//------------------------------// // Seeds of Doubt // Story: Deathwing in Equestria // by SoaringCoal //------------------------------// Neltharion opened his eyes and saw he was back in the complete darkness. He snorted. "Back here, again..." A low rumble came from behind him. He turned around and stared into two big red reptilian eyes. "Indeed you are." The dark voice replied. "I thought I told you to leave me be" Neltharion scowled. He was not in the mood for this. "Nothing is ever that simple. You of all people should know that." "What do you want?" The voice took a moment to reply. "I want to know why you let yourself get treated this way by that pathetic race of ponies. Wouldn't it just be easier to incinerate them all and be done with it?" Neltharion replied without hesitation. "We both know they are our only way back to Azeroth. They are our only hope of getting home." "But do you really want to go home? We could take over this world so easily. Think of the possibilities! We could even make them help us get back after we make this world ours, and then we could rule two worlds instead of one!" Even though Neltharion hated to admit it, his corruption was right. It would be so easy and it was tempting. So very tempting to just give in and make this world his own. He then remembered his siblings and what they would think if did it. If he gave in, his siblings would never forgive him. "No..." "No?" "It wouldn't be right..." The reptilian eyes narrowed in disapproval. "Hmmm... I see. You are still afraid." Neltharion gritted his teeth in anger. "I am not afraid!" The dark voice gave a dry laugh. "You are afraid, Neltharion. Afraid of being alone, afraid of your siblings disapproval and afraid of yourself. You deserve to be great. You deserve the same respect our siblings had. You don't deserve to end up like Malygos." Neltharion's eyes widened. "W-what do you mean? What happened to Malygos?" The red eyes rolled and a annoyed sigh escaped the dark voice. "Didn't you get the memo? Malygos is dead." Neltharion's jaw dropped and stared at the eyes in disbelief. "Y-you're lying!" "Didn't you pay attention when your memories flowed back? Malygos is dead. Killed by our siblings because he took away the mortals ability to use magic. He did so because he thought the mortals abused the gift that had been bestowed upon them. The gift of magic. And you know what? He was right." Neltharion's world felt as if it was collapsing around him. His best friend and brother was dead. Now it all made sense. Now he understood why there had been another blue dragon in Malygos' place at the time of his banishment, but Neltharion refused to believe it. He stepped back in disbelief. "T-that can't be true." "Oh, but it is. Our siblings turned on him and killed him. If you can know someone, and call them family for over sixty-thousand years and they still turn on you the second you do something wrong, then it just proves just how little family truly means. There is no such thing as family and friendship, our siblings proved that. They will kill you without hesitation if you ever get back to them, so why even try? Neltharion was frozen. Had his siblings really done all of that? Was the voice right? Why was he feeling so betrayed? He felt angry and sad. He didn't know what to reply. Perhaps it was all meaningless. He didn't get to think it over any further as he heard a knocking. Neltharion  awoke with a massive headache. He sat up and rubbed his head with a hoof. Another nightmare. Another conversation with his corrupted part. More information and more sorrow. Neltharion felt like he had just lost a part of himself. A part he would never get back. This time the voice didn't speak with malice and that many insults. It had sounded curious and sad. His corruption's words still resonated within his head 'There is no such thing as family and friendship, our siblings proved that. They will kill you without hesitation if you ever get back to them, so why even try?' A loud knocking on his door ripped him from his thoughts *Knock* *Knock* What now? He turned his head towards the door. "What is it?" A orange coated pegasus guard with blue mane opened Neltharion's guest room door and stepped inside, a stern look on his face. "Princess Twilight requests your presence, Lord Prestor." Neltharion smiled when the guard named him with proper title. He took off his bed sheets and carefully stepped out of his bed, making sure he didn't shred it. "Very well" he said, keeping a noble posture. "Tell the princess I'll be out in a minute." He turned towards the window in his room and was about to walk towards it when the guards voice stopped him. "Now." Neltharion gritted his teeth. Just who did this guard think he was, trying to commanding a being with power beyond his wildest imagination? He turned towards the guard and noted the guards narrowed eyes. Neltharion felt his anger flaring. He was really not in the mood for this. The runes on his plating began glowing white and a low whistling came from the runes as his magic reacted to his emotions. The guard was not moved by this and was about to call reinforcements when he heard Neltharion snort. The glow and whistling stopped. Neltharion walked past the guard, out of the guest room. "Very well" Neltharion muttered. When Neltharion stepped out of his room, five guards were waiting for him. He shifted his eyes around to each of them. They were all armed with spears. One of them motioned him to go down the hallway and he did so. Twilight was sitting in her throne room with her friends on their respective thrones.  The morning had been slow for Twilight. Waking up, changing her cheek bandage, eating breakfast, researching about her and her friends 'rainbow power' and inviting her friends to join her in the throne room. "Again, im glad you could join me today, girls." Twilight smiled at her friends. "As you all know, we have something important to discuss." Rainbow Dash yawned. "What was it, again? I kinda spaced out when you explained it." Twilight sighed in annoyance and shot a disapproving glare at Rainbow Dash. She took a regal posture. "As I've already explained, I called you here to discuss how we should handle the fact that Neltharion will be staying here for an uncertain amount of time, and what we should do." "Oh yeah." Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "I think we should kick his flank to the other side of Equestria for hurting you!" Fluttershy shot her a glare "uh...and also for hurting Discord!" "Rainbow, as much as ah' want to agree with ya, we can't just kick his flank" Applejack began. "Ah'm not even sure if we could if we wanted to. He faced two of the most powerful beings Equestria has ta offer and he got away without a scratch." Applejack looked down at her hooves. "Ah' don't know about y'all, but he scares me." "I agree with Applejack." Rarity nodded at her southern accented friend and gave her a comforting smile. "We must be civilised even if evidence shows that he is a brute." "But what can we do?" Fluttershy asked in an unusually loud voice. "Even if we could, we shouldn't try and force him to do things he doesn't want to. A-as much as I don't want  to, I still think we should give him the benefit of the doubt, even though he hurt Twilight and Discord. We don't know what he has been through in the past and as Neltharion said, he cannot control this corruption of his." "He could be lying" Rainbow said with crossed arms. "I don't think so, Rainbow." Twilight started, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. "He doesn't have any reason to lie about his corruption." "Oh come on, Twilight." Rainbow retorted, shaking her arms wildly in the air. "He has already lied to you before, why would this be any different?" Twilight looked down. She remembered the furious red reptilian eyes of Neltharion's, during their battle, and the fear they had instilled in her at the time. At the time she was sure she was going to die. When she had looked into those eyes she could almost see the various ways Neltharion was thinking of brutally and painfully taking her life away. "If he had lied about it, there would have been no reason for him to stop himself in our battle." "What do ya mean, sugarcube?" Applejack asked curiously, the others following her curious look. "What im saying is... If he was lying, Discord and I would probably be dead right now." Silence followed Twilight's words as everyone was processing wide-eyed what she had just said. Rarity was the first one to speak. "So... You believe in what he claims? That he has some kind of corruption inside of him?" "I do." "B-but then how do we help him?" Fluttershy asked. "Im not sure we can, Fluttershy." Twilight replied, sadly. Pinkie pie interrupted the sad mood in the room. "We could throw him a party! Parties always help with everything!" Pinkie Pie yelled with a big smile. Applejack groaned in annoyance. "Now is not da time for ya crazy party talk, Pinkie." Pinkie pie's mane deflated slightly and her smile was replaced with a sad frown. Twilight beamed as she realised something. "Actually I think you're onto something, Pinkie." Instantly Pinkie pie's smile came back. "And just how is throwing a party going to help Neltharion?" Rainbow asked in a curious tone. "Well, I didn't mean we should actually throw him a party... Not to start with anyway." Twilight thought of something. "Now that I think about it, his story is alot similar to Luna and Nightmare moons." "And how does that help us, exactly?" Rainbow asked in a lazy tone. "Luna's corruption came from her jealousy and was cured with the elements of harmony and the power of friendship." Twilight smiled at her friends. "Maybe we can help him the same way we helped Luna after she came back." "Oh! I'll get my chicken costume!" Pinkie Pie squealed and jumped off her throne. "Wait, what?" Twilight asked before realising what was about to happen. "Oh no, you don't!" She said and grabbed Pinkie pie with her magic and put her back on her throne before she could run off. Twilight sighed. "I didn't mean like that. I mean we could befriend him and hope it will keep his corruption away." "Uhh, sugarcube" Applejack began. "Ah' hate ta be the rotten apple in da bucket, but we all know that Luna's situation were different. Plus, we had the elements back then." "Well, currently it's our only option and we will just have to roll with it" Twilight finished, as she gave her friends a small smile. They heard the door to the throne room creak open and turned their heads towards it. In walked Neltharion followed by six armed guards. Neltharion did not look happy. "Ahh, Neltharion. Im glad you could join us" Twilight smiled at him. Neltharion snorted. He muttered something beneath his breath with downcast eyes. Twilight turned her attention towards the six guards. "Thank you for bringing him here, gentlecolts. You may leave." She waved her hoof towards the door. Five of the guards saluted in classic military fashion and turned to leave. The sixth guard, a familiar orange coated blue maned pegasus, bowed clumsily before Twilight. "Your highness, with all due respect. Are you sure you want us to leave you and your friends with this criminal, alone?" Twilight heard a low growl coming from Neltharion. Calling him a criminal probably wasn't the best idea, but she understood the guards concern. Luckily, only the guards that had been stationed at Neltharion actually had an idea of what he had done, but word traveled fast and guards were known to gossip. Twilight had made sure her friends kept quiet around what Neltharion really was as the news would freak everypony out and probably make the guards attack him. What frightened Twilight was the thought of what Neltharion would do if he was attacked. Twilight smiled at the guard. "We will be alright, Flash. No need to worry." Flash sentry nodded and reluctantly walked out of the throne room, joining the other guards, but not before he shot Neltharion a nasty glare, which Neltharion returned. Twilight cleared her throat. "So... Neltharion, did you sleep well?" she smiled sheepishly at him. Neltharion held an unamused frown on his face. "Im not in the mood for meaningless small talk" his voice was calm, but clearly not happy. " It's hard enough that I have to walk around with six imbeciles at all times if I want to go anywhere. Voice your concerns and let me leave." Twilight was slightly taken back by Neltharion's harsh words. He had been in a bad mood before, but this was new. "Oh... Uh... Okay, sorry. I was just trying to lift the air." she said, looking down at her hoofs Neltharion raised an eyebrow for a moment, he then let out a deep annoyed sigh. "My apologies, Twilight. I didn't mean for it to sound so harsh. This morning has been less than good from my point of view." his voice was sincere and tired. The rest of the friendship council eyed him curiously, but kept silent. "It's okay, Neltharion" Twilight smiled at him. "I called you here because we want to talk to you about how we can help you." "Help me with what, exactly?" "Help you with getting rid of your corruption" Twilight began. "We think we can help you. Princess Luna had a similar problem. She was corrupted by her own jealousy one-thousand years ago. When she came back from her banishment we were able to help her, with items called the elements of harmony and us offering her our friendship." Neltharion rolled his eyes "I’m afraid my situation is not as simple as it were with your princess." Twilight raised an eyebrow. She was not sure what he meant by that. Luna's situation certainly had not been simple. "What do you mean?" Neltharion frowned. "Twilight. You have to understand that I am much older than any of you and your princesses. Luna may have been  corrupted for little over a thousand years, but have been carrying my corruption for most of my immortal life and I succombed to it a little over ten-thousand years ago. I have lived for over sixty-thousand years and as far as I can remember, my corruption has always been there." Neltharion lowered his head. "As much as I want to believe you can help me, I have to face the reality of things. My corruption is a part of me, and im afraid it can never truly leave me." his voice was pained and sad. Twilight had a pained and surprised expression and some of her friends shared it. Sixty-thousand years? Dear Celestia that is a long time Twilight thought. Just thinking of how much knowledge he held was hard for Twilight. Her mentor,princess Celestia, had been Twilight's epitome of wisdom and guidance and she was twenty times younger than Neltharion. What secrets could he teach Twilight? What morals did he have? What would he have done if he didn't need their help? Twilight stepped off of her throne and placed a hoof on Neltharion's shoulder. He looked up in response. "When you first came here, I was afraid of you. At the time you assured me you didn't mean me or my friends any harm and that you only wished to befriend me, and I believed you. Since then you have hurt me and a friend of mine" Twilight saw Neltharion cringe at her words. She continued. "And to be honest, I am still afraid of you, Neltharion."  Twilight smiled at him. "And yet... I am still willing to take you up on that your offer, if you want it. And i’m sure my friends will do the same, if you let them." Neltharion had a baffled expression on his face. He slowly turned his head towards each of the former elements of harmony. They all nodded, some more reluctant than others, at Twilight's words. He turned his head back to Twilight and gave her a sad smile. Twilight returned his smile. "All I ask is that you let us help you." Neltharion waited a moment and then gave a low lighthearted chuckle. "I think I can accept those conditions, princess." Outside of Ponyville, a lonely guard had just entered the White Tail Woods. Home of some of the most cold hearted beings in Equestria. The Changelings. The guard stopped as he heard the bushes nearby rustle. Out of them jumped four changelings, hissing, intend on capturing the guard, and feed on his love towards his loved ones. The guard was not moved by the four changelings as they closed their distance and surrounded him, before coming at him one by one. The guard kicked one of them in stomach, rolled and proceeded to headbutt another, knocking them out cold, before the rest could react. He turned towards the two last changelings. He growled "It's me, you morons." Green fire engulfed the guard and revealed, a slightly taller than average, changeling with blue armor and green eyes. The two remaining changelings normally blue hollow eyes took a frightened turn. They both saluted by putting a black hoof to their chest and bowing their head. "Forgive us, Captain Bloodfang. We didn't recognise you, sir." Bloodfang snorted. "That is the point with a disguise, you imbeciles!" The changelings cringed at his words and cowered beneath him. "Where is our queen? I need to report to her, now." "Why I am right behind you, Captain." A female voice sounded behind him. Bloodfang's eyes widened and he darted around and bowed without looking up. "Forgive me, my queen. I didn't know you would be out this close to the border of the woods." Queen Chrysalis bared her fangs and smiled at Bloodfang. "There is nothing to forgive, Bloodfang. I just wanted to hear your report as soon as possible, so I decided to station myself here for the day." Chrysalis took Bloodfang's chin in her hoof and pulled it up, making him stare at her face. "Now, report." "Of course, my queen." Bloodfang got up and saluted to Chrysalis the same way the other changelings had saluted to him. "There are eighteen guards stationed in Ponyville at all times. eight more on day shift and six on the night shift from Canterlot. Record time from Canterlot to Ponyville is fourteen minutes via pegasus flight. With armor weighing them down, organising movements and flight time, I have estimated it will take a minimum time of twentysix minutes for reinforcements from Canterlot to arrive at Ponyville. And those are just the pegasi." Chrysalis gave an evil chuckle. "Excellent. Finally I can get my revenge on Celestia's student and her meddlesome friends. This time, there won't be any disguising or trickery. This time I will rid them of this world, for good. Report back to the castle, Bloodfang. Assemble the troops, we attack Ponyville in two days." She turned and started walking out of the forest Bloodfang saluted again. "My queen, how many troops do you want me to bring?" Chrysalis stopped and turned her head to Bloodfang revealing her evil smile. "All of them."