Rebirth of the Damned

by Borsuq


170. Royal Issue

How do you not mention that you’re a prince?!” Rarity asked him with a frantic anger, her forehooves on his shoulders and shaking him back and forth.

She was stopped by a familiar lavender aura of magic as it surrounded her and pulled her back a little. “Yes, I would like to know that too,” Twilight said, clearly on the verge of being annoyed with him.

Not that she and Rarity were the only ones upset with him. Everypony else, except for Sindragosa, Luna, and Celestia (the latter two appearing mostly amused, actually), was staring in disbelief mixed with annoyance. “Well, at the very least it got their minds off from all the terrible things I had done,” Arthas mused.

To be honest, he in turn found their fixation on that part to be actually annoying.

“You don’t go around saying that you’re the sister of a prince,” he pointed out to Twilight.

Both unicorns snorted. “That’s probably because I am not the heir to the kingdom he and his wife rule,” Twilight told him.

Arthas rolled his eyes and opened his mouth with a retort ready, saying that it wasn’t the point, but he hesitated as her remark registered in his mind. “Well, actually, seeing how they don’t have children yet, as the closest relative you are- augh!” he yelped in surprise and pain as Twilight suddenly pulled him by his ear with her magic, almost down to the floor.

“This is a really bad time for you to try and change the subject of the conversation,” she told him with an icy cold calm as she released his ear.

“Duly noted,” Arthas remarked as he picked himself up and massaged his ear, seeing no point in adding that he wasn’t trying to change a subject but correcting her.

“Alright, calm down sugarcube,” Applejack spoke up, trotting up to stand between Twilight and Arthas. “You too, Rares. Ah’m sure that Arthas has some good explanation why he never told us he’s a prince; even if he was s’pposed t’ tell us everythin’ just now,” she added with a disappointed glance at Arthas.

“You know, he didn’t tell us about it either when we were on Dread Isle,” Tucker said. “We even got to see visions of his past thanks to Clover’s spell, and yet they all somehow omitted, the…” he trailed off as he noticed the glare Arthas gave him, then turned around and began walking away. “Oh hey, is that a cake?”

Storm and the other paladins exchanged looks. “Yeah, I feel like this affects you more than it does us, so we’ll wait over there,” Storm said to Arthas’ friends as the three paladins followed after Tucker.

I guess I should be glad that not everypony is mad at me,” Arthas mused, turning his attention back to the others.

“Well?” Twilight said, raising her eyebrow.

Arthas opened his mouth, but before he could start, Sindragosa spoke up: “Honestly, I do not understand why you're making such a commotion out of it. Considering how many royal families there are among the mortal denizens of Azeroth, the fact that Arthas is one; even if he had been supposed to be a king, is not that important.”

“Um, I’m sorry Sindy,” Nymph turned to her, confused. “If that’s what you think, how come you brought it up?”

If he wasn’t in trouble, Arthas would probably smirk in amusement as Sindragosa’s eyelid twitched hearing that nickname. However, the blue dragon didn’t comment on it, and instead just shrugged. “I thought that he had forgotten to mention this. Everyone would think that you would care more about him slaughtering innocent people and raising them into undead slaves, including Arthas, so I assumed in his haste to tell you everything he omitted the part about him being of royal blood. That being said,” she added shrugging again while she shifted to sit more comfortably and grabbed the bowl with gems to place it on her lap, “I do have to admit that this is rather entertaining.”

Arthas took a moment to deadpan at the resurrected dragoness, then rolled his eyes and sighed, turning to his friends. “Can I just point out that Sindragosa is right, that you should all be more concerned about all the things I’ve done rather than me not mentioning my title.”

“Yeah, well, maybe,” Rainbow Dash snorted, “but since we’re not all eggheads like Twilight or the Princesses- um, no offense,” she quickly added, turning to the Princesses with a sheepish, somewhat scared expression, only relaxing when the two amused alicorns waved her worries off. “Um, so yeah, we kinda need more time to wrap our heads around that, unlike you hiding stuff from us which at this point we have a lot of experience with, so we’d rather deal with that first.”

“I… can’t really fault this logic,” Arthas admitted reluctantly.

“Well?” Rainbow prompted, raising an eyebrow. “Spill it!”

Uttering a sight, Arthas began, somewhat awkwardly: “It wasn’t like I intended to hide this from you-”

Cough cough.

Arthas and everypony else turned in surprise to the two Princess as they cleared their throats. “Oh, apologies, allergies,” Celestia replied gracefully.

Luna nodded. “Yes, we’re, how does the expression go? We’re allergic to cow’s droppings.”

“Oh,” Rainbow exclaimed, “you mean bullshit? Yeah, seems pretty accurate.”

Arthas deadpanned at them, but quickly sighed in defeat. “You’re right, that was a lie. I should explain that at first that hadn’t been my intention. Just like with my real name, when we met, I hadn’t told you that I am a prince simply because I didn’t want to admit that I was myself. You can probably understand why, now that you know of all I had done. Looking back, I’d say it was somewhat petty and cowardly of me, and perhaps I should have told you all of this when I first told you that I was resurrected and was evil once. However, admitting that alone was hard enough, and it was easy to just let you think that my name was Matthias Lehner, and that I’m not a prince... which was easier since it never came up.”

“Oh for- and how would something like that come up?” Rainbow snorted.

“See, this right ‘ere is one of the reasons why Ah always say the truth,” Applejack remarked. “Ya tell one or two lies and then ya have t’ keep ‘em up for months because ya don’t wanna hurt nobody. And then ya slip up like Arthas at Rarity’s Birthday party,” she added with an amused smirk at him. “Just like mah favorite author said: “A pony who always says the truth doesn’t have t’ remember what they said.’”

“Weeell,” Pinkie Pie unexpectedly spoke up, “that same author also said ‘There was once a donkey called Jack Ass’, so I don’t know if everything he said was all that great.” When everypony turned to look at her, she added, “What? Cranky once told me about this.”

“... Anyway,” Arthas resumed after a moment. “I probably should have told you about this after I slipped up about my real name, but I still didn’t. And the reason behind this... well, aside from wanting to avoid situations like this,” he added, hoping that a little humor would alleviate his friends’ mood, but judging by their expressions that didn’t work; hastily, he continued. “Even though I’d imagine you’d all be less upset with me if I had told you myself. However, the real reason why I hadn’t told you that I am, or was, the Prince of Lordaeron…” he hesitated, then looked away, not wanting to meet their gazes, “is because I am ashamed.”

His words were followed by a confused silence, with Twilight finally asking: “Ashamed?”

“It goes without saying that I am deeply ashamed of what I’ve done and what I became, but… I was their Prince. I was to be their King. It was my duty to protect them, to care for them.” Memories flashed in his mind, thoughts he had as he led his raised subjects across Lordaeron; he had thought he was taking care of them, too, curing them of the ‘fragility of life’, of indecision, giving them all a higher purpose and direction. Anger rose in him, but he swallowed it down and continued, “My father, King Terenas, was considered the greatest and most influential monarch the human kingdoms had seen since the height of the Arathi Empire; so, in three thousand years. He was the driving force behind founding the Alliance at the outbreak of the Second War and kept it together in the years after, in the midst of all the political issues that arose in the years following. He ruled Lordaeron for over fifty years, bringing peace and prosperity to the realm that had only been interrupted by a war that had engulfed the entire continent. All my life, I felt as if I was falling short of his expectations of me, no matter how well I had done in whichever task I had been given. Well, now you know only too well how well-deserved this feeling turned out to be,” he remarked, snorting in contempt. “This is why I avoided telling you that I am a Prince, let alone the ‘rightful ruler of Lordaeron’. It’s because I am ashamed, and I don’t deserve my father’s name, let alone any claim to his throne.”

Silence fell after his words. Arthas, who continued to keep his eyes downcast, didn’t know how his friends reacted to his explanation, but at the moment it didn’t matter to him. Admitting how his status as a prince or rightful king had made him feel in light of what he had done wasn’t easy for him. Nor was thinking about his father. Right now, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to continue talking to them; he wished he could just leave for a few moments, to meditate and collect his thoughts.

“That was certainly a lot of information.” Arthas’ ear perked. It was Celestia’s voice. He finally looked up to look at his liege; the white alicorn was gazing and him gently. “I think it would be best if everypony would have some time to think over everything you said, Arthas. Would you mind if we take a little break, let’s say, about an hour-long, before we continue?”

Did Celestia realize what Arthas had been thinking, or did she simply want to give the others some time to consider everything? “Well, probably both knowing her,” Arthas decided.

“I agree, Your Majesty,” he replied courtly, bowing his head. “If it’s alright with everypony, I would like to take this hour to meditate in peace,” he added, his gaze shifting from Celestia to Luna and then finally to his friends.

It seemed that, fortunately, his explanation had at the very least alleviated his friend’s annoyance with him. They were looking at him with pity and sorrow, knowing now why this felt more like a personal issue than his own name.

As nopony objected, he gave them a small smile and bowed his head. “See you soon,” he said, and with another bow to Celestia and Luna he began to turn away.

“Actually, Arthas, there is one more thing,” Celestia spoke up, stopping him in his tracks. “I will use this hour to teleport to the Crystal Empire, I happen to have a matter I need to discuss with Cadence.”

Arthas’ eyes widened slightly in comprehension. While Celestia’s voice was very leveled and not betraying that there was any significant reason behind this brief visit, he knew what it had to be about; he hadn’t expected that the Royal Sisters would go talk with Cadence so soon.

I guess I better get a move on, too…

“I wanted to ask you if it would be alright if I would use this opportunity to inform her and her husband about your past as well,” Celestia continued. “Of course, I’ll understand if you’d prefer if you could tell them yourself.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Princess Celestia, but I would rather not keep them in the dark any longer now that I shared everything with everypony else,” Arthas replied. “Seeing how I do not know when exactly I would see them again, it’s best if they could learn this from you now.”

That, and Shining Armor strikes me as about the only person with a sane enough mind to blast me across the room after hearing about all the atrocities I’ve committed,” Arthas added to himself in dry humor.

Princess Celestia nodded. “Very well then, I will tell them.”

Bowing his head again, Arthas resumed leaving, only to be stopped again.

“Arthas, wait,” Twilight called out.

He turned around, half-expecting that she called out to him to reassure him that everything was still the same between them - he did say he was a prince, he never considered it before but the knowledge of that could affect their relationship - but while she did smile at him briefly, her brow quickly furrowed ever so slightly.

“That’s everything, right?” she asked, suspicious, admittedly justly so. “You’re not hiding anything else?”

“Um…” Arthas hesitated, thinking quickly. “Nothing related to myself, at least nothing that I can think of.”

Twilight gave him a half-smile. “Had to make sure. See you in an hour.”

She almost took a step forward, as if wanting to embrace him, maybe even kiss him, but at the last moment she seemed to remember about everypony else in the room.

Making a mental note to tease her later about keeping secrets, Arthas returned the smile, bowed, and finally left the chamber.

Well, an hour for them to discuss between themselves about all the horrors I committed,” Arthas mused. “It’s probably for the best, and I can catch a breather before I return to them… of course, I will have to take care of one more thing…”

As he passed the royal guards that stood near the door, he paused. “Guard, I have a favor to ask.”

“Yes Sir, what is it?” she asked, standing straighter.

“In about twenty minutes I would like you to go in there and inform Dame Serenity that I wish to speak with her.”

As the guard saluted, Arthas resumed walking away.

What is it with today and revealing secrets?


“Enter,” came a reply as soon as Serenity knocked on the door.

She wasn’t surprised to see Sir Lightbringer sitting on the floor on the other side of the - only a little larger than hers - room, eyes still closed despite having been stirred from his meditative trance. Considering everything that he had told all of his friends, Serenity had expected that he would need such a respite.

What did surprise her, though, was that he wanted to see her.

“You wanted to talk with me, S- um, Sir?” she asked as she trotted over to stand before him. Noticing her stumble, Arthas opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Serenity flicked her ear nervously and started to explain, “Um, the other paladins and I were wondering if we should still address you as ‘Sir’ or ‘Your Highness…” she trailed off as her superior covered his face with a hoof and made a noise somewhat between a sigh and a yelp. “I-It’s just because you’ve always told us to address officials by their correct rank… sorry Sir,” she quickly added as he still appeared annoyed.

Uttering one more sigh, Sir Lightbringer rubbed his temple. “Sir is fine, but you can call me whichever you prefer. Just not in front of anypony from Azeroth!” he added sternly, gazing at her seriously. “Trust me, you address me ‘Your Highness’ in front of somepony from Azeroth and you’ll have an international diplomatic incident on your hooves.”

“Yes Sir, I can imagine that,” she replied, smiling awkwardly. “Speaking of, Sir, if I may ask, are you… alright?”

“You mean am I alright after pissing off and possibly traumatizing all of my friends?” Sir Lightbringer asked with a raised eyebrow, then shook his head and waved his hoof dismissively before replying, “I’m as alright as is possible for somepony with a past like mine. Now, please sit down. I called you here because I wanted to discuss with you a certain issue related to the Crystal Empire.” He paused, and it took Serenity a few seconds to realize that he was waiting for her to sit down. Quickly dropping down on her hindquarters, Serenity perked her ears as he resumed: “Do you remember how a few weeks ago we escorted Nymph and Wind Reaver there?”

“Of course Sir,” she replied, then exclaimed: “Huh, it was just a few weeks ago, wasn’t it? Seems like much more time had passed.”

“Yes, I hear that a lot,” Sir Lightbringer agreed, frowning. “But back to the matter at hoof; I didn’t tell you or Storm that at the time, but when we stayed in the Crystal Palace for the night, by accident I had found a hidden compartment in my quarters. Inside it was a diary that belonged to Princess Blue Hope.”

Serenity felt her jaw hang open. “What… diary of Princess Blue Hope?” she repeated, numbly. “The Princess Blue Hope?”

Sir Lightbringer nodded. “Daughter of Queen Azure Crest, the last ruler of the Crystal Empire before King Sombra took over and everything that followed. Yes, the very same.”

“B-but… we weren’t staying at the royal quarters,” Serenity said, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. “Why would she hide her diary there? It doesn’t make sense…”

“Well,” Sir Lightbringer began, looking to the side; Serenity blinked in surprise, noticing much to her surprise that he seemed embarrassed, “based on what she wrote, I’d have a few guesses as to why she hid it there…”

Serenity was about to ask what he meant, but then she realized just what he had said. “Wait a moment, Sir, are you saying that you read her diary?!” she asked, stunned.

The older paladin quickly raised his forehooves defensively. “Only the last pages. I had already been told that she disappeared shortly after King Sombra had taken over the Empire, and I had hoped it would shed some light on her fate.”

Serenity calmed down and nodded in understanding. While it was indeed a great violation of privacy, of the last member of the royal house that had ruled her homeland for longer than it was remembered no less, it was about the only way to find out what had happened to her.

“And did it?” she asked, in her eagerness forgetting who she was speaking to. Quickly realizing it, she added, “Sir?”

“Yes and no,” Sir Lightbringer replied, ignoring her slip-up. Frowning, the white paladin continued. “She had planned to escape the Crystal Empire, and seek out help from Equestria to drive out King Sombra.”

Serenity frowned. That couldn’t have ended well. The crystal ponies had learned since their return that there hadn’t been any mention of Princess Blue Hope in Equestria’s records following the fall of Crystal Empire; they knew even less than they had. Her plan to call for help must have failed.

“On the last page, she wrote down the route she planned to take,” Sir Lightbringer continued, “and a plea to follow after her.”

She blinked in surprise. “Wait, that… so she expected somepony to find that diary?”

Sir Lightbringer nodded, and then spoke with surprising gentleness, “Serenity, tell me, did you know that Princess Blue Hope and your brother had a secret affair?”

Her eyes bulged in surprise. “Oh… yes I- I mean,” she shook her head, feeling herself blush in embarrassment. “I didn't know at the time, Sentinel didn’t tell me anything. But, um, Nymph told me one of the changelings in the Crystal Empire had seen my brother and the princess together once,” she explained awkwardly.

At the very least, now it was Sir Lightbringer that was surprised. “The changelings knew?”

“Yes, or, well, they didn’t seem to think much of it. Nymph almost treated it like historic trivia.”

Not that Serenity could blame her, seeing how from her point of view all of that had happened over a thousand years ago. She had been too absorbed by the possibility of her brother in a secret relationship with the Princess to think about that then, anyway. And now, to hear it confirmed in Princess Blue Hope’s diary…

“I see…” Sir Lightbringer replied, sighing thoughtfully.

“So, the Princess had hoped that my brother would find the diary and go after her?” she asked, her ears dropping.

Being closed off in the palace, she would have no way of knowing what had happened to all the guards who had tried to stop King Sombra. And even if she had known, she probably would have hoped that Sentinel had survived.

I wish he hadn’t died that day… did he even know how much he meant to the Princess? I have no idea how close they were, even Sir Lightbringer and Nymph know more about it than me!

“Yes, she specifically wrote so on the last page of the diary,” Sir Lightbringer replied, his brow slightly furrowed. He fell silent for a few moments, then sighed. “So, the changelings didn’t know everything…”

“‘Everything’?” Serenity repeated, confused.

Sir Lightbringer looked her right in the eyes. “Serenity, Princess Blue Hope was pregnant.”

She stared at him agape. “Wha- what?!” she exclaimed, shocked. “No that- what?!”

The older paladin noded. “She was pregnant. Your brother was the father.”

It was a good thing she was sitting down, because she felt as if her head was spinning. “It’s… just… d-do you know what happened to her? You said that you found this diary all those weeks ago, and-” She blinked. A thought just occurred to her. “Sir… you found that diary all those weeks ago. You… Why didn’t you tell anypony in the Crystal Empire about this? I’ve stayed there for weeks, I would have known if they started some…” she paused, looking for the right way to describe a thousand-years late investigation. “An archaeological criminal investigation!” Serenity finally spouted, stomping her hoof.

The calmness in Sir Lightbringer’s eyes was almost unnerving. “Princess Blue Hope was the rightful heir to the throne. If crystal ponies would have learned that she had survived King Sombra’s take over, escaped from the Crystal Empire, and was pregnant, they might have started searching for her descendants to put them to replace Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. Regardless of how long it would take, it would weaken their leadership when the Empire needed stability and recovery after what you had all been through.” Serenity blinked as she followed this train of thought; what he was saying did make sense. Sir Lightbringer leaned closer to her, narrowing his eyes slightly. “As paladins, we strive for preserving justice and truth, but also order and peace. And order and peace were the things the Crystal Empire needed more back when I found the diary. Revealing it would just stir up troubles.”

Serenity could agree with that. It was hard to imagine how her fellow crystal ponies would react if they had known what she knew now, but they would have wanted to find what happened to the Princess and her foal, even if to the outside world it had been a thousand years ago. And she could understand that Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor’s legitimacy as rulers would be questioned. It was based almost entirely on the prophecy of a Crystal Princess helping to save them from great darkness; or rather, that prophecy and the supposed extinction of the Crystal Empire’s Royal House.

“I can understand that, Sir,” she finally said, still frowning. “But… Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor have been good for the Crystal Empire, nopony would argue that, but even so, if there is a rightful heir… this would be something the crystal ponies should have to decide, not you. You had no right to make any decision.”

“I didn’t make any decision,” Sir Lightbringer replied calmly, confusing her. “I might be the Royal Couple’s friend, and I might be a paladin of the Holy Light, but I also swore an oath to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna; given the gravity of the situation and potential threat to the rule of their niece, I was obliged to bring the diary to them first and let them decide.”

Once again, Serenity, despite being angry, found herself agreeing with Sir Lightbringer. He was right, all of the paladins swore an oath of loyalty to the Princesses, and as such, each of them would be required to inform them about the diary if they were in Sir Lightbringer’s place. Except Serenity wouldn’t have thought about not informing Cadance.

Sir Lightbringer must have figured out what she had been thinking, as he said, “But it is true that I withheld the information from Princess Cadance, and didn’t inform you despite your personal connection to this matter. You are right to be angry with me. I am sorry.”

Before she could stop herself, Serenity snipped at him angrily, “Twilight even asked you if you were keeping any more secrets.”

“I am obliged to keep state matters I was entrusted by the Princesses secret,” Sir Lightbringer pointed out. “Besides, I wanted to discuss this with you in private.”

Serenity closed her eyes and breathed deeply, reaching for the Light for calmness. She felt as if she was about to burst. Within just a few minutes, she had learned that her mentor had been keeping a huge secret regarding her homeland from everypony, and that… that she could have been an aunt.

“Why are you telling me this now?” she asked, still trying to calm down.

Instead of replying right away, Sir Lightbringer continued, “After I reported this to Princess Luna, she had arranged a secret investigation to discover what had become of Princess Blue Hope. She sent several members of her Night Guard, aided by several researchers that were sworn to secrecy, to scour the area around the Crystal Empire, especially where the Princess had written she would be travelling through.”

“So did they find something?” Serenity asked, finally looking at him.

The other pony, who hadn’t always been a pony, was still sitting calmly before her. The murderer of thousands of people whom she had always thought she could trust completely. The one who had made her a paladin who hid the knowledge about her family from her.

He nodded… then sighed.

Dread filled her.

“I had been shown their final report they made to Princess Luna today. They finished their investigation just a few days ago. They consulted many documents and maps from both Equestria and the Crystal Empire, and after starting several digsites there were able to find a site just outside of the Empire where a thousand years ago a small farm stood. The Princess had reached it sometime after escaping; they were able to confirm it thanks to the notes they had found and managed to restore and decipher. And they were able to determine that it must have been shortly before the Crystal Empire disappeared because… the Princess never left it.”

Her crystal coat dimmed and disappeared. “Light, no…

“Why?” she asked.

She could guess, but… she needed to know. She needed to know what had happened to the mother of her brother’s foal, to her homeland’s Princess.

“Apparently, when the Crystal Empire disappeared, and with it the magic that shielded its territory from the elements, blizzards raged across it for months. Equestria had sent help to all the farms and villages within the area of the Crystal Empire that hadn’t disappeared together with it, but… not every farm can be found on a map. And with the weather in the state it had been, even with legions of pegasi combing the area, some farms must have been missed. Unfortunately, the farm where Princess Blue Hope had stayed at was one such farm.”

Serenity covered her eyes. She didn’t expect that her brother’s foal would be alive, not a thousand years later. But to hear that… was it even born?

She didn’t realize Sir Lightbringer was calling her name until she felt him grab her shoulders. A gentle, familiar warmth spread through them. Serenity wanted to push it away. She didn’t want to feel the Light right now.

“Serenity, look at me,” she heard Sir Lightbringer’s voice. Reluctantly, she dropped her hooves down; she realized her eyes were wet. When did she start crying? Sir Lightbringer brought a hoof to her cheek and gently wiped away a tear. “What I’m about to tell you is… painful, and confusing, but please stay strong. I know you are strong enough to bear it.”

She frowned, not understanding what he meant, but nodded nonetheless.

Sir Lightbringer stayed close to her as he resumed, “The notes they found inside the remains of the farmhouse…the Night Guard and researchers weren’t sure why she wrote so much, but their best guess is she realized they would stay trapped there and wanted to leave some record. In any case, in their report they wrote that they were harder to decipher the later they were written, and they suspect that the Princess was growing delirious the longer they stayed trapped under the blizzard. But they stayed alive for months; the farmer had a large supply of provisions. Serenity, she gave birth to twins, a filly and a colt.”

Serenity noded absentmindedly; inside she felt nothing. “What does it matter? They died-”

“Serenity…” Sir Lightbringer cut her off, but then hesitated. “Serenity… in her notes, the Princess wrote down what her foals looked like. They were pegasi, both of them.”

A little spec of interest awoke in her. “Oh… our father was a pegasus. Since the Crystal Empire was gone when they were born, there was a chance they would inherit his pegasus’ genes.”

“Yes, so I have been told. But Serenity, more importantly… the filly, your niece, was a pink pegasus, with the edges of her feathers colored purple, and a mane with pink, purple and creme colors.”

Serenity frowned. Pink, with purple feathers, and mane… that sounded like-

She pushed herself away from Sir Lighrbringer, staring back at him with clear eyes. “No.”

“It would appear so,” he replied, his face still a mask of calmness.

“No, that’s… you’re saying Princess Cadance is my niece?!” she exclaimed, raising her forehooves to her temples. “But that’s… that’s impossible!”

“Serenity, the Crystal Empire disappeared for a thousand years. When you returned, none of you realized how much time had passed. Is it really impossible that something similar could have happened to Princess Blue Hope’s daughter?”

“But King Sombra was gone at that point!” Serenity argued, but almost immediately the thought occurred to her. “Unless… unless the disappearance of the Crystal Empire wasn’t his doing?”

Sir Lightbringer nodded. “That’s what the Princesses think, yes.”

Serenity shook her head. This was insane. Yes, she knew Cadance used to be a pegasus, and yes, she knew she was found alone on the border of Everfree Forest, but… why?

“And what about the Princess’ notes? Did she write anything that could prove that her daughter was… sent almost a thousand years into the future?” she asked Sir Lightbringer.

He shook his head. “The researchers haven’t found anything of the sort yet. They’re still deciphering those notes, but… as I said, they believe the Princess was becoming more and more delirious, and must have been growing weaker, as their food supply diminished her writing became less and less readable. Almost everything that she wrote down after her twins were born is unintelligible. However, inside the farmhouse were remains of only three adult ponies, the Princess’ and the owners of the farm. There was no sign of the foals.”

“Twins,” Serenity repeated. She had to focus on something that she could understand. “You said she gave birth to a colt, too. What about him?”

Sir Lightbringer hesitated again. “He was also described… and his description matched another foal that was found on the edge of Everfree Forest. Serenity, the other foal of your brother was Shadow Bolt, consort of Princess Luna and father of Princess Moonlight Shadow.”

...

... okay, what?

“Wha- what?” Serenity finally asked, shaking off her stupor. “I.. what?! Shadow Bolt, he- that happened decades before the Crystal Empire had disappeared! He was older than my brother! How- what?!” she finally demanded, feeling as if she was losing her mind.

“It would appear that, whatever was responsible for sending both the Crystal Empire and Princess Cadance into the future, also sent Shadow Bolt several decades into the past,” Sir Lightbringer told her. “I’m not going to pretend that I understand this, but… Serenity, apparently, in Equestria there are ways to determine if two ponies are related. They conducted this on the remains of Princess Blue Hope and Princess Moonlight Shadow, and they matched. She was her grandmother. Moonlight is your great-niece.”

Serenity moved her mouth, trying to speak, but… she had no words to speak. What could she say? This was insane, this was impossible…

“Is… is that why Princess Celestia said she was going to the Crystal Empire?” she asked, recalling what she overheard just a… half an hour ago? Was it really such a short time ago? “Is she going to check Princess Cadence if she’s Princess Blue Hope’s daughter?”

“Princess Celestia went to inform Princess Cadance about everything that I had just told you,” Sir Lightbringer corrected her. “Yes, this same test will be conducted on her at a later time, but at this point, it’s mostly a formality.”

She nodded absentmindedly, trying to put all of that into her head. Princess Cadance, the ruler of the Crystal Empire, was the rightful ruler. She was her niece. She had a twin brother who was Serenity’s nephew. Serenity had a dead nephew. Her nephew had a daughter with Princess Luna. Princess Moonlight Shadow was her great-niece.

Once again, she felt a comforting hoof gently squeeze her shoulder. “Serenity?” Sir Lightbringer asked, his voice concerned but gentle.

“Why?” she asked; she realized her voice cracked, but she didn’t care. “Why did all of this happen?”

“I don’t know,” Sir Lightbringer replied sadly. “I wish I could understand… For all the knowledge I came to possess, I cannot understand why something did this any better than I can understand why I had been brought back to life on this world. The Princesses don’t understand this either.”

Serenity bit her lip. “I should be happy,” she said after several long seconds of silence. “I should - I have a niece and a great niece, they are both alive and happy. My nephew is dead, but he lived, and I had never met him. Why… why am I not happy?!” she demanded from her mentor.

“This is a lot to take in, Serenity,” he told her. “A lot of… impossible things to take in such a short time. You need to think this over. You need time. Once you come to terms with everything, you will be happy. I know you well enough to be certain of this,” he told her with an encouraging smile.

Serenity wanted to smile back… she thought she did, even, But the last few minutes had been so emotionally vexing, she felt as if she was hollow.

“I think I need to be alone now,” she blurted without much thought.

But Sir Lightbringer nodded with understanding. “I thought as much. Take all the time you need.”

She nodded back, stayed still for a few seconds, then realized she just said she wanted to leave. She rose from the floor and slowly began to walk away.

“You can talk to me whenever you feel like it,” Sir Lightbringer said. Serenity nodded numbly. “Every other paladin in the order would tell you the same, as will your friends.”

“Yes, I know…” she replied, not quite sure what she said anyway, then left the room.