//------------------------------//
// 63. Night of terror 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

Couple Hours Earlier…
 
Matthias looked at three fillies amused, as they began discussing how to get a sailing cutie mark.
“You do realized that you would need to be on a ship for that one, right?” he decided to point out for them a big flaw in their plan them after Scootaloo suggested that they could just stir a boat around and see what'll happen.
“Oh, right.” Apple Bloom said, crestfallen, but in the very next second she jumped up in the air and exclaimed: “Ah have even better idea! Let’s get a cutie mark in boat buildin’!”
The paladin facehoofed himself, not too sure if to think any this is still amusing, or just plain annoying.
“Yeah, that’s a great idea!” Sweetie Belle replied to the suggestion, also jumping in excitement.
“And even if it turns out that it’s not our special talent, we will have a boat to try sailing on.”
“As much as I admire your enthusiasm, I’m afraid I have to put an end to your plans.” Matthias said, deciding enough was enough.
“Why?” the trio asked him sadly in unison.
“Well, for one thing, it’s about time we ate some dinner.”
“But we’re not hung-” Scootaloo began to say, only to have her stomach betray her at this precise moment with a growl, much to the other two amusement.
“And besides, it’s getting late.” he pointed out, continuing as if nothing happened. “It will be night soon.”
“When you put it like that...” Sweetie Belle muttered unhappily.
“Don’t worry; you can go back to your Crusading tomorrow.”
The four of them rose up and picked up all the folded furniture’s, which meant that Matthias did most of the work, and carried them back to the beach house. Inside, Matthias went to the kitchen and within few short moments, he came back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, carrying plate with few daisy sandwiches. The paladin found them up on a terrace, gazing at the sunset.
“Wow, it’s really beautiful!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as he walked in on them.
Matthias found it hard to argue. The setting in which the sun’s light reflecting on the surface of the sea, creating a magnificent scenery, and made the stallion regret not having a camera.
“Indeed.” he said, gaining their attention as he put the plate on the table.
“Are we out of pizza?” Scootaloo asked as the three fillies sat down to eat.
“No, there is plenty of it in the icebox.” Matthias replied, recalling how well supplied house’s kitchen was. “But you can’t eat such heavy meals before going to sleep, it’s unhealthy. So,” he added, saying that they were about to protest, “how do you like it here so far?”
At once, the Cutie Mark Crusaders beamed up and started going on about how great this place is. They liked everything about it: the sea, the beach, the house, the sunset, the games they played with everypony... the list went on for a while, so Matthias, a tad tired from the whole day of watching them, allowed himself to doze off with his thoughts.
“I wonder when the others are gonna get back.” he mused, gazing into the distance. “It is getting rather late... and I wanted to talk with Twilight. She’s back to her old self now, but I need to explain to her why I kissed her. But... what should I say; that I love her, but only because she’s exactly like Jaina? I cannot... And is it really the only reason? If not, what then? I cannot be with her. I made everyone who I ever cared about suffer. And even if I won’t fall to the darkness, I would mess this relationship up. I would lose her friendship...”
“The twilight sure is beautiful out here.”
“Yes, she is.” he replied absentmindedly.
When Matthias noticed that the three fillies were staring at him, who then started giggling, he realized what he said, while Scootaloo was commenting the sky.
“Ya don’t say...” Apple Blood told him when she stopped giggling.
“So, are you two very special someponies?” Sweetie Belle asked him, with a grin on her face.
“This is exactly what I need, little fillies discussing this.”
“No, we’re not.” Matthias replied, rolling his eyes.
“But why?” Sweetie Belle inquired, and started counting: “I mean, you live together, really like each other, and you think she’s beautiful...”
Matthias didn’t miss that smirk on her face when she mentioned the last part.
“Girls, I am pretty sure somepony must have mentioned to you that it’s not nice to pray in the relationships between two ponies.” he told them, which surprisingly enough, seemed to have an effect; for the three fillies looked at each other, ashamed all of a sudden. “Now that we have that out of the way, I would appreciate if you wouldn’t mention what I said earlier? Because, you know, you kinda owe me one, since thanks to me staying behind you three got to play on the beach on day.”
“Uh, fine, we won’t tell anypony.” Scootaloo grunted, annoyed.
“Pinkie Promise?”
The three fillies rolled their eyes, but complied and gesticulated with their forelegs, while saying:
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
“Good.” Matthias nodded, pleased; he knew they wouldn’t dare to break Pinkie Promise. “Now then, finish eating and go take a shower before you go to sleep, you need to clean the salt out of your coats.”
 



 
Matthias yawned an hour after he put the fillies to bed they chose to sleep in all together, as he laid stretched on the bed, reading the last chapter of the ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue’. However, despite wanting to know how would Daring Do manage to escape from the temple (which he know she would, otherwise there wouldn’t be any more books of this series), he found it even hard to concentrate, and finally gave up after realizing that he was reading the same page for about twenty minutes.
The paladin yawned and looked at the clock. The mares and Spike haven’t returned yet, and it was only two hours until midnight. A thought that something might have happened to them crossed Matthias’ mind, but he quickly dismissed it. He had no doubt that if any harm came to them, he would know - either thanks to the Light, or through the weird connection he and Twilight seemed to have.
The thought of Twilight caused him to sigh. The stallion had already decided that once she would return, he would ask her for a private talk, provided she wasn’t too tired from sightseeing. What would happen after that, he had no idea.
“Maybe I should...”
His thoughts were interrupted by a terrified shriek coming up from upstairs. Matthias blood froze as he at once sprung up and galloped towards the room in which the fillies slept together, dreading what had happened.
The scream continued, but in those two seconds that it took him to reach their room, it was joined by two more. Hearing it, the paladin did not bother with wasting one more for opening door, and instead simply bursted through them.
“What happened?” he asked, radiating Light from his body and glancing around, trying to find whatever fiend was foolish enough to dare harm those three. “Are you okay?”
Seeing him seemed to calm them down a bit, as they stopped screaming, but their faces were pale while they looked at him.
“T-t-there’s...” Applebloom stuttered.
“....T-t-t-there’s...” Scootaloo tried to say.
“Calm down, you are safe.” Matthias told them gently as he trotted to their bed, confused, and wondering if they all just had a nightmare, but that was rather unlikely. “Tell me what-”
Their sheets were soaking with blood.
“Where are you hurt?!?” he quickly ask them, barely able to remain calm now that he knew something had happened to the three fillies, as his mind tried to analyze whatever that ‘something’ could be. “Which one of you is hurt?”
“There isn’t enough blood to come from all three of them... or two, in fact...”
“I-I think I am.” Sweetie Belle said in broken voice, her coat whiter than it should be.
“Alright, calm down, everything will be fine.” Matthias told her gently, as he delicately whiped her tears. “Now, tell me where you are hurt, so that I might heal you, and then tell me what happened.”
“W-well...” Sweetie Belle stuttered, plainly unsure as what to say. “... I...”
“Sweetie, just tell me where it hurts.” the paladin pleaded, hoping that she would calm down.
“I-it hurts...” the little unicorn tried to tell him, looking weirdly at the other two, who, like Matthias, were looking at her with concern. “... in my...” she blushed as the next words were said. “...private area.”
 
The paladin, Grand Master of the Order of Celestial Lights, King of the Fallen Lordaeron, former Lich King of the Scourge, felt his jaw drop.
 
“Oh...” he said in shock, as the apprehension of what had happened dawned on him. “I mean... don’t worry, this... is normal.”
“Normal!?” Scootaloo exclaimed in fear. “How is it normal that she bleeds from down there?!”
“Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic...”
“I will explain to you in a moment, right now... we need to wash Sweetie Belle... down there.” Matthias told them, having no idea what to say about that. “Come on.”
He gently picked up the little unicorn, and carried her to the bathroom, which, thankfully, had a really huge bathtub. Matthias put Sweetie Belle there, and turned on the water.
“You two help her.” he asked Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who followed them. “Wash... that place, with just water, gently, I will be right back.”
Matthias passed the two of them and entered the hallway. He wanted to go outside and start hitting the sand with his head, but he couldn’t. Nopony was here now, so he had to take care of the three fillies, all by himself.
He just hoped the mares would get back really soon.
The earth pony did not bother to ask Bolvar and Ner’zhul for suggestions, doubting that either of them would have anything useful for him. So instead, Matthias headed for the rooms were girls slept, and started searching through their bags, hoping that at least one of them brought...
“Wait, what the hell do ponies use when they have a period?” he thought, as he looked at Fluttershy’s belongings. “They don’t wear clothes normally, so the menstrual pads are out...”
After searching through two more bags, he finally found a box of tampons in one of Rarity’s bags. The description on the small box told him it was supposed to be used for this exact situation, but instead of putting them into the underwear, they were going into...
Shaking his head, Matthias picked up the box and hurried back to the girls, who were just helping Sweetie Belle get out of the tub.
“Great, now listen to me, Sweetie.” he said, somehow managing to maintain his voice in natural intensity. “This may sound strange, but I need you to put this...” he passed them the opened box, so that they would know he meant the contents. “...in your... private area… the bleeding one.”
“What?!?” the three of them shouted, disgusted.
“You want me to stick it in...”
“Yes, Sweetie, so that it could absorb the blood.”
“Why can’t you just heal me?”
“I can’t.” Matthias said, shaking his head. “I will explain all of this as best I can, but first you need to... do this.”
“I think I’m gonna faint.”
The paladin stood there, watching the fillies as they took the box and, after checking the instruction on it, then proceeded to put the tampon into Sweetie Belle, but he managed to snap himself back into lucidness and turn away at the last moment.
“I would like them all to see me now.” he thought bitterly as he heard the little ones behind him reading the box’ instructions aloud. “The once terrifying Lich King, helping a small filly with her first period.”
“Okay, we’re done.” Scootaloo informed him, uncertainly.
“Feels... funny.” Sweetie Belle said when Matthias turned his head around,
“Alright, now then... let’s go find you three a new room. I’m afraid that your previous one is kind of... messy.”
He led the Cutie Mark Crusaders to one of the unused rooms, and waited for them to sit on their bed.
“What happened to me?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Well...” Matthias began, rubbing the back of his head. “...it’s hard to explain. This is usually something fillies should hear from their mothers and older sisters. Do you think you could wait until tomorrow, so that Rarity could explain it to you?”
“But how can I sleep?!?” the small unicorn panicked. “What if I bleed out?!? Why has it happened to me?!? Why-”
“Sweetie, please be calm.” the paladin asked, embracing her and patting on her head. Once she stopped screaming, and breathed more steadily, he continued: “Listen, what had just happened to you is something that every mare goes through when they are fillies. You will be fine, trust me. Do you trust me?”
“A-aha.” Sweetie Belle said through her tears as he pulled slightly back.
“Then please, go to sleep. I’m sure Rarity will explain everything to you way better than I could, as soon as you wake up tomorrow.” turning to the other two, he added: “This goes for you two as well. Go to sleep, and in the morning you will know what exactly had happened.”
“Matt... does this... bleedin’, will happen to us, too?” Apple Bloom asked nervously as they crawled under quilt.
“At some point of time, yes.” he answered, not seeing the point of lying to them. “But I promise you, this is not something you should be afraid of. Do you want me to sign you a lullaby to help you fall asleep?”
The three fillies nodded.
“And could you also lay with us for a while?” Sweetie Belle pleaded. “Until we’ll be sleeping?”
“Of course.” Matthias told them gently, as he climbed up next to them and soon found himself hugged by all three of them.
He pulled the quilt over them, and started singing:
 
Dormite liberi,
Dulci pueri dormite, caloria et,
Comodus Vester lecti boni.
 
Osservo te, semper te,
Latus tui costa te, autem solus, mitite,
Latus tui hic sum.
 
In Somninum plati
Floridus plena, dormite liberi
Dulci mei dormite
 
Mitite liberi,
Sine pater autem, mitite, liberi,
Visi te tua mater.
 
Osservo te, semper te,
Latus tui costa te, liberi sine sentite,
Momentum dormite.
 
In conclave sine mater.
Conclave dum dies saperis...
 
By the time he finished the song, they were all asleep. Carefully, Matthias rose up and made his way back downstairs, not knowing if he did the right thing by telling them to go to sleep and wait for Rarity and the rest to explain it to them.
He sat down on the sofa, looking through the window, and waiting for girls and Spike to come back. As he waited, Matthias began to feel angry at them for taking their time, and leaving in the first place, even if it was his suggestion that he would stay behind to look after the fillies.
After about an hour (or hour and a half, he forgot to check the time), the paladin saw finally saw them trotting back, and rushed to meet them. He halted when he was in front of them, and noticing that Spike was carrying rather a lot of baggage, he hissed angrily:
“Where the hell have you all been so long?!? Do you have any idea what had happened?!?”
The all looked at him with fear at their eyes, and almost at once he regretted erupting like that. It really wasn’t their fault that he had to go through that, and besides, it was more traumatic for the fillies.
“Matt, what happened?!?” Twilight quickly asked, alarmed. “Are the girls alright?!?”
Matthias took a deep breath, and answered in much quieter tone.
“Yes, they are fine.” turning to Spike, he added: “Spike, I need to talk with them alone. Please, go inside.”
“Why, what happened?!?” the dragon asked, worry in his voice.
“I will tell you later, right now I need to discuss this with girls.”
“Okay...” Spike said, clearly not happy at being dismissed like this, but walked into the beach house anyway.
“So, what happened?” Twilight asked again as soon as Spike disappeared inside.
Instead of answering her, Matthias turned to Rarity.
“Your sister just had her first period.”
The six mares stared at him with eyes wide as plates and jaws dropped to the ground.
“W-what?!?” Rarity finally managed to exclaim after ten seconds have passed.
She attempted to run to the house, but Matthias stopped her.
“They’re asleep. I told them that you and the rest will explain exactly what had happened tomorrow morning, and I've also given her some tampons that I found in your bags after snooping through all of your belongings, sorry. Now, if you’ll excuse me...” he said before he passed out, out of sheer stress he just went through.
His day to talk about Twilight about his feelings to her would have to wait another day.