//------------------------------//
// 113. When the paladin broods the changelings play 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

What is happiness?
It was a question Matthias pondered as he watched the snoring form of Rainbow Dash. Despite having caught up with his friends, despite falling asleep after a moment of passion with a very beautiful mare, he woke up and found himself… worrying.
Because the melancholy mood that overtook him didn’t fit into any of this.
As he dreamed, he had a vision. That vision, again. And coupled with what he had learned from his friends about what had transpired in Ponyville during his absence…
“‘The Alicorn Amulet’, which grants its wearer great powers at the price of corruption…”
He raised his hoof and held it above himself. Even though it wasn’t the hand it once was, Matthias still remembered the cold that took over his body the moment it grabbed the handle of Frostmourne and never left.
“... and what’s worse,” he thought, sighing and letting the hoof fall on the bed, “I wasn’t here to protect them.”
“I wasn’t here to protect her.”
Matthias looked at Rainbow once more. While he would not deny that he enjoyed their “fun”, there was always a little something at the back of his mind, that only now, when he found himself in deep rumination, was he able to admit to himself.
The true reason while he became a friend with benefits with Rainbow was because he wanted to get Twilight out of his mind.
But, like with everything else he had ever tried to do, he was doomed to fail. Twilight had taken place in his heart and thoughts for good. The very friend that was the first to befriend him, to make him open himself to others, thanks to which he became able to commune with the Light one more. She even told him that she loves him, despite the darkness that she knew once held him. The mare that time and time again proved to be his better in every way…
Light, how he wished she was here now. Matthias knew that it wasn’t fair toward Rainbow, but he couldn’t help it. His heart ached for Twilight… and for that exact reason he had to keep her away. His heart, while filled with the Holy Light, was forever branded with the atrocities he committed, to his father, his family, his country, his subjects… even to himself.
“Twilight deserves a pony better than I am. Tartarus, I don’t even deserve to be her friend,” Matthias pressed his hooves to his eyes, feeling a moist gathering around their corners. “I don’t deserve to be anypony’s friend,” he thought in panic as he began wonder what in Light’s name was he doing, listening to Rainbow’s snoring as if it was normal while he wasn’t worthy of even touching her…
He began to shake, and the Light knows what would have happen next, what dark thoughts would come to him, if it weren’t for one thing; the necklace. His forelegs brushed against it by accident, causing a strange wave of warmth surge through him. Matthias stopped his train of thoughts to glance at it.
Whenever your shadow will begin to win, this will remind you of the love others have for you.
His breathing gradually calmed down while in his mind, by its own accord, memories of the times he spent with his friends began to resurface. He felt the friendly hugs and laughs they shared, their sympathy and understanding, their words whenever something from his past became known to them, their… their...
Forgiveness.
“It is not their place to forgive me,” Matthias thought back to Marahute’s Necklace. “And even if it were… how could I forgive myself?”
But despite this question remaining unanswered, when his hoof closed around the necklace, his heart was much lighter.
Even if what the vision had showed him...
 



 
When after walking up and taking a quick shower Matt told her that he had to deal with some things, Rainbow Dash took it as her cue to leave. Not that the paladin wanted her out, he just knew that she would be bored to death with about everything he was doing when inside his office.
“I wonder, though, what has gotten into him,” she thought, as she made her way out of the barracks. “He seemed… out of it this morning. Come to think of it, he’s been in a strange mood ever since we brought him the Alicorn Amulet yesterday to hide in his vault… is he worried about that? Ugh, why can’t a smart pony deal with that?!”
She answered her own question almost immediately. “Because the smart pony thinks it would ruin their friendship,” Rainbow rolled her eyes at the stupidity of her friends.
The sun hit her in the eyes as she exited through barrack’s doors. Whoever on Ponyville’s weather team had the shift this morning must have already cleared the sky. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and was supposed to stay so until evening, when Rainbow had to bring in some rainclouds.
Thinking about work made the pegasus yawn, and she wondered if she should look for a good place for a nap, when she spotted one of the changelings standing in the Abbey’s courtyard. And since she could see it as a changeling…
“Hey Wind!” she called, flying up to him.
Wind Reaver turned his head to regard her as she hovered above him. “Someling got laid tonight.”
His blunt comment almost made her lose her balance and fall down. Somehow managing to stay in the air, Rainbow ignored the slight feeling of heat on her cheeks. “What are you up to? And where’s your friend?”
For some reason, her question made him furrow his brow. “Do you assume Nymph and I are friends because we are both changelings, or because we were sent here?”
“Umm…” Rainbow stammered, surprised and confused.
Wind Reaver sighed. “Nymph and I aren’t friends. Prior to this mission, I’ve only met her twice or thrice.”
“Oh-kay…” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Geez, no need to get so touchy. So anyway, what are you up to?”
“The Hivespeaker gave the both of us permission to move around Ponyville unsupervised, provided we won’t cause any trouble and all,” he said, shrugging. “I thought about stretching my wings a bit.”
Rainbow grinned almost immediately.
“Wanna stretch your wings, huh?” she asked. “How about a race, then? Ghastly Gorge sounds good?”
It took only a heartbeat for Wind Reaver to twist his mouth into a similar grin, flashing his fangs. “You’re on!”
 



 
“How, in all that is holy, could he have over twenty witnesses say that he was in Los Pegasus for three days at all time?!” Matthias shouted, directing his question to the magic mirror.
“By bribes, most likely,” Luna replied from her side; it was clear from the image his mirror showed him that she was as much annoyed as he was, if not more.
Matthias didn’t plan to discuss the matter of Prince Blueblood when he contacted Luna, but when she had mentioned what became of the situation, he couldn’t help to not get wrapped up into the subject.
“I think I liked Blueblood more when I thought him to be just an arrogant, narcissistic snob. Now that I know that he is well-versed in the art of the politics and a tad cunning, though…”
“Hopefully, the night guard will find something on him,” Princess Luna tried to reassure both of them. “But let’s leave this unpleasant matter aside. Why did you contact me? It cannot be about the sample you gave Doctor Angelic Touch; you know she hadn’t got enough time to examine it properly.”
“While I would like to know what she would be able to make out of Wind Reaver’s blood, you speak truth, I know it’s been too soon. No, I contacted you because I would like to ask you for a favor,” Matthias told her, then sighed and prepared to roll his eyes. “You see, yesterday Twilight had asked me-”
“One would like to make fun of how you are eager to do whatever it is Twilight wants,” Luna smirked.
Taking the pause for the predicted rolling of the eyes moment, he continued.
 



 
“This was a bad idea,” Nymph thought in panic. “This was a horrible, horrible idea…”
When the Hivespeaker told her that she and Wind Reaver could go to Ponyville unsupervised, she almost immediately headed out into the town.
She had thought about what Serenity told her for some time, that she considers her a friend. Truth to be told, when Nymph looked back at her life, she had realized that she didn’t really have any friends. Unlike most changelings, her status as Mother’s heir required her to spend most of her time perfecting herself and growing far sooner than others, thus being depraved from occasions to befriend other changelings.
Now, though, while on this mission, she had plenty of time to make some friends. Well, she already made five, but Serenity was now in Crystal Empire, Babs was in Manehatten, and the remaining three fillies had school today, so if she wanted to have fun with a friend, she needed to make a new one. Nymph first thought was Wind Reaver, of course, but with his mental state being as unpredictable as it is, she wasn’t sure if her attempt would be welcomed by him.
Her next thought about a potential friend was Twilight Sparkle. Definitely an odd choice, considering her role in the failure of changelings’ invasion, but the idea of a changeling trying to befriend a pony was already weird to begin with, so Nymph didn’t let such matters to sway her. She knew a lot about Twilight, how she liked to study in general and magic in particular, to which she could relate to. Nymph also knew that prior to coming to Ponyville the unicorn didn’t have friends like her.
Hoping that when she would explain this to her Twilight would give her a chance, the changeling had set out for her library.
What she didn’t expect, however, was that the entire town would remember her unicorn form.
Every pony that she passed was glancing her way, some discretely and some openly. Nymph tried to pay them no mind, but thanks to picking up the emotions that hid behind every stare. Thankfully, noling felt hatred towards her, nor any strong feelings as that day the Hivespeaker introduced Ponyville to her and Wind Reaver. But the others weren’t any easier to take: the suspicion, the distrust…
The disgust.
It hurt her. She had never thought of ponies in that way, despite how strange they were compared to changelings; why did they have to see her as something… ugly?
Nymph was so caught up in the pain the feelings of ponies around her were causing her that she had somehow lost her way. She was in Ponyville a few times before, but now for all the love in Equestria she couldn’t remember how to get to the library.
“I suppose I could just shapeshift and take a look from the sky,” she mused, and was about to do it when she had suddenly realized: “No! Then all those ponies will see my true body, and I will feel their… disgust…”
Fighting off the panic attack and the urge to just call it a day and head back, Nymph took a few, steady breaths to regain her composure. “Okay, stay calm. I’m sure… if I ask someling politely; they will tell me which way I have to go…”
She took one more deep breath and approached a pony at the market that was selling some fruits. “Um… excuse me…” she started hesitantly.
“What?” the seller asked her sharply, making her flinch at both his tone and contempt.
“Nothing!” Nymph replied immediately, backing away.
“Okay, maybe I could find a pony that is a bit nicer…” Nymph decided, looking around if she could spot a pony that was more likely to not bite her head off.
It would seem her wish has been granted, for after a few moments Nymph saw Applejack on the other end of the market, selling apples. While Nymph knew that this particular of the Hivespeaker’s friends wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of befriending changelings, she was certain that farmer pony won’t lash out on her, for the reason of her little sister liking her if nothing else.
She was about to go to her. But then…
A pony grunted as he bumped into her from behind. “Hey…”
Nymph didn’t hear what else he said. The moment he she felt the light impact, panic seized her body. She wanted to flee.
Her magic and horn responded to her need.





Storm Clash blinked as Nymph disappeared in a flash of a green light.
“Guess I must have startled her,” he thought with a pang of regret. “Damnit, I should have been more careful while walking in this armor, I might hurt somepony!”
But then he glanced at the pony he was escorting to the Abbey. “Then again, can somepony blame me for not paying attention to my surrounding while trotting around with such a weird-looking pony?”



	 
 
When in the heartbeat after her teleportation spell had taken her away from Ponyville Nymph opened her eyes, she managed to see that she was surrounded by trees… just before something fell on her head.
The hit wasn’t too strong, but coupled with her panic attack and having just teleported here - wherever this “here” was, because for the moment Nymph had no idea - caused her to see stars dancing before her eyes and her legs to buckle under her.
Her stunned state was a blessing in disguise, though. Because of it, Nymph didn’t begin to panic again, and after shaking her head a few times she noticed that she no longer laid on the grass, but instead in the forelegs of… of…
The eyes of the stallion that held her were of a beautiful shade of green, almost exact as her blood was.
“Y’al right, miss?” he asked her gently in a deep voice.
“Um… yes,” Nymph replied slowly, still feeling light headed from whatever hit her, and also a bit… odd. Shaking her head for the last time, she pulled herself away from the stallion and stood on her own. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you.”
Nymph took a better look at him, and with a jolt she realized she knew him. “You’re Big Macintosh, right? Apple Bloom’s and Applejack’s older brother,” she asked the red stallion, who nodded in reply, smiling somewhat timidly. “I’m Nymph, a…” her voice broke. Could she admit to this stallion that she’s a changeling after what she went through just a couple of moments ago? He was being so nice to her. “Um, you know, a…”
“Yup,” Big Macintosh finished for her, still smiling.
The changeling in disguise blinked in surprise. “Oh, right, your sisters must have told you about me,” she concluded. Judging by the fact that he was still kind towards her, he must have listened to Apple Bloom view on her more keenly than Applejack’s. “And… you don’t have a problem with me?” Nymph asked, a little surprised by it.
“Nope,” the stallion replied, giving her a nod and turning back to what he must have been doing before she had teleported here.
As Nymph watched him bending down and picking up apples from the ground, she quickly realized what must have happened; she teleported next to him just when he bucked the tree under which they both stood, causing the apples to fall down, and she was just unfortunate enough to get hit by one.
“The heir of Queen Chrysalis, struck down by a falling apple,” Nymph thought bitterly. “It’s official; I am the most pathetic of her daughters,” Shaking the dark mood off, she looked around. As she had already guessed, she was on Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family’s farm. “It must be because I was thinking about Applejack when that pony bumped into me…”
“Sorry for coming like that,” she quickly told Big Macintosh as he put all the apples into one of the nearby baskets. “Something startled me and I teleported here by accident.”
The big red stallion looked at her in puzzlement as he bucked the next tree. “Startled?”
“It’s… complicated…” Nymph said, poking the ground with her hoof in abashment.
She looked at Big Macintosh. He didn’t say anything, just looked back at her calmly. Nymph could sense his curiosity and worry, but all she could read from his green eyes was: Wanna talk about it?
Taking a deep breath, Nymph decided that she might as well tell him. “You see, this morning…”
 



 
The quarry eels shot from their nest again, as Rainbow and Wind passed this segment of their race track, causing both of them to slow down and maneuver around their heads… and as the four times before, Wind Reaver again had taken the lead.
Rainbow ground her teeth. Over the previous laps, she had learned that while she was undeniably (even if not by a huge margin) faster than the changeling, he was more agile and quicker when it came to maneuvering like this.
Normally, it wouldn’t bother her. In fact, she was happy that he proven to be a challenging opponent, but this was the final lap.
And the finishing line was not too far away from this point.
Dodging the last two quarry eels’ heads, Rainbow beat her wings furiously, ignoring the aching in her joints and the fire in her lungs as they protested. She had to beat him! Slowly, she began to catch up with him, but the damned changeling also began to beat his wings faster. Even with all the noise the air flow made Rainbow could hear their buzzing.
“Come on, come on, come on!” she thought as if just willing the victory would grant it to her. “Just a little more…”
Her forehooves passed his hind legs… his torso, his head… leveled with his forehooves…
“I won!” both of them shouted as they passed the finish line.
Hearing the other say it, they slowed down as swiftly as they could and landed on the ground, both breathing heavily. “No, I won!” they shouted in unison.
They stared at each other angrily for a while. Finally, Wind Reaver broke the silence: “Think we should have had an arbiter?”
“Yeah, maybe...” Rainbow muttered, sitting down. She couldn’t remember when was the last time she exerted herself to such extent while flying.
“Perhaps the next time we will remember that,” Wind Reaver said, following her example and sitting. After a moment, thought, he just flipped and lied on his back. “Damn it, I don’t think I ever was out of breath like this.”
“Oh, you’re that good, huh?” Rainbow mocked, pressing her back against a rock.
“Not exactly,” he replied, rolling his hoof around. “You know how oxygen is necessary for having energy to move around and stuff, right?”
“Duh,” she said, although pulling out the exact information how that worked from her memories of school days wasn’t something she wanted to do.
“Well, we changelings can… switch… from using the oxygen to relying solely on love we absorbed.”
Rainbow wasn’t sure if she understood that. “Um… what?”
“Relying on oxygen can be… tiresome,” Wind Reaver said, then sighed. “Look, I’m not a smart changeling; you would need Nymph to explain it to you. All I know is that when we’re using oxygen to give our muscles the energy they need to move, and then when performing something really taxing - such as racing - sometimes the oxygen… doesn’t make it, and so the muscles… do something… and it’s bad...”
“Okay, you are making less sense than my biology teacher at Cloudsdale Academy, and yet you're somehow even more boring,” Rainbow Dash stopped him, feeling a headache from this explanation of his. “Make it simple, okay?”
“Fine. We changelings can switch into relying solely on love, which basically allows us to fly, fight and whatever without tiring.”
“Wait!” Now that he used simple words, Rainbow understood him, and grew offended. “Are you saying that you went easy on me?”
Wind Reaver shook his head. “Doing that causes us to deploy our reserves of love much quicker. And as it would seem unlikely I will feed any time soon, I need to spare what I have.”
“I suppose that makes sense. How would you go about ‘feeding’, anyway?”
“Well, our Queen forbids us from impersonating anyling from Ponyville, so I would be left with trying to pull off what Nymph did in Crystal Empire.”
“Which would be...?” Rainbow asked, now a bit curious.
“She offered to have sex with those two royal guards while taking forms of few of their fantasies,” Wind told her with grin.
He then proceeded to chuckle as Rainbow, due to the mental image that appeared in her head, began to blush. “Wow… didn’t expect her to be so… kinky.”
“She’s not being kinky, she’s just a changeling; we don’t have problems with casual sex. Kinda like you and the Hivespeaker.”
Now Rainbow was definitely blushing. “That’s none of your business,” she told the changeling, getting back on her hooves.
“Ooh, did I offend you?” Wind Reaver mocked her. “Sorry. But you have to admit, it’s rather unusual for ponies, especially in small towns like this, to have sex with someling that you don’t love,” There was a smirk on his face when he stood up as well. “Of course, in your case, having sex with the one you love the most would be difficult, wouldn’t it?”
“The buck is that supposed to mean!?” Rainbow asked, growing angrier and angrier.
“If he thinks I will let him offend me like this, he’s got another thing coming his way,” she thought, stomping the ground.
“Nothing offensive, I assure you,” Wind Reaver told her quietly, taking a step her way. “I actually pity you a bit. It must be hard-”
Green flames flashed around him.
“- to love yourself the most,” Rainbow Dash told her.
Rainbow felt her jaw drop as she took a step back from what was her reflection, perfect save from the smirk that Wind Reaver still had on his muzzle. She then recovered and snorted. “You must have bees in you bug-brain if you think I have the hots for myself.”
“You don’t? Could have fooled me,” The other Rainbow chuckled, as she closed the distance between them; has she always moved with such confidence? “You are so self-obsessed that you use one of your friends, despite knowing how another one feels about him.”
“I’m not using anypony!” Rainbow protested, backing away. Why was she explaining herself to him? “Matt is free to break this thing up! And Twilight told me she’s fine with this-”
“And you believed her?” her twin told her, her voice growing more quiet and sweet. “Or did you just choose to believe her, because it suited you?”
Rainbow took one more step back and felt her flank bump into a tree. “I… I didn’t…” she stuttered. Was he right? Had Twilight lied to her, and she simply didn’t care because she wanted Matt? “Stay back!” she told him.
Her own purple eyes gazed into her. “Make me,” Rainbow Dash challenged her, before leaning forward and pressing her lips against hers.
Rainbow stood as if paralyzed. She was kissing herself! “Oh gosh, oh gosh, I’m kissing myself!!!” she shouted in her head in alarm. She wanted to push Wind Reaver away, to kick him for this, to drop a mountain on him, but… but for some reason, as he continued to kiss her and pushed her against the tree she did nothing to stop him.
“This is wrong…” Rainbow thought as her own hooves massaged her sides. Then her actual hooves grabbed the other head. “But it feels so good…”