Rebirth of the Damned

by Borsuq


112. Eyes of the beholder

“I cannot believe you actually did that,” Shining Armor murmured when they both tucked in for a sleep.
Hearing the pretense and hurt in his voice, Cadance giggled as she placed her… accessories, in a part of the closet hidden by her magic. Truth to be told, she herself was surprised that she had gone that far with fallowing that book’s advice. When she had first read this particular part, she had thought it to be too perverted for her.
Not that it wasn’t fun. I must give it to whoever wrote it, she was right; a Princess has to be a queen in her own bed.
“I told you needed to be punished,” she told her husband, stroking him under his chin. “‘Step one; deny the stallion’,” Cadance recited, although from where it would be probably forever unknown to Shining Armor. “‘Step two; tie him up and don’t release. Step three’,” she trailed off, smirking, “well, I’m sure I don’t have to say it again so soon,” Seeing him cringe, she frowned and added: “You can expect this to repeat the next time I'll hear about you trying to control Twilight’s life. Is that clear?”
“Yes dear,” he replied in a broken voice. The stallion took a few moments to recover. “Since you did that, could I… you know, some other time...”
“Hmm…” Cadance pondered, knowing well what he wanted. “That depends,” Leaning closer, she whispered: “Can you be a good colt?”
As it did a few hours ago, Shining Armor’s coat once again shook as if an electricity wave went through it. Cadance giggled and snuggled closer to him.
 


 
Nymph was surprised when she heard a knock on her door, and even more when Serenity explained that she came to speak with her.
“Sure,” Nymph said, inviting her guest to come in.
“Thanks. How’s Wind Reaver?”
“Oh, he’s fine. It was merely as scratch, after all. I just needed to get him out of the courtyard to concentrate better,” Nymph said. “Our skin is extremely delicate under our chitin. Because of that, it breaks whenever something damages the chitin above it to that extent as today. But even if I didn’t treat his wound, it would have mended eventually.”
“Weren’t you supposed to keep quiet about such information?” Serenity asked with a raised eyebrow.
“The Hivespeaker came to both Wind Reaver and I, and informed us that the Princess had decided to support the idea of peace and alliance,” Nymph explained. “As such, my Queen feels that there is no need with us watching everything we say. And besides, Wind Reaver had kept on letting little things slip,” Feeling the need to excuse her fellow changeling, she added: “He never qualified for any kind of covert operation, so it’s not really surprising.”
“I hope he didn’t get into trouble because of it,” Serenity said, worried. “I am pleased to hear, however, that ponies and changelings are one step closer to becoming friend. That is… well, the reason why I came here.”
Nymph looked at her, puzzled, as the crystal pony explained: “You see, I’m not sure how you felt about today, but after it, I came to think of you as a friend.” The changeling knew. She could feel it… even if it still amazed her that a pony could come to like one of her kind so easily. Then again, she was a crystal pony… “So I thought that you might feel sad when I won’t come back to Ponyville.”
She had to give the mare this one: she was right. Nymph did feel saddened about Serenity staying in Crystal Empire. While she wouldn’t have exactly gone as far as to call Serenity her friend - mostly due to the reason that she wasn’t exactly certain if she understood the concept behind friendship - she did feel at ease while talking with her. However, once she explained to her the reason behind her decision, Nymph had immediately agreed with the correctness of it.
“I hope you will succeed in your task,” she told her sincerely. The mare they met today had lost a husband, which was a fate that’s both terrifying and alien to a changeling. Only Wind Reaver had inkling as to what she must be feeling. And if there were more ponies like her... “I like to see ponies happy... n-not because we can feed off them!” she quickly added, fearing that she gave Serenity a wrong idea by accident. “W-well, I mean, yes, most changelings do prefer when ponies are happy for that reason, as it is a lot easier for us to gather love, but it’s not why I…”
She trailed off, realizing that the only thing that she could sense from Serenity was amusement. “Nymph, relax,” the paladin told her, chuckling. “Honestly, you overreact when it comes to what you say.”
“Sorry,” Nymph said in embarrassment. “I hope I will find this easier over time.”
“I’m sure you will,” Serenity said, then looked at her uncomfortably. “Listen, can I… ask you for a favor?”
“Huh? Oh, sure. What is it?”
“Could you not mention to anypony about my brother and Princess Blue Hope? I know that they are both dead, but Sentinel wouldn’t want her memory to be dishonored.”
“I understand. Don’t worry, I won’t say a word to anyling,” she promised. Of course, if Mother ordered her to say something… Nymph couldn’t see anything that Chrysalis would benefit by doing so, though.
“Do you want to ask me anything besides that?” she asked Serenity, and, seeing as she saw her as a friend, she risked and teased her: “Any messages for Tucker?”
Serenity frowned at her in annoyance, but after a second a grin appeared on her muzzle. “Well, maybe not a message, but… could you promise me something?”
 


 
Matthias frowned at the one before him. In the past, many had quailed under his gaze, were he a Lich King, or just a human paladin, although of an imposing posture. Surely, as a pony he was equally scary, to other ponies at least?
Moonlight Shadow was of a different opinion. His eyelid twitched as he watched the little filly continue to giggle while pointing at his face.
About an hour ago he and the others had arrived in Canterlot, and made their way to the castle. The two changelings took the forms of ponies per his requests; considering the circumstances of the last time their kind was seen within the city, Matthias felt that it wouldn’t be wise to let them stroll through the streets in their true shapes until the Princesses had made an official statement about the negotiations.
Inside the castle he was informed that Princess Luna was in the middle of an important meeting with a griffon diplomat and couldn’t see him right now. Unfazed, Matthias told the guard to inform her about their arrival once she was free. He then told Storm, Sound and Bomb to take Nymph and Wind Reaver to one of the suits and guard them for their own safety.
Matthias himself went to Luna’s private chambers - after making a detour to the Royal Physician's office to drop the blood sample - where he found two maids taking care of Princess Moonlight. Both of them appeared tired when he came. The older one, who looked strangely familiar to Dr Angelic Touch, told him that due to Princess Luna taking over additional duties during her sister’s absence, they too had to work overtime.
“You should have told Princess Luna that you will need some additional help,” Matthias told them, his voice kind, not stern. “Your devotion to her and Princess Moonlight deserves a commendation, but surely Her Majesty wouldn’t want the two she trusts her daughter with to work themselves to death. Take some rest; I will watch Moonlight until Luna will return.”
His offer was met with a relieved sigh from the elder mare and - to his discomfort - a blush and infatuated look from the younger one. She seemed to want to say something, but to Matthias relief the other mare dragged her out of the room before she could find her voice.
He glanced apologetically at the small filly, but thankfully the Princess wasn’t paying him attention at the moment. While when he entered that she launched herself at the air and landed on his head (mostly due to him jumping in time to catch her), after making sure that his mane was a mess, the young alicorn had decided that her playing blocks were more important.
Matthias quickly took off his armor and hid it in a corner and joined her in building a castle around her - at least, he thought it was supposed to be a castle - to the best of his abilities. He did a fairly good job: when the “castle” toppled and Moonlight started crying, Matthias took her into his forelegs and cradled her until she had calmed down; they played peek-a-boo until she lost interest and began trotting around the room; he had a moment of terror when she began noticed his armor, and had to distract her with a doll.
An hour had passed without any unexpected events. Matthias found it strangely relaxing, despite the few stressful moments. He saw her yawn and wondered if she would fall asleep if he put her in her cradle… but then she sneezed.
And from her horn a magic beam shot straight into his face, causing an… unexpected result.
“Moonlight, this is not funny,” he told her, gazing at giggling filly from above the bushy mustache that had grown from under his nose. “You made it appear, you can make it disappear.”
But Moonlight, if she could understand him, ignored him and continued to laugh. Matthias sighed in defeat, wondering what he could do. There was no way he could deal with it himself; he doubted Luna allowed anything sharp to be kept in this room, and even if there was a pair of scissors here or something along those lines, there was no way he was going to try and grabbed them with his hooves to cut something on his face while near a filly with unpredictable magic bursts. And he felt rather uncomfortable with asking the guards outside for assistance… unless he would find a paper bag…
Like shadows at dawn, his hopes to escape this with his dignity intact were dispersed when with a sudden flash of light that Luna appeared in her chambers.
“Ma-Ma!” Moonlight managed to exclaim as she threw herself at her mother, who caught her with magic in the air.
“Yes, little one, Mama is here,” the dark blue alicorn told her daughter, nuzzling her affectionately. “Hello, Matthias, how-” she started, but when she raised her head to look at him she found herself unable to speak.
When she burst into laughter, Matthias could only sight and tap his hoof against the floor.
 


 
When Sound Wave and Cherry Bomb went to catch some rest, Storm Clash didn’t object. The changelings didn’t need three ponies to guard them. Storm, from what he could see so far, had grown to believe that the Princesses and Sir Lightbringer were right to trust them. In fact, the elder paladin had probably ordered them to stand guard before the suit in which they were out of concern of their safety rather than out of suspicion.
Not suspecting any real danger, the paladin spent his time wondering about the matter that occupied his mind for days now - Rarity. He needed to find some way to tell her how he feels about her, but… was he supposed to just come out and blur it out? Well, definitely not. It would be best if he would just ask her out somewhere.
But would she want to show somewhere publicly with me?” Storm thought, his hoof massaging his crooked jaw. “She might not have a problem with how I look, but that’s a different matter. And besides, where would I take her? A mare like her deserves to be taken to restaurants such as Doingi Tright au Plaza, and I don’t have that many bits…
As he contemplated his misfortune, he heard a noise of approaching hoofsteps. That alone wasn’t enough to alarm him, though; it wasn’t unusual for ponies to pass those halls. Usually they were royal guards on a patrol or heading towards their stations, the castle’s staff going on with their work, or various other ponies who for different reason found themselves in this wing of the castle.
What did surprise him was the number of steps.
... Six to eight,” he gauged, straightening up and making sure his he could grab Spring Binder easily.
The sight that greeted him once the approaching him came from behind a corner did little to put him at ease. On the front was none other than Prince Blueblood, carrying himself with his typical arrogance. Behind him were two other nobles Storm knew from sight, but his names escaped him, and four ponies he had never met before. They were definitely not from the same class as their companions: their clothes were ragged and dirty, their teeth were yellow, and they had this odd look in their eyes that befitted Horseshoe Bay docks rather than Canterlot Castle.
“You there!” Prince Blueblood called out as they neared. “Are those disgusting creatures behind those doors?”
Storm Clash knew that he had to reply to a member of the royal family truthfully. So, he did.
“No, Prince Blueblood,” the pegasus said, fighting off the urge to spat his name; like most of the ponies that had the displeasure of meeting him, he despised the unicorn. “No disgusting creatures in there.”
Only in front of me…
“What?!” Blueblood exclaimed in shock. “I know those two changelings are in there! You dare to lie to royalty?!”
Then why in Tartarus are you asking?
“Please forgive me, Prince, I was not aware that you were referring to Princess Celestia’s guests.”
“Well, I will overlook it this time. Now, go away. These gentlecolts will look into it that they receive a proper care.”
Storm glanced with one eye at the four ponies that he was now certain were mercenaries. He also noticed knifes hidden within their bardings.
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid my orders prohibit me from doing that,” he said calmly, despite the urgent need to beat them all up and place those ‘nobles’ under arrest. “I must ask you all to leave.”
“What?!” Blueblood once again exclaimed in shock. “I think you misunderstood me; I told you to leave, not asked.”
“And?” Storm asked, growing more annoyed with every exchange.
“And, as your prince, I demand you listen to the order, guard!”
“Paladin,” he hissed.
“Excuse me?”
“In case the different armor didn’t throw you off, I am not a royal guard, but a paladin. But that doesn’t really matter, I suppose; you can’t command guards, either.”
“I think you have forgotten yourself, you commoner!” Blueblood exclaimed, his eyes burning with rage. “I have the highest authority here-”
“No, you don’t,” Storm cut him off; his despise for the prissy unicorn grew. “You are nothing but a joke.”
“How-”
“But please, prove me wrong,” he interrupted him again, barely hiding a grin. “My orders came from Sir Lightbringer; perhaps you remember him as Matthias Lehner. Take this matter up with him.”
Like everypony in the royal guard, he had heard about the “duel” between his mentor and this pathetic unicorn in front of him. Thanks to that, he was now able to enjoy the sight of Blueblood’s eyes widening with fear and embarrassment.
Perhaps, though, it wasn’t the smartest things to do. With his pride wounded, he turned to look at the four mercenaries: “Gentlecolts, please teach him some manners.”
I bet Tucker and Guard don’t have to deal with this shit…” Storm thought as they approached with grins on their faces.
 
Meanwhile, in Saddle Arabia...
 
“So, wait, explain this to me,” Tucker started, dodging the strike from the humongous horse and kicking him in the chest, sending him flying. “We are beating up the guards of the sultan and there won’t be any repercussions?”
“That’s right,” Guard replied, knocking out another one.
The two of them were facing back to back in one of the larger corridors of Neighyadh’s palace. It had all started innocently - they were given a few hours of leave from the Princess herself to see the city before they would have to travel back to Equestria. When they were about to exit the palace, they stumbled upon a few of the palace’s guards.
Guard had grown used to hearing nothing but disrespect from horses’ mouth when talking about the Princess - or, truthfully, every mare - so he managed to remain calm and collected during yesterday meeting between Celestia and the sultan, Akhal the Fourth, contrary to Tucker. The younger paladin had a hard time staying quiet, if the outrage on his face was of any indication. When later they talked, Guard Shield had learned - to his mild surprise - that Tucker had nothing but disgust for the way they treated mares in Saddle Arabia. “They treat mares like dirt, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t put my-”
He might not be a poet, but at least he has some morals,” the earth pony thought with amusement, blocking off the rest of the sentence.
But this day, as they were passing those four guards, and hearing them call them: “The sun whore’s bastards,” he refused to not act.
So, he hit them until they stopped moving. He was fairly certain one of them had a broken leg.
“After Commander Hurricane had dealt with the Saddle Arabian Kidnappings, he demanded that certain rules would be added to the treaty between them and Equestria,” Guard gave him a quick history lesson, taking the advantage from the momentary break. “Like you, he was disgusted with the way they treat mares in here. He demanded that it would be allowed for Equestria ponies to defend any mares honor if she was offended in their presence, without any repercussions whatsoever.”
“And Saddle Arabia had agreed? I knew they must be stupid, but that’s fucking retarded shit right there. Not that I’m going to complain!” Tucker shouted, kicking another one.
“Their sultan had to make those agreements while Commander Hurricane had his blade pointed at his forehead. And it was written in the old scrolls that when he was in a deep fury, not even dragons could bare to look into his eyes. But the sultan did manage to convince him to add one rule: the ponies were going to be allowed to only fight with their hooves. No magic or flying.”
“Huh, so that’s why you told me to just punch them,” Tucker nodded. “So, do those things happen often?”
“Only every few decades,” Guard admitted, taking a glance at the pile of unconscious bodies. “That’s how long it takes for those bastards to forget their manners around the Princess. Anyway, let’s wrap this up; we have only an hour left before we are leaving this Light forsaken country.”
 
Back in Equestria... 

Storm Clash wasn’t happy. Somehow, in the middle of fighting (despite how brief the struggle was) Prince Blueblood had run away.
The paladin glanced at the emancipated mercenaries, making sure they were down for good, and turned his attention back to the two nobles he had cornered. “So, mind to explaining me what in Light’s name what this is about?”
“Do you even need to ask?!” the one of the left asked, his fear mixed with outrage. “Those wretches had wrecked my mansion, and damaged a lot of others of the Canterlot’s elite! The Princess must have gone as mad as her sister if-”
Storm, really not in a mood to hear any of this, pressed his Spring Binder to his neck. The noble shut up and pissed himself. “You are both under arrest,” he told them, wrinkling his nose as the stench of urine hit his nostrils.
“Hey now, come on, we can make a deal, right?” the other pony mumbled, giving him a fake smile. “I’m sure a… gentlecolt such as you could use some extra bits, right?”
He didn’t know what infuriated him more: the fact that he was right, or that he thought he could bribe him.
“Light’s teaching forbids me from harming unarmed ponies,” he told them, hearing a pair of hoofsteps behind him. “But if you two don’t stay quiet, I’m sure the Holy Light will forgive me for knocking you out.”
Storm had glanced back to see both Sound and Bomb looking surprised at the unconscious bodies. “Sound, mind reporting this to the royal guard; or to the Princess, given that the ‘brain’ behind this is Blueblood? Bomb, keep an eye on those two, I need to check on Nymph and Wind Reaver.”
Both nodded and scurried to follow his orders. Storm sheathed his blade and trotted into the room he was guarding, wondering come they didn’t hear the commotion.
His eyes grew wide as he saw the changelings playing a game of cards.
“Are you alright?” Nymph asked in a worried tone.
“Yeah…” Storm managed to mumble. “How come you…”
“I thought about joining in,” Wind Reaver confessed, glancing up from his hoof. “But it wouldn’t be nice of me to beat you up,” Grinning, he added: “I mean, I would have to join them. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair, right?”
 


 
The news of Blueblood’s idiotic and treasonous attempt at jeopardizing the forming of an alliance between Equestria and the changelings over some petty vengeance had reached Matthias and Luna during a small meal, not long after the paladin had finished recounting his stay in the Crystal Empire.
“That arrogant little snot!” Luna bellowed, her eyes burning with moonlight. She stomped the floor next to the table, and Matthias looked in slight concern as a lightning bolt shoot outside. “I cannot believe I am related to that piece of-”
For bad or good, her screams had awakened Moonlight, who began crying just in time to stop her mother from cursing. Anguish flashed across Luna’s face as she quickly took her daughter into her forelegs and started to cradle her.
“Hush, little one, Mommy didn’t mean to wake you up,” she told her as the small alicorn slowly calmed down. “Don’t you worry about a thing, baby close your eyes,” the Princess began to lullaby her with the very same song Matthias’ in Luna’s memories’ had witnessed Celestia sing to her. “I’ll be here for you, till the end of time, that’s what I’ll… do…”
She trailed off as Moonlight had closed her eyes and fallen asleep once more. Luna sighed with relief and placed her in her crib, then returned to the table she shared with Matthias. Once she sat down, the paladin saw that her eyes were almost literally on fire.
“Why did Queen Platinum have to ban the death penalty…” she hissed, no doubt now even more furious with Blueblood. “The unicorn kings of old had sentenced ponies to it for less than causing a royal foal to cry.”
“He will still pay for this stunt,” Matthias said diplomatically. “Once your night guards find him, that is. On that note, I don’t know if I should be surprised or not that he can run so fast.”
While Luna clearly wasn’t in a laughing mood, his joke did make her crack a smile. “This is still a troubling matter. On one hoof, Celestia and I will finally be able to remove him from court; on the other, it’s a disgrace to the royal family,” The Princess of the Night gave a tired sigh. “And that aside, the fact that he had the support of the other nobles is worrying. Once Celestia returns this evening, we will need to speed up the talks regarding the changelings,” she picked up a teacup and muttered angrily: “They wouldn’t have tried to pull that off if my sister was here…”
“The nobles are a pain in the flank of every ruler of every race on every world,” Matthias told her, as offended on her behalf as she. “My father always complained how greedy Lord Alexei Barov was; no wonder Kel’Thuzad had fooled him so easily. Poor bastard...”
“Well, I am glad there are no power-hungry necromancers in Equestria serving an evil lord of the dead to corrupt anypony,” Luna told him seriously. She sighed once more. “But let’s leave this unpleasant matter; with Cadance’s support, the more stubborn officials will be swayed, and the stuck up nobles will be shut.”
“And then Nymph will finally tell us changeling secrets,” Matthias said. “Maybe we will finally have some answers.”
“Hmm, are you certain that there is a connection between them and Tucker Out’s unusual ability?”
“I had long since learned that you cannot be certain of anything regarding such matters. But I have a hunch that it cannot be a coincidence that he was stuck in an amber-crystal prison, and that he can form a blade out of energy.”
“Do you plan to tell him that?”
“I don’t think I should for now, not until I will have more information,” Matthias replied, taking a sip of tea. “This reminds me, Princess Celestia will arrive in Ponyville in few hours, right?”
“Yes. I hope that Twilight Sparkle had enough time to prepare the entertainment for the delegates.”
“Why wouldn’t she?” Matthias asked, detecting a note of worry in Luna’s voice. “Surely, two days should be plenty for her to plan everything.”
“Yes, but until this morning, Ponyville was trapped under a strange magic dome,” the Princess of the Night said in puzzlement. “I would have sent somepony to check if everything was alright, but if it wasn’t, they would have informed us through the mirror we gave you.”
“Oh…” Matthias mouthed, worried. “I wonder what happened... Oh, this won’t be good for Ponyville’s budget,” he groaned, wondering if he would have to talk with Mayor Mare again.
“Yes, I have the feeling that my sister should have increased donations to the poor city when she sends her student to live there,” Luna smirked, rising from the table. “I suppose you should prepare to leave if you want to make it in time. I am thankful that you visited me and Moonlight,” she said, ringing a bell.
“The pleasure was all mine,” Matthias said, rising as well.
The side doors of the chamber had opened and one of the maids had entered. “Yes, Princess?”
“Please send for Caring Star, if she has rested enough,” The maid bowed and left to carry her order.
Either Moonlight had sensed that Matthias was leaving, or the commotion had simply waked her up, but a second later both grown up ponies heard a quiet wail come from the crib.
“Oh, Moonlight, do you want to say goodbye to you godfather?” Luna asked in a gentle tone, levitating the small filly from her crib and moving her towards Matthias. “Bye bye!”
Matthias smiled warmly and waved at the alicorn filly in front of him. “Bye, Moonlight!”
Moonlight Shadow made a cute, unintelligible sound. The paladin took a step forward to hug her gently-
“Ar-thias!”
-and backed away with his jaw dropped.
Luna was no less surprised than him. “Moonlight, where did you hear this name?” she asked her daughter, but all she received in return was more giggles and cute noises.
Deciding to worry about this in a minute, Matthias shook off his surprise and gave his goddaughter a goodbye hug, just a moment before the maid Luna had sent for - the very same that that he met earlier and that blushed while talking with him - had came. Leaving the baby alicorn in her care, the Princess and the paladin headed off from the chambers.
“You daughter is developing well,” Matthias commented when they were alone.
“Yes, although I honestly have no idea where she could have heard me say your name,” Luna confessed. “I’m sure I haven’t called you by it with her in the room… then again, she is an alicorn foal,” she said with an annoyed sigh. “When I was her age, I phased through two floors into the kitchen because I was hungry.”
“And to think I panicked when Jaina had spoken about children,” Matthias shook. Sighing, he said: “I guess in a matter of months my friends will learn that I lied to them about my name, huh?”
“Not necessarily… but why did you choose to give Twilight this name when she asked you so long ago?”
He pondered her words for a while. “Because I panicked,” he finally confessed. “I didn’t want to be myself, not after everything that I did. My humanity, the part of myself I had casted off, took the name of Matthias Lehner when adventurers stumbled upon my heart; I chose to take the name of the best part of me, rather than the name of the whole me; I didn’t want to be a failure.”
Matthias had trailed off, hearing a pony coming through the corridor next to the one he and Luna were trotting through. A group of maids were heading towards the kitchen.
“Pixie?” Luna had called after one of them. The brown mare stopped and bowed respectfully. “Please see to it that my sister’s chambers are prepared for her return.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” the maid replied.
“If those are your reasons,” Luna said once they were alone again, “then I am sure your friends will understand… the part about the heart aside, though.”
“Yeah… even on Azeroth this would cause some confusion,” Matthias replied with an uneasy chuckle. “I cannot help but wonder how Tirion must have reacted when they told him about it.”
“I cannot help but wonder how he would have reacted if he knew what you’ve been up to those past few months,” Luna retorted.


 
The journey back home didn’t take long, although it wasn’t as fast as Matthias would have liked it to be. They barely made it in time to greet Princess Celestia and the two delegates, Bashire and his wife Sahra. As Matthias had learned, Bashire, due to his often dealings with Equestria on behalf of his sultan, had adopted a lot of ponies customs. He had only Sahra as his wife, and didn’t think himself to be her better. What’s more, due to his position, she was also treated with respect by other horses (as much as it was possible in that culture), and helped her husband with his work.
Matthias would have like to speak with them for a longer time, but there was something that he desired a lot more: not missing Twilight’s show.
The magic entertainment wasn’t something overwhelming as one might have expected, but nonetheless breathtaking. Matthias admired the control Twilight had displayed over her levitation spell to maneuver so many small critters with such precision and not harming them. The fireworks that ended the show were also nice, but Matthias felt that they weren’t Twilight’s doing.
But nothing was as captivating as her eyes when their looks met briefly, or the smile she gave him.