//------------------------------// // 173. The Price of Knowing - Part II // Story: Rebirth of the Damned // by Borsuq //------------------------------// “So,” he quipped, as he rode atop his loyal horse, Invincible, through the snowy pass, “you’re not upset about me killing you that one time?” “Don’t be foolish,” the undead necromancer replied. He glided beside him almost serenely, if such a word could ever be applied to a lich. “The Lich King told me how our encounter would end.” That surprised Arthas. “The Lich King knew that I would kill you?” He frowned, glancing down at the blade that stretched across his lap. It was silent now, dormant. No whispers came from it, nor did the runes pulse with power. “Of course,” Kel’Thuzad responded, a hint of superiority in his sepulchral voice. “He chose you to be his champion long before the Scourge even began.” Arthas’ unease deepened. No one had asked him, or even told him about his destiny. But would he have embraced it, had he known? No, he decided. He did not like being manipulated, but he knew that he had had to be tempered if he was to be a formidable weapon. He had to go step by step to his fate, otherwise he would have rejected it. He would then still be with Jaina and Uther and his father would- “If he’s so all knowing, then how can the dreadlords control him like they do?” “They are agents of the one who created our master: the fiery lords of the Burning Legion.” The words sent a shiver through Arthas. Burning Legion. Two words only, but the power they promised was heady, somehow. In his lap, Frostmourne flickered. “It is a vast demonic army that has consumed countless worlds beyond our own.” Kel’Thuzad’s voice was almost hypnotic, and Arthas shut his eyes for a moment. Behind the closed lids, scenes played out in his mind as the lich spoke. He saw a red sky arcing over a red world. Over a ridge poured a wave of creatures. They ran like hounds, but no natural beasts were they - they had fearsome jaws crammed with teeth, and strange tentacles sprouting from their shoulders. Stones crashed to the earth, leaving trails of green fire, to come to life as animated rock that marched on their foes. “Now, it comes to set this world to the flame. Our master was created to pave the way for its arrival. The dreadlords were sent to make sure he succeeded.” The scene in Arthas’s mind shifted. He was looking at an ornate carved gateway. He knew it to be the Dark Portal, although he had never seen it with his own eyes. It radiated green fire, and a host of demons were clustered around it. Arthas shook his head and the vision evaporated. “So the plague in Lordaeron, the citadels in Northrend, the slaughtering of the elves… it was all just to prepare for some huge demonic invasion?” “Yes. In time, you will find that our entire history has been shaped by the coming conflict.” “Namely, the Burning Legion.” Even after everything he had been through, everything he had seen and done, a shiver went through Arthas at the sound of that name, like all those years ago. Just two words, two words that reflected an unimaginable power and evil… uttered in a world where they should have never been uttered. “Why would you want to discuss it?” Arthas asked, despite knowing all too well why. Celestia’s brow furrowed. “Well, you said that they were a massive army of demons that has conquered many, many worlds, ended all life on them and consumed their magic,” she pointed out; indeed, Arthas had recounted his conversation with Kel’Thuzad as well as the Third War while telling everypony about his past. “I think that would warrant a discussion.” “Especially considering that the spellbook that helped them start their latest invasion on your world is being kept here,” Luna chimed in, her horn glowing. With a flash, the Book of Medivh appeared right beside the younger Princess, floating in her magic. As always, the sight of the damned spellbook brought great discomfort to Arthas. He didn’t like Brann’s request to keep it hidden on Equestria for the time being, but at the same time he liked the thought of leaving it in the Everfree Abbey while he was away even less. That’s why before he and his paladins had set out on their expedition to the Dread Isle he had left it in the care of the Princesses. He hadn’t thought about them using it as an argument in a discussion about the Legion. Luna’s magic opened the book, rummaging through the pages. “We have skimmed through it briefly,” she continued, her gaze turning to the book before returning to Arthas, “and what was written here about demons only increased the unease we've had about the Burning Legion since you showed me your past in your dream.” “W-wait, Princess,” Twilight spoke up, looking from Luna to Celestia with worry, “you don’t think that this Burning Legion could attack Equestria?” “It is a possibility,” Princess Luna replied, closing the book and teleporting it away. “And while we’re being honest,” Princess Celestia added, “my sister and I have also been concerned how you never brought this subject up yourself.” Despite that there was no accusation in Celestia’s voice, Arthas winced. They were right, he should have spoken to them about this sooner. However, before he could say anything in his defense, another voice spoke up. “He probably deduced how very unlikely it would be for your world to be invaded by the Burning Legion.” Once again within such a short span of time, Arthas found himself staring at Sindragosa in surprise. The blue dragon appeared as disinterested as before, even annoyed. Turning briefly to the Princesses, he said, “Before I explain myself, can we all listen to what Sindragosa has to say?” “But of course,” Celestia replied. “Sindragosa, as heartlifting as that thought is, could you explain why you think it’s unlikely that the Burning Legion would invade our world?” Sindragosa finally turned her blind gaze towards them. “Because if they were to invade this world, they would have done it a very long time ago already. It is not surprising you hadn’t realized this,” she added, then turned to Arthas, “but surely you have noticed how unusual this world is, correct?” “Of course I have,” Arthas replied, frowning. “But what does that have to do with the Legion not attacking Equestria?” The blue dragon sighed. She raised one paw, her claws glowing with arcane energies, and waved it. “This is Azeroth,” she said as a big glowing globe appeared before everypony. As everypony looked at it curiously, Arthas noted that this projection had only a single huge continent, the ancient Kalimdor. As if sensing that, Sindragosa added, “Or rather, Azeroth as it was back when I was alive. I’m more familiar with this state of the planet, and for the purposes of this conversation it really doesn’t matter if I show you how it appeared then or now. Regardless,” she resumed, flickering her claws again, “those are Azeroth’s ley lines.” The projection rippled, and a series of bright blue lines stretched out from the middle of the Kalimdor, where the Well of Eternity was, throughout the entire planet. Turning and zigzagging, the ley lines run, some bigger and more explicit, some smaller and barely visible, and they crossed each other at many nexuses across Azeroth. “The ley lines are channels of immense power that course through the planet,” Sindragosa said, forestalling anypony’s questions. “You can think of them as blood vessels, except they carry arcane magic instead of fluids. The places where they cross are called nexuses, and beings can tap into them to gather more power at those locations, cast more powerful spells, conjure portals to other planets, and many more. And now that you have a comparison of how a planet should appear, here you have your world.” Waving her other paw, a second globe appeared beside Azeroth’s projection. Equestria, with the two continents on the opposite sides, one of which was shattered at the northern half. “Or, more or less, I am not yet quite familiar with its geography,” Sindragosa admitted. “However, this is the point I am trying to make.” She waved her claws again… and the entire projection of Equestria began to glow. “So, my assumption was correct,” Arthas mused; he had also sensed that magic flew differently in this world, but as he himself didn’t dabble in arcane magic, he couldn’t be sure if his hunch was correct. “But why would Equestria be like that? What does this mean?” “Your world, as far as I am able to tell, does not have ley lines. Instead, your planet just sort of… pulses with magic,” Sindragosa explained, briefly looking for the right word. “Radiates with it. Doesn’t make you ponies or any other magic user more powerful than you would be on Azeroth, but makes your planet easier to sense. This is why I think Equestria should have been invaded by demons a long time ago, a world pulsing with magic should be like a beacon among the Great Dark Beyond for them. But they haven’t, which means-” “Now, hang on a minute there,” Applejack spoke up, interrupting her. “Ah might not know much ‘bout magics and whatnot, but how do ya know it’s our world that ain’t normal and not yars?” The dragon, visibly annoyed at the interruption, turned to Arthas. “You and the previous Lich King were one being at some point; I assume you have his memories. Didn’t Draenor also have arcane ley lines coursing through it?” “Yes, it had. Ner’zhul conducted his ritual at a nexus point of the ley lines to tap into Draenor’s power in order to open portals across the planet to different worlds,” he added, looking at everypony. “The energies he unleashed by doing so tore the very planet apart, so you can see what Sindragosa meant when she said that you can gather more power from such places. Anyway, she is right, worlds are supposed to have ley lines like Azeroth.” “How can you even tell that Equestria doesn’t have them?” Princess Celestia asked. “I’m a blue dragon, we are the guardians of magic on Azeroth. If my eyes still worked I could plainly see ley lines under the ground, but even without my sight I can sense them. Or rather, should be able to sense them, instead I can sense this magic pulsing everywhere I go. Now, granted,” she said, waving her claws and dispersing the two projections as the glow around her paws disappeared, “I can’t be completely certain that this is the state of your world, as I haven’t been here a long time and didn’t have an opportunity to conduct any research yet. I could do it, though, if you’d like,” Sindragosa told Celestia and Luna, “it is quite intriguing and I don’t have much to do, the matter of our rebirth aside of course.” “We would be most grateful for any information you could provide us with regarding this interesting issue,” Celestia replied, nodding. “How would you go about conducting this research?” Sindragosa shrugged. “You don’t have to worry, it would be the most basic of things. Placing several beacons around the world and gathering readings from them would be enough, I would be able to tell you exactly how the magic is spread around Equestria thanks to that.” A slight furrow crossed Celestia’s brow. “We will have to return to this topic to discuss it in greater detail. For now we’d best continue the subject of the Burning Legion.” “As you wish, Princess,” Sindragosa replied with a tiny nod of her head. “As I was saying before, the Legion hasn’t found your world despite how it emanates magic. The fact that they haven’t makes me think that they can’t. Or more precisely, that there is something preventing the demons from sensing it.” “‘Preventing’? What could possibly prevent them from discovering Equestria?” Arthas asked, frowning in confusion. “There is something far more obvious that is different about this world from Azeroth or any other world,” Sindragosa replied, then turning her blind gaze to others she added, “Which is something you ponies know too, considering what’s written in your astronomy books.” Once again, arcane energies danced around her claws as she waved them, conjuring an image of Equestria. Except this time, it was smaller, and it was accompanied by projections of the sun and moon, circling around the planet. “This world has a sun and moon rotating around it, moved by the two Princesses here,” Sindragosa said, with a tiny nod to the alicorns. “The fact that those two celestial bodies need to be magically moved aside, normally, it is the planet that rotates around the sun,” she added, waving her claws, and the projection of Azeroth, with its two moons, circling around much bigger and much further away sun. Sindragosa allowed the ponies to look at the conjured images for a few seconds (with the fillies being especially ensnared) before with a flick of her claws they dispersed. “My theory is that this circular movement of the sun and moon around Equestria somehow hides the unusual pulsing of magic from anybody who could pick it up from the Twisting Nether,” the blue dragon said, crossing her arms on her chest. Arthas frowned slightly, but before he could voice his concern Sindragosa added, “Yes, this theory is a bit of a leap, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.” Arthas wasn’t completely sure that she was right… but she had a point about this world making no sense, and she understood magic far better than anypony in this room. “Far be it from me to argue with a blue dragon about what makes sense and what not,” he agreed respectfully (“Malygos’ case notwithstanding,” he privately remarked.). “But why would this world… be like this?” Sindragosa frowned. “As someone who spent about a week on this world,” she began sarcastically, but then she shrugged and continued in normal voice, “between all of that and the fact that we were brought back to life in these bodies, I would risk a guess that this world, like Azeroth, had been visited by the titans, and for some reason they got really creative with it.” “Oh, wonderful,” Arthas snorted, shaking his head. “Because when they stick to their norms, it works out so well for the planet. How many of Azeroth’s current problems are the result of titans’ mistakes or miscalculations?” Sindragosa murmured something under her breath (which Arthas could swear sounded like: “Said a vrykul runt,”), her blind eyes rolling upwards in exasperation. Before he could comment on her remark, Princess Celestia spoke up. “We know nothing about those titans, aside from what Arthas has told us about them,” she began calmly, with a glance at the paladin, “but based on that I would have to agree that this seems to be the most logical assumption. However, I must ask you, is there any way for us to confirm that this is indeed the case?” Sindragosa scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Assuming that, despite this unusual creativity, the titans hadn’t differed too far from how they ordered Azeroth, there should be some titan constructs, titan-forged and titan facilities around the planet. If this Gate of Tartarus that possibly brought me and Arthas back to life is indeed some titan creation, we should be able to learn more, and maybe use it to track down some titan keepers - construct sapient beings they’d left to protect Azeroth - they would have left behind to look after Equestria, and hopefully get answers from them.” “That was a lot of ‘assuming’, ‘shoulds’ and ‘ifs’,” Arthas commented, but before Sindragosa could retort he added, turning to Celestia and Luna, “but it does seem like the only way to discover, at the very least, why your world is so unusual.” “That’s assuming that there are some ‘titan keepers’ on Equestria,” Luna pointed out. “If the titans shaped your world, they would have left somebody to protect it,” Sindragosa assured her. “I’m sure we will have our answers once Brann Bronzebeard arrives and we examine the Gate of Tartarus,” Princess Celestia chimed in before her sister could reply to the dragon. “But right now what concerns me most is still this Burning Legion. Even if we were to believe that they cannot find our world, I think they warrant further discussion.” “Especially since this isn’t the reason Arthas hadn’t brought them up before.” Surprised, Arthas turned to look at Twilight. The purple unicorn smirked at him. “Come on, I know you. Even if it did cross your mind that those demons cannot find Equestria, you wouldn’t just leave it at that. You are way too paranoid to think that it would mean we’d be safe from them,” she explained, rolling her eyes. Arthas sighed while their friends snorted in amusement. It was indeed not his reason for not discussing the Burning Legion properly with ponies before and he was about to explain it regardless. Twilight was also probably right that he wouldn’t have just been content with the thought of the Legion never being able to find Equestria. “You are right, of course,” he began with a nod to the unicorn. “Sindragosa’s reasoning, while sound, wasn’t shared by me. I have my own reasons as to why I hadn’t approached the subject of the Burning Legion before.” Rainbow Dash snorted. “Arthas keeping secrets, stop the presses.” Knowing only too well that she had a point, Arthas didn’t argue. Sweeping his gaze through the ponies, he began, “Initially, I hadn’t spoken of the Burning Legion because I was in shock after being brought back to life. I was confused, and it took me a while to adjust, even with all of your and the Light’s help. The threat of worlds-destroying demon armies…probably should have been the first thing I should have told you about, ignoring the risk of sounding like a doomsayer,” he allowed himself to add humorously, making a few of his friends chuckle, “but I was of no mind to think about such matters.” “But you eventually found your place among us,” Princess Celestia pointed out, “and some peace, I hope.” Indeed he had. Thanks to Twilight and everypony else he had found, while maybe not exactly peace, something to anchor himself to. Something that made life not just bearable, but worth living. And then later, while being initially hesitant about training paladins and becoming the head of the order, he had gained a purpose. Nodding to Princess Celestia in silent reply, he then frowned and resumed, “Once I had, shall we say, sufficiently recovered… I hadn’t spoken about the Burning Legion mainly for two reasons. The first being that…while I hadn’t assumed, like Sindragosa, that the Burning Legion couldn’t find your world, I had found it nearly impossible that the demons could ever start a large, open conflict with Equestria. “To explain my train of thought,” Arthas quickly added, forestalling questions he could see both princesses, Twilight, Nymph, and few others already had, “I’ll quickly summarize the Burning Legion’s attempts to conquer Azeroth. The first time they invaded my homeworld was over ten thousand years ago, starting a conflict known as the War of the Ancients. It was during that time that Sindragosa died,” he said with a nod at the blue dragon, who could barely stop herself from snorting in annoyance. Arthas couldn’t blame her reaction to him mentioning her death. After all, it wasn’t demons who had killed her. “The Burning Legion had been defeated by the combined forces of the kaldorei, tauren, furbolgs, earthens, ancient Wild Gods and dragons, after a long and very destructive war,” he continued, “But even though the demon invasion was fought back, they weren’t defeated. Since they dwell within the Twisting Nether, the plane between the worlds, as well as on the various planets they have conquered, they required a portal. The defenders of Azeroth merely managed to last long enough against the Burning Legion to close the portal before the demons managed to cross in numbers that would overwhelm them. And in the aftermath of the war, the source of practically unlimited magic that the demons had used to create the portal to our world, the Well of Eternity, had been destroyed. With it gone, the Burning Legion couldn’t launch a full scale invasion on Azeroth again.” “But, they did, didn’t they?” Applejack asked, frowning in confusion. “Ya just told us how-” Arthas raised a hoof. “Yes, Applejack, I am getting to that. While I said that the Burning Legion couldn’t invade Azeroth again in the same manner, they had other options. As far as I am aware, after their loss in the War of the Ancients, they attempted to invade my world five more times, only succeeding during the Third War, which again ended up in their defeat. As I told you briefly when recounting my past, they created the Lich King and ordered him to engineer the Scourge in order to weaken the defenders of Azeroth and to open the path for the demons. Using the incantations within the Book of Medivh - the same one,” he added with a tilt of his head at Princess Luna,” ironically, that Brann had left for my safekeeping - Kel’Thuzad had been able to create a rift linking Azeroth to the Twisting Nether, and through it demons started to pour, including one of the leaders of the Burning Legion and several other powerful Legion commanders. However, their overall numbers were small. This is what I meant when I said that they hadn’t launched a full scale invasion, even a rift created through this spellbook could only open the path for so many demons. This is why the Legion relied on the Scourge to serve as their army.” “Which came to bite them in the tail,” Rainbow remarked, smirking. “Yes, it did,” Arthas retorted, not smiling; while Ner’zhul’s betrayal had indeed sealed the defeat of the Legion in the Third War, it didn’t erase the fact that they had helped to usher them to Azeroth. “And what about those other four attempts by the Burning Legion to invade Azeroth?” Twilight asked. “They were stopped,” Arthas answered, shrugging. “The demons constructed an artifact for the master of the Legion, the Scepter of Sargeras, that had the power to tear rifts between the worlds for a short while, to allow an avatar infused with a portion of his soul to go through them. Though he wouldn’t have his full power, he would have been able to summon more demons and lead another invasion. However, Guardian Aegwynn - the mother of Medivh - defeated this avatar.” Arthas decided to omit the tale of how apparently that was the Legion’s dark master’s true plan. How the fallen titan’s soul - or rather, the portion of it that was inside the avatar - had leaped out of its destroyed vessel and into Aegwynn, infused itself into her womb and then possessed Medivh even before he was born. Was that always Sargeras’ plan? To discard his own avatar to possess a human, even if it was the Guardian of Tirisfal? If indeed it was, then the Legion’s master was truly tenacious, to commit to a plan that would take a thousand years to yield results. Or maybe he decided that Aegwynn would be more useful to him alive during their fight and just improvised? Discarding even the Scepter in the process, the very weapon demons created for the purpose of starting another invasion? Arthas knew very well just what power dwelled within that artifact. Through the memories of another, he felt as if he had held it within his own hands. It was, along with the Book of Medivh, one of the three artifacts that Ner’zhul had used to tear Draenor apart. “Then again, he was probably going to reclaim it anyway,” Arthas remarked in his thoughts, banishing the memories of the long, ornate scepter, crowned with a floating purple orb decorated with nathrezim wings. “That was their first attempt at launching another invasion of Azeroth,” he resumed. “Another came a thousand years later, using people from another world. The demons corrupted the orcs of Draenor and bound them to their will, then used them to invade Azeroth, starting the First War. The plan was to weaken the various kingdoms that would oppose the Burning Legion and eventually to open the way for them. However, the orcish Horde was stopped by the Alliance in the Second War, the Legion’s plan was thwarted, and the orcs would eventually free themselves from the demon’s influence. “Then they came up with the Scourge,” he added reluctantly. “Obviously, that plan worked and the second invasion of the Burning Legion came about, but as I’ve already mentioned they were defeated again. Another two attempts would be made about six years later.” “Ten thousand years between their first and second invasions, and then they tried again only a few years later,” an alarming thought rose within him. “How long before they’d come up with a new plan? Assuming they aren’t already working on one…” “The demons had somehow convinced an elven prince to ally with them when he was on Outland,” he said, choosing to not dwell on those dark thoughts. “Prince Kael’thas had attempted to use the Sunwell, the same fount of magical power of the elves that I had used to raise Kel’thuzad years before, to summon another lord of the Burning Legion to start yet another invasion. Fortunately, they were stopped by the Shattered Sun Offensive, a coalition of forces that fought against both Kael’thas and the Burning Legion on Outland. Then within the next year, Varimathras, one of the Lich King’s former jailors, who had allied with Sylvanas and the Forsaken, had staged a coup d'etat and after gaining control of the Undercity attempted to open up portals to start the next invasion, but he was stopped by the Horde as they fought to reclaim the city.” He tried to ignore the irk or irritation about the Horde reclaiming his father’s kingdom. Arthas knew that this Horde was different from the one corrupted by demons that had fought them in the Second War, and the Forsaken who dwelled in the ruins of Lordaeron were still his people, so he thanked the Light that they had allies, whoever they were. Didn’t make the thought of Horde’s banners flying over Lordaeron any less irritating, though. “That Sylvanas really trusted a demon?” Serenity asked, frowning. Arthas snorted. “I highly doubt Sylvanast trusts anybody. Least of all that she actually trusted Varimathras. But she had probably assumed that if he would indeed plan to betray her she would see it coming. Of course, this happened during the War in Northrend against me, so Sylvanas had been too occupied with the thought of killing me to notice a giant demon standing behind her with a knife.” He wondered… at Angrathar, when the Forsaken attacked him - and the forces of Alliance and Horde - with their New Plague… on whose orders had they done it? At the time, he had been certain that Sylvanas had been behind it. Even the Scourge hadn’t known about Varimathras’ coup in Undercity, which took place at the same time, and he knew the Grand Apothecary Putress who had unleashed the plague was the demon’s ally. Later Sylvanas had claimed that Varimathras had been behind that… … except Arthas knew Sylvanas would have stopped at nothing to kill him, and the plague that she had prepared for him had nearly done it. Seeing no point in dwelling on that, he shook his head. “As you can see, each time the Legion tried to invade Azeroth, they were stopped.” “So you thought that if they would try to invade Equestria,” Princess Celestia interjected, frowning thoughtfully, “we would have been able to stop them in time as well?” Arthas nodded. “Creation of a portal for the Burning Legion to send any significant force through would take a very big amount of power. Considering this kingdom is the greatest concentration of magic in this world - and that there aren’t exactly many other nations who can even use magic - it would be easy to detect any disturbances that would alert us that somepony was attempting to open a way for the demons to invade. Even without myself and the other paladins you seemed to be able to handle occasional crises now and then,” he added with a smirk at Twilight and the rest of his friends, “so I assumed that we’d be able to stop any agents of the Burning Legion before we’d have to worry about an invasion.” “I suppose I can’t fault you for that logic,” Princess Celestia replied before anypony else could interject; he knew Rainbow well enough to know she was about to boastfully claim that Arthas was totally right. “You do have far more knowledge on the subject of demons, not to mention experience. And it would be indeed preferable if we could prevent the Legion’s invasion in the first place. However, it still doesn’t answer the question why you hadn’t warned us about them before.” “Because there weren’t any signs that we should worry about such things,” Arthas answered. “I’ve been in Equestria for months now, I’ve been reading your newspapers and talking with ponies. There was no strange plague, no mysterious signs in the sky, no sightings of any otherworldly creatures skulking around, nothing pointing out to the work of demons. And if somepony attempted to meddle with the fabric of reality to create a portal for demons, it would create a huge disharmony that I, Sindragosa, and I suspect you too, Your Majesties, could easily sense. So since I expected that we would have plenty of warning signs in case of a Burning Legion invasion, I chose to focus on more immediate matters.” Princess Celestia nodded with understanding, but her frown betrayed that she wasn’t entirely convinced. “That might be so, but it’s still borderline reckless to not discuss this threat with us. Surely it would have been better if we’d also been on the lookout for any sign of demon activity.” “He did say he had two reasons, Sister,” Princess Luna pointed out. Turning her gaze to Arthas, she added: “While his first one seemed to be dictated by logic, perhaps we’ll find the second one more illuminating?” Arthas suppressed a sigh. He had hoped to avoid this. But he had sworn fealty to the Princesses, and those were all his friends. He couldn’t have lied to them, so he said that he had two major reasons, which was true. Still, he had hoped that the lengthy explanation of his train of thoughts behind the first reason would be satisfying enough, or that it would throw them off and they’d forget that there was another reason. But he should have guessed Princess Luna would have remembered. Hell, she had probably figured out what the real reason was why he had kept them all in the dark about the danger they faced. She had seen his memories, after all… starting with the very first time the darkness that he wanted inhabitants of this world to be spared from had first entered his life. Seconds passed, but he found himself unsure how to start. Arthas found himself turning his gaze away from everypony, towards the nearest window. Slowly, he rose and began to walk towards it. “Um, Arthas?” he heard Applejack call, her voice surprised. He didn’t reply, and ignored the murmur of confusion behind him. Instead, he focused on the sight beyond the window once he reached it. Canterlot. The capital of Equestria. City of talking ponies, as ridiculous as it sounded to a part of him even now. And beyond its border, further away, the barely visible outline of Ponyville. Two places filled with ponies walking around, thinking only about their daily lives, of their families and friends. “Do you know what I think about when I look at Ponyville and Canterlot?” he finally asked in a raised voice so that everypony could hear him. He didn’t wait long for them to answer, not wanting an interruption (and half-expecting Sindragosa to offer a snide comment), “I think about Lordaeron. How it used to be. Not before me, but before the Second War. “Everything was at peace then. People could walk around towns and villages without having to worry about things that were out of their control. Sure, there were problems, bandits, wild animal attacks, occasional forest troll incursion, but they were rare and were easily handled by the standing army. Which didn’t have much to do otherwise, as whenever there would be some disagreement with the neighboring kingdoms my father would solve them all diplomatically. Then again the only nations that would fight each other at that age were Stromgarde and Alterac,” Arthas amended, shaking his head and snorting softly. “Trollbane and Perenolde… but then, the news came. “Stormwind has fallen.” Those were the three dreaded words Uther had said to him that day oh so long ago, words that heralded the change of everything. “King Llane was dead. The survivors sailed through the sea and landed on our shores. Anduin Lothar, the onetime Champion of Stormwind, the mage Khadgar of Dalaran and Prince Varian were traveling to the Capital City bearing news of what destroyed the mighty kingdom and threatened everybody. “Nothing was really the same after that. Even before they reached us with the news of the Orcish Horde. Dread fell over the entire capital, everybody wondering and whispering what could have caused all of this. And then we knew. Just like that, we started preparing for war. Forges were lit and clangs sounded as they produced armors and weapons. Chapels were filled with people praying. Emissaries were sent out to gather provisions, mounts, food for mounts, carts, tents, everything an army would need. Conscription was introduced, for the first time since my great-grandfather’s rule. Rulers and emissaries from the neighboring kingdoms arrived to discuss how to combat this threat, decisions were made… and then silence. The soldiers left to gather with the rest of the army, leaving behind basically a skeletal crew to protect the Capital City. Citizens had left too, many having joined the army, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, or simple workers went with them, leaving behind almost exclusively children and the elderly. Even with the refugees of Stormwind and some Lordaeronians who fled to the capital from the surrounding villages, the city seemed empty. Everybody tried to carry on through the days, waiting for the news from the battlefront and fearing for their brothers, sisters, husbands, fathers, sons and daughters. “You haven’t known war for two thousand years,” his voice slightly raised, he finally addressed the ponies. Without turning his head, he continued, “You had your share of trials and problems you have faced, and I know you ponies are brave and would rise up to face any challenge… but a war is something completely different. Since I came here, you have learned from me about alien worlds and various powers that were common knowledge on them, and you had to cope with that. But bringing the specter of war against the Burning Legion, not just to you but to all those ponies living their peaceful lives?” Arthas turned his head, looking at his friends with sorrow. “It might have been irresponsible or even selfish of me, but I would rather have spared your entire kingdom this fear.” They now looked at him with understanding. He had told them before about how his homeworld seemed to be in a constant state of war, but he wondered if they ever thought about how it affected the common people, the civilians. How fear and uncertainty had been thrust upon them and how little they had to say on this matter. After a few moments of silence, Princess Celestia stepped forward. “I am thankful that you wished to preserve the happiness of my subjects, Arthas. You are right when you point out how those trials we have faced pale in comparison to a real war. But this isn’t something that we could be protected from forever. While I dearly hope that there would never come a day when my sister and I would have to lead Equestria through war, I would much rather that our ponies were prepared to defend themselves against the demons rather than live in a fool's paradise. Your own people suffered uncertainty and fear, but they faced it bravely. Ponies, and other people of this world, would do the same if such time would come.” Arthas sighed and nodded in what was both agreement and defeat. Celestia was right, he knew that. It would be far better for ponies to know what threats they might face in the future than for them to remain ignorant and lead happier lives. And after living among them for so long, he had a feeling that they indeed would face adversities bravely, even such as the ones that seem intent on plaguing his homeworld. “Now then,” Princess Celestia added in a briskier tone, “I assume that you don’t have optimistic views on our chances if the Burning Legion would invade Equestria directly?” “Forgive me, Princess, but no,” Arthas retorted, turning fully around. “I won’t claim to be awfully familiar with your military prowess, but if the Legion were to invade you… it’s not even the matter of experience, your army is in dire need of reorganization if you’d want it to be on par with Azerothian’s armies, let alone combat the armies of demons.” This Arthas could discuss. Military strategies. Increasing ponies safety by improving their defenses, not just traumatizing them by the tales of war and the Burning Legion. “Of course, if you’d begin improving your military, other kingdoms would grow uneasy, as Griffonia had recently once the Order of the Celestial Light had been formed. That being said, the Burning Legion would want to conquer the entire world, so this would affect them too, obviously.” “Then perhaps this would be the time to reveal to our neighbors how we’ve recently started making contacts with people from another world,” Princess Luna chimed in. “With griffons coming to join the paladin order they’re bound to find out sooner or later. And with the threat of the Burning Legion… Even if Sindragosa is right and they cannot discover Equestria, we should let the other nations know about them and make plans to defend each other just in case.” Yes, that was a good idea. The Alliance was originally born to combat the Horde. Maybe in this world a similar coalition could be made to prepare for alien threats as well? But how to convince all those other nations that he was speaking the truth? His friends knew him, which is why they trusted him, and they had met Brann Bronzebeard, a dwarf from Azeroth. Cadance and Shining Armor would believe him, too, and it seemed that he had the trust of Queen Chrysalis as well, but what of other leaders of this world? “Once the griffon initiates arrive I can use the Proving Grounds to make them face projections of demons, they could tell their people just how dangerous they are…” Arthas mused out loud, wondering how his initiates would fare against fellguards and fellhounds… when he realized there was something nagging him at the back of his mind, but what that was… Demons. Arthas turned his eyes toward Sindragosa. Before the whole discussion about the Burning Legion had started, she had said something that had deeply unsettled him, but Celestia redirected the conversation before he could question her. “What did you mean when you said that demons cannot be killed?” he asked the blue dragon. Sindragosa, who seemed to be paying only half-attention for some time, turned her blind gaze towards him. “I’ve learned that the dreadlords seem particularly tough to completely kill, but I hadn’t heard of any other demon doing the same.” Sindragosa crossed her arms and shrugged. “The soul of every demon is tethered to the Twisting Nether. When they are killed, they just return to it and reform there.” His eyes widened while dread crept into his very soul. “What?” he asked numbly, which was all that he was able to muster. “How would you even know such a thing?” he heard Twilight ask; glancing at her, Arthas realized everypony else was equally surprised, though it was clear that they hadn’t realized the full implications of this. “Because I’m a blue dragon,” Sindragosa snorted. “When we don’t know or understand something, we observe it and study it. If that something happens to pose a threat to the world, we capture it and study it thoroughly. When the War of the Ancients began, we captured several demons of different species - fellhounds, infernals, mo’args, satyrs, ered’ruins, nathrezim, eredar, an annihilan - and examined them. We have discovered that they were all infused with large quantities of fel magic that warped their bodies and souls, tethering them to the Twisting Nether. We speculated that to completely kill a demon they’d have to be killed within the Twisting Nether or alternatively places where its chaotic energies have leaked into. And as for the nathrezim - the drealords - surviving their deaths on Azeroth and returning,” she added, turning to Arthas, “there was something… unique about them, compared to the other demons we’ve studied. When we’d strip their beings down to their basic elements, we’ve discovered that the demons were either composed solely of the energies of the Twisting Nether - meaning they came to be within it - or that they had traces of elements that pointed out to them to originally being mortal, living beings like us who were infused with fel magic and turned into demons, like Azeroth’s own satyrs. But the nathrezim… we were never really able to discern what their structure was composed of. Of course, we were forced to halt our research once- once we had to join the war,” Sindragosa half-stammered, for a brief moment intending to say something else. Clearing her throat, she finished, “I suspect that might have something to do with how they seem to be able to make their souls linger on the world they had died and possess corpses.” Arthas didn’t really care about that, or that Sindragosa seemed really reluctant to talk about what had happened to blue dragons during the War of the Ancients. His mind was still reeling at this newest, dreadful revelation. Beside him, Celestia turned a worried gaze to him. “What does that mean?” Arthas swallowed. “It means…” It meant the Burning Legion isn’t just a huge, extremely big army, composed of very powerful creatures bent on destroying all life. It meant that they couldn’t be simply bled out before closing their portals on Azeroth, Equestria, or any other world they’d invade. It meant that all of those commanders of the Burning Legion who were destroyed during the Third War - Archimonde, Tichondrius, Mannoroth - were alive and would one day attack again. It meant that their armies were infinite. It meant that they would never stop. It meant… that there was no hope… “No,” a soft but firm voice spoke in his head. “There is always hope.” His conviction reaffirmed, Arthas fought back against his fear. Sindragosa’s revelation might have made the Burning Legion seem invincible, but they had always seemed as such, and yet Azeroth had defeated them twice already. As long as they’d cling to hope and not give in to despair, they’ll always find a way to beat them. “It means,” he finally said out loud, “that I’ll need Spike to send a letter.” “Huh?” the dragon asked, blinking. “A letter to who?” “To Brann Bronzebeard. I need to write to him to hasten his visit to Equestria. He needs to hear what Sindragosa said and inform Azeroth about it.” Even as he said those words, Arthas started to realize that just informing people of Azeroth about demons’ immortality wouldn’t solve much, and even that alone wouldn’t be easy to do. In his mind he began to work on what else could be done while continuing to explain, “Nobody in Azeroth knows that all the demons they defeated during the Third War will be back one day…” “But, wait,” he heard Nymph interrupt him. “What about the other blue dragons? Sindragosa said ‘we’ when talking about how they examined demons-” “They all died,” Arthas cut in, in a voice that bordered on curtly. He didn’t have time to dance around the subject to spare Sindragosa’s feelings. He just had an idea. “With your permission, Your Majesties,” he began, turning to Celestia and Luna, “I would also like to ask Brann in the letter to bring along another, if it would turn out to be possible.” “Another?” Celestia repeated, intrigued. “Brann is respected among the people of Azeroth, but his voice wouldn’t reach everybody. In order for the information to reach the leaders of the world quicker and more efficiently, we’d need somepony with even more connections and diplomatic experience. Furthermore, considering that the threat of the Burning Legion is even bigger than I had previously imagined, it would be better for Equestria to gather more information about demons than I could provide on my own. Also, since it’s a threat that affects both our worlds, it wouldn’t hurt to start making long-term strategies involving both Equestria and Azeroth. What better way would it be than to have somepony capable of all that coming to this world?” Princess Celestia nodded thoughtfully. “You seem to have somepony specific in mind,” she noted. “Yes, Princess-” he began… only to pause. That name came almost immediately to his mind, and he had almost said it without realizing. But he stopped himself. Earlier, when he talked about his intention, he had been thinking about somebody else, somebody who was more qualified for the task he had in mind. And yet when he was about to name him, he almost said her name. Did he stop himself because he was thinking logically, or because his emotions got involved? After all, while his initial pick was more qualified, she would also excel in spreading the word, sharing knowledge with ponies and helping strategise. Except… Arthas really didn’t feel he could face her again. Shaking his head briefly, he made his choice. “Archmage Khadgar.”