that. It didn’t make sense to me, not without knowing the whole story and Arthas’ reasons. So… I asked him. And he told me everything.”

“Really?” Rainbow asked after everypony exchanged looks. When Twilight nodded, she added “Wow… so, um, was it as bad as he makes it sound? I mean, you know, I know what King Sombra said or whatever, but…”

Twilight sighed. “Well, it was bad enough that I really regret ever berating him for how he would mope around at times. And… it was difficult to hear. Arthas… Hm, how should I put it…” she paused for a moment, thinking for an appropriate allegory to describe Arthas’ past. “Imagine all that King Sombra had done a thousand years ago to the Crystal Ponies, just magnify the… area which he affected, and make it all worse, add to that a backstory similar to Nightmare Moon, and… the sheer power of Discord,” Twilight added after a bit of hesitation. As her friends looked at her with shock, she amended “Okay, he wasn’t quite that powerful, and he certainly didn’t have that draconequus’ abilities, but nobody could simply stand against him. It took over twenty six champions to finally defeat him, and even then they won only because of a fluke!”

While Twilight considered Arthas’ comments about Tirion’s strike that shattered Frostmourne being “a cheap shot” to be an example of his reluctance to admitting defeat, she had to admit that there was some truth in that. The Lich King had won. If it weren’t for his arrogance… Twilight didn’t even want to think what would have happened to Azeroth.

“Or to Equestria,” she added in her thoughts, knowing that it would have meant that Arthas would have never been reborn here if it weren’t for his death (obviously).

“That bad huh?” Rainbow commented, getting annoyed glares from the others for summing it up like that. “I mean… it’s kinda hard to wrap your head around that all.”

“I know. I would just tell you what happened, to try and rationalize just why he became evil if nothing else, but… it’s not my tale to tell,” Twilight explained, to which her friends nodded, all agreeing with her. “You should ask Arthas to tell you,” she continued. “You are his friends as much as I am, you should hear it from him. I think it would be better for all of us if we all knew it; now that I know what had happened I understand Arthas a lot more.”

“And you still feel the same way about him?” Rarity asked, a little smirk on her muzzle; Twilight suspected that she couldn’t have helped herself from asking that question.

“I’m not going to address that,” she told her flatly, before turning to the rest. “Also, Brann will be coming to Equestria soon again,” Twilight reminded them what Arthas had shared with them when they went to see them off at the station and they’ve made a brief small talk while waiting for the train (though Twilight herself had been told about it already the night before). “I think it’s for the best that we all know everything about Arthas before we have another visitor from Azeroth here.”

“Would be great t’ talk with everypony without ‘em dancin’ around the subject like last time,” Applejack agreed. “But do ya reckon Arthas will tell all of us? Ah mean, it took him over five months t’ tell us his real name, and that couldn’t be as traumatic as his past sins.”

“I think that after revealing everything to me and seeing me still accepting him as a friend Arthas has been more… comfortable,” Twilight replied after she found the right word. “Not that it will be much easier. Not that it should; it was some… really awful stuff to hear,” she confessed.

“I’m sure there must have been reasons for what happened,” Fluttershy unexpectedly spoke up. When everypony turned to her, she added “I mean, we all know Arthas; we know he wouldn’t have done all those horrible things, now matter how awful, if there wasn’t something that had caused all of that.”

“Seeing your homeland threatened, people suffer fate worse than death and then losing your soul; I’d say that’s more than enough to break even the best ponies,” Twilight commented in her mind. “Not that it makes it easier for Arthas to live with everything he has done…”

But that was why he had them. Friends who would listen and understand him, who knew the real him. They would help him through it. And if Arthas could never forgive himself, then, well, Twilight would just have to continue helping him through it all for the rest of their lives.

“Guess it’s decided then,” Pinkie spoke up. “After Arthas gets back and Rainbow Dash returns from the Wonderbolt Academy, we’ll have a private ‘Lay-everything-on-the-table’ party! Will we need a lot of tissues?” she asked Twilight.

Twilight needed a moment before she replied; something in the way Pinkie had said all of that bothered her, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. It did not help that Rainbow Dash had snorted with amusement.





Arthas’s throat felt sore when he finally sang the last note, depicting his end. The vision provided by Clover had already began to dissipate, the last image of him being comforted by the spirit of his father. He reached for a bottle with water as he waited for the others to recover. They’ve all listened and watched in attention, not wanting to miss anything, even Clover’s echo. They’ve all been horrified of the undead, and of his decision in Stratholme (as they should be). They were shocked to see him kill the King of Lordaeron and Uther, and everything else. Now all that remained was to see how they felt after learning everything.

“Not everything everything, I suppose,” Arthas noted; he had somehow managed to compose the lyrics in a way that hid the fact that Terenas was his father; he hadn’t even planned that, it was just the way the words had rolled down his tongue. “Why am I starting to feel like this will someday come to bite me?”

“So…” finally somepony broke the silence that followed his song. To Arthas’ surprise it was Tucker who spoke first. “... you composed all of that just now? Really?”

Arthas stared at him for a few second before replying “Not the immediate reaction I was expecting,” he said, choosing to ignore his question; partially because it actually amused him a little, and given the gravity of the situation he didn’t want to show it.

“Forgive us, Sir,” Serenity was the next one to speak. “It is… a lot to take in.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Tucker agreed. “I mean, being the ultimate evil is one thing, but on top of that you also tell us that you weren’t a pony - which, by the way, explains a lot - but also that you were dead.”

“There is nothing to forgive, Serenity,” Arthas replied first to her, then turned to Tucker. “Trust me, the opposite, of me being alive and a pony, was even more difficult to grasp for me when I was resurrected.”

“I figure,” Tucker commented, snickering.

“How exactly wast thou returned to life?” Clover the Clever asked next, looking at him with puzzlement. “Resurrections are possible to some extent, but then there is the matter of thou changing species, and, even more shockingly, of being from an entirely different world. The stars that the vision had displayed were different from those visible from Equestria,” she explained when the others looked at her with confusion (as it hadn’t occurred to Arthas to add into the song a line saying ‘Oh, and this all took place on another planet’). “Not to mention that I believe even two thousand years ago we’d hath known about so many different continents on our planet.”

“I see you are true to your name, Clover the Clever,” Arthas replied, bowing his head with respect. “Yes, it is true, I come from the world known as Azeroth, which I am pretty sure is on the other side of the Great Dark Beyond.”

“Couldn't you have added a line about that, Sir?” Tucker asked, eyebrow raised. “Something like: ‘In the world of Azeroth, where there’s always war and most horrifying things happening one after another’?”

If it weren’t for Arthas having just contemplated that he hadn’t added anything about having come from another world (and that, admittedly, Tucker’s comment regarding Azeroth being pretty accurate) he would have berated the paladin.

“The Princesses believe that I have been brought back to life by somebody somehow using the Gate of Tartarus, somehow,” he continued to speak to Clover instead. “Brann, whom I and my paladins have brought up earlier, is a renowned explorer and historian back on Azeroth, and has probably the most experience when it comes to researching mysterious artifacts. The reason why he will be coming to Equestria soon is because the Princesses asked for his aid with examining the Gate of Tartarus.”

The echo nodded as he spoke. “The Gate of Tartarus… a peculiar construction, that’s certain. I had been thinking about examining it myself a few times… that is, the real Clover had, of course, but I, like everypony, had been busy building our new nation together. There was also the issue of this powerful creature called Cerberus guarding it. I wonder if the real me had ever figured out the way to get past him…”

“Probably not, unless there was another pony as talented when it comes to handling animals as Fluttershy back two thousand years ago,” Arthas commented, recalling how Twilight had told him about how the shy pegasus had calmed down Cerberus when it came rampaging through Ponyville shortly before he had been resurrected.

“I know that Star Swirl hadst encountered the Gate of Tartarus during his travels back in his younger days,” Clover continued, “though he had hardly ever brought up those days, and his journals and notes regarding them were scarce… and really difficult to read through,” she added, uttering a short giggle, before immediately growing serious. “Regardless, the Gate of Tartarus radiates with intriguing power. It very well may hath played a part in bringing thou to life.”

As Clover fell silent, appearing to be musing over the matter, Arthas turned to look at his paladins. They’ve began to recover, having been given a few more moments to contemplate everything that he had told them, but he suspected that it would take a longer time to properly ‘digest’ all of it.

“If there is one thing that I’d want you to take from my tale,” he spoke; immediately, he had their full attention, “is that I was convinced that only I myself knew the best way. That I hadn’t listened to anybody, not my mentor, not my friends.”

He had almost added ‘not even my lover’, the pain he had felt that day when she turned away from him (despite knowing she did so rightly) slightly refreshed in his chest due to the visions and his own song. But it wasn’t really necessary for them to know… also he had enough teasing from Rainbow and the others when it came to those things, he didn’t need his subordinates to join in on it.

“I hadn’t been able to call upon the Light on that day and afterwards, because even though in my foolishness I believed I was doing the right thing, there was too much conflict in my heart,” he continued. “But that wasn’t the only power that I had been missing. I was also missing… the magic of friendship.” Arthas allowed himself a brief smile before resuming. “Always pay attention to your friends, and work together with them. Together, you will be able to prevent even the greatest tragedies, but more importantly, you will be able to prevent each other from falling into darkness. You saw the reasons why that had happened to me,” he added, his ears dropping as he looked down on the ground. “I am not trying to defend myself by any measure. What I did is beyond forgiveness. But… everybody could be forced into situation where they would have to make drastic choices. A lot of people would probably make better choices than me, but what I want you to understand is… that you don’t have to face those choices alone, that you’d have your friends with you, and that you’d truly work together with your friends, instead of just barking orders.” He shook his head and rose to his hooves. “Now then, we are still in the enemy territory. Though I cannot sense an hostile presence nearby, the night on the battlefield is the time of subterfuge and guerilla tactics; we’d be fools to not expect that neither side hadn’t send any squad to this location back then. I’ll take the first watch.”

“Actually,” Clover spoke up, “since I don’t require sleep - now that I’ve realized what I am, that is - I could keep watch for all of ye for the rest of the night.”

“Thank you for your generous offer, Clover,” Arthas replied politely, “but those four are still undergoing a trial. Bearing through requirements of a military campaign such as keeping watch is a part of it,” he explained, a bit humorously, as he began to turn around, intending to keep watch from outside of the tower’s interior. “You are welcome to keep the watchpony company, though.”

“Sir?” he heard Serenity call from behind. Arthas turned back to them and looked at her; she was standing in attention, and was looking at him with determination. “Thank you for telling us about your past, Sir, and for your advice. I promise I’ll live by it,” she said, saluting. Then, as if unable to stop herself, she rolled her eyes and murmured “Even if it means putting up with Tucker…”

As the others all also rose and saluted, voicing their agreements with Serenity - though Tucker had done so while giving her a wink - Arthas felt a sudden warmth spread through him, a sensation that felt not unlike the Light that much.

“Maybe the Magic of Friendship and the Light aren’t much different?” he wondered, smiling at his paladins before he turned away; it wouldn’t do for the head of the order to be seen tearing up by his subordinates.

“Rest well,” he told them as he stepped outside, the echo of Clover following him.

Arthas looked up at the sky as he sat not far from the tower’s ruins. Outside of the campfire’s light, he could see the stars better; his eyes followed the ‘lines’ between them, recognizing constellations from some of Twilight’s books he had briefly read. Clover’s comment earlier made him realize how alien they were from the ones he had grown with.

“It must be hard to imagine,” he heard Clover say as she sat near him. “That thy homeworld must be somewhere out there, I mean.”

He nodded at first, then frowned and looked down at the ground. “I’ve lost any claim I had to call Azeroth home,” he said. “Equestria is my home now.”

Arthas was curious what Clover would say to that, but she remained silent after his reply. He once again looked up to the sky, giving her time. He knew this had to be a very, very weird day for her. He would let her start the conversation.

“I would have done the same.”

His ears perked. Arthas turned to her, blinking, not sure if he hadn’t misheard her.

The echo wasn’t looking at him. Clover’s gaze was directed at her hooves, as if not wanting to meet his. “In Stratholme, I mean. After witnessing how fast the Plague works in Hearthglen… Killing them was the logical thing to do. If that entire city would hath been turned, there’s no knowing how much damage such an army would have done to the rest of the kingdom.”

Arthas stared at her, at a loss for words. He hadn’t ever expected to hear such words, and, he realized, a part of him wanted to believe in what she was saying. That it was the logical thing to do. Except… another part knew that it didn’t matter. Clover must have known it too, seeing how she refused to meet his gaze.

“It doesn’t matter if it was the logical thing to do or not,” he said finally, looking away. “It was the wrong thing to do.”

“Indeed,” Clover agreed. “I am glad I hadn’t been in thy horseshoes… or, um, shoes I guess?” she asked hesitantly; Arthas saw in the corner of his eye her finally turning to him, uncertainty on her transparent muzzle.

Chuckling, he nodded in reply to her question. He then sighed and looked back at her. “I hadn’t expected to hear such words from anyone… and especially anypony.”

“Well, I’m not a pony.”

Arthas didn’t know what upset him more; the blunder he had unintentionally committed, or the calm, matter-of-fact way she had replied.

“That wasn’t what I meant; all the ponies I’ve met so far are peace loving and good-natured… well, most of them,” he amended, thinking back to Prince Blueblood, or those few nobles the changelings had mentioned back during the council meeting.

Clover smiled sadly. “I guess two thousand years of peace hath done wonders for us… or perhaps the war hadst done horrible things to my real self. And others,” she added, her gaze turning deeper into the island, where, Arthas assumed, Commander Hurricane’s echo was.

“War brings out the worst in everybody,” Arthas retorted. “We paladins should be the exception of that, we should conduct ourselves always with honor and act with Light in our hearts. It didn’t always work out like that on Azeroth… I’m not speaking solely of myself, mind you,” he added. “I’ve never considered myself to be the paragon of paladin’s virtues. But there were others; the Scarlet Crusade and the Scarlet Onslaught… even Blood Knights when they were first created.” Arthas shook his head and sighed. “Of course, none of those would have come about if it weren’t for me.”

“Thou hath affected thy world greatly. Curious how one individual can change so much…” she trailed off, letting the thought wonder.

“Yeah, I changed Azeroth with my actions,” Arthas thought bitterly. “Destruction of my father’s kingdom aside, they also lead to the second invasion of the Burning Legion! What was it that Kel’Thuzad had said? That the entire history had been shaped by the upcoming conflict? Maybe so, but the ‘upcoming conflict’ had shaped the entire world in the aftermath. And I had played such an inglourious part in it…”

“Thou art even changing another world, too,” Clover resumed, snapping him out of his dark musing. As he turned his attention back to her, he noticed her smiling sadly once again; he wondered if she knew where his thoughts had drifted off to. “Teaching ponies about the Light, helping those changelings, bringing the daughter of an alicorn princess back to life… Thou hath done so much good since thy coming here,” she added, shaking her head. “Not everything that thou hath done was evil.”

“I am aware of that,” Arthas replied, the chuckled. “My friends repeatedly point this out for me. It does not erase all the things that I had done, though… and worse, I wouldn’t have been able to do all the good I had done in Equestria if I it weren’t for my death after that lifetime of mistakes. But I try to have a more… optimistic outlook on everything. I know how much it pains those that are dear to me when I allow such dark thoughts to circle around in my head. It’s just… difficult at times,” he confessed, a bit awkwardly.

Clover nodded with understanding. “I wonder how the real me had coped with what she had done and bore witness to during the war after it was over. According to Serenity, Clover had led a long life afterwards. It’s hard to imagine that she’d eventually become a tutor to future rulers of both Equestria and Griffonia,” she said, smiling brightly.

“Fate has a tendency to surprise us,” Arthas summed up, then looked at her closely. “If I may ask, Clover… how do you feel? After… everything that happened today, I mean.”

Clover gave him a brief quizzical look, then smirked as she realized what he meant. “It’s rather difficult to describe how I feel, to be honest. It’s rather… overwhelming. But I am glad that in thy struggle against me thou hath awakened me. Worry not,” she added, “I will get used to this existence in time… though I fear that even finally conscious, I will still be bound to this island, along with all the other echoes. Then again, with Triskelion’s power I should be able to create brief windows in the bindings…” Clover began to say as she glanced at the staff she had strapped to her back (with magic of course) after their fight, but then she trailed off, frowned, and finally facehoofed and groaned.

“What?” Arthas asked, confused.

“I’ve just realized… if Triskelion was still believed to have been lost after Star Swirl the Bearded’s passing, then that must mean I hadst kept it hidden… which means that I hath very likely taken this out of my own grave.”

“Oh,” Arthas exclaimed, not having thought of that. “Well… it’s not like I am in any position to judge grave robbery,” he replied, hoping his humorous remark would cheer her up.

Clover did chuckle briefly, but then she remained silent, staring at the staff she now placed on the ground before her, her eyes thoughtful and sad.

Arthas let her stay like that for a long while, allowing her to think in peace. If she wanted to talk about the idea of having a grave while still being sort of alive, even if after a fashion, then she would speak up. She’d know that he is probably the only pony who could understand that. “Assuming that I actually have a grave,” he noted, actually surprised by the thought; he hadn’t put much thought into what had happened to his body after his death. “Actually, all things considering, Tirion had probably seen to it that it was burned. No sense in risking anybody trying to resurrect me…” Arthas had to put an actual effort into not snorting with laughter while thinking something along the lines of ‘Showed him!’. “Loyal cultists and others aside, due to the raw necromantic magic that my body had been soaked in it could be used for all manner of evil purposes… and the idea of my body parts being reagents in some dark rituals aren’t comforting.”

Needing a distraction to banish an unpleasant image of a troll witch doctor making various fetishes out of his internal organs that this trail of dark thoughts had conjured, Arthas, noticing that Clover had finally put her staff away, had decided to break the silence first after all.

“Do you think we’d be able to reach the place where Commander Hurricane and King Friedrich will be fighting tomorrow and still make it back here by the end of the day?”

Clover blinked as she turned to him, surprised. “I suppose so… thou hath mentioned that thou plan to reach some memorial, correct? Where is it located?” Arthas pulled out the map of the island and passed it to the echo, pointing with his hoof at the spot where the memorial was. Clover nodded and studied the map for a bit before replying. “Yes, they won’t be far from it… may I ask why do you want to know that?” she asked, returning the map to him.

“I was thinking about battling them,” Arthas replied.

He was rewarded with the sight of a very shocked echo. To Clover’s credit, she had very quickly recovered. “Thou art strong,” she said, a slight frown on her face. “Thou art a mighty warrior and clearly a powerful paladin. I can see why thou wouldst think thy chances in a fight with either of them would be greater than against me, as I fight with spells and magic. However, Commander Hurricane is more dangerous an opponent to have than I was.” Her frown deepened as she continued. “And King Friedrich is almost as strong and lethal. I really don’t see thou having a chance of winning. Why wouldst thou think of battling them, anyway?” Clover finally asked, tilting her head in confusion. “I was under the impression that this expedition was supposed to serve as thy subordinates trial, not thine.”

“I… wish to challenge myself,” Arthas confessed. “You’ve seen in my memories how powerful I was. Though I would never, ever, want to have that kind of power again, it… Before we came to this island, I tested this magical device,” he began to explain instead. “It conjured an image of Illidan Stormrage, and fought with me with almost the same strength as the real one had. Back then, we were equally matched, and yet I had won. But now that I fought this mere image of him… I almost lost. Even with the help of others, I sustained a grave injury before it was defeated.” Arthas saw no point in admitting that it wasn’t exactly defeated, that the device had simply run out of power. “And then as we fought with you, I was reminded of Prince Kael’thas, whom I defeated far more easier than Illidan. I know that he has been capable of similar feat of magic as you had displayed, and yet I couldn’t defeat you. I’m...  not as strong as a paladin as I was as a death knight,” he had to admit. “I need to become stronger. Not just to better protect Equestria and other ponies from whatever threat we could face in the future; I don’t want to risk feeling…” Arthas trailed off long enough to look in Clover’s eyes before he put his fear into words “tempted by any dark force, ever again. And one of the few ways for me to become stronger is to challenge myself by fighting one of the mightiest warriors this world had ever known, if not the mightiest.”

Clover held his stare for several seconds, as if measuring him, before she slowly nodded. “I can follow such logic… regardless,” she added after a pause, looking away, “whether the fight wouldst happen wouldst depend on how they wouldst see thou. To me, all of ye were griffons,” Clover reminded him. “It could be that Hurricane and King Friedrich will see ye as ponies, or griffons. One can only wonder what will happen.”

Arthas nodded, also troubled by the unpredictability of the island’s echoes.

“There is a way, though,” Clover spoke up unexpectedly. “I should be able to break the binding on them with Triskelion; that way, we could all defeat Friedrich together, and afterwards, Hurricane would surely agree to spar with thee. Would thou be happy with such an outcome?”

“Yes, that does sound like a better idea,” Arthas slowly said, frowning; for some reason, he had this sense of foreboding, even greater than when he had originally thought about just barging between the two fighting warriors. “Would you be okay with doing that, though? To free Commander Hurricane, I mean. You admitted that this isn’t an easy transition.”

To his surprise, Clover had snorted with amusement. “I’m quite certain that he wouldst be most thankful. The magic that binds him makes him fail to kill King Friedrich and allows the griffon to escape. Hurricane would relish a chance to change that, and then repeatedly kill him until the end of time.” She smiled sadly at her words, then shook her head. “Oh well, we shall see how it goes… and in any case, it would be… nice to talk with my friend again,” she confessed. “I would hesitate to break Smart Cookie free, but Hurricane… I know he would be able to cope with realization that we’re just echoes.”

Arthas frowned hearing the tone she had said the last part with, and tried to think of something to say that would brighten her mood up a bit. Before he got a chance to say anything, though, the echo once again turned to him.

“It is a pity thou aren’t a pegasus, though,” she said. “Thou wouldst have been able to fight with Hurricane where he’s strongest, in the sky.”

“Well, I do have a flying mount,” Arthas replied jokingly. When Clover once again looked at him with confusion, he shortly told her about Al’ar, whom she had seen during the vision in his memories of his fight with Kael’thas, and how he had come to live at the Everfree Abbey. “But I doubt that I could fight effectively while on his back, or that he would carry me into a battle only because of my whim. Not to mention that he’s back in Ponyville.”

Clover, who listened with great interest as he described the Phoenix God, eyed him thoughtfully. “Thou means thou wouldn’t be able to summon him like Raogrior?”

“No, it… The Light doesn’t work this way,” he explained. “I was able to summon Raogrior out of the Spirit World to help me because she’s bound to me. I mean, I could use the Holy Light to make it easier for her to cross from one plane to the other, as she is an ascended warrior of the Light, and I had summoned ancient spirits to help me in the past, but… they are empowered with the Holy Light. Al’ar is a fire elemental. A mage or a shaman perhaps could maybe summon him… and I believe that would only work if he was in the Elemental Plane of Fire, at least in the shaman’s case.”

“Not necessarily,” Clover replied, humming a little. “And as for him being a fire elemental… I know of a ritual that would let thou infuse him with the Holy Light, if thou wouldst so wish. My mentor had researched ways for infusing unicorns with arcane magic in his later years,” she explained, slightly uncomfortably, as Arthas raised an eyebrow at her. “He wasn’t successful due to mortal bodies’ properties, but on an elemental a similar ritual wouldst work. This way thou wouldst be able to summon him in the future in situations like these.”

“That would indeed be useful…” Arthas mused, finding the idea intriguing. “Though of course, only if Al’ar would agree to this… still, it is worth thinking over…”

“Would you tell me about this ritual?” he asked Clover. “I’m not saying I will attempt to conduct it, as I would have to first check this with the Princesses and ask Al’ar for his permission, but it seems like an interesting idea.”

“Of course!” Clover explained happily.

“Thank you, Clover the Clever,” Arthas replied, bowing his head.

“Oh, thou doesn’t have to thank me. I mean, it will help me get my mind off of… everything,” Clover admitted, smiling sheepishly, then cleared her throat and began: “Alright, so…”





Rainbow groaned as she was stirred from her sleep. She kept her eyes closed, though, hoping to fall back asleep; she was having such a pleasant dream…

Her ears twitched as the gentle snoring of her friends caused the opposite, further pushed her back into being awake. They were all in her living room, as Fluttershy and Rarity had fallen asleep as they played a board game late in the night, and they didn’t want to risk waking them by moving them to Rainbow’s room. They all soon had joined them, each finding a comfortable spot for herself with ease; considering that the house was made out of clouds. It would have been harder finding an uncomfortable spot for sleep.

Which is why the gentle prodding against her back felt really out of place. Finally abandoning her plan to slip back into sleep, Rainbow opened her eyes… and found herself staring into blue, pupiless eyes of a changeling.

Rainbow blinked, utterly surprised, as Wind Reaver’s head hovered above her while he sat behind her head. She very quickly shook off her drowsiness and was about to yell out angrily, but then the changeling covered her mouth with a hoof. Which of course only made Rainbow even angrier, but before she could push the hoof away, Wind nodded with his head in the direction of her friends, who were still asleep, then took the hoof off her muzzle by himself.

Rainbow rolled her eyes before she hissed quietly, getting up to her hooves “Seriously?! You break into my house but you’re worried that I wake up the others?!”

“Honestly, considering they’ve managed to sleep through your snoring, they would probably be still sleeping even if a tornado went through your living room,” Wind replied, smirking. Rainbow felt an even greater urge to punch his fangs out, but before she could do that (or deny that she snores, which she doesn't!) he continued “I was more concerned how that filly of yours would react if she’d suddenly hear you screaming. By the way, she’s still not sleeping,” he added, shrugging.

Rainbow frowned, forgetting about her anger at the changeling for a moment. “Scootaloo is still not sleeping, at this hour?” she thought, concerned, as she checked the time. “She can’t be sick or anything, she was fine when she left us earlier… Maybe I should check on her after I get rid of Wind…”

“Whatever;” she finally said in a hushed voice, “what do you want?”

Wind Reaver shrugged. “I wanted to wish you good luck at the Wonderbolt Academy before you leave tomorrow.”

That… took Rainbow Dash aback. She stared at Wind again, surprised. “Um… thanks?” she said, blinking in confusion. “Wait, couldn’t you just come by at the morning? The mail pony won’t come until noon with the letter.”

“Queen Chrysalis will be coming to Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow to talk about the wedding preparations with her daughter and the lucky groom’s family,” he replied, shaking his head. “As Nymph’s bodyguard, I will have to be there too. Joy,” Wind commented, rolling his eyes. “Didn’t your Apple friend mention this?”

“Um… she might have,” Rainbow told him evasively; now that he had mentioned it, she did recall hearing something about it from Applejack earlier. “Anyway, um, thanks for wishing me good luck. Not that I need it of course,” she added, smirking. “But still, thanks. Wish you hadn’t woke me up for that, though,” Rainbow said, frowning a little. “Or broken into my house.”

“Yeah, well, I might have hoped to see some… interesting things by coming here, too,” Wind admitted, looking at her with a smirk, then, as she tilted her head in confusion, he nodded his head at… Applejack.

Rainbow immediately turned back back to Wind, glaring daggers at him. She wanted to know just how he could possibly know what he was insinuating to know, but she doubted she would have been able to keep her voice down if they’d start discussing about that. So instead Rainbow contented herself with replying appropriately.

“You’re an ass.”

Green flash engulfed Wind Reaver for an instant. “Racist,” the donkey that now was before her countered, one eyebrow raised.

A snort of laughter escaped Rainbow’s muzzle before she covered it with her forehooves. It was too late, though, Wind knew he made her laugh, causing his donkey form to grin. Rainbow rolled her eyes and chuckled quietly as he changed back, surrendering.

“Alright, that was funny,” she admitted.

“I have my moments,” Wind Reaver replied, shrugging. He got up  and shook a little. “Anyway, I should be going, I'll let you get back to sleep. Well,” the changeling said as he was about to turn away, stopping and glancing at her nonchalantly, “unless you’d wanna bump uglies that is.”

Rainbow found herself speechless, her jaw dropping out of sheer surprise at the brazen proposal. “Oh, you…” she managed to say, stammering little in her embarrassment and anger. “Why the heck I’d wanna do that with you?”

“I dunno, because of boredom or being pent up?” Wind said, once again shrugging. His calm reply only made Rainbow even angrier. “Alternatively so you could use it as a sort of ‘good luck’ ritual?”

“Oh for- Since when having sex is a good luck ritual?”

“Are you saying having sex isn’t good luck?”

“I didn’t say that-” Rainbow began, but she shook her head as she had realized just how pointless this part of the conversation was becoming. “Look,” she started instead, frowning at him, “I don’t know what you’re thinking but-”

“I was thinking that you might wanna,” Wind replied. “And that I'm hungry. Also I thought that it would be fun,” he added just as Rainbow was about to reply.

Annoyed with being interrupted, the pegasus waited a second before she tried again “Okay, if you are hungry, why won’t you try to pick some mare up in a bar or something instead of constantly trying to get under my tail?”

“Hm, maybe because I actually like you?” Wind said, raising an eyebrow. Rainbow flicked her tail, irritated by the response; both because she couldn’t ridicule it, and because it made her slightly blush. “And trying to get into bed with you has been a fun game, honestly. In comparison, trying to get with a random mare would be a troublesome drag,” he added, rolling his pupiless eyes.

“Gee, you sure know how to woo a mare,” Rainbow replied, deadpanning.

“I thought you’d appreciate honesty; though I suppose that’s your friend's thing, right?” he added, glancing at Applejack. “Anywho, I’m surprised you are so reluctant; I’d have thought you’d jump at the occasion to have a lover that can be anypony you’d want.”

“‘Jump on’?” Rainbow repeated, her frown deepening. “Just who do you take me for?”

Wind took a step towards her, pushing his muzzle close to hers. Rainbow leaned back, taken by surprise; when did he get so close to her? The changeling wasn’t concerned by her discomfort, and continued to stare into her eyes from up close, half-closing them even in a relaxed manner.

“For somepony who appreciates a good fun between two… um...” Wind hesitated, pulling his head back a bit. “Help me out here, are we acquaintances or friends? Kinda hard to get a read on your emotions.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to reply… then closed it, sighing and facehoofing. “Friends, I guess,” she confessed, a little irritated that she had to admit it. For all the annoyances that he had caused her, Wind Reaver was a fun company to have, and she did care for him (to some degree).

A brief buzzing noise pulled her out of her musing; Rainbow managed to get a glimpse of Wind’s wings flapping very quickly, similar to how Nymph at times would do so when she was happy about something (usually involving Big Mac). “See, you like me too,” the changeling said, smirking as he once again drew closer to her.

“Yeah, well, I don’t sleep with everypony I like,” Rainbow countered, feeling a little heat on her cheeks.

She expected him to utter some snide comment, but instead Wind merely snorted. “Yeah, because you ponies are so prude about sex. Your friends would be very reluctant to engage in one time things and bang buddies deals - aside from Hivespeaker, but everyling is sure that he was going through whatever - and you, out of respect to them, wouldn’t try to initiate things. But I happen to have different outlook on those matters,” he added, now drawing so close to her that his chitin brushed against her coat.

“So, the question is, will you overlook the less charming aspects of my personality that annoy you so much and overlook the fact that I am a changeling which admittedly can bug you a bit,” he paused to smirk as Rainbow rolled her eyes hearing the bad pun, “no shame in that - to indulge in some highly enjoyable activity between two friends? Depending on your answer,” Wind continued, pulling away from her slightly, “you will either watch me fly away, or spend a very pleasant night in your room - though I don’t mind if you’d want to do it here - followed by a pleasant early morning. And possibly attempts at hiding me in a closet if your friends or your new sister were about to see me,” he added, looking to his side thoughtfully. “That’s usually how during our training such scenario would go.”

Rainbow decided to not admit that, if she would accept his proposal - which, to her embarrassment, she was actually considering - she would totally hide him in a closet rather than admit to her friends that they had slept together, especially after Rarity questioned her about him.

“So?” Wind asked, tilting his head as he waited patiently for her answer.