Matthias hissed in frustration half an hour later, as he continued to look around through the trees, searching for poison joke without any results.
"And the day is almost over." he thought as he glanced at the sun, slowly hiding on the horizon. "Soon, we will have to rely on Twilight and Shining's magic and The Light to see."
And that would mean they wouldn't be able to cover as much ground, which would mean they might not find that plant on time, and Apple Bloom would…
"No!" he yelled in his mind, interrupting his dark train of thoughts. "I will not let that happen!" Matt shook his head, trying to focus. "Now, for my other problem..."
"If you are going to kill me, I would suggest using your pick instead of the gun." he told the sneaking Brann without turning to him, keeping an eye out for poison joke instead. "Makes less noise."
The dwarf muttered something under his nose as he got out of the bushes.
"Why would ye think I would try to kill ye?"
"Well, let’s see:" Matthias started, taking advantage of the fact that none of the ponies were around "because of me, your brother lost his memories and was believed to be dead for about seven years, I killed thousands of innocents, was responsible for deaths of thousands more, raised them from the dead, tried to exterminate all life on Azeroth... should I go on?" he asked glancing at him. "While I appreciate that you didn't say or did anything while the others were with us, I won't believe if you tell me that you're fine with me being alive in any matter, and in such close distance from you."
Brann was slightly taken aback by Matt's words.
"I just wanted to talk."
"Talk, then." Matthias replied, shrugging. "But continue to look for that plant, will you? Saving Apple Bloom takes priority. So, what’s on your mind?"
"Err..." Brann stuttered, putted off balance a bit, and coughed. "So, ye were brought back to yer senses once ye were alive, or..."
"When Tirion shattered Frostmourne with Ashbringer, he freed all the souls it stole." Matthias replied as they exited the forest, passed some ruins of a fence and entered a clearing. "Mine included. Can you imagine what I felt as my humanity returned to me in my final moments?" he asked the dwarf. "I was glad I was dying. And trust me when I say that what came afterwards was much worse."
"Really?"
"You don't need to sound so happy..." he replied as he checked the ground with his hoof. “Hey, is it just me, or was this clearing created by an explosion?”
There was a huge circle, with a diameter of about twenty - thirty meters, covered by grass, but underneath it, there were marks on the ground that one could identify as from explosion from a long time ago.
"I think ye're right, lad." Brann said, kneeling. "What do ye think happened here?"
"I don't know." Matthias told him, glancing at the ruins on the other side of the clearing, but he shook his head. "Nor that it matter now. We can look into this after we make sure Apple Bloom is gonna be fine."
"Seems reasonable. Speakin' off, the sun is about to set."
"Damnit." he muttered and sighed, then resigned. "Let’s head back to the spring."
They turned back and went into the direction of the meeting spot with the others.
"Ye seem to be completely fine with the fact that ye'r a small talkin' horse." Brann noted.
"I've been like this for three months, I've gotten used to this body. And I'm a pony, not a horse. Although," Matthias added with a chuckle, "I admit, after I woke up alive, I must have spent a long time just staring at my hoof. The fact that a few minutes later I had to defend three talking fillies, one with wings and one with horn at that, from a pack of wolves made out of wood didn't help."
"Aye, I suppose it's understandable." the dwarf laughed. He then returned to be serious: "So, ye'r once again the boy that my brother taugh how to fight?"
"You can't do the things that I did and be still yourself." he replied, telling Brann the same thing he told Twilight not so long ago. "The memories of my actions will haunt me to until the end of time." he sighed as he added what's been on his mind for months: "To be honest, when I came back to life, I considered killing myself, seeing as I don't deserve to live. If it wasn't for the fact that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo needed my help, I would have done it. Later, when I realized that I had something to do here, I decided to put that thought on hold. Now, though..."
Brann waited patiently for the former Lich King to finish gathering his thoughts as they entered the smaller clearing with a spring in the middle of it. The whole area around the spring was a small dale, as if there was a lake earlier here.
"... now, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to cause my friends such pain." Matthias finished, as he saw Twilight and her brother trotting over to them to them.
"Did you find anything?" she asked them when they reached each other. She frowned as Matthias and Brann shook their heads. "Neither did I, or Shining Armor."
"Maybe Rainbow Dash will find it?" her brother asked, trying to remain optimistic.
"Maybe." Twilight sighed, sitting down. "She will probably be along shortly."
They all sat in a silence. Matt was meditating, trying to clear his mind from thoughts about what would happen if they fail, as Twilight began to plan in her mind how they would organise the next part of the search, Shining Armor staring at the stream coming from the spring and Brann deep in thoughts.
"Why there are two scars on yer chest?" the dwarf broke the silence after few minutes passed.
"Pardon?" Matthias asked as he shook himself off from the trance.
"Why do ye have two scars?" Brann repeated his question, pointing at his chest. "I recall hearin' that ye died from a single blow."
"Yes, that would be this one." Matthias said as he pressed hoof to the shorter scar, but that run deeper. "This one," he added, sliding his hoof across the longer, "is a memento from my duel with Illidan at the entrance to the Frozen Throne." he smiled as he recalled that fight; despite what came after it, it was still a good duel. "It was the only time I came close to dying in a fight... besides my actual death, of course."
"Pity there weren't any witnesses there." the dwarf grinned. "Maybe some bard would made a song about it."
"And how he would have titled it?" Matt snorted. "'Two insane maniacs fighting in a Light forgotten place'?"
"Maybe, but I think 'A Symphony of Frost and Flame' has a better sound to it."
"Very funny."
He noticed that Twilight watched as the two of them talked. Raising an eyebrow, he silently asked her if something was wrong.
"Oh, nothing, just... did you noticed that this whole 'mountain' appears to have formed after a tectonic movement?" she said, appearing glad that she gotten a chance to touch the subject.
"Aye, we've noticed." Brann confirmed.
"We've also found a bigger clearing on the other side of those trees, with ruins of some fence and buildings, and a huge circle on the ground that seems to be from an explosion." Matt added.
"Hmm..." Twilight rubbed her chin as she pondered on that.
She was about to say something, when suddenly, a seven-colored bolt appeared right in front of them.
"I found it!" the bolt yelled as it materialized into their friend.
"Really? That’s great!" Twilight exclaimed. "Where?"
"Over here, come on!" Rainbow Dash replied as she led them back into the woods.
They all galloped after her, eager to take what they came here for and get the hell away from this strange forest and this even stranger 'mountain'. Matthias soon realized that Rainbow was leading them around the clearing that he and Brann had stumbled upon. He once again began to wonder what this place was before it was destroyed. It didn't appeared to be a village, but he wouldn't be able to tell, even if he managed to take a good look at them. Those building were destroyed beyond recognition.
"Here it is!" Rainbow Dash shouted few moments later as she flew from between the trees into the clearing, almost on the opposite side from where he and Brann entered earlier.
The ponies and the dwarf sped up and halted in front of small knoll, or rather, by a small bunch of plants that grew by it. Matthias looked dismayed at the black plant that caused the little filly so much grief. It didn't appear threatening, to eye, at least. He wondered how druids would react to it. Even he could feel that there was something wrong with this weed.
"Okay, now carefully..." Twilight muttered as she levitated a small jar from Shining Armor's saddlebag that they borrowed from Applejack's house before their left.
While the others watched as she delicately plucked a few poison jokes from the ground and put them into the jar, Matt walked around the knoll, scanning the area for any signs of danger. What he found, however, left him speechless.
On the other side of the knoll, there was an entrance with its steel doors pressed inside, with stairs leading down.
"Just what is this place?" he wondered as he came closer to the passage.
At that moment, a dry air from the inside attacked his nostrils. It brought the stench of unused in centuries halls and...
... a slight similarly hint of old decay.
"Okay, we're good to go!" he heard Twilight say.
Focusing on what was important, he turned to regard all of them.
"Rainbow Dash, it's still bright. Take the jar and fly as fast as you can back to Sweet Apple Acers, but don't take any unnecessary risks."
"Yes, sir!" she saluted and prepared to leave.
"The rest of you, follow her on hooves. I will join you back at the farm."
"What?" everypony, Rainbow included, shouted at the same time.
Instead of answering, Matt pointed with his head at the entrance. Four ponies looked confused at it, while Brann whistled, visibly excited.
"I want to check what in there. It shouldn't take long." Matthias said.
"You can't expect us to leave you!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I agree." Shining Armor supported his sister.
"Yeah, and besides, it would be fun to explore such a place." Rainbow added, smiling. "I would be like in 'Daring Doo and...'"
"Sorry to crush your dreams, Rainbow, but you are definitely not coming." Matt said, pointing at the jar.
"Aw, horseapples." pegasus sighed unhappily.
"She does hav'a point, ye know." Brann interjected. "It would be fun."
"For you, maybe." Matt told him and turned to Twilight and Shining Armor. "I could agree to take Brann with me there, but the two of you should start making your way back."
"Why?" the captain inquired. "What is there that you don't want us to see?"
Matthias sighed. He hoped he could avoid saying it.
"You could see something you don't want to see." he said as he glanced behind him. "I can smell a stench of decay from within. There are dead bodies in there."
Twilight's and Rainbow's eyes widened as he said that, while Shining Armor's didn't even flinch. Apparently, Equestria wasn't so peaceful that the Captain of the Royal Guard didn't see a dead body. That or he could better control himself than Matt gave him the credit for.
"Guessin' by the dry air, the'r will be well preserved, too." Brann, who peered inside, added. "I agree with Matt, the lasses shouldn't see this, and somebody... err, I mean, somepony, should escort Twilight out."
"Well..." Shining Armor stuttered, obviously torn between making sure his sister is safe and leaving his friend and friend's acquaintance to fend for themselves.
"Why does everypony seems to think we wouldn't be able to deal with it!" Twilight shouted out of the blue, shocking the males.
"Yeah!" supported her Rainbow Dash. "We defeated Nightmare Moon, for pony sake, not to mention that we whopped Discord's flank!"
"Exactly." Twilight said, calming herself down. "So, like it or not, I'm coming."
"Oh, great." Matt thought as he searched for a way to make her reconsider. He didn't want her to get hurt, no matter how physically or psychically.
"Twily..." Shining Armor began.
"I know you want to protect me, big brother," his sister cut him off gently. "But I can take care of myself."
The two siblings stared at each other for a few heartbeats, until one of them let go.
Unluckily for Matt, it was Shining Armor who gave up.
He sighed, knowing that if her brother couldn't convince her to change her mind, he didn't stand a chance.
"Fine." he said and he turned to Rainbow. "You need to get going, it will be dark soon."
"Oh, right." pegasus replied, as if she forgot about it.
"Tell everypony that we will be back in few hours." Matt told her as she prepared to fly away.
"Sure. See you guys later!" Rainbow said as she launched into the air.
They stood there for a few moments, admiring their friend's speed, watching her leave behind her a rainbow-colored trail.
"Well, let’s get going." Matt finally said and descended behind the dented doors, silently asking The Light to brighten his path, and soon, a dim light radiated from his body.
As soon as he put three hoofsteps, he felt stomping on something. Curious, he lifted his hood and glanced at what turned out to be a metal plate with some letters on it. Matthias lifted it and read it aloud:
"Project Eclipse... Have any of you heard about something like this?" he asked two unicorns.
"Project Eclipse?" Twilight repeated as she took the plate to look at it closer, while they continued to go down. Both her and her brother's horn were glowing. "Can't say that I've heard... I mean, I know what an eclipse is, of course, but I've never heard of such a thing as 'Project Eclipse'."
"Project Eclipse..." Matthias mutter under his breath as he pondered what could it mean. "A 'Project'." he said as he glanced at Brann. "A scientific outpost?"
The dwarf nodded.
"Or a military." he added.
"Or both." Shining Armor said as they entered a lab of some sorts.
There was quite a number of burned and bleached paper scuffled everywhere, covered in layers of dust, broken parts of tables, cupboards and closets, pieces of glass, that either came from the small vials or bigger glass containers, which, shattered, laid next to the wall. The wall... that had marks of a fight on it.
"What kind of creature could leave such marks?" Matt wondered as he brushed the wall with his hoof. "It looks as if it was melted down, so it couldn't be a pony, unless it was a unicorns with some weird spells at his disposal..." noticing the broken vials on the floor, he added. "... or maybe, he or she simply used whatever was in those."
He was about to turn away from the wall when he noticed something small and shining embedded into it.
"Hey Twilight, mind taking a look at this?" Matt asked, knowing better than touching something shining within an abandoned lab, as he wondered what it could be. It almost reminded him of runes, but he wasn't sure.
The lavender unicorn trotted over to him and gasped.
"It's a magical rune!" she exclaimed.
"Thought so." the earth pony muttered. "Do you know how it works?"
"I'm not sure." Twilight admitted. "Creating magical runes takes time for a unicorn, which is a reason practically nopony uses them anymore, but I've read few things about them. I think..." she stopped as she pondered about it. "... I think this rune is designed to show some kind of... projection. It appears to also be linked to other runes, probably of the same type."
"Can you activate it?" Shining Armor asked.
Twilight thought carefully before she gave her answer.
"No, it appears to be broken." she finally said. "If I had time, I could maybe fix it."
"Can we take it with us?"
"Yes, I think so." Twilight answered, lowering her glowing horn. As the same glow enveloped the rune, it started to shake, and soon it levitated safely within the air. "Maybe I could send it to Princess Celestia when I write her about all of this."
"Princess Celestia is Twilight's mentor." Matt explained to Brann as he began moving deeper into the lab, while Twilight put the rune within Shining Armor's saddlebag.
"Really?" Brann asked the mare as they followed him. "Ye must be very special, to have yer ruler mentor ye."
As Twilight blushed and looked for a courteous answer, they entered another lab, a lot bigger one, and more destroyed.
"It's too big for us to explore as a group." Matt thought to himself
"Okay, spread out." Matt told them. "Search for anything that could gave us an idea of what this place was. Remain within eyesight of each other."
Twilight nodded along with everypony else to Matt orders, taking comfort in his decisiveness. Truth to be told, she was beginning to regret that she insisted on coming here. This place is really spooky.
She turned to the closer wall and started trotting around, searching for any clues. Like in the previous, much smaller lab, there were pieces of paper that were too destroyed to read, and of glass which she was especially careful for. The fact that the floor, along with everything on this 'mountain', was uneven wasn't helping. Twilight couldn't help but notice that the floor appeared to be melted in some places, and in others, cut by something really sharp. She turned her head to ask the others about those cuts, when she noticed that the light from her horn reflect on something.
Curious, Twilight turned her head and almost screamed. For a second, she was sure she was once again within Canterlot during the changelings invasion. What stood in front of her was almost exactly like the amber that the Changeling's Queen trapped Matt within. Twilight began to fear that they were in their stronghold or something, until she realized that, while quite similar, this 'amber prison' was a lot different. It actually appeared to be more like a crystal or something, and it was a different shade of green than the queen's.
She took few deep breaths to calm herself and called the others, while looking into the 'amber prison'.
"Hey, everypony..."
From within, a pony stared back at her.
Twilight jumped away, screaming. She continued to back away, while the others, alarmed, rushed to her. Twilight stopped screaming and tried to focus on something, anything, when she felt the floor below collapse.
"Twilight!" she heard Shining Armor and Matt scream.