Today was the day King Forte would be arriving at Canterlot to discuss the terms of him and his country’s surrender. Matthew was waiting patiently outside the castle gates for the king’s arrival. When King Forte’s chariot finally arrived, Matthew felt the strong urge to kill him the moment he got out. The white and blue unicorn known as King Forte was wearing silver armor and a gold crown. Forte’s red eyes focused immediately on Harris.
“You’re the one who is responsible for my defeat?” the king asked mockingly the shorter commander, a good four inches taller. Matthew’s frown never left his face. He motioned for Forte to follow him into the castle and told his guards to stay outside. “I was expecting a pony of your reputation to be older.”
Harris stopped walking and turned to face Forte. “Listen here you son of a bitch,” he hissed. “The only reason you’re alive is because I am allowing it.”
“I’m alive because your princesses won’t let you kill me,” he retorted.
“Do you really think that I would let somepony like Celestia stop me from killing you if I really wanted to? I’m not going to kill you myself because you are nothing more than a coward who’s not even worth my effort.” Matthew and Forte were less than an inch away from each other’s faces, both of them glaring daggers. “I am going to make it my mission to take everything that gives your pathetic excuse for a life any meaning.”
When the two ponies reached the throne room, the princesses could see the tension between them. Celestia was the first to speak up once Matthew was standing beside Luna’s throne.
“King Forte, I’m glad we can finally put an end to this war before any more lives are lost,” the sun princess began. “That is of course, if you agree to our terms for your surrender.”
“What are they?” Forte asked, keeping his voice level.
“Prance will fall under the control of Equestria until we install a government we deem fit. You will be striped of rank as king and will be tried in court for your numerous crimes against the kingdom,” Matthew told him in a professional manner. “I’d say you’re probably looking at life in a maximum security prison with no chance for parole.”
“And if I refuse to these terms?”
Celestia was about to speak, but Matthew spoke up faster. “Then I’ll just kill you here and now, and we’ll still take temporary control of Prance.”
Seeing no other options, Forte let out a heavy sigh. “Fine, I accept your terms.”
Princess Luna gave Forte a document for him to sign, making his surrender official. Once signed, Forte wasted no time leaving to return back to Prance to inform his nation. Luckily for Matthew, the ponies that would be intercepting Forte were already waiting for him just outside of Canterlot.
Two ponies hurried into Matthew’s office. They were the ones who were assigned with the task of killing King Forte before he made it back to Prance. When Matthew saw them enter, he wasted no time getting straight to business.
“Is he dead?” the gray stallion demanded.
“Yes sir, we knocked out the ponies flying his chariot and it crashed about a mile outside of Canterlot,” Bright Light informed.
“Good, I will inform the princesses of Forte’s accident immediately.”
“Sir?” Bright Light asked, wondering what the commander was thinking. “Wasn’t the point of this little operation to ensure the princesses didn’t find out?”
“The point of the operation was to ensure that they don’t find out that I had anything to do with his death. Withholding information of his death would certainly raise suspicion,” Matthew explained. “You two are free to leave.”
Matthew entered the throne room once again to see Celestia and Luna in a deep conversation about something. The conversation was cut short the moment they noticed the commander’s presence and waited for him to speak.
“Your highnesses, I regret to inform you that King Forte’s chariot crashed on his return to Prance. From the reports describing the wreckage, there are no survivors,” he said. “I will be leaving immediately to see the wreckage for myself.”
“I’ll be coming with you,” Celestia stated as she got up and walked towards Matthew. “I want to see this as well.”
King Forte’s chariot had crashed in an open field far away from any towns or cities. The chariot was now nothing more than a bunch of twisted metal and broken wood. There was a group of guards inspecting the wreckage in an attempt to figure out what happened. When Matthew and Celestia got to the site, the stallion immediately noticed that the bodies of Forte and the ponies flying the chariot had been moved. The two ponies flying the chariot were a bloody and disfigured mess. Numerous bones were sticking out and body parts were severely dislocated. Forte’s body was in worse shape the other two. Forte’s body had just as many protruding bones as the flyers, but his head was split open.
“Well this sure is one hell of a mess,” Matthew stated emotionlessly. “I don’t know how we’re even going to be able to determine what happened here.” He turned to one of the ponies in charge of the inspection team as Celestia walked over to the wreckage. “So what have you found so far?”
“Well sir, what you see is what you’ve got,” the bright orange mare replied. “Except for this,” she added, handing Matthew what he presumed to be a letter, covered in Forte’s blood. Matthew took a quick glance at Celestia and saw that she wasn’t paying any attention to him. He opened the letter and began silently reading it.
Our numbers are rising at an exceptional rate. Your army is to thank for this. I will contact you once we are ready to make our move.
Matthew handed the letter back to the mare. “When you get back, I want that on my desk. I want this kept between you and me, nopony else,” he quietly instructed, making sure Celestia didn’t hear him. The mare nodded and put the note away in one the bags she was carrying. The gray and black unicorn then made his way over to Celestia, who was searching through the wreckage of the chariot. “Looking for something?” Matthew asked.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” Celestia demanded, staring him dead in the eyes.
“No,” he replied. “I still have unanswered questions that only he could answer.” Letting out a sigh, Matthew looked around for a moment. “I don’t think there’s any reason for us to stay here any longer. These ponies will tell me everything they find at the end of the day.” Celestia gave Matthew an unconvinced look. Matthew knew at that moment that she knew what he’d done.
“What’s done is done,” Celestia said. “But if you do something like this ever again and defy a direct order, I will have you arrested and charged with treason,” she warned. “And don’t ever lie to me again.”
Matthew’s neutral expression never changed. “I don’t regret what I did, and I would do it again if I had to. Forte was only the beginning. He was working with another pony when he started this war. I want a list of every enemy Equestria has ever had when we get back to Canterlot.”
When Matthew and Celestia returned to Canterlot, the princess quickly composed a list and description of all the enemies Equestria had. Matthew went over the list multiple times, trying to figure out which of the numerous enemies could have been working with Forte and why. After hours of analyzing the list, Matthew was finally ready to speak with the princesses.
“Your highnesses,” Matthew said as he entered the throne room. “I have determined that this unknown enemy is one of two ponies. Our focus will be on Queen Chrysalis and Starswirl the Bearded. Since it’s impossible for me to tell which of the two it is, we’ll search for both of them.”
“Matthew, Chrysalis was defeated and Starswirl has been dead for over a thousand years,” Celestia pointed out.
“Chrysalis was defeated, but she was not killed. That means that since her defeat, she’s probably been working on a way to get revenge. And according to all known records, Starswirl disappeared before you could confront him about his actions against the kingdom. Don’t you think that he’s still alive, seeing that he was the pony who mastered time travelling spells?”
“Well how do you suggest we find them?” Celestia impatiently demanded.
“I’ll have scout teams start searching throughout the kingdom and surrounding areas. I’m going to bet that the Changelings are hiding out either in the Badlands or the Crystal Mountains. As for where Starswirl could be, I don’t have the slightest clue. I’ll keep you posted on our progress with this search.”
Both the princesses noticed Matthew’s troubled look on his face as he left. It was clear that it would be near impossible to find Starswirl if he was still alive and it was clearly bothering the hell out of the commander. Luckily, Luna had an idea to help Matthew.