"I don't really understand why this is so funny to you." Matthias told the laughing dwarf as he followed Twilight out of the rubble.
"Right, and that's why the two of ye are blushing." Brann countered.
Matthias didn't need to glance at Twilight to know that he was right.
"Look, can you just not mention to Shining Armor the... position, you found us in?" he pleaded, not wanting to give the overprotective unicorn any more reasons to mistrust him.
"Well, I dunno. It seems that I hafta keep a lot of yer secrets."
"I've never asked you to keep details of my past secret." Matthias reminded Brann, gazing at him. "You did that out of goodness of your heart, I presume. You are free to tell anypony about it, though, starting with Twilight over here, and ending with Princess Celestia herself."
"I don't want to hear about it." Twilight suddenly said. As Matt and Brann glanced at her, she explained: "I might have been curious about it when we first met..."
"'Might have'?" Matthias asked, amused.
Twilight shot him a glare and he kept quiet as she went on:
"... but now, I don't care who you were back in your world. I know the real you, and everything else is irrelevant."
Matthias was amazed by the wisdom in her words. Usually, one can hear such words coming from the mouth of much older pony.
"I see that you gain not only knowledge from you mentor, but wisdom as well." he told her, earning the sigh of her being embarrassed. He also noticed a bruise on her head. "Oh, right, I forgot."
As Matthias quickly healed her minor injury, he heard Shining Armor return, coming out from one of the tunnels.
"Twily!" he shouted as he run up to her, hugging her. "I'm glad to see that you are alright!"
"You can thank Matt for." his sister replied.
"Thank you." Shining said, addressing Matthias. "If something would have happened to her, I..."
"Think nothing of it." the earth pony cut him off. "I would gladly give my life to protect anypony, not to mention one of my friends. Have you found the exit?"
Shining Armor nodded.
"Yes, although... It's a bit, how should I say it" the other stallion stammered, looking for the right word. "... unsafe."
"Unsafe?" everypony asked.
Twilight's brother sighed.
"There's an Ursa sleeping next to the exit."
While Twilight looked as terrified as she was back in that lab, and Brann was confused, Matthias merely sighed.
"Let me guess, that is the only exit, too?"
The captain nodded.
"What's an Ursa?" asked Brann.
"A gigantic bear." Matthias replied, and addressed the others. "If all the noise we made so far didn't wake it up, then it shouldn't be a problem, but still, all of you be as quiet as possible."
Twilight, who would had the best idea just how dangerous Ursa could be, didn't look so keen on passing by one, but as everypony left to the tunnel Shining Armor checked, she followed.
"So what made you freak out like this back there, anyway?" Shining Armor asked, turning his head towards her.
In a hushed voice, Twilight told him and Brann about the strange crystal/amber-like thing, and a pony's body trapped inside.
"Do you think that pony could be still alive?" her brother, slightly unnerved, asked.
"Not likely." Matthias answered. "If we had stumbled upon him or her a few years or even decades after he or she was trapped, maybe, but considering that this whole place was abandoned for at least centuries, that poor pony died a long time ago."
"What a horrible death."
"Indeed. It's a pity, not only because that is a terrible fate, but also because he could tell us what this place was." Matthias said, and then shrugged. "Maybe Princess Celestia will know something about this 'Project Eclipse'."
"Hmm..." Brann murmured, pondering the new information. "Maybe ye could bring it back to life?"
"You can do that?!?" Twilight and Shinning Armor asked Matthias, astonished.
"Not so loud!" he hissed at them, and then nodded. "I told you Twilight that bringing others back to life is not unheard of on Azeroth. It can be done mostly by paladins, priests, druids and shamans."
"That's amazing!" Twilight whispered, her eyes gleaming with interest, as always when magic was involved. "So you could revive that pony?"
"I doubt it, for several reasons." Matthias replied. "One of them is which that I've never actually revived anypony here. Although, considering that Light seems to favor my since my own resurrection, I don't think the lack of experience would be that much important. There are other factors, however."
"Such as?" Twilight inquired.
"The revival of and living being, while appears to be a single 'spell', is actually composed of three steps:" he said, counting. "First, you have to summon the soul of the deceased back from the beyond that awaits everypony after death. Depending on who that was, it can be easier, or harder. If the pony was powerful in life, his soul would be easier to get in contact with. In some extreme cases, his soul can summon itself back, or linger on in the world of the living to begin with. The last one also happens if the death of said individual was traumatic. That's what given rise to ghost stories back on Azeroth. Since you have those here as well, I assume that is a universal rule."
"Wow, you really know a lot about it!" she noticed, excited.
Matthias heard Brann snorted, but paid him no mind.
"Actually, you can thank my former girlfriend for that." he said, shaking his head. "I was just taught the basics of how the revival works, so I could do it. Jaina was the one that learned all of the 'mechanics' and details behind it, and told me about them." Matthias sighed and continued: "Anyway, it is also easier to summon the soul when it was a close relative, or a friend. The second step is to connect the soul with the body, and the third, done at the same time, is to heal the body from whatever it was that killed him. To bring somepony completely to life, the third step is even more important that the first."
"Why?"
"If the pony died out of old age, then it would be impossible to revive him, which, sadly, is the case of that pony that was trapped in that amber-crystal thing. It is also impossible to revive somepony whose body became too decayed, or, to be precise, starts to decay at all. Due to that, the revival has to be performed within few minutes of death, unless special circumstances, but nevermind that now. And also, the most important part - if the damage to the body is too great, then it would be impossible to heal the pony back to life."
"'Damage to the body too great'? What do you mean?"
"Do you really want to know?" Matthias sighed.
"Err... no, I don't think I want to." Twilight stammered uncomfortably, but soon returned to her curious attitude. "So, if Applejack would have died after the timberwolf attack, you could have revived her?"
"If I'd have my full paladin powers, sure, but I'm glad it didn't came down to that. You know, dying isn't exactly a pleasurable experience." Matt glared at Brann, who started chuckling. "Sometimes, the one brought back to life suffers a mental trauma due to it."
"How come you didn't get it?" Shining Armor inquired.
Matthias snorted.
"I have better reasons to have a mental trauma than that. And I am too strong willed for that, anyway."
"And humble." Brann smirked.
"Oh, hush."
"So, it is impossible to revive that pony in the lab." Twilight summed up.
"Correct."
"Unless ye want to raise him back as an undead." Brann pointed out.
Matthias, hearing that, stopped dead in his track and looked back.
"Don't try to suggest that ever again." he told the dwarf, and continued to move down the tunnel.
"Eh... sorry." Brann said, sounding honest.
"Apology accepted."
"What was that about?" Twilight asked, not understanding. "What do you mean by 'undead'?"
Matthias could only sigh as he explained to her about the subject.
"An undead is a, basically, an abomination against life, a walking corpse, that in most cases, was risen by somepony, usually a necromancer."
"A walking corpse as in... a zombie?" Shining Armor asked, raising an eyebrow. "I could buy that you can bring ponies to life, but you can't be serious about this one."
"Sadly, no, I am dead serious." Matthias said, and immediately rolled his eyes at the irony of his words. "I would prefer not to talk about it, though. It's not a pleasant subject. Is it getting brighter?" he asked, noticing the faint glow around the corner.
"Smooth." Brann said, but then noticed the glow as well. "Oh, ye'r right."
"There is the exit over there." Shining Armor explained, and then added. "And the Ursa."
"Why is there a light comin' from there? Isn't it night-time?" Brann asked.
"It's coming from Ursa's pelt." Twilight explained, and then turned to her brother. "You didn't say if it was an Ursa Minor, or Major, you know."
"Take a guess."
"It's Major." Twilight stated, shaking a bit.
"Just stay calm, and quiet." Matthias told her, as they heard the snoring of the beast. "Let’s pass it quickly. Ready?"
They all nodded, and Matthias walked around the corner.
He was now in a gigantic cave, much, much bigger than the tunnel they've been traveling through, There were no stalactites or stalagmites in it, which meant probably that water didn't take part in creating it. If Matthias had to guess, the cave (along with the tunnel) was created during the earthquake that caused the piece of land with this ruined facility to rise above the ground. However, all those thoughts evaporated from his mind as he regarded a ridiculously gigantic, partially translucent bear, which fur looked like the night sky.
"You have got to be kidding me..." Matthias thought, as he fought to not ask any question until they were out of the cave.
He quickly trotted over to the exit, followed closely by the others. As soon as they passed the entrance, they broke into run, and didn't stop until they were well away from the cave.
"You know, Twilight..." Matthias said, panting. "When you told me how big the Ursa Major could be, I was sure you were exaggerating a bit."
"To be honest... I thought I was..."
"So wait, ya're sain' that they just entered some spooky place with corpses inside?" Applejack asked for confirmation.
"Yep." Rainbow Dash replied. "I would have stayed too, but somepony had to bring that plant back."
Applejack sighed and glanced to the kitchen, where Zecora was preparing the brew for the herbal bath to heal her little sister. As much she was glad that this problem was solved, Applejack couldn't help but worry about Twilight and the others.
"Ah hope they will be okay, Ah don't think I could deal with another crisis." she thought as her gaze shifted at the stairs, leading back to Apple Bloom's room, where the rest of her family, Princess Cadence, the two other Cutie Mark Crusaders and that weird spirit Matt summoned were keeping the little filly company.
"That's just dreadful!" Rarity exclaimed, looking sick at the thought of exploring some place with dead inside of it. "Why would they go in there?"
"I dunno. Matt wanted to check it out, but wasn't too keen on letting others to stay as well, especially Twilight."
"Well, that's understandable..." Rarity muttered, and rubbed her chin. Applejack knew her well enough to know that she was thinking about what the five of them were talking about for some time now. "Idea!" she suddenly shouted, excited, and turned back to Rainbow: "When do you think they will be back?"
"Well, if they haven't spent too much time in there, they could be back in two hours." the cyan mare responded. "Why?"
There was a devilish smile on the face of their fashionista friend.
"You will see. Now, if you excuse me, I have a quick spa reservation to make!" Rarity said as she trotted towards the door.
"Huh?!?" the others asked, but she was gone.
Neither Rarity, who left and went towards Ponyville, nor the ponies that stayed inside noticed the shadow that was observing them through the window.
"Hey Twilight, mind if I ask you something?" Matthias addressed the lavender unicorn.
It was almost two hours since they exited that cave in the hurry. It took them a while to get back on the main road of the Forest, but now, they were close to the exit, a fact of which all of them were happy. The close encounter with the Ursa Major, even if this was a sleeping one, put them all a bit on edge and they traveled mostly in silence.
"If I ever see that bear again, it will be too soon." he thought as he tried to not think about it.
"Sure, ask away." Twilight replied.
"How does an eclipse work here in Equestria?" Matthias inquired.
"Well, an eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when..." she began to say as if she was reading that out loud from one of her books.
"Twilight, I know what an eclipse is." he interrupted her. "But, as I told you some time ago, on Azeroth, the sun and moons move around by themselves. I wanted to know how an eclipse could occur in a world that requires two princesses to move those.
"Aye, me... Wait, what?" Brann, who was about to voice his interest on the matter, stopped, not sure if he heard him right.
"Oh, in that case..." Twilight stammered, thinking for a moment before answering Matt, completely ignoring the dwarf "Back in the days before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were born, the unicorns that moved the sun and the moon made an eclipse during certain occasions, like during the time in between the death of a king or a queen and crowning of his or her heir. After Discord took over Equestria, however, he randomly chose whenever the sun or moon was up. Sometimes, he made and eclipse for few moments. Since his defeat, the Princesses used to make an eclipse each year to celebrate the day Equestria was freed from his chaos. But after the Nightmare Moon... Raising both sun and moon at the same time was impossible for Celestia, so there wasn't any eclipse ever since. Since the return of Princess Luna, she and Princess Celestia were wondering when should they make another eclipse, but nothing came out of their planning as of yet."
"... What?" Brann repeated his question.
"Brann, I am sure Twilight will loan you few of her books about Equestria's history once we get back." Matthias replied. "And since you won't just skip to the interesting parts, like me, I have no doubt that you will have bigger knowledge on the subject than me. This reminds me, where will he going to sleep in?" he asked, turning to Twilight and Shining Armor.
"I suppose I could let him sleep in my library as well, for few days at least. After all, you do plan on returning to Azeroth, right Brann?"
The dwarf nodded and was about to reply when suddenly, in front of them from between trees something small jumped, followed closely by something a lot bigger. The bigger creature, which appeared to have the body of a lion, a scorpion's tail, and a pair of wings, slashed at the smaller one with his paw, claws outstretched.
Matthias, seeing this, automatically charged at the manticore, slamming into it with his head, throwing it off his prey. The beast roared, surprised, and took a swipe at him. The paladin ducked and turning around, he bucked the manticore in the chest. As the big wyvern-like beast hit the tree behind it, it roared, but the magical blasts Twilight and Shining Armor shoot next to it made reconsider attacking, and quickly run away.
"Good riddance." Matthias, who didn't even break a sweat, turned over to see what kind of poor creature nearly became manticore's snack.
To his surprise, it was a cat.
"A cat?" Twilight, who also looked at it, gasped. "What was a cat doing in this forest?"
"Beats me." Matthias replied, pressing a hoof to cat's slender and lithe body.
There was a huge scratch on its side, and its pelt was quickly soaking in its own blood. As Matt asked the Light to heal the poor thing, he couldn't help but notice how strangely colored the cat was. Its chest, muzzle and paws were white, while its back was either orange or black. One of its eyes was rimmed with darker fur than the other, and had a black tipped, gold-and-brown striped tabby tail.
"Weird looking cat in the Everfree Forest? Seems about right." Matthias concluded as he finished healing the small animal.
He bends down to it, as the cat slowly began to open its eyes.
"Hi there, little guy. How do you feel?" he asked, curious to the cat's reaction.
He most certainly didn't expect to see the cat open its large pale amber eyes wide and slash with its claws, scratching him on the nose. As Matthias backed away, pressing a hoof to his small wound, more from a surprise than an actual pain, the cat rose and bolted towards the treeline, disappearing behind it.
"That little..." Matt cursed as he began to heal the scratch, while Brann and Shinning Armor bursted into laughter and Twilight chuckled.
"Are you alright?" she asked, trying to hide her smile with her hoof.
"Yes, I'm fine." Matthias murmured in response, embarrassed that the cat got him so good. "Let’s go, I'm beginning to hate this forest."
Atop of a tree, the cat continued to examine its side, where barely few moments ago a mortal wound was, and was still marked with the cat's own blood.
Its tail twitched as it turned his head to regard the disappearing ponies, ears alert. It was especially eyeing the one that it scratched in its panic.
Twitching its tail one final time, the cat climbed down and began to follow them.