//------------------------------// // 59. Revelations // Story: Rebirth of the Damned // by Borsuq //------------------------------// “Do you think something happened to Matt?” Rarity asked with concern in her voice. “I don’t think so.” Twilight answered, despite how worried she was. As the train to Canterlot shook slightly, the lavender unicorn once again went in her mind through the letter she got from the Princess just about an hour ago:   My dearest Twilight, I would like for you, Cadance and Shining Armor, as well as your friends, to come to Canterlot for few moments. Don’t worry, you will all be able to return to Ponyville the same day, if you so choose to, of course.   Your mentor, Princess Celestia   “I mean, if something did happen to him, Princess Celestia would have mentioned it and wouldn’t add ‘don’t worry’.” Twilight told everypony besides Spike, who opted to stay in Ponyville and sleep, as the train neared their destination. “I wonder what it could be, though.” Princess Cadance said thoughtfully. “I know my aunt well enough to know she wouldn’t call us from our honeymoon, even if it ends in two days, anyway.” “You’re still coming back to Ponyville with us, right?!?” Pinkie asked, jumping up to her and Shining Armor. “You have to come to the party I’m throwing for Brann!” “Of course, Pinkie, we wouldn’t dream of trying to miss any of your parties.” Cadance smiled, still remembering the party she had thrown for them yesterday. Twilight chuckled, feeling heartened by the memory as well, but she was still worried. Not for Matt’s well-being, convinced that he was fine (well, almost), but for what to say to him if they met. “And I cannot ask Cadance or anypony else for advice while my brother is here.” she thought angrily. The unicorn loved her brother dearly, but right now, she was more annoyed at him that she could ever remember in her live.   The guards told them that Princess Celestia was awaiting them in Princess Luna’s private chambers. Everypony was surprised by the choice of meeting place to say the least, but nonetheless, they followed Cadance and Shining Armor, the only ones that knew the way. While in the past, Twilight often visited Celestia in her chambers, once she gotten her permission; she never got a chance to see Luna’s. From what she knew, Celestia leaved her old chambers undisturbed for over a thousand years, but other than that, she knew surprisingly little. “It’s really been a while since I moved to Ponyville, I guess.” Twilight thought as they neared their destination, which was placed in one of the higher towers of the castle. “If I had still lived in Canterlot, I would probably have learned the location of Princess Luna’s chambers right away.” The two guards that were standing by the entrance saluted at the sight of Cadance and Shining Armor. “Greetings, Your Highness, Captain.” they both said. “The Princesses and The Grand Master are expecting all of you.” “Grand Master?” Twilight thought, and could hear her friends mutter between themselves, clearly confused by the title as well; while the guard opened the doors for them. “I’ve never heard of any ‘Grand Master’!” She quickly pushed the thought away as they entered the room, jumping to the front of her friends. “Princess Celestia, we came as fast as we could, what...” she began, but stopped as she noticed three things. One, Celestia was standing nearby, motioning for them to be quiet. Two, Matthias was lying on a sofa on the left side of the room as he was sleeping, and his hooves slightly shone with an odd, but familiar, light. Third, Princess Luna was lying on a very luxurious bed, holding and feeding a bottle with a... “A foal!” Twilight realized, and felt her jaw drop. And it wasn’t just a foal. Even from where she and the others stood, she could see that the little pony had both wings and horn. “Ah, looks like our guest have arrived!” Luna said as she noticed them. “Look, Moonlight,” she turned her attention back to the foal, “those six ponies over there are the ones that saved your mommy!” “Mommy?!?” everypony, except the Princesses and one sleeping Matt, asked, clearly astonished. “And those two over there are your cousins!” Luna continued, not paying a slightest attention to their reaction. “Do you want to say hello to all of them?” The small alicorn giggled happily, so Luna picked her up with her magic and moved her closer to them. As Twilight got a better look at the little pony, she realized that she was looking at almost perfect miniature of Princess Luna, except for two details: her mane, which was not ethereal, and eyes, which...   … which looked almost liked those of a dragon.   “Everypony, I would very much like to introduce to you my daughter, Princess Moonlight Shadow.” Luna said, her voice beaming with pride and joy. “Moonlight say hello.” The little filly once again giggled happily, throwing her forelegs as if to embrace all of them. “Aw, she’s so cute!” Cadance was the first one to recover from the shock, and she trotted closer to the filly. “Auntie, do you mind if I hold her?” “Why of course not Cadence.” Luna replied as she moved her daughter to the embrace of the pink alicorn. “Hello there little one,” Cadance said to Moonlight. “you’re a beautiful little filly, you know that?” Twilight simply continued to stare, with her jaw still dropped, and so were her friends and her brother, if the next comment, that came after sound of Celestia and Luna’s giggling, was of any indication. “You were right, my sister.” Princess of the Night remarked, while covering her mouth with hoof. “We should have made a picture, their faces are priceless!” Twilight, blushing out of embarrassment, shook her head to clear her thoughts and cleared her throat. “Princess Luna, pardon us from not reacting... properly, but... would you or Celestia be kind enough to enlighten us as to where did Moonlight came from?” The two older Princesses exchanged glances. “Well, you see, Twilight...” Celestia began, uncertain. “When a mare and stallion love each other very much-” “Not that.” the unicorn barely kept herself from shouting, while both Celestia and Luna laughed almost too loud, causing the baby to look at their direction. “I’m sorry, my faithful student, I couldn’t help myself.” the white alicorn explained apologetically, despite not looking sorry at all. “But as to answer your question completely, we would need to wake up Matthias, since this is his doing.”   Twilight’s mind went blank.   “I think you broke them, sister.” Luna noticed with a smirk. “Your Highness...” Shining Armor began, unsure. “... does this mean that... you and Matthias... are...?” “Please no!” Twilight thought, barely conscious. To everypony’s confusion, both Princesses began to laugh again. “Would you care to explain, Shining Armor, how exactly would it be possible for this filly to be born after two days?” Celestia asked when she managed to caught her breath. “While Matthias is a dear friend of mine and the godfather of my filly, he is neither her father, nor my consort.” Luna said, looking happier than Twilight could ever remember seeing her. “Does this answer your question?” The lavender mare breathed more deeply as she calmed down. She was surprised at her reaction, since she didn’t yet know if she wanted her and Matt to be more than friends. “I guess I don’t want to lose him before I even got a chance to talk to him about it...” In the meantime, Pinkie Pie, who managed recover from her shock (which spoke something about the unusuality of the situation) trotted over to Cadance and began to make faces to Moonlight. “Aw, I wish you would have told us!” she exclaimed to Luna and Celestia, while the filly laughed because of her. “I could have brought a cake, and my Party Cannon! We need to throw... oh wait, newborns don’t like parties yet, right?” Pinkie realized as she probably recalled the time she wanted to do that with The Cake’s foals. “Princess Celestia...” Twilight began again, completely ignoring Pinkie as she once more tried to get an answer. “I know, Twilight, no more jokes.” Celestia replied. Turning to her sister, she asked: “Do you mind if I explain it to them, little sister?” “Not at all.” Luna replied as she rose up and trotted toward her baby, taking it back from Cadance. Everypony’s attention was now focused on Celestia, sparing few glances in the direction of Luna and Moonlight, especially from staying close to them Princess Cadance. “Nopony knows about this those days,” the white alicorn began, her tone growing sad all of a sudden, “but when Luna became Nightmare Moon and was later imprisoned on the moon by me, she was pregnant at the time.” Twilight gasped, as so did everypony else. “But... who is the father?” she asked, in her shock forgetting that it was a bit intrusive question. “Surely, during your studies, you came upon the name of Shadow Bolt, right?” “Of course!” Twilight exclaimed, as now it made sense to her, barely registering Rainbow mutter ‘Shadow Bolt?’ under her nose. “He was called ‘The Champion of the Night’, and was the first of the night guard!” “Yes, he was.” Luna spoke up, her eyes locked on her filly. “He was also mine and Celestia’s foalhood friend, and my consort much later. He fathered this little pony, but not lived long enough to meet her.” looking up, she continued in even more sad tone than before, and Twilight shocked to see the incredible amount of pain in her eyes. “He died protecting me and our foal, despite that the last words he heard from me were insane accusation that he didn’t love me…” “Princess...” Twilight stopped, looking for some words to comfort her, as Cadance covered her aunt with one wing, but Luna smiled. “It’s alright. I have grown accustomed to this pain, and now that I have my daughter back, I am truly happy!” “Princess, if you don’t mind me asking: What do you mean by having her back?” Twilight asked before she could help herself. It was clearly wrong question to ask, because the Princess once again grew sad. “Because of Nightmare Moon’s dark powers,” Celestia answered for her sister, “the filly was born dead.” “W-What? “But...” “How then...” “Her body stayed on the moon, for over a thousand years, preserved by the magic of the very moon.” the oldest alicorn continued, putting an end to the avalanche of questions. “Once Matthias heard this, he realised that there was a chance for him to bring her back. And so, he asked me to send him to the moon, but didn’t explain anything as he didn’t want to give anypony a false hope.” Twilight, like everypony else, looked at Matthias, who was still sleeping. “I cannot believe it... he had actually brought somepony back to life, and not just anypony, but Princess Luna’s daughter!” she thought, feeling her heart swell with pride and happiness. At the same time, she noticed that Matt seldom looked as peaceful, even in his sleep, as he did now. While she wondered about it, she glanced at his hooves, which, as she realised, were covered in moon’s dust, which explained why they shone with familiar light. “Wow!” Rainbow exclaimed, first to voice what all of them thought. “I didn’t believe he could actually bring ponies back to life!” “But he can, and he did.” Luna replied, giving her daughter to be once again to be hold by Cadance. “And I couldn’t be more thankful!” she added, at the same time picking him up with a spell and pulling him close to her, embracing him in a giant hug. Twilight could have sworn she heard something break. “Luna, for the love of Light, please stop doing that.” Matt exclaimed in a tired voice as he barely opened his eyes, but he snapped himself to better attention as he noticed that there were more ponies here. “Oh, hi everypony.” “‘Hi’? You can only say ‘hi’ to us after being away for two days and bringing a Princess’ daughter back to life?” Rainbow Dash asked, although there was a good-humored tone to it. “Sorry, too tired to think about something more witty.” Matt smirked, as Luna put him on the ground, while the smirk turned into yawn. “I had to trot around the moon for almost half a night, and then I spend the other half performing a ritual and channeling the power of Light into Moonlight’s tiny body; doing either of those weren’t easy while being unable to speak.” Matt yawned again and made a step towards them... only to fall on the floor. “Light da-” he was about to curse, but stopped himself. “How long is this going to last?” “What do you mean by ‘going to last’?” Twilight asked as she picked him up with her magic. “The side effects that are befall to ponies, other than alicorns, if they are to walk on the moon for some time.” Luna explained, barely containing her amusement. “Due to the much lesser gravity, and being under constant influence of moon’s magic, the pony can have problems moving around once he gets back, as well as... thinking straight.” “‘Thinkin’ straight’?” Applejack asked, confused. “Whad’dya mean, Princess?” “Well...” she started with devilish smile and cleared her throat. “Matthias, according to you, who is prettier: me or Celestia?” Twilight’s eyes went wide at the question, but even wider once she heard Matt answer: “You, and could you please stop doing that?” he asked, his eyes still dizzy. The dark blue alicorn smirked at the white one, who then rolled her eyes. “Wait, so he has to answer every question?” Rainbow asked with a glee. “Maybe not every question, but he thinks more slowly than he speaks, so he will speak and act before thinking.” Luna explained. “Ha, this is sweet!” the pegasus exclaimed. “Let’s ask him something!” “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight lashed at her friend. “You cannot do something like this to a friend!” “I must agree with Twilight...” Rarity began, but the cyan mare was no longer listening. “Hey Matt, what annoys you in Twilight the most?” “That she overreacts to everything… STOP THAT!!!” he shouted, as he begins to become frustrated with being asked with such personal questions in such a fizzy state, which caused the filly to cry. “Sshhh, little one.” Luna and Cadance both uttered, trying to calm Moonlight down. The younger Princess handed over the filly to her mother, and looked sternly at the two ponies. “See what you’ve done?!” Cadence hissed at them. “Sorry.” both Rainbow and Matt replied, bowing shamefully. “I think it would be a good idea to leave the mother and daughter alone for some time.” Celestia said, rising up. “Sister, I want you to take at least a week off from you duties.” “Thanks, Tia.” Luna replied, smiling, while Moonlight began to calm down. “And thank you everypony, for coming to see her.” “The pleasure was ours, auntie.” “Yeah, she’s great!” “It was nice meetin’ her.” “I agree. I cannot believe how adorable she is!” All of them said similar goodbyes as they retreated from Luna’s chambers, with Matt being supported by Shining Armor. “As for our Grand Master here, I think it would be best if he was escorted to his room.” Celestia told the others, nodding at Matthias. “Grand Master?” Twilight asked, confused, as she recalled the title the guards mentioned when they were about to enter the room. “Matt is a ‘Grand Master’ of what?” “Oh, right, I forgot to mention.” the Princess explained. “Matthias had agreed to train paladins for Equestria, as the Grand Master of newly created Order of The Celestial Lights!” “Wow, really!?!” everypony exclaimed, astonished. “Because both the sun and the moon are sources of The Light...” Matt muttered to himself, before snapping. “Yeah, really, I will start by training three ponies in about month.” “Hey, you said you couldn’t teach me those Light tricks of yours!” Rainbow said, sounding offended. “Yes, because you do not have the patience, or diligence, to become a paladin.” “What!?!” “Everypony, please, cease your discussion.” Celestia interrupted them. “Matthias, as well as Brann, should return to Ponyville by tomorrow. You can question him them, but for now, I must implore you to stop.” “Okay, fine.” the cyan mare muttered. “He sleeps in one of the suites in West Wing of the castle.” the Princess told Shining Armor, who nodded. “If you’ll excuse me, I really need to see to royal duties, especially since Luna will be busy. Thank you all for coming to greet Moonlight to Equestria, it means a lot to both Luna and me.” “It was an honor, Princess.” Twilight replied, bowing, and so did everypony else, and Celestia’s horn flashed, teleporting her most likely to the throne room. “Well, let’s get trotting.” Shining Armor said as he steer the half-awake Matt.   As they escorted him, they were all discussing about the filly princess. “Really, she was just adorable,” Rarity exclaimed. “even if those eyes of hers were a bit... creepy.” “Yeah, what’s up with that?” “I guess she must have gotten them after her father.” Twilight explained. “I read that the enchantment on armor that causes the night guard to look like they look is based on how Shadow Bolt really looked like.” “He-he really looked like a dragon?” Fluttershy asked, slightly scared. “Yes, although I’m not really sure why.” “But still, lil’ Moonlight is a cutie, and I don’t see what the hay her eyes should be a problem.” “Yes, and she and Luna looks really happy together.” Twilight observed. “We can all agree on that, I’m sure.” Cadance added, smiling. “Right Shining?” “Yes, of course.” Twilight heard her brother reply, a bit absently, and when she glanced at him, she saw that he was glaring at Matthias. “Shining Armor-” “Are you and Twilight really just friends?” he asked Matt, stopping to better regard him, before she could finish. “SHINING!” both she and Cadance shouted at the stallion, while the other one continued to walk without support, soon he fell on his face and lost consciousness.     “I hope you’re happy!” Princess Cadance scolded her husband as they laid Matt on his bed. “Well, it was funny...” Twilight heard Rainbow mutter, so she glared at her. “What? I mean, it’s not like anything serious happened, right?” “Shining Armor, for the last time.” the lavender unicorn told him, ignoring her friend. “I love you, you are my B.B.B.F.F.; but I swear, if you ever try to pry about my personal life, I will not hesitate to turn you into a frog or something! And, I can mention to Cadance...” “Don’t!” he quickly shouted and fell on his knees, not wanting his wife to know how old he was when he stopped wetting the bed. “I’m sorry, Twily. I know I am overprotective of you, but... I just don’t want you to be hurt.” “I knew holding off to that would prove useful.” she gleed in her mind, but her brother’s words calmed her. “I know, Shining Armor. Don’t worry, I do not plan to get myself married to some bug like somepony almost did.” she joked at his expense, but grew more serious after few shared giggles. “Okay, everypony, let’s get back to Ponyville. I’ll just write Matt a short note, explaining what happened, as well as how sorry my big brother is, and catch up with you.” The others nodded and trotted away from the room, as the Twilight picked up some notebook and began to write a short letter. When she was about to finish, however, she heard some moaning. “Oh, you’re awake.” she told Matt as she trotted over to him. “How do you feel?” “As if I had an urge to hit somepony and say ‘no’… for some reason.” he replied, confused, and shook his head. “What exactly happened?” “Well...” Twilight stuttered. “You... fell.” “Oh right.” Matthias said, rubbing his temples. “You and the others are going back to Ponyville, yes?” “Uhuh.” “Great, Brann and I will be back tomorrow, I am starting to miss you all.” he said, yawning. “Sorry, I’m really tired, so...” “Of course, sweet dreams Matt.” Twilight replied, and was about to leave, when she felt his hooves grab her, pull him closer to her, and before she knew it, she felt his lips on hers. Before she got any chance to react, Matt broke the short kiss, and pointed his hoof at her. “We’re even.” “Wh-what?” Twilight asked, barely conscious. “You told your brother I kissed you after the reception.” he reminded her, beginning to doze off again. “Now we’re even.” “Oh...” “Goodnight, Twilight...” he muttered, falling asleep again. Twilight began feel numb, quickly moved away and closing the door behind her, as she made her way towards the station. He mind raced with what just happened, feeling more excited by the short peck on her lips than she could ever recall being before. With fast beating heart, mused over what question was asked to Matt before and what he said at the bedroom, the question was with Shining Armor asking him: “Are you and Twilight really just friends? “As if I had an urge to hit somepony and say ‘no’, for some reason.” “…no…”