//------------------------------//
// 10. The Pony and the Raven 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

Twilight simply stared at the space where Matthias had nearly killed three dragons long after everypony started whispering between themselves about what just happened. Finally, her friends managed to snap her back into reality.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
"Ah was sayin': what are we going to do'bout Matthias?'" repeated Applejack.
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight, despite knowing the answer.
"What do you mean: 'what do you mean'?!" asked Rainbow Dash. "He just beat three dragons, and said that he could kill them! He is dangerous!"
"Twilight, darling, as much as I hate to do it, I must agree with Rainbow Dash on this one." added Rarity, clearly unnerved by what they all just saw. "That Matthias is some kind of... " she stopped, looking for the right word.
"A nut job?" hinted Rainbow Dash.
Rarity nodded, dismayed.
"Ya, well, what are we going to do ya'll? We've got a potential murderer in Ponyville, for pity's sake!"
"Shouldn't you write to the Princess about him by now, Twilight?"
Twilight bit her lip, unsure. While she really needed to write to the Princess (quite frankly, she should have written to her yesterday), that would most likely result in Matt being arrested or banished, and that would be unfair. After all, he was only protecting Ponyville and them, even if his methods were a bit brutal.
And like that, Twilight has made her decision.
"I will write to the Princess," she said, looking at her friends, "but not now. First, I need to talk to Matt."
Her friends almost immediately protested and tried to talk her out of this.
"Twi, have you gone bonkers?"
"He almost killed! Three! Dragons!"
"Exactly!" said Twilight, hoping her friends could see her reasoning. "He almost killed them. But he didn't. He stopped the moment when they understood they were beaten, and let them leave."
That finally got some positive attention out of them, but they still remained unconvinced.
"But... he still told them that he would have kill them if they were grown up dragons." said Rarity.
"Maybe he was bluffing?" replied Applejack, but her tone said she didn't believe that.
None of them did. They all could hear in Matthias voice that he meant his words.
"Well... he is from a different land." said Twilight. "He said himself that's how they deal with threats. At least they don't kill kids."
Her friends looked at each other.
"Ah ya sure, sugarcube?" asked Applejack. "Ah wouldn't want to see ya get hurt."
"Yes, I'm sure, and I will be fine. I will go talk to him now, and I will send Princess Celestia a letter about this later." she answered, hoping that Matt would tell her something that would convince the Princess to let him stay in Equestria.
"Do you want us to come with you?" asked Rarity.
"Not now, it would be better if it would be just me talking to him."
"Well, okay then." said Applejack. "Ah have to get Apple Bloom back home now, anyway."
"I have to get my sister back home as well." added Rarity.
"And I would better see how the Cakes are doing. Oh, and I should bring them their knife back, too!"
"I have to check on my animals. Oh, and, umm, Twilight... please thank Matthias for scaring those scary dragons away."
"Well, since everypony is going to do something, I might go bring you back that 'Daring Do' book and borrow the next one."
"Okay, lets all meet all back in a library in... half an hour?"
They all nodded their agreement.
"Spike, could you clean the mess from the party?"
"Fine." said the baby dragon, reluctantly.
And with that, saying their farewells, Twilight walked the way Matthias went.





When Twilight left to find Matt, her friends stayed a few moments longer, besides Spike, who went to the library and started cleaning it.
"Is it just me," started Rarity. "or was Twilight trying really hard to find some... excuse to not throw Matthias into a dungeon or something?"
"Ah noticed that too."
"But why would she do that?" asked Rainbow Dash, confused.
"Maybe she, umm... likes him?" said Fluttershy.
"Well, he did seemed to be fun." replied Pinkie.
"Pinkie, darling, I think Flutteshy meant that Twilight really likes Matthias."
"I know, I heard her." Pinkie said, still oblivious... or maybe not, nopony was sure.
Rarity and Applejack shared a look.
"This won't end well." they both said, worrying about Twilight.





Matthias trotted to his 'pondering place' by the bridge, as he came to call it. While his mind and soul were struggling not to break after what he nearly did, he was at the same time suffering from bodily pain as well.
Now that the adrenaline rush was over, he could feel how bad he was hurt. He was certain that he had all of his ribs shattered. Pity he couldn't remember how many ribs ponies had at the moment. Matthias thought that maybe thirty six. He was just glad that at least none of them punctured his lungs. And as if that wasn't enough, his hooves bore first and second degree burns, despite him extinguishing dragon's flames quickly.
But none of it mattered to him. He looked at his reflection, the memory of the Culling of Stratholme renewed in his mind. He could practically hear the screams of his people, his subjects that he swore to protect, as he slaughtered them all. Nearly twenty five thousand people killed in a single day.
He would have probably stayed like this for hours, ravaged by his memories, if he wasn't interrupted by something that tried to collide with his head. Matthias ducked at the last second, and was just about to strike at it, but he stopped himself at the last moment.
That 'something' turned out to be a raven, which was now sitting on a bridge and looked directly at him.
"Stupid bird!" Matt snapped, glaring at it. "I could have hurt you!"
"You would not have harmed me, and I required your attention." replied the raven, its voice deep and mild.
Matt's jaw dropped.
Not just because the raven spoke. By now, he was far to used to this, even though he was pretty sure ravens here didn't speak. No, what unsettled Matthias was what the bird had said. There was one that had said the exact same words, when he came with a warning to him. A warning, that, if he would have heeded it, he would have never became the Lich King. And even though that seemed to be impossible, he called the raven by the name he knew that person bore, despite not knowing it back then.
"Medivh?!"
The raven bowed his head.
"I'm pleased that you remember me, young king."
Matthias winced at the title the Prophet had used, but he had bigger issue now.
"You're suppose to be dead!" he said.
The raven turned his head, as if mocking him.
"The same could be said about you, King Arthas" he reminded him.
Arthas barely stopped from facehoofing himself. He decided not to bring up the fact that Medivh should be dead twice.
"Alright, forget that. What are you doing here?"
"Helping you."
"Helping me. You couldn't help me back then, so that I wouldn't tried to commit a mass genocide of the whole Azeroth, but you find some free time to come to a world populated by talking ponies, seven years after your second death!"
"If you would recall, I did try to help you." said Medivh calmly, not angered by Arthas accusation. "I warned you, but you didn't listen. Have I spoken more clearly of the fate that awaited you at the end of that road, would you have listened to me?"
"... Fair enough." said Arthas.
"And if you think that me being in Equestria is weird, you should see what I'm about to do in a month and a half from now. Now listen to me, boy!"
"If you say: 'This land is lost!', I swear, I'm going to hurt you."
"You were brought here for a reason." Medivh said, with a voice that couldn't be interrupted. "There is something that only you can do here, but as you are now, you won't be able to do it."
"What do you mean?" Arthas asked.
"You are not as you are suppose to be." explained Medivh without explaining anything. "You have to heal the wound that's within you, if you are going to do what you are supposed to do here."
Arthas sighed and looked at the sky. Somehow, he doubted that Medivh meant his injuries.
"... Or else this land is lost."
Arthas swung his hoof, while still looking at the sky, only to hit an empty space. Medivh was nowhere to be seen.
"Get back here, you confounded..."
"Who are you talking to?" said a familiar female voice.
Matthias sighed again.
"My raging insanity, most likely." he replied to Twilight Sparkle.