//------------------------------//
// 3. Eyes 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

"Matthias Lehner?" asked Twilight, puzzled. "That's a weird name for a pony."
"Well, I'm not from around here." said Matthias, not really caring. "It's rather common where I came from."
        "Which brings us to our next question: where exactly are you from?"
        Matthias wondered is he should tell them that he was from another world, or that he wasn't a pony. That, however, could bring even more uncomfortable questions, so he decided that for now it would be best to be as cryptic as possible.
        "Why would you want to know that?" he asked instead.
        "Well you're definitely not from Ponyville, and that’s the only town in Equestria that close to the Everfree Forest. And I hope I'm not offending you, but... well..."
        "How can you be this old and not have a cutie mark?!" interjeceted Rainbow Dash. "You must be the biggest loser ever."
        Matthias facehoofed himself and let out exaspereted noise, remembering similar reaction from the three filies. He didn't have a high opinion of himself, not after everything he has done, but calling him a 'loser' was a bit irritating. 
        "For the love of Light, can somebody please tell me what the hell is a cutie mark!?" he said, a bit louder than he intended.
        "Aaand that's another thing." Twilight said, frowning. "How can you not know what's a cutie mark? That's something everypony knows!"
        "Everypony? For Light's sake..."
        "I'm from very far away, so things that are normal here are considered rare there." he said, hoping it will be good enough explanation. "I'm willing to bet that there are also few things known to me and not to you or... anypony here."
        "Well, at least that's true."
        "That's still impossible! How can you be a pony and not know what's a cutie mark?"
        "Can you please just explain to me what it is, for Light's sake?"
        "Aargh" growled Twilight, irritated. "A cutie mark is a symbol that appears on a pony after he or she discovers his or her's special talent." as to emphasize her words, she moved her body so that Matthias could see her flank, and the star like symbol on it.
        For a moment he almost wished that he still had the Helm of Domination on his head, so nopony could see his face as he stared for next few seconds with undoubtedly stupid expression at Twilight cutie mark, until he realized that he was also looking at her ass, which made him uncomfortable enough to snap out of this.
        "You're serious?" he asked to be sure. When all of them nodded, he tried to buy himself time to think of some good explanation as to why he didn't know something that apparently was part of this creatures life cycle: "And what, pray tell, is your special talent, Miss Sparkle? Stargazing?"
        "No, my cutie mark represents expertise in magic."
        "So it's more a metaphorical thing..." Matthias wondered, looking at the other mares: Applejack's cutie mark were three apples, Fluttershy's three butterflies, Rarity's three diamonds, Pinkie Pie's three balloons and Rainbow Dash's was a cloud with thunder in rainbow's colors. "Why more than half of them has three things on their cutie marks?".
        "I'm beginning to see why the fact that I didn't know about something like this seemed strange to you." he said slowly. "However, I still stand by my previous explanation: I'm from very far away, where things regarding ponies are... different." Matthias hoped it sounded better than he thought it did. Funny thing was, he was still telling the truth, to some degree at last. "We don't have those cutie marks there, or, in fact, ponies with wings or horns, although we do have legends about them."
        He was rewarded with confused looks.
        "Where the heck are you from?" asked Rainbow Dash.
        "Ever heard of Azeroth?" Matthias answered, figuring he could say at least the name of his world.
        "Eee, no." she answered , looking at Twilight.
        "I haven't heard of that place either!" she practically yelled, surprise at her voice. "Where is this Azeroth of yours? I've read tons of books, but none of them mentioned of such place, with just earth ponies without cutie marks!"
        "Her 'special talent' thing is magic, and she 'read tons of books'? I didn't know Light could be so ironic..." Matthias thought, reminded of Jaina.
        Before he could answer Twilight's question, the doors opened and a brown pony with horn wearing a white coat walked in.
        "Oh good, you're awake. I'm one of this hospital's doctors." he said as he came closer. "Do you mind if I take a look at your head?"
        "Not at all." answered Matthias, relieved.
        The doctor's horn glowed and bandages on Matthias' head had untied themselves, or at least he thought so, until he noticed strange aura, that had the same color as light around doctor's horn, surrounding them. Remembering that something like this happened to Pinkie when Twilight took her off him, Matthias guessed that this was magic.
        "So only ponies with horns can use it?"
        When he finished untying Matthias' bandages, the doctor examined his head, which took him mere second.
        "It looks like your skin has healed. I must say, though, you must be really tough. From what I've been told, that timberwolf threw you into a tree so hard that many of its branches fell. Not only it didn't crush your skull, but you also managed to stay conscious for a good ten minutes."
        "Yes, well, I've been through worse." Matthias muttered.
        "I could see that. Mind telling me how those wounds on your chest were treated? They must have been grievous, to leave such scars."
        "One was treated by freezing myself for few years, and the other wasn't."
        "I don't really remember, I was unconscious both times. Blood loss does that to you." he said, telling the first thing that came to his mind.
        "Hmh... Anyway, I don't see any reason to keep you here any longer. We're kind of full, you see, since there are still ponies with the feather flu here. I need you to fill some papers for the hospital. If you could come with me, please..."
        Matthias nodded and got up. While he may have never heard of such disease as 'feather flu', as a former paladin he understood their need for more space. He wondered how serious it must be, so that priests or paladins couldn't have simply healed them, until he realized that maybe ponies don't have either of them.
        As he rose from the bed he was lying on, he realized he had some kind of gown on himself, which he took off, since, apparently everypony was walking naked around. Some of the mares gasped when they saw his scars.
        "I'll see you later, ladies, Spike. Light be with you." he said for a goodbye, bowing his head, and followed the doctor.
        As doctor led him to his office, Matthias discreetly looked at his cutie mark, which appeared to be some sort of gnomish device. Not really sure what was that suppose to represent, he hastened his pace, until he stood in doctor's room.
        "Ah, here it is." said doctor, levitating some sheets of paper and a quill. "Name?"
        "Matthias Lehner"
        Doctor's brow rose, but all he said was: "With two 't'?", to which Matthias nodded.
        "Place of residence?"
        "Hmm... homeless, I guess?" answered Matthias.
        This time doctor made a comment: "You 'guess'?"
        "Well, I have no place to sleep, if this is what you meant. Speaking of, do you know of any place they let you live in in return for work?"
        "Not at the moment. Maybe one of those ladies would let you stay at her house? They seemed to be grateful to you for saving those fillies, and they are quite friendly."
        "Maybe" Matthias replied, not really expecting anyone, or rather, anypony, to be friendly or grateful enough to let a complete stranger live in their house.





        "So, what did you think of him?" Twilight asked the other girls as they left the hospital.
        "Ah'don know, Twi." said Applejack, her expression puzzled. "Ah mean, am thankful he saved mah sister and all, but... he seems strange."
        "Yeah, no kidding!" added Rainbow Dash. "I mean: place where ponies don't have cutie marks and there aren't any pegasi or unicorns?! Does he think we're stupid?! He's hiding something, Twilight."
        "Oh, I wouldn't have said so." interrupted Rarity. "Personally, I found him quite charming. I could tell by his behaviour that he's clearly a sophisticated pony. Well, aside for cursing few times, but he was probably under a lot of stress."
        "Ye, Dashie, give him a chance." said Pinkie, hopping up and down as they walked."I'm sure we're all gonna have a lot of fun at his welcome party. There're will be music, balloons, food and big sing that will say: 'WELCOME TO PONYVILLE, ATIAS MENER'. Wait... how do you write Matthias Lehner?"
        Everypony else rolled their eyes. To Pinkie Pie, only few things mattered.
        "And what was this 'light' thing he kept saying about?" wondered Spike. "'Light be with you', what is he, afraid of dark or something?"
        "I'm sure this is some custom from where he's from." said Twilight, shooting her assistant a glance. "I'll write a letter to the princess about this 'Azeroth', as well as about Matthias. In the meantime, I think it would be best if he stayed at my place..."
        She was interrupted by both Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
        "Are ya crazy?!" 
        "He beat five timberwolves in a matter of seconds!"
        "I know, and that is why he should stay with me; if he tries something, I can easily stop him with magic. And besides, I want to hear more about the place he's from, anyway."
        "Are you sure, sugahcube? Ah don't know if this is good idea."
        "Oh, Applejack, you're fretting over nothing, I'm sure Matthias is a real gentlecolt." said Rarity with a dismissive tone.
        "And beside, I'll be there." added Spike with cocky attitude. "Even if he would try to do something bad, he can't beat a dragon."
        Ponies again rolled eyes.
        "Hey Fluttershy, what do you think of Matthias?" asked Twilight, noticing that their timid friend haven't said a word.
        "I, well..." said the shy pony, looking at the ground. "I think he's scary."
        "You think everything is scary, Fluttershy." replied Rainbow Dash.
        "I know that those scars he had looked scary, Fluttershy," said Twilight; she herself was afraid to think what kind of creature left such wounds on somepony able to beat five timberwolves with relative ease. "but if he often finds himself in such situation as yesterday's, it's not really a surprise he was wounded, right?"
        "Um, its not that." answered Fluttershy, shaking her head. "I was scared of... his eyes." she added in a whisper.
        "His eyes? Why?" asked Twilight.
        "They... were empty."