Second Chance

by Subject 19


The Refusal

Three days passed since Matthew met with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Twilight had introduced him to Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Matthew was able to get along with all of them quite well, excluding Pinkie Pie. That night, Twilight received a letter from Princess Celestia.
“Hey Matthew,” Twilight said, earning Matthew’s attention. “This is a letter from Princess Celestia.” Twilight handed him the letter and Matthew quickly tore open the envelope. His eyes quickly read through the writing. When he finished reading, a frown formed on his face. “What does it say?” Twilight asked curiously.
“Read it yourself,” Matthew grumbled, throwing the letter to the ground before storming off to the guest room.
Using her magic, Twilight picked up the letter and began reading it.
Mr. Matthew Harris,
After thinking over your proposal to form an official army for Equestria, we have decided to decline the offer. If however, there does come a time when an army is deemed necessary by me and my sister, we will not hesitate to seek your help. I hope you are enjoying your stay at Ponyville and are making friends there. If you are interested, I could give you an officer position in the Royal Guard.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia
Twilight put down the letter and went upstairs to talk to Matthew. When the purple unicorn made it to the guest room, Twilight knocked on the door.
“What is it?” Matthew coldly demanded.
“Can I come in?” Twilight politely asked. When Matthew gave her permission, she walked into the room to the gray stallion looking out the only window in the room. She could see the disappointment in his eyes. “Matthew, I’m sorry that this didn’t go the way you hoped it would,” Twilight said, putting a hoof on his shoulder.
Matthew didn’t bother trying to shrug off the hoof. “All I can do now is hope that conflict erupts and the princess changes her mind.”
“Well you can always take that officer position,” Twilight reminded.
“As appealing as that sounds, I think that would cause more problems than it would solve. The Royal Guard simply protects Celestia and Luna and does little more. I’d rather go back into the Everfree Forest and fight all those Timberwolves. At least that wouldn’t be as boring as sitting around a castle all day doing absolutely nothing. Simply put, I live to fight and lead.” Matthew turned his head to face Twilight looking her in the eyes. “Now that I’ve gotten her response, I think it would be best if I leave.”
“Why in Equestria would you think that?”
“I have no reason to stay here any longer. Based on what I’ve read, it should only take me about a week to reach the Crystal Empire on hoof. Perhaps they can help me.”
“But what about all the ponies you’ve met here? What about giving friendship a chance?”
“They’ll move on and have their own friends to be with. I’ll take your advice on the whole friendship thing and see where that gets me down in the Crystal Empire.”
Twilight, although taken back by what Matthew had said, couldn’t help but somewhat admire his persistence. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. “What if you just wrote Princess Cadence a letter? She was my old foalsitter, so if she saw the letter was from my address, I’m sure she would read it right away.”
“Fine,” Matthew sighed, knowing it would be pointless to try and fight the mare. “Why are you helping me so much anyway? What’s in it for you?”
“Friends help one another when they need it,” Twilight stated. “And right now it looks like you could really use a friend.”
Matthew gave Twilight a weak smile. “Thank you. Perhaps now it would best for me to get some rest, and then figure out what I’ll do in the morning.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Twilight agreed. “I guess I should be getting to bed as well then.” With that, Twilight left the room. Matthew got into his bed and soon he was fast asleep.
“Who’s there?” Matthew demanded. He was in a dark forest and there was a shadowy figure was standing in front of him.
“Relax, Matthew, it’s just me,” a soothing voice said. The figure stepped out of the shadows to reveal it was Princess Luna. “I wanted to know how you’re doing.”
“What the hell are you doing in my dreams?”
“I’m the princess of the night. I have the ability to enter the dreams of any pony,” Luna calmly explained. “I’ve been quietly watching your dreams for quite a while now. I couldn’t help but notice how much they’ve been bothering you.”
“That’s because they’re memories of my other life, and I’d appreciate it if you stayed out of my head,” Matthew retorted, not the slightest bit happy at realizing this new information. “Now what do you want now?” he asked impatiently.
“I knew that when my sister sent the letter to you, you weren’t going to like the decision. I just wanted to know how you were taking the situation.”
“I’m already seeking other options and with any luck, I’ll be out of this kingdom within the next week. Seeing as there’s nothing here for me, I figure it would be best to find somepony who could use my help.”
“I don’t think that would be the best choice,” Luna said.
“And why not?”
“Despite what my sister may think, I believe there might be a conflict between our kingdom and the country of Prance,” the night goddess told the impatient unicorn. “Right now it’s just political, but if things don’t get better soon, I’m afraid it could get out of hoof.”
“Does Prance have an army?”
“Yes, they do.”
“Does Celestia have any sort of experience of leading soldiers into battle?”
“No.”
“That explains her stupidity then,” Matthew muttered, just loud enough for Luna to hear. “You need to find some way to convince her to listen to me. I know how to lead an army; it’s what I lived for. If you give me an army, I can protect your kingdom from not only Prance, but anypony else who tries to attack us.”
“It will not be easy to convince Tia, but given enough time I think she’ll agree with you. If the situation between Prance gets any worse in the next couple of days, I’ll do what I can to convince Tia to listen to you.”
Matthew couldn’t help but smile a little hearing this. “Thank you for that.”
“I just have one more question, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“What is it?”
Luna hesitated for a moment, still not sure if should ask. “I wanted to know how you died,” she finally said.
“You’ve seen my dreams, you know how I died,” Matthew answered bluntly.
“I’ve only seen bits and pieces of it though; I want to know what happened.”
Matthew sighed in defeat. “My empire had been attacked by a very powerful enemy. When we found out who organized the attack, we quickly realized that it would be near impossible to kill the son of a bitch if we sent in our entire army. By the time the army would get through the enemy forces, the target would be long gone. A task force and I set out to kill this bastard with aide of air support. In the end I managed to kill the leader of the rebellion group, but he left me fatally injured. I also found out that some of the high ranking officers of the rebels were in the complex we stormed. Knowing there was no way out alive, I ordered the complex to be bombed, killing everyone in the complex. My final words were to one of my most trusted generals. He was great man; he’ll take good care of my empire.”
“How were you to those you ruled?” Luna asked, one leader to another.
“I was a fair ruler. My soldiers admired me and my officers had great respect for me,” Matthew replied without hesitation.
“Well, I would like to continue this conversation, but I’m afraid it’s about time for you to wake up. Goodbye Matthew.”
“Goodbye Luna.”