//------------------------------// // 42. A moment // Story: Rebirth of the Damned // by Borsuq //------------------------------// "Twily!" Shining Armor shouted as he kept lifting boulders from the rubble. "This is all my fault." he thought, mindless of the rocks falling around him due to his actions. "If I have been more firm, she wouldn't..." "Look out!" Shining Armor heard Brann shout as he slammed into him, pushing him away from where a bigger rock fell. The unicorn quickly jumped back to the huge pile of debris created when Twilight jumped in the most damaged part of the floor in the lab, causing it to collapse. The small avalanche continued to fall down few floors below, until it stopped in a cave of sorts... with his sister and Matthias trapped somewhere within the rubble. "What are you standing there for!?" the captain snapped at the dwarf. "Help me!" "Look, I know how ye feel, but burying us alive won't help then." Brann stated as he continued to examine the debris from the distance. "And how would you know how I feel, huh!?" Shining Armor whirled around at him, overcome with anger and guilt. "If something happens to her, it will be my fault! Don't you dare..." He stopped as Brann's gaze pierced him. "My brother is dead because of something that I found." he stated calmly, his usual joyful tone darkened. "And it happened only few months after we've been reunited wi' our other brother, who was believed to be dead for yers." "I'm... sorry to hear that." Shining Armor muttered, taken aback. "I'm also sorry for my words. But Twilight..." "She'll be fine." Brann said, waving his hand. "I told ye already, I saw Matt catch her as she fall, and The Light enveloped both of ‘em. It would take more than some pebbles to harm them." Shining Armor frowned at the thought that he wasn't close enough to cast his spell on them, just to be sure. He also wasn't particularly happy about Matthias rescuing his sister, even if they were just friends as they kept saying. "Now, then." the dwarf said, coming closer to the debris. "Let's move the bigger rocks from the top, so they won't squash us." The unicorn nodded and concentrated. Soon, his magic surrounded the most loose big rock above him and moved it away. "I just hope she'll be okay by the time we'll get to them." he said quietly. For some reason, Brann smirked. "Lad, trust me, ye have no idea into what extents Matt will go willingly to protect others." Twilight moaned in pain as she regained consciousness. "How do you feel?" she immediately heard Matt's voice from below her... "Wait, from below me?" Twilight thought as she opened her eyes. She was lying on top of him. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry..." she gasped as she tried to move away. But she couldn't. His hooves were holding her firmly atop of him. "W-why is he embracing me?" Twilight thought, blushing with embarrassment. Noticing it, Matthias rolled his eyes. "Twilight, we kind of don't have time for that now." he told her, and added: "Look around you." She did as he asked and gasped. Above, around and under them was spread Light's protective shield, and on the other side of it were... "Are we underground?" she asked Matt, confused. "Well, there is some ground atop of us. Although, most of it are rock and pieces of many floors we've collapsed through on our way down here." Twilight gasped as she remembered how the floor of the laboratory collapsed under her, as well as something hitting her in the head and causing her to lose her consciousness. "No wonder my head hurts." "How long was I out?" she asked, rubbing the bruise on her head. "I think it was about ten minutes." Matt replied. "Sorry for not healing that, I've been a bit busy. Turns out keeping a ton of debris from crushing you takes more than just praying." The lavender unicorn shook as she realized how close she came to dying. "Thank you." Twilight told Matt, who smiled. "What are friends for?" he asked her, and then he smirked. "Besides, you will probably get a chance to repay me soon." "What do you mean?" "Well, if your brother sees us like this, he will most likely try to kill me, so..." At that moment, Twilight realized that she had no idea if anything happened to Shining Armor. "My brother! And Brann! Are they..." "Yes, they're fine." Matt answered her before she finished her question. "They were further away from you when the floor collapsed. They are probably trying to dig us out now." "So.. we are going to just wait for them?" Twilight asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Since it would be stupid idea if you tried to teleport not knowing how far away the closest free space is, not to mention after getting hit in the head, I guess we are stuck." noticing her discomfort he added, despite slightly blushing himself: "You know, you're not the one who's literally laying on rocks." "Um, sorry." Twilight muttered embarrassed. "So, what got you so spooked back there, anyway?" Matt asked, changing the subject. "There was..." she gulped as she recalled what she saw. "... in that lab, there was something like that amber prison in which the Changeling's Queen captured you." Matthias eyes widen as she said that. "Do you think changelings could have caused whatever happened to this place?" he asked, frowning. "I don't know." she admitted. "It was different from the one queen made: it was more crystal-like than amber-one. Although," she added, rolling her eyes in annoyance," considering that ponies know even less about changelings than about dragons, it might be what those prisons look like when they are made by an ordinary changeling." After Shining Armor's and Cadence’s wedding Twilight spend a good week researching everything that was known about this love-feeding race, only to be disappointed. It turned out that since their discovery over a thousand years ago, there were written only five books about changelings, each with different view on them, all of which were eventually labeled as 'unreliable' once it has been discovered that the authors of each one of those books were changelings. "Maybe..." Matthias mused, rubbing his chin. "Although... "And there was a pony inside!" Twilight exclaimed as she realized she almost forgot to mention the most important part. "What?" he asked with wide eyes. "Are you sure?" She nodded, and then, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer, asked: "Do you think that this pony could be alive?" There was sorrow in his eyes when he answered her: "Sorry, but... those type of 'prisons' usually still allow their captives to live, supporting their life system so they won't need to breathe, sure, but... they do not stop time from affecting the body, and it was at least few centuries since this place was wrecked." Twilight felt tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she imagined how this pony must have felt, being forced to die of old age imprisoned for nopony knows how long. Matthias hugged her tightly, patting her head. "Try not to think about it. That pony's suffering is over." Twilight allowed herself to linger like that for few more moments, before she pulled back. As much as she could, at least. "What do you think caused all of this?" she asked, trying to distract her thoughts from that pony, as well as their own situation. "Could it be the changelings?" Matthias shook his head. "If the scent in the air is any indication, there are corpses somewhere in the further chambers, and killing ponies, or trapping them forever isn't something changelings seem to do." "Their queen tried to choke me!" Twilight protested, getting irritated, remembering the invasion at the wedding with the changeling queen. "And yet, nopony was seriously hurt during their invasion." he countered, but he stopped as he noticed the look Twilight was giving him. "Anyway, considering what happened, I think we should quit exploring this place. Let’s just send that rune to the Princess and see what she decides." Twilight immediately felt ashamed. Because of her carelessness, they were going to stop their investigation. And even though she was secretly glad of that, she couldn't help but feel disappointed that this didn't turned out to be an adventure like from 'Daring Do' books. "I'm sorry." she said, her ears dropping. "I shouldn't have insisted on coming, it's my fault..." "Twilight, stop that." Matthias interrupted her. "Don't try to blame yourself for this. You came here because you refused to leave me in such place, even if it was something that I wanted, actually. Personally, I blame whoever made those floors." The unicorn chuckled at his comment, already feeling better. "And besides, without you, I wouldn't know if it was safe to take that rune." he continued. "Don't worry about being scared of that poor pony's body. It's completely understandable. Just between you and me:" Matthias paused as he looked around, as if making sure that nopony else was listening, which caused another giggle from the mare: "I was also scared the first time I saw dead a human." "Really?" Twilight asked, surprised. To her, Matthias always seemed fearless. "Well, the circumstances were quite different." he admitted, smiling briefly. "But yes, I was scared." "But you are always so brave!" Twilight said, not believing him. "How could you get scared of something that practically couldn't hurt you?" For a moment, she could swear he shook. "That doesn't mean I'm not afraid of anything." Matthias told her, slightly amused. "Twilight, barely a quarter ago, I was terrified when I heard you scream, and even more when the floor started to collapse under you. Being brave isn't about not fearing anything, but it’s about acting despite the fear. Are you going to tell me that when you faced Nightmare Moon you weren't scared?" "Well, actually, I've never thought about that." Twilight stuttered, embarrassed. Suddenly, she heard Matthias chuckle. She looked at him questioningly. "Did I ever mention how cute you look when you're embarrassed?" he told and his eyes widen slightly as if he only now realized what he said. "D-did he say that I'm... cute?" Twilight thought, astonished. "You-you think I'm cute?" she asked him, blushing. Now it was his turn to blush. "Only when you're embarrassed." Matthias said, and quickly added, as if fearing he would lose courage to say it: "Other times, you're beautiful." Twilight was positive that now she was as red as a tomato. "He thinks I'm beautiful?" This was the first time she heard a stallion call her that. Or maybe it was the first time she took notice? Either way, she felt... flattered and... strange. She looked into Matthias's eyes as she tried to figure out what this weird feeling was, as well as think of some sort of respond. "Should I tell him his handsome? Because he is. And also brave, caring, smart, funny, and... and..." Twilight thought as she unknowingly leaned a bit closer to him. "What are you doing, you idiot!" Matthias thought as he told Twilight that she was beautiful. He quickly reflected on that: "Well, it's not like she isn't..." but immediately, the other side of him yelled: "That's not the point!" He stopped as he realized what he was doing. "Oh, great, as if I didn't have enough personality issues." he thought and immediately added: "Speaking of...", as he had to tell Bolvar and Ner'zhul to stop laughing. She was looking into his eyes, and he was still embracing her, not to mention that she was still on top of him. Matthias could feel the warmth her body and smell her sweet scent as he gazed back into those violet eyes, noticing that she leaned closer to him. And despite knowing that he was going to regret this later, he pushed his head forward, closer to her face. Twilight watched, as if she stood next to herself, as hers and Matt's heads were coming closer to each other, both terrified and excited at the same time. "What am I doing?" she thought. "I can't kiss Matt, he’s my friend... can't I?" Despite the war of thoughts going through her mind, she still pressed her lips closer to his. There was nothing. No second thoughts, no worries, no fears, and nothing else that mattered at this moment, as he pressed his lips towards hers. All that was, was he and the mare that was atop of him. Their lips were two inches away from each other. One inch. Half of an inch... "Twilight!" The unicorn and the earth pony quickly pulled away, their trance broken as they heard voices, causing her to hit his Light shield, and him to the ground. "Matthias! Twilight!" they heard once again the voice of Shining Armor calling to them, accompanied by the sound of rock being pulled from the debris and thrown away a distance. The two trapped ponies looked at each other, both extremely red and embarrassed. "S-Shining Armor?" Twilight answered her brother, her voice quivering. "Twily!" the captain shouted louder and the sounds of digging stopped. "Are you alright? Is Matt with you?" "Yes, I'm fine." his sister replied, and swallowed nervously. "And Matt is und- I mean, with me! Hehe..." "You're terrible at this." Matthias noticed, although he wasn't exactly sure if he was going to fare any better. "Great." they heard Brann's voice. "Don't ye worry, we'r gonna get ye out. It's sounds as if yer only few meters away." Due to the recent near development that was pretty easy to guess thanks to the blushes on their faces, the vision of Shining Armor finding them like this was even more unwanted to Matthias. "If that's only few meters..." he said out loud, thinking fast. "... then Brann can dig us out of here by himself. Shining Armor, if you would be so kind, can you look for safe exit? I changed my mind about exploring this place and I just want to get out of here as fast as possible." "I was about to suggest something like that. I'll be right back!" they heard Shining Armor replied and his words were quickly followed by the sound of hoofsteps. They stopped for a moment: "Twilight is fine, right?" "Yes she's ato- I mean, fine." Matthias said as he shook his head, annoyed at himself. "Okay, I'm going to look for the exit." Shining Armor told them and they heard his hoofsteps getting further away. "Brann. Quickly, dig us out, I beg of you." the paladin begged the dwarf. "Sure, but what's the hurry?" Brann's voice asked as they heard once again the sound of digging. "Don't you want to spend some time alone?" "No! Get us out of here right now!" Twilight shouted and immediately covered her mouth, glancing at Matthias, probably worrying that she hurt his feelings. That was the reason why Matthias hadn't said the exact same words. He was worried that it might have hurt her. "You heard the lady." Matthias told Brann as he nodded to Twilight, to show her that he agreed with her. They were just friends.