• Published 8th Oct 2012
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Rebirth of the Damned - Borsuq



Months after his death, Arthas Menethil, long known as the Lich King, is given another chance. In a world populated by talking ponies, of all places.

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110. Broken and punctured

Serenity wondered what her brother would think about her bringing a changeling here with her. Then again, she doubted he would have ever thought that he would be…

Shaking her head, she looked at the monument. True to the word she gave Sir Lightbringer, Princess Cadance made every effort to make sure the remains of the crystal guards would be honored. Their ashes were laid in a small area outside of the main city, in a segregated part of the gardens. Above the resting place of her brother and his comrades stood a pyramidal monument, with a plaque containing all the names of every guard that fell in battle with King Sombra listed and a dedication above it:

In honor of those who gave their lives protecting us from the shadow of Sombra. May the memory of their sacrifice never fade.

The paladin was glad that other than the two of them there was nopony here. It would have looked odd to see a pony in a full body plate armor to shed tears while placing flowers and a grave lantern in front of the monument. Not that there weren’t any; there were a lot of other bouquets and wreaths, and at least twenty more grave candles (with more than half still lit).

“Can you...?” Serenity asked Nymph, pointing at the candle.

The changeling nodded and flashed her horn, kindling the wick. While Serenity wouldn’t exchange being a crystal pony for any other kind, she did think that an ability to use magic was very useful. Lighting a fire using matches with hooves and mouth was difficult, not to mention painful if somepony wasn’t careful.

“Thanks,” she told Nymph.

With the grave lantern now burning, she moved it closer to the others and took a step back. Both of them stood for a while in silence, paying their respects. While doing so, Serenity gazed ceaselessly at one name engraved on the monument: Sentinel.

“That’s my brother’s name. Over there,” Serenity said after a minute more or less had passed. “He had the best scores at the Imperial Academy for Guards. He probably would have been promoted to the rank of Captain of the Crystal Guard within a few months. If Sombra hadn’t…” she trailed off, not wanting to say that out loud.

“‘Sentinel’…” Nymph read the name she pointed at and frowned. “Odd.”

“What is it?”

“Your brother’s name… it rings a bell,” she said, rubbing her chin. “What was it… didn’t he have an affair with the daughter of the last Queen of the Crystal Empire?”

“S-Sentinel?!” Serenity stuttered. “And… Princess Blue Hope!? That’s... just… no! I mean, sure, my brother was a great guy, but we were commoners! Why would a Princess be...”

“As a creature that feeds on love, trust me, such things can happen,” Nymph told her, slightly confused by her reaction. “And I’m pretty sure Princess Cadance would find your words amusing.”

Serenity felt as if her head was spinning. This was ridiculous. Granted, the two current rulers of the crystal ponies were also of different social status prior to their marriage, but the idea of her brother… and Princess Blue Hope…

“How do you even know that?” she finally asked, sitting down.

“We had a few changelings within the Crystal Empire. Luckily, they all managed to get out when King Sombra came…” Nymph replied, looking a bit ashamed for her kind escaping instead of helping the crystal ponies. Serenity gave her a reassuring smile and she went on. “One of them once impersonated one of Princess Blue Hope’s maids, and she, well, saw them.”

The paladin couldn’t believe it. Sentinel would have told her that he was courting… wait, no, he wasn’t courting her, so they had an affair… which was a codename for dating a royalty unofficially to avoid scandals. “Okay, maybe he wouldn't tell me in that case,” Her brother might have loved her dearly, but if he really cared about the Princess - and she knew he would have never be together with somepony for just… fun - then he wouldn't risk her reputation, even if it meant keeping his sister in the dark

“Wow… my big brother conquering the Princess’ heart,” She wondered what would have happened if Sombra had never come; would Sentinel have married Princess Blue Hope? Would they have foals? Would Serenity be an aunt?

“What happened to Princess Blue Hope?” Nymph asked her.

“Everypony assumed King Sombra had killed her,” Serenity answered, saddened. “If she had been somewhere within the Empire, she would have surely shown up by now.”

“Hmm… you know, if we were seriously planning on doing something nefarious - as a lot of ponies of Equestria think - we would have simply sent in here a look alike of the Princess and stirred things up,” the changeling told her, sighing. “Why do ponies find it so hard to believe that changelings aren’t evil?”

“I don’t think so. But, well…”

“Yes, I know. The whole ‘love eating’, our secrecy… how we look…” Nymph paused to look at her hoof, at the chitin that covered it and the holes that pierced it. She sighed and carried on: “Hopefully, it will soon change. I’m beginning to really like you all more and more.” Coughing to hide her embarrassment over what she said, Nymph changed the subject: “Why are they buried in a single grave?”

“Oh…” Serenity hesitated; the reason behind that utterly horrific, and the mere thought that it had happened to her brother was still disgusting for her. “When Sir Lightbringer fought King Sombra in the arctic, the evil king… he... raised the corpses of all the guards he slew a thousand years ago,” Nymph’s jaw dropped. “Sir Lightbringer used the power of the Holy Light to reduce their bodies to ashes; the Light is extremely potent to the undead like them.”

I’m glad I wasn’t there,” Serenity thought as the changeling processed the information. “I couldn’t bear to see you like that, Sentinel.

“That’s… horrifying,” Nymph had finally said, echoing her own thoughts. “And, forgive me, incredible. To be able to raise so many… I guess we changelings had underestimated King Sombra by far. If you ponies hadn’t defeated him, he would have grown to be a great threat to even us,” Her eyes suddenly grew wide as she stuttered: “I-I didn’t mean it like… I wish he hadn’t come to the Crystal Empire… I… I’ll be quiet now…” the changeling trailed off, poking the ground with her hoof.

Contrary to Nymph’s apparent worries that she had offended her, Serenity giggled. “Oh, I wish those ponies from Ponyville could see you now; you’re just so adorable,” She waited a few moments for her reaction, and when Nymph had just looked at her puzzled, she frowned. “Really? Not even a blush?”

The changeling eyes widened with a comprehension and tapped her cheek. There was an odd, empty-like sound. “It’s chitin, not coat.”

“Oh, right,” Serenity said, embarrassed.

A silence fell upon them, as neither was sure what to talk about now. They just stared at the memorial stone, wondering what to say and reading the names engraved on it. After a few seconds, right when Serenity was about to suggest that perhaps they should head back to the castle, she heard the sound of hoofsteps behind them.

At the same time she noticed Nymph shake and transform back to her unicorn look. “She must have also just now notice somepony is approaching us and got scared,” Serenity rolled her eyes at her companion’s timidness and glanced behind her.

The mare approaching them was older than her only by a couple of years. The clothing she wore contradicted with her white coat and mane; it was all black. Not unusual, given the location. Her eyes were teary with sadness, but when she lifted her head to look at them a spark of curiosity and something… else.

Serenity and Nymph stood silently in respect as the mare, similarly to Serenity, placed a wreath and a grave lantern by the monument and stared at the plaque for a long moment, a curl of her mane hiding her face from the side-glances the paladin and the changeling shot her.

“You’re that paladin,” the unknown mare spoke up unexpectedly. “Serenity, right?”

“Um…” Serenity stammered, being surprised that she knew her name, but then she recalled how a lot of ponies they passed on their way here recognized her by her armor. But there was something that shocked her even more; it was the mare’s voice. It was strangely monotone. “Yes, that’s right. And you-”

“I heard that Sir Lightbringer had brought back Princess Luna of Equestria’s daughter to life,” the mare interrupted her before she got to ask her name. “Can you do the same for my husband?”

She looked at her as she asked the question. Tears were falling down on her cheeks, and the mare made no effort to stop them. In her eyes Serenity saw what she had seen in the eyes of everypony when King Sombra was in power: resignation. There was only a glimmer of hope left in them.

And Serenity had to take this glimmer away.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a broken voice. “I cannot.”

She wanted to explain it to her, that there were certain conditions for reviving somepony. That in most cases it was only possible shortly after death. That even Sir Lightbringer wouldn’t be able to do it. That she was so, so sorry. But she couldn’t. Those excuses stuck in her throat.

The mare’s eyes traveled down at the ground, as she turned around and began to trot back. Serenity rose and was about to follow after her, to catch her, to offer some words of sympathy, but Nymph’s hoof stopped her.

“There’s nothing that you’ll say that will ease her pain,” she said, and Serenity saw, to her shock, that on the unicorn face of Nymph there were tears as well. “She’s too swallowed up in grief and despair.”

And then the paladin understood why her companion had changed shape.

“You couldn’t deal with her emotions when you were in your real form.”

Nymph nodded, looking away from the disappearing mare and wiping the tears. Serenity did the opposite; she gazed at the widow, wondering how many like her were out there in the Empire. She had lost a brother, so she understood what the mare had felt. But she managed to avoid the despair over his death, knowing that he wouldn’t have wanted it.

But how am I going to help her? And everypony else?


Blinking the sweat out of his eyes, Matthias ducked his head to avoid the strike from Wind Reaver’s right claw, moved slightly to his right and redirected a stab from his left one with his left hoof, and brought his training sword at the changeling. His opponent, in turn, quickly used his momentum to turn around, block it, and took a step back. Finishing the spin, the changeling swung with his left claw. Matthias, barely managing to regain his balance, brought down his blade at the claw, making the strike miss.

Wind Reaver’s eyes widened as he had realized that the paladin had a clear hit on his neck. Matthias slashed, but by using his wings to retreat, the changeling was able to raise his right limb in time to block it, as the strike wasn’t strong.

Being apart for a few moments gave both of them a time to catch much needed breaths. Matthias eyed his opponent warily. The changeling was good, really good; nopony had given him such a workout since his duel with Illidan. His fighting style was even a lot like his was, especially during their first encounter. Like Illidan back then, he relied on speed and agility when it came to using weapons.

Although, granted, back then my strength and speed was magnified,” he thought to himself. “And if the Light was aiding me, this fight would be over.

Not that he intended to. This was a warriors’ battle, with no place for dishonorable tricks. Wind Reaver wasn’t using magic, so Matthias wouldn’t ask the Light for help.

Smirking over thinking that using the Light would be dishonorable, he charged, slashing with the training blade across Wind Reaver’s torso. He dodged it by moving a step back, and then attacked him with both claws. Or rather, he tried to. Matthias deflected both of them with the sword, and shoved him, unbalancing him. Once again he slashed, but the changeling flew into the air and tried to kick him in the head with both of his hindhooves.

Matthias gave it as good as he almost got. Dropping on all fours, he dodged Wind Reaver attack, and bucked into the air. However, the changeling also managed to evade the strike. Doing a barrel roll while landing back on the ground, he used it as a leverage to bounce of it and lunge at Matthias.

As they clashed again, Matthias saw on the changeling’s face a grin that matched his own.


When Cadance had finished signing the last document from the small pile her chancellor brought her, she found herself in a desperate need for a break. She had so many things to do today… with the changelings’ issue being the foremost in her thoughts.

The Princess glanced around where her husband had wandered off; they were supposed to go over the pros and cons of the idea of allying with the changelings along with Equestria once she was done with the paperwork. Cadance was thankful to Matthias for helping Shining Armor with the training of the recruits, which let her enjoy his company for a few more hours than usually in the morning.

She spotted her husband over by the balcony, watching the courtyard where the crystal guard usually trained. Interested as he was to how Matthias was doing she joined him, and saw something she didn’t expect.

“They’ve been on this for about ten minutes now,” Shining Armor informed her once he had realized she was there. He sounded a little...pouty. “Matthias is better with a blade than me. And so is the changeling.”

Oh great, the stallion’s pride,” the Princess rolled her eyes.

“Perhaps, but neither is a Prince, or a unicorn powerful enough to protect an entire city,” she paused to envelop him with her wing and kiss him gently on the cheek, “or my husband.”

That caused him to brighten up almost at once. He nuzzled her and said: “I am especially grateful to fate for that one.”

They stood there for a while, observing the fight - with mild interest in Cadance’s case - before Shining Armor asked her the question she knew he would ask: “So, have you come to the decision?”

Cadance sighed. “More or less,” she admitted. “I went over everything, and… the worst downside to the idea is that it may all be a rouse. But… you heard what Nymph had said. What she was prepared to do. And I believe Chrysalis when she said that she would have never asked any of her subjects to sacrifice themselves.”

“And I believe what she said about killing you with her bare hooves,” Shining Armor said, probably still snarky about the Changeling Queen words that Nymph had passed.

She snorted. “Her feelings for her daughter are what speak to me the most,” she admitted, choosing to not tease her husband over Chrysalis ‘apology’. “I’m pretty sure I would have done the same to anypony who would have wished to harm our foal… when we will have one, of course.”

There was a spark of panic in Shining Armor’s eyes that made her giggle. Oh, how she loved to tease him about that. She knew, of course, that this panic wasn’t due to not wanting a foal. It’s out of a simple, natural fear over how he would fare in the role of a parent.

“So, does this mean you will agree to the peace and the alliance?” he asked, purposely changing the subject.

Giggling for the last time, she said. “I think so. I will admit I still have my reservations, but it’s the right thing to do. And it’s us who will agree,” she corrected his earlier words.

“Dragging me down with you?”

“You bet your hot flank,” Cadance told him in a lowered voice, making his ears perk up.

“So, since you made your decision, and you’re done with the paperwork…” he trailed off, moving his hoof down her spine as far as he could.

“And you don’t have a bunch of guards to train with…” she added, brushing her free wing against him. She then unexpectedly draw back and pressed a hoof against his chest. “I am still mad about Twilight, thought.”

Disbelief and sorrow crossed his features. “I am going to kill Matt…” he muttered under his nose, then sighed and looked at her pleadingly. “I’m sorry, I know that I shouldn’t have done that, but I thought I needed to protect her. You know how Sound and Bomb are - do you think it would do Twilight good if she had one of those two as her first very special somepony? And the others… well; I suppose some of them were okay… But if you think I’m going to apologize for threatening Blueblood you must be crazy.”

Cadance rolled her eyes at the memorable incident that almost got Shining Armor thrown out of the royal guard a few years back. She had always wondered what it was about…

“Your intentions do not justify your deeds, Prince Shining Armor,” Cadance told him sternly. “You’ve been a bad colt. A very, very bad colt,” He perked up hearing the unexpectedly sultry tone her voice switched to. “And you know what happens to bad colts, don’t you?” The Princess, leaning closer to his ear, whispered: “They get… punished.”

Every hair on Shining Armor’s coat bristled as if an electric current went through him.


Serenity was puzzled when Nymph insisted that they should go see why the courtyard where the Crystal Guards trained seemed to be buzzing with activity, but she hadn’t paid much thought to that and just agreed. Her mind was still on the idea that began forming in her head.

It’s the best way for me to help the ponies here,” she thought as she and Nymph made their way around the crowd. “I hope Sir Lightbringer will agree…

Her train of thoughts was stopped when she had finally caught the sight of what everypony was so excited about: in the middle of the courtyard, Sir Lightbringer was fighting Wind Reaver!

Nymph, very likely sensing her confusion and worry, quickly explained: “It’s just a sparring fight; Wind Reaver’s claws are blunt,” Only when the changeling had said it did Serenity noticed that around her male counterpart’s forelegs where a pair of strange weapons that looked a lot like claws. “I sensed him overstraining himself and grew worried,” Nymph continued, and to the paladin’s surprise she heard a note of frustration. “The Queen won’t be happy to know that almost immediately after her attention drifted away from us he spends his time frittering the love he was given on this, not to mention he had given away one of our secrets, even if so insignificant.”

“‘Frittering love’?” Serenity asked, trying her best to not pay attention to the few stares the Crystal Guard’s trainees gave them and focusing on the fight instead; not once during their training did she see such a display of skills with blade. Sir Lightbringer was just as swift, but his strikes were more vicious and fast, and not without a reason, as Wind Reaver were pressing him hard to his limits.

“Yes, and although a physical activities deploy less of our love reserves than magic, he should have been more careful. It wouldn’t be wise for either one of us to feed during those insecure days.”

“You mean like last night?”

Nymph looked at her, her unicorn face making her puzzlement much more evident. “Well… not really. I mean, it’s not like Sound and Bomb are going to complain, right?”

“Did somepony say my name?” a familiar and joyful voice - too joyful for Serenity’s liking - came from their side, belonging to Sound Wave.

The said unicorn made his way to them smiling smugly. His face quickly changed its expression once he had noticed the look Serenity gave him. “Oh…” he mumbled, smiling awkwardly. His eyes traveled to Nymph and back to her, then once again to Nymph. “You two talked, huh?”

Not going to even address that with a response, Serenity turned her attention to the fight. She didn’t miss much; neither Sir Lightbringer nor Wind Reaver had gained the upperhoof.

“You aren’t planning on telling anypony else, right?” she heard Sound Wave continued to question Nymph, now nervously. “I mean, ‘lady never kisses and tells’, right?”

“We changelings have a different set of values than you, but I did grow to like the two of you, so I won’t tell anything that would get you killed.”

Hearing the changeling’s response made Serenity snap back. “For the love of Light, who else did you fuck?!”

Considering how embarrassed she had gotten immediately after cursing, it was probably a good thing that everypony’s attention was on the fight.


Matthias was growing tired. He had gotten used to being supported by the Light in those few months. Even though as an earth pony he was naturally durable, everything had its limits. And the dents in his armor weren’t helping; he couldn’t lift his left foreleg as high as he normally could, and his coat under the dent ached from rubbing against it.

To his frustration, Wind Reaver was for a better wear. Neither his chitin, nor his claws showed any damage from his attacks, nor was he showing any signs of getting tired.

“It’s a good thing I was such a keen student, huh, Muradin?” he thought with a pang of nostalgia, deciding to end this fight.

Wind Reaver attacked him once again, with his left claw leading and right following. Matthias moved as if he planned to strike both of them from below, but then at the last moment he changed his grip on the training sword, practically placing it in his left hoof. While he wasn’t exactly ambidextrous like Varian, he was still skilled in using both ar-, well, forelegs now, in a fight. Thanks to that, and swiftly moving the blade upwards, he managed to hit Wind Reaver’s left claw from the side and push it against his right, leaving him defenseless.

With his right hoof virtually free, Matthias took it from the weapon and, using all his strength, punched the changeling right in his cheek.

The force of the impact sent him flying.


Nymph looked in a slight alarm as she watched Wind Reaver hit the ground. The Hivespeaker’s punch had thrown him about four meters away. She sensed that he wasn’t too wounded, so she relaxed the next second, but nevertheless decided to quickly check up on him.

As she teleported to his side, she wasn’t surprised to hear cheers uttered by the crystal ponies in honor of the Hivespeaker’s victory. It wasn’t caused solely by the fact that the pony won; Nymph could tell they were simply congratulating the better warrior. Not that everyling was happy; she noticed a few trainees passing bits with unhappy faces to their friends.

She turned her attention to Wind Reaver and gasped. He had already dispersed his claws so that he could haul himself up more easily, so now she had gotten a good view on the damage the punch that the Hivespeaker had delivered had done.

The green blood of a changeling was oozing from a small crack in his chitin where the armored hoof had struck. Also, one of Wind Reaver’s fangs was moving.

“Are you alright?” a voice came from behind her. Nymph had almost jumped, so shocked she was that she didn’t notice the paladin approach her from behind.

“Yeah, it’s just a scratch,” the wounded changeling replied, pressing a hoof to his cheek. He grinned. “That was an awesome battle; we need do it again sometime.”

“Agreed,” the pony nodded. “Do you require healing?”

“I will deal with that, Hivespeaker,” Nymph cut in respectfully; she had to pass him some of the love she had acquired yesterday, anyway. Her voice trembled a bit, so she added: “I just can’t believe… I mean, you punctured his chitin… with a punch.”

“Yeah, awesome, huh?” Wind Reaver said, grinning despite his injuries.

“One has to wonder how you and Rainbow Dash had gone off to such a bad start,” the Hivespeaker commented, shaking his head.

As Nymph waited for Wind Reaver to get up completely so that they could go to a more secluded place for healing, she noticed Serenity approaching the Hivespeaker. “Lightbringer, sir, there is something I would like to talk with you about,” she said. Nymph wondered what it was about; ever since they stumbled upon that mare she had stayed in her unicorn form, but she could sense that there was some sort of conflict within the female paladin. “In private, if possible.”

“Of course. Come with me to my quarters - need to take off this armor, anyway. Oh, and find Sound Wave for me, will you? I have a small favor to ask him, it won’t take long.”

Giggling inwardly at the discomfort of Serenity - which was so clear that even the Hivespeaker glanced at her puzzled as she turned around to get the unicorn - Nymph had motioned Wind Reaver forward.

Author's Note:

I made a little change in the story. Sorry for confusion, but this matter has been bugging me for some time - four to six months to be precise. Namely: Princess Cadance's origin. I had mentioned previously that she was second cousin of Blueblood, which by extension meant that she was a descendant of Celestia's and Luna's cousin. Well, not anymore. Now her back story is: she was adopted. Yep, she is an adopted niece of Princess Celestia. Sounds familiar? Well...

Small changes were made in chapters 21 and 60; the matter of her origin will be properly addressed in one of the future chapters, so that you won't have to re-read everything.

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