//------------------------------// // 171. Ruminations of Lives Past // Story: Rebirth of the Damned // by Borsuq //------------------------------// “I still can’t believe he didn’t tell us he’s a prince,” Rarity scoffed again, shifting to sit more comfortably on her pillow. “Really?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head. “What part of that was out of character for him?” Twilight had to agree with Pinkie. Considering how much Arthas had kept to himself for so long, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise that he still had kept something secret about himself. “Although it would have been nice if this wasn’t about a big part of his life from before he turned evil,” Twilight thought with mild annoyance. Everything that happened after had left such a big impact on Arthas’ personality that - much to her embarrassment, now that she considered it - she had never paid much thought to his life before that. Of course, there were bits and pieces he revealed here and there over those months since he came to Equestria… which now made a lot of sense to them. Princess Celestia had been right to suggest they all take a little break; they had a lot to discuss regarding Arthas. So they all sat around and recalled what they had known about his life before becoming evil and him in general, and suddenly it wasn’t that weird that he had been taught how to fight, be a prince/ambassador of a different nation, a student of the head of the paladin order, why he was so eloquent, why he understood diplomacy and international relations so well, why his sister had been pressured at one point by their father to marry somebody, why she had such beautiful jewelry that Arthas, after having Brann recover it, gave it to Rarity, why he was such a natural leader, and - which was the latest thing most of them had learned about him - why he had so many soldiers under his command when the Plague of Undeath swept through his kingdom, and why he had felt so personally responsible to try and stop it. In all honesty, Twilight felt a little stupid for not connecting all the dots before. They only paused their discussion twice within the half an hour since Arthas' and Princess Celestia's parting, the first time when a guard had come in asking for Serenity, saying that ‘Sir Lightbringer’ wanted to see her, and the second time about ten minutes later, when Nymph had suddenly lifted her head, looking to the side in confusion, then excused herself, saying that she wanted to check on Serenity. Which had been the moment when Rarity decided to repeat her remark from earlier. “Yeah, gotta agree with Pinkie,” Rainbow spoke up after Pinkie’s comment. “I mean, I don’t exactly blame him for keeping some things to himself, considering all that he’s been through, but honestly that’s classic Arthas. Heck, I think the more surprising thing is that he’s a prince, actually.” Smirking, she added “You know, cause, ever since we’ve met him he has occasionally done some rather un-princely things. I mean, some of the stuff that he and I did-” “Yeah, Ah don’t think the youngin’s need t’ hear what exactly y'are talkin’ ‘bout, sugarcube,” Applejack interrupted her, nodding in the direction of the four fillies. Then, with a smirk of her own, she added, “‘Sides, whatever nasty things ya two did Ah reckon ya were the one who came up with ‘em.” Rainbow Dash snorted in reply. “Oh, right, because you’re one to talk.” Applejack frowned and opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment Princess Luna spoke up, so she resorted to giving the stink eye to the grinning pegasus. “I suppose I should consider it a good thing that royals have opinions of being prudes,” the Princess said with an eye roll and a humorous chuckle that others quickly joined in. “Everypony is susceptible to desires, Rainbow Dash, as I’m sure you’d agree,” Rarity chimed in, glancing at her reproachingly. “Whatever you two were doing, I’m sure it’s no reason to doubt Arthas’ royal upbringing and demeanor because of that.” Rainbow snorted. “Oh please, you’re just jealous you didn't do anything more with Arthas besides kissing.” “I’m sorry, what?” Storm cut in before Rarity could reply, looking at her in surprise. “You kissed my mentor and commanding officer?” Rarity paused to shoot Rainbow an annoyed glare before turning to her coltfriend. “Oh, don’t get the wrong idea, darling; for starters it was before you and I even met, and more importantly, a kiss between good friends doesn’t mean anything.” “Exactly,” Wind Reaver chimed in, quickly swooping in between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “Allow me to demonstrate,” he added, then with a grin he lunged head first towards Rainbow… only to smash his muzzle into her hoof. “Shouldn’t you be bodyguarding Nymph or something?” she asked, annoyed, as everypony chuckled. “You know, doing your job?” The changeling snorted as he backed away and massaged his muzzle. “Oh please, why would she require a bodyguard while in the middle of the royal palace? We’re still allies right?” he asked sarcastically, glancing at Princess Luna, who nodded in amusement. Storm leaned over Rarity deadpaning ath the changeling. “Don’t you recall those goons Prince Blueblood hired to attack you two right in this very palace?” Hearing that, Twilight blinked and looked at Storm in surprise and she was far from being the only one; Big Mac even rose to his hooves asking: “Wait what?!” Only the other paladins didn’t seem surprised, and Princess Luna groaned and rolled her eyes. Wind Reaver merely snorted again. “I have a spell placed on my brain that will go off the moment Nymph is in danger,” he explained, knocking against the chitin covering his head. “If something were to happen, I’d just tell Her Majesty over here and she could teleport all of us to her right away. Also, she is Queen Chrysalis’ heir. I know she doesn’t look like it - like, at all - but she could easily mop the floor with probably over half of the people in this room. Trust me, some low life hench ponies attacking her would end up trapped within green amber before we could get to her,” he said, shrugging. “That’s an… interesting piece of information,” Twilight thought, curious. She had talked a bit with Nymph about magic, so she knew she was a capable mage, but it hadn’t occurred to her how well she could defend herself. “Although it does make sense she can, seeing how her mother sent her to a formerly hostile nation with just a single bodyguard.” This information didnt seem to make Big Mac calm down much, though. He was still standing, and turned his head towards the door. “Seriously, relax,” Wind Reaver said, no doubt sensing his anxiety. “With the amount of love you’ve been spoon feeding her, Nymph could probably take out a full grown dragon. And yes,” he added with a smirk as Big Mac, although reluctantly, sat down, “the ‘spoon’ part is a metaphor, I’m trying to keep things safe for the kids. You know, unlike some ponies.” “Bite me,” Rainbow told him nonchalantly, snorting. The changeling grinned in response. “Just tell me where.” “Nice,” Tucker snickered. “As charming as this is...” Rarity began after the few seconds everypony in the room spent either chuckling or rolling their eyes at the exchange, then turned to look at her coltfriend. “As I was going to add before this distraction, I’m sure you had your fair share of female friends kissing you too.” Storm Clash raised an eyebrow, then wordlessly pointed at his crooked jaw. Rarity blinked several times, then asked, “What is your point?” “Cute,” Storm commented, rolling his eyes. “I’m not upset about you and Sir Lightbringer kissing, I’m just surprised. And, glad that you didn’t know he was a prince, clearly some things would be different right now,” he added with a playful smirk. “Wha- no they would be not,” Rarity replied, frowning in indignation, which only deepened as everypony began chortling. Huffing, she crossed her forelegs on her chest and told Storm, “I don’t think I like the direction this conversation has taken, darling.” As Storm snorted and replied to her, Twilight found her attention drawing away from them and towards another pony: Fluttershy. Unlike everypony else, she wasn’t partaking in the general amusement at Rarity’s expense; actually, now that Twilight thought about it, Fluttershy hadn’t spoken much in… a very long time. “I don’t think she said anything since Arthas started telling everypony about his past,” she realized. And ever since he had left, she had been sitting there staring at her hooves. “Fluttershy, are you okay?” she finally asked. As the shy pegasus jerked at the sound of her name and looked at her, she added, “You’ve been quiet for a very long time.” “Oh…” Fluttershy exclaimed quietly. “Y-yes, I suppose I had been… I’m sorry, I just… couldn’t stop thinking about all the things Arthas did,” she said, her voice growing quieter as she looked away again. All the laughter died as if cut by a blade. Silence followed Fluttershy’s words that reminded everypony just what they had listened to before they got themselves distracted with Arthas’ former status of a crown prince. “Got ourselves distracted, or wanted to distract ourselves?” Twilight wondered, looking from Fluttershy to her other friends. “I knew way longer than them, and yet still I would rather think about other things…” “Come on, Fluttershy,” Rainbow was the first to speak up, looking with slight annoyance at the other pegasus. “I mean, yeah, it was terrible, but you heard what Arthas said, it wasn’t exactly him. That stupid sword stole his soul and then he was under the control of that Ner’zhul guy.” “Was that how that worked exactly?” Applejack asked, frowning quizzically. “Ah didn’t really get how he explained it.” “Yes and no,” Princess Luna spoke up, drawing everypony’s attention. “Thanks to my dreamwalking ability Arthas shared his memories with me, which is why I have a better understanding of what transpired in his past. And yet even I don’t understand everything.” Twilight perked her ears in attention. Since her and Arthas’ talk about his past had been private, just between the two of them, she got to ask many questions that helped her to better understand his story than her friends. However, Princess Luna had seen his memories. Considering that, and that she knew far more about magic than her, then between the two of them she probably understood what had happened to Arthas better. “When Frostmourne stole his soul, at first, the effects were unnoticed by Arthas,” Luna began, repeating partially what Arthas himself had told them. “He didn’t realize that he had lost the part of himself that allowed him to feel love for others, for his father, his family, his friends, his people. And with that gone, when he achieved his vengeance on Mal’ganis and erased what he thought was the threat to his people, and the Lich King began to whisper through the blade promises of great power, it didn’t matter to Arthas what he was being taught was evil, because on a very fundamental level, he wasn’t able to tell. I saw it in his memories; as he killed his father, he did it because the Lich King commanded it, yes, but he also considered it a mercy, that he was sparing his father from the ravages of age and the weight of his crown. When he raised his people into undead slaves, he thought that he was making them better, because now they would never die, succumb to diseases or age. Then later after witnessing a high elf betray his people, he would come to believe undead slaves were better because they were subjects that would never betray him, then after those dreadlords took control of part of the Scourge, he came to view them as tools. It was a long process that slowly, but ultimately, deprived him from the few remaining vestiges of his soul, leaving only a tiny spark once he woke up as the Lich King and waged his war on Azeroth. So to answer your question, Applejack,” Luna said, turning to her, “yes, he was under Ner’zhul’s control after Frostmourne stole his soul, but it was because it deprived him of his soul that he allowed himself to be controlled in return for power.” “Yeesh,” Scootaloo exclaimed after a few seconds had passed. “I kinda liked Rainbow’s explanation better, it made Arthas seem practically innocent,” she added as others looked at her; her pet, the half-phoenix hatchling Glory, chirping in agreement. “Indeed,” Princess Luna agreed, “and Arthas would be the first to argue against such a view on his life. That being said, the blame on those horrific events cannot be put solely on his shoulders, as he had been led down this paved path by forces far beyond him. There are certainly valuable lessons we should all take from Arthas’ tale,” she added, her gaze travelling over them, “one of them being that, no matter what danger we face, we should not rush into confronting them head-on, heedless of any consequences.” “Why are you looking at me right now?” Rainbow Dash, Wind Reaver and Tucker Out said in unison, with only Rainbow and Tucker ending their question with ‘Princess’. “I think I understand, Princess,” Fluttershy replied to Luna, ignoring (along with Luna and everypony else) the trio’s question. “Or, well, at least, I’m trying to. I know that Arthas wasn’t himself after taking that awful blade. But… what about Stratholme?” Twilight winced, and she was far from the only one. She didn’t like thinking about Stratholme, even less so than all the other horrific things Arthas had done as death knight and later as the Lich King. Princess Luna let out a deep sigh. “I won’t try to justify what he did, and neither would Arthas, ever. But it’s important we try to understand why he did it. Arthas had always cared deeply for his people, and seeing what the Plague of Undeath was doing to them affected him greatly, and then at Hearthglen he witnessed firsthoofedly just how fast the infected grain turned them. He knew when he reached Stratholme that it was too late. They had mere hours before the citizens would be turned, and there was no cure at the time; only about a year before Arthas’ death they had developed the cure for the Plague, a good six years after those events. There was no way for them to help the citizens of Stratholme, so Arthas did what he believed was their only option. He prevented the Scourge from increasing their ranks exponentially and gaining a stronghold, while at the same time preventing his people from a cursed existence, freeing those who would turn during the… culling.” Luna paused after uttering the word, scowling unpleasantly and sighed. “It is not a choice that I would have made if I were in his place, but I wasn’t, and we can all pray that none of us would be. But I can understand why somepony could make it, as well as why it can be hard or even impossible for some to do likewise,” she said, looking at Fluttershy gently. “There is one thing that Arthas had omitted-” “Of course,” Twilight snorted in annoyance before she could stop herself, interrupting the Princess. She quickly covered her mouth as Luna glanced at her with amusement while others giggled and said, “Sorry.” Winking, Princess Luna turned back to Fluttershy. “When he told you about Stratholme, Arthas hadn’t mentioned that he was unable to call upon the Light to aid him in this horrific task. Do you know why?” she asked as everypony looked at her in surprise. “Ooh, that makes sense,” Twilight thought; Arthas had briefly mentioned that his control of the Light had waned as they searched for Mal’Ganis in Northrend, but he indeed had omitted that it had begun in Stratholme. “Um… well, because that was an evil thing to do and Light is good, right?” Fluttershy answered, sounding confused as she looked from the Princess to paladins. But Storm frowned, and shook his head. “No, that’s not it. Sir Lightbringer had told us about paladins who abused the Light to commit evil acts. Calling upon the Light requires two things: willpower and faith. So it would be fairly easy for a paladin to use the Light if they believe what they are doing is right,” he finished, looking at Princess Luna questioningly. “Like Sir Lightbringer in Stratholme.” Now it was the Princess’ turn to shake her head. “He believed what he was doing was necessary, not right. Furthermore, those were his subjects, the people he was sworn to protect, who weren’t at fault for what was about to happen to them. Arthas was in too much turmoil over what he was doing to call upon the Light. It was... plainly easy to see within his memory,” she finished, looking down at the floor sadly before returning her gaze to Fluttershy. “Arthas had committed terrible deeds on Azeroth, but he deeply regrets every single one of them. You all have seen him express that more than once over those past months, and now you know why.” “Yes, but…” Fluttershy began, then hesitated briefly. “I know that he regrets all of it and that he would never do such things again, but I can’t stop thinking about… everything,” she finished, wincing. “Fluttershy-” Rainbow started, but Princess Luna silenced her with a look. Without looking at anypony, Fluttershy rose. “I… to be honest, I’m not quite sure how I feel about it, though. If it’s alright with everypony, I would like to return to Ponyville. I… I don’t think I want Arthas to see me until I know how I feel about his past,” she added, her ears dropping. “He’s still my friend, I would hate to see him hurt because I’m so undecided about how I feel about… all of this” Twilight winced and exchanged looks with her other friends. They were all unhappy with Fluttershy’s decision, but they couldn’t really argue with her about it. Arthas would too, all of them knew him well enough to know that he would likewise want to spare any of them any discomfort that he himself had caused. As they exchanged farewells with Fluttershy, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder two things: if anypony else would decide to follow her example and leave before the hour of respite was over, and how long will Fluttershy avoid Arthas. After a brief flight through the palace, passing a few surprised ponies, Nymph’s eyes widened as she finally found Serenity. She was in the gardens, looking at the petrified body of Discord, lost in musing; that was a rather odd thing for her to do, but it wasn’t what surprised her. Her crystal coat had disappeared. “She really must be distressed,” Nymph thought as she flew over to her. A crystal pony’s coat changed depending on their mood; when they were happy, or just felt positive about their life, their hair crystallized and formed a protective and rather pretty layer. When they were depressed, sad, generally unhappy, this layer was gone, rendering them with this gloomy appearance Serenity was now sporting. “What could she and the Hivespeaker have talked about?” Serenity turned her head as she heard her approach. “Oh, hey,” she said in surprise as Nymph landed beside her. “What are you doing here?” “Looking for you; I sensed that you suddenly became very, well, distressed,” Nymph replied a bit awkwardly. “What happened?” Serenity snorted. “What happened, funny, I’ve been wondering that myself,” she said; despite her words, there was no amusement in her voice. Glancing at the statue again, Serenity added “I was wondering if he was responsible for this, but…” “Discord?” Nymph asked, confused. “Responsible for what? What’s going on?” The paladin let out a sight. “Let’s go somewhere else, I would rather not talk in front of the Lord of Chaos about… family matters, I guess…” Serenity muttered as she began to trot away, only deepening the changeling’s confusion. Falling a step beside her, Nymph listened - with gradually widening eyes - as Serenity recounted what the Hivespeaker had told her. Suddenly, the reason why Serenity felt the way she felt became very apparent. “I think this makes the Hivespeaker being brought back from the dead in a pony’s body across the cosmos believable in comparison,” she said when Serenity finally finished. “I mean, travelling between worlds and resurrections are one thing, but splitting twin foals through time, one into the future and another to the past… it certainly explains why you thought Discord would have done it,” Nymph added, frowning. “Yeah… your people didn’t know anything about this?” Serenity asked. “I mean, you did tell me that you knew about my brother and Princess Blue Hope being in a secret relationship…” Nymph quickly shook her head. “No, we didn’t know anything, I swear. We didn’t even know what had happened to Princess Blue Hope. Such a tragic fate…” she trailed off, a cold chill travelling through her as she briefly imagined what she had suffered. She shook it off, though, and focused back on Serenity. “No wonder you are in such turmoil.” Serenity snorted again. “Yeah… It feels like I shouldn’t be, though, doesn’t it?” she asked. They were now in another, more secluded part of the gardens; they sat down on a bench beside two trees and continued their talk. “I mean, I never really knew the Princess all that well, and I never met my nephew so it shouldn’t bother me that they’re dead, and I already got to know Princess Cadance rather well. And yet I…” she trailed off, unable to find the right words. But Nymph was. “You are in shock. Of course this is overwhelming.” “Sir Lightbringer said something similar.” “Well, if there is a pony who knows what ‘overwhelming’ can mean it would certainly be him,” Nymph pointed out, a bit humorously. Serenity gave a brief chuckle in response. “But I don’t think there is much he could tell you about how to deal with it, and neither would I. Such things take time. Though if I can give you some advice…” she hesitated, but then Serenity nodded so she continued, “... this is something you should talk with Princess Cadance and Princess Luna. Especially Cadance, as she must be going through the same thing you are right now.” “Yeah, I guess so…” Serenity said slowly, then sighed. “By the Light, that will be one awkward conversation. ‘Hey, dear niece who is older than me and is the ruler of my country’, ‘oh hello aunt, how are you?’” “You know, this might be awkward at first, but this means that you have living kin,” Nymph pointed out to her. “I could feel your pain back in the Crystal Empire when we visited the memorial for all those who were killed by King Sombra. Your brother’s daughter and granddaughter won’t replace Sentinel, but they could be your connection to him. They could be your family if you let them.” Serenity nodded to her words. Slowly, a small smile appeared on her muzzle. “I guess you’re right. I’ve been so focused on how… unexpected this is that I hadn’t even considered this.” Nymph was happy to see her friend brighten up a bit, even if her crystal coat hadn’t yet reappeared. However, the talk about families made her recall something she had been considering for a couple of days now… “Well, no time like today I guess…” she mused, making her decision. “Actually, Serenity? Since we are speaking about connections and families…” she began slowly. The paladin gave her a curious look as she continued: “I’ve been meaning to ask you, but I hadn’t exactly had the time since you got back from the Crystal Empire.” “Ask me what?” Serenity asked, raising eyebrows. “Would you be my mare of honor at my and Big Mac’s wedding?” Her eyes almost bulged out and her jaw hung open. “Me?” she asked after a few seconds, sounding surprised but happy. “Really?” Nymph smiled, a little embarrassed. “Of course. If it hadn't been for your encouragement back in the Crystal Empire to walk around ponies in my real form, I would have probably not bumped into Big Mac when I did, and this wedding wouldn’t be happening. So you are the only choice. If you want to, of course,” she quickly added, but to her pleasure the paladin was already nodding. “Of course I want to!” she exclaimed; her coat once again shone with a golden sheen as it crystallized. At the same time, a wave of happiness washed over Nymph, emanating from Serenity. “I’m really honored! I can’t wait to help with everything!” Nymph giggled to herself happily as the crystal pony embraced her into a warm hug, happy that, at least for the moment, she was able to bring her friend back to her usual self, and that her request meant this much to her.