//------------------------------//
// 74. Getting back 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

        Digging in the frozen ground, covered in snow no less, and without any shovels was not the best idea Matthias had. Luckily, his body was still crystallised so, thanks to his stubbornness, his crystal hooves managed to dig up a grave within about an hour. The paladin then carefully put the corpse of an earth pony in it and, sparring few moments to look at him for the last time as he burned dead’s face into his memory. Finally, Matthias moved the earth back, burying the pony known as King Sombra.
        “To think that among this paradise that is Equestria, I would meet a being so closely resembling me is...” he trailed off, unable to express what he felt as he gave the fallen pony an eulogy. Matthias sighed and carried on: “I can only pray that afterlife is more forgiving to you than it was to me, or that you will be granted a chance for redemption, like me. Good bye... my friend.”
        Despite his words, Matthias stayed for few more moments; lamenting over the fact that he wasn’t able to help him, and wondering how it all came to this. That shadow... it so much resembled what he faced in depths of Azjol-Nerub, but at the same time, it was different. And those six ponies with strange powers...
        “Could it be all connected to Nightmare Moon, changelings, and perhaps, Tucker Out and Project Eclipse?” the paladin mused, trying to connect everything in his head, make it whole, but failing. “I cannot make anything out of it, not without further leads. If only I was able to talk with So-... whatever his name was, a bit longer. Without him, there is nopony left who could tell me something about the past.”
        Matthias pondered the thought. While it was true that there was nopony alive he could ask for, there might be another option. After all, who said he needed a pony to talk to?
        “Chrysalis.” he thought, recalling the Changeling Queen. However, Matthias had no way of contacting her and even if he had, he wasn’t certain she would tell him anything, provided if she knew about all of this in the first place. “I wonder how long changelings live, anyway?”
        Sighing for the last time, feeling hopeless about finding the answer for all his questions, and dead tired after long day, Matthias turned back and trotted towards the Crystal Empire.





        The events of past hour were not less surprising to Princess Cadance than everything that happened prior to that.
        She couldn’t understand at first why did all the crystal ponies started calling her ‘the Crystal Princess’ and bowing to her with respect. It only became clear to her, her husbands and their friends after an elderly mare, one that Twilight and others mentioned that worked at the library, explained that it was once prophesied long ago. A prophecy that one day, after a rule of shadow and fear, the Crystal Empire would be ruled by not just a non-crystal pony, but an alicorn whose cutie mark looked exactly like the Crystal Heart, alongside her husband.
        The idea of her and Shining Armor ruling an empire was scary, to say the least. However, being a Princess of Equestria for years, and performing some royal duties along her aunt Celestia and later Luna as well, gave her some ideas as how to act the part. No, act was the wrong word here - live the part. Her husband would quickly learn to do so later. Her first royal order was to send ponies to gather ashes of the ponies from crystal guard; as Matt asked her. Shining Armor took few volunteers and went to the site of battle between the paladin and King Sombra. After that she officially thanked Twilight and the others for their aid, as did the crystal ponies, and offered them rooms in the crystal castle to rest as long as they needed before they would have to get back to Canterlot, adding in quieter tone that she would join them in short time.
        Next she had a long discussion with few left ponies that worked in the castle prior to King Sombra’s takeover, getting to better know them, and then asked to find her some records of the crystal guard, so that she could prepare a proper ceremony for them.
        Having dealt with that, Cadance finally headed towards the room where Twilight and everypony else was. She absentmindedly noticed that her body was still crystallised, although the librarian mare assured her that the effects that the Crystal Heart had on bodies of ‘non-crystals’ should pass in about an hour or two. While her coat looked astonishing, and more like her new subjects’, the Princess far more preferred her normal look.
        As she neared them; she wondered if she would manage to find a way to ask Rarity as to how the plan worked. She didn’t noticed Twilight and Matt acting like a couple, although they might have been cautious of Shining Armor. Cadance sighed at the thought. She knew very well that her husband cutie mark meant that he was protective of others, but this case was becoming more and more ridiculous.
        Finally she reached the doors to a huge room where, after opening them, Cadance found the five mares and one baby dragon. All of them for some reason, instead of resting like she suggested, or celebrating, appeared to be trying to cheer up the sixth mare. Strangely, she looked as if she was depressed.
        “What’s wrong, everypony?” she asked as she trotted closer to them, currently more worried about her sister-in-law’s mood than the fact that everypony was still crystal.
        “Oh, hi Cadance.” Twilight replied, for a moment brightening up, and then lowered her head down. “It’s... I failed Celestia’s test.”
        “What?” the alicorn asked surprised. “I don’t understand. Weren’t you supposed to recover the Crystal Heart?”
        “Yes, but it was Spike who brought it to you, though.” Twilight told her. “And the Princess warned me that in the end it must be me and me alone who ultimately assist you and my brother with protecting the empire. I might have found the Crystal Heart, but since it wasn’t me who gave it to you, it doesn’t count.”
        Cadance opened her mouth to object, but found that she had no words. The lavender unicorn was right: she didn’t do as Celestia told her, and because of that, she failed. Knowing how much it meant to her to pass this, to prove to her aunt that she was a worthy student, the Princess of Love hugged her sister.
        “Don’t get me wrong, if I had to choose once more between me passing Celestia’s test and everypony, I would have chose you all again.” the younger mare said as she returned hug. “It’s just...”
        “I know.” Cadance finished for her as Twilight trailed off. “And I am proud of you for that. I know this couldn’t have been easy.”
        The others joined them and they stayed like this in group hug for few moments, before everypony pulled back.
        “So when do you think you’ll be returning to Canterlot?” the Princess asked them, trying to not sound sad.
        “Now, if you don’t mind.” the lavender mare response took her by surprise; she hoped they would stay at least a day. “I’m sorry, I wish we could stay longer, but Princess Celestia would want to hear what have exactly happened.” Twilight said, looking out of the window.
        Cadance followed her gaze. The aurora that shot out of the crystal castle once the Crystal Heart was powered was still there, and they knew it must be visible across all of Equestria. Looking back at other ponies, the Princess nodded for understanding Twilight’s reasoning, and admired her dedication to her duty as Celestia’s student.
        “You are right, Twilight. But remember, you can come to visit whenever you want, and the Crystal Empire will welcome you with open hooves.” she said, addressing everypony. An idea struck her. “Also, before you go, I would advise you take few moments to eat something. I’m sure you will all be more comfortable going to Canterlot with full stomach.”
        “What an excellent idea, Princess.” Rarity supported her. “I think I’ll speak for all of us when I say that we’re slightly winded from this long day.”
        “I’ll go to the castle’s chief, then.” the Princess told them, and added, looking articulately at Rarity. “Does one of you want to come and pick what you want to eat?”
        “I’ll go!” Rarity volunteered, understanding what she meant. “I wanted to see more of this magnificent castle, anyway.”
        Together, they made their way out of the room, and once Cadance was sure they were out of everypony earshot, she asked: “So how did it go in Altomare?”
        The look Rarity gave her in response already told her that things did not go as planned.
        “Oh, Cadance, it all went wrong!”
        For next couple of minutes as they trotted the Princess heard everything: how they made their way through Altomare towards the beach house, how they went for sightseeing and Matt stayed with fillies, how Rarity’s sister had her period when there was no other grown up other than the stallion, how the next day he and Twilight finally talked, only to come to the conclusion that they while they had feelings for each other, they were better off as friends, how Rarity tried to give the love potion, which horribly backfired, and how before they left Matt managed to have a thing with some random sea pony and finally, that he and Rainbow Dash became ‘friends with benefits’.
        Cadance was unable to do anything but stare at the unicorn as she recounted all of that. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised by the decision Twilight and Matt took, especially after Rarity told her their reasoning for it, but... he didn’t struck her like the type of pony who has flings with random mares. Matt seemed to be more of a ‘traditional’ type, like Shining Armor, seeing how he insisted on addressing her by her title. This... relationship, if it could be called as such, with Rainbow was much more believable to her than that ‘thing with some random sea pony’..
        “Rainbow Dash told me that, besides having... ugh, fun, with Matt, she hoped that it would make Twilight jealous, and that it would made her take some action.” Rarity finished, and looked apologetically at Princess. “I’m sorry, I...”
        “Don’t apology, Rarity.” she told her, smiling gently. “If that’s what they chose, then it cannot be helped. And who knows? Maybe that’s what’s best for them? Or maybe they will yet be together?”
        “You really think so?”
        “If being the Princess of Love taught me anything, it’s that love is mysterious.” Cadance replied, chuckling. “Anyway, lets...”
        She trailed off as she noticed in the corner of her eye a slight change that befallen Rarity. The alicorn brought her own hoof to her face and saw, to her pleasure, that it was her normal coat that covered her.
        “Aww!” her ears caught a disappointed exclamation, and Cadance barely stopped herself from giggling.





        As the group of ponies came into his sight, Shining Armor among them, Matthias noticed that his body was once again made off flesh instead of crystal. Relieved that it wasn’t permanent, he almost bounced like Pinkie Pie the rest of the way.
        Almost. He was still overall sad about today’s events, not to mention nearly exhausted.
        Shining Armor who’s also back to normal, noticed him approaching, and trotted some distance.
        “You’re okay?” he asked, concerned. “You look as if you were to fall over.”
        “Having a mental battle with that thing wasn’t the highlight of my trip here.” Matthias replied, shrugging. “But I am fine. What are you all doing here?”
        “Cadance send me and some crystal ponies to gather all the ashes we could.” Shining Armor told him, much to his surprise. Mostly because the last time he was here, this place (which he now realised was the site of his battle with ‘himself’) was under the sea of ashes, and now there was no sign of it. “Believe it or not, but the crystal ponies had a prophecy about her and me ruling the empire.”
        “Really?” the paladin asked, now even more surprised. “I... suppose congratulations are in order, then?”
        “I guess.” other stallion replied, lowering his voice so the nearby crystal ponies (who, as Matthias noticed, were still crystal) wouldn’t hear him. “I never expected something like this. I knew I would have some more important duties once I married Cadance, but ruling an empire...”
        “You’ll do fine.” Matthias assured him, truly believing it. “Just remember that good of your subjects is most important, and everything will be fine.”
        He ignored the pang in his head. This was an Equestria, not Azeroth; Shining Armor wasn’t going to be put in the same spot he was.
Matthias would say something more, but he noticed a group of crystal ponies approaching them, and decided to do so later.
“We scouted the area, sir.” said one of the three, a blue stallion with a bow for a cutie mark reported to Shining Armor. “There is no more sign of ash anywhere, Prince.”
“Good, and please, Shining Armor is enough.” the unicorn replied, a bit uncomfortable.
“We’ll try, sir.” the second pony, a tan pony with a chess figure for a cutie mark, said.
Matthias was glancing at their surroundings, and wondering how they got all of the ashes with just one unicorn among them no less, he almost missed that the third pony asked him a question.
“Um, excuse me, sir?” she asked uncertain, and as Matthias glanced at her, she continued. She was a pretty mare, somewhere around his friends age, perhaps a little younger (although technically past thousand). She had a bright, yellow coat, a slightly brighter mane, and a cutie mark looked like a lily, but with something added to it. “You are an earth pony, right? But you used this light magic...”
“It wasn’t magic, not the same kind unicorns can use.” he interrupted her, quite automatically. “It was the Holy Light.”
“Holy Light?” all three of them exclaimed with puzzled expressions.
“It’s difficult to explain, and I am a bit exhausted, so you will have to excuse me when I tell you only that it’s a force beyond this world. One that unifies everything that lives and some ponies, through willpower and faith, can tap into it and gain those powers you saw.”
The expressions of the stallions’ faces stayed puzzled, but the mare had a certain... wonder in her eyes, which made Matthias rethink his earlier statement and continue the discussion.
“Those like me, who work with Light, are called paladins. Through the Light, I can fight the evil, but also protect the innocent and weak, and heal the wounded.”
“Oh, right, you were severely wounded by K- that pony.” she said, and a shadow crossed her features. It did not escape Matthias notice that she decided to not use the name that pony was known by. “That’s really amazing, sir Lightbringer.”
It took a whole second for him to realize what she just called him, and all he could do for another second was to stare at her, making everypony look at him confused.
“What... did you called me?” he finally asked, not sure if he wasn’t going insane.
“Um...” she stammered uncertain, so Matthias forced whatever it was that he felt down and nodded at her encouragingly. “Sir Lightbringer? Few of us started calling you that as we talked about you earlier between ourselves. Your real name is Matthias, right sir?”
He nodded absentmindedly to her, looking away, trying to process just how in Light’s name they have come up with this name, out of all they could had come up with.
“Is something wrong?” the mare asked him, probably fearing that she angered him.
“Lightbringer...” he started, painful memories resurfacing by themselves, all within a matter of second: his childhood and making fun of the knight’s piety; his training on his road into adulthood; the ceremony in the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind; the battle against the orc near Strahnbrad and undead in Hearthglen... He shook his head before he could recall once again today the old paladin’s last battle, afraid tears would come to his eyes. “It was a title my old mentor have been known by.” turning back to the mare and others he asked more gently. “What is your name?”
“Serenity.” she replied, a bit surprised at the change of subject.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria asked me to teach other ponies the ways of paladins.” he told her. “Would you be interested in learning?”
His question shocked everypony, but mostly the mare. However, at the same time, she was the first one to recover and bowed her head. “I would be honored to. But I would need Princess’ and Prince’s permission...”
“I don’t think there’s going to be a problem with that.” Matthias replied, glancing at Shining Armor, who after a second nodded, probably reminded that he was the Prince she spoke off. “Your training, which should start in about month, will be among three other ponies. I will send you a letter shortly with more details. However, I can tell you now that you will be expected to move into Ponyville, among other things. The life of a paladin is a life of dedication to helping others; whenever it is with healing or combating evil. You will have to learn how to fight, and one day you might find yourself in similar position I was not so long ago. Are you still interested?”
Serenity hesitated only for a brief moment before she nodded.
“I wanted to join my brother in the crystal guard, before... everything.” she said, and the reason why shadow crossed her face earlier as well as now was clear to Matthias. “I can learn how to fight.”
“Great, then.” out of corned of his eye, he saw his friends that is leaded by the bouncing Pinkie Pie, are heading straight towards the train station. “I will see you soon. May the Light be with you all.”
He nodded his head to her, as well as two other crystal ponies, and trotted to join the group along with Shining Armor.
“I do so wish it was permanent.” they heard Rarity complain as they approached them. “Did you see how my mane just absolutely sparkled?”
“But...” Applejack told her warmly. “... good things are better when they're a rarity.”
“Aww.” Rarity exclaimed, touched, and her and few others giggled.
“You’re leaving already?” Shining Armor asked as he squeezed between Twilight and Cadance.
“Yes, Princess Celestia would want to know all the details as soon as possible.” his sister replied, and Matthias, who opted to stay at the back of the group, couldn’t help but notice that there was some sadness in her voice. “Besides, you seem to have everything under control here; you don’t need further help... for now.”
Her brother chuckled at the jibe.
“Everything's gonna be okay.” he told her, and added in quieted tone: “You've gotta stop saving my rump like this, it's starting to get embarrassing.”
“Just now?” Matthias added his own jibe, making the other stallion look back at him with an all-too-familiar glare, much to his amusement.
Twilight, who also smiled at that, quickly grew sad.
“Wasn't me who saved you in the end. It was Spike.”
Those words almost made Matthias stop dead in his tracks.
“That’s what all this moping is about?!” he thought, understanding at once what exactly she meant..
“It's just a test.” Shining Armor stupidly tried to cheer her up. “Maybe she'll let you retake it.”
“I don't think she's gonna give me a new test.” Twilight replied in almost broken voice, while Cadance signaled for her husband to not say another word, as the lavender mare followed her friends into the train.
        Much to Matthias annoyance, the same thought seemed to be on everypony’s face, even Cadance.
        “Does everypony actually believe that Celestia is going to fail her?” he asked the two rulers of the Crystal Empire in hushed voice.
“What do you mean?”  Cadance asked, confused. “Twilight didn’t bring the Crystal Heart, so she failed.”
        “I find it both amusing and annoying that after knowing Celestia for about a month, I can tell better than any of you how she thinks.” he said in return as he began to trot into the train. “As new rulers, you must learn how to see a bigger picture of things. May the Light bless your path.”
And with those words, he left two ponies on the station very confused.