//------------------------------//
// 12. ... and its pains 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

As promised, half an hour after Twilight went after Matthias, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie gathered in front of the library, wondering if they should come in or wait a bit. They were about to start discussing it, when they heard a loud yowl of pain coming out of the Twilight's house. Without a moment of hesitation, they all barged in, expecting to see Matthias hurting their friend.
"Twilight, are you..." started to say Rainbow Dash, only to stop at the sight of the scene inside.
Matthias was being held by Twilight's magic hovering above the ground in the center of the room. There was a bandage wrapping itself very tightly around his chest. His front hooves were in a bucket filled with some funny smelling liquid. Twilight was standing in some distance away from him, levitating a book in front of her. Spike was watching them both, not sure if he should be amused or scared.
"... okay?" Rainbow finished her question, despite knowing it wasn't her that screamed.
"Oh, hi girls." greeted them Twilight.
"Umm... what are ya'll doin'?" asked Applejack, glancing at Matthias.
"Torturing me." replied the stallion, looking at them with pleading for help all over his face.
"Oh, hush." said Twilight. "Those injuries of yours needs treatment."
"If this is treatment, then how come I feel worse?" he asked, and although he was in pain, the girls noticed that the corners of his eyes sparkled with amusement.
"That’s just what you get for being stubborn and refusing to go to the hospital." replied Twilight unsympathetically.
"Oh?" said Matthias, surprised. "I thought this was all about..."
Whatever he was going to say, it transformed into another yowl of pain as Twilight tightened his bandage.
The five mares and Spike exchanged worried glances. What in Equestria has happened to their friend? Finally, Rarity came over to Twilight.
"Um... Twilight?" she asked in a hushed voice.
"Yes?" replied Twilight in the same tone, reading the book. Rarity glanced at the title.
"Is this book called: 'Medieval's art of medicine'?"
"Yes."
"And is the chapter you're currently reading named: 'The most painful kind of healing'?" she asked after looking at the part that she was on.
"Ahuh."
Rarity waited few moments for her friend to explain herself, but soon realised she wasn't going to.
"Is there something wrong, dear?"
"Oh!" gasped Twilight, as if only now realizing how it all must have looked. "I, aaa... look, lets just say that he deserves this and leave it at that."
She tried to sound casual, but Rarity noticed her voice to be a little shaken, as well as that she was blushing.
"I must have gone out of practice." said Matt unexpectedly. "I recall getting away easily with this sort of joke."
Twlight, realizing that he heard what she and Rarity were talking about, tightened the bandages again. To his credit, this time Matthias only grunted.
"Aren't ya bit too hard on him?" asked Applejack, feeling pity for the stallion.
"Oh no, he is very resistant to pain. I've never seen a pony that could walk around town with so many ribs shattered. Or, just a pony with so many ribs shattered, for that matter."
"Glad to know I'm so impressive." said Matthias. "And how many ribs do I have shattered, exactly?"
"All of them."
All five of her friends gasped, wondering how he could have simply walk away after the fight, or how he was able to withstand Twilight healing methods without passing out. Rarity sharp eyes, however, managed to notice an expression Matt's face had for a second: as if he was expecting more concrete answer.
Twilight finished paging through the book, unhappy.
"I'm going to visit Zecora and ask if she has any potions to help. Do you mind watching Matthias?" she asked, and when her friends agreed, although not very enthusiastically, she picked up her saddlebag and made her way to the door.
"Help you heal me, or inflict more pain?" Matthias asked her, but after a moment he added: "Wait, doesn't this Zecora live in the Everfree Forest? Are you going to be fine?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." she answered, smiling.
"Good, because in this state I wouldn't be able to help. I'd really hate the irony..." he said with dark tone and trailed off.
"Okay, see you all later." said Twilight and left.





Matthias glanced at the five mares and one dragon. They were looking at him with confusion and suspicion.
"What in tarnation did'ya do to her?" asked Applejack.
"Well, I may have... kissed her in a hoof when she extended it with an intent of shaking hooves purely out of desire to see her embarrassed." answered Matthias awkwardly.
He was rewarded with four mares staing at him with a mix of astonishment, anger, and embarrassement. Pinkie and Spike, on the other hoof, burst into laughter.
"No wonder she was mad!" Spike said through tears.
"In retrospect, that was a horrible idea." confessed Matthias.
"You're lucky Twilight is not me. I would have kicked you all the way to the other side of Equestria." said Rainbow Dash angrily.
"Oh don't worry, I would have never dream of doing that to you." he answered with a smirk.
"Good, because... hey, wait just a minute!"
"Calm down. sugarcube." said Applejack.
"Matthias, would you mind telling as if before all that Twilight had talked to you about, well, what you almost did to the dragons?"
"Why, yes." answered Matt, a bit uncomfortably. "In fact, it is thanks to her talking to me that I'm not still near that bridge sulking."
The girls shared a look. Matthias could guess this wasn't what they wanted to hear.
"She also mentioned to me that while my way of dealing with danger may be normal for where I am from, it's not well looked on in here, so the next time something like those dragons attack, I will just beat them into submission again."
"Is that all you talked?" asked Rarity.
"Since I told Twilight, I suppose I should tell them as well."
"Umm... I also told Twilight that used to be evil."
Their reaction was more along the lines of what he expected.
"WHAT?!"
"Hear me out, before you will pass your judgement upon me." Matthias said, and before any of them objected, he continued: "What happened to me was similar to the fate of Princess Luna: like her, I succumbed into dark powers, and did a lot of terrible things. For many years I had no feelings such as pity, remorse, or shame. I had no longer cared for my friends and family, either. It wasn't until before I had come to Equestria that I was freed, and I still have problems... adjusting."
Matthias looked at the floor, trying to find the right word to describe it to them how he felt, but found none. Luckily, he didn't have to say more.
"Well, we've seen Luna having the same problem, so we get the idea." said Applejack, coming closer to him. "Twilight trusts ya, so Ah will as well, but please, don't be so, brutal. Deal?"
"Deal." Matthias said.
"Lets shake on it." Applejack then did something weird: she spat on her hoof and then extended it.
"... You know, I have learned my lesson." said Matthias, glancing at it.
"Ya're just as prissy as Rarity, aren't ya?" Applejack replied in dismay. Rarity frowned.
"Now wait a moment." said Matthias, offended. He figured that this was some sort of 'peasant' custom, so he spat at his hoof and bumped into Applejack's. "I've been called many names, but 'prissy' isn't one of them."
Applejack smiled, but then frowned when she looked at his hoof.
"Don't let it bother you." he said, putting the hoof back in the liquid. Twilight said it was cleaning his flesh... by melting the burned and contaminated parts of it.
"Okay..."
"Well, if both Applejack and Twilight trust you, I suppose I can as well." said Rarity. "You will forgive me for not giving you my hoof, though, I'm... afraid to cause you pain. Heh."
"Wow, she is prissy." Matthias thought, realizing she didn't wanted to touch his hoof.
"Yay! I know you could be fun!" said Pinkie Pie, jumping around him. "Oh! We should throw another party!"
"No, thank you, that one was fun enough."
"Oh, okay!"
"Umm... You did scare off those scary dragons, so I think you deserve to be trusted." said Fluttershy, not looking at him.
"You really don't like dragons, don't you?" he asked, wondering why was she so shy around him.
"Yes, they're scary, big, mean... oh, I don't mean you, Spike!"
"I know." Spike said, amused. "I also think that Matthias can be trusted. And besides, I would like to hear how you beat that Sap-something dragon!"
Everypony looked at Rainbow Dash.
"Fine." she said finally, although unhappy."But I'm watching you. Like a hawk."
"Duly noted." replied Matthias, but at the same time Pinkie said:
"Why? Can't you watch him like a pony?"
"Ugh! Never mind. I need to borrow another 'Daring Do' book." she said and started looking at one shelf.
"I didn't think you were the reading type." said Mathias.
"Reading is something anypony can enjoy. Especially, books cool as those!" she replied excited, and flew up to him with the book she was about to put back on the shelf.
Matt looked at the book. The title of it was: 'Daring Do and Snake God's worshippers'.
"Wait, why does it sound so familiar?" he wondered, reading a description at the back. After a while he started chuckling.
"Hey, what so funny?" asked Rainbow Dash, preparing to kick him.
"It's not funny, it's, well, weird." Matthias said quickly. "There is this... pony, named Harrison Jones, back on Azeroth, who is exactly like this Daring Do character. Well, besides gender."
"You're making that up. Nopony is as cool as Daring Do. Besides me."
Before the two of them could get into an argument, the door opened and Twilight came in.
"Hi, I'm back."
"How in tarnation did'ya make it to Zecora's hut and back so fast?" asked Applejack.
"Oh, I didn't. Zecora happened to be in Ponyville, buying some ingredients. I bumped into her, and she made me these: a body lotion for regenerating skin, and a brew for healing broken bones."
Everypony looked at what she was showing them and shook. The bottle with the brew had some scary looking pictures of bones on it. There were letters on it, too, which were forming a word: 'Skele-Gro'.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"