//------------------------------// // 18. Confession // Story: Rebirth of the Damned // by Borsuq //------------------------------// Twilight gasped as she woke up in her body. Trembling, she moved away from Matt. "Twilight! How did it... why are'ya shakin?" asked Applejack, worried. "Its... nothing..." replied Twilight, knowing how unconvincing that sounded. "How could I explain to them what I saw? So much destruction, so much hate..." she shook as she remembered the fury of the black dragon. "How could I explain that Matt has two other minds in his head?". "Darling, what happened? Did Matthias..." "No!" Twilight said quickly, before Rarity could accuse him of something. "It wasn't his fault, I..." she paused to take a deep breath. "Before I found Matt's conscience, I saw... some kind of vision..." Her friends waited for her to collect her thoughts and continue with her story. "In that vision, I saw... a dragon, but he wasn't like any dragon I ever saw. He was huge! I saw him land on a city as big as Canterlot, and he could have easily squashed it if he wanted! And he could have, for all I know! The vision stopped then." "So you are just afraid of some imaginary dragon from Matt's head?" asked Rainbow, confused. Twilight shook her head. "It wasn't just that. He... he was destroying everything! Just from his rage, the earth cracked, and the oceans split! And he... He looked as if he was falling apart!" Twilight screamed as she tried as best she could to described the terrifying appearence of the dragon. "He had metal plates nailed directly into his body just to keep himself together! He looked like... like a volcano, or..." "Your comparison is surprisingly accurate." interjected a calm voice. Everypony turned their heads. Matthias has awakened. "Predictable." Matt commented in his thoughts as Rainbow Dash flew over to him, angry. "Just what the hay you showed her in that head of yours?!" "It wasn't my intention for her to see that." he replied, getting up. He could see that Twilight wasn't handling what she saw very well. And who could blame her? Matthias himself was shakened by the vision he saw because of Ner'zhul, not to mention the feeling of pain as the world was breaking. "Light," he started praying. "I ask of you to calm her. Grant her peace, so that her heart won't break." he could hear gasps as he and Twilight were basked in Light's grace. "Grant them all peace." he added, letting the others know of the Light's love for them and everypony. Twilight couldn't believe it. She felt... at peace. A moment ago she was distraughted by the vision of the black dragon, but now she was calm, and happy. She could feel warmth coming from her heart, warmth that loved her, and as the light embraced her friends, she knew they could feel it to. "This was what Applejack meant." Twilight realised, as the warm in her heart magnified, and could be felt in every part of her being. "This feeling... this love... it cannot be put to words." She opened her eyes, not even knowing when she closed them. The light was vanishing, and so did the warmth, and while she was saddened by that, she somehow knew it was always there. "How did you do that?" she asked Matt. "It's a long story." Matthias replied. "I think it would be best to explain some other things first." He now had everypony's attention. They all felt the Light, and Matthias knew that despite never hearing about it, they all understood it now on some levels. Explaining how it worked could wait. This could not. "I suppose I should start by saying where I really came from. Earlier, I said that I came from the land known as Azeroth, and while it is true, I lied when I told Twilight that you don't know about it, because it was hidden in a magical mist." Matthias paused and took a deep breath. "You don't know about it, because it's not a land. Azeroth is the name of the world I came from." His words were answered with confused and shocked stares. "Now, when you say 'world'..."said after a while Twilight. "Do you mean it, like, a completely another world, or..." "Yes, that's what I mean." he answered, looking around. "I'm sure in one of those books you must have some theories about different worlds, planets, as well as dimensions, universes, and such. Since I'm not a scholar, those books would probably better explain that to you." Twilight rubbed her head, thinking about it. "So, you trying to tell as that you're from a different world." Rainbow asked to be sure. "Yes." "So that vison..." said finally Twilight. "Yes, those lands that you saw being destroyed were from Azeroth. You don't have to worry about that happening here." "That's some relief, but... I can help but feel sorry for that city." "That was Stormwind." replied Matthias, closing his eyes. "Varian." he thought, remembering his old friend. He hated that he couldn't do anything to help him, although if he somehow found a way to go to Azeroth, Varian would have killed him as soon as he realised who he was. "I will pray that you, Anduin and your kingdom are safe." "Don't feel sorry for them." he finally said, trying to convince her as much as himself. "It has some of the best warriors and mages from Azeroth, and its ruler wouldn't let some dragon to harm his subjects." "You speak as if know him." noticed Rarity. "We... met." was all that he was going to say about it. "But how?" asked Twilight. "I got a glimpse of the city's inhabitants, they weren't ponies." "They're called humans." replied Matthias, preparing to tell them something even less believable. "They're bipedal creatures, 147 to 198 centimeter height if male, 135 to 185 if female. Besides the hair on their heads and... some other body parts, their pink skin is furrless, which is why they wear clothes all the time." "You sure know a lot about them." said Twilight, no doubt remembering Bolvar. "Well, that's quite understandable, since before I came to Equestria I was one of them, isn't it?" "What?!" asked everypony. "Before I came to Equestria, I was a human." repeated Matthias, while thinking "Well, technically, I was an undead human, but still..." "How... is that even possible?" asked Twilight. "Something changed you from a human into a pony?!" "It would appear so. And because of both that and me being from another world, I didn't know about cutie marks, not to mention the fact that I didn't have one then. Hell, when I woke up in the Everfree Forest, I didn't even knew how was I supposed to walk! It's a good thing for those three fillies that I'm a fast learner when I need to." When he mentioned his original luck of knowledge about cutie marks, it seemed to convince them that he was telling the truth. "Why were you changed into a pony?" asked Twilight. "Why were you brought into this world in the first place?" "I... don't know." answered Matt uneasily. "Well, do you remembered what happened the moment before you woke up in the Everfree Forest?" "That's... another thing you will probably find try to believe in." Matthias said, rubbing the back of his head and looking at the ceiling. "For about two moths prior to all that, I was..." "Was... what?" asked everypony as he paused. "Do you remember how the doctor back in the hospital said how terrible must have been the wounds to leave such scars?" The ponies and dragon exchanged looks, surprised by the change of subject. "Yyeess." "Well, can you see this scar?" asked Matthias, pointing at the scar that went vertically through his chest. "Yyeess." "And do you remember how I told the doctor that I don't really know how it was treated?" "Yes! Will you tell us what are you getting about, or not!?" shouted Rainbow Dash, fed up with his questions. "Well, that was a lie." said Matt calmly, as if Rainbow didn't say a word. "The truth is, this wound was never treated." Everypony looked at him, confused. "Wait, if that wound was never treated, then how come..." "I died." replied Matthias, getting tired of waiting for them to figure out what he meant. "W-What?!" asked everypony, backing away. "You mean... "... you're a... "... ghost?!" asked Pinkie, terrified. "Wha... no, of course not!" "A zombie?" asked Spike, hiding behind Twilight. "No! For Light sake, you can check my heartbeat if you want." replied Matt, angry that they thought that now he was an undead. "But... if you died, how come you're... alive?" "I've been wondering about it myself. However, while bringing another back to life is hard, it's not impossible on Azeroth. At first, I thought that was what had happened, but then I realized that I was a pony, so..." Everypony was even more confused than him. "But why would somepony want to kill you?" asked Fluttershy. Matthias smiled sadly. "I mentioned that I was evil, didn't I?" they gasped as the realisation hit them, and he added. "The moment before my death I managed to return to my senses, and I died without remorse. I deserved to die. I was actually happy that it was over." Matt decided not to say anything about the void of darkness that he later found himself in. "But then... two months later, I woke up, in Equestria." "How do you know it was two months?" asked Twilight. "You remeber who you've seen when you entered my mind?" said Matthias. "That's another thing; how can you have two other minds in your head?!" Matt glanced at the shocked expression of the others and sighed. "Twilight encountered two beings while she was in my mind. One was an orc - similar to human, but green-skinned, bigger and uglier - called Ner'zhul, and a human called Bolvar Fordragon. They told me it has been two months since my death." "That thing was a human?!" asked shocked Twilight. "It's a long story. Anyway, there is a connection between the three of us - a part of my soul is inside Bolvar's mind, alongside what's left of Ner'zhul's soul. I can shift my conscience into that part of me if I want to, and speak with them, which was what I was doing when Twilight... barged in." he stopped to give her a stern look. "I... I guess I'm sorry. But I didn't have a choice! You were screaming, whirling in pain, and then you were unconscious, so..." "Don't worry, I'm not going to bear a grudge because you were trying to help me." said Matt, smiling. "And even if I was going to punish you in some manner, seeing that vision was more than enough." "But why there's this soul part of'ya is inside this Bolvar fella's head?" asked Applejack. "That's... complicated. Lets just say it has something to do with my being evil and leave it at that." "Fine." said Twilight before anypony could say anything. Matthias blinked at her, gratefully. She understood that he didn't wanted to mention much that had to do something with his time as 'evil'. She replied with a wink. "So lets sum this up." added Twilight."You're from a different world called Azeroth. You used to be human, went evil, and you died. But two months after that, you awakened in Equestria in a body of a pony, not knowing why, and a part of your soul is inside Bolvar, which lets you talk to him and Ner'zhul, who's also there." "That about sums it up, yes." "Okey then. Do you mind now telling us what was that vision, who was that dragon, and about this... light?" "Sure." said Matthias, but at that time his stomach growled. "Oh, sorry." he said embarrassed as everypony started laughing. "Well, ya're definitely alive, alright." said Applejack. "C'mon ya'll, lets get somethin' to eat." Everypony agreed.