Chapter 2: When Trust and Honor Fall

Chapter 2: When Trust and Honor Fall

As Arthas's vision slowly begins to clear, his eyes are able to make out some strange shapes and widen in shock and says, "You're joking right, there are no such thing as talking horses. Horses cannot talk in all of Azeroth unless..." He pauses for a moment and thinks it over, remembering what the sky looked like before the blinding light and comparing it to the sky he is under now and it finally dawns on him saying, "Wait a minute, the sky had a few more clouds in it. Here, the sky is almost free of clouds, and the sun is higher in the sky than it was before. Where exactly am I?"

Clover the Clever pauses a moment and blinks a few times in a stunned state and says, "I'm sorry, what did you just call us?" She then squints her eyes angrily at him thinking he just called them horses.

His vision finally clears up and he sees six very strange beings standing before him and squints his eyes in return and says, "I do believe I called you horses. On Azeroth, we consider ponies and horses basically the same thing. You failed to answer my question pony, where am I? Do not make me ask again."

Commander Hurricane stomps forth, scowling at him and then yells, "We are not HORSES, we are ponies! You dare threaten us creature? We found you and saved your life, you are indebted to us!"

Arthas starts to get angry and slowly stands up with a low growl and stretches to his full height of seven feet, towering over the smaller ponies and glares at them with his green eyes and blonde hair waving in the breeze. He clenches his hand into a fist and enhances his voice and shouts at them, "That was not a threat, but a warning. You may have found me and saved my life, but you DO NOT OWN ME! You are standing at the very top of MY CITADEL! ICECROWN CITADEL IS MY HOME AND MY KEEP! I am King Arthas Menethil, the Lich King of the Scourge!"

Clover and the others slowly back away from him in fear as her eyes stare at him terrified of what she heard come from his lips. For a brief moment she thought they glowed blue, but she dismisses it as impossible. Somepony's eyes just can't glow blue and emit smoke can they? She then shakes her head free of the thoughts distracting her and says to him, "You owe us a debt for saving your life remember, are you just going to forget that and cast us aside?"

He calms down some and lowers his voice back down to normal and says, "Don't worry, I always keep my word. I will help you get rid of the cold weather for you ponies, but only after I get my sword repaired. If I ran into some creature that wants to kill me, I am defenseless right now."

Still wary about King Arthas, Clover takes a timid step before him and asks, "I understand that, may I ask one more thing before we leave Your Highness?"

Arthas crosses his arms and cocks an eyebrow in curiosity and answers her, "Go ahead, ask away. You have my full attention."

Clover swallows some saliva that has accumulated in her mouth and asks, "W-What are you?"

He chuckles and uncrosses his arms as he kneels down to her level, placing his arm sideways on top of his knee and says, "Well I am a human, what and who are you all?"

The group sighs in relief at him calming down as Commander Hurricane stands up straighter and says, "My name is Commander Hurricane, and the one right beside me is my subordinate Private Pansy. Private Pansy and I are Pegasi Ponies, we can fly and control the weather."

Chancellor Puddinghead puffs up his chest and steps forward beside Commander Hurricane and introduces himself saying, "I am Chancellor Puddinghead, and the one next to me is my advisor Smart Cookie. We are Earth Ponies and we handle the growing of food as well as having above average physical strength among the other races of ponies."

Princess Platinum stands up regally and introduces herself saying, "I am Princess Platinum, and my advisor and student before you is Clover the Clever. We have magic and our above average intelligence among the other ponies."

Clover the Clever notices that neither of them has told Arthas where he is and says, "You are on a world we call Equus, Your Highness."

Arthas fights the urge to burst out laughing at the names, but keeps a straight face as he responds back to them, "How interesting, if that is all the questions you have for me at this moment, I have a sword to get repaired. It has been a pleasure meeting you all, you do know how to get back down to the ground right?"

She looks at the group and sees that they look sheepishly around the area as they leave the talking up to her again and sighs saying, "We came up here by walking, so we will get back by using our hooves."

He looks at her and chuckles saying, "There are teleporters on every floor, I will show you what they look like so you can leave faster." He then walks over and picks up his helm and turns it over and walks over to the shattered Frostmourne and picks up the small fragments and sets them inside of the helm, then he picks up the hilt and places it in its sheathe. He then leads the way to the rune teleporter and says to them, "The teleporters are weight activated, so you have to step off of them in order for it to work again." He shows them by walking onto it and vanishes to the floor below.

The group follows Clover as she follows after him and disappears just like he did. Hesitantly, they follow her through it to the next floor. When they arrive there, they hear Clover ask him how these teleporters work.

Arthas looks at her and says, "It is rather unfortunate to say, but I am unable to explain how they work. I did not create the devices that are in this place."

Clover sighs in disappointment and says, "Well that is too bad, It would have been real helpful to us ponies to know how they were made and how they function. Oh well, it doesn't matter really. Thank you Your Highness, for taking the time to tell me where the teleporters are. Have a nice day!" With that said, she continues to follow after Arthas, and leading the others towards the exit.

He turns around and heads down one of the paths to the side leading to Sindragosa's perch, disabling the frost traps with a wave of his hand. He reaches the end of the corridor, looking at the massive skeletal form of his strongest undead companion and sighs saying, "Do not worry Sindragosa, I will return once my current mission is finished." Turning and walking up the ramp to the left, he stops by the rune teleporter on the floor and says to the others, "These teleporters require you to know the section you wish to teleport to, the one that we used back there only takes you to the throne and back. The section we need to go to is called Main Gate. When you stand on the plate, you need to say the name of the section you wish to go to. Understand what I am saying, because I will not explain it again." With his instructions delivered to them, he steps onto the plate and says, "Main Gate" and then vanishes. Appearing in front of the citadel he calls home, he walks a short distance away and waits for the others to appear.

The group trembles at how he knew that massive skeletal dragon's name and are eager to leave this castle of death behind them and use the teleporter one by one. Finally appearing outside the castle again, Clover looks behind her as the group travels on towards their carriage to return them to where they were and says, "How long will it take you to return to your citadel, do you need one of us to send a messenger back here to wait for your return?"

Arthas looks to her and says, "That is not necessary, I will find a way to locate your village and get rid of the cold for you all. The only thing left for me to know is where is this Crystal Empire located?"

Clover thinks for a moment and says, "It is south and East of where we are now, I think. There is a string of impassable mountains blocking a path straight there by land, but straight south of us there is a valley that almost goes all the way to the bay that is just south of there. The Yaks of Yakyakistan aren't very friendly to outsiders, so I recommend avoiding their settlement to the east of the valley. When you reach the bay, turn and go straight east. You will easily know you have reached the Crystal Empire, because I hear that there is a massive crystal there with a strange power to steal souls or something like that. Oh I wish I could go with you to see it for myself, but I have to help deal with the cold weather crisis. Have a safe trip!"

He smiles and mumbles, "Oh no you don't..." then turns around and begins walking further away, trying to keep his dark powers under wraps from any that wish to harm him or try to claim him or some damn thing.

Princess Platinum's body shudders as she asks, "Why do I get the feeling that we just made a deal with the devil?"

Commander Hurricane hurries to the carriage and hooks onto it saying, "Whopony cares! He said that he was going to do something about the temperature alright, what more do you want from him! Let's just forget about it and let him deal with it and get back to our normal lives!"

Sighing, the group returns to the carriage and steps inside with the unicorns keeping the carriage suspended in the air and the pegasi pulling it. Clover looks out the window and keeps her magic going and thinks, 'What is going to happen to us all now?'

Arthas watches as the carriage vanishes from sight and then sighs in relief and uses an unholy summoning spell and says, "Let's go for a ride my always faithful steed, come forth and serve me once more Invincible."

He watches as his steed bursts from the ground in a stream of green flames, then materializes on top of the ground and he then hesitantly trots towards him saying, "I await your command, Master." he then waits for Arthas to get onto his back.

Invincible then pauses a moment as each Arthas also realizes that he just spoke actual words and both of them say at the same time, "I/You just talked!" He then watches Arthas and says, "How is this possible, has the whole of Azeroth gone mad? The only other explanation might be that we are both dead, but I doubt that because you obviously have summoned me. The only one that knows how to call me to serve is you, I answer to no one else."

Arthas rubs his weary head, not really wanting to deal with another annoying headache and says, "Here is the situation so far, a group of mages found a banishing spell and Tirion managed to convince them to use it to exact justice for my crimes. After they successfully attacked Icecrown, Tirion didn't kill me right away. Bright glowing multicolored ribbons of light appeared above the peak of the citadel, then some other strange creatures showed up called ponies and saved my life. Then they asked me questions about what this place is and who I am, I didn't tell them anything they didn't need to know at the time. They also requested me to repay the favor by helping them get rid of the cold temperature that is making their lives tough, which I intend to do...In my own unique way. Now I am on my way towards a place called The Crystal Empire to see if they have somebody that is able to repair Frostmourne, as it was shattered in the fight against Tirion by his sword Ashbringer."

He looks at Arthas shocked and says, "Another sword was able to shatter Frostmourne, that must have been one special sword! No sword forged by mortal hands can even come close to having a chance to shatter it."

Arthas looks back and says, "Are you looking forward to getting to stretch your legs after not being summoned for awhile?"

Invincible rears up and says, "Yes, let's explore and put fear of the scourge into the hearts of the mortal races of the ponies!" He then comes back down to the ground and paws at it with a hoof, impatiently waiting for him to get into the saddle.

He opens up a saddle bag and dumps the shards of Frostmourne into it, then carefully sets his helm into the other side and closes them both and says, "One thing at a time, old friend. After Frostmourne is repaired, I will need to replenish the forces of Icecrown. Mostly I need to feed Frostmourne, I am sure it is starving after losing so many souls. Luckily the more important souls are still in there, I would have known if they were released."

The faithful steed then takes off, letting Arthas show him the way to go. As they get further and further from Icecrown, he asks, "Did they tell you what this world is called? What do the horses of this world look like? Why aren't you wearing your helm master?"

Arthas looks around at the scenery and says, "This world is called Equus, and the horses of this world prefer to be called Ponies. They look strange because here, they walk on two legs, they have coats of various colors with strange images on their rears. Some have wings, some have horns on their foreheads, and a few even have none of those. Their faces are the strangest though, because their nose and mouth are elongated like that of a horse. I am not wearing my helm because I want to feel the wind against my face for awhile, and I don't think that they will be to friendly to someone that has glowing blue eyes that emit frosty mist. I would like to keep my powers secret for a while longer until I am able to defend myself properly."

Invincible gallops on and says to him, "That is very curious. If someone tries to talk to me, I will just tell them that I am from a far away place where we all look like this."

He heads straight south to follow along the base of the mountains and says, "We are heading for a valley in between these mountains, I will keep an eye out for any enemies looking to attack us."

As they reach the valley three hours later, they turn into it and follow it south towards the bay that is supposed to be at the end of it as Arthas says to his steed, "It is enjoyable to feel the wind in your hair once in awhile, I will have to summon you more often so we both can enjoy ourselves."

His steed looks ahead and says, "It has felt like an eternity since I last stretched my legs, it feels so good to go this fast again!"

One hour later they reach the end of the valley as the sun begins to set and Arthas says, "I think we should make camp for the night, what do you think my friend?"

Invincible breathes hard for a moment and slows down to a walk and says, "Wherever you decide to make camp is good with me, I could use a break after a long run like that."

As Arthas gets off and makes camp for the night, he sits on a log and prepares to light the pile of wood that he gathered for a fire. He thinks back on his long day and what his father said to him, 'I'm disappointed in you son, I can never truly hate you. I do not know if you will die soon after arriving, but I do hope that you find love one day and are able to allow others into your heart.' Finishing his reminiscing, he then softly says, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to at least try to let someone in, but I still won't tell them everything about me."

He looks sleepily to his friend and master and says, "I'm sorry I didn't hear, what did you say Master?"

He looks to his loyal steed and says, "Oh nothing, I was talking to myself. We should arrive a little after noon tomorrow, so rest up my friend. Don't worry though, we won't be galloping at all tomorrow. When we get within sight of this Crystal Empire, we will be parting ways with you returning to the shadows until I call you again. One more thing, please call me Arthas or Sir. Being called master all the time is starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth."

Invincible looks at him drowsily and blinks his heavy eyes and says, "Very well Master, oops, I mean Sir." He then drifts back to sleep and goes back to dreaming of days long past.

The next day, at the Crystal Empire...

Princess Amore sits down on her parent's balcony enjoying tea as they congratulate her on becoming the first ruler of the Crystal Empire and hears her mom ask, "So when are you going to find a very special somepony to spend your life with, hmmm?"

She sighs and says, "Mother, I am too busy running a kingdom to even bother looking for somepony I know that doesn't exist. You know I am picky about things, the pony I wish to be with has to be cunning, fearless, handsome, different, it wouldn't hurt if he was strong as well. Is that too much to ask for a very special somepony?" She looks at her mother with sadness in her eyes when an ice cold wind starts to blow harder than before, sending a shiver down her spine.

Her father looks to her with sympathy in his eyes and says, "The wind seems to be blowing even colder and harder than usual, something feels off to me north of here. Do you sense it as well dear wife?"

Her mother chuckles and says, "Oh honey don't be silly, there is nothing wrong in the north. If anything, I bet it is those ponies aren't getting along with each other right now. Shall we continue this talk indoors? It is getting rather chilly out here. The only strange thing is the wind, it has never been this cold before. Usually it is only cold when winter arrives, and it is only summer."

Princess Amore is enjoying her peppermint tea when a crystal guardspony runs into the house and stops before her breathing hard. Annoyed, she says to him, "You better have a good reason for interrupting me at my parent's home, I demanded to be left alone when I am here, now SPEAK!"

The Crystal guardspony stands up straight and says, "M-My apologies Your Highness, but there is some creature at the outskirts of the city walking towards the city."

She raises her voice and shouts at the guard, "You came here and interrupted my tea time with my mother for THAT! Ponies are always coming and going from this city, why do you bother me if it is just another common visitor!?"

He stammers and says again, "A thousand apologies Your Highness, but from what I saw, this creature was not a pony at all. It doesn't have the typical face, wings, or a horn. It doesn't even have hooves, I came running here as soon as I saw it making its way closer to the city."

Princess Amore's interest is piqued at the strangeness of this creature and sighs saying, "I am sorry mother, father, for I must regrettably cut our time short. I must see this strange creature for myself that has one of my guardsponies in a panic like this."

Her parents seem interested to see this creature too as they both say, "We shall tag along with you dear, this has our curiosity as well."

She leads the way to where the Crystal Guardspony is taking her, continuing to make small talk with her parents until they arrive there.

On the edge of the Crystal Empire

Arthas makes his way to the edge of the city as ponies with crystal bodies and images on their rears gawk and stare at him in curiosity, feeling glad that he took the saddlebag off of Invincible when he dismissed him. The last thing he needs is them screaming bloody murder at the sight of him riding a strange beast, summoning the guards when he doesn't have any way to defend himself from physical attacks aside from the few spells he knows that don't require a weapon to be cast. He looks at the ponies gathering around him parting and making a path for him to follow somewhere when he sees three ponies and one guard coming his way, also listening to the whispers that are coming from the curious ponies saying things like, "What is he? Who is he? What is that armor, it's creepy. Look at that sword, is he a warrior of some kind? Where did he come from?" He continues to walk down the path when he sees the group of ponies stop a ways away, seeming to be content with waiting for him there.

Princess Amore's eyes widen at the appearance of the tall creature, standing just a little taller than her. Having long blonde hair and emerald green eyes, causing her heart to throb at first glance. The throb catches her by surprise and she blushes, hoping that nopony heard that and watches as the creature in creepy, heavy armor comes towards them.

He stops ten feet away from the group and says, "Greetings, my name is Arthas Menethil, I am the Crown Prince of Lordaeron. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with right now?"

She watches as her subjects gasp at her arrival and kneel down in reverence as she addresses them, "Rise my subjects, I wish not for you to kneel every time I am outside. The only time you all should bow is if it is a official event happening, but there will be notices sent out informing you if you need to bow or not." She then looks to Arthas and senses a little guilt within him for some reason and then addresses them saying, "I apologize for keeping you waiting, Crown Prince Arthas Menethil. I apologize but I do not recognize the name of this empire called 'Lordaeron.' For what reason do you come to the Crystal Empire unannounced and without advance notice, have you come seeking aid?"

Arthas grunts mentally at having to go through this royal pleasantry garbage and says, "I do apologize for this unexpected arrival of mine, for I was in a battle and an enemy mage cast a spell that went awry and I found myself seriously wounded and all alone in the far north. I was stranded there for several hours until some friendly ponies came along and healed my wounds for me, now I owe them a favor. After those kind ponies healed my wounds and parted ways with me, the enemy I was fighting showed up again. During the last battle, my sword was shattered. I collected the pieces of my sword and tracked down those ponies that healed me, and asked them if they knew of any place that might be able to fix my sword. They told me that the only ones that might be able to repair my sword is the Crystal Empire, they then told me how I might get here and my journey began. Unfortunately, my father and his kingdom fell to a cruel foe. I watched as it was completely destroyed, I returned when they left to see if it could be restored. Unfortunately, all was lost because the land had been salted and the wells poisoned. Now I am but exiled royalty without a kingdom to rule, but I at least did manage to build a home in which to live in."

Princess Amore tries to control the urge to rush forth and hug him and her warring emotions. She is too busy fighting her body's reaction to think that Arthas told a lie somewhere in there, she mentally shrugs it off and then says, "Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Crown Prince Arthas Menethil of Lordaeron. The royal guest suite shall be prepared for you during your stay here. Please walk with me, I wish to talk with you awhile. Forgive my rudeness, but what exactly are you? For what I notice, you are clearly not a pony."

He smiles and looks into her amber eyes and says, "I am what is called a human, we are not native to this land. We crossed the sea to find a new home, but after that last battle, it is just me that is left. Curse those bandits of the sea, may they burn in hell. It is a pleasure to meet you...I apologize, I do not know your name."

She is shocked by his hatred towards those that took so much from him and blushes, realizing that she didn't introduce herself and answers him, "Many apologies for my rude behavior Crown Prince Arthas Menethil. My name is Princess Amore, I rule the Crystal Empire. Come with me and we shall talk, while we head to the most skilled blacksmith in the empire to see if he will be able to repair it." She then turns and heads towards the royal blacksmith inside the crystal castle.

Arthas looks at her thinking that she is kind of cute and says, "Please call me Arthas whenever you see me around, or Prince Arthas in official events."

Princess Amore smiles at him and says, "Guardspony you are dismissed, you may return to your post."

The guardspony bows to her and says, "Yes Your Highness, I shall return to my duties." He then turns and heads back to his post.

After the guard is out of range she says, "Then please call me Amore or Princess Amore if it is for official business, allow me to introduce you to my parents, my father Amethyst Heart and my mother, Crystal Quartz. Would you like to see the grand crystal city Arthas?"

He smiles at her once more and says to her, "I would like that very much, thank you for such a wonderful opportunity. Perhaps we can do that after we speak to this blacksmith, as this sword is my only means of defense."

Amore smirks and then leads the way as her parents begin to ask him questions about his land before it was lost, she turns an ear to listen to his answers to each question. Not sure why she is beginning to grow fond of him she thinks, 'There is something about him that catches my eye, but I cannot tell what it is just yet. He is clearly not evil at all, I would have been able to detect the malice coming from him when he entered the city.'

After ten minutes of following Amore to the blacksmith's location and answering her parent's nearly ceaseless questions, Arthas speaks up and politely says, "I apologize to the both of you, but talking about my homeland so much has upset my mood. Could you allow me a little time to deal with this past months troubles?"

Amethyst and Crystal both frown and lower their heads a little bit out of shame and Crystal says, "We are sorry to have upset you, our curiosity had gotten the better of us. You are a being we have not seen before, and just wanted to know everything there was about you and the place you are from."

She looks to her parents with a soft scowl on her face and says to them, "Thank you for accompanying me to meet the new stranger in town, but we have to go speak to the royal blacksmith now. So I shall have to make a date to continue our tea time another day, good day mother and father."

Her parents look to her with a sheepish smile and bow and then say, "We look forward to our next visit from you dear daughter. We hope you get your sword fixed Prince Arthas, take care of yourself." they then turn and walk away towards their home.

Arthas watches them leave and takes a sigh of relief and puts on his charm to see where it will get him and says, "Thank you for that Princess Amore, their questions about my homeland were starting to get to me. Perhaps after we speak to the royal blacksmith, we might share a dinner this evening?"

Amore feels giddy like a young filly at hearing him say that and a large smile crosses her face and eagerly says, "Yes! I mean I look forward to this dinner, what do humans eat?"

He continues following her towards the royal blacksmith and sees that the castle is getting closer and then answers her, "We can't eat grasses or plants, but we can eat vegetables, fruit, nuts, berries, fish, and lastly, meat."

She listens intently and looks to him and says, "I don't think we have any meat right now, but we might have some fish if that will suffice for a meal?"

Arthas chuckles and says, "Fish and vegetables will be perfect, I find cow a bit tough to chew."

Amore turns her head back around to watch where she is leading him and chuckles at his attempt to make a joke to comfort her and says, "The blacksmith's shop is around the back side of the castle, we will be there within a couple minutes."

He takes a moment to check her out while she isn't looking at him and sees that she is wearing practically nothing except for a thin blue ribbon with small sapphires dangling from small silver circlets with the ends of the ribbon tied to a medium sized Sphene cut into a heart shape, with some decorative blue ribbon bracelets around the bottom of her legs and a decorative chest piece with white silk and a golden heart shape sewn into the center of it and the same blue ribbon with small dangling sapphires covering her chest. She has a very pale pink coat with a raspberry mane and tail, and a horn in the middle of her forehead. He looks at her rear and notices that she too has some kind of image on her rear, with hers looking like a snowflake shaped crystal held at the end of a staff and asks, "I don't mean to be rude, but what are those images on your backsides?"

She chuckles and blushes about him checking her out and tells him, "That would be called a cutie mark, and all ponies have them. I mean we get them when we discover our own unique talent, no two are alike."

The rest of the short trip to the royal blacksmith goes by uneventfully as they continue to talk and get to know each other as they finally reach their destination a minute later.

Princess Amore knocks on the door to the royal blacksmith's shop and waits for him to open the door and says, "Sorry to bother you Strong Hammer, but I have a guest here that needs a sword repaired."

Strong Hammer puts down the hammer and puts the glowing chunk of metal back into the furnace to keep it hot and goes to the door saying gruffly, "Yes yes, I'm coming I'm coming." He reaches for the door and pulls it open and gasps at seeing that it is Princess Amore, then kneels down immediately and says, "What can I do for you, Your Highness?"

She smiles and says to him, "Please stand Strong Hammer, I'm not here on official business. There is no need for formality right now, my new friend Prince Arthas has a sword that was shattered in battle and I wanted to know if you had the skill to repair it?"

The blacksmith puts a hand to his chin and says, "I will have to see the blade and the pieces to be able to tell you if it can be done, it all depends on how complex the sword is. Is this sword enchanted at all? Come inside please and lay it out on top of the table so I can examine it."

Arthas follows Amore and Strong Hammer into the shop, having to duck under the low entrance and then approaches the table. He then proceeds to take the saddlebag off his shoulder and says, "I am not sure if it is enchanted or not but I do know that it is ancient and has been handed down from father to son for several generations." He then pulls the hilt of Frostmourne from its sheathe and sets it on one end of the table, he then begins to set the pieces out on the table. It takes him a couple minutes to set them in the right order and then waits for the smith to examine it.

Strong Hammer gasps in amazement at seeing such a marvelous sword and says, "This is indeed an old blade, age takes its toll on any blade if it is not properly maintained. I can see that you have taken great care of this blade for it to survive so long. However, this is no ordinary metal. This is a unique metal that is only found on occasion from a fallen star, luckily for you I can fix this sword. It will take me some time though due to the enchantment that is on it and the runework, give me four weeks and I can have this sword back to protecting yourself and your men from enemies alright?"

Amore stares at the beautiful sword, wondering how it was made and says to him, "Since Prince Arthas is new to the Crystal Empire, you can send the bill to the crown to be paid Strong Hammer."

The blacksmith looks at the princess in astonishment at her generosity and says, "What bill Your Highness, I shall repair this sword for no charge because this is an absolute work of art! Whoever made this sword clearly wanted it to last through the ages and be unbeatable."

Arthas smiles kindly at the blacksmith and says, "Thank you very much for repairing this old sword, Strong Hammer. I shall strive to pay you back one day for your kindness." With his sword being repaired, he turns to Princess Amore and says, "Now that has been taken care of, what shall we do now Princess Amore?"

She smiles and says to him, "Do you intend to eat dinner in that armor?"

He looks at her and shrugs his shoulders, with a chuckle he says, "I would normally wear something nice to dinner but unfortunately, this is all I had that wasn't left behind when we fled the castle."

Princess Amore smiles softly and says, "Lets go get you some proper clothing shall we?"

They then leave the blacksmith's shop and make their way towards a designer that she uses frequently, getting him the clothing he would need to be proper at the table for their dinner date tonight.

Arthas walks out of the seamstress's shop with a one of a kind formal dress set, an ice blue silk button up shirt with small emeralds for buttons and citrine gems sewn into a v shape on his front with the top of the v connecting to the other v going down his back with a pair of black silk trousers and a pair of faux leather shoes. He sighs and holds the bag and says to her, "Why are you being so generous towards me Amore?"

She smiles and answers him, "I am being generous towards you because I like you, and I would like you to look presentable during your stay here. This way, you won't look like some war hungry barbarian itching for his next fight."

Six weeks later in the Crystal Empire...

Arthas playfully tickles the hair on the inside of Amore's ear, chuckling softly as she twitches her ear thinking it is a fly. He does it once more and gets lightly slapped across the face with her tail as she starts to stir awake.

She grumbles at being woken so rudely and rolls over to look him in the eyes and says, "You are so mean in the morning, how are you up this early after last night?"

He looks into her amber eyes and says, "You think it is morning, hah it is actually two in the evening! I have been torturing you to get you to wake up but you just kept swatting me and asking for five more minutes."

Amore scowls at him and says, "Well I'm sorry. With how late we were up, and with how loud you snore, I'm surprised if anyone in the castle got any sleep last night. You are loud enough to wake the dead."

Arthas brushes her cheek with a finger and says, "Oh you want to talk about being loud now do you? Well you could wake the entire Crystal Empire with your moans and screams last night." He weakly blocks himself as she bolts upright with a furious blush and starts hitting him in annoyance.

She blushes furiously at what he just said and starts lightly whacking him and punching him with her fists and says, "Ohhh...why you...brute! Why do you have to be so cruel in the mornings?" She then stops beating him and pouts, putting on a sad face at having to get up today to rule over the Crystal Empire. She then looks to him and says, "So what do you plan on doing today while I deal with the aches and pains of leadership?"

He smiles at her and then sits up and says, "Unfortunately I think its high time that I repaid my favor to Clover the Clever and the others who saved my life, so I shall be departing today for a few weeks to visit them. I shall return though, not to worry. I will fetch my sword from the blacksmith before I leave the city." To cheer her up a little bit, he takes his thumb and forefinger and takes one of her ears in between them and rubs it firmly and gently.

Princess Amore frowns and can't help but make a soft murr in pleasure at the affection he is showing her. Almost too distracted by the affection, she opens her eyes and looks into his emerald green eyes and asks, "I don't want you to go, but I know you have to. You will return to me when you are finished with your task my love?"

Arthas lets go of her ear and wraps her in a hug and says, "Of course I will return darling, I won't abandon you." As he holds her in his arms he grins evilly as she can't see his face and says, "I better get ready to go my darling, I shall return once my task is done." He pulls away and kisses her deeply one last time before scooting to the edge of the bed, showing the scar that runs down his back where he was stabbed by his foe. He then gets up and gets dressed, then he heads for his suite to fetch his armor to go out and get his sword before he leaves the Crystal Empire.

It was a uneventful walk towards the backside of the castle where Strong Hammer's shop is. He enters the shop and sees him about to strike a piece of metal he is working and waits for the right moment to startle him. As he watches him raise and start to swing his hammer again, he waits for the hammer to strike the anvil as he says, "Oww, my hand!"

Startled by the sudden exclamation, he nearly drops his hammer and says, "Whatever pony that just said that is gonna get a face full of my fist when I get a hold of 'em!" He then turns and glares at the one standing by the door, and discovers that it is just Prince Arthas that did it and says, "You bloody barbarian, how many times do I 'ave to tell you to stop pranking me! Have you finally come to collect the sword that has been finished for a week now?"

Arthas laughs and slaps his side and says, "If I stopped pranking you, you would find life so much more boring you old warhorse. The sword has been ready for a whole week? I thought you only needed four weeks to get it repaired, what happened to make it take a week longer?"

Strong Hammer grins and chuckles while walking to the weapon rack and picking up his sword saying, "Yeah life would be a bit more boring I guess. It took longer because I managed to improve it a bit and added a new enchantment to the old one that was already there. If you find yourself facing an opponent that keeps themselves a distance from you and you can't close the distance and don't have a bow, you can throw it at them like a spear. It will come back to you whether it hits something or not, that is pretty neat isn't it?" He then walks to the table and carefully lays it down on top of it and motions him to go ahead and take it.

He takes his sword into his hand and smiles as he feels whole once more and says, "We are reunited at last, old friend. I have felt naked without you by my side, I am sure you thirst after being shattered for so long. Don't you worry, for you shall feast soon."

The blacksmith cocks his head as he watches Arthas give his sword a couple test swings and says to him, "A-Are you talking to that old sword? I am sorry, but swords can't talk back."

Arthas smiles maliciously and holds Frostmourne into the air and then looks to the blacksmith with evil intent in his eyes and says, "Frostmourne hungers!" And then swings it in a wide arc, swiftly decapitating the one who repaired his sword for him out of kindness and curiosity. After watching the soul be absorbed into the sword, he wipes the blood off the blade using the blacksmiths fur coat as a rag and sheathes Frostmourne and exits the shop and closes the door behind him.

He makes his way towards the Crystal Empire's outskirts so he can summon Invincible once more when he hears two familiar voices stop in front of him and block his path and say, "Stop you monster! We watched you leave the blacksmith's shop and know what you did to him murderer, GUARDS!"

Amethyst and Crystal scream for the guards to arrest the murderer Prince Arthas, only to watch the guards face off against him and be decapitated in one strike from his sword. They watch in horror as the sword he wields absorbs their souls and begins to glow a little brighter with each one it slays. The guards finally stop trying to attack him with swords and try using magic instead with ten ponies surrounding him, pointing their horns at him.

Arthas chuckles as they attempt to surround him and try to use magic against him and says, "Your attempts to bring me down are all in vain! Now fall before the Lich King!" He then thrusts his sword into the air and uses his life stealing ability to absorb their life and soul. He watches as another rune lights up and summons Invincible, then fastens his saddlebags to the back of his steed and takes his helm out of the other pouch and puts it onto his head and turns to look at Amethyst and Crystal, who are petrified with fear and terror at the sight of him. He takes a couple steps towards the two of them just to torment them, bursting into laughter as they both faint from fear and sheathes his sword. He walks beside his loyal steed and gets up into the saddle and shouts, "To Icecrown Citadel, Invincible!"

Invincible rears up and whinnies excitedly and gallops off towards the valley that they came from. As they pass by buildings in the city, he says to his master, "Wasn't that a bit over the top there Sir?"

He chuckles and says to him, "Perhaps but the looks on their faces was absolutely priceless, they didn't know whether to be scared of me or admire my battle prowess!"

Princess Amore is in the throne room holding court when a guard comes running in with a terrified look on his face and stops before her, trying to catch his breath. She taps her hoof impatiently as this is beginning to become a habit for the guards to come in out of breath whenever there is some kind of emergency and frustratingly says, "I haven't got all day Guard, speak up or get out of here!"

The guard takes a deep breath and starts saying, "Prince Arthas, scary sword, many guards dead, your parents fainted from the sight."

She fights the shock and doesn't believe him and asks, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Say that again please, but more coherently."

The panicked guard calms down a little more and repeats himself, "We heard somepony scream for the guards to arrest Prince Arthas Menethil for murdering the royal blacksmith. A fight then began where he used a scary looking sword to cut down at least 15 guards with his sword alone. When we tried to use magic to subdue him, he thrust his sword in the air and cast some sort of spell with it. A strange black lighting was connected to all the unicorns and killed them after a few seconds. Each body that he killed released some sort of a small, glowing ball that flew towards the sword and was absorbed by it. Your parents watched the whole thing and fainted when he just took two steps towards them, but he didn't hurt them. He returned to a four legged horse that he summoned out of the ground and burst out laughing when he started to ride out of the city. What do we do Your Highness?"

Amore begins to feel angry at being lied to, used, and betrayed and says, "We do nothing but keep alert for his return, he said that he will come back here once he repays a favor to those ponies that saved his life. Do not engage him unless I can get that sword away from him, it is highly dangerous. Return to your duty guardspony, you are dismissed." She looks at the remaining petitioners in the room and says, "Next petitioner please step forward." She pushes through the sadness that hurts her deeply and focuses on her duty to her citizens.

Arthas stops at the same spot where he camped out a few weeks ago and says, "I wonder if those yak souls would be of any use to me. I hope that a scouting party will find me here so I can replenish the souls that were lost when Frostmourne was shattered." He then makes a campfire to rest a little bit before setting out to return to Icecrown tomorrow.

The night passes by uneventfully and turns into morning as Arthas wakes up to something poking him, he opens his eyes and grins wickedly at seeing a yak patrol wearing dumb looking helmets like those one people back on Azeroth and listens to them talk for a little bit to test their inteligence.

One of the yaks pokes him with a spear saying, "Creature wake, yak scout leader have questions. You provide answers! Question one: Why you on yak land? Question two: Who you? Question three: What be you?"

He sighs at the pitiful level of intelligence these creatures have, but decides to play along with their interrogation for now and says, "Answer one: I'm just passing through the valley to my home in the north. Answer two: Arthas Menethil, Lich King of the Scourge and King of the destroyed kingdom of Lordaeron. Answer three: Human male."

The yak pulls his spear back and bows his head and says, "Yak king want talk, you follow strange human King Arthas. Welcome to Yakyakistan, enjoy short stay." the other yaks follow his example and lower their weapons and follow the leader.

Arthas gets up and follows after them and calls to his steed, "Come here Invincible, we are going to visit a yak king!"

Invincible comes out of the trees and walks beside Arthas and says, "You are just making all kinds of new friends lately aren't you sir."

The yak leader looks back and asks, "Question four: Who strange creature?"

He shakes his head and says to him, "Answer four: This is my companion, my friend, and my mount. His name is Invincible, he is a horse, bigger than a pony."

The leader nods his head and looks forward once more as they head up the side of a hill towards a snow covered plateau that is hidden from view by the valley.

Arthas loses track of the time and notices that they are approaching their stronghold and appreciates what they managed to build. As they approach the gate, he thinks to himself, 'For being walking, talking rugs, they built an adequate defense wall. I wonder what else they managed to build.'

The leader looks up to the wall and shouts, "Yak party return, open gate! Found strange human on territory, bring in to talk with King Yakky III."

As the heavy gate opens with a creak, the party walks into the modest village. Being rather small compared to the Crystal Empire, the buildings are fairly sturdy. They pass by several buildings, heading to a large one in the center which is the king's lodge.

Arthas follows the group through the village, watching as children run around playing with swords or butting their heads together as their mothers keep a watchful eye on them. They all begin to stop what their doing and come stare at him walking down the street with the scout party.

The scout leader stops and bangs on the door and says, "Yak party return, bring strange being back. Found on Yak territory, thought you want talk." He then waits for an answer.

A couple minutes of waiting pass by when a loud voice comes from the other side of the door booming, "YAK MAY ENTER!"

Arthas says to his companion, "Invincible, please wait outside until I come fetch you to leave." He then follows the group into the lodge and looks around, seeing a few upturned yak horns mounted into a few metal chandeliers that hang from the ceiling and some that are mounted on the wall to provide light for the inhabitants. His eyes are drawn towards the larger yak sitting on the throne at the back of the room.

King Yakky III looks at the strange creature and waits for the group to stop before him and bow and explain why they are here with the creature.

The leader stops before the throne and bows to his king and says, "Yak party found creature king on territory, we brought here. Think you may want speak."

King Yakky III sighs and shakes his head and says, "I am King Yakky III, what brings you to my territory creature king?"

Arthas is shocked to think that this yak actually speaks clearly and responds saying, "I apologize for trespassing on your territory King Yakky III, I was on my way north through the valley and decided to make camp for the night before I continued my journey to my citadel in the far north of here in the morning. My name is King Arthas Menethil, it is a pleasure to meet an impressive looking yak as yourself."

He smiles and stands up from his throne and says, "If you are not too busy, do you think we might test our strength against each other? You look like a strong one, but I am strong too. Let's see who the stronger king is between us two as friends shall we?" he then holds his hand out in an offer of a friendly duel.

Arthas chuckles and accepts the friendly duel by taking his hand and says to King Yakky III, "I enjoy war as much as a good battle, but I love a good duel even more. I look forward to testing my strength against you, but I want to keep the fight fair. Therefore I will not use the sword I am carrying, I shall have to borrow a sword. This sword I have is enchanted and is meant for ending lives, not for dueling. Is that acceptable to you, Your Highness?"

King Yakky cocks his head to the side and thinks on it a little and says, "I understand your concern for my safety, I agree to your proposal, King Arthas. A duel is not supposed to result in the death of the other opponent, it just demonstrates which is more skilled as a fighter." He then looks to the other yaks, whose mouths are all agape at their king wanting to duel a strange being and addresses them saying, "We head for the courtyard for a friendly duel, inform the rest of the yaks not to interfere or else it is the hot box for two weeks as punishment!"

He follows the yak leader to the courtyard as a massive crowd has gathered in such a short time, just now hearing of their king requesting a duel with another being. He chuckles and says to King Yakky, "I guess that you requesting to duel is a rare occurrence, Your Highness?"

The king nods his head and says, "Indeed it is a rare occurrence. Whenever I request to duel, it means that I see potential in them. Even if they lose the duel, they still know that they have potential and must work harder to prove their strength."

Arthas smiles and says, "You remind me of my father in that way." He follows him into the courtyard and waits for him to prepare the group.

King Yakky III stops in the center of the courtyard and addresses those that have gathered to watch the duel saying, "All Yaks hear my words!" The crowd quiets down instantly and listens to him as he continues, "I requested a friendly duel with this foreign King that is just passing through our territory to return home, because I can sense a strength similar to my own inside of him. Do not interfere with this fight or you shall be punished for it! Someyak bring two swords, this shall be a fair fight between the two of us! You there, yes you. You shall tell us when to begin, the fight will be over when one of us says 'I yield'!"

He watches as a yak brings two swords to them, handing one to his king and the other to him and returns to the side of the courtyard to watch the fight. He then begins to listen for the yak to begin the fight and readies the borrowed sword, dropping down into a stance that he could easily alter to become offensive, defensive, or even evasive. Just then he hears the yak say, "Fight...." then lets out a loud animalistic bellow that acts as the signal to start the duel.

The Fight

Arthas waits for the King to make the first move and holds the sword firmly with both hands when he tries to bait them into making the first move by using his footwork to pull his upper body forward without actually intending to attack, or commonly known as bluffing.

The bluff works like a charm and the king lifts his arms over his head and swings his sword in a large downward power strike, leaving him able to dodge to the left with an opening for a strike. He lets go of his sword with his left hand and flips his sword upside down in his right hand and strikes him across the middle of his right side, cutting fur and drawing a little bit of blood.

The successful first strike by the creature earns a few gasps from the crowd at the skill it has. Arthas turns his sword around and holds it properly. The two return to circling each other clockwise, as the king fakes a charging stance in hopes of getting him to jump left or right to get a strike of his own against the creature.

Arthas jumps to the left and falls for the bluff as the yak runs forth and swings his sword sideways, aiming to strike his shoulder or is knock the wind from his lungs. He recovers swiftly and swings his sword upward to the right, knocking the king's sword upward and spins around and has his sword at the side of his neck, pushing the tip of the blade just hard enough against his neck so that he felt it back there.

The King grunts in annoyance at losing so swiftly but chuckles anyway at a well fought duel and says, "I yield. I had no idea that one could pull off such a move, you must have fought in several battles to be able to do that so effectively."

The yak that is judging the fight yells out, "Duel end, creature winner!" This brings a round of cheers and stomps at a good fight from the yaks watching them.

He chuckles and says to him, "I have fought many foes indeed, I am hated in the land that I came from. I have enjoyed our duel, in a few years you might become skilled enough to make me break a sweat." He then flips his sword and holds it upside down and yells out to the yak that brought the swords to them, "Hey you, the yak that brought the swords to us. Catch this sword." He then grabs hold of the blade just under the hilt and tosses it towards him hilt first, smirking as he catches the hilt and compliments him saying, "I could sense that you had talent due to the scars and cuts on your hands, good catch. Not many are able to catch a sword that is tossed at them."

Arthas spots an opportunity to be vicious and cruel and offers to pull him up to his hooves, and reaches out with his right hand as his left hand hangs at his side near the hilt of Frostmourne.

King Yakky III takes his offered hand and pulls himself up with it and says to him, "Thank you, I found that fight enjoyable. Though I lost the duel, I am not unhappy about it. You have proven your strength and skill, I recognize that and respect that."

He releases his hold on the king's hand and returns it to his side and then swiftly draws Frostmourne with his left hand and thrusts it through the chest of his opponent, ending his life.

The king drops the sword and grabs both of the creatures shoulders and says, "Why do you do this to me, I thought we would make friends and be allies!"

Arthas chuckles and says, "What, ME make friends with a walking talking rug?! The Lich King of the north will strike fear into the hearts and souls of the living!" He then lifts his leg and kicks the yak off of his sword and waits for the others to attack him.

Without fail, the slain kings son barges forward into the courtyard and bellows, "I PRINCE YAKYAK! YOU KILL FATHER! YOU NO HONOR! YOU ANGER YAK, YAK ATTACK KILLER!" With that said, he is the first to charge forth to get justice for his father's murder.

He shakes his head and says, "I'll take you all on, come on and try to bring me down!" He brings his sword back with one hand and cuts the prince in half across the middle, then flips it around and stabs the yak charging him through the heart. Turning the sword back around, he removes the heads of two yaks that have their swords raised above their heads as they charge him.

A half hour passes by with bodies lying on top of the ground in piles, he watches as the last four remaining male yaks drop their swords in terror and exclaim, "Yak afraid, yak afraid! No more fight, no more fight!" He watches as they huddle in front of four large groups full of women and children, trying to protect them from him. He then spots a white haired female yak with blue eyes glaring defiantly at him and then points Frostmourne in her direction and shouts, "You there! The yak with white fur and blue eyes, come to me now!"

She reluctantly makes her way over to him, not wanting to get any closer to him at all, she stops at the far end of the courtyard and shouts back, "What you want with me?" She then stomps a foot in frustration and defiance.

Arthas grins maliciously under his helm and strides towards her saying, "I need something from here as tribute or I am going to slaughter them all and burn the village down for the trouble it has caused me! Now come forth, or I swear I will return with soldiers to skin the hide from your bodies and use them to make rugs for my citadel!"

The female yak with long, wide horns sighs and hangs her head saying, "I am called Sapphy I am yours to take, leave the others alone! We go now."

He looks at Sapphy with pleasure in his eyes as he sees someone that needs to be trained and broken to serve him and says, "Follow me to your new home, Sapphy. I hope you enjoy the company of the cold, death, both dead and undead corpses. You are going to live there for the rest of your life, serving me." He then turns and whistles loudly in the air for Invincible to come to him.

Invincible sighs as he has to jump over a mound of bodies to get to Arthas and says, "You sure made lots of friends here sir." and stops in front of him, waiting for him to mount up and resume their journey home."

Arthas gets up into the saddle and calls out to the surviving yaks, "Remember this! If any yak rises up to fight me or bring this one back, I will butcher every single yak in this village. Man, woman, or even child, I will slaughter them all!" He then turns around and trots towards the gate, wanting out of this stinking village to return home.