“I wish I didn’t have to get up.” Matthias thought, stretching as he sat up on the bed. “I had such a pleasant dream. I guess talking to Luna really did help me. Hmm... what was that dream about...” he frowned as he tried to recall, only to facehoof himself once he remembered parts of it.
Once he remembered Twilight was there.
“I think I know what Luna meant by ‘think of the living, instead of the dead’.” he sighed. “But... I cannot be with Twilight. I would end up only causing her pain. Guess it’s a good thing that I will be soon busy with training new paladins, then. We won’t be seeing each other as much.”
The mere thought of seeing her less was painful, but Matthias shrugged it off as he stood up and walked out of the suit he was staying in. He went towards Brann’s wanting to eat some breakfast with him and hear what he found out during his research in archives, but the dwarf wasn’t in it.
“For somepony so used to field work, he spends incredible amount of time reading.” Matthias chuckled as he headed towards Canterlot Archives instead.
“Twilight.” somepony’s melodic voice song as she stirred from her sleep. “Wake up.”
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and saw Cadance looking down on her, half-amused, half-concerned. The unicorn wondered for a heartbeat why, until she realized that she wasn’t in her bed. Rather, she was sitting in front of her desk and her forelegs and head laying on it, as she was before she fallen asleep.
“Good morning, Cadance.” she said, trying to be nonchalant about it. “How did you sleep?”
“Better than you, I think.” the Princess giggled. “Do you often sleep like this?”
“No, of course not.” Twilight replied, also laughing. “I just couldn’t fall asleep at night, so I came here to read something. I must have dozed off at some point.”
“I’m glad to know that books can sometimes make even you fall asleep.” Cadance joked as the younger mare stretched after being so long in hardly comfortable position. “Although, it seemed you had quite a beautiful dream.”
“Really? Why do you think so?”
“You were smiling through sleep. Do you remember what was it about?” the princess asked curiously.
“Well...” Twilight paused as she concentrated. “I... think I was trotting through some meadow with...”
“... with Matt.” she realized with a jolt.
“... with somepony.” she finished, perhaps a little too fast.
The last thing she needed right now was to convince others further that she felt something for Matt... even if it was true.
“‘With somepony’...” Cadance repeated after her, smirking.”... You do know you are blushing, right?”
Matthias was surprised when the mare that worked as the Royal Archivist, Summer Mane, told him that the dwarf was reading through books without rest all night. He thanked her and went into the Archives, finding Brann in the same spot where he left him yesterday, although with different set of books and with a mug of coffee.
“I’m almost surprise you’re still here.” Matthias greeted the dwarf. “I half expected you to find something about some old ruins and run off there.”
“Ehh, no such luck, lad.” Brann replied, acknowledging his presence with a nod. “There seems to be little to nothin’ about anythin’ older than thousand years here. And definitely nothin’ about titans, either...”
Matthias rolled his eyes.
“... I thought that I might find somethin’ about them if I read about those poor crystal ponies, but there is little of that left. Apparently, that ‘Spirit of Chaos’ fellow ye mentioned didn’t like books and scrolls.”
“Is there even a point in trying to convince you that there is nothing in Equestria that suggest that titans were ever here?” the earth pony asked, sighing.
“Nope. So, what’ve ye been up to, lad?”
“Had a tea with Twiligth’s and Shining Armor’s parents, and shared stories of past with Princess Luna in my dream.” noticing Brann surprise at the latter (and before that, amusement by the former), Matthias explained: “She has the power to see into dreams of others, although she only does so when ponies are plagued with nightmares.”
“Boy, I would not like to see yer nightmares.” Brann said, shrugging. “Guessin’ by that yer not locked in chains, ye either didn’t tell her about the Lich Kin’ business or she’s very understandin’.”
“I did, and I’m glad. It was nice to get that off my chest.”
“Hmpf.” dwarf grunted. “Well, I guess it’s nice to know there will be someone around to keep an eye on ye once I get back to Azeroth.”
“When do you plan to head back?”
“I guess after that party of yer friend. Wouldn’t want to have her chasin’ me through worlds.”
They both laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea, although Matthias wasn’t entirely sure if that was impossible for Pinkie Pie. He shrugged that thought off as he focused on the topic he had in mind for some time now:
“Would you mind doing me - and, by extension, both Equestria and Azeroth - two small favors?”
“What’ye mean, lad?”
“I want you to not say a word about Equestria to anyone on Azeroth.” Matthias told him and continued, before Brann could interrupt him: “I don’t want those ponies to be dragged into the war between the Alliance and the Horde, which would be unavoidable as long as that warmonger is the warchief. He would come here for resources...”
“That’s a given, I guess.” Brann interrupted him. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t plannin’ on tellin’ a soul.” under his nose, Matthias heard him mutter: “Don’t know who would have believed me, anyway...”
The earth pony suppressed a chuckle at the thought of Brann Bronzebeard, a renowned explorer, telling people that he’s been in the land of magical talking ponies.
“Either way, thank you. As for the second favor...” he lowered his voice. “... It is connected to what Ysera told me.”
“Ye mean when she told ye that she saw ye fightin’ side by side in battle against Deathwin’?”
“Yes. Me, Bolvar and Ner’zhul have been putting some thoughts together so that I could go there to fight, and, after a while, we came up with... an idea.”
Luna yawned as she awakened to lower the moon, only to realize that it was day already.
“Morning, little sister.” the voice of her sister sounded behind her and as she turned, Luna saw Celestia preparing herself for many duties she would have to face today. “You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you up. I hope you don’t mind...”
“Not at all, sister.” the younger Princess interrupted her, stretching. “I’m actually glad that you let me sleep a while longer, so that I could be refreshed once the guards we’ve sent to the facility that your student and Arthas discovered...”
“Twilight and who?” Celestia asked, confused.
“Oh, right. That’s Matthias real name.” Luna explained, giggling. “He was a Crown Prince of his homeland, and once he... became evil, even crowned himself, so you could say that technically, he’s a king right now.”
“It seems that our guess about him being of royal blood was a correct one.” the white alicorn also giggled. “Such a pity we cannot tell our ‘favorite’ nephew about it, I would love to see his reaction.”
Both sisters laughed.
“That’s... a surprisingly well thought-out plan.” Brann admitted. “Despite of how ridiculous it actually sounds.”
“So, will you help?” Matthias asked, not sure if he and the two others could pull it off themselves.
They probably could, but they would have better chances of success with the help that Brann could provide.
“Sure, it will help Azeroth after all, right?”
“Thank you.” Matthias said, sighing with relief. “So when do you think you could bring those here?”
“I guess...” Brann paused as he scratched his head, thinking. “... it would take me about a month to gather everythin’.”
“A month? Hmm...”
“If you wouldn’t mind, could you also bring me some books about the Light? It would be easier for those that I will teach to understand it if they read more... precise description of the Light.”
“Sure, no problem. But,” Brann said, pointing him with his finger, “in return, ye will have to look into if there’s anythin’ titan related in Equestria.”
“Fine.” Matthias agreed, rolling his eyes. “So, now that we have that out of the way, wanna grab something to eat?”
“No thanks, I’m busy.”
“With what? You said that there seems to be nothing about titans here.”
“True, but there is still a bunch of interestin’ things.” Brann explained. “This world is amazing. Everythin’ seems to follow completely different rules of nature and magic that those on Azeroth or Outland. Even those ponies alone are weird like that. For example, did’ye know that there are no recorded male alicorns?”
“Really?” Matthias asked curiously.
He knew that alicorns were rare, but it didn't cross his mind earlier that most of them were of the same gender.
“Yep, only four females since the founding of Equestria. Other than that, there are only legends.”
“Four?”
“There was this loose page about some alicorn givin’ birth to an unicorn filly.” Brann said, shrugging. “If I got it right, it was during reign of King Nobleheart, the father of later King Brom. Besides that, I’ve got nothin’.”
“Her daughter was a unicorn?” the earth pony asked, surprised.
“Correct. I guess alicorns must be really special, if their offspring can be a regular pony.”
“Luna daughter was an alicorn, though.” Matthias thought, saddened by recalling the memory. “What kind of life she would have, if fate would be different? I wonder...”
“I will ask either Luna or Celestia about this other alicorn if you want, maybe they know something.” he offered Brann, taking his thoughts away from the sad subject.
“I doubt even they could explain what alicorns exactly are, considering there is nothin’ in these entire blasted Archives.” the dwarf said, sighing. “Ye know lad, once the whole Cataclysm business is over, I might drop here for longer. What kind of world doesn’t know its own history beyond the limit of last thousand and few hundred years?!” Brann shook his head. “Anyway, gettin’ back on the topic... after readin’ somethin’ else, I might have a theory...”
“Really? Do tell.” Matthias pleaded, preparing to hear that alicorns were some sort of titan failsafe or something.
“Well, there was this book about those timberwolves that ye mentioned.” Brann started, pointing at the pile next to him. “It said that besides those that ye’ve beaten to a pulp, there is a second kind of those puppies, but instead of havin’ just their skin and fur made out of wood, those are entirely made out of branches and such.”
“What has that to do with...”
“I’m gettin’ to it, ye prissy little horse. Those other timberwolves can survive being smashed to pieces, and reassemble themselves from their branches, or from the surrounding branches, which I think, means that there are more spirits than actual livin’ beings. The researcher also wrote that once, she observed the pack of those creatures assemble into one huge wolf. So, I’ve been thinkin’ that this ‘huge wolf’ can actually be a demigod, and those puppies you’ve been acquainted to are maybe its sons and daughters? And, if there are demigods here in Equestria, then maybe alicorns are ones as well, considering how rare and powerful they are? Besides, the legends, as ye’ve mentioned, tell that sometimes alicorns were born normal ponies, but became alicorns later in life - isn’t it somethin’ along the lines of you becomin’ the Lich Kin’? I mean, you were technically a demigod then.”
“Thanks for reminding me.” Matthias shook slightly, recalling the unholy powers he had at his command. “And it was a bit more complicated... but maybe you’re onto something.”
“Considering the power I both felt in that short argument Celestia and I had, and the power I witnessed in Luna’s memories...” he recalled as he thought about Brann suggestion, when suddenly he realized something with a jolt. “Wait a second! If alicorns are demigods, then maybe...”
“Excuse me.” a new voice interrupted his train of thoughts.
Annoyed, Matthias looked to its source, which turned out to be a royal guard.
“Yes, what is it?” Matthias, who wasn’t in the mood for interruptions, replied.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna requested you to join them within the office of Royal Physician, Doctor Angelic Touch.”
“They could at least give me chance to eat something.” Matthias sighed as he wondered why the Princesses wanted to see him, exactly.
“Very well then, can you lead me to them?” he asked the royal guard, who nodded and turned around. “See you later, I will need your help with the architects.” he told Brann.
The dwarf waved hand in response, as he once again turned his attention to the books.
Spottedleaf yawned as she woke up, wishing she didn’t.
She dreamed about Firestar.
In that dream, they were together, and had three beautiful kits, just like she always wanted.
“I really should stop thinking about this.” Spottedleaf thought, feeling deep sadness well up in her heart. “It has always been impossible for me to be with him, and now that I’m in different world...” she sighed at the hopelessness of her situation. “He is happy with Sandstorm, and once she joins him in StarClan, they will be together for many seasons. That’s enough for me.”
The cat got up and stretched her back, shaking off the unpleasant thoughts as she padded towards the kitchen, wondering if there would be something to eat.
Inside, Angel bunny was munching some leaves.
“Well, there is something to eat alright.” Spottedleaf chuckled in her thoughts as the bunny continued to remain oblivious of her presence. “I wonder how many cats would have called me insane for wasting such opportunity.”
Angel was annoying as fleas, but Spottedleaf remembered what Matthias told her, about how peaceful this place was that even animals that normally haunted each other lived side by side. She wasn’t going to ruin this just because the rabbit got on her nerves.
Now that she thought about it, she actually felt bad about scaring him day before. Wanting to apologize, Spottedleaf crept closer to him and once she stood right behind him, she purred at him to get his attention.
The bunny, as soon as he turned around and saw her, tried to escape, as she expected. The formed medicine cat quickly pinned him to the ground, as gently as she could.
“Sorry about this, but I figured it would be hard to talk otherwise.” she meowed at him, wondering how much would he understand. As Angel continued to try finding a way out, she sighed. “Look, I wanted to apologize about snapping at you like that the day before.” to her mild surprise, the bunny stopped his tries. “I’ve just been through a lot lately, and I guess I’ve taken some of it on you. I hope you will forgive me that.”
Spottedleaf bended down and licked Angel on top of his head, to be sure he understood she had no wrong intentions towards him, and lifted his paw of him. The cat then purred her goodbye to the bunny, and walked away, looking for Fluttershy.
Had she looked back, she would have seen Angel following her with his eyes, which were now in a shape resembling hearts.