//------------------------------//
// 144. Love Conquers All 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

Twilight giggled as Moonlight yawned in an absolutely adorable way that was probably unsuited for a princess. “And it’s a bit terrifying,” she admitted as she noted the little alicorn’s tiny little fangs.
“Looks like somepony is tired,” she chided, smiling, as she resumed grooming her. “Guess all that running around and playing has really drained you.”
Seeing how Moonlight yawned again, Twilight assumed she was right. The last few hours were tiresome even for her and Arthas, so the foal alicorn would probably soon fall asleep. Twilight was actually surprised that she hadn’t done that by now.
After she and Arthas found her in the maze, they’d spent almost an hour more in the royal gardens, trotting around the flower beds. Which resulted in the foal getting even more dirty and causing a near heart attack for Twilight every time it looked like Moonlight was about to start tasting solid food. Several of those flowers were from highly rare species, whose growth required great care. Luckily, it hadn’t come to that.
They’d finally gotten back when Moonlight’s tummy rumbled. Not wanting to explain to castle staff or anypony else why they took the little princess out to the gardens without a foal carriage, Twilight had simply teleported all three back to Moonlight’s room. Once there, she wanted to clean Moonlight immediately, but her stomach had again grumbled, so she fed her instead. Both her and Arthas had expected the foal to fall asleep afterwards, but instead, after emptying the bottle, she trotted back to her toys.
“And later she made Arthas give her piggyback rides,” Twilight recalled, looking over the foal and resting earth pony.
“Having problems?” he asked, raising his head.
“No,” Twilight replied, continuing to comb Moonlight’s mane and brush the fur on her back with magic. “Just thinking about how cute you two looked together.”
Arthas chuckled as he laid his head back on his forehooves, though Twilight noticed he blushed slightly. “It was probably all Moonlight. That filly makes even scarred ponies like me look cute when she sits on their back. Though when you two played with her dolls-”
“Yes?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What’s that word Spike called you?” he asked, smirking. “‘Nerdy’?”
Twilight growled. “I really hated that day Spike taught him that word…” Her mood hadn’t improved much as Arthas chuckled again.
“I’m joking. You two looked adorable playing.”
… maybe it improved a bit…
“Since you like to laugh so much,” Twilight said slowly, narrowing her eyes, “how about we tell Princess Luna how you changed Moonlight’s diaper?”
Arthas expression turned sour as she brought back that memory. “You would have reacted too if you had saw… that,” he said, his face almost becoming green again.
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Twilight replied.
When about two hours ago a bad smell let those around Moonlight know that she needed her diaper changed, Twilight was in the bathroom. Arthas, to his misfortune, had decided to change her himself. “He’s about the only earth pony stallion that would change the foal’s diaper himself rather than ask a unicorn that’s in the next room,” Twilight thought, rolling her eyes.
Now, Twilight wasn’t one hundred percent sure why exactly Arthas looked as if he had been about to vomit after he finished changing Moonlight, as she hadn’t seen that. However, based on Arthas’ few short comments…
“I had no idea that… poop could go right up…” he had trailed off, shaking his head.
Though Twilight was sure he was overdramatizing, she was thankful that he had remained conscious enough to watch his language around the foal. Not wanting Moonlight to see Arthas in a shaken state, she kept her occupied while Arthas had recovered, sometimes muttering to himself things like: “Nobody tells you that one day you’ll have to clean…”
She had a few laughs at him then, but now that he had basically asked for it, Twilight started again. “The mighty paladin,” she started in an overly dramatic tone, “Grand Master of the Order of Celestial Light, had been beaten by diapers.”
“More like by their contents,” Arthas replied, regaining his composure. “And I swear, even Deathwing would have been beaten by that.”
“So looking forward to Brann coming to visit Equestria again,” Twilight said to that, smirking. “I want to be there when you tell him the key to defeating Deathwing.”
Twilight giggled as Arthas groaned and hid his face in his hooves, and then turned her attention back to their charge. She was about done with cleaning Moonlight’s mane and coat, but her wings… Twilight laid down comfortably, so that her head was on the same level as the little alicorn’s wings. She had read once about how pegasi took care of their feathers, but she had never preened one.
“Hm… I should just line up crooked ones, right?” Twilight thought, taking a closer look. “And pull the loose ones…”
As she wondered how to begin, Moonlight began to wiggle impatiently, which in turn alerted Arthas. “Want me to preen her?” he offered.
“Well… do you know how?” she asked hesitantly.
Arthas nodded, raising. “Yes, I… Rainbow showed me,,” he said, awkwardly, as he trotted to them.
Twilight blinked, surprised. “Oh… right,” she said, momentarily stupefied. She shook her head as she moved to make room for Arthas.
Why was she so shocked by this? “They’ve been… well, not dating, but however would you call it it’s been almost two months.” Twilight thought, more irritated by this revelation than she wanted to admit. “It’s not surprising that at some point Rainbow needed her wings preened, and her being a bit lazy…”
She knew that it wasn’t fair for her to be angry at this… but then again, Arthas also hadn’t been fair. Back in Altomare, he had admitted to loving her, and even though they’ve both agreed that it was best for them to stay friends, it hadn’t meant that it was okay for him to just have sex with a random sea pony mare and then become friends with benefits with Rainbow Dash. Maybe she should talk about this with Arthas later…
Twilight shook her head again. “Focus Twilight. His past first, his… whoring later.”
She looked curiously as Arthas delicately picked one lose tiny feather from Moonlight’s wing and spat it out. “You just have to look carefully for the loose ones and straighten the crooked ones,” he told her and resumed preeing the little alicorn’s wing.
“Well, I knew that,” Twilight thought, suppressing the urge to facehoof.
“Why don’t you do the right one?” Arthas suggested.
“Oh, sure,” she said, surprised, but she quickly scooched over.
Arthas’ chuckle distracted her a bit as she trusted her muzzle beside his and began searching Moonlight’s right wing for any loose or crooked feathers. “What?” she asked as she picked one such feather with her teeth.
She felt him brush her fur on her cheek as he lined up another tiny feather. “I sort of meant that you could do it when I’m done. It’s sort of tight here.”
“Oh…” Twilight exclaimed, blushing. “Well… do you mind?”
“No, not really,” Arthas replied, nuzzling her briefly.
Twilight giggled and, after a brief hesitation, she quickly kissed his cheek before she resumed peering Moonlight. As she did, she caught a glimpse of Moonlight glancing at her, with her big yellow eyes, and smiling.
“Oh, shut up,” Twilight thought humorously, blushing.





Nymph suddenly tilted her head, puzzled. “Why do you enjoy this so much?”
Big Mac turned to her, raising eyebrows.
“We’ve been here for over an hour,” she said, gesturing at the cliff. “But you remained as happy as you were at the beginning. And… well, I don’t mean to offend you, but you hadn’t caught anything.”
They both glanced at the apple lure that bobbed at the surface of the river.
“I don’t even think you are trying to catch anything,” Nymph continued, looking at the lure with confusion. “Unless there is a species of fish that eats apples that I am not aware of living in this river. And even then, how would you benefit from catching it? Ponies don’t eat fish. I suppose you could feed it to Winona or some other animals-”
His sister’s dog lift her head, hearing Nymph say her name, and barked.
“- or have it mounted over fireplace,” she finished, scratching Winona behind ear. “But… neither of those seem like something you’d do.”
Big Mac chuckled. “It ain’t ‘bout fishin’.”
“So… you’re saying that fishing isn’t about fishing?”
“Eeyup. Well, mah fishin’,” he amended. “How do ya feel?”
Nymph blinked, not understanding where he was going with this. “Me? Well… I feel… relaxed,” she finally said, returning to lying on her back with her head pressed against him as she had for the past hour. “Lying down like this with you, sunning ourselves, with no soul around… aside for Winona, of course,” she added, patting the dog again. “So… you fish to relax?”
“Eeyup,” he replied.
The changeling giggled in her unicorn form. “Now it makes sense.” Nymph stretched and looked at the setting sun. “It’s been a good day. Thanks for making me forget about the announcement, and how all of Equestria knows that the Changeling Queen’s daughter is in Ponyville.”
“Ya’re nervous ‘bout it?” Big Mac asked, concerned.
The whole day, neither of them brought that subject up. They’d been too busy doing chores. With his sisters out camping and Granny Smith leaving to visit their relative earlier than originally planned, Big Mac had been left alone tending to the farm. He was glad that Nymph actually found the work on Sweet Apple Acres to be fun, and was more than happy to offer her help. Even with her lending a hoof, they’d only been free since a little bit before they came over here.
“I’m trying not to think about this,” Nymph admitted, sighing. “And spending time with you helped with that. But a part of me was afraid that at any moment today, a train full of ponies wielding pitchforks and torches would arrive at Ponyville Station. But tomorrow will be worse,” she added. “Explaining our social structure is one thing, but our biology… how would you feel if you’d have to explain how your digestive system works?”
Big Mac had to admit that such perspective wasn’t too pleasant.
“Not to mention that I will still be concerned about ponies’ reactions to changelings,” she continued. “Ponies of Ponyville had started getting used to me and Wind Reaver, but I’m not sure how they would feel about more of us. And the rest of Equestria is bound to be distrustful. Also, there is still the matter of finding Wind Reaver’s intended mate; there still hasn’t been any sign of her. I’m worried how this is affecting him; I think he attacked Rainbow Dash last night. At least, that’s what Mother suspects. She was too busy at Canterlot to peer into Wind Reaver’s mind more acutely, and it's harder to do over greater distance, even for her. Especially if the changeling is trying to hide something, and it's already mentally unstable. Oh, and I can’t stop thinking about Applejack.”
“Well, ain’t that somethin’ a stallion wants to hear; his marefriend thinkin’ ‘bout his sister,” Big Mac thought, a bit amused, although he was starting to be concerned as Nymph continued to list things that worried her.
“She still doesn’t like me. Everypony else in your family - well, close family - does. I’m friends with Apple Bloom, Granny Smith treats me as if I was a pony, you’re dating me, and even Winona likes me. I worry that she’ll think I’m trying to steal her family from her. I don’t know how she will react when she’ll learn that I am dating you-”
Luckily for her, Big Mac already had to once deal with somepony worrying too much. It was back when Apple Bloom had started going to school. Applejack had been worried if something would happen to her, if other ponies would like her, if she would do well on her first day, and other things like that. Big Mac, though he had also been concerned about Apple Bloom, he knew that worrying wouldn’t have done either of them good, so he had thought of something that would calm his sister.
Coincidentally, he and Nymph were now in the same place.
As the changeling continued to talk about Applejack, Big Mac, with one swift move, pushed her into the river.
Uttering a surprised shriek, Nymph fell into the water with a splash. The river’s flow wasn’t strong here, so no harm could happen to her. Big Mac uttered a short chuckle as he saw her emerge on the surface and start to shake her head, and quickly jumped after her, doing a cannonball and splashing her with water.
As he resurfaced after a few seconds, he was met with his wet mane obscuring his sight, Winona’s barking, and, after a heartbeat, Nymph’s laughter. Big Mac brushed off his mane from his eyes to look at her. She was still in the river, floating beside him and covering her mouth with a hoof as she laughed, all her worries forgotten. Big Mac smiled, and splashed her with water.
Nymph continued to laugh as she responded in kind, and, after a second, she started to use her magic to send water at him. Big Mac smirked, put his forehooves on the cliff’s edge, and bucked the surface of the water with all his might. As Nymph’s other shriek told him, he succeeded. Grinning, he turned back towards her…
… and his ears dropped.
Nymph was sitting, at the dry bottom of the river. Her horn was glowing, and the rest of the river was above her.
It lasted only a second before she released the wave.The amount of water she had hit him with was enough to make Big Mac stagger. He shook, once again clearing his mane out of his eyes, and felt something press against his chest. He opened his eyes to see Nymph hugging him in the water looking up at him with sparkling eyes and smiling.
Smiling as well, he bent down to kiss her.





“I should have dropped by long ago,” Twilight noted as she and Arthas looked around her old house.
It was exactly as she left it. When they passed the doorway, they had barely avoided stepping into the present that Spike wanted to give Moon Dancer. As they went to the upper floor, they found Predictions and Prophecies, still open on the Elements of Harmony. The only thing that was new in the house was Arthas’ armor, which her spell had sent right next to her hourglass.
And everything was covered by layers of over two years worth of dust.
“So you used to live in a tower filled with books?” Arthas asked, politely not mentioning the state of her house.
“Yes, one of the perks of being the Princess’ student,” she replied, smiling awkwardly.
“Well, anyway,” Arthas said, putting down the bags with groceries they bought on their way here from the castle, “looks like I will have something to do while you make us something to eat. Where do you keep a duster?” he asked, looking around.
“I’m not going to let you clean my house,” Twilight told him. “I’ll take care of that.”
She was already embarrassed that he had to see her former home in such state. She didn’t want him to do something she should have done long ago. She was going to be as gracious host as she was way back when he came to live with her and Spike in Golden Oak Library.
But unfortunately, Arthas was stubborn. “Oh, so if you are going to clean, should I make us supper?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Twilight didn’t reply but instead she just looked at him. Still maintaining eye contact, she channeled magic through her horn, reaching towards the cabinet where she had kept a feather duster, opened it and brought the duster closer to her. Arthas raised eyebrows, waiting to see what she planned to do. Twilight barely stopped herself from smirking as she cast one of the new spells she had learned on the duster, causing it to start cleaning the nearest shelf.
She looked with satisfaction at Arthas, who was staring at the enchanted duster with interest. “Hm, does this mean Spike is fired?” he asked, turning back to her.
“Oh, very funny,” she told him, annoyed, as she cast the spell once again on a broom. “Why don’t you read something while I’ll prepare us some supper?” Twilight asked as the broom began dusting the floors.
Arthas did a great - and very annoying - show of looking around. “Hm, I think I might find a book that would interest me.”
Twilight just shook her head and left him on the upper floor, heading down towards the kitchen and picking up the groceries with her magic.
As she started making them supper (an omelette with oats and baked bread), she thought back to their day together. “Foalsitting Moonlight was so fun,” Twilight thought affectionately. There was probably nopony who wouldn’t just love that little filly. However, what really made this experience so great to Twilight was that she had shared it with Arthas. Taking care of a foal together was just... great! It made Twilight feel warmth in her heart several times this day, almost as if… as if this was meant to be.
“Maybe it was the Princesses’ plan?” she thought, chuckling at the silly thought. “Getting us two together? Would have explained why Luna had put such pressure on the words ‘both’ and ‘together’ as she thanked us for taking care of Moonlight when she came to relieve us.”
Taking comfort in knowing that this was too much of a despicable plan for the Princesses to do, Twilight finished making supper for her and Arthas and carried it on a tray to the dining table before she went back to the upper floor. She briefly pondered if they should eat on one of the balconies, but decided against it. She didn’t want to risk the chance of somepony eavesdropping on them, even though she wasn’t planning on touching certain subjects until after the meal.
Twilight smiled as she found Arthas sitting on by a small desk, reading a book. “It’s ready,” she told him, ignoring the sounds of the duster and broom she had enchanted that continued to work. “What are you reading?”
Arthas turned half of the book so that Twilight would see the cover.
“Bygone Griffons of Greatness?” she read out loud, a bit surprised.
“I thought that with the possibility of having griffons join the Order, it might be good to read more about their history,” Arthas replied, placing the bookmark where he was reading. “Would you mind if I’d borrow this?”
“No, go ahead. I have another copy in Ponyville,” Twilight said, trotting closer to read the name of the chapter he was reading; she found it strange that it was opened on the part closer to the end rather than beginning. Once she read it, her eyes widened in surprise. “Why did you start from the Dance of the Feathers?”
“There were some other things I wanted to check,” Arthas explained, closing the book. “Like if the griffons seriously pay such attention to the colors of their ruler.” He pondered for a second as they began to walk downstairs before he added: “And maybe I was curious as to who in their right mind gave a civil war the name ‘Dance’.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well, if you’d read from chapter seventeen, you’d know that King Adolf I Snowfeather, known as ‘the Restorer’, had created that law of succession - stating that only a Snowfeather of the royal family can be the King of Griffonia and sit on the Dragon Throne - to minimize the possibility of fights between siblings, like he had as he restored Griffonia after the Sundering. Only two of his children were Snowfeathers.”
“As history proved, it didn’t work out so well,” Arthas pointed out. “This succession law was basically the whole reason for the Dance of the Feathers.”
“Well…” Twilight trailed off, trying to think of something to say in the defense of one of Griffonia’s wisest kings. “King Adolf couldn’t predict something that would happen nine hundred years later, couldn’t he?”
“I suppose not. But I don’t understand why the younger brother was made the king? The older one was also a Snowfeather.”
Twilight shook her head. “Prince Gwyn Bloodfeather was an albino; it was unknown what tribe’s trait he had inherited.”
“So he differed from his brother basically by just the color of his eyes,” Arthas said as they reached the dining table. He sniffed with closed eyes. “Mmm, smells delicious.”
Twilight smiled happily hearing his compliment, but she said playfully: “Don’t try to butter me up. We’re still not done,” she added, sitting down by the table.
Arthas sat down as well. “All I am saying is that when you look at it this way, that the three hundred year long civil war had started because some griffons decided that their king shouldn’t have red eyes-”
“It didn’t last three hundred years,” Twilight interrupted him as they started to eat. “There were many periods of peace during the Dance of the Feathers, some lasting even decades. It was actually a series of civil wars rather than one very long one. I think griffons’ historians consider them all as a single conflict because it made it seem more… glorious,” she finished, not understanding how anypony could consider war as anything other than a tragedy, but then again, the griffons had always been more violent than ponies.
The stallion sitting on the other side of the table nodded as he savoured the omelette. “Those likeminded to them probably hadn’t liked much that the last Bloodfeather Pretender had met his end at the hooves of a pony, huh?”
Twilight cringed as he brought that up. “Equestria hadn’t meddled in the Dance of the Feathers, seeing it as Griffonia’s inner conflict. We also had our own problems, first with Discord, then with Nightmare Moon. However, Celestia simply couldn’t ignore what Bane had planned to do.”
“And you, of all ponies, should understand why,” she added in her thoughts, not yet ready to bring up the subject of his past.
“Oh, so you know about what had happened on the Dread Isle?” Arthas asked in mild surprise as they continued to eat.
“Princess Celestia told me once,” Twilight admitted. “What Bane had planned to do, the fight between him and Celestia, and the outcome. She had no choice but to stop him.”
“Indeed,” Arthas said, nodding. He fell silent for a few seconds before he chuckled. “What a lovely topic for a discussion over supper, huh?”
“Well, you started it,” Twilight counter, smirking.
They spent the rest of their meal discussing more pleasure topics, such as Moonlight, their friends back in Ponyville, the Order’s new initiates…
“I’m thinking about devising trials for them to pass in order to become knights,” he said as they both finished eating.
“Really?” Twilight asked, intrigued. “You hadn’t made Storm, Serenity, Guard or Tucker pass any trials.”
“True, but I got to know each of them well enough to know they were ready. With over forty ponies, this would be harder.”
“Makes sense,” she admitted. “So what would those trials require of them?”
“They’d have to test their conviction and their understanding of the Three Virtues,” Arthas said, brushing his chin in pondering. “As well as combat prowess, of course. However, I’m not exactly sure how exactly should those trials look like… I plan to discuss this later with my paladins. I have notes on similar trials paladins on Azeroth passed in the past; if they’d learned of them, then together we could come up with the right trials.”
“If there would be anyway for me to help, don’t hesitate to ask,” Twilight offered.
“Thanks. And thank you for this meal,” he added. “It was delicious.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied, slightly blushing.
“I must admit, I never thought I would grow to like oats so much.”
“Humans don’t eat it, right?” Twilight asked to make sure she recalled correctly. When Arthas nodded, she continued: “It really is disturbing when you think about how much your body has changed. I mean, becoming a quadruped, having hooves, a muzzle, ears, a tail…”
“True, but I chose to focus on the positive aspects of those changes,” Arthas replied, smiling. “Better hearing and smell, faster running; once I got used to this body, of course,” he added.
“So you don’t regret that you are no longer human? Doesn’t it bother you?”
Arthas pondered her question for a moment. “Well, I do miss having fingers,” he admitted, “but… I never really put too much thought into that. I wasn’t exactly the best human,” he said, his expression darkening for a heartbeat. “And when I first woke up in Equestria, I focused more on why exactly I was alive, and where I was, meeting everypony… it just occupied my mind. And since then months had passed, and I cannot imagine being anything else. So, in answer to your question: even if I had regretted being reborn as a pony, it has long since stopped bothering me.”
“That’s good to hear,” Twilight replied, smiling, though it was a bit of a half-hearted effort.
His brief comment made her think back to what she wanted to talk about… but how should she…
“Are you okay?” Arthas asked, frowning.
“Well… no,” Twilight admitted, sighing. “Or rather, yes I am, it’s just… I need to talk with you about something,” she said, looking him in the eyes. “But I just don’t know how to start. Can we go sit on the couch?” she asked him to buy herself time.
Realising that this must be something serious, Arthas hadn’t said a word, just nodded and walked with her towards one of her couches. They sat next to each other, Twilight biting her lip as she thought how to say what she wanted to tell him, and Arthas waiting patiently for her, only slightly worried.
“That’s about to change,” Twilight remarked, sighing.
She looked into his eyes. She knew she had to look into his sea-colored eyes when she would say it, so that he see that she wasn’t afraid of him.
“I know that you are somehow tied to what had befallen Lordaeron… and its citizens.”

His blood froze.
Arthas was staring at Twilight, utterly speechless. In his mind, all he could feel was panic. He hoped he had misheard what she had said, but the way she was looking at him, right in the eyes, with resolve and compassion, told him he heard her right.
His mouth felt strangely dry as he finally spoke: “H-how...?”
“You’ve already told me about the Forsaken once,” she said. “It was when we had returned from the Crystal Empire and accidentally ended up sharing a bath. I asked you about some things you had mentioned after we first encountered Sombra, and you called the Forsaken-”
“- the people I had harmed,” Arthas finished, only now recalling that. “A lot.”
How could he have been so stupid?! “I should have remembered that. I should have known Twilight would figure it out. I should have-”
He stopped mentally berating himself as he felt something on his hoof. Arthas looked down as saw a lavender hoof on his own. “Arthas, look at me.” He did as she asked; he looked into those gorgeous purple eyes of hers. “Could you tell me everything?”
Arthas eyes grew wide. “I…” he tried to say over the lump in his throat. “I can’t.”
“Why?”
Why couldn’t he tell her? He had revealed his past to Luna, and despite his fears, she hadn’t condemned him. Twilight had already learned the general outcome of his actions in the past, so what was stopping him?
In his heart, he knew what that was, and he let it pour out.
“Because I love you!” he blurted out, trembling. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, but ignored that and continued: “I love you, and I cannot bear the thought you of being horrified by me! I-”
He stopped as Twilight pressed a hoof against his mouth.
“Arthas,” she said slowly, moving her hoof gently across his muzzle, “I already know you had killed thousands. That you had killed your father. And that you caused them to be raised from the dead. And yet I’m still here.” Her hoof slid down his neck to embrace him. “Remember what I told Brann when he first came to Equestria? About how many times I had seen you grieving over what you had done? And that you had been helping everypony ever since you came here?”
Arthas nodded weakly, but he couldn’t help butobject. “I don’t always help. My carelessness had allowed whoever poisoned Apple Bloom to remain unnoticed. Teaching ponies about the Light and the ways of the paladins increased hostility of griffons. And… I couldn’t save Sombra.”
But Twilight smiled. “We were all at fault for not looking into how Apple Bloom got poisoned. You came up with a way to appease the griffons. And you said it yourself that it was too late to save him.” Arthas was forced to admit that she had a point. “But the fact that you continue to do your best for others is what matters.”
He sighed heavily. “I… suppose… But-”
Twilight silenced him again. “No ‘buts’. You are going to stop blaming yourself for whatever you consider as your failures you had made in Equestria, and you will tell me everything that had happened in Azeroth.”
“Why do you want to know that?” Arthas asked, hoping to prolong the inevitable.
“Because I want to understand,” Twilight replied. “I cannot comprehend how somepony so good as you could have done such things.”
“I was younger,” he explained, looking away from her. “Stupid and arrogant. I-”
She interrupted him by reaching for his head and turning to back to look at her. “Tell me about it.”
Arthas still hesitated. “I… I wasn’t better than Bane. What he had tried to do… I’ve done worse. Worse than the hippogriff that Celestia had seen as such a dangerous and unreformable being that she had killed him.”
“And her sister had seen you as somepony worthy of friendship and forgiveness,” Twilight countered.
That was his last line of defense. Arthas sighed, seeing no way out of this. “You’d make a wonderful princess, Twilight,” he said, managing somehow to smile, as he recalled something Jaina had told him. “I cannot seem to deny you anything, even this.”
Even as he had said it, he couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe that he was actually going to tell Twilight about what he had done.
But he was.
“Just…please…” he started, not sure what he wanted to ask her.
But Twilight knew. She hugged him tightly. Arthas hugged her as well, hoping, as he breathed in her scent, that this wasn’t the last time they shared such moment. As the broke the hug after a few heartbeats, Twilight smiled to him encouragingly and squeezed his hoof.
Arthas sighed, utterly defeated. “I had nothing to do with the plague of undeath when it had started. I was still a paladin then. The plague… it first started in northern Lordaeron. The mages of Dalaran had learned of it but didn’t know any details, only suspecting that it was probably magical in nature. Archmage Antonidas had sent his apprentice, Jaina Proudmoore, to investigate, and had arranged a special envoy to assist her, led by a paladin. My men and I had met her at the King’s Road...”





Nymph nuzzled into Big Mac’s neck to make herself more comfortable as they dried themselves by the fireplace.
She had to admit, when he had thrown her into the river, she was startled, despite that she had known that he hadn’t had any nefarious motives. But when he had jumped after her and they had started splashing each other with water, she had more fun than she could recall ever having. Just like that, Big Mac had found a way to make her completely ignore all her worries. They would be dealt with when the time would come.
Their water war also had one more effect, which Nymph felt that she liked even more: it forced them to get back to the house and dry off, nice and cozy under a blanket by the fireplace, all snuggled up.
She wasn’t sure what it was exactly that she liked the most about it; Big Mac’s warm body, his smell, or the delicious love he was emanating. Nymph couldn’t quite figure out what it was that made him like her so much, though being of a race that practically preyed on couples she knew such things tend to happen. That, and during the first few dates, the initial attraction can cause a pony to develop much stronger feelings towards the partner-
Nymph shook her head. “Wait, was that covered in Swarm’s Preying Course, or had Rarity mentioned it yesterday?” she thought, confused.
Big Mac, slightly startled by her sudden movement, turned to look at her. “Sorry, I thought of… something unimportant,” she explained, smiling awkwardly.
She pulled closer to kiss him. It didn’t really matter to Nymph why he liked her so much; she knew why she liked him so much. Big Mac was caring, strong, gentle… he truly cared about her, which so far Nymph could only say about her mother. He listened to her problems, he liked her despite that she wasn’t a pony, and he was attracted to her. “Or rather, to my pony form, but he still knows that I am a changeling,” she amended as they kissed.
And tonight, she planned to fully respond to his attraction.
Nymph smiled with half-closed eyes as they broke the kiss, and nuzzled his cheek alluringly. As she did, she glanced at the fireplace; they’d been sitting by it for so long, that it had started to die down. Still, as poetic as it sounded, Nymph didn’t want his home to burn down when they would be busy, so she completely extinguished it with her magic. Once she finished, she rose, and after looking Big Mac in the eyes, she turned around, slipped from under the blanket, and trotted towards the stairs.
When she reached them, she glanced back at him with bedroom eyes. Big Mac, who had not moved and only stared at her with confusion, finally understood and rushed after her.
After she walked up the stairs, Nymph led Big Mac to his bedroom (and thanked Ashvattha that she knew which room it was; knowing her luck, she would have probably walked into Applejack’s bedroom otherwise). He had already started catching up to her, and so by the time she was by his bed, Big Mac was right behind her. Nymph turned to him, and he collided with her, their lips meeting as they both fell on the bed.
She purred into his mouth as she felt his bigger body on her, his hooves groping her body. Nymph could feel his excitement, and she couldn’t wait for them to engage in the physical act of love. “With Big Mac…” she thought dreamily, just as he pulled a bit up to look into her eyes.
“Change,” he whispered.
For a heartbeat, all she could do was stare at him. That word he had uttered, to her, sounded like glass shattering. Nymph had thought that Big Mac liked her current form, that he was attracted to her, but he just…
“Well… what did I expect?” she thought to herself, calming down. “It’s obvious that he would like to… do something funny with my shapeshifting abilities. I shouldn’t feel hurt because of this…”
“Of… of course,” Nymph stammered, smiling a bit awkwardly. “Who would you like me to change into?”
“Yarself.”
Nymph blinked, not sure if she understood him correctly. “What do you mean?” she asked, confused. “I am me.”
“No,” Big Mac replied, shaking his head. “Change into the real ya.”
Nymph thought she was shocked earlier. But that was like a drizzle compared to a rainstorm. She stared at Big Mac, moving her mouth but unable to say anything.
“N-no…” she finally managed to stutter weakly. “I… you cannot see me!” Nymph closed her eyes. “I… I’ll be so ugly to you! I-”
The gentle caress of her cheek made her open her eyes. Big Mac was looking into them. “Please?” he said.
Nymph hesitated. On one hoof, she knew what ponies thought of changelings only too well, but on the other… she couldn’t feel any uncertainty in Big Mac. He really wanted to see the real her… Maybe…
She shook, hoping she wasn’t about to make a terrible, irreversible mistake. “Please don’t be repulsed,” Nymph whispered as closed her eyes in fear and changed back into her real form.

When the green flames flashed and dispersed, Big Mac raised up to look down properly at the changeling below him.
The first thought that came to his mind wasn’t about her coatless chitin or her maneless head with a sort of a fin or her fangs, but rather: “She’s so… tiny.”
Being such a big stallion, he was used to that other ponies were smaller than him. Nymph, in her unicorn form, was already small for a mare, but apparently she made that form a bit bigger than her real one. She wasn’t very small, nopony would take her for a child, but the difference almost made Big Mac feel twice as big as her.
As he took one more look at her body, he found himself not understanding why Nymph was so worried. Her body looked a bit… strange, but it was also cute in its own way. To Big Mac, the fact that it was the real her made her even more beautiful that her unicorn form. “Though Ah don’know if Ah wanna know why there are holes in ‘er legs,” he thought as he turned his gaze back to Nymph’s face.
Only now did he realize that as he took in the sight of her body, Nymph had been lying there with her eyes closed and trembling. Big Mac frowned, not understanding how she could think he would find her repulsive, and lowered his head to kiss her. He touched her cheek a moment before he did, to better align her muzzle. Not paying much attention to the alien sensation of touching her chitin, Big Mac kissed her (a bit awkwardly because of the fangs).

Nymph’s eyes snapped open.
Big Mac was kissing her, but it wasn’t what caused her to react that way. Until she had felt his lips, she was drowning out everything, not wanting to feel his disgust. But when Big Mac kissed her, her concentration broke, and..
… and instead of disgust, she felt pure love.
She drunk this emotion as she embraced him. There was so much of it that Nymph almost felt like drowning. She deepened the kiss, maneuvering so that her fangs wouldn’t bother either of them. Her wings buzzed in excitement as Big Mac resumed groping her, not bothered by how hard her chitin must have seemed in contrast to the soft coat of her unicorn form.
When they finally broke the kiss, Big Mac grasping for air, she looked into his eyes. The amount of love was making it difficult for her to concentrate, but she managed to ask: “Why?”
Big Mac gazed with affection into her pupiless blue eyes, not thrown off by them. As always a stallion of few words, he just replied; “Because,” before he resumed kissing her.
Nymph had hoped to gain a more precise explanation, but all such thoughts escaped her as her nerve endings, responding to her arousal, drilled up through her chitin, allowing her to feel Big Mac’s caress. She moaned as he started kissing her neck, losing herself in pleasure.





“That’s all,” Arthas finally said.
It took him hours to tell Twilight of everything. “Well, almost everything.” He still had kept to himself about being the Crown Prince, feeling this information to be insignificant. But beside that, Arthas had told her everything that had happened to him since he had been sent to meet with Jaina in what felt like a lifetime ago.
Even though he had showed Luna his memories, and told of his past to Granny Rags, this proved to be more difficult. Arthas was telling this to Twilight. The one pony he knew he wouldn’t be able to live without if she feared him.
Throughout his tale, she had never stopped grasping his hoof. Even when he told her of the horrific realisation in Hearthglen. Even when he told her of the unforgivable decision he made in Stratholme. Even when he told her how he had betrayed the mercenaries. Even how he told her he had sacrificed his old mentor to claim Frostmourne. How he killed Falric, Marwyn, and all of his men. How he killed the King of Lordaeron. How he slaughtered the people he had sworn to protect and raised them into service of his new lord. How he began to fulfill the will of the Lich King and the dreadlord Tichondrius, how he killed Uther and nearly annihilated the high elves just to bring back Kel’Thuzad. How they destroyed Dalaran, summoned Archimonde into Azeroth and how he manipulated Illidan in order to defeat him. How he returned to Lordaeron only to find his powers weakening as he experienced painful seizures. How he journeyed back to Northrend and made his way through Azol-Nerub where he faced living horrors. How he fought Illidan’s armies and the demon hunter himself.
How he merged with the Lich King. How he dreamt for six years, relieving his life, and banished what remained of his humanity and of Ner’zhul, who had been the Lich King before him. How he, Arthas, had became the one and only Lich King.
He told her the events of the War Against the Lich King, of the vrykul in Howling Fjords and nerubians in Borean Tundra. Of Azjol-Nerub and Naxxramas in Dragonblight, the Battle of Angrathar the Wrathgate, where even he was taken by surprise. Of the Wolfcult and the Drakuru, whom he himself had killed when they disappointed him. Of the battles around Icecrown, where his discarded heart had been discovered by an adventurer and eventually destroyed. Of the Argent Tournament, so near his seat of power. Of the storm on the Icecrown Citadel, which ultimately led to his death… and cursed Bolvar to a terrible fate.
She never let go of his hoof. Twilight had been gasped and tears formed in her eyes several times during the course of his tale, but she never pulled away, nor did she try to interrupt him. Arthas in turn tried not to think what was happening in her head, but now that the story had come to an end, he would learn.
Twilight exhaled heavily before she spoke. “Wow, that’s… hard to believe,” she finally said.
Arthas wasn’t quite certain what she meant by that. “That’s understandable, I suppose,” he said carefully.
“No, I really mean it’s hard to believe,” Twilight began to explain. “Even if it could be the past of somepony else, it would be difficult to accept that one could become such a great evil. But with you-”
“Twilight-” Arthas started, but she silenced him again.
“I mean it. To think that you were once this Lich King, this monster… it seems utterly impossible.”
“But it’s truth,” he told her, despite how much he wished that she was right and he was wrong.
“I know that,” Twilight said, looking away. Arthas’ heart skipped a beat, but he calmed as she squeezed his hoof tighter. “Well… I suppose I can now understand why you blame yourself so much. However,” she said, looking back at him, “I cannot consider you to be the same person as you were then.”
He stared at her, not understanding. “W-well… The Lich King-”
“I don’t mean the Lich King,” Twilight interrupted him, “I mean everything. You are a different person than you were then. Look at this,” she said suddenly, picking something up with magic. Arthas glanced at what she levitated close to them; it was a framed picture. It depicted Twilight and five other mares, some of which he knew from sight. “Look at me,” she added. The Twilight on the picture was holding a book, and instead of laughing and eating cupcakes with her friends she was reading it with a stern face. “This was me before I came to Ponyville. Spike wanted to give this picture to our friend as a gift… I probably should bring him to Canterlot and visit her together. But does this mare seem like me?”
“Well, no-”
“Everypony change through their lives. Just as I was uninterested in friendship, you aren’t the same arrogant paladin who thought only his way would be the correct one.”
The simplicity of her statement baffled Arthas. “Twilight, you can’t compare…” he tried to argue, “those two are-”
“Vastly different matters, I know,” she said, interrupting him again. “but it doesn’t change that you are a different person, does it?”
Arthas opened his mouth, but then closed it. He definitely was very different from how he used to be, and not just physically, but did it mean that he was a different person? Arthas had to admit, he couldn’t imagine Twilight not enjoying spending time with her friends, but would that mean she was a different person?
As if knowing what was going through his head, Twilight spoke: “The old me wouldn’t have tried to help you when you first came to Equestria. Just like… I wouldn’t be able to fall in love in the old you,” she blushed as she drew closer. “And knowing of the old you won’t make me stop loving you.”
To hear her say that - that she was still in love with him, despite everything - made Arthas’ heart beat faster. “Twilight-” he started, but she silenced him.
By kissing him.
Unlike two days ago, when she was drunk, Twilight kissed him shily and a bit awkwardly. To Arthas, it seemed as if she was also surprised by what she was doing, though not as nearly as he was. Nevertheless, he embraced her, his heart racing, as he kissed back the mare he loved.
They pressed their muzzles against each other when they broke the kiss. “I thought we were just friends,” Arthas said after a few seconds.
Twilight slightly shook her head. “I’m tired of that,” she admitted. “And besides, we never really were ‘just friends’. It’s late,” Twilight said, briefly glancing at the clock, “and we have to get back to Ponyville tomorrow. We should get some rest. I know we’ll have a lot to talk about with… this, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. But for now... I want to forget what we said back in Altomare.” She looked into his eyes. “Do you think we could be together?
His heart soared. “Are… are you sure?” he asked.
“I want that more than anything.”
Arthas smiled hearing her response. “I love you,” was all he said before he kissed her again, those three words being enough of an answer.