• 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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136. Hearts to Hearts

As she finished lowering the sun, Celestia looked to her side to watch as her sister raised the moon. She smiled, seeing how much confidence Luna had, nostalgically recalling the first few sunsets and sunrises after they defeated Discord. Both of them were nervous every time.

How far we’ve come since those days… and nights,” Celestia added in her thoughts, stifling a chuckle. “Funny… it was just after we brought harmony and order back to Equestria, and we were made rulers of it, and yet… I look back on those days, and find them much simpler. We still had our parents to ask for advice.” Her eyes dropped with sadness, but she quickly brightened up as she turned around on the balcony of Luna’s bedchambers and peered inside. “But such is the circle of life; old generations must make way for new ones.

Celestia smile grew warmer, looking at little Moonlight chewing on one of her toys in her playpen. Her sister, however, hadn’t found this sight so adorable.

“Princess Moonlight Shadow,” Luna said, a touch sternly, as she picked up her daughter with her magic, “we do not chew on toys! Or anything other than food for that matter!”

The little alicorn’s response to her mother’s reproach was squealing in the most adorable and carefree way possible, throwing her little forelegs in attempt to hug Luna. Celestia stopped trying to hold back laughter as her sister gave in with a sigh and pulled Moonlight closer.

“I already dread teaching her the royal etiquette,” Luna whined, nuzzling her daughter. “Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have Aunt Twinklestar on hoof right now.”

Celestia felt the need to intervene. “Please, I’m sure she won’t be such a terrible case to require a pony like our Aunty to help her, unlike some other princess I could mention,” she added, smirking.

Her younger sister stuck her tongue out at her, which only made the situation more amusing for Celestia. She continued to chuckle as Luna’s attention shifted to her daughter, but quieted down as she observed them. A mother and daughter. Celestia felt a slight pang of jealousy; being well over a thousand years, it happened that from time to time she would have thought how it would be to have a foal on her own. Of course, she never let such thoughts linger for too long; throughout all those centuries, she had never felt any special feeling towards any stallion, so until she would, thinking about babies was pointless.

Well, there was one...” Celestia thought, but quickly dismissed it; she herself was a filly back then.

Instead, her mind turned to Twilight. She wasn’t exaggerating when she had told Arthas those few hours ago that she was the closest pony she had to family. Of course, there was Cadance, whom she had adopted as her niece, but even though she loved her, she was already approaching teenhood when they first met. Celestia had been Twilight’s mentor since she was a filly, and felt closer to her because of that than to anypony, even her previous pupil, Sunset Shimmer, and few others before her.

She felt bad about threatening Arthas the way she did, but he had forced her hoof. Celestia knew Twilight, and could tell that inside of her was welling up pain, even if she herself hadn’t realized it. The Princess knew that it would have been best to leave her student to deal with this matter by herself, but… she hoped she could spare her the other side of the coin known as love.

Besides, the situation between Arthas, Rainbow Dash and Twilight had started to really piss her off. Even if Celestia felt a bit bad for lashing out with her powers - powers she normally had to keep under her control at all times - she found it quite satisfying to just vent her frustration on the stallion. Also, if even half of those little bits Luna had told her about him were true, he could take it.

Her eyes once again on Moonlight, Celestia wondered if that little push she gave Arthas could possibly lead to him and Twilight becoming a couple. “Finally,” she added with a roll of her eyes. “It would be nice to have another royal wedding… assuming they wouldn’t get married before that time will come,” Celestia amended, her thoughts briefly turning to that book. “And… how long would it take them to have a foal?

“I think things went well in Ponyville today,” Luna’s voice pulled her away from her musing. Raising an eyebrow, Celestia encouraged her sister to elaborate. “Both with Knight-Lieutenant and the Grand Master.”

Celestia was fairly certain that Arthas would disagree on that…

“However, what he suggested…” Luna trailed, shaking her head. She moved her daughter back to the play-pen; Moonlight almost at once pounced on her plushies. “Even to me, that was a surprise. Equal to how quickly you had agreed,” she added, turning to Celestia. “Given what you told me, I would have expected this to be a more painful matter.”

“It’s been centuries since that day,” Celestia retorted calmly. “I had plenty of time to reflect on it, and I have no regrets. Bane had to be stopped.” She sighed and added: “I just wish I could have prevented the effect our fight had on the island.”

Luna continued to gaze at her, her eyes sympathetic, but also questioning. As to what she was questioning, Celestia got an answer soon to, when Luna’s turned back to watch her daughter.

“Demons laugh when a good pony goes to war,” she said softly.

The older alicorn opened her mouth, taken by surprise, then she closed it. Like her sister, she knew the ancient poem, written by Clover the Clever shortly after the end of the war with Griffonia. Celestia looked away from her sister and niece, turning back to the balcony outside. Her face was devoid of emotion as she look at the horizon, where moments ago the sun was. Quietly, she recited the whole poem:

Demons laugh

when a good pony goes to war.

Darkness comes and drowns the sun,

when a good pony goes to war.

Friendship lies and true love dies.

Void will come

and the dark will rise,

when a good pony goes to war.

Demons laugh as you count the cost,

the battle’s won

but the future is lost.

Even though her words were almost a whisper, she was certain that Luna heard her; or, more likely, she had already guessed what was on her mind.

“What awaits them on the Isle of Dread,” Luna said, “might very well destroy them.”

Celestia turned back to see her sister looking right at her.

“Do you fear Arthas is overestimating them?”

Luna closed her eyes thoughtfully. “It’s… difficult to say,” she finally offered. “I doubt anypony knows the limits of those four better than him, but…” She sighed and opened her eyes. “He came from a world much more violent than ours. He had basically spent his entire adulthood on the battlefield, even if in the years leading to his demise he had seen little combat. Arthas might not understand just what he wants to put them through.”

Celestia nodded; she had considered such thoughts during their discussion in the Abbey. However, she had dismissed them, on account of the obvious care Arthas had displayed for others, time and time again.

“‘Years leading to his demise’...” she repeated her sister’s words, finding them somewhat intriguing. “Just how old is Arthas again?”

“Hm… I believe he’s thirty two, plus a few months. Well, minus two months from that, I guess...”

She snorted hearing the number; hardly a long existence, especially when compared with hers. And yet…

“Well, at least Twilight was right about him at first,” she said humorously. Seeing Luna’s puzzled look, she explained: “Remember? In the first letter where she wrote to me about him, she stated that Arthas must be about ten years older than her.”

Luna snickered. “True, even if his body biologically is only about twenty four… Still, doesn’t change the fact that your student fell for somepony she thought was that much older than her. Kind of makes me wonder how old her teacher’s love interest will be,” she smirked. “Eleven hundred?”

Celestia was taken aback by her sister’s teasing sneer. She frowned, slightly blushing, as Luna giggled.

“Makes me wonder - assuming you would want Moonlight to have a stepfather - how old yours would be,” she retorted, correcting herself when as she remembered that this could be a sore topic. “Eleven thousand?”

“‘Eleven thousand’?” Luna repeated, now ever more amused. “Sister, if you wish your comeback to sting, as ponies say it now, you might try for something more realistic. I only made yours less than six decades older.”

Celestia blushed, feeling a bit embarrassed. She looked for a witty retort, but before she could, somepony knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Luna called out, getting her giggles under control.

The door opened to reveal Celestia’s aide, Raven. She respectfully entered the room, bowing before the two alicorns.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I have urgent news!”

The sisters exchanged looks; usually, such words preceded dire news.

However, Raven was smiling.


“You could have asked me for permission first,” Arthas sighed, already tired of this argument, it if could even be called such. “Actually, make that should have.”

To her credit, Scootaloo had actually came to him by herself to tell him about the trip she was taking the next day. He was already planning on bringing it up sometime after the performance of Pony Tones, but the little filly, after she had spotted him among the small crowd gathering before the stage at the park, left her friends and came over to him.

“I know I should have, but… it just slipped my mind,” she replied, scratching the back of her head and not looking at him. “I’m just… I guess I’m just not used to somepony looking after me. I’m sorry. Can I still go?”

Although Arthas had planned on pretending to consider it for a few seconds, such thoughts immediately evaporated from his mind as Scootaloo turned to look at him with her big purple eyes. He sighed, recalling how Rarity told him that he would be a good father; now he had the biggest proof that was not true.

“Sure, you can go.”

“Really?” Scootaloo asked, beaming up at once. “Thank you, Matt, you’re the best!”

He rolled his eyes, not commenting on that, and ruffled her mane. “Just be sure to give me a heads-up sooner the next time something like this pops up, alright?”

“Right, of course. I gotta go and tell Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, see you later,” she said, pushing his hoof away, before turning around and running back to her friends.

Arthas watched them briefly, grateful for the momentary distraction. However, when he turned around, he found that the Light was merciful enough to provide another.

“Spike!” he called out, trotting up the baby dragon. Spike looked his way and smiled, making Arthas relax; he had an unpleasant twist in his stomach when he saw him alone. “Didn’t expect to run into by yourself. Where are the girls?”

“At the library. Rainbow told Twilight earlier that she would like to talk with them about something before the performance of Pony Tones. Said it was some girly stuff.” Spike spread his arms. “Rainbow wanting to talk about girly stuff? How crazy is that? Did something really strange happened at the party when I went to sleep or something?”

No, it happened about a day before that,” Arthas thought, having guessed what Rainbow wanted to tell the other girls. He hoped it was going well; Light knows how she must feel, informing her best friends about something like that.

Arthas’ thoughts left the subject of Rainbow - before they could start making him… uncomfortable - as he noticed that something was clearly on Spike’s mind. He had looked to a side and was scratching his head, as if wanting to talk about something, but wasn’t sure how to start.

“Something on your mind, Spike?”

“W-well... sort of,” Spike replied, clearly embarrassed and unhappy. “That guy, Storm, you know, one of your paladins… is he a good pony?”

The question, so awkwardly asked, made Spike’s behavior clear to Arthas. Forgetting his own personal problems for the moment, he lowered his head to the dragon’s level and asked gently: “You know already, huh?”

Spike was still not looking at him; now his eyes were on the ground. But he nodded nonetheless. Arthas sighed; he knew Spike had a crush for Rarity almost as long as he was alive in this world, so he had expected that this would come sooner or later. Without speaking, he scooped Spike unto his back and trotted away from the crowd, looking for a more secluded place. Not that anypony paid them any attention; everypony was talking in small groups of friends and families, starting to get impatient as they waited for the Pony Tones. However, what he wanted to tell Spike wasn’t something he wanted another pony to overhear.

Knowing my luck, it would be Rainbow Dash to overhear us anyway.

“Why did you ask me that question?” he asked Spike as he walked, turning his head a bit to look at him.

Spike sighed, looking more sad that Arthas could ever recall seeing him. “Because... I want Rarity to be happy, even if it means that she won’t be with me. She’s still my friend; her happiness is more important to me.”

Arthas smiled sadly. “Storm Clash is a good pony,” he started, looking away; he spotted a tree nearby, behind which they should be shielded from prying eyes. “He’s not perfect, mind you; when he first started training under me, I could see he often had problems believing in himself. Because of that, it took him longer to connect to the Holy Light than the others. However, he was still diligent in fulfilling his duties and brave when the need arose. He fought with a windigo, letting the wounded Tucker escape despite not being able to call upon the Light back then. He puts others before himself. I also learned that he is very caring towards his younger brother. But most importantly,” Arthas added, stopping; they had reached the tree. He let Spike slide off his back and turned to address him properly, “I know for a fact that he loves Rarity dearly. He had nearly gotten himself killed several times yesterday to get her birthday present, in hopes of impressing her. Storm wanted to impress her because he was unsure how to approach her, fearing her rejection due to his looks.”

Now that he was looking at Spike, it was hard not to tell that he was still not looking at him. His eyes were on the ground as he listened to his words, resigned. Arthas was about to say something that, he hoped, would give Spike what he needed to bear through his turmoil, but the dragon then spoke.

“I guess I should have seen something like that coming, huh? I mean… what kind of mare would choose a dragon over a knight? It’s like a fairy tale gone backwards.”

Arthas flicked his ears as Spike uttered a laugh devoid of anything positive. He reached to the dragon and put a hoof on his head.

“As I know there is no way Twilight was the one who told you that stupid earth pony fairy tale, I am going to find the idiot responsible and introduce him to just what a knight can do,” he said, before he lifted his head by the chin so Spike would finally look at him. “I’m about to tell you something which might help you, but I want your full attention. Alright?”

Spike nodded, and quickly wiped his eyes, which Arthas pretended to not notice had became teary. As for the earth pony, he laid on the grass before Spike, making himself more comfortable.

“I’ve mentioned to you several times that in my previous life I had a girlfriend,” he started. Spike immediately focused. “Her name was Jaina. I first met her when I was eleven, and, well, I wouldn’t even call it a crush, but I really wanted to hang out with her for a bit almost as soon as I saw her.”

Arthas closed his eyes briefly, recalling that moment so many years ago. It was in his family private chapel; he had been late for a service. As he walked to take his usual place, he had spotted an unfamiliar face amongst them. Naturally, Arthas became curious; not everybody would get invited to the private service of the Lordaeron’s royal family. That day, there were three other attendants, two of which he had already met and known: Muradin Bronzebeard and Thoras Trollbane, King of Stromgarde. The one he hadn’t met, as he had soon learned, was Jaina Proudmoore, daughter of Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, Lord of Kul Tiras.

“I got my chance, and we had a small adventure,” he resumed his tale, opening his eyes. Smiling, he added: “Not of the sorts you seem to get around Ponyville, but an adventure nonetheless.”

The “adventure”, was sneaking near one of the internment camps. Built after the end of the Second War, they served as prisons for orcs.

It was more merciful than simply killing them,” Arthas recalled his father’s words, “and now they make themselves out to be unfairly treated victims for being ‘enslaved’ by humans.

He brushed those thoughts away; he was much wiser now than he was in his youth, and he no longer viewed the orcs as beasts. Furthermore, being on another world, he had no reason to resent them anymore.

But back then he had. Arthas recalled how sad Jaina was when she saw a small family with a baby amongst the prisoners. And what he had said?

He compared them to rats.

Dismayed and ashamed, he turned his attention back to Spike.

“A few years passed, and I would meet her again during my introduction to the Order of the Silver Hand,” he said.

This time he only briefly recalled that event from his past; many delegations from the neighboring nations had come to witness the Prince of Lordaeron become a paladin. Jaina was there as well, being the daughter of Lord of Kul Tiras and an apprentice of Archmage Antonidas, leader of the Kirin Tor.

“I kept thinking about her after seeing her that day,” he told Spike. “I was nineteen then, and after becoming a paladin, I wanted to do something fun. So, I visited her, and took her for a picnic… and that was how we started dating.”

If it could be called as such. After their first kiss that day, they would meet in secret, sharing a few tender moments and kisses away from prying eyes. With both of them being such known figures, they hoped to avoid gossip. And they had.

Even though their families and teachers must have caught on at some point...

“As you know, it didn’t work out,” Arthas said, his voice becoming a touch sad. “Mostly out of my own fault. That is all I am going to say on that matter; maybe someday I will tell you just how much of an idiot I was, but for now I want to retain some dignity,” he added with a smirk.

To his relief, the baby dragon replied with a chuckle. Seeing Spike so sad was heartbreaking. It was good to see him crack a smile and laugh.

“Once I was brought back to life… and was able to feel emotions such as love again, I was…” he looked for a right word, but found none that would give justice to what he felt back then. If Spike was in an emotional turmoil, Arthas had been in a maelstrom. “Well, when just Jaina was concerned, I felt… empty. I loved her, Spike,” the paladin admitted, wondering if it was really the first time he had said so those words out loud. “I truly loved her with all my heart. Even at my most… evil, there was still some spark left of her in… in my heart.”

In the empty, hollow void I had in its place after I had cut it out...

“And what’s even worse, I know that, despite all the things I had done, she had still loved me somehow,” Arthas continued, recalling how she came - along with a handful of Alliance’s heroes - to his private chambers in the Icecrown Citadel, determined to find a way of saving him.

He recalled how close he came to killing her.

“But now, here I am, my soul and heart free of the shadow that fell upon me… on another world, and as a pony. Not that I am complaining about being a pony, mind you,” he added. “There are several… perks to this body that I came to really appreciate. And Equestria is a beautiful world. However,” he added, his ears dropping, “being here means that I am never able to meet Jaina again. Or, at least I used to think so, before Brann first came here, but let’s leave that. I couldn’t have known that all those months ago. I was distraught, but I had also accepted this, as after everything I had done, I didn’t think I would deserve being with her. Not to mention that being a pony would create an entire new problem when it would come to any form of relationships with Jaina,” he added with a roll of his eyes, not even wanting to imagine how could that possibly work. He sighed, and finally steered towards the end of this painful tale: “After that… I hadn’t expect to fall in love ever again. But… I had.”

“With Twilight,” Spike said, speaking for the first time in a while.

Arthas nodded. “Yes, with Twilight. I fell in love with Twilight.”

He wasn’t going to tell Spike why; that was a discussion he was going to have only with one pony. Assuming he would ever bring himself to do it.

“If I was able to find love again, Spike, then somepony like you surely will.” Arthas looked into the eyes of the little dragon before him, and fully meaning those words, he said: “You have no idea how much I wish I was more like you when I was your age-”

“Why aren’t you with Twilight?” Spike cut him off.

Arthas blinked. “Come again?”

“Why aren’t you with Twilight?” Spike repeated himself, taking a step forward. “If you love her, then why aren’t you with her?”

The little comment had taken him completely by surprise. Admittingly, telling somepony that you were in love might lead the conversation into those tracks, but Arthas had expected Spike to be too concentrated on his own heart problem.

“S-spike, It’s not that simple,” he said, not sure how to explain this. “It’s complicated-”

“What’s complicated about it?” Spike asked. “If you love her, then ask her out. I’m not very experienced in this, and even I can tell that Twilight really cares about you. I’m sure she would have agreed to a date.”

It took a great deal of self-control from Arthas to not point out to Spike that despite being in love with Rarity he had never asked her out.

However, because of Spike mentioning how Twilight cared about him, Arthas recalled something.

“How was she this morning?” he asked, the memories of her state last night still fresh in his memory. “Was she feeling okay?”

“Um…” Spike stammered, slightly taken aback by the change of subject. “Well, no, she was really sick when I got back from Rarity’s. Kinda like back after the wedding. But Rainbow Dash came with me, so she took care of Twilight. I helped, of course. She’s fine now.”

Arthas smiled. Knowledge that Twilight was alright aside, he hoped her state in the morning ment she forgot about what exactly happened last night.

He looked at Spike again. There was one question that he needed to ask, that he needed to know the answer to. And aside from Twilight herself, Spike was the only one he could ask it.

“Spike…” he started. “I need to know something. Has Twilight… acted strangely since I moved out? No,” the paladin quickly corrected himself, “since I had began overseeing the construction of the Abbey? Had she ever seemed… sad to you?”

Hurting.

That was the only thing he was able to think about after Celestia had disappeared. Her words were still ringing in his ears.

I know when she’s hurting.

Had he been hurting Twilight all this time with his… screwing with Rainbow?! She had told him that Twilight was okay with this arrangement… but was she? Or had she just lied because… because she actually thought she thought so? If so, had she realized since then she wasn’t?

How could I have been so damned stupid!?” he kept thinking over and over again hours after Celestia had left.

Nothing could stop him from pondering this. Not the lecture of the Daring Do book (which he had planned to finish up soon so he could give it back to Twilight, with Daring’s autograph on it), nor the study of the draenic tomes. Not even the one written by Prophet Velen himself. Nor the discovery of four hoof shaped marks burned into his office’s floor.

Arthas knew, of course, deep down why he had accepted Rainbow’s offer so easily. It was the same reason why he had accepted Ripple’s advances. He wanted to get Twilight out of his head.

Worked about as well as everything else he tried to do.

He awaited Spike’s words, full of dread, not sure how he was going to react if the little dragon would tell him he had caught her crying or something. Would he run to her and throw himself at her hooves, beginning for forgiveness? Or just plunge his blade into his chest be over with this?

“Not that I had noticed.”

It was like the sun peering through the clouds. Arthas looked at Spike, drinking in his words.

“I mean, practically all her time she had spend studying. Princess Celestia had been sending her more work, spells and books ever since that ‘test’. Only time she takes a break is when she hangs out with others, or when she is sleeping.”

Arthas chuckled and covered his eyes. “Guess I will have to thank her for that, even if it wasn’t her intention…” he murmured quietly to himself.

“Hm? Sorry, didn’t catch that, what did you say?” Spike asked, confused.

“Nothing, nothing,” Arthas replied, smiling and raising. He looked back at the stage. “It seems the performance should be starting soon; I bet our friends are here already. Let’s go join them,” he added, waiting for Spike to hop on his back.

“B-but wait! We’re not done yet!” the dragon reminded him. He jumped at Arthas’ back and glared at him sternly. “This conversation isn’t over!”

Arthas could only chuckle. “Oh, Spike…” he said, shaking his head. “We are done,” the paladin said, looking back at the fuming dragon. He began walking towards the front of the crowd. “But you’re right; this conversation isn’t over.”

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